Tall, bony, graceful enough except in a chair, where his angles became
conspicuous; the ruddy, weather-bitten complexion of a deep-sea sailor,
and a sailor man's blue eye; the brow of a thinker and the mouth of a
humourist. Men often call another man handsome when a woman knows they
mean manly. Among men Cutty was handsome.
Kitty considerately rose and gathered up her manuscript.
"No, no, Kitty! I'd rather talk to you than Burly, here. You're always
reminding me of that father of yours. Best comrade I ever had. You laugh
just like him. Did your mother ever tell you that old Cutty is your
godfather?"
"Good gracious!"
"Fact. I told your dad I'd watch over you."
"And a fat lot of watching you've done to date," jeered Burlingame.
"Couldn't help that. But I can be on the job until I return to the
Balkans."
Kitty laughed joyously and sat down, perhaps a little thrilled. She had
always admired Cutty from afar, shyly. Once in a blue moon he had in
the old days appeared for tea; and he and Mrs. Conover would spend
the balance of the afternoon discussing the lovable qualities of Tommy
Conover. Kitty had seen him but twice during the war.
"Every so often," began Cutty, "I have to find listeners. Fact. I
used to hate crowds, listeners; but those ten days in an open boat, a
thousand miles from anywhere, made me gregarious. I'm always wanting
company and hating to go to bed, which is bad business for a man of
fifty-two." Cutty's ship had been torpedoed.
To Kitty, with his tired eyes and weather-bitten face, his bony,
gangling body, he had the appearance of a lazy man. Actually she knew
him to be a man of tremendous vitality and endurance. Eagles when they
roost are heavy-lidded and clumsy. She wondered if there was a corner on
the globe he had not peered into.
For thirty years he had been following two gods--Rumour and War. For
thirty years he had been the slave of cables and telegrams. Even now he
was preparing to return to the Balkans, where the great fire had started
and where there were still some threatening embers to watch.
Cutty was not well known in America; his reputation was European. He
played the game because he loved it, being comfortably fortified with
worldly goods. He was a linguist of rare attainments, specializing in
the polyglot of southeastern Europe. He came and went like cloud shadow.
His foresight was so keen he was seldom ordered to go here or there; he
was generally on the spot when the orders arrived.