"What is the joke?"
"That will have to wait. For a few minutes I heard you reading to-day.
Your voice is like a bell at sea in the evening. 'Many waters cannot
quench love,'" he quoted, the flash of opals in his eyes, though his lips
were smiling gently. "The Bible is a wonderful book. Its authors were
poets who were not spoiled by the curse of rime. Does it amuse you to hear
me talk of the Bible?--an unregenerate scalawag? Well, it is like this: I
am something of an authority on illuminated manuscripts. I've had to wade
through hundreds of them. That is the method by which I became acquainted
with the Scriptures. The Song of Songs! Lord love you, if that isn't pure
pagan, what is? I prefer the Proverbs. Ask Cleigh if he has that
manuscript with him. It's in a remarkable state of preservation. Remember?
'There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I
know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a
rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with
a maid.' Ask Cleigh to show you that."
Cleigh! The name swung her back to the original purpose of this visit.
"Do you know the Cleighs well?"
"I know the father. He has the gift of strong men--unforgetting and
unforgiving. I know little or nothing about the son, except that he is a
chip of the old block. Queer twist in events, eh?"
"Have you any idea what estranged them?"
"Didn't know they were at outs until the night before we sailed. They
don't speak?"
"No. And it seems so utterly foolish!"
"Cherchez la femme!"
"You believe that was it?"
"It is always so, always and eternally the woman. I don't mean that she is
always to blame; I mean that she is always there--in the background. But
you! I say, now, here's the job for you! Bring them together. That's your
style. For weeks now you three will be together. Within that time you'll
be able to twist both of them round your finger. I wonder if you realize
it? You're not beautiful, but you are something better--splendid. Strong
men will always be gravitating toward you, wanting comfort, peace. You're
not the kind that sets men's hearts on fire, that makes absconders, fills
the divorce courts, and all that. You're like a cool hand on a hot
forehead. And you have a voice as sweet as a bell."