The Ghost: A Modern Fantasy - Page 35/126

There was, as a matter of fact, no reason in the world why I should

have agreed to this suggestion of Alresca's. As he himself had said,

we were strangers, and I was under no obligation to him of any kind.

Yet at once I felt an impulse to accept his proposal. Whence that

impulse sprang I cannot say. Perhaps from the aspect of an adventure

that the affair had. Perhaps from the vague idea that by attaching

myself to Alresca I should be brought again into contact with Rosetta

Rosa. Certainly I admired him immensely. None who knew him could avoid

doing so. Already, indeed, I had for him a feeling akin to affection.

"I see by your face," he said, "that you are not altogether unwilling.

You accept?"

"With pleasure;" and I smiled with the pleasure I felt.

But it seemed to me that I gave the answer independently of my own

volition. The words were uttered almost before I knew.

"It is very good of you."

"Not at all," I said. "I have made no plans, and therefore nothing

will be disarranged. Further, I count it an honor; and, moreover, your

'case'--pardon the word--interests me deeply. Where do you wish to

go?"

"To Bruges, of course."

He seemed a little surprised that I should ask the question.

"Bruges," he went on, "that dear and wonderful old city of Flanders,

is the place of my birth. You have visited it?"

"No," I said, "but I have often heard that it is the most picturesque

city in Europe, and I should like to see it awfully."

"There is nothing in the world like Bruges," he said. "Bruges the Dead

they call it; a fit spot in which to die."

"If you talk like that I shall reconsider my decision."

"Pardon, pardon!" he laughed, suddenly wearing an appearance of

gaiety. "I am happier now. When can we go? To-morrow? Let it be

to-morrow."

"Impossible," I said. "The idea of a man whose thigh was broken less

than a fortnight since taking a sea voyage to-morrow! Do you know that

under the most favorable circumstances it will be another five or six

weeks before the bone unites, and that even then the greatest care

will be necessary?"

His gaiety passed.

"Five more weeks here?"

"I fear so."

"But our agreement shall come into operation at once. You will visit

me daily? Rather, you will live here?"

"If it pleases you. I am sure I shall be charmed to live here."

"Let the time go quickly--let it fly! Ah, Mr. Foster, you will like

Bruges. It is the most dignified of cities. It has the picturesqueness

of Nuremburg, the waterways of Amsterdam, the squares of Turin, the

monuments of Perugia, the cafés of Florence, and the smells of

Cologne. I have an old house there of the seventeenth century; it is

on the Quai des Augustins."