Oh, indeed, said Katherine, rather in the usual tone of her elder sister. I dont dance with mechanics, thank you.
She emphasized the light fantastic word, but the Lieutenant did not take the hint; he merely laughed again in an exasperatingly good-natured way, and said:
Lady Angela is going to be Jack Lamonts partner for the next waltz.
Oh, said Katherine loftily, Lady Angela may dance with any blacksmith that pleases her, but I dont. Im taking it for granted that Jack Lamont is your electrical tinsmith.
Yes, he is, and I think him by all odds the finest fellow aboard this ship. Its quite likely you have read about his sister. She is a year older than Jack, very beautiful, cultured, everything that a grande dame should be, yet she has given away her huge estate to the peasantry, and works with them in the fields, living as they do, and faring as they do. There was an article about her in one of the French reviews not long ago. She is called the Princess Natalia.
The Princess Natalia! echoed Katherine, turning her face toward the young man. How can Princess Natalia be a sister of Jack Lamont? Did she marry some old prince, and take to the fields in disgust?
Oh, no; Jack Lamont is a Russian. He is called Prince Ivan Lermontoff when hes at home, but we call him Jack Lamont for short. Hes going to help me on the Russian business I told you of.
What Russian business? asked Katherine. I dont remember your speaking of it.
Dorothy went white, edged a little way from her friend, while her widening eyes flashed a warning at the Lieutenant, who, too late, remembered that this conversation on Russia had taken place during the walk from the bank. The young man coughed slightly behind his open hand, reddened, and stammered:
Oh, I thought I had told you. Didnt I mention the prince to you as we were coming here?
Not that I recollect, said Katherine. Is he a real, genuine prince? A right down regular, regular, regular royal prince?
I dont know about the royalty, but hes a prince in good standing in his own land, and he is also an excellent blacksmith. The Lieutenant chuckled a little. He and his sister have both been touched a good deal by Tolstoian doctrine. Jack is the most wonderful inventor, I think, that is at present on the earth, Edison notwithstanding. Why, he is just now engaged on a scheme by which he can float houses from the mountains here down to New York. Float thempipe-line them would perhaps be a better term. You know they have pipe-lines to carry petroleum. Very well; Jack has a solution that dissolves stone as white sugar dissolves in tea, and he believes he can run the fluid from the quarries to where building is going on. It seems that he then puts this liquid into molds, and there you have the stone again. I dont understand the process myself, but Jack tells me its marvelously cheap, and marvelously effective. He picked up the idea from nature one time when he and I were on our vacation at Detroit.
Detroit, Michigan?
The Detroit River.
Well, that runs between Michigan and Canada.
No, no, this is in France. I believe the real name of the river is the Tarn. Theres a gorge called Detroitthe strait, you know. Wonderful placetremendous chasm. You go down in a boat, and all the tributary rivers pour into the main stream like jets from the nozzle of a hose. They tell me this is caused by the rain percolating through the dead leaves on the surface of the ground far above, and thus the water becomes saturated with carbonic acid gas, and so dissolves the limestone until the granite is reached, and the granite forms the bed of these underground rivers. It all seemed to me very wonderful, but it struck Jack on his scientific side, and he has been experimenting ever since. He says hell be able to build a city with a hose next year.
Where does he live?
On the cruiser just at present. I was instrumental in getting him signed on as John Lamont, and he passed without question. No wonder, for he has scientific degrees from all sorts of German universities, from Oxford, and one or two institutions in the States. When at home he lives in St. Petersburg.
Has he a palace there?
Drummond laughed.
Hes got a blacksmith shop, with two rooms above, and Im going to stop with him for a few months as soon as I get my leave. When the cruiser reaches England we pay off, and I expect to have nothing to do for six months, so Jack and I will make for St. Petersburg.
Why do you call him Lamont? Is it taken from his real name of what-dye-call-it-off?
Lermontoff? Yes. The Czar Demetrius, some time about the beginning of the seventeenth century, established a Scottish Guard, just as Louis XI did in France two hundred years before, and there came over from Scotland Lamonts, Carmichaels, Buchanans and others, on whom were bestowed titles and estates. Prince Ivan Lermontoff is a descendant of the original Lamont, who was an officer in the Scottish Guard of Russia.
So he is really a Scotchman?
Thats what I tell him when he annoys me, as I am by way of being a Scotchman myself. Ah, the waltz is ended. Will you excuse me a moment while I fetch his Highness?
Dorothy inclined her head, and Katherine fairly beamed permission.
Oh, Dorothy, she exclaimed, when the Lieutenant was out of hearing, think of it! A real prince, and my ambition has never risen higher than a paltry count, or some plebeian of that sort. Hes mine, Dorothy; I found him first.
I thought you had appropriated the Lieutenant?
What are lieutenants to me? The proud daughter of a captain (retired) cannot stoop to a mere lieutenant.
You wouldnt have to stoop far, Kate, with so tall a man as Mr. Drummond.
You are beginning to take notice, arent you, Dot? But I bestow the Lieutenant freely upon you, because Im going to dance with the Prince, even if I have to ask him myself.
Shell toddle away, as all aver,
With the Lord High Executioner.
Ah, here they come. Isnt he perfectly splendid? Look at his beard! Just the color of a brand-new twenty-dollar gold piece. See that broad ribbon diagonally across him. I wonder what it means. And gaze at those scintillating orders on his breast. Good gracious me, isnt he splendid?
Yes, for a blacksmith. I wonder if he beat those stars out on his anvil. He isnt nearly so tall as Lieutenant Drummond.
Dorothy, Ill not allow you to disparage my Prince. How can you be so disagreeable? I thought from the very first that the Lieutenant was too tall. If the Prince expects me to call him your Highness, hell be disappointed.
You are quite right, Kate. The term would suit the Lieutenant better.
Dorothy, I believe youre jealous.
Oh, no, Im not, said Dorothy, shaking her head and laughing, and then Hush! she added, as Katherine was about to speak again.
The next moment the young men stood before them, and, introductions being soberly performed, the Prince lost no time in begging Katherine to favor him with a dance, to which request the young woman was graciously pleased to accede, without, however, exhibiting too much haste about her acceptance, and so they walked off together.
CHAPTER IV AT LAST ALONE
SOME one has taken the camp stool, said Lieutenant Drummond. May I sit here? and the young woman was good enough to give the desired permission.
When he had seated himself he glanced around, then impulsively held out his hand.