he less remark of a change in the
traders. Case had been all eagerness to keep me; now, as though he had
attained a purpose, he seemed all eagerness to have me go. Uma, he
said, could show me to my house, and the three bade us farewell indoors.

The night was nearly come; the village smelt of trees and flowers and
the sea and breadfruit-cooking; there came a fine roll of sea from the
reef, and from a distance, among the woods and houses, many pretty
sounds of men and children. It did me good to breathe free air; it did
me good to be done with the captain and see, instead, the creature at my
side. I felt for all the world as though she were some girl at home in
the Old Country, and, forgetting myself for the minute, took her hand to
walk with. Her fingers nestled into mine, I heard her breathe deep and
quick, and all at once she caught my hand to her face and pressed it
there. "You good!" she cried, and ran ahead of me, and stopped and
looked back and smiled, and ran ahead of me again, thus guiding me
through the edge of the bush, and by a quiet way to my own house.

The truth is, Case had done the courting for me in style--told her I was
mad to have her, and cared nothing for the consequence; and the poor
soul, knowing that which I was still ignorant of, believed it, every
word, and had her head nigh turned with vanity and gratitude. Now, of
all this I had no guess; I was one of those most opposed to any nonsense
about native women, having seen so many whites eaten up by their wives'
relatives, and made fools of in the bargain; and I told myself I must
make a stand at once, and bring her to her bearings. But she looked so
quaint and pretty as she ran away and then awaited me, and the thing was
done so like a child or a kind dog, that the best I could do was just to
follow her whenever she went on, to listen for the fall of her bare
feet, and to watch in the dusk for the shining of her body. And there
was another thought came in my head. She played kitten with me now when
we were alone; but in the house she had carried it the way a countess
might, so proud and humble. And what with her dress--for all there was
so little of it, and that native enough--what with her fine tapa and
fine scents, and her red flowers and seeds, that were quite as bright
as jewels, only larger--it came over me she was a kind of countess
really, dressed to hear great singers at a concert, and no even mate for
a poor trader like myself.

She was