MAGAZINE. Vol. xlix. No. 291. 66 The Jewel Dance BY VIOLET.M.METHLEY FRANK GILLETT RI· F course, you dance from pure love of art, dear Miss Dawnish?" "From pure love of money!" Diamond Dawnish laughed merrily, with an upward tilt of her chin. "Degrading, isn't it, Lady Bollingworth ?— but a fact ! Plump Lady Bollingworth giggled and tapped the girl's arm archly. You naughty, mercenary little thing!" she exclaimed. "I am mercenary—and I'm proud of it!" Hugh Gillespie, doctor of the Marina, glanced up for a moment from his book, struck by the almost exaggerated earnestness of the girl's tones. Miss Dawnish's biscuit-china beauty had no particular attraction for the sober young Scotsman. Far more interesting was that something alien and unexpected which peered at odd moments through her Watteau daintiness of surface. He caught himself listening intently as she continued. "I want money frightfully badly, and I don't mind who knows it. That was why I took to dancing professionally. People talk such nonsense about it's being plucky to work for a living; as though I minded anything, so long as I can earn enough to buy back Ballynihoulihan and make father happy before he dies-darling old dad!" There was a throb in the clear voice, and, Vol. xlix.-31. for the moment, a very tender light in the vivid blue eyes. Then Diamond Dawnish laughed half-shamefacedly, and flung herself back in the long deck-chair. 66 "I'm a sentimental little donkey!" she cried. Whatever will you and Mrs. Wentworth think of me, Lady Bollingworth? " "We think that Sir Daniel must be very proud of his pretty daughter," Lady Bollingworth answered, with genuine warmth in her fat, comfortable voice. "And your sweet frankness rather emboldens me," Mrs. Stuart Wentworth gushed. "Since, of course, advertisement has its uses-and there is such a general wish among the passengers-only one never knows how those in the profession look at such things I believe you want me to dance for you!" There was a touch of laughing mockery in the girl's voice. "That is just it! We all want to see you dance-if you could give us that pleasure." "It's really a question of could.' I simply daren't whilst the ship is in motion, Mrs. Wentworth; I am such an abominable sailor. And we only stop at Gibraltar for a few hours in the middle of the day." "There's Naples," Hugh Gillespie interposed, quietly, from the depths of his hammock chair. "We shall be there for a whole day, and until about twelve o'clock at night." Why, that is just the opportunity for a little festa, then. Naples-so romantic! " The gaunt and gushing Mrs. Wentworth lapped her hands enthusiastically. “And Oh, you "But they could be sewn on. really must reconsider it! There is my long chain of diamonds and sapphires, and my diamond laurel wreath." "And my paste butterflies!" Mrs. Wentworth exclaimed. "I should be delighted. And Mrs. Brook would lend her emeralds, I know, and Mrs. Land that immense snake. Oh, do please us by wearing our odds and ends, dear child!” "It's very charming of you," the girl said, with obvious reluctance. "Let it be like this, then. If everybody is as willing as you are, I will wear the jewels for fifteen minutes or so, on condition that the stewardess sews them on for me as tight as tight can be." "That's settled, then. How charming! And now we'll go and tell everybody the good news and collect 'properties."". The two women rustled away, leaving Diamond Dawnish and the doctor alone. For a moment the girl sat motionless, her chin resting on her hand, her eyes vaguely troubled. Then she turned her head slightly, met Gillespie's unconsciously intent glance, and laughed. So you heard my story, too-such as it is?" she said. Well, I couldn't very well help it, Miss Dawnish," answered the young man, apologetically. "I'm not ashamed of it." The girl spoke defiantly. "You've no cause to be-very much the contrary," Gillespie said, warmly. "I wonder, if you understood everything, whether you'd say the same?" The words came slowly and reflectively. "I do wonder.” "I don't doubt it." "I do!" Suddenly Diamond Dawnish sprang to her feet and stood looking down upon him mockingly. "And so I sha'n't tell you! Because, although you're always so painfully solemn, I rather value your good opinion, Dr. Gillespie." With another laugh she was gone, leaving the young man on a knife-edge between annoyance and admiration. And such a position, with a girl in question, is extremely dangerous. The victim nearly always ends by falling-in love. From that moment Hugh Gillespie found himself watching, not only the little dancer's queer, equivocal moods, but her every look and action. He was not the man to act rashly; not the man to be blinded by passion. But the passion was there, nevertheless, and not so very far below the surface, either. As for Diamond, if she cared for the young doctor, she hid her feelings even better than he. Yet there were moments which Gillespie dwelt upon with satisfaction; moments when her vivid eyes softened and the hard curves of her pretty lips relaxed. But those moments were not suspected by the other passengers on the Marina. They only came to the conclusion that the dancer was flirting disgracefully with the doctorpour young man ! On the day when the Marina arrived at Naples Diamond Dawnish was in a state of tense excitement. "I'm always like this before dancing," she told Gillespie, in extenuation of her twitching hands and over-wrought irritability. Artistic temperament, I suppose―or nerves, to put it vulgarly." 66 "You oughtn't to dance at all, then; it's bad for you," the doctor said, positively. "Oughtn't I, indeed, you solemn old sawbones! Why, I love it better than anything on earth." "I wonder if you'll always say that?" Gillespie spoke under his breath, as though almost involuntarily. "I wonder!" The girl glanced at him half fearfully, then suddenly changed her tone. 'But, after all, it isn't true now. I love my dear old dad better than dancing-better than anybody. I do, Dr. Gillespie." And Hugh Gillespie, being a patient man, acquiesced quietly. All day long Miss Dawnish remained in that state of nervous tension. She refused to go ashore; she ate practically nothing. Gillespie watched her quietly, and came to the conclusion that her profession was unfit for a nervous woman. And Gillespie's opinions were not easily altered. But the girl's manner had changed when she encountered the young man on the stairs that night after dinner. She wore a long grey cloak, covering her from throat to feet, with a hood drawn up over her head. Beneath its shadow her eyes gleamed vividly. "You look like a witch, Miss Dawnish," Gillespie said; "or a maiden seeking a lovephiltre of some magician." "You don't know how gorgeous I am underneath!" the girl laughed. Wait-you shall be specially privileged." She flung back the cloak, showed herself in clinging draperies of pale rose, bare of feet and arms and soft white shoulders. Glittering chains hung in coils from her neck to her waist, whilst her bodice was all a-flutter with brilliant butterflies and love-knots of diamonds. A great barbaric, emerald-eyed serpent surrounded her slim waist, the diamond laurel-wreath was firmly fastened by means of wires concealed in her hair, her bare arms were almost hidden by bracelets and jewelled bangles. The women passengers of the Marina had outvied each other in showering jewellery upon the little dancer. There were ornaments here of all grades of beauty and value, from Mrs. Wentworth's old-fashioned paste to Lady Bollingworth's really magnificent diamonds and sapphires. The girl made a resplendent figure under the crude electric light, her cheeks ablaze with vivid colour, her eyes flashing and sparkling like the jewels themselves. "Aren't they lovely!" she exclaimed. "You are lovely," Gillespie said, slowly. "The loveliest thing I have ever imagined." Again that almost fearful look showed in the girl's eyes. She turned away abruptly. “I—I wish you wouldn't talk like that," she said. "You don't mean it, and-and I don't want you to." short distance, the passengers were seated. The pale dresses of the women and the men's white shirt-fronts showed luminous in the purple-grey gloom. Beyond the rail the sea was a deep, intense blue, pointed here and there with the lights of shipping. The brilliant specks seemed like stars, fallen from their places in the unlighted sky above. The great sweep of the Bay of Naples was scarcely outlined against the darkly-clouded horizon, save where the crater of Vesuvius blazed into a sullen crimson glow. The concealed music began to play softly, and from between the parted curtains Diamond Dawnish slipped like a shadow, and stood, for a moment, motionless, wrapped in the long cloak. Then she began to dance, slowly and yet more slowly, her draperies making a faint whisper. She seemed a very spirit of dreams and dusk, the embodiment of the starless, moonless night itself. From the shadow of an alley-way Hugh Gillespie watched her, his heart beating far more rapidly than its wont, his cheeks hot with excitement. He knew now that he loved Diamond Dawnish-loved her with a force which he had never imagined in himself, at the very idea of which he would have laughed a few weeks before. And with all the strength of his nature he vowed that she should be his. Suddenly the music changed and quickened. to a vivid, passionate cadence; the little dancer flung aside her cloak, stood revealed in her glittering jewel dress, a figure of startling beauty. The glow of excitement burnt in her cheeks, her eyes were full of changeful brilliance, as her movements quickened in time to the music. The dance which followed was extraordinarily wild and dramatic. The shaded electric lights caught brilliant reflections from the clustered jewels, until the dancer seemed ringed in flickering, many-coloured flames. Gillespie watched, spellbound, like all the audience, by the brilliance of the Gillespie began, but performance, until the slowing cadences of the music warned him that it was drawing to an end. "she Then you mustn't-do hear? you said, imperiously. "Now come and watch me dance." She pulled her shrouding cloak about her and passed swiftly on to the deck, followed more slowly by the young man. A curtained space to serve as stage had been arranged on deck; Diamond declared that she could not dance in the saloon. Shaded lights hung at the sides, and, at a It was then that the young man came to a swift resolution. He was stirred to his very depths by the girl's beauty and the sudden realization of his love. He would speak to her again, now-this momentwhilst the eloquence lent by her radiance was his; he would make her believe him, make her understand. Without an instant's hesitation, the young man strode down the alley behind him, and along the deserted deck towards the back of the extemporary stage. A perfect crash of applause broke out from the unseen audience, and Gillespie quickened his pace. He had determined to catch her before she went below; some instinct seemed to tell him that this was the psychological moment for both of them. The stage draperies parted. Suddenly Diamond Dawnish appeared from between them, dragging the curtains together as she emerged through the heavy folds. The dancer stood there, silhouetted against the dark background, and leaning slightly forward, with her face in the full glare of the electric light. She was strangely pale, and her expression was one of strained attention; she seemed to be listening-waiting. So tense was her attitude that Gillespie instinctively stood still, waiting and listening also, perhaps a dozen yards away. And suddenly it seemed to him that he caught the sound of a whistle, low and very faint, through the thunders of clamorous applause, which rose and fell and rose again. At the same moment a tremor ran through the figure of the dancer, and without an instant's hesitation she ran lightly across the deck and swung herself up on the rail, standing poised, and staring down into the darkness overside. For an instant she stood there, a radiant figure, outlined sharply against the darkblue night. Then, whilst from the other side of the curtain came those reiterated cries of" Encore!" and " Bravo!" before Gillespie could so much as realize her intention, she was gone, without a cry, with only one dull splash to sound in the ears of the young man. At the top of his speed he ran along the deck; his voice rang out clearly, cutting short the applause : "Man overboard! Man overboard!" There were startled exclamations, the rush of feet along the deck, but Gillespie had already acted. He alone had seen where the girl fell; without an instant's pause he, too, sprang upon the rail and dived down into the darkness of the lapping water overside. The young man rose to the surface and shook the drops from his eyes and ears. Then, treading water, he peered about him. in the darkness. As a swimmer, Gillespie was above the average in strength, and the night and the sea alike were utterly still. And through that stillness he heard, very plainly, the sound of oars, coming apparently from shoreward, and quite close at hand. The thought of speedy rescue was cheering, and at the same instant he caught a glimpse of Diamond's head, only a few yards away, a darker blot on the dark surface of the water. The girl seemed to be swimming with a steady stroke, but Gillespie set off unhesitatingly in pursuit. He had had no time to reason, no time to analyse her extraordinary action; his one desire was to reach her, to save her. From behind, on the Marina, came the sound of voices and strenuous orders, followed by the creaking of fall ropes as a boat was lowered. And from in front sounded the thud-thud of oars, telling of rescue even nearer at hand. Suddenly the head of the dancer, with its following wake, was blurred by a dark presence looming behind it. Almost simultaneously a cautious whisper crept clearly over the water. "Is that you, Fan?" "Yes." It was Diamond's voice which answered. Got 'em?" came the hoarse, eager question. Yes. I'm wearing them all. Be quick, Joe! The water's so cAh!" A muffled shriek broke from the girl's lips as she realized, for the first time, that Gillespie was close beside her. The young man acted on the immediate impulse of the moment. He caught at the dancer's arm, just as the man in the boat spoke again, low and fiercely. "What's the matter? Where the devil are you, Fan? What are you doing?" "Leave go of me!" Miss Dawnish gasped, under her breath. "Let me go-quick! I'm all right. The other boat will pick you up. Quick!" "I won't let go!" Gillespie muttered, between his teeth. "I'll drown first." "You fool-you fool! Can't you understand? Won't you understand?" "Be quick, Fan!" hissed the insistent whisper from above them. "The other boat's coming. Good God! what's this? A man ? Miss Dawnish flung up a white, glittering arm and caught at the gunwale. "Help me, Joe!" she gasped. "Hehe's holding me!" With a muffled curse a dark figure leant over the side of the boat, and there began a trial of strength. Gillespie set his teeth and retained a fierce grip upon the slim arm, aided by the dead weight of their clothes, dragged down with water. "Leave go, curse you!" the man snarled. |