"
"Neither are my characters! I will tell you," he said, admitting her to
his confidence, "I am going to write of the Expatriates--the people who,
to those at home, are always said to be 'abroad.' The story from this
side of the water is interesting to me. And the Excelsior is an ideal
field for observing them."
"I see!" Then ingenuously, "Are you really going to put Jack in your
book?"
Porter smiled, amused. "He hardly corresponds to my aimless nomad
wandering hither and yon, with neither ambition nor destination! By the
way," he added abruptly, "what do you _think_ of Jack? I am not asking
this, mind you, just to make conversation, but because I am interested
in him as a national type. I confess I was beginning to think that no
woman could care for the men at home as any woman might for the
Europeans, until he came along the other day." There was no doubting
Porter's enthusiasm as he added, "He gave me back my ideals of my own
country! He is _real_, I tell you. But this trip he is going to take
into Sicily----"
"There is no danger in this day, surely!" she interrupted.
"I am not so sure of it, they are pesky devils!" Then, appreciating her
uneasiness, he tried to reassure her. "Jack will be all right, he will
be well protected. In fact, to show you how little I really fear from
the adventure, I am thinking of going with him.
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