I couldn't explain your Mrs.--Mrs. Grove. Who could? We haven't a
sister. Altogether I am sorry." He stopped uncompromisingly; yet, Lee
recognized, in all that Daniel had said there was no word of criticism
or gratuitous advice. He had voiced the facts only as they related to
him; to everything else he gave the effect of a massive blankness.
* * * * *
Argument, Lee saw, was useless. Extended to the heart of a tropical
island, the virtuous indignations of a hard propriety still bound their
movements. "All that I can suggest," Daniel went on, "is that you
return to Havana tomorrow evening; the company has offices there, and
it will be easier for me to see you. Camag?ey is nearer, but gossip
there would have you in the same bed no matter how far apart your rooms
were. Decidedly not Camag?ey."
There was no train for Havana, it developed, before tomorrow. "And, in
the meanwhile," Lee inquired, "must we stay here? Savina will be
miserable."
"Why not?" Daniel gazed about casually. "I lived with Venalez a month.
It is good enough if you are not too strict about a travelling beauty
or two who may be stopping as well." His apologies to Savina, in the
room above, were faultless. There was, simply, at the Cobra sugar
estancia, no satisfactory arrangement for guests; except for an
occasional party of directors, or a special mission, there were no
guests.
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