There was an
earthquake zone in her being which might shake down the whole structure
of her existence. She was unsafe, not because she was deceiving Jean
Jacques now as to her origin and as to her feelings for him; she was
unsafe because of the natural strain of the light of love in her, joined
to a passion for comfort and warmth and to a natural self-indulgence. She
was determined to make Jean Jacques offer himself before they landed at
Quebec.
But they did not land at Quebec.
CHAPTER II
"THE REST OF THE STORY TO-MORROW"
The journey wore on to the coast of Canada. Gaspe was not far off when,
still held back by the constitutional tendency of the Norman not to close
a bargain till compelled to do so, Jean Jacques sat with Carmen far
forward on the deck, where the groaning Antoine broke the waters into
sullen foam. There they silently watched the sunset, golden, purple and
splendid--and ominous, as the captain knew.
"Look, the end of life--like that!" said Jean Jacques oratorically with a
wave of the hand towards the prismatic radiance.
"All the way round, the whole circle--no, it would be too much," Carmen
replied sadly. "Better to go at noon--or soon after. Then the only memory
of life would be of the gallop. No crawling into the night for me, if I
can help it. Mother of Heaven, no! Let me go at the top of the flight.
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