Chapter 25
Dick Wilbur, telling Mary how Pierre had cut himself adrift, did
not even pretend to sorrow, and she listened to him with her eyes
fixed steadily on his own. As a matter of fact, she had shown
neither hope nor excitement from the moment he came back to her and
started to tell his message. But if she showed neither hope nor
excitement for herself, surely she gave d**k still fewer grounds
for any optimistic foresights.
So he finished gloomily: "And as far as I can make out, Pierre
is right. There's some rotten bad luck that follows him. It may not
be the cross—I don't suppose you believe in superstition like that,
Miss Brown?"
She said: "It saved my life."
"The cross?"
"Yes."
"Then Pierre—you mean—you met before the dance—you mean—"
He was stammering so that he cou
