If those "eyes like stars" had been
closed until eternity, with no hope that he could ever learn the secret
of the soul behind them, nothing the future might have to give could
make up for the loss. It was only when the _Flying Fish_ swam safely
into the harbour that Vanno remembered his irritation at seeing Mary
with all those men, the only woman among them. After what he had gone
through since then, this annoyance seemed a ridiculously small thing;
but no sooner was she on land again, received with acclamations from
her new friends and applause by the crowd which had quickly collected,
than Vanno felt the same tingling anger.
The girl was making herself notorious! At this rate she would be talked
of everywhere. Strangers would snapshot her as she passed. Her picture
would be for sale on one of those Monte Carlo postcards of celebrities
which were newly taken every day; she would be in the local English
illustrated newspaper. He walked off quickly, with his head down, so as
to lose himself in the crowd and not be seen by Mary or her companions.
She was pale as a drowned girl when Carleton and Hannaford helped her
out of the oilskin which had protected her new fur cloak; and never,
perhaps, had she been so beautiful. There was something unearthly about
her, as if she had seen a vision and the blinding light of it still
shone white upon her face. As he touched her, Hannaford felt a thrill as
of new life go through him. By his own wild recklessness he had spoilt
his career and put himself, so he believed, beyond the pale of any
woman's love.
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