Page:The Black Camel (IA blackcamel0000earl).djvu/232

“‘Under the nodding coco-palms.’ Don’t you like our coco-palms, Julie?”

“They’re interesting, but I think I prefer the redwoods. You draw a deep breath in a redwood forest, Jimmy, and you feel like going out and licking the world. Can’t you see what I mean? This place may be all right for people who belong here—but you—how long have you been in Hawaii?”

“A little over two years.”

“Did you intend to stay here when you came?”

‘Well, now—let’s not go into that.”

“You didn’t, of course. You just took the line of least resistance. Don’t you ever want to go back to the mainland and make something of yourself?”

“Oh—at first——” He was silent for a moment. “Well, I’ve failed to make the sale on Hawaii, I guess. That will always leave a scar on my heart, but there’s something more important. Have I sold myself? I’m keen about you, Julie. If you'll say the word——”

She shook her head. “Don’t let’s go into that, either, Jimmy. I’m not what you think me—I’m horrid, really—I—oh, Jimmy, you wouldn’t want to marry a— a liar, would you?”

He shrugged. “Not a professional one—no. But a clumsy amateur like you—why, you do it as though you'd had no experience at all.”

She was startled. ‘What do you mean?”

“All that about the ring. Why, in heaven’s name, do you go on with it? I’ve been wise ever since this morning, and as for Charlie Chan—say, I admire the polite way he’s treated you. I don’t believe you’ve fooled him for a minute.”

“Oh, dear—I thought I was rather good.”