CHAPTER XL
"She is a fool. I feel sorry for her." Marie looked again at the café clock. "It is after three! We have been sitting here almost four hours!"
Spike frowned at his feet. "Well," he remarked, "at last we are free of her...." He became lost in thought. "What did you say? Three o'clock!...
"Marie!" he exclaimed, so seriously she started and became pale, "Tell me, Marie, will you.... What would you think if.... I just had the idea ... perhaps one could ... ah...!"
"Mais, oui! What is it you wish to say?"
"You wouldn't ... that is, you would rather stay in the city than go out in the country now, wouldn't you? I know a place...."
"Now?" cried Marie, relieved. "But it is too late to go into the country! It is after three!"
"Well, I didn't think we could, really...." In a moment of silence his courage grew. "Look!" he said, "at 3:35 a train leaves from the Gare de Seaux and before half-past four we would be there."
"But it will take time to get to the station!"
"Not more than a minute. It is across the street!" He pointed to the other side of the intersection of boulevards to the entrance of an underground station. "That little gare."
"Then we'll go, and we'll have supper in the country!" Marie drummed gleefully on the table. Suddenly the noise of the streets was unendurable. They would watch the sunset from a smooth hilltop he knew. It would be pleasant to hire a carriage and take a drive uphill to Cernay in the dusk.
Spike pulled a roll of dirty paper from his pocket and put it on the table. "There it is—twenty-eight dollars worth of francs.
"One hundred million, American, was not enough!" Spike added ironically. He looked at his money and his imagination flamed. He saw what this little jaunt into the country might have been. He had been the richest man in the world—now he must ride third class! What an idiot he was!... But it was not too late! They still had the ring! His cheeks were flushed.
"Look here! When we get there we'll have to walk. Suppose we could go all the way in a limousine! Speed! The roads are smooth and we would sit together so comfortably, and not have to think about anything."
"You are mad. It would cost three or four hundred francs!"
Spike's eyes blazed. He reached toward Marie with greedy hands. "But the witch said...."
Marie drew back, stared at him as if he had become a stranger.
"Now, if I wish for just a few thousands," Spike said softly. "Or maybe a million.... We could go in the best car in Paris! We might even have supper in the Bois."
"Don't stop me now! Give me back the ring. Give me back the ring!"
"But, my dear——!"
"It's my ring. Give it back!"
"Spike, you have forgotten! You are going to spoil everything!"
Spike sat up straight with an effort. He tried but could not speak. He struck the table a smashing blow with his fist.
"No! No! I'll not!" he gasped. "I'll not try again. Marie let me have it!... Let's throw it away!"
Frightened she kept her hands behind her. "Wait! Not now! Spike! Don't hurt me!"
She snatched her hand from his grasp and threw the ring under the trees. Flecker shouted with pain and surprise. As it struck, the ring released from the earth an explosion of white smoke.
The earth shook!
The water carafe clattered on its side. Trees bowed with a loud whisper of terror as before a gale. A plate-glass window crashed to splinters. From all about came the moaning sound of things falling. Sidewalks were instantly crowded. Heads thrust out from every window amidst a hubbub of cries and questions. The waiter shuffled out, paler than ever. Madame panted at his side, her chins trembling.
"What was it?" she cried. "Was it a German bomb?"
"It was an earthquake!" said the waiter.
Spike found himself clutching Marie's hand, his shoulders hunched about his ears as if he expected the blue of the heavenly arch to fall upon him. Marie was praying, half crying, half laughing.
"Will there be another shock?" asked the waiter of anybody.
Spike looked at Marie. "Oh, no! I think not!"
His confident tone impressed men and women standing near. They looked around respectfully. The waiter was glad to believe him.
"Mon Dieu!" sighed Marie. "How frightened I was. It surprised me!"
Spike laughed aloud. She was amazed and then because he did not stop she laughed with him. The fright, so quickly replaced by knowledge of safety, shocked them into a reckless, delicious gayety.
"L'addition!"
The waiter hurried to serve them. Spike paid a big bill with a flourish.