192 MYSTIC ISLES 



new-comers whom Lovaina liked. He left on foot, but 

 merely took a walk, and, returning, answered her ques- 

 tion by opening his hands and shaking his head, convey- 

 ing perfectly the statement that the glacerie had refused 

 Lovaina credit because of her debt to it of two hundred 

 francs, and that cash was demanded. He intimated 

 that the proprietor had ridiculed her. 



**That dam' lie," said Lovaina to him and to me, — she 

 always supplemented her gestures to him with words, — 

 and she made a sign that she had paid the bill. He ut- 

 tered a choking sound of anger, accompanied by a dread- 

 ful grimace, and after a little while came back with a 

 large piece of ice, which he placed in the carriage. Lo- 

 vaina told him to break off a lump for my room. He 

 became indignant, and in pantomime vividly described 

 the suffering of guests at the Tiare with the ice ex- 

 hausted, and Lovaina's plight if she could sell no more 

 drinks. 



Lovaina persisted, and when I went to take the ice 

 myself, he struck me with his horsewhip. Temanu, who 

 had come with Lovaina, rushed out shrieking, and the 

 Dummy, seeing his advantage, began to threaten all who 

 came at the noise. Af a, a half-white, who lives in a cot- 

 tage in the garden, and who alone could control him, 

 slapped his face. The wretched mute sat down and 

 wept bitterly until Lovaina rubbed his back, and in- 

 formed him that he was again in her good graces. I, 

 too, smiled upon him, and he became a happy child for 

 a moment. 



The Annexe was decaying fast. In the great storm 

 of 1906 it was partly blown down, and was poorly re- 

 stored. It was the prey of rat and insect, dusty, neg- 



