Brice was no fool with women--that is, he thought so, never taking into consideration that his numerous love affairs had always ended disastrously--to the woman. And his mother, good simple soul, had thought that the best means of taking her darling son away from unapproved-of female society would be a voyage to the islands with old Tom Baldwin!
Dinner was finished, and the two men were sitting out on the verandah smoking and drinking whisky, when Brice said, carelessly--
The old trader puffed at his pipe for a minute or two ere he answered--
"Did you notice that girl at all?" and he inclined his head towards the door of the sitting-room.
Then the candid Baldwin told him her history. "I can't defend my own position. I am no better than most traders--you see it is the custom here, neither is she worse than any of these half-blooded Paumotuans. If I married a native of this particular island I would only bring trouble on my head. I could not show any preference for any particular girl for a wife without raising the bitterest quarrels among some of the leading chiefs here. You see, as a matter of fact, I should have married as soon as I came here, twenty years ago; then the trouble would have been over. But I didn't. I can see my mistake now, for I am getting old pretty fast;... and now that the missionaries are here, and I do a lot of business with them, I think us white men ought to show them some kind of respect by getting married--properly married--to our wives."
Brice laughed. "You mean, Baldwin, they should get married according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church?"
"Aye," the old trader assented. "Now, there's Loisé, there--a clever, intelligent, well-educated girl, and as far as money or trade goes, as honest as the day. Can I, an old white-headed fool of sixty, go to Australia and ask any _good_ woman to marry me, and come and live down here? No."
He smoked in silence awhile, and then resumed.
"Yes; honest and trustworthy she is, I believe; although the white blood in her veins is no recommendation. If ever you should live in the islands, my lad--which isn't likely--take an old fool's advice and never marry a half-caste, either in native fashion or in a church with a brass band and a bishop as leading features of the show."