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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11520-0.txt b/11520-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e36909b --- /dev/null +++ b/11520-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12990 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11520 *** + + The Obstacle Race + + By Ethel M. Dell + + 1921 + + + + + I DEDICATE THIS BOOK + TO MY DEAR "HALF-SISTER," + MARY, + WITH MY LOVE + + "So run, that ye may obtain."--_I Corinthians 9:24_ + + Give me the ready brain and steadfast face + To dare the hazard and to run the race, + The high heart that no scathing word can stay + O'erleaping obstacles that bar the way, + The sportsman's soul that, failing at the end, + Can smile upon the victory of a friend, + And to my judges make this one protest,-- + A poor performance but--I did my best! + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +CHAPTER + + I.--BETTER THAN LONDON + + II.--SACRIFICE + + III.--MAGIC + + IV.--BROTHER DICK + + V.--THE GREAT MAN + + VI.--THE VISITOR + + VII.--THE OFFER + + VIII.--MRS. FIELDING + + IX.--THE INTRUDER + + +PART II + + I.--THE WAND OF OFFICE + + II.--MIDSUMMER MADNESS + + III.--A DRAWN BATTLE + + IV.--A POINT OF HONOUR + + V.--THE WAY TO HAPPINESS + + VI.--RECONCILIATION + + VII.--THE SPELL + + VIII.--THE HONOURS OF WAR + + +PART III + + I.--BIRDS OF A FEATHER + + II.--SALTASH + + III.--THE PRICE + + IV.--KISMET + + V.--THE DRIVING FORCE + + VI.--THE SISTER OF MERCY + + VII.--THE SACRIFICE + + VIII.--THE MESSAGE + + IX.--THE ANSWER + + +PART IV + + I.--THE FREE GIFT + + II.--FRIENDSHIP + + III.--CONFESSION + + IV.--COUNSEL + + V.--THE THUNDERBOLT + + VI.--COALS OF FIRE + + VII.--FLIGHT + + VIII.--OUT OF THE NIGHT + + IX.--THE FREE PARDON + + X.--THE LAST FENCE + + + + +THE OBSTACLE RACE + + + + +PART I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BETTER THAN LONDON + + +A long, green wave ran up, gleaming like curved glass in the sunlight, +and broke in a million sparkles against a shelf of shingle. Above the +shingle rose the soft cliffs, clothed with scrubby grass and crowned +with gorse. + +"Columbus," said the stranger, "this is just the place for us." + +Columbus wagged a cheery tail and expressed complete agreement. He was +watching a small crab hurrying among the stones with a funny frown +between his brows. He was not quite sure of the nature or capabilities of +these creatures, and till he knew more he deemed it advisable to let them +pass without interference. A canny Scot was Columbus, and it was very +seldom indeed that anyone ever got the better of him. He was also a +gentleman to the backbone, and no word his mistress uttered, however +casual, ever passed unacknowledged by him. He always laughed when she +laughed, however obscure the joke. + +He smiled now, since she was obviously pleased, but without taking his +sharp little eyes off the object of his interest. Suddenly the scuttling +crab disappeared and he started up with a whine. In a moment he was +scratching in the shingle in eager search, flinging showers of stones +over his companion in the process. + +She protested, seizing him by his wiry tail to make him desist. +"Columbus! Don't! You're burying me alive! Do sit down and be sensible, +or I'll never be wrecked on a desert island with you again!" + +Columbus subsided, not very willingly, dropping with a grunt into the +hole he had made. His mistress released him, and took out a gold +cigarette case. + +"I wonder what I shall do when I've finished these," she mused. "The +simple life doesn't include luxuries of this sort. Only three left, +Columbus! After that, your missis'll starve." + +She lighted a cigarette with a faint pucker on her wide brow. Her eyes +looked out over the empty, tumbling sea--grey eyes very level in their +regard under black brows that were absolutely straight and inclined to be +rather heavily accentuated. + +"Yes, I wish I'd asked Muff for a few before I came away," was the +outcome of her reflections. "By this time tomorrow I shan't have one +left. Just think of that, my Christopher, and be thankful that you're +just a dog to whom one rat tastes very like another!" + +Columbus sneezed protestingly. Whatever his taste in rats, +cigarette smoke did not appeal to him. His mistress's fondness for it +was her only failing in his eyes. + +She went on reflectively, her eyes upon the sky-line. "I shall have to +take in washing to eke out a modest living in cigarettes and chocolates. +I can't subsist on Mr. Rickett's Woodbines, that's quite certain. I +wonder if there's a pawnshop anywhere near." + +Her voice was low and peculiarly soft; she uttered her words with +something of a drawl. Her hands were clasped about her knees, delicate +hands that yet looked capable. The lips that held the cigarette were +delicately moulded also, but they had considerable character. + +"If I were Lady Joanna Farringmore, I suppose I should say something +rather naughty in French, Columbus, to relieve my feelings. But you and I +don't talk French, do we? And we have struck the worthy Lady Jo and all +her crowd off our visiting-list for some time to come. I don't suppose +any of them will miss us much, do you, old chap? They'll just go on round +and round in the old eternal waltz and never realize that it leads to +nowhere." She stretched out her arms suddenly towards the horizon; then +turned and lay down by Columbus on the shingle. "Oh, I'm glad we've cut +adrift, aren't you? Even without cigarettes, it's better than London." + +Again Columbus signified his agreement by kissing her hair, in a rather +gingerly fashion on account of the smoke; after which, as she seemed to +have nothing further to say, he got up, shook himself, and trotted off to +explore the crannies in the cliffs. + +His mistress pillowed her dark head on her arm, and lay still, with the +sea singing along the ridge of shingle below her. She finished her +cigarette and seemed to doze. A brisk wind was blowing from the shore, +but the beach itself was sheltered. The sunlight poured over her in a +warm flood. It was a perfect day in May. + +Suddenly a curious thing happened. A small stone from nowhere fell with a +smart tap upon her uncovered head! She started, surprised into full +consciousness, and looked around. The shore stretched empty behind her. +There was no sign of life among the grass-grown cliffs, save where +Columbus some little distance away was digging industriously at the root +of a small bush. She searched the fringe of flaming gorse that overhung +the top of the cliff immediately behind her, but quite in vain. Some sea +gulls soared wailing overhead, but no other intruder appeared to disturb +the solitude. She gave up the search and lay down again. Perhaps the wind +had done it, though it did not seem very likely. + +The tide was rising, and she would have to move soon in any case. She +would enjoy another ten minutes of her delicious sun-bath ere she +returned for the midday meal that Mrs. Rickett was preparing in the +little thatched cottage next to the forge. + +Again she stretched herself luxuriously. Yes, it was better than London; +the soft splashing of waves was better than the laughter of a hundred +voices, better than the roar of a thousand wheels, better than the voice +of a million concerts ... Again reverie merged into drowsy absence of +thought. How exquisite the sunshine was!... + +It fell upon her dark cheek this time with a sharp sting and bounced +off on to her hand--a round black stone dropped from nowhere but with +strangely accurate aim. She sprang up abruptly. This was getting +beyond a joke. + +Columbus was still rooting beneath the distant bush. Most certainly he +was not the offender. Some boy was hiding somewhere among the humps and +clefts that constituted the rough surface of the cliff. She picked up her +walking-stick with a certain tightening of the lips. She would teach that +boy a lesson if she caught him unawares. + +Grimly she set her face to the cliff and to the narrow, winding passage +by which she had descended to the shore. Her dreams were wholly +scattered! Her cheek still smarted from the blow. She left the sea +without a backward glance. She sent forth a shrill whistle to Columbus as +she began to climb the slippery path of stones. She was convinced that +it was from this that her assailant had gathered his weapons. + +With springing steps she mounted, looking sharply to right and left as +she did so! And in a moment, turning inwards from the sea, she caught +sight of a movement among some straggling bushes a few yards to one side +of the path. + +Without an instant's hesitation she swung herself up the steep +incline, climbing with a rapidity that swiftly cut off the landward +line of retreat. She would give her assailant a fright for his pains +if nothing better. + +And then just as she reached the level, very sharply she stopped. It was +as if a hand had caught her back. For suddenly there rose up before her a +figure so strange that for a moment she felt almost like a scared child. +It sprang from the bushes and stood facing her like an animal at bay--a +short creature neither man nor boy, misshapen, grotesquely humped, +possessing long thin arms of almost baboon-like proportions. The head +was sunken into the shoulders. It was flung back and the face +upraised--and it was the face that made her pause, for it was the most +pathetic sight she had ever looked upon. It was the face of a lad of two +or three and twenty, but drawn in lines so painful, so hollowed, so +piteous, that fear melted into compassion at the sight. The dark eyes +that stared upwards had a frightened look mingled with a certain +defiance. He stood barefooted on the edge of the cliff, clenching and +unclenching his bony hands, with the air of a culprit awaiting sentence. + +There was a decided pause before his victim spoke. She found some +difficulty in grappling with the situation, but she had no intention of +turning her back upon it. She felt it must be tackled with resolution. + +After a moment she spoke, with as much sternness as she could muster, +"Why did you throw those stones?" + +He backed at the sound of her voice, and she had an instant of sickening +fear, for there was a drop of twenty feet behind him on the shingle. But +he must have seen her look, for he stopped himself on the brink, and +stood there doggedly. + +"Don't stand there!" she said quickly. "I'm not going to hurt you." + +He lowered his head, and looked at her from under drawn brows. "Yes, you +are," he said gruffly. "You're going to beat me with that stick." + +The shrewdness of this surmise struck her as not without humour. She +smiled, and, turning, flung the stick straight down to the path below. +"Now!" she said. + +He came forward, not very willingly, and stood within a couple of yards +of her, still looking as if he expected some sort of chastisement. + +She faced him, and the last of her fear departed. Though he was so +terribly deformed that he looked like some dreadful beast reared on its +hind legs there was that about the face, sullen though it was, that +stirred her deepest feelings. + +She did her best to conceal the fact, however. "Tell me why you threw +those stones!" she said. + +"Because I wanted to hit you," he returned with disconcerting +promptitude. + +She looked at him steadily. "How very unkind of you!" she said. + +His eyes gleamed with a smouldering resentment. "No, it wasn't. I didn't +want you there. Dicky is coming soon, and he likes it best when there is +no one there." + +She noticed that though there was scant courtesy in his speech, it was by +no means the rough talk of the fisher-folk. It fired her curiosity. "And +who is Dicky?" she said. + +"Who are you?" he retorted rudely. + +She smiled again. "You are not very polite, are you? But I don't +mind telling you if you want to know. My name is Juliet Moore. Now +tell me yours!" + +He looked at her doubtfully. "Juliet is a name out of a book," he said. + +She laughed, a low, soft laugh that woke an answering glimmer of +amusement in his sullen face. "How clever of you to know that!" she said. + +"No, I'm not clever." Tersely he contradicted her. "Old Swag at The Three +Tuns says I'm the village idiot." + +"What a horrid old man!" she exclaimed almost involuntarily. + +He nodded his heavy head. "Yes, I knocked him down the other day, and +kicked him for it. Dicky caned me afterwards,--I'm not supposed to go to +The Three Tuns--but I was glad I'd done it all the same." + +"Well, who is Dicky?" she asked again. Her interest was growing. + +He glared at her with sudden suspicion. "What do you want to know for?" + +"Because I think he must be rather a brave man," she said. + +The suspicion vanished. His eyes shown. "Oh, Dicky isn't afraid of +anything," he declared with pride. "He's my brother. He knows--heaps of +things. He's a man." + +"You are fond of him," said Juliet, with her friendly smile. + +The boy's face lighted up. "He's the only person I love in the world," he +said, "except Mrs. Rickett's baby." + +"Mrs. Rickett's baby!" She checked a quick desire to laugh that caught +her unawares. "You are fond of babies then?" + +"No, I'm not. I like dogs. I don't like babies--except Mrs. Rickett's +and he's such a jolly little cuss." He smiled over the words, and again +she felt a deep compassion. Somehow his face seemed almost sadder when +he smiled. + +"I am staying with Mrs. Rickett," she said. "But I only came yesterday, +and I haven't made the baby's acquaintance yet. I must get myself +introduced. You haven't told me your name yet, you know. Mayn't I hear +what it is? I've told you mine." + +He looked at her with renewed suspicion. "Hasn't anybody told you about +Me yet?" he said. + +"No, of course not. Why, I don't know anybody except Mr. and Mrs. +Rickett. And it's much more interesting to hear it from yourself." + +"Is it?" He hesitated a little longer, but was finally disarmed by the +kindness of her smile. "My name is Robin." + +"Oh, that's a nice name," Juliet said. "And you live here? What do you +do all day?" + +"I don't know," he said vaguely. "I can mend fishing-nets, and I can help +Dicky in the garden. And I look after Mrs. Rickett's baby sometimes when +she's busy. What do you do?" suddenly resuming his attitude of suspicion. + +She made a slight gesture of the hands. "Nothing at all worth doing, I am +afraid," she said. "I can't mend nets. I don't garden. And I've never +looked after a baby in my life." + +He stared at her. "Where do you come from?" he asked curiously. + +"From London." She met his curiosity with absolute candour. "And I'm +tired of it. I'm very tired of it. So I've come here for a change. I'm +going to like this much better." + +"Better than London!" He gazed, incredulous. + +"Oh, much better." Juliet spoke with absolute confidence. "Ah, here is +Columbus! He likes it better too." + +She turned to greet her companion who now came hastening up to view the +new acquaintance. + +He sniffed round Robin who bent awkwardly and laid a fondling hand upon +him. "I like your dog," he said. + +"That's right," said Juliet kindly. "We are both staying at the +Ricketts', so when you come to see the baby, I hope you will come to see +us too. I must go now, or I shall be late for lunch. Good-bye!" + +The boy lifted himself again with a slow, ungainly movement, and raised a +hand to his forehead in wholly unexpected salute. + +She smiled and turned to depart, but he spoke again, arresting her. + +"I say!" + +She looked back. "Yes? What is it?" + +He shuffled his bare feet in the grass in embarrassment and murmured +something she could not hear. + +"What is it?" she said again, encouragingly, as if she were addressing a +shy child. + +He lifted his dark eyes to hers in sudden appeal. "I say," he said, with +obvious effort, "if--if you meet Dicky, you--you won't tell him +about--about--" + +She checked the struggling words with a very kindly gesture. "Oh, no, of +course not! I'm not that sort of person. But the next time you want to +get rid of me, just come and tell me so, and I'll go away at once." + +The gentleness of her speech uttered in that soft slow voice of hers +had a curious effect upon her hearer. To her surprise, his eyes filled +with tears. + +"I shan't want to get rid of you! You're kind! I like you!" he +blurted forth. + +"Oh, thank you very much!" said Juliet, feeling oddly moved herself. "In +that case, we are friends. Good-bye! Come and see me soon!" + +She smiled upon him, and departed, picking up her stick from the path +and turning to wave to him as she continued the ascent. + +From the top of the cliff she looked back, and saw that he was +still standing--a squat, fantastic figure like a goblin out of a +fairy-tale--outlined against the shining sea behind him, a blot +upon the blue. + +Again she waved to him and he lifted one of his long arms and saluted her +again in answer--stood at the salute till she turned away. + +"Poor boy!" she murmured compassionately. "Poor ruined child! Columbus, +we must be kind to him." + +And Columbus looked up with knowing little eyes and wagged a smiling +tail. He had taken to the lad himself. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SACRIFICE + + +"Lor' bless you!" said Mrs. Rickett. "There's some folks as thinks young +Robin is the plague of the neighbourhood, but there ain't no harm in the +lad if he's let alone. It's when them little varmints of village boys, +sets on to him and teases him as he ain't safe. But let him be, and he's +as quiet as a lamb. O' course if they great hulking fools on the shore +goes and takes him into The Three Tuns, you can't expect him to behave +respectable. But as I always says, let him alone and there's no vice in +him. Why, I've seen him go away into a corner and cry like a baby at a +sharp word from his brother Dick. He sets such store by him." + +"I noticed that," said Juliet. "In fact he told me that Dicky and your +baby were the only two people in the world that he loved." + +"Did he now? Well, did you ever?" Mrs. Rickett's weather-beaten +countenance softened as it were in spite of itself. "He always did take +to my Freddy, right from the very first. And Freddy's just the same. Soon +as ever he catches sight of Robin, he's all in a fever like to get to +him. Mr. Fielding from the Court, he were in here the other day and he +see 'em together. 'Your baby's got funny taste, Mrs. Rickett,' he says +and laughs. And I says to him, 'There's a many worse than poor young +Robin, sir,' I says. 'And in our own village too.' You see, Mr. Fielding +he's one of them gentlemen as likes to have the managing of other folks' +affairs and he's always been on to Dick to have poor Robin put away. But +Dick won't hear of it, and I don't blame him. For, as I say, there's no +harm in the lad if he's treated proper, and he'd break his heart if they +was to send him away. And he's that devoted to Dick too--well, there, it +fair makes me cry sometimes to see him. He'll sit and wait for him by the +hour together, like a dog he will." + +"Was he born like that?" asked Juliet, as her informant paused for +breath. + +Mrs. Rickett pursed her lips. "Well, you see, miss, he were a twin, and +he never did thrive from the very earliest. But he wasn't a hunchback, +not like he is now, at first. The poor mother died when they was born, +and p'raps it were a good thing, for she'd have grieved terrible if she +could have seen what he were a-going to grow into. For she was a lady +born and bred, married beneath her, you know. Nor she didn't have any +such life of it either. He were a sea-captain--a funny, Frenchy-looking +fellow with a frightful temper. He never come home for twelve years after +Dick were born. She used to teach at the village school, and make her +living that way. Very sweet in her ways she were. Everyone liked her. +There's them as says Mr. Fielding was in love with her. He didn't marry, +you know, till long after. She used to sing too, and such a pretty voice +she'd got. I used to think she was like an angel when I was a child. And +so she were. Whether she'd have married Mr. Fielding or not I don't know. +There's some as thinks she would. They were very friendly together. And +then, quite sudden-like, when everyone thought he'd been dead for years, +her husband come home again. I'll never forget it if I lives to be a +hundred. I was only a bit of a girl then. It's more'n twenty years ago, +you know, miss. I were just tidying up a bit in the school-house after +school were over, and she were looking at some copybooks, when suddenly +he marched in at the door, and, 'Hullo, Olive!' he says. She got up, and +she was as white as a sheet. She didn't say one word. And he just come up +to her, and took hold of her and kissed her and kissed her. It was horrid +to see him, fair turned me up," said Mrs. Rickett graphically. "And I'll +never forget her face when he let her go. She looked as if she'd had her +death blow. And so she had, miss. For she was never the same again. The +man was a beast, as anyone could see, and he hadn't improved in them +twelve years. He were a hard drinker, and he used to torment her to drink +with him, used to knock young Dick about too, something cruel. Dick were +only a lad of twelve, but he says to me once, 'I'll kill that man,' he +says. 'I'll kill him.' Mr. Fielding he went abroad as soon as the husband +turned up, and he didn't know what goings-on there were. There's some as +says she made him go, and I shouldn't wonder but what there was something +in it. For if ever any poor soul suffered martyrdom, it was that woman. +I'll never forget the change in her, never as long as I live. She kept up +for a long time, but she looked awful, and then at last when her time +drew near she broke down and used to cry and cry when anyone spoke to +her. O' course we all knew as she wouldn't get over it. Her spirit was +quite broke, and when the babies came she hadn't a chance. It happened +very quick at the last, and her husband weren't there. He were down at +The Three Tuns, and when they went to fetch him he laughed in their faces +and went on drinking. Oh, it was cruel." Mrs. Rickett wiped away some +indignant tears. "Not as she wanted him--never even mentioned his name. +She only asked for Dick, and he was with her just at the end. He was only +a lad of thirteen, miss, but he was a man grown from that night on. She +begged him to look after the babies, and he promised her he would. And +then she just lay holding his hand till she died. He seemed dazed-like +when they told him she were gone, and just went straight out without a +word. No one ever saw young Dick break down after that. He's got a will +like steel." + +"And the horrible husband?" asked Juliet, now thoroughly interested in +Mrs. Rickett's favourite tragedy. + +"I were coming to him," said Mrs. Rickett, with obvious relish. "The +husband stayed at The Three Tuns till closing time, then he went out +roaring drunk, took the cliff-path by mistake, and went over the cliff in +the dark. The tide was up, and he was drowned. And a great pity it didn't +happen a little bit sooner, says I! The nasty coarse hulking brute! I'd +have learned him a thing or two if he'd belonged to me." Again, +vindictively, Mrs. Rickett wiped her eyes. "Believe me, miss, there's no +martyrdom so bad as getting married to the wrong man. I've seen it once +and again, and I knows." + +"I quite agree with you," said Juliet. "But tell me some more! Who took +the poor babies?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Cross at the lodge took them. Mr. Fielding provided for 'em, +and he helped young Dick along too. He's been very good to them always. +He had young Jack trained, and now he's his chauffeur and making a very +good living. The worst of Jack is, he ain't over steady, got too much of +his father in him to please me. He's always after some girl--two or +three at a time sometimes. No harm in the lad, I daresay. But he's wild, +you know. Dick finds him rather a handful very often. Robin can't abide +him, which perhaps isn't much to be wondered at, seeing as it was mostly +Jack's fault that he is such a poor cripple. He was always sickly. It's +often the way with twins, you know. All the strength goes to one. But he +always had to do what Jack did as a little one, and Jack led him into all +sorts of mischief, till one day when they were about ten they went off +bird's-nesting along the cliffs High Shale Point way, and only Jack come +back late at night to say his brother had gone over the cliff. Dick tore +off with some of the chaps from the shore. It were dark and windy, and +they all said it was no use, but Dick insisted upon going down the face +of the cliff on a rope to find him. And find him at last he did on a +ledge about a hundred feet down. He was so badly hurt that he thought +he'd broke his back, and he didn't dare move him till morning, but just +stayed there with him all night long. Oh, it was a dreadful business." A +large tear splashed unchecked on to Mrs. Rickett's apron. "An ill-fated +family, as you might say. They got 'em up in the morning o' course, but +poor little Robin was very bad. He was on his back for nearly a year +after, and then, when he began to get about again, them humps came and he +grew crooked. Mr. Fielding were away at the time, hunting somewhere in +the wilds of Africa, and when he came home he were shocked to see the +lad. He had the very best doctors in the land to see him, but they all +said there was nothing to be done. The spine had got twisted, or +something of that nature, and he'd begun to have queer giddy fits too as +made 'em say the brain were affected, which it really weren't, miss, for +he's as sane as you or me, only simple you know, just a bit simple. They +said, all of 'em, as how he'd never live to grow up. He'd get them +abscies at the base of the skull, and they'd reach his brain and he'd go +raving mad and die. And the squire--that's Mr. Fielding--was all for +putting him away there and then. But Dick, he'd nursed him all through, +and he wouldn't hear of it. 'The boy's mine,' he says, 'and I'm going to +look after him.' Mr. Fielding was very cross with him, but that didn't +make no difference. You see, Dick had got fond of him, and as for Robin, +why, he just worshipped Dick. So there it was left, and Dick gave up all +his prospects to keep the boy with him. He were reading for the law, you +see, but he gave it all up and turned schoolmaster, so as he could live +here and take care of young Robin." + +"Turned schoolmaster!" Juliet repeated the words. "He's something of a +scholar then!" + +"Oh, no," said Mrs. Rickett. "It's only the village school, miss. Mr. +Fielding got him the post. They're an unruly set of varmints here, but he +keeps order among 'em. He's quite clever, as you might say, but no, he +ain't a scholard. He goes in for games, you know, football and the like, +tries to teach 'em to play like gentlemen, which he never will, for +they're a low lot, them shore people, and that dirty! Well, he makes 'em +bathe every day in the summer whether they likes it or whether they +don't. Oh, he does his best to civilize 'em, and all them fisher chaps +thinks a deal of him too. They've got a club in the village what Mr. +Fielding built for 'em, and he goes along there and gives 'em musical +evenings and jollies 'em generally. They'll do anything for him, bless +you. But he tells 'em off pretty straight sometimes. They'll take it from +him, you see, because they respects him." + +"I thought the parson always did that sort of thing," said Juliet. + +Mrs. Rickett uttered a brief, expressive snort. "He ain't much +use--except for the church. He's old, you see, and he don't understand +'em. And he's scared at them chaps what works the lead mines over at High +Shale. It's all in this parish, you know. And they are a horrid rough +lot, a deal worse than the fisher-folk. But Dick he don't mind 'em. And +he can do anything with 'em too, plays his banjo and sings and makes 'em +laugh. The mines belong to the Farringmore family, you know--Lord +Wilchester owns 'em. But he never comes near, and a' course the men gets +discontented and difficult. And they're a nasty drinking lot too. Why, +the manager--that's Mr. Ashcott--he's at his wit's end sometimes. But +Dick--oh, Dick can always handle 'em, knows 'em inside and out, and their +wives too. Yes, he's very clever is Dick. But he's thrown away in this +place. It's a pity, you know. If it weren't for Robin, it's my belief +that he'd be a great man. He's a born leader. But he's never had a +chance, and it don't look like as if he ever will now, poor fellow!" + +Mrs. Rickett ended mournfully and picked up Juliet's empty plate. + +"How old is he?" asked Juliet. + +"Oh, he's a lot past thirty now, getting too old to turn his hand to +anything new. Mr. Fielding he's always on to him about it, but it don't +make no difference. He'll never take up any other work while Robin lives. +And Robin is stronger nor what he used to be, all thanks to Dick's care. +He's just sacrificed everything to that boy, you know. It don't seem +hardly right, do it?" + +"I don't know," Juliet said slowly. "Some sacrifices are worth while." + +Mrs. Rickett looked a little puzzled. There was something about +this young lodger of hers that she could not quite fathom, but +since she 'liked the looks of her' she did not regard this fact as +a serious drawback. + +"Well, there's some folks as thinks one way and some another," she +conceded. "My husband always says as there's quite a lot of good in Robin +if he's treated decent. He's often round here at the forge. That's how he +come to get so fond of my Freddy. You ain't seen Freddy yet, miss. He's a +bit shy like with strangers, but he soon gets over it." + +"You must bring him in to see me," said Juliet. + +Mrs. Rickett beamed. "I will, miss, I will. I'll bring him in with the +pudding. P'raps if you was to give him a little bit he wouldn't be shy. +He's very fond of gingerbread pudding." + +"I wish I were!" sighed Juliet, as her landlady's portly form +disappeared. "I shall certainly have to have a cigarette after it, and +then there will only be one left! Oh, dear, why was I brought up among +the flesh-pots?" She broke off with a sudden irresistible laugh, and +rising went to the window. Someone was sauntering down the road on the +other side of the high privet hedge. There came to her a whiff of +cigarette-smoke wafted on the sea-breeze. She leaned forth, and at the +gap by the gate caught a glimpse of a trim young man in blue serge +wearing a white linen hat. She scarcely saw his face as he passed, but +she had a fleeting vision of the cigarette. + +"I wonder where you get them from," she murmured wistfully. "I believe I +could get to like that brand, and they can't be as expensive as mine." + +The door opened behind her, and she turned back smiling to greet the +ginger pudding and Freddy. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MAGIC + + +The scent of the gorse in the evening dew was as incense offered to the +stars. To Juliet, wandering forth in the twilight after supper with +Columbus, the exquisite fragrance was almost intoxicating. It seemed to +drug the senses. She went along the path at the top of the cliff as one +in a dream. + +The sea was like a dream-sea also, silver under the stars, barely +rippling against the shingle, immensely and mysteriously calm. She went +on and on, scarcely feeling the ground beneath her feet, moving through +an atmosphere of pure magic, all her pulses thrilling to the wonder of +the night. + +Suddenly, from somewhere not far distant among the gorse bushes, there +came a sound. She stopped, and it seemed to her that all the world +stopped with her to hear the first soft trill of a nightingale through +the tender dusk. It went into silence, but it left her heart throbbing +strangely. Surely--surely there was magic all around her! That bird-voice +in the silence thrilled her through and through. She stood spell-bound, +waiting for the enchanted music to fill her soul. There followed a few +liquid notes, and then there came a far-off, flute-like call, gradually +swelling, gradually drawing nearer, so pure, so wild, so full of ecstasy, +that she almost felt as if it were more than she could bear. It broke at +last in a crystal shower of song, and she turned and looked out over the +glittering sea and asked herself if it could be real. It was as if a +spirit had called to her out of the summer night. + +Then Columbus came careering along the path in fevered search of her, and +quite suddenly, like the closing of a lid, the magic sounds vanished into +a deep silence. + +"Oh, Columbus!" his mistress murmured reproachfully. "You've stopped +the music!" + +Columbus responded by planting his paws against her, and giving her a +vigorous push. There was decidedly more of common sense than poetry in +his composition. The passion for exploring which had earned him his name +was his main characteristic, and he wanted to get as far as possible +before the time arrived to turn back. + +She yielded to his persuasion, and walked on up the path with her face to +the shimmering sea. For some reason she felt divinely happy, as if she +had drunk of the wine of the gods. It had been so wonderful--that song of +starlight and of Spring. + +It was very warm, and she wore neither hat nor wrap. If she had come out +in a bathing-dress, no one would have known, she reflected. But in this +she was wrong, for presently, as she sauntered along, she became aware of +a faint scent other than the wonderful cocoa-nut perfume of the gorse +bushes--a scent that made her aware of the presence of another human +being in that magic place. + +She looked about for him with a faint smile on her lips, but the +cliff-path ran empty before her, ascending in a series of fairly stiff +climbs to the brow of High Shale Point. Columbus hurried along ahead of +her as if he had made up his mind to reach the top at all costs. But +Juliet had no intention of mounting to the summit of the frowning cliff +that night. She had a vagrant desire to track that elusive scent, but +even that, it seemed was not to be satisfied, and at length she stopped +again and sent a summoning whistle after Columbus. + +It was almost at the same moment that there came from behind her a sound +that shattered all the fairy romance of the night at a blow. She turned +sharply, and immediately, like a fiendish chorus, it came again spreading +and echoing along the cliffs--the yelling of drunken laughter. + +Several men were coming along the path that she had travelled. She saw +them vaguely in the dimness a little way below her, and realized that her +retreat in that direction was cut off. Swiftly she considered the +position, for there was no time to be lost. To pursue the path would be +to go farther and farther away from the village and civilization, but for +the moment she saw no other course. On one hand the gorse bushes made a +practically impenetrable rampart, and on the other the cliff overhung the +shore which at that point was nearly two hundred feet below. From where +she stood, no way of escape presented itself, and she turned in despair +to follow the path a little farther. But as she did so, she heard another +wild shout from behind her, and it flashed upon her with a stab of dismay +that her light dress had betrayed her. She had been sighted by the +intruders, and they were pursuing her. She heard the stamp and scuffle of +running feet that were not too sure of their stability, and with the +sound something very like panic entered into Juliet. Her heart jolted +within her, and the impulse to flee like a hunted hare was for a second +almost too urgent to be withstood. That she did withstand it was a matter +for life-long thankfulness in her estimation. The temptation was great, +but she did not spring from the stock that runs away. She pulled herself +up sharply with burning cheeks, and deliberately turned and waited. + +They came up the path, yelling like hounds on a scent, while she stood +perfectly erect and motionless, facing them. There were five of them, +hulking youths all inflamed by drink if not actually tipsy, and they came +around her with shouts of idiotic laughter and incoherent joking, +evidently taking her for a village girl. + +She stood her ground with her back to the cliff-edge, not yielding an +inch, contempt in every line. "Will you kindly go your way," she said, +"and allow me to go mine?" + +They responded with yells of derision, and one young man, emboldened by +the jeers of his companions, came close to her and leered into her face +of rigid disdain. "I'm damned if I won't have a kiss first!" he swore, +and flung a rough arm about her. + +Juliet moved then with the fierce suddenness of a wild thing trapped. She +wrenched herself from him in furious disgust. + +"You hound!" she began to say. But the word was never fully uttered, for +as it sprang to her lips, it went into a desperate cry. The ground had +given way beneath her feet, and she fell straight backwards over that +awful edge. For the fraction of an instant she saw the stars in the deep +blue sky above her, then, like the snap of a spring, they vanished into +darkness... + +It was a darkness that spread and spread like an endless sea, submerging +all things. No light could penetrate it; only a few vague sounds and +impressions somehow filtered through. And then--how it happened she had +not the faintest notion--she was aware of someone lifting her out of the +depth that had received her, and there came again to her nostrils that +subtle aroma of cigarette-smoke that had mingled with the scent of the +gorse. She came to herself gasping, but for some reason she dared not +look up. That single glimpse of the wheeling universe seemed to have +sealed her vision. + +Then a voice spoke. "I say, do open your eyes, if you don't mind! You're +really not dead. You've only had a tumble." + +That voice awoke her quite effectually. The mixture of entreaty and +common sense it contained strangely stirred her curiosity. She opened her +eyes wide upon the speaker. + +"Hullo!" she said faintly. + +He was kneeling by her side, looking closely into her face, and the first +thing that struck her was the extreme brightness of his eyes. They shone +like black onyx. + +He responded at once, his voice very low and rapid. "It's perfectly all +right. You needn't be afraid. I was just in time to catch you. There's an +easier way down close by, but you wouldn't see it in this light. Feeling +better now? Like to sit up?" + +She awoke to the fact that she was propped against his knee. She sat up, +still gasping a little, but shrank as she realized the narrowness of the +ledge upon which she was resting. + +He thrust out a protecting arm in front of her. "It's all right. You're +absolutely safe. Don't shiver like that! You couldn't go over if you +tried. Don't look if it makes you giddy!" + +She looked again into his face, and again was struck by the amazing +keenness of his eyes. + +"How did you get here?" she said. + +"Oh, it's easy enough when you know the way. I was just coming to help +you when you came over. You didn't hear me shout?" + +"No. They were all making such a horrid noise." She suppressed a shudder. +"Have they gone now?" + +"Yes, the brutes! They scooted. I'm going after them directly." + +"Oh, please don't!" she said hastily. "Not for the world! I don't want to +be left alone here. I've had enough of it." + +She tried to smile with the words, but it was rather a trembling attempt. +He abandoned his intention at once. + +"All right. It'll keep. Look here, shall I help you up? You'll feel +better on the top." + +"I think I had better stay here for a minute," Juliet said. "I--I'm +afraid I shall make an idiot of myself if I don't." + +"No, you won't. You'll be all right." He thrust an abrupt arm around her +shoulders, gripping them hard to still her trembling. "Lean against me! +I've got you quite safe." + +She relaxed with a murmur of thanks. There was something intensely +reassuring about that firm grip. She sat quite motionless for a space +with closed eyes, gradually regaining her self-command. + +In the end a snuffle and whine from above aroused her. She sat up +with a start. + +"Oh, Columbus! Don't let him fall over!" + +Her companion laughed a little. "Let's get back to him then! Don't look +down! Keep your face to the cliff! And remember I've got hold of you! You +can't fall." + +She struggled blindly to her feet, helped by his arm behind her; but, +though she did not look down, she was seized immediately by an +overwhelming giddiness that made her totter back against him. + +"I'm dreadfully sorry," she said, almost in tears. "I can't help it. I'm +an idiot." + +He held her up with unfailing steadiness. "All right! All right!" he +said. "Don't get frightened! Move along slowly with me! Keep your face to +the cliff, and you'll come to some steps! That's the way! Yes, we've got +to get round that jutting-out bit. It's perfectly safe. Keep your head! +It's quite easy on the other side." + +It might be perfectly safe for a practised climber, but Juliet's heart +was in her mouth when she reached the projecting corner of cliff where +the ledge narrowed to a bare eighteen inches and the rock bulged outwards +as if to push off all trespassers. + +She came to a standstill, clinging desperately to the unyielding stone. +"I can't possibly do it," she said helplessly. + +"Yes, you can. You've got to." Quick as lightning came the words. "Go on +and don't be silly! Of course you can do it! A child could." + +He loosened her clutching fingers with the words, and pushed her onwards. +She went, driven by a force such as she had never encountered before. + +She heard the soft wash of the sea far below her above the sickening +thudding of her heart as she crept forward round that terrible bend. She +heard with an acuteness that made her marvel the long sweet note of the +nightingale swelling among the bushes above. She also heard a watch +ticking with amazing loudness close to her ear, and was aware of a very +firm hand that grasped her shoulder, impelling her forward. There was no +resisting that steady pressure. She crept on step by step because she +could not do otherwise; and when she had rounded that awful corner at +last and would fain have stopped to rest after the ordeal, she found that +she must needs go on, for he would not suffer any pause. + +He had followed her so closely that his hold upon her had never varied. +There seemed to her to be something electric in the very touch of his +fingers. She was fully conscious of the fact that she moved by a strength +outside her own. + +"Go on!" he said. "Go on! There's Columbus waiting for you. Can you see +the steps? They're close here. They're a bit rough, I'm afraid. I made +them myself. But you'll manage them." + +She came to the steps. The path had widened somewhat, and the dreadful +sense of sheer depth below her was less insistent. Nevertheless, the way +was far from easy, the steps being little more than deep notches in the +cliff. It slanted inwards here however, and she set herself to achieve +the ascent with more assurance. + +Her guide came immediately behind her. She felt his hand touch her at +every step she took. Just at the last, realizing the nearness of the +summit and safety, she tried to hasten, and in a moment slipped. He +grabbed her instantly, but she could not recover her footing though she +made a frantic effort to do so. She sprawled against the cliff, clutching +madly at some tufts of grass and weed above her, while the man behind her +gripped and held her there. + +"Don't struggle!" he said. "You're all right. You won't fall. Let go of +that stuff and hang on to me!" + +"I can't!" she said. "I can't!" + +"Let go of that stuff and hang on to me!" he said again, and the words +were short and sharp. "Left hand first! Put your arm round my neck, and +then get round and hang on with the other! It's only a few feet more. I +can manage it." + +They were the most definite instructions she had ever received in her +life, and the most difficult to obey. She hung, clinging with both hands, +still vainly seeking a foothold, desperately afraid to relinquish her +hold and trust herself unreservedly to his single-handed strength. But, +as he waited, it came to her that it was the only thing to do. With a +gasp she freed one hand at length and reaching back as he held her she +thrust it over his shoulder. + +"Now the other hand, please!" he said. + +She did not know how she did it. It was like loosing her grip upon life +itself. Yet after a few seconds of torturing irresolution she obeyed him, +abandoning her last hold and hanging to him in palpitating apprehension. + +He put forth his full strength then. She felt the strain of his +muscles as he gathered her up with one arm. With the other hand, had +she but known it, he was grasping only the naked rock. Yet he moved +as if absolutely sure of himself. He drew a deep hard breath, and +began to mount. + +It was only a few feet to the top as he had said, but the climb seemed +to her unending. She was conscious throughout that his endurance was +being put to the utmost test, and only by the most complete passivity +could she help him. + +But he never faltered, and finally--just when she had begun to wonder if +this awful nightmare of danger could ever cease--she found herself set +down upon the dewy grass that covered the top of the cliff. The scent of +the gorse bushes came again to her and the far sweet call of the +nightingale. And she realized that the danger was past and she was back +once more in the magic region of her summer dreams from which she had +been so rudely flung. She saw again the shimmering, wonderful sea and the +ever-brightening stars. One of them hung, a golden globe of light like a +beacon on the dim horizon. + +Then Columbus came pushing and nuzzling against her, full of tender +enquiries and congratulations; and something that she did not fully +understand made her turn and clasp him closely with a sudden rush of +tears. The danger was over, all over. And never till this moment had she +realized how amazingly sweet was life. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BROTHER DICK + + +She covered her emotion with the most herculean efforts at gaiety. She +laughed very shakily at the solicitude expressed by Columbus, and told +him tremulously how absurd and ridiculous he was to make such a fuss +about nothing. + +After this, feeling a little better, she ventured a glance at her +companion. He was on his feet and wiping his forehead--a man of medium +height and no great breadth of shoulder, but evidently well knit and +athletic. Becoming by some means aware of her attention, he put away his +handkerchief and turned towards her. She saw his eyes gleam under black, +mobile brows that seemed to denote a considerable sense of humour. The +whole of his face held an astonishing amount of vitality, but the lips +were straight and rather hard, so clean-cut as to be almost ascetic. He +looked to her like a man who would suffer to the utmost, but never lose +his self-control. And she thought she read a pride more than ordinary in +the cast of his features--a man capable of practically anything save the +asking or receiving of favours. + +Then he spoke, and curiously all criticism vanished. "I had better +introduce myself," he said. "I'm afraid I've been unpardonably rude. My +name is Green." + +Green! The word darted at her like an imp of mischief. The romantic +dropped to the prosaic with a suddenness that provoked in her an almost +irresistible desire to laugh. + +She controlled it swiftly, but she was fully aware that she had not +hidden it as she rose to her feet and offered her hand to her cavalier. + +"How do you do, Mr. Green? My name is Moore--Miss Moore. Will you allow +me to thank you for saving my life?" + +Her voice throbbed a little; tears and laughter were almost equally near +the surface at that moment. She was extremely disgusted with herself for +her lack of composure. + +Then again, as his hand grasped hers, she forgot to criticize. "I say, +please don't!" he said. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It +was jolly plucky of you to stand your ground with those hooligans from +the mine." + +"But I didn't stand my ground," she pointed out. "I went over. It was a +most undignified proceeding, wasn't it?" + +"No, it wasn't," he declared. "You did it awfully well. I wish I'd been +nearer to you, but I couldn't possibly get up in time." + +"Oh, I think you were more useful where you were," she said, "thank you +all the same. I must have gone clean to the bottom otherwise. I +thought I had." + +She caught back an involuntary shudder, and in a moment the hand that +held hers closed unceremoniously and drew her further from the edge of +the cliff. + +"You are sure you are none the worse, now?" he said. "Not giddy or +anything?" + +"No, not anything," she said. + +But she was glad of his hold none the less, and he seemed to know it, for +he kept her hand firmly clasped. + +"You must let me see you back," he said. "Where are you staying?" + +"At Mrs. Rickett's," she told him. "The village smithy, you know." + +"I know," he said. "Down at Little Shale, you mean. You've come some way, +haven't you?" + +"It was such a lovely night," she said, "and Columbus wanted a walk. I +got led on, I didn't know I was likely to meet anyone." + +"It's the short cut to High Shale," he said. "There is always the chance +of meeting these fellows along here. You'd be safer going the other way." + +"But I like the furze bushes and the nightingale," she said +regretfully, "and the exquisite wildness of it. It is not nearly so +nice the other way." + +He laughed. "No, but it's safer. Come this way as much as you like in the +morning, but go the other way at night!" + +He turned with the words, and began to lead her down the path. She went +with him as one who responds instinctively to a power unquestioned. The +magic of the night was closing about her again. She heard the voice of +the nightingale thrilling through the silence. + +"This is the most wonderful place I have ever seen," she said at last in +a tone of awe. + +"Is it?" he said. + +His lack of enthusiasm surprised her. "Don't you think so too?" she said. +"Doesn't it seem wonderful to you?" + +He glanced out to sea for a moment. "You see I live here," he said. "Yes, +it's quite a beautiful place. But it isn't always like this. It's +primitive. It can be savage. You wouldn't like it always." + +"I'm thinking of settling down here all the same," said Juliet. + +He stopped short in the path. "Are you really?" + +She nodded with a smile. "You seem surprised. Why shouldn't I? Isn't +there room for one more?" + +"Oh, plenty of room," he said, and walked on again as abruptly as he +had paused. + +The path became wider and more level, and he relinquished her hand. "You +won't stay," he said with conviction. + +"I wonder," said Juliet. + +"Of course you won't!" A hint of vehemence crept into his speech. "When +the nightingales have left off singing, and the wild roses are over, +you'll go." + +"You seem very sure of that," said Juliet. + +"Yes, I am sure." He spoke uncompromisingly, almost contemptuously, +she thought. + +"You evidently don't stay here because you like it," she said. + +"My work is here," he returned noncommittally. She wondered a little, but +something held her back from pursuing the matter. She walked several +paces in silence. Then, "I wish I could find work here," she said, in her +slow deep voice. "It would do me a lot of good." + +"Would it?" He turned towards her. "But that isn't what you came for--not +to find work, I mean?" + +"Well, no--not primarily." She made the admission almost guiltily. "But I +think everyone ought to be able to earn a livelihood, don't you?" + +"It's safer certainly," he said. "But it isn't everyone that is +qualified for it." + +"No?" Her voice was whimsical. "And you think I shall seek in vain for +any suitable niche here?" + +"It depends upon what your capabilities are," he said. + +"My capabilities!" She laughed, a soft, low laugh. "Columbus! What are my +capabilities!" + +They had reached a railing and a gate across the path leading down to +the village. Columbus, waiting to go through, wriggled in a manner that +expressed his entire ignorance on the subject. Juliet leaned against the +gate with her face to the western sky. + +"My capabilities!" she mused. "Let me see! What can I do?" She looked at +her companion with a smile. "I am afraid I shall have to refer you to +Lady Joanna Farringmore. She can tell you--exactly." + +He made a slight movement of surprise. "You know the Farringmore family?" + +She raised her brows a little. "Yes. Do you?" + +"By hearsay only. Lord Wilchester owns the High Shale Mines. I have never +met any of them." He spoke without enthusiasm. + +"And never want to?" she suggested. "I quite understand. I am very tired +of them myself just now--most especially of Lady Joanna. But perhaps it +is rather bad taste to say so, as I have been brought up as her companion +from childhood." + +"And now you have left her?" he said. + +"Yes I have left her. I have disapproved of her for some time," Juliet +spoke thoughtfully. "She is very unconventional, you know. And I--well, +at heart I fancy I must be rather a prude. Anyhow, I disapproved, more +and more strongly, and at last I came away." + +"That was rather brave of you," he commented. + +"Oh, it wasn't much of a sacrifice. I've got a little money--enough to +keep me from starvation; but not enough to buy me cigarettes--at least +not the kind I like." Juliet's smile was one of friendly confidence. "I +think it's about my only real vice, and I've never been used to inferior +ones. Do you mind telling me where you get yours?" + +He smiled back at her as he felt for his cigarette-case. "You had better +try one and make sure you like them before you get any." + +"Oh, I know I should like them," she said, "thank you very much. +No, don't give me one! I feel as if I've begged for it. But just +tell me where you get them, and if they're not too expensive I'll +buy some to try." + +He held the open cigarette-case in front of her. "Won't you honour me by +accepting one?" he said. + +She hesitated, and then in a moment very charmingly she yielded. "Thank +you--Mr. Green. I seem to have accepted a good deal from you to-night. +Thank you very much." + +He made her a slight bow. "It has been my privilege to serve you," he +said. "I hope I may have further opportunities of being of use. I can get +you these cigarettes at any time if you like them. But they are not +obtainable locally." + +"Not!" Her face fell. "How disappointing!" + +"Not from my point of view," he said. "There's no difficulty about it. I +can get them for you if you will allow me." + +He struck a match for her, and kindled a cigarette for himself also. + +Juliet inhaled a deep breath. "They are lovely," she said. "I knew I +should like them when you went past Mrs. Rickett's smoking one." + +He looked at her with amusement. "When was that?" + +"When I was waiting for that dreadful ginger pudding at lunch--I +mean dinner." She paused. "No, that's horrid of me. Please consider +it unsaid!" + +"Why shouldn't you say it if you think it?" he asked. + +"Because it's unkind. Mrs. Rickett is the soul of goodness. And I am +going to learn to like her ginger pudding--and her dumplings--and +everything that is hers." + +"How heroic of you! I wonder if you will succeed." + +"Of course I shall succeed," Juliet spoke with confidence as she turned +to pass through the gate. "I am going to cultivate a contented mind here. +And when I go back to Lady Jo--if I ever do--I shall be proof against +anything." + +He reached forward to open the gate. "I think you will probably go back +long before the contented mind has begun to sprout," he said. + +She laughed as she walked on down the path. "But it has begun already. I +haven't felt so cheerful for a long time." + +"That isn't real contentment," he pointed out. "It's your spirit of +adventure enjoying itself. Wait till you begin to be bored!" + +"How extremely analytical!" she remarked. "I am not going to be bored. My +spirit of adventure is not at all an enterprising one. I assure you I +didn't enjoy that tumble over the cliff in the least. I am a very quiet +person by nature." She began to laugh. "You must have noticed I wasn't +very intrepid in the face of danger. I seem to remember your telling me +not to be silly." + +"I hoped you had forgiven and forgotten that," he said. + +"Neither one nor the other," she answered, checking her mirth. "I think +you would have been absolutely justified in using even stronger language +under the circumstances. You wouldn't have saved me if you hadn't +been--very firm." + +"Very brutal, you mean. No, I ought to have managed better. I will next +time." He spoke with a smile, but there was a hint of seriousness in +his words. + +"When will that be?" said Juliet. + +"I don't know. But I can make the way down much easier. The steps are a +simple matter, and I have often thought a charge of gunpowder would +improve that bit where the rock hangs over. If I hadn't wanted to keep +the place to myself I should have done it long ago. It certainly is +dangerous now to anyone who doesn't know." + +Juliet came to a sudden halt in the path. "Oh, you are an engineer!" she +said. "I hope you will not spoil your favourite eyrie just because I may +some day fall over into it again. The chance is a very remote one, I +assure you. Now, please don't come any farther with me! It has only just +dawned on me that your way probably lies in the direction of the mines. +I shouldn't have let you come so far if I had realized it sooner." + +He looked momentarily surprised. "But I do live in this direction," he +said. "In any case, I hope you will allow me to see you safely back." + +"But there is no need," she protested. "We are practically there. Do you +really live this way?" + +"Yes. Quite close to the worthy Mrs. Rickett too. I am not an engineer. I +am the village schoolmaster." + +He announced the fact with absolute directness. It was Juliet's turn to +look surprised. She almost gasped. + +"You--you!" + +"Yes, I. Why not?" He met her look of astonishment with a smile. "Have I +given you a shock?" + +She recovered herself with an answering smile. "No, of course not. I +might have guessed. I wonder I didn't." + +"But how could you guess?" he questioned. "Have I the manners of a +pedagogue?" + +"No," she said again. "No, of course not. Only--I have been hearing a +good deal about you to-day; not in your capacity of schoolmaster, but +as--Brother Dick." + +"Ah!" he said sharply, and just for a moment she thought he was either +embarrassed or annoyed, but whatever the feeling he covered it instantly. +"You have talked to my brother Robin?" + +"Yes," she said. "He is the only person I have talked to besides Mrs. +Rickett. We met on the shore." + +"I hope he behaved himself," he said. "You weren't afraid of him, I +hope." + +"No; poor lad! Why should I be?" Juliet spoke very gently, very +pitifully. "I have a feeling that Robin and I are going to be +friends," she said. + +"You are very good," he said, in a low voice. "He hasn't many friends, +poor chap. But he's very faithful to those he's got. Most people are so +revolted by his appearance that they never get any farther. And he's shy +too--very naturally. How did he come to speak to you?" + +She hesitated. "It was I who spoke first," she said, in a moment. + +"Really! What made you do that?" + +She hesitated again. + +He looked at her with sudden attention. "He did something that made you +speak. What was it, please?" + +His tone was peremptory, almost curt, Juliet hesitated no longer. + +"Do you mind if I don't answer that question?" she said. + +"He will tell me if you don't," he returned, with a certain hardness that +made her wonder if he were angered by her refusal. + +"That wouldn't be fair of you," she said gently, "when I specially don't +want you to know." + +"You don't want me to know?" he said. + +"I should tell you myself if I did," she pointed out. + +"I see." He reflected for a moment; then: "Will you promise to tell me if +he ever does it again?" he said. + +Juliet laughed with a feeling of almost inordinate relief. "Yes, +certainly. I know he never will." + +"Then that's the end of that," he said. + +"Thank you," said Juliet. + +They had reached the road that turned up to the village, and the light +from a large lamp some distance up the hill shone down upon them. + +"That is where Mr. Fielding lives," said Green, as they walked towards +it. "Those are his lodge-gates. No doubt you have heard of him too. He is +the great man of the place. He owns it, in fact." + +"Yes, I have heard of him," said Juliet. "Is he a nice man?" + +He made an almost imperceptible movement of the shoulders. "I am very +much indebted to him," he said. + +"I see," said Juliet. + +They reached the cottage-gate that led to the blacksmith's humble abode, +and a smell of rank tobacco, floating forth, announced the fact that he +was smoking his pipe in the porch. + +Juliet paused and held out her hand. "Good-bye!" she said. + +His grasp was strong and very steady. "Good-bye," he said, "I hope you'll +find what you're looking for." + +He stooped to pat Columbus, then opened the gate for her. + +Instantly there was a stir in the porch as of some large animal awaking. +"That you, Mr. Green?" called a deep bass voice. "Come in! Come in!" + +But Green remained outside. "Not to-night, thanks," he called back. "I've +got some work to do. Good-night!" + +The gate closed behind her, and Juliet walked up the path with Columbus +trotting sedately by her side. She heard her escort's departing footsteps +as she went, and wondered when they would meet again. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GREAT MAN + + +The church at Little Shale was very ancient and picturesque. It stood +almost opposite to the lodge-gates of Shale Court, the abode of the great +Mr. Fielding. Two cracked bells hung in its crumbling square tower, +disturbing once a week the jackdaws that built in the ivy. Just once a +week ever since the Dark Ages, was Juliet's reflection as she dutifully +obeyed the somewhat querulous-sounding summons on the following day. She +could not picture their ringing for any bridal festivity, though it +seemed possible that they might sometimes toll for the dead. + +Two incredibly old yew-trees mounted guard on each side of the gate and +another of immense size overhung the porch. The path was lined by +grave-stones that all looked as if they were tottering to a fall. + +An old clergyman in a cassock that was brown with age hurried past her as +she walked up the path. She thought he matched his surroundings as he +disappeared at a trot round the corner of the church. Then from behind +her came the hoot of a motor-horn, and she glanced back to see a closed +car that glittered at every angle swoop through the open gates and swerve +round to the churchyard. She wanted to stop and see its occupants alight, +but decorum prompted her to pass on, and she entered the church, which +smelt of the mould of centuries, and paused inside. + +It was a plain little place with plastered walls, and green glass +windows, and one large square pew under the pulpit. The other pews were +modern and very bare, occupied sparsely by villagers who all had their +faces turned over their shoulders and were craning to watch the door. + +No one looked at her, however, and Juliet, after brief hesitation, sat +down in a chair close to the porch. The entrance of the Court party was +evidently something of an event, and she determined to get a good view. + +Footsteps came up the path, and on the very verge of the porch a voice +spoke--a woman's voice, unmodulated, arrogant. + +"Oh, really, Edward! I don't see why your village schoolmaster should be +asked to lunch every Sunday, however immaculate he may be. I object on +principle." + +The words were scarcely uttered before the notes of the organ swelled +suddenly through the church. Juliet sent a quick look towards it, and saw +the black cropped head of the man in question as he sat at the +instrument. It occupied one side of the chancel and a crowd of village +children congregated in the side pews immediately outside and under the +eye of the organist. Juliet felt an indignant flush rise in her cheeks. +She was certain that that remark had been audible all over the church, +and she resented it with almost unreasonable vehemence. + +Then with a sweep of feathers and laces the speaker entered, and +Juliet raised her eyes to regard her. She saw a young woman, +delicate-looking, with a pretty, insolent face and expensive clothes, +walk past, and was aware for a moment of a haughty stare that seemed +to question her right to be there. Then her own attention passed to +the man who entered in her wake. + +He was tall, middle-aged, handsome in a somewhat ordinary style, but +Juliet thought his mouth wore the most unpleasant expression she had ever +seen. It was drawn down at the corners in a sneering curve, and a decided +frown knitted his brows. He walked with the suggestion of a swagger, as +if ready to challenge any who should dispute his right to the place and +everyone in it. + +His wife entered the great square pew, but he strode on to the chancel, +tapped the organist unceremoniously on the shoulder and spoke to him. + +Juliet watched the result with a curiosity she could not restrain. The +black head turned sharply. She caught a momentary glimpse of Green's +energetic profile as he spoke briefly and emphatically and immediately +returned to his instrument. The squire marched back to his pew still +frowning, and the voluntary continued. He played with assurance but +somewhat mechanically, and she presently realized that he was keeping a +sharp eye on the schoolchildren at the same time. The service was a +lengthy one and they needed supervision. They fidgeted and whispered +unceasingly. A lady whom she took to be the Vicar's daughter sat near +them, but it was quite obvious that she had no control over them. During +the sermon, which was a very sleepy affair, Green left the organ and went +and sat amongst them. + +Then indeed a profound quiet reigned and Juliet became so drowsy that +it took her utmost resolution to stay awake. Most of the congregation +slept unrestrainedly. It was certainly a hot morning, and the service +very dull. + +When it was over at last, she stepped out under the yew-trees and +wondered why she had not made her escape before. She was the first to +leave the church, and wandering down the path through the hot, chequered +sunlight she saw the shining car drawn up at the gate, and a young +chauffeur waiting at the door. She glanced at him as she passed, and was +surprised for a second to find him gazing at her with a curious +intentness. He lowered his eyes the moment they met hers, and she passed +on, wondering what there was about her to excite his interest. + +Columbus was waiting with pathetic patience to be taken for a walk, +and overpoweringly hot though it was she had not the heart to keep him +any longer. But she could not face the full blaze of noon on the +shore, and she turned back up the shady church lane with a vague +memory of having seen a stile at the entrance of a wood somewhere +along its winding length. + +The church-goers had dispersed by that time, but at the gate of the +schoolhouse which was a few yards above the church she saw a group of +boys waiting clamorously, and just as she found her stile she saw Green +come out dressed in flannels with a bath-towel round his neck. The boys +swarmed all about him like a crowd of excited puppies, and Juliet turned +into the wood with a smile. So he had refused the squire's invitation to +luncheon! She was very glad of that. + +The green glades of the wood received her; she wandered forward with a +delightful sense of well-being. The thought of London came to her--the +heat and the dust and the fumes of petrol--the chattering crowds under +the parched trees--the kaleidoscopic glitter of fashion at its crudest +and most amazing. She knew exactly what they were all doing at that +precise moment. She visualized the shifting, restless feverish throng +with a vividness that embraced every detail. And she turned her face up +to the tree-tops and revelled in her solitude. Only last week she had +been in that seething whirlpool, borne helplessly hither and thither like +driftwood, caught here or flung there by any chance current. Only last +week she had felt the sudden drawing of the vortex, sucking her down +with appalling swiftness. Only last week! And to-day she was free. She +had awakened to the danger almost at the eleventh hour, and she had +escaped. Thank God she had escaped in time! + +She suddenly wished that she had remembered to utter her thanksgiving +during that very monotonous service instead of going to sleep. But +somehow it seemed just as appropriate out here under the glorious +beeches. She sat down on a mossy root and drank in the sweetness with a +deep content. Columbus was busy trying to unearth a wood-louse that had +eluded him in a tuft of grass. She watched him lazily. + +He persevered for a long time, till in fact the tuft of grass was +practically demolished, and then at last, failing in his quest, he +relinquished the search, and with a deep sigh lay down by her side. + +She laid a caressing hand upon him, and ruffled his grizzled hair. "I'd +be lonely without you, Columbus," she said. + +Columbus smiled at the compliment and snapped inconsequently at a fly. "I +wish we had brought some lunch with us," remarked his mistress. "Then we +needn't have gone back. Why didn't you think of it, Columbus?" + +Columbus couldn't say really, but he wriggled his nose into the caressing +hand and gave her to understand that lunch really didn't matter. Then +very suddenly he extricated it again and uttered a growl that might have +risen from the heart of a lion. + +Juliet looked up. Someone was coming along the winding path through the +wood. She grasped Columbus by the collar, for he had a disconcerting +habit of barking round the legs of intruders if not wholly satisfied as +to their respectability. The next moment a figure came in sight, and she +recognized the squire. + +He was walking quickly, impatiently, flicking to and fro with a stick as +he came. The frown still drew his forehead, and she saw at a first glance +that he was annoyed. + +He did not see her at first, not in fact until he was close upon her. +Then, as Columbus tactlessly repeated his growl, he started and his look +fell upon her. + +Juliet had had no intention of speaking, but his eyes held so direct a +question that she found herself compelled to do so. "I hope we are not +trespassing," she said. + +He put his hand to his hat with a jerk. "You are not, madam," he said. "I +am not so sure of the dog." + +His voice was not unpleasant, but no smile accompanied his words. At +close quarters she saw that he was older than she had at first believed +him to be. He was well on in the fifties. + +She drew Columbus nearer to her. "I won't let him hunt," she said. + +"He will probably get shot if he does," remarked Mr. Fielding, and was +gone without further ceremony. + +Juliet put her arms around her favourite and kissed him between his +pricked ears. "What a sweet man, Columbus!" she murmured. "I think we +must cultivate him, don't you?" + +She wondered why he was going back towards the church lane at that hour, +for it was past one o'clock and time for her to be wending her own way +back to the village. She gave him ample opportunity to clear the wood, +however, before she moved. She was determined that she and Columbus would +be more discreet next time. + +Mrs. Rickett's midday meal was fixed for half-past-one. She was not +looking forward to it with any great relish, for her prophetic soul +warned her that it would not be of a very dainty order, but not for +worlds would she have had the good woman know it. Besides, she had one +cigarette left! + +She got up when she judged it safe, and began to walk back. But, nearing +the stile, the sound of voices made her pause. Two men were evidently +standing there, and she realized with something like dismay that the way +was blocked. She waited for a moment or two, then decided to put a bold +face on it and pursue her course. Mrs. Rickett's dinner certainly would +not improve by keeping. + +She pressed on therefore, and as she drew nearer, she recognized the +squire's voice, raised on a note of irritation. + +"Oh, don't be a fool, my good fellow! I shouldn't ask you if I didn't +really want you." + +The answer came instantly, and though it sounded curt it had a ring +of humour. "Thank you, sir. And I shouldn't refuse if I really +wanted to come." + +There was a second's silence; then the squire's voice again, loud and +explosive: "Confound you then! Do the other thing!" + +It was at this point that Juliet rounded a curve in the path and came +within sight of the stile. + +Green was standing facing her, and she saw his instant glance of +recognition. Mr. Fielding had his back to her, and the younger man laid a +hand upon his arm and drew him aside. + +Fielding turned sharply. He looked her up and down with a resentful stare +as she mounted the stile, and Juliet flushed in spite of the most +determined composure. + +Green came forward instantly and offered a hand to assist her. "Good +morning, Miss Moore! Exploring in another direction to-day?" he said. + +She took the proffered hand, feeling absurdly embarrassed by the +squire's presence. Green was bareheaded, and his hair shone wet in the +strong sunlight. His manner was absolutely easy and assured. She met his +smiling look with an odd feeling of gratitude, as if he had ranged +himself on her side against something formidable. + +"I am afraid I haven't been very fortunate in my choice to-day either," +she said somewhat ruefully, as she descended. + +He laughed. "We all trespass in these woods. It's a time-honoured custom, +isn't it, Mr. Fielding? The pheasants are quite used to it." + +Juliet did not glance in the squire's direction. She felt that she had +done all that was necessary in that quarter, and that any further +overture would but meet with a churlish response. + +But to her astonishment he took the initiative. "I am afraid I wasn't too +hospitable just now," he said. "It's this fellow's fault. Dick, it's up +to you to apologize on my behalf." + +Juliet looked at him then in amazement, and saw that the dour visage was +actually smiling at her--such a smile as transformed it completely. + +"If Miss Moore will permit me," said Mr. Green, with a bow, "I will +introduce you to her. You will then be _en rapport_ and in a position to +apologize for yourself." + +"Pedagogue!" said the squire. + +And Juliet laughed for the first time. "If anyone apologizes it should be +me," she said. + +"I!" murmured Green. "With more apologies!" + +The squire turned on him. "Green, I'll punch your head for you directly, +you unspeakable pedant! What should you take him for, Miss Moore? A very +high priest or a very low comedian?" + +Juliet felt her breath somewhat taken away by this sudden admission to +intimacy. She looked at Green whose dark eyes laughed straight back at +her, and found it impossible to stand upon ceremony. + +"I really don't know," she said. "I haven't had time to place him yet. +But it's a little difficult to be quite impartial as he saved my life +last night." + +"What?" said the squire. "That sounds romantic. What made him do that?" + +"Allow me!" interposed Green, pulling the bath-towel from his neck, and +rapidly winding it into a noose. "It happened yesterday evening. I was +having a quiet smoke in a favourite corner of mine on a ledge about +twenty feet down High Shale Cliff where it begins to get steep, when +Miss Moore, attracted by the scent of my cigarette,--that's right, isn't +it?"--he flung her an audacious challenge with uplifted brows--"when +Miss Moore attracted as I say, by the alluring scent of my cigarette, +fell over the edge and joined me. My gallantry consisted in detaining +her there, after this somewhat abrupt introduction, that's all. Oh yes, +and in bullying her afterwards to climb up again when she didn't want +to. I was an awful brute last night, wasn't I? Really, I think it's +uncommonly generous of you to have anything at all to say to me this +morning, Miss Moore." + +"So do I," said Mr. Fielding. "If it were possible to treat such a +buffoon as you seriously, she wouldn't. I hope you are none the worse for +the adventure, Miss Moore." + +"No, really I am not," said Juliet. "And I am still feeling very +grateful." She smiled at the squire. "Good-bye! I must be getting back to +Mrs. Rickett's or the dumplings will be cold." + +She whistled Columbus to her and departed, still wondering at the +transformation which Green had wrought in the squire. It had not occurred +to her that there could be anything really pleasant hidden behind that +grim exterior. It was evident that the younger man knew how to hold his +own. And again she was glad, quite unreasonably glad, that he had stuck +to his refusal to lunch at the Court. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE VISITOR + + +"May I come and see you?" said Robin. + +Juliet, seated under an apple-tree in the tiny orchard that ran beside +the road, looked up from her book and saw his thin face peering at her +through the hedge. She smiled at him very kindly from under her +flower-decked shelter. + +"Of course!" she said. "Come in by all means!" + +She expected him to go round to the gate, but he surprised her by going +down on all fours and crawling through a gap in the privet. He looked +like a monstrous baboon shuffling towards her. When through, he stood up +again, a shaggy lock of hair falling across his forehead, and looked at +her with eyes that seemed to burn in their deep hollows like distant +lamps at night. + +He stopped, several paces from her. "Sure you don't mind me?" he said. + +"Quite sure," said Juliet, with quiet sincerity. "I am very pleased to +see you. Wait while I fetch another chair!" + +She would have risen with the words, but he stopped her with a gesture +almost violent. "No--no--no!" He nearly shouted the words. "Don't get up! +Don't go! I don't want a chair." + +Juliet remained seated. "Just as you like," she said, smiling at him. +"But I don't think the grass is dry enough to sit on." + +He looked contemptuous. "It won't hurt me. I hate chairs. I'll do +as I like." + +But he still stood, glowering at her uncertainly near the hedge. + +"Come along then!" said Juliet kindly. "Come and sit down near me! Why +not?" + +He came slowly, and let himself down with awkward, lumbering movements by +her side. His face was darkly sullen. "I don't see any harm in it," he +grumbled, "if you don't mind." + +"Of course I don't mind!" she said. "I am pleased. As you see, I have no +other visitors." + +He lifted his heavy eyes to hers. "You'd pack me off fast enough +if you had." + +"No, I shouldn't. Don't be silly, Robin!" She smiled down upon him. "You +are going to stay and have tea with me, aren't you?" + +He smiled rather doubtfully in answer. "I'd like to. I don't know if I +can though." + +"Why shouldn't you?" she questioned. + +He folded his long arms about his knees, and murmured something +unintelligible. + +Juliet looked at her watch. "Mrs. Rickett has promised to bring it in +another quarter-of-an-hour, and we will ask her to bring out Freddy too, +shall we? You'll like that." + +The boy's face brightened a little. He did not speak for a moment or two; +then he reached forth a claw-like hand and tentatively fingered her +dress. "I don't want Freddy--when I've got you," he muttered. + +"Oh, don't you? How kind!" said Juliet. + +Again his dark eyes lifted. "It's you that's kind," he said. "I've never +seen anyone like you before." His brow clouded again as he looked at her. +"You're quite as much a lady as Mrs. Fielding," he said. "But you don't +call me a 'hideous abortion'." + +"I should think not!" Juliet moved impulsively and laid her hand upon his +humped shoulder. "Don't listen to such things, Robin! Put them out of +your head! They are not true." + +He rested his chin upon her hand, looking up at her dumbly. Her heart +stirred within her. The pathos of those eyes was more than she could meet +unmoved. Their protest made her think of an animal in pain. + +"It doesn't do to take things too seriously, Robin," she said +gently. "There are people in the world who will say unkind things of +anybody. It's just because they are thoughtless generally. It +doesn't do to listen." + +"No one ever said anything unkind about you," he said. + +"Oh, didn't they?" Juliet smiled. "Do you know, Robin, I shouldn't wonder +if there are plenty of them saying unkind things about me this very +moment--that is, if they are thinking about me at all." + +He glanced around him savagely. "Where? I'd like to hear 'em! I'd +kill 'em!" + +"No--no!" said Juliet, restraining him. "And it's no one here either. But +you've got to realize that it doesn't really matter what people say. +They'll always talk, you know. Everyone does. It's the way of the world, +and we can't get away from it." + +Robin looked unconvinced. "I'd kill anyone who said anything bad about +you anyway," he said. + +"I don't think you ought to talk like that," said Juliet, in her +quiet way. + +"Why not?" His eyes suddenly glowered again. + +But she answered him with absolute calmness. "Because if you mean it, +it's wrong--very wrong. And if you don't mean it, it's just foolish." + +"Oh!" said Robin. He edged himself nearer to her. "I like you," he said. +"Talk some more! I like your voice." + +"What shall I talk about?" she asked. + +"Tell me about London!" he said. + +"Oh, London! My dear boy, you'd hate London. It's all noise and crowds +and dust. The streets are crammed with cars and people and there is never +any peace. It's like a great wheel that is never still." + +"What do the people do?" he asked. + +"They just tear about from morning till night, and very often from night +till morning. Everyone is always trying to be first and to be a little +smarter than anyone else. They think they enjoy it." Juliet drew a sudden +hard breath. "But they really don't. It's such a whirl, such a strain, +like always running at top speed in a race and never getting there. Yes, +it's just that--a sort of obstacle race, and the obstacles always getting +higher and higher and higher." She stopped and uttered a deep slow sigh. +"Well, I've done with it, Robin. I'm not going to get over any more. I've +dropped out. I'm going to grow old in comfort." + +Robin was listening with deep interest. "Is that why you came here?" +he said. + +"Yes. I was tired out and rather scared. I got away just in time--only +just in time." + +Something in her voice, low though it was, made him draw nearer still, +massively, protectively. + +"Are you hiding from someone?" he said. + +"Oh, not exactly." She patted his shoulder gently. "No one would take the +trouble to come and look for me," she said. "They're all much too busy +with their own affairs." + +His eyes sought hers again. "You're not frightened then any more?" + +She smiled at him. "No, not a bit. I've got over that, and I'm beginning +to enjoy myself." + +"Shall you stay here always?" he questioned. + +"I don't know, Robin. I'm not going to look ahead. I'm just going to make +the best of the present. Don't you think that's the best way?" + +He made a wry face. "I suppose it is--if you don't know what's coming." + +"But no one knows that," said Juliet. + +He glanced at her. His fingers, clasped about his knees, tugged +restlessly at each other. "I know what's going to happen to me," he said, +after a moment. "I'm going to get into a row--with Dicky." + +"Oh, is that it?" said Juliet. "I knew there was something the matter." + +He nodded, and suddenly she saw his chin quiver. "I hate a row with +Dicky," he said miserably. + +Her heart went out to him, he looked so forlorn. "Why don't you go and +tell him you're sorry?" she said gently. + +"Not--sorry," articulated Robin, with a sniff. + +The matter presented difficulties. Juliet tried to hedge. "What have you +been doing?" + +"Quarrelling," said Robin. + +"What! With Dick?" + +"No." Again he glanced at her, and wiped a hasty hand across his eyes. +"Dick!" he repeated, as if in derision at her colossal ignorance. + +"Well, but who then?" she questioned. "That is--of course don't tell me +if you'd rather not!" + +"Don't mind," said Robin. "I'll tell you anything. It was--Jack." He +suddenly turned to her fully with blazing eyes. "I--hate--Jack!" he said +very emphatically. + +"Jack! But who is Jack? Oh, I remember!" Juliet abruptly recalled the +young chauffeur at the churchyard gate. "He is your other brother, isn't +he? I'd forgotten him." + +"He's--a beast!" said Robin. "I hate him." + +His look challenged reproof. Juliet wisely made none. "Isn't he kind to +you?" she said. + +"It wasn't that!" blurted out Robin. "It--it--was what he +said--about--about--" He suddenly stopped, closed his lips and sat +savagely biting them. + +"About what?" asked Juliet, bewildered. + +Robin sat mute. + +"I should forget it if I were you," she said sensibly. "People often do +and say things they don't mean. It doesn't pay to be too sensitive. Let's +forget it, shall we?" + +"I can't," said Robin. "Dicky's angry." He paused, then continued with an +effort. "He said I wasn't to come here, said--said he'd punish me if I +did. He called me back, and I wouldn't go. He--" He suddenly broke off, +and crept close to her like a frightened dog--"he's coming now!" he +whispered. + +The catch of the gate had clicked, and Columbus who had accepted Robin +without question, bustled forward to investigate. + +He came back almost immediately, wearing a satisfied look, and as he +settled down again by Juliet's side, Green appeared on the path that led +to the apple-trees. + +Robin pressed closer to Juliet. She could feel him trembling. +Instinctively she laid her hand upon him as Green drew near. + +"Have you come to see me or to look for Robin?" she said. + +Green's look was enigmatical. It comprehended them both at a single +glance. She wondered if he were really angry, but if so, he had himself +under complete control. + +"I have brought you a box of cigarettes to go on with, Miss Moore," he +said, and produced his offering with a smile. + +"How very kind of you!" said Juliet. She sat up with a quick flush of +embarrassment. "How did you manage to get them so soon? You must have had +them by you." + +"I had," said Green. "But I can spare you these with pleasure. It's awful +to be without a smoke, isn't it?" + +Juliet smiled. "These will last me for ages. I am being very economical +now. Please will you tell me how much they are?" + +"Half-a-crown," he said. + +"Oh, please!" she protested. "Let us be honest!" + +"Exactly," he said. "It's all they cost me. I get them through a friend." + +"But perhaps your friend wouldn't care for me to have them at that +price," objected Juliet. + +"Yes, he would. It's all right," Green dismissed the matter with an +airiness that was curiously final. "Don't bother about paying me now, +please! I'd rather have it later. Robin, get up!" + +He addressed his young brother so suddenly and so peremptorily that +Juliet was momentarily startled. Then very swiftly she intervened. + +"Mr. Green, please, don't--be angry with Robin!" + +His look flashed straight down to her. His eyes were still smiling, yet +very strangely they compelled her own. He stooped unexpectedly after an +instant's pause, lifted her hand with absolute gentleness away from the +quivering Robin, and laid it in her lap. + +"Get up, old chap!" he said. "And don't be an ass!" + +There was no questioning the kindness of his voice. Robin lifted his +head, stared a moment, then blundered to his feet. He stood awkwardly, as +if unwilling to go but expecting to be dismissed. + +"He is staying to tea with me," said Juliet. + +"Oh, I think not," Green said. "Another time--if you are kind enough. +Not to-day." + +He spoke very decidedly. Robin, with his head hanging, turned away. + +Green, with a brief gesture of farewell, turned to follow. But in that +moment Juliet spoke in that full rich voice of hers that was all the more +arresting because she did not raise it. + +"Mr. Green, I want to speak to you." + +He stopped at once. She thought she caught a glint of humour behind the +courteous attention of his eyes. + +"Forgive me for interfering!" she said. "But I must say it." + +"Pray do!" said Green. + +Yet she found some difficulty in continuing. It would have been easier if +he had shown resentment, but quizzical tolerance was hard to meet. + +She looked up at him doubtfully for a moment or two. Then, hesitatingly, +she spoke. "Please--don't--punish Robin for coming here!" + +She saw his brows go up in surprise. He was about to speak, but she went +on with more than a touch of embarrassment. "Perhaps it sounds +impertinent, but I believe I could help him in some ways,--if I had the +chance. Anyhow, I should like to try. Please let him come and see me as +often as he likes!" + +"Really!" said Green, and stopped. The amusement had wholly gone out of +his look. "I don't know what to say to you," he said in a moment. "You +are so awfully kind." + +"No, I'm not indeed." Juliet's smile was oddly wistful. "I assure you I +am selfish to the core. But there's something about Robin that goes +straight to my heart. I should like to be kind to him--for my own sake. +So don't--please--try to keep him out of my way!" + +She spoke very earnestly, her eyes under their straight brows, looking +directly into his,--honest eyes that no man could doubt. + +Green stood facing her, his look as kind as her own. "Do you know, Miss +Moore," he said, "I think this is about the kindest thing that has ever +come into my experience?" + +She made a slight gesture of protest. "Oh, but don't let us talk in +superlatives!" she said. "Fetch Robin back, and both of you stay to tea!" + +He shook his head. "Not to-day. I am very sorry. But he doesn't deserve +it. He has been getting a bit out of hand lately. I can't pass it over." + +Juliet leaned forward in her chair. Her eyes were suddenly very bright. +"This once, Mr. Green!" she said. + +He stiffened a little. "No," he said. + +"You won't?" + +"I can't." + +Juliet's look went beyond him to the figure of Robin leaning +disconsolately against a distant tree. She sat for several moments +watching him, and Green still stood before her as if waiting to be +dismissed. + +"Poor boy!" she said softly at length, and turned again to the man in +front of her. "Are you sure you understand him?" + +"Yes," said Green. + +"And you are not hard on him? You are never hard on him?" + +"I have got to keep him in order," he said. + +"Yes, yes, I know. A man would say that." Juliet's face was very +pitiful. "Let him off sometimes!" she urged gently. "It won't do him +any harm." + +Green smiled abruptly. "A woman would say that," he commented. + +She smiled in answer. "Yes, I think any woman would. Don't be hard on +him, Mr. Green! He has been shedding tears over your wrath already." + +"He came here in direct defiance of my orders," said Green. + +"I know. He told me. Please never give him such orders again!" + +"You are awfully kind," Green said again. "But really in this case, there +was sufficient reason. Some people--most people--prefer him at a +distance." + +"I am not one of them," Juliet said. + +"I see you are not. But I couldn't risk it. Besides, he was in a towering +rage when he started. It isn't fair to inflict him on people--even on +anyone as kind as yourself--in that state." + +"I should never be afraid of him," Juliet said quietly. "I think I +know--partly--what was the matter. Someone made a rather cruel remark +about him, and someone else maliciously repeated it. Then he was +angry--very angry--and lost his self-control, and I suppose more cruel +things were said. And then he came here--he asked me--he actually asked +me--if I was sure I didn't mind him!" + +A deep light was shining in her eyes as she ended, and an answering gleam +came into Green's as he met them. + +"I know," he said, in a low voice. "It's infernally hard for him, poor +chap! But it doesn't do to let him know we think so. As long as he lives, +he's got to bear his burden." + +"But it needn't be made heavier than it is," Juliet said. "No, it +needn't. But it isn't everyone that sees it in that light. I'm glad you +do anyway, and I'm grateful--on Robin's behalf. Good-bye!" + +He lifted his hand again in a farewell salute, and turned away. + +Juliet watched him go, watched keenly as he approached Robin, saw the +boy's quick glance at him as he took him by the arm and led him to the +gate. A few seconds later they passed her on the other side of the +hedge evidently on their way to the shore, and she heard Robin's voice +as they went by. + +"I'm--sorry now, Dicky," he said. + +She turned her head to catch his brother's answer, for it did not come +immediately and she wondered a little at the delay. + +Then, as they drew farther away, she heard Green say, "Why do you +say that?" + +"She told me to," said Robin. + +She felt her colour rise and heard Green laugh. They were almost out of +earshot before he said, "All right, boy! I'll let you off this time. +Don't do it again!" + +She leaned back in her chair, and re-opened her book. But she did not +read for some time. Somehow she felt glad--quite unreasonably glad +again--that Robin had been let off. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE OFFER + + +"Well, it ain't none of my business," said Mrs. Rickett, with a sniff. +"Nor it ain't yours either. But did you ever know anyone as wore anything +the likes of that before?" + +She shook out for her husband's inspection a filmy garment that had the +look of a baby's robe that had grown up, before spreading it on her +kitchen table to iron. + +"Ah!" said Rickett, ramming a finger into the bowl of his pipe. "What +sort of a thing is that now?" + +"What sort of a thing, man? Why, a night-dress--of course! What d'you +think?" Mrs. Rickett chuckled at his ignorance. "And that flimsy--why I'm +almost afraid to touch it. It's the quality, you see." + +"Ah!" said the smith vaguely. + +Mrs. Rickett tested the iron near her cheek. "And it's only the quality," +she resumed, as she began to use it, "as wears such things as these. Why, +I shouldn't wonder but what they came from Paris. They must have cost a +mint of money." + +"Ah!" said Rickett again. + +"She's as nice-spoken a young lady as I've met," resumed his wife. "No +pride about her, you know. She's just simple and friendly-like. Yet I'd +like to see the man as'd take a liberty with her all the same." + +Rickett pulled at his pipe with a grunt. When not at work, it was +usually his rôle to sit and listen to his wife's chatter. + +"She ain't been brought up in a convent," continued Mrs. Rickett. +"That's plain to see. With all the gentle ways of her, she knows how to +hold her own. Young Robin Green, he's gone just plumb moon-crazy over +her, and it wouldn't surprise me"--Mrs. Rickett lowered her voice +mysteriously--"but what some day Dick himself was to do the same." + +"Ah!" said the smith. + +"She's so taking, you know," said Mrs. Rickett, as if in extenuation of +this outrageous surmise. "And there isn't anyone good enough for him +about here. Of course there's the infant teacher--that Jarvis girl--she'd +set her cap at him if she dared. But he wouldn't look at her. Young +Jack's a deal more likely, if ever he does settle down--which I doubt. +But Dick--he's different. He's--why if that ain't Mr. Fielding a-riding +up the path! What ever do he want at this time of night? Go and see, +George, do!" + +George lumbered to his feet obediently. "Happen he's come to call on our +young lady," he ventured, with a slow grin. + +"Well, don't bring him in here!" commanded his wife. "Take him into the +front room, while I put on a clean apron!" She hastened to shut the door +upon her husband, then paused, listening intently, as Mr. Fielding's +riding-whip rapped smartly on the door. + +"Happen it is only the young lady he's after," she said to herself. + +It was. In a moment, Mr. Fielding's voice, superior, slightly over +bearing, made itself heard. "Good evening, Rickett! I think Miss Moore is +lodging here. Is she in?" + +"Good evening, sir!" said Rickett, and waited a moment for reflection. +"She was in, but I can't say but what she may have gone out again with +the dog." + +"Well, find out, will you!" said Mr. Fielding. "Wait a minute! You'd +better take my card." + +Mrs. Rickett returned to her ironing. "What ever he be come for?" +she murmured. + +The squires' horse stamped on the tiled path. It was eight o'clock, and +he wanted to get home to his supper. The squire growled at him +inarticulately, and there fell a silence. + +The evening light spread golden over the apple-trees in the orchard. +Someone was wandering among the falling blossoms. He heard a low voice +softly singing. He flung his leg over his horse's back abruptly and +dropped to the ground. + +The voice stopped immediately. The squire fastened his animal to the +porch and turned. The next moment Columbus burst barking through the +intervening hedge. + +"Columbus! Columbus!" called Juliet's voice. "Come back at once!" + +"May I come through?" said Mr. Fielding. + +She arrived at the orchard-gate, flushed and apologetic. "Oh, pray do! +Please excuse Columbus! He always speaks before he thinks." + +She opened the gate with the words, and held out her hand. + +She was aware of his eyes looking at her very searchingly as he took it. +"I hope you don't mind a visitor at this hour," he said. + +She smiled. "No. I am quite at liberty. Come and sit down!" + +She led the way to a bench under the apple-trees, and the squire tramped +after her with jingling spurs. + +"I'm afraid you'll think me very unconventional," he said, speaking with +a sort of arrogant humility as she stopped. + +"I like unconventional people best," said Juliet. + +He dropped down on the seat. "Oh, do you? Then I needn't apologize any +further. You've been here about a week, haven't you?" + +"Yes," said Juliet. + +His look dwelt upon the simple linen dress she wore. "You came +from London?" + +"Yes," she said again. + +He began to frown and to pull restlessly at the lash of his riding-whip. +"Do you think me impertinent for asking you questions?" he said. + +"Not so far," said Juliet. + +He uttered a brief laugh. "You're cautious. Listen, Miss Moore! I don't +care a--I mean, it's nothing whatever to me where you've come from or +why. What I really came to ask is--do you want a job?" + +Juliet stiffened a little involuntarily. "What sort of a job?" she said. + +His fingers tugged more and more vigorously at the leather. She realized +quite suddenly that he was embarrassed, and at once her own +embarrassment passed. + +"Have you come to offer me a job?" she said. "How kind of you to +think of it!" + +"You don't know what it is yet," said Fielding, biting uncomfortably at +his black moustache. "It may not appeal to you. Quite probably it won't. +You've been a companion before--so Green tells me." + +"Oh!" Juliet's straight brows gathered slightly. "Did Mr. Green tell you +I was wanting a job?" + +"No, he didn't. Green sticks to his own business and nothing will turn +him from it." The squire suddenly lashed with his whip at the grass in +front of him, causing Columbus to jump violently and turn a resentful eye +upon him. "I'll tell you what passed if you want to know." + +"Thank you," said Juliet simply. + +She leaned forward after a moment and pulled Columbus to her side; +fondling his pricked ears reassuringly. + +"It was on Sunday," said Fielding. "My wife saw you in church. She took +rather a fancy to you. I hope you don't object?" + +"Why should I?" said Juliet. + +"Exactly. Why should you? Well, after Green's introduction, when you had +gone, I asked him if he knew anything about you. He said he had only made +your acquaintance the day before, that you had told him that you had held +the post of companion to someone, he didn't say who. And I wondered if +possibly you might feel inclined to see how you got on with my wife in +that capacity. She is not strong. She wants a companion." + +Juliet's grey eyes gazed steadily before her as she listened. The evening +light shone on her brown head, showing streaks of gold here and there. +Her attitude was one of grave attention. + +As he ended, she turned towards him, still caressing the dog at her feet. + +"Wouldn't it be better," she said, "if Mrs. Fielding knew me before +offering me such a post?" + +The squire smiled at her abruptly. "No, I don't think so. It wouldn't be +worth while unless you mean to consider it." + +"Is that her point of view?" asked Juliet. + +"No; it's mine. If she gets to know you and sets her heart on having you, +and then you go and disappoint her--I shall be the sufferer," explained +Fielding, with another cut at the grass in front of him. + +It was Juliet's turn to smile. "But I can't--possibly--decide until we +have met, can I?" she said. + +"Does that mean you'll consider it?" asked the squire. + +"I am considering it," said Juliet. "But please give me time! For I have +only just begun." + +"That's fair," he conceded. "How long will it take you?" + +She began to laugh. There was something almost boyishly naive about him, +notwithstanding his obvious bad temper. "You haven't told me any details +yet," she said. + +"Oh, you mean money," he said. "I leave that to you. You can name your +own terms." + +"Thank you," said Juliet again. "That would naturally appeal to me +very much. But as a matter of fact, I was not referring to money at +that moment." + +He gave her a keen look. "I didn't mean to offend you. Are you offended?" + +She met his eyes quite squarely. "On second thoughts--no!" + +"Why second thoughts?" he demanded. + +Her colour rose faintly. "Because I think second thoughts are--kinder." + +Fielding turned suddenly crimson. "So I'm a cad and a bounder, am I?" he +said furiously. + +Juliet's eyes contemplated him without a hint of dismay. There was even +behind their serenity the faint glint of a smile. "I think that is +putting it rather strongly," she said. "But I really don't know you yet. +I am not in a position to judge--even if I wished to do so." + +Fielding sat for a moment or two quite rigid, as if on the verge of +springing to his feet and leaving her. Then with amazing suddenness he +broke into a laugh, and the tension was past. + +"By Jove, I like you for that!" he said. "You did it jolly well. You've +got pluck, and you know how to keep your temper. You'll have to forgive +me, Miss Moore. We're going to be friends after this." + +There was something very winning about this overture, and Juliet was not +proof against it. He was evidently of those who consider that an apology +condones any offence, and, though she was far from agreeing with him on +this point, it was not in her to be churlish. + +She smiled at him without speaking. + +"Sure you're not angry with me?" urged the Squire. + +She nodded. "Yes, quite sure. Won't you go on where you left off?" + +"Where did I leave off?" He frowned. "Oh yes, you asked for details. +Well, what do you want to know? My wife always breakfasts in bed, so she +wouldn't want you before ten. But you'd live with us of course. I'd see +that they made you comfortable." + +"If my duties did not begin before ten, there would be no need for that," +pointed out Juliet. + +He looked at her in surprise. "Of course you'd live with us! You can't +want to stay here!" + +"But why not?" said Juliet. "They are very kind to me. I am very +happy here." + +"Oh, nonsense!" said the squire. "You couldn't do that. I believe you're +afraid I want to make a slave of you." + +"No, I am not afraid of that," said Juliet. "But go on, if you don't +mind! What happens after ten o'clock?" + +"Well, she opens her letters," said the squire. "Tells you what wants +answering and how to answer it. P'raps you read the papers to her for a +bit before she gets up, and so on." + +"Does that take the whole morning?" asked Juliet. + +"No. She's down about twelve. Sometimes she goes for a ride then, if she +feels like it. Or she walks about the grounds, or drives out in the +dog-cart. She's very keen on horses. Then either she goes out to lunch +or someone lunches with us. And after that she's off in the car for a +fifty-mile run--or a hundred if the mood takes her. She's never +quiet--except when she's in bed. That's what I want you for. I want you +to keep her quiet." + +"Oh!" said Juliet. + +This was shedding a new light upon the matter. She looked at him somewhat +dubiously. + +"Come! I know you can," he said. "You've been through the treadmill. You +know all about it and it doesn't attract you. This infernal chase after +excitement--it's like a spreading fever. There's no peace for anyone +now-a-days. I want you to stop it. You've got that sort of influence. I +sensed it directly I saw you. You've got that priceless possession--a +quiet spirit. She wouldn't go tearing over the country racing and +gambling and then card-playing far into the night if you were there to +pull her up. She'd be ashamed--with anyone like you looking on." + +"Would she?" said Juliet. "I wonder. And how do you know that that sort +of thing doesn't attract me?" + +"Of course I know it. You carry it in your face. You're a woman--not a +dancing marionette. You wouldn't despise a woman's duties because they +interfered with pleasure. You were made in a different mould. Anyone can +see that." + +Juliet was smiling a little. "I can't claim to be anything very great," +she said. "But certainly, I was never very fond of cards." + +"Of course you weren't. You've too much sense to do anything to excess. +Now look here, Miss Moore! You're coming, aren't you? You'll give the +thing a trial. I promise you, you shan't be bullied or overworked. It's +such an opportunity, for my wife really has taken a fancy to you. And she +can be quite decent to anyone when she likes. You can bring the dog +along," continued the squire. "You can have your own sitting-room--your +own maid, if you want one. You can come and go as you choose. No one +will interfere with you. All I want you to do is to put the brake on my +wife, make her take an interest in her home, make her take life +seriously. She's not at all strong. She doesn't give herself a chance. +Unless I fetch in a doctor and practically keep her in bed by main force +she never gets any decent rest. Why, she's hardly ever in her room before +two in the morning. It's almost a form of madness with her, this +ceaseless round. I can't prevent it. I'm a busy man myself." He suddenly +got to his feet with a jerk and stood looking down at her with sombre +eyes. "I'm a busy man," he repeated. "I have my ambitions, and I work for +them. I work hard. But the one thing I want more than anything else on +earth is a son to succeed me. And if I can't have that--there's nothing +else that counts." + +He spoke with bitter vehemence, beating restlessly against his heel with +his whip. But Juliet still sat silent, looking out before her at the +golden pink of the apple-trees in the sunset light with grave quiet eyes. + +He went on morosely, egotistically, "I don't know what I've done that I +shouldn't have what practically every labourer on my estate has got. I +may not have been absolutely impeccable in my youth. I've never yet met a +man who was--with the single exception of Dick Green who hasn't much +temptation to be anything else. But I've lived straight on the whole. +I've played the game--or tried to. And yet--after five years of +marriage--I'm still without an heir, and likely to remain so, as far as I +can see. She says I'm mad on that point." He spoke resentfully. "But +after all, it's what I married for. I don't see why I should be cheated +out of the one thing I want most, do you?" + +Juliet's eyes came up to his, slowly, somewhat reluctantly. "I'm afraid I +haven't much sympathy with you," she said. + +"You haven't?" he looked amazed. + +"No." She paused a moment. "It was a pity you told me. You see, a woman +doesn't care to be married--just for that." + +"And what do you suppose she married me for?" he demanded indignantly. +"Do you think she was in love with me--a man thirty years older than +herself? Oh, I assure you, there were never any illusions on that score! +I had a good deal to offer her, and she jumped at it." + +Juliet gave a slight shiver, and abruptly his manner changed. + +"I'm sorry. Put my foot in it again, have I? You'll have to forgive me, +please. No, I shouldn't have told you. But you've got such a kind look +about you--as if you'd understand." + +She was touched in spite of herself. She got up quickly and faced him. +"What I can't understand," she said, a ring of deep feeling in her +voice, "is how anyone can possibly barter their happiness, their +self-respect, all that is most worth having, for this world's goods, +this world's ambitions, and expect to come out of it anything but +losers. Oh, I know it's done every day. People fight and scramble--yes, +and grovel in the mud--for what they think is gold; and when they've got +it, it's only the basest alloy. Some of them never find it out. Others +do--and break their hearts." + +He stared at her. "You speak as one who knows." + +"I do know," she said. "Since I've been here, had time to think, I've +realized it more and more. This dreadful fight for front places, for +prosperity--this rooted, individual selfishness--the hopeless materialism +of it all--the ultimate ruin--." She broke off. "You'll take me for a +street ranter if I go on. But it's rather piteous to see people straining +and agonizing after what, after all, can never bring them any comfort." + +"But that's just what I was saying," he protested. + +Her frank eyes looked straight into his. "But you're doing it yourself +all the same," she said. "You're playing for your own hand all the time +and so you're a loser and always will be. It's the chief rule of the +game." She smiled faintly. "Please forgive me for telling you so, but +I've only just found it out for myself; so I had to tell someone." + +"You're rather a wonderful young woman," said the squire, still staring. + +She shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm not. I've just begun to use my brains, +that's all. They're nothing at all out of the ordinary, really." + +He laughed. "Well, you've given me a pretty straight one anyway. Have you +got a home anywhere--any home people?" + +"None that count," said Juliet. + +"Been more or less of a looker-on all your life, eh?" he suggested. + +"More or less," smiled Juliet. + +He held out his hand to her abruptly. "Look here! You're coming, +aren't you?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. + +"Well, make up your mind quick!" He held her hand, looking at her. +"What's the objection? Tell me?" + +She freed her hand gently but with decision. "I can't tell you entirely. +You must let me think. For one thing, I want more freedom of action than +I should have as an inmate of your house. I want to come and go as I +like. I've never really done that before, and I'm just beginning to +enjoy it." + +"That's a selfish reason," said the squire, with a sudden boyish +grin at her. + +She coloured slightly. "No, it isn't--or not wholly." + +"All right, it isn't. I unsay it. But that reason won't exist as far as +you are concerned. You will come and go exactly as you like always. No +one will question you." + +"You're very kind," said Juliet. + +He bowed to her ceremoniously. "That's the first really nice thing you +have said to me. I must make a note of it. Now would you like my wife to +call upon you? If so, I'll send her round to-morrow at twelve." + +"If she would care to come," said Juliet. + +"Of course she would. She shall come then--and you'll talk things over, +and come to an understanding. That's settled, is it? Good-bye!" + +He turned to go, pausing at the gate to throw her another smiling +farewell. She had not thought that gloomy, black browed countenance could +look so genial. There was something curiously elusive, almost haunting, +about his smile. + +"Columbus!" said Juliet. "I'm not sure that he's a very nice man, but +there's something about him--something I can't quite place--that makes me +wonder if I've met him somewhere before. Would you like to go and live at +the Court, Columbus?" + +Columbus leaned against her knee in sentimental silence. He evidently did +not care where he went so long as he was with the object of his +whole-souled devotion. + +She stooped and kissed him between the eyes. "Dear doggie!" she murmured. +"I wonder--are we happier--here?" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MRS. FIELDING + + +When the great high-powered car from Shale Court stopped at the gate of +the blacksmith's cottage on the following morning Mrs. Rickett, who was +feeding her young chicks in the yard outside the forge, was thrown into a +state of wild agitation. Everyone in Little Shale stood in awe of the +squire's wife. + +She went nervously to enquire what was wanted, and met the chauffeur +at the gate. + +"It's all right, Mrs. Rickett. Don't fluster yourself!" he said. "It's +Miss Moore we're after. Go and tell her, will you?" + +Mrs. Rickett looked at the bold-eyed young man with disfavour. +"Well, you're not expecting her to come out to you, are you?" she +retorted tartly. + +He smiled. "Yes, I rather think we are, Mrs. Fielding doesn't want to get +out. Where is she?" + +Mrs. Rickett drew in her breath. "But Miss Moore is a lady born!" she +objected. "Haven't you got a card I can take her?" + +Mrs. Rickett had lived among the gentry in her maiden days, and, as she +was wont to assert, she knew what was what as well as anybody. She had, +moreover, a vigorous dislike for young Jack Green the chauffeur who, +notwithstanding his airs,--perhaps because of them,--occupied a much +lower plane in her estimation than his brother the schoolmaster. But +Jack was one of those people whom it is practically impossible to snub. +He merely continued to smile. + +"Well, you'd better let me go and find her if you won't," he said, "or +madam will be getting impatient." + +It was at this point that Juliet came upon the scene, walking up from the +shore with her hair blowing in the breeze. She carried a towel and a +bathing dress on her arm. Columbus trotted beside her, full of cheery +self-importance. + +She quickened her pace somewhat at sight of the car, and its occupant +leaned forward with an imperious motion of the hand. Her pale face +gleamed behind her veil. + +"Miss Moore, I believe?" she said, in her slightly insolent tones. + +Juliet came to the side of the car. The sun beat down upon her uncovered +head. She smiled a welcome. + +"How do you do? How kind of you to come and see me! I am sorry I wasn't +here to receive you, but it was so glorious down on the shore that I +stayed to dry my hair. Do come in!" + +"Oh, I can't--really!" protested Mrs. Fielding. "I shall die if I don't +get a little air. I thought perhaps you would like to come for a little +spin with me. But I suppose that is out of the question." + +"My hair is quite dry," said Juliet. "It won't take me long to put it up. +I should like to come with you very much." + +"I can't wait," said Mrs. Fielding plaintively. "This heat is so +fearful--and the glare! I will go for a short round, and come back for +you if you like." + +"Thank you," said Juliet. "I can be ready in five minutes." + +"I should be grilled by that time," declared Mrs. Fielding. "Jack, we +will go round by the station and back by the church. It is only three +miles. We can do that easily. In five minutes then, Miss Moore!" + +"Look out for the schoolchildren!" exclaimed Juliet almost +involuntarily. "They are sure to be all over the road." + +"Oh, really!" said Mrs. Fielding, sinking back into the car, as it +swooped away. + +Juliet and Mrs. Rickett looked at one another. + +"That young Jack Green fair riles me," remarked the latter. "I can't +abide him. He's not a patch on his brother, and never will be. It's +funny, you know, how members of a family vary. Now you couldn't have a +more courteous and pleasant spoken gentleman than Dick. But this Jack, +why, he hasn't even the beginnings of a gentleman in him." + +Juliet's thoughts were more occupied with Mrs. Fielding at the moment, +but she kept them to herself. "I may be late back, Mrs. Rickett," she +said. "Let me have a cold lunch when I come in!" + +"Oh, dearie me!" said Mrs. Rickett. "I do hope, miss, as young Jack'll +drive careful when he's got you in the car." + +Juliet hoped so too as she hastened within to prepare for the expedition. +She did not feel any very keen zest for it, but, as she told Columbus, +they need never go again if they didn't like it. + +It was nearly ten minutes before the Fielding car reappeared, and they +were both waiting at the garden-gate as it drew up. + +"Yes, we were delayed," said Mrs. Fielding pettishly, "by those little +fiends of children. I do think Mr. Green might teach them to keep to +the side of the road. Pray get in, Miss Moore! Oh, do you want to bring +your dog?" + +"He is used to motoring," said Juliet. "Do you mind if he sits in front?" + +Mrs. Fielding shrugged her shoulders to indicate that if was a matter of +supreme indifference to her, and Columbus was duly installed by the +driver's side. Juliet took her place beside Mrs. Fielding, and in a few +seconds they were whirling up the road again, leaving clouds of dust in +their wake. + +"It's the only way one can breathe on a day like this," said Mrs. +Fielding. + +Juliet said nothing. She was watching the village children scatter like +rabbits before their lightning rush. + +In the schoolhouse garden she caught sight of a heavy, shambling figure, +and waved a swift greeting as she flashed past. + +"Oh, do you know that revolting youth?" said Mrs. Fielding. "He's +half-witted as well as deformed. His brother!" with a nod towards her +chauffeur's back. "He's a great trial to Jack, I believe. My husband has +offered a hundred times to have him put into a home, but the other +brother--Green, the schoolmaster--is absolutely pig-headed on the +subject, and won't hear of it." + +"Poor Robin!" said Juliet gently. "Yes, I know him. He is certainly not +normal, but scarcely half-witted, do you think?" + +Mrs. Fielding turned her head to bestow upon her a brief glance of +surprise. "I said half-witted," she observed haughtily. + +Juliet turned her head also, and gave her companion a straight and level +look. "And I did not agree with you," she said quietly. + +Mrs. Fielding uttered a laugh that had a girlish ring despite its +insolence. "Have you said that to my husband yet?" she asked. + +"Not quite that," said Juliet. + +"Well, if you ever do, may I be there to hear!" she rejoined flippantly. +"He's like a raging bull when he's crossed. I hear he came to see you +yesterday." + +"He did," said Juliet. + +"Did he talk about me?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +"He told me that you were not very strong," said Juliet. + +"And that I wanted someone to look after me--coerce me, when he wasn't +there to do it himself. Was that it?" + +"Surely you know better than that!" said Juliet. + +"Oh, I know him awfully well," said Mrs. Fielding, with her reckless +laugh. "Are you really thinking of coming to live with us?" + +"You haven't asked me yet," said Juliet. + +"Oh, that doesn't matter. You'll come if you think you will; and if you +don't, nothing will induce you. But--let me tell you--my husband will be +furious--with me--if you don't." + +"Oh, surely not!" said Juliet. + +"Yes, he is that sort. If he doesn't get what he wants, it's always +someone else's fault--generally mine. I warn you--we have most frightful +rows sometimes. He has only just begun to speak to me again since last +Sunday. We quarrelled that day over Green. You know Green--the +schoolmaster--don't you?" + +"Yes, I think I might call him a friend of mine," said Juliet, +with a smile. + +"Oh, really! I didn't know that," Mrs. Fielding's tone was suddenly +extremely cold. "Hence your championship of Robin, I suppose?" + +"No, I made friends with Robin separately. He is coming to tea with me +to-day, or rather, we are going down to the shore with it. I love the +shore in the evening." + +"I wonder you care to mix with people like that," remarked Mrs. +Fielding. "I think it is such a mistake to take them out of their own +class. Green the schoolmaster is a constant visitor up at the Court, and +I object to it very strongly. I cannot understand my husband's attitude +in the matter." + +"But he is a gentleman!" said Juliet. + +"Who? Green? Oh yes, of sorts. I am glad to say his brother has no +aspirations in that direction." Mrs. Fielding glanced again towards her +chauffeur's unconscious back. "Or if he has, I don't get the benefit of +them. As for Robin, he gives me the cold shudders every time I see him." + +"Poor Robin!" said Juliet again. "I think he feels his deformity +very much." + +"Of course he does! He ought to be in a home among his own kind. It would +be far better for everyone concerned. Frankly, the Green family +exasperate me," declared Mrs. Fielding. "I can put up with Jack. He's +such a smart, good-looking boy, and he can drive like the devil. But I've +no use for the other two, and never shall have. I think Green's a humbug. +Is he going to join your picnic-party on the shore?" + +"He hasn't been invited," said Juliet. + +"Oh, you won't find he needs much encouragement. As Dene Strange puts it, +he is always hovering on the outside edge of every circle and ready to +squeeze in at the very first opportunity." + +"I should imagine my circle is hardly important enough to attract anyone +in that way," remarked Juliet. "Strange is very caustic. I am not sure I +like him much." + +"Oh, I enjoy him," said Mrs. Fielding. "He is so brilliant. He always +gets right there. You have never met him, I suppose?" + +Juliet shook her head. "Not under that name, anyway. They say he is a +barrister. But I haven't much sympathy with a man who hides behind a +pseudonym, have you? It looks as if he hasn't the courage of his +opinions." + +"I shouldn't think anyone ever accused Dene Strange of lack of courage," +said Mrs. Fielding. "I read all he writes. He is so intensely clever." + +"Some people think he's a woman," said Juliet. + +"Oh, I don't believe that. Neither do you. No woman ever had a brain like +that. It's quite Napoleonic. I'd give a good deal to meet him." + +"And be horribly disappointed," said Juliet. + +"Why do you say that?" + +"Because lions always are disappointing when they're hunted down. The +ones that roar are quite insufferable, and the ones that don't are +just banal." + +Mrs. Fielding looked at her with interest for the first time. "You've +seen a good deal of life," she remarked. + +"Oh, no!" said Juliet lightly. "But enough to realize that the torch of +genius burns best in dark places. Perhaps Strange is right after +all--from his own point of view at least. That lion-hunting business is +so revolting." + +"You speak as one who knows," said Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet smiled. "I have watched from the outside edge, as Dene Strange +puts it. I expect you have heard of the Farringmores, haven't you? I am +distantly related to them. I was brought up with Lady Joanna. So I know a +little of what London people call life." + +"I saw you had been in society," said Mrs. Fielding half enviously. + +"Yes, I have had five seasons--nearly six. And I never want another." +Juliet spoke with great emphasis. "That's why I'm here now." + +"I wonder you never married," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Do you?" Juliet spoke dreamily. They were running swiftly up a steep and +stony road leading to High Shale Point. "Lady Jo used to wonder that. But +I've never yet met a man who was willing to wait, and I couldn't do a +thing like that in a hurry." + +"You could if you were in love," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Yes, perhaps you're right. In that case, I have never been enough in +love to take the leap." Juliet spoke with a half smile. Her eyes were +fixed upon the top of the hill. "But anyhow Lady Jo couldn't talk, for +she has just jilted Ivor Yardley the K. C. and gone to Paris to buy +mourning." + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Fielding. "Why, I saw the description +of the wedding-dress in the paper the other day. It must have been a +near thing." + +"It was," said Juliet soberly. "They were to have been married to-day." + +"And she broke it off! That must have taken some pluck!" + +"But she didn't stay to face the music," Juliet pointed out. "That was +what I hated in her. She ought to have stayed." + +"Was she afraid of him then?" + +"Afraid? Yes, she was afraid of him--and of everybody else. I know that +perfectly well, though you would never get her to admit it. She was +terrified in her heart--and so she bolted." + +"Why didn't you go with her?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet made an odd gesture of the hands that was somehow passionate. "Why +should I? I have disapproved of her for a long time. Now we have finally +quarrelled. She behaved so badly--so very badly. I don't want to meet +her--or any of her set--again!" + +Mrs. Fielding was silent for a moment. She had not expected that +intensity. "Do you know, that doesn't sound like you somehow?" she said +at length, speaking with just a hint of embarrassment. + +"But how do you know what I am really like?" said Juliet. "Ah! There is +the sea again--and the wonderful sky-line! Is he going to stop? Or are +we going to plunge over the edge?" + +She spoke with a little breathless laugh. They had reached the summit of +the great headland, and it looked for the moment as if the car must leap +over a sheer precipice into the clear green water far below. But even as +she spoke, there came a check and a pause, and then they were standing +still on a smooth stretch of grass not twenty feet from the edge. + +The soft wind blew in their faces, and there was a glittering purity in +the atmosphere that held Juliet spell-bound. She breathed deeply, gazing +far out over that sparkling sea of wonder. + +"Oh, the magic of it!" she said. "The glorious freedom! It makes you +feel--as if you had been born again." + +Her companion watched her in silence, a certain curiosity in her look. + +After many seconds Juliet turned round. "Thank you for bringing me here," +she said. "It has done me good. I should like to stay here all day long." + +Her eyes travelled along the line of cliff towards that distant spot that +had been the scene of her night adventure, and slowly returned to dwell +upon a long deep seam in the side of the hill. + +"That's the lead mine," observed Mrs. Fielding. "It belongs to your +aristocratic relatives, the Farringmores. They are pretty badly hated by +the miners, I believe. But your friend Mr. Green is extremely popular +with them. He rather likes to be a king among cobblers, I imagine." + +"How nice of him!" said Juliet. "And where do the cobblers live?" + +"You can't see it from here. It's just on the other side of the +workings--a horribly squalid place. I never go near it. It's called High +Shale, but it's very low really, right in a pocket of the hills, and very +unhealthy. You can see the smoke hanging over there now. The cottages are +wretched places, and the people who live in them--words fail! Ashcott, +the agent and manager of the mines, says they are quite hopeless, and so +they are. They are just like pigs in a sty." + +"Poor dears!" said Juliet. + +"Oh, they're horrors!" declared Mrs. Fielding. "They fling stones at the +car if we go within half-a-mile of them. And they are such a drunken set. +Go round the other way, Jack,--round by Fairharbour! Miss Moore will +enjoy that." + +"Thank you," said Juliet, with her friendly smile. "I am enjoying it +very much." + +They travelled forty miles before they ran back again into Little Shale, +and the children were reassembling for afternoon school as they neared +the Court gates. + +"Put me down here!" Juliet said. "I can run down the hill. It isn't worth +while coming those few yards and having to turn the car." + +"I want you to lunch with me," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Oh, thank you very much. Not to-day. I really must get back. I've got to +buy cakes for tea," laughed Juliet. + +Mrs. Fielding stopped the car abruptly. "I'm not going to press you, or +you'll never come near me again," she said. "I never press people to do +what they obviously don't want to. Do you think you would hate living +with me, Miss Moore? Or are you still giving the matter your +consideration?" + +There was a hint of wistfulness in the arrogant voice that somehow +touched Juliet. + +She sat silent for a moment; then: "If I might come to you for a week on +trial," she said. "You won't pay me anything of course. I think we +should know by that time if it were likely to answer or not." + +"When will you come?" said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Just when you like," said Juliet. + +"To-morrow?" + +"Yes, to-morrow, if that suits you." + +"And if you don't hate me at the end of a week you'll come for good." + +Juliet laughed. "No, I won't say that. I'll leave you a way of escape +too. We will see how it answers." + +Mrs. Fielding held out her hand. "Good-bye! Next time you take your tea +on the shore, I want to be the guest of honour." + +"You shall be," said Juliet. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE INTRUDER + + +"Everyone to his taste," remarked Green. "But I'd rather be anything +under the sun than Mrs. Fielding's paid companion." He glanced at +Juliet with a smile as he spoke, but there was a certain earnestness +in his speech that told her he meant what he said. He sat with his +back to a rock, smoking a cigarette. His attitude was one of repose, +but in the strong light his dark face showed a tenseness that did not +wholly agree with it. + +"Do you really think you'll like it?" he asked, as Juliet did not speak. + +She also had a cigarette between her lips, and there was genuine +relaxation in her fashion of lounging on the shingle. + +"I really don't know," she said. "I've got to find out." + +"Don't let them bully you!" said Green. + +She smiled. "No, they won't do that. I think it is rather kind of them to +take me without references, don't you?" + +"No," said Green. + +She turned and surveyed him with a gleam of amusement in her look. "You +sound cross! Are you cross about anything?" + +His eyes flashed down to hers with a suddenness almost startling. He did +not speak for a moment, then again he smiled abruptly with his eyes still +holding hers. "I believe I am," he said. + +"I wonder why," said Juliet. + +He laughed. "Yes, you do, don't you? Great impertinence on my part of +course. It's nice of you to put it so mildly." + +"I don't think you impertinent," said Juliet; "only rather silly." + +"Oh, thanks!" said Green. "Kinder and kinder. Silly to be cross on your +account, is that it? Well, it certainly sounds silly." + +Juliet smiled. "No, silly to think I am not capable of taking care +of myself." + +"Oh!" said Green. "Well, I have some reason for thinking that, +haven't I?" + +"None whatever," said Juliet. + +"All right. I haven't," he said, and looked away. + +"You are cross!" ejaculated Juliet, and broke into a laugh. + +Green smoked steadily for some seconds with his eyes upon the sea. A +few yards below them Robin wandered bare-footed along the shore, +accompanied by Columbus who had bestowed a condescending species of +friendship upon him. + +Green's dark, alert face looked strangely swarthy against the rock behind +him. His expression was one of open discontent. + +"I hate to think of you turning into that woman's slave," he said +abruptly. "To be quite honest, that was what brought me along to-day, +intruding upon your picnic with Robin. I want to warn you, I've got to +warn you." + +"You have warned me," said Juliet. + +"Without result," he said. + +"No, not without result. I am very grateful to you, and I shall remember +your warning." + +"But you won't profit by it," Green's voice was moody. + +"I think I shall," she said. "In any case, I am only going for a week on +trial. That couldn't hurt anyone." + +He did not look at her. "You're going out of the goodness of your +heart," he said. "And--though you won't like it--you'll stay for the +same reason." + +"Oh, don't you think you are rather absurd?" said Juliet. "I am not at +all that sort of person, I assure you." + +"I think you are," said Green. + +She laughed again. "Well I am told you are quite a frequent visitor +there. Why do you go--if you don't like it?" + +"That is different," he said. "I can hold my own--anyway with Mr. +Fielding." + +She lifted her brows. "And you think I can't?" + +"I think you'll lead a dog's life," he said. + +"Oh, I hope not. It won't be on a chain anyhow. I've provided +against that." + +"You'll hate it," Green said with conviction. + +"I don't think I shall," she answered quietly. "If I do, I shall +come away." + +"It'll be too late then," he said. + +"Too late!" Juliet's soft eyes opened wide. "What can you mean?" + +He made a gesture which though half-restrained was yet vehement "It's a +hostile atmosphere--a hateful atmosphere. She will poison you with her +sneers and snobbery!" + +A light began to break upon Juliet. She sat up very suddenly. "That sort +of poison doesn't have any effect upon me," she said, and she spoke with +a stateliness that brought the man's eyes swiftly down to her. "I +am--sneer-proof." + +"She won't sneer at you," said Green quickly. + +With her eyes looking straight up to him, she laughed. + +"Oh, I quite catch your meaning, Mr. Green. But--really I am not in the +position of listening to sneers against my friends. Now will you be +satisfied?" + +He laughed also though still with a touch of restraint. "Yes, I feel +better for that. You are so royal in your ways. I might have known I was +safe there." + +"'Loyal' is a better word I think," said Juliet quietly. "Why should a +paid companion aspire to be any higher in the social scale than a village +schoolmaster? Do you think occupation really makes any difference?" + +"Theoretically--no!" said Green. + +"Neither theoretically nor practically," said Juliet. "I detest snobbery, +so do you. If you came to the Court to sweep the kitchen chimney, I +should be just as pleased to see you. What a man does is nothing. How +could it make any difference?" + +"It couldn't--to you," said Green. + +"Or to you?" said Juliet. + +He laughed a little, his black brows working comically. "Madame, if I met +you hawking stale fish for cat's meat in the public street, I couldn't +venerate you more or adore you less. Whatever you do--is right." + +"Good heavens!" said Juliet, and flushed in spite of herself. "What a +magnificent compliment! It's a pity you are not wearing a slouch hat with +an ostrich plume! You really need a plume to express that sort of +sentiment properly." + +"Yes, I know," said Green. "But--I imagine you are not attracted by +plumes. In fact, you have just told me so. Proof positive of your +royalty! It is only crowned heads that can afford to despise them +nowadays." + +"Mine isn't a crowned head," protested Juliet. + +He looked at her searchingly. "Have you never been to Court?" + +She snapped her fingers airily. "Of course! Dozens of times! Poor +companions always go to Court. How often do you go!" + +"As often as you admit me to your most gracious presence," he said. + +She clapped her hands softly. "Why, that is even prettier than the stale +fish one! Mr. Green, what can have happened to you?" + +"I daren't tell you," he said. + +A sudden silence fell upon the words. Juliet puffed the smoke from her +cigarette, and watched it rise. "Well, don't spoil it, will you?" she +said, as it vanished into air. + +Green's hand suddenly gripped a handful of shingle and ground it +forcibly. He did not speak for a second or two. Then: "No, I won't spoil +it," he said, in a low voice. + +A moment later he flung the stones abruptly from him and got up. + +"You're not going?" said Juliet. + +"Yes, I've got work to do. Shall I take Robin with me?" + +There was a dogged note in his voice. His eyes avoided hers. + +Juliet rose slowly. "Never mind Robin! Walk a little way with me!" she +said. + +"I think I'd better go," said Green restlessly. + +"Please!" said Juliet gently. + +He turned beside her without a word. They went down the shingle to the +edge of the sand and began to walk along the shore. + +For many seconds they walked in silence. Juliet's eyes were fixed upon +the mighty outline of High Shale Point that stood out like a fortress, +dark, impregnable, against the calm of the evening sky. Her companion +sauntered beside her, his hands behind him. He had thrown away his +cigarette. + +She spoke at length, slowly, with evident effort. "I want to tell +you--something--about myself." + +"Something I really don't know?" asked Green, his dark face flashing +to a smile. + +There was no answering smile on Juliet's face. "Yes, something you don't +know," she said soberly. "It's just this. I have much more in common with +Mrs. Fielding than you have any idea of. I have lived for pleasure +practically all my life. I have scrambled for happiness with the rest of +the world, and I haven't found it. It's only just lately that I've +realized why. I read a book called The Valley of Dry Bones. Do you know +it? But of course you do. It is by Dene Strange. I hate the man--if it is +a man. And I hate his work--the bitter cynicism of it, the merciless +exposure of humanity at its lowest and meanest. I don't know what his +ideals are--if he has any. I think he is probably very wicked, but +detestably--oh, damnably--clever. I burnt the book I hated it so. But I +felt--afterwards--as if I had been burnt, seared by hot +irons--ashamed--most cruelly ashamed." Juliet's voice sank almost to a +whisper. "Because--life really is like that--one vast structure of +selfishness--and in many ways I have helped to make it so." + +She stopped. Green was looking at her attentively. He spoke at once with +decision. "I know the book. I've read it. It's an exaggeration--probably +intentional. It wasn't written--obviously--for the super-sensitive." + +"Wasn't it?" Juliet's lips were quivering. "Well, it's been a positive +nightmare to me. I haven't got over it yet." + +"That's curious," he said. "I shouldn't have thought it could have +touched you anywhere." + +"That is because you have a totally wrong impression of me," she said. +"That is what I am trying to put right. I am the sort of person that +horrible book applies to, and I've fallen out with myself very badly in +consequence, Mr. Green. I haven't told anyone but you, but--somehow--I +feel as if you ought to know." + +"Thank you," said Green. "But why?" + +She met his eyes very steadily. "Because I'm trying to play the game now, +and--I don't want you to have any illusions." + +"You don't want me to make a fool of myself," he said. "Is that it?" + +She coloured very vividly, but she did not avoid his look. "I don't think +there is much danger of that, is there?" she said. + +He stood still suddenly and faced her. His eyes burned with an amazing +brightness. "I don't know," he said, speaking emphatically and very +rapidly. "It depends of course upon the point of view. But I'll tell you +this. I'd give all I've got--and all I'm ever likely to get--to prevent +you going to Shale Court as a companion." + +"Oh, but aren't you unreasonable?" Juliet said. + +"No, I'm not." He made a vigorous gesture of repudiation. "Presumptuous +perhaps--but not unreasonable. I know too much of what goes on there. +Miss Moore, I beseech you--think again! Don't go!" + +She looked at him in perplexity. "But it wouldn't be fair to draw back +now," she objected. "Besides--" + +"Besides," he broke in almost fiercely, "you've got your living to make +like the rest of us. Yes, I know--I know! You regard this as a +Heaven-sent opportunity. It isn't. It's quite the reverse. If you were +unhappy in London, you'll be a thousand times more so there. And--and I +shan't be able to help you--shan't get anywhere near you there." + +"It's very kind of you," began Juliet. + +He cut her short again. "No, it isn't kind. You're the only woman of +your station I have ever met who has deigned to treat me as an equal. +It--it's a bit rash on your part, you know." He smiled at her abruptly, +and something sent a queer sensation through her--a curious feeling of +familiarity that held and yet eluded her. "And--as you see--I'm taking +full advantage of it. I hope you won't think me an awful cad after this. +I can't help it if you do. Miss Moore, forgive my asking,--are you really +obliged to work for your living? Can't you--can't you wait a little?" + +Juliet was looking at him with wonder in her soft eyes. His sudden +vehemence was rather bewildering. + +"I don't quite know," she said vaguely. "But I rather want to do +something, you know." + +"Oh, I know--I know," he said. "But you're not obliged to do this. +Something else is bound to turn up. Or if it doesn't--if it +doesn't--" He ground his heel deep into the yielding sand, and ended +in a husky undertone. "My God! What wouldn't I give for the privilege +of working for you?" + +The words were uttered and beyond recall. He looked her straight in the +face as he spoke them, but an instant later he turned and stared out over +the wide, calm sea in a stillness that was somehow more forcible even +than his low, half-strangled speech had been. + +Juliet stood silent also, almost as if she were waiting for him to +recover his balance. Her eyes also were gazing straight before her to +that far mysterious sky-line. They were very grave and rather sad. + +He broke the silence after many seconds. "You will never speak to me +again after this." + +"I hope I shall," she said gently. + +He wheeled and faced her. "You're not angry then?" + +She shook her head. "No." + +His eyes flashed over her with amazing swiftness. "I almost wish you +were," he said. + +"But why?" she said. + +"Because I should know then it mattered a little. Now I know it doesn't. +I am just one of the many. Isn't that it? There are so many of us that +one more or less doesn't count either way." He laughed ruefully. "Well, I +won't repeat the offence. Even your patience must have its limits. Shall +we go back?" + +It was then that Juliet turned, moved by an impulse so strangely urgent +that she could not pause to analyse it. She held out her hand to him, +quickly, shyly, and as he gripped and held it, she spoke, her voice +tremulous, breathless, barely coherent. + +"I am not--offended. I am--very--very--deeply--honoured. Only +you--you--don't understand." + +He kept her hand closely in his own. His grasp vibrated with electric +force, but he had himself in check. "You are more generous than I +deserve," he said, his voice sunk to a whisper. "Perhaps--some +day--understanding will come. May I hope for that?" + +She did not answer him, but for one intimate second her eyes looked +straight into his. Then with a little, sobbing breath she slipped her +hand free. + +"We--are forgetting Robin," she said, with an effort. + +He turned at once. "By George, yes! I'm afraid I had forgotten +him," he said. + +They walked back along the shore side by side. + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WAND OF OFFICE + + +Robin was in disgrace. He crouched in a sulky heap in a far corner of the +schoolroom, and glowered across the empty desks and benches at his elder +brother who sat in the place of authority at his writing-table with a +litter of untidy exercise-books in front of him. There was a long, thin +cane also at his elbow that had the look of a somewhat sinister wand of +office. He was correcting book after book with a species of forced +patience, that was not without an element of exasperation. + +The evening sunlight slanted through the leaded windows. They were open +to their widest extent, but the place was oppressively close. There was a +brooding sense of storm in the atmosphere. Suddenly, as if in some +invisible fashion a set limit had been reached and passed, Richard Green +lifted his head from his work. His keen eyes sent a flashing glance down +the long, bare room. + +"Robin!" he said. + +Robin gave a violent start, and then a shuffling, reluctant movement as +if prodded into action against his will. + +"Get up and come here!" his brother said. + +Robin, in the act of blundering to his feet, checked abruptly, as if +arrested by something in the peremptory tone. "What for?" he asked, in a +surly note. + +"Get up," Green repeated, with grim insistence, "and come here!" + +Robin grabbed at the end of the row of desks nearest to him and dragged +himself slowly up. But there he hung irresolute. His heavy brows were +drawn, but the eyes beneath had a frightened, hunted look. They glared at +Green with a defiance so precarious that it was pathetic. + +Green waited inexorably, magisterially, at his table. The sunlight had +gone and the room was darkening. Very slowly Robin moved forward, +dragging his feet along the bare boards. At the other end of the row of +desks he halted. His eyes travelled swiftly between his brother's stern +countenance and the wand of office that lay before him on the +writing-table. He shivered. + +"Come here!" Green said again. + +He crept a little nearer like a guilty dog. His humped shoulders looked +higher than usual. His eyes shone red. + +Across the writing-table Green faced him. He spoke, very distinctly. + +"Why did you throw that stone at Mrs. Fielding's car?" + +Robin was trembling from head to foot. He drew a quivering breath between +his teeth, and stood silent. + +"Tell me why!" Green insisted. + +Robin locked his working hands together. Green waited. + +"It--it--I didn't see--Mrs. Fielding," he blurted forth at last. + +Green made a slight movement that might have indicated relief, but his +tone was as uncompromising as before as he said, "That's not an answer to +my question. I asked you why you did it." + +Robin shrank from the curt directness of his speech. His defiance wilted +visibly. "I--didn't mean to break the window, Dicky," he said, twisting +and cracking his fingers in rising agitation. + +"What did you mean to do?" said Green. + +Robin stood silent again. + +"Are you going to answer me?" Green said, after a pause. + +Robin made a great effort. He parted his straining hands and rested them +upon the table behind which Green sat. Standing so, he glowered down into +his brother's grim face with something of menace in his own. + +"I'll tell you one thing, Dicky," he said, with stupendous effort. "I'm +not going--to take a caning for it." + +Green's eyebrows went up. He sat perfectly still, looking straight +up into the heavy face above him. For several seconds a tense +silence reigned. + +Then: "Oh yes, you will," he said quietly. "You will take--whatever I +decide to give you. Sit down there!" He indicated the end of the bench +nearest to him. "I'll deal with you presently." + +Robin did not stir. In the growing gloom of the room his eyes shone like +the eyes of an animal, goaded and desperate. But the man before him +showed neither surprise nor anger. His clean-cut lips were closed in a +straight, unyielding line. For a full minute he looked at Robin and Robin +looked at him. + +Then he spoke. "I've only one treatment for this sort of thing--as you +know. It isn't especially inspiring for either of us. I shouldn't qualify +for it if I were you." + +Robin had begun to shake again. The cold, clear words seemed to deprive +him of the brief strength he had managed to muster. His eyes fell before +the steady regard that was fixed upon him. With an incoherent murmur he +turned aside, and dropped upon the end of the bench indicated, his +trembling hands gripped hard between his knees, his attitude one of +utter dejection. + +Green went back to his correcting with a frown between his brows, and a +deep silence fell. + +Minutes passed. The room grew darker, the atmosphere more leaden. Pencil +in hand, Green went over book after book and put them aside. Suddenly he +looked across at the silent figure. The humped shoulders were heaving. +Slow tears were falling upon the clasped hands. There was no sound of any +sort. Green sat and watched, a kind of stern pity replacing the +unyielding mastery of his look. He moved at length, was on the verge of +speech, when something checked him. Footsteps fell beyond the open door, +and in a moment a man's figure appeared entering through the gloom. + +"Hullo, Dick!" a voice said. "You here? There's going to be the devil of +a storm. Where's that scoundrel Robin?" + +Robin stirred with a deep sound in his throat like the growl of an +angry animal. + +Richard Green rose with a sharp movement. "Jack! I want a word with you. +Come outside!" + +He passed Robin and went to the new-comer, gripping him quickly by the +shoulder and turning him back by the way he had come. + +Jack submitted to the imperative touch. He was taller and broader than +his elder brother, but he lacked that subtle something--the distinction +of bearing--which in Richard was very apparent. + +"Well, Dick! What do you want?" he said. "I'm pretty mad, I can tell you. +I hope you're going to thrash him well. Because if you don't, I shall." + +Briefly and decidedly Dick made answer. "No, you won't. You'll not touch +him. I shall do--whatever is necessary." + +"Shall you?" said Jack. "Then why don't you shut him up in a wild-beast +house? It's the only place he's fit for." + +"Shut up, please!" Richard's tone was an odd mixture of tolerance and +exasperation. "I'll manage this affair my own way. But I've got to know +the truth of it first. What made him throw that stone? Have you been +baiting him again?" + +"I?" Jack squared his shoulders; a sneer crossed his good-looking face. +"Oh, say I did it!" he drawled. + +"Don't be an ass, Jack! Can't you see I want your help?" Richard spoke +with insistence; his hand gripped his brother's arm. + +Jack's sneer turned to a self-satisfied smile. "I'll help you hammer him +if you like. There's nothing would please me better. Oh, all right, man! +Don't be impatient! That's my funny bone when you've done with it. I +don't mind telling you all about it if you want to know. He chucked that +stone at me out of sheer damned vindictiveness. He meant to break my +head, but he broke the window instead, and frightened Madam Fielding into +fits. In her own park too! It's a bit thick, you know, that. I don't +wonder that she came straight along to you to demand his blood. You'll +have the old man down next; also the beautiful Miss Moore. It's getting +beyond a joke, you know, Dick. You'll have to shut the beast up. You +can't let him run amuck like this." + +"Shut up!" Dick said again. In the unnatural light his face looked drawn +and almost haggard. "I want to know why he did it. Can't you tell me?" + +"Oh yes, I can tell you that. He's taken to haunting the place--the +Court, mind you--to lie in wait for the fair Juliet. She's been too kind +to him, unluckily for her, and now he dogs her footsteps whenever he gets +a chance. I caught him this afternoon, right up by the house, and I +ordered him off. You know the squire and madam both loathe the very sight +of him, and small wonder. I do myself. So I told him what he was and +where to go to, and I presume he thought he'd send me there first. There +you have it all--cause and effect." + +"Thank you," said Dick. He paused a moment looking speculatively at +Jack's complacent face. "It was a pity you were so damned offensive, +but I suppose it's the way you're made. You were the sole cause of the +whole thing, and if there's any decency in you, you'll go and tell the +squire so." + +He spoke quickly, but with characteristic decision and wholly without +excitement. Jack jumped, and threw back his head as if he had received a +blow across the mouth. Swift temper sprang to his eyes. + +"What the devil do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Exactly what I have said," returned Dick briefly. "And perhaps a +little more." + +"Confound you!" blustered Jack. "And you expect me to go to the squire +and tell him it was my fault, do you?" + +"No. I don't expect it in the least." Dick almost laughed. "In fact, +nothing would surprise me more. Thank you for telling me the truth. Do +you mind clearing out now? I don't want you in here." + +His curt, cold tones fell like ice on flame. Jack swore a muffled oath +and turned away. There was no one in the world who possessed the power to +humble him as did Dick, who with a few scorching words could make him +writhe in impotent fury. For there was no gainsaying Dick. He was always +unassailable in his justice, since in a fashion inexplicable but tacitly +acknowledged by both he occupied a higher plane altogether. Ignore it as +he might, deep in his inner soul Jack knew this man to be his master. He +might, and sometimes did, resist his control, deny his authority; yet the +power remained, and Dick knew how to exercise it if the need arose. They +were seldom at open variance, but practically never in sympathy. + +The fate of poor Robin had been a matter of disagreement between them +ever since Jack had come to man's estate, but the issue did not rest +with Jack. No power on earth could move Dick in that direction. Robin +was his own peculiar property, and in this respect he permitted +interference from none. + +He left Jack now, and turned back into the schoolroom with deep lines +between his brows, but implacable determination in his every movement, a +determination that was directed against the poor cowering form that +crouched still in the same position waiting for him. + +Robin looked up at his coming, drawing himself together with a nervous +contraction of the muscles like the mute shrinking of an abject dog. + +Dick stopped in front of him. "So you're not going to take a +caning!" he said. + +There was no longer any rebellion in Robin's attitude. He dropped his +eyes swiftly from his brother's face, saying no word. In the silence +that followed, his hands began to work, straining ceaselessly against +each other. + +Dick waited for a few seconds. "Going on strike, are you?" he asked then, +as Robin did not speak. + +Robin shook his head dumbly. + +"What does that mean?" Dick said. + +Robin was silent. He was nearly dislocating his fingerjoints in his +agitation. + +Richard bent suddenly and laid a quieting hand upon him. "Robin, do you +know you've got me into bad trouble?" + +Robin gave a violent jerk, and in a moment stumbled to his feet. He did +not look at his brother, but turned aside in his blundering pathetic +fashion, and went to the littered writing-desk. + +Dick's wand of office still lay among the scattered exercise-books. He +pulled it out with a clumsy eagerness, tossing papers and books on the +floor in his haste. He turned and went back to Dick, thrusting the cane +towards him. + +"There, Dicky!" he said, and stood breathing heavily and trembling. + +Dick reached out and took the cane. The lines of his face were oddly +softened. He stood for a moment looking at the boy, then very sharply he +moved, bent, and snapped the thing across his knee. + +"Oh, dash it, Robin!" he said. "You're getting too much for me." + +He tossed the fragments from him, and went to pick up the books that +Robin had scattered on the floor. + +Robin came and grovelled by his side, helping him. "You aren't angry, are +you, Dicky?" he murmured anxiously. + +"I ought to be," Dick said, as he sat down and began to straighten out +the muddle in front of him. + +Robin knelt up by his side. "Please don't be, Dicky!" he said very +earnestly. "I won't ever do it again. I swear I won't." + +Dick smiled somewhat wryly. "No. You'll probably think of some other +devilry even worse." He put his arm round the humped shoulders with the +words. "You'll forget--you always do--that it's I who have to pay." + +Robin pressed against him, still dog-like in his contrition. "Will it +cost much?" he asked. + +"Oh that! The window, you mean? Well, not so much as if you had broken +Jack's head--as you intended." + +There was some hint of returning grimness in Dick's voice. Robin made an +ingratiating movement, leaning his rough head against his brother's arm. + +Dick went on, ignoring the unspoken appeal. "You've got to stop it Robin. +If you don't, there'll be trouble--worse trouble than you've had yet. +You don't want to leave me, I suppose?" + +"Leave you, Dicky?" Robin stared round in horror. "Leave you?" he +repeated incredulously. "Go to prison, do you mean?" + +Dick nodded. "Something like it." + +"Dick!" Robin stared at him aghast. "But--you--you'd never let +them--take me?" + +"If you were to damage Jack--or anyone else--badly, I shouldn't be able +to prevent it." Dick said rather wearily. "If it came to that--I +shouldn't even try." + +"Dick!" Robin gasped again, then passionately; "But I--I--I couldn't +live--away from you! I'd--I'd kill myself!" + +"No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't get the chance." Dick was staring +straight before him down the room, as if he watched some evil vision +against the darkness. "People aren't allowed to kill themselves in +prison. If they try to do anything of that sort, they're tied down till +they come to their senses. If they behave like brutes, they're treated as +such, till at last they turn into that and nothing else. And then--God +help them!" + +A sudden hard shudder caught him. He shook it off impatiently, and turned +to the quivering figure still kneeling in the circle of his arm. + +He gripped it suddenly close. "That's the sort of hell these fiendish +tempers of yours might end in," he said. "You've got to save yourself, my +son. I can't save you." + +Robin clung to him tensely, desperately. "You don't--want me to go, +Dicky?" he whispered. + +"Good God!" Richard said. "I'd rather see you dead!" + +In the silence that followed, Robin turned with a curious groping +movement, took the hand that pressed his shoulder, and pulled it +over his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MIDSUMMER MADNESS + + +An ominous darkness brooded over all things as Green walked up the long +avenue of Shale Court half-an-hour later. The storm had been long in, +gathering, and he judged that he would yet have time to reach his +destination before it broke. But it was nearer than he thought, and the +first dull roar of its coming reached him soon after he had passed the +gates. He shrugged his shoulders at the sound and hurried on, for he was +in no mood to turn back. The business before him was one that could not +be shirked, and the lines on his dark face showed unyielding +determination as he went. + +He was half-way up the drive when the first flash of lightning glimmered +eerily across the heavy gloom. It was followed so swiftly by a burst of +thunder that he realized that he had no time to spare if he hoped to +escape the threatening deluge. He broke into a run, covering the ground +with the ease of the practised athlete, elbows at sides and head up, +going at an even pace which he knew he could maintain to the finish +without distress. + +But he was not destined to run to a finish. As he rounded a bend that +gave him a view of the house in the distance, he suddenly heard a voice +call to him from the deep shadow of the trees, and checking sharply he +discerned a dim figure coming towards him across the grassy ride that +bordered the road. + +He diverted his course without a moment's thought, and went to meet it. + +"Ah, how kind of you!" said Juliet. "And there's going to be such a +downpour in a minute." + +"What is the matter?" he said, her hand in his. + +She was smiling a difficult smile. "Nothing very much. Not enough to +warrant my extreme selfishness in stopping you. I have given my foot a +stupid twist, that's all, and it doesn't like walking." + +"Take my arm!" said Green. + +She took it, her white face still bravely smiling. "Thank you, Mr. +Green." + +"Lean hard!" he said. + +She obeyed him, and he led her, limping, to the road, Columbus, the +ever-faithful, trudging behind. + +"It really is a shame," she said. "We shall both be drenched now." + +He glanced at the threatening sky. "It may hold off for a bit yet. What +were you doing?" + +"I was coming to see you," she said. + +"To see me!" His look came swiftly to her. "What about?" + +"About Robin," she answered simply. "I wasn't in the car when it +happened, but I heard all about it when Mrs. Fielding came in. Mr. Green, +I hope you haven't been very hard on him." + +Green was silent for a moment. "And you started straight off to come to +the rescue?" he said then. + +"Oh, I felt sure that he acted on impulse, not realizing. You can't +judge him by ordinary standards. It isn't fair," pleaded Juliet. "There +was probably some extenuating circumstance in the background--something +we don't know about. I hope you haven't been very severe. You haven't, +have you?" + +Green began to smile. "You make me out an awful ogre," he said. "Is it my +trade that does it? No, I haven't punished him at all. As you say, we +must be fair, and I found he wasn't the person most to blame. Can you +guess who was?" + +"No," said Juliet. + +"I thought not. Well, I have traced it to its source, and it lies--at +your door." + +"At mine!" ejaculated Juliet. + +"At yours, yes. You've been too kind to him. It's just your way, isn't +it? You spoil everybody." Again for an instant his look flashed over her. +"With the result that Robin, not hampered by convention as are the rest +of us, lies in wait on forbidden ground for a glimpse of his divinity. +Being caught and roundly abused for it by his brother Jack, he naturally +took offence and trouble ensued. That is the whole story." + +"Oh, dear," said Juliet. "But surely that was very unnecessary of your +brother Jack. He might have made allowances." + +"My brother Jack often does unnecessary things," said Green drily. "And +he never makes allowances for anyone but himself." + +"And you have to bear the consequences!" Juliet's voice was quick with +sympathy. "But that's too bad!" + +"I'm used to it," said Green, and laughed. "How are you getting on? +Enjoying life at the Court?" + +Juliet smiled. "Do you know--I am rather? They have been very good to +me." + +"So far," said Green. "Are you still on probation?" + +"The week is up to-morrow," she told him. + +"And you're staying on--of course?" + +She looked at him. "Don't you want me to stay on?" + +"You know my sentiments," said Green. + +A sudden vivid flash rent the gloom over them, and Juliet caught her +breath. There followed a burst of thunder that seemed to shake the very +foundation of the earth. + +She tried to break into a hobbling run, but he held her back. +"Better not. You'll only hurt yourself. It isn't raining yet. You're +not nervous?" + +She laughed a little, breathlessly. "I don't admit it. I should never +dare to show the white feather in your presence. Oh, look at that!" +She shrank in spite of herself as another intolerable flare darted +across the sky. + +"We're nearly in," said Green, but his words were drowned in such a +volume of sound as made further speech impossible. He awoke to the fact +that Juliet was clinging to his arm with both hands, and in a second his +free hand was on the top of them holding them tightly. + +The thunder rolled away, and a deeper darkness fell. Great drops of rain +began to splash around them. + +"Quick!" gasped Juliet. "We can't--possibly--reach the house now. There +is an arbour--by the garden gate. Let's go there!" + +He turned off the road on to a side-path that led to a shrubbery. The +rush and roar of the coming rain was sweeping up from the sea. Juliet +pressed forward. + +Again a jagged line of light gleamed before them. Again the thunder +crashed. They found the little gate and the arbour beyond. + +"Thank goodness!" gasped Juliet. + +She stumbled at the step of the summer-house, and he thrust an arm +forward to catch her. He almost lifted her into shelter. The darkness +within was complete. She leaned upon him, trembling. + +"You're not hurt?" he said. + +"No, not hurt, only--shaken--and--and--stupid," she answered, on the +verge of tears. + +His arm still held her. It closed about her, very surely, very steadily. +He did not utter a word. + +The rain swept down in a torrent, as if the skies had opened. Great +hail-stones beat upon the laurels around them with tropical violence. +The noise of the downpour seemed vaster, more overwhelming, even than +the thunder. + +Juliet was palpitating from head to foot. She leaned upon the supporting +arm, her eyes closed against the leaping lightning, her two hands pressed +hard upon her breast. Columbus crouched close to her, shivering. + +And ever the man's arm drew her nearer, nearer, till she felt the strong +beating of his heart. The storm raged on about them, but they two stood, +as it were, alone, wrapped at its very centre in a great silence. For +minutes they neither moved nor spoke. + +Slowly the turmoil abated. The downpour lessened. The storm passed. And +Juliet stirred. + +"How--disgraceful of me!" she murmured. "I'm not generally so foolish as +this. But--it was so very violent." + +"I know," he said. His hold slackened. He let her go. And then suddenly +he stayed her. He took her hand, and bending pressed it closely, +burningly, to his lips. + +She stood motionless, suffering him. But in a moment, as he still held +her, very gently she spoke. "Mr. Green, please--don't be so terribly +in earnest! It's too soon. I warned you before. You haven't known +me--long enough." + +He stood up and faced her, her hand still in his. A light was growing +behind the storm-clouds, revealing his dark clean-cut features, and the +look half humorous, half-tense, that rested upon them. + +"Yes, I know you warned me," he said rather jerkily. "I quite realize +that it's my funeral--not yours. I shan't ask you to be chief mourner +either. I've always considered that when a man makes a fool of himself +over a woman it's up to him to bear the consequences without asking her +to share them." + +"But we're not talking of--funerals," said Juliet. + +"Aren't we?" His hand tightened for a moment upon hers. "I thought we +were. What is it then?" + +She smiled at him with a whimsical sadness in the weird storm-light. "I +think there are a good many names for it," she said. "I call it midsummer +madness myself." + +He made a quick gesture of protest. "Do you? Oh, I know a better name +than that. But you don't want to hear it. I believe you are afraid of me. +It sounds preposterous. But I believe you are." + +Her hand stirred within his, but not as though seeking to escape. "No, I +don't think so," she said, and in her voice was a sound as if laughter +and tears were striving together for the mastery. "But I'm trying--so +dreadfully hard--to be--discreet. I don't want you to let yourself go too +far. It's so difficult--you don't know how difficult it is--to get back +afterwards." + +"Good heavens!" he said. "Don't you realize that I passed the +turning-back stage long ago." + +"Oh, I hope not!" she said quickly. "I hope not!" + +"Then I am afraid you are doomed to disappointment," he said, with a +touch of cynicism. "But I am sure you are far too sensible--discreet, I +mean--to let that worry you. And anyway," he smiled abruptly, "I don't +want you to be worried--just when you're having such a jolly time at the +Court too." + +"You're very sarcastic," said Juliet. + +He laughed a little. "No. That's not me. It's only the armour in which I +encase myself. I hope it doesn't offend you. I can always take it off. +Only--I am not sure you'd like that any better." + +He won his point. She smiled, though somewhat dubiously. And at length +her hand gently freed itself from his. + +"Well, I don't like hurting people," she said. "And I don't want to hurt +you. You understand that, don't you?" There was pleading in her words. + +"Yes, perfectly," he said. + +She glanced at him, for his tone was baffling. "And you don't think +me--quite heartless?" + +He bent towards her. "No," he said, and though he smiled as in duty bound +she caught a deep throb in his voice that pierced straight through her. +"I love you all the better for it." Then, before she could find words to +protest, "I say, I believe it's left off raining. Hadn't we better go +while we can?" + +She turned to look. A pale light was shining from the western sky. The +storm was over. The raindrops glittered in the growing radiance. The +whole earth seemed transformed. "Yes, let us go!" she said, and stepped +down into a world of crystal clearness. + +He followed her, his face uplifted to the scattering drops, moving with a +free and faun-like spring that seemed to mark him as a being closely +allied to Nature, curiously vital yet also curiously self-restrained. + +She did not look at him again, but as they passed together through the +wonderland which with every moment was growing to a more amazing +brightness, she told herself that there was little of midsummer madness +about this man's emotions. Jest as he might, she knew by instinct that he +was vitally in earnest and she had a strange conviction that it was for +the first time in his life. The certainty disquited her. Had she fled +from one danger to another--she who only asked for peace? + +But she reassured herself with the thought that he had held her against +his heart, and he had not sought to take her. That forbearance of his +gave him a greatness in her eyes to which no other man had ever attained. +And gradually a sense of security to which she was little accustomed came +about her heart and comforted her. She had warned him. Surely he +understood! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A DRAWN BATTLE + + +Almost in silence they passed up through the dripping garden to the house +side by side, Columbus trotting demurely behind. Juliet was still +limping, but she would not accept support. + +"I suppose you are going to beard the lion in his den," she said as they +drew near. + +"I suppose I am," said Green. "If you hear sounds of a serious fracas, +perhaps you will come to the rescue." + +"Not to yours," she said lightly. "You are more than capable of holding +your own--anywhere." + +He flashed her his sudden look. "Do you really think so? I assure you I +am considered very small fry, indeed, in this household." + +"That's very good for you," said Juliet. + +They mounted to the terrace that bounded the south front of the house, +and entered by a glass door that led into a conservatory. Here for a +moment Juliet paused. Her grey eyes under their level brows met his with +a friendly smile. + +"I think I must leave you now, Mr. Green," she said, "and go and find +Mrs. Fielding. I expect the squire is in his study." + +His answering smile was as ready as her own, but there was a secret +triumph about it that hers lacked. "Pray don't trouble any further on my +account!" he said courteously. "I can find my own way." + +She threw him a nod, cool and kindly, over her shoulder, and took him at +his word. He watched her disappear into the room beyond, Columbus in +close attendance; then for a few seconds his hands went up to his face, +and he stood motionless, pressing his temples hard, feeling the blood +surging at fever heat through his veins. How marvellous she was--and +withal how gracious! How had he dared? Midsummer madness indeed! And yet +she had suffered him--had even stooped to plead with him! + +A great shaft of red sunlight burst suddenly through the heaped +storm-clouds in the west. He turned and faced it, dazzled but strangely +exultant. He felt as if his whole being had been plunged into the glowing +flame. The wonder of it pulsed through and through him. As it were +involuntarily, a prayer sprang to his lips. + +"O God," he said, "make me worthy!" + +Then he turned, as if the glory had become too much for him, and went +into the house. + +He had been well acquainted with the place from boyhood though since the +squire's marriage he had ceased to enter it unannounced. Before his +appointment to the village school, he had acted for a time as the +squire's secretary; but it had never been more than a temporary +arrangement and it had come to a speedy end when Mrs. Fielding became +mistress of the Court. Between her and her husband's protege, as she +scornfully called him, there had always existed a very decided antipathy. +She resented his presence in the house at any time, and though the squire +made it abundantly clear that he would permit no open insolence on her +part, she did not find it difficult to convey her feelings on the subject +to the man himself. He accepted the situation with a shrug and a smile, +and though he did not discontinue his visits on her account, they became +less frequent than formerly; and now generally he came and went again +without seeing her. + +The room he entered was empty. He passed through it without a pause +and found himself in the great entrance hall. He crossed this to a +door on the other side and, knocking briefly, opened it without +waiting for a reply. + +"Hullo!" said the squire's voice. "You, is it? How did you get here? Were +you caught in the storm?" + +"No, sir, I took shelter." Green shut the door, and came forward. + +Mr. Fielding was seated in a leather arm-chair with a newspaper. He +looked at his visitor over it with anything but a favourable eye. + +"What have you come for?" he said. + +Green halted in front of him. "I've come to make a very humble apology," +he said, "for my boy Robin's misdemeanour." + +"Have you?" growled Fielding. He sat motionless, still looking up at +Green from under heavily scowling brows. "Do you think I'm going to be +satisfied with just an apology?" + +"May I sit down, please?" said Green, pulling forward a chair. + +"Oh yes, sit down! Sit down and argue!" said the squire irritably. +"You're always ready with some plausible excuse for that half-witted +young scoundrel. I'll tell you what it is, Dick. If you don't get rid +of him after this, there'll be a split between us. I'm not going to +countenance your infernal obstinacy any longer. The boy is unsafe and +he must go." + +Green sat, leaning forward, courteously attentive, his eyes unwavering +fixed upon his patron's irate countenance. + +He did not immediately reply to the mandate, and the squire's frown +deepened. "You hear me, Dick?" he said. + +Green nodded. "Yes, sir." + +"Well?" Fielding's hand clenched upon the paper in exasperation. + +Dick's eyes very bright, wholly undismayed, continued to meet his with +unvarying steadiness. "I'm very sorry, sir," he said. "The answer is the +same as usual. I can't." + +"Won't--you mean!" There was a sound in the squire's voice like the +muffled roar of an angry animal. + +Dick's black brows travelled swiftly upward and came down again. "He's my +boy, sir," he said. "I'll be responsible for all he does." + +"But--damn it!" ejaculated the squire. "Making yourself responsible for a +mad dog doesn't prevent his biting people, does it? He's become a public +danger, I tell you. You've no right to let him loose on the +neighbourhood." + +"No, no, sir!" Dick broke in quickly. "That's not a fair thing to say. +The boy is as harmless as any of us if he isn't baited. I knew--I knew +perfectly well--that there was a reason for what he did to-day. So there +was. I'm not going into details. Besides, he was clearly in the wrong. +But you may take it from me--he was provoked." + +"Oh! Was he?" said the squire. "And who provoked him? Jack?" + +Dick hesitated momentarily, then: "Yes, Jack," he said briefly. "He had +some reason, but he's such a tactless ass. He blames Robin of course. +Everyone always does." + +"Except you," said the squire drily. "Oh, and Miss Moore! She makes +excuses for him at every turn." + +"She would," said Dick simply. + +"I don't know why," snapped Fielding. He suddenly laid a hand on the +younger man's arm, gripping it mercilessly. "Look here, Richard! Do you +want me to break you? Because that's what it's coming to. Do you hear? +That's what it's coming to. You're getting near the end of your tether." + +Dick's eyes flashed with swift comprehension over the angry face before +him, and an answering flicker of anger sprang up in them for an instant; +but he kept himself in hand. + +"Get me kicked out, you mean?" he said coolly. "Yes, sir, no doubt you +could if you tried hard enough. You're all powerful here, aren't you? +What you say, goes." + +"It does," said Fielding grimly. "And I don't care a damn what I do when +my monkey's up. You know that, don't you?" + +"Rather!" said Dick. And suddenly the resentment died out of his face, +and he began to laugh. "All right, sir! Break me if you like! I'll come +out on top somehow." + +"Confound you! Do you think you can defy me?" fumed Fielding. + +"I'm sure of it," said Dick. "I can defy the whole world if I choose. +There is a certain portion of a man, you know, that can't be beat if he +plays fair, however hard he's hammered. It's the rule of the game." + +"Confound you!" the squire said again, and sprang fiercely to his feet. +"Don't talk to me! You go too far. You always have. You behave as +if--as if--" + +"As if I were my own master," said Dick quietly. "Well, I am that, sir. +It's the one thing in life I can lay claim to." + +"And a lord of creation into the bargain, eh?" the squire flung at him, +as he tramped to the end of the room. + +Dick rose punctiliously and stood waiting, a man unimposing of height and +build yet possessing that innate dignity which no adversity can impair. +He said nothing, merely stood and watched the squire with half-comic +resignation till he came tramping back. + +Fielding's face as he turned was heavy with displeasure, but as his look +fell upon the offender a sudden softening began to struggle with the deep +lines about his mouth. It was like a gleam of sunshine on a dark day. + +He went to Dick, and took him by the shoulder. "Confound you!" he said +for the third time. "You're just like your mother. Pig-headed as a mule, +but--" + +"Are mules pig-headed?" said Dick flippantly. + +The squire shook him. "Be quiet, you prig! I won't be dictated to by you. +Look here, Dick!" His voice changed abruptly. "I'm not ordering. I'm +asking. That boy is a mill-stone round your neck. Let him go! He'll be +happy enough. I'll see to that. Give him up like a dear chap! Then you'll +be free--free to chuck this absurd, farcical existence you're leading +now--free to make your own way in the world--free to marry and be happy." +Dick made a slight movement under the hand that held him, but he did not +attempt to speak. The squire went on. "You can't hope for any of those +things under existing conditions. It wouldn't be fair to ask any woman to +share your present life. It would be almost an insult with this infernal +incubus hanging on you. Can't you see my point? Can't you sacrifice your +damned obstinacy? You'd never regret it. You're ruining yourself, Dick. +Chance after chance has gone by, and you've let 'em go. But you can't +afford to go on. You're in your prime now, but let me tell you a man's +prime doesn't last. A time will come when you'll realize it's too late to +make a start, and you'll look back and curse the folly that induced you +to saddle yourself with a burden too heavy for you to bear." + +He paused. Dick was looking straight before him with a set, grim face +that gave no indication of what was passing in his mind. + +Again, more gently, the squire shook the shoulder under his hand. "I'm +out to make you happy, Dick. Can't you see it? For your mother's sake--as +well as your own. And there's a chance coming your way now--or I'm much +mistaken--which it would be madness to miss. This Miss Moore--she's +dropped from the skies, but she's charming, she's a lady, she's just the +woman for you. What, Dick? Think so yourself, do you? No, it's all right, +I'm not prying. But this is a chance you'll never get again. And you +can't ask her, you can't have the face to ask her, as long as you keep +that half-witted creature dangling after you. It wouldn't be right, man, +even if she'd have you. Look the thing in the face, and you'll be the +first to say so! It would be a hopeless handicap to any marriage--an +insurmountable obstacle to happiness, hers as well as yours. Don't tell +me you can't see it! You know it. You know you've no right to ask any +woman to share a burden of that kind with you. It would be manifestly +unfair--iniquitous. There! I've done. I've never spoken my mind to this +extent before. I've hoped--I've always hoped--the wretched boy would +die. But he hasn't. That sort never does. He'll live for ever. And it's a +damned shame that you should sacrifice yourself to him any longer. For +heaven's sake let him go!" + +He ceased to speak, and there fell a silence so tense, so electric, that +it seemed as if it must mask something terrible. Dick's face was still +immovable, but he had the look of a man who endures unutterable things. +He had flinched once--and only once--during the squire's speech, and that +was at the first mention of Juliet. But for the rest he had stood quite +rigid, as he stood now, his lips tightly compressed, his eyes looking +straight before him. + +He came out of his silence at last with a movement so sudden that it was +as if he flung aside some weight that threatened to overwhelm him. The +arrested vitality flashed back into his face. He threw back his head with +a smile, and looked the squire in the face. + +"You haven't left me a leg to stand on, sir," he said. "But all the +same--I stand. There's nothing more to be said except--may I pay for +the window?" + +Fielding's hand dropped from his shoulder. He flung round fiercely and +tramped to the window, swearing inarticulately. + +Dick's black brows went up again to a humorous angle. He pursed his lips, +but he did not whistle. + +"Do you realize that my wife might have been killed?" Fielding +growled at last. + +"Oh, quite," said Dick. "I'm glad she wasn't. Ought I to congratulate +her?" + +"Oh, don't be so damn funny!" Fielding jingled the money in his pocket +irritably. "You won't laugh when I turn you out." + +"I wonder," said Dick. + +Fielding turned sharply round upon him. "You behave as if you don't care +what I do," he said, an ugly scowl on his face. "Or perhaps you think I +won't or can't--do it." + +"No, sir," Dick spoke deliberately, and though he still smiled his eyes +held the squire's with unmistakable determination. "I'm sure you can do +it. I'm equally sure you won't. And I'm surest of all that I shouldn't +care a damn if you did." + +"You wouldn't care!" The squire looked furious for a moment, then he +sneered. "Oh, wouldn't you, my friend? We shall see. You'd better go +now--before I have you kicked out." + +Dick's shoulders jerked with a swift tightening of the muscles. His eyes +gleamed with a fierce light though his smile remained. "I'll lay you even +odds," he said, "that if you want that done, you'll have to do it +yourself." + +"I'm equal to it!" flashed the squire. "You'd better not try me too far!" + +"I won't try you at all, sir," Dick suddenly relaxed again. He went to +him with a pacific hand held out. "Good-bye! I'm going--now." + +Fielding looked at him, looked at the extended hand, paused for a long +moment, finally took it. + +"Don't want to quarrel with me, eh?" he said. + +"Not without cause," said Dick. + +Fielding gripped the firm, lithe hand, looking at him hard and +straight. "You're very cussed," he said slowly. "I wish I'd had the +upbringing of you." + +Dick laughed. "Well, you've meddled in my affairs as long as I can +remember, sir. I don't know anyone who has had as much to do with me as +you have." + +"And precious little satisfaction I've got out of it," grumbled the +squire. "You've always been a kicker." He broke off as a knock came at +the door, and turned away with an impatient fling. "Who is it? Come in!" + +The door opened. Juliet stood on the threshold. The evening light fell +full upon her. She was dressed in cloudy grey that fell about her in soft +folds. Her face was flushed, but quite serene. + +"Mrs. Fielding wants to know if you have forgotten dinner," she said. + +The squire's face changed magically. He smiled upon Juliet. "Come in, +Miss Moore! You've met this pestilent pedagogue before, I think." + +"Just once or twice," said Juliet, coming forward. + +"How is the ankle?" said Green. + +She smiled at him without embarrassment. "Oh, better, thank you. It was +only a wrench." + +"Hurt yourself?" questioned Fielding. + +"No, no. It's really nothing. I slipped in the park and nearly sprained +my ankle--just not quite," said Juliet. "And Mr. Green very kindly helped +me into shelter before the storm broke." + +"Did he?" said the squire and looked at Green searchingly. "Well, Mr. +Green, you'd better stay and dine as you are here." + +"You're very kind," Dick said. "I don't know whether I ought. I'm +not dressed." + +"Of course you ought!" said Fielding testily. "Come on and wash! Your +clothes won't matter--we're alone. That is, if Miss Moore doesn't object +to sitting down with blue serge." + +"I have no objection whatever," said Juliet. She was looking from one to +the other with a slightly puzzled expression. + +"What is it?" said Fielding, pausing. + +His look was kindly. Juliet laughed. "I don't know. I feel as I felt that +day you caught me trespassing. Am I trespassing, I wonder?" + +"No!" said Fielding and Green in one breath. + +She swept them a deep Court courtesy. + +"Thank you, gentlemen! With your leave I will now withdraw." + +The squire was at the door. He bowed her out with ceremony, watched her +cross the hall, then sharply turned his head. Green was watching her +also, but, keen as the twist of a rapier in the hand of a practised +fencer, his eyes flashed to meet the squire's. + +Fielding smiled grimly. He motioned him forward, gripped him by the +arm, and drew him out of the ream. They mounted the shallow oak stairs +side by side. + +At the top in a tense whisper Fielding spoke. "Don't you be a fool, +Richard! Don't you be a damn' fool!" + +Dick's laugh had in it a note that was not of mirth. "All right, sir, +I'll do my best," he said. + +It was a drawn battle, and they both knew it. By tacit consent neither +referred to the matter again. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A POINT OF HONOUR + + +"How like my husband!" said Mrs. Fielding impatiently, fidgeting up and +down the long drawing-room with a fretful frown on her pretty face. "Why +didn't you put a stop to it, Miss Moore? You might so easily have said +that the storm had upset me and I wasn't equal to a visitor at the +dinner-table to-night." She paused to look at herself in the gilded +mirror above the mantel-piece. "I declare I look positively haggard. I've +a good mind to go to bed. Only if I do--" she turned slowly and looked at +Juliet--"if I do, he is sure to be brutal about it--unless you tell him +you persuaded me." + +Juliet, seated in a low chair, with a book on her lap, looked up with +a gleam of humour in her eyes. "But I am afraid I haven't persuaded +you," she said. + +Mrs. Fielding shrugged her white shoulders impatiently. "Oh, of course +not! You only persuade me to do a thing when you know that it is the one +thing that I would rather die than do." + +"Am I as bad as that?" said Juliet. + +"Pretty nearly. You're coming to it. I know you are on his side all +the time. He knows it too. He wouldn't tolerate you for a moment if +you weren't." + +"What a horrid accusation!" said Juliet, with a smile. + +"The truth generally is horrid," said Mrs. Fielding. "How would you like +to feel that everyone is against you?" + +"I don't know. I expect I should find a way out somehow. I shouldn't +quarrel," said Juliet. "Not with such odds as that!" + +"How--discreet!" said Mrs. Fielding, with a sneer. + +"Discretion is my watchword," smiled Juliet. + +"And very wise too," said Green's voice in the doorway. "How do you do, +Mrs. Fielding? As I can't dress, I've been sent down to try and make my +peace with you for showing my face here at all. I hope you'll be lenient +for once, for really I've had a thorough bullying for my sins." + +He came forward with the words. His bearing was absolutely easy though +neither he nor his hostess seemed to think of shaking hands. + +She looked at him with a disdainful curve of the lips that could scarcely +have been described as a smile of welcome. "I imagine it would take a +good deal of that sort of thing to make much impression upon you, Mr. +Green," she said. + +Green's eyes began to shine. He glanced at Juliet. "Really I am much more +inoffensive than you seem to think," he said. "I hope you are not going +to repeat the dose. I was hoping to secure your forgiveness for what +happened this afternoon. Believe me, no one regrets it more sincerely +than I do." + +Mrs. Fielding drew herself together with a gesture of distaste. "Oh, +that! I have no desire whatever to discuss it with you. I have long +regarded your half-witted brother as a disgrace to the neighbourhood, and +my opinion is scarcely likely to be modified by what happened this +afternoon." + +"How unfortunate!" said Green. + +Again he glanced at Juliet. She lifted her eyes to his. "I am afraid I +haven't taken my share of the blame," she said. "But I think you know +that I am very sorry for Robin." + +"You are always kind," he rejoined gravely. + +"How could you be to blame, Miss Moore?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet turned towards her. "Because Robin and I are friends," she +explained simply. "He came here to look for me, and Jack ordered him off. +That was the origin of the trouble. And so--" she smiled--"Mr. Green +tells me it was my fault." + +"He would," commented Mrs. Fielding. + +She turned with the words as if Green's proximity were an offence to her, +and walked away to the window at the further end of the room. + +In the slightly strained pause that followed, Juliet bent to fondle +Columbus who was sitting pressed against her and her book slid from her +lap to the ground. Green stooped swiftly and picked it up. + +"What is it? May I look?" + +She held out her hand for it. "It is _Marionettes_,--Dene Strange's +latest. Mrs. Fielding lent it to me." + +He kept the book in his hand. "I thought you said you wouldn't read any +more of that man's stuff." + +She knitted her brows a little. "Did I say so? I don't remember." + +He looked down at her keenly. "You said you hated the man and his work." + +She began to smile. "Well, I do--in certain moods. But I've got to read +him all the same. Everyone does." + +"Surely you don't follow the crowd!" he said. + +She laughed--her sweet, low laugh. "Surely I do! I'm one of them." + +He made a sharp gesture. "That's just what you are not. I say, Miss +Moore, don't read this book! It won't do you any good, and it'll make +you very angry. You'll call it cynical, insincere, cold-blooded. It will +hurt your feelings horribly." + +"I don't think so," said Juliet. "You forget,--I am no longer--a +marionette. I have come to life." + +Again she held out her hand for the book. He gave it to her reluctantly. + +"Don't read it!" he said. + +She shook her head, still smiling. "No, Mr. Green, I'm not going to +let you censor my reading. I will tell you what I think of it next +time we meet." + +"Don't!" he said again very earnestly. + +But Juliet would not yield. She stooped again over Columbus and +fondled his ear. + +Green stood looking down at her, his dark face somewhat grim, his eyes +extremely bright. + +"I believe he's cross with us, Christopher," murmured Juliet. "Never +mind, old thing! We shall get over it if he doesn't. Being cross always +hurts oneself the most. We're--never cross, are we, Christopher? We +please ourselves and we please each other--always." + +Columbus grunted appreciatively and leaned harder against her. He liked +to be included in the conversation. + +Green suddenly bent and pulled the other ear. "You're a jolly lucky chap, +Columbus," he said. "I'll change places with you any day in the week." + +Columbus smiled at him indulgently, and edged his nose onto his +mistress's knee. He knew his position was secure. + +"Don't you listen to him, Christopher!" said Juliet. "He wouldn't be in +your place two minutes. If I dared to thwart him in anything, he'd turn +and rend me." + +"He wouldn't," said Green decidedly. "Anyone else--perhaps, but his +mistress--never." + +Columbus yawned. The topic did not interest him. But Juliet laughed +again, and for a moment her eyes glanced upwards, meeting the man's look. + +"Is that a promise?" she asked lightly. + +"My word of honour," he said. + +"How generous!" said Juliet. "And how rash!" + +Mrs. Fielding looked round from the window and spoke fretfully. "The +storm seems to have made it more oppressive than ever," she complained. +"I believe it is coming up again." + +"I hope not," said Green. + +Juliet got up quietly and moved to join her--a tall woman of gracious +outlines with the poise of a princess. + +"You know all about everything," she said to him, in passing. "Come and +read the weather for us!" + +He followed her. They stood together at the open French window, looking +out on to the stormy sunset. + +"It isn't coming back," said Green, after a pause. + +Mrs. Fielding gave him a brief, contemptuous glance. Juliet regarded him +more openly, a glint of mockery in her eyes. + +"You are sure to be right," she said. + +He made her a bow. "Many thanks, Miss Moore! I think I am on this +occasion at least. We shall have a fine day for the Graydown races +to-morrow." + +"Are you keen on racing?" asked Juliet. + +He laughed. "I've no time for frivolities of that sort." + +"You could make time if you wanted to," observed Mrs. Fielding. "You are +free on Saturday." + +"Am I?" said Green. + +She challenged him in sudden exasperation. "Well, what do you do on your +off days?" + +He considered for a moment. "I'll tell you what I'm doing to-morrow, if +you like," he said. "In the morning I hold a swimming class for all who +care to attend. In the afternoon I've got a cricket match. And in the +evening I'm running an open-air concert at High Shale with Ashcott." + +"For those wretched miners!" exclaimed Mrs. Fielding. + +He nodded. "Yes, and their wives and their babies. They are rather +amusing shows sometimes. We use native talent of course. I believe you +would be interested, Miss Moore." + +"I am sure I should," said Juliet. "May I come to one some day?" + +He faced her boldly. "Will you help at one--some day?" + +"Oh, really!" broke in Mrs. Fielding. "That is too much. I am sure my +husband would never agree to that." + +"I don't know why he shouldn't," said Juliet gently. "But the point +is--should I be any good?" + +"You sing," said Green with confidence. + +She smiled. "Who told you so?" + +His brows worked humorously. "It's one of the things I know without being +told. Would you be afraid to venture yourself in that rough crowd with +only me to take care of you?" + +"Not in the least," said Juliet. + +"Thank you," he said. "You would certainly have no need to be. You would +have an immense reception." + +"I am quite sure my husband would never allow it," said Mrs. +Fielding with a frown. "These High Shale people are so hopelessly +disreputable--such a drunken, lawless lot." + +"But not beyond redemption," said Green quickly, "if anyone takes +the trouble." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "There are not many people who have time to +waste over them. In any case, the responsibility lies at Lord +Wilchester's door--not ours." + +"And as Lord Wilchester happens to be a rotter, they must go to the +wall," remarked Green. + +"Well, it is no business of ours," maintained Mrs. Fielding. "I always +leave that sort of thing to the busybodies who enjoy it." + +"What a good idea!" said Green. "Do you know I never thought of that?" + +"Tell me about the cricket match!" Juliet said, intervening. "Who +is playing?" + +He gave her a glance of quizzical understanding. "Oh, that's a village +affair too--Little Shale versus Fairharbour, most of them fisher-lads, +all of them sports. I have the honour to be captain of the Little +Shale team." + +"You seem to be everything," she said. + +"Jack of all trades!" sneered Mrs. Fielding. + +Green laughed. "I was just going to say that." + +"How original of you!" said Juliet. "Well, I hope you'll win." + +"He is the sort of person who always comes out on top whether he wins or +loses," said Fielding, striding up the long room at the moment. "You've +not seen him play cricket yet, Miss Moore. He's a positive tornado on +the cricket-ground. To-morrow's Saturday, isn't it? Where are you +playing, Dick?" + +His good-humour was evidently fully restored. He slapped a hand on +Dick's shoulder with the words. Mrs. Fielding's lips turned downwards at +the action. + +"We are playing the Fairharbour crowd, sir, on Lord Saltash's ground," +said Green. "It's in Burchester Park. You know the place don't you? It's +just above the town." + +"Yes, yes, I know it. A fine place. Pity it doesn't belong to somebody +decent," said the squire. + +Mrs. Fielding laughed unpleasantly. "Dear me! More wicked lords?" + +Her husband looked at her with his quick frown. "I thought everybody +knew Saltash was a scoundrel. It's common talk that he's in Paris at this +moment entertaining that worthless jade, Lady Joanna Farringmore." + +Juliet gave a violent start at the words. For a moment her face flamed +red, then went dead white--so white that she almost looked as if she +would faint. Then, in a very low voice, "It may be common talk," she +said, "but--I am quite sure--it isn't true." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed the squire. "My dear Miss Moore, pray forgive +me! I forgot you knew her." + +She smiled at him, still with that ashen face. "Yes, I know her. At +least--I used to. And--she may have been heartless--I think she was;--but +she wasn't--that." + +"Not when you knew her perhaps," said Mrs. Fielding's scornful voice. She +had no sympathy with people who regarded it as a duty to stand up for +their unworthy friends. "But since you quarrelled with her yourself on +account of her disgraceful behaviour you are scarcely in a position to +defend her." + +"No--I know," said Juliet, and she spoke nervously, painfully. "But--I +must defend her on--a point of honour." + +She did not look at Green. Yet instantly and very decidedly he entered +the breach. "Quite so," he said. "We are all entitled to fair +play--though we don't always get it when our backs are turned. I take off +my hat to you, Miss Moore, for your loyalty to your friends." + +She gave him a quick glance without speaking. + +From the door the butler announced dinner, and they all turned. + +"Miss Moore, I apologize," said the squire, and offered her his arm. + +She took it, her hand not very steady. "Please forget it!" she said. + +He smiled at her kindly as he led her from the room, and began to speak +of other things. + +Green sauntered behind with his hostess. His eyes were extremely bright, +and he made no attempt to make conversation as he went. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE WAY TO HAPPINESS + + +It was an unpleasant shock to Juliet on the following morning when +she went to Mrs. Fielding's room after breakfast to find her lying in +bed, pale and tear-stained, refusing morosely to partake of any +nourishment whatever. + +Juliet always breakfasted alone, for the squire was in the habit of +taking his early ride first and coming in late for the meal. She usually +took a morning paper up with her with which to regale the mistress of the +house before she rose, but the first glance showed her that this +attention would be wholly unwelcome to-day. Even the letters that had +accompanied her breakfast tray were scattered unopened by her side. + +"Why, what is the matter?" said Juliet. + +"I've had--a wretched night," said Mrs. Fielding, and turned her face +into the pillow with a sob. + +Her maid glanced at Juliet with raised brows, and indicated the untouched +breakfast with a shrug of helplessness. + +Juliet came to the bedside. "What is it? Aren't you well?" she +questioned. + +"No, I'm wretched--miserable!" The words came muffled with sobs. + +Juliet looked round. "All right, Cox. You can go. I will ring when you +are wanted." + +Cox went, leaving the despised breakfast behind her. + +Juliet turned back to the bed, and found Mrs. Fielding weeping +unrestrainedly. She bent over her, discarding all ceremony. "My dear +girl, do stop!" she said. "What on earth is the matter? You won't get +over it all day if you go on like this." + +"Of course I shan't get over it!" sobbed Mrs. Fielding indignantly. "I +never do. He knows that perfectly well. He knows--that when once I'm +down--it takes me days--weeks--to get up again." + +"Oh, dear!" said Juliet. "It's a quarrel, is it?" + +Mrs. Fielding raised herself with a furious movement and thrust out a +white arm on which the bruises of a fierce grip were mercilessly defined. +"That's how--he--quarrels!" she said bitterly. + +Juliet drew down the loose night-dress sleeve with a gentle but very +decided hand. "Don't let anyone else see it!" she said. "And don't tell +me any more unless you're sure--quite sure--you want me to know!" + +"Why shouldn't you know?" said Mrs. Fielding pettishly through her +falling tears. "It's your fault in a way. At least it wouldn't have +happened if you hadn't been here--you and that horrid little cad of a +schoolmaster." + +"Oh, don't put it like that!" said Juliet. "It's such a pity to offend +everybody at once. You really mustn't cry any more or you'll be ill. I'm +sure it isn't worth that." + +"I don't care if I die!" cried Mrs. Fielding, with a fresh burst of +weeping. "I'm miserable--miserable! And nobody cares." + +She flung herself down upon the pillow in such a paroxysm of hysterical +sobbing that Juliet actually was alarmed. She stood beside her, impotent, +unable to make herself heard, and wondering what to do. She had never +before looked upon such an abandonment of distress as she now beheld, +and since Mrs. Fielding was obviously beyond all reasoning or consolation +she was powerless to cope with it. She could only stand and wait for the +storm to spend itself. + +It seemed, however, to increase rather than to abate, and she was +beginning to contemplate recalling Cox to her assistance when to her +astonishment the door suddenly opened, and Fielding himself appeared upon +the threshold. + +She turned sharply, her first impulse to keep him out, for he wore an +ugly look. But in a moment she realized that the direction of affairs was +not in her control. He came straight forward with a mastery that would +brook no interference. + +"Leave her to me!" he said, as he reached Juliet. + +But at the first word his wife uttered so wild a shriek of alarm that +Juliet turned back to her with the swift instinct to protect. In an +instant Mrs. Fielding was clinging to her, clinging desperately, +frantically, like a terrified child. + +"Oh, don't go! Oh, don't leave me!" she gasped. "Juliet! Juliet! +Stay--oh, stay!" + +She could not refuse the appeal. It went straight to her heart. She put +her arms about the quivering, convulsed form and held it close. + +"I can't go!" she said hurriedly to the squire. + +"Stay then!" he said curtly. + +Then abruptly he stooped over the trembling, hysterical woman. "Vera," he +said, "stop it at once! Do you hear me? Stop it!" + +He did not raise his voice, but his words had a pitiless distinctness +that seemed somehow more forcible than any violence. Vera Fielding shrank +closer to Juliet's breast. + +"Don't leave me! Don't leave me!" she moaned, still shaken from head to +foot with great sobs she could not control. + +"She won't go if you behave yourself," said the squire grimly. "But if +you don't, I'm damned if I won't turn her out and deal with you myself." + +"Don't be brutal!" breathed Juliet. + +He gave her a swift, fierce look, but she met it unflinching and as +swiftly it fell away from her. He took one of his wife's feverish, +clutching hands and firmly held it. + +"Now you listen to me!" he said. "I don't want to bully you but I can't +and won't have this sort of thing. It's damnably unfair to everybody. So +you pull yourself together and be quick about it!" + +The trembling hand clenched in his grasp. "I hate you!" gasped Mrs. +Fielding furiously. "Oh, how I hate you!" + +The man's mouth took an ominous downward curve. "I've heard that before," +he said. "Now that's enough. We're not going to have a scene in front of +Miss Moore. If you can't control yourself, out she goes." + +"She won't go," flashed back Mrs. Fielding. "She's on my side. Ask her if +she isn't! She won't leave me to your tender mercies again. She knows +what they are like." + +"Hush!" Juliet said. "Don't you know there isn't a man living who can +stand this? Be quiet, my dear, for heaven's sake! You're making the most +hideous mistake of your life." + +She spoke with most unwonted force, and again the squire's steely eyes +shot upwards, regarding her piercingly. "You're quite right," he said +briefly. "I won't stand it. I've stood too much already. Now, Vera, you +behave yourself, and stop that crying--at once!" + +There was that in his tone that quelled all rebellion. Vera shrank closer +to Juliet, but she began to make some feeble efforts to subdue her wild +distress. Fielding sat on the edge of the bed, her hand firmly in his, +and waited. His expression was one of absolute and implacable +determination. He looked so forbidding and so formidable that Juliet +wondered a little at her own temerity in remaining. She decided then and +there that a serious disagreement with the squire would be too great a +tax upon any woman's strength, and she did not wonder that Vera's had +broken down under it. + +Suddenly he spoke. "Has she had any breakfast?" + +"Not yet," said Juliet. + +"Oh, don't!" implored Vera, with a shudder. + +He got up and went to the untouched tray. Juliet watched him pour out +some tea as she smoothed the tumbled hair back from his wife's forehead. + +He came back with the cup in his hand. "Now," he said, "you are going to +drink this." + +She lifted scared eyes to his stern face. "Edward!" she whispered. +"Don't--oh, don't look at me like that!" + +He stooped over her, and put the cup to her lips. She drank, quivering, +not daring to refuse. When she had finished he brought her bread and +butter and fed her, mouthful by mouthful, while the tears ran silently +down her face. + +At last he turned again to Juliet. "Miss Moore, my wife will not object +to your leaving us now." + +It was a distinct command. But she hesitated to obey. Vera looked up at +her piteously, saying no word. The squire frowned heavily, his eyes +grimly, piercingly, upon Juliet. + +She met his look with steady resolution. "Won't you leave her to rest for +a little while?" she said. "I think she needs it." + +"Very well," he said, and though he did not look like yielding she +realized to her surprise that he had done so. He turned to the door. "I +should like a word with you in the library," he said, as he reached it. +"Please come to me there immediately!" + +He was gone. Vera turned with a sob and clasped Juliet closely to her. + +"He is going to send you away. I know he is," she wailed. "What shall I +do? What shall I do?" + +"Lie down!" said Juliet sensibly, releasing herself to settle the tumbled +bedclothes. "Don't cry any more! Just shut your eyes and lie still!" + +She laid her down upon the pillow with the words as if she had been a +child, smoothed the rumpled hair again, and after a moment bent and +kissed the hot forehead. + +"Oh, thank you!" murmured Mrs. Fielding. "I'm dreadfully unhappy, Juliet. +I don't know what I shall do without you." + +"Go to sleep!" said Juliet, tucking her up. "I'll come back presently. +Lie quite still till I do!" + +She guessed that exhaustion would come to her aid in this particular as +she drew the curtains close and turned away to face her own ordeal. + +"Come back soon!" Vera called after her as she softly shut the door. + +"Presently," Juliet said again. + +She realized as she descended the stairs that her heart was beating +uncomfortably hard, but she did not pause on that account. She wanted to +face the squire while her spirit was still high. + +She held her head up as she entered the library where he awaited her, but +she knew within herself that it was bravado rather than fearlessness that +enabled her to face him thus. And when he turned sharply from the window +to meet her she was conscious of a moment of most undignified dread. + +Whether her face betrayed her or not she never knew but she was aware in +an instant of a change in his attitude. He came straight up to her, and +suddenly her hand was in his and he was looking into her eyes with the +gleam of a smile in his own. + +"Come along!" he said. "Let's have it! I'm the biggest brute you ever +came across, and you never want to set eyes on me again. Isn't that it?" + +It was winningly spoken, restoring her self-confidence in a second. She +shook her head in answer. + +"No. I'm not in a position to judge, and I don't think I want to be. I +have no real liking for meddling in other people's affairs." + +"Very wise!" he commented. "But you won't have much choice if you decide +to stay with us. Are you going to stay?" + +"Are you going to keep me?" said Juliet. + +"Certainly," he returned promptly. "I regard you as the most valuable +member of the household at the present moment. Miss Moore, will you tell +me something?" + +"If I can," said Juliet. + +"Where did you learn such a lot about men?" he said. + +She coloured a little at the question. "Well, I haven't lived with my +eyes shut all this time," she said. + +"You evidently haven't," he said. "Allow me to compliment you on your +tact! Ninety-nine women out of a hundred would have taken the obvious +course of siding with their own sex against the oppressor. Why didn't +you, I wonder?" + +"I'm not sure that I don't," she said, smiling faintly. + +He pressed her hand and released it. "No, you don't. You've too much +sense. You know as well as I do that she deserved all she got and more. +You haven't always found her exactly easy to get on with yourself, I'll +be bound." + +"I don't think you are either of you that," Juliet said quietly. + +He nodded. "Now it's coming! I thought it would. No, Miss Moore, I am +not easy to get on with. I've had a rotten life all through, and it +hasn't made me very pliable." He paused, looking at her under his black +brows as if debating with himself as to how far he would take her into +his confidence. "I've been cheated of the best from the very outset," he +said, "cheated and thwarted at every turn. That sort of treatment may +suit some people, but it hasn't made an archangel of me." He fell to +pacing up and down the room, staring moodily at the floor, his hands +behind him. "Life is such an infernal gamble at the best," he said; "but +I never had a chance. It's been one damn thing after another. I've +tripped at every hurdle. I suppose you never came a cropper in your +life--don't know what it means." + +"I think I do know what it means," Juliet said slowly. "I've looked on, +you know. I've seen--a good many things." + +"Just as you're looking on now, eh?" said the squire, grimly smiling. +"Well, you profit by my experience--if you can! And if love ever comes +your way, hang on to it, hang on to it for all you're worth, even if you +drop everything else to do it! It's the gift of the gods, my dear, and if +you throw it away once it'll never come your way again." + +"No, I know," said Juliet. She rested her arm on the mantelpiece, gravely +watching him. "I've noticed that." + +"Noticed it, have you?" He flung her a look as he passed. "You've +never been in love, that's certain, never seriously I mean,--never up +to the neck." + +"No, never so deep as that!" said Juliet. + +He passed on to the end of the room, and came to a sudden stand before +the window. "I--have!" he said, and his voice came with an odd jerkiness +as if it covered some emotion that he could not wholly control. "I won't +bore you with details. But I loved a woman once--I loved her madly. And +she loved me. But--Fate--came between. She's dead now. Her troubles are +over, and I'm not such a selfish brute as to want her back. Yet I +sometimes think to myself--that if I'd married that woman--I'd have made +her happy, and I'd have been a better man myself than I am to-day." He +swung round restlessly, found her steady eyes upon him, and came back to +her. "The fact of the matter is, Miss Moore," he said, "I was a skunk +ever to marry at all--after that." + +"It depends how you look at it," she said gently. + +"Don't you look at it that way?" he said, regarding her curiously. + +She hesitated momentarily. "Not entirely, no. The woman was dead and you +were alone." + +"I was--horribly alone," he said. + +"I don't think it was wrong of you to marry," she said. "Only--you ought +to love your wife." + +"Ah!" he said. "I thought we agreed that love comes only once." + +She shook her head. "Not quite that. Besides, there are many kinds of +love." Again for a second she hesitated looking straight at him. "Shall I +tell you something? I don't know whether I ought. It is almost like a +breach of confidence--though it was never told to me." + +"What is it?" he said imperatively. + +She made a little gesture of yielding. "Yes, I will tell you. Mr. +Fielding, you might make your wife love you--so dearly--if you cared to +take the trouble." + +"What?" he said. + +Her eyes met his with a faint, faint smile. "Doesn't it seem absurd," she +said, "that it should fall to me--a comparative stranger--to tell you +this, when you have been together for so long? It is the truth. She is +just as lonely and unhappy as you are. You could transform the whole +world for her--if you only would." + +"What! Give her her own way in everything?" he said. "Is that what you're +advising?" + +"No. I'm not advising anything. I am only just telling you the truth," +said Juliet. "You could make her love you--if you tried." + +He stared at her for some seconds as if trying to read some riddle in her +countenance. "You are a very remarkable young woman," he said at last. "I +wouldn't part with you for a king's ransom. So you think I might turn +that very unreasonable hatred of hers into love, do you?" + +"I am quite sure," said Juliet steadily. + +"I wonder if I should like it if I did!" said the squire. + +She laughed--a sudden, low laugh. "Yes. You would like it very much. It's +the last and greatest obstacle between you and happiness. Once clear +that, and--" + +"Did you say happiness?" he broke in cynically. + +"Yes, of course I did." Her look challenged him. "Once clear that and if +you haven't got a straight run before you--" She paused, looking at him +oddly, very intently, and finally stopped. + +"Well?" he said. "Continue!" + +She coloured vividly under his eyes. + +"I'm afraid I've lost my thread. It doesn't really matter. You know what +I was going to say. The way to happiness does not lie in pleasing +oneself. The self-seekers never get there." + +He made her a courteous bow. "Thank you, fairy god-mother! I believe you +are right. That may be why happiness is so shy a bird. We spread the net +too openly. Well," he heaved a sigh, "we live and learn." He turned to +the table and took up his riding whip. "I suppose my wife will be in bed +and sulk all day because I vetoed the Graydown Races." + +"Oh, was that the trouble?" said Juliet. + +He nodded gloomily. "I hate the set she consorts with at these shows. +There are some of the Fairharbour set--impossible people! But they boast +of being on nodding terms with that arch-bounder Lord Saltash, and so +everything is forgiven them." + +Juliet suddenly stood up very straight. "I think I ought to tell you," +she said, "that I know Lord Saltash. I have lived with the Farringmore +family, as you know. He is a friend of Lord Wilchester's." + +The squire turned sharply. "I hope you're going to tell me also that you +can't endure the man," he said. + +She made a little gesture of negation. "I never say that of anybody. I +don't feel I can afford to. Life has too many contradictions--too many +chances. The person we most despise to-day may prove our most valuable +defender to-morrow." + +"Heaven forbid!" said the squire. "You wouldn't touch such pitch as that +under any circumstances. Besides, what do you want in the way of +defenders? You're safe enough where you are." + +Juliet was smiling whimsically. "But who knows?" she said. "I may be +dismissed in disgrace to-morrow." + +"No," he said briefly. "That won't happen. Your position here is secure +as long as you consent to fill it." + +"How rash of you," she said. + +"A matter of opinion!" said Fielding. "How would you like to go over and +see the cricket at Fairharbour this afternoon?" + +She gave him a quick look. "Oh, is that the alternative to the races?" + +He frowned. "I have already told you the races are out of the question." + +"I see," said Juliet thoughtfully. "Then I am afraid the cricket-match is +also--unless Mrs. Fielding wants to go." + +"I'll make her go," said squire. + +"No! No! Don't make her do anything--please!" begged Juliet. "That is +just the worst mistake you could possibly make. To be honest, I would +rather--much--go to the open-air concert at High Shale this evening." + +"Along with those rowdy miners?" growled the squire. "I see enough of +them on the Bench. Green of course is cracked on that subject. He'd like +to set the world in order if he could." + +"I admire his enterprise," said Juliet. + +He nodded. "So do I. He's cussed as a mule, but he's a goer. He's also a +gentleman. Have you noticed that?" + +She smiled. "Of course I have." + +"And I can't get my wife to see it," said the squire. "Just because--by +his own idiotic choice--he occupies a humble position, she won't allow +him a single decent quality. She classes them all together, when anyone +can see--anyone with ordinary intelligence can see--that he is of a +totally different standing from those brothers of his. He is on another +plane altogether. It's self-evident. You see it at once." + +"Yes," said Juliet. + +He moved restlessly. "I would have placed him in his proper sphere if +he'd consented to it. But he wouldn't. It's a standing grievance between +us. That fellow Robin is a millstone round his neck. Miss Moore," he +turned on her suddenly, "you have a wonderful knack of making people see +reason. Couldn't you persuade him to let Robin go?" + +"Oh no!" said Juliet quickly. "It's the very last thing I would +attempt to do." + +"Really!" He looked at her in genuine astonishment. + +Juliet flushed. "But of course!" she said. "They belong to each other. +How could Mr. Green possibly part with him? You wouldn't--surely--think +much of him if he did?" + +"I think he's mad not to," declared the squire. "But," he smiled at her, +"I think it's uncommonly kind of you to take that view, all the same. +I'll take you to that concert to-night if you really want to go." + +"Will you? How kind!" said Juliet, turning to go. "But you won't mind if +I consult Mrs. Fielding first? I must do that." + +He opened the door for her. "You are not to spoil her now," he said. +"She's been spoilt all her life by everybody." + +"Except by you," said Juliet daringly. + +And with that parting shot she left him, swiftly traversing the hall to +the stairs without looking back. + +The squire stood for some seconds looking after her. She had opposed him +at practically every point, and yet she had not offended him. + +"A very remarkable young woman!" he said again to himself as she passed +out of his sight. "A very--gifted young woman! Ah, Dick, my friend, she'd +make a rare politician's wife." And then another thought struck him and +he began to laugh. "And she'll be equally charming as the helpmeet of the +village schoolmaster. Egad, we can't have everything, but I think you've +found your fate." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +RECONCILIATION + + +The luncheon-gong rang through the house with a tremendous booming, and +Vera Fielding, sitting limply in a chair by her open window, closed her +eyes with drawn brows as if the sound were too much for her overwrought +nerves. The tempest of three hours before had indeed left her spent and +shaken, and an unacknowledged tincture of shame mingling with her +exhaustion did not improve matters. She had wept away her fury, and a +dull resentment sat heavily upon her. She had entered upon the second +stage of the conflict which usually lasted for some days,--days during +which complete silence reigned between her husband and herself until he +either departed to town to end the tension or his wrath boiled up afresh +cowing her into a bitter submission to his will which brought nothing but +misery to them both. + +The last deep notes of the gong died away, and Vera's eyes half-opened +again. They dwelt restlessly upon the brilliant patch of garden visible +under the lowered sun-blind. The splendour of the June world without +served to increase the wretchedness of her mood by contrast. The sultry +heat seemed to weigh her down. Life was one vast oppression and bondage. +She was weary to the soul. + +Juliet had gone down to aid Cox in the selection of something tempting +for her luncheon. She had every intention of refusing it whatever it was. +Who as miserable as she could bear to eat anything--unless forced to do +so by brutal compulsion? + +Her head throbbed painfully. Her nerves were stretched for the sound of +her husband's step in the adjoining room. She wished she had told Juliet +to lock the communicating door, though she hardly expected him to come in +upon her a second time. Even his wrath had its limits. It seldom gathered +to its full height twice in a day. + +She was trying to comfort herself with this reflection when suddenly she +heard him enter his room, and in a moment all her lassitude vanished in +so violent an agitation that she found herself gasping for breath. Still +she told herself that he would not come in. It had always been his habit +to leave her severely alone after a battle. He would not come in! Surely +he would not come in. And then the handle of the intervening door turned, +and she sank back in her chair with a sick effort to appear indifferent. + +She did not look at him as he came in. Only by the quick heaving of her +breast which was utterly beyond control did she betray her knowledge of +his presence. Her face was turned away from him. She stared down into the +dazzling sunlight with eyes that saw nothing. + +He came to her, halted beside her. And suddenly a warm sweet fragrance +filled the air. She looked round in spite of herself and found a bunch of +exquisite lilies-of-the-valley close to her cheek. She lifted her eyes +with a great start. + +"Edward!" + +His face was red. He looked supremely ill at ease. He pushed the flowers +under her nose. "Take 'em for heaven's sake!" he said irritably. "I hate +the things myself." + +She took them, too amazed for comment, and buried her face in their +perfumed depths. + +He stood beside her, impatiently clicking his fingers. There fell an +uncomfortable silence, during which Vera gradually remembered her dignity +and at length laid the flowers aside. Her agitation had subsided. She sat +and waited noncommittally for the new situation to develop. Even in their +engagement days he had never brought her flowers, and any overture from +him after a quarrel was a thing unknown. + +She waited therefore, not looking at him, and in a few moments, very +awkwardly, with obvious reluctance, he spoke again. + +"I don't think we want to keep this up any longer, do we? Seems a bit +senseless, what? I'm ready to forget it if you are." + +Again, she was taken by surprise, for his voice had a curious urgency +that made her aware that he for one had certainly had enough of it, and +there was that in her which leaped in swift response. But it was not to +be expected of her that she should be willing to bury the hatchet at a +moment's notice after the treatment she had received, and she checked the +unaccountable impulse. + +"There are some things that it is not easy to forget," she said coldly. + +His demeanour changed in an instant. "Oh, all right," he said, "if you +prefer to sulk!" + +He swung upon his heel. In a moment he would have been gone; but in that +moment the inner force that Vera had ignored suddenly sprang above every +other emotion or consideration. She put out a quick hand and stayed him. + +"I am not sulking! I never sulk! But I can't behave--all in a moment--as +if nothing had happened. Edward!" + +It was her voice that held pleading now, for he made as if he would leave +her in spite of her detaining hold. She tightened her fingers on his arm. + +"Edward, please!" she said. + +He stopped. "Well?" he said gruffly. Then, as she said nothing +further, he turned slowly and looked at her. Her head was bent. She +was striving for self-control. Something in her attitude went straight +to the man's heart. She looked so small, so forlorn, so pathetic in +her struggle for dignity. + +On a generous impulse he flung his own away. "Oh, come, my dear!" he +said, and stooping took her into his arms. "I'm sorry. There!" + +She clung to him then, clung closely, still battling to check the tears +that she knew he disliked. + +He kissed her forehead and patted her shoulder with a queer compunction +that had never troubled him before in his dealings with her. + +"There!" he said. "There! That's all right, isn't it? We shall have Miss +Moore in directly. Where's your handkerchief?" + +She found it and dried her eyes with her head against his shoulder. Then +she lifted a still quivering face to his. "Edward,--I'm--just as sorry +as you are," she said, with a catch in her voice. + +He kissed her again, wondering a little at his own softened feelings. +"All right, my girl. Let's forget it!" he said. "You have a good lunch +and you'll feel better! What are they giving you? Champagne?" + +"Oh no, of course not!" + +"Well, why not? It's the very thing you want. Just the occasion. +What? You sit still and I'll go and see about it!" He put her down +among her cushions, but she clung to him still. "No, don't go for a +minute!" she said, with a shaky smile. "It's so good to have +you--kind to me for once." + +"Good gracious!" he said, but half in jest. "Am I such a brute as +all that?" + +She pushed back her sleeve and mutely showed him the marks upon her arm. + +He looked, and his brows drew together. "My doing?" + +She nodded. "Last night--when--when I said--something you didn't +like--about Mr. Green." + +He scowled a moment longer, then abruptly stooped, took the white arm +between his hands and kissed it. "I'll get a stick and beat you the next +time," he said. "You remember that--and be decent to Green, see?" + +The kiss belied the words, covering also a certain embarrassment which +Vera was not slow to perceive. Because of it she found strength to +abstain from further argument. He had undoubtedly conceded a good deal. + +"I'll be decent to anyone," she said, "so long as you are decent to me." + +"Hear, hear!" said the squire. "Now dry your eyes and be sensible! Miss +Moore will go for me like mad if she finds you crying again. If we don't +pull together we shall have that girl running the whole show before we +are much older, and neither of us will ever dare even to contradict the +other in her presence again. We shouldn't like that, should we?" + +She laughed a little in spite of her wan countenance. "Oh, no, Edward. We +mustn't risk that." Then, with a touch of anxiety, "It wasn't Miss +Moore's idea that you should bring me flowers, was it?" + +"No." The squire grinned at her suddenly. "The worthy Columbus was +responsible for that. I found him routing in the lily-bed after snails or +some such delicacy. He was so infernally busy he made me feel ashamed. So +I went down on my knees and joined him, gathered the lot,--nearly killed +myself over it, but that's an unimportant detail. Now for your +champagne! You'll feel a different woman when you've had it." + +He departed, leaving his wife looking after him with an odd wistfulness +in her eyes. She was seeing him in a new light which made her feel +strangely uncertain of herself also. Was it possible that all these years +of misunderstanding, which she had regarded as inevitable, might have +been avoided after all? + +A quick sigh rose to her lips as again she took his flowers and held them +against her face. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SPELL + + +A wonderful summer evening followed the sultry day. The sun sank +gloriously behind High Shale, and a soft breeze blew in from the sea. + +On the slope of the hill behind the lighthouse and above the miners' +village there stood an old thatched barn, and about this a knot of men +and youths loitered, smoking and talking in a desultory, discontented +fashion. On the other side of the barn a shrill cackling proclaimed the +presence of some of the feminine portion of the community, and the +occasional squall of a baby or a squeal of a bigger child testified to +the fact that the greater part of the village population awaited the +entertainment which Green contrived to give on the first Saturday of +every month. + +He had started these concerts two winters before down in the village of +Little Shale, and they had originally been for men and boys only, but +the women had grumbled so loudly at their exclusion that Green had very +soon realized the necessity of extending a welcome to them also. So now +they flocked in a body to his support, even threatening to crowd out +the men in the winter evenings when he had to assemble his audience at +the Village Club at Little Shale. But in the summer, as a concession to +High Shale, he held his concerts, whenever feasible, up on the hill, +and practically the whole of High Shale village came to them. Little +Shale was also well represented, but he always felt that he was in +closer touch with the miners on these occasions, when he met them on +their own ground. + +The two villages were apt to eye one another with scant sympathy, the +fisher population of the one and the mining population of the other +having little in common beyond the liquor which they uniformly sought at +The Three Tuns by the shore. Green never permitted any bickering, and +they were all alike in their respect for him, but a species of armed +neutrality which was very far removed from comradeship existed between +them. Fights at The Three Tuns were by no means of unusual occurrence and +the miners of High Shale were invariably spoken of with wholesale +contempt by the men along the shore. + +But, thanks to Green's untiring efforts, they met on common ground at his +concerts, and any member of the audience who dared to commit any breach +of the peace on any of these occasions was summarily dealt with by Green +himself. He knew how to keep his men in hand. There was not one of them +who ever ventured to question his supremacy. He ruled them, not one of +them could have said how. Ashcott, the manager of the mine, who battled +in vain against the rising spirit of disorder and rebellion among them, +was wont to describe his influence over them as black magic. Whatever its +source it was certainly unique. None but Dick Green could spring from the +platform, seize a delinquent by his collar or the scruff of his neck, and +run him, practically unresisting, out of the assembly. His lightning +decisions were never questioned. His language, which could be forcible +upon occasion, never met with any retort. The men seemed to recognize +instinctively that it was useless to stand up to him. He could have +compelled them blindfold and with his hands behind him. + +It was this quality in him, this dynamic force, restrained yet always +somehow in action, that had affected Juliet so strangely in the beginning +of their acquaintance. Like these rough miners and fisher-folk she could +not have said wherein the attraction lay, but she recognized in him that +inner fire called genius, and it drew her unaccountably, irresistibly. +Whatever the sphere to which he had been born, he was a man created to +lead, to overcome obstacles, to wrest victory from failure,--a man who +possessed the rare combination of a highly sensitive temperament and a +practically invincible courage--a man who could handle the great forces +of life with the fearless certainty of the born conqueror. + +Yes, he attracted her, undoubtedly he attracted her. He stirred her to an +interest which she had believed herself too old, too jaded with the ways +of the world, ever to feel again. But she did not want to yield to the +attraction. She wanted to hold aloof for a space. She had come to this +quiet corner of the world in search of peace. She wanted to avoid the +problems of life, to get back her poise, to become an onlooker and no +longer a competitor in the maddening race from which she had so lately +withdrawn herself. She was willing to be interested, she already was +deeply interested, but only as a spectator, so she told herself. She +would not be drawn in against her will. She would stand aside and watch. + +It was in this mood that she drove off with the squire on the way to the +open-air concert on the High Shale bluff on that magic June evening. Mrs. +Fielding was too weary after the many emotions of the day to accompany +them, but they left her in a tranquil frame of mind, and the squire was +in an unusually good humour. Though he had small liking for the High +Shale village people, it pleased him that Juliet should take an interest +in Green's enterprises, eccentric though they might be. And he considered +that she deserved a treat after her diplomatic handling of a very +difficult situation that morning. + +"Might as well call and see if Dick would like a lift," he said, as they +neared the gates. "We've got to pass his door. I'll send Jack in." + +But when they stopped at the school-house gate, a humped, familiar figure +was leaning upon it, and Jack flung an imperious question without +descending. + +The squire's face darkened at the sight. "Here's that unspeakable baboon +Robin!" he growled. + +Robin paid about as much attention to his brother's curt query as he +might have bestowed upon the buzzing of a fly. His dark eyes below his +shaggy thatch of hair were fixed, deeply shining, upon Juliet. + +Jack muttered an impatient ejaculation under his breath and flung himself +out of the car. Before Juliet could speak a word to intervene, he had +given the gate on which Robin leant a push that sent the boy backwards +with considerable force on the grass while he himself went up the path to +the house at a run. + +"Oh, what a shame!" said Juliet, a quick vibration of anger in her +deep voice. + +She leaned forward sharply to open the door and spring out, but in a +second Fielding's hand caught hers, holding her back. + +"No, no! Leave the young beggar alone! He's none the worse. He can pick +himself up again. Ah, and here comes Dick! He'll manage him!" + +Robin was indeed struggling to his feet with a furious bellowing that +might have been heard on the shore. But Dick was quicker than he. He came +down the path, as it seemed in a single bound. He took Robin by his +swaying arms and steadied him. He spoke, quickly and decidedly, and the +roaring protest died down to a snarling, sobbing sound like the crying of +a wounded animal. Then, still holding him, Dick turned towards the car at +the gate. And Juliet saw that he was white with passion. The fierce blaze +of his eyes was a thing she would not soon forget. + +He spoke with twitching lips. "No, sir. I'm not coming, thanks. I shall +go on foot over the down. It's only a quarter of the distance that way." +He drew Robin aside at the sound of Jack's approach behind him, but he +did not look at him. And Robin became suddenly and terribly silent. He +was quivering all over like a dog that is held back from his prey. + +Jack gave him a look of contempt as he strode past and returned to his +seat at the wheel. And Juliet awoke to the fact that like Robin she was +trembling from head to foot. + +The car shot forward. She saw the two figures no more. But the memory +of Green's face went with her, its pallor, and the awfulness of his +eyes--the red flame of his fury. Robin's unrestrained wrath was of +small account beside it. She felt as if she had never seen anger before +that moment. + +She scarcely heard the squire's caustic remarks concerning Robin. She was +as one who had touched a live wire, and her whole being tingled with the +shock. The hot glitter of those onyx eyes had been to her as the sudden +revelation of a destroying force, fettered indeed, but how appalling if +once set free! + +She looked forward with a curious dread to seeing him again. She wondered +if the man who drove the car so recklessly had the faintest suspicion of +the storm he had stirred up. But surely he knew Dick in all his moods! He +had probably encountered it before. They sped on through the fragrant +summer night, and she talked at random, hardly knowing what she said. If +the squire noticed her preoccupation, he made no comment. He had +conceived a great respect for Juliet. + +They neared their destination at last, and Jack performed what the squire +called his favorite circus-trick, racing the car to the top of the +towering cliff and stopping dead at the edge of a great immensity of sea +and stars. + +Again Juliet drew a deep breath of sheer marvelling delight, speaking no +word, held spell-bound by the wonder of the night. + +"We needn't hurry," Fielding said. "They won't be starting yet." + +So for a space they remained as though caught between earth and heaven, +silently drinking in the splendour. + +After a long pause she spoke. "Do you often come here?" + +"Not now," he said. Then, as she glanced at him: "I used to in the days +of my youth--the long past days." + +And she knew by his tone, by the lingering of his words, that he had not +always come alone. + +She asked no more, and presently the jaunty notes of a banjo floating up +the grassy slope told them that Green's entertainment had begun. + +They left the car at the top of the rise, and walked down over the +springy turf towards the old barn about which Dick's audience were +collected. Two hurricane lamps and a rough deal table were all he had in +the way of stage property. But she was yet to learn that this man relied +upon surroundings and circumstances not at all. As she herself had said, +possibly the torch of genius burned brightest in dark places, for it was +certainly genius upon which she looked to-night. + +He sat on the edge of the deal table with one leg crossed over his knee, +his dark face thrown into strong relief, intent, eager, with a vitality +that seemed to make it almost luminous. From the crowd that watched him +there came not a sound. The thought crossed Juliet's mind that the +instrument he played so cunningly might have been a harp from a fairy +palace. For there was magic in the air. He played with a delicacy that +seemed to wind itself in threads of gold about the inner fibres of the +soul. They listened to him as men bewitched. + +When the music ended, a great noise went up--shouts and whistles and +cat-calls. They were wild for more. But Green knew the value of a +reserve. He laughed away the _encores_ with a careless "Presently!" and +called a young miner to him for a song. The lad sang and Green +accompanied, and again Juliet marvelled at the amazing facility of his +performance. He seemed to be able to adapt the instrument to every mood +or tone. The boy's voice was rough and untrained, but it held a certain +appeal and by sheer intuition--comradeship as it seemed--Green brought it +home to the hearers. The man's unfailing responsiveness was a revelation +to her. She believed it was the secret of his charm. + +When the song was ended, a fisherman came forward and danced a hornpipe +on the table, again to the thrumming of the banjo, without which nothing +seemed complete. It was while this was in progress that a thick-set, +somewhat bulletheaded man came up and addressed the squire by name. + +"We don't often see you here, Mr. Fielding." + +The squire turned. "Hullo, Ashcott. Your lambs are in force to-night. How +are they behaving themselves?" + +"Pretty fair," said Ashcott. "They're getting the strike rot like the +rest of the world. We shan't hold 'em for ever. If any of the Farringmore +lot turned up here, I wouldn't answer for 'em. Lord Wilchester talked of +motoring down the other day, bringing friends if you please to see the +mine, I warned him off--the damn' fool! Simply asking for trouble, as I +told him. 'Well, what's the matter?' he said. 'What do they want?' +'They'd like houses instead of pigsties for one thing,' I said. And he +laughed at that. 'Oh, let 'em go to the devil!' he said. 'I haven't got +any money to spare for luxuries of that kind.' So far as that goes I +believe he is hard up, but then look at the way they live! They'd need to +be multi-millionaires to keep it up." + +The man's speech was crude, even brutal, and the girl on Fielding's other +side shivered a little and drew a pace away. It was very evident on which +side his sympathies lay. There was more than a tinge of the street ranter +in his utterance. She was glad that Fielding spared her an introduction. + +She tried to turn her attention back to the entertainment, but the coarse +words hung in her memory like an evil cloud. They recalled Green's brief +condemnation of the previous evening. Evidently his point of view was the +same. He regarded the whole social system as evil. Had not the squire +told her that he wanted to reform the world? + +The evening wore on, and with unfaltering resource Dick Green kept the +interest of his audience from flagging. He chose his assistants with +insight and skill, and every item on his program scored a success. His +banjo was in almost continuous demand throughout, but finally, just at +the end, he laid it aside. + +He took something from his pocket; what it was Juliet could not see, but +she caught the gleam of metal in the lamp-light, and in a moment a great +buzz of pleasure spread through the crowd. And then it began--such music +as she had never dreamed of--such music as surely was never fluted save +from the pipes of Pan. A long, sweet, thrilling note like the call of a +nightingale, starting far away, drawing swiftly nearer, nearer, till she +felt as if it ended against her heart, and then all the joy of spring, of +youth, of hope, poured forth in an amazing ecstasy of silver +sound--showers of fairy notes like the dancing of tiny feet or the +lightest patter of summer rain that ever fell upon opening leaves--and +the gold-flecked sunshine that shimmered in the crystal dawning of a day +new-born. Afterwards there came the sound of waterfalls and laughing +streams and the calling of fairy voices, the tinkle of fairy laughter, +and then the sea and shoaling water--shoaling water--breaking in a +million sparkles over the rocks of an enchanted strand! + +And it was to her alone that that wonder-music spoke. She and he were +wandering alone together along that fairy shore where every sea-shell +gleamed like pearl and every wave broke iridescent at their feet. The sun +shone in the sky for them alone, and the caves were mystic palaces of +delight that awaited their coming. And once it seemed to her that he drew +her close, and she felt his kisses on her lips.... + +Ah, surely this was the midsummer madness of which they had spoken! It +was a vision that could not last, but the wonder of it--ah, the wonder of +it!--she would carry for ever in her heart. + +It ended at length, but so softly, so tenderly, that, spellbound, she +never knew when lingering sound became enduring silence. She awoke as it +were from a long dream and knew that her heart was beating with a wild +and poignant longing that was pain. Then there arose a great shouting, +and instinctively she laid her hand on Fielding's arm and drew him away. + +"Had enough?" he asked. + +She nodded. Somehow for the moment she could find no words. She had a +feeling as of unshed tears at her throat. Ah, what had moved him to play +to her like that? And why did it hurt her so? + +She moved back up the grassy slope still with that curious sense of +pain. Something had happened to her, something had pierced her. By +that strange and faun-like power of his he had reached out and touched +her inmost soul, and she knew as she went away that she was changed. +He had cast a glittering spell upon her, and nothing could ever be the +same again. + +After a space she spoke at random and Fielding made reply. With the +instinct of self-defence she maintained some species of casual +conversation during their stroll back to the waiting car, but she never +had the vaguest recollection afterwards as to what passed between them. + +She was thankful to be swooping back again through the summer night. An +urgent desire for solitude was upon her. All her throbbing pulses cried +out for it. Was it but yesterday--but yesterday that she had felt so +safe? And now-- + +Later, alone in her room at the Court, she leaned from her open window +seeking with an almost frantic intensity to recover the peace that had +been hers. How had she lost it? She could not say. Was it the mere piping +of a flute that had reft it from her? She wanted to laugh at herself, but +could not. It was too absurd, too fantastic, for everyday, prosaic +existence, that rhapsody of the starlight, but to her it had been pure +magic. In it she had heard the call of a man's being, seeking hers, and +by every hidden chord that had vibrated in answer she knew that he had +not called in vain. That was the knowledge that pierced her--the +knowledge that she was caught--against her will,--still wildly struggling +for freedom--but caught. + +It had happened so suddenly, so amazingly. Yesterday she had been +free--only yesterday--Or stay! Perhaps even then the net had been about +her feet, and he had known it. How otherwise had he spoken so +intimately--dared so much? + +She drew a long, deep breath, recalling his look, his touch, his voice. +Ah! Midsummer madness indeed! But she could not stay to face it. She must +go. The way was still open behind her. She would escape as she had come, +a fugitive from the force that pursued her so relentlessly. She would not +suffer herself to be made a captive. She would go. + +Again she drew a long breath, but curiously it broke, as if a sharp spasm +had gripped her heart. She stood, struggling with herself. And then +suddenly she dropped upon her knees by the sill with her arms flung wide +and her head with its cloudy mass of hair bowed low. + +"O God! O God!" she whispered convulsively. "Save me from this! Help me +to go--while I can! I am so tired--so tired!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HONOURS OF WAR + + +Columbus was not accustomed to being awakened in the early June morning +and taken for a scamper when the sun was still scarcely two hours up. He +arose blinking at his mistress's behest, and but for her brisk urging he +would have turned over again and slept. But Juliet was insistent. + +"I'm going down to the shore, you old sleepy-head," she told him. "Don't +you want to come?" + +She herself had scarcely slept throughout the brief night, and a great +yearning for the sunshine and the sea was upon her. The solitude of the +beach drew her irresistibly. It was Sunday morning, and she knew that no +one but herself would be up for hours. She had grown to love it so, the +silence and the shining emptiness and the marvel of the sea. She could +not remember any other place that had ever attracted her in the same way. +It suited every mood. + +There was a short cut across the park, and she and Columbus took it, +hastening over the dewy grass till they reached a path that led to the +cliffs and the shore. Only the larks above them and the laughing waves +before, made music in this world of the early morning. The peacefulness +of it was like a benediction. + +"And before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal...." +She found herself murmuring the words, for in that morning purity it +seemed to her that the very ground beneath her feet was holy. She was +conscious of a throbbing desire to reach out to the Infinite, to bring +her troubled spirit to the Divine waters of healing. + +She reached the shingly shore, and went down over the stones to the waves +breaking in the sunlight. Yes, she was tired--she was tired; but this was +peace. The tears sprang to her eyes as she stood there. What a place to +be happy in! But happiness was not for her. + +After a space she turned and walked along the strand till she came to the +spot where she and Columbus had first sat together and played at being +wrecked on a desert island. And here she sat down and put her arms around +her faithful companion and leaned her head against his rough coat. + +"I wish it had been true, Columbus," she said. "We were so happy +just alone." + +He kissed her with all a dog's pure devotion, sensing trouble and seeking +to comfort. As he had told her many a time before, her company was really +all his soul desired. All other interests were mere distractions. She was +the only thing that counted in his world. + +His earnest assurances on this point had their effect. She sat up and +smiled at him through her tears. + +"Yes, I know, my Christopher," she said, and kissed him between the eyes. +"But the difficulty now is, what are we going to do?" + +Columbus pondered for a few seconds, and then suggested a crab-hunt. + +"Excellent idea!" said Juliet, and let him go. + +But she herself sat on in the early sunshine with her chin upon her hand +for a long, long time. + +The tide was coming in. The white-tipped waves broke in flashing foam +that spread almost to her feet. The sparkle of it danced in her dreaming +eyes, but it did not rouse her from her reverie. + +Perhaps she was half asleep after the weary watching of the night, or +perhaps she was only too tired to notice, but when a voice suddenly spoke +behind her she started as if at an electric shock. She had almost begun +to feel that she and Columbus were indeed marooned on this wide shore. + +"Are you waiting for the sea to carry you away?" the voice said. "Because +you won't have to wait much longer now." + +She turned as she sat. She had heard no sound of approaching feet. The +swish of the waves had covered all beside. She looked up at him with a +feeling of utter helplessness. "You!" she said. + +He turned behind her, slim, upright, intensely vital, in the morning +light. She had an impression that he was dressed in loose flannels, and +she saw a bath-towel hanging round his neck. + +"You have been bathing," she said. + +He laughed down at her, she saw the gleam of the white teeth in his dark +face. "I say, what a good guess! You look shocked. Is it wrong to bathe +on Sunday?" + +And then quite naturally he stretched a hand to her and helped her +to her feet. + +"I've been watching you for a long time," he said. "I was only a dot +in the ocean, so of course you didn't see me. I say,--tell me,--what's +the matter?" + +The question was so sudden that it caught her unawares. She found herself +looking straight into the dark eyes and wondering at their steady +kindliness. She knew instinctively that she looked into the eyes of a +friend, and as a friend she spoke in answer. + +"I have had rather a worrying night. I came out for a little fresh air. +It was such a perfect morning." + +"And you hoped you would have the place to yourself and be able to cry +it off in comfort," he said. "I wouldn't have interfered for the world if +I hadn't been afraid that you were going to drown yourself into the +bargain. And I really couldn't bear that. There are limits, you know." + +She laughed a little in spite of herself. "No, I have no intention of +drowning myself. I am not so desperate as that." + +He smiled at her whimsically. "It happens sometimes unintentionally. +Let's climb up to the next shelf and sit down!" + +Her hand was still in his. He kept it to help her up the tumbling stones +to a higher ridge of shingle. + +"Will this do?" he asked her. "May I stay for a bit? I'll be very good." + +"You always are good," said Juliet, as she sat down. + +"No? Really? You don't mean that? Well, it's awfully kind of you if you +do, but it isn't true." He dropped down beside her and offered her his +cigarette-case. "I can be--I have been--a perfect devil sometimes." + +"Yes. I know," she said, as she chose a cigarette. + +"Oh, you know that, do you? How do you know?" He was watching her +closely, but as the faint colour mounted to her face, his eyes fell. "No, +don't tell me! It doesn't matter. Wait while I get you a match!" + +He struck one and held it first for her and then for himself, his brown +hand absolutely steady. Then he turned with a certain resolution and +fixed his eyes upon the gleaming horizon. + +"It was kind of you to come round to the sing-song last night," he said, +after a pause. "I hope it wasn't that that made you sleep badly." + +"I enjoyed it," said Juliet, ignoring the last remark. "Your performance +was wonderful. I should think you are tired after it." + +"That sort of thing doesn't tire me," he said. "There's no difficulty +about it when it goes with a swing and everybody is out to make it a +success. I shall get you to sing next time." + +She shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Green." + +"Why not?" He turned and looked at her again, his hand shading his eyes. + +She hesitated. + +"Do you mind telling me?" he said gently. "There is a reason of course?" + +"Yes." Yet she smoked her cigarette in silence after the word as though +there were nothing more to be said. + +He sat motionless, still with his hand over his eyes. At last "Juliet," +he said, his voice very low, "am I being--a nuisance to you?" + +She looked at him swiftly. He had uttered the name so spontaneously that +she wondered if he realized that he had made use of it. + +He went on before she could find words to answer him. "I'm not a bounder. +At least I hope not. But--yesterday--last night--I hadn't got such a +firm hold on myself as usual. I began by being furiously angry--you +remember the episode at the gate--and that weakened my self-control. +Then--when I knew you were standing there listening--temptation came to +me, and I hadn't the strength to resist. You knew, didn't you? You +understood?" + +She nodded mutely. + +"Will you forgive me?" he said. + +She was silent. How could she tell him what that wild passion of music +had done to her? + +He went on after a moment. "I hope you'll try anyway, because I never +meant to offend you. Only somehow I felt possessed. I had to reach +you--or die. But I didn't mean to hurt you. My dear, you do believe that, +don't you? My love is more than a selfish craving. I can do without you. +I will--since I must. But I shall go on loving you--all my life." + +His voice was still very low, but it had steadied. He spoke with the +strong purpose of a man secure in his own self-mastery. He loved her, but +he made no demand upon her. He recognized that his love entitled him to +no claim. He even asked her forgiveness for having revealed it to her. + +And suddenly the hot tears welled again in Juliet's eyes. She could not +speak in answer, but in a moment she stretched her hand to his. + +He took it and held it close. "Don't cry!" he said gently. "I'm not +worth it. I've been a fool--no, not a fool to love you, but a three +times idiot to lose hold of myself like this. There! It's over. I'm not +going to bother you any more. And you're not going to let yourself be +bothered. What? You're not going to run away because of me, are you? +Promise me you won't!" + +Her fingers closed upon his. It was almost involuntarily. "I don't think +I ought to stay," she whispered. + +"I knew that was it!" He bent towards her. "Juliet! I say, please, dear, +please! If one of us must go, it must be I. But there is no need. Believe +me, there is no need. I've got myself in hand. I won't come near you--I +swear--if you don't wish it." + +"But--suppose--suppose--" Her voice broke. She drew her hand free and +covered her face. "Oh, it's all so hopeless!" she sobbed. "I ought to +have managed--better." + +"No, no!" In a flash his arm was round her, strong and ready; he drew +her to rest against his shoulder. "There's nothing to cry about +really--really! If you knew how I loathe myself for making you cry! But +listen! Nobody knows. Nobody's going to know. What happened last night is +between you and me alone. Only you had the key. It isn't going to make +any difference in your life. You'll go on as you were before. You'll +forget I ever dared to intrude on you. What, darling? What? Yes, you will +forget. Of course you'll forget. I'll see to it that you do. +I'll--I'll--" + +"Oh, stop!" Juliet said, and suddenly her face was turned upwards on his +shoulder, her forehead was against his neck. "You're making the biggest +mistake of your life!" + +"What?" he said, and fell abruptly silent and so tensely still that she +thought even his heart must have been arrested on the word. + +For a long, long second she also was motionless, rigidly pressed to him, +then with an odd little fluttering sigh she began to withdraw herself +from the encircling arm. "I've dropped my cigarette," she said. + +"Juliet!" He stooped over her; his face was close to hers. "Am I mad? +Or am I dreaming? Please make me understand! What is the mistake I +have made?" + +She did not look at him, but he saw that her tears were gone and she was +faintly, tremulously smiling. "That cigarette--" she murmured. "It really +isn't safe to leave it. I don't like--playing with fire." + +He bent lower. "We've got to risk something," he said, and with a +swiftness of decision that she had not expected he took her chin and +turned her face fully upwards to his own. + +The colour rushed in vivid scarlet to her temples. She met his eyes for +one fleeting second then closed her own with a gasp and a blind effort to +escape that was instantly quelled. For he kissed her--he kissed +her--pressing his lips to hers closely and ever more closely, as a man +consumed with thirst draining the cup to the last precious drop. + +When he let her go, she was burning, quivering, tingling from head to +foot as if an electric current were coursing through and through her. And +the citadel had fallen. She made no further attempt to keep him out. + +But he did not kiss her a second time. He only held her against his +heart. "Ah, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and she felt the deep quiver of his +words. "I've got you--now! You are mine." + +She was panting, wordless, thankful to avail herself of the shelter he +offered. She leaned against him for many seconds in palpitating silence. + +For so long indeed was she silent that in the end misgiving pierced him +and he felt for the downcast face. But in a moment she reached up and +took his hand in hers, restraining him. + +"Not again!" she whispered. "Please not again!" + +"All right. I won't," he said. "Not yet anyhow. But speak to me! Tell me +it's all right! You're not frightened?" + +"I am--a little," she confessed. + +"Not at me! Juliet!" + +"No, not at you. At least," she laughed unsteadily. "I'm not quite +sure. You--you--I think you must let me go for a minute--to get back +my balance." + +"Must I?" he said. + +She lifted the hand she had taken and laid it against her cheek. "I've +got--a good deal to say to you, Dick," she said. "You've taken me so +completely by storm. Please be generous now! Please let me have--the +honours of war!" + +"My dear!" he said. + +He let her go with the words, and she clasped her hands about her knees +and looked out to sea. She was still trembling a little, but as he sat +beside her in unbroken silence she grew gradually calmer, and presently +she spoke without any apparent difficulty. + +"You've taken a good deal for granted, Dick, haven't you? You don't know +me very well." + +"Don't I?" he said. + +"No. You've been--dreadfully headlong all through." She smiled +faintly, with a touch of sadness. "You've skipped all the usual +preliminaries--which isn't always wise. Don't you teach your boys to +look before they leap?" + +"When there's time," he said. "But you know, dear, you gave the word +for--the final plunge." + +She nodded slowly once or twice. "Yes. But I didn't expect +quite--quite--Well, never mind what I expected! The fact remains, we +haven't known each other long enough. No, I know we can't go back now +and begin again. But, Dick, I want you--and it's for your sake as much +as for my own--I want you, please, to be very patient. Will you? May I +count on that?" + +He put out his hand to her and gently touched her shoulder. "Don't talk +to me like a slave appealing to a sultan!" he said. + +She made a little movement towards him, but she did not turn. "I don't +want to hurt you," she said. "But I'm going to ask of you something that +you won't like--at all." + +"Well, what is it?" he said. + +"I want you--" she paused, then turned and resolutely faced him--"I want +you to be--just friends with me again," she said. + +His eyes looked straight into hers. "In public you mean?" he said. + +"In private too," she answered. + +"For how long?" Swiftly he asked the question, his eyes still holding +hers with a certain mastery of possession. + +She made a slight gesture of pleading. "Until you know me better," she +said. + +His brows went up. "That's not a business proposition, is it? You don't +really expect me to agree to that. Now do you?" + +"Ah! But you've got to understand," she said rather piteously. "I'm not +in the least the sort of woman you think I am. I'm not--Dick, I'm not--a +specially good woman." + +She spoke the words with painful effort, her eyes wavered before his. But +in a moment, without hesitation, he had leapt to the rescue. + +"My darling, don't tell me that! I can see what you are. I know! I know! +I don't want your own valuation. I won't listen to it. It's the one point +on which your opinion has no weight whatever with me. Please don't say +any more about it! It's you that I love--just as you are. If you were one +atom less human, you wouldn't be you, and my love--our love--might never +have been." + +She sighed. "It would have saved a lot of trouble if it hadn't, Dick." + +"Don't be silly!" he said. "Is there anything else that matters +half as much?" + +She was silent, but her look was dubious. He drew suddenly close to her, +and slipped his hand through her arm. + +"Is there anything else that really matters at all, Juliet? Tell me! I've +got to know. Does--Robin matter?" + +She started at the question. It was obviously unexpected. "No! Of course +not!" she said. + +"Thank you," he said steadily. "I loved you for that before you said it." + +She laid her hand upon his and held it. "That's--one of the things I +love you for, Dick," she said, with eyes downcast. "You are +so--splendidly--loyal." + +"Sweetheart!" he said softly. "There's no virtue in that." + +Her brows were slightly drawn. "I think there is. Anyway it appeals to me +tremendously. You would stick to Robin--whatever the cost." + +"Well, that, of course!" he said. "I flatter myself I am necessary to +Robin. But with Jack it is otherwise. I've kicked him out." + +"Dick!" She looked at him in sharp amazement. + +He smiled, a thin-lipped smile. "Yes. It had to be. I've put up with him +long enough. I told him so last night." + +"You--quarrelled?" said Juliet. + +"No. We didn't quarrel. I gave him his marching orders, that's all." + +"But wasn't he very angry?" + +"Oh, pshaw!" said Dick. "What of it?" + +She was looking at him intently, for there was something merciless about +his smile. "Do you always do that, I wonder," she said, "with the people +who make you angry?" + +"Do what?" he said. + +"Kick them out." Her voice held a doubtful note. + +He turned his hand upwards and clasped hers. "My darling, it was a +perfectly just sentence. He deserved it. Also--though I admit I have only +thought of this since--it's the best thing that could happen to him. He +can make his own way in life. It's high time he did so. I didn't kick him +out because I was angry with him either." + +"But you were angry," she said. "You were nearly white-hot." + +He laughed. "I kept my hands off him anyhow. But I can't be answerable +for the consequences if anyone sets to work to bait Robin persistently. +It's not fair to the boy--to either of us." + +"Do you think Robin might do him a mischief?" she asked. + +"I think--someone might," he answered grimly. "But never mind that now! +You don't regard Robin as a just cause and impediment. What's the next +obstacle? My profession?" + +"No," she said instantly and emphatically. "I like that part of you. +There's something rather quaint about it." + +His quick smile flashed upon her. "Oh, thanks awfully! I'm glad I'm +quaint. But I didn't know it was a quality that appealed to you. +I've been laying even odds with myself that I'd make you have me in +spite of it." + +She coloured a little. "It doesn't really count one way or the other with +me, Dick, any more than it would count with you if I hawked stale fish in +the street for cat's meat. You see I haven't forgotten that pretty +compliment of yours. But--" + +"But?" he said, frowning whimsically. "We'll have the end of that +sentence, please. It's the very thing I want to get at. What is +the 'but'?" + +She hesitated. + +"Go on!" he commanded. + +"Don't be a tyrant, Dick!" she said. + +"My beautiful princess!" He touched her shoulder with his lips. "Then +don't you--please--be a goose! Tell me--quick!" + +"And if I can't tell you, Dick? If--if it's just an instinct that says, +Wait? We've been too headlong as it is. I can't--I daren't--go on at this +pace." She was almost tearful. "I must have a little breathing-space +indeed. I came here for peace and quietness, as you know." + +He broke into a sudden laugh. "So you did, dear. You were playing +hide-and-seek with yourself, weren't you? I'll bet you never expected to +find the other half of yourself in this remote corner, did you? Well, +never mind! Don't cry sweetheart--anyhow till you've got a decent excuse. +I don't want to rush you into anything against your will. Taken properly, +I'm the meekest fellow in creation. But we must have things on a sensible +footing. You see that, don't you?" + +"If we could be just friends," she said. + +"Well, I'm quite willing to be friends." He laughed into her eyes. "Why +so distressful? Don't you like the prospect?" + +She drew his hand down into her lap and held it between her own, looking +gravely down at it. "Dick!" she said. + +His smile passed. "Well, dear? What is it? You're not going to be +afraid of me?" + +She did not answer him. "I want you to leave me free a little +longer," she said. + +"But you are not free now," he said. + +She threw him a brief, half-startled glance. "I don't mean that," she +said rather haltingly. "I mean I want you--not to ask any promise of +me--not to insist upon any bond between us--not to--not to--expect a +formal engagement--until,--well, until--" + +"Until you are ready to marry me," he suggested quietly. + +A quick tremor went through her. "That won't be for a long time," she +said. + +"How long?" he said. + +"I don't know. Dick. I haven't the least idea. I had almost made up my +mind never to marry at all." + +"Really?" he said. "Do you know, so had I. But I changed it the moment I +met you. When did you change yours?" + +She laughed, but without much mirth. "I'm not sure that--" + +"No, don't you say that to me!" he interrupted. "It's not cricket. You +are--quite sure, though you rather wish you weren't. Isn't that the +position? Honestly now!" + +"Honestly," she said, "I can't be engaged to you yet." + +"All right," he said unexpectedly. "You needn't call it that if you +don't want to. Facts are facts. We may not be engaged, but we +are--permanently--attached. We'll leave it at that." + +Again swiftly she glanced towards him. "No, but, Dick--" + +"Yes, but, Juliet--" His hand moved suddenly, imprisoning both of hers. +"You can't get away," he said, speaking very rapidly, "any more than I +can. If you put the whole world between us, we shall still belong to each +other. That is irrevocable. It isn't your doing, and it isn't mine. It's +a Power above and beyond us both. We can't help ourselves." + +He spoke with fierce earnestness, a depth of concentration, that gripped +her just as his music had gripped her the night before. She sat +motionless, bound by the same spell that had bound her then. She did not +want to meet his eyes, but they drew irresistibly. In the end she did so. + +For a space not reckoned by time she surrendered herself to a mastery +that would not be denied. She met the kindling flame of his worship, and +was strangely awed and humbled thereby. She knew now beyond all question +that this man was not as most men. He came to her with the first, +untainted offering of his love. No other woman had been before her in +that inner sanctuary which he now flung wide for her to enter. There was +a purity, a primitive simplicity, about his passion which made her +realize that very clearly. He was no boy. He had lived a life of hard +self-discipline and had put his youth behind him long since. But he +brought all the intensity of a boy's adoration to back his manhood's +strength of purpose, and before it she was impotent and half-afraid. The +men of her world had all been of a totally different mould. She was +accustomed to cynicism and the half-mocking homage of jaded experience. +But this was new, this was wonderful--a force that burned and dazzled +her, yet which attracted her irresistibly none the less, thrilling her +with a rapture that had never before entered her life. Whatever the risk, +whatever the penalty, she was bound to go forward now. + +She spoke at last, her eyes still held by his. "I think you are right. We +can't help it. But oh. Dick, remember that--remember that--if ever there +should come a time when you wish you had done--otherwise!" + +"If ever I do what?" he said. "Do you mind saying that again?" + +She shook her head. "But I'm not laughing. Dick. You've carried me out of +my depth, and--I'm not a very good swimmer." + +"All right, darling," he said. "Lean on me! I'll hold you up." + +She clasped his hand tightly. "You will be patient?" she said. + +He smiled into her anxious face. "As patient as patient," he said. "That, +I take it, means I'm not to tell anybody, does it?" + +She bent her head. "Yes, Dick." + +"All right," he said. "I won't tell a soul without your consent. But--" +he leaned nearer to her, speaking almost under his breath--"when I am +alone with you, Juliet--I shall take you in my arms--and kiss you--as I +have done to-day." + +Again a swift tremor went through her. She looked at him no longer. "Oh, +but not--not without my leave," she said. + +"You will give me leave," he said. + +She was silent for a space. He was drawing her two hands to him, and she +tried to resist him. But in the end he had his way, and she yielded with +a little laugh that sounded oddly passionate. + +"I believe you could make me give you anything," she said. + +"But you can't give me what is mine already," he made quiet answer, as he +pressed the two trembling hands against his heart. "That is understood, +isn't it? And when you are tired of working for your living, you will +come to me and let me work for you." + +"Perhaps," she said, with her head bent. + +"Only perhaps?" he said. + +His voice was deeply tender. He was trying to look into the veiled eyes. + +"Only perhaps?" he said again. + +She made a little movement as if she would free herself, but checked it +on the instant. Then very slowly she lifted her face to his, but she did +not meet his look. Her eyes were closed. + +"Some day," she said with quivering lips,--"some day--I will." + +He took her face between his hands, and held it so as if he waited for +something. Then, after a moment, "Some day--wife of my heart!" he said +very softly, and kissed the eyes that would not meet his own. + + + + +PART III + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BIRDS OF A FEATHER + + +The annual flower-show at Fairharbour was one of the chief events of the +district, and entailed such a gathering of the County as Vera Fielding +would not for worlds have missed. It also entailed the donning of +beautiful garments which was an even greater attraction than the first. + +She had not been well during the sultry weather that had prevailed +throughout the early part of June, and Fielding had been considering the +advisability of taking her away for a change. But though her energy for +many of the amusements which she usually followed with zest had waned +with the lassitude that hot weather had brought upon her, she had set her +heart upon attending the flower-show, and, in obedience to the new policy +which Juliet by every means in her power persuaded him to pursue, the +squire had somewhat impatiently yielded the point. The show was to take +place in the grounds of Burchester Park. It was an immense affair, and +everyone of any importance was sure to attend. + +Juliet herself would gladly have stayed away, but Mrs. Fielding, partly +as a natural consequence of her poor health and chiefly from a selfish +desire to feel herself an object of solicitude, would not hear of leaving +her behind. As Dick had predicted, she had come to lean upon Juliet, and +her dependence became every day more pronounced. At times she was even +childishly exacting, and though Juliet still maintained her right to +direct her own movements, she found her liberty considerably curtailed. + +If she went down to the shore with Robin she usually met with a +querulous, and sometimes tearful, reception on her return, and though +she steadily refused to admit that there was any reason on Vera's part +for assuming this attitude, it influenced her none the less. Moreover, +Vera could be genuinely pathetic upon occasion, and there was no +disputing the fact that she stood in need of care--such care as only a +woman could give. + +"I don't want a nurse," she would say plaintively. "I only want +companionship and sympathy. Motoring is my only consolation, and I can't +go motoring alone." + +And then the squire would draw her aside and beg her to bear with Vera's +whims as far as possible since loneliness depressed her and she was the +only person he knew whose company did not either tire her out or irritate +her beyond endurance. It was not an easy position, but Juliet filled it +to the best of her ability and with no small self-sacrifice. + +Yet in a sense it made her life the simpler, for she was still at that +difficult stage when it is easier to stand still than to go forward. She +saw Green when he came to the house, but they had not been alone together +since the morning on the shore when her love had betrayed her. She had a +feeling that he was biding his time. He had promised to be patient, and +she knew he would keep his promise. Also, his time, like hers, was very +fully occupied. Till the holidays came he would not have much liberty, +and in her secret soul Juliet was thankful that this was so. For the +present it was enough for her to hold this new joy close, close to her +heart, to gaze upon it only in solitude,--a gift most precious upon +which no other eyes might look. It was enough for her to feel the tight +grasp of his hand when they met, to catch for an instant the quick gleam +of understanding in his glance, the sudden flash of that smile which was +for her alone. These things thrilled her with a gladness so strangely +sweet that there were times when she marvelled at herself, and sometimes, +trembling, wondered if it could possibly last. For nought in life had +ever before shone so golden as this perfect dream. The very atmosphere +she breathed was subtly charged with its essence. She was absurdly, +superbly happy. + +"I believe this place suits you," the squire said to her once. "You look +years younger than when you came." + +She received the compliment with her low, soft laugh. "I am--years +younger," she said. + +He gave her a sharp look. "You are happy here? Not sorry you came?" + +"Oh, not in the least sorry," said Juliet. + +He nodded. "That's all right. You've done Vera a lot of good. She's +getting almost docile. But as soon as this flower-show business is over, +I want you to use all your influence to get her away. We'll go North and +see if we can get a little strength into her." Again he looked at her +shrewdly. "You won't mind coming too?" + +"But of course not," said Juliet. "I shall love it." + +He was on his way out of the room, but a sudden thought seemed to strike +him and he lingered. "Shall I make Green come to the flower-show with +us?" he asked. + +"I shouldn't," said Juliet quietly. "He probably wouldn't have time, and +certainly Mrs. Fielding wouldn't want him." + +He frowned. "Would you like him?" he asked abruptly. + +"I?" She met his look with a baffling smile. "Oh, don't ask him on my +account! I am quite happy without a cavalier in attendance." + +And Fielding went out, looking dissatisfied. But when the day arrived and +they were on the point of departure he surprised them both by the sudden +announcement that Green was to be picked up at the gates. It was a +Saturday afternoon, and for once he was at liberty. + +"Oh, really, Edward!" Mrs. Fielding protested. "Now you've spoilt +everything!" + +"On the contrary," smiled the squire. "I have merely completed the +party." + +"I'm sure Miss Moore doesn't want him!" she declared petulantly. + +"I am afraid Miss Moore will have to put up with him nevertheless," said +Fielding, unperturbed. "For he is coming." + +"You always do your best to spoil my pleasure," Vera flung at him. + +Juliet saw the squire's mouth take an ominous downward curve, but to her +relief he kept his temper in check. He was driving the car himself which +was an open one. Somewhat grimly he turned to Juliet. "I hope you have no +objection to sharing the back-seat with Mr. Green?" + +She felt her pulses give a swift leap at the question, but with a hasty +effort she kept down her rising colour. "Of course not!" she said. + +He gave her a brief smile of approval. "Then you will sit in front with +me, Vera. That is settled. Let us have no more argument!" + +"It's too bad!" Vera declared stormily on the verge of indignant tears. + +"My dear," he said, "don't be silly! Has it never occurred to you that I +may like to have my wife to myself occasionally?" + +It evidently had not, for Vera gave him a look of sheer amazement and +yielded the point as if she had no breath left for further discussion. + +He settled her in her place, and tucked the rug around her with more than +usual care. As he finished, she leaned forward and touched his shoulder +with a slightly uncertain smile. + +He glanced up. "All right?" + +"Quite, thank you," she said. + +And Juliet in the back-seat drew a breath of relief. The squire was +becoming quite an adept at the game. + +They shot down the avenue at a speed that brought them very rapidly in +sight of the gates. A figure was waiting there, and again Juliet was +conscious of the hard beating of her heart. Then she knew that the car +was stopping, and looked forth with an impersonal smile of welcome. + +He came forward, greeted the squire and Mrs. Fielding, and in a moment +was getting in beside her. + +"Good afternoon, Miss Moore!" he said. + +She gave him her hand and felt his fingers close with a spring-like +strength upon it, while his eyes laughed into hers. Then the car was in +motion again, and he dropped into the seat. + +"By Jove, this is a treat!" he said. "I had the greatest difficulty in +the world to get away, made Ashcott take my place. It isn't a very +important match, and he's a better bowler than I am anyway." + +"Do you want any rug?" she said, still battling to keep back the +overwhelming flush of gladness from her face. + +He accepted her offer at once, and in a moment his hand had caught and +imprisoned hers beneath its shelter. + +She made a sharp movement to free herself, and the blush she had so +valiantly resisted flamed over face and neck as she felt his hold +tighten as sharply, and heard him laugh at her impotence. But he went on +talking as though nothing had happened, considerately covering her +agitation, and to her relief neither Fielding nor his wife looked round +till it had subsided. + +It was barely half-an-hour's run to Burchester Park which was thrown open +to the public for the great occasion. The Castle also was open on that +day, and visitors thronged thither from every quarter. + +A long procession of conveyances stood outside the great iron gates of +the Park, but the squire, owing to an acquaintanceship with Lord +Saltash's bailiff, held a permit that enabled him to drive in. They went +up the long avenue of firs that led to the great stone building, but ere +they reached it the strains of a band told them that the flower-show was +taking place in an open space on their right close to the entrance to the +terraced gardens which occupied the southern slope in front of the house. + +Fielding ran the car into a deep patch of shade beside the road, and +stopped. "We had better get out here," he said. + +Juliet's hand slipped free. Dick threw her a smile and jumped out. + +"Will the car be all right?" he said, as he turned to help her down. + +"Oh, right enough," the squire said. "There is no traffic along here." + +"I am hoping to go into the house," said Vera. "But I suppose it will be +crammed with people." + +"We'll do the flower-show first anyhow," said Fielding. + +He led the way with her, and it seemed quite natural to Juliet that +Green should fall in beside her. It was a cloudless day, and she had an +almost childish feeling of delight in its splendour. She was determined +to enjoy herself to the utmost. + +They entered the first sweltering tent and in the throng she felt again +the touch of Dick's hand at he came behind. "We mustn't lose each other," +he said, with a laugh. + +The midsummer madness was upon her, and, without looking at him she +squeezed the fingers that gripped her arm. + +In a moment his voice spoke in her ear. "Look here! Let's get away! Let's +get lost! It's the easiest thing in the world. We can't all hang together +in this crowd." + +This was quite evident. The great marquee was crammed with people, and +already Fielding was piloting his wife to the opening at the other end. + +"We must just look round," murmured Juliet, "for decency's sake." + +"All right, my dear, look!" he said. "And when you've quite finished +we'll go out by the way we came and explore the gardens." + +She threw him a glance that expressed acquiescence and a certain mead of +amused appreciation. For somehow Dick Green in his blue serge and straw +hat managed to look smarter if less immaculate than any of the +white-waistcoated band of local magnates around them. So--for decency's +sake--she prowled round the tent with Dick at her shoulder, admiring +everything she saw and forgetting as soon as she had admired. She told +herself that it was a day of such supreme happiness as could not come +twice in any lifetime, and because of it she lingered, refusing to hasten +the moment for which Dick had made provision. + +"Haven't you had enough of it?" he said, at last. + +And she answered him with a quivering laugh. "No, not nearly. I'm +spinning out every single second." + +"Ah, but they won't wait," he said. "Come! I think we're safely lost now. +Let us go!" + +She turned obediently from a glorious spread of gloxinias, and he made a +way for her through the buzzing crowd to the entrance. When Dick spoke +with the voice of authority, it was her pleasure to submit. + +She felt her pulses tingle as she followed him, to be alone with him +again, to feel herself encompassed by the fiery magic of his love, to +yield throbbing surrender to the mastery that would not be denied. Yet +when he turned to her outside in the hot sunshine with the blaring band +close at hand she almost shrank away, she almost voiced a pretext for +continuing their unprofitable wandering through the stifling tents. For, +strangely, though he smiled at her, there was about him in that moment a +quality that went near to scaring her. Something untamed, something +indomitable, looked out at her from his glittering eyes. It was almost +like a challenge, as if he dared her to dispute his right. + +"That's better," he said, drawing a deep breath. "Now we can get away." + +"We shan't get away from the people," she said. + +He threw a rapid glance around. "Yes, we shall--with any luck. Come +along! I know the way. There's a little landing-stage place down by +the lake. We'll go there. There may even be a boat handy--if the gods +are kind." + +The gods were kind. They skirted the terraced gardens, which were not +open to the public, and plunged down a winding walk through a shrubbery +that led somewhat sharply downwards, away from the noise and the crush +into cool green depths of woodland through which at last there shone up +at them the gleam of water. + +Juliet was panting when at length her guide paused. "My darling, what a +shame!" he said. "But hang on to me! There are some steps round the +corner, and they may be slippery. We'll soon be down now, and there's not +a soul anywhere. Look! There's a fairy barque waiting for us!" + +She caught sight of a white skiff, lying in the water close to the bank. +As he had predicted, the final descent was a decided scramble, but he +held her up until the mossy bank was reached; and would have held her +longer, but with a little breathless laugh she released herself. + +"My shoes are ruined," she remarked. + +As they were of light grey suède, and the precipitous path they had +travelled was a mixture of clay and limestone the ruin was palpable and +very thorough. Dick surveyed them with compunction. + +"I say, they're wet through! You must take them off at once. Get into +the boat!" + +"No, no!" She laughed again with more assurance. "I am not going to take +them off. We couldn't dry them if I did, and I should never get them on +again. Do you think we ought to get into the boat? Suppose the owner +came along?" + +"The owner? Lord Saltash, do you mean?" He scoffed at the idea. "Do you +really imagine he would come within a hundred leagues of the place on +such a day as this. No, he is probably many salt miles away in that +ocean-going yacht of his. Lucky dog!" + +"Oh, do you envy him?" she said. + +He gave her a shrewd glance. "Not in the least. He is welcome to his +yacht--and his Lady Jo--and all that is his." + +"Dick!" She made a swift gesture of repudiation. "Please don't repeat +that--scandal--again!" + +He raised his brows with a faintly ironical smile. "Are you still giving +her the benefit of the doubt?" he said. "I imagine no one else does." + +The colour went out of her face. She stood quite motionless, looking +not at him but at a whirl of dancing gnats on the gold-flecked water +beyond him. + +"She went to Paris," she said, in the tone of one asserting a fact that +no one could dispute. + +"So did he," said Green. "The yacht went round to Bordeaux to pick him up +afterwards. I understand that he was not alone." + +She turned on him in sudden anger. "Why do you repeat this horrible +gossip? Where do you hear it?" + +He held out his hand to her. "Juliet, I repeat it, because I want you to +know--you have got to know--that she is unworthy of your friendship, +and--you shall never touch pitch with my consent. I have heard it from +various sources,--from Ashcott, from the agent here, Bishop, and others. +My dear, you have always known her for a heartless flirt. You broke with +her because she jilted the man she was about to marry. Now that she has +gone to another man, surely you have done with her!" + +He spoke without anger, but with a force and authority that carried far +more weight. Juliet's indignation passed. But she did not touch the +outstretched hand, and in a moment he bent and took hers. + +"Now I've made you furious," he said. + +She looked at him somewhat piteously, assaying a smile with the lips +that trembled. "No, I am not furious. Only--when you talk like that you +make me--rather uneasy. You see, Lady Jo and I have always been--birds +of a feather." + +"Don't," he said, and suddenly gripped her hand so that she gasped with +pain. "Oh, did I hurt you, sweetheart? Forgive me. But I can't have you +talk like that--couple yourself with that woman whose main amusement for +years has been to break as many hearts as she could capture. Forget her, +darling! Promise me you will! Come! We're not going to let her spoil this +perfect day." + +He was drawing her to him, but she sought to resist him, and even when +his arms were close about her she did not wholly yield. He held her to +him, but he did not press for a full surrender. + +And--perhaps because of his forbearance--she presently lifted her face to +his and clung to him with all her quivering strength. "Just for to-day, +Dick!" she whispered tremulously. "Just for to-day!" + +Their lips met upon the words. And, "For ever and ever!" he made +passionate answer, as he held her to his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SALTASH + + +The sunshine was no less bright or the day less full of summer warmth +when they floated out upon the lake a little later. But Juliet's mood had +changed. She leaned back on Dick's coat in the stern of the boat, +drifting her fingers through the rippling water with a thoughtful face. +Once or twice she only nodded when Dick spoke to her, and he, bending to +his sculls, soon fell silent, content to watch her while the golden +minutes passed. + +The lake was long and narrow, surrounded by woodland trees with coloured +water-lilies floating here and there upon its surface--a fairy spot, +mysterious, green as emerald. The music of the band sounded distant here, +almost like the echoes of another world. They reached the middle of the +lake, and Dick suffered his sculls to rest upon the water, sending +feathery splashes from their tips that spread in widening circles all +around them. + +As if in answer to an unspoken word, Juliet's eyes came up to his. +She faintly smiled. "Have you brought that woodland pipe of yours?" +she asked. + +He smiled back at her. "No, I am keeping that for another occasion." + +She lifted her straight brows interrogatively, without speaking. + +He answered her still smiling, but with that in his voice that brought +the warm colour to her face. "For the day when we go away, together, +sweetheart, and don't come back." + +Her eyes sank before his, but in a moment or two she lifted them again, +meeting his look with something of an effort. "I wonder, Dick," she said +slowly, "I wonder if we ever shall." + +He leaned towards her. "Are you daring me to run away with you?" + +She shook her head. "I should probably turn into something very hideous +if you did, and that would be--rather terrible for both of us." + +"That's a parable, is it?" He was still looking at her keenly, earnestly. + +She made a little gesture of remonstrance, as if his regard were too much +for her. "You can take it as you please. But as I have no intention of +running away with you, perhaps it is beside the point." + +He laughed with a hint of mastery. "Our intentions on that subject may +not be the same. I'll back mine against yours any day." + +She smiled at his words though her colour mounted higher. After a +moment she sat up, and laid a hand upon his knee. "Dick, you're getting +too managing--much. I suppose it's the schoolmaster part of you. I +daresay you find it gets you the upper hand with a good many, but--it +won't with me." + +His hand was on hers in an instant, she thrilled to the electricity of +his touch. "No--no!" he said. "That's just the soul of me, darling, +leaping all the obstacles to reach and hold you. You're not going to tell +me you have no use for that?" + +"But you promised to be patient," she said. + +"Well, I will be. I am. Don't look so serious! What have I done?" + +His eyes challenged her to laughter, and she laughed, though somewhat +uncertainly. "Nothing--yet, Dick. But--I don't feel at all sure of you +to-day. You make me think of a faun of the woods. I haven't the least +idea what you will do next." + +"What a mercy I've got you safe in the boat!" he said. "I didn't know you +were so shy. What shall I do to reassure you?" + +His hand moved up her wrist with the words, softly pushing up the lacy +sleeve, till it found the bend of the elbow, when he stooped and kissed +the delicate blue veins, closely with lips that lingered. + +Then, his head still bent low, very tenderly he spoke. "Don't be afraid +of my love, sweetheart! Let it be your--defence!" + +She was sitting very still in his hold save that every fibre of her +throbbed at the touch of his lips. But in a moment she moved, touched his +shoulder, his neck, with fingers that trembled, finally smoothed the +close black hair. + +"Why did you make me love you?" she said, and uttered a sharp sigh that +caught her unawares. + +He laughed as he raised his head. "Poor darling! You didn't want to, did +you? Hard lines! I believe it's upset all your plans for the future." + +"It has," she said. "At least--it threatens to!" + +"What a shame!" He spoke commiseratingly. "And what were your plans--if +it isn't impertinent of me to ask?" + +She smiled faintly. "Well, marriage certainly wasn't one of them. And I'm +not sure that it is now. I feel like the girl in _Marionettes_--Cynthia +Paramount--who said she didn't think any women ought to marry until she +had been engaged at least six times." + +"That little beast!" Dick sat up suddenly and returned to his sculls. +"Juliet, why did you read that book? I told you not to." + +Her smile deepened though her eyes were grave. She clasped her fingers +about her knees. "My dear Dick, that's why. It didn't hurt me like _The +Valley of Dry Bones_. In fact I was feeling so nice and superior when I +read it that I rather enjoyed it." + +Dick sent the boat through the water with a long stroke. His face was +stern. After a moment Juliet looked at him. "Are you cross with me +because I read it, Dick?" + +His face softened instantly. "With you! What an idea!" + +"With the man who wrote it then?" she suggested. "He exasperates me +intensely. He has such a maddeningly clear vision, and he is so +inevitably right." + +"And yet you persist in reading him!" Dick's voice had a faintly +mocking note. + +"And yet I persist in reading him. You see, I am a woman, Dick. I haven't +your lordly faculty for ignoring the people I most dislike. I detest Dene +Strange, but I can't overlook him. No one can. I think his character +studies are quite marvellous. That girl and her endless flirtations, and +then--when the real thing comes to her at last--that unspeakable man of +iron refusing to take her because she had jilted another man, ruining +both their lives for the sake of his own rigid code! He didn't deserve +her in any case. She was too good for him with all her faults." Juliet +paused, studying her lover's face attentively. "I hope you're not that +sort of man, Dick," she said. + +He met her eyes. "Why do you say that?" + +"Because there's a high-priestly expression about your mouth that rather +looks as if you might be. Please don't tell me if you are because it will +spoil all my pleasure! Give me a cigarette instead and let's enjoy +ourselves!" + +"You'll find the case in my coat behind," he said. "But, Juliet, though +I wouldn't spoil your pleasure for the world, I must say one thing. If +a woman engages herself to a man, I consider she is bound in honour to +fulfil her engagement--unless he sets her free. If she is an +honourable woman, she will never free herself without his consent. I +hold that sort of engagement to be a debt of honour--as sacred as the +marriage vow itself." + +"Even though she realizes that she is going to make a mistake?" said +Juliet, beginning to search the coat. + +"Whatever the circumstances," he said. "An engagement can only be broken +by mutual consent. Otherwise, the very word becomes a farce. I have no +sympathy with jilts of either sex. I think they ought to be kicked out of +decent society." + +Juliet found the cigarettes and looked up with a smile. "I think you and +Dene Strange ought to collaborate," she said. "You would soon put this +naughty world to rights between you. Now open your mouth and shut your +eyes, and if you're very good I'll light it for you!" + +There was in her tone, despite its playfulness, a delicate finality that +told him plainly that she had no intention of pursuing the subject +further, and, curiously, the man's heart smote him for a moment. He felt +as if in some fashion wholly inexplicable he had hurt her. + +"You're not vexed with me, sweetheart?" he said. + +She looked at him still smiling, but her look, her smile, were more +of a veil than a revelation. "With you! What an idea!" she said, +softly mocking. + +"Ah, don't!" he said. "I'm not like that, Juliet!" + +She held up the cigarette. "Quite ready? Ah, Dick! Don't--don't upset +the boat!" + +For the sculls floated loose again in the rowlocks. He had her by the +wrists, the arms, the shoulders. He had her, suddenly and very closely, +against his heart. He covered her face with his kisses, so that she +gasped and gasped for breath, half-laughing, half-dismayed. + +"Dick, how--how disgraceful of you! Dick, you mustn't! Someone--someone +will see us!" + +"Let them!" he said, grimly reckless. "You brought it on yourself. How +dare you tell me I'm like a high priest? How dare you, Juliet?" + +"I daren't," she assured him, her hand against his mouth, restraining +him. "I never will again. You're much more like the great god Pan. There, +now do be good! Please be good! I am sure someone is watching us. I can +feel it in my bones. You're flinging my reputation to the little fishes. +Please, Dick--darling,--please!" + +He held the appealing hand and kissed it very tenderly. "I can't resist +that," he said. "So now we're quits, are we? And no one any the worse. +Juliet, you'll have to marry me soon." + +She drew away from his arms, still panting a little. Her face was +burning. "Now we'll go back," she said. "You're very unmanageable to-day. +I shall not come out with you again for a long time." + +"Yes--yes, you will!" he urged. "I shouldn't be so unmanageable if I +weren't so--starved." + +She laughed rather shakily. "You're absurd and extravagant. Please row +back now, Dick! Mr. and Mrs. Fielding will be wondering where we are." + +"Let 'em wonder!" said Dick. + +Nevertheless, moved by something in her voice or face, he turned the boat +and began to row back to the little landing-stage. Juliet rescued the +cigarettes from the floor, and presently placed one between his lips and +lighted it for him. But her eyes did not meet his during the process, and +her hand was not wholly steady. She leaned back in the stern and smoked +her own cigarette afterwards in almost unbroken silence. + +"Don't you want a water-lily?" Dick said to her once as they drew +near a patch. + +She shook her head. "No, don't disturb them! They're happier where +they are." + +"Impossible!" he protested. "When they might be with you!" + +She raised her eyes to his then, and looked at him very steadily. "No, +that doesn't follow, Dick," she said. + +"I think it does," he said. "Never mind if you don't agree! Tell me +when you are coming to sing at one of my Saturday night concerts at +High Shale!" + +"Oh, I don't know, Dick." She looked momentarily embarrassed. "You know +we are going away very soon, don't you?" + +"Where to?" he said. + +"I don't know. Either Wales or the North. Mrs. Fielding needs a change, +and I--" + +"You're coming back?" he said. + +"I suppose so--some time. Why?" She looked at him questioningly. + +He leaned forward, his black eyes unswervingly upon her. "Because--if you +don't--I shall come after you," he said, with iron determination. + +She laughed a little. "Pray don't look so grim! I probably shall come +back all in good time. I will let you know if I don't, anyway." + +"You promise?" he said. + +"Of course I promise." She flicked her cigarette-ash into the water. "I +won't disappear without letting you know first." + +"Without letting me know where to find you," he said. + +She glanced over his shoulder as if measuring the distance between the +skiff and the landing-stage. "No, I don't promise that. It wouldn't be +fair. But you will be able to trace me by Columbus. He will certainly +accompany the cat's-meat cart wherever it goes. Oh, Dick! There's someone +there--waiting for us!" + +He also threw a look behind him. "Shall I put her about? I don't see +anyone, but if you wish it--" + +"No, no, I don't! Row straight in! There is someone there, and you'll +have to apologize. I knew we were being watched." + +Juliet sat upright with a flushed face. + +Dick began to laugh. "Dear, dear! How tragic! Never mind, darling! I +daresay it's no one more important than a keeper, and we will see if we +can enlist his sympathy." + +He pulled a few swift strokes and the skiff glided up to the little +landing-stage. He shipped the sculls, and held to the woodwork with +one hand. + +"Will you get ashore, dear, and I'll tie up. There's no one here, you +see." + +"No one that matters," said a laughing voice above him, and suddenly a +man in a white yachting-suit, slim, dark, with a monkey-like activity of +movement, stepped out from the spreading shadow of a beech. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed Dick, startled. + +"Hullo, sir! Delighted to meet you. Madam, will you take my hand? +Ah--_et tu, Juliette!_ Delighted to meet you also." + +He was bowing with one hand extended, the other on his heart. Juliet, +still seated in the stern of the boat, had gone suddenly white to the +lips. + +She gasped a little, and in a moment forced a laugh that somehow sounded +desperate. "Why, it is Charles Rex!" she said. + +Dick's eyes came swiftly to her. "Who? Lord Saltash, isn't it? I thought +so." His look flashed back to the man above him with something of a +challenge. "You know this lady then?" + +Two eyes--one black, one grey--looked down into his, answering the +challenge with gay inconsequence. "Sir, I have that inestimable +privilege. _Juliette_, will you not accept my hand?" + +Juliet's hand came upwards a little uncertainly, then, as he grasped it, +she stood up in the boat. "This is indeed a surprise," she said, and +again involuntarily she gasped. "Rumour had it that you were a hundred +miles away at least." + +"Rumour!" laughed Lord Saltash. "How oft hath rumour played havoc with my +name! Not an unpleasant surprise, I trust?" + +He handed her ashore, laughing on a note of mockery. Charles +Burchester, Lord Saltash, said to be of royal descent, possessed in +no small degree the charm not untempered with wickedness of his +reputed ancestor. His friends had dubbed him "the merry monarch" long +since, but Juliet had found a more dignified appellation for him which +those who knew him best had immediately adopted. He had become Charles +Rex from the day she had first bestowed the title upon him. Somehow, +in all his varying--sometimes amazing--moods, it suited him. + +She stood with him on the little wooden landing-stage, her hand still in +his, and the colour coming back into her face. "But of course not!" she +said in answer to his light words, laughing still a trifle breathlessly. +"If you will promise not to prosecute us for trespassing!" + +"_Mais, Juliette_!" He bent over her hand. "You could not trespass if you +tried!" he declared gallantly. "And the cavalier with you--may I not have +the honour of an introduction?" + +He knew how to jest with grace in an awkward moment. Dick realised that, +as, having secured the boat, he presented himself for Juliet's low-spoken +introduction. + +"Mr. Green--Lord Saltash!" + +Saltash extended a hand, his odd eyes full of quizzical amusement. "I've +heard your name before, I think. And I believe I've seen you somewhere +too. Ah, yes! It's coming back! You are the Orpheus who plays the flute +to the wild beasts at High Shale. I've been wanting to meet you. I +listened to you from my car one night, and--on my soul--I nearly wept!" + +Dick smiled with a touch of cynicism. "Miss Moore was listening that +night too," he said. + +"Yes," Juliet said quickly. "I was there." + +Saltash looked at her questioningly for a moment, then his look returned +to Dick. "I am the friend who never tells," he observed. "So it was--Miss +Moore--you were playing to, was it? Ah, _Juliette_!" He threw her a +sudden smile. "I would I could play like that!" + +She uttered her soft, low laugh. "No; you have quite enough +accomplishments, _mon ami_. Now, if you don't mind, I think we +had better walk back and find Mr. and Mrs. Fielding. Perhaps you +know--or again perhaps you don't--they live at Shale Court. And I +am with them--as Mrs. Fielding's companion. I--" she hesitated +momentarily--"have left Lady Jo." + +"Oh, I know that," said Saltash. "I've missed you badly. We all have. +When are you coming back to us?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. + +He gave her one of his humorous looks. "Next week--some time--never?" + +She opened her sun-shade absently. "Probably," she said. + +"Rather hard on Lady Jo, what?" he suggested. "Don't you miss her at +all?" + +"No," said Juliet. "I can't--honestly--say I do." + +"Oh, let us be honest at all costs!" he said. "Do you know what Lady Jo +is doing now?" + +Juliet hesitated an instant, as if the subject were distasteful to her. +"I can guess," she said somewhat distantly. + +"I'll bet you can't," said Saltash, with a twist of the eyebrows that +was oddly characteristic of him. "So I'll tell you. She's running in an +obstacle race, and--to be quite, quite honest--I don't think she's +going to win." + +There was a moment's pause. Then the man on Juliet's other side spoke, +briefly and with decision. "Miss Moore is no longer interested in Lady +Joanna Farringmore's doings. Their friendship is at an end." + +Juliet made a slight gesture of remonstrance, but she spoke no word in +contradiction. + +A gleam of malice danced in Saltash's eyes; it was like the turn of a +rapier in a practised hand. "Most wise and proper!" he said. "_Juliette_, +I always admired your discretion." + +"You were always very kind, Charles Rex," she made grave reply. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PRICE + + +They went back up the winding glen, and as they went Lord Saltash talked, +superbly at his ease, of the doings of the past few weeks, "since you and +that naughty Lady Jo dropped out," as he expressed it to Juliet. He had +just recently been to Paris, had motored across France, had just returned +by sea from Bordeaux in his yacht, the _Night Moth_. + +"Landed to-day--forgot this unspeakable flower-show--had to put in to +get her cleaned up for Cowes--though it's quite possible I shan't go near +Cowes when all's said and done. She's quite seaworthy, warranted not to +kick in a gale. If anyone wanted her for a cruise--she's about the best +thing going." + +They reached the shrubbery to be nearly deafened by the band. + +"Come through the gardens!" said Saltash, with a shudder. "We must get +out of this somehow." + +"But my people!" objected Juliet. + +"Oh, Mr. Green will go and find them, won't you, Mr. Green?" Saltash +turned a disarming smile upon him. + +But Green looked straight back without a smile. "Miss Moore is under my +escort," he observed. "If she agrees, I think we had better go together." + +"And do you agree, _Juliette_?" enquired Saltash with interest. + +Juliet met the mocking eyes with a smile that was certainly +unintentional. "They may be in the Castle," she said. "I know they +meant to go." + +"Good!" he ejaculated. "Then come to the Castle! I will get you tea in my +own secret den if such a thing is to be had--tea or a cocktail, _ma +Juliette_!" + +"Will you lead the way?" said Juliet, and for a second--only a +second--her hand pressed Dick's arm with a quick, confidential +pressure that was not without its appeal. "We always follow Charles +Rex!" she said. + +Saltash chuckled. Plainly the adventure amused him. + +They entered the trim gardens, escaping thankfully from the wandering +crowd of sight-seers. Saltash led the way with a certain unconscious +arrogance of bearing. Somehow, his ugliness notwithstanding, he fitted +his surroundings perfectly, save that the white yachting-suit ought to +have been fashioned of satin, and a sword should have dangled at his +side. The old stone turrets that towered above the blazing parterres +gleamed in the hot sunlight--a mediaeval castle of romance. + +"What a glorious old place!" said Juliet. + +He turned to her. "You have never seen it before?" + +"Never," she answered. + +He made her a bow that was slightly foreign. There was French blood in +his veins. "I give you welcome, _maladi_," he said, "I and my poor castle +are all yours to command." + +He made a gallant figure there on his stone terrace. The girl's eyes +shone a little, but they turned almost immediately to the other man +at her side. + +"Beautiful, isn't it, Dick?" she said. + +He met her look, and she was conscious of a chill. She had never seen +him look so aloof, so cynical. "A temple of delight!" he said. + +His manner offended her. She turned deliberately away from him. And again +Lord Saltash chuckled, as though at some secret joke. + +They entered by a narrow door at the head of a flight of steps. "This +at least is private," declared Saltash, as he took a key from an +inner pocket. + +"Does no one ever come in here when you are away?" Juliet asked. + +"Not by this entrance," he said. "There is another into the Castle itself +which is known to a few. It leads into the music room whence Mr. Green +will be able to start upon his search." + +He threw a mischievous glance at Green who met it with a look so direct, +and so unswerving that the odd eyes blinked and turned away. + +But curiously a spirit of perversity seemed to have entered into Juliet. +She also looked at Dick. "I wish you would go and find them," she said. +"I know they will be wondering where we are." + +His brows went up. She thought he was going to refuse. And then quite +suddenly he yielded. "Certainly if you wish it!" he said. "And when they +are found?" + +"Oh, dump them in the great hall!" said Saltash. "To be left till +called for!" + +"Charles!" protested Juliet. + +He grinned at her--a wicked, monkeyish grin, and threw open the door, +disclosing a steep and winding stone stair. + +"Will you be pleased to enter!" he said, in the tone of one issuing a +royal command. + +But she hung for a moment, looking back with a strange wistfulness at the +man she was leaving. The imprisoned air came out into the hot sunshine +like a cold vapour. She shivered a little. + +"Dick!" she said. + +He stopped at the foot of the outside steps looking up at her. His +eyes were extremely bright, and something within her shrank from +their straight regard. It conveyed possession, dominance; almost it +conveyed a menace. + +"When you have found them, come and--tell me!" she said. + +He lifted his hat to her with punctilious courtesy, and turned away. "I +will," he said. + +"That's a masterful sort of person," observed Saltash, as they mounted +the dimly-lit turret stair. "What does he do for a living?" + +Juliet hesitated, conscious of a strong repugnance to discuss her +lover with this man from her old world whom, strangely, at that +moment, she felt that she knew so infinitely better. But she could not +withhold an answer to so ordinary a question. Moreover Saltash could +be imperious when he chose, and she knew instinctively that it was not +wise to cross him. + +"By profession," she said slowly at length, "he is--a village +schoolmaster." + +Saltash's laugh stung, though it was exactly what she had expected. But +he qualified it the next moment with careless generosity. + +"Quite a presentable cavalier, _ma Juliette_! And a fixed occupation is +something of an advantage at times, _n'est-ce-pas?--Je t'aime, tu +l'aime_! And how soon do you ride away? Or is that question premature?" + +Juliet's face burned in the dimness, but she was in front of him and +thankfully aware that he could not see it. "I am not answering any more +questions, Charles," she said. "Now that you have got me into your +ogre's castle, you must be--kind." + +"I will be kindness itself," he assured her. "You know I am the soul of +hospitality. All I have is yours." + +The narrow stair ended at a small stone landing on which was a door. +Juliet stepped aside as she reached it, and waited for her host. "It's +rather like a prison," she said. + +"You won't think so when you get through that door," he said. "By Jove! +To think that I've actually got you--you of all people!--here in my +stronghold! Do you realize that without my permission you can't possibly +get out again?" + +Juliet's laugh was absolutely spontaneous. She faced him in that narrow +space with the poise and confidence of a queen. The light from a window +that pierced the wall above shone down upon her. In that moment she was +endowed with an extraordinary beauty that was more of being, of +personality, than of feature. + +"It is exactly this that I have played for, Charles Rex," she said. "You +hold all the cards, _mon ami_. But--the game is mine." + +"How so?" He was looking at her curiously, a dancing demon in his eyes. + +She put out her hand to him, and as he took it, sank to the stone floor +in a superb curtsy. "Because I claim your gracious protection, my lord +the king. I ask your royal favour." + +He lifted her hand to his lips as she rose. "You are--as ever--quite +irresistible, _ma Juliette_," he smiled. "But--do you really contemplate +marrying this fortunate young man? Because there are limits--even to my +generosity. I am not sure that I can permit that." + +Her eyes looked straight into his. "You can do--anything you choose to +do, Charles Rex," she said; "except one thing." + +He made a grimace at her. "I am king in my own castle anyway," he +observed, watching her. "And you are at my mercy." + +"It is your mercy that I am waiting for," she said, a faint smile at the +corners of her lips. + +"Ah!" he said, stood a moment longer, contemplating her, then turned +abruptly and flung open the door against which he stood. + +It led into a winding passage of such a totally different character +from the stone staircase they had just mounted that Juliet stood gazing +down it for some seconds before she obeyed his mute gesture to pass +through. It was thickly carpeted, deadening all sound, and the walls +were hung with some heavy material, in the colour of old oak. It was +lighted by three long perpendicular slits of windows, let into a +twelve-foot thickness of wall. Juliet had a glimpse of many pine trees +as she passed them. + +The passage ended in heavy curtains of the same dark-brown material. She +stopped and looked at her companion. + +"What is it?" he said, with a laugh. "Are you afraid of my inner +sanctuary?" + +He parted the curtains, disclosing a tall oak door. She saw no latch upon +it, but his hand went up behind the curtain, and she heard the click of a +spring. In a moment the tall door opened before her. + +"Go in!" he said easily. + +She entered a strange room, oak-panelled, shaped like a cone, lighted +only by a glass dome in the roof. It was the most curious chamber she +had ever seen. She trod on a tiger-skin as she entered, and noted that +the floor was covered with them. There was no chair anywhere, only a +long, deep couch, also draped with tiger-skins. Tiger faces glared at +her from all directions. She heard the door click behind her and +turning realized that it had disappeared in the oak panelling against +which her host was standing. + +He laughed at her quizzically, "I believe you are frightened." + +She looked around her, seeing no exit anywhere. "It is just the sort of +freak apartment I should expect you to delight in," she said. + +"You wouldn't have come if you had known, would you?" he said, a faint +note of jeering in his voice. + +"Of course I should!" said Juliet. + +"Of course!" he mocked. "I am such a peculiarly safe person, am I not? +Every member of your charming sex trusts me instinctively." + +She turned and faced him. "Don't be ridiculous, Charles! You see, I +happen to know you." + +He looked at her with something of the air of a monkey that contemplates +snatching some forbidden thing. "Why did you run away?" he said. + +She hesitated. "That's a hard question, isn't it?" + +"Oh, don't mind me!" he said. "I don't flatter myself I was the cause." + +Her dark brows were slightly drawn. "No, you were not," she said. "It was +just--it was Lady Jo herself, Charlie. No one else." + +"Ah!" His goblin smile flashed out at her. "Poor erring Lady Jo! Don't be +too hard on her! She has her points." + +She laid her hand quickly on his arm. "Don't try to defend her! She is +quite despicable. I have done with her." + +His hand was instantly on hers. He laughed into her eyes. "I'll wager you +have a lingering fellow-feeling for her even yet." + +"Not since she was reported to have run away with you," countered Juliet. + +He laughed aloud. "Ah! She forfeited your sympathy there, did she? _Mais, +Juliette_--" his voice sank suddenly upon a caressing note, "there are few +women to whom I could not give happiness--for a time." + +"I know," said Juliet, and drew her hand away. "That is why we all admire +you so. But even you, most potent Charles, couldn't satisfy a woman who +was wanting--some one else." + +"You don't think I could make her forget?" he said. + +She shook her head, smiling. "When the real thing comes along, all shams +must go overboard. It's the rule of the game." + +"And this is the real thing?" he questioned. + +She made a little gesture as of one who accepts the inevitable. "_Je le +crois bien_," she said softly. + +Lord Saltash made a grimace. "And I am to give you up without a thought +to this bounder?" + +"You would," she replied gently, "if I were yours to give." + +"If you were Lady Jo for instance?" he suggested. + +"Exactly. If I were Lady Jo." She looked at him with the faint +smile still at her lips. "It won't cost you much to be generous, +Charles," she said. + +"How do you know what it costs?" He frowned at her suddenly. "You'll +accuse me of being benevolent next. But I'm not benevolent, and I'm not +going to be. I might be to Lady Jo, but not to you, _ma chérie_,--never +to you!" His grin burst through his frown. "Come! Sit down! I'll get +you a drink." + +She turned to the deep settee, and sank down among tigerskins with a +sigh. He opened a cupboard in the panelling of the wall, and there +followed the chink of glasses and the cheery buzz of a syphon. In a few +moments he came to her with a tall glass in his hand containing a frothy +drink. "Look here, _Juliette_!" he said. "Come to France with me in the +_Night Moth_, and we'll find Lady Jo!" + +She accepted the drink and lay back without looking at him. "You always +were an eccentric," she said. "I don't want to find Lady Jo." + +He sat on the head of the settee at her elbow. "It's quite a fair offer," +he said, as if she had not spoken. "You will--eventually--return from +Paris, and no one will ever know. In these days a woman of the world +pleases herself and is answerable to none. _Mais, Juliette_!" He reached +down and coaxingly held her hand. "_Pourquoi pas_?" + +She lifted her eyes slowly to his face. "I have told you," she said. + +"You're not in earnest!" he protested. + +She kept her look steadily upon him. "Charles Rex, I am in earnest." + +His fingers clasped hers more closely. "But I can't allow it. We can't +spare you. And you--yourself, _Juliette_--you will never endure life in a +backwater. You will pine for the old days, the old friends, the old +lovers,--as they will pine for you." + +"No, never!" said Juliet firmly. + +He leaned down to her. "I say you will. This is--a midsummer madness. +This will pass." + +She started slightly at his words. The sparkling liquid splashed over. +She lifted the glass to her lips, and drank. When she ceased, he took it +softly from her, and put it to his own. Then he set down the empty glass +and slipped his arm behind her. + +"_Juliette_, I am going to save you," he said, "from yourself." + +She drew away from him. "Charles, I forbid that!" + +She was breathing quickly but her voice was quiet. There was indomitable +resolution in her eyes. + +He paused, looking at her closely. "You deny--to me--what you were +permitting with so much freedom barely half-an-hour ago to the village +schoolmaster?" he said. + +Her face flamed. "I have always denied you--that!" she said. + +He smiled. "Times alter, Juliette. You are no longer in a position +to deny me." + +She kept her eyes upon him. "You mean I have trusted you too far?" she +said, a deep throb in her voice. "I might have known!" + +He shrugged his shoulders. "Life is a game of hazard, is it not? And you +were always a daring player. But, Juliette, you cannot always win. This +time the luck is against you." + +She was silent. Very slowly her eyes left his. She drooped forward +as she sat. + +He leaned down to her again, his face oddly sympathetic. "After all,--you +claimed my protection," he said. + +She made a sudden movement. She turned sharply, almost blindly. She +caught him by the shoulders. "Oh, Charles!" she said. "Charles Rex! Is +there no mercy no honour--in you?" + +There was a passion of supplication in her voice and action. As she held +him he could have clasped her in his arms. But he did not. He sat +motionless, looking at her, his expression still monkey-like, +half-wicked, half-wistful. + +"Well, you shouldn't tempt me, Juliette," he said. "It isn't fair to a +miserable sinner. You were always the cherry just out of reach. +Naturally, I'm inclined to snatch when I find I can." + +Juliet was trembling, but she controlled her agitation. + +"No, that isn't allowed," she said. "It isn't the game. And you +never--seriously--wanted me either." + +"But I'm never serious!" protested Saltash. "Neither are you. It's your +one solid virtue." + +"I am serious now," she said. + +He looked at her quizzically. "Somehow it suits you. Well, listen, +_Juliette_! I'll strike a bargain with you. When you are through with +this, you will come with me for that cruise in the _Night Moth_. +Come! Promise!" + +"But I am not--quite mad, Rex!" she said. + +He lifted his hands to hers and lightly held them. "It is no madder a +project than the one you are at present engaged upon. What? You won't? +You defy me to do my worst?" + +"No, I don't defy you," she said. + +He flashed a smile at her. "How wise! But listen! It's a bargain all the +same. You put me on my honour. I put you on yours. Go your own way! +Pursue this bubble you call love! And when it bursts and your heart is +broken--you will come back to me to have it mended. That is the price I +put upon my mercy. I ask no pledge. It shall be--a debt of honour. We +count that higher than a pledge." + +"Ah!" Juliet said, and suppressed a sudden tremor. + +He stood up, gallantly raising her as he did so. "And now we will go +and look for your friends," he said. "Is all well, _ma chérie_? You +look pale." + +She forced herself to smile. "You are a preposterous person, Charles +Rex," she said. "Yes, let us go!" + +She turned with him towards the panelling, but she did not see by what +trick he opened again the door by which they had entered. She only saw, +with a wild leap of the heart, Dick Green, upright, virile, standing +against the dark hangings of the passage beyond. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +KISMET + + +He was breathing hard, as if he had been hurrying. He spoke to her +exclusively, ignoring the man at her side. + +"Will you come at once? Mrs. Fielding has been taken ill." + +She started forward. "Dick! Where is she?" + +"Downstairs." Briefly he answered her. "She collapsed in one of the +tents. They brought her into the house. She is in the library." + +Juliet hastened along the passage. Like Dick, she seemed no longer aware +of Saltash's presence. He came behind, a speculative expression on his +ugly face. + +"Let me go first!" Dick said, as they reached the head of the +winding stairs. + +Juliet gave place to him without a word. They descended rapidly. + +At the foot the door stood open to the terrace. They came again into the +blazing sunshine, and here Juliet paused and looked back at Saltash. + +He came to her side. "Don't look so alarmed! It's probably only the heat. +Do you know the way to the library? Through that conservatory over there +is the shortest cut. I suppose I may come with you? I may be of use." + +"Of course!" said Juliet. "Thank you very much." + +Dick barely glanced over his shoulder. He was already on his way. + +They entered the Castle again by the conservatory that Saltash had +indicated. It was a mass of flowers, but the public were evidently not +admitted here, for it was empty. In the centre a nymph hung over a +marble basin under a tinkling fountain. They passed quickly by to an +open glass door that led into the house. Here Dick stopped and drew +back, looking at Juliet. + +"I will wait here," he said. + +She nodded and went swiftly past him into the room. + +It was a dark apartment, book-lined, chill of atmosphere, with heavy, +ancient furniture, and a sense of solitude more suggestive of some +monastic dwelling than any ordinary habitation. The floor was of polished +oak that shone with a sombre lustre. + +Juliet paused for a moment involuntarily upon entering. It was as if a +sinister hand had been laid upon her, arresting her. The gloom blinded +her after the hot radiance outside. Then a voice--Fielding's voice--spoke +to her, and she went forward gropingly. + +He met her, took her urgently by the shoulder. "Thank heaven, you're here +at last!" he said. + +Looking at him, she saw him as a man suddenly stricken with age. His face +was grey. He led her to a settee by the high oak fireplace, and +there--white, inanimate as a waxen figure--she found Vera Fielding. + +Fear pierced her, sharp as the thrust of a knife. She freed herself from +Fielding's grip, and knelt beside the silent form. For many awful seconds +she watched and listened, not breathing. + +"Is she gone?" asked Fielding in a hoarse whisper at last. + +She looked up at him. "Get brandy--hot bottles--quick! Send +Dick--he's in the conservatory. No, stay! Send Saltash! He's there +too. He'll know where to find things. Tell Dick to come here! Have +you sent for a doctor?" + +"There's been no one to send," he answered frantically. "Some man helped +to bring her in here, but she didn't faint till after we got in, and +then I couldn't leave her. He went off to look after the crowd going +round the Castle." + +"All right," Juliet said. "Lord Saltash will see to that. Ask them +to come in!" + +She was unfastening the filmy gown with steady fingers. Whatever the +dread at her heart there was no sign of it apparent in her bearing. She +moved without haste or agitation. + +At a touch on her shoulder she looked up and saw Dick at her side. "Ah, +there you are!" she said. "We want a doctor. Will you see to it? No doubt +there's a telephone somewhere. Ask Lord Saltash!" + +"In the gun-room," said Saltash. "Door next to this on the left. Name of +Rossiter. Shall I see to it?" + +"No--no," she said. "You get some brandy, please--at once!" + +They obeyed her orders with promptitude. Dick went straight from the +room. Saltash turned to the fireplace, and pressed an electric bell three +times very emphatically. + +Then he came to Juliet's side. "You ought to lay her flat, _Juliette_. I +know this sort of seizure. Heart of course! My mother died of it." + +"Help me to lift her!" said Juliet. + +They raised her between them with infinite care and flattened the +cushions beneath her. Then Saltash, his queer face full of the most +earnest concern began to chafe one of the nerveless hands. + +Fielding tramped ceaselessly up and down the room, his head on his chest. +Every time he drew near his wife he glanced at her and swung away again, +as one without hope. + +After a brief interval the door opened to admit a silent footed butler +bearing a tray. Saltash turned upon him swiftly. + +"Brandy, Billings? That's right. And look here! Find Mrs. Parsons! +Tell her a lady has been taken ill in the library! She had better get +a bed ready, and have some boiling water handy. Anything else?" He +looked at Juliet. + +She shook her head. "No, nothing till the doctor comes. I hope he +won't be long." + +Saltash poured out some brandy. Fielding came to a standstill behind +Juliet, and stood looking on. + +"We won't lift her again," whispered Juliet. "Try a spoon!" + +He gave it to her, and she slipped it between the white lips. But there +was no sign of life, no attempt to swallow. + +"She is dead!" said Fielding heavily. + +Saltash glanced at him. "I think not," he said gently. "I'm nearly +certain I felt her pulse move just now." + +The door opened again, and Dick entered. He went straight to the squire, +and put his arm round his bent shoulders. "There'll be a doctor here in +ten minutes," he said. + +Fielding seemed barely to hear the words. "Do you think she'll ever speak +again, Dick?" he said. + +"Please God she will, sir," said Dick very steadily. + +He kept his arm round Fielding, and in a few moments succeeded in +drawing him aside. He put him into a chair by the table, poured out +some brandy and water, and made him drink it. Looking up a moment +later, he found Saltash's odd eyes curiously upon him. He returned the +look with a conscious sense of antagonism, but Saltash almost +immediately turned away. + +There followed what seemed an interminable space of waiting, during which +no change of any sort was apparent in the silent figure on the settee. +The blatant bray of the band still sounded in the distance with a +flaunting gaiety almost intolerable to those who waited. Saltash frowned +as he heard it, but he did not stir from Juliet's side. + +Then, after an eternity of suspense, the sombre-faced butler opened the +door again and ushered in the doctor. Saltash went to meet him and +brought him to the settee. Fielding got up and came forward. + +Dick stood for a moment, then turned and went back to the conservatory, +where a few seconds later Saltash joined him. + +"I should like to burn that damn band alive!" he remarked as he did so. + +Dick shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. + +Again Saltash's eyes dwelt upon him with curiosity. "I want to know you," +he said suddenly. "I hope you don't object?" + +"I am vastly honoured by your notice," said Dick. + +Saltash nodded. "Well, don't be an ass about it! I am a most inoffensive +person, I assure you. And it isn't my fault that I was on friendly terms +with _Mademoiselle Juliette_ before she forsook the world, etc., etc., +and turned to you to fill the void. Do you flatter yourself you are going +to marry her by any chance?" + +A swift gleam shot up in Dick's eyes. He stiffened involuntarily. "That +is a subject I cannot discuss--even with you," he said. + +Saltash smiled good-humouredly. "Well, I expected that. But your +courtship on the lake this afternoon was so delightfully ingenuous that +I couldn't help wondering what your intentions were." + +Dick's mouth became a simple hard line. He looked the other man up and +down with lightning rapidity ere he replied with significance. "My +intentions, my lord, are--honourable." + +Saltash bowed with his hand on his heart and open mockery in his eyes. +"_La pauvre Juliette_! And have you told her yet? No, look here! Don't +knock me down! There's no sense in taking offence at a joke you can't +understand. And it would be bad manners to have a row, with that poor +soul in there at death's door. Moreover, if you really want to marry the +princess _Juliette_, it'll pay you to be friends with me." + +"I doubt if anything would induce me to be that," said Dick curtly. + +"Oh, really? What have I done? No, don't tell me! It would take too long. +I am aware I'm a by-word for wickedness in these parts, heaven alone +knows why. But at least I've never injured you." Saltash's smile was +suddenly disarming again. + +"Never had much opportunity, have you?" said Dick. + +"No, but I've got one now--quite a good one. I could put an end to this +little idyll of yours for instance without the smallest difficulty--if I +felt that way." + +"I don't believe you!" flashed Dick. + +"No? Well, wait till I do it then!" There was amused tolerance in +Saltash's rejoinder. "You'll pipe another tune then, I fancy." + +"Shall I?" Dick said. He paused a moment, his eyes, extremely bright, +fixed unwaveringly upon the swarthy face in front of him. "If I +do--you'll dance to it!" he said with grim assurance. + +Saltash smothered a laugh. "Well done, I say! You've scored a point at +last! I was waiting for that. You'll like me better now, most worthy +cavalier. I daren't suggest a drink under the circumstances, but I'll owe +you one." He extended his hand with a royal air. "Will you shake?" + +Dick held back. "Will you play the game?" he said. + +Saltash grinned. "My own game? Certainly! I always do." + +Dick's hand came out to him. Somehow he was hard to refuse. "A straight +game?" he said. + +Saltash's brows expressed amused surprise. "I always play straight--till +I begin to lose,--chevalier," he said. + +"And then--you cheat?" questioned Dick. + +"Like the devil," laughed Saltash. "We all do that. Don't you?" + +"No," Dick said briefly. + +"You don't? You always put all your cards on the table? Come now! Do +you?" + +Dick hesitated, and Saltash's grin became more pronounced. "All right! +You needn't answer," he said lightly. "Do you know I thought you weren't +quite as simple as you appeared at first sight. Just as well perhaps. +_Juliette's_ cavalier mustn't be too rustic." He stopped to look at Dick +appraisingly. "Yes, I'm glad on the whole that your intentions are +honourable," he ended with a smile. "I rather doubt if you pull 'em off. +But you may--you may." + +He turned sharply with the words as if a hand had touched him and faced +round upon Juliet as she came out on to the step. + +Her face had an exhausted look, but she smiled faintly at the two men as +she joined them. + +"She is still living," she said. "The doctor gives just a shade of hope. +But--" She looked at Saltash--"he absolutely forbids her being moved--at +all. I hope it won't be a terrible inconvenience to you." + +"It will be a privilege to serve you--or your friends--in any way," +said Saltash. + +"Thank you," she said. "I am sure Mr. Fielding will be very grateful to +you. The doctor is going to send in a nurse. Of course I shall not leave +her. She has come to depend upon me a good deal. And we thought of +telephoning to her maid to bring everything necessary from Shale Court." + +"Of course!" said Saltash kindly. "Look here, my dear! Don't for heaven's +sake feel you've got to ask my permission for everything you do! Treat +the place and everyone in it as your own!" + +"Thank you," she said again. "Then, Charles, if you're sure you don't +mind, I'll send for my dog as well." + +"What! Christopher Columbus? You've got him with you, have you?" +Saltash's smile lighted his dark face. "Lucky animal! Have him over by +all means! I shall be delighted to see him." + +"You are very kind," she said, and turned with a hint of embarrassment to +Dick. "Mr. Fielding says that you will want to be getting back and there +is no need to wait. Will you take the little car back to the Court?" + +"Certainly," Dick said. "Would you care to give me a list of the things +you want the maid to bring?" + +"How kind of you!" she said, and hesitated a moment, looking at him. "But +I think I needn't trouble you. Cox is very sensible. I can make her +understand on the telephone." + +He looked back at her, standing very straight. "In that case--I will go," +he said. "Good-bye!" + +She held out her hand to him. "I--shall see you again," she said, and +there was almost a touch of pleading in her voice. + +His fingers closed and held. "Yes," he said, and smiled into her eyes +with the words--a smile in which determination and tenderness strangely +mingled. "You will certainly see me again." + +And with that he was gone, striding between the massed flowers without +looking back. + +"Exit Romeo!" murmured Saltash. "Enter--Kismet!" + +But Juliet had already turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DRIVING FORCE + + +That Saturday night concert at High Shale entailed a greater effort on +Dick's part than any that had preceded it. He forced himself to make it a +success, but when it was over he was conscious of an overwhelming +weariness that weighed him down like a physical burden. + +He said good-night to the men, and prepared to depart with a feeling that +he was nearing the end of his endurance. It was not soothing to nerves +already on edge to be waylaid by Ashcott and made the unwilling recipient +of gloomy forebodings. + +"We shan't hold 'em much longer," the manager said. "They're getting +badly out of hand. There's talk of sending a deputation to Lord +Wilchester or--failing him--Ivor Yardley, the K.C. chap who is in with +him in this show." + +"Yardley!" Dick uttered the name sharply. + +"Yes, ever met him? He took over a directorship when he got engaged to +Lord Wilchester's sister--Lady Joanna Farringmore. They're rather pinning +their hopes on him, it seems. Do you know him at all?" + +"I've met him--once," Dick said. "Went to him for advice--on a matter of +business." + +"Any good?" asked Ashcott. + +"Oh yes, shrewd enough. Hardest-headed man at the Bar, I believe. +I didn't know he was a director of this show. They won't get much +out of him." + +"I fancy they're going to ask you to draw up a petition," said Ashcott. + +"Me!" Dick turned on him in a sudden blaze of anger. "I'll see 'em damned +first!" he said. + +Ashcott shrugged his shoulders. "It's your affair. You're the only man +who has any influence with 'em. I'm sick of trying to keep the peace." + +Dick checked his indignation. "Poor devils! They certainly have some +cause for grievance, but I'm not going to draw up their ultimatum for +them. I've no objection to speaking to Yardley or any other man on their +behalf, but I'm hanged if I'll be regarded as their representative. +They'll make a strike-leader of me next." + +"Well, they're simmering," Ashcott said, as he prepared to depart. +"They'll boil over before long. If they don't find a responsible +representative they'll probably run amuck and get up to mischief." + +"Oh, man, stop croaking!" Dick said with weary irritation and went away +down the hill. + +He took the cliff-path though the night was dark with storm-clouds. +Somehow, instinctively, his feet led him thither. There were no +nightingales singing now, and the gorse had long since faded in the +fierce heat of summer. The sea lay leaden far below him, barely visible +in the dimness. And there was no star in the sky. + +Heavily he tramped over the ground where Juliet had lingered on that +night of magic in the spring, and as he went, he told himself that he +had lost her. Whatever the outcome of to-day's happenings, she would +never be the same to him again. She had passed out of his reach. Her own +world had claimed her again and there could be no return. He recalled the +regret in her eyes at parting. Surely--most surely--she had known that +that was the end. For her the midsummer madness was over, burnt away like +the glory of the gorse-bushes about him. With a conviction that was +beyond all reason he knew that they had come to a parting of the ways. + +And there was no bond between them, no chain but that which his love had +forged. She had pleaded to retain her freedom, and now with bitter +intuition he knew wherefore. She had always realized that to which he in +his madness had been persistently blind. She had known that there were +obstacles insurmountable between them and the happy consummation of their +love. She had faced the fact that the glory would depart. + +Again he felt the clinging of her arms as he had felt it only that +afternoon. Again against his lips there rose her quivering whisper, "Just +for to-day, Dick! Just for to-day!" Yes, she had known even then. Even +then for her the glory had begun to fade. + +He clenched his hands in sudden fierce rebellion. It was unbearable. He +would not endure it. This stroke of destiny--he would fight it with all +the strength of his manhood. He would overthrow this nameless barrier +that had arisen between them. He would sacrifice all--all he had--to +reach her. Somehow--whatever the struggle might cost--he would clasp her +again, would hold her against all the world. + +And then--like a poisoned arrow out of the darkness--another thought +pierced him. What if she were indeed of those who loved for a space and +passed smiling on? What if the fatal taint of the world from which she +had come to him had touched her also, withering the heart in her, making +true love a thing impossible? What if she had indeed been fashioned in +the same mould as the worthless woman whom she sought to defend? + +But that was unthinkable, intolerable. He flung the evil suggestion from +him, but it left a burning wound behind. There was no escape from the +fact that she was on terms of intimacy with the man with whom that +woman's name had been shamefully associated. And--remembering the +discomfiture she had betrayed at their meeting--he told himself bitterly +that she would have given much to have concealed that intimacy had it +been possible. + +But here his loyalty cried out that he was wronging her. Juliet--his +Juliet of the steadfast eyes and low, sincere voice--was surely +incapable of double dealing! Whatever her life in the past had been, +however frivolous, however artificial, it had been given to him--perhaps +to him alone--to know her as she was. A great wave of self-reproach went +over him. How had he dared to doubt her? + +The sea moaned with a dreary sound along the shore. A few heavy drops of +rain fell around him. Mechanically he quickened his pace. He came at +length down the steep cliff-path to the gate that led to the village. +And here to his surprise a shuffling footstep told him of the presence of +another human being out in the desolate darkness. Dimly he discerned a +bulky shape leaning against the rail. + +He came up to it. "Robin!" he said sharply. + +A low voice answered him in startled accents. "Oh, Dicky! I thought you +were never coming!" + +"What are you doing here?" Dick said. + +He took the boy by the shoulder with the words and Robin cowered away. + +"Don't be cross! Dicky, please don't be cross! I only came to look for +you," he said with nervous incoherence. "I didn't mean to be out late. I +couldn't help it. Don't be cross!" + +But Dick was implacable. "You know you've no business out at this hour," +he said. "I warned you last time--when you went to The Three Tuns--" He +paused abruptly. "Have you been to The Three Tuns to-night?" + +"No!" said Robin eagerly. + +Dick's hand pressed upon him. "Is that the truth?" + +Robin became incoherent again. "I only came to meet you. I didn't think +you'd be so late. And it was so hot to-night. And my head ached." He +broke off. "Dicky, you're hurting me!" + +"You have told me a lie," Dick said. + +Robin shrank at his tone. "How did you know?" he whispered awestruck. + +Dick did not answer. He shifted his hold from Robin's shoulder to his arm +and turned him about. Robin went with him, shuffling his feet and +trembling. + +Dick led him in grim silence down the path to the village-road, past +the Ricketts' cottage, now in darkness, up the hill beyond that led to +the school. + +Robin went with him submissively enough, but he stumbled several times +on the way. As they neared the end of the journey he began to talk again +anxiously, propitiatingly. + +"I didn't mean to go, Dicky, but I was so hot and thirsty. And I met Jack +and I went in with him. There were a lot of fellows there and Jack +treated me, but I didn't have very much. My head ached so, and I sat down +in a corner and went to sleep till it was closing time. Then old Swag +made me get out, so I came to wait for you. I didn't hit him or anything, +Dicky. I was quite quiet all the while. So you won't be cross, will +you,--not like last time?" + +"I am going to punish you if that's what you mean," Dick said, as he +opened the garden-gate. + +Robin shrank again, shivering like a frightened dog. "But, Dicky, I +only--I only--" + +"Broke the rule and lied about it," his brother said uncompromisingly. +"You know the punishment for that." + +Robin attempted no further appeal. He went silently into the house and +blundered up to his room. There was only one thing left to do, and that +was to pay the penalty--of which Dick's wrath was infinitely the hardest +part to bear. + +He crouched down on the floor by the bed to wait. The light from the +passage shone in through the half-open door and the great lamp at the +lodge-gates of the Court opposite, which was kept burning all night, +glared in at the unblinded window, but there was no light in the room. +There was something almost malignant to Robin's mind about the searching +brilliance of this lamp. He hid his eyes from it, huddling his face in +the bed-clothes, listening intently the while for Dick's coming but +hearing only the dull thumping of his own heart. + +There was no one in the house except the two brothers. A woman came in +every day from the village to do the work of the establishment. Now that +Jack had found quarters elsewhere there was not a great deal to be done +since Robin was accustomed also to making himself useful in various +ways. It occurred to him suddenly as he crouched there waiting that Dick +had been too hurried to eat much supper before his departure for High +Shale that evening. The thought had been in his brain before, but +subsequent events had dislodged it. Now, with every nerve alert and +pricking with suspense, it returned to him very forcibly. Dicky was +hungry perhaps--or consumed with thirst, as he himself had been. And he +would certainly go empty to bed unless he, Robin, plucked up courage to +go down and wait upon him. + +It needed considerable courage, for his instinct was always to hide when +he had incurred Dick's anger. Judicial though it invariably was, it was +the most terrible thing the world held for him. It shook him to the +depths, and to go down and confront it again with the penalty still +unpaid was for a long time more than he could calmly contemplate. But as +the minutes crept on and still Dick did not come, it was gradually borne +in upon him that this, and this alone, was the thing that must be done. +It was his job, forced upon him by an inexorable fate. Dick would +probably be much more angry with him for doing it, but somehow in a +vague, unreasoning fashion he realized that it had got to be done. + +Even then it took him a long time to screw himself up to the required +pitch of nervous energy required. He ached for the sound of Dick's step +on the stairs, but it did not come. And so at last he knew there was no +help for it. Whatever the cost, he must fulfil the task that had been +laid upon him. + +With intense reluctance he uncovered his face, flinching from the stark +glare of the lamp across the road, and dragged himself to his feet. It +was difficult to move without noise, but he made elaborate efforts to do +so. He reached the head of the stairs and hung there listening. + +Had he heard a movement below he would have stumbled headlong back to +cover, but no sound of any sort reached him. The compelling force urged +him afresh. He gripped the stair-rail and crept downward like a +stealthy baboon. + +The stairs creaked alarmingly. More than once he paused, prepared for +precipitate retreat, but still he heard no sound, and gradually a certain +desperate hope came to him. Perhaps Dicky was asleep! Perhaps the power +that drove him would be satisfied if he collected some things on a tray +and left them in the little hall for Dicky to find when he finally came +up! If this could be done--and he could get back safe to the sheltering +darkness before he found out! He would not mind the subsequent caning, if +only he need not meet Dicky face to face again beforehand. Dicky's eyes +when they looked at him sternly were anguish to his soul. And they +certainly would not hold any kindness for him until the punishment was +over. So argued poor Robin's anxious brain as he reached the foot of the +stairs and stood a moment under the lamp dimly burning there, summoning +strength to creep past the open door of the dining-room. + +A candle was flickering on the table, so he was sure Dick must be there. +Would he see him pass? Would he call him in? Robin's heart raced with +terror at the thought. But no! The urging force drove him in sickening +apprehension past the door, and still there was no sound. + +He was at the kitchen-door at the end of the passage, his fingers +fumbling at the latch when suddenly he remembered that he had no candle. +There was no candle to be had! The only one available downstairs was the +one Dick had taken into the dining-room. He could not go upstairs again +to get another. He had no matches wherewith to explore the kitchen. He +stood struck motionless by this fresh problem. + +But Dicky was doubtless asleep or he must have heard those creaking +stairs! Then there was still a chance. He might creep into the room and +take the candle without waking him. He was gaining confidence by the +prolonged silence. Dicky must certainly be fast asleep. + +With considerably greater steadiness than he had yet achieved he returned +to the open door and peeped stealthily in. + +Yes, Dick was there. He had flung himself down at the table on which he +had set the candle, and he was lying across it with his head on his arms. +Asleep of course! That could be the only explanation of such an attitude. +Yet Robin in the act of advancing, stopped in sudden doubt with a scared +backward movement, his eyes upon one of Dick's hands that was clenched +convulsively and quivering as if he were in pain. It certainly did not +look like the hand of a man asleep. + +The next moment Robin's ungainly form had knocked against the door-handle +and Dick was sitting upright looking at him. His face was grey, he looked +unutterably tired, his mouth had the stark grimness of the man who +endures, asking nothing of Fate. + +"Hullo, boy!" he said. "Why aren't you in bed?" Then seeing Robin's +unmistakably hang-dog air, "Oh, I forgot! Go on upstairs! I'm coming." + +Robin turned about like a kicked dog. But the driving force stopped him +on the threshold. He stood a second or two, then turned again with a +species of sullen courage. + +"May I have the candle?" he said, not looking at Dick. + +"What for?" said Dick. "Haven't you got one upstairs?" + +Robin stood a moment or two debating with himself, then made a second +movement to go. "All right. I'll fetch it." + +"Wait a minute!" Dick's voice compelled. "What do you want a candle down +here for?" + +Robin backed against the door-post with a kind of heavy defiance. "Want +to get something--out of the kitchen," he muttered. + +"What do you want to get?" said Dick. + +Robin was silent, stubbornly, insistently silent, the fingers of one hand +working with agitated activity. + +"Robin!" + +It was the voice of authority. He had to respond to it. He made a +lumbering gesture towards the speaker, but his eyes remained obstinately +lowered under the shag of hair that hung over his forehead. + +Dick sat for a few seconds looking at him, then with a sudden sigh that +caught him unawares he got up. + +"What did you come down for? Tell me!" he said. + +His tone was absolutely quiet, but something in his utterance or the +sigh that preceded it--or possibly some swiftly-piercing light of +intuition--seemed to send a galvanizing current through Robin. With +clumsy impulsiveness he came to Dick and stood before him. + +"I was going--to get you--something to eat," he said, speaking with +tremendous effort. "You must be--pretty near starving--and I forgot." He +paused to fling a nervous look upwards. "I thought you were asleep. I +didn't know--or I wouldn't have done it. I--didn't mean to get in the +way." His voice broke oddly. He began to tremble. "I'll go now," he said. + +But Dick's hand came out, detaining him. "You came down to get me +food?" he said. + +"Yes," muttered Robin, with his head down. "Thought I'd--put it in the +hall--so you'd find it--before you came up." + +Dick stood silent for a space, looking at him. His eyes were very gentle +and the grimness had gone from his mouth, but Robin could not see that. +He stood humped and quivering, expectant of rebuke. + +But he recognized the change when Dick spoke. "Thought you'd provide me +with the necessary strength to hammer you, eh?" he said, and suddenly his +arm went round the misshapen shoulders; he gave Robin a close squeeze. +"Thanks, old chap," he said. + +Robin looked up then. The adoring devotion of a dumb animal was in his +eyes. He said nothing, being for the moment beyond words. + +Dick let him go. A clock on the mantelpiece was striking twelve. "You get +to bed, boy!" he said. "I don't want anything to eat, thanks all the +same." He paused a moment, then held out his hand. "Good-night!" + +It was tacit forgiveness for his offence, and as such Robin recognized +it. Yet as he felt the kindly grasp his eyes filled with tears. + +"I'm--I'm sorry, Dicky," he stammered. + +"I'm sorry too," Dick said. "But that won't undo it. For heaven's sake, +Robin, never lie to me again! There! Go to bed! I'm going myself as soon +as I've had a smoke. Good-night!" + +It was a definite dismissal, and Robin turned away and went stumblingly +from the room. + +His brother looked after him with a queer smile in his eyes. It was +Juliet who had taught Robin to say he was sorry. He threw himself into an +easy-chair and lighted a pipe. Perhaps after all in his weariness he had +exaggerated the whole matter. Perhaps--after all--she might yet find that +she loved him enough to cast her own world aside. Recalling her last +words to him, he told himself that he had been too quick to despair. For +she loved him--she loved him! Not all the fashionable cynics her world +contained could alter that fact. + +A swift wave of exultation went through him, combating his despair. +However heavy the odds,--however formidable the obstacles--he told +himself he would win--he would win! + +Going upstairs a little later, he was surprised to hear a low sound +coming from Robin's room. He had thought the boy would have been in bed +and asleep some time since. He stopped at the door to listen. + +The next moment he opened it and quietly entered, for Robin was sobbing +as if his heart would break. + +There was no light in the room save that which shone from the park-gates +opposite and the candle he himself carried. Robin was sunk in a heap +against the bed still fully dressed. He gave a great start at his +brother's coming, shrinking together in a fashion that seemed to make him +smaller. His sobbing ceased on the instant. He became absolutely still, +his claw-like hands rigidly gripped on the bedclothes, his face wholly +hidden. He did not even breathe during the few tense seconds that Dick +stood looking down at him. He might have been a creature carved in +granite. Then Dick set down his candle, went to him, sat on the low bed, +and pulled the shaggy head on to his knee. + +"What's the matter, old chap?" he said. + +All the tension went out of Robin at his touch. He clung to him in +voiceless distress. + +Dick's heart smote him. Why had he left the boy so long? He laid a very +gentle hand upon him. + +"Come, old chap!" he said. "Get a hold on yourself! What's it all about?" + +Robin's shoulders heaved convulsively; his hold tightened. He murmured +some inarticulate words. + +Dick bent over him. "What, boy? What? I can't hear. You haven't been up +to any mischief, have you? Robin, have you?" A sudden misgiving assailed +him. "You haven't hurt anybody? Not Jack, for instance?" + +"No," Robin said. But he added a moment later with a concentrated passion +that sounded inexpressibly vindictive, "I hate him! I do hate him! I wish +he was dead!" + +"Why?" Dick said. "What has he been doing?" + +But Robin burrowed lower and made no answer. + +Dick sat for a space in silence, waiting for him to recover himself. He +knew very well that he had good reason for his rooted dislike for Jack. +It was useless to attempt any argument on that point. But when Robin had +grown calmer, he returned to the charge very quietly but with +determination. + +"What has Jack been doing or saying? Tell me! I've got to know." + +Robin stirred uneasily. "Don't want to tell you, Dicky," he said. + +Dick's hand pressed a little upon him. "You must tell me," he said. "When +did you meet him?" + +Robin hesitated in obvious reluctance. "It was after supper," he said. +"My head ached, and I went outside, and he came down the drive. And +he--and he laughed about--about you coming home alone from Burchester, +and said--said that your game was up anyhow. And I didn't know what he +meant, Dicky--" Robin's arms suddenly clung closer--"but I got angry, +because I hate him to talk about you. And I--I went for him, Dicky." His +voice dropped on a shamed note, and he became silent. + +"Well?" Dick said gravely. "What happened then?" + +Very unwillingly Robin responded to his insistence. "He got hold of +me--so that I couldn't hurt him--and then he said--he said--" A great sob +rose in his throat choking his utterance. + +"What did he say?" + +There was a certain austerity in Dick's question. Robin shivered as it +reached him. + +With difficulty he struggled on. "Said that only--a fool--like +me--could help knowing that--you hadn't--a chance--with any woman--so +long as--so long as--" He choked again and sank into quivering silence. + +Dick's hand found the rough head and patted it very tenderly. "But you're +not fool enough to take what Jack says seriously, are you?" he said. + +Robin stifled a sob. "He said that--afterwards," he whispered. "And he +took me along to The Three Tuns--to make me forget it." + +"You actually drank with him after that!" Dick said. + +"I didn't know what I was doing, Dicky," he make apologetic answer. +"It--knocked the wind out of me. You see, I--I'd never thought of +that before." + +He began to whimper again. Dick swallowed down something that tried to +escape him. + +"A bit of an ass, aren't you, Robin?" he said instead. "You know as well +as I do that there isn't a word of truth in it. Anyhow--the woman I +love--isn't--that sort of woman." + +Robin shifted his position uneasily. There was that in the words that +vaguely stirred him. Dick had never spoken in that strain before. Slowly, +with a certain caution, he lifted his tear-stained face and peered up at +his brother in the fitful candle-light. + +"You do--want to marry Miss Moore then, Dicky?" he asked diffidently. + +Dick looked straight back at him; his eyes shone with a sombre gleam +that came and went. For several seconds he sat silent, then very +steadily he spoke. + +"Yes, I want her all right, Robin, but there are some pretty big +obstacles in the way. I may get over them--and I may not. Time +will prove." + +His lips closed upon the words, and became again a single hard line. His +look went beyond Robin and grew fixed. The boy watched him dumbly with +awed curiosity. + +Suddenly Dick moved, gripped him by the shoulders and pulled him upwards. +"There! Go to bed!" he said. "And don't take any notice of what Jack says +for the future! Don't fight him either! Understand? Leave him alone!" + +Robin blundered up obediently. Again there looked forth from his eyes the +dog-like worship which he kept for Dick alone. "I'll do--whatever you +say, Dicky," he said earnestly. "I--I'd die for you--I would!" He spoke +with immense effort, and all his heart was in the words. + +Dick smiled at him quizzically. "Instead of which I only want you to show +a little ordinary common or garden sense," he said. "Think you can do +that for me?" + +"I'll try, Dicky," he said humbly. + +"Yes, all right. You try!" Dick said, and got up, more moved than he +cared to show. He turned to go, but paused to light Robin's candle from +his own. "And don't forget I'm--rather fond of you, my boy!" he said, +with a brief smile over his shoulder as he went away. + +No, Robin was not likely to forget that, seeing that Dick's love for him +was his safeguard from all evil, and his love for Dick was the +mainspring of his life. But--though his development was stunted and +imperfect--there were certain facts of existence which he was beginning +slowly but surely to grasp. And one of these--before but dimly +suspected--he had realized fully to-night, a fact beyond all questioning +learnt from Dick's own lips. + +Dick's words: "The woman I love," had sunk deep--deep into his soul. And +he knew with that intuition which cannot err that his love for Juliet was +the greatest thing life held for him--or ever could hold again. + +And the driving force gripped Robin's soul afresh as he lay wide-eyed to +the smothering gloom of the night. Whatever happened--whoever +suffered--Dicky must have his heart's desire. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SISTER OF MERCY + + +For five days after that burning afternoon of the flower-show Juliet +scarcely left Vera Fielding's side. During those five days Vera lay +at the point of death, and though her husband was constantly with her +it was to Juliet that she clung through all the terrible phases of +weakness, breathlessness, and pain that she passed. Through the dark +nights--though a trained nurse was in attendance--it was Juliet's hand +that held her up, Juliet's low calm voice that reassured her in the +Valley of the Shadow through which she wandered. Often too spent for +speech, her eyes would rest with a piteous, child-like pleading upon +Juliet's quiet face, and--for Juliet at least--there was no resisting +their entreaty. She laid all else aside and devoted herself body and soul +to the tender care of the sick woman. + +Edward Fielding regarded her with reverence and a deep affection that +grew with every day that passed. She was always so gentle, so capable, so +undismayed. He knew that her whole strength was bent to the task of +saving Vera's life, and even when he most despaired he found himself +leaning upon her, gathering courage from the resolute confidence with +which she shouldered her burden. + +"She never thinks of herself at all," he said once to Saltash between +whom and himself a friendship wholly unavoidable on his part and also +curiously pleasant had sprung up. "I suppose in her position of companion +she has been more or less trained for this sort of thing. But her +devotion is amazing. She is absolutely indispensable to my wife." + +"_Juliette_ seems to have found her vocation," observed Saltash with a +lazy chuckle. "But no, I should not say that she was specially trained +for this sort of thing, though certainly it seems to suit her passing +well. All the same, you won't let her carry it too far, will you? Now +that Mrs. Fielding is beginning to rally a little it might be a good +opportunity to make her take a rest." + +"Yes, you're right. She must rest," Fielding agreed. "She is so +marvellous that one is apt to forget she must be nearly worn out." + +It was the fifth day and Vera had certainly rallied. She lay in the +sombre old library, that had been turned into the most luxurious bedroom +that Saltash's and Juliet's ingenuity could devise, listening to the +tinkle of the water in the conservatory and watching Juliet who sat in a +low chair by her side with a book in her lap ready to read her to sleep. + +There was a couch in the conservatory itself on which sometimes on rare +occasions Juliet would snatch a brief rest, leaving the nurse to watch. +Columbus regarded this couch as his own particular property, but he +always gave his beloved mistress an ardent welcome and squeezed himself +into as small a compass as possible at the foot for her benefit. +Otherwise, he occupied the middle with an arrogance of possession which +none disputed. The door into the garden was always open, and Columbus was +extremely happy, being of supremely independent habits and quite capable +of trotting round to the kitchen premises of the castle for his daily +portion without disturbing anyone en route. How he discovered the kitchen +Juliet never knew. Doubtless his exploring faculty stood him in good +stead. But his appearance there was absolutely regular and orderly, and +he always returned to the conservatory when he had been fed with the +bustling self-importance of one whose time was of value. He never entered +the sick-room except on invitation, and he never raised his voice above a +whisper when in the conservatory. It was quite evident that he fully +grasped the situation and accommodated himself thereto. All he asked of +life was to be near his beloved one, and the snuffle of his greeting +whenever she joined him was ample testimony to the joy of his simple +soul. Just to see her, just to hear her voice, just sometimes to kiss and +be kissed, what more could any dog desire? + +Certainly an occasional scamper after rabbits in the park made a salutary +change, but Columbus was prudent and he never suffered himself to be +drawn very far in pursuit. A sense of duty or expediency always brought +him back before long to the couch in the conservatory to lie and watch, +brighteyed, for the only person who counted in his world. + +He was watching for her now, but without much hope of her coming. She +seldom left Vera's bedside in the afternoon for it was then, in the heat +of the day, that she usually suffered most. But to-day she had been +better. Today for the first time she was able to turn her head and smile +and even to murmur a few sentences without distress. Her eyes dwelt upon +Juliet's quiet face with a wistful affection. She had come to lean upon +her strength with a child's dependence. + +"Quite comfortable?" Juliet asked her gently. + +"Quite," Vera made whispered reply. "But you--you look so tired." + +Juliet smiled at her. "I dare say I shall fall asleep if you do," she +said. + +"You ought to have a long rest," said Vera, and then her heavy eyes +brightened and went beyond her as her husband's tall figure came softly +in from the conservatory. + +He came to her side, stooped over her, and took her hand. Her fingers +closed weakly about his. + +"Send her to bed!" she whispered. "She is tired. You come instead!" + +He bent and kissed her forehead with a tenderness that made her cling +more closely. "Shall I do instead?" he asked her gently. + +She offered him her lips though she was panting a little. "Yes, I want +you. Make Juliet--go to bed!" + +He turned to Juliet, his wife's hand still in his. All the hard lines +were smoothed out of his face. There was something even pathetic about +his smile. + +"Will you go to bed, Juliet," he said in that new gentle voice of his, +"and leave me in charge?" + +She got up. "I will lie down in the conservatory," she said. + +"No--no!" He put his free hand on her arm with a touch of his customary +imperiousness. "That won't do. You're to go to bed properly--and sleep +till you can't sleep any longer. Yes, that's an order, see?" He smiled +again at her, his sudden transforming smile. "Be a good child and do as +I tell you! Cox is within call. We'll certainly fetch you if we find we +can't do without you." + +Juliet's eyes went to Vera. + +"Yes, she wants to get rid of you too," said the squire. "We're pining to +be alone. No, we won't talk. We won't do anything we ought not, eh, Vera, +my dear? Nurse will be getting up in another hour so we shan't have it to +ourselves for long." + +He had his way. He could be quite irresistible when he chose. Juliet +found herself yielding without misgiving, though till then he had only +been allowed at Vera's bedside for a few minutes at a time. Vera was +certainly very much better that day, and she read in her eyes the desire +to meet her husband's wishes. She paused to give him one or two +directions regarding medicine, and then went quietly to the door of the +conservatory. + +Columbus sprang to greet her with a joy that convulsed him from head to +tail, and she gathered him up in her arms and took him with her, passing +back through the library in time to see the squire lay his face down upon +the slender hand he held and kiss it. + +In the great hall outside she found Saltash loitering. He came at once to +meet her, and had taken Columbus from her before she realized his +intention. + +"He is too heavy for you, _ma chérie_," he said, with his quizzing smile. +"Lend him to me for this afternoon! He's getting disgracefully fat. I'll +take him for a walk." + +Relieved of Columbus' weight, she became suddenly and overpoweringly +aware of a dwindling of her strength. She said no word, but her face +must have betrayed her, for the next thing she knew was Saltash's arm +like a coiled spring about her, impelling her towards the grand +staircase. + +"I'll take you to your room, _Juliette_," he said. "You might miss the +way by yourself. You're awfully tired, aren't you?" + +It was absurd, but a curious desire to weep possessed her. + +"Yes, I know," said Saltash, with his semi-comic tenderness. "Don't mind +me! I knew you'd come to it sooner or later. You're not used to playing +the sister of mercy are you, _ma mie_, though it becomes you--vastly +well." + +"Don't, Charles!" she murmured faintly. + +"My dear, I mean no harm," he protested, firmly leading her upwards. "I +am only--the friend in need." + +She took him at his word though half against her will. He guided her up +the branching staircase to the gallery above, bringing her finally to a +tall oak door at the further end. + +"Here is your chamber of sleep, _Juliette_! Now will you make me a +promise?" + +She left his supporting arm with an effort. "Well, what is it?" + +"That you will go to bed in the proper and correct way and sleep +till further notice," he said. "You can't go for ever, believe me. +And you need it." + +He was looking at her with a softness of persuasion that sat so oddly on +his mischievous monkey-face that in spite of herself, with quivering +lips, she smiled. + +"You're very good, Charles Rex," she said. "I wonder how much longer you +will manage to keep it up." + +He bowed low. "Just as long as I have your exemplary example before me," +he said. "Who knows? We may both fling our caps over the windmill before +we have done." + +She shook her head, made as if she would enter the room, but paused. "You +will take care of Columbus?" she said. + +"Every care," he promised. "If I fail to bring him back to you intact you +will never see my face again." + +She had opened the door behind her, but still she paused. "Charles!" + +Her voice held an unutterable appeal. A grin of sheer derision gleamed +for a second in his eyes and vanished. "They ring up from the Court every +day, _Juliette_. Presumably he gets the news by that channel. He has not +troubled to obtain it in any other way." + +"How could he?" Juliet said, but her face was paler than before; it had a +grey look. "He is busy with his work all day long. What time has he +for--other things?" + +"Exactly, _ma chérie_! One would not expect it of him. Duty +first--pleasure afterwards, is doubtless his motto. Very worthy--and +very appropriate, for one of his profession. Unquestionably, it will +become yours also--in time." + +A faint, sad smile crossed Juliet's face. She made no response, and in a +moment Saltash bent and swept up Columbus under his arm. + +"_Adieu_, sister of mercy!" he said lightly. "I leave you to your +dreams." + +He went away along the gallery, and she entered the room and shut +herself in. + +For a second or two she stood quite motionless in the great luxurious +apartment. Then slowly she went forward to the wide-flung window, and +stood there, gazing blankly forth over the distant fir-clad park. He had +said that he would see her again. It seemed so long ago. And all through +this difficult time of strain and anxiety he had done nothing--nothing. +She did not realize until that moment how much she had counted upon the +memory of those last words of his. + +Ah well! Perhaps--as Charles Rex hinted--it was better. Better to end it +all thus, that midsummer madness of theirs that had already endured too +long! They had lived such widely sundered lives. How could they ever have +hoped ultimately to bridge the gulf between? + +Charles was right. His shrewd perception realized that dwelling as they +did in separate spheres they were bound to be fundamentally strangers +to one another. Surely Dick himself had foreseen it long since down on +that golden shore when first he had sought to dissuade her from going +to the Court! + +Her heart contracted at the memory. How sweet those early days had +been! But the roses had faded, the nightingales had ceased to sing. It +was all over now--all over. The dream was shattered, and she was weary +unto death. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SACRIFICE + + +"I expect it's one of them abscies again," said Mrs. Rickett +sympathetically. "Have you been to the doctor about it, my dear?" + +Robin, sitting heaped in the wooden arm-chair in her kitchen, +looked at her with a smouldering glow in his eyes. "Don't like +doctors," he muttered. + +Mrs. Rickett sighed and went on with her ironing. "No more do I, Robin. +But we can't always do without 'em. Have you told your brother now?" + +Robin, sullenly rocking himself to and fro, made no reply for several +seconds. Then very suddenly: "He asked me if I'd got a headache and I +told him No," he flung out defiantly. "What's the good of bothering him? +He can't do anything." + +"The doctor might, you know," Mrs. Rickett ventured again, with a glance +through the window at Freddy who had been sent out to amuse himself and +was staggering with much perseverance in the wake of an elusive chicken. +"It's wonderful what they can do now-a-days to make things better." + +"Don't want to be better," growled Robin. + +She turned and looked at him in astonishment. "You didn't ought to say +that, my dear," she said. + +Again he raised his heavy eyes to hers and something she saw in +them--something she was quite at a loss to define--went straight to +her heart. + +"Robin, my dear, what's the matter?" she said. "Is there something that's +troubling you?" + +Again Robin was silent for a space. His eyes fell dully to the ground +between his feet. At last, in a tone of muttered challenge, he spoke. +"Don't want it to get better. Want it to end." + +"Sakes alive!" said Mrs. Rickett, shocked. "You don't know what +you're saying." + +He did not contradict her or lift his eyes again, merely sat there like a +hunched baboon, his head on his chest, his monstrous body slowly rocking. + +There followed a lengthy silence. Mrs. Rickett ironed and folded, ironed +and folded, with a practised hand, still keeping an eye on the small +chicken-chaser outside. + +After several minutes, however, the boy's utter dejection of attitude +moved her to attempt to divert his thoughts. "I wonder when our young +lady will be coming to see us again," she said. + +Robin uttered a queer sound in his throat; it was almost like the moan of +an animal in pain. He said nothing. + +She gave him an uneasy glance, but still kind-heartedly she persevered in +her effort to lift him out of his depression. "She was always very +friendly-like," she said. "You liked her, didn't you Robin?" + +Robin shifted his position with a sharp movement as though he winced at +some sudden dart of pain. "What should make her come back?" he said. +"She'll stay away now she's gone." + +"Oh, I expect we shall be seeing her again some day," said Mrs. Rickett, +"when poor Mrs. Fielding is a bit stronger. She's busy now, but she'll +come back, you'll see." + +Again almost violently Robin moved in his chair. "She won't!" he flung +out in a fierce undertone. "Tell you she won't!" + +"How can you possibly know?" reasoned Mrs. Rickett. + +"I do know," he said doggedly. "She won't come back,--anyhow not +till--" his utterance trailed off into an unintelligible murmur in his +throat and he became silent. + +Mrs. Rickett shook out a small damp garment, and spread it upon the table +with care. "I don't see how anyone is to say as she won't come back," she +said. "Of course I know she's a lady born, but that don't prevent her +making friends among humbler folk. She's talked of this place more than +once as if she'd like to settle here." + +"She won't then!" growled Robin. "She'll never do that, not +while--." Again he became inarticulate, muttering deeply in his throat +like an animal goaded to savagery. + +Mrs. Rickett turned from her ironing to regard him. She had never found +Robin hard to understand before, but there was something about him to-day +which was wholly beyond her comprehension. He was like some wild creature +that had received a cruel wound. Dumb resentment and fiery suffering +seemed to mingle in his half uttered sentences. As he sat there, huddled +forward with his hands pathetically clenched she thought she had never +seen a more piteous sight. + +"Lor', Robin, my dear!" she said. "What ever makes you know such a lot? +Why shouldn't she come back then? Tell me that!" + +He shook his shaggy head, but more in protest than refusal. + +Mrs. Rickett bent down over him, her kindly red face full of the most +motherly concern. + +"What's troubling you, Robin?" she said. "You aren't--fretting for +her, are you?" + +He threw her one of his wild, furtive looks, and again in his eyes she +caught a glimpse of something that deeply moved her. She laid a +comforting hand on his shoulder. + +"Is that it, lad? Are you wanting her? Ah, don't fret then--don't fret! +She'll surely come back--some day." + +The boy's face quivered. He looked down at his clenched hands, and at +length jerkily, laboriously, he spoke, giving difficult and bitter +utterance to the trouble that gnawed at his heart. + +"It's--Dicky that wants her. But she won't come--she won't come--while +I'm here." A sudden hard shiver went through him, he drew his breath +through his set teeth, with a desperate sound. "No woman would," he said +with hard despair. + +And then abruptly, as if with speech his misery had become unendurable, +he blundered to his feet with outflung arms, making the only outcry +against fate that his poor stunted brain had ever accomplished. "It isn't +fair!" he wailed. "It isn't right! I'm going to God--to tell Him so!" + +He turned with the words, the impulse of the stricken creature urging +him, and ignoring the remonstrance which Mrs. Rickett had barely begun he +made headlong for the door, dragged it open, and was gone. + +He went past his little playmate in the yard, shambling blindly for the +open, deaf to the baby's cry of welcome, insensible to everything but the +bitter burden of his pain. He slammed the gate behind him and set off at +a lumbering run down the glaring road. + +The evening sun smote full in his face as he went; but it might have been +midnight, for he neither saw nor felt. Instinct alone guided him--the +instinct of the wild creature, hunted by disaster, wounded to the heart, +that must be alone with its agony and its fruitless strife against fate. + +He went up the cliff-path, but he did not follow it far. Something drew +him down the narrow cleft that led to the spot where first he had seen +her lying on the shingle dreaming with her head upon her arm. He turned +off the path to the place where he had crouched among the gorse-bushes +and flung stones to scare her away, and stood there panting and gazing. + +The memory of her, the gracious charm, the quick sympathy, went through +him, pierced him. He caught his breath as though he listened for the +beloved sound of her voice. She had not been really angry with him for +the wantonness of those stones. She had been very ready with her +forgiveness, her kindly offer of friendship. She had never been other +than kind to him ever since. She had awakened in him the deepest, most +humble gratitude and devotion. She had even once or twice shielded him +from Dicky's never unjust wrath. And he had come to love her second only +to Dicky who must for ever hold the foremost place in his heart. + +He had come to love her--and he stood between her and happiness. He did +not reason the matter. He had small reasoning power. He recognized that +Jack's brain was superior to his, and Jack had made known to him this +monstrous thing. True, Dicky had denied it, but somehow that denial had +not been so convincing as Jack's statement had been. The corrosive poison +had already done its work, and there was no antidote. He knew that Dicky +loved Juliet, knew it from his own lips. "The woman I love--the woman I +love--" How often had the low-spoken words recurred to his memory! And +Dicky was not happy. He had watched him narrowly ever since that night. +Dicky was not really hopeful for the winning of his heart's desire. He +had said there were many obstacles. What they were, Robin could but +vaguely conjecture--save one! And that one stood out in the darkness of +his soul, clear as a cross against the falling night. Dicky had no chance +of winning any woman so long as he--the village idiot--the hideous +abortion--stood in his way. That was the truth as he saw it--the bitter, +unavoidable truth. O God, it wasn't fair--it wasn't fair! + +The evening shadows were lengthening. The waves splashed softly against +the fallen rocks forty to fifty feet below. They seemed to be calling to +him. It was almost like a summons from far away--almost like a bugle-call +heard in the mists of sleep. Somehow they soothed him, lessening the +poignancy of his anguish, checking his wild rebellion, making him aware +of a strangely comforting peace. + +As if God had spoken and stilled his inarticulate protest, the futile +agony of his striving died down. He began to be conscious vaguely that +somewhere within his reach there lay a way of escape. He stared out over +the silver-blue of the sea with strained and throbbing vision. The sun +had gone down behind High Shale, and the quiet shadows stretched towards +him. He had the feeling of a hunted man who has found sanctuary. Again, +more calmly, his tired brain considered the problem that had driven him +forth in such bitterness of soul. + +There was Dicky--Dicky who loved him--whom he worshipped. Yes, certainly +Dicky loved him. He had never questioned that. He was the only person in +the world who had ever wanted him. But a deeper love, a deeper want, had +entered Dicky's life with the coming of Juliet. He wanted her with a +great heart-longing that Robin but dimly comprehended but of which he was +keenly conscious, made wise by the sympathy that linked them. He +knew--and this without any bitterness--that Dicky wanted Juliet as he had +never wanted him. It was an overmastering yearning in Dicky's soul, and +somehow--by some means--some sacrifice--it must be satisfied. Even +Dicky, it seemed, would have to sacrifice something; for he could not +have them both. + +Yes, something would have to be sacrificed. Somehow this obstacle must be +cleared out of Dicky's path. Juliet could not come to Dicky while he was +there. He did not ask himself why this should be, but accepted it as +fact. He then was the main obstacle to Dicky's happiness, to the +fulfilment of his great desire. Then he must go. But whither? And leave +Dicky--and leave Dicky! + +Again for a spell the anguish woke within him, but it did not possess +him so overwhelmingly as before. He had begun to seek for a way out, +and though it was hard to find, the very act of seeking brought him +comfort. His own misery no longer occupied the forefront of his poor +groping brain. + +He sat for a long, long time up there on the cliff while the +shadows lengthened and the day slowly died, turning the matter over +and over while the flame of sacrifice gradually kindled in the +darkness of his soul. + +It was probably the growth of many hours of not too coherent +meditation--the solution of that problem; but it came upon him very +suddenly at the last, almost like the swift wheeling of a flashlight over +the calm night sea. + +He had heard the church clock strike in the distance, and was turning to +leave when that first vision of Juliet swooped back upon him--Juliet in +her light linen dress springing up the path towards him. He saw her as +she had stood there, leaving the path behind her, poised like a young +goddess against the dazzling blue of the spring sky. Her face had been +stern at first, but all the sternness had gone into an amazing kindness +of compassion when her look had lighted upon him. She had not shrunk from +him as shrank so many. And then--and then--he remembered the sudden fear, +the sharp anxiety, that had succeeded that first look of pity. + +He had been standing on the brink of the cliff as he had stood many a +time before--as he stood now. That cliff had been the tragedy of his +ruined life. And yet he loved it, had never known any fear of it. But she +had been afraid for his sake. He had seen the fear leap into her eyes. +And the memory of it came to him now as a revelation. He had found the +way of escape at last! + +The sea was crooning behind him over the half-buried rocks. He stood +again on the brink with his poor worn face turned to the sky. He had come +to the end of his reasoning. The tired brain had ceased to grapple with +the cruel problem that had so tortured it. He knew now what he would do +to help Dicky. And somehow the doing did not seem hard to him, somehow he +did not feel afraid. + +One step back and the cliff fell away behind him. Yet for a space he went +neither forward nor back. It was as though he waited for a word of +command, some signal for release. The first star was gleaming very far +away like a lamp lighted in a distant city. His eyes found it and dwelt +upon it with a wistful wonder. He had always loved the stars. + +He was not angry or troubled any more. All resentment, all turmoil, had +died out of his heart for ever. That strange peace had closed about him +again, and the falling night held no terrors. Rather it seemed to spread +wings of comfort above him. And always the crooning of the sea was like a +voice that softly called him. + +It came very suddenly at the last--the sign for which he waited. Someone +had begun to mount the cliff-path, and--though he was out of sight--he +heard a low, summoning whistle in the darkness. It was Dicky's whistle. +He knew it well. Dicky was coming to look for him. + +For a second every pulse--every nerve--leaped to answer that call. +For a second he stood tense while that surging power within him +sprang upwards, and in sheer amazing fire of sacrifice consumed the +earthly impulse. + +Then it was over. His arms went wide to the night. Without a cry, without +a tremor, he flung himself backwards over the grassy edge. + +The crooning sea and the overhanging cliff muffled the sound of his fall. +And no one heard or saw--save God Who seeth all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MESSAGE + + +From the day that Juliet relinquished her perpetual vigil, the +improvement in Vera Fielding was almost uninterrupted. She recovered her +strength very slowly, but her progress was marked by a happy certainty +that none who saw her could question. She still leaned upon Juliet, but +it was her husband alone who could call that deep content into her eyes +which was gradually finding a permanent abiding-place in her heart. The +nearness of death had done for them what no circumstance of life had ever +accomplished. They had drawn very close together in its shadow, and as +they gradually left it behind the tie still held them in a bond that had +become sacred to them both. It was as if they had never really known each +other till now. + +All Vera's arrogance had vanished in her husband's presence, just as his +curt imperiousness had given place to the winning dominance which he knew +so well how to wield. "You'll do it for me," was one of his pet phrases, +and he seldom uttered it in vain. She gave him the joyful sacrifice of +love newly-awakened. + +"I wonder if we shall go on like this when I'm well again," she said to +him on an evening of rose-coloured dusk in early August when he was +sitting by her side with her long thin hand in his. + +"Like what?" said Edward Fielding. + +She smiled at him from her pillow. "Well, spoiling each other in this +way. Will you never be overbearing and dictatorial? Shall I never be +furious and hateful to you again?" + +"I hope not," he said. "In fact, I think not." + +He spoke very gravely. She stirred, and in a moment her other hand +came out to him also. He clasped it closely. Her eyes were shining +softly in the dusk. + +"You are--so good to me, Edward--my darling," she said. + +His head was bent over her hands. "Don't!" he muttered huskily. + +Her fingers closed on his. "Edward, will you tell me something?" she +whispered. + +"I don't know," he said. + +"Yes, but I want you to. I'd rather hear it from you. The doctors don't +think I shall ever be fit for much again, do they?" + +She spoke steadily, with a certain insistence. He looked up at her +sharply, with something of a glare in his eyes. + +"You're not going to die--whatever they say!" he declared in a fierce +undertone. + +"No--no, of course not!" She spoke soothingly, still smiling at him, +for that barely checked ferocity of his sent rapture through her soul. +"Do you suppose I'd be such an idiot as to go and die just when I'm +beginning to enjoy life? I'm not the puny heroine of a lachrymose +novel. I hope I've got more sense. No, dear, what I really meant +was--was--am I ever going to be strong enough--woman enough--to give +you--what you want so much?" + +"Vera--my dear!" He leaned swiftly to her, his arm pillowed her head. +"Do you suppose--do you really suppose--I'd let you jeopardize your sweet +life--after this--after this?" + +He was holding her closely to him, and though a little spasm of +breathlessness went through her she gave herself to him with a pulsing +gladness that thrilled her whole being. It was the happiest moment she +had ever known. + +"Oh, Edward," she said, "do you--do you really feel like that?" + +His cheek was against her forehead. He did not speak for a few seconds. +Then, with something of an effort, "Yes," he said. "It's like that with +me now, my dear. I've been through--a good deal--these last days. Now +I've got you back--please God, I'll keep you!" + +She pressed her face against him. "Ah, but Edward, you know you've always +wanted--" + +"Oh, damn my wants!" he broke in impatiently. "I don't want anything +but you now." + +She raised her lips to kiss his neck. "That's the loveliest thing you +ever said to me, darling," she said, with a throb in her voice. "I love +being an invalid--with you to spoil me. But--if you'll +promise--promise--promise--to love me quite as much--if I get well, I +will get well--really well--for your sake." + +Again she was panting. He felt it as he held her, and after a moment or +two very tenderly he laid her back. + +"God bless you, my dear!" he said. "You needn't be afraid. I've learnt my +lesson, and I shan't forget it." + +"The lesson of love!" she murmured, holding his hand against her thumping +heart. + +"Yes. Juliet began the teaching. A wonderful girl that. She seems to +know everything. I wonder where she learnt it." + +"She is wonderful," Vera agreed thoughtfully. "I sometimes think she has +had a hard life. She says so little about herself." + +"She has moved among a fairly rapid lot," observed the squire. "Lord +Saltash is intimate enough to call her by her Christian name." + +"Does he ever talk about her?" asked Vera, interested. + +"Not much," said the squire. + +"You think he is fond of her at all?" + +"I don't know. He doesn't see much of her. I haven't quite got his +measure yet. He isn't the sort of man I thought he was anyway." + +"Then it wasn't true about Lady Joanna Farringmore?" questioned Vera. + +Fielding hesitated. "I don't know," he said again. "I have a suspicion +that that report was not entirely unfounded. But however that may be, she +isn't with him now." + +"You don't think she is--on board the yacht?" suggested Vera. + +"No, I don't. The yacht is being done up for a voyage. A beautiful boat +from all accounts. He is very proud of her. I am to go over her with him +one of these days, when she's ready--which will be soon." + +Vera uttered a short sigh. "I wish we'd get a yacht, Edward," she said. + +"Do you? Why?" He was looking at her attentively, a smile in his eyes. + +She coloured faintly. "I don't know. It's just a fancy, I suppose--a sick +fancy. But I believe I could get well much quicker if I went for a voyage +like that." + +"You'd be bored to death," said Fielding. + +She looked at him through sudden tears. "Bored! With you!" she said. + +He patted her cheek gently. "Wouldn't you be bored? Quite sure? Suppose +we were to borrow that yacht, do you think you'd really like it?" + +Her eyes shone through the tears. "Of course I should love it!" she said. +"Is there--is there any chance of such a thing?" + +"Every chance," said Fielding. "Saltash most kindly placed her, with the +captain and crew, at my disposal only last night." + +"Oh, Edward! How tremendously kind!" She looked at him with an eagerness +that seemed to transform her. "But--but would you like it too? Wouldn't +you--wouldn't you feel it was an awful waste of time?" + +"Waste of time! With you!" smiled Fielding. + +She lifted his hand with a shy movement and put it to her lips. +"Edward--darling, you get dearer every day," she murmured. "What makes +you so good to me?" + +He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I happen to have found +out--quite by accident--that I love you, my dear," he said. + +She smiled at him. "What a happy accident! Then we are really going for +that voyage together? What about--Juliet?" + +"Don't you want Juliet?" he said. + +"Yes, if she would come. But I have a feeling--I don't know why--that she +will not be with us very long. I should be sorry to part with her for we +owe her so much. But--somehow she doesn't quite fit, does she? She would +be much more suitable as--Lady Saltash for instance." + +Fielding laughed. "Saltash isn't the only fish in the sea," he remarked. + +"You are thinking of--Mr. Green?" she questioned, with slight hesitation +before the name. "You know, Edward--" she broke off. + +"Well, my dear?" he said. + +She turned to him impulsively. "I'm sorry I've not been nicer about that +young man. I'm going to try and like him better, just to please you. +But, Edward, you wouldn't want Juliet to marry--that sort of man? You +don't, do you?" + +Fielding had stiffened almost imperceptibly. "It doesn't much matter what +I want," he said, after a moment. "It doesn't rest with me. Neither Dick +nor Juliet are likely to consult my feelings in the matter." + +"I don't want her to throw herself away--like that," said Vera. + +"I don't think you need be afraid," he said. "Juliet knows very well what +she is about. And Dick--well Dick's fool enough to sacrifice the heart +out of his body for the sake of that half-witted boy." + +"How odd of him!" Vera said. "What a pity Robin ever lived to grow up!" + +"He's been the ruin of Dick's life," the squire said forcibly. "He's +thrown away every chance he ever had on account of Robin. He doesn't +fit--if you like. He's absolutely out of his sphere and knows it. But +he'll never change it while that boy lives. That's the infernal part of +it. Nothing will move him." He stopped himself suddenly. "I mustn't +excite you, my dear, and this is a subject upon which I feel very +strongly. I can't expect you to sympathize because--" he smiled +whimsically--"well, mainly because you don't understand. We had better +talk of something else." + +Vera was looking at him with a slight frown between her eyes. "I didn't +mean to be--unsympathetic," she said, a faint quiver in her voice. + +"Of course not! Of course not!" Hastily he sought to make amends. "I +don't know how we got on the subject. You must forgive me, my dear. I +believe I hear Juliet in the conservatory. We won't discuss this +before her." + +He would have risen, but she detained him. "Edward, just a moment! I want +to ask you something." + +"Well?" Reluctantly he paused. + +"I--only want to know," she spoke with some effort, "what there is +about--Mr. Green that--that makes you so fond of him." + +"Oh, that!" He stood hesitating. But there were certainly footsteps in +the conservatory; he heard them with relief. "I'll tell you some other +time, my dear," he said gently. "Here comes Juliet to turn me out!" + +He turned to the window as she entered and greeted her with a smile. Vera +was still clinging to his hand. + +"May I come in?" said Juliet, stopping on the threshold. + +"Yes, of course, come in!" Vera said. "We have been talking about you, +Juliet. Will you come for a voyage with us in Lord Saltash's yacht?" + +Juliet came slowly forward. Her face was pale. She was holding a +letter in her hand. She looked from one to the other for a second or +two in silence. + +"Are you sure," she said, in her low quiet voice, "that you wouldn't +rather go alone?" + +"Not unless you would rather not come," said the squire. + +"Thank you," she said. "May I--think about it?" + +The squire was looking at her attentively. "What is the matter?" he +said suddenly. + +She met his look steadily, though he felt it to be with an effort. Then +quietly she turned to Vera. + +"I have just had a letter," she said, "from a friend who is in trouble. +Do you think you can spare me--for a little while?" + +Vera stretched a hand to her. "My dear Juliet, I am so sorry. Of course +you shall go. What is it? What has happened?" + +Juliet came to her, took and held the hand. "You are very kind," she +said. "But I don't want you to be troubled too. There is no need. You are +sure you will be all right without me?" + +"You will come back to me?" Vera said. + +"I will certainly come back," Juliet made steadfast answer, "even if I +can't stay. But now that you are able to sit up, you will need me less. +You will take care of her, Mr. Fielding?" looking up at him. + +He nodded. "You may be sure of that--the utmost care. When must you go?" + +He was still looking at her closely; his eyes deeply searching. + +Juliet hesitated. "Do you think--to-night?" she said. + +"Certainly. Then you will want a car. Have you told Lord Saltash?" He +turned to the door. + +"No, I have only just heard. I believe he has gone to town." Juliet +gently laid down the hand she was holding. "I will come back," she said +again, and followed him. + +He drew the door closed behind them. They faced each other in the dimness +of the hall. The squire's mouth was twitching uncontrollably. "Now, +Juliet!" His voice had a ring of sternness; he put his hand on her +shoulder, gripping unconsciously. "For heaven's sake--" he said--"out +with it! It isn't--Dick?" + +"No--Robin!" she said. + +"Ah!" He drew a deep breath and straightened himself, his other hand +over his eyes. Then in a moment he was looking at her again. His grip +relaxed. "Forgive me!" he said. "Did I hurt you?" + +She gave him a faint smile. "It doesn't matter. You understand, don't +you? I must go--to Dick." + +He nodded. "Yes--yes! Is the boy--dead?" + +"No. It was a fall over the cliff. It happened last night. They didn't +find him for hours. He is going fast. Jack brought me this." She glanced +down at the letter in her hand. + +He made a half-gesture to take it, checking himself sharply. "I beg your +pardon, Juliet, I hardly know what I'm doing. It's from Dick, is it?" + +Very quietly she gave it to him. "You may read it. You have a right to +know," she said. + +He gave her an odd look. "May I? Are you sure?" + +"Read it!" she said. + +He opened it. His fingers were trembling. She stood at his shoulder and +read it with him. The words were few, containing the bald statement, but +no summons. + +The squire read them, breathing heavily. Suddenly he thrust his arm round +Juliet and held her fast. + +"Juliet! You'll be good to my boy--good to Dick?" + +Her eyes met his. "That is why I am going to him," she said. She took the +note and folded it, standing within the circle of his arm. + +"I'd go to him myself--if I could," Fielding went on unevenly. "He'll +feel this--damnably. He was simply devoted to that unfortunate boy." + +"I know," said Juliet. + +Again he put his hand to his eyes. "I've been a beast about Robin. Ask +him to forgive me, Juliet! Tell him I'm awfully sorry, that I'll come as +soon as I can get away. And if there's anything he wants--anything under +the sun--he's to have it. See? Make him understand!" + +"He will understand," Juliet said quietly. + +He looked at her again. "Don't let him fret, Juliet!" he said urgently. +"You'll comfort him, won't you? I know I'm always rating him, but he's +such a good chap. You--you love him, don't you?" + +"Yes," she said. + +"God bless you for that!" he said earnestly. "I can't tell you what he is +to me--can't explain. But--but--" + +"I--understand," she said. + +"What?" He stared at her for a moment. "What--do you understand?" + +"I know what he is to you," she said gently. "I have known--for a long +time. Never mind how! Nobody told me. It just came to me one day." + +"Ah!" Impulsively he broke in. "You see everything. I'm afraid of +you, Juliet. But look here! You won't--you won't--make him +suffer--for my sins?" + +Her hand pressed his arm. "What am I?" she said. "Have I any right to +judge anyone? Besides--oh, besides--do you think I could possibly go +to him if I did not feel that nothing on earth matters now--except +our love?" + +She spoke with deep emotion. She was quivering from head to foot. He bent +very low to kiss the hand upon his arm. + +"And you will have your reward," he said huskily. "Don't forget--it's +the only thing in life that really counts! There's nothing +else--nothing else." + +Juliet stood quite still looking down at the bent grey head. "I wonder," +she said slowly, "I wonder--if Dick--in his heart--thinks the same!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ANSWER + + +The August dusk had deepened into night when the open car from the Court +pulled up at the schoolhouse gate. The school had closed for the summer +holidays a day or two before. No lights shone in either building. + +"Do you mind going in alone?" whispered Jack. "I can't show here. But +I'll wait inside the park-gates to take you back." + +"You needn't wait," Juliet said. "I shall spend the night at the +Court--unless I am wanted here." + +She descended with the words. She had never liked Jack Green, and she was +thankful that the rapid journey was over. She heard him shoot up the +drive as she went up the schoolhouse path. + +In the dark little porch she hesitated. The silence was intense. Then, +as she stood in uncertainty, from across the bare playground there +came a call. + +"Juliet!" + +She turned swiftly. He was standing in the dark doorway of the school. +The vague light of the rising moon gleamed deathly on his face. He did +not move to meet her. + +She went to him, reached out hands to him that he did not take, and +clasped him by the shoulders. "Oh, you poor boy!" + +His arms held her close for a moment or two, then they relaxed. + +"I don't know why I sent for you," he said. + +"You didn't send for me, Dick," she made gentle answer. "But I think you +wanted me all the same." + +He groaned. "Wanted you! I've--craved for you. You told the squire?" + +"Yes. He said--" + +He broke in upon her with fierce bitterness. "He was pleased of course! I +knew he would be. That's why I couldn't send the message to him. It had +to be you." + +"Dick! Dick! He wasn't pleased! You don't know what you're saying. He was +most terribly sorry." She put her arm through his with a very tender +gesture. "Won't you take me inside and tell me all about it?" she said. + +He gave a hard shudder. "I don't know if I can, Juliet. It's been--so +awful. He suffered--so infernally. The doctor didn't want to give him +morphia--said it would hasten the end." He stamped in a sort of impotent +frenzy. "I stood over him and made him. It was just what I wanted to do. +It was--it was--beyond endurance." + +"Oh, my dear!" she said. + +He put his hands over his face. "Juliet,--it was--hell!" he said +brokenly. "When I wrote that note to you--I thought the worst was over. +But it wasn't--it wasn't! He was past speaking--but his eyes--they kept +imploring me to let him go.--O God, I'd given my soul to help him! And I +could do--nothing--except see him die!" + +Again a convulsive shudder caught him. Juliet's arms went around him. She +held his head against her breast. + +"It's over now," she whispered. "Thank God for that!" + +He leaned upon her for a space. "Yes, it's over. At least he died in +peace," he said, and drew a hard, quivering breath. Then he stood up +again. "Juliet, I'm so sorry. Come inside! I'll light the lamp. I +couldn't stand that empty house--with only my boy's dead body in it. Mrs. +Rickett has been there, but she's gone now." He turned and pushed open +the door. "Wait a minute while I light up!" + +She did not wait, but followed him closely, and stood beside him while +he lighted a lamp on the wall. He turned from doing so and smiled at +her, and she saw that though his face was ghastly, he was his own +master again. + +"How did you get here?" he said. "Who took the note? The doctor promised +to get it delivered." + +"Jack brought it," she said. "I came back with him." + +"Jack!" His brows drew together suddenly. She saw his black eyes gleam. +For a moment he said nothing further. Then: "If--Jack comes anywhere near +me to-night, I shall kill him!" he said very quietly. + +"Dick!" she said in amazement. + +There was a certain awful intentness in his look. "I hold him responsible +for this," he said. + +She gazed at him, assailed by a swift wonder as to his sanity. + +In a second he saw the doubt and replied to it, still with that deadly +quietness that seemed to her more terrible than violence. "I know what I +am saying. He is--directly responsible. My boy died for my sake, because +he believed what Jack told him--that no woman would ever consent to marry +me while he lived." + +"Oh, Dick! You don't mean--he did it--on purpose!" Juliet's voice was +quick with pain. "Dick, surely--surely--it wasn't that! You are making +a mistake!" + +"No. It is no mistake," he said, with sombre conviction. "I know it. Mrs. +Rickett knows it too. It's been preying on his mind ever since. He hasn't +been well. He's suffered with his head a good deal lately. He--" He +stopped himself. "There's no need to distress you over this. Thank you +for coming. I didn't really expect you. Is he--is Jack--waiting to take +you back?" + +"No," said Juliet quietly. + +His brows went up. "You are sleeping at the Court? I'll take you there." + +"I'm not going yet, Dick," she said gently, "unless you turn me out." + +His face quivered unexpectedly. He turned from her. "There's--nothing to +wait for," he said. + +But Juliet stood motionless. Her eyes went down the long bare room with +its empty forms and ink-splashed desks. She thought it the most desolate +place she had ever seen. + +After an interval of blank silence Dick spoke again. "Don't you stay! I'm +not myself to-night. I can't--think. It was awfully good of you to come. +But don't--stay!" + +"Dick!" she said. + +At sound of her voice he turned. His eyes looked at her out of such a +depth of misery as pierced her to the heart. She saw his hands clench +against his sides. "O my God!" he said under his breath. + +"Dick!" she said again very earnestly. "Don't send me away! Let me +help you!" + +"You can't," he said. "You've been too good to me--already." + +"You wouldn't say that to me if I were--your wife," she said. + +He flinched sharply. "Juliet! Don't torture me! I've had--as much as I +can stand to-night." + +She held out her hand to him with a gesture superbly simple. "My dear, I +will marry you to-morrow if you will have me," she said. + +He stood for a long second staring at her. Then she saw his face change +and harden. The ascetic look that she had noticed long ago came over it +like a mask. + +"No!" he said. "No!" + +Again he turned from her. He went away up the long room, the bare boards +echoing to the tramp of his feet with a dull and hopeless sound. He came +to a stand before the writing-table at the further end, and from there he +spoke to her, his words brief, as it were edged with steel. + +"Can you imagine how Cain felt when he said that his punishment was +greater than he could bear? That's how I feel to-night. I am like Cain. +Whatever I touch is cursed." + +The words startled her. Again for a second she wondered if the suffering +through which he had passed had affected his brain. But she felt no fear. +She kept her purpose before her, clear and steadfast as a beacon shining +in the dark. + +"You are not like Cain," she said. "And even if you were, do you think I +should love you any the less?" + +He made a desperate gesture. "Would you love me if I were a +murderer?" he said. + +"I love you--whatever you are," she made unfaltering reply. + +He turned upon her, almost like an animal at bay. "I am--a murderer, +Juliet!" he said, a terrible fire in his eyes. + +In spite of herself she flinched, so awful was his look. "Dick, what do +you mean?" + +He flung out a hand as if to keep her from him though she had not moved. +"I will tell you what I mean, and then--you will go. On the night Robin +was born,--I killed his father!" + +"Dick!" she said. + +He went on rapidly. "I was a boy at the time, but I had a man's purpose. +My mother was dying. They sent me to fetch him. I loathed the man. So did +she. He was at The Three Tuns--drinking. I hung about till he came out. +He was blind drunk, and the night was dark. He took the wrong path that +led to the cliff, and I let him go. In the morning they found him on the +rocks, dead. I might have saved him. I didn't. I went back to my mother, +and stayed with her--till she died." + +"Oh Dick--my dear!" she said. + +He stood stiffly facing her. "I never repented. I'd do the same again +now--or worse, to such a man as that. He was a brute beast. But--I +suppose God doesn't allow these things. Anyway, I've been +punished--pretty heavily. I got fond of the boy. He was the only thing +left to care for. He took the place of everything else. And now--because +of a damnable lie--" Something seemed to rise in his throat, he paused, +struggling with himself, finally went on jerkily, with difficulty. "One +more thing--you'd better know. It'll help you to--forget me. The man I +killed was not my own father--except in name. My mother refused to marry +the man she loved because she thought it would injure his career--his +people threatened to disown him. She gave herself instead to--the +scoundrel whose name I bear--just to set him free." + +Again he stopped. Juliet had moved. She was coming up the long room to +him, not quickly, but with purpose. He stood, still facing her, his +breathing short and hard. + +Quietly, with that regal bearing that was so supremely her own, she drew +near. And her eyes were shining with a light that made her beautiful. She +reached him and stood before him. + +"Dick," she said, "I am not like your mother. I've been fighting against +it, but it's too strong for me. I have got to marry--the man I love." + +He made an impotent gesture, and she saw that he was trembling. + +She stood a moment, then reached out, took his arms, and drew them +gently round her. "Are you still trying to send me away?" she said. +"Because--it's stronger than both of us, Dick--and I'm not going--I'm +not going!" + +He looked into the shining, steadfast eyes, and suddenly the desperate +strain was over. His resistance snapped. "God forgive me!" he said under +his breath, and caught her passionately close. + +There was that in his hold--perhaps because of the fulness of her +surrender--that had never been before,--something flaming, something +fiercely electric, in his swift acceptance of her. As he clasped her, she +felt the wild throbbing of his heart like the pulsing force of a racing +engine. He kissed her, and in his kiss there was more than the lover's +adoration. It held the demand and mastery of matehood. By it he claimed +and sealed her for his own. + +When his hold relaxed, she made no effort to withdraw herself. She leaned +against him gasping a little, but her eyes--with the glory yet shining in +them--were still raised to his. + +"So that's settled, is it?" she said, with a quivering smile. "You are +quite sure, Dick?" + +His hands were clasped behind her. His look had a certain burning quality +as if he challenged all the world for her possession. + +"What am I to say to you, Juliet?" he said, his words low, deeply +vibrant. "I can't deny--my other self--can I?" + +"I don't know," she said. "You were very near it, weren't you? I thought +you had--all these weeks." + +"Ah!" His brows contracted. "Will you forgive me, Juliet? I've had--an +infernal time." + +"Yes. I know," she said gently. + +"No, dear, you don't know. How could you? Your life hasn't been one +perpetual struggle against overwhelming odds like mine." He paused. "Look +here, darling! I'm rather a fool to-night. I can't explain things. But +you've been very wonderful to me. You've lighted a torch in the dark. I +kept away because--it didn't seem fair to you to do anything else. You +were back in your own inner circle, and I was miles outside. And you +never wanted to be bound. When I saw you with--Lord Saltash--I knew why." + +"My dear!" she said. "You didn't imagine I was in love with +Saltash surely!" + +"No--no!" he said. "I knew you weren't. And yet--somehow--I felt you +were nearer to his world than mine. I realized it more and more as the +days went on. And my boy was ill--I couldn't leave him. Juliet--" a hint +of entreaty crept into his voice--"I can't explain. But somehow here on +my own ground it's--different. I feel you belong to me here. I know I can +win and hold you. But there--there--you are--leagues and leagues above +me--far out of reach." + +"Oh, Dick!" she said. "I thought you had more sense! Don't you +realize--yet--that your world is the world I want to be in? I want to +forget that other world--just to blot it out of my life--if only you will +make that possible." + +"If I will!" he said, with a deep breath. And then suddenly he took her +face between his hands, looking closely into her eyes. "Don't you care +about--all the horrible things I've told you?" he said. "Does it make no +difference at all to you?" + +She was still smiling--a tremendous smile. "It doesn't seem much like +it, does it?" she said. "I'm not such a saint myself, Dick. Moreover, I +knew about--some things--before I came." + +"What things?" he said. + +She made a very winning gesture towards him. "Don't think me a Paul Pry, +dear! But I couldn't help knowing--ages ago--what made the squire--so +fond of you." + +"Juliet!" He gazed at her. "How on earth did you find out?" + +She coloured deeply under his look. "You--are rather alike--in some +ways," she said. "It was partly that and partly being--well, rather +interested in you, I suppose. And Mrs. Rickett told me as much of your +family history as she knew before I ever met you. So, you see, I didn't +have much to fill in." + +"And still it makes no difference?" he said. + +She shook her head. "None whatever. I'm just glad for your sake that the +man you hated so was not your father. But I think you go rather far, +Dick, when you say you killed him." + +The hard onyx glitter shone again in his eyes. "No, it was not an +exaggeration," he said. "I was a murderer that night. I meant him to go +to his death. When he was dead I was glad. He had tortured the only being +I loved on earth. I believed he was my father for quite a long time +after--till the squire came home, and I told him the whole story. +Then--in an impulsive moment--he told me the truth. He cared about my +mother's death--cared badly. They would have been married by that time if +her husband hadn't turned up again. It was two lives spoilt." + +"And what about yours?" she said. + +"Mine!" He smiled rather bitterly. "Well, I've never expected much of +life. I've stuck to my independence and been satisfied with that. He'd +have bossed my destiny if I'd have let him. But I wouldn't. I was +cussed on that point, though if it hadn't been for Robin, I shouldn't +have bothered. I stayed on here for the boy's sake. He wouldn't have +been happy anywhere else. Well," he uttered a weary sigh, "that +chapter's closed." + +She pressed his arm. "Dick, we might never have met but for that." + +"Oh, we might have met," he said. "But--you'd probably have detested +me--under any other circumstances." + +She smiled at him with a touch of wistfulness. "And you me, Dick. Neither +of us would have looked below the surface if we'd met in the general +hurly-burly. We shouldn't have had time. So we have a good deal to be +thankful for, haven't we?" + +He drew her to him again. The desperate misery had passed from his face, +but he looked worn out. "What on earth should I do without you?" he said. + +"I don't know, dear," she answered tenderly. "I hope you are not going to +try any longer, are you?" + +His lips were near her own. "Juliet, will you stay--within reach--till +after the funeral?" + +"Yes," she breathed. + +"And then--then--will you--marry me?" His whisper was even lower than +hers. The man's whole being pulsed in the words. + +Her arms went round his neck. "I will, dearest." + +His breath came quickly. "And if--if--later--you come upon some things +that hurt you--things you don't understand--will you remember how I've +been handicapped--and--forgive me?" + +Her eyes looked straight up to his. They held a shadowy smile. "Dick,--I +was just going--to say that--to you!" + +He pressed her to his heart. "Ah, my Juliet!" he said. "Could anything +matter to us--anything on earth--except our love?" + +In the deep silence her lips answered his. There was no further need +for words. + + + + +PART IV + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FREE GIFT + + +"I'm not quite sure that I call this fair play," said Saltash with a +comical twist of the eyebrows. "I didn't expect all these developments in +so short a time." + +"There are no further rules to this game," said Juliet, squeezing +Columbus around his sturdy shoulders as he sat on the bench beside her. +"Whoever wins--or loses--no one has any right to complain." + +She spoke without agitation, but her face was flushed, and there was +something about the clasp of her arm that made Columbus look up with +earnest affection. + +"If that's so," said Saltash, "I can withdraw my protection without +compunction." + +She smiled. "No doubt you can, most puissant Rex! But it really wouldn't +answer your purpose. You've nothing to gain by treachery to a friend, and +it would give you a horrid taste afterwards." + +He made a face at her. "That's your point of view. And what am I to say +when I meet Muff and all the rest of the clan again?" + +She gave a slight shrug. "Do you think it matters? They are much too +busy chasing after their own affairs to give me a second thought. If +I were Lady Jo, they might be interested--for half-an-hour--not a +minute longer." + +Saltash made a mocking sound. "I know one person whose interest would +last a bit longer than that--if you were Lady Jo." + +"Indeed?" said Juliet. + +"Yes--indeed, _ma Juliette_! I met him the other day at the Club before I +went North, and it may interest you to know that he is determined to find +her--and marry her--or perish in the attempt." + +"It doesn't interest me in the least," said Juliet. + +"No? Hard-hearted as ever!" Saltash's grin was one of sheer mischief. +"Well, he seemed to share the popular belief that I know where the +elusive Lady Jo is to be found. I really can't think what I've done to +deserve such a reputation. I was put through a pretty stiff +cross-examination, I can tell you." + +"I have no doubt you were more than equal to it," said Juliet. + +Saltash broke into a laugh. "It was such a skilful fencing-match that I +imagine we left off much as we began. But I don't flatter myself that I +am cleared of suspicion. In fact it wouldn't surprise me at all to find I +was being shadowed--not for the first time in my disreputable career." + +"I wonder when you will marry and turn respectable," said Juliet. + +He made an appalling grimace. "Follow your pious example? May +heaven forbid!" + +She looked at him, faintly smiling. "Wait till the real thing comes to +you, Charles Rex! You won't feel so superior then." + +"Do you know how old I am?" said Saltash. + +"Thirty-five," said Juliet idly. + +Again his brows went up. "How on earth do you know these things +off-hand?" + +Her grey eyes were quizzical. "You are quite young enough yet to be +happy--if only the right woman turns up." + +He leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head, and contemplated +her with a criticism that lasted several seconds. His dark face wore its +funny, monkeyish look of regret, half-wistful and half-feigned. + +"I wish--" he said suddenly--"I wish I'd come down here when you first +began to rusticate." + +"Why?" said Juliet, with her level eyes upon him. + +He laughed and sprang abruptly to his feet. "_Quien sabe_? I might have +turned rustic too--pious also, my _Juliette_! Think of it! Life isn't +fair to me. Why am I condemned always to ride the desert alone?" + +"Mainly because you ride too hard," said Juliet. "None but you can keep +up the pace. Ah!" She turned her head quickly, and the swift colour +flooded her face. + +"Ah!" mocked Saltash softly, watching her. "Is it Romeo's step +that I hear?" + +Columbus wagged his tail in welcome as Dick Green came round the corner +of the Ricketts' cottage and walked down under the apple-trees to join +them. He greeted Saltash with the quiet self-assurance of a man who +treads his own ground. There was no hint of hostility in his bearing. + +"I've been expecting you," he said coolly. + +"Have you?" said Saltash, a gleam of malicious humour in his eyes. "I +thought there was something of the conquering hero about you. I have +come--naturally--to congratulate you on your conquest." + +"Thank you," said Dick, and seated himself on the bench beside Juliet and +Columbus. "That is very magnanimous of you." + +"It is," agreed Saltash. "But if I had known what was in the wind I +might have carried it still further and offered you Burchester Castle for +the honeymoon." + +"How kind of you!" said Juliet. "But we prefer cottages to castles, don't +we, Dick? We might have had the Court. The squire very kindly suggested +it. But we like this best--till our own house is in order." + +"Still rusticating!" commented Saltash. "I should have thought your +passion for that would have been satisfied by this time. I seem to have +got out of touch with you all during my stay in Scotland. I never meant +to go there this year, but I got lured away by Muff and his crowd. Mighty +poor sport on the whole. I've often wished myself back. But I pictured +you far away on the _Night Moth_ with Mr. and Mrs. Fielding, and myself +bored to extinction in my empty castle. And so I hung on. I certainly +never expected you to get married in my absence, _ma Juliette_. That was +the unkindest cut of all. Why didn't you write and tell me?" + +"I didn't even know where you were," said Juliet. "You disappeared +without warning. We expected you back at any time." + +"Bad excuses every one of 'em!" said Saltash. "You know you wanted to get +it over before I came back. Very rash of you both, but it's your funeral, +not mine. Is this all the honeymoon you're going to have?" + +Juliet laughed a little. "Well, my dear Rex, it doesn't much matter where +you are so long as you are happy. We spend a good deal of our time on the +sea and in it. We also go motoring in the squire's little car. And we +superintend the decorating of our house. At the same time Dick is within +reach of the miners who are being rather tiresome, so every one--except +the miners--is satisfied." + +"Oh, those infernal miners!" said Saltash, and looked at Dick. "How long +do you think you are going to keep them in hand?" + +"I can't say," said Dick somewhat briefly. "I don't advise Lord +Wilchester or any of his people to come down here till something has been +done to settle them." + +Saltash laughed. "Oh, Muff won't come near. You needn't be afraid of +that. He's deer-stalking in the Highlands. He's a great believer in +leaving things to settle themselves." + +"Is he?" said Dick grimly. "Well, they may do that in a fashion he won't +care for before he's much older." + +"Are you organizing a strike?" suggested Saltash, a wicked gleam of +humour in his eyes. + +Dick's eyes flashed in answer. "I am not!" he said. "But--I'm damned if +they haven't some reason for striking--if he cares as little as that!" + +"How often do you tell 'em so?" said Saltash. + +Juliet's hand slipped quietly from Columbus's head to Dick's arm. "May I +have a cigarette, please?" she said. + +He turned to her immediately and his fire died down. He offered her his +cigarette-case in silence. + +Juliet took one, faintly smiling. "Do you know," she said to Saltash, "it +was Dick's cigarettes that first attracted me to him? When I landed on +this desert island, I had only three left. He came to the rescue--most +nobly, and has kept me supplied ever since. I don't know where he gets +them from, but they are the best I ever tasted." + +"He probably smuggles 'em," said Saltash, offering her a match. + +"No, I don't," said Dick, rather shortly. "I get them from a man in town. +A fellow I once met--Ivor Yardley, the K. C.--first introduced me to +them. I get them through his secretary who has some sort of interest in +the trade." + +A sudden silence fell. Juliet's cigarette remained poised in the act of +kindling, but no smoke came from her lips. She had the look of one who +listens with almost painful intentness. + +The flame of the lighted match licked Saltash's fingers, and he dropped +it. "Pardon my clumsiness! Let's try again! So you know Yardley, do you?" +He flung the words at Dick. "Quite the coming man in his profession. +Rather a brute in some ways, cold-blooded as a fish and wily as a +serpent, but interesting--distinctly interesting. When did you meet him?" + +"Early this year. I consulted him on a matter of business. I have no +private acquaintance with him." Dick was looking straight at Saltash with +a certain hardness of contempt in his face. "You evidently are on terms +of intimacy with him." + +"Oh, quite!" said Saltash readily. "He knows me--almost as well as you +do. And I know him--even better. I was saying to _Juliette_ just now +that I believe he shares the general impression that I have got Lady Jo +Farringmore somewhere up my sleeve. She did the rabbit trick, you know, +a week or two before the wedding, and because I was to have been the +best man I somehow got the blame. Wonder if he'd have blamed you if +you'd been there!" + +Dick stiffened. "I think not," he said. + +"Not disreputable enough?" laughed Saltash. + +"Not nearly," said Juliet, coming out of her silence. "Dick has rather +strong opinions on this subject, Charles, so please don't be flippant +about it! Will you give me another match?" + +He held one for her, his eyebrows cocked at a comical angle, open +derision in the odd eyes beneath them. Then, her cigarette kindled, he +sprang up in his abrupt fashion. + +"I'm going. Thanks for putting up with me for so long. I had to come and +see you, Juliette. You are one of the very few capable of appreciating me +at my full value." + +"I hope you will come again," she said. + +He bowed low over her hand. "If I can ever serve you in any way," he +said, "I hope you will give me the privilege. Farewell, most estimable +Romeo! You may yet live to greet me as a friend." + +He was gone with the words with the suddenness of a monkey swinging off a +bough, leaving behind him a silence so marked that the fall of an unripe +apple from the tree immediately above them caused Columbus to start and +jump from his perch to investigate. + +Then Juliet, very quiet of mien and level of brow, got up and went to +Dick who had risen at the departure of the visitor. She put her hand +through his arm and held it closely. + +"You are not to be unkind to my friends, Richard," she said. "It is the +one thing I can't allow." + +He looked at her with some sternness, but his free hand closed at once +upon hers. "I hate to think of you on terms of intimacy with that +bounder," he said. + +She smiled a little. "I know you do. But you are prejudiced. I can't give +up an old friend--even for you, Dick." + +He squeezed her hand. "Have you got many friends like that, Juliet?" + +She flushed. "No. He is the only one I have, and--" + +"And?" he said, as she stopped. + +She laid her cheek with a very loving gesture against his shoulder. +"Ah, don't throw stones!" she pleaded gently. "There are so few of us +without sin." + +His arm was about her in a moment, all his hardness vanished. "My own +girl!" he said. + +She held his hand in both her own. "Do you know--sometimes--I lie awake +at night and wonder--and wonder--whether you would have thought of +me--if you had known me in the old days?" + +"Is that it?" he said very tenderly. "And you thought I was sleeping like +a hog and didn't know?" + +She laughed rather tremulously, her face turned from him. "It isn't +always possible to bury the past, is it, however hard we try? I hope +you'll make allowances for that, Dick, if ever I shock your sense of +propriety." + +"I shall make allowances," he said, "because you are the one and only +woman I worship--or have ever worshipped--and I can't see you in any +other light." + +"How dear of you, Dicky!" she murmured. "And how rash!" + +"Am I such an unutterable prig?" he said. "I feel myself that I have got +extra fastidious since knowing you." + +She laughed at that, and after a moment turned with impulsive sweetness +and put her cigarette between his lips. "You're not a prig, darling. You +are just an honourable and upright gentleman whom I am very proud to +belong to and with whom I always feel I have got to be on my best +behaviour. What have you been doing all this time? I should have come to +look for you if Saltash hadn't turned up." + +Dick's brows were slightly drawn. "I've been talking to Jack," he said. + +"Jack!" She opened her eyes. "Dick! I hope you haven't been quarrelling!" + +He smiled at her anxious face, though somewhat grimly. "My dear, I don't +quarrel with people like Jack. I came upon him at the school. I don't +know why he was hanging round there. He certainly didn't mean me to catch +him. But as I did so, I took the opportunity for a straight talk--with +the result that he leaves this place to-morrow--for good." + +"My dear Dick! What will the squire say?" + +"I can manage the squire," said Dick briefly. + +She smiled and passed on. "And Jack? What will he do?" + +"I don't know and I don't care. He's the sort of animal to land on his +feet whichever way he falls. Anyhow, he's going, and I never want to +speak or hear of him again." Dick's thin lips came together in a hard, +compelling line. + +"Are you never going to forgive him?" said Juliet. + +His eyes had a stony glitter. "It's hardly a matter for forgiveness," he +said. "When anyone has done you an irreparable injury the only thing left +is to try and forget it and the person responsible for it as quickly as +possible. I don't thirst for his blood or anything of that kind. I simply +want to be rid of him--and to wipe all memory of him out of my life." + +"Do you always want to do that with the people who injure you?" +said Juliet. + +He looked at her, caught by something in her tone. "Yes, I think so. +Why?" + +"Oh, never mind why!" she said, with a faint laugh that sounded +oddly passionate. "I just want to find out what sort of man you are, +that's all." + +She would have turned away from him with the words, but he held her with +a certain dominance. "No, Juliet! Wait! Tell me--isn't it reasonable to +want to get free of anyone who wrongs you--to shake him off, kick him off +if necessary,--anyway, to have done with him?" + +"I haven't said it was unreasonable," she said, but she was trembling as +she spoke and her face was averted. + +"Look at me!" he said. "What? Am I such a monster as all that? +Juliet,--my dear, don't be silly! What are you afraid of? Surely +not of me!" + +She turned her face to him with a quivering smile. "No! I won't be silly, +Dick," she said. "I'll try to take you as I find you and--make the best +of you. But, to be quite honest, I am rather afraid of the hard side of +you. It is so very uncompromising. If I ever come up against it--I +believe I shall run away!" + +"Not you!" he said, trying to look into the soft, down-cast eyes. "Or if +you do you'll come back again by the next train to see how I am bearing +up. I've got you, Juliet!" He lifted her hand, displaying it exultantly, +closely clasped in his. "And what I have--I hold!" + +"How clever of you!" said Juliet, and with a swift lithe movement +freed herself. + +His arms went round her in a flash. "I'll make you pay for that!" he +vowed. "How dare you, Juliet? How dare you?" + +She resisted him for a second, or two, holding him from her, +half-mocking, half in earnest. Then, as his hold tightened, encompassing +her, she submitted with a low laugh, yielding herself afresh to him under +the old apple-tree, in full and throbbing surrender to his love. + +But when at last his hold relaxed, when he had made her pay, she took his +hand and pressed a deep, deep kiss into his palm. "That is--a free gift, +Dicky," she said. "And it is worth more than all the having and holding +in the world." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FRIENDSHIP + + +It was on a misty evening of autumn that Vera Fielding entered her +husband's house once more like a bride returning from her wedding-trip. +There was something of the petted air of a bride about her as she came in +on the squire's arm throwing her greetings right and left to the +assembled servants, and certainly there was in her eyes more of the +shining happiness of a bride than they had ever held before. Her face was +flushed with a pretty eagerness, and the petulant lines about her mouth +were far less apparent than of old. Her laugh had a gay spontaneous ring, +and though her voice still had a slightly arrogant inflection it was not +without softer notes when she addressed the squire. + +"I feel as if we had been away for years and years," she said to him, as +they stood together before the blazing fire in the drawing-room. "Isn't +it strange, Edward? Only three months in reality, and such a difference!" + +He was lifting the heavy coat from her shoulders, but she turned with it +impulsively and caught him round the neck. + +"My dear!" he said, and clasped her coat and all. + +"It is going to last, isn't it?" she said, her breath coming quickly. +"You promised--you promised--to love me just as much if I got well!" + +He kissed her with reassuring tenderness. "Yes, my girl, yes! It's going +to last all right. We're going to make a happy home of it, you and I." + +She clung to him for a few seconds, then broke away with a little laugh. +"You'll have to hunt this winter, Edward. You're getting stout." + +"And shoot too," said the squire. "There promises to be plenty of birds. +We'd better have a party if you feel up to it." + +She looked at him with kindling eyes. "I'm up to anything. I should love +it. Do you think Lord Saltash would come?" + +"We must certainly ask him," said, the squire. "But you're not to work +too hard, mind! That's an order. Let people look after themselves!" + +"I'll get Juliet to come and help me," she said. "She must have lots of +spare time. By the way, they'll be here to dine in another hour. I must +go and dress." + +"Have some tea first!" he said. "They won't mind waiting." + +She slipped her hand through his arm. "Come and have it upstairs! It +really is late. We'll have a cosy time together afterwards--when +they're gone." + +He smiled upon her indulgently. They had grown very near to one another +during their cruise in the _Night Moth_. To him also their home-coming +held something of bridal gladness. He had never seen her so glowing with +happiness before. The love that shone in her eyes whenever they met his +own stirred him to the depths. He had never deemed her capable of such +affection in the old days. It had changed his whole world. + +They went upstairs together closely linked. They entered Vera's room from +which she imperiously dismissed her maid. They sat down on the couch +beside the fire. + +"Do you remember that awful day when we quarrelled about Dick Green?" +said Vera suddenly. + +He kept her hand in his. "Don't!" he said. "Don't remind me of it!" + +Her laugh had in it a thrill that was like a caress. "Wasn't I a pig, +Edward? And weren't you a tyrant? I haven't seen you in one of your royal +rages since. I always rather admired them, you know." + +"I know you hated me," he said, "and I'm not surprised." + +She made a face at him. "Silly! I didn't. I thought you the finest +monster I had ever seen. So you were--quite magnificent." She put up a +hand and stroked his iron-grey hair. "Well, we shan't quarrel about young +Green any more," she said. + +"I wonder," said the squire, not looking at her. + +"I don't." She spoke with confidence. "I'm going to be tremendously nice +to him--not for Juliet's sake--for yours." + +"Thank you, my dear," he said, with an odd humility of utterance that +came strangely from him. "I shall appreciate your kindness. As you +know--I am very fond of Dick." + +"You were going to tell me why once," she said. + +He took her hand and held it for a moment. "I will tell you +to-night," he said. + +The maid came in again with a tea-tray, and they had no further intimate +talk. The squire became restless and walked about the room while he +drank his cup. When he had finished, he went away to his own, and Vera +was left to dress. + +Her maid was still putting the final touches when there came a low knock +at the door. She turned sharply from her mirror. + +"Is that you, Juliet? Come in! Come in!" + +Quietly the door opened, and Juliet entered. + +"My dear!" said Vera, and met her impulsively in the middle of the room. + +"I had to come up," Juliet said. "I hope you don't mind, but neither Dick +nor I can manage to feel like ordinary guests in this house." + +She was smiling as she spoke. The white scarf was thrown back from her +hair. The gracious womanliness of her struck Vera afresh with its charm. + +She held her and looked at her. "My dear Juliet, it does me good to see +you. How is Dick? And how is Columbus?" + +"They are both downstairs," Juliet said, "and one is working too hard +and the other not hard enough. I had to bring dear Christopher. You +don't mind?" + +"Of course not, my dear. I would have sent him a special invitation if I +had thought. Come and take off your coat! We got in rather late or I +should have been downstairs to receive you." + +"Tell me how you are!" Juliet said. "I don't believe I have ever seen you +looking so well." + +"I haven't felt so well for years," Vera declared. "But I have promised +Edward all the same to go up to town and see his pet doctor and make sure +that the cure is complete. Personally I am quite sure. But Edward is such +a dear old fusser. He won't be satisfied with appearances." + +She laughed on an indulgent note, and Juliet smiled in sympathy. + +"Well, you've given him good cause for that, haven't you? And you enjoyed +the cruise? I am so glad you had good weather." + +"It was gorgeous," said Vera. "I must write and tell Lord Saltash. He has +given me the time of my life. Have you seen anything of him by the way?" + +"Only once," said Juliet. "He came over to congratulate us. But that is +some time ago. He may be at the other end of the world by this time." + +"No, I think not," Vera said. "I believe he is in England. Was he--at all +upset by your marriage, Juliet?" + +Juliet laughed a little. "Oh, not in the least. He keeps his heart in a +very air-tight compartment I assure you. I have never had the faintest +glimpse of it." + +"But you are fond of him," said Vera shrewdly. + +"Oh yes, quite fond of him," Juliet's eyes had a kindly softness. "I have +never yet met the woman who wasn't fond of Charles Rex," she said. + +"Does--your husband like him?" asked Vera. + +Juliet shook her head quizzically. "No. Husbands don't as a rule." + +"Something of a poacher?" questioned Vera. + +"Oh, not really. Not since he grew up. I believe he was very giddy in +his youth, and then a girl he really cared for disappointed him. So +the story runs. I can't vouch for the truth of it, or even whether he +ever seriously cared for her. But he has certainly never been in +earnest since." + +"What about Lady Joanna Farringmore?" said Vera suddenly. + +Juliet was standing before the fire. She bent slightly, the warm glow +softly tinging her white neck. "I should have thought that old fable +might have died a natural death by this time," she said. + +Vera gave her a sharp look. There was not actual distaste in Juliet's +tone, yet in some fashion it conveyed the impression that the subject was +one which she had no desire to discuss. + +Vera abandoned it forthwith. "Suppose we go downstairs," she said. + +They went down to find Dick and Columbus patiently waiting in the hall. +Vera's greeting was brief but not lacking in warmth. The thought of +Juliet married to the schoolmaster had ceased to provoke her indignation. +She even admitted to herself that in different surroundings Dick might +have proved himself to possess a certain attraction. She believed he was +clever in an intellectual sense, and she believed it was by this quality +that he had captivated Juliet. The fiery force of the man, his almost +fierce enthusiasms, she had never even seen. + +But she was immediately aware of a subtle and secret link between the two +as they all met together in the genial glow of the fire. Dick's eyes that +flashed for a second to Juliet and instantly left her, told her very +clearly that no words were needed to establish communion between them. +They were in close sympathy. + +She gave Dick a warmer welcome than she had ever extended to him before, +and found in the instant response of his smile some reason for wonder at +her previous dislike. Perhaps contact with Juliet had helped to banish +the satire to which in the old days she had so strongly objected. Or +perhaps--but this possibility did not occur to her--he sensed a +cordiality in the atmosphere which had never been present before. + +When the squire came down they were all chatting amicably round the +fire, and he smiled swift approval upon his wife ere he turned to greet +his guests. + +"Hullo, Dick!" he said, as their hands met. "Still running the same +old show?" + +"For the present, sir," said Dick. + +They had not met since the occasion of Dick's and Juliet's marriage when +the squire had come over immediately before the sailing of the _Night +Moth_ to be present, and to give her away. He had been very kind to them +both during the brief hour that he had spent with them, and the memory +of it still lingered warmly in Juliet's heart. She had grown very fond of +the squire. + +There were no awkward moments during that dinner which was more like a +family gathering than Juliet had thought possible. The change in Vera +amazed her. She was like a traveller who after long and weary journeying +in shady places had come suddenly into bright sunshine. And she was +younger, more ardent, more alive, than Juliet had ever seen her. + +The same change was visible, though not so noticeable, in the squire. He +too had come into the sun, but he trod more warily as one who--though +content with the present--was by no means certain that the fair weather +would last. His manner to his wife displayed a charming blend of +tenderness and self-restraint; yet in some fashion he held his own with +her, and once, meeting Juliet's eyes, he smiled in a way that reminded +her of the day on which she had dared to give him advice as to the best +means of securing happiness. + +Dick was apparently in good spirits that night, and he was plainly at his +ease. Having taken his cue from his hostess, he devoted himself in a +large measure to her entertainment, and all went smoothly between them. +When she and Juliet left the table she gave him a smiling invitation to +come and play to them. + +"I haven't brought the old banjo," he said, "but I'll make my wife sing. +She is going to help me this winter at the Club concerts." + +"Brave Juliet!" said Vera, as she went out. "I wouldn't face that crowd +of roughs for a king's ransom." + +"She has nothing to be afraid of," said Dick with quick confidence. "I +wouldn't let her do it if there were any danger." + +"They seem to be in an ugly mood just now," said the squire. + +"Yes, I know." Dick turned back to him, closing the door. "But, taken the +right way, they are still manageable. There is just a chance that we may +keep them in hand if that fellow Ivor Yardley can be induced to see +reason. The rest of the Wilchester crew don't care a damn, but he has +more brains. I'm counting on him." + +"How are you going to get hold of him?" questioned Fielding. + +"I suppose I must go up to town some week-end. I haven't told Juliet yet. +Unlike the average woman, she seems to have a holy hatred of London and +all its ways. So I presume she will stay behind." + +"Perhaps we could get him down here," suggested the squire. + +Dick gave him a swift look. "I've thought of that," he said. + +"Well?" said Fielding. + +Dick hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure that I want him," he said. +"He and Saltash are friends for one thing. And there are +besides--various reasons." + +"You don't like Saltash?" said the squire. + +Dick laughed a little. "I don't hate him--though I feel as if I ought to. +He's a queer fish. I don't trust him." + +"You're jealous!" said Fielding. + +Dick nodded. "Very likely. He has an uncanny attraction for women. I +wanted to kick him the last time we met." + +"And what did Juliet say?" + +"Oh, Juliet read me a lecture and told me I wasn't to. But I think the +less we see of each other the better--if I am to keep on my best +behaviour, that is." + +"It's a good thing someone can manage you," remarked Fielding. "Juliet +is a wonderful peacemaker. But even she couldn't keep you from coming to +loggerheads with Jack apparently. What was that fight about?" + +Dirk's brows contracted. "It wasn't a fight, sir," he said shortly. "I've +never fought Jack in my life. He did an infernal thing, and I made him +quit, that's all." + +"What did he do?" asked the squire. Then as Dick made a gesture of +refusal: "Damn it, man, he was in my employment anyway! I've a right to +know why he cleared out." + +Dick pushed back his chair abruptly and rose. He turned his back on the +squire while he poked the blazing logs with his foot. Then: "Yes, you've +a perfect right to know," he said, speaking jerkily, his head bent. "And +of course I always meant to tell you. It won't appeal to you in the +least. But Juliet understands--at least in part. He was responsible +for--my boy's death. That's why I made him go." + +It was the first time that he had voluntarily spoken of Robin since the +day that he and Juliet had followed him to his grave. He brought out the +words now with tremendous effort, and having spoken he ceased to kick at +the fire and became absolutely still. + +The squire sat at the table, staring at him. For some seconds the silence +continued, then irritably he broke it. + +"Well? Go on, man! That isn't the whole of the story. What do you mean +by--responsible? He didn't shove him over the cliff, I suppose?" + +"No," Dick said. "He didn't do that. I almost wish he had. It would have +been somehow--more endurable." + +Again he became silent, and suddenly to the squire sitting frowning at +the table there came a flash of intuition that told him he could not +continue. He got up sharply, went to Dick, still frowning, and laid an +impulsive arm across his shoulders. + +"I'm sorry, my lad," he said. + +Dick made a slight movement as if the caress were not wholly welcome, +but after a moment he reached up and grasped the squire's hand. + +"It hit me pretty hard," he said in a low voice, not lifting his hand. +"Juliet just made it bearable. I shall get over it, of course. But--I +never want to see Jack again." + +Again for a space he stopped, then with a sudden fierce impatience +jerked on. + +"You may remember saying to me once--no; a hundred times over--that I +should never get anywhere so long as I kept my boy with me--never find +success--or happiness--never marry--all that sort of rot. It was rot. I +always knew it was. I've proved it. She would have come to me in any +case. And as for success--it doesn't depend on things of that sort. I've +proved that too. But he--Jack--got hold of the same infernal parrot-cry. +Oh, I'm sorry, sir," he glanced upwards for a second with working lips. +"I can't dress this up in polite language. Jack said to my boy Robin what +you had said to me. And he--believed it--and so--made an end." + +He drew his breath hard between his teeth and straightened himself, +putting Fielding's arm quietly from his. + +"Good God!" said Fielding. "But the boy was mad! He never was normal. You +can't say--" + +"Oh, no, sir." With grim bitterness Dick interrupted. "He just took the +shortest way out, that's all. He wasn't mad." + +"Committed suicide!" ejaculated the squire. + +Dick's hands were clenched. "Do you call it that," he said, "when a man +lays down his life for his friends?" + +He turned away with the words as if he could endure no more, and walked +to the end of the room. + +Fielding stood and watched him dumbly, more moved than he cared to show. +At length, as Dick remained standing before a bookcase in heavy silence, +he spoke, his tone an odd mixture of peremptoriness and persuasion. + +"Dick!" + +Dick jerked his head without turning or speaking. + +"Are you blaming me for this?" the squire asked. + +Dick turned. His face was pale, his eyes fiercely bright. "You, sir! Do +you think I'd have sat at your table if I did?" + +"I don't know," the squire said sombrely. "You're fond of telling me I +have no claim on you, but I have--for all that. There is a bond between +us that you can't get away from, however hard you try. You think I +can't understand your feelings in this matter, that I'm too sordid in +my views to realize how hard you've been hit. You think I'm only +pleased to know that you're free from your burden, at last, eh, Dick, +and that your trouble doesn't count with me? Think I've never had any +of my own perhaps?" + +He spoke with a half-smile, but there was that in his voice that made +Dick come swiftly back to him down the long room; nor did he pause +when he reached him. His hand went through the squire's arm and +gripped it hard. + +"I'm--awfully sorry, sir," he said. "If you understand--you'll +forgive me." + +"I do understand, Dick," the squire said with great kindness. "I know +I've been hard on you about that poor boy. I'm infernally sorry for the +whole wretched business. But--as you say--you'll get over it. You've +got Juliet." + +"Yes, thank God!" Dick said. "I don't know how I should endure life +without her. She's all I have." + +The squire's face contracted a little. "No one else, Dick?" he said. + +Dick glanced up. "And you, sir," he amended with a smile. "I'm afraid I'm +rather apt to take you for granted. I suppose that's the bond you spoke +of. I haven't--you know I haven't--the least desire to get away from it." + +"Thank you," Fielding said, and stifled a sigh. "Life has been pretty +damnable to us both, Dick. We might have been--we ought to have +been--much more to each other." + +"There's no tie more enduring than friendship," said Dick quickly. "You +and I are friends--always will be." + +Fielding's eyes had a misty look. "The best of friends, Dick lad," he +said. "But will--friendship--give me the right to offer you help without +putting up your pride? I don't want to order your life for you, but you +can't go on with this village _domini_ business much longer. You were +made for better things." + +"Oh, that!" Dick said, and laughed. "Yes, I'm going to chuck that--but +not just at once. Listen, sir! I have a reason. I'll tell you what it is, +but not now, not yet. As to accepting help from you, I'd do that +to-morrow if I needed it, but I don't. I've no pride left where you are +concerned. You're much too good to me and I'm much too grateful. Is that +quite clear?" + +He gave the squire a straight and very friendly look, then wheeled round +swiftly at the opening of the door. + +They were standing side by side as Vera threw it impatiently wide. She +stood a second on the threshold staring at them. Then: "Are you never +coming in?" she said. "I thought--I thought--" she stammered suddenly and +turned white. "Edward!" she said, and went back a step as if something +had frightened her. + +Dick instantly went forward to her. "Yes, Mrs. Fielding. We're coming +now," he said. "Awfully sorry to have kept you waiting. We've had things +to talk about, but we've just about done. You're coming, aren't you, sir? +Take my arm, I say! You look tired." + +He offered and she accepted almost instinctively. Her hand trembled on +his arm as they left the room, and he suddenly and very impulsively laid +his own upon it. + +It was a protective impulse that moved him, but a moment later he +adjusted the position by asking a favour of her--for the first time in +the whole of their acquaintance. + +"Mrs. Fielding, please, after to-day--give me the privilege of numbering +myself among your friends!" + +She looked at him oddly, seeking to cover her agitation with a quivering +assumption of her old arrogance. But something in his face deterred her. +It was not this man's way to solicit favours, and somehow, since he had +humbled himself to ask, she had it not in her to refuse. + +"Very well, Dick," she said, faintly smiling. "I grant you that." + +"Thank you," he said, and gently released her hand. + +It was the swiftest and one of the most complete victories of his life. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CONFESSION + + +It was nearly two hours later that Vera sitting alone before her fire +turned with a slight start at the sound of her husband's step in the room +beyond. She was wearing a pale silk dressing-gown and her hair hung in a +single plait over her shoulder, giving her a curiously girlish look. The +slimness of her figure as she leaned among the cushions accentuated the +fragility which her recent illness had stamped upon her. Her eyes were +ringed with purple, and they had a startled expression that the sound of +the squire's step served to intensify. At the soft turning of the handle +she made a movement that was almost of shrinking. And when he entered she +looked up at him with a small pinched smile from which all pleasure was +wholly absent. + +He was still in evening dress, and the subdued light falling upon him +gave him the look of a man still scarcely past his prime. He stood for a +moment, erect and handsome, before he quietly closed the door behind him +and moved forward. + +"Still up?" he said. + +Again at his approach she made a more pronounced movement of shrinking. +"But, I've been waiting for you," she said rather hopelessly. + +He came to her, stood looking down at her, the old bitter frown +struggling with a more kindly expression on his face. He was obviously +waiting for something with no pleasant sense of anticipation. + +But Vera did not speak. She only sat drawn together, her fingers locked +and her eyes downcast. She was using her utmost strength to keep +herself in hand. + +"Well?" he said at length, a faint ring of irritation in his voice, "Have +you nothing to say to me now I have come?" + +Her lips quivered a little. "I don't think--there is anything to be +said," she said. "I knew--I felt--it was too good to last." + +"It's over then, is it?" he said, the bitterness gaining the upper hand +because of the misery at his heart. "The indiscretions of my youth have +placed me finally beyond the pale. Is that it?" + +She gripped her hands together a little more tightly. "I think you have +been--you are--rather cruel," she said, her voice very low. "If you had +only--told me!" + +He made a gesture of exasperation. "My dear girl, for heaven's sake, +look at the thing fairly if you can! How long have I known you well +enough to let you into my secrets? How long have you been up to hearing +them? I meant to tell you--as you know. I've been on the verge of it +more than once. It wasn't cowardice that held me back. It was +consideration for you." + +She glanced at him momentarily. "I see," she said in that small quivering +voice of hers that told so little of the wild tumult within her. + +"Well?" he said harshly. "And that is my condemnation, is it? Henceforth +I am to be thrust outside--a sinner beyond redemption. Is that it?" + +Her eyelids fluttered nervously, but she did not raise them again. She +leaned instead towards the fire. Her shoulders were bent. She looked +crushed, as if her vitality were gone, and yet so slender, so young, in +her thin wrap. He clinched his hands with a sharp intake of the breath, +and his frown deepened. + +"So you won't speak to me?" he said. "It's beyond words, is it? It's to +be an insurmountable obstacle to happiness for the rest of our lives? We +go back to the old damnable existence we've led for so long! Or +perhaps--" his voice hardened--"perhaps you think we should be better +apart? Perhaps you would prefer to leave me?" + +She flinched at that--flinched as if he had struck her--and then +suddenly she lifted her white face to his, showing him such an anguish of +suffering as he had not suspected. + +"Oh, Edward," she said, "why did this have to happen? We were so +happy before." + +That pierced him--the utter desolation of her--the pain that was too deep +for reproach. He bent to her, all the bitterness gone from his face. + +"My dear," he said in a voice that shook, "can't you see how I loathe +myself--for hurting you--like this?" + +And then suddenly--so suddenly that neither knew exactly how it +happened--they were linked together. She was clinging to him with a rush +of piteous tears, and he was kneeling beside her, holding her fast +pressed against his heart, murmuring over her brokenly, passionately, +such words of tenderness as she had never heard from him before. When in +the end she lifted her face to kiss him, it was wet with tears other than +her own, and somehow that fact did more to ease her own distress than any +consolation he could find to offer. + +She slipped her arm about his neck and pressed her cheek to his. "I'm +thankful I know," she told him tremulously. "Oh, Edward darling, +don't--don't keep anything from me ever again! If I'd only known sooner, +things might have been so different. I feel as if I have never known you +till now." + +"Have you forgiven me?" he said, his grey head bent. + +She turned her lips again to his. "My dear, of course--of course!" +And in a lower voice, "Will you--tell me about her? Did she mean very +much to you?" + +His arm tightened about her. "My darling, it's nearly twenty-three years +ago that she died. Yes, I loved her. But I've never wanted her back. Her +life was such an inferno." He paused a moment, then as she was silent +went on more steadily. "She was eighteen and I was twenty-two when it +began. I was home for a summer vacation, and she had just come to help +her aunt as infant teacher at the school. All the men were wild about +her, but she had no use for any of 'em till I come along. We met along +the shore or on the cliffs. We met constantly. We loved each other like +mad. It got beyond all reason--all restraint. We didn't look ahead, +either of us. We were young, and it was so infernally sweet. I'm not +offering any excuse--only telling you the simple truth. You won't +understand of course." + +She pressed closer to him. "Why shouldn't I understand?" + +He leaned his head against her. "God bless you, my dear! You're very good +to me--far better than I deserve. I was a blackguard, I know. But I never +meant to let her down. That was almost as much her doing as mine--poor +little soul! We were found out at last, and there was a fearful row with +my people. I wanted to take her away then and there, and marry her. But +she wouldn't hear of it--neither would her aunt--a hard, proud woman! I +didn't know then--no one knew--that she was expecting a child, or I'd +have defied 'em all. Instead, she urged and entreated me to go away for a +few weeks--give her time to think, she said. I hoped even then that she +would give in and come to me. But the next thing I knew, she was married +to a brute called Green--skipper of a filthy little cargo-steamer, who +had been after her for some time. She went with him on one or two short +voyages. Heaven knows what she endured in that time. Then the baby was +born--Dick. They called him a seven-months child. But I knew--I guessed +at once. One day I met her--told her so. I saw then--in part--what her +life was like. She was terrified--said Green would kill her if he ever +found out. The man was a great hulking bully--a drunkard perpetually on +shore. He used to beat her as it was. She implored me not to come up +against him, and--for her sake alone--I never did. Then--it was nearly a +year after--he went off on a voyage and didn't come back. The boat was +reported lost with all hands. I think everyone rejoiced so far as he was +concerned. She went back to work at the school, supporting herself and +the child. I never induced her to accept any help from me, but gradually, +as the years went on and my uncle died and I became my own master, I got +into the position of intimate friend. I was allowed to interfere a bit in +Dick's destinies. But for a long, long while she permitted no more than +that. I don't know exactly what made me stick to her. I used to go away, +but I always came back. I couldn't give her up. And at last--twelve years +after Green's disappearance--I won her over. She promised to marry me. +The very day afterwards, that scoundrel Green came back! And her +martyrdom began again." + +"Oh, Edward, my dear!" Vera's hand went up to his face, stroking, +caressing. The suppressed misery of his voice was almost more than she +could bear. "How you suffered!" she whispered. + +He was silent for a moment or two, controlling himself. "It's over now," +he said then. "Thank God, it's a long time over! She died--less than a +year after--when Jack and Robin were born. Her husband fell over the +cliff on the same night in a fit of drunkenness and was killed. That's +all the story. You know the rest. I'm sorry--I'm very sorry--I hadn't the +decency to tell you before we married." + +"You--needn't be sorry, dear," she said very gently. + +He looked at her. "Do you mean that, Vera? Do you mean it makes no +difference to you?" + +She met his eyes with a shining tenderness in her own that gave her a +womanliness which he had never seen in her before. "No," she said, "I +don't mean that. I mean that I'm glad nothing happened to--to prevent my +marrying you. I mean--that I love you ten times more for telling me now." + +He gathered her impulsively close in his arms, kissing her with lips that +trembled. "My own girl! My own generous wife! I'll make up to you," he +vowed. "I'll give you such love as you've never dreamed of. I've been a +brute to you often--often. But that's over. I'll make you happy now--if +it kills me!" + +She laughed softly, with a quivering exultation, between his kisses. +"That wouldn't make me happy in the least. And I don't think you will +find it so hard as that either. You've begun already--quite nicely. Now +that we understand each other, we can never make really serious +mistakes again." + +Thereafter, they sat and talked in the firelight for a long time, +closely, intimately, as friends united after a long separation. And in +that talk the last barrier between them crumbled away, and a bond that +was very sacred took its place. + +In the end the striking of the clock above them awoke Vera to the +lateness of the hour. "My dear Edward, it's to-morrow morning already! +Wouldn't it be a good idea to go to bed?" + +"Of course," he said. "You must be half dead. Thoughtless brute that I +am!" He let her go out of his arms at last, but in a moment paused, +looking at her with an odd wistfulness. "You're sure you've forgiven me? +Sure you won't think it over and find you've made a mistake?" + +Her hands were on his shoulders. Her eyes looked straight into his. "I am +quite sure," she said. + +He began to smile. "What makes you so generous, I wonder? I never thought +you had it in you." + +She leaned towards him, a great glow on her face which made her wonderful +in his sight. "Oh, my dear," she said, "I never had before. But I can +afford to be generous now. What does the past matter when I know that the +present and the future are all my own?" + +His smile passed. He met her look steadfastly. "As long as I live," he +said, "so shall it be." + +And the kiss that passed between them was as the sealing of a vow. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +COUNSEL + + +Juliet and Columbus sat in a sheltered nook on the shore and gazed +thoughtfully out to sea. It was a warm morning after a night of tempest, +and the beach was strewn with seaweed after an unusually high tide. + +Columbus sat with a puckered brow. In his heart he wanted to be pottering +about among these ocean treasures which had a peculiar fascination for +his doggy soul. But a greater call was upon him, keeping him where he +was. Though she had not uttered one word to detain him, he had a strong +conviction that his mistress wanted him, and so, stolidly, he remained +beside her, his sharp little eyes flashing to and fro, sometimes watching +the great waves riding in, sometimes following the curving flight of a +sea-gull, sometimes fixed in immensely dignified contemplation upon the +quivering tip of his nose. His nostrils worked perpetually. The air was +teeming with interesting scents; but not one of them could lure him from +his mistress's side while he sensed her need of him. His body might be +fat and bulging, but his spirit was a thing of keen perceptions and +ardent, burning devotion, capable of denying every impulse save the love +that was its mainspring. + +Juliet was certainly very thoughtful that day. She also was watching the +waves, but the wide brow was slightly drawn and the grey eyes were not +so serene as usual. She had the look of one wrestling with a difficult +problem. The roar of the sea was all about her, blotting out every other +sound, even the calling of the gulls. Her arm encircled Columbus who was +pressed solicitously close to her side. They had been sitting so, almost +without moving, for over half-an-hour. + +Suddenly Columbus turned his head sharply, and a growl swelled through +him. Juliet looked round, and in a moment she had started to her feet. A +man's figure, lithe and spare, with something of a monkey's agility of +movement, was coming to her over the stones. They met in a shelving +hollow of shingle that had been washed by the sea. + +"Oh, Charles!" she said impulsively. "It is good of you to come!" + +He glanced around him as he clasped her hand, his ugly face brimming with +mischief. "It is rather--considering the risk I run. I trust your +irascible husband is well out of the way?" + +She laughed, though not very heartily. "Yes, he has gone to town. I +didn't want him to. I wish I had stopped him." + +He looked at her shrewdly. "You've got an attack of nerves," he observed. + +She still sought to smile--though the attempt was a poor one. "To be +quite honest--I am rather frightened." + +"Frightened!" He pushed a sudden arm around her, looking comical and +tender in the same moment. "And so you sent for me! Then it's Ho for +the _Night Moth_, and when shall we start?" + +She gave him a small push as half-hearted as her laugh had been. "Don't +talk rubbish, please, Charles--if you don't mind! I don't see myself +going on the _Night Moth_ with the sea like that; do you?" + +"Depends," he said quizzically. "You might be persuaded if the devil +were behind you." + +"What! In your company!" Her laugh was more normal this time; she gave +his arm a kindly touch and put it from her. + +"But I'm as meek as a lamb," protested Saltash. + +She met his look with friendly eyes. "Yes, I know--a lamb in wolf's +clothing--rather a frisky lamb, Charles, but comparatively harmless. If I +hadn't realized that--I shouldn't have asked you to come." + +"I like your qualification," he said. "With whom do I compare thus +favourably? The redoubtable Dick?" + +The colour came swiftly into her face and he laughed, derisively but +not unkindly. + +"It's a new thing for me--this sort of job. Are you sure my lamb-like +qualities will carry me through? Do you know, dear, I've never seen you +look so amazing sweet in all my life before? I never knew you could bloom +like this. It's positively dangerous." + +He regarded her critically, his head on one side, an ardour half-mocking, +half-genuine, in his eyes. + +Juliet uttered a sigh. "I feel a careworn old hag," she said. "My own +fault of course. Things are in a nice muddle, and I don't know which +way to turn." + +"One slip from the path of rectitude!" mocked Saltash. "Alas, how fatal +this may prove!" + +She looked away from him. "Do you always jeer at your friends when they +are in trouble?" she said somewhat wearily. + +"Always," said Saltash promptly. "It helps 'em to find their feet--like +lighting the fire when the chimney-sweep's boy got stuck in the chimney. +It's a priceless remedy, my _Juliette_. Nothing like it." + +"I shall begin to hate you directly," remarked Juliet with her +wan smile. + +He laughed, not without complacence. "Do you good to try. You won't +succeed. No one ever does. I gather the main trouble is that Dick has +gone to town when you didn't want him to. Husbands are like that +sometimes, you know. Are you afraid he won't come back--or that he will?" + +"He will come back--to-day," she said. "You know--or perhaps you +don't know--there is going to be a concert to-night for the miners. +He is going to talk to them afterwards. He has gone up to-day to +see--Ivor Yardley." + +"What ho!" said Saltash. "This is interesting. And what does he hope to +get out of him?" + +"I don't know," she said. "I had no idea who he was going to see till +yesterday evening. Mr. Ashcott came in and they were talking, and the +name came out. I am not sure that he wanted me to know--though I don't +know why I think so." + +"And so you sent me an S.O.S.!" said Saltash. "I am indeed honoured!" + +She turned towards him very winningly, very appealingly. "Charles Rex, I +sent for you because I want a friend--so very badly. My happiness is in +the balance. Don't you understand?" + +Her deep voice throbbed with feeling. He stretched out a hand to her with +a quick, responsive gesture that somehow belied the imp of mischief in +his eyes. "_Bien, ma Juliette_! I am here!" he said. + +"Thank you," she said very earnestly. "I knew I could count on you--that +you would not withdraw your protection when once you had offered it." + +"Would you like my advice as well?" he questioned. + +She met his quizzing look with her frank eyes. "What is your +advice?" she said. + +He held her hand in his. "You haven't forgotten, have you, the sole +condition on which I extended my protection to you? No. I thought not. We +won't discuss it. The time is not yet ripe. And, as you say, the _Night +Moth_ in this weather, though safe, might not be a very comfortable +abiding-place. But--don't forget she is quite safe, my _Juliette_! I +should like you to remember that." + +He spoke with a strange emphasis that must in some fashion have conveyed +more than his actual words, for quite suddenly her throat worked with a +sharp spasm of emotion. She put up her hand instinctively to hide it. + +"Thank you," she said. "If I need--a city of refuge--I shall know which +way to turn. Now for your advice!" + +"My advice!" He was looking at her with those odd, unstable eyes of his +that ever barred the way to his inner being. "It depends a little on the +condition of your heart--that. When it comes to this in an obstacle race, +there are three courses open to you. Either you refuse the jump and drop +out--which is usually the safest thing to do. Or you take the thing at +full gallop and clear it before you know where you are. Or you go at it +with a weak heart and come to grief. I don't advise the last anyway. It's +so futile--as well as being beastly humiliating." + +She smiled at him. "Thank you, Charles! A very illuminating parable! +Well, I don't contemplate the first--as you know. I must have a try at +the second. And if I smash,--it's horribly difficult, you know--I may +smash--" Sudden anguish looked at him out of her eyes, and a hard +shiver went through her as she turned away. "Oh, Charles!" she said. "Why +did I ever come to this place?" + +He made a frightful grimace that was somehow sympathetic and shrugged +his shoulders. "If you smash, my dearly-beloved, your faithful comrade +will have the priceless privilege of picking up the pieces. Why you came +here is another matter. I have sometimes dared to wonder if the proximity +of my poor castle--No? Not that? Ah, well then, it must be that our +destinies are guided by the same star. To my mind that is an even more +thrilling reflection than the other. Think of it, my _Juliette_, you and +I--helplessly kicking like flies in the cream-jug--being drawn to one +another, irresistibly and in spite of ourselves, even leaving some of our +legs behind us in the desperate struggle to be calm and reasonable and +quite--quite moral! And then a sudden violent storm in the cream-jug, and +we are flung into each other's unwilling arms where we cling for safety +till the crack of doom when all the milk is spilt! It's no use fighting +the stars, you know. It really isn't. The only rational course is to make +the stars fight for you." + +He peered round at her to see how she was taking his foolery; and in a +moment impulsively she wheeled back, the distress banished from her face, +the old steadfast courage in its place. + +"Oh, Charles, thou king of clowns!" she said. "What a weird +comforter you are!" + +"King of philosophers you mean!" he retorted. "It's taken me a long while +to achieve my wisdom. I don't often throw my pearls about in this +reckless fashion." + +She laughed. "How dare you say that to me? But I suppose I ought to be +humbly grateful. I am as a matter of fact intensely so." + +"Oh, no!" he said. "Not that--from you!" + +His eyes dwelt upon her with a sort of humorous tenderness; she met +them without embarrassment. "You've done me good, Charles," she said. +"Somehow I knew you would--knew I could count on you. You will go on +standing by?" + +He executed a deep bow, his hand upon his heart. "_Maintenant et +toujours, ma Juliette_!" he assured her gallantly. "But don't forget the +moral of my parable! When you jump--jump high!" + +She nodded thoughtfully. "No, I shan't forget. You're a good friend, +Charles Rex." + +"I may be," said Saltash enigmatically. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE THUNDERBOLT + + +Juliet lunched at the Court in Dick's absence. They thought her somewhat +graver and quieter than usual, but there was a gentle aloofness about her +that checked all intimate enquiry. + +"You are not feeling anxious about the miners?" Vera asked her once. + +To which Juliet replied, "Oh no! Not in the least. Dick has such a +wonderful influence over the men. They would never do any brawling with +him there." + +"He has no business to drag you into it all the same," said the squire. + +She looked at him, faintly smiling. "Do you imagine for one moment that I +would stay behind? Besides, there is really no danger. His only fear is +possible friction between the miners and the fishermen. They never have +loved each other, and in their present mood it wouldn't take much to set +the miners alight." + +"I'd let 'em burn!" said the squire. + +"They have some cause for grievance," she urged. "At least Dick +thinks so." + +"Well, and who hasn't, I should like to know?" he returned with warmth. +"How many people are there in the world who don't feel that if they had +their rights they'd be a good deal better off in one respect or another +than they are? But there's no sense in trying to stop the world going +round on that account. That's always the way with these miner chaps. +What's the rest of the community matter so long as they get all they +want? They're not sportsmen. They hit below the belt every time." + +"That's just it," Juliet said. "Dick is trying to teach them to be +sportsmen." + +"Oh, Dick!" said the squire. "He'd reform the world if he could. But he's +wasting his time. They won't be satisfied till they've had their fling. +Lord Wilchester is a wise man to keep out of the way till it's over." + +"I'm afraid I don't agree with you there," Juliet said, flushing a +little. "He might at least hear what they have to say. But they can't get +hold of him. He is abroad." + +"But Yardley is left," said the squire. "I suppose he has power to act." + +"Perhaps," she said, the moment's animation passing. "But it is +Wilchester's business--not his. He shirks his duty." + +"I notice you never have a good word for any of the Farringmore family," +said the squire quizzically. + +She shook her head. "They are all so selfish. It's the family failing, +I'm afraid." + +"You don't share it anyhow," said Vera. + +"Ah! You don't know me," said Juliet. + +They went for a long motor-ride when the meal was over, but at the end of +it, it seemed to Vera that they had talked solely of her affairs +throughout. She knew Juliet's quiet reticence of old and made no attempt +to pierce it. But, thinking it over later, it seemed to her that there +was something more than her usual reserve behind it, and a vague sense +of uneasiness awoke within her. She wondered if Juliet were happy. + +They had tea on their return, but Juliet would not stay any later. She +must be back, she said, to meet Dick and be sure that the supper was +ready in good time. So, regretfully, still with that inexplicable feeling +of doubt upon her, Vera let her go. + +Just at the last she detained her for a moment to say with an effort that +was plainly no light one, "Juliet, don't forget I am here if--if you ever +need a friend!" + +And then Juliet surprised her by a sudden, close embrace and a +low-spoken, "I shall never forget you--or your goodness to me." + +But a second later she was gone, and Vera was left to wonder. + +As for Juliet, she hastened away as one in a fever to escape, yet +before she reached the end of the avenue her feet moved as if weighted +with chains. + +A mist was creeping up from the sea and through it there came the long +call of a distant syren. The waves were no longer roaring along the +shore. The sound of them came muffled and vague, and she knew that the +storm had gone down. + +There was something very desolate in that atmosphere of dimmed sight and +muted sound. It was barely sunset, but the chill of the dying year was in +the air. The thought came to her, suddenly and very poignantly, of that +wonderful night of spring, when she had first wandered along the cliff +with the scent of the gorse-bushes rising like incense all around her, +when she had first heard that magic, flute-like call of youth and love. A +deep and passionate emotion filled and overfilled her heart with the +memory. As she went up the little path to the school-house, her face was +wet with tears. + +Dick had not returned, and she went into the little dining-room and +busied herself with laying the cloth for supper. Their only indoor +servant--a young village girl--was out that evening, but she could hear +Mrs. Rickett who often came up to help moving about the kitchen. She did +not feel in the mood for the good woman's chatter and delayed going in +her direction as long as possible. + +So it came about that, pausing for a few moments at the window before +doing so, she heard the click of the gate and saw the old postman coming +up the path. + +He moved slowly and with some difficulty, being heavily laden as well as +bowed with age and rheumatism. She went quickly to the outer door, and, +accompanied by the growling Columbus, moved to meet him. + +"Evening, ma'am! Here's a parcel for you!" the old man said. "It's books, +and it's all come to bits, but I don't think as I've dropped any of 'em. +You'd best let me bring 'em straight in for I'm all fixed up with 'em +now, and they'll only scatter if you tries to take 'em." + +She led the way within, commiserating him on the weight of his burden +which he thumped down without ceremony on the white cloth that she had +just spread. The parcel was certainly badly damaged, and books in white +covers began to slide out of it the moment they were released. + +"I'll leave you to sort 'em, ma'am," he said airily. "Daresay as they're +not much the worse. Schoolmaster's truck I've no doubt. If there was +fewer books in the world, the postman would have an easier life than what +he does and no one much worse off than they be now--except the clever +folks as writes 'em! Well, I'll be getting along to the Court, ma'am, and +I wish you a very good-night." + +He stumped away, and in the failing evening light Juliet began to gather +up the confusion he had left behind. She found it was not a collection +of paper-backed school-books as she had at first imagined, and since the +contents of the parcel were very thoroughly scattered she glanced at them +with idle curiosity as she laid them together. + +Then with a sudden violent start she picked up one of the volumes and +looked at it closely. The title stood out with arresting clearness on the +white paper jacket: _Gold of the Desert_ by _Dene Strange_. Author of +_The Valley of Dry Bones_, _Marionettes_, etc. + +She caught her breath. Something sprang up within her--something that +clamoured grotesque and incoherent things. Her heart was beating so fast +that it seemed continuous like the dull roar of the sea. The volumes were +all alike--all copies of one book. + +A sheet of paper fluttered from the one she held. She snatched at it +with a curious desperation--as though, sinking in deep waters, she +clutched at a straw. + +_Author's Copies_--_With Compliments_, were the words that stood out +before her widening gaze. She remained as one transfixed, staring at +them. It was as if a thunderbolt had fallen in the quiet room.... + +It must have been many minutes later that she came to herself and found +herself huddled in a chair by the table, shivering from head to foot. She +was conscious of a horrible feeling of sickness, and her heart was +beating slowly, with thick, uneven strokes. + +The room was growing dark. The chill desolation of the world outside +seemed to have followed her in. She could not remember that she had ever +felt so deadly cold before. She could not keep her teeth from chattering. + +Something moved close to her, and she realized what had roused her. +Columbus was standing up by her side, his forepaws against her, his +grizzled nose nudging her arm. She stirred stiffly, and put the arm +about him. + +"Oh--Christopher!" she said, and gasped as if she had not breathed for a +long time. "Oh--Christopher!" + +He leaned up against her, stretching his warm tongue to reach her cheek, +his whole body wriggling with gushing solicitude under her hand. + +She looked down at him with the dazed eyes of one who has received a +stunning blow. "I don't know what we shall do, my doggie," she said. + +And then very suddenly she was on her feet, tense, palpitating, her +head turned to listen. The gate had clicked again, and someone was +coming up the path. + +It was Dick, and he moved with the step of an eager man, reached the +door, opened it, and entered. She heard him in the passage, heard his +tread upon the threshold, heard his voice greeting her. + +"Hullo, darling! All alone in the dark? I've had a beast of a day away +from you." + +His hands reached out and clasped her. She was actually in his arms +before she found her voice. + +"Dick! Dick! Please! I want to speak to you," she said. + +He clasped her close. His lips pressed hers, stopping all utterance for a +while with a mastery that would not be held in check. She could not +resist him, but there was no rapture in her yielding. His love was like a +flame about her, but she was cold--cold as ice. Suddenly, with his face +against her neck, he spoke: "What's the matter, Juliet?" + +She quivered in response, made an attempt to release herself, felt his +arms tighten, and was still. "I have--found out--something," she said, +her voice very low. + +"What is it?" he said. + +She did not answer. A great impulse arose in her to wrench herself +from him, to thrust him back but she could not. She stood--a +prisoner--in his hold. + +He waited a moment, still with his face bent over her, his lips close to +her neck. "Is it anything that--matters?" he asked. + +She felt his arms drawing her and quivered again like a trapped bird. +"Yes," she whispered. + +"Very much?" + +"Yes," she said again. + +"Then you are angry with me," he said. + +She was silent. + +He pressed her suddenly very close. "Juliet, you don't hate me, do you?" + +She caught her breath with a sob that sounded painfully hard and dry. +"I--couldn't have married you--if I had known," she said. + +He started a little and lifted his head. "As bad as that!" he said. + +For a space there was silence between them while his eyes dwelt sombrely +upon the litter of books upon the table, and still his arms enfolded her +though he did not hold her close. When at last she made as if she would +release herself, he still would not let her go. + +"Will you listen to me?" he said. "Give me a hearing--just for a minute? +You have forgiven so much in me that is really bad that I can't feel this +last to be--quite unpardonable. Juliet, I haven't really wronged you. You +have got a false impression of the man who wrote those books. It's a +prejudice which I have promised myself to overcome. But I must have time. +Will you defer judgment--for my sake--till you have read this latest +book, written when you first came into my life? Will you--Juliet, will +you have patience till I have proved myself?" + +She shivered as she stood. "You don't know--what you have done," she +said. + +He made a quick gesture of protest. "Yes, I do know. I know quite well. +I have hurt you, deceived you. But hear my defence anyway! I never meant +to marry you in the first place without telling you, but I always wanted +you to read this book of mine first. It's different from the others. I +wanted you to see the difference. But then I got carried away as you +know. I loved you so tremendously. I couldn't hold myself in. Then--when +you came to me in my misery--it was all up with me, and I fell. I +couldn't tell you then, Juliet, I wasn't ready for you to know. So I +waited--till the book could be published and you could read it. I am +infernally sorry you found out like this. I wanted you--so badly--to +read it with an open mind. And now--whichever way you look at it--you +certainly won't do that." + +There was a whimsical note in his voice despite its obvious sincerity as +he ended, and Juliet winced as she heard it, and in a moment with +resolution freed herself from his hold. + +She did it in silence, but there was that in the action that deeply +wounded him. He stood motionless, looking at her, a glitter of sternness +in his eyes. + +"Juliet," he said after a moment, "you are not treating this matter +reasonably. I admit I tricked you; but my love for you was my excuse. And +those books of mine--especially the one I didn't want you to read--were +never intended for such as you." + +She looked back at him with a kind of frozen wonder. "Then who were they +meant for?" she said. + +He made a slight movement of impatience. "You know. You know very well. +They were meant for the people whom you yourself despise--the crowd you +broke away from--men and women like the Farringmores who live for nothing +but their own beastly pleasures and don't care the toss of a halfpenny +for anyone else under the sun." + +She went back against the table and stood there, supporting herself while +she still faced him. "You forget--" she said, her voice very low,--"I +think you forget--that they are my people--I belong to them!" + +"No, you don't!" he flung back almost fiercely. "You belong to me!" + +A great shiver went through her. She clenched her hands to repress it. "I +don't see," she said, "how I can--possibly--stay with you--after this." + +"What?" He strode forward and caught her by the shoulders. She was aware +of a sudden hot blaze of anger in him that made her think of the squire. +He held her in a grip that was merciless. "Do you know what you are +saying?" he asked. + +She tried to hold him from her, but he pressed her to him with a +dominance that would not brook resistance. + +"Do you?" he said. "Do you?" + +His face was terrible. She felt the hard hammer of his heart against her +own, and a sense of struggling against overwhelming odds came upon her. + +She bowed her head against his shoulder. "Oh, Dick!" she said. "It is +you--who--don't--know!" + +His hold did not relax, and for a space he said no word, but stood +breathing deeply as a man who faces some deadly peril. + +He spoke at length, and in his voice was something she had never heard +before--something from which she shrank uncontrollably, as the victim +shrinks from the branding-iron. + +"And so you think you can leave me--as lightly as Lady Joanna +Farringmore left that man I went to see today?" + +She lifted her head with a gasp. "No!" she said. "Oh, no! +Not--like that!" + +His eyes pierced her with their appalling brightness. "No, not quite like +that," he said, with awful grimness. "There is a difference. An engaged +woman can cut the cable and be free without assistance. A married woman +needs a lover to help her!" + +She shrank afresh from the scorching cynicism of his words. "Dick!" she +said. "Have I asked for--freedom?" + +"You had better not ask!" he flashed back. "You have gone too far +already. I tell you, Juliet, when you gave yourself to me it was +irrevocable. There's no going back now. You have got to put up with +me--whatever the cost." + +"Ah!" she whispered. + +"Listen!" he said. "This thing is going to make no difference between +us--no difference whatever. You cared for me enough to marry me, and I am +the same man now that I was then. The man you have conjured up in your +own mind as the writer of those books is nothing to me--or to you now. I +am the man who wrote them--and you belong to me. And if you leave +me--well, I shall follow you--and bring you back." + +His lips closed implacably upon the words; he held her as though +challenging her to free herself. But Juliet neither moved nor spoke. She +stood absolutely passive in his hold, waiting in utter silence. + +He waited also, trying to read her face in the dimness, but seeing only a +pale still mask. + +At last: "You understand me?" he said. + +She bent her head. "Yes--I understand." + +He stood for a moment longer, then abruptly his hold tightened upon her. +She lifted her face then sharply, resisting him almost instinctively, and +in that instant his passion burst its bonds. He crushed her to him with +sudden mastery, and, so compelling, he kissed her hotly, possessively, +dominatingly, holding her lips with his own, till she strained against +him no longer, but hung, burning and quivering, at his mercy. + +Then at length very slowly he put her down into the chair from which she +had risen at his entrance, and released her. She leaned upon the table, +trembling, her hands covering her face. And he stood behind her, +breathing heavily, saying no word. + +So for a space they remained in darkness and silence, till the +brisk opening of the kitchen-door brought them back to the small +things of life. + +Dick moved. "Go upstairs!" he said, under his breath. + +She stirred and rose unsteadily. He put out a hand to help her. She did +not take it, did not seem even to see it. + +Gropingly, she turned to the door, went out slowly, still as if +feeling her way, reached the narrow stairs and went up them, clutching +at the rail. + +He followed her to the foot and stood there watching her. As she reached +the top he heard her sob. + +An impulse caught him to follow her, to take her again--but how +differently!--into his arms,--to soothe her, to comfort her, to win her +back to him. But sternly he put it from him. She had got to learn her +lesson, to realize her obligations,--she who talked so readily of leaving +him! And for what? + +A wave of hot blood rose to his forehead, and he clenched his hands. He +went back into the room, knowing that he could not trust himself. + +When Mrs. Rickett entered with a lamp a few moments later, he was +gathering up the litter of books and paper from the table, his face white +and sternly set. He gave her a brief word of greeting, and went across to +the school with his burden. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +COALS OF FIRE + + +It was nearly half-an-hour later that Mrs. Rickett ascended the stairs +and knocked at Juliet's door. + +"Supper's been in this long time," she called. "And Mr. Green's still +over at the school." + +There was a brief pause, then Juliet's quiet movement in the room. She +opened the door and met her on the threshold. + +"Why, you haven't got a light!" said Mrs. Rickett. "Is there anything the +matter, ma'am? Aren't you well?" + +"Yes, quite, thank you," Juliet said in her slow gentle voice. "I am +afraid I forgot the time. I will put on my hat before I come down." + +Mrs. Rickett's eyes regarded her shrewdly for a moment or two, then +looked away. "Shall I fetch you a candle?" she said. + +Juliet turned back into the room. "I have one, thank you. Perhaps you +wouldn't mind going to find Mr. Green while I dress." + +Mrs. Rickett hastened away, and Juliet lighted her candle and surveyed +herself for a second, standing motionless before the glass. + +Several minutes later she descended the stairs and went quietly into the +dining-room. She was wearing a large-brimmed hat that shadowed her face. + +Dick, standing by the mantelpiece, waiting for her, gave her a hard and +piercing look as she entered. + +"I am sorry I am late," she said. + +He moved abruptly as if somehow the conventional words had an edge. He +drew out a chair for her. "I am afraid there isn't a great deal of +time," he said. + +She sat down with a murmured word of thanks. He took his place, facing +her, very pale, but absolutely his own master. He served her silently, +and she made some pretence of eating, keeping her head bent, feeding +Columbus surreptitiously as he sat by her side. + +Her plate was empty when at length very resolutely she looked up and +spoke. "Dick, I want you to understand one thing. I did not open that +parcel of yours. It was open when it came." + +Instantly his eyes were upon her with merciless directness. "I gathered +that," he said. + +She met his look unflinchingly, but her next words came with an effort. +"Then you can't--with justice--blame me for surprising your secret." + +"I don't," he said. + +"And yet--" She made a slight gesture of remonstrance, as if the piercing +brightness of his eyes were more than she could bear. + +He pushed back his chair and rose. He came to her as she sat, bent over +her, his hand on her shoulder, and looked at her intently. + +"Juliet," he said, "I don't like you with that stuff on your face. It +isn't--you." + +She kept her face steadily upturned, enduring his look with no sign of +shrinking. "You are meeting--the real me--for the first +time--to-night," she said. + +His mouth curved cynically. "I think not. I have never worshipped at the +shrine of a painted goddess." + +Something rose in her throat and she put up a hand to hide it. "I doubt +if--Dene Strange--was ever capable of worshipping anything," she said. + +His hand closed upon her. "Does that mean that you hate him more than you +love me?" he said. + +A faint quiver crossed her face. She passed the question by. "Do you +remember--Cynthia Paramount--your heroine?" she said. "The woman you +dissected so cleverly--stripped to the naked soul--and exposed to public +ridicule? You were terribly merciless, weren't you, Dick? You didn't +expect--some day--to find yourself married--to that sort of woman." + +His face hardened. "In what way do you resemble her?" he said. "I have +never seen it yet." + +"Can't you see it--now?" she returned, lifting her face more fully to +the light. + +He was silent for several seconds, looking at her. Then very suddenly his +attitude changed. He knelt down by her side and spoke, urgently, +passionately. + +"Juliet--for God's sake--let us remember what we are to each other--and +put the rest away!" + +His arm encircled her. He would have drawn her close, but she held back +with a sharp sound that was almost a cry of pain. + +"Dick, wait--wait a moment! You don't know--don't understand! Ah, +wait--please wait! Take your arm away--just for a moment--please--just +for a moment! I have something to tell you, but I can't say it like this. +I can't--I can't! Ah! What is that?" + +She broke off, gasping, almost fighting for breath, as the sudden rush +and hoot of a car sounded at the gate. + +Dick got to his feet. His face was white. "Are you expecting +someone?" he said. + +She clasped her hands tightly upon her breast to still her agitation. +"No, I'm not expecting--anyone. But--but--someone--has come." + +"Evidently," said Dick. + +He turned towards the door, but in a moment she had sprung up, reaching +it before him. "Dick, if it is Saltash--" + +"Why should it be Saltash?" he said, with that in his voice that arrested +her as compelling as if he had laid a hand upon her. + +She faced him standing at the door, striving desperately for +self-control. "It may be Saltash," she said, speaking more quietly. "I +saw him this morning, and he knows about the concert to-night. Dick--" +she caught her breath involuntarily--"Dick, why do you look at me +like that?" + +He made a curious jerky movement--as if he strove against invisible +bonds. "So," he said, "you are expecting him!" + +She stiffened at his words. "I have told you I am expecting no one, but +that is no reason why Saltash should not come." + +For a second he looked at her with something that was near akin to +contempt in his eyes, then suddenly an awful flame leapt up in them +consuming all beside. He took a swift step forward, and caught her +between his hands. + +"Juliet!" he said sternly. "Stop this trifling! What are you hiding from +me? What is it you were trying to tell me just now?" + +She shrank from the fire of his look. "I can't tell you now, Dick. It's +impossible. Dick, you are hurting me!" + +He spoke between his teeth. "I've got to know! Tell me now!" + +Someone was knocking a careless tattoo upon the outer door. Juliet turned +her head sharply, but she kept her eyes upon her husband's face. + +"No, Dick," she said after a moment, and with the words something of her +customary quiet courage came back to her. "I can't--possibly--tell you +now. Do this one thing for me--wait till to-night!" + +"And then?" he said. + +"I promise that you shall know--everything--then," she said. +"Please--give me till then!" + +There was earnest entreaty in her voice, but she had subdued her +agitation. She met the scorching intensity of his look with eyes that +never wavered, and in spite of himself he was swayed by her +steadfastness. + +"Very well," he said, and set her free. "Till to-night!" + +She turned from him in silence and opened the door. He stood motionless, +with hands clenched at his sides, and watched her. + +She went down the passage without haste and reached the outer door. She +opened it without fumbling, and in a moment Saltash's debonair accents +came to him. + +"Ah, _Juliette_! You are ready? Has your good husband got back yet? Ah, +there you are, sir! I have called to offer you and _madame_ a lift. I am +going your way." + +He came sauntering up the passage with the royal assurance characteristic +of him, and held out his hand to Dick with malicious cordiality. + +"I come as a friend, Romeo. Do you know you're very late? Have you only +just got back?" + +Juliet's eyes were upon Dick. She saw his momentary hesitation before he +took the proffered hand. + +Saltash saw it also and grinned appreciatively. "Well, what news? What +did Yardley have to say?" + +"I didn't see him," Dick said briefly. + +"No? How was that?" + +Dick shrugged his shoulders. "Merely because he wasn't there. I can't +tell you why, for I don't know. I waited about all day--to no purpose." + +"Drew a blank!" commented Saltash. "No wonder you're feeling a bit +savage! What are you going to do now?" + +Dick faced him, grimly uncommunicative. "Oh, talk, I suppose. What else?" + +"And you're taking Juliet?" pursued Saltash. + +"Have you any objection?" said Dick sharply. + +"None," said Saltash smoothly. "She is your wife, not mine--perhaps +fortunately for her." He threw a gay glance at Juliet. "Are you ready, +_ma chère_? Come along, _mon ami_! It will amuse me to hear +you--talk." + +Juliet went upstairs to fetch her cloak, and Dick took his coat from the +peg in the hall, and began to put it on. Saltash watched him with +careless amiability. + +"Are you going to be there to-night then?" Dick asked him suddenly. + +"I am proposing to give myself that pleasure," he returned. "That is, of +course, if you on your part have no objection." + +Dick's black eyes surveyed him keenly. "I am quite capable of protecting +my wife single-handed," he said. "Not that there will be any need." + +Saltash executed a smiling bow. "I am delighted to hear you say so. Have +you got a cigarette to spare?" + +Dick took out his case and held it to him. Saltash helped himself, the +smile still twitching the corners of his mouth. + +"Thanks," he said lightly. "So you have no anxieties about to-night!" + +"None," said Dick. + +"You think the men will come to heel?" + +"They haven't broken away yet," Dick reminded him curtly. + +Saltash raised his eyes suddenly. "When they do--what then?" he said. + +"What do you mean?" said Dick. + +He laughed mischievously. "I suppose you know that you are credited with +being at their head?" + +Dick, in the act of striking a match, paused. He looked at the other man +with raised brows. "At their head?" he questioned. "What do you mean?" + +Without the smallest change of countenance Saltash enlightened him. "As +strike-leader, agitator, and so on. You have achieved an enviable +reputation by your philanthropy. Didn't you know?" + +Dick struck the match with an absolutely steady hand, and held it to his +cigarette. "I did not," he said. + +Saltash puffed at the cigarette, peering at him curiously through the +smoke. "Which may account for your failure to find Ivor Yardley," he +suggested after a moment. + +"In what way?" said Dick. + +Saltash straightened himself. "I imagine he is not a great believer +in--philanthropy," he said. + +Dick's eyes shone with an ominous glitter. "From my point of view these +insinuations are not worth considering," he said, "though no doubt it has +given you a vast amount of enjoyment to fabricate them." + +"I!" said Saltash. + +"You!" said Dick. + +There was a moment's silence, then Saltash began to laugh. "My dear chap, +you don't really think that! You'd like to--but you can't!" + +Dick looked at him, thin-lipped, uncompromising, silent. + +"You actually do?" questioned Saltash. "You really think I care a +twopenny damn what anybody thinks about you or anyone else under the sun? +I say, don't be an ass, Green, whatever else you are! It's too tiring for +all concerned. If you really want to know who is responsible--" + +"Well?" said Dick. + +"Well," Saltash sent a cloud of smoke upwards, "look a bit nearer home, +man! Haven't you got--a brother somewhere?" + +Dick gave a sudden start. "I have not!" he said sternly. + +Saltash nodded. "Ah! Well, I imagine Yardley knows him if you don't. He +is the traitor in the camp, and he's out to trip you if he can." He +laughed again with careless humour. "I don't know why I should give you +the tip. It is not my custom to heap coals of fire. Pray excuse them on +this occasion! I suppose you are quite determined to take _Juliette_ to +the meeting to-night?" + +"I am quite determined to go," said Juliet quietly, as she came down the +stairs. "Will you have anything, Charles? No? Then let us start! It is +getting late. You are driving yourself?" + +He threw open the door for her with a deep bow. "I always drive myself, +_Juliette_, and--I always get there," he said. + +Her faint laugh floated back to Dick as he followed them out. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FLIGHT + + +It was a dumb and sullen crowd that Dick Green faced that night in the +great barn on the slope of High Shale. + +A rough platform had been erected at one end of the place and this, with +the deal table and lamp and one or two chairs, was all that went to the +furnishing of his assembly-room. The men stood in a close crowd like +herded cattle, and the atmosphere of the place was heavy with the reek of +humanity and coarse tobacco-smoke. There was a door at each end, but the +night was still and dark and there was little air beyond the vague chill +of a creeping sea-mist. + +Dick, entering at the door at the platform end of the building instead of +passing straight up through the crowd as was his custom, was aware of a +curious influence at work from the first moment--an influence adverse if +not directly hostile that reached him he knew not how. He heard a vague +murmur as Juliet and Saltash followed him, and sharply he turned and drew +Juliet to his side. In that instant he realized that she was the only +woman in the place. + +He faced the crowd, his hand upon her arm. "Well, men," he said, his +words clean-cut and ready, "so you've left your wives behind, have +you? I on the contrary have brought mine, and she has promised to give +you a song." + +The mutter died. Some youths at the back started applause, which spread, +though somewhat half-heartedly, through the crowd, and for a space the +ugly feeling died down. + +"We'll get to business," said Dick, and took out his banjo. + +The concert began, Ashcott came up on to the platform and under cover of +Dick's jangling ragtime spoke in a low voice and urgently to Saltash. + +The latter heard him with a laugh and a careless grimace, but a little +later he leaned towards Juliet who sat behind the table and touched her +unobtrusively. She looked round at him almost with reluctance, and he +whispered to her in rapid French. + +She listened to him with raised brows, and then shook her head with a +smile. "No, of course not! I am going to sing to them directly. I am here +to help--not to make things worse." + +He shrugged his shoulders and said no more. In a few minutes Dick's +cheery banjo thrummed into silence and he turned round. + +"Are you ready?" he said to Juliet. + +She rose and came forward, tall and graceful, bearing the unmistakable +stamp of high-breeding in every delicate movement. She might have been on +the platform of a London concert-hall as she faced her audience under the +shadowing hat. + +They stared at her open-mouthed, spellbound, awed by the quiet dignity of +her. And in the hush that fell before her, Juliet began to sing. + +Her voice was low, highly trained, exquisitely soft. She sang an old +English ballad with a throbbing sweetness that held her hearers with its +charm. And behind her Dick leaned against the table with his banjo and +very softly accompanied her. + +His face was in shadow also as he bent over the instrument. Not once +throughout the song did he look up. + +When she ended, there came that involuntary pause which is the highest +tribute that can be paid by any audience, and then such a thunder of +applause as shook the building. Saltash stepped forward to hand her back +to her chair, but the men in front of her yelled so hoarse a protest +that, laughing, he retired. + +And Juliet sang again and again, thrilling the rough crowd as Dick had +never thrilled them, choosing such old-world melodies as reach the hearts +of all. Saltash watched her with keen appreciation on his ugly face. He +was an accomplished musician himself. But Dick with his banjo, though +he responded unerringly to every shade of feeling in the beautiful voice, +never raised his head. + +It was he who at last came forward and led Juliet back to her chair, but +by that time the temper of the men had completely changed. They shouted +good-humoured comments to him and bandied jokes among themselves. The +whole atmosphere of the place had altered. The heavy sullenness had +passed like a thunder-cloud, and Ashcott no longer smoked his pipe in the +doorway with an air of gloomy foreboding. + +Dick laid aside his banjo and came to the front of the platform. There +was absolute confidence in his bearing, a vital strength that imparted a +mastery that yet was largely compounded of comradeship. + +He began to speak without effort--as a man speaks to his friends. + +"I have something to say to you chaps," he said, "and I hope you will +hear me out fairly, even though it may not be the sort of thing you like +to listen to. I think you know that I care a good deal about your +welfare, and I am doing my level best to secure a decent future for you. +I haven't accomplished very much at present, but I'm sticking to it, +and I believe I shall win out some day. It won't be my fault if I don't, +and I hope it won't be yours. What?" as a murmur broke out in the +background. "Oh, shut up, please, till I've done, then if anyone wants to +talk he shall have his chance. It might be your fault if I failed +because I'm counting on you to back me up in a legal and orderly way. +And if you don't, well, I'm knocked out for good and all. For I'm no +strike-leader, and any man who strikes can go to blazes so far as I'm +concerned. I wouldn't lift a finger to stop him going or to get him out +when there; in fact it's the best place for him. No, boys, listen! Wait +till I've done! A strike is a deadly thing. It's like a spreading poison +in this country, and the beastly root of it is just selfishness. It +will choke the very life out of the nation if it isn't stopped. It's a +weapon that no self-respecting man should smirch his hands with. I know +very well there are heaps of reforms needed, heaps of abuses to be +stopped, but you don't cure evil with evil. You're only feeding the +monster that will devour you in the end, and you're feeding him with +human sacrifice moreover. Have you ever thought of that? And another +thing! Do you ever look ahead--right ahead--beyond your own personal +wants and grievances? Do you ever ask yourselves if strikes and violence +are going to bring forth justice and equity? Do you ever work the thing +out to its proper values--see it as it really is? This continual striving +for money, for power,--this overthrowing of all established control--do +you call it a fight for liberty by any chance? I tell you, men, that +it's a struggle for the most hideous slavery that ever disfigured this +earth. This perpetual fight for self will end in self-destruction. It +always does. It's the law of creation. The thing that strikes rebounds +upon the striker. The man who deliberately injures another injures +himself tenfold more seriously. Isn't there something in the Bible about +he who takes the sword perishes with the sword? That's justice--God's +justice--and there's no getting away from that. You can overthrow every +institution that was ever made, but you will never set up in its place a +Government that will bring again the order you have destroyed. You can +pull the Empire to pieces with dissensions and conspiracies, but--once +down--you will never build it up again. + +"Grievances? Yes, of course you have grievances--heaps of 'em. Who +hasn't. And you've a right to try for better conditions. But in heaven's +name, don't strike for them! Don't turn the whole world upside down +because you want something you can't get! Be sportsmen and play a decent +game! Stick to the rules and you may win! I tell you I'm fighting for +you--I'm fighting hard. And I shan't rest so long as I have a decent +crowd to fight for. But if you're going to follow the rotten example of +the fellows who sacrifice the whole community to their own beastly +greed--who strike like a herd of sheep because a few damned traitors urge +'em to it--who fling duty and honour to the winds on the chance of +grabbing a little worldly advantage--in short, if you're not going to +observe the rules of the game, I've done with the whole show. + +"That's the position, men, and I want you to get hold of it, see it as it +really is. Nothing on this earth worth having was ever gained by +disloyalty. Think it out for yourselves! Don't be led by the nose by a +parcel of agitators! Give the matter your own sane and deliberate +thought! Form your own conclusions! Throw off this tyranny of other men's +notions, and be free! If only every man in the kingdom would take this +line and think for himself instead of giving his blind allegiance to a +power that is out to ruin the nation, there would pretty soon be such a +strike against strikes as would kill 'em outright. They're a hindrance to +civilization and a curse to the world at large. They are selfishness +incarnate and a stumbling-block to all national progress. And if there's +any pride of race in you, any sense of an Englishman's honour, any desire +for the nation's welfare (which is at a pretty low ebb just now) join +with me and do your level best to cast out this evil thing!" + +He ended as he had begun with clear and spontaneous appeal to the higher +instincts of his hearers. He knew them well, knew their weakness and +their strength; and he knew his own power over them and wielded it with +unfailing confidence. + +The hard-breathing silence that succeeded his words dismayed him not +at all. He waited quite calmly for the question he had checked at +the outset. + +It came very gruffly from a burly miner immediately in front of him. +"It's all very well," the man said. "But how are we to get our rights any +other way?" + +"Oh, you'll get 'em all right," Dick made answer. "This isn't an age of +serfdom. You won't be downtrodden to that extent. You stick to your guns +and have a little patience! Things are not standing still. State your +grievances--if they're bad enough--and then give the owners a chance! But +don't forget that there's got to be give and take between you! If you +want fair play and consideration from the owners, you must give them the +same. Don't forget that you sink or swim together! If you ruin them you +ruin yourselves. Disloyalty means disruption, all the world over. So play +the game like men!" + +It was at this point that Ashcott touched him on the shoulder with a +muttered word that made him turn sharply. + +"What? Who?" + +"Mr. Ivor Yardley!" the manager muttered uneasily. "He's waiting to +speak to you--says he'll address the men if you'll allow him. Think +it's safe?" + +Dick frowned. "Of course it's safe! Where is he? Wait! I'll speak to him +first. I'll get my wife to sing again while I do it." He turned round to +Juliet sitting at the table behind him and bent to speak to her. "Can you +give them another song--to fill in time? I've got to speak to a man +outside." His eyes travelled swiftly on the words to the open doorway +where a tall man, wearing a motor-mask and a leather coat, stood waiting. + +Juliet's look followed his. She stood up quickly. "Dick! Who is it?" + +Something in her voice brought his eyes back to her in sudden close +scrutiny. For that instant he forgot the crowd of men and the need of +the moment, forgot the man who waited in the background whom he had +desired so urgently to see, forgot the whole world in the wide-eyed +terror of her look. + +Instinctively he stretched an arm behind her, but in the same moment +Saltash came swiftly forward to her other side, and it was Saltash who +spoke with the quick, intimate reassurance of the trusted friend. + +"It's all right, _Juliette_. I'm here to take care of you. Give them one +more song, won't you? Afterwards, if you've had enough of it, I'll take +you back." + +She turned her face towards him and away from Dick whose arm fell from +her unheeded; but her gaze did not leave the figure that stood waiting +in the dim doorway, upright, grim as Fate, watching her with eyes she +could not see. + +"Don't be afraid!" urged Saltash in his rapid whisper. "Anyhow, don't +show it! I'll see you through." + +"Are you ready?" said Dick on her other side. + +His voice was absolutely steady, but it fell with an icy ring, and a +great quiver went through her. She made a blind gesture towards Saltash, +and in an instant his hand gripped her elbow. + +"Can't you do it?" he said. "Are you going to drop out?" + +She recovered herself sharply, as though something in his words had +pierced her pride. The next moment very quietly she turned back to Dick. + +"I am quite ready," she said. + +He took her hand without a word, and led her forward. Someone raised +a cheer for her, and in a second a shout of applause thundered to +the rafters. + +Dick smiled a brief smile of gratitude, and lifted a hand for silence. +Then, as it fell, he stepped back. + +And Juliet stood alone before the rough crowd. + +Those who saw her in that moment never forgot her. Tall and slender, with +that unconsciously regal mien of hers that marked her with so indelible a +stamp, she stood and faced the men below her. But no song rose to her +lips, and those who were nearest to her thought that she was trembling. + +And then suddenly she began to speak in a full, quiet voice that +penetrated the deep hush with a bell-like clearness. + +"Men," she said, "it is very kind of you to cheer me, but you will never +do it again. I have something to tell you. I don't know in the least how +you will take it, but I hope you will manage to forgive me if you +possibly can. Mr. Green is your friend, and he knows nothing about it, so +you will acquit him of all blame. The deception is mine alone. I deceived +him, too. I know you all hate the Farringmores, and I daresay you have +reason. You have never spoken to any of them face to face, before, +because they haven't cared enough to come near you. But--you can do +so to-night if you wish. Men, I am--Lord Wilchester's sister. I +was--Joanna Farringmore." + +She ceased to speak with a little gesture of the hands that was quite +involuntary and oddly pathetic, but she did not turn away from her +audience. Throughout the deep silence that followed that amazing +confession she stood quite straight and still, waiting, her face to the +throng. A man was standing immediately behind her and she was aware of +him, knew without turning that it was Saltash; but the one being in all +the crowded place for whose voice or touch in that moment she would have +given all that she had neither spoke nor moved. And her brave heart died +within her. If he had only given some sign! + +A hoarse murmur broke out at the back of the great barn, spreading like +a wave on the sea. But ere it reached the men in front who stood +sullenly dumb, staring upwards, Saltash's hand closed upon Juliet's arm, +drawing her back. + +"After that, _ma chère_," he said lightly into her ear, "you would be +wise to follow the line of least resistance." + +She responded to his touch almost mechanically. The murmur was swelling +to a roar, but she scarcely heard it. She yielded to the hand that +guided, hardly knowing what she did. + +As Saltash led her to the back of the platform she had a glimpse of +Dick's face white as death, with lips hard-set and stern as she had never +seen them, and a glitter in his eyes that made her think of onyx. He +passed her by without a glance, going forward to quell the rising storm +as if she had not been there. + +The man in the leather coat was with him. He had taken off his mask, and +he paused before Juliet--a cynical smile playing about his face. It was +a face of iron mastery, of pitiless self-assertion. The eyes were as +points of steel. + +He bent towards her and spoke. "I thought I should find you sooner or +later, Lady Jo. I trust you have enjoyed your game--even if you have lost +your winnings!" + +She spoke no word in answer, but she made a slight, barely perceptible +movement towards the man whose hand upheld her. + +And Yardley laughed--an edged laugh that was inexpressibly cruel. + +"Oh, go to the devil!" said Saltash with sudden fire. "It's where +you belong!" + +Yardley's cold eyes gleamed with icy humour. "_Et tu, Brute_!" he said +with sneering lips. "I wish you--joy!" + +He passed on. Saltash's arm went round Juliet like a coiled spring. He +impelled her unresisting to the door. Her hand rested on his shoulder as +she stepped down from the platform. She went with him as one in a dream. + +The air smote chill as they left the heated atmosphere, and a great +shiver went through her. + +She stood still for a moment, listening. The tumult had died down. A +man's voice--Dick's voice--clear and very steady, was speaking. + +"Come away!" said Saltash in her ear. + +But yet she lingered in the darkness. "He will be safe?" she said. + +"Of course he will be safe! They treat him like a god. Come away!" + +His arm was urging her. She yielded, shivering. + +He hurried her up the slope to the place where he had left his car. It +stood at the side of the rough road that led to High Shale Point. + +They reached it. Juliet was gasping for breath. The sea-mist was like +rain in their faces. + +"Get in!" he said. + +She obeyed, sinking down with a vague thankfulness, conscious of +great weakness. + +But as he cranked the engine and she felt the throb of movement, she sat +up quickly. + +"Charles, what am I doing? Where are you taking me?" + +He came round to her and his hands clasped hers for a moment in a grip +that was warm and close. He did not speak at once. + +Then, lightly, "I don't know what you'll do afterwards, _ma Juliette_," +he said. "But you are coming with me now!" + +She caught her breath as if she would utter some protest, but something +checked her--perhaps it was the memory of Dick's face as she had last +seen it, stony, grimly averted, uncompromisingly stern. She gripped his +hands in answer, but she did not speak a word. + +And so they sped away together into the dark. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OUT OF THE NIGHT + + +It was very late that night, and the sea-mist had turned to a drifting +rain when the squire sitting reading in his library at the Court was +startled by a sudden tapping upon the window behind him. + +So unexpected was the sound in the absolute stillness that he started +with some violence and nearly knocked over the reading-lamp at his elbow. +Then sharply and frowning he arose. He reached the window and fumbled at +the blind; but failing to find the cord dragged it impatiently aside and +peered through the glass. + +"Who is it? What do you want?" + +A face he knew, but so drawn and deathly that for the moment it seemed +almost unfamiliar, peered back at him. In a second he had the window +unfastened and flung wide. + +"Dick! In heaven's name, boy,--what's the matter?" + +Dick was over the sill in a single bound. He stood up and faced the +squire, bare-headed, drenched with rain, his eyes burning with a +terrible fire. + +"I have come for my wife," he said. + +"Your wife! Juliet!" The squire stared at him as if he thought him +demented. "Why, she left ages ago, man,--soon after tea!" + +"Yes, yes, I know," Dick said. He spoke rapidly, but with decision. "But +she came back here an hour or two ago. You are giving her shelter. +Saltash brought her--or no--she probably came alone." + +"You are mad!" said Fielding, and turned to shut the window. "She hasn't +been near since she left this evening." + +"Wait!" Dick's hand shot out and caught his arm, restraining him. "Do you +swear to me that you don't know where she is?" + +The squire stood still, looking full and hard into the face so near his +own; and so looking, he realized, what he had not grasped before, that it +was the face of a man in torture. The savage grip on his arm told the +same story. The fiery eyes that stared at him out of the death-white +countenance had the awful look of a man who sees his last hope shattered. + +Impulsively he laid his free hand upon him. "Dick--Dick, old +chap,--what's all this? Of course I don't know where she is! Do you think +I'd lie to you?" + +"Then I've lost her!" Dick said, and with the words some inner vital +spring seemed to snap within him. He flung up; his arms, freeing himself +with a wild gesture. "My God, she has gone--gone with that scoundrel!" + +"Saltash?" said the squire sharply. + +"Yes. Saltash!" He ground the name between his teeth. "Does that surprise +you so very much? Don't you know the sort of infernal blackguard he is?" + +The squire turned again to shut the window. "Damn it, Dick! I don't +believe a word of it," he said with vigour. "Get your wind and have a +drink, and let's hear the whole story! Have you and Juliet been +quarrelling?" + +Dick ignored his words as if he had not spoken. "You needn't shut the +window," he said. "I'm going again. I'm going now." + +It was the squire's turn to assert himself, and he seized it. He shut the +window with a bang. "You are not, Dick! Don't be a fool! Sit down! Do +you hear? Sit down! You're not going yet--not till you've told me the +whole trouble. So you can make up your mind to that!" + +Dick looked at him for a moment as if he were on the verge of fierce +resistance, but Fielding's answering look held such unmistakable +resolution that after the briefest pause he turned aside. + +"I'm sorry, sir," he said, and tramped heavily across to the hearth. "Put +up with me if you can! God knows I'm up against it hard enough to-night." + +He rested his arms on the mantelpiece and laid his head down upon them, +and so stood motionless, in utter silence. + +The squire came to him in a few seconds with a glass in his hand. "Here +you are, Dick! This is what you're wanting. Swallow it before you talk +any more!" + +Dick reached out in silence and took the glass. Then he stood up and +drank, keeping his face averted. + +Fielding waited till at last, without turning, he spoke. "I've always +known it might come to this, but I never realized why. I suppose anyone +but a blind fool would have seen through it long ago." + +"What are you talking about?" said the squire. "I'm utterly in the dark, +remember." + +Dick's hands were clenched. "I'm talking of Juliet and--Saltash. I've +always known there was some sort of understanding between them. He +flaunted it in my face whenever we met. But I trusted her--I trusted +her." The words were like a muffled cry rising from the depths of the +man's wrung soul. + +"Sit down!" said the squire gruffly, and taking him by the shoulders +pushed him into the chair from which he himself had so lately risen. + +Dick yielded, with the submission of utter despair, his black head bowed +against the table. + +Fielding stooped over him, still holding him. "Now, boy, now! Don't let +yourself go! Tell me--try and tell me!" + +Dick drew a hard breath. "You'll think I'm mad, sir. I thought I was +myself at first. But it's true--it must be true. I heard it from her own +lips. Juliet--my wife--my wife--is--was--Lady Joanna Farringmore!" + +"Great heavens!" said the squire. "Dick, are you sure?" + +"Yes, quite sure. She was caught--caught by Yardley at the meeting +to-night. She couldn't escape--so she told the truth--told the whole +crowd--and then bolted--bolted with Saltash." + +"Great heavens!" said the squire again. "But--what was Saltash +doing there?" + +"Oh, he came to protect her. He knew--or guessed--there was something +in the wind. He came to support her. I know now. He's the subtlest devil +that ever was made." + +"But why on earth--why on earth did she ever come here?" +questioned Fielding. + +"She was hiding from Yardley of course. He's a cold vindictive brute, +and I suppose--I suppose she was afraid of him, and came to me--came to +me--for refuge." Dick was speaking through his hands. "That's how he +regards it himself. She was always playing fast and loose till she got +engaged to him. It was just the fashion in that set. But he--I imagine +no one ever played with him before. He swears--swears he'll make her +suffer for it yet." + +"Pooh!" said Fielding. "How does he propose to do that? She's your +wife anyhow." + +"My wife--yes." Slowly Dick raised his head, stared for a space in front +of him, then grimly rose. "My wife--as you say, sir. And I am going to +find her--now." + +"I'm coming with you," said Fielding. + +"No, sir, no!" Dick looked at him with a tight-lipped smile that was +somehow terrible. "Don't do that! You won't want to be--a witness +against me." + +"Pooh!" said the squire again. "I may be of use to you before it comes to +that. But before we start let me tell you one thing, Dick! She married +you because she loved you--for no other reason." + +A sharp spasm contracted Dick's hard features; he set his lips and +said nothing. + +"That's the truth," the squire proceeded, watching him. "And you know it. +She might have bolted with Saltash before if she had wanted to. She had +ample opportunity." + +Dick's hands clenched at his sides, but still he said nothing. + +"She loved you," the squire said again. "Lady Jo--or no Lady Jo--she +loved you. It wasn't make-believe. She was fairly caught--against her +will possibly--but still caught. She's run away from you now--run away +with another man--because she couldn't stay and face you. Is that +convincing proof, do you think, that she has ceased to love you? It +wouldn't convince me." + +Dick's clenched hands were beating impotently against his sides. +"I--can't say, sir," he said, between his set teeth. + +The squire moved impulsively, laid a hand on his shoulder. "Dick, I've +seen a good deal--suffered a good deal--in my time; enough to know the +real thing when I see it. She's loved you as long as she's known you, +and it's been the same with you. You're not going to deny that? You +can't deny it!" + +Dick made a quick gesture of protest. For a moment the tortured soul +of the man looked out of his eyes. "Does that make it any better?" he +said harshly. + +"In my opinion, yes." Fielding spoke with decision. "She may have taken +refuge with Saltash, but that doesn't prove anything--except that the +poor girl had no one else to turn to. You had failed her--or anyhow you +didn't offer to stand by." + +"I couldn't!" The words came jerkily, as if wrung from him by main +force. "For one thing--the men were out of hand, and it was as much as +I could do to hold them. She told them, I tell you--stood up and told +them straight out--who she was. And they loathe the whole crowd. It +was madness." + +"Pretty sublime madness!" commented the squire. "And then Saltash took +her away. Was that it?" + +"Yes." Dick spoke with intense bitterness. "It was the chance he was +waiting for. Of course he seized it. Any blackguard would." + +"But you thought she might have come here?" pursued the squire. + +"I thought it possible, yes. I told Yardley it was so. He of course +sneered at the bare idea. I nearly choked him for it. But I might have +known he was right. She wouldn't risk--my following her. She wanted to +be--free." + +"Why? Is she afraid of you then?" Fielding's voice was stern. + +Dick threw up his head with the action of a goaded animal. "Yes." + +"Then you've given her some reason?" + +"Yes. I have given her reason!" Fiercely he flung the words. "You want to +know--you shall know! This evening she found out something about me which +even you don't know yet--something that made her hate me. I was going to +tell her some day, but the time hadn't come. She said if she had known of +it she would never have married me. I didn't realize then--how could +I?--how hard it hit her. And I made her understand that having married +me--it was irrevocable. That was why she ran away with Saltash. She +didn't--trust me--any longer." + +"But, my good fellow, what in heaven's name is this awful thing that even +I don't know?" demanded the squire. "Don't tell me there has ever been +any damn trouble with another woman!" + +"No--no!" Dick broke into a laugh that was inexpressibly painful to hear. +"There has never been any other woman for me. What do I care for women? +Do you think because I've made a blasted fool of myself over one woman +that I--" + +"Shut up, Dick!" Curtly the squire checked him. "You're not to say +it--even to me. Tell me this other thing about yourself--the thing I +don't know!" + +"Oh, that! That's nothing, sir, nothing--at least you won't think it so. +It's only that during the past few years some books have been published +by one named Dene Strange that have attracted attention in certain +quarters." + +"I've read 'em all," said the squire. "Well?" + +"I wrote them," said Dick; "that's all." + +"You!" Fielding stared. "You, Dick!" + +"Yes, I. I meant to have told you, but so long as my boy lived, my job +seemed to be here, so I kept it to myself. And then--when she came--she +told me she hated the man who wrote those books for being cynical--and +merciless. So I wrote another to make her change her mind about me before +she knew. It is only just published. And she found out before she read +it. That's all," Dick said again with the shadow of a smile. "She found +out this evening. It was a shock to her--naturally. It's been a +succession of obstacles all through--a perpetual struggle against odds. +Well, it's over. At least we know what we're up against now. There will +be no more illusions of any sort from to-day on." He paused, stood a +moment as if bracing himself, then turned. "Well, I'm going, sir. Come if +you really must, but--I don't advise it." + +"I am coming," said the squire briefly. His hand went from Dick's +shoulder to his arm and gave it a hard squeeze. "Confound you! What do +you take me for?" he said. + +Dick's hand came swiftly to his. "I take you for the best friend a man +ever had, sir," he said. + +"Pooh!" said the squire. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FREE PARDON + + +Ten minutes later they went down the dripping avenue in the squire's +little car. The drifting fog made an inky blackness of the night, and +progress was very slow under the trees. + +"We should be quicker walking," said Dick impatiently. + +"It'll be better when we reach the open road," said Fielding, frowning at +the darkness. + +The light at the lodge-gates flung a wide glare through the mist, and +he steered for it with more assurance. They passed through and turned +into the road. + +And here the squire pulled up with a jerk, for immediately in front of +them another light shone. + +"What the devil is that, Dick?" + +"It's another car," said Dick and jumped out. "Hullo, there! Anything the +matter?" he called. + +"Damnation, yes!" answered a voice. "I've run into this infernal wall and +damaged my radiator. Lost my mascot, too, damn it! Sort of thing that +always happens when you're in a hurry." + +"Who is it?" said Dick sharply. + +He was standing almost touching the car, but he could not see the speaker +who seemed to be bent and hunting for something on the ground. + +A sound that was curiously like a chuckle answered him out of the +darkness, but no reply came in words. + +Dick stood motionless. "Saltash!" he said incredulously. "Is it Saltash?" + +"Why shouldn't it be Saltash?" said a voice that laughed. "Thank you, +Romeo? Come and help me out of this damn fix! Oh, I'm fed up with +playing benevolent fool. It gives me indigestion. Curse this fog! +Afraid I've knocked a few chips off your beastly wall. Ah! Here's the +mascot! Now perhaps my infernal luck will turn! What are you keeping so +quiet about? Aren't you pleased to see me? Not that you can--but +that's a detail." + +"Are you--alone?" Dick said, an odd tremor in his voice. + +"Of course I'm alone! What did you expect? No, no, my Romeo, I may be a +fool, but I'm not quite such a three-times-distilled imbecile as that +amounts to. Have you got a gun there?" + +"No!" Dick's voice sounded half-strangled, as though he fought against +some oppression that threatened to overwhelm him. "What have you come +back for? Tell me that!" + +"I'll tell you anything you like," said Saltash generously; "including +what I think of you, if you will help me to shove this thing into a more +convenient locality and then take me in and give me a drink." + +"You'd better get the car up the drive here," came Fielding's voice out +of the darkness. "You can see more or less what you're doing under the +lamp. Wait while I get my own out of the way!" + +"Excellent!" said Saltash. "I'm immensely grateful to you, sir, for not +smashing me up. What, Romeo? Did I hear you say you wished he had? I +didn't? Then I must have sensed battle, murder and sudden death in +your silence." + +But whatever Dick's silence expressed he refused stubbornly to break it. +When the squire had manoeuvred his car out of the way, he lent his help +to pushing Saltash's across the road and up the drive into safety, but he +did not utter a single word throughout the performance. + +"A thousand thanks!" gibed Saltash. "Now for the great reckoning! I say, +you will give me a drink, won't you, before you send me to my account? +The villain always has a drink first. He's entitled to that, at least." + +Again Fielding's voice came through Dick's silence. "Yes, come up to the +schoolhouse!" he said. "We can't talk here. Have you got the key, Dick? +Ah, that's right." + +He found Dick and thrust a hand through his arm, leading him, stiffly +unresponsive, across the road. + +At the gate Dick stopped and spoke. "Let him go in front!" he said. + +"With pleasure," laughed Saltash. "I'm lucky to have met you here. I was +wondering how I should manage to break in." + +He went up the path before them with his careless tread, and waited +whistling while Dick opened the door. + +The lamp in the little hall was burning low, but it shone upon his ugly +face as he entered, and showed him the only one of the three who felt at +ease. With royal assurance he turned to Dick. + +"Well? Have you got a table and pistols for two? Great Scott, man! You +look like a death-mask! Come along and let's get it over! Then perhaps +you'll feel better." + +Dick stood upright by Fielding's side, listening to the taunting words +with a face that was indeed like a death-mask--save for the eyes that +glowed vividly, terribly, with something of a tigerish glare. + +He spoke at last with deadly quietness through lips that did not seem to +move. "Where have you taken my wife?" + +"Oh, she's quite safe," said Saltash; and smiled with a fox-like flash +of teeth. "I am taking every care of her. You need have no anxiety +about that." + +"I asked--where you had taken her," Dick said, his words low and +distinct, wholly without emotion. + +Saltash's odd eyes began to gleam. "I heard you, _mon ami_. But since the +lady is under my protection at the present moment, I am not prepared to +answer that question off-hand--or even at all, until I am satisfied as to +the kindness--or otherwise--of your intentions. When I give my protection +to anyone--I give it." + +"Is that what you came back to say?" said Dick, still without stirring +hand or feature. + +"By no means," said Saltash airily. "I didn't come to see you at all. I +came--to fetch Columbus!" + +He turned with the words, hearing a low whine at the door behind him, and +opening it released the dog who ran out with eager searching. Saltash +stooped to fondle him. + +Something that was like an electric thrill went through Dick. He took a +sudden step forward. + +"Damn you!" he said, and gripped Saltash by the collar. "Tell me where +she is! Do you hear? Tell me!" + +Saltash straightened himself with a lightning movement. They looked into +each other's eyes for several tense seconds. Then, though no word has +passed between them, Dick's hand fell. + +"That's better," said Saltash. "You're getting quite civil. Look here, my +bully boy! I'll tell you something--and you'd better listen carefully, +for there's a hidden meaning to it. You're the biggest ass that ever +trod this earth. There!" + +He put up a hand to his crumpled collar and straightened it, still with +his eyes upon Dick's face. + +"Got that?" he asked abruptly. "Well, then, I'll tell you something else. +I've got a revolver in my pocket. I put it there in case the miners +needed any persuasion, but you shall have it to shoot me with--and no +doubt Mr. Fielding will kindly turn his back while you do it--if you +will answer--honestly--one question I should like to put to you first. +Is it a deal?" + +Dick was breathing quickly. He stood close to Saltash, urged by a deadly +enmity and still on the verge of violence, but restrained by something +about the other man's attitude that he could not have defined. + +"Well?" he said curtly at length. "What do you want to know?" + +Saltash's lips twisted in a faintly sardonic smile. "Just one thing," he +said. "Don't speak in a hurry, for a good deal depends upon it! If some +kind friend--like myself for instance--had come to you, say, the night +before your wedding and told you that you were about to marry Lady Jo +Farringmore, would you have gone ahead with it--or not?" + +He asked the question with a certain wariness, as a player who stakes +more on a move than he would care to lose. The glint of the gambler shone +in his curious eyes. His right hand was thrust into his pocket. + +Fielding was watching that right hand narrowly, but Dick's look, grim and +unwavering, never left his opponent's face. + +"Why do you want to know?" he demanded. + +Saltash's smile deepened, became a grimace, and vanished. + +"I will tell you when you have answered me," he said. "But whatever you +say will be used against you,--mind that!" + +"What do you mean?" Dick said. + +"Never mind what I mean! Just answer me! Answer me now! Would you have +married her under those circumstances? Or would you--have thrown her +over--to me?" + +Dick's eyes blazed. "You damn blackguard! Of course I should have +married her!" + +"You are sure of that?" Saltash said. + +"Damn you--yes!" With terrific force Dick answered him. He stood like an +animal ready to spring, goaded to the end of his endurance, yet +waiting--waiting for something, he knew not what. + +If Saltash had smiled then he would have been upon him in an instant. But +Saltash did not smile. He knew the exact value of the situation, and he +handled it with a sure touch. With absolute gravity he took his hand from +his pocket. + +Fielding took a swift step forward, but with an odd twist of the +brows Saltash reassured him. He held out a revolver to Dick on the +palm of his hand. + +"Here you are!" he said. "It's fully loaded. If you want to shoot a +friend, you'll never have a better chance. Mr. Fielding, will you kindly +look the other way?" + +Dead silence followed his words. The lamplight flickered on Dick's face, +throwing into strong relief every set grim feature. His lips were tightly +compressed--a single straight line across his stern face. His eyes never +varied; they were almost unbearably bright. They held Saltash's with a +tensity of purpose that was greater than any display of physical force. +It was as if the two were locked in silent combat. + +It lasted for many seconds, that mute and motionless duel, then very +suddenly from a wholly unexpected quarter there came an interruption. +Columbus, sensing trouble, pushed his stout person between the two men +and leapt whining upon Dick, pawing at him imploringly with almost +human entreaty. + +It put an end to the tension. Dick looked down involuntarily and meeting +the dog's beseeching eyes, relaxed in spite of himself. Saltash uttered a +curt laugh and returned the revolver to his pocket. + +"That settles that," he observed. "Columbus, my acknowledgments--though I +am quite well aware that your eloquent appeal is not made on my behalf! +You know what the little beggar is asking for, don't you?" + +Dick laid a soothing hand on the grizzled head. "All right, +Columbus!" he said. + +Saltash's smile leapt out again. "Oh, it's all right, is it? I am to have +a free pardon then for boosting you over your last fence?" + +Again Dick's eyes came to him, and a very faint, remote smile shone in +them for an instant in answer. Then, very steadily, without a word, he +held out his hand. + +Saltash's came to meet it. They looked each other again in the eyes--but +with a difference. Then Saltash began to laugh. + +"Go to her, my cavalier! You'll find her--waiting--on the _Night Moth_." + +"Waiting?" Dick said. + +"For Columbus," said Saltash with his most derisive grin, and tossed +Dick's hand away. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST FENCE + + +A chill breeze sprang up in the dark of the early morning and blew the +drifting fog away. The stars came out one by one till the whole sky shone +and quivered as if it had been pricked by a million glittering +spear-points. The tide turned with a swelling sound that was like a vast +harmony, formless, without melody, immense. And in the state-cabin of the +_Night Moth_, the woman who had knelt for hours by the velvet couch +lifted her face to the open port-hole and shivered. + +She had cast her hat down beside her, and the cold night-wind that yet +had a faint hint of the dawn in it ruffled the soft hair about her +temples. Her face was dead-white, drawn with unspeakable weariness, with +piteous lines about the eyes that only long watching can bring. She +looked hopeless, beaten. + +The shaded light that gleamed down upon her from the cabin-roof seemed +somehow to hurt her, for after a second or two she leaned to one side +without rising from her knees and switched it off. Then with her hands +tightly clasped, she gazed out over the dim, starlit sea. The mystery of +it, the calm, the purity, closed round her like a dream. She gazed forth +into the great waste of rippling waters, her chin upon her hands. + +Softly the yacht lifted and sank again to the gentle swell. The wild +waves of a few hours before had sunk away. It was a world at peace. But +there was no peace in the eyes that dwelt upon that wonderful night +scene. They were still with the stillness of despair. + +The cold air blew round her and again she shivered as one chilled to the +heart, but she made no move to pick up the cloak that had fallen from her +shoulders. She only knelt there with her face to the sea, staring out in +dumb misery as one in whom all hope is quenched. + +From somewhere on shore there came the sound of a clock striking the hour +in clear bell-like notes. One, two, three! And then silence, with the +murmur and splash of the rising tide spreading all around. + +And then suddenly out of the utter quietness there came a sound--the +scuttle of scampering feet and an eager whining at the door behind +her. It stabbed like a needle through her lethargy. In a moment she +was on her feet. + +The door burst in upon her as she opened it, and immediately she was +sprung upon and almost borne backwards by the wriggling, ecstatic figure +of Columbus. He flung himself into her arms with yelps of extravagant +joy, as if they had been parted for months instead of hours, and when, +somewhat overwhelmed with this onslaught, she sat down with him on the +couch, he scrambled all over her, licking wildly whatever part of her his +tongue could reach. + +It took some time for his rapturous greetings to subside, but finally he +dropped upon the couch beside her, pressed to her, temporarily exhausted, +but still wriggling spasmodically whenever her hand moved upon him. And +then Juliet, for some odd reason that she could not have explained, found +herself crying in the darkness as she had not cried all through that +night of anguish. + +Columbus was deeply concerned. He crept closer to her, pawed at her +gently, stood up and licked her hair. But she wept on helplessly for many +seconds with her hands over her face. + +It was Columbus who told her by a sudden change of attitude that someone +had entered at the open door and was standing close to her in the dark. +She started upright very swiftly as the dog jumped down to welcome the +intruder. Vaguely through the dimness she saw a figure and leapt to her +feet, her hands tight clasped upon her racing heart. + +"Charles! Why have you come here?" + +There was an instant of stillness, then a swift movement and a man's arms +caught her as she stood and she was a prisoner. + +She made a wild struggle for freedom. "No--no!" she panted. "Let me go!" + +But he held her fast,--so fast that she gasped and gasped for +breath,--saying no word, only holding her, till suddenly she cried out +sharply and her resistance broke. + +She hid her face against him. "You!" she said. "You!" + +He held her yet in silence for a space, and through the silence she heard +the beat of his heart; quick and hard, as if he had been running a race. +Then over her bowed head he spoke, his voice deep, vibrant, seeming to +hold back some inner leaping force. + +"Didn't I tell you I should follow you--and bring you back?" + +She shrank at his words. "I can't come--I can't come!" she said. + +"You will come, Juliet," he said quietly. + +"No--no!" She lifted her head in sudden passionate protest. "Not to +be tortured! I can't face it! Before God I would rather--I would +rather--die!" + +He answered her with flame that leaped to hers. "And don't you think I +would rather die than let you go?" + +"Ah!" she said, and no more; for the fierce possession of his hold +checked all remonstrance. + +She sought to hide her face again, but he would not suffer it, and in the +end with an anguished sound she ceased to battle with him and sank down +in utter weakness in his hold. + +He lifted her then, but he did not kiss her. He found the sofa and +laid her down upon it. Then she heard him feeling along the wall for +the switch. + +She reached out a quivering hand and pressed it, then as the light glowed +she turned from him, covering her eyes from his look. He stood for a few +seconds gazing down at her, almost as if at a loss. + +And while he so stood, there arose a sudden deep throbbing that mingled +with the splash of water, and the yacht ceased to rise and fall and +thrilled into movement. + +Juliet gave a great start. "Dick! What are they doing? Oh, stop +them--stop them!" + +He stooped and caught her outflung hands. His eyes looked deeply into +hers. "They are obeying--my orders," he said. + +"Yours?" She gazed up at him incredulously, shivering all over as if +in an ague. + +His face told her nothing. It was implacable, granite-like, save for +the eyes, and from those she shrank uncontrollably as though they +pierced her. + +"Yes, mine," he said sombrely. "I have--something to teach you, +Juliet--something that you can only learn--alone with me. And till you +have learnt it, there will be no going back." + +She bent her head to avoid the unwavering directness of his look. +"You--are going to hurt me--punish me," she said under her breath. + +His hands still held hers, and strangely there was something sustaining +as well as relentless in their grasp. + +"It may hurt you," he said. "I don't feel I know you well enough to +judge. As to punishing you--" he paused a moment--"well, I think you have +punished yourself enough already." + +Again a great tremor went through her,--a tremor that ended in a sob. She +bent her head a little lower to hide her tears. But they fell upon his +hands and she could not check them. Her throat worked convulsively, +resisting all her efforts and self-control. She became suddenly blinded +and overwhelmed by bitter weeping. + +"Ah, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and went down on his knees before her, +folding her closely, closely to his breast.... + +It seemed to her a very long time later that she found herself lying +exhausted against the sofa-cushions, feeling his arm still about her and +poignantly conscious of his touch. His other hand was pressed upon her +forehead, and her tears had ceased. She could not remember that he had +spoken a single word since he had taken her into his arms, neither had he +kissed her, but all her fear of him was gone. + +Through the open port-hole there came to her the swish of water, and she +heard the throb and roar of the engines like the sound of a distant train +in a tunnel. Moved by a deep impulse that came straight from her soul, +she took the hand that lay upon her brow and drew it downwards first to +her lips, holding it there with closed eyes while she kissed it, then +softly to her heart while she turned her eyes to his. + +"Oh, Dick," she said, "are you sure--are you quite sure--that--that--I am +worth keeping?" + +"I am quite sure I am going to keep you," he answered very steadily. + +Her two hands closed fast upon his. "Not--not as a prisoner?" she +whispered, wanly smiling. + +"Yes, a prisoner," he said, not without a certain grimness, "that is, +until you have learnt your lesson." + +"What lesson?" she asked him wonderingly. + +"That you can't do without me," he said, a note of challenge in +his voice. + +Something in his look hurt her. She freed one hand and laid it +pleadingly, caressingly, against his neck. "Oh, Dicky," she said, "try to +understand!" + +His face changed a little, and she thought his mouth quivered ever so +slightly as he said. "It's now or never, Juliet. If I don't come to a +perfect understanding with you to-night, we shall be strangers for the +rest of our lives." + +She shivered at the finality of his words, but they gave her light. "I +have hurt you--horribly!" she said. + +He was silent. + +She pressed herself to him with a sudden passionate gesture. "Dick--my +husband--will you forgive me--can you forgive me--before you +understand?" + +Her eyes implored him, yet just for a second he hesitated. Then very +swiftly he gathered her closely, closely against his heart, and kissed +her pleading, upturned face over and over. "Yes!" he said. "Yes!" + +She clung to him with all her quivering strength. "I love you, +darling! I love you,--only--only--you!" she whispered brokenly. +"You believe that?" + +"Yes," he said again between his kisses. + +"And if I tried to do without you it was only because--only because--I +loved you so," she faltered on. "Your anger is just--the end of the +world for me, Dick. I can't face it. It tears my very self." + +"My darling! My own love!" he said. + +"And then--and then--I had such an awful doubt of you, Dicky. I thought +your love was dead, and I thought--and I thought I couldn't hope to +hold you--after that. I'd got to free you somehow. Oh, Dicky, what agony +love can be!" + +"Hush, darling, hush!" he said. + +She lay in his arms, her eyes looking straight up to his. "I never meant +to do it, dear,--never meant to win your love in the first place. I +always knew I wasn't worthy of it. I think I told you so. Dicky, listen! +I've had a horrid life. My mother was divorced when Muff and I were +youngsters at school. My father died only a year after, and no one ever +cared what happened to us after that. We had an aunt--Lady Beatrice +Farringmore--and she launched me in society when I left school. But she +never cared--she never cared. She was far too busy with her own concerns. +I just went with the crowd and pleased myself. No one ever took anything +seriously in our set. It was just a mad rush of gaiety from morning till +night. We were like a lot of empty-headed, mischievous children, horribly +selfish of course, but not meaning any harm--at least not most of us. +Everyone had a nickname. It was the fashion. It was Saltash who first +called me Juliet. He said I was so tragically in earnest--which was +really not true in those days. And I called him Charles Rex." + +She paused, for Dick's arms had tightened about her. + +"Go on!" he said, in a low voice. "I suppose he--made love to you, did +he?" + +"Everyone did that," she said. "He was just a specimen of the +rest--except that I always somehow knew he had more heart. It was just a +game with us all. It used to frighten me rather at first till--till I got +used to it. When I was quite young I had rather a bitter lesson. I began +to care for a man who I thought was in earnest, and I found he wasn't. +After that, I never needed another. I played the game with the rest. +Sometimes I hurt people, but I didn't care. I always said it was their +fault for being taken in." + +"That doesn't sound like you," he said. + +"That was me," she returned, with a touch of recklessness, "till I read +that first book of yours--_The Valley of Dry Bones_. That brought me up +short. It shocked me horribly. You cut very deep, Dicky. I'm carrying the +scars still." + +He bent without words and set his lips to her forehead, keeping them +there in mute caress while she went on. + +"I had just begun to play with Ivor Yardley. He was my latest catch, +and--I was rather proud of him. He didn't trouble to pursue many women. +And then--after reading that book--I felt so evil, so unspeakably +ashamed, that, when I knew he was really in earnest, I didn't throw him +off like the rest. I accepted him." + +She shuddered suddenly and twined her arm about her husband's neck. + +"Dicky, I--went through hell--after that. I tried--I tried very +hard--to be honourable--to keep my word. But--when the time drew +near--I simply couldn't. He always knew--he must have known--I didn't +love him. But he just wanted me, and he didn't care. And so--almost at +the last moment--I let him down--I ran away. And, oh, Dicky, the peace +of this place after all that misery and turmoil! You can't imagine what +it was like. It was heaven. And I thought--I thought it was going to be +quite easy to be good!" + +"And then I came and upset it all," murmured Dick, with his lips +against her hair. + +Her hold tightened. "It's been one perpetual struggle against appalling +odds ever since," she said. "If it hadn't been for--Robin--I should never +have married you." + +"Yes, you would," he said quietly. "That was meant. I've realized +that since." + +"I am not sure," she said. "If you hadn't been so miserable, I should +have told you the truth. You wouldn't have married me then." + +"Yes, I should," he said. + +She drew a little away to look into his face. "Dick, are you sure of +that?" + +"I am quite sure," he said, and faintly smiled. "It's just because I am +sure, that I am with you now--instead of Saltash. It was his own test." + +Her eyes met his unflinching. "Dick, you believe that Saltash and I are +just--friends?" + +"I believe it," he said. + +"And you are not angry with him?" + +"No." He spoke with slight effort. "I am--grateful to him." + +"But you don't like him?" she said. + +He hesitated momentarily. "Do you?" + +"Yes, of course." Her brows contracted a little. "I can't help it. I +always have," she said rather wistfully. + +He bent abruptly and kissed them. "All right, darling. So do I," he said. + +She smiled at him, clinging closely. "Dicky, that's the most generous +thing you ever did!" + +"Oh, I can afford to be generous," he said, "now that I know your secrets +and you know mine. Will you tell me something else now, Juliet?" + +"Yes, dear," she whispered. + +He laid his cheek against hers. "I was going to tell you my secret +when you had read that last book of mine. When were you going to tell +me yours?" + +"Oh, Dicky!" she said in some confusion, and hid her face against his +neck. + +"No, tell me!" he said. "I want to know." + +But Juliet only clung a little faster to him and buried her face a +little deeper. + +"Weren't you ever going to tell me?" he said, after a moment. + +"Oh, yes--some time," she murmured from his breast. + +"Well, when?" he persisted. "Just--any time?" + +"No, dear, of course not!" A muffled sound that was half-sob and +half-laugh came with the words. + +Dick waited for a space, and then very gently began to feel for the +hidden face. She tried to resist him, then, finding he would not be +resisted, she took his hand and pressed it over her eyes, holding it as a +shield between them. + +"Won't you tell me?" he said. + +She trembled a little in his hold. "That--that--is another secret, +Dicky," she said very softly. + +"Mayn't I--share it, sweetheart?" he said. + +She uncovered her eyes with a little tremulous laugh, and lifted them to +his. "Oh, I'm a coward, Dicky, a horrid coward. I thought--I thought I +would tell you everything when--when you were holding your son in your +arms. I thought you would have to--forgive me then." + +"Oh, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and tried to smile in answer, but +could not. His lips quivered suddenly, and he laid his head down upon +her breast. + +And so, with her arms around him and the warm throbbing of her heart +against his face, he came to the perfect understanding. + +They saw the morning break through a silver mist, standing side by side +on deck with the water sweeping snow-white from their keel. + +Juliet, within the circle of her husband's arm, looked up and broke the +silence with a sigh and a smile. + +"Good morning, Romeo! And now that I've learnt my lesson, hadn't we +better be going home?" + +He kissed her, and drew her cloak more closely round her. "Do you want to +go home?" he said. + +She looked at him with a whimsical frown. "Well, I think I am at home +wherever you are. But you are such a busy man. You can't be spared." + +"They've got to spare me for to-day," he said. + +"Ah! And to-morrow?" + +"To-morrow too, Juliet. I'm giving up my work at Little Shale." + +"But you can't give it up at a moment's notice," she said. + +"The squire is managing it. They can close the school for a week anyway. +Then he can find a substitute." + +Juliet pondered this. Then, "Let's go back till the end of the term, +Dicky!" she said. + +He looked at her. "You want to, my Lady Joanna?" + +She shook her head at him. "You're not to call me that. Yes, I'd like to +go back and finish there, but only as your wife--nothing else." + +"My lady wife!" he said, patting her cheek. + +She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Yes, and there are the miners +to settle. Do you think they'll ever be friends with me, Dick?" + +"Of course they will," he said. "By the way, Juliet, I've a piece of news +for you. You know what Yardley came for?" + +"No, I don't," she said, looking momentarily startled. + +His hand reassured her. "No, not for you, darling. He didn't expect to +find you. No, he came because he had been told--by Jack, if you want to +know--that I was doing the work of an agitator among the men." + +"Dick!" she said, with quick indignation. "How dared he?" + +His touch restrained her. "It doesn't matter. He came to see for himself, +and he knows better now. He told me after the meeting that I could take +over his share of the concern if I liked. And I took him at his word then +and there. I've got some money put by, and the squire can put up the +rest. Do you think your brother will mind?" + +"Muff!" she said. "Oh no! He never minds anything." + +"I'll buy him out too then some day, and we'll make that mine a going +concern, Juliet. I'll teach those men to use their brains instead of +being led by these infernal revolutionists. They shall learn that those +who fight for themselves alone never get there. I'll teach 'em the rules +of the game. They shall learn to be sportsmen." + +Juliet's eyes were shining. "Bravo, Dick!" she said softly. + +He met her look. "You'll have to help me, sweetheart," he said. + +She gave him her hands. "I will help you in all that you do, +Dick," she said. + +It was at this point that Columbus, who had been sitting a little apart +with his back turned, got up, shook himself vigorously as if to give +warning of his approach, and went to Juliet. + +He set his paws against her with a loud pathetic yawn. + +She bent over him. "Oh, poor Columbus! He's so bored! Do you want to go +home, my Christopher?" + +"Poor chap!" said Dick. "It is rather hard to be dragged away on someone +else's honeymoon whether you want to or not. Had enough of it, eh? Think +it's high time we took the missis home?" + +Columbus snuffled into his hand, and wagged himself from the tail +upwards. + +Juliet put her arms round him and kissed him. "Dear old fellow, of course +he does! He thinks we are just the silliest people alive. Perhaps--from +some points of view--we are." + +Columbus said nothing, but he surveyed them both with a look of twinkling +humour, and then smothered a laugh with a sneeze. + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Obstacle Race, by Ethel M. Dell + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11520 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a7e8ca --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11520 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11520) diff --git a/old/11520-8.txt b/old/11520-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..254621c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11520-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13415 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Obstacle Race, by Ethel M. Dell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Obstacle Race + +Author: Ethel M. Dell + +Release Date: March 9, 2004 [EBook #11520] +Last Updated: December 28, 2008 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OBSTACLE RACE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mary Meehan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + The Obstacle Race + + By Ethel M. Dell + + 1921 + + + + + I DEDICATE THIS BOOK + TO MY DEAR "HALF-SISTER," + MARY, + WITH MY LOVE + + "So run, that ye may obtain."--_I Corinthians 9:24_ + + Give me the ready brain and steadfast face + To dare the hazard and to run the race, + The high heart that no scathing word can stay + O'erleaping obstacles that bar the way, + The sportsman's soul that, failing at the end, + Can smile upon the victory of a friend, + And to my judges make this one protest,-- + A poor performance but--I did my best! + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +CHAPTER + + I.--BETTER THAN LONDON + + II.--SACRIFICE + + III.--MAGIC + + IV.--BROTHER DICK + + V.--THE GREAT MAN + + VI.--THE VISITOR + + VII.--THE OFFER + + VIII.--MRS. FIELDING + + IX.--THE INTRUDER + + +PART II + + I.--THE WAND OF OFFICE + + II.--MIDSUMMER MADNESS + + III.--A DRAWN BATTLE + + IV.--A POINT OF HONOUR + + V.--THE WAY TO HAPPINESS + + VI.--RECONCILIATION + + VII.--THE SPELL + + VIII.--THE HONOURS OF WAR + + +PART III + + I.--BIRDS OF A FEATHER + + II.--SALTASH + + III.--THE PRICE + + IV.--KISMET + + V.--THE DRIVING FORCE + + VI.--THE SISTER OF MERCY + + VII.--THE SACRIFICE + + VIII.--THE MESSAGE + + IX.--THE ANSWER + + +PART IV + + I.--THE FREE GIFT + + II.--FRIENDSHIP + + III.--CONFESSION + + IV.--COUNSEL + + V.--THE THUNDERBOLT + + VI.--COALS OF FIRE + + VII.--FLIGHT + + VIII.--OUT OF THE NIGHT + + IX.--THE FREE PARDON + + X.--THE LAST FENCE + + + + +THE OBSTACLE RACE + + + + +PART I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BETTER THAN LONDON + + +A long, green wave ran up, gleaming like curved glass in the sunlight, +and broke in a million sparkles against a shelf of shingle. Above the +shingle rose the soft cliffs, clothed with scrubby grass and crowned +with gorse. + +"Columbus," said the stranger, "this is just the place for us." + +Columbus wagged a cheery tail and expressed complete agreement. He was +watching a small crab hurrying among the stones with a funny frown +between his brows. He was not quite sure of the nature or capabilities of +these creatures, and till he knew more he deemed it advisable to let them +pass without interference. A canny Scot was Columbus, and it was very +seldom indeed that anyone ever got the better of him. He was also a +gentleman to the backbone, and no word his mistress uttered, however +casual, ever passed unacknowledged by him. He always laughed when she +laughed, however obscure the joke. + +He smiled now, since she was obviously pleased, but without taking his +sharp little eyes off the object of his interest. Suddenly the scuttling +crab disappeared and he started up with a whine. In a moment he was +scratching in the shingle in eager search, flinging showers of stones +over his companion in the process. + +She protested, seizing him by his wiry tail to make him desist. +"Columbus! Don't! You're burying me alive! Do sit down and be sensible, +or I'll never be wrecked on a desert island with you again!" + +Columbus subsided, not very willingly, dropping with a grunt into the +hole he had made. His mistress released him, and took out a gold +cigarette case. + +"I wonder what I shall do when I've finished these," she mused. "The +simple life doesn't include luxuries of this sort. Only three left, +Columbus! After that, your missis'll starve." + +She lighted a cigarette with a faint pucker on her wide brow. Her eyes +looked out over the empty, tumbling sea--grey eyes very level in their +regard under black brows that were absolutely straight and inclined to be +rather heavily accentuated. + +"Yes, I wish I'd asked Muff for a few before I came away," was the +outcome of her reflections. "By this time tomorrow I shan't have one +left. Just think of that, my Christopher, and be thankful that you're +just a dog to whom one rat tastes very like another!" + +Columbus sneezed protestingly. Whatever his taste in rats, +cigarette smoke did not appeal to him. His mistress's fondness for it +was her only failing in his eyes. + +She went on reflectively, her eyes upon the sky-line. "I shall have to +take in washing to eke out a modest living in cigarettes and chocolates. +I can't subsist on Mr. Rickett's Woodbines, that's quite certain. I +wonder if there's a pawnshop anywhere near." + +Her voice was low and peculiarly soft; she uttered her words with +something of a drawl. Her hands were clasped about her knees, delicate +hands that yet looked capable. The lips that held the cigarette were +delicately moulded also, but they had considerable character. + +"If I were Lady Joanna Farringmore, I suppose I should say something +rather naughty in French, Columbus, to relieve my feelings. But you and I +don't talk French, do we? And we have struck the worthy Lady Jo and all +her crowd off our visiting-list for some time to come. I don't suppose +any of them will miss us much, do you, old chap? They'll just go on round +and round in the old eternal waltz and never realize that it leads to +nowhere." She stretched out her arms suddenly towards the horizon; then +turned and lay down by Columbus on the shingle. "Oh, I'm glad we've cut +adrift, aren't you? Even without cigarettes, it's better than London." + +Again Columbus signified his agreement by kissing her hair, in a rather +gingerly fashion on account of the smoke; after which, as she seemed to +have nothing further to say, he got up, shook himself, and trotted off to +explore the crannies in the cliffs. + +His mistress pillowed her dark head on her arm, and lay still, with the +sea singing along the ridge of shingle below her. She finished her +cigarette and seemed to doze. A brisk wind was blowing from the shore, +but the beach itself was sheltered. The sunlight poured over her in a +warm flood. It was a perfect day in May. + +Suddenly a curious thing happened. A small stone from nowhere fell with a +smart tap upon her uncovered head! She started, surprised into full +consciousness, and looked around. The shore stretched empty behind her. +There was no sign of life among the grass-grown cliffs, save where +Columbus some little distance away was digging industriously at the root +of a small bush. She searched the fringe of flaming gorse that overhung +the top of the cliff immediately behind her, but quite in vain. Some sea +gulls soared wailing overhead, but no other intruder appeared to disturb +the solitude. She gave up the search and lay down again. Perhaps the wind +had done it, though it did not seem very likely. + +The tide was rising, and she would have to move soon in any case. She +would enjoy another ten minutes of her delicious sun-bath ere she +returned for the midday meal that Mrs. Rickett was preparing in the +little thatched cottage next to the forge. + +Again she stretched herself luxuriously. Yes, it was better than London; +the soft splashing of waves was better than the laughter of a hundred +voices, better than the roar of a thousand wheels, better than the voice +of a million concerts ... Again reverie merged into drowsy absence of +thought. How exquisite the sunshine was!... + +It fell upon her dark cheek this time with a sharp sting and bounced +off on to her hand--a round black stone dropped from nowhere but with +strangely accurate aim. She sprang up abruptly. This was getting +beyond a joke. + +Columbus was still rooting beneath the distant bush. Most certainly he +was not the offender. Some boy was hiding somewhere among the humps and +clefts that constituted the rough surface of the cliff. She picked up her +walking-stick with a certain tightening of the lips. She would teach that +boy a lesson if she caught him unawares. + +Grimly she set her face to the cliff and to the narrow, winding passage +by which she had descended to the shore. Her dreams were wholly +scattered! Her cheek still smarted from the blow. She left the sea +without a backward glance. She sent forth a shrill whistle to Columbus as +she began to climb the slippery path of stones. She was convinced that +it was from this that her assailant had gathered his weapons. + +With springing steps she mounted, looking sharply to right and left as +she did so! And in a moment, turning inwards from the sea, she caught +sight of a movement among some straggling bushes a few yards to one side +of the path. + +Without an instant's hesitation she swung herself up the steep +incline, climbing with a rapidity that swiftly cut off the landward +line of retreat. She would give her assailant a fright for his pains +if nothing better. + +And then just as she reached the level, very sharply she stopped. It was +as if a hand had caught her back. For suddenly there rose up before her a +figure so strange that for a moment she felt almost like a scared child. +It sprang from the bushes and stood facing her like an animal at bay--a +short creature neither man nor boy, misshapen, grotesquely humped, +possessing long thin arms of almost baboon-like proportions. The head +was sunken into the shoulders. It was flung back and the face +upraised--and it was the face that made her pause, for it was the most +pathetic sight she had ever looked upon. It was the face of a lad of two +or three and twenty, but drawn in lines so painful, so hollowed, so +piteous, that fear melted into compassion at the sight. The dark eyes +that stared upwards had a frightened look mingled with a certain +defiance. He stood barefooted on the edge of the cliff, clenching and +unclenching his bony hands, with the air of a culprit awaiting sentence. + +There was a decided pause before his victim spoke. She found some +difficulty in grappling with the situation, but she had no intention of +turning her back upon it. She felt it must be tackled with resolution. + +After a moment she spoke, with as much sternness as she could muster, +"Why did you throw those stones?" + +He backed at the sound of her voice, and she had an instant of sickening +fear, for there was a drop of twenty feet behind him on the shingle. But +he must have seen her look, for he stopped himself on the brink, and +stood there doggedly. + +"Don't stand there!" she said quickly. "I'm not going to hurt you." + +He lowered his head, and looked at her from under drawn brows. "Yes, you +are," he said gruffly. "You're going to beat me with that stick." + +The shrewdness of this surmise struck her as not without humour. She +smiled, and, turning, flung the stick straight down to the path below. +"Now!" she said. + +He came forward, not very willingly, and stood within a couple of yards +of her, still looking as if he expected some sort of chastisement. + +She faced him, and the last of her fear departed. Though he was so +terribly deformed that he looked like some dreadful beast reared on its +hind legs there was that about the face, sullen though it was, that +stirred her deepest feelings. + +She did her best to conceal the fact, however. "Tell me why you threw +those stones!" she said. + +"Because I wanted to hit you," he returned with disconcerting +promptitude. + +She looked at him steadily. "How very unkind of you!" she said. + +His eyes gleamed with a smouldering resentment. "No, it wasn't. I didn't +want you there. Dicky is coming soon, and he likes it best when there is +no one there." + +She noticed that though there was scant courtesy in his speech, it was by +no means the rough talk of the fisher-folk. It fired her curiosity. "And +who is Dicky?" she said. + +"Who are you?" he retorted rudely. + +She smiled again. "You are not very polite, are you? But I don't +mind telling you if you want to know. My name is Juliet Moore. Now +tell me yours!" + +He looked at her doubtfully. "Juliet is a name out of a book," he said. + +She laughed, a low, soft laugh that woke an answering glimmer of +amusement in his sullen face. "How clever of you to know that!" she said. + +"No, I'm not clever." Tersely he contradicted her. "Old Swag at The Three +Tuns says I'm the village idiot." + +"What a horrid old man!" she exclaimed almost involuntarily. + +He nodded his heavy head. "Yes, I knocked him down the other day, and +kicked him for it. Dicky caned me afterwards,--I'm not supposed to go to +The Three Tuns--but I was glad I'd done it all the same." + +"Well, who is Dicky?" she asked again. Her interest was growing. + +He glared at her with sudden suspicion. "What do you want to know for?" + +"Because I think he must be rather a brave man," she said. + +The suspicion vanished. His eyes shown. "Oh, Dicky isn't afraid of +anything," he declared with pride. "He's my brother. He knows--heaps of +things. He's a man." + +"You are fond of him," said Juliet, with her friendly smile. + +The boy's face lighted up. "He's the only person I love in the world," he +said, "except Mrs. Rickett's baby." + +"Mrs. Rickett's baby!" She checked a quick desire to laugh that caught +her unawares. "You are fond of babies then?" + +"No, I'm not. I like dogs. I don't like babies--except Mrs. Rickett's +and he's such a jolly little cuss." He smiled over the words, and again +she felt a deep compassion. Somehow his face seemed almost sadder when +he smiled. + +"I am staying with Mrs. Rickett," she said. "But I only came yesterday, +and I haven't made the baby's acquaintance yet. I must get myself +introduced. You haven't told me your name yet, you know. Mayn't I hear +what it is? I've told you mine." + +He looked at her with renewed suspicion. "Hasn't anybody told you about +Me yet?" he said. + +"No, of course not. Why, I don't know anybody except Mr. and Mrs. +Rickett. And it's much more interesting to hear it from yourself." + +"Is it?" He hesitated a little longer, but was finally disarmed by the +kindness of her smile. "My name is Robin." + +"Oh, that's a nice name," Juliet said. "And you live here? What do you +do all day?" + +"I don't know," he said vaguely. "I can mend fishing-nets, and I can help +Dicky in the garden. And I look after Mrs. Rickett's baby sometimes when +she's busy. What do you do?" suddenly resuming his attitude of suspicion. + +She made a slight gesture of the hands. "Nothing at all worth doing, I am +afraid," she said. "I can't mend nets. I don't garden. And I've never +looked after a baby in my life." + +He stared at her. "Where do you come from?" he asked curiously. + +"From London." She met his curiosity with absolute candour. "And I'm +tired of it. I'm very tired of it. So I've come here for a change. I'm +going to like this much better." + +"Better than London!" He gazed, incredulous. + +"Oh, much better." Juliet spoke with absolute confidence. "Ah, here is +Columbus! He likes it better too." + +She turned to greet her companion who now came hastening up to view the +new acquaintance. + +He sniffed round Robin who bent awkwardly and laid a fondling hand upon +him. "I like your dog," he said. + +"That's right," said Juliet kindly. "We are both staying at the +Ricketts', so when you come to see the baby, I hope you will come to see +us too. I must go now, or I shall be late for lunch. Good-bye!" + +The boy lifted himself again with a slow, ungainly movement, and raised a +hand to his forehead in wholly unexpected salute. + +She smiled and turned to depart, but he spoke again, arresting her. + +"I say!" + +She looked back. "Yes? What is it?" + +He shuffled his bare feet in the grass in embarrassment and murmured +something she could not hear. + +"What is it?" she said again, encouragingly, as if she were addressing a +shy child. + +He lifted his dark eyes to hers in sudden appeal. "I say," he said, with +obvious effort, "if--if you meet Dicky, you--you won't tell him +about--about--" + +She checked the struggling words with a very kindly gesture. "Oh, no, of +course not! I'm not that sort of person. But the next time you want to +get rid of me, just come and tell me so, and I'll go away at once." + +The gentleness of her speech uttered in that soft slow voice of hers +had a curious effect upon her hearer. To her surprise, his eyes filled +with tears. + +"I shan't want to get rid of you! You're kind! I like you!" he +blurted forth. + +"Oh, thank you very much!" said Juliet, feeling oddly moved herself. "In +that case, we are friends. Good-bye! Come and see me soon!" + +She smiled upon him, and departed, picking up her stick from the path +and turning to wave to him as she continued the ascent. + +From the top of the cliff she looked back, and saw that he was +still standing--a squat, fantastic figure like a goblin out of a +fairy-tale--outlined against the shining sea behind him, a blot +upon the blue. + +Again she waved to him and he lifted one of his long arms and saluted her +again in answer--stood at the salute till she turned away. + +"Poor boy!" she murmured compassionately. "Poor ruined child! Columbus, +we must be kind to him." + +And Columbus looked up with knowing little eyes and wagged a smiling +tail. He had taken to the lad himself. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SACRIFICE + + +"Lor' bless you!" said Mrs. Rickett. "There's some folks as thinks young +Robin is the plague of the neighbourhood, but there ain't no harm in the +lad if he's let alone. It's when them little varmints of village boys, +sets on to him and teases him as he ain't safe. But let him be, and he's +as quiet as a lamb. O' course if they great hulking fools on the shore +goes and takes him into The Three Tuns, you can't expect him to behave +respectable. But as I always says, let him alone and there's no vice in +him. Why, I've seen him go away into a corner and cry like a baby at a +sharp word from his brother Dick. He sets such store by him." + +"I noticed that," said Juliet. "In fact he told me that Dicky and your +baby were the only two people in the world that he loved." + +"Did he now? Well, did you ever?" Mrs. Rickett's weather-beaten +countenance softened as it were in spite of itself. "He always did take +to my Freddy, right from the very first. And Freddy's just the same. Soon +as ever he catches sight of Robin, he's all in a fever like to get to +him. Mr. Fielding from the Court, he were in here the other day and he +see 'em together. 'Your baby's got funny taste, Mrs. Rickett,' he says +and laughs. And I says to him, 'There's a many worse than poor young +Robin, sir,' I says. 'And in our own village too.' You see, Mr. Fielding +he's one of them gentlemen as likes to have the managing of other folks' +affairs and he's always been on to Dick to have poor Robin put away. But +Dick won't hear of it, and I don't blame him. For, as I say, there's no +harm in the lad if he's treated proper, and he'd break his heart if they +was to send him away. And he's that devoted to Dick too--well, there, it +fair makes me cry sometimes to see him. He'll sit and wait for him by the +hour together, like a dog he will." + +"Was he born like that?" asked Juliet, as her informant paused for +breath. + +Mrs. Rickett pursed her lips. "Well, you see, miss, he were a twin, and +he never did thrive from the very earliest. But he wasn't a hunchback, +not like he is now, at first. The poor mother died when they was born, +and p'raps it were a good thing, for she'd have grieved terrible if she +could have seen what he were a-going to grow into. For she was a lady +born and bred, married beneath her, you know. Nor she didn't have any +such life of it either. He were a sea-captain--a funny, Frenchy-looking +fellow with a frightful temper. He never come home for twelve years after +Dick were born. She used to teach at the village school, and make her +living that way. Very sweet in her ways she were. Everyone liked her. +There's them as says Mr. Fielding was in love with her. He didn't marry, +you know, till long after. She used to sing too, and such a pretty voice +she'd got. I used to think she was like an angel when I was a child. And +so she were. Whether she'd have married Mr. Fielding or not I don't know. +There's some as thinks she would. They were very friendly together. And +then, quite sudden-like, when everyone thought he'd been dead for years, +her husband come home again. I'll never forget it if I lives to be a +hundred. I was only a bit of a girl then. It's more'n twenty years ago, +you know, miss. I were just tidying up a bit in the school-house after +school were over, and she were looking at some copybooks, when suddenly +he marched in at the door, and, 'Hullo, Olive!' he says. She got up, and +she was as white as a sheet. She didn't say one word. And he just come up +to her, and took hold of her and kissed her and kissed her. It was horrid +to see him, fair turned me up," said Mrs. Rickett graphically. "And I'll +never forget her face when he let her go. She looked as if she'd had her +death blow. And so she had, miss. For she was never the same again. The +man was a beast, as anyone could see, and he hadn't improved in them +twelve years. He were a hard drinker, and he used to torment her to drink +with him, used to knock young Dick about too, something cruel. Dick were +only a lad of twelve, but he says to me once, 'I'll kill that man,' he +says. 'I'll kill him.' Mr. Fielding he went abroad as soon as the husband +turned up, and he didn't know what goings-on there were. There's some as +says she made him go, and I shouldn't wonder but what there was something +in it. For if ever any poor soul suffered martyrdom, it was that woman. +I'll never forget the change in her, never as long as I live. She kept up +for a long time, but she looked awful, and then at last when her time +drew near she broke down and used to cry and cry when anyone spoke to +her. O' course we all knew as she wouldn't get over it. Her spirit was +quite broke, and when the babies came she hadn't a chance. It happened +very quick at the last, and her husband weren't there. He were down at +The Three Tuns, and when they went to fetch him he laughed in their faces +and went on drinking. Oh, it was cruel." Mrs. Rickett wiped away some +indignant tears. "Not as she wanted him--never even mentioned his name. +She only asked for Dick, and he was with her just at the end. He was only +a lad of thirteen, miss, but he was a man grown from that night on. She +begged him to look after the babies, and he promised her he would. And +then she just lay holding his hand till she died. He seemed dazed-like +when they told him she were gone, and just went straight out without a +word. No one ever saw young Dick break down after that. He's got a will +like steel." + +"And the horrible husband?" asked Juliet, now thoroughly interested in +Mrs. Rickett's favourite tragedy. + +"I were coming to him," said Mrs. Rickett, with obvious relish. "The +husband stayed at The Three Tuns till closing time, then he went out +roaring drunk, took the cliff-path by mistake, and went over the cliff in +the dark. The tide was up, and he was drowned. And a great pity it didn't +happen a little bit sooner, says I! The nasty coarse hulking brute! I'd +have learned him a thing or two if he'd belonged to me." Again, +vindictively, Mrs. Rickett wiped her eyes. "Believe me, miss, there's no +martyrdom so bad as getting married to the wrong man. I've seen it once +and again, and I knows." + +"I quite agree with you," said Juliet. "But tell me some more! Who took +the poor babies?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Cross at the lodge took them. Mr. Fielding provided for 'em, +and he helped young Dick along too. He's been very good to them always. +He had young Jack trained, and now he's his chauffeur and making a very +good living. The worst of Jack is, he ain't over steady, got too much of +his father in him to please me. He's always after some girl--two or +three at a time sometimes. No harm in the lad, I daresay. But he's wild, +you know. Dick finds him rather a handful very often. Robin can't abide +him, which perhaps isn't much to be wondered at, seeing as it was mostly +Jack's fault that he is such a poor cripple. He was always sickly. It's +often the way with twins, you know. All the strength goes to one. But he +always had to do what Jack did as a little one, and Jack led him into all +sorts of mischief, till one day when they were about ten they went off +bird's-nesting along the cliffs High Shale Point way, and only Jack come +back late at night to say his brother had gone over the cliff. Dick tore +off with some of the chaps from the shore. It were dark and windy, and +they all said it was no use, but Dick insisted upon going down the face +of the cliff on a rope to find him. And find him at last he did on a +ledge about a hundred feet down. He was so badly hurt that he thought +he'd broke his back, and he didn't dare move him till morning, but just +stayed there with him all night long. Oh, it was a dreadful business." A +large tear splashed unchecked on to Mrs. Rickett's apron. "An ill-fated +family, as you might say. They got 'em up in the morning o' course, but +poor little Robin was very bad. He was on his back for nearly a year +after, and then, when he began to get about again, them humps came and he +grew crooked. Mr. Fielding were away at the time, hunting somewhere in +the wilds of Africa, and when he came home he were shocked to see the +lad. He had the very best doctors in the land to see him, but they all +said there was nothing to be done. The spine had got twisted, or +something of that nature, and he'd begun to have queer giddy fits too as +made 'em say the brain were affected, which it really weren't, miss, for +he's as sane as you or me, only simple you know, just a bit simple. They +said, all of 'em, as how he'd never live to grow up. He'd get them +abscies at the base of the skull, and they'd reach his brain and he'd go +raving mad and die. And the squire--that's Mr. Fielding--was all for +putting him away there and then. But Dick, he'd nursed him all through, +and he wouldn't hear of it. 'The boy's mine,' he says, 'and I'm going to +look after him.' Mr. Fielding was very cross with him, but that didn't +make no difference. You see, Dick had got fond of him, and as for Robin, +why, he just worshipped Dick. So there it was left, and Dick gave up all +his prospects to keep the boy with him. He were reading for the law, you +see, but he gave it all up and turned schoolmaster, so as he could live +here and take care of young Robin." + +"Turned schoolmaster!" Juliet repeated the words. "He's something of a +scholar then!" + +"Oh, no," said Mrs. Rickett. "It's only the village school, miss. Mr. +Fielding got him the post. They're an unruly set of varmints here, but he +keeps order among 'em. He's quite clever, as you might say, but no, he +ain't a scholard. He goes in for games, you know, football and the like, +tries to teach 'em to play like gentlemen, which he never will, for +they're a low lot, them shore people, and that dirty! Well, he makes 'em +bathe every day in the summer whether they likes it or whether they +don't. Oh, he does his best to civilize 'em, and all them fisher chaps +thinks a deal of him too. They've got a club in the village what Mr. +Fielding built for 'em, and he goes along there and gives 'em musical +evenings and jollies 'em generally. They'll do anything for him, bless +you. But he tells 'em off pretty straight sometimes. They'll take it from +him, you see, because they respects him." + +"I thought the parson always did that sort of thing," said Juliet. + +Mrs. Rickett uttered a brief, expressive snort. "He ain't much +use--except for the church. He's old, you see, and he don't understand +'em. And he's scared at them chaps what works the lead mines over at High +Shale. It's all in this parish, you know. And they are a horrid rough +lot, a deal worse than the fisher-folk. But Dick he don't mind 'em. And +he can do anything with 'em too, plays his banjo and sings and makes 'em +laugh. The mines belong to the Farringmore family, you know--Lord +Wilchester owns 'em. But he never comes near, and a' course the men gets +discontented and difficult. And they're a nasty drinking lot too. Why, +the manager--that's Mr. Ashcott--he's at his wit's end sometimes. But +Dick--oh, Dick can always handle 'em, knows 'em inside and out, and their +wives too. Yes, he's very clever is Dick. But he's thrown away in this +place. It's a pity, you know. If it weren't for Robin, it's my belief +that he'd be a great man. He's a born leader. But he's never had a +chance, and it don't look like as if he ever will now, poor fellow!" + +Mrs. Rickett ended mournfully and picked up Juliet's empty plate. + +"How old is he?" asked Juliet. + +"Oh, he's a lot past thirty now, getting too old to turn his hand to +anything new. Mr. Fielding he's always on to him about it, but it don't +make no difference. He'll never take up any other work while Robin lives. +And Robin is stronger nor what he used to be, all thanks to Dick's care. +He's just sacrificed everything to that boy, you know. It don't seem +hardly right, do it?" + +"I don't know," Juliet said slowly. "Some sacrifices are worth while." + +Mrs. Rickett looked a little puzzled. There was something about +this young lodger of hers that she could not quite fathom, but +since she 'liked the looks of her' she did not regard this fact as +a serious drawback. + +"Well, there's some folks as thinks one way and some another," she +conceded. "My husband always says as there's quite a lot of good in Robin +if he's treated decent. He's often round here at the forge. That's how he +come to get so fond of my Freddy. You ain't seen Freddy yet, miss. He's a +bit shy like with strangers, but he soon gets over it." + +"You must bring him in to see me," said Juliet. + +Mrs. Rickett beamed. "I will, miss, I will. I'll bring him in with the +pudding. P'raps if you was to give him a little bit he wouldn't be shy. +He's very fond of gingerbread pudding." + +"I wish I were!" sighed Juliet, as her landlady's portly form +disappeared. "I shall certainly have to have a cigarette after it, and +then there will only be one left! Oh, dear, why was I brought up among +the flesh-pots?" She broke off with a sudden irresistible laugh, and +rising went to the window. Someone was sauntering down the road on the +other side of the high privet hedge. There came to her a whiff of +cigarette-smoke wafted on the sea-breeze. She leaned forth, and at the +gap by the gate caught a glimpse of a trim young man in blue serge +wearing a white linen hat. She scarcely saw his face as he passed, but +she had a fleeting vision of the cigarette. + +"I wonder where you get them from," she murmured wistfully. "I believe I +could get to like that brand, and they can't be as expensive as mine." + +The door opened behind her, and she turned back smiling to greet the +ginger pudding and Freddy. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MAGIC + + +The scent of the gorse in the evening dew was as incense offered to the +stars. To Juliet, wandering forth in the twilight after supper with +Columbus, the exquisite fragrance was almost intoxicating. It seemed to +drug the senses. She went along the path at the top of the cliff as one +in a dream. + +The sea was like a dream-sea also, silver under the stars, barely +rippling against the shingle, immensely and mysteriously calm. She went +on and on, scarcely feeling the ground beneath her feet, moving through +an atmosphere of pure magic, all her pulses thrilling to the wonder of +the night. + +Suddenly, from somewhere not far distant among the gorse bushes, there +came a sound. She stopped, and it seemed to her that all the world +stopped with her to hear the first soft trill of a nightingale through +the tender dusk. It went into silence, but it left her heart throbbing +strangely. Surely--surely there was magic all around her! That bird-voice +in the silence thrilled her through and through. She stood spell-bound, +waiting for the enchanted music to fill her soul. There followed a few +liquid notes, and then there came a far-off, flute-like call, gradually +swelling, gradually drawing nearer, so pure, so wild, so full of ecstasy, +that she almost felt as if it were more than she could bear. It broke at +last in a crystal shower of song, and she turned and looked out over the +glittering sea and asked herself if it could be real. It was as if a +spirit had called to her out of the summer night. + +Then Columbus came careering along the path in fevered search of her, and +quite suddenly, like the closing of a lid, the magic sounds vanished into +a deep silence. + +"Oh, Columbus!" his mistress murmured reproachfully. "You've stopped +the music!" + +Columbus responded by planting his paws against her, and giving her a +vigorous push. There was decidedly more of common sense than poetry in +his composition. The passion for exploring which had earned him his name +was his main characteristic, and he wanted to get as far as possible +before the time arrived to turn back. + +She yielded to his persuasion, and walked on up the path with her face to +the shimmering sea. For some reason she felt divinely happy, as if she +had drunk of the wine of the gods. It had been so wonderful--that song of +starlight and of Spring. + +It was very warm, and she wore neither hat nor wrap. If she had come out +in a bathing-dress, no one would have known, she reflected. But in this +she was wrong, for presently, as she sauntered along, she became aware of +a faint scent other than the wonderful cocoa-nut perfume of the gorse +bushes--a scent that made her aware of the presence of another human +being in that magic place. + +She looked about for him with a faint smile on her lips, but the +cliff-path ran empty before her, ascending in a series of fairly stiff +climbs to the brow of High Shale Point. Columbus hurried along ahead of +her as if he had made up his mind to reach the top at all costs. But +Juliet had no intention of mounting to the summit of the frowning cliff +that night. She had a vagrant desire to track that elusive scent, but +even that, it seemed was not to be satisfied, and at length she stopped +again and sent a summoning whistle after Columbus. + +It was almost at the same moment that there came from behind her a sound +that shattered all the fairy romance of the night at a blow. She turned +sharply, and immediately, like a fiendish chorus, it came again spreading +and echoing along the cliffs--the yelling of drunken laughter. + +Several men were coming along the path that she had travelled. She saw +them vaguely in the dimness a little way below her, and realized that her +retreat in that direction was cut off. Swiftly she considered the +position, for there was no time to be lost. To pursue the path would be +to go farther and farther away from the village and civilization, but for +the moment she saw no other course. On one hand the gorse bushes made a +practically impenetrable rampart, and on the other the cliff overhung the +shore which at that point was nearly two hundred feet below. From where +she stood, no way of escape presented itself, and she turned in despair +to follow the path a little farther. But as she did so, she heard another +wild shout from behind her, and it flashed upon her with a stab of dismay +that her light dress had betrayed her. She had been sighted by the +intruders, and they were pursuing her. She heard the stamp and scuffle of +running feet that were not too sure of their stability, and with the +sound something very like panic entered into Juliet. Her heart jolted +within her, and the impulse to flee like a hunted hare was for a second +almost too urgent to be withstood. That she did withstand it was a matter +for life-long thankfulness in her estimation. The temptation was great, +but she did not spring from the stock that runs away. She pulled herself +up sharply with burning cheeks, and deliberately turned and waited. + +They came up the path, yelling like hounds on a scent, while she stood +perfectly erect and motionless, facing them. There were five of them, +hulking youths all inflamed by drink if not actually tipsy, and they came +around her with shouts of idiotic laughter and incoherent joking, +evidently taking her for a village girl. + +She stood her ground with her back to the cliff-edge, not yielding an +inch, contempt in every line. "Will you kindly go your way," she said, +"and allow me to go mine?" + +They responded with yells of derision, and one young man, emboldened by +the jeers of his companions, came close to her and leered into her face +of rigid disdain. "I'm damned if I won't have a kiss first!" he swore, +and flung a rough arm about her. + +Juliet moved then with the fierce suddenness of a wild thing trapped. She +wrenched herself from him in furious disgust. + +"You hound!" she began to say. But the word was never fully uttered, for +as it sprang to her lips, it went into a desperate cry. The ground had +given way beneath her feet, and she fell straight backwards over that +awful edge. For the fraction of an instant she saw the stars in the deep +blue sky above her, then, like the snap of a spring, they vanished into +darkness... + +It was a darkness that spread and spread like an endless sea, submerging +all things. No light could penetrate it; only a few vague sounds and +impressions somehow filtered through. And then--how it happened she had +not the faintest notion--she was aware of someone lifting her out of the +depth that had received her, and there came again to her nostrils that +subtle aroma of cigarette-smoke that had mingled with the scent of the +gorse. She came to herself gasping, but for some reason she dared not +look up. That single glimpse of the wheeling universe seemed to have +sealed her vision. + +Then a voice spoke. "I say, do open your eyes, if you don't mind! You're +really not dead. You've only had a tumble." + +That voice awoke her quite effectually. The mixture of entreaty and +common sense it contained strangely stirred her curiosity. She opened her +eyes wide upon the speaker. + +"Hullo!" she said faintly. + +He was kneeling by her side, looking closely into her face, and the first +thing that struck her was the extreme brightness of his eyes. They shone +like black onyx. + +He responded at once, his voice very low and rapid. "It's perfectly all +right. You needn't be afraid. I was just in time to catch you. There's an +easier way down close by, but you wouldn't see it in this light. Feeling +better now? Like to sit up?" + +She awoke to the fact that she was propped against his knee. She sat up, +still gasping a little, but shrank as she realized the narrowness of the +ledge upon which she was resting. + +He thrust out a protecting arm in front of her. "It's all right. You're +absolutely safe. Don't shiver like that! You couldn't go over if you +tried. Don't look if it makes you giddy!" + +She looked again into his face, and again was struck by the amazing +keenness of his eyes. + +"How did you get here?" she said. + +"Oh, it's easy enough when you know the way. I was just coming to help +you when you came over. You didn't hear me shout?" + +"No. They were all making such a horrid noise." She suppressed a shudder. +"Have they gone now?" + +"Yes, the brutes! They scooted. I'm going after them directly." + +"Oh, please don't!" she said hastily. "Not for the world! I don't want to +be left alone here. I've had enough of it." + +She tried to smile with the words, but it was rather a trembling attempt. +He abandoned his intention at once. + +"All right. It'll keep. Look here, shall I help you up? You'll feel +better on the top." + +"I think I had better stay here for a minute," Juliet said. "I--I'm +afraid I shall make an idiot of myself if I don't." + +"No, you won't. You'll be all right." He thrust an abrupt arm around her +shoulders, gripping them hard to still her trembling. "Lean against me! +I've got you quite safe." + +She relaxed with a murmur of thanks. There was something intensely +reassuring about that firm grip. She sat quite motionless for a space +with closed eyes, gradually regaining her self-command. + +In the end a snuffle and whine from above aroused her. She sat up +with a start. + +"Oh, Columbus! Don't let him fall over!" + +Her companion laughed a little. "Let's get back to him then! Don't look +down! Keep your face to the cliff! And remember I've got hold of you! You +can't fall." + +She struggled blindly to her feet, helped by his arm behind her; but, +though she did not look down, she was seized immediately by an +overwhelming giddiness that made her totter back against him. + +"I'm dreadfully sorry," she said, almost in tears. "I can't help it. I'm +an idiot." + +He held her up with unfailing steadiness. "All right! All right!" he +said. "Don't get frightened! Move along slowly with me! Keep your face to +the cliff, and you'll come to some steps! That's the way! Yes, we've got +to get round that jutting-out bit. It's perfectly safe. Keep your head! +It's quite easy on the other side." + +It might be perfectly safe for a practised climber, but Juliet's heart +was in her mouth when she reached the projecting corner of cliff where +the ledge narrowed to a bare eighteen inches and the rock bulged outwards +as if to push off all trespassers. + +She came to a standstill, clinging desperately to the unyielding stone. +"I can't possibly do it," she said helplessly. + +"Yes, you can. You've got to." Quick as lightning came the words. "Go on +and don't be silly! Of course you can do it! A child could." + +He loosened her clutching fingers with the words, and pushed her onwards. +She went, driven by a force such as she had never encountered before. + +She heard the soft wash of the sea far below her above the sickening +thudding of her heart as she crept forward round that terrible bend. She +heard with an acuteness that made her marvel the long sweet note of the +nightingale swelling among the bushes above. She also heard a watch +ticking with amazing loudness close to her ear, and was aware of a very +firm hand that grasped her shoulder, impelling her forward. There was no +resisting that steady pressure. She crept on step by step because she +could not do otherwise; and when she had rounded that awful corner at +last and would fain have stopped to rest after the ordeal, she found that +she must needs go on, for he would not suffer any pause. + +He had followed her so closely that his hold upon her had never varied. +There seemed to her to be something electric in the very touch of his +fingers. She was fully conscious of the fact that she moved by a strength +outside her own. + +"Go on!" he said. "Go on! There's Columbus waiting for you. Can you see +the steps? They're close here. They're a bit rough, I'm afraid. I made +them myself. But you'll manage them." + +She came to the steps. The path had widened somewhat, and the dreadful +sense of sheer depth below her was less insistent. Nevertheless, the way +was far from easy, the steps being little more than deep notches in the +cliff. It slanted inwards here however, and she set herself to achieve +the ascent with more assurance. + +Her guide came immediately behind her. She felt his hand touch her at +every step she took. Just at the last, realizing the nearness of the +summit and safety, she tried to hasten, and in a moment slipped. He +grabbed her instantly, but she could not recover her footing though she +made a frantic effort to do so. She sprawled against the cliff, clutching +madly at some tufts of grass and weed above her, while the man behind her +gripped and held her there. + +"Don't struggle!" he said. "You're all right. You won't fall. Let go of +that stuff and hang on to me!" + +"I can't!" she said. "I can't!" + +"Let go of that stuff and hang on to me!" he said again, and the words +were short and sharp. "Left hand first! Put your arm round my neck, and +then get round and hang on with the other! It's only a few feet more. I +can manage it." + +They were the most definite instructions she had ever received in her +life, and the most difficult to obey. She hung, clinging with both hands, +still vainly seeking a foothold, desperately afraid to relinquish her +hold and trust herself unreservedly to his single-handed strength. But, +as he waited, it came to her that it was the only thing to do. With a +gasp she freed one hand at length and reaching back as he held her she +thrust it over his shoulder. + +"Now the other hand, please!" he said. + +She did not know how she did it. It was like loosing her grip upon life +itself. Yet after a few seconds of torturing irresolution she obeyed him, +abandoning her last hold and hanging to him in palpitating apprehension. + +He put forth his full strength then. She felt the strain of his +muscles as he gathered her up with one arm. With the other hand, had +she but known it, he was grasping only the naked rock. Yet he moved +as if absolutely sure of himself. He drew a deep hard breath, and +began to mount. + +It was only a few feet to the top as he had said, but the climb seemed +to her unending. She was conscious throughout that his endurance was +being put to the utmost test, and only by the most complete passivity +could she help him. + +But he never faltered, and finally--just when she had begun to wonder if +this awful nightmare of danger could ever cease--she found herself set +down upon the dewy grass that covered the top of the cliff. The scent of +the gorse bushes came again to her and the far sweet call of the +nightingale. And she realized that the danger was past and she was back +once more in the magic region of her summer dreams from which she had +been so rudely flung. She saw again the shimmering, wonderful sea and the +ever-brightening stars. One of them hung, a golden globe of light like a +beacon on the dim horizon. + +Then Columbus came pushing and nuzzling against her, full of tender +enquiries and congratulations; and something that she did not fully +understand made her turn and clasp him closely with a sudden rush of +tears. The danger was over, all over. And never till this moment had she +realized how amazingly sweet was life. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BROTHER DICK + + +She covered her emotion with the most herculean efforts at gaiety. She +laughed very shakily at the solicitude expressed by Columbus, and told +him tremulously how absurd and ridiculous he was to make such a fuss +about nothing. + +After this, feeling a little better, she ventured a glance at her +companion. He was on his feet and wiping his forehead--a man of medium +height and no great breadth of shoulder, but evidently well knit and +athletic. Becoming by some means aware of her attention, he put away his +handkerchief and turned towards her. She saw his eyes gleam under black, +mobile brows that seemed to denote a considerable sense of humour. The +whole of his face held an astonishing amount of vitality, but the lips +were straight and rather hard, so clean-cut as to be almost ascetic. He +looked to her like a man who would suffer to the utmost, but never lose +his self-control. And she thought she read a pride more than ordinary in +the cast of his features--a man capable of practically anything save the +asking or receiving of favours. + +Then he spoke, and curiously all criticism vanished. "I had better +introduce myself," he said. "I'm afraid I've been unpardonably rude. My +name is Green." + +Green! The word darted at her like an imp of mischief. The romantic +dropped to the prosaic with a suddenness that provoked in her an almost +irresistible desire to laugh. + +She controlled it swiftly, but she was fully aware that she had not +hidden it as she rose to her feet and offered her hand to her cavalier. + +"How do you do, Mr. Green? My name is Moore--Miss Moore. Will you allow +me to thank you for saving my life?" + +Her voice throbbed a little; tears and laughter were almost equally near +the surface at that moment. She was extremely disgusted with herself for +her lack of composure. + +Then again, as his hand grasped hers, she forgot to criticize. "I say, +please don't!" he said. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It +was jolly plucky of you to stand your ground with those hooligans from +the mine." + +"But I didn't stand my ground," she pointed out. "I went over. It was a +most undignified proceeding, wasn't it?" + +"No, it wasn't," he declared. "You did it awfully well. I wish I'd been +nearer to you, but I couldn't possibly get up in time." + +"Oh, I think you were more useful where you were," she said, "thank you +all the same. I must have gone clean to the bottom otherwise. I +thought I had." + +She caught back an involuntary shudder, and in a moment the hand that +held hers closed unceremoniously and drew her further from the edge of +the cliff. + +"You are sure you are none the worse, now?" he said. "Not giddy or +anything?" + +"No, not anything," she said. + +But she was glad of his hold none the less, and he seemed to know it, for +he kept her hand firmly clasped. + +"You must let me see you back," he said. "Where are you staying?" + +"At Mrs. Rickett's," she told him. "The village smithy, you know." + +"I know," he said. "Down at Little Shale, you mean. You've come some way, +haven't you?" + +"It was such a lovely night," she said, "and Columbus wanted a walk. I +got led on, I didn't know I was likely to meet anyone." + +"It's the short cut to High Shale," he said. "There is always the chance +of meeting these fellows along here. You'd be safer going the other way." + +"But I like the furze bushes and the nightingale," she said +regretfully, "and the exquisite wildness of it. It is not nearly so +nice the other way." + +He laughed. "No, but it's safer. Come this way as much as you like in the +morning, but go the other way at night!" + +He turned with the words, and began to lead her down the path. She went +with him as one who responds instinctively to a power unquestioned. The +magic of the night was closing about her again. She heard the voice of +the nightingale thrilling through the silence. + +"This is the most wonderful place I have ever seen," she said at last in +a tone of awe. + +"Is it?" he said. + +His lack of enthusiasm surprised her. "Don't you think so too?" she said. +"Doesn't it seem wonderful to you?" + +He glanced out to sea for a moment. "You see I live here," he said. "Yes, +it's quite a beautiful place. But it isn't always like this. It's +primitive. It can be savage. You wouldn't like it always." + +"I'm thinking of settling down here all the same," said Juliet. + +He stopped short in the path. "Are you really?" + +She nodded with a smile. "You seem surprised. Why shouldn't I? Isn't +there room for one more?" + +"Oh, plenty of room," he said, and walked on again as abruptly as he +had paused. + +The path became wider and more level, and he relinquished her hand. "You +won't stay," he said with conviction. + +"I wonder," said Juliet. + +"Of course you won't!" A hint of vehemence crept into his speech. "When +the nightingales have left off singing, and the wild roses are over, +you'll go." + +"You seem very sure of that," said Juliet. + +"Yes, I am sure." He spoke uncompromisingly, almost contemptuously, +she thought. + +"You evidently don't stay here because you like it," she said. + +"My work is here," he returned noncommittally. She wondered a little, but +something held her back from pursuing the matter. She walked several +paces in silence. Then, "I wish I could find work here," she said, in her +slow deep voice. "It would do me a lot of good." + +"Would it?" He turned towards her. "But that isn't what you came for--not +to find work, I mean?" + +"Well, no--not primarily." She made the admission almost guiltily. "But I +think everyone ought to be able to earn a livelihood, don't you?" + +"It's safer certainly," he said. "But it isn't everyone that is +qualified for it." + +"No?" Her voice was whimsical. "And you think I shall seek in vain for +any suitable niche here?" + +"It depends upon what your capabilities are," he said. + +"My capabilities!" She laughed, a soft, low laugh. "Columbus! What are my +capabilities!" + +They had reached a railing and a gate across the path leading down to +the village. Columbus, waiting to go through, wriggled in a manner that +expressed his entire ignorance on the subject. Juliet leaned against the +gate with her face to the western sky. + +"My capabilities!" she mused. "Let me see! What can I do?" She looked at +her companion with a smile. "I am afraid I shall have to refer you to +Lady Joanna Farringmore. She can tell you--exactly." + +He made a slight movement of surprise. "You know the Farringmore family?" + +She raised her brows a little. "Yes. Do you?" + +"By hearsay only. Lord Wilchester owns the High Shale Mines. I have never +met any of them." He spoke without enthusiasm. + +"And never want to?" she suggested. "I quite understand. I am very tired +of them myself just now--most especially of Lady Joanna. But perhaps it +is rather bad taste to say so, as I have been brought up as her companion +from childhood." + +"And now you have left her?" he said. + +"Yes I have left her. I have disapproved of her for some time," Juliet +spoke thoughtfully. "She is very unconventional, you know. And I--well, +at heart I fancy I must be rather a prude. Anyhow, I disapproved, more +and more strongly, and at last I came away." + +"That was rather brave of you," he commented. + +"Oh, it wasn't much of a sacrifice. I've got a little money--enough to +keep me from starvation; but not enough to buy me cigarettes--at least +not the kind I like." Juliet's smile was one of friendly confidence. "I +think it's about my only real vice, and I've never been used to inferior +ones. Do you mind telling me where you get yours?" + +He smiled back at her as he felt for his cigarette-case. "You had better +try one and make sure you like them before you get any." + +"Oh, I know I should like them," she said, "thank you very much. +No, don't give me one! I feel as if I've begged for it. But just +tell me where you get them, and if they're not too expensive I'll +buy some to try." + +He held the open cigarette-case in front of her. "Won't you honour me by +accepting one?" he said. + +She hesitated, and then in a moment very charmingly she yielded. "Thank +you--Mr. Green. I seem to have accepted a good deal from you to-night. +Thank you very much." + +He made her a slight bow. "It has been my privilege to serve you," he +said. "I hope I may have further opportunities of being of use. I can get +you these cigarettes at any time if you like them. But they are not +obtainable locally." + +"Not!" Her face fell. "How disappointing!" + +"Not from my point of view," he said. "There's no difficulty about it. I +can get them for you if you will allow me." + +He struck a match for her, and kindled a cigarette for himself also. + +Juliet inhaled a deep breath. "They are lovely," she said. "I knew I +should like them when you went past Mrs. Rickett's smoking one." + +He looked at her with amusement. "When was that?" + +"When I was waiting for that dreadful ginger pudding at lunch--I +mean dinner." She paused. "No, that's horrid of me. Please consider +it unsaid!" + +"Why shouldn't you say it if you think it?" he asked. + +"Because it's unkind. Mrs. Rickett is the soul of goodness. And I am +going to learn to like her ginger pudding--and her dumplings--and +everything that is hers." + +"How heroic of you! I wonder if you will succeed." + +"Of course I shall succeed," Juliet spoke with confidence as she turned +to pass through the gate. "I am going to cultivate a contented mind here. +And when I go back to Lady Jo--if I ever do--I shall be proof against +anything." + +He reached forward to open the gate. "I think you will probably go back +long before the contented mind has begun to sprout," he said. + +She laughed as she walked on down the path. "But it has begun already. I +haven't felt so cheerful for a long time." + +"That isn't real contentment," he pointed out. "It's your spirit of +adventure enjoying itself. Wait till you begin to be bored!" + +"How extremely analytical!" she remarked. "I am not going to be bored. My +spirit of adventure is not at all an enterprising one. I assure you I +didn't enjoy that tumble over the cliff in the least. I am a very quiet +person by nature." She began to laugh. "You must have noticed I wasn't +very intrepid in the face of danger. I seem to remember your telling me +not to be silly." + +"I hoped you had forgiven and forgotten that," he said. + +"Neither one nor the other," she answered, checking her mirth. "I think +you would have been absolutely justified in using even stronger language +under the circumstances. You wouldn't have saved me if you hadn't +been--very firm." + +"Very brutal, you mean. No, I ought to have managed better. I will next +time." He spoke with a smile, but there was a hint of seriousness in +his words. + +"When will that be?" said Juliet. + +"I don't know. But I can make the way down much easier. The steps are a +simple matter, and I have often thought a charge of gunpowder would +improve that bit where the rock hangs over. If I hadn't wanted to keep +the place to myself I should have done it long ago. It certainly is +dangerous now to anyone who doesn't know." + +Juliet came to a sudden halt in the path. "Oh, you are an engineer!" she +said. "I hope you will not spoil your favourite eyrie just because I may +some day fall over into it again. The chance is a very remote one, I +assure you. Now, please don't come any farther with me! It has only just +dawned on me that your way probably lies in the direction of the mines. +I shouldn't have let you come so far if I had realized it sooner." + +He looked momentarily surprised. "But I do live in this direction," he +said. "In any case, I hope you will allow me to see you safely back." + +"But there is no need," she protested. "We are practically there. Do you +really live this way?" + +"Yes. Quite close to the worthy Mrs. Rickett too. I am not an engineer. I +am the village schoolmaster." + +He announced the fact with absolute directness. It was Juliet's turn to +look surprised. She almost gasped. + +"You--you!" + +"Yes, I. Why not?" He met her look of astonishment with a smile. "Have I +given you a shock?" + +She recovered herself with an answering smile. "No, of course not. I +might have guessed. I wonder I didn't." + +"But how could you guess?" he questioned. "Have I the manners of a +pedagogue?" + +"No," she said again. "No, of course not. Only--I have been hearing a +good deal about you to-day; not in your capacity of schoolmaster, but +as--Brother Dick." + +"Ah!" he said sharply, and just for a moment she thought he was either +embarrassed or annoyed, but whatever the feeling he covered it instantly. +"You have talked to my brother Robin?" + +"Yes," she said. "He is the only person I have talked to besides Mrs. +Rickett. We met on the shore." + +"I hope he behaved himself," he said. "You weren't afraid of him, I +hope." + +"No; poor lad! Why should I be?" Juliet spoke very gently, very +pitifully. "I have a feeling that Robin and I are going to be +friends," she said. + +"You are very good," he said, in a low voice. "He hasn't many friends, +poor chap. But he's very faithful to those he's got. Most people are so +revolted by his appearance that they never get any farther. And he's shy +too--very naturally. How did he come to speak to you?" + +She hesitated. "It was I who spoke first," she said, in a moment. + +"Really! What made you do that?" + +She hesitated again. + +He looked at her with sudden attention. "He did something that made you +speak. What was it, please?" + +His tone was peremptory, almost curt, Juliet hesitated no longer. + +"Do you mind if I don't answer that question?" she said. + +"He will tell me if you don't," he returned, with a certain hardness that +made her wonder if he were angered by her refusal. + +"That wouldn't be fair of you," she said gently, "when I specially don't +want you to know." + +"You don't want me to know?" he said. + +"I should tell you myself if I did," she pointed out. + +"I see." He reflected for a moment; then: "Will you promise to tell me if +he ever does it again?" he said. + +Juliet laughed with a feeling of almost inordinate relief. "Yes, +certainly. I know he never will." + +"Then that's the end of that," he said. + +"Thank you," said Juliet. + +They had reached the road that turned up to the village, and the light +from a large lamp some distance up the hill shone down upon them. + +"That is where Mr. Fielding lives," said Green, as they walked towards +it. "Those are his lodge-gates. No doubt you have heard of him too. He is +the great man of the place. He owns it, in fact." + +"Yes, I have heard of him," said Juliet. "Is he a nice man?" + +He made an almost imperceptible movement of the shoulders. "I am very +much indebted to him," he said. + +"I see," said Juliet. + +They reached the cottage-gate that led to the blacksmith's humble abode, +and a smell of rank tobacco, floating forth, announced the fact that he +was smoking his pipe in the porch. + +Juliet paused and held out her hand. "Good-bye!" she said. + +His grasp was strong and very steady. "Good-bye," he said, "I hope you'll +find what you're looking for." + +He stooped to pat Columbus, then opened the gate for her. + +Instantly there was a stir in the porch as of some large animal awaking. +"That you, Mr. Green?" called a deep bass voice. "Come in! Come in!" + +But Green remained outside. "Not to-night, thanks," he called back. "I've +got some work to do. Good-night!" + +The gate closed behind her, and Juliet walked up the path with Columbus +trotting sedately by her side. She heard her escort's departing footsteps +as she went, and wondered when they would meet again. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GREAT MAN + + +The church at Little Shale was very ancient and picturesque. It stood +almost opposite to the lodge-gates of Shale Court, the abode of the great +Mr. Fielding. Two cracked bells hung in its crumbling square tower, +disturbing once a week the jackdaws that built in the ivy. Just once a +week ever since the Dark Ages, was Juliet's reflection as she dutifully +obeyed the somewhat querulous-sounding summons on the following day. She +could not picture their ringing for any bridal festivity, though it +seemed possible that they might sometimes toll for the dead. + +Two incredibly old yew-trees mounted guard on each side of the gate and +another of immense size overhung the porch. The path was lined by +grave-stones that all looked as if they were tottering to a fall. + +An old clergyman in a cassock that was brown with age hurried past her as +she walked up the path. She thought he matched his surroundings as he +disappeared at a trot round the corner of the church. Then from behind +her came the hoot of a motor-horn, and she glanced back to see a closed +car that glittered at every angle swoop through the open gates and swerve +round to the churchyard. She wanted to stop and see its occupants alight, +but decorum prompted her to pass on, and she entered the church, which +smelt of the mould of centuries, and paused inside. + +It was a plain little place with plastered walls, and green glass +windows, and one large square pew under the pulpit. The other pews were +modern and very bare, occupied sparsely by villagers who all had their +faces turned over their shoulders and were craning to watch the door. + +No one looked at her, however, and Juliet, after brief hesitation, sat +down in a chair close to the porch. The entrance of the Court party was +evidently something of an event, and she determined to get a good view. + +Footsteps came up the path, and on the very verge of the porch a voice +spoke--a woman's voice, unmodulated, arrogant. + +"Oh, really, Edward! I don't see why your village schoolmaster should be +asked to lunch every Sunday, however immaculate he may be. I object on +principle." + +The words were scarcely uttered before the notes of the organ swelled +suddenly through the church. Juliet sent a quick look towards it, and saw +the black cropped head of the man in question as he sat at the +instrument. It occupied one side of the chancel and a crowd of village +children congregated in the side pews immediately outside and under the +eye of the organist. Juliet felt an indignant flush rise in her cheeks. +She was certain that that remark had been audible all over the church, +and she resented it with almost unreasonable vehemence. + +Then with a sweep of feathers and laces the speaker entered, and +Juliet raised her eyes to regard her. She saw a young woman, +delicate-looking, with a pretty, insolent face and expensive clothes, +walk past, and was aware for a moment of a haughty stare that seemed +to question her right to be there. Then her own attention passed to +the man who entered in her wake. + +He was tall, middle-aged, handsome in a somewhat ordinary style, but +Juliet thought his mouth wore the most unpleasant expression she had ever +seen. It was drawn down at the corners in a sneering curve, and a decided +frown knitted his brows. He walked with the suggestion of a swagger, as +if ready to challenge any who should dispute his right to the place and +everyone in it. + +His wife entered the great square pew, but he strode on to the chancel, +tapped the organist unceremoniously on the shoulder and spoke to him. + +Juliet watched the result with a curiosity she could not restrain. The +black head turned sharply. She caught a momentary glimpse of Green's +energetic profile as he spoke briefly and emphatically and immediately +returned to his instrument. The squire marched back to his pew still +frowning, and the voluntary continued. He played with assurance but +somewhat mechanically, and she presently realized that he was keeping a +sharp eye on the schoolchildren at the same time. The service was a +lengthy one and they needed supervision. They fidgeted and whispered +unceasingly. A lady whom she took to be the Vicar's daughter sat near +them, but it was quite obvious that she had no control over them. During +the sermon, which was a very sleepy affair, Green left the organ and went +and sat amongst them. + +Then indeed a profound quiet reigned and Juliet became so drowsy that +it took her utmost resolution to stay awake. Most of the congregation +slept unrestrainedly. It was certainly a hot morning, and the service +very dull. + +When it was over at last, she stepped out under the yew-trees and +wondered why she had not made her escape before. She was the first to +leave the church, and wandering down the path through the hot, chequered +sunlight she saw the shining car drawn up at the gate, and a young +chauffeur waiting at the door. She glanced at him as she passed, and was +surprised for a second to find him gazing at her with a curious +intentness. He lowered his eyes the moment they met hers, and she passed +on, wondering what there was about her to excite his interest. + +Columbus was waiting with pathetic patience to be taken for a walk, +and overpoweringly hot though it was she had not the heart to keep him +any longer. But she could not face the full blaze of noon on the +shore, and she turned back up the shady church lane with a vague +memory of having seen a stile at the entrance of a wood somewhere +along its winding length. + +The church-goers had dispersed by that time, but at the gate of the +schoolhouse which was a few yards above the church she saw a group of +boys waiting clamorously, and just as she found her stile she saw Green +come out dressed in flannels with a bath-towel round his neck. The boys +swarmed all about him like a crowd of excited puppies, and Juliet turned +into the wood with a smile. So he had refused the squire's invitation to +luncheon! She was very glad of that. + +The green glades of the wood received her; she wandered forward with a +delightful sense of well-being. The thought of London came to her--the +heat and the dust and the fumes of petrol--the chattering crowds under +the parched trees--the kaleidoscopic glitter of fashion at its crudest +and most amazing. She knew exactly what they were all doing at that +precise moment. She visualized the shifting, restless feverish throng +with a vividness that embraced every detail. And she turned her face up +to the tree-tops and revelled in her solitude. Only last week she had +been in that seething whirlpool, borne helplessly hither and thither like +driftwood, caught here or flung there by any chance current. Only last +week she had felt the sudden drawing of the vortex, sucking her down +with appalling swiftness. Only last week! And to-day she was free. She +had awakened to the danger almost at the eleventh hour, and she had +escaped. Thank God she had escaped in time! + +She suddenly wished that she had remembered to utter her thanksgiving +during that very monotonous service instead of going to sleep. But +somehow it seemed just as appropriate out here under the glorious +beeches. She sat down on a mossy root and drank in the sweetness with a +deep content. Columbus was busy trying to unearth a wood-louse that had +eluded him in a tuft of grass. She watched him lazily. + +He persevered for a long time, till in fact the tuft of grass was +practically demolished, and then at last, failing in his quest, he +relinquished the search, and with a deep sigh lay down by her side. + +She laid a caressing hand upon him, and ruffled his grizzled hair. "I'd +be lonely without you, Columbus," she said. + +Columbus smiled at the compliment and snapped inconsequently at a fly. "I +wish we had brought some lunch with us," remarked his mistress. "Then we +needn't have gone back. Why didn't you think of it, Columbus?" + +Columbus couldn't say really, but he wriggled his nose into the caressing +hand and gave her to understand that lunch really didn't matter. Then +very suddenly he extricated it again and uttered a growl that might have +risen from the heart of a lion. + +Juliet looked up. Someone was coming along the winding path through the +wood. She grasped Columbus by the collar, for he had a disconcerting +habit of barking round the legs of intruders if not wholly satisfied as +to their respectability. The next moment a figure came in sight, and she +recognized the squire. + +He was walking quickly, impatiently, flicking to and fro with a stick as +he came. The frown still drew his forehead, and she saw at a first glance +that he was annoyed. + +He did not see her at first, not in fact until he was close upon her. +Then, as Columbus tactlessly repeated his growl, he started and his look +fell upon her. + +Juliet had had no intention of speaking, but his eyes held so direct a +question that she found herself compelled to do so. "I hope we are not +trespassing," she said. + +He put his hand to his hat with a jerk. "You are not, madam," he said. "I +am not so sure of the dog." + +His voice was not unpleasant, but no smile accompanied his words. At +close quarters she saw that he was older than she had at first believed +him to be. He was well on in the fifties. + +She drew Columbus nearer to her. "I won't let him hunt," she said. + +"He will probably get shot if he does," remarked Mr. Fielding, and was +gone without further ceremony. + +Juliet put her arms around her favourite and kissed him between his +pricked ears. "What a sweet man, Columbus!" she murmured. "I think we +must cultivate him, don't you?" + +She wondered why he was going back towards the church lane at that hour, +for it was past one o'clock and time for her to be wending her own way +back to the village. She gave him ample opportunity to clear the wood, +however, before she moved. She was determined that she and Columbus would +be more discreet next time. + +Mrs. Rickett's midday meal was fixed for half-past-one. She was not +looking forward to it with any great relish, for her prophetic soul +warned her that it would not be of a very dainty order, but not for +worlds would she have had the good woman know it. Besides, she had one +cigarette left! + +She got up when she judged it safe, and began to walk back. But, nearing +the stile, the sound of voices made her pause. Two men were evidently +standing there, and she realized with something like dismay that the way +was blocked. She waited for a moment or two, then decided to put a bold +face on it and pursue her course. Mrs. Rickett's dinner certainly would +not improve by keeping. + +She pressed on therefore, and as she drew nearer, she recognized the +squire's voice, raised on a note of irritation. + +"Oh, don't be a fool, my good fellow! I shouldn't ask you if I didn't +really want you." + +The answer came instantly, and though it sounded curt it had a ring +of humour. "Thank you, sir. And I shouldn't refuse if I really +wanted to come." + +There was a second's silence; then the squire's voice again, loud and +explosive: "Confound you then! Do the other thing!" + +It was at this point that Juliet rounded a curve in the path and came +within sight of the stile. + +Green was standing facing her, and she saw his instant glance of +recognition. Mr. Fielding had his back to her, and the younger man laid a +hand upon his arm and drew him aside. + +Fielding turned sharply. He looked her up and down with a resentful stare +as she mounted the stile, and Juliet flushed in spite of the most +determined composure. + +Green came forward instantly and offered a hand to assist her. "Good +morning, Miss Moore! Exploring in another direction to-day?" he said. + +She took the proffered hand, feeling absurdly embarrassed by the +squire's presence. Green was bareheaded, and his hair shone wet in the +strong sunlight. His manner was absolutely easy and assured. She met his +smiling look with an odd feeling of gratitude, as if he had ranged +himself on her side against something formidable. + +"I am afraid I haven't been very fortunate in my choice to-day either," +she said somewhat ruefully, as she descended. + +He laughed. "We all trespass in these woods. It's a time-honoured custom, +isn't it, Mr. Fielding? The pheasants are quite used to it." + +Juliet did not glance in the squire's direction. She felt that she had +done all that was necessary in that quarter, and that any further +overture would but meet with a churlish response. + +But to her astonishment he took the initiative. "I am afraid I wasn't too +hospitable just now," he said. "It's this fellow's fault. Dick, it's up +to you to apologize on my behalf." + +Juliet looked at him then in amazement, and saw that the dour visage was +actually smiling at her--such a smile as transformed it completely. + +"If Miss Moore will permit me," said Mr. Green, with a bow, "I will +introduce you to her. You will then be _en rapport_ and in a position to +apologize for yourself." + +"Pedagogue!" said the squire. + +And Juliet laughed for the first time. "If anyone apologizes it should be +me," she said. + +"I!" murmured Green. "With more apologies!" + +The squire turned on him. "Green, I'll punch your head for you directly, +you unspeakable pedant! What should you take him for, Miss Moore? A very +high priest or a very low comedian?" + +Juliet felt her breath somewhat taken away by this sudden admission to +intimacy. She looked at Green whose dark eyes laughed straight back at +her, and found it impossible to stand upon ceremony. + +"I really don't know," she said. "I haven't had time to place him yet. +But it's a little difficult to be quite impartial as he saved my life +last night." + +"What?" said the squire. "That sounds romantic. What made him do that?" + +"Allow me!" interposed Green, pulling the bath-towel from his neck, and +rapidly winding it into a noose. "It happened yesterday evening. I was +having a quiet smoke in a favourite corner of mine on a ledge about +twenty feet down High Shale Cliff where it begins to get steep, when +Miss Moore, attracted by the scent of my cigarette,--that's right, isn't +it?"--he flung her an audacious challenge with uplifted brows--"when +Miss Moore attracted as I say, by the alluring scent of my cigarette, +fell over the edge and joined me. My gallantry consisted in detaining +her there, after this somewhat abrupt introduction, that's all. Oh yes, +and in bullying her afterwards to climb up again when she didn't want +to. I was an awful brute last night, wasn't I? Really, I think it's +uncommonly generous of you to have anything at all to say to me this +morning, Miss Moore." + +"So do I," said Mr. Fielding. "If it were possible to treat such a +buffoon as you seriously, she wouldn't. I hope you are none the worse for +the adventure, Miss Moore." + +"No, really I am not," said Juliet. "And I am still feeling very +grateful." She smiled at the squire. "Good-bye! I must be getting back to +Mrs. Rickett's or the dumplings will be cold." + +She whistled Columbus to her and departed, still wondering at the +transformation which Green had wrought in the squire. It had not occurred +to her that there could be anything really pleasant hidden behind that +grim exterior. It was evident that the younger man knew how to hold his +own. And again she was glad, quite unreasonably glad, that he had stuck +to his refusal to lunch at the Court. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE VISITOR + + +"May I come and see you?" said Robin. + +Juliet, seated under an apple-tree in the tiny orchard that ran beside +the road, looked up from her book and saw his thin face peering at her +through the hedge. She smiled at him very kindly from under her +flower-decked shelter. + +"Of course!" she said. "Come in by all means!" + +She expected him to go round to the gate, but he surprised her by going +down on all fours and crawling through a gap in the privet. He looked +like a monstrous baboon shuffling towards her. When through, he stood up +again, a shaggy lock of hair falling across his forehead, and looked at +her with eyes that seemed to burn in their deep hollows like distant +lamps at night. + +He stopped, several paces from her. "Sure you don't mind me?" he said. + +"Quite sure," said Juliet, with quiet sincerity. "I am very pleased to +see you. Wait while I fetch another chair!" + +She would have risen with the words, but he stopped her with a gesture +almost violent. "No--no--no!" He nearly shouted the words. "Don't get up! +Don't go! I don't want a chair." + +Juliet remained seated. "Just as you like," she said, smiling at him. +"But I don't think the grass is dry enough to sit on." + +He looked contemptuous. "It won't hurt me. I hate chairs. I'll do +as I like." + +But he still stood, glowering at her uncertainly near the hedge. + +"Come along then!" said Juliet kindly. "Come and sit down near me! Why +not?" + +He came slowly, and let himself down with awkward, lumbering movements by +her side. His face was darkly sullen. "I don't see any harm in it," he +grumbled, "if you don't mind." + +"Of course I don't mind!" she said. "I am pleased. As you see, I have no +other visitors." + +He lifted his heavy eyes to hers. "You'd pack me off fast enough +if you had." + +"No, I shouldn't. Don't be silly, Robin!" She smiled down upon him. "You +are going to stay and have tea with me, aren't you?" + +He smiled rather doubtfully in answer. "I'd like to. I don't know if I +can though." + +"Why shouldn't you?" she questioned. + +He folded his long arms about his knees, and murmured something +unintelligible. + +Juliet looked at her watch. "Mrs. Rickett has promised to bring it in +another quarter-of-an-hour, and we will ask her to bring out Freddy too, +shall we? You'll like that." + +The boy's face brightened a little. He did not speak for a moment or two; +then he reached forth a claw-like hand and tentatively fingered her +dress. "I don't want Freddy--when I've got you," he muttered. + +"Oh, don't you? How kind!" said Juliet. + +Again his dark eyes lifted. "It's you that's kind," he said. "I've never +seen anyone like you before." His brow clouded again as he looked at her. +"You're quite as much a lady as Mrs. Fielding," he said. "But you don't +call me a 'hideous abortion'." + +"I should think not!" Juliet moved impulsively and laid her hand upon his +humped shoulder. "Don't listen to such things, Robin! Put them out of +your head! They are not true." + +He rested his chin upon her hand, looking up at her dumbly. Her heart +stirred within her. The pathos of those eyes was more than she could meet +unmoved. Their protest made her think of an animal in pain. + +"It doesn't do to take things too seriously, Robin," she said +gently. "There are people in the world who will say unkind things of +anybody. It's just because they are thoughtless generally. It +doesn't do to listen." + +"No one ever said anything unkind about you," he said. + +"Oh, didn't they?" Juliet smiled. "Do you know, Robin, I shouldn't wonder +if there are plenty of them saying unkind things about me this very +moment--that is, if they are thinking about me at all." + +He glanced around him savagely. "Where? I'd like to hear 'em! I'd +kill 'em!" + +"No--no!" said Juliet, restraining him. "And it's no one here either. But +you've got to realize that it doesn't really matter what people say. +They'll always talk, you know. Everyone does. It's the way of the world, +and we can't get away from it." + +Robin looked unconvinced. "I'd kill anyone who said anything bad about +you anyway," he said. + +"I don't think you ought to talk like that," said Juliet, in her +quiet way. + +"Why not?" His eyes suddenly glowered again. + +But she answered him with absolute calmness. "Because if you mean it, +it's wrong--very wrong. And if you don't mean it, it's just foolish." + +"Oh!" said Robin. He edged himself nearer to her. "I like you," he said. +"Talk some more! I like your voice." + +"What shall I talk about?" she asked. + +"Tell me about London!" he said. + +"Oh, London! My dear boy, you'd hate London. It's all noise and crowds +and dust. The streets are crammed with cars and people and there is never +any peace. It's like a great wheel that is never still." + +"What do the people do?" he asked. + +"They just tear about from morning till night, and very often from night +till morning. Everyone is always trying to be first and to be a little +smarter than anyone else. They think they enjoy it." Juliet drew a sudden +hard breath. "But they really don't. It's such a whirl, such a strain, +like always running at top speed in a race and never getting there. Yes, +it's just that--a sort of obstacle race, and the obstacles always getting +higher and higher and higher." She stopped and uttered a deep slow sigh. +"Well, I've done with it, Robin. I'm not going to get over any more. I've +dropped out. I'm going to grow old in comfort." + +Robin was listening with deep interest. "Is that why you came here?" +he said. + +"Yes. I was tired out and rather scared. I got away just in time--only +just in time." + +Something in her voice, low though it was, made him draw nearer still, +massively, protectively. + +"Are you hiding from someone?" he said. + +"Oh, not exactly." She patted his shoulder gently. "No one would take the +trouble to come and look for me," she said. "They're all much too busy +with their own affairs." + +His eyes sought hers again. "You're not frightened then any more?" + +She smiled at him. "No, not a bit. I've got over that, and I'm beginning +to enjoy myself." + +"Shall you stay here always?" he questioned. + +"I don't know, Robin. I'm not going to look ahead. I'm just going to make +the best of the present. Don't you think that's the best way?" + +He made a wry face. "I suppose it is--if you don't know what's coming." + +"But no one knows that," said Juliet. + +He glanced at her. His fingers, clasped about his knees, tugged +restlessly at each other. "I know what's going to happen to me," he said, +after a moment. "I'm going to get into a row--with Dicky." + +"Oh, is that it?" said Juliet. "I knew there was something the matter." + +He nodded, and suddenly she saw his chin quiver. "I hate a row with +Dicky," he said miserably. + +Her heart went out to him, he looked so forlorn. "Why don't you go and +tell him you're sorry?" she said gently. + +"Not--sorry," articulated Robin, with a sniff. + +The matter presented difficulties. Juliet tried to hedge. "What have you +been doing?" + +"Quarrelling," said Robin. + +"What! With Dick?" + +"No." Again he glanced at her, and wiped a hasty hand across his eyes. +"Dick!" he repeated, as if in derision at her colossal ignorance. + +"Well, but who then?" she questioned. "That is--of course don't tell me +if you'd rather not!" + +"Don't mind," said Robin. "I'll tell you anything. It was--Jack." He +suddenly turned to her fully with blazing eyes. "I--hate--Jack!" he said +very emphatically. + +"Jack! But who is Jack? Oh, I remember!" Juliet abruptly recalled the +young chauffeur at the churchyard gate. "He is your other brother, isn't +he? I'd forgotten him." + +"He's--a beast!" said Robin. "I hate him." + +His look challenged reproof. Juliet wisely made none. "Isn't he kind to +you?" she said. + +"It wasn't that!" blurted out Robin. "It--it--was what he +said--about--about--" He suddenly stopped, closed his lips and sat +savagely biting them. + +"About what?" asked Juliet, bewildered. + +Robin sat mute. + +"I should forget it if I were you," she said sensibly. "People often do +and say things they don't mean. It doesn't pay to be too sensitive. Let's +forget it, shall we?" + +"I can't," said Robin. "Dicky's angry." He paused, then continued with an +effort. "He said I wasn't to come here, said--said he'd punish me if I +did. He called me back, and I wouldn't go. He--" He suddenly broke off, +and crept close to her like a frightened dog--"he's coming now!" he +whispered. + +The catch of the gate had clicked, and Columbus who had accepted Robin +without question, bustled forward to investigate. + +He came back almost immediately, wearing a satisfied look, and as he +settled down again by Juliet's side, Green appeared on the path that led +to the apple-trees. + +Robin pressed closer to Juliet. She could feel him trembling. +Instinctively she laid her hand upon him as Green drew near. + +"Have you come to see me or to look for Robin?" she said. + +Green's look was enigmatical. It comprehended them both at a single +glance. She wondered if he were really angry, but if so, he had himself +under complete control. + +"I have brought you a box of cigarettes to go on with, Miss Moore," he +said, and produced his offering with a smile. + +"How very kind of you!" said Juliet. She sat up with a quick flush of +embarrassment. "How did you manage to get them so soon? You must have had +them by you." + +"I had," said Green. "But I can spare you these with pleasure. It's awful +to be without a smoke, isn't it?" + +Juliet smiled. "These will last me for ages. I am being very economical +now. Please will you tell me how much they are?" + +"Half-a-crown," he said. + +"Oh, please!" she protested. "Let us be honest!" + +"Exactly," he said. "It's all they cost me. I get them through a friend." + +"But perhaps your friend wouldn't care for me to have them at that +price," objected Juliet. + +"Yes, he would. It's all right," Green dismissed the matter with an +airiness that was curiously final. "Don't bother about paying me now, +please! I'd rather have it later. Robin, get up!" + +He addressed his young brother so suddenly and so peremptorily that +Juliet was momentarily startled. Then very swiftly she intervened. + +"Mr. Green, please, don't--be angry with Robin!" + +His look flashed straight down to her. His eyes were still smiling, yet +very strangely they compelled her own. He stooped unexpectedly after an +instant's pause, lifted her hand with absolute gentleness away from the +quivering Robin, and laid it in her lap. + +"Get up, old chap!" he said. "And don't be an ass!" + +There was no questioning the kindness of his voice. Robin lifted his +head, stared a moment, then blundered to his feet. He stood awkwardly, as +if unwilling to go but expecting to be dismissed. + +"He is staying to tea with me," said Juliet. + +"Oh, I think not," Green said. "Another time--if you are kind enough. +Not to-day." + +He spoke very decidedly. Robin, with his head hanging, turned away. + +Green, with a brief gesture of farewell, turned to follow. But in that +moment Juliet spoke in that full rich voice of hers that was all the more +arresting because she did not raise it. + +"Mr. Green, I want to speak to you." + +He stopped at once. She thought she caught a glint of humour behind the +courteous attention of his eyes. + +"Forgive me for interfering!" she said. "But I must say it." + +"Pray do!" said Green. + +Yet she found some difficulty in continuing. It would have been easier if +he had shown resentment, but quizzical tolerance was hard to meet. + +She looked up at him doubtfully for a moment or two. Then, hesitatingly, +she spoke. "Please--don't--punish Robin for coming here!" + +She saw his brows go up in surprise. He was about to speak, but she went +on with more than a touch of embarrassment. "Perhaps it sounds +impertinent, but I believe I could help him in some ways,--if I had the +chance. Anyhow, I should like to try. Please let him come and see me as +often as he likes!" + +"Really!" said Green, and stopped. The amusement had wholly gone out of +his look. "I don't know what to say to you," he said in a moment. "You +are so awfully kind." + +"No, I'm not indeed." Juliet's smile was oddly wistful. "I assure you I +am selfish to the core. But there's something about Robin that goes +straight to my heart. I should like to be kind to him--for my own sake. +So don't--please--try to keep him out of my way!" + +She spoke very earnestly, her eyes under their straight brows, looking +directly into his,--honest eyes that no man could doubt. + +Green stood facing her, his look as kind as her own. "Do you know, Miss +Moore," he said, "I think this is about the kindest thing that has ever +come into my experience?" + +She made a slight gesture of protest. "Oh, but don't let us talk in +superlatives!" she said. "Fetch Robin back, and both of you stay to tea!" + +He shook his head. "Not to-day. I am very sorry. But he doesn't deserve +it. He has been getting a bit out of hand lately. I can't pass it over." + +Juliet leaned forward in her chair. Her eyes were suddenly very bright. +"This once, Mr. Green!" she said. + +He stiffened a little. "No," he said. + +"You won't?" + +"I can't." + +Juliet's look went beyond him to the figure of Robin leaning +disconsolately against a distant tree. She sat for several moments +watching him, and Green still stood before her as if waiting to be +dismissed. + +"Poor boy!" she said softly at length, and turned again to the man in +front of her. "Are you sure you understand him?" + +"Yes," said Green. + +"And you are not hard on him? You are never hard on him?" + +"I have got to keep him in order," he said. + +"Yes, yes, I know. A man would say that." Juliet's face was very +pitiful. "Let him off sometimes!" she urged gently. "It won't do him +any harm." + +Green smiled abruptly. "A woman would say that," he commented. + +She smiled in answer. "Yes, I think any woman would. Don't be hard on +him, Mr. Green! He has been shedding tears over your wrath already." + +"He came here in direct defiance of my orders," said Green. + +"I know. He told me. Please never give him such orders again!" + +"You are awfully kind," Green said again. "But really in this case, there +was sufficient reason. Some people--most people--prefer him at a +distance." + +"I am not one of them," Juliet said. + +"I see you are not. But I couldn't risk it. Besides, he was in a towering +rage when he started. It isn't fair to inflict him on people--even on +anyone as kind as yourself--in that state." + +"I should never be afraid of him," Juliet said quietly. "I think I +know--partly--what was the matter. Someone made a rather cruel remark +about him, and someone else maliciously repeated it. Then he was +angry--very angry--and lost his self-control, and I suppose more cruel +things were said. And then he came here--he asked me--he actually asked +me--if I was sure I didn't mind him!" + +A deep light was shining in her eyes as she ended, and an answering gleam +came into Green's as he met them. + +"I know," he said, in a low voice. "It's infernally hard for him, poor +chap! But it doesn't do to let him know we think so. As long as he lives, +he's got to bear his burden." + +"But it needn't be made heavier than it is," Juliet said. "No, it +needn't. But it isn't everyone that sees it in that light. I'm glad you +do anyway, and I'm grateful--on Robin's behalf. Good-bye!" + +He lifted his hand again in a farewell salute, and turned away. + +Juliet watched him go, watched keenly as he approached Robin, saw the +boy's quick glance at him as he took him by the arm and led him to the +gate. A few seconds later they passed her on the other side of the +hedge evidently on their way to the shore, and she heard Robin's voice +as they went by. + +"I'm--sorry now, Dicky," he said. + +She turned her head to catch his brother's answer, for it did not come +immediately and she wondered a little at the delay. + +Then, as they drew farther away, she heard Green say, "Why do you +say that?" + +"She told me to," said Robin. + +She felt her colour rise and heard Green laugh. They were almost out of +earshot before he said, "All right, boy! I'll let you off this time. +Don't do it again!" + +She leaned back in her chair, and re-opened her book. But she did not +read for some time. Somehow she felt glad--quite unreasonably glad +again--that Robin had been let off. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE OFFER + + +"Well, it ain't none of my business," said Mrs. Rickett, with a sniff. +"Nor it ain't yours either. But did you ever know anyone as wore anything +the likes of that before?" + +She shook out for her husband's inspection a filmy garment that had the +look of a baby's robe that had grown up, before spreading it on her +kitchen table to iron. + +"Ah!" said Rickett, ramming a finger into the bowl of his pipe. "What +sort of a thing is that now?" + +"What sort of a thing, man? Why, a night-dress--of course! What d'you +think?" Mrs. Rickett chuckled at his ignorance. "And that flimsy--why I'm +almost afraid to touch it. It's the quality, you see." + +"Ah!" said the smith vaguely. + +Mrs. Rickett tested the iron near her cheek. "And it's only the quality," +she resumed, as she began to use it, "as wears such things as these. Why, +I shouldn't wonder but what they came from Paris. They must have cost a +mint of money." + +"Ah!" said Rickett again. + +"She's as nice-spoken a young lady as I've met," resumed his wife. "No +pride about her, you know. She's just simple and friendly-like. Yet I'd +like to see the man as'd take a liberty with her all the same." + +Rickett pulled at his pipe with a grunt. When not at work, it was +usually his rôle to sit and listen to his wife's chatter. + +"She ain't been brought up in a convent," continued Mrs. Rickett. +"That's plain to see. With all the gentle ways of her, she knows how to +hold her own. Young Robin Green, he's gone just plumb moon-crazy over +her, and it wouldn't surprise me"--Mrs. Rickett lowered her voice +mysteriously--"but what some day Dick himself was to do the same." + +"Ah!" said the smith. + +"She's so taking, you know," said Mrs. Rickett, as if in extenuation of +this outrageous surmise. "And there isn't anyone good enough for him +about here. Of course there's the infant teacher--that Jarvis girl--she'd +set her cap at him if she dared. But he wouldn't look at her. Young +Jack's a deal more likely, if ever he does settle down--which I doubt. +But Dick--he's different. He's--why if that ain't Mr. Fielding a-riding +up the path! What ever do he want at this time of night? Go and see, +George, do!" + +George lumbered to his feet obediently. "Happen he's come to call on our +young lady," he ventured, with a slow grin. + +"Well, don't bring him in here!" commanded his wife. "Take him into the +front room, while I put on a clean apron!" She hastened to shut the door +upon her husband, then paused, listening intently, as Mr. Fielding's +riding-whip rapped smartly on the door. + +"Happen it is only the young lady he's after," she said to herself. + +It was. In a moment, Mr. Fielding's voice, superior, slightly over +bearing, made itself heard. "Good evening, Rickett! I think Miss Moore is +lodging here. Is she in?" + +"Good evening, sir!" said Rickett, and waited a moment for reflection. +"She was in, but I can't say but what she may have gone out again with +the dog." + +"Well, find out, will you!" said Mr. Fielding. "Wait a minute! You'd +better take my card." + +Mrs. Rickett returned to her ironing. "What ever he be come for?" +she murmured. + +The squires' horse stamped on the tiled path. It was eight o'clock, and +he wanted to get home to his supper. The squire growled at him +inarticulately, and there fell a silence. + +The evening light spread golden over the apple-trees in the orchard. +Someone was wandering among the falling blossoms. He heard a low voice +softly singing. He flung his leg over his horse's back abruptly and +dropped to the ground. + +The voice stopped immediately. The squire fastened his animal to the +porch and turned. The next moment Columbus burst barking through the +intervening hedge. + +"Columbus! Columbus!" called Juliet's voice. "Come back at once!" + +"May I come through?" said Mr. Fielding. + +She arrived at the orchard-gate, flushed and apologetic. "Oh, pray do! +Please excuse Columbus! He always speaks before he thinks." + +She opened the gate with the words, and held out her hand. + +She was aware of his eyes looking at her very searchingly as he took it. +"I hope you don't mind a visitor at this hour," he said. + +She smiled. "No. I am quite at liberty. Come and sit down!" + +She led the way to a bench under the apple-trees, and the squire tramped +after her with jingling spurs. + +"I'm afraid you'll think me very unconventional," he said, speaking with +a sort of arrogant humility as she stopped. + +"I like unconventional people best," said Juliet. + +He dropped down on the seat. "Oh, do you? Then I needn't apologize any +further. You've been here about a week, haven't you?" + +"Yes," said Juliet. + +His look dwelt upon the simple linen dress she wore. "You came +from London?" + +"Yes," she said again. + +He began to frown and to pull restlessly at the lash of his riding-whip. +"Do you think me impertinent for asking you questions?" he said. + +"Not so far," said Juliet. + +He uttered a brief laugh. "You're cautious. Listen, Miss Moore! I don't +care a--I mean, it's nothing whatever to me where you've come from or +why. What I really came to ask is--do you want a job?" + +Juliet stiffened a little involuntarily. "What sort of a job?" she said. + +His fingers tugged more and more vigorously at the leather. She realized +quite suddenly that he was embarrassed, and at once her own +embarrassment passed. + +"Have you come to offer me a job?" she said. "How kind of you to +think of it!" + +"You don't know what it is yet," said Fielding, biting uncomfortably at +his black moustache. "It may not appeal to you. Quite probably it won't. +You've been a companion before--so Green tells me." + +"Oh!" Juliet's straight brows gathered slightly. "Did Mr. Green tell you +I was wanting a job?" + +"No, he didn't. Green sticks to his own business and nothing will turn +him from it." The squire suddenly lashed with his whip at the grass in +front of him, causing Columbus to jump violently and turn a resentful eye +upon him. "I'll tell you what passed if you want to know." + +"Thank you," said Juliet simply. + +She leaned forward after a moment and pulled Columbus to her side; +fondling his pricked ears reassuringly. + +"It was on Sunday," said Fielding. "My wife saw you in church. She took +rather a fancy to you. I hope you don't object?" + +"Why should I?" said Juliet. + +"Exactly. Why should you? Well, after Green's introduction, when you had +gone, I asked him if he knew anything about you. He said he had only made +your acquaintance the day before, that you had told him that you had held +the post of companion to someone, he didn't say who. And I wondered if +possibly you might feel inclined to see how you got on with my wife in +that capacity. She is not strong. She wants a companion." + +Juliet's grey eyes gazed steadily before her as she listened. The evening +light shone on her brown head, showing streaks of gold here and there. +Her attitude was one of grave attention. + +As he ended, she turned towards him, still caressing the dog at her feet. + +"Wouldn't it be better," she said, "if Mrs. Fielding knew me before +offering me such a post?" + +The squire smiled at her abruptly. "No, I don't think so. It wouldn't be +worth while unless you mean to consider it." + +"Is that her point of view?" asked Juliet. + +"No; it's mine. If she gets to know you and sets her heart on having you, +and then you go and disappoint her--I shall be the sufferer," explained +Fielding, with another cut at the grass in front of him. + +It was Juliet's turn to smile. "But I can't--possibly--decide until we +have met, can I?" she said. + +"Does that mean you'll consider it?" asked the squire. + +"I am considering it," said Juliet. "But please give me time! For I have +only just begun." + +"That's fair," he conceded. "How long will it take you?" + +She began to laugh. There was something almost boyishly naive about him, +notwithstanding his obvious bad temper. "You haven't told me any details +yet," she said. + +"Oh, you mean money," he said. "I leave that to you. You can name your +own terms." + +"Thank you," said Juliet again. "That would naturally appeal to me +very much. But as a matter of fact, I was not referring to money at +that moment." + +He gave her a keen look. "I didn't mean to offend you. Are you offended?" + +She met his eyes quite squarely. "On second thoughts--no!" + +"Why second thoughts?" he demanded. + +Her colour rose faintly. "Because I think second thoughts are--kinder." + +Fielding turned suddenly crimson. "So I'm a cad and a bounder, am I?" he +said furiously. + +Juliet's eyes contemplated him without a hint of dismay. There was even +behind their serenity the faint glint of a smile. "I think that is +putting it rather strongly," she said. "But I really don't know you yet. +I am not in a position to judge--even if I wished to do so." + +Fielding sat for a moment or two quite rigid, as if on the verge of +springing to his feet and leaving her. Then with amazing suddenness he +broke into a laugh, and the tension was past. + +"By Jove, I like you for that!" he said. "You did it jolly well. You've +got pluck, and you know how to keep your temper. You'll have to forgive +me, Miss Moore. We're going to be friends after this." + +There was something very winning about this overture, and Juliet was not +proof against it. He was evidently of those who consider that an apology +condones any offence, and, though she was far from agreeing with him on +this point, it was not in her to be churlish. + +She smiled at him without speaking. + +"Sure you're not angry with me?" urged the Squire. + +She nodded. "Yes, quite sure. Won't you go on where you left off?" + +"Where did I leave off?" He frowned. "Oh yes, you asked for details. +Well, what do you want to know? My wife always breakfasts in bed, so she +wouldn't want you before ten. But you'd live with us of course. I'd see +that they made you comfortable." + +"If my duties did not begin before ten, there would be no need for that," +pointed out Juliet. + +He looked at her in surprise. "Of course you'd live with us! You can't +want to stay here!" + +"But why not?" said Juliet. "They are very kind to me. I am very +happy here." + +"Oh, nonsense!" said the squire. "You couldn't do that. I believe you're +afraid I want to make a slave of you." + +"No, I am not afraid of that," said Juliet. "But go on, if you don't +mind! What happens after ten o'clock?" + +"Well, she opens her letters," said the squire. "Tells you what wants +answering and how to answer it. P'raps you read the papers to her for a +bit before she gets up, and so on." + +"Does that take the whole morning?" asked Juliet. + +"No. She's down about twelve. Sometimes she goes for a ride then, if she +feels like it. Or she walks about the grounds, or drives out in the +dog-cart. She's very keen on horses. Then either she goes out to lunch +or someone lunches with us. And after that she's off in the car for a +fifty-mile run--or a hundred if the mood takes her. She's never +quiet--except when she's in bed. That's what I want you for. I want you +to keep her quiet." + +"Oh!" said Juliet. + +This was shedding a new light upon the matter. She looked at him somewhat +dubiously. + +"Come! I know you can," he said. "You've been through the treadmill. You +know all about it and it doesn't attract you. This infernal chase after +excitement--it's like a spreading fever. There's no peace for anyone +now-a-days. I want you to stop it. You've got that sort of influence. I +sensed it directly I saw you. You've got that priceless possession--a +quiet spirit. She wouldn't go tearing over the country racing and +gambling and then card-playing far into the night if you were there to +pull her up. She'd be ashamed--with anyone like you looking on." + +"Would she?" said Juliet. "I wonder. And how do you know that that sort +of thing doesn't attract me?" + +"Of course I know it. You carry it in your face. You're a woman--not a +dancing marionette. You wouldn't despise a woman's duties because they +interfered with pleasure. You were made in a different mould. Anyone can +see that." + +Juliet was smiling a little. "I can't claim to be anything very great," +she said. "But certainly, I was never very fond of cards." + +"Of course you weren't. You've too much sense to do anything to excess. +Now look here, Miss Moore! You're coming, aren't you? You'll give the +thing a trial. I promise you, you shan't be bullied or overworked. It's +such an opportunity, for my wife really has taken a fancy to you. And she +can be quite decent to anyone when she likes. You can bring the dog +along," continued the squire. "You can have your own sitting-room--your +own maid, if you want one. You can come and go as you choose. No one +will interfere with you. All I want you to do is to put the brake on my +wife, make her take an interest in her home, make her take life +seriously. She's not at all strong. She doesn't give herself a chance. +Unless I fetch in a doctor and practically keep her in bed by main force +she never gets any decent rest. Why, she's hardly ever in her room before +two in the morning. It's almost a form of madness with her, this +ceaseless round. I can't prevent it. I'm a busy man myself." He suddenly +got to his feet with a jerk and stood looking down at her with sombre +eyes. "I'm a busy man," he repeated. "I have my ambitions, and I work for +them. I work hard. But the one thing I want more than anything else on +earth is a son to succeed me. And if I can't have that--there's nothing +else that counts." + +He spoke with bitter vehemence, beating restlessly against his heel with +his whip. But Juliet still sat silent, looking out before her at the +golden pink of the apple-trees in the sunset light with grave quiet eyes. + +He went on morosely, egotistically, "I don't know what I've done that I +shouldn't have what practically every labourer on my estate has got. I +may not have been absolutely impeccable in my youth. I've never yet met a +man who was--with the single exception of Dick Green who hasn't much +temptation to be anything else. But I've lived straight on the whole. +I've played the game--or tried to. And yet--after five years of +marriage--I'm still without an heir, and likely to remain so, as far as I +can see. She says I'm mad on that point." He spoke resentfully. "But +after all, it's what I married for. I don't see why I should be cheated +out of the one thing I want most, do you?" + +Juliet's eyes came up to his, slowly, somewhat reluctantly. "I'm afraid I +haven't much sympathy with you," she said. + +"You haven't?" he looked amazed. + +"No." She paused a moment. "It was a pity you told me. You see, a woman +doesn't care to be married--just for that." + +"And what do you suppose she married me for?" he demanded indignantly. +"Do you think she was in love with me--a man thirty years older than +herself? Oh, I assure you, there were never any illusions on that score! +I had a good deal to offer her, and she jumped at it." + +Juliet gave a slight shiver, and abruptly his manner changed. + +"I'm sorry. Put my foot in it again, have I? You'll have to forgive me, +please. No, I shouldn't have told you. But you've got such a kind look +about you--as if you'd understand." + +She was touched in spite of herself. She got up quickly and faced him. +"What I can't understand," she said, a ring of deep feeling in her +voice, "is how anyone can possibly barter their happiness, their +self-respect, all that is most worth having, for this world's goods, +this world's ambitions, and expect to come out of it anything but +losers. Oh, I know it's done every day. People fight and scramble--yes, +and grovel in the mud--for what they think is gold; and when they've got +it, it's only the basest alloy. Some of them never find it out. Others +do--and break their hearts." + +He stared at her. "You speak as one who knows." + +"I do know," she said. "Since I've been here, had time to think, I've +realized it more and more. This dreadful fight for front places, for +prosperity--this rooted, individual selfishness--the hopeless materialism +of it all--the ultimate ruin--." She broke off. "You'll take me for a +street ranter if I go on. But it's rather piteous to see people straining +and agonizing after what, after all, can never bring them any comfort." + +"But that's just what I was saying," he protested. + +Her frank eyes looked straight into his. "But you're doing it yourself +all the same," she said. "You're playing for your own hand all the time +and so you're a loser and always will be. It's the chief rule of the +game." She smiled faintly. "Please forgive me for telling you so, but +I've only just found it out for myself; so I had to tell someone." + +"You're rather a wonderful young woman," said the squire, still staring. + +She shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm not. I've just begun to use my brains, +that's all. They're nothing at all out of the ordinary, really." + +He laughed. "Well, you've given me a pretty straight one anyway. Have you +got a home anywhere--any home people?" + +"None that count," said Juliet. + +"Been more or less of a looker-on all your life, eh?" he suggested. + +"More or less," smiled Juliet. + +He held out his hand to her abruptly. "Look here! You're coming, +aren't you?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. + +"Well, make up your mind quick!" He held her hand, looking at her. +"What's the objection? Tell me?" + +She freed her hand gently but with decision. "I can't tell you entirely. +You must let me think. For one thing, I want more freedom of action than +I should have as an inmate of your house. I want to come and go as I +like. I've never really done that before, and I'm just beginning to +enjoy it." + +"That's a selfish reason," said the squire, with a sudden boyish +grin at her. + +She coloured slightly. "No, it isn't--or not wholly." + +"All right, it isn't. I unsay it. But that reason won't exist as far as +you are concerned. You will come and go exactly as you like always. No +one will question you." + +"You're very kind," said Juliet. + +He bowed to her ceremoniously. "That's the first really nice thing you +have said to me. I must make a note of it. Now would you like my wife to +call upon you? If so, I'll send her round to-morrow at twelve." + +"If she would care to come," said Juliet. + +"Of course she would. She shall come then--and you'll talk things over, +and come to an understanding. That's settled, is it? Good-bye!" + +He turned to go, pausing at the gate to throw her another smiling +farewell. She had not thought that gloomy, black browed countenance could +look so genial. There was something curiously elusive, almost haunting, +about his smile. + +"Columbus!" said Juliet. "I'm not sure that he's a very nice man, but +there's something about him--something I can't quite place--that makes me +wonder if I've met him somewhere before. Would you like to go and live at +the Court, Columbus?" + +Columbus leaned against her knee in sentimental silence. He evidently did +not care where he went so long as he was with the object of his +whole-souled devotion. + +She stooped and kissed him between the eyes. "Dear doggie!" she murmured. +"I wonder--are we happier--here?" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MRS. FIELDING + + +When the great high-powered car from Shale Court stopped at the gate of +the blacksmith's cottage on the following morning Mrs. Rickett, who was +feeding her young chicks in the yard outside the forge, was thrown into a +state of wild agitation. Everyone in Little Shale stood in awe of the +squire's wife. + +She went nervously to enquire what was wanted, and met the chauffeur +at the gate. + +"It's all right, Mrs. Rickett. Don't fluster yourself!" he said. "It's +Miss Moore we're after. Go and tell her, will you?" + +Mrs. Rickett looked at the bold-eyed young man with disfavour. +"Well, you're not expecting her to come out to you, are you?" she +retorted tartly. + +He smiled. "Yes, I rather think we are, Mrs. Fielding doesn't want to get +out. Where is she?" + +Mrs. Rickett drew in her breath. "But Miss Moore is a lady born!" she +objected. "Haven't you got a card I can take her?" + +Mrs. Rickett had lived among the gentry in her maiden days, and, as she +was wont to assert, she knew what was what as well as anybody. She had, +moreover, a vigorous dislike for young Jack Green the chauffeur who, +notwithstanding his airs,--perhaps because of them,--occupied a much +lower plane in her estimation than his brother the schoolmaster. But +Jack was one of those people whom it is practically impossible to snub. +He merely continued to smile. + +"Well, you'd better let me go and find her if you won't," he said, "or +madam will be getting impatient." + +It was at this point that Juliet came upon the scene, walking up from the +shore with her hair blowing in the breeze. She carried a towel and a +bathing dress on her arm. Columbus trotted beside her, full of cheery +self-importance. + +She quickened her pace somewhat at sight of the car, and its occupant +leaned forward with an imperious motion of the hand. Her pale face +gleamed behind her veil. + +"Miss Moore, I believe?" she said, in her slightly insolent tones. + +Juliet came to the side of the car. The sun beat down upon her uncovered +head. She smiled a welcome. + +"How do you do? How kind of you to come and see me! I am sorry I wasn't +here to receive you, but it was so glorious down on the shore that I +stayed to dry my hair. Do come in!" + +"Oh, I can't--really!" protested Mrs. Fielding. "I shall die if I don't +get a little air. I thought perhaps you would like to come for a little +spin with me. But I suppose that is out of the question." + +"My hair is quite dry," said Juliet. "It won't take me long to put it up. +I should like to come with you very much." + +"I can't wait," said Mrs. Fielding plaintively. "This heat is so +fearful--and the glare! I will go for a short round, and come back for +you if you like." + +"Thank you," said Juliet. "I can be ready in five minutes." + +"I should be grilled by that time," declared Mrs. Fielding. "Jack, we +will go round by the station and back by the church. It is only three +miles. We can do that easily. In five minutes then, Miss Moore!" + +"Look out for the schoolchildren!" exclaimed Juliet almost +involuntarily. "They are sure to be all over the road." + +"Oh, really!" said Mrs. Fielding, sinking back into the car, as it +swooped away. + +Juliet and Mrs. Rickett looked at one another. + +"That young Jack Green fair riles me," remarked the latter. "I can't +abide him. He's not a patch on his brother, and never will be. It's +funny, you know, how members of a family vary. Now you couldn't have a +more courteous and pleasant spoken gentleman than Dick. But this Jack, +why, he hasn't even the beginnings of a gentleman in him." + +Juliet's thoughts were more occupied with Mrs. Fielding at the moment, +but she kept them to herself. "I may be late back, Mrs. Rickett," she +said. "Let me have a cold lunch when I come in!" + +"Oh, dearie me!" said Mrs. Rickett. "I do hope, miss, as young Jack'll +drive careful when he's got you in the car." + +Juliet hoped so too as she hastened within to prepare for the expedition. +She did not feel any very keen zest for it, but, as she told Columbus, +they need never go again if they didn't like it. + +It was nearly ten minutes before the Fielding car reappeared, and they +were both waiting at the garden-gate as it drew up. + +"Yes, we were delayed," said Mrs. Fielding pettishly, "by those little +fiends of children. I do think Mr. Green might teach them to keep to +the side of the road. Pray get in, Miss Moore! Oh, do you want to bring +your dog?" + +"He is used to motoring," said Juliet. "Do you mind if he sits in front?" + +Mrs. Fielding shrugged her shoulders to indicate that if was a matter of +supreme indifference to her, and Columbus was duly installed by the +driver's side. Juliet took her place beside Mrs. Fielding, and in a few +seconds they were whirling up the road again, leaving clouds of dust in +their wake. + +"It's the only way one can breathe on a day like this," said Mrs. +Fielding. + +Juliet said nothing. She was watching the village children scatter like +rabbits before their lightning rush. + +In the schoolhouse garden she caught sight of a heavy, shambling figure, +and waved a swift greeting as she flashed past. + +"Oh, do you know that revolting youth?" said Mrs. Fielding. "He's +half-witted as well as deformed. His brother!" with a nod towards her +chauffeur's back. "He's a great trial to Jack, I believe. My husband has +offered a hundred times to have him put into a home, but the other +brother--Green, the schoolmaster--is absolutely pig-headed on the +subject, and won't hear of it." + +"Poor Robin!" said Juliet gently. "Yes, I know him. He is certainly not +normal, but scarcely half-witted, do you think?" + +Mrs. Fielding turned her head to bestow upon her a brief glance of +surprise. "I said half-witted," she observed haughtily. + +Juliet turned her head also, and gave her companion a straight and level +look. "And I did not agree with you," she said quietly. + +Mrs. Fielding uttered a laugh that had a girlish ring despite its +insolence. "Have you said that to my husband yet?" she asked. + +"Not quite that," said Juliet. + +"Well, if you ever do, may I be there to hear!" she rejoined flippantly. +"He's like a raging bull when he's crossed. I hear he came to see you +yesterday." + +"He did," said Juliet. + +"Did he talk about me?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +"He told me that you were not very strong," said Juliet. + +"And that I wanted someone to look after me--coerce me, when he wasn't +there to do it himself. Was that it?" + +"Surely you know better than that!" said Juliet. + +"Oh, I know him awfully well," said Mrs. Fielding, with her reckless +laugh. "Are you really thinking of coming to live with us?" + +"You haven't asked me yet," said Juliet. + +"Oh, that doesn't matter. You'll come if you think you will; and if you +don't, nothing will induce you. But--let me tell you--my husband will be +furious--with me--if you don't." + +"Oh, surely not!" said Juliet. + +"Yes, he is that sort. If he doesn't get what he wants, it's always +someone else's fault--generally mine. I warn you--we have most frightful +rows sometimes. He has only just begun to speak to me again since last +Sunday. We quarrelled that day over Green. You know Green--the +schoolmaster--don't you?" + +"Yes, I think I might call him a friend of mine," said Juliet, +with a smile. + +"Oh, really! I didn't know that," Mrs. Fielding's tone was suddenly +extremely cold. "Hence your championship of Robin, I suppose?" + +"No, I made friends with Robin separately. He is coming to tea with me +to-day, or rather, we are going down to the shore with it. I love the +shore in the evening." + +"I wonder you care to mix with people like that," remarked Mrs. +Fielding. "I think it is such a mistake to take them out of their own +class. Green the schoolmaster is a constant visitor up at the Court, and +I object to it very strongly. I cannot understand my husband's attitude +in the matter." + +"But he is a gentleman!" said Juliet. + +"Who? Green? Oh yes, of sorts. I am glad to say his brother has no +aspirations in that direction." Mrs. Fielding glanced again towards her +chauffeur's unconscious back. "Or if he has, I don't get the benefit of +them. As for Robin, he gives me the cold shudders every time I see him." + +"Poor Robin!" said Juliet again. "I think he feels his deformity +very much." + +"Of course he does! He ought to be in a home among his own kind. It would +be far better for everyone concerned. Frankly, the Green family +exasperate me," declared Mrs. Fielding. "I can put up with Jack. He's +such a smart, good-looking boy, and he can drive like the devil. But I've +no use for the other two, and never shall have. I think Green's a humbug. +Is he going to join your picnic-party on the shore?" + +"He hasn't been invited," said Juliet. + +"Oh, you won't find he needs much encouragement. As Dene Strange puts it, +he is always hovering on the outside edge of every circle and ready to +squeeze in at the very first opportunity." + +"I should imagine my circle is hardly important enough to attract anyone +in that way," remarked Juliet. "Strange is very caustic. I am not sure I +like him much." + +"Oh, I enjoy him," said Mrs. Fielding. "He is so brilliant. He always +gets right there. You have never met him, I suppose?" + +Juliet shook her head. "Not under that name, anyway. They say he is a +barrister. But I haven't much sympathy with a man who hides behind a +pseudonym, have you? It looks as if he hasn't the courage of his +opinions." + +"I shouldn't think anyone ever accused Dene Strange of lack of courage," +said Mrs. Fielding. "I read all he writes. He is so intensely clever." + +"Some people think he's a woman," said Juliet. + +"Oh, I don't believe that. Neither do you. No woman ever had a brain like +that. It's quite Napoleonic. I'd give a good deal to meet him." + +"And be horribly disappointed," said Juliet. + +"Why do you say that?" + +"Because lions always are disappointing when they're hunted down. The +ones that roar are quite insufferable, and the ones that don't are +just banal." + +Mrs. Fielding looked at her with interest for the first time. "You've +seen a good deal of life," she remarked. + +"Oh, no!" said Juliet lightly. "But enough to realize that the torch of +genius burns best in dark places. Perhaps Strange is right after +all--from his own point of view at least. That lion-hunting business is +so revolting." + +"You speak as one who knows," said Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet smiled. "I have watched from the outside edge, as Dene Strange +puts it. I expect you have heard of the Farringmores, haven't you? I am +distantly related to them. I was brought up with Lady Joanna. So I know a +little of what London people call life." + +"I saw you had been in society," said Mrs. Fielding half enviously. + +"Yes, I have had five seasons--nearly six. And I never want another." +Juliet spoke with great emphasis. "That's why I'm here now." + +"I wonder you never married," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Do you?" Juliet spoke dreamily. They were running swiftly up a steep and +stony road leading to High Shale Point. "Lady Jo used to wonder that. But +I've never yet met a man who was willing to wait, and I couldn't do a +thing like that in a hurry." + +"You could if you were in love," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Yes, perhaps you're right. In that case, I have never been enough in +love to take the leap." Juliet spoke with a half smile. Her eyes were +fixed upon the top of the hill. "But anyhow Lady Jo couldn't talk, for +she has just jilted Ivor Yardley the K. C. and gone to Paris to buy +mourning." + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Fielding. "Why, I saw the description +of the wedding-dress in the paper the other day. It must have been a +near thing." + +"It was," said Juliet soberly. "They were to have been married to-day." + +"And she broke it off! That must have taken some pluck!" + +"But she didn't stay to face the music," Juliet pointed out. "That was +what I hated in her. She ought to have stayed." + +"Was she afraid of him then?" + +"Afraid? Yes, she was afraid of him--and of everybody else. I know that +perfectly well, though you would never get her to admit it. She was +terrified in her heart--and so she bolted." + +"Why didn't you go with her?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet made an odd gesture of the hands that was somehow passionate. "Why +should I? I have disapproved of her for a long time. Now we have finally +quarrelled. She behaved so badly--so very badly. I don't want to meet +her--or any of her set--again!" + +Mrs. Fielding was silent for a moment. She had not expected that +intensity. "Do you know, that doesn't sound like you somehow?" she said +at length, speaking with just a hint of embarrassment. + +"But how do you know what I am really like?" said Juliet. "Ah! There is +the sea again--and the wonderful sky-line! Is he going to stop? Or are +we going to plunge over the edge?" + +She spoke with a little breathless laugh. They had reached the summit of +the great headland, and it looked for the moment as if the car must leap +over a sheer precipice into the clear green water far below. But even as +she spoke, there came a check and a pause, and then they were standing +still on a smooth stretch of grass not twenty feet from the edge. + +The soft wind blew in their faces, and there was a glittering purity in +the atmosphere that held Juliet spell-bound. She breathed deeply, gazing +far out over that sparkling sea of wonder. + +"Oh, the magic of it!" she said. "The glorious freedom! It makes you +feel--as if you had been born again." + +Her companion watched her in silence, a certain curiosity in her look. + +After many seconds Juliet turned round. "Thank you for bringing me here," +she said. "It has done me good. I should like to stay here all day long." + +Her eyes travelled along the line of cliff towards that distant spot that +had been the scene of her night adventure, and slowly returned to dwell +upon a long deep seam in the side of the hill. + +"That's the lead mine," observed Mrs. Fielding. "It belongs to your +aristocratic relatives, the Farringmores. They are pretty badly hated by +the miners, I believe. But your friend Mr. Green is extremely popular +with them. He rather likes to be a king among cobblers, I imagine." + +"How nice of him!" said Juliet. "And where do the cobblers live?" + +"You can't see it from here. It's just on the other side of the +workings--a horribly squalid place. I never go near it. It's called High +Shale, but it's very low really, right in a pocket of the hills, and very +unhealthy. You can see the smoke hanging over there now. The cottages are +wretched places, and the people who live in them--words fail! Ashcott, +the agent and manager of the mines, says they are quite hopeless, and so +they are. They are just like pigs in a sty." + +"Poor dears!" said Juliet. + +"Oh, they're horrors!" declared Mrs. Fielding. "They fling stones at the +car if we go within half-a-mile of them. And they are such a drunken set. +Go round the other way, Jack,--round by Fairharbour! Miss Moore will +enjoy that." + +"Thank you," said Juliet, with her friendly smile. "I am enjoying it +very much." + +They travelled forty miles before they ran back again into Little Shale, +and the children were reassembling for afternoon school as they neared +the Court gates. + +"Put me down here!" Juliet said. "I can run down the hill. It isn't worth +while coming those few yards and having to turn the car." + +"I want you to lunch with me," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Oh, thank you very much. Not to-day. I really must get back. I've got to +buy cakes for tea," laughed Juliet. + +Mrs. Fielding stopped the car abruptly. "I'm not going to press you, or +you'll never come near me again," she said. "I never press people to do +what they obviously don't want to. Do you think you would hate living +with me, Miss Moore? Or are you still giving the matter your +consideration?" + +There was a hint of wistfulness in the arrogant voice that somehow +touched Juliet. + +She sat silent for a moment; then: "If I might come to you for a week on +trial," she said. "You won't pay me anything of course. I think we +should know by that time if it were likely to answer or not." + +"When will you come?" said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Just when you like," said Juliet. + +"To-morrow?" + +"Yes, to-morrow, if that suits you." + +"And if you don't hate me at the end of a week you'll come for good." + +Juliet laughed. "No, I won't say that. I'll leave you a way of escape +too. We will see how it answers." + +Mrs. Fielding held out her hand. "Good-bye! Next time you take your tea +on the shore, I want to be the guest of honour." + +"You shall be," said Juliet. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE INTRUDER + + +"Everyone to his taste," remarked Green. "But I'd rather be anything +under the sun than Mrs. Fielding's paid companion." He glanced at +Juliet with a smile as he spoke, but there was a certain earnestness +in his speech that told her he meant what he said. He sat with his +back to a rock, smoking a cigarette. His attitude was one of repose, +but in the strong light his dark face showed a tenseness that did not +wholly agree with it. + +"Do you really think you'll like it?" he asked, as Juliet did not speak. + +She also had a cigarette between her lips, and there was genuine +relaxation in her fashion of lounging on the shingle. + +"I really don't know," she said. "I've got to find out." + +"Don't let them bully you!" said Green. + +She smiled. "No, they won't do that. I think it is rather kind of them to +take me without references, don't you?" + +"No," said Green. + +She turned and surveyed him with a gleam of amusement in her look. "You +sound cross! Are you cross about anything?" + +His eyes flashed down to hers with a suddenness almost startling. He did +not speak for a moment, then again he smiled abruptly with his eyes still +holding hers. "I believe I am," he said. + +"I wonder why," said Juliet. + +He laughed. "Yes, you do, don't you? Great impertinence on my part of +course. It's nice of you to put it so mildly." + +"I don't think you impertinent," said Juliet; "only rather silly." + +"Oh, thanks!" said Green. "Kinder and kinder. Silly to be cross on your +account, is that it? Well, it certainly sounds silly." + +Juliet smiled. "No, silly to think I am not capable of taking care +of myself." + +"Oh!" said Green. "Well, I have some reason for thinking that, +haven't I?" + +"None whatever," said Juliet. + +"All right. I haven't," he said, and looked away. + +"You are cross!" ejaculated Juliet, and broke into a laugh. + +Green smoked steadily for some seconds with his eyes upon the sea. A +few yards below them Robin wandered bare-footed along the shore, +accompanied by Columbus who had bestowed a condescending species of +friendship upon him. + +Green's dark, alert face looked strangely swarthy against the rock behind +him. His expression was one of open discontent. + +"I hate to think of you turning into that woman's slave," he said +abruptly. "To be quite honest, that was what brought me along to-day, +intruding upon your picnic with Robin. I want to warn you, I've got to +warn you." + +"You have warned me," said Juliet. + +"Without result," he said. + +"No, not without result. I am very grateful to you, and I shall remember +your warning." + +"But you won't profit by it," Green's voice was moody. + +"I think I shall," she said. "In any case, I am only going for a week on +trial. That couldn't hurt anyone." + +He did not look at her. "You're going out of the goodness of your +heart," he said. "And--though you won't like it--you'll stay for the +same reason." + +"Oh, don't you think you are rather absurd?" said Juliet. "I am not at +all that sort of person, I assure you." + +"I think you are," said Green. + +She laughed again. "Well I am told you are quite a frequent visitor +there. Why do you go--if you don't like it?" + +"That is different," he said. "I can hold my own--anyway with Mr. +Fielding." + +She lifted her brows. "And you think I can't?" + +"I think you'll lead a dog's life," he said. + +"Oh, I hope not. It won't be on a chain anyhow. I've provided +against that." + +"You'll hate it," Green said with conviction. + +"I don't think I shall," she answered quietly. "If I do, I shall +come away." + +"It'll be too late then," he said. + +"Too late!" Juliet's soft eyes opened wide. "What can you mean?" + +He made a gesture which though half-restrained was yet vehement "It's a +hostile atmosphere--a hateful atmosphere. She will poison you with her +sneers and snobbery!" + +A light began to break upon Juliet. She sat up very suddenly. "That sort +of poison doesn't have any effect upon me," she said, and she spoke with +a stateliness that brought the man's eyes swiftly down to her. "I +am--sneer-proof." + +"She won't sneer at you," said Green quickly. + +With her eyes looking straight up to him, she laughed. + +"Oh, I quite catch your meaning, Mr. Green. But--really I am not in the +position of listening to sneers against my friends. Now will you be +satisfied?" + +He laughed also though still with a touch of restraint. "Yes, I feel +better for that. You are so royal in your ways. I might have known I was +safe there." + +"'Loyal' is a better word I think," said Juliet quietly. "Why should a +paid companion aspire to be any higher in the social scale than a village +schoolmaster? Do you think occupation really makes any difference?" + +"Theoretically--no!" said Green. + +"Neither theoretically nor practically," said Juliet. "I detest snobbery, +so do you. If you came to the Court to sweep the kitchen chimney, I +should be just as pleased to see you. What a man does is nothing. How +could it make any difference?" + +"It couldn't--to you," said Green. + +"Or to you?" said Juliet. + +He laughed a little, his black brows working comically. "Madame, if I met +you hawking stale fish for cat's meat in the public street, I couldn't +venerate you more or adore you less. Whatever you do--is right." + +"Good heavens!" said Juliet, and flushed in spite of herself. "What a +magnificent compliment! It's a pity you are not wearing a slouch hat with +an ostrich plume! You really need a plume to express that sort of +sentiment properly." + +"Yes, I know," said Green. "But--I imagine you are not attracted by +plumes. In fact, you have just told me so. Proof positive of your +royalty! It is only crowned heads that can afford to despise them +nowadays." + +"Mine isn't a crowned head," protested Juliet. + +He looked at her searchingly. "Have you never been to Court?" + +She snapped her fingers airily. "Of course! Dozens of times! Poor +companions always go to Court. How often do you go!" + +"As often as you admit me to your most gracious presence," he said. + +She clapped her hands softly. "Why, that is even prettier than the stale +fish one! Mr. Green, what can have happened to you?" + +"I daren't tell you," he said. + +A sudden silence fell upon the words. Juliet puffed the smoke from her +cigarette, and watched it rise. "Well, don't spoil it, will you?" she +said, as it vanished into air. + +Green's hand suddenly gripped a handful of shingle and ground it +forcibly. He did not speak for a second or two. Then: "No, I won't spoil +it," he said, in a low voice. + +A moment later he flung the stones abruptly from him and got up. + +"You're not going?" said Juliet. + +"Yes, I've got work to do. Shall I take Robin with me?" + +There was a dogged note in his voice. His eyes avoided hers. + +Juliet rose slowly. "Never mind Robin! Walk a little way with me!" she +said. + +"I think I'd better go," said Green restlessly. + +"Please!" said Juliet gently. + +He turned beside her without a word. They went down the shingle to the +edge of the sand and began to walk along the shore. + +For many seconds they walked in silence. Juliet's eyes were fixed upon +the mighty outline of High Shale Point that stood out like a fortress, +dark, impregnable, against the calm of the evening sky. Her companion +sauntered beside her, his hands behind him. He had thrown away his +cigarette. + +She spoke at length, slowly, with evident effort. "I want to tell +you--something--about myself." + +"Something I really don't know?" asked Green, his dark face flashing +to a smile. + +There was no answering smile on Juliet's face. "Yes, something you don't +know," she said soberly. "It's just this. I have much more in common with +Mrs. Fielding than you have any idea of. I have lived for pleasure +practically all my life. I have scrambled for happiness with the rest of +the world, and I haven't found it. It's only just lately that I've +realized why. I read a book called The Valley of Dry Bones. Do you know +it? But of course you do. It is by Dene Strange. I hate the man--if it is +a man. And I hate his work--the bitter cynicism of it, the merciless +exposure of humanity at its lowest and meanest. I don't know what his +ideals are--if he has any. I think he is probably very wicked, but +detestably--oh, damnably--clever. I burnt the book I hated it so. But I +felt--afterwards--as if I had been burnt, seared by hot +irons--ashamed--most cruelly ashamed." Juliet's voice sank almost to a +whisper. "Because--life really is like that--one vast structure of +selfishness--and in many ways I have helped to make it so." + +She stopped. Green was looking at her attentively. He spoke at once with +decision. "I know the book. I've read it. It's an exaggeration--probably +intentional. It wasn't written--obviously--for the super-sensitive." + +"Wasn't it?" Juliet's lips were quivering. "Well, it's been a positive +nightmare to me. I haven't got over it yet." + +"That's curious," he said. "I shouldn't have thought it could have +touched you anywhere." + +"That is because you have a totally wrong impression of me," she said. +"That is what I am trying to put right. I am the sort of person that +horrible book applies to, and I've fallen out with myself very badly in +consequence, Mr. Green. I haven't told anyone but you, but--somehow--I +feel as if you ought to know." + +"Thank you," said Green. "But why?" + +She met his eyes very steadily. "Because I'm trying to play the game now, +and--I don't want you to have any illusions." + +"You don't want me to make a fool of myself," he said. "Is that it?" + +She coloured very vividly, but she did not avoid his look. "I don't think +there is much danger of that, is there?" she said. + +He stood still suddenly and faced her. His eyes burned with an amazing +brightness. "I don't know," he said, speaking emphatically and very +rapidly. "It depends of course upon the point of view. But I'll tell you +this. I'd give all I've got--and all I'm ever likely to get--to prevent +you going to Shale Court as a companion." + +"Oh, but aren't you unreasonable?" Juliet said. + +"No, I'm not." He made a vigorous gesture of repudiation. "Presumptuous +perhaps--but not unreasonable. I know too much of what goes on there. +Miss Moore, I beseech you--think again! Don't go!" + +She looked at him in perplexity. "But it wouldn't be fair to draw back +now," she objected. "Besides--" + +"Besides," he broke in almost fiercely, "you've got your living to make +like the rest of us. Yes, I know--I know! You regard this as a +Heaven-sent opportunity. It isn't. It's quite the reverse. If you were +unhappy in London, you'll be a thousand times more so there. And--and I +shan't be able to help you--shan't get anywhere near you there." + +"It's very kind of you," began Juliet. + +He cut her short again. "No, it isn't kind. You're the only woman of +your station I have ever met who has deigned to treat me as an equal. +It--it's a bit rash on your part, you know." He smiled at her abruptly, +and something sent a queer sensation through her--a curious feeling of +familiarity that held and yet eluded her. "And--as you see--I'm taking +full advantage of it. I hope you won't think me an awful cad after this. +I can't help it if you do. Miss Moore, forgive my asking,--are you really +obliged to work for your living? Can't you--can't you wait a little?" + +Juliet was looking at him with wonder in her soft eyes. His sudden +vehemence was rather bewildering. + +"I don't quite know," she said vaguely. "But I rather want to do +something, you know." + +"Oh, I know--I know," he said. "But you're not obliged to do this. +Something else is bound to turn up. Or if it doesn't--if it +doesn't--" He ground his heel deep into the yielding sand, and ended +in a husky undertone. "My God! What wouldn't I give for the privilege +of working for you?" + +The words were uttered and beyond recall. He looked her straight in the +face as he spoke them, but an instant later he turned and stared out over +the wide, calm sea in a stillness that was somehow more forcible even +than his low, half-strangled speech had been. + +Juliet stood silent also, almost as if she were waiting for him to +recover his balance. Her eyes also were gazing straight before her to +that far mysterious sky-line. They were very grave and rather sad. + +He broke the silence after many seconds. "You will never speak to me +again after this." + +"I hope I shall," she said gently. + +He wheeled and faced her. "You're not angry then?" + +She shook her head. "No." + +His eyes flashed over her with amazing swiftness. "I almost wish you +were," he said. + +"But why?" she said. + +"Because I should know then it mattered a little. Now I know it doesn't. +I am just one of the many. Isn't that it? There are so many of us that +one more or less doesn't count either way." He laughed ruefully. "Well, I +won't repeat the offence. Even your patience must have its limits. Shall +we go back?" + +It was then that Juliet turned, moved by an impulse so strangely urgent +that she could not pause to analyse it. She held out her hand to him, +quickly, shyly, and as he gripped and held it, she spoke, her voice +tremulous, breathless, barely coherent. + +"I am not--offended. I am--very--very--deeply--honoured. Only +you--you--don't understand." + +He kept her hand closely in his own. His grasp vibrated with electric +force, but he had himself in check. "You are more generous than I +deserve," he said, his voice sunk to a whisper. "Perhaps--some +day--understanding will come. May I hope for that?" + +She did not answer him, but for one intimate second her eyes looked +straight into his. Then with a little, sobbing breath she slipped her +hand free. + +"We--are forgetting Robin," she said, with an effort. + +He turned at once. "By George, yes! I'm afraid I had forgotten +him," he said. + +They walked back along the shore side by side. + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WAND OF OFFICE + + +Robin was in disgrace. He crouched in a sulky heap in a far corner of the +schoolroom, and glowered across the empty desks and benches at his elder +brother who sat in the place of authority at his writing-table with a +litter of untidy exercise-books in front of him. There was a long, thin +cane also at his elbow that had the look of a somewhat sinister wand of +office. He was correcting book after book with a species of forced +patience, that was not without an element of exasperation. + +The evening sunlight slanted through the leaded windows. They were open +to their widest extent, but the place was oppressively close. There was a +brooding sense of storm in the atmosphere. Suddenly, as if in some +invisible fashion a set limit had been reached and passed, Richard Green +lifted his head from his work. His keen eyes sent a flashing glance down +the long, bare room. + +"Robin!" he said. + +Robin gave a violent start, and then a shuffling, reluctant movement as +if prodded into action against his will. + +"Get up and come here!" his brother said. + +Robin, in the act of blundering to his feet, checked abruptly, as if +arrested by something in the peremptory tone. "What for?" he asked, in a +surly note. + +"Get up," Green repeated, with grim insistence, "and come here!" + +Robin grabbed at the end of the row of desks nearest to him and dragged +himself slowly up. But there he hung irresolute. His heavy brows were +drawn, but the eyes beneath had a frightened, hunted look. They glared at +Green with a defiance so precarious that it was pathetic. + +Green waited inexorably, magisterially, at his table. The sunlight had +gone and the room was darkening. Very slowly Robin moved forward, +dragging his feet along the bare boards. At the other end of the row of +desks he halted. His eyes travelled swiftly between his brother's stern +countenance and the wand of office that lay before him on the +writing-table. He shivered. + +"Come here!" Green said again. + +He crept a little nearer like a guilty dog. His humped shoulders looked +higher than usual. His eyes shone red. + +Across the writing-table Green faced him. He spoke, very distinctly. + +"Why did you throw that stone at Mrs. Fielding's car?" + +Robin was trembling from head to foot. He drew a quivering breath between +his teeth, and stood silent. + +"Tell me why!" Green insisted. + +Robin locked his working hands together. Green waited. + +"It--it--I didn't see--Mrs. Fielding," he blurted forth at last. + +Green made a slight movement that might have indicated relief, but his +tone was as uncompromising as before as he said, "That's not an answer to +my question. I asked you why you did it." + +Robin shrank from the curt directness of his speech. His defiance wilted +visibly. "I--didn't mean to break the window, Dicky," he said, twisting +and cracking his fingers in rising agitation. + +"What did you mean to do?" said Green. + +Robin stood silent again. + +"Are you going to answer me?" Green said, after a pause. + +Robin made a great effort. He parted his straining hands and rested them +upon the table behind which Green sat. Standing so, he glowered down into +his brother's grim face with something of menace in his own. + +"I'll tell you one thing, Dicky," he said, with stupendous effort. "I'm +not going--to take a caning for it." + +Green's eyebrows went up. He sat perfectly still, looking straight +up into the heavy face above him. For several seconds a tense +silence reigned. + +Then: "Oh yes, you will," he said quietly. "You will take--whatever I +decide to give you. Sit down there!" He indicated the end of the bench +nearest to him. "I'll deal with you presently." + +Robin did not stir. In the growing gloom of the room his eyes shone like +the eyes of an animal, goaded and desperate. But the man before him +showed neither surprise nor anger. His clean-cut lips were closed in a +straight, unyielding line. For a full minute he looked at Robin and Robin +looked at him. + +Then he spoke. "I've only one treatment for this sort of thing--as you +know. It isn't especially inspiring for either of us. I shouldn't qualify +for it if I were you." + +Robin had begun to shake again. The cold, clear words seemed to deprive +him of the brief strength he had managed to muster. His eyes fell before +the steady regard that was fixed upon him. With an incoherent murmur he +turned aside, and dropped upon the end of the bench indicated, his +trembling hands gripped hard between his knees, his attitude one of +utter dejection. + +Green went back to his correcting with a frown between his brows, and a +deep silence fell. + +Minutes passed. The room grew darker, the atmosphere more leaden. Pencil +in hand, Green went over book after book and put them aside. Suddenly he +looked across at the silent figure. The humped shoulders were heaving. +Slow tears were falling upon the clasped hands. There was no sound of any +sort. Green sat and watched, a kind of stern pity replacing the +unyielding mastery of his look. He moved at length, was on the verge of +speech, when something checked him. Footsteps fell beyond the open door, +and in a moment a man's figure appeared entering through the gloom. + +"Hullo, Dick!" a voice said. "You here? There's going to be the devil of +a storm. Where's that scoundrel Robin?" + +Robin stirred with a deep sound in his throat like the growl of an +angry animal. + +Richard Green rose with a sharp movement. "Jack! I want a word with you. +Come outside!" + +He passed Robin and went to the new-comer, gripping him quickly by the +shoulder and turning him back by the way he had come. + +Jack submitted to the imperative touch. He was taller and broader than +his elder brother, but he lacked that subtle something--the distinction +of bearing--which in Richard was very apparent. + +"Well, Dick! What do you want?" he said. "I'm pretty mad, I can tell you. +I hope you're going to thrash him well. Because if you don't, I shall." + +Briefly and decidedly Dick made answer. "No, you won't. You'll not touch +him. I shall do--whatever is necessary." + +"Shall you?" said Jack. "Then why don't you shut him up in a wild-beast +house? It's the only place he's fit for." + +"Shut up, please!" Richard's tone was an odd mixture of tolerance and +exasperation. "I'll manage this affair my own way. But I've got to know +the truth of it first. What made him throw that stone? Have you been +baiting him again?" + +"I?" Jack squared his shoulders; a sneer crossed his good-looking face. +"Oh, say I did it!" he drawled. + +"Don't be an ass, Jack! Can't you see I want your help?" Richard spoke +with insistence; his hand gripped his brother's arm. + +Jack's sneer turned to a self-satisfied smile. "I'll help you hammer him +if you like. There's nothing would please me better. Oh, all right, man! +Don't be impatient! That's my funny bone when you've done with it. I +don't mind telling you all about it if you want to know. He chucked that +stone at me out of sheer damned vindictiveness. He meant to break my +head, but he broke the window instead, and frightened Madam Fielding into +fits. In her own park too! It's a bit thick, you know, that. I don't +wonder that she came straight along to you to demand his blood. You'll +have the old man down next; also the beautiful Miss Moore. It's getting +beyond a joke, you know, Dick. You'll have to shut the beast up. You +can't let him run amuck like this." + +"Shut up!" Dick said again. In the unnatural light his face looked drawn +and almost haggard. "I want to know why he did it. Can't you tell me?" + +"Oh yes, I can tell you that. He's taken to haunting the place--the +Court, mind you--to lie in wait for the fair Juliet. She's been too kind +to him, unluckily for her, and now he dogs her footsteps whenever he gets +a chance. I caught him this afternoon, right up by the house, and I +ordered him off. You know the squire and madam both loathe the very sight +of him, and small wonder. I do myself. So I told him what he was and +where to go to, and I presume he thought he'd send me there first. There +you have it all--cause and effect." + +"Thank you," said Dick. He paused a moment looking speculatively at +Jack's complacent face. "It was a pity you were so damned offensive, +but I suppose it's the way you're made. You were the sole cause of the +whole thing, and if there's any decency in you, you'll go and tell the +squire so." + +He spoke quickly, but with characteristic decision and wholly without +excitement. Jack jumped, and threw back his head as if he had received a +blow across the mouth. Swift temper sprang to his eyes. + +"What the devil do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Exactly what I have said," returned Dick briefly. "And perhaps a +little more." + +"Confound you!" blustered Jack. "And you expect me to go to the squire +and tell him it was my fault, do you?" + +"No. I don't expect it in the least." Dick almost laughed. "In fact, +nothing would surprise me more. Thank you for telling me the truth. Do +you mind clearing out now? I don't want you in here." + +His curt, cold tones fell like ice on flame. Jack swore a muffled oath +and turned away. There was no one in the world who possessed the power to +humble him as did Dick, who with a few scorching words could make him +writhe in impotent fury. For there was no gainsaying Dick. He was always +unassailable in his justice, since in a fashion inexplicable but tacitly +acknowledged by both he occupied a higher plane altogether. Ignore it as +he might, deep in his inner soul Jack knew this man to be his master. He +might, and sometimes did, resist his control, deny his authority; yet the +power remained, and Dick knew how to exercise it if the need arose. They +were seldom at open variance, but practically never in sympathy. + +The fate of poor Robin had been a matter of disagreement between them +ever since Jack had come to man's estate, but the issue did not rest +with Jack. No power on earth could move Dick in that direction. Robin +was his own peculiar property, and in this respect he permitted +interference from none. + +He left Jack now, and turned back into the schoolroom with deep lines +between his brows, but implacable determination in his every movement, a +determination that was directed against the poor cowering form that +crouched still in the same position waiting for him. + +Robin looked up at his coming, drawing himself together with a nervous +contraction of the muscles like the mute shrinking of an abject dog. + +Dick stopped in front of him. "So you're not going to take a +caning!" he said. + +There was no longer any rebellion in Robin's attitude. He dropped his +eyes swiftly from his brother's face, saying no word. In the silence +that followed, his hands began to work, straining ceaselessly against +each other. + +Dick waited for a few seconds. "Going on strike, are you?" he asked then, +as Robin did not speak. + +Robin shook his head dumbly. + +"What does that mean?" Dick said. + +Robin was silent. He was nearly dislocating his fingerjoints in his +agitation. + +Richard bent suddenly and laid a quieting hand upon him. "Robin, do you +know you've got me into bad trouble?" + +Robin gave a violent jerk, and in a moment stumbled to his feet. He did +not look at his brother, but turned aside in his blundering pathetic +fashion, and went to the littered writing-desk. + +Dick's wand of office still lay among the scattered exercise-books. He +pulled it out with a clumsy eagerness, tossing papers and books on the +floor in his haste. He turned and went back to Dick, thrusting the cane +towards him. + +"There, Dicky!" he said, and stood breathing heavily and trembling. + +Dick reached out and took the cane. The lines of his face were oddly +softened. He stood for a moment looking at the boy, then very sharply he +moved, bent, and snapped the thing across his knee. + +"Oh, dash it, Robin!" he said. "You're getting too much for me." + +He tossed the fragments from him, and went to pick up the books that +Robin had scattered on the floor. + +Robin came and grovelled by his side, helping him. "You aren't angry, are +you, Dicky?" he murmured anxiously. + +"I ought to be," Dick said, as he sat down and began to straighten out +the muddle in front of him. + +Robin knelt up by his side. "Please don't be, Dicky!" he said very +earnestly. "I won't ever do it again. I swear I won't." + +Dick smiled somewhat wryly. "No. You'll probably think of some other +devilry even worse." He put his arm round the humped shoulders with the +words. "You'll forget--you always do--that it's I who have to pay." + +Robin pressed against him, still dog-like in his contrition. "Will it +cost much?" he asked. + +"Oh that! The window, you mean? Well, not so much as if you had broken +Jack's head--as you intended." + +There was some hint of returning grimness in Dick's voice. Robin made an +ingratiating movement, leaning his rough head against his brother's arm. + +Dick went on, ignoring the unspoken appeal. "You've got to stop it Robin. +If you don't, there'll be trouble--worse trouble than you've had yet. +You don't want to leave me, I suppose?" + +"Leave you, Dicky?" Robin stared round in horror. "Leave you?" he +repeated incredulously. "Go to prison, do you mean?" + +Dick nodded. "Something like it." + +"Dick!" Robin stared at him aghast. "But--you--you'd never let +them--take me?" + +"If you were to damage Jack--or anyone else--badly, I shouldn't be able +to prevent it." Dick said rather wearily. "If it came to that--I +shouldn't even try." + +"Dick!" Robin gasped again, then passionately; "But I--I--I couldn't +live--away from you! I'd--I'd kill myself!" + +"No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't get the chance." Dick was staring +straight before him down the room, as if he watched some evil vision +against the darkness. "People aren't allowed to kill themselves in +prison. If they try to do anything of that sort, they're tied down till +they come to their senses. If they behave like brutes, they're treated as +such, till at last they turn into that and nothing else. And then--God +help them!" + +A sudden hard shudder caught him. He shook it off impatiently, and turned +to the quivering figure still kneeling in the circle of his arm. + +He gripped it suddenly close. "That's the sort of hell these fiendish +tempers of yours might end in," he said. "You've got to save yourself, my +son. I can't save you." + +Robin clung to him tensely, desperately. "You don't--want me to go, +Dicky?" he whispered. + +"Good God!" Richard said. "I'd rather see you dead!" + +In the silence that followed, Robin turned with a curious groping +movement, took the hand that pressed his shoulder, and pulled it +over his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MIDSUMMER MADNESS + + +An ominous darkness brooded over all things as Green walked up the long +avenue of Shale Court half-an-hour later. The storm had been long in, +gathering, and he judged that he would yet have time to reach his +destination before it broke. But it was nearer than he thought, and the +first dull roar of its coming reached him soon after he had passed the +gates. He shrugged his shoulders at the sound and hurried on, for he was +in no mood to turn back. The business before him was one that could not +be shirked, and the lines on his dark face showed unyielding +determination as he went. + +He was half-way up the drive when the first flash of lightning glimmered +eerily across the heavy gloom. It was followed so swiftly by a burst of +thunder that he realized that he had no time to spare if he hoped to +escape the threatening deluge. He broke into a run, covering the ground +with the ease of the practised athlete, elbows at sides and head up, +going at an even pace which he knew he could maintain to the finish +without distress. + +But he was not destined to run to a finish. As he rounded a bend that +gave him a view of the house in the distance, he suddenly heard a voice +call to him from the deep shadow of the trees, and checking sharply he +discerned a dim figure coming towards him across the grassy ride that +bordered the road. + +He diverted his course without a moment's thought, and went to meet it. + +"Ah, how kind of you!" said Juliet. "And there's going to be such a +downpour in a minute." + +"What is the matter?" he said, her hand in his. + +She was smiling a difficult smile. "Nothing very much. Not enough to +warrant my extreme selfishness in stopping you. I have given my foot a +stupid twist, that's all, and it doesn't like walking." + +"Take my arm!" said Green. + +She took it, her white face still bravely smiling. "Thank you, Mr. +Green." + +"Lean hard!" he said. + +She obeyed him, and he led her, limping, to the road, Columbus, the +ever-faithful, trudging behind. + +"It really is a shame," she said. "We shall both be drenched now." + +He glanced at the threatening sky. "It may hold off for a bit yet. What +were you doing?" + +"I was coming to see you," she said. + +"To see me!" His look came swiftly to her. "What about?" + +"About Robin," she answered simply. "I wasn't in the car when it +happened, but I heard all about it when Mrs. Fielding came in. Mr. Green, +I hope you haven't been very hard on him." + +Green was silent for a moment. "And you started straight off to come to +the rescue?" he said then. + +"Oh, I felt sure that he acted on impulse, not realizing. You can't +judge him by ordinary standards. It isn't fair," pleaded Juliet. "There +was probably some extenuating circumstance in the background--something +we don't know about. I hope you haven't been very severe. You haven't, +have you?" + +Green began to smile. "You make me out an awful ogre," he said. "Is it my +trade that does it? No, I haven't punished him at all. As you say, we +must be fair, and I found he wasn't the person most to blame. Can you +guess who was?" + +"No," said Juliet. + +"I thought not. Well, I have traced it to its source, and it lies--at +your door." + +"At mine!" ejaculated Juliet. + +"At yours, yes. You've been too kind to him. It's just your way, isn't +it? You spoil everybody." Again for an instant his look flashed over her. +"With the result that Robin, not hampered by convention as are the rest +of us, lies in wait on forbidden ground for a glimpse of his divinity. +Being caught and roundly abused for it by his brother Jack, he naturally +took offence and trouble ensued. That is the whole story." + +"Oh, dear," said Juliet. "But surely that was very unnecessary of your +brother Jack. He might have made allowances." + +"My brother Jack often does unnecessary things," said Green drily. "And +he never makes allowances for anyone but himself." + +"And you have to bear the consequences!" Juliet's voice was quick with +sympathy. "But that's too bad!" + +"I'm used to it," said Green, and laughed. "How are you getting on? +Enjoying life at the Court?" + +Juliet smiled. "Do you know--I am rather? They have been very good to +me." + +"So far," said Green. "Are you still on probation?" + +"The week is up to-morrow," she told him. + +"And you're staying on--of course?" + +She looked at him. "Don't you want me to stay on?" + +"You know my sentiments," said Green. + +A sudden vivid flash rent the gloom over them, and Juliet caught her +breath. There followed a burst of thunder that seemed to shake the very +foundation of the earth. + +She tried to break into a hobbling run, but he held her back. +"Better not. You'll only hurt yourself. It isn't raining yet. You're +not nervous?" + +She laughed a little, breathlessly. "I don't admit it. I should never +dare to show the white feather in your presence. Oh, look at that!" +She shrank in spite of herself as another intolerable flare darted +across the sky. + +"We're nearly in," said Green, but his words were drowned in such a +volume of sound as made further speech impossible. He awoke to the fact +that Juliet was clinging to his arm with both hands, and in a second his +free hand was on the top of them holding them tightly. + +The thunder rolled away, and a deeper darkness fell. Great drops of rain +began to splash around them. + +"Quick!" gasped Juliet. "We can't--possibly--reach the house now. There +is an arbour--by the garden gate. Let's go there!" + +He turned off the road on to a side-path that led to a shrubbery. The +rush and roar of the coming rain was sweeping up from the sea. Juliet +pressed forward. + +Again a jagged line of light gleamed before them. Again the thunder +crashed. They found the little gate and the arbour beyond. + +"Thank goodness!" gasped Juliet. + +She stumbled at the step of the summer-house, and he thrust an arm +forward to catch her. He almost lifted her into shelter. The darkness +within was complete. She leaned upon him, trembling. + +"You're not hurt?" he said. + +"No, not hurt, only--shaken--and--and--stupid," she answered, on the +verge of tears. + +His arm still held her. It closed about her, very surely, very steadily. +He did not utter a word. + +The rain swept down in a torrent, as if the skies had opened. Great +hail-stones beat upon the laurels around them with tropical violence. +The noise of the downpour seemed vaster, more overwhelming, even than +the thunder. + +Juliet was palpitating from head to foot. She leaned upon the supporting +arm, her eyes closed against the leaping lightning, her two hands pressed +hard upon her breast. Columbus crouched close to her, shivering. + +And ever the man's arm drew her nearer, nearer, till she felt the strong +beating of his heart. The storm raged on about them, but they two stood, +as it were, alone, wrapped at its very centre in a great silence. For +minutes they neither moved nor spoke. + +Slowly the turmoil abated. The downpour lessened. The storm passed. And +Juliet stirred. + +"How--disgraceful of me!" she murmured. "I'm not generally so foolish as +this. But--it was so very violent." + +"I know," he said. His hold slackened. He let her go. And then suddenly +he stayed her. He took her hand, and bending pressed it closely, +burningly, to his lips. + +She stood motionless, suffering him. But in a moment, as he still held +her, very gently she spoke. "Mr. Green, please--don't be so terribly +in earnest! It's too soon. I warned you before. You haven't known +me--long enough." + +He stood up and faced her, her hand still in his. A light was growing +behind the storm-clouds, revealing his dark clean-cut features, and the +look half humorous, half-tense, that rested upon them. + +"Yes, I know you warned me," he said rather jerkily. "I quite realize +that it's my funeral--not yours. I shan't ask you to be chief mourner +either. I've always considered that when a man makes a fool of himself +over a woman it's up to him to bear the consequences without asking her +to share them." + +"But we're not talking of--funerals," said Juliet. + +"Aren't we?" His hand tightened for a moment upon hers. "I thought we +were. What is it then?" + +She smiled at him with a whimsical sadness in the weird storm-light. "I +think there are a good many names for it," she said. "I call it midsummer +madness myself." + +He made a quick gesture of protest. "Do you? Oh, I know a better name +than that. But you don't want to hear it. I believe you are afraid of me. +It sounds preposterous. But I believe you are." + +Her hand stirred within his, but not as though seeking to escape. "No, I +don't think so," she said, and in her voice was a sound as if laughter +and tears were striving together for the mastery. "But I'm trying--so +dreadfully hard--to be--discreet. I don't want you to let yourself go too +far. It's so difficult--you don't know how difficult it is--to get back +afterwards." + +"Good heavens!" he said. "Don't you realize that I passed the +turning-back stage long ago." + +"Oh, I hope not!" she said quickly. "I hope not!" + +"Then I am afraid you are doomed to disappointment," he said, with a +touch of cynicism. "But I am sure you are far too sensible--discreet, I +mean--to let that worry you. And anyway," he smiled abruptly, "I don't +want you to be worried--just when you're having such a jolly time at the +Court too." + +"You're very sarcastic," said Juliet. + +He laughed a little. "No. That's not me. It's only the armour in which I +encase myself. I hope it doesn't offend you. I can always take it off. +Only--I am not sure you'd like that any better." + +He won his point. She smiled, though somewhat dubiously. And at length +her hand gently freed itself from his. + +"Well, I don't like hurting people," she said. "And I don't want to hurt +you. You understand that, don't you?" There was pleading in her words. + +"Yes, perfectly," he said. + +She glanced at him, for his tone was baffling. "And you don't think +me--quite heartless?" + +He bent towards her. "No," he said, and though he smiled as in duty bound +she caught a deep throb in his voice that pierced straight through her. +"I love you all the better for it." Then, before she could find words to +protest, "I say, I believe it's left off raining. Hadn't we better go +while we can?" + +She turned to look. A pale light was shining from the western sky. The +storm was over. The raindrops glittered in the growing radiance. The +whole earth seemed transformed. "Yes, let us go!" she said, and stepped +down into a world of crystal clearness. + +He followed her, his face uplifted to the scattering drops, moving with a +free and faun-like spring that seemed to mark him as a being closely +allied to Nature, curiously vital yet also curiously self-restrained. + +She did not look at him again, but as they passed together through the +wonderland which with every moment was growing to a more amazing +brightness, she told herself that there was little of midsummer madness +about this man's emotions. Jest as he might, she knew by instinct that he +was vitally in earnest and she had a strange conviction that it was for +the first time in his life. The certainty disquited her. Had she fled +from one danger to another--she who only asked for peace? + +But she reassured herself with the thought that he had held her against +his heart, and he had not sought to take her. That forbearance of his +gave him a greatness in her eyes to which no other man had ever attained. +And gradually a sense of security to which she was little accustomed came +about her heart and comforted her. She had warned him. Surely he +understood! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A DRAWN BATTLE + + +Almost in silence they passed up through the dripping garden to the house +side by side, Columbus trotting demurely behind. Juliet was still +limping, but she would not accept support. + +"I suppose you are going to beard the lion in his den," she said as they +drew near. + +"I suppose I am," said Green. "If you hear sounds of a serious fracas, +perhaps you will come to the rescue." + +"Not to yours," she said lightly. "You are more than capable of holding +your own--anywhere." + +He flashed her his sudden look. "Do you really think so? I assure you I +am considered very small fry, indeed, in this household." + +"That's very good for you," said Juliet. + +They mounted to the terrace that bounded the south front of the house, +and entered by a glass door that led into a conservatory. Here for a +moment Juliet paused. Her grey eyes under their level brows met his with +a friendly smile. + +"I think I must leave you now, Mr. Green," she said, "and go and find +Mrs. Fielding. I expect the squire is in his study." + +His answering smile was as ready as her own, but there was a secret +triumph about it that hers lacked. "Pray don't trouble any further on my +account!" he said courteously. "I can find my own way." + +She threw him a nod, cool and kindly, over her shoulder, and took him at +his word. He watched her disappear into the room beyond, Columbus in +close attendance; then for a few seconds his hands went up to his face, +and he stood motionless, pressing his temples hard, feeling the blood +surging at fever heat through his veins. How marvellous she was--and +withal how gracious! How had he dared? Midsummer madness indeed! And yet +she had suffered him--had even stooped to plead with him! + +A great shaft of red sunlight burst suddenly through the heaped +storm-clouds in the west. He turned and faced it, dazzled but strangely +exultant. He felt as if his whole being had been plunged into the glowing +flame. The wonder of it pulsed through and through him. As it were +involuntarily, a prayer sprang to his lips. + +"O God," he said, "make me worthy!" + +Then he turned, as if the glory had become too much for him, and went +into the house. + +He had been well acquainted with the place from boyhood though since the +squire's marriage he had ceased to enter it unannounced. Before his +appointment to the village school, he had acted for a time as the +squire's secretary; but it had never been more than a temporary +arrangement and it had come to a speedy end when Mrs. Fielding became +mistress of the Court. Between her and her husband's protege, as she +scornfully called him, there had always existed a very decided antipathy. +She resented his presence in the house at any time, and though the squire +made it abundantly clear that he would permit no open insolence on her +part, she did not find it difficult to convey her feelings on the subject +to the man himself. He accepted the situation with a shrug and a smile, +and though he did not discontinue his visits on her account, they became +less frequent than formerly; and now generally he came and went again +without seeing her. + +The room he entered was empty. He passed through it without a pause +and found himself in the great entrance hall. He crossed this to a +door on the other side and, knocking briefly, opened it without +waiting for a reply. + +"Hullo!" said the squire's voice. "You, is it? How did you get here? Were +you caught in the storm?" + +"No, sir, I took shelter." Green shut the door, and came forward. + +Mr. Fielding was seated in a leather arm-chair with a newspaper. He +looked at his visitor over it with anything but a favourable eye. + +"What have you come for?" he said. + +Green halted in front of him. "I've come to make a very humble apology," +he said, "for my boy Robin's misdemeanour." + +"Have you?" growled Fielding. He sat motionless, still looking up at +Green from under heavily scowling brows. "Do you think I'm going to be +satisfied with just an apology?" + +"May I sit down, please?" said Green, pulling forward a chair. + +"Oh yes, sit down! Sit down and argue!" said the squire irritably. +"You're always ready with some plausible excuse for that half-witted +young scoundrel. I'll tell you what it is, Dick. If you don't get rid +of him after this, there'll be a split between us. I'm not going to +countenance your infernal obstinacy any longer. The boy is unsafe and +he must go." + +Green sat, leaning forward, courteously attentive, his eyes unwavering +fixed upon his patron's irate countenance. + +He did not immediately reply to the mandate, and the squire's frown +deepened. "You hear me, Dick?" he said. + +Green nodded. "Yes, sir." + +"Well?" Fielding's hand clenched upon the paper in exasperation. + +Dick's eyes very bright, wholly undismayed, continued to meet his with +unvarying steadiness. "I'm very sorry, sir," he said. "The answer is the +same as usual. I can't." + +"Won't--you mean!" There was a sound in the squire's voice like the +muffled roar of an angry animal. + +Dick's black brows travelled swiftly upward and came down again. "He's my +boy, sir," he said. "I'll be responsible for all he does." + +"But--damn it!" ejaculated the squire. "Making yourself responsible for a +mad dog doesn't prevent his biting people, does it? He's become a public +danger, I tell you. You've no right to let him loose on the +neighbourhood." + +"No, no, sir!" Dick broke in quickly. "That's not a fair thing to say. +The boy is as harmless as any of us if he isn't baited. I knew--I knew +perfectly well--that there was a reason for what he did to-day. So there +was. I'm not going into details. Besides, he was clearly in the wrong. +But you may take it from me--he was provoked." + +"Oh! Was he?" said the squire. "And who provoked him? Jack?" + +Dick hesitated momentarily, then: "Yes, Jack," he said briefly. "He had +some reason, but he's such a tactless ass. He blames Robin of course. +Everyone always does." + +"Except you," said the squire drily. "Oh, and Miss Moore! She makes +excuses for him at every turn." + +"She would," said Dick simply. + +"I don't know why," snapped Fielding. He suddenly laid a hand on the +younger man's arm, gripping it mercilessly. "Look here, Richard! Do you +want me to break you? Because that's what it's coming to. Do you hear? +That's what it's coming to. You're getting near the end of your tether." + +Dick's eyes flashed with swift comprehension over the angry face before +him, and an answering flicker of anger sprang up in them for an instant; +but he kept himself in hand. + +"Get me kicked out, you mean?" he said coolly. "Yes, sir, no doubt you +could if you tried hard enough. You're all powerful here, aren't you? +What you say, goes." + +"It does," said Fielding grimly. "And I don't care a damn what I do when +my monkey's up. You know that, don't you?" + +"Rather!" said Dick. And suddenly the resentment died out of his face, +and he began to laugh. "All right, sir! Break me if you like! I'll come +out on top somehow." + +"Confound you! Do you think you can defy me?" fumed Fielding. + +"I'm sure of it," said Dick. "I can defy the whole world if I choose. +There is a certain portion of a man, you know, that can't be beat if he +plays fair, however hard he's hammered. It's the rule of the game." + +"Confound you!" the squire said again, and sprang fiercely to his feet. +"Don't talk to me! You go too far. You always have. You behave as +if--as if--" + +"As if I were my own master," said Dick quietly. "Well, I am that, sir. +It's the one thing in life I can lay claim to." + +"And a lord of creation into the bargain, eh?" the squire flung at him, +as he tramped to the end of the room. + +Dick rose punctiliously and stood waiting, a man unimposing of height and +build yet possessing that innate dignity which no adversity can impair. +He said nothing, merely stood and watched the squire with half-comic +resignation till he came tramping back. + +Fielding's face as he turned was heavy with displeasure, but as his look +fell upon the offender a sudden softening began to struggle with the deep +lines about his mouth. It was like a gleam of sunshine on a dark day. + +He went to Dick, and took him by the shoulder. "Confound you!" he said +for the third time. "You're just like your mother. Pig-headed as a mule, +but--" + +"Are mules pig-headed?" said Dick flippantly. + +The squire shook him. "Be quiet, you prig! I won't be dictated to by you. +Look here, Dick!" His voice changed abruptly. "I'm not ordering. I'm +asking. That boy is a mill-stone round your neck. Let him go! He'll be +happy enough. I'll see to that. Give him up like a dear chap! Then you'll +be free--free to chuck this absurd, farcical existence you're leading +now--free to make your own way in the world--free to marry and be happy." +Dick made a slight movement under the hand that held him, but he did not +attempt to speak. The squire went on. "You can't hope for any of those +things under existing conditions. It wouldn't be fair to ask any woman to +share your present life. It would be almost an insult with this infernal +incubus hanging on you. Can't you see my point? Can't you sacrifice your +damned obstinacy? You'd never regret it. You're ruining yourself, Dick. +Chance after chance has gone by, and you've let 'em go. But you can't +afford to go on. You're in your prime now, but let me tell you a man's +prime doesn't last. A time will come when you'll realize it's too late to +make a start, and you'll look back and curse the folly that induced you +to saddle yourself with a burden too heavy for you to bear." + +He paused. Dick was looking straight before him with a set, grim face +that gave no indication of what was passing in his mind. + +Again, more gently, the squire shook the shoulder under his hand. "I'm +out to make you happy, Dick. Can't you see it? For your mother's sake--as +well as your own. And there's a chance coming your way now--or I'm much +mistaken--which it would be madness to miss. This Miss Moore--she's +dropped from the skies, but she's charming, she's a lady, she's just the +woman for you. What, Dick? Think so yourself, do you? No, it's all right, +I'm not prying. But this is a chance you'll never get again. And you +can't ask her, you can't have the face to ask her, as long as you keep +that half-witted creature dangling after you. It wouldn't be right, man, +even if she'd have you. Look the thing in the face, and you'll be the +first to say so! It would be a hopeless handicap to any marriage--an +insurmountable obstacle to happiness, hers as well as yours. Don't tell +me you can't see it! You know it. You know you've no right to ask any +woman to share a burden of that kind with you. It would be manifestly +unfair--iniquitous. There! I've done. I've never spoken my mind to this +extent before. I've hoped--I've always hoped--the wretched boy would +die. But he hasn't. That sort never does. He'll live for ever. And it's a +damned shame that you should sacrifice yourself to him any longer. For +heaven's sake let him go!" + +He ceased to speak, and there fell a silence so tense, so electric, that +it seemed as if it must mask something terrible. Dick's face was still +immovable, but he had the look of a man who endures unutterable things. +He had flinched once--and only once--during the squire's speech, and that +was at the first mention of Juliet. But for the rest he had stood quite +rigid, as he stood now, his lips tightly compressed, his eyes looking +straight before him. + +He came out of his silence at last with a movement so sudden that it was +as if he flung aside some weight that threatened to overwhelm him. The +arrested vitality flashed back into his face. He threw back his head with +a smile, and looked the squire in the face. + +"You haven't left me a leg to stand on, sir," he said. "But all the +same--I stand. There's nothing more to be said except--may I pay for +the window?" + +Fielding's hand dropped from his shoulder. He flung round fiercely and +tramped to the window, swearing inarticulately. + +Dick's black brows went up again to a humorous angle. He pursed his lips, +but he did not whistle. + +"Do you realize that my wife might have been killed?" Fielding +growled at last. + +"Oh, quite," said Dick. "I'm glad she wasn't. Ought I to congratulate +her?" + +"Oh, don't be so damn funny!" Fielding jingled the money in his pocket +irritably. "You won't laugh when I turn you out." + +"I wonder," said Dick. + +Fielding turned sharply round upon him. "You behave as if you don't care +what I do," he said, an ugly scowl on his face. "Or perhaps you think I +won't or can't--do it." + +"No, sir," Dick spoke deliberately, and though he still smiled his eyes +held the squire's with unmistakable determination. "I'm sure you can do +it. I'm equally sure you won't. And I'm surest of all that I shouldn't +care a damn if you did." + +"You wouldn't care!" The squire looked furious for a moment, then he +sneered. "Oh, wouldn't you, my friend? We shall see. You'd better go +now--before I have you kicked out." + +Dick's shoulders jerked with a swift tightening of the muscles. His eyes +gleamed with a fierce light though his smile remained. "I'll lay you even +odds," he said, "that if you want that done, you'll have to do it +yourself." + +"I'm equal to it!" flashed the squire. "You'd better not try me too far!" + +"I won't try you at all, sir," Dick suddenly relaxed again. He went to +him with a pacific hand held out. "Good-bye! I'm going--now." + +Fielding looked at him, looked at the extended hand, paused for a long +moment, finally took it. + +"Don't want to quarrel with me, eh?" he said. + +"Not without cause," said Dick. + +Fielding gripped the firm, lithe hand, looking at him hard and +straight. "You're very cussed," he said slowly. "I wish I'd had the +upbringing of you." + +Dick laughed. "Well, you've meddled in my affairs as long as I can +remember, sir. I don't know anyone who has had as much to do with me as +you have." + +"And precious little satisfaction I've got out of it," grumbled the +squire. "You've always been a kicker." He broke off as a knock came at +the door, and turned away with an impatient fling. "Who is it? Come in!" + +The door opened. Juliet stood on the threshold. The evening light fell +full upon her. She was dressed in cloudy grey that fell about her in soft +folds. Her face was flushed, but quite serene. + +"Mrs. Fielding wants to know if you have forgotten dinner," she said. + +The squire's face changed magically. He smiled upon Juliet. "Come in, +Miss Moore! You've met this pestilent pedagogue before, I think." + +"Just once or twice," said Juliet, coming forward. + +"How is the ankle?" said Green. + +She smiled at him without embarrassment. "Oh, better, thank you. It was +only a wrench." + +"Hurt yourself?" questioned Fielding. + +"No, no. It's really nothing. I slipped in the park and nearly sprained +my ankle--just not quite," said Juliet. "And Mr. Green very kindly helped +me into shelter before the storm broke." + +"Did he?" said the squire and looked at Green searchingly. "Well, Mr. +Green, you'd better stay and dine as you are here." + +"You're very kind," Dick said. "I don't know whether I ought. I'm +not dressed." + +"Of course you ought!" said Fielding testily. "Come on and wash! Your +clothes won't matter--we're alone. That is, if Miss Moore doesn't object +to sitting down with blue serge." + +"I have no objection whatever," said Juliet. She was looking from one to +the other with a slightly puzzled expression. + +"What is it?" said Fielding, pausing. + +His look was kindly. Juliet laughed. "I don't know. I feel as I felt that +day you caught me trespassing. Am I trespassing, I wonder?" + +"No!" said Fielding and Green in one breath. + +She swept them a deep Court courtesy. + +"Thank you, gentlemen! With your leave I will now withdraw." + +The squire was at the door. He bowed her out with ceremony, watched her +cross the hall, then sharply turned his head. Green was watching her +also, but, keen as the twist of a rapier in the hand of a practised +fencer, his eyes flashed to meet the squire's. + +Fielding smiled grimly. He motioned him forward, gripped him by the +arm, and drew him out of the ream. They mounted the shallow oak stairs +side by side. + +At the top in a tense whisper Fielding spoke. "Don't you be a fool, +Richard! Don't you be a damn' fool!" + +Dick's laugh had in it a note that was not of mirth. "All right, sir, +I'll do my best," he said. + +It was a drawn battle, and they both knew it. By tacit consent neither +referred to the matter again. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A POINT OF HONOUR + + +"How like my husband!" said Mrs. Fielding impatiently, fidgeting up and +down the long drawing-room with a fretful frown on her pretty face. "Why +didn't you put a stop to it, Miss Moore? You might so easily have said +that the storm had upset me and I wasn't equal to a visitor at the +dinner-table to-night." She paused to look at herself in the gilded +mirror above the mantel-piece. "I declare I look positively haggard. I've +a good mind to go to bed. Only if I do--" she turned slowly and looked at +Juliet--"if I do, he is sure to be brutal about it--unless you tell him +you persuaded me." + +Juliet, seated in a low chair, with a book on her lap, looked up with +a gleam of humour in her eyes. "But I am afraid I haven't persuaded +you," she said. + +Mrs. Fielding shrugged her white shoulders impatiently. "Oh, of course +not! You only persuade me to do a thing when you know that it is the one +thing that I would rather die than do." + +"Am I as bad as that?" said Juliet. + +"Pretty nearly. You're coming to it. I know you are on his side all +the time. He knows it too. He wouldn't tolerate you for a moment if +you weren't." + +"What a horrid accusation!" said Juliet, with a smile. + +"The truth generally is horrid," said Mrs. Fielding. "How would you like +to feel that everyone is against you?" + +"I don't know. I expect I should find a way out somehow. I shouldn't +quarrel," said Juliet. "Not with such odds as that!" + +"How--discreet!" said Mrs. Fielding, with a sneer. + +"Discretion is my watchword," smiled Juliet. + +"And very wise too," said Green's voice in the doorway. "How do you do, +Mrs. Fielding? As I can't dress, I've been sent down to try and make my +peace with you for showing my face here at all. I hope you'll be lenient +for once, for really I've had a thorough bullying for my sins." + +He came forward with the words. His bearing was absolutely easy though +neither he nor his hostess seemed to think of shaking hands. + +She looked at him with a disdainful curve of the lips that could scarcely +have been described as a smile of welcome. "I imagine it would take a +good deal of that sort of thing to make much impression upon you, Mr. +Green," she said. + +Green's eyes began to shine. He glanced at Juliet. "Really I am much more +inoffensive than you seem to think," he said. "I hope you are not going +to repeat the dose. I was hoping to secure your forgiveness for what +happened this afternoon. Believe me, no one regrets it more sincerely +than I do." + +Mrs. Fielding drew herself together with a gesture of distaste. "Oh, +that! I have no desire whatever to discuss it with you. I have long +regarded your half-witted brother as a disgrace to the neighbourhood, and +my opinion is scarcely likely to be modified by what happened this +afternoon." + +"How unfortunate!" said Green. + +Again he glanced at Juliet. She lifted her eyes to his. "I am afraid I +haven't taken my share of the blame," she said. "But I think you know +that I am very sorry for Robin." + +"You are always kind," he rejoined gravely. + +"How could you be to blame, Miss Moore?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet turned towards her. "Because Robin and I are friends," she +explained simply. "He came here to look for me, and Jack ordered him off. +That was the origin of the trouble. And so--" she smiled--"Mr. Green +tells me it was my fault." + +"He would," commented Mrs. Fielding. + +She turned with the words as if Green's proximity were an offence to her, +and walked away to the window at the further end of the room. + +In the slightly strained pause that followed, Juliet bent to fondle +Columbus who was sitting pressed against her and her book slid from her +lap to the ground. Green stooped swiftly and picked it up. + +"What is it? May I look?" + +She held out her hand for it. "It is _Marionettes_,--Dene Strange's +latest. Mrs. Fielding lent it to me." + +He kept the book in his hand. "I thought you said you wouldn't read any +more of that man's stuff." + +She knitted her brows a little. "Did I say so? I don't remember." + +He looked down at her keenly. "You said you hated the man and his work." + +She began to smile. "Well, I do--in certain moods. But I've got to read +him all the same. Everyone does." + +"Surely you don't follow the crowd!" he said. + +She laughed--her sweet, low laugh. "Surely I do! I'm one of them." + +He made a sharp gesture. "That's just what you are not. I say, Miss +Moore, don't read this book! It won't do you any good, and it'll make +you very angry. You'll call it cynical, insincere, cold-blooded. It will +hurt your feelings horribly." + +"I don't think so," said Juliet. "You forget,--I am no longer--a +marionette. I have come to life." + +Again she held out her hand for the book. He gave it to her reluctantly. + +"Don't read it!" he said. + +She shook her head, still smiling. "No, Mr. Green, I'm not going to +let you censor my reading. I will tell you what I think of it next +time we meet." + +"Don't!" he said again very earnestly. + +But Juliet would not yield. She stooped again over Columbus and +fondled his ear. + +Green stood looking down at her, his dark face somewhat grim, his eyes +extremely bright. + +"I believe he's cross with us, Christopher," murmured Juliet. "Never +mind, old thing! We shall get over it if he doesn't. Being cross always +hurts oneself the most. We're--never cross, are we, Christopher? We +please ourselves and we please each other--always." + +Columbus grunted appreciatively and leaned harder against her. He liked +to be included in the conversation. + +Green suddenly bent and pulled the other ear. "You're a jolly lucky chap, +Columbus," he said. "I'll change places with you any day in the week." + +Columbus smiled at him indulgently, and edged his nose onto his +mistress's knee. He knew his position was secure. + +"Don't you listen to him, Christopher!" said Juliet. "He wouldn't be in +your place two minutes. If I dared to thwart him in anything, he'd turn +and rend me." + +"He wouldn't," said Green decidedly. "Anyone else--perhaps, but his +mistress--never." + +Columbus yawned. The topic did not interest him. But Juliet laughed +again, and for a moment her eyes glanced upwards, meeting the man's look. + +"Is that a promise?" she asked lightly. + +"My word of honour," he said. + +"How generous!" said Juliet. "And how rash!" + +Mrs. Fielding looked round from the window and spoke fretfully. "The +storm seems to have made it more oppressive than ever," she complained. +"I believe it is coming up again." + +"I hope not," said Green. + +Juliet got up quietly and moved to join her--a tall woman of gracious +outlines with the poise of a princess. + +"You know all about everything," she said to him, in passing. "Come and +read the weather for us!" + +He followed her. They stood together at the open French window, looking +out on to the stormy sunset. + +"It isn't coming back," said Green, after a pause. + +Mrs. Fielding gave him a brief, contemptuous glance. Juliet regarded him +more openly, a glint of mockery in her eyes. + +"You are sure to be right," she said. + +He made her a bow. "Many thanks, Miss Moore! I think I am on this +occasion at least. We shall have a fine day for the Graydown races +to-morrow." + +"Are you keen on racing?" asked Juliet. + +He laughed. "I've no time for frivolities of that sort." + +"You could make time if you wanted to," observed Mrs. Fielding. "You are +free on Saturday." + +"Am I?" said Green. + +She challenged him in sudden exasperation. "Well, what do you do on your +off days?" + +He considered for a moment. "I'll tell you what I'm doing to-morrow, if +you like," he said. "In the morning I hold a swimming class for all who +care to attend. In the afternoon I've got a cricket match. And in the +evening I'm running an open-air concert at High Shale with Ashcott." + +"For those wretched miners!" exclaimed Mrs. Fielding. + +He nodded. "Yes, and their wives and their babies. They are rather +amusing shows sometimes. We use native talent of course. I believe you +would be interested, Miss Moore." + +"I am sure I should," said Juliet. "May I come to one some day?" + +He faced her boldly. "Will you help at one--some day?" + +"Oh, really!" broke in Mrs. Fielding. "That is too much. I am sure my +husband would never agree to that." + +"I don't know why he shouldn't," said Juliet gently. "But the point +is--should I be any good?" + +"You sing," said Green with confidence. + +She smiled. "Who told you so?" + +His brows worked humorously. "It's one of the things I know without being +told. Would you be afraid to venture yourself in that rough crowd with +only me to take care of you?" + +"Not in the least," said Juliet. + +"Thank you," he said. "You would certainly have no need to be. You would +have an immense reception." + +"I am quite sure my husband would never allow it," said Mrs. +Fielding with a frown. "These High Shale people are so hopelessly +disreputable--such a drunken, lawless lot." + +"But not beyond redemption," said Green quickly, "if anyone takes +the trouble." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "There are not many people who have time to +waste over them. In any case, the responsibility lies at Lord +Wilchester's door--not ours." + +"And as Lord Wilchester happens to be a rotter, they must go to the +wall," remarked Green. + +"Well, it is no business of ours," maintained Mrs. Fielding. "I always +leave that sort of thing to the busybodies who enjoy it." + +"What a good idea!" said Green. "Do you know I never thought of that?" + +"Tell me about the cricket match!" Juliet said, intervening. "Who +is playing?" + +He gave her a glance of quizzical understanding. "Oh, that's a village +affair too--Little Shale versus Fairharbour, most of them fisher-lads, +all of them sports. I have the honour to be captain of the Little +Shale team." + +"You seem to be everything," she said. + +"Jack of all trades!" sneered Mrs. Fielding. + +Green laughed. "I was just going to say that." + +"How original of you!" said Juliet. "Well, I hope you'll win." + +"He is the sort of person who always comes out on top whether he wins or +loses," said Fielding, striding up the long room at the moment. "You've +not seen him play cricket yet, Miss Moore. He's a positive tornado on +the cricket-ground. To-morrow's Saturday, isn't it? Where are you +playing, Dick?" + +His good-humour was evidently fully restored. He slapped a hand on +Dick's shoulder with the words. Mrs. Fielding's lips turned downwards at +the action. + +"We are playing the Fairharbour crowd, sir, on Lord Saltash's ground," +said Green. "It's in Burchester Park. You know the place don't you? It's +just above the town." + +"Yes, yes, I know it. A fine place. Pity it doesn't belong to somebody +decent," said the squire. + +Mrs. Fielding laughed unpleasantly. "Dear me! More wicked lords?" + +Her husband looked at her with his quick frown. "I thought everybody +knew Saltash was a scoundrel. It's common talk that he's in Paris at this +moment entertaining that worthless jade, Lady Joanna Farringmore." + +Juliet gave a violent start at the words. For a moment her face flamed +red, then went dead white--so white that she almost looked as if she +would faint. Then, in a very low voice, "It may be common talk," she +said, "but--I am quite sure--it isn't true." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed the squire. "My dear Miss Moore, pray forgive +me! I forgot you knew her." + +She smiled at him, still with that ashen face. "Yes, I know her. At +least--I used to. And--she may have been heartless--I think she was;--but +she wasn't--that." + +"Not when you knew her perhaps," said Mrs. Fielding's scornful voice. She +had no sympathy with people who regarded it as a duty to stand up for +their unworthy friends. "But since you quarrelled with her yourself on +account of her disgraceful behaviour you are scarcely in a position to +defend her." + +"No--I know," said Juliet, and she spoke nervously, painfully. "But--I +must defend her on--a point of honour." + +She did not look at Green. Yet instantly and very decidedly he entered +the breach. "Quite so," he said. "We are all entitled to fair +play--though we don't always get it when our backs are turned. I take off +my hat to you, Miss Moore, for your loyalty to your friends." + +She gave him a quick glance without speaking. + +From the door the butler announced dinner, and they all turned. + +"Miss Moore, I apologize," said the squire, and offered her his arm. + +She took it, her hand not very steady. "Please forget it!" she said. + +He smiled at her kindly as he led her from the room, and began to speak +of other things. + +Green sauntered behind with his hostess. His eyes were extremely bright, +and he made no attempt to make conversation as he went. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE WAY TO HAPPINESS + + +It was an unpleasant shock to Juliet on the following morning when +she went to Mrs. Fielding's room after breakfast to find her lying in +bed, pale and tear-stained, refusing morosely to partake of any +nourishment whatever. + +Juliet always breakfasted alone, for the squire was in the habit of +taking his early ride first and coming in late for the meal. She usually +took a morning paper up with her with which to regale the mistress of the +house before she rose, but the first glance showed her that this +attention would be wholly unwelcome to-day. Even the letters that had +accompanied her breakfast tray were scattered unopened by her side. + +"Why, what is the matter?" said Juliet. + +"I've had--a wretched night," said Mrs. Fielding, and turned her face +into the pillow with a sob. + +Her maid glanced at Juliet with raised brows, and indicated the untouched +breakfast with a shrug of helplessness. + +Juliet came to the bedside. "What is it? Aren't you well?" she +questioned. + +"No, I'm wretched--miserable!" The words came muffled with sobs. + +Juliet looked round. "All right, Cox. You can go. I will ring when you +are wanted." + +Cox went, leaving the despised breakfast behind her. + +Juliet turned back to the bed, and found Mrs. Fielding weeping +unrestrainedly. She bent over her, discarding all ceremony. "My dear +girl, do stop!" she said. "What on earth is the matter? You won't get +over it all day if you go on like this." + +"Of course I shan't get over it!" sobbed Mrs. Fielding indignantly. "I +never do. He knows that perfectly well. He knows--that when once I'm +down--it takes me days--weeks--to get up again." + +"Oh, dear!" said Juliet. "It's a quarrel, is it?" + +Mrs. Fielding raised herself with a furious movement and thrust out a +white arm on which the bruises of a fierce grip were mercilessly defined. +"That's how--he--quarrels!" she said bitterly. + +Juliet drew down the loose night-dress sleeve with a gentle but very +decided hand. "Don't let anyone else see it!" she said. "And don't tell +me any more unless you're sure--quite sure--you want me to know!" + +"Why shouldn't you know?" said Mrs. Fielding pettishly through her +falling tears. "It's your fault in a way. At least it wouldn't have +happened if you hadn't been here--you and that horrid little cad of a +schoolmaster." + +"Oh, don't put it like that!" said Juliet. "It's such a pity to offend +everybody at once. You really mustn't cry any more or you'll be ill. I'm +sure it isn't worth that." + +"I don't care if I die!" cried Mrs. Fielding, with a fresh burst of +weeping. "I'm miserable--miserable! And nobody cares." + +She flung herself down upon the pillow in such a paroxysm of hysterical +sobbing that Juliet actually was alarmed. She stood beside her, impotent, +unable to make herself heard, and wondering what to do. She had never +before looked upon such an abandonment of distress as she now beheld, +and since Mrs. Fielding was obviously beyond all reasoning or consolation +she was powerless to cope with it. She could only stand and wait for the +storm to spend itself. + +It seemed, however, to increase rather than to abate, and she was +beginning to contemplate recalling Cox to her assistance when to her +astonishment the door suddenly opened, and Fielding himself appeared upon +the threshold. + +She turned sharply, her first impulse to keep him out, for he wore an +ugly look. But in a moment she realized that the direction of affairs was +not in her control. He came straight forward with a mastery that would +brook no interference. + +"Leave her to me!" he said, as he reached Juliet. + +But at the first word his wife uttered so wild a shriek of alarm that +Juliet turned back to her with the swift instinct to protect. In an +instant Mrs. Fielding was clinging to her, clinging desperately, +frantically, like a terrified child. + +"Oh, don't go! Oh, don't leave me!" she gasped. "Juliet! Juliet! +Stay--oh, stay!" + +She could not refuse the appeal. It went straight to her heart. She put +her arms about the quivering, convulsed form and held it close. + +"I can't go!" she said hurriedly to the squire. + +"Stay then!" he said curtly. + +Then abruptly he stooped over the trembling, hysterical woman. "Vera," he +said, "stop it at once! Do you hear me? Stop it!" + +He did not raise his voice, but his words had a pitiless distinctness +that seemed somehow more forcible than any violence. Vera Fielding shrank +closer to Juliet's breast. + +"Don't leave me! Don't leave me!" she moaned, still shaken from head to +foot with great sobs she could not control. + +"She won't go if you behave yourself," said the squire grimly. "But if +you don't, I'm damned if I won't turn her out and deal with you myself." + +"Don't be brutal!" breathed Juliet. + +He gave her a swift, fierce look, but she met it unflinching and as +swiftly it fell away from her. He took one of his wife's feverish, +clutching hands and firmly held it. + +"Now you listen to me!" he said. "I don't want to bully you but I can't +and won't have this sort of thing. It's damnably unfair to everybody. So +you pull yourself together and be quick about it!" + +The trembling hand clenched in his grasp. "I hate you!" gasped Mrs. +Fielding furiously. "Oh, how I hate you!" + +The man's mouth took an ominous downward curve. "I've heard that before," +he said. "Now that's enough. We're not going to have a scene in front of +Miss Moore. If you can't control yourself, out she goes." + +"She won't go," flashed back Mrs. Fielding. "She's on my side. Ask her if +she isn't! She won't leave me to your tender mercies again. She knows +what they are like." + +"Hush!" Juliet said. "Don't you know there isn't a man living who can +stand this? Be quiet, my dear, for heaven's sake! You're making the most +hideous mistake of your life." + +She spoke with most unwonted force, and again the squire's steely eyes +shot upwards, regarding her piercingly. "You're quite right," he said +briefly. "I won't stand it. I've stood too much already. Now, Vera, you +behave yourself, and stop that crying--at once!" + +There was that in his tone that quelled all rebellion. Vera shrank closer +to Juliet, but she began to make some feeble efforts to subdue her wild +distress. Fielding sat on the edge of the bed, her hand firmly in his, +and waited. His expression was one of absolute and implacable +determination. He looked so forbidding and so formidable that Juliet +wondered a little at her own temerity in remaining. She decided then and +there that a serious disagreement with the squire would be too great a +tax upon any woman's strength, and she did not wonder that Vera's had +broken down under it. + +Suddenly he spoke. "Has she had any breakfast?" + +"Not yet," said Juliet. + +"Oh, don't!" implored Vera, with a shudder. + +He got up and went to the untouched tray. Juliet watched him pour out +some tea as she smoothed the tumbled hair back from his wife's forehead. + +He came back with the cup in his hand. "Now," he said, "you are going to +drink this." + +She lifted scared eyes to his stern face. "Edward!" she whispered. +"Don't--oh, don't look at me like that!" + +He stooped over her, and put the cup to her lips. She drank, quivering, +not daring to refuse. When she had finished he brought her bread and +butter and fed her, mouthful by mouthful, while the tears ran silently +down her face. + +At last he turned again to Juliet. "Miss Moore, my wife will not object +to your leaving us now." + +It was a distinct command. But she hesitated to obey. Vera looked up at +her piteously, saying no word. The squire frowned heavily, his eyes +grimly, piercingly, upon Juliet. + +She met his look with steady resolution. "Won't you leave her to rest for +a little while?" she said. "I think she needs it." + +"Very well," he said, and though he did not look like yielding she +realized to her surprise that he had done so. He turned to the door. "I +should like a word with you in the library," he said, as he reached it. +"Please come to me there immediately!" + +He was gone. Vera turned with a sob and clasped Juliet closely to her. + +"He is going to send you away. I know he is," she wailed. "What shall I +do? What shall I do?" + +"Lie down!" said Juliet sensibly, releasing herself to settle the tumbled +bedclothes. "Don't cry any more! Just shut your eyes and lie still!" + +She laid her down upon the pillow with the words as if she had been a +child, smoothed the rumpled hair again, and after a moment bent and +kissed the hot forehead. + +"Oh, thank you!" murmured Mrs. Fielding. "I'm dreadfully unhappy, Juliet. +I don't know what I shall do without you." + +"Go to sleep!" said Juliet, tucking her up. "I'll come back presently. +Lie quite still till I do!" + +She guessed that exhaustion would come to her aid in this particular as +she drew the curtains close and turned away to face her own ordeal. + +"Come back soon!" Vera called after her as she softly shut the door. + +"Presently," Juliet said again. + +She realized as she descended the stairs that her heart was beating +uncomfortably hard, but she did not pause on that account. She wanted to +face the squire while her spirit was still high. + +She held her head up as she entered the library where he awaited her, but +she knew within herself that it was bravado rather than fearlessness that +enabled her to face him thus. And when he turned sharply from the window +to meet her she was conscious of a moment of most undignified dread. + +Whether her face betrayed her or not she never knew but she was aware in +an instant of a change in his attitude. He came straight up to her, and +suddenly her hand was in his and he was looking into her eyes with the +gleam of a smile in his own. + +"Come along!" he said. "Let's have it! I'm the biggest brute you ever +came across, and you never want to set eyes on me again. Isn't that it?" + +It was winningly spoken, restoring her self-confidence in a second. She +shook her head in answer. + +"No. I'm not in a position to judge, and I don't think I want to be. I +have no real liking for meddling in other people's affairs." + +"Very wise!" he commented. "But you won't have much choice if you decide +to stay with us. Are you going to stay?" + +"Are you going to keep me?" said Juliet. + +"Certainly," he returned promptly. "I regard you as the most valuable +member of the household at the present moment. Miss Moore, will you tell +me something?" + +"If I can," said Juliet. + +"Where did you learn such a lot about men?" he said. + +She coloured a little at the question. "Well, I haven't lived with my +eyes shut all this time," she said. + +"You evidently haven't," he said. "Allow me to compliment you on your +tact! Ninety-nine women out of a hundred would have taken the obvious +course of siding with their own sex against the oppressor. Why didn't +you, I wonder?" + +"I'm not sure that I don't," she said, smiling faintly. + +He pressed her hand and released it. "No, you don't. You've too much +sense. You know as well as I do that she deserved all she got and more. +You haven't always found her exactly easy to get on with yourself, I'll +be bound." + +"I don't think you are either of you that," Juliet said quietly. + +He nodded. "Now it's coming! I thought it would. No, Miss Moore, I am +not easy to get on with. I've had a rotten life all through, and it +hasn't made me very pliable." He paused, looking at her under his black +brows as if debating with himself as to how far he would take her into +his confidence. "I've been cheated of the best from the very outset," he +said, "cheated and thwarted at every turn. That sort of treatment may +suit some people, but it hasn't made an archangel of me." He fell to +pacing up and down the room, staring moodily at the floor, his hands +behind him. "Life is such an infernal gamble at the best," he said; "but +I never had a chance. It's been one damn thing after another. I've +tripped at every hurdle. I suppose you never came a cropper in your +life--don't know what it means." + +"I think I do know what it means," Juliet said slowly. "I've looked on, +you know. I've seen--a good many things." + +"Just as you're looking on now, eh?" said the squire, grimly smiling. +"Well, you profit by my experience--if you can! And if love ever comes +your way, hang on to it, hang on to it for all you're worth, even if you +drop everything else to do it! It's the gift of the gods, my dear, and if +you throw it away once it'll never come your way again." + +"No, I know," said Juliet. She rested her arm on the mantelpiece, gravely +watching him. "I've noticed that." + +"Noticed it, have you?" He flung her a look as he passed. "You've +never been in love, that's certain, never seriously I mean,--never up +to the neck." + +"No, never so deep as that!" said Juliet. + +He passed on to the end of the room, and came to a sudden stand before +the window. "I--have!" he said, and his voice came with an odd jerkiness +as if it covered some emotion that he could not wholly control. "I won't +bore you with details. But I loved a woman once--I loved her madly. And +she loved me. But--Fate--came between. She's dead now. Her troubles are +over, and I'm not such a selfish brute as to want her back. Yet I +sometimes think to myself--that if I'd married that woman--I'd have made +her happy, and I'd have been a better man myself than I am to-day." He +swung round restlessly, found her steady eyes upon him, and came back to +her. "The fact of the matter is, Miss Moore," he said, "I was a skunk +ever to marry at all--after that." + +"It depends how you look at it," she said gently. + +"Don't you look at it that way?" he said, regarding her curiously. + +She hesitated momentarily. "Not entirely, no. The woman was dead and you +were alone." + +"I was--horribly alone," he said. + +"I don't think it was wrong of you to marry," she said. "Only--you ought +to love your wife." + +"Ah!" he said. "I thought we agreed that love comes only once." + +She shook her head. "Not quite that. Besides, there are many kinds of +love." Again for a second she hesitated looking straight at him. "Shall I +tell you something? I don't know whether I ought. It is almost like a +breach of confidence--though it was never told to me." + +"What is it?" he said imperatively. + +She made a little gesture of yielding. "Yes, I will tell you. Mr. +Fielding, you might make your wife love you--so dearly--if you cared to +take the trouble." + +"What?" he said. + +Her eyes met his with a faint, faint smile. "Doesn't it seem absurd," she +said, "that it should fall to me--a comparative stranger--to tell you +this, when you have been together for so long? It is the truth. She is +just as lonely and unhappy as you are. You could transform the whole +world for her--if you only would." + +"What! Give her her own way in everything?" he said. "Is that what you're +advising?" + +"No. I'm not advising anything. I am only just telling you the truth," +said Juliet. "You could make her love you--if you tried." + +He stared at her for some seconds as if trying to read some riddle in her +countenance. "You are a very remarkable young woman," he said at last. "I +wouldn't part with you for a king's ransom. So you think I might turn +that very unreasonable hatred of hers into love, do you?" + +"I am quite sure," said Juliet steadily. + +"I wonder if I should like it if I did!" said the squire. + +She laughed--a sudden, low laugh. "Yes. You would like it very much. It's +the last and greatest obstacle between you and happiness. Once clear +that, and--" + +"Did you say happiness?" he broke in cynically. + +"Yes, of course I did." Her look challenged him. "Once clear that and if +you haven't got a straight run before you--" She paused, looking at him +oddly, very intently, and finally stopped. + +"Well?" he said. "Continue!" + +She coloured vividly under his eyes. + +"I'm afraid I've lost my thread. It doesn't really matter. You know what +I was going to say. The way to happiness does not lie in pleasing +oneself. The self-seekers never get there." + +He made her a courteous bow. "Thank you, fairy god-mother! I believe you +are right. That may be why happiness is so shy a bird. We spread the net +too openly. Well," he heaved a sigh, "we live and learn." He turned to +the table and took up his riding whip. "I suppose my wife will be in bed +and sulk all day because I vetoed the Graydown Races." + +"Oh, was that the trouble?" said Juliet. + +He nodded gloomily. "I hate the set she consorts with at these shows. +There are some of the Fairharbour set--impossible people! But they boast +of being on nodding terms with that arch-bounder Lord Saltash, and so +everything is forgiven them." + +Juliet suddenly stood up very straight. "I think I ought to tell you," +she said, "that I know Lord Saltash. I have lived with the Farringmore +family, as you know. He is a friend of Lord Wilchester's." + +The squire turned sharply. "I hope you're going to tell me also that you +can't endure the man," he said. + +She made a little gesture of negation. "I never say that of anybody. I +don't feel I can afford to. Life has too many contradictions--too many +chances. The person we most despise to-day may prove our most valuable +defender to-morrow." + +"Heaven forbid!" said the squire. "You wouldn't touch such pitch as that +under any circumstances. Besides, what do you want in the way of +defenders? You're safe enough where you are." + +Juliet was smiling whimsically. "But who knows?" she said. "I may be +dismissed in disgrace to-morrow." + +"No," he said briefly. "That won't happen. Your position here is secure +as long as you consent to fill it." + +"How rash of you," she said. + +"A matter of opinion!" said Fielding. "How would you like to go over and +see the cricket at Fairharbour this afternoon?" + +She gave him a quick look. "Oh, is that the alternative to the races?" + +He frowned. "I have already told you the races are out of the question." + +"I see," said Juliet thoughtfully. "Then I am afraid the cricket-match is +also--unless Mrs. Fielding wants to go." + +"I'll make her go," said squire. + +"No! No! Don't make her do anything--please!" begged Juliet. "That is +just the worst mistake you could possibly make. To be honest, I would +rather--much--go to the open-air concert at High Shale this evening." + +"Along with those rowdy miners?" growled the squire. "I see enough of +them on the Bench. Green of course is cracked on that subject. He'd like +to set the world in order if he could." + +"I admire his enterprise," said Juliet. + +He nodded. "So do I. He's cussed as a mule, but he's a goer. He's also a +gentleman. Have you noticed that?" + +She smiled. "Of course I have." + +"And I can't get my wife to see it," said the squire. "Just because--by +his own idiotic choice--he occupies a humble position, she won't allow +him a single decent quality. She classes them all together, when anyone +can see--anyone with ordinary intelligence can see--that he is of a +totally different standing from those brothers of his. He is on another +plane altogether. It's self-evident. You see it at once." + +"Yes," said Juliet. + +He moved restlessly. "I would have placed him in his proper sphere if +he'd consented to it. But he wouldn't. It's a standing grievance between +us. That fellow Robin is a millstone round his neck. Miss Moore," he +turned on her suddenly, "you have a wonderful knack of making people see +reason. Couldn't you persuade him to let Robin go?" + +"Oh no!" said Juliet quickly. "It's the very last thing I would +attempt to do." + +"Really!" He looked at her in genuine astonishment. + +Juliet flushed. "But of course!" she said. "They belong to each other. +How could Mr. Green possibly part with him? You wouldn't--surely--think +much of him if he did?" + +"I think he's mad not to," declared the squire. "But," he smiled at her, +"I think it's uncommonly kind of you to take that view, all the same. +I'll take you to that concert to-night if you really want to go." + +"Will you? How kind!" said Juliet, turning to go. "But you won't mind if +I consult Mrs. Fielding first? I must do that." + +He opened the door for her. "You are not to spoil her now," he said. +"She's been spoilt all her life by everybody." + +"Except by you," said Juliet daringly. + +And with that parting shot she left him, swiftly traversing the hall to +the stairs without looking back. + +The squire stood for some seconds looking after her. She had opposed him +at practically every point, and yet she had not offended him. + +"A very remarkable young woman!" he said again to himself as she passed +out of his sight. "A very--gifted young woman! Ah, Dick, my friend, she'd +make a rare politician's wife." And then another thought struck him and +he began to laugh. "And she'll be equally charming as the helpmeet of the +village schoolmaster. Egad, we can't have everything, but I think you've +found your fate." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +RECONCILIATION + + +The luncheon-gong rang through the house with a tremendous booming, and +Vera Fielding, sitting limply in a chair by her open window, closed her +eyes with drawn brows as if the sound were too much for her overwrought +nerves. The tempest of three hours before had indeed left her spent and +shaken, and an unacknowledged tincture of shame mingling with her +exhaustion did not improve matters. She had wept away her fury, and a +dull resentment sat heavily upon her. She had entered upon the second +stage of the conflict which usually lasted for some days,--days during +which complete silence reigned between her husband and herself until he +either departed to town to end the tension or his wrath boiled up afresh +cowing her into a bitter submission to his will which brought nothing but +misery to them both. + +The last deep notes of the gong died away, and Vera's eyes half-opened +again. They dwelt restlessly upon the brilliant patch of garden visible +under the lowered sun-blind. The splendour of the June world without +served to increase the wretchedness of her mood by contrast. The sultry +heat seemed to weigh her down. Life was one vast oppression and bondage. +She was weary to the soul. + +Juliet had gone down to aid Cox in the selection of something tempting +for her luncheon. She had every intention of refusing it whatever it was. +Who as miserable as she could bear to eat anything--unless forced to do +so by brutal compulsion? + +Her head throbbed painfully. Her nerves were stretched for the sound of +her husband's step in the adjoining room. She wished she had told Juliet +to lock the communicating door, though she hardly expected him to come in +upon her a second time. Even his wrath had its limits. It seldom gathered +to its full height twice in a day. + +She was trying to comfort herself with this reflection when suddenly she +heard him enter his room, and in a moment all her lassitude vanished in +so violent an agitation that she found herself gasping for breath. Still +she told herself that he would not come in. It had always been his habit +to leave her severely alone after a battle. He would not come in! Surely +he would not come in. And then the handle of the intervening door turned, +and she sank back in her chair with a sick effort to appear indifferent. + +She did not look at him as he came in. Only by the quick heaving of her +breast which was utterly beyond control did she betray her knowledge of +his presence. Her face was turned away from him. She stared down into the +dazzling sunlight with eyes that saw nothing. + +He came to her, halted beside her. And suddenly a warm sweet fragrance +filled the air. She looked round in spite of herself and found a bunch of +exquisite lilies-of-the-valley close to her cheek. She lifted her eyes +with a great start. + +"Edward!" + +His face was red. He looked supremely ill at ease. He pushed the flowers +under her nose. "Take 'em for heaven's sake!" he said irritably. "I hate +the things myself." + +She took them, too amazed for comment, and buried her face in their +perfumed depths. + +He stood beside her, impatiently clicking his fingers. There fell an +uncomfortable silence, during which Vera gradually remembered her dignity +and at length laid the flowers aside. Her agitation had subsided. She sat +and waited noncommittally for the new situation to develop. Even in their +engagement days he had never brought her flowers, and any overture from +him after a quarrel was a thing unknown. + +She waited therefore, not looking at him, and in a few moments, very +awkwardly, with obvious reluctance, he spoke again. + +"I don't think we want to keep this up any longer, do we? Seems a bit +senseless, what? I'm ready to forget it if you are." + +Again, she was taken by surprise, for his voice had a curious urgency +that made her aware that he for one had certainly had enough of it, and +there was that in her which leaped in swift response. But it was not to +be expected of her that she should be willing to bury the hatchet at a +moment's notice after the treatment she had received, and she checked the +unaccountable impulse. + +"There are some things that it is not easy to forget," she said coldly. + +His demeanour changed in an instant. "Oh, all right," he said, "if you +prefer to sulk!" + +He swung upon his heel. In a moment he would have been gone; but in that +moment the inner force that Vera had ignored suddenly sprang above every +other emotion or consideration. She put out a quick hand and stayed him. + +"I am not sulking! I never sulk! But I can't behave--all in a moment--as +if nothing had happened. Edward!" + +It was her voice that held pleading now, for he made as if he would leave +her in spite of her detaining hold. She tightened her fingers on his arm. + +"Edward, please!" she said. + +He stopped. "Well?" he said gruffly. Then, as she said nothing +further, he turned slowly and looked at her. Her head was bent. She +was striving for self-control. Something in her attitude went straight +to the man's heart. She looked so small, so forlorn, so pathetic in +her struggle for dignity. + +On a generous impulse he flung his own away. "Oh, come, my dear!" he +said, and stooping took her into his arms. "I'm sorry. There!" + +She clung to him then, clung closely, still battling to check the tears +that she knew he disliked. + +He kissed her forehead and patted her shoulder with a queer compunction +that had never troubled him before in his dealings with her. + +"There!" he said. "There! That's all right, isn't it? We shall have Miss +Moore in directly. Where's your handkerchief?" + +She found it and dried her eyes with her head against his shoulder. Then +she lifted a still quivering face to his. "Edward,--I'm--just as sorry +as you are," she said, with a catch in her voice. + +He kissed her again, wondering a little at his own softened feelings. +"All right, my girl. Let's forget it!" he said. "You have a good lunch +and you'll feel better! What are they giving you? Champagne?" + +"Oh no, of course not!" + +"Well, why not? It's the very thing you want. Just the occasion. +What? You sit still and I'll go and see about it!" He put her down +among her cushions, but she clung to him still. "No, don't go for a +minute!" she said, with a shaky smile. "It's so good to have +you--kind to me for once." + +"Good gracious!" he said, but half in jest. "Am I such a brute as +all that?" + +She pushed back her sleeve and mutely showed him the marks upon her arm. + +He looked, and his brows drew together. "My doing?" + +She nodded. "Last night--when--when I said--something you didn't +like--about Mr. Green." + +He scowled a moment longer, then abruptly stooped, took the white arm +between his hands and kissed it. "I'll get a stick and beat you the next +time," he said. "You remember that--and be decent to Green, see?" + +The kiss belied the words, covering also a certain embarrassment which +Vera was not slow to perceive. Because of it she found strength to +abstain from further argument. He had undoubtedly conceded a good deal. + +"I'll be decent to anyone," she said, "so long as you are decent to me." + +"Hear, hear!" said the squire. "Now dry your eyes and be sensible! Miss +Moore will go for me like mad if she finds you crying again. If we don't +pull together we shall have that girl running the whole show before we +are much older, and neither of us will ever dare even to contradict the +other in her presence again. We shouldn't like that, should we?" + +She laughed a little in spite of her wan countenance. "Oh, no, Edward. We +mustn't risk that." Then, with a touch of anxiety, "It wasn't Miss +Moore's idea that you should bring me flowers, was it?" + +"No." The squire grinned at her suddenly. "The worthy Columbus was +responsible for that. I found him routing in the lily-bed after snails or +some such delicacy. He was so infernally busy he made me feel ashamed. So +I went down on my knees and joined him, gathered the lot,--nearly killed +myself over it, but that's an unimportant detail. Now for your +champagne! You'll feel a different woman when you've had it." + +He departed, leaving his wife looking after him with an odd wistfulness +in her eyes. She was seeing him in a new light which made her feel +strangely uncertain of herself also. Was it possible that all these years +of misunderstanding, which she had regarded as inevitable, might have +been avoided after all? + +A quick sigh rose to her lips as again she took his flowers and held them +against her face. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SPELL + + +A wonderful summer evening followed the sultry day. The sun sank +gloriously behind High Shale, and a soft breeze blew in from the sea. + +On the slope of the hill behind the lighthouse and above the miners' +village there stood an old thatched barn, and about this a knot of men +and youths loitered, smoking and talking in a desultory, discontented +fashion. On the other side of the barn a shrill cackling proclaimed the +presence of some of the feminine portion of the community, and the +occasional squall of a baby or a squeal of a bigger child testified to +the fact that the greater part of the village population awaited the +entertainment which Green contrived to give on the first Saturday of +every month. + +He had started these concerts two winters before down in the village of +Little Shale, and they had originally been for men and boys only, but +the women had grumbled so loudly at their exclusion that Green had very +soon realized the necessity of extending a welcome to them also. So now +they flocked in a body to his support, even threatening to crowd out +the men in the winter evenings when he had to assemble his audience at +the Village Club at Little Shale. But in the summer, as a concession to +High Shale, he held his concerts, whenever feasible, up on the hill, +and practically the whole of High Shale village came to them. Little +Shale was also well represented, but he always felt that he was in +closer touch with the miners on these occasions, when he met them on +their own ground. + +The two villages were apt to eye one another with scant sympathy, the +fisher population of the one and the mining population of the other +having little in common beyond the liquor which they uniformly sought at +The Three Tuns by the shore. Green never permitted any bickering, and +they were all alike in their respect for him, but a species of armed +neutrality which was very far removed from comradeship existed between +them. Fights at The Three Tuns were by no means of unusual occurrence and +the miners of High Shale were invariably spoken of with wholesale +contempt by the men along the shore. + +But, thanks to Green's untiring efforts, they met on common ground at his +concerts, and any member of the audience who dared to commit any breach +of the peace on any of these occasions was summarily dealt with by Green +himself. He knew how to keep his men in hand. There was not one of them +who ever ventured to question his supremacy. He ruled them, not one of +them could have said how. Ashcott, the manager of the mine, who battled +in vain against the rising spirit of disorder and rebellion among them, +was wont to describe his influence over them as black magic. Whatever its +source it was certainly unique. None but Dick Green could spring from the +platform, seize a delinquent by his collar or the scruff of his neck, and +run him, practically unresisting, out of the assembly. His lightning +decisions were never questioned. His language, which could be forcible +upon occasion, never met with any retort. The men seemed to recognize +instinctively that it was useless to stand up to him. He could have +compelled them blindfold and with his hands behind him. + +It was this quality in him, this dynamic force, restrained yet always +somehow in action, that had affected Juliet so strangely in the beginning +of their acquaintance. Like these rough miners and fisher-folk she could +not have said wherein the attraction lay, but she recognized in him that +inner fire called genius, and it drew her unaccountably, irresistibly. +Whatever the sphere to which he had been born, he was a man created to +lead, to overcome obstacles, to wrest victory from failure,--a man who +possessed the rare combination of a highly sensitive temperament and a +practically invincible courage--a man who could handle the great forces +of life with the fearless certainty of the born conqueror. + +Yes, he attracted her, undoubtedly he attracted her. He stirred her to an +interest which she had believed herself too old, too jaded with the ways +of the world, ever to feel again. But she did not want to yield to the +attraction. She wanted to hold aloof for a space. She had come to this +quiet corner of the world in search of peace. She wanted to avoid the +problems of life, to get back her poise, to become an onlooker and no +longer a competitor in the maddening race from which she had so lately +withdrawn herself. She was willing to be interested, she already was +deeply interested, but only as a spectator, so she told herself. She +would not be drawn in against her will. She would stand aside and watch. + +It was in this mood that she drove off with the squire on the way to the +open-air concert on the High Shale bluff on that magic June evening. Mrs. +Fielding was too weary after the many emotions of the day to accompany +them, but they left her in a tranquil frame of mind, and the squire was +in an unusually good humour. Though he had small liking for the High +Shale village people, it pleased him that Juliet should take an interest +in Green's enterprises, eccentric though they might be. And he considered +that she deserved a treat after her diplomatic handling of a very +difficult situation that morning. + +"Might as well call and see if Dick would like a lift," he said, as they +neared the gates. "We've got to pass his door. I'll send Jack in." + +But when they stopped at the school-house gate, a humped, familiar figure +was leaning upon it, and Jack flung an imperious question without +descending. + +The squire's face darkened at the sight. "Here's that unspeakable baboon +Robin!" he growled. + +Robin paid about as much attention to his brother's curt query as he +might have bestowed upon the buzzing of a fly. His dark eyes below his +shaggy thatch of hair were fixed, deeply shining, upon Juliet. + +Jack muttered an impatient ejaculation under his breath and flung himself +out of the car. Before Juliet could speak a word to intervene, he had +given the gate on which Robin leant a push that sent the boy backwards +with considerable force on the grass while he himself went up the path to +the house at a run. + +"Oh, what a shame!" said Juliet, a quick vibration of anger in her +deep voice. + +She leaned forward sharply to open the door and spring out, but in a +second Fielding's hand caught hers, holding her back. + +"No, no! Leave the young beggar alone! He's none the worse. He can pick +himself up again. Ah, and here comes Dick! He'll manage him!" + +Robin was indeed struggling to his feet with a furious bellowing that +might have been heard on the shore. But Dick was quicker than he. He came +down the path, as it seemed in a single bound. He took Robin by his +swaying arms and steadied him. He spoke, quickly and decidedly, and the +roaring protest died down to a snarling, sobbing sound like the crying of +a wounded animal. Then, still holding him, Dick turned towards the car at +the gate. And Juliet saw that he was white with passion. The fierce blaze +of his eyes was a thing she would not soon forget. + +He spoke with twitching lips. "No, sir. I'm not coming, thanks. I shall +go on foot over the down. It's only a quarter of the distance that way." +He drew Robin aside at the sound of Jack's approach behind him, but he +did not look at him. And Robin became suddenly and terribly silent. He +was quivering all over like a dog that is held back from his prey. + +Jack gave him a look of contempt as he strode past and returned to his +seat at the wheel. And Juliet awoke to the fact that like Robin she was +trembling from head to foot. + +The car shot forward. She saw the two figures no more. But the memory +of Green's face went with her, its pallor, and the awfulness of his +eyes--the red flame of his fury. Robin's unrestrained wrath was of +small account beside it. She felt as if she had never seen anger before +that moment. + +She scarcely heard the squire's caustic remarks concerning Robin. She was +as one who had touched a live wire, and her whole being tingled with the +shock. The hot glitter of those onyx eyes had been to her as the sudden +revelation of a destroying force, fettered indeed, but how appalling if +once set free! + +She looked forward with a curious dread to seeing him again. She wondered +if the man who drove the car so recklessly had the faintest suspicion of +the storm he had stirred up. But surely he knew Dick in all his moods! He +had probably encountered it before. They sped on through the fragrant +summer night, and she talked at random, hardly knowing what she said. If +the squire noticed her preoccupation, he made no comment. He had +conceived a great respect for Juliet. + +They neared their destination at last, and Jack performed what the squire +called his favorite circus-trick, racing the car to the top of the +towering cliff and stopping dead at the edge of a great immensity of sea +and stars. + +Again Juliet drew a deep breath of sheer marvelling delight, speaking no +word, held spell-bound by the wonder of the night. + +"We needn't hurry," Fielding said. "They won't be starting yet." + +So for a space they remained as though caught between earth and heaven, +silently drinking in the splendour. + +After a long pause she spoke. "Do you often come here?" + +"Not now," he said. Then, as she glanced at him: "I used to in the days +of my youth--the long past days." + +And she knew by his tone, by the lingering of his words, that he had not +always come alone. + +She asked no more, and presently the jaunty notes of a banjo floating up +the grassy slope told them that Green's entertainment had begun. + +They left the car at the top of the rise, and walked down over the +springy turf towards the old barn about which Dick's audience were +collected. Two hurricane lamps and a rough deal table were all he had in +the way of stage property. But she was yet to learn that this man relied +upon surroundings and circumstances not at all. As she herself had said, +possibly the torch of genius burned brightest in dark places, for it was +certainly genius upon which she looked to-night. + +He sat on the edge of the deal table with one leg crossed over his knee, +his dark face thrown into strong relief, intent, eager, with a vitality +that seemed to make it almost luminous. From the crowd that watched him +there came not a sound. The thought crossed Juliet's mind that the +instrument he played so cunningly might have been a harp from a fairy +palace. For there was magic in the air. He played with a delicacy that +seemed to wind itself in threads of gold about the inner fibres of the +soul. They listened to him as men bewitched. + +When the music ended, a great noise went up--shouts and whistles and +cat-calls. They were wild for more. But Green knew the value of a +reserve. He laughed away the _encores_ with a careless "Presently!" and +called a young miner to him for a song. The lad sang and Green +accompanied, and again Juliet marvelled at the amazing facility of his +performance. He seemed to be able to adapt the instrument to every mood +or tone. The boy's voice was rough and untrained, but it held a certain +appeal and by sheer intuition--comradeship as it seemed--Green brought it +home to the hearers. The man's unfailing responsiveness was a revelation +to her. She believed it was the secret of his charm. + +When the song was ended, a fisherman came forward and danced a hornpipe +on the table, again to the thrumming of the banjo, without which nothing +seemed complete. It was while this was in progress that a thick-set, +somewhat bulletheaded man came up and addressed the squire by name. + +"We don't often see you here, Mr. Fielding." + +The squire turned. "Hullo, Ashcott. Your lambs are in force to-night. How +are they behaving themselves?" + +"Pretty fair," said Ashcott. "They're getting the strike rot like the +rest of the world. We shan't hold 'em for ever. If any of the Farringmore +lot turned up here, I wouldn't answer for 'em. Lord Wilchester talked of +motoring down the other day, bringing friends if you please to see the +mine, I warned him off--the damn' fool! Simply asking for trouble, as I +told him. 'Well, what's the matter?' he said. 'What do they want?' +'They'd like houses instead of pigsties for one thing,' I said. And he +laughed at that. 'Oh, let 'em go to the devil!' he said. 'I haven't got +any money to spare for luxuries of that kind.' So far as that goes I +believe he is hard up, but then look at the way they live! They'd need to +be multi-millionaires to keep it up." + +The man's speech was crude, even brutal, and the girl on Fielding's other +side shivered a little and drew a pace away. It was very evident on which +side his sympathies lay. There was more than a tinge of the street ranter +in his utterance. She was glad that Fielding spared her an introduction. + +She tried to turn her attention back to the entertainment, but the coarse +words hung in her memory like an evil cloud. They recalled Green's brief +condemnation of the previous evening. Evidently his point of view was the +same. He regarded the whole social system as evil. Had not the squire +told her that he wanted to reform the world? + +The evening wore on, and with unfaltering resource Dick Green kept the +interest of his audience from flagging. He chose his assistants with +insight and skill, and every item on his program scored a success. His +banjo was in almost continuous demand throughout, but finally, just at +the end, he laid it aside. + +He took something from his pocket; what it was Juliet could not see, but +she caught the gleam of metal in the lamp-light, and in a moment a great +buzz of pleasure spread through the crowd. And then it began--such music +as she had never dreamed of--such music as surely was never fluted save +from the pipes of Pan. A long, sweet, thrilling note like the call of a +nightingale, starting far away, drawing swiftly nearer, nearer, till she +felt as if it ended against her heart, and then all the joy of spring, of +youth, of hope, poured forth in an amazing ecstasy of silver +sound--showers of fairy notes like the dancing of tiny feet or the +lightest patter of summer rain that ever fell upon opening leaves--and +the gold-flecked sunshine that shimmered in the crystal dawning of a day +new-born. Afterwards there came the sound of waterfalls and laughing +streams and the calling of fairy voices, the tinkle of fairy laughter, +and then the sea and shoaling water--shoaling water--breaking in a +million sparkles over the rocks of an enchanted strand! + +And it was to her alone that that wonder-music spoke. She and he were +wandering alone together along that fairy shore where every sea-shell +gleamed like pearl and every wave broke iridescent at their feet. The sun +shone in the sky for them alone, and the caves were mystic palaces of +delight that awaited their coming. And once it seemed to her that he drew +her close, and she felt his kisses on her lips.... + +Ah, surely this was the midsummer madness of which they had spoken! It +was a vision that could not last, but the wonder of it--ah, the wonder of +it!--she would carry for ever in her heart. + +It ended at length, but so softly, so tenderly, that, spellbound, she +never knew when lingering sound became enduring silence. She awoke as it +were from a long dream and knew that her heart was beating with a wild +and poignant longing that was pain. Then there arose a great shouting, +and instinctively she laid her hand on Fielding's arm and drew him away. + +"Had enough?" he asked. + +She nodded. Somehow for the moment she could find no words. She had a +feeling as of unshed tears at her throat. Ah, what had moved him to play +to her like that? And why did it hurt her so? + +She moved back up the grassy slope still with that curious sense of +pain. Something had happened to her, something had pierced her. By +that strange and faun-like power of his he had reached out and touched +her inmost soul, and she knew as she went away that she was changed. +He had cast a glittering spell upon her, and nothing could ever be the +same again. + +After a space she spoke at random and Fielding made reply. With the +instinct of self-defence she maintained some species of casual +conversation during their stroll back to the waiting car, but she never +had the vaguest recollection afterwards as to what passed between them. + +She was thankful to be swooping back again through the summer night. An +urgent desire for solitude was upon her. All her throbbing pulses cried +out for it. Was it but yesterday--but yesterday that she had felt so +safe? And now-- + +Later, alone in her room at the Court, she leaned from her open window +seeking with an almost frantic intensity to recover the peace that had +been hers. How had she lost it? She could not say. Was it the mere piping +of a flute that had reft it from her? She wanted to laugh at herself, but +could not. It was too absurd, too fantastic, for everyday, prosaic +existence, that rhapsody of the starlight, but to her it had been pure +magic. In it she had heard the call of a man's being, seeking hers, and +by every hidden chord that had vibrated in answer she knew that he had +not called in vain. That was the knowledge that pierced her--the +knowledge that she was caught--against her will,--still wildly struggling +for freedom--but caught. + +It had happened so suddenly, so amazingly. Yesterday she had been +free--only yesterday--Or stay! Perhaps even then the net had been about +her feet, and he had known it. How otherwise had he spoken so +intimately--dared so much? + +She drew a long, deep breath, recalling his look, his touch, his voice. +Ah! Midsummer madness indeed! But she could not stay to face it. She must +go. The way was still open behind her. She would escape as she had come, +a fugitive from the force that pursued her so relentlessly. She would not +suffer herself to be made a captive. She would go. + +Again she drew a long breath, but curiously it broke, as if a sharp spasm +had gripped her heart. She stood, struggling with herself. And then +suddenly she dropped upon her knees by the sill with her arms flung wide +and her head with its cloudy mass of hair bowed low. + +"O God! O God!" she whispered convulsively. "Save me from this! Help me +to go--while I can! I am so tired--so tired!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HONOURS OF WAR + + +Columbus was not accustomed to being awakened in the early June morning +and taken for a scamper when the sun was still scarcely two hours up. He +arose blinking at his mistress's behest, and but for her brisk urging he +would have turned over again and slept. But Juliet was insistent. + +"I'm going down to the shore, you old sleepy-head," she told him. "Don't +you want to come?" + +She herself had scarcely slept throughout the brief night, and a great +yearning for the sunshine and the sea was upon her. The solitude of the +beach drew her irresistibly. It was Sunday morning, and she knew that no +one but herself would be up for hours. She had grown to love it so, the +silence and the shining emptiness and the marvel of the sea. She could +not remember any other place that had ever attracted her in the same way. +It suited every mood. + +There was a short cut across the park, and she and Columbus took it, +hastening over the dewy grass till they reached a path that led to the +cliffs and the shore. Only the larks above them and the laughing waves +before, made music in this world of the early morning. The peacefulness +of it was like a benediction. + +"And before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal...." +She found herself murmuring the words, for in that morning purity it +seemed to her that the very ground beneath her feet was holy. She was +conscious of a throbbing desire to reach out to the Infinite, to bring +her troubled spirit to the Divine waters of healing. + +She reached the shingly shore, and went down over the stones to the waves +breaking in the sunlight. Yes, she was tired--she was tired; but this was +peace. The tears sprang to her eyes as she stood there. What a place to +be happy in! But happiness was not for her. + +After a space she turned and walked along the strand till she came to the +spot where she and Columbus had first sat together and played at being +wrecked on a desert island. And here she sat down and put her arms around +her faithful companion and leaned her head against his rough coat. + +"I wish it had been true, Columbus," she said. "We were so happy +just alone." + +He kissed her with all a dog's pure devotion, sensing trouble and seeking +to comfort. As he had told her many a time before, her company was really +all his soul desired. All other interests were mere distractions. She was +the only thing that counted in his world. + +His earnest assurances on this point had their effect. She sat up and +smiled at him through her tears. + +"Yes, I know, my Christopher," she said, and kissed him between the eyes. +"But the difficulty now is, what are we going to do?" + +Columbus pondered for a few seconds, and then suggested a crab-hunt. + +"Excellent idea!" said Juliet, and let him go. + +But she herself sat on in the early sunshine with her chin upon her hand +for a long, long time. + +The tide was coming in. The white-tipped waves broke in flashing foam +that spread almost to her feet. The sparkle of it danced in her dreaming +eyes, but it did not rouse her from her reverie. + +Perhaps she was half asleep after the weary watching of the night, or +perhaps she was only too tired to notice, but when a voice suddenly spoke +behind her she started as if at an electric shock. She had almost begun +to feel that she and Columbus were indeed marooned on this wide shore. + +"Are you waiting for the sea to carry you away?" the voice said. "Because +you won't have to wait much longer now." + +She turned as she sat. She had heard no sound of approaching feet. The +swish of the waves had covered all beside. She looked up at him with a +feeling of utter helplessness. "You!" she said. + +He turned behind her, slim, upright, intensely vital, in the morning +light. She had an impression that he was dressed in loose flannels, and +she saw a bath-towel hanging round his neck. + +"You have been bathing," she said. + +He laughed down at her, she saw the gleam of the white teeth in his dark +face. "I say, what a good guess! You look shocked. Is it wrong to bathe +on Sunday?" + +And then quite naturally he stretched a hand to her and helped her +to her feet. + +"I've been watching you for a long time," he said. "I was only a dot +in the ocean, so of course you didn't see me. I say,--tell me,--what's +the matter?" + +The question was so sudden that it caught her unawares. She found herself +looking straight into the dark eyes and wondering at their steady +kindliness. She knew instinctively that she looked into the eyes of a +friend, and as a friend she spoke in answer. + +"I have had rather a worrying night. I came out for a little fresh air. +It was such a perfect morning." + +"And you hoped you would have the place to yourself and be able to cry +it off in comfort," he said. "I wouldn't have interfered for the world if +I hadn't been afraid that you were going to drown yourself into the +bargain. And I really couldn't bear that. There are limits, you know." + +She laughed a little in spite of herself. "No, I have no intention of +drowning myself. I am not so desperate as that." + +He smiled at her whimsically. "It happens sometimes unintentionally. +Let's climb up to the next shelf and sit down!" + +Her hand was still in his. He kept it to help her up the tumbling stones +to a higher ridge of shingle. + +"Will this do?" he asked her. "May I stay for a bit? I'll be very good." + +"You always are good," said Juliet, as she sat down. + +"No? Really? You don't mean that? Well, it's awfully kind of you if you +do, but it isn't true." He dropped down beside her and offered her his +cigarette-case. "I can be--I have been--a perfect devil sometimes." + +"Yes. I know," she said, as she chose a cigarette. + +"Oh, you know that, do you? How do you know?" He was watching her +closely, but as the faint colour mounted to her face, his eyes fell. "No, +don't tell me! It doesn't matter. Wait while I get you a match!" + +He struck one and held it first for her and then for himself, his brown +hand absolutely steady. Then he turned with a certain resolution and +fixed his eyes upon the gleaming horizon. + +"It was kind of you to come round to the sing-song last night," he said, +after a pause. "I hope it wasn't that that made you sleep badly." + +"I enjoyed it," said Juliet, ignoring the last remark. "Your performance +was wonderful. I should think you are tired after it." + +"That sort of thing doesn't tire me," he said. "There's no difficulty +about it when it goes with a swing and everybody is out to make it a +success. I shall get you to sing next time." + +She shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Green." + +"Why not?" He turned and looked at her again, his hand shading his eyes. + +She hesitated. + +"Do you mind telling me?" he said gently. "There is a reason of course?" + +"Yes." Yet she smoked her cigarette in silence after the word as though +there were nothing more to be said. + +He sat motionless, still with his hand over his eyes. At last "Juliet," +he said, his voice very low, "am I being--a nuisance to you?" + +She looked at him swiftly. He had uttered the name so spontaneously that +she wondered if he realized that he had made use of it. + +He went on before she could find words to answer him. "I'm not a bounder. +At least I hope not. But--yesterday--last night--I hadn't got such a +firm hold on myself as usual. I began by being furiously angry--you +remember the episode at the gate--and that weakened my self-control. +Then--when I knew you were standing there listening--temptation came to +me, and I hadn't the strength to resist. You knew, didn't you? You +understood?" + +She nodded mutely. + +"Will you forgive me?" he said. + +She was silent. How could she tell him what that wild passion of music +had done to her? + +He went on after a moment. "I hope you'll try anyway, because I never +meant to offend you. Only somehow I felt possessed. I had to reach +you--or die. But I didn't mean to hurt you. My dear, you do believe that, +don't you? My love is more than a selfish craving. I can do without you. +I will--since I must. But I shall go on loving you--all my life." + +His voice was still very low, but it had steadied. He spoke with the +strong purpose of a man secure in his own self-mastery. He loved her, but +he made no demand upon her. He recognized that his love entitled him to +no claim. He even asked her forgiveness for having revealed it to her. + +And suddenly the hot tears welled again in Juliet's eyes. She could not +speak in answer, but in a moment she stretched her hand to his. + +He took it and held it close. "Don't cry!" he said gently. "I'm not +worth it. I've been a fool--no, not a fool to love you, but a three +times idiot to lose hold of myself like this. There! It's over. I'm not +going to bother you any more. And you're not going to let yourself be +bothered. What? You're not going to run away because of me, are you? +Promise me you won't!" + +Her fingers closed upon his. It was almost involuntarily. "I don't think +I ought to stay," she whispered. + +"I knew that was it!" He bent towards her. "Juliet! I say, please, dear, +please! If one of us must go, it must be I. But there is no need. Believe +me, there is no need. I've got myself in hand. I won't come near you--I +swear--if you don't wish it." + +"But--suppose--suppose--" Her voice broke. She drew her hand free and +covered her face. "Oh, it's all so hopeless!" she sobbed. "I ought to +have managed--better." + +"No, no!" In a flash his arm was round her, strong and ready; he drew +her to rest against his shoulder. "There's nothing to cry about +really--really! If you knew how I loathe myself for making you cry! But +listen! Nobody knows. Nobody's going to know. What happened last night is +between you and me alone. Only you had the key. It isn't going to make +any difference in your life. You'll go on as you were before. You'll +forget I ever dared to intrude on you. What, darling? What? Yes, you will +forget. Of course you'll forget. I'll see to it that you do. +I'll--I'll--" + +"Oh, stop!" Juliet said, and suddenly her face was turned upwards on his +shoulder, her forehead was against his neck. "You're making the biggest +mistake of your life!" + +"What?" he said, and fell abruptly silent and so tensely still that she +thought even his heart must have been arrested on the word. + +For a long, long second she also was motionless, rigidly pressed to him, +then with an odd little fluttering sigh she began to withdraw herself +from the encircling arm. "I've dropped my cigarette," she said. + +"Juliet!" He stooped over her; his face was close to hers. "Am I mad? +Or am I dreaming? Please make me understand! What is the mistake I +have made?" + +She did not look at him, but he saw that her tears were gone and she was +faintly, tremulously smiling. "That cigarette--" she murmured. "It really +isn't safe to leave it. I don't like--playing with fire." + +He bent lower. "We've got to risk something," he said, and with a +swiftness of decision that she had not expected he took her chin and +turned her face fully upwards to his own. + +The colour rushed in vivid scarlet to her temples. She met his eyes for +one fleeting second then closed her own with a gasp and a blind effort to +escape that was instantly quelled. For he kissed her--he kissed +her--pressing his lips to hers closely and ever more closely, as a man +consumed with thirst draining the cup to the last precious drop. + +When he let her go, she was burning, quivering, tingling from head to +foot as if an electric current were coursing through and through her. And +the citadel had fallen. She made no further attempt to keep him out. + +But he did not kiss her a second time. He only held her against his +heart. "Ah, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and she felt the deep quiver of his +words. "I've got you--now! You are mine." + +She was panting, wordless, thankful to avail herself of the shelter he +offered. She leaned against him for many seconds in palpitating silence. + +For so long indeed was she silent that in the end misgiving pierced him +and he felt for the downcast face. But in a moment she reached up and +took his hand in hers, restraining him. + +"Not again!" she whispered. "Please not again!" + +"All right. I won't," he said. "Not yet anyhow. But speak to me! Tell me +it's all right! You're not frightened?" + +"I am--a little," she confessed. + +"Not at me! Juliet!" + +"No, not at you. At least," she laughed unsteadily. "I'm not quite +sure. You--you--I think you must let me go for a minute--to get back +my balance." + +"Must I?" he said. + +She lifted the hand she had taken and laid it against her cheek. "I've +got--a good deal to say to you, Dick," she said. "You've taken me so +completely by storm. Please be generous now! Please let me have--the +honours of war!" + +"My dear!" he said. + +He let her go with the words, and she clasped her hands about her knees +and looked out to sea. She was still trembling a little, but as he sat +beside her in unbroken silence she grew gradually calmer, and presently +she spoke without any apparent difficulty. + +"You've taken a good deal for granted, Dick, haven't you? You don't know +me very well." + +"Don't I?" he said. + +"No. You've been--dreadfully headlong all through." She smiled +faintly, with a touch of sadness. "You've skipped all the usual +preliminaries--which isn't always wise. Don't you teach your boys to +look before they leap?" + +"When there's time," he said. "But you know, dear, you gave the word +for--the final plunge." + +She nodded slowly once or twice. "Yes. But I didn't expect +quite--quite--Well, never mind what I expected! The fact remains, we +haven't known each other long enough. No, I know we can't go back now +and begin again. But, Dick, I want you--and it's for your sake as much +as for my own--I want you, please, to be very patient. Will you? May I +count on that?" + +He put out his hand to her and gently touched her shoulder. "Don't talk +to me like a slave appealing to a sultan!" he said. + +She made a little movement towards him, but she did not turn. "I don't +want to hurt you," she said. "But I'm going to ask of you something that +you won't like--at all." + +"Well, what is it?" he said. + +"I want you--" she paused, then turned and resolutely faced him--"I want +you to be--just friends with me again," she said. + +His eyes looked straight into hers. "In public you mean?" he said. + +"In private too," she answered. + +"For how long?" Swiftly he asked the question, his eyes still holding +hers with a certain mastery of possession. + +She made a slight gesture of pleading. "Until you know me better," she +said. + +His brows went up. "That's not a business proposition, is it? You don't +really expect me to agree to that. Now do you?" + +"Ah! But you've got to understand," she said rather piteously. "I'm not +in the least the sort of woman you think I am. I'm not--Dick, I'm not--a +specially good woman." + +She spoke the words with painful effort, her eyes wavered before his. But +in a moment, without hesitation, he had leapt to the rescue. + +"My darling, don't tell me that! I can see what you are. I know! I know! +I don't want your own valuation. I won't listen to it. It's the one point +on which your opinion has no weight whatever with me. Please don't say +any more about it! It's you that I love--just as you are. If you were one +atom less human, you wouldn't be you, and my love--our love--might never +have been." + +She sighed. "It would have saved a lot of trouble if it hadn't, Dick." + +"Don't be silly!" he said. "Is there anything else that matters +half as much?" + +She was silent, but her look was dubious. He drew suddenly close to her, +and slipped his hand through her arm. + +"Is there anything else that really matters at all, Juliet? Tell me! I've +got to know. Does--Robin matter?" + +She started at the question. It was obviously unexpected. "No! Of course +not!" she said. + +"Thank you," he said steadily. "I loved you for that before you said it." + +She laid her hand upon his and held it. "That's--one of the things I +love you for, Dick," she said, with eyes downcast. "You are +so--splendidly--loyal." + +"Sweetheart!" he said softly. "There's no virtue in that." + +Her brows were slightly drawn. "I think there is. Anyway it appeals to me +tremendously. You would stick to Robin--whatever the cost." + +"Well, that, of course!" he said. "I flatter myself I am necessary to +Robin. But with Jack it is otherwise. I've kicked him out." + +"Dick!" She looked at him in sharp amazement. + +He smiled, a thin-lipped smile. "Yes. It had to be. I've put up with him +long enough. I told him so last night." + +"You--quarrelled?" said Juliet. + +"No. We didn't quarrel. I gave him his marching orders, that's all." + +"But wasn't he very angry?" + +"Oh, pshaw!" said Dick. "What of it?" + +She was looking at him intently, for there was something merciless about +his smile. "Do you always do that, I wonder," she said, "with the people +who make you angry?" + +"Do what?" he said. + +"Kick them out." Her voice held a doubtful note. + +He turned his hand upwards and clasped hers. "My darling, it was a +perfectly just sentence. He deserved it. Also--though I admit I have only +thought of this since--it's the best thing that could happen to him. He +can make his own way in life. It's high time he did so. I didn't kick him +out because I was angry with him either." + +"But you were angry," she said. "You were nearly white-hot." + +He laughed. "I kept my hands off him anyhow. But I can't be answerable +for the consequences if anyone sets to work to bait Robin persistently. +It's not fair to the boy--to either of us." + +"Do you think Robin might do him a mischief?" she asked. + +"I think--someone might," he answered grimly. "But never mind that now! +You don't regard Robin as a just cause and impediment. What's the next +obstacle? My profession?" + +"No," she said instantly and emphatically. "I like that part of you. +There's something rather quaint about it." + +His quick smile flashed upon her. "Oh, thanks awfully! I'm glad I'm +quaint. But I didn't know it was a quality that appealed to you. +I've been laying even odds with myself that I'd make you have me in +spite of it." + +She coloured a little. "It doesn't really count one way or the other with +me, Dick, any more than it would count with you if I hawked stale fish in +the street for cat's meat. You see I haven't forgotten that pretty +compliment of yours. But--" + +"But?" he said, frowning whimsically. "We'll have the end of that +sentence, please. It's the very thing I want to get at. What is +the 'but'?" + +She hesitated. + +"Go on!" he commanded. + +"Don't be a tyrant, Dick!" she said. + +"My beautiful princess!" He touched her shoulder with his lips. "Then +don't you--please--be a goose! Tell me--quick!" + +"And if I can't tell you, Dick? If--if it's just an instinct that says, +Wait? We've been too headlong as it is. I can't--I daren't--go on at this +pace." She was almost tearful. "I must have a little breathing-space +indeed. I came here for peace and quietness, as you know." + +He broke into a sudden laugh. "So you did, dear. You were playing +hide-and-seek with yourself, weren't you? I'll bet you never expected to +find the other half of yourself in this remote corner, did you? Well, +never mind! Don't cry sweetheart--anyhow till you've got a decent excuse. +I don't want to rush you into anything against your will. Taken properly, +I'm the meekest fellow in creation. But we must have things on a sensible +footing. You see that, don't you?" + +"If we could be just friends," she said. + +"Well, I'm quite willing to be friends." He laughed into her eyes. "Why +so distressful? Don't you like the prospect?" + +She drew his hand down into her lap and held it between her own, looking +gravely down at it. "Dick!" she said. + +His smile passed. "Well, dear? What is it? You're not going to be +afraid of me?" + +She did not answer him. "I want you to leave me free a little +longer," she said. + +"But you are not free now," he said. + +She threw him a brief, half-startled glance. "I don't mean that," she +said rather haltingly. "I mean I want you--not to ask any promise of +me--not to insist upon any bond between us--not to--not to--expect a +formal engagement--until,--well, until--" + +"Until you are ready to marry me," he suggested quietly. + +A quick tremor went through her. "That won't be for a long time," she +said. + +"How long?" he said. + +"I don't know. Dick. I haven't the least idea. I had almost made up my +mind never to marry at all." + +"Really?" he said. "Do you know, so had I. But I changed it the moment I +met you. When did you change yours?" + +She laughed, but without much mirth. "I'm not sure that--" + +"No, don't you say that to me!" he interrupted. "It's not cricket. You +are--quite sure, though you rather wish you weren't. Isn't that the +position? Honestly now!" + +"Honestly," she said, "I can't be engaged to you yet." + +"All right," he said unexpectedly. "You needn't call it that if you +don't want to. Facts are facts. We may not be engaged, but we +are--permanently--attached. We'll leave it at that." + +Again swiftly she glanced towards him. "No, but, Dick--" + +"Yes, but, Juliet--" His hand moved suddenly, imprisoning both of hers. +"You can't get away," he said, speaking very rapidly, "any more than I +can. If you put the whole world between us, we shall still belong to each +other. That is irrevocable. It isn't your doing, and it isn't mine. It's +a Power above and beyond us both. We can't help ourselves." + +He spoke with fierce earnestness, a depth of concentration, that gripped +her just as his music had gripped her the night before. She sat +motionless, bound by the same spell that had bound her then. She did not +want to meet his eyes, but they drew irresistibly. In the end she did so. + +For a space not reckoned by time she surrendered herself to a mastery +that would not be denied. She met the kindling flame of his worship, and +was strangely awed and humbled thereby. She knew now beyond all question +that this man was not as most men. He came to her with the first, +untainted offering of his love. No other woman had been before her in +that inner sanctuary which he now flung wide for her to enter. There was +a purity, a primitive simplicity, about his passion which made her +realize that very clearly. He was no boy. He had lived a life of hard +self-discipline and had put his youth behind him long since. But he +brought all the intensity of a boy's adoration to back his manhood's +strength of purpose, and before it she was impotent and half-afraid. The +men of her world had all been of a totally different mould. She was +accustomed to cynicism and the half-mocking homage of jaded experience. +But this was new, this was wonderful--a force that burned and dazzled +her, yet which attracted her irresistibly none the less, thrilling her +with a rapture that had never before entered her life. Whatever the risk, +whatever the penalty, she was bound to go forward now. + +She spoke at last, her eyes still held by his. "I think you are right. We +can't help it. But oh. Dick, remember that--remember that--if ever there +should come a time when you wish you had done--otherwise!" + +"If ever I do what?" he said. "Do you mind saying that again?" + +She shook her head. "But I'm not laughing. Dick. You've carried me out of +my depth, and--I'm not a very good swimmer." + +"All right, darling," he said. "Lean on me! I'll hold you up." + +She clasped his hand tightly. "You will be patient?" she said. + +He smiled into her anxious face. "As patient as patient," he said. "That, +I take it, means I'm not to tell anybody, does it?" + +She bent her head. "Yes, Dick." + +"All right," he said. "I won't tell a soul without your consent. But--" +he leaned nearer to her, speaking almost under his breath--"when I am +alone with you, Juliet--I shall take you in my arms--and kiss you--as I +have done to-day." + +Again a swift tremor went through her. She looked at him no longer. "Oh, +but not--not without my leave," she said. + +"You will give me leave," he said. + +She was silent for a space. He was drawing her two hands to him, and she +tried to resist him. But in the end he had his way, and she yielded with +a little laugh that sounded oddly passionate. + +"I believe you could make me give you anything," she said. + +"But you can't give me what is mine already," he made quiet answer, as he +pressed the two trembling hands against his heart. "That is understood, +isn't it? And when you are tired of working for your living, you will +come to me and let me work for you." + +"Perhaps," she said, with her head bent. + +"Only perhaps?" he said. + +His voice was deeply tender. He was trying to look into the veiled eyes. + +"Only perhaps?" he said again. + +She made a little movement as if she would free herself, but checked it +on the instant. Then very slowly she lifted her face to his, but she did +not meet his look. Her eyes were closed. + +"Some day," she said with quivering lips,--"some day--I will." + +He took her face between his hands, and held it so as if he waited for +something. Then, after a moment, "Some day--wife of my heart!" he said +very softly, and kissed the eyes that would not meet his own. + + + + +PART III + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BIRDS OF A FEATHER + + +The annual flower-show at Fairharbour was one of the chief events of the +district, and entailed such a gathering of the County as Vera Fielding +would not for worlds have missed. It also entailed the donning of +beautiful garments which was an even greater attraction than the first. + +She had not been well during the sultry weather that had prevailed +throughout the early part of June, and Fielding had been considering the +advisability of taking her away for a change. But though her energy for +many of the amusements which she usually followed with zest had waned +with the lassitude that hot weather had brought upon her, she had set her +heart upon attending the flower-show, and, in obedience to the new policy +which Juliet by every means in her power persuaded him to pursue, the +squire had somewhat impatiently yielded the point. The show was to take +place in the grounds of Burchester Park. It was an immense affair, and +everyone of any importance was sure to attend. + +Juliet herself would gladly have stayed away, but Mrs. Fielding, partly +as a natural consequence of her poor health and chiefly from a selfish +desire to feel herself an object of solicitude, would not hear of leaving +her behind. As Dick had predicted, she had come to lean upon Juliet, and +her dependence became every day more pronounced. At times she was even +childishly exacting, and though Juliet still maintained her right to +direct her own movements, she found her liberty considerably curtailed. + +If she went down to the shore with Robin she usually met with a +querulous, and sometimes tearful, reception on her return, and though +she steadily refused to admit that there was any reason on Vera's part +for assuming this attitude, it influenced her none the less. Moreover, +Vera could be genuinely pathetic upon occasion, and there was no +disputing the fact that she stood in need of care--such care as only a +woman could give. + +"I don't want a nurse," she would say plaintively. "I only want +companionship and sympathy. Motoring is my only consolation, and I can't +go motoring alone." + +And then the squire would draw her aside and beg her to bear with Vera's +whims as far as possible since loneliness depressed her and she was the +only person he knew whose company did not either tire her out or irritate +her beyond endurance. It was not an easy position, but Juliet filled it +to the best of her ability and with no small self-sacrifice. + +Yet in a sense it made her life the simpler, for she was still at that +difficult stage when it is easier to stand still than to go forward. She +saw Green when he came to the house, but they had not been alone together +since the morning on the shore when her love had betrayed her. She had a +feeling that he was biding his time. He had promised to be patient, and +she knew he would keep his promise. Also, his time, like hers, was very +fully occupied. Till the holidays came he would not have much liberty, +and in her secret soul Juliet was thankful that this was so. For the +present it was enough for her to hold this new joy close, close to her +heart, to gaze upon it only in solitude,--a gift most precious upon +which no other eyes might look. It was enough for her to feel the tight +grasp of his hand when they met, to catch for an instant the quick gleam +of understanding in his glance, the sudden flash of that smile which was +for her alone. These things thrilled her with a gladness so strangely +sweet that there were times when she marvelled at herself, and sometimes, +trembling, wondered if it could possibly last. For nought in life had +ever before shone so golden as this perfect dream. The very atmosphere +she breathed was subtly charged with its essence. She was absurdly, +superbly happy. + +"I believe this place suits you," the squire said to her once. "You look +years younger than when you came." + +She received the compliment with her low, soft laugh. "I am--years +younger," she said. + +He gave her a sharp look. "You are happy here? Not sorry you came?" + +"Oh, not in the least sorry," said Juliet. + +He nodded. "That's all right. You've done Vera a lot of good. She's +getting almost docile. But as soon as this flower-show business is over, +I want you to use all your influence to get her away. We'll go North and +see if we can get a little strength into her." Again he looked at her +shrewdly. "You won't mind coming too?" + +"But of course not," said Juliet. "I shall love it." + +He was on his way out of the room, but a sudden thought seemed to strike +him and he lingered. "Shall I make Green come to the flower-show with +us?" he asked. + +"I shouldn't," said Juliet quietly. "He probably wouldn't have time, and +certainly Mrs. Fielding wouldn't want him." + +He frowned. "Would you like him?" he asked abruptly. + +"I?" She met his look with a baffling smile. "Oh, don't ask him on my +account! I am quite happy without a cavalier in attendance." + +And Fielding went out, looking dissatisfied. But when the day arrived and +they were on the point of departure he surprised them both by the sudden +announcement that Green was to be picked up at the gates. It was a +Saturday afternoon, and for once he was at liberty. + +"Oh, really, Edward!" Mrs. Fielding protested. "Now you've spoilt +everything!" + +"On the contrary," smiled the squire. "I have merely completed the +party." + +"I'm sure Miss Moore doesn't want him!" she declared petulantly. + +"I am afraid Miss Moore will have to put up with him nevertheless," said +Fielding, unperturbed. "For he is coming." + +"You always do your best to spoil my pleasure," Vera flung at him. + +Juliet saw the squire's mouth take an ominous downward curve, but to her +relief he kept his temper in check. He was driving the car himself which +was an open one. Somewhat grimly he turned to Juliet. "I hope you have no +objection to sharing the back-seat with Mr. Green?" + +She felt her pulses give a swift leap at the question, but with a hasty +effort she kept down her rising colour. "Of course not!" she said. + +He gave her a brief smile of approval. "Then you will sit in front with +me, Vera. That is settled. Let us have no more argument!" + +"It's too bad!" Vera declared stormily on the verge of indignant tears. + +"My dear," he said, "don't be silly! Has it never occurred to you that I +may like to have my wife to myself occasionally?" + +It evidently had not, for Vera gave him a look of sheer amazement and +yielded the point as if she had no breath left for further discussion. + +He settled her in her place, and tucked the rug around her with more than +usual care. As he finished, she leaned forward and touched his shoulder +with a slightly uncertain smile. + +He glanced up. "All right?" + +"Quite, thank you," she said. + +And Juliet in the back-seat drew a breath of relief. The squire was +becoming quite an adept at the game. + +They shot down the avenue at a speed that brought them very rapidly in +sight of the gates. A figure was waiting there, and again Juliet was +conscious of the hard beating of her heart. Then she knew that the car +was stopping, and looked forth with an impersonal smile of welcome. + +He came forward, greeted the squire and Mrs. Fielding, and in a moment +was getting in beside her. + +"Good afternoon, Miss Moore!" he said. + +She gave him her hand and felt his fingers close with a spring-like +strength upon it, while his eyes laughed into hers. Then the car was in +motion again, and he dropped into the seat. + +"By Jove, this is a treat!" he said. "I had the greatest difficulty in +the world to get away, made Ashcott take my place. It isn't a very +important match, and he's a better bowler than I am anyway." + +"Do you want any rug?" she said, still battling to keep back the +overwhelming flush of gladness from her face. + +He accepted her offer at once, and in a moment his hand had caught and +imprisoned hers beneath its shelter. + +She made a sharp movement to free herself, and the blush she had so +valiantly resisted flamed over face and neck as she felt his hold +tighten as sharply, and heard him laugh at her impotence. But he went on +talking as though nothing had happened, considerately covering her +agitation, and to her relief neither Fielding nor his wife looked round +till it had subsided. + +It was barely half-an-hour's run to Burchester Park which was thrown open +to the public for the great occasion. The Castle also was open on that +day, and visitors thronged thither from every quarter. + +A long procession of conveyances stood outside the great iron gates of +the Park, but the squire, owing to an acquaintanceship with Lord +Saltash's bailiff, held a permit that enabled him to drive in. They went +up the long avenue of firs that led to the great stone building, but ere +they reached it the strains of a band told them that the flower-show was +taking place in an open space on their right close to the entrance to the +terraced gardens which occupied the southern slope in front of the house. + +Fielding ran the car into a deep patch of shade beside the road, and +stopped. "We had better get out here," he said. + +Juliet's hand slipped free. Dick threw her a smile and jumped out. + +"Will the car be all right?" he said, as he turned to help her down. + +"Oh, right enough," the squire said. "There is no traffic along here." + +"I am hoping to go into the house," said Vera. "But I suppose it will be +crammed with people." + +"We'll do the flower-show first anyhow," said Fielding. + +He led the way with her, and it seemed quite natural to Juliet that +Green should fall in beside her. It was a cloudless day, and she had an +almost childish feeling of delight in its splendour. She was determined +to enjoy herself to the utmost. + +They entered the first sweltering tent and in the throng she felt again +the touch of Dick's hand at he came behind. "We mustn't lose each other," +he said, with a laugh. + +The midsummer madness was upon her, and, without looking at him she +squeezed the fingers that gripped her arm. + +In a moment his voice spoke in her ear. "Look here! Let's get away! Let's +get lost! It's the easiest thing in the world. We can't all hang together +in this crowd." + +This was quite evident. The great marquee was crammed with people, and +already Fielding was piloting his wife to the opening at the other end. + +"We must just look round," murmured Juliet, "for decency's sake." + +"All right, my dear, look!" he said. "And when you've quite finished +we'll go out by the way we came and explore the gardens." + +She threw him a glance that expressed acquiescence and a certain mead of +amused appreciation. For somehow Dick Green in his blue serge and straw +hat managed to look smarter if less immaculate than any of the +white-waistcoated band of local magnates around them. So--for decency's +sake--she prowled round the tent with Dick at her shoulder, admiring +everything she saw and forgetting as soon as she had admired. She told +herself that it was a day of such supreme happiness as could not come +twice in any lifetime, and because of it she lingered, refusing to hasten +the moment for which Dick had made provision. + +"Haven't you had enough of it?" he said, at last. + +And she answered him with a quivering laugh. "No, not nearly. I'm +spinning out every single second." + +"Ah, but they won't wait," he said. "Come! I think we're safely lost now. +Let us go!" + +She turned obediently from a glorious spread of gloxinias, and he made a +way for her through the buzzing crowd to the entrance. When Dick spoke +with the voice of authority, it was her pleasure to submit. + +She felt her pulses tingle as she followed him, to be alone with him +again, to feel herself encompassed by the fiery magic of his love, to +yield throbbing surrender to the mastery that would not be denied. Yet +when he turned to her outside in the hot sunshine with the blaring band +close at hand she almost shrank away, she almost voiced a pretext for +continuing their unprofitable wandering through the stifling tents. For, +strangely, though he smiled at her, there was about him in that moment a +quality that went near to scaring her. Something untamed, something +indomitable, looked out at her from his glittering eyes. It was almost +like a challenge, as if he dared her to dispute his right. + +"That's better," he said, drawing a deep breath. "Now we can get away." + +"We shan't get away from the people," she said. + +He threw a rapid glance around. "Yes, we shall--with any luck. Come +along! I know the way. There's a little landing-stage place down by +the lake. We'll go there. There may even be a boat handy--if the gods +are kind." + +The gods were kind. They skirted the terraced gardens, which were not +open to the public, and plunged down a winding walk through a shrubbery +that led somewhat sharply downwards, away from the noise and the crush +into cool green depths of woodland through which at last there shone up +at them the gleam of water. + +Juliet was panting when at length her guide paused. "My darling, what a +shame!" he said. "But hang on to me! There are some steps round the +corner, and they may be slippery. We'll soon be down now, and there's not +a soul anywhere. Look! There's a fairy barque waiting for us!" + +She caught sight of a white skiff, lying in the water close to the bank. +As he had predicted, the final descent was a decided scramble, but he +held her up until the mossy bank was reached; and would have held her +longer, but with a little breathless laugh she released herself. + +"My shoes are ruined," she remarked. + +As they were of light grey suède, and the precipitous path they had +travelled was a mixture of clay and limestone the ruin was palpable and +very thorough. Dick surveyed them with compunction. + +"I say, they're wet through! You must take them off at once. Get into +the boat!" + +"No, no!" She laughed again with more assurance. "I am not going to take +them off. We couldn't dry them if I did, and I should never get them on +again. Do you think we ought to get into the boat? Suppose the owner +came along?" + +"The owner? Lord Saltash, do you mean?" He scoffed at the idea. "Do you +really imagine he would come within a hundred leagues of the place on +such a day as this. No, he is probably many salt miles away in that +ocean-going yacht of his. Lucky dog!" + +"Oh, do you envy him?" she said. + +He gave her a shrewd glance. "Not in the least. He is welcome to his +yacht--and his Lady Jo--and all that is his." + +"Dick!" She made a swift gesture of repudiation. "Please don't repeat +that--scandal--again!" + +He raised his brows with a faintly ironical smile. "Are you still giving +her the benefit of the doubt?" he said. "I imagine no one else does." + +The colour went out of her face. She stood quite motionless, looking +not at him but at a whirl of dancing gnats on the gold-flecked water +beyond him. + +"She went to Paris," she said, in the tone of one asserting a fact that +no one could dispute. + +"So did he," said Green. "The yacht went round to Bordeaux to pick him up +afterwards. I understand that he was not alone." + +She turned on him in sudden anger. "Why do you repeat this horrible +gossip? Where do you hear it?" + +He held out his hand to her. "Juliet, I repeat it, because I want you to +know--you have got to know--that she is unworthy of your friendship, +and--you shall never touch pitch with my consent. I have heard it from +various sources,--from Ashcott, from the agent here, Bishop, and others. +My dear, you have always known her for a heartless flirt. You broke with +her because she jilted the man she was about to marry. Now that she has +gone to another man, surely you have done with her!" + +He spoke without anger, but with a force and authority that carried far +more weight. Juliet's indignation passed. But she did not touch the +outstretched hand, and in a moment he bent and took hers. + +"Now I've made you furious," he said. + +She looked at him somewhat piteously, assaying a smile with the lips +that trembled. "No, I am not furious. Only--when you talk like that you +make me--rather uneasy. You see, Lady Jo and I have always been--birds +of a feather." + +"Don't," he said, and suddenly gripped her hand so that she gasped with +pain. "Oh, did I hurt you, sweetheart? Forgive me. But I can't have you +talk like that--couple yourself with that woman whose main amusement for +years has been to break as many hearts as she could capture. Forget her, +darling! Promise me you will! Come! We're not going to let her spoil this +perfect day." + +He was drawing her to him, but she sought to resist him, and even when +his arms were close about her she did not wholly yield. He held her to +him, but he did not press for a full surrender. + +And--perhaps because of his forbearance--she presently lifted her face to +his and clung to him with all her quivering strength. "Just for to-day, +Dick!" she whispered tremulously. "Just for to-day!" + +Their lips met upon the words. And, "For ever and ever!" he made +passionate answer, as he held her to his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SALTASH + + +The sunshine was no less bright or the day less full of summer warmth +when they floated out upon the lake a little later. But Juliet's mood had +changed. She leaned back on Dick's coat in the stern of the boat, +drifting her fingers through the rippling water with a thoughtful face. +Once or twice she only nodded when Dick spoke to her, and he, bending to +his sculls, soon fell silent, content to watch her while the golden +minutes passed. + +The lake was long and narrow, surrounded by woodland trees with coloured +water-lilies floating here and there upon its surface--a fairy spot, +mysterious, green as emerald. The music of the band sounded distant here, +almost like the echoes of another world. They reached the middle of the +lake, and Dick suffered his sculls to rest upon the water, sending +feathery splashes from their tips that spread in widening circles all +around them. + +As if in answer to an unspoken word, Juliet's eyes came up to his. +She faintly smiled. "Have you brought that woodland pipe of yours?" +she asked. + +He smiled back at her. "No, I am keeping that for another occasion." + +She lifted her straight brows interrogatively, without speaking. + +He answered her still smiling, but with that in his voice that brought +the warm colour to her face. "For the day when we go away, together, +sweetheart, and don't come back." + +Her eyes sank before his, but in a moment or two she lifted them again, +meeting his look with something of an effort. "I wonder, Dick," she said +slowly, "I wonder if we ever shall." + +He leaned towards her. "Are you daring me to run away with you?" + +She shook her head. "I should probably turn into something very hideous +if you did, and that would be--rather terrible for both of us." + +"That's a parable, is it?" He was still looking at her keenly, earnestly. + +She made a little gesture of remonstrance, as if his regard were too much +for her. "You can take it as you please. But as I have no intention of +running away with you, perhaps it is beside the point." + +He laughed with a hint of mastery. "Our intentions on that subject may +not be the same. I'll back mine against yours any day." + +She smiled at his words though her colour mounted higher. After a +moment she sat up, and laid a hand upon his knee. "Dick, you're getting +too managing--much. I suppose it's the schoolmaster part of you. I +daresay you find it gets you the upper hand with a good many, but--it +won't with me." + +His hand was on hers in an instant, she thrilled to the electricity of +his touch. "No--no!" he said. "That's just the soul of me, darling, +leaping all the obstacles to reach and hold you. You're not going to tell +me you have no use for that?" + +"But you promised to be patient," she said. + +"Well, I will be. I am. Don't look so serious! What have I done?" + +His eyes challenged her to laughter, and she laughed, though somewhat +uncertainly. "Nothing--yet, Dick. But--I don't feel at all sure of you +to-day. You make me think of a faun of the woods. I haven't the least +idea what you will do next." + +"What a mercy I've got you safe in the boat!" he said. "I didn't know you +were so shy. What shall I do to reassure you?" + +His hand moved up her wrist with the words, softly pushing up the lacy +sleeve, till it found the bend of the elbow, when he stooped and kissed +the delicate blue veins, closely with lips that lingered. + +Then, his head still bent low, very tenderly he spoke. "Don't be afraid +of my love, sweetheart! Let it be your--defence!" + +She was sitting very still in his hold save that every fibre of her +throbbed at the touch of his lips. But in a moment she moved, touched his +shoulder, his neck, with fingers that trembled, finally smoothed the +close black hair. + +"Why did you make me love you?" she said, and uttered a sharp sigh that +caught her unawares. + +He laughed as he raised his head. "Poor darling! You didn't want to, did +you? Hard lines! I believe it's upset all your plans for the future." + +"It has," she said. "At least--it threatens to!" + +"What a shame!" He spoke commiseratingly. "And what were your plans--if +it isn't impertinent of me to ask?" + +She smiled faintly. "Well, marriage certainly wasn't one of them. And I'm +not sure that it is now. I feel like the girl in _Marionettes_--Cynthia +Paramount--who said she didn't think any women ought to marry until she +had been engaged at least six times." + +"That little beast!" Dick sat up suddenly and returned to his sculls. +"Juliet, why did you read that book? I told you not to." + +Her smile deepened though her eyes were grave. She clasped her fingers +about her knees. "My dear Dick, that's why. It didn't hurt me like _The +Valley of Dry Bones_. In fact I was feeling so nice and superior when I +read it that I rather enjoyed it." + +Dick sent the boat through the water with a long stroke. His face was +stern. After a moment Juliet looked at him. "Are you cross with me +because I read it, Dick?" + +His face softened instantly. "With you! What an idea!" + +"With the man who wrote it then?" she suggested. "He exasperates me +intensely. He has such a maddeningly clear vision, and he is so +inevitably right." + +"And yet you persist in reading him!" Dick's voice had a faintly +mocking note. + +"And yet I persist in reading him. You see, I am a woman, Dick. I haven't +your lordly faculty for ignoring the people I most dislike. I detest Dene +Strange, but I can't overlook him. No one can. I think his character +studies are quite marvellous. That girl and her endless flirtations, and +then--when the real thing comes to her at last--that unspeakable man of +iron refusing to take her because she had jilted another man, ruining +both their lives for the sake of his own rigid code! He didn't deserve +her in any case. She was too good for him with all her faults." Juliet +paused, studying her lover's face attentively. "I hope you're not that +sort of man, Dick," she said. + +He met her eyes. "Why do you say that?" + +"Because there's a high-priestly expression about your mouth that rather +looks as if you might be. Please don't tell me if you are because it will +spoil all my pleasure! Give me a cigarette instead and let's enjoy +ourselves!" + +"You'll find the case in my coat behind," he said. "But, Juliet, though +I wouldn't spoil your pleasure for the world, I must say one thing. If +a woman engages herself to a man, I consider she is bound in honour to +fulfil her engagement--unless he sets her free. If she is an +honourable woman, she will never free herself without his consent. I +hold that sort of engagement to be a debt of honour--as sacred as the +marriage vow itself." + +"Even though she realizes that she is going to make a mistake?" said +Juliet, beginning to search the coat. + +"Whatever the circumstances," he said. "An engagement can only be broken +by mutual consent. Otherwise, the very word becomes a farce. I have no +sympathy with jilts of either sex. I think they ought to be kicked out of +decent society." + +Juliet found the cigarettes and looked up with a smile. "I think you and +Dene Strange ought to collaborate," she said. "You would soon put this +naughty world to rights between you. Now open your mouth and shut your +eyes, and if you're very good I'll light it for you!" + +There was in her tone, despite its playfulness, a delicate finality that +told him plainly that she had no intention of pursuing the subject +further, and, curiously, the man's heart smote him for a moment. He felt +as if in some fashion wholly inexplicable he had hurt her. + +"You're not vexed with me, sweetheart?" he said. + +She looked at him still smiling, but her look, her smile, were more +of a veil than a revelation. "With you! What an idea!" she said, +softly mocking. + +"Ah, don't!" he said. "I'm not like that, Juliet!" + +She held up the cigarette. "Quite ready? Ah, Dick! Don't--don't upset +the boat!" + +For the sculls floated loose again in the rowlocks. He had her by the +wrists, the arms, the shoulders. He had her, suddenly and very closely, +against his heart. He covered her face with his kisses, so that she +gasped and gasped for breath, half-laughing, half-dismayed. + +"Dick, how--how disgraceful of you! Dick, you mustn't! Someone--someone +will see us!" + +"Let them!" he said, grimly reckless. "You brought it on yourself. How +dare you tell me I'm like a high priest? How dare you, Juliet?" + +"I daren't," she assured him, her hand against his mouth, restraining +him. "I never will again. You're much more like the great god Pan. There, +now do be good! Please be good! I am sure someone is watching us. I can +feel it in my bones. You're flinging my reputation to the little fishes. +Please, Dick--darling,--please!" + +He held the appealing hand and kissed it very tenderly. "I can't resist +that," he said. "So now we're quits, are we? And no one any the worse. +Juliet, you'll have to marry me soon." + +She drew away from his arms, still panting a little. Her face was +burning. "Now we'll go back," she said. "You're very unmanageable to-day. +I shall not come out with you again for a long time." + +"Yes--yes, you will!" he urged. "I shouldn't be so unmanageable if I +weren't so--starved." + +She laughed rather shakily. "You're absurd and extravagant. Please row +back now, Dick! Mr. and Mrs. Fielding will be wondering where we are." + +"Let 'em wonder!" said Dick. + +Nevertheless, moved by something in her voice or face, he turned the boat +and began to row back to the little landing-stage. Juliet rescued the +cigarettes from the floor, and presently placed one between his lips and +lighted it for him. But her eyes did not meet his during the process, and +her hand was not wholly steady. She leaned back in the stern and smoked +her own cigarette afterwards in almost unbroken silence. + +"Don't you want a water-lily?" Dick said to her once as they drew +near a patch. + +She shook her head. "No, don't disturb them! They're happier where +they are." + +"Impossible!" he protested. "When they might be with you!" + +She raised her eyes to his then, and looked at him very steadily. "No, +that doesn't follow, Dick," she said. + +"I think it does," he said. "Never mind if you don't agree! Tell me +when you are coming to sing at one of my Saturday night concerts at +High Shale!" + +"Oh, I don't know, Dick." She looked momentarily embarrassed. "You know +we are going away very soon, don't you?" + +"Where to?" he said. + +"I don't know. Either Wales or the North. Mrs. Fielding needs a change, +and I--" + +"You're coming back?" he said. + +"I suppose so--some time. Why?" She looked at him questioningly. + +He leaned forward, his black eyes unswervingly upon her. "Because--if you +don't--I shall come after you," he said, with iron determination. + +She laughed a little. "Pray don't look so grim! I probably shall come +back all in good time. I will let you know if I don't, anyway." + +"You promise?" he said. + +"Of course I promise." She flicked her cigarette-ash into the water. "I +won't disappear without letting you know first." + +"Without letting me know where to find you," he said. + +She glanced over his shoulder as if measuring the distance between the +skiff and the landing-stage. "No, I don't promise that. It wouldn't be +fair. But you will be able to trace me by Columbus. He will certainly +accompany the cat's-meat cart wherever it goes. Oh, Dick! There's someone +there--waiting for us!" + +He also threw a look behind him. "Shall I put her about? I don't see +anyone, but if you wish it--" + +"No, no, I don't! Row straight in! There is someone there, and you'll +have to apologize. I knew we were being watched." + +Juliet sat upright with a flushed face. + +Dick began to laugh. "Dear, dear! How tragic! Never mind, darling! I +daresay it's no one more important than a keeper, and we will see if we +can enlist his sympathy." + +He pulled a few swift strokes and the skiff glided up to the little +landing-stage. He shipped the sculls, and held to the woodwork with +one hand. + +"Will you get ashore, dear, and I'll tie up. There's no one here, you +see." + +"No one that matters," said a laughing voice above him, and suddenly a +man in a white yachting-suit, slim, dark, with a monkey-like activity of +movement, stepped out from the spreading shadow of a beech. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed Dick, startled. + +"Hullo, sir! Delighted to meet you. Madam, will you take my hand? +Ah--_et tu, Juliette!_ Delighted to meet you also." + +He was bowing with one hand extended, the other on his heart. Juliet, +still seated in the stern of the boat, had gone suddenly white to the +lips. + +She gasped a little, and in a moment forced a laugh that somehow sounded +desperate. "Why, it is Charles Rex!" she said. + +Dick's eyes came swiftly to her. "Who? Lord Saltash, isn't it? I thought +so." His look flashed back to the man above him with something of a +challenge. "You know this lady then?" + +Two eyes--one black, one grey--looked down into his, answering the +challenge with gay inconsequence. "Sir, I have that inestimable +privilege. _Juliette_, will you not accept my hand?" + +Juliet's hand came upwards a little uncertainly, then, as he grasped it, +she stood up in the boat. "This is indeed a surprise," she said, and +again involuntarily she gasped. "Rumour had it that you were a hundred +miles away at least." + +"Rumour!" laughed Lord Saltash. "How oft hath rumour played havoc with my +name! Not an unpleasant surprise, I trust?" + +He handed her ashore, laughing on a note of mockery. Charles +Burchester, Lord Saltash, said to be of royal descent, possessed in +no small degree the charm not untempered with wickedness of his +reputed ancestor. His friends had dubbed him "the merry monarch" long +since, but Juliet had found a more dignified appellation for him which +those who knew him best had immediately adopted. He had become Charles +Rex from the day she had first bestowed the title upon him. Somehow, +in all his varying--sometimes amazing--moods, it suited him. + +She stood with him on the little wooden landing-stage, her hand still in +his, and the colour coming back into her face. "But of course not!" she +said in answer to his light words, laughing still a trifle breathlessly. +"If you will promise not to prosecute us for trespassing!" + +"_Mais, Juliette_!" He bent over her hand. "You could not trespass if you +tried!" he declared gallantly. "And the cavalier with you--may I not have +the honour of an introduction?" + +He knew how to jest with grace in an awkward moment. Dick realised that, +as, having secured the boat, he presented himself for Juliet's low-spoken +introduction. + +"Mr. Green--Lord Saltash!" + +Saltash extended a hand, his odd eyes full of quizzical amusement. "I've +heard your name before, I think. And I believe I've seen you somewhere +too. Ah, yes! It's coming back! You are the Orpheus who plays the flute +to the wild beasts at High Shale. I've been wanting to meet you. I +listened to you from my car one night, and--on my soul--I nearly wept!" + +Dick smiled with a touch of cynicism. "Miss Moore was listening that +night too," he said. + +"Yes," Juliet said quickly. "I was there." + +Saltash looked at her questioningly for a moment, then his look returned +to Dick. "I am the friend who never tells," he observed. "So it was--Miss +Moore--you were playing to, was it? Ah, _Juliette_!" He threw her a +sudden smile. "I would I could play like that!" + +She uttered her soft, low laugh. "No; you have quite enough +accomplishments, _mon ami_. Now, if you don't mind, I think we +had better walk back and find Mr. and Mrs. Fielding. Perhaps you +know--or again perhaps you don't--they live at Shale Court. And I +am with them--as Mrs. Fielding's companion. I--" she hesitated +momentarily--"have left Lady Jo." + +"Oh, I know that," said Saltash. "I've missed you badly. We all have. +When are you coming back to us?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. + +He gave her one of his humorous looks. "Next week--some time--never?" + +She opened her sun-shade absently. "Probably," she said. + +"Rather hard on Lady Jo, what?" he suggested. "Don't you miss her at +all?" + +"No," said Juliet. "I can't--honestly--say I do." + +"Oh, let us be honest at all costs!" he said. "Do you know what Lady Jo +is doing now?" + +Juliet hesitated an instant, as if the subject were distasteful to her. +"I can guess," she said somewhat distantly. + +"I'll bet you can't," said Saltash, with a twist of the eyebrows that +was oddly characteristic of him. "So I'll tell you. She's running in an +obstacle race, and--to be quite, quite honest--I don't think she's +going to win." + +There was a moment's pause. Then the man on Juliet's other side spoke, +briefly and with decision. "Miss Moore is no longer interested in Lady +Joanna Farringmore's doings. Their friendship is at an end." + +Juliet made a slight gesture of remonstrance, but she spoke no word in +contradiction. + +A gleam of malice danced in Saltash's eyes; it was like the turn of a +rapier in a practised hand. "Most wise and proper!" he said. "_Juliette_, +I always admired your discretion." + +"You were always very kind, Charles Rex," she made grave reply. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PRICE + + +They went back up the winding glen, and as they went Lord Saltash talked, +superbly at his ease, of the doings of the past few weeks, "since you and +that naughty Lady Jo dropped out," as he expressed it to Juliet. He had +just recently been to Paris, had motored across France, had just returned +by sea from Bordeaux in his yacht, the _Night Moth_. + +"Landed to-day--forgot this unspeakable flower-show--had to put in to +get her cleaned up for Cowes--though it's quite possible I shan't go near +Cowes when all's said and done. She's quite seaworthy, warranted not to +kick in a gale. If anyone wanted her for a cruise--she's about the best +thing going." + +They reached the shrubbery to be nearly deafened by the band. + +"Come through the gardens!" said Saltash, with a shudder. "We must get +out of this somehow." + +"But my people!" objected Juliet. + +"Oh, Mr. Green will go and find them, won't you, Mr. Green?" Saltash +turned a disarming smile upon him. + +But Green looked straight back without a smile. "Miss Moore is under my +escort," he observed. "If she agrees, I think we had better go together." + +"And do you agree, _Juliette_?" enquired Saltash with interest. + +Juliet met the mocking eyes with a smile that was certainly +unintentional. "They may be in the Castle," she said. "I know they +meant to go." + +"Good!" he ejaculated. "Then come to the Castle! I will get you tea in my +own secret den if such a thing is to be had--tea or a cocktail, _ma +Juliette_!" + +"Will you lead the way?" said Juliet, and for a second--only a +second--her hand pressed Dick's arm with a quick, confidential +pressure that was not without its appeal. "We always follow Charles +Rex!" she said. + +Saltash chuckled. Plainly the adventure amused him. + +They entered the trim gardens, escaping thankfully from the wandering +crowd of sight-seers. Saltash led the way with a certain unconscious +arrogance of bearing. Somehow, his ugliness notwithstanding, he fitted +his surroundings perfectly, save that the white yachting-suit ought to +have been fashioned of satin, and a sword should have dangled at his +side. The old stone turrets that towered above the blazing parterres +gleamed in the hot sunlight--a mediaeval castle of romance. + +"What a glorious old place!" said Juliet. + +He turned to her. "You have never seen it before?" + +"Never," she answered. + +He made her a bow that was slightly foreign. There was French blood in +his veins. "I give you welcome, _maladi_," he said, "I and my poor castle +are all yours to command." + +He made a gallant figure there on his stone terrace. The girl's eyes +shone a little, but they turned almost immediately to the other man +at her side. + +"Beautiful, isn't it, Dick?" she said. + +He met her look, and she was conscious of a chill. She had never seen +him look so aloof, so cynical. "A temple of delight!" he said. + +His manner offended her. She turned deliberately away from him. And again +Lord Saltash chuckled, as though at some secret joke. + +They entered by a narrow door at the head of a flight of steps. "This +at least is private," declared Saltash, as he took a key from an +inner pocket. + +"Does no one ever come in here when you are away?" Juliet asked. + +"Not by this entrance," he said. "There is another into the Castle itself +which is known to a few. It leads into the music room whence Mr. Green +will be able to start upon his search." + +He threw a mischievous glance at Green who met it with a look so direct, +and so unswerving that the odd eyes blinked and turned away. + +But curiously a spirit of perversity seemed to have entered into Juliet. +She also looked at Dick. "I wish you would go and find them," she said. +"I know they will be wondering where we are." + +His brows went up. She thought he was going to refuse. And then quite +suddenly he yielded. "Certainly if you wish it!" he said. "And when they +are found?" + +"Oh, dump them in the great hall!" said Saltash. "To be left till +called for!" + +"Charles!" protested Juliet. + +He grinned at her--a wicked, monkeyish grin, and threw open the door, +disclosing a steep and winding stone stair. + +"Will you be pleased to enter!" he said, in the tone of one issuing a +royal command. + +But she hung for a moment, looking back with a strange wistfulness at the +man she was leaving. The imprisoned air came out into the hot sunshine +like a cold vapour. She shivered a little. + +"Dick!" she said. + +He stopped at the foot of the outside steps looking up at her. His +eyes were extremely bright, and something within her shrank from +their straight regard. It conveyed possession, dominance; almost it +conveyed a menace. + +"When you have found them, come and--tell me!" she said. + +He lifted his hat to her with punctilious courtesy, and turned away. "I +will," he said. + +"That's a masterful sort of person," observed Saltash, as they mounted +the dimly-lit turret stair. "What does he do for a living?" + +Juliet hesitated, conscious of a strong repugnance to discuss her +lover with this man from her old world whom, strangely, at that +moment, she felt that she knew so infinitely better. But she could not +withhold an answer to so ordinary a question. Moreover Saltash could +be imperious when he chose, and she knew instinctively that it was not +wise to cross him. + +"By profession," she said slowly at length, "he is--a village +schoolmaster." + +Saltash's laugh stung, though it was exactly what she had expected. But +he qualified it the next moment with careless generosity. + +"Quite a presentable cavalier, _ma Juliette_! And a fixed occupation is +something of an advantage at times, _n'est-ce-pas?--Je t'aime, tu +l'aime_! And how soon do you ride away? Or is that question premature?" + +Juliet's face burned in the dimness, but she was in front of him and +thankfully aware that he could not see it. "I am not answering any more +questions, Charles," she said. "Now that you have got me into your +ogre's castle, you must be--kind." + +"I will be kindness itself," he assured her. "You know I am the soul of +hospitality. All I have is yours." + +The narrow stair ended at a small stone landing on which was a door. +Juliet stepped aside as she reached it, and waited for her host. "It's +rather like a prison," she said. + +"You won't think so when you get through that door," he said. "By Jove! +To think that I've actually got you--you of all people!--here in my +stronghold! Do you realize that without my permission you can't possibly +get out again?" + +Juliet's laugh was absolutely spontaneous. She faced him in that narrow +space with the poise and confidence of a queen. The light from a window +that pierced the wall above shone down upon her. In that moment she was +endowed with an extraordinary beauty that was more of being, of +personality, than of feature. + +"It is exactly this that I have played for, Charles Rex," she said. "You +hold all the cards, _mon ami_. But--the game is mine." + +"How so?" He was looking at her curiously, a dancing demon in his eyes. + +She put out her hand to him, and as he took it, sank to the stone floor +in a superb curtsy. "Because I claim your gracious protection, my lord +the king. I ask your royal favour." + +He lifted her hand to his lips as she rose. "You are--as ever--quite +irresistible, _ma Juliette_," he smiled. "But--do you really contemplate +marrying this fortunate young man? Because there are limits--even to my +generosity. I am not sure that I can permit that." + +Her eyes looked straight into his. "You can do--anything you choose to +do, Charles Rex," she said; "except one thing." + +He made a grimace at her. "I am king in my own castle anyway," he +observed, watching her. "And you are at my mercy." + +"It is your mercy that I am waiting for," she said, a faint smile at the +corners of her lips. + +"Ah!" he said, stood a moment longer, contemplating her, then turned +abruptly and flung open the door against which he stood. + +It led into a winding passage of such a totally different character +from the stone staircase they had just mounted that Juliet stood gazing +down it for some seconds before she obeyed his mute gesture to pass +through. It was thickly carpeted, deadening all sound, and the walls +were hung with some heavy material, in the colour of old oak. It was +lighted by three long perpendicular slits of windows, let into a +twelve-foot thickness of wall. Juliet had a glimpse of many pine trees +as she passed them. + +The passage ended in heavy curtains of the same dark-brown material. She +stopped and looked at her companion. + +"What is it?" he said, with a laugh. "Are you afraid of my inner +sanctuary?" + +He parted the curtains, disclosing a tall oak door. She saw no latch upon +it, but his hand went up behind the curtain, and she heard the click of a +spring. In a moment the tall door opened before her. + +"Go in!" he said easily. + +She entered a strange room, oak-panelled, shaped like a cone, lighted +only by a glass dome in the roof. It was the most curious chamber she +had ever seen. She trod on a tiger-skin as she entered, and noted that +the floor was covered with them. There was no chair anywhere, only a +long, deep couch, also draped with tiger-skins. Tiger faces glared at +her from all directions. She heard the door click behind her and +turning realized that it had disappeared in the oak panelling against +which her host was standing. + +He laughed at her quizzically, "I believe you are frightened." + +She looked around her, seeing no exit anywhere. "It is just the sort of +freak apartment I should expect you to delight in," she said. + +"You wouldn't have come if you had known, would you?" he said, a faint +note of jeering in his voice. + +"Of course I should!" said Juliet. + +"Of course!" he mocked. "I am such a peculiarly safe person, am I not? +Every member of your charming sex trusts me instinctively." + +She turned and faced him. "Don't be ridiculous, Charles! You see, I +happen to know you." + +He looked at her with something of the air of a monkey that contemplates +snatching some forbidden thing. "Why did you run away?" he said. + +She hesitated. "That's a hard question, isn't it?" + +"Oh, don't mind me!" he said. "I don't flatter myself I was the cause." + +Her dark brows were slightly drawn. "No, you were not," she said. "It was +just--it was Lady Jo herself, Charlie. No one else." + +"Ah!" His goblin smile flashed out at her. "Poor erring Lady Jo! Don't be +too hard on her! She has her points." + +She laid her hand quickly on his arm. "Don't try to defend her! She is +quite despicable. I have done with her." + +His hand was instantly on hers. He laughed into her eyes. "I'll wager you +have a lingering fellow-feeling for her even yet." + +"Not since she was reported to have run away with you," countered Juliet. + +He laughed aloud. "Ah! She forfeited your sympathy there, did she? _Mais, +Juliette_--" his voice sank suddenly upon a caressing note, "there are few +women to whom I could not give happiness--for a time." + +"I know," said Juliet, and drew her hand away. "That is why we all admire +you so. But even you, most potent Charles, couldn't satisfy a woman who +was wanting--some one else." + +"You don't think I could make her forget?" he said. + +She shook her head, smiling. "When the real thing comes along, all shams +must go overboard. It's the rule of the game." + +"And this is the real thing?" he questioned. + +She made a little gesture as of one who accepts the inevitable. "_Je le +crois bien_," she said softly. + +Lord Saltash made a grimace. "And I am to give you up without a thought +to this bounder?" + +"You would," she replied gently, "if I were yours to give." + +"If you were Lady Jo for instance?" he suggested. + +"Exactly. If I were Lady Jo." She looked at him with the faint +smile still at her lips. "It won't cost you much to be generous, +Charles," she said. + +"How do you know what it costs?" He frowned at her suddenly. "You'll +accuse me of being benevolent next. But I'm not benevolent, and I'm not +going to be. I might be to Lady Jo, but not to you, _ma chérie_,--never +to you!" His grin burst through his frown. "Come! Sit down! I'll get +you a drink." + +She turned to the deep settee, and sank down among tigerskins with a +sigh. He opened a cupboard in the panelling of the wall, and there +followed the chink of glasses and the cheery buzz of a syphon. In a few +moments he came to her with a tall glass in his hand containing a frothy +drink. "Look here, _Juliette_!" he said. "Come to France with me in the +_Night Moth_, and we'll find Lady Jo!" + +She accepted the drink and lay back without looking at him. "You always +were an eccentric," she said. "I don't want to find Lady Jo." + +He sat on the head of the settee at her elbow. "It's quite a fair offer," +he said, as if she had not spoken. "You will--eventually--return from +Paris, and no one will ever know. In these days a woman of the world +pleases herself and is answerable to none. _Mais, Juliette_!" He reached +down and coaxingly held her hand. "_Pourquoi pas_?" + +She lifted her eyes slowly to his face. "I have told you," she said. + +"You're not in earnest!" he protested. + +She kept her look steadily upon him. "Charles Rex, I am in earnest." + +His fingers clasped hers more closely. "But I can't allow it. We can't +spare you. And you--yourself, _Juliette_--you will never endure life in a +backwater. You will pine for the old days, the old friends, the old +lovers,--as they will pine for you." + +"No, never!" said Juliet firmly. + +He leaned down to her. "I say you will. This is--a midsummer madness. +This will pass." + +She started slightly at his words. The sparkling liquid splashed over. +She lifted the glass to her lips, and drank. When she ceased, he took it +softly from her, and put it to his own. Then he set down the empty glass +and slipped his arm behind her. + +"_Juliette_, I am going to save you," he said, "from yourself." + +She drew away from him. "Charles, I forbid that!" + +She was breathing quickly but her voice was quiet. There was indomitable +resolution in her eyes. + +He paused, looking at her closely. "You deny--to me--what you were +permitting with so much freedom barely half-an-hour ago to the village +schoolmaster?" he said. + +Her face flamed. "I have always denied you--that!" she said. + +He smiled. "Times alter, Juliette. You are no longer in a position +to deny me." + +She kept her eyes upon him. "You mean I have trusted you too far?" she +said, a deep throb in her voice. "I might have known!" + +He shrugged his shoulders. "Life is a game of hazard, is it not? And you +were always a daring player. But, Juliette, you cannot always win. This +time the luck is against you." + +She was silent. Very slowly her eyes left his. She drooped forward +as she sat. + +He leaned down to her again, his face oddly sympathetic. "After all,--you +claimed my protection," he said. + +She made a sudden movement. She turned sharply, almost blindly. She +caught him by the shoulders. "Oh, Charles!" she said. "Charles Rex! Is +there no mercy no honour--in you?" + +There was a passion of supplication in her voice and action. As she held +him he could have clasped her in his arms. But he did not. He sat +motionless, looking at her, his expression still monkey-like, +half-wicked, half-wistful. + +"Well, you shouldn't tempt me, Juliette," he said. "It isn't fair to a +miserable sinner. You were always the cherry just out of reach. +Naturally, I'm inclined to snatch when I find I can." + +Juliet was trembling, but she controlled her agitation. + +"No, that isn't allowed," she said. "It isn't the game. And you +never--seriously--wanted me either." + +"But I'm never serious!" protested Saltash. "Neither are you. It's your +one solid virtue." + +"I am serious now," she said. + +He looked at her quizzically. "Somehow it suits you. Well, listen, +_Juliette_! I'll strike a bargain with you. When you are through with +this, you will come with me for that cruise in the _Night Moth_. +Come! Promise!" + +"But I am not--quite mad, Rex!" she said. + +He lifted his hands to hers and lightly held them. "It is no madder a +project than the one you are at present engaged upon. What? You won't? +You defy me to do my worst?" + +"No, I don't defy you," she said. + +He flashed a smile at her. "How wise! But listen! It's a bargain all the +same. You put me on my honour. I put you on yours. Go your own way! +Pursue this bubble you call love! And when it bursts and your heart is +broken--you will come back to me to have it mended. That is the price I +put upon my mercy. I ask no pledge. It shall be--a debt of honour. We +count that higher than a pledge." + +"Ah!" Juliet said, and suppressed a sudden tremor. + +He stood up, gallantly raising her as he did so. "And now we will go +and look for your friends," he said. "Is all well, _ma chérie_? You +look pale." + +She forced herself to smile. "You are a preposterous person, Charles +Rex," she said. "Yes, let us go!" + +She turned with him towards the panelling, but she did not see by what +trick he opened again the door by which they had entered. She only saw, +with a wild leap of the heart, Dick Green, upright, virile, standing +against the dark hangings of the passage beyond. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +KISMET + + +He was breathing hard, as if he had been hurrying. He spoke to her +exclusively, ignoring the man at her side. + +"Will you come at once? Mrs. Fielding has been taken ill." + +She started forward. "Dick! Where is she?" + +"Downstairs." Briefly he answered her. "She collapsed in one of the +tents. They brought her into the house. She is in the library." + +Juliet hastened along the passage. Like Dick, she seemed no longer aware +of Saltash's presence. He came behind, a speculative expression on his +ugly face. + +"Let me go first!" Dick said, as they reached the head of the +winding stairs. + +Juliet gave place to him without a word. They descended rapidly. + +At the foot the door stood open to the terrace. They came again into the +blazing sunshine, and here Juliet paused and looked back at Saltash. + +He came to her side. "Don't look so alarmed! It's probably only the heat. +Do you know the way to the library? Through that conservatory over there +is the shortest cut. I suppose I may come with you? I may be of use." + +"Of course!" said Juliet. "Thank you very much." + +Dick barely glanced over his shoulder. He was already on his way. + +They entered the Castle again by the conservatory that Saltash had +indicated. It was a mass of flowers, but the public were evidently not +admitted here, for it was empty. In the centre a nymph hung over a +marble basin under a tinkling fountain. They passed quickly by to an +open glass door that led into the house. Here Dick stopped and drew +back, looking at Juliet. + +"I will wait here," he said. + +She nodded and went swiftly past him into the room. + +It was a dark apartment, book-lined, chill of atmosphere, with heavy, +ancient furniture, and a sense of solitude more suggestive of some +monastic dwelling than any ordinary habitation. The floor was of polished +oak that shone with a sombre lustre. + +Juliet paused for a moment involuntarily upon entering. It was as if a +sinister hand had been laid upon her, arresting her. The gloom blinded +her after the hot radiance outside. Then a voice--Fielding's voice--spoke +to her, and she went forward gropingly. + +He met her, took her urgently by the shoulder. "Thank heaven, you're here +at last!" he said. + +Looking at him, she saw him as a man suddenly stricken with age. His face +was grey. He led her to a settee by the high oak fireplace, and +there--white, inanimate as a waxen figure--she found Vera Fielding. + +Fear pierced her, sharp as the thrust of a knife. She freed herself from +Fielding's grip, and knelt beside the silent form. For many awful seconds +she watched and listened, not breathing. + +"Is she gone?" asked Fielding in a hoarse whisper at last. + +She looked up at him. "Get brandy--hot bottles--quick! Send +Dick--he's in the conservatory. No, stay! Send Saltash! He's there +too. He'll know where to find things. Tell Dick to come here! Have +you sent for a doctor?" + +"There's been no one to send," he answered frantically. "Some man helped +to bring her in here, but she didn't faint till after we got in, and +then I couldn't leave her. He went off to look after the crowd going +round the Castle." + +"All right," Juliet said. "Lord Saltash will see to that. Ask them +to come in!" + +She was unfastening the filmy gown with steady fingers. Whatever the +dread at her heart there was no sign of it apparent in her bearing. She +moved without haste or agitation. + +At a touch on her shoulder she looked up and saw Dick at her side. "Ah, +there you are!" she said. "We want a doctor. Will you see to it? No doubt +there's a telephone somewhere. Ask Lord Saltash!" + +"In the gun-room," said Saltash. "Door next to this on the left. Name of +Rossiter. Shall I see to it?" + +"No--no," she said. "You get some brandy, please--at once!" + +They obeyed her orders with promptitude. Dick went straight from the +room. Saltash turned to the fireplace, and pressed an electric bell three +times very emphatically. + +Then he came to Juliet's side. "You ought to lay her flat, _Juliette_. I +know this sort of seizure. Heart of course! My mother died of it." + +"Help me to lift her!" said Juliet. + +They raised her between them with infinite care and flattened the +cushions beneath her. Then Saltash, his queer face full of the most +earnest concern began to chafe one of the nerveless hands. + +Fielding tramped ceaselessly up and down the room, his head on his chest. +Every time he drew near his wife he glanced at her and swung away again, +as one without hope. + +After a brief interval the door opened to admit a silent footed butler +bearing a tray. Saltash turned upon him swiftly. + +"Brandy, Billings? That's right. And look here! Find Mrs. Parsons! +Tell her a lady has been taken ill in the library! She had better get +a bed ready, and have some boiling water handy. Anything else?" He +looked at Juliet. + +She shook her head. "No, nothing till the doctor comes. I hope he +won't be long." + +Saltash poured out some brandy. Fielding came to a standstill behind +Juliet, and stood looking on. + +"We won't lift her again," whispered Juliet. "Try a spoon!" + +He gave it to her, and she slipped it between the white lips. But there +was no sign of life, no attempt to swallow. + +"She is dead!" said Fielding heavily. + +Saltash glanced at him. "I think not," he said gently. "I'm nearly +certain I felt her pulse move just now." + +The door opened again, and Dick entered. He went straight to the squire, +and put his arm round his bent shoulders. "There'll be a doctor here in +ten minutes," he said. + +Fielding seemed barely to hear the words. "Do you think she'll ever speak +again, Dick?" he said. + +"Please God she will, sir," said Dick very steadily. + +He kept his arm round Fielding, and in a few moments succeeded in +drawing him aside. He put him into a chair by the table, poured out +some brandy and water, and made him drink it. Looking up a moment +later, he found Saltash's odd eyes curiously upon him. He returned the +look with a conscious sense of antagonism, but Saltash almost +immediately turned away. + +There followed what seemed an interminable space of waiting, during which +no change of any sort was apparent in the silent figure on the settee. +The blatant bray of the band still sounded in the distance with a +flaunting gaiety almost intolerable to those who waited. Saltash frowned +as he heard it, but he did not stir from Juliet's side. + +Then, after an eternity of suspense, the sombre-faced butler opened the +door again and ushered in the doctor. Saltash went to meet him and +brought him to the settee. Fielding got up and came forward. + +Dick stood for a moment, then turned and went back to the conservatory, +where a few seconds later Saltash joined him. + +"I should like to burn that damn band alive!" he remarked as he did so. + +Dick shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. + +Again Saltash's eyes dwelt upon him with curiosity. "I want to know you," +he said suddenly. "I hope you don't object?" + +"I am vastly honoured by your notice," said Dick. + +Saltash nodded. "Well, don't be an ass about it! I am a most inoffensive +person, I assure you. And it isn't my fault that I was on friendly terms +with _Mademoiselle Juliette_ before she forsook the world, etc., etc., +and turned to you to fill the void. Do you flatter yourself you are going +to marry her by any chance?" + +A swift gleam shot up in Dick's eyes. He stiffened involuntarily. "That +is a subject I cannot discuss--even with you," he said. + +Saltash smiled good-humouredly. "Well, I expected that. But your +courtship on the lake this afternoon was so delightfully ingenuous that +I couldn't help wondering what your intentions were." + +Dick's mouth became a simple hard line. He looked the other man up and +down with lightning rapidity ere he replied with significance. "My +intentions, my lord, are--honourable." + +Saltash bowed with his hand on his heart and open mockery in his eyes. +"_La pauvre Juliette_! And have you told her yet? No, look here! Don't +knock me down! There's no sense in taking offence at a joke you can't +understand. And it would be bad manners to have a row, with that poor +soul in there at death's door. Moreover, if you really want to marry the +princess _Juliette_, it'll pay you to be friends with me." + +"I doubt if anything would induce me to be that," said Dick curtly. + +"Oh, really? What have I done? No, don't tell me! It would take too long. +I am aware I'm a by-word for wickedness in these parts, heaven alone +knows why. But at least I've never injured you." Saltash's smile was +suddenly disarming again. + +"Never had much opportunity, have you?" said Dick. + +"No, but I've got one now--quite a good one. I could put an end to this +little idyll of yours for instance without the smallest difficulty--if I +felt that way." + +"I don't believe you!" flashed Dick. + +"No? Well, wait till I do it then!" There was amused tolerance in +Saltash's rejoinder. "You'll pipe another tune then, I fancy." + +"Shall I?" Dick said. He paused a moment, his eyes, extremely bright, +fixed unwaveringly upon the swarthy face in front of him. "If I +do--you'll dance to it!" he said with grim assurance. + +Saltash smothered a laugh. "Well done, I say! You've scored a point at +last! I was waiting for that. You'll like me better now, most worthy +cavalier. I daren't suggest a drink under the circumstances, but I'll owe +you one." He extended his hand with a royal air. "Will you shake?" + +Dick held back. "Will you play the game?" he said. + +Saltash grinned. "My own game? Certainly! I always do." + +Dick's hand came out to him. Somehow he was hard to refuse. "A straight +game?" he said. + +Saltash's brows expressed amused surprise. "I always play straight--till +I begin to lose,--chevalier," he said. + +"And then--you cheat?" questioned Dick. + +"Like the devil," laughed Saltash. "We all do that. Don't you?" + +"No," Dick said briefly. + +"You don't? You always put all your cards on the table? Come now! Do +you?" + +Dick hesitated, and Saltash's grin became more pronounced. "All right! +You needn't answer," he said lightly. "Do you know I thought you weren't +quite as simple as you appeared at first sight. Just as well perhaps. +_Juliette's_ cavalier mustn't be too rustic." He stopped to look at Dick +appraisingly. "Yes, I'm glad on the whole that your intentions are +honourable," he ended with a smile. "I rather doubt if you pull 'em off. +But you may--you may." + +He turned sharply with the words as if a hand had touched him and faced +round upon Juliet as she came out on to the step. + +Her face had an exhausted look, but she smiled faintly at the two men as +she joined them. + +"She is still living," she said. "The doctor gives just a shade of hope. +But--" She looked at Saltash--"he absolutely forbids her being moved--at +all. I hope it won't be a terrible inconvenience to you." + +"It will be a privilege to serve you--or your friends--in any way," +said Saltash. + +"Thank you," she said. "I am sure Mr. Fielding will be very grateful to +you. The doctor is going to send in a nurse. Of course I shall not leave +her. She has come to depend upon me a good deal. And we thought of +telephoning to her maid to bring everything necessary from Shale Court." + +"Of course!" said Saltash kindly. "Look here, my dear! Don't for heaven's +sake feel you've got to ask my permission for everything you do! Treat +the place and everyone in it as your own!" + +"Thank you," she said again. "Then, Charles, if you're sure you don't +mind, I'll send for my dog as well." + +"What! Christopher Columbus? You've got him with you, have you?" +Saltash's smile lighted his dark face. "Lucky animal! Have him over by +all means! I shall be delighted to see him." + +"You are very kind," she said, and turned with a hint of embarrassment to +Dick. "Mr. Fielding says that you will want to be getting back and there +is no need to wait. Will you take the little car back to the Court?" + +"Certainly," Dick said. "Would you care to give me a list of the things +you want the maid to bring?" + +"How kind of you!" she said, and hesitated a moment, looking at him. "But +I think I needn't trouble you. Cox is very sensible. I can make her +understand on the telephone." + +He looked back at her, standing very straight. "In that case--I will go," +he said. "Good-bye!" + +She held out her hand to him. "I--shall see you again," she said, and +there was almost a touch of pleading in her voice. + +His fingers closed and held. "Yes," he said, and smiled into her eyes +with the words--a smile in which determination and tenderness strangely +mingled. "You will certainly see me again." + +And with that he was gone, striding between the massed flowers without +looking back. + +"Exit Romeo!" murmured Saltash. "Enter--Kismet!" + +But Juliet had already turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DRIVING FORCE + + +That Saturday night concert at High Shale entailed a greater effort on +Dick's part than any that had preceded it. He forced himself to make it a +success, but when it was over he was conscious of an overwhelming +weariness that weighed him down like a physical burden. + +He said good-night to the men, and prepared to depart with a feeling that +he was nearing the end of his endurance. It was not soothing to nerves +already on edge to be waylaid by Ashcott and made the unwilling recipient +of gloomy forebodings. + +"We shan't hold 'em much longer," the manager said. "They're getting +badly out of hand. There's talk of sending a deputation to Lord +Wilchester or--failing him--Ivor Yardley, the K.C. chap who is in with +him in this show." + +"Yardley!" Dick uttered the name sharply. + +"Yes, ever met him? He took over a directorship when he got engaged to +Lord Wilchester's sister--Lady Joanna Farringmore. They're rather pinning +their hopes on him, it seems. Do you know him at all?" + +"I've met him--once," Dick said. "Went to him for advice--on a matter of +business." + +"Any good?" asked Ashcott. + +"Oh yes, shrewd enough. Hardest-headed man at the Bar, I believe. +I didn't know he was a director of this show. They won't get much +out of him." + +"I fancy they're going to ask you to draw up a petition," said Ashcott. + +"Me!" Dick turned on him in a sudden blaze of anger. "I'll see 'em damned +first!" he said. + +Ashcott shrugged his shoulders. "It's your affair. You're the only man +who has any influence with 'em. I'm sick of trying to keep the peace." + +Dick checked his indignation. "Poor devils! They certainly have some +cause for grievance, but I'm not going to draw up their ultimatum for +them. I've no objection to speaking to Yardley or any other man on their +behalf, but I'm hanged if I'll be regarded as their representative. +They'll make a strike-leader of me next." + +"Well, they're simmering," Ashcott said, as he prepared to depart. +"They'll boil over before long. If they don't find a responsible +representative they'll probably run amuck and get up to mischief." + +"Oh, man, stop croaking!" Dick said with weary irritation and went away +down the hill. + +He took the cliff-path though the night was dark with storm-clouds. +Somehow, instinctively, his feet led him thither. There were no +nightingales singing now, and the gorse had long since faded in the +fierce heat of summer. The sea lay leaden far below him, barely visible +in the dimness. And there was no star in the sky. + +Heavily he tramped over the ground where Juliet had lingered on that +night of magic in the spring, and as he went, he told himself that he +had lost her. Whatever the outcome of to-day's happenings, she would +never be the same to him again. She had passed out of his reach. Her own +world had claimed her again and there could be no return. He recalled the +regret in her eyes at parting. Surely--most surely--she had known that +that was the end. For her the midsummer madness was over, burnt away like +the glory of the gorse-bushes about him. With a conviction that was +beyond all reason he knew that they had come to a parting of the ways. + +And there was no bond between them, no chain but that which his love had +forged. She had pleaded to retain her freedom, and now with bitter +intuition he knew wherefore. She had always realized that to which he in +his madness had been persistently blind. She had known that there were +obstacles insurmountable between them and the happy consummation of their +love. She had faced the fact that the glory would depart. + +Again he felt the clinging of her arms as he had felt it only that +afternoon. Again against his lips there rose her quivering whisper, "Just +for to-day, Dick! Just for to-day!" Yes, she had known even then. Even +then for her the glory had begun to fade. + +He clenched his hands in sudden fierce rebellion. It was unbearable. He +would not endure it. This stroke of destiny--he would fight it with all +the strength of his manhood. He would overthrow this nameless barrier +that had arisen between them. He would sacrifice all--all he had--to +reach her. Somehow--whatever the struggle might cost--he would clasp her +again, would hold her against all the world. + +And then--like a poisoned arrow out of the darkness--another thought +pierced him. What if she were indeed of those who loved for a space and +passed smiling on? What if the fatal taint of the world from which she +had come to him had touched her also, withering the heart in her, making +true love a thing impossible? What if she had indeed been fashioned in +the same mould as the worthless woman whom she sought to defend? + +But that was unthinkable, intolerable. He flung the evil suggestion from +him, but it left a burning wound behind. There was no escape from the +fact that she was on terms of intimacy with the man with whom that +woman's name had been shamefully associated. And--remembering the +discomfiture she had betrayed at their meeting--he told himself bitterly +that she would have given much to have concealed that intimacy had it +been possible. + +But here his loyalty cried out that he was wronging her. Juliet--his +Juliet of the steadfast eyes and low, sincere voice--was surely +incapable of double dealing! Whatever her life in the past had been, +however frivolous, however artificial, it had been given to him--perhaps +to him alone--to know her as she was. A great wave of self-reproach went +over him. How had he dared to doubt her? + +The sea moaned with a dreary sound along the shore. A few heavy drops of +rain fell around him. Mechanically he quickened his pace. He came at +length down the steep cliff-path to the gate that led to the village. +And here to his surprise a shuffling footstep told him of the presence of +another human being out in the desolate darkness. Dimly he discerned a +bulky shape leaning against the rail. + +He came up to it. "Robin!" he said sharply. + +A low voice answered him in startled accents. "Oh, Dicky! I thought you +were never coming!" + +"What are you doing here?" Dick said. + +He took the boy by the shoulder with the words and Robin cowered away. + +"Don't be cross! Dicky, please don't be cross! I only came to look for +you," he said with nervous incoherence. "I didn't mean to be out late. I +couldn't help it. Don't be cross!" + +But Dick was implacable. "You know you've no business out at this hour," +he said. "I warned you last time--when you went to The Three Tuns--" He +paused abruptly. "Have you been to The Three Tuns to-night?" + +"No!" said Robin eagerly. + +Dick's hand pressed upon him. "Is that the truth?" + +Robin became incoherent again. "I only came to meet you. I didn't think +you'd be so late. And it was so hot to-night. And my head ached." He +broke off. "Dicky, you're hurting me!" + +"You have told me a lie," Dick said. + +Robin shrank at his tone. "How did you know?" he whispered awestruck. + +Dick did not answer. He shifted his hold from Robin's shoulder to his arm +and turned him about. Robin went with him, shuffling his feet and +trembling. + +Dick led him in grim silence down the path to the village-road, past +the Ricketts' cottage, now in darkness, up the hill beyond that led to +the school. + +Robin went with him submissively enough, but he stumbled several times +on the way. As they neared the end of the journey he began to talk again +anxiously, propitiatingly. + +"I didn't mean to go, Dicky, but I was so hot and thirsty. And I met Jack +and I went in with him. There were a lot of fellows there and Jack +treated me, but I didn't have very much. My head ached so, and I sat down +in a corner and went to sleep till it was closing time. Then old Swag +made me get out, so I came to wait for you. I didn't hit him or anything, +Dicky. I was quite quiet all the while. So you won't be cross, will +you,--not like last time?" + +"I am going to punish you if that's what you mean," Dick said, as he +opened the garden-gate. + +Robin shrank again, shivering like a frightened dog. "But, Dicky, I +only--I only--" + +"Broke the rule and lied about it," his brother said uncompromisingly. +"You know the punishment for that." + +Robin attempted no further appeal. He went silently into the house and +blundered up to his room. There was only one thing left to do, and that +was to pay the penalty--of which Dick's wrath was infinitely the hardest +part to bear. + +He crouched down on the floor by the bed to wait. The light from the +passage shone in through the half-open door and the great lamp at the +lodge-gates of the Court opposite, which was kept burning all night, +glared in at the unblinded window, but there was no light in the room. +There was something almost malignant to Robin's mind about the searching +brilliance of this lamp. He hid his eyes from it, huddling his face in +the bed-clothes, listening intently the while for Dick's coming but +hearing only the dull thumping of his own heart. + +There was no one in the house except the two brothers. A woman came in +every day from the village to do the work of the establishment. Now that +Jack had found quarters elsewhere there was not a great deal to be done +since Robin was accustomed also to making himself useful in various +ways. It occurred to him suddenly as he crouched there waiting that Dick +had been too hurried to eat much supper before his departure for High +Shale that evening. The thought had been in his brain before, but +subsequent events had dislodged it. Now, with every nerve alert and +pricking with suspense, it returned to him very forcibly. Dicky was +hungry perhaps--or consumed with thirst, as he himself had been. And he +would certainly go empty to bed unless he, Robin, plucked up courage to +go down and wait upon him. + +It needed considerable courage, for his instinct was always to hide when +he had incurred Dick's anger. Judicial though it invariably was, it was +the most terrible thing the world held for him. It shook him to the +depths, and to go down and confront it again with the penalty still +unpaid was for a long time more than he could calmly contemplate. But as +the minutes crept on and still Dick did not come, it was gradually borne +in upon him that this, and this alone, was the thing that must be done. +It was his job, forced upon him by an inexorable fate. Dick would +probably be much more angry with him for doing it, but somehow in a +vague, unreasoning fashion he realized that it had got to be done. + +Even then it took him a long time to screw himself up to the required +pitch of nervous energy required. He ached for the sound of Dick's step +on the stairs, but it did not come. And so at last he knew there was no +help for it. Whatever the cost, he must fulfil the task that had been +laid upon him. + +With intense reluctance he uncovered his face, flinching from the stark +glare of the lamp across the road, and dragged himself to his feet. It +was difficult to move without noise, but he made elaborate efforts to do +so. He reached the head of the stairs and hung there listening. + +Had he heard a movement below he would have stumbled headlong back to +cover, but no sound of any sort reached him. The compelling force urged +him afresh. He gripped the stair-rail and crept downward like a +stealthy baboon. + +The stairs creaked alarmingly. More than once he paused, prepared for +precipitate retreat, but still he heard no sound, and gradually a certain +desperate hope came to him. Perhaps Dicky was asleep! Perhaps the power +that drove him would be satisfied if he collected some things on a tray +and left them in the little hall for Dicky to find when he finally came +up! If this could be done--and he could get back safe to the sheltering +darkness before he found out! He would not mind the subsequent caning, if +only he need not meet Dicky face to face again beforehand. Dicky's eyes +when they looked at him sternly were anguish to his soul. And they +certainly would not hold any kindness for him until the punishment was +over. So argued poor Robin's anxious brain as he reached the foot of the +stairs and stood a moment under the lamp dimly burning there, summoning +strength to creep past the open door of the dining-room. + +A candle was flickering on the table, so he was sure Dick must be there. +Would he see him pass? Would he call him in? Robin's heart raced with +terror at the thought. But no! The urging force drove him in sickening +apprehension past the door, and still there was no sound. + +He was at the kitchen-door at the end of the passage, his fingers +fumbling at the latch when suddenly he remembered that he had no candle. +There was no candle to be had! The only one available downstairs was the +one Dick had taken into the dining-room. He could not go upstairs again +to get another. He had no matches wherewith to explore the kitchen. He +stood struck motionless by this fresh problem. + +But Dicky was doubtless asleep or he must have heard those creaking +stairs! Then there was still a chance. He might creep into the room and +take the candle without waking him. He was gaining confidence by the +prolonged silence. Dicky must certainly be fast asleep. + +With considerably greater steadiness than he had yet achieved he returned +to the open door and peeped stealthily in. + +Yes, Dick was there. He had flung himself down at the table on which he +had set the candle, and he was lying across it with his head on his arms. +Asleep of course! That could be the only explanation of such an attitude. +Yet Robin in the act of advancing, stopped in sudden doubt with a scared +backward movement, his eyes upon one of Dick's hands that was clenched +convulsively and quivering as if he were in pain. It certainly did not +look like the hand of a man asleep. + +The next moment Robin's ungainly form had knocked against the door-handle +and Dick was sitting upright looking at him. His face was grey, he looked +unutterably tired, his mouth had the stark grimness of the man who +endures, asking nothing of Fate. + +"Hullo, boy!" he said. "Why aren't you in bed?" Then seeing Robin's +unmistakably hang-dog air, "Oh, I forgot! Go on upstairs! I'm coming." + +Robin turned about like a kicked dog. But the driving force stopped him +on the threshold. He stood a second or two, then turned again with a +species of sullen courage. + +"May I have the candle?" he said, not looking at Dick. + +"What for?" said Dick. "Haven't you got one upstairs?" + +Robin stood a moment or two debating with himself, then made a second +movement to go. "All right. I'll fetch it." + +"Wait a minute!" Dick's voice compelled. "What do you want a candle down +here for?" + +Robin backed against the door-post with a kind of heavy defiance. "Want +to get something--out of the kitchen," he muttered. + +"What do you want to get?" said Dick. + +Robin was silent, stubbornly, insistently silent, the fingers of one hand +working with agitated activity. + +"Robin!" + +It was the voice of authority. He had to respond to it. He made a +lumbering gesture towards the speaker, but his eyes remained obstinately +lowered under the shag of hair that hung over his forehead. + +Dick sat for a few seconds looking at him, then with a sudden sigh that +caught him unawares he got up. + +"What did you come down for? Tell me!" he said. + +His tone was absolutely quiet, but something in his utterance or the +sigh that preceded it--or possibly some swiftly-piercing light of +intuition--seemed to send a galvanizing current through Robin. With +clumsy impulsiveness he came to Dick and stood before him. + +"I was going--to get you--something to eat," he said, speaking with +tremendous effort. "You must be--pretty near starving--and I forgot." He +paused to fling a nervous look upwards. "I thought you were asleep. I +didn't know--or I wouldn't have done it. I--didn't mean to get in the +way." His voice broke oddly. He began to tremble. "I'll go now," he said. + +But Dick's hand came out, detaining him. "You came down to get me +food?" he said. + +"Yes," muttered Robin, with his head down. "Thought I'd--put it in the +hall--so you'd find it--before you came up." + +Dick stood silent for a space, looking at him. His eyes were very gentle +and the grimness had gone from his mouth, but Robin could not see that. +He stood humped and quivering, expectant of rebuke. + +But he recognized the change when Dick spoke. "Thought you'd provide me +with the necessary strength to hammer you, eh?" he said, and suddenly his +arm went round the misshapen shoulders; he gave Robin a close squeeze. +"Thanks, old chap," he said. + +Robin looked up then. The adoring devotion of a dumb animal was in his +eyes. He said nothing, being for the moment beyond words. + +Dick let him go. A clock on the mantelpiece was striking twelve. "You get +to bed, boy!" he said. "I don't want anything to eat, thanks all the +same." He paused a moment, then held out his hand. "Good-night!" + +It was tacit forgiveness for his offence, and as such Robin recognized +it. Yet as he felt the kindly grasp his eyes filled with tears. + +"I'm--I'm sorry, Dicky," he stammered. + +"I'm sorry too," Dick said. "But that won't undo it. For heaven's sake, +Robin, never lie to me again! There! Go to bed! I'm going myself as soon +as I've had a smoke. Good-night!" + +It was a definite dismissal, and Robin turned away and went stumblingly +from the room. + +His brother looked after him with a queer smile in his eyes. It was +Juliet who had taught Robin to say he was sorry. He threw himself into an +easy-chair and lighted a pipe. Perhaps after all in his weariness he had +exaggerated the whole matter. Perhaps--after all--she might yet find that +she loved him enough to cast her own world aside. Recalling her last +words to him, he told himself that he had been too quick to despair. For +she loved him--she loved him! Not all the fashionable cynics her world +contained could alter that fact. + +A swift wave of exultation went through him, combating his despair. +However heavy the odds,--however formidable the obstacles--he told +himself he would win--he would win! + +Going upstairs a little later, he was surprised to hear a low sound +coming from Robin's room. He had thought the boy would have been in bed +and asleep some time since. He stopped at the door to listen. + +The next moment he opened it and quietly entered, for Robin was sobbing +as if his heart would break. + +There was no light in the room save that which shone from the park-gates +opposite and the candle he himself carried. Robin was sunk in a heap +against the bed still fully dressed. He gave a great start at his +brother's coming, shrinking together in a fashion that seemed to make him +smaller. His sobbing ceased on the instant. He became absolutely still, +his claw-like hands rigidly gripped on the bedclothes, his face wholly +hidden. He did not even breathe during the few tense seconds that Dick +stood looking down at him. He might have been a creature carved in +granite. Then Dick set down his candle, went to him, sat on the low bed, +and pulled the shaggy head on to his knee. + +"What's the matter, old chap?" he said. + +All the tension went out of Robin at his touch. He clung to him in +voiceless distress. + +Dick's heart smote him. Why had he left the boy so long? He laid a very +gentle hand upon him. + +"Come, old chap!" he said. "Get a hold on yourself! What's it all about?" + +Robin's shoulders heaved convulsively; his hold tightened. He murmured +some inarticulate words. + +Dick bent over him. "What, boy? What? I can't hear. You haven't been up +to any mischief, have you? Robin, have you?" A sudden misgiving assailed +him. "You haven't hurt anybody? Not Jack, for instance?" + +"No," Robin said. But he added a moment later with a concentrated passion +that sounded inexpressibly vindictive, "I hate him! I do hate him! I wish +he was dead!" + +"Why?" Dick said. "What has he been doing?" + +But Robin burrowed lower and made no answer. + +Dick sat for a space in silence, waiting for him to recover himself. He +knew very well that he had good reason for his rooted dislike for Jack. +It was useless to attempt any argument on that point. But when Robin had +grown calmer, he returned to the charge very quietly but with +determination. + +"What has Jack been doing or saying? Tell me! I've got to know." + +Robin stirred uneasily. "Don't want to tell you, Dicky," he said. + +Dick's hand pressed a little upon him. "You must tell me," he said. "When +did you meet him?" + +Robin hesitated in obvious reluctance. "It was after supper," he said. +"My head ached, and I went outside, and he came down the drive. And +he--and he laughed about--about you coming home alone from Burchester, +and said--said that your game was up anyhow. And I didn't know what he +meant, Dicky--" Robin's arms suddenly clung closer--"but I got angry, +because I hate him to talk about you. And I--I went for him, Dicky." His +voice dropped on a shamed note, and he became silent. + +"Well?" Dick said gravely. "What happened then?" + +Very unwillingly Robin responded to his insistence. "He got hold of +me--so that I couldn't hurt him--and then he said--he said--" A great sob +rose in his throat choking his utterance. + +"What did he say?" + +There was a certain austerity in Dick's question. Robin shivered as it +reached him. + +With difficulty he struggled on. "Said that only--a fool--like +me--could help knowing that--you hadn't--a chance--with any woman--so +long as--so long as--" He choked again and sank into quivering silence. + +Dick's hand found the rough head and patted it very tenderly. "But you're +not fool enough to take what Jack says seriously, are you?" he said. + +Robin stifled a sob. "He said that--afterwards," he whispered. "And he +took me along to The Three Tuns--to make me forget it." + +"You actually drank with him after that!" Dick said. + +"I didn't know what I was doing, Dicky," he make apologetic answer. +"It--knocked the wind out of me. You see, I--I'd never thought of +that before." + +He began to whimper again. Dick swallowed down something that tried to +escape him. + +"A bit of an ass, aren't you, Robin?" he said instead. "You know as well +as I do that there isn't a word of truth in it. Anyhow--the woman I +love--isn't--that sort of woman." + +Robin shifted his position uneasily. There was that in the words that +vaguely stirred him. Dick had never spoken in that strain before. Slowly, +with a certain caution, he lifted his tear-stained face and peered up at +his brother in the fitful candle-light. + +"You do--want to marry Miss Moore then, Dicky?" he asked diffidently. + +Dick looked straight back at him; his eyes shone with a sombre gleam +that came and went. For several seconds he sat silent, then very +steadily he spoke. + +"Yes, I want her all right, Robin, but there are some pretty big +obstacles in the way. I may get over them--and I may not. Time +will prove." + +His lips closed upon the words, and became again a single hard line. His +look went beyond Robin and grew fixed. The boy watched him dumbly with +awed curiosity. + +Suddenly Dick moved, gripped him by the shoulders and pulled him upwards. +"There! Go to bed!" he said. "And don't take any notice of what Jack says +for the future! Don't fight him either! Understand? Leave him alone!" + +Robin blundered up obediently. Again there looked forth from his eyes the +dog-like worship which he kept for Dick alone. "I'll do--whatever you +say, Dicky," he said earnestly. "I--I'd die for you--I would!" He spoke +with immense effort, and all his heart was in the words. + +Dick smiled at him quizzically. "Instead of which I only want you to show +a little ordinary common or garden sense," he said. "Think you can do +that for me?" + +"I'll try, Dicky," he said humbly. + +"Yes, all right. You try!" Dick said, and got up, more moved than he +cared to show. He turned to go, but paused to light Robin's candle from +his own. "And don't forget I'm--rather fond of you, my boy!" he said, +with a brief smile over his shoulder as he went away. + +No, Robin was not likely to forget that, seeing that Dick's love for him +was his safeguard from all evil, and his love for Dick was the +mainspring of his life. But--though his development was stunted and +imperfect--there were certain facts of existence which he was beginning +slowly but surely to grasp. And one of these--before but dimly +suspected--he had realized fully to-night, a fact beyond all questioning +learnt from Dick's own lips. + +Dick's words: "The woman I love," had sunk deep--deep into his soul. And +he knew with that intuition which cannot err that his love for Juliet was +the greatest thing life held for him--or ever could hold again. + +And the driving force gripped Robin's soul afresh as he lay wide-eyed to +the smothering gloom of the night. Whatever happened--whoever +suffered--Dicky must have his heart's desire. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SISTER OF MERCY + + +For five days after that burning afternoon of the flower-show Juliet +scarcely left Vera Fielding's side. During those five days Vera lay +at the point of death, and though her husband was constantly with her +it was to Juliet that she clung through all the terrible phases of +weakness, breathlessness, and pain that she passed. Through the dark +nights--though a trained nurse was in attendance--it was Juliet's hand +that held her up, Juliet's low calm voice that reassured her in the +Valley of the Shadow through which she wandered. Often too spent for +speech, her eyes would rest with a piteous, child-like pleading upon +Juliet's quiet face, and--for Juliet at least--there was no resisting +their entreaty. She laid all else aside and devoted herself body and soul +to the tender care of the sick woman. + +Edward Fielding regarded her with reverence and a deep affection that +grew with every day that passed. She was always so gentle, so capable, so +undismayed. He knew that her whole strength was bent to the task of +saving Vera's life, and even when he most despaired he found himself +leaning upon her, gathering courage from the resolute confidence with +which she shouldered her burden. + +"She never thinks of herself at all," he said once to Saltash between +whom and himself a friendship wholly unavoidable on his part and also +curiously pleasant had sprung up. "I suppose in her position of companion +she has been more or less trained for this sort of thing. But her +devotion is amazing. She is absolutely indispensable to my wife." + +"_Juliette_ seems to have found her vocation," observed Saltash with a +lazy chuckle. "But no, I should not say that she was specially trained +for this sort of thing, though certainly it seems to suit her passing +well. All the same, you won't let her carry it too far, will you? Now +that Mrs. Fielding is beginning to rally a little it might be a good +opportunity to make her take a rest." + +"Yes, you're right. She must rest," Fielding agreed. "She is so +marvellous that one is apt to forget she must be nearly worn out." + +It was the fifth day and Vera had certainly rallied. She lay in the +sombre old library, that had been turned into the most luxurious bedroom +that Saltash's and Juliet's ingenuity could devise, listening to the +tinkle of the water in the conservatory and watching Juliet who sat in a +low chair by her side with a book in her lap ready to read her to sleep. + +There was a couch in the conservatory itself on which sometimes on rare +occasions Juliet would snatch a brief rest, leaving the nurse to watch. +Columbus regarded this couch as his own particular property, but he +always gave his beloved mistress an ardent welcome and squeezed himself +into as small a compass as possible at the foot for her benefit. +Otherwise, he occupied the middle with an arrogance of possession which +none disputed. The door into the garden was always open, and Columbus was +extremely happy, being of supremely independent habits and quite capable +of trotting round to the kitchen premises of the castle for his daily +portion without disturbing anyone en route. How he discovered the kitchen +Juliet never knew. Doubtless his exploring faculty stood him in good +stead. But his appearance there was absolutely regular and orderly, and +he always returned to the conservatory when he had been fed with the +bustling self-importance of one whose time was of value. He never entered +the sick-room except on invitation, and he never raised his voice above a +whisper when in the conservatory. It was quite evident that he fully +grasped the situation and accommodated himself thereto. All he asked of +life was to be near his beloved one, and the snuffle of his greeting +whenever she joined him was ample testimony to the joy of his simple +soul. Just to see her, just to hear her voice, just sometimes to kiss and +be kissed, what more could any dog desire? + +Certainly an occasional scamper after rabbits in the park made a salutary +change, but Columbus was prudent and he never suffered himself to be +drawn very far in pursuit. A sense of duty or expediency always brought +him back before long to the couch in the conservatory to lie and watch, +brighteyed, for the only person who counted in his world. + +He was watching for her now, but without much hope of her coming. She +seldom left Vera's bedside in the afternoon for it was then, in the heat +of the day, that she usually suffered most. But to-day she had been +better. Today for the first time she was able to turn her head and smile +and even to murmur a few sentences without distress. Her eyes dwelt upon +Juliet's quiet face with a wistful affection. She had come to lean upon +her strength with a child's dependence. + +"Quite comfortable?" Juliet asked her gently. + +"Quite," Vera made whispered reply. "But you--you look so tired." + +Juliet smiled at her. "I dare say I shall fall asleep if you do," she +said. + +"You ought to have a long rest," said Vera, and then her heavy eyes +brightened and went beyond her as her husband's tall figure came softly +in from the conservatory. + +He came to her side, stooped over her, and took her hand. Her fingers +closed weakly about his. + +"Send her to bed!" she whispered. "She is tired. You come instead!" + +He bent and kissed her forehead with a tenderness that made her cling +more closely. "Shall I do instead?" he asked her gently. + +She offered him her lips though she was panting a little. "Yes, I want +you. Make Juliet--go to bed!" + +He turned to Juliet, his wife's hand still in his. All the hard lines +were smoothed out of his face. There was something even pathetic about +his smile. + +"Will you go to bed, Juliet," he said in that new gentle voice of his, +"and leave me in charge?" + +She got up. "I will lie down in the conservatory," she said. + +"No--no!" He put his free hand on her arm with a touch of his customary +imperiousness. "That won't do. You're to go to bed properly--and sleep +till you can't sleep any longer. Yes, that's an order, see?" He smiled +again at her, his sudden transforming smile. "Be a good child and do as +I tell you! Cox is within call. We'll certainly fetch you if we find we +can't do without you." + +Juliet's eyes went to Vera. + +"Yes, she wants to get rid of you too," said the squire. "We're pining to +be alone. No, we won't talk. We won't do anything we ought not, eh, Vera, +my dear? Nurse will be getting up in another hour so we shan't have it to +ourselves for long." + +He had his way. He could be quite irresistible when he chose. Juliet +found herself yielding without misgiving, though till then he had only +been allowed at Vera's bedside for a few minutes at a time. Vera was +certainly very much better that day, and she read in her eyes the desire +to meet her husband's wishes. She paused to give him one or two +directions regarding medicine, and then went quietly to the door of the +conservatory. + +Columbus sprang to greet her with a joy that convulsed him from head to +tail, and she gathered him up in her arms and took him with her, passing +back through the library in time to see the squire lay his face down upon +the slender hand he held and kiss it. + +In the great hall outside she found Saltash loitering. He came at once to +meet her, and had taken Columbus from her before she realized his +intention. + +"He is too heavy for you, _ma chérie_," he said, with his quizzing smile. +"Lend him to me for this afternoon! He's getting disgracefully fat. I'll +take him for a walk." + +Relieved of Columbus' weight, she became suddenly and overpoweringly +aware of a dwindling of her strength. She said no word, but her face +must have betrayed her, for the next thing she knew was Saltash's arm +like a coiled spring about her, impelling her towards the grand +staircase. + +"I'll take you to your room, _Juliette_," he said. "You might miss the +way by yourself. You're awfully tired, aren't you?" + +It was absurd, but a curious desire to weep possessed her. + +"Yes, I know," said Saltash, with his semi-comic tenderness. "Don't mind +me! I knew you'd come to it sooner or later. You're not used to playing +the sister of mercy are you, _ma mie_, though it becomes you--vastly +well." + +"Don't, Charles!" she murmured faintly. + +"My dear, I mean no harm," he protested, firmly leading her upwards. "I +am only--the friend in need." + +She took him at his word though half against her will. He guided her up +the branching staircase to the gallery above, bringing her finally to a +tall oak door at the further end. + +"Here is your chamber of sleep, _Juliette_! Now will you make me a +promise?" + +She left his supporting arm with an effort. "Well, what is it?" + +"That you will go to bed in the proper and correct way and sleep +till further notice," he said. "You can't go for ever, believe me. +And you need it." + +He was looking at her with a softness of persuasion that sat so oddly on +his mischievous monkey-face that in spite of herself, with quivering +lips, she smiled. + +"You're very good, Charles Rex," she said. "I wonder how much longer you +will manage to keep it up." + +He bowed low. "Just as long as I have your exemplary example before me," +he said. "Who knows? We may both fling our caps over the windmill before +we have done." + +She shook her head, made as if she would enter the room, but paused. "You +will take care of Columbus?" she said. + +"Every care," he promised. "If I fail to bring him back to you intact you +will never see my face again." + +She had opened the door behind her, but still she paused. "Charles!" + +Her voice held an unutterable appeal. A grin of sheer derision gleamed +for a second in his eyes and vanished. "They ring up from the Court every +day, _Juliette_. Presumably he gets the news by that channel. He has not +troubled to obtain it in any other way." + +"How could he?" Juliet said, but her face was paler than before; it had a +grey look. "He is busy with his work all day long. What time has he +for--other things?" + +"Exactly, _ma chérie_! One would not expect it of him. Duty +first--pleasure afterwards, is doubtless his motto. Very worthy--and +very appropriate, for one of his profession. Unquestionably, it will +become yours also--in time." + +A faint, sad smile crossed Juliet's face. She made no response, and in a +moment Saltash bent and swept up Columbus under his arm. + +"_Adieu_, sister of mercy!" he said lightly. "I leave you to your +dreams." + +He went away along the gallery, and she entered the room and shut +herself in. + +For a second or two she stood quite motionless in the great luxurious +apartment. Then slowly she went forward to the wide-flung window, and +stood there, gazing blankly forth over the distant fir-clad park. He had +said that he would see her again. It seemed so long ago. And all through +this difficult time of strain and anxiety he had done nothing--nothing. +She did not realize until that moment how much she had counted upon the +memory of those last words of his. + +Ah well! Perhaps--as Charles Rex hinted--it was better. Better to end it +all thus, that midsummer madness of theirs that had already endured too +long! They had lived such widely sundered lives. How could they ever have +hoped ultimately to bridge the gulf between? + +Charles was right. His shrewd perception realized that dwelling as they +did in separate spheres they were bound to be fundamentally strangers +to one another. Surely Dick himself had foreseen it long since down on +that golden shore when first he had sought to dissuade her from going +to the Court! + +Her heart contracted at the memory. How sweet those early days had +been! But the roses had faded, the nightingales had ceased to sing. It +was all over now--all over. The dream was shattered, and she was weary +unto death. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SACRIFICE + + +"I expect it's one of them abscies again," said Mrs. Rickett +sympathetically. "Have you been to the doctor about it, my dear?" + +Robin, sitting heaped in the wooden arm-chair in her kitchen, +looked at her with a smouldering glow in his eyes. "Don't like +doctors," he muttered. + +Mrs. Rickett sighed and went on with her ironing. "No more do I, Robin. +But we can't always do without 'em. Have you told your brother now?" + +Robin, sullenly rocking himself to and fro, made no reply for several +seconds. Then very suddenly: "He asked me if I'd got a headache and I +told him No," he flung out defiantly. "What's the good of bothering him? +He can't do anything." + +"The doctor might, you know," Mrs. Rickett ventured again, with a glance +through the window at Freddy who had been sent out to amuse himself and +was staggering with much perseverance in the wake of an elusive chicken. +"It's wonderful what they can do now-a-days to make things better." + +"Don't want to be better," growled Robin. + +She turned and looked at him in astonishment. "You didn't ought to say +that, my dear," she said. + +Again he raised his heavy eyes to hers and something she saw in +them--something she was quite at a loss to define--went straight to +her heart. + +"Robin, my dear, what's the matter?" she said. "Is there something that's +troubling you?" + +Again Robin was silent for a space. His eyes fell dully to the ground +between his feet. At last, in a tone of muttered challenge, he spoke. +"Don't want it to get better. Want it to end." + +"Sakes alive!" said Mrs. Rickett, shocked. "You don't know what +you're saying." + +He did not contradict her or lift his eyes again, merely sat there like a +hunched baboon, his head on his chest, his monstrous body slowly rocking. + +There followed a lengthy silence. Mrs. Rickett ironed and folded, ironed +and folded, with a practised hand, still keeping an eye on the small +chicken-chaser outside. + +After several minutes, however, the boy's utter dejection of attitude +moved her to attempt to divert his thoughts. "I wonder when our young +lady will be coming to see us again," she said. + +Robin uttered a queer sound in his throat; it was almost like the moan of +an animal in pain. He said nothing. + +She gave him an uneasy glance, but still kind-heartedly she persevered in +her effort to lift him out of his depression. "She was always very +friendly-like," she said. "You liked her, didn't you Robin?" + +Robin shifted his position with a sharp movement as though he winced at +some sudden dart of pain. "What should make her come back?" he said. +"She'll stay away now she's gone." + +"Oh, I expect we shall be seeing her again some day," said Mrs. Rickett, +"when poor Mrs. Fielding is a bit stronger. She's busy now, but she'll +come back, you'll see." + +Again almost violently Robin moved in his chair. "She won't!" he flung +out in a fierce undertone. "Tell you she won't!" + +"How can you possibly know?" reasoned Mrs. Rickett. + +"I do know," he said doggedly. "She won't come back,--anyhow not +till--" his utterance trailed off into an unintelligible murmur in his +throat and he became silent. + +Mrs. Rickett shook out a small damp garment, and spread it upon the table +with care. "I don't see how anyone is to say as she won't come back," she +said. "Of course I know she's a lady born, but that don't prevent her +making friends among humbler folk. She's talked of this place more than +once as if she'd like to settle here." + +"She won't then!" growled Robin. "She'll never do that, not +while--." Again he became inarticulate, muttering deeply in his throat +like an animal goaded to savagery. + +Mrs. Rickett turned from her ironing to regard him. She had never found +Robin hard to understand before, but there was something about him to-day +which was wholly beyond her comprehension. He was like some wild creature +that had received a cruel wound. Dumb resentment and fiery suffering +seemed to mingle in his half uttered sentences. As he sat there, huddled +forward with his hands pathetically clenched she thought she had never +seen a more piteous sight. + +"Lor', Robin, my dear!" she said. "What ever makes you know such a lot? +Why shouldn't she come back then? Tell me that!" + +He shook his shaggy head, but more in protest than refusal. + +Mrs. Rickett bent down over him, her kindly red face full of the most +motherly concern. + +"What's troubling you, Robin?" she said. "You aren't--fretting for +her, are you?" + +He threw her one of his wild, furtive looks, and again in his eyes she +caught a glimpse of something that deeply moved her. She laid a +comforting hand on his shoulder. + +"Is that it, lad? Are you wanting her? Ah, don't fret then--don't fret! +She'll surely come back--some day." + +The boy's face quivered. He looked down at his clenched hands, and at +length jerkily, laboriously, he spoke, giving difficult and bitter +utterance to the trouble that gnawed at his heart. + +"It's--Dicky that wants her. But she won't come--she won't come--while +I'm here." A sudden hard shiver went through him, he drew his breath +through his set teeth, with a desperate sound. "No woman would," he said +with hard despair. + +And then abruptly, as if with speech his misery had become unendurable, +he blundered to his feet with outflung arms, making the only outcry +against fate that his poor stunted brain had ever accomplished. "It isn't +fair!" he wailed. "It isn't right! I'm going to God--to tell Him so!" + +He turned with the words, the impulse of the stricken creature urging +him, and ignoring the remonstrance which Mrs. Rickett had barely begun he +made headlong for the door, dragged it open, and was gone. + +He went past his little playmate in the yard, shambling blindly for the +open, deaf to the baby's cry of welcome, insensible to everything but the +bitter burden of his pain. He slammed the gate behind him and set off at +a lumbering run down the glaring road. + +The evening sun smote full in his face as he went; but it might have been +midnight, for he neither saw nor felt. Instinct alone guided him--the +instinct of the wild creature, hunted by disaster, wounded to the heart, +that must be alone with its agony and its fruitless strife against fate. + +He went up the cliff-path, but he did not follow it far. Something drew +him down the narrow cleft that led to the spot where first he had seen +her lying on the shingle dreaming with her head upon her arm. He turned +off the path to the place where he had crouched among the gorse-bushes +and flung stones to scare her away, and stood there panting and gazing. + +The memory of her, the gracious charm, the quick sympathy, went through +him, pierced him. He caught his breath as though he listened for the +beloved sound of her voice. She had not been really angry with him for +the wantonness of those stones. She had been very ready with her +forgiveness, her kindly offer of friendship. She had never been other +than kind to him ever since. She had awakened in him the deepest, most +humble gratitude and devotion. She had even once or twice shielded him +from Dicky's never unjust wrath. And he had come to love her second only +to Dicky who must for ever hold the foremost place in his heart. + +He had come to love her--and he stood between her and happiness. He did +not reason the matter. He had small reasoning power. He recognized that +Jack's brain was superior to his, and Jack had made known to him this +monstrous thing. True, Dicky had denied it, but somehow that denial had +not been so convincing as Jack's statement had been. The corrosive poison +had already done its work, and there was no antidote. He knew that Dicky +loved Juliet, knew it from his own lips. "The woman I love--the woman I +love--" How often had the low-spoken words recurred to his memory! And +Dicky was not happy. He had watched him narrowly ever since that night. +Dicky was not really hopeful for the winning of his heart's desire. He +had said there were many obstacles. What they were, Robin could but +vaguely conjecture--save one! And that one stood out in the darkness of +his soul, clear as a cross against the falling night. Dicky had no chance +of winning any woman so long as he--the village idiot--the hideous +abortion--stood in his way. That was the truth as he saw it--the bitter, +unavoidable truth. O God, it wasn't fair--it wasn't fair! + +The evening shadows were lengthening. The waves splashed softly against +the fallen rocks forty to fifty feet below. They seemed to be calling to +him. It was almost like a summons from far away--almost like a bugle-call +heard in the mists of sleep. Somehow they soothed him, lessening the +poignancy of his anguish, checking his wild rebellion, making him aware +of a strangely comforting peace. + +As if God had spoken and stilled his inarticulate protest, the futile +agony of his striving died down. He began to be conscious vaguely that +somewhere within his reach there lay a way of escape. He stared out over +the silver-blue of the sea with strained and throbbing vision. The sun +had gone down behind High Shale, and the quiet shadows stretched towards +him. He had the feeling of a hunted man who has found sanctuary. Again, +more calmly, his tired brain considered the problem that had driven him +forth in such bitterness of soul. + +There was Dicky--Dicky who loved him--whom he worshipped. Yes, certainly +Dicky loved him. He had never questioned that. He was the only person in +the world who had ever wanted him. But a deeper love, a deeper want, had +entered Dicky's life with the coming of Juliet. He wanted her with a +great heart-longing that Robin but dimly comprehended but of which he was +keenly conscious, made wise by the sympathy that linked them. He +knew--and this without any bitterness--that Dicky wanted Juliet as he had +never wanted him. It was an overmastering yearning in Dicky's soul, and +somehow--by some means--some sacrifice--it must be satisfied. Even +Dicky, it seemed, would have to sacrifice something; for he could not +have them both. + +Yes, something would have to be sacrificed. Somehow this obstacle must be +cleared out of Dicky's path. Juliet could not come to Dicky while he was +there. He did not ask himself why this should be, but accepted it as +fact. He then was the main obstacle to Dicky's happiness, to the +fulfilment of his great desire. Then he must go. But whither? And leave +Dicky--and leave Dicky! + +Again for a spell the anguish woke within him, but it did not possess +him so overwhelmingly as before. He had begun to seek for a way out, +and though it was hard to find, the very act of seeking brought him +comfort. His own misery no longer occupied the forefront of his poor +groping brain. + +He sat for a long, long time up there on the cliff while the +shadows lengthened and the day slowly died, turning the matter over +and over while the flame of sacrifice gradually kindled in the +darkness of his soul. + +It was probably the growth of many hours of not too coherent +meditation--the solution of that problem; but it came upon him very +suddenly at the last, almost like the swift wheeling of a flashlight over +the calm night sea. + +He had heard the church clock strike in the distance, and was turning to +leave when that first vision of Juliet swooped back upon him--Juliet in +her light linen dress springing up the path towards him. He saw her as +she had stood there, leaving the path behind her, poised like a young +goddess against the dazzling blue of the spring sky. Her face had been +stern at first, but all the sternness had gone into an amazing kindness +of compassion when her look had lighted upon him. She had not shrunk from +him as shrank so many. And then--and then--he remembered the sudden fear, +the sharp anxiety, that had succeeded that first look of pity. + +He had been standing on the brink of the cliff as he had stood many a +time before--as he stood now. That cliff had been the tragedy of his +ruined life. And yet he loved it, had never known any fear of it. But she +had been afraid for his sake. He had seen the fear leap into her eyes. +And the memory of it came to him now as a revelation. He had found the +way of escape at last! + +The sea was crooning behind him over the half-buried rocks. He stood +again on the brink with his poor worn face turned to the sky. He had come +to the end of his reasoning. The tired brain had ceased to grapple with +the cruel problem that had so tortured it. He knew now what he would do +to help Dicky. And somehow the doing did not seem hard to him, somehow he +did not feel afraid. + +One step back and the cliff fell away behind him. Yet for a space he went +neither forward nor back. It was as though he waited for a word of +command, some signal for release. The first star was gleaming very far +away like a lamp lighted in a distant city. His eyes found it and dwelt +upon it with a wistful wonder. He had always loved the stars. + +He was not angry or troubled any more. All resentment, all turmoil, had +died out of his heart for ever. That strange peace had closed about him +again, and the falling night held no terrors. Rather it seemed to spread +wings of comfort above him. And always the crooning of the sea was like a +voice that softly called him. + +It came very suddenly at the last--the sign for which he waited. Someone +had begun to mount the cliff-path, and--though he was out of sight--he +heard a low, summoning whistle in the darkness. It was Dicky's whistle. +He knew it well. Dicky was coming to look for him. + +For a second every pulse--every nerve--leaped to answer that call. +For a second he stood tense while that surging power within him +sprang upwards, and in sheer amazing fire of sacrifice consumed the +earthly impulse. + +Then it was over. His arms went wide to the night. Without a cry, without +a tremor, he flung himself backwards over the grassy edge. + +The crooning sea and the overhanging cliff muffled the sound of his fall. +And no one heard or saw--save God Who seeth all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MESSAGE + + +From the day that Juliet relinquished her perpetual vigil, the +improvement in Vera Fielding was almost uninterrupted. She recovered her +strength very slowly, but her progress was marked by a happy certainty +that none who saw her could question. She still leaned upon Juliet, but +it was her husband alone who could call that deep content into her eyes +which was gradually finding a permanent abiding-place in her heart. The +nearness of death had done for them what no circumstance of life had ever +accomplished. They had drawn very close together in its shadow, and as +they gradually left it behind the tie still held them in a bond that had +become sacred to them both. It was as if they had never really known each +other till now. + +All Vera's arrogance had vanished in her husband's presence, just as his +curt imperiousness had given place to the winning dominance which he knew +so well how to wield. "You'll do it for me," was one of his pet phrases, +and he seldom uttered it in vain. She gave him the joyful sacrifice of +love newly-awakened. + +"I wonder if we shall go on like this when I'm well again," she said to +him on an evening of rose-coloured dusk in early August when he was +sitting by her side with her long thin hand in his. + +"Like what?" said Edward Fielding. + +She smiled at him from her pillow. "Well, spoiling each other in this +way. Will you never be overbearing and dictatorial? Shall I never be +furious and hateful to you again?" + +"I hope not," he said. "In fact, I think not." + +He spoke very gravely. She stirred, and in a moment her other hand +came out to him also. He clasped it closely. Her eyes were shining +softly in the dusk. + +"You are--so good to me, Edward--my darling," she said. + +His head was bent over her hands. "Don't!" he muttered huskily. + +Her fingers closed on his. "Edward, will you tell me something?" she +whispered. + +"I don't know," he said. + +"Yes, but I want you to. I'd rather hear it from you. The doctors don't +think I shall ever be fit for much again, do they?" + +She spoke steadily, with a certain insistence. He looked up at her +sharply, with something of a glare in his eyes. + +"You're not going to die--whatever they say!" he declared in a fierce +undertone. + +"No--no, of course not!" She spoke soothingly, still smiling at him, +for that barely checked ferocity of his sent rapture through her soul. +"Do you suppose I'd be such an idiot as to go and die just when I'm +beginning to enjoy life? I'm not the puny heroine of a lachrymose +novel. I hope I've got more sense. No, dear, what I really meant +was--was--am I ever going to be strong enough--woman enough--to give +you--what you want so much?" + +"Vera--my dear!" He leaned swiftly to her, his arm pillowed her head. +"Do you suppose--do you really suppose--I'd let you jeopardize your sweet +life--after this--after this?" + +He was holding her closely to him, and though a little spasm of +breathlessness went through her she gave herself to him with a pulsing +gladness that thrilled her whole being. It was the happiest moment she +had ever known. + +"Oh, Edward," she said, "do you--do you really feel like that?" + +His cheek was against her forehead. He did not speak for a few seconds. +Then, with something of an effort, "Yes," he said. "It's like that with +me now, my dear. I've been through--a good deal--these last days. Now +I've got you back--please God, I'll keep you!" + +She pressed her face against him. "Ah, but Edward, you know you've always +wanted--" + +"Oh, damn my wants!" he broke in impatiently. "I don't want anything +but you now." + +She raised her lips to kiss his neck. "That's the loveliest thing you +ever said to me, darling," she said, with a throb in her voice. "I love +being an invalid--with you to spoil me. But--if you'll +promise--promise--promise--to love me quite as much--if I get well, I +will get well--really well--for your sake." + +Again she was panting. He felt it as he held her, and after a moment or +two very tenderly he laid her back. + +"God bless you, my dear!" he said. "You needn't be afraid. I've learnt my +lesson, and I shan't forget it." + +"The lesson of love!" she murmured, holding his hand against her thumping +heart. + +"Yes. Juliet began the teaching. A wonderful girl that. She seems to +know everything. I wonder where she learnt it." + +"She is wonderful," Vera agreed thoughtfully. "I sometimes think she has +had a hard life. She says so little about herself." + +"She has moved among a fairly rapid lot," observed the squire. "Lord +Saltash is intimate enough to call her by her Christian name." + +"Does he ever talk about her?" asked Vera, interested. + +"Not much," said the squire. + +"You think he is fond of her at all?" + +"I don't know. He doesn't see much of her. I haven't quite got his +measure yet. He isn't the sort of man I thought he was anyway." + +"Then it wasn't true about Lady Joanna Farringmore?" questioned Vera. + +Fielding hesitated. "I don't know," he said again. "I have a suspicion +that that report was not entirely unfounded. But however that may be, she +isn't with him now." + +"You don't think she is--on board the yacht?" suggested Vera. + +"No, I don't. The yacht is being done up for a voyage. A beautiful boat +from all accounts. He is very proud of her. I am to go over her with him +one of these days, when she's ready--which will be soon." + +Vera uttered a short sigh. "I wish we'd get a yacht, Edward," she said. + +"Do you? Why?" He was looking at her attentively, a smile in his eyes. + +She coloured faintly. "I don't know. It's just a fancy, I suppose--a sick +fancy. But I believe I could get well much quicker if I went for a voyage +like that." + +"You'd be bored to death," said Fielding. + +She looked at him through sudden tears. "Bored! With you!" she said. + +He patted her cheek gently. "Wouldn't you be bored? Quite sure? Suppose +we were to borrow that yacht, do you think you'd really like it?" + +Her eyes shone through the tears. "Of course I should love it!" she said. +"Is there--is there any chance of such a thing?" + +"Every chance," said Fielding. "Saltash most kindly placed her, with the +captain and crew, at my disposal only last night." + +"Oh, Edward! How tremendously kind!" She looked at him with an eagerness +that seemed to transform her. "But--but would you like it too? Wouldn't +you--wouldn't you feel it was an awful waste of time?" + +"Waste of time! With you!" smiled Fielding. + +She lifted his hand with a shy movement and put it to her lips. +"Edward--darling, you get dearer every day," she murmured. "What makes +you so good to me?" + +He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I happen to have found +out--quite by accident--that I love you, my dear," he said. + +She smiled at him. "What a happy accident! Then we are really going for +that voyage together? What about--Juliet?" + +"Don't you want Juliet?" he said. + +"Yes, if she would come. But I have a feeling--I don't know why--that she +will not be with us very long. I should be sorry to part with her for we +owe her so much. But--somehow she doesn't quite fit, does she? She would +be much more suitable as--Lady Saltash for instance." + +Fielding laughed. "Saltash isn't the only fish in the sea," he remarked. + +"You are thinking of--Mr. Green?" she questioned, with slight hesitation +before the name. "You know, Edward--" she broke off. + +"Well, my dear?" he said. + +She turned to him impulsively. "I'm sorry I've not been nicer about that +young man. I'm going to try and like him better, just to please you. +But, Edward, you wouldn't want Juliet to marry--that sort of man? You +don't, do you?" + +Fielding had stiffened almost imperceptibly. "It doesn't much matter what +I want," he said, after a moment. "It doesn't rest with me. Neither Dick +nor Juliet are likely to consult my feelings in the matter." + +"I don't want her to throw herself away--like that," said Vera. + +"I don't think you need be afraid," he said. "Juliet knows very well what +she is about. And Dick--well Dick's fool enough to sacrifice the heart +out of his body for the sake of that half-witted boy." + +"How odd of him!" Vera said. "What a pity Robin ever lived to grow up!" + +"He's been the ruin of Dick's life," the squire said forcibly. "He's +thrown away every chance he ever had on account of Robin. He doesn't +fit--if you like. He's absolutely out of his sphere and knows it. But +he'll never change it while that boy lives. That's the infernal part of +it. Nothing will move him." He stopped himself suddenly. "I mustn't +excite you, my dear, and this is a subject upon which I feel very +strongly. I can't expect you to sympathize because--" he smiled +whimsically--"well, mainly because you don't understand. We had better +talk of something else." + +Vera was looking at him with a slight frown between her eyes. "I didn't +mean to be--unsympathetic," she said, a faint quiver in her voice. + +"Of course not! Of course not!" Hastily he sought to make amends. "I +don't know how we got on the subject. You must forgive me, my dear. I +believe I hear Juliet in the conservatory. We won't discuss this +before her." + +He would have risen, but she detained him. "Edward, just a moment! I want +to ask you something." + +"Well?" Reluctantly he paused. + +"I--only want to know," she spoke with some effort, "what there is +about--Mr. Green that--that makes you so fond of him." + +"Oh, that!" He stood hesitating. But there were certainly footsteps in +the conservatory; he heard them with relief. "I'll tell you some other +time, my dear," he said gently. "Here comes Juliet to turn me out!" + +He turned to the window as she entered and greeted her with a smile. Vera +was still clinging to his hand. + +"May I come in?" said Juliet, stopping on the threshold. + +"Yes, of course, come in!" Vera said. "We have been talking about you, +Juliet. Will you come for a voyage with us in Lord Saltash's yacht?" + +Juliet came slowly forward. Her face was pale. She was holding a +letter in her hand. She looked from one to the other for a second or +two in silence. + +"Are you sure," she said, in her low quiet voice, "that you wouldn't +rather go alone?" + +"Not unless you would rather not come," said the squire. + +"Thank you," she said. "May I--think about it?" + +The squire was looking at her attentively. "What is the matter?" he +said suddenly. + +She met his look steadily, though he felt it to be with an effort. Then +quietly she turned to Vera. + +"I have just had a letter," she said, "from a friend who is in trouble. +Do you think you can spare me--for a little while?" + +Vera stretched a hand to her. "My dear Juliet, I am so sorry. Of course +you shall go. What is it? What has happened?" + +Juliet came to her, took and held the hand. "You are very kind," she +said. "But I don't want you to be troubled too. There is no need. You are +sure you will be all right without me?" + +"You will come back to me?" Vera said. + +"I will certainly come back," Juliet made steadfast answer, "even if I +can't stay. But now that you are able to sit up, you will need me less. +You will take care of her, Mr. Fielding?" looking up at him. + +He nodded. "You may be sure of that--the utmost care. When must you go?" + +He was still looking at her closely; his eyes deeply searching. + +Juliet hesitated. "Do you think--to-night?" she said. + +"Certainly. Then you will want a car. Have you told Lord Saltash?" He +turned to the door. + +"No, I have only just heard. I believe he has gone to town." Juliet +gently laid down the hand she was holding. "I will come back," she said +again, and followed him. + +He drew the door closed behind them. They faced each other in the dimness +of the hall. The squire's mouth was twitching uncontrollably. "Now, +Juliet!" His voice had a ring of sternness; he put his hand on her +shoulder, gripping unconsciously. "For heaven's sake--" he said--"out +with it! It isn't--Dick?" + +"No--Robin!" she said. + +"Ah!" He drew a deep breath and straightened himself, his other hand +over his eyes. Then in a moment he was looking at her again. His grip +relaxed. "Forgive me!" he said. "Did I hurt you?" + +She gave him a faint smile. "It doesn't matter. You understand, don't +you? I must go--to Dick." + +He nodded. "Yes--yes! Is the boy--dead?" + +"No. It was a fall over the cliff. It happened last night. They didn't +find him for hours. He is going fast. Jack brought me this." She glanced +down at the letter in her hand. + +He made a half-gesture to take it, checking himself sharply. "I beg your +pardon, Juliet, I hardly know what I'm doing. It's from Dick, is it?" + +Very quietly she gave it to him. "You may read it. You have a right to +know," she said. + +He gave her an odd look. "May I? Are you sure?" + +"Read it!" she said. + +He opened it. His fingers were trembling. She stood at his shoulder and +read it with him. The words were few, containing the bald statement, but +no summons. + +The squire read them, breathing heavily. Suddenly he thrust his arm round +Juliet and held her fast. + +"Juliet! You'll be good to my boy--good to Dick?" + +Her eyes met his. "That is why I am going to him," she said. She took the +note and folded it, standing within the circle of his arm. + +"I'd go to him myself--if I could," Fielding went on unevenly. "He'll +feel this--damnably. He was simply devoted to that unfortunate boy." + +"I know," said Juliet. + +Again he put his hand to his eyes. "I've been a beast about Robin. Ask +him to forgive me, Juliet! Tell him I'm awfully sorry, that I'll come as +soon as I can get away. And if there's anything he wants--anything under +the sun--he's to have it. See? Make him understand!" + +"He will understand," Juliet said quietly. + +He looked at her again. "Don't let him fret, Juliet!" he said urgently. +"You'll comfort him, won't you? I know I'm always rating him, but he's +such a good chap. You--you love him, don't you?" + +"Yes," she said. + +"God bless you for that!" he said earnestly. "I can't tell you what he is +to me--can't explain. But--but--" + +"I--understand," she said. + +"What?" He stared at her for a moment. "What--do you understand?" + +"I know what he is to you," she said gently. "I have known--for a long +time. Never mind how! Nobody told me. It just came to me one day." + +"Ah!" Impulsively he broke in. "You see everything. I'm afraid of +you, Juliet. But look here! You won't--you won't--make him +suffer--for my sins?" + +Her hand pressed his arm. "What am I?" she said. "Have I any right to +judge anyone? Besides--oh, besides--do you think I could possibly go +to him if I did not feel that nothing on earth matters now--except +our love?" + +She spoke with deep emotion. She was quivering from head to foot. He bent +very low to kiss the hand upon his arm. + +"And you will have your reward," he said huskily. "Don't forget--it's +the only thing in life that really counts! There's nothing +else--nothing else." + +Juliet stood quite still looking down at the bent grey head. "I wonder," +she said slowly, "I wonder--if Dick--in his heart--thinks the same!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ANSWER + + +The August dusk had deepened into night when the open car from the Court +pulled up at the schoolhouse gate. The school had closed for the summer +holidays a day or two before. No lights shone in either building. + +"Do you mind going in alone?" whispered Jack. "I can't show here. But +I'll wait inside the park-gates to take you back." + +"You needn't wait," Juliet said. "I shall spend the night at the +Court--unless I am wanted here." + +She descended with the words. She had never liked Jack Green, and she was +thankful that the rapid journey was over. She heard him shoot up the +drive as she went up the schoolhouse path. + +In the dark little porch she hesitated. The silence was intense. Then, +as she stood in uncertainty, from across the bare playground there +came a call. + +"Juliet!" + +She turned swiftly. He was standing in the dark doorway of the school. +The vague light of the rising moon gleamed deathly on his face. He did +not move to meet her. + +She went to him, reached out hands to him that he did not take, and +clasped him by the shoulders. "Oh, you poor boy!" + +His arms held her close for a moment or two, then they relaxed. + +"I don't know why I sent for you," he said. + +"You didn't send for me, Dick," she made gentle answer. "But I think you +wanted me all the same." + +He groaned. "Wanted you! I've--craved for you. You told the squire?" + +"Yes. He said--" + +He broke in upon her with fierce bitterness. "He was pleased of course! I +knew he would be. That's why I couldn't send the message to him. It had +to be you." + +"Dick! Dick! He wasn't pleased! You don't know what you're saying. He was +most terribly sorry." She put her arm through his with a very tender +gesture. "Won't you take me inside and tell me all about it?" she said. + +He gave a hard shudder. "I don't know if I can, Juliet. It's been--so +awful. He suffered--so infernally. The doctor didn't want to give him +morphia--said it would hasten the end." He stamped in a sort of impotent +frenzy. "I stood over him and made him. It was just what I wanted to do. +It was--it was--beyond endurance." + +"Oh, my dear!" she said. + +He put his hands over his face. "Juliet,--it was--hell!" he said +brokenly. "When I wrote that note to you--I thought the worst was over. +But it wasn't--it wasn't! He was past speaking--but his eyes--they kept +imploring me to let him go.--O God, I'd given my soul to help him! And I +could do--nothing--except see him die!" + +Again a convulsive shudder caught him. Juliet's arms went around him. She +held his head against her breast. + +"It's over now," she whispered. "Thank God for that!" + +He leaned upon her for a space. "Yes, it's over. At least he died in +peace," he said, and drew a hard, quivering breath. Then he stood up +again. "Juliet, I'm so sorry. Come inside! I'll light the lamp. I +couldn't stand that empty house--with only my boy's dead body in it. Mrs. +Rickett has been there, but she's gone now." He turned and pushed open +the door. "Wait a minute while I light up!" + +She did not wait, but followed him closely, and stood beside him while +he lighted a lamp on the wall. He turned from doing so and smiled at +her, and she saw that though his face was ghastly, he was his own +master again. + +"How did you get here?" he said. "Who took the note? The doctor promised +to get it delivered." + +"Jack brought it," she said. "I came back with him." + +"Jack!" His brows drew together suddenly. She saw his black eyes gleam. +For a moment he said nothing further. Then: "If--Jack comes anywhere near +me to-night, I shall kill him!" he said very quietly. + +"Dick!" she said in amazement. + +There was a certain awful intentness in his look. "I hold him responsible +for this," he said. + +She gazed at him, assailed by a swift wonder as to his sanity. + +In a second he saw the doubt and replied to it, still with that deadly +quietness that seemed to her more terrible than violence. "I know what I +am saying. He is--directly responsible. My boy died for my sake, because +he believed what Jack told him--that no woman would ever consent to marry +me while he lived." + +"Oh, Dick! You don't mean--he did it--on purpose!" Juliet's voice was +quick with pain. "Dick, surely--surely--it wasn't that! You are making +a mistake!" + +"No. It is no mistake," he said, with sombre conviction. "I know it. Mrs. +Rickett knows it too. It's been preying on his mind ever since. He hasn't +been well. He's suffered with his head a good deal lately. He--" He +stopped himself. "There's no need to distress you over this. Thank you +for coming. I didn't really expect you. Is he--is Jack--waiting to take +you back?" + +"No," said Juliet quietly. + +His brows went up. "You are sleeping at the Court? I'll take you there." + +"I'm not going yet, Dick," she said gently, "unless you turn me out." + +His face quivered unexpectedly. He turned from her. "There's--nothing to +wait for," he said. + +But Juliet stood motionless. Her eyes went down the long bare room with +its empty forms and ink-splashed desks. She thought it the most desolate +place she had ever seen. + +After an interval of blank silence Dick spoke again. "Don't you stay! I'm +not myself to-night. I can't--think. It was awfully good of you to come. +But don't--stay!" + +"Dick!" she said. + +At sound of her voice he turned. His eyes looked at her out of such a +depth of misery as pierced her to the heart. She saw his hands clench +against his sides. "O my God!" he said under his breath. + +"Dick!" she said again very earnestly. "Don't send me away! Let me +help you!" + +"You can't," he said. "You've been too good to me--already." + +"You wouldn't say that to me if I were--your wife," she said. + +He flinched sharply. "Juliet! Don't torture me! I've had--as much as I +can stand to-night." + +She held out her hand to him with a gesture superbly simple. "My dear, I +will marry you to-morrow if you will have me," she said. + +He stood for a long second staring at her. Then she saw his face change +and harden. The ascetic look that she had noticed long ago came over it +like a mask. + +"No!" he said. "No!" + +Again he turned from her. He went away up the long room, the bare boards +echoing to the tramp of his feet with a dull and hopeless sound. He came +to a stand before the writing-table at the further end, and from there he +spoke to her, his words brief, as it were edged with steel. + +"Can you imagine how Cain felt when he said that his punishment was +greater than he could bear? That's how I feel to-night. I am like Cain. +Whatever I touch is cursed." + +The words startled her. Again for a second she wondered if the suffering +through which he had passed had affected his brain. But she felt no fear. +She kept her purpose before her, clear and steadfast as a beacon shining +in the dark. + +"You are not like Cain," she said. "And even if you were, do you think I +should love you any the less?" + +He made a desperate gesture. "Would you love me if I were a +murderer?" he said. + +"I love you--whatever you are," she made unfaltering reply. + +He turned upon her, almost like an animal at bay. "I am--a murderer, +Juliet!" he said, a terrible fire in his eyes. + +In spite of herself she flinched, so awful was his look. "Dick, what do +you mean?" + +He flung out a hand as if to keep her from him though she had not moved. +"I will tell you what I mean, and then--you will go. On the night Robin +was born,--I killed his father!" + +"Dick!" she said. + +He went on rapidly. "I was a boy at the time, but I had a man's purpose. +My mother was dying. They sent me to fetch him. I loathed the man. So did +she. He was at The Three Tuns--drinking. I hung about till he came out. +He was blind drunk, and the night was dark. He took the wrong path that +led to the cliff, and I let him go. In the morning they found him on the +rocks, dead. I might have saved him. I didn't. I went back to my mother, +and stayed with her--till she died." + +"Oh Dick--my dear!" she said. + +He stood stiffly facing her. "I never repented. I'd do the same again +now--or worse, to such a man as that. He was a brute beast. But--I +suppose God doesn't allow these things. Anyway, I've been +punished--pretty heavily. I got fond of the boy. He was the only thing +left to care for. He took the place of everything else. And now--because +of a damnable lie--" Something seemed to rise in his throat, he paused, +struggling with himself, finally went on jerkily, with difficulty. "One +more thing--you'd better know. It'll help you to--forget me. The man I +killed was not my own father--except in name. My mother refused to marry +the man she loved because she thought it would injure his career--his +people threatened to disown him. She gave herself instead to--the +scoundrel whose name I bear--just to set him free." + +Again he stopped. Juliet had moved. She was coming up the long room to +him, not quickly, but with purpose. He stood, still facing her, his +breathing short and hard. + +Quietly, with that regal bearing that was so supremely her own, she drew +near. And her eyes were shining with a light that made her beautiful. She +reached him and stood before him. + +"Dick," she said, "I am not like your mother. I've been fighting against +it, but it's too strong for me. I have got to marry--the man I love." + +He made an impotent gesture, and she saw that he was trembling. + +She stood a moment, then reached out, took his arms, and drew them +gently round her. "Are you still trying to send me away?" she said. +"Because--it's stronger than both of us, Dick--and I'm not going--I'm +not going!" + +He looked into the shining, steadfast eyes, and suddenly the desperate +strain was over. His resistance snapped. "God forgive me!" he said under +his breath, and caught her passionately close. + +There was that in his hold--perhaps because of the fulness of her +surrender--that had never been before,--something flaming, something +fiercely electric, in his swift acceptance of her. As he clasped her, she +felt the wild throbbing of his heart like the pulsing force of a racing +engine. He kissed her, and in his kiss there was more than the lover's +adoration. It held the demand and mastery of matehood. By it he claimed +and sealed her for his own. + +When his hold relaxed, she made no effort to withdraw herself. She leaned +against him gasping a little, but her eyes--with the glory yet shining in +them--were still raised to his. + +"So that's settled, is it?" she said, with a quivering smile. "You are +quite sure, Dick?" + +His hands were clasped behind her. His look had a certain burning quality +as if he challenged all the world for her possession. + +"What am I to say to you, Juliet?" he said, his words low, deeply +vibrant. "I can't deny--my other self--can I?" + +"I don't know," she said. "You were very near it, weren't you? I thought +you had--all these weeks." + +"Ah!" His brows contracted. "Will you forgive me, Juliet? I've had--an +infernal time." + +"Yes. I know," she said gently. + +"No, dear, you don't know. How could you? Your life hasn't been one +perpetual struggle against overwhelming odds like mine." He paused. "Look +here, darling! I'm rather a fool to-night. I can't explain things. But +you've been very wonderful to me. You've lighted a torch in the dark. I +kept away because--it didn't seem fair to you to do anything else. You +were back in your own inner circle, and I was miles outside. And you +never wanted to be bound. When I saw you with--Lord Saltash--I knew why." + +"My dear!" she said. "You didn't imagine I was in love with +Saltash surely!" + +"No--no!" he said. "I knew you weren't. And yet--somehow--I felt you +were nearer to his world than mine. I realized it more and more as the +days went on. And my boy was ill--I couldn't leave him. Juliet--" a hint +of entreaty crept into his voice--"I can't explain. But somehow here on +my own ground it's--different. I feel you belong to me here. I know I can +win and hold you. But there--there--you are--leagues and leagues above +me--far out of reach." + +"Oh, Dick!" she said. "I thought you had more sense! Don't you +realize--yet--that your world is the world I want to be in? I want to +forget that other world--just to blot it out of my life--if only you will +make that possible." + +"If I will!" he said, with a deep breath. And then suddenly he took her +face between his hands, looking closely into her eyes. "Don't you care +about--all the horrible things I've told you?" he said. "Does it make no +difference at all to you?" + +She was still smiling--a tremendous smile. "It doesn't seem much like +it, does it?" she said. "I'm not such a saint myself, Dick. Moreover, I +knew about--some things--before I came." + +"What things?" he said. + +She made a very winning gesture towards him. "Don't think me a Paul Pry, +dear! But I couldn't help knowing--ages ago--what made the squire--so +fond of you." + +"Juliet!" He gazed at her. "How on earth did you find out?" + +She coloured deeply under his look. "You--are rather alike--in some +ways," she said. "It was partly that and partly being--well, rather +interested in you, I suppose. And Mrs. Rickett told me as much of your +family history as she knew before I ever met you. So, you see, I didn't +have much to fill in." + +"And still it makes no difference?" he said. + +She shook her head. "None whatever. I'm just glad for your sake that the +man you hated so was not your father. But I think you go rather far, +Dick, when you say you killed him." + +The hard onyx glitter shone again in his eyes. "No, it was not an +exaggeration," he said. "I was a murderer that night. I meant him to go +to his death. When he was dead I was glad. He had tortured the only being +I loved on earth. I believed he was my father for quite a long time +after--till the squire came home, and I told him the whole story. +Then--in an impulsive moment--he told me the truth. He cared about my +mother's death--cared badly. They would have been married by that time if +her husband hadn't turned up again. It was two lives spoilt." + +"And what about yours?" she said. + +"Mine!" He smiled rather bitterly. "Well, I've never expected much of +life. I've stuck to my independence and been satisfied with that. He'd +have bossed my destiny if I'd have let him. But I wouldn't. I was +cussed on that point, though if it hadn't been for Robin, I shouldn't +have bothered. I stayed on here for the boy's sake. He wouldn't have +been happy anywhere else. Well," he uttered a weary sigh, "that +chapter's closed." + +She pressed his arm. "Dick, we might never have met but for that." + +"Oh, we might have met," he said. "But--you'd probably have detested +me--under any other circumstances." + +She smiled at him with a touch of wistfulness. "And you me, Dick. Neither +of us would have looked below the surface if we'd met in the general +hurly-burly. We shouldn't have had time. So we have a good deal to be +thankful for, haven't we?" + +He drew her to him again. The desperate misery had passed from his face, +but he looked worn out. "What on earth should I do without you?" he said. + +"I don't know, dear," she answered tenderly. "I hope you are not going to +try any longer, are you?" + +His lips were near her own. "Juliet, will you stay--within reach--till +after the funeral?" + +"Yes," she breathed. + +"And then--then--will you--marry me?" His whisper was even lower than +hers. The man's whole being pulsed in the words. + +Her arms went round his neck. "I will, dearest." + +His breath came quickly. "And if--if--later--you come upon some things +that hurt you--things you don't understand--will you remember how I've +been handicapped--and--forgive me?" + +Her eyes looked straight up to his. They held a shadowy smile. "Dick,--I +was just going--to say that--to you!" + +He pressed her to his heart. "Ah, my Juliet!" he said. "Could anything +matter to us--anything on earth--except our love?" + +In the deep silence her lips answered his. There was no further need +for words. + + + + +PART IV + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FREE GIFT + + +"I'm not quite sure that I call this fair play," said Saltash with a +comical twist of the eyebrows. "I didn't expect all these developments in +so short a time." + +"There are no further rules to this game," said Juliet, squeezing +Columbus around his sturdy shoulders as he sat on the bench beside her. +"Whoever wins--or loses--no one has any right to complain." + +She spoke without agitation, but her face was flushed, and there was +something about the clasp of her arm that made Columbus look up with +earnest affection. + +"If that's so," said Saltash, "I can withdraw my protection without +compunction." + +She smiled. "No doubt you can, most puissant Rex! But it really wouldn't +answer your purpose. You've nothing to gain by treachery to a friend, and +it would give you a horrid taste afterwards." + +He made a face at her. "That's your point of view. And what am I to say +when I meet Muff and all the rest of the clan again?" + +She gave a slight shrug. "Do you think it matters? They are much too +busy chasing after their own affairs to give me a second thought. If +I were Lady Jo, they might be interested--for half-an-hour--not a +minute longer." + +Saltash made a mocking sound. "I know one person whose interest would +last a bit longer than that--if you were Lady Jo." + +"Indeed?" said Juliet. + +"Yes--indeed, _ma Juliette_! I met him the other day at the Club before I +went North, and it may interest you to know that he is determined to find +her--and marry her--or perish in the attempt." + +"It doesn't interest me in the least," said Juliet. + +"No? Hard-hearted as ever!" Saltash's grin was one of sheer mischief. +"Well, he seemed to share the popular belief that I know where the +elusive Lady Jo is to be found. I really can't think what I've done to +deserve such a reputation. I was put through a pretty stiff +cross-examination, I can tell you." + +"I have no doubt you were more than equal to it," said Juliet. + +Saltash broke into a laugh. "It was such a skilful fencing-match that I +imagine we left off much as we began. But I don't flatter myself that I +am cleared of suspicion. In fact it wouldn't surprise me at all to find I +was being shadowed--not for the first time in my disreputable career." + +"I wonder when you will marry and turn respectable," said Juliet. + +He made an appalling grimace. "Follow your pious example? May +heaven forbid!" + +She looked at him, faintly smiling. "Wait till the real thing comes to +you, Charles Rex! You won't feel so superior then." + +"Do you know how old I am?" said Saltash. + +"Thirty-five," said Juliet idly. + +Again his brows went up. "How on earth do you know these things +off-hand?" + +Her grey eyes were quizzical. "You are quite young enough yet to be +happy--if only the right woman turns up." + +He leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head, and contemplated +her with a criticism that lasted several seconds. His dark face wore its +funny, monkeyish look of regret, half-wistful and half-feigned. + +"I wish--" he said suddenly--"I wish I'd come down here when you first +began to rusticate." + +"Why?" said Juliet, with her level eyes upon him. + +He laughed and sprang abruptly to his feet. "_Quien sabe_? I might have +turned rustic too--pious also, my _Juliette_! Think of it! Life isn't +fair to me. Why am I condemned always to ride the desert alone?" + +"Mainly because you ride too hard," said Juliet. "None but you can keep +up the pace. Ah!" She turned her head quickly, and the swift colour +flooded her face. + +"Ah!" mocked Saltash softly, watching her. "Is it Romeo's step +that I hear?" + +Columbus wagged his tail in welcome as Dick Green came round the corner +of the Ricketts' cottage and walked down under the apple-trees to join +them. He greeted Saltash with the quiet self-assurance of a man who +treads his own ground. There was no hint of hostility in his bearing. + +"I've been expecting you," he said coolly. + +"Have you?" said Saltash, a gleam of malicious humour in his eyes. "I +thought there was something of the conquering hero about you. I have +come--naturally--to congratulate you on your conquest." + +"Thank you," said Dick, and seated himself on the bench beside Juliet and +Columbus. "That is very magnanimous of you." + +"It is," agreed Saltash. "But if I had known what was in the wind I +might have carried it still further and offered you Burchester Castle for +the honeymoon." + +"How kind of you!" said Juliet. "But we prefer cottages to castles, don't +we, Dick? We might have had the Court. The squire very kindly suggested +it. But we like this best--till our own house is in order." + +"Still rusticating!" commented Saltash. "I should have thought your +passion for that would have been satisfied by this time. I seem to have +got out of touch with you all during my stay in Scotland. I never meant +to go there this year, but I got lured away by Muff and his crowd. Mighty +poor sport on the whole. I've often wished myself back. But I pictured +you far away on the _Night Moth_ with Mr. and Mrs. Fielding, and myself +bored to extinction in my empty castle. And so I hung on. I certainly +never expected you to get married in my absence, _ma Juliette_. That was +the unkindest cut of all. Why didn't you write and tell me?" + +"I didn't even know where you were," said Juliet. "You disappeared +without warning. We expected you back at any time." + +"Bad excuses every one of 'em!" said Saltash. "You know you wanted to get +it over before I came back. Very rash of you both, but it's your funeral, +not mine. Is this all the honeymoon you're going to have?" + +Juliet laughed a little. "Well, my dear Rex, it doesn't much matter where +you are so long as you are happy. We spend a good deal of our time on the +sea and in it. We also go motoring in the squire's little car. And we +superintend the decorating of our house. At the same time Dick is within +reach of the miners who are being rather tiresome, so every one--except +the miners--is satisfied." + +"Oh, those infernal miners!" said Saltash, and looked at Dick. "How long +do you think you are going to keep them in hand?" + +"I can't say," said Dick somewhat briefly. "I don't advise Lord +Wilchester or any of his people to come down here till something has been +done to settle them." + +Saltash laughed. "Oh, Muff won't come near. You needn't be afraid of +that. He's deer-stalking in the Highlands. He's a great believer in +leaving things to settle themselves." + +"Is he?" said Dick grimly. "Well, they may do that in a fashion he won't +care for before he's much older." + +"Are you organizing a strike?" suggested Saltash, a wicked gleam of +humour in his eyes. + +Dick's eyes flashed in answer. "I am not!" he said. "But--I'm damned if +they haven't some reason for striking--if he cares as little as that!" + +"How often do you tell 'em so?" said Saltash. + +Juliet's hand slipped quietly from Columbus's head to Dick's arm. "May I +have a cigarette, please?" she said. + +He turned to her immediately and his fire died down. He offered her his +cigarette-case in silence. + +Juliet took one, faintly smiling. "Do you know," she said to Saltash, "it +was Dick's cigarettes that first attracted me to him? When I landed on +this desert island, I had only three left. He came to the rescue--most +nobly, and has kept me supplied ever since. I don't know where he gets +them from, but they are the best I ever tasted." + +"He probably smuggles 'em," said Saltash, offering her a match. + +"No, I don't," said Dick, rather shortly. "I get them from a man in town. +A fellow I once met--Ivor Yardley, the K. C.--first introduced me to +them. I get them through his secretary who has some sort of interest in +the trade." + +A sudden silence fell. Juliet's cigarette remained poised in the act of +kindling, but no smoke came from her lips. She had the look of one who +listens with almost painful intentness. + +The flame of the lighted match licked Saltash's fingers, and he dropped +it. "Pardon my clumsiness! Let's try again! So you know Yardley, do you?" +He flung the words at Dick. "Quite the coming man in his profession. +Rather a brute in some ways, cold-blooded as a fish and wily as a +serpent, but interesting--distinctly interesting. When did you meet him?" + +"Early this year. I consulted him on a matter of business. I have no +private acquaintance with him." Dick was looking straight at Saltash with +a certain hardness of contempt in his face. "You evidently are on terms +of intimacy with him." + +"Oh, quite!" said Saltash readily. "He knows me--almost as well as you +do. And I know him--even better. I was saying to _Juliette_ just now +that I believe he shares the general impression that I have got Lady Jo +Farringmore somewhere up my sleeve. She did the rabbit trick, you know, +a week or two before the wedding, and because I was to have been the +best man I somehow got the blame. Wonder if he'd have blamed you if +you'd been there!" + +Dick stiffened. "I think not," he said. + +"Not disreputable enough?" laughed Saltash. + +"Not nearly," said Juliet, coming out of her silence. "Dick has rather +strong opinions on this subject, Charles, so please don't be flippant +about it! Will you give me another match?" + +He held one for her, his eyebrows cocked at a comical angle, open +derision in the odd eyes beneath them. Then, her cigarette kindled, he +sprang up in his abrupt fashion. + +"I'm going. Thanks for putting up with me for so long. I had to come and +see you, Juliette. You are one of the very few capable of appreciating me +at my full value." + +"I hope you will come again," she said. + +He bowed low over her hand. "If I can ever serve you in any way," he +said, "I hope you will give me the privilege. Farewell, most estimable +Romeo! You may yet live to greet me as a friend." + +He was gone with the words with the suddenness of a monkey swinging off a +bough, leaving behind him a silence so marked that the fall of an unripe +apple from the tree immediately above them caused Columbus to start and +jump from his perch to investigate. + +Then Juliet, very quiet of mien and level of brow, got up and went to +Dick who had risen at the departure of the visitor. She put her hand +through his arm and held it closely. + +"You are not to be unkind to my friends, Richard," she said. "It is the +one thing I can't allow." + +He looked at her with some sternness, but his free hand closed at once +upon hers. "I hate to think of you on terms of intimacy with that +bounder," he said. + +She smiled a little. "I know you do. But you are prejudiced. I can't give +up an old friend--even for you, Dick." + +He squeezed her hand. "Have you got many friends like that, Juliet?" + +She flushed. "No. He is the only one I have, and--" + +"And?" he said, as she stopped. + +She laid her cheek with a very loving gesture against his shoulder. +"Ah, don't throw stones!" she pleaded gently. "There are so few of us +without sin." + +His arm was about her in a moment, all his hardness vanished. "My own +girl!" he said. + +She held his hand in both her own. "Do you know--sometimes--I lie awake +at night and wonder--and wonder--whether you would have thought of +me--if you had known me in the old days?" + +"Is that it?" he said very tenderly. "And you thought I was sleeping like +a hog and didn't know?" + +She laughed rather tremulously, her face turned from him. "It isn't +always possible to bury the past, is it, however hard we try? I hope +you'll make allowances for that, Dick, if ever I shock your sense of +propriety." + +"I shall make allowances," he said, "because you are the one and only +woman I worship--or have ever worshipped--and I can't see you in any +other light." + +"How dear of you, Dicky!" she murmured. "And how rash!" + +"Am I such an unutterable prig?" he said. "I feel myself that I have got +extra fastidious since knowing you." + +She laughed at that, and after a moment turned with impulsive sweetness +and put her cigarette between his lips. "You're not a prig, darling. You +are just an honourable and upright gentleman whom I am very proud to +belong to and with whom I always feel I have got to be on my best +behaviour. What have you been doing all this time? I should have come to +look for you if Saltash hadn't turned up." + +Dick's brows were slightly drawn. "I've been talking to Jack," he said. + +"Jack!" She opened her eyes. "Dick! I hope you haven't been quarrelling!" + +He smiled at her anxious face, though somewhat grimly. "My dear, I don't +quarrel with people like Jack. I came upon him at the school. I don't +know why he was hanging round there. He certainly didn't mean me to catch +him. But as I did so, I took the opportunity for a straight talk--with +the result that he leaves this place to-morrow--for good." + +"My dear Dick! What will the squire say?" + +"I can manage the squire," said Dick briefly. + +She smiled and passed on. "And Jack? What will he do?" + +"I don't know and I don't care. He's the sort of animal to land on his +feet whichever way he falls. Anyhow, he's going, and I never want to +speak or hear of him again." Dick's thin lips came together in a hard, +compelling line. + +"Are you never going to forgive him?" said Juliet. + +His eyes had a stony glitter. "It's hardly a matter for forgiveness," he +said. "When anyone has done you an irreparable injury the only thing left +is to try and forget it and the person responsible for it as quickly as +possible. I don't thirst for his blood or anything of that kind. I simply +want to be rid of him--and to wipe all memory of him out of my life." + +"Do you always want to do that with the people who injure you?" +said Juliet. + +He looked at her, caught by something in her tone. "Yes, I think so. +Why?" + +"Oh, never mind why!" she said, with a faint laugh that sounded +oddly passionate. "I just want to find out what sort of man you are, +that's all." + +She would have turned away from him with the words, but he held her with +a certain dominance. "No, Juliet! Wait! Tell me--isn't it reasonable to +want to get free of anyone who wrongs you--to shake him off, kick him off +if necessary,--anyway, to have done with him?" + +"I haven't said it was unreasonable," she said, but she was trembling as +she spoke and her face was averted. + +"Look at me!" he said. "What? Am I such a monster as all that? +Juliet,--my dear, don't be silly! What are you afraid of? Surely +not of me!" + +She turned her face to him with a quivering smile. "No! I won't be silly, +Dick," she said. "I'll try to take you as I find you and--make the best +of you. But, to be quite honest, I am rather afraid of the hard side of +you. It is so very uncompromising. If I ever come up against it--I +believe I shall run away!" + +"Not you!" he said, trying to look into the soft, down-cast eyes. "Or if +you do you'll come back again by the next train to see how I am bearing +up. I've got you, Juliet!" He lifted her hand, displaying it exultantly, +closely clasped in his. "And what I have--I hold!" + +"How clever of you!" said Juliet, and with a swift lithe movement +freed herself. + +His arms went round her in a flash. "I'll make you pay for that!" he +vowed. "How dare you, Juliet? How dare you?" + +She resisted him for a second, or two, holding him from her, +half-mocking, half in earnest. Then, as his hold tightened, encompassing +her, she submitted with a low laugh, yielding herself afresh to him under +the old apple-tree, in full and throbbing surrender to his love. + +But when at last his hold relaxed, when he had made her pay, she took his +hand and pressed a deep, deep kiss into his palm. "That is--a free gift, +Dicky," she said. "And it is worth more than all the having and holding +in the world." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FRIENDSHIP + + +It was on a misty evening of autumn that Vera Fielding entered her +husband's house once more like a bride returning from her wedding-trip. +There was something of the petted air of a bride about her as she came in +on the squire's arm throwing her greetings right and left to the +assembled servants, and certainly there was in her eyes more of the +shining happiness of a bride than they had ever held before. Her face was +flushed with a pretty eagerness, and the petulant lines about her mouth +were far less apparent than of old. Her laugh had a gay spontaneous ring, +and though her voice still had a slightly arrogant inflection it was not +without softer notes when she addressed the squire. + +"I feel as if we had been away for years and years," she said to him, as +they stood together before the blazing fire in the drawing-room. "Isn't +it strange, Edward? Only three months in reality, and such a difference!" + +He was lifting the heavy coat from her shoulders, but she turned with it +impulsively and caught him round the neck. + +"My dear!" he said, and clasped her coat and all. + +"It is going to last, isn't it?" she said, her breath coming quickly. +"You promised--you promised--to love me just as much if I got well!" + +He kissed her with reassuring tenderness. "Yes, my girl, yes! It's going +to last all right. We're going to make a happy home of it, you and I." + +She clung to him for a few seconds, then broke away with a little laugh. +"You'll have to hunt this winter, Edward. You're getting stout." + +"And shoot too," said the squire. "There promises to be plenty of birds. +We'd better have a party if you feel up to it." + +She looked at him with kindling eyes. "I'm up to anything. I should love +it. Do you think Lord Saltash would come?" + +"We must certainly ask him," said, the squire. "But you're not to work +too hard, mind! That's an order. Let people look after themselves!" + +"I'll get Juliet to come and help me," she said. "She must have lots of +spare time. By the way, they'll be here to dine in another hour. I must +go and dress." + +"Have some tea first!" he said. "They won't mind waiting." + +She slipped her hand through his arm. "Come and have it upstairs! It +really is late. We'll have a cosy time together afterwards--when +they're gone." + +He smiled upon her indulgently. They had grown very near to one another +during their cruise in the _Night Moth_. To him also their home-coming +held something of bridal gladness. He had never seen her so glowing with +happiness before. The love that shone in her eyes whenever they met his +own stirred him to the depths. He had never deemed her capable of such +affection in the old days. It had changed his whole world. + +They went upstairs together closely linked. They entered Vera's room from +which she imperiously dismissed her maid. They sat down on the couch +beside the fire. + +"Do you remember that awful day when we quarrelled about Dick Green?" +said Vera suddenly. + +He kept her hand in his. "Don't!" he said. "Don't remind me of it!" + +Her laugh had in it a thrill that was like a caress. "Wasn't I a pig, +Edward? And weren't you a tyrant? I haven't seen you in one of your royal +rages since. I always rather admired them, you know." + +"I know you hated me," he said, "and I'm not surprised." + +She made a face at him. "Silly! I didn't. I thought you the finest +monster I had ever seen. So you were--quite magnificent." She put up a +hand and stroked his iron-grey hair. "Well, we shan't quarrel about young +Green any more," she said. + +"I wonder," said the squire, not looking at her. + +"I don't." She spoke with confidence. "I'm going to be tremendously nice +to him--not for Juliet's sake--for yours." + +"Thank you, my dear," he said, with an odd humility of utterance that +came strangely from him. "I shall appreciate your kindness. As you +know--I am very fond of Dick." + +"You were going to tell me why once," she said. + +He took her hand and held it for a moment. "I will tell you +to-night," he said. + +The maid came in again with a tea-tray, and they had no further intimate +talk. The squire became restless and walked about the room while he +drank his cup. When he had finished, he went away to his own, and Vera +was left to dress. + +Her maid was still putting the final touches when there came a low knock +at the door. She turned sharply from her mirror. + +"Is that you, Juliet? Come in! Come in!" + +Quietly the door opened, and Juliet entered. + +"My dear!" said Vera, and met her impulsively in the middle of the room. + +"I had to come up," Juliet said. "I hope you don't mind, but neither Dick +nor I can manage to feel like ordinary guests in this house." + +She was smiling as she spoke. The white scarf was thrown back from her +hair. The gracious womanliness of her struck Vera afresh with its charm. + +She held her and looked at her. "My dear Juliet, it does me good to see +you. How is Dick? And how is Columbus?" + +"They are both downstairs," Juliet said, "and one is working too hard +and the other not hard enough. I had to bring dear Christopher. You +don't mind?" + +"Of course not, my dear. I would have sent him a special invitation if I +had thought. Come and take off your coat! We got in rather late or I +should have been downstairs to receive you." + +"Tell me how you are!" Juliet said. "I don't believe I have ever seen you +looking so well." + +"I haven't felt so well for years," Vera declared. "But I have promised +Edward all the same to go up to town and see his pet doctor and make sure +that the cure is complete. Personally I am quite sure. But Edward is such +a dear old fusser. He won't be satisfied with appearances." + +She laughed on an indulgent note, and Juliet smiled in sympathy. + +"Well, you've given him good cause for that, haven't you? And you enjoyed +the cruise? I am so glad you had good weather." + +"It was gorgeous," said Vera. "I must write and tell Lord Saltash. He has +given me the time of my life. Have you seen anything of him by the way?" + +"Only once," said Juliet. "He came over to congratulate us. But that is +some time ago. He may be at the other end of the world by this time." + +"No, I think not," Vera said. "I believe he is in England. Was he--at all +upset by your marriage, Juliet?" + +Juliet laughed a little. "Oh, not in the least. He keeps his heart in a +very air-tight compartment I assure you. I have never had the faintest +glimpse of it." + +"But you are fond of him," said Vera shrewdly. + +"Oh yes, quite fond of him," Juliet's eyes had a kindly softness. "I have +never yet met the woman who wasn't fond of Charles Rex," she said. + +"Does--your husband like him?" asked Vera. + +Juliet shook her head quizzically. "No. Husbands don't as a rule." + +"Something of a poacher?" questioned Vera. + +"Oh, not really. Not since he grew up. I believe he was very giddy in +his youth, and then a girl he really cared for disappointed him. So +the story runs. I can't vouch for the truth of it, or even whether he +ever seriously cared for her. But he has certainly never been in +earnest since." + +"What about Lady Joanna Farringmore?" said Vera suddenly. + +Juliet was standing before the fire. She bent slightly, the warm glow +softly tinging her white neck. "I should have thought that old fable +might have died a natural death by this time," she said. + +Vera gave her a sharp look. There was not actual distaste in Juliet's +tone, yet in some fashion it conveyed the impression that the subject was +one which she had no desire to discuss. + +Vera abandoned it forthwith. "Suppose we go downstairs," she said. + +They went down to find Dick and Columbus patiently waiting in the hall. +Vera's greeting was brief but not lacking in warmth. The thought of +Juliet married to the schoolmaster had ceased to provoke her indignation. +She even admitted to herself that in different surroundings Dick might +have proved himself to possess a certain attraction. She believed he was +clever in an intellectual sense, and she believed it was by this quality +that he had captivated Juliet. The fiery force of the man, his almost +fierce enthusiasms, she had never even seen. + +But she was immediately aware of a subtle and secret link between the two +as they all met together in the genial glow of the fire. Dick's eyes that +flashed for a second to Juliet and instantly left her, told her very +clearly that no words were needed to establish communion between them. +They were in close sympathy. + +She gave Dick a warmer welcome than she had ever extended to him before, +and found in the instant response of his smile some reason for wonder at +her previous dislike. Perhaps contact with Juliet had helped to banish +the satire to which in the old days she had so strongly objected. Or +perhaps--but this possibility did not occur to her--he sensed a +cordiality in the atmosphere which had never been present before. + +When the squire came down they were all chatting amicably round the +fire, and he smiled swift approval upon his wife ere he turned to greet +his guests. + +"Hullo, Dick!" he said, as their hands met. "Still running the same +old show?" + +"For the present, sir," said Dick. + +They had not met since the occasion of Dick's and Juliet's marriage when +the squire had come over immediately before the sailing of the _Night +Moth_ to be present, and to give her away. He had been very kind to them +both during the brief hour that he had spent with them, and the memory +of it still lingered warmly in Juliet's heart. She had grown very fond of +the squire. + +There were no awkward moments during that dinner which was more like a +family gathering than Juliet had thought possible. The change in Vera +amazed her. She was like a traveller who after long and weary journeying +in shady places had come suddenly into bright sunshine. And she was +younger, more ardent, more alive, than Juliet had ever seen her. + +The same change was visible, though not so noticeable, in the squire. He +too had come into the sun, but he trod more warily as one who--though +content with the present--was by no means certain that the fair weather +would last. His manner to his wife displayed a charming blend of +tenderness and self-restraint; yet in some fashion he held his own with +her, and once, meeting Juliet's eyes, he smiled in a way that reminded +her of the day on which she had dared to give him advice as to the best +means of securing happiness. + +Dick was apparently in good spirits that night, and he was plainly at his +ease. Having taken his cue from his hostess, he devoted himself in a +large measure to her entertainment, and all went smoothly between them. +When she and Juliet left the table she gave him a smiling invitation to +come and play to them. + +"I haven't brought the old banjo," he said, "but I'll make my wife sing. +She is going to help me this winter at the Club concerts." + +"Brave Juliet!" said Vera, as she went out. "I wouldn't face that crowd +of roughs for a king's ransom." + +"She has nothing to be afraid of," said Dick with quick confidence. "I +wouldn't let her do it if there were any danger." + +"They seem to be in an ugly mood just now," said the squire. + +"Yes, I know." Dick turned back to him, closing the door. "But, taken the +right way, they are still manageable. There is just a chance that we may +keep them in hand if that fellow Ivor Yardley can be induced to see +reason. The rest of the Wilchester crew don't care a damn, but he has +more brains. I'm counting on him." + +"How are you going to get hold of him?" questioned Fielding. + +"I suppose I must go up to town some week-end. I haven't told Juliet yet. +Unlike the average woman, she seems to have a holy hatred of London and +all its ways. So I presume she will stay behind." + +"Perhaps we could get him down here," suggested the squire. + +Dick gave him a swift look. "I've thought of that," he said. + +"Well?" said Fielding. + +Dick hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure that I want him," he said. +"He and Saltash are friends for one thing. And there are +besides--various reasons." + +"You don't like Saltash?" said the squire. + +Dick laughed a little. "I don't hate him--though I feel as if I ought to. +He's a queer fish. I don't trust him." + +"You're jealous!" said Fielding. + +Dick nodded. "Very likely. He has an uncanny attraction for women. I +wanted to kick him the last time we met." + +"And what did Juliet say?" + +"Oh, Juliet read me a lecture and told me I wasn't to. But I think the +less we see of each other the better--if I am to keep on my best +behaviour, that is." + +"It's a good thing someone can manage you," remarked Fielding. "Juliet +is a wonderful peacemaker. But even she couldn't keep you from coming to +loggerheads with Jack apparently. What was that fight about?" + +Dirk's brows contracted. "It wasn't a fight, sir," he said shortly. "I've +never fought Jack in my life. He did an infernal thing, and I made him +quit, that's all." + +"What did he do?" asked the squire. Then as Dick made a gesture of +refusal: "Damn it, man, he was in my employment anyway! I've a right to +know why he cleared out." + +Dick pushed back his chair abruptly and rose. He turned his back on the +squire while he poked the blazing logs with his foot. Then: "Yes, you've +a perfect right to know," he said, speaking jerkily, his head bent. "And +of course I always meant to tell you. It won't appeal to you in the +least. But Juliet understands--at least in part. He was responsible +for--my boy's death. That's why I made him go." + +It was the first time that he had voluntarily spoken of Robin since the +day that he and Juliet had followed him to his grave. He brought out the +words now with tremendous effort, and having spoken he ceased to kick at +the fire and became absolutely still. + +The squire sat at the table, staring at him. For some seconds the silence +continued, then irritably he broke it. + +"Well? Go on, man! That isn't the whole of the story. What do you mean +by--responsible? He didn't shove him over the cliff, I suppose?" + +"No," Dick said. "He didn't do that. I almost wish he had. It would have +been somehow--more endurable." + +Again he became silent, and suddenly to the squire sitting frowning at +the table there came a flash of intuition that told him he could not +continue. He got up sharply, went to Dick, still frowning, and laid an +impulsive arm across his shoulders. + +"I'm sorry, my lad," he said. + +Dick made a slight movement as if the caress were not wholly welcome, +but after a moment he reached up and grasped the squire's hand. + +"It hit me pretty hard," he said in a low voice, not lifting his hand. +"Juliet just made it bearable. I shall get over it, of course. But--I +never want to see Jack again." + +Again for a space he stopped, then with a sudden fierce impatience +jerked on. + +"You may remember saying to me once--no; a hundred times over--that I +should never get anywhere so long as I kept my boy with me--never find +success--or happiness--never marry--all that sort of rot. It was rot. I +always knew it was. I've proved it. She would have come to me in any +case. And as for success--it doesn't depend on things of that sort. I've +proved that too. But he--Jack--got hold of the same infernal parrot-cry. +Oh, I'm sorry, sir," he glanced upwards for a second with working lips. +"I can't dress this up in polite language. Jack said to my boy Robin what +you had said to me. And he--believed it--and so--made an end." + +He drew his breath hard between his teeth and straightened himself, +putting Fielding's arm quietly from his. + +"Good God!" said Fielding. "But the boy was mad! He never was normal. You +can't say--" + +"Oh, no, sir." With grim bitterness Dick interrupted. "He just took the +shortest way out, that's all. He wasn't mad." + +"Committed suicide!" ejaculated the squire. + +Dick's hands were clenched. "Do you call it that," he said, "when a man +lays down his life for his friends?" + +He turned away with the words as if he could endure no more, and walked +to the end of the room. + +Fielding stood and watched him dumbly, more moved than he cared to show. +At length, as Dick remained standing before a bookcase in heavy silence, +he spoke, his tone an odd mixture of peremptoriness and persuasion. + +"Dick!" + +Dick jerked his head without turning or speaking. + +"Are you blaming me for this?" the squire asked. + +Dick turned. His face was pale, his eyes fiercely bright. "You, sir! Do +you think I'd have sat at your table if I did?" + +"I don't know," the squire said sombrely. "You're fond of telling me I +have no claim on you, but I have--for all that. There is a bond between +us that you can't get away from, however hard you try. You think I +can't understand your feelings in this matter, that I'm too sordid in +my views to realize how hard you've been hit. You think I'm only +pleased to know that you're free from your burden, at last, eh, Dick, +and that your trouble doesn't count with me? Think I've never had any +of my own perhaps?" + +He spoke with a half-smile, but there was that in his voice that made +Dick come swiftly back to him down the long room; nor did he pause +when he reached him. His hand went through the squire's arm and +gripped it hard. + +"I'm--awfully sorry, sir," he said. "If you understand--you'll +forgive me." + +"I do understand, Dick," the squire said with great kindness. "I know +I've been hard on you about that poor boy. I'm infernally sorry for the +whole wretched business. But--as you say--you'll get over it. You've +got Juliet." + +"Yes, thank God!" Dick said. "I don't know how I should endure life +without her. She's all I have." + +The squire's face contracted a little. "No one else, Dick?" he said. + +Dick glanced up. "And you, sir," he amended with a smile. "I'm afraid I'm +rather apt to take you for granted. I suppose that's the bond you spoke +of. I haven't--you know I haven't--the least desire to get away from it." + +"Thank you," Fielding said, and stifled a sigh. "Life has been pretty +damnable to us both, Dick. We might have been--we ought to have +been--much more to each other." + +"There's no tie more enduring than friendship," said Dick quickly. "You +and I are friends--always will be." + +Fielding's eyes had a misty look. "The best of friends, Dick lad," he +said. "But will--friendship--give me the right to offer you help without +putting up your pride? I don't want to order your life for you, but you +can't go on with this village _domini_ business much longer. You were +made for better things." + +"Oh, that!" Dick said, and laughed. "Yes, I'm going to chuck that--but +not just at once. Listen, sir! I have a reason. I'll tell you what it is, +but not now, not yet. As to accepting help from you, I'd do that +to-morrow if I needed it, but I don't. I've no pride left where you are +concerned. You're much too good to me and I'm much too grateful. Is that +quite clear?" + +He gave the squire a straight and very friendly look, then wheeled round +swiftly at the opening of the door. + +They were standing side by side as Vera threw it impatiently wide. She +stood a second on the threshold staring at them. Then: "Are you never +coming in?" she said. "I thought--I thought--" she stammered suddenly and +turned white. "Edward!" she said, and went back a step as if something +had frightened her. + +Dick instantly went forward to her. "Yes, Mrs. Fielding. We're coming +now," he said. "Awfully sorry to have kept you waiting. We've had things +to talk about, but we've just about done. You're coming, aren't you, sir? +Take my arm, I say! You look tired." + +He offered and she accepted almost instinctively. Her hand trembled on +his arm as they left the room, and he suddenly and very impulsively laid +his own upon it. + +It was a protective impulse that moved him, but a moment later he +adjusted the position by asking a favour of her--for the first time in +the whole of their acquaintance. + +"Mrs. Fielding, please, after to-day--give me the privilege of numbering +myself among your friends!" + +She looked at him oddly, seeking to cover her agitation with a quivering +assumption of her old arrogance. But something in his face deterred her. +It was not this man's way to solicit favours, and somehow, since he had +humbled himself to ask, she had it not in her to refuse. + +"Very well, Dick," she said, faintly smiling. "I grant you that." + +"Thank you," he said, and gently released her hand. + +It was the swiftest and one of the most complete victories of his life. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CONFESSION + + +It was nearly two hours later that Vera sitting alone before her fire +turned with a slight start at the sound of her husband's step in the room +beyond. She was wearing a pale silk dressing-gown and her hair hung in a +single plait over her shoulder, giving her a curiously girlish look. The +slimness of her figure as she leaned among the cushions accentuated the +fragility which her recent illness had stamped upon her. Her eyes were +ringed with purple, and they had a startled expression that the sound of +the squire's step served to intensify. At the soft turning of the handle +she made a movement that was almost of shrinking. And when he entered she +looked up at him with a small pinched smile from which all pleasure was +wholly absent. + +He was still in evening dress, and the subdued light falling upon him +gave him the look of a man still scarcely past his prime. He stood for a +moment, erect and handsome, before he quietly closed the door behind him +and moved forward. + +"Still up?" he said. + +Again at his approach she made a more pronounced movement of shrinking. +"But, I've been waiting for you," she said rather hopelessly. + +He came to her, stood looking down at her, the old bitter frown +struggling with a more kindly expression on his face. He was obviously +waiting for something with no pleasant sense of anticipation. + +But Vera did not speak. She only sat drawn together, her fingers locked +and her eyes downcast. She was using her utmost strength to keep +herself in hand. + +"Well?" he said at length, a faint ring of irritation in his voice, "Have +you nothing to say to me now I have come?" + +Her lips quivered a little. "I don't think--there is anything to be +said," she said. "I knew--I felt--it was too good to last." + +"It's over then, is it?" he said, the bitterness gaining the upper hand +because of the misery at his heart. "The indiscretions of my youth have +placed me finally beyond the pale. Is that it?" + +She gripped her hands together a little more tightly. "I think you have +been--you are--rather cruel," she said, her voice very low. "If you had +only--told me!" + +He made a gesture of exasperation. "My dear girl, for heaven's sake, +look at the thing fairly if you can! How long have I known you well +enough to let you into my secrets? How long have you been up to hearing +them? I meant to tell you--as you know. I've been on the verge of it +more than once. It wasn't cowardice that held me back. It was +consideration for you." + +She glanced at him momentarily. "I see," she said in that small quivering +voice of hers that told so little of the wild tumult within her. + +"Well?" he said harshly. "And that is my condemnation, is it? Henceforth +I am to be thrust outside--a sinner beyond redemption. Is that it?" + +Her eyelids fluttered nervously, but she did not raise them again. She +leaned instead towards the fire. Her shoulders were bent. She looked +crushed, as if her vitality were gone, and yet so slender, so young, in +her thin wrap. He clinched his hands with a sharp intake of the breath, +and his frown deepened. + +"So you won't speak to me?" he said. "It's beyond words, is it? It's to +be an insurmountable obstacle to happiness for the rest of our lives? We +go back to the old damnable existence we've led for so long! Or +perhaps--" his voice hardened--"perhaps you think we should be better +apart? Perhaps you would prefer to leave me?" + +She flinched at that--flinched as if he had struck her--and then +suddenly she lifted her white face to his, showing him such an anguish of +suffering as he had not suspected. + +"Oh, Edward," she said, "why did this have to happen? We were so +happy before." + +That pierced him--the utter desolation of her--the pain that was too deep +for reproach. He bent to her, all the bitterness gone from his face. + +"My dear," he said in a voice that shook, "can't you see how I loathe +myself--for hurting you--like this?" + +And then suddenly--so suddenly that neither knew exactly how it +happened--they were linked together. She was clinging to him with a rush +of piteous tears, and he was kneeling beside her, holding her fast +pressed against his heart, murmuring over her brokenly, passionately, +such words of tenderness as she had never heard from him before. When in +the end she lifted her face to kiss him, it was wet with tears other than +her own, and somehow that fact did more to ease her own distress than any +consolation he could find to offer. + +She slipped her arm about his neck and pressed her cheek to his. "I'm +thankful I know," she told him tremulously. "Oh, Edward darling, +don't--don't keep anything from me ever again! If I'd only known sooner, +things might have been so different. I feel as if I have never known you +till now." + +"Have you forgiven me?" he said, his grey head bent. + +She turned her lips again to his. "My dear, of course--of course!" +And in a lower voice, "Will you--tell me about her? Did she mean very +much to you?" + +His arm tightened about her. "My darling, it's nearly twenty-three years +ago that she died. Yes, I loved her. But I've never wanted her back. Her +life was such an inferno." He paused a moment, then as she was silent +went on more steadily. "She was eighteen and I was twenty-two when it +began. I was home for a summer vacation, and she had just come to help +her aunt as infant teacher at the school. All the men were wild about +her, but she had no use for any of 'em till I come along. We met along +the shore or on the cliffs. We met constantly. We loved each other like +mad. It got beyond all reason--all restraint. We didn't look ahead, +either of us. We were young, and it was so infernally sweet. I'm not +offering any excuse--only telling you the simple truth. You won't +understand of course." + +She pressed closer to him. "Why shouldn't I understand?" + +He leaned his head against her. "God bless you, my dear! You're very good +to me--far better than I deserve. I was a blackguard, I know. But I never +meant to let her down. That was almost as much her doing as mine--poor +little soul! We were found out at last, and there was a fearful row with +my people. I wanted to take her away then and there, and marry her. But +she wouldn't hear of it--neither would her aunt--a hard, proud woman! I +didn't know then--no one knew--that she was expecting a child, or I'd +have defied 'em all. Instead, she urged and entreated me to go away for a +few weeks--give her time to think, she said. I hoped even then that she +would give in and come to me. But the next thing I knew, she was married +to a brute called Green--skipper of a filthy little cargo-steamer, who +had been after her for some time. She went with him on one or two short +voyages. Heaven knows what she endured in that time. Then the baby was +born--Dick. They called him a seven-months child. But I knew--I guessed +at once. One day I met her--told her so. I saw then--in part--what her +life was like. She was terrified--said Green would kill her if he ever +found out. The man was a great hulking bully--a drunkard perpetually on +shore. He used to beat her as it was. She implored me not to come up +against him, and--for her sake alone--I never did. Then--it was nearly a +year after--he went off on a voyage and didn't come back. The boat was +reported lost with all hands. I think everyone rejoiced so far as he was +concerned. She went back to work at the school, supporting herself and +the child. I never induced her to accept any help from me, but gradually, +as the years went on and my uncle died and I became my own master, I got +into the position of intimate friend. I was allowed to interfere a bit in +Dick's destinies. But for a long, long while she permitted no more than +that. I don't know exactly what made me stick to her. I used to go away, +but I always came back. I couldn't give her up. And at last--twelve years +after Green's disappearance--I won her over. She promised to marry me. +The very day afterwards, that scoundrel Green came back! And her +martyrdom began again." + +"Oh, Edward, my dear!" Vera's hand went up to his face, stroking, +caressing. The suppressed misery of his voice was almost more than she +could bear. "How you suffered!" she whispered. + +He was silent for a moment or two, controlling himself. "It's over now," +he said then. "Thank God, it's a long time over! She died--less than a +year after--when Jack and Robin were born. Her husband fell over the +cliff on the same night in a fit of drunkenness and was killed. That's +all the story. You know the rest. I'm sorry--I'm very sorry--I hadn't the +decency to tell you before we married." + +"You--needn't be sorry, dear," she said very gently. + +He looked at her. "Do you mean that, Vera? Do you mean it makes no +difference to you?" + +She met his eyes with a shining tenderness in her own that gave her a +womanliness which he had never seen in her before. "No," she said, "I +don't mean that. I mean that I'm glad nothing happened to--to prevent my +marrying you. I mean--that I love you ten times more for telling me now." + +He gathered her impulsively close in his arms, kissing her with lips that +trembled. "My own girl! My own generous wife! I'll make up to you," he +vowed. "I'll give you such love as you've never dreamed of. I've been a +brute to you often--often. But that's over. I'll make you happy now--if +it kills me!" + +She laughed softly, with a quivering exultation, between his kisses. +"That wouldn't make me happy in the least. And I don't think you will +find it so hard as that either. You've begun already--quite nicely. Now +that we understand each other, we can never make really serious +mistakes again." + +Thereafter, they sat and talked in the firelight for a long time, +closely, intimately, as friends united after a long separation. And in +that talk the last barrier between them crumbled away, and a bond that +was very sacred took its place. + +In the end the striking of the clock above them awoke Vera to the +lateness of the hour. "My dear Edward, it's to-morrow morning already! +Wouldn't it be a good idea to go to bed?" + +"Of course," he said. "You must be half dead. Thoughtless brute that I +am!" He let her go out of his arms at last, but in a moment paused, +looking at her with an odd wistfulness. "You're sure you've forgiven me? +Sure you won't think it over and find you've made a mistake?" + +Her hands were on his shoulders. Her eyes looked straight into his. "I am +quite sure," she said. + +He began to smile. "What makes you so generous, I wonder? I never thought +you had it in you." + +She leaned towards him, a great glow on her face which made her wonderful +in his sight. "Oh, my dear," she said, "I never had before. But I can +afford to be generous now. What does the past matter when I know that the +present and the future are all my own?" + +His smile passed. He met her look steadfastly. "As long as I live," he +said, "so shall it be." + +And the kiss that passed between them was as the sealing of a vow. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +COUNSEL + + +Juliet and Columbus sat in a sheltered nook on the shore and gazed +thoughtfully out to sea. It was a warm morning after a night of tempest, +and the beach was strewn with seaweed after an unusually high tide. + +Columbus sat with a puckered brow. In his heart he wanted to be pottering +about among these ocean treasures which had a peculiar fascination for +his doggy soul. But a greater call was upon him, keeping him where he +was. Though she had not uttered one word to detain him, he had a strong +conviction that his mistress wanted him, and so, stolidly, he remained +beside her, his sharp little eyes flashing to and fro, sometimes watching +the great waves riding in, sometimes following the curving flight of a +sea-gull, sometimes fixed in immensely dignified contemplation upon the +quivering tip of his nose. His nostrils worked perpetually. The air was +teeming with interesting scents; but not one of them could lure him from +his mistress's side while he sensed her need of him. His body might be +fat and bulging, but his spirit was a thing of keen perceptions and +ardent, burning devotion, capable of denying every impulse save the love +that was its mainspring. + +Juliet was certainly very thoughtful that day. She also was watching the +waves, but the wide brow was slightly drawn and the grey eyes were not +so serene as usual. She had the look of one wrestling with a difficult +problem. The roar of the sea was all about her, blotting out every other +sound, even the calling of the gulls. Her arm encircled Columbus who was +pressed solicitously close to her side. They had been sitting so, almost +without moving, for over half-an-hour. + +Suddenly Columbus turned his head sharply, and a growl swelled through +him. Juliet looked round, and in a moment she had started to her feet. A +man's figure, lithe and spare, with something of a monkey's agility of +movement, was coming to her over the stones. They met in a shelving +hollow of shingle that had been washed by the sea. + +"Oh, Charles!" she said impulsively. "It is good of you to come!" + +He glanced around him as he clasped her hand, his ugly face brimming with +mischief. "It is rather--considering the risk I run. I trust your +irascible husband is well out of the way?" + +She laughed, though not very heartily. "Yes, he has gone to town. I +didn't want him to. I wish I had stopped him." + +He looked at her shrewdly. "You've got an attack of nerves," he observed. + +She still sought to smile--though the attempt was a poor one. "To be +quite honest--I am rather frightened." + +"Frightened!" He pushed a sudden arm around her, looking comical and +tender in the same moment. "And so you sent for me! Then it's Ho for +the _Night Moth_, and when shall we start?" + +She gave him a small push as half-hearted as her laugh had been. "Don't +talk rubbish, please, Charles--if you don't mind! I don't see myself +going on the _Night Moth_ with the sea like that; do you?" + +"Depends," he said quizzically. "You might be persuaded if the devil +were behind you." + +"What! In your company!" Her laugh was more normal this time; she gave +his arm a kindly touch and put it from her. + +"But I'm as meek as a lamb," protested Saltash. + +She met his look with friendly eyes. "Yes, I know--a lamb in wolf's +clothing--rather a frisky lamb, Charles, but comparatively harmless. If I +hadn't realized that--I shouldn't have asked you to come." + +"I like your qualification," he said. "With whom do I compare thus +favourably? The redoubtable Dick?" + +The colour came swiftly into her face and he laughed, derisively but +not unkindly. + +"It's a new thing for me--this sort of job. Are you sure my lamb-like +qualities will carry me through? Do you know, dear, I've never seen you +look so amazing sweet in all my life before? I never knew you could bloom +like this. It's positively dangerous." + +He regarded her critically, his head on one side, an ardour half-mocking, +half-genuine, in his eyes. + +Juliet uttered a sigh. "I feel a careworn old hag," she said. "My own +fault of course. Things are in a nice muddle, and I don't know which +way to turn." + +"One slip from the path of rectitude!" mocked Saltash. "Alas, how fatal +this may prove!" + +She looked away from him. "Do you always jeer at your friends when they +are in trouble?" she said somewhat wearily. + +"Always," said Saltash promptly. "It helps 'em to find their feet--like +lighting the fire when the chimney-sweep's boy got stuck in the chimney. +It's a priceless remedy, my _Juliette_. Nothing like it." + +"I shall begin to hate you directly," remarked Juliet with her +wan smile. + +He laughed, not without complacence. "Do you good to try. You won't +succeed. No one ever does. I gather the main trouble is that Dick has +gone to town when you didn't want him to. Husbands are like that +sometimes, you know. Are you afraid he won't come back--or that he will?" + +"He will come back--to-day," she said. "You know--or perhaps you +don't know--there is going to be a concert to-night for the miners. +He is going to talk to them afterwards. He has gone up to-day to +see--Ivor Yardley." + +"What ho!" said Saltash. "This is interesting. And what does he hope to +get out of him?" + +"I don't know," she said. "I had no idea who he was going to see till +yesterday evening. Mr. Ashcott came in and they were talking, and the +name came out. I am not sure that he wanted me to know--though I don't +know why I think so." + +"And so you sent me an S.O.S.!" said Saltash. "I am indeed honoured!" + +She turned towards him very winningly, very appealingly. "Charles Rex, I +sent for you because I want a friend--so very badly. My happiness is in +the balance. Don't you understand?" + +Her deep voice throbbed with feeling. He stretched out a hand to her with +a quick, responsive gesture that somehow belied the imp of mischief in +his eyes. "_Bien, ma Juliette_! I am here!" he said. + +"Thank you," she said very earnestly. "I knew I could count on you--that +you would not withdraw your protection when once you had offered it." + +"Would you like my advice as well?" he questioned. + +She met his quizzing look with her frank eyes. "What is your +advice?" she said. + +He held her hand in his. "You haven't forgotten, have you, the sole +condition on which I extended my protection to you? No. I thought not. We +won't discuss it. The time is not yet ripe. And, as you say, the _Night +Moth_ in this weather, though safe, might not be a very comfortable +abiding-place. But--don't forget she is quite safe, my _Juliette_! I +should like you to remember that." + +He spoke with a strange emphasis that must in some fashion have conveyed +more than his actual words, for quite suddenly her throat worked with a +sharp spasm of emotion. She put up her hand instinctively to hide it. + +"Thank you," she said. "If I need--a city of refuge--I shall know which +way to turn. Now for your advice!" + +"My advice!" He was looking at her with those odd, unstable eyes of his +that ever barred the way to his inner being. "It depends a little on the +condition of your heart--that. When it comes to this in an obstacle race, +there are three courses open to you. Either you refuse the jump and drop +out--which is usually the safest thing to do. Or you take the thing at +full gallop and clear it before you know where you are. Or you go at it +with a weak heart and come to grief. I don't advise the last anyway. It's +so futile--as well as being beastly humiliating." + +She smiled at him. "Thank you, Charles! A very illuminating parable! +Well, I don't contemplate the first--as you know. I must have a try at +the second. And if I smash,--it's horribly difficult, you know--I may +smash--" Sudden anguish looked at him out of her eyes, and a hard +shiver went through her as she turned away. "Oh, Charles!" she said. "Why +did I ever come to this place?" + +He made a frightful grimace that was somehow sympathetic and shrugged +his shoulders. "If you smash, my dearly-beloved, your faithful comrade +will have the priceless privilege of picking up the pieces. Why you came +here is another matter. I have sometimes dared to wonder if the proximity +of my poor castle--No? Not that? Ah, well then, it must be that our +destinies are guided by the same star. To my mind that is an even more +thrilling reflection than the other. Think of it, my _Juliette_, you and +I--helplessly kicking like flies in the cream-jug--being drawn to one +another, irresistibly and in spite of ourselves, even leaving some of our +legs behind us in the desperate struggle to be calm and reasonable and +quite--quite moral! And then a sudden violent storm in the cream-jug, and +we are flung into each other's unwilling arms where we cling for safety +till the crack of doom when all the milk is spilt! It's no use fighting +the stars, you know. It really isn't. The only rational course is to make +the stars fight for you." + +He peered round at her to see how she was taking his foolery; and in a +moment impulsively she wheeled back, the distress banished from her face, +the old steadfast courage in its place. + +"Oh, Charles, thou king of clowns!" she said. "What a weird +comforter you are!" + +"King of philosophers you mean!" he retorted. "It's taken me a long while +to achieve my wisdom. I don't often throw my pearls about in this +reckless fashion." + +She laughed. "How dare you say that to me? But I suppose I ought to be +humbly grateful. I am as a matter of fact intensely so." + +"Oh, no!" he said. "Not that--from you!" + +His eyes dwelt upon her with a sort of humorous tenderness; she met +them without embarrassment. "You've done me good, Charles," she said. +"Somehow I knew you would--knew I could count on you. You will go on +standing by?" + +He executed a deep bow, his hand upon his heart. "_Maintenant et +toujours, ma Juliette_!" he assured her gallantly. "But don't forget the +moral of my parable! When you jump--jump high!" + +She nodded thoughtfully. "No, I shan't forget. You're a good friend, +Charles Rex." + +"I may be," said Saltash enigmatically. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE THUNDERBOLT + + +Juliet lunched at the Court in Dick's absence. They thought her somewhat +graver and quieter than usual, but there was a gentle aloofness about her +that checked all intimate enquiry. + +"You are not feeling anxious about the miners?" Vera asked her once. + +To which Juliet replied, "Oh no! Not in the least. Dick has such a +wonderful influence over the men. They would never do any brawling with +him there." + +"He has no business to drag you into it all the same," said the squire. + +She looked at him, faintly smiling. "Do you imagine for one moment that I +would stay behind? Besides, there is really no danger. His only fear is +possible friction between the miners and the fishermen. They never have +loved each other, and in their present mood it wouldn't take much to set +the miners alight." + +"I'd let 'em burn!" said the squire. + +"They have some cause for grievance," she urged. "At least Dick +thinks so." + +"Well, and who hasn't, I should like to know?" he returned with warmth. +"How many people are there in the world who don't feel that if they had +their rights they'd be a good deal better off in one respect or another +than they are? But there's no sense in trying to stop the world going +round on that account. That's always the way with these miner chaps. +What's the rest of the community matter so long as they get all they +want? They're not sportsmen. They hit below the belt every time." + +"That's just it," Juliet said. "Dick is trying to teach them to be +sportsmen." + +"Oh, Dick!" said the squire. "He'd reform the world if he could. But he's +wasting his time. They won't be satisfied till they've had their fling. +Lord Wilchester is a wise man to keep out of the way till it's over." + +"I'm afraid I don't agree with you there," Juliet said, flushing a +little. "He might at least hear what they have to say. But they can't get +hold of him. He is abroad." + +"But Yardley is left," said the squire. "I suppose he has power to act." + +"Perhaps," she said, the moment's animation passing. "But it is +Wilchester's business--not his. He shirks his duty." + +"I notice you never have a good word for any of the Farringmore family," +said the squire quizzically. + +She shook her head. "They are all so selfish. It's the family failing, +I'm afraid." + +"You don't share it anyhow," said Vera. + +"Ah! You don't know me," said Juliet. + +They went for a long motor-ride when the meal was over, but at the end of +it, it seemed to Vera that they had talked solely of her affairs +throughout. She knew Juliet's quiet reticence of old and made no attempt +to pierce it. But, thinking it over later, it seemed to her that there +was something more than her usual reserve behind it, and a vague sense +of uneasiness awoke within her. She wondered if Juliet were happy. + +They had tea on their return, but Juliet would not stay any later. She +must be back, she said, to meet Dick and be sure that the supper was +ready in good time. So, regretfully, still with that inexplicable feeling +of doubt upon her, Vera let her go. + +Just at the last she detained her for a moment to say with an effort that +was plainly no light one, "Juliet, don't forget I am here if--if you ever +need a friend!" + +And then Juliet surprised her by a sudden, close embrace and a +low-spoken, "I shall never forget you--or your goodness to me." + +But a second later she was gone, and Vera was left to wonder. + +As for Juliet, she hastened away as one in a fever to escape, yet +before she reached the end of the avenue her feet moved as if weighted +with chains. + +A mist was creeping up from the sea and through it there came the long +call of a distant syren. The waves were no longer roaring along the +shore. The sound of them came muffled and vague, and she knew that the +storm had gone down. + +There was something very desolate in that atmosphere of dimmed sight and +muted sound. It was barely sunset, but the chill of the dying year was in +the air. The thought came to her, suddenly and very poignantly, of that +wonderful night of spring, when she had first wandered along the cliff +with the scent of the gorse-bushes rising like incense all around her, +when she had first heard that magic, flute-like call of youth and love. A +deep and passionate emotion filled and overfilled her heart with the +memory. As she went up the little path to the school-house, her face was +wet with tears. + +Dick had not returned, and she went into the little dining-room and +busied herself with laying the cloth for supper. Their only indoor +servant--a young village girl--was out that evening, but she could hear +Mrs. Rickett who often came up to help moving about the kitchen. She did +not feel in the mood for the good woman's chatter and delayed going in +her direction as long as possible. + +So it came about that, pausing for a few moments at the window before +doing so, she heard the click of the gate and saw the old postman coming +up the path. + +He moved slowly and with some difficulty, being heavily laden as well as +bowed with age and rheumatism. She went quickly to the outer door, and, +accompanied by the growling Columbus, moved to meet him. + +"Evening, ma'am! Here's a parcel for you!" the old man said. "It's books, +and it's all come to bits, but I don't think as I've dropped any of 'em. +You'd best let me bring 'em straight in for I'm all fixed up with 'em +now, and they'll only scatter if you tries to take 'em." + +She led the way within, commiserating him on the weight of his burden +which he thumped down without ceremony on the white cloth that she had +just spread. The parcel was certainly badly damaged, and books in white +covers began to slide out of it the moment they were released. + +"I'll leave you to sort 'em, ma'am," he said airily. "Daresay as they're +not much the worse. Schoolmaster's truck I've no doubt. If there was +fewer books in the world, the postman would have an easier life than what +he does and no one much worse off than they be now--except the clever +folks as writes 'em! Well, I'll be getting along to the Court, ma'am, and +I wish you a very good-night." + +He stumped away, and in the failing evening light Juliet began to gather +up the confusion he had left behind. She found it was not a collection +of paper-backed school-books as she had at first imagined, and since the +contents of the parcel were very thoroughly scattered she glanced at them +with idle curiosity as she laid them together. + +Then with a sudden violent start she picked up one of the volumes and +looked at it closely. The title stood out with arresting clearness on the +white paper jacket: _Gold of the Desert_ by _Dene Strange_. Author of +_The Valley of Dry Bones_, _Marionettes_, etc. + +She caught her breath. Something sprang up within her--something that +clamoured grotesque and incoherent things. Her heart was beating so fast +that it seemed continuous like the dull roar of the sea. The volumes were +all alike--all copies of one book. + +A sheet of paper fluttered from the one she held. She snatched at it +with a curious desperation--as though, sinking in deep waters, she +clutched at a straw. + +_Author's Copies_--_With Compliments_, were the words that stood out +before her widening gaze. She remained as one transfixed, staring at +them. It was as if a thunderbolt had fallen in the quiet room.... + +It must have been many minutes later that she came to herself and found +herself huddled in a chair by the table, shivering from head to foot. She +was conscious of a horrible feeling of sickness, and her heart was +beating slowly, with thick, uneven strokes. + +The room was growing dark. The chill desolation of the world outside +seemed to have followed her in. She could not remember that she had ever +felt so deadly cold before. She could not keep her teeth from chattering. + +Something moved close to her, and she realized what had roused her. +Columbus was standing up by her side, his forepaws against her, his +grizzled nose nudging her arm. She stirred stiffly, and put the arm +about him. + +"Oh--Christopher!" she said, and gasped as if she had not breathed for a +long time. "Oh--Christopher!" + +He leaned up against her, stretching his warm tongue to reach her cheek, +his whole body wriggling with gushing solicitude under her hand. + +She looked down at him with the dazed eyes of one who has received a +stunning blow. "I don't know what we shall do, my doggie," she said. + +And then very suddenly she was on her feet, tense, palpitating, her +head turned to listen. The gate had clicked again, and someone was +coming up the path. + +It was Dick, and he moved with the step of an eager man, reached the +door, opened it, and entered. She heard him in the passage, heard his +tread upon the threshold, heard his voice greeting her. + +"Hullo, darling! All alone in the dark? I've had a beast of a day away +from you." + +His hands reached out and clasped her. She was actually in his arms +before she found her voice. + +"Dick! Dick! Please! I want to speak to you," she said. + +He clasped her close. His lips pressed hers, stopping all utterance for a +while with a mastery that would not be held in check. She could not +resist him, but there was no rapture in her yielding. His love was like a +flame about her, but she was cold--cold as ice. Suddenly, with his face +against her neck, he spoke: "What's the matter, Juliet?" + +She quivered in response, made an attempt to release herself, felt his +arms tighten, and was still. "I have--found out--something," she said, +her voice very low. + +"What is it?" he said. + +She did not answer. A great impulse arose in her to wrench herself +from him, to thrust him back but she could not. She stood--a +prisoner--in his hold. + +He waited a moment, still with his face bent over her, his lips close to +her neck. "Is it anything that--matters?" he asked. + +She felt his arms drawing her and quivered again like a trapped bird. +"Yes," she whispered. + +"Very much?" + +"Yes," she said again. + +"Then you are angry with me," he said. + +She was silent. + +He pressed her suddenly very close. "Juliet, you don't hate me, do you?" + +She caught her breath with a sob that sounded painfully hard and dry. +"I--couldn't have married you--if I had known," she said. + +He started a little and lifted his head. "As bad as that!" he said. + +For a space there was silence between them while his eyes dwelt sombrely +upon the litter of books upon the table, and still his arms enfolded her +though he did not hold her close. When at last she made as if she would +release herself, he still would not let her go. + +"Will you listen to me?" he said. "Give me a hearing--just for a minute? +You have forgiven so much in me that is really bad that I can't feel this +last to be--quite unpardonable. Juliet, I haven't really wronged you. You +have got a false impression of the man who wrote those books. It's a +prejudice which I have promised myself to overcome. But I must have time. +Will you defer judgment--for my sake--till you have read this latest +book, written when you first came into my life? Will you--Juliet, will +you have patience till I have proved myself?" + +She shivered as she stood. "You don't know--what you have done," she +said. + +He made a quick gesture of protest. "Yes, I do know. I know quite well. +I have hurt you, deceived you. But hear my defence anyway! I never meant +to marry you in the first place without telling you, but I always wanted +you to read this book of mine first. It's different from the others. I +wanted you to see the difference. But then I got carried away as you +know. I loved you so tremendously. I couldn't hold myself in. Then--when +you came to me in my misery--it was all up with me, and I fell. I +couldn't tell you then, Juliet, I wasn't ready for you to know. So I +waited--till the book could be published and you could read it. I am +infernally sorry you found out like this. I wanted you--so badly--to +read it with an open mind. And now--whichever way you look at it--you +certainly won't do that." + +There was a whimsical note in his voice despite its obvious sincerity as +he ended, and Juliet winced as she heard it, and in a moment with +resolution freed herself from his hold. + +She did it in silence, but there was that in the action that deeply +wounded him. He stood motionless, looking at her, a glitter of sternness +in his eyes. + +"Juliet," he said after a moment, "you are not treating this matter +reasonably. I admit I tricked you; but my love for you was my excuse. And +those books of mine--especially the one I didn't want you to read--were +never intended for such as you." + +She looked back at him with a kind of frozen wonder. "Then who were they +meant for?" she said. + +He made a slight movement of impatience. "You know. You know very well. +They were meant for the people whom you yourself despise--the crowd you +broke away from--men and women like the Farringmores who live for nothing +but their own beastly pleasures and don't care the toss of a halfpenny +for anyone else under the sun." + +She went back against the table and stood there, supporting herself while +she still faced him. "You forget--" she said, her voice very low,--"I +think you forget--that they are my people--I belong to them!" + +"No, you don't!" he flung back almost fiercely. "You belong to me!" + +A great shiver went through her. She clenched her hands to repress it. "I +don't see," she said, "how I can--possibly--stay with you--after this." + +"What?" He strode forward and caught her by the shoulders. She was aware +of a sudden hot blaze of anger in him that made her think of the squire. +He held her in a grip that was merciless. "Do you know what you are +saying?" he asked. + +She tried to hold him from her, but he pressed her to him with a +dominance that would not brook resistance. + +"Do you?" he said. "Do you?" + +His face was terrible. She felt the hard hammer of his heart against her +own, and a sense of struggling against overwhelming odds came upon her. + +She bowed her head against his shoulder. "Oh, Dick!" she said. "It is +you--who--don't--know!" + +His hold did not relax, and for a space he said no word, but stood +breathing deeply as a man who faces some deadly peril. + +He spoke at length, and in his voice was something she had never heard +before--something from which she shrank uncontrollably, as the victim +shrinks from the branding-iron. + +"And so you think you can leave me--as lightly as Lady Joanna +Farringmore left that man I went to see today?" + +She lifted her head with a gasp. "No!" she said. "Oh, no! +Not--like that!" + +His eyes pierced her with their appalling brightness. "No, not quite like +that," he said, with awful grimness. "There is a difference. An engaged +woman can cut the cable and be free without assistance. A married woman +needs a lover to help her!" + +She shrank afresh from the scorching cynicism of his words. "Dick!" she +said. "Have I asked for--freedom?" + +"You had better not ask!" he flashed back. "You have gone too far +already. I tell you, Juliet, when you gave yourself to me it was +irrevocable. There's no going back now. You have got to put up with +me--whatever the cost." + +"Ah!" she whispered. + +"Listen!" he said. "This thing is going to make no difference between +us--no difference whatever. You cared for me enough to marry me, and I am +the same man now that I was then. The man you have conjured up in your +own mind as the writer of those books is nothing to me--or to you now. I +am the man who wrote them--and you belong to me. And if you leave +me--well, I shall follow you--and bring you back." + +His lips closed implacably upon the words; he held her as though +challenging her to free herself. But Juliet neither moved nor spoke. She +stood absolutely passive in his hold, waiting in utter silence. + +He waited also, trying to read her face in the dimness, but seeing only a +pale still mask. + +At last: "You understand me?" he said. + +She bent her head. "Yes--I understand." + +He stood for a moment longer, then abruptly his hold tightened upon her. +She lifted her face then sharply, resisting him almost instinctively, and +in that instant his passion burst its bonds. He crushed her to him with +sudden mastery, and, so compelling, he kissed her hotly, possessively, +dominatingly, holding her lips with his own, till she strained against +him no longer, but hung, burning and quivering, at his mercy. + +Then at length very slowly he put her down into the chair from which she +had risen at his entrance, and released her. She leaned upon the table, +trembling, her hands covering her face. And he stood behind her, +breathing heavily, saying no word. + +So for a space they remained in darkness and silence, till the +brisk opening of the kitchen-door brought them back to the small +things of life. + +Dick moved. "Go upstairs!" he said, under his breath. + +She stirred and rose unsteadily. He put out a hand to help her. She did +not take it, did not seem even to see it. + +Gropingly, she turned to the door, went out slowly, still as if +feeling her way, reached the narrow stairs and went up them, clutching +at the rail. + +He followed her to the foot and stood there watching her. As she reached +the top he heard her sob. + +An impulse caught him to follow her, to take her again--but how +differently!--into his arms,--to soothe her, to comfort her, to win her +back to him. But sternly he put it from him. She had got to learn her +lesson, to realize her obligations,--she who talked so readily of leaving +him! And for what? + +A wave of hot blood rose to his forehead, and he clenched his hands. He +went back into the room, knowing that he could not trust himself. + +When Mrs. Rickett entered with a lamp a few moments later, he was +gathering up the litter of books and paper from the table, his face white +and sternly set. He gave her a brief word of greeting, and went across to +the school with his burden. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +COALS OF FIRE + + +It was nearly half-an-hour later that Mrs. Rickett ascended the stairs +and knocked at Juliet's door. + +"Supper's been in this long time," she called. "And Mr. Green's still +over at the school." + +There was a brief pause, then Juliet's quiet movement in the room. She +opened the door and met her on the threshold. + +"Why, you haven't got a light!" said Mrs. Rickett. "Is there anything the +matter, ma'am? Aren't you well?" + +"Yes, quite, thank you," Juliet said in her slow gentle voice. "I am +afraid I forgot the time. I will put on my hat before I come down." + +Mrs. Rickett's eyes regarded her shrewdly for a moment or two, then +looked away. "Shall I fetch you a candle?" she said. + +Juliet turned back into the room. "I have one, thank you. Perhaps you +wouldn't mind going to find Mr. Green while I dress." + +Mrs. Rickett hastened away, and Juliet lighted her candle and surveyed +herself for a second, standing motionless before the glass. + +Several minutes later she descended the stairs and went quietly into the +dining-room. She was wearing a large-brimmed hat that shadowed her face. + +Dick, standing by the mantelpiece, waiting for her, gave her a hard and +piercing look as she entered. + +"I am sorry I am late," she said. + +He moved abruptly as if somehow the conventional words had an edge. He +drew out a chair for her. "I am afraid there isn't a great deal of +time," he said. + +She sat down with a murmured word of thanks. He took his place, facing +her, very pale, but absolutely his own master. He served her silently, +and she made some pretence of eating, keeping her head bent, feeding +Columbus surreptitiously as he sat by her side. + +Her plate was empty when at length very resolutely she looked up and +spoke. "Dick, I want you to understand one thing. I did not open that +parcel of yours. It was open when it came." + +Instantly his eyes were upon her with merciless directness. "I gathered +that," he said. + +She met his look unflinchingly, but her next words came with an effort. +"Then you can't--with justice--blame me for surprising your secret." + +"I don't," he said. + +"And yet--" She made a slight gesture of remonstrance, as if the piercing +brightness of his eyes were more than she could bear. + +He pushed back his chair and rose. He came to her as she sat, bent over +her, his hand on her shoulder, and looked at her intently. + +"Juliet," he said, "I don't like you with that stuff on your face. It +isn't--you." + +She kept her face steadily upturned, enduring his look with no sign of +shrinking. "You are meeting--the real me--for the first +time--to-night," she said. + +His mouth curved cynically. "I think not. I have never worshipped at the +shrine of a painted goddess." + +Something rose in her throat and she put up a hand to hide it. "I doubt +if--Dene Strange--was ever capable of worshipping anything," she said. + +His hand closed upon her. "Does that mean that you hate him more than you +love me?" he said. + +A faint quiver crossed her face. She passed the question by. "Do you +remember--Cynthia Paramount--your heroine?" she said. "The woman you +dissected so cleverly--stripped to the naked soul--and exposed to public +ridicule? You were terribly merciless, weren't you, Dick? You didn't +expect--some day--to find yourself married--to that sort of woman." + +His face hardened. "In what way do you resemble her?" he said. "I have +never seen it yet." + +"Can't you see it--now?" she returned, lifting her face more fully to +the light. + +He was silent for several seconds, looking at her. Then very suddenly his +attitude changed. He knelt down by her side and spoke, urgently, +passionately. + +"Juliet--for God's sake--let us remember what we are to each other--and +put the rest away!" + +His arm encircled her. He would have drawn her close, but she held back +with a sharp sound that was almost a cry of pain. + +"Dick, wait--wait a moment! You don't know--don't understand! Ah, +wait--please wait! Take your arm away--just for a moment--please--just +for a moment! I have something to tell you, but I can't say it like this. +I can't--I can't! Ah! What is that?" + +She broke off, gasping, almost fighting for breath, as the sudden rush +and hoot of a car sounded at the gate. + +Dick got to his feet. His face was white. "Are you expecting +someone?" he said. + +She clasped her hands tightly upon her breast to still her agitation. +"No, I'm not expecting--anyone. But--but--someone--has come." + +"Evidently," said Dick. + +He turned towards the door, but in a moment she had sprung up, reaching +it before him. "Dick, if it is Saltash--" + +"Why should it be Saltash?" he said, with that in his voice that arrested +her as compelling as if he had laid a hand upon her. + +She faced him standing at the door, striving desperately for +self-control. "It may be Saltash," she said, speaking more quietly. "I +saw him this morning, and he knows about the concert to-night. Dick--" +she caught her breath involuntarily--"Dick, why do you look at me +like that?" + +He made a curious jerky movement--as if he strove against invisible +bonds. "So," he said, "you are expecting him!" + +She stiffened at his words. "I have told you I am expecting no one, but +that is no reason why Saltash should not come." + +For a second he looked at her with something that was near akin to +contempt in his eyes, then suddenly an awful flame leapt up in them +consuming all beside. He took a swift step forward, and caught her +between his hands. + +"Juliet!" he said sternly. "Stop this trifling! What are you hiding from +me? What is it you were trying to tell me just now?" + +She shrank from the fire of his look. "I can't tell you now, Dick. It's +impossible. Dick, you are hurting me!" + +He spoke between his teeth. "I've got to know! Tell me now!" + +Someone was knocking a careless tattoo upon the outer door. Juliet turned +her head sharply, but she kept her eyes upon her husband's face. + +"No, Dick," she said after a moment, and with the words something of her +customary quiet courage came back to her. "I can't--possibly--tell you +now. Do this one thing for me--wait till to-night!" + +"And then?" he said. + +"I promise that you shall know--everything--then," she said. +"Please--give me till then!" + +There was earnest entreaty in her voice, but she had subdued her +agitation. She met the scorching intensity of his look with eyes that +never wavered, and in spite of himself he was swayed by her +steadfastness. + +"Very well," he said, and set her free. "Till to-night!" + +She turned from him in silence and opened the door. He stood motionless, +with hands clenched at his sides, and watched her. + +She went down the passage without haste and reached the outer door. She +opened it without fumbling, and in a moment Saltash's debonair accents +came to him. + +"Ah, _Juliette_! You are ready? Has your good husband got back yet? Ah, +there you are, sir! I have called to offer you and _madame_ a lift. I am +going your way." + +He came sauntering up the passage with the royal assurance characteristic +of him, and held out his hand to Dick with malicious cordiality. + +"I come as a friend, Romeo. Do you know you're very late? Have you only +just got back?" + +Juliet's eyes were upon Dick. She saw his momentary hesitation before he +took the proffered hand. + +Saltash saw it also and grinned appreciatively. "Well, what news? What +did Yardley have to say?" + +"I didn't see him," Dick said briefly. + +"No? How was that?" + +Dick shrugged his shoulders. "Merely because he wasn't there. I can't +tell you why, for I don't know. I waited about all day--to no purpose." + +"Drew a blank!" commented Saltash. "No wonder you're feeling a bit +savage! What are you going to do now?" + +Dick faced him, grimly uncommunicative. "Oh, talk, I suppose. What else?" + +"And you're taking Juliet?" pursued Saltash. + +"Have you any objection?" said Dick sharply. + +"None," said Saltash smoothly. "She is your wife, not mine--perhaps +fortunately for her." He threw a gay glance at Juliet. "Are you ready, +_ma chère_? Come along, _mon ami_! It will amuse me to hear +you--talk." + +Juliet went upstairs to fetch her cloak, and Dick took his coat from the +peg in the hall, and began to put it on. Saltash watched him with +careless amiability. + +"Are you going to be there to-night then?" Dick asked him suddenly. + +"I am proposing to give myself that pleasure," he returned. "That is, of +course, if you on your part have no objection." + +Dick's black eyes surveyed him keenly. "I am quite capable of protecting +my wife single-handed," he said. "Not that there will be any need." + +Saltash executed a smiling bow. "I am delighted to hear you say so. Have +you got a cigarette to spare?" + +Dick took out his case and held it to him. Saltash helped himself, the +smile still twitching the corners of his mouth. + +"Thanks," he said lightly. "So you have no anxieties about to-night!" + +"None," said Dick. + +"You think the men will come to heel?" + +"They haven't broken away yet," Dick reminded him curtly. + +Saltash raised his eyes suddenly. "When they do--what then?" he said. + +"What do you mean?" said Dick. + +He laughed mischievously. "I suppose you know that you are credited with +being at their head?" + +Dick, in the act of striking a match, paused. He looked at the other man +with raised brows. "At their head?" he questioned. "What do you mean?" + +Without the smallest change of countenance Saltash enlightened him. "As +strike-leader, agitator, and so on. You have achieved an enviable +reputation by your philanthropy. Didn't you know?" + +Dick struck the match with an absolutely steady hand, and held it to his +cigarette. "I did not," he said. + +Saltash puffed at the cigarette, peering at him curiously through the +smoke. "Which may account for your failure to find Ivor Yardley," he +suggested after a moment. + +"In what way?" said Dick. + +Saltash straightened himself. "I imagine he is not a great believer +in--philanthropy," he said. + +Dick's eyes shone with an ominous glitter. "From my point of view these +insinuations are not worth considering," he said, "though no doubt it has +given you a vast amount of enjoyment to fabricate them." + +"I!" said Saltash. + +"You!" said Dick. + +There was a moment's silence, then Saltash began to laugh. "My dear chap, +you don't really think that! You'd like to--but you can't!" + +Dick looked at him, thin-lipped, uncompromising, silent. + +"You actually do?" questioned Saltash. "You really think I care a +twopenny damn what anybody thinks about you or anyone else under the sun? +I say, don't be an ass, Green, whatever else you are! It's too tiring for +all concerned. If you really want to know who is responsible--" + +"Well?" said Dick. + +"Well," Saltash sent a cloud of smoke upwards, "look a bit nearer home, +man! Haven't you got--a brother somewhere?" + +Dick gave a sudden start. "I have not!" he said sternly. + +Saltash nodded. "Ah! Well, I imagine Yardley knows him if you don't. He +is the traitor in the camp, and he's out to trip you if he can." He +laughed again with careless humour. "I don't know why I should give you +the tip. It is not my custom to heap coals of fire. Pray excuse them on +this occasion! I suppose you are quite determined to take _Juliette_ to +the meeting to-night?" + +"I am quite determined to go," said Juliet quietly, as she came down the +stairs. "Will you have anything, Charles? No? Then let us start! It is +getting late. You are driving yourself?" + +He threw open the door for her with a deep bow. "I always drive myself, +_Juliette_, and--I always get there," he said. + +Her faint laugh floated back to Dick as he followed them out. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FLIGHT + + +It was a dumb and sullen crowd that Dick Green faced that night in the +great barn on the slope of High Shale. + +A rough platform had been erected at one end of the place and this, with +the deal table and lamp and one or two chairs, was all that went to the +furnishing of his assembly-room. The men stood in a close crowd like +herded cattle, and the atmosphere of the place was heavy with the reek of +humanity and coarse tobacco-smoke. There was a door at each end, but the +night was still and dark and there was little air beyond the vague chill +of a creeping sea-mist. + +Dick, entering at the door at the platform end of the building instead of +passing straight up through the crowd as was his custom, was aware of a +curious influence at work from the first moment--an influence adverse if +not directly hostile that reached him he knew not how. He heard a vague +murmur as Juliet and Saltash followed him, and sharply he turned and drew +Juliet to his side. In that instant he realized that she was the only +woman in the place. + +He faced the crowd, his hand upon her arm. "Well, men," he said, his +words clean-cut and ready, "so you've left your wives behind, have +you? I on the contrary have brought mine, and she has promised to give +you a song." + +The mutter died. Some youths at the back started applause, which spread, +though somewhat half-heartedly, through the crowd, and for a space the +ugly feeling died down. + +"We'll get to business," said Dick, and took out his banjo. + +The concert began, Ashcott came up on to the platform and under cover of +Dick's jangling ragtime spoke in a low voice and urgently to Saltash. + +The latter heard him with a laugh and a careless grimace, but a little +later he leaned towards Juliet who sat behind the table and touched her +unobtrusively. She looked round at him almost with reluctance, and he +whispered to her in rapid French. + +She listened to him with raised brows, and then shook her head with a +smile. "No, of course not! I am going to sing to them directly. I am here +to help--not to make things worse." + +He shrugged his shoulders and said no more. In a few minutes Dick's +cheery banjo thrummed into silence and he turned round. + +"Are you ready?" he said to Juliet. + +She rose and came forward, tall and graceful, bearing the unmistakable +stamp of high-breeding in every delicate movement. She might have been on +the platform of a London concert-hall as she faced her audience under the +shadowing hat. + +They stared at her open-mouthed, spellbound, awed by the quiet dignity of +her. And in the hush that fell before her, Juliet began to sing. + +Her voice was low, highly trained, exquisitely soft. She sang an old +English ballad with a throbbing sweetness that held her hearers with its +charm. And behind her Dick leaned against the table with his banjo and +very softly accompanied her. + +His face was in shadow also as he bent over the instrument. Not once +throughout the song did he look up. + +When she ended, there came that involuntary pause which is the highest +tribute that can be paid by any audience, and then such a thunder of +applause as shook the building. Saltash stepped forward to hand her back +to her chair, but the men in front of her yelled so hoarse a protest +that, laughing, he retired. + +And Juliet sang again and again, thrilling the rough crowd as Dick had +never thrilled them, choosing such old-world melodies as reach the hearts +of all. Saltash watched her with keen appreciation on his ugly face. He +was an accomplished musician himself. But Dick with his banjo, though +he responded unerringly to every shade of feeling in the beautiful voice, +never raised his head. + +It was he who at last came forward and led Juliet back to her chair, but +by that time the temper of the men had completely changed. They shouted +good-humoured comments to him and bandied jokes among themselves. The +whole atmosphere of the place had altered. The heavy sullenness had +passed like a thunder-cloud, and Ashcott no longer smoked his pipe in the +doorway with an air of gloomy foreboding. + +Dick laid aside his banjo and came to the front of the platform. There +was absolute confidence in his bearing, a vital strength that imparted a +mastery that yet was largely compounded of comradeship. + +He began to speak without effort--as a man speaks to his friends. + +"I have something to say to you chaps," he said, "and I hope you will +hear me out fairly, even though it may not be the sort of thing you like +to listen to. I think you know that I care a good deal about your +welfare, and I am doing my level best to secure a decent future for you. +I haven't accomplished very much at present, but I'm sticking to it, +and I believe I shall win out some day. It won't be my fault if I don't, +and I hope it won't be yours. What?" as a murmur broke out in the +background. "Oh, shut up, please, till I've done, then if anyone wants to +talk he shall have his chance. It might be your fault if I failed +because I'm counting on you to back me up in a legal and orderly way. +And if you don't, well, I'm knocked out for good and all. For I'm no +strike-leader, and any man who strikes can go to blazes so far as I'm +concerned. I wouldn't lift a finger to stop him going or to get him out +when there; in fact it's the best place for him. No, boys, listen! Wait +till I've done! A strike is a deadly thing. It's like a spreading poison +in this country, and the beastly root of it is just selfishness. It +will choke the very life out of the nation if it isn't stopped. It's a +weapon that no self-respecting man should smirch his hands with. I know +very well there are heaps of reforms needed, heaps of abuses to be +stopped, but you don't cure evil with evil. You're only feeding the +monster that will devour you in the end, and you're feeding him with +human sacrifice moreover. Have you ever thought of that? And another +thing! Do you ever look ahead--right ahead--beyond your own personal +wants and grievances? Do you ever ask yourselves if strikes and violence +are going to bring forth justice and equity? Do you ever work the thing +out to its proper values--see it as it really is? This continual striving +for money, for power,--this overthrowing of all established control--do +you call it a fight for liberty by any chance? I tell you, men, that +it's a struggle for the most hideous slavery that ever disfigured this +earth. This perpetual fight for self will end in self-destruction. It +always does. It's the law of creation. The thing that strikes rebounds +upon the striker. The man who deliberately injures another injures +himself tenfold more seriously. Isn't there something in the Bible about +he who takes the sword perishes with the sword? That's justice--God's +justice--and there's no getting away from that. You can overthrow every +institution that was ever made, but you will never set up in its place a +Government that will bring again the order you have destroyed. You can +pull the Empire to pieces with dissensions and conspiracies, but--once +down--you will never build it up again. + +"Grievances? Yes, of course you have grievances--heaps of 'em. Who +hasn't. And you've a right to try for better conditions. But in heaven's +name, don't strike for them! Don't turn the whole world upside down +because you want something you can't get! Be sportsmen and play a decent +game! Stick to the rules and you may win! I tell you I'm fighting for +you--I'm fighting hard. And I shan't rest so long as I have a decent +crowd to fight for. But if you're going to follow the rotten example of +the fellows who sacrifice the whole community to their own beastly +greed--who strike like a herd of sheep because a few damned traitors urge +'em to it--who fling duty and honour to the winds on the chance of +grabbing a little worldly advantage--in short, if you're not going to +observe the rules of the game, I've done with the whole show. + +"That's the position, men, and I want you to get hold of it, see it as it +really is. Nothing on this earth worth having was ever gained by +disloyalty. Think it out for yourselves! Don't be led by the nose by a +parcel of agitators! Give the matter your own sane and deliberate +thought! Form your own conclusions! Throw off this tyranny of other men's +notions, and be free! If only every man in the kingdom would take this +line and think for himself instead of giving his blind allegiance to a +power that is out to ruin the nation, there would pretty soon be such a +strike against strikes as would kill 'em outright. They're a hindrance to +civilization and a curse to the world at large. They are selfishness +incarnate and a stumbling-block to all national progress. And if there's +any pride of race in you, any sense of an Englishman's honour, any desire +for the nation's welfare (which is at a pretty low ebb just now) join +with me and do your level best to cast out this evil thing!" + +He ended as he had begun with clear and spontaneous appeal to the higher +instincts of his hearers. He knew them well, knew their weakness and +their strength; and he knew his own power over them and wielded it with +unfailing confidence. + +The hard-breathing silence that succeeded his words dismayed him not +at all. He waited quite calmly for the question he had checked at +the outset. + +It came very gruffly from a burly miner immediately in front of him. +"It's all very well," the man said. "But how are we to get our rights any +other way?" + +"Oh, you'll get 'em all right," Dick made answer. "This isn't an age of +serfdom. You won't be downtrodden to that extent. You stick to your guns +and have a little patience! Things are not standing still. State your +grievances--if they're bad enough--and then give the owners a chance! But +don't forget that there's got to be give and take between you! If you +want fair play and consideration from the owners, you must give them the +same. Don't forget that you sink or swim together! If you ruin them you +ruin yourselves. Disloyalty means disruption, all the world over. So play +the game like men!" + +It was at this point that Ashcott touched him on the shoulder with a +muttered word that made him turn sharply. + +"What? Who?" + +"Mr. Ivor Yardley!" the manager muttered uneasily. "He's waiting to +speak to you--says he'll address the men if you'll allow him. Think +it's safe?" + +Dick frowned. "Of course it's safe! Where is he? Wait! I'll speak to him +first. I'll get my wife to sing again while I do it." He turned round to +Juliet sitting at the table behind him and bent to speak to her. "Can you +give them another song--to fill in time? I've got to speak to a man +outside." His eyes travelled swiftly on the words to the open doorway +where a tall man, wearing a motor-mask and a leather coat, stood waiting. + +Juliet's look followed his. She stood up quickly. "Dick! Who is it?" + +Something in her voice brought his eyes back to her in sudden close +scrutiny. For that instant he forgot the crowd of men and the need of +the moment, forgot the man who waited in the background whom he had +desired so urgently to see, forgot the whole world in the wide-eyed +terror of her look. + +Instinctively he stretched an arm behind her, but in the same moment +Saltash came swiftly forward to her other side, and it was Saltash who +spoke with the quick, intimate reassurance of the trusted friend. + +"It's all right, _Juliette_. I'm here to take care of you. Give them one +more song, won't you? Afterwards, if you've had enough of it, I'll take +you back." + +She turned her face towards him and away from Dick whose arm fell from +her unheeded; but her gaze did not leave the figure that stood waiting +in the dim doorway, upright, grim as Fate, watching her with eyes she +could not see. + +"Don't be afraid!" urged Saltash in his rapid whisper. "Anyhow, don't +show it! I'll see you through." + +"Are you ready?" said Dick on her other side. + +His voice was absolutely steady, but it fell with an icy ring, and a +great quiver went through her. She made a blind gesture towards Saltash, +and in an instant his hand gripped her elbow. + +"Can't you do it?" he said. "Are you going to drop out?" + +She recovered herself sharply, as though something in his words had +pierced her pride. The next moment very quietly she turned back to Dick. + +"I am quite ready," she said. + +He took her hand without a word, and led her forward. Someone raised +a cheer for her, and in a second a shout of applause thundered to +the rafters. + +Dick smiled a brief smile of gratitude, and lifted a hand for silence. +Then, as it fell, he stepped back. + +And Juliet stood alone before the rough crowd. + +Those who saw her in that moment never forgot her. Tall and slender, with +that unconsciously regal mien of hers that marked her with so indelible a +stamp, she stood and faced the men below her. But no song rose to her +lips, and those who were nearest to her thought that she was trembling. + +And then suddenly she began to speak in a full, quiet voice that +penetrated the deep hush with a bell-like clearness. + +"Men," she said, "it is very kind of you to cheer me, but you will never +do it again. I have something to tell you. I don't know in the least how +you will take it, but I hope you will manage to forgive me if you +possibly can. Mr. Green is your friend, and he knows nothing about it, so +you will acquit him of all blame. The deception is mine alone. I deceived +him, too. I know you all hate the Farringmores, and I daresay you have +reason. You have never spoken to any of them face to face, before, +because they haven't cared enough to come near you. But--you can do +so to-night if you wish. Men, I am--Lord Wilchester's sister. I +was--Joanna Farringmore." + +She ceased to speak with a little gesture of the hands that was quite +involuntary and oddly pathetic, but she did not turn away from her +audience. Throughout the deep silence that followed that amazing +confession she stood quite straight and still, waiting, her face to the +throng. A man was standing immediately behind her and she was aware of +him, knew without turning that it was Saltash; but the one being in all +the crowded place for whose voice or touch in that moment she would have +given all that she had neither spoke nor moved. And her brave heart died +within her. If he had only given some sign! + +A hoarse murmur broke out at the back of the great barn, spreading like +a wave on the sea. But ere it reached the men in front who stood +sullenly dumb, staring upwards, Saltash's hand closed upon Juliet's arm, +drawing her back. + +"After that, _ma chère_," he said lightly into her ear, "you would be +wise to follow the line of least resistance." + +She responded to his touch almost mechanically. The murmur was swelling +to a roar, but she scarcely heard it. She yielded to the hand that +guided, hardly knowing what she did. + +As Saltash led her to the back of the platform she had a glimpse of +Dick's face white as death, with lips hard-set and stern as she had never +seen them, and a glitter in his eyes that made her think of onyx. He +passed her by without a glance, going forward to quell the rising storm +as if she had not been there. + +The man in the leather coat was with him. He had taken off his mask, and +he paused before Juliet--a cynical smile playing about his face. It was +a face of iron mastery, of pitiless self-assertion. The eyes were as +points of steel. + +He bent towards her and spoke. "I thought I should find you sooner or +later, Lady Jo. I trust you have enjoyed your game--even if you have lost +your winnings!" + +She spoke no word in answer, but she made a slight, barely perceptible +movement towards the man whose hand upheld her. + +And Yardley laughed--an edged laugh that was inexpressibly cruel. + +"Oh, go to the devil!" said Saltash with sudden fire. "It's where +you belong!" + +Yardley's cold eyes gleamed with icy humour. "_Et tu, Brute_!" he said +with sneering lips. "I wish you--joy!" + +He passed on. Saltash's arm went round Juliet like a coiled spring. He +impelled her unresisting to the door. Her hand rested on his shoulder as +she stepped down from the platform. She went with him as one in a dream. + +The air smote chill as they left the heated atmosphere, and a great +shiver went through her. + +She stood still for a moment, listening. The tumult had died down. A +man's voice--Dick's voice--clear and very steady, was speaking. + +"Come away!" said Saltash in her ear. + +But yet she lingered in the darkness. "He will be safe?" she said. + +"Of course he will be safe! They treat him like a god. Come away!" + +His arm was urging her. She yielded, shivering. + +He hurried her up the slope to the place where he had left his car. It +stood at the side of the rough road that led to High Shale Point. + +They reached it. Juliet was gasping for breath. The sea-mist was like +rain in their faces. + +"Get in!" he said. + +She obeyed, sinking down with a vague thankfulness, conscious of +great weakness. + +But as he cranked the engine and she felt the throb of movement, she sat +up quickly. + +"Charles, what am I doing? Where are you taking me?" + +He came round to her and his hands clasped hers for a moment in a grip +that was warm and close. He did not speak at once. + +Then, lightly, "I don't know what you'll do afterwards, _ma Juliette_," +he said. "But you are coming with me now!" + +She caught her breath as if she would utter some protest, but something +checked her--perhaps it was the memory of Dick's face as she had last +seen it, stony, grimly averted, uncompromisingly stern. She gripped his +hands in answer, but she did not speak a word. + +And so they sped away together into the dark. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OUT OF THE NIGHT + + +It was very late that night, and the sea-mist had turned to a drifting +rain when the squire sitting reading in his library at the Court was +startled by a sudden tapping upon the window behind him. + +So unexpected was the sound in the absolute stillness that he started +with some violence and nearly knocked over the reading-lamp at his elbow. +Then sharply and frowning he arose. He reached the window and fumbled at +the blind; but failing to find the cord dragged it impatiently aside and +peered through the glass. + +"Who is it? What do you want?" + +A face he knew, but so drawn and deathly that for the moment it seemed +almost unfamiliar, peered back at him. In a second he had the window +unfastened and flung wide. + +"Dick! In heaven's name, boy,--what's the matter?" + +Dick was over the sill in a single bound. He stood up and faced the +squire, bare-headed, drenched with rain, his eyes burning with a +terrible fire. + +"I have come for my wife," he said. + +"Your wife! Juliet!" The squire stared at him as if he thought him +demented. "Why, she left ages ago, man,--soon after tea!" + +"Yes, yes, I know," Dick said. He spoke rapidly, but with decision. "But +she came back here an hour or two ago. You are giving her shelter. +Saltash brought her--or no--she probably came alone." + +"You are mad!" said Fielding, and turned to shut the window. "She hasn't +been near since she left this evening." + +"Wait!" Dick's hand shot out and caught his arm, restraining him. "Do you +swear to me that you don't know where she is?" + +The squire stood still, looking full and hard into the face so near his +own; and so looking, he realized, what he had not grasped before, that it +was the face of a man in torture. The savage grip on his arm told the +same story. The fiery eyes that stared at him out of the death-white +countenance had the awful look of a man who sees his last hope shattered. + +Impulsively he laid his free hand upon him. "Dick--Dick, old +chap,--what's all this? Of course I don't know where she is! Do you think +I'd lie to you?" + +"Then I've lost her!" Dick said, and with the words some inner vital +spring seemed to snap within him. He flung up; his arms, freeing himself +with a wild gesture. "My God, she has gone--gone with that scoundrel!" + +"Saltash?" said the squire sharply. + +"Yes. Saltash!" He ground the name between his teeth. "Does that surprise +you so very much? Don't you know the sort of infernal blackguard he is?" + +The squire turned again to shut the window. "Damn it, Dick! I don't +believe a word of it," he said with vigour. "Get your wind and have a +drink, and let's hear the whole story! Have you and Juliet been +quarrelling?" + +Dick ignored his words as if he had not spoken. "You needn't shut the +window," he said. "I'm going again. I'm going now." + +It was the squire's turn to assert himself, and he seized it. He shut the +window with a bang. "You are not, Dick! Don't be a fool! Sit down! Do +you hear? Sit down! You're not going yet--not till you've told me the +whole trouble. So you can make up your mind to that!" + +Dick looked at him for a moment as if he were on the verge of fierce +resistance, but Fielding's answering look held such unmistakable +resolution that after the briefest pause he turned aside. + +"I'm sorry, sir," he said, and tramped heavily across to the hearth. "Put +up with me if you can! God knows I'm up against it hard enough to-night." + +He rested his arms on the mantelpiece and laid his head down upon them, +and so stood motionless, in utter silence. + +The squire came to him in a few seconds with a glass in his hand. "Here +you are, Dick! This is what you're wanting. Swallow it before you talk +any more!" + +Dick reached out in silence and took the glass. Then he stood up and +drank, keeping his face averted. + +Fielding waited till at last, without turning, he spoke. "I've always +known it might come to this, but I never realized why. I suppose anyone +but a blind fool would have seen through it long ago." + +"What are you talking about?" said the squire. "I'm utterly in the dark, +remember." + +Dick's hands were clenched. "I'm talking of Juliet and--Saltash. I've +always known there was some sort of understanding between them. He +flaunted it in my face whenever we met. But I trusted her--I trusted +her." The words were like a muffled cry rising from the depths of the +man's wrung soul. + +"Sit down!" said the squire gruffly, and taking him by the shoulders +pushed him into the chair from which he himself had so lately risen. + +Dick yielded, with the submission of utter despair, his black head bowed +against the table. + +Fielding stooped over him, still holding him. "Now, boy, now! Don't let +yourself go! Tell me--try and tell me!" + +Dick drew a hard breath. "You'll think I'm mad, sir. I thought I was +myself at first. But it's true--it must be true. I heard it from her own +lips. Juliet--my wife--my wife--is--was--Lady Joanna Farringmore!" + +"Great heavens!" said the squire. "Dick, are you sure?" + +"Yes, quite sure. She was caught--caught by Yardley at the meeting +to-night. She couldn't escape--so she told the truth--told the whole +crowd--and then bolted--bolted with Saltash." + +"Great heavens!" said the squire again. "But--what was Saltash +doing there?" + +"Oh, he came to protect her. He knew--or guessed--there was something +in the wind. He came to support her. I know now. He's the subtlest devil +that ever was made." + +"But why on earth--why on earth did she ever come here?" +questioned Fielding. + +"She was hiding from Yardley of course. He's a cold vindictive brute, +and I suppose--I suppose she was afraid of him, and came to me--came to +me--for refuge." Dick was speaking through his hands. "That's how he +regards it himself. She was always playing fast and loose till she got +engaged to him. It was just the fashion in that set. But he--I imagine +no one ever played with him before. He swears--swears he'll make her +suffer for it yet." + +"Pooh!" said Fielding. "How does he propose to do that? She's your +wife anyhow." + +"My wife--yes." Slowly Dick raised his head, stared for a space in front +of him, then grimly rose. "My wife--as you say, sir. And I am going to +find her--now." + +"I'm coming with you," said Fielding. + +"No, sir, no!" Dick looked at him with a tight-lipped smile that was +somehow terrible. "Don't do that! You won't want to be--a witness +against me." + +"Pooh!" said the squire again. "I may be of use to you before it comes to +that. But before we start let me tell you one thing, Dick! She married +you because she loved you--for no other reason." + +A sharp spasm contracted Dick's hard features; he set his lips and +said nothing. + +"That's the truth," the squire proceeded, watching him. "And you know it. +She might have bolted with Saltash before if she had wanted to. She had +ample opportunity." + +Dick's hands clenched at his sides, but still he said nothing. + +"She loved you," the squire said again. "Lady Jo--or no Lady Jo--she +loved you. It wasn't make-believe. She was fairly caught--against her +will possibly--but still caught. She's run away from you now--run away +with another man--because she couldn't stay and face you. Is that +convincing proof, do you think, that she has ceased to love you? It +wouldn't convince me." + +Dick's clenched hands were beating impotently against his sides. +"I--can't say, sir," he said, between his set teeth. + +The squire moved impulsively, laid a hand on his shoulder. "Dick, I've +seen a good deal--suffered a good deal--in my time; enough to know the +real thing when I see it. She's loved you as long as she's known you, +and it's been the same with you. You're not going to deny that? You +can't deny it!" + +Dick made a quick gesture of protest. For a moment the tortured soul +of the man looked out of his eyes. "Does that make it any better?" he +said harshly. + +"In my opinion, yes." Fielding spoke with decision. "She may have taken +refuge with Saltash, but that doesn't prove anything--except that the +poor girl had no one else to turn to. You had failed her--or anyhow you +didn't offer to stand by." + +"I couldn't!" The words came jerkily, as if wrung from him by main +force. "For one thing--the men were out of hand, and it was as much as +I could do to hold them. She told them, I tell you--stood up and told +them straight out--who she was. And they loathe the whole crowd. It +was madness." + +"Pretty sublime madness!" commented the squire. "And then Saltash took +her away. Was that it?" + +"Yes." Dick spoke with intense bitterness. "It was the chance he was +waiting for. Of course he seized it. Any blackguard would." + +"But you thought she might have come here?" pursued the squire. + +"I thought it possible, yes. I told Yardley it was so. He of course +sneered at the bare idea. I nearly choked him for it. But I might have +known he was right. She wouldn't risk--my following her. She wanted to +be--free." + +"Why? Is she afraid of you then?" Fielding's voice was stern. + +Dick threw up his head with the action of a goaded animal. "Yes." + +"Then you've given her some reason?" + +"Yes. I have given her reason!" Fiercely he flung the words. "You want to +know--you shall know! This evening she found out something about me which +even you don't know yet--something that made her hate me. I was going to +tell her some day, but the time hadn't come. She said if she had known of +it she would never have married me. I didn't realize then--how could +I?--how hard it hit her. And I made her understand that having married +me--it was irrevocable. That was why she ran away with Saltash. She +didn't--trust me--any longer." + +"But, my good fellow, what in heaven's name is this awful thing that even +I don't know?" demanded the squire. "Don't tell me there has ever been +any damn trouble with another woman!" + +"No--no!" Dick broke into a laugh that was inexpressibly painful to hear. +"There has never been any other woman for me. What do I care for women? +Do you think because I've made a blasted fool of myself over one woman +that I--" + +"Shut up, Dick!" Curtly the squire checked him. "You're not to say +it--even to me. Tell me this other thing about yourself--the thing I +don't know!" + +"Oh, that! That's nothing, sir, nothing--at least you won't think it so. +It's only that during the past few years some books have been published +by one named Dene Strange that have attracted attention in certain +quarters." + +"I've read 'em all," said the squire. "Well?" + +"I wrote them," said Dick; "that's all." + +"You!" Fielding stared. "You, Dick!" + +"Yes, I. I meant to have told you, but so long as my boy lived, my job +seemed to be here, so I kept it to myself. And then--when she came--she +told me she hated the man who wrote those books for being cynical--and +merciless. So I wrote another to make her change her mind about me before +she knew. It is only just published. And she found out before she read +it. That's all," Dick said again with the shadow of a smile. "She found +out this evening. It was a shock to her--naturally. It's been a +succession of obstacles all through--a perpetual struggle against odds. +Well, it's over. At least we know what we're up against now. There will +be no more illusions of any sort from to-day on." He paused, stood a +moment as if bracing himself, then turned. "Well, I'm going, sir. Come if +you really must, but--I don't advise it." + +"I am coming," said the squire briefly. His hand went from Dick's +shoulder to his arm and gave it a hard squeeze. "Confound you! What do +you take me for?" he said. + +Dick's hand came swiftly to his. "I take you for the best friend a man +ever had, sir," he said. + +"Pooh!" said the squire. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FREE PARDON + + +Ten minutes later they went down the dripping avenue in the squire's +little car. The drifting fog made an inky blackness of the night, and +progress was very slow under the trees. + +"We should be quicker walking," said Dick impatiently. + +"It'll be better when we reach the open road," said Fielding, frowning at +the darkness. + +The light at the lodge-gates flung a wide glare through the mist, and +he steered for it with more assurance. They passed through and turned +into the road. + +And here the squire pulled up with a jerk, for immediately in front of +them another light shone. + +"What the devil is that, Dick?" + +"It's another car," said Dick and jumped out. "Hullo, there! Anything the +matter?" he called. + +"Damnation, yes!" answered a voice. "I've run into this infernal wall and +damaged my radiator. Lost my mascot, too, damn it! Sort of thing that +always happens when you're in a hurry." + +"Who is it?" said Dick sharply. + +He was standing almost touching the car, but he could not see the speaker +who seemed to be bent and hunting for something on the ground. + +A sound that was curiously like a chuckle answered him out of the +darkness, but no reply came in words. + +Dick stood motionless. "Saltash!" he said incredulously. "Is it Saltash?" + +"Why shouldn't it be Saltash?" said a voice that laughed. "Thank you, +Romeo? Come and help me out of this damn fix! Oh, I'm fed up with +playing benevolent fool. It gives me indigestion. Curse this fog! +Afraid I've knocked a few chips off your beastly wall. Ah! Here's the +mascot! Now perhaps my infernal luck will turn! What are you keeping so +quiet about? Aren't you pleased to see me? Not that you can--but +that's a detail." + +"Are you--alone?" Dick said, an odd tremor in his voice. + +"Of course I'm alone! What did you expect? No, no, my Romeo, I may be a +fool, but I'm not quite such a three-times-distilled imbecile as that +amounts to. Have you got a gun there?" + +"No!" Dick's voice sounded half-strangled, as though he fought against +some oppression that threatened to overwhelm him. "What have you come +back for? Tell me that!" + +"I'll tell you anything you like," said Saltash generously; "including +what I think of you, if you will help me to shove this thing into a more +convenient locality and then take me in and give me a drink." + +"You'd better get the car up the drive here," came Fielding's voice out +of the darkness. "You can see more or less what you're doing under the +lamp. Wait while I get my own out of the way!" + +"Excellent!" said Saltash. "I'm immensely grateful to you, sir, for not +smashing me up. What, Romeo? Did I hear you say you wished he had? I +didn't? Then I must have sensed battle, murder and sudden death in +your silence." + +But whatever Dick's silence expressed he refused stubbornly to break it. +When the squire had manoeuvred his car out of the way, he lent his help +to pushing Saltash's across the road and up the drive into safety, but he +did not utter a single word throughout the performance. + +"A thousand thanks!" gibed Saltash. "Now for the great reckoning! I say, +you will give me a drink, won't you, before you send me to my account? +The villain always has a drink first. He's entitled to that, at least." + +Again Fielding's voice came through Dick's silence. "Yes, come up to the +schoolhouse!" he said. "We can't talk here. Have you got the key, Dick? +Ah, that's right." + +He found Dick and thrust a hand through his arm, leading him, stiffly +unresponsive, across the road. + +At the gate Dick stopped and spoke. "Let him go in front!" he said. + +"With pleasure," laughed Saltash. "I'm lucky to have met you here. I was +wondering how I should manage to break in." + +He went up the path before them with his careless tread, and waited +whistling while Dick opened the door. + +The lamp in the little hall was burning low, but it shone upon his ugly +face as he entered, and showed him the only one of the three who felt at +ease. With royal assurance he turned to Dick. + +"Well? Have you got a table and pistols for two? Great Scott, man! You +look like a death-mask! Come along and let's get it over! Then perhaps +you'll feel better." + +Dick stood upright by Fielding's side, listening to the taunting words +with a face that was indeed like a death-mask--save for the eyes that +glowed vividly, terribly, with something of a tigerish glare. + +He spoke at last with deadly quietness through lips that did not seem to +move. "Where have you taken my wife?" + +"Oh, she's quite safe," said Saltash; and smiled with a fox-like flash +of teeth. "I am taking every care of her. You need have no anxiety +about that." + +"I asked--where you had taken her," Dick said, his words low and +distinct, wholly without emotion. + +Saltash's odd eyes began to gleam. "I heard you, _mon ami_. But since the +lady is under my protection at the present moment, I am not prepared to +answer that question off-hand--or even at all, until I am satisfied as to +the kindness--or otherwise--of your intentions. When I give my protection +to anyone--I give it." + +"Is that what you came back to say?" said Dick, still without stirring +hand or feature. + +"By no means," said Saltash airily. "I didn't come to see you at all. I +came--to fetch Columbus!" + +He turned with the words, hearing a low whine at the door behind him, and +opening it released the dog who ran out with eager searching. Saltash +stooped to fondle him. + +Something that was like an electric thrill went through Dick. He took a +sudden step forward. + +"Damn you!" he said, and gripped Saltash by the collar. "Tell me where +she is! Do you hear? Tell me!" + +Saltash straightened himself with a lightning movement. They looked into +each other's eyes for several tense seconds. Then, though no word has +passed between them, Dick's hand fell. + +"That's better," said Saltash. "You're getting quite civil. Look here, my +bully boy! I'll tell you something--and you'd better listen carefully, +for there's a hidden meaning to it. You're the biggest ass that ever +trod this earth. There!" + +He put up a hand to his crumpled collar and straightened it, still with +his eyes upon Dick's face. + +"Got that?" he asked abruptly. "Well, then, I'll tell you something else. +I've got a revolver in my pocket. I put it there in case the miners +needed any persuasion, but you shall have it to shoot me with--and no +doubt Mr. Fielding will kindly turn his back while you do it--if you +will answer--honestly--one question I should like to put to you first. +Is it a deal?" + +Dick was breathing quickly. He stood close to Saltash, urged by a deadly +enmity and still on the verge of violence, but restrained by something +about the other man's attitude that he could not have defined. + +"Well?" he said curtly at length. "What do you want to know?" + +Saltash's lips twisted in a faintly sardonic smile. "Just one thing," he +said. "Don't speak in a hurry, for a good deal depends upon it! If some +kind friend--like myself for instance--had come to you, say, the night +before your wedding and told you that you were about to marry Lady Jo +Farringmore, would you have gone ahead with it--or not?" + +He asked the question with a certain wariness, as a player who stakes +more on a move than he would care to lose. The glint of the gambler shone +in his curious eyes. His right hand was thrust into his pocket. + +Fielding was watching that right hand narrowly, but Dick's look, grim and +unwavering, never left his opponent's face. + +"Why do you want to know?" he demanded. + +Saltash's smile deepened, became a grimace, and vanished. + +"I will tell you when you have answered me," he said. "But whatever you +say will be used against you,--mind that!" + +"What do you mean?" Dick said. + +"Never mind what I mean! Just answer me! Answer me now! Would you have +married her under those circumstances? Or would you--have thrown her +over--to me?" + +Dick's eyes blazed. "You damn blackguard! Of course I should have +married her!" + +"You are sure of that?" Saltash said. + +"Damn you--yes!" With terrific force Dick answered him. He stood like an +animal ready to spring, goaded to the end of his endurance, yet +waiting--waiting for something, he knew not what. + +If Saltash had smiled then he would have been upon him in an instant. But +Saltash did not smile. He knew the exact value of the situation, and he +handled it with a sure touch. With absolute gravity he took his hand from +his pocket. + +Fielding took a swift step forward, but with an odd twist of the +brows Saltash reassured him. He held out a revolver to Dick on the +palm of his hand. + +"Here you are!" he said. "It's fully loaded. If you want to shoot a +friend, you'll never have a better chance. Mr. Fielding, will you kindly +look the other way?" + +Dead silence followed his words. The lamplight flickered on Dick's face, +throwing into strong relief every set grim feature. His lips were tightly +compressed--a single straight line across his stern face. His eyes never +varied; they were almost unbearably bright. They held Saltash's with a +tensity of purpose that was greater than any display of physical force. +It was as if the two were locked in silent combat. + +It lasted for many seconds, that mute and motionless duel, then very +suddenly from a wholly unexpected quarter there came an interruption. +Columbus, sensing trouble, pushed his stout person between the two men +and leapt whining upon Dick, pawing at him imploringly with almost +human entreaty. + +It put an end to the tension. Dick looked down involuntarily and meeting +the dog's beseeching eyes, relaxed in spite of himself. Saltash uttered a +curt laugh and returned the revolver to his pocket. + +"That settles that," he observed. "Columbus, my acknowledgments--though I +am quite well aware that your eloquent appeal is not made on my behalf! +You know what the little beggar is asking for, don't you?" + +Dick laid a soothing hand on the grizzled head. "All right, +Columbus!" he said. + +Saltash's smile leapt out again. "Oh, it's all right, is it? I am to have +a free pardon then for boosting you over your last fence?" + +Again Dick's eyes came to him, and a very faint, remote smile shone in +them for an instant in answer. Then, very steadily, without a word, he +held out his hand. + +Saltash's came to meet it. They looked each other again in the eyes--but +with a difference. Then Saltash began to laugh. + +"Go to her, my cavalier! You'll find her--waiting--on the _Night Moth_." + +"Waiting?" Dick said. + +"For Columbus," said Saltash with his most derisive grin, and tossed +Dick's hand away. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST FENCE + + +A chill breeze sprang up in the dark of the early morning and blew the +drifting fog away. The stars came out one by one till the whole sky shone +and quivered as if it had been pricked by a million glittering +spear-points. The tide turned with a swelling sound that was like a vast +harmony, formless, without melody, immense. And in the state-cabin of the +_Night Moth_, the woman who had knelt for hours by the velvet couch +lifted her face to the open port-hole and shivered. + +She had cast her hat down beside her, and the cold night-wind that yet +had a faint hint of the dawn in it ruffled the soft hair about her +temples. Her face was dead-white, drawn with unspeakable weariness, with +piteous lines about the eyes that only long watching can bring. She +looked hopeless, beaten. + +The shaded light that gleamed down upon her from the cabin-roof seemed +somehow to hurt her, for after a second or two she leaned to one side +without rising from her knees and switched it off. Then with her hands +tightly clasped, she gazed out over the dim, starlit sea. The mystery of +it, the calm, the purity, closed round her like a dream. She gazed forth +into the great waste of rippling waters, her chin upon her hands. + +Softly the yacht lifted and sank again to the gentle swell. The wild +waves of a few hours before had sunk away. It was a world at peace. But +there was no peace in the eyes that dwelt upon that wonderful night +scene. They were still with the stillness of despair. + +The cold air blew round her and again she shivered as one chilled to the +heart, but she made no move to pick up the cloak that had fallen from her +shoulders. She only knelt there with her face to the sea, staring out in +dumb misery as one in whom all hope is quenched. + +From somewhere on shore there came the sound of a clock striking the hour +in clear bell-like notes. One, two, three! And then silence, with the +murmur and splash of the rising tide spreading all around. + +And then suddenly out of the utter quietness there came a sound--the +scuttle of scampering feet and an eager whining at the door behind +her. It stabbed like a needle through her lethargy. In a moment she +was on her feet. + +The door burst in upon her as she opened it, and immediately she was +sprung upon and almost borne backwards by the wriggling, ecstatic figure +of Columbus. He flung himself into her arms with yelps of extravagant +joy, as if they had been parted for months instead of hours, and when, +somewhat overwhelmed with this onslaught, she sat down with him on the +couch, he scrambled all over her, licking wildly whatever part of her his +tongue could reach. + +It took some time for his rapturous greetings to subside, but finally he +dropped upon the couch beside her, pressed to her, temporarily exhausted, +but still wriggling spasmodically whenever her hand moved upon him. And +then Juliet, for some odd reason that she could not have explained, found +herself crying in the darkness as she had not cried all through that +night of anguish. + +Columbus was deeply concerned. He crept closer to her, pawed at her +gently, stood up and licked her hair. But she wept on helplessly for many +seconds with her hands over her face. + +It was Columbus who told her by a sudden change of attitude that someone +had entered at the open door and was standing close to her in the dark. +She started upright very swiftly as the dog jumped down to welcome the +intruder. Vaguely through the dimness she saw a figure and leapt to her +feet, her hands tight clasped upon her racing heart. + +"Charles! Why have you come here?" + +There was an instant of stillness, then a swift movement and a man's arms +caught her as she stood and she was a prisoner. + +She made a wild struggle for freedom. "No--no!" she panted. "Let me go!" + +But he held her fast,--so fast that she gasped and gasped for +breath,--saying no word, only holding her, till suddenly she cried out +sharply and her resistance broke. + +She hid her face against him. "You!" she said. "You!" + +He held her yet in silence for a space, and through the silence she heard +the beat of his heart; quick and hard, as if he had been running a race. +Then over her bowed head he spoke, his voice deep, vibrant, seeming to +hold back some inner leaping force. + +"Didn't I tell you I should follow you--and bring you back?" + +She shrank at his words. "I can't come--I can't come!" she said. + +"You will come, Juliet," he said quietly. + +"No--no!" She lifted her head in sudden passionate protest. "Not to +be tortured! I can't face it! Before God I would rather--I would +rather--die!" + +He answered her with flame that leaped to hers. "And don't you think I +would rather die than let you go?" + +"Ah!" she said, and no more; for the fierce possession of his hold +checked all remonstrance. + +She sought to hide her face again, but he would not suffer it, and in the +end with an anguished sound she ceased to battle with him and sank down +in utter weakness in his hold. + +He lifted her then, but he did not kiss her. He found the sofa and +laid her down upon it. Then she heard him feeling along the wall for +the switch. + +She reached out a quivering hand and pressed it, then as the light glowed +she turned from him, covering her eyes from his look. He stood for a few +seconds gazing down at her, almost as if at a loss. + +And while he so stood, there arose a sudden deep throbbing that mingled +with the splash of water, and the yacht ceased to rise and fall and +thrilled into movement. + +Juliet gave a great start. "Dick! What are they doing? Oh, stop +them--stop them!" + +He stooped and caught her outflung hands. His eyes looked deeply into +hers. "They are obeying--my orders," he said. + +"Yours?" She gazed up at him incredulously, shivering all over as if +in an ague. + +His face told her nothing. It was implacable, granite-like, save for +the eyes, and from those she shrank uncontrollably as though they +pierced her. + +"Yes, mine," he said sombrely. "I have--something to teach you, +Juliet--something that you can only learn--alone with me. And till you +have learnt it, there will be no going back." + +She bent her head to avoid the unwavering directness of his look. +"You--are going to hurt me--punish me," she said under her breath. + +His hands still held hers, and strangely there was something sustaining +as well as relentless in their grasp. + +"It may hurt you," he said. "I don't feel I know you well enough to +judge. As to punishing you--" he paused a moment--"well, I think you have +punished yourself enough already." + +Again a great tremor went through her,--a tremor that ended in a sob. She +bent her head a little lower to hide her tears. But they fell upon his +hands and she could not check them. Her throat worked convulsively, +resisting all her efforts and self-control. She became suddenly blinded +and overwhelmed by bitter weeping. + +"Ah, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and went down on his knees before her, +folding her closely, closely to his breast.... + +It seemed to her a very long time later that she found herself lying +exhausted against the sofa-cushions, feeling his arm still about her and +poignantly conscious of his touch. His other hand was pressed upon her +forehead, and her tears had ceased. She could not remember that he had +spoken a single word since he had taken her into his arms, neither had he +kissed her, but all her fear of him was gone. + +Through the open port-hole there came to her the swish of water, and she +heard the throb and roar of the engines like the sound of a distant train +in a tunnel. Moved by a deep impulse that came straight from her soul, +she took the hand that lay upon her brow and drew it downwards first to +her lips, holding it there with closed eyes while she kissed it, then +softly to her heart while she turned her eyes to his. + +"Oh, Dick," she said, "are you sure--are you quite sure--that--that--I am +worth keeping?" + +"I am quite sure I am going to keep you," he answered very steadily. + +Her two hands closed fast upon his. "Not--not as a prisoner?" she +whispered, wanly smiling. + +"Yes, a prisoner," he said, not without a certain grimness, "that is, +until you have learnt your lesson." + +"What lesson?" she asked him wonderingly. + +"That you can't do without me," he said, a note of challenge in +his voice. + +Something in his look hurt her. She freed one hand and laid it +pleadingly, caressingly, against his neck. "Oh, Dicky," she said, "try to +understand!" + +His face changed a little, and she thought his mouth quivered ever so +slightly as he said. "It's now or never, Juliet. If I don't come to a +perfect understanding with you to-night, we shall be strangers for the +rest of our lives." + +She shivered at the finality of his words, but they gave her light. "I +have hurt you--horribly!" she said. + +He was silent. + +She pressed herself to him with a sudden passionate gesture. "Dick--my +husband--will you forgive me--can you forgive me--before you +understand?" + +Her eyes implored him, yet just for a second he hesitated. Then very +swiftly he gathered her closely, closely against his heart, and kissed +her pleading, upturned face over and over. "Yes!" he said. "Yes!" + +She clung to him with all her quivering strength. "I love you, +darling! I love you,--only--only--you!" she whispered brokenly. +"You believe that?" + +"Yes," he said again between his kisses. + +"And if I tried to do without you it was only because--only because--I +loved you so," she faltered on. "Your anger is just--the end of the +world for me, Dick. I can't face it. It tears my very self." + +"My darling! My own love!" he said. + +"And then--and then--I had such an awful doubt of you, Dicky. I thought +your love was dead, and I thought--and I thought I couldn't hope to +hold you--after that. I'd got to free you somehow. Oh, Dicky, what agony +love can be!" + +"Hush, darling, hush!" he said. + +She lay in his arms, her eyes looking straight up to his. "I never meant +to do it, dear,--never meant to win your love in the first place. I +always knew I wasn't worthy of it. I think I told you so. Dicky, listen! +I've had a horrid life. My mother was divorced when Muff and I were +youngsters at school. My father died only a year after, and no one ever +cared what happened to us after that. We had an aunt--Lady Beatrice +Farringmore--and she launched me in society when I left school. But she +never cared--she never cared. She was far too busy with her own concerns. +I just went with the crowd and pleased myself. No one ever took anything +seriously in our set. It was just a mad rush of gaiety from morning till +night. We were like a lot of empty-headed, mischievous children, horribly +selfish of course, but not meaning any harm--at least not most of us. +Everyone had a nickname. It was the fashion. It was Saltash who first +called me Juliet. He said I was so tragically in earnest--which was +really not true in those days. And I called him Charles Rex." + +She paused, for Dick's arms had tightened about her. + +"Go on!" he said, in a low voice. "I suppose he--made love to you, did +he?" + +"Everyone did that," she said. "He was just a specimen of the +rest--except that I always somehow knew he had more heart. It was just a +game with us all. It used to frighten me rather at first till--till I got +used to it. When I was quite young I had rather a bitter lesson. I began +to care for a man who I thought was in earnest, and I found he wasn't. +After that, I never needed another. I played the game with the rest. +Sometimes I hurt people, but I didn't care. I always said it was their +fault for being taken in." + +"That doesn't sound like you," he said. + +"That was me," she returned, with a touch of recklessness, "till I read +that first book of yours--_The Valley of Dry Bones_. That brought me up +short. It shocked me horribly. You cut very deep, Dicky. I'm carrying the +scars still." + +He bent without words and set his lips to her forehead, keeping them +there in mute caress while she went on. + +"I had just begun to play with Ivor Yardley. He was my latest catch, +and--I was rather proud of him. He didn't trouble to pursue many women. +And then--after reading that book--I felt so evil, so unspeakably +ashamed, that, when I knew he was really in earnest, I didn't throw him +off like the rest. I accepted him." + +She shuddered suddenly and twined her arm about her husband's neck. + +"Dicky, I--went through hell--after that. I tried--I tried very +hard--to be honourable--to keep my word. But--when the time drew +near--I simply couldn't. He always knew--he must have known--I didn't +love him. But he just wanted me, and he didn't care. And so--almost at +the last moment--I let him down--I ran away. And, oh, Dicky, the peace +of this place after all that misery and turmoil! You can't imagine what +it was like. It was heaven. And I thought--I thought it was going to be +quite easy to be good!" + +"And then I came and upset it all," murmured Dick, with his lips +against her hair. + +Her hold tightened. "It's been one perpetual struggle against appalling +odds ever since," she said. "If it hadn't been for--Robin--I should never +have married you." + +"Yes, you would," he said quietly. "That was meant. I've realized +that since." + +"I am not sure," she said. "If you hadn't been so miserable, I should +have told you the truth. You wouldn't have married me then." + +"Yes, I should," he said. + +She drew a little away to look into his face. "Dick, are you sure of +that?" + +"I am quite sure," he said, and faintly smiled. "It's just because I am +sure, that I am with you now--instead of Saltash. It was his own test." + +Her eyes met his unflinching. "Dick, you believe that Saltash and I are +just--friends?" + +"I believe it," he said. + +"And you are not angry with him?" + +"No." He spoke with slight effort. "I am--grateful to him." + +"But you don't like him?" she said. + +He hesitated momentarily. "Do you?" + +"Yes, of course." Her brows contracted a little. "I can't help it. I +always have," she said rather wistfully. + +He bent abruptly and kissed them. "All right, darling. So do I," he said. + +She smiled at him, clinging closely. "Dicky, that's the most generous +thing you ever did!" + +"Oh, I can afford to be generous," he said, "now that I know your secrets +and you know mine. Will you tell me something else now, Juliet?" + +"Yes, dear," she whispered. + +He laid his cheek against hers. "I was going to tell you my secret +when you had read that last book of mine. When were you going to tell +me yours?" + +"Oh, Dicky!" she said in some confusion, and hid her face against his +neck. + +"No, tell me!" he said. "I want to know." + +But Juliet only clung a little faster to him and buried her face a +little deeper. + +"Weren't you ever going to tell me?" he said, after a moment. + +"Oh, yes--some time," she murmured from his breast. + +"Well, when?" he persisted. "Just--any time?" + +"No, dear, of course not!" A muffled sound that was half-sob and +half-laugh came with the words. + +Dick waited for a space, and then very gently began to feel for the +hidden face. She tried to resist him, then, finding he would not be +resisted, she took his hand and pressed it over her eyes, holding it as a +shield between them. + +"Won't you tell me?" he said. + +She trembled a little in his hold. "That--that--is another secret, +Dicky," she said very softly. + +"Mayn't I--share it, sweetheart?" he said. + +She uncovered her eyes with a little tremulous laugh, and lifted them to +his. "Oh, I'm a coward, Dicky, a horrid coward. I thought--I thought I +would tell you everything when--when you were holding your son in your +arms. I thought you would have to--forgive me then." + +"Oh, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and tried to smile in answer, but +could not. His lips quivered suddenly, and he laid his head down upon +her breast. + +And so, with her arms around him and the warm throbbing of her heart +against his face, he came to the perfect understanding. + +They saw the morning break through a silver mist, standing side by side +on deck with the water sweeping snow-white from their keel. + +Juliet, within the circle of her husband's arm, looked up and broke the +silence with a sigh and a smile. + +"Good morning, Romeo! And now that I've learnt my lesson, hadn't we +better be going home?" + +He kissed her, and drew her cloak more closely round her. "Do you want to +go home?" he said. + +She looked at him with a whimsical frown. "Well, I think I am at home +wherever you are. But you are such a busy man. You can't be spared." + +"They've got to spare me for to-day," he said. + +"Ah! And to-morrow?" + +"To-morrow too, Juliet. I'm giving up my work at Little Shale." + +"But you can't give it up at a moment's notice," she said. + +"The squire is managing it. They can close the school for a week anyway. +Then he can find a substitute." + +Juliet pondered this. Then, "Let's go back till the end of the term, +Dicky!" she said. + +He looked at her. "You want to, my Lady Joanna?" + +She shook her head at him. "You're not to call me that. Yes, I'd like to +go back and finish there, but only as your wife--nothing else." + +"My lady wife!" he said, patting her cheek. + +She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Yes, and there are the miners +to settle. Do you think they'll ever be friends with me, Dick?" + +"Of course they will," he said. "By the way, Juliet, I've a piece of news +for you. You know what Yardley came for?" + +"No, I don't," she said, looking momentarily startled. + +His hand reassured her. "No, not for you, darling. He didn't expect to +find you. No, he came because he had been told--by Jack, if you want to +know--that I was doing the work of an agitator among the men." + +"Dick!" she said, with quick indignation. "How dared he?" + +His touch restrained her. "It doesn't matter. He came to see for himself, +and he knows better now. He told me after the meeting that I could take +over his share of the concern if I liked. And I took him at his word then +and there. I've got some money put by, and the squire can put up the +rest. Do you think your brother will mind?" + +"Muff!" she said. "Oh no! He never minds anything." + +"I'll buy him out too then some day, and we'll make that mine a going +concern, Juliet. I'll teach those men to use their brains instead of +being led by these infernal revolutionists. They shall learn that those +who fight for themselves alone never get there. I'll teach 'em the rules +of the game. They shall learn to be sportsmen." + +Juliet's eyes were shining. "Bravo, Dick!" she said softly. + +He met her look. "You'll have to help me, sweetheart," he said. + +She gave him her hands. "I will help you in all that you do, +Dick," she said. + +It was at this point that Columbus, who had been sitting a little apart +with his back turned, got up, shook himself vigorously as if to give +warning of his approach, and went to Juliet. + +He set his paws against her with a loud pathetic yawn. + +She bent over him. "Oh, poor Columbus! He's so bored! Do you want to go +home, my Christopher?" + +"Poor chap!" said Dick. "It is rather hard to be dragged away on someone +else's honeymoon whether you want to or not. Had enough of it, eh? Think +it's high time we took the missis home?" + +Columbus snuffled into his hand, and wagged himself from the tail +upwards. + +Juliet put her arms round him and kissed him. "Dear old fellow, of course +he does! He thinks we are just the silliest people alive. Perhaps--from +some points of view--we are." + +Columbus said nothing, but he surveyed them both with a look of twinkling +humour, and then smothered a laugh with a sneeze. + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Obstacle Race, by Ethel M. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/11520-8.zip b/old/11520-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1857495 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11520-8.zip diff --git a/old/11520.txt b/old/11520.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba9590e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11520.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13415 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Obstacle Race, by Ethel M. Dell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Obstacle Race + +Author: Ethel M. Dell + +Release Date: March 9, 2004 [EBook #11520] +Last Updated: December 28, 2008 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OBSTACLE RACE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mary Meehan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + The Obstacle Race + + By Ethel M. Dell + + 1921 + + + + + I DEDICATE THIS BOOK + TO MY DEAR "HALF-SISTER," + MARY, + WITH MY LOVE + + "So run, that ye may obtain."--_I Corinthians 9:24_ + + Give me the ready brain and steadfast face + To dare the hazard and to run the race, + The high heart that no scathing word can stay + O'erleaping obstacles that bar the way, + The sportsman's soul that, failing at the end, + Can smile upon the victory of a friend, + And to my judges make this one protest,-- + A poor performance but--I did my best! + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +CHAPTER + + I.--BETTER THAN LONDON + + II.--SACRIFICE + + III.--MAGIC + + IV.--BROTHER DICK + + V.--THE GREAT MAN + + VI.--THE VISITOR + + VII.--THE OFFER + + VIII.--MRS. FIELDING + + IX.--THE INTRUDER + + +PART II + + I.--THE WAND OF OFFICE + + II.--MIDSUMMER MADNESS + + III.--A DRAWN BATTLE + + IV.--A POINT OF HONOUR + + V.--THE WAY TO HAPPINESS + + VI.--RECONCILIATION + + VII.--THE SPELL + + VIII.--THE HONOURS OF WAR + + +PART III + + I.--BIRDS OF A FEATHER + + II.--SALTASH + + III.--THE PRICE + + IV.--KISMET + + V.--THE DRIVING FORCE + + VI.--THE SISTER OF MERCY + + VII.--THE SACRIFICE + + VIII.--THE MESSAGE + + IX.--THE ANSWER + + +PART IV + + I.--THE FREE GIFT + + II.--FRIENDSHIP + + III.--CONFESSION + + IV.--COUNSEL + + V.--THE THUNDERBOLT + + VI.--COALS OF FIRE + + VII.--FLIGHT + + VIII.--OUT OF THE NIGHT + + IX.--THE FREE PARDON + + X.--THE LAST FENCE + + + + +THE OBSTACLE RACE + + + + +PART I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BETTER THAN LONDON + + +A long, green wave ran up, gleaming like curved glass in the sunlight, +and broke in a million sparkles against a shelf of shingle. Above the +shingle rose the soft cliffs, clothed with scrubby grass and crowned +with gorse. + +"Columbus," said the stranger, "this is just the place for us." + +Columbus wagged a cheery tail and expressed complete agreement. He was +watching a small crab hurrying among the stones with a funny frown +between his brows. He was not quite sure of the nature or capabilities of +these creatures, and till he knew more he deemed it advisable to let them +pass without interference. A canny Scot was Columbus, and it was very +seldom indeed that anyone ever got the better of him. He was also a +gentleman to the backbone, and no word his mistress uttered, however +casual, ever passed unacknowledged by him. He always laughed when she +laughed, however obscure the joke. + +He smiled now, since she was obviously pleased, but without taking his +sharp little eyes off the object of his interest. Suddenly the scuttling +crab disappeared and he started up with a whine. In a moment he was +scratching in the shingle in eager search, flinging showers of stones +over his companion in the process. + +She protested, seizing him by his wiry tail to make him desist. +"Columbus! Don't! You're burying me alive! Do sit down and be sensible, +or I'll never be wrecked on a desert island with you again!" + +Columbus subsided, not very willingly, dropping with a grunt into the +hole he had made. His mistress released him, and took out a gold +cigarette case. + +"I wonder what I shall do when I've finished these," she mused. "The +simple life doesn't include luxuries of this sort. Only three left, +Columbus! After that, your missis'll starve." + +She lighted a cigarette with a faint pucker on her wide brow. Her eyes +looked out over the empty, tumbling sea--grey eyes very level in their +regard under black brows that were absolutely straight and inclined to be +rather heavily accentuated. + +"Yes, I wish I'd asked Muff for a few before I came away," was the +outcome of her reflections. "By this time tomorrow I shan't have one +left. Just think of that, my Christopher, and be thankful that you're +just a dog to whom one rat tastes very like another!" + +Columbus sneezed protestingly. Whatever his taste in rats, +cigarette smoke did not appeal to him. His mistress's fondness for it +was her only failing in his eyes. + +She went on reflectively, her eyes upon the sky-line. "I shall have to +take in washing to eke out a modest living in cigarettes and chocolates. +I can't subsist on Mr. Rickett's Woodbines, that's quite certain. I +wonder if there's a pawnshop anywhere near." + +Her voice was low and peculiarly soft; she uttered her words with +something of a drawl. Her hands were clasped about her knees, delicate +hands that yet looked capable. The lips that held the cigarette were +delicately moulded also, but they had considerable character. + +"If I were Lady Joanna Farringmore, I suppose I should say something +rather naughty in French, Columbus, to relieve my feelings. But you and I +don't talk French, do we? And we have struck the worthy Lady Jo and all +her crowd off our visiting-list for some time to come. I don't suppose +any of them will miss us much, do you, old chap? They'll just go on round +and round in the old eternal waltz and never realize that it leads to +nowhere." She stretched out her arms suddenly towards the horizon; then +turned and lay down by Columbus on the shingle. "Oh, I'm glad we've cut +adrift, aren't you? Even without cigarettes, it's better than London." + +Again Columbus signified his agreement by kissing her hair, in a rather +gingerly fashion on account of the smoke; after which, as she seemed to +have nothing further to say, he got up, shook himself, and trotted off to +explore the crannies in the cliffs. + +His mistress pillowed her dark head on her arm, and lay still, with the +sea singing along the ridge of shingle below her. She finished her +cigarette and seemed to doze. A brisk wind was blowing from the shore, +but the beach itself was sheltered. The sunlight poured over her in a +warm flood. It was a perfect day in May. + +Suddenly a curious thing happened. A small stone from nowhere fell with a +smart tap upon her uncovered head! She started, surprised into full +consciousness, and looked around. The shore stretched empty behind her. +There was no sign of life among the grass-grown cliffs, save where +Columbus some little distance away was digging industriously at the root +of a small bush. She searched the fringe of flaming gorse that overhung +the top of the cliff immediately behind her, but quite in vain. Some sea +gulls soared wailing overhead, but no other intruder appeared to disturb +the solitude. She gave up the search and lay down again. Perhaps the wind +had done it, though it did not seem very likely. + +The tide was rising, and she would have to move soon in any case. She +would enjoy another ten minutes of her delicious sun-bath ere she +returned for the midday meal that Mrs. Rickett was preparing in the +little thatched cottage next to the forge. + +Again she stretched herself luxuriously. Yes, it was better than London; +the soft splashing of waves was better than the laughter of a hundred +voices, better than the roar of a thousand wheels, better than the voice +of a million concerts ... Again reverie merged into drowsy absence of +thought. How exquisite the sunshine was!... + +It fell upon her dark cheek this time with a sharp sting and bounced +off on to her hand--a round black stone dropped from nowhere but with +strangely accurate aim. She sprang up abruptly. This was getting +beyond a joke. + +Columbus was still rooting beneath the distant bush. Most certainly he +was not the offender. Some boy was hiding somewhere among the humps and +clefts that constituted the rough surface of the cliff. She picked up her +walking-stick with a certain tightening of the lips. She would teach that +boy a lesson if she caught him unawares. + +Grimly she set her face to the cliff and to the narrow, winding passage +by which she had descended to the shore. Her dreams were wholly +scattered! Her cheek still smarted from the blow. She left the sea +without a backward glance. She sent forth a shrill whistle to Columbus as +she began to climb the slippery path of stones. She was convinced that +it was from this that her assailant had gathered his weapons. + +With springing steps she mounted, looking sharply to right and left as +she did so! And in a moment, turning inwards from the sea, she caught +sight of a movement among some straggling bushes a few yards to one side +of the path. + +Without an instant's hesitation she swung herself up the steep +incline, climbing with a rapidity that swiftly cut off the landward +line of retreat. She would give her assailant a fright for his pains +if nothing better. + +And then just as she reached the level, very sharply she stopped. It was +as if a hand had caught her back. For suddenly there rose up before her a +figure so strange that for a moment she felt almost like a scared child. +It sprang from the bushes and stood facing her like an animal at bay--a +short creature neither man nor boy, misshapen, grotesquely humped, +possessing long thin arms of almost baboon-like proportions. The head +was sunken into the shoulders. It was flung back and the face +upraised--and it was the face that made her pause, for it was the most +pathetic sight she had ever looked upon. It was the face of a lad of two +or three and twenty, but drawn in lines so painful, so hollowed, so +piteous, that fear melted into compassion at the sight. The dark eyes +that stared upwards had a frightened look mingled with a certain +defiance. He stood barefooted on the edge of the cliff, clenching and +unclenching his bony hands, with the air of a culprit awaiting sentence. + +There was a decided pause before his victim spoke. She found some +difficulty in grappling with the situation, but she had no intention of +turning her back upon it. She felt it must be tackled with resolution. + +After a moment she spoke, with as much sternness as she could muster, +"Why did you throw those stones?" + +He backed at the sound of her voice, and she had an instant of sickening +fear, for there was a drop of twenty feet behind him on the shingle. But +he must have seen her look, for he stopped himself on the brink, and +stood there doggedly. + +"Don't stand there!" she said quickly. "I'm not going to hurt you." + +He lowered his head, and looked at her from under drawn brows. "Yes, you +are," he said gruffly. "You're going to beat me with that stick." + +The shrewdness of this surmise struck her as not without humour. She +smiled, and, turning, flung the stick straight down to the path below. +"Now!" she said. + +He came forward, not very willingly, and stood within a couple of yards +of her, still looking as if he expected some sort of chastisement. + +She faced him, and the last of her fear departed. Though he was so +terribly deformed that he looked like some dreadful beast reared on its +hind legs there was that about the face, sullen though it was, that +stirred her deepest feelings. + +She did her best to conceal the fact, however. "Tell me why you threw +those stones!" she said. + +"Because I wanted to hit you," he returned with disconcerting +promptitude. + +She looked at him steadily. "How very unkind of you!" she said. + +His eyes gleamed with a smouldering resentment. "No, it wasn't. I didn't +want you there. Dicky is coming soon, and he likes it best when there is +no one there." + +She noticed that though there was scant courtesy in his speech, it was by +no means the rough talk of the fisher-folk. It fired her curiosity. "And +who is Dicky?" she said. + +"Who are you?" he retorted rudely. + +She smiled again. "You are not very polite, are you? But I don't +mind telling you if you want to know. My name is Juliet Moore. Now +tell me yours!" + +He looked at her doubtfully. "Juliet is a name out of a book," he said. + +She laughed, a low, soft laugh that woke an answering glimmer of +amusement in his sullen face. "How clever of you to know that!" she said. + +"No, I'm not clever." Tersely he contradicted her. "Old Swag at The Three +Tuns says I'm the village idiot." + +"What a horrid old man!" she exclaimed almost involuntarily. + +He nodded his heavy head. "Yes, I knocked him down the other day, and +kicked him for it. Dicky caned me afterwards,--I'm not supposed to go to +The Three Tuns--but I was glad I'd done it all the same." + +"Well, who is Dicky?" she asked again. Her interest was growing. + +He glared at her with sudden suspicion. "What do you want to know for?" + +"Because I think he must be rather a brave man," she said. + +The suspicion vanished. His eyes shown. "Oh, Dicky isn't afraid of +anything," he declared with pride. "He's my brother. He knows--heaps of +things. He's a man." + +"You are fond of him," said Juliet, with her friendly smile. + +The boy's face lighted up. "He's the only person I love in the world," he +said, "except Mrs. Rickett's baby." + +"Mrs. Rickett's baby!" She checked a quick desire to laugh that caught +her unawares. "You are fond of babies then?" + +"No, I'm not. I like dogs. I don't like babies--except Mrs. Rickett's +and he's such a jolly little cuss." He smiled over the words, and again +she felt a deep compassion. Somehow his face seemed almost sadder when +he smiled. + +"I am staying with Mrs. Rickett," she said. "But I only came yesterday, +and I haven't made the baby's acquaintance yet. I must get myself +introduced. You haven't told me your name yet, you know. Mayn't I hear +what it is? I've told you mine." + +He looked at her with renewed suspicion. "Hasn't anybody told you about +Me yet?" he said. + +"No, of course not. Why, I don't know anybody except Mr. and Mrs. +Rickett. And it's much more interesting to hear it from yourself." + +"Is it?" He hesitated a little longer, but was finally disarmed by the +kindness of her smile. "My name is Robin." + +"Oh, that's a nice name," Juliet said. "And you live here? What do you +do all day?" + +"I don't know," he said vaguely. "I can mend fishing-nets, and I can help +Dicky in the garden. And I look after Mrs. Rickett's baby sometimes when +she's busy. What do you do?" suddenly resuming his attitude of suspicion. + +She made a slight gesture of the hands. "Nothing at all worth doing, I am +afraid," she said. "I can't mend nets. I don't garden. And I've never +looked after a baby in my life." + +He stared at her. "Where do you come from?" he asked curiously. + +"From London." She met his curiosity with absolute candour. "And I'm +tired of it. I'm very tired of it. So I've come here for a change. I'm +going to like this much better." + +"Better than London!" He gazed, incredulous. + +"Oh, much better." Juliet spoke with absolute confidence. "Ah, here is +Columbus! He likes it better too." + +She turned to greet her companion who now came hastening up to view the +new acquaintance. + +He sniffed round Robin who bent awkwardly and laid a fondling hand upon +him. "I like your dog," he said. + +"That's right," said Juliet kindly. "We are both staying at the +Ricketts', so when you come to see the baby, I hope you will come to see +us too. I must go now, or I shall be late for lunch. Good-bye!" + +The boy lifted himself again with a slow, ungainly movement, and raised a +hand to his forehead in wholly unexpected salute. + +She smiled and turned to depart, but he spoke again, arresting her. + +"I say!" + +She looked back. "Yes? What is it?" + +He shuffled his bare feet in the grass in embarrassment and murmured +something she could not hear. + +"What is it?" she said again, encouragingly, as if she were addressing a +shy child. + +He lifted his dark eyes to hers in sudden appeal. "I say," he said, with +obvious effort, "if--if you meet Dicky, you--you won't tell him +about--about--" + +She checked the struggling words with a very kindly gesture. "Oh, no, of +course not! I'm not that sort of person. But the next time you want to +get rid of me, just come and tell me so, and I'll go away at once." + +The gentleness of her speech uttered in that soft slow voice of hers +had a curious effect upon her hearer. To her surprise, his eyes filled +with tears. + +"I shan't want to get rid of you! You're kind! I like you!" he +blurted forth. + +"Oh, thank you very much!" said Juliet, feeling oddly moved herself. "In +that case, we are friends. Good-bye! Come and see me soon!" + +She smiled upon him, and departed, picking up her stick from the path +and turning to wave to him as she continued the ascent. + +From the top of the cliff she looked back, and saw that he was +still standing--a squat, fantastic figure like a goblin out of a +fairy-tale--outlined against the shining sea behind him, a blot +upon the blue. + +Again she waved to him and he lifted one of his long arms and saluted her +again in answer--stood at the salute till she turned away. + +"Poor boy!" she murmured compassionately. "Poor ruined child! Columbus, +we must be kind to him." + +And Columbus looked up with knowing little eyes and wagged a smiling +tail. He had taken to the lad himself. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SACRIFICE + + +"Lor' bless you!" said Mrs. Rickett. "There's some folks as thinks young +Robin is the plague of the neighbourhood, but there ain't no harm in the +lad if he's let alone. It's when them little varmints of village boys, +sets on to him and teases him as he ain't safe. But let him be, and he's +as quiet as a lamb. O' course if they great hulking fools on the shore +goes and takes him into The Three Tuns, you can't expect him to behave +respectable. But as I always says, let him alone and there's no vice in +him. Why, I've seen him go away into a corner and cry like a baby at a +sharp word from his brother Dick. He sets such store by him." + +"I noticed that," said Juliet. "In fact he told me that Dicky and your +baby were the only two people in the world that he loved." + +"Did he now? Well, did you ever?" Mrs. Rickett's weather-beaten +countenance softened as it were in spite of itself. "He always did take +to my Freddy, right from the very first. And Freddy's just the same. Soon +as ever he catches sight of Robin, he's all in a fever like to get to +him. Mr. Fielding from the Court, he were in here the other day and he +see 'em together. 'Your baby's got funny taste, Mrs. Rickett,' he says +and laughs. And I says to him, 'There's a many worse than poor young +Robin, sir,' I says. 'And in our own village too.' You see, Mr. Fielding +he's one of them gentlemen as likes to have the managing of other folks' +affairs and he's always been on to Dick to have poor Robin put away. But +Dick won't hear of it, and I don't blame him. For, as I say, there's no +harm in the lad if he's treated proper, and he'd break his heart if they +was to send him away. And he's that devoted to Dick too--well, there, it +fair makes me cry sometimes to see him. He'll sit and wait for him by the +hour together, like a dog he will." + +"Was he born like that?" asked Juliet, as her informant paused for +breath. + +Mrs. Rickett pursed her lips. "Well, you see, miss, he were a twin, and +he never did thrive from the very earliest. But he wasn't a hunchback, +not like he is now, at first. The poor mother died when they was born, +and p'raps it were a good thing, for she'd have grieved terrible if she +could have seen what he were a-going to grow into. For she was a lady +born and bred, married beneath her, you know. Nor she didn't have any +such life of it either. He were a sea-captain--a funny, Frenchy-looking +fellow with a frightful temper. He never come home for twelve years after +Dick were born. She used to teach at the village school, and make her +living that way. Very sweet in her ways she were. Everyone liked her. +There's them as says Mr. Fielding was in love with her. He didn't marry, +you know, till long after. She used to sing too, and such a pretty voice +she'd got. I used to think she was like an angel when I was a child. And +so she were. Whether she'd have married Mr. Fielding or not I don't know. +There's some as thinks she would. They were very friendly together. And +then, quite sudden-like, when everyone thought he'd been dead for years, +her husband come home again. I'll never forget it if I lives to be a +hundred. I was only a bit of a girl then. It's more'n twenty years ago, +you know, miss. I were just tidying up a bit in the school-house after +school were over, and she were looking at some copybooks, when suddenly +he marched in at the door, and, 'Hullo, Olive!' he says. She got up, and +she was as white as a sheet. She didn't say one word. And he just come up +to her, and took hold of her and kissed her and kissed her. It was horrid +to see him, fair turned me up," said Mrs. Rickett graphically. "And I'll +never forget her face when he let her go. She looked as if she'd had her +death blow. And so she had, miss. For she was never the same again. The +man was a beast, as anyone could see, and he hadn't improved in them +twelve years. He were a hard drinker, and he used to torment her to drink +with him, used to knock young Dick about too, something cruel. Dick were +only a lad of twelve, but he says to me once, 'I'll kill that man,' he +says. 'I'll kill him.' Mr. Fielding he went abroad as soon as the husband +turned up, and he didn't know what goings-on there were. There's some as +says she made him go, and I shouldn't wonder but what there was something +in it. For if ever any poor soul suffered martyrdom, it was that woman. +I'll never forget the change in her, never as long as I live. She kept up +for a long time, but she looked awful, and then at last when her time +drew near she broke down and used to cry and cry when anyone spoke to +her. O' course we all knew as she wouldn't get over it. Her spirit was +quite broke, and when the babies came she hadn't a chance. It happened +very quick at the last, and her husband weren't there. He were down at +The Three Tuns, and when they went to fetch him he laughed in their faces +and went on drinking. Oh, it was cruel." Mrs. Rickett wiped away some +indignant tears. "Not as she wanted him--never even mentioned his name. +She only asked for Dick, and he was with her just at the end. He was only +a lad of thirteen, miss, but he was a man grown from that night on. She +begged him to look after the babies, and he promised her he would. And +then she just lay holding his hand till she died. He seemed dazed-like +when they told him she were gone, and just went straight out without a +word. No one ever saw young Dick break down after that. He's got a will +like steel." + +"And the horrible husband?" asked Juliet, now thoroughly interested in +Mrs. Rickett's favourite tragedy. + +"I were coming to him," said Mrs. Rickett, with obvious relish. "The +husband stayed at The Three Tuns till closing time, then he went out +roaring drunk, took the cliff-path by mistake, and went over the cliff in +the dark. The tide was up, and he was drowned. And a great pity it didn't +happen a little bit sooner, says I! The nasty coarse hulking brute! I'd +have learned him a thing or two if he'd belonged to me." Again, +vindictively, Mrs. Rickett wiped her eyes. "Believe me, miss, there's no +martyrdom so bad as getting married to the wrong man. I've seen it once +and again, and I knows." + +"I quite agree with you," said Juliet. "But tell me some more! Who took +the poor babies?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Cross at the lodge took them. Mr. Fielding provided for 'em, +and he helped young Dick along too. He's been very good to them always. +He had young Jack trained, and now he's his chauffeur and making a very +good living. The worst of Jack is, he ain't over steady, got too much of +his father in him to please me. He's always after some girl--two or +three at a time sometimes. No harm in the lad, I daresay. But he's wild, +you know. Dick finds him rather a handful very often. Robin can't abide +him, which perhaps isn't much to be wondered at, seeing as it was mostly +Jack's fault that he is such a poor cripple. He was always sickly. It's +often the way with twins, you know. All the strength goes to one. But he +always had to do what Jack did as a little one, and Jack led him into all +sorts of mischief, till one day when they were about ten they went off +bird's-nesting along the cliffs High Shale Point way, and only Jack come +back late at night to say his brother had gone over the cliff. Dick tore +off with some of the chaps from the shore. It were dark and windy, and +they all said it was no use, but Dick insisted upon going down the face +of the cliff on a rope to find him. And find him at last he did on a +ledge about a hundred feet down. He was so badly hurt that he thought +he'd broke his back, and he didn't dare move him till morning, but just +stayed there with him all night long. Oh, it was a dreadful business." A +large tear splashed unchecked on to Mrs. Rickett's apron. "An ill-fated +family, as you might say. They got 'em up in the morning o' course, but +poor little Robin was very bad. He was on his back for nearly a year +after, and then, when he began to get about again, them humps came and he +grew crooked. Mr. Fielding were away at the time, hunting somewhere in +the wilds of Africa, and when he came home he were shocked to see the +lad. He had the very best doctors in the land to see him, but they all +said there was nothing to be done. The spine had got twisted, or +something of that nature, and he'd begun to have queer giddy fits too as +made 'em say the brain were affected, which it really weren't, miss, for +he's as sane as you or me, only simple you know, just a bit simple. They +said, all of 'em, as how he'd never live to grow up. He'd get them +abscies at the base of the skull, and they'd reach his brain and he'd go +raving mad and die. And the squire--that's Mr. Fielding--was all for +putting him away there and then. But Dick, he'd nursed him all through, +and he wouldn't hear of it. 'The boy's mine,' he says, 'and I'm going to +look after him.' Mr. Fielding was very cross with him, but that didn't +make no difference. You see, Dick had got fond of him, and as for Robin, +why, he just worshipped Dick. So there it was left, and Dick gave up all +his prospects to keep the boy with him. He were reading for the law, you +see, but he gave it all up and turned schoolmaster, so as he could live +here and take care of young Robin." + +"Turned schoolmaster!" Juliet repeated the words. "He's something of a +scholar then!" + +"Oh, no," said Mrs. Rickett. "It's only the village school, miss. Mr. +Fielding got him the post. They're an unruly set of varmints here, but he +keeps order among 'em. He's quite clever, as you might say, but no, he +ain't a scholard. He goes in for games, you know, football and the like, +tries to teach 'em to play like gentlemen, which he never will, for +they're a low lot, them shore people, and that dirty! Well, he makes 'em +bathe every day in the summer whether they likes it or whether they +don't. Oh, he does his best to civilize 'em, and all them fisher chaps +thinks a deal of him too. They've got a club in the village what Mr. +Fielding built for 'em, and he goes along there and gives 'em musical +evenings and jollies 'em generally. They'll do anything for him, bless +you. But he tells 'em off pretty straight sometimes. They'll take it from +him, you see, because they respects him." + +"I thought the parson always did that sort of thing," said Juliet. + +Mrs. Rickett uttered a brief, expressive snort. "He ain't much +use--except for the church. He's old, you see, and he don't understand +'em. And he's scared at them chaps what works the lead mines over at High +Shale. It's all in this parish, you know. And they are a horrid rough +lot, a deal worse than the fisher-folk. But Dick he don't mind 'em. And +he can do anything with 'em too, plays his banjo and sings and makes 'em +laugh. The mines belong to the Farringmore family, you know--Lord +Wilchester owns 'em. But he never comes near, and a' course the men gets +discontented and difficult. And they're a nasty drinking lot too. Why, +the manager--that's Mr. Ashcott--he's at his wit's end sometimes. But +Dick--oh, Dick can always handle 'em, knows 'em inside and out, and their +wives too. Yes, he's very clever is Dick. But he's thrown away in this +place. It's a pity, you know. If it weren't for Robin, it's my belief +that he'd be a great man. He's a born leader. But he's never had a +chance, and it don't look like as if he ever will now, poor fellow!" + +Mrs. Rickett ended mournfully and picked up Juliet's empty plate. + +"How old is he?" asked Juliet. + +"Oh, he's a lot past thirty now, getting too old to turn his hand to +anything new. Mr. Fielding he's always on to him about it, but it don't +make no difference. He'll never take up any other work while Robin lives. +And Robin is stronger nor what he used to be, all thanks to Dick's care. +He's just sacrificed everything to that boy, you know. It don't seem +hardly right, do it?" + +"I don't know," Juliet said slowly. "Some sacrifices are worth while." + +Mrs. Rickett looked a little puzzled. There was something about +this young lodger of hers that she could not quite fathom, but +since she 'liked the looks of her' she did not regard this fact as +a serious drawback. + +"Well, there's some folks as thinks one way and some another," she +conceded. "My husband always says as there's quite a lot of good in Robin +if he's treated decent. He's often round here at the forge. That's how he +come to get so fond of my Freddy. You ain't seen Freddy yet, miss. He's a +bit shy like with strangers, but he soon gets over it." + +"You must bring him in to see me," said Juliet. + +Mrs. Rickett beamed. "I will, miss, I will. I'll bring him in with the +pudding. P'raps if you was to give him a little bit he wouldn't be shy. +He's very fond of gingerbread pudding." + +"I wish I were!" sighed Juliet, as her landlady's portly form +disappeared. "I shall certainly have to have a cigarette after it, and +then there will only be one left! Oh, dear, why was I brought up among +the flesh-pots?" She broke off with a sudden irresistible laugh, and +rising went to the window. Someone was sauntering down the road on the +other side of the high privet hedge. There came to her a whiff of +cigarette-smoke wafted on the sea-breeze. She leaned forth, and at the +gap by the gate caught a glimpse of a trim young man in blue serge +wearing a white linen hat. She scarcely saw his face as he passed, but +she had a fleeting vision of the cigarette. + +"I wonder where you get them from," she murmured wistfully. "I believe I +could get to like that brand, and they can't be as expensive as mine." + +The door opened behind her, and she turned back smiling to greet the +ginger pudding and Freddy. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MAGIC + + +The scent of the gorse in the evening dew was as incense offered to the +stars. To Juliet, wandering forth in the twilight after supper with +Columbus, the exquisite fragrance was almost intoxicating. It seemed to +drug the senses. She went along the path at the top of the cliff as one +in a dream. + +The sea was like a dream-sea also, silver under the stars, barely +rippling against the shingle, immensely and mysteriously calm. She went +on and on, scarcely feeling the ground beneath her feet, moving through +an atmosphere of pure magic, all her pulses thrilling to the wonder of +the night. + +Suddenly, from somewhere not far distant among the gorse bushes, there +came a sound. She stopped, and it seemed to her that all the world +stopped with her to hear the first soft trill of a nightingale through +the tender dusk. It went into silence, but it left her heart throbbing +strangely. Surely--surely there was magic all around her! That bird-voice +in the silence thrilled her through and through. She stood spell-bound, +waiting for the enchanted music to fill her soul. There followed a few +liquid notes, and then there came a far-off, flute-like call, gradually +swelling, gradually drawing nearer, so pure, so wild, so full of ecstasy, +that she almost felt as if it were more than she could bear. It broke at +last in a crystal shower of song, and she turned and looked out over the +glittering sea and asked herself if it could be real. It was as if a +spirit had called to her out of the summer night. + +Then Columbus came careering along the path in fevered search of her, and +quite suddenly, like the closing of a lid, the magic sounds vanished into +a deep silence. + +"Oh, Columbus!" his mistress murmured reproachfully. "You've stopped +the music!" + +Columbus responded by planting his paws against her, and giving her a +vigorous push. There was decidedly more of common sense than poetry in +his composition. The passion for exploring which had earned him his name +was his main characteristic, and he wanted to get as far as possible +before the time arrived to turn back. + +She yielded to his persuasion, and walked on up the path with her face to +the shimmering sea. For some reason she felt divinely happy, as if she +had drunk of the wine of the gods. It had been so wonderful--that song of +starlight and of Spring. + +It was very warm, and she wore neither hat nor wrap. If she had come out +in a bathing-dress, no one would have known, she reflected. But in this +she was wrong, for presently, as she sauntered along, she became aware of +a faint scent other than the wonderful cocoa-nut perfume of the gorse +bushes--a scent that made her aware of the presence of another human +being in that magic place. + +She looked about for him with a faint smile on her lips, but the +cliff-path ran empty before her, ascending in a series of fairly stiff +climbs to the brow of High Shale Point. Columbus hurried along ahead of +her as if he had made up his mind to reach the top at all costs. But +Juliet had no intention of mounting to the summit of the frowning cliff +that night. She had a vagrant desire to track that elusive scent, but +even that, it seemed was not to be satisfied, and at length she stopped +again and sent a summoning whistle after Columbus. + +It was almost at the same moment that there came from behind her a sound +that shattered all the fairy romance of the night at a blow. She turned +sharply, and immediately, like a fiendish chorus, it came again spreading +and echoing along the cliffs--the yelling of drunken laughter. + +Several men were coming along the path that she had travelled. She saw +them vaguely in the dimness a little way below her, and realized that her +retreat in that direction was cut off. Swiftly she considered the +position, for there was no time to be lost. To pursue the path would be +to go farther and farther away from the village and civilization, but for +the moment she saw no other course. On one hand the gorse bushes made a +practically impenetrable rampart, and on the other the cliff overhung the +shore which at that point was nearly two hundred feet below. From where +she stood, no way of escape presented itself, and she turned in despair +to follow the path a little farther. But as she did so, she heard another +wild shout from behind her, and it flashed upon her with a stab of dismay +that her light dress had betrayed her. She had been sighted by the +intruders, and they were pursuing her. She heard the stamp and scuffle of +running feet that were not too sure of their stability, and with the +sound something very like panic entered into Juliet. Her heart jolted +within her, and the impulse to flee like a hunted hare was for a second +almost too urgent to be withstood. That she did withstand it was a matter +for life-long thankfulness in her estimation. The temptation was great, +but she did not spring from the stock that runs away. She pulled herself +up sharply with burning cheeks, and deliberately turned and waited. + +They came up the path, yelling like hounds on a scent, while she stood +perfectly erect and motionless, facing them. There were five of them, +hulking youths all inflamed by drink if not actually tipsy, and they came +around her with shouts of idiotic laughter and incoherent joking, +evidently taking her for a village girl. + +She stood her ground with her back to the cliff-edge, not yielding an +inch, contempt in every line. "Will you kindly go your way," she said, +"and allow me to go mine?" + +They responded with yells of derision, and one young man, emboldened by +the jeers of his companions, came close to her and leered into her face +of rigid disdain. "I'm damned if I won't have a kiss first!" he swore, +and flung a rough arm about her. + +Juliet moved then with the fierce suddenness of a wild thing trapped. She +wrenched herself from him in furious disgust. + +"You hound!" she began to say. But the word was never fully uttered, for +as it sprang to her lips, it went into a desperate cry. The ground had +given way beneath her feet, and she fell straight backwards over that +awful edge. For the fraction of an instant she saw the stars in the deep +blue sky above her, then, like the snap of a spring, they vanished into +darkness... + +It was a darkness that spread and spread like an endless sea, submerging +all things. No light could penetrate it; only a few vague sounds and +impressions somehow filtered through. And then--how it happened she had +not the faintest notion--she was aware of someone lifting her out of the +depth that had received her, and there came again to her nostrils that +subtle aroma of cigarette-smoke that had mingled with the scent of the +gorse. She came to herself gasping, but for some reason she dared not +look up. That single glimpse of the wheeling universe seemed to have +sealed her vision. + +Then a voice spoke. "I say, do open your eyes, if you don't mind! You're +really not dead. You've only had a tumble." + +That voice awoke her quite effectually. The mixture of entreaty and +common sense it contained strangely stirred her curiosity. She opened her +eyes wide upon the speaker. + +"Hullo!" she said faintly. + +He was kneeling by her side, looking closely into her face, and the first +thing that struck her was the extreme brightness of his eyes. They shone +like black onyx. + +He responded at once, his voice very low and rapid. "It's perfectly all +right. You needn't be afraid. I was just in time to catch you. There's an +easier way down close by, but you wouldn't see it in this light. Feeling +better now? Like to sit up?" + +She awoke to the fact that she was propped against his knee. She sat up, +still gasping a little, but shrank as she realized the narrowness of the +ledge upon which she was resting. + +He thrust out a protecting arm in front of her. "It's all right. You're +absolutely safe. Don't shiver like that! You couldn't go over if you +tried. Don't look if it makes you giddy!" + +She looked again into his face, and again was struck by the amazing +keenness of his eyes. + +"How did you get here?" she said. + +"Oh, it's easy enough when you know the way. I was just coming to help +you when you came over. You didn't hear me shout?" + +"No. They were all making such a horrid noise." She suppressed a shudder. +"Have they gone now?" + +"Yes, the brutes! They scooted. I'm going after them directly." + +"Oh, please don't!" she said hastily. "Not for the world! I don't want to +be left alone here. I've had enough of it." + +She tried to smile with the words, but it was rather a trembling attempt. +He abandoned his intention at once. + +"All right. It'll keep. Look here, shall I help you up? You'll feel +better on the top." + +"I think I had better stay here for a minute," Juliet said. "I--I'm +afraid I shall make an idiot of myself if I don't." + +"No, you won't. You'll be all right." He thrust an abrupt arm around her +shoulders, gripping them hard to still her trembling. "Lean against me! +I've got you quite safe." + +She relaxed with a murmur of thanks. There was something intensely +reassuring about that firm grip. She sat quite motionless for a space +with closed eyes, gradually regaining her self-command. + +In the end a snuffle and whine from above aroused her. She sat up +with a start. + +"Oh, Columbus! Don't let him fall over!" + +Her companion laughed a little. "Let's get back to him then! Don't look +down! Keep your face to the cliff! And remember I've got hold of you! You +can't fall." + +She struggled blindly to her feet, helped by his arm behind her; but, +though she did not look down, she was seized immediately by an +overwhelming giddiness that made her totter back against him. + +"I'm dreadfully sorry," she said, almost in tears. "I can't help it. I'm +an idiot." + +He held her up with unfailing steadiness. "All right! All right!" he +said. "Don't get frightened! Move along slowly with me! Keep your face to +the cliff, and you'll come to some steps! That's the way! Yes, we've got +to get round that jutting-out bit. It's perfectly safe. Keep your head! +It's quite easy on the other side." + +It might be perfectly safe for a practised climber, but Juliet's heart +was in her mouth when she reached the projecting corner of cliff where +the ledge narrowed to a bare eighteen inches and the rock bulged outwards +as if to push off all trespassers. + +She came to a standstill, clinging desperately to the unyielding stone. +"I can't possibly do it," she said helplessly. + +"Yes, you can. You've got to." Quick as lightning came the words. "Go on +and don't be silly! Of course you can do it! A child could." + +He loosened her clutching fingers with the words, and pushed her onwards. +She went, driven by a force such as she had never encountered before. + +She heard the soft wash of the sea far below her above the sickening +thudding of her heart as she crept forward round that terrible bend. She +heard with an acuteness that made her marvel the long sweet note of the +nightingale swelling among the bushes above. She also heard a watch +ticking with amazing loudness close to her ear, and was aware of a very +firm hand that grasped her shoulder, impelling her forward. There was no +resisting that steady pressure. She crept on step by step because she +could not do otherwise; and when she had rounded that awful corner at +last and would fain have stopped to rest after the ordeal, she found that +she must needs go on, for he would not suffer any pause. + +He had followed her so closely that his hold upon her had never varied. +There seemed to her to be something electric in the very touch of his +fingers. She was fully conscious of the fact that she moved by a strength +outside her own. + +"Go on!" he said. "Go on! There's Columbus waiting for you. Can you see +the steps? They're close here. They're a bit rough, I'm afraid. I made +them myself. But you'll manage them." + +She came to the steps. The path had widened somewhat, and the dreadful +sense of sheer depth below her was less insistent. Nevertheless, the way +was far from easy, the steps being little more than deep notches in the +cliff. It slanted inwards here however, and she set herself to achieve +the ascent with more assurance. + +Her guide came immediately behind her. She felt his hand touch her at +every step she took. Just at the last, realizing the nearness of the +summit and safety, she tried to hasten, and in a moment slipped. He +grabbed her instantly, but she could not recover her footing though she +made a frantic effort to do so. She sprawled against the cliff, clutching +madly at some tufts of grass and weed above her, while the man behind her +gripped and held her there. + +"Don't struggle!" he said. "You're all right. You won't fall. Let go of +that stuff and hang on to me!" + +"I can't!" she said. "I can't!" + +"Let go of that stuff and hang on to me!" he said again, and the words +were short and sharp. "Left hand first! Put your arm round my neck, and +then get round and hang on with the other! It's only a few feet more. I +can manage it." + +They were the most definite instructions she had ever received in her +life, and the most difficult to obey. She hung, clinging with both hands, +still vainly seeking a foothold, desperately afraid to relinquish her +hold and trust herself unreservedly to his single-handed strength. But, +as he waited, it came to her that it was the only thing to do. With a +gasp she freed one hand at length and reaching back as he held her she +thrust it over his shoulder. + +"Now the other hand, please!" he said. + +She did not know how she did it. It was like loosing her grip upon life +itself. Yet after a few seconds of torturing irresolution she obeyed him, +abandoning her last hold and hanging to him in palpitating apprehension. + +He put forth his full strength then. She felt the strain of his +muscles as he gathered her up with one arm. With the other hand, had +she but known it, he was grasping only the naked rock. Yet he moved +as if absolutely sure of himself. He drew a deep hard breath, and +began to mount. + +It was only a few feet to the top as he had said, but the climb seemed +to her unending. She was conscious throughout that his endurance was +being put to the utmost test, and only by the most complete passivity +could she help him. + +But he never faltered, and finally--just when she had begun to wonder if +this awful nightmare of danger could ever cease--she found herself set +down upon the dewy grass that covered the top of the cliff. The scent of +the gorse bushes came again to her and the far sweet call of the +nightingale. And she realized that the danger was past and she was back +once more in the magic region of her summer dreams from which she had +been so rudely flung. She saw again the shimmering, wonderful sea and the +ever-brightening stars. One of them hung, a golden globe of light like a +beacon on the dim horizon. + +Then Columbus came pushing and nuzzling against her, full of tender +enquiries and congratulations; and something that she did not fully +understand made her turn and clasp him closely with a sudden rush of +tears. The danger was over, all over. And never till this moment had she +realized how amazingly sweet was life. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BROTHER DICK + + +She covered her emotion with the most herculean efforts at gaiety. She +laughed very shakily at the solicitude expressed by Columbus, and told +him tremulously how absurd and ridiculous he was to make such a fuss +about nothing. + +After this, feeling a little better, she ventured a glance at her +companion. He was on his feet and wiping his forehead--a man of medium +height and no great breadth of shoulder, but evidently well knit and +athletic. Becoming by some means aware of her attention, he put away his +handkerchief and turned towards her. She saw his eyes gleam under black, +mobile brows that seemed to denote a considerable sense of humour. The +whole of his face held an astonishing amount of vitality, but the lips +were straight and rather hard, so clean-cut as to be almost ascetic. He +looked to her like a man who would suffer to the utmost, but never lose +his self-control. And she thought she read a pride more than ordinary in +the cast of his features--a man capable of practically anything save the +asking or receiving of favours. + +Then he spoke, and curiously all criticism vanished. "I had better +introduce myself," he said. "I'm afraid I've been unpardonably rude. My +name is Green." + +Green! The word darted at her like an imp of mischief. The romantic +dropped to the prosaic with a suddenness that provoked in her an almost +irresistible desire to laugh. + +She controlled it swiftly, but she was fully aware that she had not +hidden it as she rose to her feet and offered her hand to her cavalier. + +"How do you do, Mr. Green? My name is Moore--Miss Moore. Will you allow +me to thank you for saving my life?" + +Her voice throbbed a little; tears and laughter were almost equally near +the surface at that moment. She was extremely disgusted with herself for +her lack of composure. + +Then again, as his hand grasped hers, she forgot to criticize. "I say, +please don't!" he said. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It +was jolly plucky of you to stand your ground with those hooligans from +the mine." + +"But I didn't stand my ground," she pointed out. "I went over. It was a +most undignified proceeding, wasn't it?" + +"No, it wasn't," he declared. "You did it awfully well. I wish I'd been +nearer to you, but I couldn't possibly get up in time." + +"Oh, I think you were more useful where you were," she said, "thank you +all the same. I must have gone clean to the bottom otherwise. I +thought I had." + +She caught back an involuntary shudder, and in a moment the hand that +held hers closed unceremoniously and drew her further from the edge of +the cliff. + +"You are sure you are none the worse, now?" he said. "Not giddy or +anything?" + +"No, not anything," she said. + +But she was glad of his hold none the less, and he seemed to know it, for +he kept her hand firmly clasped. + +"You must let me see you back," he said. "Where are you staying?" + +"At Mrs. Rickett's," she told him. "The village smithy, you know." + +"I know," he said. "Down at Little Shale, you mean. You've come some way, +haven't you?" + +"It was such a lovely night," she said, "and Columbus wanted a walk. I +got led on, I didn't know I was likely to meet anyone." + +"It's the short cut to High Shale," he said. "There is always the chance +of meeting these fellows along here. You'd be safer going the other way." + +"But I like the furze bushes and the nightingale," she said +regretfully, "and the exquisite wildness of it. It is not nearly so +nice the other way." + +He laughed. "No, but it's safer. Come this way as much as you like in the +morning, but go the other way at night!" + +He turned with the words, and began to lead her down the path. She went +with him as one who responds instinctively to a power unquestioned. The +magic of the night was closing about her again. She heard the voice of +the nightingale thrilling through the silence. + +"This is the most wonderful place I have ever seen," she said at last in +a tone of awe. + +"Is it?" he said. + +His lack of enthusiasm surprised her. "Don't you think so too?" she said. +"Doesn't it seem wonderful to you?" + +He glanced out to sea for a moment. "You see I live here," he said. "Yes, +it's quite a beautiful place. But it isn't always like this. It's +primitive. It can be savage. You wouldn't like it always." + +"I'm thinking of settling down here all the same," said Juliet. + +He stopped short in the path. "Are you really?" + +She nodded with a smile. "You seem surprised. Why shouldn't I? Isn't +there room for one more?" + +"Oh, plenty of room," he said, and walked on again as abruptly as he +had paused. + +The path became wider and more level, and he relinquished her hand. "You +won't stay," he said with conviction. + +"I wonder," said Juliet. + +"Of course you won't!" A hint of vehemence crept into his speech. "When +the nightingales have left off singing, and the wild roses are over, +you'll go." + +"You seem very sure of that," said Juliet. + +"Yes, I am sure." He spoke uncompromisingly, almost contemptuously, +she thought. + +"You evidently don't stay here because you like it," she said. + +"My work is here," he returned noncommittally. She wondered a little, but +something held her back from pursuing the matter. She walked several +paces in silence. Then, "I wish I could find work here," she said, in her +slow deep voice. "It would do me a lot of good." + +"Would it?" He turned towards her. "But that isn't what you came for--not +to find work, I mean?" + +"Well, no--not primarily." She made the admission almost guiltily. "But I +think everyone ought to be able to earn a livelihood, don't you?" + +"It's safer certainly," he said. "But it isn't everyone that is +qualified for it." + +"No?" Her voice was whimsical. "And you think I shall seek in vain for +any suitable niche here?" + +"It depends upon what your capabilities are," he said. + +"My capabilities!" She laughed, a soft, low laugh. "Columbus! What are my +capabilities!" + +They had reached a railing and a gate across the path leading down to +the village. Columbus, waiting to go through, wriggled in a manner that +expressed his entire ignorance on the subject. Juliet leaned against the +gate with her face to the western sky. + +"My capabilities!" she mused. "Let me see! What can I do?" She looked at +her companion with a smile. "I am afraid I shall have to refer you to +Lady Joanna Farringmore. She can tell you--exactly." + +He made a slight movement of surprise. "You know the Farringmore family?" + +She raised her brows a little. "Yes. Do you?" + +"By hearsay only. Lord Wilchester owns the High Shale Mines. I have never +met any of them." He spoke without enthusiasm. + +"And never want to?" she suggested. "I quite understand. I am very tired +of them myself just now--most especially of Lady Joanna. But perhaps it +is rather bad taste to say so, as I have been brought up as her companion +from childhood." + +"And now you have left her?" he said. + +"Yes I have left her. I have disapproved of her for some time," Juliet +spoke thoughtfully. "She is very unconventional, you know. And I--well, +at heart I fancy I must be rather a prude. Anyhow, I disapproved, more +and more strongly, and at last I came away." + +"That was rather brave of you," he commented. + +"Oh, it wasn't much of a sacrifice. I've got a little money--enough to +keep me from starvation; but not enough to buy me cigarettes--at least +not the kind I like." Juliet's smile was one of friendly confidence. "I +think it's about my only real vice, and I've never been used to inferior +ones. Do you mind telling me where you get yours?" + +He smiled back at her as he felt for his cigarette-case. "You had better +try one and make sure you like them before you get any." + +"Oh, I know I should like them," she said, "thank you very much. +No, don't give me one! I feel as if I've begged for it. But just +tell me where you get them, and if they're not too expensive I'll +buy some to try." + +He held the open cigarette-case in front of her. "Won't you honour me by +accepting one?" he said. + +She hesitated, and then in a moment very charmingly she yielded. "Thank +you--Mr. Green. I seem to have accepted a good deal from you to-night. +Thank you very much." + +He made her a slight bow. "It has been my privilege to serve you," he +said. "I hope I may have further opportunities of being of use. I can get +you these cigarettes at any time if you like them. But they are not +obtainable locally." + +"Not!" Her face fell. "How disappointing!" + +"Not from my point of view," he said. "There's no difficulty about it. I +can get them for you if you will allow me." + +He struck a match for her, and kindled a cigarette for himself also. + +Juliet inhaled a deep breath. "They are lovely," she said. "I knew I +should like them when you went past Mrs. Rickett's smoking one." + +He looked at her with amusement. "When was that?" + +"When I was waiting for that dreadful ginger pudding at lunch--I +mean dinner." She paused. "No, that's horrid of me. Please consider +it unsaid!" + +"Why shouldn't you say it if you think it?" he asked. + +"Because it's unkind. Mrs. Rickett is the soul of goodness. And I am +going to learn to like her ginger pudding--and her dumplings--and +everything that is hers." + +"How heroic of you! I wonder if you will succeed." + +"Of course I shall succeed," Juliet spoke with confidence as she turned +to pass through the gate. "I am going to cultivate a contented mind here. +And when I go back to Lady Jo--if I ever do--I shall be proof against +anything." + +He reached forward to open the gate. "I think you will probably go back +long before the contented mind has begun to sprout," he said. + +She laughed as she walked on down the path. "But it has begun already. I +haven't felt so cheerful for a long time." + +"That isn't real contentment," he pointed out. "It's your spirit of +adventure enjoying itself. Wait till you begin to be bored!" + +"How extremely analytical!" she remarked. "I am not going to be bored. My +spirit of adventure is not at all an enterprising one. I assure you I +didn't enjoy that tumble over the cliff in the least. I am a very quiet +person by nature." She began to laugh. "You must have noticed I wasn't +very intrepid in the face of danger. I seem to remember your telling me +not to be silly." + +"I hoped you had forgiven and forgotten that," he said. + +"Neither one nor the other," she answered, checking her mirth. "I think +you would have been absolutely justified in using even stronger language +under the circumstances. You wouldn't have saved me if you hadn't +been--very firm." + +"Very brutal, you mean. No, I ought to have managed better. I will next +time." He spoke with a smile, but there was a hint of seriousness in +his words. + +"When will that be?" said Juliet. + +"I don't know. But I can make the way down much easier. The steps are a +simple matter, and I have often thought a charge of gunpowder would +improve that bit where the rock hangs over. If I hadn't wanted to keep +the place to myself I should have done it long ago. It certainly is +dangerous now to anyone who doesn't know." + +Juliet came to a sudden halt in the path. "Oh, you are an engineer!" she +said. "I hope you will not spoil your favourite eyrie just because I may +some day fall over into it again. The chance is a very remote one, I +assure you. Now, please don't come any farther with me! It has only just +dawned on me that your way probably lies in the direction of the mines. +I shouldn't have let you come so far if I had realized it sooner." + +He looked momentarily surprised. "But I do live in this direction," he +said. "In any case, I hope you will allow me to see you safely back." + +"But there is no need," she protested. "We are practically there. Do you +really live this way?" + +"Yes. Quite close to the worthy Mrs. Rickett too. I am not an engineer. I +am the village schoolmaster." + +He announced the fact with absolute directness. It was Juliet's turn to +look surprised. She almost gasped. + +"You--you!" + +"Yes, I. Why not?" He met her look of astonishment with a smile. "Have I +given you a shock?" + +She recovered herself with an answering smile. "No, of course not. I +might have guessed. I wonder I didn't." + +"But how could you guess?" he questioned. "Have I the manners of a +pedagogue?" + +"No," she said again. "No, of course not. Only--I have been hearing a +good deal about you to-day; not in your capacity of schoolmaster, but +as--Brother Dick." + +"Ah!" he said sharply, and just for a moment she thought he was either +embarrassed or annoyed, but whatever the feeling he covered it instantly. +"You have talked to my brother Robin?" + +"Yes," she said. "He is the only person I have talked to besides Mrs. +Rickett. We met on the shore." + +"I hope he behaved himself," he said. "You weren't afraid of him, I +hope." + +"No; poor lad! Why should I be?" Juliet spoke very gently, very +pitifully. "I have a feeling that Robin and I are going to be +friends," she said. + +"You are very good," he said, in a low voice. "He hasn't many friends, +poor chap. But he's very faithful to those he's got. Most people are so +revolted by his appearance that they never get any farther. And he's shy +too--very naturally. How did he come to speak to you?" + +She hesitated. "It was I who spoke first," she said, in a moment. + +"Really! What made you do that?" + +She hesitated again. + +He looked at her with sudden attention. "He did something that made you +speak. What was it, please?" + +His tone was peremptory, almost curt, Juliet hesitated no longer. + +"Do you mind if I don't answer that question?" she said. + +"He will tell me if you don't," he returned, with a certain hardness that +made her wonder if he were angered by her refusal. + +"That wouldn't be fair of you," she said gently, "when I specially don't +want you to know." + +"You don't want me to know?" he said. + +"I should tell you myself if I did," she pointed out. + +"I see." He reflected for a moment; then: "Will you promise to tell me if +he ever does it again?" he said. + +Juliet laughed with a feeling of almost inordinate relief. "Yes, +certainly. I know he never will." + +"Then that's the end of that," he said. + +"Thank you," said Juliet. + +They had reached the road that turned up to the village, and the light +from a large lamp some distance up the hill shone down upon them. + +"That is where Mr. Fielding lives," said Green, as they walked towards +it. "Those are his lodge-gates. No doubt you have heard of him too. He is +the great man of the place. He owns it, in fact." + +"Yes, I have heard of him," said Juliet. "Is he a nice man?" + +He made an almost imperceptible movement of the shoulders. "I am very +much indebted to him," he said. + +"I see," said Juliet. + +They reached the cottage-gate that led to the blacksmith's humble abode, +and a smell of rank tobacco, floating forth, announced the fact that he +was smoking his pipe in the porch. + +Juliet paused and held out her hand. "Good-bye!" she said. + +His grasp was strong and very steady. "Good-bye," he said, "I hope you'll +find what you're looking for." + +He stooped to pat Columbus, then opened the gate for her. + +Instantly there was a stir in the porch as of some large animal awaking. +"That you, Mr. Green?" called a deep bass voice. "Come in! Come in!" + +But Green remained outside. "Not to-night, thanks," he called back. "I've +got some work to do. Good-night!" + +The gate closed behind her, and Juliet walked up the path with Columbus +trotting sedately by her side. She heard her escort's departing footsteps +as she went, and wondered when they would meet again. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GREAT MAN + + +The church at Little Shale was very ancient and picturesque. It stood +almost opposite to the lodge-gates of Shale Court, the abode of the great +Mr. Fielding. Two cracked bells hung in its crumbling square tower, +disturbing once a week the jackdaws that built in the ivy. Just once a +week ever since the Dark Ages, was Juliet's reflection as she dutifully +obeyed the somewhat querulous-sounding summons on the following day. She +could not picture their ringing for any bridal festivity, though it +seemed possible that they might sometimes toll for the dead. + +Two incredibly old yew-trees mounted guard on each side of the gate and +another of immense size overhung the porch. The path was lined by +grave-stones that all looked as if they were tottering to a fall. + +An old clergyman in a cassock that was brown with age hurried past her as +she walked up the path. She thought he matched his surroundings as he +disappeared at a trot round the corner of the church. Then from behind +her came the hoot of a motor-horn, and she glanced back to see a closed +car that glittered at every angle swoop through the open gates and swerve +round to the churchyard. She wanted to stop and see its occupants alight, +but decorum prompted her to pass on, and she entered the church, which +smelt of the mould of centuries, and paused inside. + +It was a plain little place with plastered walls, and green glass +windows, and one large square pew under the pulpit. The other pews were +modern and very bare, occupied sparsely by villagers who all had their +faces turned over their shoulders and were craning to watch the door. + +No one looked at her, however, and Juliet, after brief hesitation, sat +down in a chair close to the porch. The entrance of the Court party was +evidently something of an event, and she determined to get a good view. + +Footsteps came up the path, and on the very verge of the porch a voice +spoke--a woman's voice, unmodulated, arrogant. + +"Oh, really, Edward! I don't see why your village schoolmaster should be +asked to lunch every Sunday, however immaculate he may be. I object on +principle." + +The words were scarcely uttered before the notes of the organ swelled +suddenly through the church. Juliet sent a quick look towards it, and saw +the black cropped head of the man in question as he sat at the +instrument. It occupied one side of the chancel and a crowd of village +children congregated in the side pews immediately outside and under the +eye of the organist. Juliet felt an indignant flush rise in her cheeks. +She was certain that that remark had been audible all over the church, +and she resented it with almost unreasonable vehemence. + +Then with a sweep of feathers and laces the speaker entered, and +Juliet raised her eyes to regard her. She saw a young woman, +delicate-looking, with a pretty, insolent face and expensive clothes, +walk past, and was aware for a moment of a haughty stare that seemed +to question her right to be there. Then her own attention passed to +the man who entered in her wake. + +He was tall, middle-aged, handsome in a somewhat ordinary style, but +Juliet thought his mouth wore the most unpleasant expression she had ever +seen. It was drawn down at the corners in a sneering curve, and a decided +frown knitted his brows. He walked with the suggestion of a swagger, as +if ready to challenge any who should dispute his right to the place and +everyone in it. + +His wife entered the great square pew, but he strode on to the chancel, +tapped the organist unceremoniously on the shoulder and spoke to him. + +Juliet watched the result with a curiosity she could not restrain. The +black head turned sharply. She caught a momentary glimpse of Green's +energetic profile as he spoke briefly and emphatically and immediately +returned to his instrument. The squire marched back to his pew still +frowning, and the voluntary continued. He played with assurance but +somewhat mechanically, and she presently realized that he was keeping a +sharp eye on the schoolchildren at the same time. The service was a +lengthy one and they needed supervision. They fidgeted and whispered +unceasingly. A lady whom she took to be the Vicar's daughter sat near +them, but it was quite obvious that she had no control over them. During +the sermon, which was a very sleepy affair, Green left the organ and went +and sat amongst them. + +Then indeed a profound quiet reigned and Juliet became so drowsy that +it took her utmost resolution to stay awake. Most of the congregation +slept unrestrainedly. It was certainly a hot morning, and the service +very dull. + +When it was over at last, she stepped out under the yew-trees and +wondered why she had not made her escape before. She was the first to +leave the church, and wandering down the path through the hot, chequered +sunlight she saw the shining car drawn up at the gate, and a young +chauffeur waiting at the door. She glanced at him as she passed, and was +surprised for a second to find him gazing at her with a curious +intentness. He lowered his eyes the moment they met hers, and she passed +on, wondering what there was about her to excite his interest. + +Columbus was waiting with pathetic patience to be taken for a walk, +and overpoweringly hot though it was she had not the heart to keep him +any longer. But she could not face the full blaze of noon on the +shore, and she turned back up the shady church lane with a vague +memory of having seen a stile at the entrance of a wood somewhere +along its winding length. + +The church-goers had dispersed by that time, but at the gate of the +schoolhouse which was a few yards above the church she saw a group of +boys waiting clamorously, and just as she found her stile she saw Green +come out dressed in flannels with a bath-towel round his neck. The boys +swarmed all about him like a crowd of excited puppies, and Juliet turned +into the wood with a smile. So he had refused the squire's invitation to +luncheon! She was very glad of that. + +The green glades of the wood received her; she wandered forward with a +delightful sense of well-being. The thought of London came to her--the +heat and the dust and the fumes of petrol--the chattering crowds under +the parched trees--the kaleidoscopic glitter of fashion at its crudest +and most amazing. She knew exactly what they were all doing at that +precise moment. She visualized the shifting, restless feverish throng +with a vividness that embraced every detail. And she turned her face up +to the tree-tops and revelled in her solitude. Only last week she had +been in that seething whirlpool, borne helplessly hither and thither like +driftwood, caught here or flung there by any chance current. Only last +week she had felt the sudden drawing of the vortex, sucking her down +with appalling swiftness. Only last week! And to-day she was free. She +had awakened to the danger almost at the eleventh hour, and she had +escaped. Thank God she had escaped in time! + +She suddenly wished that she had remembered to utter her thanksgiving +during that very monotonous service instead of going to sleep. But +somehow it seemed just as appropriate out here under the glorious +beeches. She sat down on a mossy root and drank in the sweetness with a +deep content. Columbus was busy trying to unearth a wood-louse that had +eluded him in a tuft of grass. She watched him lazily. + +He persevered for a long time, till in fact the tuft of grass was +practically demolished, and then at last, failing in his quest, he +relinquished the search, and with a deep sigh lay down by her side. + +She laid a caressing hand upon him, and ruffled his grizzled hair. "I'd +be lonely without you, Columbus," she said. + +Columbus smiled at the compliment and snapped inconsequently at a fly. "I +wish we had brought some lunch with us," remarked his mistress. "Then we +needn't have gone back. Why didn't you think of it, Columbus?" + +Columbus couldn't say really, but he wriggled his nose into the caressing +hand and gave her to understand that lunch really didn't matter. Then +very suddenly he extricated it again and uttered a growl that might have +risen from the heart of a lion. + +Juliet looked up. Someone was coming along the winding path through the +wood. She grasped Columbus by the collar, for he had a disconcerting +habit of barking round the legs of intruders if not wholly satisfied as +to their respectability. The next moment a figure came in sight, and she +recognized the squire. + +He was walking quickly, impatiently, flicking to and fro with a stick as +he came. The frown still drew his forehead, and she saw at a first glance +that he was annoyed. + +He did not see her at first, not in fact until he was close upon her. +Then, as Columbus tactlessly repeated his growl, he started and his look +fell upon her. + +Juliet had had no intention of speaking, but his eyes held so direct a +question that she found herself compelled to do so. "I hope we are not +trespassing," she said. + +He put his hand to his hat with a jerk. "You are not, madam," he said. "I +am not so sure of the dog." + +His voice was not unpleasant, but no smile accompanied his words. At +close quarters she saw that he was older than she had at first believed +him to be. He was well on in the fifties. + +She drew Columbus nearer to her. "I won't let him hunt," she said. + +"He will probably get shot if he does," remarked Mr. Fielding, and was +gone without further ceremony. + +Juliet put her arms around her favourite and kissed him between his +pricked ears. "What a sweet man, Columbus!" she murmured. "I think we +must cultivate him, don't you?" + +She wondered why he was going back towards the church lane at that hour, +for it was past one o'clock and time for her to be wending her own way +back to the village. She gave him ample opportunity to clear the wood, +however, before she moved. She was determined that she and Columbus would +be more discreet next time. + +Mrs. Rickett's midday meal was fixed for half-past-one. She was not +looking forward to it with any great relish, for her prophetic soul +warned her that it would not be of a very dainty order, but not for +worlds would she have had the good woman know it. Besides, she had one +cigarette left! + +She got up when she judged it safe, and began to walk back. But, nearing +the stile, the sound of voices made her pause. Two men were evidently +standing there, and she realized with something like dismay that the way +was blocked. She waited for a moment or two, then decided to put a bold +face on it and pursue her course. Mrs. Rickett's dinner certainly would +not improve by keeping. + +She pressed on therefore, and as she drew nearer, she recognized the +squire's voice, raised on a note of irritation. + +"Oh, don't be a fool, my good fellow! I shouldn't ask you if I didn't +really want you." + +The answer came instantly, and though it sounded curt it had a ring +of humour. "Thank you, sir. And I shouldn't refuse if I really +wanted to come." + +There was a second's silence; then the squire's voice again, loud and +explosive: "Confound you then! Do the other thing!" + +It was at this point that Juliet rounded a curve in the path and came +within sight of the stile. + +Green was standing facing her, and she saw his instant glance of +recognition. Mr. Fielding had his back to her, and the younger man laid a +hand upon his arm and drew him aside. + +Fielding turned sharply. He looked her up and down with a resentful stare +as she mounted the stile, and Juliet flushed in spite of the most +determined composure. + +Green came forward instantly and offered a hand to assist her. "Good +morning, Miss Moore! Exploring in another direction to-day?" he said. + +She took the proffered hand, feeling absurdly embarrassed by the +squire's presence. Green was bareheaded, and his hair shone wet in the +strong sunlight. His manner was absolutely easy and assured. She met his +smiling look with an odd feeling of gratitude, as if he had ranged +himself on her side against something formidable. + +"I am afraid I haven't been very fortunate in my choice to-day either," +she said somewhat ruefully, as she descended. + +He laughed. "We all trespass in these woods. It's a time-honoured custom, +isn't it, Mr. Fielding? The pheasants are quite used to it." + +Juliet did not glance in the squire's direction. She felt that she had +done all that was necessary in that quarter, and that any further +overture would but meet with a churlish response. + +But to her astonishment he took the initiative. "I am afraid I wasn't too +hospitable just now," he said. "It's this fellow's fault. Dick, it's up +to you to apologize on my behalf." + +Juliet looked at him then in amazement, and saw that the dour visage was +actually smiling at her--such a smile as transformed it completely. + +"If Miss Moore will permit me," said Mr. Green, with a bow, "I will +introduce you to her. You will then be _en rapport_ and in a position to +apologize for yourself." + +"Pedagogue!" said the squire. + +And Juliet laughed for the first time. "If anyone apologizes it should be +me," she said. + +"I!" murmured Green. "With more apologies!" + +The squire turned on him. "Green, I'll punch your head for you directly, +you unspeakable pedant! What should you take him for, Miss Moore? A very +high priest or a very low comedian?" + +Juliet felt her breath somewhat taken away by this sudden admission to +intimacy. She looked at Green whose dark eyes laughed straight back at +her, and found it impossible to stand upon ceremony. + +"I really don't know," she said. "I haven't had time to place him yet. +But it's a little difficult to be quite impartial as he saved my life +last night." + +"What?" said the squire. "That sounds romantic. What made him do that?" + +"Allow me!" interposed Green, pulling the bath-towel from his neck, and +rapidly winding it into a noose. "It happened yesterday evening. I was +having a quiet smoke in a favourite corner of mine on a ledge about +twenty feet down High Shale Cliff where it begins to get steep, when +Miss Moore, attracted by the scent of my cigarette,--that's right, isn't +it?"--he flung her an audacious challenge with uplifted brows--"when +Miss Moore attracted as I say, by the alluring scent of my cigarette, +fell over the edge and joined me. My gallantry consisted in detaining +her there, after this somewhat abrupt introduction, that's all. Oh yes, +and in bullying her afterwards to climb up again when she didn't want +to. I was an awful brute last night, wasn't I? Really, I think it's +uncommonly generous of you to have anything at all to say to me this +morning, Miss Moore." + +"So do I," said Mr. Fielding. "If it were possible to treat such a +buffoon as you seriously, she wouldn't. I hope you are none the worse for +the adventure, Miss Moore." + +"No, really I am not," said Juliet. "And I am still feeling very +grateful." She smiled at the squire. "Good-bye! I must be getting back to +Mrs. Rickett's or the dumplings will be cold." + +She whistled Columbus to her and departed, still wondering at the +transformation which Green had wrought in the squire. It had not occurred +to her that there could be anything really pleasant hidden behind that +grim exterior. It was evident that the younger man knew how to hold his +own. And again she was glad, quite unreasonably glad, that he had stuck +to his refusal to lunch at the Court. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE VISITOR + + +"May I come and see you?" said Robin. + +Juliet, seated under an apple-tree in the tiny orchard that ran beside +the road, looked up from her book and saw his thin face peering at her +through the hedge. She smiled at him very kindly from under her +flower-decked shelter. + +"Of course!" she said. "Come in by all means!" + +She expected him to go round to the gate, but he surprised her by going +down on all fours and crawling through a gap in the privet. He looked +like a monstrous baboon shuffling towards her. When through, he stood up +again, a shaggy lock of hair falling across his forehead, and looked at +her with eyes that seemed to burn in their deep hollows like distant +lamps at night. + +He stopped, several paces from her. "Sure you don't mind me?" he said. + +"Quite sure," said Juliet, with quiet sincerity. "I am very pleased to +see you. Wait while I fetch another chair!" + +She would have risen with the words, but he stopped her with a gesture +almost violent. "No--no--no!" He nearly shouted the words. "Don't get up! +Don't go! I don't want a chair." + +Juliet remained seated. "Just as you like," she said, smiling at him. +"But I don't think the grass is dry enough to sit on." + +He looked contemptuous. "It won't hurt me. I hate chairs. I'll do +as I like." + +But he still stood, glowering at her uncertainly near the hedge. + +"Come along then!" said Juliet kindly. "Come and sit down near me! Why +not?" + +He came slowly, and let himself down with awkward, lumbering movements by +her side. His face was darkly sullen. "I don't see any harm in it," he +grumbled, "if you don't mind." + +"Of course I don't mind!" she said. "I am pleased. As you see, I have no +other visitors." + +He lifted his heavy eyes to hers. "You'd pack me off fast enough +if you had." + +"No, I shouldn't. Don't be silly, Robin!" She smiled down upon him. "You +are going to stay and have tea with me, aren't you?" + +He smiled rather doubtfully in answer. "I'd like to. I don't know if I +can though." + +"Why shouldn't you?" she questioned. + +He folded his long arms about his knees, and murmured something +unintelligible. + +Juliet looked at her watch. "Mrs. Rickett has promised to bring it in +another quarter-of-an-hour, and we will ask her to bring out Freddy too, +shall we? You'll like that." + +The boy's face brightened a little. He did not speak for a moment or two; +then he reached forth a claw-like hand and tentatively fingered her +dress. "I don't want Freddy--when I've got you," he muttered. + +"Oh, don't you? How kind!" said Juliet. + +Again his dark eyes lifted. "It's you that's kind," he said. "I've never +seen anyone like you before." His brow clouded again as he looked at her. +"You're quite as much a lady as Mrs. Fielding," he said. "But you don't +call me a 'hideous abortion'." + +"I should think not!" Juliet moved impulsively and laid her hand upon his +humped shoulder. "Don't listen to such things, Robin! Put them out of +your head! They are not true." + +He rested his chin upon her hand, looking up at her dumbly. Her heart +stirred within her. The pathos of those eyes was more than she could meet +unmoved. Their protest made her think of an animal in pain. + +"It doesn't do to take things too seriously, Robin," she said +gently. "There are people in the world who will say unkind things of +anybody. It's just because they are thoughtless generally. It +doesn't do to listen." + +"No one ever said anything unkind about you," he said. + +"Oh, didn't they?" Juliet smiled. "Do you know, Robin, I shouldn't wonder +if there are plenty of them saying unkind things about me this very +moment--that is, if they are thinking about me at all." + +He glanced around him savagely. "Where? I'd like to hear 'em! I'd +kill 'em!" + +"No--no!" said Juliet, restraining him. "And it's no one here either. But +you've got to realize that it doesn't really matter what people say. +They'll always talk, you know. Everyone does. It's the way of the world, +and we can't get away from it." + +Robin looked unconvinced. "I'd kill anyone who said anything bad about +you anyway," he said. + +"I don't think you ought to talk like that," said Juliet, in her +quiet way. + +"Why not?" His eyes suddenly glowered again. + +But she answered him with absolute calmness. "Because if you mean it, +it's wrong--very wrong. And if you don't mean it, it's just foolish." + +"Oh!" said Robin. He edged himself nearer to her. "I like you," he said. +"Talk some more! I like your voice." + +"What shall I talk about?" she asked. + +"Tell me about London!" he said. + +"Oh, London! My dear boy, you'd hate London. It's all noise and crowds +and dust. The streets are crammed with cars and people and there is never +any peace. It's like a great wheel that is never still." + +"What do the people do?" he asked. + +"They just tear about from morning till night, and very often from night +till morning. Everyone is always trying to be first and to be a little +smarter than anyone else. They think they enjoy it." Juliet drew a sudden +hard breath. "But they really don't. It's such a whirl, such a strain, +like always running at top speed in a race and never getting there. Yes, +it's just that--a sort of obstacle race, and the obstacles always getting +higher and higher and higher." She stopped and uttered a deep slow sigh. +"Well, I've done with it, Robin. I'm not going to get over any more. I've +dropped out. I'm going to grow old in comfort." + +Robin was listening with deep interest. "Is that why you came here?" +he said. + +"Yes. I was tired out and rather scared. I got away just in time--only +just in time." + +Something in her voice, low though it was, made him draw nearer still, +massively, protectively. + +"Are you hiding from someone?" he said. + +"Oh, not exactly." She patted his shoulder gently. "No one would take the +trouble to come and look for me," she said. "They're all much too busy +with their own affairs." + +His eyes sought hers again. "You're not frightened then any more?" + +She smiled at him. "No, not a bit. I've got over that, and I'm beginning +to enjoy myself." + +"Shall you stay here always?" he questioned. + +"I don't know, Robin. I'm not going to look ahead. I'm just going to make +the best of the present. Don't you think that's the best way?" + +He made a wry face. "I suppose it is--if you don't know what's coming." + +"But no one knows that," said Juliet. + +He glanced at her. His fingers, clasped about his knees, tugged +restlessly at each other. "I know what's going to happen to me," he said, +after a moment. "I'm going to get into a row--with Dicky." + +"Oh, is that it?" said Juliet. "I knew there was something the matter." + +He nodded, and suddenly she saw his chin quiver. "I hate a row with +Dicky," he said miserably. + +Her heart went out to him, he looked so forlorn. "Why don't you go and +tell him you're sorry?" she said gently. + +"Not--sorry," articulated Robin, with a sniff. + +The matter presented difficulties. Juliet tried to hedge. "What have you +been doing?" + +"Quarrelling," said Robin. + +"What! With Dick?" + +"No." Again he glanced at her, and wiped a hasty hand across his eyes. +"Dick!" he repeated, as if in derision at her colossal ignorance. + +"Well, but who then?" she questioned. "That is--of course don't tell me +if you'd rather not!" + +"Don't mind," said Robin. "I'll tell you anything. It was--Jack." He +suddenly turned to her fully with blazing eyes. "I--hate--Jack!" he said +very emphatically. + +"Jack! But who is Jack? Oh, I remember!" Juliet abruptly recalled the +young chauffeur at the churchyard gate. "He is your other brother, isn't +he? I'd forgotten him." + +"He's--a beast!" said Robin. "I hate him." + +His look challenged reproof. Juliet wisely made none. "Isn't he kind to +you?" she said. + +"It wasn't that!" blurted out Robin. "It--it--was what he +said--about--about--" He suddenly stopped, closed his lips and sat +savagely biting them. + +"About what?" asked Juliet, bewildered. + +Robin sat mute. + +"I should forget it if I were you," she said sensibly. "People often do +and say things they don't mean. It doesn't pay to be too sensitive. Let's +forget it, shall we?" + +"I can't," said Robin. "Dicky's angry." He paused, then continued with an +effort. "He said I wasn't to come here, said--said he'd punish me if I +did. He called me back, and I wouldn't go. He--" He suddenly broke off, +and crept close to her like a frightened dog--"he's coming now!" he +whispered. + +The catch of the gate had clicked, and Columbus who had accepted Robin +without question, bustled forward to investigate. + +He came back almost immediately, wearing a satisfied look, and as he +settled down again by Juliet's side, Green appeared on the path that led +to the apple-trees. + +Robin pressed closer to Juliet. She could feel him trembling. +Instinctively she laid her hand upon him as Green drew near. + +"Have you come to see me or to look for Robin?" she said. + +Green's look was enigmatical. It comprehended them both at a single +glance. She wondered if he were really angry, but if so, he had himself +under complete control. + +"I have brought you a box of cigarettes to go on with, Miss Moore," he +said, and produced his offering with a smile. + +"How very kind of you!" said Juliet. She sat up with a quick flush of +embarrassment. "How did you manage to get them so soon? You must have had +them by you." + +"I had," said Green. "But I can spare you these with pleasure. It's awful +to be without a smoke, isn't it?" + +Juliet smiled. "These will last me for ages. I am being very economical +now. Please will you tell me how much they are?" + +"Half-a-crown," he said. + +"Oh, please!" she protested. "Let us be honest!" + +"Exactly," he said. "It's all they cost me. I get them through a friend." + +"But perhaps your friend wouldn't care for me to have them at that +price," objected Juliet. + +"Yes, he would. It's all right," Green dismissed the matter with an +airiness that was curiously final. "Don't bother about paying me now, +please! I'd rather have it later. Robin, get up!" + +He addressed his young brother so suddenly and so peremptorily that +Juliet was momentarily startled. Then very swiftly she intervened. + +"Mr. Green, please, don't--be angry with Robin!" + +His look flashed straight down to her. His eyes were still smiling, yet +very strangely they compelled her own. He stooped unexpectedly after an +instant's pause, lifted her hand with absolute gentleness away from the +quivering Robin, and laid it in her lap. + +"Get up, old chap!" he said. "And don't be an ass!" + +There was no questioning the kindness of his voice. Robin lifted his +head, stared a moment, then blundered to his feet. He stood awkwardly, as +if unwilling to go but expecting to be dismissed. + +"He is staying to tea with me," said Juliet. + +"Oh, I think not," Green said. "Another time--if you are kind enough. +Not to-day." + +He spoke very decidedly. Robin, with his head hanging, turned away. + +Green, with a brief gesture of farewell, turned to follow. But in that +moment Juliet spoke in that full rich voice of hers that was all the more +arresting because she did not raise it. + +"Mr. Green, I want to speak to you." + +He stopped at once. She thought she caught a glint of humour behind the +courteous attention of his eyes. + +"Forgive me for interfering!" she said. "But I must say it." + +"Pray do!" said Green. + +Yet she found some difficulty in continuing. It would have been easier if +he had shown resentment, but quizzical tolerance was hard to meet. + +She looked up at him doubtfully for a moment or two. Then, hesitatingly, +she spoke. "Please--don't--punish Robin for coming here!" + +She saw his brows go up in surprise. He was about to speak, but she went +on with more than a touch of embarrassment. "Perhaps it sounds +impertinent, but I believe I could help him in some ways,--if I had the +chance. Anyhow, I should like to try. Please let him come and see me as +often as he likes!" + +"Really!" said Green, and stopped. The amusement had wholly gone out of +his look. "I don't know what to say to you," he said in a moment. "You +are so awfully kind." + +"No, I'm not indeed." Juliet's smile was oddly wistful. "I assure you I +am selfish to the core. But there's something about Robin that goes +straight to my heart. I should like to be kind to him--for my own sake. +So don't--please--try to keep him out of my way!" + +She spoke very earnestly, her eyes under their straight brows, looking +directly into his,--honest eyes that no man could doubt. + +Green stood facing her, his look as kind as her own. "Do you know, Miss +Moore," he said, "I think this is about the kindest thing that has ever +come into my experience?" + +She made a slight gesture of protest. "Oh, but don't let us talk in +superlatives!" she said. "Fetch Robin back, and both of you stay to tea!" + +He shook his head. "Not to-day. I am very sorry. But he doesn't deserve +it. He has been getting a bit out of hand lately. I can't pass it over." + +Juliet leaned forward in her chair. Her eyes were suddenly very bright. +"This once, Mr. Green!" she said. + +He stiffened a little. "No," he said. + +"You won't?" + +"I can't." + +Juliet's look went beyond him to the figure of Robin leaning +disconsolately against a distant tree. She sat for several moments +watching him, and Green still stood before her as if waiting to be +dismissed. + +"Poor boy!" she said softly at length, and turned again to the man in +front of her. "Are you sure you understand him?" + +"Yes," said Green. + +"And you are not hard on him? You are never hard on him?" + +"I have got to keep him in order," he said. + +"Yes, yes, I know. A man would say that." Juliet's face was very +pitiful. "Let him off sometimes!" she urged gently. "It won't do him +any harm." + +Green smiled abruptly. "A woman would say that," he commented. + +She smiled in answer. "Yes, I think any woman would. Don't be hard on +him, Mr. Green! He has been shedding tears over your wrath already." + +"He came here in direct defiance of my orders," said Green. + +"I know. He told me. Please never give him such orders again!" + +"You are awfully kind," Green said again. "But really in this case, there +was sufficient reason. Some people--most people--prefer him at a +distance." + +"I am not one of them," Juliet said. + +"I see you are not. But I couldn't risk it. Besides, he was in a towering +rage when he started. It isn't fair to inflict him on people--even on +anyone as kind as yourself--in that state." + +"I should never be afraid of him," Juliet said quietly. "I think I +know--partly--what was the matter. Someone made a rather cruel remark +about him, and someone else maliciously repeated it. Then he was +angry--very angry--and lost his self-control, and I suppose more cruel +things were said. And then he came here--he asked me--he actually asked +me--if I was sure I didn't mind him!" + +A deep light was shining in her eyes as she ended, and an answering gleam +came into Green's as he met them. + +"I know," he said, in a low voice. "It's infernally hard for him, poor +chap! But it doesn't do to let him know we think so. As long as he lives, +he's got to bear his burden." + +"But it needn't be made heavier than it is," Juliet said. "No, it +needn't. But it isn't everyone that sees it in that light. I'm glad you +do anyway, and I'm grateful--on Robin's behalf. Good-bye!" + +He lifted his hand again in a farewell salute, and turned away. + +Juliet watched him go, watched keenly as he approached Robin, saw the +boy's quick glance at him as he took him by the arm and led him to the +gate. A few seconds later they passed her on the other side of the +hedge evidently on their way to the shore, and she heard Robin's voice +as they went by. + +"I'm--sorry now, Dicky," he said. + +She turned her head to catch his brother's answer, for it did not come +immediately and she wondered a little at the delay. + +Then, as they drew farther away, she heard Green say, "Why do you +say that?" + +"She told me to," said Robin. + +She felt her colour rise and heard Green laugh. They were almost out of +earshot before he said, "All right, boy! I'll let you off this time. +Don't do it again!" + +She leaned back in her chair, and re-opened her book. But she did not +read for some time. Somehow she felt glad--quite unreasonably glad +again--that Robin had been let off. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE OFFER + + +"Well, it ain't none of my business," said Mrs. Rickett, with a sniff. +"Nor it ain't yours either. But did you ever know anyone as wore anything +the likes of that before?" + +She shook out for her husband's inspection a filmy garment that had the +look of a baby's robe that had grown up, before spreading it on her +kitchen table to iron. + +"Ah!" said Rickett, ramming a finger into the bowl of his pipe. "What +sort of a thing is that now?" + +"What sort of a thing, man? Why, a night-dress--of course! What d'you +think?" Mrs. Rickett chuckled at his ignorance. "And that flimsy--why I'm +almost afraid to touch it. It's the quality, you see." + +"Ah!" said the smith vaguely. + +Mrs. Rickett tested the iron near her cheek. "And it's only the quality," +she resumed, as she began to use it, "as wears such things as these. Why, +I shouldn't wonder but what they came from Paris. They must have cost a +mint of money." + +"Ah!" said Rickett again. + +"She's as nice-spoken a young lady as I've met," resumed his wife. "No +pride about her, you know. She's just simple and friendly-like. Yet I'd +like to see the man as'd take a liberty with her all the same." + +Rickett pulled at his pipe with a grunt. When not at work, it was +usually his role to sit and listen to his wife's chatter. + +"She ain't been brought up in a convent," continued Mrs. Rickett. +"That's plain to see. With all the gentle ways of her, she knows how to +hold her own. Young Robin Green, he's gone just plumb moon-crazy over +her, and it wouldn't surprise me"--Mrs. Rickett lowered her voice +mysteriously--"but what some day Dick himself was to do the same." + +"Ah!" said the smith. + +"She's so taking, you know," said Mrs. Rickett, as if in extenuation of +this outrageous surmise. "And there isn't anyone good enough for him +about here. Of course there's the infant teacher--that Jarvis girl--she'd +set her cap at him if she dared. But he wouldn't look at her. Young +Jack's a deal more likely, if ever he does settle down--which I doubt. +But Dick--he's different. He's--why if that ain't Mr. Fielding a-riding +up the path! What ever do he want at this time of night? Go and see, +George, do!" + +George lumbered to his feet obediently. "Happen he's come to call on our +young lady," he ventured, with a slow grin. + +"Well, don't bring him in here!" commanded his wife. "Take him into the +front room, while I put on a clean apron!" She hastened to shut the door +upon her husband, then paused, listening intently, as Mr. Fielding's +riding-whip rapped smartly on the door. + +"Happen it is only the young lady he's after," she said to herself. + +It was. In a moment, Mr. Fielding's voice, superior, slightly over +bearing, made itself heard. "Good evening, Rickett! I think Miss Moore is +lodging here. Is she in?" + +"Good evening, sir!" said Rickett, and waited a moment for reflection. +"She was in, but I can't say but what she may have gone out again with +the dog." + +"Well, find out, will you!" said Mr. Fielding. "Wait a minute! You'd +better take my card." + +Mrs. Rickett returned to her ironing. "What ever he be come for?" +she murmured. + +The squires' horse stamped on the tiled path. It was eight o'clock, and +he wanted to get home to his supper. The squire growled at him +inarticulately, and there fell a silence. + +The evening light spread golden over the apple-trees in the orchard. +Someone was wandering among the falling blossoms. He heard a low voice +softly singing. He flung his leg over his horse's back abruptly and +dropped to the ground. + +The voice stopped immediately. The squire fastened his animal to the +porch and turned. The next moment Columbus burst barking through the +intervening hedge. + +"Columbus! Columbus!" called Juliet's voice. "Come back at once!" + +"May I come through?" said Mr. Fielding. + +She arrived at the orchard-gate, flushed and apologetic. "Oh, pray do! +Please excuse Columbus! He always speaks before he thinks." + +She opened the gate with the words, and held out her hand. + +She was aware of his eyes looking at her very searchingly as he took it. +"I hope you don't mind a visitor at this hour," he said. + +She smiled. "No. I am quite at liberty. Come and sit down!" + +She led the way to a bench under the apple-trees, and the squire tramped +after her with jingling spurs. + +"I'm afraid you'll think me very unconventional," he said, speaking with +a sort of arrogant humility as she stopped. + +"I like unconventional people best," said Juliet. + +He dropped down on the seat. "Oh, do you? Then I needn't apologize any +further. You've been here about a week, haven't you?" + +"Yes," said Juliet. + +His look dwelt upon the simple linen dress she wore. "You came +from London?" + +"Yes," she said again. + +He began to frown and to pull restlessly at the lash of his riding-whip. +"Do you think me impertinent for asking you questions?" he said. + +"Not so far," said Juliet. + +He uttered a brief laugh. "You're cautious. Listen, Miss Moore! I don't +care a--I mean, it's nothing whatever to me where you've come from or +why. What I really came to ask is--do you want a job?" + +Juliet stiffened a little involuntarily. "What sort of a job?" she said. + +His fingers tugged more and more vigorously at the leather. She realized +quite suddenly that he was embarrassed, and at once her own +embarrassment passed. + +"Have you come to offer me a job?" she said. "How kind of you to +think of it!" + +"You don't know what it is yet," said Fielding, biting uncomfortably at +his black moustache. "It may not appeal to you. Quite probably it won't. +You've been a companion before--so Green tells me." + +"Oh!" Juliet's straight brows gathered slightly. "Did Mr. Green tell you +I was wanting a job?" + +"No, he didn't. Green sticks to his own business and nothing will turn +him from it." The squire suddenly lashed with his whip at the grass in +front of him, causing Columbus to jump violently and turn a resentful eye +upon him. "I'll tell you what passed if you want to know." + +"Thank you," said Juliet simply. + +She leaned forward after a moment and pulled Columbus to her side; +fondling his pricked ears reassuringly. + +"It was on Sunday," said Fielding. "My wife saw you in church. She took +rather a fancy to you. I hope you don't object?" + +"Why should I?" said Juliet. + +"Exactly. Why should you? Well, after Green's introduction, when you had +gone, I asked him if he knew anything about you. He said he had only made +your acquaintance the day before, that you had told him that you had held +the post of companion to someone, he didn't say who. And I wondered if +possibly you might feel inclined to see how you got on with my wife in +that capacity. She is not strong. She wants a companion." + +Juliet's grey eyes gazed steadily before her as she listened. The evening +light shone on her brown head, showing streaks of gold here and there. +Her attitude was one of grave attention. + +As he ended, she turned towards him, still caressing the dog at her feet. + +"Wouldn't it be better," she said, "if Mrs. Fielding knew me before +offering me such a post?" + +The squire smiled at her abruptly. "No, I don't think so. It wouldn't be +worth while unless you mean to consider it." + +"Is that her point of view?" asked Juliet. + +"No; it's mine. If she gets to know you and sets her heart on having you, +and then you go and disappoint her--I shall be the sufferer," explained +Fielding, with another cut at the grass in front of him. + +It was Juliet's turn to smile. "But I can't--possibly--decide until we +have met, can I?" she said. + +"Does that mean you'll consider it?" asked the squire. + +"I am considering it," said Juliet. "But please give me time! For I have +only just begun." + +"That's fair," he conceded. "How long will it take you?" + +She began to laugh. There was something almost boyishly naive about him, +notwithstanding his obvious bad temper. "You haven't told me any details +yet," she said. + +"Oh, you mean money," he said. "I leave that to you. You can name your +own terms." + +"Thank you," said Juliet again. "That would naturally appeal to me +very much. But as a matter of fact, I was not referring to money at +that moment." + +He gave her a keen look. "I didn't mean to offend you. Are you offended?" + +She met his eyes quite squarely. "On second thoughts--no!" + +"Why second thoughts?" he demanded. + +Her colour rose faintly. "Because I think second thoughts are--kinder." + +Fielding turned suddenly crimson. "So I'm a cad and a bounder, am I?" he +said furiously. + +Juliet's eyes contemplated him without a hint of dismay. There was even +behind their serenity the faint glint of a smile. "I think that is +putting it rather strongly," she said. "But I really don't know you yet. +I am not in a position to judge--even if I wished to do so." + +Fielding sat for a moment or two quite rigid, as if on the verge of +springing to his feet and leaving her. Then with amazing suddenness he +broke into a laugh, and the tension was past. + +"By Jove, I like you for that!" he said. "You did it jolly well. You've +got pluck, and you know how to keep your temper. You'll have to forgive +me, Miss Moore. We're going to be friends after this." + +There was something very winning about this overture, and Juliet was not +proof against it. He was evidently of those who consider that an apology +condones any offence, and, though she was far from agreeing with him on +this point, it was not in her to be churlish. + +She smiled at him without speaking. + +"Sure you're not angry with me?" urged the Squire. + +She nodded. "Yes, quite sure. Won't you go on where you left off?" + +"Where did I leave off?" He frowned. "Oh yes, you asked for details. +Well, what do you want to know? My wife always breakfasts in bed, so she +wouldn't want you before ten. But you'd live with us of course. I'd see +that they made you comfortable." + +"If my duties did not begin before ten, there would be no need for that," +pointed out Juliet. + +He looked at her in surprise. "Of course you'd live with us! You can't +want to stay here!" + +"But why not?" said Juliet. "They are very kind to me. I am very +happy here." + +"Oh, nonsense!" said the squire. "You couldn't do that. I believe you're +afraid I want to make a slave of you." + +"No, I am not afraid of that," said Juliet. "But go on, if you don't +mind! What happens after ten o'clock?" + +"Well, she opens her letters," said the squire. "Tells you what wants +answering and how to answer it. P'raps you read the papers to her for a +bit before she gets up, and so on." + +"Does that take the whole morning?" asked Juliet. + +"No. She's down about twelve. Sometimes she goes for a ride then, if she +feels like it. Or she walks about the grounds, or drives out in the +dog-cart. She's very keen on horses. Then either she goes out to lunch +or someone lunches with us. And after that she's off in the car for a +fifty-mile run--or a hundred if the mood takes her. She's never +quiet--except when she's in bed. That's what I want you for. I want you +to keep her quiet." + +"Oh!" said Juliet. + +This was shedding a new light upon the matter. She looked at him somewhat +dubiously. + +"Come! I know you can," he said. "You've been through the treadmill. You +know all about it and it doesn't attract you. This infernal chase after +excitement--it's like a spreading fever. There's no peace for anyone +now-a-days. I want you to stop it. You've got that sort of influence. I +sensed it directly I saw you. You've got that priceless possession--a +quiet spirit. She wouldn't go tearing over the country racing and +gambling and then card-playing far into the night if you were there to +pull her up. She'd be ashamed--with anyone like you looking on." + +"Would she?" said Juliet. "I wonder. And how do you know that that sort +of thing doesn't attract me?" + +"Of course I know it. You carry it in your face. You're a woman--not a +dancing marionette. You wouldn't despise a woman's duties because they +interfered with pleasure. You were made in a different mould. Anyone can +see that." + +Juliet was smiling a little. "I can't claim to be anything very great," +she said. "But certainly, I was never very fond of cards." + +"Of course you weren't. You've too much sense to do anything to excess. +Now look here, Miss Moore! You're coming, aren't you? You'll give the +thing a trial. I promise you, you shan't be bullied or overworked. It's +such an opportunity, for my wife really has taken a fancy to you. And she +can be quite decent to anyone when she likes. You can bring the dog +along," continued the squire. "You can have your own sitting-room--your +own maid, if you want one. You can come and go as you choose. No one +will interfere with you. All I want you to do is to put the brake on my +wife, make her take an interest in her home, make her take life +seriously. She's not at all strong. She doesn't give herself a chance. +Unless I fetch in a doctor and practically keep her in bed by main force +she never gets any decent rest. Why, she's hardly ever in her room before +two in the morning. It's almost a form of madness with her, this +ceaseless round. I can't prevent it. I'm a busy man myself." He suddenly +got to his feet with a jerk and stood looking down at her with sombre +eyes. "I'm a busy man," he repeated. "I have my ambitions, and I work for +them. I work hard. But the one thing I want more than anything else on +earth is a son to succeed me. And if I can't have that--there's nothing +else that counts." + +He spoke with bitter vehemence, beating restlessly against his heel with +his whip. But Juliet still sat silent, looking out before her at the +golden pink of the apple-trees in the sunset light with grave quiet eyes. + +He went on morosely, egotistically, "I don't know what I've done that I +shouldn't have what practically every labourer on my estate has got. I +may not have been absolutely impeccable in my youth. I've never yet met a +man who was--with the single exception of Dick Green who hasn't much +temptation to be anything else. But I've lived straight on the whole. +I've played the game--or tried to. And yet--after five years of +marriage--I'm still without an heir, and likely to remain so, as far as I +can see. She says I'm mad on that point." He spoke resentfully. "But +after all, it's what I married for. I don't see why I should be cheated +out of the one thing I want most, do you?" + +Juliet's eyes came up to his, slowly, somewhat reluctantly. "I'm afraid I +haven't much sympathy with you," she said. + +"You haven't?" he looked amazed. + +"No." She paused a moment. "It was a pity you told me. You see, a woman +doesn't care to be married--just for that." + +"And what do you suppose she married me for?" he demanded indignantly. +"Do you think she was in love with me--a man thirty years older than +herself? Oh, I assure you, there were never any illusions on that score! +I had a good deal to offer her, and she jumped at it." + +Juliet gave a slight shiver, and abruptly his manner changed. + +"I'm sorry. Put my foot in it again, have I? You'll have to forgive me, +please. No, I shouldn't have told you. But you've got such a kind look +about you--as if you'd understand." + +She was touched in spite of herself. She got up quickly and faced him. +"What I can't understand," she said, a ring of deep feeling in her +voice, "is how anyone can possibly barter their happiness, their +self-respect, all that is most worth having, for this world's goods, +this world's ambitions, and expect to come out of it anything but +losers. Oh, I know it's done every day. People fight and scramble--yes, +and grovel in the mud--for what they think is gold; and when they've got +it, it's only the basest alloy. Some of them never find it out. Others +do--and break their hearts." + +He stared at her. "You speak as one who knows." + +"I do know," she said. "Since I've been here, had time to think, I've +realized it more and more. This dreadful fight for front places, for +prosperity--this rooted, individual selfishness--the hopeless materialism +of it all--the ultimate ruin--." She broke off. "You'll take me for a +street ranter if I go on. But it's rather piteous to see people straining +and agonizing after what, after all, can never bring them any comfort." + +"But that's just what I was saying," he protested. + +Her frank eyes looked straight into his. "But you're doing it yourself +all the same," she said. "You're playing for your own hand all the time +and so you're a loser and always will be. It's the chief rule of the +game." She smiled faintly. "Please forgive me for telling you so, but +I've only just found it out for myself; so I had to tell someone." + +"You're rather a wonderful young woman," said the squire, still staring. + +She shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm not. I've just begun to use my brains, +that's all. They're nothing at all out of the ordinary, really." + +He laughed. "Well, you've given me a pretty straight one anyway. Have you +got a home anywhere--any home people?" + +"None that count," said Juliet. + +"Been more or less of a looker-on all your life, eh?" he suggested. + +"More or less," smiled Juliet. + +He held out his hand to her abruptly. "Look here! You're coming, +aren't you?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. + +"Well, make up your mind quick!" He held her hand, looking at her. +"What's the objection? Tell me?" + +She freed her hand gently but with decision. "I can't tell you entirely. +You must let me think. For one thing, I want more freedom of action than +I should have as an inmate of your house. I want to come and go as I +like. I've never really done that before, and I'm just beginning to +enjoy it." + +"That's a selfish reason," said the squire, with a sudden boyish +grin at her. + +She coloured slightly. "No, it isn't--or not wholly." + +"All right, it isn't. I unsay it. But that reason won't exist as far as +you are concerned. You will come and go exactly as you like always. No +one will question you." + +"You're very kind," said Juliet. + +He bowed to her ceremoniously. "That's the first really nice thing you +have said to me. I must make a note of it. Now would you like my wife to +call upon you? If so, I'll send her round to-morrow at twelve." + +"If she would care to come," said Juliet. + +"Of course she would. She shall come then--and you'll talk things over, +and come to an understanding. That's settled, is it? Good-bye!" + +He turned to go, pausing at the gate to throw her another smiling +farewell. She had not thought that gloomy, black browed countenance could +look so genial. There was something curiously elusive, almost haunting, +about his smile. + +"Columbus!" said Juliet. "I'm not sure that he's a very nice man, but +there's something about him--something I can't quite place--that makes me +wonder if I've met him somewhere before. Would you like to go and live at +the Court, Columbus?" + +Columbus leaned against her knee in sentimental silence. He evidently did +not care where he went so long as he was with the object of his +whole-souled devotion. + +She stooped and kissed him between the eyes. "Dear doggie!" she murmured. +"I wonder--are we happier--here?" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MRS. FIELDING + + +When the great high-powered car from Shale Court stopped at the gate of +the blacksmith's cottage on the following morning Mrs. Rickett, who was +feeding her young chicks in the yard outside the forge, was thrown into a +state of wild agitation. Everyone in Little Shale stood in awe of the +squire's wife. + +She went nervously to enquire what was wanted, and met the chauffeur +at the gate. + +"It's all right, Mrs. Rickett. Don't fluster yourself!" he said. "It's +Miss Moore we're after. Go and tell her, will you?" + +Mrs. Rickett looked at the bold-eyed young man with disfavour. +"Well, you're not expecting her to come out to you, are you?" she +retorted tartly. + +He smiled. "Yes, I rather think we are, Mrs. Fielding doesn't want to get +out. Where is she?" + +Mrs. Rickett drew in her breath. "But Miss Moore is a lady born!" she +objected. "Haven't you got a card I can take her?" + +Mrs. Rickett had lived among the gentry in her maiden days, and, as she +was wont to assert, she knew what was what as well as anybody. She had, +moreover, a vigorous dislike for young Jack Green the chauffeur who, +notwithstanding his airs,--perhaps because of them,--occupied a much +lower plane in her estimation than his brother the schoolmaster. But +Jack was one of those people whom it is practically impossible to snub. +He merely continued to smile. + +"Well, you'd better let me go and find her if you won't," he said, "or +madam will be getting impatient." + +It was at this point that Juliet came upon the scene, walking up from the +shore with her hair blowing in the breeze. She carried a towel and a +bathing dress on her arm. Columbus trotted beside her, full of cheery +self-importance. + +She quickened her pace somewhat at sight of the car, and its occupant +leaned forward with an imperious motion of the hand. Her pale face +gleamed behind her veil. + +"Miss Moore, I believe?" she said, in her slightly insolent tones. + +Juliet came to the side of the car. The sun beat down upon her uncovered +head. She smiled a welcome. + +"How do you do? How kind of you to come and see me! I am sorry I wasn't +here to receive you, but it was so glorious down on the shore that I +stayed to dry my hair. Do come in!" + +"Oh, I can't--really!" protested Mrs. Fielding. "I shall die if I don't +get a little air. I thought perhaps you would like to come for a little +spin with me. But I suppose that is out of the question." + +"My hair is quite dry," said Juliet. "It won't take me long to put it up. +I should like to come with you very much." + +"I can't wait," said Mrs. Fielding plaintively. "This heat is so +fearful--and the glare! I will go for a short round, and come back for +you if you like." + +"Thank you," said Juliet. "I can be ready in five minutes." + +"I should be grilled by that time," declared Mrs. Fielding. "Jack, we +will go round by the station and back by the church. It is only three +miles. We can do that easily. In five minutes then, Miss Moore!" + +"Look out for the schoolchildren!" exclaimed Juliet almost +involuntarily. "They are sure to be all over the road." + +"Oh, really!" said Mrs. Fielding, sinking back into the car, as it +swooped away. + +Juliet and Mrs. Rickett looked at one another. + +"That young Jack Green fair riles me," remarked the latter. "I can't +abide him. He's not a patch on his brother, and never will be. It's +funny, you know, how members of a family vary. Now you couldn't have a +more courteous and pleasant spoken gentleman than Dick. But this Jack, +why, he hasn't even the beginnings of a gentleman in him." + +Juliet's thoughts were more occupied with Mrs. Fielding at the moment, +but she kept them to herself. "I may be late back, Mrs. Rickett," she +said. "Let me have a cold lunch when I come in!" + +"Oh, dearie me!" said Mrs. Rickett. "I do hope, miss, as young Jack'll +drive careful when he's got you in the car." + +Juliet hoped so too as she hastened within to prepare for the expedition. +She did not feel any very keen zest for it, but, as she told Columbus, +they need never go again if they didn't like it. + +It was nearly ten minutes before the Fielding car reappeared, and they +were both waiting at the garden-gate as it drew up. + +"Yes, we were delayed," said Mrs. Fielding pettishly, "by those little +fiends of children. I do think Mr. Green might teach them to keep to +the side of the road. Pray get in, Miss Moore! Oh, do you want to bring +your dog?" + +"He is used to motoring," said Juliet. "Do you mind if he sits in front?" + +Mrs. Fielding shrugged her shoulders to indicate that if was a matter of +supreme indifference to her, and Columbus was duly installed by the +driver's side. Juliet took her place beside Mrs. Fielding, and in a few +seconds they were whirling up the road again, leaving clouds of dust in +their wake. + +"It's the only way one can breathe on a day like this," said Mrs. +Fielding. + +Juliet said nothing. She was watching the village children scatter like +rabbits before their lightning rush. + +In the schoolhouse garden she caught sight of a heavy, shambling figure, +and waved a swift greeting as she flashed past. + +"Oh, do you know that revolting youth?" said Mrs. Fielding. "He's +half-witted as well as deformed. His brother!" with a nod towards her +chauffeur's back. "He's a great trial to Jack, I believe. My husband has +offered a hundred times to have him put into a home, but the other +brother--Green, the schoolmaster--is absolutely pig-headed on the +subject, and won't hear of it." + +"Poor Robin!" said Juliet gently. "Yes, I know him. He is certainly not +normal, but scarcely half-witted, do you think?" + +Mrs. Fielding turned her head to bestow upon her a brief glance of +surprise. "I said half-witted," she observed haughtily. + +Juliet turned her head also, and gave her companion a straight and level +look. "And I did not agree with you," she said quietly. + +Mrs. Fielding uttered a laugh that had a girlish ring despite its +insolence. "Have you said that to my husband yet?" she asked. + +"Not quite that," said Juliet. + +"Well, if you ever do, may I be there to hear!" she rejoined flippantly. +"He's like a raging bull when he's crossed. I hear he came to see you +yesterday." + +"He did," said Juliet. + +"Did he talk about me?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +"He told me that you were not very strong," said Juliet. + +"And that I wanted someone to look after me--coerce me, when he wasn't +there to do it himself. Was that it?" + +"Surely you know better than that!" said Juliet. + +"Oh, I know him awfully well," said Mrs. Fielding, with her reckless +laugh. "Are you really thinking of coming to live with us?" + +"You haven't asked me yet," said Juliet. + +"Oh, that doesn't matter. You'll come if you think you will; and if you +don't, nothing will induce you. But--let me tell you--my husband will be +furious--with me--if you don't." + +"Oh, surely not!" said Juliet. + +"Yes, he is that sort. If he doesn't get what he wants, it's always +someone else's fault--generally mine. I warn you--we have most frightful +rows sometimes. He has only just begun to speak to me again since last +Sunday. We quarrelled that day over Green. You know Green--the +schoolmaster--don't you?" + +"Yes, I think I might call him a friend of mine," said Juliet, +with a smile. + +"Oh, really! I didn't know that," Mrs. Fielding's tone was suddenly +extremely cold. "Hence your championship of Robin, I suppose?" + +"No, I made friends with Robin separately. He is coming to tea with me +to-day, or rather, we are going down to the shore with it. I love the +shore in the evening." + +"I wonder you care to mix with people like that," remarked Mrs. +Fielding. "I think it is such a mistake to take them out of their own +class. Green the schoolmaster is a constant visitor up at the Court, and +I object to it very strongly. I cannot understand my husband's attitude +in the matter." + +"But he is a gentleman!" said Juliet. + +"Who? Green? Oh yes, of sorts. I am glad to say his brother has no +aspirations in that direction." Mrs. Fielding glanced again towards her +chauffeur's unconscious back. "Or if he has, I don't get the benefit of +them. As for Robin, he gives me the cold shudders every time I see him." + +"Poor Robin!" said Juliet again. "I think he feels his deformity +very much." + +"Of course he does! He ought to be in a home among his own kind. It would +be far better for everyone concerned. Frankly, the Green family +exasperate me," declared Mrs. Fielding. "I can put up with Jack. He's +such a smart, good-looking boy, and he can drive like the devil. But I've +no use for the other two, and never shall have. I think Green's a humbug. +Is he going to join your picnic-party on the shore?" + +"He hasn't been invited," said Juliet. + +"Oh, you won't find he needs much encouragement. As Dene Strange puts it, +he is always hovering on the outside edge of every circle and ready to +squeeze in at the very first opportunity." + +"I should imagine my circle is hardly important enough to attract anyone +in that way," remarked Juliet. "Strange is very caustic. I am not sure I +like him much." + +"Oh, I enjoy him," said Mrs. Fielding. "He is so brilliant. He always +gets right there. You have never met him, I suppose?" + +Juliet shook her head. "Not under that name, anyway. They say he is a +barrister. But I haven't much sympathy with a man who hides behind a +pseudonym, have you? It looks as if he hasn't the courage of his +opinions." + +"I shouldn't think anyone ever accused Dene Strange of lack of courage," +said Mrs. Fielding. "I read all he writes. He is so intensely clever." + +"Some people think he's a woman," said Juliet. + +"Oh, I don't believe that. Neither do you. No woman ever had a brain like +that. It's quite Napoleonic. I'd give a good deal to meet him." + +"And be horribly disappointed," said Juliet. + +"Why do you say that?" + +"Because lions always are disappointing when they're hunted down. The +ones that roar are quite insufferable, and the ones that don't are +just banal." + +Mrs. Fielding looked at her with interest for the first time. "You've +seen a good deal of life," she remarked. + +"Oh, no!" said Juliet lightly. "But enough to realize that the torch of +genius burns best in dark places. Perhaps Strange is right after +all--from his own point of view at least. That lion-hunting business is +so revolting." + +"You speak as one who knows," said Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet smiled. "I have watched from the outside edge, as Dene Strange +puts it. I expect you have heard of the Farringmores, haven't you? I am +distantly related to them. I was brought up with Lady Joanna. So I know a +little of what London people call life." + +"I saw you had been in society," said Mrs. Fielding half enviously. + +"Yes, I have had five seasons--nearly six. And I never want another." +Juliet spoke with great emphasis. "That's why I'm here now." + +"I wonder you never married," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Do you?" Juliet spoke dreamily. They were running swiftly up a steep and +stony road leading to High Shale Point. "Lady Jo used to wonder that. But +I've never yet met a man who was willing to wait, and I couldn't do a +thing like that in a hurry." + +"You could if you were in love," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Yes, perhaps you're right. In that case, I have never been enough in +love to take the leap." Juliet spoke with a half smile. Her eyes were +fixed upon the top of the hill. "But anyhow Lady Jo couldn't talk, for +she has just jilted Ivor Yardley the K. C. and gone to Paris to buy +mourning." + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Fielding. "Why, I saw the description +of the wedding-dress in the paper the other day. It must have been a +near thing." + +"It was," said Juliet soberly. "They were to have been married to-day." + +"And she broke it off! That must have taken some pluck!" + +"But she didn't stay to face the music," Juliet pointed out. "That was +what I hated in her. She ought to have stayed." + +"Was she afraid of him then?" + +"Afraid? Yes, she was afraid of him--and of everybody else. I know that +perfectly well, though you would never get her to admit it. She was +terrified in her heart--and so she bolted." + +"Why didn't you go with her?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet made an odd gesture of the hands that was somehow passionate. "Why +should I? I have disapproved of her for a long time. Now we have finally +quarrelled. She behaved so badly--so very badly. I don't want to meet +her--or any of her set--again!" + +Mrs. Fielding was silent for a moment. She had not expected that +intensity. "Do you know, that doesn't sound like you somehow?" she said +at length, speaking with just a hint of embarrassment. + +"But how do you know what I am really like?" said Juliet. "Ah! There is +the sea again--and the wonderful sky-line! Is he going to stop? Or are +we going to plunge over the edge?" + +She spoke with a little breathless laugh. They had reached the summit of +the great headland, and it looked for the moment as if the car must leap +over a sheer precipice into the clear green water far below. But even as +she spoke, there came a check and a pause, and then they were standing +still on a smooth stretch of grass not twenty feet from the edge. + +The soft wind blew in their faces, and there was a glittering purity in +the atmosphere that held Juliet spell-bound. She breathed deeply, gazing +far out over that sparkling sea of wonder. + +"Oh, the magic of it!" she said. "The glorious freedom! It makes you +feel--as if you had been born again." + +Her companion watched her in silence, a certain curiosity in her look. + +After many seconds Juliet turned round. "Thank you for bringing me here," +she said. "It has done me good. I should like to stay here all day long." + +Her eyes travelled along the line of cliff towards that distant spot that +had been the scene of her night adventure, and slowly returned to dwell +upon a long deep seam in the side of the hill. + +"That's the lead mine," observed Mrs. Fielding. "It belongs to your +aristocratic relatives, the Farringmores. They are pretty badly hated by +the miners, I believe. But your friend Mr. Green is extremely popular +with them. He rather likes to be a king among cobblers, I imagine." + +"How nice of him!" said Juliet. "And where do the cobblers live?" + +"You can't see it from here. It's just on the other side of the +workings--a horribly squalid place. I never go near it. It's called High +Shale, but it's very low really, right in a pocket of the hills, and very +unhealthy. You can see the smoke hanging over there now. The cottages are +wretched places, and the people who live in them--words fail! Ashcott, +the agent and manager of the mines, says they are quite hopeless, and so +they are. They are just like pigs in a sty." + +"Poor dears!" said Juliet. + +"Oh, they're horrors!" declared Mrs. Fielding. "They fling stones at the +car if we go within half-a-mile of them. And they are such a drunken set. +Go round the other way, Jack,--round by Fairharbour! Miss Moore will +enjoy that." + +"Thank you," said Juliet, with her friendly smile. "I am enjoying it +very much." + +They travelled forty miles before they ran back again into Little Shale, +and the children were reassembling for afternoon school as they neared +the Court gates. + +"Put me down here!" Juliet said. "I can run down the hill. It isn't worth +while coming those few yards and having to turn the car." + +"I want you to lunch with me," said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Oh, thank you very much. Not to-day. I really must get back. I've got to +buy cakes for tea," laughed Juliet. + +Mrs. Fielding stopped the car abruptly. "I'm not going to press you, or +you'll never come near me again," she said. "I never press people to do +what they obviously don't want to. Do you think you would hate living +with me, Miss Moore? Or are you still giving the matter your +consideration?" + +There was a hint of wistfulness in the arrogant voice that somehow +touched Juliet. + +She sat silent for a moment; then: "If I might come to you for a week on +trial," she said. "You won't pay me anything of course. I think we +should know by that time if it were likely to answer or not." + +"When will you come?" said Mrs. Fielding. + +"Just when you like," said Juliet. + +"To-morrow?" + +"Yes, to-morrow, if that suits you." + +"And if you don't hate me at the end of a week you'll come for good." + +Juliet laughed. "No, I won't say that. I'll leave you a way of escape +too. We will see how it answers." + +Mrs. Fielding held out her hand. "Good-bye! Next time you take your tea +on the shore, I want to be the guest of honour." + +"You shall be," said Juliet. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE INTRUDER + + +"Everyone to his taste," remarked Green. "But I'd rather be anything +under the sun than Mrs. Fielding's paid companion." He glanced at +Juliet with a smile as he spoke, but there was a certain earnestness +in his speech that told her he meant what he said. He sat with his +back to a rock, smoking a cigarette. His attitude was one of repose, +but in the strong light his dark face showed a tenseness that did not +wholly agree with it. + +"Do you really think you'll like it?" he asked, as Juliet did not speak. + +She also had a cigarette between her lips, and there was genuine +relaxation in her fashion of lounging on the shingle. + +"I really don't know," she said. "I've got to find out." + +"Don't let them bully you!" said Green. + +She smiled. "No, they won't do that. I think it is rather kind of them to +take me without references, don't you?" + +"No," said Green. + +She turned and surveyed him with a gleam of amusement in her look. "You +sound cross! Are you cross about anything?" + +His eyes flashed down to hers with a suddenness almost startling. He did +not speak for a moment, then again he smiled abruptly with his eyes still +holding hers. "I believe I am," he said. + +"I wonder why," said Juliet. + +He laughed. "Yes, you do, don't you? Great impertinence on my part of +course. It's nice of you to put it so mildly." + +"I don't think you impertinent," said Juliet; "only rather silly." + +"Oh, thanks!" said Green. "Kinder and kinder. Silly to be cross on your +account, is that it? Well, it certainly sounds silly." + +Juliet smiled. "No, silly to think I am not capable of taking care +of myself." + +"Oh!" said Green. "Well, I have some reason for thinking that, +haven't I?" + +"None whatever," said Juliet. + +"All right. I haven't," he said, and looked away. + +"You are cross!" ejaculated Juliet, and broke into a laugh. + +Green smoked steadily for some seconds with his eyes upon the sea. A +few yards below them Robin wandered bare-footed along the shore, +accompanied by Columbus who had bestowed a condescending species of +friendship upon him. + +Green's dark, alert face looked strangely swarthy against the rock behind +him. His expression was one of open discontent. + +"I hate to think of you turning into that woman's slave," he said +abruptly. "To be quite honest, that was what brought me along to-day, +intruding upon your picnic with Robin. I want to warn you, I've got to +warn you." + +"You have warned me," said Juliet. + +"Without result," he said. + +"No, not without result. I am very grateful to you, and I shall remember +your warning." + +"But you won't profit by it," Green's voice was moody. + +"I think I shall," she said. "In any case, I am only going for a week on +trial. That couldn't hurt anyone." + +He did not look at her. "You're going out of the goodness of your +heart," he said. "And--though you won't like it--you'll stay for the +same reason." + +"Oh, don't you think you are rather absurd?" said Juliet. "I am not at +all that sort of person, I assure you." + +"I think you are," said Green. + +She laughed again. "Well I am told you are quite a frequent visitor +there. Why do you go--if you don't like it?" + +"That is different," he said. "I can hold my own--anyway with Mr. +Fielding." + +She lifted her brows. "And you think I can't?" + +"I think you'll lead a dog's life," he said. + +"Oh, I hope not. It won't be on a chain anyhow. I've provided +against that." + +"You'll hate it," Green said with conviction. + +"I don't think I shall," she answered quietly. "If I do, I shall +come away." + +"It'll be too late then," he said. + +"Too late!" Juliet's soft eyes opened wide. "What can you mean?" + +He made a gesture which though half-restrained was yet vehement "It's a +hostile atmosphere--a hateful atmosphere. She will poison you with her +sneers and snobbery!" + +A light began to break upon Juliet. She sat up very suddenly. "That sort +of poison doesn't have any effect upon me," she said, and she spoke with +a stateliness that brought the man's eyes swiftly down to her. "I +am--sneer-proof." + +"She won't sneer at you," said Green quickly. + +With her eyes looking straight up to him, she laughed. + +"Oh, I quite catch your meaning, Mr. Green. But--really I am not in the +position of listening to sneers against my friends. Now will you be +satisfied?" + +He laughed also though still with a touch of restraint. "Yes, I feel +better for that. You are so royal in your ways. I might have known I was +safe there." + +"'Loyal' is a better word I think," said Juliet quietly. "Why should a +paid companion aspire to be any higher in the social scale than a village +schoolmaster? Do you think occupation really makes any difference?" + +"Theoretically--no!" said Green. + +"Neither theoretically nor practically," said Juliet. "I detest snobbery, +so do you. If you came to the Court to sweep the kitchen chimney, I +should be just as pleased to see you. What a man does is nothing. How +could it make any difference?" + +"It couldn't--to you," said Green. + +"Or to you?" said Juliet. + +He laughed a little, his black brows working comically. "Madame, if I met +you hawking stale fish for cat's meat in the public street, I couldn't +venerate you more or adore you less. Whatever you do--is right." + +"Good heavens!" said Juliet, and flushed in spite of herself. "What a +magnificent compliment! It's a pity you are not wearing a slouch hat with +an ostrich plume! You really need a plume to express that sort of +sentiment properly." + +"Yes, I know," said Green. "But--I imagine you are not attracted by +plumes. In fact, you have just told me so. Proof positive of your +royalty! It is only crowned heads that can afford to despise them +nowadays." + +"Mine isn't a crowned head," protested Juliet. + +He looked at her searchingly. "Have you never been to Court?" + +She snapped her fingers airily. "Of course! Dozens of times! Poor +companions always go to Court. How often do you go!" + +"As often as you admit me to your most gracious presence," he said. + +She clapped her hands softly. "Why, that is even prettier than the stale +fish one! Mr. Green, what can have happened to you?" + +"I daren't tell you," he said. + +A sudden silence fell upon the words. Juliet puffed the smoke from her +cigarette, and watched it rise. "Well, don't spoil it, will you?" she +said, as it vanished into air. + +Green's hand suddenly gripped a handful of shingle and ground it +forcibly. He did not speak for a second or two. Then: "No, I won't spoil +it," he said, in a low voice. + +A moment later he flung the stones abruptly from him and got up. + +"You're not going?" said Juliet. + +"Yes, I've got work to do. Shall I take Robin with me?" + +There was a dogged note in his voice. His eyes avoided hers. + +Juliet rose slowly. "Never mind Robin! Walk a little way with me!" she +said. + +"I think I'd better go," said Green restlessly. + +"Please!" said Juliet gently. + +He turned beside her without a word. They went down the shingle to the +edge of the sand and began to walk along the shore. + +For many seconds they walked in silence. Juliet's eyes were fixed upon +the mighty outline of High Shale Point that stood out like a fortress, +dark, impregnable, against the calm of the evening sky. Her companion +sauntered beside her, his hands behind him. He had thrown away his +cigarette. + +She spoke at length, slowly, with evident effort. "I want to tell +you--something--about myself." + +"Something I really don't know?" asked Green, his dark face flashing +to a smile. + +There was no answering smile on Juliet's face. "Yes, something you don't +know," she said soberly. "It's just this. I have much more in common with +Mrs. Fielding than you have any idea of. I have lived for pleasure +practically all my life. I have scrambled for happiness with the rest of +the world, and I haven't found it. It's only just lately that I've +realized why. I read a book called The Valley of Dry Bones. Do you know +it? But of course you do. It is by Dene Strange. I hate the man--if it is +a man. And I hate his work--the bitter cynicism of it, the merciless +exposure of humanity at its lowest and meanest. I don't know what his +ideals are--if he has any. I think he is probably very wicked, but +detestably--oh, damnably--clever. I burnt the book I hated it so. But I +felt--afterwards--as if I had been burnt, seared by hot +irons--ashamed--most cruelly ashamed." Juliet's voice sank almost to a +whisper. "Because--life really is like that--one vast structure of +selfishness--and in many ways I have helped to make it so." + +She stopped. Green was looking at her attentively. He spoke at once with +decision. "I know the book. I've read it. It's an exaggeration--probably +intentional. It wasn't written--obviously--for the super-sensitive." + +"Wasn't it?" Juliet's lips were quivering. "Well, it's been a positive +nightmare to me. I haven't got over it yet." + +"That's curious," he said. "I shouldn't have thought it could have +touched you anywhere." + +"That is because you have a totally wrong impression of me," she said. +"That is what I am trying to put right. I am the sort of person that +horrible book applies to, and I've fallen out with myself very badly in +consequence, Mr. Green. I haven't told anyone but you, but--somehow--I +feel as if you ought to know." + +"Thank you," said Green. "But why?" + +She met his eyes very steadily. "Because I'm trying to play the game now, +and--I don't want you to have any illusions." + +"You don't want me to make a fool of myself," he said. "Is that it?" + +She coloured very vividly, but she did not avoid his look. "I don't think +there is much danger of that, is there?" she said. + +He stood still suddenly and faced her. His eyes burned with an amazing +brightness. "I don't know," he said, speaking emphatically and very +rapidly. "It depends of course upon the point of view. But I'll tell you +this. I'd give all I've got--and all I'm ever likely to get--to prevent +you going to Shale Court as a companion." + +"Oh, but aren't you unreasonable?" Juliet said. + +"No, I'm not." He made a vigorous gesture of repudiation. "Presumptuous +perhaps--but not unreasonable. I know too much of what goes on there. +Miss Moore, I beseech you--think again! Don't go!" + +She looked at him in perplexity. "But it wouldn't be fair to draw back +now," she objected. "Besides--" + +"Besides," he broke in almost fiercely, "you've got your living to make +like the rest of us. Yes, I know--I know! You regard this as a +Heaven-sent opportunity. It isn't. It's quite the reverse. If you were +unhappy in London, you'll be a thousand times more so there. And--and I +shan't be able to help you--shan't get anywhere near you there." + +"It's very kind of you," began Juliet. + +He cut her short again. "No, it isn't kind. You're the only woman of +your station I have ever met who has deigned to treat me as an equal. +It--it's a bit rash on your part, you know." He smiled at her abruptly, +and something sent a queer sensation through her--a curious feeling of +familiarity that held and yet eluded her. "And--as you see--I'm taking +full advantage of it. I hope you won't think me an awful cad after this. +I can't help it if you do. Miss Moore, forgive my asking,--are you really +obliged to work for your living? Can't you--can't you wait a little?" + +Juliet was looking at him with wonder in her soft eyes. His sudden +vehemence was rather bewildering. + +"I don't quite know," she said vaguely. "But I rather want to do +something, you know." + +"Oh, I know--I know," he said. "But you're not obliged to do this. +Something else is bound to turn up. Or if it doesn't--if it +doesn't--" He ground his heel deep into the yielding sand, and ended +in a husky undertone. "My God! What wouldn't I give for the privilege +of working for you?" + +The words were uttered and beyond recall. He looked her straight in the +face as he spoke them, but an instant later he turned and stared out over +the wide, calm sea in a stillness that was somehow more forcible even +than his low, half-strangled speech had been. + +Juliet stood silent also, almost as if she were waiting for him to +recover his balance. Her eyes also were gazing straight before her to +that far mysterious sky-line. They were very grave and rather sad. + +He broke the silence after many seconds. "You will never speak to me +again after this." + +"I hope I shall," she said gently. + +He wheeled and faced her. "You're not angry then?" + +She shook her head. "No." + +His eyes flashed over her with amazing swiftness. "I almost wish you +were," he said. + +"But why?" she said. + +"Because I should know then it mattered a little. Now I know it doesn't. +I am just one of the many. Isn't that it? There are so many of us that +one more or less doesn't count either way." He laughed ruefully. "Well, I +won't repeat the offence. Even your patience must have its limits. Shall +we go back?" + +It was then that Juliet turned, moved by an impulse so strangely urgent +that she could not pause to analyse it. She held out her hand to him, +quickly, shyly, and as he gripped and held it, she spoke, her voice +tremulous, breathless, barely coherent. + +"I am not--offended. I am--very--very--deeply--honoured. Only +you--you--don't understand." + +He kept her hand closely in his own. His grasp vibrated with electric +force, but he had himself in check. "You are more generous than I +deserve," he said, his voice sunk to a whisper. "Perhaps--some +day--understanding will come. May I hope for that?" + +She did not answer him, but for one intimate second her eyes looked +straight into his. Then with a little, sobbing breath she slipped her +hand free. + +"We--are forgetting Robin," she said, with an effort. + +He turned at once. "By George, yes! I'm afraid I had forgotten +him," he said. + +They walked back along the shore side by side. + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WAND OF OFFICE + + +Robin was in disgrace. He crouched in a sulky heap in a far corner of the +schoolroom, and glowered across the empty desks and benches at his elder +brother who sat in the place of authority at his writing-table with a +litter of untidy exercise-books in front of him. There was a long, thin +cane also at his elbow that had the look of a somewhat sinister wand of +office. He was correcting book after book with a species of forced +patience, that was not without an element of exasperation. + +The evening sunlight slanted through the leaded windows. They were open +to their widest extent, but the place was oppressively close. There was a +brooding sense of storm in the atmosphere. Suddenly, as if in some +invisible fashion a set limit had been reached and passed, Richard Green +lifted his head from his work. His keen eyes sent a flashing glance down +the long, bare room. + +"Robin!" he said. + +Robin gave a violent start, and then a shuffling, reluctant movement as +if prodded into action against his will. + +"Get up and come here!" his brother said. + +Robin, in the act of blundering to his feet, checked abruptly, as if +arrested by something in the peremptory tone. "What for?" he asked, in a +surly note. + +"Get up," Green repeated, with grim insistence, "and come here!" + +Robin grabbed at the end of the row of desks nearest to him and dragged +himself slowly up. But there he hung irresolute. His heavy brows were +drawn, but the eyes beneath had a frightened, hunted look. They glared at +Green with a defiance so precarious that it was pathetic. + +Green waited inexorably, magisterially, at his table. The sunlight had +gone and the room was darkening. Very slowly Robin moved forward, +dragging his feet along the bare boards. At the other end of the row of +desks he halted. His eyes travelled swiftly between his brother's stern +countenance and the wand of office that lay before him on the +writing-table. He shivered. + +"Come here!" Green said again. + +He crept a little nearer like a guilty dog. His humped shoulders looked +higher than usual. His eyes shone red. + +Across the writing-table Green faced him. He spoke, very distinctly. + +"Why did you throw that stone at Mrs. Fielding's car?" + +Robin was trembling from head to foot. He drew a quivering breath between +his teeth, and stood silent. + +"Tell me why!" Green insisted. + +Robin locked his working hands together. Green waited. + +"It--it--I didn't see--Mrs. Fielding," he blurted forth at last. + +Green made a slight movement that might have indicated relief, but his +tone was as uncompromising as before as he said, "That's not an answer to +my question. I asked you why you did it." + +Robin shrank from the curt directness of his speech. His defiance wilted +visibly. "I--didn't mean to break the window, Dicky," he said, twisting +and cracking his fingers in rising agitation. + +"What did you mean to do?" said Green. + +Robin stood silent again. + +"Are you going to answer me?" Green said, after a pause. + +Robin made a great effort. He parted his straining hands and rested them +upon the table behind which Green sat. Standing so, he glowered down into +his brother's grim face with something of menace in his own. + +"I'll tell you one thing, Dicky," he said, with stupendous effort. "I'm +not going--to take a caning for it." + +Green's eyebrows went up. He sat perfectly still, looking straight +up into the heavy face above him. For several seconds a tense +silence reigned. + +Then: "Oh yes, you will," he said quietly. "You will take--whatever I +decide to give you. Sit down there!" He indicated the end of the bench +nearest to him. "I'll deal with you presently." + +Robin did not stir. In the growing gloom of the room his eyes shone like +the eyes of an animal, goaded and desperate. But the man before him +showed neither surprise nor anger. His clean-cut lips were closed in a +straight, unyielding line. For a full minute he looked at Robin and Robin +looked at him. + +Then he spoke. "I've only one treatment for this sort of thing--as you +know. It isn't especially inspiring for either of us. I shouldn't qualify +for it if I were you." + +Robin had begun to shake again. The cold, clear words seemed to deprive +him of the brief strength he had managed to muster. His eyes fell before +the steady regard that was fixed upon him. With an incoherent murmur he +turned aside, and dropped upon the end of the bench indicated, his +trembling hands gripped hard between his knees, his attitude one of +utter dejection. + +Green went back to his correcting with a frown between his brows, and a +deep silence fell. + +Minutes passed. The room grew darker, the atmosphere more leaden. Pencil +in hand, Green went over book after book and put them aside. Suddenly he +looked across at the silent figure. The humped shoulders were heaving. +Slow tears were falling upon the clasped hands. There was no sound of any +sort. Green sat and watched, a kind of stern pity replacing the +unyielding mastery of his look. He moved at length, was on the verge of +speech, when something checked him. Footsteps fell beyond the open door, +and in a moment a man's figure appeared entering through the gloom. + +"Hullo, Dick!" a voice said. "You here? There's going to be the devil of +a storm. Where's that scoundrel Robin?" + +Robin stirred with a deep sound in his throat like the growl of an +angry animal. + +Richard Green rose with a sharp movement. "Jack! I want a word with you. +Come outside!" + +He passed Robin and went to the new-comer, gripping him quickly by the +shoulder and turning him back by the way he had come. + +Jack submitted to the imperative touch. He was taller and broader than +his elder brother, but he lacked that subtle something--the distinction +of bearing--which in Richard was very apparent. + +"Well, Dick! What do you want?" he said. "I'm pretty mad, I can tell you. +I hope you're going to thrash him well. Because if you don't, I shall." + +Briefly and decidedly Dick made answer. "No, you won't. You'll not touch +him. I shall do--whatever is necessary." + +"Shall you?" said Jack. "Then why don't you shut him up in a wild-beast +house? It's the only place he's fit for." + +"Shut up, please!" Richard's tone was an odd mixture of tolerance and +exasperation. "I'll manage this affair my own way. But I've got to know +the truth of it first. What made him throw that stone? Have you been +baiting him again?" + +"I?" Jack squared his shoulders; a sneer crossed his good-looking face. +"Oh, say I did it!" he drawled. + +"Don't be an ass, Jack! Can't you see I want your help?" Richard spoke +with insistence; his hand gripped his brother's arm. + +Jack's sneer turned to a self-satisfied smile. "I'll help you hammer him +if you like. There's nothing would please me better. Oh, all right, man! +Don't be impatient! That's my funny bone when you've done with it. I +don't mind telling you all about it if you want to know. He chucked that +stone at me out of sheer damned vindictiveness. He meant to break my +head, but he broke the window instead, and frightened Madam Fielding into +fits. In her own park too! It's a bit thick, you know, that. I don't +wonder that she came straight along to you to demand his blood. You'll +have the old man down next; also the beautiful Miss Moore. It's getting +beyond a joke, you know, Dick. You'll have to shut the beast up. You +can't let him run amuck like this." + +"Shut up!" Dick said again. In the unnatural light his face looked drawn +and almost haggard. "I want to know why he did it. Can't you tell me?" + +"Oh yes, I can tell you that. He's taken to haunting the place--the +Court, mind you--to lie in wait for the fair Juliet. She's been too kind +to him, unluckily for her, and now he dogs her footsteps whenever he gets +a chance. I caught him this afternoon, right up by the house, and I +ordered him off. You know the squire and madam both loathe the very sight +of him, and small wonder. I do myself. So I told him what he was and +where to go to, and I presume he thought he'd send me there first. There +you have it all--cause and effect." + +"Thank you," said Dick. He paused a moment looking speculatively at +Jack's complacent face. "It was a pity you were so damned offensive, +but I suppose it's the way you're made. You were the sole cause of the +whole thing, and if there's any decency in you, you'll go and tell the +squire so." + +He spoke quickly, but with characteristic decision and wholly without +excitement. Jack jumped, and threw back his head as if he had received a +blow across the mouth. Swift temper sprang to his eyes. + +"What the devil do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Exactly what I have said," returned Dick briefly. "And perhaps a +little more." + +"Confound you!" blustered Jack. "And you expect me to go to the squire +and tell him it was my fault, do you?" + +"No. I don't expect it in the least." Dick almost laughed. "In fact, +nothing would surprise me more. Thank you for telling me the truth. Do +you mind clearing out now? I don't want you in here." + +His curt, cold tones fell like ice on flame. Jack swore a muffled oath +and turned away. There was no one in the world who possessed the power to +humble him as did Dick, who with a few scorching words could make him +writhe in impotent fury. For there was no gainsaying Dick. He was always +unassailable in his justice, since in a fashion inexplicable but tacitly +acknowledged by both he occupied a higher plane altogether. Ignore it as +he might, deep in his inner soul Jack knew this man to be his master. He +might, and sometimes did, resist his control, deny his authority; yet the +power remained, and Dick knew how to exercise it if the need arose. They +were seldom at open variance, but practically never in sympathy. + +The fate of poor Robin had been a matter of disagreement between them +ever since Jack had come to man's estate, but the issue did not rest +with Jack. No power on earth could move Dick in that direction. Robin +was his own peculiar property, and in this respect he permitted +interference from none. + +He left Jack now, and turned back into the schoolroom with deep lines +between his brows, but implacable determination in his every movement, a +determination that was directed against the poor cowering form that +crouched still in the same position waiting for him. + +Robin looked up at his coming, drawing himself together with a nervous +contraction of the muscles like the mute shrinking of an abject dog. + +Dick stopped in front of him. "So you're not going to take a +caning!" he said. + +There was no longer any rebellion in Robin's attitude. He dropped his +eyes swiftly from his brother's face, saying no word. In the silence +that followed, his hands began to work, straining ceaselessly against +each other. + +Dick waited for a few seconds. "Going on strike, are you?" he asked then, +as Robin did not speak. + +Robin shook his head dumbly. + +"What does that mean?" Dick said. + +Robin was silent. He was nearly dislocating his fingerjoints in his +agitation. + +Richard bent suddenly and laid a quieting hand upon him. "Robin, do you +know you've got me into bad trouble?" + +Robin gave a violent jerk, and in a moment stumbled to his feet. He did +not look at his brother, but turned aside in his blundering pathetic +fashion, and went to the littered writing-desk. + +Dick's wand of office still lay among the scattered exercise-books. He +pulled it out with a clumsy eagerness, tossing papers and books on the +floor in his haste. He turned and went back to Dick, thrusting the cane +towards him. + +"There, Dicky!" he said, and stood breathing heavily and trembling. + +Dick reached out and took the cane. The lines of his face were oddly +softened. He stood for a moment looking at the boy, then very sharply he +moved, bent, and snapped the thing across his knee. + +"Oh, dash it, Robin!" he said. "You're getting too much for me." + +He tossed the fragments from him, and went to pick up the books that +Robin had scattered on the floor. + +Robin came and grovelled by his side, helping him. "You aren't angry, are +you, Dicky?" he murmured anxiously. + +"I ought to be," Dick said, as he sat down and began to straighten out +the muddle in front of him. + +Robin knelt up by his side. "Please don't be, Dicky!" he said very +earnestly. "I won't ever do it again. I swear I won't." + +Dick smiled somewhat wryly. "No. You'll probably think of some other +devilry even worse." He put his arm round the humped shoulders with the +words. "You'll forget--you always do--that it's I who have to pay." + +Robin pressed against him, still dog-like in his contrition. "Will it +cost much?" he asked. + +"Oh that! The window, you mean? Well, not so much as if you had broken +Jack's head--as you intended." + +There was some hint of returning grimness in Dick's voice. Robin made an +ingratiating movement, leaning his rough head against his brother's arm. + +Dick went on, ignoring the unspoken appeal. "You've got to stop it Robin. +If you don't, there'll be trouble--worse trouble than you've had yet. +You don't want to leave me, I suppose?" + +"Leave you, Dicky?" Robin stared round in horror. "Leave you?" he +repeated incredulously. "Go to prison, do you mean?" + +Dick nodded. "Something like it." + +"Dick!" Robin stared at him aghast. "But--you--you'd never let +them--take me?" + +"If you were to damage Jack--or anyone else--badly, I shouldn't be able +to prevent it." Dick said rather wearily. "If it came to that--I +shouldn't even try." + +"Dick!" Robin gasped again, then passionately; "But I--I--I couldn't +live--away from you! I'd--I'd kill myself!" + +"No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't get the chance." Dick was staring +straight before him down the room, as if he watched some evil vision +against the darkness. "People aren't allowed to kill themselves in +prison. If they try to do anything of that sort, they're tied down till +they come to their senses. If they behave like brutes, they're treated as +such, till at last they turn into that and nothing else. And then--God +help them!" + +A sudden hard shudder caught him. He shook it off impatiently, and turned +to the quivering figure still kneeling in the circle of his arm. + +He gripped it suddenly close. "That's the sort of hell these fiendish +tempers of yours might end in," he said. "You've got to save yourself, my +son. I can't save you." + +Robin clung to him tensely, desperately. "You don't--want me to go, +Dicky?" he whispered. + +"Good God!" Richard said. "I'd rather see you dead!" + +In the silence that followed, Robin turned with a curious groping +movement, took the hand that pressed his shoulder, and pulled it +over his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MIDSUMMER MADNESS + + +An ominous darkness brooded over all things as Green walked up the long +avenue of Shale Court half-an-hour later. The storm had been long in, +gathering, and he judged that he would yet have time to reach his +destination before it broke. But it was nearer than he thought, and the +first dull roar of its coming reached him soon after he had passed the +gates. He shrugged his shoulders at the sound and hurried on, for he was +in no mood to turn back. The business before him was one that could not +be shirked, and the lines on his dark face showed unyielding +determination as he went. + +He was half-way up the drive when the first flash of lightning glimmered +eerily across the heavy gloom. It was followed so swiftly by a burst of +thunder that he realized that he had no time to spare if he hoped to +escape the threatening deluge. He broke into a run, covering the ground +with the ease of the practised athlete, elbows at sides and head up, +going at an even pace which he knew he could maintain to the finish +without distress. + +But he was not destined to run to a finish. As he rounded a bend that +gave him a view of the house in the distance, he suddenly heard a voice +call to him from the deep shadow of the trees, and checking sharply he +discerned a dim figure coming towards him across the grassy ride that +bordered the road. + +He diverted his course without a moment's thought, and went to meet it. + +"Ah, how kind of you!" said Juliet. "And there's going to be such a +downpour in a minute." + +"What is the matter?" he said, her hand in his. + +She was smiling a difficult smile. "Nothing very much. Not enough to +warrant my extreme selfishness in stopping you. I have given my foot a +stupid twist, that's all, and it doesn't like walking." + +"Take my arm!" said Green. + +She took it, her white face still bravely smiling. "Thank you, Mr. +Green." + +"Lean hard!" he said. + +She obeyed him, and he led her, limping, to the road, Columbus, the +ever-faithful, trudging behind. + +"It really is a shame," she said. "We shall both be drenched now." + +He glanced at the threatening sky. "It may hold off for a bit yet. What +were you doing?" + +"I was coming to see you," she said. + +"To see me!" His look came swiftly to her. "What about?" + +"About Robin," she answered simply. "I wasn't in the car when it +happened, but I heard all about it when Mrs. Fielding came in. Mr. Green, +I hope you haven't been very hard on him." + +Green was silent for a moment. "And you started straight off to come to +the rescue?" he said then. + +"Oh, I felt sure that he acted on impulse, not realizing. You can't +judge him by ordinary standards. It isn't fair," pleaded Juliet. "There +was probably some extenuating circumstance in the background--something +we don't know about. I hope you haven't been very severe. You haven't, +have you?" + +Green began to smile. "You make me out an awful ogre," he said. "Is it my +trade that does it? No, I haven't punished him at all. As you say, we +must be fair, and I found he wasn't the person most to blame. Can you +guess who was?" + +"No," said Juliet. + +"I thought not. Well, I have traced it to its source, and it lies--at +your door." + +"At mine!" ejaculated Juliet. + +"At yours, yes. You've been too kind to him. It's just your way, isn't +it? You spoil everybody." Again for an instant his look flashed over her. +"With the result that Robin, not hampered by convention as are the rest +of us, lies in wait on forbidden ground for a glimpse of his divinity. +Being caught and roundly abused for it by his brother Jack, he naturally +took offence and trouble ensued. That is the whole story." + +"Oh, dear," said Juliet. "But surely that was very unnecessary of your +brother Jack. He might have made allowances." + +"My brother Jack often does unnecessary things," said Green drily. "And +he never makes allowances for anyone but himself." + +"And you have to bear the consequences!" Juliet's voice was quick with +sympathy. "But that's too bad!" + +"I'm used to it," said Green, and laughed. "How are you getting on? +Enjoying life at the Court?" + +Juliet smiled. "Do you know--I am rather? They have been very good to +me." + +"So far," said Green. "Are you still on probation?" + +"The week is up to-morrow," she told him. + +"And you're staying on--of course?" + +She looked at him. "Don't you want me to stay on?" + +"You know my sentiments," said Green. + +A sudden vivid flash rent the gloom over them, and Juliet caught her +breath. There followed a burst of thunder that seemed to shake the very +foundation of the earth. + +She tried to break into a hobbling run, but he held her back. +"Better not. You'll only hurt yourself. It isn't raining yet. You're +not nervous?" + +She laughed a little, breathlessly. "I don't admit it. I should never +dare to show the white feather in your presence. Oh, look at that!" +She shrank in spite of herself as another intolerable flare darted +across the sky. + +"We're nearly in," said Green, but his words were drowned in such a +volume of sound as made further speech impossible. He awoke to the fact +that Juliet was clinging to his arm with both hands, and in a second his +free hand was on the top of them holding them tightly. + +The thunder rolled away, and a deeper darkness fell. Great drops of rain +began to splash around them. + +"Quick!" gasped Juliet. "We can't--possibly--reach the house now. There +is an arbour--by the garden gate. Let's go there!" + +He turned off the road on to a side-path that led to a shrubbery. The +rush and roar of the coming rain was sweeping up from the sea. Juliet +pressed forward. + +Again a jagged line of light gleamed before them. Again the thunder +crashed. They found the little gate and the arbour beyond. + +"Thank goodness!" gasped Juliet. + +She stumbled at the step of the summer-house, and he thrust an arm +forward to catch her. He almost lifted her into shelter. The darkness +within was complete. She leaned upon him, trembling. + +"You're not hurt?" he said. + +"No, not hurt, only--shaken--and--and--stupid," she answered, on the +verge of tears. + +His arm still held her. It closed about her, very surely, very steadily. +He did not utter a word. + +The rain swept down in a torrent, as if the skies had opened. Great +hail-stones beat upon the laurels around them with tropical violence. +The noise of the downpour seemed vaster, more overwhelming, even than +the thunder. + +Juliet was palpitating from head to foot. She leaned upon the supporting +arm, her eyes closed against the leaping lightning, her two hands pressed +hard upon her breast. Columbus crouched close to her, shivering. + +And ever the man's arm drew her nearer, nearer, till she felt the strong +beating of his heart. The storm raged on about them, but they two stood, +as it were, alone, wrapped at its very centre in a great silence. For +minutes they neither moved nor spoke. + +Slowly the turmoil abated. The downpour lessened. The storm passed. And +Juliet stirred. + +"How--disgraceful of me!" she murmured. "I'm not generally so foolish as +this. But--it was so very violent." + +"I know," he said. His hold slackened. He let her go. And then suddenly +he stayed her. He took her hand, and bending pressed it closely, +burningly, to his lips. + +She stood motionless, suffering him. But in a moment, as he still held +her, very gently she spoke. "Mr. Green, please--don't be so terribly +in earnest! It's too soon. I warned you before. You haven't known +me--long enough." + +He stood up and faced her, her hand still in his. A light was growing +behind the storm-clouds, revealing his dark clean-cut features, and the +look half humorous, half-tense, that rested upon them. + +"Yes, I know you warned me," he said rather jerkily. "I quite realize +that it's my funeral--not yours. I shan't ask you to be chief mourner +either. I've always considered that when a man makes a fool of himself +over a woman it's up to him to bear the consequences without asking her +to share them." + +"But we're not talking of--funerals," said Juliet. + +"Aren't we?" His hand tightened for a moment upon hers. "I thought we +were. What is it then?" + +She smiled at him with a whimsical sadness in the weird storm-light. "I +think there are a good many names for it," she said. "I call it midsummer +madness myself." + +He made a quick gesture of protest. "Do you? Oh, I know a better name +than that. But you don't want to hear it. I believe you are afraid of me. +It sounds preposterous. But I believe you are." + +Her hand stirred within his, but not as though seeking to escape. "No, I +don't think so," she said, and in her voice was a sound as if laughter +and tears were striving together for the mastery. "But I'm trying--so +dreadfully hard--to be--discreet. I don't want you to let yourself go too +far. It's so difficult--you don't know how difficult it is--to get back +afterwards." + +"Good heavens!" he said. "Don't you realize that I passed the +turning-back stage long ago." + +"Oh, I hope not!" she said quickly. "I hope not!" + +"Then I am afraid you are doomed to disappointment," he said, with a +touch of cynicism. "But I am sure you are far too sensible--discreet, I +mean--to let that worry you. And anyway," he smiled abruptly, "I don't +want you to be worried--just when you're having such a jolly time at the +Court too." + +"You're very sarcastic," said Juliet. + +He laughed a little. "No. That's not me. It's only the armour in which I +encase myself. I hope it doesn't offend you. I can always take it off. +Only--I am not sure you'd like that any better." + +He won his point. She smiled, though somewhat dubiously. And at length +her hand gently freed itself from his. + +"Well, I don't like hurting people," she said. "And I don't want to hurt +you. You understand that, don't you?" There was pleading in her words. + +"Yes, perfectly," he said. + +She glanced at him, for his tone was baffling. "And you don't think +me--quite heartless?" + +He bent towards her. "No," he said, and though he smiled as in duty bound +she caught a deep throb in his voice that pierced straight through her. +"I love you all the better for it." Then, before she could find words to +protest, "I say, I believe it's left off raining. Hadn't we better go +while we can?" + +She turned to look. A pale light was shining from the western sky. The +storm was over. The raindrops glittered in the growing radiance. The +whole earth seemed transformed. "Yes, let us go!" she said, and stepped +down into a world of crystal clearness. + +He followed her, his face uplifted to the scattering drops, moving with a +free and faun-like spring that seemed to mark him as a being closely +allied to Nature, curiously vital yet also curiously self-restrained. + +She did not look at him again, but as they passed together through the +wonderland which with every moment was growing to a more amazing +brightness, she told herself that there was little of midsummer madness +about this man's emotions. Jest as he might, she knew by instinct that he +was vitally in earnest and she had a strange conviction that it was for +the first time in his life. The certainty disquited her. Had she fled +from one danger to another--she who only asked for peace? + +But she reassured herself with the thought that he had held her against +his heart, and he had not sought to take her. That forbearance of his +gave him a greatness in her eyes to which no other man had ever attained. +And gradually a sense of security to which she was little accustomed came +about her heart and comforted her. She had warned him. Surely he +understood! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A DRAWN BATTLE + + +Almost in silence they passed up through the dripping garden to the house +side by side, Columbus trotting demurely behind. Juliet was still +limping, but she would not accept support. + +"I suppose you are going to beard the lion in his den," she said as they +drew near. + +"I suppose I am," said Green. "If you hear sounds of a serious fracas, +perhaps you will come to the rescue." + +"Not to yours," she said lightly. "You are more than capable of holding +your own--anywhere." + +He flashed her his sudden look. "Do you really think so? I assure you I +am considered very small fry, indeed, in this household." + +"That's very good for you," said Juliet. + +They mounted to the terrace that bounded the south front of the house, +and entered by a glass door that led into a conservatory. Here for a +moment Juliet paused. Her grey eyes under their level brows met his with +a friendly smile. + +"I think I must leave you now, Mr. Green," she said, "and go and find +Mrs. Fielding. I expect the squire is in his study." + +His answering smile was as ready as her own, but there was a secret +triumph about it that hers lacked. "Pray don't trouble any further on my +account!" he said courteously. "I can find my own way." + +She threw him a nod, cool and kindly, over her shoulder, and took him at +his word. He watched her disappear into the room beyond, Columbus in +close attendance; then for a few seconds his hands went up to his face, +and he stood motionless, pressing his temples hard, feeling the blood +surging at fever heat through his veins. How marvellous she was--and +withal how gracious! How had he dared? Midsummer madness indeed! And yet +she had suffered him--had even stooped to plead with him! + +A great shaft of red sunlight burst suddenly through the heaped +storm-clouds in the west. He turned and faced it, dazzled but strangely +exultant. He felt as if his whole being had been plunged into the glowing +flame. The wonder of it pulsed through and through him. As it were +involuntarily, a prayer sprang to his lips. + +"O God," he said, "make me worthy!" + +Then he turned, as if the glory had become too much for him, and went +into the house. + +He had been well acquainted with the place from boyhood though since the +squire's marriage he had ceased to enter it unannounced. Before his +appointment to the village school, he had acted for a time as the +squire's secretary; but it had never been more than a temporary +arrangement and it had come to a speedy end when Mrs. Fielding became +mistress of the Court. Between her and her husband's protege, as she +scornfully called him, there had always existed a very decided antipathy. +She resented his presence in the house at any time, and though the squire +made it abundantly clear that he would permit no open insolence on her +part, she did not find it difficult to convey her feelings on the subject +to the man himself. He accepted the situation with a shrug and a smile, +and though he did not discontinue his visits on her account, they became +less frequent than formerly; and now generally he came and went again +without seeing her. + +The room he entered was empty. He passed through it without a pause +and found himself in the great entrance hall. He crossed this to a +door on the other side and, knocking briefly, opened it without +waiting for a reply. + +"Hullo!" said the squire's voice. "You, is it? How did you get here? Were +you caught in the storm?" + +"No, sir, I took shelter." Green shut the door, and came forward. + +Mr. Fielding was seated in a leather arm-chair with a newspaper. He +looked at his visitor over it with anything but a favourable eye. + +"What have you come for?" he said. + +Green halted in front of him. "I've come to make a very humble apology," +he said, "for my boy Robin's misdemeanour." + +"Have you?" growled Fielding. He sat motionless, still looking up at +Green from under heavily scowling brows. "Do you think I'm going to be +satisfied with just an apology?" + +"May I sit down, please?" said Green, pulling forward a chair. + +"Oh yes, sit down! Sit down and argue!" said the squire irritably. +"You're always ready with some plausible excuse for that half-witted +young scoundrel. I'll tell you what it is, Dick. If you don't get rid +of him after this, there'll be a split between us. I'm not going to +countenance your infernal obstinacy any longer. The boy is unsafe and +he must go." + +Green sat, leaning forward, courteously attentive, his eyes unwavering +fixed upon his patron's irate countenance. + +He did not immediately reply to the mandate, and the squire's frown +deepened. "You hear me, Dick?" he said. + +Green nodded. "Yes, sir." + +"Well?" Fielding's hand clenched upon the paper in exasperation. + +Dick's eyes very bright, wholly undismayed, continued to meet his with +unvarying steadiness. "I'm very sorry, sir," he said. "The answer is the +same as usual. I can't." + +"Won't--you mean!" There was a sound in the squire's voice like the +muffled roar of an angry animal. + +Dick's black brows travelled swiftly upward and came down again. "He's my +boy, sir," he said. "I'll be responsible for all he does." + +"But--damn it!" ejaculated the squire. "Making yourself responsible for a +mad dog doesn't prevent his biting people, does it? He's become a public +danger, I tell you. You've no right to let him loose on the +neighbourhood." + +"No, no, sir!" Dick broke in quickly. "That's not a fair thing to say. +The boy is as harmless as any of us if he isn't baited. I knew--I knew +perfectly well--that there was a reason for what he did to-day. So there +was. I'm not going into details. Besides, he was clearly in the wrong. +But you may take it from me--he was provoked." + +"Oh! Was he?" said the squire. "And who provoked him? Jack?" + +Dick hesitated momentarily, then: "Yes, Jack," he said briefly. "He had +some reason, but he's such a tactless ass. He blames Robin of course. +Everyone always does." + +"Except you," said the squire drily. "Oh, and Miss Moore! She makes +excuses for him at every turn." + +"She would," said Dick simply. + +"I don't know why," snapped Fielding. He suddenly laid a hand on the +younger man's arm, gripping it mercilessly. "Look here, Richard! Do you +want me to break you? Because that's what it's coming to. Do you hear? +That's what it's coming to. You're getting near the end of your tether." + +Dick's eyes flashed with swift comprehension over the angry face before +him, and an answering flicker of anger sprang up in them for an instant; +but he kept himself in hand. + +"Get me kicked out, you mean?" he said coolly. "Yes, sir, no doubt you +could if you tried hard enough. You're all powerful here, aren't you? +What you say, goes." + +"It does," said Fielding grimly. "And I don't care a damn what I do when +my monkey's up. You know that, don't you?" + +"Rather!" said Dick. And suddenly the resentment died out of his face, +and he began to laugh. "All right, sir! Break me if you like! I'll come +out on top somehow." + +"Confound you! Do you think you can defy me?" fumed Fielding. + +"I'm sure of it," said Dick. "I can defy the whole world if I choose. +There is a certain portion of a man, you know, that can't be beat if he +plays fair, however hard he's hammered. It's the rule of the game." + +"Confound you!" the squire said again, and sprang fiercely to his feet. +"Don't talk to me! You go too far. You always have. You behave as +if--as if--" + +"As if I were my own master," said Dick quietly. "Well, I am that, sir. +It's the one thing in life I can lay claim to." + +"And a lord of creation into the bargain, eh?" the squire flung at him, +as he tramped to the end of the room. + +Dick rose punctiliously and stood waiting, a man unimposing of height and +build yet possessing that innate dignity which no adversity can impair. +He said nothing, merely stood and watched the squire with half-comic +resignation till he came tramping back. + +Fielding's face as he turned was heavy with displeasure, but as his look +fell upon the offender a sudden softening began to struggle with the deep +lines about his mouth. It was like a gleam of sunshine on a dark day. + +He went to Dick, and took him by the shoulder. "Confound you!" he said +for the third time. "You're just like your mother. Pig-headed as a mule, +but--" + +"Are mules pig-headed?" said Dick flippantly. + +The squire shook him. "Be quiet, you prig! I won't be dictated to by you. +Look here, Dick!" His voice changed abruptly. "I'm not ordering. I'm +asking. That boy is a mill-stone round your neck. Let him go! He'll be +happy enough. I'll see to that. Give him up like a dear chap! Then you'll +be free--free to chuck this absurd, farcical existence you're leading +now--free to make your own way in the world--free to marry and be happy." +Dick made a slight movement under the hand that held him, but he did not +attempt to speak. The squire went on. "You can't hope for any of those +things under existing conditions. It wouldn't be fair to ask any woman to +share your present life. It would be almost an insult with this infernal +incubus hanging on you. Can't you see my point? Can't you sacrifice your +damned obstinacy? You'd never regret it. You're ruining yourself, Dick. +Chance after chance has gone by, and you've let 'em go. But you can't +afford to go on. You're in your prime now, but let me tell you a man's +prime doesn't last. A time will come when you'll realize it's too late to +make a start, and you'll look back and curse the folly that induced you +to saddle yourself with a burden too heavy for you to bear." + +He paused. Dick was looking straight before him with a set, grim face +that gave no indication of what was passing in his mind. + +Again, more gently, the squire shook the shoulder under his hand. "I'm +out to make you happy, Dick. Can't you see it? For your mother's sake--as +well as your own. And there's a chance coming your way now--or I'm much +mistaken--which it would be madness to miss. This Miss Moore--she's +dropped from the skies, but she's charming, she's a lady, she's just the +woman for you. What, Dick? Think so yourself, do you? No, it's all right, +I'm not prying. But this is a chance you'll never get again. And you +can't ask her, you can't have the face to ask her, as long as you keep +that half-witted creature dangling after you. It wouldn't be right, man, +even if she'd have you. Look the thing in the face, and you'll be the +first to say so! It would be a hopeless handicap to any marriage--an +insurmountable obstacle to happiness, hers as well as yours. Don't tell +me you can't see it! You know it. You know you've no right to ask any +woman to share a burden of that kind with you. It would be manifestly +unfair--iniquitous. There! I've done. I've never spoken my mind to this +extent before. I've hoped--I've always hoped--the wretched boy would +die. But he hasn't. That sort never does. He'll live for ever. And it's a +damned shame that you should sacrifice yourself to him any longer. For +heaven's sake let him go!" + +He ceased to speak, and there fell a silence so tense, so electric, that +it seemed as if it must mask something terrible. Dick's face was still +immovable, but he had the look of a man who endures unutterable things. +He had flinched once--and only once--during the squire's speech, and that +was at the first mention of Juliet. But for the rest he had stood quite +rigid, as he stood now, his lips tightly compressed, his eyes looking +straight before him. + +He came out of his silence at last with a movement so sudden that it was +as if he flung aside some weight that threatened to overwhelm him. The +arrested vitality flashed back into his face. He threw back his head with +a smile, and looked the squire in the face. + +"You haven't left me a leg to stand on, sir," he said. "But all the +same--I stand. There's nothing more to be said except--may I pay for +the window?" + +Fielding's hand dropped from his shoulder. He flung round fiercely and +tramped to the window, swearing inarticulately. + +Dick's black brows went up again to a humorous angle. He pursed his lips, +but he did not whistle. + +"Do you realize that my wife might have been killed?" Fielding +growled at last. + +"Oh, quite," said Dick. "I'm glad she wasn't. Ought I to congratulate +her?" + +"Oh, don't be so damn funny!" Fielding jingled the money in his pocket +irritably. "You won't laugh when I turn you out." + +"I wonder," said Dick. + +Fielding turned sharply round upon him. "You behave as if you don't care +what I do," he said, an ugly scowl on his face. "Or perhaps you think I +won't or can't--do it." + +"No, sir," Dick spoke deliberately, and though he still smiled his eyes +held the squire's with unmistakable determination. "I'm sure you can do +it. I'm equally sure you won't. And I'm surest of all that I shouldn't +care a damn if you did." + +"You wouldn't care!" The squire looked furious for a moment, then he +sneered. "Oh, wouldn't you, my friend? We shall see. You'd better go +now--before I have you kicked out." + +Dick's shoulders jerked with a swift tightening of the muscles. His eyes +gleamed with a fierce light though his smile remained. "I'll lay you even +odds," he said, "that if you want that done, you'll have to do it +yourself." + +"I'm equal to it!" flashed the squire. "You'd better not try me too far!" + +"I won't try you at all, sir," Dick suddenly relaxed again. He went to +him with a pacific hand held out. "Good-bye! I'm going--now." + +Fielding looked at him, looked at the extended hand, paused for a long +moment, finally took it. + +"Don't want to quarrel with me, eh?" he said. + +"Not without cause," said Dick. + +Fielding gripped the firm, lithe hand, looking at him hard and +straight. "You're very cussed," he said slowly. "I wish I'd had the +upbringing of you." + +Dick laughed. "Well, you've meddled in my affairs as long as I can +remember, sir. I don't know anyone who has had as much to do with me as +you have." + +"And precious little satisfaction I've got out of it," grumbled the +squire. "You've always been a kicker." He broke off as a knock came at +the door, and turned away with an impatient fling. "Who is it? Come in!" + +The door opened. Juliet stood on the threshold. The evening light fell +full upon her. She was dressed in cloudy grey that fell about her in soft +folds. Her face was flushed, but quite serene. + +"Mrs. Fielding wants to know if you have forgotten dinner," she said. + +The squire's face changed magically. He smiled upon Juliet. "Come in, +Miss Moore! You've met this pestilent pedagogue before, I think." + +"Just once or twice," said Juliet, coming forward. + +"How is the ankle?" said Green. + +She smiled at him without embarrassment. "Oh, better, thank you. It was +only a wrench." + +"Hurt yourself?" questioned Fielding. + +"No, no. It's really nothing. I slipped in the park and nearly sprained +my ankle--just not quite," said Juliet. "And Mr. Green very kindly helped +me into shelter before the storm broke." + +"Did he?" said the squire and looked at Green searchingly. "Well, Mr. +Green, you'd better stay and dine as you are here." + +"You're very kind," Dick said. "I don't know whether I ought. I'm +not dressed." + +"Of course you ought!" said Fielding testily. "Come on and wash! Your +clothes won't matter--we're alone. That is, if Miss Moore doesn't object +to sitting down with blue serge." + +"I have no objection whatever," said Juliet. She was looking from one to +the other with a slightly puzzled expression. + +"What is it?" said Fielding, pausing. + +His look was kindly. Juliet laughed. "I don't know. I feel as I felt that +day you caught me trespassing. Am I trespassing, I wonder?" + +"No!" said Fielding and Green in one breath. + +She swept them a deep Court courtesy. + +"Thank you, gentlemen! With your leave I will now withdraw." + +The squire was at the door. He bowed her out with ceremony, watched her +cross the hall, then sharply turned his head. Green was watching her +also, but, keen as the twist of a rapier in the hand of a practised +fencer, his eyes flashed to meet the squire's. + +Fielding smiled grimly. He motioned him forward, gripped him by the +arm, and drew him out of the ream. They mounted the shallow oak stairs +side by side. + +At the top in a tense whisper Fielding spoke. "Don't you be a fool, +Richard! Don't you be a damn' fool!" + +Dick's laugh had in it a note that was not of mirth. "All right, sir, +I'll do my best," he said. + +It was a drawn battle, and they both knew it. By tacit consent neither +referred to the matter again. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A POINT OF HONOUR + + +"How like my husband!" said Mrs. Fielding impatiently, fidgeting up and +down the long drawing-room with a fretful frown on her pretty face. "Why +didn't you put a stop to it, Miss Moore? You might so easily have said +that the storm had upset me and I wasn't equal to a visitor at the +dinner-table to-night." She paused to look at herself in the gilded +mirror above the mantel-piece. "I declare I look positively haggard. I've +a good mind to go to bed. Only if I do--" she turned slowly and looked at +Juliet--"if I do, he is sure to be brutal about it--unless you tell him +you persuaded me." + +Juliet, seated in a low chair, with a book on her lap, looked up with +a gleam of humour in her eyes. "But I am afraid I haven't persuaded +you," she said. + +Mrs. Fielding shrugged her white shoulders impatiently. "Oh, of course +not! You only persuade me to do a thing when you know that it is the one +thing that I would rather die than do." + +"Am I as bad as that?" said Juliet. + +"Pretty nearly. You're coming to it. I know you are on his side all +the time. He knows it too. He wouldn't tolerate you for a moment if +you weren't." + +"What a horrid accusation!" said Juliet, with a smile. + +"The truth generally is horrid," said Mrs. Fielding. "How would you like +to feel that everyone is against you?" + +"I don't know. I expect I should find a way out somehow. I shouldn't +quarrel," said Juliet. "Not with such odds as that!" + +"How--discreet!" said Mrs. Fielding, with a sneer. + +"Discretion is my watchword," smiled Juliet. + +"And very wise too," said Green's voice in the doorway. "How do you do, +Mrs. Fielding? As I can't dress, I've been sent down to try and make my +peace with you for showing my face here at all. I hope you'll be lenient +for once, for really I've had a thorough bullying for my sins." + +He came forward with the words. His bearing was absolutely easy though +neither he nor his hostess seemed to think of shaking hands. + +She looked at him with a disdainful curve of the lips that could scarcely +have been described as a smile of welcome. "I imagine it would take a +good deal of that sort of thing to make much impression upon you, Mr. +Green," she said. + +Green's eyes began to shine. He glanced at Juliet. "Really I am much more +inoffensive than you seem to think," he said. "I hope you are not going +to repeat the dose. I was hoping to secure your forgiveness for what +happened this afternoon. Believe me, no one regrets it more sincerely +than I do." + +Mrs. Fielding drew herself together with a gesture of distaste. "Oh, +that! I have no desire whatever to discuss it with you. I have long +regarded your half-witted brother as a disgrace to the neighbourhood, and +my opinion is scarcely likely to be modified by what happened this +afternoon." + +"How unfortunate!" said Green. + +Again he glanced at Juliet. She lifted her eyes to his. "I am afraid I +haven't taken my share of the blame," she said. "But I think you know +that I am very sorry for Robin." + +"You are always kind," he rejoined gravely. + +"How could you be to blame, Miss Moore?" asked Mrs. Fielding. + +Juliet turned towards her. "Because Robin and I are friends," she +explained simply. "He came here to look for me, and Jack ordered him off. +That was the origin of the trouble. And so--" she smiled--"Mr. Green +tells me it was my fault." + +"He would," commented Mrs. Fielding. + +She turned with the words as if Green's proximity were an offence to her, +and walked away to the window at the further end of the room. + +In the slightly strained pause that followed, Juliet bent to fondle +Columbus who was sitting pressed against her and her book slid from her +lap to the ground. Green stooped swiftly and picked it up. + +"What is it? May I look?" + +She held out her hand for it. "It is _Marionettes_,--Dene Strange's +latest. Mrs. Fielding lent it to me." + +He kept the book in his hand. "I thought you said you wouldn't read any +more of that man's stuff." + +She knitted her brows a little. "Did I say so? I don't remember." + +He looked down at her keenly. "You said you hated the man and his work." + +She began to smile. "Well, I do--in certain moods. But I've got to read +him all the same. Everyone does." + +"Surely you don't follow the crowd!" he said. + +She laughed--her sweet, low laugh. "Surely I do! I'm one of them." + +He made a sharp gesture. "That's just what you are not. I say, Miss +Moore, don't read this book! It won't do you any good, and it'll make +you very angry. You'll call it cynical, insincere, cold-blooded. It will +hurt your feelings horribly." + +"I don't think so," said Juliet. "You forget,--I am no longer--a +marionette. I have come to life." + +Again she held out her hand for the book. He gave it to her reluctantly. + +"Don't read it!" he said. + +She shook her head, still smiling. "No, Mr. Green, I'm not going to +let you censor my reading. I will tell you what I think of it next +time we meet." + +"Don't!" he said again very earnestly. + +But Juliet would not yield. She stooped again over Columbus and +fondled his ear. + +Green stood looking down at her, his dark face somewhat grim, his eyes +extremely bright. + +"I believe he's cross with us, Christopher," murmured Juliet. "Never +mind, old thing! We shall get over it if he doesn't. Being cross always +hurts oneself the most. We're--never cross, are we, Christopher? We +please ourselves and we please each other--always." + +Columbus grunted appreciatively and leaned harder against her. He liked +to be included in the conversation. + +Green suddenly bent and pulled the other ear. "You're a jolly lucky chap, +Columbus," he said. "I'll change places with you any day in the week." + +Columbus smiled at him indulgently, and edged his nose onto his +mistress's knee. He knew his position was secure. + +"Don't you listen to him, Christopher!" said Juliet. "He wouldn't be in +your place two minutes. If I dared to thwart him in anything, he'd turn +and rend me." + +"He wouldn't," said Green decidedly. "Anyone else--perhaps, but his +mistress--never." + +Columbus yawned. The topic did not interest him. But Juliet laughed +again, and for a moment her eyes glanced upwards, meeting the man's look. + +"Is that a promise?" she asked lightly. + +"My word of honour," he said. + +"How generous!" said Juliet. "And how rash!" + +Mrs. Fielding looked round from the window and spoke fretfully. "The +storm seems to have made it more oppressive than ever," she complained. +"I believe it is coming up again." + +"I hope not," said Green. + +Juliet got up quietly and moved to join her--a tall woman of gracious +outlines with the poise of a princess. + +"You know all about everything," she said to him, in passing. "Come and +read the weather for us!" + +He followed her. They stood together at the open French window, looking +out on to the stormy sunset. + +"It isn't coming back," said Green, after a pause. + +Mrs. Fielding gave him a brief, contemptuous glance. Juliet regarded him +more openly, a glint of mockery in her eyes. + +"You are sure to be right," she said. + +He made her a bow. "Many thanks, Miss Moore! I think I am on this +occasion at least. We shall have a fine day for the Graydown races +to-morrow." + +"Are you keen on racing?" asked Juliet. + +He laughed. "I've no time for frivolities of that sort." + +"You could make time if you wanted to," observed Mrs. Fielding. "You are +free on Saturday." + +"Am I?" said Green. + +She challenged him in sudden exasperation. "Well, what do you do on your +off days?" + +He considered for a moment. "I'll tell you what I'm doing to-morrow, if +you like," he said. "In the morning I hold a swimming class for all who +care to attend. In the afternoon I've got a cricket match. And in the +evening I'm running an open-air concert at High Shale with Ashcott." + +"For those wretched miners!" exclaimed Mrs. Fielding. + +He nodded. "Yes, and their wives and their babies. They are rather +amusing shows sometimes. We use native talent of course. I believe you +would be interested, Miss Moore." + +"I am sure I should," said Juliet. "May I come to one some day?" + +He faced her boldly. "Will you help at one--some day?" + +"Oh, really!" broke in Mrs. Fielding. "That is too much. I am sure my +husband would never agree to that." + +"I don't know why he shouldn't," said Juliet gently. "But the point +is--should I be any good?" + +"You sing," said Green with confidence. + +She smiled. "Who told you so?" + +His brows worked humorously. "It's one of the things I know without being +told. Would you be afraid to venture yourself in that rough crowd with +only me to take care of you?" + +"Not in the least," said Juliet. + +"Thank you," he said. "You would certainly have no need to be. You would +have an immense reception." + +"I am quite sure my husband would never allow it," said Mrs. +Fielding with a frown. "These High Shale people are so hopelessly +disreputable--such a drunken, lawless lot." + +"But not beyond redemption," said Green quickly, "if anyone takes +the trouble." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "There are not many people who have time to +waste over them. In any case, the responsibility lies at Lord +Wilchester's door--not ours." + +"And as Lord Wilchester happens to be a rotter, they must go to the +wall," remarked Green. + +"Well, it is no business of ours," maintained Mrs. Fielding. "I always +leave that sort of thing to the busybodies who enjoy it." + +"What a good idea!" said Green. "Do you know I never thought of that?" + +"Tell me about the cricket match!" Juliet said, intervening. "Who +is playing?" + +He gave her a glance of quizzical understanding. "Oh, that's a village +affair too--Little Shale versus Fairharbour, most of them fisher-lads, +all of them sports. I have the honour to be captain of the Little +Shale team." + +"You seem to be everything," she said. + +"Jack of all trades!" sneered Mrs. Fielding. + +Green laughed. "I was just going to say that." + +"How original of you!" said Juliet. "Well, I hope you'll win." + +"He is the sort of person who always comes out on top whether he wins or +loses," said Fielding, striding up the long room at the moment. "You've +not seen him play cricket yet, Miss Moore. He's a positive tornado on +the cricket-ground. To-morrow's Saturday, isn't it? Where are you +playing, Dick?" + +His good-humour was evidently fully restored. He slapped a hand on +Dick's shoulder with the words. Mrs. Fielding's lips turned downwards at +the action. + +"We are playing the Fairharbour crowd, sir, on Lord Saltash's ground," +said Green. "It's in Burchester Park. You know the place don't you? It's +just above the town." + +"Yes, yes, I know it. A fine place. Pity it doesn't belong to somebody +decent," said the squire. + +Mrs. Fielding laughed unpleasantly. "Dear me! More wicked lords?" + +Her husband looked at her with his quick frown. "I thought everybody +knew Saltash was a scoundrel. It's common talk that he's in Paris at this +moment entertaining that worthless jade, Lady Joanna Farringmore." + +Juliet gave a violent start at the words. For a moment her face flamed +red, then went dead white--so white that she almost looked as if she +would faint. Then, in a very low voice, "It may be common talk," she +said, "but--I am quite sure--it isn't true." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed the squire. "My dear Miss Moore, pray forgive +me! I forgot you knew her." + +She smiled at him, still with that ashen face. "Yes, I know her. At +least--I used to. And--she may have been heartless--I think she was;--but +she wasn't--that." + +"Not when you knew her perhaps," said Mrs. Fielding's scornful voice. She +had no sympathy with people who regarded it as a duty to stand up for +their unworthy friends. "But since you quarrelled with her yourself on +account of her disgraceful behaviour you are scarcely in a position to +defend her." + +"No--I know," said Juliet, and she spoke nervously, painfully. "But--I +must defend her on--a point of honour." + +She did not look at Green. Yet instantly and very decidedly he entered +the breach. "Quite so," he said. "We are all entitled to fair +play--though we don't always get it when our backs are turned. I take off +my hat to you, Miss Moore, for your loyalty to your friends." + +She gave him a quick glance without speaking. + +From the door the butler announced dinner, and they all turned. + +"Miss Moore, I apologize," said the squire, and offered her his arm. + +She took it, her hand not very steady. "Please forget it!" she said. + +He smiled at her kindly as he led her from the room, and began to speak +of other things. + +Green sauntered behind with his hostess. His eyes were extremely bright, +and he made no attempt to make conversation as he went. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE WAY TO HAPPINESS + + +It was an unpleasant shock to Juliet on the following morning when +she went to Mrs. Fielding's room after breakfast to find her lying in +bed, pale and tear-stained, refusing morosely to partake of any +nourishment whatever. + +Juliet always breakfasted alone, for the squire was in the habit of +taking his early ride first and coming in late for the meal. She usually +took a morning paper up with her with which to regale the mistress of the +house before she rose, but the first glance showed her that this +attention would be wholly unwelcome to-day. Even the letters that had +accompanied her breakfast tray were scattered unopened by her side. + +"Why, what is the matter?" said Juliet. + +"I've had--a wretched night," said Mrs. Fielding, and turned her face +into the pillow with a sob. + +Her maid glanced at Juliet with raised brows, and indicated the untouched +breakfast with a shrug of helplessness. + +Juliet came to the bedside. "What is it? Aren't you well?" she +questioned. + +"No, I'm wretched--miserable!" The words came muffled with sobs. + +Juliet looked round. "All right, Cox. You can go. I will ring when you +are wanted." + +Cox went, leaving the despised breakfast behind her. + +Juliet turned back to the bed, and found Mrs. Fielding weeping +unrestrainedly. She bent over her, discarding all ceremony. "My dear +girl, do stop!" she said. "What on earth is the matter? You won't get +over it all day if you go on like this." + +"Of course I shan't get over it!" sobbed Mrs. Fielding indignantly. "I +never do. He knows that perfectly well. He knows--that when once I'm +down--it takes me days--weeks--to get up again." + +"Oh, dear!" said Juliet. "It's a quarrel, is it?" + +Mrs. Fielding raised herself with a furious movement and thrust out a +white arm on which the bruises of a fierce grip were mercilessly defined. +"That's how--he--quarrels!" she said bitterly. + +Juliet drew down the loose night-dress sleeve with a gentle but very +decided hand. "Don't let anyone else see it!" she said. "And don't tell +me any more unless you're sure--quite sure--you want me to know!" + +"Why shouldn't you know?" said Mrs. Fielding pettishly through her +falling tears. "It's your fault in a way. At least it wouldn't have +happened if you hadn't been here--you and that horrid little cad of a +schoolmaster." + +"Oh, don't put it like that!" said Juliet. "It's such a pity to offend +everybody at once. You really mustn't cry any more or you'll be ill. I'm +sure it isn't worth that." + +"I don't care if I die!" cried Mrs. Fielding, with a fresh burst of +weeping. "I'm miserable--miserable! And nobody cares." + +She flung herself down upon the pillow in such a paroxysm of hysterical +sobbing that Juliet actually was alarmed. She stood beside her, impotent, +unable to make herself heard, and wondering what to do. She had never +before looked upon such an abandonment of distress as she now beheld, +and since Mrs. Fielding was obviously beyond all reasoning or consolation +she was powerless to cope with it. She could only stand and wait for the +storm to spend itself. + +It seemed, however, to increase rather than to abate, and she was +beginning to contemplate recalling Cox to her assistance when to her +astonishment the door suddenly opened, and Fielding himself appeared upon +the threshold. + +She turned sharply, her first impulse to keep him out, for he wore an +ugly look. But in a moment she realized that the direction of affairs was +not in her control. He came straight forward with a mastery that would +brook no interference. + +"Leave her to me!" he said, as he reached Juliet. + +But at the first word his wife uttered so wild a shriek of alarm that +Juliet turned back to her with the swift instinct to protect. In an +instant Mrs. Fielding was clinging to her, clinging desperately, +frantically, like a terrified child. + +"Oh, don't go! Oh, don't leave me!" she gasped. "Juliet! Juliet! +Stay--oh, stay!" + +She could not refuse the appeal. It went straight to her heart. She put +her arms about the quivering, convulsed form and held it close. + +"I can't go!" she said hurriedly to the squire. + +"Stay then!" he said curtly. + +Then abruptly he stooped over the trembling, hysterical woman. "Vera," he +said, "stop it at once! Do you hear me? Stop it!" + +He did not raise his voice, but his words had a pitiless distinctness +that seemed somehow more forcible than any violence. Vera Fielding shrank +closer to Juliet's breast. + +"Don't leave me! Don't leave me!" she moaned, still shaken from head to +foot with great sobs she could not control. + +"She won't go if you behave yourself," said the squire grimly. "But if +you don't, I'm damned if I won't turn her out and deal with you myself." + +"Don't be brutal!" breathed Juliet. + +He gave her a swift, fierce look, but she met it unflinching and as +swiftly it fell away from her. He took one of his wife's feverish, +clutching hands and firmly held it. + +"Now you listen to me!" he said. "I don't want to bully you but I can't +and won't have this sort of thing. It's damnably unfair to everybody. So +you pull yourself together and be quick about it!" + +The trembling hand clenched in his grasp. "I hate you!" gasped Mrs. +Fielding furiously. "Oh, how I hate you!" + +The man's mouth took an ominous downward curve. "I've heard that before," +he said. "Now that's enough. We're not going to have a scene in front of +Miss Moore. If you can't control yourself, out she goes." + +"She won't go," flashed back Mrs. Fielding. "She's on my side. Ask her if +she isn't! She won't leave me to your tender mercies again. She knows +what they are like." + +"Hush!" Juliet said. "Don't you know there isn't a man living who can +stand this? Be quiet, my dear, for heaven's sake! You're making the most +hideous mistake of your life." + +She spoke with most unwonted force, and again the squire's steely eyes +shot upwards, regarding her piercingly. "You're quite right," he said +briefly. "I won't stand it. I've stood too much already. Now, Vera, you +behave yourself, and stop that crying--at once!" + +There was that in his tone that quelled all rebellion. Vera shrank closer +to Juliet, but she began to make some feeble efforts to subdue her wild +distress. Fielding sat on the edge of the bed, her hand firmly in his, +and waited. His expression was one of absolute and implacable +determination. He looked so forbidding and so formidable that Juliet +wondered a little at her own temerity in remaining. She decided then and +there that a serious disagreement with the squire would be too great a +tax upon any woman's strength, and she did not wonder that Vera's had +broken down under it. + +Suddenly he spoke. "Has she had any breakfast?" + +"Not yet," said Juliet. + +"Oh, don't!" implored Vera, with a shudder. + +He got up and went to the untouched tray. Juliet watched him pour out +some tea as she smoothed the tumbled hair back from his wife's forehead. + +He came back with the cup in his hand. "Now," he said, "you are going to +drink this." + +She lifted scared eyes to his stern face. "Edward!" she whispered. +"Don't--oh, don't look at me like that!" + +He stooped over her, and put the cup to her lips. She drank, quivering, +not daring to refuse. When she had finished he brought her bread and +butter and fed her, mouthful by mouthful, while the tears ran silently +down her face. + +At last he turned again to Juliet. "Miss Moore, my wife will not object +to your leaving us now." + +It was a distinct command. But she hesitated to obey. Vera looked up at +her piteously, saying no word. The squire frowned heavily, his eyes +grimly, piercingly, upon Juliet. + +She met his look with steady resolution. "Won't you leave her to rest for +a little while?" she said. "I think she needs it." + +"Very well," he said, and though he did not look like yielding she +realized to her surprise that he had done so. He turned to the door. "I +should like a word with you in the library," he said, as he reached it. +"Please come to me there immediately!" + +He was gone. Vera turned with a sob and clasped Juliet closely to her. + +"He is going to send you away. I know he is," she wailed. "What shall I +do? What shall I do?" + +"Lie down!" said Juliet sensibly, releasing herself to settle the tumbled +bedclothes. "Don't cry any more! Just shut your eyes and lie still!" + +She laid her down upon the pillow with the words as if she had been a +child, smoothed the rumpled hair again, and after a moment bent and +kissed the hot forehead. + +"Oh, thank you!" murmured Mrs. Fielding. "I'm dreadfully unhappy, Juliet. +I don't know what I shall do without you." + +"Go to sleep!" said Juliet, tucking her up. "I'll come back presently. +Lie quite still till I do!" + +She guessed that exhaustion would come to her aid in this particular as +she drew the curtains close and turned away to face her own ordeal. + +"Come back soon!" Vera called after her as she softly shut the door. + +"Presently," Juliet said again. + +She realized as she descended the stairs that her heart was beating +uncomfortably hard, but she did not pause on that account. She wanted to +face the squire while her spirit was still high. + +She held her head up as she entered the library where he awaited her, but +she knew within herself that it was bravado rather than fearlessness that +enabled her to face him thus. And when he turned sharply from the window +to meet her she was conscious of a moment of most undignified dread. + +Whether her face betrayed her or not she never knew but she was aware in +an instant of a change in his attitude. He came straight up to her, and +suddenly her hand was in his and he was looking into her eyes with the +gleam of a smile in his own. + +"Come along!" he said. "Let's have it! I'm the biggest brute you ever +came across, and you never want to set eyes on me again. Isn't that it?" + +It was winningly spoken, restoring her self-confidence in a second. She +shook her head in answer. + +"No. I'm not in a position to judge, and I don't think I want to be. I +have no real liking for meddling in other people's affairs." + +"Very wise!" he commented. "But you won't have much choice if you decide +to stay with us. Are you going to stay?" + +"Are you going to keep me?" said Juliet. + +"Certainly," he returned promptly. "I regard you as the most valuable +member of the household at the present moment. Miss Moore, will you tell +me something?" + +"If I can," said Juliet. + +"Where did you learn such a lot about men?" he said. + +She coloured a little at the question. "Well, I haven't lived with my +eyes shut all this time," she said. + +"You evidently haven't," he said. "Allow me to compliment you on your +tact! Ninety-nine women out of a hundred would have taken the obvious +course of siding with their own sex against the oppressor. Why didn't +you, I wonder?" + +"I'm not sure that I don't," she said, smiling faintly. + +He pressed her hand and released it. "No, you don't. You've too much +sense. You know as well as I do that she deserved all she got and more. +You haven't always found her exactly easy to get on with yourself, I'll +be bound." + +"I don't think you are either of you that," Juliet said quietly. + +He nodded. "Now it's coming! I thought it would. No, Miss Moore, I am +not easy to get on with. I've had a rotten life all through, and it +hasn't made me very pliable." He paused, looking at her under his black +brows as if debating with himself as to how far he would take her into +his confidence. "I've been cheated of the best from the very outset," he +said, "cheated and thwarted at every turn. That sort of treatment may +suit some people, but it hasn't made an archangel of me." He fell to +pacing up and down the room, staring moodily at the floor, his hands +behind him. "Life is such an infernal gamble at the best," he said; "but +I never had a chance. It's been one damn thing after another. I've +tripped at every hurdle. I suppose you never came a cropper in your +life--don't know what it means." + +"I think I do know what it means," Juliet said slowly. "I've looked on, +you know. I've seen--a good many things." + +"Just as you're looking on now, eh?" said the squire, grimly smiling. +"Well, you profit by my experience--if you can! And if love ever comes +your way, hang on to it, hang on to it for all you're worth, even if you +drop everything else to do it! It's the gift of the gods, my dear, and if +you throw it away once it'll never come your way again." + +"No, I know," said Juliet. She rested her arm on the mantelpiece, gravely +watching him. "I've noticed that." + +"Noticed it, have you?" He flung her a look as he passed. "You've +never been in love, that's certain, never seriously I mean,--never up +to the neck." + +"No, never so deep as that!" said Juliet. + +He passed on to the end of the room, and came to a sudden stand before +the window. "I--have!" he said, and his voice came with an odd jerkiness +as if it covered some emotion that he could not wholly control. "I won't +bore you with details. But I loved a woman once--I loved her madly. And +she loved me. But--Fate--came between. She's dead now. Her troubles are +over, and I'm not such a selfish brute as to want her back. Yet I +sometimes think to myself--that if I'd married that woman--I'd have made +her happy, and I'd have been a better man myself than I am to-day." He +swung round restlessly, found her steady eyes upon him, and came back to +her. "The fact of the matter is, Miss Moore," he said, "I was a skunk +ever to marry at all--after that." + +"It depends how you look at it," she said gently. + +"Don't you look at it that way?" he said, regarding her curiously. + +She hesitated momentarily. "Not entirely, no. The woman was dead and you +were alone." + +"I was--horribly alone," he said. + +"I don't think it was wrong of you to marry," she said. "Only--you ought +to love your wife." + +"Ah!" he said. "I thought we agreed that love comes only once." + +She shook her head. "Not quite that. Besides, there are many kinds of +love." Again for a second she hesitated looking straight at him. "Shall I +tell you something? I don't know whether I ought. It is almost like a +breach of confidence--though it was never told to me." + +"What is it?" he said imperatively. + +She made a little gesture of yielding. "Yes, I will tell you. Mr. +Fielding, you might make your wife love you--so dearly--if you cared to +take the trouble." + +"What?" he said. + +Her eyes met his with a faint, faint smile. "Doesn't it seem absurd," she +said, "that it should fall to me--a comparative stranger--to tell you +this, when you have been together for so long? It is the truth. She is +just as lonely and unhappy as you are. You could transform the whole +world for her--if you only would." + +"What! Give her her own way in everything?" he said. "Is that what you're +advising?" + +"No. I'm not advising anything. I am only just telling you the truth," +said Juliet. "You could make her love you--if you tried." + +He stared at her for some seconds as if trying to read some riddle in her +countenance. "You are a very remarkable young woman," he said at last. "I +wouldn't part with you for a king's ransom. So you think I might turn +that very unreasonable hatred of hers into love, do you?" + +"I am quite sure," said Juliet steadily. + +"I wonder if I should like it if I did!" said the squire. + +She laughed--a sudden, low laugh. "Yes. You would like it very much. It's +the last and greatest obstacle between you and happiness. Once clear +that, and--" + +"Did you say happiness?" he broke in cynically. + +"Yes, of course I did." Her look challenged him. "Once clear that and if +you haven't got a straight run before you--" She paused, looking at him +oddly, very intently, and finally stopped. + +"Well?" he said. "Continue!" + +She coloured vividly under his eyes. + +"I'm afraid I've lost my thread. It doesn't really matter. You know what +I was going to say. The way to happiness does not lie in pleasing +oneself. The self-seekers never get there." + +He made her a courteous bow. "Thank you, fairy god-mother! I believe you +are right. That may be why happiness is so shy a bird. We spread the net +too openly. Well," he heaved a sigh, "we live and learn." He turned to +the table and took up his riding whip. "I suppose my wife will be in bed +and sulk all day because I vetoed the Graydown Races." + +"Oh, was that the trouble?" said Juliet. + +He nodded gloomily. "I hate the set she consorts with at these shows. +There are some of the Fairharbour set--impossible people! But they boast +of being on nodding terms with that arch-bounder Lord Saltash, and so +everything is forgiven them." + +Juliet suddenly stood up very straight. "I think I ought to tell you," +she said, "that I know Lord Saltash. I have lived with the Farringmore +family, as you know. He is a friend of Lord Wilchester's." + +The squire turned sharply. "I hope you're going to tell me also that you +can't endure the man," he said. + +She made a little gesture of negation. "I never say that of anybody. I +don't feel I can afford to. Life has too many contradictions--too many +chances. The person we most despise to-day may prove our most valuable +defender to-morrow." + +"Heaven forbid!" said the squire. "You wouldn't touch such pitch as that +under any circumstances. Besides, what do you want in the way of +defenders? You're safe enough where you are." + +Juliet was smiling whimsically. "But who knows?" she said. "I may be +dismissed in disgrace to-morrow." + +"No," he said briefly. "That won't happen. Your position here is secure +as long as you consent to fill it." + +"How rash of you," she said. + +"A matter of opinion!" said Fielding. "How would you like to go over and +see the cricket at Fairharbour this afternoon?" + +She gave him a quick look. "Oh, is that the alternative to the races?" + +He frowned. "I have already told you the races are out of the question." + +"I see," said Juliet thoughtfully. "Then I am afraid the cricket-match is +also--unless Mrs. Fielding wants to go." + +"I'll make her go," said squire. + +"No! No! Don't make her do anything--please!" begged Juliet. "That is +just the worst mistake you could possibly make. To be honest, I would +rather--much--go to the open-air concert at High Shale this evening." + +"Along with those rowdy miners?" growled the squire. "I see enough of +them on the Bench. Green of course is cracked on that subject. He'd like +to set the world in order if he could." + +"I admire his enterprise," said Juliet. + +He nodded. "So do I. He's cussed as a mule, but he's a goer. He's also a +gentleman. Have you noticed that?" + +She smiled. "Of course I have." + +"And I can't get my wife to see it," said the squire. "Just because--by +his own idiotic choice--he occupies a humble position, she won't allow +him a single decent quality. She classes them all together, when anyone +can see--anyone with ordinary intelligence can see--that he is of a +totally different standing from those brothers of his. He is on another +plane altogether. It's self-evident. You see it at once." + +"Yes," said Juliet. + +He moved restlessly. "I would have placed him in his proper sphere if +he'd consented to it. But he wouldn't. It's a standing grievance between +us. That fellow Robin is a millstone round his neck. Miss Moore," he +turned on her suddenly, "you have a wonderful knack of making people see +reason. Couldn't you persuade him to let Robin go?" + +"Oh no!" said Juliet quickly. "It's the very last thing I would +attempt to do." + +"Really!" He looked at her in genuine astonishment. + +Juliet flushed. "But of course!" she said. "They belong to each other. +How could Mr. Green possibly part with him? You wouldn't--surely--think +much of him if he did?" + +"I think he's mad not to," declared the squire. "But," he smiled at her, +"I think it's uncommonly kind of you to take that view, all the same. +I'll take you to that concert to-night if you really want to go." + +"Will you? How kind!" said Juliet, turning to go. "But you won't mind if +I consult Mrs. Fielding first? I must do that." + +He opened the door for her. "You are not to spoil her now," he said. +"She's been spoilt all her life by everybody." + +"Except by you," said Juliet daringly. + +And with that parting shot she left him, swiftly traversing the hall to +the stairs without looking back. + +The squire stood for some seconds looking after her. She had opposed him +at practically every point, and yet she had not offended him. + +"A very remarkable young woman!" he said again to himself as she passed +out of his sight. "A very--gifted young woman! Ah, Dick, my friend, she'd +make a rare politician's wife." And then another thought struck him and +he began to laugh. "And she'll be equally charming as the helpmeet of the +village schoolmaster. Egad, we can't have everything, but I think you've +found your fate." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +RECONCILIATION + + +The luncheon-gong rang through the house with a tremendous booming, and +Vera Fielding, sitting limply in a chair by her open window, closed her +eyes with drawn brows as if the sound were too much for her overwrought +nerves. The tempest of three hours before had indeed left her spent and +shaken, and an unacknowledged tincture of shame mingling with her +exhaustion did not improve matters. She had wept away her fury, and a +dull resentment sat heavily upon her. She had entered upon the second +stage of the conflict which usually lasted for some days,--days during +which complete silence reigned between her husband and herself until he +either departed to town to end the tension or his wrath boiled up afresh +cowing her into a bitter submission to his will which brought nothing but +misery to them both. + +The last deep notes of the gong died away, and Vera's eyes half-opened +again. They dwelt restlessly upon the brilliant patch of garden visible +under the lowered sun-blind. The splendour of the June world without +served to increase the wretchedness of her mood by contrast. The sultry +heat seemed to weigh her down. Life was one vast oppression and bondage. +She was weary to the soul. + +Juliet had gone down to aid Cox in the selection of something tempting +for her luncheon. She had every intention of refusing it whatever it was. +Who as miserable as she could bear to eat anything--unless forced to do +so by brutal compulsion? + +Her head throbbed painfully. Her nerves were stretched for the sound of +her husband's step in the adjoining room. She wished she had told Juliet +to lock the communicating door, though she hardly expected him to come in +upon her a second time. Even his wrath had its limits. It seldom gathered +to its full height twice in a day. + +She was trying to comfort herself with this reflection when suddenly she +heard him enter his room, and in a moment all her lassitude vanished in +so violent an agitation that she found herself gasping for breath. Still +she told herself that he would not come in. It had always been his habit +to leave her severely alone after a battle. He would not come in! Surely +he would not come in. And then the handle of the intervening door turned, +and she sank back in her chair with a sick effort to appear indifferent. + +She did not look at him as he came in. Only by the quick heaving of her +breast which was utterly beyond control did she betray her knowledge of +his presence. Her face was turned away from him. She stared down into the +dazzling sunlight with eyes that saw nothing. + +He came to her, halted beside her. And suddenly a warm sweet fragrance +filled the air. She looked round in spite of herself and found a bunch of +exquisite lilies-of-the-valley close to her cheek. She lifted her eyes +with a great start. + +"Edward!" + +His face was red. He looked supremely ill at ease. He pushed the flowers +under her nose. "Take 'em for heaven's sake!" he said irritably. "I hate +the things myself." + +She took them, too amazed for comment, and buried her face in their +perfumed depths. + +He stood beside her, impatiently clicking his fingers. There fell an +uncomfortable silence, during which Vera gradually remembered her dignity +and at length laid the flowers aside. Her agitation had subsided. She sat +and waited noncommittally for the new situation to develop. Even in their +engagement days he had never brought her flowers, and any overture from +him after a quarrel was a thing unknown. + +She waited therefore, not looking at him, and in a few moments, very +awkwardly, with obvious reluctance, he spoke again. + +"I don't think we want to keep this up any longer, do we? Seems a bit +senseless, what? I'm ready to forget it if you are." + +Again, she was taken by surprise, for his voice had a curious urgency +that made her aware that he for one had certainly had enough of it, and +there was that in her which leaped in swift response. But it was not to +be expected of her that she should be willing to bury the hatchet at a +moment's notice after the treatment she had received, and she checked the +unaccountable impulse. + +"There are some things that it is not easy to forget," she said coldly. + +His demeanour changed in an instant. "Oh, all right," he said, "if you +prefer to sulk!" + +He swung upon his heel. In a moment he would have been gone; but in that +moment the inner force that Vera had ignored suddenly sprang above every +other emotion or consideration. She put out a quick hand and stayed him. + +"I am not sulking! I never sulk! But I can't behave--all in a moment--as +if nothing had happened. Edward!" + +It was her voice that held pleading now, for he made as if he would leave +her in spite of her detaining hold. She tightened her fingers on his arm. + +"Edward, please!" she said. + +He stopped. "Well?" he said gruffly. Then, as she said nothing +further, he turned slowly and looked at her. Her head was bent. She +was striving for self-control. Something in her attitude went straight +to the man's heart. She looked so small, so forlorn, so pathetic in +her struggle for dignity. + +On a generous impulse he flung his own away. "Oh, come, my dear!" he +said, and stooping took her into his arms. "I'm sorry. There!" + +She clung to him then, clung closely, still battling to check the tears +that she knew he disliked. + +He kissed her forehead and patted her shoulder with a queer compunction +that had never troubled him before in his dealings with her. + +"There!" he said. "There! That's all right, isn't it? We shall have Miss +Moore in directly. Where's your handkerchief?" + +She found it and dried her eyes with her head against his shoulder. Then +she lifted a still quivering face to his. "Edward,--I'm--just as sorry +as you are," she said, with a catch in her voice. + +He kissed her again, wondering a little at his own softened feelings. +"All right, my girl. Let's forget it!" he said. "You have a good lunch +and you'll feel better! What are they giving you? Champagne?" + +"Oh no, of course not!" + +"Well, why not? It's the very thing you want. Just the occasion. +What? You sit still and I'll go and see about it!" He put her down +among her cushions, but she clung to him still. "No, don't go for a +minute!" she said, with a shaky smile. "It's so good to have +you--kind to me for once." + +"Good gracious!" he said, but half in jest. "Am I such a brute as +all that?" + +She pushed back her sleeve and mutely showed him the marks upon her arm. + +He looked, and his brows drew together. "My doing?" + +She nodded. "Last night--when--when I said--something you didn't +like--about Mr. Green." + +He scowled a moment longer, then abruptly stooped, took the white arm +between his hands and kissed it. "I'll get a stick and beat you the next +time," he said. "You remember that--and be decent to Green, see?" + +The kiss belied the words, covering also a certain embarrassment which +Vera was not slow to perceive. Because of it she found strength to +abstain from further argument. He had undoubtedly conceded a good deal. + +"I'll be decent to anyone," she said, "so long as you are decent to me." + +"Hear, hear!" said the squire. "Now dry your eyes and be sensible! Miss +Moore will go for me like mad if she finds you crying again. If we don't +pull together we shall have that girl running the whole show before we +are much older, and neither of us will ever dare even to contradict the +other in her presence again. We shouldn't like that, should we?" + +She laughed a little in spite of her wan countenance. "Oh, no, Edward. We +mustn't risk that." Then, with a touch of anxiety, "It wasn't Miss +Moore's idea that you should bring me flowers, was it?" + +"No." The squire grinned at her suddenly. "The worthy Columbus was +responsible for that. I found him routing in the lily-bed after snails or +some such delicacy. He was so infernally busy he made me feel ashamed. So +I went down on my knees and joined him, gathered the lot,--nearly killed +myself over it, but that's an unimportant detail. Now for your +champagne! You'll feel a different woman when you've had it." + +He departed, leaving his wife looking after him with an odd wistfulness +in her eyes. She was seeing him in a new light which made her feel +strangely uncertain of herself also. Was it possible that all these years +of misunderstanding, which she had regarded as inevitable, might have +been avoided after all? + +A quick sigh rose to her lips as again she took his flowers and held them +against her face. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SPELL + + +A wonderful summer evening followed the sultry day. The sun sank +gloriously behind High Shale, and a soft breeze blew in from the sea. + +On the slope of the hill behind the lighthouse and above the miners' +village there stood an old thatched barn, and about this a knot of men +and youths loitered, smoking and talking in a desultory, discontented +fashion. On the other side of the barn a shrill cackling proclaimed the +presence of some of the feminine portion of the community, and the +occasional squall of a baby or a squeal of a bigger child testified to +the fact that the greater part of the village population awaited the +entertainment which Green contrived to give on the first Saturday of +every month. + +He had started these concerts two winters before down in the village of +Little Shale, and they had originally been for men and boys only, but +the women had grumbled so loudly at their exclusion that Green had very +soon realized the necessity of extending a welcome to them also. So now +they flocked in a body to his support, even threatening to crowd out +the men in the winter evenings when he had to assemble his audience at +the Village Club at Little Shale. But in the summer, as a concession to +High Shale, he held his concerts, whenever feasible, up on the hill, +and practically the whole of High Shale village came to them. Little +Shale was also well represented, but he always felt that he was in +closer touch with the miners on these occasions, when he met them on +their own ground. + +The two villages were apt to eye one another with scant sympathy, the +fisher population of the one and the mining population of the other +having little in common beyond the liquor which they uniformly sought at +The Three Tuns by the shore. Green never permitted any bickering, and +they were all alike in their respect for him, but a species of armed +neutrality which was very far removed from comradeship existed between +them. Fights at The Three Tuns were by no means of unusual occurrence and +the miners of High Shale were invariably spoken of with wholesale +contempt by the men along the shore. + +But, thanks to Green's untiring efforts, they met on common ground at his +concerts, and any member of the audience who dared to commit any breach +of the peace on any of these occasions was summarily dealt with by Green +himself. He knew how to keep his men in hand. There was not one of them +who ever ventured to question his supremacy. He ruled them, not one of +them could have said how. Ashcott, the manager of the mine, who battled +in vain against the rising spirit of disorder and rebellion among them, +was wont to describe his influence over them as black magic. Whatever its +source it was certainly unique. None but Dick Green could spring from the +platform, seize a delinquent by his collar or the scruff of his neck, and +run him, practically unresisting, out of the assembly. His lightning +decisions were never questioned. His language, which could be forcible +upon occasion, never met with any retort. The men seemed to recognize +instinctively that it was useless to stand up to him. He could have +compelled them blindfold and with his hands behind him. + +It was this quality in him, this dynamic force, restrained yet always +somehow in action, that had affected Juliet so strangely in the beginning +of their acquaintance. Like these rough miners and fisher-folk she could +not have said wherein the attraction lay, but she recognized in him that +inner fire called genius, and it drew her unaccountably, irresistibly. +Whatever the sphere to which he had been born, he was a man created to +lead, to overcome obstacles, to wrest victory from failure,--a man who +possessed the rare combination of a highly sensitive temperament and a +practically invincible courage--a man who could handle the great forces +of life with the fearless certainty of the born conqueror. + +Yes, he attracted her, undoubtedly he attracted her. He stirred her to an +interest which she had believed herself too old, too jaded with the ways +of the world, ever to feel again. But she did not want to yield to the +attraction. She wanted to hold aloof for a space. She had come to this +quiet corner of the world in search of peace. She wanted to avoid the +problems of life, to get back her poise, to become an onlooker and no +longer a competitor in the maddening race from which she had so lately +withdrawn herself. She was willing to be interested, she already was +deeply interested, but only as a spectator, so she told herself. She +would not be drawn in against her will. She would stand aside and watch. + +It was in this mood that she drove off with the squire on the way to the +open-air concert on the High Shale bluff on that magic June evening. Mrs. +Fielding was too weary after the many emotions of the day to accompany +them, but they left her in a tranquil frame of mind, and the squire was +in an unusually good humour. Though he had small liking for the High +Shale village people, it pleased him that Juliet should take an interest +in Green's enterprises, eccentric though they might be. And he considered +that she deserved a treat after her diplomatic handling of a very +difficult situation that morning. + +"Might as well call and see if Dick would like a lift," he said, as they +neared the gates. "We've got to pass his door. I'll send Jack in." + +But when they stopped at the school-house gate, a humped, familiar figure +was leaning upon it, and Jack flung an imperious question without +descending. + +The squire's face darkened at the sight. "Here's that unspeakable baboon +Robin!" he growled. + +Robin paid about as much attention to his brother's curt query as he +might have bestowed upon the buzzing of a fly. His dark eyes below his +shaggy thatch of hair were fixed, deeply shining, upon Juliet. + +Jack muttered an impatient ejaculation under his breath and flung himself +out of the car. Before Juliet could speak a word to intervene, he had +given the gate on which Robin leant a push that sent the boy backwards +with considerable force on the grass while he himself went up the path to +the house at a run. + +"Oh, what a shame!" said Juliet, a quick vibration of anger in her +deep voice. + +She leaned forward sharply to open the door and spring out, but in a +second Fielding's hand caught hers, holding her back. + +"No, no! Leave the young beggar alone! He's none the worse. He can pick +himself up again. Ah, and here comes Dick! He'll manage him!" + +Robin was indeed struggling to his feet with a furious bellowing that +might have been heard on the shore. But Dick was quicker than he. He came +down the path, as it seemed in a single bound. He took Robin by his +swaying arms and steadied him. He spoke, quickly and decidedly, and the +roaring protest died down to a snarling, sobbing sound like the crying of +a wounded animal. Then, still holding him, Dick turned towards the car at +the gate. And Juliet saw that he was white with passion. The fierce blaze +of his eyes was a thing she would not soon forget. + +He spoke with twitching lips. "No, sir. I'm not coming, thanks. I shall +go on foot over the down. It's only a quarter of the distance that way." +He drew Robin aside at the sound of Jack's approach behind him, but he +did not look at him. And Robin became suddenly and terribly silent. He +was quivering all over like a dog that is held back from his prey. + +Jack gave him a look of contempt as he strode past and returned to his +seat at the wheel. And Juliet awoke to the fact that like Robin she was +trembling from head to foot. + +The car shot forward. She saw the two figures no more. But the memory +of Green's face went with her, its pallor, and the awfulness of his +eyes--the red flame of his fury. Robin's unrestrained wrath was of +small account beside it. She felt as if she had never seen anger before +that moment. + +She scarcely heard the squire's caustic remarks concerning Robin. She was +as one who had touched a live wire, and her whole being tingled with the +shock. The hot glitter of those onyx eyes had been to her as the sudden +revelation of a destroying force, fettered indeed, but how appalling if +once set free! + +She looked forward with a curious dread to seeing him again. She wondered +if the man who drove the car so recklessly had the faintest suspicion of +the storm he had stirred up. But surely he knew Dick in all his moods! He +had probably encountered it before. They sped on through the fragrant +summer night, and she talked at random, hardly knowing what she said. If +the squire noticed her preoccupation, he made no comment. He had +conceived a great respect for Juliet. + +They neared their destination at last, and Jack performed what the squire +called his favorite circus-trick, racing the car to the top of the +towering cliff and stopping dead at the edge of a great immensity of sea +and stars. + +Again Juliet drew a deep breath of sheer marvelling delight, speaking no +word, held spell-bound by the wonder of the night. + +"We needn't hurry," Fielding said. "They won't be starting yet." + +So for a space they remained as though caught between earth and heaven, +silently drinking in the splendour. + +After a long pause she spoke. "Do you often come here?" + +"Not now," he said. Then, as she glanced at him: "I used to in the days +of my youth--the long past days." + +And she knew by his tone, by the lingering of his words, that he had not +always come alone. + +She asked no more, and presently the jaunty notes of a banjo floating up +the grassy slope told them that Green's entertainment had begun. + +They left the car at the top of the rise, and walked down over the +springy turf towards the old barn about which Dick's audience were +collected. Two hurricane lamps and a rough deal table were all he had in +the way of stage property. But she was yet to learn that this man relied +upon surroundings and circumstances not at all. As she herself had said, +possibly the torch of genius burned brightest in dark places, for it was +certainly genius upon which she looked to-night. + +He sat on the edge of the deal table with one leg crossed over his knee, +his dark face thrown into strong relief, intent, eager, with a vitality +that seemed to make it almost luminous. From the crowd that watched him +there came not a sound. The thought crossed Juliet's mind that the +instrument he played so cunningly might have been a harp from a fairy +palace. For there was magic in the air. He played with a delicacy that +seemed to wind itself in threads of gold about the inner fibres of the +soul. They listened to him as men bewitched. + +When the music ended, a great noise went up--shouts and whistles and +cat-calls. They were wild for more. But Green knew the value of a +reserve. He laughed away the _encores_ with a careless "Presently!" and +called a young miner to him for a song. The lad sang and Green +accompanied, and again Juliet marvelled at the amazing facility of his +performance. He seemed to be able to adapt the instrument to every mood +or tone. The boy's voice was rough and untrained, but it held a certain +appeal and by sheer intuition--comradeship as it seemed--Green brought it +home to the hearers. The man's unfailing responsiveness was a revelation +to her. She believed it was the secret of his charm. + +When the song was ended, a fisherman came forward and danced a hornpipe +on the table, again to the thrumming of the banjo, without which nothing +seemed complete. It was while this was in progress that a thick-set, +somewhat bulletheaded man came up and addressed the squire by name. + +"We don't often see you here, Mr. Fielding." + +The squire turned. "Hullo, Ashcott. Your lambs are in force to-night. How +are they behaving themselves?" + +"Pretty fair," said Ashcott. "They're getting the strike rot like the +rest of the world. We shan't hold 'em for ever. If any of the Farringmore +lot turned up here, I wouldn't answer for 'em. Lord Wilchester talked of +motoring down the other day, bringing friends if you please to see the +mine, I warned him off--the damn' fool! Simply asking for trouble, as I +told him. 'Well, what's the matter?' he said. 'What do they want?' +'They'd like houses instead of pigsties for one thing,' I said. And he +laughed at that. 'Oh, let 'em go to the devil!' he said. 'I haven't got +any money to spare for luxuries of that kind.' So far as that goes I +believe he is hard up, but then look at the way they live! They'd need to +be multi-millionaires to keep it up." + +The man's speech was crude, even brutal, and the girl on Fielding's other +side shivered a little and drew a pace away. It was very evident on which +side his sympathies lay. There was more than a tinge of the street ranter +in his utterance. She was glad that Fielding spared her an introduction. + +She tried to turn her attention back to the entertainment, but the coarse +words hung in her memory like an evil cloud. They recalled Green's brief +condemnation of the previous evening. Evidently his point of view was the +same. He regarded the whole social system as evil. Had not the squire +told her that he wanted to reform the world? + +The evening wore on, and with unfaltering resource Dick Green kept the +interest of his audience from flagging. He chose his assistants with +insight and skill, and every item on his program scored a success. His +banjo was in almost continuous demand throughout, but finally, just at +the end, he laid it aside. + +He took something from his pocket; what it was Juliet could not see, but +she caught the gleam of metal in the lamp-light, and in a moment a great +buzz of pleasure spread through the crowd. And then it began--such music +as she had never dreamed of--such music as surely was never fluted save +from the pipes of Pan. A long, sweet, thrilling note like the call of a +nightingale, starting far away, drawing swiftly nearer, nearer, till she +felt as if it ended against her heart, and then all the joy of spring, of +youth, of hope, poured forth in an amazing ecstasy of silver +sound--showers of fairy notes like the dancing of tiny feet or the +lightest patter of summer rain that ever fell upon opening leaves--and +the gold-flecked sunshine that shimmered in the crystal dawning of a day +new-born. Afterwards there came the sound of waterfalls and laughing +streams and the calling of fairy voices, the tinkle of fairy laughter, +and then the sea and shoaling water--shoaling water--breaking in a +million sparkles over the rocks of an enchanted strand! + +And it was to her alone that that wonder-music spoke. She and he were +wandering alone together along that fairy shore where every sea-shell +gleamed like pearl and every wave broke iridescent at their feet. The sun +shone in the sky for them alone, and the caves were mystic palaces of +delight that awaited their coming. And once it seemed to her that he drew +her close, and she felt his kisses on her lips.... + +Ah, surely this was the midsummer madness of which they had spoken! It +was a vision that could not last, but the wonder of it--ah, the wonder of +it!--she would carry for ever in her heart. + +It ended at length, but so softly, so tenderly, that, spellbound, she +never knew when lingering sound became enduring silence. She awoke as it +were from a long dream and knew that her heart was beating with a wild +and poignant longing that was pain. Then there arose a great shouting, +and instinctively she laid her hand on Fielding's arm and drew him away. + +"Had enough?" he asked. + +She nodded. Somehow for the moment she could find no words. She had a +feeling as of unshed tears at her throat. Ah, what had moved him to play +to her like that? And why did it hurt her so? + +She moved back up the grassy slope still with that curious sense of +pain. Something had happened to her, something had pierced her. By +that strange and faun-like power of his he had reached out and touched +her inmost soul, and she knew as she went away that she was changed. +He had cast a glittering spell upon her, and nothing could ever be the +same again. + +After a space she spoke at random and Fielding made reply. With the +instinct of self-defence she maintained some species of casual +conversation during their stroll back to the waiting car, but she never +had the vaguest recollection afterwards as to what passed between them. + +She was thankful to be swooping back again through the summer night. An +urgent desire for solitude was upon her. All her throbbing pulses cried +out for it. Was it but yesterday--but yesterday that she had felt so +safe? And now-- + +Later, alone in her room at the Court, she leaned from her open window +seeking with an almost frantic intensity to recover the peace that had +been hers. How had she lost it? She could not say. Was it the mere piping +of a flute that had reft it from her? She wanted to laugh at herself, but +could not. It was too absurd, too fantastic, for everyday, prosaic +existence, that rhapsody of the starlight, but to her it had been pure +magic. In it she had heard the call of a man's being, seeking hers, and +by every hidden chord that had vibrated in answer she knew that he had +not called in vain. That was the knowledge that pierced her--the +knowledge that she was caught--against her will,--still wildly struggling +for freedom--but caught. + +It had happened so suddenly, so amazingly. Yesterday she had been +free--only yesterday--Or stay! Perhaps even then the net had been about +her feet, and he had known it. How otherwise had he spoken so +intimately--dared so much? + +She drew a long, deep breath, recalling his look, his touch, his voice. +Ah! Midsummer madness indeed! But she could not stay to face it. She must +go. The way was still open behind her. She would escape as she had come, +a fugitive from the force that pursued her so relentlessly. She would not +suffer herself to be made a captive. She would go. + +Again she drew a long breath, but curiously it broke, as if a sharp spasm +had gripped her heart. She stood, struggling with herself. And then +suddenly she dropped upon her knees by the sill with her arms flung wide +and her head with its cloudy mass of hair bowed low. + +"O God! O God!" she whispered convulsively. "Save me from this! Help me +to go--while I can! I am so tired--so tired!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HONOURS OF WAR + + +Columbus was not accustomed to being awakened in the early June morning +and taken for a scamper when the sun was still scarcely two hours up. He +arose blinking at his mistress's behest, and but for her brisk urging he +would have turned over again and slept. But Juliet was insistent. + +"I'm going down to the shore, you old sleepy-head," she told him. "Don't +you want to come?" + +She herself had scarcely slept throughout the brief night, and a great +yearning for the sunshine and the sea was upon her. The solitude of the +beach drew her irresistibly. It was Sunday morning, and she knew that no +one but herself would be up for hours. She had grown to love it so, the +silence and the shining emptiness and the marvel of the sea. She could +not remember any other place that had ever attracted her in the same way. +It suited every mood. + +There was a short cut across the park, and she and Columbus took it, +hastening over the dewy grass till they reached a path that led to the +cliffs and the shore. Only the larks above them and the laughing waves +before, made music in this world of the early morning. The peacefulness +of it was like a benediction. + +"And before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal...." +She found herself murmuring the words, for in that morning purity it +seemed to her that the very ground beneath her feet was holy. She was +conscious of a throbbing desire to reach out to the Infinite, to bring +her troubled spirit to the Divine waters of healing. + +She reached the shingly shore, and went down over the stones to the waves +breaking in the sunlight. Yes, she was tired--she was tired; but this was +peace. The tears sprang to her eyes as she stood there. What a place to +be happy in! But happiness was not for her. + +After a space she turned and walked along the strand till she came to the +spot where she and Columbus had first sat together and played at being +wrecked on a desert island. And here she sat down and put her arms around +her faithful companion and leaned her head against his rough coat. + +"I wish it had been true, Columbus," she said. "We were so happy +just alone." + +He kissed her with all a dog's pure devotion, sensing trouble and seeking +to comfort. As he had told her many a time before, her company was really +all his soul desired. All other interests were mere distractions. She was +the only thing that counted in his world. + +His earnest assurances on this point had their effect. She sat up and +smiled at him through her tears. + +"Yes, I know, my Christopher," she said, and kissed him between the eyes. +"But the difficulty now is, what are we going to do?" + +Columbus pondered for a few seconds, and then suggested a crab-hunt. + +"Excellent idea!" said Juliet, and let him go. + +But she herself sat on in the early sunshine with her chin upon her hand +for a long, long time. + +The tide was coming in. The white-tipped waves broke in flashing foam +that spread almost to her feet. The sparkle of it danced in her dreaming +eyes, but it did not rouse her from her reverie. + +Perhaps she was half asleep after the weary watching of the night, or +perhaps she was only too tired to notice, but when a voice suddenly spoke +behind her she started as if at an electric shock. She had almost begun +to feel that she and Columbus were indeed marooned on this wide shore. + +"Are you waiting for the sea to carry you away?" the voice said. "Because +you won't have to wait much longer now." + +She turned as she sat. She had heard no sound of approaching feet. The +swish of the waves had covered all beside. She looked up at him with a +feeling of utter helplessness. "You!" she said. + +He turned behind her, slim, upright, intensely vital, in the morning +light. She had an impression that he was dressed in loose flannels, and +she saw a bath-towel hanging round his neck. + +"You have been bathing," she said. + +He laughed down at her, she saw the gleam of the white teeth in his dark +face. "I say, what a good guess! You look shocked. Is it wrong to bathe +on Sunday?" + +And then quite naturally he stretched a hand to her and helped her +to her feet. + +"I've been watching you for a long time," he said. "I was only a dot +in the ocean, so of course you didn't see me. I say,--tell me,--what's +the matter?" + +The question was so sudden that it caught her unawares. She found herself +looking straight into the dark eyes and wondering at their steady +kindliness. She knew instinctively that she looked into the eyes of a +friend, and as a friend she spoke in answer. + +"I have had rather a worrying night. I came out for a little fresh air. +It was such a perfect morning." + +"And you hoped you would have the place to yourself and be able to cry +it off in comfort," he said. "I wouldn't have interfered for the world if +I hadn't been afraid that you were going to drown yourself into the +bargain. And I really couldn't bear that. There are limits, you know." + +She laughed a little in spite of herself. "No, I have no intention of +drowning myself. I am not so desperate as that." + +He smiled at her whimsically. "It happens sometimes unintentionally. +Let's climb up to the next shelf and sit down!" + +Her hand was still in his. He kept it to help her up the tumbling stones +to a higher ridge of shingle. + +"Will this do?" he asked her. "May I stay for a bit? I'll be very good." + +"You always are good," said Juliet, as she sat down. + +"No? Really? You don't mean that? Well, it's awfully kind of you if you +do, but it isn't true." He dropped down beside her and offered her his +cigarette-case. "I can be--I have been--a perfect devil sometimes." + +"Yes. I know," she said, as she chose a cigarette. + +"Oh, you know that, do you? How do you know?" He was watching her +closely, but as the faint colour mounted to her face, his eyes fell. "No, +don't tell me! It doesn't matter. Wait while I get you a match!" + +He struck one and held it first for her and then for himself, his brown +hand absolutely steady. Then he turned with a certain resolution and +fixed his eyes upon the gleaming horizon. + +"It was kind of you to come round to the sing-song last night," he said, +after a pause. "I hope it wasn't that that made you sleep badly." + +"I enjoyed it," said Juliet, ignoring the last remark. "Your performance +was wonderful. I should think you are tired after it." + +"That sort of thing doesn't tire me," he said. "There's no difficulty +about it when it goes with a swing and everybody is out to make it a +success. I shall get you to sing next time." + +She shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Green." + +"Why not?" He turned and looked at her again, his hand shading his eyes. + +She hesitated. + +"Do you mind telling me?" he said gently. "There is a reason of course?" + +"Yes." Yet she smoked her cigarette in silence after the word as though +there were nothing more to be said. + +He sat motionless, still with his hand over his eyes. At last "Juliet," +he said, his voice very low, "am I being--a nuisance to you?" + +She looked at him swiftly. He had uttered the name so spontaneously that +she wondered if he realized that he had made use of it. + +He went on before she could find words to answer him. "I'm not a bounder. +At least I hope not. But--yesterday--last night--I hadn't got such a +firm hold on myself as usual. I began by being furiously angry--you +remember the episode at the gate--and that weakened my self-control. +Then--when I knew you were standing there listening--temptation came to +me, and I hadn't the strength to resist. You knew, didn't you? You +understood?" + +She nodded mutely. + +"Will you forgive me?" he said. + +She was silent. How could she tell him what that wild passion of music +had done to her? + +He went on after a moment. "I hope you'll try anyway, because I never +meant to offend you. Only somehow I felt possessed. I had to reach +you--or die. But I didn't mean to hurt you. My dear, you do believe that, +don't you? My love is more than a selfish craving. I can do without you. +I will--since I must. But I shall go on loving you--all my life." + +His voice was still very low, but it had steadied. He spoke with the +strong purpose of a man secure in his own self-mastery. He loved her, but +he made no demand upon her. He recognized that his love entitled him to +no claim. He even asked her forgiveness for having revealed it to her. + +And suddenly the hot tears welled again in Juliet's eyes. She could not +speak in answer, but in a moment she stretched her hand to his. + +He took it and held it close. "Don't cry!" he said gently. "I'm not +worth it. I've been a fool--no, not a fool to love you, but a three +times idiot to lose hold of myself like this. There! It's over. I'm not +going to bother you any more. And you're not going to let yourself be +bothered. What? You're not going to run away because of me, are you? +Promise me you won't!" + +Her fingers closed upon his. It was almost involuntarily. "I don't think +I ought to stay," she whispered. + +"I knew that was it!" He bent towards her. "Juliet! I say, please, dear, +please! If one of us must go, it must be I. But there is no need. Believe +me, there is no need. I've got myself in hand. I won't come near you--I +swear--if you don't wish it." + +"But--suppose--suppose--" Her voice broke. She drew her hand free and +covered her face. "Oh, it's all so hopeless!" she sobbed. "I ought to +have managed--better." + +"No, no!" In a flash his arm was round her, strong and ready; he drew +her to rest against his shoulder. "There's nothing to cry about +really--really! If you knew how I loathe myself for making you cry! But +listen! Nobody knows. Nobody's going to know. What happened last night is +between you and me alone. Only you had the key. It isn't going to make +any difference in your life. You'll go on as you were before. You'll +forget I ever dared to intrude on you. What, darling? What? Yes, you will +forget. Of course you'll forget. I'll see to it that you do. +I'll--I'll--" + +"Oh, stop!" Juliet said, and suddenly her face was turned upwards on his +shoulder, her forehead was against his neck. "You're making the biggest +mistake of your life!" + +"What?" he said, and fell abruptly silent and so tensely still that she +thought even his heart must have been arrested on the word. + +For a long, long second she also was motionless, rigidly pressed to him, +then with an odd little fluttering sigh she began to withdraw herself +from the encircling arm. "I've dropped my cigarette," she said. + +"Juliet!" He stooped over her; his face was close to hers. "Am I mad? +Or am I dreaming? Please make me understand! What is the mistake I +have made?" + +She did not look at him, but he saw that her tears were gone and she was +faintly, tremulously smiling. "That cigarette--" she murmured. "It really +isn't safe to leave it. I don't like--playing with fire." + +He bent lower. "We've got to risk something," he said, and with a +swiftness of decision that she had not expected he took her chin and +turned her face fully upwards to his own. + +The colour rushed in vivid scarlet to her temples. She met his eyes for +one fleeting second then closed her own with a gasp and a blind effort to +escape that was instantly quelled. For he kissed her--he kissed +her--pressing his lips to hers closely and ever more closely, as a man +consumed with thirst draining the cup to the last precious drop. + +When he let her go, she was burning, quivering, tingling from head to +foot as if an electric current were coursing through and through her. And +the citadel had fallen. She made no further attempt to keep him out. + +But he did not kiss her a second time. He only held her against his +heart. "Ah, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and she felt the deep quiver of his +words. "I've got you--now! You are mine." + +She was panting, wordless, thankful to avail herself of the shelter he +offered. She leaned against him for many seconds in palpitating silence. + +For so long indeed was she silent that in the end misgiving pierced him +and he felt for the downcast face. But in a moment she reached up and +took his hand in hers, restraining him. + +"Not again!" she whispered. "Please not again!" + +"All right. I won't," he said. "Not yet anyhow. But speak to me! Tell me +it's all right! You're not frightened?" + +"I am--a little," she confessed. + +"Not at me! Juliet!" + +"No, not at you. At least," she laughed unsteadily. "I'm not quite +sure. You--you--I think you must let me go for a minute--to get back +my balance." + +"Must I?" he said. + +She lifted the hand she had taken and laid it against her cheek. "I've +got--a good deal to say to you, Dick," she said. "You've taken me so +completely by storm. Please be generous now! Please let me have--the +honours of war!" + +"My dear!" he said. + +He let her go with the words, and she clasped her hands about her knees +and looked out to sea. She was still trembling a little, but as he sat +beside her in unbroken silence she grew gradually calmer, and presently +she spoke without any apparent difficulty. + +"You've taken a good deal for granted, Dick, haven't you? You don't know +me very well." + +"Don't I?" he said. + +"No. You've been--dreadfully headlong all through." She smiled +faintly, with a touch of sadness. "You've skipped all the usual +preliminaries--which isn't always wise. Don't you teach your boys to +look before they leap?" + +"When there's time," he said. "But you know, dear, you gave the word +for--the final plunge." + +She nodded slowly once or twice. "Yes. But I didn't expect +quite--quite--Well, never mind what I expected! The fact remains, we +haven't known each other long enough. No, I know we can't go back now +and begin again. But, Dick, I want you--and it's for your sake as much +as for my own--I want you, please, to be very patient. Will you? May I +count on that?" + +He put out his hand to her and gently touched her shoulder. "Don't talk +to me like a slave appealing to a sultan!" he said. + +She made a little movement towards him, but she did not turn. "I don't +want to hurt you," she said. "But I'm going to ask of you something that +you won't like--at all." + +"Well, what is it?" he said. + +"I want you--" she paused, then turned and resolutely faced him--"I want +you to be--just friends with me again," she said. + +His eyes looked straight into hers. "In public you mean?" he said. + +"In private too," she answered. + +"For how long?" Swiftly he asked the question, his eyes still holding +hers with a certain mastery of possession. + +She made a slight gesture of pleading. "Until you know me better," she +said. + +His brows went up. "That's not a business proposition, is it? You don't +really expect me to agree to that. Now do you?" + +"Ah! But you've got to understand," she said rather piteously. "I'm not +in the least the sort of woman you think I am. I'm not--Dick, I'm not--a +specially good woman." + +She spoke the words with painful effort, her eyes wavered before his. But +in a moment, without hesitation, he had leapt to the rescue. + +"My darling, don't tell me that! I can see what you are. I know! I know! +I don't want your own valuation. I won't listen to it. It's the one point +on which your opinion has no weight whatever with me. Please don't say +any more about it! It's you that I love--just as you are. If you were one +atom less human, you wouldn't be you, and my love--our love--might never +have been." + +She sighed. "It would have saved a lot of trouble if it hadn't, Dick." + +"Don't be silly!" he said. "Is there anything else that matters +half as much?" + +She was silent, but her look was dubious. He drew suddenly close to her, +and slipped his hand through her arm. + +"Is there anything else that really matters at all, Juliet? Tell me! I've +got to know. Does--Robin matter?" + +She started at the question. It was obviously unexpected. "No! Of course +not!" she said. + +"Thank you," he said steadily. "I loved you for that before you said it." + +She laid her hand upon his and held it. "That's--one of the things I +love you for, Dick," she said, with eyes downcast. "You are +so--splendidly--loyal." + +"Sweetheart!" he said softly. "There's no virtue in that." + +Her brows were slightly drawn. "I think there is. Anyway it appeals to me +tremendously. You would stick to Robin--whatever the cost." + +"Well, that, of course!" he said. "I flatter myself I am necessary to +Robin. But with Jack it is otherwise. I've kicked him out." + +"Dick!" She looked at him in sharp amazement. + +He smiled, a thin-lipped smile. "Yes. It had to be. I've put up with him +long enough. I told him so last night." + +"You--quarrelled?" said Juliet. + +"No. We didn't quarrel. I gave him his marching orders, that's all." + +"But wasn't he very angry?" + +"Oh, pshaw!" said Dick. "What of it?" + +She was looking at him intently, for there was something merciless about +his smile. "Do you always do that, I wonder," she said, "with the people +who make you angry?" + +"Do what?" he said. + +"Kick them out." Her voice held a doubtful note. + +He turned his hand upwards and clasped hers. "My darling, it was a +perfectly just sentence. He deserved it. Also--though I admit I have only +thought of this since--it's the best thing that could happen to him. He +can make his own way in life. It's high time he did so. I didn't kick him +out because I was angry with him either." + +"But you were angry," she said. "You were nearly white-hot." + +He laughed. "I kept my hands off him anyhow. But I can't be answerable +for the consequences if anyone sets to work to bait Robin persistently. +It's not fair to the boy--to either of us." + +"Do you think Robin might do him a mischief?" she asked. + +"I think--someone might," he answered grimly. "But never mind that now! +You don't regard Robin as a just cause and impediment. What's the next +obstacle? My profession?" + +"No," she said instantly and emphatically. "I like that part of you. +There's something rather quaint about it." + +His quick smile flashed upon her. "Oh, thanks awfully! I'm glad I'm +quaint. But I didn't know it was a quality that appealed to you. +I've been laying even odds with myself that I'd make you have me in +spite of it." + +She coloured a little. "It doesn't really count one way or the other with +me, Dick, any more than it would count with you if I hawked stale fish in +the street for cat's meat. You see I haven't forgotten that pretty +compliment of yours. But--" + +"But?" he said, frowning whimsically. "We'll have the end of that +sentence, please. It's the very thing I want to get at. What is +the 'but'?" + +She hesitated. + +"Go on!" he commanded. + +"Don't be a tyrant, Dick!" she said. + +"My beautiful princess!" He touched her shoulder with his lips. "Then +don't you--please--be a goose! Tell me--quick!" + +"And if I can't tell you, Dick? If--if it's just an instinct that says, +Wait? We've been too headlong as it is. I can't--I daren't--go on at this +pace." She was almost tearful. "I must have a little breathing-space +indeed. I came here for peace and quietness, as you know." + +He broke into a sudden laugh. "So you did, dear. You were playing +hide-and-seek with yourself, weren't you? I'll bet you never expected to +find the other half of yourself in this remote corner, did you? Well, +never mind! Don't cry sweetheart--anyhow till you've got a decent excuse. +I don't want to rush you into anything against your will. Taken properly, +I'm the meekest fellow in creation. But we must have things on a sensible +footing. You see that, don't you?" + +"If we could be just friends," she said. + +"Well, I'm quite willing to be friends." He laughed into her eyes. "Why +so distressful? Don't you like the prospect?" + +She drew his hand down into her lap and held it between her own, looking +gravely down at it. "Dick!" she said. + +His smile passed. "Well, dear? What is it? You're not going to be +afraid of me?" + +She did not answer him. "I want you to leave me free a little +longer," she said. + +"But you are not free now," he said. + +She threw him a brief, half-startled glance. "I don't mean that," she +said rather haltingly. "I mean I want you--not to ask any promise of +me--not to insist upon any bond between us--not to--not to--expect a +formal engagement--until,--well, until--" + +"Until you are ready to marry me," he suggested quietly. + +A quick tremor went through her. "That won't be for a long time," she +said. + +"How long?" he said. + +"I don't know. Dick. I haven't the least idea. I had almost made up my +mind never to marry at all." + +"Really?" he said. "Do you know, so had I. But I changed it the moment I +met you. When did you change yours?" + +She laughed, but without much mirth. "I'm not sure that--" + +"No, don't you say that to me!" he interrupted. "It's not cricket. You +are--quite sure, though you rather wish you weren't. Isn't that the +position? Honestly now!" + +"Honestly," she said, "I can't be engaged to you yet." + +"All right," he said unexpectedly. "You needn't call it that if you +don't want to. Facts are facts. We may not be engaged, but we +are--permanently--attached. We'll leave it at that." + +Again swiftly she glanced towards him. "No, but, Dick--" + +"Yes, but, Juliet--" His hand moved suddenly, imprisoning both of hers. +"You can't get away," he said, speaking very rapidly, "any more than I +can. If you put the whole world between us, we shall still belong to each +other. That is irrevocable. It isn't your doing, and it isn't mine. It's +a Power above and beyond us both. We can't help ourselves." + +He spoke with fierce earnestness, a depth of concentration, that gripped +her just as his music had gripped her the night before. She sat +motionless, bound by the same spell that had bound her then. She did not +want to meet his eyes, but they drew irresistibly. In the end she did so. + +For a space not reckoned by time she surrendered herself to a mastery +that would not be denied. She met the kindling flame of his worship, and +was strangely awed and humbled thereby. She knew now beyond all question +that this man was not as most men. He came to her with the first, +untainted offering of his love. No other woman had been before her in +that inner sanctuary which he now flung wide for her to enter. There was +a purity, a primitive simplicity, about his passion which made her +realize that very clearly. He was no boy. He had lived a life of hard +self-discipline and had put his youth behind him long since. But he +brought all the intensity of a boy's adoration to back his manhood's +strength of purpose, and before it she was impotent and half-afraid. The +men of her world had all been of a totally different mould. She was +accustomed to cynicism and the half-mocking homage of jaded experience. +But this was new, this was wonderful--a force that burned and dazzled +her, yet which attracted her irresistibly none the less, thrilling her +with a rapture that had never before entered her life. Whatever the risk, +whatever the penalty, she was bound to go forward now. + +She spoke at last, her eyes still held by his. "I think you are right. We +can't help it. But oh. Dick, remember that--remember that--if ever there +should come a time when you wish you had done--otherwise!" + +"If ever I do what?" he said. "Do you mind saying that again?" + +She shook her head. "But I'm not laughing. Dick. You've carried me out of +my depth, and--I'm not a very good swimmer." + +"All right, darling," he said. "Lean on me! I'll hold you up." + +She clasped his hand tightly. "You will be patient?" she said. + +He smiled into her anxious face. "As patient as patient," he said. "That, +I take it, means I'm not to tell anybody, does it?" + +She bent her head. "Yes, Dick." + +"All right," he said. "I won't tell a soul without your consent. But--" +he leaned nearer to her, speaking almost under his breath--"when I am +alone with you, Juliet--I shall take you in my arms--and kiss you--as I +have done to-day." + +Again a swift tremor went through her. She looked at him no longer. "Oh, +but not--not without my leave," she said. + +"You will give me leave," he said. + +She was silent for a space. He was drawing her two hands to him, and she +tried to resist him. But in the end he had his way, and she yielded with +a little laugh that sounded oddly passionate. + +"I believe you could make me give you anything," she said. + +"But you can't give me what is mine already," he made quiet answer, as he +pressed the two trembling hands against his heart. "That is understood, +isn't it? And when you are tired of working for your living, you will +come to me and let me work for you." + +"Perhaps," she said, with her head bent. + +"Only perhaps?" he said. + +His voice was deeply tender. He was trying to look into the veiled eyes. + +"Only perhaps?" he said again. + +She made a little movement as if she would free herself, but checked it +on the instant. Then very slowly she lifted her face to his, but she did +not meet his look. Her eyes were closed. + +"Some day," she said with quivering lips,--"some day--I will." + +He took her face between his hands, and held it so as if he waited for +something. Then, after a moment, "Some day--wife of my heart!" he said +very softly, and kissed the eyes that would not meet his own. + + + + +PART III + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BIRDS OF A FEATHER + + +The annual flower-show at Fairharbour was one of the chief events of the +district, and entailed such a gathering of the County as Vera Fielding +would not for worlds have missed. It also entailed the donning of +beautiful garments which was an even greater attraction than the first. + +She had not been well during the sultry weather that had prevailed +throughout the early part of June, and Fielding had been considering the +advisability of taking her away for a change. But though her energy for +many of the amusements which she usually followed with zest had waned +with the lassitude that hot weather had brought upon her, she had set her +heart upon attending the flower-show, and, in obedience to the new policy +which Juliet by every means in her power persuaded him to pursue, the +squire had somewhat impatiently yielded the point. The show was to take +place in the grounds of Burchester Park. It was an immense affair, and +everyone of any importance was sure to attend. + +Juliet herself would gladly have stayed away, but Mrs. Fielding, partly +as a natural consequence of her poor health and chiefly from a selfish +desire to feel herself an object of solicitude, would not hear of leaving +her behind. As Dick had predicted, she had come to lean upon Juliet, and +her dependence became every day more pronounced. At times she was even +childishly exacting, and though Juliet still maintained her right to +direct her own movements, she found her liberty considerably curtailed. + +If she went down to the shore with Robin she usually met with a +querulous, and sometimes tearful, reception on her return, and though +she steadily refused to admit that there was any reason on Vera's part +for assuming this attitude, it influenced her none the less. Moreover, +Vera could be genuinely pathetic upon occasion, and there was no +disputing the fact that she stood in need of care--such care as only a +woman could give. + +"I don't want a nurse," she would say plaintively. "I only want +companionship and sympathy. Motoring is my only consolation, and I can't +go motoring alone." + +And then the squire would draw her aside and beg her to bear with Vera's +whims as far as possible since loneliness depressed her and she was the +only person he knew whose company did not either tire her out or irritate +her beyond endurance. It was not an easy position, but Juliet filled it +to the best of her ability and with no small self-sacrifice. + +Yet in a sense it made her life the simpler, for she was still at that +difficult stage when it is easier to stand still than to go forward. She +saw Green when he came to the house, but they had not been alone together +since the morning on the shore when her love had betrayed her. She had a +feeling that he was biding his time. He had promised to be patient, and +she knew he would keep his promise. Also, his time, like hers, was very +fully occupied. Till the holidays came he would not have much liberty, +and in her secret soul Juliet was thankful that this was so. For the +present it was enough for her to hold this new joy close, close to her +heart, to gaze upon it only in solitude,--a gift most precious upon +which no other eyes might look. It was enough for her to feel the tight +grasp of his hand when they met, to catch for an instant the quick gleam +of understanding in his glance, the sudden flash of that smile which was +for her alone. These things thrilled her with a gladness so strangely +sweet that there were times when she marvelled at herself, and sometimes, +trembling, wondered if it could possibly last. For nought in life had +ever before shone so golden as this perfect dream. The very atmosphere +she breathed was subtly charged with its essence. She was absurdly, +superbly happy. + +"I believe this place suits you," the squire said to her once. "You look +years younger than when you came." + +She received the compliment with her low, soft laugh. "I am--years +younger," she said. + +He gave her a sharp look. "You are happy here? Not sorry you came?" + +"Oh, not in the least sorry," said Juliet. + +He nodded. "That's all right. You've done Vera a lot of good. She's +getting almost docile. But as soon as this flower-show business is over, +I want you to use all your influence to get her away. We'll go North and +see if we can get a little strength into her." Again he looked at her +shrewdly. "You won't mind coming too?" + +"But of course not," said Juliet. "I shall love it." + +He was on his way out of the room, but a sudden thought seemed to strike +him and he lingered. "Shall I make Green come to the flower-show with +us?" he asked. + +"I shouldn't," said Juliet quietly. "He probably wouldn't have time, and +certainly Mrs. Fielding wouldn't want him." + +He frowned. "Would you like him?" he asked abruptly. + +"I?" She met his look with a baffling smile. "Oh, don't ask him on my +account! I am quite happy without a cavalier in attendance." + +And Fielding went out, looking dissatisfied. But when the day arrived and +they were on the point of departure he surprised them both by the sudden +announcement that Green was to be picked up at the gates. It was a +Saturday afternoon, and for once he was at liberty. + +"Oh, really, Edward!" Mrs. Fielding protested. "Now you've spoilt +everything!" + +"On the contrary," smiled the squire. "I have merely completed the +party." + +"I'm sure Miss Moore doesn't want him!" she declared petulantly. + +"I am afraid Miss Moore will have to put up with him nevertheless," said +Fielding, unperturbed. "For he is coming." + +"You always do your best to spoil my pleasure," Vera flung at him. + +Juliet saw the squire's mouth take an ominous downward curve, but to her +relief he kept his temper in check. He was driving the car himself which +was an open one. Somewhat grimly he turned to Juliet. "I hope you have no +objection to sharing the back-seat with Mr. Green?" + +She felt her pulses give a swift leap at the question, but with a hasty +effort she kept down her rising colour. "Of course not!" she said. + +He gave her a brief smile of approval. "Then you will sit in front with +me, Vera. That is settled. Let us have no more argument!" + +"It's too bad!" Vera declared stormily on the verge of indignant tears. + +"My dear," he said, "don't be silly! Has it never occurred to you that I +may like to have my wife to myself occasionally?" + +It evidently had not, for Vera gave him a look of sheer amazement and +yielded the point as if she had no breath left for further discussion. + +He settled her in her place, and tucked the rug around her with more than +usual care. As he finished, she leaned forward and touched his shoulder +with a slightly uncertain smile. + +He glanced up. "All right?" + +"Quite, thank you," she said. + +And Juliet in the back-seat drew a breath of relief. The squire was +becoming quite an adept at the game. + +They shot down the avenue at a speed that brought them very rapidly in +sight of the gates. A figure was waiting there, and again Juliet was +conscious of the hard beating of her heart. Then she knew that the car +was stopping, and looked forth with an impersonal smile of welcome. + +He came forward, greeted the squire and Mrs. Fielding, and in a moment +was getting in beside her. + +"Good afternoon, Miss Moore!" he said. + +She gave him her hand and felt his fingers close with a spring-like +strength upon it, while his eyes laughed into hers. Then the car was in +motion again, and he dropped into the seat. + +"By Jove, this is a treat!" he said. "I had the greatest difficulty in +the world to get away, made Ashcott take my place. It isn't a very +important match, and he's a better bowler than I am anyway." + +"Do you want any rug?" she said, still battling to keep back the +overwhelming flush of gladness from her face. + +He accepted her offer at once, and in a moment his hand had caught and +imprisoned hers beneath its shelter. + +She made a sharp movement to free herself, and the blush she had so +valiantly resisted flamed over face and neck as she felt his hold +tighten as sharply, and heard him laugh at her impotence. But he went on +talking as though nothing had happened, considerately covering her +agitation, and to her relief neither Fielding nor his wife looked round +till it had subsided. + +It was barely half-an-hour's run to Burchester Park which was thrown open +to the public for the great occasion. The Castle also was open on that +day, and visitors thronged thither from every quarter. + +A long procession of conveyances stood outside the great iron gates of +the Park, but the squire, owing to an acquaintanceship with Lord +Saltash's bailiff, held a permit that enabled him to drive in. They went +up the long avenue of firs that led to the great stone building, but ere +they reached it the strains of a band told them that the flower-show was +taking place in an open space on their right close to the entrance to the +terraced gardens which occupied the southern slope in front of the house. + +Fielding ran the car into a deep patch of shade beside the road, and +stopped. "We had better get out here," he said. + +Juliet's hand slipped free. Dick threw her a smile and jumped out. + +"Will the car be all right?" he said, as he turned to help her down. + +"Oh, right enough," the squire said. "There is no traffic along here." + +"I am hoping to go into the house," said Vera. "But I suppose it will be +crammed with people." + +"We'll do the flower-show first anyhow," said Fielding. + +He led the way with her, and it seemed quite natural to Juliet that +Green should fall in beside her. It was a cloudless day, and she had an +almost childish feeling of delight in its splendour. She was determined +to enjoy herself to the utmost. + +They entered the first sweltering tent and in the throng she felt again +the touch of Dick's hand at he came behind. "We mustn't lose each other," +he said, with a laugh. + +The midsummer madness was upon her, and, without looking at him she +squeezed the fingers that gripped her arm. + +In a moment his voice spoke in her ear. "Look here! Let's get away! Let's +get lost! It's the easiest thing in the world. We can't all hang together +in this crowd." + +This was quite evident. The great marquee was crammed with people, and +already Fielding was piloting his wife to the opening at the other end. + +"We must just look round," murmured Juliet, "for decency's sake." + +"All right, my dear, look!" he said. "And when you've quite finished +we'll go out by the way we came and explore the gardens." + +She threw him a glance that expressed acquiescence and a certain mead of +amused appreciation. For somehow Dick Green in his blue serge and straw +hat managed to look smarter if less immaculate than any of the +white-waistcoated band of local magnates around them. So--for decency's +sake--she prowled round the tent with Dick at her shoulder, admiring +everything she saw and forgetting as soon as she had admired. She told +herself that it was a day of such supreme happiness as could not come +twice in any lifetime, and because of it she lingered, refusing to hasten +the moment for which Dick had made provision. + +"Haven't you had enough of it?" he said, at last. + +And she answered him with a quivering laugh. "No, not nearly. I'm +spinning out every single second." + +"Ah, but they won't wait," he said. "Come! I think we're safely lost now. +Let us go!" + +She turned obediently from a glorious spread of gloxinias, and he made a +way for her through the buzzing crowd to the entrance. When Dick spoke +with the voice of authority, it was her pleasure to submit. + +She felt her pulses tingle as she followed him, to be alone with him +again, to feel herself encompassed by the fiery magic of his love, to +yield throbbing surrender to the mastery that would not be denied. Yet +when he turned to her outside in the hot sunshine with the blaring band +close at hand she almost shrank away, she almost voiced a pretext for +continuing their unprofitable wandering through the stifling tents. For, +strangely, though he smiled at her, there was about him in that moment a +quality that went near to scaring her. Something untamed, something +indomitable, looked out at her from his glittering eyes. It was almost +like a challenge, as if he dared her to dispute his right. + +"That's better," he said, drawing a deep breath. "Now we can get away." + +"We shan't get away from the people," she said. + +He threw a rapid glance around. "Yes, we shall--with any luck. Come +along! I know the way. There's a little landing-stage place down by +the lake. We'll go there. There may even be a boat handy--if the gods +are kind." + +The gods were kind. They skirted the terraced gardens, which were not +open to the public, and plunged down a winding walk through a shrubbery +that led somewhat sharply downwards, away from the noise and the crush +into cool green depths of woodland through which at last there shone up +at them the gleam of water. + +Juliet was panting when at length her guide paused. "My darling, what a +shame!" he said. "But hang on to me! There are some steps round the +corner, and they may be slippery. We'll soon be down now, and there's not +a soul anywhere. Look! There's a fairy barque waiting for us!" + +She caught sight of a white skiff, lying in the water close to the bank. +As he had predicted, the final descent was a decided scramble, but he +held her up until the mossy bank was reached; and would have held her +longer, but with a little breathless laugh she released herself. + +"My shoes are ruined," she remarked. + +As they were of light grey suede, and the precipitous path they had +travelled was a mixture of clay and limestone the ruin was palpable and +very thorough. Dick surveyed them with compunction. + +"I say, they're wet through! You must take them off at once. Get into +the boat!" + +"No, no!" She laughed again with more assurance. "I am not going to take +them off. We couldn't dry them if I did, and I should never get them on +again. Do you think we ought to get into the boat? Suppose the owner +came along?" + +"The owner? Lord Saltash, do you mean?" He scoffed at the idea. "Do you +really imagine he would come within a hundred leagues of the place on +such a day as this. No, he is probably many salt miles away in that +ocean-going yacht of his. Lucky dog!" + +"Oh, do you envy him?" she said. + +He gave her a shrewd glance. "Not in the least. He is welcome to his +yacht--and his Lady Jo--and all that is his." + +"Dick!" She made a swift gesture of repudiation. "Please don't repeat +that--scandal--again!" + +He raised his brows with a faintly ironical smile. "Are you still giving +her the benefit of the doubt?" he said. "I imagine no one else does." + +The colour went out of her face. She stood quite motionless, looking +not at him but at a whirl of dancing gnats on the gold-flecked water +beyond him. + +"She went to Paris," she said, in the tone of one asserting a fact that +no one could dispute. + +"So did he," said Green. "The yacht went round to Bordeaux to pick him up +afterwards. I understand that he was not alone." + +She turned on him in sudden anger. "Why do you repeat this horrible +gossip? Where do you hear it?" + +He held out his hand to her. "Juliet, I repeat it, because I want you to +know--you have got to know--that she is unworthy of your friendship, +and--you shall never touch pitch with my consent. I have heard it from +various sources,--from Ashcott, from the agent here, Bishop, and others. +My dear, you have always known her for a heartless flirt. You broke with +her because she jilted the man she was about to marry. Now that she has +gone to another man, surely you have done with her!" + +He spoke without anger, but with a force and authority that carried far +more weight. Juliet's indignation passed. But she did not touch the +outstretched hand, and in a moment he bent and took hers. + +"Now I've made you furious," he said. + +She looked at him somewhat piteously, assaying a smile with the lips +that trembled. "No, I am not furious. Only--when you talk like that you +make me--rather uneasy. You see, Lady Jo and I have always been--birds +of a feather." + +"Don't," he said, and suddenly gripped her hand so that she gasped with +pain. "Oh, did I hurt you, sweetheart? Forgive me. But I can't have you +talk like that--couple yourself with that woman whose main amusement for +years has been to break as many hearts as she could capture. Forget her, +darling! Promise me you will! Come! We're not going to let her spoil this +perfect day." + +He was drawing her to him, but she sought to resist him, and even when +his arms were close about her she did not wholly yield. He held her to +him, but he did not press for a full surrender. + +And--perhaps because of his forbearance--she presently lifted her face to +his and clung to him with all her quivering strength. "Just for to-day, +Dick!" she whispered tremulously. "Just for to-day!" + +Their lips met upon the words. And, "For ever and ever!" he made +passionate answer, as he held her to his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SALTASH + + +The sunshine was no less bright or the day less full of summer warmth +when they floated out upon the lake a little later. But Juliet's mood had +changed. She leaned back on Dick's coat in the stern of the boat, +drifting her fingers through the rippling water with a thoughtful face. +Once or twice she only nodded when Dick spoke to her, and he, bending to +his sculls, soon fell silent, content to watch her while the golden +minutes passed. + +The lake was long and narrow, surrounded by woodland trees with coloured +water-lilies floating here and there upon its surface--a fairy spot, +mysterious, green as emerald. The music of the band sounded distant here, +almost like the echoes of another world. They reached the middle of the +lake, and Dick suffered his sculls to rest upon the water, sending +feathery splashes from their tips that spread in widening circles all +around them. + +As if in answer to an unspoken word, Juliet's eyes came up to his. +She faintly smiled. "Have you brought that woodland pipe of yours?" +she asked. + +He smiled back at her. "No, I am keeping that for another occasion." + +She lifted her straight brows interrogatively, without speaking. + +He answered her still smiling, but with that in his voice that brought +the warm colour to her face. "For the day when we go away, together, +sweetheart, and don't come back." + +Her eyes sank before his, but in a moment or two she lifted them again, +meeting his look with something of an effort. "I wonder, Dick," she said +slowly, "I wonder if we ever shall." + +He leaned towards her. "Are you daring me to run away with you?" + +She shook her head. "I should probably turn into something very hideous +if you did, and that would be--rather terrible for both of us." + +"That's a parable, is it?" He was still looking at her keenly, earnestly. + +She made a little gesture of remonstrance, as if his regard were too much +for her. "You can take it as you please. But as I have no intention of +running away with you, perhaps it is beside the point." + +He laughed with a hint of mastery. "Our intentions on that subject may +not be the same. I'll back mine against yours any day." + +She smiled at his words though her colour mounted higher. After a +moment she sat up, and laid a hand upon his knee. "Dick, you're getting +too managing--much. I suppose it's the schoolmaster part of you. I +daresay you find it gets you the upper hand with a good many, but--it +won't with me." + +His hand was on hers in an instant, she thrilled to the electricity of +his touch. "No--no!" he said. "That's just the soul of me, darling, +leaping all the obstacles to reach and hold you. You're not going to tell +me you have no use for that?" + +"But you promised to be patient," she said. + +"Well, I will be. I am. Don't look so serious! What have I done?" + +His eyes challenged her to laughter, and she laughed, though somewhat +uncertainly. "Nothing--yet, Dick. But--I don't feel at all sure of you +to-day. You make me think of a faun of the woods. I haven't the least +idea what you will do next." + +"What a mercy I've got you safe in the boat!" he said. "I didn't know you +were so shy. What shall I do to reassure you?" + +His hand moved up her wrist with the words, softly pushing up the lacy +sleeve, till it found the bend of the elbow, when he stooped and kissed +the delicate blue veins, closely with lips that lingered. + +Then, his head still bent low, very tenderly he spoke. "Don't be afraid +of my love, sweetheart! Let it be your--defence!" + +She was sitting very still in his hold save that every fibre of her +throbbed at the touch of his lips. But in a moment she moved, touched his +shoulder, his neck, with fingers that trembled, finally smoothed the +close black hair. + +"Why did you make me love you?" she said, and uttered a sharp sigh that +caught her unawares. + +He laughed as he raised his head. "Poor darling! You didn't want to, did +you? Hard lines! I believe it's upset all your plans for the future." + +"It has," she said. "At least--it threatens to!" + +"What a shame!" He spoke commiseratingly. "And what were your plans--if +it isn't impertinent of me to ask?" + +She smiled faintly. "Well, marriage certainly wasn't one of them. And I'm +not sure that it is now. I feel like the girl in _Marionettes_--Cynthia +Paramount--who said she didn't think any women ought to marry until she +had been engaged at least six times." + +"That little beast!" Dick sat up suddenly and returned to his sculls. +"Juliet, why did you read that book? I told you not to." + +Her smile deepened though her eyes were grave. She clasped her fingers +about her knees. "My dear Dick, that's why. It didn't hurt me like _The +Valley of Dry Bones_. In fact I was feeling so nice and superior when I +read it that I rather enjoyed it." + +Dick sent the boat through the water with a long stroke. His face was +stern. After a moment Juliet looked at him. "Are you cross with me +because I read it, Dick?" + +His face softened instantly. "With you! What an idea!" + +"With the man who wrote it then?" she suggested. "He exasperates me +intensely. He has such a maddeningly clear vision, and he is so +inevitably right." + +"And yet you persist in reading him!" Dick's voice had a faintly +mocking note. + +"And yet I persist in reading him. You see, I am a woman, Dick. I haven't +your lordly faculty for ignoring the people I most dislike. I detest Dene +Strange, but I can't overlook him. No one can. I think his character +studies are quite marvellous. That girl and her endless flirtations, and +then--when the real thing comes to her at last--that unspeakable man of +iron refusing to take her because she had jilted another man, ruining +both their lives for the sake of his own rigid code! He didn't deserve +her in any case. She was too good for him with all her faults." Juliet +paused, studying her lover's face attentively. "I hope you're not that +sort of man, Dick," she said. + +He met her eyes. "Why do you say that?" + +"Because there's a high-priestly expression about your mouth that rather +looks as if you might be. Please don't tell me if you are because it will +spoil all my pleasure! Give me a cigarette instead and let's enjoy +ourselves!" + +"You'll find the case in my coat behind," he said. "But, Juliet, though +I wouldn't spoil your pleasure for the world, I must say one thing. If +a woman engages herself to a man, I consider she is bound in honour to +fulfil her engagement--unless he sets her free. If she is an +honourable woman, she will never free herself without his consent. I +hold that sort of engagement to be a debt of honour--as sacred as the +marriage vow itself." + +"Even though she realizes that she is going to make a mistake?" said +Juliet, beginning to search the coat. + +"Whatever the circumstances," he said. "An engagement can only be broken +by mutual consent. Otherwise, the very word becomes a farce. I have no +sympathy with jilts of either sex. I think they ought to be kicked out of +decent society." + +Juliet found the cigarettes and looked up with a smile. "I think you and +Dene Strange ought to collaborate," she said. "You would soon put this +naughty world to rights between you. Now open your mouth and shut your +eyes, and if you're very good I'll light it for you!" + +There was in her tone, despite its playfulness, a delicate finality that +told him plainly that she had no intention of pursuing the subject +further, and, curiously, the man's heart smote him for a moment. He felt +as if in some fashion wholly inexplicable he had hurt her. + +"You're not vexed with me, sweetheart?" he said. + +She looked at him still smiling, but her look, her smile, were more +of a veil than a revelation. "With you! What an idea!" she said, +softly mocking. + +"Ah, don't!" he said. "I'm not like that, Juliet!" + +She held up the cigarette. "Quite ready? Ah, Dick! Don't--don't upset +the boat!" + +For the sculls floated loose again in the rowlocks. He had her by the +wrists, the arms, the shoulders. He had her, suddenly and very closely, +against his heart. He covered her face with his kisses, so that she +gasped and gasped for breath, half-laughing, half-dismayed. + +"Dick, how--how disgraceful of you! Dick, you mustn't! Someone--someone +will see us!" + +"Let them!" he said, grimly reckless. "You brought it on yourself. How +dare you tell me I'm like a high priest? How dare you, Juliet?" + +"I daren't," she assured him, her hand against his mouth, restraining +him. "I never will again. You're much more like the great god Pan. There, +now do be good! Please be good! I am sure someone is watching us. I can +feel it in my bones. You're flinging my reputation to the little fishes. +Please, Dick--darling,--please!" + +He held the appealing hand and kissed it very tenderly. "I can't resist +that," he said. "So now we're quits, are we? And no one any the worse. +Juliet, you'll have to marry me soon." + +She drew away from his arms, still panting a little. Her face was +burning. "Now we'll go back," she said. "You're very unmanageable to-day. +I shall not come out with you again for a long time." + +"Yes--yes, you will!" he urged. "I shouldn't be so unmanageable if I +weren't so--starved." + +She laughed rather shakily. "You're absurd and extravagant. Please row +back now, Dick! Mr. and Mrs. Fielding will be wondering where we are." + +"Let 'em wonder!" said Dick. + +Nevertheless, moved by something in her voice or face, he turned the boat +and began to row back to the little landing-stage. Juliet rescued the +cigarettes from the floor, and presently placed one between his lips and +lighted it for him. But her eyes did not meet his during the process, and +her hand was not wholly steady. She leaned back in the stern and smoked +her own cigarette afterwards in almost unbroken silence. + +"Don't you want a water-lily?" Dick said to her once as they drew +near a patch. + +She shook her head. "No, don't disturb them! They're happier where +they are." + +"Impossible!" he protested. "When they might be with you!" + +She raised her eyes to his then, and looked at him very steadily. "No, +that doesn't follow, Dick," she said. + +"I think it does," he said. "Never mind if you don't agree! Tell me +when you are coming to sing at one of my Saturday night concerts at +High Shale!" + +"Oh, I don't know, Dick." She looked momentarily embarrassed. "You know +we are going away very soon, don't you?" + +"Where to?" he said. + +"I don't know. Either Wales or the North. Mrs. Fielding needs a change, +and I--" + +"You're coming back?" he said. + +"I suppose so--some time. Why?" She looked at him questioningly. + +He leaned forward, his black eyes unswervingly upon her. "Because--if you +don't--I shall come after you," he said, with iron determination. + +She laughed a little. "Pray don't look so grim! I probably shall come +back all in good time. I will let you know if I don't, anyway." + +"You promise?" he said. + +"Of course I promise." She flicked her cigarette-ash into the water. "I +won't disappear without letting you know first." + +"Without letting me know where to find you," he said. + +She glanced over his shoulder as if measuring the distance between the +skiff and the landing-stage. "No, I don't promise that. It wouldn't be +fair. But you will be able to trace me by Columbus. He will certainly +accompany the cat's-meat cart wherever it goes. Oh, Dick! There's someone +there--waiting for us!" + +He also threw a look behind him. "Shall I put her about? I don't see +anyone, but if you wish it--" + +"No, no, I don't! Row straight in! There is someone there, and you'll +have to apologize. I knew we were being watched." + +Juliet sat upright with a flushed face. + +Dick began to laugh. "Dear, dear! How tragic! Never mind, darling! I +daresay it's no one more important than a keeper, and we will see if we +can enlist his sympathy." + +He pulled a few swift strokes and the skiff glided up to the little +landing-stage. He shipped the sculls, and held to the woodwork with +one hand. + +"Will you get ashore, dear, and I'll tie up. There's no one here, you +see." + +"No one that matters," said a laughing voice above him, and suddenly a +man in a white yachting-suit, slim, dark, with a monkey-like activity of +movement, stepped out from the spreading shadow of a beech. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed Dick, startled. + +"Hullo, sir! Delighted to meet you. Madam, will you take my hand? +Ah--_et tu, Juliette!_ Delighted to meet you also." + +He was bowing with one hand extended, the other on his heart. Juliet, +still seated in the stern of the boat, had gone suddenly white to the +lips. + +She gasped a little, and in a moment forced a laugh that somehow sounded +desperate. "Why, it is Charles Rex!" she said. + +Dick's eyes came swiftly to her. "Who? Lord Saltash, isn't it? I thought +so." His look flashed back to the man above him with something of a +challenge. "You know this lady then?" + +Two eyes--one black, one grey--looked down into his, answering the +challenge with gay inconsequence. "Sir, I have that inestimable +privilege. _Juliette_, will you not accept my hand?" + +Juliet's hand came upwards a little uncertainly, then, as he grasped it, +she stood up in the boat. "This is indeed a surprise," she said, and +again involuntarily she gasped. "Rumour had it that you were a hundred +miles away at least." + +"Rumour!" laughed Lord Saltash. "How oft hath rumour played havoc with my +name! Not an unpleasant surprise, I trust?" + +He handed her ashore, laughing on a note of mockery. Charles +Burchester, Lord Saltash, said to be of royal descent, possessed in +no small degree the charm not untempered with wickedness of his +reputed ancestor. His friends had dubbed him "the merry monarch" long +since, but Juliet had found a more dignified appellation for him which +those who knew him best had immediately adopted. He had become Charles +Rex from the day she had first bestowed the title upon him. Somehow, +in all his varying--sometimes amazing--moods, it suited him. + +She stood with him on the little wooden landing-stage, her hand still in +his, and the colour coming back into her face. "But of course not!" she +said in answer to his light words, laughing still a trifle breathlessly. +"If you will promise not to prosecute us for trespassing!" + +"_Mais, Juliette_!" He bent over her hand. "You could not trespass if you +tried!" he declared gallantly. "And the cavalier with you--may I not have +the honour of an introduction?" + +He knew how to jest with grace in an awkward moment. Dick realised that, +as, having secured the boat, he presented himself for Juliet's low-spoken +introduction. + +"Mr. Green--Lord Saltash!" + +Saltash extended a hand, his odd eyes full of quizzical amusement. "I've +heard your name before, I think. And I believe I've seen you somewhere +too. Ah, yes! It's coming back! You are the Orpheus who plays the flute +to the wild beasts at High Shale. I've been wanting to meet you. I +listened to you from my car one night, and--on my soul--I nearly wept!" + +Dick smiled with a touch of cynicism. "Miss Moore was listening that +night too," he said. + +"Yes," Juliet said quickly. "I was there." + +Saltash looked at her questioningly for a moment, then his look returned +to Dick. "I am the friend who never tells," he observed. "So it was--Miss +Moore--you were playing to, was it? Ah, _Juliette_!" He threw her a +sudden smile. "I would I could play like that!" + +She uttered her soft, low laugh. "No; you have quite enough +accomplishments, _mon ami_. Now, if you don't mind, I think we +had better walk back and find Mr. and Mrs. Fielding. Perhaps you +know--or again perhaps you don't--they live at Shale Court. And I +am with them--as Mrs. Fielding's companion. I--" she hesitated +momentarily--"have left Lady Jo." + +"Oh, I know that," said Saltash. "I've missed you badly. We all have. +When are you coming back to us?" + +"I don't know," said Juliet. + +He gave her one of his humorous looks. "Next week--some time--never?" + +She opened her sun-shade absently. "Probably," she said. + +"Rather hard on Lady Jo, what?" he suggested. "Don't you miss her at +all?" + +"No," said Juliet. "I can't--honestly--say I do." + +"Oh, let us be honest at all costs!" he said. "Do you know what Lady Jo +is doing now?" + +Juliet hesitated an instant, as if the subject were distasteful to her. +"I can guess," she said somewhat distantly. + +"I'll bet you can't," said Saltash, with a twist of the eyebrows that +was oddly characteristic of him. "So I'll tell you. She's running in an +obstacle race, and--to be quite, quite honest--I don't think she's +going to win." + +There was a moment's pause. Then the man on Juliet's other side spoke, +briefly and with decision. "Miss Moore is no longer interested in Lady +Joanna Farringmore's doings. Their friendship is at an end." + +Juliet made a slight gesture of remonstrance, but she spoke no word in +contradiction. + +A gleam of malice danced in Saltash's eyes; it was like the turn of a +rapier in a practised hand. "Most wise and proper!" he said. "_Juliette_, +I always admired your discretion." + +"You were always very kind, Charles Rex," she made grave reply. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PRICE + + +They went back up the winding glen, and as they went Lord Saltash talked, +superbly at his ease, of the doings of the past few weeks, "since you and +that naughty Lady Jo dropped out," as he expressed it to Juliet. He had +just recently been to Paris, had motored across France, had just returned +by sea from Bordeaux in his yacht, the _Night Moth_. + +"Landed to-day--forgot this unspeakable flower-show--had to put in to +get her cleaned up for Cowes--though it's quite possible I shan't go near +Cowes when all's said and done. She's quite seaworthy, warranted not to +kick in a gale. If anyone wanted her for a cruise--she's about the best +thing going." + +They reached the shrubbery to be nearly deafened by the band. + +"Come through the gardens!" said Saltash, with a shudder. "We must get +out of this somehow." + +"But my people!" objected Juliet. + +"Oh, Mr. Green will go and find them, won't you, Mr. Green?" Saltash +turned a disarming smile upon him. + +But Green looked straight back without a smile. "Miss Moore is under my +escort," he observed. "If she agrees, I think we had better go together." + +"And do you agree, _Juliette_?" enquired Saltash with interest. + +Juliet met the mocking eyes with a smile that was certainly +unintentional. "They may be in the Castle," she said. "I know they +meant to go." + +"Good!" he ejaculated. "Then come to the Castle! I will get you tea in my +own secret den if such a thing is to be had--tea or a cocktail, _ma +Juliette_!" + +"Will you lead the way?" said Juliet, and for a second--only a +second--her hand pressed Dick's arm with a quick, confidential +pressure that was not without its appeal. "We always follow Charles +Rex!" she said. + +Saltash chuckled. Plainly the adventure amused him. + +They entered the trim gardens, escaping thankfully from the wandering +crowd of sight-seers. Saltash led the way with a certain unconscious +arrogance of bearing. Somehow, his ugliness notwithstanding, he fitted +his surroundings perfectly, save that the white yachting-suit ought to +have been fashioned of satin, and a sword should have dangled at his +side. The old stone turrets that towered above the blazing parterres +gleamed in the hot sunlight--a mediaeval castle of romance. + +"What a glorious old place!" said Juliet. + +He turned to her. "You have never seen it before?" + +"Never," she answered. + +He made her a bow that was slightly foreign. There was French blood in +his veins. "I give you welcome, _maladi_," he said, "I and my poor castle +are all yours to command." + +He made a gallant figure there on his stone terrace. The girl's eyes +shone a little, but they turned almost immediately to the other man +at her side. + +"Beautiful, isn't it, Dick?" she said. + +He met her look, and she was conscious of a chill. She had never seen +him look so aloof, so cynical. "A temple of delight!" he said. + +His manner offended her. She turned deliberately away from him. And again +Lord Saltash chuckled, as though at some secret joke. + +They entered by a narrow door at the head of a flight of steps. "This +at least is private," declared Saltash, as he took a key from an +inner pocket. + +"Does no one ever come in here when you are away?" Juliet asked. + +"Not by this entrance," he said. "There is another into the Castle itself +which is known to a few. It leads into the music room whence Mr. Green +will be able to start upon his search." + +He threw a mischievous glance at Green who met it with a look so direct, +and so unswerving that the odd eyes blinked and turned away. + +But curiously a spirit of perversity seemed to have entered into Juliet. +She also looked at Dick. "I wish you would go and find them," she said. +"I know they will be wondering where we are." + +His brows went up. She thought he was going to refuse. And then quite +suddenly he yielded. "Certainly if you wish it!" he said. "And when they +are found?" + +"Oh, dump them in the great hall!" said Saltash. "To be left till +called for!" + +"Charles!" protested Juliet. + +He grinned at her--a wicked, monkeyish grin, and threw open the door, +disclosing a steep and winding stone stair. + +"Will you be pleased to enter!" he said, in the tone of one issuing a +royal command. + +But she hung for a moment, looking back with a strange wistfulness at the +man she was leaving. The imprisoned air came out into the hot sunshine +like a cold vapour. She shivered a little. + +"Dick!" she said. + +He stopped at the foot of the outside steps looking up at her. His +eyes were extremely bright, and something within her shrank from +their straight regard. It conveyed possession, dominance; almost it +conveyed a menace. + +"When you have found them, come and--tell me!" she said. + +He lifted his hat to her with punctilious courtesy, and turned away. "I +will," he said. + +"That's a masterful sort of person," observed Saltash, as they mounted +the dimly-lit turret stair. "What does he do for a living?" + +Juliet hesitated, conscious of a strong repugnance to discuss her +lover with this man from her old world whom, strangely, at that +moment, she felt that she knew so infinitely better. But she could not +withhold an answer to so ordinary a question. Moreover Saltash could +be imperious when he chose, and she knew instinctively that it was not +wise to cross him. + +"By profession," she said slowly at length, "he is--a village +schoolmaster." + +Saltash's laugh stung, though it was exactly what she had expected. But +he qualified it the next moment with careless generosity. + +"Quite a presentable cavalier, _ma Juliette_! And a fixed occupation is +something of an advantage at times, _n'est-ce-pas?--Je t'aime, tu +l'aime_! And how soon do you ride away? Or is that question premature?" + +Juliet's face burned in the dimness, but she was in front of him and +thankfully aware that he could not see it. "I am not answering any more +questions, Charles," she said. "Now that you have got me into your +ogre's castle, you must be--kind." + +"I will be kindness itself," he assured her. "You know I am the soul of +hospitality. All I have is yours." + +The narrow stair ended at a small stone landing on which was a door. +Juliet stepped aside as she reached it, and waited for her host. "It's +rather like a prison," she said. + +"You won't think so when you get through that door," he said. "By Jove! +To think that I've actually got you--you of all people!--here in my +stronghold! Do you realize that without my permission you can't possibly +get out again?" + +Juliet's laugh was absolutely spontaneous. She faced him in that narrow +space with the poise and confidence of a queen. The light from a window +that pierced the wall above shone down upon her. In that moment she was +endowed with an extraordinary beauty that was more of being, of +personality, than of feature. + +"It is exactly this that I have played for, Charles Rex," she said. "You +hold all the cards, _mon ami_. But--the game is mine." + +"How so?" He was looking at her curiously, a dancing demon in his eyes. + +She put out her hand to him, and as he took it, sank to the stone floor +in a superb curtsy. "Because I claim your gracious protection, my lord +the king. I ask your royal favour." + +He lifted her hand to his lips as she rose. "You are--as ever--quite +irresistible, _ma Juliette_," he smiled. "But--do you really contemplate +marrying this fortunate young man? Because there are limits--even to my +generosity. I am not sure that I can permit that." + +Her eyes looked straight into his. "You can do--anything you choose to +do, Charles Rex," she said; "except one thing." + +He made a grimace at her. "I am king in my own castle anyway," he +observed, watching her. "And you are at my mercy." + +"It is your mercy that I am waiting for," she said, a faint smile at the +corners of her lips. + +"Ah!" he said, stood a moment longer, contemplating her, then turned +abruptly and flung open the door against which he stood. + +It led into a winding passage of such a totally different character +from the stone staircase they had just mounted that Juliet stood gazing +down it for some seconds before she obeyed his mute gesture to pass +through. It was thickly carpeted, deadening all sound, and the walls +were hung with some heavy material, in the colour of old oak. It was +lighted by three long perpendicular slits of windows, let into a +twelve-foot thickness of wall. Juliet had a glimpse of many pine trees +as she passed them. + +The passage ended in heavy curtains of the same dark-brown material. She +stopped and looked at her companion. + +"What is it?" he said, with a laugh. "Are you afraid of my inner +sanctuary?" + +He parted the curtains, disclosing a tall oak door. She saw no latch upon +it, but his hand went up behind the curtain, and she heard the click of a +spring. In a moment the tall door opened before her. + +"Go in!" he said easily. + +She entered a strange room, oak-panelled, shaped like a cone, lighted +only by a glass dome in the roof. It was the most curious chamber she +had ever seen. She trod on a tiger-skin as she entered, and noted that +the floor was covered with them. There was no chair anywhere, only a +long, deep couch, also draped with tiger-skins. Tiger faces glared at +her from all directions. She heard the door click behind her and +turning realized that it had disappeared in the oak panelling against +which her host was standing. + +He laughed at her quizzically, "I believe you are frightened." + +She looked around her, seeing no exit anywhere. "It is just the sort of +freak apartment I should expect you to delight in," she said. + +"You wouldn't have come if you had known, would you?" he said, a faint +note of jeering in his voice. + +"Of course I should!" said Juliet. + +"Of course!" he mocked. "I am such a peculiarly safe person, am I not? +Every member of your charming sex trusts me instinctively." + +She turned and faced him. "Don't be ridiculous, Charles! You see, I +happen to know you." + +He looked at her with something of the air of a monkey that contemplates +snatching some forbidden thing. "Why did you run away?" he said. + +She hesitated. "That's a hard question, isn't it?" + +"Oh, don't mind me!" he said. "I don't flatter myself I was the cause." + +Her dark brows were slightly drawn. "No, you were not," she said. "It was +just--it was Lady Jo herself, Charlie. No one else." + +"Ah!" His goblin smile flashed out at her. "Poor erring Lady Jo! Don't be +too hard on her! She has her points." + +She laid her hand quickly on his arm. "Don't try to defend her! She is +quite despicable. I have done with her." + +His hand was instantly on hers. He laughed into her eyes. "I'll wager you +have a lingering fellow-feeling for her even yet." + +"Not since she was reported to have run away with you," countered Juliet. + +He laughed aloud. "Ah! She forfeited your sympathy there, did she? _Mais, +Juliette_--" his voice sank suddenly upon a caressing note, "there are few +women to whom I could not give happiness--for a time." + +"I know," said Juliet, and drew her hand away. "That is why we all admire +you so. But even you, most potent Charles, couldn't satisfy a woman who +was wanting--some one else." + +"You don't think I could make her forget?" he said. + +She shook her head, smiling. "When the real thing comes along, all shams +must go overboard. It's the rule of the game." + +"And this is the real thing?" he questioned. + +She made a little gesture as of one who accepts the inevitable. "_Je le +crois bien_," she said softly. + +Lord Saltash made a grimace. "And I am to give you up without a thought +to this bounder?" + +"You would," she replied gently, "if I were yours to give." + +"If you were Lady Jo for instance?" he suggested. + +"Exactly. If I were Lady Jo." She looked at him with the faint +smile still at her lips. "It won't cost you much to be generous, +Charles," she said. + +"How do you know what it costs?" He frowned at her suddenly. "You'll +accuse me of being benevolent next. But I'm not benevolent, and I'm not +going to be. I might be to Lady Jo, but not to you, _ma cherie_,--never +to you!" His grin burst through his frown. "Come! Sit down! I'll get +you a drink." + +She turned to the deep settee, and sank down among tigerskins with a +sigh. He opened a cupboard in the panelling of the wall, and there +followed the chink of glasses and the cheery buzz of a syphon. In a few +moments he came to her with a tall glass in his hand containing a frothy +drink. "Look here, _Juliette_!" he said. "Come to France with me in the +_Night Moth_, and we'll find Lady Jo!" + +She accepted the drink and lay back without looking at him. "You always +were an eccentric," she said. "I don't want to find Lady Jo." + +He sat on the head of the settee at her elbow. "It's quite a fair offer," +he said, as if she had not spoken. "You will--eventually--return from +Paris, and no one will ever know. In these days a woman of the world +pleases herself and is answerable to none. _Mais, Juliette_!" He reached +down and coaxingly held her hand. "_Pourquoi pas_?" + +She lifted her eyes slowly to his face. "I have told you," she said. + +"You're not in earnest!" he protested. + +She kept her look steadily upon him. "Charles Rex, I am in earnest." + +His fingers clasped hers more closely. "But I can't allow it. We can't +spare you. And you--yourself, _Juliette_--you will never endure life in a +backwater. You will pine for the old days, the old friends, the old +lovers,--as they will pine for you." + +"No, never!" said Juliet firmly. + +He leaned down to her. "I say you will. This is--a midsummer madness. +This will pass." + +She started slightly at his words. The sparkling liquid splashed over. +She lifted the glass to her lips, and drank. When she ceased, he took it +softly from her, and put it to his own. Then he set down the empty glass +and slipped his arm behind her. + +"_Juliette_, I am going to save you," he said, "from yourself." + +She drew away from him. "Charles, I forbid that!" + +She was breathing quickly but her voice was quiet. There was indomitable +resolution in her eyes. + +He paused, looking at her closely. "You deny--to me--what you were +permitting with so much freedom barely half-an-hour ago to the village +schoolmaster?" he said. + +Her face flamed. "I have always denied you--that!" she said. + +He smiled. "Times alter, Juliette. You are no longer in a position +to deny me." + +She kept her eyes upon him. "You mean I have trusted you too far?" she +said, a deep throb in her voice. "I might have known!" + +He shrugged his shoulders. "Life is a game of hazard, is it not? And you +were always a daring player. But, Juliette, you cannot always win. This +time the luck is against you." + +She was silent. Very slowly her eyes left his. She drooped forward +as she sat. + +He leaned down to her again, his face oddly sympathetic. "After all,--you +claimed my protection," he said. + +She made a sudden movement. She turned sharply, almost blindly. She +caught him by the shoulders. "Oh, Charles!" she said. "Charles Rex! Is +there no mercy no honour--in you?" + +There was a passion of supplication in her voice and action. As she held +him he could have clasped her in his arms. But he did not. He sat +motionless, looking at her, his expression still monkey-like, +half-wicked, half-wistful. + +"Well, you shouldn't tempt me, Juliette," he said. "It isn't fair to a +miserable sinner. You were always the cherry just out of reach. +Naturally, I'm inclined to snatch when I find I can." + +Juliet was trembling, but she controlled her agitation. + +"No, that isn't allowed," she said. "It isn't the game. And you +never--seriously--wanted me either." + +"But I'm never serious!" protested Saltash. "Neither are you. It's your +one solid virtue." + +"I am serious now," she said. + +He looked at her quizzically. "Somehow it suits you. Well, listen, +_Juliette_! I'll strike a bargain with you. When you are through with +this, you will come with me for that cruise in the _Night Moth_. +Come! Promise!" + +"But I am not--quite mad, Rex!" she said. + +He lifted his hands to hers and lightly held them. "It is no madder a +project than the one you are at present engaged upon. What? You won't? +You defy me to do my worst?" + +"No, I don't defy you," she said. + +He flashed a smile at her. "How wise! But listen! It's a bargain all the +same. You put me on my honour. I put you on yours. Go your own way! +Pursue this bubble you call love! And when it bursts and your heart is +broken--you will come back to me to have it mended. That is the price I +put upon my mercy. I ask no pledge. It shall be--a debt of honour. We +count that higher than a pledge." + +"Ah!" Juliet said, and suppressed a sudden tremor. + +He stood up, gallantly raising her as he did so. "And now we will go +and look for your friends," he said. "Is all well, _ma cherie_? You +look pale." + +She forced herself to smile. "You are a preposterous person, Charles +Rex," she said. "Yes, let us go!" + +She turned with him towards the panelling, but she did not see by what +trick he opened again the door by which they had entered. She only saw, +with a wild leap of the heart, Dick Green, upright, virile, standing +against the dark hangings of the passage beyond. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +KISMET + + +He was breathing hard, as if he had been hurrying. He spoke to her +exclusively, ignoring the man at her side. + +"Will you come at once? Mrs. Fielding has been taken ill." + +She started forward. "Dick! Where is she?" + +"Downstairs." Briefly he answered her. "She collapsed in one of the +tents. They brought her into the house. She is in the library." + +Juliet hastened along the passage. Like Dick, she seemed no longer aware +of Saltash's presence. He came behind, a speculative expression on his +ugly face. + +"Let me go first!" Dick said, as they reached the head of the +winding stairs. + +Juliet gave place to him without a word. They descended rapidly. + +At the foot the door stood open to the terrace. They came again into the +blazing sunshine, and here Juliet paused and looked back at Saltash. + +He came to her side. "Don't look so alarmed! It's probably only the heat. +Do you know the way to the library? Through that conservatory over there +is the shortest cut. I suppose I may come with you? I may be of use." + +"Of course!" said Juliet. "Thank you very much." + +Dick barely glanced over his shoulder. He was already on his way. + +They entered the Castle again by the conservatory that Saltash had +indicated. It was a mass of flowers, but the public were evidently not +admitted here, for it was empty. In the centre a nymph hung over a +marble basin under a tinkling fountain. They passed quickly by to an +open glass door that led into the house. Here Dick stopped and drew +back, looking at Juliet. + +"I will wait here," he said. + +She nodded and went swiftly past him into the room. + +It was a dark apartment, book-lined, chill of atmosphere, with heavy, +ancient furniture, and a sense of solitude more suggestive of some +monastic dwelling than any ordinary habitation. The floor was of polished +oak that shone with a sombre lustre. + +Juliet paused for a moment involuntarily upon entering. It was as if a +sinister hand had been laid upon her, arresting her. The gloom blinded +her after the hot radiance outside. Then a voice--Fielding's voice--spoke +to her, and she went forward gropingly. + +He met her, took her urgently by the shoulder. "Thank heaven, you're here +at last!" he said. + +Looking at him, she saw him as a man suddenly stricken with age. His face +was grey. He led her to a settee by the high oak fireplace, and +there--white, inanimate as a waxen figure--she found Vera Fielding. + +Fear pierced her, sharp as the thrust of a knife. She freed herself from +Fielding's grip, and knelt beside the silent form. For many awful seconds +she watched and listened, not breathing. + +"Is she gone?" asked Fielding in a hoarse whisper at last. + +She looked up at him. "Get brandy--hot bottles--quick! Send +Dick--he's in the conservatory. No, stay! Send Saltash! He's there +too. He'll know where to find things. Tell Dick to come here! Have +you sent for a doctor?" + +"There's been no one to send," he answered frantically. "Some man helped +to bring her in here, but she didn't faint till after we got in, and +then I couldn't leave her. He went off to look after the crowd going +round the Castle." + +"All right," Juliet said. "Lord Saltash will see to that. Ask them +to come in!" + +She was unfastening the filmy gown with steady fingers. Whatever the +dread at her heart there was no sign of it apparent in her bearing. She +moved without haste or agitation. + +At a touch on her shoulder she looked up and saw Dick at her side. "Ah, +there you are!" she said. "We want a doctor. Will you see to it? No doubt +there's a telephone somewhere. Ask Lord Saltash!" + +"In the gun-room," said Saltash. "Door next to this on the left. Name of +Rossiter. Shall I see to it?" + +"No--no," she said. "You get some brandy, please--at once!" + +They obeyed her orders with promptitude. Dick went straight from the +room. Saltash turned to the fireplace, and pressed an electric bell three +times very emphatically. + +Then he came to Juliet's side. "You ought to lay her flat, _Juliette_. I +know this sort of seizure. Heart of course! My mother died of it." + +"Help me to lift her!" said Juliet. + +They raised her between them with infinite care and flattened the +cushions beneath her. Then Saltash, his queer face full of the most +earnest concern began to chafe one of the nerveless hands. + +Fielding tramped ceaselessly up and down the room, his head on his chest. +Every time he drew near his wife he glanced at her and swung away again, +as one without hope. + +After a brief interval the door opened to admit a silent footed butler +bearing a tray. Saltash turned upon him swiftly. + +"Brandy, Billings? That's right. And look here! Find Mrs. Parsons! +Tell her a lady has been taken ill in the library! She had better get +a bed ready, and have some boiling water handy. Anything else?" He +looked at Juliet. + +She shook her head. "No, nothing till the doctor comes. I hope he +won't be long." + +Saltash poured out some brandy. Fielding came to a standstill behind +Juliet, and stood looking on. + +"We won't lift her again," whispered Juliet. "Try a spoon!" + +He gave it to her, and she slipped it between the white lips. But there +was no sign of life, no attempt to swallow. + +"She is dead!" said Fielding heavily. + +Saltash glanced at him. "I think not," he said gently. "I'm nearly +certain I felt her pulse move just now." + +The door opened again, and Dick entered. He went straight to the squire, +and put his arm round his bent shoulders. "There'll be a doctor here in +ten minutes," he said. + +Fielding seemed barely to hear the words. "Do you think she'll ever speak +again, Dick?" he said. + +"Please God she will, sir," said Dick very steadily. + +He kept his arm round Fielding, and in a few moments succeeded in +drawing him aside. He put him into a chair by the table, poured out +some brandy and water, and made him drink it. Looking up a moment +later, he found Saltash's odd eyes curiously upon him. He returned the +look with a conscious sense of antagonism, but Saltash almost +immediately turned away. + +There followed what seemed an interminable space of waiting, during which +no change of any sort was apparent in the silent figure on the settee. +The blatant bray of the band still sounded in the distance with a +flaunting gaiety almost intolerable to those who waited. Saltash frowned +as he heard it, but he did not stir from Juliet's side. + +Then, after an eternity of suspense, the sombre-faced butler opened the +door again and ushered in the doctor. Saltash went to meet him and +brought him to the settee. Fielding got up and came forward. + +Dick stood for a moment, then turned and went back to the conservatory, +where a few seconds later Saltash joined him. + +"I should like to burn that damn band alive!" he remarked as he did so. + +Dick shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. + +Again Saltash's eyes dwelt upon him with curiosity. "I want to know you," +he said suddenly. "I hope you don't object?" + +"I am vastly honoured by your notice," said Dick. + +Saltash nodded. "Well, don't be an ass about it! I am a most inoffensive +person, I assure you. And it isn't my fault that I was on friendly terms +with _Mademoiselle Juliette_ before she forsook the world, etc., etc., +and turned to you to fill the void. Do you flatter yourself you are going +to marry her by any chance?" + +A swift gleam shot up in Dick's eyes. He stiffened involuntarily. "That +is a subject I cannot discuss--even with you," he said. + +Saltash smiled good-humouredly. "Well, I expected that. But your +courtship on the lake this afternoon was so delightfully ingenuous that +I couldn't help wondering what your intentions were." + +Dick's mouth became a simple hard line. He looked the other man up and +down with lightning rapidity ere he replied with significance. "My +intentions, my lord, are--honourable." + +Saltash bowed with his hand on his heart and open mockery in his eyes. +"_La pauvre Juliette_! And have you told her yet? No, look here! Don't +knock me down! There's no sense in taking offence at a joke you can't +understand. And it would be bad manners to have a row, with that poor +soul in there at death's door. Moreover, if you really want to marry the +princess _Juliette_, it'll pay you to be friends with me." + +"I doubt if anything would induce me to be that," said Dick curtly. + +"Oh, really? What have I done? No, don't tell me! It would take too long. +I am aware I'm a by-word for wickedness in these parts, heaven alone +knows why. But at least I've never injured you." Saltash's smile was +suddenly disarming again. + +"Never had much opportunity, have you?" said Dick. + +"No, but I've got one now--quite a good one. I could put an end to this +little idyll of yours for instance without the smallest difficulty--if I +felt that way." + +"I don't believe you!" flashed Dick. + +"No? Well, wait till I do it then!" There was amused tolerance in +Saltash's rejoinder. "You'll pipe another tune then, I fancy." + +"Shall I?" Dick said. He paused a moment, his eyes, extremely bright, +fixed unwaveringly upon the swarthy face in front of him. "If I +do--you'll dance to it!" he said with grim assurance. + +Saltash smothered a laugh. "Well done, I say! You've scored a point at +last! I was waiting for that. You'll like me better now, most worthy +cavalier. I daren't suggest a drink under the circumstances, but I'll owe +you one." He extended his hand with a royal air. "Will you shake?" + +Dick held back. "Will you play the game?" he said. + +Saltash grinned. "My own game? Certainly! I always do." + +Dick's hand came out to him. Somehow he was hard to refuse. "A straight +game?" he said. + +Saltash's brows expressed amused surprise. "I always play straight--till +I begin to lose,--chevalier," he said. + +"And then--you cheat?" questioned Dick. + +"Like the devil," laughed Saltash. "We all do that. Don't you?" + +"No," Dick said briefly. + +"You don't? You always put all your cards on the table? Come now! Do +you?" + +Dick hesitated, and Saltash's grin became more pronounced. "All right! +You needn't answer," he said lightly. "Do you know I thought you weren't +quite as simple as you appeared at first sight. Just as well perhaps. +_Juliette's_ cavalier mustn't be too rustic." He stopped to look at Dick +appraisingly. "Yes, I'm glad on the whole that your intentions are +honourable," he ended with a smile. "I rather doubt if you pull 'em off. +But you may--you may." + +He turned sharply with the words as if a hand had touched him and faced +round upon Juliet as she came out on to the step. + +Her face had an exhausted look, but she smiled faintly at the two men as +she joined them. + +"She is still living," she said. "The doctor gives just a shade of hope. +But--" She looked at Saltash--"he absolutely forbids her being moved--at +all. I hope it won't be a terrible inconvenience to you." + +"It will be a privilege to serve you--or your friends--in any way," +said Saltash. + +"Thank you," she said. "I am sure Mr. Fielding will be very grateful to +you. The doctor is going to send in a nurse. Of course I shall not leave +her. She has come to depend upon me a good deal. And we thought of +telephoning to her maid to bring everything necessary from Shale Court." + +"Of course!" said Saltash kindly. "Look here, my dear! Don't for heaven's +sake feel you've got to ask my permission for everything you do! Treat +the place and everyone in it as your own!" + +"Thank you," she said again. "Then, Charles, if you're sure you don't +mind, I'll send for my dog as well." + +"What! Christopher Columbus? You've got him with you, have you?" +Saltash's smile lighted his dark face. "Lucky animal! Have him over by +all means! I shall be delighted to see him." + +"You are very kind," she said, and turned with a hint of embarrassment to +Dick. "Mr. Fielding says that you will want to be getting back and there +is no need to wait. Will you take the little car back to the Court?" + +"Certainly," Dick said. "Would you care to give me a list of the things +you want the maid to bring?" + +"How kind of you!" she said, and hesitated a moment, looking at him. "But +I think I needn't trouble you. Cox is very sensible. I can make her +understand on the telephone." + +He looked back at her, standing very straight. "In that case--I will go," +he said. "Good-bye!" + +She held out her hand to him. "I--shall see you again," she said, and +there was almost a touch of pleading in her voice. + +His fingers closed and held. "Yes," he said, and smiled into her eyes +with the words--a smile in which determination and tenderness strangely +mingled. "You will certainly see me again." + +And with that he was gone, striding between the massed flowers without +looking back. + +"Exit Romeo!" murmured Saltash. "Enter--Kismet!" + +But Juliet had already turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE DRIVING FORCE + + +That Saturday night concert at High Shale entailed a greater effort on +Dick's part than any that had preceded it. He forced himself to make it a +success, but when it was over he was conscious of an overwhelming +weariness that weighed him down like a physical burden. + +He said good-night to the men, and prepared to depart with a feeling that +he was nearing the end of his endurance. It was not soothing to nerves +already on edge to be waylaid by Ashcott and made the unwilling recipient +of gloomy forebodings. + +"We shan't hold 'em much longer," the manager said. "They're getting +badly out of hand. There's talk of sending a deputation to Lord +Wilchester or--failing him--Ivor Yardley, the K.C. chap who is in with +him in this show." + +"Yardley!" Dick uttered the name sharply. + +"Yes, ever met him? He took over a directorship when he got engaged to +Lord Wilchester's sister--Lady Joanna Farringmore. They're rather pinning +their hopes on him, it seems. Do you know him at all?" + +"I've met him--once," Dick said. "Went to him for advice--on a matter of +business." + +"Any good?" asked Ashcott. + +"Oh yes, shrewd enough. Hardest-headed man at the Bar, I believe. +I didn't know he was a director of this show. They won't get much +out of him." + +"I fancy they're going to ask you to draw up a petition," said Ashcott. + +"Me!" Dick turned on him in a sudden blaze of anger. "I'll see 'em damned +first!" he said. + +Ashcott shrugged his shoulders. "It's your affair. You're the only man +who has any influence with 'em. I'm sick of trying to keep the peace." + +Dick checked his indignation. "Poor devils! They certainly have some +cause for grievance, but I'm not going to draw up their ultimatum for +them. I've no objection to speaking to Yardley or any other man on their +behalf, but I'm hanged if I'll be regarded as their representative. +They'll make a strike-leader of me next." + +"Well, they're simmering," Ashcott said, as he prepared to depart. +"They'll boil over before long. If they don't find a responsible +representative they'll probably run amuck and get up to mischief." + +"Oh, man, stop croaking!" Dick said with weary irritation and went away +down the hill. + +He took the cliff-path though the night was dark with storm-clouds. +Somehow, instinctively, his feet led him thither. There were no +nightingales singing now, and the gorse had long since faded in the +fierce heat of summer. The sea lay leaden far below him, barely visible +in the dimness. And there was no star in the sky. + +Heavily he tramped over the ground where Juliet had lingered on that +night of magic in the spring, and as he went, he told himself that he +had lost her. Whatever the outcome of to-day's happenings, she would +never be the same to him again. She had passed out of his reach. Her own +world had claimed her again and there could be no return. He recalled the +regret in her eyes at parting. Surely--most surely--she had known that +that was the end. For her the midsummer madness was over, burnt away like +the glory of the gorse-bushes about him. With a conviction that was +beyond all reason he knew that they had come to a parting of the ways. + +And there was no bond between them, no chain but that which his love had +forged. She had pleaded to retain her freedom, and now with bitter +intuition he knew wherefore. She had always realized that to which he in +his madness had been persistently blind. She had known that there were +obstacles insurmountable between them and the happy consummation of their +love. She had faced the fact that the glory would depart. + +Again he felt the clinging of her arms as he had felt it only that +afternoon. Again against his lips there rose her quivering whisper, "Just +for to-day, Dick! Just for to-day!" Yes, she had known even then. Even +then for her the glory had begun to fade. + +He clenched his hands in sudden fierce rebellion. It was unbearable. He +would not endure it. This stroke of destiny--he would fight it with all +the strength of his manhood. He would overthrow this nameless barrier +that had arisen between them. He would sacrifice all--all he had--to +reach her. Somehow--whatever the struggle might cost--he would clasp her +again, would hold her against all the world. + +And then--like a poisoned arrow out of the darkness--another thought +pierced him. What if she were indeed of those who loved for a space and +passed smiling on? What if the fatal taint of the world from which she +had come to him had touched her also, withering the heart in her, making +true love a thing impossible? What if she had indeed been fashioned in +the same mould as the worthless woman whom she sought to defend? + +But that was unthinkable, intolerable. He flung the evil suggestion from +him, but it left a burning wound behind. There was no escape from the +fact that she was on terms of intimacy with the man with whom that +woman's name had been shamefully associated. And--remembering the +discomfiture she had betrayed at their meeting--he told himself bitterly +that she would have given much to have concealed that intimacy had it +been possible. + +But here his loyalty cried out that he was wronging her. Juliet--his +Juliet of the steadfast eyes and low, sincere voice--was surely +incapable of double dealing! Whatever her life in the past had been, +however frivolous, however artificial, it had been given to him--perhaps +to him alone--to know her as she was. A great wave of self-reproach went +over him. How had he dared to doubt her? + +The sea moaned with a dreary sound along the shore. A few heavy drops of +rain fell around him. Mechanically he quickened his pace. He came at +length down the steep cliff-path to the gate that led to the village. +And here to his surprise a shuffling footstep told him of the presence of +another human being out in the desolate darkness. Dimly he discerned a +bulky shape leaning against the rail. + +He came up to it. "Robin!" he said sharply. + +A low voice answered him in startled accents. "Oh, Dicky! I thought you +were never coming!" + +"What are you doing here?" Dick said. + +He took the boy by the shoulder with the words and Robin cowered away. + +"Don't be cross! Dicky, please don't be cross! I only came to look for +you," he said with nervous incoherence. "I didn't mean to be out late. I +couldn't help it. Don't be cross!" + +But Dick was implacable. "You know you've no business out at this hour," +he said. "I warned you last time--when you went to The Three Tuns--" He +paused abruptly. "Have you been to The Three Tuns to-night?" + +"No!" said Robin eagerly. + +Dick's hand pressed upon him. "Is that the truth?" + +Robin became incoherent again. "I only came to meet you. I didn't think +you'd be so late. And it was so hot to-night. And my head ached." He +broke off. "Dicky, you're hurting me!" + +"You have told me a lie," Dick said. + +Robin shrank at his tone. "How did you know?" he whispered awestruck. + +Dick did not answer. He shifted his hold from Robin's shoulder to his arm +and turned him about. Robin went with him, shuffling his feet and +trembling. + +Dick led him in grim silence down the path to the village-road, past +the Ricketts' cottage, now in darkness, up the hill beyond that led to +the school. + +Robin went with him submissively enough, but he stumbled several times +on the way. As they neared the end of the journey he began to talk again +anxiously, propitiatingly. + +"I didn't mean to go, Dicky, but I was so hot and thirsty. And I met Jack +and I went in with him. There were a lot of fellows there and Jack +treated me, but I didn't have very much. My head ached so, and I sat down +in a corner and went to sleep till it was closing time. Then old Swag +made me get out, so I came to wait for you. I didn't hit him or anything, +Dicky. I was quite quiet all the while. So you won't be cross, will +you,--not like last time?" + +"I am going to punish you if that's what you mean," Dick said, as he +opened the garden-gate. + +Robin shrank again, shivering like a frightened dog. "But, Dicky, I +only--I only--" + +"Broke the rule and lied about it," his brother said uncompromisingly. +"You know the punishment for that." + +Robin attempted no further appeal. He went silently into the house and +blundered up to his room. There was only one thing left to do, and that +was to pay the penalty--of which Dick's wrath was infinitely the hardest +part to bear. + +He crouched down on the floor by the bed to wait. The light from the +passage shone in through the half-open door and the great lamp at the +lodge-gates of the Court opposite, which was kept burning all night, +glared in at the unblinded window, but there was no light in the room. +There was something almost malignant to Robin's mind about the searching +brilliance of this lamp. He hid his eyes from it, huddling his face in +the bed-clothes, listening intently the while for Dick's coming but +hearing only the dull thumping of his own heart. + +There was no one in the house except the two brothers. A woman came in +every day from the village to do the work of the establishment. Now that +Jack had found quarters elsewhere there was not a great deal to be done +since Robin was accustomed also to making himself useful in various +ways. It occurred to him suddenly as he crouched there waiting that Dick +had been too hurried to eat much supper before his departure for High +Shale that evening. The thought had been in his brain before, but +subsequent events had dislodged it. Now, with every nerve alert and +pricking with suspense, it returned to him very forcibly. Dicky was +hungry perhaps--or consumed with thirst, as he himself had been. And he +would certainly go empty to bed unless he, Robin, plucked up courage to +go down and wait upon him. + +It needed considerable courage, for his instinct was always to hide when +he had incurred Dick's anger. Judicial though it invariably was, it was +the most terrible thing the world held for him. It shook him to the +depths, and to go down and confront it again with the penalty still +unpaid was for a long time more than he could calmly contemplate. But as +the minutes crept on and still Dick did not come, it was gradually borne +in upon him that this, and this alone, was the thing that must be done. +It was his job, forced upon him by an inexorable fate. Dick would +probably be much more angry with him for doing it, but somehow in a +vague, unreasoning fashion he realized that it had got to be done. + +Even then it took him a long time to screw himself up to the required +pitch of nervous energy required. He ached for the sound of Dick's step +on the stairs, but it did not come. And so at last he knew there was no +help for it. Whatever the cost, he must fulfil the task that had been +laid upon him. + +With intense reluctance he uncovered his face, flinching from the stark +glare of the lamp across the road, and dragged himself to his feet. It +was difficult to move without noise, but he made elaborate efforts to do +so. He reached the head of the stairs and hung there listening. + +Had he heard a movement below he would have stumbled headlong back to +cover, but no sound of any sort reached him. The compelling force urged +him afresh. He gripped the stair-rail and crept downward like a +stealthy baboon. + +The stairs creaked alarmingly. More than once he paused, prepared for +precipitate retreat, but still he heard no sound, and gradually a certain +desperate hope came to him. Perhaps Dicky was asleep! Perhaps the power +that drove him would be satisfied if he collected some things on a tray +and left them in the little hall for Dicky to find when he finally came +up! If this could be done--and he could get back safe to the sheltering +darkness before he found out! He would not mind the subsequent caning, if +only he need not meet Dicky face to face again beforehand. Dicky's eyes +when they looked at him sternly were anguish to his soul. And they +certainly would not hold any kindness for him until the punishment was +over. So argued poor Robin's anxious brain as he reached the foot of the +stairs and stood a moment under the lamp dimly burning there, summoning +strength to creep past the open door of the dining-room. + +A candle was flickering on the table, so he was sure Dick must be there. +Would he see him pass? Would he call him in? Robin's heart raced with +terror at the thought. But no! The urging force drove him in sickening +apprehension past the door, and still there was no sound. + +He was at the kitchen-door at the end of the passage, his fingers +fumbling at the latch when suddenly he remembered that he had no candle. +There was no candle to be had! The only one available downstairs was the +one Dick had taken into the dining-room. He could not go upstairs again +to get another. He had no matches wherewith to explore the kitchen. He +stood struck motionless by this fresh problem. + +But Dicky was doubtless asleep or he must have heard those creaking +stairs! Then there was still a chance. He might creep into the room and +take the candle without waking him. He was gaining confidence by the +prolonged silence. Dicky must certainly be fast asleep. + +With considerably greater steadiness than he had yet achieved he returned +to the open door and peeped stealthily in. + +Yes, Dick was there. He had flung himself down at the table on which he +had set the candle, and he was lying across it with his head on his arms. +Asleep of course! That could be the only explanation of such an attitude. +Yet Robin in the act of advancing, stopped in sudden doubt with a scared +backward movement, his eyes upon one of Dick's hands that was clenched +convulsively and quivering as if he were in pain. It certainly did not +look like the hand of a man asleep. + +The next moment Robin's ungainly form had knocked against the door-handle +and Dick was sitting upright looking at him. His face was grey, he looked +unutterably tired, his mouth had the stark grimness of the man who +endures, asking nothing of Fate. + +"Hullo, boy!" he said. "Why aren't you in bed?" Then seeing Robin's +unmistakably hang-dog air, "Oh, I forgot! Go on upstairs! I'm coming." + +Robin turned about like a kicked dog. But the driving force stopped him +on the threshold. He stood a second or two, then turned again with a +species of sullen courage. + +"May I have the candle?" he said, not looking at Dick. + +"What for?" said Dick. "Haven't you got one upstairs?" + +Robin stood a moment or two debating with himself, then made a second +movement to go. "All right. I'll fetch it." + +"Wait a minute!" Dick's voice compelled. "What do you want a candle down +here for?" + +Robin backed against the door-post with a kind of heavy defiance. "Want +to get something--out of the kitchen," he muttered. + +"What do you want to get?" said Dick. + +Robin was silent, stubbornly, insistently silent, the fingers of one hand +working with agitated activity. + +"Robin!" + +It was the voice of authority. He had to respond to it. He made a +lumbering gesture towards the speaker, but his eyes remained obstinately +lowered under the shag of hair that hung over his forehead. + +Dick sat for a few seconds looking at him, then with a sudden sigh that +caught him unawares he got up. + +"What did you come down for? Tell me!" he said. + +His tone was absolutely quiet, but something in his utterance or the +sigh that preceded it--or possibly some swiftly-piercing light of +intuition--seemed to send a galvanizing current through Robin. With +clumsy impulsiveness he came to Dick and stood before him. + +"I was going--to get you--something to eat," he said, speaking with +tremendous effort. "You must be--pretty near starving--and I forgot." He +paused to fling a nervous look upwards. "I thought you were asleep. I +didn't know--or I wouldn't have done it. I--didn't mean to get in the +way." His voice broke oddly. He began to tremble. "I'll go now," he said. + +But Dick's hand came out, detaining him. "You came down to get me +food?" he said. + +"Yes," muttered Robin, with his head down. "Thought I'd--put it in the +hall--so you'd find it--before you came up." + +Dick stood silent for a space, looking at him. His eyes were very gentle +and the grimness had gone from his mouth, but Robin could not see that. +He stood humped and quivering, expectant of rebuke. + +But he recognized the change when Dick spoke. "Thought you'd provide me +with the necessary strength to hammer you, eh?" he said, and suddenly his +arm went round the misshapen shoulders; he gave Robin a close squeeze. +"Thanks, old chap," he said. + +Robin looked up then. The adoring devotion of a dumb animal was in his +eyes. He said nothing, being for the moment beyond words. + +Dick let him go. A clock on the mantelpiece was striking twelve. "You get +to bed, boy!" he said. "I don't want anything to eat, thanks all the +same." He paused a moment, then held out his hand. "Good-night!" + +It was tacit forgiveness for his offence, and as such Robin recognized +it. Yet as he felt the kindly grasp his eyes filled with tears. + +"I'm--I'm sorry, Dicky," he stammered. + +"I'm sorry too," Dick said. "But that won't undo it. For heaven's sake, +Robin, never lie to me again! There! Go to bed! I'm going myself as soon +as I've had a smoke. Good-night!" + +It was a definite dismissal, and Robin turned away and went stumblingly +from the room. + +His brother looked after him with a queer smile in his eyes. It was +Juliet who had taught Robin to say he was sorry. He threw himself into an +easy-chair and lighted a pipe. Perhaps after all in his weariness he had +exaggerated the whole matter. Perhaps--after all--she might yet find that +she loved him enough to cast her own world aside. Recalling her last +words to him, he told himself that he had been too quick to despair. For +she loved him--she loved him! Not all the fashionable cynics her world +contained could alter that fact. + +A swift wave of exultation went through him, combating his despair. +However heavy the odds,--however formidable the obstacles--he told +himself he would win--he would win! + +Going upstairs a little later, he was surprised to hear a low sound +coming from Robin's room. He had thought the boy would have been in bed +and asleep some time since. He stopped at the door to listen. + +The next moment he opened it and quietly entered, for Robin was sobbing +as if his heart would break. + +There was no light in the room save that which shone from the park-gates +opposite and the candle he himself carried. Robin was sunk in a heap +against the bed still fully dressed. He gave a great start at his +brother's coming, shrinking together in a fashion that seemed to make him +smaller. His sobbing ceased on the instant. He became absolutely still, +his claw-like hands rigidly gripped on the bedclothes, his face wholly +hidden. He did not even breathe during the few tense seconds that Dick +stood looking down at him. He might have been a creature carved in +granite. Then Dick set down his candle, went to him, sat on the low bed, +and pulled the shaggy head on to his knee. + +"What's the matter, old chap?" he said. + +All the tension went out of Robin at his touch. He clung to him in +voiceless distress. + +Dick's heart smote him. Why had he left the boy so long? He laid a very +gentle hand upon him. + +"Come, old chap!" he said. "Get a hold on yourself! What's it all about?" + +Robin's shoulders heaved convulsively; his hold tightened. He murmured +some inarticulate words. + +Dick bent over him. "What, boy? What? I can't hear. You haven't been up +to any mischief, have you? Robin, have you?" A sudden misgiving assailed +him. "You haven't hurt anybody? Not Jack, for instance?" + +"No," Robin said. But he added a moment later with a concentrated passion +that sounded inexpressibly vindictive, "I hate him! I do hate him! I wish +he was dead!" + +"Why?" Dick said. "What has he been doing?" + +But Robin burrowed lower and made no answer. + +Dick sat for a space in silence, waiting for him to recover himself. He +knew very well that he had good reason for his rooted dislike for Jack. +It was useless to attempt any argument on that point. But when Robin had +grown calmer, he returned to the charge very quietly but with +determination. + +"What has Jack been doing or saying? Tell me! I've got to know." + +Robin stirred uneasily. "Don't want to tell you, Dicky," he said. + +Dick's hand pressed a little upon him. "You must tell me," he said. "When +did you meet him?" + +Robin hesitated in obvious reluctance. "It was after supper," he said. +"My head ached, and I went outside, and he came down the drive. And +he--and he laughed about--about you coming home alone from Burchester, +and said--said that your game was up anyhow. And I didn't know what he +meant, Dicky--" Robin's arms suddenly clung closer--"but I got angry, +because I hate him to talk about you. And I--I went for him, Dicky." His +voice dropped on a shamed note, and he became silent. + +"Well?" Dick said gravely. "What happened then?" + +Very unwillingly Robin responded to his insistence. "He got hold of +me--so that I couldn't hurt him--and then he said--he said--" A great sob +rose in his throat choking his utterance. + +"What did he say?" + +There was a certain austerity in Dick's question. Robin shivered as it +reached him. + +With difficulty he struggled on. "Said that only--a fool--like +me--could help knowing that--you hadn't--a chance--with any woman--so +long as--so long as--" He choked again and sank into quivering silence. + +Dick's hand found the rough head and patted it very tenderly. "But you're +not fool enough to take what Jack says seriously, are you?" he said. + +Robin stifled a sob. "He said that--afterwards," he whispered. "And he +took me along to The Three Tuns--to make me forget it." + +"You actually drank with him after that!" Dick said. + +"I didn't know what I was doing, Dicky," he make apologetic answer. +"It--knocked the wind out of me. You see, I--I'd never thought of +that before." + +He began to whimper again. Dick swallowed down something that tried to +escape him. + +"A bit of an ass, aren't you, Robin?" he said instead. "You know as well +as I do that there isn't a word of truth in it. Anyhow--the woman I +love--isn't--that sort of woman." + +Robin shifted his position uneasily. There was that in the words that +vaguely stirred him. Dick had never spoken in that strain before. Slowly, +with a certain caution, he lifted his tear-stained face and peered up at +his brother in the fitful candle-light. + +"You do--want to marry Miss Moore then, Dicky?" he asked diffidently. + +Dick looked straight back at him; his eyes shone with a sombre gleam +that came and went. For several seconds he sat silent, then very +steadily he spoke. + +"Yes, I want her all right, Robin, but there are some pretty big +obstacles in the way. I may get over them--and I may not. Time +will prove." + +His lips closed upon the words, and became again a single hard line. His +look went beyond Robin and grew fixed. The boy watched him dumbly with +awed curiosity. + +Suddenly Dick moved, gripped him by the shoulders and pulled him upwards. +"There! Go to bed!" he said. "And don't take any notice of what Jack says +for the future! Don't fight him either! Understand? Leave him alone!" + +Robin blundered up obediently. Again there looked forth from his eyes the +dog-like worship which he kept for Dick alone. "I'll do--whatever you +say, Dicky," he said earnestly. "I--I'd die for you--I would!" He spoke +with immense effort, and all his heart was in the words. + +Dick smiled at him quizzically. "Instead of which I only want you to show +a little ordinary common or garden sense," he said. "Think you can do +that for me?" + +"I'll try, Dicky," he said humbly. + +"Yes, all right. You try!" Dick said, and got up, more moved than he +cared to show. He turned to go, but paused to light Robin's candle from +his own. "And don't forget I'm--rather fond of you, my boy!" he said, +with a brief smile over his shoulder as he went away. + +No, Robin was not likely to forget that, seeing that Dick's love for him +was his safeguard from all evil, and his love for Dick was the +mainspring of his life. But--though his development was stunted and +imperfect--there were certain facts of existence which he was beginning +slowly but surely to grasp. And one of these--before but dimly +suspected--he had realized fully to-night, a fact beyond all questioning +learnt from Dick's own lips. + +Dick's words: "The woman I love," had sunk deep--deep into his soul. And +he knew with that intuition which cannot err that his love for Juliet was +the greatest thing life held for him--or ever could hold again. + +And the driving force gripped Robin's soul afresh as he lay wide-eyed to +the smothering gloom of the night. Whatever happened--whoever +suffered--Dicky must have his heart's desire. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SISTER OF MERCY + + +For five days after that burning afternoon of the flower-show Juliet +scarcely left Vera Fielding's side. During those five days Vera lay +at the point of death, and though her husband was constantly with her +it was to Juliet that she clung through all the terrible phases of +weakness, breathlessness, and pain that she passed. Through the dark +nights--though a trained nurse was in attendance--it was Juliet's hand +that held her up, Juliet's low calm voice that reassured her in the +Valley of the Shadow through which she wandered. Often too spent for +speech, her eyes would rest with a piteous, child-like pleading upon +Juliet's quiet face, and--for Juliet at least--there was no resisting +their entreaty. She laid all else aside and devoted herself body and soul +to the tender care of the sick woman. + +Edward Fielding regarded her with reverence and a deep affection that +grew with every day that passed. She was always so gentle, so capable, so +undismayed. He knew that her whole strength was bent to the task of +saving Vera's life, and even when he most despaired he found himself +leaning upon her, gathering courage from the resolute confidence with +which she shouldered her burden. + +"She never thinks of herself at all," he said once to Saltash between +whom and himself a friendship wholly unavoidable on his part and also +curiously pleasant had sprung up. "I suppose in her position of companion +she has been more or less trained for this sort of thing. But her +devotion is amazing. She is absolutely indispensable to my wife." + +"_Juliette_ seems to have found her vocation," observed Saltash with a +lazy chuckle. "But no, I should not say that she was specially trained +for this sort of thing, though certainly it seems to suit her passing +well. All the same, you won't let her carry it too far, will you? Now +that Mrs. Fielding is beginning to rally a little it might be a good +opportunity to make her take a rest." + +"Yes, you're right. She must rest," Fielding agreed. "She is so +marvellous that one is apt to forget she must be nearly worn out." + +It was the fifth day and Vera had certainly rallied. She lay in the +sombre old library, that had been turned into the most luxurious bedroom +that Saltash's and Juliet's ingenuity could devise, listening to the +tinkle of the water in the conservatory and watching Juliet who sat in a +low chair by her side with a book in her lap ready to read her to sleep. + +There was a couch in the conservatory itself on which sometimes on rare +occasions Juliet would snatch a brief rest, leaving the nurse to watch. +Columbus regarded this couch as his own particular property, but he +always gave his beloved mistress an ardent welcome and squeezed himself +into as small a compass as possible at the foot for her benefit. +Otherwise, he occupied the middle with an arrogance of possession which +none disputed. The door into the garden was always open, and Columbus was +extremely happy, being of supremely independent habits and quite capable +of trotting round to the kitchen premises of the castle for his daily +portion without disturbing anyone en route. How he discovered the kitchen +Juliet never knew. Doubtless his exploring faculty stood him in good +stead. But his appearance there was absolutely regular and orderly, and +he always returned to the conservatory when he had been fed with the +bustling self-importance of one whose time was of value. He never entered +the sick-room except on invitation, and he never raised his voice above a +whisper when in the conservatory. It was quite evident that he fully +grasped the situation and accommodated himself thereto. All he asked of +life was to be near his beloved one, and the snuffle of his greeting +whenever she joined him was ample testimony to the joy of his simple +soul. Just to see her, just to hear her voice, just sometimes to kiss and +be kissed, what more could any dog desire? + +Certainly an occasional scamper after rabbits in the park made a salutary +change, but Columbus was prudent and he never suffered himself to be +drawn very far in pursuit. A sense of duty or expediency always brought +him back before long to the couch in the conservatory to lie and watch, +brighteyed, for the only person who counted in his world. + +He was watching for her now, but without much hope of her coming. She +seldom left Vera's bedside in the afternoon for it was then, in the heat +of the day, that she usually suffered most. But to-day she had been +better. Today for the first time she was able to turn her head and smile +and even to murmur a few sentences without distress. Her eyes dwelt upon +Juliet's quiet face with a wistful affection. She had come to lean upon +her strength with a child's dependence. + +"Quite comfortable?" Juliet asked her gently. + +"Quite," Vera made whispered reply. "But you--you look so tired." + +Juliet smiled at her. "I dare say I shall fall asleep if you do," she +said. + +"You ought to have a long rest," said Vera, and then her heavy eyes +brightened and went beyond her as her husband's tall figure came softly +in from the conservatory. + +He came to her side, stooped over her, and took her hand. Her fingers +closed weakly about his. + +"Send her to bed!" she whispered. "She is tired. You come instead!" + +He bent and kissed her forehead with a tenderness that made her cling +more closely. "Shall I do instead?" he asked her gently. + +She offered him her lips though she was panting a little. "Yes, I want +you. Make Juliet--go to bed!" + +He turned to Juliet, his wife's hand still in his. All the hard lines +were smoothed out of his face. There was something even pathetic about +his smile. + +"Will you go to bed, Juliet," he said in that new gentle voice of his, +"and leave me in charge?" + +She got up. "I will lie down in the conservatory," she said. + +"No--no!" He put his free hand on her arm with a touch of his customary +imperiousness. "That won't do. You're to go to bed properly--and sleep +till you can't sleep any longer. Yes, that's an order, see?" He smiled +again at her, his sudden transforming smile. "Be a good child and do as +I tell you! Cox is within call. We'll certainly fetch you if we find we +can't do without you." + +Juliet's eyes went to Vera. + +"Yes, she wants to get rid of you too," said the squire. "We're pining to +be alone. No, we won't talk. We won't do anything we ought not, eh, Vera, +my dear? Nurse will be getting up in another hour so we shan't have it to +ourselves for long." + +He had his way. He could be quite irresistible when he chose. Juliet +found herself yielding without misgiving, though till then he had only +been allowed at Vera's bedside for a few minutes at a time. Vera was +certainly very much better that day, and she read in her eyes the desire +to meet her husband's wishes. She paused to give him one or two +directions regarding medicine, and then went quietly to the door of the +conservatory. + +Columbus sprang to greet her with a joy that convulsed him from head to +tail, and she gathered him up in her arms and took him with her, passing +back through the library in time to see the squire lay his face down upon +the slender hand he held and kiss it. + +In the great hall outside she found Saltash loitering. He came at once to +meet her, and had taken Columbus from her before she realized his +intention. + +"He is too heavy for you, _ma cherie_," he said, with his quizzing smile. +"Lend him to me for this afternoon! He's getting disgracefully fat. I'll +take him for a walk." + +Relieved of Columbus' weight, she became suddenly and overpoweringly +aware of a dwindling of her strength. She said no word, but her face +must have betrayed her, for the next thing she knew was Saltash's arm +like a coiled spring about her, impelling her towards the grand +staircase. + +"I'll take you to your room, _Juliette_," he said. "You might miss the +way by yourself. You're awfully tired, aren't you?" + +It was absurd, but a curious desire to weep possessed her. + +"Yes, I know," said Saltash, with his semi-comic tenderness. "Don't mind +me! I knew you'd come to it sooner or later. You're not used to playing +the sister of mercy are you, _ma mie_, though it becomes you--vastly +well." + +"Don't, Charles!" she murmured faintly. + +"My dear, I mean no harm," he protested, firmly leading her upwards. "I +am only--the friend in need." + +She took him at his word though half against her will. He guided her up +the branching staircase to the gallery above, bringing her finally to a +tall oak door at the further end. + +"Here is your chamber of sleep, _Juliette_! Now will you make me a +promise?" + +She left his supporting arm with an effort. "Well, what is it?" + +"That you will go to bed in the proper and correct way and sleep +till further notice," he said. "You can't go for ever, believe me. +And you need it." + +He was looking at her with a softness of persuasion that sat so oddly on +his mischievous monkey-face that in spite of herself, with quivering +lips, she smiled. + +"You're very good, Charles Rex," she said. "I wonder how much longer you +will manage to keep it up." + +He bowed low. "Just as long as I have your exemplary example before me," +he said. "Who knows? We may both fling our caps over the windmill before +we have done." + +She shook her head, made as if she would enter the room, but paused. "You +will take care of Columbus?" she said. + +"Every care," he promised. "If I fail to bring him back to you intact you +will never see my face again." + +She had opened the door behind her, but still she paused. "Charles!" + +Her voice held an unutterable appeal. A grin of sheer derision gleamed +for a second in his eyes and vanished. "They ring up from the Court every +day, _Juliette_. Presumably he gets the news by that channel. He has not +troubled to obtain it in any other way." + +"How could he?" Juliet said, but her face was paler than before; it had a +grey look. "He is busy with his work all day long. What time has he +for--other things?" + +"Exactly, _ma cherie_! One would not expect it of him. Duty +first--pleasure afterwards, is doubtless his motto. Very worthy--and +very appropriate, for one of his profession. Unquestionably, it will +become yours also--in time." + +A faint, sad smile crossed Juliet's face. She made no response, and in a +moment Saltash bent and swept up Columbus under his arm. + +"_Adieu_, sister of mercy!" he said lightly. "I leave you to your +dreams." + +He went away along the gallery, and she entered the room and shut +herself in. + +For a second or two she stood quite motionless in the great luxurious +apartment. Then slowly she went forward to the wide-flung window, and +stood there, gazing blankly forth over the distant fir-clad park. He had +said that he would see her again. It seemed so long ago. And all through +this difficult time of strain and anxiety he had done nothing--nothing. +She did not realize until that moment how much she had counted upon the +memory of those last words of his. + +Ah well! Perhaps--as Charles Rex hinted--it was better. Better to end it +all thus, that midsummer madness of theirs that had already endured too +long! They had lived such widely sundered lives. How could they ever have +hoped ultimately to bridge the gulf between? + +Charles was right. His shrewd perception realized that dwelling as they +did in separate spheres they were bound to be fundamentally strangers +to one another. Surely Dick himself had foreseen it long since down on +that golden shore when first he had sought to dissuade her from going +to the Court! + +Her heart contracted at the memory. How sweet those early days had +been! But the roses had faded, the nightingales had ceased to sing. It +was all over now--all over. The dream was shattered, and she was weary +unto death. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SACRIFICE + + +"I expect it's one of them abscies again," said Mrs. Rickett +sympathetically. "Have you been to the doctor about it, my dear?" + +Robin, sitting heaped in the wooden arm-chair in her kitchen, +looked at her with a smouldering glow in his eyes. "Don't like +doctors," he muttered. + +Mrs. Rickett sighed and went on with her ironing. "No more do I, Robin. +But we can't always do without 'em. Have you told your brother now?" + +Robin, sullenly rocking himself to and fro, made no reply for several +seconds. Then very suddenly: "He asked me if I'd got a headache and I +told him No," he flung out defiantly. "What's the good of bothering him? +He can't do anything." + +"The doctor might, you know," Mrs. Rickett ventured again, with a glance +through the window at Freddy who had been sent out to amuse himself and +was staggering with much perseverance in the wake of an elusive chicken. +"It's wonderful what they can do now-a-days to make things better." + +"Don't want to be better," growled Robin. + +She turned and looked at him in astonishment. "You didn't ought to say +that, my dear," she said. + +Again he raised his heavy eyes to hers and something she saw in +them--something she was quite at a loss to define--went straight to +her heart. + +"Robin, my dear, what's the matter?" she said. "Is there something that's +troubling you?" + +Again Robin was silent for a space. His eyes fell dully to the ground +between his feet. At last, in a tone of muttered challenge, he spoke. +"Don't want it to get better. Want it to end." + +"Sakes alive!" said Mrs. Rickett, shocked. "You don't know what +you're saying." + +He did not contradict her or lift his eyes again, merely sat there like a +hunched baboon, his head on his chest, his monstrous body slowly rocking. + +There followed a lengthy silence. Mrs. Rickett ironed and folded, ironed +and folded, with a practised hand, still keeping an eye on the small +chicken-chaser outside. + +After several minutes, however, the boy's utter dejection of attitude +moved her to attempt to divert his thoughts. "I wonder when our young +lady will be coming to see us again," she said. + +Robin uttered a queer sound in his throat; it was almost like the moan of +an animal in pain. He said nothing. + +She gave him an uneasy glance, but still kind-heartedly she persevered in +her effort to lift him out of his depression. "She was always very +friendly-like," she said. "You liked her, didn't you Robin?" + +Robin shifted his position with a sharp movement as though he winced at +some sudden dart of pain. "What should make her come back?" he said. +"She'll stay away now she's gone." + +"Oh, I expect we shall be seeing her again some day," said Mrs. Rickett, +"when poor Mrs. Fielding is a bit stronger. She's busy now, but she'll +come back, you'll see." + +Again almost violently Robin moved in his chair. "She won't!" he flung +out in a fierce undertone. "Tell you she won't!" + +"How can you possibly know?" reasoned Mrs. Rickett. + +"I do know," he said doggedly. "She won't come back,--anyhow not +till--" his utterance trailed off into an unintelligible murmur in his +throat and he became silent. + +Mrs. Rickett shook out a small damp garment, and spread it upon the table +with care. "I don't see how anyone is to say as she won't come back," she +said. "Of course I know she's a lady born, but that don't prevent her +making friends among humbler folk. She's talked of this place more than +once as if she'd like to settle here." + +"She won't then!" growled Robin. "She'll never do that, not +while--." Again he became inarticulate, muttering deeply in his throat +like an animal goaded to savagery. + +Mrs. Rickett turned from her ironing to regard him. She had never found +Robin hard to understand before, but there was something about him to-day +which was wholly beyond her comprehension. He was like some wild creature +that had received a cruel wound. Dumb resentment and fiery suffering +seemed to mingle in his half uttered sentences. As he sat there, huddled +forward with his hands pathetically clenched she thought she had never +seen a more piteous sight. + +"Lor', Robin, my dear!" she said. "What ever makes you know such a lot? +Why shouldn't she come back then? Tell me that!" + +He shook his shaggy head, but more in protest than refusal. + +Mrs. Rickett bent down over him, her kindly red face full of the most +motherly concern. + +"What's troubling you, Robin?" she said. "You aren't--fretting for +her, are you?" + +He threw her one of his wild, furtive looks, and again in his eyes she +caught a glimpse of something that deeply moved her. She laid a +comforting hand on his shoulder. + +"Is that it, lad? Are you wanting her? Ah, don't fret then--don't fret! +She'll surely come back--some day." + +The boy's face quivered. He looked down at his clenched hands, and at +length jerkily, laboriously, he spoke, giving difficult and bitter +utterance to the trouble that gnawed at his heart. + +"It's--Dicky that wants her. But she won't come--she won't come--while +I'm here." A sudden hard shiver went through him, he drew his breath +through his set teeth, with a desperate sound. "No woman would," he said +with hard despair. + +And then abruptly, as if with speech his misery had become unendurable, +he blundered to his feet with outflung arms, making the only outcry +against fate that his poor stunted brain had ever accomplished. "It isn't +fair!" he wailed. "It isn't right! I'm going to God--to tell Him so!" + +He turned with the words, the impulse of the stricken creature urging +him, and ignoring the remonstrance which Mrs. Rickett had barely begun he +made headlong for the door, dragged it open, and was gone. + +He went past his little playmate in the yard, shambling blindly for the +open, deaf to the baby's cry of welcome, insensible to everything but the +bitter burden of his pain. He slammed the gate behind him and set off at +a lumbering run down the glaring road. + +The evening sun smote full in his face as he went; but it might have been +midnight, for he neither saw nor felt. Instinct alone guided him--the +instinct of the wild creature, hunted by disaster, wounded to the heart, +that must be alone with its agony and its fruitless strife against fate. + +He went up the cliff-path, but he did not follow it far. Something drew +him down the narrow cleft that led to the spot where first he had seen +her lying on the shingle dreaming with her head upon her arm. He turned +off the path to the place where he had crouched among the gorse-bushes +and flung stones to scare her away, and stood there panting and gazing. + +The memory of her, the gracious charm, the quick sympathy, went through +him, pierced him. He caught his breath as though he listened for the +beloved sound of her voice. She had not been really angry with him for +the wantonness of those stones. She had been very ready with her +forgiveness, her kindly offer of friendship. She had never been other +than kind to him ever since. She had awakened in him the deepest, most +humble gratitude and devotion. She had even once or twice shielded him +from Dicky's never unjust wrath. And he had come to love her second only +to Dicky who must for ever hold the foremost place in his heart. + +He had come to love her--and he stood between her and happiness. He did +not reason the matter. He had small reasoning power. He recognized that +Jack's brain was superior to his, and Jack had made known to him this +monstrous thing. True, Dicky had denied it, but somehow that denial had +not been so convincing as Jack's statement had been. The corrosive poison +had already done its work, and there was no antidote. He knew that Dicky +loved Juliet, knew it from his own lips. "The woman I love--the woman I +love--" How often had the low-spoken words recurred to his memory! And +Dicky was not happy. He had watched him narrowly ever since that night. +Dicky was not really hopeful for the winning of his heart's desire. He +had said there were many obstacles. What they were, Robin could but +vaguely conjecture--save one! And that one stood out in the darkness of +his soul, clear as a cross against the falling night. Dicky had no chance +of winning any woman so long as he--the village idiot--the hideous +abortion--stood in his way. That was the truth as he saw it--the bitter, +unavoidable truth. O God, it wasn't fair--it wasn't fair! + +The evening shadows were lengthening. The waves splashed softly against +the fallen rocks forty to fifty feet below. They seemed to be calling to +him. It was almost like a summons from far away--almost like a bugle-call +heard in the mists of sleep. Somehow they soothed him, lessening the +poignancy of his anguish, checking his wild rebellion, making him aware +of a strangely comforting peace. + +As if God had spoken and stilled his inarticulate protest, the futile +agony of his striving died down. He began to be conscious vaguely that +somewhere within his reach there lay a way of escape. He stared out over +the silver-blue of the sea with strained and throbbing vision. The sun +had gone down behind High Shale, and the quiet shadows stretched towards +him. He had the feeling of a hunted man who has found sanctuary. Again, +more calmly, his tired brain considered the problem that had driven him +forth in such bitterness of soul. + +There was Dicky--Dicky who loved him--whom he worshipped. Yes, certainly +Dicky loved him. He had never questioned that. He was the only person in +the world who had ever wanted him. But a deeper love, a deeper want, had +entered Dicky's life with the coming of Juliet. He wanted her with a +great heart-longing that Robin but dimly comprehended but of which he was +keenly conscious, made wise by the sympathy that linked them. He +knew--and this without any bitterness--that Dicky wanted Juliet as he had +never wanted him. It was an overmastering yearning in Dicky's soul, and +somehow--by some means--some sacrifice--it must be satisfied. Even +Dicky, it seemed, would have to sacrifice something; for he could not +have them both. + +Yes, something would have to be sacrificed. Somehow this obstacle must be +cleared out of Dicky's path. Juliet could not come to Dicky while he was +there. He did not ask himself why this should be, but accepted it as +fact. He then was the main obstacle to Dicky's happiness, to the +fulfilment of his great desire. Then he must go. But whither? And leave +Dicky--and leave Dicky! + +Again for a spell the anguish woke within him, but it did not possess +him so overwhelmingly as before. He had begun to seek for a way out, +and though it was hard to find, the very act of seeking brought him +comfort. His own misery no longer occupied the forefront of his poor +groping brain. + +He sat for a long, long time up there on the cliff while the +shadows lengthened and the day slowly died, turning the matter over +and over while the flame of sacrifice gradually kindled in the +darkness of his soul. + +It was probably the growth of many hours of not too coherent +meditation--the solution of that problem; but it came upon him very +suddenly at the last, almost like the swift wheeling of a flashlight over +the calm night sea. + +He had heard the church clock strike in the distance, and was turning to +leave when that first vision of Juliet swooped back upon him--Juliet in +her light linen dress springing up the path towards him. He saw her as +she had stood there, leaving the path behind her, poised like a young +goddess against the dazzling blue of the spring sky. Her face had been +stern at first, but all the sternness had gone into an amazing kindness +of compassion when her look had lighted upon him. She had not shrunk from +him as shrank so many. And then--and then--he remembered the sudden fear, +the sharp anxiety, that had succeeded that first look of pity. + +He had been standing on the brink of the cliff as he had stood many a +time before--as he stood now. That cliff had been the tragedy of his +ruined life. And yet he loved it, had never known any fear of it. But she +had been afraid for his sake. He had seen the fear leap into her eyes. +And the memory of it came to him now as a revelation. He had found the +way of escape at last! + +The sea was crooning behind him over the half-buried rocks. He stood +again on the brink with his poor worn face turned to the sky. He had come +to the end of his reasoning. The tired brain had ceased to grapple with +the cruel problem that had so tortured it. He knew now what he would do +to help Dicky. And somehow the doing did not seem hard to him, somehow he +did not feel afraid. + +One step back and the cliff fell away behind him. Yet for a space he went +neither forward nor back. It was as though he waited for a word of +command, some signal for release. The first star was gleaming very far +away like a lamp lighted in a distant city. His eyes found it and dwelt +upon it with a wistful wonder. He had always loved the stars. + +He was not angry or troubled any more. All resentment, all turmoil, had +died out of his heart for ever. That strange peace had closed about him +again, and the falling night held no terrors. Rather it seemed to spread +wings of comfort above him. And always the crooning of the sea was like a +voice that softly called him. + +It came very suddenly at the last--the sign for which he waited. Someone +had begun to mount the cliff-path, and--though he was out of sight--he +heard a low, summoning whistle in the darkness. It was Dicky's whistle. +He knew it well. Dicky was coming to look for him. + +For a second every pulse--every nerve--leaped to answer that call. +For a second he stood tense while that surging power within him +sprang upwards, and in sheer amazing fire of sacrifice consumed the +earthly impulse. + +Then it was over. His arms went wide to the night. Without a cry, without +a tremor, he flung himself backwards over the grassy edge. + +The crooning sea and the overhanging cliff muffled the sound of his fall. +And no one heard or saw--save God Who seeth all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE MESSAGE + + +From the day that Juliet relinquished her perpetual vigil, the +improvement in Vera Fielding was almost uninterrupted. She recovered her +strength very slowly, but her progress was marked by a happy certainty +that none who saw her could question. She still leaned upon Juliet, but +it was her husband alone who could call that deep content into her eyes +which was gradually finding a permanent abiding-place in her heart. The +nearness of death had done for them what no circumstance of life had ever +accomplished. They had drawn very close together in its shadow, and as +they gradually left it behind the tie still held them in a bond that had +become sacred to them both. It was as if they had never really known each +other till now. + +All Vera's arrogance had vanished in her husband's presence, just as his +curt imperiousness had given place to the winning dominance which he knew +so well how to wield. "You'll do it for me," was one of his pet phrases, +and he seldom uttered it in vain. She gave him the joyful sacrifice of +love newly-awakened. + +"I wonder if we shall go on like this when I'm well again," she said to +him on an evening of rose-coloured dusk in early August when he was +sitting by her side with her long thin hand in his. + +"Like what?" said Edward Fielding. + +She smiled at him from her pillow. "Well, spoiling each other in this +way. Will you never be overbearing and dictatorial? Shall I never be +furious and hateful to you again?" + +"I hope not," he said. "In fact, I think not." + +He spoke very gravely. She stirred, and in a moment her other hand +came out to him also. He clasped it closely. Her eyes were shining +softly in the dusk. + +"You are--so good to me, Edward--my darling," she said. + +His head was bent over her hands. "Don't!" he muttered huskily. + +Her fingers closed on his. "Edward, will you tell me something?" she +whispered. + +"I don't know," he said. + +"Yes, but I want you to. I'd rather hear it from you. The doctors don't +think I shall ever be fit for much again, do they?" + +She spoke steadily, with a certain insistence. He looked up at her +sharply, with something of a glare in his eyes. + +"You're not going to die--whatever they say!" he declared in a fierce +undertone. + +"No--no, of course not!" She spoke soothingly, still smiling at him, +for that barely checked ferocity of his sent rapture through her soul. +"Do you suppose I'd be such an idiot as to go and die just when I'm +beginning to enjoy life? I'm not the puny heroine of a lachrymose +novel. I hope I've got more sense. No, dear, what I really meant +was--was--am I ever going to be strong enough--woman enough--to give +you--what you want so much?" + +"Vera--my dear!" He leaned swiftly to her, his arm pillowed her head. +"Do you suppose--do you really suppose--I'd let you jeopardize your sweet +life--after this--after this?" + +He was holding her closely to him, and though a little spasm of +breathlessness went through her she gave herself to him with a pulsing +gladness that thrilled her whole being. It was the happiest moment she +had ever known. + +"Oh, Edward," she said, "do you--do you really feel like that?" + +His cheek was against her forehead. He did not speak for a few seconds. +Then, with something of an effort, "Yes," he said. "It's like that with +me now, my dear. I've been through--a good deal--these last days. Now +I've got you back--please God, I'll keep you!" + +She pressed her face against him. "Ah, but Edward, you know you've always +wanted--" + +"Oh, damn my wants!" he broke in impatiently. "I don't want anything +but you now." + +She raised her lips to kiss his neck. "That's the loveliest thing you +ever said to me, darling," she said, with a throb in her voice. "I love +being an invalid--with you to spoil me. But--if you'll +promise--promise--promise--to love me quite as much--if I get well, I +will get well--really well--for your sake." + +Again she was panting. He felt it as he held her, and after a moment or +two very tenderly he laid her back. + +"God bless you, my dear!" he said. "You needn't be afraid. I've learnt my +lesson, and I shan't forget it." + +"The lesson of love!" she murmured, holding his hand against her thumping +heart. + +"Yes. Juliet began the teaching. A wonderful girl that. She seems to +know everything. I wonder where she learnt it." + +"She is wonderful," Vera agreed thoughtfully. "I sometimes think she has +had a hard life. She says so little about herself." + +"She has moved among a fairly rapid lot," observed the squire. "Lord +Saltash is intimate enough to call her by her Christian name." + +"Does he ever talk about her?" asked Vera, interested. + +"Not much," said the squire. + +"You think he is fond of her at all?" + +"I don't know. He doesn't see much of her. I haven't quite got his +measure yet. He isn't the sort of man I thought he was anyway." + +"Then it wasn't true about Lady Joanna Farringmore?" questioned Vera. + +Fielding hesitated. "I don't know," he said again. "I have a suspicion +that that report was not entirely unfounded. But however that may be, she +isn't with him now." + +"You don't think she is--on board the yacht?" suggested Vera. + +"No, I don't. The yacht is being done up for a voyage. A beautiful boat +from all accounts. He is very proud of her. I am to go over her with him +one of these days, when she's ready--which will be soon." + +Vera uttered a short sigh. "I wish we'd get a yacht, Edward," she said. + +"Do you? Why?" He was looking at her attentively, a smile in his eyes. + +She coloured faintly. "I don't know. It's just a fancy, I suppose--a sick +fancy. But I believe I could get well much quicker if I went for a voyage +like that." + +"You'd be bored to death," said Fielding. + +She looked at him through sudden tears. "Bored! With you!" she said. + +He patted her cheek gently. "Wouldn't you be bored? Quite sure? Suppose +we were to borrow that yacht, do you think you'd really like it?" + +Her eyes shone through the tears. "Of course I should love it!" she said. +"Is there--is there any chance of such a thing?" + +"Every chance," said Fielding. "Saltash most kindly placed her, with the +captain and crew, at my disposal only last night." + +"Oh, Edward! How tremendously kind!" She looked at him with an eagerness +that seemed to transform her. "But--but would you like it too? Wouldn't +you--wouldn't you feel it was an awful waste of time?" + +"Waste of time! With you!" smiled Fielding. + +She lifted his hand with a shy movement and put it to her lips. +"Edward--darling, you get dearer every day," she murmured. "What makes +you so good to me?" + +He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I happen to have found +out--quite by accident--that I love you, my dear," he said. + +She smiled at him. "What a happy accident! Then we are really going for +that voyage together? What about--Juliet?" + +"Don't you want Juliet?" he said. + +"Yes, if she would come. But I have a feeling--I don't know why--that she +will not be with us very long. I should be sorry to part with her for we +owe her so much. But--somehow she doesn't quite fit, does she? She would +be much more suitable as--Lady Saltash for instance." + +Fielding laughed. "Saltash isn't the only fish in the sea," he remarked. + +"You are thinking of--Mr. Green?" she questioned, with slight hesitation +before the name. "You know, Edward--" she broke off. + +"Well, my dear?" he said. + +She turned to him impulsively. "I'm sorry I've not been nicer about that +young man. I'm going to try and like him better, just to please you. +But, Edward, you wouldn't want Juliet to marry--that sort of man? You +don't, do you?" + +Fielding had stiffened almost imperceptibly. "It doesn't much matter what +I want," he said, after a moment. "It doesn't rest with me. Neither Dick +nor Juliet are likely to consult my feelings in the matter." + +"I don't want her to throw herself away--like that," said Vera. + +"I don't think you need be afraid," he said. "Juliet knows very well what +she is about. And Dick--well Dick's fool enough to sacrifice the heart +out of his body for the sake of that half-witted boy." + +"How odd of him!" Vera said. "What a pity Robin ever lived to grow up!" + +"He's been the ruin of Dick's life," the squire said forcibly. "He's +thrown away every chance he ever had on account of Robin. He doesn't +fit--if you like. He's absolutely out of his sphere and knows it. But +he'll never change it while that boy lives. That's the infernal part of +it. Nothing will move him." He stopped himself suddenly. "I mustn't +excite you, my dear, and this is a subject upon which I feel very +strongly. I can't expect you to sympathize because--" he smiled +whimsically--"well, mainly because you don't understand. We had better +talk of something else." + +Vera was looking at him with a slight frown between her eyes. "I didn't +mean to be--unsympathetic," she said, a faint quiver in her voice. + +"Of course not! Of course not!" Hastily he sought to make amends. "I +don't know how we got on the subject. You must forgive me, my dear. I +believe I hear Juliet in the conservatory. We won't discuss this +before her." + +He would have risen, but she detained him. "Edward, just a moment! I want +to ask you something." + +"Well?" Reluctantly he paused. + +"I--only want to know," she spoke with some effort, "what there is +about--Mr. Green that--that makes you so fond of him." + +"Oh, that!" He stood hesitating. But there were certainly footsteps in +the conservatory; he heard them with relief. "I'll tell you some other +time, my dear," he said gently. "Here comes Juliet to turn me out!" + +He turned to the window as she entered and greeted her with a smile. Vera +was still clinging to his hand. + +"May I come in?" said Juliet, stopping on the threshold. + +"Yes, of course, come in!" Vera said. "We have been talking about you, +Juliet. Will you come for a voyage with us in Lord Saltash's yacht?" + +Juliet came slowly forward. Her face was pale. She was holding a +letter in her hand. She looked from one to the other for a second or +two in silence. + +"Are you sure," she said, in her low quiet voice, "that you wouldn't +rather go alone?" + +"Not unless you would rather not come," said the squire. + +"Thank you," she said. "May I--think about it?" + +The squire was looking at her attentively. "What is the matter?" he +said suddenly. + +She met his look steadily, though he felt it to be with an effort. Then +quietly she turned to Vera. + +"I have just had a letter," she said, "from a friend who is in trouble. +Do you think you can spare me--for a little while?" + +Vera stretched a hand to her. "My dear Juliet, I am so sorry. Of course +you shall go. What is it? What has happened?" + +Juliet came to her, took and held the hand. "You are very kind," she +said. "But I don't want you to be troubled too. There is no need. You are +sure you will be all right without me?" + +"You will come back to me?" Vera said. + +"I will certainly come back," Juliet made steadfast answer, "even if I +can't stay. But now that you are able to sit up, you will need me less. +You will take care of her, Mr. Fielding?" looking up at him. + +He nodded. "You may be sure of that--the utmost care. When must you go?" + +He was still looking at her closely; his eyes deeply searching. + +Juliet hesitated. "Do you think--to-night?" she said. + +"Certainly. Then you will want a car. Have you told Lord Saltash?" He +turned to the door. + +"No, I have only just heard. I believe he has gone to town." Juliet +gently laid down the hand she was holding. "I will come back," she said +again, and followed him. + +He drew the door closed behind them. They faced each other in the dimness +of the hall. The squire's mouth was twitching uncontrollably. "Now, +Juliet!" His voice had a ring of sternness; he put his hand on her +shoulder, gripping unconsciously. "For heaven's sake--" he said--"out +with it! It isn't--Dick?" + +"No--Robin!" she said. + +"Ah!" He drew a deep breath and straightened himself, his other hand +over his eyes. Then in a moment he was looking at her again. His grip +relaxed. "Forgive me!" he said. "Did I hurt you?" + +She gave him a faint smile. "It doesn't matter. You understand, don't +you? I must go--to Dick." + +He nodded. "Yes--yes! Is the boy--dead?" + +"No. It was a fall over the cliff. It happened last night. They didn't +find him for hours. He is going fast. Jack brought me this." She glanced +down at the letter in her hand. + +He made a half-gesture to take it, checking himself sharply. "I beg your +pardon, Juliet, I hardly know what I'm doing. It's from Dick, is it?" + +Very quietly she gave it to him. "You may read it. You have a right to +know," she said. + +He gave her an odd look. "May I? Are you sure?" + +"Read it!" she said. + +He opened it. His fingers were trembling. She stood at his shoulder and +read it with him. The words were few, containing the bald statement, but +no summons. + +The squire read them, breathing heavily. Suddenly he thrust his arm round +Juliet and held her fast. + +"Juliet! You'll be good to my boy--good to Dick?" + +Her eyes met his. "That is why I am going to him," she said. She took the +note and folded it, standing within the circle of his arm. + +"I'd go to him myself--if I could," Fielding went on unevenly. "He'll +feel this--damnably. He was simply devoted to that unfortunate boy." + +"I know," said Juliet. + +Again he put his hand to his eyes. "I've been a beast about Robin. Ask +him to forgive me, Juliet! Tell him I'm awfully sorry, that I'll come as +soon as I can get away. And if there's anything he wants--anything under +the sun--he's to have it. See? Make him understand!" + +"He will understand," Juliet said quietly. + +He looked at her again. "Don't let him fret, Juliet!" he said urgently. +"You'll comfort him, won't you? I know I'm always rating him, but he's +such a good chap. You--you love him, don't you?" + +"Yes," she said. + +"God bless you for that!" he said earnestly. "I can't tell you what he is +to me--can't explain. But--but--" + +"I--understand," she said. + +"What?" He stared at her for a moment. "What--do you understand?" + +"I know what he is to you," she said gently. "I have known--for a long +time. Never mind how! Nobody told me. It just came to me one day." + +"Ah!" Impulsively he broke in. "You see everything. I'm afraid of +you, Juliet. But look here! You won't--you won't--make him +suffer--for my sins?" + +Her hand pressed his arm. "What am I?" she said. "Have I any right to +judge anyone? Besides--oh, besides--do you think I could possibly go +to him if I did not feel that nothing on earth matters now--except +our love?" + +She spoke with deep emotion. She was quivering from head to foot. He bent +very low to kiss the hand upon his arm. + +"And you will have your reward," he said huskily. "Don't forget--it's +the only thing in life that really counts! There's nothing +else--nothing else." + +Juliet stood quite still looking down at the bent grey head. "I wonder," +she said slowly, "I wonder--if Dick--in his heart--thinks the same!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ANSWER + + +The August dusk had deepened into night when the open car from the Court +pulled up at the schoolhouse gate. The school had closed for the summer +holidays a day or two before. No lights shone in either building. + +"Do you mind going in alone?" whispered Jack. "I can't show here. But +I'll wait inside the park-gates to take you back." + +"You needn't wait," Juliet said. "I shall spend the night at the +Court--unless I am wanted here." + +She descended with the words. She had never liked Jack Green, and she was +thankful that the rapid journey was over. She heard him shoot up the +drive as she went up the schoolhouse path. + +In the dark little porch she hesitated. The silence was intense. Then, +as she stood in uncertainty, from across the bare playground there +came a call. + +"Juliet!" + +She turned swiftly. He was standing in the dark doorway of the school. +The vague light of the rising moon gleamed deathly on his face. He did +not move to meet her. + +She went to him, reached out hands to him that he did not take, and +clasped him by the shoulders. "Oh, you poor boy!" + +His arms held her close for a moment or two, then they relaxed. + +"I don't know why I sent for you," he said. + +"You didn't send for me, Dick," she made gentle answer. "But I think you +wanted me all the same." + +He groaned. "Wanted you! I've--craved for you. You told the squire?" + +"Yes. He said--" + +He broke in upon her with fierce bitterness. "He was pleased of course! I +knew he would be. That's why I couldn't send the message to him. It had +to be you." + +"Dick! Dick! He wasn't pleased! You don't know what you're saying. He was +most terribly sorry." She put her arm through his with a very tender +gesture. "Won't you take me inside and tell me all about it?" she said. + +He gave a hard shudder. "I don't know if I can, Juliet. It's been--so +awful. He suffered--so infernally. The doctor didn't want to give him +morphia--said it would hasten the end." He stamped in a sort of impotent +frenzy. "I stood over him and made him. It was just what I wanted to do. +It was--it was--beyond endurance." + +"Oh, my dear!" she said. + +He put his hands over his face. "Juliet,--it was--hell!" he said +brokenly. "When I wrote that note to you--I thought the worst was over. +But it wasn't--it wasn't! He was past speaking--but his eyes--they kept +imploring me to let him go.--O God, I'd given my soul to help him! And I +could do--nothing--except see him die!" + +Again a convulsive shudder caught him. Juliet's arms went around him. She +held his head against her breast. + +"It's over now," she whispered. "Thank God for that!" + +He leaned upon her for a space. "Yes, it's over. At least he died in +peace," he said, and drew a hard, quivering breath. Then he stood up +again. "Juliet, I'm so sorry. Come inside! I'll light the lamp. I +couldn't stand that empty house--with only my boy's dead body in it. Mrs. +Rickett has been there, but she's gone now." He turned and pushed open +the door. "Wait a minute while I light up!" + +She did not wait, but followed him closely, and stood beside him while +he lighted a lamp on the wall. He turned from doing so and smiled at +her, and she saw that though his face was ghastly, he was his own +master again. + +"How did you get here?" he said. "Who took the note? The doctor promised +to get it delivered." + +"Jack brought it," she said. "I came back with him." + +"Jack!" His brows drew together suddenly. She saw his black eyes gleam. +For a moment he said nothing further. Then: "If--Jack comes anywhere near +me to-night, I shall kill him!" he said very quietly. + +"Dick!" she said in amazement. + +There was a certain awful intentness in his look. "I hold him responsible +for this," he said. + +She gazed at him, assailed by a swift wonder as to his sanity. + +In a second he saw the doubt and replied to it, still with that deadly +quietness that seemed to her more terrible than violence. "I know what I +am saying. He is--directly responsible. My boy died for my sake, because +he believed what Jack told him--that no woman would ever consent to marry +me while he lived." + +"Oh, Dick! You don't mean--he did it--on purpose!" Juliet's voice was +quick with pain. "Dick, surely--surely--it wasn't that! You are making +a mistake!" + +"No. It is no mistake," he said, with sombre conviction. "I know it. Mrs. +Rickett knows it too. It's been preying on his mind ever since. He hasn't +been well. He's suffered with his head a good deal lately. He--" He +stopped himself. "There's no need to distress you over this. Thank you +for coming. I didn't really expect you. Is he--is Jack--waiting to take +you back?" + +"No," said Juliet quietly. + +His brows went up. "You are sleeping at the Court? I'll take you there." + +"I'm not going yet, Dick," she said gently, "unless you turn me out." + +His face quivered unexpectedly. He turned from her. "There's--nothing to +wait for," he said. + +But Juliet stood motionless. Her eyes went down the long bare room with +its empty forms and ink-splashed desks. She thought it the most desolate +place she had ever seen. + +After an interval of blank silence Dick spoke again. "Don't you stay! I'm +not myself to-night. I can't--think. It was awfully good of you to come. +But don't--stay!" + +"Dick!" she said. + +At sound of her voice he turned. His eyes looked at her out of such a +depth of misery as pierced her to the heart. She saw his hands clench +against his sides. "O my God!" he said under his breath. + +"Dick!" she said again very earnestly. "Don't send me away! Let me +help you!" + +"You can't," he said. "You've been too good to me--already." + +"You wouldn't say that to me if I were--your wife," she said. + +He flinched sharply. "Juliet! Don't torture me! I've had--as much as I +can stand to-night." + +She held out her hand to him with a gesture superbly simple. "My dear, I +will marry you to-morrow if you will have me," she said. + +He stood for a long second staring at her. Then she saw his face change +and harden. The ascetic look that she had noticed long ago came over it +like a mask. + +"No!" he said. "No!" + +Again he turned from her. He went away up the long room, the bare boards +echoing to the tramp of his feet with a dull and hopeless sound. He came +to a stand before the writing-table at the further end, and from there he +spoke to her, his words brief, as it were edged with steel. + +"Can you imagine how Cain felt when he said that his punishment was +greater than he could bear? That's how I feel to-night. I am like Cain. +Whatever I touch is cursed." + +The words startled her. Again for a second she wondered if the suffering +through which he had passed had affected his brain. But she felt no fear. +She kept her purpose before her, clear and steadfast as a beacon shining +in the dark. + +"You are not like Cain," she said. "And even if you were, do you think I +should love you any the less?" + +He made a desperate gesture. "Would you love me if I were a +murderer?" he said. + +"I love you--whatever you are," she made unfaltering reply. + +He turned upon her, almost like an animal at bay. "I am--a murderer, +Juliet!" he said, a terrible fire in his eyes. + +In spite of herself she flinched, so awful was his look. "Dick, what do +you mean?" + +He flung out a hand as if to keep her from him though she had not moved. +"I will tell you what I mean, and then--you will go. On the night Robin +was born,--I killed his father!" + +"Dick!" she said. + +He went on rapidly. "I was a boy at the time, but I had a man's purpose. +My mother was dying. They sent me to fetch him. I loathed the man. So did +she. He was at The Three Tuns--drinking. I hung about till he came out. +He was blind drunk, and the night was dark. He took the wrong path that +led to the cliff, and I let him go. In the morning they found him on the +rocks, dead. I might have saved him. I didn't. I went back to my mother, +and stayed with her--till she died." + +"Oh Dick--my dear!" she said. + +He stood stiffly facing her. "I never repented. I'd do the same again +now--or worse, to such a man as that. He was a brute beast. But--I +suppose God doesn't allow these things. Anyway, I've been +punished--pretty heavily. I got fond of the boy. He was the only thing +left to care for. He took the place of everything else. And now--because +of a damnable lie--" Something seemed to rise in his throat, he paused, +struggling with himself, finally went on jerkily, with difficulty. "One +more thing--you'd better know. It'll help you to--forget me. The man I +killed was not my own father--except in name. My mother refused to marry +the man she loved because she thought it would injure his career--his +people threatened to disown him. She gave herself instead to--the +scoundrel whose name I bear--just to set him free." + +Again he stopped. Juliet had moved. She was coming up the long room to +him, not quickly, but with purpose. He stood, still facing her, his +breathing short and hard. + +Quietly, with that regal bearing that was so supremely her own, she drew +near. And her eyes were shining with a light that made her beautiful. She +reached him and stood before him. + +"Dick," she said, "I am not like your mother. I've been fighting against +it, but it's too strong for me. I have got to marry--the man I love." + +He made an impotent gesture, and she saw that he was trembling. + +She stood a moment, then reached out, took his arms, and drew them +gently round her. "Are you still trying to send me away?" she said. +"Because--it's stronger than both of us, Dick--and I'm not going--I'm +not going!" + +He looked into the shining, steadfast eyes, and suddenly the desperate +strain was over. His resistance snapped. "God forgive me!" he said under +his breath, and caught her passionately close. + +There was that in his hold--perhaps because of the fulness of her +surrender--that had never been before,--something flaming, something +fiercely electric, in his swift acceptance of her. As he clasped her, she +felt the wild throbbing of his heart like the pulsing force of a racing +engine. He kissed her, and in his kiss there was more than the lover's +adoration. It held the demand and mastery of matehood. By it he claimed +and sealed her for his own. + +When his hold relaxed, she made no effort to withdraw herself. She leaned +against him gasping a little, but her eyes--with the glory yet shining in +them--were still raised to his. + +"So that's settled, is it?" she said, with a quivering smile. "You are +quite sure, Dick?" + +His hands were clasped behind her. His look had a certain burning quality +as if he challenged all the world for her possession. + +"What am I to say to you, Juliet?" he said, his words low, deeply +vibrant. "I can't deny--my other self--can I?" + +"I don't know," she said. "You were very near it, weren't you? I thought +you had--all these weeks." + +"Ah!" His brows contracted. "Will you forgive me, Juliet? I've had--an +infernal time." + +"Yes. I know," she said gently. + +"No, dear, you don't know. How could you? Your life hasn't been one +perpetual struggle against overwhelming odds like mine." He paused. "Look +here, darling! I'm rather a fool to-night. I can't explain things. But +you've been very wonderful to me. You've lighted a torch in the dark. I +kept away because--it didn't seem fair to you to do anything else. You +were back in your own inner circle, and I was miles outside. And you +never wanted to be bound. When I saw you with--Lord Saltash--I knew why." + +"My dear!" she said. "You didn't imagine I was in love with +Saltash surely!" + +"No--no!" he said. "I knew you weren't. And yet--somehow--I felt you +were nearer to his world than mine. I realized it more and more as the +days went on. And my boy was ill--I couldn't leave him. Juliet--" a hint +of entreaty crept into his voice--"I can't explain. But somehow here on +my own ground it's--different. I feel you belong to me here. I know I can +win and hold you. But there--there--you are--leagues and leagues above +me--far out of reach." + +"Oh, Dick!" she said. "I thought you had more sense! Don't you +realize--yet--that your world is the world I want to be in? I want to +forget that other world--just to blot it out of my life--if only you will +make that possible." + +"If I will!" he said, with a deep breath. And then suddenly he took her +face between his hands, looking closely into her eyes. "Don't you care +about--all the horrible things I've told you?" he said. "Does it make no +difference at all to you?" + +She was still smiling--a tremendous smile. "It doesn't seem much like +it, does it?" she said. "I'm not such a saint myself, Dick. Moreover, I +knew about--some things--before I came." + +"What things?" he said. + +She made a very winning gesture towards him. "Don't think me a Paul Pry, +dear! But I couldn't help knowing--ages ago--what made the squire--so +fond of you." + +"Juliet!" He gazed at her. "How on earth did you find out?" + +She coloured deeply under his look. "You--are rather alike--in some +ways," she said. "It was partly that and partly being--well, rather +interested in you, I suppose. And Mrs. Rickett told me as much of your +family history as she knew before I ever met you. So, you see, I didn't +have much to fill in." + +"And still it makes no difference?" he said. + +She shook her head. "None whatever. I'm just glad for your sake that the +man you hated so was not your father. But I think you go rather far, +Dick, when you say you killed him." + +The hard onyx glitter shone again in his eyes. "No, it was not an +exaggeration," he said. "I was a murderer that night. I meant him to go +to his death. When he was dead I was glad. He had tortured the only being +I loved on earth. I believed he was my father for quite a long time +after--till the squire came home, and I told him the whole story. +Then--in an impulsive moment--he told me the truth. He cared about my +mother's death--cared badly. They would have been married by that time if +her husband hadn't turned up again. It was two lives spoilt." + +"And what about yours?" she said. + +"Mine!" He smiled rather bitterly. "Well, I've never expected much of +life. I've stuck to my independence and been satisfied with that. He'd +have bossed my destiny if I'd have let him. But I wouldn't. I was +cussed on that point, though if it hadn't been for Robin, I shouldn't +have bothered. I stayed on here for the boy's sake. He wouldn't have +been happy anywhere else. Well," he uttered a weary sigh, "that +chapter's closed." + +She pressed his arm. "Dick, we might never have met but for that." + +"Oh, we might have met," he said. "But--you'd probably have detested +me--under any other circumstances." + +She smiled at him with a touch of wistfulness. "And you me, Dick. Neither +of us would have looked below the surface if we'd met in the general +hurly-burly. We shouldn't have had time. So we have a good deal to be +thankful for, haven't we?" + +He drew her to him again. The desperate misery had passed from his face, +but he looked worn out. "What on earth should I do without you?" he said. + +"I don't know, dear," she answered tenderly. "I hope you are not going to +try any longer, are you?" + +His lips were near her own. "Juliet, will you stay--within reach--till +after the funeral?" + +"Yes," she breathed. + +"And then--then--will you--marry me?" His whisper was even lower than +hers. The man's whole being pulsed in the words. + +Her arms went round his neck. "I will, dearest." + +His breath came quickly. "And if--if--later--you come upon some things +that hurt you--things you don't understand--will you remember how I've +been handicapped--and--forgive me?" + +Her eyes looked straight up to his. They held a shadowy smile. "Dick,--I +was just going--to say that--to you!" + +He pressed her to his heart. "Ah, my Juliet!" he said. "Could anything +matter to us--anything on earth--except our love?" + +In the deep silence her lips answered his. There was no further need +for words. + + + + +PART IV + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FREE GIFT + + +"I'm not quite sure that I call this fair play," said Saltash with a +comical twist of the eyebrows. "I didn't expect all these developments in +so short a time." + +"There are no further rules to this game," said Juliet, squeezing +Columbus around his sturdy shoulders as he sat on the bench beside her. +"Whoever wins--or loses--no one has any right to complain." + +She spoke without agitation, but her face was flushed, and there was +something about the clasp of her arm that made Columbus look up with +earnest affection. + +"If that's so," said Saltash, "I can withdraw my protection without +compunction." + +She smiled. "No doubt you can, most puissant Rex! But it really wouldn't +answer your purpose. You've nothing to gain by treachery to a friend, and +it would give you a horrid taste afterwards." + +He made a face at her. "That's your point of view. And what am I to say +when I meet Muff and all the rest of the clan again?" + +She gave a slight shrug. "Do you think it matters? They are much too +busy chasing after their own affairs to give me a second thought. If +I were Lady Jo, they might be interested--for half-an-hour--not a +minute longer." + +Saltash made a mocking sound. "I know one person whose interest would +last a bit longer than that--if you were Lady Jo." + +"Indeed?" said Juliet. + +"Yes--indeed, _ma Juliette_! I met him the other day at the Club before I +went North, and it may interest you to know that he is determined to find +her--and marry her--or perish in the attempt." + +"It doesn't interest me in the least," said Juliet. + +"No? Hard-hearted as ever!" Saltash's grin was one of sheer mischief. +"Well, he seemed to share the popular belief that I know where the +elusive Lady Jo is to be found. I really can't think what I've done to +deserve such a reputation. I was put through a pretty stiff +cross-examination, I can tell you." + +"I have no doubt you were more than equal to it," said Juliet. + +Saltash broke into a laugh. "It was such a skilful fencing-match that I +imagine we left off much as we began. But I don't flatter myself that I +am cleared of suspicion. In fact it wouldn't surprise me at all to find I +was being shadowed--not for the first time in my disreputable career." + +"I wonder when you will marry and turn respectable," said Juliet. + +He made an appalling grimace. "Follow your pious example? May +heaven forbid!" + +She looked at him, faintly smiling. "Wait till the real thing comes to +you, Charles Rex! You won't feel so superior then." + +"Do you know how old I am?" said Saltash. + +"Thirty-five," said Juliet idly. + +Again his brows went up. "How on earth do you know these things +off-hand?" + +Her grey eyes were quizzical. "You are quite young enough yet to be +happy--if only the right woman turns up." + +He leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head, and contemplated +her with a criticism that lasted several seconds. His dark face wore its +funny, monkeyish look of regret, half-wistful and half-feigned. + +"I wish--" he said suddenly--"I wish I'd come down here when you first +began to rusticate." + +"Why?" said Juliet, with her level eyes upon him. + +He laughed and sprang abruptly to his feet. "_Quien sabe_? I might have +turned rustic too--pious also, my _Juliette_! Think of it! Life isn't +fair to me. Why am I condemned always to ride the desert alone?" + +"Mainly because you ride too hard," said Juliet. "None but you can keep +up the pace. Ah!" She turned her head quickly, and the swift colour +flooded her face. + +"Ah!" mocked Saltash softly, watching her. "Is it Romeo's step +that I hear?" + +Columbus wagged his tail in welcome as Dick Green came round the corner +of the Ricketts' cottage and walked down under the apple-trees to join +them. He greeted Saltash with the quiet self-assurance of a man who +treads his own ground. There was no hint of hostility in his bearing. + +"I've been expecting you," he said coolly. + +"Have you?" said Saltash, a gleam of malicious humour in his eyes. "I +thought there was something of the conquering hero about you. I have +come--naturally--to congratulate you on your conquest." + +"Thank you," said Dick, and seated himself on the bench beside Juliet and +Columbus. "That is very magnanimous of you." + +"It is," agreed Saltash. "But if I had known what was in the wind I +might have carried it still further and offered you Burchester Castle for +the honeymoon." + +"How kind of you!" said Juliet. "But we prefer cottages to castles, don't +we, Dick? We might have had the Court. The squire very kindly suggested +it. But we like this best--till our own house is in order." + +"Still rusticating!" commented Saltash. "I should have thought your +passion for that would have been satisfied by this time. I seem to have +got out of touch with you all during my stay in Scotland. I never meant +to go there this year, but I got lured away by Muff and his crowd. Mighty +poor sport on the whole. I've often wished myself back. But I pictured +you far away on the _Night Moth_ with Mr. and Mrs. Fielding, and myself +bored to extinction in my empty castle. And so I hung on. I certainly +never expected you to get married in my absence, _ma Juliette_. That was +the unkindest cut of all. Why didn't you write and tell me?" + +"I didn't even know where you were," said Juliet. "You disappeared +without warning. We expected you back at any time." + +"Bad excuses every one of 'em!" said Saltash. "You know you wanted to get +it over before I came back. Very rash of you both, but it's your funeral, +not mine. Is this all the honeymoon you're going to have?" + +Juliet laughed a little. "Well, my dear Rex, it doesn't much matter where +you are so long as you are happy. We spend a good deal of our time on the +sea and in it. We also go motoring in the squire's little car. And we +superintend the decorating of our house. At the same time Dick is within +reach of the miners who are being rather tiresome, so every one--except +the miners--is satisfied." + +"Oh, those infernal miners!" said Saltash, and looked at Dick. "How long +do you think you are going to keep them in hand?" + +"I can't say," said Dick somewhat briefly. "I don't advise Lord +Wilchester or any of his people to come down here till something has been +done to settle them." + +Saltash laughed. "Oh, Muff won't come near. You needn't be afraid of +that. He's deer-stalking in the Highlands. He's a great believer in +leaving things to settle themselves." + +"Is he?" said Dick grimly. "Well, they may do that in a fashion he won't +care for before he's much older." + +"Are you organizing a strike?" suggested Saltash, a wicked gleam of +humour in his eyes. + +Dick's eyes flashed in answer. "I am not!" he said. "But--I'm damned if +they haven't some reason for striking--if he cares as little as that!" + +"How often do you tell 'em so?" said Saltash. + +Juliet's hand slipped quietly from Columbus's head to Dick's arm. "May I +have a cigarette, please?" she said. + +He turned to her immediately and his fire died down. He offered her his +cigarette-case in silence. + +Juliet took one, faintly smiling. "Do you know," she said to Saltash, "it +was Dick's cigarettes that first attracted me to him? When I landed on +this desert island, I had only three left. He came to the rescue--most +nobly, and has kept me supplied ever since. I don't know where he gets +them from, but they are the best I ever tasted." + +"He probably smuggles 'em," said Saltash, offering her a match. + +"No, I don't," said Dick, rather shortly. "I get them from a man in town. +A fellow I once met--Ivor Yardley, the K. C.--first introduced me to +them. I get them through his secretary who has some sort of interest in +the trade." + +A sudden silence fell. Juliet's cigarette remained poised in the act of +kindling, but no smoke came from her lips. She had the look of one who +listens with almost painful intentness. + +The flame of the lighted match licked Saltash's fingers, and he dropped +it. "Pardon my clumsiness! Let's try again! So you know Yardley, do you?" +He flung the words at Dick. "Quite the coming man in his profession. +Rather a brute in some ways, cold-blooded as a fish and wily as a +serpent, but interesting--distinctly interesting. When did you meet him?" + +"Early this year. I consulted him on a matter of business. I have no +private acquaintance with him." Dick was looking straight at Saltash with +a certain hardness of contempt in his face. "You evidently are on terms +of intimacy with him." + +"Oh, quite!" said Saltash readily. "He knows me--almost as well as you +do. And I know him--even better. I was saying to _Juliette_ just now +that I believe he shares the general impression that I have got Lady Jo +Farringmore somewhere up my sleeve. She did the rabbit trick, you know, +a week or two before the wedding, and because I was to have been the +best man I somehow got the blame. Wonder if he'd have blamed you if +you'd been there!" + +Dick stiffened. "I think not," he said. + +"Not disreputable enough?" laughed Saltash. + +"Not nearly," said Juliet, coming out of her silence. "Dick has rather +strong opinions on this subject, Charles, so please don't be flippant +about it! Will you give me another match?" + +He held one for her, his eyebrows cocked at a comical angle, open +derision in the odd eyes beneath them. Then, her cigarette kindled, he +sprang up in his abrupt fashion. + +"I'm going. Thanks for putting up with me for so long. I had to come and +see you, Juliette. You are one of the very few capable of appreciating me +at my full value." + +"I hope you will come again," she said. + +He bowed low over her hand. "If I can ever serve you in any way," he +said, "I hope you will give me the privilege. Farewell, most estimable +Romeo! You may yet live to greet me as a friend." + +He was gone with the words with the suddenness of a monkey swinging off a +bough, leaving behind him a silence so marked that the fall of an unripe +apple from the tree immediately above them caused Columbus to start and +jump from his perch to investigate. + +Then Juliet, very quiet of mien and level of brow, got up and went to +Dick who had risen at the departure of the visitor. She put her hand +through his arm and held it closely. + +"You are not to be unkind to my friends, Richard," she said. "It is the +one thing I can't allow." + +He looked at her with some sternness, but his free hand closed at once +upon hers. "I hate to think of you on terms of intimacy with that +bounder," he said. + +She smiled a little. "I know you do. But you are prejudiced. I can't give +up an old friend--even for you, Dick." + +He squeezed her hand. "Have you got many friends like that, Juliet?" + +She flushed. "No. He is the only one I have, and--" + +"And?" he said, as she stopped. + +She laid her cheek with a very loving gesture against his shoulder. +"Ah, don't throw stones!" she pleaded gently. "There are so few of us +without sin." + +His arm was about her in a moment, all his hardness vanished. "My own +girl!" he said. + +She held his hand in both her own. "Do you know--sometimes--I lie awake +at night and wonder--and wonder--whether you would have thought of +me--if you had known me in the old days?" + +"Is that it?" he said very tenderly. "And you thought I was sleeping like +a hog and didn't know?" + +She laughed rather tremulously, her face turned from him. "It isn't +always possible to bury the past, is it, however hard we try? I hope +you'll make allowances for that, Dick, if ever I shock your sense of +propriety." + +"I shall make allowances," he said, "because you are the one and only +woman I worship--or have ever worshipped--and I can't see you in any +other light." + +"How dear of you, Dicky!" she murmured. "And how rash!" + +"Am I such an unutterable prig?" he said. "I feel myself that I have got +extra fastidious since knowing you." + +She laughed at that, and after a moment turned with impulsive sweetness +and put her cigarette between his lips. "You're not a prig, darling. You +are just an honourable and upright gentleman whom I am very proud to +belong to and with whom I always feel I have got to be on my best +behaviour. What have you been doing all this time? I should have come to +look for you if Saltash hadn't turned up." + +Dick's brows were slightly drawn. "I've been talking to Jack," he said. + +"Jack!" She opened her eyes. "Dick! I hope you haven't been quarrelling!" + +He smiled at her anxious face, though somewhat grimly. "My dear, I don't +quarrel with people like Jack. I came upon him at the school. I don't +know why he was hanging round there. He certainly didn't mean me to catch +him. But as I did so, I took the opportunity for a straight talk--with +the result that he leaves this place to-morrow--for good." + +"My dear Dick! What will the squire say?" + +"I can manage the squire," said Dick briefly. + +She smiled and passed on. "And Jack? What will he do?" + +"I don't know and I don't care. He's the sort of animal to land on his +feet whichever way he falls. Anyhow, he's going, and I never want to +speak or hear of him again." Dick's thin lips came together in a hard, +compelling line. + +"Are you never going to forgive him?" said Juliet. + +His eyes had a stony glitter. "It's hardly a matter for forgiveness," he +said. "When anyone has done you an irreparable injury the only thing left +is to try and forget it and the person responsible for it as quickly as +possible. I don't thirst for his blood or anything of that kind. I simply +want to be rid of him--and to wipe all memory of him out of my life." + +"Do you always want to do that with the people who injure you?" +said Juliet. + +He looked at her, caught by something in her tone. "Yes, I think so. +Why?" + +"Oh, never mind why!" she said, with a faint laugh that sounded +oddly passionate. "I just want to find out what sort of man you are, +that's all." + +She would have turned away from him with the words, but he held her with +a certain dominance. "No, Juliet! Wait! Tell me--isn't it reasonable to +want to get free of anyone who wrongs you--to shake him off, kick him off +if necessary,--anyway, to have done with him?" + +"I haven't said it was unreasonable," she said, but she was trembling as +she spoke and her face was averted. + +"Look at me!" he said. "What? Am I such a monster as all that? +Juliet,--my dear, don't be silly! What are you afraid of? Surely +not of me!" + +She turned her face to him with a quivering smile. "No! I won't be silly, +Dick," she said. "I'll try to take you as I find you and--make the best +of you. But, to be quite honest, I am rather afraid of the hard side of +you. It is so very uncompromising. If I ever come up against it--I +believe I shall run away!" + +"Not you!" he said, trying to look into the soft, down-cast eyes. "Or if +you do you'll come back again by the next train to see how I am bearing +up. I've got you, Juliet!" He lifted her hand, displaying it exultantly, +closely clasped in his. "And what I have--I hold!" + +"How clever of you!" said Juliet, and with a swift lithe movement +freed herself. + +His arms went round her in a flash. "I'll make you pay for that!" he +vowed. "How dare you, Juliet? How dare you?" + +She resisted him for a second, or two, holding him from her, +half-mocking, half in earnest. Then, as his hold tightened, encompassing +her, she submitted with a low laugh, yielding herself afresh to him under +the old apple-tree, in full and throbbing surrender to his love. + +But when at last his hold relaxed, when he had made her pay, she took his +hand and pressed a deep, deep kiss into his palm. "That is--a free gift, +Dicky," she said. "And it is worth more than all the having and holding +in the world." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FRIENDSHIP + + +It was on a misty evening of autumn that Vera Fielding entered her +husband's house once more like a bride returning from her wedding-trip. +There was something of the petted air of a bride about her as she came in +on the squire's arm throwing her greetings right and left to the +assembled servants, and certainly there was in her eyes more of the +shining happiness of a bride than they had ever held before. Her face was +flushed with a pretty eagerness, and the petulant lines about her mouth +were far less apparent than of old. Her laugh had a gay spontaneous ring, +and though her voice still had a slightly arrogant inflection it was not +without softer notes when she addressed the squire. + +"I feel as if we had been away for years and years," she said to him, as +they stood together before the blazing fire in the drawing-room. "Isn't +it strange, Edward? Only three months in reality, and such a difference!" + +He was lifting the heavy coat from her shoulders, but she turned with it +impulsively and caught him round the neck. + +"My dear!" he said, and clasped her coat and all. + +"It is going to last, isn't it?" she said, her breath coming quickly. +"You promised--you promised--to love me just as much if I got well!" + +He kissed her with reassuring tenderness. "Yes, my girl, yes! It's going +to last all right. We're going to make a happy home of it, you and I." + +She clung to him for a few seconds, then broke away with a little laugh. +"You'll have to hunt this winter, Edward. You're getting stout." + +"And shoot too," said the squire. "There promises to be plenty of birds. +We'd better have a party if you feel up to it." + +She looked at him with kindling eyes. "I'm up to anything. I should love +it. Do you think Lord Saltash would come?" + +"We must certainly ask him," said, the squire. "But you're not to work +too hard, mind! That's an order. Let people look after themselves!" + +"I'll get Juliet to come and help me," she said. "She must have lots of +spare time. By the way, they'll be here to dine in another hour. I must +go and dress." + +"Have some tea first!" he said. "They won't mind waiting." + +She slipped her hand through his arm. "Come and have it upstairs! It +really is late. We'll have a cosy time together afterwards--when +they're gone." + +He smiled upon her indulgently. They had grown very near to one another +during their cruise in the _Night Moth_. To him also their home-coming +held something of bridal gladness. He had never seen her so glowing with +happiness before. The love that shone in her eyes whenever they met his +own stirred him to the depths. He had never deemed her capable of such +affection in the old days. It had changed his whole world. + +They went upstairs together closely linked. They entered Vera's room from +which she imperiously dismissed her maid. They sat down on the couch +beside the fire. + +"Do you remember that awful day when we quarrelled about Dick Green?" +said Vera suddenly. + +He kept her hand in his. "Don't!" he said. "Don't remind me of it!" + +Her laugh had in it a thrill that was like a caress. "Wasn't I a pig, +Edward? And weren't you a tyrant? I haven't seen you in one of your royal +rages since. I always rather admired them, you know." + +"I know you hated me," he said, "and I'm not surprised." + +She made a face at him. "Silly! I didn't. I thought you the finest +monster I had ever seen. So you were--quite magnificent." She put up a +hand and stroked his iron-grey hair. "Well, we shan't quarrel about young +Green any more," she said. + +"I wonder," said the squire, not looking at her. + +"I don't." She spoke with confidence. "I'm going to be tremendously nice +to him--not for Juliet's sake--for yours." + +"Thank you, my dear," he said, with an odd humility of utterance that +came strangely from him. "I shall appreciate your kindness. As you +know--I am very fond of Dick." + +"You were going to tell me why once," she said. + +He took her hand and held it for a moment. "I will tell you +to-night," he said. + +The maid came in again with a tea-tray, and they had no further intimate +talk. The squire became restless and walked about the room while he +drank his cup. When he had finished, he went away to his own, and Vera +was left to dress. + +Her maid was still putting the final touches when there came a low knock +at the door. She turned sharply from her mirror. + +"Is that you, Juliet? Come in! Come in!" + +Quietly the door opened, and Juliet entered. + +"My dear!" said Vera, and met her impulsively in the middle of the room. + +"I had to come up," Juliet said. "I hope you don't mind, but neither Dick +nor I can manage to feel like ordinary guests in this house." + +She was smiling as she spoke. The white scarf was thrown back from her +hair. The gracious womanliness of her struck Vera afresh with its charm. + +She held her and looked at her. "My dear Juliet, it does me good to see +you. How is Dick? And how is Columbus?" + +"They are both downstairs," Juliet said, "and one is working too hard +and the other not hard enough. I had to bring dear Christopher. You +don't mind?" + +"Of course not, my dear. I would have sent him a special invitation if I +had thought. Come and take off your coat! We got in rather late or I +should have been downstairs to receive you." + +"Tell me how you are!" Juliet said. "I don't believe I have ever seen you +looking so well." + +"I haven't felt so well for years," Vera declared. "But I have promised +Edward all the same to go up to town and see his pet doctor and make sure +that the cure is complete. Personally I am quite sure. But Edward is such +a dear old fusser. He won't be satisfied with appearances." + +She laughed on an indulgent note, and Juliet smiled in sympathy. + +"Well, you've given him good cause for that, haven't you? And you enjoyed +the cruise? I am so glad you had good weather." + +"It was gorgeous," said Vera. "I must write and tell Lord Saltash. He has +given me the time of my life. Have you seen anything of him by the way?" + +"Only once," said Juliet. "He came over to congratulate us. But that is +some time ago. He may be at the other end of the world by this time." + +"No, I think not," Vera said. "I believe he is in England. Was he--at all +upset by your marriage, Juliet?" + +Juliet laughed a little. "Oh, not in the least. He keeps his heart in a +very air-tight compartment I assure you. I have never had the faintest +glimpse of it." + +"But you are fond of him," said Vera shrewdly. + +"Oh yes, quite fond of him," Juliet's eyes had a kindly softness. "I have +never yet met the woman who wasn't fond of Charles Rex," she said. + +"Does--your husband like him?" asked Vera. + +Juliet shook her head quizzically. "No. Husbands don't as a rule." + +"Something of a poacher?" questioned Vera. + +"Oh, not really. Not since he grew up. I believe he was very giddy in +his youth, and then a girl he really cared for disappointed him. So +the story runs. I can't vouch for the truth of it, or even whether he +ever seriously cared for her. But he has certainly never been in +earnest since." + +"What about Lady Joanna Farringmore?" said Vera suddenly. + +Juliet was standing before the fire. She bent slightly, the warm glow +softly tinging her white neck. "I should have thought that old fable +might have died a natural death by this time," she said. + +Vera gave her a sharp look. There was not actual distaste in Juliet's +tone, yet in some fashion it conveyed the impression that the subject was +one which she had no desire to discuss. + +Vera abandoned it forthwith. "Suppose we go downstairs," she said. + +They went down to find Dick and Columbus patiently waiting in the hall. +Vera's greeting was brief but not lacking in warmth. The thought of +Juliet married to the schoolmaster had ceased to provoke her indignation. +She even admitted to herself that in different surroundings Dick might +have proved himself to possess a certain attraction. She believed he was +clever in an intellectual sense, and she believed it was by this quality +that he had captivated Juliet. The fiery force of the man, his almost +fierce enthusiasms, she had never even seen. + +But she was immediately aware of a subtle and secret link between the two +as they all met together in the genial glow of the fire. Dick's eyes that +flashed for a second to Juliet and instantly left her, told her very +clearly that no words were needed to establish communion between them. +They were in close sympathy. + +She gave Dick a warmer welcome than she had ever extended to him before, +and found in the instant response of his smile some reason for wonder at +her previous dislike. Perhaps contact with Juliet had helped to banish +the satire to which in the old days she had so strongly objected. Or +perhaps--but this possibility did not occur to her--he sensed a +cordiality in the atmosphere which had never been present before. + +When the squire came down they were all chatting amicably round the +fire, and he smiled swift approval upon his wife ere he turned to greet +his guests. + +"Hullo, Dick!" he said, as their hands met. "Still running the same +old show?" + +"For the present, sir," said Dick. + +They had not met since the occasion of Dick's and Juliet's marriage when +the squire had come over immediately before the sailing of the _Night +Moth_ to be present, and to give her away. He had been very kind to them +both during the brief hour that he had spent with them, and the memory +of it still lingered warmly in Juliet's heart. She had grown very fond of +the squire. + +There were no awkward moments during that dinner which was more like a +family gathering than Juliet had thought possible. The change in Vera +amazed her. She was like a traveller who after long and weary journeying +in shady places had come suddenly into bright sunshine. And she was +younger, more ardent, more alive, than Juliet had ever seen her. + +The same change was visible, though not so noticeable, in the squire. He +too had come into the sun, but he trod more warily as one who--though +content with the present--was by no means certain that the fair weather +would last. His manner to his wife displayed a charming blend of +tenderness and self-restraint; yet in some fashion he held his own with +her, and once, meeting Juliet's eyes, he smiled in a way that reminded +her of the day on which she had dared to give him advice as to the best +means of securing happiness. + +Dick was apparently in good spirits that night, and he was plainly at his +ease. Having taken his cue from his hostess, he devoted himself in a +large measure to her entertainment, and all went smoothly between them. +When she and Juliet left the table she gave him a smiling invitation to +come and play to them. + +"I haven't brought the old banjo," he said, "but I'll make my wife sing. +She is going to help me this winter at the Club concerts." + +"Brave Juliet!" said Vera, as she went out. "I wouldn't face that crowd +of roughs for a king's ransom." + +"She has nothing to be afraid of," said Dick with quick confidence. "I +wouldn't let her do it if there were any danger." + +"They seem to be in an ugly mood just now," said the squire. + +"Yes, I know." Dick turned back to him, closing the door. "But, taken the +right way, they are still manageable. There is just a chance that we may +keep them in hand if that fellow Ivor Yardley can be induced to see +reason. The rest of the Wilchester crew don't care a damn, but he has +more brains. I'm counting on him." + +"How are you going to get hold of him?" questioned Fielding. + +"I suppose I must go up to town some week-end. I haven't told Juliet yet. +Unlike the average woman, she seems to have a holy hatred of London and +all its ways. So I presume she will stay behind." + +"Perhaps we could get him down here," suggested the squire. + +Dick gave him a swift look. "I've thought of that," he said. + +"Well?" said Fielding. + +Dick hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure that I want him," he said. +"He and Saltash are friends for one thing. And there are +besides--various reasons." + +"You don't like Saltash?" said the squire. + +Dick laughed a little. "I don't hate him--though I feel as if I ought to. +He's a queer fish. I don't trust him." + +"You're jealous!" said Fielding. + +Dick nodded. "Very likely. He has an uncanny attraction for women. I +wanted to kick him the last time we met." + +"And what did Juliet say?" + +"Oh, Juliet read me a lecture and told me I wasn't to. But I think the +less we see of each other the better--if I am to keep on my best +behaviour, that is." + +"It's a good thing someone can manage you," remarked Fielding. "Juliet +is a wonderful peacemaker. But even she couldn't keep you from coming to +loggerheads with Jack apparently. What was that fight about?" + +Dirk's brows contracted. "It wasn't a fight, sir," he said shortly. "I've +never fought Jack in my life. He did an infernal thing, and I made him +quit, that's all." + +"What did he do?" asked the squire. Then as Dick made a gesture of +refusal: "Damn it, man, he was in my employment anyway! I've a right to +know why he cleared out." + +Dick pushed back his chair abruptly and rose. He turned his back on the +squire while he poked the blazing logs with his foot. Then: "Yes, you've +a perfect right to know," he said, speaking jerkily, his head bent. "And +of course I always meant to tell you. It won't appeal to you in the +least. But Juliet understands--at least in part. He was responsible +for--my boy's death. That's why I made him go." + +It was the first time that he had voluntarily spoken of Robin since the +day that he and Juliet had followed him to his grave. He brought out the +words now with tremendous effort, and having spoken he ceased to kick at +the fire and became absolutely still. + +The squire sat at the table, staring at him. For some seconds the silence +continued, then irritably he broke it. + +"Well? Go on, man! That isn't the whole of the story. What do you mean +by--responsible? He didn't shove him over the cliff, I suppose?" + +"No," Dick said. "He didn't do that. I almost wish he had. It would have +been somehow--more endurable." + +Again he became silent, and suddenly to the squire sitting frowning at +the table there came a flash of intuition that told him he could not +continue. He got up sharply, went to Dick, still frowning, and laid an +impulsive arm across his shoulders. + +"I'm sorry, my lad," he said. + +Dick made a slight movement as if the caress were not wholly welcome, +but after a moment he reached up and grasped the squire's hand. + +"It hit me pretty hard," he said in a low voice, not lifting his hand. +"Juliet just made it bearable. I shall get over it, of course. But--I +never want to see Jack again." + +Again for a space he stopped, then with a sudden fierce impatience +jerked on. + +"You may remember saying to me once--no; a hundred times over--that I +should never get anywhere so long as I kept my boy with me--never find +success--or happiness--never marry--all that sort of rot. It was rot. I +always knew it was. I've proved it. She would have come to me in any +case. And as for success--it doesn't depend on things of that sort. I've +proved that too. But he--Jack--got hold of the same infernal parrot-cry. +Oh, I'm sorry, sir," he glanced upwards for a second with working lips. +"I can't dress this up in polite language. Jack said to my boy Robin what +you had said to me. And he--believed it--and so--made an end." + +He drew his breath hard between his teeth and straightened himself, +putting Fielding's arm quietly from his. + +"Good God!" said Fielding. "But the boy was mad! He never was normal. You +can't say--" + +"Oh, no, sir." With grim bitterness Dick interrupted. "He just took the +shortest way out, that's all. He wasn't mad." + +"Committed suicide!" ejaculated the squire. + +Dick's hands were clenched. "Do you call it that," he said, "when a man +lays down his life for his friends?" + +He turned away with the words as if he could endure no more, and walked +to the end of the room. + +Fielding stood and watched him dumbly, more moved than he cared to show. +At length, as Dick remained standing before a bookcase in heavy silence, +he spoke, his tone an odd mixture of peremptoriness and persuasion. + +"Dick!" + +Dick jerked his head without turning or speaking. + +"Are you blaming me for this?" the squire asked. + +Dick turned. His face was pale, his eyes fiercely bright. "You, sir! Do +you think I'd have sat at your table if I did?" + +"I don't know," the squire said sombrely. "You're fond of telling me I +have no claim on you, but I have--for all that. There is a bond between +us that you can't get away from, however hard you try. You think I +can't understand your feelings in this matter, that I'm too sordid in +my views to realize how hard you've been hit. You think I'm only +pleased to know that you're free from your burden, at last, eh, Dick, +and that your trouble doesn't count with me? Think I've never had any +of my own perhaps?" + +He spoke with a half-smile, but there was that in his voice that made +Dick come swiftly back to him down the long room; nor did he pause +when he reached him. His hand went through the squire's arm and +gripped it hard. + +"I'm--awfully sorry, sir," he said. "If you understand--you'll +forgive me." + +"I do understand, Dick," the squire said with great kindness. "I know +I've been hard on you about that poor boy. I'm infernally sorry for the +whole wretched business. But--as you say--you'll get over it. You've +got Juliet." + +"Yes, thank God!" Dick said. "I don't know how I should endure life +without her. She's all I have." + +The squire's face contracted a little. "No one else, Dick?" he said. + +Dick glanced up. "And you, sir," he amended with a smile. "I'm afraid I'm +rather apt to take you for granted. I suppose that's the bond you spoke +of. I haven't--you know I haven't--the least desire to get away from it." + +"Thank you," Fielding said, and stifled a sigh. "Life has been pretty +damnable to us both, Dick. We might have been--we ought to have +been--much more to each other." + +"There's no tie more enduring than friendship," said Dick quickly. "You +and I are friends--always will be." + +Fielding's eyes had a misty look. "The best of friends, Dick lad," he +said. "But will--friendship--give me the right to offer you help without +putting up your pride? I don't want to order your life for you, but you +can't go on with this village _domini_ business much longer. You were +made for better things." + +"Oh, that!" Dick said, and laughed. "Yes, I'm going to chuck that--but +not just at once. Listen, sir! I have a reason. I'll tell you what it is, +but not now, not yet. As to accepting help from you, I'd do that +to-morrow if I needed it, but I don't. I've no pride left where you are +concerned. You're much too good to me and I'm much too grateful. Is that +quite clear?" + +He gave the squire a straight and very friendly look, then wheeled round +swiftly at the opening of the door. + +They were standing side by side as Vera threw it impatiently wide. She +stood a second on the threshold staring at them. Then: "Are you never +coming in?" she said. "I thought--I thought--" she stammered suddenly and +turned white. "Edward!" she said, and went back a step as if something +had frightened her. + +Dick instantly went forward to her. "Yes, Mrs. Fielding. We're coming +now," he said. "Awfully sorry to have kept you waiting. We've had things +to talk about, but we've just about done. You're coming, aren't you, sir? +Take my arm, I say! You look tired." + +He offered and she accepted almost instinctively. Her hand trembled on +his arm as they left the room, and he suddenly and very impulsively laid +his own upon it. + +It was a protective impulse that moved him, but a moment later he +adjusted the position by asking a favour of her--for the first time in +the whole of their acquaintance. + +"Mrs. Fielding, please, after to-day--give me the privilege of numbering +myself among your friends!" + +She looked at him oddly, seeking to cover her agitation with a quivering +assumption of her old arrogance. But something in his face deterred her. +It was not this man's way to solicit favours, and somehow, since he had +humbled himself to ask, she had it not in her to refuse. + +"Very well, Dick," she said, faintly smiling. "I grant you that." + +"Thank you," he said, and gently released her hand. + +It was the swiftest and one of the most complete victories of his life. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CONFESSION + + +It was nearly two hours later that Vera sitting alone before her fire +turned with a slight start at the sound of her husband's step in the room +beyond. She was wearing a pale silk dressing-gown and her hair hung in a +single plait over her shoulder, giving her a curiously girlish look. The +slimness of her figure as she leaned among the cushions accentuated the +fragility which her recent illness had stamped upon her. Her eyes were +ringed with purple, and they had a startled expression that the sound of +the squire's step served to intensify. At the soft turning of the handle +she made a movement that was almost of shrinking. And when he entered she +looked up at him with a small pinched smile from which all pleasure was +wholly absent. + +He was still in evening dress, and the subdued light falling upon him +gave him the look of a man still scarcely past his prime. He stood for a +moment, erect and handsome, before he quietly closed the door behind him +and moved forward. + +"Still up?" he said. + +Again at his approach she made a more pronounced movement of shrinking. +"But, I've been waiting for you," she said rather hopelessly. + +He came to her, stood looking down at her, the old bitter frown +struggling with a more kindly expression on his face. He was obviously +waiting for something with no pleasant sense of anticipation. + +But Vera did not speak. She only sat drawn together, her fingers locked +and her eyes downcast. She was using her utmost strength to keep +herself in hand. + +"Well?" he said at length, a faint ring of irritation in his voice, "Have +you nothing to say to me now I have come?" + +Her lips quivered a little. "I don't think--there is anything to be +said," she said. "I knew--I felt--it was too good to last." + +"It's over then, is it?" he said, the bitterness gaining the upper hand +because of the misery at his heart. "The indiscretions of my youth have +placed me finally beyond the pale. Is that it?" + +She gripped her hands together a little more tightly. "I think you have +been--you are--rather cruel," she said, her voice very low. "If you had +only--told me!" + +He made a gesture of exasperation. "My dear girl, for heaven's sake, +look at the thing fairly if you can! How long have I known you well +enough to let you into my secrets? How long have you been up to hearing +them? I meant to tell you--as you know. I've been on the verge of it +more than once. It wasn't cowardice that held me back. It was +consideration for you." + +She glanced at him momentarily. "I see," she said in that small quivering +voice of hers that told so little of the wild tumult within her. + +"Well?" he said harshly. "And that is my condemnation, is it? Henceforth +I am to be thrust outside--a sinner beyond redemption. Is that it?" + +Her eyelids fluttered nervously, but she did not raise them again. She +leaned instead towards the fire. Her shoulders were bent. She looked +crushed, as if her vitality were gone, and yet so slender, so young, in +her thin wrap. He clinched his hands with a sharp intake of the breath, +and his frown deepened. + +"So you won't speak to me?" he said. "It's beyond words, is it? It's to +be an insurmountable obstacle to happiness for the rest of our lives? We +go back to the old damnable existence we've led for so long! Or +perhaps--" his voice hardened--"perhaps you think we should be better +apart? Perhaps you would prefer to leave me?" + +She flinched at that--flinched as if he had struck her--and then +suddenly she lifted her white face to his, showing him such an anguish of +suffering as he had not suspected. + +"Oh, Edward," she said, "why did this have to happen? We were so +happy before." + +That pierced him--the utter desolation of her--the pain that was too deep +for reproach. He bent to her, all the bitterness gone from his face. + +"My dear," he said in a voice that shook, "can't you see how I loathe +myself--for hurting you--like this?" + +And then suddenly--so suddenly that neither knew exactly how it +happened--they were linked together. She was clinging to him with a rush +of piteous tears, and he was kneeling beside her, holding her fast +pressed against his heart, murmuring over her brokenly, passionately, +such words of tenderness as she had never heard from him before. When in +the end she lifted her face to kiss him, it was wet with tears other than +her own, and somehow that fact did more to ease her own distress than any +consolation he could find to offer. + +She slipped her arm about his neck and pressed her cheek to his. "I'm +thankful I know," she told him tremulously. "Oh, Edward darling, +don't--don't keep anything from me ever again! If I'd only known sooner, +things might have been so different. I feel as if I have never known you +till now." + +"Have you forgiven me?" he said, his grey head bent. + +She turned her lips again to his. "My dear, of course--of course!" +And in a lower voice, "Will you--tell me about her? Did she mean very +much to you?" + +His arm tightened about her. "My darling, it's nearly twenty-three years +ago that she died. Yes, I loved her. But I've never wanted her back. Her +life was such an inferno." He paused a moment, then as she was silent +went on more steadily. "She was eighteen and I was twenty-two when it +began. I was home for a summer vacation, and she had just come to help +her aunt as infant teacher at the school. All the men were wild about +her, but she had no use for any of 'em till I come along. We met along +the shore or on the cliffs. We met constantly. We loved each other like +mad. It got beyond all reason--all restraint. We didn't look ahead, +either of us. We were young, and it was so infernally sweet. I'm not +offering any excuse--only telling you the simple truth. You won't +understand of course." + +She pressed closer to him. "Why shouldn't I understand?" + +He leaned his head against her. "God bless you, my dear! You're very good +to me--far better than I deserve. I was a blackguard, I know. But I never +meant to let her down. That was almost as much her doing as mine--poor +little soul! We were found out at last, and there was a fearful row with +my people. I wanted to take her away then and there, and marry her. But +she wouldn't hear of it--neither would her aunt--a hard, proud woman! I +didn't know then--no one knew--that she was expecting a child, or I'd +have defied 'em all. Instead, she urged and entreated me to go away for a +few weeks--give her time to think, she said. I hoped even then that she +would give in and come to me. But the next thing I knew, she was married +to a brute called Green--skipper of a filthy little cargo-steamer, who +had been after her for some time. She went with him on one or two short +voyages. Heaven knows what she endured in that time. Then the baby was +born--Dick. They called him a seven-months child. But I knew--I guessed +at once. One day I met her--told her so. I saw then--in part--what her +life was like. She was terrified--said Green would kill her if he ever +found out. The man was a great hulking bully--a drunkard perpetually on +shore. He used to beat her as it was. She implored me not to come up +against him, and--for her sake alone--I never did. Then--it was nearly a +year after--he went off on a voyage and didn't come back. The boat was +reported lost with all hands. I think everyone rejoiced so far as he was +concerned. She went back to work at the school, supporting herself and +the child. I never induced her to accept any help from me, but gradually, +as the years went on and my uncle died and I became my own master, I got +into the position of intimate friend. I was allowed to interfere a bit in +Dick's destinies. But for a long, long while she permitted no more than +that. I don't know exactly what made me stick to her. I used to go away, +but I always came back. I couldn't give her up. And at last--twelve years +after Green's disappearance--I won her over. She promised to marry me. +The very day afterwards, that scoundrel Green came back! And her +martyrdom began again." + +"Oh, Edward, my dear!" Vera's hand went up to his face, stroking, +caressing. The suppressed misery of his voice was almost more than she +could bear. "How you suffered!" she whispered. + +He was silent for a moment or two, controlling himself. "It's over now," +he said then. "Thank God, it's a long time over! She died--less than a +year after--when Jack and Robin were born. Her husband fell over the +cliff on the same night in a fit of drunkenness and was killed. That's +all the story. You know the rest. I'm sorry--I'm very sorry--I hadn't the +decency to tell you before we married." + +"You--needn't be sorry, dear," she said very gently. + +He looked at her. "Do you mean that, Vera? Do you mean it makes no +difference to you?" + +She met his eyes with a shining tenderness in her own that gave her a +womanliness which he had never seen in her before. "No," she said, "I +don't mean that. I mean that I'm glad nothing happened to--to prevent my +marrying you. I mean--that I love you ten times more for telling me now." + +He gathered her impulsively close in his arms, kissing her with lips that +trembled. "My own girl! My own generous wife! I'll make up to you," he +vowed. "I'll give you such love as you've never dreamed of. I've been a +brute to you often--often. But that's over. I'll make you happy now--if +it kills me!" + +She laughed softly, with a quivering exultation, between his kisses. +"That wouldn't make me happy in the least. And I don't think you will +find it so hard as that either. You've begun already--quite nicely. Now +that we understand each other, we can never make really serious +mistakes again." + +Thereafter, they sat and talked in the firelight for a long time, +closely, intimately, as friends united after a long separation. And in +that talk the last barrier between them crumbled away, and a bond that +was very sacred took its place. + +In the end the striking of the clock above them awoke Vera to the +lateness of the hour. "My dear Edward, it's to-morrow morning already! +Wouldn't it be a good idea to go to bed?" + +"Of course," he said. "You must be half dead. Thoughtless brute that I +am!" He let her go out of his arms at last, but in a moment paused, +looking at her with an odd wistfulness. "You're sure you've forgiven me? +Sure you won't think it over and find you've made a mistake?" + +Her hands were on his shoulders. Her eyes looked straight into his. "I am +quite sure," she said. + +He began to smile. "What makes you so generous, I wonder? I never thought +you had it in you." + +She leaned towards him, a great glow on her face which made her wonderful +in his sight. "Oh, my dear," she said, "I never had before. But I can +afford to be generous now. What does the past matter when I know that the +present and the future are all my own?" + +His smile passed. He met her look steadfastly. "As long as I live," he +said, "so shall it be." + +And the kiss that passed between them was as the sealing of a vow. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +COUNSEL + + +Juliet and Columbus sat in a sheltered nook on the shore and gazed +thoughtfully out to sea. It was a warm morning after a night of tempest, +and the beach was strewn with seaweed after an unusually high tide. + +Columbus sat with a puckered brow. In his heart he wanted to be pottering +about among these ocean treasures which had a peculiar fascination for +his doggy soul. But a greater call was upon him, keeping him where he +was. Though she had not uttered one word to detain him, he had a strong +conviction that his mistress wanted him, and so, stolidly, he remained +beside her, his sharp little eyes flashing to and fro, sometimes watching +the great waves riding in, sometimes following the curving flight of a +sea-gull, sometimes fixed in immensely dignified contemplation upon the +quivering tip of his nose. His nostrils worked perpetually. The air was +teeming with interesting scents; but not one of them could lure him from +his mistress's side while he sensed her need of him. His body might be +fat and bulging, but his spirit was a thing of keen perceptions and +ardent, burning devotion, capable of denying every impulse save the love +that was its mainspring. + +Juliet was certainly very thoughtful that day. She also was watching the +waves, but the wide brow was slightly drawn and the grey eyes were not +so serene as usual. She had the look of one wrestling with a difficult +problem. The roar of the sea was all about her, blotting out every other +sound, even the calling of the gulls. Her arm encircled Columbus who was +pressed solicitously close to her side. They had been sitting so, almost +without moving, for over half-an-hour. + +Suddenly Columbus turned his head sharply, and a growl swelled through +him. Juliet looked round, and in a moment she had started to her feet. A +man's figure, lithe and spare, with something of a monkey's agility of +movement, was coming to her over the stones. They met in a shelving +hollow of shingle that had been washed by the sea. + +"Oh, Charles!" she said impulsively. "It is good of you to come!" + +He glanced around him as he clasped her hand, his ugly face brimming with +mischief. "It is rather--considering the risk I run. I trust your +irascible husband is well out of the way?" + +She laughed, though not very heartily. "Yes, he has gone to town. I +didn't want him to. I wish I had stopped him." + +He looked at her shrewdly. "You've got an attack of nerves," he observed. + +She still sought to smile--though the attempt was a poor one. "To be +quite honest--I am rather frightened." + +"Frightened!" He pushed a sudden arm around her, looking comical and +tender in the same moment. "And so you sent for me! Then it's Ho for +the _Night Moth_, and when shall we start?" + +She gave him a small push as half-hearted as her laugh had been. "Don't +talk rubbish, please, Charles--if you don't mind! I don't see myself +going on the _Night Moth_ with the sea like that; do you?" + +"Depends," he said quizzically. "You might be persuaded if the devil +were behind you." + +"What! In your company!" Her laugh was more normal this time; she gave +his arm a kindly touch and put it from her. + +"But I'm as meek as a lamb," protested Saltash. + +She met his look with friendly eyes. "Yes, I know--a lamb in wolf's +clothing--rather a frisky lamb, Charles, but comparatively harmless. If I +hadn't realized that--I shouldn't have asked you to come." + +"I like your qualification," he said. "With whom do I compare thus +favourably? The redoubtable Dick?" + +The colour came swiftly into her face and he laughed, derisively but +not unkindly. + +"It's a new thing for me--this sort of job. Are you sure my lamb-like +qualities will carry me through? Do you know, dear, I've never seen you +look so amazing sweet in all my life before? I never knew you could bloom +like this. It's positively dangerous." + +He regarded her critically, his head on one side, an ardour half-mocking, +half-genuine, in his eyes. + +Juliet uttered a sigh. "I feel a careworn old hag," she said. "My own +fault of course. Things are in a nice muddle, and I don't know which +way to turn." + +"One slip from the path of rectitude!" mocked Saltash. "Alas, how fatal +this may prove!" + +She looked away from him. "Do you always jeer at your friends when they +are in trouble?" she said somewhat wearily. + +"Always," said Saltash promptly. "It helps 'em to find their feet--like +lighting the fire when the chimney-sweep's boy got stuck in the chimney. +It's a priceless remedy, my _Juliette_. Nothing like it." + +"I shall begin to hate you directly," remarked Juliet with her +wan smile. + +He laughed, not without complacence. "Do you good to try. You won't +succeed. No one ever does. I gather the main trouble is that Dick has +gone to town when you didn't want him to. Husbands are like that +sometimes, you know. Are you afraid he won't come back--or that he will?" + +"He will come back--to-day," she said. "You know--or perhaps you +don't know--there is going to be a concert to-night for the miners. +He is going to talk to them afterwards. He has gone up to-day to +see--Ivor Yardley." + +"What ho!" said Saltash. "This is interesting. And what does he hope to +get out of him?" + +"I don't know," she said. "I had no idea who he was going to see till +yesterday evening. Mr. Ashcott came in and they were talking, and the +name came out. I am not sure that he wanted me to know--though I don't +know why I think so." + +"And so you sent me an S.O.S.!" said Saltash. "I am indeed honoured!" + +She turned towards him very winningly, very appealingly. "Charles Rex, I +sent for you because I want a friend--so very badly. My happiness is in +the balance. Don't you understand?" + +Her deep voice throbbed with feeling. He stretched out a hand to her with +a quick, responsive gesture that somehow belied the imp of mischief in +his eyes. "_Bien, ma Juliette_! I am here!" he said. + +"Thank you," she said very earnestly. "I knew I could count on you--that +you would not withdraw your protection when once you had offered it." + +"Would you like my advice as well?" he questioned. + +She met his quizzing look with her frank eyes. "What is your +advice?" she said. + +He held her hand in his. "You haven't forgotten, have you, the sole +condition on which I extended my protection to you? No. I thought not. We +won't discuss it. The time is not yet ripe. And, as you say, the _Night +Moth_ in this weather, though safe, might not be a very comfortable +abiding-place. But--don't forget she is quite safe, my _Juliette_! I +should like you to remember that." + +He spoke with a strange emphasis that must in some fashion have conveyed +more than his actual words, for quite suddenly her throat worked with a +sharp spasm of emotion. She put up her hand instinctively to hide it. + +"Thank you," she said. "If I need--a city of refuge--I shall know which +way to turn. Now for your advice!" + +"My advice!" He was looking at her with those odd, unstable eyes of his +that ever barred the way to his inner being. "It depends a little on the +condition of your heart--that. When it comes to this in an obstacle race, +there are three courses open to you. Either you refuse the jump and drop +out--which is usually the safest thing to do. Or you take the thing at +full gallop and clear it before you know where you are. Or you go at it +with a weak heart and come to grief. I don't advise the last anyway. It's +so futile--as well as being beastly humiliating." + +She smiled at him. "Thank you, Charles! A very illuminating parable! +Well, I don't contemplate the first--as you know. I must have a try at +the second. And if I smash,--it's horribly difficult, you know--I may +smash--" Sudden anguish looked at him out of her eyes, and a hard +shiver went through her as she turned away. "Oh, Charles!" she said. "Why +did I ever come to this place?" + +He made a frightful grimace that was somehow sympathetic and shrugged +his shoulders. "If you smash, my dearly-beloved, your faithful comrade +will have the priceless privilege of picking up the pieces. Why you came +here is another matter. I have sometimes dared to wonder if the proximity +of my poor castle--No? Not that? Ah, well then, it must be that our +destinies are guided by the same star. To my mind that is an even more +thrilling reflection than the other. Think of it, my _Juliette_, you and +I--helplessly kicking like flies in the cream-jug--being drawn to one +another, irresistibly and in spite of ourselves, even leaving some of our +legs behind us in the desperate struggle to be calm and reasonable and +quite--quite moral! And then a sudden violent storm in the cream-jug, and +we are flung into each other's unwilling arms where we cling for safety +till the crack of doom when all the milk is spilt! It's no use fighting +the stars, you know. It really isn't. The only rational course is to make +the stars fight for you." + +He peered round at her to see how she was taking his foolery; and in a +moment impulsively she wheeled back, the distress banished from her face, +the old steadfast courage in its place. + +"Oh, Charles, thou king of clowns!" she said. "What a weird +comforter you are!" + +"King of philosophers you mean!" he retorted. "It's taken me a long while +to achieve my wisdom. I don't often throw my pearls about in this +reckless fashion." + +She laughed. "How dare you say that to me? But I suppose I ought to be +humbly grateful. I am as a matter of fact intensely so." + +"Oh, no!" he said. "Not that--from you!" + +His eyes dwelt upon her with a sort of humorous tenderness; she met +them without embarrassment. "You've done me good, Charles," she said. +"Somehow I knew you would--knew I could count on you. You will go on +standing by?" + +He executed a deep bow, his hand upon his heart. "_Maintenant et +toujours, ma Juliette_!" he assured her gallantly. "But don't forget the +moral of my parable! When you jump--jump high!" + +She nodded thoughtfully. "No, I shan't forget. You're a good friend, +Charles Rex." + +"I may be," said Saltash enigmatically. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE THUNDERBOLT + + +Juliet lunched at the Court in Dick's absence. They thought her somewhat +graver and quieter than usual, but there was a gentle aloofness about her +that checked all intimate enquiry. + +"You are not feeling anxious about the miners?" Vera asked her once. + +To which Juliet replied, "Oh no! Not in the least. Dick has such a +wonderful influence over the men. They would never do any brawling with +him there." + +"He has no business to drag you into it all the same," said the squire. + +She looked at him, faintly smiling. "Do you imagine for one moment that I +would stay behind? Besides, there is really no danger. His only fear is +possible friction between the miners and the fishermen. They never have +loved each other, and in their present mood it wouldn't take much to set +the miners alight." + +"I'd let 'em burn!" said the squire. + +"They have some cause for grievance," she urged. "At least Dick +thinks so." + +"Well, and who hasn't, I should like to know?" he returned with warmth. +"How many people are there in the world who don't feel that if they had +their rights they'd be a good deal better off in one respect or another +than they are? But there's no sense in trying to stop the world going +round on that account. That's always the way with these miner chaps. +What's the rest of the community matter so long as they get all they +want? They're not sportsmen. They hit below the belt every time." + +"That's just it," Juliet said. "Dick is trying to teach them to be +sportsmen." + +"Oh, Dick!" said the squire. "He'd reform the world if he could. But he's +wasting his time. They won't be satisfied till they've had their fling. +Lord Wilchester is a wise man to keep out of the way till it's over." + +"I'm afraid I don't agree with you there," Juliet said, flushing a +little. "He might at least hear what they have to say. But they can't get +hold of him. He is abroad." + +"But Yardley is left," said the squire. "I suppose he has power to act." + +"Perhaps," she said, the moment's animation passing. "But it is +Wilchester's business--not his. He shirks his duty." + +"I notice you never have a good word for any of the Farringmore family," +said the squire quizzically. + +She shook her head. "They are all so selfish. It's the family failing, +I'm afraid." + +"You don't share it anyhow," said Vera. + +"Ah! You don't know me," said Juliet. + +They went for a long motor-ride when the meal was over, but at the end of +it, it seemed to Vera that they had talked solely of her affairs +throughout. She knew Juliet's quiet reticence of old and made no attempt +to pierce it. But, thinking it over later, it seemed to her that there +was something more than her usual reserve behind it, and a vague sense +of uneasiness awoke within her. She wondered if Juliet were happy. + +They had tea on their return, but Juliet would not stay any later. She +must be back, she said, to meet Dick and be sure that the supper was +ready in good time. So, regretfully, still with that inexplicable feeling +of doubt upon her, Vera let her go. + +Just at the last she detained her for a moment to say with an effort that +was plainly no light one, "Juliet, don't forget I am here if--if you ever +need a friend!" + +And then Juliet surprised her by a sudden, close embrace and a +low-spoken, "I shall never forget you--or your goodness to me." + +But a second later she was gone, and Vera was left to wonder. + +As for Juliet, she hastened away as one in a fever to escape, yet +before she reached the end of the avenue her feet moved as if weighted +with chains. + +A mist was creeping up from the sea and through it there came the long +call of a distant syren. The waves were no longer roaring along the +shore. The sound of them came muffled and vague, and she knew that the +storm had gone down. + +There was something very desolate in that atmosphere of dimmed sight and +muted sound. It was barely sunset, but the chill of the dying year was in +the air. The thought came to her, suddenly and very poignantly, of that +wonderful night of spring, when she had first wandered along the cliff +with the scent of the gorse-bushes rising like incense all around her, +when she had first heard that magic, flute-like call of youth and love. A +deep and passionate emotion filled and overfilled her heart with the +memory. As she went up the little path to the school-house, her face was +wet with tears. + +Dick had not returned, and she went into the little dining-room and +busied herself with laying the cloth for supper. Their only indoor +servant--a young village girl--was out that evening, but she could hear +Mrs. Rickett who often came up to help moving about the kitchen. She did +not feel in the mood for the good woman's chatter and delayed going in +her direction as long as possible. + +So it came about that, pausing for a few moments at the window before +doing so, she heard the click of the gate and saw the old postman coming +up the path. + +He moved slowly and with some difficulty, being heavily laden as well as +bowed with age and rheumatism. She went quickly to the outer door, and, +accompanied by the growling Columbus, moved to meet him. + +"Evening, ma'am! Here's a parcel for you!" the old man said. "It's books, +and it's all come to bits, but I don't think as I've dropped any of 'em. +You'd best let me bring 'em straight in for I'm all fixed up with 'em +now, and they'll only scatter if you tries to take 'em." + +She led the way within, commiserating him on the weight of his burden +which he thumped down without ceremony on the white cloth that she had +just spread. The parcel was certainly badly damaged, and books in white +covers began to slide out of it the moment they were released. + +"I'll leave you to sort 'em, ma'am," he said airily. "Daresay as they're +not much the worse. Schoolmaster's truck I've no doubt. If there was +fewer books in the world, the postman would have an easier life than what +he does and no one much worse off than they be now--except the clever +folks as writes 'em! Well, I'll be getting along to the Court, ma'am, and +I wish you a very good-night." + +He stumped away, and in the failing evening light Juliet began to gather +up the confusion he had left behind. She found it was not a collection +of paper-backed school-books as she had at first imagined, and since the +contents of the parcel were very thoroughly scattered she glanced at them +with idle curiosity as she laid them together. + +Then with a sudden violent start she picked up one of the volumes and +looked at it closely. The title stood out with arresting clearness on the +white paper jacket: _Gold of the Desert_ by _Dene Strange_. Author of +_The Valley of Dry Bones_, _Marionettes_, etc. + +She caught her breath. Something sprang up within her--something that +clamoured grotesque and incoherent things. Her heart was beating so fast +that it seemed continuous like the dull roar of the sea. The volumes were +all alike--all copies of one book. + +A sheet of paper fluttered from the one she held. She snatched at it +with a curious desperation--as though, sinking in deep waters, she +clutched at a straw. + +_Author's Copies_--_With Compliments_, were the words that stood out +before her widening gaze. She remained as one transfixed, staring at +them. It was as if a thunderbolt had fallen in the quiet room.... + +It must have been many minutes later that she came to herself and found +herself huddled in a chair by the table, shivering from head to foot. She +was conscious of a horrible feeling of sickness, and her heart was +beating slowly, with thick, uneven strokes. + +The room was growing dark. The chill desolation of the world outside +seemed to have followed her in. She could not remember that she had ever +felt so deadly cold before. She could not keep her teeth from chattering. + +Something moved close to her, and she realized what had roused her. +Columbus was standing up by her side, his forepaws against her, his +grizzled nose nudging her arm. She stirred stiffly, and put the arm +about him. + +"Oh--Christopher!" she said, and gasped as if she had not breathed for a +long time. "Oh--Christopher!" + +He leaned up against her, stretching his warm tongue to reach her cheek, +his whole body wriggling with gushing solicitude under her hand. + +She looked down at him with the dazed eyes of one who has received a +stunning blow. "I don't know what we shall do, my doggie," she said. + +And then very suddenly she was on her feet, tense, palpitating, her +head turned to listen. The gate had clicked again, and someone was +coming up the path. + +It was Dick, and he moved with the step of an eager man, reached the +door, opened it, and entered. She heard him in the passage, heard his +tread upon the threshold, heard his voice greeting her. + +"Hullo, darling! All alone in the dark? I've had a beast of a day away +from you." + +His hands reached out and clasped her. She was actually in his arms +before she found her voice. + +"Dick! Dick! Please! I want to speak to you," she said. + +He clasped her close. His lips pressed hers, stopping all utterance for a +while with a mastery that would not be held in check. She could not +resist him, but there was no rapture in her yielding. His love was like a +flame about her, but she was cold--cold as ice. Suddenly, with his face +against her neck, he spoke: "What's the matter, Juliet?" + +She quivered in response, made an attempt to release herself, felt his +arms tighten, and was still. "I have--found out--something," she said, +her voice very low. + +"What is it?" he said. + +She did not answer. A great impulse arose in her to wrench herself +from him, to thrust him back but she could not. She stood--a +prisoner--in his hold. + +He waited a moment, still with his face bent over her, his lips close to +her neck. "Is it anything that--matters?" he asked. + +She felt his arms drawing her and quivered again like a trapped bird. +"Yes," she whispered. + +"Very much?" + +"Yes," she said again. + +"Then you are angry with me," he said. + +She was silent. + +He pressed her suddenly very close. "Juliet, you don't hate me, do you?" + +She caught her breath with a sob that sounded painfully hard and dry. +"I--couldn't have married you--if I had known," she said. + +He started a little and lifted his head. "As bad as that!" he said. + +For a space there was silence between them while his eyes dwelt sombrely +upon the litter of books upon the table, and still his arms enfolded her +though he did not hold her close. When at last she made as if she would +release herself, he still would not let her go. + +"Will you listen to me?" he said. "Give me a hearing--just for a minute? +You have forgiven so much in me that is really bad that I can't feel this +last to be--quite unpardonable. Juliet, I haven't really wronged you. You +have got a false impression of the man who wrote those books. It's a +prejudice which I have promised myself to overcome. But I must have time. +Will you defer judgment--for my sake--till you have read this latest +book, written when you first came into my life? Will you--Juliet, will +you have patience till I have proved myself?" + +She shivered as she stood. "You don't know--what you have done," she +said. + +He made a quick gesture of protest. "Yes, I do know. I know quite well. +I have hurt you, deceived you. But hear my defence anyway! I never meant +to marry you in the first place without telling you, but I always wanted +you to read this book of mine first. It's different from the others. I +wanted you to see the difference. But then I got carried away as you +know. I loved you so tremendously. I couldn't hold myself in. Then--when +you came to me in my misery--it was all up with me, and I fell. I +couldn't tell you then, Juliet, I wasn't ready for you to know. So I +waited--till the book could be published and you could read it. I am +infernally sorry you found out like this. I wanted you--so badly--to +read it with an open mind. And now--whichever way you look at it--you +certainly won't do that." + +There was a whimsical note in his voice despite its obvious sincerity as +he ended, and Juliet winced as she heard it, and in a moment with +resolution freed herself from his hold. + +She did it in silence, but there was that in the action that deeply +wounded him. He stood motionless, looking at her, a glitter of sternness +in his eyes. + +"Juliet," he said after a moment, "you are not treating this matter +reasonably. I admit I tricked you; but my love for you was my excuse. And +those books of mine--especially the one I didn't want you to read--were +never intended for such as you." + +She looked back at him with a kind of frozen wonder. "Then who were they +meant for?" she said. + +He made a slight movement of impatience. "You know. You know very well. +They were meant for the people whom you yourself despise--the crowd you +broke away from--men and women like the Farringmores who live for nothing +but their own beastly pleasures and don't care the toss of a halfpenny +for anyone else under the sun." + +She went back against the table and stood there, supporting herself while +she still faced him. "You forget--" she said, her voice very low,--"I +think you forget--that they are my people--I belong to them!" + +"No, you don't!" he flung back almost fiercely. "You belong to me!" + +A great shiver went through her. She clenched her hands to repress it. "I +don't see," she said, "how I can--possibly--stay with you--after this." + +"What?" He strode forward and caught her by the shoulders. She was aware +of a sudden hot blaze of anger in him that made her think of the squire. +He held her in a grip that was merciless. "Do you know what you are +saying?" he asked. + +She tried to hold him from her, but he pressed her to him with a +dominance that would not brook resistance. + +"Do you?" he said. "Do you?" + +His face was terrible. She felt the hard hammer of his heart against her +own, and a sense of struggling against overwhelming odds came upon her. + +She bowed her head against his shoulder. "Oh, Dick!" she said. "It is +you--who--don't--know!" + +His hold did not relax, and for a space he said no word, but stood +breathing deeply as a man who faces some deadly peril. + +He spoke at length, and in his voice was something she had never heard +before--something from which she shrank uncontrollably, as the victim +shrinks from the branding-iron. + +"And so you think you can leave me--as lightly as Lady Joanna +Farringmore left that man I went to see today?" + +She lifted her head with a gasp. "No!" she said. "Oh, no! +Not--like that!" + +His eyes pierced her with their appalling brightness. "No, not quite like +that," he said, with awful grimness. "There is a difference. An engaged +woman can cut the cable and be free without assistance. A married woman +needs a lover to help her!" + +She shrank afresh from the scorching cynicism of his words. "Dick!" she +said. "Have I asked for--freedom?" + +"You had better not ask!" he flashed back. "You have gone too far +already. I tell you, Juliet, when you gave yourself to me it was +irrevocable. There's no going back now. You have got to put up with +me--whatever the cost." + +"Ah!" she whispered. + +"Listen!" he said. "This thing is going to make no difference between +us--no difference whatever. You cared for me enough to marry me, and I am +the same man now that I was then. The man you have conjured up in your +own mind as the writer of those books is nothing to me--or to you now. I +am the man who wrote them--and you belong to me. And if you leave +me--well, I shall follow you--and bring you back." + +His lips closed implacably upon the words; he held her as though +challenging her to free herself. But Juliet neither moved nor spoke. She +stood absolutely passive in his hold, waiting in utter silence. + +He waited also, trying to read her face in the dimness, but seeing only a +pale still mask. + +At last: "You understand me?" he said. + +She bent her head. "Yes--I understand." + +He stood for a moment longer, then abruptly his hold tightened upon her. +She lifted her face then sharply, resisting him almost instinctively, and +in that instant his passion burst its bonds. He crushed her to him with +sudden mastery, and, so compelling, he kissed her hotly, possessively, +dominatingly, holding her lips with his own, till she strained against +him no longer, but hung, burning and quivering, at his mercy. + +Then at length very slowly he put her down into the chair from which she +had risen at his entrance, and released her. She leaned upon the table, +trembling, her hands covering her face. And he stood behind her, +breathing heavily, saying no word. + +So for a space they remained in darkness and silence, till the +brisk opening of the kitchen-door brought them back to the small +things of life. + +Dick moved. "Go upstairs!" he said, under his breath. + +She stirred and rose unsteadily. He put out a hand to help her. She did +not take it, did not seem even to see it. + +Gropingly, she turned to the door, went out slowly, still as if +feeling her way, reached the narrow stairs and went up them, clutching +at the rail. + +He followed her to the foot and stood there watching her. As she reached +the top he heard her sob. + +An impulse caught him to follow her, to take her again--but how +differently!--into his arms,--to soothe her, to comfort her, to win her +back to him. But sternly he put it from him. She had got to learn her +lesson, to realize her obligations,--she who talked so readily of leaving +him! And for what? + +A wave of hot blood rose to his forehead, and he clenched his hands. He +went back into the room, knowing that he could not trust himself. + +When Mrs. Rickett entered with a lamp a few moments later, he was +gathering up the litter of books and paper from the table, his face white +and sternly set. He gave her a brief word of greeting, and went across to +the school with his burden. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +COALS OF FIRE + + +It was nearly half-an-hour later that Mrs. Rickett ascended the stairs +and knocked at Juliet's door. + +"Supper's been in this long time," she called. "And Mr. Green's still +over at the school." + +There was a brief pause, then Juliet's quiet movement in the room. She +opened the door and met her on the threshold. + +"Why, you haven't got a light!" said Mrs. Rickett. "Is there anything the +matter, ma'am? Aren't you well?" + +"Yes, quite, thank you," Juliet said in her slow gentle voice. "I am +afraid I forgot the time. I will put on my hat before I come down." + +Mrs. Rickett's eyes regarded her shrewdly for a moment or two, then +looked away. "Shall I fetch you a candle?" she said. + +Juliet turned back into the room. "I have one, thank you. Perhaps you +wouldn't mind going to find Mr. Green while I dress." + +Mrs. Rickett hastened away, and Juliet lighted her candle and surveyed +herself for a second, standing motionless before the glass. + +Several minutes later she descended the stairs and went quietly into the +dining-room. She was wearing a large-brimmed hat that shadowed her face. + +Dick, standing by the mantelpiece, waiting for her, gave her a hard and +piercing look as she entered. + +"I am sorry I am late," she said. + +He moved abruptly as if somehow the conventional words had an edge. He +drew out a chair for her. "I am afraid there isn't a great deal of +time," he said. + +She sat down with a murmured word of thanks. He took his place, facing +her, very pale, but absolutely his own master. He served her silently, +and she made some pretence of eating, keeping her head bent, feeding +Columbus surreptitiously as he sat by her side. + +Her plate was empty when at length very resolutely she looked up and +spoke. "Dick, I want you to understand one thing. I did not open that +parcel of yours. It was open when it came." + +Instantly his eyes were upon her with merciless directness. "I gathered +that," he said. + +She met his look unflinchingly, but her next words came with an effort. +"Then you can't--with justice--blame me for surprising your secret." + +"I don't," he said. + +"And yet--" She made a slight gesture of remonstrance, as if the piercing +brightness of his eyes were more than she could bear. + +He pushed back his chair and rose. He came to her as she sat, bent over +her, his hand on her shoulder, and looked at her intently. + +"Juliet," he said, "I don't like you with that stuff on your face. It +isn't--you." + +She kept her face steadily upturned, enduring his look with no sign of +shrinking. "You are meeting--the real me--for the first +time--to-night," she said. + +His mouth curved cynically. "I think not. I have never worshipped at the +shrine of a painted goddess." + +Something rose in her throat and she put up a hand to hide it. "I doubt +if--Dene Strange--was ever capable of worshipping anything," she said. + +His hand closed upon her. "Does that mean that you hate him more than you +love me?" he said. + +A faint quiver crossed her face. She passed the question by. "Do you +remember--Cynthia Paramount--your heroine?" she said. "The woman you +dissected so cleverly--stripped to the naked soul--and exposed to public +ridicule? You were terribly merciless, weren't you, Dick? You didn't +expect--some day--to find yourself married--to that sort of woman." + +His face hardened. "In what way do you resemble her?" he said. "I have +never seen it yet." + +"Can't you see it--now?" she returned, lifting her face more fully to +the light. + +He was silent for several seconds, looking at her. Then very suddenly his +attitude changed. He knelt down by her side and spoke, urgently, +passionately. + +"Juliet--for God's sake--let us remember what we are to each other--and +put the rest away!" + +His arm encircled her. He would have drawn her close, but she held back +with a sharp sound that was almost a cry of pain. + +"Dick, wait--wait a moment! You don't know--don't understand! Ah, +wait--please wait! Take your arm away--just for a moment--please--just +for a moment! I have something to tell you, but I can't say it like this. +I can't--I can't! Ah! What is that?" + +She broke off, gasping, almost fighting for breath, as the sudden rush +and hoot of a car sounded at the gate. + +Dick got to his feet. His face was white. "Are you expecting +someone?" he said. + +She clasped her hands tightly upon her breast to still her agitation. +"No, I'm not expecting--anyone. But--but--someone--has come." + +"Evidently," said Dick. + +He turned towards the door, but in a moment she had sprung up, reaching +it before him. "Dick, if it is Saltash--" + +"Why should it be Saltash?" he said, with that in his voice that arrested +her as compelling as if he had laid a hand upon her. + +She faced him standing at the door, striving desperately for +self-control. "It may be Saltash," she said, speaking more quietly. "I +saw him this morning, and he knows about the concert to-night. Dick--" +she caught her breath involuntarily--"Dick, why do you look at me +like that?" + +He made a curious jerky movement--as if he strove against invisible +bonds. "So," he said, "you are expecting him!" + +She stiffened at his words. "I have told you I am expecting no one, but +that is no reason why Saltash should not come." + +For a second he looked at her with something that was near akin to +contempt in his eyes, then suddenly an awful flame leapt up in them +consuming all beside. He took a swift step forward, and caught her +between his hands. + +"Juliet!" he said sternly. "Stop this trifling! What are you hiding from +me? What is it you were trying to tell me just now?" + +She shrank from the fire of his look. "I can't tell you now, Dick. It's +impossible. Dick, you are hurting me!" + +He spoke between his teeth. "I've got to know! Tell me now!" + +Someone was knocking a careless tattoo upon the outer door. Juliet turned +her head sharply, but she kept her eyes upon her husband's face. + +"No, Dick," she said after a moment, and with the words something of her +customary quiet courage came back to her. "I can't--possibly--tell you +now. Do this one thing for me--wait till to-night!" + +"And then?" he said. + +"I promise that you shall know--everything--then," she said. +"Please--give me till then!" + +There was earnest entreaty in her voice, but she had subdued her +agitation. She met the scorching intensity of his look with eyes that +never wavered, and in spite of himself he was swayed by her +steadfastness. + +"Very well," he said, and set her free. "Till to-night!" + +She turned from him in silence and opened the door. He stood motionless, +with hands clenched at his sides, and watched her. + +She went down the passage without haste and reached the outer door. She +opened it without fumbling, and in a moment Saltash's debonair accents +came to him. + +"Ah, _Juliette_! You are ready? Has your good husband got back yet? Ah, +there you are, sir! I have called to offer you and _madame_ a lift. I am +going your way." + +He came sauntering up the passage with the royal assurance characteristic +of him, and held out his hand to Dick with malicious cordiality. + +"I come as a friend, Romeo. Do you know you're very late? Have you only +just got back?" + +Juliet's eyes were upon Dick. She saw his momentary hesitation before he +took the proffered hand. + +Saltash saw it also and grinned appreciatively. "Well, what news? What +did Yardley have to say?" + +"I didn't see him," Dick said briefly. + +"No? How was that?" + +Dick shrugged his shoulders. "Merely because he wasn't there. I can't +tell you why, for I don't know. I waited about all day--to no purpose." + +"Drew a blank!" commented Saltash. "No wonder you're feeling a bit +savage! What are you going to do now?" + +Dick faced him, grimly uncommunicative. "Oh, talk, I suppose. What else?" + +"And you're taking Juliet?" pursued Saltash. + +"Have you any objection?" said Dick sharply. + +"None," said Saltash smoothly. "She is your wife, not mine--perhaps +fortunately for her." He threw a gay glance at Juliet. "Are you ready, +_ma chere_? Come along, _mon ami_! It will amuse me to hear +you--talk." + +Juliet went upstairs to fetch her cloak, and Dick took his coat from the +peg in the hall, and began to put it on. Saltash watched him with +careless amiability. + +"Are you going to be there to-night then?" Dick asked him suddenly. + +"I am proposing to give myself that pleasure," he returned. "That is, of +course, if you on your part have no objection." + +Dick's black eyes surveyed him keenly. "I am quite capable of protecting +my wife single-handed," he said. "Not that there will be any need." + +Saltash executed a smiling bow. "I am delighted to hear you say so. Have +you got a cigarette to spare?" + +Dick took out his case and held it to him. Saltash helped himself, the +smile still twitching the corners of his mouth. + +"Thanks," he said lightly. "So you have no anxieties about to-night!" + +"None," said Dick. + +"You think the men will come to heel?" + +"They haven't broken away yet," Dick reminded him curtly. + +Saltash raised his eyes suddenly. "When they do--what then?" he said. + +"What do you mean?" said Dick. + +He laughed mischievously. "I suppose you know that you are credited with +being at their head?" + +Dick, in the act of striking a match, paused. He looked at the other man +with raised brows. "At their head?" he questioned. "What do you mean?" + +Without the smallest change of countenance Saltash enlightened him. "As +strike-leader, agitator, and so on. You have achieved an enviable +reputation by your philanthropy. Didn't you know?" + +Dick struck the match with an absolutely steady hand, and held it to his +cigarette. "I did not," he said. + +Saltash puffed at the cigarette, peering at him curiously through the +smoke. "Which may account for your failure to find Ivor Yardley," he +suggested after a moment. + +"In what way?" said Dick. + +Saltash straightened himself. "I imagine he is not a great believer +in--philanthropy," he said. + +Dick's eyes shone with an ominous glitter. "From my point of view these +insinuations are not worth considering," he said, "though no doubt it has +given you a vast amount of enjoyment to fabricate them." + +"I!" said Saltash. + +"You!" said Dick. + +There was a moment's silence, then Saltash began to laugh. "My dear chap, +you don't really think that! You'd like to--but you can't!" + +Dick looked at him, thin-lipped, uncompromising, silent. + +"You actually do?" questioned Saltash. "You really think I care a +twopenny damn what anybody thinks about you or anyone else under the sun? +I say, don't be an ass, Green, whatever else you are! It's too tiring for +all concerned. If you really want to know who is responsible--" + +"Well?" said Dick. + +"Well," Saltash sent a cloud of smoke upwards, "look a bit nearer home, +man! Haven't you got--a brother somewhere?" + +Dick gave a sudden start. "I have not!" he said sternly. + +Saltash nodded. "Ah! Well, I imagine Yardley knows him if you don't. He +is the traitor in the camp, and he's out to trip you if he can." He +laughed again with careless humour. "I don't know why I should give you +the tip. It is not my custom to heap coals of fire. Pray excuse them on +this occasion! I suppose you are quite determined to take _Juliette_ to +the meeting to-night?" + +"I am quite determined to go," said Juliet quietly, as she came down the +stairs. "Will you have anything, Charles? No? Then let us start! It is +getting late. You are driving yourself?" + +He threw open the door for her with a deep bow. "I always drive myself, +_Juliette_, and--I always get there," he said. + +Her faint laugh floated back to Dick as he followed them out. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FLIGHT + + +It was a dumb and sullen crowd that Dick Green faced that night in the +great barn on the slope of High Shale. + +A rough platform had been erected at one end of the place and this, with +the deal table and lamp and one or two chairs, was all that went to the +furnishing of his assembly-room. The men stood in a close crowd like +herded cattle, and the atmosphere of the place was heavy with the reek of +humanity and coarse tobacco-smoke. There was a door at each end, but the +night was still and dark and there was little air beyond the vague chill +of a creeping sea-mist. + +Dick, entering at the door at the platform end of the building instead of +passing straight up through the crowd as was his custom, was aware of a +curious influence at work from the first moment--an influence adverse if +not directly hostile that reached him he knew not how. He heard a vague +murmur as Juliet and Saltash followed him, and sharply he turned and drew +Juliet to his side. In that instant he realized that she was the only +woman in the place. + +He faced the crowd, his hand upon her arm. "Well, men," he said, his +words clean-cut and ready, "so you've left your wives behind, have +you? I on the contrary have brought mine, and she has promised to give +you a song." + +The mutter died. Some youths at the back started applause, which spread, +though somewhat half-heartedly, through the crowd, and for a space the +ugly feeling died down. + +"We'll get to business," said Dick, and took out his banjo. + +The concert began, Ashcott came up on to the platform and under cover of +Dick's jangling ragtime spoke in a low voice and urgently to Saltash. + +The latter heard him with a laugh and a careless grimace, but a little +later he leaned towards Juliet who sat behind the table and touched her +unobtrusively. She looked round at him almost with reluctance, and he +whispered to her in rapid French. + +She listened to him with raised brows, and then shook her head with a +smile. "No, of course not! I am going to sing to them directly. I am here +to help--not to make things worse." + +He shrugged his shoulders and said no more. In a few minutes Dick's +cheery banjo thrummed into silence and he turned round. + +"Are you ready?" he said to Juliet. + +She rose and came forward, tall and graceful, bearing the unmistakable +stamp of high-breeding in every delicate movement. She might have been on +the platform of a London concert-hall as she faced her audience under the +shadowing hat. + +They stared at her open-mouthed, spellbound, awed by the quiet dignity of +her. And in the hush that fell before her, Juliet began to sing. + +Her voice was low, highly trained, exquisitely soft. She sang an old +English ballad with a throbbing sweetness that held her hearers with its +charm. And behind her Dick leaned against the table with his banjo and +very softly accompanied her. + +His face was in shadow also as he bent over the instrument. Not once +throughout the song did he look up. + +When she ended, there came that involuntary pause which is the highest +tribute that can be paid by any audience, and then such a thunder of +applause as shook the building. Saltash stepped forward to hand her back +to her chair, but the men in front of her yelled so hoarse a protest +that, laughing, he retired. + +And Juliet sang again and again, thrilling the rough crowd as Dick had +never thrilled them, choosing such old-world melodies as reach the hearts +of all. Saltash watched her with keen appreciation on his ugly face. He +was an accomplished musician himself. But Dick with his banjo, though +he responded unerringly to every shade of feeling in the beautiful voice, +never raised his head. + +It was he who at last came forward and led Juliet back to her chair, but +by that time the temper of the men had completely changed. They shouted +good-humoured comments to him and bandied jokes among themselves. The +whole atmosphere of the place had altered. The heavy sullenness had +passed like a thunder-cloud, and Ashcott no longer smoked his pipe in the +doorway with an air of gloomy foreboding. + +Dick laid aside his banjo and came to the front of the platform. There +was absolute confidence in his bearing, a vital strength that imparted a +mastery that yet was largely compounded of comradeship. + +He began to speak without effort--as a man speaks to his friends. + +"I have something to say to you chaps," he said, "and I hope you will +hear me out fairly, even though it may not be the sort of thing you like +to listen to. I think you know that I care a good deal about your +welfare, and I am doing my level best to secure a decent future for you. +I haven't accomplished very much at present, but I'm sticking to it, +and I believe I shall win out some day. It won't be my fault if I don't, +and I hope it won't be yours. What?" as a murmur broke out in the +background. "Oh, shut up, please, till I've done, then if anyone wants to +talk he shall have his chance. It might be your fault if I failed +because I'm counting on you to back me up in a legal and orderly way. +And if you don't, well, I'm knocked out for good and all. For I'm no +strike-leader, and any man who strikes can go to blazes so far as I'm +concerned. I wouldn't lift a finger to stop him going or to get him out +when there; in fact it's the best place for him. No, boys, listen! Wait +till I've done! A strike is a deadly thing. It's like a spreading poison +in this country, and the beastly root of it is just selfishness. It +will choke the very life out of the nation if it isn't stopped. It's a +weapon that no self-respecting man should smirch his hands with. I know +very well there are heaps of reforms needed, heaps of abuses to be +stopped, but you don't cure evil with evil. You're only feeding the +monster that will devour you in the end, and you're feeding him with +human sacrifice moreover. Have you ever thought of that? And another +thing! Do you ever look ahead--right ahead--beyond your own personal +wants and grievances? Do you ever ask yourselves if strikes and violence +are going to bring forth justice and equity? Do you ever work the thing +out to its proper values--see it as it really is? This continual striving +for money, for power,--this overthrowing of all established control--do +you call it a fight for liberty by any chance? I tell you, men, that +it's a struggle for the most hideous slavery that ever disfigured this +earth. This perpetual fight for self will end in self-destruction. It +always does. It's the law of creation. The thing that strikes rebounds +upon the striker. The man who deliberately injures another injures +himself tenfold more seriously. Isn't there something in the Bible about +he who takes the sword perishes with the sword? That's justice--God's +justice--and there's no getting away from that. You can overthrow every +institution that was ever made, but you will never set up in its place a +Government that will bring again the order you have destroyed. You can +pull the Empire to pieces with dissensions and conspiracies, but--once +down--you will never build it up again. + +"Grievances? Yes, of course you have grievances--heaps of 'em. Who +hasn't. And you've a right to try for better conditions. But in heaven's +name, don't strike for them! Don't turn the whole world upside down +because you want something you can't get! Be sportsmen and play a decent +game! Stick to the rules and you may win! I tell you I'm fighting for +you--I'm fighting hard. And I shan't rest so long as I have a decent +crowd to fight for. But if you're going to follow the rotten example of +the fellows who sacrifice the whole community to their own beastly +greed--who strike like a herd of sheep because a few damned traitors urge +'em to it--who fling duty and honour to the winds on the chance of +grabbing a little worldly advantage--in short, if you're not going to +observe the rules of the game, I've done with the whole show. + +"That's the position, men, and I want you to get hold of it, see it as it +really is. Nothing on this earth worth having was ever gained by +disloyalty. Think it out for yourselves! Don't be led by the nose by a +parcel of agitators! Give the matter your own sane and deliberate +thought! Form your own conclusions! Throw off this tyranny of other men's +notions, and be free! If only every man in the kingdom would take this +line and think for himself instead of giving his blind allegiance to a +power that is out to ruin the nation, there would pretty soon be such a +strike against strikes as would kill 'em outright. They're a hindrance to +civilization and a curse to the world at large. They are selfishness +incarnate and a stumbling-block to all national progress. And if there's +any pride of race in you, any sense of an Englishman's honour, any desire +for the nation's welfare (which is at a pretty low ebb just now) join +with me and do your level best to cast out this evil thing!" + +He ended as he had begun with clear and spontaneous appeal to the higher +instincts of his hearers. He knew them well, knew their weakness and +their strength; and he knew his own power over them and wielded it with +unfailing confidence. + +The hard-breathing silence that succeeded his words dismayed him not +at all. He waited quite calmly for the question he had checked at +the outset. + +It came very gruffly from a burly miner immediately in front of him. +"It's all very well," the man said. "But how are we to get our rights any +other way?" + +"Oh, you'll get 'em all right," Dick made answer. "This isn't an age of +serfdom. You won't be downtrodden to that extent. You stick to your guns +and have a little patience! Things are not standing still. State your +grievances--if they're bad enough--and then give the owners a chance! But +don't forget that there's got to be give and take between you! If you +want fair play and consideration from the owners, you must give them the +same. Don't forget that you sink or swim together! If you ruin them you +ruin yourselves. Disloyalty means disruption, all the world over. So play +the game like men!" + +It was at this point that Ashcott touched him on the shoulder with a +muttered word that made him turn sharply. + +"What? Who?" + +"Mr. Ivor Yardley!" the manager muttered uneasily. "He's waiting to +speak to you--says he'll address the men if you'll allow him. Think +it's safe?" + +Dick frowned. "Of course it's safe! Where is he? Wait! I'll speak to him +first. I'll get my wife to sing again while I do it." He turned round to +Juliet sitting at the table behind him and bent to speak to her. "Can you +give them another song--to fill in time? I've got to speak to a man +outside." His eyes travelled swiftly on the words to the open doorway +where a tall man, wearing a motor-mask and a leather coat, stood waiting. + +Juliet's look followed his. She stood up quickly. "Dick! Who is it?" + +Something in her voice brought his eyes back to her in sudden close +scrutiny. For that instant he forgot the crowd of men and the need of +the moment, forgot the man who waited in the background whom he had +desired so urgently to see, forgot the whole world in the wide-eyed +terror of her look. + +Instinctively he stretched an arm behind her, but in the same moment +Saltash came swiftly forward to her other side, and it was Saltash who +spoke with the quick, intimate reassurance of the trusted friend. + +"It's all right, _Juliette_. I'm here to take care of you. Give them one +more song, won't you? Afterwards, if you've had enough of it, I'll take +you back." + +She turned her face towards him and away from Dick whose arm fell from +her unheeded; but her gaze did not leave the figure that stood waiting +in the dim doorway, upright, grim as Fate, watching her with eyes she +could not see. + +"Don't be afraid!" urged Saltash in his rapid whisper. "Anyhow, don't +show it! I'll see you through." + +"Are you ready?" said Dick on her other side. + +His voice was absolutely steady, but it fell with an icy ring, and a +great quiver went through her. She made a blind gesture towards Saltash, +and in an instant his hand gripped her elbow. + +"Can't you do it?" he said. "Are you going to drop out?" + +She recovered herself sharply, as though something in his words had +pierced her pride. The next moment very quietly she turned back to Dick. + +"I am quite ready," she said. + +He took her hand without a word, and led her forward. Someone raised +a cheer for her, and in a second a shout of applause thundered to +the rafters. + +Dick smiled a brief smile of gratitude, and lifted a hand for silence. +Then, as it fell, he stepped back. + +And Juliet stood alone before the rough crowd. + +Those who saw her in that moment never forgot her. Tall and slender, with +that unconsciously regal mien of hers that marked her with so indelible a +stamp, she stood and faced the men below her. But no song rose to her +lips, and those who were nearest to her thought that she was trembling. + +And then suddenly she began to speak in a full, quiet voice that +penetrated the deep hush with a bell-like clearness. + +"Men," she said, "it is very kind of you to cheer me, but you will never +do it again. I have something to tell you. I don't know in the least how +you will take it, but I hope you will manage to forgive me if you +possibly can. Mr. Green is your friend, and he knows nothing about it, so +you will acquit him of all blame. The deception is mine alone. I deceived +him, too. I know you all hate the Farringmores, and I daresay you have +reason. You have never spoken to any of them face to face, before, +because they haven't cared enough to come near you. But--you can do +so to-night if you wish. Men, I am--Lord Wilchester's sister. I +was--Joanna Farringmore." + +She ceased to speak with a little gesture of the hands that was quite +involuntary and oddly pathetic, but she did not turn away from her +audience. Throughout the deep silence that followed that amazing +confession she stood quite straight and still, waiting, her face to the +throng. A man was standing immediately behind her and she was aware of +him, knew without turning that it was Saltash; but the one being in all +the crowded place for whose voice or touch in that moment she would have +given all that she had neither spoke nor moved. And her brave heart died +within her. If he had only given some sign! + +A hoarse murmur broke out at the back of the great barn, spreading like +a wave on the sea. But ere it reached the men in front who stood +sullenly dumb, staring upwards, Saltash's hand closed upon Juliet's arm, +drawing her back. + +"After that, _ma chere_," he said lightly into her ear, "you would be +wise to follow the line of least resistance." + +She responded to his touch almost mechanically. The murmur was swelling +to a roar, but she scarcely heard it. She yielded to the hand that +guided, hardly knowing what she did. + +As Saltash led her to the back of the platform she had a glimpse of +Dick's face white as death, with lips hard-set and stern as she had never +seen them, and a glitter in his eyes that made her think of onyx. He +passed her by without a glance, going forward to quell the rising storm +as if she had not been there. + +The man in the leather coat was with him. He had taken off his mask, and +he paused before Juliet--a cynical smile playing about his face. It was +a face of iron mastery, of pitiless self-assertion. The eyes were as +points of steel. + +He bent towards her and spoke. "I thought I should find you sooner or +later, Lady Jo. I trust you have enjoyed your game--even if you have lost +your winnings!" + +She spoke no word in answer, but she made a slight, barely perceptible +movement towards the man whose hand upheld her. + +And Yardley laughed--an edged laugh that was inexpressibly cruel. + +"Oh, go to the devil!" said Saltash with sudden fire. "It's where +you belong!" + +Yardley's cold eyes gleamed with icy humour. "_Et tu, Brute_!" he said +with sneering lips. "I wish you--joy!" + +He passed on. Saltash's arm went round Juliet like a coiled spring. He +impelled her unresisting to the door. Her hand rested on his shoulder as +she stepped down from the platform. She went with him as one in a dream. + +The air smote chill as they left the heated atmosphere, and a great +shiver went through her. + +She stood still for a moment, listening. The tumult had died down. A +man's voice--Dick's voice--clear and very steady, was speaking. + +"Come away!" said Saltash in her ear. + +But yet she lingered in the darkness. "He will be safe?" she said. + +"Of course he will be safe! They treat him like a god. Come away!" + +His arm was urging her. She yielded, shivering. + +He hurried her up the slope to the place where he had left his car. It +stood at the side of the rough road that led to High Shale Point. + +They reached it. Juliet was gasping for breath. The sea-mist was like +rain in their faces. + +"Get in!" he said. + +She obeyed, sinking down with a vague thankfulness, conscious of +great weakness. + +But as he cranked the engine and she felt the throb of movement, she sat +up quickly. + +"Charles, what am I doing? Where are you taking me?" + +He came round to her and his hands clasped hers for a moment in a grip +that was warm and close. He did not speak at once. + +Then, lightly, "I don't know what you'll do afterwards, _ma Juliette_," +he said. "But you are coming with me now!" + +She caught her breath as if she would utter some protest, but something +checked her--perhaps it was the memory of Dick's face as she had last +seen it, stony, grimly averted, uncompromisingly stern. She gripped his +hands in answer, but she did not speak a word. + +And so they sped away together into the dark. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OUT OF THE NIGHT + + +It was very late that night, and the sea-mist had turned to a drifting +rain when the squire sitting reading in his library at the Court was +startled by a sudden tapping upon the window behind him. + +So unexpected was the sound in the absolute stillness that he started +with some violence and nearly knocked over the reading-lamp at his elbow. +Then sharply and frowning he arose. He reached the window and fumbled at +the blind; but failing to find the cord dragged it impatiently aside and +peered through the glass. + +"Who is it? What do you want?" + +A face he knew, but so drawn and deathly that for the moment it seemed +almost unfamiliar, peered back at him. In a second he had the window +unfastened and flung wide. + +"Dick! In heaven's name, boy,--what's the matter?" + +Dick was over the sill in a single bound. He stood up and faced the +squire, bare-headed, drenched with rain, his eyes burning with a +terrible fire. + +"I have come for my wife," he said. + +"Your wife! Juliet!" The squire stared at him as if he thought him +demented. "Why, she left ages ago, man,--soon after tea!" + +"Yes, yes, I know," Dick said. He spoke rapidly, but with decision. "But +she came back here an hour or two ago. You are giving her shelter. +Saltash brought her--or no--she probably came alone." + +"You are mad!" said Fielding, and turned to shut the window. "She hasn't +been near since she left this evening." + +"Wait!" Dick's hand shot out and caught his arm, restraining him. "Do you +swear to me that you don't know where she is?" + +The squire stood still, looking full and hard into the face so near his +own; and so looking, he realized, what he had not grasped before, that it +was the face of a man in torture. The savage grip on his arm told the +same story. The fiery eyes that stared at him out of the death-white +countenance had the awful look of a man who sees his last hope shattered. + +Impulsively he laid his free hand upon him. "Dick--Dick, old +chap,--what's all this? Of course I don't know where she is! Do you think +I'd lie to you?" + +"Then I've lost her!" Dick said, and with the words some inner vital +spring seemed to snap within him. He flung up; his arms, freeing himself +with a wild gesture. "My God, she has gone--gone with that scoundrel!" + +"Saltash?" said the squire sharply. + +"Yes. Saltash!" He ground the name between his teeth. "Does that surprise +you so very much? Don't you know the sort of infernal blackguard he is?" + +The squire turned again to shut the window. "Damn it, Dick! I don't +believe a word of it," he said with vigour. "Get your wind and have a +drink, and let's hear the whole story! Have you and Juliet been +quarrelling?" + +Dick ignored his words as if he had not spoken. "You needn't shut the +window," he said. "I'm going again. I'm going now." + +It was the squire's turn to assert himself, and he seized it. He shut the +window with a bang. "You are not, Dick! Don't be a fool! Sit down! Do +you hear? Sit down! You're not going yet--not till you've told me the +whole trouble. So you can make up your mind to that!" + +Dick looked at him for a moment as if he were on the verge of fierce +resistance, but Fielding's answering look held such unmistakable +resolution that after the briefest pause he turned aside. + +"I'm sorry, sir," he said, and tramped heavily across to the hearth. "Put +up with me if you can! God knows I'm up against it hard enough to-night." + +He rested his arms on the mantelpiece and laid his head down upon them, +and so stood motionless, in utter silence. + +The squire came to him in a few seconds with a glass in his hand. "Here +you are, Dick! This is what you're wanting. Swallow it before you talk +any more!" + +Dick reached out in silence and took the glass. Then he stood up and +drank, keeping his face averted. + +Fielding waited till at last, without turning, he spoke. "I've always +known it might come to this, but I never realized why. I suppose anyone +but a blind fool would have seen through it long ago." + +"What are you talking about?" said the squire. "I'm utterly in the dark, +remember." + +Dick's hands were clenched. "I'm talking of Juliet and--Saltash. I've +always known there was some sort of understanding between them. He +flaunted it in my face whenever we met. But I trusted her--I trusted +her." The words were like a muffled cry rising from the depths of the +man's wrung soul. + +"Sit down!" said the squire gruffly, and taking him by the shoulders +pushed him into the chair from which he himself had so lately risen. + +Dick yielded, with the submission of utter despair, his black head bowed +against the table. + +Fielding stooped over him, still holding him. "Now, boy, now! Don't let +yourself go! Tell me--try and tell me!" + +Dick drew a hard breath. "You'll think I'm mad, sir. I thought I was +myself at first. But it's true--it must be true. I heard it from her own +lips. Juliet--my wife--my wife--is--was--Lady Joanna Farringmore!" + +"Great heavens!" said the squire. "Dick, are you sure?" + +"Yes, quite sure. She was caught--caught by Yardley at the meeting +to-night. She couldn't escape--so she told the truth--told the whole +crowd--and then bolted--bolted with Saltash." + +"Great heavens!" said the squire again. "But--what was Saltash +doing there?" + +"Oh, he came to protect her. He knew--or guessed--there was something +in the wind. He came to support her. I know now. He's the subtlest devil +that ever was made." + +"But why on earth--why on earth did she ever come here?" +questioned Fielding. + +"She was hiding from Yardley of course. He's a cold vindictive brute, +and I suppose--I suppose she was afraid of him, and came to me--came to +me--for refuge." Dick was speaking through his hands. "That's how he +regards it himself. She was always playing fast and loose till she got +engaged to him. It was just the fashion in that set. But he--I imagine +no one ever played with him before. He swears--swears he'll make her +suffer for it yet." + +"Pooh!" said Fielding. "How does he propose to do that? She's your +wife anyhow." + +"My wife--yes." Slowly Dick raised his head, stared for a space in front +of him, then grimly rose. "My wife--as you say, sir. And I am going to +find her--now." + +"I'm coming with you," said Fielding. + +"No, sir, no!" Dick looked at him with a tight-lipped smile that was +somehow terrible. "Don't do that! You won't want to be--a witness +against me." + +"Pooh!" said the squire again. "I may be of use to you before it comes to +that. But before we start let me tell you one thing, Dick! She married +you because she loved you--for no other reason." + +A sharp spasm contracted Dick's hard features; he set his lips and +said nothing. + +"That's the truth," the squire proceeded, watching him. "And you know it. +She might have bolted with Saltash before if she had wanted to. She had +ample opportunity." + +Dick's hands clenched at his sides, but still he said nothing. + +"She loved you," the squire said again. "Lady Jo--or no Lady Jo--she +loved you. It wasn't make-believe. She was fairly caught--against her +will possibly--but still caught. She's run away from you now--run away +with another man--because she couldn't stay and face you. Is that +convincing proof, do you think, that she has ceased to love you? It +wouldn't convince me." + +Dick's clenched hands were beating impotently against his sides. +"I--can't say, sir," he said, between his set teeth. + +The squire moved impulsively, laid a hand on his shoulder. "Dick, I've +seen a good deal--suffered a good deal--in my time; enough to know the +real thing when I see it. She's loved you as long as she's known you, +and it's been the same with you. You're not going to deny that? You +can't deny it!" + +Dick made a quick gesture of protest. For a moment the tortured soul +of the man looked out of his eyes. "Does that make it any better?" he +said harshly. + +"In my opinion, yes." Fielding spoke with decision. "She may have taken +refuge with Saltash, but that doesn't prove anything--except that the +poor girl had no one else to turn to. You had failed her--or anyhow you +didn't offer to stand by." + +"I couldn't!" The words came jerkily, as if wrung from him by main +force. "For one thing--the men were out of hand, and it was as much as +I could do to hold them. She told them, I tell you--stood up and told +them straight out--who she was. And they loathe the whole crowd. It +was madness." + +"Pretty sublime madness!" commented the squire. "And then Saltash took +her away. Was that it?" + +"Yes." Dick spoke with intense bitterness. "It was the chance he was +waiting for. Of course he seized it. Any blackguard would." + +"But you thought she might have come here?" pursued the squire. + +"I thought it possible, yes. I told Yardley it was so. He of course +sneered at the bare idea. I nearly choked him for it. But I might have +known he was right. She wouldn't risk--my following her. She wanted to +be--free." + +"Why? Is she afraid of you then?" Fielding's voice was stern. + +Dick threw up his head with the action of a goaded animal. "Yes." + +"Then you've given her some reason?" + +"Yes. I have given her reason!" Fiercely he flung the words. "You want to +know--you shall know! This evening she found out something about me which +even you don't know yet--something that made her hate me. I was going to +tell her some day, but the time hadn't come. She said if she had known of +it she would never have married me. I didn't realize then--how could +I?--how hard it hit her. And I made her understand that having married +me--it was irrevocable. That was why she ran away with Saltash. She +didn't--trust me--any longer." + +"But, my good fellow, what in heaven's name is this awful thing that even +I don't know?" demanded the squire. "Don't tell me there has ever been +any damn trouble with another woman!" + +"No--no!" Dick broke into a laugh that was inexpressibly painful to hear. +"There has never been any other woman for me. What do I care for women? +Do you think because I've made a blasted fool of myself over one woman +that I--" + +"Shut up, Dick!" Curtly the squire checked him. "You're not to say +it--even to me. Tell me this other thing about yourself--the thing I +don't know!" + +"Oh, that! That's nothing, sir, nothing--at least you won't think it so. +It's only that during the past few years some books have been published +by one named Dene Strange that have attracted attention in certain +quarters." + +"I've read 'em all," said the squire. "Well?" + +"I wrote them," said Dick; "that's all." + +"You!" Fielding stared. "You, Dick!" + +"Yes, I. I meant to have told you, but so long as my boy lived, my job +seemed to be here, so I kept it to myself. And then--when she came--she +told me she hated the man who wrote those books for being cynical--and +merciless. So I wrote another to make her change her mind about me before +she knew. It is only just published. And she found out before she read +it. That's all," Dick said again with the shadow of a smile. "She found +out this evening. It was a shock to her--naturally. It's been a +succession of obstacles all through--a perpetual struggle against odds. +Well, it's over. At least we know what we're up against now. There will +be no more illusions of any sort from to-day on." He paused, stood a +moment as if bracing himself, then turned. "Well, I'm going, sir. Come if +you really must, but--I don't advise it." + +"I am coming," said the squire briefly. His hand went from Dick's +shoulder to his arm and gave it a hard squeeze. "Confound you! What do +you take me for?" he said. + +Dick's hand came swiftly to his. "I take you for the best friend a man +ever had, sir," he said. + +"Pooh!" said the squire. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE FREE PARDON + + +Ten minutes later they went down the dripping avenue in the squire's +little car. The drifting fog made an inky blackness of the night, and +progress was very slow under the trees. + +"We should be quicker walking," said Dick impatiently. + +"It'll be better when we reach the open road," said Fielding, frowning at +the darkness. + +The light at the lodge-gates flung a wide glare through the mist, and +he steered for it with more assurance. They passed through and turned +into the road. + +And here the squire pulled up with a jerk, for immediately in front of +them another light shone. + +"What the devil is that, Dick?" + +"It's another car," said Dick and jumped out. "Hullo, there! Anything the +matter?" he called. + +"Damnation, yes!" answered a voice. "I've run into this infernal wall and +damaged my radiator. Lost my mascot, too, damn it! Sort of thing that +always happens when you're in a hurry." + +"Who is it?" said Dick sharply. + +He was standing almost touching the car, but he could not see the speaker +who seemed to be bent and hunting for something on the ground. + +A sound that was curiously like a chuckle answered him out of the +darkness, but no reply came in words. + +Dick stood motionless. "Saltash!" he said incredulously. "Is it Saltash?" + +"Why shouldn't it be Saltash?" said a voice that laughed. "Thank you, +Romeo? Come and help me out of this damn fix! Oh, I'm fed up with +playing benevolent fool. It gives me indigestion. Curse this fog! +Afraid I've knocked a few chips off your beastly wall. Ah! Here's the +mascot! Now perhaps my infernal luck will turn! What are you keeping so +quiet about? Aren't you pleased to see me? Not that you can--but +that's a detail." + +"Are you--alone?" Dick said, an odd tremor in his voice. + +"Of course I'm alone! What did you expect? No, no, my Romeo, I may be a +fool, but I'm not quite such a three-times-distilled imbecile as that +amounts to. Have you got a gun there?" + +"No!" Dick's voice sounded half-strangled, as though he fought against +some oppression that threatened to overwhelm him. "What have you come +back for? Tell me that!" + +"I'll tell you anything you like," said Saltash generously; "including +what I think of you, if you will help me to shove this thing into a more +convenient locality and then take me in and give me a drink." + +"You'd better get the car up the drive here," came Fielding's voice out +of the darkness. "You can see more or less what you're doing under the +lamp. Wait while I get my own out of the way!" + +"Excellent!" said Saltash. "I'm immensely grateful to you, sir, for not +smashing me up. What, Romeo? Did I hear you say you wished he had? I +didn't? Then I must have sensed battle, murder and sudden death in +your silence." + +But whatever Dick's silence expressed he refused stubbornly to break it. +When the squire had manoeuvred his car out of the way, he lent his help +to pushing Saltash's across the road and up the drive into safety, but he +did not utter a single word throughout the performance. + +"A thousand thanks!" gibed Saltash. "Now for the great reckoning! I say, +you will give me a drink, won't you, before you send me to my account? +The villain always has a drink first. He's entitled to that, at least." + +Again Fielding's voice came through Dick's silence. "Yes, come up to the +schoolhouse!" he said. "We can't talk here. Have you got the key, Dick? +Ah, that's right." + +He found Dick and thrust a hand through his arm, leading him, stiffly +unresponsive, across the road. + +At the gate Dick stopped and spoke. "Let him go in front!" he said. + +"With pleasure," laughed Saltash. "I'm lucky to have met you here. I was +wondering how I should manage to break in." + +He went up the path before them with his careless tread, and waited +whistling while Dick opened the door. + +The lamp in the little hall was burning low, but it shone upon his ugly +face as he entered, and showed him the only one of the three who felt at +ease. With royal assurance he turned to Dick. + +"Well? Have you got a table and pistols for two? Great Scott, man! You +look like a death-mask! Come along and let's get it over! Then perhaps +you'll feel better." + +Dick stood upright by Fielding's side, listening to the taunting words +with a face that was indeed like a death-mask--save for the eyes that +glowed vividly, terribly, with something of a tigerish glare. + +He spoke at last with deadly quietness through lips that did not seem to +move. "Where have you taken my wife?" + +"Oh, she's quite safe," said Saltash; and smiled with a fox-like flash +of teeth. "I am taking every care of her. You need have no anxiety +about that." + +"I asked--where you had taken her," Dick said, his words low and +distinct, wholly without emotion. + +Saltash's odd eyes began to gleam. "I heard you, _mon ami_. But since the +lady is under my protection at the present moment, I am not prepared to +answer that question off-hand--or even at all, until I am satisfied as to +the kindness--or otherwise--of your intentions. When I give my protection +to anyone--I give it." + +"Is that what you came back to say?" said Dick, still without stirring +hand or feature. + +"By no means," said Saltash airily. "I didn't come to see you at all. I +came--to fetch Columbus!" + +He turned with the words, hearing a low whine at the door behind him, and +opening it released the dog who ran out with eager searching. Saltash +stooped to fondle him. + +Something that was like an electric thrill went through Dick. He took a +sudden step forward. + +"Damn you!" he said, and gripped Saltash by the collar. "Tell me where +she is! Do you hear? Tell me!" + +Saltash straightened himself with a lightning movement. They looked into +each other's eyes for several tense seconds. Then, though no word has +passed between them, Dick's hand fell. + +"That's better," said Saltash. "You're getting quite civil. Look here, my +bully boy! I'll tell you something--and you'd better listen carefully, +for there's a hidden meaning to it. You're the biggest ass that ever +trod this earth. There!" + +He put up a hand to his crumpled collar and straightened it, still with +his eyes upon Dick's face. + +"Got that?" he asked abruptly. "Well, then, I'll tell you something else. +I've got a revolver in my pocket. I put it there in case the miners +needed any persuasion, but you shall have it to shoot me with--and no +doubt Mr. Fielding will kindly turn his back while you do it--if you +will answer--honestly--one question I should like to put to you first. +Is it a deal?" + +Dick was breathing quickly. He stood close to Saltash, urged by a deadly +enmity and still on the verge of violence, but restrained by something +about the other man's attitude that he could not have defined. + +"Well?" he said curtly at length. "What do you want to know?" + +Saltash's lips twisted in a faintly sardonic smile. "Just one thing," he +said. "Don't speak in a hurry, for a good deal depends upon it! If some +kind friend--like myself for instance--had come to you, say, the night +before your wedding and told you that you were about to marry Lady Jo +Farringmore, would you have gone ahead with it--or not?" + +He asked the question with a certain wariness, as a player who stakes +more on a move than he would care to lose. The glint of the gambler shone +in his curious eyes. His right hand was thrust into his pocket. + +Fielding was watching that right hand narrowly, but Dick's look, grim and +unwavering, never left his opponent's face. + +"Why do you want to know?" he demanded. + +Saltash's smile deepened, became a grimace, and vanished. + +"I will tell you when you have answered me," he said. "But whatever you +say will be used against you,--mind that!" + +"What do you mean?" Dick said. + +"Never mind what I mean! Just answer me! Answer me now! Would you have +married her under those circumstances? Or would you--have thrown her +over--to me?" + +Dick's eyes blazed. "You damn blackguard! Of course I should have +married her!" + +"You are sure of that?" Saltash said. + +"Damn you--yes!" With terrific force Dick answered him. He stood like an +animal ready to spring, goaded to the end of his endurance, yet +waiting--waiting for something, he knew not what. + +If Saltash had smiled then he would have been upon him in an instant. But +Saltash did not smile. He knew the exact value of the situation, and he +handled it with a sure touch. With absolute gravity he took his hand from +his pocket. + +Fielding took a swift step forward, but with an odd twist of the +brows Saltash reassured him. He held out a revolver to Dick on the +palm of his hand. + +"Here you are!" he said. "It's fully loaded. If you want to shoot a +friend, you'll never have a better chance. Mr. Fielding, will you kindly +look the other way?" + +Dead silence followed his words. The lamplight flickered on Dick's face, +throwing into strong relief every set grim feature. His lips were tightly +compressed--a single straight line across his stern face. His eyes never +varied; they were almost unbearably bright. They held Saltash's with a +tensity of purpose that was greater than any display of physical force. +It was as if the two were locked in silent combat. + +It lasted for many seconds, that mute and motionless duel, then very +suddenly from a wholly unexpected quarter there came an interruption. +Columbus, sensing trouble, pushed his stout person between the two men +and leapt whining upon Dick, pawing at him imploringly with almost +human entreaty. + +It put an end to the tension. Dick looked down involuntarily and meeting +the dog's beseeching eyes, relaxed in spite of himself. Saltash uttered a +curt laugh and returned the revolver to his pocket. + +"That settles that," he observed. "Columbus, my acknowledgments--though I +am quite well aware that your eloquent appeal is not made on my behalf! +You know what the little beggar is asking for, don't you?" + +Dick laid a soothing hand on the grizzled head. "All right, +Columbus!" he said. + +Saltash's smile leapt out again. "Oh, it's all right, is it? I am to have +a free pardon then for boosting you over your last fence?" + +Again Dick's eyes came to him, and a very faint, remote smile shone in +them for an instant in answer. Then, very steadily, without a word, he +held out his hand. + +Saltash's came to meet it. They looked each other again in the eyes--but +with a difference. Then Saltash began to laugh. + +"Go to her, my cavalier! You'll find her--waiting--on the _Night Moth_." + +"Waiting?" Dick said. + +"For Columbus," said Saltash with his most derisive grin, and tossed +Dick's hand away. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST FENCE + + +A chill breeze sprang up in the dark of the early morning and blew the +drifting fog away. The stars came out one by one till the whole sky shone +and quivered as if it had been pricked by a million glittering +spear-points. The tide turned with a swelling sound that was like a vast +harmony, formless, without melody, immense. And in the state-cabin of the +_Night Moth_, the woman who had knelt for hours by the velvet couch +lifted her face to the open port-hole and shivered. + +She had cast her hat down beside her, and the cold night-wind that yet +had a faint hint of the dawn in it ruffled the soft hair about her +temples. Her face was dead-white, drawn with unspeakable weariness, with +piteous lines about the eyes that only long watching can bring. She +looked hopeless, beaten. + +The shaded light that gleamed down upon her from the cabin-roof seemed +somehow to hurt her, for after a second or two she leaned to one side +without rising from her knees and switched it off. Then with her hands +tightly clasped, she gazed out over the dim, starlit sea. The mystery of +it, the calm, the purity, closed round her like a dream. She gazed forth +into the great waste of rippling waters, her chin upon her hands. + +Softly the yacht lifted and sank again to the gentle swell. The wild +waves of a few hours before had sunk away. It was a world at peace. But +there was no peace in the eyes that dwelt upon that wonderful night +scene. They were still with the stillness of despair. + +The cold air blew round her and again she shivered as one chilled to the +heart, but she made no move to pick up the cloak that had fallen from her +shoulders. She only knelt there with her face to the sea, staring out in +dumb misery as one in whom all hope is quenched. + +From somewhere on shore there came the sound of a clock striking the hour +in clear bell-like notes. One, two, three! And then silence, with the +murmur and splash of the rising tide spreading all around. + +And then suddenly out of the utter quietness there came a sound--the +scuttle of scampering feet and an eager whining at the door behind +her. It stabbed like a needle through her lethargy. In a moment she +was on her feet. + +The door burst in upon her as she opened it, and immediately she was +sprung upon and almost borne backwards by the wriggling, ecstatic figure +of Columbus. He flung himself into her arms with yelps of extravagant +joy, as if they had been parted for months instead of hours, and when, +somewhat overwhelmed with this onslaught, she sat down with him on the +couch, he scrambled all over her, licking wildly whatever part of her his +tongue could reach. + +It took some time for his rapturous greetings to subside, but finally he +dropped upon the couch beside her, pressed to her, temporarily exhausted, +but still wriggling spasmodically whenever her hand moved upon him. And +then Juliet, for some odd reason that she could not have explained, found +herself crying in the darkness as she had not cried all through that +night of anguish. + +Columbus was deeply concerned. He crept closer to her, pawed at her +gently, stood up and licked her hair. But she wept on helplessly for many +seconds with her hands over her face. + +It was Columbus who told her by a sudden change of attitude that someone +had entered at the open door and was standing close to her in the dark. +She started upright very swiftly as the dog jumped down to welcome the +intruder. Vaguely through the dimness she saw a figure and leapt to her +feet, her hands tight clasped upon her racing heart. + +"Charles! Why have you come here?" + +There was an instant of stillness, then a swift movement and a man's arms +caught her as she stood and she was a prisoner. + +She made a wild struggle for freedom. "No--no!" she panted. "Let me go!" + +But he held her fast,--so fast that she gasped and gasped for +breath,--saying no word, only holding her, till suddenly she cried out +sharply and her resistance broke. + +She hid her face against him. "You!" she said. "You!" + +He held her yet in silence for a space, and through the silence she heard +the beat of his heart; quick and hard, as if he had been running a race. +Then over her bowed head he spoke, his voice deep, vibrant, seeming to +hold back some inner leaping force. + +"Didn't I tell you I should follow you--and bring you back?" + +She shrank at his words. "I can't come--I can't come!" she said. + +"You will come, Juliet," he said quietly. + +"No--no!" She lifted her head in sudden passionate protest. "Not to +be tortured! I can't face it! Before God I would rather--I would +rather--die!" + +He answered her with flame that leaped to hers. "And don't you think I +would rather die than let you go?" + +"Ah!" she said, and no more; for the fierce possession of his hold +checked all remonstrance. + +She sought to hide her face again, but he would not suffer it, and in the +end with an anguished sound she ceased to battle with him and sank down +in utter weakness in his hold. + +He lifted her then, but he did not kiss her. He found the sofa and +laid her down upon it. Then she heard him feeling along the wall for +the switch. + +She reached out a quivering hand and pressed it, then as the light glowed +she turned from him, covering her eyes from his look. He stood for a few +seconds gazing down at her, almost as if at a loss. + +And while he so stood, there arose a sudden deep throbbing that mingled +with the splash of water, and the yacht ceased to rise and fall and +thrilled into movement. + +Juliet gave a great start. "Dick! What are they doing? Oh, stop +them--stop them!" + +He stooped and caught her outflung hands. His eyes looked deeply into +hers. "They are obeying--my orders," he said. + +"Yours?" She gazed up at him incredulously, shivering all over as if +in an ague. + +His face told her nothing. It was implacable, granite-like, save for +the eyes, and from those she shrank uncontrollably as though they +pierced her. + +"Yes, mine," he said sombrely. "I have--something to teach you, +Juliet--something that you can only learn--alone with me. And till you +have learnt it, there will be no going back." + +She bent her head to avoid the unwavering directness of his look. +"You--are going to hurt me--punish me," she said under her breath. + +His hands still held hers, and strangely there was something sustaining +as well as relentless in their grasp. + +"It may hurt you," he said. "I don't feel I know you well enough to +judge. As to punishing you--" he paused a moment--"well, I think you have +punished yourself enough already." + +Again a great tremor went through her,--a tremor that ended in a sob. She +bent her head a little lower to hide her tears. But they fell upon his +hands and she could not check them. Her throat worked convulsively, +resisting all her efforts and self-control. She became suddenly blinded +and overwhelmed by bitter weeping. + +"Ah, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and went down on his knees before her, +folding her closely, closely to his breast.... + +It seemed to her a very long time later that she found herself lying +exhausted against the sofa-cushions, feeling his arm still about her and +poignantly conscious of his touch. His other hand was pressed upon her +forehead, and her tears had ceased. She could not remember that he had +spoken a single word since he had taken her into his arms, neither had he +kissed her, but all her fear of him was gone. + +Through the open port-hole there came to her the swish of water, and she +heard the throb and roar of the engines like the sound of a distant train +in a tunnel. Moved by a deep impulse that came straight from her soul, +she took the hand that lay upon her brow and drew it downwards first to +her lips, holding it there with closed eyes while she kissed it, then +softly to her heart while she turned her eyes to his. + +"Oh, Dick," she said, "are you sure--are you quite sure--that--that--I am +worth keeping?" + +"I am quite sure I am going to keep you," he answered very steadily. + +Her two hands closed fast upon his. "Not--not as a prisoner?" she +whispered, wanly smiling. + +"Yes, a prisoner," he said, not without a certain grimness, "that is, +until you have learnt your lesson." + +"What lesson?" she asked him wonderingly. + +"That you can't do without me," he said, a note of challenge in +his voice. + +Something in his look hurt her. She freed one hand and laid it +pleadingly, caressingly, against his neck. "Oh, Dicky," she said, "try to +understand!" + +His face changed a little, and she thought his mouth quivered ever so +slightly as he said. "It's now or never, Juliet. If I don't come to a +perfect understanding with you to-night, we shall be strangers for the +rest of our lives." + +She shivered at the finality of his words, but they gave her light. "I +have hurt you--horribly!" she said. + +He was silent. + +She pressed herself to him with a sudden passionate gesture. "Dick--my +husband--will you forgive me--can you forgive me--before you +understand?" + +Her eyes implored him, yet just for a second he hesitated. Then very +swiftly he gathered her closely, closely against his heart, and kissed +her pleading, upturned face over and over. "Yes!" he said. "Yes!" + +She clung to him with all her quivering strength. "I love you, +darling! I love you,--only--only--you!" she whispered brokenly. +"You believe that?" + +"Yes," he said again between his kisses. + +"And if I tried to do without you it was only because--only because--I +loved you so," she faltered on. "Your anger is just--the end of the +world for me, Dick. I can't face it. It tears my very self." + +"My darling! My own love!" he said. + +"And then--and then--I had such an awful doubt of you, Dicky. I thought +your love was dead, and I thought--and I thought I couldn't hope to +hold you--after that. I'd got to free you somehow. Oh, Dicky, what agony +love can be!" + +"Hush, darling, hush!" he said. + +She lay in his arms, her eyes looking straight up to his. "I never meant +to do it, dear,--never meant to win your love in the first place. I +always knew I wasn't worthy of it. I think I told you so. Dicky, listen! +I've had a horrid life. My mother was divorced when Muff and I were +youngsters at school. My father died only a year after, and no one ever +cared what happened to us after that. We had an aunt--Lady Beatrice +Farringmore--and she launched me in society when I left school. But she +never cared--she never cared. She was far too busy with her own concerns. +I just went with the crowd and pleased myself. No one ever took anything +seriously in our set. It was just a mad rush of gaiety from morning till +night. We were like a lot of empty-headed, mischievous children, horribly +selfish of course, but not meaning any harm--at least not most of us. +Everyone had a nickname. It was the fashion. It was Saltash who first +called me Juliet. He said I was so tragically in earnest--which was +really not true in those days. And I called him Charles Rex." + +She paused, for Dick's arms had tightened about her. + +"Go on!" he said, in a low voice. "I suppose he--made love to you, did +he?" + +"Everyone did that," she said. "He was just a specimen of the +rest--except that I always somehow knew he had more heart. It was just a +game with us all. It used to frighten me rather at first till--till I got +used to it. When I was quite young I had rather a bitter lesson. I began +to care for a man who I thought was in earnest, and I found he wasn't. +After that, I never needed another. I played the game with the rest. +Sometimes I hurt people, but I didn't care. I always said it was their +fault for being taken in." + +"That doesn't sound like you," he said. + +"That was me," she returned, with a touch of recklessness, "till I read +that first book of yours--_The Valley of Dry Bones_. That brought me up +short. It shocked me horribly. You cut very deep, Dicky. I'm carrying the +scars still." + +He bent without words and set his lips to her forehead, keeping them +there in mute caress while she went on. + +"I had just begun to play with Ivor Yardley. He was my latest catch, +and--I was rather proud of him. He didn't trouble to pursue many women. +And then--after reading that book--I felt so evil, so unspeakably +ashamed, that, when I knew he was really in earnest, I didn't throw him +off like the rest. I accepted him." + +She shuddered suddenly and twined her arm about her husband's neck. + +"Dicky, I--went through hell--after that. I tried--I tried very +hard--to be honourable--to keep my word. But--when the time drew +near--I simply couldn't. He always knew--he must have known--I didn't +love him. But he just wanted me, and he didn't care. And so--almost at +the last moment--I let him down--I ran away. And, oh, Dicky, the peace +of this place after all that misery and turmoil! You can't imagine what +it was like. It was heaven. And I thought--I thought it was going to be +quite easy to be good!" + +"And then I came and upset it all," murmured Dick, with his lips +against her hair. + +Her hold tightened. "It's been one perpetual struggle against appalling +odds ever since," she said. "If it hadn't been for--Robin--I should never +have married you." + +"Yes, you would," he said quietly. "That was meant. I've realized +that since." + +"I am not sure," she said. "If you hadn't been so miserable, I should +have told you the truth. You wouldn't have married me then." + +"Yes, I should," he said. + +She drew a little away to look into his face. "Dick, are you sure of +that?" + +"I am quite sure," he said, and faintly smiled. "It's just because I am +sure, that I am with you now--instead of Saltash. It was his own test." + +Her eyes met his unflinching. "Dick, you believe that Saltash and I are +just--friends?" + +"I believe it," he said. + +"And you are not angry with him?" + +"No." He spoke with slight effort. "I am--grateful to him." + +"But you don't like him?" she said. + +He hesitated momentarily. "Do you?" + +"Yes, of course." Her brows contracted a little. "I can't help it. I +always have," she said rather wistfully. + +He bent abruptly and kissed them. "All right, darling. So do I," he said. + +She smiled at him, clinging closely. "Dicky, that's the most generous +thing you ever did!" + +"Oh, I can afford to be generous," he said, "now that I know your secrets +and you know mine. Will you tell me something else now, Juliet?" + +"Yes, dear," she whispered. + +He laid his cheek against hers. "I was going to tell you my secret +when you had read that last book of mine. When were you going to tell +me yours?" + +"Oh, Dicky!" she said in some confusion, and hid her face against his +neck. + +"No, tell me!" he said. "I want to know." + +But Juliet only clung a little faster to him and buried her face a +little deeper. + +"Weren't you ever going to tell me?" he said, after a moment. + +"Oh, yes--some time," she murmured from his breast. + +"Well, when?" he persisted. "Just--any time?" + +"No, dear, of course not!" A muffled sound that was half-sob and +half-laugh came with the words. + +Dick waited for a space, and then very gently began to feel for the +hidden face. She tried to resist him, then, finding he would not be +resisted, she took his hand and pressed it over her eyes, holding it as a +shield between them. + +"Won't you tell me?" he said. + +She trembled a little in his hold. "That--that--is another secret, +Dicky," she said very softly. + +"Mayn't I--share it, sweetheart?" he said. + +She uncovered her eyes with a little tremulous laugh, and lifted them to +his. "Oh, I'm a coward, Dicky, a horrid coward. I thought--I thought I +would tell you everything when--when you were holding your son in your +arms. I thought you would have to--forgive me then." + +"Oh, Juliet--Juliet!" he said, and tried to smile in answer, but +could not. His lips quivered suddenly, and he laid his head down upon +her breast. + +And so, with her arms around him and the warm throbbing of her heart +against his face, he came to the perfect understanding. + +They saw the morning break through a silver mist, standing side by side +on deck with the water sweeping snow-white from their keel. + +Juliet, within the circle of her husband's arm, looked up and broke the +silence with a sigh and a smile. + +"Good morning, Romeo! And now that I've learnt my lesson, hadn't we +better be going home?" + +He kissed her, and drew her cloak more closely round her. "Do you want to +go home?" he said. + +She looked at him with a whimsical frown. "Well, I think I am at home +wherever you are. But you are such a busy man. You can't be spared." + +"They've got to spare me for to-day," he said. + +"Ah! And to-morrow?" + +"To-morrow too, Juliet. I'm giving up my work at Little Shale." + +"But you can't give it up at a moment's notice," she said. + +"The squire is managing it. They can close the school for a week anyway. +Then he can find a substitute." + +Juliet pondered this. Then, "Let's go back till the end of the term, +Dicky!" she said. + +He looked at her. "You want to, my Lady Joanna?" + +She shook her head at him. "You're not to call me that. Yes, I'd like to +go back and finish there, but only as your wife--nothing else." + +"My lady wife!" he said, patting her cheek. + +She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Yes, and there are the miners +to settle. Do you think they'll ever be friends with me, Dick?" + +"Of course they will," he said. "By the way, Juliet, I've a piece of news +for you. You know what Yardley came for?" + +"No, I don't," she said, looking momentarily startled. + +His hand reassured her. "No, not for you, darling. He didn't expect to +find you. No, he came because he had been told--by Jack, if you want to +know--that I was doing the work of an agitator among the men." + +"Dick!" she said, with quick indignation. "How dared he?" + +His touch restrained her. "It doesn't matter. He came to see for himself, +and he knows better now. He told me after the meeting that I could take +over his share of the concern if I liked. And I took him at his word then +and there. I've got some money put by, and the squire can put up the +rest. Do you think your brother will mind?" + +"Muff!" she said. "Oh no! He never minds anything." + +"I'll buy him out too then some day, and we'll make that mine a going +concern, Juliet. I'll teach those men to use their brains instead of +being led by these infernal revolutionists. They shall learn that those +who fight for themselves alone never get there. I'll teach 'em the rules +of the game. They shall learn to be sportsmen." + +Juliet's eyes were shining. "Bravo, Dick!" she said softly. + +He met her look. "You'll have to help me, sweetheart," he said. + +She gave him her hands. "I will help you in all that you do, +Dick," she said. + +It was at this point that Columbus, who had been sitting a little apart +with his back turned, got up, shook himself vigorously as if to give +warning of his approach, and went to Juliet. + +He set his paws against her with a loud pathetic yawn. + +She bent over him. "Oh, poor Columbus! He's so bored! Do you want to go +home, my Christopher?" + +"Poor chap!" said Dick. "It is rather hard to be dragged away on someone +else's honeymoon whether you want to or not. Had enough of it, eh? Think +it's high time we took the missis home?" + +Columbus snuffled into his hand, and wagged himself from the tail +upwards. + +Juliet put her arms round him and kissed him. "Dear old fellow, of course +he does! He thinks we are just the silliest people alive. Perhaps--from +some points of view--we are." + +Columbus said nothing, but he surveyed them both with a look of twinkling +humour, and then smothered a laugh with a sneeze. + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Obstacle Race, by Ethel M. 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