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diff --git a/12450-h/12450-h.htm b/12450-h/12450-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7dcdf6 --- /dev/null +++ b/12450-h/12450-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10507 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st November 2003), see www.w3.org" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta content="pg2html (binary v0.16)" name="generator" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Reason Why, by Elinor +Glyn</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .author {text-align: right; margin-right: 5%;} + .poem { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left; } + .poem .stanza { margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; } + .poem p { margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; } + .poem p.i2 { margin-left: 1em; } + + .figure, .figcenter + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.9em;} + .figure img, .figcenter img + {border: none; } + .figcenter {margin: auto; } + .center {text-align: center;} + .toc { margin-right: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 15%; font-size: 80%;} + // --> +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12450 ***</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h1>THE REASON WHY</h1> +<h2>BY ELINOR GLYN</h2> +<h5>Author of "His Hour," "Three Weeks," etc.</h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY EDMUND FREDERICK</h3> +<h4>1911</h4> +<hr /> +<h2>Contents</h2> +<p class="toc"><a href="#HLIST">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#H002">THE REASON WHY</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C001">CHAPTER I</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C002">CHAPTER II</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C003">CHAPTER III</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C004">CHAPTER IV</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C005">CHAPTER V</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C006">CHAPTER VI</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C007">CHAPTER VII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C008">CHAPTER VIII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C009">CHAPTER IX</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C010">CHAPTER X</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C011">CHAPTER XI</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C012">CHAPTER XII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C013">CHAPTER XIII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C014">CHAPTER XIV</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C015">CHAPTER XV</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C016">CHAPTER XVI</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C017">CHAPTER XVII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C018">CHAPTER XVIII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C019">CHAPTER XIX</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C020">CHAPTER XX</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C021">CHAPTER XXI</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C022">CHAPTER XXII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C023">CHAPTER XXIII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C024">CHAPTER XXIV</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C025">CHAPTER XXV</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C026">CHAPTER XXVI</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C027">CHAPTER XXVII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C028">CHAPTER XXVIII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C029">CHAPTER XXIX</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C030">CHAPTER XXX</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C031">CHAPTER XXXI</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C032">CHAPTER XXXII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C033">CHAPTER XXXIII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C034">CHAPTER XXXIV</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C035">CHAPTER XXXV</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C036">CHAPTER XXXVI</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C037">CHAPTER XXXVII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C038">CHAPTER XXXVIII</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C039">CHAPTER XXXIX</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C040">CHAPTER XL</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C041">CHAPTER XLI</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#C042">CHAPTER XLII</a></p> +<br /> +<hr /> +<a name="HLIST" id="HLIST"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>List of Illustrations</h3> +<p class="toc"><a href="#rw032">"The whole expression of her face +changed as he came and leaned upon the piano."</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#rw158">"With his English self-control and +horror of a scene, he followed his wife to the door."</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#rw000">"Not by a glance or a turn of the +head did he let his bride see how wildly her superlative attraction +had kindled the fire in his blood."</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#rw320">"'Zara!' he said distractedly.... +'Can I not help you?'"</a></p> +<br /> +<hr /> +<a name="H002" id="H002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>THE REASON WHY</h2> +<a name="C001" id="C001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> +<p>People often wondered what nation the great financier, Francis +Markrute, originally sprang from. He was now a naturalized +Englishman and he looked English enough. He was slight and fair, +and had an immaculately groomed appearance generally—which +even the best of valets cannot always produce. He wore his clothes +with that quiet, unconscious air which is particularly English. He +had no perceptible accent—only a deliberate way of speaking. +But Markrute!—such a name might have come from anywhere. No +one knew anything about him, except that he was fabulously rich and +had descended upon London some ten years previously from Paris, or +Berlin, or Vienna, and had immediately become a power in the city, +and within a year or so, had grown to be omnipotent in certain +circles.</p> +<p>He had a wonderfully appointed house in Park Lane, one of those +smaller ones just at the turn out of Grosvenor Street, and there he +entertained in a reserved fashion.</p> +<p>It had been remarked by people who had time to think—rare +cases in these days—that he had never made a disadvantageous +friend, from his very first arrival. If he had to use undesirables +for business purposes he used them only for that, in a crisp, hard +way, and never went to their houses. Every acquaintance even was +selected with care for a definite end. One of his favorite phrases +was that "it is only the fool who coins for himself +limitations."</p> +<p>At this time, as he sat smoking a fine cigar in his library +which looked out on the park, he was perhaps forty-six years old or +thereabouts, and but for his eyes—wise as serpents'—he +might have been ten years younger.</p> +<p>Opposite to him facing the light a young man lounged in a great +leather chair. The visitors in Francis Markrute's library nearly +always faced the light, while he himself had his back to it.</p> +<p>There was no doubt about this visitor's nation! He was +flamboyantly English. If you had wished to send a prize specimen of +the race to a World's Fair you could not have selected anything +finer. He was perhaps more Norman than Saxon, for his hair was dark +though his eyes were blue, and the marks of breeding in the +creature showed as plainly as in a Derby winner. Francis Markrute +always smoked his cigars to the end, if he were at leisure and the +weed happened to be a good one, but Lord Tancred (Tristram Lorrimer +Guiscard Guiscard, 24th Baron Tancred, of Wrayth in the County of +Suffolk) flung his into the grate after a few whiffs, and he +laughed with a slightly whimsical bitterness as he went on with the +conversation.</p> +<p>"Yes, Francis, my friend, the game here is played out; I am +thirty, and there is nothing interesting left for me to do but +emigrate to Canada, for a while at least, and take up a ranch."</p> +<p>"Wrayth mortgaged heavily, I suppose?" said Mr. Markrute, +quietly.</p> +<p>"Pretty well, and the Northern property, too. When my mother's +jointure is paid there is not a great deal left this year, it +seems. I don't mind much; I had a pretty fair time before these +beastly Radicals made things so difficult."</p> +<p>The financier nodded, and the young man went on: "My forbears +got rid of what they could; there was not much ready money to come +into and one had to live!"</p> +<p>Francis Markrute smoked for a minute thoughtfully.</p> +<p>"Naturally," he said at last. "Only the question is—for +how long? I understand a plunge, if you settle its duration; it is +the drifting and trusting to chance, and a gradual sinking which +seem to me a poor game. Did you ever read de Musset's 'Rolla'?"</p> +<p>"The fellow who had arrived at his last night, and to whom the +little girl was so kind? Yes: well?"</p> +<p>"You reminded me of Jacques Rolla, that is all."</p> +<p>"Oh, come! It is not as bad as that!" Lord Tancred +exclaimed—and he laughed. "I can collect a few thousands +still, even here, and I can go to Canada. I believe there is any +quantity of money to be made there with a little capital, and it is +a nice, open-air life. I just looked in this afternoon on my way +back from Scotland to tell you I should be going out to prospect, +about the end of November and could not join you for the pheasants +on the 20th, as you were good enough to ask me to do."</p> +<p>The financier half closed his eyes. When he did this there was +always something of importance working in his brain.</p> +<p>"You have not any glaring vices, Tancred," he said. "You are no +gambler either on the turf or at cards. You are not over addicted +to expensive ladies. You are cultivated, for a sportsman, and you +have made one or two decent speeches in the House of Lords. You +are, in fact, rather a fine specimen of your class. It seems a pity +you should have to shut down and go to the Colonies."</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't know! And I have not altogether got to shut down," +the young man said, "only the show is growing rather rotten over +here. We have let the rabble—the most unfit and +ignorant—have the casting vote, and the machine now will +crush any man. I have kept out of politics as much as I can and I +am glad."</p> +<p>Francis Markrute got up and lowered the blind a few +inches—a miserable September sun was trying to shine into the +room. If Lord Tancred had not been so preoccupied with his own +thoughts he would have remarked this restlessness on the part of +his host. He was no fool; but his mind was far away. It almost +startled him when the cold, deliberate voice continued:</p> +<p>"I have a proposition to make to you should you care to accept +it. I have a niece—a widow—she is rather an attractive +lady. If you will marry her I will pay off all your mortgages and +settle on her quite a princely dower."</p> +<p>"Good God!" said Lord Tancred.</p> +<p>The financier reddened a little about the temples, and his eyes +for an instant gave forth a flash of steel. There had been an +infinite variety of meanings hidden in the exclamation, but he +demanded suavely:</p> +<p>"What point of the question causes you to exclaim 'Good +God'?"</p> +<p>The sang-froid of Lord Tancred never deserted him.</p> +<p>"The whole thing," he said—"to marry at all, to begin +with, and to marry an unknown woman, to have one's debts paid, for +the rest! It is a tall order."</p> +<p>"A most common occurrence. Think of the number of your peers who +have gone to America for their wives, for no other reason."</p> +<p>"And think of the rotters they are—most of them! I mayn't +be much catch, financially; but I have one of the oldest names and +titles in England—and up to now we have not had any cads nor +cowards in the family, and I think a man who marries a woman for +money is both. By Jove! Francis, what are you driving at? Confound +it, man! I am not starving and can work, if it should ever come to +that."</p> +<p>Mr. Markrute smoothed his hands. He was a peculiarly still +person generally.</p> +<p>"Yes, it was a blunder, I admit, to put it this way. So I will +be frank with you. My family is also, my friend, as old as yours. +My niece is all I have left in the world. I would like to see her +married to an Englishman. I would like to see her married to you of +all Englishmen because I like you and you have qualities about you +which count in life. Oh, believe me!"—and he raised a +protesting finger to quell an interruption—"I have studied +you these years; there is nothing you can say of yourself or your +affairs that I do not know."</p> +<p>Lord Tancred laughed.</p> +<p>"My dear old boy," he said, "we have been friends for a long +time; and, now we are coming to hometruths, I must say I like your +deuced cold-blooded point of view on every subject. I like your +knowledge of wines and cigars and pictures, and you are a most +entertaining companion. But, 'pon my soul I would not like to have +your niece for a wife if she took after you!"</p> +<p>"You think she would be cold-blooded, too?"</p> +<p>"Undoubtedly; but it is all perfectly preposterous. I don't +believe you mean a word you are saying—it is some kind of a +joke."</p> +<p>"Have you ever known me to make such jokes, Tancred?" Mr. +Markrute asked calmly.</p> +<p>"No, I haven't, and that is the odd part of it. What the devil +do you mean, really, Francis?"</p> +<p>"I mean what I say: I will pay every debt you have, and give you +a charming wife with a fortune."</p> +<p>Lord Tancred got up and walked about the room. He was a +perfectly natural creature, stolid and calm as those of his race, +disciplined and deliberate in moments of danger or difficulty; yet +he never lived under self-conscious control as the financier did. +He was rather moved now, and so he walked about. He was with a +friend, and it was not the moment to have to bother over disguising +his feelings.</p> +<p>"Oh, it is nonsense, Francis; I could not do it. I have knocked +about the world as you know, and, since you are aware of everything +about me, you say, you have probably heard some of my +likings—and dislikings. I never go after a woman unless she +attracts me, and I would never marry one of them unless I were +madly in love with her, whether she had money or no; though I +believe I would hate a wife with money, in any case—she'd be +saying like the American lady of poor Darrowood: 'It's my motor and +you can't have it to-day.'"</p> +<p>"You would marry a woman then—if you were in love, in +spite of everything?" Francis Markrute asked.</p> +<p>"Probably, but I have never been really in love; have you? It is +all story-book stuff—that almighty passion, I expect. They +none of them matter very much after a while, do they, old boy?"</p> +<p>"I have understood it is possible for a woman to matter," the +financier said and he drew in his lips.</p> +<p>"Well, up to now I have not," Lord Tancred announced, "and may +the day be far off when one does. I feel pretty safe!"</p> +<p>A strange, mysterious smile crept over Mr. Markrute's face.</p> +<p>"By the way, also, how do you know the lady would be willing to +marry me, Francis? You spoke as if I only had to be consulted in +the affair."</p> +<p>"So you have. I can answer for my niece; she will do as I wish, +and, as I said before, you are rather a perfect picture of an +English nobleman, Tancred. You have not found women recalcitrant, +as a rule—no?"</p> +<p>Lord Tancred was not inordinately vain, though a man, and he had +a sense of humor—so he laughed.</p> +<p>"'Pon my word it is amusing, your turning into a sort of +matrimonial agent. Can't you see the fun of the thing +yourself?"</p> +<p>"It seems quite natural to me. You have every social advantage +to offer a woman, and a presentable person; and my niece has youth, +and some looks, and a large fortune. But we will say no more about +it. I shall be glad to be of any service I can to you, anyway, in +regard to your Canadian scheme. Come and dine to-night; I happen to +have asked a couple of railway magnates with interests out there, +and you can get some information from them."</p> +<p>And so it was arranged, and Lord Tancred got up to go; but just +at the door he paused and said with a laugh:</p> +<p>"And shall I see the niece?"</p> +<p>The financier had his back turned, and so he permitted the +flicker of a smile to come over his mouth as he answered:</p> +<p>"It might be; but we have dismissed the subject of the +niece."</p> +<p>And so they parted.</p> +<p>At the sound of the closing of the door Mr. Markrute pressed the +button of a wonderful trifle of Russian enamel and emeralds, which +lay on his writing table, and a quiet servant entered the room.</p> +<p>"Tell the Countess Shulski I wish to speak to her here +immediately, please," he said. "Ask her to descend at once."</p> +<p>But he had to walk up and down several times, and was growing +impatient, before the door opened and a woman came slowly into the +room.</p> +<a name="C002" id="C002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> +<p>The financier paused in his restless pacing as he heard the door +open and stood perfectly still, with his back to the light. The +woman advanced and also stood still, and they looked at one another +with no great love in their eyes, though she who had entered was +well worth looking at, from a number of points of view. Firstly, +she had that arresting, compelling personality which does not +depend upon features, or coloring, or form, or beauty. A subtle +force of character—a radiating magnetism—breathed from +her whole being. When Zara Shulski came into any assemblage of +people conversation stopped and speculation began.</p> +<p>She was rather tall and very slender; and yet every voluptuous +curve of her lithe body refuted the idea of thinness. Her head was +small and her face small, and short, and oval, with no wonderfully +chiseled features, only the skin was quite exceptional in its white +purity—not the purity of milk, but the purity of rich, white +velvet, or a gardenia petal. Her mouth was particularly curved and +red and her teeth were very even, and when she smiled, which was +rarely, they suggested something of great strength, though they +were small and white. And now I am coming to her two wonders, her +eyes and her hair. At first you could have sworn the eyes were +black; just great pools of ink, or disks of black velvet, set in +their broad lids and shaded with jet lashes, but if they chanced to +glance up in the full light then you knew they were slate color, +not a tinge of brown or green—the whole iris was a uniform +shade: strange, slumberous, resentful eyes, under straight, thick, +black brows, the expression full of all sorts of meanings, though +none of them peaceful or calm. And from some far back +Spanish-Jewess ancestress she probably got that glorious head of +red hair, the color of a ripe chestnut when it falls from its +shell, or a beautifully groomed bright bay horse. The heavy plaits +which were wound tightly round her head must have fallen below her +knees when they were undone. Her coiffure gave you the impression +that she never thought of fashion, nor changed its form of +dressing, from year to year. And the exquisite planting of the hair +on her forehead, as it waved back in broad waves, added to the +perfection of the Greek simplicity of the whole thing. Nothing +about her had been aided by conscious art. Her dress, of some black +clinging stuff, was rather poor, though she wore it with the air of +a traditional empress. Indeed, she looked an empress, from the tips +of her perfect fingers to her small arched feet.</p> +<p>And it was with imperial hauteur that she asked in a low, +cultivated voice with no accent:</p> +<p>"Well, what is it? Why have you sent for me thus +peremptorily?"</p> +<p>The financier surveyed her for a moment; he seemed to be taking +in all her points with a fresh eye. It was almost as though he were +counting them over to himself—and his thoughts ran: "You +astonishingly attractive devil. You have all the pride of my +father, the Emperor. How he would have gloried in you! You are +enough to drive any man mad: you shall be a pawn in my game for the +winning of my lady and gain happiness for yourself, so in the end, +Elinka, if she is able to see from where she has gone, will not say +I have been cruel to you."</p> +<p>"I asked you to come down—to discuss a matter of great +importance: Will you be good enough to be seated, my niece," he +said aloud with ceremonious politeness as he drew forward a +chair—into which she sank without more ado and there waited, +with folded hands, for him to continue. Her stillness was always as +intense as his own, but whereas his had a nervous tension of +conscious repression, hers had an unconscious, quiet force. Her +father had been an Englishman, but both uncle and niece at moments +made you feel they were silent panthers, ready to spring.</p> +<p>"So—" was all she said.</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute went on:</p> +<p>"You have a miserable position—hardly enough to eat at +times, one understands. You do not suppose I took the trouble to +send for you from Paris last week, for nothing, do you? You guessed +I had some plan in my head, naturally."</p> +<p>"Naturally," she said, with fine contempt. "I did not mistake it +for philanthropy."</p> +<p>"Then it is well, and we can come to the point," he went on. "I +am sorry I have had to be away, since your arrival, until +yesterday. I trust my servants have made you comfortable?"</p> +<p>"Quite comfortable," she answered coldly.</p> +<p>"Good: now for what I want to know. You have no doubt in your +mind that your husband, Count Ladislaus Shulski, is dead? There is +no possible mistake in his identity? I believe the face was +practically shot away, was it not? I have taken the precaution to +inform myself upon every point, from the authorities at Monte +Carlo, but I wish for your final testimony."</p> +<p>"Ladislaus Shulski is dead," she said quietly, in a tone as +though it gave her pleasure to say it. "The woman Féto +caused the fray, Ivan Larski shot him in her arms; he was her lover +who paid, and Ladislaus the <i>amant du coeur</i> for the moment. +She wailed over the body like a squealing rabbit. She was there +lamenting his fine eyes when they sent for me! They were gone for +ever, but no one could mistake his curly hair, nor his cruel, white +hands. Ah! it was a scene of disgust! I have witnessed many ugly +things but that was of the worst. I do not wish to talk of it; it +is passed a year ago. Féto heaped his grave with flowers, +and joined the hero, Larski, who was allowed to escape, so all was +well."</p> +<p>"And since then you have lived from hand to mouth, with those +others." And here Francis Markrute's voice took on a new shade: +there was a cold hate in it.</p> +<p>"I have lived with my little brother, Mirko, and Mimo. How could +I desert them? And sometimes we have found it hard at the end of +the quarter—but it was not always as bad as that, especially +when Mimo sold a picture—"</p> +<p>"I will not hear his name!" Francis Markrute said with some +excitement. "In the beginning, if I could have found him I would +have killed him, as you know, but now the carrion can live, since +my sister is dead. He is not worth powder and shot."</p> +<p>The Countess Shulski gave the faintest shrug of her shoulders, +while her eyes grew blacker with resentment. She did not speak. +Francis Markrute stood by the mantelpiece, and lit a cigar before +he continued; he knew he must choose his words as he was dealing +with no helpless thing.</p> +<p>"You are twenty-three years old, Zara, and you were married at +sixteen," he said at last. "And up to thirteen at least I know you +were very highly educated—You understand something of life, I +expect."</p> +<p>"Life!" she said—and now there was a concentrated essence +of bitterness in her voice. "<i>Mon Dieu!</i> Life—and +men!"</p> +<p>"Yes, you probably think you know men."</p> +<p>She lifted her upper lip a little, and showed her even +teeth—it was like an animal snarling.</p> +<p>"I know that they are either selfish weaklings, or cruel, +hateful brutes like Ladislaus, or clever, successful financiers +like you, my uncle. That is enough! Something we women must be +always sacrificed to."</p> +<p>"Well, you don't know Englishmen—"</p> +<p>"Yes, I remember my father very well; cold and hard to my +darling mother"—and here her voice trembled a +little—"he only thought of himself, and to rush to England +for sport—and leave her alone for months and months: selfish +and vile—all of them!"</p> +<p>"In spite of that I have found you an English husband whom you +will be good enough to take, madame," Francis Markrute announced +authoritatively.</p> +<p>She gave a little laugh—if anything so mirthless could be +called a laugh.</p> +<p>"You have no power over me; I shall do no such thing."</p> +<p>"I think you will," the financier said with quiet assurance, "if +I know you. There are terms, of course—"</p> +<p>She glanced at him sharply: the expression in those somber eyes +was often alert like a wild animal's, about to be attacked; only +she had trained herself generally to keep the lids lowered.</p> +<p>"What are the terms?" she asked.</p> +<p>And as she spoke Francis Markrute thought of the black panther +in the Zoo, which he was so fond of going to watch on Sunday +mornings, she reminded him so of the beast at the moment.</p> +<p>He had been constrained up to this, but now, the question being +one of business, all his natural ease of manner returned, and he +sat down opposite her and blew rings of smoke from his cigar.</p> +<p>"The terms are that the boy Mirko, your half-brother, shall be +provided for for life. He shall live with decent people, and have +his talent properly cultivated—"</p> +<p>He stopped abruptly and remained silent.</p> +<p>Countess Shulski clasped her hands convulsively in her lap, and +with all the pride and control of her voice there was a note of +anguish, too, which would have touched any heart but one so firmly +guarded as Francis Markrute's.</p> +<p>"Ah, God!" she said so low that he could only just hear her, "I +have paid the price of my body and soul once for them. It is too +much to ask it of me a second time—"</p> +<p>"That is as you please," said the financier.</p> +<p>He seldom made a mistake in his methods with people. He left +nothing to chance; he led up the conversation to the right point, +fired his bomb, and then showed absolute indifference. To display +interest in a move, when one was really interested, was always a +point to the adversary. He maintained interest could be simulated +when necessary, but must never be shown when real. So he left his +niece in silence, while she pondered over his bargain, knowing full +well what would be the result. She got up from her chair and leaned +upon the back of it, while her face looked white as death in the +dying afternoon's light.</p> +<p>"Can you realize what my life was like with Ladislaus?" she +hissed. "A plaything for his brutal pleasures, to begin with; a +decoy duck to trap the other men, I found afterwards; tortured and +insulted from morning to night. I hated him always, but he seemed +so kind beforehand—kind to my darling mother, whom you were +leaving to die."—Here Francis Markrute winced and a look of +pain came into his hard face while he raised a hand in protest and +then dropped it again, as his niece went on—"And she was +beginning to be ill even at that time and we were so poor—so +I married him."</p> +<p>Then she swept toward the door with her empress air, the rather +shabby, dark dress making a swirl behind her; and as she got there +she turned and spoke again, with her hand on the bronze tracery of +the fingerplate, making, unconsciously, a highly dramatic picture, +as a sudden last ray of the sinking sun shot out and struck the +glory of her hair, turning it to flame above her brow.</p> +<p>"I tell you it is too much," she said, with almost a sob in her +voice. "I will not do it." And then she went out and closed the +door.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute, left alone, leant back in his chair and puffed +his cigar calmly while he mused.</p> +<p>What strange things were women! Any man could manage them if +only he reckoned with their temperaments when dealing with them, +and paid no heed to their actual words. Francis Markrute was a +philosopher. A number of the shelves of this, his library, were +filled with works on the subject of philosophy, and a well-thumbed +volume of the fragments of Epicurus lay on a table by his side. He +picked it up now and read: "He who wastes his youth on high +feeding, on wine, on women, forgets that he is like a man who wears +out his overcoat in the summer." He had not wasted his youth either +on wine or women, only he had studied both, and their effects upon +the thing which, until lately, had interested him most in the +world—himself. They could both be used to the greatest +advantage and pleasure by a man who apprehended things he knew.</p> +<p>Then he turned to the <i>Morning Post</i> which was on a low +stand near, and he read again a paragraph which had pleased him at +breakfast:</p> +<p>"The Duke of Glastonbury and Lady Ethelrida Montfitchet +entertained at dinner last night a small party at Glastonbury +House, among the guests being—" and here he skipped some +high-sounding titles and let his eye feast upon his own name, "Mr. +Francis Markrute."</p> +<p>Then he smiled and gazed into the fire, and no one would have +recognized his hard, blue eyes, as he said softly:</p> +<p>"Ethelrida! <i>belle et blonde!</i>"</p> +<a name="C003" id="C003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> +<p>While the financier was contentedly musing in his chair beside +the fire, his niece was hurrying into the park, wrapped in a dark +cloak and thick veil. She had slipped out noiselessly, a few +minutes after she left the library. The sun had completely set now +and it was damp and cold, with the dead leaves, and the sodden +autumn feeling in the air. Zara Shulski shivered, in spite of the +big cloak, as she peered into the gloom of the trees, when she got +nearly to the Achilles statue. The rendezvous had been for six +o'clock; it was now twenty minutes past, and it was so bad for +Mirko to wait in the cold. Perhaps they would have gone on. But no; +she caught sight of two shabby figures, close up under the statue, +when she got sufficiently near.</p> +<p>They came forward eagerly to meet her. And even in the half +light it could be seen that the boy was an undersized little +cripple of perhaps nine or ten years old but looking much younger; +as it could also be seen that even in his worn overcoat and old +stained felt hat the man was a gloriously handsome creature.</p> +<p>"What joy to see you, Chérisette!" exclaimed the child. +"Papa and I have been longing and longing all the day. It seemed +that six would never come. But now that you are here let me eat +you—eat you up!" And the thin, little arms, too long for the +wizened body, clasped fondly round her neck as she lifted him, and +carried him toward a seat where the three sat down to discuss their +affairs.</p> +<p>"I know nothing, you see, Mimo," the Countess Shulski said, +"beyond that you arrived yesterday. I think it was foolish of you +to risk it. At least in Paris Madame Dubois would have let you stay +and owe a week's rent. But here—among these +strangers—"</p> +<p>"Now do not scold us, Mentor," the man answered, with a charming +smile. "Mirko and I felt the sun had fled when you went last +Thursday. It rained and rained two—three—days, and the +Dubois canary got completely on our nerves; and, heavens above! the +Grisoldi insisted upon cooking garlic in his food at every +meal!—we had thought to have broken him of the habit, you +remember?—and up, up it came from his stove. Body of Bacchus! +It killed inspiration. I could not paint, my Chérisette, and +Mirko could not play. And so we said: 'At least—at least the +sun of the hair of our Chérisette must shine in the dark +England; we, too, will go there, away from the garlic and the +canary, and the fogs will give us new ideas, and we shall create +wonderful things.' Is it not so, Mirko mio?"</p> +<p>"But, of course, Papa," the boy echoed; and then his voice +trembled with a pitiful note. "You are not angry with us, darling +Chérisette? Say it is not so?"</p> +<p>"My little one! How can you! I could never be angry with my +Mirko, no matter what he did!" And the two pools of ink softened +from the expression of the black panther into the divine tenderness +of the Sistine Madonna, as she pressed the frail, little body to +her side and pulled her cloak around it.</p> +<p>"Only I fear it cannot be well for you here in London, and if my +uncle should know, all hope of getting anything from him may be +over. He expressly said if I would come quite alone, to stay with +him for these few weeks, it would be to my advantage; and my +advantage means yours, as you know. Otherwise do you think I would +have eaten of his hateful bread?"</p> +<p>"You are so good to us, Chérisette," the man Mimo said. +"You have, indeed, a sister of the angels, Mirko mio; but soon we +shall be all rich and famous. I had a dream last night, and already +I have begun a new picture of grays and mists—of these +strange fogs!"</p> +<p>Count Mimo Sykypri was a confirmed optimist.</p> +<p>"Meanwhile you are in the one room, in Neville Street, Tottenham +Court Road. It is, I fear, a poor neighborhood."</p> +<p>"No worse than Madame Dubois'," Mimo hastened to reassure her, +"and London is giving me new ideas."</p> +<p>Mirko coughed harshly with a dry sound. Countess Shulski drew +him closer to her and held him tight.</p> +<p>"You got the address from the Grisoldi? He was a kind little old +man, in spite of the garlic," she said.</p> +<p>"Yes, he told us of it, as an inexpensive resting place, until +our affairs prospered, and we came straight there and wrote to you +at once."</p> +<p>"I was greatly surprised to receive the letter. Have you any +money at all now, Mimo?"</p> +<p>"Indeed, yes!" And Count Sykypri proudly drew forth eight bits +of French gold from his pocket. "We had two hundred francs when we +arrived. Our little necessities and a few paints took up two of the +twenty-franc pieces, and we have eight of them left! Oh, quite a +fortune! It will keep us until I can sell the 'Apache.' I shall +take it to a picture dealer's to-morrow."</p> +<p>Countess Shulski's heart sank. She knew so well of old how long +eight twenty-franc pieces would be likely to last! In spite of +Mirko's care and watching of his father that gentleman was capable +of giving one of them to a beggar if the beggar's face and story +touched him, and any of the others could go in a present to Mirko +or herself—to be pawned later, when necessity called. The +case was hopeless as far as money was concerned with Count +Sykypri.</p> +<p>Her own meager income, derived from the dead Shulski, was always +forestalled for the wants of the family—the little brother +whom she had promised her dead and adored mother never to +desert.</p> +<p>For when the beautiful wife of Maurice Grey, the misanthropic +and eccentric Englishman who lived in a castle near Prague, ran off +with Count Mimo Sykypri, her daughter, then aged thirteen, had run +with her, and the pair had been wiped off the list of the family. +And Maurice Grey, after cursing them both and making a will +depriving them of everything, shut himself up in his castle, and +steadily drank himself to death in less than a year. And the +brother of the beautiful Mrs. Grey, Francis Markrute, never forgave +her either. He refused to receive her or hear news of her, even +after poor little Mirko was born and she married Count Sykypri.</p> +<p>For on the father's side, the Markrute brother and sister were +of very noble lineage; even with his bar sinister the financier +could not brook the disgrace of Elinka. He had loved her +so—the one soft side of his adamantine character. Her +disgrace, it seemed, had frozen all the tenderness in his +nature.</p> +<p>Countess Shulski was silent for a few moments, while both Mimo +and Mirko watched her face anxiously. She had thrown back her +veil.</p> +<p>"And supposing you do not sell the 'Apache,' Mimo? Your own +money does not come in until Christmas; mine is all gone until +January, and it is the cold winter approaching—and cold is +not good for Mirko. What then?"</p> +<p>Count Sykypri moved uneasily. A tragic look grew in his handsome +face; his face that was a mirror of all passing emotions; his face +that had been able to express love and romance, devotion and +tenderness, to wile a bird from off a tree or love from the heart +of any woman. And even though Zara Shulski knew of just how little +value was anything he said or did yet his astonishing charm always +softened her irritation toward his fecklessness. So she repeated +more gently:</p> +<p>"What then?"</p> +<p>Mimo got up and flung out his arms in a dramatic way.</p> +<p>"It cannot be!" he said. "I must sell the 'Apache!' Besides, if +I don't: I tell you these strange, gray fogs are giving me new, +wonderful thoughts—dark, mysterious—two figures meeting +in the mist! Oh! but a wonderful combination that will be +successful in all cases."</p> +<p>Mirko pressed his arm round his sister's neck and kissed her +cheek, while he cooed love words in a soft Slavonic language. Two +big tears gathered in Zara Shulski's deep eyes and made them tender +as a dove's.</p> +<p>She drew out her purse and counted from it two sovereigns and +some shillings which she slipped into Mirko's small hand.</p> +<p>"Keep these, pet, for an emergency," she said. "They are all I +have, but I will—I must—find some other way for you +soon: and now I shall have to go. If my uncle should suspect I am +seeing you I might be powerless to help further."</p> +<p>They walked with her to the Grosvenor Gate, and reluctantly let +her leave them; and then they watched her, as she sped across the +road between the passing taxi-cabs. When they saw the light from +the opening door and her figure disappearing between the tall +servants who had come to open it, the two poor, shabby figures +walked on with a sigh, to try to find an omnibus which would put +them down somewhere near their dingy bedroom in Neville Street, +Tottenham Court Road. And as they reached the Marble Arch there +came on a sharp shower of icy rain.</p> +<p>Countess Shulski, however poorly dressed, was a person to whom +servants were never impertinent; there was something in her bearing +which precluded all idea of familiarity. It did not even strike +Turner, or James, that her clothes were what none of the housemaids +would have considered fit to wear when they went out. The remark +the lordly Turner made, as he arranged some letters on the hall +table, was:</p> +<p>"A very haughty lady, James—quite a bit of the Master +about her, eh?"</p> +<p>But she went on to the lift, slowly, and to her luxurious +bedroom, her heart full of pain and rage against fate. Here she sat +down before the fire, and, resting her chin on her two hands, gazed +steadily into the glowing coals.</p> +<p>What pictures did she see of past miseries there in the flames? +Her thoughts wandered right back to the beginning. The stern, +peculiar father, and the gloomy castle. The severe +governesses—English and German—and her adorable, +beautiful mother, descending upon the schoolroom like a fairy of +light, always gay and sweet and loving. And then of that journey to +a far country, where she saw an old, old, dying gentleman in a +royal palace, who kissed her, and told her she would grow as +beautiful as her grandmother with the red, red hair. And there in +the palace was Mimo, so handsome and kind in his glittering +aide-de-camp's uniform, who after that often came to the gloomy +castle, and, with the fairy mother, to the schoolroom. Ah! those +days were happy days! How they three had shrieked with laughter and +played hide-and-seek in the long galleries!</p> +<p>And then the blank, hideous moment when the angel fairy had +gone, and the stern father cursed and swore, and Uncle Francis' +face looked like a vengeful fiend's. And then a day when she got +word to meet her mother in the park of the castle. How she clung to +her and cried and sobbed to be taken, too! And they—Mimo and +the mother—always so kind and loving and irresponsible, +consented. And then the flight; and weeks of happiness in luxurious +hotels, until the mother's face grew pinched and white, and no +letters but her own—returned—came from Uncle Francis. +And ever the fear grew that if Mimo were absent from her for a +moment Uncle Francis would kill him. The poor, adored mother! And +then of the coming of Mirko and all their joy over it; and then, +gradually, the skeleton of poverty, when all the jewels had been +sold and all Mimo's uniform and swords; and nothing but his slender +income, which could not be taken from him, remained. How he had +worked to be a real artist, there in Paris! Oh! poor Mimo. He had +tried, but everything was so against a gentleman; and Mirko such a +delicate baby, and the mother's lovely face so often sad. And then +the time of the mother's first bad illness—how they had +watched and prayed, and Mimo had cried tears like a child, and the +doctor had said the South was the only thing to help their angel's +recovery. So to marry Ladislaus Shulski seemed the only way. He had +a villa in the sun at Nice and offered it to them; he was crazy +about her—Zara—at that time, though her skirts were not +quite long, nor her splendid hair done up.</p> +<p>When her thoughts reached this far, the black panther in the Zoo +never looked fiercer when Francis Markrute poked his stick between +its bars to stir it up on Sunday mornings.</p> +<p>The hateful, hateful memories! When she came to know what +marriage meant, and—a man! But it had saved the sweet +mother's life for that winter. And though it was a strain to +extract anything from Ladislaus, still, in the years that followed, +often she had been able to help until his money, too, was all +gone—on gambling and women.</p> +<p>And then the dear mother died—died in cold and poverty, in +a poor little studio in Paris—in spite of her daughter's and +Mimo's frantic letters to Uncle Francis for help. She knew now that +he had been far away, in South Africa, at the time, and had never +received them, until too late; but then, it seemed as if God +Himself had forsaken them. And now came the memory of her solemn +promise. Mirko should never be deserted—the adored mother +could die in peace about that. Her last words came back +now—out of the glowing coals:</p> +<p>"I have been happy with Mimo, after all, my Chérisette, +with you and Mimo and Mirko. It was worth while—" And so she +had gasped—and died.</p> +<p>And here the tears gathered and blurred the flaming coals. But +Zara's decision had come. There was no other way. To her uncle's +bargain she must consent.</p> +<p>She got up abruptly and flung her hat on the bed—her cloak +had already fallen from her—and without further hesitation +she descended the stairs.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute was still seated in his library; he had taken +out his watch and was calculating the time. It was twenty-five +minutes to eight; his guests would be coming to dine at eight +o'clock and he had not begun to dress. Would his niece have made up +her mind by then?</p> +<p>That there could be any doubt about the fact that she would make +up her mind as he wished never entered his head. It was only a +question of time but it would be better, for every reason, if she +arrived at the conclusion at once.</p> +<p>He rose from his chair with a quiet smile as she entered the +room. So she had come! He had not relied upon his knowledge of a +woman's temperament in vain.</p> +<p>She was very pale. The extra whiteness showed even on her +gardenia skin, and her great eyes gleamed sullenly from beneath her +lowering brows of ink.</p> +<p>"If the terms are for the certain happiness of Mirko I consent," +she said.</p> +<a name="C004" id="C004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<p>The four men—the two railway magnates, Francis Markrute, +and Lord Tancred—had all been waiting a quarter of an hour +before the drawing-room fire when the Countess Shulski sailed into +the room. She wore an evening gown of some thin, black, +transparent, woolen stuff, which clung around her with the peculiar +grace her poorest clothes acquired. Another woman would have looked +pitifully shabby in such a dress, but her distinction made it +appear to at least three of the men as the robe of a goddess. +Francis Markrute was too annoyed at the delay of her coming to +admire anything; but even he, as he presented his guests to her, +could not help remarking that he had never seen her look more +wonderful, nor more contemptuously regal.</p> +<p>They had had rather a stormy scene in the library, half an hour +before. Her words had been few, but their displeasure had been +unconcealed. She would agree to the bare bargain, if so be this +strange man were willing, but she demanded to know the reason of +his willingness.</p> +<p>And when she was told it was a business matter between the two +men, and that she would be given a large fortune, she expressed no +more surprise than a disdainful curl of the lips.</p> +<p>For her, all men were either brutes—or fools like poor +Mimo.</p> +<p>If she had known that Lord Tancred had already refused her hand +and that her uncle was merely counting upon his own unerring +knowledge of human nature—and Lord Tancred's nature in +particular—she might have felt humiliated, instead of full of +impotent rage.</p> +<p>The young man, for his part, had arrived exactly on the stroke +of eight, a rare effort of punctuality for him. Some underneath +excitement to see his friend Markrute's niece had tingled in his +veins from the moment he had left the house.</p> +<p>What sort of a woman could it be who would be willing to marry a +perfect stranger for the sake of his title and position? The +quarter-of-an-hour's wait had not added to his calm. So when the +door had eventually opened for her entry he had glanced up with +intense interest, and had then drawn in his breath as she advanced +up the room. The physical part of the lady at all events was +extremely delectable.</p> +<p>But when he was presented and his eyes met hers he was startled +by the look of smoldering, somber hate he saw in them.</p> +<p>What could it all mean? Francis must have been romancing. Why +should she look at him like that, if she were willing to marry him? +He was piqued and interested.</p> +<p>She spoke not a word as they went down to dinner, but he was no +raw youth to be snubbed thus into silence. His easy, polished +manner soon started a conversation upon the usual everyday things. +He received "Yes" and "No" for answers. The railway magnate on her +other side was hardly more fortunate, until the entrées were +in full swing, then she unfroze a little; the elderly gentleman had +said something which interested her.</p> +<p>The part which particularly irritated Lord Tancred was that he +felt sure she was not really stupid—who could be stupid with +such a face? And he was quite unaccustomed to being ignored by +women. A like experience had not occurred to him in the whole of +his life.</p> +<p>He watched her narrowly. He had never seen so white a skin; the +admirably formed bones of her short, small face caused, even in a +side light, no disfiguring shadows to fall beside the mouth and +nose, nor on the cheeks; all was velvety smooth and rounded. The +remote Jewish touch was invisible—save in the splendor of the +eyes and lashes. She filled him with the desire to touch her, to +clasp her tightly in his arms, to pull down that glorious hair and +bury his face in it. And Lord Tancred was no sensualist, given to +instantly appraising the outward charm of women.</p> +<p>When the grouse was being handed, he did get a whole sentence +from her; it was in answer to his question whether she liked +England.</p> +<p>"How can one say—when one does not know?" she said. "I +have only been here once before, when I was quite a child. It seems +cold and dark."</p> +<p>"We must persuade you to like it better," he answered, trying to +look into her eyes which she had instantly averted. The expression +of resentment still smoldered there, he had noticed, during their +brief glance.</p> +<p>"Of what consequence whether I like it or no," she said, looking +across the table, and this was difficult to answer! It seemed to +set him upon his beam-ends. He could not very well say because he +had suddenly begun to admire her very much! At this stage he had +not decided what he meant to do.</p> +<p>An unusual excitement was permeating his being; he could not +account for how or why. He had felt no sensation like it, except on +one of his lion hunts in Africa when the news had come into camp +that an exceptionally fine beast had been discovered near and might +be stalked on the morrow. His sporting instincts seemed to be +thoroughly awakened.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Countess Shulski had turned once more to Sir Philip +Armstrong, the railway magnate. He was telling her about Canada and +she listened with awakening interest: how there were openings for +every one and great fortunes could be made there by the industrious +and persevering.</p> +<p>"It has not come to a point, then, when artists could have a +chance, I suppose?" she asked. Lord Tancred wondered at the +keenness in her voice.</p> +<p>"Modern artists?" Sir Philip queried. "Perhaps not, though the +rich men are beginning to buy pictures and beautiful things, too; +but in a new country it is the man of sinew and determination, not +the dreamer, who succeeds."</p> +<p>Her head then drooped a little; her interest now seemed only +mechanical, as she answered again, "Yes" and "No."</p> +<p>Lord Tancred wondered and wondered; he saw that her thoughts +were far away.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute had been watching things minutely while he kept +up his suave small talk with Colonel Macnamara on his right hand. +He was well pleased with the turn of events. After all, nothing +could have been better than Zara's being late. Circumstance often +played into the hand of an experienced manipulator like himself. +Now if she only kept up this attitude of indifference, which, +indeed, she seemed likely to do—she was no actress, he +knew—things might be settled this very night.</p> +<p>Lord Tancred could not get her to have a single continued +conversation for the remainder of dinner; he was perfectly raging +with annoyance, his fighting blood was up. And when at the first +possible moment after the dessert arrived she swept from the room, +her eyes met his as he held the door and they were again full of +contemptuous hate.</p> +<p>He returned to his seat with his heart actually thumping in his +side.</p> +<p>And all through the laborious conversation upon Canada and how +best to invest capital, which Francis Markrute with great skill and +apparently hearty friendship prolonged to its utmost limits, he +felt the attraction and irritation of the woman grow and grow. He +no longer took the slightest interest in the pros and cons of his +future in the Colony, and when, at last, he heard the distant tones +of Tschaikovsky's <i>Chanson Triste</i> as they ascended the stairs +he came suddenly to a determination. She was sitting at the grand +piano in the back part of the room. A huge, softly shaded lamp shed +its veiled light upon her white face and rounded throat; her hands +and arms, which showed to the elbow, seemed not less pale than the +ivory keys, and those disks of black velvet gazed in front of them, +a whole world of anguish in their depths.</p> +<p>For this was the tune that her mother had loved, and she was +playing it to remind herself of her promise and to keep herself +firm in her determination to accept the bargain, for her little +brother Mirko's sake.</p> +<p>She glanced at Lord Tancred as he entered. Count Ladislaus +Shulski had been a very handsome man, too. She did not know enough +of the English type to judge of Lord Tancred morally. She only saw +that he was a splendid, physical creature who would be +strong—and horrible probably—like the rest.</p> +<p>The whole expression of her face changed as he came and leaned +upon the piano. The sorrow died out of her eyes and was replaced by +a fierce defiance; and her fingers broke into a tarantella of wild +sounds.</p> +<a name="rw032" id="rw032"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width:50%"><a href="images/rw032.jpg" +target="blank"><img width="100%" src="images/rw032.jpg" alt= +'"The whole expression of her face changed as he came and leaned upon the piano."' /> +</a> "The whole expression of her face changed as he came and +leaned upon the piano."</div> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p>"You strange woman!" Lord Tancred said.</p> +<p>"Am I strange?" she answered through her teeth. "It is said by +those who know that we are all mad—at some time and at some +point. I have, I think, reason to be mad to-night." And with that +she crashed a final chord, rose from her seat, and crossed the +room.</p> +<p>"I hope, Uncle Francis, your guests will excuse me," she said, +with an imperial, aloof politeness, "but I am very tired. I will +wish you all a good-night." She bowed to them as they expressed +their regrets, and then slowly left the room.</p> +<p>"Goodnight, madame," Lord Tancred said, at the door. "Some day +you and I will cross swords."</p> +<p>But he was rewarded by no word, only an annihilating glance from +her sullen eyes, and he stood there and gazed at her as she passed +up the stairs.</p> +<p>"An extraordinary and beautiful woman—your niece—eh, +my dear Markrute?" he heard one of the pompous gentlemen say, as he +returned to the group by the fire, and it angered him—he +could not have told why.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute, who knew his moments, began now to talk about +her, casually; how she was an interesting, mysterious character; +beautiful? well, no, not exactly that—a superlative skin, +fine eyes and hair, but no special features.</p> +<p>"I will not admit that she is beautiful, my friend," he said. +"Beauty suggests gentleness and tenderness. My niece reminds me of +the black panther in the Zoo, but one could not say—if she +were tamed."</p> +<p>Such remarks were not calculated to allay the growing interest +and attraction Lord Tancred was feeling. Francis Markrute knew his +audience; he never wasted his words. He abruptly turned the +conversation back to Canada again, until even the two magnates on +their own ground were bored and said goodnight. The four men came +downstairs together. As the two others were being assisted into +their coats by Turner and his satellites the host said to Lord +Tancred:</p> +<p>"Will you have a cigar with me, Tancred, before you go on to +your supper party?" And presently they were both seated in mammoth +armchairs in the cozy library.</p> +<p>"I hope, my dear boy, you have all the information you want +about Canada," Mr. Markrute said. "You could not find two more +influential people than Sir Philip and the Colonel. I asked—" +but Lord Tancred interrupted him.</p> +<p>"I don't care a farthing more about Canada!" he flashed out. "I +have made up my mind. If you really meant what you said to-day, I +will marry your niece, and I don't care whether she has a penny or +no."</p> +<p>The financier's plans had indeed culminated with a rush!</p> +<p>But he expressed no surprise, merely raised his eyebrows mildly +and puffed some blue rings of smoke, as he answered:</p> +<p>"I always mean what I say, only I do not care for people to do +things blindly. Now that you have seen my niece are you sure she +would suit you? I thought, after all, perhaps not, to-night: she is +certainly a difficult person. It would be no easy task for any man +to control her—as a wife."</p> +<p>"I don't care for tame women," Lord Tancred said. "It is that +very quality of difficulty which has inspired me. By George! did +you ever see such a haughty bearing? It will take a man's whole +intelligence to know which bit to use."</p> +<p>"She may close her teeth on whatever bit you use, and bolt with +it. Do not say afterwards that I let you take her blindly."</p> +<p>"Why does she look at me with such hate?" Lord Tancred was just +going to ask—and then he stopped himself. It was +characteristic of him that now he had made up his mind he would not +descend to questions or details—he would find all out later +for himself—but one thing he must know: had she really +consented to marry him? If so, she had her own reasons, of course, +and desire for himself was not among them; but, somehow, he felt +sure they were not sordid or paltry ones. He had always liked +dangerous games—the most unbroken polo ponies to train in the +country, the freshest horses, the fiercest beasts to stalk and +kill—and why not a difficult wife? It would add an adorable +spice to the affair. But as he was very honest with himself he +knew, underneath, that it was not wholly even this instinct, but +that she had cast some spell over him and that he must have her for +his own.</p> +<p>"You might very well ask her history," Francis Markrute said. He +could be so gracious when he liked, and he really admired the +wholehearted dash with which Lord Tancred had surrendered; there +was something big and royal about it—he himself never gambled +in small sums either. "So as I expect you won't," he continued, "I +will tell you. She is the daughter of Maurice Grey, a brother of +old Colonel Grey of Hentingdon, whom everybody knew, and she has +been the widow of an unspeakable brute for over a year. She was an +immaculate wife, and devoted daughter before that. The +possibilities of her temperament are all to come."</p> +<p>Lord Tancred sprang from his chair, the very thought of her and +her temperament made him thrill. Was it possible he was already in +love, after one evening?</p> +<p>"Now we must really discuss affairs, my dear boy," the financier +went on. "Her dower, as I told you, will be princely."</p> +<p>"That I absolutely refuse to do, Francis," Lord Tancred +answered. "I tell you I want the woman for my wife. You can settle +the other things with my lawyer if you care to, and tie it all up +on her. I am not interested in that matter. The only thing I really +wish to know is if you are sure she will marry me?"</p> +<p>"I am perfectly sure." The financier narrowed his eyes. "I would +not have suggested the affair to-day if I had had any doubt about +that."</p> +<p>"Then it is settled, and I shall not ask why. I shall not ask +any thing. Only when may I see her again and how soon can we be +married?"</p> +<p>"Come and lunch with me in the city to-morrow, and we will talk +over everything. I shall have seen her, and can then tell you when +to present yourself. And I suppose you can have the ceremony at the +beginning of November?"</p> +<p>"Six whole weeks hence!" Lord Tancred said, protestingly. "Must +she get such heaps of clothes? Can't it be sooner? I wanted to be +here for my Uncle Glastonbury's first shoot on the 2nd of November, +and if we are only married then, we shall be off on a honeymoon. +You must come to that shoot, by-the-way, old boy, it is the +pleasantest of the whole lot he has; one day at the partridges, and +a dash at the pheasants; but he only asks the jolliest parties to +this early one, for Ethelrida's birthday, and none of the +bores."</p> +<p>"It would give me great pleasure to do so," Francis Markrute +said. And he looked down so that Lord Tancred should not see the +joy in his eyes.</p> +<p>Then they shook hands most heartily, and the newly made +fiancé said good-night, with the happy assurance in his ears +that he might claim his bride in time to be back from a week's +honeymoon for the Glastonbury shoot.</p> +<p>When he had gone Francis Markrute's first act was to sit down +and write a four-figure check for the Cripple Children's Hospital: +he believed in thankofferings. Then he rubbed his hands softly +together as he went up to his bed.</p> +<a name="C005" id="C005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> +<p>Then Lord Tancred left the house in Park Lane he did not go on +to the supper party at the Savoy he had promised to attend. That +sort of affair had bored him, now for several years. Instead, he +drove straight back to his rooms in St. James' Street, and, getting +comfortably into his pet chair, he steadily set himself to think. +He had acted upon a mad impulse; he knew that and did not argue +with himself about it, or regret it. Some force stronger than +anything he had hitherto known had compelled him to come to the +decision. And what would his future life be like with this strange +woman? That could not be exactly guessed. That it would contain +scenes of the greatest excitement he did not doubt. She would in +all cases look the part. His mother herself—the Lady Tancred, +daughter of the late and sister of the present Duke of +Glastonbury—could not move with more dignity: a thought which +reminded him that he had better write to his parent and inform her +of his intended step. He thought of all the women he had +loved—or imagined he had loved—since he left Eton. The +two affairs which had convulsed him during his second year at +Oxford were perhaps the most serious; the Laura Highford, his last +episode, was fortunately over and had always been rather tiresome. +In any case none of those ladies of the world—or other +world—had any reasons to reproach him, and he was free and +happy. And if he wished to put down a large stake on the card of +marriage he was answerable to no one.</p> +<p>During the last eight hundred years, ever since Amaury Guiscard +of that house of Hauteville whose daring deeds gave sovereigns to +half Europe, had come over with his Duke William, and had been +rewarded by the gift of the Wrayth lands—seized from the +Saxons—his descendants had periodically done madly +adventurous things. Perhaps the quality was coming out in him!</p> +<p>Then he thought of his lady, personally, and not of the +extraordinariness of his action. She was exasperatingly attractive. +How delicious it would be when he had persuaded her to talk to him, +taught her to love him, because she certainly must love +him—some day! It was rather cold-blooded of her to be willing +to marry him, a stranger; but he was not going to permit himself to +dwell upon that. She could not be really cold-blooded with that +face: its every line bespoke capability of exquisite passion. It +was not the least cunning, or calculating, either. It was simply +adorable. And to kiss! But here he pulled himself together and +wrote to his mother a note, short and to the point, which she +received by the first post next morning at her small, house in +Queen Street, Mayfair; and then he went to bed. The note ran:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"My Dear Mother:</p> +<p>"I am going to be married at last. The lady is a daughter of +Maurice Grey (a brother of old Colonel Grey of Hentingdon who died +last year), and the widow of a Pole named Shulski, Countess Shulski +she is called."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>(He had paused here because he had suddenly remembered he did +not know her Christian name!)</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"She is also the niece of Francis Markrute whom you have such an +objection to—or had, last season. She is most beautiful and I +hope you will like her. Please go and call to-morrow. I will come +and breakfast with you about ten.</p> +<p class="author">"Your affectionate son, Tancred."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And this proud English mother knew here was a serious letter, +because he signed it "Tancred." He usually finished his rare +communications with just, "love from Tristram."</p> +<p>She leaned back on her pillows and closed her eyes. She adored +her son but she was, above all things, a woman of the world and +given to making reasonable judgments. Tristram was past the age of +a foolish entanglement; there must be some strong motive in this +action. He could hardly be in love. She knew him so well, when he +was in love! He had shown no signs of it lately—not, really, +for several years—for that well +conducted—friendship—with Laura Highford could not be +called being in love. Then she thought of Francis Markrute. He was +so immensely rich, she could not help a relieved sigh. There would +be money at all events. But she knew that could not be the reason. +She was aware of her son's views about rich wives. She was aware, +too, that with all his sporting tastes and modern irreverence of +tradition, underneath he was of a proud, reserved nature, intensely +proud of the honor of his ancient name. What then could be the +reason for this engagement? Well, she would soon know. It was +half-past eight in the morning, and Tristram's "about ten" would +not mean later than, half-past, or a quarter to eleven. She rang +the bell for her maid, and told her to ask the young ladies to put +on dressing-gowns and come to her.</p> +<p>Soon Lord Tancred's two sisters entered the room.</p> +<p>They were nice, fresh English girls, and stood a good deal in +awe of their mother. They kissed her and sat down on the bed. They +felt it was a momentous moment, because Lady Tancred never saw any +one until her hair was arranged—not even her own +daughters.</p> +<p>"Your brother Tristram is going to be married," she said and +referred to the letter lying on the coverlet, "to a Countess +Shulski, a niece of that Mr. Markrute whom one meets about."</p> +<p>"Oh! Mother!" and "Really!" gasped Emily and Mary.</p> +<p>"Have we seen her?"</p> +<p>"Do we know her?"</p> +<p>"No, I think we can none of us have seen her. She certainly was +not with Mr. Markrute at Cowes, and no one has been in town, except +this last week for Flora's wedding. I suppose Tristram must have +met her in Scotland, or possibly abroad. He went to Paris, you +remember, at Easter, and again in July."</p> +<p>"I wonder what she is like," said Emily.</p> +<p>"Is she young?" asked Mary.</p> +<p>"Tristram does not say," replied Lady Tancred, "only that she is +beautiful."</p> +<p>"We are so surprised," both girls gasped together.</p> +<p>"Yes, it is unexpected, certainly," agreed their mother, "but +Tristram has judgment; he is not likely to have chosen any one of +whom I should disapprove. You must be ready to call with me, +directly after lunch. Tristram is coming to breakfast, so you can +have yours now—in your room. I must talk to him."</p> +<p>And the girls, who were dying to ask a hundred thousand +questions, felt that they were dismissed, and, kissing their +dignified parent, they retired to their own large, back room, which +they shared, in common with all their pleasures and little griefs, +together.</p> +<p>"Isn't it too wonderful, Em?" Mary said, when they were back +there, both curled up in the former's bed waiting for their +breakfast. "One can see Mother is very much moved; she was so +stern. I thought Tristram was devoted to Laura Highford, did not +you?"</p> +<p>"Oh! he has been sick of that for ages and ages. She nags at +him—she is a cat anyway and I never could understand it, +could you, Mary?"</p> +<p>"Men have to be like that," said Mary, wisely, "they must have +some one, I mean, to play with, and they are afraid of girls."</p> +<p>"How I hope she will like us, don't you?" Emily said. "Mr. +Markrute is very rich and perhaps she is, too. How lovely it will +be if they are able to live at Wrayth. How lovely to have it opened +again—to go and stay there!"</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed," said Mary.</p> +<p>Lady Tancred awaited her son in the small front morning-room. +She was quite as much a specimen of an English aristocrat as he +was, with her brushed-back, gray hair, and her beautiful, hard, +fine-featured face. She was supremely dignified, and dressed well +and with care. She had been brought up in the school which taught +the repression of all emotion—now, alas! rapidly passing +away—so that she did not even tap her foot from the +impatience which was devouring her, and it was nearly eleven +o'clock before Tristram made his appearance!</p> +<p>He apologized charmingly, and kissed her cheek. His horse, +Satan, had been particularly fresh, and he had been obliged to give +him an extra canter twice round the Row, before coming in, and was +breakfast ready?—as he was extremely hungry! Yes, breakfast +was ready, and they went into the dining-room where the old butler +awaited them.</p> +<p>"Give me everything, Michelham," said his lordship, "I am +ravenous. Then you can go. Her ladyship will pour out the +coffee."</p> +<p>The old servant beamed upon him, with a "glad to see your +lordship's well!" and, surrounding his plate with hot, covered, +silver dishes, quietly made his exit, and so they were alone.</p> +<p>Lady Tancred beamed upon her son, too. She could not help it. He +looked so completely what he ought to look, she +thought—magnificently healthy and handsome, and perfectly +groomed. No mother could help being proud of him.</p> +<p>"Tristram, dear boy, now tell me all about it," she said.</p> +<p>"There is hardly anything to tell you, Mother, except that I am +going to be married about the 25th of October—and—you +will be awfully nice to her—to Zara—won't you?" He had +taken the precaution to send round a note, early in the morning, to +Francis Markrute, asking for his lady's full name, as he wished to +tell his family; so the "Zara" came out quite naturally! "She is +rather a peculiar person, and—er—has very stiff +manners. You may not like her at first."</p> +<p>"No, dear?" said Lady Tancred hesitatingly, "Stiff manners you +say? That at least is on the right side. I always deplore the +modern free-and-easy-ness."</p> +<p>"Oh, there is nothing free-and-easy about her!" said Tristram, +helping himself to a cutlet, while he smiled almost grimly. His +sense of humor was highly aroused oven the whole thing; only that +overmastering something which drew him was even stronger than +this.</p> +<p>Then he felt that there was no use in allowing his mother to +drag information from him; he had better tell her what he meant her +to know.</p> +<p>"You see, Mother, the whole thing has been arranged rather +suddenly. I only settled upon it last night myself, and so told you +at once. She will be awfully rich, which is rather a pity in a +sense—though I suppose we shall live at Wrayth again, and all +that—- but I need not tell you I am not marrying her for such +a reason."</p> +<p>"No, I know you," Lady Tancred said, "but I cannot agree with +you about its being a pity that she is rich. We live in an age when +the oldest and most honored name is useless without money to keep +up its traditions, and any woman would find your title and your +position well worth all her gold. There are things you will give +her in return which only hundreds of years can produce. You must +have no feeling that you are accepting anything from her which you +do not equalize. Remember, it is a false sentiment."</p> +<p>"Oh, I expect so—and she is well bred, you know, so she +won't throw it in my teeth." And Lord Tancred smiled.</p> +<p>"I remember old Colonel Grey," his mother continued; "years ago +he drove a coach; but I don't recollect his brother. Did he live +abroad, perhaps?"</p> +<p>This was an awkward question. The young fiancé was quite +ignorant about his prospective bride's late father!</p> +<p>"Yes," he said hurriedly. "Zara married very young, she is quite +young now—only about twenty-three. Her husband was a brute, +and now she has come to live with Francis Markrute. He is an +awfully good fellow, Mother, though you don't like him; extremely +cultivated, and so quaintly amusing, with his cynical views on +life. You will like him when you know him better. He is a jolly +good sportsman, too—for a foreigner."</p> +<p>"And of what nation is Mr. Markrute, Tristram, do you know?" +Lady Tancred asked.</p> +<p>Really, all women—even mothers—were tiresome at +times with their questions!</p> +<p>"'Pon my word, I don't." And he laughed awkwardly. "Austrian, +perhaps, or Russian. I have never thought about it; he speaks +English so well, and he is a naturalized Englishman, in any +case."</p> +<p>"But as you are marrying into the family, don't you think it +would be more prudent, dear, to gather some information on the +subject?" Lady Tancred hazarded.</p> +<p>And then she saw the true Tancred spirit come out, which she had +often vainly tried to combat in her husband during her first years +of married life, and had desisted in the end. Tristram's strong, +level eyebrows joined themselves in a frown, and his mouth, +clean-shaven and chiseled, shut like a vice.</p> +<p>"I am going to do what I am going to do, Mother," he said. "I am +satisfied with my bargain, and I beg of you to accept the +situation. I do not demand any information, and I ask you not to +trouble yourself either. Nothing any one could say would change +me—Give me some more coffee, will you, please."</p> +<p>Lady Tancred's hand trembled a little as she poured it out, but +she did not say anything, and there was silence for a minute, while +his lordship went on with his breakfast, with appetite +unimpaired.</p> +<p>"I will take the girls and call there immediately after lunch," +she said presently, "and I am to ask for the Countess Shulski. You +pronounce it like that, do you not?"</p> +<p>"Yes. She may not be in, and in any case, perhaps, for to-day +only leave cards. To-morrow or next day I'll go with you, Mother. +You see, until the announcement comes out in the <i>Morning +Post</i>, everything is not quite settled—I expect Zara would +like it better if you did not meet until after then."</p> +<p>That was probably true, he reflected, since he had not even +exchanged personal pledges with her yet himself!</p> +<p>Then, as his mother looked stiffly repulsed, his sense of humor +got the better of him, and he burst into a peal of laughter, while +he jumped up and kissed her with the delightful, caressing +boyishness which made her love him with a love so far beyond what +she gave to her other children.</p> +<p>"Darling," she murmured, "if you are so happy as to laugh like +that I am happy, too, and will do just what you wish." Her proud +eyes filled with mist and she pressed his hand.</p> +<p>"Mum, you are a trump!" he said, and he kissed her again and, +holding her arm, he led her back into the morning-room.</p> +<p>"Now I must go and change these things," he announced, as he +looked down at his riding clothes. "I am going to lunch with +Markrute in the City to discuss all the points. So good-bye for the +present. I will probably see you to-night. Call a taxi," he said to +Michelham who at that moment came into the room with a note. He had +kissed his mother and was preparing to leave, when just as he got +to the door he turned and said:</p> +<p>"Don't say a word to any one, to-day, of the news—let it +come out in the <i>Morning Post</i>, to-morrow. I ask +it—please?"</p> +<p>"Not even to Cyril? You have forgotten that he is coming up from +Uncle Charles' to go back to Eton," his mother said, "and the girls +already know."</p> +<p>"Oh! Cyril. By Jove! I had forgotten! Yes, tell him; he is a +first class chap, he'll understand, and, I say"—and he pulled +some sovereigns from his pocket—"do give him these from me +for this term."</p> +<p>Then with a smile he went.</p> +<p>And a few minutes afterwards a small, slender boy of fourteen, +with only Eton's own inimitable self-confidence and delicious +swagger printed upon his every line, drove up to the door, and, +paying for the taxi in a lordly way, came into his mother's +morning-room. There had been a gap in the family after Tristram's +appearance, caused by the death, from diphtheria, of two other +boys; then came the two girls of twenty and nineteen respectively +and, lastly, Cyril.</p> +<p>His big, blue eyes rounded with astonishment and interest when +he heard the important news. All he said was:</p> +<p>"Well, she must be a corker, if Tristram thinks her good enough. +But what a beastly nuisance! He won't go to Canada now, I suppose, +and we shan't have that ranch."</p> +<a name="C006" id="C006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<p>Francis Markrute also saw his niece at breakfast—or +rather—just after it. She was finishing hers in the little +upstairs sitting-room which he had allotted to her for her personal +use, when he tapped at the door and asked if he might come in.</p> +<p>She said "yes," and then rose, with the ceremonious politeness +she always used in her dealings with him—contemptuous, +resentful politeness for the most part.</p> +<p>"I have come to settle the details of your marriage," he said, +while he waved her to be seated again and took a chair himself. At +the word "marriage" her nostrils quivered, but she said nothing. +She was always extremely difficult to deal with, on account of +these silences of hers. She helped no one out. Francis Markrute +knew the method himself and admired it; it always made the other +person state his case.</p> +<p>"You saw Lord Tancred last night. You can have no objection to +him on the ground of his person, and he is a very great gentleman, +my niece, as you will find."</p> +<p>Still silence.</p> +<p>"I have arranged with him for you to be married in +October—about the 25th, I suppose. So now comes the question +of your trousseau. You must have clothes to fit you for so great a +position. You had better get them in Paris." Then he paused, struck +by the fact which he had only just noticed, that the garments she +had been wearing and those she now wore were shabby enough. He +realized the reason he had not before remarked this—her +splendid carriage and air of breeding—and it gave him a +thrill of pride in her. After all, she was his own niece.</p> +<p>"It will be a very great joy to dress you splendidly," he said. +"I would have done so always, if I had not known where the money +would go; but we are going to settle all that now, and every one +can be happy."</p> +<p>It was not in her nature to beg and try to secure favors for her +brother and Mimo without paying for them. She had agreed upon the +price—herself. Now all she had to do was to obtain as much as +possible for this.</p> +<p>"Mirko's cough has come back again," she said quietly. "Since I +have consented I want him to be able to go into the warmth without +delay. They are here in London now—he and his father—in +a very poor place."</p> +<p>"I have thought it all out," Francis Markrute answered while he +frowned, as he always did, at the mention of Mimo. "There is a +wonderfully clever doctor at Bournemouth where the air is perfect +for those delicate in the lungs. I have communicated with him; and +he will take the child into his own house, where he will be +beautifully cared for. There he can have a tutor, and when he is +stronger he can return to Paris, or to Vienna, and have his talent +for the violin cultivated. I want you to understand," he continued, +"that if you agree to my terms your brother will not be stinted in +any way."</p> +<p>And her thoughts said, "And Mimo?" but she felt it wiser not to +ask anything about him just then. To have Mirko cared for by a +really clever doctor, in good air, with some discipline as to +bedtime, and not those unwholesome meals, snatched at odd hours at +some restaurant, seemed a wonderfully good thing. If the little +fellow would only be happy separated from his father; that was the +question!</p> +<p>"Are there children in the house?" she asked. Mirko was +peculiar, and did not like other little boys.</p> +<p>"The doctor has an only little girl of about your brother's age. +He is nine and a half, is it not so? And she is delicate, too, so +they could play together."</p> +<p>This sounded more promising.</p> +<p>"I would wish to go down and see the doctor first—and the +home," she said.</p> +<p>"You shall do so, of course, when you like. I will set aside a +certain sum every year, to be invested for him, so that when he +grows up he will have a competence—even a small fortune. I +will have a deed drawn out for you to sign; it shall be all <i>en +règle</i>."</p> +<p>"That is well," she said. "And now give me some money, please, +that I may relieve their present necessities until my brother can +go to this place. I do not consent to give myself, unless I am +certain that I free those I love from anxieties. I should like, +immediately, a thousand francs. Forty pounds of your money, isn't +it?"</p> +<p>"I will send the notes up in a few minutes," Francis Markrute +said. He was in the best of tempers to-day. "Meanwhile, that part +of the arrangement being settled, I must ask you to pay some +attention to the thought of seeing your fiancé."</p> +<p>"I do not wish to see him," she announced.</p> +<p>Her uncle smiled.</p> +<p>"Possibly not, but it is part of the bargain. You can't marry +the man without seeing him. He will come and call upon you this +afternoon, and, no doubt, will bring you a ring. I trust to your +honor not to show so plainly your dislike that no man could carry +through his side. Please remember your brother's welfare depends +upon your actual marriage. If you cause Lord Tancred to break off +the match the bargain between you and me is void."</p> +<p>The black panther's look again appeared in her eyes, and an icy +stillness settled upon her. But she began to speak rather fast, +with a catch in the breath between the sentences.</p> +<p>"Then, since you wish this so much for your own ends, which I +cannot guess, I tell you, arrange for me to go to Paris, alone, +away from him, until the wedding day. He must hate the thought as +much as I do. We are probably both only marionettes in your hands. +Explain to the man that I will not go through the degradation of +the pretence of an engagement, especially here in this England, +where, <i>Maman</i> said, they parade affections, and +fiancés are lovers. <i>Mon Dieu!</i> I will play my +part—for the visits of ceremony to his family, which I +suppose must take place even here—but beyond that, after +to-day, I will not see him alone nor have any communication with +him. Is it understood?"</p> +<p>Francis Markrute looked at her with growing admiration. She was +gorgeously attractive in this mood. He obtained endless pleasure +out of life by his habit of abstract observation. He was able to +watch people in the throes of emotion, like a master seeing his +hunters being put through their paces.</p> +<p>"It shall be understood," he said. He knew it was wiser to +insist upon no more; her temper would never brook it. He knew he +could count upon her honor and her pride to fulfill her part of the +bargain if she were not exasperated beyond bearing.</p> +<p>"I will explain everything to Lord Tancred at luncheon," he +said, "that you will receive him this afternoon, and that then you +are going to Paris, and will not return until the wedding. You will +concede the family interviews that are absolutely necessary, I +suppose?"</p> +<p>"I have already said so; only let them be few and short."</p> +<p>"Then I will not detain you longer now. You are a beautiful +woman, Zara," Francis Markrute said, as he rose and kissed her +hand. "None of the royal ladies, your ancestresses, ever looked +more like a queen." And he bowed himself out of the room, leaving +her in her silence.</p> +<p>When she was alone she clenched her hands and walked up and down +for a few moments, and her whole serpentine body writhed with +passionate anger and pain.</p> +<p>Yes, she was a beautiful woman, and had a right to her life and +joys like another—and now she was to be tied, and bound again +to a husband!</p> +<p><i>"Les Infâmes!"</i> she hissed aloud. "But for that +part, I will not bear it! Until the wedding I will dissemble as +best I can—but afterwards—!"</p> +<p>And if Lord Tancred could have seen her then he would have known +that all the courage he had used when he faced the big lion would +be needed soon again.</p> +<p>But before a servant brought up the envelope with the notes she +had calmed herself and was preparing to go out. The good part of +the news must be told to the two poor ones in their Tottenham Court +Road retreat.</p> +<p>As she sped along in the taxi—her uncle had placed one of +his several motors at her disposal, but it was not for such +localities—she argued with herself that it would be wiser not +to give Mimo all the money at once. She knew that that would mean +not only the necessary, instantaneous move to a better lodging, but +an expensive dinner at the nearest restaurant as well, and +certainly bonbons and small presents for Mirko, and new clothes; +twice as much would be spent, if credit could be obtained; and then +there would be the worry of the bills and the anxiety. If only +Mirko would consent to be parted from his fond and irresponsible +parent for a time it would be so much better for his health, and +his chance of becoming of some use in the world. Mimo always meant +so kindly and behaved so foolishly! With the money she personally +would get for her bargain Mimo should, somehow, be made comfortable +in some studio in Paris where he could paint those pictures which +would not sell, and might see his friends—he had still a few +who, when his clothes were in a sufficiently good state, welcomed +him and his charming, debonair smile. Mimo could be a delightfully +agreeable guest, even though he was changed by years and +poverty.</p> +<p>And Mirko would be in healthy surroundings; surely it was worth +it, after all!</p> +<p>The taxi drew up in the mean street and she got out, paid the +man, and then knocked at the dingy door.</p> +<p>A slatternly, miserable, little general servant opened it. No, +the foreign gentleman and the little boy were not in, they said +they would be back in a few minutes—would the lady step up +and wait? She followed the lumpy, untidy figure upstairs to a large +attic at the top. It was always let as a studio, apparently. It had +a fine northern light from a big window, and was quite clean, +though the wretched furniture spoke of better days.</p> +<p>Cleanliness was one of Count Sykypri's peculiarities; he always +kept whatever room he was in tidy and clean. This orderly instinct +seemed at variance with all the rest of his easy-going character. +It was the fastidiousness of a gentleman, which never deserted him. +Now Zara recognized the old traveling rug hung on two easels, to +hide the little iron beds where he and Mirko slept. The new wonder, +which would be bound to sell, was begun there on a third easel. It +did not look extremely promising at its present stage. Mirko's +violin and his father's, in their cases, were on a chair beside a +small pile of music; the water-jug had in it a bunch of yellow +chrysanthemums probably bought off a barrow.</p> +<p>The Countess Shulski had been through many vicissitudes with +these two since her husband's death, but seldom—only once +perhaps—had they gone down to such poverty-stricken +surroundings. Generally it was some small apartment in Paris, or +Florence, that they occupied, with rather scanty meals when the end +of the quarter came. During Count Shulski's life she had always +either lived in some smart villa at Nice, or led a wandering +existence in hotels; and for months at a time, in later years, when +he disappeared, upon his own pleasures bent, he would leave her in +some old Normandy farmhouse, only too thankful to be free from his +hateful presence. Here Mimo and Mirko would join her, and while +they painted and played, she would read. Her whole inner life was +spent with books. Among the shady society her husband had +frequented she had been known as "The Stone." She never unbent, and +while her beauty and extraordinary type attracted all the men she +came across they soon gave up their pursuit. She was quite +hopeless, they said—and half-witted, some added! No woman +could sit silent like that for hours, otherwise. Zara thought of +all these things, as she sat on the rickety chair in the Neville +Street lodging. How she had loathed that whole atmosphere! How she +loathed bohemians and adventurers, no words could tell.</p> +<p>While her mother had lived there had been none of them about. +For all her personal downfall, Elinka, Markrute's sister, and an +emperor's daughter, remained an absolute <i>grande +dame</i>—never mixing or mingling with any people but her own +belongings.</p> +<p>But now that she was dead, poor Mimo had sometimes gone for +company into a class other than his own.</p> +<p>As yet Zara's thoughts had not turned upon her new existence +which was to be. She had drawn a curtain over it in her mind. She +knew but vaguely about life in England, she had never had any +English friends. One or two gamblers had often come to the Nice +villa, but except that they were better looking types and wore well +made clothes, she had classed them with the rest of her husband's +acquaintances. She had read numbers of English classics but +practically no novels, so she could not very well picture a state +of things she was ignorant about. Sufficient for the day was the +evil thereof.</p> +<p>She was getting slightly impatient when at last the two came +in.</p> +<p>They had been told of her arrival; she knew that by their glad, +hurried mounting of the stairs and the quick opening of the +door.</p> +<p>"Chérisette, Angel! But what joy!" And Mirko hurled +himself into her arms, while Mimo kissed her hand. He never forgot +his early palace manners.</p> +<p>"I have brought you good news," she said, as she drew out two +ten-pound notes. "I have made my uncle see reason. Here is +something for the present. He has such a kind and happy scheme for +Mirko's health. Listen, and I will tell you about it."</p> +<p>They clustered around her while she explained in the most +attractive manner she could the picture of the boy's future, but in +spite of all that, his beautiful little face fell as he grasped +that he was to leave his father.</p> +<p>"It will only be for a time, darling," Zara said, "just until +you get quite well and strong, and learn some lessons. All little +boys go to school, and come home for the holidays. You know +<i>Maman</i> would have wished you to be educated like a +gentleman."</p> +<p>"But I hate other boys, and you have taught me so well. Oh! +Chérisette, what shall I do? And to whom play my violin, who +will understand?"</p> +<p>"Oh, but Mirko mio, it is a splendid offer! Think, dear child, a +comfortable home and no anxieties," Mimo said. "Truly your sister +is an angel, and you must not be so ungrateful. Your cough will get +quite well; perhaps I can come and lodge in the town, and we could +walk together."</p> +<p>But Mirko pouted. Zara sighed and clasped her hands.</p> +<p>"If you only knew how hard it has been to obtain this much," she +said, with despair in her voice. "Oh, Mirko, if you love me you +will accept it! Can't you trust me that I would not ask you to go +where they are hard or cruel? I am going down to the place +to-morrow, to see it and judge for myself. Won't you be good and +try to please me?"</p> +<p>Then the little cripple fell to sobbing and kissing her, +nestling in her arms with his curly head against her neck.</p> +<p>But in the end she comforted him, the never varying gentleness +toward him which she showed would have soothed the most peevish +invalid.</p> +<p>So at last she was able to feel that her sacrifice, of which +they must always remain ignorant, would not be all in vain; Mirko +appeared reconciled to his fate, and would certainly benefit by +more healthy surroundings. Instinct told her there would be no use +even suggesting to her uncle that the child should stay with Mimo, +the situation would have become an <i>impasse</i> if the boy had +held out, and between them they would have had only this forty +pounds until Christmas—and then very little more—and +the life of hand-to-mouth poverty would have gone on and on, while +here were comfort and probable health, with a certainty of welfare, +and education, and a competence in the future. And who knows but +Mirko might grow into a great artist one day!</p> +<p>This possible picture she painted in glowing colors until the +child's pathetic, dark eyes glistened with pleasure.</p> +<p>Then she became practical; they must change their lodging and +find a better one. But here Mimo interfered. They were really very +comfortable where they were, he urged, humble though it looked, and +changing was unpleasant. If they were able to buy some linen sheets +and a new suit of clothes for each it would be much better to stay +for the present, until Mirko's going to Bournemouth should be +completely settled. "And even then," Count Sykypri said, "it will +do for me. No one cooks garlic here, and there is no canary!"</p> +<a name="C007" id="C007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> +<p>Neither Lord Tancred nor Francis Markrute was late at the +appointment in the city restaurant where they were to lunch, and +they were soon seated at a table in a corner where they could talk +without being interrupted. They spoke of ordinary things for a +moment. Then Lord Tancred's impatience to get at the matter which +interested him became too great to wait longer, so he said +laconically:</p> +<p>"Well?"</p> +<p>"I saw her this morning and had a talk"—the financier +said, as he placed some caviare on his toast. "You must not +overlook the fact, which I have already stated to you, that she is +a most difficult problem. You will have an interesting time taming +her. For a man of nerve, I cannot imagine a more thrilling task. +She is a woman who has restricted all her emotion for men, and +could lavish it all upon <i>the</i> man, I imagine. In any case +that is 'up to you,' as our friends, the Americans, say—"</p> +<p>Lord Tancred thrilled as he answered:</p> +<p>"Yes, it shall be 'up to me.' But I want to find out all about +her for myself. I just want to know when I may see her, and what is +the programme?"</p> +<p>"The programme is that she will receive you this afternoon, +about tea-time, I should say; that you must explain to her you +realize you are engaged. You need not ask her to marry you; she +will not care for details like that—she knows it is already +settled. Be as businesslike as you can—and come away. She has +made it a condition that she sees you as little as possible until +the wedding. The English idea of engaged couples shocks her, for, +remember, it is, on her side, not a love-match. If you wish to have +the slightest success with her afterwards be careful <i>now</i>. +She is going to Paris, immediately, for her trousseau. She will +return about a week before the wedding, when you can present her to +your family."</p> +<p>Tristram smiled grimly and then the two men's eyes met and they +both laughed.</p> +<p>"Jove! Francis!" Lord Tancred exclaimed, "isn't it a wonderful +affair! A real dramatic romance, here in the twentieth century. +Would not every one think I was mad, if they knew!"</p> +<p>"It is that sort of madmen who are often the sanest," Francis +Markrute answered. "The world is full of apparently sane fools." +Then he passed on to a further subject. "You will re-open Wrayth, +of course," he said. "I wish my niece to be a Queen of Society, and +to have her whole life arranged with due state. I wish your family +to understand that I appreciate the honor of the connection with +them, and consider it a privilege, and a perfectly natural +thing—since we are foreigners of whom you know +nothing—that we should provide the necessary money for what +we wish."</p> +<p>Lord Tancred listened; he thought of his mother's similar +argument at breakfast.</p> +<p>"You see," the financier went on reflectively, "in life, the +wise man always pays willingly for what he really wants, as you are +doing, for instance, in your blind taking of my niece. Your old +nobility in England is the only one of any consequence left in the +world. The other countries' system of the titles descending to all +the younger sons, <i>ad infinitum</i>, makes the whole thing a +farce after a while. A Prince in the Caucasus is as common as a +Colonel in Kentucky, and in Austria and Germany there are poor +Barons in the streets. There was a time in my life when I could +have had a foreign title, but I found it ridiculous, and so refused +it. But in England, in spite of your amusing radicalism the real +thing still counts. It is a valid asset—a tangible security +for one's money—from a business point of view. And Americans +or foreigners like myself and my niece, for instance, are securing +substantial property and equal return, when we bring large fortunes +in our marriage settlements to this country. What satisfaction +comparable to the glory of her English position as Marchioness of +Darrowood could Miss Clara D. Woggenheimer have got out of her +millions, if she had married one of her own countrymen, or an +Italian count? Yet she gives herself the airs of a benefactress to +poor Darrowood and throws her money in his teeth, whereas Darrowood +is the benefactor, if there is a case of it either way. But to me, +a sensible business man, the bargain is equal. You don't go to an +art dealer's and buy a very valuable Rembrandt for its marketable +value, and then, afterwards, jibe at the picture and reproach the +art dealer. Money is no good without position, and here in England +you have had such hundreds of years of freedom from invasion, that +you have had time, which no other country has had, to perfect your +social system. Let the Radicals and the uninformed of other lands +rail as they will, your English aristocracy is the finest body of +thinkers and livers in the world. One hears ever of the black +sheep, the few luridly glaring failures, but never of the hundreds +of great and noble lives which are England's strength."</p> +<p>"By Jove!" said Lord Tancred, "you ought to be in the House of +Lords, Francis! You'd wake them up!"</p> +<p>The financier looked down at his plate; he always lowered his +eyes when he felt things. No one must ever read what was really +passing in his soul, and when he felt, it was the more difficult to +conceal, he reasoned.</p> +<p>"I am not a snob, my friend," he said, after a mouthful of +salad. "I have no worship for aristocracy in the abstract; I am a +student, a rather careful student of systems and their results, +and, incidentally, a breeder of thoroughbred live stock, too, which +helps one's conclusions: and above all I am an interested watcher +of the progress of evolution."</p> +<p>"You are abominably clever," said Lord Tancred.</p> +<p>"Think of your uncle, the Duke of Glastonbury," the financier +went on. "He fulfills his duties in every way, a munificent +landlord, and a sound, level-headed politician: what other country +or class could produce such as he?"</p> +<p>"Oh, the Duke's all right," his nephew agreed. "He is a bit hard +up like a number of us at times, but he keeps the thing going +splendidly, and my cousin Ethelrida helps him. She is a brick. But +you know her, of course, don't you think so?"</p> +<p>"The Lady Ethelrida seems to me a very perfect young woman," +Francis Markrute said, examining his claret through the light. "I +wish I knew her better. We have few occasions of meeting; she does +not go out very much into general society, as you know."</p> +<p>"Oh, I'll arrange that, if it would interest you. I thought you +were perfectly cynical about and even rather bored with women," +Lord Tancred said.</p> +<p>"I think I told you—was it only yesterday?—that I +understood it might be possible for a woman to count—I have +not time for the ordinary parrot-chatterers one meets. There are +three classes of the species female: those for the body, those for +the brain, and those for both. The last are dangerous. The other +two merely occupy certain moods in man. Fortunately for us the +double combination is rare."</p> +<p>Lord Tancred longed to ask under which head Francis Markrute +placed his niece, but, of course, he restrained himself. He, +personally, felt sure she would be of the combination; that was her +charm. Yes, as he thought over things, that was the only really +dangerous kind, and he had so seldom met it! Then his imagination +suddenly pictured Laura Highford with her tiny mouth and pointed +teeth. She had a showy little brain, absolutely no heart, and the +senses of a cat or a ferret. What part of him had she appealed to? +Well, thank God, that was over and done with, and he was perfectly +free to make his discoveries in regard to Zara, his future +wife!</p> +<p>"I tell you what, Francis," he said presently, after the +conversation had drifted from these topics and cigars and liqueurs +had come, "I would like my cousin Ethelrida to meet Countess +Shulski pretty soon. I don't know why, but I believe the two would +get on."</p> +<p>"There is no use suggesting any meetings until my niece returns +from Paris," the financier said. "She will be in a different mood +by then. She had not, when she came to England, quite put off her +mourning; she will then have beautiful clothes, and be more +acquiescent in every way. Now she would be antagonistic. See her +this afternoon and be sensible; make up your mind to postpone +things, until her return. And even then be careful until she is +your wife!"</p> +<p>Lord Tancred looked disappointed. "It is a long time," he +said.</p> +<p>"Let me arrange to give a dinner at my house, at which perhaps +the Duke and Lady Ethelrida would honor me by being present, and +your mother and sisters and any other member of your family you +wish, let us say, on the night of my niece's return" (he drew a +small calendar notebook from his pocket). "That will be Wednesday, +the 18th, and we will fix the wedding for Wednesday the 25th, a +week later. That gets you back from your honeymoon on the 1st of +November; you can stay with me that night, and if your uncle is +good enough to include me in the invitation to his shoot we can all +three go down to Montfitchet on the following day. Is all this +well? If so I will write it down."</p> +<p>"Perfectly well," agreed the prospective bridegroom—and +having no notebook or calendar, he scribbled the reminder for +himself on his cuff. Higgins, his superb valet, knew a good deal of +his lordship's history from his lordship's cuffs!</p> +<p>"I don't think I shall wait for tea-time, Francis," he said, +when they got out of the restaurant, into the hall. "I think I'll +go now, and get it over, if she will be in. Could I telephone and +ask?"</p> +<p>He did so and received the reply from Turner that Countess +Shulski was at home, but could not receive his lordship until +half-past four o'clock.</p> +<p>"Damn!" said that gentleman as he put the receiver down, and +Francis Markrute turned away to hide his smile.</p> +<p>"You had better go and buy an engagement ring, hadn't you?" he +said. "It won't do to forget that."</p> +<p>"Good Lord, I had forgotten!" gasped Tristram.</p> +<p>"Well, I have lots of time to do it now, so I'll go to the +family jewelers, they are called old-fashioned, but the stones are +so good."</p> +<p>So they said good-bye, the young man speeding westwards in a +taxi, the lion hunter's excitement thrilling in his veins.</p> +<p>The financier returned to his stately office and passed through +his obsequious rows of clerks to his inner sanctum. Then he lit +another cigar and gave orders that he was not to be disturbed for a +quarter of an hour. He reposed in a comfortable chair and allowed +himself to dream. All his plans were working; there must be no +rush. Great emergencies required rush, but to build to the summit +of one's ambitions, one must use calm and watchful care.</p> +<a name="C008" id="C008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +<p>Countess Shulski was seated in her uncle's drawing-room when +Lord Tancred was announced.</p> +<p>It was rather a severe room, purely French, with very little +furniture, each piece a priceless work of art. There were no +touches of feminine influence, no comfortable sofas as in the +morning-room or library, all was stiff, and dignified, and in pure +style.</p> +<p>She had chosen to receive him there, on purpose. She wished the +meeting to be short and cold. He came forward, a look of +determination upon his handsome face.</p> +<p>Zara rose as he advanced, and bowed to him. She did not offer to +shake hands, and he let his, which he had half outstretched, drop. +She did not help him at all; she remained perfectly silent, as +usual. She did not even look at him, but straight out of the window +into the pouring rain, and it was then he saw that her eyes were +not black but slate.</p> +<p>"You understand why I have come, of course?" he said by way of a +beginning.</p> +<p>"Yes," she replied and said nothing more.</p> +<p>"I want to marry you, you know," he went on.</p> +<p>"Really!" she said.</p> +<p>"Yes, I do." And he set his teeth—certainly she was +difficult!</p> +<p>"That is fortunate for you, since you are going to do so."</p> +<p>This was not encouraging; it was also unexpected.</p> +<p>"Yes, I am," he answered, "on the 25th of October, with your +permission."</p> +<p>"I have already consented." And she clasped her hands.</p> +<p>"May I sit down beside you and talk?" he asked.</p> +<p>She pointed to a Louis XVI. <i>bergère</i> which stood +opposite, and herself took a small armchair at the other side of +the fire.</p> +<p>So they sat down, she gazing into the blazing coals and he +gazing at her. She was facing the gloomy afternoon light, though +she did not think out these things like her uncle, so he had a +clear and wonderful picture of her. "How could so voluptuous +looking a creature be so icily cold?" he wondered. Her wonderful +hair seemed burnished like dark copper, in the double light of fire +and day, and that gardenia skin looked fit to eat. He was thrilled +with a mad desire to kiss her; he had never felt so strong an +emotion towards a woman in his life.</p> +<p>"Your uncle tells me you are going away to-morrow, and that you +will be away until a week before our wedding. I wish you were not +going to be, but I suppose you must—for clothes and +things."</p> +<p>"Yes, I must."</p> +<p>He got up; he could not sit still, he was too wildly excited; he +stood leaning on the mantelpiece, quite close to her, for a moment, +his eyes devouring her with the passionate admiration he felt. She +glanced up, and when she saw their expression her jet brows met, +while a look of infinite disgust crept over her face.</p> +<p>So it had come—so soon! He was just like all men—a +hateful, sensual beast. She knew he desired to kiss her—to +kiss a person he did not know! Her experience of life had not +encouraged her to make the least allowance for the instinct of man. +For her, that whole side of human beings was simply revolting. In +the far back recesses of her mind she knew and felt that caresses +and such things might be good if one loved—passionately +loved—but in the abstract, just because of the attraction of +sex, they were hideous. No man had ever had the conceded tip of her +little finger, although she had been forced to submit to +unspeakable exhibitions of passion from Ladislaus, her husband.</p> +<p>For her, Tristram appeared a satyr, but she was no timid nymph, +but a fierce panther ready to defend herself!</p> +<p>He saw her look and drew back—cooled.</p> +<p>The thing was going to be much more difficult than he had even +thought; he must keep himself under complete control, he knew now. +So he turned away to the window and glanced out on the wet +park.</p> +<p>"My mother called upon you to-day, I believe," he said. "I asked +her not to expect you to be at home. It was only to show you that +my family will welcome you with affection."</p> +<p>"It is very good of them."</p> +<p>"The announcement of the engagement will be in the <i>Morning +Post</i> to-morrow. Do you mind?"</p> +<p>"Why should I mind?" (her voice evinced surprise). "Since it is +true, the formalities must take place."</p> +<p>"It seems as if it could not be true. You are so frightfully +frigid," he said with faint resentment.</p> +<p>"I cannot help how I am," she said in a tone of extreme hauteur. +"I have consented to marry you. I will go through with all the +necessary ceremonies, the presentations to your family, and such +affairs; but I have nothing to say to you: why should we talk when +once these things are settled? You must accept me as I am, or leave +me alone—that is all"—and then her temper made her add, +in spite of her uncle's warning, "for I do not care!"</p> +<p>He turned now; he was a little angry and nearly flared up, but +the sight of her standing there, magnificently attractive, stopped +him. This was merely one of the phases of the game; he should not +allow himself to be worsted by such speeches.</p> +<p>"I expect you don't, but I do," he said. "I am quite willing to +take you as you are, or will be."</p> +<p>"Then that is all that need be said," she answered coldly. +"Arrange with my uncle when you wish me to see your family on my +return; I will carry out what he settles. And now I need not detain +you, and will say good-bye." And bowing to him she walked towards +the door.</p> +<p>"I am sorry you feel you want to go so soon," he said, as he +sprang forward to open it for her, "but good-bye." And he let her +pass without shaking hands.</p> +<p>When he was alone in the room he realized that he had not given +her the engagement ring, which still reposed in his pocket!</p> +<p>He looked round for a writing table, and finding one, sat down +and wrote her a few words.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"I meant to give you this ring. If you don't like sapphires it +can be changed. Please wear it,</p> +<center>and believe me to be</center> +<br /> +<br /> +<p class="author"> +"Yours, <br /> +"Tancred."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He put the note with the little ring-case, inclosed both in a +large envelope, and then he rang the bell.</p> +<p>"Send this up to the Countess Shulski," he said to the footman +who presently came. "And is my motor at the door?"</p> +<p>It was, so he descended the stairs.</p> +<p>"To Glastonbury House," he ordered his chauffeur. Then he leaned +back against the cushions, no look of satisfaction upon his +face.</p> +<p>Ethelrida might be having tea, and she was always so soothing +and sympathetic.</p> +<p>Yes, her ladyship was at home, and he was shown up into his +cousin's own sitting-room.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida Montfitchet had kept house for her father, the +Duke of Glastonbury, ever since she was sixteen when her mother had +died, and she acted as hostess at the ducal parties, with the +greatest success. She was about twenty-five now, and one of the +sweetest of young women.</p> +<p>She was very tall, rather plain, and very distinguished.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute thought her beautiful. He was fond of analyzing +types and breeds, and he said there were those who looked as if +they had been poured into more or less fine or clumsy mould, and +there were others who were sharply carved as with a knife. He loved +a woman's face to look <i>ciselée</i>, he said. That is why +he did not entirely admire his niece, for although the mould was of +the finest in her case, her small nose was not chiseled. Numbers of +English and some Austrians were chiseled, he affirmed—showing +their race—but very few of other nations.</p> +<p>Now some people would have said the Lady Ethelrida was too +chiseled—she might grow peaky, with old age. But no one could +deny the extreme refinement of the young woman.</p> +<p>She was strikingly fair, with silvery light hair that had no +yellow in it; and kind, wise, gray eyes. Her figure in its +slenderness was a thing which dressmakers adored; there was so +little of it that any frock could be made to look well on it.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida did everything with moderation. She was not mad +about any sport or any fad. She loved her father, her aunt, her +cousins of the Tancred family, and her friend, Lady Anningford. She +was, in short, a fine character and a great lady.</p> +<p>"I have come to tell you such a piece of news, Ethelrida," +Tristram said as he sat down beside her on the chintz-covered sofa. +Ethelrida's tastes in furniture and decorations were of the +simplest in her own room. "Guess what it is!"</p> +<p>"How can I, Tristram? Mary is really going to marry Lord +Henry?"</p> +<p>"Not that I know of as yet, but I daresay she will, some day. +No, guess again; it is about a marriage."</p> +<p>She poured him out some tea and indicated the bread and butter. +Tristram, she knew, loved her stillroom maid's brown bread and +butter.</p> +<p>"A man, or a woman?" she asked, meditatively.</p> +<p>"A man—ME!" he said, with reckless grammar.</p> +<p>"You, Tristram!" Ethelrida exclaimed, with as much excitement as +she ever permitted herself. "You going to be married! But to +whom?"</p> +<p>The thing seemed too preposterous; and her mind had instantly +flown to the name, Laura Highford, before her reason said, "How +ridiculous—she is married already!"—so she repeated +again: "But to whom?"</p> +<p>"I am going to be married to a widow, a niece of Francis +Markrute's; you know him." Lady Ethelrida nodded. "She is the most +wonderfully attractive creature you ever saw, Ethelrida, a type not +like any one else. You'll understand in a minute, when you see her. +She has stormy black eyes—no, they are not really black; they +are slate color—and red hair, and a white face, and, by Jove! +a figure! And do you know, my dear child, I believe I am awfully in +love with her!"</p> +<p>"You only 'believe,' Tristram! That sounds odd to be going to be +married upon!" Lady Ethelrida could not help smiling.</p> +<p>He sipped his tea and then jumped up. He was singularly restless +to-day.</p> +<p>"She is the kind of woman a man would go perfectly mad about +when he knew her well. I shall, I know." Then, as he saw his +cousin's humorous expression, he laughed boyishly. "It does sound +odd, I admit," he said, "the inference is that I don't know her +well—and that is just it, Ethelrida, but only to you would I +say it. Look here, my dear girl, I have got to be comforted this +afternoon. She has just flattened me out. We are going to be +married on the 25th of October, and I want you to be awfully nice +to her. I am sure she has had a rottenly unhappy life."</p> +<p>"Of course I will, Tristram dear," said Lady Ethelrida, "but +remember, I am completely in the dark. When did you meet her? Can't +you tell me something more? Then I will be as sympathetic as you +please."</p> +<p>So Lord Tancred sat down on the sofa beside her again, and told +her the bare facts: that it was rather sudden, but he was convinced +it was what he wanted most to do in life; that she was young and +beautiful, rich, and very reserved, and rather cold; that she was +going away, until a week before the wedding; that he knew it +sounded all mad, but his dear Ethelrida was to be a darling, and to +understand and not reason with him!</p> +<p>And she did not. She had gathered enough from this rather +incoherent recital to make her see that some very deep and unusual +current must have touched her cousin's life. She knew the Tancred +character, so she said all sorts of nice things to him, asked +interested but not indiscreet questions. And soon that irritated +and baffled sense left him, and he became calm.</p> +<p>"I want Uncle Glastonbury to ask Francis Markrute to the shoot +on the 2nd of November, Ethelrida," he said, "and you will let me +bring Zara—she will be my wife by then—although I was +asked only as a bachelor?"</p> +<p>"It is my party, not Papa's, you dear old goose, you know that," +Lady Ethelrida said. "Of course you shall bring your Zara and I +myself will write and ask Mr. Markrute. In spite of Aunt Jane's +saying that he is a cynical foreigner I like him!"</p> +<a name="C009" id="C009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> +<p>Society was absolutely flabbergasted when it read in the +<i>Morning Post</i> the announcement of Lord Tancred's engagement! +No one had heard a word about it. There had been talk of his going +to Canada, and much chaff upon that subject—so ridiculous, +Tancred emigrating! But of a prospective bride the most +gossip-loving busybody at White's had never heard! It fell like a +bombshell. And Lady Highford, as she read the news, clenched her +pointed teeth, and gave a little squeal like a stoat.</p> +<p>So he had drifted beyond her, after all! He had often warned her +he would, at the finish of one of those scenes she was so fond of +creating. It was true then, when he had told her before Cowes that +everything must be over. She had thought his silence since had only +been sulking! But who was the creature? "Countess Shulski." Was it +a Polish or Hungarian name? "Daughter of the late Maurice Grey." +Which Grey was that? "Niece of Francis Markrute, Esquire, of Park +Lane." Here was the reason—money! How disgusting men were! +They would sell their souls for money. But the woman should suffer +for this, and Tristram, too, if she could manage it!</p> +<p>Then she wept some tears of rage. He was so adorably good +looking and had been such a feather in her cap, although she had +never been really sure of him. It was a mercy her conduct had +always been of such an immaculate character—in +public—no one could say a word. And now she must act the +dear, generous, congratulating friend.</p> +<p>So she had a dose of sal volatile and dressed, with extra care, +to lunch at Glastonbury House. There she might hear all the +details; only Ethelrida was so superior, and uninterested in news +or gossip.</p> +<p>There was a party of only five assembled, when she +arrived—she was always a little late. The Duke and Lady +Ethelrida, Constance Radcliffe, and two men: an elderly politician, +and another cousin of the family. She could certainly chatter about +Tristram, and hear all she could.</p> +<p>They were no sooner seated than she began:</p> +<p>"Is not this wonderful news about your nephew, Duke? No one +expected it of him just now, though I as one of his best friends +have been urging him to marry, for the last two years. Dear Lady +Tancred must be so enchanted."</p> +<p>"I am sure you gave him good counsel," said the Duke, screwing +his eyeglass which he wore on a long black ribbon into his +whimsical old blue eye. "But Tristram's a tender mouth, and a bit +of a bolter—got to ride him on the snaffle, not the +curb."</p> +<p>Lady Highford looked down at her plate, while she gave an answer +quite at variance with her own methods.</p> +<p>"Snaffle or curb, no one would ever try to guide Lord Tancred! +And what is the charming lady like? You all know her, of +course?"</p> +<p>"Why, no," said His Grace. "The uncle, Mr. Markrute, dined here +the other night. He's been very useful to the Party, in a quiet way +and seems a capital fellow—but Ethelrida and I have never met +the niece. Of course, no one has been in town since the season, and +she was not here then. We only came up, like you, for Flora's +wedding, and go down to-morrow."</p> +<p>"This is thrilling!" said Lady Highford. "An unknown bride! Have +you not even heard what she is like—young or old? A widow +always sounds so attractive!"</p> +<p>"I am told that she is perfectly beautiful," said Lady Ethelrida +from the other side of the table—there had been a +pause—"and Tristram seems so happy. She is quite young, and +very rich."</p> +<p>She had always been amiably friendly and indifferent to Laura +Highford. It was Ethelrida's way to have no likes and dislikes for +the general circle of her friends; her warm attachment was given to +so very few, and the rest were just all of a band. Perhaps if she +felt anything definite it was a tinge on the side of dislike for +Laura. Thinking to please Tristram at the time she had asked her to +this, her birthday party, when they had met at Cowes in August, and +now she was faced with the problem how to put her off, since +Tristram and his bride would be coming. She saw the glint in the +light hazel eyes as she described the fiancé and her kind +heart at once made her determine to turn the conversation. After +all, it was perfectly natural for poor Laura to have been in love +with Tristram—no one could be more attractive—and, of +course, it must hurt her—this marriage. She would reserve the +"putting off," until they left the dining-room and she could speak +to her alone. So with her perfect tact and easy grace she diverted +the current of conversation to the political situation, and +luncheon went on.</p> +<p>But this was not what Lady Highford had come for. She wanted to +hear everything she could about her rival, in order to lay her +plans; and the moment Ethelrida was engaged with the politician and +the Duke had turned to Mrs. Radcliffe, she tackled the cousin, in a +lower voice.</p> +<p>He, Jimmy Danvers, had only read what she had, that morning. He +had seen Tristram at the Turf on Tuesday after lunch—the day +before yesterday—and he had only talked of Canada—and +not a word of a lady then. It was a bolt from the blue. "And when I +telephoned to the old boy this morning," he said, "and asked him to +take me to call upon his damsel to-day, he told me she had gone to +Paris and would not be back until a week before the wedding!"</p> +<p>"How very mysterious!" piped Laura. "Tristram is off to Paris, +too, then, I suppose?"</p> +<p>"He did not say; he seemed in the deuce of a hurry and put the +receiver down."</p> +<p>"He is probably only doing it for money, poor darling boy!" she +said sympathetically. "It was quite necessary for him."</p> +<p>"Oh, that's not Tristram's measure," Sir James Danvers +interrupted. "He'd never do anything for money. I thought you knew +him awfully well," he added, surprised. Apprehension of situations +was not one of his strong qualities.</p> +<p>"Of course I do!" Laura snapped out and then laughed. "But you +men! Money would tempt any of you!"</p> +<p>"You may bet your last farthing, Lady Highford, Tristram is in +love—crazy, if you ask me—he'd not have been so silent +about it all otherwise. The Canada affair was probably because she +was playing the poor old chap,—and now she's given in; and +that, of course, is chucked."</p> +<p>Money, as the motive, Lady Highford could have borne, but, to +hear about love drove her wild! Her little pink and white face with +its carefully arranged childish setting suddenly looked old and +strained, while her eyes grew yellow in the light.</p> +<p>"They won't be happy long, then!" she said. "Tristram could not +be faithful to any one."</p> +<p>"I don't think he's ever been in love before, so we can't +judge," the blundering cousin continued, now with malice prepense. +"He's had lots of little affairs, but they have only been 'come and +go.'"</p> +<p>Lady Highford crumbled her bread and then turned to the +Duke—there was nothing further to be got out of this quarter. +Finally luncheon came to an end, and the three ladies went up to +Ethelrida's sitting-room. Mrs. Radcliffe presently took her leave +to catch a train, so the two were left alone.</p> +<p>"I am so looking forward to your party, dear Ethelrida," Lady +Highford cooed. "I am going back to Hampshire to-morrow, but at the +end of the month I come up again and will be with you in Norfolk on +the 2nd."</p> +<p>"I was just wondering," said Lady Ethelrida, "if, after all, you +would not be bored, Laura? Your particular friends, the +Sedgeworths, have had to throw us over—his father being dead. +It will be rather a family sort of collection, and not so amusing +this year, I am afraid. Em and Mary, Tristram and his new +bride,—and Mr. Markrute, the uncle—and the rest as I +told you."</p> +<p>"Why, my dear child, it sounds delightful! I shall long to meet +the new Lady Tancred! Tristram and I are such dear friends, poor +darling boy! I must write and tell him how delighted I am with the +news. Do you know where he is at the moment?"</p> +<p>"He is in London, I believe. Then you really will stick to us +and not be bored? How sweet of you!" Lady Ethelrida said without a +change in her level voice while her thoughts ran: "It is very +plucky of Laura; or, she has some plan! In any case I can't prevent +her coming now, and perhaps it is best to get it over. But I had +better warn Tristram, surprises are so unpleasant."</p> +<p>Then, after a good deal of gush about "dear Lady Tancred's" +prospective happiness in having a daughter-in-law, and "dear +Tristram," Lady Highford's motor was announced, and she went.</p> +<p>And when she had gone Lady Ethelrida sat down and wrote her +cousin a note. Just to tell him in case she did not see him before +she went back to the country to-morrow that her list, which she +enclosed, was made up for her November party, but if he would like +any one else for his bride to meet, he was to say so. She added +that some friends had been to luncheon, and among them Laura +Highford, who had said the nicest things and wished him every +happiness.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida was not deceived about these wishes, but she +could do no more.</p> +<p>The Duke came into her room, just as she was finishing, and +warmed himself by her wood fire.</p> +<p>"The woman is a cat, Ethelrida," he said without any preamble. +These two understood each other so well, they often seemed to begin +in the middle of a sentence, of which no outsider could grasp the +meaning.</p> +<p>"I am afraid she is, Papa. I have just been writing to Tristram, +to let him know she still insists upon coming to the shoot. She +can't do anything there, and they may as well get it over. She will +have to be civil to the new Lady Tancred in our house."</p> +<p>"Whew!" whistled the Duke, "you may have an exciting party. You +had better go and leave our cards to-day on the Countess Shulski, +and another of mine, as well, for the uncle. We'll have to swallow +the whole lot, I suppose."</p> +<p>"I rather like Mr. Markrute, Papa," Ethelrida said. "I talked to +him the other night for the first time; he is extremely +intelligent. We ought not to be so prejudiced, perhaps, just +because he is a foreigner, and in the City. I've asked him on the +2nd, too—you don't mind? I will leave the note to-day; +Tristram particularly wished it."</p> +<p>"Then we'll have to make the best of it, pet. I daresay you are +right, and one ought not to be prejudiced about anything, in these +days."</p> +<p>And then he patted his daughter's smoothly brushed head, and +went out again.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida drove in the ducal carriage (the Duke insisted +upon a carriage, in London), to Park Lane, and was handing her +cards to her footman to leave, when Francis Markrute himself came +out of the door.</p> +<p>His whole face changed; it seemed to grow younger. He was a +fairly tall man, and distinguished looking. He came forward and +said: "How do you do," through the brougham window.</p> +<p>Alas! his niece had left that morning <i>en route</i> for +Paris—<i>trousseaux</i> and feminine business, but he was so +delighted to have had this chance of a few words with +her—Lady Ethelrida.</p> +<p>"I was leaving a note to ask you to come and shoot with my +father at Montfitchet, Mr. Markrute," she said, "on the 2nd of +November. Tristram says he hopes they will be back from the +honeymoon in time to join us, too."</p> +<p>"I shall be delighted, and my niece will be delighted at your +kindness in calling so soon."</p> +<p>Then they said a few more polite things and the financier +finished by:—"I am taking the great liberty of having the +book, which I told you about, rebound—it was in such a +tattered condition, I was ashamed to send it to you—do not +think I had forgotten. I hope you will accept it?"</p> +<p>"I thought you only meant to lend it to me because it is out of +print and I cannot buy it. I am so sorry you have had this +trouble," Lady Ethelrida said, a little stiffly. "Bring it to the +shoot. It will interest me to see it but you must not give it to +me." And then she smiled graciously; and he allowed her to say +good-bye, and drive on. And as he turned into Grosvenor Street he +mused,</p> +<p>"I like her exquisite pride; but she shall take the +book—and many other things—presently."</p> +<hr /> +<p>Meanwhile Zara Shulski had arrived at Bournemouth. She had +started early in the morning, and she was making a careful +investigation of the house. The doctor appeared all that was kind +and clever, and his wife gentle and sweet. Mirko could not have a +nicer home, it seemed. Their little girl was away at her +grandmother's for the next six weeks, they said, but would be +enchanted to have a little boy companion. Everything was arranged +satisfactorily. Zara stayed the night, and next day, having wired +to Mimo to meet her at the station, she returned to London.</p> +<p>They talked in the Waterloo waiting-room; poor Mimo seemed so +glad and happy. He saw her and her small bag into a taxi. She was +going back to her uncle's, and was to take Mirko down next day, +and, on the following one, start for Paris.</p> +<p>"But I can't go back to Park Lane without seeing Mirko, now," +she said. "I did not tell my uncle what train I was returning by. +There is plenty of time so I will go and have tea with you at +Neville Street. It will be like old times, we will get some cakes +and other things on the way, and boil the kettle on the fire."</p> +<p>So Mimo gladly got in with her and they started. He had a new +suit of clothes and a new felt hat, and looked a wonderfully +handsome foreign gentleman; his manner to women was always +courteous and gallant. Zara smiled and looked almost happy, as they +arranged the details of their surprise tea party for Mirko.</p> +<p>At that moment there passed them in Whitehall a motorcar going +very fast, the occupant of which, a handsome young man, caught the +most fleeting glimpse of them—hardly enough to be certain he +recognized Zara. But it gave him a great start and a thrill.</p> +<p>"It cannot be she," he said to himself, "she went to Paris +yesterday; but if it is—who is the man?"</p> +<p>He altered his plans, went back to his rooms, and sat moodily +down in his favorite chair—an unpleasant, gnawing uncertainty +in his heart.</p> +<a name="C010" id="C010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> +<p>Mirko, crouched up by the smoldering fire, was playing the +<i>Chanson Triste</i> on his violin when the two reached the +studio. He had a wonderful talent—of that there was no +doubt—but his health had always been too delicate to stand +any continuous study. Nor had the means of the family ever been in +a sufficiently prosperous condition, in later years, to procure a +really good master. But the touch and soul of the strange little +fellow sounded in every wailing note. He always played the +<i>Chanson Triste</i> when he was sad and lonely. He had been +nearly seven when his mother died, and he remembered her vividly. +She had so loved Tschaikovsky's music, and this piece especially. +He had played it to her—from ear then—the afternoon she +lay dying, and for him, as for them all, it was indissolubly +connected with her memory. The tears were slowly trickling down +Mirko's cheeks. He was going to be taken away from his father, his +much loved Chérisette would not be near him, and he feared +and hated strangers.</p> +<p>He felt he was talking to his mother with his bow. His mother +who was in heaven, with all the saints and angels. What could it be +like up there? It was perhaps a forest, such as Fontainebleau, only +there were sure to be numbers of birds which sang like the +nightingales in the Borghese Gardens—there would be no +canaries! The sun always shone and <i>Maman</i> would wear a +beautiful dress of blue gauze with wings, and her lovely hair, +which was fair, not red like Chérisette's, would be all +hanging down. It surely was a very desirable place, and quite +different from the Neville Street lodging. Why could he not get +there, out of the cold and darkness? Chérisette had always +taught him that God was so good and kind to little boys who had +crippled backs. He would ask God with all the force of his music, +to take him there to <i>Maman</i>.</p> +<p>The sound of the familiar air struck a chill note upon Mimo and +Zara, as they came up the stairs; it made them hasten their +steps—they knew very well what mood it meant with the +child.</p> +<p>He was so far away, in his passionate dream-prayer, that he did +not hear them coming until they opened the door; and then he looked +up, his beautiful dark eyes all wet with tears which suddenly +turned to joy when he saw his sister.</p> +<p>"<i>Chérisette adorée</i>!" he cried, and was soon +in her arms, soothed and comforted and caressed. Oh, if he could +always be with her, he really, after all, would wish for no other +heaven!</p> +<p>"We are going to have such a picnic!" Zara told him. "Papa and I +have brought a new tablecloth, and some pretty cups and saucers, +and spoons, and knives, and forks—and see! such buns! English +buns for you to toast, Mirko mio! You must be the little cook, +while I lay the table."</p> +<p>And the child clapped his hands with glee and helped to take the +papers off; he stroked the pretty roses on the china with his +delicate, little forefinger—he had Mimo's caressing ways with +everything he admired and loved. He had never broken his toys, as +other children do; accidental catastrophes to them had always +caused him pain and weeping. And these bright, new flowery cups +should be his special care, to wash, and dry, and guard.</p> +<p>He grew merry as a cricket, and his laughter pealed over the +paper cap Mimo made for him and the towel his sister had for an +apron. They were to be the servants, and Mimo a lordly guest.</p> +<p>And soon the table was laid, and the buns toasted and buttered; +Zara had even bought a vase of the same china, in which she placed +a bunch of autumn red roses, to match those painted on it and this +was a particular joy.</p> +<p>"The Apache," which had not yet found a purchaser, stood on one +easel, and from it the traveling rug hung to the other, concealing +all unsightly things, and yesterday Mimo had bought from the +Tottenham Court Road a cheap basket armchair with bright cretonne +cushions. And really, with the flowers and the blazing fire when +they sat down to tea it all looked very cozy and home-like.</p> +<p>What would her uncle or Lord Tancred have thought, could they +have seen those tempestuous eyes of Zara's glistening and +tender—and soft as a dove's!</p> +<p>After tea she sat in the basket chair, and took Mirko in her +arms, and told him all about the delightful, new home he was going +to, the kind lady, and the beautiful view of the sea he would get +from his bedroom windows; how pretty and fresh it all looked, how +there were pine woods to walk in, and how she +would—presently—come down to see him. And as she said +this her thoughts flew to her own fate—what would her +"presently" be? And she gave a little, unconscious shiver almost of +fear.</p> +<p>"What hast thou, Chérisette?" said Mirko. "Where were thy +thoughts then?—not here?"</p> +<p>"No, not here, little one. Thy Chérisette is going also +to a new home; some day thou must visit her there."</p> +<p>But when he questioned and implored her to tell him about it she +answered vaguely, and tried to divert his thoughts, until he +said:</p> +<p>"It is not to <i>Maman</i> in heaven, is it, dear +Chérisette? Because there, there would be enough place for +us both—and surely thou couldst take me too?"</p> +<hr /> +<p>When she got back to Park Lane, and entered her uncle's library +he was sitting at the writing table, the telephone in his hand. He +welcomed her with his eyes and went on speaking, while she took a +chair.</p> +<p>"Yes, do come and dine.—May you see her if by chance she +did not go to Paris?" He looked up at Zara, who frowned. +"No—she is very tired and has gone to her room for the +evening.—She has been in the country to-day, seeing some +friends.—No—not to-morrow—she goes to the country +again, and to Paris the following night—To the station? I +will ask her, but perhaps she is like me, and dislikes being seen +off," then a laugh,—and then, "All right—well, come and +dine at eight—good-bye." The financier put the receiver down +and looked at his niece, a whimsical smile in his eyes.</p> +<p>"Well," he said, "your fiancé is very anxious to see you, +it seems. What do you say?"</p> +<p>"Certainly not!" she flashed. "I thought it was understood; he +shall not come to the train. I will go by another if he +insists."</p> +<p>"He won't insist; tell me of your day?"</p> +<p>She calmed herself—her face had grown stormy.</p> +<p>"I am quite satisfied with the home you have chosen for Mirko +and will take him there to-morrow. All the clothes have come that +you said I might order for him, and I hope and think he will be +comfortable and happy. He has a very beautiful, tender nature, and +a great talent. If he could only grow strong, and more balanced! +Perhaps he will, in this calm, English air."</p> +<p>Francis Markrute's face changed, as it always did with the +mention and discussion of Mirko—whose presence in the world +was an ever-rankling proof of his loved sister's disgrace. All his +sense of justice—and he was in general a just man—could +never reconcile him to the idea of ever seeing or recognizing the +child. "The sins of the fathers"—was his creed and he never +forgot the dying Emperor's words. He had lost sight of his niece +for nearly two years after his sister's death. She had wished for +no communication with him, believing then that he had left her +mother to die without forgiveness, and it was not until he happened +to read in a foreign paper the casual mention of Count Shulski's +murder, and so guessed at Zara's whereabouts, that a correspondence +had been opened again, and he was able to explain that he had been +absent in Africa and had not received any letters.</p> +<p>He then offered her his protection and a home, if she would +sever all connection with the two, Mimo and Mirko, and she had +indignantly refused. And it was only when they were in dire +poverty, and he had again written asking his niece to come and stay +with him for a few weeks, this time with no conditions attached, +that she had consented, thinking that perhaps she would be able in +some way to benefit them.</p> +<p>But now that she looked at him she felt keenly how he had +trapped her, all the same.</p> +<p>"We will not discuss your brother's nature," he said, coldly. "I +will keep my side of the bargain scrupulously, for all material +things; that is all you can expect of me. Now let us talk of +yourself. I have ventured to send some sables for your inspection +up to your sitting room; it will be cold traveling. I hope you will +select what you wish. And remember, I desire you to order the most +complete trousseau in Paris, everything that a great lady could +possibly want for visits and entertainments; and you must secure a +good maid there, and return with all the <i>apanages</i> of your +position."</p> +<p>She bowed, as at the reception of an order. She did not thank +him.</p> +<p>"I will not give you any advice what to get," he went on. "Your +own admirable taste will direct you. I understand that in the days +of your late husband you were a beautifully dressed woman, so you +will know all the best places to go to. But please to remember, +while I give you unlimited resources for you to do what I wish, I +trust to your honor that you will bestow none of them upon +the—man Sykypri. The bargain is about the child; the father +is barred from it in every way."</p> +<p>Zara did not answer, she had guessed this, but Mirko's welfare +was of first importance. With strict economy Mimo could live upon +what he possessed, if alone and if he chose to curtail his +irresponsible generosities.</p> +<p>"Do I understand I have your word of honor about this?" her +uncle demanded.</p> +<p>Her empress' air showed plainly now. She arose from the chair +and stood haughtily drawn up:</p> +<p>"You know me and whether my spoken word 'is required or no," she +said, "but if it will be any satisfaction to you to have it I give +it!"</p> +<p>"Good—Then things are settled, and, I hope, to the +happiness of all parties."</p> +<p>"Happiness!" she answered bitterly. "Who is ever happy?" Then +she turned to go, but he arrested her.</p> +<p>"In two or three years' time you will admit to me that you know +of four human beings who are ideally happy." And with this +enigmatic announcement ringing in her ears, she went on up the +stairs to her sitting-room.</p> +<p>Who were the <i>four</i> people? Herself and himself and Mimo +and Mirko? Was it possible that after all his hardness towards them +he meant to be eventually kind? Or was the fourth person not Mimo, +but her future husband? Then she smiled grimly. It was not very +likely <i>he</i> would be happy—a beast, like the rest of +men, who, marrying her only for her uncle's money, having been +ready to marry her for that when he had never even seen +her—was yet full enough of the revolting quality of his sex +to be desirous now to kiss her and clasp her in his arms!</p> +<p>As far as she was concerned he would have no happiness!</p> +<p>And she herself—what would the new life mean? It appeared +a blank—an abyss. A dark curtain seemed to overhang and cover +it. All she could feel was that Mirko was being cared for, that she +was keeping her word to her adored mother. She would fulfill to the +letter her uncle's wishes as to her suitable equipments, but beyond +that she refused to think.</p> +<p>All the evening, when she had finished her short, solitary +dinner, she played the piano in her sitting-room, her white fingers +passing from one divine air to another, until at last she +unconsciously drifted to the <i>Chanson Triste</i>, and Mirko's +words came back to her:</p> +<p>"There, there would be enough place for us both"—Who +knows—that might be the end of it!</p> +<p>And the two men heard the distant wail of the last notes as they +came out of the dining-room, and, while it made the financier +uncomfortable, it caused Tristram a sharp stab of pain.</p> +<a name="C011" id="C011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> +<p>The next three weeks passed for Lord Tancred in continuously +growing excitement. He had much business to see to for the +reopening of Wrayth which had been closed for the past two years. +He had decided to let Zara choose her own rooms, and decorate them +as she pleased, when she should get there. But the big state +apartments, with their tapestry and pictures, would remain +untouched.</p> +<p>It gave him infinite pleasure—the thought of living at his +old house once again—and it touched him to see the joy of the +village and all the old keepers and gardeners who had been +pensioned off! He found himself wondering all sorts of +things—if he would have a son some day soon, to inherit it +all. Each wood and broad meadow seemed to take on new interest and +significance from this thought.</p> +<p>His home was so very dear to him though he had drilled himself +into a seeming indifference. The great, round tower of the original +Norman keep was still there, connected with the walls of the later +house, a large, wandering edifice built at all periods from that +epoch upwards, and culminating in a shocking early-Victorian Gothic +wing and porch.</p> +<p>"I think we shall pull that wretched bit down some time," he +said to himself. "Zara must have good taste—she could not +look so well in her clothes, if she had not."</p> +<p>His thoughts were continually for her, and what she would be +likely to wish; and, in the evening, when he sat alone in his own +sanctum after a hard day with electricians and work-people, he +would gaze into the blazing logs and dream.</p> +<p>The new electric light was not installed yet, and only the big, +old lamps lit the shadowy oak panelling. There in a niche beside +the fireplace was the suit of armor which another Tristram Guiscard +had worn at Agincourt. What little chaps they had been in those +days in comparison with himself and his six feet two inches! But +they had been great lords, his ancestors, and he, too, would be +worthy of the race. There were no wars just now to go to and fight +for his country—but he would fight for his order, with his +uncle, the Duke, that splendid, old specimen of the hereditary +legislator. Francis Markrute who was a good judge had said that he +had made some decent speeches in the House of Lords already, and he +would go on and do his best, and Zara would help him. He wondered +if she liked reading and poetry. He was such a magnificently +healthy sportsman he had always been a little shy of letting people +know his inner and gentler tastes. He hoped so much she would care +for the books he did. There was a deep strain of romance in his +nature, undreamed of by such women as Laura Highford, and these +evenings—alone, musing and growing in love with a +phantom—drew it forth.</p> +<p>His plan was to go to Paris—to the Ritz—for the +honeymoon. Zara who did not know England would probably hate the +solemn servants staring at her in those early days if he took her +to Orton, one of the Duke's places which he had offered him for the +blissful week. Paris was much better—they could go to the +theater there—because he knew it would not all be plain +sailing by any means! And every time he thought of that aspect, his +keen, blue eyes sparkled with the instinct of the chase and he +looked the image of the Baron Tancred who, carved in stone, with +his Crusader's crossed feet, reposed in state in the church of +Wrayth.</p> +<p>A lissom, wiry, splendid English aristocrat, in perfect +condition and health, was Tristram Guiscard, twenty-fourth Baron +Tancred, as he lounged in his chair before the fire and dreamed of +his lady and his fate.</p> +<p>And when they were used to one another—at the end of the +week—there would be the party at Montfitchet where he would +have the joy and pride of showing his beautiful wife—and +Laura would be there;—he suddenly thought of her. Poor old +Laura! she had been awfully nice about it and had written him the +sweetest letter. He would not have believed her capable of +it—and he felt so kindly disposed towards her—little as +she deserved it if he had only known!</p> +<p>Then when these gayeties were over, he and Zara would come here +to Wrayth! And he could not help picturing how he would make love +to her in this romantic setting; and perhaps soon she, too, would +love him. When he got thus far in his picturings he would shut his +eyes, stretch out his long limbs, and call to Jake, his solemn +bulldog, and pat his wrinkled head.</p> +<p>And Zara, in Paris, was more tranquil in mind than was her wont. +Mirko had not made much difficulty about going to Bournemouth. +Everything was so pretty, the day she took him there, the sun +shining gayly and the sea almost as blue as the Mediterranean, and +Mrs. Morley, the doctor's wife, had been so gentle and sweet, and +had drawn him to her heart at once, and petted him, and talked of +his violin. The doctor had examined his lungs and said they +certainly might improve with plenty of the fine air if he were very +carefully fed and tended, and not allowed to catch cold.</p> +<p>The parting with poor Mimo had been very moving. They had said +good-bye to him in the Neville Street lodging, as Zara thought it +was wiser not to risk a scene at the station. The father and son +had kissed and clasped one another and both wept, and Mimo had +promised to come to see him soon, soon!</p> +<p>Then there had been another painful wrench when she herself left +Bournemouth. She had put off her departure until the afternoon of +the following day. Mirko had tried to be as brave as he could; but +the memory of the pathetic little figure, as she saw it waving a +hand to her from the window, made those rare tears brim up and +splash on her glove, as she sat in the train.</p> +<p>In her short life with its many moments of deep anguish she had +seldom been able to cry; there were always others to be thought of +first, and an iron self-control was one of her inheritances from +her grandfather, the Emperor, just as that voluptuous, undulating +grace, and the red, lustrous hair, came from the beautiful opera +dancer and great artiste, her grandmother.</p> +<p>She had cautioned Mrs. Morley, if she should often hear Mirko +playing the <i>Chanson Triste</i>, to let her know, and she would +come to him. It was a sure indication of his state of mind. And +Mrs. Morley, who had read in the <i>Morning Post</i> the +announcement of her approaching marriage, asked her where she could +be found, and Zara had stiffened suddenly and said—at her +uncle's house in Park Lane, the letters to be marked "To be +forwarded immediately."</p> +<p>And when she had gone, Mrs. Morley had told her sister who had +come in to tea how beautiful Countess Shulski was and how very +regal looking, "but she had on such plain, almost shabby, black +clothes, Minnie dear, and a small black toque, and then the most +splendid sable wrap—those very grand people do have funny +tastes, don't they? I should have liked a pretty autumn costume of +green velveteen, and a hat with a wing or a bird."</p> +<p>The financier had insisted upon his niece wearing the sable +wrap—and somehow, in spite of all things, the beautiful, +dark, soft fur had given her pleasure.</p> +<p>And now, three weeks later, she was just returning from Paris, +her beauty enriched by all that money and taste could procure. It +was the eighteenth of October, exactly a week before her +wedding.</p> +<p>She had written to Mimo from Paris, and told him she was going +to be married; that she was doing so because she thought it was +best for them all; and he had written back enchanted exclamations +of surprise and joy, and had told her she should have his new +picture, the London fog—so dramatic with its two meeting +figures—for his wedding gift. Poor Mimo, so generous, always, +with all he had!</p> +<p>Mirko was not to be told until she was actually married.</p> +<p>She had written to her uncle and asked him as a great favor that +she might only arrive the very day of the family dinner party, he +could plead for her excess of trousseau business, or what he liked. +She would come by the nine o'clock morning train, so as to be in +ample time for dinner; and it would be so much easier for every +one, if they could get the meeting over, the whole family together, +rather than have the ordeal of private presentations.</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute had agreed, while Lord Tancred had +chafed.</p> +<p>"I <i>shall</i> meet her at the station, whatever you say, +Francis!" he had exclaimed. "I am longing to see her."</p> +<p>And as the train drew up at Victoria, Zara caught sight of him +there on the platform, and in spite of her dislike and resentment +she could not help seeing that her fiancé was a wonderfully +good-looking man.</p> +<p>She herself appeared to him as the loveliest thing he had ever +seen in his life, with her perfect Paris clothes, and air of +distinction. If he had thought her attractive before he felt +ecstatic in his admiration now.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute hurried up the platform and Tristram frowned, +but the financier knew it might not be safe to leave them to a +tête-à-tête drive to the house! Zara's temper +might not brook it, and he had rushed back from the city, though he +hated rushing, in order to be on the spot to make a third.</p> +<p>"Welcome, my niece!" he said, before Lord Tancred could speak. +"You see, we have both come to greet you."</p> +<p>She thanked them politely, and turned to give an order to her +new French maid—and some of the expectant, boyish joy died +out of Tristram's face, as he walked beside her to the waiting +motor.</p> +<p>They said the usual things about the crossing—it had been +smooth and pleasant—so fortunate for that time of the +year—and she had stayed on deck and enjoyed it. Yes, Paris +had been charming; it was always a delightful spot to find oneself +in.</p> +<p>Then Tristram said he was glad she thought that, because, if she +would consent, he would arrange to go there for the honeymoon +directly after the wedding. She inclined her head in acquiescence +but did not speak. The matter appeared one of complete indifference +to her.</p> +<p>In spite of his knowledge that this would be her attitude and he +need not expect anything different Tristram's heart began to sink +down into his boots, by the time they reached the house, and +Francis Markrute whispered to his niece as they came up the +steps:</p> +<p>"I beg of you to be a little more gracious—the man has +some spirit, you know!"</p> +<p>So when they got into the library, and she began to pour out the +tea for them, she made conversation. But Tristram's teeth were set, +and a steely light began to grow in his blue eyes.</p> +<p>She looked so astonishingly alluring there in her well-fitting, +blue serge, traveling dress, yet he might not even kiss her white, +slender hand! And there was a whole week before the wedding! And +after it?—would she keep up this icy barrier between them? If +so—but he refused to think of it!</p> +<p>He noticed that she wore his engagement ring only, on her left +hand, and that the right one was ringless, nor had she a brooch or +any other jewel. He felt glad—he would be able to give her +everything. His mother had been so splendid about the family +jewels, insisting upon handing them over, and even in the short +time one or two pieces had been reset, the better to please the +presumably modern taste of the new bride of the Tancreds. These, +and the wonderful pearls, her uncle's gift, were waiting for her, +up in her sitting-room.</p> +<p>"I think I will go and rest now until dinner," she said, and +forced a smile as she moved towards the door.</p> +<p>It was the first time Tristram had ever seen her smile, and it +thrilled him. He had the most frantic longing to take her in his +arms and kiss her, and tell her he was madly in love with her, and +wanted her never to be out of his sight.</p> +<p>But he let her pass out, and, turning round, he found Francis +Markrute pouring out some liqueur brandy from a wonderful, old, +gold-chased bottle, which stood on a side-table with its glasses. +He filled two, and handed one to Tristram, while he quoted Doctor +Johnson with an understanding smile:</p> +<p>"'Claret for boys, port for men, but brandy for heroes!' By +Jove! my dear boy," he said, "you are a hero!"</p> +<a name="C012" id="C012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> +<p>Lady Tancred unfortunately had one of her very bad headaches, +and an hour before dinner, in fact before her son had left the Park +Lane house, a telephone message came to say she was dreadfully +sorry, it would be impossible for her to come. It was Emily who +spoke to Francis Markrute, himself.</p> +<p>"Mother is so disappointed," she said, "but she really suffers +so dreadfully. I am sure Countess Shulski will forgive her, and +you, too. She wants to know if Countess Shulski will let Tristram +bring her to-morrow morning, without any more ceremony, to see her +and stay to luncheon."</p> +<p>Thus it was settled and this necessitated a change in the table +arrangements.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida would now sit on the host's right hand, and Lady +Coltshurst, an aunt on the Tancred side, at his left, while Zara +would be between the Duke and her fiancé, as originally +arranged. Emily Guiscard would have Sir James Danvers and Lord +Coltshurst as neighbors, and Mary her uncle, the Duke's brother, a +widower, Lord Charles Montfitchet, and his son, "Young Billy," the +Glastonbury heir—Lady Ethelrida was the Duke's only +child.</p> +<p>At a quarter before eight Francis Markrute went up to his +niece's sitting-room. She was already dressed in a sapphire-blue +velvet masterpiece of simplicity. The Tancred presents of sapphires +and diamonds lay in their open cases on the table with the splendid +Markrute yards of pearls. She was standing looking down at them, +the strangest expression of cynical resignation upon her face.</p> +<p>"Your gift is magnificent, Uncle Francis," she said, without +thanking him. "Which do you wish me to wear? Yours—or +his?"</p> +<p>"Lord Tancred's, he has specially asked that you put his on +to-night," the financier replied. "These are only his first small +ones; the other jewels are being reset for you. Nothing can be +kinder or more generous than the whole family has been. You see +this brooch, with the large drop sapphire and diamond, is from the +Duke."</p> +<p>She inclined her head without enthusiasm, and took her own small +pearls from her ears, and replaced them by the big sapphire and +diamond earrings; a rivière of alternate solitaire sapphires +and diamonds she clasped round her snowy throat.</p> +<p>"You look absolutely beautiful," her uncle exclaimed with +admiration. "I knew I could perfectly trust to your taste—the +dress is perfection."</p> +<p>"Then I suppose we shall have to go down," she said quietly.</p> +<p>She was perfectly calm, her face expressionless; if there was a +tempestuous suggestion in her somber eyes she generally kept the +lids lowered. Inwardly, she felt a raging rebellion. This was the +first ceremony of the sacrifice, and although in the abstract her +fine senses appreciated the jewels and all her new and beautiful +clothes and <i>apanages</i>, they in no way counterbalanced the +hateful degradation.</p> +<p>To her it was a hideous mockery—the whole thing; she was +just a chattel, a part of a business bargain. She could not guess +her uncle's motive for the transaction (he had a deep one, of +course), but Lord Tancred's was plain and purely contemptible. +Money! For had not the whole degrading thing been settled before he +had ever seen her? He was worse than Ladislaus who, at all events, +had been passionately in love, in his revolting, animal way.</p> +<p>She knew nothing of the English customs, nor how such a thing as +the arrangement of this marriage, as she thought it was, was a +perfectly unknown impossibility, as an idea. She supposed that the +entire family were aware of the circumstances, and were willing to +accept her only for her uncle's wealth—she already hated and +despised them all. Her idea was, "<i>noblesse oblige</i>," and that +a great and ancient house should never stoop to such depths.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute looked at her when she said, "I suppose we +shall have to go down," with that icy calm. He felt faintly +uneasy.</p> +<p>"Zara, it is understood you will be gracious? and +<i>brusquer</i> no one?"</p> +<p>But all the reply he received was a glance of scorn. She had +given her word and refused to discuss that matter.</p> +<p>And so they descended the stairs just in time to be standing +ready to receive Lord and Lady Coltshurst who were the first to be +announced. He was a spare, unintelligent, henpecked, elderly man, +and she, a stout, forbidding-looking lady. She had prominent, +shortsighted eyes, and she used longhandled glasses; she had also +three chins, and did not resemble the Guiscards in any way, except +for her mouth and her haughty bearing.</p> +<p>Zara's manner was that of an empress graciously receiving +foreigners in a private audience!</p> +<p>The guests now arrived in quick succession. Lord Charles and his +son, "Young Billy," then Tristram and his sisters, and Jimmy +Danvers, and, lastly, the Duke and Lady Ethelrida.</p> +<p>They were all such citizens of the world there was no +awkwardness, and the old Duke had kissed his fair, prospective +niece's hand when he had been presented, and had said that some day +he should claim the privilege of an old man and kiss her cheek. And +Zara had smiled for an instant, overcome by his charm, and so she +had put her fingers on his arm, and they had gone down to dinner; +and now they were talking suavely.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute had a theory that certain human beings are born +with moral antennae—a sort of extra combination beyond the +natural of the senses of sight, smell, hearing and +understanding—which made them apprehend situations and people +even when these chanced to be of a hitherto unknown race or habit. +Zara was among those whose antennae were highly developed. She had +apprehended almost instantaneously that whatever their motives were +underneath, her future husband's family were going to act the part +of receiving her for herself. It was a little ridiculous, but very +well bred, and she must fall in with it when with them collectively +like this.</p> +<p>Before they had finished the soup the Duke was saying to himself +that she was the most attractive creature he had ever met in his +life, and no wonder Tristram was mad about her; for Tristram's +passionate admiration to-night could not have been mistaken by a +child!</p> +<p>And yet Zara had never smiled, but that once—in the +drawing-room.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida from where she sat could see her face through a +gap in the flowers. The financier had ordered a tall arrangement on +purpose: if Zara by chance should look haughtily indifferent it +were better that her expression should escape the observation of +all but her nearest neighbors. However, Lady Ethelrida just caught +the picture of her through an oblique angle, against a background +of French panelling.</p> +<p>And with her quiet, calm judgment of people she was wondering +what was the cause of that strange look in her eyes? Was it of a +stag at bay? Was it temper, or resentment, or only just pain? And +Tristram had said their color was slate gray; for her part she saw +nothing but pools of jet ink!</p> +<p>"There is some tragic story hidden here," she thought, "and +Tristram is too much in love to see it." But she felt rather drawn +to her new prospective cousin, all the same.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute seemed perfectly happy—his manner as a +host left nothing to be desired; he did not neglect the +uninteresting aunt, who formed golden opinions of him; but he +contrived to make Lady Ethelrida feel that he wished only to talk +to her; not because she was an attractive, young woman, but because +he was impressed with her intelligence, in the abstract. It made +things very easy.</p> +<p>The Duke asked Zara if she knew anything about English +politics.</p> +<p>"You will have to keep Tristram up to the mark," he said, "he +has done very well now and then, but he is a rather lazy fellow." +And he smiled.</p> +<p>"'Tristram,'" she thought. "So his name is 'Tristram'!" She had +actually never heard it before, nor troubled herself to inquire +about it. It seemed incredible, it aroused in her a grim sense of +humor, and she looked into the old Duke's face for a second and +wondered what he would say if she announced this fact, and he +caught the smile, cynical though it was, and continued:</p> +<p>"I see you have noticed his laziness! Now it will really be your +duty to make him a first-rate fighter for our cause. The Radicals +will begin to attack our very existence presently, and we must all +come up to the scratch."</p> +<p>"I know nothing as yet of your politics," Zara said. "I do not +understand which party is which, though my uncle says one consists +of gentlemen, and the other of the common people. I suppose it is +like in other countries, every one wanting to secure what some one +above him has got, without being fitted for the administration of +what he desires to snatch."</p> +<p>"That is about it," smiled the Duke.</p> +<p>"It would be reasonable, if they were all oppressed here, as in +France before the great revolution, but are they?"</p> +<p>"Oh! dear, no!" interrupted Tristram. "All the laws are made for +the lower classes. They have compensations for everything, and they +have openings to rise to the top of the tree if they wish to. It is +wretched landlords like my uncle and myself who are oppressed!" and +he smiled delightedly, he was so happy to hear her talk.</p> +<p>"When I shall know I shall perhaps find it all interesting," she +continued to the Duke.</p> +<p>"Between us we shall have to instruct you thoroughly, eh, +Tristram, my boy? And then you must be a great leader, and have a +salon, as the ladies of the eighteenth century did: we want a +beautiful young woman to draw us all together."</p> +<p>"Well, don't you think I have found you a perfect specimen, +Uncle!" Tristram exclaimed; and he raised his glass and kissed the +brim, while he whispered:</p> +<p>"Darling, my sweet lady—I drink to your health."</p> +<p>But this was too much for Zara—he was overdoing the +part—and she turned and flashed upon him a glance of +resentment and contempt.</p> +<p>Beyond the Duke sat Jimmy Danvers, and then Emily Guiscard and +Lord Coltshurst, and the two young people exchanged confidences in +a low voice.</p> +<p>"I say, Emily, isn't she a corker?" Sir James said. "She don't +look a bit English, though, she reminds me of a—oh, well, I'm +not good at history or dates, but some one in the old Florentine +time. She looks as if she could put a dagger into one or give a +fellow a cup of poison, without turning a hair."</p> +<p>"Oh, Jimmy! how horrid," exclaimed Emily. "She does not seem to +me to have a cruel face, she only looks peculiar and mysterious, +and—and—unsmiling. Do you think she loves Tristram? +Perhaps that is the foreign way—to appear so cold."</p> +<p>At that moment Sir James Danvers caught the glance which Zara +gave her fiancé for his toast.</p> +<p>"Je-hoshaphat!" he exclaimed! But he realized that Emily had not +seen, so he stopped abruptly.</p> +<p>"Yes—one can never be sure of things with foreigners," he +said, and he looked down at his plate. That poor devil of a +Tristram was going to have a thorny time in the future, he thought, +and he was to be best man at the wedding; it would be like giving +the old chap over to a tigress! But, by Jove!—such a +beautiful one would be worth being eaten by—he added to +himself.</p> +<p>And during one of Francis Markrute's turnings to his left-hand +neighbor Lord Coltshurst said to Lady Ethelrida:</p> +<p>"I think Tristram's choice peculiarly felicitous, Ethelrida, do +not you? But I fear her ladyship"—and he glanced timidly at +his wife—"will not take this view. She has a most +unreasonable dislike for young women with red hair. 'Ungovernable +temperaments,' she affirms. I trust she won't prejudice your Aunt +Jane."</p> +<p>"Aunt Jane always thinks for herself," said Lady Ethelrida. She +announced no personal opinion about Tristram's fiancé, nor +could Lord Coltshurst extort one from her.</p> +<p>As the dinner went on she felt a growing sense that they were +all on the edge of a volcano.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida never meddled in other people's affairs, but she +loved Tristram as a brother and she felt a little afraid. She could +not see his face, from where she sat—the table was a long one +with oval ends—but she, too, had seen the flash from Zara +which had caused Jimmy Danvers to exclaim: "Jehoshaphat!"</p> +<p>The host soon turned back from duty to pleasure, leaving Lady +Coltshurst to Lord Charles Montfitchet. The conversation turned +upon types.</p> +<p>Types were not things of chance, Francis Markrute affirmed; if +one could look back far enough there was always a reason for +them.</p> +<p>"People are so extremely unthinking about such a number of +interesting things, Lady Ethelrida," he said, "their speculative +faculties seem only to be able to roam into cut and dried channels. +We have had great scientists like Darwin investigating our origin, +and among the Germans there are several who study the atavism of +races, but in general even educated people are perfectly ignorant +upon the subject, and they expect little Tommy Jones and Katie +Robinson, or Jacques Dubois and Marie Blanc, to have the same +instincts as your cousin, Lord Tancred, and you, for instance. +Whatever individual you are dealing with, you should endeavor to +understand his original group. In moments of great excitement when +all acquired control is in abeyance the individual always returns +to the natural action of his group."</p> +<p>"How interesting!" said Lady Ethelrida. "Let us look round the +table and decide to what particular group each one of us +belongs."</p> +<p>"Most of you are from the same group," he said meditatively. +"Eliminating myself and my niece, Sir James Danvers has perhaps had +the most intermixtures."</p> +<p>"Yes," said Lady Ethelrida, and she laughed. "Jimmy's +grandmother was the daughter of a very rich Manchester cotton +spinner; that is what gives him his sound common sense. I am afraid +Tristram and the rest of us except Lord Coltshurst have not had +anything sensible like that in us for hundreds of years, so what +would be your speculation as to the action of our group?"</p> +<p>"That you would have high courage and fine senses, and +highly-strung, nervous force, and chivalry and good taste, and +broad and noble aims in the higher half and that in the lower +portion you would run to the decadence of all those +things—the fine turned to vices—yet even so I would not +look for vulgarity, or bad taste, or cowardice in any of you."</p> +<p>"No," said Lady Ethelrida—"I hope not. Then, according to +your reasoning it is very unjust of us when we say, as perhaps you +have heard it said, that Lady Darrowood is to blame when she is +noisy and assertive and treats Lord Darrowood with bad taste?"</p> +<p>"Certainly—she only does those things when she is excited +and has gone back to her group. When she is under her proper +control she plays the part of an English marchioness very well. It +is the prerogative of a new race to be able to play a part; the +result of the cunning and strength which have been required of the +immediate forbears in order to live at all under unfavorable +conditions. Now, had her father been a Deptford ox-slaughterer +instead of a Chicago pig-sticker she could never have risen to the +role of a marchioness at all. This is no new country; it does not +need nor comprehend bluff, and so produces no such type as Lady +Darrowood."</p> +<p>At this moment Lady Ethelrida again caught sight of Zara. She +was silent at the instant, and a look of superb pride and disdain +was on her face. Almost before she was aware of it Ethelrida had +exclaimed:</p> +<p>"Your niece looks like an empress, a wonderful, Byzantine, Roman +empress!"</p> +<p>Francis Markrute glanced at her, sideways, with his clever eyes; +had she ever heard anything of Zara's parentage, he wondered for a +second, and then he smiled at himself for the thought. Lady +Ethelrida was not likely to have spoken so in that case—she +would not be acting up to her group.</p> +<p>"There are certain reasons why she should," he said. "I cannot +answer for the part of her which comes from her father, Maurice +Grey, a very old English family, I believe, but on her mother's +side she could have the passions of an artist and the pride of a +Caesar: she is a very interesting case."</p> +<p>"May I know something of her?" Ethelrida said, "I do so want +them to be happy. Tristram is one of the simplest and finest +characters I have ever met. He will love her very much, I +fear."</p> +<p>"Why do you say you <i>fear?</i>"</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida reddened a little; a soft, warm flush came into +her delicate face and made it look beautiful: she never spoke of +love—to men.</p> +<p>"Because a great love is a very powerful and sometimes a +terrible thing, if it is not returned in like measure. And, oh, +forgive me for saying so, but the Countess Shulski does not look as +if—she loved Tristram—much."</p> +<p>Francis Markrute did not speak for an instant, then he turned +and gazed straight into her eyes gravely, as he said:</p> +<p>"Believe me, I would not allow your cousin to marry my niece if +I were not truly convinced that it will be for the eventual great +happiness of them both. Will you promise me something, Lady +Ethelrida? Will you help me not to permit any one to interfere +between them for some time, no matter how things may appear? Give +them the chance of settling everything themselves."</p> +<p>Ethelrida looked back at him, with a seriousness equal to his +own as she answered, "I promise." And inwardly the sense of some +unknown undercurrent that might grow into a rushing torrent made +itself felt, stronger than before.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Lady Coltshurst, who could just see Zara's profile all +the time when she put up those irritating, longhandled glasses of +hers, now gave her opinion of the bride-elect to Lord Charles +Montfitchet, her neighbor on the left hand.</p> +<p>"I strongly disapprove of her, Charles. Either her hair is dyed +or her eyes are blackened; that mixture is not natural, and if, +indeed, it should be in this case then I consider it uncanny and +not what one would wish for in the family."</p> +<p>"Oh, I say, my lady!" objected Lord Charles, "I think she is the +most stunning-looking young woman I've seen in a month of +Sundays!"</p> +<p>Lady Coltshurst put up her glasses again and glared:</p> +<p>"I cannot bear your modern slang, Charles, but 'stunning,' used +literally, is quite appropriate. She does stun one; that is exactly +it. I fear poor Tristram with such a type can look forward to very +little happiness, or poor Jane to any likelihood that the Tancred +name will remain free from scandal."</p> +<p>Lord Charles grew exasperated and retaliated.</p> +<p>"By George! A demure mouse can cause scandal to a name, with +probably more certainty than this beauty!"</p> +<p>There was a member of Lady Coltshurst's husband's family whom +she herself, having no children, had brought out, and who had been +perilously near the Divorce Court this very season: and she was a +dull, colorless little thing.</p> +<p>Her ladyship turned the conversation abruptly, with an +annihilating glance. And fortunately, just then Zara rose, and the +ladies filed out of the room: and so this trying dinner was +over.</p> +<a name="C013" id="C013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +<p>Nothing could exceed Zara's dignity, when they reached the +drawing-room above. They at first stood in a group by the fire in +the larger room, and Emily and Mary tried to get a word in and say +something nice in their frank girlish way. They admired their +future sister-in-law so immensely, and if Zara had not thought they +were all acting a part, as she herself was, she would have been +touched at their sweetness. As it was she inwardly froze more and +more, while she answered with politeness; and Lady Ethelrida, +watching quietly for a while, grew further puzzled.</p> +<p>It was certainly a mask this extraordinary and beautiful young +woman was wearing, she felt, and presently, when Lady Coltshurst +who had remained rather silently aloof, only fixing them all in +turn with her long eyeglasses, drew the girls aside to talk to her +by asking for news of their mother's headache, Ethelrida indicated +she and Zara might sit down upon the nearest, stiff, French sofa; +and as she clasped her thin, fine hands together, holding her pale +gray gloves which she did not attempt to put on again, she said +gently:</p> +<p>"I hope we shall all make you feel you are so welcome, +Zara—may I call you Zara? It is such a beautiful name I +think."</p> +<p>The Countess Shulski's strange eyes seemed to become blacker +than ever—a startled, suspicious look grew in them, just such +as had come into the black panther's on a day when Francis Markrute +whistled a softly caressing note outside its bars: what did this +mean?</p> +<p>"I shall be very pleased if you will," she said coldly.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida determined not to be snubbed. She must overcome +this barrier if she could, for Tristram's sake.</p> +<p>"England and our customs must seem so strange to you," she went +on. "But we are not at all disagreeable people when you know us!" +And she smiled encouragingly.</p> +<p>"It is easy to be agreeable when one is happy," Zara said. "And +you all seem very happy here—<i>sans souci</i>. It is +good."</p> +<p>And Ethelrida wondered. "What can make you so unhappy, you +beautiful thing, with Tristram to love you, and youth and health +and riches?"</p> +<p>And Zara thought, "This appears a sweet and most frank lady, but +how can I tell? I know not the English. It is perhaps because she +is so well bred that she is enabled to act so nicely."</p> +<p>"You have not yet seen Wrayth, have you?" Ethelrida went on. "I +am sure you will be interested in it, it is so old."</p> +<p>"Wr—ayth—?" Zara faltered. She had never heard of +it! What was Wrayth?</p> +<p>"Perhaps I do not pronounce it as you are accustomed to think of +it," Ethelrida said kindly. She was absolutely startled at the +other's ignorance. "Tristram's place, I mean. The Guiscards have +owned it ever since the Conqueror gave it to them after the Battle +of Hastings, you know. It is the rarest case of a thing being so +long in one family, even here in England, and the title has only +gone in the male line, too, as yet. But Tristram and Cyril are the +very last. If anything happened to them it would be the end. Oh! we +are all so glad Tristram is going to be married!"</p> +<p>Zara's eyes now suddenly blazed at the unconscious insinuation +in this speech. Any one who has ever watched a caged creature of +the cat tribe and seen how the whole gamut of emotions—sullen +endurance, suspicion, resentment, hate and rage, as well as +contentment and happiness—can appear in its orbs without the +slightest aid from lids or eyebrows, without the smallest +alteration in mouth or chin, will understand how Zara's pools of +ink spoke while their owner remained icily still.</p> +<p>She understood perfectly the meaning of Ethelrida's speech. The +line of the Tancreds should go on through her! But never, never! +That should never be! If they were counting upon that they were +counting in vain. The marriage was never intended to be anything +but an empty ceremony, for mercenary reasons. There must be no +mistake about this. What if Lord Tancred had such ideas, too? And +she quivered suddenly and caught in her breath with the horror of +this thought.</p> +<p>And who was Cyril? Zara had no knowledge of Cyril, any more than +of Wrayth! But she did not ask.</p> +<p>If Francis Markrute had heard this conversation he would have +been very much annoyed with himself, and would have blamed himself +for stupidity. He, of course, should have seen that his niece was +sufficiently well coached, in all the details that she should know, +not to be led into these pitfalls.</p> +<p>Ethelrida felt a sensation of a sort of petrified astonishment. +There is a French word, <i>ahuri</i>, which expresses her emotion +exactly, but there is no English equivalent. Tristram's +fiancé was evidently quite ignorant of the simplest facts +about him, or his family, or his home! Her eyes had blazed at +Ethelrida's last speech, with a look of self-defence and defiance. +And yet Tristram was evidently passionately in love with her. How +could such things be? It was a great mystery. Ethelrida was +thrilled and interested.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute guessed the ladies' lonely moments would be +most difficult to pass, so he had curtailed the enjoyment of the +port and old brandy and cigars to the shortest possible dimensions, +Tristram aiding him. His one desire was to be near his +fiancé.</p> +<p>The overmastering magnetic current which seemed to have drawn +him from the very first moment he had seen her now had augmented +into almost pain. She had been cruelly cold and disdainful at +dinner whenever she had spoken to him, her contempt showing plainly +in her eyes, and it had maddened and excited him; and when the +other men had all drunk the fiancés' health and wished them +happiness he had gulped down the old brandy, and vowed to himself, +"Before a year is out I will make her love me as I love her, so +help me God!"</p> +<p>And then they all had trooped up into the drawing-room just as +Ethelrida was saying,</p> +<p>"The northern property, Morndale, is not half so pretty as +Wrayth—"</p> +<p>But when she saw them enter she rose and ceded her place to +Tristram who gladly sank into the sofa beside his lady.</p> +<p>He was to have no tête-à-tête, however, for +Jimmy Danvers who felt it was his turn to say something to the +coming bride came now, and leant upon the mantelpiece beside +them.</p> +<p>"I am going to be the most severe 'best man' next Wednesday, +Countess," he said. "I shall see that Tristram is at St. George's a +good half-hour before the time, and that he does not drop the ring; +you trust to me!" And he laughed nervously, Zara's face was so +unresponsive.</p> +<p>"Countess Shulski does not know the English ceremony, Jimmy," +Tristram interrupted quickly, "nor what is a 'best man.' Now, if we +were only across the water we would have a rehearsal of the whole +show as we did for Darrowood's wedding."</p> +<p>"That must have been a joke," said Jimmy.</p> +<p>"It was very sensible there; there was such a lot of fuss, and +bridesmaids, and things; but we are going to be quite quiet, aren't +we, Zara? I hate shows; don't you?"</p> +<p>"Immensely," was all she answered.</p> +<p>Then Sir James, who felt thoroughly crushed, after one or two +more fatuous remarks moved away, and Zara arose in her character of +hostess, and spoke to Lady Coltshurst.</p> +<p>Tristram crossed over to the Duke and rapidly began a political +discussion, but while his uncle appeared to notice nothing unusual, +and entered into it with interest, his kind, old heart was wrung +with the pain he saw his favorite nephew was suffering.</p> +<p>"Mr. Markrute, I am troubled," Lady Ethelrida said, as she +walked with the host to look at an exquisite Vigée le Brun +across the room. "Your niece is the most interesting personality I +have ever met; but, underneath, something is making her unhappy, I +am sure. Please, what does it mean? Oh, I know I have promised what +I did at dinner, but are you certain it is all right? And can they +ever be really at peace together?"</p> +<p>Francis Markrute bent over, apparently to point to a +<i>bibelot</i> which lay on a table under the picture, and he said +in a low, vibrating tone.</p> +<p>"I give you my word there is some one, who is dead—whom I +loved—who would come back and curse me now, if I should let +this thing be, with a doubt in my heart as to their eventual +happiness."</p> +<p>And Lady Ethelrida looked full at him and saw that the man's +cold face was deeply moved and softened.</p> +<p>"If that is so then I will speculate no more," she said. +"Listen! I will trust you!"</p> +<p>"You dear, noble English lady," the financier replied, "how +truly I thank you!" And he let some of the emotion which he felt, +gleam from his eyes, while he changed the conversation.</p> +<p>A few minutes after this, Lady Coltshurst announced it was time +to go, and she would take the girls home. And the Duke's carriage +was also waiting, and good nights were said, and the host whispered +to Jimmy Danvers,</p> +<p>"Take Tancred along with you, too, please. My niece is overtired +with the strain of this evening and I want her to go to bed at +once." And to Tristram he said,</p> +<p>"Do not even say good night, like a dear fellow. Don't you see +she is almost ready to faint? Just go quietly with the rest, and +come for her to-morrow morning to take her to your mother."</p> +<p>So they all left as he wished, and he himself went back upstairs +to the big drawing-room and there saw Zara standing like a marble +statue, exactly as they had left her, and he went forward, and, +bending, kissed her hand.</p> +<p>"Most beautifully endured, my queenly niece!" he said; and then +he led her to the door and up to her room. She was perfectly +mute.</p> +<p>But a little while afterwards, as he came to bed himself, he was +startled and chilled by hearing the <i>Chanson Triste</i> being +played in her sitting-room, with a wailing, passionate pathos, as +of a soul in anguish.</p> +<p>And if he could have seen her face he would have seen her great +eyes streaming with tears, while she prayed:</p> +<p>"<i>Maman</i>, ask God to give me courage to get through all of +this, since it is for your Mirko."</p> +<a name="C014" id="C014"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> +<p>Satan was particularly fresh next morning when Tristram took him +for a canter round the Park. He was glad of it: he required +something to work off steam upon. He was in a mood of restless +excitement. During the three weeks of Zara's absence he had allowed +himself to dream into a state of romantic love for her. He had +glossed over in his mind her distant coldness, her frigid adherence +to the bare proposition, so that to return to that state of things +had come to him as a shock.</p> +<p>But, this morning, he knew he was a fool to have expected +anything else. He was probably a great fool altogether, but he +never changed his mind, and was prepared to pay the price of his +folly. After all, there would be plenty of time afterwards to melt +her dislike, so he could afford to wait now. He would not permit +himself to suffer again as he had done last night. Then he came in +and had his bath, and made himself into a very perfect-looking +lover, to present himself to his lady at about half-past twelve +o'clock, to take her to his mother.</p> +<p>Zara was, if anything, whiter than usual when she came into the +library where he was waiting for her alone. The financier had gone +to the City. She had heavy, bluish shadows under her eyes, and he +saw quite plainly that, the night before, she must have been +weeping bitterly.</p> +<p>A great tenderness came over him. What was this sorrow of hers? +Why might he not comfort her? He put out both hands and then, as +she remained stonily unresponsive, he dropped them, and only said +quietly that he hoped she was well, and his motor was waiting +outside, and that his mother, Lady Tancred, would be expecting +them.</p> +<p>"I am ready," said Zara. And they went.</p> +<p>He told her as they flew along, that he had been riding in the +Park that morning, and had looked up at the house and wondered +which was her window; and then he asked her if she liked riding, +and she said she had never tried for ten years—the +opportunity to ride had not been in her life—but she used to +like it when she was a child.</p> +<p>"I must get you a really well-mannered hack," he said joyously. +Here was a subject she had not snubbed him over! "And you will let +me teach you again when we go down to Wrayth, won't you?"</p> +<p>But before she could answer they had arrived at the house in +Queen Street.</p> +<p>Michelham, with a subdued beam on his old face, stood inside the +door with his footmen, and Tristram said gayly,</p> +<p>"Michelham, this is to be her new ladyship; Countess +Shulski"—and he turned to Zara. "Michelham is a very old +friend of mine, Zara. We used to do a bit of poaching together, +when I was a boy and came home from Eton."</p> +<p>Michelham was only a servant and could not know of her +degradation, so Zara allowed herself to smile and looked +wonderfully lovely, as the old man said,</p> +<p>"I am sure I wish your ladyship every happiness, and his +lordship, too; and, if I may say so, with such a gentleman your +ladyship is sure to have it."</p> +<p>And Tristram chaffed him, and they went upstairs.</p> +<p>Lady Tancred had rigidly refrained from questioning her +daughters, on their return from the dinnerparty; she had not even +seen them until the morning, and when they had both burst out with +descriptions of their future sister-in-law's beauty and strangeness +their mother had stopped them.</p> +<p>"Do not tell me anything about her, dear children," she had +said. "I wish to judge for myself without prejudice."</p> +<p>But Lady Coltshurst could not be so easily repressed. She had +called early, on purpose to give her views, with the ostensible +excuse of an inquiry about her sister-in-law's health.</p> +<p>"I am afraid you will be rather unfavorably impressed with +Tristram's choice, when you have seen her, Jane," she announced. "I +confess I was. She treated us all as though <i>she</i> were +conferring the honor, not receiving it, and she is by no means a +type that promises domestic tranquillity for Tristram."</p> +<p>"Really, Julia!" Lady Tancred protested. "I must beg of you to +say no more. I have perfect confidence in my son, and wish to +receive his future wife with every mark of affection."</p> +<p>"Your efforts will be quite wasted, then, Jane," her +sister-in-law snapped. "She is most forbidding, and never once +unbent nor became genial, the whole evening. And besides, for a +lady, she is much too striking looking."</p> +<p>"She cannot help being beautiful," Lady Tancred said. "I am sure +I shall admire her very much, from what the girls tell me. But we +will not discuss her. It was so kind of you to come, and my head is +much better."</p> +<p>"Then I will be off!" Lady Coltshurst sniffed in a slightly +offended tone. Really, relations were so tiresome! They never would +accept a word of advice or warning in the spirit it was given, and +Jane in particular was unpleasantly difficult.</p> +<p>So she got into her electric brougham, and was rolled away, +happily before Tristram and his lady appeared upon the scene; but +the jar of her words still lingered with Lady Tancred, in spite of +all her efforts to forget it.</p> +<p>Zara's heart beat when they got to the door, and she felt +extremely antagonistic. Francis Markrute had left her in entire +ignorance of the English customs, for a reason of his own. He +calculated if he informed her that on Tristram's side it was purely +a love match, she, with her strange temperament, and sense of +honor, would never have accepted it. He knew she would have turned +upon him and said she could be no party to such a cheat. He with +his calm, calculating brain had weighed the pros and cons of the +whole matter: to get her to consent, for her brother's sake in the +beginning, under the impression that it was a dry business +arrangement, equally distasteful personally to both +parties—to leave her with this impression and keep the pair +as much as possible apart, until the actual wedding; and then to +leave her awakening to Tristram—was his plan. A woman would +be impossibly difficult to please, if, in the end, she failed to +respond to such a lover as Tristram! He counted upon what he had +called her moral antennae to make no mistakes. It would not +eventually prejudice matters if the family did find her a little +stiff, as long as she did not actually show her contempt for their +apparent willingness to support the bargain. But her look of scorn, +the night before, when he had shown some uneasiness on this score, +had reassured him. He would leave things alone and let her make her +own discoveries.</p> +<p>So now she entered her future mother-in-law's room, with a +haughty mien and no friendly feelings in her heart. She was well +acquainted with the foreign examples of mother-in-law. They +interfered with everything and had their sons under their thumbs. +They seemed always mercenary, and were the chief agents in +promoting a match, if it were for their own family's advantage. No +doubt Uncle Francis had arranged the whole affair with this Lady +Tancred in the first instance, and she, Zara, would not be required +to keep up the comedy, as with the uncle and cousins. She decided +she would be quite frank with her if the occasion required, and if +she should, by chance, make the same insinuation of the continuance +of the Tancred race as Lady Ethelrida had innocently done, she +would have plainly to say that was not in the transaction. For her +own ends she must be Lord Tancred's wife and let her uncle have +what glory he pleased from the position; if that were his reason, +and as for Lord Trancred's ends, he was to receive money. That was +all: it was quite simple.</p> +<p>The two women were mutually surprised when they looked at one +another. Lady Tancred's first impression was, "It is true she is a +very disturbing type, but how well bred and how beautiful!" And +Zara thought, "It is possible that, after all, I may be wrong. She +looks too proud to have stooped to plan this thing. It may be only +Lord Tancred's doing—men are more horrible than women."</p> +<p>"This is Zara, Mother," Tristram said.</p> +<p>And Lady Tancred held out her hands, and then drew her new +daughter—that was to be—nearer and kissed her.</p> +<p>And over Zara there crept a thrill. She saw that the elder lady +was greatly moved, and no woman had kissed her since her mother's +death. Why, if it were all a bargain, should she tenderly kiss +her?</p> +<p>"I am so glad to welcome you, dear," Lady Tancred said, +determining to be very gracious. "I am almost pleased not to have +been able to go last night. Now I can have you all to myself for +this, our first little meeting."</p> +<p>And they sat down on a sofa, and Zara asked about her head; and +Lady Tancred told her the pain was almost gone, and this broke the +ice and started a conversation.</p> +<p>"I want you to tell me of yourself," Lady Tancred said. "Do you +think you will like this old England of ours, with its damp and its +gloom in the autumn, and its beautiful fresh spring? I want you +to—and to love your future home."</p> +<p>"Everything is very strange to me, but I will try," Zara +answered.</p> +<p>"Tristram has been making great arrangements to please you at +Wrayth," Lady Tancred went on. "But, of course, he has told you all +about it."</p> +<p>"I have had to be away all the time," Zara felt she had better +say—and Tristram interrupted.</p> +<p>"They are all to be surprises, Mother; everything is to be new +to Zara, from beginning to end. You must not tell her anything of +it."</p> +<p>Then Lady Tancred spoke of gardens. She hoped Zara liked +gardens; she herself was a great gardener, and had taken much pride +in her herbaceous borders and her roses at Wrayth.</p> +<p>And when they had got to this stage of the conversation Tristram +felt he could safely leave them to one another, so, saying he +wanted to talk to his sisters, he went out of the room.</p> +<p>"It will be such happiness to think of your living in the old +home," the proud lady said. "It was a great grief to us all when we +had to shut it up, two years ago; but you will, indeed, adorn it +for its reopening."</p> +<p>Zara did not know what to reply. She vaguely understood that one +might love a home, though she had never had one but the gloomy +castle near Prague; and that made her sigh when she thought of +it.</p> +<p>But a garden she knew she should love. And Mirko was so fond of +flowers. Oh! if they would let her have a beautiful country home in +peace, and Mirko to come sometimes, and play there, and chase +butterflies, with his excited, poor little face, she would indeed +be grateful to them. Her thoughts went on in a dream of this, while +Lady Tancred talked of many things, and she answered, "Yes," and +"No," with gentle respect. Her future mother-in-law's great dignity +pleased her sense of the fitness of things; she so disliked gush of +any sort herself, and she felt now that she knew where she was and +there need be no explanations. The family, one and all, evidently +intended to play the same part, and she would, too. When the +awakening came it would be between herself and Tristram. Yes, she +must think of him now as "Tristram!"</p> +<p>Her thoughts had wandered again when she heard Lady Tancred's +voice, saying,</p> +<p>"I wanted to give you this myself," and she drew a small case +from a table near and opened it, and there lay a very beautiful +diamond ring. "It is my own little personal present to you, my new, +dear daughter. Will you wear it sometimes, Zara, in remembrance of +this day and in remembrance that I give into your hands the +happiness of my son, who is dearer to me than any one on +earth?"</p> +<p>And the two proud pairs of eyes met, and Zara could not answer, +and there was a strange silence between them for a second. And then +Tristram came back into the room, which created a diversion, and +she was enabled to say some ordinary conventional things about the +beauty of the stones, and express her thanks for the gift. Only, in +her heart, she determined never to wear it. It would burn her hand, +she thought, and she could never be a hypocrite.</p> +<p>Luncheon was then announced, and they went into the +dining-room.</p> +<p>Here she saw Tristram in a new light, with only "Young Billy" +and Jimmy Danvers who had dropped in, and his mother and +sisters.</p> +<p>He was gay as a schoolboy, telling Billy who had not spoken a +word to Zara the night before that now he should sit beside her, +and that he was at liberty to make love to his new cousin! And +Billy, aged nineteen—a perfectly stolid and amiable +youth—proceeded to start a laborious conversation, while the +rest of the table chaffed about things which were Greek to Zara, +but she was grateful not to have to talk, and so passed off the +difficulties of the situation.</p> +<p>And the moment the meal was over Tristram took her back to Park +Lane. He, too, was thankful the affair had been got through; he +hardly spoke as they went along, and in silence followed her into +the house and into the library, and there waited for her +commands.</p> +<p>Whenever they were alone the disguises of the part fell from +Zara, and she resumed the icy mien.</p> +<p>"Good-bye," she said coldly. "I am going into the country +to-morrow for two or three days. I shall not see you until Monday. +Have you anything more it is necessary to say?"</p> +<p>"You are going into the country!" Tristram exclaimed, aghast. +"But I will not—" and then he paused, for her eyes had +flashed ominously. "I mean," he went on, "must you go? So soon +before our wedding?"</p> +<p>She drew herself up and spoke in a scathing voice.</p> +<p>"Why must I repeat again what I said when you gave me your +ring?—I do not wish to see or speak with you. You will have +all you bargained for. Can you not leave my company out of the +question?"</p> +<p>The Tancred stern, obstinate spirit was thoroughly roused. He +walked up and down the room rapidly for a moment, fuming with hurt +rage. Then reason told him to wait. He had no intention of breaking +off the match now, no matter what she should do; and this was +Thursday; there were only five more days to get through, and when +once she should be his wife—and then he looked at her, as she +stood in her dark, perfect dress, with the great, sable wrap +slipping from her shoulders and making a regal background, and her +beauty fired his senses and made his eyes swim; and he bent forward +and took her hand.</p> +<p>"Very well, you beautiful, unkind thing," he said. "But if you +do not want to marry me you had better say so at once, and I will +release you from your promise. Because when the moment comes +afterwards for our crossing of swords there will be no question as +to who is to be master—I tell you that now."</p> +<p>And Zara dragged her hand from him, and, with the black +panther's glance in her eyes, she turned to the window and stood +looking out.</p> +<p>Then after a second she said in a strangled voice,</p> +<p>"I wish that the marriage shall take place.—And now, +please go."</p> +<p>And without further words he went.</p> +<a name="C015" id="C015"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> +<p>On her way to Bournemouth next day, to see Mirko, Zara met Mimo +in the British Museum. They walked along the galleries on the +ground floor until they found a bench near the mausoleum of +Halicarnassus. To look at it gave them both infinite pleasure; they +knew so well the masterpieces of all the old Greeks. Mimo, it +seemed, had been down to see his son ten days before. They had met +secretly. Mirko had stolen out, and with the cunning of his little +brain fully on the alert he had dodged Mrs. Morley in the garden, +and had fled to the near pine woods with his violin; and there had +met his father and had a blissful time. He was certainly better, +Mimo said, a little fatter and with much less cough, and he seemed +fairly happy and quite resigned. The Morleys were so kind and good, +but, poor souls! it was not their fault if they could not +understand! It was not given to every one to have the understanding +of his Chérisette and his own papa, Mirko had said, but so +soon he would be well; then he would be able to come back to them, +and in the meantime he was going to learn lessons, learn the +tiresome things that his Chérisette alone knew how to teach +him with comprehension. The new tutor who came each day from the +town was of a reasonableness, but no wit! "Body of Bacchus!" the +father said, "the poor child had not been able to make the tutor +laugh once—in a week—when we met."</p> +<p>And then after a while it seemed that there was some slight care +upon Mimo's mind. It had rained, it appeared, before the end of +their stolen meeting. It had rained all the morning and then had +cleared up gloriously fine, and they had sat down on a bank under +the trees, and Mirko had played divinely all sorts of gay airs. But +when he got up he had shivered a little, and Mimo could see that +his clothes were wet, and then the rain had come on immediately +again, and he had made him run back. He feared he must have got +thoroughly soaked, and he had had nothing since but one postcard, +which said that Mirko had been in bed, though he was now much +better and longing—longing to see his Chérisette!</p> +<p>"Oh, Mimo! how could you let him sit on the grass!" Zara +exclaimed reproachfully, when he got thus far. "And why was I not +told? It may have made him seriously ill. Oh, the poor angel! And I +must stay so short a while—and then this wedding—" She +stopped abruptly and her eyes became black. For she knew there was +no asking for respite. To obtain her brother's possible life she +must be ready and resigned, at the altar at St. George's, Hanover +Square, on Wednesday the 25th of October, at 2 o'clock, and, once +made a wife, she must go with Lord Tancred to the Lord Warren Hotel +at Dover, to spend the night.</p> +<p>She rose with a convulsive quiver, and looked with blank, +sightless eyes at an Amazon in the frieze hard by. The +Amazon—she saw, when vision came back to her—was +hurling a spear at a splendid young Greek. That is how she felt she +would like to behave to her future husband. Men and their greed of +money, and their revolting passions!—and her poor little +Mirko ill, perhaps, from his father's carelessness—How could +she leave him? And if she did not his welfare would be at an end +and life an abyss.</p> +<p>There was no use scolding Mimo; she knew of old no one was +sorrier than he for his mistakes, for which those he loved best +always had to suffer. It had taken the heart out of him, the +anxious thought, he said, but, knowing that Chérisette must +be so busy arranging to get married, he had not troubled her, since +she could do nothing until her return to England, and then he knew +she would arrange to go to Mirko at once, in any case.</p> +<p>He, Mimo, had been too depressed to work, and the picture of the +London fog was not much further advanced, and he feared it would +not be ready for her wedding gift.</p> +<p>"Oh, never mind!" said Zara. "I know you will think of me +kindly, and I shall like that as well as any present."</p> +<p>And then she drove to the Waterloo station alone, a gnawing +anxiety in her heart. And all the journey to Bournemouth her +spirits sank lower and lower until, when she got there, it seemed +as if the old cab-horse were a cow in its slowness, to get to the +doctor's trim house.</p> +<p>"Yes," Mrs. Morley said as soon as she arrived, "your little +brother has had a very sharp attack."</p> +<p>He escaped from the garden about ten days before, she explained, +and was gone at least two hours, and then returned wet through, and +was a little light-headed that night, and had talked of "Maman and +the angels," and "Papa and Chérisette," but they could +obtain no information from him as to why he went, nor whom he had +seen. He had so rapidly recovered that the doctor had not thought +it necessary to let any one know, and she, Mrs. +Morley—guessing how busy one must be ordering a +trousseau—when there was no danger had refrained from sending +a letter, to be forwarded from the given address.</p> +<p>Here Zara's eyes had flashed, and she had said sternly,</p> +<p>"The trousseau was not of the slightest consequence in +comparison to my brother's health."</p> +<p>Mirko was upstairs in his pretty bedroom, playing with a puzzle +and the nurse; he had not been told of his sister's proposed +coming, but some sixth sense seemed to inform him it was she, when +her footfall sounded on the lower stairs, for they heard an excited +voice shouting:</p> +<p>"I tell you I will go—I will go to her, my +Chérisette!" And Zara hastened the last part, to avoid his +rushing, as she feared he would do, out of his warm room into the +cold passage.</p> +<p>The passionate joy he showed at the sight of her made a +tightness round her heart. He did not look ill, only, in some +unaccountable way, he seemed to have grown smaller. There was, too, +even an extra pink flush in his cheeks.</p> +<p>He must sit on her lap and touch all her pretty things. She had +put on her uncle's big pearl earrings and one string of big pearls, +on purpose to show him; he so loved what was beautiful and +refined.</p> +<p>"Thou art like a queen, Chérisette," he told her. "Much +more beautiful than when we had our tea party, and I wore Papa's +paper cap. And everything new! The uncle, then, is very rich," he +went on, while he stroked the velvet on her dress.</p> +<p>And she kissed and soothed him to sleep in her arms, when he was +ready for his bed. It was getting quite late, and she sang a soft, +Slavonic cradle song, in a low cooing voice, and, every now and +then, before the poor little fellow sank entirely to rest, he would +open his beautiful, pathetic eyes, and they would swim with love +and happiness, while he murmured, "Adored Chérisette!"</p> +<p>The next day—Saturday—she never left him. They +played games together, and puzzles. The nurse was kind, but of a +thickness of understanding, like all the rest, he said, and, with +his sister there, he could dispense with her services for the +moment. He wished, when it grew dusk and they were to have their +tea, to play his violin to only her, in the firelight; and there he +drew forth divine sounds for more than an hour, tearing at Zara's +heart-strings with the exquisite notes until her eyes grew wet. And +at last he began something that she did not know, and the weird, +little figure moved as in a dance in the firelight, while he played +this new air as one inspired, and then stopped suddenly with a +crash of joyous chords.</p> +<p>"It is <i>Maman</i> who has taught me that!" he whispered. "When +I was ill she came often and sang it to me, and when they would +give me back my violin I found it at once, and now I am so happy. +It talks of the butterflies in the woods, which are where she +lives, and there is a little white one which flies up beside her +with her radiant blue wings. And she has promised me that the music +will take me to her, quite soon. Oh, Chérisette!"</p> +<p>"No, no," said Zara faintly. "I cannot spare you, darling. I +shall have a beautiful garden of my own next summer, and you must +come and stay with me, Mirko mio, and chase real butterflies with a +golden net."</p> +<p>And this thought enchanted the child. He must hear all about his +sister's garden. By chance there was an old number of <i>Country +Life</i> lying on the table, and, the nurse bringing in the tea at +the moment, they turned on the electric light and looked at the +pictures; and by the strangest coincidence, when they came to the +weekly series of those beautiful houses she read at the beginning +of the article, "Wrayth—the property of Lord Tancred of +Wrayth."</p> +<p>"See, Mirko," she said in a half voice; "our garden will look +exactly like this."</p> +<p>And the child examined every picture with intense interest. One +of a statue of Pan and his pipe, making the center of a star in the +Italian parterre, pleased him most.</p> +<p>"For see, Chérisette, he, too, is not shaped as other +people are," he whispered with delight. "Look! And he plays music, +also! When you walk there, and I am with <i>Maman</i>, you must +remember that this is me!"</p> +<p>It was with deep grief and foreboding that Zara left him, on +Monday morning, in spite of the doctor's assurance that he was +indeed on the turn to get quite well—well of this sharp +attack—whether he would ever grow to be a man was always a +doubt but there was no present anxiety—she could be happy on +that score. And with this she was obliged to rest content.</p> +<p>But all the way back in the train she saw the picture of the +Italian parterre at Wrayth with the statue of Pan, in the center of +the star, playing his pipes.</p> +<a name="C016" id="C016"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> +<p>The second wedding day of Zara Shulski dawned with a glorious +sun. One of those autumn mornings that seem like a return to the +spring—so fresh and pure the air. She had not seen her +bridegroom since she got back from Bournemouth, nor any of the +family; she had said to her uncle that she could not bear it.</p> +<p>"I am at the end of my forces, Uncle Francis. You are so +clever—you can invent some good excuse. If I must see Lord +Tancred I cannot answer for what I may do."</p> +<p>And the financier had realized that this was the truth. The +strings of her soul were strained to breaking point, and he let her +pass the whole day of Tuesday in peace.</p> +<p>She signed numbers of legal documents concerning her marriage +settlements, without the slightest interest; and then her uncle +handed her one which he said she was to read with care. It set +forth in the wearisome language of the law the provision for +Mirko's life, "in consideration of a certain agreement" come to +between her uncle and herself. But should the boy Mirko return at +any time to the man Sykypri, his father, or should she, Zara, from +the moneys settled upon herself give sums to this man Sykypri the +transaction between herself and her uncle regarding the boy's +fortune would be null and void. This was the document's sense.</p> +<p>Zara read it over but the legal terms were difficult for her. +"If it means exactly what we agreed upon, Uncle Francis, I will +sign it," she said, "that is—that Mirko shall be cared for +and have plenty of money for life."</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute replied,</p> +<p>"That is what is meant."</p> +<p>And then she had gone to her room, and spent the night before +her wedding alone. She had steadily read one of her favorite books: +she could not permit herself for a moment to think.</p> +<p>There was a man going to be hanged on the morrow, she had seen +in the papers; and she wondered if, this last night in his cell, +the condemned wretch was numb, or was he feeling at bay, like +herself?</p> +<p>Then, at last she opened the window and glanced out on the moon. +It was there above her, over the Park, so she turned out the +lights, and, putting her furs around her, she sat for a while and +gazed above the treetops, while she repeated her prayers.</p> +<p>And Mimo saw her, as he stood in the shadow on the pavement at +the other side of Park Lane. He had come there in his sentimental +way, to give her his blessing, and had been standing looking up for +some time. It seemed to him a good omen for dear +Chérisette's happiness, that she should have opened the +window and looked out on the night.</p> +<p>It was quite early—only about half-past ten—and +Tristram, after a banquet with his bachelor friends on the Monday +night, had devoted this, his last evening, to his mother, and had +dined quietly with her alone.</p> +<p>He felt extremely moved, and excited, too, when he left. She had +talked to him so tenderly—the proud mother who so seldom +unbent. How marriage was a beautiful but serious thing, and he must +love and try to understand his wife—and then she spoke of her +own great love for him, and her pride in their noble name and +descent.</p> +<p>"And I will pray to God that you have strong, beautiful +children, Tristram, so that there may in years to come be no lack +of the Tancreds of Wrayth."</p> +<p>When he got outside in the street the moonlight flooded the +road, so he sent his motor away and decided to walk. He wanted +breathing space, he wanted to think, and he turned down into Curzon +Street and from, thence across Great Stanhope Street and into the +Park.</p> +<p>And to-morrow night, at this time, the beautiful Zara would be +his! and they would be dining alone together at Dover, and surely +she would not be so icily cold; surely—surely he could get +her to melt.</p> +<p>And then further visions came to him, and he walked very fast; +and presently he found himself opposite his lady's house.</p> +<p>An impulse just to see her window overcame him, and he crossed +the road and went out of the gate. And there on the pavement he saw +Mimo, also with face turned, gazing up.</p> +<p>And in a flash he thought he recognized that this was the man he +had seen that day in Whitehall, when he was in his motor car, going +very fast.</p> +<p>A mad rage of jealousy and suspicion rushed through him. Every +devil whispered, "Here is a plot. You know nothing of the woman +whom to-morrow you are blindly going to make your wife. Who is this +man? What is his connection with her? A lover's—of course. No +one but a lover would gaze up at a window on a moonlight +night."</p> +<p>And it was at this moment that Zara opened the window and, for a +second, both men saw her slender, rounded figure standing out +sharply against the ground of the room. Then she turned, and put +out the light.</p> +<p>A murderous passion of rage filled Lord Tancred's heart.</p> +<p>He looked at Mimo and saw that the man's lips were muttering a +prayer, and that he had drawn a little silver crucifix from his +coat pocket, and, also, that he was unconscious of any +surroundings, for his face was rapt; and he stepped close to him +and heard him murmur, in his well-pronounced English,</p> +<p>"Mary, Mother of God, pray for her, and bring her +happiness!"</p> +<p>And his common sense reassured him somewhat. If the man were a +lover, he could not pray so, on this, the night before her wedding +to another. It was not in human, male nature, he felt, to do such +an unselfish thing as that.</p> +<p>Then Mimo raised his soft felt hat in his rather dramatic way to +the window, and walked up the street.</p> +<p>And Tristram, a prey to all sorts of conflicting emotions, went +back into the Park.</p> +<hr /> +<p>It seemed to Francis Markrute that more than half the nobility +of England had assembled in St. George's, Hanover Square, next day, +as, with the beautiful bride on his arm, he walked up the +church.</p> +<p>She wore a gown of dead white velvet, and her face looked the +same shade, under the shadow of a wonderful picture creation, of +black velvet and feathers, in the way of a hat.</p> +<p>The only jewels she had on were the magnificent pearls which +were her uncle's gift. There was no color about her except in her +red burnished hair and her red, curved mouth.</p> +<p>And the whole company thrilled as she came up the aisle. She +looked like the Princess in a fairy tale—but just come to +life.</p> +<p>The organ stopped playing, and now, as in a dream she knew that +she was kneeling beside Tristram and that the Bishop had joined +their hands.</p> +<p>She repeated the vows mechanically, in a low, quiet voice. All +the sense of it that came to her brain was Tristram's firm +utterance, "I, Tristram Lorrimer Guiscard, take thee, Zara Elinka, +to be my wedded wife."</p> +<p>And so, at last, the ceremony was over, and Lord and Lady +Tancred walked into the vestry to sign their names. And as Zara +slipped her hand from the arm of her newly-made husband he bent +down his tall head and kissed her lips; and, fortunately, the train +of coming relations and friends were behind them, as yet, and the +Bishops were looking elsewhere, or they would have been startled to +observe the bride shiver, and to have seen the expression of +passionate resentment which crept into her face. But the bridegroom +saw it, and it stabbed his heart.</p> +<p>Then it seemed that a number of people kissed her: his mother +and sisters, and Lady Ethelrida, and, lastly, the Duke.</p> +<p>"I am claiming my privilege as an old man," this latter said +gayly, "and I welcome you to all our hearts, my beautiful +niece."</p> +<p>And Zara had answered, but had hardly been able to give even a +mechanical smile.</p> +<p>And when they got into the smart, new motor, after passing +through the admiring crowds, she had shrunk into her corner, and +half closed her eyes. And Tristram, intensely moved and strained +with the excitement of it all, had not known what to think.</p> +<p>But pride made his bride play her part when they reached her +uncle's house.</p> +<p>She stood with her bridegroom, and bowed graciously to the +countless, congratulatory friends of his, who passed and shook +hands. And, when soon after they had entered Lady Tancred arrived +with Cyril and the girls, she had even smiled sweetly for one +moment, when that gallant youth had stood on tiptoe and given her a +hearty kiss! He was very small for his age, and full of superb +self-possession.</p> +<p>"I think you are a stunner, Zara," he said. "Two of our fellows, +cousins of mine, who were in church with me, congratulated me +awfully. And now I hope you're soon going to cut the cake?"</p> +<p>And Tristram wondered why her mutinous mouth had quivered and +her eyes become full of mist. She was thinking of her own little +brother, far away, who did not even know that there would be any +cake.</p> +<p>And so, eventually, they had passed through the shower of rice +and slippers and were at last alone in the motorcar again; and once +more she shrank into her corner and did not speak, and he waited +patiently until they should be in the train.</p> +<p>But once there, in the reserved saloon, when the obsequious +guard had finally shut the door from waving friends and last hand +shakes, and they slowly steamed out of the station, he came over +and sat down beside her and tenderly took her little gray-gloved +hand.</p> +<p>But she drew it away from him, and moved further off, before he +could even speak.</p> +<p>"Zara!" he said pleadingly.</p> +<p>Then she looked intensely fierce.</p> +<p>"Can you not let me be quiet for a moment?" she hissed. "I am +tired out."</p> +<p>And he saw that she was trembling, and, though he was very much +in love and maddeningly exasperated with everything, he let her +rest, and even settled her cushion for her, silently, and took a +paper and sat in an armchair near, and pretended to read.</p> +<p>And Zara stared out of the window, her heart beating in her +throat. For she knew this was only a delay because, as her uncle +had once said, the English nobility as a race were great +gentlemen—and this one in particular—and because of +that he would not be likely to make a scene in the train; but they +would arrive at the hotel presently, and there was dinner to be got +through, alone with him, and then—the afterwards. And as she +thought of this her very lips grew white.</p> +<p>The hideous, hideous hatefulness of men! Visions of moments of +her first wedding journey with Ladislaus came back to her. He had +not shown her any consideration for five minutes in his life.</p> +<p>Everything in her nature was up in arms. She could not be just; +with her belief in his baseness it seemed to her that here was this +man—her husband—whom she had seen but four times in her +life, and he was not content with the honest bargain which he +perfectly understood; not content with her fortune and her +willingness to adorn his house, but he must perforce allow his +revolting senses to be aroused, he must desire to caress her, just +because she was a woman—and fair—and the law would give +him the right because she was his wife.</p> +<p>But she would not submit to it! She would find some way out.</p> +<p>As yet she had not even noticed Tristram's charm, that something +which drew all other women to him but had not yet appealed to her. +She saw on the rare occasions in which she had looked at him that +he was very handsome—but so had been Ladislaus, and so was +Mimo; and all men were selfish or brutes.</p> +<p>She was half English herself, of course, and that part of +her—the calm, common sense of the nation, would assert itself +presently; but for the time, everything was too strained through +her resentment at fate.</p> +<p>And Tristram watched her from behind his <i>Evening +Standard</i>, and was unpleasantly thrilled with the passionate +hate and resentment and all the varying; storms of feeling which +convulsed her beautiful face.</p> +<p>He was extremely sensitive, in spite of his daring +<i>insouciance</i> and his pride. It would be perfectly impossible +to even address her again while she was in this state.</p> +<p>And so this splendid young bride and bridegroom, not +understanding each other in the least, sat silent and constrained, +when they should have been in each other's arms; and presently, +still in the same moods, they came to Dover, and so to the Lord +Warden Hotel.</p> +<p>Here the valet and maid had already arrived, and the +sitting-room was full of flowers, and everything was ready for +dinner and the night.</p> +<p>"I suppose we dine at eight?" said Zara haughtily, and, hardly +waiting for an answer, she went into the room beyond and shut the +door.</p> +<p>Here she rang for her maid and asked her to remove her hat.</p> +<p>"A hateful, heavy thing," she said, "and there is a whole hour +fortunately, before dinner, Henriette, and I want a lovely bath; +and then you can brush my hair, and it will be a rest."</p> +<p>The French maid, full of sympathy and excitement, wondered, +while she turned on the taps, how <i>Miladi</i> should look so +disdainful and calm.</p> +<p>"<i>Mon Dieu!</i> if <i>Milor</i> was my Raoul! I would be far +otherwise," she thought to herself, as she poured in the scent.</p> +<p>At a quarter to the hour of dinner she was still silently +brushing her mistress's long, splendid, red hair, while Zara stared +into the glass in front of her, with sightless eyes and face set. +She was back in Bournemouth, and listening to "<i>Maman's</i> air." +It haunted her and rang in her head; and yet, underneath, a wild +excitement coursed in her blood.</p> +<p>A knock then came to the door, and when Henrietta answered it +Tristram passed her by and stepped into his lady's room.</p> +<p>Zara turned round like a startled fawn, and then her expression +changed to one of anger and hauteur.</p> +<p>He was already dressed for dinner, and held a great bunch of +gardenias in his hand. He stopped abruptly when he caught sight of +the exquisite picture she made, and he drew in his breath. He had +not known hair could be so long; he had not realized she was so +beautiful. And she was his wife!</p> +<p>"Darling!" he gasped, oblivious of even the maid, who had the +discretion to retire quickly to the bathroom beyond. "Darling, how +beautiful you are! You drive me perfectly mad."</p> +<p>Zara held on to the dressing-table and almost crouched, like a +panther ready to spring.</p> +<p>"How dare you come into my room like this! Go!" she said.</p> +<p>It was as if she had struck him. He drew back, and flung the +flowers down into the grate.</p> +<p>"I only came to tell you dinner was nearly ready," he said +haughtily, "and to bring you those. But I will await you in the +sitting-room, when you are dressed."</p> +<p>And he turned round and left through the door by which he had +come.</p> +<p>And Zara called her maid rather sharply, and had her hair +plaited and done, and got quickly into her dress. And when she was +ready she went slowly into the sitting-room.</p> +<p>She found Tristram leaning upon the mantelpiece, glaring moodily +into the flames. He had stood thus for ten minutes, coming to a +decision in his mind.</p> +<p>He had been very angry just now, and he thought was justified; +but he knew he was passionately in love, as he had never dreamed +nor imagined he could be in the whole of his life.</p> +<p>Should he tell her at once about it? and implore her not to be +so cold and hard? But no, that would be degrading. After all, he +had already shown her a proof of the most reckless devotion, in +asking to marry her, after having seen her only once! And she, what +had her reasons been? They were forcible enough or she would not +have consented to her uncle's wishes before they had even ever met; +and he recalled, when he had asked her only on Thursday last if she +would wish to be released, that she had said firmly that she wished +the marriage to take place. Surely she must know that no man with +any spirit would put up with such treatment as this—to be +spoken to as though he had been an impudent stranger bursting into +her room!</p> +<p>Then his tempestuous thoughts went back to Mimo, that foreign +man whom he had seen under her window. What if, after all, he was +her lover and that accounted for the reason she resented +his—Tristram's—desire to caress?</p> +<p>And all the proud, obstinate fighting blood of the Guiscards got +up in him. He would not be made a cat's-paw. If she exasperated him +further he would forget about being a gentleman, and act as a +savage man, and seize her in his arms and punish her for her +haughtiness!</p> +<p>So it was his blue eyes which were blazing with resentment this +time, and not her pools of ink.</p> +<p>Thus they sat down to dinner in silence—much to the +waiters' surprise and disgust.</p> +<p>Zara felt almost glad her husband looked angry. He would then of +his own accord leave her in peace.</p> +<p>As the soup and fish came and went they exchanged no word, and +then that breeding that they both had made them realize the +situation was impossible, and they said some ordinary things while +the waiters were in the room.</p> +<p>The table was a small round one with the two places set at right +angles, and very close.</p> +<p>It was the first occasion upon which Zara had ever been so near +Tristram, and every time she looked up she was obliged to see his +face. She could not help owning to herself, that he was +extraordinarily distinguished looking, and that there were strong, +noble lines in his whole shape.</p> +<p>At the end of their repast, for different reasons, neither of +the two felt calm. Tristram's anger had died down, likewise his +suspicions; after a moment's thought the sane point of view always +presented itself to his brain. No, whatever her reasons were for +her disdain of him, having another lover was not the cause. And +then he grew intoxicated again with her beauty and grace.</p> +<p>She was a terrible temptation to him; she would have been so to +any normal man—and they were dining together—and she +was his very own!</p> +<p>The waiters, with their cough of warning at the door, brought +coffee and liqueurs, and then bodily removed the dinner table, and +shut the doors.</p> +<p>And now Zara knew she was practically alone with her lord for +the night.</p> +<p>He walked about the room—he did not drink any coffee, nor +even a Chartreuse—and she stood perfectly still. Then he came +back to her, and suddenly clasped her in his arms, and passionately +kissed her mouth.</p> +<p>"Zara!" he murmured hoarsely. "Good God! do you think I am a +stone! I tell you I love you—madly. Are you not going to be +kind to me and really be my wife?"</p> +<p>Then he saw a look in her eyes that turned him to ice.</p> +<p>"Animal!" she hissed, and hit him across the face.</p> +<p>And as he let her fall from him she drew back panting, and +deadly white; while he, mad with rage at the blow, stood with +flaming blue eyes, and teeth clenched.</p> +<p>"Animal!" again she hissed, and then her words poured forth in a +torrent of hate. "Is it not enough that you were willing to sell +yourself for my uncle's money—that you were willing to take +as a bargain—a woman whom you had never even seen, without +letting your revolting passions exhibit themselves like this? And +you dare to tell me you love me! What do such as you know of love? +Love is a true and a pure and a beautiful thing, not to be sullied +like this. It must come from devotion and knowledge. What sort of a +vile passion is it which makes a man feel as you do for me? Only +that I am a woman. Love! It is no love—it is a question of +sense. Any other would do, provided she were as fair. Remember, my +lord! I am not your mistress, and I will not stand any of this! +Leave me. I hate you, animal that you are!"</p> +<p>He stiffened and grew rigid with every word that she said, and +when she had finished he was as deadly pale as she herself.</p> +<p>"Say not one syllable more to me, Zara!" he commanded. "You will +have no cause to reprove me for loving you again. And remember +this: things shall be as you wish between us. We will each live our +lives and play the game. But before I ask you to be my wife again +you can go down upon your knees. Do you hear me? Good night."</p> +<p>And without a word further he strode from the room.</p> +<a name="C017" id="C017"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> +<p>The moon was shining brightly and a fresh breeze had risen when +Tristram left the hotel and walked rapidly towards the pier. He was +mad with rage and indignation from his bride's cruel taunts. The +knowledge of their injustice did not comfort him, and, though he +knew he was innocent of any desire to have made a bargain, and had +taken her simply for her beautiful self, still, the accusation hurt +and angered his pride. How dared she! How dared her uncle have +allowed her to think such things! A Tancred to stoop so low! He +clenched his hands and his whole frame shook.</p> +<p>And then as he gazed down into the moonlit waves her last words +came back with a fresh lashing sting. "Leave me, I hate you, animal +that you are!" An animal, forsooth! And this is how she had looked +at his love!</p> +<p>And then a cold feeling came over him—he was so very +just—and he questioned himself. Was it true? Had it, indeed, +been only that? Had he, indeed, been unbalanced and intoxicated +merely from the desire of her exquisite body? Had there been +nothing beyond? Were men really brutes?—And here he walked up +and down very fast. What did it all mean? What did life mean? What +was the truth of this thing, called love?</p> +<p>And so he strode for hours, reasoning things out. But he knew +that for his nature there could be no love without desire—and +no desire without love. And then his conversation with Francis +Markrute came back to him, the day they had lunched in the city, +when the financier had given his views about women.</p> +<p>Yes, they were right, those views. A woman, to be dangerous, +must appeal to both the body and brain of a man. If his feeling for +Zara were only for the body then it was true that it was only +lust.</p> +<p>But it was <i>not</i> true; and he thought of all his dreams of +her at Wrayth, of the pictures he had drawn of their future life +together, of the tenderness with which he had longed for this +night.</p> +<p>And then his anger died down and was replaced by a passionate +grief.</p> +<p>His dream lay in ruins, and there was nothing to look forward to +but a blank, soulless life. It did not seem to him then, in the +cold moonlight, that things could ever come right. He could not for +his pride's sake condescend to any further explanation with her. He +would not stoop to defend himself; she must think what she chose, +until she should of herself find out the truth.</p> +<p>And then his level mind turned and tried to see her point of +view. He must not be unjust. And he realized that if she thought +such base things of him she had been more or less right. But, even +so, there was some mystery beyond all this—some cruel and +oppressing dark shadow in her life.</p> +<p>And his thoughts went back to the night they had first met, and +he remembered then that her eyes had been full of +hate—resentment and hate—as though he, personally, had +caused her some injury.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute was so very clever: what plan had he had in his +head? By what scorpion whip had he perhaps forced her to consent to +his wishes and become his—Tristram's—wife? And once +more the disturbing remembrance of Mimo returned, so that, when at +last dawn came and he went back to the hotel, tired out in body and +soul, it would not let him rest in his bed. His bed—in the +next room his wife!</p> +<p>But one clear decision he had come to. He would treat her with +cold courtesy, and they would play the game. To part now, in a +dramatic manner, the next day after the wedding, was not in his +sense of the fitness of things, was not what was suitable or seemly +for the Tancred name.</p> +<p>And when he had left her Zara had stood quite still. Some not +understood astonishment caused all her passion to die down. For all +the pitifully cruel experiences of her life she was still very +young—young and ignorant of any but the vilest of men. +Hitherto she had felt when they were kind that it was for some +gain, and if a woman relented a second she would be sure to be +trapped. For her self-respect and her soul's sake she must go armed +at all points. And after her hurling at him all her scorn, instead +of her husband turning round and perhaps beating her (as, +certainly, Ladislaus would have done), he had answered with dignity +and gone out of the room.</p> +<p>And she remembered her father's cold mien. Perhaps there was +something else in the English—some other finer quality which +she did not yet understand.</p> +<p>The poor, beautiful creature was like some ill-treated animal +ready to bite to defend itself at the sight of a man.</p> +<p>It spoke highly for the strength and nobility of her character +that, whereas another and weaker woman would have become degraded +by the sorrows of such a life, she had remained pure as the snow, +and as cold. Her strong will and her pride had kept completely in +check every voluptuous instinct which must certainly have always +lain dormant in her. Every emotion towards man was frozen to +ice.</p> +<p>There are some complete natures which only respond to the +highest touch; when the body and soul are evenly balanced they know +all that is divine of human love. It is those warped in either of +the component parts who bring sorrow—and lust.</p> +<p>The perfect woman gives willingly of herself, body and soul, to +the <i>one man</i> she loves.</p> +<p>But of all these things Zara was ignorant. She only knew she was +exhausted, and she crept wearily to bed.</p> +<p>Thus neither bride nor bridegroom, on this their wedding night, +knew peace or rest.</p> +<p>They met next day for a late breakfast. They were to go to Paris +by the one o'clock boat. They were both very quiet and pale. Zara +had gone into the sitting-room first, and was standing looking out +on the sea when her husband came into the room, and she did not +turn round, until he said "Good morning," coldly, and she realized +it was he.</p> +<p>Some strange quiver passed over her at the sound of his +voice.</p> +<p>"Breakfast should be ready," he went on calmly. "I ordered it +for eleven o'clock. I told your maid to tell you so. I hope that +gave you time to dress."</p> +<p>"Yes, thank you," was all she said; and he rang the bell and +opened the papers, which the waiters had piled on the table, +knowing the delight of young bridal pairs to see news of +themselves!</p> +<p>And as Zara glanced at her lord's handsome face she saw a +cynical, disdainful smile creep over it, at something he read.</p> +<p>And she guessed it was the account of their wedding; and she, +too, took up another paper and looked at the headings.</p> +<p>Yes, there was a flaming description of it all. And as she +finished the long paragraphs she raised her head suddenly and their +eyes met. And Tristram allowed himself to laugh—bitterly, it +was true, but still to laugh.</p> +<p>The lingering fear of the ways of men was still in Zara's heart +and not altogether gone; she was not yet quite free from the +suspicion that he still might trap her if she unbent. So she +frowned slightly and then looked down at the paper again; and the +waiters brought in breakfast at that moment and nothing was +said.</p> +<p>They did not seem to have much appetite, nor to care what they +ate, but, the coffee being in front of her, politeness made Zara +ask what sort her husband took, and when he answered—none at +all—he wanted tea—she was relieved, and let him pour it +out at the side-table himself.</p> +<p>"The wind has got up fiercely, and it will be quite rough," he +said presently. "Do you mind the sea?"</p> +<p>And she answered, "No, not a bit."</p> +<p>Then they both continued reading the papers until all pretense +of breakfast was over; and he rose, and, asking if she would be +ready at about half-past twelve, to go on board, so as to avoid the +crowd from the London train, he went quietly out of the room, and +from the windows she afterwards saw him taking a walk on the +pier.</p> +<p>And for some unexplained psychological reason, although she had +now apparently obtained exactly the terms she had decided were the +only possible ones on which to live with him, she experienced no +sense of satisfaction or peace!</p> +<p>No pair could have looked more adorably attractive and +interesting than Lord and Lady Tancred did as they went to their +private cabin on the boat an admiring group of Dover young ladies +thought, watching from the raised part above where the steamer +starts. Every one concerned knew that this thrilling bride and +bridegroom would be crossing, and the usual number of the daily +spectators was greatly increased.</p> +<p>"What wonderful chinchilla!" "What lovely hair!" and "Oh! isn't +he just too splendid!" they said. And the maid and the valet, +carrying the jewel case, dressing bags, cushion and sable rug, +followed, to the young ladies' extra delight.</p> +<p>The <i>apanages</i> of a great position, when augmented by the +romance of a wedding journey, are dear to the female heart.</p> +<p>They had the large cabin on the upper deck of the <i>Queen</i>, +and it was noticed that until the London train could be expected to +arrive the bridal pair went outside and sat where they could not be +observed, with a view towards Dover Castle. But it could not be +seen that they never spoke a word and that each read a book.</p> +<p>When it seemed advisable to avoid the crowd Tristram glanced up +and said,</p> +<p>"I suppose we shall have to stay in that beastly cabin now, or +some cad will snapshot us. Will you come along?"</p> +<p>And so they went.</p> +<p>"It is going to be really quite rough," he continued, when the +door was shut. "Would you like to lie down—or what?"</p> +<p>"I am never the least ill, but I will try and sleep," Zara +answered resignedly, as she undid her chinchilla coat.</p> +<p>So he settled the pillows, and she lay down, and he covered her +up; and as he did so, in spite of his anger with her and all his +hurt pride he had the most maddeningly strong desire to kiss her +and let her rest in his arms. So he turned away brusquely and sat +down at the farther end, where he opened the window to let in some +air, and pulled the curtain over it, and then tried to go on with +his book. But every pulse in his body was throbbing, and at last he +could not control the overmastering desire to look at her.</p> +<p>She raised herself a little, and began taking the finely-worked, +small-stoned, sapphire pins out of her hat. They had been Cyril's +gift.</p> +<p>"Can I help you?" he said.</p> +<p>"It is such soft fur I thought I need not take it off to lie +down," she answered coldly, "but there is something hurting in the +back."</p> +<p>He took the thing with its lace veil from her, and the ruffled +waves of her glorious hair as she lay there nearly drove him mad +with the longing to caress.</p> +<p>How, in God's name, would they ever be able to live? He must go +outside and fight with himself.</p> +<p>And she wondered why his face grew so stern. And when she was +settled comfortably again and the boat had started he left her +alone.</p> +<p>It was, fortunately, so rough that there were very few people +about, and he went far forward and leant on the rail, and let the +salt air blow into his face.</p> +<p>What if, in the end, this wild passion for her should conquer +him and he should give in, and have to confess that her cruel words +did not hinder him from loving her? It would be too ignominious. He +must pull himself together and firmly suppress every emotion. He +determined to see her as little as possible when they got to Paris, +and when the ghastly honeymoon week, that he had been contemplating +with so much excitement and joy should be over, then they would go +back to England, and he would take up politics in earnest, and try +and absorb himself in that.</p> +<p>And Zara, lying in the cabin, was unconscious of any direct +current of thought; she was quite unconscious that already this +beautiful young husband of hers had made some impression upon her, +and that, underneath, for all her absorption in her little brother +and her own affairs, she was growing conscious of his presence and +that his comings and goings were things to remark about.</p> +<p>And, strengthened in his resolve to be true to the Tancred +pride, Tristram came back to her as they got into Calais +harbor.</p> +<a name="C018" id="C018"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> +<p>The servants at the Ritz, in Paris, so exquisitely drilled, made +no apparent difference, when the bride and bridegroom arrived there +about half-past seven o'clock, than if they had been an elderly +brother and sister; and they were taken to the beautiful Empire +suite on the Vendôme side of the first floor. Everything was +perfection in the way of arrangement, and the flowers were so +particularly beautiful that Zara's love for them caused her to cry +out,</p> +<p>"Oh! the dear roses! I must just bury my face in them, +first."</p> +<p>They had got through the railway journey very well; real, +overcoming fatigue had caused them both to sleep, and in the +automobile, coming to the hotel, they had exchanged a few stiff +words.</p> +<p>"To-morrow night we can dine out at a restaurant," Tristram had +said, "but to-night perhaps you are tired and would rather go to +bed?"</p> +<p>"Thank you," said Zara. "Yes, I would." For she thought she +wanted to write her letters to Mirko and tell him of her new name +and place. So she put on a tea-gown, and at about half-past eight +joined Tristram in the sitting-room. If they had not both been so +strained their sense of humor would not have permitted them to +refrain from a laugh. For here they sat in state, and, when the +waiters were in the room, exchanged a few remarks. But Zara did +notice that her husband never once looked at her with any +directness, and he seemed coldly indifferent to anything she +said.</p> +<p>"We shall have to stay here for the whole, boring week," he +announced when at last coffee was on the table and they were alone. +"There are certain obligations one's position obliges one to +conform to. You understand, I expect. I will try to make the time +as easy to bear for you as I can. Will you tell me what theaters +you have not already seen? We can go somewhere every night, and in +the daytime you have perhaps shopping to do; and—I know Paris +quite well. I can amuse myself."</p> +<p>Zara did not feel enthusiastically grateful, but she said, +"Thank you," in a quiet voice, and Tristram, rang the bell and +asked for the list of the places of amusement, and in the most +stiff, self-contained manner he chose, with her, a different one +for every night.</p> +<p>Then he lit a cigar deliberately, and walked towards the +door.</p> +<p>"Good-night, Milady," he said nonchalantly, and then went +out.</p> +<p>And Zara sat still by the table and unconsciously pulled the +petals off an unoffending rose; and when she realized what she had +done she was aghast!</p> +<p>It was not until about five o'clock the next day that he came +into the sitting-room again.</p> +<p><i>Milor</i> had gone to the races, and had left a note for +<i>Miladi</i> in the morning, the maid had said.</p> +<p>And Zara, as she lay back on her pillows, had opened it with a +strange thrill.</p> +<p>"You won't be troubled with me to-day," she read. "I am going +out with some old friends to Maisons Liafitte. I have said you want +to rest from the journey, as one has to say something. I have +arranged for us to dine at the Café de Paris at 7:30, and go +to the Gymnâse. Tell Higgins, my valet, if you change the +plan." And the note was not even signed!</p> +<p>Well, it appeared she had nothing further to fear from him; she +could breathe much relieved. And now for her day of quiet rest.</p> +<p>But when she had had her lonely lunch and her letters to her +uncle and Mirko were written, she found herself drumming aimlessly +on the window panes, and wondering if she would go out.</p> +<p>She had no friends in Paris whom she wanted to see. Her life +there with her family had been entirely devoted to them alone. But +it was a fine day and there is always something to do in +Paris—though what then, particularly, she had not decided; +perhaps she would go to the Louvre.</p> +<p>And then she sank down into the big sofa, opposite the blazing +wood fire, and gradually fell fast asleep. She slept, with unbroken +deepness, until late in the afternoon, and was, in fact, still +asleep there when Tristram came in.</p> +<p>He did not see her at first; the lights were not on and it was +almost dark in the streets. The fire, too, had burnt low. He came +forward, and then went back again and switched on the lamps; and, +with the blaze, Zara sat up and rubbed her eyes. One great plait of +her hair had become loosened and fell at the side of her head, and +she looked like a rosy, sleepy child.</p> +<p>"I did not see you!" Tristram gasped, and, realizing her +adorable attractions, he turned to the fire and vigorously began +making it up.</p> +<p>Then, as he felt he could not trust himself for another second, +he rang the bell and ordered some tea to be brought, while he went +to his room to leave his overcoat. And when he thought the excuse +of the repast would be there, he went back.</p> +<p>Zara felt nothing in particular. Even yet she was rather on the +defensive, looking out for every possible attack.</p> +<p>So they both sat down quietly, and for a few moments neither +spoke.</p> +<p>She had put up her hair during his absence, and now looked +wide-awake and quite neat.</p> +<p>"I had a most unlucky day," he said—for something to say. +"I could not back a single winner. On the whole I think I am bored +with racing."</p> +<p>"It has always seemed boring to me," she said. "If it were to +try the mettle of a horse one had bred I could understand that; or +to ride it oneself and get the better of an adversary: but just +with sharp practices—and for money! It seems so common a +thing, I never could take an interest in that."</p> +<p>"Does anything interest you?" he hazarded, and then he felt +sorry he had shown enough interest to ask.</p> +<p>"Yes," she said slowly, "but perhaps not many games. My life has +always been too ordered by the games of others, to take to them +myself." And then she stopped abruptly. She could not suppose her +life interested him much.</p> +<p>But, on the contrary, he was intensely interested, if she had +known.</p> +<p>He felt inclined to tell her so, and that the whole of the +present situation was ridiculous, and that he wanted to know her +innermost thoughts. He was beginning to examine her all critically, +and to take in every point. Beyond his passionate admiration for +her beauty there was something more to analyze.</p> +<p>What was the subtle something of mystery and charm? Why could +she not unbend and tell him the meaning in those fathomless, dark +eyes?—What could they look like, if filled with love and +tenderness? Ah!</p> +<p>And if he had done as he felt inclined at the moment the ice +might have been broken, and at the end of the week they would +probably have been in each other's arms. But fate ordered +otherwise, and an incident that night, at dinner, caused a fresh +storm.</p> +<p>Zara was looking so absolutely beautiful in her lovely new +clothes that it was not in the nature of gallant foreigners to +allow her to dine unmolested by their stares, and although the +tête-à-tête dinner was quite early at the +Café de Paris, there happened to be a large party of men +next to them and Zara found herself seated in close proximity to a +nondescript Count, whom she recognized as one of her late husband's +friends. Every one who knows the Café de Paris can realize +how this happened. The long velvet seats without divisions and the +small tables in front make, when the place is full, the whole side +look as if it were one big group. Lord Tancred was quite accustomed +to it; he knew Paris well as he had told her, so he ought to have +been prepared for what could happen, but he was not.</p> +<p>Perhaps he was not on the alert, because he had never before +been there with a woman he loved.</p> +<p>Zara's neighbor was a great, big, fierce-looking creature from +some wild quarter of the South, and was perhaps also just a little +drunk. She knew a good deal of their language, but, taking for +granted that this Englishman and his lovely lady would be quite +ignorant of what they said, the party of men were most unreserved +in their remarks.</p> +<p>Her neighbor looked at her devouringly, once or twice, when he +saw Tristram could not observe him, and then began to murmur +immensely <i>entreprenant</i> love sentences in his own tongue, as +he played with his bread. She knew he had recognized her. And +Tristram wondered why his lady's little nostrils should begin to +quiver and her eyes to flash.</p> +<p>She was remembering like scenes in the days of Ladislaus, and +how he used to grow wild with jealousy, in the beginning when he +took her out, and once had dragged her back upstairs by her hair, +and flung her into bed. It was always her fault when men looked at +her, he assured her. And the horror of the recollection of it all +was still vivid enough.</p> +<p>Then Tristram gradually became greatly worried; without being +aware that the man was the cause, he yet felt something was going +on. He grew jealous and uneasy, and would have liked to have taken +her home.</p> +<p>And because of the things she was angrily listening to, and +because of her fear of a row, she sat there looking defiant and +resentful, and spoke never a word.</p> +<p>And Tristram could not understand it, and he eventually became +annoyed. What had he said or done to her again? It was more than he +meant to stand, for no reason—to put up with such airs!</p> +<p>For Zara sat frowning, her mouth mutinous and her eyes black as +night.</p> +<p>If she had told Tristram what her neighbor was saying there +would at once have been a row. She knew this, and so remained in +constrained silence, unconscious that her husband was thinking her +rude to him, and that he was angry with her. She was so strung up +with fury at the foreigner, that she answered Tristram's few +remarks at random, and then abruptly rose while he was paying the +bill, as if to go out. And as she did so the Count slipped a folded +paper into the sleeve of her coat.</p> +<a name="rw158" id="rw158"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width:50%"><a href="images/rw158.jpg" +target="blank"><img width="100%" src="images/rw158.jpg" alt= +'"With his English self-control and horror of a scene, he followed his wife to the door."' /> +</a> "With his English self-control and horror of a scene, he +followed his wife to the door."</div> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p>Tristram thought he saw something peculiar but was still in +doubt, and, with his English self-control and horror of a scene, he +followed his wife to the door, as she was walking rapidly ahead, +and there helped her into the waiting automobile.</p> +<p>But as she put up her arm, in stepping in, the folded paper fell +to the brightly lighted pavement and he picked it up.</p> +<p>He must have some explanation. He was choking with rage. There +was some mystery, he was being tricked.</p> +<p>"Why did you not tell me you knew that fellow who sat next to +you?" he said in a low, constrained voice.</p> +<p>"Because it would have been a lie," she said haughtily. "I have +never seen him but once before in my life."</p> +<p>"Then what business have you to allow him to write notes to +you?" Tristram demanded, too overcome with jealousy to control the +anger in his tone.</p> +<p>She shrank back in her corner. Here it was beginning again! +After all, in spite of his apparent agreement to live on the most +frigid terms with her he was now acting like Ladislaus: men were +all the same!</p> +<p>"I am not aware the creature wrote me any note," she said. "What +do you mean?"</p> +<p>"How can you pretend like this," Tristram exclaimed furiously, +"when it fell out of your sleeve? Here it is."</p> +<p>"Take me back to the hotel," she said with a tone of ice. "I +refuse to go to the theater to be insulted. How dare you doubt my +word? If there is a note you had better read it and see what it +says."</p> +<p>So Lord Tancred picked up the speaking-tube and told the +chauffeur to go back to the Ritz.</p> +<p>They both sat silent, palpitating with rage, and when they got +there he followed her into the lift and up to the sitting-room.</p> +<p>He came in and shut the door and strode over beside her, and +then he almost hissed,</p> +<p>"You are asking too much of me. I demand an explanation. Tell me +yourself about it. Here is your note."</p> +<p>Zara took it, with infinite disdain, and, touching it as though +it were some noisome reptile, she opened it and read aloud,</p> +<blockquote> +<p><i>"Beautiful Comtesse, when can I see you again?"</i></p> +</blockquote> +<p>"The vile wretch!" she said contemptuously. "That is how men +insult women!" And she looked up passionately at Tristram. "You are +all the same."</p> +<p>"I have not insulted you," he flashed. "It is perfectly natural +that I should be angry at such a scene, and if this brute is to be +found again to-night he shall know that I will not permit him to +write insolent notes to my wife."</p> +<p>She flung the hateful piece of paper into the fire and turned +towards her room.</p> +<p>"I beg you to do nothing further about the matter," she said. +"This loathsome man was half drunk. It is quite unnecessary to +follow it up; it will only make a scandal, and do no good. But you +can understand another thing. I will not have my word doubted, nor +be treated as an offending domestic—as you have treated me +to-night." And without further words she went into her room.</p> +<p>Tristram, left alone, paced up and down; he was wild with rage, +furious with her, with himself, and with the man. With her because +he had told her once, before the wedding, that when they came to +cross swords there would be no doubt as to who would be master! and +in the three encounters which already their wills had had she had +each time come off the conqueror! He was furious with himself, that +he had not leaned forward at dinner to see the man hand the note, +and he was frenziedly furious with the stranger, that he had dared +to turn his insolent eyes upon his wife.</p> +<p>He would go back to the Café de Paris, and, if the man +was there, call him to account, and if not, perhaps he could obtain +his name. So out he went.</p> +<p>But the waiters vowed they knew nothing of the gentleman; the +whole party had been perfect strangers, and they had no idea as to +where they had gone on. So this enraged young Englishman spent the +third night of his honeymoon in a hunt round the haunts of Paris, +but with no success; and at about six o'clock in the morning came +back baffled but still raging, and thoroughly wearied out.</p> +<p>And all this while his bride could not sleep, and in spite of +her anger was a prey to haunting fears. What if the two had met and +there had been bloodshed! A completely possible case! And several +times in the night she got out of her bed and went and listened at +the communicating doors; but there was no sound of Tristram, and +about five o'clock, worn out with the anxiety and injustice of +everything, she fell into a restless doze, only to wake again at +seven, with a lead weight at her heart. She could not bear it any +longer! She must know for certain if he had come in! She slipped on +her dressing-gown, and noiselessly stole to the door, and with the +greatest caution unlocked it, and, turning the handle, peeped +in.</p> +<p>Yes, there he was, sound asleep! His window was wide open, with +the curtains pushed back, so the daylight streamed in on his face. +He had been too tired to care.</p> +<p>Zara turned round quickly to reenter her room, but in her terror +of being discovered she caught the trimming of her dressing-gown on +the handle of the door and without her being aware of it a small +bunch of worked ribbon roses fell off.</p> +<p>Then she got back into bed, relieved in mind as to him but +absolutely quaking at what she had done and at the impossibly +embarrassing position she would have placed herself in, if he had +awakened and known that she had come!</p> +<p>And the first thing Tristram saw, when some hours later he was +aroused by the pouring in of the sun, was the little torn bunch of +silk roses lying close to her door.</p> +<a name="C019" id="C019"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> +<p>He sprang from bed and picked them up. What could they possibly +mean? They were her roses, certainly—he remembered she wore +the dressing-gown that first evening at Dover, when he had gone to +her to give her the gardenias. And they certainly had not been +there when at six o'clock he had come in. He would in that case +have seen them against the pale carpet.</p> +<p>For one exquisite moment he thought they were a message and then +he noticed the ribbon had been wrenched off and was torn.</p> +<p>No, they were no conscious message, but they did mean that she +had been in his room while he slept.</p> +<p>Why had she done this thing? He knew she hated him—it was +no acting—and she had left him the night' before even +unusually incensed. What possible reason could she have, then, for +coming into his room? He felt wild with excitement. He would see +if, as usual, the door between them was locked. He tried it gently. +Yes, it was.</p> +<p>And Zara heard him from her side, and stiffened in her bed with +all the expression of a fierce wolfhound putting its hackles +up.</p> +<p>Yes, the danger of the ways of men was not over! If she had not +unconsciously remembered to lock the door when she had returned +from her terrifying adventure he would have come in!</p> +<p>So these two thrilled with different emotions and trembled, and +there was the locked harrier between them. And then Tristram rang +for his valet and ordered his bath. He would dress quickly, and ask +casually if she would breakfast in the sitting-room. It was so +late, almost eleven, and they could have it at twelve +upstairs—not in the restaurant as he had yesterday intended. +He must find out about the roses; he could not endure to pass the +whole day in wonder and doubt.</p> +<p>And Zara, too, started dressing. It was better under the +circumstances to be armed at all points, and she felt safer and +calmer with Henriette in the room.</p> +<p>So a few minutes before twelve they met in the sitting-room.</p> +<p>Her whole expression was on the defensive: he saw that at +once.</p> +<p>The waiters would be coming in with the breakfast soon. Would +there be time to talk to her, or had he better postpone it until +they were certain to be alone? He decided upon this latter course, +and just said a cold "Good morning," and turned to the <i>New York +Herald</i> and looked at the news.</p> +<p>Zara felt more reassured.</p> +<p>So they presently sat down to their breakfast, each ready to +play the game.</p> +<p>They spoke of the theaters—the one they had arranged to go +to this Saturday night was causing all Paris to laugh.</p> +<p>"It will be a jolly good thing to laugh," Tristram +said—and Zara agreed.</p> +<p>He made no allusion to the events of the night before, and she +hardly spoke at all. And at last the repast was over, and the +waiters had left the room.</p> +<p>Tristram got up, after his coffee and liqueur, but he lit no +cigar; he went to one of the great windows which look out on the +Colonne Vendôme, and then he came back. Zara was sitting upon +the heliotrope Empire sofa and had picked up the paper again.</p> +<p>He stood before her, with an expression upon his face which +ought to have melted any woman.</p> +<p>"Zara," he said softly, "I want you to tell me, why did you come +into my room?"</p> +<p>Her great eyes filled with startled horror and surprise, and her +white cheeks grew bright pink with an exquisite flush.</p> +<p>"I?"—and she clenched her hands. How did he know? Had he +seen her, then? But he evidently did know, and there was no use to +lie. "I was so—frightened—that—"</p> +<p>Tristram took a step nearer and sat down by her side. He saw the +confession was being dragged from her, and he gloried in it and +would not help her out.</p> +<p>She moved further from him, then, with grudging reluctance, she +continued,</p> +<p>"There can be such unpleasant quarrels with those horrible men. +It—was so very late—I—I—wished to be sure +that you had come safely in."</p> +<p>Then she looked down, and the rose died out of her face, leaving +it very white.</p> +<p>And if Tristram's pride in the decision he had come to, on the +fatal wedding night, that she must make the first advances before +he would again unbend, had not held him, he would certainly have +risked everything and clasped her in his arms. As it was, he +resisted the intense temptation to do so, and made himself calm, +while he answered,</p> +<p>"It mattered to you, then, in some way, that I should not come +to harm?"</p> +<p>He was still sitting on the sofa near her, and that magnetic +essence which is in propinquity appealed to her; ignorant of all +such emotions as she was she only knew something had suddenly made +her feel nervous, and that her heart was thumping in her side.</p> +<p>"Yes, of course it mattered," she faltered, and then went on +coldly, as he gave a glad start; "scandals are so +unpleasant—scenes and all those things are so revolting. I +had to endure many of them in my former life."</p> +<p>Oh! so that was it! Just for fear of a scandal and because she +had known disagreeable things! Not a jot of feeling for himself! +And Tristram got up quickly and walked to the fireplace. He was cut +to the heart.</p> +<p>The case was utterly hopeless, he felt. He was frozen and stung +each time he even allowed himself to be human and hope for +anything. But he was a strong man, and this should be the end of +it. He would not be tortured again.</p> +<p>He took the little bunch of flowers out of his pocket and handed +it to her quietly, while his face was full of pain.</p> +<p>"Here is the proof you left me of your kind interest," he told +her. "Perhaps your maid will miss it and wish to sew it on." And +then without another word he went out of the room.</p> +<p>Zara, left alone, sat staring into the fire. What did all this +mean? She felt very unhappy, but not angry or alarmed. She did not +want to hurt him. Had she been very unkind? After all, he had +behaved, in comparison to Ladislaus, with wonderful +self-control—and—yes, supposing he were not quite a +sensual brute she had been very hard. She knew what pride meant; +she had abundance herself, and she realized for the first time how +she must have been stinging his.</p> +<p>But there were facts which could not be got over. He had married +her for her uncle's money and then shown at once that her person +tempted him, when it could not be anything else.</p> +<p>She got up and walked about the room. There was a scent of him +somewhere—the scent of a fine cigar. She felt uneasy of she +knew not what. Did she wish him to come back? Was she excited? +Should she go out? And then, for no reason on earth, she suddenly +burst into tears.</p> +<hr /> +<p>They met for dinner, and she herself had never looked or been +more icy cold than Tristram was. They went down into the restaurant +and there, of course, he encountered some friends dining, too, in a +merry party; and he nodded gayly to them and told her casually who +they were, and then went on with his dinner. His manner had lost +its constraint, it was just casually indifferent. And soon they +started for the theater, and it was he who drew as far away as he +could, when they got into the automobile.</p> +<p>They had a box—and the piece had begun. It was one of +those impossibly amusing Paris farces, on the borderland of all +convention but so intensely comic that none could help their mirth, +and Tristram shook with laughter and forgot for the time that he +was a most miserable young man. And even Zara laughed. But it did +not melt things between them. Tristram's feelings had been too +wounded for any ordinary circumstances to cause him to relent.</p> +<p>"Do you care for some supper?" he said coldly when they came +out. But she answered. "No," so he took her back, and as far as the +lift where he left her, politely saying "Good night," and she saw +him disappear towards the door, and knew he had again gone out.</p> +<p>And going on to the sitting-room alone, she found the English +mail had come in, and there were the letters on the table, at least +a dozen for Tristram, as she sorted them out—a number in +women's handwriting—and but two for herself. One was from her +uncle, full of agreeable congratulations subtly expressed; and the +other, forwarded from Park Lane, from Mirko, as yet ignorant of her +change of state, a small, funny, pathetic letter that touched her +heart. He was better, and again able to go out, and in a fortnight +Agatha, the little daughter of the Morleys, would be returning, and +he could play with her. That might be a joy—girls were not so +tiresome and did not make so much noise as boys.</p> +<p>Zara turned to the piano, which she had not yet opened, and sat +down and comforted herself with the airs she loved; and the maid +who listened, while she waited for her mistress to be undressed, +turned up her eyes in wonder.</p> +<p><i>"Quel drôle de couple!"</i> she said.</p> +<p>And Tristram reencountered his friends and went off with them to +sup.</p> +<p>Her ladyship was tired, he told them, and had gone to bed. And +two of the Englishwomen who knew him quite well teased him and said +how beautiful his bride was and how strange-looking, and what an +iceberg he must be to be able to come out to supper and leave her +alone! And they wondered why he then smiled cynically.</p> +<p>"For," said one to the other on their way home, "the new Lady +Tancred is perfectly beautiful! Fancy, Gertrude, Tristram leaving +her for a minute! And did you ever see such a face? It looks +anything but cold."</p> +<p>Zara was wide-awake when, about two, he came in. She heard him +in the sitting-room and suddenly became conscious that her thoughts +had been with him ever since she went to bed, and not with Mirko +and his letter.</p> +<p>She supposed he was now reading his pile of +correspondence—he had such numbers of fond friends! And then +she heard him shut the door, and go round into his room; but the +carpets were very thick and she heard no more.</p> +<p>If she could have seen what happened beyond that closed door, +would it have opened her eyes, or made her happy? Who can tell?</p> +<p>For Higgins, with methodical tidiness, had emptied the pockets +of the coat his master had worn in the day, and there on top of a +letter or two and a card-case was one tiny pink rose, a wee bud +that had become detached from the torn bunch.</p> +<p>And when Tristram saw it his heart gave a great bound. So it had +stayed behind, when he had returned the others, and was there now +to hurt him with remembrance of what might have been! He was unable +to control the violent emotion which shook him. He went to the +window and opened it wide: the moon was rather over, but still +blazed in the sky. Then he bent down and passionately kissed the +little bud, while a scorching mist gathered in his eyes.</p> +<a name="C020" id="C020"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> +<p>So at last the Wednesday morning came—and they could go +back to England. From that Saturday night until they left Paris +Tristram's manner of icy, polite indifference to his bride never +changed. She had no more quaking shocks nor any fear of too much +ardor! He avoided every possible moment of her society he could, +and when forced to be with her seemed aloof and bored.</p> +<p>And the freezing manner of Zara was caused no longer by haughty +self-defense but because she was unconsciously numb at heart.</p> +<p>Unknown, undreamed-of emotion came over her, whenever she +chanced to find him close, and during his long absences her +thoughts followed him—sometimes with wonderment.</p> +<p>Just as they were going down to start for the train on the +Wednesday morning a telegram was put into her hand. It was +addressed "La Baronne de Tancred," and she guessed at once this +would be Mimo's idea of her name. Tristram, who was already down +the steps by the concierge's desk, turned and saw her open it, with +a look of intense strain. He saw that as she read her eyes widened +and stared out in front of them for a moment, and that her face +grew pale.</p> +<p>For Mimo had wired, "Mirko not quite so well." She crumpled the +blue paper in her hand, and followed her husband through the bowing +personnel of the hotel into the automobile. She controlled herself +and was even able to give one of her rare smiles in farewell, but +when they started she leaned back, and again her face went white. +Tristram was moved. Whom was her telegram from? She did not tell +him and he would not ask, but the feeling that there were in her +life, things and interests of which he knew nothing did not please +him. And this particular thing—what was it? Was it from a +man? It had caused her some deep emotion—he could plainly see +that. He longed to ask her but was far too proud, and their terms +had grown so distant he hardly liked to express even solicitude, +which, however, he did.</p> +<p>"I hope you have not had any bad news?"</p> +<p>Then she turned her eyes upon him, and he saw that she had +hardly heard him; they looked blank.</p> +<p>"What?" she asked vaguely; and then, recollecting herself +confusedly, she went on, "No—not exactly—but something +about which I must think."</p> +<p>So he was shut out of her confidence. He felt that, and +carefully avoided taking any further notice of her.</p> +<p>When they got to the station he suddenly perceived she was not +following him as he made way for her in the crowd, but had gone +over to the telegraph office by herself.</p> +<p>He waited and fumed. It was evidently something about which she +wished no one to see what she wrote, for she could perfectly well +have given the telegram to Higgins to take, who would be waiting by +the saloon door.</p> +<p>She returned in a few moments, and she saw that Tristram's face +was very stern. It did not strike her that he was jealous about the +mystery of the telegram; she thought he was annoyed at her for not +coming on in case they should be late, so she said hurriedly, +"There is plenty of time."</p> +<p>"Naturally," he answered stiffly as they walked along, "but it +is quite unnecessary for Lady Tancred to struggle through this +rabble and take telegrams herself. Higgins could have done it when +we were settled in the train."</p> +<p>And with unexpected meekness all she said was, "I am very +sorry."</p> +<p>So the incident ended there—but not the uneasy impression +it left.</p> +<p>Tristram did not even make a pretense of reading the papers when +the train moved on; he sat there staring in front of him, with his +handsome face shadowed by a moody frown. And any close observer who +knew him would have seen that there was a change in his whole +expression, since the same time the last week.</p> +<p>The impossible disappointment of everything! What kind of a +nature could his wife have, to be so absolutely mute and +unresponsive as she had been? He felt glad he had not given her the +chance to snub him again. These last days he had been able to keep +to his determination, and at all events did not feel himself +humiliated. How long would it be before he should cease to care for +her? He hoped to God—soon, because the strain of crushing his +passionate desires was one which no man could stand long.</p> +<p>The little, mutinous face, with its alluring, velvet, white +skin, her slightly full lips, all curved and red, and tempting, and +anything but cold in shape, and the extraordinary magnetic +attraction of her whole personality, made her a most dangerous +thing; and then his thoughts turned to the vision of her hair +undone that he had had on that first evening at Dover. He had said +once to Francis Markrute, he remembered, that these great passions +were "storybook stuff." Good God! Well, in those days he had not +known.</p> +<p>He thought, as he returned from his honeymoon this day, that he +could not be more frightfully unhappy, but he was really only +beginning the anguish of the churning of his soul—if he had +known.</p> +<p>And Zara sat in her armchair, and pretended to read; but when he +glanced at her he saw that it was a farce and that her expressive +eyes were again quite blank.</p> +<p>And finally, after the uncomfortable hours, they arrived at +Calais and went to the boat.</p> +<p>Here Zara seemed to grow anxious again and on the alert, and, +stepping forward, asked Higgins to inquire if there was a telegram +for her, addressed to the ship. But there was not, and she subsided +once more quietly and sat in their cabin.</p> +<p>Tristram did not even attempt to play the part of the returning +bridegroom beyond the ordinary seeing to her comfort about which he +had never failed; he left her immediately and remained for all the +voyage on deck.</p> +<p>And when they reached Dover Zara's expectancy showed again, but +it was not until they were just leaving the station that a telegram +was thrust through the window and he took it from the boy, while he +could not help noticing the foreign form of address. And a +certainty grew in his brain that it was "that same cursed man!"</p> +<p>He watched her face as she read it, and noticed the look of +relief as, quite unconscious of his presence, his bride absently +spread the paper out. And although deliberately to try and see what +was written was not what he would ever have done, his eyes caught +the signature, "Mimo," before he was aware of it.</p> +<p>Mimo—that was the brute's name!</p> +<p>And what could he say or do? They were not really husband and +wife, and as long as she did nothing to disgrace the Tancred honor +he had no valid reason for questions or complaints.</p> +<p>But he burnt with suspicion, and jealousy, and pain.</p> +<p>Then he thought over what Francis Markrute had said the first +evening, when he had agreed to the marriage. He remembered how he +had not felt it would be chivalrous or honorable to ask any +questions, once he had blindly gone the whole length and settled +she should be his; but how Francis had gratuitously informed him +that she had been an immaculate wife until a year ago, and married +to an unspeakable brute.</p> +<p>He knew the financier very well, and knew that he was, with all +his subtle cleverness, a man of spotless honor. Evidently, then, if +there was anything underneath he was unaware of it. But was there +anything? Even though he was angry and suspicious he realized that +the bearing of his wife was not guilty or degraded. She was a +magnificently proud and noble-looking creature, but perhaps even +the noblest women could stoop to trick from—love! And this +thought caused him to jump up suddenly—much to Zara's +astonishment. And she saw the veins show on the left side of his +temple as in a knot, a peculiarity, like the horseshoe of the +Redgauntlets, which ran in the Tancred race.</p> +<p>Then he felt how foolish he was, causing himself suffering over +an imaginary thing; and here this piece of white marble sat +opposite him in cold silence, while his being was wrung! He +suddenly understood something which he had never done before, when +he read of such things in the papers—how, passionately +loving, a man could yet kill the thing he loved.</p> +<p>And Zara, comforted by the telegram, "Much better again to-day," +had leisure to return to the subject which had lately begun +unconsciously to absorb her—the subject of her lord!</p> +<p>She wondered what made him look so stern. His nobly-cut face was +as though it were carved in stone. Just from an abstract, artistic +point of view, she told herself, she honestly admired him and his +type. It was finer than any other race could produce and she was +glad she was half English, too. The lines were so slender and yet +so strong; and every bone balanced—and the look of superb +health and athletic strength.</p> +<p>Such must have been the young Greeks who ran in the Gymnasium at +Athens, she thought.</p> +<p>And then, suddenly, an intense quiver of unknown emotion rushed +over her. And if at that moment he had clasped her and kissed her, +instead of sitting there glaring into space, the rest of this story +need never have been written!</p> +<p>But the moment passed, and she crushed whatever it was she felt +of the dawning of love, and he dominated the uneasy suspicions of +her fidelity; and they got out of the train at Charing +Cross—after their remarkable wedding journey.</p> +<a name="C021" id="C021"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> +<p>Francis Markrute's moral antennae upon which he prided himself +informed him that all was not as it should be between this young +bride and bridegroom. Zara seemed to have acquired in this short +week even an extra air of regal dignity, aided by her perfect +clothes; and Tristram looked stern, and less joyous and more +haughty than he had done. And they were both so deadly cold, and +certainly constrained! It was not one of the financier's habits +ever to doubt himself or his deductions. They were based upon far +too sound reasoning. No, if something had gone wrong or had not yet +evolutionized it was only for the moment and need cause no +philosophical <i>deus ex machina</i> any uneasiness.</p> +<p>For it was morally and physically impossible that such a +perfectly developed pair of the genus human being could live +together in the bonds of marriage, and not learn to love.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, it was his business as the friend and uncle of the +two to be genial and make things go on greased wheels.</p> +<p>So he exerted himself to talk at dinner—their dinner +<i>à trois</i>—. He told them all the news that had +happened during the week—Was it only a week—Zara and +Tristram both thought!</p> +<p>How there were rumors that in the coming spring there might be a +general election, and that the Radicals were making fresh plots to +ruin the country; but there was to be no autumn session, and, as +usual, the party to which they all had the honor to belong was half +asleep.</p> +<p>And then the two men grew deep in a political discussion, so as +soon as Zara had eaten her peach she said she would leave them to +their talk, and say "Good night," as she was tired out.</p> +<p>"Yes, my niece," said her uncle who had risen. And he did what +he had not done since she was a child, he stooped and kissed her +white forehead. "Yes, indeed, you must go and rest. We both want +you to do us justice to-morrow, don't we, Tristram? We must have +our special lady looking her best."</p> +<p>And she smiled a faint smile as she passed from the room.</p> +<p>"By George! my dear boy," the financier went on, "I don't +believe I ever realized what a gorgeously beautiful creature my +niece is. She is like some wonderful exotic blossom—a mass of +snow and flame!"</p> +<p>And Tristram said with unconscious cynicism,</p> +<p>"Certainly snow—but where is the flame?"</p> +<p>Francis Markrute looked at him out of the corners of his clever +eyes. She had been icy to him in Paris, then! But his was not the +temperament to interfere. It was only a question of time. After +all, a week was not long to grow accustomed to a perfect +stranger.</p> +<p>Then they went back to the library, and smoked for an hour or so +and continued their political chat; and at last Markrute said to +his new nephew-in-law blandly,</p> +<p>"In a year or so, when you and Zara have a son, I will give you, +my dear boy, some papers to read which will interest you as showing +the mother's side of his lineage. It will be a fit balance, as far +as actual blood goes, to your own."</p> +<p>In a year or so, when Zara should have a son!</p> +<p>Of all the aspects of the case, which her pride and disdain had +robbed him of, this, Tristram felt, was perhaps—though it had +not before presented itself to him—the most cruel. He would +have no son!</p> +<p>He got up suddenly and threw his unfinished cigar into the +grate—that old habit of his when he was moved—and he +said in a voice that the financier knew was strained,</p> +<p>"That is awfully good of you. I shall have to have it inserted +in the family tree—some day. But now I think I shall turn in. +I want to have my eye rested, and be as fit as a fiddle for the +shoot. I have had a tiring week."</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute came out with him into the passage and up +to the first floor, and when they got so far they heard the notes +of the <i>Chanson Triste</i> being played again from Zara's +sitting-room. She had not gone to bed, then, it seemed!</p> +<p>"Good God!" said Tristram. "I don't know why, but I wish to +heaven she would not play that tune."</p> +<p>And the two men looked at one another with some uneasy wonder in +their eyes.</p> +<p>"Go on and take her to bed," the financier suggested. "Perhaps +she does not like being left so long alone."</p> +<p>Tristram went upstairs with a bitter laugh to himself.</p> +<p>He did not go near the sitting-room; he went straight into the +room which had been allotted to himself: and a savage sense of +humiliation and impotent rage convulsed him.</p> +<p>The next day, the express which would stop for them at Tylling +Green, the little station for Montfitchet, started at two o'clock, +and the financier had given orders to have an early lunch at twelve +before they left. He, himself, went off to the City for half an +hour to read his letters, at ten o'clock, and was surprised when he +asked Turner if Lord and Lady Tancred had break-fasted to hear that +her ladyship had gone out at half-past nine o'clock and that his +lordship had given orders to his valet not to disturb him, in his +lordship's room—and here Turner coughed—until half-past +ten.</p> +<p>"See that they have everything they want," his master said, and +then went out. But when he was in his electric brougham, gliding +eastwards, he frowned to himself.</p> +<p>"The proud, little minx! So she has insisted upon keeping to the +business bargain up till now, has she!" he thought. "If it goes on +we shall have to make her jealous. That would be an infallible +remedy for her caprice."</p> +<p>But Zara was not concerned with such things at all for the +moment. She was waiting anxiously for Mimo at their trysting-place, +the mausoleum of Halicarnassus in the British Museum, and he was +late. He would have the last news of Mirko. No reply had awaited +her to her telegram to Mrs. Morley from Paris, and it had been too +late to wire again last night. And Mrs. Morley must have got the +telegram, because Mimo had got his.</p> +<p>Some day, she hoped—when she could grow perhaps more +friendly with her husband—she would get her uncle to let her +tell him about Mirko. It would make everything so much more simple +as regards seeing him, and why, since the paper was all signed and +nothing could be altered, should there be any mystery now? Only, +her uncle had said the day before the wedding,</p> +<p>"I beg of you not to mention the family disgrace of your mother +to your husband nor speak to him of the man Sykypri for a good long +time—if you ever need."</p> +<p>And she had acquiesced.</p> +<p>"For," Francis Markrute had reasoned to himself, "if the boy +dies, as Morley thinks there is every likelihood that he will, why +should Tristram ever know?"</p> +<p>The disgrace of his adored sister always made him wince.</p> +<p>Mimo came at last, looking anxious and haggard, and not his +debonair self. Yes, he had had a telegram that morning. He had sent +one, as he was obliged to do, in her name, and hence the confusion +in the answer. Mrs. Morley had replied to the Neville Street +address, and Zara wondered if she knew London very well and would +see how impossible such a locality would be for the Lady +Tancred!</p> +<p>But Mirko was better—decidedly better—the attack had +again been very short. So she felt reassured for the moment, and +was preparing to go when she remembered that one of the things she +had come for was to give Mimo some money in notes which she had +prepared for him; but, knowing the poor gentleman's character, she +was going to do it delicately by buying the "Apache!" For she was +quite aware that just money, for him to live, now that it was not a +question of the welfare of Mirko, he would never accept from her. +In such unpractical, sentimental ways does breeding show itself in +some weak natures!</p> +<p>Mimo was almost suspicious of the transaction, and she was +obliged to soothe and flatter him by saying that he must surely +always have understood how intensely she had admired that work; and +now she was rich it would be an everlasting pleasure to her to own +it for her very own. So poor Mimo <i>was</i> comforted, and they +parted after a while, all arrangements having been made that the +telegrams—should any more come—were to go first, +addressed to her at Neville Street, so that the poor father should +see them and then send them on.</p> +<p>And as it was now past eleven o'clock Zara returned quickly back +to Park Lane and was coming in at the door just as her husband was +descending the stairs.</p> +<p>"You are up very early, Milady," he said casually, and because +of the servants in the hall she felt it would look better to follow +him into the library.</p> +<p>Tristram was surprised at this and he longed to ask her where +she had been, but she did not tell him; she just said,</p> +<p>"What time do we arrive at your uncle's? Is it five or six?"</p> +<p>"It only takes three hours. We shall be in about five. And, +Zara, I want you to wear the sable coat. I think it suits you +better than the chinchilla you had when we left."</p> +<p>A little pink came into her cheeks. This was the first time he +had ever spoken of her clothes; and to hide the sudden strange +emotion she felt, she said coldly.</p> +<p>"Yes, I intended to. I shall always hate that chinchilla +coat."</p> +<p>And he turned away to the window, stung again by her words which +she had said unconsciously. The chinchilla had been her +conventional "going away" bridal finery. That was, of course, why +she hated the remembrance of it.</p> +<p>As soon as she had said the words she felt sorry. What on earth +made her so often wound him? She did not know it was part of the +same instinct of self-defense which had had to make up her whole +attitude towards life. Only this time it was unconsciously to hide +and so defend the new emotion which was creeping into her +heart.</p> +<p>He stayed with his back turned, looking out of the window; so, +after waiting a moment, she went from the room.</p> +<p>At the station they found Jimmy Danvers, and a Mr. and Mrs. +Harcourt with the latter's sister, Miss Opie, and several men. The +rest of the party, including Emily and Mary, Jimmy told them, had +gone down by the eleven o'clock train.</p> +<p>Both Mrs. Harcourt and her sister and, indeed, the whole company +were Tristram's old and intimate friends and they were so delighted +to see him, and chaffed and were gay, and Zara watched, and saw +that her uncle entered into the spirit of the fun in the saloon, +and only she was a stranger and out in the cold.</p> +<p>As for Tristram, he seemed to become a different person to the +stern, constrained creature of the past week, and he sat in a +corner with Mrs. Harcourt, and bent over her and chaffed and +whispered in her ear, and she—Zara—was left primly in +one of the armchairs, a little aloof. But such a provoking looking +type of beauty as hers did not long leave the men of the party cold +to her charms; and soon Jimmy Danvers joined her and a Colonel +Lowerby, commonly known as "the Crow," and she held a little court. +But to relax and be genial and unregal was so difficult for her, +with the whole contrary training of all her miserable life.</p> +<p>Hitherto men and, indeed, often women were things to be kept at +a distance, as in one way or another they were sure to bite!</p> +<p>And after a while the party adjusted itself, some for bridge and +some for sleep; and Jimmy Danvers and Colonel Lowerby went into the +small compartment to smoke.</p> +<p>"Well, Crow," said Jimmy, "what do you think of Tristram's new +lady? Isn't she a wonder? But, Jehoshaphat! doesn't she freeze you +to death!"</p> +<p>"Very curious type," growled the Crow. "Bit of Vesuvius +underneath, I expect."</p> +<p>"Yes, that is what a fellow'd think to look at her," Jimmy said, +puffing at his cigarette. "But she keeps the crust on the top all +the time; the bloomin' volcano don't get a chance!"</p> +<p>"She doesn't look stupid," continued the Crow. "She looks +stormy—expect it's pretty well worth while, though, when she +melts."</p> +<p>"Poor old Tristram don't look as if he had had a taste of +paradise with his houri, for his week, does he? Before we'd +heartened him up on the platform a bit—give you my +word—he looked as mum as an owl," Jimmy said. "And she looked +like an iceberg, as she's done all the time. I've never seen her +once warm up."</p> +<p>"He's awfully in love with her," grunted the Crow.</p> +<p>"I believe that is about the measure, though I can't see how +you've guessed it. You had not got back for the wedding, Crow, and +it don't show now."</p> +<p>The Crow laughed—one of his chuckling, cynical laughs +which to his dear friend Lady Anningford meant so much that was in +his mind.</p> +<p>"Oh, doesn't it!" he said.</p> +<p>"Well, tell me, what do you really think of her?" Jimmy went on. +"You see, I was best man at the wedding, and I feel kind of +responsible if she is going to make the poor, old boy awfully +unhappy."</p> +<p>"She's unhappy herself," said the Crow. "It's because she is +unhappy she's so cold. She reminds me of a rough terrier I bought +once, when I was a lad, from a particularly brutal bargeman. It +snarled at every one who came near it, before they could show if +they were going to kick or not, just from force of habit."</p> +<p>"Well?" questioned Jimmy, who, as before has been stated, was +rather thick.</p> +<p>"Well, after I had had it for a year it was the most faithful +and the gentlest dog I ever owned. That sort of creature wants +oceans of kindness. Expect Tristram's pulled the curb—doesn't +understand as yet."</p> +<p>"Why, how could a person who must always have had heaps of +cash—Markrute's niece, you know—and a fine position be +like your dog, Crow? You <i>are</i> drawing it!"</p> +<p>"Well, you need not mind what I say, Jimmy," Colonel Lowerby +went on. "Judge for yourself. You asked my opinion, and as I am an +old friend of the family I've given it, and time will show."</p> +<p>"Lady Highford's going to be at Montfitchet," Jimmy announced +after a pause. "She won't make things easy for any one, will +she!"</p> +<p>"How did that happen?" asked the Crow in an astonished +voice.</p> +<p>"Ethelrida had asked her in the season, when every one supposed +the affair was still on, and I expect she would not let them put +her off—" And then both men looked up at the door, for +Tristram peeped in.</p> +<p>"We shall be arriving in five minutes, you fellows," he +said.</p> +<p>And soon they drew up at the little Tylling Green station, and +the saloon was switched off, while the express flew on to King's +Lynn.</p> +<p>There were motor cars and an omnibus to meet them, and Lady +Ethelrida's own comfortable coupé for the bridal pair. They +might just want to say a few words together alone before arriving, +she had kindly thought. And so, though neither of the two were very +eager for this tête-à-tête, they got in and +started off. The little coupé had very powerful engines and +flew along, so they were well ahead of the rest of the party and +would get to the house first, which was what the hostess had +calculated upon. Then Tristram could have the pleasure of +presenting his bride to the assembled company at tea, without the +interruptions of the greetings of the other folk.</p> +<p>Zara felt excited. She was beginning to realize that these +English people were all of her dead father's class, not creatures +whom one must beware of until one knew whether or not they were +gamblers or rogues. And it made her breathe more freely, and the +black panther's look died out of her eyes. She did not feel +nervous, as she well might have done—only excited and highly +worked up. Tristram, for his part, wished to heaven Ethelrida had +not arranged to send the coupé for them. It was such a +terrible temptation for him to resist for five miles, sitting so +near her all alone in the dusk of the afternoon! He clenched his +hands under the rug, and drew as far away from her as he could; and +she glanced at him and wondered, almost timidly, why he looked so +stern.</p> +<p>"I hope you will tell me, if there is anything special you wish +me to do, please?" she said. "Because, you see, I have never been +in the English country before, and my uncle has given me to +understand the customs are different to those abroad."</p> +<p>He felt he could not look at her; the unusual gentleness in her +voice was so alluring, and he had not forgotten the hurt of the +chinchilla coat. If he relented in his attitude at all she would +certainly snub him again; so he continued staring in front of him, +and answered ordinarily,</p> +<p>"I expect you will do everything perfectly right, and every one +will only want to be kind to you, and make you have a good time; +and my uncle will certainly make love to you but you must not mind +that."</p> +<p>And Zara allowed herself to smile as she answered,</p> +<p>"No, I shall not in the least object to that!"</p> +<p>He knew she was smiling—out of the corner of his +eye—and the temptation to clasp her to him was so +overpowering that he said rather hoarsely, "Do you mind if I put +the window down?"</p> +<p>He must have some air; he was choking. She wondered more and +more what was the matter with him, and they both fell into a +constrained silence which lasted until they turned into the park +gates; and Zara peered out into the ghostly trees, with their +autumn leaves nearly off, and tried to guess from the lodge what +the house would be like.</p> +<p>It was very enormous and stately, she found when they reached +it, and, she walking with her empress air and Tristram following +her, they at last came to the picture gallery where the rest of the +party, who had arrived earlier, were all assembled in the center, +by one of the big fireplaces, with their host and hostess having +tea.</p> +<p>The Duke and Lady Ethelrida came forward, down the very long, +narrow room (they had quite sixty feet to walk before they met +them), and then, when they did, they both kissed Zara—their +beautiful new relation!—and Lady Ethelrida taking her arm +drew her towards the party, while she whispered,</p> +<p>"You dear, lovely thing! Ever so many welcomes to the family and +Montfitchet!"</p> +<p>And Zara suddenly felt a lump in her throat. How she had +misjudged them all in her hurt ignorance! And determining to repair +her injustice she advanced with a smile and was presented to the +group.</p> +<a name="C022" id="C022"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> +<p>There was a good deal of running into each other's rooms before +dressing for dinner among the ladies at Montfitchet, that night. +They had, they felt, to exchange views about the new bride! And the +opinions were favorable, on the whole; unanimous, as to her beauty +and magnetic attraction; divided, as to her character; but fiercely +and venomously antagonistic in one mean, little heart.</p> +<p>Emily and Mary and Lady Betty Burns clustered together in the +latter's room. "We think she is perfectly lovely, Betty," Emily +said, "but we don't know her as yet. She is rather stiff, and +frightens us just a little. Perhaps she is shy. What do you +think?"</p> +<p>"She looks just like the heroines in some of the books that +Mamma does not let me read and I am obliged to take up to bed with +me. Don't you know, Mary—especially the one I lent +you—deeply, mysteriously tragic. You remember the one who +killed her husband and then went off with the Italian Count; and +then with some one else. It was frightfully exciting."</p> +<p>"Good gracious! Betty," exclaimed Emily. "How dreadful! You +don't think our sister-in-law looks like that?"</p> +<p>"I really don't know," said Lady Betty, who was nineteen and +wrote lurid melodramas—to the waste of much paper and the +despair of her mother. "I don't know. I made one of my heroines in +my last play have just those passionate eyes—and she stabbed +the villain in the second act!"</p> +<p>"Yes, but," said Mary, who felt she must defend Tristram's wife, +"Zara isn't in a play and there is no villain, and—why, +Betty, no one has tragedies in real life!"</p> +<p>Lady Betty tossed her flaxen head, while she announced a +prophecy, with an air of deep wisdom which positively frightened +the other two girls.</p> +<p>"You mark my words, both of you, Emily and Mary—they will +have some tragedy before the year is out! And I shall put it all in +my next play."</p> +<p>And with this fearful threat ringing in their ears Tristram's +two sisters walked in a scared fashion to their room.</p> +<p>"Betty is wonderful, isn't she, darling?" Mary said. "But, Em, +you don't think there is any truth in it, do you? Mother would be +so horribly shocked if there was anything like one of Betty's plays +in the family, wouldn't she? And Tristram would never allow it +either!"</p> +<p>"Of course not, you goosie," answered Emily. "But Betty is right +in one way—Zara has got a mysterious face, and—and, +Mary—Tristram seemed somehow changed, I thought; rather +sarcastic once or twice."</p> +<p>And then their maid came in and put a stop to their +confidences.</p> +<hr /> +<p>"She is the most wonderful person I have ever met, Ethelrida," +Lady Anningford was just then saying, as she and the hostess +stopped at her door and let Lady Thornby and the young Countess of +Melton go on.—"She is wickedly beautiful and attractive, and +there is something odd about her, too, and it touches me; and I +don't believe she is really wicked a bit. Her eyes are like storm +clouds. I have heard her first husband was a brute. I can't think +who told me but it came from some one at one of the Embassies."</p> +<p>"We don't know much about her, any of us," Lady Ethelrida said, +"but Aunt Jane asked us all in the beginning to trust Tristram's +judgment: he is awfully proud, you know. And besides, her uncle, +Mr. Markrute, is so nice. But, Anne—" and Lady Ethelrida +paused.</p> +<p>"Well, what, dear? Tristram is awfully in love with her, isn't +he?" Lady Anningford asked.</p> +<p>"Yes," said Lady Ethelrida, "but, Anne, do you really think +Tristram looks happy? I thought when he was not speaking his face +seemed rather sad."</p> +<p>"The Crow came down in the train with them," Lady Anningford +announced. "I'll hear the whole exact impression of them after +dinner and tell you. The Crow is always right."</p> +<p>"She is so very attractive, I am sure, to every man who sees +her, Anne. I hope Lord Elterton won't begin and make Tristram +jealous. I wish I had not asked him. And then there is +Laura—It was awful taste, I think, her insisting upon coming, +don't you?—Anne, if she seems as if she were going to be +horrid you will help me to protect Zara, won't you?—And now +we really must dress."</p> +<hr /> +<p>In another room Mrs. Harcourt was chatting with her sister and +Lady Highford.</p> +<p>"She is perfectly lovely, Laura," Miss Opie said. "Her hair must +reach down to the ground and looks as if it would not come off, and +her skin isn't even powdered—I examined it, on purpose, in a +side light. And those eyes! Je-hoshaphat! as Jimmy Danvers +says."</p> +<p>"Poor, darling Tristram!" Laura sighed sentimentally while she +inwardly registered her intense dislike of "the Opie girl." "He +looks melancholy enough—for a bridegroom; don't you think so, +Kate?" and she lowered her eyes, with a glance of would-be meaning, +as though she could say more, if she wished. "But no wonder, poor +dear boy! He loathed the marriage; it was so fearfully sudden. I +suppose the Markrute man had got him in his power."</p> +<p>"You don't say so!" Mrs. Harcourt gasped. She was a much simpler +person than her sister. "Jimmy assured me that Lord Tancred was +violently in love with her, and that was it."</p> +<p>"Jimmy always was a fool," Lady Highford said, and as they went +on to their rooms Lily Opie whispered,</p> +<p>"Kate, Laura Highford is an odious cat, and I don't believe a +word about Mr. Markrute and the getting Lord Tancred into his +power. That is only to make a salve for herself. The Duke would +never have Mr. Markrute here if there was anything fishy about him. +Why, ducky, you know it is the only house left in England, almost, +where they have only US!"</p> +<hr /> +<p>Tristram was ready for dinner in good time but he hesitated +about knocking at his wife's door. If she did not let him know she +was ready he would send Higgins to ask for her maid.</p> +<p>His eyes were shining with the pride he felt in her. She had +indeed come up to the scratch. He had not believed it possible that +she could have been so gracious, and he had not even guessed that +she would condescend to speak so much. And all his old friends had +been so awfully nice about her and honestly admiring; except Arthur +Elterton—<i>he</i> had admired rather too much!</p> +<p>And then this exaltation somewhat died down. It was after all +but a very poor, outside show, when, in reality, he could not even +knock at her door!</p> +<p>He wished now he had never let his pride hurl forth that +ultimatum on the wedding night, because he would have to stick to +it! He could not make the slightest advance, and it did not look as +if she meant to do so. Tristram in an ordinary case when his deep +feelings were not concerned would have known how to display a +thousand little tricks for the allurement of a woman, would have +known exactly how to cajole her, to give her a flower, and hesitate +when he spoke her name—and a number of useful +things—but he was too terribly in earnest to be anything but +a real, natural man; that is, hurt from her coldness and diffident +of himself, and iron-bound with pride.</p> +<p>And Zara at the other side of the door felt almost happy. It was +the first evening in her life she had ever dressed without some +heavy burden of care. Her self-protective, watchful instincts could +rest for a while; these new relations were truly, not only +seemingly, so kind. The only person she immediately and +instinctively disliked was Lady Highford who had gushed and said +one or two bitter-sweet things which she had not clearly nor +literally understood, but which, she felt, were meant to be +hostile.</p> +<p>And her husband, Tristram! It was plain to be seen every one +loved him—from the old Duke, to the old setter by the fire. +And how was it possible for them all to love a man, when—and +then her thoughts unconsciously turned to <i>if</i>—he were +capable of so base a thing as his marriage with her had been? Was +it possible there could be any mistake? On the first opportunity +she would question her uncle; and although she knew that gentleman +would only tell her exactly as much as he wished her to know, that +much would be the truth.</p> +<p>Dinner was to be at half-past eight. She ought to be punctual, +she knew; but it was all so wonderful, and refined, and old-world, +in her charming room, she felt inclined to dawdle and look +around.</p> +<p>It was a room as big as her mother's had been, in the gloomy +castle near Prague, but it was full of cozy touches—beyond +the great gilt state bed, which she admired immensely—and +with which she instinctively felt only the English—and only +such English—know how to endow their apartments.</p> +<p>Then she roused herself. She <i>must</i> dress. Fortunately her +hair did not take any time to twist up.</p> +<p>"<i>Miladi</i> is a dream!" Henriette exclaimed when at last she +was ready. "<i>Milor</i> will be proud!"</p> +<p>And he was.</p> +<p>She sent Henriette to knock at his door—his door in the +passage—not the one between their rooms!—just on the +stroke of half-past eight. He was at that moment going to send +Higgins on a like errand! and his sense of humor at the +grotesqueness of the situation made him laugh a bitter laugh.</p> +<p>The two servants as the messengers!—when he ought to have +been in there himself, helping to fix on her jewels, and playing +with her hair, and perhaps kissing exquisite bits of her shoulders +when the maid was not looking, or fastening her dress!</p> +<p>Well, the whole thing was a ghastly farce that must be got +through; he would take up politics, and be a wonderful landlord to +the people at Wrayth; and somehow, he would get through with it, +and no one should ever know, from him, of his awful mistake.</p> +<p>He hardly allowed himself to tell her she looked very beautiful +as they walked along the great corridor. She was all in deep +sapphire-blue gauze, with no jewels on at all but the Duke's +splendid brooch.</p> +<p>That was exquisite of her, he appreciated that fine touch. +Indeed, he appreciated everything about her—if she had +known.</p> +<p>People were always more or less on time in this house, and after +the silent hush of admiration caused by the bride's entrance they +all began talking and laughing, and none but Lady Highford and +another woman were late.</p> +<p>And as Zara walked along the white drawing-room, on the old +Duke's arm, she felt that somehow she had got back to a familiar +atmosphere, where she was at rest after long years of strife.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida had gone in with the bridegroom—to-night +everything was done with strict etiquette—and on her left +hand she had placed the bride's uncle. The new relations were to +receive every honor, it seemed. And Francis Markrute, as he looked +round the table, with the perfection of its taste, and saw how +everything was going on beautifully, felt he had been justified in +his schemes.</p> +<p>Lady Anningford sat beyond Tristram, and often these two talked, +so Lady Ethelrida had plenty of time, without neglecting him, to +converse with her other interesting guest.</p> +<p>"I am so glad you like our old home, Mr. Markrute," she said. +"To-morrow I will show you a number of my favorite haunts. It seems +sad, does it not, as so many people assert, that the times are +trending to take all these dear, old things away from us, and +divide them up?"</p> +<p>"It will be a very bad day for England when that time comes," +the financier said. "If only the people could study evolution and +the meaning of things there would not be any of this nonsensical +class hatred. The immutable law is that no one long retains any +position unless he, or she, is suitable for it. Nothing endures +that is not harmonious. It is because England is now out of +harmony, that this seething is going on. You and your race have +been fitted for what you have held for hundreds of years; that is +why you have stayed: and your influence, and such as you, have made +England great."</p> +<p>"Then how do you account for the whole thing being now out of +joint?" Lady Ethelrida asked. "As my father and I and, as far as I +know, numbers of us have remained just the same, and have tried as +well as we can to do our duty to every one."</p> +<p>"Have you ever studied the Laws of Lycurgus, Lady Ethelrida?" he +asked. And she shook her sleek, fine head. "Well, they are worth +glancing at, when you have time," he went on. "An immense value was +placed upon discipline, and as long as it lasted in its iron +simplicity the Spartans were the wonder of the then known world. +But after their conquest of Athens, when luxury poured in and every +general wanted something for himself and forgot the good of the +state, then their discipline went to pieces, and, so—the +whole thing. And that, applied in a modern way, is what is +happening to England. All classes are forgetting their discipline, +and, without fitting themselves for what they aspire to, they are +trying to snatch from some other class. And the whole thing is +rotten with mawkish sentimentality, and false prudery, and abeyance +of common sense."</p> +<p>"Yes," said Lady Ethelrida, much interested.</p> +<p>"Lycurgus went to the root of things," the financier continued, +"and made the people morally and physically healthy, and ruthlessly +expunged the unfit—not like our modern nonsense, which +encourages science to keep, among the prospective parents for the +future generation, all the most diseased. Moral and physical +balance and proportion were the ideas of the Spartans. They would +not have even been allowed to compete in the games, if they were +misshapen. And the analogy is, no one unfitted for a part ought to +aspire to it, for the public good. Any one has a right to scream, +if he does not obtain it when he is fitted for it."</p> +<p>"Yes, I see," said Lady Ethelrida. "Then what do you mean when +you say every class is trying to snatch something from some other +class? Do you mean from the class above it? Or what? Because unless +we, for instance—technically speaking—snatched from the +King from whom could we snatch?"</p> +<p>The financier smiled.</p> +<p>"I said purposely, 'some other class,' instead of 'some class +above it,' for this reason: it is because a certain and +ever-increasing number of your class, if I may say so, are +snatching—not, indeed, from the King—but from all +classes <i>beneath them</i>, manners and morals, and absence of +tenue, and absence of pride—things for which their class was +not fitted. They had their own vices formerly, which only hurt each +individual and not the order, as a stain will spoil the look of a +bit of machinery but will not upset its working powers like a piece +of grit. What they put into the machine now is grit. And the middle +classes are snatching what they think is gentility, and ridiculous +pretenses to birth and breeding; and the lower classes are +snatching everything they can get from the pitiful fall of the +other two, and shouting that all men are equal, when, if you come +down to the practical thing, the foreman of some ironworks, +say—where the opinions were purely socialistic, in the +abstract—would give the last joined stoker a sound trouncing +for aspirations in his actual work above his capabilities; because +he would know that if the stoker were then made foreman the +machinery could not work. The stokers of life should first fit +themselves to be foremen before they shout."</p> +<p>Then, as Lady Ethelrida looked very grave, and Francis Markrute +was really a whimsical person, and seldom talked so seriously to +women, he went on, smiling,</p> +<p>"The only really perfect governments in the world are those of +the Bees, and Ants, because they are both ruled with ruthless +discipline and no sentiment, and every individual knows his +place!"</p> +<p>"I read once, somewhere, that it has been discovered," said Lady +Ethelrida gently—she never laid down the law—"that the +reason why the wonderful Greeks came to an end was not really +because their system of government was not a good one, but because +the mosquitoes came and gave them malaria, and enervated them and +made them feeble, and so they could not stand against the stronger +peoples of the North. Perhaps," she went on, "England has got some +moral malarial mosquitoes and the scientists have not yet +discovered the proper means for their annihilation."</p> +<p>Here Tristram who overheard this interrupted:</p> +<p>"And it would not be difficult to give the noisome insects their +English names, would it, Francis? Some of them are in the +cabinet."</p> +<p>And the three laughed. But Lady Ethelrida wanted to hear +something more from her left-hand neighbor, so she said,</p> +<p>"Then the inference to be drawn from what you have said +is—we should aim at making conditions so that it is possible +for every individual to have the chance to make himself +practically—not theoretically—fit for anything his soul +aspires to. Is that it?"</p> +<p>"Absolutely in a nutshell, dear lady," Francis Markrute said, +and for a minute he looked into her eyes with such respectful, +intense admiration that Lady Ethelrida looked away.</p> +<a name="C023" id="C023"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> +<p>In the white drawing-room, afterwards, Lady Highford was +particularly gushing to the new bride. She came with a group of +other women to surround her, and was so playful and charming to all +her friends! She must be allowed to sit next to Zara, because, she +said, "Your husband and I are such very dear, old friends. And how +lovely it is to think that now he will be able to reopen Wrayth! +Dear Lady Tancred is so glad," she purred.</p> +<p>Zara just looked at her politely. What a done-up ferret woman! +she thought. She had met many of her tribe. At the rooms at Monte +Carlo, and in another class and another race, they were the kind +who played in the smallest stakes themselves, and often snatched +the other people's money.</p> +<p>"I have never heard my husband speak of you," she said +presently, when she had silently borne a good deal of vitriolic +gush. "You have perhaps been out of England for some time?"</p> +<p>And Lady Anningford whispered to Ethelrida, "We need not worry +to be ready to defend her, pet! She can hold her own!" So they +moved on to the group of the girls.</p> +<p>But at the end of their conversation, though Zara had used her +method of silence in a considerable degree and made it as difficult +as she could for Lady Highford, still, that artist in petty spite +had been able to leave behind her some rankling stings. She was a +mistress of innuendo. So that when the men came in, and Tristram, +from the sense of "not funking things" which was in him, +deliberately found Laura and sat down upon a distant sofa with her, +Zara suddenly felt some unpleasant feeling about her heart. She +found that she desired to watch them, and that, in spite of what +any one said to her, her attention wandered back to the distant +sofa in some unconscious speculation and unrest.</p> +<p>And Laura was being exceedingly clever. She scented with the +cunning of her species that Tristram was really unhappy, whether he +was in love with his hatefully beautiful wife or not. Now was her +chance; not by reproaches, but by sympathy, and, if possible, by +planting some venom towards his wife in his heart.</p> +<p>"Tristram, dear boy, why did you not tell me? Did you not know I +would have been delighted at anything—if it pleased you?" And +she looked down, and sighed. "I always made it my pleasure to +understand you, and to promote whatever seemed for your good."</p> +<p>And in his astonishment at this attitude Tristram forgot to +recall the constant scenes and reproaches, and the paltry little +selfishnesses of which he had been the victim during the year +their—friendship—had lasted. He felt somehow soothed. +Here was some one who was devoted to him, even if his wife were +not!</p> +<p>"You are a dear, Laura," he said.</p> +<p>"And now you must tell me if you are really +happy—Tristram." She lingered over his name. "She is so +lovely—your wife—but looks very cold. And I know, dear" +(another hesitation over the word), "I know you don't like women to +be cold."</p> +<p>"We will not discuss my wife," he said. "Tell me what you have +been doing, Laura. Let me see, when did I see you last—in +June?"</p> +<p>And the venom came to boiling-point in Laura's adder gland. He +could not even remember when he had said good-by to her! It was in +July, after the Eton and Harrow match!</p> +<p>"Yes, in June," she said sadly, turning her eyes down. "And you +might have told me, Tristram. It came as such a sudden shock. It +made me seriously ill. You must have known, and were probably +engaged—even then."</p> +<p>Tristram sat mute; for how could he announce the truth?</p> +<p>"Oh, don't let us talk of these things, Laura. Let us forget +those old times and begin again—differently. You will be a +dear friend to me always, I am sure. You always were—" and +then he stopped abruptly. He felt this was too much lying! and he +hated doing such things.</p> +<p>"Of course I will, dar—Tristram," Laura said, and appeared +much moved.</p> +<p>And from where Zara was trying to talk to the Duke she saw the +woman shiver and look down provokingly and her husband stretch his +long limbs out; and a sudden, unknown sensation of blinding rage +came over her, and she did not hear a syllable of the Duke's +speech.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Lady Anningford had retired to a seat in a window with +the Crow.</p> +<p>"Is it all right, Crow?" she asked, and one of his peculiarities +was to understand her—as Lady Ethelrida understood the +Duke—and and not ask "What?"</p> +<p>"Will be—some day—I expect—unless they get +drowned in the current first."</p> +<p>"Isn't she mysterious, Crow? I am sure she has some tragic +history. Have you heard anything?"</p> +<p>"Husband murdered by another man in a row at Monte Carlo."</p> +<p>"Over her?"</p> +<p>"I don't know for a fact, but I gather—not. You may be +certain, Queen Anne, that when a woman is as quiet and haughty as +Lady Tancred looks, and her manners are as cold and perfectly sure +of herself as hers are, she has not done anything she is ashamed +of, or regrets."</p> +<p>"Then what can be the cause of the coolness between them? Look +at Tristram now! I think it is horrid of him—sitting like +that talking to Laura, don't you?"</p> +<p>"A viper, Laura," growled the Crow. "She's trying to get him +again in the rebound."</p> +<p>"I cannot imagine why women cannot leave other women's husbands +alone. They are hateful creatures, most of them."</p> +<p>"Natural instinct of the chase," said Colonel Lowerby.</p> +<p>But Lady Anningford flashed.</p> +<p>"You are a cynic, Crow."</p> +<hr /> +<p>"And you will really show me your favorite haunts to-morrow, +Lady Ethelrida?" Francis Markrute was saying to his hostess. He had +contrived insidiously to detach her conversation from a group to +himself, and drew her unconsciously towards a seat where they would +be uninterrupted. "One judges so of people by their tastes in +haunts."</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida never spoke of herself as a rule. She was not in +the habit of getting into those—abstract to begin with, and +personal to go on with—thrilling conversations with men, +which most of the modern young women delight in, and which were the +peculiar joy of Lily Opie.</p> +<p>It was because for some unacknowledged reason the financier +personally pleased her that she now drifted where he wished.</p> +<p>"Mine are very simple, I fear, nothing for you to investigate," +she said gently.</p> +<p>"So I should have thought—" and he again as he had done at +dinner permitted himself to look into her eyes, and going on after +an imperceptible pause he said softly, "simple, and pure, and sweet +...I always think of you, Lady Ethelrida, as the embodiment of sane +things, balanced things—perfection." And his last word was +almost a caress.</p> +<p>"I am most ordinary," she said; and she wondered why she was not +angry with him, which she quite well could have been.</p> +<p>"It is only perfect balance in all things, if we but know it, +which appeals to the sane eye," he went on, pulling himself up. +"All weariness and satiety are caused in emotion; in pleasure in +persons, places, or things; by the want of proportion in them +somewhere which, like all simple things, is the hardest to +find."</p> +<p>"Do you make theories about everything, Mr. Markrute?" she +asked, and there was a smile in her eye.</p> +<p>"It is a wise thing to do sometimes; it keeps one from losing +one's head."</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida did not answer. She felt deliciously moved. She +had often said to her friend, Anne Anningford, when they had been +talking, that she did not like elderly men; she disliked to see +their hair getting thin, and their chins getting fat, and their +little habits and mannerisms growing pronounced. But here she found +herself tremendously interested in one who, from all accounts, must +be quite forty-five if not older, though it was true his brown +colorless hair was excessively thick, and he was slight of build +everywhere.</p> +<p>Now she felt she must turn the conversation to less personal +things, so:</p> +<p>"Zara looks very lovely to-night," she said.</p> +<p>"Yes," replied the financier, with an air of detaching himself +unwillingly from a thrilling topic, which was, indeed, what he +felt. "Yes, and I hope some day they will be exceedingly +happy."</p> +<p>"Why do you say some day?" Lady Ethelrida asked quickly. "I +hoped they were happy now."</p> +<p>"Not very, I am afraid," he said. "But you remember our compact +at dinner? They will be ideally so if they are left alone," and he +glanced casually at Tristram and Laura.</p> +<p>Ethelrida looked, too, following his eyes.</p> +<p>"Yes," she said. "I wish I had not asked her—" and then +she stopped abruptly, and grew a deep pink. She realized what the +inference in her speech was, and if Mr. Markrute had never heard +anything about the silly affair between her cousin and Lady +Highford what would he think! What might she not have done!</p> +<p>"That won't matter," he said, with his fine smile. "It will be +good for my niece. I meant something quite different."</p> +<p>But what he meant, he would not say.</p> +<p>And so the evening passed smoothly. The girls, and all the young +men and the Crow, and Young Billy, and giddy, irresponsible people +like that, had gathered at one end of the room; they were arranging +some especial picnic for the morrow, as only some of them were +going to shoot. And into their picnic plans they drew Zara, and +barred Tristram out, with chaff.</p> +<p>"You are only an old, married man now, Tristram," they teased +him with. "But Lady Tancred is young and comes with us!"</p> +<p>"And I will take care of her," announced Lord Elterton, looking +sentimental—much to Tristram's disgust.</p> +<p>Ethelrida seemed to have collected a lot of rotters, he thought +to himself, although it was the same party he had so enjoyed last +year!</p> +<p>"Lady Thornby and Lady Melton and Lily Opie and her sister are +going out to the shooters' lunch," Laura said sweetly. "As you are +going to be deprived of your lovely wife, Tristram, I will come, +too."</p> +<p>And so, finally good nights were said and the ladies retired to +their rooms; and Zara could not think why she no longer found the +atmosphere of hers peaceful and delightful, as she had done before +she went down.</p> +<p>For the first time in her life she felt she hated a woman.</p> +<p>And Tristram, her husband, when he came up an hour or so later, +wondered if she were asleep. Laura had been perfectly sweet, and he +felt greatly soothed. Poor old Laura! He supposed she had really +cared for him rather, and perhaps he had behaved casually, even +though she had been impossible, in the past. But how had he ever +even for five minutes fancied himself in love with her? Why, she +looked quite old to-night! and he had never remarked before how +thin and fluffed out her hair was. Women ought certainly to have +beautifully thick hair.</p> +<p>And then all the pretenses of any healing of his aches fell from +him, and he went and stood by the door that separated him from his +loved one, and he stretched out his arms and said aloud, "Darling, +if only you could understand how happy I would make you—if +you would let me! But I can't even break down this hateful door as +I want to, because of my vow."</p> +<p>And then for most of the rest of the night he tossed restlessly +in his bed.</p> +<a name="C024" id="C024"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> +<p>The next day did not look at all promising as regards the +weather, but still the shooters, Tristram among them, started early +for their sport. And after the merriest breakfast at little tables +in the great dining-room the intending picnickers met in conclave +to decide as to what they should do.</p> +<p>"It is perfectly sure to rain," Jimmy Danvers said. "There is no +use attempting to go to Lynton Heights. Why don't we take the lunch +to Montfitchet Tower and eat it in the big hall? There we wouldn't +get wet."</p> +<p>"Quite right, Jimmy," agreed the Crow, who, with Lady +Anningford, was to chaperon the young folk. "I'm all for not +getting wet, with my rheumatic shoulder, and I hear you and Young +Billy are a couple of firstclass cooks."</p> +<p>"Then," interrupted Lady Betty enthusiastically, "we can cook +our own lunch! Oh, how delightful! We will make a fire in the big +chimney. Uncle Crow, you are a pet!"</p> +<p>"I will go and give orders for everything at once," Lady +Ethelrida agreed delightedly. "Jimmy, what a bright boy to have +thought of the plan!"</p> +<p>And by twelve o'clock all was arranged. Now, it had been settled +the night before that Mr. Markrute should shoot with the Duke and +the rest of the more serious men; but early in the morning that +astute financier had sent a note to His Grace's room, saying, if it +were not putting out the guns dreadfully, he would crave to be +excused as he was expecting a telegram of the gravest importance +concerning the new Turkish loan, which he would be obliged to +answer by a special letter, and he was uncertain at what time the +wire would come. He was extremely sorry, but, he added whimsically, +the Duke must remember he was only a poor, business-man!</p> +<p>At which His Grace had smiled, as he thought of his guest's vast +millions, in comparison to his own.</p> +<p>Thus it was that just before twelve o'clock when the young party +were ready to start for their picnic. Mr. Markrute, having written +his letter and despatched it by express to London, chanced upon +Lady Ethelrida in a place where he felt sure he should find her, +and, expressing his surprise that they were not already gone, he +begged to be allowed to come with them. He, too, was an excellent +cook, he assured her, and would be really of use. And they all +laughingly started.</p> +<p>And if she could have seen the important letter concerning the +new Turkish loan, she would have found it contained a pressing +reminder to Bumpus to send down that night certain exquisitely +bound books!</p> +<hr /> +<p>Above all, the young ladies had demanded they should have no +servants at their picnic—everything, even the fire, was to be +made by themselves. Jimmy was to drive the donkey-cart, with Lady +Betty, to take all the food. The only thing they permitted was that +the pots and pans and the wood for the fire might be sent on.</p> +<p>And they were all so gay and looked so charming and suitably +clad, in their rough, short, tweed frocks.</p> +<p>Zara, who walked demurely by Lord Elterton, had never seen +anything of the sort. She felt like a strange, little child at its +first party.</p> +<p>Before he had started in the morning Tristram had sent her a +note (he could not stand the maid and valet as verbal +messengers—it made him laugh too bitterly), it was just a few +lines:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"You asked me to tell you anything special about our customs, so +this is to say, just put on some thick, short, ordinary suit, and +mind you have a pair of thick boots."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And it was signed "Tancred"—not "Tristram."</p> +<p>She gave a little quiver as she read it, and then asked and +found his lordship had already gone down. She was to breakfast +later with the non-shooters. She would not see him, then, for the +entire day. And that odious woman with whom he was so friendly +would have him all to herself!</p> +<p>These thoughts flashed into her mind before she was aware of it, +and then she crushed them out—furious with herself. For of +what possible matter could her husband's doings be to her? And yet, +as she started, she found herself hoping it would rain, so that the +five ladies who intended joining the guns in the farmhouse, for +luncheon at two, would be unable to go. For just as she had come +into the saloon where some of the party were writing letters that +morning she had heard Lady Highford say to Mrs. Harcourt, in her +high voice, "Yes, indeed, we mean to finish the discussion this +afternoon after luncheon.—Dear Tristram! There is a long wait +at the Fulton beat; we shall have plenty of time alone." And then +she had turned round, and seemed confused at seeing +her—Zara—and gushed more than the night before.</p> +<p>But she did not get the satisfaction of perceiving the bride +turn a hair, though as Zara walked on to the end of the room she +angrily found herself wondering who was this woman, and what had +she been to Tristram? What was she <i>now</i>?</p> +<p>Lord Elterton had already fallen in love. He was a true +<i>cavalier</i> servant; he knew, like the financier, as a fine +art, how to manipulate the temperaments of most women. He prided +himself upon it. Indeed, he spent the greater part of his life +doing nothing else. Exquisite gentleness and sympathy was his +method. There were such heaps of rough, rude brutes about that one +would always have a chance by being the contrast; and husbands, he +reasoned, were nearly always brutes—after a while—in +the opinion of their wives! He had hardly ever known this plan to +fail with the most devoted wife. So although Lady Tancred had only +been married a week he hoped to render her not quite indifferent to +himself in some way. He had seen at once that she and Tristram were +not on terms of passionate love, and there was something so piquant +about flirting with a bride! He divided women as a band into about +four divisions. The quite impossible, the recalcitrant, the timid, +and the bold. For the impossible he did not waste powder and shot. +For the recalcitrant he used insidious methods of tickling their +fancies, as he would tickle a trout. For the timid he was tender +and protective; and for the bold subtly indifferent: but always +gentle and nice!</p> +<p>He was not sure yet in which of the four divisions he should +have to place his new attraction—probably the +second—but he frankly admitted he had never before had any +experience with one of her type. Her strange eyes thrilled him: he +felt, when she turned the deep slate, melting disks upon him, his +heart went "down into his bloomin' boots," as Jimmy Danvers would +have described the sensation. So he began with extreme gentleness +and care.</p> +<p>"You have not been long in this country, Lady Tancred, have you? +One can see it—you are so exquisitely <i>chic</i>. And how +perfectly you speak English! Not the slightest accent. It is +delicious. Did you learn it when very young?"</p> +<p>"My father was an Englishman," said Zara, disarmed from her +usual chilling reserve by the sympathy in his voice. "I always +spoke it until I was thirteen, and since then, too. It is a nice, +honest language, I think."</p> +<p>"You speak numbers of others, probably?" Lord Elterton went on, +admiringly.</p> +<p>"Yes, about four or five. It is very easy when one is moving in +the countries, and certain languages are very much alike. Russian +is the most difficult."</p> +<p>"How clever you are!"</p> +<p>"No, I am not a bit. But I have had time to read a good +deal—" and then Zara stopped. It was so against her habit to +give personal information to any one like this.</p> +<p>Lord Elterton saw the little check, and went on another tack. "I +have been an idle fellow and am not at all learned," he said. +"Tristram and I were at Eton together in the same house, and we +were both dunces; but he did rather well at Oxford, and I went +straight into the Guards."</p> +<p>Zara longed to ask about Tristram. She had not even heard before +that he had been to Oxford! And it struck her suddenly how +ridiculous the whole thing was. She had sold herself for a bargain; +she had asked no questions of any one; she had intended to despise +the whole family and remain entirely aloof; and now she found every +one of her intentions being gradually upset. But as yet she did not +admit for a second to herself that she was falling in love. It +would be such a perfectly impossible thing to do in any case, when +now he was absolutely indifferent to her and showed it in every +way. It made the whole thing all the more revolting—to have +pretended he loved her on that first night! Yes, with certain +modifications of classes and races men were all perfectly +untrustworthy, if not brutes, and a woman, if she could relax her +vigilance, as regards the defense of her person and virtue, could +not afford to unbend a fraction as to her emotions!</p> +<p>And all the time she was thinking this out she was silent, and +Lord Elterton watched her, thrilled with the attraction of the +unobtainable. He saw plainly she had forgotten his very presence, +and, though piqued, he grew the more eager.</p> +<p>"I would love to know what you were thinking of," he said +softly; and then with great care he pulled a bramble aside so that +it should not touch her. They had turned into a lane beyond the +kitchen garden and the park.</p> +<p>Zara started. She had, indeed, been far away!</p> +<p>"I was thinking—" she said, and then she paused for a +suitable lie but none came, so she grew confused, and stopped, and +hesitated, and then she blurted out, "I was thinking was it +possible there could ever be any one whom one could believe?"</p> +<p>Lord Elterton looked at her. What a strange woman!</p> +<p>"Yes," he said simply, "you can believe me when I tell you I +have never been so attracted by any one in my life."</p> +<p>"Oh! for that!" she answered contemptuously. <i>"Mon Dieu!</i> +how often I have heard of that!"</p> +<p>This was not what he had expected. There was no empty boast +about the speech, as there would have been if Laura Highford had +uttered it—she was fond of demonstrating her conquests and +power in words. There was only a weariness as of something banal +and tiring. He must be more careful.</p> +<p>"Yes, I quite understand," he said sympathetically. "You must be +bored with the love of men."</p> +<p>"I have never seen any love of men. Do men know love?" she +asked, not with any bitterness—only as a question of fact. +What had Tristram been about? Lord Elterton thought. Here he had +been married to this divine creature for a whole week, and she was +plainly asking the question from her heart. And Tristram was no +fool in a general way, he knew. There was some mystery here, but +whatever it was there was the more chance for him! So he went on +very tactfully, trying insidiously to soothe her, so that at last +when they had arrived Zara had enjoyed her walk.</p> +<p>Montfitchet Tower was all that remained of the old castle +destroyed by Cromwell's Ironsides. It was just one large, square +room, a sort of great hall. It had stood roofless for many years +and then been covered in by the old Duke's father, and contained a +splendid stone chimney piece of colossal proportions. It had also +been floored, and had the raised place still, where the family had +eaten "above the salt." The rest of the old castle was a complete +ruin, and at the Restoration the new one had been rebuilt about a +mile further up the park.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida had collected several pieces of rough oak +furniture to put into this great room which in height reached three +stories up, and the supports of the mantelpieces of the upper +floors could be seen on the blackened stone walls. It was here she +gave her school treats and tenants' summer dances, because there +was a great stretch of green, turfy lawn beyond, down to the river, +where they could play their games.</p> +<p>And on a wet day it was an ideal picnic place.</p> +<p>A bright wood fire was already blazing on top of the ashes that +for many years had never been cleared out, and a big jack swung in +front of it—for appearance sake! What fun every one seemed to +be having, Zara thought, as from an oak bench she watched them all +busy as bees over their preparations for the repast. She had helped +to make a salad, and now sat with the Crow, and surveyed the +rest.</p> +<p>Jimmy Danvers had turned up his sleeves and was thoroughly in +earnest over his part; and he and Young Billy had gathered some +brown bracken, and put it sprouting from a ham, to represent, they +said, the peacock. For, they explained, a banquet in a baronial +hall had to have a peacock, as well as a boar's head, and an ox +roasted whole!</p> +<p>And suddenly Zara thought of her last picnic, with Mimo and +Mirko in the Neville Street attic, when the poor little one had +worn the paper cap, and had taken such pleasure in the new rosy +cups. And the Crow who was watching her closely, wondered why this +gay scene should make the lovely bride look so pitifully sad. "How +<i>Maman</i> would have loved all this!" she was thinking, "with +her gay, tender soul, and her delight in make-believe and joyous +picnics." And her father—he had known all these sorts of +people; they were his own class, and yet he had come to live in the +great, gloomy castle, out of his own land, and expected his +exquisite, young wife to stay there alone, most of the time. The +hideous cruelty of men!</p> +<p>And there was her Uncle Francis, in quite a new +character!—helping Lady Ethelrida to lay the table, as +happily as a boy. Would she herself ever be happy, she wondered, +ever have a time free from some agonizing strain or care? And then, +from sorrow her expression changed to one of strange slumberous +resentment at fate.</p> +<p>"Queen Anne," said the Crow, as they sat down to luncheon, +"there is some tragedy hanging over that young woman. She has been +suffering like the devil for at least ten minutes, and forgot I was +even beside her and pretending to talk. You and Lady Ethelrida have +two not altogether unkind hearts. Can't you find out what it is, +and comfort her?"</p> +<a name="C025" id="C025"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2> +<p>After luncheon, which had been carried through with all the +proper ceremonies of the olden time according to Jimmy Danvers and +Young Billy's interpretation of them, it came on to pour with rain; +so these masters of the revels said that now the medieval dances +should begin, and accordingly they turned on the gramophone that +stood in the corner to amuse the children at the school treats. And +Mary and her admirer, Lord Henry Burns, and Emily and a Captain +Hume, and Lady Betty and Jimmy Danvers, gayly took the floor, while +Young Billy offered himself to the bride, as he said he as the +representative of the Lord of the Castle had a right to the +loveliest lady; and, with his young, stolid self-confidence, he +pushed Lord Elterton aside.</p> +<p>Zara had not danced for a very long time—four years at +least—and she had not an idea of the two-steps and +barn-dances and other sorts of whirling capers that they invented; +but she did her best, and gradually something of the excitement of +the gay young spirits spread to her, and she forgot her sorrows and +began to enjoy herself.</p> +<p>"You don't ever dance, I suppose, Mr. Markrute?" Lady Ethelrida +asked, as she stopped, with the gallant old Crow, flushed and +smiling by the daïs, where the financier and Lady Anningford +sat. "If you ever do, I, as the Lady of the Castle, ask you to +'tread a measure' with me!"</p> +<p>"No one could resist such, an invitation," he answered, and put +his arm around her for a valse.</p> +<p>"I do love dancing," she said, as they went along very well. She +was so surprised that this "grave and reverend signor," as she +called him, should be able to valse!</p> +<p>"So do I," said Francis Markrute—"under certain +circumstances. This is one of them." And then he suddenly held her +rather tight, and laughed. "Think of it all!" he went on. "Here we +are, in thick boots and country clothes capering about like savages +round their fire, and, for all sorts of reasons, we all love +it!"</p> +<p>"It is just the delicious exercise with me," said Lady +Ethelrida.</p> +<p>"And it has nothing at all to do with that reason with me," +returned her partner.</p> +<p>And Lady Ethelrida quivered with some sort of pleasure and did +not ask him what his reason was. She thought she knew, and her eyes +sparkled. They were the same height, and he saw her look; and as +they went on, he whispered:</p> +<p>"I have brought you down the book we spoke of, you know, and you +will take it from me, won't you? Just as a remembrance of this day +and how you made me young for an hour!"</p> +<p>They stopped by one of the benches at the side and sat down, and +Lady Ethelrida answered softly,</p> +<p>"Yes, if—you wish me to—"</p> +<p>Lord Elterton had now dislodged Young Billy and was waltzing +with Zara himself: his whole bearing was one of intense devotion, +and she was actually laughing and looking up in his face, still +affected by the general hilarity, when the door of the wooden porch +that had been built on as an entrance opened noiselessly, and some +of the shooters peeped into the room. It had been too impossibly +wet to go on, and they had sent the ladies back in the motors and +had come across the park on their way home, and, hearing the sound +of music, had glanced in. Tristram was in front of the intruders +and just chanced to catch his bride's look at her partner, before +either of them saw they were observed.</p> +<p>He felt frightfully jealous. He had never before seen her so +smiling, to begin with, and never at all at himself. He longed to +kick Arthur Elterton! Confounded impertinence!—And what +tommyrot—dancing like this, in the afternoon with boots on! +And when they all stopped and greeted the shooters, and crowded +round the fire, he said, in a tone of rasping sarcasm—in +reply to Jimmy Danvers' announcement that they were back in the +real life of a castle in the Middle Ages:</p> +<p>"Any one can see that! You have even got My Lady's fool. Look at +Arthur—with mud on his boots—jumping about!"</p> +<p>And Lord Elterton felt very flattered. He knew his old friend +was jealous, and if he were jealous then the charming, cold lady +must have been unbelievingly nice to him, and that meant he was +getting on!</p> +<p>"You are jealous because your lovely bride prefers me, Young +Lochinvar," and he laughed as he quoted:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"'For so faithful in love and so dauntless in war—</p> +<p>There ne'er was a gallant like Young Lochinvar!'"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>And Zara saw that Tristram's eyes flashed blue steel, and that +he did not like the chaff at all. So, just out of some +contrariness—he had been with Lady Highford all day so why +should she not amuse herself, too; indeed, why should either of +them care what the other did—so just out of contrariness she +smiled again at Lord Elterton and said:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"'Then tread we a measure, my Lord Lochinvar.'"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>And off they went.</p> +<p>And Tristram, with his face more set than the Crusader +ancestor's in Wrayth Church, said to his uncle, Lord Charles, "We +are all wet through: let us come along."</p> +<p>And he turned round and went out.</p> +<p>And as he walked, he wondered to himself how much she must know +of English poetry to have been able to answer Arthur like that. If +only they could be friends and talk of the books he, too, loved! +And then he realized more strongly than ever the impossibility of +the situation—he, who had been willing to undertake it with +the joyous self-confidence with which he had started upon a lion +hunt!</p> +<p>He felt he was getting to the end of his tether; it could not go +on. Her words that night at Dover, had closed down all the possible +sources he could have used for her melting.</p> +<p>And a man cannot in a week break through a thousand years of +inherited pride.</p> +<p>Before the Canada scheme had presented itself he had rather +thought of joining with a friend for another trip to the Soudan: it +might not be too late still, when they had got over the Wrayth +ordeal, the tenants' dinners, and the speeches, and the cruel +mockery of it all. He would see—perhaps—what could be +done, but to go on living in this daily torture he would not submit +to, for the "loving her less" had not yet begun!</p> +<p>And when he had left, although she would not own it to herself, +Zara's joy in the day was gone.</p> +<p>The motors came to fetch them presently, and they all went back +to the Castle to dress and have tea.</p> +<p>Tristram's face was still stony and he had sat down in a sofa by +Laura, when a footman brought a telegram to Zara. He watched her +open it, with concentrated interest. Whom were these mysterious +telegrams from? He saw her face change as it had done in Paris, +only not so seriously; and then she crushed up the paper into a +ball and threw it in the fire. The telegram had been: "Very +slightly feverish again," and signed "Mimo."</p> +<p>"Now I remember where I have seen your wife before," said Laura. +And Tristram said absently,</p> +<p>"Where?"</p> +<p>"In the waiting-room at Waterloo station—and yet—no, +it could not have been she, because she was quite ordinarily +dressed, and she was talking very interestedly to a foreign man." +She watched Tristram's face and saw she had hit home for some +reason; so she went on, enchanted: "Of course it could not have +been she, naturally; but the type is so peculiar that any other +like it would remind one, would it not?"</p> +<p>"I expect so," he said. "It could not have been Zara, though, +because she was in Paris until just before the wedding."</p> +<p>"I remember the occasion quite well. It was the day after the +engagement was announced, because I had been up for Flora's +wedding, and was going down into the country."</p> +<p>Then in a flash it came to him that that was the very day he +himself had seen Zara in Whitehall, the day when she had not gone +to Paris. And rankling, uncomfortable suspicions overcame him +again.</p> +<p>Laura felt delighted. She did not know why he should be moved at +her announcement; but he certainly was, so it was worth while +rubbing it in.</p> +<p>"Has she a sister, perhaps? Because—now I come to think of +it—the resemblance is extraordinary. I remember I was rather +interested at the time because the man was so awfully handsome and +as you know, dear boy, I always had a passion for handsome +men!"</p> +<p>"My wife was an only child," Tristram answered. What was Laura +driving at?</p> +<p>"Well, she has a double then," she laughed. "I watched them for +quite ten minutes, so I am sure. I was waiting for my maid, who was +to meet me, and I could not leave for fear of missing her."</p> +<p>"How interesting!" said Tristram coldly. He would not permit +himself to demand a description of the man.</p> +<p>"Perhaps after all it was she, before she went to Paris, and I +may be mistaken about the date," Laura went on. "It might have been +her brother—he was certainly foreign—but no, it could +not have been a brother." And she looked down and smiled +knowingly.</p> +<p>Tristram felt gradually wild with the stings her words were +planting, and then his anger rebounded upon herself. Little natures +always miscalculate the effect of their actions, as factors in +their desires, for their ultimate ends.</p> +<p>Laura only longed—after hurting Tristram as a +punishment—to get him back again; but she was not clever +enough to know that to make him mad with jealousy about his wife +was not the way.</p> +<p>"I don't understand what you wish to insinuate, Laura," he said +in a contemptuous voice; "but whatever it is, it is having no +effect upon me. I absolutely adore my wife, and know everything she +does or does not do."</p> +<p>"Oh! the poor, angry darling, there, there!" she laughed, +spitefully, "and was It jealous! Well, It shan't be teased. But +what a clever husband, to know all about his wife! He should be put +in a glass case in a museum!" And she got up and left him +alone.</p> +<p>Tristram would like to have killed some one—he did not +know whom—this foreign man, "Mimo," most likely: he had not +forgotten the name!</p> +<p>If his pride had permitted him he would have gone up to Zara, +who had now retired to her room, and asked straight out for an +explanation. He would if he had been sensible have simply said he +was unhappy, and he would have asked her to reassure him. It would +all have been perfectly simple and soon ended if treated with +common sense. But he was too obstinate, and too hurt, and too +passionately in love. The bogey of his insulted Tancred pride +haunted him always, and, like all foolish things, caused him more +suffering than if it had been a crime.</p> +<p>So once more the pair dressed to go down to the ducal dinner, +with deeper estrangement in their hearts. And when Tristram was +ready to-night, he went out into the corridor and pretended to look +at the pictures. He would have no more servants' +messages!—and there he was, with a bitter smile on his face, +when Lady Anningford, coming from her room beyond, stopped to talk. +She wondered at his being there—a very different state of +things to her own with her dear old man, she remembered, who, after +the wedding day, for weeks and weeks would hardly let her out of +his sight!</p> +<p>Then Henriette peeped out of the door and saw that the message +she was being sent upon was in vain, and went back; and immediately +Zara appeared.</p> +<p>Her dress was pale gray to-night—with her uncle's +pearls—and both Lady Anningford and Tristram noticed that her +eyes were slumberous and had in them that smoldering fierceness of +pain. And remembering the Crow's appeal Lady Anningford slipped her +hand within her arm, and was very gentle and friendly as they went +down to the saloon.</p> +<a name="C026" id="C026"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> +<p>Now if the evening passed with pain and unrest for the bride and +bridegroom, it had quite another aspect for Francis Markrute and +Lady Ethelrida! He was not placed by his hostess to-night at +dinner, but when the power of manipulating circumstances with skill +is in a man, and the desire to make things easy to be manipulated +is in a woman, they can spend agreeable and numerous moments +together.</p> +<p>So it fell about that without any apparent or pointed detachment +from her other guests Lady Ethelrida was able to sit in one of the +embrasures of the windows in, the picture gallery, whither the +party had migrated to-night, and talk to her interesting new +friend—for that he was growing into a friend she felt. He +seemed so wonderfully understanding, and was so quiet and subtle +and undemonstrative, and, underneath, you could feel his power and +strength.</p> +<p>It had been his insidious suggestion, spread among the company, +which had caused them to be in the picture gallery to-night, +instead of in one of the great drawing-rooms. For in a very long +narrow room it was much easier to separate people, he felt.</p> +<p>"Of course this was not built at the time the house was, in +about 1670," Lady Ethelrida said. "It was added by the second Duke, +who was Ambassador to Versailles in the time of Louis XV, and who +thought he would like a 'galérie des glaces' in imitation of +the one there. And then, when the walls were up, he died, and it +was not decorated until thirty-five years later, in the Regent's +time, and it was turned into a picture gallery then."</p> +<p>"People's brands of individuality in their houses are so +interesting," Francis Markrute said. "I believe Wrayth is a series +of human fancies, from the Norman Castle upwards, is it not? I have +never been there."</p> +<p>"Oh! Wrayth is much more interesting than this," she answered. +"Parts of it are so wonderfully old; there are stone floors in the +upper rooms in one of the inner courtyards. They did not suffer, +you see, from the hateful Puritans, because the then Tancred was +only an infant when the civil war began; and his mother was a +Frenchwoman, and they stayed in France all the time, and only came +back when Charles II returned. He married a Frenchwoman, too. She +was a wonderful person and improved many things. Wrayth has two +long galleries and a chapel of Henry the Seventh's time, and +numbers of staircases in unexpected places, and then a fine suite +of state rooms, built on by Adam, and then the most awful +Early-Victorian imitation Gothic wing and porch which one of those +dreadful people, who spoilt such numbers of places, added in +1850."</p> +<p>"It sounds wonderful," said the financier.</p> +<p>"Lots of it is very shabby, of course, because Tristram's father +was always very hard up; and nothing much had been done either in +the grandfather's time—except the horrible wing. But with +enough money to get it right again, I cannot imagine anything more +lovely than it could be."</p> +<p>"It will be a great amusement to them in the coming year to do +it all, then. Zara has the most beautiful taste, Lady Ethelrida. +When you know her better I think you will like my niece."</p> +<p>"But I do now," she exclaimed. "Only I do wish she did not look +so sad. May I ask it because of our bargain? "—and she paused +with gentle timidity—"Will you tell me?—do you know of +any special reason to-day to make her unhappy? I saw her face at +dinner to-night, and all the while she talked there was an anxious, +haunted look in her eyes."</p> +<p>Francis Markrute frowned for a moment; he had been too absorbed +in his own interests to have taken in anything special about his +niece. If there were something of the sort in her eyes it could +only have one source—anxiety about the health of the boy +Mirko. He himself had not heard anything. Then his lightning +calculations decided him to tell Lady Ethelrida nothing of this. +Zara's anxiety would mean the child's illness, and illness, Doctor +Morley had warned him, could have only one end. He wished the poor +little fellow no harm, but, on the other hand, he had no sentiment +about him. If he were going to die then the disgrace would be wiped +away and need never be spoken about. So he answered slowly:</p> +<p>"There is something which troubles her now and then. It will +pass presently. Take no notice of it."</p> +<p>So Lady Ethelrida, as mystified as ever, turned the +conversation.</p> +<p>"May I give you the book to-morrow morning before we go to +shoot?" the financier asked after a moment. "It is your birthday, I +believe, and all your guests on that occasion are privileged to lay +some offering at your feet. I wanted to do so this afternoon after +tea, but I was detained playing bridge with your father. I have +several books coming to-morrow that I do so want you to have."</p> +<p>"It is very kind of you. I would like to show you my +sitting-room, in the south wing. Then you could see that they would +have a comfortable home!"</p> +<p>"When may I come?"</p> +<p>This was direct, and Lady Ethelrida felt a piquant sensation of +interest. She had never in her life made an assignation with a man. +She thought a moment.</p> +<p>"They will start only at eleven to-morrow, because the first +covert is at a corner of the park, quite near, and if it is fine we +are all coming out with you until luncheon which we have in the +house; then you go to the far coverts in the motors. When, I +wonder, would be best?"—It seemed so nice to leave it to +him.</p> +<p>"You breakfast downstairs at half-past nine, like this +morning?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I always do, and the girls will and almost every one, +because it is my birthday."</p> +<p>"Then if I come exactly at half-past ten will you be there?"</p> +<p>"I will try. But how will you know the way?"</p> +<p>"I have a bump of locality which is rather strong, and I know +the windows from the outside. You remember you showed them to me +to-day as we walked to the tower."</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida experienced a distinct feeling of excitement over +this innocent rendezvous.</p> +<p>"There is a staircase—but no!"—and she +laughed—"I shall tell you no more. It will be a proof of your +sagacity to find the clue to the labyrinth."</p> +<p>"I shall be there," he said, and once again he looked into her +sweet, gray eyes; and she rose with a slightly faster movement than +usual and drew him to where there were more of her guests.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Lord Elterton was losing no time in his pursuit of +Zara. He had been among the first to leave the dining-room, several +paces in front of Tristram and the others, and instantly came to +her and suggested a tour of the pictures. He quite agreed with the +financier—these long, narrow rooms were most useful!</p> +<p>And Zara, thankful to divert her mind, went with him willingly, +and soon found herself standing in front of an immense canvas given +by the Regent, of himself, to the Duke's grandfather, one of his +great friends.</p> +<p>"I have been watching you all through dinner," Lord Elterton +said, "and you looked like a beautiful storm: your dress the gray +clouds, and your eyes the thunder ones—threatening."</p> +<p>"One feels like a storm sometimes," said Zara.</p> +<p>"People are so tiresome, as a rule; you can see through them in +half an hour. But no one could ever guess about what you were +thinking."</p> +<p>"No one would want to—if they knew."</p> +<p>"Is it so terrible as that?" And he smiled—she must be +diverted. "I wish I had met you long ago, because, of course, I +cannot tell you all the things I now want to—Tristram would +be so confoundedly jealous—like he was this afternoon. It is +the way of husbands."</p> +<p>Zara did not reply. She quite agreed to this, for of the +jealousy of husbands she had experience!</p> +<p>"Now if I were married," Lord Elterton went on, "I would try to +make my wife so happy, and would love her so much she would never +give me cause to be jealous."</p> +<p>"Love!" said Zara. "How you talk of love—and what does it +mean? Gratification to oneself, or to the loved person?"</p> +<p>"Both," said Lord Elterton, and looked down so devotedly into +her eyes that the old Duke, who was near, with Laura, thought it +was quite time the young man's innings should be over!</p> +<p>So he joined them.</p> +<p>"Come with me, Zara, while I show you some of Tristram's +ancestors on his mother's side."</p> +<p>And he placed her arm in his gallantly, and led her away to the +most interesting pictures.</p> +<p>"Well, 'pon my soul!" he said, as they went along. "Things are +vastly changed since my young days. Here, Tristram—" and he +beckoned to his nephew who was with Lady Anningford—"come +here and help me to show your wife some of your forbears." And then +he went on with his original speech. "Yes, as I was saying, things +are vastly changed since I brought Ethelrida's dear mother back +here, after our honeymoon!—a month in those days! I would +have punched any other young blood's head, who had even looked at +her! And you philander off with that fluffy, little empty-pate, +Laura, and Arthur Elterton makes love to your bride! A pretty state +of things, 'pon my soul!" And he laughed reprovingly.</p> +<p>Tristram smiled with bitter sarcasm as he answered, "You were +absurdly old-fashioned, Uncle. But perhaps Aunt Corisande was +different to the modern woman."</p> +<p>Zara did not speak. The black panther's look, on its rare day of +slumberous indifference when it condescends to come to the front of +the cage, grew in her eyes, but the slightest touch could make her +snarl.</p> +<p>"Oh! you must not ever blame the women," the Duke—this +<i>preux chevalier</i>—said. "If they are different it is the +fault of the men. I took care that my duchess wanted me! Why, my +dear boy, I was jealous of even her maid, for at least a year!"</p> +<p>And Tristram thought to himself that he went further than that +and was jealous of even the air Zara breathed!</p> +<p>"You must have been awfully happy, Uncle," he said with a +sigh.</p> +<p>But Zara spoke never a word. And the Duke saw that there was +something too deeply strained between them, for his kindly meant +<i>persiflage</i> to do any good; so he turned to the pictures, and +drew them into lighter things; and the moment he could, Tristram +rejoined Lady Anningford by one of the great fires.</p> +<p>Laura Highford, left alone with Lord Elterton up at the end of +the long picture gallery, felt she must throw off some steam. She +could not keep from the subject which was devouring her; she knew +now she had made an irreparable mistake in what she had said to +Tristram in the afternoon, and how to repair it she did not know at +present, but she must talk to some one.</p> +<p>"You will have lots of chance before a year is out, Arthur," she +said with a bitter smile. "You need not be in such a hurry! That +marriage won't last more than a few months—they hate each +other already."</p> +<p>"You don't say so!" said Lord Elterton, feigning innocence. "I +thought they were a most devoted couple!"—Laura would be a +safe draw, and although he would not believe half he should hear, +out of the bundle of chaff he possibly could collect some grains of +wheat which might come in useful.</p> +<p>"Devoted couple!" she laughed. "Tristram is by no means the +first with her. There is a very handsome foreign gentleman, looking +like Romeo, or Rizzio—"</p> +<p>"Or any other 'O,'" put in Lord Elterton.</p> +<p>"Exactly—in whom she is much more interested. Poor +Tristram! He has plenty to discover, I fear."</p> +<p>"How do you come to know about it? You are a wonder, Lady +Highford—always so full of interesting information!"</p> +<p>"I happened to see them at Waterloo together—evidently +just arrived from somewhere—and Tristram thought she was safe +in Paris! Poor dear!"</p> +<p>"You have told him about it, of course?"—anxiously.</p> +<p>"I did just give him a hint."</p> +<p>"That was wise." And Lord Elterton smiled blandly and she did +not see the twinkle in his eye. "He was naturally grateful?" he +asked sympathetically.</p> +<p>"Not now, perhaps, but some day he will be!"</p> +<p>Laura's light hazel eyes flashed, and Lord Elterton laughed +again as he answered lightly,</p> +<p>"There certainly is a poor spirit in the old boy if he doesn't +feel under a lifelong obligation to you for your goodness. I +should, if it were me.—Look, though, we shall have to go now; +they are beginning to say good night."</p> +<p>And as they found the others he thought to himself, "Well, men +may be poachers like I am, but I am hanged if they are such weasels +as women!"</p> +<p>Lady Anningford joined Lady Ethelrida that night in her room, +after they had seen Zara to hers, and they began at once upon the +topic which was thrilling them all.</p> +<p>"There is something the matter, Ethelrida, darling," Lady +Anningford said. "I have talked to Tristram for a long time +to-night, and, although he was bravely trying to hide it, he was +bitterly miserable; spoke recklessly of life one minute, and +resignedly the next; and then asked me, with an air as if in an +abstract discussion, whether Hector and Theodora were really +happy—because she had been a widow. And when I said, 'Yes, +ideally so,' and that they never want to be dragged away from +Bracondale, he said, so awfully sadly, 'Oh, I dare-say; but then +they have children.' It is too pitiful to hear him, after only a +week! What can it be? What can have happened in the time?"</p> +<p>"It is not since, Anne," Ethelrida said, beginning to unfasten +her dress. "It was always like that. She had just the look in her +eyes the night we all first met her, at Mr. Markrute's at +dinner—that strange, angry, pained, sorrowful look, as though +she were a furnace of resentment against some fate. I remember an +old colored picture we had on a screen—it is now in the +housekeeper's room—it was one of those badly-drawn, lurid +scenes of prisoners being dragged off to Siberia in the snow, and +there was a woman in it who had just been separated from her +husband and baby and who had exactly the same expression. It used +to haunt me as a child, and Mamma had it taken out of the old +nursery. And Zara's eyes haunt me now in the same way."</p> +<p>"She never had any children, I suppose?" asked Lady +Anningford.</p> +<p>"Never that I heard of—and she is so young; only +twenty-three now."</p> +<p>"Well, it is too tragic! And what is to be done? Can't you ask +the uncle? He must know."</p> +<p>"I did, to-night, Anne—and he answered, so strangely, that +'yes, there was something which at times troubled her, but it would +pass.'"</p> +<p>"Good gracious!" said Anne. "It can't be a hallucination. She is +not crazy, is she? That would be worse than anything."</p> +<p>"Oh, no!" cried Ethelrida, aghast. "It is not that in the least, +thank goodness!"</p> +<p>"Then perhaps there are some terrible scenes, connected with her +first husband's murder, which she can't forget. The Crow told me +Count Shulski was shot at Monte Carlo, in a fray of some sort."</p> +<p>"That must be it, of course!" said Ethelrida, much relieved. +"Then she will get over it in time. And surely Tristram will be +able to make her love him, and forget them. I do feel better about +it now, Anne, and shall be able to sleep in peace."</p> +<p>So they said good night, and separated—comforted.</p> +<p>But the object of their solicitude did not attempt to get into +her bed when she had dismissed her maid. She sat down in one of the +big gilt William-and-Mary armchairs, and clasped her hands tightly, +and tried to think.</p> +<p>Things were coming to a crisis with her. Destiny had given her +another cross to bear, for suddenly this evening, as the Duke spoke +of his wife, she had become conscious of the truth about herself: +she was in love with her husband. And she herself had made it +impossible that he could ever come back to her. For, indeed, the +tables were turned, with one of those ironical twists of Fate.</p> +<p>And she questioned herself—Why did she love him? She had +reproached him on her wedding night, when he had told her he loved +her, because in her ignorance she felt then it could only be a +question of sense. She had called him an animal! she remembered; +and now she had become an animal herself! For she could prove no +loftier motive for her emotion towards him than he had had for her +then: they knew one another no better. It had not been possible for +her passion to have arisen from the reasons she remembered having +hurled at him as the only ones from which true love could spring, +namely, knowledge, and tenderness, and devotion. It was all untrue; +she understood it now. Love—deep and tender—could leap +into being from the glance of an eye.</p> +<p>They were strangers to each other still, and yet this cruel, +terrible thing called love had broken down all the barriers in her +heart, melted the disdainful ice, and turned it to fire. She felt +she wanted to caress him, and take away the stern, hard look from +his face. She wanted to be gentle, and soft, and loving—to +feel that she belonged to him. And she passionately longed for him +to kiss her and clasp her to his heart. Whether he had consented +originally to marry her for her uncle's money or not, was a matter, +now, of no further importance. He had loved her after he had seen +her, at all events, and she had thrown it all away. Nothing but a +man's natural jealousy of his possessions remained.</p> +<p>"Oh, why did I not know what I was doing!" she moaned to +herself, as she rocked in the chair. "I must have been very wicked +in some former life, to be so tortured in this!"</p> +<p>But it was too late now. She had burnt her ships, and nothing +remained to her but her pride. Since she had thrown away joy she +could at least keep that and never let him see how she was being +punished.</p> +<p>And to-night it was her turn to look in anguish at the closed +door, and to toss in restless pain of soul, on her bed.</p> +<a name="C027" id="C027"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> +<p>A bombshell, in the shape of Lady Betty Burns, burst into the +bedroom of Emily and Mary next morning, while the two girls were +sitting up in their great bed at about eight o'clock, reading their +letters and sipping their tea.</p> +<p>"May I come in, darlings?" a voice full of purpose said, and a +flaxen head peeped in.</p> +<p>"Why, Betty, of course!" both girls answered and, in a blue silk +dressing-gown and a long fair plait of hair hanging down, Lady +Betty stalked in.</p> +<p>None of the Council of Three, going to deliver secret sentence, +could have advanced with more dignity or consciousness of the +solemnity of the occasion. Emily and Mary were thrilled.</p> +<p>"Be prepared!" she said dramatically, while she climbed to the +foot of the bed and sat down. "It is just what I told you. She's +been the heroine of a murder—if she did not do it +herself!"</p> +<p>"Heavens! Betty, who?" almost screamed the girls.</p> +<p>"Your sister-in-law! I had to come at once to tell you, +darlings. Last night, Aunt Muriel (the young Lady Melton was her +uncle's second wife and chaperoning her to the party) would drag me +into her room, and I could not get to you. You would have been +asleep when I at last escaped, so I determined to come the first +thing this morning and tell you my news."</p> +<p>Four round eyes of excited horror fixed themselves upon her, so +with deep importance of voice and manner, Lady Betty went on:</p> +<p>"I sat with Captain Hume in the picture gallery, just before we +went to bed. Believe me, I have not been able to sleep all night +from it, dears! Well, we had been speaking of that fighting scene +by Teniers in a beer house, you know, the one which hangs by the +big Snuyders. The moon—no, it could not have been the moon. +It must have been the arc light over the entrance which shines in +from the angle. Anyway, it felt as if it were the moon, when I drew +aside the blind; and it struck my heart with a cold foreboding, as +he said such things, fights, happened now sometimes, and he was at +Monte Carlo when Count Shulski was shot; and, though it was hushed +up by the authorities and no one hardly heard of it much, still it +made a stir. And," continued Lady Betty, now rising majestically +and pointing an accusing forefinger at Emily and Mary, "Countess +Shulski was your sister-in-law's name!"</p> +<p>"Oh, hush, Betty!" said Emily, almost angrily. "You must not say +such things. There might have been a lot of Count Shulskis. +Foreigners are all counts."</p> +<p>But Lady Betty shook her head with tragic sorrow and dignity, +much at variance with her sweet little childish turned-up nose.</p> +<p>"Alas, darlings, far be it from me to bring the terrible +conviction home to you!" Great occasions like this required a fine +style, she felt. "Far be it from me! But Captain Hume went on to +say, that, of course, was the reason of Lady Tancred's dreadfully +mysterious and remorseful look."</p> +<p>"It is perfectly impossible, Betty," Mary cried excitedly. "But +even if her husband were shot, it does not prove she had anything +to do with it."</p> +<p>"Of course it does!" said Lady Betty, forgetting for a moment +her style. "There's always a scene of jealousy, in which the +husband stabs the other man, and then falls dead himself. Unless," +and this new bright thought came to her, "she were a political +spy!"</p> +<p>"Oh, Betty!" they both exclaimed at once. And then Emily said +gravely,</p> +<p>"Please do tell us exactly what Captain Hume really said. +Remember, it is our brother's wife you are speaking of, not one of +the heroines in your plays!"</p> +<p>Thus admonished, Lady Betty got back on to the bed, and +gradually came down to facts, which were meager enough. For Captain +Hume had instantly pulled himself up, it appeared; and he had +merely said that, as her first husband had been killed in a row, +Lady Tancred had cause to have tragedy imprinted upon her face.</p> +<p>"Betty, dearest," Emily then said, "please, please don't tell +anything of your exciting story to any one else, will you? Because +people are so unkind."</p> +<p>At this, Lady Betty bounced off again offendedly.</p> +<p>"You are an ungrateful pair," she flashed. "Before I brave +meeting Jimmy Danvers in the passage again, in my dressing-gown, to +come and tell you delicious things, I'll be hanged!"</p> +<p>And it was with difficulty that Emily and Mary mollified her, +and got her to re-seat herself on the bed and have a bit of their +bread-and-butter. She had fled to announce her thrilling news +before her own tea had come.</p> +<p>"I do think men look perfectly horrid with their hair unbrushed +in the morning, don't you, Em?" she said, presently, as she +munched, while Mary poured her out some tea into the emptied +sugar-basin and handed it to her. "Henry's fortunate, because his +is curly"—Here Mary blushed—"and I believe Jimmy +Danvers gets his valet to glue his down before he goes to bed. But +you should see what Aunt Muriel has to put up with, when Uncle +Aubrey comes in to talk to her, while I am there. The front, +anyhow, and a lock sticking up in the back! There is one thing I am +determined about. Before I'm married, I shall insist upon knowing +how my husband stands the morning light."</p> +<p>"I thought you said just now Jimmy's was quite decent and glued +down," Emily retorted slyly.</p> +<p>"Pouff!" said Lady Betty, with superb calm. "I have not made up +my mind at all about Jimmy. He is dying to ask me, I know; but +there is Bobby Harland, too. However, this morning—"</p> +<p>"You've seen Jimmy this morning, Betty!" Mary exclaimed.</p> +<p>"Well, how could I help it, girls?" Lady Betty went on, feeling +that she was now a heroine. "I had to come to you. It was my +bounden duty; and it's miles away, for Aunt Muriel always will have +me in the dressing-room next her, when she takes me to stay out, +and Uncle Aubrey across the passage; and it makes him so cross. But +that's not it. I mean, it is not my fault, if the Duke has only +arranged three new bathrooms down the bachelors' wing, and people +are obliged to be waiting about for their turn, and I had to pass +the entrance to that passage, and it happened to be Jimmy's, and he +was just going in, when he saw me and rushed along, and said 'Good +morning,' not a bit put out! I thought it would look silly to run, +so I said 'Good morning,' too; and then we both giggled, and I came +on. But I am rather glad after all, because now I've seen him; and +he looks better—like that—than I am sure Bobby would +have done, so perhaps, after all, I'll marry him! And you will be +my bridesmaids, darlings, and now I must run!"</p> +<p>Upon such slender threads—the brushing of his +hair—how often does the fate of man hang! If he but knew!</p> +<p>Almost every one was punctual for breakfast. They all came in +with their gifts for Lady Ethelrida; and there was much chaffing +and joking, and delightful little shrieks of surprise, as the +parcels were opened.</p> +<p>Every soul loved Lady Ethelrida, from the lordly Groom of the +Chambers to the humblest pantry boy and scullery maid; and it was +their delight every year to present her, from them all, with a huge +trophy of flowers, while the post brought countless messages and +gifts of remembrance from absent friends. No one could have been +more sweet and gracious than her ladyship was; and underneath, her +gentle heart was beating with an extra excitement, when she thought +of her rendezvous at half-past ten o'clock. Would he—she no +longer thought of him as Mr. Markrute—would he be able to +find the way?</p> +<p>"I must go and give some orders now," she said, about a quarter +past ten, to the group which surrounded her, when they had all got +up and were standing beside the fire. "And we all assemble in the +hall at eleven." And so she slipped away.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute, she noticed, had retired some moments +before.</p> +<p>"Heinrich," he had said to his Austrian valet, the previous +evening, as he was helping him on with his coat for dinner, "I may +want to know the locality of the Lady Ethelrida's sitting-room +early to-morrow. Make it your business to become friendly with her +ladyship's maid, so that I can have a parcel of books, which will +arrive in the morning, placed safely there at any moment I want to, +unobserved. Unpack the books, leaving their tissue papers still +upon them, and bring them in when you call me. I will give you +further orders then for their disposal. You understand?"</p> +<p>It was as well to be prepared for anything, he thought, which +was most fortunate, as it afterwards turned out. He had meant to +make her ask him to her sitting-room in any case, and his happiness +was augmented, as they had talked in the picture gallery, when she +did it of her own accord.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida stood looking out of her window, in her fresh, +white-paneled, lilac-chintzed bower. Her heart was actually +thumping now. She had not noticed the books, which were carefully +placed in a pile down beside her writing table. Would he ever get +away from her father, who seemed to have taken to having endless +political discussions with him? Would he ever be able to come in +time to talk for a moment, before they must both go down? She had +taken the precaution to make herself quite ready to +start—short skirt, soft felt hat, thick boots and all.</p> +<p>Would he? But as half-past ten chimed from the Dresden clock on +the mantelpiece, there was a gentle tap at the door, and Francis +Markrute came in.</p> +<p>He knew in an instant, experienced fowler that he was, that his +bird was fluttered with expectancy, and it gave him an exquisite +thrill. He was perfectly cognizant of the value of investing simple +circumstances with delightful mystery, at times; and he knew, to +the Lady Ethelrida, this trysting with him had become a momentous +thing.</p> +<p>"You see, I found the way," he said softly, and he allowed +something of the joy and tenderness he felt to come into his +voice.</p> +<p>And Lady Ethelrida answered a little nervously that she was +glad, and then continued quickly that she must show him her +bookcases, because there was so little time.</p> +<p>"Only one short half-hour—if you will let me stay so +long," he pleaded.</p> +<p>In his hand he carried the original volume he had spoken about, +a very old edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets, from which he had +carefully had one or two removed. It was exquisitely bound and +tooled, and had her monogram worked into a beautiful little +medallion—a work of art. He handed it to her first.</p> +<p>"This I ventured to have ordered for you long ago," he said. +"Six weeks it is nearly, and I so feared until yesterday that you +would not let me give it to you. It does not mean for your +birthday: it is our original bond of acquaintance."</p> +<p>"It is too beautiful," said Lady Ethelrida, looking down.</p> +<p>"And over there by your writing table"—he had carefully +ascertained this locality from Heinrich—"you will find the +books that are my birthday gift, if you will give me the delight of +accepting them."</p> +<p>She went forward with a little cry of surprise and pleasure, +while, instantaneously, the wonder of how he should know where they +would be presented itself to her mind.</p> +<p>They were about six volumes. A Heine, a couple of de Musset's, +and then three volumes of selected poems, from numbers of the +English poets. Lady Ethelrida picked them up delightedly. They, +too, were works of art, in their soft mauve morocco bindings, +<i>chiffré</i>, with her monogram like the other, and tooled +with gold.</p> +<p>"How enchanting!" she said. "And look! They match my room. How +could you have guessed—?" And then she broke off and again +looked down.</p> +<p>"You told me, the night I dined with you at Glastonbury House, +that you loved mauve as a color and that violets were your favorite +flower. How could I forget?" And he permitted himself to come a +step nearer to her.</p> +<p>She did not move away. She turned over the leaves of the English +volume rather hurriedly. The paper was superlatively fine and the +print a gem of art. And then she looked up, surprised.</p> +<p>"I have never seen this collection before," she said +wonderingly. "All the things one loves under the same cover!" And +then she turned to the title-page to see which edition it was; and +she found that, as far as information went, it was blank. +Simply,</p> +<center> +<table summary="To The Lady" width="50%"> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" align="center">"To The Lady Ethelrida +Montfitchet</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td width="60%"> </td> +<td align="left">from</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td align="right">"F.M."</td> +</tr> +</table> +</center> +<p>was inscribed upon it in gold. A deep pink flush grew on her +delicate face, and she dared not raise her eyes.</p> +<p>It would be too soon yet to tell her everything that was in his +heart, he reasoned. All could be lost by one false step. So, with +his masterly self-control, he resisted all temptation to fold her +in his arms, and said gently:</p> +<p>"I thought it would be nice to have, as you say, 'all the bits +one loves' put together; and I have a very intelligent friend at my +book-binder's, who, when I had selected them, had them all arranged +and printed for me, and bound as I thought you might wish. It will +gratify me greatly, if it has pleased you."</p> +<p>"Pleased me!" she said, and now she looked up; for the sudden +conviction came to her, that to have this done took time and a +great deal of money; and except once or twice before, casually, she +had never met him until the evening, when, among a number of her +father's political friends, he had dined at their London house. +When could he have given the order and what could this mean? He +read her thoughts.</p> +<p>"Yes," he said simply. "From the very first moment I ever saw +you, Lady Ethelrida, to me you seemed all that was true and +beautiful, the embodiment of my ideal of womanhood. I planned these +books then, two days after I dined with you at Glastonbury House; +and, if you had refused them, it would have caused me pain."</p> +<p>Ethelrida was so moved by some new, sudden and exquisite emotion +that she could not reply for a moment. He watched her with growing +and passionate delight, but he said nothing. He must give her +time.</p> +<p>"It is too, too nice of you," she said softly, and there was a +little catch in her breath. "No one has ever thought of anything so +exquisite for me before, although, as you saw this morning, every +one is so very kind. How shall I thank you, Mr. Markrute? I do not +know."</p> +<p>"You must not thank me at all, you gracious lady," he said. "And +now I must tell you that the half-hour is nearly up, and we must go +down. But—may I—will you let me come again, perhaps +to-morrow afternoon? I want to tell you, if it would interest you, +the history of a man."</p> +<p>Ethelrida had turned to look at the clock, also, and had +collected herself. She was too single-minded to fence now, or to +push this new, strange joy out of her life, so she said,</p> +<p>"When the others go out for a walk, then, after lunch, yes, you +may come."</p> +<p>And without anything further, they left the room. At the turn in +the corridor to the other part of the house, he bent suddenly; and +with deep homage kissed her hand, then let her pass on, while he +turned to the right and disappeared towards the wing, where was his +room.</p> +<a name="C028" id="C028"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> +<p>Zara had, at first, thought she would not go out with the +shooters. She felt numb, as if she could not pluck up enough +courage to make conversation with any one. She had received a +letter from Mimo, by the second post, with all details of what he +had heard of Mirko. Little Agatha, the Morleys' child, was to +return home the following day; and Mirko himself had written an +excited little letter to announce this event, which Mimo enclosed. +He seemed perfectly well then, only at the end, as she would see, +he had said he was dreaming of <i>Maman</i> every night; and Mimo +knew that this must mean he was a little feverish again, so he had +felt it wiser to telegraph. Mirko had written out the score of the +air which <i>Maman</i> always came and taught him, and he was +longing to play it to his dear Papa and his Chérisette, the +letter ended with.</p> +<p>And the pathos of it all caused Zara a sharp pain. She did not +dare to look ahead, as far as her little brother was concerned. +Indeed, to look ahead, in any case, meant nothing very happy.</p> +<p>She was just going up the great staircase at about a quarter to +eleven, with the letter in her hand, when she met Tristram coming +from his room, with his shooting boots on, ready to start. He +stopped and said coldly—they had not spoken a word yet that +day—</p> +<p>"You had better be quick putting your things on. My uncle always +starts punctually."</p> +<p>Then his eye caught the foreign writing on the letter, and he +turned brusquely away, although, as he reasoned with himself a +moment afterwards, it was ridiculous of him to be so moved, because +she would naturally have a number of foreign correspondents. She +saw him turn away, and it angered her in spite of her new mood. He +need not show his dislike so plainly, she thought. So she answered +haughtily,</p> +<p>"I had not intended to come. I am tired; and I do not know this +sport, or whether it will please me. I should feel for the poor +birds, I expect."</p> +<p>"I am sorry you are tired," he answered, contrite in an instant. +"Of course, you must not come if you are. They will be awfully +disappointed. But never mind. I will tell Ethelrida."</p> +<p>"It is nothing—my fatigue, I mean. If you think your +cousin will mind, I will come." And she turned, without waiting for +him to answer, and went on to her room.</p> +<p>And Tristram, after going back to his for something he had +forgotten, presently went on down the stairs, a bitter smile on his +face, and at the bottom met—Laura Highford.</p> +<p>She looked up into his eyes, and allowed tears to gather in +hers. She had always plenty at her command.</p> +<p>"Tristram," she said with extreme gentleness, "you were cross +with me yesterday afternoon, because you thought I was saying +something about your wife. But don't you know, can't you +understand, what it is to me to see you devoted to another woman? +You may be changed, but I am always the same, and I—I—" +And here she buried her face in her hands and went into a flood of +tears.</p> +<p>Tristram was overcome with confusion and horror. He loathed +scenes. Good heavens! If any one should come along!</p> +<p>"Laura, for goodness' sake! My dear girl, don't cry!" he +exclaimed. He felt he would say anything to comfort her, and get +over the chance of some one seeing this hateful exhibition.</p> +<p>But she continued to sob. She had caught sight of Zara's figure +on the landing above, and her vengeful spirit desired to cause +trouble, even at a cost to herself. Zara had been perfectly ready, +all but her hat, and had hurried exceedingly to be in time, and +thus had not been five minutes after her husband.</p> +<p>"Tristram!" wailed Laura, and, putting up her hands, placed them +on his shoulders. "Darling, just kiss me +once—quickly—to say good-bye."</p> +<p>And it was at this stage that Zara came full upon them, from a +turn in the stairs. She heard Tristram say disgustedly, "No, I +won't," and saw Lady Highford drop her arms; and in the three steps +that separated them, her wonderful iron self-control, the +inheritance of all her years of suffering, enabled her to stop as +if she had seen nothing, and in an ordinary voice ask if they were +to go to the great hall.</p> +<p>"The woman," as she called Laura, should not have the +satisfaction of seeing a trace of emotion in her, or Tristram +either. He had answered immediately, "Yes," and had walked on by +her side, in an absolutely raging temper.</p> +<p>How dare Laura drag him into a disgraceful and ridiculous scene +like this! He could have wrung her neck. What must Zara think? That +he was simply a cad! He could not offer a single explanation, +either; indeed, she had demanded none. He did blurt out, after a +moment,</p> +<p>"Lady Highford was very much upset about something. She is +hysterical."</p> +<p>"Poor thing!" said Zara indifferently, and walked on.</p> +<p>But when they got into the hall, where most of the company were, +she suddenly felt her knees giving way under her, and hurriedly +sank down on an oak chair.</p> +<p>She felt sick with jealous pain, even though she had plainly +seen that Tristram was no willing victim. But upon what terms could +they be, or have been, for Lady Highford so to lose all sense of +shame?</p> +<p>Tristram was watching her anxiously. She must have seen the +humiliating exhibition. It followed, then, she was perfectly +indifferent, or she would have been annoyed. He wished that she had +reproached him, or said something—anything—but to +remain completely unmoved was too maddening.</p> +<p>Then the whole company, who were coming out, appeared, and they +started. Some of the men were drawing lots to see if they should +shoot in the morning or in the afternoon. The party was primarily +for Lady Ethelrida's birthday, and the shoot merely an +accessory.</p> +<p>Zara walked by the Crow, who was not shooting at all. She was +wearied with Lord Elterton; wearied with every one. The Crow was +sententious and amused her, and did not expect her to talk.</p> +<p>"You have never seen your husband shoot yet, I expect, Lady +Tancred, have you?" he asked her; and when she said, "No," he went +on, "Because you must watch him. He is a very fine shot."</p> +<p>She did not know anything about shooting, only that Tristram +looked particularly attractive in his shooting clothes, and that +English sportsmen were natural, unceremonious creatures, whom she +was beginning to like very much. She wished she could open her +heart to this quaint, kind old man, and ask him to explain things +to her; but she could not, and presently they got to a safe place +and watched.</p> +<p>Tristram happened to be fairly near them; and, yes, he was a +good shot—she could see that. But, at first, the thud of the +beautiful pheasants falling to the ground caused her to +wince—she, who had looked upon the shattered face of +Ladislaus, her husband, with only a quiver of disgust! But these +creatures were in the glory of their beauty and the joy of life, +and had preyed upon the souls of no one.</p> +<p>Her wonderful face, which interested Colonel Lowerby so, was +again abstracted. Something had brought back that hateful moment to +her memory; she could hear Féto, the dancer's shrieks, and +see the blood; and she shivered suddenly and clasped her hands.</p> +<p>"Do you mind seeing the birds come down?" the Crow asked +kindly.</p> +<p>"I do not know," she said. "I was thinking of some other +shooting."</p> +<p>"Because," the Crow went on, "the women who rage against sport +forget one thing,—the birds would not exist at all, if it +were not for preserving them for this very reason. They would +gradually be trapped and snared and exterminated; whereas, now they +have a royal time, of food and courtship and mating, and they have +no knowledge of their coming fate, and so live a life of splendor +up to the last moment."</p> +<p>"How much better! Yes, indeed, I will never be foolish about +them again. I will think of that." Then she exclaimed, "Oh, that +was wonderful!" for Tristram got two rocketters at right and left, +and then another with his second gun. His temper had not affected +his eye, it seemed.</p> +<p>"Tristram is one of the best all-round sportsmen I know," the +Crow announced, "and he has one of the kindest hearts. I have known +him since he was a toddler. His mother was one of the beauties, +when I first put on a cuirass."</p> +<p>Zara tried to control her interest, and merely said, "Yes?"</p> +<p>"Are you looking forward to the reception at Wrayth on Monday? I +always wonder how a person unaccustomed to England would view all +the speeches and dinners, the bonfire, and triumphal arches, and +those things of a home-coming. Rather an ordeal, I expect."</p> +<p>Zara's eyes rounded, and she faltered,</p> +<p>"And shall I have to go through all that?"</p> +<p>The Crow was nonplussed. Had not her husband, then, told her, +what every one else knew? Upon what terms could they possibly be? +And before he was aware of it, he had blurted out, "Good Lord!"</p> +<p>Then, recollecting himself, he said,</p> +<p>"Why, yes. Tristram will say I have been frightening you. It is +not so very bad, after all—only to smile and look gracious +and shake hands. They will be all ready to think you perfect, if +you do that. Even though there are a lot of beastly radicals about, +Old England still bows down to a beautiful woman!"</p> +<p>Zara did not answer. She had heard about her beauty in most +European languages, since she was sixteen. It was the last thing +which mattered, she thought.</p> +<p>Then the Crow turned the conversation, as they walked on to the +next stand.</p> +<p>Did she know that Lady Ethelrida had commanded that all the +ladies were to get up impromptu fancy dresses for to-night, her +birthday dinner, and all the men would be in hunt coats? he asked. +Large parties were coming from the only two other big houses near, +and they would dance afterward in the picture gallery. "A wonderful +new band that came out in London this season is coming down," he +ended with; and, then, as she replied she had heard, he asked her +what she intended to be. "It must be something with your hair +down—you must give us the treat of that."</p> +<p>"I have left it all to Lady Ethelrida and my sisters-in-law," +she said. "We are going to contrive things the whole afternoon, +after lunch."</p> +<p>Tristram came up behind them then, and the Crow stopped.</p> +<p>"I was telling your wife she must give us the pleasure of seeing +her hair down, to-night, for the Tomfools' dinner, but I can't get +a promise from her. We will have to appeal to you to exert your +lordly authority. Can't be deprived of a treat like that!"</p> +<p>"I am afraid I have no influence or authority," Tristram +answered shortly, for with a sudden pang he thought of the only +time he had seen the glorious beauty of it, her hair, spread like a +cloak around her, as she had turned and ordered him out of her room +at Dover. She remembered the circumstance, too, and it hurt her +equally, so that they walked along silently, staring in front of +them, and each suffering pain; when, if they had had a grain of +sense, they would have looked into each other's eyes, read the +truth, and soon been in each other's arms. But they had not yet +"dree'd their weird." And Fate, who mocks at fools, would not yet +let them be.</p> +<p>So the clouds gathered overhead, as in their hearts, and it came +on to pour with rain; and the ladies made a hurried rush to the +house.</p> +<p>The hostess did not stand near Francis Markrute during the +shooting. Some shy pleasure made her avoid him for the moment. She +wanted to hug the remembrance of her great joy of the morning, and +the knowledge that to-morrow, Sunday, after lunch, would bring her +a like pleasure. And for the time being there was the delight of +thinking over what he had said, the subtlety of his gift, and the +manner of its giving.</p> +<p>Nothing so goes to the head of a woman of refined sensibilities +as the intoxicating flattery of thought-out action in a man, when +it is to lay homage at her feet, and the man is a grave and serious +person, who is no worshiper of women.</p> +<p>Ethelrida trod on air, and looked unusually sweet and +gracious.</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute watched her quietly, with great tenderness +in his heart, and not the faintest misgiving. "Slow and sure" was +his motto, and thus he drew always the current of success and +contentment.</p> +<p>His only crumpled roseleaf was the face of his niece, which +rather haunted him. There seemed no improvement in the relations of +the pair, in spite of Zara having had ample cause to feel jealous +about Lady Highford since their arrival. Elinka, too, had had +strange and unreasonable turns in her nature, that is what had made +her so attractive. What if Zara and this really fine young +Englishman, with whom he had mated her, should never get on? Then +he laughed, when he thought of the impossibility of his +calculations finally miscarrying. It was, of course, only a +question of time. However, he would tell her before she left for +her "home-coming" at Wrayth on Monday, what he thought it was now +safe and advisable that she should know, namely, that on her +husband's side the marriage had been one of headlong desire for +herself, after having refused the bargain before he had seen her. +That would give her some bad moments of humiliation, he admitted, +which perhaps she had not deserved, though it would certainly bring +her to her knees and so, to Tristram's arms.</p> +<p>But for once, being really quite preoccupied with his own +affairs and a little unbalanced by love as well, he miscalculated +the force of a woman's pride. Zara's one idea now was to hide from +Tristram the state of her feelings, believing, poor, bruised, +wounded thing, that he no longer cared for her, believing that she +herself had extinguished the torch of love.</p> +<a name="C029" id="C029"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> +<p>There was an air of restrained excitement, importance and +mystery among the ladies at luncheon. They had got back to the +house in time to have their conclave before that meal, and +everything was satisfactorily settled. Lady Anningford, who had not +accompanied them out shooting, had thought out a whole scheme, and +announced it upon their return amidst acclamations.</p> +<p>They would represent as many characters as they could from the +"Idylls of the King," because the style would be such loose, +hanging kinds of garments, the maids could run up the long straight +seams in no time. And it would be so much more delightful, all to +carry out one idea, than the usual powdered heads and non-descript +things people chose for such impromptu occasions. It only remained +to finally decide the characters. She considered that Ethelrida +should undoubtedly be <i>Guinevere</i>; but, above all, Zara must +be <i>Isolt</i>!</p> +<p>"Of course, of course!" they all cried unanimously, while Zara's +eyes went black. "<i>Tristram</i> and <i>Isolt</i>! How +splendid!"</p> +<p>"And I shall be <i>Brangaine</i>, and give the love potion," +Lady Anningford went on. "Although it does not come into the +'Idylls of the King,' it should do so. It is just because Tennyson +was so fearfully, respectably Early Victorian! I have been looking +all the real thing up in the 'Morte d' Arthur' in the library, and +in the beautiful edition of 'Tristram and Yseult' in Ethelrida's +room."</p> +<p>"How perfectly enchanting!" cried Lady Betty. "I must be the +<i>Lady of the Lake</i>—it is much the most dramatic part. +And let us get the big sword out of the armory for +<i>Excalibur</i>! I can have it, and brandish it as I enter the +room."</p> +<p>"Oh, nonsense, Betty darling!" Ethelrida said. "You are the very +picture of <i>Lynette</i>, with your enchanting nose 'tiptilted +like the tender petal of a flower,' and your shameful treatment of +poor Jimmy!"</p> +<p>And Lady Betty, after bridling a little, consented.</p> +<p>Then the other parts were cast. Emily should be <i>Enid</i> and +Mary, <i>Elaine</i>, while Lady Melton, Lady Thornby and Mrs. +Harcourt should be the <i>Three Fair Queens</i>.</p> +<p>"I shall be <i>Ettarre</i>," said Lily Opie. "The others are all +good and dull; and I prefer her, because I am sure she wasn't! And +certainly Lady Highford must be <i>Vivien</i>! She is exactly the +type, in one of her tea gowns!"</p> +<p>Laura rather liked the idea of <i>Vivien</i>. It had +<i>cachet</i>, she thought. She was very fond of posing as a +mysterious enchantress, the mystic touch pleased her vanity.</p> +<p>So, of the whole party, only Zara did not feel content. Tristram +might think she had chosen this herself, as an advance towards +him.</p> +<p>Then the discussion, as to the garments to be worn, began. +Numbers of ornaments and bits of tea-gowns would do. But with her +usual practical forethought, Lady Anningford had already taken time +by the forelock, and asked that one of the motors, going in to +Tilling Green on a message, should bring back all the bales of +bright and light-colored merinos and nunscloths the one large +general shop boasted of.</p> +<p>And, amidst screams of delighted excitement from the girls, the +immense parcel was presently unpacked.</p> +<p>It contained marvels of white and creams, and one which was +declared the exact thing for <i>Isolt</i>. It was a merino of that +brilliant violent shade of azure, the tone which is advertised as +"Rickett's Paris blue" for washing clothes. It had been in the shop +for years, and was unearthed for this occasion—a perfect +relic of later Victorian aniline dye.</p> +<p>"It will be simply too gorgeously wonderful, with just a fillet +of gold round her head, and all her adorable red hair hanging +down," Lady Anningford said to Ethelrida.</p> +<p>"We shan't have to wear a stitch underneath," Lady Betty +announced decidedly, while she pirouetted before a cheval +glass—they were all in Lady Anningford's room—with some +stuff draped round her childish form. "The gowns must have the +right look, just long, straight things, with hanging sleeves and +perhaps a girdle. I shall have cream, and you, Mary, as +<i>Elaine</i>, must have white; but Emily had better have that +mauve for <i>Enid</i>, as she was married."</p> +<p>"Why must <i>Enid</i> have mauve because she is married?" asked +Emily, who did not like the color.</p> +<p>"I don't know why," Lady Betty answered, "except that, if you +are married, you can't possibly have white, like Mary and me, who +aren't. People are quite different—after, and mauve is very +respectable for them," she went on. Grammar never troubled her +little ladyship, when giving her valuable opinion upon things and +life.</p> +<p>"I think <i>Enid</i> was a goose," said Emily, pouting.</p> +<p>"Not half as much as <i>Elaine</i>," said Mary. "She had secured +her <i>Geraint</i>, whereas <i>Elaine</i> made a perfect donkey of +herself over <i>Lancelot</i>, who did not care for her."</p> +<p>"I like our parts much the best, Lily's and mine," said Lady +Betty. "I do give my Jim—Gareth?—a lively time, at all +events! Just what I should do, if it were in real life."</p> +<p>"What you do do, you mean, not what you would do, Minx!" said +her aunt, laughing.</p> +<p>And at this stage the shooters were seen advancing across the +park, and the band of ladies, full of importance, descended to +luncheon.</p> +<p>Lady Anningford sat next the Crow and told him what they had +decided, in strict confidence, of course.</p> +<p>"We shall have the most delightful fun, Crow. I have thought it +all out. At dessert I am going to hand one of the gold cups in +which we are going to put a glass of some of the Duke's original +old Chartreuse, to the bridal pair, as if to drink their health; +and then, when they have drunk it, I am going to be overcome at the +mistake of having given them a love-potion, just as in the real +story! You can't tell—it may bring them together."</p> +<p>"Queen Anne, you wonder!" said the Crow.</p> +<p>"It is such a deliciously incongruous idea, you see," Lady +Anningford went on. "All of us in long pre-mediaeval garments, with +floating hair, and all of you in modern hunt coats! I should like +to have seen Tristram in gold chain armor."</p> +<p>The Crow grunted approval.</p> +<p>"Ethelrida is going to arrange that they go in to dinner +together. She is going to say it will be their last chance before +they get to <i>King Mark</i>. Won't it all be perfect?"</p> +<p>"Well, I suppose you know best," the Crow said, with his wise +old head on one side. "But they are at a ticklish pass in their +careers, I tell you. The balance might go either way. Don't make it +too hard for them, out of mistaken kindness."</p> +<p>"You are tiresome, Crow!" retorted Lady Anningford. "I never can +do a thing I think right without your warning me over it. Do leave +it to me."</p> +<p>So, thus admonished, Colonel Lowerby went on with his +luncheon.</p> +<p>Zara's eyes looked more stormy than ever, when her husband +chanced to see them. He was sitting nearly opposite her, and he +wondered what on earth she was thinking about. He was filled with a +concentrated bitterness from the events of the morning. Her utter +indifference over the Laura incident had galled him unbearably, +although he told himself, as he had done before, the unconscionable +fool he was to allow himself to go on being freshly wounded by each +continued proof of her disdain of him. Why, when he knew a thing, +should he not be prepared for it? He had a strong will; he +<i>would</i> overcome his emotion for her. He could, at least, make +himself treat her, outwardly with the same apparent insolent +indifference, as she treated him.</p> +<p>He made a firm resolve once again, he would not speak to her at +all, any more than he had done the last three days in Paris. He +would accept the position until the Wrayth rejoicings were over, +and then he would certainly make arrangements to go and shoot +lions, or travel, or something. There should be no further +"perhaps" about it. Life, with the agonizing longing for her, +seeing her daily and being denied, was more than could be +borne.</p> +<p>There was something about Zara's type, the white, exquisite +beauty of her skin, her slenderly voluptuous shape, the stormy +suggestion of hidden passion in her slumberous eyes, which had +always aroused absolutely mad emotions in men. Tristram, who was a +normal Englishman, self-contained and reserved, and too completely +healthy to be highly-strung, felt undreamed-of sensations rise in +him when he looked at her, which was as rarely as possible. He +understood now what was meant by an obsession—all the states +of love he had read of in French novels and dismissed as +"tommyrot." She did not only affect him with a thrilling physical +passion. It was an obsession of the mind as well. He suffered +acutely; as each day passed it seemed as if he could not bear any +more, and the next always brought some further pain.</p> +<p>They had actually only been married for ten days! and it seemed +an eternity of anguish to both of them, for different reasons.</p> +<p>Zara's nature was trying to break through the iron bands of her +life training. Once she had admitted to herself that she loved her +husband, her suffering was as deep as his, only that she was more +practiced in the art of suppressing all emotion. But it was no +wonder that they both looked pale and stern, and quite +unbridal.</p> +<p>The sportsmen started immediately after lunch again, and the +ladies returned to their delightful work; and, when they all +assembled for tea, everything was almost completed. Zara had been +unable to resist the current of light-hearted gayety which was in +the air, and now felt considerably better; so she allowed Lord +Elterton to sit beside her after tea and pour homage at her feet, +with the expression of an empress listening to an address of +loyalty from some distant colony; and the Crow leant back in his +chair and chuckled to himself, much to Lady Anningford's +annoyance.</p> +<p>"What in the world is it, Crow?" she said. "When you laugh like +that, I always know some diabolically cynical idea is floating in +your head, and it is not good for you. Tell me at once what you +mean!"</p> +<p>But Colonel Lowerby refused to be drawn, and presently took +Tristram off into the billiard-room.</p> +<p>It was arranged that all the men, even the husbands, were to go +down into the great white drawing-room first, so that the ladies +might have the pleasure of making an entrance <i>en bande</i>, to +the delight of every one. And when this group of Englishmen, so +smart in their scarlet hunt coats, were assembled at the end, by +the fireplace, footmen opened the big double doors, and the groom +of the chambers announced,</p> +<p>"Her Majesty, <i>Queen Guinevere</i>, and the Ladies of her +Court."</p> +<p>And Ethelrida advanced, her fair hair in two long plaits, with +her mother's all-round diamond crown upon her head, and clothed in +some white brocade garment, arranged with a blue merino cloak, +trimmed with ermine and silver. She looked perfectly regal, and as +nearly beautiful as she had ever done; and to the admiring eyes of +Francis Markrute, she seemed to outshine all the rest.</p> +<p>Then, their names called as they entered, came Enid and Elaine, +each fair and sweet; and Vivien and Ettarre; then Lynette walking +alone, with her saucy nose in the air and her flaxen curls spread +out over her cream robe, a most bewitching sight.</p> +<p>Several paces behind her came the <i>Three Fair Queens</i>, all +in wonderfully contrived garments, and misty, floating veils; and +lastly, quite ten paces in the rear, walked <i>Isolt</i>, followed +by her <i>Brangaine</i>. And when the group by the fireplace caught +sight of her, they one and all drew in their breath.</p> +<p>For Zara had surpassed all expectations. The intense and blatant +blue of her long clinging robe, which would have killed the charms +of nine women out of ten, seemed to enhance the beauty of her pure +white skin and marvelous hair. It fell like a red shining cloak all +round her, kept in only by a thin fillet of gold, while her dark +eyes gleamed with a new excitement. She had relaxed her dominion of +herself, and was allowing the natural triumphant woman in her to +have its day. For once in her life she forgot everything of sorrow +and care, and permitted herself to rejoice in her own beauty and +its effect upon the world before her.</p> +<p>"Jee-hoshaphat!" was the first articulate word that the company +heard, from the hush which had fallen upon them; and then there was +a chorus of general admiration, in which all the ladies had their +share. And only the Crow happened to glance at Tristram, and saw +that his face was white as death.</p> +<p>Then the two parties, about twenty people in all, began to +arrive from the other houses, and delighted exclamations of +surprise at the splendor of the impromptu fancy garments were heard +all over the room, and soon dinner was announced, and they went +in.</p> +<p>"My Lord Tristram," Ethelrida had said to her cousin, "I beg of +you to conduct to my festal board your own most beautiful <i>Lady +Isolt</i>. Remember, on Monday you leave us for the realm of +<i>King Mark</i>, so make the most of your time!" And she turned +and led forward Zara, and placed her hand in his; she, and they +all, were too preoccupied with excitement and joy to see the look +of deep pain in his eyes.</p> +<p>He held his wife's hand, until the procession started, and +neither of them spoke a word. Zara, still exalted with the spirit +of the night, felt only a wild excitement. She was glad he could +see her beauty and her hair, and she raised her head and shook it +back, as they started, with a provoking air.</p> +<p>But Tristram never spoke; and by the time they had reached the +banqueting-hall, some of her exaltation died down, and she felt a +chill.</p> +<p>Her hair was so very long and thick that she had to push it +aside, to sit down, and in doing so a mesh flew out and touched his +face; and the Crow, who was watching the whole drama intently, +noticed that he shivered and, if possible, grew more pale. So he +turned to his own servant, behind his chair, who with some of the +other valets, was helping to wait, and whispered to him, "Go and +see that Lord Tancred is handed brandy, at once, before the +soup."</p> +<p>And so the feast began.</p> +<p>On Zara's other hand sat the Duke, and on Tristram's, +Brangaine—for so she and Ethelrida had arranged for their +later plan; and after the brandy, which Tristram dimly wondered why +he should have been handed, he pulled himself together, and tried +to talk; and Zara busied herself with the Duke. She quite came out +of her usual silence, and laughed, and looked so divinely +attractive that the splendid old gentleman felt it all going to his +head; and his thoughts wondered bluntly, how soon, if he were his +nephew, he would take her away after dinner and make love to her +all to himself! But these modern young fellows had not half the +mettle that he had had!</p> +<p>So at last dessert-time came, with its toasts for the <i>Queen +Guinevere</i>. And the bridal pair had spoken together never a +word; and Lady Anningford, who was watching them, began to fear for +the success of her plan. However, there was no use turning back +now. So, amidst jests of all sorts in keeping with the spirit of +Camelot and the Table Round, at last <i>Brangaine</i> rose and, +taking the gold cup in front of her, said,</p> +<p>"I, <i>Brangaine</i>, commissioned by her Lady Mother, to +conduct the <i>Lady Isolt</i> safely to <i>King Mark</i>, under the +knightly protection of the <i>Lord Tristram</i>, do now propose to +drink their health, and ye must all do likewise, Lords and Ladies +of Arthur's court." And she sipped her own glass, while she handed +the gold cup to the Duke, who passed it on to the pair; and +Tristram, because all eyes were upon him, forced himself to +continue the jest. So he rose and, taking Zara's hand, while he +bowed to the company, gave her the cup to drink, and then took it +himself, while he drained the measure. And every one cried, amidst +great excitement, "The health and happiness of <i>Tristram</i> and +<i>Isolt</i>!"</p> +<p>Then, when the tumult had subsided a little, <i>Brangaine</i> +gave a pretended shriek.</p> +<p>"Mercy me! I am undone!" she cried. "They have quaffed of the +wrong cup! That gold goblet contained a love-potion distilled from +rare plants by the Queen, and destined for the wedding wine of +<i>Isolt</i> and <i>King Mark</i>! And now the <i>Lord Tristram</i> +and she have drunk it together, by misadventure, and can never be +parted more! Oh, misery me! What have I done!"</p> +<p>And amidst shouts of delighted laughter led by the Crow—in +frozen silence, Tristram held his wife's hand.</p> +<p>But after a second, the breeding in them both, as on their +wedding evening before the waiters, again enabled them to continue +the comedy; and they, too, laughed, and, with the Duke's +assistance, got through the rest of dinner, until they all rose and +went out, two and two, the men leading their ladies by the hand, as +they had come in.</p> +<p>And if the cup had indeed contained a potion distilled by the +Irish sorceress Queen, the two victims could not have felt more +passionately in love.</p> +<p>But Tristram's pride won the day for him, for this one time, and +not by a glance or a turn of his head did he let his bride see how +wildly her superlative attraction had kindled the fire in his +blood. And when the dancing began, he danced with every other lady +first, and then went off into the smoking-room, and only just +returned in time to be made to lead out his "<i>Isolt</i>" in a +final quadrille—not a valse. No powers would have made him +endure the temptation of a valse!</p> +<p>And even this much, the taking of her hand, her nearness, the +sight of the exquisite curves of her slender figure, and her +floating hair, caused him an anguish unspeakable, so that when the +rest of the company had gone, and good nights were said, he went up +to his room, changed his coat, and strode away alone, out into the +night.</p> +<a name="rw000" id="rw000"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width:50%"><a href="images/rw000.jpg" +target="blank"><img width="100%" src="images/rw000.jpg" alt= +'"Not by a glance or a turn of the head did he let his bride see how wildly her superlative attraction had kindled the fire in his blood."' /> +</a> "Not by a glance or a turn of the head did he let his bride +see how wildly her superlative attraction had kindled the fire in +his blood."</div> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<a name="C030" id="C030"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2> +<p>Every one was so sleepy and tired on Sunday morning, after their +night at Arthur's Court, that only Lady Ethelrida and Laura +Highford, who had a pose of extreme piety always ready at hand, +started with the Duke and Young Billy for church. Francis Markrute +watched them go from his window, which looked upon the entrance, +and he thought how stately and noble his fair lady looked; and he +admired her disciplined attitude, no carousal being allowed to +interfere with her duties. She was a rare and perfect specimen of +her class.</p> +<p>His lady fair! For he had determined, if fate plainly gave him +the indication, to risk asking her to-day to be his fair lady +indeed. A man must know when to strike, if the iron is hot.</p> +<p>He had carefully prepared all the avenues; and had made himself +of great importance to the Duke, allowing his masterly brain to be +seen in glimpses, and convincing His Grace of his possible great +usefulness to the party to which he belonged. He did not look for +continued opposition in that quarter, once he should have assured +himself that Lady Ethelrida loved him. That he loved her, with all +the force of his self-contained nature, was beyond any doubt. Love, +as a rule, recks little of the suitability of the object, when it +attacks a heart; but in some few cases—that is the peculiar +charm—Francis Markrute had waited until he was forty-six +years old, firmly keeping to his ideal, until he found her, in a +measure of perfection, of which even he had not dared to dream. His +theory, which he had proved in his whole life, was that nothing is +beyond the grasp of a man who is master of himself and his +emotions. But even his iron nerves felt the tension of excitement, +as luncheon drew to an end, and he knew in half an hour, when most +of the company were safely disposed of, he should again find his +way to his lady's shrine.</p> +<p>Ethelrida did not look at him. She was her usual, +charmingly-gracious self to her neighbors, solicitous of Tristram's +headache. He had only just appeared, and looked what he +felt—a wreck. She was interested in some news in the Sunday +papers, which had arrived; and in short, not a soul guessed how her +gentle being was uplifted, and her tender heart beating with this, +the first real emotion she had ever experienced.</p> +<p>Even the Crow, so thrilled with his interest in the bridal pair, +had not scented anything unusual in his hostess's attitude towards +one of her guests.</p> +<p>"I think Mr. Markrute is awfully attractive, don't you, Crow?" +said Lady Anningford, as they started for their walk. To go to +Lynton Heights after lunch on Sunday was almost an invariable +custom at Montfitchet. "I can't say what it is, but it is something +subtle and extraordinary, like that in his niece—what do you +think?"</p> +<p>Colonel Lowerby paused, struck from her words by the fact that +he had been too preoccupied to have noticed this really interesting +man.</p> +<p>"Why, 'pon my soul—I haven't thought!" he said, "but now +you speak of it, I do think he is a remarkable chap."</p> +<p>"He is so very quiet," Lady Anningford went on, "and, whenever +he speaks, it is something worth listening to; and if you get on +any subject of books, he is a perfect encyclopaedia. He gives me +the impression of all the forces of power and will, concentrated in +a man. I wonder who he really is? Not that it matters a bit in +these days. Do you think there is any Jew in him? It does not show +in his type, but when foreigners are very rich there generally +is."</p> +<p>"Sure to be, as he is so intelligent," the Crow growled. "If you +notice, numbers of the English families who show brains have a +touch of it in the background. So long as the touch is far enough +away, I have no objection to it myself—prefer folks not to be +fools."</p> +<p>"I believe I have no prejudices at all," said Lady Anningford. +"If I like people, I don't care what is in their blood."</p> +<p>"It is all right till you scratch 'em. Then it comes out; but +if, as I say, it is far enough back, the Jew will do the future +Tancred race a power of good, to get the commercial common sense of +it into them—knew Maurice Grey, her father, years ago, and he +was just as indifferent to money and material things, as Tristram +is himself. So the good will come from the Markrute side, we will +hope."</p> +<p>"I rather wonder, Crow—if there ever will be any more of +the Tancred race. I thought last night we had a great failure, and +that nothing will make that affair prosper. I don't believe they +ever see one another from one day to the next! It is extremely +sad."</p> +<p>"I told you they had come to a ticklish point in their careers," +the Crow permitted himself to remind his friend, "and, 'pon my +soul, I could not bet you one way or another how it will go. 'I hae +me doots,' as the Scotchman said."</p> +<p>Meanwhile, Ethelrida, on the plea of letters to write, had +retired to her room; and there, as the clock struck a quarter past +three, she awaited—what? She would not own to herself that it +was her fate. She threw dust in her own eyes, and called it a +pleasant talk!</p> +<p>She looked absurdly young for her twenty-six years, just a +dainty slip of a patrician girl, as she sat there on her chintz +sofa, with its fresh pattern of lilacs and tender green. Everything +was in harmony, even to her soft violet cloth dress trimmed with +fur.</p> +<p>And again as the hour for the trysting chimed, her lover that +was to be, entered the room.</p> +<p>"This is perfectly divine," he said, as he came in, while the +roguish twinkle of a schoolboy, who has outwitted his mates +sparkled in his fine eyes. "All those good people tramping for +miles in the cold and damp, while we two sensible ones are going to +enjoy a nice fire and a friendly chat."</p> +<p>Thus he disarmed her nervousness, and gave her time.</p> +<p>"May I sit by you, my Lady Ethelrida?" he said; and as she +smiled, he took his seat, but not too near her—nothing must +be the least hurried or out of place.</p> +<p>So for about a quarter of an hour they talked of +books—their favorites—hers, all so simple and chaste, +his, of all kinds, so long as they showed style, and were +masterpieces of taste and balance. Then, as a great piece of wood +fell in the open grate and made a volley of sparks, he leaned +forward a little and asked her if he might tell her that for which +he had come, the history of a man.</p> +<p>The daylight was drawing in, and they had an hour before +them.</p> +<p>"Yes," said Ethelrida, "only let us make up the fire first, and +only turn on that one soft light," and she pointed to a big gray +china owl who carried a simple shade of white painted with lilacs +on his back. "Then we need not move again, because I want extremely +to hear it—the history of a man."</p> +<p>He obeyed her commands, and also drew the silk blinds.</p> +<p>"Now, indeed, we are happy; at least, I am," he said.</p> +<p>Lady Ethelrida leant back on her muslin embroidered cushion and +prepared herself to listen with a rapt face.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute stood by the fire for a while, and began from +there:</p> +<p>"You must go right back with me to early days, Sweet Lady," he +said, "to a palace in a gloomy city and to an artiste—a +ballet-dancer—but at the same time a great <i>musicienne</i> +and a good and beautiful woman, a woman with red, splendid hair, +like my niece. There she lived in a palace in this city, away from +the world with her two children; an Emperor was her lover and her +children's father; and they all four were happy as the day was +long. The children were a boy and a girl, and presently they began +to grow up, and the boy began to think about life and to reason +things out with himself. He had, perhaps, inherited this faculty +from his grandfather, on his mother's side, who was a celebrated +poet and philosopher and a Spanish Jew. So his mother, the +beautiful dancer, was half Jewess, and, from her mother again, half +Spanish noble; for this philosopher had eloped with the daughter of +a Spanish grandee, and she was erased from the roll. I go back this +far not to weary you, but that you may understand what forces in +race had to do with the boy's character. The daughter again of this +pair became an artist and a dancer, and being a highly educated, as +well as a superbly beautiful woman—a woman with all Zara's +charm and infinitely more chiseled features—she won the +devoted love of the Emperor of the country in which they lived. I +will not go into the moral aspect of the affair. A great love recks +not of moral aspects. Sufficient to say, they were ideally happy +while the beautiful dancer lived. She died when the boy was about +fifteen, to his great and abiding grief. His sister, who was a year +or two younger than he, was then all he had to love, because +political and social reasons in that country made it very +difficult, about this time, for him often to see his father, the +Emperor.</p> +<p>"The boy was very carefully educated, and began early, as I have +told you, to think for himself and to dream. He dreamed of things +which might have been, had he been the heir and son of the Empress, +instead of the child of her who seemed to him so much the greater +lady and queen, his own mother, the dancer; and he came to see that +dreams that are based upon regrets are useless and only a factor in +the degradation, not the uplifting of a man. The boy grew to +understand that from that sweet mother, even though the world +called her an immoral woman, he had inherited something much more +valuable to himself than the Imperial crown—the faculty of +perception and balance, physical and moral, to which the family of +the Emperor, his father, could lay no claim. From them, both he and +his sister had inherited a stubborn, indomitable pride. You can see +it, and have already remarked it, in Zara—that sister's +child.</p> +<p>"So when the boy grew to be about twenty, he determined to carve +out a career for himself, to create a great fortune, and so make +his own little kingdom, which should not be bound by any country or +race. He had an English tutor—he had always had one—and +in his studies of countries and peoples and their attributes, the +English seemed to him to be much the finest race. They were saner, +more understanding, more full of the sense of the fitness of +things, and of the knowledge of life and how to live it wisely.</p> +<p>"So the boy, with no country, and no ingrained patriotism for +the place of his birth, determined he, being free and of no nation, +should, when he had made this fortune, migrate there, and endeavor +to obtain a place among those proud people, whom he so admired in +his heart. That was his goal, in all his years of hard work, during +which time he grew to understand the value of individual character, +regardless of nation or of creed; and so, when finally he did come +to this country, it was not to seek, but to command." And here +Francis Markrute, master of vast wealth and the destinies of almost +as many human souls as his father, the Emperor, had been, raised +his head. And Lady Ethelrida, daughter of a hundred noble lords, +knew her father, the Duke, was no prouder than he, the Spanish +dancer's son. And something in her fine spirit went out to him; and +she, there in the firelight with the soft owl lamp silvering her +hair, stretched out her hand to him; and he held it and kissed it +tenderly, as he took his seat by her side.</p> +<p>"My sweet and holy one," he said. "And so you understand!"</p> +<p>"Yes, yes!" said Ethelrida. "Oh, please go on"—and she +leaned back against her pillow, but she did not seek to draw away +her hand.</p> +<p>"There came a great grief, then, in the life of the boy who was +now a grown man. His sister brought disgrace upon herself, and died +under extremely distressful circumstances, into which I need not +enter here; and for a while these things darkened and embittered +his life." He paused a moment, and gazed into the fire, a look of +deep sorrow and regret on his sharply-cut face, and Ethelrida +unconsciously allowed her slim fingers to tighten in his grasp. And +when he felt this gentle sympathy, he stroked her hand.</p> +<p>"The man was very hard then, sweet lady," he went on. "He +regrets it now, deeply. The pure angel, who at this day rules his +life, with her soft eyes of divine mercy and gentleness, has taught +him many lessons; and it will be his everlasting regret that he was +hard then. But it was a great deep wound to his pride, that quality +which he had inherited from his father, and had not then completely +checked and got in hand. Pride should be a factor for noble actions +and a great spirit, but not for overbearance toward the failings of +others. He knows that now. If this lady, whom he worships, should +ever wish to learn the whole details of this time, he will tell her +even at any cost to his pride, but for the moment let me get on to +pleasanter things."</p> +<p>And Ethelrida whispered, "Yes, yes," so he continued:</p> +<p>"All his life from a boy's to a man's, this person we are +speaking of had kept his ideal of the woman he should love. She +must be fine and shapely, and noble and free; she must be tender +and devoted, and gracious and good. But he passed all his early +manhood and grew to middle age, before he even saw her shadow +across his path. He looked up one night, eighteen months ago, at a +court ball, and she passed him on the arm of a royal duke, and +unconsciously brushed his coat with her soft dove's wing; and he +knew that it was she, after all those years, so he waited and +planned, and met her once or twice; but fate did not let him +advance very far, and so a scheme entered his head. His niece, the +daughter of his dead sister, had also had a very unhappy life; and +he thought she, too, should come among these English people, and +find happiness with their level ways. She was beautiful and proud +and good, so he planned the marriage between his niece and the +cousin of the lady he worshiped, knowing by that he should be drawn +nearer his star, and also pay the debt to his dead sister, by +securing the happiness of her child; but primarily it was his +desire to be nearer his own worshiped star, and thus it has all +come about." He paused, and looked full at her face, and saw that +her sweet eyes were moist with some tender, happy tears. So he +leaned forward, took her other hand, and kissed them both, placing +the soft palms against his mouth for a second; then he whispered +hoarsely, his voice at last trembling with the passionate emotion +he felt:</p> +<p>"Ethelrida—darling—I love you with my +soul—tell me, my sweet lady, will you be my wife?"</p> +<p>And the Lady Ethelrida did not answer, but allowed herself to be +drawn into his arms.</p> +<p>And so in the firelight, with the watchful gray owl, the two +rested blissfully content.</p> +<a name="C031" id="C031"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> +<p>When Lady Ethelrida came down to tea, her sweet face was +prettily flushed, for she was quite unused to caresses and the +kisses of a man. Her soft gray eyes were shining with a happiness +of which she had not dreamed, and above all things, she was filled +with the exquisite emotion of having a secret!—a secret of +which even her dear friend Anne was ignorant—a blessed +secret, just shared between her lover and herself. And Lady +Anningford, who had no idea that she had spent the afternoon with +the financier, but believed she had religiously written letters +alone, wondered to herself what on earth made Ethelrida look so +joyous and not the least fatigued, as most of the others were. She +really got prettier, she thought, as she grew older, and was always +the greatest dear in the whole world. But, to look as happy as that +and have a face so flushed, was quite mysterious and required the +opinion of the Crow!</p> +<p>So she dragged Colonel Lowerby off to a sofa, and began at +once:</p> +<p>"Crow, do look at Ethelrida's face! Did you ever see one so +idiotically blissful, except when she has been kissed by the person +she loves?"</p> +<p>"Well, how do you know that is not the case with our dear +Ethelrida?" grunted the Crow. "She did not come out for a walk. You +had better count up, and see who else stayed at home!"</p> +<p>So Lady Anningford began laughingly. The idea was too +impossible, but she must reason it out.</p> +<p>"There was Lord Melton but Lady Melton stayed behind, too, and +the Thornbys—all impossible. There was no one else except +Tristram, who I know was in the smoking-room, with a fearful +headache, and Mr. Markrute, who was with the Duke."</p> +<p>"Was he with the Duke?" queried the Crow.</p> +<p>"Crow!" almost gasped Lady Anningford. "Do you mean to tell me +that you think Ethelrida would have her face looking like that +about a foreigner! My dear friend, you must have taken leave of +your seven senses—" and then she paused, for several trifles +came back to her recollection, connected with these two, which, now +that the Crow had implanted a suspicion in her breast, began to +assume considerable proportions.</p> +<p>Ethelrida had talked of most irrelevant matters always during +their good-night chats, unless the subject happened to be Zara, and +she had never once mentioned Mr. Markrute personally or given any +opinion about him; and yet, as Anne had seen, they had often +talked. There must be something in it, but that was not enough to +account for Ethelrida's face. A pale, rather purely colorless +complexion like hers did not suddenly change to bright scarlet +cheeks, without some practical means! And, as Anne very well knew, +kisses were a very practical means! But her friend Ethelrida would +never allow any man to kiss her, unless she had promised to marry +him. Now, if it had been Lily Opie, she could not have been so +sure, though she hoped she could be sure of any nice girl; but +about Ethelrida she could take her oath. It followed, as Ethelrida +had been quite pale at lunch and was not a person who went to sleep +over fires, something extraordinary must have happened—but +what?</p> +<p>"Crow, dear, I have never been so thrilled in my life," she +said, after her thoughts had come to this stage. "The lurid tragedy +of the honeymoon pair cannot compare in interest to anything +connected with my sweet Ethelrida, for me, so it is your duty to +put that horribly wise, cynical brain of yours to work and unravel +me this mystery. Look, here is Mr. Markrute coming in—let us +watch his face!"</p> +<p>But, although they subjected the financier to the keenest +good-natured scrutiny, he did not show a sign or give them any +clue. He sat down quietly, and began talking casually to the group +by the tea-table, while he methodically spread his bread and butter +with blackberry jam. Such delicious schoolroom teas the company +indulged in, at the hospitable tea-table of Montfitchet! He did not +seem to be even addressing Ethelrida. What could it be?</p> +<p>"I believe we have made a mistake after all, Crow," Lady +Anningford said disappointedly. "Look—he is quite +unmoved."</p> +<p>The Crow gave one of his chuckles, while he answered slowly, +between his sips of tea:</p> +<p>"A man doesn't handle millions in the year, and twist and turn +about half the governments of Europe, if he can't keep his face +from showing what he doesn't mean you to see! Bless your dear +heart, Mr. Francis Markrute is no infant!" and the chuckle went +on.</p> +<p>"You may think yourself very wise, Crow, and so you are," Lady +Anningford retorted severely, "but you don't know anything about +love. When a man is in love, even if he were Machiavelli himself, +it would be bound to show in his eye—if one looked long +enough."</p> +<p>"Then your plan, my dear Queen Anne, is to look," the Crow said, +smiling. "For my part, I want to see how the other pair have got +on. They are my pets; and I don't consider they have spent at all a +suitable honeymoon Sunday afternoon—Tristram, with a headache +in the smoking-room, and the bride, taking a walk and being made +love to by Arthur Elterton, and Young Billy, alternately. The kid +is as wild about her as Tristram himself, I believe!"</p> +<p>"Then you still think Tristram is in love with her, do you, +Crow?" asked Anne, once more interested in her original thrill. "He +did not show the smallest signs of it last night then, if so; and +how he did not seize her in his arms and devour her there and then, +with all that lovely hair down and her exquisite shape showing the +outline so in that dress—I can't think! He must be as cold as +a stone, and I never thought him so before, did you?"</p> +<p>"No, and he isn't either, I tell you what, my dear girl, there +is something pretty grim keeping those two apart, I am sure. She is +the kind of woman who arouses the fiercest passions; and Tristram +is in the state that, if something were really to set alight his +jealousy, he might kill her some day."</p> +<p>"Crow—how terrible!" gasped Anne, and then seeing that her +friend's face was serious, and not chaffing, she, too, looked +grave. "Then what on earth is to be done?" she asked.</p> +<p>"I don't know, I have been thinking it over ever since I came +in. I found him in the smoking-room, staring in front of him, not +even pretending to read, and looking pretty white about the gills; +and when he saw it was only me, and I asked him if his head were +worse, and whether he had not better have a brandy and soda, he +simply said: 'No, thanks, the whole thing is a d—— +rotten show.' I've known him since he was a blessed baby you know, +so he didn't mind me for a minute. Then he recollected himself, and +said, yes, he would have a drink; and when he poured it out, he +only sipped it, and then forgot about it, jumped up, and blurted +out he had some letters to write, so I left him. I am awfully sorry +for the poor chap, I can tell you. If it is not fate, but some +caprice of hers, she deserves a jolly good beating, for making him +suffer like that."</p> +<p>"Couldn't you say something to her, Crow, dear? We are all so +awfully fond of Tristram, and there does seem some tragedy hanging +over them that ought to be stopped at once. Couldn't you, +Crow?"</p> +<p>But Colonel Lowerby shook his head.</p> +<p>"It is too confoundedly ticklish," he grunted. "It might do some +good, and it might just do the other thing. It is too dangerous to +interfere."</p> +<p>"Well, you have made me thoroughly uncomfortable," Lady +Anningford said. "I shall get hold of him to-night, and see what I +can do."</p> +<p>"Then, mind you are careful, Queen Anne—that is all that I +can say," and at that moment, the Duke joining them, the +tête-à-tête broke up.</p> +<p>Zara had not appeared at tea. She said she was very tired, and +would rest until dinner. If she had been there, her uncle had meant +to take her aside into one of the smaller sitting-rooms, and tell +her the piece of information he deemed it now advisable for her to +know; but as she did not appear, or Tristram, either, he thought +after all they might be together, and his interference would be +unnecessary. But he decided, if he saw the same frigid state of +things at dinner, he would certainly speak to her after it; and +relieved from duty, he went once more to find his lady love in her +sitting-room.</p> +<p>"Francis!" she whispered, as he held her next his heart for a +moment. "You must not stay ten minutes, for Lady Anningford or Lady +Melton is sure to come in—Anne, especially, who has been +looking at me with such reproachful eyes, for having neglected her +all this, our last afternoon."</p> +<p>"I care not for a thousand Annes, Ethelrida mine!" he said +softly, as he kissed her. "If she does come, will it matter? Would +you rather she did not guess anything yet, my dearest?"</p> +<p>"Yes—" said Ethelrida, "—I don't want any one to +know, until you have told my father,—will you do so +to-night—or wait until to-morrow? I—I can't—I +feel so shy—and he will be so surprised." She did not add her +secret fear that her parent might be very angry.</p> +<p>They had sat down upon the sofa now, under the light of their +kindly gray owl; and Francis Markrute contented himself with +caressing his lady's hair, as he answered:</p> +<p>"I thought of asking the Duke, if I might stay until the +afternoon train, as I had something important to discuss with him, +and then wait and see him quietly, when all the others have gone, +if that is what you would wish, my sweet. I will do exactly as you +desire about all things. I want you to understand that. You are to +have your own way in everything in life."</p> +<p>"You know very well that I should never want it, if it differed +from yours, Francis." What music he found in his name! "You are so +very wise, it will be divine to let you guide me!" Which tender +speech showed that the gentle Ethelrida had none of the attitude of +the modern bride.</p> +<p>And thus it was arranged. The middle-aged, but boyishly-in-love, +fiancé was to tackle his future father-in-law in the +morning's light; and to-night, let the household sleep in +peace!</p> +<p>So, after a blissful interlude, as he saw in spite of the joy +they found together, his Ethelrida was still slightly nervous of +Lady Anningford's entrance, he got up to say good night, as alas! +this would probably be the last chance they would have alone before +he left.</p> +<p>"And you will not make me wait too long, my darling," he +implored, "will you? You see, every moment away from you, will now +be wasted. I do not know how I have borne all these years +alone!"</p> +<p>And she promised everything he wished, for Francis Markrute, at +forty-six, had far more allurements than an impetuous young lover. +Not a tenderness, a subtlety of flattery and homage, those things +so dear to a woman's heart, were forgotten by him. He really +worshiped Ethelrida and his fashion of showing his feeling was in +all ways to think first of what she would wish; which proved that +if her attitude were unmodern, as far as women were concerned, his +was even more so, among men!</p> +<p>Tristram had gone out for another walk alone, after the Crow had +left him. He wanted to realize the details of the coming week, and +settle with himself how best to get through with them.</p> +<p>He and Zara were to start in their own motor at about eleven for +Wrayth, which was only forty miles across the border into Suffolk. +They would reach it inside of two hours easily, and arrive at the +first triumphal arch of the park before one; and so go on through +the shouting villagers to the house, where in the great banqueting +hall, which still remained, a relic of Henry IV's time, joined on +to the Norman keep, they would have to assist at a great luncheon +to the principal tenants, while the lesser fry feasted in a huge +tent in the outer courtyard.</p> +<p>Here, endless speeches would have to be made and listened to, +and joy simulated, and a general air of hilarity kept up; and the +old housekeeper would have prepared the large rooms in the Adam +wing for their reception; and they would not be free to separate, +until late at night, for there would be the servants' and +employés' ball, after a tête-à-tête +dinner in state, where their every action would be watched and +commented upon by many curious eyes. Yes, it was a terrible ordeal +to go through, under the circumstances; and no wonder he wanted the +cold, frosty evening air to brace him up!</p> +<p>At the end of his troubled thoughts he had come to the +conclusion that there was only one thing to be done—he must +speak to her to-night, tell her what to expect, and ask her to play +her part. "She is fortunately game, even if cold as stone," he said +to himself, "and if I appeal to her pride, she will help me out." +So he came back into the house, and went straight up to her room. +He had been through too much suffering and anguish of heart, all +night and all day, to be fearful of temptation. He felt numb, as he +knocked at the door and an indifferent voice called out, "Come +in!"</p> +<p>He opened it a few inches and said: "It is +I—Tristram—I have something I must say to you—May +I come in?—or would you prefer to come down to one of the +sitting-rooms? I dare say we could find one empty, so as to be +alone."</p> +<p>"Please come in," her voice said, and she was conscious that she +was trembling from head to foot.</p> +<p>So he obeyed her, shutting the door firmly after him and +advancing to the fireplace. She had been lying upon the sofa +wrapped in a soft blue tea-gown, and her hair hung in the two long +plaits, which she always unwound when she could to take its weight +from her head. She rose from her reclining position and sat in the +corner; and after glancing at her for a second, Tristram turned his +eyes away, and leaning on the mantelpiece, began in a cold grave +voice:</p> +<p>"I have to ask you to do me a favor. It is to help me through +to-morrow and the few days after, as best you can, by conforming to +our ways. It has been always the custom in the family, when a +Tancred brought home his bride, to have all sorts of silly +rejoicings. There will be triumphal arches in the park, and +collections of village people, a lunch for the principal tenants, +speeches, and all sorts of boring things. Then we shall have to +dine alone in the state dining-room, with all the servants watching +us, and go to the household and tenants' ball in the great hall. It +will all be ghastly, as you can see." He paused a moment, but he +did not change the set tone in his voice when he spoke again, nor +did he look at her. He had now come to the hardest part of his +task.</p> +<p>"All these people—who are my people," he went on, "think a +great deal of these things, and of us—that is—myself, +as their landlord, and you as my wife. We have always been friends, +the country folk at Wrayth and my family, and they adored my +mother. They are looking forward to our coming back and opening the +house again—and—and—all that—and—" +here he paused a second time, it seemed as if his throat were dry, +for suddenly the remembrance of his dreams as he looked at Tristram +Guiscard's armor, which he had worn at Agincourt, came back to +him—his dreams in his old oak-paneled room—of their +home-coming to Wrayth; and the mockery of the reality hit him in +the face.</p> +<p>Zara clasped her hands, and if he had glanced at her again, he +would have seen all the love and anguish which was convulsing her +shining in her sad eyes.</p> +<p>He mastered the emotion which had hoarsened his voice, and went +on in an even tone: "What I have to ask is that you will do your +share—wear some beautiful clothes, and smile, and look as if +you cared; and if I feel that it will be necessary to take your +hand or even kiss you, do not frown at me, or think I am doing it +from choice—I ask you, because I believe you are as proud as +I am,—I ask you, please, to play the game."</p> +<p>And now he looked up at her, but the terrible emotion she was +suffering had made her droop her head. He would not kiss her or +take her hand—from choice—that was the main thing her +woman's heart had grasped, the main thing, which cut her like a +knife.</p> +<p>"You can count upon me," she said, so low he could hardly hear +her; and then she raised her head proudly, and looked straight in +front of her, but not at him, while she repeated more firmly: "I +will do in every way what you wish—what your mother would +have done. I am no weakling, you know, and as you said, I am as +proud as yourself."</p> +<p>He dared not look at her, now the bargain was made, so he took a +step towards the door, and then turned and said:</p> +<p>"I thank you—I shall be grateful to you. Whatever may +occur, please believe that nothing that may look as if it was my +wish to throw us together, as though we were really husband and +wife, will be my fault; and you can count upon my making the thing +as easy for you as I can—and when the mockery of the +rejoicings are over—then we can discuss our future +plans."</p> +<p>And though Zara was longing to cry aloud in passionate pain, "I +love you! I love you! Come back and beat me, if you will, only do +not go coldly like that!" she spoke never a word. The strange iron +habit of her life held her, and he went sadly from the room.</p> +<p>And when he had gone, she could control herself no longer and, +forgetful of coming maid and approaching dinner, she groveled on +the white bearskin rug before the fire, and gave way to passionate +tears—only to recollect in a moment the position of things. +Then she got up and shook with passion against fate, and +civilization, and custom—against the whole of life. She could +not even cry in peace. No! She must play the game! So her eyes had +to be bathed, the window opened, and the icy air breathed in, and +at last she had quieted herself down to the look of a person with a +headache, when the dressing-gong sounded, and her maid came into +the room.</p> +<a name="C032" id="C032"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> +<p>This, the last dinner at Montfitchet, passed more quietly than +the rest. The company were perhaps subdued, from their revels of +the night before; and every one hates the thought of breaking up a +delightful party and separating on the morrow, even when it has +only been a merry gathering like this.</p> +<p>And two people were divinely happy, and two people supremely +sad, and one mean little heart was full of bitterness and malice +unassuaged. So after dinner was over, and they were all once more +in the white drawing-room, the different elements assorted +themselves.</p> +<p>Lady Anningford took Tristram aside and began, with great tact +and much feeling, to see if he could be cajoled into a better mood; +and finally got severely snubbed for her trouble, which hurt her +more because she realized how deep must be his pain than from any +offense to herself. Then Laura caught him and implanted her last +sting:</p> +<p>"You are going away to-morrow, Tristram,—into your new +life—and when you have found out all about your +wife—and her handsome friend—you may remember that +there was one woman who loved you truly—" and then she moved +on and left him sitting there, too raging to move.</p> +<p>After this, his uncle had joined him, had talked politics, and +just at the end, for the hearty old gentleman could not believe a +man could really be cold or indifferent to as beautiful a piece of +flesh and blood as his new niece, he had said:</p> +<p>"Tristram, my dear boy,—I don't know whether it is the +modern spirit—or not—but, if I were you, I'd be hanged +if I would let that divine creature, your wife, out of my sight day +or night!—When you get her alone at Wrayth, just kiss her +until she can't breathe—and you'll find it is all right!"</p> +<p>With which absolutely sensible advice, he had slapped his nephew +on the back, fixed in his eyeglass, and walked off; and Tristram +had stood there, his blue eyes hollow with pain, and had laughed a +bitter laugh, and gone to play bridge, which he loathed, with the +Meltons and Mrs. Harcourt. So for him, the evening had passed.</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute had taken his niece aside to give her his +bit of salutary information. He wished to get it over as quickly as +possible, and had drawn her to a sofa rather behind a screen, where +they were not too much observed.</p> +<p>"We have all had a most delightful visit, I am sure, Zara," he +had said, "but you and Tristram seem not to be yet as good friends +as I could wish."</p> +<p>He paused a moment, but as usual she did not speak, so he went +on:</p> +<p>"There is one thing you might as well know, I believe you have +not realized it yet, unless Tristram has told you of it +himself."</p> +<p>She looked up now, startled—of what was she ignorant +then?</p> +<p>"You may remember the afternoon I made the bargain with you +about the marriage," Francis Markrute went on. "Well, that +afternoon Tristram, your husband, had refused my offer of you and +your fortune with scorn. He would never wed a rich woman he said, +or a woman he did not know or love, for any material gain; but I +knew he would think differently when he had seen how beautiful and +attractive you were, so I continued to make my plans. You know my +methods, my dear niece."</p> +<p>Zara's blazing and yet pitiful eyes were all his answer.</p> +<p>"Well, I calculated rightly. He came to dinner that night, and +fell madly in love with you, and at once asked to marry you +himself, while he insisted upon your fortune being tied up entirely +upon you, and any children that you might have, only allowing me to +pay off the mortgages on Wrayth for himself. It would be impossible +for a man to have behaved more like a gentleman. I thought now, in +case you had not grasped all this, you had better know." And then +he said anxiously, "Zara—my dear child—what is the +matter?" for her proud head had fallen forward on her breast, with +a sudden deadly faintness. This, indeed, was the filling of her +cup.</p> +<p>His voice pulled her together, and she sat up; and to the end of +his life, Francis Markrute will never like to remember the look in +her eyes.</p> +<p>"And you let me go on and marry him, playing this cheat? You let +me go on and spoil both our lives! What had I ever done to you, my +uncle, that you should be so cruel to me? Or is it to be revenged +upon my mother for the hurt she brought to your pride?"</p> +<p>If she had reproached him, stormed at him, anything, he could +have borne it better; but the utter lifeless calm of her voice, the +hopeless look in her beautiful white face, touched his +heart—that heart but newly unwrapped and humanized from its +mummifying encasements by the omnipotent God of Love. Had he, after +all, been too coldly calculating about this human creature of his +own flesh and blood? Was there some insurmountable barrier grown up +from his action? For the first moment in his life he was filled +with doubt and fear.</p> +<p>"Zara," he said, anxiously, "tell me, dear child, what you mean? +I let you go on in the 'cheat,' as you call it, because I knew you +never would consent to the bargain, unless you thought it was equal +on both sides. I know your sense of honor, dear, but I calculated, +and I thought rightly, that, Tristram being so in love with you, he +would soon undeceive you, directly you were alone. I never believed +a woman could be so cold as to resist his wonderful +charm—Zara—what has happened?—'Won't you tell me, +child?"</p> +<p>But she sat there turned to stone. She had no thought to +reproach him. Her heart and her spirit seemed broken, that was +all.</p> +<p>"Zara—would you like me to do anything? Can I explain +anything to him? Can I help you to be happy? I assure you it hurts +me awfully, if this will not turn out all right—Zara," for +she had risen a little unsteadily from her seat beside him. "You +cannot be indifferent to him for ever—he is too splendid a +man. Cannot I do anything for you, my niece?"</p> +<p>Then she looked at him, and her eyes in their deep tragedy +seemed to burn out of her deadly white face.</p> +<p>"No, thank you, my uncle,—there is nothing to be +done—everything is now too late." Then she added in the same +monotonous voice, "I am very tired, I think I will wish you a good +night." And with immense dignity, she left him; and making her +excuses with gentle grace to the Duke and Lady Ethelrida, she +glided from the room.</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute, as he watched her, felt his whole being +wrung with emotion and pain.</p> +<p>"My God!" he said to himself. "She is a glorious woman, and it +will—it must—come right—even yet."</p> +<p>And then he set his brain to calculate how he could assist them, +and finally his reasoning powers came back to him, and he comforted +himself with the deductions he made.</p> +<p>She was going away alone with this most desirable young man into +the romantic environment of Wrayth. Human physical passion, to say +the least of it, was too strong to keep them apart for ever, so he +could safely leave the adjusting of this puzzle to the discretion +of fate.</p> +<p>And Zara, freed at last from eye of friend or maid, collapsed on +to the white bearskin in front of the fire again, and tried to +think. So she had been offered as a chattel and been refused! Here +her spirit burnt with humiliation. Her uncle, she knew, always had +used her merely as a pawn in some game—what game? He was not +a snob; the position of uncle to Tristram would not have tempted +him alone; he never did anything without a motive and a deep one. +Could it be that he himself was in love with Lady Ethelrida? She +had been too preoccupied with her own affairs to be struck with +those of others, but now as she looked back, he had shown an +interest which was not in his general attitude towards women. How +her mother had loved him, this wonderful brother! It was her +abiding grief always, his unforgiveness,—and perhaps, +although it seemed impossible to her, Lady Ethelrida was attracted +by him, too. Yes, that must be it. It was to be connected with the +family, to make his position stronger in the Duke's eyes, that he +had done this cruel thing. But, would it have been cruel if she +herself had been human and different? He had called her from +struggling and poverty, had given her this splendid young husband, +and riches and place,—no, there was nothing cruel in it, as a +calculated action. It should have given her her heart's desire. It +was she, herself, who had brought about things as they were, +because of her ignorance, that was the cruelty, to have let her go +away with Tristram, in ignorance.</p> +<p>Then the aspect of the case that she had been offered to him and +refused! scourged her again; then the remembrance that he had taken +her, for love. And what motive could he imagine she had had? This +struck her for the first time—how infinitely more generous he +had been—for he had not allowed, what he must have thought +was pure mercenariness and desire for position on her part to +interfere with his desire for her personally. He had never turned +upon her, as she saw now he very well could have done, and thrown +this in her teeth. And then she fell to bitter sobbing, and so at +last to sleep.</p> +<p>And when the fire had died out, towards the gray dawn, she woke +again shivering and in mortal fright, for she had dreamed of Mirko, +and that he was being torn from her, while he played the <i>Chanson +Triste</i>. Then she grew fully awake and remembered that this was +the beginning of the new day—the day she should go to her +husband's home; and she had accused him of all the base things a +man could do, and he had behaved like a gentleman; and it was she +who was base, and had sold herself for her brother's life, sold +what should never be bartered for any life, but only for love.</p> +<p>Well, there was nothing to be done, only to "play the +game"—the hackneyed phrase came back to her; he had used it, +so it was sacred. Yes, all she could do for him now was, to "play +the game"—everything else was—too late.</p> +<a name="C033" id="C033"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> +<p>People left by all sorts of trains and motors in the morning; +but there were still one or two remaining, when the bride and +bridegroom made their departure, in their beautiful new car with +its smart servants, which had come to fetch them, and take them to +Wrayth.</p> +<p>And, just as the Dover young ladies on the pier had admired +their embarkation, with its <i>apanages</i> of position and its +romantic look, so every one who saw them leave Montfitchet was +alike elated. They were certainly an ideal pair.</p> +<p>Zara had taken the greatest pains to dress herself in her best. +She remembered Tristram had admired her the first evening they had +arrived for this visit, when she had worn sapphire blue, so now she +put on the same colored velvet and the sable coat—yes, he +liked that best, too, and she clasped some of his sapphire jewels +in her ears and at her throat. No bride ever looked more beautiful +or distinguished, with her gardenia complexion and red burnished +hair, all set off by the velvet and dark fur.</p> +<p>But Tristram, after the first glance, when she came down, never +looked at her—he dared not. So they said their farewells +quietly; but there was an extra warmth and tenderness in +Ethelrida's kiss, as, indeed, there was every reason that there +should be. If Zara had known! But the happy secret was still locked +in the lovers' breasts.</p> +<p>"Of course it must come all right, they look so beautiful!" +Ethelrida exclaimed unconsciously, waving her last wave on the +steps, as the motor glided away.</p> +<p>"Yes, it must indeed," whispered Francis, who was beside her, +and she turned and looked into his face.</p> +<p>"In twenty minutes, all the rest will be gone except the Crow, +and Emily, and Mary, and Lady Anningford, who are staying on; and +oh, Francis, how shall I get through the morning, knowing you are +with Papa!"</p> +<p>"I will come to your sitting-room just before luncheon time, my +dearest," he whispered back reassuringly. "Do not distress +yourself—it will be all right."</p> +<p>And so they all went back into the house, and Lady Anningford, +who now began to have grave suspicions, whispered to the Crow:</p> +<p>"I believe you are perfectly right, Crow. I am certain Ethelrida +is in love with Mr. Markrute! But surely the Duke would never +permit such a thing! A foreigner whom nobody knows anything +of!"</p> +<p>"I never heard that there was any objection raised to Tristram +marrying his niece. The Duke seemed to welcome it, and some +foreigners are very good chaps," the Crow answered sententiously, +"especially Austrians and Russians; and he must be one of something +of that sort. He has no apparent touch of the Latin race. It's +Latins I don't like."</p> +<p>"Well, I shall probably hear all about it from Ethelrida +herself, now that we are alone. I am so glad I decided to stay with +the dear girl until Wednesday, and you will have to wait till then, +too, Crow."</p> +<p>"As ever, I am at your orders," he grunted, and lighting a +cigar, he subsided into a great chair to read the papers, while +Lady Anningford went on to the saloon. And presently, when all the +departing guests were gone, Ethelrida linked her arm in that of her +dear friend, and drew her with her up to her sitting-room.</p> +<p>"I have heaps to tell you, Anne!" she said, while she pushed her +gently into a big low chair, and herself sank into the corner of +her sofa. Ethelrida was not a person who curled up among pillows, +or sat on rugs, or little stools. All her movements, even in her +most intimate moments of affection with her friend, were dignified +and reserved.</p> +<p>"Darling, I am thrilled," Lady Anningford responded, "and I +guess it is all about Mr. Markrute—and oh, Ethelrida, when +did it begin?"</p> +<p>"He has been thinking of me for a long time, Anne—quite +eighteen months—but I—" she looked down, while a tender +light grew in her face, "I only began to be interested the night we +dined with him—it is a little more than a fortnight +ago—the dinner for Tristram's engagement. He said a number of +things not like any one else, then, and he made me think of him +afterwards—and I saw him again at the wedding—and since +he has been here—and do you know, Anne, I have never loved +any one before in my life!"</p> +<p>"Ethelrida, you darling, I know you haven't!" and Anne bounded +up and gave her a hug. "And I knew you were perfectly happy, and +had had a blissful afternoon when you came down to tea yesterday. +Your whole face was changed, you pet!"</p> +<p>"Did I look so like a fool, Anne?" Ethelrida cried.</p> +<p>Then Lady Anningford laughed happily, as she answered with a +roguish eye,</p> +<p>"It was not exactly that, darling, but your dear cheeks were +scarlet, as though they had been exquisitely kissed!"</p> +<p>"Oh!" gasped Ethelrida, flaming pink, as she laughed and covered +her face with her hands.</p> +<p>"Perhaps he knows how to make love nicely—I am no judge of +such things—in any case, he makes me thrill. Anne, tell me, +is that—that curious sensation as though one were rather limp +and yet quivering—is that just how every one feels when they +are in love?"</p> +<p>"Ethelrida, you sweet thing!" gurgled Anne.</p> +<p>Then Ethelrida told her friend about the present of books, and +showed them to her, and of all the subtlety of his ways, and how +they appealed to her.</p> +<p>"And oh, Anne, he makes me perfectly happy and sure of +everything; and I feel that I need never decide anything for myself +again in my life!"</p> +<p>Which, taking it all round, was a rather suitable and fortunate +conviction for a man to have implanted in his lady love's breast, +and held out the prospect of much happiness in their future +existence together.</p> +<p>"I think he is very nice looking," said Anne, "and he has the +most perfect clothes. I do like a man to have that groomed look, +which I must say most Englishmen have, but Tristram has it, +especially, and Mr. Markrute, too. If you knew the despair my old +man is to me with his indifference about his appearance. It is my +only crumpled rose leaf, with the dear old thing."</p> +<p>"Yes," agreed Ethelrida, "I like them to be smart—and +above all, they must have thick hair. Anne, have you noticed +Francis' hair? It is so nice, it grows on his forehead just as +Zara's does. If he had been bald like Papa, I could not have fallen +in love with him!"</p> +<p>So once more the fate of a man was decided by his hair!</p> +<p>And during this exchange of confidences, while Emily and Mary +took a brisk walk with the Crow and young Billy, Francis Markrute +faced his lady's ducal father in the library.</p> +<p>He had begun without any preamble, and with perfect calm; and +the Duke, who was above all a courteous gentleman, had listened, +first with silent consternation and resentment, and then with +growing interest.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute had manipulated infinitely more difficult +situations, when the balance of some of the powers of Europe +depended upon his nerve; but he knew, as he talked to this gallant +old Englishman, that he had never had so much at stake, and it +stimulated him to do his best.</p> +<p>He briefly stated his history, which Ethelrida already knew; he +made no apology for his bar sinister; indeed, he felt none was +needed. He knew, and the Duke knew, that when a man has won out as +he had done, such things fade into space. And then with wonderful +taste and discretion he had but just alluded to his vast wealth, +and that it would be so perfectly administered through Lady +Ethelrida's hands, for the good of her order and of mankind.</p> +<p>And the Duke, accustomed to debate and the watching of methods +in men, could not help admiring the masterly reserve and force of +this man.</p> +<p>And, finally, when the financier had finished speaking, the Duke +rose and stood before the fire, while he fixed his eyeglass in his +eye.</p> +<p>"You have stated the case admirably, my dear Markrute," he said, +in his distinguished old voice. "You leave me without argument and +with merely my prejudices, which I dare say are unjust, but I +confess they are strongly in favor of my own countrymen and +strongly against this union—though, on the other hand, my +daughter and her happiness are my first consideration in this +world. Ethelrida was twenty-six yesterday, and she is a young woman +of strong and steady character, unlikely to be influenced by any +foolish emotion. Therefore, if you have been fortunate enough to +find favor in her eyes—if the girl loves you, in short, my +dear fellow, then I have nothing to say.—Let us ring and have +a glass of port!"</p> +<p>And presently the two men, now with the warmest friendship in +their hearts for one another, mounted the staircase to Lady +Ethelrida's room, and there found her still talking to Anne.</p> +<p>Her sweet eyes widened with a question as the two appeared at +the door, and then she rushed into her father's arms and buried her +face in his coat; and with his eyeglass very moist, the old Duke +kissed her fondly—as he muttered.</p> +<p>"Why, Ethelrida, my little one. This is news! If you are happy, +darling, that is all I want!"</p> +<p>So the whole dreaded moment passed off with rejoicing, and +presently Lady Anningford and the fond father made their exit, and +left the lovers alone.</p> +<p>"Oh, Francis, isn't the world lovely!" murmured Ethelrida from +the shelter of his arms. "Papa and I have always been so happy +together, and now we shall be three, because you understand him, +too, and you won't make me stay away from him for very long times, +will you, dear?"</p> +<p>"Never, my sweet. I thought of asking the Duke, if you would +wish it, to let me take the place from him in this county, which +eventually comes to you, and I will keep on Thorpmoor, my house in +Lincolnshire, merely for the shooting. Then you would feel you were +always in your own home, and perhaps the Duke would spend much time +with us, and we could come to him here, in an hour; but all this is +merely a suggestion—everything shall be as you wish."</p> +<p>"Francis, you are good to me," she said.</p> +<p>"Darling," he whispered, as he kissed her hair, "it took me +forty-six years to find my pearl of price."</p> +<p>Then they settled all kinds of other details: how he would give +Zara, for her own, the house in Park Lane, which would not be big +enough now for them; and he would purchase one of those historic +mansions, looking on The Green Park, which he knew was soon to be +in the market. Ethelrida, if she left the ducal roof for the sake +of his love, should find a palace worthy of her acceptance waiting +for her.</p> +<p>He had completely recovered his balance, upset a little the +night before by the uncomfortable momentary fear about his +niece.</p> +<p>She and Tristram had arranged to come up to Park Lane for two +nights again at the end of the week, to say good-bye to the Dowager +Lady Tancred, who was starting with her daughters for Cannes. If he +should see then that things were still amiss, he would tell +Tristram the whole history of what Zara had thought of him. Perhaps +that might throw some light on her conduct towards him, and so +things could be cleared up. But he pinned his whole faith on youth +and propinquity to arrange matters before then, and dismissed it +from his mind.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, the pair in question were speeding along to +Wrayth.</p> +<p>Of all the ordeals of the hours which Tristram had had to endure +since his wedding, these occasions, upon which he had to sit close +beside her in a motor, were the worst. An ordinary young man, not +in love with her, would have found something intoxicating in her +atmosphere—and how much more this poor Tristram, who was +passionately obsessed.</p> +<p>Fortunately, she liked plenty of window open and did not object +to smoke; but with the new air of meekness which was on her face +and the adorably attractive personal scent of the creature, nearly +two hours with her, under a sable rug, was no laughing matter.</p> +<p>At the end of the first half hour of silence and nearness, her +husband found he was obliged to concentrate his mind by counting +sheep jumping over imaginary stiles to prevent himself from +clasping her in his arms.</p> +<p>It was the same old story, which has been chronicled over and +over again. Two young, human, natural, normal people fighting +against iron bars. For Zara felt the same as he, and she had the +extra anguish of knowing she had been unjust, and that the present +impossible situation was entirely her own doing.</p> +<p>And how to approach the subject and confess her fault? She did +not know. Her sense of honor made her feel she must, but the queer +silent habit of her life was still holding her enchained. And so, +until they got into his own country, the strained speechlessness +continued, and then he looked out and said:</p> +<p>"We must have the car opened now—please smile and bow as +we go through the villages when any of the old people curtsey to +you; the young ones won't do it, I expect, but my mother's old +friends may."</p> +<p>So Zara leaned forward, when the footman had opened the +landaulette top, and tried to look radiant.</p> +<p>And the first act of this pitiful comedy began.</p> +<a name="C034" id="C034"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> +<p>Every sort of emotion convulsed the new Lady Tancred's heart, as +they began to get near the park, with the village nestling close to +its gates on the far side. So this was the home of her love and her +lord; and they ought to be holding hands, and approaching it and +the thought of their fond life together there with full +hearts,—well, her heart was full enough, but only of anguish +and pain. For Tristram, afraid of the smallest unbending, +maintained a freezing attitude of contemptuous disdain, which she +could not yet pluck up enough courage to break through to tell him +she knew how unjust and unkind she had been.</p> +<p>And presently they came through cheering yokels to the South +Lodge, the furthest away from the village, and so under a +triumphant arch of evergreens, with banners floating and mottoes of +"God Bless the Bride and Bridegroom" and "Health and Long Life to +Lord and Lady Tancred." And now Tristram did take her hand and, +indeed, put his arm round her as they both stood up for a moment in +the car, while raising his hat and waving it gayly he answered +graciously:</p> +<p>"My friends, Lady Tancred and I thank you so heartily for your +kind wishes and welcome home."</p> +<p>Then they sat down, and the car went on, and his face became +rigid again, as he let go her hand.</p> +<p>And at the next arch by the bridge, the same thing, only more +elaborately carried out, began again, for here were all the farmers +of the hunt, of which Tristram was a great supporter, on horseback; +and the cheering and waving knew no end. The cavalcade of mounted +men followed them round outside the Norman tower and to the great +gates in the smaller one, where the portcullis had been.</p> +<p>Here all the village children were, and the old women from the +almshouse, in their scarlet frieze cloaks and charming black +bonnets; and every sort of wish for their happiness was shouted +out. "Bless the beautiful bride and bring her many little lords and +ladies, too," one old body quavered shrilly, above the din, and +this pleasantry was greeted with shouts of delight. And for that +second Tristram dropped his lady's hand as though it had burnt him, +and then, recollecting himself, picked it up again. They were both +pale with excitement and emotion, when they finally reached the +hall-door in the ugly, modern Gothic wing and were again greeted by +all the household servants in rows, two of them old and +gray-haired, who had stayed on to care for things when the house +had been shut up. There was Michelham back at his master's old +home, only promoted to be groom of the chambers, now, with a smart +younger butler under him.</p> +<p>Tristram was a magnificent orderer, and knew exactly how things +ought to be done.</p> +<p>And the stately housekeeper, in her black silk, stepped forward, +and in the name of herself and her subordinates, bade the new +mistress welcome, and hoping she was not fatigued, presented her +with a bouquet of white roses. "Because his lordship told us all, +when he was here making the arrangements, that your ladyship was as +beautiful as a white rose!"</p> +<p>And tears welled up in Zara's eyes and her voice trembled, as +she thanked them and tried to smile.</p> +<p>"She was quite overcome, the lovely young lady," they told one +another afterwards, "and no wonder. Any woman would be mad after +his lordship. It is quite to be understood."</p> +<p>How they all loved him, the poor bride thought, and he had told +them she was a beautiful white rose. He felt like that about her +then, and she had thrown it all away. Now he looked upon her with +loathing and disdain, and no wonder either—there was nothing +to be done.</p> +<p>Presently, he took her hand again and placed it on his arm, as +they walked through the long corridor, to the splendid hall, built +by the brothers Adam, with its stately staircase to the gallery +above.</p> +<p>"I have prepared the state rooms for your ladyship, pending your +ladyship's choice of your own," Mrs. Anglin said. "Here is the +boudoir, the bedroom, the bathroom, and his lordship's +dressing-room—all en suite—and I hope your ladyship +will find them as handsome, as we old servants of the family think +they are!"</p> +<p>And Zara came up to the scratch and made a charming little +speech.</p> +<p>When they got to the enormous bedroom, with its windows looking +out on the French garden and park, all in exquisite taste, +furnished and decorated by the Adams themselves, Tristram gallantly +bent and kissed her hand, as he said:</p> +<p>"I will wait for you in the boudoir, while you take off your +coat. Mrs. Anglin will show you the toilet-service of gold, which +was given by Louis XIV to a French grandmother and which the Ladies +Tancred always use, when they are at Wrayth. I hope you won't find +the brushes too hard," and he laughed and went out.</p> +<p>And Zara, overcome with the state and beauty and tradition of it +all, sat down upon the sofa for a moment to try to control her +pain. She was throbbing with rage and contempt at herself, at the +remembrance that she, in her ignorance, her ridiculous ignorance, +had insulted this man—this noble gentleman, who owned all +these things—and had taunted him with taking her for her +uncle's wealth.</p> +<p>How he must have loved her in the beginning to have been willing +to give her all this, after seeing her for only one night. She +writhed with anguish. There is no bitterness as great as the +bitterness of loss caused by oneself.</p> +<p>Tristram was standing by the window of the delicious boudoir +when she went in. Zara, who as yet knew very little of English +things, admired the Adam style; and when Mrs. Anglin left them +discreetly for a moment, she told him so, timidly, for something to +say.</p> +<p>"Yes, it is rather nice," he said stiffly, and then went on: "We +shall have to go down now to this fearful lunch, but you had better +take your sable boa with you. The great hall is so enormous and all +of stone, it may be cold. I will get it for you," and he went back +and found it lying by her coat on the chair, and brought it, and +wrapped it round her casually, as if she had been a stone, and then +held the door for her to go out. And Zara's pride was stung, even +though she knew he was doing exactly as she herself would have +done, so that instead of the meek attitude she had unconsciously +assumed, for a moment now she walked beside him with her old mien +of head in the air, to the admiration of Mrs. Anglin, who watched +them descend the stairs.</p> +<p>"She is as haughty-looking as our own ladyship," she thought to +herself. "I wonder how his lordship likes that!"</p> +<p>The great hall was a survival of the time of Henry IV with its +daïs to eat above the salt, and a magnificent stone fireplace, +and an oak screen and gallery of a couple of centuries later. The +tables were laid down each side, as in the olden time, and across +the daïs; and here, in the carved oak "Lord" and "Lady" +chairs, the bride and bridegroom sat with a principal tenant and +his wife on either side of them, while the powdered footmen served +them with lunch.</p> +<p>And all the time, when one or two comic incidents happened, she +longed to look at Tristram and laugh; but he maintained his +attitude of cold reserve, only making some genial stereotyped +remark, when it was necessary for the public effect.</p> +<p>And presently the speeches began, and this was the most trying +moment of all. For the land-steward, who proposed their healths, +said such nice things; and Zara realized how they all loved her +lord, and her anger at herself grew and grew. In each speech from +different tenants there was some intimate friendly allusion about +herself, too, linking her always with Tristram; and these parts +hurt her particularly.</p> +<p>Then Tristram rose to answer them in his name and hers. He made +a splendid speech, telling them that he had come back to live among +them and had brought them a beautiful new Lady—and here he +turned to her a moment and took and kissed her hand—and how +he would always think of all their interests in every way; and that +he looked upon them as his dear old friends; and that he and Lady +Tancred would always endeavor to promote their welfare, as long as +the radicals—here he laughed, for they were all true blue to +a man—would let them! And when voices shouted, "We want none +of them rats here," he was gay and chaffed them; and finally sat +down amidst yells of applause.</p> +<p>Then an old apple-cheeked farmer got up from far down the table +and made a long rambling harangue, about having been there, man and +boy, and his forbears before him, for a matter of two hundred +years; but he'd take his oath they had none of them ever seen such +a beautiful bride brought to Wrayth as they were welcoming now; and +he drank to her ladyship's health, and hoped it would not be long +before they would have another and as great a feast for the +rejoicings over the son and heir!</p> +<p>At this deplorable bit of bucolic wit and hearty taste, +Tristram's face went stern as death; and he bit his lips, while his +bride became the color of the red roses on the table in front of +her.</p> +<p>Thus the luncheon passed. And amidst countless hand-shakes of +affection, accelerated by port wine and champagne, the bride and +bridegroom, followed by the land-steward and a chosen few, went to +receive and return the same sort of speeches among the lesser +people in the tent. Here the allusions to marital felicity were +even more glaring, and Zara saw that each time Tristram heard them, +an instantaneous gleam of bitter sarcasm would steal into his eyes. +So, worn out at last with the heat in the tent and the emotions of +the day, at about five, the bridegroom was allowed to conduct his +bride to tea in the boudoir of the state rooms. Thus they were +alone, and now was Zara's time to make her confession, if it ever +should come.</p> +<p>Tristram's resolve had held him, nothing could have been more +gallingly cold and disdainful than had been his treatment of her, +so perfect, in its acting for 'the game,' and, so bitter, in the +humiliation of the between times. She would tell him of her +mistake. That was all. She must guard herself against showing any +emotion over it.</p> +<p>They each sank down into chairs beside the fire with sighs of +relief.</p> +<p>"Good Lord!" he said, as he put his hand to his forehead. "What +a hideous mockery the whole thing is, and not half over yet! I am +afraid you must be tired. You ought to go and rest until +dinner—when, please be very magnificent and wear some of the +jewels—part of them have come down from London on purpose, I +think, beyond those you had at Montfitchet."</p> +<p>"Yes, I will," she answered, listlessly, and began to pour out +the tea, while he sat quite still staring into the fire, a look of +utter weariness and discouragement upon his handsome face.</p> +<p>Everything about the whole thing was hurting him so, all the +pleasure he had taken in the improvements and the things he had +done, hoping to please her; and now, as he saw them about, each one +stabbed him afresh.</p> +<p>She gave him his cup without a word. She had remembered from +Paris his tastes in cream and sugar; and then as the icy silence +continued, she could bear it no longer.</p> +<p>"Tristram," she said, in as level a voice as she could. At the +sound of his name he looked at her startled. It was the first time +she had ever used it!</p> +<p>She lowered her head and, clasping her hands, she went on +constrainedly, so overcome with emotion she dared not let herself +go. "I want to tell you something, and ask you to forgive me. I +have learned the truth, that you did not marry me just for my +uncle's money. I know exactly what really happened now. I am +ashamed, humiliated, to remember what I said to you. But I +understood you had agreed to the bargain before you had ever seen +me. The whole thing seemed so awful to me—so +revolting—I am sorry for what I taunted you with. I know now +that you are really a great gentleman."</p> +<p>His face, if she had looked up and seen it, had first all +lightened with hope and love; but as she went on coldly, the warmth +died out of it, and a greater pain than ever filled his heart. So +she knew now, and yet she did not love him. There was no word of +regret for the rest of her taunts, that he had been an animal, and +the blow in his face! The recollection of this suddenly lashed him +again, and made him rise to his feet, all the pride of his race +flooding his being once more.</p> +<p>He put down his tea-cup on the mantelpiece untasted, and then +said hoarsely:</p> +<p>"I married you because I loved you, and no man has ever +regretted a thing more."</p> +<p>Then he turned round, and walked slowly from the room.</p> +<p>And Zara, left alone, felt that the end had come.</p> +<a name="C035" id="C035"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV</h2> +<p>A pale and most unhappy bride awaited her bridegroom in the +boudoir at a few minutes to eight o'clock. She felt perfectly +lifeless, as though she had hardly enough will left even to act her +part. The white satin of her dress was not whiter than her face. +The head gardener had sent up some splendid gardenias for her to +wear and the sight of them pained her, for were not these the +flowers that Tristram had brought her that evening of her wedding +day, not a fortnight ago, and that she had then thrown into the +grate. She pinned some in mechanically, and then let the maid clasp +the diamonds round her throat and a band of them in her hair. They +were so very beautiful, and she had not seen them before; she could +not thank him for them even—all conversation except before +people was now at an end. Then, for her further unhappiness, she +remembered he had said: "When the mockery of the rejoicings is over +then we can discuss our future plans." What did that mean? That he +wished to separate from her, she supposed. How could circumstance +be so cruel to her! What had she done? Then she sat down for a +moment while she waited, and clenched her hands. And all the +passionate resentment her deep nature was capable of surged up +against fate, so that she looked more like the black panther than +ever, and her mood had only dwindled into a sullen smoldering +rage—while she still sat in the peculiar, concentrated +attitude of an animal waiting to spring—when Tristram opened +the door, and came in.</p> +<p>The sight of her thus, looking so unEnglish, so barbaric, +suddenly filled him with the wild excitement of the lion hunt +again. Could anything be more diabolically attractive? he thought, +and for a second, the idea flashed across him that he would seize +her to-night and treat her as if she were the panther she looked, +conquer her by force, beat her if necessary, and then kiss her to +death! Which plan, if he had carried it out, in this case, would +have been very sensible, but the training of hundreds of years of +chivalry toward women and things weaker than himself was still in +his blood. For Tristram, twenty-fourth Baron Tancred, was no brute +or sensualist, but a very fine specimen of his fine, old race.</p> +<p>So, his heart beating with some uncontrollable excitement, and +her heart filled with smoldering rage, they descended the +staircase, arm in arm, to the admiration of peeping housemaids and +the pride of her own maid. And the female servants all rushed to +the balustrade to get a better view of the delightful scene which, +they had heard whispered among them, was a custom of generations in +the family—that when the Lord of Wrayth first led his lady +into the state dining-room for their first dinner alone he should +kiss her before whoever was there, and bid her welcome to her new +home. And to see his lordship, whom they all thought the handsomest +young gentleman they had ever seen, kiss her ladyship, would be a +thrill of the most agreeable kind!</p> +<p>What would their surprise have been, could they have heard him +say icily to his bride as he descended the stairs:</p> +<p>"There is a stupid custom that I must kiss you as we go into the +dining-room, and give you this little golden key—a sort of +ridiculous emblem of the endowment of all the worldly goods +business. The servants are, of course, looking at us, so please +don't start." Then he glanced up and saw the rows of interested, +excited faces; and that devil-may-care, rollicking boyishness which +made him so adored came over him, and he laughed up at them, and +waved his hand: and Zara's rage turned to wild excitement, too. +There would be the walk across the hall of sixty paces, and then he +would kiss her. What would it be like? In those sixty paces her +face grew more purely white, while he came to the resolve that for +this one second he would yield to temptation and not only brush her +forehead with his lips, as had been his intention, but for +once—just for this once—he would kiss her mouth. He was +past caring about the footmen seeing. It was his only chance.</p> +<p>So when they came to the threshold of the big, double doors he +bent down and drew her to him, and gave her the golden key. And +then he pressed his warm, young, passionate lips to hers. Oh! the +mad joy of it! And even if it were only from duty and to play the +game, she had not resisted him as upon that other occasion. He felt +suddenly, absolutely intoxicated, as he had done on the wedding +night. Why, why must this ghastly barrier be between them? Was +there nothing to be done? Then he looked at his bride as they +advanced to the table, and he saw that she was so deadly white that +he thought she was going to faint. For intoxication, affects people +in different ways; for her, the kiss had seemed the sweetness of +death.</p> +<p>"Give her ladyship some champagne immediately," he ordered the +butler, and, still with shining eyes, he looked at her, and said +gently, "for we must drink our own healths."</p> +<p>But Zara never raised her lids, only he saw that her little +nostrils were quivering, and by the rise and fall of her beautiful +bosom he knew that her heart must be beating as madly as was his +own—and a wild triumph filled him. Whatever the emotion she +was experiencing, whether it was anger, or disdain, or one he did +not dare to hope for, it was a considerably strong one; she was, +then, not so icily cold! How he wished there were some more +ridiculous customs in his family! How he wished he might order the +servants out of the room, and begin to make love to her all alone. +And just out of the devilment which was now in his blood he took +the greatest pleasure in "playing the game," and while the solemn +footmen's watchful eyes were upon them, he let himself go and was +charming to her; and then, each instant they were alone he made +himself freeze again, so that she could not say he was not keeping +to the bargain. Thus in wild excitement for them both the dinner +passed. With her it was alternate torture and pleasure as well, but +with him, for the first time since his wedding, there was not any +pain. For he felt he was affecting her, even if she were only +"playing the game." And gradually, as the time went on and dessert +was almost come, the conviction grew in Zara's brain that he was +torturing her on purpose, overdoing the part when the servants were +looking; for had he not told her but three hours before that he +<i>had</i> loved her—using the past tense—and no man +regretted a thing more! Perhaps—was it possible—he had +seen when he kissed her that she loved him! And he was just +punishing her, and laughing at his dominion over her in his heart; +so her pride took fire at once. Well, she would not be played with! +He would see she could keep to a bargain; and be icy, too, when the +play was over. So when at last the servants had left the room, +before coffee was brought, she immediately stiffened and fell into +silence; and the two stared in front of them, and back over him +crept the chill. Yes, there was no use deceiving himself. He had +had his one moment of bliss, and now his purgatory would begin +again.</p> +<p>Thus the comedy went on. Soon they had to go and open the ball, +and they both won golden opinions from their first +partners—hers, the stalwart bailiff, and his, the bailiff's +wife.</p> +<p>"Although she is a foreigner, Agnes," Mr. Burrs said to his +life's partner when they got home, "you'd hardly know it, and a +lovelier lady I have never seen."</p> +<p>"She couldn't be too lovely for his lordship," his wife +retorted. "Why, William, he made me feel young again!"</p> +<p>The second dance the bridal pair were supposed to dance +together; and then when they should see the fun in full swing they +were supposed to slip away, because it was considered quite natural +that they might wish to be alone.</p> +<p>"You will have to dance with me now, I am afraid, Zara," +Tristram said, and, without waiting for her answer, he placed his +arm round her and began the valse. And the mad intoxication grew +again in both of them, and they went on, never stopping, in a wild +whirl of delight—unreasoning, passionate delight—until +the music ceased.</p> +<p>Then Zara who, by long years of suffering, was the more +controlled, pulled herself together first, and, with that ingrained +instinct to defend herself and her secret love, and to save his +possible true construction of her attitude, said stiffly:</p> +<p>"I suppose we can go now. I trust you think that I have 'played +the game.'"</p> +<p>"Too terribly well," he said—stung back to reality. "It +shows me what we have irreparably lost." And he gave her his arm +and, passed down the lane of admiring and affectionate guests to +their part of the house; and at the door of the boudoir he left her +without a word.</p> +<p>So, with the bride in lonely anguish in the great state bed, the +night of the home-coming passed, and the morrow dawned.</p> +<p>For thus the God of Pride makes fools of his worshipers.</p> +<hr /> +<p>It poured with rain the next day, but the same kind of thing +went on for the different grades of those who lived under the wing +of the Tancred name, and neither bride nor bridegroom failed in +their rôles, and the icy coldness between them increased. +They had drawn upon themselves an atmosphere of absolute restraint +and it seemed impossible to exchange even ordinary conversation; so +that at this, their second dinner, they hardly even kept up a +semblance before the household servants, and, being free from +feasting, Zara retired almost immediately the coffee had come. One +of the things Tristram had said to her before she left the room +was:</p> +<p>"To-morrow if it is fine you had better see the gardens and +really go over the house, if you wish. The housekeeper and the +gardeners will think it odd if you don't! How awful it is to have +to conform to convention!" he went on. "It would be good to be a +savage again. Well, perhaps I shall be, some day soon."</p> +<p>Then as she paused in her starting for the door to hear what he +had further to say, he continued:</p> +<p>"They let us have a day off to-morrow; they think, quite +naturally, we require a rest. So if you will be ready about eleven +I will show you the gardens and the parts my mother loved—it +all looks pretty dreary this time of the year, but it can't be +helped."</p> +<p>"I will be ready," Zara said.</p> +<p>"Then there is the Address from the townspeople at Wrayth, on +Thursday," he continued, while he walked toward the door to open it +for her, "and on Friday we go up to London to say good-bye to my +mother. I hope you have not found it all too impossibly difficult, +but it will soon be over now."</p> +<p>"The whole of life is difficult," she answered, "and one never +knows what it is for, or why?" And then without anything further +she went out of the door, and so upstairs and through all the +lonely corridors to the boudoir. And here she opened the piano for +the first time, and tried it; and finding it good she sat a long +time playing her favorite airs—but not the <i>Chanson +Triste</i>—she felt she could not bear that.</p> +<p>The music talked to her: what was her life going to be? What if, +in the end, she could not control her love? What if it should break +down her pride, and let him see that she regretted her past action +and only longed to be in his arms. For her admiration and respect +for him were growing each hour, as she discovered new traits in +him, individually, and began to understand what he meant to all +these people whose lord he was. How little she had known of +England, her own father's country! How ridiculously little she had +really known of men, counting them all brutes like Ladislaus and +his friends, or feckless fools like poor Mimo! What an impossible +attitude was this one she had worn always of arrogant ignorance! +Something should have told her that these people were not like +that. Something should have warned her, when she first saw him, +that Tristram was a million miles above anything in the way of his +sex that she had yet known. Then she stopped playing, and +deliberately went over and looked in the glass. Yes, she was +certainly beautiful, and quite young. She might live until she were +seventy or eighty, in the natural course of events, and the whole +of life would be one long, dreary waste if she might not have her +Love. After all, pride was not worth so very much. Suppose she were +very gentle to him, and tried to please him in just a friendly way, +that would not be undignified nor seem to be throwing herself at +his head. She would begin to-morrow, if she could. Then she +remembered Lady Ethelrida's words at the dinner party—was it +possible that was only three weeks ago this very night—the +words that she had spoken so unconsciously, when she had showed so +plainly the family feeling about Tristram and Cyril being the last +in the male line of Tancred of Wrayth. She remembered how she had +been angered and up in arms then, and now a whole education had +passed over her, and she fully understood and sympathized with +their point of view.</p> +<p>And at this stage of her meditations her eyes grew misty as they +gazed into distance, and all soft; and the divine expression of the +Sistine Madonna grew in them, as it grew always when she held Mirko +in her arms.</p> +<p>Yes, there were things in life which mattered far, far more than +pride. And so, comforted by her resolutions, she at last went to +bed.</p> +<p>And Tristram sat alone by the fire in his own sitting-room, and +stared at that other Tristram Guiscard's armor. And he, too, came +to a resolution, but not of the same kind. He would speak to +Francis Markrute when they arrived on Friday night and he could get +him quietly alone. He would tell him that the whole thing was a +ghastly failure, but as he had only himself to blame for entering +into it he did not intend to reproach any one. Only, he would +frankly ask him to use his clever brain and invent some plan that +he and Zara could separate, without scandal, until such time as he +should grow indifferent, and so could come back and casually live +in the house with her. He was only a human man, he admitted, and +the present arrangement was impossible to bear. He was past the +anguish of the mockery of everything to-night—he was simply +numb. Then some waiting fiend made him think of Laura and her last +words. What if there were some truth in them after all? He had +himself seen the man twice, under the most suspicious +circumstances. What if he were her lover? How could Francis +Markrute know of all her existence, when he had said she had been +an immaculate wife? And gradually, on top of his other miseries, +trifles light as air came and tortured him until presently he had +worked up a whole chain of evidence, proving the lover theory to be +correct!</p> +<p>Then he shook in his chair with rage, and muttered between his +teeth: "If I find this is true then I will kill him, and kill her, +also!"</p> +<p>So near to savages are all human beings, when certain passions +are aroused. And neither bride nor bridegroom guessed that fate +would soon take things out of their hands and make their +resolutions null and void.</p> +<a name="C036" id="C036"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2> +<p>The gardens at Wrayth were famous. The natural beauty of their +position and the endless care of generations of loving mistresses +had left them a monument of what nature can be trained into by +human skill. They had also in the eighteenth century by some happy +chance escaped the hand of Capability Brown. And instead of pulling +about and altering the taste of the predecessor the successive +owners had used fresh ground for their fancies. Thus the English +rose-garden and the Dutch-clipped yews of William-and-Mary's time +were as intact as the Italian parterre.</p> +<p>But November is not the time to judge of gardens, and Tristram +wished the sun would come out. He waited for his bride at the foot +of the Adam staircase, and, at eleven, she came down. He watched +her as she put one slender foot before the other in her descent, he +had not noticed before how ridiculously inadequate they +were—just little bits of baby feet, even in her thick +walking-boots. She certainly knew how to dress—and adapt +herself to the customs of a country. Her short, serge frock and +astrakhan coat and cap were just the things for the occasion; and +she looked so attractive and chic, with her hands in her monster +muff, he began to have that pain again of longing for her, so he +said icily:</p> +<p>"The sky is gray and horrid. You must not judge of things as you +will see them to-day; it is all really rather nice in the +summer."</p> +<p>"I am sure it is," she answered meekly, and then could not think +of anything else to say, so they walked on in silence through the +courtyard and round under a deep, arched doorway in the Norman wall +to the southern side of the Adam erection, with its pillars making +the centerpiece. The beautiful garden stretched in front of them. +This particular part was said to have been laid out from plans of +Le Notre, brought there by that French Lady Tancred who had been +the friend of Louis XIV. There were traces of her all over the +house—Zara found afterwards. It was a most splendid and +stately scene even in the dull November gloom, with the groups of +statuary, and the <i>tapis vert</i>, and the general look of +Versailles. The vista was immense. She could see far beyond, down +an incline, through a long clearing in the park, far away to the +tower of Wrayth church.</p> +<p>"How beautiful it all is!" she said, with bated breath, and +clasped her hands in her muff. "And how wonderful to have the +knowledge that your family has been here always, and these splendid +things are their creation. I understand that you must be a very +proud man."</p> +<p>This was almost the longest speech he had ever heard her make, +in ordinary conversation—the first one that contained any of +her thoughts. He looked at her startled for a moment, but his +resolutions of the night before and his mood of suspicion caused +him to remain unmoved. He was numb with the pain of being melted +one moment with hope and frozen again the next; it had come to a +pass now that he would not let himself respond. She could almost +have been as gracious as she pleased, out in this cold, damp air, +and he would have remained aloof.</p> +<p>"Yes, I suppose I am a proud man," he said, "but it is not much +good to me; one becomes a cynic, as one grows older."</p> +<p>Then with casual indifference he began to explain to her all +about the gardens and their dates, as they walked along, just as +though he were rather bored but acting cicerone to an ordinary +guest, and Zara's heart sank lower and lower, and she could not +keep up her little plan to be gentle and sympathetic; she could not +do more than say just "Yes," and "No." Presently they came through +a door to the hothouses, and she had to be introduced to the head +gardener, a Scotchman, and express her admiration of everything, +and eat some wonderful grapes; and here Tristram again "played the +game," and chaffed, and was gay. And so they went out, and through +a clipped, covered walk to another door in a wall, which opened on +the west side—the very old part of the house—and +suddenly she saw the Italian parterre. Each view as she came upon +it she tried to identify with what she had seen in the pictures in +<i>Country Life</i>, but things look so different in reality, with +the atmospheric effects, to the cold gray of a print. Only there +was no mistake about this—the Italian parterre; and a sudden +tightness grew round her heart, and she thought of Mirko and the +day she had last seen him. And Tristram was startled into looking +at her by a sudden catching of her breath, and to his amazement he +perceived that her face was full of pain, as though she had +revisited some scene connected with sorrowful memories. There was +even a slight drawing back in her attitude, as if she feared to go +on, and meet some ghost. What could it be? Then the malevolent +sprite who was near him just now whispered: "It is an Italian +garden, she has seen such before in other lands; perhaps the man is +an Italian—he looks dark enough." So instead of feeling +solicitous and gentle with whatever caused her pain—for his +manners were usually extremely courteous, however cold—he +said almost roughly:</p> +<p>"This seems to make you think of something! Well, let us get on +and get it over, and then you can go in!"</p> +<p>He would be no sympathetic companion for her sentimental +musings—over another man!</p> +<p>Her lips quivered for a moment, and he saw that he had struck +home, and was glad, and grew more furious as he strode along. He +would like to hurt her again if he could, for jealousy can turn an +angel into a cruel fiend. They walked on in silence, and a look +almost of fear crept into her tragic eyes. She dreaded so to come +upon Pan and his pipes. Yes, as they descended the stone steps, +there he was in the far distance with his back to them, forever +playing his weird music for the delight of all growing things.</p> +<p>She forgot Tristram, forgot she was passionately preoccupied +with him and passionately in love, forgot even that she was not +alone. She saw the firelight again, and the pitiful, little figure +of her poor, little brother as he poured over the picture, pointing +with his sensitive forefinger to Pan's shape. She could hear his +high, childish voice say: "See, Chérisette, he, too, is not +made as other people are! Look, and he plays music, also. When I am +with <i>Maman</i> and you walk there you must remember that this is +me!"</p> +<p>And Tristram, watching her, knew not what to think. For her face +had become more purely white than usual, and her dark eyes were +swimming with tears.</p> +<p>God! how she must have loved this man! In wild rage he stalked +beside her until they came quite close to the statue in the center +of the star, surrounded by its pergola of pillars, which in the +summer were gay with climbing roses.</p> +<p>Then he stepped forward, with a sharp exclamation of annoyance, +for the pipes of Pan had been broken and lay there on the +ground.</p> +<p>Who had done this thing?</p> +<p>When Zara saw the mutilation she gave a piteous cry; to her, to +the mystic part of her strange nature, this was an omen. Pan's +music was gone, and Mirko, too, would play no more.</p> +<p>With a wail like a wounded animal's she slipped down on the +stone bench, and, burying her face in her muff, the tension of soul +of all these days broke down, and she wept bitter, anguishing +tears.</p> +<p>Tristram was dumbfounded. He knew not what to do. Whatever was +the cause, it now hurt him horribly to see her weep—weep like +this—as if with broken heart.</p> +<p>For her suffering was caused by remembrance—remembrance +that, absorbed in her own concerns and heart-burnings over her +love, she had forgotten the little one lately; and he was far away +and might now be ill, and even dead.</p> +<p>She sobbed and sobbed and clasped her hands, and Tristram could +not bear it any longer.</p> +<p>"Zara!" he said, distractedly. "For God's sake do not cry like +this! What is it? Can I not help you—Zara?" And he sat down +beside her and put his arm round her, and tried to draw her to +him—he must comfort her whatever caused her pain.</p> +<p>But she started up and ran from him; he was the cause of her +forgetfulness.</p> +<a name="rw320" id="rw320"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width:50%"><a href="images/rw320.jpg" +target="blank"><img width="100%" src="images/rw320.jpg" alt= +"'Zara!' he said distractedly.... 'Can I not help you?'" /></a>"'Zara!' +he said distractedly.... 'Can I not help you?'"</div> +<!--IMAGE END--> +<p>"Do not!" she cried passionately, that southern dramatic part of +her nature coming out, here in her abandon of self-control. "Is it +not enough for me to know that it is you and thoughts of you which +have caused me to forget him!—Go! I must be alone!"—and +like a fawn she fled down one of the paths, and beyond a great yew +hedge, and so disappeared from view.</p> +<p>And Tristram sat on the stone bench, too stunned to move.</p> +<p>This was a confession from her, then—he realized, when his +power came back to him. It was no longer surmise and +suspicion—there was some one else. Some one to whom she +owed—love. And he had caused her to forget him! And this +thought made him stop his chain of reasoning abruptly. For what did +that mean? Had he then, after all, somehow made her feel—made +her think of him? Was this the secret in her strange mysterious +face that drew him and puzzled him always? Was there some war going +on in her heart?</p> +<p>But the comforting idea which he had momentarily obtained from +that inference of her words went from him as he pondered, for +nothing proved that her thoughts of him had been of love.</p> +<p>So, alternately trying to reason the thing out, and growing wild +with passion and suspicion and pain, he at last went back to the +house expecting he would have to go through the ordeal of luncheon +alone; but as the silver gong sounded she came slowly down the +stairs.</p> +<p>And except that she was very pale and blue circles surrounded +her heavy eyes, her face wore a mask, and she was perfectly +calm.</p> +<p>She made no apology, nor allusion to her outburst; she treated +the incident as though it had never been! She held a letter in her +hand, which had come by the second post while they were out. It was +written by her uncle from London, the night before, and contained +his joyous news.</p> +<p>Tristram looked at her and was again dumbfounded. She was +certainly a most extraordinary woman. And some of his rage died +down and he decided he would not, after all, demand an explanation +of her now; he would let the whole, hideous rejoicings be finished +first and then, in London, he would sternly investigate the truth. +And not the least part of his pain was the haunting uncertainty as +to what her words could mean, as regarded himself. If by some +wonderful chance it were some passion in the past and she now loved +him, he feared he could forgive her—he feared even his pride +would not hold out over the mad happiness it would be to feel her +unresisting and loving, lying in his arms!</p> +<p>So with stormy eyes and forced smiles the pair sat down to +luncheon, and Zara handed him the epistle she carried in her hand. +It ran:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"MY DEAR NIECE:</p> +<p>"I have to inform you of a piece of news that is a great +gratification to myself, and I trust will cause you, too, some +pleasure.</p> +<p>"Lady Ethelrida Montfitchet has done me the honor to accept my +proposal for her hand, and the Duke, her father, has kindly given +his hearty consent to my marriage with his daughter, which is to +take place as soon as things can be arranged with suitability. I +hope you and Tristram will arrive in time to accompany me to dinner +at Glastonbury House on Friday evening, when you can congratulate +my beloved fiancé, who holds you in affectionate +regard.<br /> +"I am, my dear niece, always your devoted uncle,</p> +<p class="author">"FRANCIS MARKRUTE."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>When Tristram finished reading he exclaimed:</p> +<p>"Good Lord!" For, quite absorbed in his own affairs, he had +never even noticed the financier's peregrinations! Then as he +looked at the letter again he said meditatively:</p> +<p>"I expect they will be awfully happy—Ethelrida is such an +unselfish, sensible, darling girl—"</p> +<p>And it hurt Zara even in her present mood, for she felt the +contrast to herself in his unconscious tone.</p> +<p>"My uncle never does anything without having calculated it will +turn out perfectly," she said bitterly—"only sometimes it can +happen that he plays with the wrong pawns."</p> +<p>And Tristram wondered what she meant. He and she had certainly +been pawns in one of the Markrute games, and now he began to see +this object, just as Zara had done. Then the thought came to +him.—Why should he not now ask her straight out—why she +had married him? It was not from any desire for himself, nor his +position, he knew that: but for what?</p> +<p>So, the moment the servants went out of the room to get the +coffee—after a desultory conversation about the engagement +until then, he said coldly:</p> +<p>"You told me on Monday that you now know the reason I had +married you: may I ask you why did you marry me?"</p> +<p>She clasped her hands convulsively. This brought it all +back—her poor little brother—and she was not free yet +from her promise to her uncle: she never failed to keep her +word.</p> +<p>A look of deep, tragic earnestness grew in her pools of ink, and +she said to him, with a strange sob in her voice:</p> +<p>"Believe me I had a strong reason, but I cannot tell it to you +now."</p> +<p>And the servants reentered the room at the moment, so he could +not ask her why: it broke the current.</p> +<p>But what an unexpected inference she always put into affairs! +What was the mystery? He was thrilled with suspicious, terrible +interest. But of one thing he felt sure—Francis Markrute did +not really know.</p> +<p>And in spite of his chain of reasoning about this probable lover +some doubt about it haunted him always; her air was so +pure—her mien so proud.</p> +<p>And while the servants were handing the coffee and still there +Zara rose, and, making the excuse that she must write to her uncle +at once, left the room to avoid further questioning. Then Tristram +leant his head upon his hands and tried to think.</p> +<p>He was in a maze—and there seemed no way out. If he went +to her now and demanded to have everything explained he might have +some awful confirmation of his suspicions, and then how could they +go through to-morrow—and the town's address? Of all things he +had no right—just because of his wild passion in marrying +this foreign woman—he had no right to bring disgrace and +scandal upon his untarnished name: "noblesse oblige" was the motto +graven on his soul. No, he must bear it until Friday night after +the Glastonbury House dinner. Then he would face her and demand the +truth.</p> +<p>And Zara under the wing of Mrs. Anglin made a thorough tour of +the beautiful, old house. She saw its ancient arras hangings, and +panellings of carved oak, and heard all the traditions, and looked +at the portraits—many so wonderfully like Tristram, for they +were a strong, virile race—and her heart ached, and swelled +with pride, alternately. And, last of all, she stood under the +portrait that had been painted by Sargent, of her husband at his +coming of age, and that master of art had given him, on the canvas, +his very soul. There he stood, in a scarlet +hunt-coat—debonair, and strong, and true—with all the +promise of a noble, useful life in his dear, blue eyes. And +suddenly this proud woman put her hand to her throat to check the +sob that rose there; and then, again, out of the mist of her tears +she saw Pan and his broken pipes.</p> +<a name="C037" id="C037"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2> +<p>Tristram passed the afternoon outdoors, inspecting the stables, +and among his own favorite haunts, and then rushed in, too late for +tea and only just in time to catch the post. He wrote a letter to +Ethelrida, and his uncle-in-law that was to be. How ridiculous that +sounded! He would be his uncle and Zara's cousin now, by marriage! +Then, when he thought of this dear Ethelrida whom he had loved more +than his own young sisters, he hurriedly wrote out, as well, a +telegram of affection and congratulation which he handed to +Michelham as he came in to get the letters—and the old man +left the room. Then Tristram remembered that he had addressed the +telegram to Montfitchet, and Ethelrida would, of course, he now +recollected, be at Glastonbury House, as she was coming up that +day—so he went to the door and called out:</p> +<p>"Michelham, bring me back the telegram."</p> +<p>And the grave servant, who was collecting all the other letters +from the post-box in the hall, returned and placed beside his +master on the table a blue envelope. There were always big blue +envelopes, for the sending of telegrams, on all the writing tables +at Wrayth.</p> +<p>Tristram hurriedly wrote out another and handed it, and the +servant finally left the room. Then he absently pulled out his +original one and glanced at it before tearing it up; and before he +realized what he did his eye caught: "To Count Mimo +Sykypri"—he did not read the address—"Immediately, +to-morrow, wire me your news. Chérisette."</p> +<p>And ere his rage burst in a terrible oath he noticed that stamps +were enclosed. Then he threw the paper with violence into the +fire!</p> +<p>There was not any more doubt nor speculation; a woman did not +sign herself "Chérisette"—"little +darling"—except to a lover! Chérisette! He was so mad +with rage that if she had come into the room at that moment he +would have strangled her, there and then.</p> +<p>He forgot that it was time to dress for dinner—forgot +everything but his overmastering fury. He paced up and down the +room, and then after a while, as ever, his balance returned. The +law could give him no redress yet: she certainly had not been +unfaithful to him in their brief married life, and the law recks +little of sins committed before the tie. Nothing could come now of +going to her and reproaching her—only a public scandal and +disgrace. No, he must play his part until he could consult with +Francis Markrute, learn all the truth, and then concoct some plan. +Out of all the awful ruin of his life he could at least save his +name. And after some concentrated moments of agony he mastered +himself at last sufficiently to go to his room and dress for +dinner.</p> +<p>But Count Mimo Sykypri would get no telegram that night!</p> +<p>The idea that there could be any scandalous interpretations put +upon any of her actions or words never even entered Zara's brain; +so innocently unconscious was she of herself and her doings that +that possible aspect of the case never struck her. She was the last +type of person to make a mystery or in any way play a part. The +small subtly-created situations and hidden darknesses and +mysterious appearances which delighted the puny soul of Laura +Highford were miles beneath her feet. If she had even faintly +dreamed that some doubts were troubling Tristram she would have +plainly told him the whole story and chanced her uncle's wrath. But +she had not the slightest idea of it. She only knew that Tristram +was stern and cold, and showed his disdain of her, and that even +though she had made up her mind to be gentle and try to win him +back with friendship, it was almost impossible. She looked upon his +increased, icy contempt of her at dinner as a protest at her +outburst of tears during the day.</p> +<p>So the meal was got through, and the moment the coffee was +brought he gulped it down, and then rose: he could not stand being +alone with her for a moment.</p> +<p>She was looking so beautiful, and so meek, and so tragic, he +could not contain the mixed emotions he felt. He only knew if he +had to bear them another minute he should go mad. So, hardly with +sufficient politeness he said:</p> +<p>"I have some important documents to look over; I will wish you +good night." And he hurried her from the room and went on to his +own sitting-room in the other part of the house. And Zara, quite +crushed with her anxiety and sorrow about Mirko, and passionately +unhappy at Tristram's treatment of her, once more returned to her +lonely room. And here she dismissed her maid, and remained looking +out on the night. The mist had gone and some pure, fair stars shone +out.</p> +<p>Was that where <i>Maman</i> was—up there? And was Mirko +going to her soon, away out of this cruel world of sorrow and pain? +As he had once said, surely there, there would be room for them +both.</p> +<p>But Zara was no morbidly sentimental person, the strong blood +ran in her veins, and she knew she must face her life and be true +to herself, whatever else might betide. So after a while the night +airs soothed her, and she said her prayers and went to bed.</p> +<p>But Tristram, her lord, paced the floor of his room until almost +dawn.</p> +<hr /> +<p>The next day passed in the same kind of way, only, it was nearly +all in public, with local festivities again; and both of the pair +played their parts well, as they were now experienced actors, and +only one incident marked the pain of this Thursday out from the +pains of the other days. It was in the schoolhouse at Wrayth, where +the buxom girl who had been assistant mistress, and had married, a +year before, brought her first-born son to show the lord and +lady—as he had been born on their wedding day, just a +fortnight ago! She was pale and wan, but so ecstatically proud and +happy looking; and Tristram at once said, they—he and +Zara—must be the god-parents of her boy; and Zara held the +crimson, crumpled atom for a moment, and then looked up and met her +husband's eyes, and saw that they had filled with tears. And she +returned the creature to its mother—but she could not speak, +for a moment.</p> +<p>And finally they had come home again—home to +Wrayth—and no more unhappy pair of young, healthy people +lived on earth.</p> +<p>Zara could hardly contain her impatience to see if a telegram +for her from Mimo had come in her absence. Tristram saw her look of +anxiety and strain, and smiled grimly to himself. She would get no +answering telegram from her lover that day!</p> +<p>And, worn out with the whole thing, Zara turned to him and asked +if it would matter or look unusual if she said—what was +true—that she was so fatigued she would like to go to bed and +not have to come down to dinner.</p> +<p>"I will not do so, if it would not be in the game," she +said.</p> +<p>And he answered, shortly:</p> +<p>"The game is over, to-night: do as you please."</p> +<p>So she went off sadly, and did not see him again until they were +ready to start in the morning—the Friday morning, which +Tristram called the beginning of the end!</p> +<p>He had arranged that they should go by train, and not motor up, +as he usually did because he loved motoring; but the misery of +being so close to her, even now when he hoped he loathed and +despised her, was too great to chance. So, early after lunch, they +started, and would be at Park Lane after five. No telegram had come +for Zara—Mimo must be away—but, in any case, it +indicated nothing unusual was happening, unless he had been called +to Bournemouth by Mirko himself and had left hurriedly. This idea +so tortured her that by the time she got to London she could not +bear it, and felt she must go to Neville Street and see. But how to +get away?</p> +<p>Francis Markrute was waiting for them in the library, and seemed +so full of the exuberance of happiness that she could not rush off +until she had poured out and pretended to enjoy a lengthy tea.</p> +<p>And the change in the reserved man struck them both. He seemed +years younger, and full of the milk of human kindness. And Tristram +thought of himself on the day he had gone to Victoria to meet Zara, +when she had come from Paris, and he had given a beggar half a +sovereign, from sheer joy of life.</p> +<p>For happiness and wine open men's hearts. He would not attempt +to speak about his own troubles until the morning: it was only fair +to leave the elderly lover without cares until after the dinner at +Glastonbury House.</p> +<p>At last Zara was able to creep away. She watched her chance, +and, with the cunning of desperation, finding the hall momentarily +empty, stealthily stole out of the front door. But it was after +half-past six o'clock, and they were dining at Glastonbury House, +St. James's Square, at eight.</p> +<p>She got into a taxi quickly, finding one in Grosvenor Street +because she was afraid to wait to look in Park Lane, in case, by +chance, she should be observed; and at last she reached the Neville +Street lodging, and rang the noisy bell.</p> +<p>The slatternly little servant said that the gentleman was +"hout," but would the lady come in and wait? He would not be long, +as he had said "as how he was only going to take a telegram."</p> +<p>Zara entered at once. A telegram!—perhaps for +her—Yes, surely for her. Mimo had no one else, she knew, to +telegraph to. She went up to the dingy attic studio. The fire was +almost out, and the little maid lit one candle and placed it upon a +table. It was very cold on this damp November day. The place struck +her as piteously poor, after the grandeur from which she had come. +Dear, foolish, generous Mimo! She must do something for +him—and would plan how. The room had the air of scrupulous +cleanness which his things always wore, and there was the "Apache" +picture waiting for her to take, in a new gold frame; and the +"London Fog" seemed to be advanced, too; he had evidently worked at +it late, because his palette and brushes, still wet, were on a box +beside it, and on a chair near was his violin. He was no born +musician like Mirko, but played very well. The palette and brushes +showed he must have put them hurriedly down. What for? Why? Had +some message come for him? Had he heard news? And a chill feeling +gripped her heart. She looked about to see if Mirko had written a +letter, or one of his funny little postcards? No, there was +nothing—nothing she had not seen except, yes, just this one +on a picture of the town. Only a few words: "Thank +Chérisette for her letter, Agatha is <i>très +jolie</i>, but does not understand the violin, and wants to play it +herself. And heavens! the noise!" How he managed to post these +cards was always a mystery; they were marked with the mark of +doubling up twice, so it showed he concealed them somewhere and +perhaps popped them into a pillar-box, when out for a walk. This +one was dated two days ago. Could anything have happened since? She +burned with impatience for Mimo to come in.</p> +<p>A cheap, little clock struck seven. Where could he be? The +minutes seemed to drag into an eternity. All sorts of possibilities +struck her, and then she controlled herself and became calm.</p> +<p>There was a large photograph of her mother, which Mimo had +colored really well. It was in a silver frame upon the mantelpiece, +and she gazed and gazed at that, and whispered aloud in the gloomy +room:</p> +<p>"<i>Maman, adorée!</i> Take care of your little one now, +even if he must come to you soon."</p> +<p>And beside this there was another, of Mimo, taken at the same +time, when Zara and her mother had gone to the Emperor's palace in +that far land. How wonderfully handsome he was then, and even +still!—and how the air of <i>insouciance</i> suited him, in +that splendid white and gold uniform. But Mimo looked always a +gentleman, even in his shabbiest coat.</p> +<p>And now that she knew what the passion of love meant herself, +she better understood how her mother had loved. She had never +judged her mother, it was not in her nature to judge any one; +underneath the case of steel which her bitter life had wrought her, +Zara's heart was as tender as an angel's.</p> +<p>Then she thought of the words in the Second Commandment: "And +the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children." Had +they sinned, then? And if so how terribly cruel such Commandments +were—to make the innocent children suffer. Mirko and she were +certainly paying some price. But the God that <i>Maman</i> had gone +to and loved and told her children of, was not really cruel, and +some day perhaps she—Zara—would come into peace on +earth. And Mirko? Mirko would be up there, happy and safe with +<i>Maman</i>.</p> +<p>The cheap clock showed nearly half-past seven. She could not +wait another moment, and also she reasoned if Mimo were sending her +a telegram it would be to Park Lane. He knew she was coming up; she +would get it there on her return, so she scribbled a line to Count +Sykypri, and told him she had been—and why—and that she +must hear at once, and then she left and hurried back to her +uncle's house. And when she got there it was twenty minutes to +eight.</p> +<p>Her maid had been dreadfully worried, as she had given no orders +as to what she would wear—but Henriette, being a person of +intelligence, had put out what she thought best,—only she +could not prevent her anxiety and impatience from causing her to go +on to the landing, and hang over the stairs at every noise; and +Tristram, coming out of his room already dressed, found her +there—and asked her what she was doing.</p> +<p>"I wait for <i>Miladi</i>, <i>Milor</i>, she have not come in," +Henriette said. "And I so fear <i>Miladi</i> will be late."</p> +<p>Tristram felt his heart stop beating for a second—strong +man as he was. <i>Miladi</i> had not come in!—But as they +spoke, he perceived her on the landing below, hurrying up—she +had not waited to get the lift—and he went down to meet her, +while Henriette returned to her room.</p> +<p>"Where have you been?" he demanded, with a pale, stern face. He +was too angry and suspicious to let her pass in silence, and he +noticed her cheeks were flushed with nervous excitement and that +she was out of breath; and no wonder, for she had run up the +stairs.</p> +<p>"I cannot wait to tell you now," she panted. "And what right +have you to speak to me so? Let me pass, or I shall be late."</p> +<p>"I do not care if you are late, or no. You shall answer me!" he +said furiously, barring the way. "You bear my name, at all events, +and I have a right because of that to know."</p> +<p>"Your name?" she said, vaguely, and then for the first time she +grasped that there was some insulting doubt of her in his +words.</p> +<p>She cast upon him a look of withering scorn, and, with the air +of an empress commanding an insubordinate guard, she flashed:</p> +<p>"Let me pass at once!"</p> +<p>But Tristram did not move, and for a second they glared at one +another, and she took a step forward as if to force her way. Then +he angrily seized her in his arms. But at that moment Francis +Markrute came out of his room and Tristram let her +go—panting. He could not make a scene, and she went on, with +her head set haughtily, to her room.</p> +<p>"I see you have been quarreling again," her uncle said, rather +irritably: and then he laughed as he went down.</p> +<p>"I expect she will be late," he continued; "well, if she is not +in the hall at five minutes to eight, I shall go on."</p> +<p>And Tristram sat down upon the deep sofa on the broad landing +outside her room, and waited: the concentrated essence of all the +rage and pain he had yet suffered seemed to be now in his +heart.</p> +<p>But what had it meant—that look of superb scorn? She had +no mien of a guilty person.</p> +<p>At six minutes to eight she opened the door, and came out. She +had simply flown into her clothes, in ten minutes! Her eyes were +still black as night with resentment, and her bosom rose and fell, +while in her white cheeks two scarlet spots flamed.</p> +<p>"I am ready," she said, haughtily, "let us go," and not waiting +for her husband she swept on down the stairs, exactly as her uncle +opened the library door.</p> +<p>"Well done, my punctual niece!" he cried genially. "You are a +woman of your word."</p> +<p>"In all things," she answered, fiercely, and went towards the +door, where the electric brougham waited.</p> +<p>And both men as they followed her wondered what she could +mean.</p> +<a name="C038" id="C038"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2> +<p>The dinner for Ethelrida's betrothal resembled in no way the one +for Zara and Tristram; for, except in those two hearts there was no +bitter strain, and the fiancés in this case were radiantly +happy, which they could not conceal, and did not try to.</p> +<p>The Dowager Lady Tancred arrived a few minutes after the party +of three, and Zara heard her mother-in-law gasp, as she said, +"Tristram, my dear boy!" and then she controlled the astonishment +in her voice, and went on more ordinarily, but still a little +anxiously, "I hope you are very well?"</p> +<p>So he was changed then—to the eye of one who had not seen +him since the wedding—and Zara glanced at him critically, and +saw that—yes, he was, indeed, changed. His face was perfectly +set and stern, and he looked older. It was no wonder his mother +should be surprised.</p> +<p>Then Lady Tancred turned to Zara and kissed her. "Welcome back, +my dear daughter," she said. And Zara tried to answer something +pleasant: above all things, this proud lady who had so tenderly +given her son's happiness into her keeping must not guess how much +there was amiss.</p> +<p>But Lady Tancred was no simpleton—she saw immediately that +her son must have gone through much suffering and strain. What was +the matter? It tore her heart, but she knew him too well to say +anything to him about it.</p> +<p>So she continued to talk agreeably to them, and Tristram made a +great effort, and chaffed her, and became gay. And soon they went +in to dinner. And Lady Tancred sat on Francis Markrute's other +side, and tried to overcome her prejudice against him. If Ethelrida +loved him so much he must be really nice. And Zara sat on one side +of the old Duke, and Lady Anningford on the other, and on her other +side was Young Billy who was now in an idiotic state of calf love +for her—to the amusement of every one. So, with much gayety +and chaff the repast came to an end, and the ladies, who were all +old friends—no strangers now among them—disposed +themselves in happy groups about one of the drawing-rooms, while +they sipped their coffee.</p> +<p>Ethelrida drew Zara aside to talk to her alone.</p> +<p>"Zara," she said, taking her soft, white hand, "I am so awfully +happy with my dear love that I want you to be so, too. Dearest +Zara, won't you be friends with me, now—real friends?"</p> +<p>And Zara, won by her gentleness, pressed Ethelrida's hand with +her other hand.</p> +<p>"I am so glad, nothing my uncle could have done would have given +me so much pleasure," she said, with a break in her voice. "Yes, +indeed, I will be friends with you, dear Ethelrida. I am so +glad—and touched—that you should care to have me as +your friend." Then Ethelrida bent forward and kissed her. "When one +is as happy as I am," she said, "it makes one feel good, as if one +wanted to do all the kind things and take away all sorrow out of +the world. I have thought sometimes, Zara dear, that you did not +look as happy as—as—I would like you to look."</p> +<p>Happy! the mockery of the word!</p> +<p>"Ethelrida," Zara whispered hurriedly—"don't—don't +ask me anything about it, please, dear. No one can help me. I must +come through with it alone—but you of Tristram's own family, +and especially you whom he loves so much, I don't want you ever to +misjudge me. You think perhaps I have made him unhappy. Oh, if you +only knew it all!—Yes, I have. And I did not know, nor +understand. I would die for him now, if I could, but it is too +late; we can only play the game!"</p> +<p>"Zara, do not say this!" said Ethelrida, much distressed. "What +can it be that should come between such beautiful people as you? +And Tristram adores you, Zara dear."</p> +<p>"He did love me—once," Zara answered sadly, "but not now. +He would like never to have to see me again. Please do not let us +talk of it; please—I can't bear any more."</p> +<p>And Ethelrida, watching her face anxiously, saw that it wore a +hopeless, hunted look, as though some agonizing trouble and anxiety +brooded over her. And poor Zara could say nothing of her other +anxiety, for now that Ethelrida was engaged to her uncle her lips, +about her own sorrow concerning her little brother, must be more +than ever sealed. Perhaps—she did not know much of the +English point of view yet—perhaps if the Duke knew that there +was some disgrace in the background of the family he might forbid +the marriage, and then she would be spoiling this sweet Ethelrida's +life.</p> +<p>And Ethelrida's fine senses told her there was no use pressing +the matter further, whatever the trouble was this was not the +moment to interfere; so she turned the conversation to lighter +things, and, finally, talked about her own wedding, and so the time +passed.</p> +<p>The Dowager Lady Tancred was too proud to ask any one any +questions, although she talked alone with Lady Anningford and could +easily have done so: the only person she mentioned her anxiety to +was her brother, the Duke, when, later, she spoke a few words with +him alone.</p> +<p>"Tristram looks haggard and very unhappy, Glastonbury," she said +simply, "have you anything to tell me about it?"</p> +<p>"My dear Jane," replied the Duke, "it is the greatest puzzle in +the world; no one can account for it. I gave him some sound advice +at Montfitchet, when I saw things were so strained, and I don't +believe he has taken it, by the look of them to-night. These young, +modern people are so unnaturally cold, though I did hear they had +got through the rejoicings, in fine style."</p> +<p>"It troubles me very much, Glastonbury—to go abroad and +leave him looking like that. Is it her fault? Or what—do you +think?"</p> +<p>"'Pon my soul, I can't say—even the Crow could not unravel +the mystery. Laura Highford was at Montfitchet—confound +her—would come; can she have had anything to do with it, I +wonder?"</p> +<p>Then they were interrupted and no more could be said, and +finally the party broke up, with the poor mother's feeling of +anxiety unassuaged. Tristram and Zara were to lunch with her +to-morrow, to say good-bye, and then she was going to +Paris—by the afternoon train.</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute staying on to smoke a cigar with the Duke, +and, presumably, to say a snatched good night to his fiancé, +Tristram was left to take Zara home alone.</p> +<p>Now would come the moment of the explanation! But she outwitted +him, for they no sooner got into the brougham and he had just begun +to speak than she leaned back and interrupted him:</p> +<p>"You insinuated something on the stairs this evening, the +vileness of which I hardly understood at first; I warn you I will +hear no more upon the subject!" and then her voice broke suddenly +and she said, passionately and yet with a pitiful note, "Ah! I am +suffering so to-night, please—please don't speak to +me—leave me alone."</p> +<p>And Tristram was silenced. Whatever it was that soon she must +explain, he could not torture her to-night, and, in spite of his +anger and suspicions and pain, it hurt him to see her, when the +lights flashed in upon them, huddled up in the corner—her +eyes like a wounded deer's.</p> +<p>"Zara!" he said at last—quite gently, "what is this, awful +shadow that is hanging over you?—If you will only tell +me—" But at that moment they arrived at the door, which was +immediately opened, and she walked in and then to the lift without +answering, and entering, closed the door. For what could she +say?</p> +<p>She could bear things no longer. Tristram evidently saw she had +some secret trouble, she would get her uncle to release her from +her promise, as far as her husband was concerned at +least,—she hated mysteries, and if it had annoyed him for her +to be out late she would tell him the truth—and about Mirko, +and everything.</p> +<p>Evidently he had been very much annoyed at that, but this was +the first time he had even suggested he had noticed she was +troubled about anything, except that day in the garden at Wrayth. +Her motives were so perfectly innocent that not the faintest idea +even yet dawned upon her that anything she had ever done could even +look suspicious. Tristram was angry with her because she was late, +and had insinuated something out of jealousy; men were always +jealous, she knew, even if they were perfectly indifferent to a +woman. What really troubled her terribly to-night Was the telegram +she found in her room. She had told the maid to put it there when +it came. It was from Mimo, saying Mirko was feverish +again—really ill, he feared, this time.</p> +<p>So poor Zara spent a night of anguish and prayer, little knowing +what the morrow was to bring.</p> +<p>And Tristram went out again to the Turf, and tried to divert his +mind away from his troubles. There was no use in speculating any +further, he must wait for an explanation which he would not consent +to put off beyond the next morning.</p> +<p>So at last the day of a pitiful tragedy dawned.</p> +<p>Zara got up and dressed early. She must be ready to go out to +try and see Mimo, the moment she could slip away after breakfast, +so she came down with her hat on: she wanted to speak to her uncle +alone, and Tristram, she thought, would not be there so +early—only nine o'clock.</p> +<p>"This is energetic, my niece!" Francis Markrute said, but she +hardly answered him, and as soon as Turner and the footman had left +the room she began at once:</p> +<p>"Tristram was very angry with me last night because I was out +late. I had gone to obtain news of Mirko, I am very anxious about +him and I could give Tristram no explanation. I ask you to relieve +me from my promise not to tell him—about things."</p> +<p>The financier frowned. This was a most unfortunate moment to +revive the family skeleton, but he was a very just man and he saw, +directly, that suspicion of any sort was too serious a thing to +arouse in Tristram's mind.</p> +<p>"Very well," he said, "tell him what you think best. He looks +desperately unhappy—you both do—are you keeping him at +arm's length all this time, Zara? Because if so, my child, you will +lose him, I warn you. You cannot treat a man of his spirit like +that; he will leave you if you do."</p> +<p>"I do not want to keep him at arm's length; he is there of his +own will. I told you at Montfitchet everything is too +late—"</p> +<p>Then the butler entered the room: "Some one wishes to speak to +your ladyship on the telephone, immediately," he said.</p> +<p>And Zara forgot her usual dignity as she almost rushed across +the hall to the library, to talk:—it was Mimo, of course, so +her presence of mind came to her and as the butler held the door +for her she said, "Call a taxi at once."</p> +<p>She took the receiver up, and it was, indeed, Mimo's +voice—and in terrible distress.</p> +<p>It appeared from his almost incoherent utterances that little +Agatha had teased Mirko and finally broken his violin. And that +this had so excited him, in his feverish state, that it had driven +him almost mad, and he had waited until all the household, +including the nurse, were asleep, and, with superhuman cunning, +crept from his bed and dressed himself, and had taken the money +which his Chérisette had given him for an emergency that day +in the Park, and which he had always kept hidden in his desk; and +he had then stolen out and gone to the station—all in the +night, alone, the poor, poor lamb!—and there he had waited +until the Weymouth night mail had come through, and had bought a +ticket, and got in, and come to London to find his +father—with the broken violin wrapped in its green baize +cover. And all the while coughing—coughing enough to kill +him! And he had arrived with just enough money to pay a cab, and +had come at about five o'clock and could hardly wake the house to +be let in; and he, Mimo, had heard the noise and come down, and +there found the little angel, and brought him in, and warmed him in +his bed. And he had waited to boil him some hot milk before he +could come to the public telephone near, to call her up. Oh! but he +was very ill—very, very ill—and could she come at +once—but oh!—at once!</p> +<p>And Tristram, entering the room at that moment, saw her agonized +face and heard her say, "Yes, yes, dear Mimo, I will come now!" and +before he could realize what she was doing she brushed past him and +rushed from the room, and across the hall and down to the waiting +taxicab into which she sprang, and told the man where to go, with +her head out of the window, as he turned into Grosvenor Street.</p> +<p>The name "Mimo" drove Tristram mad again. He stood for a moment, +deciding what to do, then he seized his coat and hat and rushed out +after her, to the amazement of the dignified servants. Here he +hailed another taxi, but hers was just out of sight down to Park +Street, when he got into his.</p> +<p>"Follow that taxi!" he said to the driver, "that green one in +front of you—I will give you a sovereign if you never lose +sight of it."</p> +<p>So the chase began! He must see where she would go! "Mimo!" the +"Count Sykypri" she had telegraphed to—and she had the +effrontery to talk to her lover, in her uncle's house! Tristram was +so beside himself with rage he knew if he found them meeting at the +end he would kill her. His taxi followed the green one, keeping it +always in view, right on to Oxford Street, then Regent Street, then +Mortimer Street. Was she going to Euston Station? Another of those +meetings perhaps in a waiting-room, that Laura had already +described! Unutterable disgust as well as blind fury filled him. He +was too overcome with passion to reason with himself even. No, it +was not Euston—they were turning into the Tottenham Court +Road—and so into a side street. And here a back tire on his +taxi went, with a loud report, and the driver came to a stop. And, +almost foaming with rage, Tristram saw the green taxi disappear +round the further corner of a mean street, and he knew it would be +lost to view before he could overtake it: there was none other in +sight. He flung the man some money and almost ran down the +road—and, yes, when he turned the corner he could see the +green taxi in the far distance; it was stopping at a door. He had +caught her then, after all! He could afford to go slowly now. She +had entered the house some five or ten minutes before he got there. +He began making up his mind.</p> +<p>It was evidently a most disreputable neighborhood. A sickening, +nauseating revulsion crept over him: Zara—the beautiful, +refined Zara—to be willing to meet a lover here! The brute +was probably ill, and that was why she had looked so distressed. He +walked up and down rapidly twice, and then he crossed the road and +rang the bell; the taxi was still at the door. It was opened almost +immediately by the little, dirty maid—very dirty in the early +morning like this.</p> +<p>He controlled his voice and asked politely to be taken to the +lady who had just gone in. With a snivel of tears Jenny asked him +to follow her, and, while she was mounting in front of him, she +turned and said: "It ain't no good, doctor, I ken tell yer; my +mother was took just like that, and after she'd once broke the +vessel she didn't live a hour." And by this time they had reached +the attic door which, without knocking Jenny opened a little, and, +with another snivel, announced, "The doctor, missis."</p> +<p>And Tristram entered the room.</p> +<a name="C039" id="C039"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX</h2> +<p>And this is what he saw.</p> +<p>The poor, mean room, with its scrupulous neatness slightly +disturbed by the evidences of the boiling of milk and the warming +of flannel, and Zara, kneeling by the low, iron bed where lay the +little body of a child. For Mirko had dwindled, these last weeks of +his constant fever, so that his poor, small frame, undersized for +his age at any time, looked now no more than that of a boy of six +years old. He was evidently dying. Zara held his tiny hand, and the +divine love and sorrowful agony in her face wrung her husband's +soul. A towel soaked with blood had fallen to the floor, and lay +there, a ghastly evidence of the "broken vessel" Jenny had spoken +of. Mimo, with his tall, military figure shaking with dry sobs, +stood on the other side, and Zara murmured in a tender voice of +anguish: "My little one! My Mirko!" She was oblivious in her grief +of any other presence—and the dying child opened his eyes and +called faintly, "Maman!"</p> +<p>Then Mimo saw Tristram by the door, and advanced with his finger +on his quivering lips to meet him.</p> +<p>"Ah, sir," he said. "Alas! you have come too late. My child is +going to God!"</p> +<p>And all the manhood in Tristram's heart rose up in pity. Here +was a tragedy too deep for human judgment, too deep for thoughts of +vengeance, and without a word he turned and stole from the room. +And as he stumbled down the dark, narrow stairs he heard the sound +of a violin as it wailed out the beginning notes of the <i>Chanson +Triste</i>, and he shivered, as if with cold.</p> +<p>For Mirko had opened his piteous eyes again, and whispered in +little gasps:</p> +<p>"Papa—play to me the air <i>Mamam</i> loved. I can see her +blue gauze wings!" And in a moment, as his face filled with the +radiance of his vision he fell back, dead, into Zara's arms.</p> +<p>When Tristram reached the street he looked about him for a +minute like a blinded man; and then, as his senses came back to +him, his first thought was what he could do for her—that poor +mother upstairs, with her dying child. For that the boy was Zara's +child he never doubted. Her child—and her lover's—had +he not called her "<i>Maman</i>." So this was the awful tragedy in +her life. He analyzed nothing as yet; his whole being was paralyzed +with the shock and the agony of things: the only clear thought he +had was that he must help her in whatever way he could.</p> +<p>The green taxi was still there, but he would not take it, in +case she should want it. He walked on down the street and found a +cab for himself, and got driven to his old rooms in St. James's +Street: he must be alone to think.</p> +<p>The hall-porter was surprised to see him. Nothing was ready for +his lordship—but his wife would come up—?</p> +<p>But his lordship required nothing, he wished to find something +alone.</p> +<p>He did not even notice that there was no fire in the grate, and +that the room was icy cold—the agony of pain in his mind and +soul made him unconscious of lesser ills. He pulled one of the +holland sheets off his own big chair, and sat down in it.</p> +<p>Poor Zara, poor, unhappy Zara!—were his first +thoughts—then he stiffened suddenly. This man must have been +her lover before even her first marriage!—for Francis +Markrute had told him she had married very soon. She was +twenty-three years old now, and the child could not have been less +than six; he must have been born when she was only seventeen. What +devilish passion in a man could have made him tempt a girl so +young! Of course this was her secret, and Francis Markrute knew +nothing of it. For one frightful moment the thought came that her +husband was not really dead and that this was he: but no, her +husband's name had been Ladislaus, and this man she had called +"Mimo," and if the boy were the child of her marriage there need +then have been no secret about his existence. There was no other +solution—this Count Sykypri had been her lover when she was a +mere child, and probably the concealment had gone through all her +first married life. And no doubt her reason for marrying him, which +she admitted was a very strong one, had been that she might have +money to give to the child—and its father.</p> +<p>The sickening—sickening, squalid tragedy of it all!</p> +<p>And she, Zara, had seemed so proud and so pure! Her look of +scorn, only the night before, at his jealous accusation, came back +to him. He could not remember a single movement nor action of hers +that had not been that of an untarnished queen. What horrible +actresses women were! His whole belief had crumbled to the +dust.</p> +<p>And the most terrible part of it all to him was the knowledge +that in spite of everything he still loved her—loved her with +a consuming, almighty passion that he knew nothing now could kill. +It had been put to the bitterest proof. Whatever she had done he +could love no other woman.</p> +<p>Then he realized that his life was over. The future a blank, +unutterable, hopeless gray which must go on for years and years. +For he could never come back to her again, nor even live in the +house with her, under the semblance of things.</p> +<p>Then an agonizing bitterness came to him, the hideous +malevolence of fate, not to have let him meet this woman first +before this other man; think of the faithfulness of her nature, +with all its cruel actions to himself! She had been absolutely +faithful to her lover, and had defended herself from +his—Tristram's—caresses, even of her finger-tips. What +a love worth having, what a strong, true character—worth +dying for—in a woman!</p> +<p>And now, he must never see her again; or, if once more, only for +a business meeting, to settle things without scandal to either of +them.</p> +<p>He would not go back to Park Lane, yet—not for a week; he +would give her time to see to the funeral, without the extra pain +of his presence.</p> +<p>The man had taken him for the doctor, and she had not even been +aware of his entrance: he would go back to Wrayth, alone, and there +try to think out some plan. So he searched among the covered-up +furniture for his writing table, and found some paper, and sat down +and wrote two notes, one to his mother. He could not face her +to-day—she must go without seeing him—but he knew his +mother loved him, and, in all deep moments, never questioned his +will even if she did not understand it.</p> +<p>The note to her was very short, merely saying something was +troubling him greatly for the time, so neither he nor Zara would +come to luncheon; and she was to trust him and not speak of this to +any one until he himself told her more. He might come and see her +in Cannes, the following week.</p> +<p>Then he wrote to Zara, and these were his words:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"I know everything. I understand now, and however I blame you +for your deception of me you have my deep sympathy in your grief. I +am going away for a week, so you will not be distressed by seeing +me. Then I must ask you to meet me, here or at your uncle's house, +to arrange for our future separation.</p> +<p class="author"> +"Yours, <br /> +"Tancred."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Then he rang for a messenger boy, and gave him both notes, and, +picking up the telephone, called up his valet and told him to pack +and bring his things here to his old rooms, and, if her ladyship +came in, to see that she immediately got the note he was sending +round to her. Francis Markrute would have gone to the City by now +and was going to lunch with Ethelrida, so he telephoned to one of +his clerks there—finding he was out for the moment—just +to say he was called away for a week and would write later.</p> +<p>She should have the first words with her uncle. Whether she +would tell him or no she must decide, he would not do anything to +make her existence more difficult than it must naturally be.</p> +<p>And then when all this was done the passionate jealousy of a man +overcame him again, and when he thought of Mimo he once more longed +to kill.</p> +<a name="C040" id="C040"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XL</h2> +<p>It was late in the afternoon when Zara got back to her uncle's +house. She had been too distracted with grief to know or care about +time, or what they would be thinking of her absence.</p> +<p>Just after the poor little one was dead frantic telegrams had +come from the Morleys, in consternation at his disappearance, and +Mimo, quite prostrate in his sorrow, as he had been at her mother's +death, had left all practical things to Zara.</p> +<p>No doctor turned up, either. Mimo had not coherently given the +address, on the telephone. Thus they passed the day alone with +their dead, in anguish; and at last thought came back to Zara. She +would go to her uncle, and let him help to settle things; she could +count upon him to do that.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute, anxious and disturbed by Tristram's message +and her absence, met her as she came in and drew her into the +library.</p> +<p>The butler had handed her her husband's note, but she held it +listlessly in her hand, without opening it. She was still too numb +with sorrow to take notice of ordinary things. Her uncle saw +immediately that something terrible had happened.</p> +<p>"Zara, dear child," he said, and folded her in his arms with +affectionate kindness, "tell me everything."</p> +<p>She was past tears now, but her voice sounded strange with the +tragedy in it.</p> +<p>"Mirko is dead, Uncle Francis," was all she said. "He ran away +from Bournemouth because Agatha, the Morleys' child, broke his +violin. He loved it, you know <i>Maman</i> had given it to him. He +came in the night, all alone, ill with fever, to find his father, +and he broke a blood vessel this morning, and died in my +arms—there, in the poor lodging."</p> +<p>Francis Markrute had drawn her to the sofa now, and stroked her +hands. He was deeply moved.</p> +<p>"My poor, dear child! My poor Zara!" he said.</p> +<p>Then, with most pathetic entreaty she went on,</p> +<p>"Oh, Uncle Francis, can't you forgive poor Mimo, now? +<i>Maman</i> is dead and Mirko is dead, and if you ever, some day, +have a child yourself, you may know what this poor father is +suffering. Won't you help us? He is foolish +always—unpractical—and he is distracted with grief. You +are so strong—won't you see about the funeral for my little +love?"</p> +<p>"Of course I will, dear girl," he answered. "You must have no +more distresses. Leave everything to me." And he bent and kissed +her white cheek, while he tenderly began to remove the pins from +her fur toque.</p> +<p>"Thank you," she said gently, as she took the hat from his hand, +and laid it beside her. "I grieve because I loved him—my dear +little brother. His soul was all music, and there was no room for +him here. And oh! I loved <i>Maman</i> so! But I know that it is +better as it is; he is safe there, with her now, far away from all +his pain. He saw her when he was dying." Then after a pause she +went on: "Uncle Francis, you love Ethelrida very much, don't you? +Try to look back and think how <i>Maman</i> loved Mimo, and he +loved her. Think of all the sorrow of her life, and the great, +great price she paid for her love; and then, when you see +him—poor Mimo—try to be merciful."</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute suddenly felt a lump in his throat. The +whole pitiful memory of his beloved sister stabbed him, and +extinguished the last remnant of rancor towards her lover, which +had smoldered always in his proud heart.</p> +<p>There was a moisture in his clever eyes, and a tremulous note in +his cold voice as he answered his niece:</p> +<p>"Dear child, we will forget and forgive everything. My one +thought about it all now, is to do whatever will bring you +comfort."</p> +<p>"There is one thing—yes," she said, and there was the +first look of life in her face. "Mirko, when I saw him last at +Bournemouth, played to me a wonderful air; he said <i>Maman</i> +always came back to him in his dreams when he was +ill—feverish, you know—and that she had taught it to +him. It talks of the woods where she is, and beautiful butterflies; +there is a blue one for her, and a little white one for him. He +wrote out the score—it is so joyous—and I have it. Will +you send it to Vienna or Paris, to some great artist, and get it +really arranged, and then when I play it we shall always be able to +see <i>Maman</i>."</p> +<p>And the moisture gathered again in Francis Markrute's eyes.</p> +<p>"Oh, my dear!" he said. "Will you forgive me some day for my +hardness, for my arrogance to you both? I never knew, I never +understood—until lately—what love could mean in a life. +And you, Zara, yourself, dear child, can nothing be done for you +and Tristram?"</p> +<p>At the mention of her husband's name Zara looked up, startled; +and then a deeper tragedy than ever gathered in her eyes, as she +rose.</p> +<p>"Let us speak of that no more, my uncle," she said. "Nothing can +be done, because his love for me is dead. I killed it myself, in my +ignorance. Nothing you or I can do is of any avail now—it is +all too late."</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute could not speak. Her ignorance had been his +fault, his only mistake in calculation, because he had played with +souls as pawns in those days before love had softened him. And she +made him no reproaches, when that past action of his had caused the +finish of her life's happiness! Verily, his niece was a noble +woman, and, with deepest homage, as he led her to the door he bent +down and kissed her forehead; and no one in the world who knew him +would have believed that she felt it wet with tears.</p> +<p>When she got to her room she remembered she still carried some +note, and she at last looked at the superscription. It was in +Tristram's writing. In spite of her grief and her numbness to other +things it gave her a sharp emotion. She opened it quickly and read +its few cold words. Then it seemed as if her knees gave way under +her, as at Montfitchet that day when Laura Highford had made her +jealous. She could not think clearly, nor fully understand their +meaning; only one point stood out distinctly. He must see her to +arrange for their separation. He had grown to hate her so much, +then, that he could not any longer even live in the house with her, +and all her grief of the day seemed less than this thought. Then +she read it again. He knew all? Who could have told him? Her Uncle +Francis? No, he did not himself know that Mirko was dead until she +had told him. This was a mystery, but it was unimportant. Her numb +brain could not grasp it yet. The main thing was that he was very +angry with her for her deception of him: that, perhaps, was what +was causing him finally to part from her. How strange it was that +she was always punished for keeping her word and acting up to her +principles! She did not think this bitterly, only with utter +hopelessness. There was no use in her trying any longer; happiness +was evidently not meant for her. She must just accept +things—and life, or death, as it came. But how hard men +were—she could never be so stern to any one for such a little +fault, for <i>any</i> fault—stern and unforgiving as that +strange God who wrote the Commandments.</p> +<p>And then she felt her cheeks suddenly burn, and yet she +shivered; and when her maid came to her, presently, she saw that +her mistress was not only deeply grieved, but ill, too. So she put +her quickly to bed, and then went down to see Mr. Markrute.</p> +<p>"I think we must have a doctor, monsieur," she said. +"<i>Miladi</i> is not at all well."</p> +<p>And Francis Markrute, deeply distressed, telephoned at once for +his physician.</p> +<p>His betrothed had gone back to the country after luncheon, so he +could not even have the consolation of her sympathy, and where +Tristram was he did not know.</p> +<p>For the four following days Zara lay in her bed, seriously ill. +She had caught a touch of influenza the eminent physician said, and +had evidently had a most severe shock as well. But she was +naturally so splendidly healthy that, in spite of grief and +hopelessness, the following Thursday she was able to get up again. +Francis Markrute thought her illness had been merciful in a way +because the funeral had all been got over while she was confined to +her room. Zara had accepted everything without protest. She had not +desired even to see Mirko once more. She had no morbid fancies; it +was his soul she loved and remembered, not the poor little +suffering body.</p> +<p>It came to her as a comfort that her uncle and Mimo had met and +shaken hands in forgiveness, and now poor Mimo was coming to say +good-bye to her that afternoon.</p> +<p>He was leaving England at once, and would return to his own +country and his people. In his great grief, and with no further +ties, he hoped they would receive him. He had only one object now +in life—to get through with it and join those he loved in +some happier sphere.</p> +<p>This was the substance of what he said to Zara when he came; and +they kissed and blessed one another, and parted, perhaps for ever. +The "Apache" and the "London Fog," which would never be finished +now he feared—the pain would be too great—would be sent +to her to keep as a remembrance of their years of life together and +the deep ties that bound them by the memory of those two +graves.</p> +<p>And Zara in her weakness had cried for a long time after he had +left.</p> +<p>And then she realized that all that part of her life was over +now, and the outlook of what was to come held out no hope.</p> +<p>Francis Markrute had telegraphed to Wrayth, to try and find +Tristram, but he was not there. He had not gone there at all. At +the last moment he could not face it, he felt; he must go somewhere +away alone—by the sea. A great storm was coming on—it +suited his mood—so he had left even his servant in London and +had gone off to a wild place on the Dorsetshire coast that he knew +of, and there heard no news of any one. He would go back on the +Friday, and see Zara the next day, as he had said he would do. +Meanwhile he must fight his ghosts alone. And what ghosts they +were!</p> +<p>Now on this Saturday morning Francis Markrute was obliged to +leave his niece. His vast schemes required his attention in Berlin +and he would be gone for a week, and then was going down to +Montfitchet. Ethelrida had written Zara the kindest letters. Her +fiancé had told her all the pitiful story, and now she +understood the tragedy in Zara's eyes, and loved her the more for +her silence and her honor.</p> +<p>But all these thoughts seemed to be things of naught to the sad +recipient of her letters, since the one and only person who +mattered now in her life knew, also, and held different ones. He +was aware of all, and had no sympathy or pity—only +blame—for her. And now that her health was better and she was +able to think, this ceaseless question worried her; how could +Tristram possibly have known all? Had he followed her? As soon as +she would be allowed to go out she would go and see Jenny, and +question her.</p> +<p>And Tristram, by the wild sea—the storm like his mood had +lasted all the time—came eventually to some conclusions. He +would return and see his wife and tell her that now they must part, +that he knew of her past and he would trouble her no more. He would +not make her any reproaches, for of what use? And, besides, she had +suffered enough. He would go abroad at once, and see his mother for +a day at Cannes, and tell her his arrangements, and that Zara and +he had agreed to part—he would give her no further +explanations—and then he would go on to India and Japan. And, +after this, his plans were vague. It seemed as if life were too +impossible to look ahead, but not until he could think of Zara with +calmness would he return to England.</p> +<p>And if Zara's week of separation from him had been grief and +suffering, his had been hell.</p> +<p>On the Saturday morning, after her uncle had started for Dover, +a note, sent by hand, was brought to Zara. It was again only a few +words, merely to say if it was convenient to her, +he—Tristram—would come at two o'clock, as he was +motoring down to Wrayth at three, and was leaving England on Monday +night.</p> +<p>Her hand trembled too much to write an answer.</p> +<p>"Tell the messenger I will be here," she said; and she sat then +for a long time, staring in front of her.</p> +<p>Then a thought came to her. Whether she were well enough or no +she must go and question Jenny. So, to the despair of her maid, she +wrapped herself in furs and started. She felt extremely faint when +she got into the air, but her will pulled her through, and when she +got there the little servant put her doubts at rest.</p> +<p>Yes, a very tall, handsome gentleman had come a few minutes +after herself, and she had taken him up, thinking he was the +doctor.</p> +<p>"Why, missus," she said, "he couldn't have stayed a minute. He +come away while the Count was playin' his fiddle."</p> +<p>So this was how it was! Her thoughts were all in a maze: she +could not reason. And when she got back to the Park Lane house she +felt too feeble to go any further, even to the lift.</p> +<p>Her maid came and took her furs from her, and she lay on the +library sofa, after Henriette had persuaded her to have a little +chicken broth; and then she fell into a doze, and was awakened only +by the sound of the electric bell. She knew it was her husband +coming, and sat up, with a wildly beating heart. Her trembling +limbs would not support her as she rose for his entrance, and she +held on by the back of a chair.</p> +<p>And, grave and pale with the torture he had been through, +Tristram came into the room.</p> +<a name="C041" id="C041"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XLI</h2> +<p>He stopped dead short when he saw her so white and fragile +looking. Then he exclaimed, "Zara—you have been ill!"</p> +<p>"Yes," she faltered.</p> +<p>"Why did they not tell me?" he said hurriedly, and then +recollected himself. How could they? No one, not even his servant, +knew where he had been.</p> +<p>She dropped back unsteadily on the sofa.</p> +<p>"Uncle Francis did telegraph to you, to Wrayth, but you were not +there," she said.</p> +<p>He bit his lips—he was so very moved. How was he to tell +her all the things he had come to say so coldly, with her looking +so pitiful, so gentle? His one longing was to take her to his heart +and comfort her, and make her forget all pain.</p> +<p>And she was so afraid of her own weakness, she felt she could +not bear to hear her death-knell, yet. If she could only gain a +little time! It was characteristic of her that she never dreamed of +defending herself. She still had not the slightest idea that he +suspected Mimo of being her lover. Tristram's anger with her was +just because he was an Englishman—very straight and +simple—who could brook no deception! that is what she +thought.</p> +<p>If she had not been so lately and so seriously ill—if all +her fine faculties had been in their full vigor—perhaps some +idea might have come to her; but her soul was so completely pure it +did not naturally grasp such things, so even that is doubtful.</p> +<p>"Tristram—" she said, and there was the most piteous +appeal in her tones, which almost brought the tears to his eyes. +"Please—I know you are angry with me for not telling you +about Mirko and Mimo, but I had promised not to, and the poor, +little one is dead. I will tell you everything presently, if you +wish, but don't ask me to now. Oh! if you must go from me +soon—you know best—I will not keep you, but—but +please won't you take me with you to-day—back to +Wrayth—just until I get quite well? My uncle is away, and I +am so lonely, and I have not any one else on earth."</p> +<p>Her eyes had a pleading, frightened look, like a child's who is +afraid to be left alone in the dark.</p> +<p>He could not resist her. And, after all, her sin was of long +ago—she could have done nothing since she had been his +wife—why should she not come to Wrayth? She could stay there +if she wished, for a while after he had gone. Only one thing he +must know.</p> +<p>"Where is Count Sykypri?" he asked hoarsely.</p> +<p>"Mimo has gone away, back to his own country," she said simply, +wondering at his tone. "Alas! I shall perhaps never see him +again."</p> +<p>A petrifying sensation of astonishment crept over Tristram. With +all her meek gentleness she had still the attitude of a perfectly +innocent person. It must be because she was only half English, and +foreigners perhaps had different points of reasoning on all such +questions.</p> +<p>The man had gone, then—out of her life. Yes, he would take +her back to Wrayth if it would be any comfort to her.</p> +<p>"Will you get ready now?" he said, controlling his voice into a +note of sternness which he was far from feeling. "Because I am sure +you ought not to be out late in the damp air. I was going in the +open car, and to drive myself, and it takes four hours. The closed +one is not in London, as you know." And then he saw she was not fit +for this, so he said anxiously, "But are you sure you ought to +travel to-day at all? You look so awfully pale."</p> +<p>For there was a great difference in her present transparent, +snowy whiteness, with the blue-circled eyes, to her habitual +gardenia hue; even her lips were less red.</p> +<p>"Yes, yes, I am quite able to go," she said, rising to show him +she was all right. "I will be ready in ten minutes. Henriette can +come by train with my things." And she walked towards the door, +which he held open for her. And here she paused, and then went on +to the lift. He followed her quickly.</p> +<p>"Are you sure you can go up alone?" he asked anxiously. "Or may +I come?"</p> +<p>"Indeed, I am quite well," she answered, with a little pathetic +smile. "I will not trouble you. Wait, I shall not be long." And so +she went up.</p> +<p>And when she came down again, all wrapped in her furs, she found +Tristram had port wine ready for her, poured out.</p> +<p>"You must drink this—a big glass of it," he said; and she +took it without a word.</p> +<p>Then when they got to the door she found instead of his own open +motor he had ordered one of her uncle's closed ones, which with +footwarmer and cushions was waiting, so that she should be +comfortable and not catch further cold.</p> +<p>"Thank you—that is kind of you," she said.</p> +<p>He helped her in, and the butler tucked the fur rug over them, +while Tristram settled the cushions. Then she leaned back for a +second and closed her eyes—everything was going round.</p> +<p>He was very troubled about her. She must have been very ill, +even in the short time—and then her grief,—for, even +though she had been so much separated from it, a mother always +loves her child. Then this thought hurt him again. He hated to +remember about the child.</p> +<p>She lay there back against the pillows until they had got quite +out of London, without speaking a word. The wine in her weak state +made her sleepy, and she gradually fell into a doze, and her head +slipped sideways and rested against Tristram's shoulder, and it +gave him a tremendous thrill—her beautiful, proud head with +its thick waves of hair showing under her cap.</p> +<p>He was going to leave her so soon, and she would not know +it—she was asleep—he must just hold her to him a +little; she would be more comfortable like that. So, with cautious +care not to wake her, he slipped his arm under the cushion, and +very gently and gradually drew her into his embrace, so that her +unconscious head rested upon his breast.</p> +<p>And thus more than two hours of the journey were +accomplished.</p> +<p>And what thoughts coursed through his brain as they went!</p> +<p>He loved her so madly. What did it matter how she had sinned? +She was ill and lonely, and must stay in his arms—just for +to-day. But he could never really take her to his heart—the +past was too terrible for that. And, besides, she did not love him; +this gentleness was only because she was weak and crushed, for the +time. But how terribly, bitterly sweet it was, all the same! He had +the most overpowering temptation to kiss her, but he resisted it; +and presently, when they came to a level crossing and a train gave +a wild whistle, she woke with a start. It was quite dark now, and +she said, in a frightened voice, "Where am I? Where have I +been?"</p> +<p>Tristram slipped his arm from round her instantly, and turned on +the light.</p> +<p>"You are in the motor, going to Wrayth," he said. "And I am glad +to say you have been asleep. It will do you good."</p> +<p>She rubbed her eyes.</p> +<p>"Ah! I was dreaming. And Mirko was there, too, with +<i>Maman</i>, and we were so happy!" she said, as if to +herself.</p> +<p>Tristram winced.</p> +<p>"Are we near home—I mean, Wrayth?" she asked.</p> +<p>"Not quite yet," he answered. "There will be another hour and a +half."</p> +<p>"Need we have the light on?" she questioned. "It hurts my +eyes."</p> +<p>He put it out, and there they sat in the growing darkness, and +did not speak any more for some time; and, bending over her, he saw +that she had dozed off again. How very weak she must have been!</p> +<p>He longed to take her into his arms once more, but did not like +to disturb her—she seemed to have fallen into a comfortable +position among the pillows—so he watched over her tenderly, +and presently they came to the lodge gates of Wrayth, and the +stoppage caused her to wake and sit up.</p> +<p>"It seems I had not slept for so long," she said, "and now I +feel better. It is good of you to let me come with you. We are in +the park, are we not?"</p> +<p>"Yes, we shall be at the door in a minute."</p> +<p>And then she cried suddenly,</p> +<p>"Oh! look at the deer!" For a bold and valiant buck, startled +and indignant at the motor lights, was seen, for an instant, +glaring at them as they flashed past.</p> +<p>"You must go to bed as soon as you have had some tea," Tristram +said, "after this long drive. It is half-past six. I telegraphed to +have a room prepared for you. Not that big state apartment you had +before, but one in the other part of the house, where we live when +we are alone; and I thought you would like your maid next you, as +you have been ill."</p> +<p>"Thank you," she whispered quite low.</p> +<p>How kind and thoughtful he was being to her! She was glad she +had been ill!</p> +<p>Then they arrived at the door, and this time they turned to the +left before they got to the Adam's hall, and went down a corridor +to the old paneled rooms, and into his own sitting-room where it +was all warm and cozy, and the tea-things were laid out. She +already looked better for her sleep; some of the bluish +transparency seemed to have left her face.</p> +<p>She had not been into this room on her inspection of the house. +She liked it best of all, with its scent of burning logs and good +cigars. And Jake snorted by the fire with pleasure to see his +master, and she bent and patted his head.</p> +<p>But everything she did was filling Tristram with fresh +bitterness and pain. To be so sweet and gentle now when it was all +too late!</p> +<p>He began opening his letters until the tea came. There were the +telegrams from Francis Markrute, sent a week before to say Zara was +ill, and many epistles from friends. And at the end of the pile he +found a short note from Francis Markrute, as well. It was written +the day before, and said that he supposed he, Tristram, would get +it eventually; that Zara had had a very sad bereavement which he +felt sure she would rather tell him about herself, and that he +trusted, seeing how very sad and ill she had been, that Tristram +would be particularly kind to her. So her uncle knew, then! This +was incredible: but perhaps Zara had told him, in her first +grief.</p> +<p>He glanced up at her; she was lying back in a great leather +chair now, looking so fragile and weary, he could not say what he +intended. Then Jake rose leisurely and put his two fat forepaws up +on her knees and snorted as was his habit when he approved of any +one. And she bent down and kissed his broad wrinkles.</p> +<p>It all looked so homelike and peaceful! Suddenly scorching tears +came into Tristram's eyes and he rose abruptly, and walked to the +window. And at that moment the servants brought the teapot and the +hot scones.</p> +<p>She poured the tea out silently, and then she spoke a little to +Jake, just a few silly, gentle words about his preference for cakes +or toast. She was being perfectly adorable, Tristram thought, with +her air of pensive, subdued sorrow, and her clinging black +dress.</p> +<p>He wished she would suggest going to her room. He could not bear +it much longer.</p> +<p>She wondered why he was so restless. And he certainly was +changed; he looked haggard and unhappy, more so even than before. +And then she remembered how radiantly strong and splendid he had +appeared, at dinner on their wedding night, and a lump rose in her +throat.</p> +<p>"Henriette will have arrived by now," she said in a few minutes. +"If you will tell me where it is I will go to my room."</p> +<p>He got up, and she followed him.</p> +<p>"I expect you will find it is the blue, Chinese damask one just +at the top of these little stairs." Then he strode on in front of +her quickly, and called out from the top, "Yes, it is, and your +maid is here."</p> +<p>And as she came up the low, short steps, they met on the turn, +and stopped.</p> +<p>"Good night," he said. "I will have some soup and suitable +things for an invalid sent up to you; and then you must sleep well, +and not get up in the morning. I shall be very busy to-morrow. I +have a great many things to do before I go on Monday. I am going +away for a long time."</p> +<p>She held on to the banisters for a minute, but the shadows were +so deceiving, with all the black oak, that he was not sure what her +expression said. Her words were a very low "Thank you—I will +try to sleep. Good night."</p> +<p>And she went up to her room, and Tristram went on, +downstairs—a deeper ache than ever in his heart.</p> +<a name="C042" id="C042"><!-- H2 anchor --></a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h2>CHAPTER XLII</h2> +<p>It was not until luncheon time that Zara came down, next day. +She felt he did not wish to see her, and she lay there in her +pretty, old, quaint room, and thought of many things, and the wreck +of their lives, above all. And she thought of Mirko and her mother, +and the tears came to her eyes. But that grief was past, in its +bitterness; she knew it was much better so.</p> +<p>The thought of Tristram's going tore her very soul, and +swallowed up all other grief.</p> +<p>"I cannot, cannot bear it!" she moaned to herself.</p> +<p>He was sitting gazing into the fire, when she timidly came into +his sitting-room. She had been too unhappy to sleep much and was +again looking very pale.</p> +<p>He seemed to speak to her like one in a dream. He was numb with +his growing misery and the struggle in his mind: he must leave +her—the situation was unendurable—he could not stay, +because in her present softened mood it was possible that if he +lost control of himself and caressed her she might yield to him; +and, then, he knew no resolutions on earth could hold him from +taking her to his heart. And she must never really be his wife. The +bliss of it might be all that was divine at first, but there would +be always the hideous skeleton beneath, ready to peep out and mock +at them: and then if they should have children? They were both so +young that would be sure to happen; and this thought, which had +once, in that very room, in his happy musings, given him so much +joy, now caused him to quiver with extra pain. For a woman with +such a background should not be the mother of a Tancred of +Wrayth.</p> +<p>Tristram was no Puritan, but the ingrained pride in his old name +he could not eliminate from his blood. So he kept himself with an +iron reserve. He never once looked at her, and spoke as coldly as +ice; and they got through luncheon. And Zara said, suddenly, she +would like to go to church.</p> +<p>It was at three o'clock, so he ordered the motor without a word. +She was not well enough to walk there through the park.</p> +<p>He could not let her go alone, so he changed his plans and went +with her. They did not speak, all the way.</p> +<p>She had never been into the church before, and was struck with +the fine windows, and the monuments of the Guiscards, and the +famous tomb of the Crusader in the wall of the chancel pew where +they sat; and all through the service she gazed at his carven face, +so exactly like Tristram's, with the same, stern look.</p> +<p>And a wild, miserable rebellion filled her heart, and then a +cold fear; and she passionately prayed to God to protect him. For +what if he should go on some dangerous hunting expedition, and +something should happen, and she should never see him again! And +then, as she stood while they sang the final hymn, she stopped and +caught her breath with a sob. And Tristram glanced at her in +apprehension, and he wondered if he should have to suffer anything +further, or if his misery were at its height.</p> +<p>The whole congregation were so interested to see the young pair, +and they had to do some handshakings, as they came out. What would +all these good people think, Tristram wondered with bitter humor, +when they heard that he had gone away on a long tour, leaving his +beautiful bride alone, not a month after their marriage? But he was +past caring what they thought, one way or another, now.</p> +<p>Zara went to her room when they got back to the house, and when +she came down to tea he was not there, and she had hers alone with +Jake.</p> +<p>She felt almost afraid to go to dinner. It was so evident he was +avoiding her. And while she stood undecided her maid brought in a +note:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"I ask you not to come down—I cannot bear it. I will see +you to-morrow morning, before I go, if you will come to my +sitting-room at twelve."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>That was all.</p> +<p>And, more passionately wretched than she had ever been in her +life, she went to bed.</p> +<p>She used the whole strength of her will to control herself next +morning. She must not show any emotion, no matter how she should +feel. It was not that she had any pride left, or would not have +willingly fallen into his arms; but she felt no woman could do so, +unsolicited and when a man plainly showed her he held her in +disdain.</p> +<p>So it was, with both their hearts breaking, they met in the +sitting-room.</p> +<p>"I have only ten minutes," he said constrainedly. "The motor is +at the door. I have to go round by Bury St. Edmunds; it is an hour +out of my way, and I must be in London at five o'clock, as I leave +for Paris by the night mail. Will you sit down, please, and I will +be as brief as I can."</p> +<p>She fell, rather than sank, into a chair. She felt a singing in +her ears; she must not faint—she was so very weak from her +recent illness.</p> +<p>"I have arranged that you stay here at Wrayth until you care to +make fresh arrangements for yourself," he began, averting his eyes, +and speaking in a cold, passionless voice. "But if I can help it, +after I leave here to-day I will never see you again. There need be +no public scandal; it is unnecessary that people should be told +anything; they can think what they like. I will explain to my +mother that the marriage was a mistake and we have agreed to +part—that is all. And you can live as you please and I will +do the same. I do not reproach you for the ruin you have brought +upon my life. It was my own fault for marrying you so heedlessly. +But I loved you so—!" And then his voice broke suddenly with +a sob, and he stretched out his arms wildly.</p> +<p>"My God!" he cried, "I am punished! The agony of it is that I +love you still, with all my soul—even though I saw them with +my own eyes—your lover and—your child!"</p> +<p>Here Zara gave a stifled shriek, and, as he strode from the room +not daring to look at her for fear of breaking his resolution, she +rose unsteadily to her feet and tried to call him. But she gasped +and no words would come. Then she fell back unconscious in the +chair.</p> +<p>He did not turn round, and soon he was in the motor and gliding +away as though the hounds of hell were after him, as, indeed, they +were, from the mad pain in his heart.</p> +<p>And when Zara came to herself it was half an hour later, and he +was many miles away.</p> +<p>She sat up and found Jake licking her hands.</p> +<p>Then remembrance came back. He was gone—and he loved her +even though he thought her—that!</p> +<p>She started to her feet. The blood rushed back to her brain. She +must act.</p> +<p>She stared around, dazed for a moment, and then she saw the time +tables—the Bradshaw and the A.B.C. She turned over the leaves +of the latter with feverish haste. Yes, there was a train which +left at 2:30 and got to London at half-past five; it was a slow +one—the express which started at 3:30, did not get in until +nearly six. That might be too late—both might be too late, +but she must try. Then she put her hand to her head in agony. She +did not know where he had gone. Would he go to his mother's, or to +his old rooms in St. James's Street? She did not know their +number.</p> +<p>She rang the bell and asked that Michelham should come to +her.</p> +<p>The old servant saw her ghastly face, and knew from Higgins that +his master intended going to Paris that night. He guessed some +tragedy had happened between them, and longed to help.</p> +<p>"Michelham," she said, "his lordship has gone to London. Do you +know to what address? I must follow him—it is a matter of +life and death that I see him before he starts for Paris. Order my +motor for the 2:30 train—it is quicker than to go by car all +the way."</p> +<p>"Yes, my lady," Michelham said. "Everything will be ready. His +lordship has gone to his rooms, 460 St. James's Street. May I +accompany your ladyship? His lordship would not like your ladyship +to travel alone."</p> +<p>"Very well," she said. "There is no place anywhere, within +driving distance that I could catch a train that got in before, is +there?"</p> +<p>"No, my lady; that will be the soonest," he said. "And will your +ladyship please to eat some luncheon? There is an hour before the +motor will be round. I know your ladyship's own footman, James, +should go with your ladyship, but if it is something serious, as an +old servant, and, if I may say so, a humble and devoted friend of +his lordship's, I would beg to accompany your ladyship +instead."</p> +<p>"Yes, yes, Michelham," said Zara, and hurried from the room.</p> +<p>She sent a telegram when at last she reached the +station—to the St. James's Street rooms.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>"What you thought was not true. Do not leave until I come and +explain. I am your own Zara."</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Then the journey began—three hours of agony, with the +constant stoppages, and the one thought going over and over in her +brain. He believed she had a lover and a child, and yet he loved +her! Oh, God! That was love, indeed!—and she might not be in +time.</p> +<p>But at last they arrived—Michelham and she—and drove +to Tristram's rooms.</p> +<p>Yes, his lordship had been expected at five, but had not arrived +yet; he was late. And Michelham explained that Lady Tancred had +come, and would wait, while he himself went round to Park Lane to +see if Lord Tancred had been there.</p> +<p>He made up a splendid fire in the sitting-room, and, telling +Higgins not to go in and disturb her even with tea, the kind old +man started on his quest—much anxiety in his mind.</p> +<p>Ten minutes passed, and Zara felt she could hardly bear the +suspense. The mad excitement had kept her up until now. What if he +were so late that he went straight to the train? But then she +remembered it went at nine—and it was only six. Yes, he would +surely come.</p> +<p>She did not stir from her chair, but her senses began to take in +the room. How comfortable it was, and what good taste, even with +the evidences of coming departure about! She had seen two or three +telegrams lying on the little hall table, waiting for him, as she +came in—hers among the number, she supposed. A motor stopped, +surely!—Ah! if it should be he! But there were hundreds of +such noises in St. James's Street, and it was too dark and foggy to +see. She sat still, her heart beating in her throat. Yes, there was +the sound of a latch key turning in the lock! And, after stopping +to pick up his telegrams, Tristram, all unexpecting to see any one, +entered the room.</p> +<p>She rose unsteadily to meet him, as he gave an exclamation of +surprise and—yes—pain.</p> +<p>"Tristram!" she faltered. It seemed as if her voice had gone +again, and the words would make no sound. But she gathered her +strength, and, with pitiful pleading, stretched out her arms.</p> +<p>"Tristram—I have come to tell you—I have never had a +lover: Mimo was at last married to <i>Maman</i>. He was her lover, +and Mirko was their child—my little brother. My uncle did not +wish me to tell you this for a time, because it was the family +disgrace." Then, as he made a step forward to her, with passionate +joy in his face, she went on:</p> +<p>"Tristram! You said, that night—before you would ever ask +me to be your wife again, I must go down upon my +knees—See—I do!—for Oh!—I love you!" And +suddenly she bent and knelt before him, and bowed her proud +head.</p> +<p>But she did not stay in this position a second, for he clasped +her in his arms, and rained mad, triumphant kisses upon her +beautiful, curved lips, while he murmured,</p> +<p>"At last—my Love—my own!"</p> +<hr /> +<p>Then when the delirium of joy had subsided a little,—with +what tenderness he took off her hat and furs, and drew her into his +arms, on the sofa before the fire.—The superlative happiness +to feel her resting there, unresisting, safe in his fond embrace, +with those eyes, which had been so stormy and resentful, now +melting upon him in softest passion.</p> +<p>It seemed heaven to them both. They could not speak coherent +sentences for a while—just over and over again they told each +other that they loved.—It seemed as if he could not hear her +sweet confession often enough—or quench the thirst of his +parched soul upon her lips.</p> +<p>Then the masterfulness in him which Zara now adored asserted +itself. He must play with her hair! He must undo it, and caress its +waves, to blot out all remembrance of how its forbidden beauty had +tortured him.—And she just lay there in his arms, in one of +her silences, only her eyes were slumberous with love.</p> +<p>But at last she said, nestling closer,</p> +<p>"Tristram, won't you listen to the story that I must tell you? I +want there never to be any more mysteries between us +again—"</p> +<p>And, to content her, he brought himself back to earth—</p> +<p>"Only I warn you, my darling," he said, "all such things are +side issues for me now that at last we have obtained the only thing +which really matters in life—we know that we love each other, +and are not going to be so foolish as to part again for a single +hour—if we can help it—for the rest of time."</p> +<p>And then his whole face lit up with radiant joy, and he suddenly +buried it in her hair. "See," he inurmured, "I am to be allowed to +play with this exquisite net to ensnare my heart; and you are not +to be allowed to spend hours in state rooms—alone! Oh! +darling! How can I listen to anything but the music of your +whispers, when you tell me you love me and are my very own!"</p> +<p>Zara did, however, finally get him to understand the whole +history from beginning to end. And when he heard of her unhappy +life, and her mother's tragic story, and her sorrow and poverty, +and her final reason for agreeing to the marriage, and how she +thought of men, and then of him, and all her gradual awakening into +this great love, there grew in him a reverent tenderness.</p> +<p>"Oh! my sweet—my sweet!" he said. "And I dared to be +suspicious of you and doubt you, it seems incredible now!"</p> +<p>Then he had to tell his story—of how reasonable his +suspicions looked, and, in spite of them, of his increasing love. +And so an hour passed with complete clearing up of all shadows, and +they could tenderly smile together over the misunderstandings which +had nearly caused them to ruin both their lives.</p> +<p>"And to think, Tristram," said Zara, "a little common sense +would have made it all smooth!"</p> +<p>"No, it was not that," he answered fondly, with a whimsical +smile in his eyes, "the troubles would never have happened at all +if I had only not paid the least attention to your haughty words in +Paris, nor even at Dover, but had just continued making love to +you; all would have been well!—However," he added joyously, +"we will forget dark things, because to-morrow I shall take you +back to Wrayth, and we shall have our real honeymoon there in +perfect peace."</p> +<p>And, as her lips met his, Zara whispered softly once more,</p> +<p><i>"Tu sais que je t'aime!"</i></p> +<hr /> +<p>Oh! the glorious joy of that second home-coming for the bridal +pair! To walk to all Tristram's favorite haunts, to wander in the +old rooms, and plan out their improvements, and in the late +afternoons to sit in the firelight in his own sitting-room, and +make pictures of their future joys together. Then he would tell her +of his dreams, which once had seemed as if they must turn to Dead +Sea fruit, but were now all bright and glowing with glad promise of +fulfillment.</p> +<p>His passionate delight in her seemed as if it could not find +enough expression, as he grew to know the cultivation of her mind +and the pure thoughts of her soul.—And her tenderness to him +was all the sweeter in its exquisite submission, because her +general mien was so proud.</p> +<p>They realized they had found the greatest happiness in this +world, and with the knowledge that they had achieved their desires, +after anguish and pain, they held it next their hearts as heaven's +gift.</p> +<p>And when they went to Montfitchet again, to spend that +Christmas, the old Duke was satisfied!</p> +<hr /> +<p>Now, all this happened two years ago. And on the second +anniversary of the Tancred wedding Mr. Francis and Lady Ethelrida +Markrute dined with their nephew and niece.</p> +<p>And when they came to drinking healths, bowing to Zara her uncle +raised his glass and said,</p> +<p>"I propose a toast, that I prophesied I would, to you, my very +dear niece—the toast of four supremely happy people!"</p> +<p>And as they drank, the four joined hands.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h4>THE END</h4> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12450 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12450-h/images/rw000.jpg b/12450-h/images/rw000.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..833d1e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/12450-h/images/rw000.jpg diff --git a/12450-h/images/rw032.jpg b/12450-h/images/rw032.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f50c7c --- /dev/null +++ b/12450-h/images/rw032.jpg diff --git a/12450-h/images/rw158.jpg b/12450-h/images/rw158.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..475e694 --- /dev/null +++ b/12450-h/images/rw158.jpg diff --git a/12450-h/images/rw320.jpg b/12450-h/images/rw320.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f09e168 --- /dev/null +++ b/12450-h/images/rw320.jpg |
