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diff --git a/old/1314.txt b/old/1314.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..973bcb9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1314.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10301 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Malefactor, by E. Phillips Oppenheim + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Malefactor + +Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim + +Posting Date: August 24, 2008 [EBook #1314] +Release Date: May, 1998 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MALEFACTOR *** + + + + +Produced by Theresa Armao + + + + + +THE MALEFACTOR + +by E. Phillips Oppenheim + + + + +CONTENTS + + BOOK I Chapter + + I. A Society Scandal + II. Outside the Pale + III. A Student of Character + IV. A Delicate Mission + V. The Gospel of Hate + VI. "Hast Thou Found Me, O Mine Enemy?" + VII. Lord of the Manor + VIII. The Heart of a Child + IX. The Sword of Damocles + X. A Forlorn Hope + XI. Professor Sinclair's Dancing Academy + XII. Mephistopheles on a Steamer + XIII. A Cockney Conspirator + XIV. The Moth and the Candle + XV. "Devil Take the Hindmost" + XVI. The Hidden Hand + + BOOK II + + I. "Mr. Wingrave, From America" + II. The Shadow of a Fear + III. Juliet Asks Questions + IV. Lady Ruth's Last Card + V. Guardian and Ward + VI. Ghosts of Dead Things. + VII. Spreading the Net + VIII. In the Toils + IX. The Indiscretion of the Marchioness + X. "I am Misanthropos, and Hate Mankind" + XI. Juliet Gains Experience + XII. Nemesis at Work + XIII. Richardson Tries Again + XIV. "It Was an Accident" + XV. Aynesworth Plans a Love Story + XVI. A Deed of Gift + XVII. For Pity's Sake + XVIII. A Dream of Paradise + XIX. The Awakening + XX. Revenge is--Bitter + XXI. The Way of Peace + XXII. "Love Shall Make all Things New" + + + + + +BOOK I + + + + +A SOCIETY SCANDAL + +Tall and burly, with features and skin hardened by exposure to the +sun and winds of many climates, he looked like a man ready to face all +hardships, equal to any emergency. Already one seemed to see the clothes +and habits of civilization falling away from him, the former to be +replaced by the stern, unlovely outfit of the war correspondent who +plays the game. They crowded round him in the club smoking room, for +these were his last few minutes. They had dined him, toasted him, and +the club loving cup had been drained to his success and his safe return. +For Lovell was a popular member of this very Bohemian gathering, and he +was going to the Far East, at a few hours' notice, to represent one of +the greatest of English dailies. + +A pale, slight young man, who stood at this right hand, was speaking. +His name was Walter Aynesworth, and he was a writer of short stories--a +novelist in embryo. + +"What I envy you most, Lovell," he declared, "is your escape from the +deadly routine of our day by day life. Here in London it seems to me +that we live the life of automatons. We lunch, we dine, we amuse or we +bore ourselves, and we sleep--and all the rest of the world does the +same. Passion we have outgrown, emotion we have destroyed by analysis. +The storms which shake humanity break over other countries. What is +there left to us of life? Civilization ministers too easily to our +needs, existence has become a habit. No wonder that we are a tired +race." + +"Life is the same, the world over," another man remarked. "With every +forward step in civilization, life must become more mechanical. London +is no worse than Paris, or Paris than Tokyo." + +Aynesworth shook his head. "I don't agree with you," he replied. "It +is the same, more or less, with all European countries, but the Saxon +temperament, with its mixture of philosophy and philistinism, more than +any other, gravitates towards the life mechanical. Existence here has +become fossilized. We wear a mask upon our faces; we carry a gauge for +our emotions. Lovell is going where the one great force of primitive +life remains. He is going to see war. He is going to breathe an +atmosphere hot with naked passion; he is going to rub shoulders with men +who walk hand in hand with death. That's the sort of tonic we all want, +to remind us that we are human beings with blood in our veins, and not +sawdust-stuffed dolls." + +Then Lovell broke silence. He took his pipe from his mouth, and he +addressed Aynesworth. + +"Walter," he said, "you are talking rot. There is nothing very complex +or stimulating about the passion of war, when men kill one another +unseen; where you feel the sting in your heart which comes from God +knows where, and you crumple up, with never a chance to have a go at the +chap who has potted you from the trenches, or behind a rock, a thousand +yards off. Mine is going to be, except from a spectacular point of view, +a very barren sort of year, compared with what yours might be if the +fire once touched your eyes. I go where life is cruder and fiercer, +perhaps, but you remain in the very city of tragedies." + +Aynesworth laughed, as he lit a fresh cigarette. + +"City of tragedies!" he exclaimed. "It sounds all right, but it's bunkum +all the same. Show me where they lie, Lovell, old chap. Tell me where to +stir the waters." + +Several of those who were watching him noticed a sudden change in +Lovell's face. The good humor and bonhomie called up by this last +evening amongst his old friends had disappeared. His face had fallen +into graver lines, his eyes seemed fixed with a curious introspective +steadiness on a huge calendar which hung from the wall. When at last he +turned towards Aynesworth, his tone was almost solemn. + +"Some of them don't lie so very far from the surface, Walter," he said. +"There is one"--he took out his watch--"there is one which, if you like, +I will tell you about. I have just ten minutes." + +"Good!" + +"Go ahead, Lovell, old chap!" + +"Have a drink first!" + +He held out his hand. They were all silent. He stood up amongst them, by +far the tallest man there, with his back to the chimney piece, and his +eyes still lingering about that calendar. + +"Thirteen years ago," he said, "two young men--call them by their +Christian names, Wingrave and Lumley--shared a somewhat extensive +hunting box in Leicestershire. They were both of good family, well +off, and fairly popular, Lumley the more so perhaps. He represented the +ordinary type of young Englishman, with a stronger dash than usual +of selfishness. Wingrave stood for other things. He was reticent and +impenetrable. People called him mysterious." + +Lovell paused for a moment to refill his pipe. The sudden light upon +his face, as he struck a match, seemed to bring into vivid prominence +something there, indescribable in words, yet which affected his hearers +equally with the low gravity of his speech. The man himself was feeling +the tragedy of the story he told. + +"They seemed," he continued, "always to get on well together, until they +fell in love with the same woman. Her name we will say was Ruth. She +was the wife of the Master of Hounds with whom they hunted. If I had the +story-writing gifts of Aynesworth here, I would try to describe her. As +I haven't, I will simply give you a crude idea of what she seemed like +to me. + +"She was neither dark nor fair, short nor tall; amongst a crowd of other +women, she seemed undistinguishable by any special gifts; yet when you +had realized her there was no other woman in the room. She had the eyes +of an angel, only they were generally veiled; she had the figure of a +miniature Venus, soft and with delicate curves, which seemed somehow +to be always subtly asserting themselves, although she affected in +her dress an almost puritanical simplicity. Her presence in a room was +always felt at once. There are some women, beautiful or plain, whose sex +one scarcely recognizes. She was not one of these! She seemed to carry +with her the concentrated essence of femininity. Her quiet +movements, the almost noiseless rustling of her clothes, the quaint, +undistinguishable perfumes which she used, her soft, even voice, were +all things which seemed individual to her. She was like a study in +undernotes, and yet"--Lovell paused a moment--"and yet no Spanish +dancing woman, whose dark eyes and voluptuous figure have won her the +crown of the demi-monde, ever possessed that innate and mystic gift of +kindling passion like that woman. I told you I couldn't describe her! I +can't! I can only speak of effects. If my story interests you, you must +build up your own idea of her." + +"Becky Sharpe!" Aynesworth murmured. + +Lovell nodded. + +"Perhaps," he admitted, "only Ruth was a lady. To go on with my story. +A hunting coterie, as you fellows know, means lots of liberty, and a +general free-and-easiness amongst the sexes, which naturally leads to +flirtations more or less serious. Ruth's little affairs were either too +cleverly arranged, or too harmless for gossip. Amongst the other women +of the hunt, she seemed outwardly almost demure. But one day--there was +a row!" + +Lovell paused, and took a drink from a glass by his side. + +"I hope you fellows won't think that I'm spinning this out," he said. +"It is, after all, in itself only a commonplace story, but I've carried +it locked up in my memory for years, and now that I've let it loose, +it unwinds itself slowly. This is how the row came about. Lumley one +afternoon missed Wingrave and Ruth from the hunting field. Someone most +unfortunately happened to tell him that they had left the run together, +and had been seen riding together towards White Lodge, which was the +name of the house where these two young men lived. Lumley followed them. +He rode into the stable yard, and found there Ruth's mare and Wingrave's +covert hack, from which he had not changed when they had left the field. +Both animals had evidently been ridden hard, and there was something +ominous in the smile with which the head groom told him that Lady Ruth +and Wingrave were in the house. + +"The two men had separate dens. Wingrave's was much the better +furnished, as he was a young man of considerable taste, and he had also +fitted it with sporting trophies collected from many countries. This +room was at the back of the house, and Lumley deliberately crossed the +lawn and looked in at the window." + +Lovell paused for a moment or two to relight his pipe. + +"Remember," he continued, "that I have to put this story together, +partly from facts which came to my knowledge afterwards, and partly from +reasonable deductions. I may say at once that I do not know what Lumley +saw when he played the spy. The housekeeper had just taken tea in, and +it is possible that Wingrave may have been holding his guest's hand, +or that something in their faces or attitude convinced him that his +jealousy was well founded. Anyhow, it is certain that Lumley was half +beside himself with rage when he strode away from that window. Then in +the avenue he must have heard the soft patter of hounds coming along the +lane, or perhaps seen the pink coats of the huntsmen through the hedge. +This much is certain. He hurried down the drive, and returned with +Ruth's husband." + +Lovell took another drink. No one spoke. No one even made a remark. The +little circle of listeners had caught something of his own gravity. The +story was an ordinary one enough, but something in Lovell's manner +of telling it seemed somehow to bring into their consciousness the +apprehension of the tangled web of passions which burned underneath its +sordid details. + +"Ruth's husband--Sir William I will call him--stood side by side with +Lumley before the window. What they saw I cannot tell you. They entered +the room. The true story of what happened there I doubt if anyone will +ever know. The evidence of servants spoke of raised voices and the sound +of a heavy fall. When they were summoned, Sir William lay on the floor +unconscious. Lady Ruth had fainted; Lumley and Wingrave were both +bending over the former. On the floor were fragments of paper, which +were afterwards put together, and found to be the remains of a check for +a large amount, payable to Lady Ruth, and signed by Wingrave. + +"The sequel is very soon told. Sir William died in a few days, and +Wingrave, on the evidence of Lumley and Ruth, was committed for +manslaughter, and sent to prison for fifteen years!" + +Lovell paused. A murmur went round the little group of listeners. The +story, after all, except for Lovell's manner of telling it, was an +ordinary one. Everyone felt that there was something else behind. + +So they asked no questions whilst Lovell drank his whisky and soda, and +refilled his pipe. Again his eyes seemed to wander to the calendar. + +"According to Lady Ruth's evidence," he said thoughtfully, "her husband +entered the room at the exact moment when she was rejecting Wingrave's +advances, and indignantly refusing a check which he was endeavoring to +persuade her to accept. A struggle followed between the two men, with +fatal results for Sir William. That," he added slowly, "is the story +which the whole world read, and which most of it believes. Here, +however, are a few corrections of my own, and a suggestion or two for +you, Aynesworth, and those of you who like to consider yourselves truth +seekers. First, then, Lady Ruth was a self-invited guest at White Lodge. +She had asked Wingrave to return with her, and as they sat together in +his room, she confessed that she was worried, and asked for his +advice. She was in some money trouble, ingeniously explained, no doubt. +Wingrave, with the utmost delicacy, offered his assistance, which was of +course accepted. It was exactly what she was there for. She was in +the act of taking the check, when she saw her husband and Lumley. Her +reputation was at stake. Her subsequent course of action and evidence +becomes obvious. The check unexplained was ruin. She explained it! + +"Of the struggle, and of the exact means by which Sir William received +his injuries, I know nothing. There is the evidence! It may or may not +be true. The most serious part of the case, so far as Lady Ruth was +concerned, lay in the facts as to her husband's removal from the White +Lodge. In an unconscious state he was driven almost twelve miles at a +walking pace. No stimulants were administered, and though they passed +two doctors' houses no stop was made. A doctor was not sent for until +half an hour after they reached home, and even then they seemed to have +chosen the one who lived furthest away. The conclusion is obvious enough +to anyone who knows the facts of the case. Sir William was not meant to +live! + +"Wingrave's trial was a famous one. He had no friends and few +sympathizers, and he insisted upon defending himself. His cross +examination of the man who had been his friend created something like a +sensation. Amongst other things, he elicited the fact that Lumley, after +first seeing the two together, had gone and fetched Sir William. It was +a terrible half hour for Lumley, and when he left the box, amongst the +averted faces of his friends, the sweat was pouring down his face. I can +seem him now, as though it were yesterday. Then Lady Ruth followed. She +was quietly dressed; the effect she produced was excellent. She told +her story. She hinted at the insult. She spoke of the check. She had +imagined no harm in accepting Wingrave's invitation to tea. Men and +women of the hunt, who were on friendly terms, treated one another as +comrades. She spoke of the blow. She had seen it delivered, and so on. +And all the time, I sat within a few feet of Wingrave, and I knew that +in the black box before him were burning love letters from this woman, +to the man whose code of honor would ever have protected her husband +from disgrace; and I knew that I was listening to the thing which you, +Aynesworth, and many of your fellow story writers, have so wisely and so +ignorantly dilated upon--the vengeance of a woman denied. Only I heard +the words themselves, cold, earnest words, fall one by one from her +lips like a sentence of doom--and there was life in the thing, life and +death! When she had finished, the whole court was in a state of tension. +Everyone was leaning forward. It would be the most piquant, the most +wonderful cross examination every heard--the woman lying to save her +honor and to achieve her vengeance; the man on trial for his life. +Wingrave stood up. Lady Ruth raised her veil, and looked at him from +the witness box. There was the most intense silence I ever realized. +Who could tell the things which flashed from one to the other across the +dark well of the court; who could measure the fierce, silent scorn which +seemed to blaze from his eyes, as he held her there--his slave until he +chose to give the signal for release? At last he looked away towards +the judge, and the woman fell forward in the box gasping, a crumpled up, +nerveless heap of humanity. + +"'My lord,' he said, 'I have no questions to ask this witness!' + +"Everyone staggered. Wingrave's few friends were horrified. After that +there was, of course, no hope for him. He got fifteen years' penal +servitude." + +Like an echo from that pent-up murmur of feeling which had rippled +through the crowded court many years ago, his little group of auditors +almost gasped as Lovell left his place and strolled down the room. +Aynesworth laid his hand upon his shoulder. + +"All the time," he said, "you were looking at that calendar! Why?" + +Lovell once more faced them. He was standing with his back to a round +table, strewn with papers and magazines. + +"It was the date," he said, "and the fact that I must leave England +within a few hours, which forced this story from me. Tomorrow Wingrave +will be free! Listen, Aynesworth," he continued, turning towards him, +"and the rest of you who fancy that it is I who am leaving a humdrum +city for the world of tragedies! I leave you the legacy of a greater one +than all Asia will yield to me! Lady Ruth is married to Lumley, and +they hold today in London a very distinguished social position. Tomorrow +Wingrave takes a hand in the game. He was once my friend; I was in court +when he was tried; I was intimately acquainted with the lawyer's clerk +who had the arrangement of his papers. I know what no one else breathing +knows. He is a man who never forgives; a man who was brutally deceived, +and who for years has had no other occupation than to brood upon +his wrongs. He is very wealthy indeed, still young, he has marvelous +tenacity of purpose, and he has brains. Tomorrow he will be free!" + +Aynesworth drew a little breath. + +"I wonder," he murmured, "if anything will happen." + +Lovell shrugged his shoulders. + +"Where I go," he said, "the cruder passions may rage, and life and +death be reckoned things of little account. But you who remain--who can +tell?--you may look into the face of mightier things." + + + + +OUTSIDE THE PALE + +Three men were together in a large and handsomely furnished sitting room +of the Clarence Hotel, in Piccadilly. One, pale, quiet, and unobtrusive, +dressed in sober black, the typical lawyer's clerk, was busy gathering +up a collection of papers and documents from the table, over which they +had been strewn. His employer, who had more the appearance of a country +gentleman than the junior partner in the well-known firm of Rocke and +Son, solicitors, had risen to his feet, and was drawing on his gloves. +At the head of the table was the client. + +"I trust, Sir Wingrave, that you are satisfied with this account of our +stewardship," the solicitor said, as his clerk left the room. "We have +felt it a great responsibility at times, but everything seems to +have turned out very well. The investments, of course, are all above +suspicion." + +"Perfectly satisfied, I thank you," was the quiet reply. "You seem to +have studied my interests in a very satisfactory manner." + +Mr. Rocke had other things to say, but his client's manner seemed +designed to create a barrier of formality between them. He hesitated, +unwilling to leave, yet finding it exceedingly difficult to say the +things which were in his mind. He temporized by referring back to +matters already discussed, solely for the purpose of prolonging the +interview. + +"You have quite made up your mind, then, to put the Tredowen property on +the market," he remarked. "You will excuse my reminding you of the fact +that you have large accumulated funds in hand, and nearly a hundred +thousand pounds worth of easily realizable securities. Tredowen has +been in your mother's family for a good many years, and I should doubt +whether it will be easily disposed of." + +The man at the head of the table raised his head. He looked steadily at +the lawyer, who began to wish that he had left the room with his clerk. +Decidedly, Sir Wingrave Seton was not an easy man to get on with. + +"My mind is quite made up, thank you, on this and all other matters +concerning which I have given you instructions," was the calm reply. "I +have had plenty of time for consideration," he added drily. + +The lawyer had his opening at last, and he plunged. + +"Sir Wingrave," he said, "we were at college together, and our +connection is an old one. You must forgive me if I say how glad I am to +see you here, and to know that your bad time is over. I can assure you +that you have had my deepest sympathy. Nothing ever upset me so much as +that unfortunate affair. I sincerely trust that you will do your best +now to make up for lost time. You are still young, and you are rich. Let +us leave business alone now, for the moment. What can I do for you as a +friend, if you will allow me to call you so?" + +Wingrave turned slightly in his chair. In his altered position, a ray of +sunshine fell for the first time upon his gaunt but striking face. Lined +and hardened, as though by exposure and want of personal care, there was +also a lack of sensibility, an almost animal callousness, on the coldly +lit eyes and unflinching mouth, which readily suggested some terrible +and recent experience--something potent enough to have dried up the +human nature out of the man and left him soulless. His clothes had the +impress of the ready-made, although he wore them with a distinction +which was obviously inherent; and notwithstanding the fact that he +seemed to have been writing, he wore gloves. + +"I am much obliged to you, Rocke," he said. "Let me repeat your +question. What is there that you can do for me?" + +Mr. Rocke was apparently a little nonplussed. The absolute +imperturbability of the man who had once been his friend was +disconcerting. + +"Well," he said, "the governor sent me instead of coming himself, +because he thought that I might be more useful to you. London changes so +quickly--you would hardly know your way about now. I should like you to +come and dine with me tonight, and I'll take you round anywhere you care +to go; and then if you don't want to go back to your old tradespeople, I +could take you to my tailor and bookmaker." + +"Is that all?" Wingrave asked calmly. + +Rocke was again taken aback. + +"Certainly not," he answered. "There must be many ways in which I could +be useful to you, but I can't think of them all at once. I am here to +serve you professionally or as a friend, to the best of my ability. Can +you suggest anything yourself? What do you want?" + +"That is the question," Wingrave said, "which I have been asking myself. +Unfortunately, up to now, I have not been able to answer it. Regarding +myself, however, from the point of view of a third party, I should +say that the thing I was most in need of was the society of my fellow +creatures." + +"Exactly," Rocke declared. "That is what I thought you would say! It +won't take us long to arrange something of the sort for you." + +"Can you put me up," Wingrave asked, "at your club, and introduce me to +your friends there?" + +Rocke flinched before the steady gaze of those cold enquiring eyes, in +which he fancied, too, that a gleam of malice shone. The color mounted +to his cheeks. It was a most embarrassing situation. + +"I can introduce you to some decent fellows, of course, and to some very +charming ladies," he said hesitatingly, "but as to the club--I--well, +don't you think yourself that it would scarcely be wise to--" + +"Exactly," Wingrave interrupted. "And these ladies that you spoke of--" + +"Oh! There's no difficulty about that," Rocke declared with an air of +relief. "I can make up a little dinner party for tonight, if you like. +There's an awfully smart American woman over here, with the Fanciful Fan +Company--I'm sure you'd like her, and she'd come like a shot. Then I'd +get Daisy Vane--she's all right. They don't know anything, and wouldn't +care if they did. Besides, you could call yourself what you liked." + +"Thank you," Wingrave said. "I am afraid I did not make myself quite +clear. I was not thinking of play fellows. I was thinking of the men and +women of my own order. Shall I put the matter quite clearly? Can I take +my place in society under my own name, renew my old friendships and +build up new ones? Can I do this even at the risk of a few difficulties +at first? I am not a sensitive man. I am prepared for the usual number +of disagreeable incidents. But can I win my way through?" + +With his back against the wall, Rocke displayed more courage. Besides, +what was the use of mincing matters with a man who had all the +appearance of a human automaton, who never flinched or changed color, +and whose passions seemed dried up and withered things? + +"I am afraid not, Sir Wingrave," he said. "I should not recommend you to +try, at any rate for the present." + +"Give me your reasons," was the cool response. + +"I will do so with pleasure," Rocke answered. "About the time of the +trial and immediately afterwards, there was a certain amount of +sympathy for you. People felt that you must have received a good deal of +provocation, and there were several unexplained incidents which told +in your favor. Today, I should think that the feeling amongst those +who remember the affair at all is rather the other way. You heard, I +believe, that Lady Ruth married Lumley Barrington?" + +"Yes." + +"Barrington has been very successful at the Bar, and they say that he +is certain of a judgeship before long. His wife has backed him up well, +they have entertained lavishly, and today I should think that she is one +of the most popular hostesses in London. In her earlier days, I used to +hear that she was one of the very fast hunting set--that was the time +when you knew her. I can assure you that if ever that was true, she is +a completely altered woman today. She is patroness of half a dozen great +charitable schemes, she writes very clever articles in the Reviews on +the Betterment of the Poor Question, and royalty itself visits at her +house." + +"I see," Wingrave said drily. "I was not aware of these changes." + +"If ever," Mr. Rocke continued, "people were inclined to look a little +askance at her, that has all gone by. Today she is one of the last women +in the world of whom people would be likely to believe ill." + +Wingrave nodded slowly. + +"I am very much obliged to you," he said, "for this information. You +seem to have come here today, Mr. Rocke, with good intentions towards +me. Let me ask you to put yourself in my place. I am barely forty +years old, and I am rich. I want to make the most of my life--under the +somewhat peculiar circumstances. How and where should you live?" + +"It depends a little upon your tastes, of course," Rocke answered. "You +are a sportsman, are you not?" + +"I am fond of sport," Wingrave answered. "At least I was. At present I +am not conscious of having any positive tastes." + +"I think," Rocke continued, "that I should first of all change my +name. Then, without making any effort to come into touch with your old +friends, I should seek acquaintance amongst the Bohemian world of London +and Paris. There I might myself, perhaps, be able to help you. For +sport, you might fish in Norway or Iceland, or shoot in Hungary; you +could run to a yacht if you cared about it, and if you fancy big game, +why, there's all Africa before you." + +Wingrave listened, without changing a muscle of his face. + +"Your programme," he remarked, "presupposes that I have no ambitions +beyond the pursuit of pleasure." + +Rocke shrugged his shoulders. He was becoming more at his ease. He felt +that his advice was sound, that he was showing a most comprehensive +grasp of the situation. + +"I am afraid," he said, "that none of what we call the careers are open +to you. You could not enter Parliament, and you are too old for the +professions. The services, of course, are impossible. You might write, +if your tastes ran that way. Nowadays, it seems to be the fashion to +record one's experiences in print, if--if they should happen to be in +any way exceptional. I can think of nothing else!" + +"I am very much obliged to you," Wingrave said. "Your suggestions are +eminently practical. I will think them over. Don't let me keep you any +longer!" + +"About this evening," Rocke remarked. "Shall I fix up that little dinner +party? You have only to say the word!" + +"I am very much obliged to you, but I think not," answered Wingrave. +"I will dine with you alone some evening, with pleasure! Not just as +present!" + +Rocke looked, as he felt, puzzled. He honestly wished to be of service +to this man, but he was at a loss to know what further suggestion he +could make. There was something impenetrable about his client, something +which he could not arrive at, behind the hard, grim face and measured +words. He could not even guess as to what the man's hopes or intentions +were. Eventually, although with some reluctance, he took up his hat. + +"Well, Sir Wingrave," he said, "if there is really nothing I can do +for you, I will go. If you should change your mind, you have only to +telephone. You can command me at any time. I am only anxious to be of +service to you." + +"You have already been of service to me," Wingrave answered quietly. +"You have spoken the truth! You have helped me to realize my position +more exactly. Will you give your father my compliments and thanks, and +say that I am entirely satisfied with the firm's conduct of affairs +during my--absence?" + +Rocke nodded. + +"Certainly," he said. "That will please the governor! I must be off now. +I hope you'll soon be feeling quite yourself again, Sir Wingrave! It +must seem a bit odd at first, I suppose, but it will wear off all right. +What you want, after all, is society. Much better let me arrange that +little dinner for tonight!" + +Wingrave shook his head. + +"Later on, perhaps," he answered. "Good morning!" + + + + +A STUDENT OF CHARACTER + +Left alone, Wingrave walked for several minutes up and down the room, +his hands behind him, his head bent. He walked, not restlessly, but +with measured footsteps. His mind was fixed steadfastly upon the one +immediate problem of his own future. His interview with Rocke had +unsettled--to a certain extent unnerved--him. Was this freedom for which +he had longed so passionately, this return into civilized life, to mean +simply the exchange of an iron-barred cell for a palace whose outer +gates were as hopelessly locked, even though the key was of gold! +Freedom! Was it after all an illusion? Was his to be the hog's paradise +of empty delights; were the other worlds indeed forbidden? He moved +abruptly to the window and threw it open. Below was Piccadilly, +brilliant with May sunshine, surging with life. Motors and carriages, +omnibuses and hansoms, were all jostled together in a block; the +pavements were thronged with a motley and ever-hurrying crowd. It seemed +to him, accustomed to the callous and hopeless appearance of a less +happy tribe, that the faces of these people were all aflame with the +joy of the springtime. The perfume from the great clusters of yellow +daffodils and violets floated up from the flower sellers' baskets +below; the fresh, warm air seemed to bring him poignant memories of +crocus-starred lawns, of trim beds of hyacinths, of the song of birds, +of the perfume of drooping lilac. Grim and motionless, as a figure of +fate, Wingrave looked down from his window, with cold, yet discerning +eyes. He was still an alien, a denizen in another world from that which +flowed so smoothly and pleasantly below. It was something to which he +did not belong, which he doubted, indeed, if ever again he could enter. +He had no part in it, no share in that vigorous life, whose throbbings +he could dimly feel, though his own heart was beating to a slower and a +very different tune. They were his fellows in name only. Between him and +them stood the judgment of--Rocke! + +The evil chances of the world are many! It was whilst his thoughts +traveled in this fashion that the electric landaulette of Lady Ruth +Barrington glided round the corner from St. James' Street, and joined +in the throng of vehicles slowly making their way down Piccadilly. His +attention was attracted first by the white and spotless liveries of the +servants--the form of locomotion itself was almost new to him. Then he +saw the woman who leaned back amongst the cushions. She was elegantly +dressed; she wore no veil; she did not look a day more than thirty. +She was attractive, from the tips of her patent shoes, to the white +bow which floated on the top of her lace parasol; a perfectly dressed, +perfectly turned out woman. She had, too, the lazy confident air of +a woman sure of herself and her friends. She knew nothing of the look +which flashed down upon her from the window overhead. + +Wingrave turned away with a little gasp; a half-stifled exclamation had +crept out from between his teeth. His cheeks seemed paler than ever, and +his eyes unnaturally bright. Nevertheless, he was completely master of +himself. On the table was a large deed box of papers, which Rocke had +left for his inspection. From its recesses he drew out a smaller box, +unlocked it with a key from his chain, and emptied its sole contents--a +small packet of letters--upon the table. He counted them one by one. +They were all there--and on top a photograph. A breath of half-forgotten +perfume stole out into the room. He opened one of the letters, and its +few passionate words came back to his memory, linked with a hundred +other recollections, the desire of her eyes, of her lips raised for his, +the caressing touch of her fingers. He found himself wondering, in an +impersonal sort of way, that these things should so little affect him. +His blood ran no less coldly, nor did his pulses beat the faster, for +this backward glance into things finished. + +There was a knock at the door. He raised his head. + +"Come in!" + +A slim, fair young man obeyed the summons, and advanced into the room. +Wingrave eyed him with immovable face. Nevertheless, his manner somehow +suggested a displeased surprise. + +"Sir Wingrave Seton, I believe?" the intruder said cheerfully. + +"That is my name," Wingrave admitted; "but my orders below have +evidently been disobeyed. I am not disposed to receive visitors today." + +The intruder was not in the least abashed. He laid his hat upon the +table, and felt in his pocket. + +"I am very sorry," he said. "They did try to keep me out, but I told +them that my business was urgent. I have been a journalist, you see, and +am used to these little maneuvers." + +Wingrave looked at him steadily, with close-drawn eyebrows. + +"Am I to understand," he said "that you are in here in your journalistic +capacity?" + +The newcomer shook his head. + +"Pray do not think," he said, "that I should be guilty of such an +impertinence. My name is Aynesworth. Walter Aynesworth. I have a letter +for you from Lovell. You remember him, I daresay. Here it is!" + +He produced it from his breast coat pocket, and handed it over. + +"Where is Lovell?" Wingrave asked. + +"He left for the East early this morning," Aynesworth answered. "He had +to go almost at an hour's notice." + +Wingrave broke the seal, and read the letter through. Afterwards he tore +it into small pieces and threw them into the grate. + +"What do you want with me, Mr. Aynesworth?" he asked. + +"I want to be your secretary," Aynesworth answered. + +"My secretary," Wingrave repeated. "I am much obliged to you, but I am +not requiring anyone in that capacity." + +"Pardon me," Aynesworth answered, "but I think you are. You may not have +realized it yet, but if you will consider the matter carefully, I think +you will agree with me that a secretary, or companion of some sort, is +exactly what you do need." + +"Out of curiosity," Wingrave remarked, "I should be glad to know why you +think so." + +"Certainly," Aynesworth answered. "In the first place, I know the story +of your life, and the unfortunate incident which has kept you out of +society for the last ten years." + +"From Lovell, I presume," Wingrave interrupted. + +"Precisely," Aynesworth admitted. "Ten years' absence from English life +today means that you return to it an absolute and complete stranger. You +would be like a Cook's tourist abroad, without a guide or a Baedeker, if +you attempted to rely upon yourself. Now I am rather a Bohemian sort of +person, but I have just the sort of all-round knowledge which would be +most useful to you. I have gone a little way into society, and I know +something about politics. I can bring you up-to-date on both these +matters. I know where to dine well in town, and where to be amused. I +can tell you where to get your clothes, and the best place for all the +etceteras. If you want to travel, I can speak French and German; and I +consider myself a bit of a sportsman." + +"I am sure," Wingrave answered, "I congratulate you upon your +versatility. I am quite convinced! I shall advertise at once for a +secretary!" + +"Why advertise?" Aynesworth asked. "I am here!" + +Wingrave shook his head. + +"You would not suit me at all," he answered. + +"Why not?" Aynesworth asked. "I forget whether I mentioned all my +accomplishments. I am an Oxford man with a degree, and I can write +tolerable English. I've a fair head for figures, and I don't require too +large a salary." + +"Exactly," Wingrave answered drily. "You are altogether too desirable? I +should not require an Admirable Crichton for my purpose." + +Aynesworth remained unruffled. + +"All right," he said. "You know best, of course! Suppose you tell me +what sort of a man would satisfy you!" + +"Why should I?" Wingrave asked coldly. + +"It would amuse me," Aynesworth answered, "and I've come a mile or so +out of my way, and given up a whole morning to come and see you. Go on! +It won't take long!" + +Wingrave shrugged his shoulders. + +"I will not remind you," he said, "that you came on your own initiative. +I owe you the idea, however, so I will tell you the sort of person I +shall look out for. In the first place, I do not require him to be a +gentleman." + +"I can be a shocking bounder at times," Aynesworth murmured. + +"He must be more a sort of an upper servant," Wingrave continued. "I +should require him to obey me implicitly, whatever I told him to do. You +have a conscience, I presume?" + +"Very little," Aynesworth answered. "I have been a journalist." + +"You have the remnants of one, at all events," Wingrave said, "quite +sufficient, no doubt, to interfere with your possible usefulness to me. +I must have someone who is poor--too poor to question my will, or to +dispute my orders, whatever they might be." + +"I have never," Aynesworth declared, "possessed a superfluous half-crown +in my life." + +"You probably possess what is called a sense of honor," Wingrave +continued. "You would certainly disapprove of some of my proceedings, +and you would probably disobey my orders." + +"Sense of honor!" Aynesworth repeated. "You have too flattering an +opinion of me. I don't know what it is. I always cheat at cards if I get +the chance." + +Wingrave turned away. + +"You are a fool," he said, "and you won't suit me." + +"When can I come?" Aynesworth asked. + +"You can stay now," Wingrave answered. "Your salary will be four hundred +a year. You will live at my expense. The day you disobey an order of +mine, you go! No notice, mind!" + +"Agreed," Aynesworth answered. "What should I do first? Send you a +tailor, I should think." + +Wingrave nodded. + +"I will give the afternoon to that sort of people," he said. "Here is a +list of the tradesmen I used to deal with. Kindly avoid them." + +Aynesworth glanced at the slip of paper, and nodded. + +"All out-of-date now," he remarked. "I'll be back to lunch." + + + + +A DELICATE MISSION + +Aynesworth was back in less than an hour. He carried under his arm a +brown paper parcel, the strings of which he commenced at once to untie. +Wingrave, who had been engrossed in the contents of his deed box, +watched him with immovable face. + +"The tailor will be here at two-thirty," he announced, "and the other +fellows will follow on at half an hour's interval. The manicurist and +the barber are coming at six o'clock." + +Wingrave nodded. + +"What have you there?" he asked, pointing to the parcel. + +"Cigars and cigarettes, and jolly good ones, too," Aynesworth answered, +opening a flat tin box, and smelling the contents appreciatively. "Try +one of these! The finest Turkish tobacco grown!" + +"I don't smoke," Wingrave answered. + +"Oh! You've got out of it, but you must pick it up again," Aynesworth +declared. "Best thing out for the nerves--sort of humanizes one, you +know!" + +"Humanizes one, does it?" Wingrave remarked softly. "Well, I'll try!" + +He took a cigarette from the box, curtly inviting Aynesworth to do the +same. + +"What about lunch?" the latter asked. "Would you care to come round with +me to the Cannibal Club? Rather a Bohemian set, but there are always +some good fellows there." + +"I am much obliged," Wingrave answered. "If you will ask me again in +a few days' time, I shall be very pleased. I do not wish to leave the +hotel just at present." + +"Do you want me?" Aynesworth asked. + +"Not until five o'clock," Wingrave answered. "I should be glad if you +would leave me now, and return at that hour. In the meantime, I have a +commission for you." + +"Good!" Aynesworth declared. "What is it?" + +"You will go," Wingrave directed, "to No. 13, Cadogan Street, and you +will enquire for Lady Ruth Barrington. If she should be out, ascertain +the time of her return, and wait for her." + +"If she is out of town?" + +"She is in London," Wingrave answered. "I have seen her from the window +this morning. You will give her a message. Say that you come from me, +and that I desire to see her tomorrow. The time and place she can fix, +but I should prefer not to go to her house." + +Aynesworth stooped down to relight his cigarette. He felt that Wingrave +was watching him, and he wished to keep his face hidden. + +"I am unknown to Lady Ruth," he remarked. "Supposing she should refuse +to see me?" + +Wingrave looked at him coldly. + +"I have told you what I wish done," he said. "The task does not seem +to be a difficult one. Please see to it that I have an answer by five +o'clock-----" + +Aynesworth lunched with a few of his particular friends at the club. +They heard of his new adventure with somewhat doubtful approbation. + +"You'll never stand the routine, old chap!" + +"And what about your own work!" + +"What will the Daily Scribbler people say?" + +Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders. + +"I don't imagine it will last very long," he answered, "and I shall get +a fair amount of time to myself. The work I do on the Daily Scribbler +doesn't amount to anything. It was a chance I simply couldn't refuse." + +The editor of a well-known London paper leaned back in his chair, and +pinched a cigar carefully. + +"You'll probably find the whole thing a sell," he remarked. "The story, +as Lovell told it, sounded dramatic enough, and if the man were to come +back to life again, fresh and vigorous, things might happen, provided, +of course, that Lovell was right in his suppositions. But ten or twelve +years' solitary confinement, although it mayn't sound much on paper, is +enough to crush all the life and energy out of a man." + +Aynesworth shook his head. + +"You haven't seen him," he said. "I have!" + +"What's he like, Walter?" another man asked. + +"I can't describe him," Aynesworth answered. "I shouldn't like to try. +I'll bring him here some day. You fellows shall see him for yourselves. +I find him interesting enough." + +"The whole thing," the editor declared, "will fizzle out. You see if +it doesn't? A man who's just spent ten or twelve years in prison isn't +likely to run any risk of going there again. There will be no tragedy; +more likely reconciliation." + +"Perhaps," Aynesworth said imperturbably. "But it wasn't only the +possibility of anything of that sort happening, you know, which +attracted me. It was the tragedy of the man himself, with his numbed, +helpless life, set down here in the midst of us, with a great, blank +chasm between him and his past. What is there left to drive the wheels? +The events of one day are simple and monotonous enough to us, because +they lean up against the events of yesterday, and the yesterdays before! +How do they seem, I wonder, to a man whose yesterday was more than a +decade of years ago!" + +The editor nodded. + +"It must be a grim sensation," he admitted, "but I am afraid with you, +my dear Walter, it is an affair of shop. You wish to cull from your +interesting employer the material for that every-becoming novel of +yours. Let's go upstairs! I've time for one pool." + +"I haven't," Aynesworth answered. "I've a commission to do." + +He left the club and walked westwards, humming softly to himself, but +thinking all the time intently. His errand disturbed him. He was to be +the means of bringing together again these two people who had played the +principal parts in Lovell's drama--his new employer and the woman who +had ruined his life. What was the object of it? What manner of vengeance +did he mean to deal out to her? Lovell's words of premonition returned +to him just then with curious insistence--he was so certain that +Wingrave's reappearance would lead to tragical happenings. Aynesworth +himself never doubted it. His brief interview with the man into whose +service he had almost forced himself had impressed him wonderfully. Yet, +what weapon was there, save the crude one of physical force, with which +Wingrave could strike? + +He rang the bell at No. 13, Cadogan Street, and sent in his card by the +footman. The man accepted it doubtfully. + +"Her ladyship has only just got up from luncheon, sir, and she is not +receiving this afternoon," he announced. + +Aynesworth took back his card, and scribbled upon it the name of the +newspaper for which he still occasionally worked. + +"Her ladyship will perhaps see me," he said, handing the card back to +the man. "It is a matter of business. I will not detain her for more +than a few minutes." + +The man returned presently, and ushered him into a small sitting room. + +"Her ladyship will be quite half an hour before she can see you, sir," +he said. + +"I will wait," Aynesworth answered, taking up a paper. + +The time passed slowly. At last, the door was opened. A woman, in +a plain but exquisitely fitting black gown, entered. From Lovell's +description, Aynesworth recognized her at once, and yet, for a moment, +he hesitated to believe that this was the woman whom he had come to see. +The years had indeed left her untouched. Her figure was slight, almost +girlish; her complexion as smooth, and her coloring, faint though it +was, as delicate and natural as a child's. Her eyes were unusually +large, and the lashes which shielded them heavy. It was when she looked +at him that Aynesworth began to understand. + +She carried his card in her hand, and glanced at it as he bowed. + +"You are the Daily Scribbler," she said. "You want me to tell you about +my bazaar, I suppose." + +"I am attached to the Daily Scribbler, Lady Ruth Barrington," Aynesworth +answered; "but my business this afternoon has nothing to do with the +paper. I have called with a message from--an old friend of yours." + +She raised her eyebrows ever so slightly. The graciousness of her manner +was perceptibly abated. + +"Indeed! I scarcely understand you, Mr.--Aynesworth." + +"My message," Aynesworth said, "is from Sir Wingrave Seton." + +The look of enquiry, half impatient, half interrogative, faded slowly +from her face. She stood quite still; her impassive features seemed like +a plaster cast, from which all life and feeling were drawn out. Her eyes +began slowly to dilate, and she shivered as though with cold. Then the +man who was watching her and wondering, knew that this was fear--fear +undiluted and naked. + +He stepped forward, and placed a chair for her. She felt for the back of +it with trembling fingers and sat down. + +"Is--Sir Wingrave Seton--out of prison?" she asked in a strange, dry +tone. One would have thought that she had been choking. + +"Since yesterday," Aynesworth answered. + +"But his time--is not up yet?" + +"There is always a reduction," Aynesworth reminded her, "for what is +called good conduct." + +She was silent for several moments. Then she raised her head. She was a +brave woman, and she was rapidly recovering her self-possession. + +"Well," she asked, "what does he want?" + +"To see you," Aynesworth answered, "tomorrow afternoon, either here or +at his apartments in the Clarence Hotel. He would prefer not to come +here!" + +"Are you his friend?" she asked. + +"I am his secretary," Aynesworth answered. + +"You are in his confidence?" + +"I only entered his service this morning," he said. + +"How much do you know," she persisted, "of the unfortunate affair which +led--to his imprisonment?" + +"I have been told the whole story," Aynesworth answered. + +Her eyes rested thoughtfully upon his. It seemed as though she were +trying to read in his face exactly what he meant by "the whole story." + +"Then," she said, "do you think that anything but pain and +unpleasantness can come of a meeting between us?" + +"Lady Ruth," Aynesworth answered, "it is not for me to form an opinion. +I am Sir Wingrave Seton's secretary." + +"What is he going to do?" she asked. + +"I have no idea," he answered. + +"Is he going abroad?" + +"I know nothing of his plans," Aynesworth declared. "What answer shall I +take back to him?" + +She looked at him earnestly. Gradually her face was softening. The +frozen look was passing away. The expression was coming back to her +eyes. She leaned a little towards him. Her voice, although it was raised +above a whisper, was full of feeling. + +"Mr. Aynesworth," she murmured, "I am afraid of Sir Wingrave Seton!" + +Aynesworth said nothing. + +"I was always a little afraid of him," she continued, "even in the days +when we were friendly. He was so hard and unforgiving. I know he thinks +that he has a grievance against me. He will have been brooding about it +all these years. I dare not see him! I--I am terrified!" + +"If that is your answer," Aynesworth said, "I will convey it to him!" + +Her beautiful eyes were full of reproach. + +"Mr. Aynesworth," she said, in a low tone, "for a young man you are very +unsympathetic." + +"My position," Aynesworth answered, "does not allow me the luxury of +considering my personal feelings." + +She looked hurt. + +"I forgot," she said, looking for a moment upon the floor; "you have +probably been prejudiced against me. You have heard only one story. +Listen"--she raised her eyes suddenly, and leaned a little forward in +her chair--"some day, if you will come and see me when I am alone and +we have time to spare, I will tell you the whole truth. I will tell you +exactly what happened! You shall judge for yourself!" + +Aynesworth bowed. + +"In the meantime?" + +Her eyes filled slowly with tears. Aynesworth looked away. He was +miserably uncomfortable. + +"You cannot be quite so hard-hearted as you try to seem, Mr. +Aynesworth," she said quietly. "I want to ask you a question. You must +answer it? You don't know how much it means to me. You are Sir Wingrave +Seton's secretary; you have access to all his papers. Have you seen any +letters of mine? Do you know if he still has any in his possession?" + +"My answer to both questions is 'No!'" Aynesworth said a little stiffly. +"I only entered the service of Sir Wingrave Seton this morning, and I +know nothing at all, as yet, of his private affairs. And, Lady Ruth, +you must forgive my reminding you that, in any case, I could not discuss +such matters with you," he added. + +She looked at him with a faint, strange smile. Afterwards, when he tried +to do so, Aynesworth found it impossible to describe the expression +which flitted across her face. He only knew that it left him with the +impression of having received a challenge. + +"Incorruptible!" she murmured. "Sir Wingrave Seton is indeed a fortunate +man." + +There was a lingering sweetness in her tone which still had a note of +mockery in it. Her silence left Aynesworth conscious of a vague sense +of uneasiness. He felt that her eyes were raised to his, and for some +reason, which he could not translate even into a definite thought, he +wished to avoid them. The silence was prolonged. For long afterwards he +remembered those few minutes. There was a sort of volcanic intensity in +the atmosphere. He was acutely conscious of small extraneous things, of +the perfume of a great bowl of hyacinths, the ticking of a tiny French +clock, the restless drumming of her finger tips upon the arm of her +chair. All the time he seemed actually to feel her eyes, commanding, +impelling, beseeching him to turn round. He did so at last, and looked +her full in the face. + +"Lady Ruth," he said, "will you favor me with an answer to my message?" + +"Certainly," she answered, smiling quite naturally. "I will come and see +Sir Wingrave Seton at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. You can tell +him that I think it rather an extraordinary request, but under the +circumstances I will do as he suggests. He is staying at the Clarence, I +presume, under his own name? I shall have no difficulty in finding him?" + +"He is staying there under his own name," Aynesworth answered, "and I +will see that you have no difficulty." + +"So kind of you," she murmured, holding out her hand. And again there +was something mysterious in her eyes as she raised them to him, as +though there existed between them already some understanding which +mocked the conventionality of her words. Aynesworth left the house, and +lit a cigarette upon the pavement outside with a little sigh of relief. +He felt somehow humiliated. Did she fancy, he wondered, that he was a +callow boy to dance to any tune of her piping--that he had never before +seen a beautiful woman who wanted her own way? + + + + +THE GOSPEL OF HATE + +"And what," Wingrave asked his secretary as they sat at dinner that +night, "did you think of Lady Ruth?" + +"In plain words, I should not like to tell you," Aynesworth answered. "I +only hope that you will not send me to see her again." + +"Why not?" + +"Lady Ruth," Aynesworth answered deliberately, "is a very beautiful +woman, with all the most dangerous gifts of Eve when she wanted her own +way. She did me the scanty honor of appraising me as an easy victim, and +she asked questions." + +"For instance?" + +"She wanted me to tell her if you still had in your possession certain +letters of hers," Aynesworth said. + +"Good! What did you say?" + +"I told her, of course," Aynesworth continued, "that having been in your +service for a few hours only, I was scarcely in a position to know. I +ventured further to remind her that such questions, addressed from her +to me, were, to say the least of it, improper." + +Wingrave's lips parted in what should have been a smile, but the spirit +of mirth was lacking. + +"And then?" + +"There was nothing else," Aynesworth answered. "She simply dismissed +me." + +"I can see," Wingrave remarked, "your grievance. You are annoyed because +she regarded you as too easy a victim." + +"Perhaps," Aynesworth admitted. + +"There was some excuse for her, after all," Wingrave continued coolly. +"She possesses powers which you yourself have already admitted, and you, +I should say, are a fairly impressionable person, so far as her sex +is concerned. Confess now, that she did not leave you altogether +indifferent." + +"Perhaps not," Aynesworth admitted reluctantly. He did not care to say +more. + +"In case you should feel any curiosity on the subject," Wingrave +remarked, "I may tell you that I have those letters which she was so +anxious to know about, and I shall keep them safe--even from you! You +can amuse yourself with her if you like. You will never be able to tell +her more than I care for her to know." + +Aynesworth continued his dinner in silence. After all, he was beginning +to fear that he had made a mistake. Lovell had somehow contrived to +impart a subtly tragic note to his story, but the outcome of it all +seemed to assume a more sordid aspect. These two would meet, there +would be recriminations, a tragic appeal for forgiveness, possibly some +melodramatic attempt at vengeance. The glamour of the affair seemed to +him to be fading away, now that he had come into actual contact with +it. It was not until he began to study his companion during a somewhat +prolonged silence that he felt the reaction. It was then that he began +to see new things, that he felt the enthusiasm kindled by Lovell's +strangely told story begin to revive. It was not the watching for events +more or less commonplace which would repay him for the step he had +taken; it was the study of this man, placed in so strange a position,--a +man come back to life, after years of absolute isolation. He had broken +away from the chain which links together men of similar tastes and +occupations, and which goes to the creation of type. He was in a unique +position! He was in the world, but not of it. He was groping about +amongst familiar scenes, over which time had thrown the pall of +unfamiliarity. What manner of place would he find--what manner of +place did he desire to find? It was here that the real interest of the +situation culminated. At least, so Aynesworth thought then. + +They were dining at a restaurant in the Strand, which Aynesworth had +selected as representing one, the more wealthy, type of Bohemian life. +The dinner and wine had been of his choosing. Wingrave had stipulated +only for the best. Wingrave himself had eaten very little, the bottle +of wine stood half empty between them. The atmosphere of the place, the +effect of the wine, the delicate food, and the music, were visible to a +greater or less degree, according to temperament, amongst all the other +little groups of men and women by whom they were surrounded. Wingrave +alone remained unaffected. He was carefully and correctly dressed in +clothes borrowed from his new tailor, and he showed not the slightest +signs of strangeness or gaucherie amongst his unfamiliar surroundings. +He looked about him always, with the cold, easy nonchalance of the man +of the world. Of being recognized he had not the slightest fear. His +frame and bearing, and the brightness of his deep, strong eyes, still +belonged to early middle age, but his face itself, worn and hardened, +was the face of an elderly man. The more Aynesworth watched him, the +more puzzled he felt. + +"I am afraid," he remarked, "that you are disappointed in this place." + +"Not at all," Wingrave answered. "It is typical of a class, I suppose. +It is the sort of place I wished to visit." + +In a corner of the room Aynesworth had recognized a friend and fellow +clubman, who was acting at a neighboring theater. He was dining with +some young ladies of his company, and beckoned to Aynesworth to come +over and join them. He pointed them out to Wingrave. + +"Would you care to be introduced?" he asked. "Holiwell is a very good +fellow, and the girls might interest you. Two of them are Americans, and +they are very popular." + +Wingrave shook his head. + +"Thank you, no!" he said. "I should be glad to meet your friend some +time when he is alone." + +It was the first intimation which Aynesworth had received of his +companion's sentiments as regards the other sex. Years afterwards, +when his attitude towards them was often quoted as being one of the +extraordinary features of an extraordinary personality, he remembered +his perseverance on this occasion. + +"You have not spoken to a woman for so many years," he persisted. "Why +not renew the experience? Nothing so humanizing, you know--not even +cigarettes." + +Wingrave's face fell, if possible into sterner lines. His tone was cold +and hard. + +"My scheme of life," he said, "may be reconstructed more than once +before I am satisfied. But I can assure you of this! There will be no +serious place in it for women!" + +Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders. He never doubted but that in a month +of two his vis-a-vis would talk differently. + +"Your scheme of life," he repeated thoughtfully. "That sounds +interesting! Have you any objection, I wonder, to telling me what manner +of life you propose to lead?" + +It was several moments before Wingrave answered him. He was smoking a +cigar in a mechanical sort of way, but he obviously derived no pleasure +from it. Yet Aynesworth noticed that some instinct had led him to choose +the finest brand. + +"Perhaps," he said, letting his eyes rest coldly upon his questioner, +"if I told you all that was in my mind you would waive your month's +salary and get back to your journalism!" + +Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders. + +"Why should you suppose that?" he asked. "I am not a moralist myself, +nor am I the keeper of your conscience. I don't think that you could +frighten me off just yet." + +"Nevertheless," Wingrave admitted, "there are times when I fear that +we shall not get on together. I begin to suspect that you have a +conscience." + +"You are the first," Aynesworth assured him, "who has ever flattered me +to that extent." + +"It may be elastic, of course," Wingrave continued, "but I suspect its +existence. I warn you that association with me will try it hard." + +"I accept the challenge," Aynesworth answered lightly. + +"You are rasher than you imagine," Wingrave declared. "For instance, +I have admitted to you, have I not, that I am interested in my fellow +creatures, that I want to mix with them and watch them at their daily +lives. Let me assure you that that interest is not a benevolent one." + +"I never fancied that you were a budding philanthropist," Aynesworth +remarked, lighting a fresh cigarette. + +"I find myself," Wingrave continued thoughtfully, "in a somewhat unique +position. I am one of the ordinary human beings with whom the world +is peopled, but I am not conscious of any of the usual weaknesses of +sentiment or morality. For instance, if that gentleman with the red +face, who has obviously eaten and drunk too much, were to have an +apoplectic fit at the moment, and die in his chair, it would not shock +or distress me in the least. On the contrary, I should be disposed to +welcome his removal from a world which he obviously does nothing to +adorn." + +Aynesworth glanced at the person in question. He was a theatrical agent +and financier of stock companies, whom he knew very well by sight. + +"I suppose," Wingrave continued, "that I was born with the usual +moral sentiments, and the usual feelings of kinship towards my fellow +creatures. Circumstances, however, have wholly destroyed them. To me, +men have become the puppets and women the dancing dolls of life. My +interest in them, if it exists at all, is malevolent. I should like to +see them all suffer exactly as I have suffered. It would interest me +exceedingly." + +Still Aynesworth remained silent. He was anxious to hear all that was in +the other's mind, and he feared lest any interruption might divert him. + +"There are men in the world," Wingrave continued, "called +philanthropists, amiable, obese creatures as a rule, whose professed aim +in life it is to do as much good as possible. I take my stand upon the +other pole. It is my desire to encourage and to work as much evil as +possible. I wish to bring all the suffering I can upon those who come +within the sphere of my influence." + +"You are likely," Aynesworth remarked, "to achieve popularity." + +Wingrave regarded him steadfastly. + +"Your speech," he said, "is flippant, but you yourself do not realize +how near it comes to the truth. Human beings are like dogs--they are +always ready to lick the hand that flogs them. I mean to use the scourge +whenever I can seize the opportunity, but you will find the jackals at +my heels, nevertheless, whenever I choose to whistle." + +Aynesworth helped himself to a liqueur. He felt that he needed it. + +"One weakness alone distresses me," Wingrave continued. "In all ordinary +matters of sentiment I am simply a negation. There is one antipathy, +however, which I find it hard to overcome. The very sight of a woman, or +the sound of her voice, distresses me. This is the more unfortunate," he +continued, "because it is upon the shoulders of her sex that the greater +portion of my debt to my fellow creatures rests. However, time may help +me!" + +Aynesworth leaned back in his chair, and contemplated his companion for +the next few moments in thoughtful silence. It was hard, he felt, to +take a man who talked like this seriously. His manner was convincing, +his speech deliberate and assured. There was not the slightest doubt but +that he meant what he said, yet it seemed to Aynesworth equally certain +that the time would come, and come quickly, when the unnatural hardness +of the man would yield to the genial influence of friendship, of +pleasure, of the subtle joys of freedom. Those past days of hideous +monotony, of profitless, debasing toil, the long, sleepless nights, the +very nightmare of life to a man of Wingrave's culture and habits, might +well have poisoned his soul, have filled him with ideas such as these. +But everything was different now! The history of the world could show +no epoch when pleasures so many and various were there for the man who +carries the golden key. Today he was a looker-on, and the ice of his +years of bitterness had not melted. Tomorrow, at any moment, he might +catch a whiff of the fragrance of life, and the blood in his veins would +move to a different tune. This was how it seemed to Aynesworth, as he +studied his companion through the faint blue mist of tobacco smoke. + +"This expression of your sentiments," he remarked at last, "is +interesting so far as it goes. I am, however, a practical person, and +my connection with you is of a practical order. You don't propose, I +presume, to promenade the streets with a cat-o-nine-tails?" + +"Your curiosity," Wingrave remarked, "is reasonable. Tomorrow I may +gratify some portion of it after my interview with Lady Ruth. In the +meantime, I might remark that to the observant person who has wits and +money, the opportunities for doing evil present themselves, I think, +with reasonable frequency. I do not propose, however, to leave things +altogether to chance." + +"A definite scheme of ill-doing," Aynesworth ventured to suggest, "would +be more satisfactory?" + +"Exactly," he admitted. + +He called for the bill, and his eyes wandered once more around the room +as the waiter counted out the change. The band were playing the "Valse +Amoureuse"; the air was grown heavy with the odor of tobacco and the +mingled perfumes of flowers and scents. A refrain of soft laughter +followed the music. An after-dinner air pervaded the place. Wingrave's +lip curled. + +"My lack of kinship with my fellows," he remarked, "is exceedingly well +defined just now. I agree with the one philosopher who declared that +'eating and drinking are functions which are better performed in +private.'" + +The two men went on to a theater. The play was a society trifle--a +thing of the moment. Wingrave listened gravely, without a smile or any +particular sign of interest. At the end of the second act, he turned +towards his companion. + +"The lady in the box opposite," he remarked, "desires to attract your +attention." + +Aynesworth looked up and recognized Lady Ruth. She was fanning herself +languidly, but her eyes were fixed upon the two men. She leaned a little +forward, and her gesture was unmistakable. + +Aynesworth rose to his feet a little doubtfully. + +"You had better go," Wingrave said. "Present my compliments and excuses. +I feel that a meeting now would amount to an anti-climax." + +Aynesworth made his way upstairs. Lady Ruth was alone, and he noticed +that she had withdrawn to a chair where she was invisible to the house. +Even Aynesworth himself could not see her face clearly at first, for she +had chosen the darkest corner of the box. He gathered an impression of +a gleaming white neck and bosom rising and falling rather more quickly +than was natural, eyes which shone softly through the gloom, and the +perfume of white roses, a great cluster of which lay upon the box ledge. +Her voice was scarcely raised above a whisper. + +"That is--Sir Wingrave with you?" + +"Yes!" Aynesworth answered. "It was he who saw you first!" + +She seemed to catch her breath. Her voice was still tremulous. + +"He is changed," she said. "I should not have recognized him." + +"They were the best ten years of his life," Aynesworth answered. "Think +of how and in what surroundings he has been compelled to live. No wonder +that he has had the humanity hammered out of him." + +She shivered a little. + +"Is he always like this?" she asked. "I have watched him. He never +smiles. He looks as hard as fate itself." + +"I have known him only a few hours," Aynesworth reminded her. + +"I dare not come tomorrow," she whispered; "I am afraid of him." + +"Do you wish me to tell him so?" he asked. + +"I don't know," she answered. "You are very unfeeling, Mr. Aynesworth." + +"I hope not," he answered, and looked away towards the orchestra. He did +not wish to meet her eyes. + +"You are!" she murmured. "I have no one to whom I dare speak--of this. +I dare not mention his name to my husband. It was my evidence which +convicted him, and I can see, I know, that he is vindictive. And he has +those letters! Oh! If I could only get them back?" + +Her voice trembled with an appeal whispered but passionate. It was +wonderful how musical and yet how softly spoken her words were. They +were like live things, and the few feet of darkened space through which +they had passed seemed charged with magnetic influence. + +"Mr. Aynesworth!" + +He turned and faced her. + +"Can't you help me?" + +"I cannot, Lady Ruth." + +The electric bell rang softly from outside, and the orchestra commenced +to play. Lady Ruth rose and looked at herself in the mirror. Then she +turned and smiled at her visitor. The pallor of her face was no longer +unnatural. She was a wonderful woman. + +"I shall come tomorrow," she said. "Shall I see you?" + +"That," he answered, "depends upon Sir Wingrave." + +She made a little grimace as she dismissed him. Wingrave did not speak +to his companion for some time after he had resumed his seat. Then he +inclined his head towards him. + +"Have you come to terms with her ladyship?" he asked drily. + +"Not yet!" Aynesworth answered. + +"You can name your own price," he continued. "She will pay! Don't be +afraid of making her bid up. She has a good deal at stake!" + +Aynesworth made no reply. He was thinking how easy it would be to hate +this man! + + + + +"HAST THOU FOUND ME, O MINE ENEMY?" + +Aynesworth was waiting in the hall on the following afternoon when Lady +Ruth arrived. He had half expected that she would drive up to the +side door in a hansom, would wear a thick veil, and adopt the other +appurtenances of a clandestine meeting. But Lady Ruth was much too +clever a woman for anything of the sort. She descended at the great +front entrance from her own electric coupe, and swept into the hotel +followed by her maid. She stopped to speak to the manager of the hotel, +who knew her from her visits to the world-famous restaurant, and she +asked at once for Sir Wingrave Seton. Then she saw Aynesworth, and +crossed the hall with outstretched hand. + +"How nice of you to be here," she murmured. "Can you take me to Sir +Wingrave at once? I have such a busy afternoon that I was afraid at the +last moment that I should be unable to come!" + +Aynesworth led her towards the lift. + +"Sir Wingrave is in his sitting room," he remarked. "It is only on the +first floor." + +She directed her maid where to wait, and followed him. On the way down +the corridor, he stole a glance at her. She was a little pale, and he +could see that she had nerved herself to this interview with a great +effort. As he knocked at the door, her great eyes were raised for a +moment to his, and they were like the eyes of a frightened child. + +"I am afraid!" she murmured. + +There was no time for more. They were in the room, and Wingrave had +risen to meet them. Lady Ruth did not hesitate for a moment. She crossed +the room towards him with outstretched hands. Aynesworth, who was +standing a little on one side, watched their meeting with intense, +though covert interest. She had pushed back her veil, her head was a +little upraised in a mute gesture of appeal. + +She was pale to the lips, but her eyes were soft with hidden tears. +Wingrave stood stonily silent, like a figure of fate. His hands remained +by his sides. Her welcome found no response from him. She came to a +standstill, and, swaying a little, stretched out her hand and steadied +herself by grasping the back of a chair. + +"Wingrave," she murmured, and her voice was full of musical reproach. + +Aynesworth turned to leave the room, but Wingrave, looking over her +head, addressed him. + +"You will remain here, Aynesworth," he said. "There are some papers at +that desk which require sorting." + +Aynesworth hesitated. He had caught the look on Lady Ruth's face. + +"If you could excuse me for half an hour, Sir Wingrave," he began. + +"I cannot spare you at present," Wingrave interrupted. "Kindly remain!" + +Aynesworth had no alternative but to obey. Wingrave handed a chair to +Lady Ruth. He was looking at her steadfastly. There were no signs of any +sort of emotion in his face. Whatever their relations in the past might +have been, it was hard to believe, from his present demeanor, that he +felt any. + +"Wingrave," she said softly, "are you going to be unkind to me--you, +whom I have always thought of in my dreams as the most generous of men! +I have looked forward so much to seeing you again--to knowing that you +were free! Don't disappoint me!" + +Wingrave laughed shortly, and Aynesworth bent closer over his work, +with a gathering frown upon his forehead. A mirthless laugh is never a +pleasant sound. + +"Disappoint you!" he repeated calmly. "No! I must try and avoid that! +You have been looking forward with so much joy to this meeting then? I +am flattered." + +She shivered a little. + +"I have looked forward to it," she answered, and her voice was dull and +lifeless with pain. "But you are not glad to see me," she continued. +"There is no welcome in your face! You are changed--altogether! Why did +you send for me?" + +"Listen!" + +There was a moment's silence. Wingrave was standing upon the hearthrug, +cold, passionless, Sphinx-like. Lady Ruth was seated a few feet away, +but her face was hidden. + +"You owe me something!" he said. + +"Owe--you something?" she repeated vaguely. + +"Do you deny it?" he said. + +"Oh, no, no!" she declared with emotion. "Not for a moment." + +"I want," he said, "to give you an opportunity of repaying some portion +of that debt!" + +She raised her eyes to his. Her whispered words came so softly that they +were almost inaudible. + +"I am waiting," she said. "Tell me what I can do!" + +He commenced to speak at some length, very impassively, very +deliberately. + +"You will doubtless appreciate the fact," he said, "that my position, +today, is a somewhat peculiar one. I have had enough of solitude. I am +rich! I desire to mix once more on equal terms amongst my fellows. And +against that, I have the misfortune to be a convicted felon, who has +spent the last ten or a dozen years amongst the scum of the earth, +engaged in degrading tasks, and with no identity save a number. The +position, as you will doubtless observe, is a difficult one." + +Her eyes fell from his. Once more she shivered, as though with physical +pain. Something that was like a smile, only that it was cold and +lifeless, flitted across his lips. + +"I have no desire," he continued, "to live in foreign countries. On +the contrary, I have plans which necessitate my living in England. The +difficulties by this time are, without doubt, fully apparent to you." + +She said nothing. Her eyes were once more watching his face. + +"My looking glass," he continued, "shows me that I am changed beyond +any reasonable chance of recognition. I do not believe that the Wingrave +Seton of today would readily be recognized as the Wingrave Seton of +twelve years ago. But I propose to make assurance doubly sure. I am +leaving this country for several years, at once. I shall go to America, +and I shall return as Mr. Wingrave, millionaire--and I propose, by the +way, to make money there. I desire, under that identity, to take +my place once more amongst my fellows. I shall bring letters of +introduction--to you." + +There was a long and somewhat ominous silence! Lady Ruth's eyes were +fixed upon the floor. She was thinking, and thinking rapidly, but there +were no signs of it in her pale drawn face. At last she looked up. + +"There is my husband," she said. "He would recognize you, if no one else +did." + +"You are a clever woman," he answered. "I leave it to you to deal with +your husband as seems best to you." + +"Other people," she faltered, "would recognize you!" + +"Do me the favor," he begged her, "to look at me carefully for several +moments. You doubtless have some imperfect recollection of what I was. +Compare it with my present appearance! I venture to think that you will +agree with me. Recognition is barely possible." + +Again there was silence. Lady Ruth seemed to have no words, but there +was the look of a frightened child upon her face. + +"I am sorry," he continued, "that the idea does not appeal to you! I can +understand that my presence may serve to recall a period which you and +your husband would doubtless prefer to forget--" + +"Stop!" + +A little staccato cry of pain; a cry which seemed to spring into life +from a tortured heart, broke from her lips. Aynesworth heard it, and, +at that moment, he hated his employer. Wingrave paused for a moment +politely, and then continued. + +"But after all," he said, "I can assure you that you will find very +little in the Mr. Wingrave of New York to remind you of the past. I +shall do my utmost to win for myself a place in your esteem, which will +help you to forget the other relationship, which, if my memory serves +me, used once to exist between us!" + +She raised her head. Either she realized that, for the present, the +man was immune against all sentiment, or his calm brutality had had a +correspondingly hardening effect upon her. + +"If I agree," she said, "will you give me back my letters?" + +"No!" he answered. + +"What are you going to do with them?" + +"It depends," he said, "upon you. I enter into no engagement. I make no +promises. I simply remind you that it would be equally possible for me +to take my place in the world as a rehabilitated Wingrave Seton. Ten +years ago I yielded to sentiment. Today I have outlived it." + +"Ten years ago," she murmured, "you were a hero. God knows what you are +now!" + +"Exactly!" he answered smoothly. "I am free to admit that I am a puzzle +to myself. I find myself, in fact, a most interesting study." + +"I consent," she said, with a little shudder. "I am going now." + +"You are a sensible woman," he answered. "Aynesworth, show Lady Ruth to +her carriage." + +She rose to her feet. Hung from her neck by a chain of fine gold, was +a large Chinchilla muff. She stood before him, and her hands had sought +its shelter. Timidly she withdrew one. + +"Will you shake hands with me, Wingrave?" she asked timidly. + +He shook his head. + +"Forgive me," he said; "I may better my manners in America, but a +present I cannot." + +She passed out of the room. Aynesworth followed, closing the door behind +them. In the corridor she stumbled, and caught at his arm for support. + +"Don't speak to me," she gasped. "Take me where I can sit down." + +He found her a quiet corner in the drawing room. She sat perfectly still +for nearly five minutes, with her eyes closed. Then she opened them, and +looked at her companion. + +"Mr. Aynesworth," she said, "are you so poor that you must serve a man +like that?" + +He shook his head. + +"It is not poverty," he answered. "I knew his history, and I am +interested in him!" + +"You write novels, don't you?" she asked. + +"I try," he answered. "His story fascinated me. He stands today in a +unique position to life. I want to see how he will come out of it." + +"You knew his story--the truth?" + +"Everything," he answered. "I heard it from a journalist who was in +court, his only friend, the only man who knew." + +"Where is he now?" + +"On his way to Japan." + +She drew a little breath between her teeth. + +"There were rumors," she said. "It was hard for me at first, but I +lived them down. I was very young then. I ought not to have accepted +his sacrifice. I wish to heaven I had not. I wish that I had faced the +scandal then. It is worse to be in the power of a man like this today! +Mr. Aynesworth!" + +"Lady Ruth!" + +"Do you think that he has the right to keep those letters?" + +"I cannot answer that question." + +"Will you be my friend?" + +"So far as I can--in accordance with my obligations to my employer!" + +She tried him no further then, but rose and walked slowly out of +the room. He found her maid, and saw them to their carriage. Then he +returned to the sitting room. Wingrave was smoking a cigarette. + +"I am trying the humanizing influence," he remarked. "Got rid of her +ladyship?" + +"Lady Ruth has just gone," Aynesworth answered. + +"Have you promised to steal the letters yet?" he inquired. + +"Not yet!" + +"Her dainty ladyship has not bid high enough, I suppose," he continued. +"Don't be afraid to open your mouth. There's another woman there besides +the Lady Ruth Barrington, who opens bazaars, and patronizes charity, and +entertains Royalty. Ask what you want and she'll pay!" + +"What a brute you are!" Aynesworth exclaimed involuntarily. + +"Of course I am," he admitted. "I know that. But whose fault is it? It +isn't mine. I've lived the life of a brute creature for ten years. +You don't abuse a one-legged man, poor devil. I've had other things +amputated. I was like you once. It seemed all right to me to go under to +save a woman's honor. You never have. Therefore, I say you've no right +to call me a brute. Personally, I don't object. It is simply a matter of +equity." + +"I admit it," Aynesworth declared. "You are acting like a brute." + +"Precisely. I didn't make myself what I am. Prison did it. Go and try +ten years yourself, and you'll find you will have to grope about for +your fine emotions. Are you coming to America with me?" + +"I suppose so," Aynesworth answered. "When do we start?" + +"Saturday week." + +"Sport west, or civilization east?" + +"Both," Wingrave answered. "Here is a list of the kit which we shall +require. Add yourself the things which I have forgotten. I pay for +both!" + +"Very good of you," Aynesworth answered. + +"Not at all. I don't suppose you'd come without. Can you shoot?" + +"A bit," he admitted. + +"Be particular about the rifles. I can take you to a little corner in +Canada where the bears don't stand on ceremony. Put everything in hand, +and be ready to come down to Cornwall with me on Monday." + +"Cornwall!" Aynesworth exclaimed. "What on earth are we going to do in +Cornwall?" + +"I have an estate there, the home of my ancestors, which I am going to +sell. I am the last of the Setons, fortunately, and I am going to smash +the family tree, sell the heirlooms, and burn the family records!" + +"I shouldn't if I were you," Aynesworth said quietly. "You are a young +man yet. You may come back to your own!" + +"Meaning?" + +"You may smoke enough cigarettes to become actually humanized! One can +never tell! I have known men proclaim themselves cynics for life, who +have been making idiots of themselves with their own children in five +years." + +Wingrave nodded gravely. + +"True enough," he answered. "But the one thing which no man can mistake +is death. Listen, and I will quote some poetry to you. I think--it is +something like this:-- + +"'The rivers of ice may melt, and the mountains crumble into dust, but +the heart of a dead man is like the seed plot unsown. Green grass +shall not sprout there, nor flowers blossom, nor shall all the ages of +eternity show there any sign of life.'" + +He spoke as though he had been reading from a child's Primer. When he +had finished, he replaced his cigarette between his teeth. + +"I am a dead man," he said calmly. "Dead as the wildest seed plot in +God's most forgotten acre!" + + + + +LORD OF THE MANOR + +She came slowly towards the two men through the overgrown rose garden, +a thin, pale, wild-eyed child, dressed in most uncompromising black. It +was a matter of doubt whether she was the more surprised to see them, or +they to find anyone else, in this wilderness of desolation. They stood +face to face with her upon the narrow path. + +"Have you lost your way?" she inquired politely. + +"We were told," Aynesworth answered, "that there was a gate in the wall +there, through which we could get on to the cliffs." + +"Who told you so?" she asked. + +"The housekeeper," Aynesworth answered. "I will not attempt to pronounce +her name." + +"Mrs. Tresfarwin," the child said. "It is not really difficult. But she +had no right to send you through here! It is all private, you know!" + +"And you?" Aynesworth asked with a smile, "you have permission, I +suppose?" + +"Yes," she answered. "I have lived here all my life. I go where I +please. Have you seen the pictures?" + +"We have just been looking at them," Aynesworth answered. + +"Aren't they beautiful?" she exclaimed. "I--oh!" + +She sat suddenly down on a rough wooden seat and commenced to cry. For +the first time Wingrave looked at her with some apparent interest. + +"Why, what is the matter with you, child?" Aynesworth exclaimed. + +"I have loved them so all my life," she sobbed; "the pictures, and the +house, and the gardens, and now I have to go away! I don't know where! +Nobody seems to know!" + +Aynesworth looked down at her black frock. + +"You have lost someone, perhaps?" he said. + +"My father," she answered quietly. "He was organist here, and he died +last week." + +"And you have no other relatives?" he asked. + +"None at all. No one--seems--quite to know--what is going to become of +me!" she sobbed. + +"Where are you staying now?" he inquired. + +"With an old woman who used to look after our cottage," she answered. +"But she is very poor, and she cannot keep me any longer. Mrs. Colson +says that I must go and work, and I am afraid. I don't know anyone +except at Tredowen! And I don't know how to work! And I don't want to +go away from the pictures, and the garden, and the sea! It is all so +beautiful, isn't it? Don't you love Tredowen?" + +"Well, I haven't been here very long, you see," Aynesworth explained. + +Wingrave spoke for the first time. His eyes were fixed upon the child, +and Aynesworth could see that she shrank from his cold, unsympathetic +scrutiny. + +"What is your name?" he asked. + +"Juliet Lundy," she answered. + +"How long was your father organist at the church?" + +"I don't know," she answered. "Ever since I was born, and before." + +"And how old are you?" + +"Fourteen next birthday." + +"And all that time," he asked, "has there been no one living at +Tredowen?" + +"No one except Mrs. Tresfarwin," she answered. "It belongs to a very +rich man who is in prison." + +Wingrave's face was immovable. He stood on one side, however, and turned +towards his companion. + +"We are keeping this young lady," he remarked, "from what seems to be +her daily pilgrimage. I wonder whether it is really the pictures, or +Mrs. Tresfarwin's cakes?" + +She turned her shoulder upon him in silent scorn, and looked at +Aynesworth a little wistfully. + +"Goodbye!" she said. + +He waved his hand as he strolled after Wingrave. + +"There you are, Mr. Lord of the Manor," he said. "You can't refuse to do +something for the child. Her father was organist at your own church, and +a hard struggle he must have had of it, with an absentee landlord, and a +congregation of seagulls, I should think." + +"Are you joking?" Wingrave asked coldly. + +"I was never more in earnest in my life," Aynesworth answered. "The girl +is come from gentlefolks. Did you see what a delicate face she had, and +how nicely she spoke? You wouldn't have her sent out as a servant, would +you?" + +Wingrave looked at his companion ominously. + +"You have a strange idea of the duties of a landlord," he remarked. "Do +you seriously suppose that I am responsible for the future of every brat +who grows up on this estate?" + +"Of course not!" Aynesworth answered. "You must own for yourself that +this case is exceptional. Let us go down to the Vicarage and inquire +about it." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Wingrave answered. "Nor will you! Do +you see the spray coming over the cliffs there? The sea must be worth +watching." + +Aynesworth walked by his side in silence. He dared not trust himself to +speak. Wingrave climbed with long, rapid strides to the summit of +the headland, and stood there with his face turned seawards. The long +breakers were sweeping in from the Atlantic with a low, insistent roar; +as far as the eye could reach the waves were crusted with white foam. +Every now and then the spray fell around the two men in a little +dazzling shower; the very atmosphere was salt. About their heads the +seagulls whirled and shrieked. From the pebbled beach to the horizon +there was nothing to break the monotony of that empty waste of waters. + +Wingrave stood perfectly motionless, with his eyes fixed upon the +horizon. Minute after minute passed, and he showed no signs of moving. +Aynesworth found himself presently engaged in watching him. Thoughts +must be passing through his brain. He wondered what they were. It was +here that he had spent his boyhood; barely an hour ago the two men had +stood before the picture of his father. It was here, if anywhere, that +he might regain some part of his older and more natural self. Was it a +struggle, he wondered, that was going on within the man? There were +no signs of it in his face. Simply he stood and looked, and looked, as +though, by infinite perseverance, the very horizon itself might recede, +and the thing for which he sought become revealed.... + +Aynesworth turned away at last, and there, not many yards behind, +apparently watching them, stood the child. He waved his hand and +advanced towards her. Her eyes were fixed upon Wingrave half fearfully. + +"I am afraid of the other gentleman," she whispered, as he reached her +side. "Will you come a little way with me? I will show you a seagull's +nest." + +They left Wingrave where he was, and went hand in hand, along the cliff +side. She was a curious mixture or shyness and courage. She talked very +little, but she gripped her companion's fingers tightly. + +"I can show you," she said, "where the seagulls build, and I can tell +you the very spot in the sea where the sun goes down night after night. + +"There are some baby seagulls in one of the nests, but I daren't go very +near for the mother bird is so strong. Father used to say that when they +have their baby birds to look after, they are as fierce as eagles." + +"Your father used to walk with you here, Juliet?" Aynesworth asked. + +"Always till the last few months when he got weaker and weaker," she +answered. "Since then I come every day alone." + +"Don't you find it lonely?" he asked. + +She shook her head. + +"At first," she answered, "not now. It makes me unhappy. Would you like +to go down on the beach and look for shells? I can find you some very +pretty ones." + +They clambered down and wandered hand in hand by the seashore. She told +him quaint little stories of the smugglers, of wrecks, and the legends +of the fisher people. Coming back along the sands, she clung to his arm +and grew more silent. Her eyes sought his every now and then, wistfully. +Presently she pointed out a tiny whitewashed cottage standing by itself +on a piece of waste ground. + +"That is where I live now, at least for a day or two," she said. "They +cannot keep me any longer. When are you going away?" + +"Very soon, I am afraid, little girl," he answered. "I will come and see +you, though, before I go." + +"You promise," she said solemnly. + +"I promise," Aynesworth repeated. + +Then she held up her face, a little timidly, and he kissed her. +Afterwards, he watched her turn with slow, reluctant footsteps to the +unpromising abode which she had pointed out. Aynesworth made his way to +the inn, cursing his impecuniosity and Wingrave's brutal indifference. + +He found the latter busy writing letters. + +"Doing your work, Aynesworth?" he remarked coldly. "Be so good as to +write to Christie's for me, and ask them to send down a valuer to go +through the pictures." + +"You are really going to sell!" Aynesworth exclaimed. + +"Most certainly," Wingrave answered. "Heirlooms and family pictures +are only so much rubbish to me. I am the last of my line, and I doubt +whether even my lawyer could discover a next of kin for my personal +property. Sell! Of course I'm going to sell! What use is all this +hoarded rubbish to me? I am going to turn it into gold!" + +"And what use is gold?" Aynesworth asked curiously. "You have plenty!" + +"Not enough for my purpose," Wingrave declared. "We are going to America +to make more." + +"It's vandalism!" Aynesworth said, "rank vandalism! The place as it is +is a picture! The furniture and the house have grown old together. Why, +you might marry!" + +Wingrave scowled at the younger man across the room. + +"You are a fool, Aynesworth," he said shortly. "Take down these +letters." + +After dinner, Wingrave went out alone. Aynesworth followed him about +an hour later, when his work was done, and made his way towards the +Vicarage. It was barely nine o'clock, but the little house seemed +already to be in darkness. He rang twice before anybody answered him. +Then he heard slow, shuffling footsteps within, and a tall, gaunt man, +in clerical attire, and carrying a small lamp, opened the door. + +Aynesworth made the usual apologies and was ushered into a bare, +gloomy-looking apartment which, from the fact of its containing a +writing table and a few books, he imagined must be the study. His host +never asked him to sit down. He was a long, unkempt-looking man with a +cold, forbidding face, and his manner was the reverse of cordial. + +"I have called to see you," Aynesworth explained, "with reference to one +of your parishioners--the daughter of your late organist." + +"Indeed!" the clergyman remarked solemnly. + +"I saw her today for the first time and have only just heard her story," +Aynesworth continued. "It seems to be a very sad one." + +His listener inclined his head. + +"I am, unfortunately, a poor man," Aynesworth continued, "but I have +some friends who are well off, and I could lay my hands upon a little +ready money. I should like to discuss the matter with you and see if we +cannot arrange something to give her a start in life." + +The clergyman cleared his throat. + +"It is quite unnecessary," he answered. "A connection of her father's +has come forward at the last moment, who is able to do all that is +required for her. Her future is provided for." + +Aynesworth was a little taken aback. + +"I am very glad to hear it," he declared. "I understood that she had +neither friends nor relations." + +"You were misinformed," the other answered. "She has both." + +"May I ask who it is who has turned up so unexpectedly?" Aynesworth +inquired. "I have taken a great fancy to the child." + +The clergyman edged a little towards the door, and the coldness of his +manner was unmistakable. + +"I do not wish to seem discourteous," he said, "but I cannot recognize +that you have any right to ask me these questions. You may accept my +word that the child is to be fittingly provided for." + +Aynesworth felt the color rising in his cheeks. + +"I trust," he said, "that you do not find my interest in her +unwarrantable. My visit to you is simply a matter of charity. If my aid +is unneeded, so much the better. All the same, I should like to know +where she is going and who her friends are." + +"I do not find myself at liberty to afford you any information," was the +curt reply. + +Thereupon there was nothing left for Aynesworth to do but to put on his +hat and walk out, which he did. + +Wingrave met him in the hall on his return. + +"Where have you been?" he asked a little sharply. + +"On a private errand," Aynesworth answered, irritated by his words and +look. + +"You are my secretary," Wingrave said coldly. "I do not pay you to go +about executing private errands." + +Aynesworth looked at him in surprise. Did he really wish to quarrel? + +"I imagine, sir," he said, "that my time is my own when I have no work +of yours on hand. If you think otherwise--" + +He paused and looked at his employer significantly. Wingrave turned on +his heel. + +"Be so kind," he said, "as to settle the bill here tonight. We leave by +the seven o'clock train in the morning." + +"Tomorrow!" Aynesworth exclaimed. + +"Precisely!" + +"Do you mind," he asked, "if I follow by a later train?" + +"I do," Wingrave answered. "I need you in London directly we arrive." + +"I am afraid," Aynesworth said, after a moment's reflection, "that it is +impossible for me to leave." + +"Why?" + +"You will think it a small thing," he said, "but I have given my +promise. I must see that child again before I go!" + +"You are referring," he asked, "to the black-frocked little creature we +saw about the place yesterday?" + +"Yes!" + +Wingrave regarded his secretary as one might look at a person who has +suddenly taken leave of his senses. + +"I am sorry," he said, "to interfere with your engagements, but it is +necessary that we should both leave by the seven o'clock train tomorrow +morning." + +Aynesworth reflected for a moment. + +"If I can see the child first," he said, "I will come. If not, I will +follow you at midday." + +"In the latter case," Wingrave remarked, "pray do not trouble to follow +me unless your own affairs take you to London. Our connection will have +ended." + +"You mean this?" Aynesworth asked. + +"It is my custom," Wingrave answered, "to mean what I say." + +Aynesworth set his alarm that night for half-past five. It seemed to him +that his future would largely depend upon how soundly the child slept. + + + + +THE HEART OF A CHILD + +The cottage, as Aynesworth neared it, showed no sign of life. The +curtainless windows were blank and empty, no smoke ascended from the +chimney. Its plastered front was innocent of any form of creeper, but +in the few feet of garden in front a great, overgrown wild rose bush, +starred with deep red blossoms, perfumed the air. As he drew near, the +door suddenly opened, and with a little cry of welcome the child rushed +out to him. + +"How lovely of you!" she cried. "I saw you coming from my window!" + +"You are up early," he said, smiling down at her. + +"The sun woke me," she answered. "It always does. I was going down +to the sands. Shall we go together? Or would you like to go into the +gardens at Tredowen? The flowers are beautiful there while the dew is on +them!" + +"I am afraid," Aynesworth answered, "that I cannot do either. I have +come to say goodbye." + +The light died out of her face all of a sudden. The delicate beauty of +her gleaming eyes and quivering mouth had vanished. She was once more +the pale, wan little child he had seen coming slowly up the garden path +at Tredowen. + +"You are going--so soon!" she murmured. + +He took her hand and led her away over the short green turf of the +common. + +"We only came for a few hours," he told her. "But I have good news for +you, Juliet, unless you know already. Mr. Saunders has found out some +of your friends. They are going to look after you properly, and you will +not be alone any more." + +"What time are you going?" she asked. + +"Silly child," he answered, giving her hand a shake. "Listen to what I +am telling you. You are going to have friends to look after you always. +Aren't you glad?" + +"No, I am not glad," she answered passionately. "I don't want to go +away. I am--lonely." + +Her arms suddenly sought his neck, and her face was buried on his +shoulder. He soothed her as well as he could. + +"I must go, little girl," he said, "for I am off to America almost at +once. As soon as I can after I come back, I will come and see you." + +"You have only been here one day," she sobbed. + +"I would stay if I could, dear," Aynesworth answered. "Come, dry those +eyes and be a brave girl. Think how nice it will be to go and live with +people who will take care of you properly, and be fond of you. Why, you +may have a pony, and all sorts of nice things." + +"I don't want a pony," she answered, hanging on his arm. "I don't want +to go away. I want to stay here--and wait till you come back." + +He laughed. + +"Why, when I come back, little woman," he answered, "you will be almost +grown up. Come, dry your eyes now, and I tell you what we will do. You +shall come back with me to breakfast, and then drive up to the station +and see us off." + +"I should like to come," she whispered, "but I am afraid of the other +gentleman." + +"Very likely we sha'n't see him," Aynesworth answered. "If we do, he +won't hurt you." + +"I don't like his face!" she persisted. + +"Well, we won't look at it," Aynesworth answered. "But breakfast we must +have!" + +They were half way through the meal, and Juliet had quite recovered her +spirits when Wingrave entered. He looked at the two with impassive face, +and took his place at the table. He wished the child "Good morning" +carelessly, but made no remark as to her presence there. + +"I have just been telling Juliet some good news," Aynesworth remarked. +"I went to see Mr. Saunders, the Vicar here, last night, and he has +found out some of her father's friends. They are going to look after +her." + +Wingrave showed no interest in the information. But a moment later he +addressed Juliet for the first time. + +"Are you glad that you are going away from Tredowen?" he asked. + +"I am very, very sorry," she answered, the tears gathering once more in +her eyes. + +"But you want to go to school, don't you, and see other girls?" he +asked. + +She shook her head decidedly. + +"It will break my heart," she said quietly, "to leave Tredowen. I think +that if I have to go away from the pictures and the garden, and the sea, +I shall never be happy any more." + +"You are a child," he remarked contemptuously; "you do not understand. +If you go away, you can learn to paint pictures yourself like those +at Tredowen. You will find that the world is full of other beautiful +places!" + +The sympathetic aspect of his words was altogether destroyed by the thin +note of careless irony, which even the child understood. She felt that +he was mocking her. + +"I could never be happy," she said simply, "away from Tredowen. You +understand, don't you?" she added, turning confidentially to Aynesworth. + +"You think so now, dear," he said, "but remember that you are very +young. There are many things for you to learn before you grow up." + +"I am not a dunce," she replied. "I can talk French and German, and do +arithmetic, and play the organ. Father used to teach me these things. I +can learn at Tredowen very well. I hope that my friends will let me stay +here." + +Wingrave took no more notice of her. She and Aynesworth walked together +to the station. As they passed the little whitewashed cottage, she +suddenly let go his hand, and darted inside. + +"Wait one moment," she cried breathlessly. + +She reappeared almost at once, holding something tightly clenched in her +right hand. She showed it to him shyly. + +"It is for you, please," she said. + +It was a silver locket, and inside was a little picture of herself. +Aynesworth stooped down and kissed her. He had had as many presents in +his life as most men, but never an offering which came to him quite like +that! They stood still for a moment, and he held out her hands. Already +the morning was astir. The seagulls were wheeling, white-winged and +noiseless, above their heads; the air was fragrant with the scent of +cottage flowers. Like a low, sweet undernote, the sea came rolling in +upon the firm sands--out to the west it stretched like a sheet of softly +swaying inland water. For those few moments there seemed no note of +discord--and then the harsh whistle of an approaching train! They took +hold of hands and ran. + +It was, perhaps, as well that their farewells were cut short. There was +scarcely time for more than a few hurried words before the train moved +out from the queer little station, and with his head out of the window, +Aynesworth waved his hand to the black-frocked child with her pale, +eager face already stained with tears--a lone, strange little figure, +full of a sort of plaintive grace as she stood there, against a +background of milk cans, waving a crumpled handkerchief! + +Wingrave, who had been buried in a morning paper, looked up presently. + +"If our journeyings," he remarked drily, "are to contain everywhere +incidents such as these, they will become a sort of sentimental +pilgrimage." + +Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders. + +"I am sorry," he said, "that my interest in the child has annoyed you. +At any rate, it is over now. The parson was mysterious, but he assured +me that she was provided for." + +Wingrave looked across the carriage with cold, reflective curiosity. + +"Your point of view," he remarked, "is a mystery to me! I cannot see how +the future of an unfledged brat like that can possibly concern you!" + +"Perhaps not," Aynesworth answered, "but you must remember that you are +a little out of touch with your fellows just now. I daresay when you +were my age, you would have felt as I feel. I daresay that as the years +go on, you will feel like it again." + +Wingrave was thoughtful for a moment. + +"So you think," he remarked, "that I may yet have in me the making of a +sentimentalist." + +Aynesworth returned his gaze as steadfastly. + +"One can never tell," he answered. "You may change, of course. I hope +that you will." + +"You are candid, at any rate!" + +"I do not think," Aynesworth answered, "that there is any happiness in +life for the man who lives entirely apart from his fellow creatures. +Not to feel is not to live. I think that the first real act of kindness +which you feel prompted to perform will mark the opening of a different +life for you." + +Wingrave spread out the newspaper. + +"I think," he said, with a faint sneer, "that it is quite time you took +this sea voyage." + + + + +THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES + +Mr. Lumley Barrington, K.C. and M.P., was in the act of stepping into +his carriage to drive down to the House, when he was intercepted by a +message. It was his wife's maid, who came hurrying out after him. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," she said, "but her ladyship particularly +wished to see you as soon as you came in." + +"Is your mistress in?" Barrington asked in some surprise. + +"Yes, sir!" the maid answered. "Her ladyship is resting, before she goes +to the ball at Caleram House. She is in her room now." + +"I will come up at once," Barrington said. + +He kept the carriage waiting while he ascended to his wife's room. There +was no answer to his knock. He opened the door softly. She was asleep on +a couch drawn up before the fire. + +He crossed the room noiselessly, and stood looking down upon her. +Her lithe, soft figure had fallen into a posture of graceful, almost +voluptuous ease; the ribbons and laces of her muslin dressing gown +quivered gently with her deep regular breathing. She had thrown off her +slippers, and one long, slender foot was exposed; the other was doubled +up underneath her body. Her face was almost like the face of a child, +smooth and unwrinkled, save for one line by the eyes where she laughed. +He looked at her steadfastly. Could the closing of the eyes, indeed, +make all the difference? Life and the knowledge of life seemed things +far from her consciousness. Could one look like that--even in sleep--and +underneath--! Barrington broke away from his train of thought, and woke +her quickly. + +She sat up and yawned. + +"Parsons managed to catch you, then," she remarked. + +"Yes!" he answered. "I was just off. I got away from Wills' dinner +party early, and called here for some notes. I must be at the House"--he +glanced at the clock--"in three-quarters of an hour!" + +She nodded. "I won't keep you as long as that." + +Her eyes met his, a little furtively, full of inquiry. "I have done what +you wished," he said quietly. "I called at the Clarence Hotel!" + +"You saw him!" + +"No! He sent back my card. He declined to see me." + +She showed no sign of disappointment. She sat up and looked into the +fire, smoothing her hair mechanically with her hands. + +"Personally," Barrington continued, "I could see no object whatever in +my visit. I have nothing to say to him, nor, I should think, he to me. I +am sorry for him, of course, but he'd never believe me if I told him so. +What happened to him was partly my fault, and unless he's changed, he's +not likely to forget it." + +She swayed a little towards him. + +"It was partly--also--mine," she murmured. + +"I don't see that at all," he objected. "You at any rate were +blameless!" + +She looked up at him, and he was astonished to find how pale she was. + +"I was not!" she said calmly. + +There was a short silence. Barrington had the air of a man who has +received a shock. + +"Ruth!" he exclaimed, glancing towards the door, and speaking almost +in a whisper. "Do you mean--that there are things which I have never +known?" + +"Yes!" she answered. "I mean that he might, if he chose, do us now--both +of us--an immense amount of harm." + +Barrington sat down at the end of the sofa. He knew his wife well enough +to understand that this was serious. + +"Let us understand one another, Ruth," he said quietly. "I always +thought that you were a little severe on Wingrave at the trial! He may +bear you a grudge for that; it is very possible that he does. But what +can he do now? He had his chance to cross examine you, and he let it go +by." + +"He has some letters of mine," Lady Ruth said slowly. + +"Letters! Written before the trial?" + +"Yes!" + +"Why did he not make use of them there?" + +"If he had," Lady Ruth said, with her eyes fixed upon the carpet, "the +sympathy would have been the other way. He would have got off with a +much lighter sentence, and you--would not have married me!" + +"Good God!" Barrington muttered. + +"You see," Lady Ruth continued, resting her hand upon her husband's coat +sleeve, "the thing happened all in a second. I had the check in my hand +when you and Sir William came crashing through that window, and +Sir William's eyes were upon me. The only way to save myself was to +repudiate it, and let Wingrave get out of the affair as well as he +could. Of course, I never guessed what was going to happen." + +"Then it was Wingrave," Barrington muttered, "who played the game?" + +"Yes!" Lady Ruth answered quietly. "But I am not so sure about him now. +You and I, Lumley, know one another a little better today than we +did twelve years ago. We have had a few of the corners knocked off, I +suppose. I can tell you things now I didn't care to then. Wingrave had +lent me money before! He has letters from me today, thanking him for +it." + +Barrington was a large, florid man, well built and well set up. In court +he presented rather a formidable appearance with his truculent chin, his +straight, firm mouth, and his commanding presence. Yet there was nothing +about him now which would have inspired fear in the most nervous of +witnesses. He looked like a man all broken up by some unexpected shock. + +"If he had produced those letters--at the trial--" + +Lady Ruth shrugged her shoulders. + +"I risked it, anyhow," she said. "I had to. My story was the only one +which gave me a dog's chance, and I didn't mean to go under--then. +Wingrave never gave me away, but I fancy he's feeling differently about +it now!" + +"How do you know, Ruth?" + +"I have seen him! He sent for me!" she answered. "Lumley, don't look at +me like that! We're not in the nursery, you and I. I went because I had +to. He's going to America for a time, and then he's coming back here. I +think that when he comes back--he means mischief!" + +"He is not the sort of man to forget," Barrington said, half to himself. + +She shuddered ever so slightly. Then she stretched out a long white arm, +and drawing his head suddenly down to her, kissed him on the lips. + +"If only," she murmured, "he would give up the letters! Without them, he +might say--anything. No one would believe!" + +Barrington raised his eyes to hers. There was something almost pathetic +in the worshiping light which shone there. He was, as he had always +been, her abject slave. + +"Can you think of any way?" he asked. "Shall I go to him again?" + +"Useless!" she answered. "You have nothing to offer in exchange. He +would not give them to me. He surely would not give them to you. Shall I +tell you what is in his mind? Listen, then! He is rich now; he means +to make more money there. Then he will return, calling himself Mr. +Wingrave--an American--with imaginary letters of introduction to us. He +has ambitions--I don't know what they are, but they seem to entail his +holding some sort of a place in society. We are to be his sponsors." + +"Is it practicable?" he asked. + +"Quite," she answered. "He is absolutely unrecognizable now. He has +changed cruelly. Can't you imagine the horror of it? He will be always +in evidence; always with those letters in the background. He means to +make life a sort of torture chamber for us!" + +"Better defy him at once, and get over," Barrington said. "After all, +don't you think that the harm he could do is a little imaginary?" + +She brushed the suggestion aside with a little shiver. + +"Shall I tell you what he would do, Lumley?" she said, leaning towards +him. "He would have my letters, and a copy of my evidence, printed in an +elegant little volume and distributed amongst my friends. It would come +one day like a bomb, and nothing that you or I could do would alter +it in the least. Your career and my social position would be ruined. +Success brings enemies, you know, Lumley, and I have rather more than my +share." + +"Then we are helpless," he said. + +"Unless we can get the letters--or unless he should never return from +America," she answered. + +Barrington moved uneasily in his seat. He knew very well that some +scheme was already forming in his wife's brain. + +"If there is anything that I can do," he said in a low tone, "don't be +afraid to tell me." + +"There is one chance," she answered, "a sort of forlorn hope, but you +might try it. He has a secretary, a young man named Aynesworth. If he +were on our side--" + +"Don't you think," Barrington interrupted, "that you would have more +chance with him than I?" + +She laughed softly. + +"You foolish man," she said, touching his fingers lightly. "I believe +you think that I am irresistible!" + +"I have seen a good many lions tamed," he reminded her. + +"Nonsense! Anyhow, there is one here who seems quite insensible. I have +talked already with Mr. Aynesworth. He would not listen to me!" + +"Ah!" + +"Nevertheless," she continued softy, "of one thing I am very sure. Every +man is like every woman; he is vulnerable if you can discover the right +spot and the right weapons. Mr. Aynesworth is not a woman's man, but I +fancy that he is ambitious. I thought that you might go and see him. He +has rooms somewhere in Dorset Street." + +He rose to his feet. A glance at the clock reminded him of the hour. + +"I will go," he said. "I will do what I can. I think, dear," he added, +bending over her to say farewell, "that you should have been the man!" + +She laughed softly. + +"Am I such a failure as a woman, then?" she asked with a swift upward +glance. "Don't be foolish, Lumley. My woman will be here to dress me +directly. You must really go away." + +He strode down the stairs with tingling pulses, and drove to the House, +where his speech, a little florid in its rhetoric, and verbose as became +the man, was nevertheless a great success. + +"Quite a clever fellow, Barrington," one of his acquaintances remarked, +"when you get him away from his wife." + + + + +A FORLORN HOPE + +Aynesworth ceased tugging at the strap of his portmanteau, and rose +slowly to his feet. A visitor had entered his rooms--apparently +unannounced. + +"I must apologize," the newcomer said, "for my intrusion. Your +housekeeper, I presume it was, whom I saw below, told me to come up." + +Aynesworth pushed forward a chair. + +"Won't you sit down?" he said. "I believe that I am addressing Mr. +Lumley Barrington." + +Not altogether without embarrassment, Barrington seated himself. +Something of his ordinary confidence of bearing and demeanor had +certainly deserted him. His manner, too, was nervous. He had the air of +being altogether ill at ease. + +"I must apologize further, Mr. Aynesworth," he continued, "for an +apparently ill-timed visit. You are, I see, on the eve of a journey." + +"I am leaving for America tomorrow," Aynesworth answered. + +"With Sir Wingrave Seton, I presume?" Barrington remarked. + +"Precisely," Aynesworth answered. + +Barrington hesitated for a moment. Aynesworth was civil, but inquiring. +He felt himself very awkwardly placed. + +"Mr. Aynesworth," he said, "I must throw myself upon your consideration. +You can possibly surmise the reason of my visit." + +Aynesworth shook his head. + +"I am afraid," he said, "that I must plead guilty to denseness--in this +particular instance, at any rate. I am altogether at a loss to account +for it." + +"You have had some conversation with my wife, I believe?" + +"Yes. But--" + +"Before you proceed, Mr. Aynesworth," Barrington interrupted, "one +word. You are aware that Sir Wingrave Seton is in possession of certain +documents in which my wife is interested, which he refuses to give up?" + +"I have understood that such is the case," Aynesworth admitted. +"Will you pardon me if I add that it is a matter which I can scarcely +discuss?" + +Barrington shrugged his shoulders. + +"Let it go, for the moment," he said. "There is something else which I +want to say to you." + +Aynesworth nodded a little curtly. He was not very favorably impressed +with his visitor. + +"Well!" + +Barrington leaned forward in his chair. + +"Mr. Aynesworth," he said, "you have made for yourself some reputation +as a writer. Your name has been familiar to me for some time. I was at +college, I believe, with your uncle, Stanley Aynesworth." + +He paused. Aynesworth said nothing. + +"I want to know," Barrington continued impressively, "what has induced +you to accept a position with such a man as Seton?" + +"That," Aynesworth declared, "is easily answered. I was not looking for +a secretaryship at all, or anything of the sort, but I chanced to hear +his history one night, and I was curious to analyze, so far as possible, +his attitude towards life and his fellows, on his reappearance in it. +That is the whole secret." + +Barrington leaned back in his chair, and glanced thoughtfully at his +companion. + +"You know the story of his misadventures, then?" he remarked. + +"I know all about his imprisonment, and the cause of it," Aynesworth +said quietly. + +Barrington was silent for several moments. He felt that he was receiving +but scanty encouragement. + +"Is it worth while, Mr. Aynesworth?" he asked at length. "There is +better work for you in the world than this." + +Again Aynesworth preferred to reply by a gesture only. Barrington was +watching him steadily. + +"A political secretaryship, Mr. Aynesworth," he said, "might lead you +anywhere. If you are ambitious, it is the surest of all stepping stones +into the House. After that, your career is in your own hands. I offer +you such a post." + +"I am exceedingly obliged to you," Aynesworth replied, "but I scarcely +understand." + +"I have influence," Barrington said, "which I have never cared to use +on my own account. I am willing to use it on yours. You have only to say +the word, and the matter is arranged." + +"I can only repeat," Aynesworth said, "that I am exceedingly obliged +to you, Mr. Barrington, but I cannot understand why you should interest +yourself so much on my behalf." + +"If you wish me to speak in plain words," Barrington said, "I will do +so. I ask you to aid me as a man of honor in the restoration of those +letters to my wife." + +"I cannot do it," Aynesworth said firmly. "I am sorry that you should +have come to me with such an offer. It is quite out of the question!" + +Barrington held out his hand. + +"Do not decide too hastily," he said. "Remember this. Sir Wingrave Seton +had once an opportunity of putting those letters to any use he may have +thought fit. He ignored it. At that time, their tenor and contents might +easily have been explained. After all these years, that task would be +far more difficult. I say that no man has a right to keep a woman's +letters back from her years after any friendship there may have been +between them is over. It is not the action of an honorable man. Sir +Wingrave Seton has placed himself outside the pale of honorable men." + +"Your judgment," Aynesworth answered quietly, "seems to me severe. Sir +Wingrave Seton has been the victim of peculiar circumstances." + +Barrington looked at his companion thoughtfully. He was wondering +exactly how much he knew. + +"You defend him," he remarked. "That is because you have not yet found +out what manner of man he is." + +"In any case," Aynesworth answered, "I am not his judge. Mr. +Barrington," he added, "You must forgive me if I remind you that this is +a somewhat unprofitable discussion." + +A short silence followed. With Barrington it did not appear to be a +silence of irresolution. He was leaning a little forward in his chair, +and his head was resting upon his hand. Of his companion he seemed for +the moment to have become oblivious. Aynesworth watched him curiously. +Was he looking back through the years, he wondered, to that one brief +but lurid chapter of history; or was it his own future of which he was +thinking,--a future which, to the world, must seem so full of brilliant +possibilities, and yet which he himself must feel to be so fatally and +miserably insecure? + +"Mr. Aynesworth," he said at last, "I suppose from a crude point of view +I am here to bribe you." + +Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders. + +"Is it worth while?" he asked a little wearily. "I have tried to be +civil--but I have also tried to make you understand. Your task is +absolutely hopeless!" + +"It should not be," Barrington persisted. "This is one of those rare +cases, in which anything is justifiable. Seton had his chance at the +trial. He chose to keep silence. I do not praise him or blame him for +that. It was the only course open to a man of honor. I maintain that his +silence then binds him to silence for ever. He has no right to ruin +my life and the happiness of my wife by subtle threats, to hold +those foolish letters over our heads, like a thunderbolt held ever in +suspense. You are ambitious, I believe, Mr. Aynesworth! Get me +those letters, and I will make you my secretary, find you a seat in +Parliament, and anything else in reason that you will!" + +Aynesworth rose to his feet. He wished to intimate that, so far as he +was concerned, the interview was at an end. + +"Your proposition, Mr. Barrington," he said, "is absolutely impossible. +In the first place, I have no idea where the letters in question are, +and Sir Wingrave is never likely to suffer them to pass into my charge." + +"You have opportunities of finding out," Barrington suggested. + +"And secondly," Aynesworth continued, ignoring the interruption, +"whatever the right or the wrong of this matter may be, I am in +receipt of a salary from Sir Wingrave Seton, and I cannot betray his +confidence." + +Barrington also rose to his feet. He was beginning to recognize the +hopelessness of his task. + +"This is final, Mr. Aynesworth?" he asked. + +"Absolutely!" was the firm reply. + +Barrington bowed stiffly, and moved towards the door. On the threshold +he paused. + +"I trust, Mr. Aynesworth," he said hesitatingly, "that you will not +regard this as an ordinary attempt at bribery and corruption. I have +simply asked you to aid me in setting right a great injustice." + +"It is a subtle distinction, Mr. Barrington," Aynesworth answered, "but +I will endeavor to keep in mind your point of view." + +Barrington drove straight home, and made his way directly to his study. +Now that he was free from his wife's influence, and looked back upon his +recent interview, he realized for the first time the folly and indignity +of the whole proceedings. He was angry that, a man of common sense, keen +witted and farseeing in the ordinary affairs of life, should have placed +himself so completely in a false, not to say a humiliating position. And +then, just as suddenly, he forgot all about himself, and remembered only +her. With a breath of violets, and the delicate rustling of half-lifted +skirts, she had come softly into the room, and stood looking at him +inquiringly. Her manner seemed to indicate more a good-natured curiosity +than real anxiety. She made a little grimace as he shook his head. + +"I have failed," he said shortly. "That young man is a prig!" + +"I was afraid," she said, "that he would be obstinate. Men with eyes of +that color always are!" + +"What are we to do, Ruth?" + +"What can we?" she answered calmly. "Nothing but wait. He is going to +America. It is a terrible country for accidents. Something may happen to +him there! Do go and change your things, there's a dear, and look in at +the Westinghams' for me for an hour. We'll just get some supper and come +away." + +"I will be ready in ten minutes," Barrington answered. He understood +that he was to ask no questions, nor did he. But all the time his man +was hurrying him into his clothes, his brain was busy weaving fancies. + + + + +PROFESSOR SINCLAIR'S DANCING ACADEMY + +Mr. Sinclair, or as he preferred to be called, Professor Sinclair, waved +a white kid glove in the direction of the dancing hall. + +"This way, ladies and gentlemen!" he announced. "A beautiful valse just +about to commence. Tickets, if you please! Ah! Glad to see you, Miss +Cullingham! You'll find--a friend of yours inside!" + +There was a good deal of giggling as the girls came out from the little +dressing room and joined their waiting escorts, who stood in a line +against the wall, mostly struggling with refractory gloves. Mr. +Sinclair, proprietor of the West Islington Dancing Academy, and host of +these little gatherings--for a consideration of eighteenpence--did his +best, by a running fire of conversation, to set everyone at their ease. +He wore a somewhat rusty frock coat, black trousers, a white dress +waistcoat, and a red tie. Evening dress was not DE RIGUEUR! The money at +the door, and that everyone should behave as ladies and gentlemen, were +the only things insisted upon. + +Mr. Sinclair's best smile and most correct bow was suddenly in evidence. + +"Mademoiselle Violet!" he exclaimed to a lady who came in alone, "we +are enchanted. We feared that you had deserted us. There is a young +gentleman inside who is going to be made very happy. One shilling +change, thank you. Won't you step into the cloak room?" + +The lady shook her head. + +"If you don't mind, Mr. Sinclair," she said, "I would rather keep my hat +and veil on. I can only stay for a few minutes. Is Mr. Richardson here, +do you know? Ah! I can see him." + +She stepped past the Professor into the little dancing hall. A young +lady was pounding upon a piano, a boy at her side was playing the +violin. A few couples were dancing, but most of the company was looking +on. The evening was young, and Mr. Sinclair, who later on officiated +as M.C., had not yet made his attack upon the general shyness. The lady +known as Mademoiselle Violet paused and looked around her. Suddenly she +caught sight of a pale, anemic-looking youth, who was standing apart +from the others, lounging against the wall. She moved rapidly towards +him. + +"How do you do, Mr. Richardson?" she said, holding out her hand. + +He started, and a sudden rush of color streamed into his cheeks. He took +her hand awkwardly, and he was almost speechless with nervousness. + +"I don't believe you're at all glad to see me!" she remarked. + +"Oh! Miss Violet!" he exclaimed. He would have said more, but the words +stuck in his throat. + +"Can we sit down somewhere?" she said. "I want to talk to you." + +There were one or two chairs placed behind a red drugget curtain, where +adventurous spirits led their partners later in the evening. They found +a place there, and the young man recovered his power of speech. + +"Not glad to see you!" he exclaimed almost vehemently. "Why, what else +do you suppose I come here for every Thursday evening? I never dance; +they all make game of me because they know I come here on the chance of +seeing you again. I'm a fool! I know that! You just amuse yourself here +with me, and then you go away, back to your friends--and forget! And I +hang about round here, like the silly ass that I am!" + +"My dear--George!" + +The young man blushed at the sound of his Christian name. He was +mollified despite himself. + +"I suppose it's got to be the same thing all over again," he declared +resignedly. "You'll talk to me and let me be near you--and make a fool +of me all round; and then you'll go away, and heaven knows when I'll see +you again. You won't let me take you home, and won't tell me where you +live, or who your friends are. You do treat me precious badly, Miss +Violet." + +"This time," she said quietly, "it will not be the same. I have +something quite serious to say to you." + +"Something serious--you? Go on!" he exclaimed in excitement. + +"Have you found another place yet?" + +"No. I haven't really tried. I have a little money saved, and I could +get one tomorrow if--" + +She stopped him with a smiling gesture. + +"I don't mean that--yet," she said. "I wanted to know whether it would +be possible for you to go away for a little time, if someone paid all +your expenses." + +"To go away!" he repeated blankly. "What for?" + +Mademoiselle Violet leaned a little nearer to him. + +"My mistress asked me yesterday," she said, "if I knew anyone who could +be trusted who would go away, at a moment's notice, on an errand for +her." + +"Your mistress," he repeated. "You really are a lady's maid, then, are +you?" + +"Of course!" she answered impatiently. "Haven't I told you so before? +Now what do you say? Will you go?" + +"I dunno," he answered thoughtfully. "If it had been for you, I don't +know that I'd have minded. I ain't fond of traveling." + +"It is for me," she interrupted hastily. "If I can find her anyone who +will do what she wants, she will make my fortune. She has promised. And +then--" + +"Well, and then?" + +Mademoiselle Violet looked at him thoughtfully. + +"I should not make any promises," she said demurely, "but things would +certainly be different." + +The young man's blood was stirred. Mademoiselle Violet stood to him for +the whole wonderful world of romance, into which he had peered dimly +from behind the counter of an Islington emporium. Her low voice--so +strange to his ears after the shrill chatter of the young ladies of +his acquaintance--the mystery of her coming and going, all went to give +color to the single dream of his unimaginative life. Apart from her, he +was a somewhat vulgar, entirely commonplace young man, of saving habits, +and with some aptitude for business, in a small way. He had been well on +his way to becoming a small but successful shopkeeper, thereby realizing +the only ideals which had yet presented themselves to him, when Madame +Violet had unconsciously intervened. Of what might become of him now he +had no clear conception of himself. + +"I'll go!" he declared. + +Mademoiselle Violet's eyes flashed behind her veil. Her fingers touched +his for a moment. + +"It is a long way," she said. + +"I don't care," he answered valiantly. + +"To--America!" + +"America!" he gasped. "But--is this a joke, Miss Violet?" + +She shook her head. + +"Of course not! America is not a great journey." + +"But it will cost--" + +She laughed softly. + +"My mistress is very rich," she said. "The cost does not matter at all. +You will have all the money you can spend--and more." + +He felt himself short of breath, and bereft of words. + +"Gee whiz!" he murmured. + +They sat there in silence for a few moments. A promenading couple put +their heads behind the screen, and withdrew with the sound of feminine +giggling. Outside, the piano was being thumped to the tune of a popular +polka. + +"But what have I go to do?" he asked. + +"To watch a man who will go out by the same steamer as you," she +answered. "Write to London, tell me what he does, how he spends his +time, whether he is ill or well. You must stay at the same hotel in New +York, and try and find out what his business is there. Remember, we want +to know, my mistress and I, everything that he does." + +"Who is he?" he asked. "A friend of your mistress?" + +"No!" she answered shortly, "an enemy. A cruel enemy--the cruelest enemy +a woman could have!" + +The subdued passion of her tone thrilled him. He felt himself +bewildered--in touch with strange things. She leaned a little closer +towards him, and that mysterious perfume, which was one of her many +fascinations, dazed him with its sweetness. + +"If you could send home word," she whispered, "that he was ill, that +anything had happened to him, that he was not likely to return--our +fortunes would be made--yours and mine." + +"Stop!" he muttered. "You--phew! It's hot here!" + +He wiped the perspiration recklessly from his forehead with a red silk +handkerchief. + +"What made you come to me?" he asked. "I don't even know the name of +your mistress." + +"And you must not ask it," she declared quietly. "It is better for you +not to know. I came to you because you were a man, and I knew that I +could trust you." + +Her flattery sank into his soul. No one else had ever called him a man. +He felt himself capable of great things. To think that, but for the +coming of this wonderful Mademoiselle Violet, he might even now have +been furnishing a small shop on the outskirts of Islington, with collars +and ties and gloves designed to attract the youth of that populous +neighborhood! + +"When do I start?" he asked with a coolness which surprised himself. + +She drew a heavy packet from the recesses of the muff she carried. + +"All the particulars are here," she said. "The name of the steamer, the +name of the man, and money. You will be told where to get more in New +York, if you need it." + +He took it from her mechanically. She rose to her feet. + +"You will remember," she said, looking into his eyes. + +"I ain't likely to forget anything you've said tonight," he answered +honestly. "But look here! Let me take you home--just this once! Give me +something to think about." + +She shook her head. + +"I will give you something to hope for," she whispered. "You must not +come a yard with me. When you come back it will, perhaps--be different." + +He remained behind the partition, gripping the packet tightly. +Mademoiselle Violet took a hasty adieu of Mr. Sinclair, and descended to +the street. She walked for a few yards, and then turned sharply to the +left. A hansom, into which she stepped at once, was waiting there. She +wrapped herself hastily in a long fur coat which lay upon the seat, and +thrust her hand through the trap door. + +"St. Martin's Schoolroom!" she told the cabman. + +Apparently Mademoiselle Violet combined a taste for philanthropy +with her penchant for Islington dancing halls. She entered the little +schoolroom and made her way to the platform, dispensing many smiles +and nods amongst the audience of the concert, which was momentarily +interrupted for her benefit. She was escorted on to the platform by a +young and earnest-looking clergyman, and given a chair in the center of +the little group who were gathered there. And after the conclusion of +the song, the clergyman expressed his gratification to the audience that +a lady with so many calls upon her time, such high social duties, should +yet find time to show her deep interest in their welfare by this most +kind visit. After which, he ventured to call upon Lady Barrington to say +a few words. + + + + +MEPHISTOPHELES ON A STEAMER + +In some respects, the voyage across the Atlantic was a surprise to +Aynesworth. His companion seemed to have abandoned, for the time at +any rate, his habit of taciturnity. He conversed readily, if a little +stiffly, with his fellow passengers. He divided his time between the +smoke room and the deck, and very seldom sought the seclusion of his +state room. Aynesworth remarked upon this change one night as the two +men paced the deck after dinner. + +"You are beginning to find more pleasure," he said, "in talking to +people." + +Wingrave shook his head. + +"By no means," he answered coldly. "It is extremely distasteful to me." + +"Then why do you do it?" Aynesworth asked bluntly. + +Wingrave never objected to being asked questions by his secretary. He +seemed to recognize the fact that Aynesworth's retention of his post was +due to a desire to make a deliberate study of himself, and while his +own attitude remained purely negative, he at no time exhibited any +resentment or impatience. + +"I do it for several reasons," he answered. "First, because misanthropy +is a luxury in which I cannot afford to indulge. Secondly, because I am +really curious to know whether the time will ever return when I shall +feel the slightest shadow of interest in any human being. I can only +discover this by affecting a toleration for these people's society, +which I can assure you, if you are curious about the matter, is wholly +assumed." + +Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders. + +"Surely," he said, "you find Mrs. Travers entertaining?" + +Wingrave reflected for a moment. + +"You mean the lady with a stock of epigrams, and a green veil?" he +remarked. "No! I do not find her entertaining." + +"Your neighbor at table then, Miss Packe?" + +"If my affections have perished," Wingrave answered grimly, "my taste, +I hope, is unimpaired. The young person who travels to improve her mind, +and fills up the gaps by reading Baedeker on the places she hasn't been +to, fails altogether to interest me!" + +"Aren't you a little severe?" Aynesworth remarked. + +"I suppose," Wingrave answered, "that it depends upon the point of view, +to use a hackneyed phrase. You study people with a discerning eye for +good qualities. Nature--and circumstances have ordered it otherwise with +me. I see them through darkened glasses." + +"It is not the way to happiness," Aynesworth said. + +"There is no highroad to what you term happiness," Wingrave answered. +"One holds the string and follows into the maze. But one does not choose +one's way. You are perhaps more fortunate than I that you can +appreciate Mrs. Travers' wit, and find my neighbor, who has done Europe, +attractive. That is a matter of disposition." + +"I should like," Aynesworth remarked, "to have known you fifteen years +ago." + +Wingrave shrugged his shoulders. + +"I fancy," he said, "that I was a fairly average person--I mean that +I was possessed of an average share of the humanities. I have only my +memory to go by. I am one of those fortunate persons, you see, who have +realized an actual reincarnation. I have the advantage of having +looked out upon life from two different sets of windows.--By the bye, +Aynesworth, have you noticed that unwholesome-looking youth in a serge +suit there?" + +Aynesworth nodded. + +"What about him?" + +"I fancy that he must know--my history. He sits all day long smoking +bad cigarettes and watching me. He makes clumsy attempts to enter into +conversation with me. He is interested in us for some reason or other." + +Aynesworth nodded. + +"Shocking young bounder," he remarked. "I've noticed him myself." + +"Talk to him some time, and find out what he means by it," Wingrave +said. "I don't want to find my biography in the American newspapers. It +might interfere with my operations there. Here's this woman coming to +worry us! You take her off, Aynesworth! I shall go into the smoking +room." + +But Mrs. Travers was not so easily to be disposed of. For some reason or +other, she had shown a disposition to attach herself to Wingrave. + +"Please put me in my chair," she said to him, holding out her rug and +cushion. "No! Not you, Mr. Aynesworth. Mr. Wingrave understands so much +better how to wrap me up. Thanks! Won't you sit down yourself? It's much +better for you out here than in the smoking room--and we might go on +with our argument." + +"I thought," Wingrave remarked, accepting her invitation after a +moment's hesitation, "that we were to abandon it." + +"That was before dinner," she answered, glancing sideways at him. "I +feel braver now." + +"You are prepared," he remarked, "for unconditional surrender?" + +She looked at him again. She had rather nice eyes, quite dark and very +soft, and she was a great believer in their efficacy. + +"Of my argument?" + +He did not answer her for a moment. He had turned his head slightly +towards her, and though his face was, as usual, expressionless, and his +eyes cold and hard, she found nevertheless something of meaning in his +steady regard. There was a flush in her cheek when she looked away. + +"I am afraid," she remarked, "that you are rather a terrible person." + +"You flatter me," he murmured. "I am really quite harmless!" + +"Not from conviction then, I am sure," she remarked. + +"Perhaps not," he admitted. "Let us call it from lack of enterprise! The +virtues are all very admirable things, but it is the men and women with +vices who have ruled the world. The good die young because there is no +useful work for them to do. No really satisfactory person, from a moral +point of view, ever achieved greatness!" + +She half closed her eyes. + +"My head is going round," she murmured. "What an upheaval! Fancy +Mephistopheles on a steamer!" + +"He was, at any rate, the most interesting of that little trio," +Wingrave remarked, "but even he was a trifle heavy." + +"Do you go about the world preaching your new doctrines?" she asked. + +"Not I!" he answered. "Nothing would every make a missionary of me, +for good or for evil, for the simple reason that no one else's welfare +except my own has the slightest concern for me." + +"What hideous selfishness!" she said softly. "But I don't think--you +quite mean it?" + +"I can assure you I do," he answered drily. "My world consists of myself +for the central figure, and the half a dozen or so of people who are +useful or amusing to me! Except that the rest are needed to keep moving +the machinery of the world, they might all perish, so far as I was +concerned." + +"I don't think," Mrs. Travers said softly, "that I should like to be in +your world." + +"I can very easily believe you," he answered. + +"Unless," she remarked tentatively, "I came to convert!" + +He nodded. + +"There is something in that," he admitted. "It would be a great work, a +little difficult, you know." + +"All the more interesting!" + +"You see," he continued, "I am not only bad, but I admire badness. My +wish is to remain bad--in fact, I should like to be worse if I knew how. +You would find it hard to make a start. I couldn't even admit that a +state of goodness was desirable!" + +She looked at him curiously. The night air was perhaps getting colder, +for she shivered, and drew the rug a little closer around her. + +"You speak like a prophet," she remarked. + +"A prophet of evil then!" + +She looked at him steadfastly. The lightness had gone out of her tone. + +"Do you know," she said, "I am almost sorry that I ever knew you?" + +He shook his head. + +"You can't mean it," he declared. + +"Why not?" + +"I have done you the greatest service one human being can render +another! I have saved you from being bored!" + +She nodded. + +"That may be true," she admitted. "But can you conceive no worse state +in the world than being bored?" + +"There is no worse state," he answered drily. "I was bored once," he +added, "for ten years or so; I ought to know!" + +"Were you married?" she asked. + +He shook his head. + +"Not quite so bad as that," he answered. "I was in prison!" + +She turned a startled face towards him. + +"Nonsense!" + +"It is perfectly true," he said coolly. "Are you horrified?" + +"What did you do?" she asked in a low tone. + +"I killed a man." + +"Purposely?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"He attacked me! I had to defend myself." + +She said nothing for several moments. + +"Shall I go?" he asked. + +"No! Sit still," she answered. "I am frightened of you, but I don't want +you to go away. I want to think.... Yes! I can understand you better +now! Your life was spoilt!" + +"By no means," he answered. "I am still young! I am going to make up for +those ten years." + +She shook her head. + +"You cannot," she answered. "The years can carry no more than their +ordinary burden of sensations. If you try to fill them too full, you +lose everything." + +"I shall try what I can do!" he remarked calmly. + +She rose abruptly. + +"I am afraid of you tonight," she said. "I am going downstairs. Will you +give my rug and cushion to the deck steward? And--good night." + +She gave him her hand, but she did not look at him, and she hurried away +a little abruptly. + +Wingrave yawned, and lighting a cigar, strolled up and down the deck. +A figure loomed out of the darkness and almost ran into him. It was the +young man in the serge suit. He muttered a clumsy apology and hurried +on. + + + + +A COCKNEY CONSPIRATOR + +"The bar closes in ten minutes, sir!" the smoking room steward +announced. + +The young man who had been the subject of Wingrave's remarks hastily +ordered another drink, although he had an only half-emptied tumbler in +front of him. Presently he stumbled out on to the deck. It was a dark +night, and a strong head wind was blowing. He groped his way to the +railing and leaned over, with his head half buried in his hands. Below, +the black tossing sea was churned into phosphorescent spray, as the +steamer drove onwards into the night. + +Was it he indeed--George Richardson? He doubted it. The world of tape +measures and calico counters seemed so far away; the interior of +his quondam lodgings in a by-street of Islington, so unfamiliar and +impossible. He felt himself swallowed up in this new and bewildering +existence, of which he was so insignificant an atom, the existence where +tragedy reared her gloomy head, and the shadows of great things loomed +around him. Down there in the cold restless waste of black waters--what +was it that he saw? The sweat broke out upon his forehead, the blood +seemed turned to ice in his veins. He knew very well that his fancy +mocked him, that it was not indeed a man's white face gleaming on the +crest of the waves. But none the less he was terrified. + +Mr. Richardson was certainly nervous. Not all the brandy he had +drunk--and he had never drunk half as much before in his life--afforded +him the least protection from these ghastly fancies. The step of a +sailor on the deck made him shiver; the thought of his empty state room +was a horror. He tried to think of the woman at whose bidding he had +left behind him Islington and the things that belonged to Islington! He +tried to recall her soft suggestive whispers, the glances which promised +more even than her spoken words, all the perfume and mystery of her +wonderful presence. Her very name was an allurement. Mademoiselle +Violet! How softly it fell from the lips!... God in heaven, what was +that? He started round, trembling in every limb. It was nothing more +than the closing of the smoking room door behind him. Sailors with +buckets and mops were already beginning their nightly tasks. He must go +to his state room! Somehow or other, he must get through the night... + +He did it, but he was not a very prepossessing looking object when he +staggered out on deck twelve hours later, into the noon sunshine. The +chair towards which he looked so eagerly was occupied. He scarcely knew +himself whether that little gulp of acute feeling, which shot through +his veins, was of relief or disappointment. While he hesitated, Wingrave +raised his head. + +Wingrave did not, as a rule, speak to his fellow passengers. Of +Richardson, he had not hitherto taken the slightest notice. Yet this +morning, of all others, he addressed him. + +"I believe," he said, holding it out towards him, "that this envelope is +yours. I found it under your chair." + +Richardson muttered something inarticulate, and almost snatched it away. +It was the envelope of the fatal letter which Mademoiselle Violet had +written him to Queenstown. + +"Sit down, Mr. Richardson, if you are not in a hurry," Wingrave +continued calmly. "I was hoping that I might see you this morning. Can +you spare me a few minutes?" + +Richardson subsided into his chair. His heart was thumping against his +ribs. Wingrave's voice sounded to him like a far-off thing. + +"The handwriting upon that envelope which I have just restored to +you, Mr. Richardson, is well known to me," Wingrave continued, gazing +steadfastly at the young man whom he was addressing. + +"The envelope! The handwriting!" Richardson faltered. "I--it was from--" + +An instant's pause. Wingrave raised his eyebrows. + +"Ah!" he said. "We need not mention the lady's name. That she should be +a correspondent of yours, however, helps me to understand better several +matters which have somewhat puzzled me lately. No! Don't go, my dear +sir. We must really have this affair straightened out." + +"What affair?" Richardson demanded, with a very weak attempt at bluster. +"I don't understand you--don't understand you at all." + +Wingrave leaned a little forward in his chair. His eyebrows were drawn +close together; his gaze was entirely merciless. + +"You are not well this morning," he remarked. "A little headache +perhaps! Won't you try one of these phenacetine lozenges--excellent +things for a headache, I believe? Warranted, in fact, to cure all bodily +ailments for ever! What! You don't like the look of them?" + +The young man cowered back in his chair. He was gripping the sides +tightly with both hands, and the pallor of a ghastly fear had spread +over his face. + +"I--don't know what you mean," he faltered. "I haven't a headache!" + +Wingrave looked thoughtfully at the box between his fingers. + +"If you took one of these, Mr. Richardson," he said, "you would never +have another, at any rate. Now, tell me, sir, how you came by them!" + +"I know nothing about--" the young man began. + +"Don't lie to me, sir," Wingrave said sharply. "I have been wondering +what the ---- you meant by hanging around after me, giving the deck +steward five shillings to put your chair next mine, and pretending +to read, while all the time you were trying to overhear any scraps of +conversation between my secretary and myself. I thought you were simply +guilty of impertinent curiosity. This, however, rather alters the look +of affairs." + +"What does?" Richardson asked faintly. "That box ain't mine." + +"Perhaps not," Wingrave answered, "but you found it in my state room and +filled it up with its present contents. My servant saw you coming out, +and immediately went in to see what you had stolen, and report you. He +found nothing missing, but he found this box full of lozenges, which he +knows quite well was half full before you went in. Now, what was your +object, Mr. Richardson, in tampering with that box upon my shelf?" + +"I have--I have never seen it before," Richardson declared. "I have +never been in your state room!" + +The deck steward was passing. Wingrave summoned him. + +"I wish you would ask my servant to step this way," he said. "You will +find him in my state room." + +The man disappeared through the companion way. Richardson rose to his +feet. + +"I'm not going to stay here to be bullied and cross examined," he +declared. "I'm off!" + +"One moment," Wingrave said. "If you leave me now, I shall ask the +captain to place you under arrest." + +Richardson looked half fearfully around. + +"What for?" + +"Attempted murder! Very clumsily attempted, but attempted murder none +the less." + +The young man collapsed. Wingrave's servant came down the deck. + +"You sent for me, sir?" he inquired respectfully. + +Wingrave pointed towards his companion. + +"Was that the person whom you saw coming out of my state room?" he +asked. + +"Yes sir," the man replied at once. + +"You could swear to him, if necessary?" + +"Certainly, sir." + +"That will do, Morrison." + +The man withdrew. Wingrave turned to his victim. "A few weeks ago," he +remarked, "I had a visit from the lady whose handwriting is upon that +envelope. I had on the table before me a box of phenacetine lozenges. +She naturally concluded that I was in the habit of using them. That lady +has unfortunately cause to consider me, if not an enemy, something very +much like it. You are in correspondence with her. Only last night you +placed in my box of these lozenges some others, closely resembling them, +but fortunately a little different in shape. Mine were harmless--as a +matter of fact, a single one of yours would kill a man in ten minutes. +Now, Mr. Richardson, what have you to say about all this? Why should I +not send for the captain, and have you locked up till we arrive at New +York?" + +Richardson drew his handkerchief across his damp forehead. + +"You can't prove nothing," he muttered. + +"I am afraid that I must differ from you," Wingrave answered. "We will +see what the captain has to say." + +He leaned forward in his chair, to attract the attention of a seaman. + +Richardson interposed. + +"All right," he said thickly. "Suppose I own up! What then?" + +"A few questions--nothing terrifying. I am not very frightened of you." + +"Go on!" + +"How did you become acquainted with the writer of that letter?" + +Richardson hesitated. + +"She came to a dancing class at Islington," he said. + +Wingrave's face was expressionless, but his tone betrayed his +incredulity. + +"A dancing class at Islington! Nonsense!" + +"Mind," the young man asserted, "it was her mistress who put her up to +this! It was nothing to do with her. It was for her mistress's sake." + +"Do you know the mistress?" Wingrave asked. + +"No; I don't know her name even. Never heard it." + +"Your letter, then, was from the maid?" + +"Of course, it was," Richardson answered. "If you recognize the writing, +you must know that yourself." + +Wingrave looked reflectively seaward. The matter was not entirely clear +to him. Yet he was sure that this young man was telling the truth, so +far as he could divine it. + +"Well," he said, "you have made your attempt and failed. If fortune had +favored you, you might at this moment have been a murderer. I might have +warned you, by the bye, that I am an exceedingly hard man to kill." + +Richardson looked uneasily around. + +"I ain't admitting anything, you know," he said. + +"Precisely! Well, what are you going to do now? Are you satisfied with +your first reverse, or are you going to renew the experiment?" + +"I've had enough," was the dogged answer. "I've been made a fool of. I +can see that. I shall return home by the next steamer. I never ought to +have got mixed up in this." + +"I am inclined to agree with you," Wingrave remarked calmly. "Do I +understand that if I choose to forget this little episode, you will +return to England by the next steamer?" + +"I swear it," Richardson declared. + +"And in the meantime, that you make no further attempt of a similar +nature?" + +"Not I!" he answered with emphasis. "I've had enough." + +"Then," Wingrave said, "we need not prolong this conversation. Forgive +my suggesting, Mr. Richardson, that whilst I am on deck, the other side +of the ship should prove more convenient for you!" + +The young man rose, and without a word staggered off. Wingrave watched +him through half-closed eyes, until he disappeared. + +"It was worth trying," he said softly to himself. "A very clever woman +that! She looks forward through the years, and she sees the clouds +gathering. It was a little risky, and the means were very crude. But it +was worth trying!" + + + + +THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE + +"Tomorrow morning," Aynesworth remarked, "we shall land." + +Wingrave nodded. + +"I shall not be sorry," he said shortly. + +Aynesworth fidgeted about. He had something to say, and he found it +difficult. Wingrave gave him no encouragement. He was leaning back +in his steamer chair, with his eyes fixed upon the sky line. +Notwithstanding the incessant companionship of the last six days, +Aynesworth felt that he had not progressed a single step towards +establishing any more intimate relations between his employer and +himself. + +"Mrs. Travers is not on deck this afternoon," he remarked a trifle +awkwardly. + +"Indeed!" Wingrave answered. "I hadn't noticed." + +Aynesworth sat down. There was nothing to be gained by fencing. + +"I wanted to talk about her, sir, if I might," he said. + +Wingrave withdrew his eyes from the sea, and looked at his companion in +cold surprise. + +"To me?" he asked. + +"Yes! I thought, the first few days, that Mrs. Travers was simply a vain +little woman of the world, perfectly capable of taking care of herself, +and heartless enough to flirt all day long, if she chose, without any +risk, so far as she was concerned. I believe I made a mistake!" + +"This is most interesting," Wingrave said calmly, "but why talk to me +about the lady? I fancy that I know as much about her as you do." + +"Very likely; but you may not have realized the same things. Mrs. +Travers is a married woman, with a husband in Boston, and two little +children, of whom, I believe, she is really very fond. She is a foolish, +good-natured little woman, who thinks herself clever because her husband +has permitted her to travel a good deal, and has evidently been rather +fascinated by the latitudinarianism of continental society. She is a +little afraid of being terribly bored when she gets back to Boston, and +she is very sentimental." + +"I had no idea," Wingrave remarked, "that you had been submitting the +lady and her affairs to the ordeal of your marvelous gift of analysis. I +rather fancied that you took no interest in her at all." + +"I did not," Aynesworth answered, "until last night." + +"And last night?" he repeated questioningly. + +"I found her on deck--crying. She had been tearing up some photographs, +and she talked a little wildly. I talked to her then for a little time." + +"Can't you be more explicit?" Wingrave asked. + +Aynesworth looked him in the face. + +"She gave me the impression," he said, "that she did not intend to +return to her husband." + +Wingrave nodded. + +"And what have you to say to me about this?" he asked. + +"I have no right to say anything, of course," Aynesworth answered. "You +might very properly tell me that it is no concern of mine. Mrs. Travers +has already compromised herself, to some extent, with the people on +board who know her and her family. She never leaves your side for a +moment if she can help it, and for the last two or three days she has +almost followed you about. You may possibly derive some amusement from +her society for a short time, but--afterwards!" + +"Explain yourself exactly," Wingrave said. + +"Is it necessary?" Aynesworth declared brusquely. "Talk sensibly to +her! Don't encourage her if she should really be contemplating anything +foolish!" + +"Why not?" + +"Oh, hang it all!" Aynesworth declared. "I'm not a moralist, but she's +a decent little woman. Don't ruin her life for the sake of a little +diversion!" + +Wingrave, who had been holding a cigar case in his hand for the last few +minutes, opened it, and calmly selected a cigar. + +"Aren't you a little melodramatic, Aynesworth?" he said. + +"Sounds like it, no doubt," his companion answered, "but after all, hang +it, she's not a bad little sort, and you wouldn't care to meet her in +Piccadilly in a couple of years' time." + +Wingrave turned a little in his chair. There was a slight hardening of +the mouth, a cold gleam in his eyes. + +"That," he remarked, "is precisely where you are wrong. I am afraid you +have forgotten our previous conversations on this or a similar subject. +Disconnect me in your mind at once from all philanthropic notions! I +desire to make no one happy, to assist at no one's happiness. My own +life has been ruined by a woman. Her sex shall pay me where it can. If +I can obtain from the lady in question a single second's amusement, +her future is a matter of entire indifference to me. She can play the +repentant wife, or resort to the primeval profession of her sex. I +should not even have the curiosity to inquire which." + +"In that case," Aynesworth said slowly, "I presume that I need say no +more." + +"Unless it amuses you," Wingrave answered, "it really is not worth +while." + +"Perhaps," Aynesworth remarked, "it is as well that I should tell you +this. I shall put the situation before Mrs. Travers exactly as I see +it. I shall do my best to dissuade her from any further or more intimate +intercourse with you." + +"At the risk, of course," Wingrave said, "of my offering you--this?" + +He drew a paper from his pocket book, and held it out. It was the return +half of a steamer ticket. + +"Even at that risk," Aynesworth answered without hesitation. + +Wingrave carefully folded the document, and returned it to his pocket. + +"I am glad," he said, "to find that you are so consistent. There is Mrs. +Travers scolding the deck steward. Go and talk to her! You will scarcely +find a better opportunity." + +Aynesworth rose at once. Wingrave in a few moments also left his seat, +but proceeded in the opposite direction. He made his way into the +purser's room, and carefully closed the door behind him. + +Mrs. Travers greeted Aynesworth without enthusiasm. Her eyes were +resting upon the empty place which Wingrave had just vacated. + +"Can I get your chair for you, Mrs. Travers," Aynesworth asked, "or +shall we walk for a few minutes?" + +Mrs. Travers hesitated. She looked around, but there was obviously no +escape for her. + +"I should like to sit down," she said. "I am very tired this morning. My +chair is next Mr. Wingrave's there." + +Aynesworth found her rug and wrapped it around her. She leaned back and +closed her eyes. + +"I shall try to sleep," she said. "I had such a shocking night." + +He understood at once that she was on her guard, and he changed his +tactics. + +"First," he said, "may I ask you a question?" + +She opened her eyes wide, and looked at him. She was afraid. + +"Not now," she said hurriedly. "This afternoon." + +"This afternoon I may not have the opportunity," he answered. "Is your +husband going to meet you at New York, Mrs. Travers?" + +"No!" + +"Are you going direct to Boston?" + +She looked at him steadily. There was a slight flush of color in her +cheeks. + +"I find your questions impertinent, Mr. Aynesworth," she answered. + +There was a short silence. Aynesworth hated his task and hated himself. +But most of all, he pitied the woman who sat by his side. + +"No!" he said, "they are not impertinent. I am the looker-on, you know, +and I have seen--a good deal. If Wingrave were an ordinary sort of man, +I should never have dared to interfere. If you had been an ordinary sort +of woman, I might not have cared to." + +She half rose in her chair. + +"I shall not stay here," she began, struggling with her rug. + +"Do!" he begged. "I am--I want to be your friend, really!" + +"You are supposed to be his," she reminded him. + +He shook his head. + +"I am his secretary. There is no question of friendship between us. For +the rest, I told him that I should speak to you." + +"You have no right to discuss me at all," she declared vehemently. + +"None whatever," he admitted. "I have to rely entirely upon your mercy. +This is the truth. People are thrown together a good deal on a voyage +like this. You and Mr. Wingrave have seen a good deal of one another. +You are a very impressionable woman; he is a singularly cold, +unimpressionable man. You have found his personality attractive. You +fancy--other things. Wingrave is not the man you think he is. He is +selfish and entirely without affectionate impulses. The world has +treated him badly, and he has no hesitation in saying that he means to +get some part of his own back again. He does not care for you, he does +not care for anyone. If you should be contemplating anything ridiculous +from a mistaken judgment of his character, it is better that you should +know the truth." + +The anger had gone. She was pale again, and her lips were trembling. + +"Men seldom know one another," she said softly. "You judge from the +surface only." + +"Mine is the critical judgment of one who has studied him intimately," +Aynesworth said. "Yours is the sentimental hope of one fascinated by +what she does not understand. Wingrave is utterly heartless!" + +"That," she answered steadfastly, "I do not believe." + +"You do not because you will not," he declared. "I have spoken because +I wish to save you from doing what you would repent of for the rest of +your days. You have the one vanity which is common to all women. You +believe that you can change what, believe me, is unchangeable. To +Wingrave, women are less than playthings. He owes the unhappiness of +his life to one, and he would see the whole of her sex suffer without +emotion. He is impregnable to sentiment. Ask him and I believe that he +would admit it!" + +She smiled and regarded him with the mild pity of superior knowledge. + +"You do not understand Mr. Wingrave," she remarked. + +Aynesworth sighed. He realized that every word he had spoken had been +wasted upon this pale, pretty woman, who sat with her eyes now turned +seawards, and the smile still lingering upon her lips. Studying her +for a moment, he realized the danger more acutely than ever before. The +fretfulness seemed to have gone from her face, the weary lines from her +mouth. She had the look of a woman who has come into the knowledge of +better things. And it was Wingrave who had done this! Aynesworth for the +first time frankly hated the man. Once, as a boy, he had seen a keeper +take a rabbit from a trap and dash its brains out against a tree. The +incident flashed then into his mind, only the face of the keeper was the +face of Wingrave! + + + + +"DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST" + +Wingrave and Aynesworth were alone in a private room of the Waldorf +Astoria Hotel. The table at which the former was seated was covered with +letters and papers. A New York directory and an atlas were at his elbow. + +"I propose," Wingrave said, leaning back in his chair, "to give you +some idea of the nature of my business in this country. You will be able +then, I trust, to carry out my instructions more intelligibly." + +Aynesworth nodded. + +"I thought," he said, "that you came here simply to remain in seclusion +for a time." + +"That is one of my reasons," Wingrave admitted, "but I had a special +purpose in coming to America. During my--enforced seclusion--I made the +acquaintance of a man called Hardwell. He was an Englishman, but he +had lived in America for some years, and had got into trouble over +some company business. We had some conversation, and it is upon his +information that I am now going to act." + +"He is trustworthy?" Aynesworth asked. + +"I take the risk," Wingrave answered coolly. "There is a small copper +mine in Utah called the Royal Hardwell Copper Mine. The shares are +hundred dollar ones, and there are ten thousand of them. They are +scarcely quoted now, as the mine has become utterly discredited. +Hardwell managed this himself with a false report. He meant to have the +company go into liquidation, and then buy it for a very small amount. +As a matter of fact, the mine is good, and could be worked at a large +profit." + +"You have Hardwell's word for that," Aynesworth remarked. + +"Exactly!" Wingrave remarked. "I am proceeding on the assumption that he +told me the truth. I wish to buy, if possible, the whole of the shares, +and as many more as I can get brokers to sell. The price of the shares +today is two dollars!" + +"I presume you will send out an expert to the mine first?" Aynesworth +said. + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Wingrave answered. "The fact that I +was buying upon information would send the shares up at once. I mean +to buy first, and then go out to the mine. If I have made a mistake, I +shall not be ruined. If Hardwell's story is true, there will be millions +in it." + +Aynesworth said nothing, but his face expressed a good deal. + +"Here are the names of seven respectable brokers," Wingrave continued, +passing a sheet of paper towards him. "I want you to buy five hundred +shares from each of them. The price may vary a few points. Whatever it +is, pay it. Here are seven signed checks. I shall buy myself as many as +I can without spoiling the market. You had better start out in about a +quarter of an hour and see to this. You have my private ledger?" + +"Yes." + +"Open an account to Hardwell in it; a quarter of all the shares I +buy are to be in his name, and a quarter of all the profits I make in +dealing in the shares is to be credited to him." + +"A fairly generous arrangement for Mr. Hardwell," Aynesworth remarked. + +"There is nothing generous about it," Wingrave answered coldly. "It is +the arrangement I made with him, and to which I propose to adhere. You +understand what I want you to do?" + +"Perfectly," Aynesworth answered; "I still think, however, that much the +wiser course would be to send an expert to the mine first." + +"Indeed!" Wingrave remarked politely. "That is all, I think. I shall +expect to see you at luncheon time. If you are asked questions as to why +you are dealing in these shares to such an extent, you can say that the +friend for whom you are acting desires to boom copper, and is going on +the low price of the metal at the moment. They will think you a fool, +and perhaps may not trouble to conceal their opinion after they have +finished the business. You must endeavor to support the character. I +have no doubt but that you will be successful." + +Aynesworth moved towards the door. + +Once more Wingrave called him back. He was leaning a little forward +across the table. His face was very set and cold. + +"There is a question which I wish to ask you, Aynesworth," he said. "It +concerns another matter altogether. Do you know who sent the Marconigram +to Dr. Travers, which brought him to New York to meet his wife?" + +"I do not," Aynesworth answered. + +"It was sent by someone on board the ship," Wingrave continued. "You +have no suspicion as to whom it could have been?" + +"None!" Aynesworth answered firmly. "At the same time, I do not mind +telling you this. If I had thought of it, I would have sent it myself." + +Wingrave shrugged his shoulders. + +"It is perhaps fortunate for the continuation of our mutual relations +that you did not think of it," he remarked quietly. "I accept your +denial. I shall expect you back at one o'clock." + +At a few minutes after that hour the two men sat down to luncheon. +Wingrave at that time was the possessor of six thousand shares in the +Royal Hardwell Copper Mine, which had cost him, on an average, two +dollars twenty-five. The news of the dealing, however, had got about, +and although derision was the chief sentiment amongst the brokers, the +price steadily mounted. A dozen telegrams were sent out to the mine, and +on receipt of the replies, the dealing became the joke of the day. The +mine was still deserted, and no fresh inspection had been made. +The price dropped a little. Then Wingrave bought a thousand more by +telephone, and it rose again to four. A few minutes before closing time, +he threw every share of which he was possessed upon the market, and the +next morning Royal Hardwells stood at one dollar seventy-five. + +For a week Wingrave pursued the same tactics, and at the end of that +time he had made twenty thousand dollars. The brokers, however, now +understood, or thought they understood, the situation. No one bought for +the rise; they were all sellers. Wingrave at once changed his tactics. +He bought five thousand shares in one block, and sold none. Even then, +the market was only mildly amused. In a fortnight he was the nominal +owner of sixteen thousand shares in a company of which only ten thousand +actually existed. Then he sat still, and the panic began. The shares +in a company which everyone believed to be worthless stood at thirty +dollars, and not a share was offered. + +A small pandemonium reigned in Wingrave's sitting room. The telephone +rang all the time; the place was besieged with brokers. Then Wingrave +showed his hand. He had bought these shares to hold; he did not intend +to sell one. As to the six thousand owed to him beyond the number +issued, he was prepared to consider offers. One broker left him a check +for twenty thousand dollars, another for nearly forty thousand. Wingrave +had no pity. He had gambled and won. He would accept nothing less +than par price. The air in his sitting room grew thick with curses and +tobacco smoke. + +Aynesworth began by hating the whole business, but insensibly the +fascination of it crept over him. He grew used to hearing the various +forms of protest, of argument and abuse, which one and all left Wingrave +so unmoved. Sphinx-like he lounged in his chair, and listened to all. +He never condescended to justify his position, he never met argument +by argument. He had the air of being thoroughly bored by the whole +proceedings. But he exacted always his pound of flesh. + +On the third afternoon, Aynesworth met on the stairs a young broker, +whom he had come across once or twice during his earlier dealings in the +shares. They had had lunch together, and Aynesworth had taken a fancy to +the boy--he was little more--fresh from Harvard and full of enthusiasm. +He scarcely recognized him for a moment. The fresh color had gone from +his cheeks, his eyes were set in a fixed, wild stare; he seemed suddenly +aged. Aynesworth stopped him. + +"Hullo, Nesbitt!" he exclaimed. "What's wrong?" + +The young man would have passed on with a muttered greeting, but +Aynesworth turned round with him, and led the way into one of the +smaller smoking rooms. He called for drinks and repeated his question. + +"Your governor has me six hundred Hardwells short," Nesbitt answered +curtly. + +"Six hundred! What does it mean?" Aynesworth asked. + +"Sixty thousand dollars, or thereabouts," the young man answered +despairingly. "His brokers won't listen to me, and your governor--well, +I've just been to see him. I won't call him names! And we thought that +some fool of an Englishman was burning his fingers with those shares. +I'm not the only one caught, but the others can stand it. I can't, worse +luck!" + +"I'm beastly sorry," Aynesworth said truthfully. "I wish I could help +you." + +Nesbitt raised his head. A sudden light flashed in his eyes; he spoke +quickly, almost feverishly. + +"Say, Aynesworth," he exclaimed, "do you think you could do anything +with your governor for me? You see--it's ruin if I have to pay up. I +wouldn't mind--for myself, but I was married four months ago, and I +can't bear the thought of going home--and telling her. All the money +we have between us is in my business, and we've got no rich friends +or anything of that sort. I don't know what I'll do if I have to be +hammered. I've been so careful, too! I didn't want to take this on, but +it seemed such a soft thing! If I could get off with twenty thousand, +I'd keep my head up. I hate to talk like this. I'd go down like a man +if I were alone, but--but--oh! Confound it all--!" he exclaimed with an +ominous break in his tone. + +Aynesworth laid his hand upon the boy's arm. + +"Look here," he said, "I'll try what I can do with Mr. Wingrave. Wait +here!" + +Aynesworth found his employer alone with his broker, who was just +hastening off to keep an appointment. He plunged at once into his +appeal. + +"Mr. Wingrave," he said, "you have just had a young broker named Nesbitt +on." + +Wingrave glanced at a paper by his side. + +"Yes," he said. "Six hundred short! I wish they wouldn't come to me." + +"I've been talking to him downstairs," Aynesworth said. "This will break +him." + +"Then I ought not to have done business with him at all," Wingrave said +coolly. "If he cannot find sixty thousand dollars, he has no right to +be in Wall street. I daresay he'll pay, though! They all plead +poverty--curs!" + +"I think Nesbitt's case is a little different from the others," +Aynesworth continued. "He is quite young, little more than a boy, and he +has only just started in business. To be hammered would be absolute +ruin for him. He seems such a decent young fellow, and he's only just +married. He's in an awful state downstairs. I wish you'd have another +talk with him. I think you'd feel inclined to let him down easy." + +Wingrave smiled coldly. + +"My dear Aynesworth," he said, "you astonish me. I am not interested +in this young man's future or in his matrimonial arrangements. He has +gambled with me and lost. I presume that he would have taken my money +if I had been the fool they all thought me. As it is, I mean to have +his--down to the last cent!" + +"He isn't like the others," Aynesworth protested doggedly. "He's only +a boy--and it seems such jolly hard luck, doesn't it, only four months +married! New York hasn't much pity for paupers. He looks mad enough to +blow his brains out. Have him up, sir, and see if you can't compromise!" + +"Fetch him," Wingrave said curtly. + +Aynesworth hurried downstairs. The boy was walking restlessly up and +down the room. The look he turned upon Aynesworth was almost pitiful. + +"He'll see you again," Aynesworth said hurriedly. "Come along." + +The boy wrung his hand. + +"You're a brick!" he declared. + + + + +THE HIDDEN HAND + +Wingrave glanced up as they entered. He motioned Nesbitt to a chair by +his side, but the young man remained standing. + +"My secretary tells me," Wingrave said curtly, "that you cannot pay me +what you owe." + +"It's more than I possess in the world, sir," Nesbitt answered. + +"It is not a large amount," Wingrave said. "I do not see how you can +carry on business unless you can command such a sum as this." + +Nesbitt moistened his dry lips with his tongue. + +"I have only been doing a very small business, sir," he answered, "but +quite enough to make a living. I don't speculate as a rule. Hardwells +seemed perfectly safe, or I wouldn't have touched them. I sold at four. +They are not worth one. I could have bought thousands last week for two +dollars." + +"That is beside the question," Wingrave answered. "If you do not pay +this, you have cheated me out of my profits for I should have placed the +commission with brokers who could. Why did you wish to see me again?" + +"I thought that you might give me time," Nesbitt answered, raising his +head and looking Wingrave straight in the face. "It seems rather a low +down thing to come begging. I'd rather cut my right hand off than do it +for myself, but I've--someone else to think about, and if I'm hammered, +I'm done for. Give me a chance, Mr. Wingrave! I'll pay you in time." + +"What do you ask for?" Wingrave said. + +"I thought that you might give me time," Nesbitt said, "and I'll pay you +the rest off with the whole of my profits every year." + +"A most absurd proposal," Wingrave said coolly. "I will instruct my +brokers to take twenty thousand dollars down, and wait one week for the +balance. That is the best offer I can make you. Good day!" + +The young man stood as though he were stunned. + +"I--I can't find it," he faltered. "I can't indeed." + +"Your resources are not my affair," Wingrave said. "I shall instruct my +broker to do as I have said. If the money is not forthcoming, you know +the alternative." + +"You mean to ruin me, then?" Nesbitt said slowly. + +"I mean to exact the payment of what is due to me," Wingrave said +curtly. "If you cannot pay, it seems to me that I am the person to be +pitied--not you. Show Mr. Nesbitt out, Aynesworth." + +Nesbitt turned towards the door. He was very pale, but he walked +steadily. He did not speak another word to Wingrave. + +"I'm beastly sorry," Aynesworth said to him on the stairs. "I wish I +could help you!" + +"Thank you," Nesbitt answered. "No one can help me. I'm through." + +Aynesworth returned to the sitting room. Wingrave had lit a cigarette +and watched him as he arranged some papers. + +"Quite a comedy, isn't it?" he remarked grimly. + +"It doesn't present itself in that light to me," Aynesworth answered. + +Wingrave blew the smoke away from in front of his face. "Ah!" he said, +"I forgot that you were a sentimentalist. I look upon these things +from my own point of view. From yours, I suppose I must seem a very +disagreeable person. I admit frankly that the sufferings of other people +do not affect me in the slightest." + +"I am sorry for you," Aynesworth said shortly. "If there is going to be +much of this sort of thing, though, I must ask you to relieve me of my +post. I can't stand it." + +"Whenever you like, my dear fellow," Wingrave answered. "I think +that you would be very foolish to leave me, though. I must be a most +interesting study." + +"You are--what the devil made you!" Aynesworth muttered. + +Wingrave laid down his cigarette. + +"I am what my fellows have made me," he said slowly. "I tasted hell for +a good many years. It has left me, I suppose, with a depraved taste. +Ring up my brokers, Aynesworth! I want to speak to Malcolmson. He had +better come round here." + +The day dragged on. Aynesworth hated it all, and was weary long before +it was half over. Everyone who came was angry, and a good many came whom +Wingrave refused to see. Just before five o'clock, young Nesbitt entered +the room unannounced. Aynesworth started towards him with a little +exclamation. The young man's evident excitement terrified him, and he +feared a tragedy. Malcolmson, too, half rose to his feet. Wingrave alone +remained unmoved. + +Nesbitt walked straight up to the table at which Malcolmson and Wingrave +were sitting. He halted in front of the latter. + +"Mr. Wingrave," he said, "you will give me my receipt for those shares +for fifty-seven thousand six hundred dollars." + +Wingrave turned to a paper by his side, and ran his forefinger down the +list of names. + +"Mr. Nesbitt," he said. "Yes! sixty thousand dollars." + +The young man laid a slip of paper upon the table. + +"That is a certified check for the amount," he said. "Mr. Malcolmson, +please give me my receipt." + +"Ah!" Mr. Wingrave remarked. "I thought that you would find the money." + +Nesbitt bit his lip, but he said nothing till he had the receipt and +had fastened it up in his pocket. Then he turned suddenly round upon +Wingrave. + +"Look here!" he said. "You've got your money. I don't owe you a cent. +Now I'm going to tell you what I think of you." + +Wingrave rose slowly to his feet. He was as tall as the boy, long, lean, +and hard. His face expressed neither anger nor excitement, but there was +a slight, dangerous glitter in his deep-set eyes. + +"If you mean," he said, "that you are going to be impertinent, I would +recommend you to change your mind." + +Nesbitt for a moment hesitated. There was something ominous in the cool +courage of the older man. And before he could collect himself, Wingrave +continued:-- + +"I presume," he said, "that you chose your own profession. You knew +quite well there was no place in it for men with a sense of the higher +morality. It is a profession of gamblers and thieves. If you'd won, +you'd have thought yourself a smart fellow and pocketed your winnings +fast enough. Now that you've lost--don't whine. You sat down willingly +enough to play the game with me. Don't call me names because you lost. +This is no place for children. Pocket your defeat, and be more careful +next time." + +Nesbitt was silent for a moment. Wingrave, cool and immovable, dominated +him. He gave a little laugh, and turned towards the door. + +"Guess you're right," he declared; "we'll let it go at that." + +Aynesworth followed him from the room. + +"I'm awfully glad you're out of the scrape," he said. + +Nesbitt caught him by the arm. + +"Come right along," he said. "I haven't had a drink in the daytime for +a year, but we're going to have a big one now. I say, do you know how I +got that money?" + +Aynesworth shook his head. + +"On easy terms, I hope." + +They sat down in the American Bar, and a colored waiter in a white linen +suit brought them whisky and Apollinaris in tall tumblers. + +"Listen," Nesbitt said. "My brain is on the reel still. I went back +to my office, and if it hadn't been for the little girl, I should have +brought a revolver by the way. Old Johnny there waiting to see me, no +end of a swell, Phillson, the uptown lawyer. He went straight for me. + +"'Been dealing in Hardwells?' he asked. + +"I nodded. + +"'Short, eh?' + +"'Six hundred shares,' I answered. There was no harm in telling him for +the Street knew well enough. + +"'Bad job,' he said. 'How much does Wingrave want?' + +"'Shares at par,' I answered. 'It comes to close on fifty-seven thousand +six hundred dollars.' + +"'I'm going to find you the money,' he said. + +"Then I can tell you the things in my office began to swim. I'd an idea +somehow that he was there as a friend, but nothing like this. I couldn't +answer him. + +"'It's a delicate piece of business,' he went on. 'In fact, the fewer +questions you ask the better. All I can say is there's a chap in Wall +Street got his eye on you. Your old dad once helped him over a much +worse place than this. Anyhow, I've a check here for sixty thousand +dollars, and no conditions, only that you don't talk.' + +"'But when am I to pay it back?' I gasped. + +"'If my client ever needs it, and you can afford it, he will ask for +it.' Phillson answered. 'That's all.' + +"And before I could say another darned word, he was gone, and the check +was there on my desk." + +Aynesworth sipped his whisky and Apollinaris, and lit a cigarette. + +"And they say," he murmured, "that romance does not exist in Wall +Street. You're a lucky chap, Nesbitt." + +"Lucky! Do you think I don't realize it? Of course, I know the old +governor had lots of friends on the Street, but he was never in a +big way, and he got hit awfully hard himself before he died. I can't +understand it anyway." + +"I wouldn't try," Aynesworth remarked, laughing. "By the bye, your +friend, whoever he was, must have got to know pretty quickly." + +Nesbitt nodded. + +"I thought of that," he said. "Of course, Phillsons are lawyers for +Malcolmson, Wingrave's broker, so I daresay it came from him. Say, +Aynesworth, you don't mind if I ask you something?" + +"Not at all," Aynesworth answered. "What is it?" + +"Why the devil do you stop with a man like Wingrave? He doesn't seem +your sort at all." + +Aynesworth hesitated. + +"Wingrave interests me," he answered. "He has had a curious life, and he +is a man with very strange ideas." + +Nesbitt finished his drink, and rose up. + +"Well," he said, "he's not a man I should care to be associated with. +Not but what I daresay he was right upstairs. He's strong, too, and he +must have a nerve. But he's a brute for all that!" + +Nesbitt went his way, and Aynesworth returned upstairs. Wingrave was +alone. + +"Have we finished this miserable business?" Aynesworth asked. + +"For the present," Wingrave answered. "Mr. Malcolmson will supply +you with a copy of the accounts. See that Hardwell is credited with a +quarter share of the profits. Our dealings are over for the present. +Be prepared to start on Saturday for the West. We are going to look for +those bears." + +"But the mine?" Aynesworth exclaimed. "It belongs to you now. Aren't you +going out to examine it?" + +Wingrave shook his head. + +"No," he said, "I know nothing about mines. My visit could not teach me +anything one way or the other. I have sent a commission of experts. I am +tired of cities and money-making. I want a change." + +Aynesworth looked at him suddenly. The weariness was there indeed--was +it his fancy, or was it something more than weariness which shone out of +the dark, tired eyes? + + + + +BOOK II + + + + +"MR. WINGRAVE FROM AMERICA" + +"Four years ago tonight," Aynesworth said, looking round the club +smoking room thoughtfully, "we bade you farewell in this same room!" + +Lovell, wan and hollow-eyed, his arm in a sling, his once burly frame +gaunt and attenuated with disease, nodded. + +"And I told you the story," he remarked, "of--the man who had been my +friend." + +"Don't let us talk of Wingrave tonight!" Aynesworth exclaimed with +sudden emphasis. + +"Why not?" Lovell knocked the ashes from his pipe, and commenced +leisurely to refill it. "Why not, indeed? I mean to go and see him as +soon as I can get about a little better." + +"If your description of him," Aynesworth said, "was a faithful one, you +will find him changed." + +Lovell laughed a little bitterly. + +"The years leave their mark," he said, "upon us all--upon all of us, +that is, who step out into the open where the winds of life are blowing. +Look at me! I weighed eighteen stone when I left England. I had the +muscles of a prize fighter and nerves of steel. Today I turn the scale +at ten stone and am afraid to be alone in the dark." + +"You will be yourself again in no time," Aynesworth declared cheerfully. + +"I shall be better than I am now, I hope," Lovell answered, "but I +shall never be the man I was. I have seen--God grant that I may some +day forget what I have seen! No wonder that my nerves have gone! I saw +a Russian correspondent, a strong brutal-looking man, go off into +hysterics; I saw another run amuck through the camp, shooting right +and left, and, finally, blow his own brains out. Many a night I sobbed +myself to sleep. The men who live through tragedies, Aynesworth, age +fast. I expect that I shall find Wingrave changed." + +"I would give a good deal," Aynesworth declared, "to have known him when +you did." + +Lovell nodded. + +"You should be able to judge of the past," he said, "by the present. +Four years of--intimate companionship with any man should be enough!" + +"Perhaps!" Aynesworth declared. "And yet I can assure you that I know +no more of Wingrave today than when I was first attracted to him by your +story and became his secretary. It is a humiliating confession, but it +is the truth." + +"That is why you remain with him," Lovell remarked. + +"I suppose so! I have often meant to leave, but somehow, when the time +comes, I stay on. His life seems to be made up of brutalities, small and +large. He ruins a man with as little compunction as one could fancy him, +in his younger days, pulling the legs from a fly. I have never seen him +do a kindly action. And yet, all the time I find myself watching for +it. A situation arises, and I say to myself: 'Now I am going to see +something different.' I never do, and yet I always expect it. Am I +boring you, Lovell?" + +"Not in the least! Go on! Anything concerning Wingrave interests me." + +"It is four years ago, you know, since I went to him. My first glimpse +of his character was the cold brutality with which he treated Lady Ruth +when she went to see him. Then we went down to his country place in +Cornwall. There was a small child there, whose father had been the +organist of the village, and who had died penniless. There was no one to +look after her, no one to save her from the charity schools and domestic +service afterwards. The church was on Wingrave's estate, it should +have been his duty to augment the ridiculous salary the dead man had +received. Would you believe it, Wingrave refused to do a single thing +for that child! He went down there like a vandal to sell the heirlooms +and pictures which had belonged to his family for generations. He had no +time, he told me coldly, for sentiment." + +"It sounds brutal enough," Lovell admitted. "What became of the child?" + +"One of her father's relations turned up after all and took care of +her," Aynesworth said. "Wingrave knew nothing about that, though. Then +on the voyage across the Atlantic, there was a silly, pretty little +woman on board who was piqued by Wingrave's indifference and tried to +flirt with him. In a few days she was his slave. She was going home to +her husband, and you would have thought that any decent fellow would +have told her that she was a little fool, and let her go. But not +Wingrave! She was landing with him at New York, but someone amongst the +passengers, who guessed what was up, sent a Marconigram to her husband, +and he met us at the landing stage." + +"Nothing came of that, then?" + +"No, but it wasn't Wingrave's fault. Then he began dealing with +some shares in a mine--THE mine, you know. They were supposed to be +worthless, and one boy, who was a little young to the game, sold him too +many. Wingrave was bleeding these brokers for hundreds of thousands of +dollars, and the boy came and asked to be let off by paying his whole +fortune to escape being hammered. Wingrave refused. I believe if the boy +hadn't just been married, he'd have blown his brains out!" + +Lovell laughed. + +"I don't envy you your job," he remarked. "Is there nothing to set down +on the credit side of the ledger?" + +"Not much," Aynesworth answered. "He is a fine sportsman, and he +saved my life in the Rockies, which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable +sometimes. He has a sense of justice, for he heard of this mine from a +man in prison, and he has kept accounts showing the fellow's share down +to the last halfpenny. But I have never yet known him to speak a kindly +word or do a kindly deed. He seems intent upon carrying out to the +letter his own principles--to make as many people as possible suffer for +his own broken life. Now he is back here, a millionaire, with immense +power for good or for evil, I am almost afraid of him. I wouldn't be +Lady Ruth or her husband for something." + +Lovell smoked thoughtfully for a time. + +"Wingrave was always a little odd," he remarked, "but I never thought +that he was a bad chap." + +"Go and see him now!" Aynesworth said. "Tell me if you think he wears a +mask or whether he is indeed what he seems." + +The hall porter entered the room and addressed Aynesworth. + +"Gentleman called for you, sir," he announced. + +"It is Wingrave," Aynesworth declared. "Come and speak to him!" + +They descended the stairs together. Outside, Wingrave was leaning back +in the corner of an electric brougham, reading the paper. Aynesworth put +his head in at the window. + +"You remember Lovell, Mr. Wingrave?" he said. "We were just talking when +your message came up. I've brought him down to shake hands with you." + +Wingrave folded his paper down at the precise place where he had been +reading and extended a very limp hand. His manner betrayed not the +slightest interest or pleasure. + +"How are you, Lovell?" he asked. "Some time since we met!" + +"A good many years," Lovell answered. + +"Finished your campaigning?" Wingrave inquired. "Knocked you about a +bit, haven't they?" + +"They very nearly finished me," Lovell admitted. "I shall pick up all +right over here, though." + +There was a moment's silence. Lovell's thoughts had flashed backwards +through the years, back to the time when he had sat within a few feet +of this man in the crowded court of justice and listened through the +painful stillness of that heavy atmosphere, charged with tragedy, to the +slow unfolding of the drama of his life. There had been passion enough +then in his voice and blazing in his eyes, emotion enough in his +twitching features and restless gestures to speak of the fire below. And +now, pale and cold, the man who had gripped his fingers then and held on +to them like a vise, seemed to find nothing except a slight boredom in +this unexpected meeting. + +"I shall see you again, I hope," Wingrave remarked at last. "By the +bye, if we do meet, I should be glad if you would forget our past +acquaintance. Sir Wingrave Seton does not exist any longer. I prefer to +be known only as Mr. Wingrave from America." + +Lovell nodded. + +"As you wish, of course," he answered. "I do not think," he added, +"that you need fear recognition. I myself should have passed you in the +street." + +Wingrave leaned back in the carriage. + +"Aynesworth," he said, "if you are ready, will you get in and tell the +man to drive to Cadogan Square? Good night, Mr. Lovell!" + +Lovell re-entered the club with a queer little smile at his lips. The +brougham glided up into the Strand, and turned westwards. + +"We are going straight to the Barringtons'?" Aynesworth asked. + +"Yes," Wingrave answered. "While I think of it, Aynesworth, I wish you +to remember this. Both Lady Ruth and her husband seem to think it part +of the game to try and make a cat's paw of you. I am not suggesting that +they are likely to succeed, but I do think it possible that one of +them may ask you questions concerning certain investments in which I am +interested. I rely upon you to give them no information." + +"I know very little about your investments--outside the mine," +Aynesworth answered. "They couldn't very well approach a more ignorant +person. Are you going to help Barrington to make a fortune?" + +Wingrave turned his head. There was a slight contraction of the +forehead, an ominous glitter in his steel grey eyes. + +"I think," he said, "you know that I am not likely to do that." + +The two men did not meet again till late in the evening. Lady Ruth's +rooms were crowded for it was the beginning of the political season, and +her parties were always popular. Nevertheless, she found time to beckon +Wingrave to her before they had been in the room many minutes. + +"I want to talk to you," she said a little abruptly. "You might have +come this afternoon as you promised." + +Lady Ruth was a wonderful woman. A well-known statesman had just asked a +friend her age. + +"I don't know," was the answer, "but whatever it is, she doesn't look +it." + +Tonight she was almost girlish. Her complexion was delicate and +perfectly natural, the graceful lines of her figure suggested more the +immaturity of youth than any undue slimness. She wore a wonderful collar +of pearls around her long, shapely neck, but very little other jewelry. +The touch of her fingers upon Wingrave's coat sleeve was a carefully +calculated thing. If he had thought of it, he could have felt the slight +appealing pressure with which she led him towards one of the smaller +rooms. + +"There are two chairs there," she said. "Come and sit down. I have +something to say to you." + + + + +THE SHADOW OF A FEAR + +For several minutes Lady Ruth said nothing. She was leaning back in +the farthest corner of her chair, her head resting slightly upon her +fingers, her eyes studying with a curious intentness the outline of +Wingrave's pale, hard face. He himself, either unconscious of, or +indifferent to her close scrutiny, had simply the air of a man possessed +of an inexhaustible fund of patience. + +"Wingrave," she said quietly, "I think that the time has gone by when I +was afraid of you." + +He turned slightly towards her, but he did not speak. + +"I am possessed," she continued, "at present, of a more womanly +sentiment. I am curious." + +"Ah!" he murmured, "you were always a little inclined that way." + +"I am curious about you," she continued. "You are, comparatively +speaking, young, well-looking enough, and strong. Your hand is firmly +planted upon the lever which moves the world. What are you going to do?" + +"That," he said, "depends upon many things." + +"You may be ambitious," she remarked. "If so, you conceal it admirably. +You may be devoting your powers to the consummation of vengeance against +those who have treated you ill. There are no signs of that, either, at +present." + +"We have excellent authority," he remarked, "for the statement that a +considerable amount of satisfaction is derivable from the exercise of +that sentiment." + +"Perhaps," she answered, "but the pursuit of vengeance for wrongs of the +past is the task of a fool. Now, you are not a fool. You carry your life +locked up within you as a strong man should. But there are always some +who may look in through the windows. I should like to be one." + +"An empty cupboard," he declared. "A cupboard swept bare by time and +necessity." + +She shook her head. + +"Your life," she said, "is molded towards a purpose. What is it?" + +"I must ask myself the question," he declared, "before I can tell you +the answer!" + +"No," she said, "the necessity does not exist. Your reckless pursuit of +wealth, your return here, the use you are making of my husband and me, +are all means towards some end. Why not tell me?" + +"Your imagination," he declared, "is running away with you." + +"Are you our enemy?" she asked. "Is this seeming friendship of yours a +cloak to hide some scheme of yours to make us suffer? Or--" She drew a +little closer to him, and her eyes drooped. + +"Or what?" he repeated. + +"Is there a little left," she whispered, "of the old folly?" + +"Why not?" he answered quietly. "I was very much in love with you." + +"It is dead," she murmured. "I believe that you hate me now!" + +Her voice was almost a caress. She was leaning a little towards him; her +eyes were seeking to draw his. + +"Hate you! How impossible!" he said calmly. "You are still a beautiful +woman, you know, Ruth." + +He turned and studied her critically. Lady Ruth raised her eyes once, +but dropped them at once. She felt herself growing paler. A spasm of the +old fear was upon her. + +"Yes," he continued, "age has not touched you. You can still pour, if +you will, the magic drug into the wine of fools. By the bye, I must not +be selfish. Aren't you rather neglecting your guests?" + +"Never mind my guests," she answered. "I have been wanting to talk to +you alone for days. Why have you done this? Why are you here? What is it +that you are seeking for in life?" + +"A little amusement only," he declared. "I cannot find it except amongst +my own kind." + +"You have not the appearance of a pleasure seeker," she answered. + +"Mine is a passive search," he said. "I have some years to live--and of +solitude, well, I have tasted at once the joys and the depths." + +"You are not in love with me any longer, are you?" she asked. + +"I am not bold enough to deny it," he answered, "but do not be afraid +that I shall embarrass you with a declaration. To tell you the truth, I +have not much feeling left of any sort." + +"You mean to keep your own counsel, then?" she asked. + +"It is so little to keep," he murmured, "and I have parted with so +much!" + +She measured the emotion of his tone, the curious yet perfectly natural +indifference of his manner, and she shivered a little. Always she feared +what she could not understand. + +"I had hoped," she said sadly, "that we might at least have been +friends." + +He shook his head. + +"I have no fancy," he declared, "for the cemeteries of affection. You +must remember that I am beginning life anew. I do not know myself yet, +or you! Let us drift into the knowledge of one another, and perhaps--" + +"Well! Perhaps?" + +"There may be no question of friendship!" + +Lady Ruth went back to her guests, and with the effortless ease of long +training, she became once more the gracious and tactful hostess. But in +her heart, the fear had grown a little stronger, and a specter walked +by her side. Once during the evening, her husband looked at her +questioningly, and she breathed a few words to him. He laughed +reassuringly. + +"Oh! Wingrave's all right, I believe," he said, "it's only his manner +that puts you off a bit. He's just the same with everyone! I don't think +he means anything by it!" + +Lady Ruth shivered, but she said nothing. Just then Aynesworth came up, +and with a motion of her fan she called him to her. + +"Please take me into the other room," she said "I want a glass of +champagne, and on the way you can tell me all about America." + +"One is always making epigrams about America," he protested, smiling. +"Won't you spare me?" + +"Tell me, then, how you progress with your great character study!" + +"Ah!" he remarked quietly, "you come now to a more interesting subject." + +"Yes?" + +"Frankly, I do not progress at all." + +"So far as you have gone?" + +"If," he said, "I were to take pen and paper and write down, at this +moment, my conclusions so far as I have been able to form any, I fancy +that they would make evil reading. Permit me!" + +They stood for a few minutes before the long sideboard. A footman had +poured champagne into their glasses, and Lady Ruth talked easily enough +the jargon of the moment. But when they turned away, she moved slowly, +and her voice was almost a whisper. + +"Tell me this," she said, "is he really as hard and cold as he seems? +You have lived with him now for four years. You should know that, at +least." + +"I believe that he is," Aynesworth answered. "I can tell you that much, +at least, without breach of faith. So far as one who watches him can +tell, he lives for his own gratification--and his indulgence in it does +not, as a rule, make for the happiness of other people." + +"Then what does he want with us?" she asked almost sharply. "I ask +myself that question until--I am terrified." + +Aynesworth hesitated. + +"It is very possible," he said, "that he is simply making use of you to +re-enter the world. Curiously enough, he has never seemed to care for +solitude. He makes numberless acquaintances. What pleasure he finds in +it I do not know, but he seldom avoids people. He may be simply making +use of you." + +"What do you think yourself?" + +"I cannot tell," Aynesworth answered. "Indeed I cannot tell." + +She left him a little impatiently, and Aynesworth joined the outside +of the circle of men who had gathered round Wingrave. He was answering +their questions readily enough, if a little laconically. He was quite +aware that he occupied in society the one unique place to which princes +might not even aspire--there was something of divinity about his +millions, something of awe in the tone of the men with whom he talked. +Women pretended to be interested in him because of the romance of his +suddenly acquired wealth--the men did not trouble to deceive themselves +or anyone else. A break up of the group came when a certain great and +much-talked-about lady sent across an imperative message by her cavalier +for the moment. She desired that Mr. Wingrave should be presented to +her. + +They passed down the room together a few moments later, the Marchioness +wonderfully dressed in a gown of strange turquoise blue, looking up at +her companion, and talking with somewhat unusual animation. Everyone +made remarks, of course--exchanged significant glances and unlovely +smiles. It was so like the Marchioness to claim, as a matter of course, +the best of everything that was going. Lady Ruth watched them with a +curious sense of irritation for which she could not altogether account. +It was impossible that she should be jealous, and yet it was equally +certain that she was annoyed. If Wingrave resisted his present fair +captor, he would enjoy a notability equal to that which his wealth +already conferred upon him. No man as yet had done it. Was it likely +that Wingrave would wear two crowns? Lady Ruth beckoned Aynesworth to +her. + +"Tell me," she said, "what is Mr. Wingrave's general attitude towards my +sex?" + +"Absolute indifference," he declared promptly, "unless--" + +He stopped short. + +"You must go on," she told him. + +"Unless he is possessed of the ability to make them suffer," he answered +after a moment's hesitation. + +"Then Emily will never attract him," she declared almost triumphantly, +"for she has no more heart that he has." + +"He has yet to discover it," Aynesworth remarked. "When he does, I think +you will find that he will shrug his shoulders--and say farewell." + +"All the same," Lady Ruth murmured to herself, "Emily is a cat." + +Lady Ruth spoke to one more man that night of Wingrave--and that man was +her husband. Their guests had departed, and Lady Ruth, in a marvelous +white dressing gown, was lying upon the sofa in her room. + +"How do you get on with Wingrave?" she asked. "What do you think of +him?" + +Barrington shrugged his shoulders. + +"What can one think of a man," he answered, "who goes about like an +animated mummy? I have done my best; I talked to him for nearly half an +hour at a stretch today when I took him to the club for lunch. He is +the incarnation of indifference. He won't listen to politics; women, or +tales about them, at any rate, seem to bore him to extinction; he drinks +only as a matter of form, and he won't talk finance. By the bye, Ruth, +I wish you could get him to give you a tip. I scarcely see how we are +going to get through the season unless something turns up." + +"Is it as bad as that?" she asked. + +"Worse!" her husband answered gloomily. "We've been living on our +capital for years. Every acre of Queen's Norton is mortgaged, and I'm +shot if I can see how we're going to pay the interest." + +She sighed a little wearily. + +"Do you think that it would be wise?" she asked. "Let me tell you +something, Lumley. I have only known what fear was once in my life. I +am afraid now. I am afraid of Wingrave. I have a fancy that he does not +mean any good to us." + +Barrington frowned and threw his cigarette into the fire with a little +jerk. + +"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "The man's not quite so bad as that. We've +been useful to him. We've done exactly what he asked. The other matter's +dead and buried. We don't want his money, but it is perfectly easy for +him to help us make a little." + +She looked up at him quietly. + +"I think, Lumley, that it is dangerous!" she said. + +"Then you're not the clever woman I take you for," he answered, turning +to leave the room. "Just as you please. Only it will be that or the +bankruptcy court before long!" + +Lady Ruth lay quite still, looking into the fire. When her maid came, +she moved on tiptoe for it seemed to her that her mistress slept. But +Lady Ruth was wide awake though the thoughts which were flitting through +her brain had, perhaps, some kinship to the land of dreams. + + + + +JULIET ASKS QUESTIONS + +"Any place," the girl exclaimed as she entered, "more unlike a +solicitor's office, I never saw! Flowers outside and flowers on your +desk, Mr. Pengarth! Don't you have to apologize to your clients for +your surroundings? There's absolutely nothing, except the brass plate +outside, to show that this isn't an old-fashioned farmhouse, stuck down +in the middle of a village. Fuchsias in the window sill, too!" + +He placed a chair for her, and laid down the deed which he had been +examining, with a little sigh of relief. It really was very hard work +pretending to be busy. + +"You see, Miss Juliet," he explained with twinkling eyes, "my clients +are all country folk, and it makes them feel more at home to find a +lawyer's office not very different from their own parlor." + +She nodded. + +"What would the great man say?" she inquired, pointing to the rows of +black tin boxes which lined the walls. + +"Sir Wingrave Seton is never likely to come here again, I am afraid," +he answered. "If he did, I don't think he'd mind. To tell you the truth, +I'm rather proud of my office, young lady!" + +She looked around. + +"They are nice," she said decidedly, "but unbusinesslike." + +"You're going to put up the pony and stay to lunch, of course?" he said. +"I'll ring for the boy." + +She stopped him. + +"Please don't!" she exclaimed. "I have come to see you--on business!" + +Mr. Pengarth, after his first gasp of astonishment, was a different man. +He fumbled about on the desk, and produced a pair of gold spectacles, +which he adjusted with great nicety on the edge of his very short nose. + +"On business, my dear!" he repeated. "Well, well! To be sure! Is it Miss +Harrison who has sent you?" + +Mr. Pengarth's visitor looked positively annoyed. She leaned across the +table towards him so that the roses in her large hat almost brushed his +forehead. Her wonderful brown eyes were filled with reproach. + +"Mr. Pengarth," she said, "do you know how old I am?" + +"How old, my dear? Why, let me see!" he exclaimed. "Fourteen and--why, +God bless my soul, you must be eighteen!" + +"I am nineteen years old, Mr. Pengarth," the young lady announced with +dignity. "Perhaps you will be kind enough to treat me now--er--with a +little more respect." + +"Nineteen!" he repeated vaguely. "God bless my--nineteen years old?" + +"I consider myself," she repeated, "of age. I have come to see you about +my affairs!" + +"Yes, yes!" he said. "Quite natural." + +"For four years," she continued, "I seem to have been supported by some +relative of my father, who has never vouchsafed to send me a single line +or message except through you. I have written letters which I have +given to you to forward. There has been no reply. Have you sent on those +letters, Mr. Pengarth?" + +"Why certainly, my dear, certainly!" + +"Can you tell me how it is that I have had no answer?" + +Mr. Pengarth coughed. He was not at all comfortable. + +"Your guardian, Miss Juliet, is somewhat eccentric," he answered, "and +he is a very busy man." + +"Can you tell me, Mr. Pengarth, exactly what relation he is to me?" + +There was a dead silence. Mr. Pengarth found the room suddenly warm, and +mopped his forehead with a large silk handkerchief. + +"I have no authority," he declared, "to answer any questions." + +"Then can you tell me of your own accord," she said, "why there is all +this mystery? Why may I not know who he is, why may I not write to him? +Am I anything to be ashamed of, that he will not trust me even with his +name? I am tired of accepting so much and not being able to offer even +my thanks in return. It is too much like charity! I have made up my mind +that if this is to go on, I will go away and earn my own living! There, +Mr. Pengarth!" + +"Rubbish!" he exclaimed briskly. "What at?" + +"Painting!" she declared triumphantly. "I have had this in my mind for +some time, and I have been trying to see what I can do best. I have +quite decided, now, to be an artist." + +"Pictures," he declared sententiously, "don't sell!" + +"Mine do," she answered, smiling. "I have had a check for three guineas +from a shop in London for a little sea piece I did in two afternoons!" + +He regarded her admiringly. + +"You are a wonderful child!" he exclaimed. + +"I am not a child at all," she interrupted warmly, "and you can just sit +down and write to your silly client and tell him so." + +"I will certainly write to him," he affirmed. "I will do so today. You +will not do anything rash until I have had time to get a reply?" + +"No!" she answered graciously. "I will wait for a week. After +that--well, I might do anything!" + +"You wouldn't leave Tredowen, Miss Juliet!" he protested. + +"It would break my heart, of course," she declared, "but I would do it +and trust to time to heal it up again. Tredowen seems like home to me, +but it isn't really, you know. Some day, Sir Wingrave Seton may want to +come back and live there himself. Are you quite certain, Mr. Pengarth, +that he won't be angry to hear that we have been living at the house all +this time?" + +"Certain," Mr. Pengarth declared firmly. "He left everything entirely +in my hands. He did not wish me to let it, but he did not care about its +being altogether uninhabited. The arrangement I was able to make with +your guardian was a most satisfactory one." + +"But surely he will come back himself some time?" she asked, + +The lawyer shook his head sorrowfully. + +"I am afraid," he said, "that Sir Wingrave has no affection for the +place whatever." + +"No affection for Tredowen," she repeated wonderingly. "Do you know what +I think, Mr. Pengarth? I think that it is the most beautiful house in +the world!" + +"And yet you talk of leaving it." + +"I don't want to go," she answered, "but I don't want to be accepting +things all my life from someone whose name even I do not know." + +"Well, well," he said, "you must wait until I have written my letter. +Time enough to talk about that later on. Now, if you won't stay to +lunch, you must come and see Rachael and have some cake and a glass of +wine." + +"How sweet of you," she exclaimed. "I'm frightfully hungry. Can I do +anything to stop growing, Mr. Pengarth? I'm getting taller and taller!" + +She stood up. She was head and shoulders taller than the little lawyer, +slim as a lath, and yet wonderfully graceful. She laughed down at him +and made a little grimace. + +"I'm a giraffe, am I not?" she declared; "and I'm still growing. Do show +me your garden, Mr. Pengarth. I want to see your hollyhocks. Everyone is +talking about them." + +They were joined in a few minutes by a prim, dignified little lady, +ridiculously like Mr. Pengarth, whom he called sister, and she Miss +Rachael. Juliet walked down the garden between them. + +"Sister," Mr. Pengarth said, "Juliet has come today to see me on +business. In effect, she has come to remind me that she is grown up." + +"Grown up," Miss Rachael protested vigorously, "rubbish!" + +"I am nineteen years old," Juliet declared. + +"And what if you are," Miss Rachael replied briskly. "In my young days +we were in the nursery at nineteen." + +"Quite so," Mr. Pengarth assented with relief. "You took me by storm +just now, Miss Juliet. After all, you are only a child." + +"I am old enough to feel and to mean all that I said to you, Mr. +Pengarth," she answered gravely. "And that reminds me, too--there was +something else I meant to ask you." + +"Sister," Mr. Pengarth said, "have you ordered the wine and the cake?" + +"Bless me, no!" Miss Rachael declared. "It shall be ready in five +minutes." + +She entered the house. Mr. Pengarth stooped to pick some lavender. + +"The only time I ever saw Sir Wingrave Seton," she said, "was on the day +before I was told that a relation of my father had been found, who was +willing to take charge of me. There was a younger man with him, someone +very, very different from Sir Wingrave. Do you know who he was?" + +"A sort of secretary of Sir Wingrave, I believe, dear. I never met him. +I was, unfortunately, away at the time they came." + +"He was very nice and kind to me," the girl continued, "just as nice as +Sir Wingrave was horrid. I suppose it was because they came on that day, +but I have always connected him somehow with this mysterious relation of +mine. Mr. Aynesworth didn't help to find him, did he?" + +"Certainly not!" the lawyer answered. "The instructions I had came first +from Mr. Saunders, the vicar of the parish. It was he who appeared to +have made the necessary inquiries." + +"Horrid old man!" she declared. "He used to make me feel that I wanted +to cry every time that I saw him." + +"Miss Rachael is calling us," the lawyer declared with obvious relief. + +"New cake!" Juliet declared, "I can smell it! Delicious!" + + + + +LADY RUTH'S LAST CARD + +"There are two letters," Aynesworth announced, "which I have not opened. +One, I think, is from the Marchioness of Westhampton, the other from +some solicitors at Truro. They were both marked private." + +Wingrave was at breakfast in his flat; Aynesworth had been in an +adjoining room sorting his correspondence. He accepted the two letters, +and glanced them through without remark. But whereas he bestowed +scarcely a second's consideration upon the broad sheet of white paper +with the small coronet and the faint perfume of violets, the second +letter apparently caused him some annoyance. He read it through for a +second time with a slight frown upon his forehead. + +"You must cancel my engagements for two days, Aynesworth," he said. "I +have to go out of town." + +Aynesworth nodded. + +"There's nothing very special on," he remarked. "Do you want me to go +with you?" + +"It is not necessary," Wingrave answered. "I am going," he added, after +a moment's pause, "to Cornwall." + +Aynesworth was immediately silent. The one time when Wingrave had spoken +to him as an employer, was in answer to some question of his as to what +had eventually become of the treasures of Tredowen. He had always since +scrupulously avoided the subject. + +"Be so good as to look out the trains for me," Wingrave continued. "I +cannot go until the afternoon," he added after a momentary pause. "I +have an engagement for luncheon. Perhaps, if you are not too busy, you +will see that Morrison packs some things for me." + +He moved to the writing table, and wrote a few lines to the Marchioness, +regretting that his absence from town would prevent his dining with +her on the following day. Then he studied the money column in several +newspapers for half an hour, and telephoned to his broker. At eleven +o'clock, he rode for an hour in the quietest part of the park, avoiding, +so far as possible, anyone he knew, and galloping whenever he could. It +was the only form of exercise in which he was known to indulge although +the knowledge of English games, which he sometimes displayed, was a +little puzzling to some of his acquaintances. On his return, he made +a simple but correct toilet, and at half-past one he met Lady Ruth at +Prince's Restaurant. + +Lady Ruth's gown of dove color, with faint touches of blue, was +effective, and she knew it. Nevertheless, she was a little pale, and her +manner lacked that note of quiet languor which generally characterized +it. She talked rather more than usual, chattering idly about the +acquaintances to whom she was continually nodding and bowing. Her face +hardened a little as the Marchioness, on her way through the room with a +party of friends, stopped at their table. + +The two women exchanged the necessary number of inanities, then the +Marchioness turned to Wingrave. + +"You won't forget that you are dining with me tomorrow?" + +Wingrave shook his head regretfully. + +"I am sorry," he said, "but I have to go out of town. I have just +written you." + +"What a bore," she remarked. "Business, of course!" + +She nodded and passed on. Her farewell to Lady Ruth was distinctly curt. +Wingrave resumed his seat and his luncheon without remark. + +"Hateful woman," Lady Ruth murmured. + +"I thought you were friends," Wingrave remarked. + +"Yes, we are," Lady Ruth assented, "the sort of friendship you men don't +know much about. You see a good deal of her, don't you?" + +Wingrave raised his head and looked at Lady Ruth contemplatively. + +"Why do you ask me that?" he asked. + +"Curiosity!" + +"I do," he remarked; "you should be grateful to her." + +"Why?" + +"It may save you a similar infliction." + +Lady Ruth was silent for several moments. + +"Perhaps," she said at last, "I do not choose to be relieved." + +Wingrave bowed, his glass in his hand. His lips were curled into the +semblance of a smile, but he did not say a word. Lady Ruth leaned a +little across the table so that the feathers of her hat nearly brushed +his forehead. + +"Wingrave," she asked, "do you know what fear is? Perhaps not! You are +a man, you see. No one has ever called me a coward. You wouldn't, would +you?" + +"No!" he said deliberately, "you are not a coward." + +"There is only one sort of fear which I know," she continued, "and that +is the fear of what I do not understand. And that is why, Wingrave, I am +afraid of you." + +He set down his glass, and his fingers trifled for a moment with its +stem. His expression was inscrutable. + +"Surely," he said, "you are not serious!" + +"I am serious," she declared, "and you know that I am." + +"You are afraid of me," he repeated softly. "I wonder why." + +She looked him straight in the eyes. + +"Because," she said, "I did you once a very grievous wrong. Because I +know that you have not forgiven me. Because I am very sure that all the +good that was in you lies slain." + +"By whose hand?" he asked quietly. "No! You need not answer. You know. +So do I. Yes, I can understand your fear. But I do not understand why +you confess it to me." + +"Nor I," she answered. "Nor do I understand why I am here--at your +bidding, nor why I keep you always by my side whenever you choose to +take your place there. Are you a vain man, Wingrave? Do you wish to pose +as the friend of a woman whom the world has thought too ambitious to +waste time upon such follies? There is the Marchioness! She would do you +more credit still." + +"Thank you," he answered. "I like to choose the path myself when I pass +into the maze of follies!" + +"You have not yet explained yourself," she reminded him. "Of all people +in world, you have chosen us for your presumptive friends. Why? You +hate us both. You know that you do. Is it part of a scheme? Lumley is +investing money on your advice, I am allowing myself to be seen about +with you more than is prudent--considering all things. Do you want +to rake out the ashes of our domestic hearth--to play the part +of--melodramatic villain? You are ingenious enough, and powerful +enough." + +"You put strange ideas into my head," he told her lightly. "Why should +I not play the part that you suggest? It might be amusing, and you +certainly deserve all the evil which I could bring upon you." + +She leaned a little across the table towards him. Her eyes were soft +and bright, and they looked full into his. The color in her cheeks was +natural. The air around him was faintly fragrant with the perfume of her +clothes and hair. + +"We couldn't leave off playing at the game--and act it, could we?" she +murmured. "We couldn't really--be friends?" + +Lady Ruth had played her trump card. She had touched his fingers with +hers, her eyes shone with the promise of unutterable things. But if +Wingrave was moved, he did not show it. + +"I wish," he said, "that I could accept your offer in the spirit +with which you tender it. Unfortunately, I am a maimed person. My +sensibilities have gone. Friendship, in the more intimate sense of +the word, I may never hope to feel again. Enmity--well, that is more +comprehensible; even enmity," he continued slowly, "which might prompt a +woman to disguise herself as her own lady's maid, to seek out a tool +to get rid of the man she feared. Pardon me, Lady Ruth, you are eating +nothing." + +She pulled down her veil. + +"Thank you, I have finished," she said in a low tone. + +He called for the bill. + +"Pray, don't let my little remark distress you," he said. "I had almost +forgotten the circumstance until something you said brought it into +my mind. It is you yourself, you must remember, who set the example of +candor." + +"I deserve everything you can say," she murmured, "everything you can +do. There is nothing left, I suppose, but suffering. Will you take me +out to my carriage? You can come back and have your coffee with the +Marchioness! She keeps looking across at you, and it will please her to +think that you got rid of me." + +He glanced at his watch. + +"I am afraid," he said, rising, "that I must deny myself the pleasure of +seeking the Marchioness again today. I have a train to catch in half an +hour. You are ready?" + +"Quite!" + +They made their way through the maze of tables towards the door, Lady +Ruth exchanging greetings right and left with her friends, although the +tall, grave-looking man who followed her was by far the greater object +of interest. + +"Just like Ruth to keep him in her pocket," remarked her dearest friend, +looking after them; "they say that he has millions." + +She sighed a little enviously. + +"The Barrington menage needs a little backing up," her companion +remarked. "I should say that he had come just in time. The Marchioness +has her eye upon him too. There may be some fun presently." + +Lady Ruth's dearest friend smiled. + +"I will back Ruth," she said drily. "Emily is beautiful, but she is too +obvious, and too eager! Ruth's little ways are more subtle. Besides, +look at the start she has. She isn't the sort of woman men tire of." + +Lady Ruth held out her hand through the window of her electric coupe. + +"Thank you for my luncheon," she said. "When shall we see you again?" + +"In a few days," he answered, standing bareheaded upon the pavement. "I +shall call directly I return." + +Lady Ruth nodded and leaned back. Wingrave smiled faintly as he turned +away. He had seen the little shudder which she had done her best to +hide! + +Lady Ruth found her husband at home, writing letters in his study. She +sank wearily into a chair by his side. + +"Been lunching out?" he inquired. + +She nodded. + +"At Prince's, with Wingrave." + +He made no remark, but he seemed far from displeased. + +"If I'd only had the pluck," he remarked a little disconsolately, "I +might have made thousands by following his advice this week. It was you +who put me off, too!" + +"It turned out all right?" she asked. + +"Exactly as he said. I made five hundred! I might just as well have made +five thousand." + +"Can you let me have a couple of hundred?" she asked. "The people are +all bothering so." + +"You know that I can't," he answered irritably. "I had to send the lot +to Lewis, and then it wasn't a quarter of what he is pressing for. We +shall never get through the season, Ruth, unless--" + +She raised her eyes. + +"Unless what?" + +"Unless something turns up!" + +There was a short, uncomfortable silence. Lady Ruth rose to her feet and +stood facing the fireplace with her back to him. + +"Lumley," she said, "let's face it!" + +He gave a little start. + +"Face what?" he inquired. + +"Ruin, the Bankruptcy Court, and all the rest of it!" she declared, a +note of defiance creeping into her tone. + +Her husband's face was white with astonishment. He stared across at her +blankly. + +"Are you mad, Ruth?" he exclaimed. "Do you know what you are saying?" + +"Quite well," she answered. "I'm a little sick of the whole show. The +tradespeople are getting impertinent. I don't even know where to get +flowers for dinner tonight or where to go for my Ascot gowns. It must +come sooner or later." + +"You're talking like a fool," he declared harshly. "Do you know that I +should have to give up my seat and my clubs?" + +"We could live quietly in the country." + +"Country be--hanged!" he exclaimed savagely. "What use is the country to +you and me? I'd sooner put a bullet through my brain. Ruth, old lady," +he added more gently, "what's gone wrong? You're generally such a well +plucked'un! Have you--had a row with Wingrave?" he asked, looking at her +anxiously. + +"No!" + +"Then what is it?" + +"Nothing! I've lost my nerve, I suppose!" + +"You want a change! It isn't so very long to Cowes now and, thank +heavens, that'll cost us nothing. We're going on Wingrave's yacht, +aren't we?" + +"Yes! We did accept." + +Barrington fidgeted for a moment with a paper knife. + +"Ruth," he asked, "what's wrong between you and Wingrave?" + +"Nothing," she answered; "I'm afraid of him, that's all!" + +"Afraid of him! Afraid of Wingrave!" he repeated. + +"Yes! I do not think that he has forgotten. I think that he means to +make us suffer." + +Barrington was almost dignified. + +"I never heard such nonsense in my life, Ruth!" he exclaimed. "I have +watched Wingrave closely, and I have seen no trace of anything of +the sort. Nonsense! It is worse than nonsense! You must be getting +hysterical. You must get all this rubbish out of your head. To tell you +the truth--" + +"Well?" + +"I was thinking that you might ask Wingrave to help us a bit. I don't +believe he'd hesitate for a moment." + +Ruth looked her husband in the face. There was a curious expression in +her eyes. + +"Do you think that it would be wise of me to ask him?" she demanded. + +"Why not?" he answered. "You can take care of yourself. I can trust +you." + +"I told you that I was afraid of Wingrave," she reminded him. "I can +take care of myself as a rule--and I do--as you know. I have elected to +be one of the unfashionables in that respect. But to ask Wingrave for +money is more than I dare do." + +"Then I shall ask him myself," Barrington declared. + +She picked up her gloves and turned to leave the room. + +"I should prefer even that," she said. + + + + +GUARDIAN AND WARD + +"Up to the present, then," Wingrave remarked, "the child has no idea as +to who has been responsible for the charge of her?" + +"No idea at all, Sir Wingrave," the lawyer declared. "Your wishes have +been strictly carried out, most strictly. She imagines that it is some +unknown connection of her father. But, as I explained to you in my +letter, she has recently exhibited a good deal of curiosity in the +matter. She is--er--a young lady of considerable force of character for +her years, and her present attitude--as I explained in my letter--is a +trifle difficult." + +Wingrave was sitting in the lawyer's own chair. Mr. Pengarth, who was a +trifle nervous, preferred to stand. + +"She shows, I think, a certain amount of ingratitude in forcing this +journey and explanation upon me," Wingrave declared coldly. "It should +have been sufficient for her that her benefactor preferred to remain +anonymous." + +"I regret, Sir Wingrave, that I must disagree with you," Mr. Pengarth +answered boldly. "Miss Juliet, Miss Lundy I should say, is a young lady +of character--and--er--some originality of disposition. She is a great +favorite with everyone around here." + +Wingrave remained silent. He had the air of one not troubling to reply +to what he considered folly. Through the wide open window floated in the +various sounds of the little country town, the rumbling of heavy carts +passing along the cobbled streets, the shrill greetings of neighbors and +acquaintances meeting upon the sidewalk. And then the tinkling bell of a +rubber-tired cart pulling up outside, and a clear girlish voice speaking +to some one of the passers-by. + +Wingrave betrayed as much surprise as it was possible for him to show +when at last she stood with outstretched hand before him. He had only an +imperfect recollection of an ill-clad, untidy-looking child, with pale +tear-stained cheeks, and dark unhappy eyes. The march of the years had +been a thing whose effects he had altogether underestimated. The girl +who stood now facing him was slight, and there was something of the +child left in her bright eager face, but she carried herself with all +the graceful assurance of an older woman. Her soft, dark eyes were +lit with pleasure and excitement, her delicately traced eyebrows and +delightful smile were somehow suggestive of her foreign descent. Her +clothes were country-made, but perfect as regarded fit and trimness, +her beflowered hat was worn with a touch of coquettish grace, a trifle +un-English, but very delightful. She had not an atom of shyness or +embarrassment. Only there was a great surprise in her face as she held +out her hands to Wingrave. + +"I know who you are," she exclaimed. "You are Sir Wingrave Seton. To +think that I never guessed." + +"You remember seeing me, then?" he remarked, and his tone sounded all +the colder after the full richness of her young voice. + +"I just remember it--only just," she answered. "You see you did not +take much notice of me that time, did you? But I have lived amongst your +ancestors too long to make any mistake. Why have you stayed away from +Tredowen so long?" + +"I have been abroad," Wingrave answered. "I am not fond of England." + +"You had trouble here, I know," she said frankly. "But that is all past +and over. I think that you must forget how beautiful your home is or +you would never bear to live away from it. Now, please, may I ask you a +question?" + +"Any that you think necessary," Wingrave answered. "Spare me as much as +possible; I am not fond of them." + +"Shall I leave you two together for a little time?" Mr. Pengarth +suggested, gathering up some papers. + +"Certainly not," Wingrave said shortly. "There is not the slightest +necessity for it." + +Mr. Pengarth resumed his seat. + +"Just as you please," he answered. "But you must sit down, Juliet. +There, you shall have my clients' chair." + +The girl accepted it with a little laugh. There was no shadow of +embarrassment about her manner, notwithstanding the cold stiffness of +Wingrave's deportment. He sat where the sunlight fell across his chair, +and the lines in his pale face seemed deeper than usual, the grey hairs +more plentiful, the weariness in his eyes more apparent. Yet she was not +in the least afraid of him. + +"First of all, then, Sir Wingrave, may I ask you why you have been so +extraordinarily kind to me?" + +"There is nothing extraordinary about it at all," he answered. "Your +father died and left you friendless in a parish of which I am Lord of +the Manor. He received a starvation pittance for his labors, which it +was my duty to augment, a duty which, with many others, I neglected. I +simply gave orders that you should be looked after." + +She laughed softly. + +"Looked after! Why, I have lived at Tredowen. I have had a governess, a +pony to drive. Heaven knows how many luxuries!" + +"That," he interrupted hastily, "is nothing. The house is better +occupied. What I have done for you is less in proportion than the +sixpence you may sometimes have given to a beggar for I am a rich, a +ridiculously rich man, with no possible chance of spending one-quarter +of my income. You had a distinct and obvious claim upon me, and, at no +cost or inconvenience to myself, I have endeavored, through others, to +recognize it." + +"I will accept your view of the situation," the girl said, still +smiling, but with a faint note of disappointment in her tone. "I do not +wish to force upon you expressions of gratitude which you would only +find wearisome. But I must thank you! It is in my heart, and I must +speak of it. There, it is over, you see! I shall say no more." + +"You are a sensible young lady," Wingrave said, making a motion as +though to rise. "I have only one request to make to you, and that is +that you keep to yourself the knowledge which Mr. Pengarth informs me +that you insisted upon acquiring. You are nearly enough of age now, and +I will make you your own mistress. That is all, I think." + +The smile died away from her lips. Her tone became very earnest. + +"Sir Wingrave," she said, "for all that you have done for me, I am, as +you know grateful. I would try to tell you how grateful, only I know +that it would weary you. So we will speak only of the future. I cannot +continue to accept--even such magnificent alms as yours." + +"What do you mean, child?" he asked, frowning across at her. + +"I mean," she said, "that now I am old enough to work, I cannot accept +everything from one upon whom I have no claim. If you will help me a +little still, I shall be more than grateful. But it must be in my own +way." + +"You talk about work," he said. "What can you do?" + +"I can paint," she answered, "fairly well. I should like to go to London +and have a few lessons. If I cannot make a living at that, I shall try +something else." + +"You disappoint me," Wingrave said. "There is no place for you in +London. There are thousands starving there already because they can +paint a little, or sing a little, or fancy they can. Do you find it dull +down here?" + +"Dull!" she exclaimed wonderingly. "I think that there can be no place +on earth so beautiful as Tredowen." + +"You are happy here?" + +"Perfectly!" + +"Then, for heaven's sake, forget all this folly," Wingrave said hardly. +"London is no place for children. Miss Harrison can take you up for a +month when you choose. You can go abroad if you want to. But for the +rest--" + +She rose suddenly, and sweeping across the office with one graceful +movement, she leaned over Wingrave's chair. Her hands rested upon +his shoulders, her eyes, soft with gathering tears, pleaded with his. +Wingrave sat with all the outward immobility of a Sphinx. + +"Dear Sir Wingrave," she said, "you have been so generous, so kind, and +I may not even speak of my gratitude. Don't please think me unreasonable +or ungracious. I can't tell you how I feel, but I must, I must, I must +go away. I could not live here any longer now that I know. Fancy for +a moment that I am your sister, or your daughter! Don't you believe, +really, that she would feel the same? And I think you would wish her to. +Don't be angry with me, please." + +Wingrave's face never changed; but his fingers gripped the arms of his +chair so that a signet ring he wore cut deep into his flesh. When he +spoke, his tone sounded almost harsh. The girl turned away to dash the +tears from her eyes. + +"What do you think of this--folly, Pengarth?" + +The lawyer looked his best client squarely in the face. "I do not call +it folly, Sir Wingrave. I think that Miss Lundy is right." + +There was a pause. Her eyes were still pleading with him. + +"Against the two of you," Wingrave remarked, "I am, of course, +powerless. After all, it is no concern of mine. I shall leave you, +Pengarth, to make such arrangements as Miss Lundy desires!" + +He rose to his feet. Juliet now was pale. She dashed the tears from her +eyes and looked at him in amazement mingled with something which was +almost like despair. + +"You don't mean," she exclaimed, "you are going away without coming to +Tredowen?" + +"Why not?" he asked. "I never had any intention of going there!" + +"You are very angry with me," she cried in despair. "I--I--" + +Her lip quivered. Wingrave interposed. + +"I shall be happy to go and have a look at the place," he said +carelessly, "if you will drive me back. I fancy I have almost forgotten +what it is like." + +She looked at him as at one who had spoken irreverently. Her eyes were +full of wonder. + +"I think that you must have indeed forgotten," she said, "how very +beautiful it is. It is your home too! There is no one else," she added +softly, "who can live there, amongst all those wonderful things, and +call it really--home!" + +"I am afraid," he said, "you will find that I have outlived all +sentiment; but I will certainly come to Tredowen with you!" + + + + +GHOSTS OF DEAD THINGS + +"It was here," she said, as they passed through the walled garden +seawards, "that I saw you first--you and the other gentleman who was so +kind to me." + +Wingrave nodded. + +"I believe that I remember it," he said; "you were a mournful-looking +object in a very soiled pinafore and most untidy hair." + +"I had been out on the cliffs," she reminded him, "where I am taking you +now. If you are going to make unkind remarks about my hair, I think that +I had better fetch a hat." + +"Pray don't leave me," he answered. "I should certainly lose my way. +Your hair in those days was, I fancy, a little more--unkempt!" + +She laughed. + +"It used to be cut short," she said. "Hideous! There! Isn't that +glorious?" + +She had opened the postern gate in the wall, and through the narrow +opening was framed a wonderful picture of the Cornish sea, rolling +into the rock-studded bay. Its soft thunder was in their ears; salt +and fragrant, the west wind swept into their faces. She closed the gate +behind her, and stepped blithely forward. + +"Come!" she cried. "We will climb the cliffs where we left you alone +once before." + +Side by side they stood looking over the ocean. Her head was thrown +back, her lips a little parted. He watched her curiously. + +"You must have sea blood in your veins," he remarked. "You listen as +though you heard music all the time." + +"And what about you?" she asked him, smiling. "You are the grandson of +Admiral Sir Wingrave Seton who commanded a frigate at Trafalgar, and an +ancestor of yours fought in the Armada." + +"I am afraid," he said quietly, "that there is a hiatus in my life +somewhere. There are no voices which call to me any more, and my family +records are so much dead parchment." + +Trouble passed into her glowing face and clouded her eyes. + +"Ah!" she said, "I do not like to hear you talk so. Do you know that +when you do, you make me afraid that something I have always hoped for +will never come to pass?" + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"I have always hoped," she said, "that some day you would come once more +to Tredowen. I suppose I am rather a fanciful person. This is a country +of superstitions and fancies, you know; but sometimes when I have been +alone in the picture gallery with all that long line of dark faces +looking down upon me from the walls, I have felt like an interloper. +Always they seem to be waiting! Tonight, after dinner, I will take you +there. I will try and show you what I mean." + +He shook his head. + +"I shall never come back," he said, "and there are no more of my name." + +She hesitated. When at last she spoke, the color was coming and going in +her cheeks. + +"Sir Wingrave," she said, "I am only an ignorant girl, and I have no +right to talk to you like this. Please be angry with me if you want to. +I deserve it. I know all about--that ten years! Couldn't you forget it, +and come back? None of the country people round here, your own people, +believe anything evil about you. You were struck, and you struck back +again. A man would do that. You could be as lonely as you liked here, +or you could have friends if you wished for them. But this is the place +where you ought to live. You would be happier here, I believe, than in +exile. The love of it all would come back, you would never be lonely. +It is the same sea which sang to you when you were a child, and to your +fathers before you. It would bring you forgetfulness when you wanted it, +or--" + +Wingrave interrupted her. His tone was cold, but not unkind. + +"My dear young lady," he said, "it is very good of you to be so +sympathetic, but I am afraid I am not at all the sort of person you +imagine me to be. What I was before those ten years--well, I have +forgotten. What I am now, I unfortunately know. I am a soured, +malevolent being whose only pleasure lies in the dealing out to others +some portion of the unhappiness which was dealt out to me." + +"I do not believe it," she declared briskly. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Nevertheless, it is true," he declared coolly. "Listen! More or less +you interest me. I will tell you something which I have never yet +told to a single human being. I need not go into particulars. You will +probably believe a broad statement. My ten years' imprisonment was more +or less an injustice!" + +"Sir Wingrave!" + +He checked her. There was not a tremor in his tone. The gesture with +which he had repelled her was stiff and emotionless. + +"I went into prison one man, I came out another. While I live, I +shall never be able to think kindly again of a single one of my fellow +creatures. It was not my fault. So far as our affections are concerned, +we are machines, all of us. Well, my mainspring has broken." + +"I don't believe it," she declared. + +"It is, nevertheless, true," he affirmed calmly. "I am living in exile +because I have no friends, because friends have become an impossibility +to me. I shall not tell you any more of my life because you are young +and you would not believe me if I did. Some day," he added grimly, "you +will probably hear for yourself." + +"I shall never believe anything," she declared, "which I do not choose +to believe. I shall never believe, for instance, that you are quite what +you think yourself." + +"We will talk of other things," he said. "Five years ago, you showed +Aynesworth where the seagulls built." + +"And now I will show you," she exclaimed, "if you are sure that your +head is steady enough. Come along!"... + +It was after dinner that she took him into the picture gallery. Miss +Harrison, very much disturbed by the presence of the master of Tredowen, +and still more so by the hint which she had already received as to +coming changes, followed them at a little distance. + +"I am so sorry," Juliet said, "that we have no cigars or cigarettes." + +"I seldom smoke," Wingrave answered. + +"If only we had had the slightest idea of your coming," Miss Harrison +said for the tenth time, "we would have made more adequate preparations. +The wine cellar, at least, could have been opened. I allowed Mr. and +Mrs. Tresfarwin to go for their holiday only yesterday, and the cellars, +of course, are never touched." + +"Your claret was excellent," Wingrave assured her. + +"I am quite sure," Miss Harrison said, "that claret from the local +grocer is not what you are accustomed to--" + +"My dear madam," Wingrave protested, "I seldom touch wine. Show me which +picture it is, Juliet, that you--ah!" + +She had led him to the end of the gallery and stopped before what seemed +to be a plain oak cupboard surrounded by a massive frame. She looked at +him half fearfully. + +"You want to see that picture?" he asked. + +"If I might." + +He drew a bunch of keys from his pocket and calmly selected one. It was +a little rusty, but the cupboard turned at once on its hinges. A woman's +face smiled down upon them, dark and splendid, from the glowing touch +of a great painter. Juliet studied it eagerly, and then stole a sidelong +glance at the man by her side. He was surveying it critically and +without any apparent emotion. + +"Herkomer's, I think," he remarked. "Quite one of his best." + +"It is your mother?" she whispered. + +He nodded. + +"I'm not great at genealogy," he said, "but I can go as far back as +that. She was by way of being a great lady, the daughter of the Duke of +Warminster." + +"You were an only son," she said softly. "She must have been very fond +of you." + +"Customary thing, I suppose," he remarked. "Lucky for her, under the +circumstances, that she died young." + +He closed the oaken door in front of the picture, and locked it. + +"I should like to see the armory," he said; "but I really forget--let me +see, it is at the end of the long gallery, isn't it?" + +She led him there without a word. She was getting a little afraid of +him. They inspected the library and wandered back into the picture +gallery. It was she, now, who was silent. She had shown him all her +favorite treasures without being able to evoke a single spark of +enthusiasm. + +"Once," she remarked, "we all had a terrible fright. We were told that +everything was going to be sold." + +He nodded. + +"I did think of it," he admitted; "but there seemed to be no hurry. All +these things are growing into money year by year. Some day I shall send +everything to Christie's." + +She looked at him in horror. + +"You cannot--oh, you cannot mean it?" she cried. + +"Why not? They are no use to me." + +"No use?" she faltered. + +"Not a bit. I don't suppose I shall see them again for many years. And +the money--well, one can use that." + +"But I thought--that you were rich?" she faltered. + +"So I am," he answered, "and yet I go on making more and more, and I +shall go on. Money is the whip with which its possessor can scourge +humanity. It is with money that I deal out my--forgive me, I forgot that +I was talking aloud, and to a child," he wound up suddenly. + +She looked at him, dry-eyed, but with a strained look of sorrow +strangely altering her girlish face. + +"You must be very unhappy," she said. + +"Not at all," he assured her. "I am one of those fortunate persons +who have outlived happiness and unhappiness. I have nothing to do but +live--and pay off a few little debts." + +He rose directly afterwards, and she walked with him out to the gardens +whence a short cut led to the village. + +"I have not tried again to make you change your mind," he said as they +stood for a moment on the terrace. "If my wishes have any weight with +you, I trust that you will do nothing without consulting Mr. Pengarth." + +"And you--" she faltered, "are you--never in London? Sha'n't I see you +again any time?" + +"If you care to, by all means," he answered. "Tell Mr. Pengarth to let +me have your address. Goodbye! Thank you for taking care of my treasures +so well." + +She held his cold hand in hers and suddenly raised it to her lips. Then +she turned away and hurried indoors. + +Wingrave stood still for a moment and gazed at his hand through the +darkness as though the ghosts of dead things had flitted out from the +dark laurel shrubs. Then he laughed quietly to himself. + + + + +SPREADING THE NETS + +"By the bye," the Marchioness asked him, "have you a Christian name?" + +"Sorry," Wingrave answered, "if I ever had, I've forgotten it." + +"Then I must call you Wingrave," she remarked. "I hate calling anyone I +know decently well Mr. anything." + +"Charmed," Wingrave answered; "it isn't a bad name." + +"It isn't," she admitted. "By the bye," she continued, looking at him +critically, "you are rather a surprising person, aren't you?" + +"Glad you've found it out," Wingrave answered. "I always thought so." + +"One associates all sorts of terrible things with +millionaires--especially African and American ones," she remarked. "Now +you could pass anywhere for the ordinary sort of decent person." + +Wingrave nodded. + +"I was told the other day," he remarked reflectively, "that if I would +only cultivate two things, I might almost pass as a member of the +English aristocracy." + +"What were they?" she asked rashly. + +"Ignorance and impertinence," he answered. + +The Marchioness was silent for a moment. There was a little more color +than usual in her beautiful cheeks and a dangerous glitter in her eyes. + +"You can go home, Mr. Wingrave," she said. + +He rose to his feet imperturbably. The Marchioness stretched out a long +white hand and gently forced him back again. + +"You mustn't talk like that to me," she said quietly. "I am sensitive." + +He bowed. + +"A privilege, I believe, of your order," he remarked. + +"Of course, if you want to quarrel--" she began. + +"I don't," he assured her. + +"Then be sensible! I want to talk to you." + +"Sensible, alone with you!" he murmured. "I should establish a new +record." + +"You certainly aren't in the least like a millionaire," she declared, +smiling at him, "you are more like a--" + +"Please go on," he begged. + +"I daren't," she answered, shaking her head. + +"Then you aren't in the least like a marchioness," he declared. "At +least, not like our American ideas of one." + +She laughed outright. + +"Bring your chair quite close to mine," she ordered, "I really want to +talk to you." + +He obeyed, and affected to be absorbed in the contemplation of the +rings on the hand which a great artist had called the most beautiful in +England. She withdrew it a little peevishly, after a moment's pause. + +"I want to talk about the Barringtons," she said. "Do you know that they +are practically ruined?" + +"I heard that Barrington had been gambling on the Stock Exchange the +last few days," he answered. + +"He has lost a great deal of money," she answered, "and they were almost +on their last legs before. Are you going to set them straight again?" + +"No idea," he answered. "I haven't been asked, for one thing." + +"Ruth will ask you, of course," the Marchioness said impatiently. "I +expect that she is waiting at your flat by now. I want to know whether +you are going to do it." + +The hand was again very close to his. Again Wingrave contemplated the +rings. + +"I forgot that you were her friend, and are naturally anxious," he +remarked. + +"I am not her friend," the Marchioness answered, "and--I do not wish you +to help them." + +Wingrave was silent. The hand was insistent, and he held it for a moment +lightly, and then let it go. + +"Well, I don't know," he said doubtfully. "The Barringtons have been +very hospitable to me." + +"Rubbish!" the Marchioness answered. "You have done quite enough for +them already. Of course, you are a man--and you must choose. I am sure +that you understand me." + +He rose to his feet. + +"I must think this out," he said. "The Barringtons have a sort of claim +on me. I will let you know which way I decide." + +She stood close to him, and her hand fell upon his shoulder. + +"You are not going!" she exclaimed. "I have told them that I am at home +to no one, and I thought that you would stay and entertain me. Sit down +again, Wingrave!" + +"Sorry," he answered, "I have a lot to do this afternoon. I came +directly I had your note; but I have had to keep some other people +waiting." + +"You are going to see Lady Ruth!" + +"Not that I know of," he declared. "I have heard nothing from her. By +the bye, I lost some money to you at bridge the other evening. How much +was it? Do you remember?" + +She looked at him for a second, and turned away. + +"Do you really want to know?" she asked. + +"If you please. Put the amount down on a piece of paper, and then I +sha'n't forget it." + +She crossed the room to her desk, and returned with a folded envelope. +He stuffed it into his waistcoat pocket. + +"I shall be at the opera tonight," she said. "Will you come there and +tell me what--which you decide?" + +"With pleasure," he answered, "if I can get away from a stupid dinner in +time." + +She let him go reluctantly. Afterwards she passed into her own room, +and stood looking at herself in the pier glass. Artists and the society +papers called her the most beautiful woman in England; fashion had +placed her upon such a pinnacle that men counted it a distinction to be +seen speaking to her. She dealt out her smiles and favors like Royalty +itself; she had never once known a rebuff. This afternoon she felt that +she had received one. Had she been too cold or too forward? Perhaps she +had underestimated the man himself. She rang for her maid. + +"Celeste," she said, "I shall wear my new Paquin gown tonight at the +opera, and my pearls." + +"Very good, your ladyship." + +"And I am going to lie down for an hour or two now. Don't let me be +disturbed. I want to look my best tonight. You understand?" + +"Perfectly, your ladyship." + +The Marchioness rested, but she did not sleep. She was thinking of +Wingrave! + +It was not Lady Ruth, but her husband, who was waiting to see Wingrave +on his return. Aynesworth was talking to him, but at once withdrew. +Wingrave nodded with slightly upraised eyebrows. He never shook hands +with Barrington. + +"You wanted to see me?" he inquired, carelessly turning over a little +pile of letters. + +Barrington was ill at ease. He hated himself and he hated his errand. + +"Yes, for a moment or two--if you're not busy," he said. "May I smoke? +I'm nervous this morning." + +"Help yourself," Wingrave said shortly. "Cigarettes and cigars on the +sideboard. Touch the bell if you'll take anything to drink." + +"Thanks--Aynesworth gave me a brandy and soda. Capital fellow, +Aynesworth!" + +"Have another," Wingrave said shortly. + +He crossed the room to the sideboard. Wingrave glanced up from his +letters, and smiled coldly as he saw the shaking fingers. + +"I don't often indulge like this," Barrington said, turning away from +the sideboard with a tumbler already empty in his hands. "The fact is, +I've had rather a rude knock, and Ruth thought I'd better come and see +you." + +Wingrave remained a study of impassivity. His guest's whole demeanor, +his uneasy words and nervous glances were an unspoken appeal to be +helped out in what he had come to say. And Wingrave knew very well +what it was. Nevertheless, he remained silent--politely questioning. +Barrington sat down a little heavily. He was not so carefully dressed +as usual; he looked older, his appearance lacked altogether that air of +buoyant prosperity which was wont to inspire his friends and creditors +with confidence. + +"I've been a fool, Wingrave," he said. "You showed me how to make a +little money a few weeks ago, and it seemed so easy that I couldn't +resist having a try by myself, only on rather a larger scale. I +lost! Then I went in again to pull myself round, and I lost again. I +lost--more than I can easily raise before settlement." + +"I am sorry," Wingrave said politely. "It is very unwise to meddle in +things you know so little about." + +For a moment the worm turned. Barrington rose to his feet, and with +a deep flush upon his cheeks moved towards the door. But his spark of +genuine feeling died out almost as soon as it had been kindled. Outside +that door was ruin; within, as he very well knew, lay his only chance of +salvation. He set down his hat, and turned round. + +"Wingrave," he said, "will you lend me some money?" + +Wingrave looked at him with upraised eyebrows. + +"I," he remarked, "lend you money? Why should I?" + +"Heaven knows," Barrington answered. "It is you who have chosen to +seek us out. You have forced upon us something which has at least the +semblance of friendship. There is no one else whom I could ask. It isn't +only this damned Stock Exchange transaction. Everything has gone wrong +with me for years. If I could have kept going till next July, I should +have been all right. I have made a little success in the House, and I +am promised a place in the next government. I know it seems queer that +I should be asking you, but it is that--or ruin. Now you know how things +are with me." + +"You are making," Wingrave said quietly, "a mistake. I have not +pretended or given the slightest evidence of any friendship for +yourself." + +Barrington looked at him with slowly mounting color. + +"You mean--" + +"Precisely," Wingrave interrupted. "I do not know what I might or might +not do for Lady Ruth. I have not considered the subject. It has not, in +fact, been presented to me." + +"It is the same thing," Barrington declared hoarsely. + +"Pardon me--it is not," Wingrave answered. + +"What I ask you to do," Barrington said, "I ask on behalf of my wife." + +"As an ambassador," Wingrave said coldly, "you are not acceptable to +me. It is a matter which I could only discuss with Lady Ruth herself. If +Lady Ruth has anything to say to me, I will hear it." + +Barrington stood quite still for several moments. The veins on his +forehead stood out like tightly drawn cords, his breath came with +difficulty. The light in his eyes, as he looked at Wingrave, was almost +murderous. + +"If Lady Ruth desires to see me," Wingrave remarked slowly, "I shall be +here at nine o'clock this evening. Tomorrow my movements are uncertain. +You will excuse me if I hurry you away now. I have an engagement which +is already overdue." + +Barrington took up his hat and left the room without a word. Wingrave +remained in his chair. His eyes followed the departing figure of his +visitor. When he was absolutely sure that he was alone, he covered his +face with one hand. His engagement seemed to have been with his thoughts +for he did not stir for nearly an hour later. Then he rang the bell for +Aynesworth. + + + + +IN THE TOILS + +Wingrave did not speak for several moments after Aynesworth had entered +the room. He had an engagement book before him and seemed to be deep in +its contents. When at last he looked up, his forehead was furrowed with +thought, and he had the weary air of a man who has been indulging in +unprofitable memories. + +"Aynesworth," he said, "be so good as to ring up Walters and excuse me +from dining with him tonight." + +Aynesworth nodded. + +"Any particular form of excuse?" he asked. + +"No! Say that I have an unavoidable engagement. I will see him tomorrow +morning." + +"Anything else?" Aynesworth asked, preparing to leave the room. + +"No! You might see that I have no visitors this evening. Lady Ruth is +coming here at nine o'clock." + +"Lady Ruth is coming here," Aynesworth repeated in a colorless tone. +"Alone?" + +"Yes." + +Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders, but made no remark. He turned towards +the door, but Wingrave called him back. + +"Your expression, Aynesworth," he said, "interests me. Am I or the lady +in question responsible for it?" + +"I am sorry for Lady Ruth," Aynesworth said. "I think that I am sorry, +too, for her husband." + +"Why? She is coming of her own free will." + +"There are different methods of compulsion," Aynesworth answered. + +Wingrave regarded him thoughtfully. + +"That," he said, "is true. But I still do not understand why you are +sorry for her." + +"Because," Aynesworth said, "I know the history of a certain event, and +I know you. It is, I suppose, for this end that you made use of them." + +Wingrave nodded. + +"Quite right," he declared. "I think that the time is not far off when +that dear lady and I can cry quits. This time, too, I see nothing to +impair my satisfaction at the probable finale. In various other cases, +as you might remember, I have not been entirely successful." + +"It depends," Aynesworth remarked drily, "upon what you term success." + +Wingrave shrugged his shoulders. + +"I think," he said coldly, "that you are aware of what my feelings and +desired course of action have been with regard to those of my fellow +creatures with whom I have happened to come into contact. It seems to me +that I have been a trifle unfortunate in several instances." + +"As for instance?" Aynesworth asked. + +"Well, to take a few cases only," Wingrave continued, "there was the +child down at Tredowen whom you were so anxious for me to befriend. Of +course, I declined to do anything of the sort, and she ought, by rights, +to have gone to some charitable institution, founded and supported by +fools, and eventually become, perhaps, a domestic servant. Instead +of which, some relation of her father turns up and provides for her +lavishly. You must admit that that was unfortunate." + +"It depends upon the point of view," Aynesworth remarked drily. +"Personally, I considered it a most fortunate occurrence." + +"Naturally," Wingrave agreed. "But then you are a sentimentalist. You +like to see people happy, and you would even help to make them so if you +could without any personal inconvenience. I am at the other pole. If I +could collect humanity into one sentient force, I would set my heel upon +it without hesitation. I try to do what I can with the atoms, but I have +not the best of fortune. There was Mrs. Travers, now! There I should +have been successful beyond a doubt if some busybody hadn't sent that +cable to her husband. I wonder if you were idiot enough to do that, +Aynesworth?" + +"If I had thought of the Marconigram," Aynesworth said, "I am sure I +should have done it. But as a matter of fact, I did not." + +"Just as well, so far as our relations are concerned," Wingrave said +coldly. "I did manage to make poor men of a few brokers in New York, +but my best coup went wrong. That boy would have blown his brains out, +I believe, if some meddling idiot hadn't found him all that money at the +last moment. I have had a few smaller successes, of course, and there +is this affair of Lady Ruth and her estimable husband. You know that he +came to borrow money of me, I suppose?" + +"I guessed it," Aynesworth answered. "You should be modern in your +revenge and lend it to him." + +Wingrave smiled coldly. + +"I fancy," he said, "that Lumley Barrington will find my revenge modern +enough. I may lend the money they need--but it will be to Lady Ruth! I +told her husband so a few minutes ago. I told him to send his wife to +me. He has gone to tell her now!" + +"I wonder," Aynesworth remarked, "that he did not thrash you--or try +to." + +Again Wingrave's lips parted. + +"Moral deterioration has set in already," he remarked. "When he pays +his bills with my money, he will lose the little he has left of his +self-respect." + +Aynesworth turned abruptly away. He was strongly tempted to say things +which would have ended his connection with Wingrave, and as yet he was +not ready to leave. For the sake of a digression, he took up a check +book from the table. + +"There are three checks," he remarked, "which I cannot trace. One +for ten thousand pounds, another for five, and a third for a thousand +pounds. What account shall I put them to?" + +"Private drawing account," Wingrave answered. "They represent a small +speculation. By the bye, you'd better go and ring up Walters." + +"Do you wish the particulars entered in your sundry investment book?" +Aynesworth asked. + +Wingrave smiled grimly. + +"I think not," he answered. "You can put them to drawing account. If +you want me again this evening, I shall dine at the Cafe Royal at eight +o'clock, and shall return here at five minutes to nine." + + . . . . . . . . . . . + +Lady Ruth was punctual. At a few minutes past nine, Morrison announced +that a lady had called to see Mr. Wingrave by appointment. + +"You can show her in," Wingrave said. "See that we are not disturbed." + +Lady Ruth was scarcely herself. She was dressed in a high-necked muslin +gown, and she wore a hat and veil, which somewhat obscured her features. +The latter she raised, however, as she accepted the chair which Wingrave +had placed for her. He saw then that she was pale, and her manner +betrayed an altogether unfamiliar nervousness. She avoided his eyes. + +"Did you expect me?" she asked. + +"Yes!" he answered, "I thought that you would come." + +Her foot, long and slender, beat impatiently upon the ground. She looked +up at him once, but immediately withdrew her eyes. + +"Why did you bring me here?" she asked in a low tone. + +"My dear Lady Ruth!" he protested. + +"If you want to play at being friends," she said, "for heaven's sake +call me Ruth. You found it easy enough once." + +"You are very kind," he answered. "Ruth, by all means." + +"Now will you answer my question?" she said. "Do you mean--to help us?" + +"Us--no!" he answered; "you--perhaps yes!" he added. + +Then she looked at him, and found herself puzzled by the perfect +impassivity of his features. Surely he would drop the mask now. He had +insisted upon her coming! + +"Perhaps?" she repeated. "What then--are the conditions?" + +He bent over towards her. Curiously enough, there was, mingled with +many other sensations, a certain sense of triumph in the thought, it was +almost a hope, that at last he was going to betray himself, that he was +going to admit tacitly, or by imputation, that her power over him was +not wholly dead. It was a terrible situation--in her heart she felt so, +but it had its compensations. Wingrave had been her constant attendant +for months. He had seen her surrounded by men, all anxious to secure a +smile from her; he had seen her play the great lady in her own house, +and she played it very well. She knew that she was a past mistress in +the arts which fascinate his sex, she understood the quiet speeches, the +moods, every trick of the gamester in emotions, from the fluttering +of eyelids to the unchaining of the passions. And he had loved her. +Underneath it all, he must love her now. She was determined that he +should tell her so. It was genuine excitement which throbbed in her +pulses, a genuine color which burned in her cheeks. + +"The conditions?" he repeated. "You believe, then, that I mean to make +conditions?" + +She raised her eyes to his, eloquent eyes she knew, and looked at him. +The mask was still there--but he had moved a little nearer to her. + +"I do not know," she said softly. "You must tell me." + +There was a moment's silence. She had scarcely given herself credit for +such capacity for emotion. He was on his feet. Surely the mask must go +now! And then--she felt that it must be a nightmare. It was incredible! +He had struck a match and was calmly lighting a cigarette. + +"One," he said coolly, "is that Mademoiselle Violet employs no more +amateur assassins to make clumsy attempts upon my life." + +She sat in her place rigid--half frozen with a cold, numbing fear. He +had sent for her, then, only to mock her. She had failed! They were not +even to have the money! Speech was quite impossible. Then he continued. + +"I will take your assent for granted," he said. "Do you know how much +you require to free yourself?" + +"About eight thousand pounds!" she answered mechanically. + +He sat down and wrote a check, which he laid before her. + +"You will have to endorse that," he remarked in a matter-of-fact tone. +"Your name at the back will do instead of a receipt." + +She sprang to her feet. + +"Keep your money," she cried. "I will not touch it. Please open the door +for me! I am going." + +"By all means--if you wish it," he answered undisturbed. "At the same +time, I am curious to know why you came here at all if you did not +intend to accept it." + +She faced him, hot and angry. + +"I did intend to accept it," she declared. "It is that or ruin. But you +are too cruel! You make it--impossible." + +"You surprise me," he answered. "I suppose you know best." + +"For heaven's sake tell me," she cried passionately, "what has come to +you, what manner of a man are you? You loved me once! Now, even, after +all these years, you cannot deny it. You have gone out of your way to +be with me, to be my companion wherever we are. People are beginning to +smile when they see us together. I don't mind. I--for God's sake tell +me, Wingrave! Why do you do it? Why do you lend me this money? What can +I do for you? What do you want me to be? Are you as cold as a stone? +Have you no heart--no heart even for friendship!" + +"I would not seek," he answered, "to buy--your friendship with a check!" + +"But it is yours already," she cried, holding out her hands. "Give me +a little kindness, Wingrave! You make me feel and seem a perfect idiot. +Why, I'd rather you asked me anything that treated me like this." + +"I was under the impression," Wingrave remarked, "that I was behaving +rather well. I wonder what would really satisfy you!" + +"To have you behave as you are doing, and want to behave differently," +she cried. "You are magnificent--but it is because you are indifferent. +Will you kiss me, Wingrave?" + +"With pleasure!" he answered. + +She drew away from him quickly. + +"Is it--another woman?" she asked. "The Marchioness?" + +Her eagerness was almost painful. He did not answer her at once. She +caught hold of his wrist and drew him towards her. Her eyes searched his +face. + +"The Marchioness," he said, "is a very beautiful woman. She does not, +however, affect the situation as between you and me." + +"If she dared!" Lady Ruth murmured. "Wingrave, won't you try and be +friends with me?" + +"I will try--certainly," he answered. "You would be surprised, however, +if you could realize the effect of a long period of enforced seclusion +upon a man of my--" + +"Don't!" she shrieked; "stop!" + +"My temperament, I was about to say," he concluded. "There was a time +when I am afraid I might have been tempted, under such circumstances as +these, to forget that you were no longer free, to forget everything that +except we were alone, and that you--are as beautiful as ever you were!" + +"Yes!" she murmured, moving imperceptibly a little nearer towards him. + +He picked up the check and gave it to her. + +"I am no actor," he said, looking at her steadily. "At present, I make +no conditions. But--" + +She leaned towards him. He took her face between his hands and kissed +her on the lips. + +"I may make them later," he said. "I reserve my right." + +She looked at him for a moment, and dropped her veil. + +"Please take me down to my carriage," she asked. + + + + +THE INDISCRETION OF THE MARCHIONESS + +"I am perfectly certain," Juliet declared, "that we ought not to be +here." + +"That," Aynesworth remarked, fanning himself lightly with his pocket +handkerchief, "may account for the extraordinary sense of pleasure which +I am now experiencing. At the same time, I can't see why not." + +"I only met you this afternoon--a few hours ago. And here we are, +absolutely wedged together on these seats--and my chaperon is dozing +half the time." + +"Pardon me," Aynesworth objected, "I knew you when you were a child." + +"For one day!" + +"Nevertheless," Aynesworth persisted, "the fact remains. If you date our +acquaintance from this afternoon, I do not. I have never forgotten the +little girl in short frocks and long black hair, who showed me where the +seagulls built, and told me Cornish fairy stories." + +"It was a very long time ago," she remarked. + +"Four years," he answered; "for you, perhaps, a long time, because +you have changed from a child--into a woman. But for a man approaching +middle age--as I am--nothing!" + +"That is all very well," she answered, "but I am not sure that we ought +to be in the gallery at Covent Garden together, with a chaperon who will +sleep!" + +"She will wake up," he declared, "with the music." + +"And I," she murmured, "will dream. Isn't it lovely?" + +He smiled. + +"I wonder how it really seems to you," he remarked. "We are breathing an +atmosphere hot with gas, and fragrant with orange peel. We are squashed +in amongst a crowd of people of a class whom I fancy that neither you +nor I know much about. And I saw you last in a wilderness! We saw only +the yellow sands, and the rocks, and the Atlantic. We heard only +the thunder of the sea and the screaming of seagulls. This is very +different." + +"Wonderfully, wonderfully different," she answered. "I miss it all! Of +course I do, and yet one is so much nearer to life here, the real life +of men and women. Oh, one cannot compare it. Why should one try? Ah, +listen!" + +The curtain went up. The music of the orchestra subsided, and the music +of the human voice floated through the Opera House--the human voice, +vibrant with joy and passion and the knowledge which lies behind the +veil. Juliet found no time to talk then, no time to think even of her +companion. Her young cheeks were flushed, her eyes were bright with +excitement. She leaned a little forward in her place, she passed with +all the effortless facility of her ingenuous youth, into the dim world +of golden fancies which the story of the opera was slowly unfolding. +Beside her, Mrs. Tresfarwin dozed and blinked and dozed again--and on +her left Aynesworth himself, a little affected by the music, still found +time to glance continually at his companion, so radiant with life and +so fervently intent upon realizing to the full this, the first of its +unknown joys. So with crashing of chords and thunder of melody the act +went on. And when it was over, Juliet thought no more of the Cornish +sea and the lullaby of the waves. A new music was stirring in her young +blood. + +They were in the front row of the gallery, and presently she leaned over +to gaze down at the panorama below, the women in the boxes and stalls, +whose bare shoulders and skillfully coiffured hair flashed with jewels. +Suddenly her hand fell upon Aynesworth's arm. + +"Look!" she cried in some excitement, "do you see who that is in the box +there--the one almost next to the stage?" + +Aynesworth, too, uttered a little exclamation. The lights from beneath +were falling full upon the still, cold face of the man who had just +taken a vacant chair in one of the boxes. + +"Wingrave!" he exclaimed, and glanced at once at his watch. + +"Sir Wingrave Seton," she murmured. "Isn't it strange that I should see +him here tonight?" + +"He comes often," Aynesworth answered. "Music is one of his few +weaknesses." + +There was a movement in the box, and a woman's head and shoulders +appeared from behind the curtain. Juliet gave a little gasp. + +"Mr. Aynesworth," she exclaimed, "did you ever see such a beautiful +woman? Do tell me who she is!" + +"A very great lady in London society," Aynesworth answered. "That is +Emily, Marchioness of Westchester." + +Juliet's eyes never moved from her until the beautiful neck and +shoulders were turned away. She leaned over towards her companion, and +she did not again, for some few minutes, face the house. + +"She is the loveliest woman I ever saw in my life," Juliet said with +a little sigh. "Is she a great friend of Sir Wingrave Seton, Mr. +Aynesworth?" + +"He has no friends," Aynesworth answered. "I believe that they are very +well acquainted." + +"Poor Sir Wingrave!" Juliet murmured softly. + +Aynesworth looked at her in some surprise. + +"It is odd that you should have recognized him from up here," he +remarked thoughtfully. "He has changed so much during the last few +years." + +Juliet smiled, but she did not explain. She felt that she was obeying +Wingrave's wishes. + +"I should have recognized him anywhere," she answered simply. "I wonder +what they are talking about. She seems so interested, and he looks so +bored." + +Aynesworth looked at his watch. It was barely ten o'clock. + +"I am very glad to see him here this evening," he remarked. + +"I should like so much," she said, still gazing at them earnestly, "to +know that they are talking about." + + . . . . . . . . . . . + +"So you will not tell me," the Marchioness murmured, ceasing for a +moment the graceful movements of her fan, and looking at him steadily. +"You refuse me this--almost the first thing I have ever asked you?" + +"It is scarcely," Wingrave objected, "a reasonable question." + +"Between you and me," she murmured, "such punctiliousness is scarcely +necessary--is it?" + +He withstood the attack of those wonderful eyes lifted swiftly to his, +and answered her gravely. + +"You are Lady Ruth's friend," he remarked. "Probably, therefore, she +will tell you all about it." + +The Marchioness laughed softly, yet with something less than mirth. + +"Friends," she exclaimed, "Lady Ruth and I? There was never a woman in +this world who was less my friend--especially now!" + +He asked for no explanation of her last words, but in a moment or two +she vouchsafed it. She leaned a little forward, her eyes flashed softly +through the semi-darkness. + +"Lady Ruth is afraid," she said quietly, "that I might take you away +from her." + +"My dear lady," he protested, "the slight friendship between Lady Ruth +and myself is not of the nature to engender such a fear." + +She shrugged her beautiful shoulders. Her hands were toying with the +rope of pearls which hung from her neck. She bent over them, as though +examining the color of the stones. + +"How long have you known Ruth?" she asked quietly. + +He looked at her steadfastly. He could not be sure whether it was his +fancy, or whether indeed there was some hidden meaning in her question. + +"Since I came to live in England," he answered. + +"Ah!" + +There was a moment's silence. Then with a little wave of her hands and a +brilliant smile, she figuratively dismissed the subject. + +"We waste time," she remarked lightly, "and we may have callers at +any moment. I will ask you no more questions save those which the +conventions may permit you to answer truthfully. We can't depart from +our code, can we, even for the sake of an inquisitive woman?" + +"I can assure you--" he began. + +"But I will have no assurances," she interrupted smilingly. "I am going +to talk of other things. I am going to ask you a ridiculous question. +Are you fond of music?--seriously!" + +"I believe so," he answered. "Why?" + +"Because," she answered, "I sometimes wonder what there is in the world +that interests you! Certainly, none of the ordinary things seem to. +Tonight, almost for the first time, I saw you look a little drawn out +of yourself. I was wondering whether it was the music or the people. I +suppose, until one gets used to it," she added, looking a little wearily +around the house, "an audience like this is worth looking at." + +"It certainly is not the people," he said. "Do you make as close a study +of all your acquaintances?" + +"Naturally not," she answered, "and I do not class you amongst my +acquaintances at all. You interest me, my friend--very much indeed!" + +"I am flattered," he murmured. + +"You are not--I wish that you were," she answered simply. "I can +understand why you have succeeded where so many others have failed. +You are strong. You have nerves of steel--and very little heart. But +now--what are you going to do with your life, now that wealth must even +have lost its meaning to you? I should like to know that. Will you tell +me?" + +"What is there to do?" he asked. "Eat and drink, and juggle a little +with the ball of fate." + +"You are not ambitious?" + +"Not in the least." + +"Pleasure, for itself, does not attract you. No! I know that it does +not. What are you going to do, then?" + +"I have no idea," he answered. "Won't you direct me?" + +"Yes, I will," she answered, "if you will pay my price." + +He looked at her more intently. He himself had been attaching no +particular importance to this conversation, but he was suddenly +conscious that it was not so with the woman at his side. Her eyes were +shining at him, soft and full and sweet; her beautiful bosom was rising +and falling quickly; there had come to her something which even he was +forced to recognize, that curious and voluptuous abandonment which a +woman rarely permits herself, and can never assume. He was a little +bewildered. His speech lost for a moment its cold precision. + +"Your price?" he repeated. "I--I am stupid. I'm afraid I don't +understand." + +"Marry me," she whispered in his ear, "and I will take you a little +further into life than you could ever go alone You don't care for me, of +course--but you shall. You don't understand this world, Wingrave, or how +to make the best of it. I do! Let me be your guide!" + +Wingrave looked at her in grave astonishment. + +"You are not by any chance--in earnest?" he asked. + +"You know very well that I am," she answered swiftly. "And yet you +hesitate! What is it that you are afraid of? Don't you like to give up +your liberty? We need not marry unless you choose. That is only a matter +of form nowadays at any rate. I have a hundred chaperons to choose from. +Society expects strange things from me. It is your companionship I want. +Your money is fascinating, of course. I should like to see you spend it, +to spend it with both hands. Don't be afraid that we should be talked +about. I am not Lady Ruth! I am Emily, Marchioness of Westchester, and I +live and choose my friends as I please; will you be chief amongst them? +Hush!" + +For Wingrave it was providential. The loud chorus which had heralded +the upraising of the curtain died away. Melba's first few notes were +floating through the house. Silence was a necessity. The low passion of +the music rippled from the stage, through the senses and into the hearts +of many of the listeners. But Wingrave listened silent and unmoved. He +was even unconscious that the woman by his side was watching him half +anxiously every now and then. + +The curtain descended amidst a thunder of applause. Wingrave turned +slowly towards his companion. And then there came a respite--a knock at +the door. + +The Marchioness frowned, but Wingrave was already holding it open. +Lady Ruth, followed by an immaculate young guardsman, a relative of her +husband, was standing there. + +"Mr. Wingrave!" she exclaimed softly, with upraised eyebrows, "why have +you contrived to render yourself invisible? We thought you were alone, +Emily," she continued, "and took pity on you. And all the time you had a +prize." + +The Marchioness looked at Lady Ruth, and Lady Ruth looked at the +Marchioness. The young guardsman was a little sorry that he had come, +but Lady Ruth never turned a hair. + +"You must really have your eyes seen to, dear," the Marchioness remarked +in a tone of tender concern. "When you can't see such an old friend as +Mr. Wingrave from a few yards away, they must be very bad indeed. +How are you, Captain Kendrick? Come and tell me about the polo this +afternoon. Sorry I can't offer you all chairs. This is an absurd box--it +was only meant for two!" + +"Come into ours," Lady Ruth said; "we have chairs for six, I think." + +The Marchioness shook her head. + +"I wish I had a millionaire in the family," she murmured. "All the same, +I hate large parties. I am old-fashioned enough to think that two is a +delightful number." + +Lady Ruth laid her hand upon Wingrave's arm. + +"A decided hint, Mr. Wingrave," she declared. "Come and let me introduce +you to my sister. Our box is only a few yards off." + + + + +"I AM MISANTHROPOS, AND HATE MANKIND" + +Wingrave had just come in from an early gallop. His pale cheeks were +slightly flushed, and his eyes were bright. He had been riding hard to +escape from disconcerting thoughts. He looked in at the study, and found +Aynesworth with a mass of correspondence before him. + +"Anything important?" he asked. + +"Not yet," Aynesworth answered. "The letters marked private I have sent +up to your room. By the bye, there was something I wanted to tell you." + +Wingrave closed the door. + +"Well?" he said. + +"I was up in the gallery of the Opera House last night," Aynesworth +said, "with a--person who saw you only once, soon after I first came +to you--before America. You were some distance away, and yet--my friend +recognized you." + +Wingrave shrugged his shoulders. + +"That, of course, is possible," he answered. "It really does not matter +so very much unless they knew me--as Wingrave Seton!" + +"My friend," Aynesworth said, "recognized you as Sir Wingrave Seton." + +Wingrave frowned thoughtfully for a moment. + +"Who was it?" he asked. + +"A most unlikely person," Aynesworth remarked smiling. "Do you remember, +when we went down to Tredowen just before we left for America, a little, +long-legged, black-frocked child, whom we met in the gardens--the +organist's daughter, you know?" + +"What of her?" Wingrave asked. + +"It was she who was with me," Aynesworth remarked. "It was she who saw +you in the box with the Marchioness of Westchester." + +Aynesworth was puzzled by the intentness with which Wingrave was +regarding him. Impenetrable though the man was, Aynesworth, who had not +yet lost his early trick of studying him closely, knew that, for some +reason or other, his intelligence had proved disturbing. + +"Have you then--kept up your acquaintance with this child?" he demanded. + +Aynesworth shook his head. + +"She is not a child any longer, but a very beautiful young woman," he +said. "I met her again quite by accident. She is up in London, studying +art at the studio of an old friend of mine who has a class of girls. I +called to see him the other afternoon, and recognized her." + +"Your acquaintance," Wingrave remarked, "has progressed rapidly if she +accepts your escort--to the gallery of the Opera!" + +"It was scarcely like that," Aynesworth explained. "I met her and Mrs. +Tresfarwin on the way there, and asked to be allowed to accompany them. +Mrs. Tresfarwin was once your housekeeper, I think, at Tredowen." + +"And did you solve the mystery of this relation of her father who turned +up so opportunely?" Wingrave asked. + +Aynesworth shook his head. + +"She told me nothing about him," he answered. + +Wingrave passed on to his own room. His breakfast was on the table +awaiting him, and a little pile of letters and newspapers stood by his +plate. His servant, his head groom, and his chauffeur were there to +receive their orders for the morning. About him were all the evidences +of his well-ordered life. He sent both the men away and locked the +door. It was half an hour before he touched either his breakfast or his +letters.... + +He lunched at Westchester House in obedience to a somewhat imperative +summons. There were other guests there, whom, however, he outstayed. As +soon as they were alone, his hostess touched him on the arm and led him +to her own room. + +"At last!" she exclaimed, with an air of real relief. "There, sit down +opposite to me, please--I want to watch your face." + +She was a little paler than usual, and he noticed that she had avoided +talking much to him at luncheon time. And yet he thought that he had +never seen her more beautiful. Something in her face had altered. He +could not tell what it was for he was not a man of much experience as +regarded her sex. Yet, in a vague sort of way, he understood the +change. A certain part of the almost insolent quietness, the complete +self-assurance of her manner, had gone. She was a little more like an +ordinary woman! + +"Lady Ruth proved herself an excellent tactician last night," she +remarked. "She has given me an exceedingly uncomfortable few hours. For +you, well for you it was a respite, wasn't it?" + +"I don't know that I should call it exactly that," he answered +thoughtfully. + +She looked at him steadfastly, almost wistfully. + +"Well," she said, "I am not going to make excuses for myself. But the +things which one says naturally enough when the emotions provoke them +sound crude enough in cold blood and colder daylight. We women are +creatures of mood, you know. I was feeling a little lonely and a little +tired last night, and the music stole away my common sense." + +"I understand," he murmured. "All that you said shall be forgotten." + +"Then you do not understand," she answered, smiling at him. "What I said +I do not wish to be forgotten. Only--just at that moment, it sounded +natural enough--and today--I think that I am a little ashamed." + +He rose from his seat. Her eyes leaped up to his expectantly, and the +color streamed into her cheeks. But he only stood by her side. He did +nothing to meet the half-proffered embrace. + +"Dear Lady Emily," he said, "all the kind things that you said were +spoken to a stranger. You did not know me. I did not mean anyone to know +me. It is you who have commanded the truth. You must have it. I am not +the person I seem to be. I am not the person to whom words such as yours +should have been spoken. Even my name is an assumed one. I should prefer +to leave it at that--if you are content." + +"I am not content," she answered quietly; "I must hear more." + +He bowed. + +"I am a man," he said, "who spent ten years in prison, the ten best +years of my life. A woman sent me there--a woman swore my liberty away +to save her reputation. I was never of a forgiving disposition, I was +never an amiably disposed person. I want you to understand this. Any of +the ordinary good qualities with which the average man may be endowed, +and which I may have possessed, are as dead in me as hell fire could +burn them. You have spoken of me as of a man who failed to find a +sufficient object in life. You were wrong. I have an object, and I do +my best to live up to it. I hate the whole world of men and women who +laughed their way through life whilst I suffered--tortures. I hate the +woman who sent me there. I have no heart, nor any sense of pity. Now +perhaps you can understand my life and the manner of it." + +Her hands were clasped to the side of her head. Something of horror had +stolen into the steadfast gaze with which she was still regarding him. +Yet there were other things there which puzzled him. + +"This--is terrible!" she murmured. "Then you are not--Mr. Wingrave at +all?" + +He hesitated. After all, it was scarcely worth while concealing anything +now. + +"I am Sir Wingrave Seton," he said. "You may remember my little affair!" + +She caught hold of his hands. + +"You poor, poor dear!" she cried. "How you must have suffered!" + +Wingrave had a terrible moment. What he felt he would never have +admitted, even to himself. Her eyes were shining with sympathy, and it +was so unexpected. He had expected something in the nature of a cold +withdrawal; her silence was the only thing he had counted upon. It was a +fierce, but short battle. His sudden grasp of her hands was relaxed. He +stood away from her. + +"You are very kind," he said. "As you can doubtless imagine, it is a +little too late for sympathy. The years have gone, and the better part +of me, if ever there was a better part, with them." + +"I am not so sure of that!" she whispered. + +He looked at her coldly. + +"Why not?" + +"If you were absolutely heartless," she said, "if you were perfectly +consistent, why did you not make me suffer? You had a great chance! A +little feigned affection, and then a few truths. You could have dragged +me down a little way into the pit of broken hearts! Why didn't you?" + +He frowned. + +"One is forced to neglect a few opportunities!" + +She smiled at him--delightfully. + +"You foolish man!" she murmured. "Some day or other, you will turn out +to be a terrible impostor. Do you know, I think I am going to ask you +again--what I asked you last night?" + +"I scarcely think that you will be so ill-advised," he declared coldly. +"Whether you believe it or not, I can assure you that I am incapable of +affection." + +She sighed. + +"I am not so sure about that," she said with protesting eyebrows, "but +you are terribly hard-hearted?" + +He was entirely dissatisfied with the impression he had produced. He +considered the attitude of the Marchioness unjustifiably frivolous. He +had an uneasy conviction that she was not in the least inclined to take +him seriously. + +"I don't think," he said, glancing at the clock, "that I need detain you +any longer." + +"You are really going away, then?" she asked him softly. + +"Yes." + +"To call on Lady Ruth, perhaps?" + +"As it happens, no," he answered. + +Suddenly her face changed--she had remembered something. + +"It was Lady Ruth!" she exclaimed. + +"Exactly!" he interrupted. + +"What a triumph of inconsistency!" she declared scornfully. "You are +lending them money!" + +"I am lending money to Lady Ruth," he answered slowly. + +Their eyes met. She understood, at any rate, what he intended to convey. +Certainly his expression was hard and merciless enough now! + +"Poor Ruth," she murmured. + +"Some day," he answered, "you will probably say that in earnest." + + + + +JULIET GAINS EXPERIENCE + +"Of course," Juliet said, "after Tredowen it seems very small, almost +poky, but it isn't, really, and Tredowen was not for me all my days. It +was quite time I got used to something else." + +Wingrave looked around him with expressionless face. It was a tiny +room, high up on the fifth floor of a block of flats, prettily but +inexpensively furnished. Juliet herself, tall and slim, with all the +fire of youth and perfect health on her young face, was obviously +contented. + +"And your work?" he asked. + +She made a little grimace. + +"I have a good deal to unlearn," she said, "but Mr. Pleydell is very +kind and encouraging." + +"You will go down to Cornwall for the hot weather, I hope?" he said. +"London is unbearable in August." + +"The class are going for a sketching tour to Normandy," she said, +"and Mr. Pleydell thought that I might like to join them. It is very +inexpensive, and I should be able to go on with my work all the time." + +He nodded thoughtfully. + +"I hear," he said, "that you have met Mr. Aynesworth again." + +"Wasn't it delightful?" she exclaimed. "He is quite an old friend of Mr. +Pleydell. I was so glad to see him." + +"I suppose," he remarked, "you are a little lonely sometimes?" + +"Sometimes," she admitted. "But I sha'n't be when I get to know the +girls in the class a little better." + +"I have some friends," he said thoughtfully, "women, of course, who +would come and see you with pleasure. And yet," he added, "I am not sure +that you would not be better off without knowing them." + +"They are fashionable ladies, perhaps?" she said simply. + +He nodded. + +"They belong to the Juggernaut here which is called society. They would +probably try to draw you a little way into its meshes. I think, yes, I +am sure," he added, looking at her, "that you are better off outside." + +"And I am quite sure of it," she answered laughing. "I haven't the +clothes or the time or the inclination for that sort of thing. Besides, +I am going to be much too happy ever to be lonely." + +"I myself," he said, "am not an impressionable person. But they tell me +that most people, especially of your age, find London a terribly lonely +place." + +"I can understand that," she answered, "unless they really had something +definite to do. I have felt a little of that myself. I think London +frightens me a little. It is so different from the country, and there is +a great deal that is difficult to understand." + +"For instance?" + +"The great number of poor people who find it so hard to live," she +answered. "Some of the small houses round here are awful, and +Mr. Malcolm--he is the vicar of the church here, and he called +yesterday--tells me that they are nothing like so bad as in some +other parts of London. And then you take a bus, it is such a short +distance--and the shops are full of wonderful things at such fabulous +prices, and the carriages and houses are so lovely, and people seem to +be showering money right and left everywhere." + +"It is the same in all large cities," he answered, "more or less. +There must always be rich and poor, when a great community are herded +together. As a rule, the extreme poor are a worthless lot." + +"There must be some of them, though," she answered, "who deserve to +have a better time. Of course, I have never been outside Tredowen, where +everyone was contented and happy in their way, and it seems terrible to +me just at first. I can't bear to think that everyone hasn't at least a +chance of happiness." + +"You are too young," he said, "to bother your head about these things +yet. Wait until you have gathered in a little philosophy with the years. +Then you will understand how helpless you are to alter by ever so little +the existing state of things, and it will trouble you less." + +"I," she answered, "may, of course, be helpless, but what about those +people who have huge fortunes, and still do nothing?" + +"Why should they?" he answered coldly. "This is a world for individual +effort. No man is strong enough to carry even a single one of his +fellows upon his shoulders. Charity is the most illogical and pernicious +of all weaknesses." + +"Now you are laughing at me," she declared. "I mean men like that +Mr. Wingrave, the American who has come to England to spend all his +millions. I have just been reading about him," she added, pointing to an +illustrated paper on the table. "They say that his income is too vast +to be put into figures which would sound reasonable; that he has estates +and shooting properties, and a yacht which he has never yet even +seen. And yet he will not give one penny away. He gives nothing to the +hospitals, nothing to the poor. He spends his money on himself, and +himself alone!" + +Wingrave smiled grimly. + +"I am not prepared to defend my namesake," he said; "but every man has a +right to do what he likes with his own, hasn't he? And as for hospitals, +Mr. Wingrave probably thinks, like a good many more, that they should be +state endowed. People could make use of them, then, without loss of self +respect." + +She shook her head a little doubtfully. + +"I can't argue about it yet," she said, "because I haven't thought +about it long enough. But I know if I had all the money this man has, +I couldn't be happy to spend thousands and thousands upon myself while +there were people almost starving in the same city." + +"You are a sentimentalist, you see," he remarked, "and you have not +studied the laws on which society is based. Tell me, how does Mrs. +Tresfarwin like London?" + +Juliet laughed merrily. + +"Isn't it amusing?" she declared. "She loves it! She grumbles at the +milk, and we have the butter from Tredowen. Everything else she finds +perfection. She doesn't even mind the five flights of stone steps." + +"Social problems," Wingrave remarked, "do not trouble her." + +"Not in the least," Juliet declared. "She spends all her pennies on +beggars and omnibus rides, and she is perfectly happy." + +Wingrave rose to go in a few minutes. Juliet walked with him to the +door. + +"I am going to be really hospitable," she declared. "I am going to walk +with you to the street." + +"All down those five flights?" he exclaimed. + +"Every one of them!" + +They commenced the descent. + +"There is something about a flat," she declared, "which makes one +horribly curious about one's neighbors--especially if one has never had +any. All these closed doors may hide no end of interesting people, and +I have never seen a soul go in or out. How did you like all this +climbing?" + +"I'm afraid I didn't appreciate it," he admitted. + +"Perhaps you won't come to see me again, then?" she asked. "I hope you +will." + +"I will come," he said a little stiffly, "with pleasure!" + +They were on the ground floor, and Juliet opened the door. Wingrave's +motor was outside, and the man touched his hat. She gave a little +breathless cry. + +"It isn't yours?" she exclaimed. + +"Certainly," he answered. "Do you want to come and look at it?" + +"Rather!" she exclaimed. "I have never seen one close to in my life." + +He hesitated. + +"I'll take you a little way, if you like," he said. + +Her cheeks were pink with excitement. + +"If I like! And I've never been in one before! I'll fly up for my hat. I +sha'n't be a moment." + +She was already halfway up the first flight of stairs, with a whirl of +skirts and flying feet. Wingrave lit a cigarette and stood for a moment +thoughtfully upon the pavement. Then he shrugged his shoulders. His face +had grown a little harder. + +"She must take her chances," he muttered. "No one knows her. Nobody is +likely to find out who she is." + +She was down again in less time than seemed possible. Her cheeks were +flushed and her eyes bright with excitement. Wingrave took the wheel +himself, and she sat up by his side. They glided off almost noiselessly. + +"We will go up to the Park," he said. "It is just the time to see the +people." + +"Anywhere!" she exclaimed. "This is too lovely!" + +They passed from Battersea northwards into Piccadilly, and down into the +Park. Juliet was too excited to talk; Wingrave had enough to do to drive +the car. They passed plenty of people who bowed, and many who glanced +with wondering admiration at the beautiful girl who sat by Wingrave's +side. Lady Ruth, who drive by quickly in a barouche, almost rose from +her seat; the Marchioness, whose victoria they passed, had time to wave +her hand and flash a quick, searching glance at Juliet, who returned +it with her dark eyes filled with admiration. The Marchioness smiled to +herself a little sadly as the car shot away ahead. + +"If one asked," she murmured to herself, "he would try to persuade one +that it was another victim." + + + + +NEMESIS AT WORK + +Wingrave was present that evening at a reception given by the Prime +Minister to some distinguished foreign guests. He had scarcely exchanged +the usual courtesies with his host and hostess before Lady Ruth, leaning +over from a little group, whispered in his ear. + +"Please take me away. I am bored. I want to talk to you." + +He paused at once. Lady Ruth nodded to her friends. + +"Mr. Wingrave is going to take me to hear Melba sing," she said. "See +you all again, I suppose, at Hereford House!" + +They made slow progress through the crowded rooms. Once or twice +Wingrave fancied that his companion hung a little heavily upon his arm. +She showed no desire to talk. She even answered a remark of his in a +monosyllable. Only when they passed the Marchioness, on the arm of one +of the foreign guests in whose honor the reception was given, she seemed +to shiver a little, and her grasp upon his arm was tightened. Once, in +a block, she was forced to speak to some acquaintances, and during +those few seconds, Wingrave studied her curiously. She was absolutely +colorless, and her strange brilliant eyes seemed to have lost all their +fire. Her gown was black, and the decorations of her hair were black +except for a single diamond. There was something almost spectral about +her appearance. She walked stiffly--for the moment she had lost the +sinuous grace of movement which had been one of her many fascinations. +Her neck and shoulders alone remained, as ever, dazzlingly beautiful. + +They reached a quiet corner at last. Lady Ruth sank with a little +gesture of relief into an easy chair. Wingrave stood before her. + +"You are tired tonight," he remarked. + +"I am always tired," she answered wearily. "I begin to think that I +always shall be." + +He said nothing. Lady Ruth closed her eyes for a moment as though from +sheer fatigue. Suddenly she opened them again and looked him full in the +face. + +"Who was she?" she asked. + +"I do not understand," he replied. + +"The child you were with--the ingenue, you know--with the pink cheeks +and the wonderful eyes! Is she from one of the theaters, or a genuine +article?" + +"The young lady to whom you refer," he answered, "is the daughter of +an old friend of mine. I am practically her guardian. She is in London +studying painting." + +"You are her guardian?" Lady Ruth repeated. "I am sorry for her." + +"You need not be," he answered. "I trust that I shall be able to fulfill +my duties in a perfectly satisfactory manner." + +"Oh! I have no doubt of it," she answered. "Yet I am sorry for her." + +"You are certainly," he remarked, "not in an amiable mood." + +"I am in rather a desperate one if that is anything," she said, looking +at him with something of the old light in her tired eyes. + +"You made a little error, perhaps, in those calculations?" he suggested. +"It can be amended." + +"Don't be a brute," she answered fiercely. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"That sounds a little severe," he remarked. + +"Don't take any notice of anything I say tonight," she murmured softly. +"I am a little mad. I think that everything is going against me! I know +that you haven't a grain of sympathy for me--that you would rather see +me suffer than not, and yet you see I give myself away entirely. Why +shouldn't I? Part of it is through you in a way." + +"I rather fancied," he remarked, "that up to now--" + +"Yes! Of course!" she interrupted, "you saved me from ruin, staved it +off at any rate. And you held over the reckoning! I--I almost wish--" + +She paused. Again her eyes were searching his. + +"I am a little tired of it all, you see," she continued. "I don't +suppose Lumley and I can ever be the same again since I brought +him--that check. He avoids being alone with me--I do the same with him. +One would think--to watch the people, that the whole transaction was in +the Morning Post. They smile when they see us together, they grin when +they see you with anybody else. It's getting hateful, Wingrave!" + +"I am afraid," he said quietly, "that you are in a nervous, +hypersensitive state. No one else can possibly know of the little +transaction between us, and, so far as I am concerned, there has been +nothing to interfere with your relations with your husband." + +"You are right," she answered, "I am losing my nerve. I am only afraid +that I am losing something else. I haven't an ounce of battle left in +me. I feel that I should like to close my eyes and wake up in a new +world, and start all over again." + +"It is nothing but a mood," he assured her. "Those new worlds don't +exist any longer. They generally consist of foreign watering places +where the sheep and the goats house together now and then. I think I +should play the game out, Lady Ruth, until--" + +"Until what?" + +"Perhaps to the end," he answered. "Who can tell? Not I! By this time +tomorrow, it might be I who would be reminding you--" + +"Yes?" + +"That there are other worlds, and other lives to live!" + +"I should like," she whispered very softly, "to hear of them. But I +fancy somehow that you will never be my instructor. What of your ward?" + +"Well! What of her?" he answered calmly. + +She shivered a little. + +"You were very frank with me once, Wingrave," she said. "You are a man +whose life fate has wrecked, fate and I! You have no heart left, no +feeling. You can create suffering and find it amusing. I am beginning to +realize that." + +He nodded. + +"There is some truth," he declared, "In what you say." + +"What of that child? Is she, too, to be a victim?" + +"I trust," he answered, "that you are not going to be melodramatic." + +"I don't call it that. I really want to know. I should like to warn +her." + +"I am not at war with children," he answered. "Her life and mine are as +far apart as the poles." + +"I had an odd fancy when I saw you with her," Lady Ruth said slowly. +"She is very good-looking--and not so absurdly young." + +"The fancy was one," he remarked coldly, "which I think you had better +get rid of." + +"In a way," she continued thoughtfully, "I should like to get rid of it, +and yet--how old are you, Wingrave? Well, I know. You are very little +over forty. You are barely in the prime of life, you are strong, you +have the one thing which society today counts almost divine--great, +immeasurable wealth! Can't you find someone to thaw the snows?" + +"I loved a woman once," he answered. "It was a long time ago, and it +seems strange to me now." + +Lady Ruth lifted her eyes to his, and their lambent fires were suddenly +rekindled. + +"Love her again," she murmured. "What is past is past, but there are the +days to come! Perhaps the woman, too, is a little lonely." + +"I think not," he answered calmly. "The woman is married, she has lived +with her husband more or less happily for a dozen years or so! She is +a little ambitious, a little fond of pleasure, but a leader of society, +and, I am sure, a very reputable member of it. To love her again would +be as embarrassing to her--as it would be difficult for me. You, my dear +Lady Ruth, I am convinced, would be the last to approve of it." + +"You mock me," she murmured, bending her head. "Is forgiveness also an +impossibility?" + +"I think," he said, "that any sentiment whatever between those two would +be singularly misplaced. You spoke of Melba, I think! She is singing in +the further room." + +Lady Ruth rose up, still and pale. There was fear in her eyes when she +looked at him. + +"Is it to be always like this, then?" she said. + +"Ah!" he answered, "I am no prophet. Who can tell what the days may +bring? In the meantime..." + +The Marchioness was very much in request that evening, and she found +time for only a few words with Wingrave. + +"What have you been doing to poor Ruth?" she asked. "I never saw her +look so ill!" + +"Indeed!" he answered, "I had not noticed it." + +"If I didn't know her better," she remarked, "I might begin to suspect +her of a conscience. Whose baby were you driving about this afternoon? +I didn't know that your taste ran to ingenues to such an extent. She's +sweetly pretty, but I don't think it's nice of you to flaunt her before +us middle-aged people. It's enough to drive us to the rouge box. Come to +lunch tomorrow!" + +"I shall be delighted," he answered, and passed on. + +An hour or so later, on his way out, he came upon Lady Ruth sitting a +little forlornly in the hall. + +"I wonder whether I dare ask you to drop me in Cadogan Square?" she +asked. "Is it much out of your way? I am leaving a little earlier than I +expected." + +"I shall be delighted," he answered, offering his arm. + +They passed out of the door and down the covered way into the street. +A few stragglers were loitering on the pavement, and one, a tall, thin +young man in a long ulster, bent forwards as they came down the steps. +Wingrave felt his companion's grasp tighten upon his arm; a flash of +light upon the pale features and staring eyes of the young man a few +feet off, showed him to be in the act of intercepting them. Then, at a +sharp word from Wingrave, a policeman stretched out his arm. The young +man was pushed unceremoniously away. Wingrave's tall footman and +the policeman formed an impassable barrier--in a moment the electric +brougham was gliding down the street. Lady Ruth was leaning back amongst +the cushions, and the hand which fell suddenly upon Wingrave's was cold +as ice! + + + + +RICHARDSON TRIES AGAIN + +"You saw--who that was?" + +Lady Ruth's voice seemed to come from a greater distance. Wingrave +turned and looked at her with calm curiosity. She was leaning back in +the corner of the carriage, and she seemed somehow to have shrunk into +an unusual insignificance. Her eyes alone were clearly visible through +the semi-darkness--and the light which shone from their depths was the +light of fear. + +"Yes," he answered slowly, "I believe that I recognized him. It was the +young man who persists in some strange hallucination as to a certain +Mademoiselle Violet." + +"It was no hallucination," she answered. "You know that! I was +Mademoiselle Violet!" + +He nodded. + +"It amazes me," he said thoughtfully, "that you should have stooped to +such folly. That my demise would have been a relief to you I can, of +course, easily believe, but the means--they surely were not worthy of +your ingenuity." + +"Don't!" she cried sharply. "I must have been utterly, miserably mad!" + +"Even the greatest of schemers have their wild moments," he remarked +consolingly. "This was one of yours. You paid me a very poor compliment, +by the bye, to imagine that an insignificant creature like that--" + +"Will you--leave off?" she moaned. + +"I daresay," he continued after a moment's pause, "that you find him now +quite an inconvenient person to deal with." + +She shuddered. + +"Oh, I am paying for my folly, if that is what you mean," she +declared. "He knows--who I am--that he was deceived. He follows me +about--everywhere." + +Wingrave glanced out of the carriage window. + +"Unless I am very much surprised," he answered, "he is following us +now!" + +She came a little closer to him. + +"You won't leave me? Promise!" + +"I will see you home," he answered. + +"You are coming on to Hereford House." + +"I think not," he answered; "I have had enough of society for one +evening." + +"Emily will be there later," she said quietly. + +"Even Lady Emily," he answered, "will not tempt me. I will see you +safely inside. Afterwards, if your persistent follower is hanging about, +I will endeavor to talk him into a more reasonable frame of mind." + +She was silent for a moment. Then she turned to him abruptly. + +"You are more kind to me sometimes than I deserve, Wingrave," she +remarked. + +"It is not kindness," he answered. "I dislike absurd situations. Here we +are! Permit me!" + +Wingrave kept his word. He saw Lady Ruth to her front door, and then +turned back towards his carriage. Standing by the side of the footman, a +little breathless, haggard and disheveled-looking, was the young man who +had attempted to check their progress a few minutes ago. + +Wingrave took hold of his arm firmly. + +"Get in there," he ordered, pointing to the carriage. + +The young man tried to escape, but he was held as though in a vise. +Before he well knew where he was, he was in the carriage, and Wingrave +was seated by his side. + +"What do you want with me?" he asked hoarsely. + +"I want to know what you mean by following that lady about?" Wingrave +asked. + +The young man leaned forward. His hand was upon the door. + +"Let me get out," he said sullenly. + +"With pleasure--presently," Wingrave answered. "I can assure you that I +am not anxious to detain you longer than necessary. Only you must first +answer my question." + +"I want to speak to her! I shall follow her about until I can!" the +young man declared. + +Wingrave glanced at him with a faint derisive smile. His clothes were +worn and shabby, he was badly in need of a shave and a wash. He sat +hunched up in a corner of the carriage, the picture of mute discomfort +and misery. + +"Do you know who she is?" Wingrave asked. + +"Mademoiselle Violet!" the young man answered. + +"You are mistaken," Wingrave answered. "She is Lady Ruth Barrington, +wife of Lumley Barrington and daughter of the Earl of Haselton." + +The young man was unmoved. + +"She is Mademoiselle Violet," he declared. + +The coupe drew up before the great block of buildings in which was +Wingrave's flat. The footman threw open the door. + +"Come in with me," Wingrave said. "I have something more to say to you." + +"I would rather not," the young man muttered, and would have slouched +off, but Wingrave caught him by the arm. + +"Come!" he said firmly, and the youth obeyed. + +Wingrave led the way into his sitting room and dismissed his servant who +was setting out a tray upon the sideboard. + +"Sit down," he ordered, and his strange guest again obeyed. Wingrave +looked at him critically. + +"It seems to me," he said deliberately, "that you are another of those +poor fools who chuck away their life and happiness and go to the dogs +because a woman had chosen to make a little use of them. You're out of +work, I suppose?" + +"Yes!" + +"Hungry?" + +"I suppose so." + +Wingrave brought a plate of sandwiches from the sideboard, and mixed a +whisky and soda. He set them down in front of his guest, and turned away +with the evening paper in his hand. + +"I am going into the next room for some cigarettes," he remarked. + +He was gone scarcely two minutes. When he returned, the room was in +darkness. He moved suddenly towards the electric lights, but was pushed +back by an unseen hand. A man's hot breath fell upon his cheek, a +hoarse, rasping voice spoke to him out of the black shadows. + +"Don't touch the lights! Don't touch the lights, I say!" + +"What folly is this?" Wingrave asked angrily. "Are you mad?" + +"Not now," came the quick answer. "I have been. It has come to me here, +in the darkness. I know why she is angry, I know why she will not speak +to me. It is--because I failed." + +Wingrave laughed, and moved towards the lights. + +"We have had enough of this tomfoolery," he said scornfully. "If you +won't listen to reason--" + +He never finished his sentence. He had stumbled suddenly against a soft +body, he had a momentary impression of a white, vicious face, of eyes +blazing with insane fury. Quick to act, he struck--but before his hand +descended, he had felt the tearing of his shirt, the sharp, keen pain +in his chest, the swimming of his senses. Yet even then he struck again +with passionate anger, and his assailant went down amongst the chairs +with a dull, sickening crash! + +Then there was silence in the room. Wingrave made an effort to drag +himself a yard or two towards the bell, but collapsed hopelessly. +Richardson, in a few moments, staggered to his feet. + +He groped his way to the side of the wall, and found the knobs of the +electric lights. He turned two on and looked around him. Wingrave was +lying a few yards off, with a small red stain upon his shirt front. +His face was ghastly pale, and he was breathing thickly. The young man +looked at him for several moments, and then made his way to the side +table where the sandwiches were. One by one he took them from the dish, +and ate deliberately. When he had finished, he made his way once more +towards where Wingrave lay. But before he reached the spot, he stopped +short. Something on the wall had attracted his attention. He put his +hand to his head and thought for a moment. It was an idea--a glorious +idea. + + . . . . . . . . . . . . + +Lady Ruth's maid stepped back and surveyed her mistress ecstatically. + +"Milady," she declared, "has never, no never, appeared more charming. +The gown, it is divine--and the coiffure! Milady will have no rivals." + +Lady Ruth looked at herself long and earnestly in the glass. Her face +reflected none of the pleased interest with which her maid was still +regarding her. The latter grew a little anxious. + +"Milady thinks herself a trifle pale, perhaps--a little more color?" + +Lady Ruth set down the glass. + +"No, thank you, Annette," she answered. "I shall do very well, I +suppose. Certainly, I won't have any rouge." + +"Milady knows very well what becomes her," the woman answered +discreetly. "The pallor, it is the more distinguished. Milady cannot +fail to have all the success she desires!" + +Lady Ruth smiled a little wearily. And at that moment, there came a +knock at the door. A servant entered. + +"Someone wishes to speak to your ladyship on the telephone," the girl +announced. + +"On the telephone, at this time of night?" Lady Ruth exclaimed. +"Ridiculous! They must send a message, whoever they are!" + +"Parkins told them so, your ladyship," the girl answered; "but they +insisted that the matter was important. They would give no name, but +said that they were speaking from Mr. Wingrave's rooms." + +Lady Ruth raised her eyebrows. + +"It is very extraordinary," she said coldly, "but I will come to the +telephone." + + + + +"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT" + +Lady Ruth took up the receiver. Some instinct seemed to have prompted +her to close the door of the study. + +"Who is there?" she asked. "Who is it that wants me?" + +A thin, unfamiliar voice answered her. + +"Is that Lady Ruth Barrington?" + +"Yes!" + +"Is it--Mademoiselle Violet?" + +The receiver nearly dropped from her hand. + +"I don't understand you," she answered, "I am Lady Ruth Barrington! Who +are you?" + +"You are Mademoiselle Violet," was the answer, "and you know who I am! +Listen, I am in Mr. Wingrave's rooms." + +She would have liked to have rung off and gone away, but it seemed a +sheer impossibility for her to move! And all the time her knees were +shaking, and the fear of evil things was in her heart. + +"What are you doing there?" she asked. + +"He brought me in himself," the thin voice answered. "Can you hear me? +I don't want to speak any louder for fear anyone else should be +listening." + +"Yes, I can hear," she answered. "But how dared you ring me up? Say what +you desire to quickly! I am going away." + +"Wait, please," the voice answered. "I know why you have been angry with +me. I know why you have kept away from me, why you have been so cruel! +It was because I failed. Was it not, dear Mademoiselle Violet?" + +She had not the breath or the courage to answer him. In a moment or two +he continued, and there was a note of suppressed exultation in his tone. + +"Listen! This time--I have not failed!" + +She nearly screamed. The receiver in her hand burned like a live thing. +Her eyes were set in a fixed and awful stare as though she were trying +to see for herself outside the walls of the little room where she stood +into the larger chamber from which the voice--that awful voice--came! +Her own words were hysterical and uncertain, but she managed to falter +them out at last. + +"What do you mean? Where is Mr. Wingrave? Tell me at once!" + +The voice, without being raised, seemed to take to itself a note of +triumph. + +"He is dying--on the floor--just here! Listen hard! Perhaps you can hear +him groan! Now will you believe that I am not a coward?" + +Her shriek drowned his words. She flung the receiver from her with a +crash and rushed from the room into the hall. She brushed past her maid +with a wild gesture. + +"Never mind my wraps. Open the door, Parkins! Is the carriage waiting?" + +"Yes, Milady! Shall--" + +But she was past him and down the steps. + +"No. 18, Grosvenor Mansions," she cried to the man. "Drive fast." + +The man obeyed. The servants, who had come to the door, stood there +a little frightened group. She ignored them and everything else +completely. The carriage had scarcely stopped when she sprang out and +crossed the pavement in a few hasty steps. The tall commissionaire +looked in amazement at her. She wore an opera cloak--she was a +bewildering vision of white satin and diamonds, and her eyes were +terrible with the fear which was in her heart. + +She clutched him by the arm. + +"Come up with me to Mr. Wingrave's rooms," she exclaimed. "Something +terrible has happened. I heard through the telephone." + +The man dashed up the stairs by her side. Wingrave's suite was on the +first floor, and they did not wait for the lift. The commissionaire +put his finger on the bell of the outside door. She leaned forward, +listening breathlessly. Inside all was silence except for the shrill +clamor of the bell. + +"Go on ringing," she said breathlessly. "Don't leave off!" + +The man looked at her curiously. "Mr. Wingrave came in about an hour ago +with a young man, madam," he said. + +"Yes, yes!" she cried. "Listen! There's someone coming." + +They heard a hesitating step inside. The door was cautiously opened. It +was Richardson, pale, disheveled, but triumphant, who peered out. + +"Mademoiselle--Mademoiselle Violet," he cried. "You have come to see for +yourself. This way!" + +She raised her arm and struck him across the face so that, with a little +moan, he staggered back against the wall. Then she hastened forward into +the room towards which he had pointed and the door of which stood open. +The commissionaire followed her. The servants were beginning to appear. + +The room was in darkness save for one electric light. A groan, however, +directed them. She fell on her knees by Wingrave's prostrate figure and +raised his head slightly. His servant, too, was hurrying forward. She +looked up. + +"Get me some brandy," she ordered. "Send someone for a doctor. Don't let +that young man escape. The brandy, quick!" + +She forced some between his lips. There was already a spot of blood upon +the gown which, a few minutes ago, had seemed so immaculate. One of the +ornaments fell from her hair. It lay unnoticed by her side. Suddenly +Wingrave opened his eyes. She saw at once that he was conscious and that +he recognized her. + +"Don't move, please," she begged. "It will be better for you not to +speak. The doctor will be here directly." + +He nodded. + +"I don't think that I am much hurt," he said slowly. "Your young friend +was a born bungler!" + +She shuddered, but said nothing. + +"How on earth," he asked, "did you get here?" + +She whispered in his ear. + +"The brute--telephoned. Please don't talk." + +The doctor arrived. His examination was over in a few moments. + +"Nothing serious," he declared. "The knife was pretty blunt fortunately. +How did it happen? It seems like a case for the police." + +"It was an accident," Wingrave declared coolly. + +The doctor shrugged his shoulders. He was busy making bandages. Lady +Ruth rose to her feet. She was white and giddy. The commissionaire and +Morrison were talking together at the door. The latter turned to Lady +Ruth. + +"Do you think that we had better send for the police, your ladyship?" he +asked. "It was the young man who came in with Mr. Wingrave who must have +done this! I thought he was a very wild-looking sort of person." + +"You heard what Mr. Wingrave said," she answered. "I don't think that I +should disobey him, if I were you. The doctor says that, after all, it +is not very serious." + +"He can't have got far," the hall porter remarked. "He only slipped out +as we came in." + +"I should let him go for the present," Lady Ruth said. "If Mr. Wingrave +wishes to prosecute afterwards, it will be easy for him to do so." + +She stepped back to where Wingrave lay. He was in a recumbent position +now and, although a little pale, he was obviously not seriously hurt. + +"If there is nothing else that I can do," she said, "I will go now!" + +"By all means," Wingrave answered. "I am exceedingly obliged to you +for your kindness," he added a little stiffly. "Morrison, show Lady +Barrington to her carriage!" + +She spoke a few conventional words of farewell and departed. Outside on +the pavement she stood for a moment, looking carefully around. There was +no sign of Richardson anywhere! She stepped into the carriage and leaned +back in the corner. + + + + +AYNESWORTH PLANS A LOVE STORY + +Wingrave disappeared suddenly from London. Aynesworth alone knew where +he was gone, and he was pledged to secrecy. Two people received letters +from him. Lady Ruth was one of them. + +"This," she remarked quietly, handing it over to her husband, "may +interest you." + +He adjusted his eye glasses and read it aloud:-- + +"Dear Lady Ruth,--I am leaving London today for several weeks. With the +usual inconsistency of the person to whom life is by no means a valuable +asset, I am obeying the orders of my physician. I regret, therefore, +that I cannot have the pleasure of entertaining your husband and +yourself during Cowes week. The yacht, however, is entirely at your +disposal, and I have written Captain Masterton to that effect. Pray +extend your cruise, if you feel inclined to.--I remain, yours sincerely, +W." + +Mr. Barrington looked at his wife inquiringly. + +"That seems to me entirely satisfactory, Ruth," he said. "I think that +he might have added a word or two of acknowledgment for what you did for +him. There is no doubt that, but for your promptness, things might have +gone much worse." + +"Yes," Lady Ruth said slowly, "I think that he might have added a few +words." + +Her husband regarded her critically. + +"I am afraid, dear," he said, "that all this anxiety has knocked you up +a little. You are not looking well." + +"I am tired," she answered calmly. "It has been a long season. I should +like to do what Wingrave has done--go away somewhere and rest." + +Barrington laid his hand upon hers affectionately. It seemed to him that +the rings hung a little loosely upon the thin, white fingers. She was +pale, too, and her eyes were weary. He did not notice that, as soon as +she could, she drew her hand away. + +"Pon my word," he said, "I wish we could go off somewhere by ourselves. +But with Wingrave's yacht to entertain on, we must do something for a +few of the people. I don't suppose he minds whom we ask, or how many." + +"No!" she answered, "I do not suppose he cares." + +"It is most opportune," Barrington declared. "I wanted particularly to +do something for the Hendersons. He seems very well disposed, and his +influence means everything just now. Really, Ruth, I believe we are +going to pull through after all." + +She smiled a little wearily. + +"Do you think so, Lumley?" + +"I am sure of it, Ruth," he answered. "I only wish I could see you a +little more cheerful. Surely you can't still--be afraid of Wingrave," he +added, glancing uneasily across the table. + +She looked him in the eyes. + +"That is exactly what I am," she answered. "I am afraid of him. I have +always been afraid. Nothing has happened to change him. He came back to +have his revenge. He will have it." + +Lumley Barrington, for once, felt himself superior to his clever wife. +He smiled upon her reassuringly. + +"My dear Ruth," he said, "if only you would reflect for a few moments, +I feel sure you would realize the absurdity of such fancies. We did +Wingrave a service in introducing him to society here, and I am sure +that he appreciated it. If he wished for our ruin, why did he lend us +eight thousand pounds on no security? Why does he lend us his yacht to +entertain our friends? Why did he give me that information which enabled +me to make the only money I ever did make on the Stock Exchange?" + +She smiled contemptuously. + +"You do not understand a man like Wingrave," she declared. "Nothing that +he has done is inconsistent with my point of view. He gave you a safe +tip, knowing very well that when you had won a little, you would try +again on your own account and lose--which you did. He lent us the money +to become our creditor; and he lends us the yacht to give another handle +to the people who are saying already that he occupies the position +in our family which is more fully recognized on the other side of the +Channel!" + +"You are talking rubbish," he declared vehemently. "No one would dare to +say such a thing of you--of my wife!" + +She laughed unmercifully. + +"If you were not my husband," she said cruelly, "you would have heard +it before now. I have been careful all my life--more careful than most +women, but I can hear the whisperings already. There are more ways to +ruin than one, Lumley." + +"We will refuse the yacht," Barrington said sullenly, "and I will go to +the Jews for that eight thousand pounds." + +"We will do nothing of the sort," Lady Ruth answered. "I am not going +to be a laughing stock for Emily and her friends if I can help it. +We'll play the game through now! Only--it is best for you to know the +risks..." + +Wingrave's second letter was to Juliet. She found it on her table one +afternoon when she came back from her painting class. She tore it open +eagerly enough, but her face clouded over as she read. + +"Dear Juliet,--I am sorry that I am unable to carry out my promise to +come and see you, but I have been slightly indisposed for some days, and +am leaving London, for the present, almost at once. I trust that you are +still interested in your work, and will enjoy your trip to Normandy. + +"I received your letter, asking for my help towards re-establishing in +life a poor family in whom you are interested. I regret that I cannot +accede to your request. It is wholly against my principles to give money +away to people of this class. I look upon all charity as a mischievous +attempt to tamper with natural laws, and I am convinced that if everyone +shared my views, society would long ago have been re-established on +a sounder and more logical basis. To be quite frank with you, also, I +might add that the gift of sympathy has been denied to me. I am quite +indifferent whether the family you allude to starve or prosper. + +"So far as you yourself are concerned, however, the matter is entirely +different. If it gives you pleasure to assist in pauperizing any number +of your fellow creatures, pray do so. I enclose a check for L100. It is +a present to you. Use it entirely as you please--only, if you use it +for the purpose suggested in your letter to me, remember that the +responsibility is yours, and yours alone.--I remain, sincerely yours, +Wingrave Seton." + +Juliet walked straight to her writing table. Her cheeks were flushed, +and her eyes were wet with tears. She drew out a sheet of note paper and +wrote rapidly:-- + +"My dear guardian,--I return you the check. I cannot accept such +presents after all your goodness to me. I am sorry that you feel as you +do about giving money away. You are so much older and wiser than I am +that I dare not attempt to argue with you. Only it seems to me that life +would be a cruelly selfish thing if we who are so much more fortunate +than many of our fellow creatures did not sometimes try to help them a +little through their misery. Perhaps I feel this a little more keenly +because I wonder sometimes what might not have become of me but for your +goodness. + +"I am sorry that you are going away without coming to see me again. +You are not displeased with me, I hope, for asking you this, or for any +other reason? I am foolish enough to feel a little lonely sometimes. +Will you take me out again when you come back?--Your affectionate ward, +Juliet." + +Juliet went out and posted her letter. On the way back she met +Aynesworth. + +"Come and sit in the Park for a few minutes," he begged. + +She turned and walked by his side willingly enough. + +"Have you been in to see me?" she asked. + +"Yes!" he answered. "I have some tickets for the Haymarket for tonight. +Do you think we could persuade Mrs. Tresfarwin to come?" + +"I'm sure we could," she answered, laughing. "Hannah never wants any +persuading. How nice of you to think of us!" + +"I am afraid," he answered, "that I think of you a good deal." + +"Then I think that that also is very nice of you!" she declared. + +"You like to be thought of?" + +"Who doesn't? What is the play tonight?" + +"I'll tell you about it afterwards," he said. "There is something else I +want to say to you first." + +She nodded. She scarcely showed so much interest as he would have liked. + +"It is about Berneval," he said, keeping his eyes fixed upon her face. +"I saw Mr. Pleydell today, and he told me that you were all going there. +He suggested that I should come too!" + +"How delightful!" she exclaimed. "Can you really get off?" + +"Yes. Sir Wingrave is going away, and doesn't want me. I must go +somewhere, and I thought that I might go over and take rooms near you +all. Would you care to have me?" + +"Of course I would," she answered frankly. "Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, +her face clouding over--"I forgot!" + +"Well?" + +"I am not sure," she said, "that I am going." + +"Not going?" he repeated incredulously. "Mr. Pleydell told me that it +was all arranged." + +"It was--until today," she said. "I am a little uncertain now." + +He looked at her perplexed. + +"May I know why?" he asked. + +She raised her eyebrows slightly. + +"You are rather an inquisitive person," she remarked. "The fact is, I +may need the money I have saved for Berneval for somewhere else." + +"Of course," he said slowly, "if you don't go--I don't. But you can't +stay in London all through the hot weather!" + +"Miss Pengarth has asked me to go down there," she said. + +He laid his hand suddenly upon hers. + +"Juliet," he said. + +She shook her head. + +"Miss Lundy, please!" + +"Well, Miss Lundy then! May I talk to you seriously?" + +"I prefer you frivolous," she murmured. "I like to be amused." + +"I'll be frivolous enough later on this evening. I've been wondering +if you'd think it impertinent if I asked you to tell me about your +guardian." + +"What do you want to know?" she asked. + +"Just who he is, and why he is content to let you live with only an old +woman to look after you. It isn't the best thing in the world for you, +is it? I should like to know him, Juliet." + +She shook her head. + +"I am sorry," she said, "I cannot tell you anything." + +There was a short silence. Aynesworth was disappointed, and showed it. + +"It isn't exactly ordinary curiosity," he continued. "Don't think that! +Only I feel that you need someone who has the right to advise you and +look after you. I should like to be your guardian, Juliet!" + +She laughed merrily. + +"Good!" she declared. "I like you so much better frivolous. Well, you +shall have your wish. You shall be my guardian for the evening. I have +one cutlet for dinner, and I am sure it will be spoilt. Will you come +and share it?" + +She rose to her feet and stood looking down upon him. He was struck, for +the first time, by something different in her appearance. The smooth, +delicate girlishness of her young face was, as yet, untroubled. Her eyes +laughed frankly into his, and all the grace of natural childhood seemed +still to linger about her. And yet--there was a change! Understanding +was there; understanding, with sorrow in its wake. Aynesworth was +suddenly anxious. Had anything happened of which he was ignorant? He +rose up slowly. He was sure of himself now! Was he sure of her? + + + + +A DEED OF GIFT + +Wingrave threw the paper aside with an impatient exclamation. A small +notice in an obscure corner had attracted his attention; the young man, +Richardson, had been fished out of the river half drowned, and in view +of his tearful and abject penitence, had been allowed to go his way by +a lenient magistrate. He had been ill, he pleaded, and disappointed. His +former employer, in an Islington emporium, gave him a good character, +and offered to take him back. So that was an end of Mr. Richardson, and +the romance of his days! + +A worm like that to have brought him--the strong man, low! Wingrave +thought with sullen anger as he leaned back in his chair with +half-closed eyes. Here was an undignified hiatus, if not a finale, to +all his schemes, to the even tenor of his self-restrained, purposeful +life! The west wind was rippling through the orchards which bordered +the garden. The muffled roar of the Atlantic was in his ears, a strange +everlasting background to all the slighter summer sounds, the murmuring +of insects, the calling of birds, the melodious swish of the whirling +knives in the distant hayfield. Wingrave was alone with his thoughts, +and he hated them! + +Even Mr. Pengarth was welcome, Mr. Pengarth very warm from his ride, +carrying his hat and a small black bag in his hand. As he drew nearer, +he became hotter and was obliged to rest his bag upon the path and mop +his forehead. He was more afraid of his client than of anything else in +the world. + +"Good afternoon, Sir Wingrave," he said. "I trust that you are feeling +better today." + +Wingrave eyed him coldly. He did not reply to the inquiry as to his +health. + +"You have brought the deed?" he asked. + +"Certainly, Sir Wingrave." + +The lawyer produced a roll of parchment from his bag. In response to +Wingrave's gesture, he seated himself on the extreme edge of an adjacent +seat. + +"I do not propose to read all that stuff through," Wingrave remarked. +"I take it for granted that the deed is made out according to my +instructions." + +"Certainly, Sir Wingrave!" + +"Then we will go into the house, and I will sign it." + +Mr. Pengarth mopped his forehead once more. It was a terrible thing to +have a conscience. + +"Sir Wingrave," he said, "I apologize most humbly for what I am about to +say, but as the agent of your estates in this county and your--er--legal +adviser with regard to them, I am forced to ask you whether you are +quite determined upon this--most unexampled piece of generosity. +Tredowen has been in your mother's family for a great many years, and +although I must say that I have a great affection for this young lady, +I have also an old fashioned dislike to seeing--er--family property pass +into the hands of strangers. You might, forgive me--marry!" + +Wingrave smiled very faintly, otherwise his face was inscrutable. + +"I might," he admitted calmly, "but I shall not. Do you consider me, Mr. +Pengarth, to be a person in possession of his usual faculties?" + +"Oh, most certainly--most certainly," the lawyer declared emphatically. + +"Then please do not question my instructions any further. So far as +regards the pecuniary part of it, I am a richer man than you have any +idea of, Mr. Pengarth, and for the rest--sentiment unfortunately +does not appeal to me. I choose to give the Tredowen estates away, to +disappoint my next of kin. That is how you may regard the transaction. +We will go into the house and complete this deed." + +Wingrave rose slowly and walked with some difficulty up the gravel path. +He ignored, however, his companion's timid offer of help, and led +the way to the library. In a few minutes the document was signed and +witnessed. + +"I have ordered tea in the garden," Wingrave said, as the two +servants left the room; "that is, unless you prefer any other sort of +refreshment. I don't know much about the cellars, but there is some +cabinet hock, I believe--" + +Mr. Pengarth interposed. + +"I am very much obliged," he said, "but I will not intrude upon you +further. If you will allow me, I will ring the bell for my trap." + +"You will do nothing of the sort," Wingrave answered testily. "You will +stay here and talk to me." + +"I will stay with pleasure if you desire it," the lawyer answered. "I +had an idea that you preferred solitude." + +"Then you were wrong," Wingrave answered. "I hate being alone." + +They moved out together towards the garden. Tea was set out in a shady +corner of the lawn. + +"If you will forgive my remarking it," Mr. Pengarth said, "this seems +rather an extraordinary place for you to come to if you really dislike +solitude." + +"I come to escape from an intolerable situation, and because I was ill," +Wingrave said. + +"You might have brought friends," the lawyer suggested. + +"I have no friends," Wingrave answered. + +"Some of the people in the neighborhood would be very glad--" Mr. +Pengarth began. + +"I do not wish to see them," Wingrave answered. + +Mr. Pengarth took a peach, and held his tongue. Wingrave broke the +silence which followed a little abruptly. + +"Tell me, Mr. Pengarth," he said, "do I look like a man likely to fail +in anything he sets out to accomplish?" + +The lawyer shook his head vigorously. + +"You do not," he declared. + +"Nor do I feel like one," Wingrave said, "and yet my record since I +commenced, shall I call it my second life, is one of complete failure! +Nothing that I planned have I been able to accomplish. I look back +through the months and through the years, and I see not a single purpose +carried out, not a single scheme successful. + +"Not quite so bad as that, I trust, Sir Wingrave," the lawyer protested. + +"It is the precise truth," Wingrave affirmed drily. "I am losing +confidence in myself." + +"At least," the lawyer declared, "you have been the salvation of our +dear Miss Juliet, if I may call her so. But for you, her life would have +been ruined." + +"Precisely," Wingrave agreed. "But I forgot! You don't understand! I +have saved her from heaven knows what! I am going to give her the home +she loves! Benevolence, isn't it? And yet, if I had only the pluck, I +might succeed even now--so far as she is concerned." + +The lawyer took off his spectacles and rubbed them with his +handkerchief. He was thoroughly bewildered. + +"I might succeed," Wingrave repeated, leaning back in his chair, "if +only--" + +His face darkened. It seemed to Mr. Pengarth as he sipped his tea under +the cool cedars, drawing in all their wonderful perfume with every puff +of breeze, that he saw two men in the low invalid's chair before him. He +saw the breath and desire of evil things struggling with some wonderful +dream vainly seeking to realize itself. + +"Some of us," the lawyer said timidly, "build our ideals too high up in +the clouds, so that to reach them is very difficult. Nevertheless, the +effort counts." + +Wingrave laughed mockingly. + +"It is not like that with me," he declared. "My plans were made down in +hell." + +"God bless my soul!" the lawyer murmured. "But you are not serious, Sir +Wingrave?" + +"Ay! I'm serious enough," Wingrave answered. "Do you suppose a man, with +the best pages of his life rooted out, is likely to look out upon his +fellows from the point of view of a philanthropist? Do you suppose that +the man, into whose soul the irons of bitterness have gnawed and eaten +their way, is likely to come out with a smirk and look around him for +the opportunity of doing good? Rubbish! My aim is to encourage suffering +wherever I see it, to create it where I can, to make sinners and thieves +of honest people." + +"God bless my soul!" the lawyer gasped again. "I don't think you can +be--as bad as you think you are. What about Juliet Lundy?" + +Fire flashed in Wingrave's eyes. Again, at the mention of her name, he +seemed almost to lose control of himself. It was several moments before +he spoke. He looked Mr. Pengarth in the face, and his tone was unusually +deliberate. + +"Gifts," he said, "are not always given in friendship. Life may easily +become a more complicated affair for that child with the Tredowen +estates hanging round her neck. And anyhow, I disappoint my next of +kin." + +Morrison, smooth-footed and silent, appeared upon the lawn. He addressed +Wingrave. + +"A lady has arrived in a cab from Truro, sir," he announced. "She wishes +to see you as soon as convenient." + +A sudden light flashed across Wingrave's face, dying out again almost +immediately. + +"Who is she, Morrison?" he asked. + +The man glanced at Mr. Pengarth. + +"She did not give her name, sir." + +Mr. Pengarth and Wingrave both rose. The former at once made his adieux +and took a short cut to the stables. Wingrave, who leaned heavily upon +his stick, clutched Morrison by the arm. + +"Who is it, Morrison?" he demanded. + +"It is Lady Ruth Barrington, sir," the man answered. + +"Alone?" + +"Quite alone, sir." + + + + +FOR PITY'S SAKE + +The library at Tredowen was a room of irregular shape, full of angles +and recesses lined with bookcases. It was in one of these, standing +motionless before a small marble statue of some forgotten Greek poet, +that Wingrave found his visitor. She wore a plain serge traveling dress, +and the pallor of her face, from which she had just lifted a voluminous +veil, matched almost in color the gleaming white marble upon which +she was gazing. But when she saw Wingrave, leaning upon his stick, and +regarding her with stern surprise, strange lights seemed to flash in +her eyes. There was no longer any resemblance between the pallor of her +cheeks and the pallor of the statue. + +"Lady Ruth," Wingrave said quietly, "I do not understand what has +procured for me the pleasure of this unexpected visit." + +She swayed a little towards him. Her head was thrown back, all the +silent passion of the inexpressible, the hidden secondary forces of +nature, was blazing out of her eyes, pleading with him in the broken +music of her tone. + +"You do not understand," she repeated. "Ah, no! But can I make you +understand? Will you listen to me for once as a human being? Will +you remember that you are a man, and I a woman pleading for a little +mercy--a little kindness?" + +Wingrave moved a step further back. + +"Permit me," he said, "to offer you a chair." + +She sank into it--speechless for a moment. Wingrave stood over her, +leaning slightly against the corner of the bookcase. + +"I trust," he said, "that you will explain what all this means. If it is +my help which you require--" + +Her hands flashed out towards him--a gesture almost of horror. + +"Don't," she begged, "you know that it is not that! You know very well +that it is not. Why do you torture me?" + +"I can only ask you," he said, "to explain." + +She commenced talking quickly. Her sentences came in little gasps. + +"You wanted revenge--not in the ordinary way. You had brooded over it +too long. You understood too well. Once it was I who sought to revenge +myself on you because you would not listen to me! You hurt my pride. +Everything that was evil in me rebelled--" + +"Is this necessary?" he interrupted coldly. "I have never reproached +you. You chose the path of safety for yourself. Many another woman in +your place would doubtless have done the same thing! What I desire to +know is why you are here in Cornwall. What has happened to make this +journey seem necessary to you?" + +"Listen!" she continued. "I want you to know how thoroughly you have +succeeded. Before you came, Lumley and I were living together decently +enough, and, as hundreds of others live, with outside interests for +our chief distraction. You came, a friend! You were very subtle, very +skillful! You never spoke a word of affection to me, but you managed +things so that--people talked. You encouraged Lumley to speculate--not +in actual words, perhaps, but by suggestion. Then you lent me money. +Lumley, my husband, let me borrow from you. Everyone knew that we were +ruined; everyone knew where the money came from that set us right. So +misery has been piled upon misery. Lumley has lost his self respect, he +is losing his ambition, he is deteriorating every day. I--how can I do +anything else but despise him? He let me, his wife, come to your rooms +to borrow money from you. Do you think I can ever forget that? Do you +think that he can? Don't you know that the memory of it is dragging us +apart, must keep us apart always--always?" + +Wingrave leaned a little forward. His hands were clasped upon the handle +of his stick. + +"All that you tell me," he remarked coldly, "might equally well have +been said in London! I do not wish to seem inhospitable, but I am still +waiting to know why you have taken an eight hours' journey to recite a +few fairly obvious truths. Your relations with your husband, frankly, do +not interest me. The deductions which society may have drawn concerning +our friendship need scarcely trouble you, under the circumstances." + +Then again the light was blazing in her eyes. + +"Under the circumstances!" she repeated. "I know what you mean. It is +true that you have asked for nothing. It is true that all this time you +have never spoken a single word which all the world might not hear, you +have never even touched my fingers, except as a matter of formality. +Once I was the woman you loved--and I--well you know! Is this part of +your scheme of torture, to play with me as though we were marionettes, +you and I, with sawdust in our veins, dull, lifeless puppets! Well, it +is finished--your vengeance! You may reap the harvest when you will! +Publish my letters, prove yourself an injured man. Take a whip in your +hand if you like, and I will never flinch. But, for heaven's sake, +remember that I am a woman! I am willing to be your slave, nurse you, +wait upon you, follow you about! What more can your vengeance need? You +have made me despise my husband, you have made me hate my life with +him! You have forced me into a remembrance of what I have never really +forgotten--and oh! Wingrave," she added, opening her arms to him with +a little sob, "if you send me away, I think that I shall kill myself. +Wingrave!" + +There was a note of despair in her last cry. Her arms fell to her side. +Wingrave was on his way to the further end of the room. He rang the bell +and turned towards her. + +"Listen," he said calmly, "you will return to London tonight. If ever +I require you, I shall send for you--and you will come. At present I do +not. You will return to your husband. Understand!" + +"Yes," she gasped, "but--" + +He held out his hand. Morrison was at the door. + +"Morrison," he said, "you will order the motor to be round in half an +hour to take Lady Ruth to Truro, She has to catch the London express. +You will go with her yourself, and see that she has a reserved carriage. +If, by any chance, you should miss the train, order a special." + +"Very good, sir." + +"And tell the cook to send in tea and wine, and some sandwiches, in ten +minutes." + +Once more they were alone. Lady Ruth rose slowly to her feet and, +trembling in every limb, she walked down the room and fell on her knees +before Wingrave. + +"Wingrave," she said, "I will go away. I will do all that you tell me; +I will wear my chains bravely, and hold my peace. But before I go, for +heaven's sake, say a kind word, look at me kindly, kiss me, hold my +hands; anything, anything, anything to prove to me that you are not +a dead man. I could bear unkindness, reproaches, abuse. I can bear +anything but this deadly coldness. It is becoming a horror to me! Do, +Wingrave--do!" + +She clasped his hand--he drew it calmly away. + +"Lady Ruth," he said, "you have spoken the truth. I am a dead man. I +have no affections; I care neither for you nor for any living being. All +that goes to the glory and joy of life perished in that uncountable roll +of days, when the sun went out, and inch by inch the wall rose which +will divide me forever from you and all the world. Frankly, it was not +I who once loved you. It was the man who died in prison. His flesh and +bones may have survived--nothing else!" + +She rose slowly to her feet. Her eyes seemed to be dilating. + +"There is another woman!" she exclaimed softly. Her voice was like +velvet, but the agony in her face was unmistakable. + +"There is no other woman," he answered. + +She stood quite still. + +"She is here with you now," she cried. "Who is it, Wingrave? Tell me the +truth!" + +"The truth is already told," he answered. "Except my cook and her +assistants, there is not a woman in the house!" + +Again she listened. She gave a little hoarse cry, and Wingrave started. +Out in the hall a girl's clear laugh rang like a note of music to their +ears. + +"You lie!" she cried fiercely. "You lie! I will know who she is." + +Suddenly the door was thrown open! Juliet stood there, her hands full of +roses, her face flushed and brilliant with smiles. + +"How delightful to find you here!" she exclaimed, coming swiftly across +to Wingrave. "I do hope you won't mind my coming. Normandy is off, and I +have nowhere else to go." + +She saw Lady Ruth and stopped. + +"Oh! I beg your pardon!" she exclaimed. "I did not know." + +"This is Lady Ruth Barrington," Wingrave said; "my ward, Miss Juliet +Lundy." + +"Your--ward?" Lady Ruth said, gazing at her intently. + +Juliet nodded. + +"Sir Wingrave has been very kind to me since I was a child," she said +softly. "He has let me live here with Mrs. Tresfarwin, and I am afraid +I sometimes forget that it is not really my home. Am I in the way?" she +asked, looking wistfully towards Wingrave. + +"By no means!" he exclaimed. "Lady Ruth is just going. Will you see that +she has some tea or something?" + +Lady Ruth laughed quietly. + +"I think," she said, "that it is I who am in the way! I should love +some tea, if there is time, but whatever happens, I must not miss that +train." + + + + +A DREAM OF PARADISE + +It seemed to Wingrave that the days which followed formed a sort of +hiatus in his life--an interlude during which some other man in his +place, and in his image, played the game of life to a long-forgotten +tune. He moved through the hours as a man in a maze, unrecognizable to +himself, half unconscious, half heedless of the fact that the garments +of his carefully cultivated antagonism to the world and to his fellows +had slipped very easily from his unresisting shoulders. The glory of +a perfect English midsummer lay like a golden spell upon the land. The +moors were purple with heather, touched here and there with the fire of +the flaming gorse, the wind blew always from the west, the gardens were +ablaze with slowly bursting rhododendrons. Every gleam of coloring, +every breath of perfume, seemed to carry him unresistingly back to the +days of his boyhood. He fished once more in the trout streams; he threw +away his stick, and tramped or rode with Juliet across the moors. At +night time she sang or played with the windows open, Wingrave himself +out of sight under the cedar trees, whose perfume filled with aromatic +sweetness the still night air. Piles of letters came every day, which he +left unopened upon his study table. Telegrams followed, which he threw +into the wastepaper basket. Juliet watched the accumulating heap with +amazement. + +"Whatever do people write to you so much for?" she asked one morning, +watching the stream of letters flow out of the post bag. + +Wingrave was silent for a moment. Her question brought a sudden and +sharp sting of remembrance. Juliet knew him only as Sir Wingrave Seton. +She knew nothing of Mr. Wingrave, millionaire. + +"Advertisements, a good many of them," he said. "I must send for +Aynesworth some day to go through them all." + +"What fun!" she exclaimed. "Do send for him! He thinks that I am staying +with Miss Pengarth, and I haven't written once since I got here!" + +To Wingrave, it seemed that a chill had somehow stolen into the hot +summer morning. His feet were very nearly upon the earth again. + +"I forgot," he said, "that Aynesworth was--a friend of yours. He came +and saw you often in London?" + +She smiled reflectively. + +"He has been very, very kind," she answered. "He was always that, from +the first time I saw you both. Do you remember? It was down in the lower +gardens." + +"Yes!" he answered, "I remember quite well." + +"He was very kind to me then," she continued, "and you--well, I was +frightened of you." She stopped for a moment and laughed. Her eyes were +full of amazed reminiscence. "You were so cold and severe! I never +could have dreamed that, after all, it was you who were going to be +the dearest, most generous friend I could ever have had! Do you know, +Walter--I mean Mr. Aynesworth--isn't very pleased with me just now?" + +"Why not?" + +"He cannot understand why I will not tell him my guardian's name. I +think it worries him." + +"You would like to tell him?" Wingrave asked. + +She nodded. + +"I think so," she answered. + +Wingrave said no more, but after breakfast he went to his study alone. +Juliet found him there an hour later, sitting idly in front of his +table. His great pile of correspondence was still untouched. She came +and sat on the edge of the table. + +"What are we going to do this morning, please?" she asked. + +Wingrave glanced towards his letters. + +"I am afraid," he said, "that I must spend the day here!" + +She looked at him blankly. + +"Not really!" she exclaimed. "I thought that we were going to walk to +Hanging Tor?" + +Wingrave took up a handful of letters and let them fall through his +fingers. He had all the sensations of a man who is awakened from a dream +of Paradise to face the dull tortures of a dreary and eventless life. +His eyes were set in a fixed state. An undernote of despair was in his +tone. + +"You know we arranged it yesterday," she continued eagerly, "and if you +are going to send for Mr. Aynesworth, you needn't bother about these +letters yourself, need you?" + +He turned and regarded her deliberately. Her forehead was wrinkled a +little with disappointment, her brown eyes were filled with the soft +light of confident appeal. Tall and elegantly slim, there was yet +something in the graceful lines of her figure which reminded him +forcibly that the days of her womanhood had indeed arrived. + +She wore a plain white cambric dress and a simple, but much beflowered +hat; the smaller details of her toilet all indicated the correct taste +and instinctive coquetry of her French descent. And she was beautiful! +Wingrave regarded her critically and realized, perhaps for the first +time, how beautiful. Her eyes were large and clear, and her eyebrows +delicately defined. Her mouth, with its slightly humorous curl, was a +little large, but wholly delightful. The sun of the last few weeks had +given to her skin a faint, but most becoming, duskiness. Under his +close scrutiny, a flush of color stole into her cheeks. She laughed not +altogether naturally. + +"You look at me," she said, "as though I were someone strange!" + +"I was looking," he answered, "for the child, the little black-frocked +child, you know, with the hair down her back, and the tearful eyes. I +don't think I realized that she had vanished so completely." + +"Not more completely," she declared gaily, "than the gloomy gentleman +who frowned upon my existence and resented even my gratitude. Although," +she added, leaning a little towards him, "I am very much afraid that +I see some signs of a relapse today. Don't bother about those horrid +letters. Let me tell Mrs. Tresfarwin to pack us up some lunch, and take +me to Hanging Tor, please!" + +Wingrave laughed a little unsteadily as he rose to his feet. One day +more, then! Why not? The end would be soon enough!... + +Sooner, perhaps, than even he imagined, for that night Aynesworth came, +pale and travel-stained, with all the volcanic evidences of a great +passion blazing in his eyes, quivering in his tone. The day had passed +to Wingrave as a dream, more beautiful even than any in the roll of its +predecessors. They sat together on low chairs upon the moonlit lawn, in +their ears the murmur of the sea; upon their faces, gathering strength +with the darkness, the night wind, salt and fragrant with all the +sweetness of dying flowers. Wingrave had never realized more completely +what still seemed to him this wonderful gap in his life. Behind it all, +he had a subconsciousness that he was but taking a part in some mystical +play; yet with an abandon which, when he stopped to think of it, +astonished him, he gave himself up without effort or scruple to this +most amazing interlude. All day he had talked more than ever before; +the flush on his cheeks was like the flush of wine or the sun which had +fired his blood. As he had talked the more, so had she grown the more +silent. She was sitting now with her hands clasped and her head thrown +back, looking up at the stars with unseeing eyes. + +"You do not regret Normandy, then?" he asked. + +"No!" she murmured. "I have been happy here. I have been happier than I +could ever have been in Normandy." + +He turned and looked at her with curious intentness. + +"My experience," he said thoughtfully, "of young ladies of your age is +somewhat limited. But I should have thought that you would have found +it--lonely." + +"Perhaps I am different, then," she murmured. "I have never been lonely +here--all my life!" + +"Except," he reminded her, "when I knew you first." + +"Ah! But that was different," she protested. "I had no home in those +days, and I was afraid of being sent away." + +It was in his mind then to tell her of the envelope with her name +upon it in his study, but a sudden rush of confusing thoughts kept him +silent. It was while he was laboring in the web of this tangled dream of +wild but beautiful emotions that Aynesworth came. A pale, tragic figure +in his travel-stained clothes, and face furrowed with anxiety, he stood +over them almost before they were aware of his presence. + +"Walter!" she cried, and sprang to her feet with extended hands. +Wingrave's face darkened, and the shadow of evil crept into his suddenly +altered expression. It was an abrupt awakening this, and he hated the +man who had brought it about. + +Aynesworth held the girl's hands for a moment, but his manner was +sufficient evidence of the spirit in which he had come. He drew a little +breath, and he looked from one to the other anxiously. + +"Is this--your mysterious guardian, Juliet?" he asked hoarsely. + +She glanced at Wingrave questioningly. His expression was ominous, and +the light faded from her own face. While she hesitated, Wingrave spoke. + +"I imagine," he said, "that the fact is fairly obvious. What have you to +say about it?" + +"A good deal," Aynesworth answered passionately. "Juliet, please go +away. I must speak to your guardian--alone!" + +Again she looked at Wingrave. He pointed to the house. + +"I think," he said, "that you had better go." + +She hesitated. Something of the impending storm was already manifest. +Aynesworth turned suddenly towards her. + +"You shall not enter that house again, Juliet," he declared. "Stay in +the gardens there, and presently you shall know why." + + + + +THE AWAKENING + +Wingrave had risen to his feet. He was perfectly calm, but there was a +look on his face which Juliet had never seen there before. Instinctively +she drew a little away, and Aynesworth took his place between them. + +"Are you mad, Aynesworth?" Wingrave asked coolly. + +"Not now," Aynesworth answered. "I have been mad to stay with you for +four years, to look on, however passively, at all the evil you have +done. I've had enough of it now, and of you! I came here to tell you +so." + +"A letter," Wingrave answered, "would have been equally efficacious. +However, since you have told me--" + +"I'll go when I'm ready," Aynesworth answered, "and I've more to say. +When I first entered your service and you told me what your outlook upon +life was, I never dreamed but that the years would make a man of you +again, I never believed that you could be such a brute as to carry out +your threats. I saw you do your best to corrupt a poor, silly little +woman, who only escaped ruin by a miracle; I saw you deal out what might +have been irretrievable disaster to a young man just starting in life. +Since your return to London, you have done as little good, and as much +harm, with your millions as any man could." + +Wingrave was beginning to look bored. + +"This is getting," he remarked, "a little like melodrama. I have no +objection to being abused, even in my own garden, but there are limits +to my patience. Come to the point, if you have one." + +"Willingly," Aynesworth answered. "I want you to understand this. I have +never tried to interfere in any of your malicious schemes, although I +am ashamed to think I have watched them without protest. But this one +is different. If you have harmed, if you should ever dare to harm this +child, as sure as there is a God above us, I will kill you!" + +"What is she to you?" Wingrave asked calmly. + +"She--I love her," Aynesworth answered. "I mean her to be my wife." + +"And she?" + +"She looks upon me as her greatest friend, her natural protector, and +protect her I will--even against you." + +Wingrave shrugged his shoulders. + +"It seems to me," he said, "that the young lady is very well off as she +is. She has lived in my house, and been taken care of by my servants. +She has been relieved of all the material cares of life, and she has +been her own mistress. I scarcely see how you, my young friend, could do +better for her." + +Aynesworth moved a step nearer to him. The veins on his forehead were +swollen. His voice was hoarse with passion. + +"Why have you done this for her?" he demanded, "secretly, too, you a +man to whom a good action is a matter for a sneer, who have deliberately +proclaimed yourself an evil-doer by choice and destiny? Why have you +constituted yourself her guardian? Not from kindness for you don't know +what it is; not from good nature for you haven't any. Why, then?" + +Wingrave shrugged his shoulders. + +"I admit," he remarked coolly, "that it does seem rather a problem; we +all do unaccountable things at times, though." + +"For your own sake," Aynesworth said fiercely, "I trust that this is +one of the unaccountable things. For the rest, you shall have no other +chance. I shall take her to Truro tonight." + +"Are you sure that she will go?" + +"I shall tell her the truth." + +"And if she does not believe you?" + +"She will! If you interfere, I shall take her by force." + +"I interfere!" Wingrave remarked. "You need not be afraid of that. The +affair as it stands is far too interesting. Call her, and make your +appeal." + +"I shall tell her the truth," Aynesworth declared. + +"By all means! I shall remain and listen to my indictment. Quite a novel +sensation! Call the young lady, by all means, and don't spare me." + +Aynesworth moved a few steps up the path. He called to her softly, and +she came through the little iron gates from the rose gardens. She +was very pale, and there was a gleam in her eyes which was like fear. +Aynesworth took her by the hand and led her forward. + +"You must be brave, dear," he whispered. "I am compelled to say some +disagreeable things. It is for your good. It is because I care for you +so much." + +She looked towards Wingrave. He was sitting upon the garden seat, and +his face was absolutely expressionless. He spoke to her, and his cold, +precise tone betrayed not the slightest sign of any emotion. + +"Aynesworth," he remarked, "is going to tell you some interesting facts +about myself. Please listen attentively as afterwards you will be called +upon to make a somewhat important decision." + +She looked at him a little wistfully and sighed. There was no trace +any longer of her companion of the last few weeks. It was the stern and +gloomy stranger of her earlier recollections who sat there with folded +arms. + +"Is it really necessary?" she asked. + +"Absolutely," Aynesworth answered hurriedly. "It won't take long, but +there are things which you must know." + +"Very well," she answered, "I am listening." + +Aynesworth inclined his head towards the place where Wingrave sat. + +"I will admit," he said, "that the man there, whom I have served for the +last four years and more, never deceived me as to his real character and +intentions. He had been badly treated by a woman, and he told me plainly +that he entered into life again at war with his fellows. Where he could +see an opportunity of doing evil, he meant to do it; where he could +bring misery and suffering upon anyone with whom he came into contact, +he meant to grasp the opportunity. I listened to him, but I never +believed. I told myself that it would be interesting to watch his life, +and to see the gradual, inevitable humanizing of the man. So I entered +his service, and have remained in it until today." + +He turned more directly towards Juliet. She was listening breathlessly +to every word. + +"Juliet," he said, "he has kept his word. I have been by his side, and +I speak of the things I know. He has sought no one's friendship who has +not suffered for it, there is not a man or woman living who owes him the +acknowledgment of a single act of kindness. I have seen him deliberately +scheme to bring about the ruin of a harmless little woman. I have seen +him exact his pound of flesh, even at the cost of ruin, from a boy. I +tell you, Juliet, of my own knowledge, that he has neither heart nor +conscience, and that he glories in the evil that his hand finds to do. +Even you must know something of his reputation--have heard something of +his doings, under the name he is best known by in London--Mr. Wingrave, +millionaire." + +She started back as though in terror. Then she turned to Wingrave, who +sat stonily silent. + +"It isn't true," she cried. "You are not--that man?" + +He raised his eyes and looked at her. It seemed to her that there was +something almost satanic in the smile which alone disturbed the serenity +of his face. + +"Certainly I am," he answered; "when I returned from America, it +suited me to change my identity. You must not doubt anything that +Mr. Aynesworth says. I can assure you that he is a most truthful and +conscientious young man. I shall be able to give him a testimonial with +a perfectly clear conscience." + +Juliet shuddered as she turned away. All the joy of life seemed to have +gone from her face. + +"You are Mr. Wingrave--the Mr. Wingrave. Oh! I can't believe it," she +broke off suddenly. "No one could have been so kind, so generous, as you +have been to me." + +She looked from one to the other of the two men. Both were silent, but +whereas Aynesworth had turned his head away, Wingrave's position and +attitude were unchanged. She moved suddenly over towards him. One hand +fell almost caressingly upon his shoulder. She looked eagerly into his +face. + +"Tell me--that it isn't all true," she begged. "Tell me that your +kindness to me, at least, was real--that you did not mean it to be for +my unhappiness afterwards. Please tell me that. I think if you asked me, +if you cared to ask me, that I could forgive everything else." + +"Every vice, save one," Wingrave murmured, "Nature has lavished upon me. +I am a poor liar. It is perfectly true that my object in life has +been exactly as Aynesworth has stated it. I may have been more or less +successful--Aynesworth can tell you that, too. As regards yourself--" + +"Yes?" she exclaimed. + +"I congratulate you upon your escape," Wingrave said. "Aynesworth is +right. Association of any sort with me is for your evil!" + +She covered her face with her hands. Even his tone was different. +She felt that this man was a stranger, and a stranger to be feared. +Aynesworth came over to her side and drew her away. + +"I have a cart outside," he said. "I am going to take you to Truro--" + +Wingrave heard the gate close after them--he heard the rumble of the +cart in the road growing fainter and fainter. He was alone now in the +garden, and the darkness was closing around him. He staggered to his +feet. His face was back in its old set lines. He was once more at war +with the world. + + + + +REVENGE IS--BITTER + +At no time during his career did Wingrave appear before the public more +prominently than during the next few months. As London began to fill up +again, during the early part of October, he gave many and magnificent +entertainments, his name figured in all the great social events, he +bought a mansion in Park Lane which had been built for Royalty, and the +account of the treasures with which he filled it read like a chapter +from some modern Arabian Nights. In the city, he was more hated and +dreaded than ever. His transactions, huge and carefully thought out, +were for his own aggrandizement only, and left always in their wake ruin +and disaster for the less fortunate and weaker speculators. He played +for his own hand only, the camaraderie of finance he ignored altogether. +In one other respect, too, he occupied a unique position amongst the +financial magnates of the moment. All appeals on behalf of charity he +steadily ignored. He gave nothing away. His name never figured amongst +the hospital lists; suffering and disaster, which drew their humble +contributions from the struggling poor and middle classes, left him +unmoved and his check book unopened. In an age when huge gifts on behalf +of charity was the fashionable road to the peerage, his attitude was +all the more noticeable. He would give a thousand pounds for a piece +of Sevres china which took his fancy; he would not give a thousand +farthings to ease the sufferings of his fellows. Yet there were few +found to criticize him. He was called original, a crank; there were even +some who professed to see merit in his attitude. To both criticism and +praise he was alike indifferent. With a cynicism with seemed only to +become more bitter he pursued his undeviating and deliberate way. + +One morning he met Lady Ruth on the pavement in Bond Street. She pointed +to the vacant seat in her landau. + +"Get in, please, for a few minutes," she said. "I want to talk to you. I +will take you where you like." + +They drove off in silence. + +"You were not at the Wavertons' last night," he remarked. + +"No!" she answered quietly. "I was not asked." + +He glanced at her questioningly. + +"I thought that you were so friendly," he said. + +"I was," she answered. "Lady Waverton scarcely knows me now! It is the +beginning of the end, I suppose." + +"You are a little enigmatical this morning," he declared. + +"Oh, no! You understand me very well," she answered. "Everybody knows +that it is you who keep us going. Lumley has not got quite used to +taking your money. He has lost nearly all his ambition. Soon his day +will have gone by. People shrug their shoulders when they speak of us. +Two years ago the Wavertons were delighted to know me. Society seems +big, but it isn't. There are no end of little sets, one inside the +other. Two years ago, I was in the innermost, today I'm getting towards +the outside edge. Look at me! Do you see any change?" + +He scrutinized her mercilessly in the cold morning light. + +"You look older," he said, "and you have begun to use rouge, which is a +pity." + +She laughed hardly. + +"You think so? Well, I don't want Emily to see my hollow cheeks--or you! +Are you satisfied, Wingrave?" + +"I am afraid I don't understand--" he began. + +"Don't lie," she interrupted curtly. "You do understand. This is your +vengeance--very subtle and very crafty. Everything has turned out +exactly as you planned. You have broken us, Wingrave! I thought myself a +clever woman, but I might as well have tried to gamble with the angels. +Why don't you finish it off now--make me run away with you?" + +"It would bore us both," he answered calmly. "Besides, you wouldn't +come!" + +"I should, and you know that I would," she answered. "Everyone expects +it of us. I think myself that it would be more decent." + +He looked at her thoughtfully. + +"You are a strange woman," he said. "I find it hard sometimes to +understand you." + +"Then you are a fool," she declared in a fierce little whisper. "You +know what is underneath all my suffering, all my broken pride! You know +that I was fool enough to keep the flame flickering--that I have cared +always and for no one else!" + +He stopped the carriage. + +"You are the most original woman I ever met," he said quietly. "I +neither wish to care nor be cared for by anyone. Go home to your +husband, and tell him to buy Treadwells up to six." + +That same afternoon Wingrave met Aynesworth and cut him dead. Something +in the younger man's appearance, though, perplexed him. Aynesworth +certainly had not the air of a successful man. He was pale, carelessly +dressed, and apparently in ill health. Wingrave, after an amount of +hesitation, which was rare with him, turned his car towards Battersea, +and found himself, a few minutes later, mounting the five flights of +stone steps. Juliet herself opened the door to him. She gave a little +gasp when she saw who it was, and did not immediately invite him to +enter. + +"I am sorry," Wingrave said coldly, "to inflict this visit upon you. If +you are alone, and afraid to ask me in, we can talk here." + +Her cheeks became as flushed as a moment before they had been pale. She +looked at him reproachfully, and, standing on one side to let him pass, +closed the door behind him. Then she led the way into her sitting room. + +"I am glad that you have come to see me," she said. "Won't you sit +down?" + +He ignored her invitation, and stood looking around him. There was a +noticeable change in the little room. There were no flowers, some of the +ornaments and the silver trifles from her table were missing. The place +seemed to have been swept bare of everything, except the necessary +furniture. Then he looked at her. She was perceptibly thinner, and there +were black rings under her eyes. + +"Where is Mrs. Tresfarwin?" he asked. + +"In Cornwall," she answered. + +"Why?" + +"I could not afford to keep her here any longer." + +"What are you doing for a living--painting still?" + +She shook her head a little piteously. + +"They can't sell any more of my pictures," she said. "I am trying to get +a situation as governess or companion or--anything." + +"When did you have anything to eat last?" he asked. + +"Yesterday," she answered, and he was just in time to catch her. She had +fainted. + +He laid her upon the sofa, poured some water over her face, and fanned +her with a newspaper. His expression of cold indifference remained +unmoved. It was there in his face when she opened her eyes. + +"Are you well enough to walk?" he asked. + +"Quite, thank you," she answered. "I am so sorry!" + +"Put on your hat," he ordered. + +She disappeared for a few minutes, and returned dressed for the street. +He drove her to a restaurant and ordered some dinner. He made her drink +some wine, and while they waited he buried himself in a newspaper. +They ate their meal almost in silence. Afterwards, Wingrave asked her a +question. + +"Where is Aynesworth?" + +"Looking for work, I think," she answered. + +"Why did you not stay down in Cornwall?" + +"Miss Pengarth was away--and I preferred to return to London," she told +him quietly. + +"When are you going to marry Aynesworth?" he asked. + +She looked down into her glass and was silent. He leaned a little +towards her. + +"Perhaps," he remarked quietly, "you are already married?" + +Still she was silent. He saw the tears forced back from her eyes. He +heard the sob break in her throat. Yet he said nothing. He only waited. +At last she spoke. + +"Nothing is settled yet," she said, still without looking at him. + +"I see no reason," he said calmly, "why, until that time, you should +refuse to accept your allowance from Mr. Pengarth." + +"I cannot take any more of your money," she answered. "It was a mistake +from the first, but I was foolish. I did not understand." + +His lip curled with scorn. + +"You are one of those," he said, "who, as a child, were wise, but as +a young woman with a little knowledge, become--a prig. What harm is my +money likely to do you? I may be the Devil himself, but my gold is not +tainted. For the rest, granted that I am at war with the world, I do not +number children amongst my enemies." + +She raised her eyes then, and looked him in the face. + +"I am not afraid of you," she declared. "It is not that; but I have been +dependent long enough. I will keep myself--or starve." + +He shrugged his shoulders and paid the bill. + +"My man," he said, "will take you wherever you like. I have a call to +make close here." + +They stood upon the pavement. She held out her hand a little timidly. +Her eyes were soft and wistful. + +"Goodbye, guardian," she said. "Thank you very much for my lunch." + +"Ah!" he said gravely, "if you would let me always call myself that!" + +She got into the car without a word. Wingrave walked straight back to +his own house. Several people were waiting in the entrance hall, and +the visitors' book was open upon the porter's desk. He walked through, +looking neither to the right nor the left, crossed the great library, +with its curved roof, its floor of cedar wood, and its wonderful +stained-glass windows, and entered a smaller room beyond--his absolute +and impenetrable sanctum. He rang the bell for his servant. + +"Morrison," he said, "if you allow me to be disturbed by any living +person, on any pretense whatever, until I ring, you lose your place. Do +you understand?" + +"Perfectly, sir." + +Wingrave locked the door. The next hour belonged to himself alone... + +When at last he rang the bell, he gave Morrison a note. + +"This is to be delivered at once," he said. + +The man bowed and withdrew. Wingrave, with his hands behind him, +strolled out into the library. In a remote corner, a small spectacled +person was busy writing at a table. Wingrave crossed the room and stood +before him. + +"Are you my librarian?" he asked. + +The man rose at once. + +"Certainly, sir," he answered. "My name is Woodall. You may have +forgotten it. I am at work now upon a new catalogue." + +Wingrave nodded. + +"I have a quarto Shakespeare, I think," he said, "that I marked at +Sotheby's, also a manuscript Thomas a Kempis, and a first edition of +Herrick. I should like to see them." + +"By all means," the man answered, hurrying to the shelves. "You have, +also, a wonderful rare collection of manuscripts, purchased from the +Abbey St. Jouvain, and a unique Horace. If you will permit me." + +Wingrave spent half an hour examining his treasures, leaving his +attendant astonished. + +"A millionaire who understands!" he exclaimed softly as he resumed his +seat. "Miraculous!" + +Wingrave passed into the hall, and summoned his major domo. + +"Show me the ballroom," he ordered, "and the winter garden." + +The little man in quiet black clothes--Wingrave abhorred liveries--led +him respectfully through rooms probably unequaled for magnificence in +England. He spoke of the exquisite work of French and Italian artists; +with a gesture almost of reverence he pointed out the carving in the +wonderful white ballroom. + +Wingrave listened and watched with immovable face. Just as they had +completed their tour, Morrison approached. + +"Mr. Lumley and Lady Ruth Barrington are in the library, sir," he +announced. + +Wingrave nodded. + +"I am coming at once," he said. + + + + +THE WAY OF PEACE + +They awaited his coming in varying moods. Barrington was irritable and +restless, Lady Ruth gave no signs of any emotion whatever. She had the +air of a woman who had no longer fear or hope. Only her eyes were a +little weary. + +Barrington was walking up and down the room, his hands in his pockets, +his eyes fixed upon his wife. Every now and then he glanced nervously +towards her. + +"Of course," he said, "if he wants a settlement--well, there's an end of +all things. And I don't see why he shouldn't. He hasn't lent money out +of friendship. He hates me--always has done, and sometimes I wonder +whether he doesn't hate you too!" + +Lady Ruth shivered a little. Her husband's words came to her with +peculiar brutality. It was as though he were blaming her for not having +proved more attractive to the man who held them in the hollow of his +hand. + +"Doesn't it strike you," she murmured, "that a discussion like this +is scarcely in the best possible taste? We cannot surmise what he +wants--what he is going to do. Let us wait!" + +The door opened and Wingrave entered. To Barrington, who greeted him +with nervous cordiality, he presented the same cold, impenetrable +appearance; Lady Ruth, with quicker perceptions, noticed at once the +change. She sat up in her chair eagerly. It was what she had prayed for, +this--but was it for good or evil? Her eyes sought his eagerly. So much +depended upon his first few words. + +Wingrave closed the door behind him. His greetings were laconic as +usual. He addressed Lady Ruth. + +"I find myself obliged," he said, "to take a journey which may possibly +be a somewhat protracted one. I wished, before I left, to see you +and your husband. I sent for you together, but I wish to speak to you +separately--to your husband first. You have often expressed a desire to +see over my house, Lady Ruth. My major domo is outside. Will you forgive +me if I send you away for a few minutes?" + +Lady Ruth rose slowly to her feet. + +"How long do you wish me to keep away?" she asked calmly. + +"A few minutes only," he answered. "You will find me here when Parkinson +has shown you round." + +He held the door open and she passed out, with a single upward and +wondering glance. Wingrave closed the door, and seated himself close to +where Barrington was standing. + +"Barrington," he said, "twenty years ago we were friends. Since then we +have been enemies. Today, so far as I am concerned, we are neither." + +Barrington started a little. His lips twitched nervously. He did not +quite understand. + +"I am sure, Wingrave--" he began. + +Wingrave interrupted him ruthlessly. + +"I give you credit," he continued, "for understanding that my attitude +towards you since I--er--reappeared, has been inimical. I intended you +to speculate, and you did speculate. I meant you to lose, and you have +lost. The money I lent to your wife was meant to remain a rope around +your neck. The fact that I lent it to her was intended to humiliate you, +the attentions which I purposely paid to her in public were intended to +convey a false impression to society--and in this, too, I fancy that I +have been successful." + +Barrington drew a thick breath--the dull color was mounting to his +cheeks. + +Wingrave continued calmly-- + +"I had possibly in my mind, at one time," he said, "the idea of drawing +things on to a climax--of witnessing the final disappearance of yourself +and your wife from the world--such as we know it. I have, however, +ceased to derive amusement or satisfaction from pursuing what we may +call my vengeance. Consequently, it is finished." + +The light of hope leaped into Barrington's dull eyes, but he recognized +Wingrave's desire for silence. + +"A few feet to your left, upon my writing table," Wingrave continued, +"you will find an envelope addressed to yourself. It contains a +discharge, in full, for the money I have lent you. I have also ventured +to place to your credit, at your own bank, a sum sufficient to give you +a fresh start. When you return to Cadogan Square, or, at least, this +evening, you will receive a communication from the Prime Minister, +inviting you to become one of the International Board of Arbitration on +the Alaskan question. The position, as you know, is a distinguished one, +and if you should be successful, your future career should be assured." + +Barrington broke down. He covered his face with his hands. Great sobs +shook him. Wingrave waited for a few minutes, and then rose to his feet. + +"Barrington," he said, "there is one thing more! What the world may say +or think counts for very little. Society reverses its own judgments and +eats its own words every day. A little success will bring it to your +feet like a whipped dog. It is for yourself I say this, for yourself +alone. There is no reason why you should hesitate to accept any service +I may be able to render you. You understand me?" + +Barrington's face was like the face of a young man. All the cloud of +suspicion and doubts and fears was suddenly lifted. He looked through +new eyes on to a new world. + +"Thank God!" he exclaimed. "Not that I ever doubted it, Wingrave, +but--thank God!"... + +Barrington left the house radiant,--Lady Ruth and Wingrave were +alone. She watched him close the door and turn towards her, with a new +timidity. The color came and went in her pale cheeks, her eyes were +no longer tired. When he turned towards her, she leaned to him with a +little seductive movement of her body. Her hands stole out towards him. + +"Wingrave!" she murmured. + +His first action seemed to crush all the desperate joy which was rising +fast in her heart. He took one hand, and he led her to a chair. + +"Ruth," he said, "I have been talking to your husband. There are only a +few words I want to say to you." + +"There are only three I want to hear from you," she murmured, and her +eyes were pleading with him passionately all the time. "It seems to me +that I have been waiting to hear them all my life. Wingrave, I am so +tired--and I am losing--I want to leave it all!" + +"Exactly," he answered cheerfully, "what you are going to do. You are +going to America with your husband." + +"What do you mean?" she asked sharply. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"I am rather tired of the game," he said, "that is all. I am like the +child who likes to build up again the house of bricks which he has +thrown down. I have procured for your husband a seat on the Alaskan +Board. It is a very distinguished position, and you will find that it +will entail considerable social obligations in America. When you return, +he will be able to claim a judgeship, or a place in the Government. You +will find things go smoothly enough then." + +"But you!" she cried; "I want you!" + +He looked at her gravely. + +"Dear Lady Ruth," he said, "you may think so at this moment, but you are +very much mistaken. What you really desire is a complete reconciliation +with your husband and a place in the great world which no one shall be +able to question. These things are arranged for you; also--these." + +He handed her a little packet. She dropped it idly into her lap. She was +looking steadfastly away from them. + +"You are free from me now," he continued. "You will find life run quite +smoothly, and I do not think that you will be troubled with me when you +come back from America. I have other plans." + +"There was a slave," she murmured, "who grew to love her gaoler, and +when they came to set her free and take her back to her own people--she +prayed only to be left in her cell! Freedom for her meant a broken +heart!" + +"But that was fiction," he answered. "For you, freedom will mean other +things. There is work for you to do, honorable work. You must fan the +flame of your husband's ambition, you must see that he does justice to +his great opportunities. You have your own battle to fight with society, +but you have the winning cards for, before you go, you and your husband +will be received as guests--well, by the one person whose decision is +absolute." + +She looked at him in amazement. + +"My word of honor," he said quietly, "was enough for Lord Marendon. You +will find things go smoothly with you." + +"You are wonderful," she gasped, "but--you--you spoke of going away." + +"I am going to travel," he said quietly, "rather a long journey. I have +lived three lives, I am going to try a fourth!" + +"Alone?" she asked. + +"Quite alone," he answered. + +"Tell me where you are going?" she begged. + +"I cannot do that," he answered. "It is my secret." + +She rose to her feet. She was very pale. She stood in front of him, and +she laid her hands upon his shoulders. + +"Wingrave," she said, "I will obey. I will live the life you have shown +me, and I will live it successfully. But I will know this. Who is it +that has succeeded where I have failed?" + +"I do not understand you," he answered. + +"You do!" she declared, "and I will know. For years you have been a man +with a shell upon your heart. Every good impulse, every kind thought +seemed withered up. You were absolutely cold, absolutely passionless! +I have worn myself out trying to call you back to your own, to set +the blood flowing once more in your veins, to break for one moment the +barriers which you had set up against Nature herself. Some day, I +felt that it must come--and it has! Who has done it, Wingrave? It is +not--Emily?" + +"Emily!" he exclaimed. "I have not seen her for months. She has no +interest for me--she never had." + +"Then tell me who it is!" + +"Nature unaided," he answered carelessly. "Human intervention was not +necessary. It was the swing of the pendulum, Ruth, the eternal law +which mocks our craving for content. I had no sooner succeeded in my new +capacity--than the old man crept out." + +"But Nature has her weapons always," she protested. "Wingrave, was it +the child?" + +He touched the electric bell. Taking her hands, he bent down and kissed +them. + +"Dear lady," he said, "goodbye--good fortune! Conquer new worlds, and +remember--white is your color, and Paquin your one modiste. Morrison, +Lady Barrington's carriage." + + + + +"LOVE SHALL MAKE ALL THINGS NEW" + +Mr. Pengarth was loth to depart. He felt that all pretext for lingering +was gone, that he had outstayed his welcome. Yet he found himself +desperately striving for some excuse to prolong an interview which was +to all effects and purposes concluded. + +"I will do my best, Sir Wingrave," he said, reverting to the subject of +their interview, "to study Miss Lundy's interests in every way. I will +also see that she has the letter you have left for her within eight days +from now. But if you could see you way to leave some sort of address so +that I should have a chance of communicating with you, if necessary, I +should assume my responsibilities with a lighter heart." + +Wingrave gave vent to a little gesture of annoyance. + +"My dear sir," he said, "surely I have been explicit enough. I have told +you that, within a week from now, I shall be practically dead. I shall +never return to England--you will never see me again. I have given life +here a fair trial, and found it a failure. I am going to make a new +experiment--and it is going to be in an unexplored country. You could +not reach me there through the post. You, I think, would scarcely care +to follow me. Let it go at that." + +Mr. Pengarth took up his bag with a sigh. + +"Sir Wingrave," he said, "I am a simple man, and life with me has always +been a very simple affair. I recognize the fact, of course, that I am +not in a position to judge or to understand the mental attitude of one +who, like yourself, has suffered and passed through great crises. But I +cannot help wishing that you could find it possible to try, for a time, +the quiet life of a countryman in this beautiful home of yours." + +Wingrave shrugged his shoulders. + +"Mr. Pengarth," he said, "no two men are born alike into this world. +Some are blessed with a contented mind, some are wanderers by destiny. +You will forgive me if I do not discuss the matter with you more fully. +My journey, wherever and whatever it is, is inevitable." + +Mr. Pengarth was braver than he had ever been in his life. + +"Sir Wingrave," he said, "there is one journey which we must all take +in God's good time. But the man who starts before he is called finds no +welcome at the end. The greatest in life are those who are content to +wait!" + +"I am not in the least disposed to doubt it, Mr. Pengarth," Wingrave +said calmly. "Now I must really send you away." + +So Mr. Pengarth went, but Wingrave was not long destined to remain +in solitude. There was a sound of voices in the hall, Morrison's +protesting, another insistent. Then the door opened, and Wingrave looked +up with darkening face, which did not lighten when he recognized the +intruder. + +"Aynesworth!" he exclaimed, "what are you doing here? What do you want +with me?" + +"Five minutes," Aynesworth answered, "and I mean to have it. You may as +well tell your man to take his hand off my shoulder." + +Wingrave nodded to Morrison. + +"You can go," he said. "Come back when I ring." + +They were alone! Aynesworth threw down his hat and crossed the room +until he was within a few feet of Wingrave. + +"Well, sir?" + +Aynesworth laughed a little unnaturally. + +"I had to come," he said. "It is humiliating, but the discipline is good +for me! I was determined to come and see once more the man who has made +an utter and complete fool of me." + +Wingrave eyed him coldly. + +"If you would be good enough to explain," he began. + +"Oh, yes, I'll explain," Aynesworth answered. "I engaged myself to you +as secretary, didn't I, and I told you the reason at the time? I wanted +to make a study of you. I wanted to trace the effect of your long period +of isolation upon your subsequent actions. I entered upon my duties--how +you must have smiled at me behind my back! Never was a man more +completely and absolutely deceived. I lived with you, was always by your +side, I was there professedly to study your actions and the method of +them. And yet you found it a perfectly simple matter to hoodwink me +whenever you chose!" + +"In what respect?" Wingrave asked calmly. + +"Every respect!" Aynesworth answered. "Let me tell you two things which +happened to me yesterday. I met a young New York stockbroker, named +Nesbitt, in London, and in common with all London, I suppose, by this +time, I learnt the secret of all those anonymous contributions to the +hospitals and other charitable causes during the last year." + +"Go on," Wingrave said. + +"I have come here on purpose to tell you what I think you are," +Aynesworth said. "You are the greatest hypocrite unhanged. You affect to +hate your fellows and to love evil-doers. You deceived the whole world, +and you deceived me. I know you now for what you are. You conceived your +evil plans, but when the time came for carrying them out, you funked +it every time. You had that silly little woman on the steamer in your +power, and you yourself, behind your own back, released her with that +Marconigram to her husband, sent by yourself. You brought the boy +Nesbitt face to face with ruin, and to his face you offered him no +mercy. Behind his back you employ a lawyer to advance him your own money +to pay your own debt. You decline to give a single penny away in charity +and, as stealthily as possible, you give away in one year greater sums +than any other man has ever parted with. You decline to help the poor +little orphan child of the village organist, and secretly you have her +brought up in your own home, and stop the sale of your pictures for the +sake of the child whom you had only once contemptuously addressed. Can +you deny any one of these things?" + +"No!" Wingrave answered quietly, "I cannot." + +"And I thought you a strong man," Aynesworth continued, aggrieved and +contemptuous. "I nearly went mad with fear when I heard that it was you +who were the self-appointed guardian of Juliet Lundy. I looked upon this +as one more, the most diabolical of all your schemes!" + +Wingrave rose to his feet, still and grave. + +"Aynesworth," he said, "this interview does not interest me. Let us +bring it to an end. I admit that I have made a great failure of my life. +I admit that I have failed in realizing the ambitions I once confided to +you. I came out from prison with precisely those intentions, and I was +conscious of nothing in myself or my nature to prevent my carrying them +out. It seems that I was mistaken. I admit all this, but I do not admit +your right to force yourself into my presence and taunt me with my +failure. You served me well enough, but you were easily hoodwinked, and +our connection is at an end. I have only one thing to say to you. I +am leaving this part of the world altogether. I shall not return. That +child has some foolish scruples about taking any more of my money. That +arises through your confounded interference. She is poor, almost in +want. If you should fail her now--" + +Aynesworth interrupted with a hoarse little laugh. + +"Wingrave," he said, "are you playing the simpleton? If Juliet will not +take your money, why should she take mine?" + +Wingrave came out from his place. He was standing now between Aynesworth +and the door. + +"Aynesworth," he said, "do I understand that you are not going to marry +the child?" + +"I? Certainly not!" Aynesworth answered. + +Wingrave remained quite calm, but there was a terrible light in his +eyes. + +"Now, for the first time, Aynesworth," he said, "I am glad that you are +here. We are going to have a complete understanding before you leave +this room. Juliet Lundy, as my ward, was, I believe, contented and +happy. It suited you to disturb our relations, and your excuse for doing +so was that you loved her. You took her away from me, and now you say +that you do not intend to marry her. Be so good as to tell me what the +devil you do mean!" + +Aynesworth laughed a little bitterly. + +"You must excuse me," he said, "but a sense of humor was always my +undoing, and this reversal of our positions is a little odd, isn't it? +I am not going to marry Juliet Lundy because she happens not to care for +me in that way at all. My appearance is scarcely that of a joyous lover, +is it?" + +Wingrave eyed him more closely. Aynesworth had certainly fallen away +from the trim and carefully turned out young man of a few months back. +He was paler, too, and looked older. + +"I do not understand this," Wingrave said. + +"I do!" Aynesworth answered bitterly. "There is someone else?" + +"Someone whom I do not know about?" Wingrave said, frowning heavily. +"Who is he, Aynesworth?" + +Aynesworth shrugged his shoulders. He said nothing. Wingrave came a step +nearer to him. + +"You may as well tell me." he said quietly, "for I shall postpone my +journey until I know the whole truth." + +"It is not my secret," Aynesworth answered. "Ask her yourself!" + +"Very well," Wingrave declared, "I will. I shall return to London +tonight." + +"It is not necessary," Aynesworth remarked. + +Wingrave started. + +"You mean that she is here?" he exclaimed. + +Aynesworth drew him towards the window. + +"Come," he said, "you shall ask her now." + +Wingrave hesitated for a moment. An odd nervousness seemed to have taken +possession of him. + +"I do not understand this, Aynesworth," he said. "Why is she here?" + +"Go and ask her your question," Aynesworth said. "Perhaps you will +understand then." + +Wingrave went down the path which led to the walled garden and the +sea. The tall hollyhocks brushed against his knees; the air, as mild as +springtime, was fragrant with the perfume of late roses. Wingrave took +no note of these things. Once more he seemed to see coming up the path +the little black-frocked child, with the pale face and the great sad +eyes; it was she indeed who rose so swiftly from the hidden seat. Then +Wingrave stopped short for he felt stirring within him all the long +repressed madness of his unlived manhood. It was the weakness against +which he had fought so long and so wearily, triumphant now, so that his +heart beat like a boy's, and the color flamed into his cheeks. And all +the time she was coming nearer, and he saw that the child had become a +woman, and it seemed to him that all the joy of life was alight in her +face, and the one mysterious and wonderful secret of her sex was +shining softly out of her eager eyes. So that, after all, when they met, +Wingrave asked her no questions. She came into his arms with all the +graceful and perfect naturalness of a child who has wandered a little +away from home.... + +"I am too old for you, dear," he said presently, as they wandered about +the garden, "much too old." + +"Age," she answered softly, "what is that? What have we to do with +the years that are past? It is the years to come only which we need +consider, and to think of them makes me almost tremble with happiness. +You are much too rich and too wonderful a personage for a homeless +orphan like me; but," she added, tucking her arm through his with a +contented little sigh, "I have you, and I shall not let you go!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Malefactor, by E. 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