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diff --git a/13823-h/13823-h.htm b/13823-h/13823-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c38668 --- /dev/null +++ b/13823-h/13823-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7491 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st February 2004), see www.w3.org"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lady Merton Colonist, by Mrs. +Humphry Ward.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + .loc { TEXT-ALIGN: right; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13823 ***</div> + +<a name="img1.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/img1.jpg"><img src="images/img1.jpg" +width="45%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>"ELIZABETH ... COULD YET FIND TIME TO WALK AND CLIMB,<br> +PLUNGING SPIRIT AND SENSE IN THE BEAUTY OF THE ROCKIES"</b></p> +<br> +<h1>LADY MERTON<br> +COLONIST</h1> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>MRS. HUMPHRY WARD</h3> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/002.jpg" width="10%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<h5>FRONTISPIECE</h5> +<h4>BY ALBERT STERNER</h4> +<h5>1910</h5> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<center>[<a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a>] [<a href="#CHAPTER_II">2</a>] +[<a href="#CHAPTER_III">3</a>] [<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">4</a>] +[<a href="#CHAPTER_V">5</a>] [<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">6</a>] +[<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">7</a>]<br> +[<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">8</a>] [<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">9</a>] +[<a href="#CHAPTER_X">10</a>] [<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">11</a>] +[<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">12</a>] [<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">13</a>] +[<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">14</a>]<br> +[<a href="#img2.jpg">Lake Elizabeth</a>]</center> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>A FOREWORD</h2> +<br> +<p>Towards the end of this story the readers of it will find an +account of an "unknown lake" in the northern Rockies, together with +a picture of its broad expanse, its glorious mountains, and of a +white explorers' tent pitched beside it. Strictly speaking, "Lake +Elizabeth" is a lake of dream. But it has an original on this real +earth, which bears another and a real name, and was discovered two +years ago by my friend Mrs. Schäffer, of Philadelphia, to +whose enchanting narratives of travel and exploration in these +untrodden regions I listened with delight at Field, British +Columbia, in June, 1908. She has given me leave to use her own +photograph of the "unknown lake," and some details from her record +of it, for my own purposes; and I can only hope that in the summers +to come she may unlock yet other secrets, unravel yet other +mysteries, in that noble unvisited country which lies north and +northeast of the Bow Valley and the Kicking Horse Pass.</p> +<p>MARY A. WARD.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h1>LADY MERTON, COLONIST</h1> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> +<br> +<p>"I call this part of the line beastly depressing."</p> +<p>The speaker tossed his cigarette-end away as he spoke. It fell +on the railway line, and the tiny smoke from it curled up for a +moment against the heavy background of spruce as the train +receded.</p> +<p>"All the same, this is going to be one of the most exciting +parts of Canada before long," said Lady Merton, looking up from her +guide-book. "I can tell you all about it."</p> +<p>"For heaven's sake, don't!" said her companion hastily. "My dear +Elizabeth, I really must warn you. You're losing your head."</p> +<p>"I lost it long ago. To-day I am a bore--to-morrow I shall be a +nuisance. Make up your mind to it."</p> +<p>"I thought you were a reasonable person!--you used to be. Now +look at that view, Elizabeth. We've seen the same thing for twelve +hours, and if it wasn't soon going to be dark we should see the +same thing for twelve hours more. What is there to go mad over in +that?" Her brother waved his hand indignantly from right to left +across the disappearing scene. "As for me, I am only sustained by +the prospect of the good dinner that I know Yerkes means to give us +in a quarter of an hour. I won't be a minute late for it! Go and +get ready, Elizabeth--"</p> +<p>"Another lake!" cried Lady Merton, with a jump. "Oh, what a +darling! That's the twentieth since tea. Look at the +reflections--and that delicious island! And oh! what <i>are</i> +those birds?"</p> +<p>She leant over the side of the observation platform, attached to +the private car in which she and her brother were travelling, at +the rear of the heavy Canadian Pacific train. To the left of the +train a small blue lake had come into view, a lake much indented +with small bays running up among the woods, and a couple of islands +covered with scrub of beech and spruce, set sharply on the clear +water. On one side of the lake, the forest was a hideous waste of +burnt trunks, where the gaunt stems--charred or singed, snapped or +twisted, or flayed--of the trees which remained standing rose +dreadfully into the May sunshine, above a chaos of black ruin +below. But except for this blemish--the only sign of man--the +little lake was a gem of beauty. The spring green clothed its rocky +sides; the white spring clouds floated above it, and within it; and +small beaches of white pebbles seemed to invite the human feet +which had scarcely yet come near them.</p> +<p>"What does it matter?" yawned her brother. "I don't want to +shoot them. And why you make such a fuss about the lakes, when, as +you say yourself, there are about two a mile, and none of them has +got a name to its back, and they're all exactly alike, and all full +of beastly mosquitoes in the summer--it beats me! I wish Yerkes +would hurry up." He leant back sleepily against the door of the car +and closed his eyes.</p> +<p>"It's <i>because</i> they haven't got a name--and they're so +endless!--and the place is so big!--and the people so few!--and the +chances are so many--and so queer!" said Elizabeth Merton +laughing.</p> +<p>"What sort of chances?"</p> +<p>"Chances of the future."</p> +<p>"Hasn't got any chances!" said Philip Gaddesden, keeping his +hands in his pockets.</p> +<p>"Hasn't it? Owl!" Lady Merton neatly pinched the arm nearest to +her. "As I've explained to you many times before, this is the +Hinterland of Ontario--and it's only been surveyed, except just +along the railway, a few years ago--and it's as rich as rich--"</p> +<p>"I say, I wish you wouldn't reel out the guide-book like that!" +grumbled the somnolent person beside her. "As if I didn't know all +about the Cobalt mines, and that kind of stuff."</p> +<p>"Did you make any money out of them, Phil?"</p> +<p>"No--but the other fellows did. That's my luck."</p> +<p>"Never mind, there'll be heaps more directly--hundreds." She +stretched out her hand vaguely towards an enchanting distance--hill +beyond hill, wood beyond wood; everywhere the glimmer of water in +the hollows; everywhere the sparkle of fresh leaf, the shining of +the birch trunks among the firs, the greys and purples of limestone +rock; everywhere, too, the disfiguring stain of fire, fire new or +old, written, now on the mouldering stumps of trees felled thirty +years ago when the railway was making, now on the young stems of +yesterday.</p> +<p>"I want to see it all in a moment of time," Elizabeth continued, +still above herself. "An air-ship, you know, Philip--and we should +see it all in a day, from here to James Bay. A thousand miles of +it--stretched below us--just waiting for man! And we'd drop down +into an undiscovered lake, and give it a name--one of our +names--and leave a letter under a stone. And then in a hundred +years, when the settlers come, they'd find it, and your name--or +mine--would live forever."</p> +<p>"I forbid you to take any liberties with my name, Elizabeth! +I've something better to do with it than waste it on a lake +in--what do you call it?--the 'Hinterland of Ontario.'" The young +man mocked his sister's tone.</p> +<p>Elizabeth laughed and was silent.</p> +<p>The train sped on, at its steady pace of some thirty miles an +hour. The spring day was alternately sunny and cloudy; the +temperature was warm, and the leaves were rushing out. Elizabeth +Merton felt the spring in her veins, an indefinable joyousness and +expectancy; but she was conscious also of another intoxication--a +heat of romantic perception kindled in her by this vast new country +through which she was passing. She was a person of much travel, and +many experiences; and had it been prophesied to her a year before +this date that she could feel as she was now feeling, she would not +have believed it. She was then in Rome, steeped in, ravished by the +past--assisted by what is, in its way, the most agreeable society +in Europe. Here she was absorbed in a rushing present; held by the +vision of a colossal future; and society had dropped out of her +ken. Quebec, Montreal and Ottawa had indeed made themselves +pleasant to her; she had enjoyed them all. But it was in the +wilderness that the spell had come upon her; in these vast spaces, +some day to be the home of a new race; in these lakes, the +playground of the Canada of the future; in these fur stations and +scattered log cabins; above all in the great railway linking east +and west, that she and her brother had come out to see.</p> +<p>For they had a peculiar relation to it. Their father had been +one of its earliest and largest shareholders, might indeed be +reckoned among its founders. He had been one, also, of a small +group of very rich men who had stood by the line in one of the many +crises of its early history, when there was often not enough money +in the coffers of the company to pay the weekly wages of the +navvies working on the great iron road. He was dead now, and his +property in the line had been divided among his children. But his +name and services were not forgotten at Montreal, and when his son +and widowed daughter let it be known that they desired to cross +from Quebec to Vancouver, and inquired what the cost of a private +car might be for the journey, the authorities at Montreal insisted +on placing one of the official cars at their disposal. So that they +were now travelling as the guests of the C.P.R.; and the good will +of one of the most powerful of modern corporations went with +them.</p> +<p>They had left Toronto, on a May evening, when the orchards ran, +one flush of white and pink, from the great lake to the gorge of +Niagara, and all along the line northwards the white trilliums +shone on the grassy banks in the shadow of the woods; while the +pleasant Ontario farms flitted by, so mellowed and homelike +already, midway between the old life of Quebec, and this new, raw +West to which they were going. They had passed, also--but at night +and under the moon--through the lake country which is the +playground of Toronto, as well known, and as plentifully be-named +as Westmoreland; and then at North Bay with the sunrise they had +plunged into the wilderness,--into the thousand miles of forest and +lake that lie between Old Ontario and Winnipeg.</p> +<p>And here it was that Elizabeth's enthusiasm had become in her +brother's eyes a folly; that something wild had stirred in her +blood, and sitting there in her shady hat at the rear of the train, +her eyes pursuing the great track which her father had helped to +bring into being, she shook Europe from her, and felt through her +pulses the tremor of one who watches at a birth, and looks forward +to a life to be--</p> +<p>"Dinner is ready, my lady."</p> +<p>"Thank Heaven!" cried Philip Gaddesden, springing up. "Get some +champagne, please, Yerkes."</p> +<p>"Philip!" said his sister reprovingly, "it is not good for you +to have champagne every night."</p> +<p>Philip threw back his curly head, and grinned.</p> +<p>"I'll see if I can do without it to-morrow. Come along, +Elizabeth."</p> +<p>They passed through the outer saloon, with its chintz-covered +sofas and chairs, past the two little bedrooms of the car, and the +tiny kitchen to the dining-room at the further end. Here stood a +man in steward's livery ready to serve, while from the door of the +kitchen another older man, thin and tanned, in a cook's white cap +and apron, looked benevolently out.</p> +<p>"Smells good, Yerkes!" said Gaddesden as he passed.</p> +<p>The cook nodded.</p> +<p>"If only her ladyship'll find something she likes," he said, not +without a slight tone of reproach.</p> +<p>"You hear that, Elizabeth?" said her brother as they sat down to +the well-spread board.</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked plaintive. It was one of her chief weaknesses +to wish to be liked--adored, perhaps, is the better word--by her +servants and she generally accomplished it. But the price of +Yerkes's affections was too high.</p> +<p>"It seems to me that we have only just finished luncheon, not to +speak of tea," she said, looking in dismay at the menu before her. +"Phil, do you wish to see me return home like Mrs. Melhuish?"</p> +<p>Phil surveyed his sister. Mrs. Melhuish was the wife of their +local clergyman in Hampshire; a poor lady plagued by abnormal +weight, and a heart disease.</p> +<p>"You might borrow pounds from Mrs. Melhuish, and nobody would +ever know. You really are too thin, Lisa--a perfect scarecrow. Of +course Yerkes sees that he could do a lot for you. All the same, +that's a pretty gown you've got on--an awfully pretty gown," he +repeated with emphasis, adding immediately afterwards in another +tone--"Lisa!--I say!--you're not going to wear black any more?"</p> +<p>"No"--said Lady Merton, "no--I am not going to wear black any +more." The words came lingeringly out, and as the servant removed +her plate, Elizabeth turned to look out of the window at the +endless woods, a shadow on her beautiful eyes.</p> +<p>She was slenderly made, with a small face and head round which +the abundant hair was very smoothly and closely wound. The hair was +of a delicate brown, the complexion clear, but rather colourless. +Among other young and handsome women, Elizabeth Merton made little +effect; like a fine pencil drawing, she required an attentive eye. +The modelling of the features, of the brow, the cheeks, the throat, +was singularly refined, though without a touch of severity; her +hands, with their very long and slender fingers, conveyed the same +impression. Her dress, though dainty, was simple and inconspicuous, +and her movements, light, graceful, self-controlled, seemed to show +a person of equable temperament, without any strong emotions. In +her light cheerfulness, her perpetual interest in the things about +her, she might have reminded a spectator of some of the smaller +sea-birds that flit endlessly from wave to wave, for whom the +business of life appears to be summed up in flitting and +poising.</p> +<p>The comparison would have been an inadequate one. But Elizabeth +Merton's secrets were not easily known. She could rave of Canada; +she rarely talked of herself. She had married, at the age of +nineteen, a young Cavalry officer, Sir Francis Merton, who had died +of fever within a year of their wedding, on a small West African +expedition for which he had eagerly offered himself. Out of the ten +months of their marriage, they had spent four together. Elizabeth +was now twenty-seven, and her married life had become to her an +insubstantial memory. She had been happy, but in the depths of the +mind she knew that she might not have been happy very long. Her +husband's piteous death had stamped upon her, indeed, a few sharp +memories; she saw him always,--as the report of a brother officer, +present at his funeral, had described him--wrapped in the Flag, and +so lowered to his grave, in a desert land. This image effaced +everything else; the weaknesses she knew, and those she had begun +to guess at. But at the same time she had not been crushed by the +tragedy; she had often scourged herself in secret for the rapidity +with which, after it, life had once more become agreeable to her. +She knew that many people thought her incapable of deep feeling. +She supposed it must be true. And yet there were moments when a +self within herself surprised and startled her; not so much, as +yet, in connection with persons, as with ideas, +causes--oppressions, injustices, helpless suffering; or, as now, +with a new nation, visibly striking its "being into bounds."</p> +<p>During her widowhood she had lived much with her mother, and had +devoted herself particularly to this only brother, a delicate +lad--lovable, self-indulgent and provoking--for whom the +unquestioning devotion of two women had not been the best of +schools. An attack of rheumatic fever which had seized him on +leaving Christchurch had scared both mother and sister. He had +recovered, but his health was not yet what it had been; and as at +home it was impossible to keep him from playing golf all day, and +bridge all night, the family doctor, in despair, recommended +travel, and Elizabeth had offered to take charge of him. It was not +an easy task, for although Philip was extremely fond of his sister, +as the male head of the family since his father's death he held +strong convictions with regard to the natural supremacy of man, and +would probably never "double Cape Turk." In another year's time, at +the age of four and twenty, he would inherit the family estate, and +his mother's guardianship would come to an end. He then intended to +be done with petticoat government, and to show these two dear women +a thing or two.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The dinner was good, as usual; in Elizabeth's eyes, monstrously +good. There was to her something repellent in such luxurious fare +enjoyed by strangers, on this tourist-flight through a country so +eloquent of man's hard wrestle with rock and soil, with winter and +the wilderness. The blinds of the car towards the next carriage +were rigorously closed, that no one might interfere with the +privacy of the rich; but Elizabeth had drawn up the blind beside +her, and looked occasionally into the evening, and that endless +medley of rock and forest and lake which lay there outside, under +the sunset. Once she gazed out upon a great gorge, through which +ran a noble river, bathed in crimson light; on its way, no doubt, +to Lake Superior, the vast, crescent-shaped lake she had dreamed of +in her school-room days, over her geography lessons, and was soon +to see with her own eyes. She thought of the uncompanioned beauty +of the streams, as it would be when the thunder of the train had +gone by, of its distant sources in the wild, and the loneliness of +its long, long journey. A little shiver stole upon her, the old +tremor of man in presence of a nature not yet tamed to his needs, +not yet identified with his feelings, still full therefore of +stealthy and hostile powers, creeping unawares upon his life.</p> +<p>"This champagne is not nearly as good as last night," said +Philip discontentedly. "Yerkes must really try for something better +at Winnipeg. When do we arrive?"</p> +<p>"Oh, some time to-morrow evening."</p> +<p>"What a blessing we're going to bed!" said the boy, lighting his +cigarette. "You won't be able to bother me about lakes, Lisa."</p> +<p>But he smiled at her as he spoke, and Elizabeth was so enchanted +to notice the gradual passing away of the look of illness, the +brightening of the eye, and slight filling out of the face, that he +might tease her as he pleased.</p> +<p>Within an hour Philip Gaddesden was stretched on a comfortable +bed sound asleep. The two servants had made up berths in the +dining-room; Elizabeth's maid slept in the saloon. Elizabeth +herself, wrapped in a large cloak, sat awhile outside, waiting for +the first sight of Lake Superior.</p> +<p>It came at last. A gleam of silver on the left--a line of purple +islands--frowning headlands in front--and out of the interminable +shadow of the forests, they swept into a broad moonlight. Over high +bridges and the roar of rivers, threading innumerable bays, +burrowing through headlands and peninsulas, now hanging over the +cold shining of the water, now lost again in the woods, the train +sped on its wonderful way. Elizabeth on her platform at its rear +was conscious of no other living creature. She seemed to be alone +with the night and the vastness of the lake, the awfulness of its +black and purple coast. As far as she could see, the trees on its +shores were still bare; they had temporarily left the spring +behind; the North seemed to have rushed upon her in its terror and +desolation. She found herself imagining the storms that sweep the +lake in winter, measuring her frail life against the loneliness and +boundlessness around her. No sign of man, save in the few lights of +these scattered stations; and yet, for long, her main impression +was one of exultation in man's power and skill, which bore her on +and on, safe, through the conquered wilderness.</p> +<p>Gradually, however, this note of feeling slid down into +something much softer and sadder. She became conscious of herself, +and her personal life; and little by little her exultation passed +into yearning; her eyes grew wet. For she had no one beside her +with whom to share these secret thoughts and passions--these fresh +contacts with life and nature. Was it always to be so? There was in +her a longing, a "sehnsucht," for she knew not what.</p> +<p>She could marry, of course, if she wished. There was a +possibility in front of her, of which she sometimes thought. She +thought of it now, wistfully and kindly; but it scarcely availed +against the sudden melancholy, the passion of indefinite yearning +which had assailed her.</p> +<p>The night began to cloud rapidly. The moonlight died from the +lake and the coast. Soon a wind sprang up, lashing the young spruce +and birch growing among the charred wreck of the older forest, +through which the railway had been driven. Elizabeth went within, +and she was no sooner in bed than the rain came pelting on her +window.</p> +<p>She lay sleepless for a long time, thinking now, not of the +world outside, or of herself, but of the long train in front of +her, and its freight of lives; especially of the two emigrant cars, +full, as she had seen at North Bay, of Galicians and Russian Poles. +She remembered the women's faces, and the babies at their breasts. +Were they all asleep, tired out perhaps by long journeying, and +soothed by the noise of the train? Or were there hearts among them +aching for some poor hovel left behind, for a dead child in a +Carpathian graveyard?--for a lover?--a father?--some bowed and +wrinkled Galician peasant whom the next winter would kill? And were +the strong, swarthy men dreaming of wealth, of the broad land +waiting, the free country, and the equal laws?</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Elizabeth awoke. It was light in her little room. The train was +at a standstill. Winnipeg?</p> +<p>A subtle sense of something wrong stole upon her. Why this +murmur of voices round the train? She pushed aside a corner of the +blind beside her. Outside a railway cutting, filled with misty +rain--many persons walking up and down, and a babel of talk--</p> +<p>Bewildered, she rang for her maid, an elderly and precise person +who had accompanied her on many wanderings.</p> +<p>"Simpson, what's the matter? Are we near Winnipeg?"</p> +<p>"We've been standing here for the last two hours, my lady. I've +been expecting to hear you ring long ago."</p> +<p>Simpson's tone implied that her mistress had been somewhat +crassly sleeping while more sensitive persons had been awake and +suffering.</p> +<p>Elizabeth rubbed her eyes. "But what's wrong, Simpson, and where +are we?"</p> +<p>"Goodness knows, my lady. We're hours away from Winnipeg--that's +all I know--and we're likely to stay here, by what Yerkes +says."</p> +<p>"Has there been an accident?"</p> +<p>Simpson replied--sombrely--that something had happened, she +didn't know what--that Yerkes put it down to "the sink-hole," which +according to him was "always doing it"--that there were two trains +in front of them at a standstill, and trains coming up every minute +behind them.</p> +<p>"My dear Simpson!--that must be an exaggeration. There aren't +trains every minute on the C.P.R. Is Mr. Philip awake?"</p> +<p>"Not yet, my lady."</p> +<p>"And what on earth is a sink-hole?" asked Elizabeth.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> +<br> +<p>Elizabeth had ample time during the ensuing sixteen hours for +inquiry as to the nature of sink-holes.</p> +<p>When she emerged, dressed, into the saloon--she found Yerkes +looking out of the window in a brown study. He was armed with a +dusting brush and a white apron, but it did not seem to her that he +had been making much use of them.</p> +<p>"Whatever is the matter, Yerkes? What is a sink-hole?"</p> +<p>Yerkes looked round.</p> +<p>"A sink-hole, my lady?" he said slowly--"A sink-hole, well, it's +as you may say--a muskeg."</p> +<p>"A <i>what?</i>"</p> +<p>"A place where you can't find no bottom, my lady. This one's a +vixen, she is! What she's cost the C.P.R.!"--he threw up his hands. +"And there's no contenting her--the more you give her the more she +wants. They give her ten trainloads of stuff a couple of months +ago. No good! A bit of moist weather and there she is at it again. +Let an engine and two carriages through last night--ten +o'clock!"</p> +<p>"Gracious! Was anybody hurt? What--a kind of bog?--a +quicksand?"</p> +<p>"Well," said Yerkes, resuming his dusting, and speaking with +polite obstinacy, "muskegs is what they call 'em in these parts. +They'll have to divert the line. I tell 'em so, scores of times. +She was at this game last year. Held me up twenty-one hours last +fall."</p> +<p>When Yerkes was travelling he spoke in a representative +capacity. He <i>was</i> the line.</p> +<p>"How many trains ahead of us are there? Yerkes?"</p> +<p>"Two as I know on--may be more."</p> +<p>"And behind?"</p> +<p>"Three or four, my lady."</p> +<p>"And how long are we likely to be kept?"</p> +<p>"Can't say. They've been at her ten hours. She don't generally +let anyone over her under a good twenty--or twenty-four."</p> +<p>"Yerkes!--what will Mr. Gaddesden say? And it's so damp and +horrid."</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked at the outside prospect in dismay. The rain was +drizzling down. The passengers walking up and down the line were in +heavy overcoats with their collars turned up. To the left of the +line there was a misty glimpse of water over a foreground of +charred stumps. On the other side rose a bank of scrubby wood, +broken by a patch of clearing, which held a rude log-cabin. What +was she to do with Philip all day?</p> +<p>Suddenly a cow appeared on the patch of grass round the log hut. +With a sound of jubilation, Yerkes threw down his dusting brush and +rushed out of the car. Elizabeth watched him pursue the cow, and +disappear round a corner. What on earth was he about?</p> +<p>Philip had apparently not yet been called. He was asleep, and +Yerkes had let well alone. But he must soon awake to the situation, +and the problem of his entertainment would begin. Elizabeth took up +the guide-book and with difficulty made out that they were about a +hundred miles from Winnipeg. Somewhere near Rainy Lake apparently. +What a foolishly appropriate name!</p> +<p>"Hi!--hi!--"</p> +<p>The shout startled her. Looking out she saw a group of +passengers grinning, and Yerkes running hard for the car, holding +something in his hand, and pursued by a man in a slouch hat, who +seemed to be swearing. Yerkes dashed into the car, deposited his +booty in the kitchen, and standing in the doorway faced the enemy. +A terrific babel arose.</p> +<p>Elizabeth appeared in the passage and demanded to know what had +happened.</p> +<p>"All right, my lady," said Yerkes, mopping his forehead. "I've +only been and milked his cow. No saying where I'd have got any milk +this side of Winnipeg if I hadn't."</p> +<p>"But, Yerkes, he doesn't seem to like it."</p> +<p>"Oh, that's all right, my lady."</p> +<p>But the settler was now on the steps of the car gesticulating +and scolding, in what Elizabeth guessed to be a Scandinavian +tongue. He was indeed a gigantic Swede, furiously angry, and +Elizabeth had thoughts of bearding him herself and restoring the +milk, when some mysterious transaction involving coin passed +suddenly between the two men. The Swede stopped short in the midst +of a sentence, pocketed something, and made off sulkily for the log +hut. Yerkes, with a smile, and a wink to the bystanders, retired +triumphant on his prey.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, standing at the door of the kitchen, inquired if +supplies were likely to run short.</p> +<p>"Not in this car," said Yerkes, with emphasis. "What +<i>they'll</i> do"--a jerk of his thumb towards the rest of the +train in front--"can't say."</p> +<p>"Of course we shall have to give them food!" cried Lady Merton, +delighted at the thought of getting rid of some of their +superfluities.</p> +<p>Yerkes showed a stolid face.</p> +<p>"The C.P.R.'ll have to feed 'em--must. That's the regulation. +Accident--free meals. That hasn't nothing to do with me. They don't +come poaching on my ground. I say, look out! Do yer call that +bacon, or buffaler steaks?"</p> +<p>And Yerkes rushed upon his subordinate, Bettany, who was cutting +the breakfast bacon with undue thickness, and took the thing in +hand himself. The crushed Bettany, who was never allowed to finish +anything, disappeared hastily in order to answer the electric bell +which was ringing madly from Philip Gaddesden's berth.</p> +<p>"Conductor!" cried a voice from the inner platform outside the +dining-room and next the train.</p> +<p>"And what might you be wanting, sir?" said Bettany jauntily, +opening the door to the visitor. Bettany was a small man, with thin +harrassed features and a fragment of beard, glib of speech towards +everybody but Yerkes.</p> +<p>"Your conductor got some milk, I think, from that cabin."</p> +<p>"He did--but only enough for ourselves. Sorry we can't oblige +you."</p> +<p>"All the same, I am going to beg some of it. May I speak to the +gentleman?"</p> +<p>"Mr. Gaddesden, sir, is dressing. The steward will attend to +you."</p> +<p>And Bettany retired ceremoniously in favour of Yerkes, who +hearing voices had come out of his den.</p> +<p>"I have come to ask for some fresh milk for a baby in the +emigrant car," said the stranger. "Looks sick, and the mother's +been crying. They've only got tinned milk in the restaurant and the +child won't touch it."</p> +<p>"Sorry it's that particular, sir. But I've got only what I +want."</p> +<p>"Yerkes!" cried Elizabeth Merton, in the background. "Of course +the baby must have it. Give it to the gentleman, please, at +once."</p> +<p>The stranger removed his hat and stepped into the tiny +dining-room where Elizabeth was standing. He was tall and +fair-skinned, with a blonde moustache, and very blue eyes. He +spoke--for an English ear--with the slight accent which on the +Canadian side of the border still proclaims the neighbourhood of +the States.</p> +<p>"I am sorry to trouble you, madam," he said, with deference. +"But the child seems very weakly, and the mother herself has +nothing to give it. It was the conductor of the restaurant car who +sent me here."</p> +<p>"We shall be delighted," said Lady Merton, eagerly. "May I come +with you, if you are going to take it? Perhaps I could do something +for the mother."</p> +<p>The stranger hesitated a moment.</p> +<p>"An emigrant car full of Galicians is rather a rough sort of +place--especially at this early hour in the morning. But if you +don't mind--"</p> +<p>"I don't mind anything. Yerkes, is that <i>all</i> the +milk?".</p> +<p>"All to speak of, my lady," said Yerkes, nimbly retreating to +his den.</p> +<p>Elizabeth shook her head as she looked at the milk. But her +visitor laughed.</p> +<p>"The baby won't get through that to-day. It's a regular little +scarecrow. I shouldn't think the mother'll rear it."</p> +<p>They stepped out on to the line. The drizzle descended on Lady +Merton's bare head and grey travelling dress.</p> +<p>"You ought to have an umbrella," said the Canadian, looking at +her in some embarrassment. And he ran back to the car for one. +Then, while she carried the milk carefully in both hands, he held +the umbrella over her, and they passed through the groups of +passengers who were strolling disconsolately up and down the line +in spite of the wet, or exchanging lamentations with others from +two more stranded trains, one drawn up alongside, the other +behind.</p> +<p>Many glances were levelled at the slight Englishwoman, with the +delicately pale face, and at the man escorting her. Elizabeth +meanwhile was putting questions. How long would they be detained? +Her brother with whom she was travelling was not at all strong. +Unconsciously, perhaps, her voice took a note of complaint.</p> +<p>"Well, we can't any of us cross--can we?--till they come to some +bottom in the sink-hole," said the Canadian, interrupting her a +trifle bluntly.</p> +<p>Elizabeth laughed. "We may be here then till night."</p> +<p>"Possibly. But you'll be the first over."</p> +<p>"How? There are some trains in front."</p> +<p>"That doesn't matter. They'll move you up. They're very vexed it +should have happened to you."</p> +<p>Elizabeth felt a trifle uncomfortable. Was the dear young man +tilting at the idle rich--and the corrupt Old World? She stole a +glance at him, but perceived only that in his own tanned and +sunburnt way he was a remarkably handsome well-made fellow, built +on a rather larger scale than the Canadians she had so far seen. A +farmer? His manners were not countrified. But a farmer in Canada or +the States may be of all social grades.</p> +<p>By this time they had reached the emigrant car, the conductor of +which was standing on the steps. He was loth to allow Lady Merton +to enter, but Elizabeth persisted. Her companion led the way, +pushing through a smoking group of dark-faced men hanging round the +entrance.</p> +<p>Inside, the car was thick, indeed, with smoke and the heavy +exhalations of the night. Men and women were sitting on the wooden +benches; some women were cooking in the tiny stove-room attached to +the car; children, half naked and unwashed, were playing on the +floor; here and there a man was still asleep; while one old man was +painfully conning a paper of "Homestead Regulations" which had been +given him at Montreal, a lad of eighteen helping him; and close by +another lad was writing a letter, his eyes passing dreamily from +the paper to the Canadian landscape outside, of which he was +clearly not conscious. In a corner, surrounded by three or four +other women, was the mother they had come to seek. She held a +wailing baby of about a year old in her arms. At the sight of +Elizabeth, the child stopped its wailing, and lay breathing fast +and feebly, its large bright eyes fixed on the new-comer. The +mother turned away abruptly. It was not unusual for persons from +the parlour-cars to ask leave to walk through the emigrants'.</p> +<p>But Elizabeth's companion said a few words to her, apparently in +Russian, and Elizabeth, stooping over her, held out the milk. Then +a dark face reluctantly showed itself, and great black eyes, in +deep, lined sockets; eyes rather of a race than a person, hardly +conscious, hardly individualised, yet most poignant, expressing +some feeling, remote and inarticulate, that roused Elizabeth's. She +called to the conductor for a cup and a spoon; she made her way +into the malodorous kitchen, and got some warm water and sugar; +then kneeling by the child, she put a spoonful of the diluted and +sweetened milk into the mother's hand.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>"Was it foolish of me to offer her that money?" said Elizabeth +with flushed cheeks as they walked back through the rain. "They +looked so terribly poor."</p> +<p>The Canadian smiled.</p> +<p>"I daresay it didn't do any harm," he said indulgently. "But +they are probably not poor at all. The Galicians generally bring in +quite a fair sum. And after a year or two they begin to be rich. +They never spend a farthing they can help. It costs money--or +time--to be clean, so they remain dirty. Perhaps we shall teach +them--after a bit."</p> +<p>His companion looked at him with a shy but friendly +curiosity.</p> +<p>"How did you come to know Russian?"</p> +<p>"When I was a child there were some Russian Poles on the next +farm to us. I used to play with the boys, and learnt a little. The +conductor called me in this morning to interpret. These people come +from the Russian side of the Carpathians."</p> +<p>"Then you are a Canadian yourself?--from the West?"</p> +<p>"I was born in Manitoba."</p> +<p>"I am quite in love with your country!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth paused beside the steps leading to their car. As she +spoke, her brown eyes lit up, and all her small features ran over, +suddenly, with life and charm.</p> +<p>"Yes, it's a good country," said the Canadian, rather drily. +"It's going to be a great country. Is this your first visit?"</p> +<p>But the conversation was interrupted by a reproachful appeal +from Yerkes.</p> +<p>"Breakfast, my lady, has been hotted twice."</p> +<p>The Canadian looked at Elizabeth curiously, lifted his hat, and +went away.</p> +<p>"Well, if this doesn't take the cake!" said Philip Gaddesden, +throwing himself disconsolately into an armchair. "I bet you, +Elizabeth, we shall be here forty-eight hours. And this damp goes +through one."</p> +<p>The young man shivered, as he looked petulantly out through the +open doorway of the car to the wet woods beyond. Elizabeth surveyed +him with some anxiety. Like herself he was small, and lightly +built. But his features were much less regular than hers; the chin +and nose were childishly tilted, the eyes too prominent. His bright +colour, however--(mother and sister could well have dispensed with +that touch of vivid red on the cheeks!)--his curly hair, and his +boyish ways made him personally attractive; while in his moments of +physical weakness, his evident resentment of Nature's treatment of +him, and angry determination to get the best of her, had a touch of +something that was pathetic--that appealed.</p> +<p>Elizabeth brought a rug and wrapped it round him. But she did +not try to console him; she looked round for something or someone +to amuse him.</p> +<p>On the line, just beyond the railed platform of the car, a group +of men were lounging and smoking. One of them was her acquaintance +of the morning. Elizabeth, standing on the platform waited till he +turned in her direction--caught his eye, and beckoned. He came with +alacrity. She stooped over the rail to speak to him.</p> +<p>"I'm afraid you'll think it very absurd"--her shy smile broke +again--"but do you think there's anyone in this train who plays +bridge?"</p> +<p>He laughed.</p> +<p>"Certainly. There is a game going on at this moment in the car +behind you."</p> +<p>"Is it--is it anybody--we could ask to luncheon?--who'd come, I +mean," she added, hurriedly.</p> +<p>"I should think they'd come--I should think they'd be glad. Your +cook, Yerkes, is famous on the line. I know two of the people +playing. They are Members of Parliament."</p> +<p>"Oh! then perhaps I know them too," cried Elizabeth, +brightening.</p> +<p>He laughed again.</p> +<p>"The Dominion Parliament, I mean." He named two towns in +Manitoba, while Lady Merton's pink flush showed her conscious of +having betrayed her English insularity. "Shall I introduce +you?"</p> +<p>"Please!--if you find an opportunity. It's for my brother. He's +recovering from an illness."</p> +<p>"And you want to cheer him up. Of course. Well, he'll want it +to-day." The young man looked round him, at the line strewn with +unsightly débris, the ugly cutting which blocked the view, +and the mists up-curling from the woods; then at the slight figure +beside him. The corners of his mouth tried not to laugh. "I am +afraid you are not going to like Canada, if it treats you like +this."</p> +<p>"I've liked every minute of it up till now," said Elizabeth +warmly. "Can you tell me--I should like to know--who all these +people are?" She waved her hand towards the groups walking up and +down.</p> +<p>"Well, you see," said the Canadian after a moment's hesitation, +"Canada's a big place!"</p> +<p>He looked round on her with a smile so broad and sudden that +Elizabeth felt a heat rising in her cheeks. Her question had no +doubt been a little naïve.</p> +<p>But the young man hurried on, composing his face quickly.</p> +<p>"Some of them, of course, are tourists like yourselves. But I do +know a few of them. That man in the clerical coat, and the round +collar, is Father Henty--a Jesuit well known in Winnipeg--a great +man among the Catholics here."</p> +<p>"But a disappointed one," said Lady Merton.</p> +<p>The Canadian looked surprised. Elizabeth, proud of her +knowledge, went on:</p> +<p>"Isn't it true the Catholics hoped to conquer the Northwest--and +so--with Quebec--to govern you all? And now the English and +American immigration has spoilt all their chances--poor +things!"</p> +<p>"That's about it. Did they tell you that in Toronto?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth stiffened. The slight persistent tone of mockery in +the young man's voice was beginning to offend her.</p> +<p>"And the others?" she said, without noticing his question.</p> +<p>It was the Canadian's turn to redden. He changed his tone.</p> +<p>"--The man next him is a professor at the Manitoba University. +The gentleman in the brown suit is going to Vancouver to look after +some big lumber leases he took out last year. And that little man +in the Panama hat has been keeping us all alive. He's been +prospecting for silver in New Ontario--thinks he's going to make +his fortune in a week."</p> +<p>"Oh, but that will do exactly for my brother!" cried Elizabeth, +delighted. "Please introduce us."</p> +<p>And hurrying back into the car she burst upon the discontented +gentleman within. Philip, who was just about to sally forth into +the damp, against the entreaties of his servant, and take his turn +at shying stones at a bottle on the line, was appeased by her +report, and was soon seated, talking toy speculation, with a +bronzed and brawny person, who watched the young Englishman, as +they chatted, out of a pair of humorous eyes. Philip believed +himself a great financier, but was not in truth either very shrewd +or very daring, and his various coups or losses generally left his +exchequer at the end of the year pretty much what it had been the +year before. But the stranger, who seemed to have staked out claims +at one time or another, across the whole face of the continent, +from Klondyke to Nova Scotia, kept up a mining talk that held him +enthralled; and Elizabeth breathed freely.</p> +<p>She returned to the platform. The scene was <i>triste</i>, but +the rain had for the moment stopped. She hailed an official passing +by, and asked if there was any chance of their soon going on. The +man smiled and shook his head.</p> +<p>Her Canadian acquaintance, who was standing near, came up to the +car as he heard her question.</p> +<p>"I have just seen a divisional superintendent. We may get on +about nine o'clock to-night."</p> +<p>"And it is now eleven o'clock in the morning," sighed Lady +Merton. "Well!--I think a little exercise would be a good +thing."</p> +<p>And she descended the steps of the car. The Canadian +hesitated.</p> +<p>"Would you allow me to walk with you?" he said, with formality. +"I might perhaps be able to tell you a few things. I belong to the +railway."</p> +<p>"I shall be greatly obliged," said Elizabeth, cordially. "Do you +mean that you are an official?"</p> +<p>"I am an engineer--in charge of some construction work in the +Rockies."</p> +<p>Lady Merton's face brightened.</p> +<p>"Indeed! I think that must be one of the most interesting things +in the world to be."</p> +<p>The Canadian's eyebrows lifted a little.</p> +<p>"I don't know that I ever thought of it like that," he said, +half smiling. "It's good work--but I've done things a good deal +livelier in my time."</p> +<p>"You've not always been an engineer?"</p> +<p>"Very few people are always 'anything' in Canada," he said, +laughing. "It's like the States. One tries a lot of things. Oh, I +was trained as an engineer--at Montreal. But directly I had +finished with that I went off to Klondyke. I made a bit of +money--came back--and lost it all, in a milling business--over +there"--he pointed eastwards--"on the Lake of the Woods. My partner +cheated me. Then I went exploring to the north, and took a +Government job at the same time--paying treaty money to the +Indians. Then, five years ago, I got work for the C.P.R. But I +shall cut it before long. I've saved some money again. I shall take +up land, and go into politics."</p> +<p>"Politics?" repeated Elizabeth, wishing she might some day know +what politics meant in Canada. "You're not married?" she added +pleasantly.</p> +<p>"I am not married."</p> +<p>"And may I ask your name?"</p> +<p>His name, it seemed, was George Anderson, and presently as they +walked up and down he became somewhat communicative about himself, +though always within the limits, as it seemed to her, of a natural +dignity, which developed indeed as their acquaintance progressed. +He told her tales, especially, of his Indian journeys through the +wilds about the Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers, in search of remote +Indian settlements--that the word of England to the red man might +be kept; and his graphic talk called up before her the vision of a +northern wilderness, even wilder and remoter than that she had just +passed through, where yet the earth teemed with lakes and timber +and trout-bearing streams, and where--"we shall grow corn some +day," as he presently informed her. "In twenty years they will have +developed seed that will ripen three weeks earlier than wheat does +now in Manitoba. Then we shall settle that country--right away!--to +the far north." His tone stirred and deepened. A little while +before, it had seemed to her that her tourist enthusiasm amused +him. Yet by flashes, she began to feel in him something, beside +which her own raptures fell silent. Had she, after all, hit upon a +man--a practical man--who was yet conscious of the romance of +Canada?</p> +<p>Presently she asked him if there was no one dependent on him--no +mother?--or sisters?</p> +<p>"I have two brothers--in the Government service at Ottawa. I had +four sisters."</p> +<p>"Are they married?"</p> +<p>"They are dead," he said, slowly. "They and my mother were burnt +to death."</p> +<p>She exclaimed. Her brown eyes turned upon him--all sudden horror +and compassion.</p> +<p>"It was a farmhouse where we were living--and it took fire. +Mother and sisters had no time to escape. It was early morning. I +was a boy of eighteen, and was out on the farm doing my chores. +When I saw smoke and came back, the house was a burning mass, +and--it was all over."</p> +<p>"Where was your father?"</p> +<p>"My father is dead."</p> +<p>"But he was there--at the time of the fire?"</p> +<p>"Yes. He was there."</p> +<p>He had suddenly ceased to be communicative, and she +instinctively asked no more questions, except as to the cause of +the conflagration.</p> +<p>"Probably an explosion of coal-oil. It was sometimes used to +light the fire with in the morning."</p> +<p>"How very, very terrible!" she said gently, after a moment, as +though she felt it. "Did you stay on at the farm?"</p> +<p>"I brought up my two brothers. They were on a visit to some +neighbours at the time of the fire. We stayed on three years."</p> +<p>"With your father?"</p> +<p>"No; we three alone."</p> +<p>She felt vaguely puzzled; but before she could turn to another +subject, he had added--</p> +<p>"There was nothing else for us to do. We had no money and no +relations--nothing but the land. So we had to work it--and we +managed. But after three years we'd saved a little money, and we +wanted to get a bit more education. So we sold the land and moved +up to Montreal."</p> +<p>"How old were the brothers when you took on the farm?"</p> +<p>"Thirteen--and fifteen."</p> +<p>"Wonderful!" she exclaimed. "You must be proud."</p> +<p>He laughed out.</p> +<p>"Why, that kind of thing's done every day in this country! You +can't idle in Canada."</p> +<p>They had turned back towards the train. In the doorway of the +car sat Philip Gaddesden lounging and smoking, enveloped in a fur +coat, his knees covered with a magnificent fur rug. A whisky and +soda had just been placed at his right hand. Elizabeth thought--"He +said that because he had seen Philip." But when she looked at him, +she withdrew her supposition. His eyes were not on the car, and he +was evidently thinking of something else.</p> +<p>"I hope your brother will take no harm," he said to her, as they +approached the car. "Can I be of any service to you in +Winnipeg?"</p> +<p>"Oh, thank you. We have some introductions--"</p> +<p>"Of course. But if I can--let me know."</p> +<p>An official came along the line, with a packet in his hand. At +sight of Elizabeth he stopped and raised his hat.</p> +<p>"Am I speaking to Lady Merton? I have some letters here, that +have been waiting for you at Winnipeg, and they've sent them out to +you."</p> +<p>He placed the packet in her hand. The Canadian moved away, but +not before Elizabeth had seen again the veiled amusement in his +eyes. It seemed to him comic, no doubt, that the idlers of the +world should be so royally treated. But after all--she drew herself +up--her father had been no idler.</p> +<p>She hastened to her brother; and they fell upon their +letters.</p> +<p>"Oh, Philip!"--she said presently, looking up--"Philip! Arthur +Delaine meets us at Winnipeg."</p> +<p>"Does he? <i>Does he</i>?" repeated the young man, laughing. "I +say, Lisa!--"</p> +<p>Elizabeth took no notice of her brother's teasing tone. Nor did +her voice, as she proceeded to read him the letter she held in her +hand, throw any light upon her own feelings with regard to it.</p> +<p>The weary day passed. The emigrants were consoled by free meals; +and the delicate baby throve on the Swede's ravished milk. For the +rest, the people in the various trains made rapid acquaintance with +each other; bridge went merrily in more than one car, and the +general inconvenience was borne with much philosophy, even by +Gaddesden. At last, when darkness had long fallen, the train to +which the private car was attached moved slowly forward amid cheers +of the bystanders.</p> +<p>Elizabeth and her brother were on the observation platform, with +the Canadian, whom with some difficulty they had persuaded to share +their dinner.</p> +<p>"I told you"--said Anderson--"that you would be passed over +first." He pointed to two other trains in front that had been +shunted to make room for them.</p> +<p>Elizabeth turned to him a little proudly.</p> +<p>"But I should like to say--it's not for our own sakes--not in +the least!--it is for my father, that they are so polite to +us."</p> +<p>"I know--of course I know!" was the quick response. "I have been +talking to some of our staff," he went on, smiling. "They would do +anything for you. Perhaps you don't understand. You are the guests +of the railway. And I too belong to the railway. I am a very humble +person, but--"</p> +<p>"You also would do anything for us?" asked Elizabeth, with her +soft laugh. "How kind you all are!"</p> +<p>She looked charming as she said it--her face and head lit up by +the line of flaring lights through which they were slowly passing. +The line was crowded with dark-faced navvies, watching the passage +of the train as it crept forward.</p> +<p>One of the officials in command leapt up on the platform of the +car, and introduced himself. He was worn out with the day's labour, +but triumphant. "It's all right now--but, my word! the stuff we've +thrown in!--"</p> +<p>He and Anderson began some rapid technical talk. Slowly, they +passed over the quicksand which in the morning had engulfed half a +train; amid the flare of torches, and the murmur of strange speech, +from the Galician and Italian labourers, who rested on their picks +and stared and laughed, as they went safely by.</p> +<p>"How I love adventures!" cried Elizabeth, clasping her +hands.</p> +<p>"Even little ones?" said the Canadian, smiling. But this time +she was not conscious of any note of irony in his manner, rather of +a kind protectingness--more pronounced, perhaps, than it would have +been in an Englishman, at the same stage of acquaintance. But +Elizabeth liked it; she liked, too, the fine bare head that the +torchlight revealed; and the general impression of varied life that +the man's personality produced upon her. Her sympathies, her +imagination were all trembling towards the Canadians, no less than +towards their country.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> +<br> +<p>"Mr. Delaine, sir?"</p> +<p>The gentleman so addressed turned to see the substantial form of +Simpson at his elbow. They were both standing in the spacious hall +of the C.P.R. Hotel adjoining the station at Winnipeg.</p> +<p>"Her ladyship, sir, asked me to tell you she would be down +directly. And would you please wait for her, and take her to see +the place where the emigrants come. She doesn't think Mr. Gaddesden +will be down till luncheon-time."</p> +<p>Arthur Delaine thanked the speaker for her information, and then +sat down in a comfortable corner, <i>Times</i> in hand, to wait for +Lady Merton.</p> +<p>She and her brother had arrived, he understood, in the early +hours at Winnipeg, after the agitations and perils of the +sink-hole. Philip had gone at once to bed and to slumber. Lady +Merton would soon, it seemed, be ready for anything that Winnipeg +might have to show her.</p> +<p>The new-comer had time, however, to realise and enjoy a pleasant +expectancy before she appeared. He was apparently occupied with the +<i>Times</i>, but in reality he was very conscious all the time of +his own affairs and of a certain crisis to which, in his own +belief, he had now brought them. In the first place, he could not +get over his astonishment at finding himself where he was. The very +aspect of the Winnipeg hotel, as he looked curiously round it, +seemed to prove to him both the seriousness of certain plans and +intentions of his own, and the unusual decision with which he had +been pursuing them.</p> +<p>For undoubtedly, of his own accord, and for mere travellers' +reasons, he would not at this moment be travelling in Canada. The +old world was enough for him; and neither in the States nor in +Canada had he so far seen anything which would of itself have drawn +him away from his Cumberland house, his classical library, his +pets, his friends and correspondents, his old servants and all the +other items in a comely and dignified way of life.</p> +<p>He was just forty and unmarried, a man of old family, easy +disposition, and classical tastes. He had been for a time Member of +Parliament for one of the old Universities, and he was now engaged +on a verse translation of certain books of the Odyssey. That this +particular labour had been undertaken before did not trouble him. +It was in fact his delight to feel himself a link in the chain of +tradition--at once the successor and progenitor of scholars. Not +that his scholarship was anything illustrious or profound. Neither +as poet nor Hellenist would he ever leave any great mark behind +him; but where other men talk of "the household of faith," he might +have talked rather of "the household of letters," and would have +seen himself as a warm and familiar sitter by its hearth. A new +edition of some favourite classic; his weekly +<i>Athenæum</i>; occasional correspondence with a French or +Italian scholar--(he did not read German, and disliked the +race)--these were his pleasures. For the rest he was the landlord +of a considerable estate, as much of a sportsman as his position +required, and his Conservative politics did not include any +sympathy for the more revolutionary doctrines--economic or +social--which seemed to him to be corrupting his party. In his +youth, before the death of an elder brother, he had been trained as +a doctor, and had spent some time in a London hospital. In no case +would he ever have practised. Before his training was over he had +revolted against the profession, and against the "ugliness," as it +seemed to him, of the matters and topics with which a doctor must +perforce be connected. His elder brother's death, which, however, +he sincerely regretted, had in truth solved many difficulties.</p> +<p>In person he was moderately tall, with dark grizzled hair, +agreeable features and a moustache. Among his aristocratic +relations whom he met in London, the men thought him a little +dishevelled and old-fashioned; the women pronounced him interesting +and "a dear." His manners were generally admired, except by +captious persons who held that such a fact was of itself enough to +condemn them; and he was welcome in many English and some foreign +circles. For he travelled every spring, and was well acquainted +with the famous places of Europe. It need only be added that he had +a somewhat severe taste in music, and could render both Bach and +Handel on the piano with success.</p> +<p>His property was only some six miles distant from Martindale +Park, the Gaddesdens' home. During the preceding winter he had +become a frequent visitor at Martindale, while Elizabeth Merton was +staying with her mother and brother, and a little ripple of talk +had begun to flow through the district. Delaine, very fastidious +where personal dignity was concerned, could not make up his mind +either to be watched or laughed at. He would have liked to +woo--always supposing that wooing there was to be--with a maximum +of dignity and privacy, surrounded by a friendly but not a forcing +atmosphere. But Elizabeth Merton was a great favourite in her own +neighbourhood, and people became impatient. Was it to be a marriage +or was it not?</p> +<p>As soon as he felt this enquiry in the air, Mr. Delaine went +abroad--abruptly--about a month before Elizabeth and her brother +started for Canada. It was said that he had gone to Italy; but some +few persons knew that it was his intention to start from Genoa for +the United States, in order that he might attend a celebration at +Harvard University in honour of a famous French Hellenist, who had +covered himself with glory in Delaine's eyes by identifying a +number of real sites with places mentioned in the Odyssey. Nobody, +however, knew but himself, that, when that was done, he meant to +join the brother and sister on part of their Canadian journey, and +that he hoped thereby to become better acquainted with Elizabeth +Merton than was possible--for a man at least of his +sensitiveness--under the eyes of an inquisitive neighbourhood.</p> +<p>For this step Lady Merton's consent was of course necessary. He +had accordingly written from Boston to ask if it would be agreeable +to them that he should go with them through the Rockies. The +proposal was most natural. The Delaines and Gaddesdens had been +friends for many years, and Arthur Delaine enjoyed a special fame +as a travelling companion--easy, accomplished and +well-informed.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, he waited at Boston in some anxiety for +Elizabeth's answer. When it came, it was all cordiality. By all +means let him go with them to the Rockies. They could not +unfortunately offer him sleeping room in the car. But by day Lady +Merton hoped he would be their guest, and share all their +facilities and splendours. "I shall be so glad of a companion for +Philip, who is rapidly getting strong enough to give me a great +deal of trouble."</p> +<p>That was how she put it--how she must put it, of course. He +perfectly understood her.</p> +<p>And now here he was, sitting in the C.P.R. Hotel at Winnipeg, at +a time of year when he was generally in Paris or Rome, +investigating the latest Greek acquisitions of the Louvre, or the +last excavation in the Forum; picnicking in the Campagna; making +expeditions to Assisi or Subiaco; and in the evenings frequenting +the drawing-rooms of ministers and ambassadors.</p> +<p>He looked up presently from the <i>Times</i>, and at the street +outside; the new and raw street, with its large commercial +buildings of the American type, its tramcars and crowded sidewalks. +The muddy roadway, the gaps and irregularities in the street +façade, the windows of a great store opposite, displeased +his eye. The whole scene seemed to him to have no atmosphere. As +far as he was concerned, it said nothing, it touched nothing.</p> +<p>What was it he was to be taken to see? Emigration offices? He +resigned himself, with a smile. The prospect made him all the more +pleasantly conscious that one feeling, and one feeling only, could +possibly have brought him here.</p> +<p>"Ah! there you are."</p> +<p>A light figure hurried toward him, and he rose in haste.</p> +<p>But Lady Merton was intercepted midway by a tall man, quite +unknown to Delaine.</p> +<p>"I have arranged everything for three o'clock," said the +interloper. "You are sure that will suit you?"</p> +<p>"Perfectly! And the guests?"</p> +<p>"Half a dozen, about, are coming." George Anderson ran through +the list, and Elizabeth laughed merrily, while extending her hand +to Delaine.</p> +<p>"How amusing! A party--and I don't know a soul in Winnipeg. +Arrived this morning--and going this evening! So glad to see you, +Mr. Arthur. You are coming, of course?"</p> +<p>"Where?" said Delaine, bewildered.</p> +<p>"To my tea, this afternoon. Mr. Anderson--Mr. Delaine. Mr. +Anderson has most kindly arranged a perfectly delightful party!--in +our car this afternoon. We are to go and see a great farm belonging +to some friend of his, about twenty miles out--prize cattle and +horses--that kind of thing. Isn't it good of him?"</p> +<p>"Charming!" murmured Delaine. "Charming!" His gaze ran over the +figure of the Canadian.</p> +<p>"Yerkes of course will give us tea," said Elizabeth. "His cakes +are a strong point"; she turned to Anderson. "And we may really +have an engine?"</p> +<p>"Certainly. We shall run you out in forty minutes. You still +wish to go on to-night?"</p> +<p>"Philip does. Can we?"</p> +<p>"You can do anything you wish," said Anderson, smiling.</p> +<p>Elizabeth thanked him, and they chatted a little more about the +arrangements and guests for the afternoon, while Delaine listened. +Who on earth was this new acquaintance of Lady Merton's? Some +person she had met in the train apparently, and connected with the +C.P.R. A good-looking fellow, a little too sure of himself; but +that of course was the Colonial fault.</p> +<p>"One of the persons coming this afternoon is an old Montreal +fellow-student of mine," the Canadian was saying. "He is going to +be a great man some day. But if you get him to talk, you won't like +his opinions--I thought I'd better warn you."</p> +<p>"How very interesting!" put in Delaine, with perhaps excessive +politeness. "What sort of opinions? Do you grow any Socialists +here?"</p> +<p>Anderson examined the speaker, as it were for the first +time.</p> +<p>"The man I was speaking of is a French-Canadian," he said, +rather shortly, "and a Catholic."</p> +<p>"The very man I want to see," cried Elizabeth. "I suppose he +hates us?"</p> +<p>"Who?--England? Not at all. He loves England--or says he +does--and hates the Empire."</p> +<p>"'Love me, love my Empire!'" said Elizabeth. "But, I see--I am +not to talk to him about the Boer War, or contributing to the +Navy?"</p> +<p>"Better not," laughed Anderson. "I am sure he will want to +behave himself; but he sometimes loses his head."</p> +<p>Elizabeth sincerely hoped he might lose it at her party.</p> +<p>"We want as much Canada as possible, don't we?" She appealed to +Delaine.</p> +<p>"To see, in fact, the 'young barbarians--all at play!'" said +Anderson. The note of sarcasm had returned to his clear voice. He +stood, one hand on his hip, looking down on Lady Merton.</p> +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Elizabeth, protesting; while Delaine was +conscious of surprise that anyone in the New World should quote +anything.</p> +<p>Anderson hastily resumed: "No, no. I know you are most kind, in +wishing to see everything you can."</p> +<p>"Why else should one come to the Colonies?" put in Delaine. +Again his smile, as he spoke, was a little overdone.</p> +<p>"Oh, we mustn't talk of Colonies," cried Elizabeth, looking at +Anderson; "Canada, Mr. Arthur, doesn't like to be called a +colony."</p> +<p>"What is she, then?" asked Delaine, with an amused shrug of the +shoulders.</p> +<p>"She is a nation!" said the Canadian, abruptly. Then, turning to +Lady Merton, he rapidly went through some other business +arrangements with her.</p> +<p>"Three o'clock then for the car. For this morning you are +provided?" He glanced at Delaine.</p> +<p>Lady Merton replied that Mr. Delaine would take her round; and +Anderson bowed and departed.</p> +<p>"Who is he, and how did you come across him?" asked Delaine, as +they stepped into the street.</p> +<p>Elizabeth explained, dwelling with enthusiasm on the kindness +and ability with which the young man, since their acquaintance +began, had made himself their courier. "Philip, you know, is no use +at all. But Mr. Anderson seems to know everybody--gets everything +done. Instead of sending my letters round this morning he +telephoned to everybody for me. And everybody is coming. Isn't it +too kind? You know it is for Papa's sake"--she explained +eagerly--"because Canada thinks she owes him something."</p> +<p>Delaine suggested that perhaps life in Winnipeg was monotonous, +and its inhabitants might be glad of distractions. He also +begged--with a slight touch of acerbity--that now that he had +joined them he too might be made use of.</p> +<p>"Ah! but you don't know the country," said Lady Merton gently. +"Don't you feel that we must get the natives to guide us--to put us +in the way? It is only they who can really feel the poetry of it +all."</p> +<p>Her face kindled. Arthur Delaine, who thought that her remark +was one of the foolish exaggerations of nice women, was none the +less conscious as she made it, that her appearance was +charming--all indeed that a man could desire in a wife. Her simple +dress of white linen, her black hat, her lovely eyes, and little +pointed chin, the bunch of white trilliums at her belt, which a +child in the emigrant car had gathered and given her the day +before--all her personal possessions and accessories seemed to him +perfection. Yes!--but he meant to go slowly, for both their sakes. +It seemed fitting and right, however, at this point that he should +express his great pleasure and gratitude in being allowed to join +them. Elizabeth replied simply, without any embarrassment that +could be seen. Yet secretly both were conscious that something was +on its trial, and that more was in front of them than a mere +journey through the Rockies. He was an old friend both of herself +and her family. She believed him to be honourable, upright, +affectionate. He was of the same world and tradition as herself, +well endowed, a scholar and a gentleman. He would make a good +brother for Philip. And heretofore she had seen him on ground which +had shown him to advantage; either at home or abroad, during a +winter at Rome--a spring at Florence.</p> +<p>Indeed, as they strolled about Winnipeg, he talked to her +incessantly about persons and incidents connected with the spring +of the year before, when they had both been in Rome.</p> +<p>"You remember that delicious day at Castel Gandolfo?--on the +terrace of the Villa Barberini? And the expedition to Horace's +farm? You recollect the little girl there--the daughter of the +Dutch Minister? She's married an American--a very good fellow. +They've bought an old villa on Monte Mario."</p> +<p>And so on, and so on. The dear Italian names rolled out, and the +speaker grew more and more animated and agreeable.</p> +<p>Only, unfortunately, Elizabeth's attention failed him. A motor +car had been lent them in the hospitable Canadian way; and as they +sped through and about the city, up the business streets, round the +park, and the residential suburb rising along the Assiniboine, as +they plunged through seas of black mud to look at the little +old-fashioned Cathedral of St. John, with its graveyard recalling +the earliest days of the settlement, Lady Merton gradually ceased +even to pretend to listen to her companion.</p> +<p>"They have found some extremely jolly things lately at Porto +D'Anzio--a fine torso--quite Greek."</p> +<p>"Have they?" said Elizabeth, absently--"Have they?--And to think +that in 1870, just a year or two before my father and mother +married, there was nothing here but an outpost in the +wilderness!--a few scores of people! One just <i>hears</i> this +country grow." She turned pensively away from the tombstone of an +old Scottish settler in the shady graveyard of St. John.</p> +<p>"Ah! but what will it grow to?" said Delaine, drily. "Is +Winnipeg going to be interesting?--is it going to +<i>matter</i>?"</p> +<p>"Come and look at the Emigration Offices," laughed Elizabeth for +answer.</p> +<p>And he found himself dragged through room after room of the +great building, and standing by while Elizabeth, guided by an +official who seemed to hide a more than Franciscan brotherliness +under the aspects of a canny Scot, and helped by an interpreter, +made her way into the groups of home-seekers crowding round the +clerks and counters of the lower room--English, Americans, Swedes, +Dutchmen, Galicians, French Canadians. Some men, indeed, who were +actually hanging over maps, listening to the directions and +information of the officials, were far too busy to talk to +tourists, but there were others who had finished their business, or +were still waiting their turn, and among them, as also among the +women, the little English lady found many willing to talk to +her.</p> +<p>And what courage, what vivacity she threw into the business! +Delaine, who had seen her till now as a person whose natural +reserve was rather displayed than concealed by her light agreeable +manner, who had often indeed had cause to wonder where and what +might be the real woman, followed her from group to group in a +silent astonishment. Between these people--belonging to the +primitive earth-life--and herself, there seemed to be some sudden +intuitive sympathy which bewildered him; whether she talked to some +Yankee farmer from the Dakotas, long-limbed, lantern-jawed, all the +moisture dried out of him by hot summers, hard winters, and long +toil, who had come over the border with a pocket full of money, the +proceeds of prairie-farming in a republic, to sink it all joyfully +in a new venture under another flag; or to some broad-shouldered +English youth from her own north country; or to some hunted Russian +from the Steppes, in whose eyes had begun to dawn the first lights +of liberty; or to the dark-faced Italians and Frenchmen, to whom +she chattered in their own tongues.</p> +<p>An Indian reserve of good land had just been thrown open to +settlers. The room was thronged. But Elizabeth was afraid of no +one; and no one repulsed her. The high official who took them +through, lingered over the process, busy as the morning was, all +for the <i>beaux yeux</i> of Elizabeth; and they left him pondering +by what legerdemain he could possibly so manipulate his engagements +that afternoon as to join Lady Merton's tea-party.</p> +<p>"Well, that was quite interesting!" said Delaine as they +emerged.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, however, would certainly have detected the +perfunctoriness of the tone, and the hypocrisy of the speech, had +she had any thoughts to spare.</p> +<p>But her face showed her absorbed.</p> +<p>"Isn't it <i>amazing</i>!" Her tone was quiet, her eyes on the +ground.</p> +<p>"Yet, after all, the world has seen a good many emigrations in +its day!" remarked Delaine, not without irritation.</p> +<p>She lifted her eyes.</p> +<p>"Ah--but nothing like this! One hears of how the young nations +came down and peopled the Roman Empire. But that lasted so long. +One person--with one life--could only see a bit of it. And here one +sees it <i>all</i>--all, at once!--as a great march--the march of a +new people to its home. Fifty years ago, wolves and bears, and +buffaloes--twelve years ago even, the great movement had not +begun--and now, every week, a new town!--the new nation spreading, +spreading over the open land, irresistibly, silently; no one +setting bounds to it, no one knowing what will come of it!"</p> +<p>She checked herself. Her voice had been subdued, but there was a +tremor in it. Delaine caught her up, rather helplessly.</p> +<p>"Ah! isn't that the point? What will come of it? Numbers and +size aren't everything. Where is it all tending?"</p> +<p>She looked up at him, still exalted, still flushed, and said +softly, as though she could not help it, "'On to the bound of the +waste--on to the City of God!'"</p> +<p>He gazed at her in discomfort. Here was an Elizabeth Merton he +had yet to know. No trace of her in the ordinary life of an English +country house!</p> +<p>"You <i>are</i> Canadian!" he said with a smile.</p> +<p>"No, no!" said Elizabeth eagerly, recovering herself, "I am only +a spectator. <i>We</i> see the drama--we feel it--much more than +they can who are in it. At least"--she wavered--"Well!--I have met +one man who seems to feel it!"</p> +<p>"Your Canadian friend?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth nodded.</p> +<p>"He sees the vision--he dreams the dream!" she said brightly. +"So few do. But I think he does. Oh, dear--<i>dear</i>!--how time +flies! I must go and see what Philip is after."</p> +<p>Delaine was left discontented. He had come to press his suit, +and he found a lady preoccupied. Canada, it seemed, was to be his +rival! Would he ever be allowed to get in a word edgewise?</p> +<p>Was there ever anything so absurd, so disconcerting? He looked +forward gloomily to a dull afternoon, in quest of fat cattle, with +a car-full of unknown Canadians.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<br> +<p>At three o'clock, in the wide Winnipeg station, there gathered +on the platform beside Lady Merton's car a merry and motley group +of people. A Chief Justice from Alberta, one of the Senators for +Manitoba, a rich lumberman from British Columbia, a Toronto +manufacturer--owner of the model farm which the party was to +inspect, two or three ladies, among them a little English girl with +fine eyes, whom Philip Gaddesden at once marked for approval; and a +tall, dark-complexioned man with hollow cheeks, large ears, and a +long chin, who was introduced, with particular emphasis, to +Elizabeth by Anderson, as "Mr. Félix Mariette"--Member of +Parliament, apparently, for some constituency in the Province of +Quebec.</p> +<p>The small crowd of persons collected, all eminent in the +Canadian world, and some beyond it, examined their hostess of the +afternoon with a kindly amusement. Elizabeth had sent round +letters; Anderson, who was well known, it appeared, in Winnipeg, +had done a good deal of telephoning. And by the letters and the +telephoning this group of busy people had allowed itself to be +gathered; simply because Elizabeth was her father's daughter, and +it was worth while to put such people in the right way, and to send +them home with some rational notions of the country they had come +to see.</p> +<p>And she, who at home never went out of her way to make a new +acquaintance, was here the centre of the situation, grasping the +identities of all these strangers with wonderful quickness, +flitting about from one to another, making friends with them all, +and constraining Philip to do the same. Anderson followed her +closely, evidently feeling a responsibility for the party only +second to her own.</p> +<p>He found time, however, to whisper to Mariette, as they were all +about to mount the car:</p> +<p>"Eh bien?"</p> +<p>"Mais oui--très gracieuse!" said the other, but without a +smile, and with a shrug of the shoulders. <i>He</i> was only there +to please Anderson. What did the aristocratic Englishwoman on +tour--with all her little Jingoisms and Imperialisms about +her--matter to him, or he to her?</p> +<p>While the stream of guests was slowly making its way into the +car, while Yerkes at the further end, resplendent in a buttonhole +and a white cap and apron, was watching the scene, and the special +engine, like an impatient horse, was puffing and hissing to be off, +a man, who had entered the cloak-room of the station to deposit a +bundle just as the car-party arrived, approached the cloak-room +door from the inside, and looked through the glazed upper half. His +stealthy movements and his strange appearance passed unnoticed. +There was a noisy emigrant party in the cloak-room, taking out +luggage deposited the night before; they were absorbed in their own +affairs, and in some wrangle with the officials which involved a +good deal of lost temper on both sides.</p> +<p>The man was old and grey. His face, large-featured and +originally comely in outline, wore the unmistakable look of the +outcast. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth trembled, so did his +limbs as he stood peering by the door. His clothes were squalid, +and both they and his person diffused the odours of the drinking +bar from which he had just come. The porter in charge of the +cloak-room had run a hostile eye over him as he deposited his +bundle. But now no one observed him; while he, gathered up and +concentrated, like some old wolf upon a trail, followed every +movement of the party entering the Gaddesden car.</p> +<p>George Anderson and his French Canadian friend left the platform +last. As Anderson reached the door of the car he turned back to +speak to Mariette, and his face and figure were clearly visible to +the watcher behind the barred cloak-room door. A gleam of savage +excitement passed over the old man's face; his limbs trembled more +violently.</p> +<p>Through the side windows of the car the party could be seen +distributing themselves over the comfortable seats, laughing and +talking in groups. In the dining-room, the white tablecloth spread +for tea, with the china and silver upon it, made a pleasant show. +And now two high officials of the railway came hurrying up, one to +shake hands with Lady Merton and see that all was right, the other +to accompany the party.</p> +<p>Elizabeth Merton came out in her white dress, and leant over the +railing, talking, with smiles, to the official left behind. He +raised his hat, the car moved slowly off, and in the group +immediately behind Lady Merton the handsome face and thick fair +hair of George Anderson showed conspicuous as long as the special +train remained in sight.</p> +<p>The old man raised himself and noiselessly went out upon the +platform. Outside the station he fell in with a younger man, who +had been apparently waiting for him; a strong, picturesque fellow, +with the skin and countenance of a half-breed.</p> +<p>"Well?" said the younger, impatiently. "Thought you was goin' to +take a bunk there."</p> +<p>"Couldn't get out before. It's all right."</p> +<p>"Don't care if it is," said the other sulkily. "Don't care a +damn button not for you nor anythin' you're after! But you give me +my two dollars sharp, and don't keep me another half-hour waitin'. +That's what I reckoned for, an' I'm goin' to have it." He held out +his hand.</p> +<p>The old man fumbled slowly in an inner pocket of his filthy +overcoat.</p> +<p>"You say the car's going on to-night?"</p> +<p>"It is, old bloke, and Mr. George Anderson same train--number +ninety-seven--as ever is. Car shunted at Calgary to-morrow night. +So none of your nonsense--fork out! I had a lot o' trouble gettin' +you the tip."</p> +<p>The old man put some silver into his palm with shaking fingers. +The youth, who was a bartender from a small saloon in the +neighbourhood of the station, looked at him with contempt.</p> +<p>"Wonder when you was sober last? Think you'd better clean +yourself a bit, or they'll not let you on the train."</p> +<p>"Who told you I wanted to go on the train?" said the old man +sharply. "I'm staying at Winnipeg."</p> +<p>"Oh! you are, are you?" said the other mockingly. "We shouldn't +cry our eyes out if you <i>was</i> sayin' good-bye. Ta-ta!" And +with the dollars in his hand, head downwards, he went off like the +wind.</p> +<p>The old man waited till the lad was out of sight, then went back +into the station and bought an emigrant ticket to Calgary for the +night train. He emerged again, and walked up the main street of +Winnipeg, which on this bright afternoon was crowded with people +and traffic. He passed the door of a solicitor's office, where a +small sum of money, the proceeds of a legacy, had been paid him the +day before, and he finally made his way into the free library of +Winnipeg, and took down a file of the <i>Winnipeg +Chronicle</i>.</p> +<p>He turned some pages laboriously, yet not vaguely. His eyes were +dim and his hands palsied, but he knew what he was looking for. He +found it at last, and sat pondering it--the paragraph which, when +he had hit upon it by chance in the same place twenty-four hours +earlier, had changed the whole current of his thoughts.</p> +<p>"Donaldminster, Sask., May 6th.--We are delighted to hear from +this prosperous and go-ahead town that, with regard to the vacant +seat the Liberals of the city have secured as a candidate Mr. +George Anderson, who achieved such an important success last year +for the C.P.R. by his settlement on their behalf of the dangerous +strike which had arisen in the Rocky Mountains section of the line, +and which threatened not only to affect all the construction camps +in the district but to spread to the railway workers proper and to +the whole Winnipeg section. Mr. Anderson seems to have a remarkable +hold on the railway men, and he is besides a speaker of great +force. He is said to have addressed twenty-three meetings, and to +have scarcely eaten or slept for a fortnight. He was shrewd and +fair in negotiation, as well as eloquent in speech. The result was +an amicable settlement, satisfactory to all parties. And the +farmers of the West owe Mr. Anderson a good deal. So does the +C.P.R. For if the strike had broken out last October, just as the +movement of the fall crops eastward was at its height, the farmers +and the railway, and Canada in general would have been at its +mercy. We wish Mr. Anderson a prosperous election (it is said, +indeed, that he is not to be opposed) and every success in his +political career. He is, we believe, Canadian born--sprung from a +farm in Manitoba--so that he has grown up with the Northwest, and +shares all its hopes and ambitions."</p> +<p>The old man, with both elbows on the table, crouched over the +newspaper, incoherent pictures of the past coursing through his +mind, which was still dazed and stupid from the drink of the night +before.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, the special train sped along the noble Red River and +out into the country. All over the prairie the wheat was up in a +smooth green carpet, broken here and there by the fields of timothy +and clover, or the patches of summer fallow, or the white homestead +buildings. The June sun shone down upon the teeming earth, and a +mirage, born of sun and moisture, spread along the edge of the +horizon, so that Elizabeth, the lake-lover, could only imagine in +her bewilderment that Lake Winnipeg or Lake Manitoba had come +dancing south and east to meet her, so clearly did the houses and +trees, far away behind them, and on either side, seem to be +standing at the edge of blue water, in which the white clouds +overhead were mirrored, and reed-beds stretched along the shore. +But as the train receded, the mirage followed them; the dream-water +lapped up the trees and the fields, and even the line they had just +passed over seemed to be standing in water.</p> +<p>How foreign to an English eye was the flat, hedgeless landscape! +with its vast satin-smooth fields of bluish-green wheat; its +farmhouses with their ploughed fireguards and shelter-belts of +young trees; its rare villages, each stretching in one long +straggling line of wooden houses along the level earth; its +scattered, treeless lakes, from which the duck rose as the train +passed! Was it this mere foreignness, this likeness in difference, +that made it strike so sharply, with such a pleasant pungency on +Elizabeth's senses? Or was it something else--some perception of an +opening future, not only for Canada but for herself, mingling with +the broad light, the keen air, the lovely strangeness of the +scene?</p> +<p>Yet she scarcely spoke to Arthur Delaine, with whom one might +have supposed this hidden feeling connected. She was indeed aware +of him all the time. She watched him secretly; watching herself, +too, in the characteristic modern way. But outwardly she was +absorbed in talking with the guests.</p> +<p>The Chief Justice, roundly modelled, with a pink ball of a face +set in white hair, had been half a century in Canada, and had +watched the Northwest grow from babyhood. He had passed his +seventieth year, but Elizabeth noticed in the old men of Canada a +strained expectancy, a buoyant hope, scarcely inferior to that of +the younger generation. There was in Sir Michael's talk no hint of +a Nunc Dimittis; rather a passionate regret that life was ebbing, +and the veil falling over a national spectacle so enthralling, so +dramatic.</p> +<p>"Before this century is out we shall be a people of eighty +millions, and within measurable time this plain of a thousand miles +from here to the Rockies will be as thickly peopled as the plain of +Lombardy."</p> +<p>"Well, and what then?" said a harsh voice in a French accent, +interrupting the Chief Justice.</p> +<p>Arthur Delaine's face, turning towards the speaker, suddenly +lightened, as though its owner said, "Ah! precisely."</p> +<p>"The plain of Lombardy is not a Paradise," continued Mariette, +with a laugh that had in it a touch of impatience.</p> +<p>"Not far off it," murmured Delaine, as he looked out on the vast +field of wheat they were passing--a field two miles long, flat and +green and bare as a billiard-table--and remembered the chestnuts +and the looping vines, the patches of silky corn and spiky maize, +and all the interlacing richness and broidering of the Italian +plain. His soul rebelled against this naked new earth, and its bare +new fortunes. All very well for those who must live in it and make +it. "Yet is there better than it!"--lands steeped in a magic that +has been woven for them by the mere life of immemorial +generations.</p> +<p>He murmured this to Elizabeth, who smiled.</p> +<p>"Their shroud?" she said, to tease him. "But Canada has on her +wedding garment!"</p> +<p>Again he asked himself what had come to her. She looked years +younger than when he had parted from her in England. The delicious +thought shot through him that his advent might have something to do +with it.</p> +<p>He stooped towards her.</p> +<p>"Willy-nilly, your friends must like Canada!" he said, in her +ear; "if it makes you so happy."</p> +<p>He had no art of compliment, but the words were simple and +sincere, and Elizabeth grew suddenly rosy, to her own great +annoyance. Before she could reply, however, the Chief Justice had +insisted on bringing her back into the general conversation.</p> +<p>"Come and keep the peace, Lady Merton! Here is my friend +Mariette playing the devil's advocate as usual. Anderson tells me +you are inclined to think well of us; so perhaps you ought to hear +it."</p> +<p>Mariette smiled and bowed a trifle sombrely. He was plain and +gaunt, but he had the air of a <i>grand seigneur</i>, and was in +fact a member of one of the old seigneurial families of Quebec.</p> +<p>"I have been enquiring of Sir Michael, madam, whether he is +quite happy in his mind as to these Yankees that are now pouring +into the new provinces. He, like everyone else, prophesies great +things for Canada; but suppose it is an American Canada?"</p> +<p>"Let them come," said Anderson, with a touch of scorn. +"Excellent stuff! We can absorb them. We are doing it fast."</p> +<p>"Can you? They are pouring all over the new districts as fast as +the survey is completed and the railways planned. They bring +capital, which your Englishman doesn't. They bring knowledge of the +prairie and the climate, which your Englishmen haven't got. As for +capital, America is doing everything; financing the railways, the +mines, buying up the lands, and leasing the forests. British +Columbia is only nominally yours; American capital and business +have got their grip firm on the very vitals of the province."</p> +<p>"Perfectly true!"--put in the lumberman from Vancouver--"They +have three-fourths of the forests in their hands."</p> +<p>"No matter!" said Anderson, kindling. "There was a moment of +danger--twenty years ago. It is gone. Canada will no more be +American than she will be Catholic--with apologies to Mariette. +These Yankees come in--they turn Englishmen in six months--they +celebrate Dominion Day on the first of July, and Independence Day, +for old sake's sake, on the fourth; and their children will be as +loyal as Toronto."</p> +<p>"Aye, and as dull!" said Mariette fiercely.</p> +<p>The conversation dissolved in protesting laughter. The Chief +Justice, Anderson, and the lumberman fell upon another subject. +Philip and the pretty English girl were flirting on the platform +outside, Mariette dropped into a seat beside Elizabeth.</p> +<p>"You know my friend, Mr. Anderson, madam?"</p> +<p>"I made acquaintance with him on the journey yesterday. He has +been most kind to us."</p> +<p>"He is a very remarkable man. When he gets into the House, he +will be heard of. He will perhaps make his mark on Canada."</p> +<p>"You and he are old friends?"</p> +<p>"Since our student days. I was of course at the French +College--and he at McGill. But we saw a great deal of each other. +He used to come home with me in his holidays."</p> +<p>"He told me something of his early life."</p> +<p>"Did he? It is a sad history, and I fear we--my family, that is, +who are so attached to him--have only made it sadder. Three years +ago he was engaged to my sister. Then the Archbishop forbade mixed +marriages. My sister broke it off, and now she is a nun in the +Ursuline Convent at Quebec."</p> +<p>"Oh, poor things!" cried Elizabeth, her eye on Anderson's +distant face.</p> +<p>"My sister is quite happy," said Mariette sharply. "She did her +duty. But my poor friend suffered. However, now he has got over it. +And I hope he will marry. He is very dear to me, though we have not +a single opinion in the world in common."</p> +<p>Elizabeth kept him talking. The picture of Anderson drawn for +her by the admiring but always critical affection of his friend, +touched and stirred her. His influence at college, the efforts by +which he had placed his brothers in the world, the sensitive and +generous temperament which had won him friends among the French +Canadian students, he remaining all the time English of the +English; the tendency to melancholy--a personal and private +melancholy--which mingled in him with a passionate enthusiasm for +Canada, and Canada's future; Mariette drew these things for her, in +a stately yet pungent French that affected her strangely, as though +the French of Saint Simon--or something like it--breathed again +from a Canadian mouth. Anderson meanwhile was standing outside with +the Chief Justice. She threw a glance at him now and then, +wondering about his love affair. Had he really got over it?--or was +that M. Mariette's delusion? She liked, on the contrary, to think +of him as constant and broken-hearted!</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The car stopped, as it seemed, on the green prairie, thirty +miles from Winnipeg. Elizabeth was given up to the owner of the +great farm--one of the rich men of Canada for whom experiment in +the public interest becomes a passion; and Anderson walked on her +other hand.</p> +<p>Delaine endured a wearisome half-hour. He got no speech with +Elizabeth, and prize cattle were his abomination. When the +half-hour was done, he slipped away, unnoticed, from the party. He +had marked a small lake or "slough" at the rear of the house, with +wide reed-beds and a clump of cottonwood. He betook himself to the +cottonwood, took out his pocket Homer and a notebook, and fell to +his task. He was in the thirteenth book:</p> +<p>[Greek: ôs d hot anêr dorpoio lilaietai, ô te +pauêmar neion an helkêton boe oinope pêkton +arotron]</p> +<p>"As when a man longeth for supper, for whom, the livelong day, +two wine-coloured oxen have dragged the fitted plough through the +fallow, and joyful to such an one is the going down of the sun that +sends him to his meal, for his knees tremble as he goes--so welcome +to Odysseus was the setting of the sun": ...</p> +<p>He lost himself in familiar joy--the joy of the Greek itself, of +the images of the Greek life. He walked with the Greek ploughman, +he smelt the Greek earth, his thoughts caressed the dark oxen under +the yoke. These for him had savour and delight; the wide Canadian +fields had none.</p> +<p>Philip Gaddesden meanwhile could not be induced to leave the +car. While the others were going through the splendid stables and +cowsheds, kept like a queen's parlour, he and the pretty girl were +playing at bob-cherry in the saloon, to the scandal of Yerkes, who, +with the honour of the car and the C.P.R. and Canada itself on his +shoulders, could not bear that any of his charges should shuffle +out of the main item in the official programme.</p> +<p>But Elizabeth, as before, saw everything transfigured; the +splendid Shire horses; the famous bull, progenitor of a coming +race; the sheds full of glistening cows and mottled calves. These +smooth, sleek creatures, housed there for the profit of Canada and +her farm life, seemed to Elizabeth no less poetic than the cattle +of Helios to Delaine. She loved the horses, and the patient, +sweet-breathed kine; she found even a sympathetic mind for the +pigs.</p> +<p>Presently when her host, the owner, left her to explain some of +his experiments to the rest of the party, she fell to Anderson +alone. And as she strolled at his side, Anderson found the June +afternoon pass with extraordinary rapidity. Yet he was not really +as forthcoming or as frank as he had been the day before. The more +he liked his companion, the more he was conscious of differences +between them which his pride exaggerated. He himself had never +crossed the Atlantic; but he understood that she and her people +were "swells"--well-born in the English sense, and rich. Secretly +he credited them with those defects of English society of which the +New World talks--its vulgar standards and prejudices. There was not +a sign of them certainly in Lady Merton's conversation. But it is +easy to be gracious in a new country; and the brother was sometimes +inclined to give himself airs. Anderson drew in his tentacles a +little; ready indeed to be wroth with himself that he had talked so +much of his own affairs to this little lady the day before. What +possible interest could she have taken in them!</p> +<p>All the same, he could not tear himself from her side. Whenever +Delaine left his seat by the lake, and strolled round the corner of +the wood to reconnoitre, the result was always the same. If +Anderson and Lady Merton were in sight at all, near or far, they +were together. He returned, disconsolate, to Homer and the +reeds.</p> +<p>As they went back to Winnipeg, some chance word revealed to +Elizabeth that Anderson also was taking the night train for +Calgary.</p> +<p>"Oh! then to-morrow you will come and talk to us!" cried +Elizabeth, delighted.</p> +<p>Her cordial look, the pretty gesture of her head, evoked in +Anderson a start of pleasure. He was not, however, the only +spectator of them. Arthur Delaine, standing by, thought for the +first time in his life that Elizabeth's manner was really a little +excessive.</p> +<p>The car left Winnipeg that night for the Rockies. An old man, in +a crowded emigrant car, with a bundle under his arm, watched the +arrival of the Gaddesden party. He saw Anderson accost them on the +platform, and then make his way to his own coach just ahead of +them.</p> +<p>The train sped westwards through the Manitoba farms and +villages. Anderson slept intermittently, haunted by various +important affairs that were on his mind, and by recollections of +the afternoon. Meanwhile, in the front of the train, the paragraph +from the <i>Winnipeg Chronicle</i> lay carefully folded in an old +tramp's waistcoat pocket.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> +<br> +<p>"I say, Elizabeth, you're not going to sit out there all day, +and get your death of cold? Why don't you come in and read a novel +like a sensible woman?"</p> +<p>"Because I can read a novel at home--and I can't see +Canada."</p> +<p>"See Canada! What is there to see?" The youth with the scornful +voice came to lean against the doorway beside her. "A patch of +corn--miles and miles of some withered stuff that calls itself +grass, all of it as flat as your hand--oh! and, by Jove! a little +brown fellow--gopher, is that their silly name?--scootling along +the line. Go it, young 'un!" Philip shied the round end of a +biscuit tin after the disappearing brown thing. "A boggy lake with +a kind of salt fringe--unhealthy and horrid and beastly--a wretched +farm building--et cetera, et cetera!"</p> +<p>"Oh! look there, Philip--here is a school!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth bent forward eagerly. On the bare prairie stood a +small white house, like the house that children draw on their +slates: a chimney in the middle, a door, a window on either side. +Outside, about twenty children playing and dancing. Inside, through +the wide-open doorway a vision of desks and a few bending +heads.</p> +<p>Philip's patience was put to it. Had she supposed that children +went without schools in Canada?</p> +<p>But she took no heed of him.</p> +<p>"Look how lovely the children are, and how happy! What'll Canada +be when they are old? And not another sign of habitation +anywhere--nothing--but the little house--on the bare wide earth! +And there they dance, as though the world belonged to them. So it +does!"</p> +<p>"And my sister to a lunatic asylum!" said Philip, exasperated. +"I say, why doesn't that man Anderson come and see us?"</p> +<p>"He promised to come in and lunch."</p> +<p>"He's an awfully decent kind of fellow," said the boy +warmly.</p> +<p>Elizabeth opened her eyes.</p> +<p>"I didn't know you had taken any notice of him, Philip."</p> +<p>"No more I did," was the candid reply. "But did you see what he +brought me this morning?" He pointed to the seat behind him, +littered with novels, which Elizabeth recognized as new additions +to their travelling store. "He begged or borrowed them somewhere +from his friends or people in the hotel; told me frankly he knew I +should be bored to-day, and might want them. Rather 'cute of him, +wasn't it?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth was touched. Philip had certainly shown rather scant +civility to Mr. Anderson, and this trait of thoughtfulness for a +sickly and capricious traveller appealed to her.</p> +<p>"I suppose Delaine will be here directly?" Philip went on.</p> +<p>"I suppose so."</p> +<p>Philip let himself down into the seat beside her.</p> +<p>"Look here, Elizabeth," lowering his voice; "I don't think +Delaine is any more excited about Canada than I am. He told me last +night he thought the country about Winnipeg perfectly hideous."</p> +<p>"<i>Oh</i>!" cried Elizabeth, as though someone had flipped +her.</p> +<p>"You'll have to pay him for this journey, Elizabeth. Why did you +ask him to come?"</p> +<p>"I <i>didn't</i> ask him, Philip. He asked himself."</p> +<p>"Ah! but you let him come," said the youth shrewdly. "I think, +Elizabeth, you're not behaving quite nicely."</p> +<p>"How am I not behaving nicely?"</p> +<p>"Well, you don't pay any attention to him. Do you know what he +was doing while you were looking at the cows yesterday?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth reluctantly confessed that she had no idea.</p> +<p>"Well, he was sitting by a lake--a kind of swamp--at the back of +the house, reading a book." Philip went off into a fit of +laughter.</p> +<p>"Poor Mr. Delaine!" cried Elizabeth, though she too laughed. "It +was probably Greek," she added pensively.</p> +<p>"Well, that's funnier still. You know, Elizabeth, he could read +Greek at home. It's because you were neglecting him."</p> +<p>"Don't rub it in, Philip," said Elizabeth, flushing. Then she +moved up to him and laid a coaxing hand on his arm. "Do you know +that I have been awake half the night?"</p> +<p>"All along of Delaine? Shall I tell him?"</p> +<p>"Philip, I just want you to be a dear, and hold your tongue," +said Lady Merton entreatingly. "When there's anything to tell, I'll +tell you. And if I have--"</p> +<p>"Have what?"</p> +<p>"Behaved like a fool, you'll have to stand by me." An expression +of pain passed over her face.</p> +<p>"Oh, I'll stand by you. I don't know that I want Mr. Arthur for +an extra bear-leader, if that's what you mean. You and mother are +quite enough. Hullo! Here he is."</p> +<p>A little later Delaine and Elizabeth were sitting side by side +on the garden chairs, four of which could just be fitted into the +little railed platform at the rear of the car. Elizabeth was making +herself agreeable, and doing it, for a time, with energy. Nothing +also could have been more energetic than Delaine's attempts to meet +her. He had been studying Baedeker, and he made intelligent +travellers' remarks on the subject of Southern Saskatchewan. He +discussed the American "trek" into the province from the adjoining +States. He understood the new public buildings of Regina were to be +really fine, only to be surpassed by those at Edmonton. He admired +the effects of light and shadow on the wide expanse; and noticed +the peculiarities of the alkaline lakes.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, as he became more expansive, Elizabeth contracted. +One would have thought soon that Canada had ceased to interest her +at all. She led him slyly on to other topics, and presently the +real Arthur Delaine emerged. Had she heard of the most recent +Etruscan excavations at Grosseto? Wonderful! A whole host of new +clues! Boni--Lanciani--the whole learned world in commotion. A +fragment of what might very possibly turn out to be a bi-lingual +inscription was the last find. Were we at last on the brink of +solving the old, the eternal enigma?</p> +<p>He threw himself back in his chair, transformed once more into +the talkative, agreeable person that Europe knew. His black and +grizzled hair, falling perpetually forward in strong waves, made a +fine frame for his grey eyes and large, well-cut features. He had a +slight stammer, which increased when he was animated, and a trick +of forever pushing back the troublesome front locks of hair.</p> +<p>Elizabeth listened for a long, long time, and at last--could +have cried like a baby because she was missing so much! There was a +chance, she knew, all along this portion of the line, of seeing +antelope and coyotes, if only one kept one's eyes open; not to +speak of the gophers--enchanting little fellows, quite new to such +travellers as she--who seemed to choose the very railway line +itself, by preference, for their burrowings and their social +gatherings. Then, as she saw, the wheat country was nearly done; a +great change was in progress; her curiosity sprang to meet it. +Droves of horses and cattle began to appear at rare intervals on +the vast expanse. No white, tree-sheltered farms here, like the +farms in Manitoba; but scattered at long distances, near the +railway or on the horizon, the first primitive dwellings of the new +settlers--the rude "shack" of the first year--beginnings of +villages--sketches of towns.</p> +<p>"I have always thought the Etruscan problem the most fascinating +in the whole world," cried Delaine, with pleasant enthusiasm. "When +you consider all its bearings, linguistic and historical--"</p> +<p>"Oh! <i>do</i> you see," exclaimed Elizabeth, +pointing--"<i>do</i> you see all those lines and posts, far out to +the horizon? Do you know that all these lonely farms are connected +with each other and the railway by <i>telephones</i>? Mr. Anderson +told me so; that some farmers actually make their fences into +telephone lines, and that from that little hut over there you can +speak to Montreal when you please? And just before I left London I +was staying in a big country house, thirty miles from Hyde Park +Corner, and you couldn't telephone to London except by driving five +miles to the nearest town!"</p> +<p>"I wonder why that should strike you so much--the telephones, I +mean?"</p> +<p>Delaine's tone was stiff. He had thrown himself back in his +chair with folded arms, and a slight look of patience. "After all, +you know, it may only be one dull person telephoning to another +dull person--on subjects that don't matter!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth laughed and coloured.</p> +<p>"Oh! it isn't telephones in themselves. It's--" She hesitated, +and began again, trying to express herself. "When one thinks of all +the haphazard of history--how nations have tumbled up, or been +dragged up, through centuries of blind horror and mistake, how +wonderful to see a nation made consciously!--before your eyes--by +science and intelligence--everything thought of, everything +foreseen! First of all, this wonderful railway, driven across these +deserts, against opposition, against unbelief, by a handful of men, +who risked everything, and have--perhaps--changed the face of the +world!"</p> +<p>She stopped smiling. In truth, her new capacity for dithyramb +was no less surprising to herself than to Delaine.</p> +<p>"I return to my point"--he made it not without tartness--"will +the new men be adequate to the new state?"</p> +<p>"Won't they?" He fancied a certain pride in her bearing. "They +explained to me the other day at Winnipeg what the Government do +for the emigrants--how they guide and help them--take care of them +in sickness and in trouble, through the first years--protect them, +really, even from themselves. And one thinks how Governments have +taxed, and tortured, and robbed, and fleeced--Oh, surely, surely, +the world improves!" She clasped her hands tightly on her knee, as +though trying by the physical action to restrain the feeling +within. "And to see here the actual foundations of a great state +laid under your eyes, deep and strong, by men who know what it is +they are doing--to see history begun on a blank page, by men who +know what they are writing--isn't it wonderful, +<i>wonderful</i>!"</p> +<p>"Dear lady!" said Delaine, smiling, "America has been dealing +with emigrants for generations; and there are people who say that +corruption is rife in Canada."</p> +<p>But Elizabeth would not be quenched.</p> +<p>"We come after America--we climb on her great shoulders to see +the way. But is there anything in America to equal the suddenness +of this? Twelve years ago even--in all this Northwest--practically +nothing. And then God said: 'Let there be a nation!'--and there was +a nation--in a night and a morning." She waved her hand towards the +great expanse of prairie. "And as for corruption--"</p> +<p>"Well?" He waited maliciously.</p> +<p>"There is no great brew without a scum," she said laughing. "But +find me a brew anywhere in the world, of such power, with so +little."</p> +<p>"Mr. Anderson would, I think, be pleased with you," said +Delaine, drily.</p> +<p>Elizabeth frowned a little.</p> +<p>"Do you think I learnt it from him? I assure you he never +rhapsodises."</p> +<p>"No; but he gives you the material for rhapsodies."</p> +<p>"And why not?" said Elizabeth indignantly. "If he didn't love +the country and believe in it he wouldn't be going into its public +life. You can feel that he is Canadian through and through."</p> +<p>"A farmer's son, I think, from Manitoba?"</p> +<p>"Yes." Elizabeth's tone was a little defensive.</p> +<p>"Will you not sometimes--if you watch his career--regret that, +with his ability, he has not the environment--and the audience--of +the Old World?"</p> +<p>"No, never! He will be one of the shapers of the new."</p> +<p>Delaine looked at her with a certain passion.</p> +<p>"All very well, but <i>you</i> don't belong to it. We can't +spare you from the old."</p> +<p>"Oh, as for me, I'm full of vicious and corrupt habits!" put in +Elizabeth hurriedly. "I am not nearly good enough for the new!"</p> +<p>"Thank goodness for that!" said Delaine fervently, and, bending +forward, he tried to see her face. But Elizabeth did not allow it. +She could not help flushing; but as she bent over the side of the +platform looking ahead, she announced in her gayest voice that +there was a town to be seen, and it was probably Regina.</p> +<p>The station at Regina, when they steamed into it, was crowded +with folk, and gay with flags. Anderson, after a conversation with +the station-master, came to the car to say that the +Governor-General, Lord Wrekin, who had been addressing a meeting at +Regina, was expected immediately, to take the East-bound train; +which was indeed already lying, with its steam up, on the further +side of the station, the Viceregal car in its rear.</p> +<p>"But there are complications. Look there!"</p> +<p>He pointed to a procession coming along the platform. Six men +bore a coffin covered with white flowers. Behind it came persons in +black, a group of men, and one woman; then others, mostly young +men, also in mourning, and bare-headed.</p> +<p>As the procession passed the car, Anderson and Delaine +uncovered.</p> +<p>Elizabeth turned a questioning look on Anderson.</p> +<p>"A young man from Ontario," he explained, "quite a lad. He had +come here out West to a farm--to work his way--a good, harmless +little fellow--the son of a widow. A week ago a vicious horse +kicked him in the stable. He died yesterday morning. They are +taking him back to Ontario to be buried. The friends of his chapel +subscribed to do it, and they brought his mother here to nurse him. +She arrived just in time. That is she."</p> +<p>He pointed to the bowed figure, hidden in a long crape veil. +Elizabeth's eyes filled.</p> +<p>"But it comes awkwardly," Anderson went on, looking back along +the platform--"for the Governor-General is expected this very +moment. The funeral ought to have been here half an hour ago. They +seem to have been delayed. Ah! here he is!"</p> +<p>"Elizabeth!--his Excellency!" cried Philip, emerging from the +car.</p> +<p>"Hush!" Elizabeth put her finger to her lip. The young man +looked at the funeral procession in astonishment, which was just +reaching the side of the empty van on the East-bound train which +was waiting, with wide-open doors, to receive the body. The bearers +let down the coffin gently to the ground, and stood waiting in +hesitation. But there were no railway employés to help them. +A flurried station-master and his staff were receiving the official +party. Suddenly someone started the revival hymn, "Shall We Gather +at the River?" It was taken up vigorously by the thirty or forty +young men who had followed the coffin, and their voices, rising and +falling in a familiar lilting melody, filled the station:</p> +<p>/P Yes, we'll gather at the river, The beautiful, beautiful +river-- Gather with the saints at the river, That flows by the +throne of God! P/</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked towards the entrance of the station. A tall and +slender man had just stepped on to the platform. It was the +Governor-General, with a small staff behind him. The staff and the +station officials stood hat in hand. A few English tourists from +the West-bound train hurried up; the men uncovered, the ladies +curtsied. A group of settlers' wives newly arrived from Minnesota, +who were standing near the entrance, watched the arrival with +curiosity. Lord Wrekin, seeing women in his path, saluted them; and +they replied with a friendly and democratic nod. Then suddenly the +Governor-General heard the singing, and perceived the black distant +crowd. He inquired of the persons near him, and then passed on +through the groups which had begun to gather round himself, raising +his hand for silence. The passengers of the West-bound train had by +now mostly descended, and pressed after him. Bare-headed, he stood +behind the mourners while the hymn proceeded, and the coffin was +lifted and placed in the car with the wreaths round it. The mother +clung a moment to the side of the door, unconsciously resisting +those who tried to lead her away. The kind grey eyes of the +Governor-General rested upon her, but he made no effort to approach +or speak to her. Only his stillness kept the crowd still.</p> +<p>Elizabeth at her window watched the scene--the tall figure of +his Excellency--the bowed woman--the throng of officials and of +mourners. Over the head of the Governor-General a couple of flags +swelled in a light breeze--the Union Jack and the Maple Leaf; +beyond the heads of the crowd there was a distant glimpse of the +barracks of the Mounted Police; and then boundless prairie and +floating cloud.</p> +<p>At last the mother yielded, and was led to the carriage behind +the coffin. Gently, with bent head, Lord Wrekin made his way to +her. But no one heard what passed between them. Then, silently, the +funeral crowd dispersed, and another crowd--of officials and +business men--claimed the Governor-General. Standing in its midst, +he turned for a moment to scan the West-bound train.</p> +<p>"Ah, Lady Merton!" He had perceived the car and Elizabeth's face +at the window, and he hastened across to speak to her. They were +old friends in England, and they had already met in Ottawa.</p> +<p>"So I find you on your travels! Well?"</p> +<p>His look, gay and vivacious as a boy's, interrogated hers. +Elizabeth stammered a few words in praise of Canada. But her eyes +were still wet, and the Governor-General perceived it.</p> +<p>"That was touching?" he said. "To die in your teens in this +country!--just as the curtain is up and the play begins--hard! +Hullo, Anderson!"</p> +<p>The great man extended a cordial hand, chaffed Philip a little, +gave Lady Merton some hurried but very precise directions as to +what she was to see--and whom--at Vancouver and Pretoria. "You must +see So-and-so and So-and-so--great friends of mine. D----'ll tell +you all about the lumbering. Get somebody to show you the Chinese +quarter. And there's a splendid old fellow--a C.P.R. man--did some +of the prospecting for the railway up North, toward the Yellowhead. +Never heard such tales; I could have sat up all night." He hastily +scribbled a name on a card and gave it to Elizabeth. +"Good-bye--good-bye!"</p> +<p>He hastened off, but they saw him standing a few moments longer +on the platform, the centre of a group of provincial politicians, +farmers, railway superintendents, and others--his hat on the back +of his head, his pleasant laugh ringing every now and then above +the clatter of talk. Then came departure, and at the last moment he +jumped into his carriage, talking and talked to, almost till it had +left the platform.</p> +<p>Anderson hailed a farming acquaintance.</p> +<p>"Well? What has the Governor-General been doing?"</p> +<p>"Speaking at a Farmers' Conference. Awful shindy +yesterday!--between the farmers and the millers. Row about the +elevators. The farmers want the Dominion to own 'em--vow they're +cheated and bullied, and all the rest of it. Row about the railway, +too. Shortage of cars; you know the old story. A regular wasp's +nest, the whole thing! Well, the Governor-General came this +morning, and everything's blown over! Can't remember what he said, +but we're all sure somebody's going to do something. Hope you know +how he does it!--I don't."</p> +<p>Anderson laughed as he sat down beside Elizabeth, and the train +began to move.</p> +<p>"We seem to send you the right men!" she said, smiling--with a +little English conceit that became her.</p> +<p>The train left the station. As it did so, an old man in the +first emigrant car, who, during the wait at Regina, had appeared to +be asleep in a corner, with a battered slouch hat drawn down over +his eyes and face, stealthily moved to the window, and looked back +upon the now empty platform.</p> +<p>Some hours later Anderson was still sitting beside Elizabeth. +They were in Southern Alberta. The June day had darkened. And for +the first time Elizabeth felt the chill and loneliness of the +prairies, where as yet she had only felt their exhilaration. A +fierce wind was sweeping over the boundless land, with showers in +its train. The signs of habitation became scantier, the farms +fewer. Bunches of horses and herds of cattle widely scattered over +the endless grassy plains--the brown lines of the ploughed +fire-guards running beside the railway--the bents of winter grass, +white in the storm-light, bleaching the rolling surface of the +ground, till the darkness of some cloud-shadow absorbed them; these +things breathed--of a sudden--wildness and desolation. It seemed as +though man could no longer cope with the mere vastness of the +earth--an earth without rivers or trees, too visibly naked and +measureless.</p> +<p>"At last I am afraid of it!" said Elizabeth, shivering in her +fur coat, with a little motion of her hand toward the plain. "And +what must it be in winter!"</p> +<p>Anderson laughed.</p> +<p>"The winter is much milder here than in Manitoba! Radiant +sunshine day after day--and the warm chinook-wind. And it is +precisely here that the railway lands are selling at a higher price +for the moment than anywhere else, and that settlers are rushing +in. Look there!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth peered through the gloom, and saw the gleam of water. +The train ran along beside it for a minute or two, then the +gathering darkness seemed to swallow it up.</p> +<p>"A river?"</p> +<p>"No, a canal, fed from the Bow River--far ahead of us. We are in +the irrigation belt--and in the next few years thousands of people +will settle here. Give the land water--the wheat follows! South and +North, even now, the wheat is spreading and driving out the +ranchers. Irrigation is the secret. We are mastering it! And you +thought"--he looked at her with amusement and a kind of +triumph--"that the country had mastered us?"</p> +<p>There was something in his voice and eyes, as though not he +spoke, but a nation through him. "Splendid!" was the word that rose +in Elizabeth's mind; and a thrill ran with it.</p> +<p>The gloom of the afternoon deepened. The showers increased. But +Elizabeth could not be prevailed upon to go in. In the car Delaine +and Philip were playing dominoes, in despair of anything more +amusing. Yerkes was giving his great mind to the dinner which was +to be the consolation of Philip's day.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Elizabeth kept Anderson talking. That was her great +gift. She was the best of listeners. Thus led on he could not help +himself, any more than he had been able to help himself on the +afternoon of the sink-hole. He had meant to hold himself strictly +in hand with this too attractive Englishwoman. On the contrary, he +had never yet poured out so frankly to mortal ear the inmost dreams +and hopes which fill the ablest minds of Canada--dreams half +imagination, half science; and hopes which, yesterday romance, +become reality to-morrow.</p> +<p>He showed her, for instance, the great Government farms as they +passed them, standing white and trim upon the prairie, and bade her +think of the busy brains at work there--magicians conjuring new +wheats that will ripen before the earliest frosts, and so draw +onward the warm tide of human life over vast regions now desolate; +or trees that will stand firm against the prairie winds, and in the +centuries to come turn this bare and boundless earth, this +sea-floor of a primeval ocean, which is now Western Canada, into a +garden of the Lord. Or from the epic of the soil, he would slip on +to the human epic bound up with it--tale after tale of life in the +ranching country, and of the emigration now pouring into +Alberta--witched out of him by this delicately eager face, these +lovely listening eyes. And here, in spite of his blunt, simple +speech, came out the deeper notes of feeling, feeling richly +steeped in those "mortal things"--earthy, tender, humorous, or +terrible--which make up human fate.</p> +<p>Had he talked like this to the Catholic girl in Quebec? And yet +she had renounced him? She had never loved him, of course! To love +this man would be to cleave to him.</p> +<p>Once, in a lifting of the shadows of the prairie, Elizabeth saw +a group of antelope standing only a few hundred yards from the +train, tranquilly indifferent, their branching horns clear in a +pallid ray of light; and once a prairie-wolf, solitary and +motionless; and once, as the train moved off after a stoppage, an +old badger leisurely shambling off the line itself. And once, too, +amid a driving storm-shower, and what seemed to her unbroken +formless solitudes, suddenly, a tent by the railway side, and the +blaze of a fire; and as the train slowly passed, three men--lads +rather--emerging to laugh and beckon to it. The tent, the fire, the +gay challenge of the young faces and the English voices, ringed by +darkness and wild weather, brought the tears back to Elizabeth's +eyes, she scarcely knew why.</p> +<p>"Settlers, in their first year," said Anderson, smiling, as he +waved back again.</p> +<p>But, to Elizabeth, it seemed a parable of the new Canada.</p> +<br> +<p>An hour later, amid a lightening of the clouds over the West, +that spread a watery gold over the prairie, Anderson sprang to his +feet.</p> +<p>"The Rockies!"</p> +<p>And there, a hundred miles away, peering over the edge of the +land, ran from north to south a vast chain of snow peaks, and +Elizabeth saw at last that even the prairies have an end.</p> +<p>The car was shunted at Calgary, in order that its occupants +might enjoy a peaceful night. When she found herself alone in her +tiny room, Elizabeth stood for a while before her reflection in the +glass. Her eyes were frowning and distressed; her cheeks glowed. +Arthur Delaine, her old friend, had bade her a cold good night, and +she knew well enough that--from him--she deserved it. "Yet I gave +him the whole morning," she pleaded with herself. "I did my best. +But oh, why, why did I ever let him come!"</p> +<p>And even in the comparative quiet of the car at rest, she could +not sleep; so quickened were all her pulses, and so vivid the +memories of the day.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<p>Arthur Delaine was strolling and smoking on the broad wooden +balcony, which in the rear of the hotel at Banff overlooks a wide +scene of alp and water. The splendid Bow River comes swirling past +the hotel, on its rush from the high mountains to the plains of +Saskatchewan. Craggy mountains drop almost to the river's edge on +one side; on the other, pine woods mask the railway and the hills; +while in the distance shine the snow-peaks of the Rockies. It is +the gateway of the mountains, fair and widely spaced, as becomes +their dignity.</p> +<p>Delaine, however, was not observing the scenery. He was entirely +absorbed by reflection on his own affairs. The party had now been +stationary for three or four days at Banff, enjoying the comforts +of hotel life. The travelling companion on whom Delaine had not +calculated in joining Lady Merton and her brother--Mr. George +Anderson--had taken his leave, temporarily, at Calgary. In +thirty-six hours, however, he had reappeared. It seemed that the +construction work in which he was engaged in the C---- valley did +not urgently require his presence; that his position towards the +railway, with which he was about to sever his official connection, +was one of great freedom and influence, owing, no doubt, to the +services he had been able to render it the year before. He was, in +fact, master of his time, and meant to spend it apparently in +making Lady Merton's tour agreeable.</p> +<p>For himself, Delaine could only feel that the advent of this +stranger had spoilt the whole situation. It seemed now as though +Elizabeth and her brother could not get on without him. As he leant +over the railing of the balcony, Delaine could see far below, in +the wood, the flutter of a white dress. It belonged to Lady Merton, +and the man beside her was George Anderson. He had been arranging +their walks and expeditions for the last four days, and was now +about to accompany the English travellers on a special journey with +a special engine through the Kicking Horse Pass and back, a +pleasure suggested by the kindness of the railway authorities.</p> +<p>It was true that he had at one time been actively engaged on the +important engineering work now in progress in the pass; and Lady +Merton could not, therefore, have found a better showman. But why +any showman at all? What did she know about this man who had sprung +so rapidly into intimacy with herself and her brother? Yet Delaine +could not honestly accuse him of presuming on a chance +acquaintance, since it was not to be denied that it was Philip +Gaddesden himself, who had taken an invalid's capricious liking to +the tall, fair-haired fellow, and had urgently requested--almost +forced him to come back to them.</p> +<p>Delaine was not a little bruised in spirit, and beginning to be +angry. During the solitary day he had been alone with them +Elizabeth had been kindness and complaisance itself. But instead of +that closer acquaintance, that opportunity for a gradual and +delightful courtship on which he had reckoned, when the restraint +of watching eyes and neighbourly tongues should be removed, he was +conscious that he had never been so remote from her during the +preceding winter at home, as he was now that he had journeyed six +thousand miles simply and solely on the chance of proposing to her. +He could not understand how anything so disastrous, and apparently +so final, could have happened to him in one short week! Lady +Merton--he saw quite plainly--did not mean him to propose to her, +if she could possibly avoid it. She kept Philip with her, and gave +no opportunities. And always, as before, she was possessed and +bewitched by Canada! Moreover, the Chief Justice and the French +Canadian, Mariette, had turned up at the hotel two days before, on +their way to Vancouver. Elizabeth had been sitting, figuratively, +at the feet of both of them ever since; and both had accepted an +invitation to join in the Kicking Horse party, and were delaying +their journey West accordingly.</p> +<p>Instead of solitude, therefore, Delaine was aware of a most +troublesome amount of society. Aware also, deep down, that some +test he resented but could not escape had been applied to him on +this journey, by fortune--and Elizabeth!--and that he was not +standing it well. And the worst of it was that as his +discouragement in the matter of Lady Merton increased, so also did +his distaste for this raw, new country, without associations, +without art, without antiquities, in which he should never, never +have chosen to spend one of his summers of this short life, but for +the charms of Elizabeth! And the more boredom he was conscious of, +the less congenial and sympathetic, naturally, did he become as a +companion for Lady Merton. Of this he was dismally aware. Well! he +hoped, bitterly, that she knew what she was about, and could take +care of herself. This man she had made friends with was +good-looking and, by his record, possessed ability. He had fairly +gentlemanly manners, also; though, in Delaine's opinion, he was too +self-confident on his own account, and too boastful on Canada's, +But he was a man of humble origin, son of a farmer who seemed, by +the way, to be dead; and grandson, so Delaine had heard him say, +through his mother, of one of the Selkirk settlers of 1812--no +doubt of some Scotch gillie or shepherd. Such a person, in England, +would have no claim whatever to the intimate society of Elizabeth +Merton. Yet here she was alone, really without protection--for what +use was this young, scatter-brained brother?--herself only +twenty-seven, and so charming? so much prettier than she had ever +seemed to be at home. It was a dangerous situation--a situation to +which she ought not to have been exposed. Delaine had always +believed her sensitive and fastidious; and in his belief all women +should be sensitive and fastidious, especially as to who are, and +who are not, their social equals. But it was clear he had not quite +understood her. And this man whom they had picked up was +undoubtedly handsome, strong and masterful, of the kind that the +natural woman admires. But then he--Delaine--had never thought of +Elizabeth Merton as the natural woman. There lay the +disappointment.</p> +<p>What was his own course to be? He believed himself defeated, but +to show any angry consciousness of it would be to make life very +uncomfortable in future, seeing that he and the Gaddesdens were +inevitably neighbours and old friends. After all, he had not +committed himself beyond repair. Why not resume the friendly +relation which had meant so much to him before other ideas had +entered in? Ah! it was no longer easy. The distress of which he was +conscious had some deep roots. He must marry--the estate demanded +it. But his temperament was invincibly cautious; his mind moved +slowly. How was he to begin upon any fresh quest? His quiet pursuit +of Elizabeth had come about naturally and by degrees. Propinquity +had done it. And now that his hopes were dashed, he could not +imagine how he was to find any other chance; for, as a rule, he was +timid and hesitating with women. As he hung, in his depression, +over the river, this man of forty envisaged--suddenly and not so +far away--old age and loneliness. A keen and peevish resentment +took possession of him.</p> +<p>Lady Merton and Anderson began to ascend a long flight of steps +leading from the garden path below to the balcony where Delaine +stood. Elizabeth waved to him with smiles, and he must perforce +watch her as she mounted side by side with the fair-haired +Canadian.</p> +<p>"Oh! such delightful plans!" she said, as she sank out of breath +into a seat. "We have ordered the engine for two o'clock. Please +observe, Mr. Arthur. Never again in this mortal life shall I be +able to 'order' an engine for two o'clock!--and one of these C.P.R. +engines, too, great splendid fellows! We go down the pass, and take +tea at Field; and come up the pass again this evening, to dine and +sleep at Laggan. As we descend, the engine goes in front to hold us +back; and when we ascend, it goes behind to push us up; and I +understand that the hill is even steeper"--she bent forward, +laughing, to Delaine, appealing to their common North Country +recollections--"than the Shap incline!"</p> +<p>"Too steep, I gather," said Delaine, "to be altogether safe." +His tone was sharp. He stood with his back to the view, looking +from Elizabeth to her companion.</p> +<p>Anderson turned.</p> +<p>"As we manage it, it is perfectly safe! But it costs us too much +to make it safe. That's the reason for the new bit of line."</p> +<p>Elizabeth turned away uncomfortably, conscious again, as she had +often been before, of the jarring between the two men.</p> +<p>At two o'clock the car and the engine were ready, and Yerkes +received them at the station beaming with smiles. According to him, +the privilege allowed them was all his doing, and he was +exceedingly jealous of any claim of Anderson's in the matter.</p> +<p>"You come to <i>me</i>, my lady, if you want anything. Last year +I ran a Russian princess through--official. 'You take care of the +Grand Duchess, Yerkes,' they says to me at Montreal; for they know +there isn't anybody on the line they can trust with a lady as they +can me. Of course, I couldn't help her faintin' at the high +bridges, going up Rogers Pass; that wasn't none of my fault!"</p> +<p>"Faint--at bridges!" said Elizabeth with scorn. "I never heard +of anybody doing such a thing, Yerkes."</p> +<p>"Ah! you wait till you see 'em, my lady," said Yerkes, +grinning.</p> +<p>The day was radiant, and even Philip, as they started from Banff +station, was in a Canadian mood. So far he had been quite cheerful +and good-tempered, though not, to Elizabeth's anxious eye, much +more robust yet than when they had left England. He smoked far too +much, and Elizabeth wished devoutly that Yerkes would not supply +him so liberally with whisky and champagne. But Philip was not +easily controlled. The very decided fancy, however, which he had +lately taken for George Anderson had enabled Elizabeth, in one or +two instances, to manage him more effectively. The night they +arrived at Calgary, the lad had had a wild desire to go off on a +moonlight drive across the prairies to a ranch worked by an old +Cambridge friend of his. The night was cold, and he was evidently +tired by the long journey from Winnipeg. Elizabeth was in despair, +but could not move him at all. Then Anderson had intervened; had +found somehow and somewhere a trapper just in from the mountains +with a wonderful "catch" of fox and marten; and in the amusement of +turning over a bundle of magnificent furs, and of buying something +straight from the hunter for his mother, the youth had forgotten +his waywardness. Behind his back, Elizabeth had warmly thanked her +lieutenant.</p> +<p>"He only wanted a little distraction," Anderson had said, with a +shy smile, as though he both liked and disliked her thanks. And +then, impulsively, she had told him a good deal about Philip and +his illness, and their mother, and the old house in Cumberland. +She, of all persons, to be so communicative about the family +affairs to a stranger! Was it that two days in a private car in +Canada went as far as a month's acquaintance elsewhere?</p> +<p>Another passenger had been introduced to Lady Merton by +Anderson, an hour before the departure of the car, and had made +such a pleasant impression on her that he also had been asked to +join the party, and had very gladly consented. This was the +American, Mr. Val Morton, now the official receiver, so Elizabeth +understood, of a great railway system in the middle west of the +United States. The railway had been handed over to him in a +bankrupt condition. His energy and probity were engaged in pulling +it through. More connections between it and the Albertan railways +were required; and he was in Canada looking round and negotiating. +He was already known to the Chief Justice and Mariette, and +Elizabeth fell quickly in love with his white hair, his black eyes, +his rapier-like slenderness and keenness, and that pleasant +mingling in him--so common in the men of his race--of the dry +shrewdness of the financier with a kind of headlong courtesy to +women.</p> +<p>On sped the car through the gate of the Rockies. The mountains +grew deeper, the snows deeper against the blue, the air more +dazzling, the forests closer, breathing balm into the sunshine.</p> +<p>Suddenly the car slackened and stopped. No sign of a station. +Only a rustic archway, on which was written "The Great Divide," and +beneath the archway two small brooklets issuing, one flowing to the +right, the other to the left.</p> +<p>They all left the car and stood round the tiny streams. They +were on the watershed. The water in the one streamlet flowed to the +Atlantic, that in its fellow to the Pacific.</p> +<p>Eternal parable of small beginnings and vast fates! But in this +setting of untrodden mountains, and beside this railway which now +for a few short years had been running its parlour and dining cars, +its telegraphs and electric lights and hotels, a winding thread of +life and civilisation, through the lonely and savage splendours of +snow-peak and rock, transforming day by day the destinies of +Canada--the parable became a truth, proved upon the pulses of +men.</p> +<p>The party sat down on the grass beside the bright, rippling +water, and Yerkes brought them coffee. While they were taking it, +the two engine-drivers descended from the cab of the engine and +began to gather a few flowers and twigs from spring bushes that +grew near. They put them together and offered them to Lady Merton. +She, going to speak to them, found that they were English and North +Country.</p> +<p>"Philip!--Mr. Arthur!--they come from our side of Carlisle!"</p> +<p>Philip looked up with a careless nod and smile. Delaine rose and +went to join her. A lively conversation sprang up between her and +the two men. They were, it seemed, a stalwart pair of friends, +kinsmen indeed, who generally worked together, and were now +entrusted with some of the most important work on the most +difficult sections of the line. But they were not going to spend +all their days on the line--not they! Like everybody in the West, +they had their eyes on the land. Upon a particular district of it, +moreover, in Northern Alberta, not yet surveyed or settled. But +they were watching it, and as soon as the "steel gang" of a +projected railway came within measurable distance they meant to +claim their sections and work their land together.</p> +<p>When the conversation came to an end and Elizabeth, who with her +companions had been strolling along the line a little in front of +the train, turned back towards her party, Delaine looked down upon +her, at once anxious to strike the right note, and moodily +despondent of doing it.</p> +<p>"Evidently, two very good fellows!" he said in his rich, +ponderous voice. "You gave them a great pleasure by going to talk +to them."</p> +<p>"I?" cried Elizabeth. "They are a perfect pair of +gentlemen!--and it is very kind of them to drive us!"</p> +<p>Delaine laughed uneasily.</p> +<p>"The gradations here are bewildering--or rather the absence of +gradations."</p> +<p>"One gets down to the real thing," said Elizabeth, rather +hotly.</p> +<p>Delaine laughed again, with a touch of bitterness.</p> +<p>"The real thing? What kind of reality? There are all sorts."</p> +<p>Elizabeth was suddenly conscious of a soreness in his tone. She +tried to walk warily.</p> +<p>"I was only thinking," she protested, "of the chances a man gets +in this country of showing what is in him."</p> +<p>"Remember, too," said Delaine, with spirit, "the chances that he +misses!"</p> +<p>"The chances that belong only to the old countries? I am rather +bored with them!" said Elizabeth flippantly.</p> +<p>Delaine forced a smile.</p> +<p>"Poor Old World! I wonder if you will ever be fair to it again, +or--or to the people bound up with it!"</p> +<p>She looked at him, a little discomposed, and said, smiling:</p> +<p>"Wait till you meet me next in Rome!"</p> +<p>"Shall I ever meet you again in Rome?" he replied, under his +breath, as though involuntarily.</p> +<p>As he spoke he made a determined pause, a stone's throw from the +rippling stream that marks the watershed; and Elizabeth must needs +pause with him. Beyond the stream, Philip sat lounging among rugs +and cushions brought from the car, Anderson and the American beside +him. Anderson's fair, uncovered head and broad shoulders were +strongly thrown out against the glistening snows of the background. +Upon the three typical figures--the frail English boy--the +Canadian--the spare New Yorker--there shone an indescribable +brilliance of light. The energy of the mountain sunshine and the +mountain air seemed to throb and quiver through the persons +talking--through Anderson's face, and his eyes fixed upon +Elizabeth--through the sunlit water--the sparkling grasses--the +shimmering spectacle of mountain and summer cloud that begirt +them.</p> +<p>"Dear Mr. Arthur, of course we shall meet again in Rome!" said +Elizabeth, rosy, and not knowing in truth what to say. "This place +has turned my head a little!"--she looked round her, raising her +hand to the spectacle as though in pretty appeal to him to share +her own exhilaration--"but it will be all over so soon--and you +<i>know</i> I don't forget old friends--or old pleasures."</p> +<p>Her voice wavered a little. He looked at her, with parted lips, +and a rather hostile, heated expression; then drew back, alarmed at +his own temerity.</p> +<p>"Of course I know it! You must forgive a bookworm his grumble. +Shall I help you over the stream?"</p> +<p>But she stepped across the tiny streamlet without giving him her +hand.</p> +<p>As they later rejoined the party, Morton, the Chief Justice, and +Mariette returned from a saunter in the course of which they too +had been chatting to the engine-drivers.</p> +<p>"I know the part of the country those men want," the American +was saying. "I was all over Alberta last fall--part of it in a +motor car. We jumped about those stubble-fields in a way to make a +leopard jealous! Every bone in my body was sore for weeks +afterwards. But it was worth while. That's a country!"--he threw up +his hands. "I was at Edmonton on the day when the last Government +lands, the odd numbers, were thrown open. I saw the siege of the +land offices, the rush of the new population. Ah, well, of course, +we're used to such scenes in the States. There's a great trek going +on now in our own Southwest. But when that's over, our free land is +done. Canada will have the handling of the last batch on this +planet."</p> +<p>"If Canada by that time is not America," said Mariette, +drily.</p> +<p>The American digested the remark.</p> +<p>"Well," he said, at last, with a smile, "if I were a Canadian, +perhaps I should be a bit nervous."</p> +<p>Thereupon, Mariette with great animation developed his theme of +the "American invasion." Winnipeg was one danger spot, British +Columbia another. The "peaceful penetration," both of men and +capital, was going on so rapidly that a movement for annexation, +were it once started in certain districts of Canada, might be +irresistible. The harsh and powerful face of the speaker became +transfigured; one divined in him some hidden motive which was +driving him to contest and belittle the main currents and +sympathies about him. He spoke as a prophet, but the faith which +envenomed the prophecy lay far out of sight.</p> +<p>Anderson took it quietly. The Chief Justice smiled.</p> +<p>"It might have been," he said, "it might have been! This +railroad has made the difference." He stretched out his hand +towards the line and the pass. "Twenty years ago, I came over this +ground with the first party that ever pushed through Rogers Pass +and down the Illecillewaet Valley to the Pacific. We camped just +about here for the night. And in the evening I was sitting by +myself on the slopes of that mountain opposite"--he raised his +hand--"looking at the railway camps below me, and the first rough +line that had been cut through the forests. And I thought of the +day when the trains would be going backwards and forwards, and +these nameless valleys and peaks would become the playground of +Canada and America. But what I didn't see was the shade of England +looking on!--England, whose greater destiny was being decided by +those gangs of workmen below me, and the thousands of workmen +behind me, busy night and day in bridging the gap between east and +west. Traffic from north and south"--he turned towards the +American--"that meant, for <i>your</i> Northwest, fusion with +<i>our</i> Northwest; traffic from east to west--that meant +England, and the English Sisterhood of States! And that, for the +moment, I didn't see."</p> +<p>"Shall I quote you something I found in an Edmonton paper the +other day?" said Anderson, raising his head from where he lay, +looking down into the grass. And with his smiling, intent gaze +fixed on the American, he recited:</p> +<blockquote>Land of the sweeping eagle, your goal is not our +goal!<br> +For the ages have taught that the North and the South breed<br> + difference of soul.<br> +We toiled for years in the snow and the night, because we<br> + believed in the spring,<br> +And the mother who cheered us first, shall be first at the<br> + banquetting!<br> +The grey old mother, the dear old mother, who taught us the<br> + note we sing!</blockquote> +<p>The American laughed.</p> +<p>"A bit raw, like some of your prairie towns; but it hits the +nail. I dare say we have missed our bargain. What matter! Our own +chunk is as big as we can chew."</p> +<p>There was a moment's silence. Elizabeth's eyes were shining; +even Philip sat open-mouthed and dumb, staring at Anderson.</p> +<p>In the background Delaine waited, grudgingly expectant, for the +turn of Elizabeth's head, and the spark of consciousness passing +between the two faces which he had learnt to watch. It came--a +flash of some high sympathy--involuntary, lasting but a moment. +Then Mariette threw out:</p> +<p>"And in the end, what are you going to make of it? A replica of +Europe, or America?--a money-grubbing civilisation with no faith +but the dollar? If so, we shall have had the great chance of +history--and lost it!"</p> +<p>"We shan't lose it," said Anderson, "unless the gods mock +us."</p> +<p>"Why not?" said Mariette sombrely. "Nations have gone mad before +now."</p> +<p>"Ah!--prophesy, prophesy!" said the Chief Justice sadly. "All +very well for you young men, but for us, who are passing away! Here +we are at the birth. Shall we never, in any state of being, know +the end? I have never felt so bitterly as I do now the limitations +of our knowledge and our life."</p> +<p>No one answered him. But Elizabeth looking up saw the aspect of +Mariette--the aspect of a thinker and a mystic--slowly relax. Its +harshness became serenity, its bitterness peace. And with her quick +feeling she guessed that the lament of the Chief Justice had only +awakened in the religious mind the typical religious cry, +"<i>Thou</i>, Lord, art the Eternal, and Thy years shall not +fail."</p> +<p>At Field, where a most friendly inn shelters under the great +shoulders of Mount Stephen, they left the car a while, took tea in +the hotel, and wandered through the woods below it. All the +afternoon, Elizabeth had shown a most delicate and friendly +consideration for Delaine. She had turned the conversation often in +his direction and on his subjects, had placed him by her side at +tea, and in general had more than done her duty by him. To no +purpose. Delaine saw himself as the condemned man to whom +indulgences are granted before execution. She would probably have +done none of these things if there had been any real chance for +him.</p> +<p>But in the walk after tea, Anderson and Lady Merton drifted +together. There had been so far a curious effort on both their +parts to avoid each other's company. But now the Chief Justice and +Delaine had foregathered; Philip was lounging and smoking on the +balcony of the hotel with a visitor there, an old Etonian fishing +and climbing in the Rockies for health, whom they had chanced upon +at tea. Mariette, after one glance at the company, especially at +Elizabeth and Anderson, had turned aside into the woods by +himself.</p> +<p>They crossed the river and strolled up the road to Emerald Lake. +Over the superb valley to their left hung the great snowy mass, +glistening and sunlit, of Mount Stephen; far to the West the jagged +peaks of the Van Home range shot up into the golden air; on the +flat beside the river vivid patches of some crimson flower, new to +Elizabeth's eyes, caught the sloping light; and the voice of a +swollen river pursued them.</p> +<p>They began to talk, this time of England. Anderson asked many +questions as to English politics and personalities. And she, to +please him, chattered of great people and events, of scenes and +leaders in Parliament, of diplomats and royalties; all the gossip +of the moment, in fact, fluttering round the principal figures of +English and European politics. It was the talk most natural to her; +the talk of the world she knew best; and as Elizabeth was full of +shrewdness and natural salt, without a trace of malice, no more at +least than a woman should have--to borrow the saying about Wilkes +and his squint--her chatter was generally in request, and she knew +it.</p> +<p>But Anderson, though he had led up to it, did not apparently +enjoy it; on the contrary, she felt him gradually withdrawing and +cooling, becoming a little dry and caustic, even satirical, as on +the first afternoon of their acquaintance. So that after a while +her gossip flagged; since the game wants two to play it. Then +Anderson walked on with a furrowed brow, and raised colour; and she +could not imagine what had been done or said to annoy him.</p> +<p>She could only try to lead him back to Canada. But she got +little or no response.</p> +<p>"Our politics must seem to you splashes in a water-butt," he +said impatiently, "after London and Europe."</p> +<p>"A pretty big water-butt!"</p> +<p>"Size makes no difference." Elizabeth's lips twitched as she +remembered Arthur Delaine's similar protests; but she kept her +countenance, and merely worked the harder to pull her companion out +of this odd pit of ill-humour into which he had fallen. And in the +end she succeeded; he repented, and let her manage him as she +would. And whether it was the influence of this hidden action and +reaction between their minds, or of the perfumed June day breathing +on them from the pines, or of the giant splendour of Mount Burgess, +rising sheer in front of them out of the dark avenue of the forest, +cannot be told; but, at least, they became more intimate than they +had yet been, more deeply interesting each to the other. In his +thoughts and ideals she found increasing fascination; her +curiosity, her friendly and womanly curiosity, grew with +satisfaction. His view of life was often harsh or melancholy; but +there was never a false nor a mean note.</p> +<p>Yet before the walk was done he had startled her. As they turned +back towards Field, and were in the shadows of the pines, he said, +with abrupt decision:</p> +<p>"Will you forgive me if I say something?"</p> +<p>She looked up surprised.</p> +<p>"Don't let your brother drink so much champagne!"</p> +<p>The colour rushed into Elizabeth's face. She drew herself up, +conscious of sharp pain, but also of anger. A stranger, who had not +yet known them ten days! But she met an expression on his face, +timid and yet passionately resolved, which arrested her.</p> +<p>"I really don't know what you mean, Mr. Anderson!" she said +proudly.</p> +<p>"I thought I had seen you anxious. I should be anxious if I were +you," he went on hurriedly. "He has been ill, and is not quite +master of himself. That is always the critical moment. He is a +charming fellow--you must be devoted to him. For God's sake, don't +let him ruin himself body and soul!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth was dumbfounded. The tears rushed into her eyes, her +voice choked in her throat. She must, she would defend her brother. +Then she thought of the dinner of the night before, and the night +before that--of the wine bill at Winnipeg and Toronto. Her colour +faded away; her heart sank; but it still seemed to her an outrage +that he should have dared to speak of it. He spoke, however, before +she could.</p> +<p>"Forgive me," he said, recovering his self-control. "I know it +must seem mere insolence on my part. But I can't help it--I can't +look on at such a thing, silently. May I explain? Please permit me! +I told you"--his voice changed--"my mother and sisters had been +burnt to death. I adored my mother. She was everything to me. She +brought us up with infinite courage, though she was a very frail +woman. In those days a farm in Manitoba was a much harder struggle +than it is now. Yet she never complained; she was always cheerful; +always at work. But--my father drank! It came upon him as a young +man--after an illness. It got worse as he grew older. Every bit of +prosperity that came to us, he drank away; he would have ruined us +again and again, but for my mother. And at last he murdered +her--her and my poor sisters!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth made a sound of horror.</p> +<p>"Oh, there was no intention to murder," said Anderson bitterly. +"He merely sat up drinking one winter night with a couple of whisky +bottles beside him. Then in the morning he was awakened by the +cold; the fire had gone out. He stumbled out to get the can of +coal-oil from the stable, still dazed with drink, brought it in and +poured some on the wood. Some more wood was wanted. He went out to +fetch it, leaving his candle alight, a broken end in a rickety +candlestick, on the floor beside the coal-oil. When he got to the +stable it was warm and comfortable; he forgot what he had come for, +fell down on a bundle of straw, and went into a dead sleep. The +candle must have fallen over into the oil, the oil exploded, and in +a few seconds the wooden house was in flames. By the time I came +rushing back from the slough where I had been breaking the ice for +water, the roof had already fallen in. My poor mother and two of +the children had evidently tried to escape by the stairway and had +perished there; the two others were burnt in their beds."</p> +<p>"And your father?" murmured Elizabeth, unable to take her eyes +from the speaker.</p> +<p>"I woke him in the stable, and told him what had happened. Bit +by bit I got out of him what he'd done. And then I said to him, +'Now choose!--either you go, or we. After the funeral, the boys and +I have done with you. You can't force us to go on living with you. +We will kill ourselves first. Either you stay here, and we go into +Winnipeg; or you can sell the stock, take the money, and go. We'll +work the farm.' He swore at me, but I told him he'd find we'd made +up our minds. And a week later, he disappeared. He had sold the +stock, and left us the burnt walls and the land."</p> +<p>"And you've never seen him since?"</p> +<p>"Never."</p> +<p>"You believe him dead?"</p> +<p>"I know that he died--in the first Yukon rush of ten years ago. +I tracked him there, shortly afterwards. He was probably killed in +a scuffle with some miners as drunken as himself."</p> +<p>There was a silence, which he broke very humbly.</p> +<p>"Do you forgive me? I know I am not sane on this point. I +believe I have spoilt your day."</p> +<p>She looked up, her eyes swimming in tears, and held out her +hand.</p> +<p>"It's nothing, you know," she said, trying to smile--"in our +case. Philip is such a baby."</p> +<p>"I know; but look after him!" he said earnestly, as he grasped +it.</p> +<p>The trees thinned, and voices approached. They emerged from the +forest, and found themselves hailed by the Chief Justice.</p> +<p>The journey up the pass was even more wonderful than the journey +down. Sunset lights lay on the forests, on the glorious lonely +mountains, and on the valley of the Yoho, roadless and houseless +now, but soon to be as famous through the world as Grindelwald or +Chamounix. They dismounted and explored the great camps of workmen +in the pass; they watched the boiling of the stream, which had +carved the path of the railway; they gathered white dogwood, and +yellow snow-lilies, and red painter's-brush.</p> +<p>Elizabeth and Anderson hardly spoke to each other. She talked a +great deal with Delaine, and Mariette held a somewhat acid dispute +with her on modern French books--Loti, Anatole France, +Zola--authors whom his soul loathed.</p> +<p>But the day had forged a lasting bond between Anderson and +Elizabeth, and they knew it.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The night rose clear and cold, with stars shining on the snow. +Delaine, who with Anderson had found quarters in one of Laggan's +handful of houses, went out to stroll and smoke alone, before +turning into bed. He walked along the railway line towards Banff, +in bitterness of soul, debating with himself whether he could +possibly leave the party at once.</p> +<p>When he was well out of sight of the station and the houses, he +became aware of a man persistently following him, and not without a +hasty grip on the stout stick he carried, he turned at last to +confront him.</p> +<p>"What do you want with me? You seem to be following me."</p> +<p>"Are you Mr. Arthur Delaine?" said a thick voice.</p> +<p>"That is my name. What do you want?"</p> +<p>"And you be lodging to-night in the same house with Mr. George +Anderson?"</p> +<p>"I am. What's that to you?"</p> +<p>"Well, I want twenty minutes' talk with you," said the voice, +after a pause. The accent was Scotch. In the darkness Delaine dimly +perceived an old and bent man standing before him, who seemed to +sway and totter as he leant upon his stick.</p> +<p>"I cannot imagine, sir, why you should want anything of the +kind." And he turned to pursue his walk. The old man kept up with +him, and presently said something which brought Delaine to a sudden +stop of astonishment. He stood there listening for a few minutes, +transfixed, and finally, turning round, he allowed his strange +companion to walk slowly beside him back to Laggan.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> +<br> +<p>Oh! the freshness of the morning on Lake Louise!</p> +<p>It was barely eight o'clock, yet Elizabeth Merton had already +taken her coffee on the hotel verandah, and was out wandering by +herself. The hotel, which is nearly six thousand feet above the +sea, had only just been opened for its summer guests, and Elizabeth +and her party were its first inmates. Anderson indeed had arranged +their coming, and was to have brought them hither himself. But on +the night of the party's return to Laggan he had been hastily +summoned by telegraph to a consultation of engineers on a difficult +matter of railway grading in the Kootenay district. Delaine, +knocking at his door in the morning, had found him flown. A note +for Lady Merton explained his flight, gave all directions for the +drive to Lake Louise, and expressed his hope to be with them again +as expeditiously as possible. Three days had now elapsed since he +had left them. Delaine, rather to Elizabeth's astonishment, had +once or twice inquired when he might be expected to return.</p> +<p>Elizabeth found a little path by the lake shore, and pursued it +a short way; but presently the splendour and the beauty overpowered +her; her feet paused of themselves. She sat down on a jutting +promontory of rock, and lost herself in the forms and hues of the +morning. In front of her rose a wall of glacier sheer out of the +water and thousands of feet above the lake, into the clear +brilliance of the sky. On either side of its dazzling whiteness, +mountains of rose-coloured rock, fledged with pine, fell steeply to +the water's edge, enclosing and holding up the glacier; and vast +rock pinnacles of a paler rose, melting into gold, broke, here and +there, the gleaming splendour of the ice. The sun, just topping the +great basin, kindled the ice surfaces, and all the glistening pinks +and yellows, the pale purples and blood-crimsons of the rocks, to +flame and splendour; while the shadows of the coolest azure still +held the hollows and caves of the glacier. Deep in the motionless +lake, the shining snows repeated themselves, so also the rose-red +rocks, the blue shadows, the dark buttressing crags with their +pines. Height beyond height, glory beyond glory--from the reality +above, the eye descended to its lovelier image below, which lay +there, enchanted and insubstantial, Nature's dream of itself.</p> +<p>The sky was pure light; the air pure fragrance. Heavy dews +dripped from the pines and the moss, and sparkled in the sun. +Beside Elizabeth, under a group of pines, lay a bed of snow-lilies, +their golden heads dew-drenched, waiting for the touch of the +morning, waiting, too--so she thought--for that Canadian poet who +will yet place them in English verse beside the daffodils of +Westmoreland.</p> +<p>She could hardly breathe for delight. The Alps, whether in their +Swiss or Italian aspects, were dear and familiar to her. She +climbed nimbly and well; and her senses knew the magic of high +places. But never surely had even travelled eyes beheld a nobler +fantasy of Nature than that composed by these snows and forests of +Lake Louise; such rocks of opal and pearl; such dark gradations of +splendour in calm water; such balanced intricacy and harmony in the +building of this ice-palace that reared its majesty above the lake; +such a beauty of subordinate and converging outline in the +supporting mountains on either hand; as though the Earth Spirit had +lingered on his work, finishing and caressing it in conscious +joy.</p> +<p>And in Elizabeth's heart, too, there was a freshness of spring; +an overflow of something elemental and irresistible.</p> +<p>Yet, strangely enough, it was at that moment expressing itself +in regret and compunction. Since the dawn, that morning, she had +been unable to sleep. The strong light, the pricking air, had kept +her wakeful; and she had been employing her time in writing to her +mother, who was also her friend.</p> +<p>"... Dear little mother--You will say I have been unkind--I say +it to myself. But would it really have been fairer if I had +forbidden him to join us? There was just a chance--it seems +ridiculous now--but there was--I confess it! And by my letter from +Toronto--though really my little note might have been written to +anybody--I as good as said so to him, 'Come and throw the dice +and--let us see what falls out!' Practically, that is what it +amounted to--I admit it in sackcloth and ashes. Well!--we have +thrown the dice--and it won't do! No, it won't, it won't do! And it +is somehow all my fault--which is abominable. But I see now, what I +never saw at home or in Italy, that he is a thousand years older +than I--that I should weary and jar upon him at every turn, were I +to marry him. Also I have discovered--out here--I believe, darling, +you have known it all along!--that there is at the very root of me +a kind of savage--a creature that hates fish-knives and +finger-glasses and dressing for dinner--the things I have done all +my life, and Arthur Delaine will go on doing all his. Also that I +never want to see a museum again--at least, not for a long time; +and that I don't care twopence whether Herculaneum is excavated or +not!</p> +<p>"Isn't it shocking? I can't explain myself; and poor Mr. Arthur +evidently can't make head or tail of me, and thinks me a little +mad. So I am, in a sense. I am suffering from a new kind of +<i>folie des grandeurs</i>. The world has suddenly grown so big; +everything in the human story--all its simple fundamental things at +least--is writ so large here. Hope and ambition--love and +courage--the man wrestling with the earth--the woman who bears and +brings up children--it is as though I had never felt, never seen +them before. They rise out of the dust and mist of our modern +life--great shapes warm from the breast of Nature--and I hold my +breath. Behind them, for landscape, all the dumb age-long past of +these plains and mountains; and in front, the future on the loom, +and the young radiant nation, shuttle in hand, moving to and fro at +her unfolding task!</p> +<p>"How unfair to Mr. Arthur that this queer intoxication of mine +should have altered him so in my foolish eyes--as though one had +scrubbed all the golden varnish from an old picture, and left it +crude and charmless. It is not his fault--is mine. In Europe we +loved the same things; his pleasure kindled mine. But here he +enjoys nothing that I enjoy; he is longing for a tiresome day to +end, when my heart is just singing for delight. For it is not only +Canada in the large that holds me, but all its dear, human, dusty, +incoherent detail--all its clatter of new towns and spreading +farms--of pushing railways and young parliaments--of roadmaking and +bridgemaking--of saw-mills and lumber camps--detail so different +from anything I have ever discussed with Arthur Delaine before. +Some of it is ugly, I know--I don't care! It is like a Rembrandt +ugliness--that only helps and ministers to a stronger beauty, the +beauty of prairie and sky, and the beauty of the human battle, the +battle of blood and brain, with the earth and her forces.</p> +<p>"'<i>Enter these enchanted woods, ye who dare!</i>'"</p> +<p>"There is a man here--a Mr. George Anderson, of whom I told you +something in my last letter--who seems to embody the very life of +this country, to be the prairie, and the railway, and the +forest--their very spirit and avatar. Personally, he is often sad; +his own life has been hard; and yet the heart of him is all hope +and courage, all delight too in the daily planning and wrestling, +the contrivance and the cleverness, the rifling and outwitting of +Nature--that makes a Canadian--at any rate a Western Canadian. I +suppose he doesn't know anything about art. Mr. Arthur seems to +have nothing in common with him; but there is in him that rush and +energy of life, from which, surely, art and poetry spring, when the +time is ripe.</p> +<p>"Don't of course imagine anything absurd! He is just a young +Scotch engineer, who seems to have made some money as people do +make money here--quickly and honestly--and is shortly going into +Parliament. They say that he is sure to be a great man. To us--to +Philip and me, he has been extremely kind. I only meant that he +seems to be in place here--or anywhere, indeed, where the world is +moving; while Mr. Arthur, in Canada, is a walking anachronism. He +is out of perspective; he doesn't fit.</p> +<p>"You will say, that if I married him, it would not be to live in +Canada, and once at home again, the old estimates and 'values' +would reassert themselves. But in a sense--don't be alarmed--I +shall always live in Canada. Or, rather, I shall never be quite the +same again; and Mr. Arthur would find me a restless, impracticable, +discontented woman.</p> +<p>"Would it not really be kinder if I suggested to him to go home +by California, while we come back again through the Rockies? Don't +you think it would? I feel that I have begun to get on his +nerves--as he on mine. If you were only here! But, I assure you, he +doesn't <i>look</i> miserable; and I think he will bear up very +well. And if it will be any comfort to you to be told that I know +what is meant by the gnawing of the little worm, Compunction, then +be comforted, dearest; for it gnaws horribly, and out of all +proportion--I vow--to my crimes.</p> +<p>"Philip is better on the whole, and has taken an enormous fancy +to Mr. Anderson. But, as I have told you all along, he is not so +much better as you and I hoped he would be. I take every care of +him that I can, but you know that he is not wax, when it comes to +managing. However, Mr. Anderson has been a great help."</p> +<p>Recollections of this letter, and other thoughts besides, coming +from much deeper strata of the mind than she had been willing to +reveal to her mother, kept slipping at intervals through +Elizabeth's consciousness, as she sat beside the lake.</p> +<p>A step beside her startled her, and she looked up to see Delaine +approaching.</p> +<p>"Out already, Mr. Arthur! But <i>I</i> have had breakfast!"</p> +<p>"So have I. What a place!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth did not answer, but her smiling eyes swept the +glorious circle of the lake.</p> +<p>"How soon will it all be spoilt and vulgarised?" said Delaine, +with a shrug. "Next year, I suppose, a funicular, to the top of the +glacier."</p> +<p>Elizabeth cried out.</p> +<p>"Why not?" he asked her, as he rather coolly and deliberately +took his seat beside her. "You applaud telephones on the prairies; +why not funiculars here?"</p> +<p>"The one serves, the other spoils," said Elizabeth eagerly.</p> +<p>"Serves whom? Spoils what?" The voice was cold. "All travellers +are not like yourself."</p> +<p>"I am not afraid. The Canadians will guard their heritage."</p> +<p>"How dull England will seem to you when you go back to it!" he +said to her, after a moment. His tone had an under-note of +bitterness which Elizabeth uncomfortably recognised.</p> +<p>"Oh! I have a way of liking what I must like," she said, +hurriedly. "Just now, certainly, I am in love with deserts--flat or +mountainous--tempered by a private car."</p> +<p>He laughed perfunctorily. And suddenly it seemed to her that he +had come out to seek her with a purpose, and that a critical moment +might be approaching. Her cheeks flushed, and to hide them she +leant over the water's edge and began to trail her finger in its +clear wave.</p> +<p>He, however, sat in hesitation, looking at her, the prey of +thoughts to which she had no clue. He could not make up his mind, +though he had just spent an almost sleepless night on the attempt +to do it.</p> +<p>The silence became embarrassing. Then, if he still groped, she +seemed to see her way, and took it.</p> +<p>"It was very good of you to come out and join our wanderings," +she said suddenly. Her voice was clear and kind. He started.</p> +<p>"You know I could ask for nothing better," was his slow reply, +not without dignity. "It has been an immense privilege to see you +like this, day by day."</p> +<p>Elizabeth's pulse quickened.</p> +<p>"How can I manage it?" she desperately thought. "But I +must--"</p> +<p>"That's very sweet of you," she said aloud, "when I have bored +you so with my raptures. And now it's coming to an end, like all +nice things. Philip and I think of staying a little in Vancouver. +And the Governor has asked us to go over to Victoria for a few +days. You, I suppose, will be doing the proper round, and going +back by Seattle and San Francisco?"</p> +<p>Delaine received the blow--and understood it. There had been no +definite plans ahead. Tacitly, it had been assumed, he thought, +that he was to return with them to Montreal and England. This +gentle question, then, was Elizabeth's way of telling him that his +hopes were vain and his journey fruitless.</p> +<p>He had not often been crossed in his life, and a flood of +resentment surged up in a very perplexed mind.</p> +<p>"Thank you. Yes--I shall go home by San Francisco."</p> +<p>The touch of haughtiness in his manner, the manner of one +accustomed all his life to be a prominent and considered person in +the world, did not disguise from Elizabeth the soreness underneath. +It was hard to hurt her old friend. But she could only sit as +though she felt nothing--meant nothing--of any importance.</p> +<p>And she achieved it to perfection. Delaine, through all his +tumult of feeling, was sharply conscious of her grace, her +reticence, her soft dignity. They were exactly what he coveted in a +wife--what he hoped he had captured in Elizabeth. How was it they +had been snatched from him? He turned blindly on the obstacle that +had risen in his path, and the secret he had not yet decided how to +handle began to run away with him.</p> +<p>He bent forward, with a slightly heightened colour.</p> +<p>"Lady Merton--we might not have another opportunity--will you +allow me a few frank words with you--the privilege of an old +friend?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth turned her face to him, and a pair of startled eyes +that tried not to waver.</p> +<p>"Of course, Mr. Arthur," she said smiling. "Have I been doing +anything dreadful?"</p> +<p>"May I ask what you personally know of this Mr. Anderson?"</p> +<p>He saw--or thought he saw--her brace herself under the sudden +surprise of the name, and her momentary discomfiture pleased +him.</p> +<p>"What I know of Mr. Anderson?" she repeated wondering. "Why, no +more than we all know. What do you mean, Mr. Arthur? Ah, yes, I +remember, you first met him in Winnipeg; <i>we</i> made +acquaintance with him the day before."</p> +<p>"For the first time? But you are now seeing a great deal of him. +Are you quite sure--forgive me if I seem impertinent--that he +is--quite the person to be admitted to your daily +companionship?"</p> +<p>He spoke slowly and harshly. The effort required before a +naturally amiable and nervous man could bring himself to put such +an uncomfortable question made it appear particularly +offensive.</p> +<p>"Our daily companionship?" repeated Elizabeth in bewilderment. +"What can you mean, Mr. Arthur? What is wrong with Mr. Anderson? +You saw that everybody at Winnipeg seemed to know him and respect +him; people like the Chief Justice, and the Senator--what was his +name?--and Monsieur Mariette. I don't understand why you ask me +such a thing. Why should we suppose there are any mysteries about +Mr. Anderson?"</p> +<p>Unconsciously her slight figure had stiffened, her voice had +changed.</p> +<p>Delaine felt an admonitory qualm. He would have drawn back; but +it was too late. He went on doggedly--</p> +<p>"Were not all these persons you named acquainted with Mr. +Anderson in his public capacity? His success in the strike of last +year brought him a great notoriety. But his private history--his +family and antecedents--have you gathered anything at all about +them?"</p> +<p>Something that he could not decipher flashed through Elizabeth's +expression. It was a strange and thrilling sense that what she had +gathered she would not reveal for--a kingdom!</p> +<p>"Monsieur Mariette told me all that anyone need want to know!" +she cried, breathing quick. "Ask him what he thinks--what he feels! +But if you ask <i>me</i>, I think Mr. Anderson carries his history +in his face."</p> +<p>Delaine pondered a moment, while Elizabeth waited, challenging, +expectant, her brown eyes all vivacity.</p> +<p>"Well--some facts have come to my knowledge," he said, at last, +"which have made me ask you these questions. My only object--you +must, you will admit that!--is to save you possible pain--a +possible shock."</p> +<p>"Mr. Arthur!" the voice was peremptory--"If you have learned +anything about Mr. Anderson's private history--by chance--without +his knowledge--that perhaps he would rather we did not know--I beg +you will not tell me--indeed--please--I forbid you to tell me. We +owe him much kindness these last few weeks. I cannot gossip about +him behind his back."</p> +<p>All her fine slenderness of form, her small delicacy of feature, +seemed to him tense and vibrating, like some precise and perfect +instrument strained to express a human feeling or intention. But +what feeling? While he divined it, was she herself unconscious of +it? His bitterness grew.</p> +<p>"Dear Lady Merton--can you not trust an old friend?"</p> +<p>She did not soften.</p> +<p>"I do trust him. But"--her smile flashed--"even new +acquaintances have their rights."</p> +<p>"You will not understand," he said, earnestly. "What is in my +mind came to me, through no wish or will of mine. You cannot +suppose that I have been prying into Mr. Anderson's affairs! But +now that the information is mine, I feel a great responsibility +towards you."</p> +<p>"Don't feel it. I am a wilful woman."</p> +<p>"A rather perplexing one! May I at least be sure that"--he +hesitated--"that you will be on your guard?"</p> +<p>"On my guard?" she lifted her eyebrows proudly--"and against +what?"</p> +<p>"That is precisely what you won't let me tell you."</p> +<p>She laughed--a little fiercely.</p> +<p>"There we are; no forrarder. But please remember, Mr. Arthur, +how soon we shall all be separating. Nothing very dreadful can +happen in these few days--can it?"</p> +<p>For the first time there was a touch of malice in her smile.</p> +<p>Delaine rose, took one or two turns along the path in front of +her, and then suddenly stopped beside her.</p> +<p>"I think"--he said, with emphasis, "that Mr. Anderson will +probably find himself summoned away--immediately--before you get to +Vancouver. But that I will discuss with him. You could give me no +address, so I have not yet been able to communicate with him."</p> +<p>Again Elizabeth's eyebrows went up. She rose.</p> +<p>"Of course you will do what you think best. Shall we go back to +the hotel?"</p> +<p>They walked along in silence. He saw that she was excited, and +that he had completely missed his stroke; but he did not see how to +mend the situation.</p> +<p>"Oh! there is Philip, going to fish," said Elizabeth at last, as +though nothing had happened. "I wondered what could possibly have +got him up so early."</p> +<p>Philip waved to her as she spoke, shouting something which the +mountain echoes absorbed. He was accompanied by a young man, who +seemed to be attached to the hotel as guide, fisherman, hunter--at +the pleasure of visitors. But Elizabeth had already discovered that +he had the speech of a gentleman, and attended the University of +Manitoba during the winter. In the absence of Anderson, Philip had +no doubt annexed him for the morning.</p> +<p>There was a pile of logs lying on the lake side. Philip, rod in +hand, began to scramble over them to a point where several large +trunks overhung deep water. His companion meanwhile was seated on +the moss, busy with some preparations.</p> +<p>"I hope Philip will be careful," said Delaine, suddenly. "There +is nothing so slippery as logs."</p> +<p>Elizabeth, who had been dreaming, looked up anxiously. As she +did so Philip, high perched on the furthest logs, turned again to +shout to his sister, his light figure clear against the sunlit +distance. Then the figure wavered, there was a sound of crashing +wood, and Philip fell head-foremost into the lake before him.</p> +<p>The young man on the bank looked up, threw away his rod and his +coat, and was just plunging into the lake when he was anticipated +by another man who had come running down the bank of the hotel, and +was already in the water. Elizabeth, as she rushed along the edge, +recognized Anderson. Philip seemed to have disappeared; but +Anderson dived, and presently emerged with a limp burden. The guide +was now aiding him, and between them they brought young Gaddesden +to land. The whole thing passed so rapidly that Delaine and +Elizabeth, running at full speed, had hardly reached the spot +before Anderson was on the shore, bearing the lad in his arms.</p> +<p>Elizabeth bent over him with a moan of anguish. He seemed to her +dead.</p> +<p>"He has only fainted," said Anderson peremptorily. "We must get +him in." And he hurried on, refusing Delaine's help, carrying the +thin body apparently with ease along the path and up the steps to +the hotel. The guide had already been sent flying ahead to warn the +household.</p> +<p>Thus, by one of the commonplace accidents of travel, the whole +scene was changed for this group of travellers. Philip Gaddesden +would have taken small harm from his tumble into the lake, but for +the fact that the effects of rheumatic fever were still upon him. +As it was, a certain amount of fever, and some heart-symptoms that +it was thought had been overcome, reappeared, and within a few +hours of the accident it became plain that, although he was in no +danger, they would be detained at least ten days, perhaps a +fortnight, at Lake Louise. Elizabeth sat down in deep despondency +to write to her mother, and then lingered awhile with the letter +before her, her head in her hands, pondering with emotion what she +and Philip owed to George Anderson, who had, it seemed, arrived by +a night train, and walked up to the hotel, in the very nick of +time. As to the accident itself, no doubt the guide, a fine swimmer +and <i>coureur de bois</i>, would have been sufficient, unaided, to +save her brother. But after all, it was Anderson's strong arms that +had drawn him from the icy depths of the lake, and carried him to +safety! And since? Never had telephone and railway, and general +knowledge of the resources at command, been worked more skilfully +than by him, and the kind people of the hotel. "Don't be the least +anxious"--she had written to her mother--"we have a capital +doctor--all the chemist's stuff we want--and we could have a nurse +at any moment. Mr. Anderson has only to order one up from the camp +hospital in the pass. But for the present, Simpson and I are enough +for the nursing."</p> +<p>She heard voices in the next room; a faint question from Philip, +Anderson replying. What an influence this man of strong character +had already obtained over her wilful, self-indulgent brother! She +saw the signs of it in many directions; and she was passionately +grateful for it. Her thoughts went wandering back over the past +three weeks--over the whole gradual unveiling of Anderson's +personality. She recalled her first impressions of him the day of +the "sink-hole." An ordinary, strong, capable, ambitious young man, +full of practical interests, with brusque manners, and a visible +lack of some of the outer wrappings to which she was accustomed--it +was so that she had first envisaged him. Then at Winnipeg--through +Mariette and others--she had seen him as other men saw him, his +seniors and contemporaries, the men engaged with him in the making +of this vast country. She had appreciated his character in what +might be hereafter, apparently, its public aspects; the character +of one for whom the world surrounding him was eagerly prophesying a +future and a career. His profound loyalty to Canada, and to certain +unspoken ideals behind, which were really the source of the +loyalty; the atmosphere at once democratic and imperial in which +his thoughts and desires moved, which had more than once +communicated its passion to her; a touch of poetry, of melancholy, +of greatness even--all this she had gradually perceived. Winnipeg +and the prairie journey had developed him thus before her.</p> +<p>So much for the second stage in her knowledge of him. There was +a third; she was in the midst of it. Her face flooded with colour +against her will. "Out of the strong shall come forth sweetness." +The words rushed into her mind. She hoped, as one who wished him +well, that he would marry soon and happily. And the woman who +married him would find it no tame future.</p> +<p>Suddenly Delaine's warnings occurred to her. She laughed, a +little hysterically.</p> +<p>Could anyone have shown himself more helpless, useless, +incompetent, than Arthur Delaine since the accident? Yet he was +still on the spot. She realised, indeed, that it was hardly +possible for their old friend to desert them under the +circumstances. But he merely represented an additional burden.</p> +<p>A knock at the sitting-room door disturbed her. Anderson +appeared.</p> +<p>"I am off to Banff, Lady Merton," he said from the threshold. "I +think I have all your commissions. Is your letter ready?"</p> +<p>She sealed it and gave it to him. Then she looked up at him; and +for the first time he saw her tremulous and shaken; not for her +brother, but for himself.</p> +<p>"I don't know how to thank you." She offered her hand; and one +of those beautiful looks--generous, friendly, sincere--of which she +had the secret.</p> +<p>He, too, flushed, his eyes held a moment by hers. Then he, +somewhat brusquely, disengaged himself.</p> +<p>"Why, I did nothing! He was in no danger; the guide would have +had him out in a twinkle. I wish"--he frowned--"you wouldn't look +so done up over it."</p> +<p>"Oh! I am all right."</p> +<p>"I brought you a book this morning. Mercifully I left it in the +drawing-room, so it hasn't been in the lake."</p> +<p>He drew it from his pocket. It was a French novel she had +expressed a wish to read.</p> +<p>She exclaimed,</p> +<p>"How did you get it?"</p> +<p>"I found Mariette had it with him. He sends it me from +Vancouver. Will you promise to read it--and rest?"</p> +<p>He drew a sofa towards the window. The June sunset was blazing +on the glacier without. Would he next offer to put a shawl over +her, and tuck her up? She retreated hastily to the writing-table, +one hand upon it. He saw the lines of her gray dress, her small +neck and head; the Quakerish smoothness of her brown hair, against +the light. The little figure was grace, refinement, embodied. But +it was a grace that implied an environment--the cosmopolitan, +luxurious environment, in which such women naturally move.</p> +<p>His look clouded. He said a hasty good-bye and departed. +Elizabeth was left breathing quick, one hand on her breast. It was +as though she had escaped something--or missed something.</p> +<p>As he left the hotel, Anderson found himself intercepted by +Delaine in the garden, and paused at once to give him the latest +news.</p> +<p>"The report is really good, everything considered," he said, +with a cordiality born of their common anxiety; and he repeated the +doctor's last words to himself.</p> +<p>"Excellent!" said Delaine; then, clearing his throat, "Mr. +Anderson, may I have some conversation with you?"</p> +<p>Anderson looked surprised, threw him a keen glance, and invited +him to accompany him part of the way to Laggan. They turned into a +solitary road, running between the woods. It was late evening, and +the sun was striking through the Laggan valley beneath them in low +shafts of gold and purple.</p> +<p>"I am afraid what I have to say will be disagreeable to you," +began Delaine, abruptly. "And on this particular day--when we owe +you so much--it is more than disagreeable to myself. But I have no +choice. By some extraordinary chance, with which I beg you to +believe my own will has had nothing to do, I have become acquainted +with something--something that concerns you privately--something +that I fear will be a great shock to you."</p> +<p>Anderson stood still.</p> +<p>"What can you possibly mean?" he said, in growing amazement.</p> +<p>"I was accosted the night before last, as I was strolling along +the railway line, by a man I had never seen before, a man +who--pardon me, it is most painful to me to seem to be interfering +with anyone's private affairs--who announced himself as"--the +speaker's nervous stammer intervened before he jerked out the +words--"as your father!"</p> +<p>"As my father? Somebody must be mad!" said Anderson quietly. "My +father has been dead ten years."</p> +<p>"I am afraid there is a mistake. The man who spoke to me is +aware that you suppose him dead--he had his own reasons, he +declares, for allowing you to remain under a misconception; he now +wishes to reopen communications with you, and to my great regret, +to my indignation, I may say he chose me--an entire stranger--as +his intermediary. He seems to have watched our party all the way +from Winnipeg, where he first saw you, casually, in the street. +Naturally I tried to escape from him--to refer him to you. But I +could not possibly escape from him, at night, with no road for +either of us but the railway line. I was at his mercy."</p> +<p>"What was his reason for not coming direct to me?"</p> +<p>They were still pausing in the road. Delaine could see in the +failing light that Anderson had grown pale. But he perceived also +an expression of scornful impatience in the blue eyes fixed upon +him.</p> +<p>"He has professed to be afraid--"</p> +<p>"That I should murder him?" said Anderson with a laugh. "And he +told you some sort of a story?"</p> +<p>"A long one, I regret to say."</p> +<p>"And not to my credit?"</p> +<p>"The tone of it was certainly hostile. I would rather not repeat +it."</p> +<p>"I should not dream of asking you to do so. And where is this +precious individual to be found?"</p> +<p>Delaine named the address which had been given him--of a lodging +mainly for railway men near Laggan.</p> +<p>"I will look him up," said Anderson briefly. "The whole story of +course is a mere attempt to get money--for what reason I do not +know; but I will look into it."</p> +<p>Delaine was silent. Anderson divined from his manner that he +believed the story true. In the minds of both the thought of Lady +Merton emerged. Anderson scorned to ask, "Have you said anything to +them?" and Delaine was conscious of a nervous fear lest he should +ask it. In the light of the countenance beside him, no less than of +the event of the day, his behaviour of the morning began to seem to +him more than disputable. In the morning he had seemed to himself +the defender of Elizabeth and the class to which they both belonged +against low-born adventurers with disreputable pasts. But as he +stood there, confronting the "adventurer," his conscience as a +gentleman--which was his main and typical conscience--pricked +him.</p> +<p>The inward qualm, however, only stiffened his manner. And +Anderson asked nothing. He turned towards Laggan.</p> +<p>"Good night. I will let you know the result of my +investigations." And, with the shortest of nods, he went off at a +swinging pace down the road.</p> +<p>"I have only done my duty," argued Delaine with himself as he +returned to the hotel. "It was uncommonly difficult to do it at +such a moment! But to him I have no obligations whatever; my +obligations are to Lady Merton and her family."</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +<br> +<p>It was dark when Anderson reached Laggan, if that can be called +darkness which was rather a starry twilight, interfused with the +whiteness of snow-field and glacier. He first of all despatched a +message to Banff for Elizabeth's commissions. Then he made straight +for the ugly frame house of which Delaine had given him the +address. It was kept by a couple well known to him, an Irishman and +his wife who made their living partly by odd jobs on the railway, +partly by lodging men in search of work in the various construction +camps of the line. To all such persons Anderson was a familiar +figure, especially since the great strike of the year before.</p> +<p>The house stood by itself in a plot of cleared ground, some two +or three hundred yards from the railway station. A rough road +through the pine wood led up to it.</p> +<p>Anderson knocked, and Mrs. Ginnell came to the door, a tired, +and apparently sulky woman.</p> +<p>"I hear you have a lodger here, Mrs. Ginnell," said Anderson, +standing in the doorway, "a man called McEwen; and that he wants to +see me on some business or other."</p> +<p>Mrs. Ginnell's countenance darkened.</p> +<p>"We have an old man here, Mr. Anderson, as answers to that name, +but you'll get no business out of him--and I don't believe he +<i>have</i> any business with any decent crater. When he arrived +two days ago he was worse for liquor, took on at Calgary. I made my +husband look after him that night to see he didn't get at nothing, +but yesterday he slipped us both, an' I believe he's now in that +there outhouse, a-sleeping it off. Old men like him should be sent +somewhere safe, an' kep' there."</p> +<p>"I'll go and see if he's awake, Mrs. Ginnell. Don't you trouble +to come. Any other lodgers?"</p> +<p>"No, sir. There was a bunch of 'em left this morning--got work +on the Crow's Nest."</p> +<p>Anderson made his way to the little "shack," Ginnell's house of +the first year, now used as a kind of general receptacle for tools, +rubbish and stores.</p> +<p>He looked in. On a heap of straw in the corner lay a huddled +figure, a kind of human rag. Anderson paused a moment, then +entered, hung the lamp he had brought with him on a peg, and closed +the door behind him.</p> +<p>He stood looking down at the sleeper, who was in the restless +stage before waking. McEwen threw himself from side to side, +muttered, and stretched.</p> +<p>Slowly a deep colour flooded Anderson's cheeks and brow; his +hands hanging beside him clenched; he checked a groan that was also +a shudder. The abjectness of the figure, the terrible +identification proceeding in his mind, the memories it evoked, were +rending and blinding him. The winter morning on the snow-strewn +prairie, the smell of smoke blown towards him on the wind, the +flames of the burning house, the horror of the search among the +ruins, his father's confession, and his own rage and despair--deep +in the tissues of life these images were stamped. The anguish of +them ran once more through his being.</p> +<p>How had he been deceived? And what was to be done? He sat down +on a heap of rubbish beside the straw, looking at his father. He +had last seen him as a man of fifty, vigorous, red-haired, coarsely +handsome, though already undermined by drink. The man lying on the +straw was approaching seventy, and might have been much older. His +matted hair was nearly white, face blotched and cavernous; and the +relaxation of sleep emphasised the mean cunning of the mouth. His +clothing was torn and filthy, the hands repulsive.</p> +<p>Anderson could only bear a few minutes of this spectacle. A +natural shame intervened. He bent over his father and called +him.</p> +<p>"Robert Anderson!"</p> +<p>A sudden shock passed through the sleeper. He started up, and +Anderson saw his hand dart for something lying beside him, no doubt +a revolver.</p> +<p>But Anderson grasped the arm.</p> +<p>"Don't be afraid; you're quite safe."</p> +<p>McEwen, still bewildered by sleep and drink, tried to shake off +the grasp, to see who it was standing over him. Anderson released +him, and moved so that the lamplight fell upon himself.</p> +<p>Slowly McEwen's faculties came together, began to work. The +lamplight showed him his son George--the fair-haired, +broad-shouldered fellow he had been tracking all these days--and he +understood.</p> +<p>He straightened himself, with an attempt at dignity.</p> +<p>"So it's you, George? You might have given me notice."</p> +<p>"Where have you been all these years?" said Anderson, +indistinctly. "And why did you let me believe you dead?"</p> +<p>"Well, I had my reasons, George. But I don't mean to go into +'em. All that's dead and gone. There was a pack of fellows then on +my shoulders--I was plumb tired of 'em. I had to get rid of--I did +get rid of 'em--and you, too. I knew you were inquiring after me, +and I didn't want inquiries. They didn't suit me. You may conclude +what you like. I tell you those times are dead and gone. But it +seemed to me that Robert Anderson was best put away for a bit. So I +took measures according."</p> +<p>"You knew I was deceived."</p> +<p>"Yes, I knew," said the other composedly. "Couldn't be +helped."</p> +<p>"And where have you been since?"</p> +<p>"In Nevada, George--Comstock--silver-mining. Rough lot, but you +get a stroke of luck sometimes. I've got a chance on now--me and a +friend of mine--that's first-rate."</p> +<p>"What brought you back to Canada?"</p> +<p>"Well, it was your aunt, Mrs. Harriet Sykes. Ever hear of her, +George?"</p> +<p>Anderson shook his head.</p> +<p>"You must have heard of her when you were a little chap. When I +left Ayrshire in 1840 she was a lass of sixteen; never saw her +since. But she married a man well-to-do, and was left a widder with +no children. And when she died t'other day, she'd left me something +in her will, and told the lawyers to advertise over here, in Canada +and the States--both. And I happened on the advertisement in a +Chicago paper. Told yer to call on Smith & Dawkins, Winnipeg. +So that was how I came to see Winnipeg again."</p> +<p>"When were you there?"</p> +<p>"Just when you was," said the old man, with a triumphant look, +which for the moment effaced the squalor of his aspect. "I was +coming out of Smith & Dawkins's with the money in my pocket, +when I saw you opposite, just going into a shop. You could ha' +knocked me down easy, I warrant ye. Didn't expect to come on yer +tracks as fast as all that. But there you were, and when you came +out and went down t' street, I just followed you at a safe +distance, and saw you go into the hotel. Afterwards, I went into +the Free Library to think a bit, and then I saw the piece in the +paper about you and that Saskatchewan place; and I got hold of a +young man in a saloon who found out all about you and those English +swells you've been hanging round with; and that same night, when +you boarded the train, I boarded it, too. See? Only I am not a +swell like you. And here we are. See?"</p> +<p>The last speech was delivered with a mixture of bravado, +cunning, and sinister triumph. Anderson sat with his head in his +hands, his eyes on the mud floor, listening. When it was over he +looked up.</p> +<p>"Why didn't you come and speak to me at once?"</p> +<p>The other hesitated.</p> +<p>"Well, I wasn't a beauty to look at. Not much of a credit to +you, am I? Didn't think you'd own me. And I don't like towns--too +many people about. Thought I'd catch you somewhere on the quiet. +Heard you was going to the Rockies. Thought I might as well go +round by Seattle home. See?"</p> +<p>"You have had plenty of chances since Winnipeg of making +yourself known to me," said Anderson sombrely. "Why did you speak +to a stranger instead of coming direct to me?"</p> +<p>McEwen hesitated a moment.</p> +<p>"Well, I wasn't sure of you. I didn't know how you'd take it. +And I'd lost my nerve, damn it! the last few years. Thought you +might just kick me out, or set the police on me."</p> +<p>Anderson studied the speaker. His fair skin was deeply flushed; +his brow frowned unconsciously, reflecting the travail of thought +behind it.</p> +<p>"What did you say to that gentleman the other night?"</p> +<p>McEwen smiled a shifty smile, and began to pluck some pieces of +straw from his sleeve.</p> +<p>"Don't remember just what I did say. Nothing to do you no harm, +anyway. I might have said you were never an easy chap to get on +with. I might have said that, or I mightn't. Think I did. Don't +remember."</p> +<p>The eyes of the two men met for a moment, Anderson's bright and +fixed. He divined perfectly what had been said to the Englishman, +Lady Merton's friend and travelling companion. A father overborne +by misfortunes and poverty, disowned by a prosperous and +Pharisaical son--admitting a few peccadilloes, such as most men +forgive, in order to weigh them against virtues, such as all men +hate. Old age and infirmity on the one hand; mean hardness and +cruelty on the other. Was Elizabeth already contemplating the +picture?</p> +<p>And yet--No! unless perhaps under the shelter of darkness, it +could never have been possible for this figure before him to play +the part of innocent misfortune, at all events. Could debauch, +could ruin of body and soul be put more plainly? Could they express +themselves more clearly than through this face and form?</p> +<p>A shudder ran through Anderson, a cry against fate, a sick +wondering as to his own past responsibility, a horror of the +future. Then his will strengthened, and he set himself quietly to +see what could be done.</p> +<p>"We can't talk here," he said to his father. "Come back into the +house. There are some rooms vacant. I'll take them for you."</p> +<p>McEwen rose with difficulty, groaning as he put his right foot +to the ground. Anderson then perceived that the right foot and +ankle were wrapped round with a bloodstained rag, and was told that +the night before their owner had stumbled over a jug in Mrs. +Ginnell's kitchen, breaking the jug and inflicting some deep cuts +on his own foot and ankle. McEwen, indeed, could only limp along, +with mingled curses and lamentations, supported by Anderson. In the +excitement of his son's appearance he had forgotten his injury. The +pain and annoyance of it returned upon him now with added +sharpness, and Anderson realised that here was yet another +complication as they moved across the yard.</p> +<p>A few words to the astonished Mrs. Ginnell sufficed to secure +all her vacant rooms, four in number. Anderson put his father in +one on the ground floor, then shut the door on him and went back to +the woman of the house. She stood looking at him, flushed, in a +bewildered silence. But she and her husband owed various kindnesses +to Anderson, and he quickly made up his mind.</p> +<p>In a very few words he quietly told her the real facts, +confiding them both to her self-interest and her humanity. McEwen +was to be her only lodger till the next step could be determined. +She was to wait on him, to keep drink from him, to get him clothes. +Her husband was to go out with him, if he should insist on going +out; but Anderson thought his injury would keep him quiet for a day +or two. Meanwhile, no babbling to anybody. And, of course, generous +payment for all that was asked of them.</p> +<p>But Mrs. Ginnell understood that she was being appealed to not +only commercially, but as a woman with a heart in her body and a +good share of Irish wit. That moved and secured her. She threw +herself nobly into the business. Anderson might command her as he +pleased, and she answered for her man. Renewed groans from the room +next door disturbed them. Mrs. Ginnell went in to answer them, and +came out demanding a doctor. The patient was in much pain, the +wounds looked bad, and she suspected fever.</p> +<p>"Yo can't especk places to heal with such as him," she said, +grimly.</p> +<p>With doggedness, Anderson resigned himself. He went to the +station and sent a wire to Field for a doctor. What would happen +when he arrived he did not know. He had made no compact with his +father. If the old man chose to announce himself, so be it. +Anderson did not mean to bargain or sue. Other men have had to bear +such burdens in the face of the world. Should it fall to him to be +forced to take his up in like manner, let him set his teeth and +shoulder it, sore and shaken as he was. He felt a fierce confidence +that could still make the world respect him.</p> +<p>An hour passed away. An answer came from Field to the effect +that a doctor would be sent up on a freight train just starting, +and might be expected shortly.</p> +<p>While Mrs. Ginnell was still attending on her lodger, Anderson +went out into the starlight to try and think out the situation. The +night was clear and balmy. The high snows glimmered through the +lingering twilight, and in the air there was at last a promise of +"midsummer pomps." Pine woods and streams breathed freshness, and +when in his walk along the railway line--since there is no other +road through the Kicking Horse Pass--he reached a point whence the +great Yoho valley became visible to the right, he checked the rapid +movement which had brought him a kind of physical comfort, and set +himself--in face of that far-stretching and splendid solitude--to +wrestle with calamity.</p> +<p>First of all there was the Englishman--Delaine--and the letter +that must be written him. But there, also, no evasions, no +suppliancy. Delaine must be told that the story was true, and would +no doubt think himself entitled to act upon it. The protest on +behalf of Lady Merton implied already in his manner that afternoon +was humiliating enough. The smart of it was still tingling through +Anderson's being. He had till now felt a kind of instinctive +contempt for Delaine as a fine gentleman with a useless education, +inclined to patronise "colonists." The two men had jarred from the +beginning, and at Banff, Anderson had both divined in him the +possible suitor of Lady Merton, and had also become aware that +Delaine resented his own intrusion upon the party, and the rapid +intimacy which had grown up between him and the brother and sister. +Well, let him use his chance! if it so pleased him. No promise +whatever should be asked of him; there should be no suggestion even +of a line of action. The bare fact which he had become possessed of +should be admitted, and he should be left to deal with it. Upon his +next step would depend Anderson's; that was all.</p> +<p>But Lady Merton?</p> +<p>Anderson stared across the near valley, up the darkness beyond, +where lay the forests of the Yoho, and to those ethereal summits +whence a man might behold on one side the smoke-wreaths of the +great railway, and on the other side the still virgin peaks of the +northern Rockies, untamed, untrodden. But his eyes were holden; he +saw neither snow, nor forests, and the roar of the stream dashing +at his feet was unheard.</p> +<p>Three weeks, was it, since he had first seen that delicately +oval face, and those clear eyes? The strong man--accustomed to hold +himself in check, to guard his own strength as the instrument, firm +and indispensable, of an iron will--recoiled from the truth he was +at last compelled to recognise. In this daily companionship with a +sensitive and charming woman, endowed beneath her light reserve +with all the sweetness of unspoilt feeling, while yet commanding +through her long training in an old society a thousand delicacies +and subtleties, which played on Anderson's fresh senses like the +breeze on young leaves--whither had he been drifting--to the brink +of what precipice had he brought himself, unknowing?</p> +<p>He stood there indefinitely, among the charred tree-trunks that +bordered the line, his arms folded, looking straight before him, +motionless.</p> +<p>Supposing to-day had been yesterday, need he--together with this +sting of passion--have felt also this impotent and angry despair? +Before his eyes had seen that figure lying on the straw of Mrs. +Ginnell's outhouse, could he ever have dreamed it possible that +Elizabeth Merton should marry him?</p> +<p>Yes! He thought, trembling from head to foot, of that expression +in her eyes he had seen that very afternoon. Again and again he had +checked his feeling by the harsh reminder of her social advantages. +But, at this moment of crisis, the man in him stood up, confident +and rebellious. He knew himself sound, intellectually and morally. +There was a career before him, to which a cool and reasonable +ambition looked forward without any paralysing doubts. In this +growing Canada, measuring himself against the other men of the +moment, he calmly foresaw his own growing place. As to money, he +would make it; he was in process of making it, honourably and +sufficiently.</p> +<p>He was well aware indeed that in the case of many women sprung +from the English governing class, the ties that bind them to their +own world, its traditions, and its outlook, are so strong that to +try and break them would be merely to invite disaster. But then +from such women his own pride--his pride in his country--would have +warned his passion. It was to Elizabeth's lovely sympathy, her +generous detachment, her free kindling mind--that his life had gone +out. <i>She</i> would, surely, never be deterred from marrying a +Canadian--if he pleased her--because it would cut her off from +London and Paris, and all the ripe antiquities and traditions of +English or European life? Even in the sparsely peopled Northwest, +with which his own future was bound up, how many English women are +there--fresh, some of them, from luxurious and fastidious homes--on +ranches, on prairie farms, in the Okanagan valley! "This Northwest +is no longer a wilderness!" he proudly thought; "it is no longer a +leap in the dark to bring a woman of delicate nurture and +cultivation to the prairies."</p> +<p>So, only a few hours before, he might have flattered the tyranny +of longing and desire which had taken hold upon him.</p> +<p>But now! All his life seemed besmirched. His passion had been no +sooner born than, like a wounded bird, it fluttered to the ground. +Bring upon such a woman as Elizabeth Merton the most distant +responsibility for such a being as he had left behind him in the +log-hut at Laggan? Link her life in however remote a fashion with +that life? Treachery and sacrilege, indeed! No need for Delaine to +tell him that! His father as a grim memory of the past--that Lady +Merton knew. His own origins--his own story--as to that she had +nothing to discover. But the man who might have dared to love her, +up to that moment in the hut, was now a slave, bound to a +corpse--</p> +<p><i>Finis</i>!</p> +<p>And then as the anguish of the thought swept through him, and by +a natural transmission of ideas, there rose in Anderson the sore +and sudden memory of old, unhappy things, of the tender voices and +faces of his first youth. The ugly vision of his degraded father +had brought back upon him, through a thousand channels of +association, the recollection of his mother. He saw her now--the +worn, roughened face, the sweet swimming eyes; he felt her arms +around him, the tears of her long agony on his face. She had +endured--he too must endure. Close, close--he pressed her to his +heart. As the radiant image of Elizabeth vanished from him in the +darkness, his mother--broken, despairing, murdered in her +youth--came to him and strengthened him. Let him do his duty to +this poor outcast, as she would have done it--and put high thoughts +from him.</p> +<p>He tore himself resolutely from his trance of thought, and began +to walk back along the line. All the same, he would go up to Lake +Louise, as he had promised, on the following morning. As far as his +own intention was concerned, he would not cease to look after Lady +Merton and her brother; Philip Gaddesden would soon have to be +moved, and he meant to escort them to Vancouver.</p> +<p>Sounds approached, from the distance--the "freight," with the +doctor, climbing the steep pass. He stepped on briskly to a +signal-man's cabin and made arrangements to stop the train.</p> +<p>It was towards midnight when he and the doctor emerged from the +Ginnell's cabin.</p> +<p>"Oh, I daresay we'll heal those cuts," said the doctor. "I've +told Mrs. Ginnell what to do; but the old fellow's in a pretty +cranky state. I doubt whether he'll trouble the world very +long."</p> +<p>Anderson started. With his eyes on the ground and his hands in +his pockets, he inquired the reason for this opinion.</p> +<p>"Arteries--first and foremost. It's a wonder they've held out so +long, and then--a score of other things. What can you expect?"</p> +<p>The speaker went into some details, discussing the case with +gusto. A miner from Nevada? Queer hells often, those mining camps, +whether on the Canadian or the American side of the border.</p> +<p>"You were acquainted with his family? Canadian, to begin with, I +understand?"</p> +<p>"Yes. He applied to me for help. Did he tell you much about +himself?"</p> +<p>"No. He boasted a lot about some mine in the Comstock district +which is to make his fortune, if he can raise the money to buy it +up. If he can raise fifteen thousand dollars, he says, he wouldn't +care to call Rockefeller his uncle!"</p> +<p>"That's what he wants, is it?" said Anderson, absently, "fifteen +thousand dollars?"</p> +<p>"Apparently. Wish he may get it!" laughed the doctor. "Well, +keep him from drink, if you can. But I doubt if you'll cheat the +undertaker very long. Good night. There'll be a train along soon +that'll pick me up."</p> +<p>Anderson went back to the cabin, found that his father had +dropped asleep, left money and directions with Mrs. Ginnell, and +then returned to his own lodgings.</p> +<p>He sat down to write to Delaine. It was clear that, so far, that +gentleman and Mrs. Ginnell were the only other participants in the +secret of McEwen's identity. The old man had not revealed himself +to the doctor. Did that mean that--in spite of his first reckless +interview with the Englishman--he had still some notion of a +bargain with his son, on the basis of the fifteen thousand +dollars?</p> +<p>Possibly. But that son had still to determine his own line of +action. When at last he began to write, he wrote steadily and +without a pause. Nor was the letter long.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> +<br> +<p>On the morning following his conversation with Anderson on the +Laggan road, Delaine impatiently awaited the arrival of the morning +mail from Laggan. When it came, he recognised Anderson's +handwriting on one of the envelopes put into his hand. Elizabeth, +having kept him company at breakfast, had gone up to sit with +Philip. Nevertheless, he took the precaution of carrying the letter +out of doors to read it.</p> +<p>It ran as follows:</p> +<blockquote>"DEAR MR. DELAINE--You were rightly informed, and the +man you saw is my father. I was intentionally deceived ten years +ago by a false report of his death. Into that, however, I need not +enter. If you talked with him, as I understand you did, for half an +hour, you will, I think, have gathered that his life has been +unfortunately of little advantage either to himself or others. But +that also is my personal affair--and his. And although in a moment +of caprice, and for reasons not yet plain to me, he revealed +himself to you, he appears still to wish to preserve the assumed +name and identity that he set up shortly after leaving Manitoba, +seventeen years ago. As far as I am concerned, I am inclined to +indulge him. But you will, of course, take your own line, and will +no doubt communicate it to me. I do not imagine that my private +affairs or my father's can be of any interest to you, but perhaps I +may say that he is at present for a few days in the doctor's hands +and that I propose as soon as his health is re-established to +arrange for his return to the States, where his home has been for +so long. I am, of course, ready to make any arrangements for his +benefit that seem wise, and that he will accept. I hope to come up +to Lake Louise to-morrow, and shall bring with me one or two things +that Lady Merton asked me to get for her. Next week I hope she may +be able and inclined to take one or two of the usual excursions +from the hotel, if Mr. Gaddesden goes on as well as we all expect. +I could easily make the necessary arrangements for ponies, guides, +&c.<br> +<br> +"Yours faithfully,<br> +<br> +"GEORGE ANDERSON."</blockquote> +<p>"Upon my word, a cool hand! a very cool hand!" muttered Delaine +in some perplexity, as he thrust the letter into his pocket, and +strolled on toward the lake. His mind went back to the strange +nocturnal encounter which had led to the development of this most +annoying relation between himself and Anderson. He recalled the +repulsive old man, his uneducated speech, the signs about him of +low cunning and drunken living, his rambling embittered charges +against his son, who, according to him, had turned his father out +of the Manitoba farm in consequence of a family quarrel, and had +never cared since to find out whether he was alive or dead. "Sorry +to trouble you, sir, I'm sure--a genelman like you"--obsequious old +ruffian!--"but my sons were always kittle-cattle, and George the +worst of 'em all. If you would be so kind, sir, as to gie 'im a +word o' preparation--"</p> +<p>Delaine could hear his own impatient reply: "I have nothing +whatever, sir, to do with your business! Approach Mr. Anderson +yourself if you have any claim to make." Whereupon a half-sly, +half-threatening hint from the old fellow that he might be +disagreeable unless well handled; that perhaps "the lady" would +listen to him and plead for him with his son.</p> +<p>Lady Merton! Good heavens! Delaine had been immediately ready to +promise anything in order to protect her.</p> +<p>Yet even now the situation was extremely annoying and improper. +Here was this man, Anderson, still coming up to the hotel, on the +most friendly terms with Lady Merton and her brother, managing for +them, laying them under obligations, and all the time, unknown to +Elizabeth, with this drunken old scamp of a father in the +background, who had already half-threatened to molest her, and +would be quite capable, if thwarted, of blackmailing his son +through his English friends!</p> +<p>"What can I do?" he said to himself, in disgust. "I have no +right whatever to betray this man's private affairs; at the same +time I should never forgive myself--Mrs. Gaddesden would never +forgive me--if I were to allow Lady Merton to run any risk of some +sordid scandal which might get into the papers. Of course this +young man ought to take himself off! If he had any proper feeling +whatever he would see how altogether unfitting it is that he, with +his antecedents, should be associating in this very friendly way +with such persons as Elizabeth Merton and her brother!"</p> +<p>Unfortunately the "association" had included the rescue of +Philip from the water of Lake Louise, and the provision of help to +Elizabeth, in a strange country, which she could have ill done +without. Philip's unlucky tumble had been, certainly, doubly +unlucky, if it was to be the means of entangling his sister further +in an intimacy which ought never to have been begun.</p> +<p>And yet how to break through this spider's web? Delaine racked +his brain, and could think of nothing better than delay and a +pusillanimous waiting on Providence. Who knew what mad view +Elizabeth might take of the whole thing, in this overstrained +sentimental mood which had possessed her throughout this Canadian +journey? The young man's troubles might positively recommend him in +her eyes!</p> +<p>No! there was nothing for it but to stay on as an old friend and +watchdog, responsible, at least--if Elizabeth would have none of +his counsels--to her mother and kinsfolk at home, who had so +clearly approved his advances in the winter, and would certainly +blame Elizabeth, on her return, for the fact that his long journey +had been fruitless. He magnanimously resolved that Lady Merton +should not be blamed if he could help it, by anyone except himself. +And he had no intention at all of playing the rejected lover. The +proud, well-born, fastidious Englishman stiffened as he walked. It +was wounding to his self-love to stay where he was; since it was +quite plain that Elizabeth could do without him, and would not +regret his departure; but it was no less wounding to be dismissed, +as it were, by Anderson. He would not be dismissed; he would hold +his own. He too would go with them to Vancouver; and not till they +were safely in charge of the Lieutenant-Governor at Victoria, would +he desert his post.</p> +<p>As to any further communication to Elizabeth, he realised that +the hints into which he had been so far betrayed had profited +neither himself nor her. She had resented them, and it was most +unlikely that she would ask him for any further explanations; and +that being so he had better henceforward hold his peace. Unless of +course any further annoyance were threatened.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The hotel cart going down to Laggan for supplies at midday +brought Anderson his answer:</p> +<blockquote>"DEAR MR. ANDERSON--Your letter gave me great concern. +I deeply sympathise with your situation. As far as I am concerned, +I must necessarily look at the matter entirely from the point of +view of my fellow-travellers. Lady Merton must not be distressed or +molested. So long, however, as this is secured, I shall not feel +myself at liberty to reveal a private matter which has accidentally +come to my knowledge. I understand, of course, that your father +will not attempt any further communication with me, and I propose +to treat the interview as though it had not happened.<br> +<br> +"I will give Lady Merton your message. It seems to me doubtful +whether she will be ready for excursions next week. But you are no +doubt aware that the hotel makes what are apparently very excellent +and complete arrangements for such things. I am sure Lady Merton +would be sorry to give you avoidable trouble. However, we shall see +you to-morrow, and shall of course be very glad of your +counsels.<br> +<br> +"Yours faithfully,<br> +<br> +"ARTHUR MANDEVILLE DELAINE."</blockquote> +<p>Anderson's fair skin flushed scarlet as he read this letter. He +thrust it into his pocket and continued to pace up and down in the +patch of half-cleared ground at the back of the Ginnells' house. He +perfectly understood that Delaine's letter was meant to warn him +not to be too officious in Lady Merton's service. "Don't suppose +yourself indispensable--and don't at any time forget your +undesirable antecedents, and compromising situation. On those +conditions, I hold my tongue."</p> +<p>"Pompous ass!" Anderson found it a hard task to keep his own +pride in check. It was of a different variety from Delaine's, but +not a whit less clamorous. Yet for Lady Merton's sake it was +desirable, perhaps imperative, that he should keep on civil terms +with this member of her party. A hot impulse swept through him to +tell her everything, to have done with secrecy. But he stifled it. +What right had he to intrude his personal history upon her?--least +of all this ugly and unsavoury development of it? Pride spoke +again, and self-respect. If it humiliated him to feel himself in +Delaine's power, he must bear it. The only other alternatives were +either to cut himself off at once from his English friends--that, +of course, was what Delaine wished--or to appeal to Lady Merton's +sympathy and pity. Well, he would do neither--and Delaine might go +hang!</p> +<p>Mrs. Ginnell, with her apron over her head to shield her from a +blazing sun, appeared at the corner of the house.</p> +<p>"You're wanted, sir!" Her tone was sulky.</p> +<p>"Anything wrong?" Anderson turned apprehensively.</p> +<p>"Nothing more than 'is temper, sir. He won't let yer rest, do +what you will for 'im."</p> +<p>Anderson went into the house. His father was sitting up in bed. +Mrs. Ginnell had been endeavouring during the past hour to make her +patient clean and comfortable, and to tidy his room; but had been +at last obliged to desist, owing to the mixture of ill-humour and +bad language with which he assailed her.</p> +<p>"Can I do anything for you?" Anderson inquired, standing beside +him.</p> +<p>"Get me out of this blasted hole as soon as possible! That's +about all you can do! I've told that woman to get me my things, and +help me into the other room--but she's in your pay, I suppose. She +won't do anything I tell her, drat her!"</p> +<p>"The doctor left orders you were to keep quiet to-day."</p> +<p>McEwen vowed he would do nothing of the kind. He had no time to +be lolling in bed like a fine lady. He had business to do, and must +get home.</p> +<p>"If you get up, with this fever on you, and the leg in that +state, you will have blood-poisoning," said Anderson quietly, +"which will either kill you or detain you here for weeks. You say +you want to talk business with me. Well, here I am. In an hour's +time I must go to Calgary for an appointment. Suppose you take this +opportunity."</p> +<p>McEwen stared at his son. His blue eyes, frowning in their +wrinkled sockets, gave little or no index, however, to the mind +behind them. The straggling white locks falling round his blotched +and feverish face caught Anderson's attention. Looking back thirty +years he could remember his father vividly--a handsome man, solidly +built, with a shock of fair hair. As a little lad he had been proud +to sit high-perched beside him on the wagon which in summer drove +them, every other Sunday, to a meeting-house fifteen miles away. He +could see his mother at the back of the wagon with the little +girls, her grey alpaca dress and cotton gloves, her patient look. +His throat swelled. Nor was the pang of intolerable pity for his +mother only. Deep in the melancholy of his nature and strengthened +by that hateful tie of blood from which he could not escape, was a +bitter, silent compassion for this outcast also. All the machinery +of life set in motion and maintaining itself in the clash of +circumstance for seventy years to produce <i>this</i>, at the end! +Dismal questionings ran through his mind. Ought he to have acted as +he had done seventeen years before? How would his mother have +judged him? Was he not in some small degree responsible?</p> +<p>Meanwhile his father began to talk fast and querulously, with +plentiful oaths from time to time, and using a local miner's slang +which was not always intelligible to Anderson. It seemed it was a +question of an old silver mine on a mountainside in Idaho, deserted +some ten years before when the river gravels had been exhausted, +and now to be reopened, like many others in the same neighbourhood, +with improved methods and machinery, tunnelling instead of washing. +Silver enough to pave Montreal! Ten thousand dollars for plant, +five thousand for the claim, and the thing was done.</p> +<p>He became incoherently eloquent, spoke of the ease and rapidity +with which the thing could be resold to a syndicate at an enormous +profit, should his "pardners" and he not care to develop it +themselves. If George would find the money--why, George should make +his fortune, like the rest, though he had behaved so scurvily all +these years.</p> +<p>Anderson watched the speaker intently. Presently he began to put +questions--close, technical questions. His father's eyes--till then +eager and greedy--began to flicker. Anderson perceived an unwelcome +surprise--annoyance--</p> +<p>"You knew, of course, that I was a mining engineer?" he said at +last, pulling up in his examination.</p> +<p>"Well, I heard of you that onst at Dawson City," was the slow +reply. "I supposed you were nosin' round like the rest."</p> +<p>"Why, I didn't go as a mere prospector! I'd had my training at +Montreal." And Anderson resumed his questions.</p> +<p>But McEwen presently took no pains to answer them. He grew +indeed less and less communicative. The exact locality of the mine, +the names of the partners, the precise machinery +required--Anderson, in the end, could get at neither the one nor +the other. And before many more minutes had passed he had convinced +himself that he was wasting his time. That there was some swindling +plot in his father's mind he was certain; he was probably the tool +of some shrewder confederates, who had no doubt sent him to +Montreal after his legacy, and would fleece him on his return.</p> +<p>"By the way, Aunt Sykes's money, how much was it?" Anderson +asked him suddenly. "I suppose you could draw on that?"</p> +<p>McEwen could not be got to give a plain answer. It wasn't near +enough, anyhow; not near. The evasion seemed to Anderson +purposeless; the mere shifting and doubling that comes of long +years of dishonest living. And again the question stabbed his +consciousness--were his children justified in casting him so +inexorably adrift?</p> +<p>"Well, I'd better run down and have a look," he said at last. +"If it's a good thing I dare say I can find you the dollars."</p> +<p>"Run down--where?" asked McEwen sharply.</p> +<p>"To the mine, of course. I might spare the time next week."</p> +<p>"No need to trouble yourself. My pardners wouldn't thank me for +betraying their secrets."</p> +<p>"Well, you couldn't expect me to provide the money without +knowing a bit more about the property, could you?--without a +regular survey?" said Anderson, with a laugh.</p> +<p>"You trust me with three or four thousand dollars," said McEwen +doggedly--"because I'm your father and I give you my word. And if +not, you can let it alone. I don't want any prying into my +affairs."</p> +<p>Anderson was silent a moment.</p> +<p>Then he raised his eyes.</p> +<p>"Are you sure it's all square?" The tone had sharpened.</p> +<p>"Square? Of course it is. What are you aiming at? You'll believe +any villainy of your old father, I suppose, just the same as you +always used to. I've not had your opportunities, George. I'm not a +fine gentleman--on the trail with a parcel of English swells. I'm a +poor old broken-down miner, who wants to hole-up somewhere, and get +comfortable for his old age; and if you had a heart in your body, +you'd lend a helping hand. When I saw you at Winnipeg"--the tone +became a trifle plaintive and slippery--"I ses to myself, George +used to be a nice chap, with a good heart. If there's anyone ought +to help me it's my own son. And so I boarded that train. But I'm a +broken man, George, and you've used me hard."</p> +<p>"Better not talk like that," interrupted Anderson in a clear, +resolute voice. "It won't do any good. Look here, father! Suppose +you give up this kind of life, and settle down. I'm ready to give +you an allowance, and look after you. Your health is bad. To speak +the truth, this mine business sounds to me pretty shady. Cut it +all! I'll put you with decent people, who'll look after you."</p> +<p>The eyes of the two men met; Anderson's insistently bright, +McEwen's wavering and frowning. The June sunshine came into the +small room through a striped and battered blind, illuminating the +rough planks of which it was built, the "cuts" from illustrated +papers that were pinned upon them, the scanty furniture, and the +untidy bed. Anderson's head and shoulders were in a full mellowed +light; he held himself with an unconscious energy, answering to a +certain force of feeling within; a proud strength and sincerity +expressed itself through every detail of attitude and gesture; yet +perhaps the delicacy, or rather sensibility, mingling with the +pride, would have been no less evident to a seeing eye. There was +Highland blood in him, and a touch therefore of the Celtic +responsiveness, the Celtic magnetism. The old man opposite to him +in shadow, with his back to the light, had a crouching dangerous +look. It was as though he recognised something in his son for ever +lost to himself; and repulsed it, half enviously, half +malignantly.</p> +<p>But he did not apparently resent Anderson's proposal. He said +sulkily: "Oh, I dessay you'd like to put me away. But I'm not +doddering yet."</p> +<p>All the same he listened in silence to the plan that Anderson +developed, puffing the while at the pipe which he had made Mrs. +Ginnell give him.</p> +<p>"I shan't stay on this side," he said, at last, decidedly. +"There's a thing or two that might turn up agin me--and fellows as +'ud do me a bad turn if they come across me--dudes, as I used to +know in Dawson City. I shan't stay in Canada. You can make up your +mind to that. Besides, the winter'ud kill me!"</p> +<p>Anderson accordingly proposed San Francisco, or Los Angeles. +Would his father go for a time to a Salvation Army colony near Los +Angeles? Anderson knew the chief officials--capital men, with no +cant about them. Fruit farming--a beautiful climate--care in +sickness--no drink--as much work or as little as he liked--and all +expenses paid.</p> +<p>McEwen laughed out--a short sharp laugh--at the mention of the +Salvation Army. But he listened patiently, and at the end even +professed to think there might be something in it. As to his own +scheme, he dropped all mention of it. Yet Anderson was under no +illusion; there it lay sparkling, as it were, at the back of his +sly wolfish eyes.</p> +<p>"How in blazes could you take me down?" muttered +McEwen--"Thought you was took up with these English swells."</p> +<p>"I'm not taken up with anything that would prevent my looking +after you," said Anderson rising. "You let Mrs. Ginnell attend to +you--get the leg well--and we'll see."</p> +<p>McEwen eyed him--his good looks and his dress, his gentleman's +refinement; and the shaggy white brows of the old miner drew closer +together.</p> +<p>"What did you cast me off like that for, George?" he asked.</p> +<p>Anderson turned away.</p> +<p>"Don't rake up the past. Better not."</p> +<p>"Where are my other sons, George?"</p> +<p>"In Montreal, doing well." Anderson gave the details of their +appointments and salaries.</p> +<p>"And never a thought of their old father, I'll be bound!" said +McEwen, at the end, with slow vindictiveness.</p> +<p>"You forget that it was your own doing; we believed you +dead."</p> +<p>"Aye!--you hadn't left a man much to come home for!--and all for +an accident!--a thing as might ha' happened to any man."</p> +<p>The speaker's voice had grown louder. He stared sombrely, +defiantly at his companion.</p> +<p>Anderson stood with his hands on his sides, looking through the +further window. Then slowly he put his hand into his pocket and +withdrew from it a large pocket-book. Out of the pocket-book he +took a delicately made leather case, holding it in his hand a +moment, and glancing uncertainly at the figure in the bed.</p> +<p>"What ha' you got there?" growled McEwen.</p> +<p>Anderson crossed the room. His own face had lost its colour. As +he reached his father, he touched a spring, and held out his hand +with the case lying open within it.</p> +<p>It contained a miniature--of a young woman in the midst of a +group of children.</p> +<p>"Do you remember that photograph that was done of them--in a +tent--when you took us all into Winnipeg for the first agricultural +show?" he said hoarsely. "I had a copy--that wasn't burnt. At +Montreal, there was a French artist one year, that did these +things. I got him to do this."</p> +<p>McEwen stared at the miniature--the sweet-faced Scotch woman, +the bunch of children. Then with a brusque movement he turned his +face to the wall, and closed his eyes.</p> +<p>Anderson's lips opened once or twice as though to speak. Some +imperious emotion seemed to be trying to force its way. But he +could not find words; and at last he returned the miniature to his +pocket, walked quietly to the door, and went out of the room.</p> +<p>The sound of the closing door brought immense relief to McEwen. +He turned again in bed, and relit his pipe, shaking off the +impression left by the miniature as quickly as possible. What +business had George to upset him like that? He was down enough on +his luck as it was.</p> +<p>He smoked away, gloomily thinking over the conversation. It +didn't look like getting any money out of this close-fisted +Puritanical son of his. Survey indeed! McEwen found himself shaken +by a kind of internal convulsion as he thought of the revelations +that would come out. George was a fool.</p> +<p>In his feverish reverie, many lines of thought crossed and +danced in his brain; and every now and then he was tormented by the +craving for alcohol. The Salvation Army proposal half amused, half +infuriated him. He knew all about their colonies. Trust him! Your +own master for seventeen years--mixed up in a lot of jobs it +wouldn't do to go blabbing to the Mounted Police--and then to +finish up with those hymn-singing fellows!--George was most +certainly a fool! Yet dollars ought to be screwed out of +him--somehow.</p> +<p>Presently, to get rid of some unpleasant reflections, the old +man stretched out his hand for a copy of the <i>Vancouver +Sentinel</i> that was lying on the bed, and began to read it idly. +As he did so, a paragraph drew his attention. He gripped the paper, +and, springing up in bed, read it twice, peering into it, his +features quivering with eagerness. The passage described the "hold +up" of a Northern Pacific train, at a point between Seattle and the +Canadian border. By the help of masks, and a few sticks of +dynamite, the thing had been very smartly done--a whole train +terrorised, the mail van broken open and a large "swag" captured. +Billy Symonds, the notorious train robber from Montana, was +suspected, and there was a hue and cry through the whole border +after him and his accomplices, amongst whom, so it was said, was a +band from the Canadian side--foreign miners mixed up in some of the +acts of violence which had marked the strike of the year +before.</p> +<p>Bill Symonds!--McEwen threw himself excitedly from side to side, +unable to keep still. <i>He</i> knew Symonds--a chap and a half! +Why didn't he come and try it on this side of the line? Heaps of +money going backwards and forwards over the railway! All these +thousands of dollars paid out in wages week by week to these +construction camps--must come from somewhere in cash--Winnipeg or +Montreal. He began to play with the notion, elaborating and +refining it; till presently a whole epic of attack and capture was +rushing through his half-crazy brain.</p> +<p>He had dropped the paper, and was staring abstractedly through +the foot of open window close beside him, which the torn blind did +not cover. Outside, through the clearing with its stumps of +jack-pine, ran a path, a short cut, connecting the station at +Laggan with a section-house further up the line.</p> +<p>As McEwen's eyes followed it, he began to be aware of a group of +men emerging from the trees on the Laggan side, and walking in +single file along the path. Navvies apparently--carrying bundles +and picks. The path came within a few yards of the window, and of +the little stream that supplied the house with water.</p> +<p>Suddenly, McEwen sprang up in bed. The two foremost men paused +beside the water, mopped their hot faces, and taking drinking cups +out of their pockets stooped down to the stream. The old man in the +cabin bed watched them with fierce intentness; and as they +straightened themselves and were about to follow their companions +who were already out of sight, he gave a low call.</p> +<p>The two started and looked round them. Their hands went to their +pockets. McEwen swung himself round so as to reach the window +better, and repeated his call--this time with a different +inflection. The men exchanged a few hurried words. Carefully +scrutinising the house, they noticed a newspaper waving cautiously +in an open window. One of them came forward, the other remained by +the stream bathing his feet and ankles in the water.</p> +<p>No one else was in sight. Mrs. Ginnell was cooking on the other +side of the house. Anderson had gone off to catch his train. For +twenty minutes, the man outside leant against the window-sash +apparently lounging and smoking. Nothing could be seen from the +path, but a battered blind flapping in the June breeze, and a dark +space of room beyond.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> +<br> +<p>The days passed on. Philip in the comfortable hotel at Lake +Louise was recovering steadily, though not rapidly, from the +general shock of immersion. Elizabeth, while nursing him tenderly, +could yet find time to walk and climb, plunging spirit and sense in +the beauty of the Rockies.</p> +<p>On these excursions Delaine generally accompanied her; and she +bore it well. Secretly she cherished some astonishment and chagrin +that Anderson could be with them so little on these bright +afternoons among the forest trails and upper lakes, although she +generally found that the plans of the day had been suggested and +organised by him, by telephone from Laggan, to the kind and +competent Scotch lady who was the manager of the hotel. It seemed +to her that he had promised his company; whereas, as a rule, now he +withheld it; and her pride was put to it, on her own part, not to +betray any sign of discontent. He spoke vaguely of "business," and +on one occasion, apparently had gone off for three days to +Saskatchewan on matters connected with the coming general +election.</p> +<p>From the newspaper, or the talk of visitors in the hotel, or the +railway officials who occasionally found their way to Lake Louise +to make courteous inquiries after the English party, Elizabeth +became, indeed, more and more fully aware of the estimation in +which Anderson was beginning to be held. He was already a personage +in the Northwest; was said to be sure of success in his contest at +Donaldminster, and of an immediate Parliamentary career at Ottawa. +These prophecies seemed to depend more upon the man's character +than his actual achievements; though, indeed, the story of the +great strike, as she had gathered it once or twice from the lips of +eye-witnesses, was a fine one. For weeks he had carried his life in +his hand among thousands of infuriated navvies and miners--since +the miners had made common cause with the railwaymen--with a +cheerfulness, daring, and resource which in the end had wrung +success from an apparently hopeless situation; a success attended, +when all was over, by an amazing effusion of good will among both +masters and men, especially towards Anderson himself, and a general +improvement in the industrial temper and atmosphere of the +Northwest.</p> +<p>The recital of these things stirred Elizabeth's pulses. But why +did she never hear them from himself? Surely he had offered her +friendship, and the rights of friendship. How else could he justify +the scene at Field, when he had so brusquely probed her secret +anxieties for Philip? Her pride rebelled when she thought of it, +when she recalled her wet eyes, her outstretched hand. Mere +humiliation!--in the case of a casual or indifferent acquaintance. +No; on that day, certainly, he had claimed the utmost privileges, +had even strained the rights, of a friend, a real friend. But his +behaviour since had almost revived her first natural +resentment.</p> +<p>Thoughts like these ran in her mind, and occasionally affected +her manner when they did meet. Anderson found her more reserved, +and noticed that she did not so often ask him for small services as +of old. He suffered under the change; but it was, he knew, his own +doing, and he did not alter his course.</p> +<p>Whenever he did come, he sat mostly with Philip, over whom he +had gradually established a remarkable influence, not by any +definite acts or speeches, but rather by the stoicism of his own +mode of life, coupled with a proud or laughing contempt for certain +vices and self-indulgences to which it was evident that he himself +felt no temptation. As soon as Philip felt himself sufficiently at +home with the Canadian to begin to jibe at his teetotalism, +Anderson seldom took the trouble to defend himself; yet the passion +of moral independence in his nature, of loathing for any habit that +weakens and enslaves the will, infected the English lad whether he +would or no. "There's lots of things he's stick-stock mad on," +Philip would say impatiently to his sister. But the madness told. +And the madman was all the while consolingly rich in other, and, to +Philip, more attractive kinds of madness--the follies of the hunter +and climber, of the man who holds his neck as dross in comparison +with the satisfaction of certain wild instincts that the Rockies +excite in him. Anderson had enjoyed his full share of adventures +with goat and bear. Such things are the customary amusements, it +seemed, of a young engineer in the Rockies. Beside them, English +covert-shooting is a sport for babes; and Philip ceased to boast of +his own prowess in that direction. He would listen, indeed, +open-mouthed, to Anderson's yarns, lying on his long chair on the +verandah--a graceful languid figure--with a coyote rug heaped about +him. It was clear to Elizabeth that Anderson on his side had become +very fond of the boy. There was no trouble he would not take for +him. And gradually, silently, proudly, she allowed him to take less +and less for herself.</p> +<p>Once or twice Arthur Delaine's clumsy hints occurred to her. Was +there, indeed, some private matter weighing on the young man's +mind? She would not allow herself to speculate upon it; though she +could not help watching the relation between the two men with some +curiosity. It was polite enough; but there was certainly no +cordiality in it; and once or twice she suspected a hidden +understanding.</p> +<p>Delaine meanwhile felt a kind of dull satisfaction in the turn +of events. The intimacy between Anderson and Lady Merton had +clearly been checked, or was at least not advancing. Whether it was +due to his own hints to Elizabeth, or to Anderson's chivalrous +feeling, he did not know. But he wrote every mail to Mrs. +Gaddesden, discreetly, yet not without giving her some significant +information; he did whatever small services were possible in the +case of a man who went about Canada as a Johnny Head-in-air, with +his mind in another hemisphere; and it was understood that he was +to leave them at Vancouver. In the forced association of their +walks and rides, Elizabeth showed herself gay, kind, companionable; +although often, and generally for no reason that he could discover, +something sharp and icy in her would momentarily make itself felt, +and he would find himself driven back within bounds that he had +perhaps been tempted to transgress. And the result of it all was +that he fell day by day more tormentingly in love with her. Those +placid matrimonial ambitions with which he had left England had +been all swept away; and as he followed her--she on pony-back, he +on foot--along the mountain trails, watching the lightness of her +small figure against the splendid background of peak and pine, he +became a troubled, introspective person; concentrating upon himself +and his disagreeable plight the attention he had hitherto given to +a delightful outer world, sown with the <i>caches</i> of antiquity, +in order to amuse him.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the situation in the cabin at Laggan appeared to be +steadily improving. McEwen had abruptly ceased to be a rebellious +and difficult patient. The doctor's orders had been obeyed; the leg +had healed rapidly; and he no longer threatened or cajoled Mrs. +Ginnell on the subject of liquor. As far as Anderson was concerned, +he was generally sulky and uncommunicative. But Anderson got enough +out of him by degrees to be able to form a fairly complete idea of +his father's course of life since the false report of his death in +the Yukon. He realised an existence on the fringe of civilisation, +with its strokes of luck neutralised by drink, and its desperate, +and probably criminal, moments. And as soon as his father got well +enough to limp along the trails of the Laggan valley, the son +noticed incidents which appeared to show that the old man, while +playing the part of the helpless stranger, was by no means without +acquaintance among the motley host of workmen that were constantly +passing through. The links of international trades unionism no +doubt accounted for it. But in McEwen's case, the fraternity to +which he belonged seemed to apply only to the looser and more +disreputable elements among the emigrant throng.</p> +<p>But at the same time he had shown surprising docility in the +matter of Anderson's counsels. All talk of the Idaho mine had +dropped between them, as though by common consent. Anderson had +laid hands upon a young man, a Salvation Army officer in Vancouver, +with whom his father consented to lodge for the next six weeks; and +further arrangements were to be postponed till the end of that +period. Anderson hoped, indeed, to get his father settled there +before Lady Merton moved from Lake Louise. For in a few days now, +the private car was to return from the coast, in order to take up +the English party.</p> +<p>McEwen's unexpected complaisance led to a great softening in +Anderson's feeling towards his father. All those inner compunctions +that haunt a just and scrupulous nature came freely into play. And +his evangelical religion--for he was a devout though liberal-minded +Presbyterian--also entered in. Was it possible that he might be the +agent of his father's redemption? The idea, the hope, produced in +him occasional hidden exaltations--flights of prayer--mystical +memories of his mother--which lightened what was otherwise a time +of bitter renunciation, and determined wrestling with himself.</p> +<p>During the latter days of this fortnight, indeed, he could not +do enough for his father. He had made all the Vancouver +arrangements; he had supplied him amply with clothes and other +personal necessaries; and he came home early at night in order to +sit and smoke with him. Mrs. Ginnell, looking in of an evening, +beheld what seemed to her a touching sight, though one far beyond +the deserts of such creatures as McEwen--the son reading the +newspaper aloud, or playing dominoes with his father, or just +smoking and chatting. Her hard common sense as a working-woman +suggested to her that Anderson was nursing illusions; and she +scornfully though silently hoped that the "old rip" would soon, one +way or another, be off his shoulders.</p> +<p>But the illusions, for the moment, were Anderson's sustenance. +His imagination, denied a more personal and passionate food, gave +itself with fire to the redeeming of an outlaw, and the paying of a +spiritual debt.</p> +<p>It was Wednesday. After a couple of drizzling days the weather +was again fair. The trains rolling through the pass began with +these early days of July to bring a first crop of holiday-makers +from Eastern Canada and the States; the hotels were filling up. On +the morrow McEwen was to start for Vancouver. And a letter from +Philip Gaddesden, delivered at Laggan in the morning, had bitterly +reproached Anderson for neglecting them, and leaving him, in +particular, to be bored to death by glaciers and tourists.</p> +<p>Early in the afternoon Anderson took his way up the mountain +road to Lake Louise. He found the English travellers established +among the pines by the lake-side, Philip half asleep in a hammock +strung between two pines, while Delaine was reading to Elizabeth +from an article in an archæological review on "Some Fresh +Light on the Cippus of Palestrina."</p> +<p>Lady Merton was embroidering; it seemed to Anderson that she was +tired or depressed. Delaine's booming voice, and the frequent Latin +passages interspersed with stammering translations of his own, in +which he appeared to be interminably tangled, would be enough--the +Canadian thought--to account for a subdued demeanour; and there +was, moreover, a sudden thunderous heat in the afternoon.</p> +<p>Elizabeth received him a little stiffly, and Philip roused +himself from sleep only to complain: "You've been four mortal days +without coming near us!"</p> +<p>"I had to go away. I have been to Regina."</p> +<p>"On politics?" asked Delaine.</p> +<p>"Yes. We had a couple of meetings and a row."</p> +<p>"Jolly for you!" grumbled Philip. "But we've had a beastly time. +Ask Elizabeth."</p> +<p>"Nothing but the weather!" said Elizabeth carelessly. "We +couldn't even see the mountains."</p> +<p>But why, as she spoke, should the delicate cheek change colour, +suddenly and brightly? The answering blood leapt in Anderson. She +<i>had</i> missed him, though she would not show it.</p> +<p>Delaine began to question him about Saskatchewan. The +Englishman's forms of conversation were apt to be tediously +inquisitive, and Anderson had often resented them. To-day, however, +he let himself be catechised patiently enough, while all the time +conscious, from head to foot, of one person only--one near and yet +distant person.</p> +<p>Elizabeth wore a dress of white linen, and a broad hat of soft +blue. The combination of the white and blue with her brown hair, +and the pale refinement of her face, seemed to him ravishing, +enchanting. So were the movements of her hands at work, and all the +devices of her light self-command; more attractive, infinitely, to +his mature sense than the involuntary tremor of girlhood.</p> +<p>"Hallo! What does Stewart want?" said Philip, raising himself in +his hammock. The hunter who had been the companion of his first +unlucky attempt at fishing was coming towards them. The boy sprang +to the ground, and, vowing that he would fish the following morning +whatever Elizabeth might say, went off to consult.</p> +<p>She looked after him with a smile and a sigh.</p> +<p>"Better give him his head!" laughed Anderson. Then, from where +he stood, he studied her a moment, unseen, except by Delaine, who +was sitting among the moss a few yards away, and had temporarily +forgotten the Cippus of Palestrina.</p> +<p>Suddenly the Canadian came forward.</p> +<p>"Have you explored that path yet, over the shoulder?" he said to +Lady Merton, pointing to the fine promontory of purple piny rock +which jutted out in front of the glacier on the southern side of +the lake.</p> +<p>She shook her head; but was it not still too early and too hot +to walk? Anderson persisted. The path was in shade, and would repay +climbing. She hesitated--and yielded; making a show of asking +Delaine to come with them. Delaine also hesitated, and refrained; +making a show of preferring the "Archaeological Review." He was +left to watch them mount the first stretches of the trail; while +Philip strolled along the lake with his companion in the slouch hat +and leggings, deep in tales of bass and trout.</p> +<p>Elizabeth and Anderson climbed a long sloping ascent through the +pines. The air was warm and scented; the heat of the sun on the +moistened earth was releasing all its virtues and fragrances, +overpowering in the open places, and stealing even through the +shadows. When the trees broke or receded, the full splendour of the +glacier was upon them to their left; and then for a space they must +divine it as a presence behind the actual, faintly gleaming and +flashing through the serried ranks of the forest. There were heaths +and mosses under the pines; but otherwise for a while the path was +flowerless; and Elizabeth discontentedly remarked it. Anderson +smiled.</p> +<p>"Wait a little--or you'll have to apologise to the Rockies."</p> +<p>He looked down upon her, and saw that her small face had bloomed +into a vivacity and charm that startled him. Was it only the +physical effort and pleasure of the climb? As for himself, it took +all the power of a strong will to check the happy tumult in his +heart.</p> +<p>Elizabeth asked him of his Saskatchewan journey. He described to +her the growing town he hoped to represent--the rush of its new +life.</p> +<p>"On one Sunday morning there was nothing--the bare prairie; by +the next--so to speak--there was a town all complete, with a hotel, +an elevator, a bank, and a church. That was ten years ago. Then the +railway came; I saw the first train come in, garlanded and wreathed +with flowers. Now there are eight thousand people. They have +reserved land for a park along the river, and sent for a landscape +gardener from England to lay it out; they have made trees grow on +the prairie; they have built a high school and a concert hall; the +municipality is full of ambitions; and all round the town, settlers +are pouring in. On market day you find yourself in a crowd of men, +talking cattle and crops, the last thing in binders and threshers, +as farmers do all over the world. But yet you couldn't match that +crowd in the old world."</p> +<p>"Which you don't know," put in Elizabeth, with her sly +smile.</p> +<p>"Which I don't know," repeated Anderson meekly. "But I guess. +And I am thinking of sayings of yours. Where in Europe can you +match the sense of <i>boundlessness</i> we have here--boundless +space, boundless opportunity? It often makes fools of us: it +intoxicates, turns our heads. There is a germ of madness in this +Northwest. I have seen men destroyed by it. But it is Nature who is +the witch. She brews the cup."</p> +<p>"All very well for the men," Elizabeth said, musing--"and the +strong men. About the women in this country I can't make up my +mind."</p> +<p>"You think of the drudgery, the domestic hardships?"</p> +<p>"There are some ladies in the hotel, from British Columbia. They +are in easy circumstances--and the daughter is dying of overwork! +The husband has a large fruit farm, but they can get no service; +the fruit rots on the ground; and the two women are worn to +death."</p> +<p>"Aye," said Anderson gravely. "This country breeds life, but it +also devours it."</p> +<p>"I asked these two women--Englishwomen--if they wanted to go +home, and give it up. They fell upon me with scorn."</p> +<p>"And you?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth sighed.</p> +<p>"I admired them. But could I imitate them? I thought of the +house at home; of the old servants; how it runs on wheels; how +pretty and--and dignified it all is; everybody at their post; no +drudgery, no disorder."</p> +<p>"It is a dignity that costs you dear," said Anderson almost +roughly, and with a change of countenance. "You sacrifice to it +things a thousand times more real, more human."</p> +<p>"Do we?" said Elizabeth; and then, with a drop in her voice: +"Dear, dear England!" She paused to take breath, and as she leant +resting against a tree he saw her expression change, as though a +struggle passed through her.</p> +<p>The trees had opened behind them, and they looked back over the +lake, the hotel, and the wide Laggan valley beyond. In all that +valley, not a sign of human life, but the line of the railway. Not +a house, not a village to be seen; and at this distance the forest +appeared continuous, till it died against the rock and snow of the +higher peaks.</p> +<p>For the first time, Elizabeth was home-sick; for the first time +she shrank from a raw, untamed land where the House of Life is only +now rearing its walls and its roof-timbers, and all its warm +furnishings, its ornaments and hangings are still to add. She +thought of the English landscapes, of the woods and uplands round +her Cumberland home; of the old church, the embowered cottages, the +lichened farms; the generations of lives that have died into the +soil, like the summer leaves of the trees; of the ghosts to be felt +in the air--ghosts of squire and labourer and farmer, alive still +in men and women of the present, as they too will live in the +unborn. Her heart went out to England; fled back to it over the +seas, as though renewing, in penitence, an allegiance that had +wavered. And Anderson divined it, in the yearning of her +just-parted lips, in the quivering, restrained sweetness of her +look.</p> +<p>His own heart sank. They resumed their walk, and presently the +path grew steeper. Some of it was rough-hewn in the rock, and +encumbered by roots of trees. Anderson held out a helping hand; her +fingers slipped willingly into it; her light weight hung upon him, +and every step was to him a mingled delight and bitterness.</p> +<p>"Hard work!" he said presently, with his encouraging smile; "but +you'll be paid."</p> +<p>The pines grew closer, and then suddenly lightened. A few more +steps, and Elizabeth gave a cry of pleasure. They were on the edge +of an alpine meadow, encircled by dense forest, and sloping down +beneath their feet to a lake that lay half in black shadow, half +blazing in the afternoon sun. Beyond was a tossed wilderness of +peaks to west and south. Light masses of cumulus cloud were rushing +over the sky, and driving waves of blue and purple colour across +the mountain masses and the forest slopes. Golden was the sinking +light and the sunlit half of the lake; golden the western faces and +edges of the mountain world; while beyond the valley, where ran the +white smoke of a train, there hung in the northern sky a +dream-world of undiscovered snows, range, it seemed, beyond range, +remote, ethereal; a Valhalla of the old gods of this vast land, +where one might guess them still throned at bay, majestic, +inviolate.</p> +<p>But it was the flowers that held Elizabeth mute. Anderson had +brought her to a wild garden of incredible beauty. Scarlet and +blue, purple and pearl and opal, rose-pink and lavender-grey the +flower-field ran about her, as though Persephone herself had just +risen from the shadow of this nameless northern lake, and the new +earth had broken into eager flame at her feet. Painter's brush, +harebell, speedwell, golden-brown gaillardias, silvery hawkweed, +columbines yellow and blue, heaths, and lush grasses--Elizabeth +sank down among them in speechless joy. Anderson gathered handfuls +of columbine and vetch, of harebell and heath, and filled her lap +with them, till she gently stopped him.</p> +<p>"No! Let me only look!"</p> +<p>And with her hands around her knees she sat motionless and +still. Anderson threw himself down beside her. Fragrance, colour, +warmth; the stir of an endless self-sufficient life; the +fruitfulness and bounty of the earth; these things wove their +ancient spells about them. Every little rush of the breeze seemed +an invitation and a caress.</p> +<p>Presently she thanked him for having brought her there, and said +something of remembering it in England.</p> +<p>"As one who will never see it again?" He turned and faced her +smiling. But behind his frank, pleasant look there was something +from which she shrank.</p> +<p>"I shall hardly see it, again," she said hesitating. "Perhaps +that makes it the more--the more touching. One clings to it the +more--the impression--because it is so fugitive--will be so soon +gone."</p> +<p>He was silent a moment, then said abruptly:</p> +<p>"And the upshot of all this is, that you could not imagine +living in Canada?"</p> +<p>She started.</p> +<p>"I never said so. Of course I could imagine living in +Canada!"</p> +<p>"But you think, for women, the life up here--in the +Northwest--is too hard."</p> +<p>She looked at him timidly.</p> +<p>"That's because I look at it from my English point of view. I am +afraid English life makes weaklings of us."</p> +<p>"No--not of you!" he said, almost scornfully. "Any life that +seemed to you worth while would find you strong enough for it. I am +sure of that."</p> +<p>Elizabeth smiled and shrugged her shoulders. He went on--almost +as though pleading with her.</p> +<p>"And as to our Western life--which you will soon have left so +far behind--it strains and tests the women--true--but it rewards +them. They have a great place among us. It is like the women of the +early races. We listen to them in the house, and on the land; we +depend on them indoors and out; their husbands and their sons +worship them!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth flushed involuntarily; but she met him gaily.</p> +<p>"In England too! Come and see!"</p> +<p>"I shall probably be in England next spring."</p> +<p>Elizabeth made a sudden movement.</p> +<p>"I thought you would be in political life here!"</p> +<p>"I have had an offer--an exciting and flattering offer. May I +tell you?"</p> +<p>He turned to her eagerly; and she smiled her sympathy, her +curiosity. Whereupon he took a letter from his pocket--a letter +from the Dominion Prime Minister, offering him a mission of inquiry +to England, on some important matters connected with labour and +emigration. The letter was remarkable, addressed to a man so young, +and on the threshold of his political career.</p> +<p>Elizabeth congratulated him warmly.</p> +<p>"Of course you will come to stay with us!"</p> +<p>It was his turn to redden.</p> +<p>"You are very kind," he said formally. "As you know, I shall +have everything to learn."</p> +<p>"I will show you <i>our</i> farms!" cried Elizabeth, "and all +our dear decrepit life--our little chessboard of an England."</p> +<p>"How proud you are, you Englishwomen!" he said, half frowning. +"You run yourselves down--and at bottom there is a pride like +Lucifer's."</p> +<p>"But it is not my pride," she said, hurt, "any more than yours. +We are yours--and you are ours. One state--one country."</p> +<p>"No, don't let us sentimentalise. We have our own future. It is +not yours."</p> +<p>"But you are loyal!" The note was one of pain.</p> +<p>"Are we? Foolish word! Yes, we are loyal, as you are--loyal to a +common ideal, a common mission in the world."</p> +<p>"To blood also--and to history?" Her voice was almost +entreating. What he had said seemed to jar with other and earlier +sayings of his, which had stirred in her a patriotic pleasure.</p> +<p>He smiled at her emotion--her implied reproach.</p> +<p>"Yes, we stand together. We march together. But Canada will have +her own history; and you must not try to make it for her."</p> +<p>Their eyes met; in hers exaltion, in his a touch of sternness, a +moment's revelation of the Covenanter in his soul.</p> +<p>Then as the delightful vision of her among the flowers, in her +white dress, the mountains behind and around her, imprinted itself +on his senses, he was conscious of a moment of intolerable pain. +Between her and him--as it were--the abyss opened. The trembling +waves of colour in the grass, the noble procession of the clouds, +the gleaming of the snows, the shadow of the valleys--they were all +wiped out. He saw instead a small unsavoury room--the cunning eyes +and coarse mouth of his father. He saw his own future as it must +now be; weighted with this burden, this secret; if indeed it were +still to be a secret; if it were not rather the wiser and the +manlier plan to have done with secrecy.</p> +<p>Elizabeth rose with a little shiver. The wind had begun to blow +cold from the northwest.</p> +<p>"How soon can we run down? I hope Mr. Arthur will have sent +Philip indoors."</p> +<p>Anderson left Lake Louise about eight o'clock, and hurried down +the Laggan road. His mind was divided between the bitter-sweet of +these last hours with Elizabeth Merton, and anxieties, small +practical anxieties, about his father. There were arrangements +still to make. He was not himself going to Vancouver. McEwen had +lately shown a strong and petulant wish to preserve his incognito, +or what was left of it. He would not have his son's escort. George +might come and see him at Vancouver; and that would be time enough +to settle up for the winter.</p> +<p>So Ginnell, owner of the boarding house, a stalwart Irishman of +six foot three, had been appointed to see him through his journey, +settle him with his new protectors, and pay all necessary +expenses.</p> +<p>Anderson knocked at his father's door and was allowed to enter. +He found McEwen walking up and down his room, with the aid of a +stick, irritably pushing chairs and clothes out of his way. The +room was in squalid disorder, and its inmate had a flushed, +exasperated look that did not escape Anderson's notice. He thought +it probable that his father was already repenting his consent to go +to Vancouver, and he avoided general conversation as much as +possible.</p> +<p>McEwen complained of having been left alone; abused Mrs. +Ginnell; vowed she had starved and ill-treated him; and then, to +Anderson's surprise, broke out against his son for having refused +to provide him with the money he wanted for the mine, and so ruined +his last chance. Anderson hardly replied; but what he did say was +as soothing as possible; and at last the old man flung himself on +his bed, excitement dying away in a sulky taciturnity.</p> +<p>Before Anderson left his room, Ginnell came in, bringing his +accounts for certain small expenses. Anderson, standing with his +back to his father, took out a pocketbook full of bills. At Calgary +the day before a friend had repaid him a loan of a thousand +dollars. He gave Ginnell a certain sum; talked to him in a low +voice for a time, thinking his father had dropped asleep; and then +dismissed him, putting the money in his pocket.</p> +<p>"Good night, father," he said, standing beside the bed.</p> +<p>McEwen opened his eyes.</p> +<p>"Eh?"</p> +<p>The eyes into which Anderson looked had no sleep in them. They +were wild and bloodshot, and again Anderson felt a pang of helpless +pity for a dishonoured and miserable old age.</p> +<p>"I'm sure you'll get on at Vancouver, father," he said gently. +"And I shall be there next week."</p> +<p>His father growled some unintelligible answer. As Anderson went +to the door he again called after him angrily: "You were a d---- +fool, George, not to find those dibs."</p> +<p>"What, for the mine?" Anderson laughed. "Oh, we'll go into that +again at Vancouver."</p> +<p>McEwen made no reply, and Anderson left him.</p> +<p>Anderson woke before seven. The long evening had passed into the +dawn with scarcely any darkness, and the sun was now high. He +sprang up, and dressed hastily. Going into the passage he saw to +his astonishment that while the door of the Ginnells' room was +still closed, his father's was wide open. He walked in. The room +and the bed were empty. The contents of a box carefully packed by +Ginnell--mostly with new clothes--the night before, were lying +strewn about the room. But McEwen's old clothes were gone, his gun +and revolver, also his pipes and tobacco.</p> +<p>Anderson roused Ginnell, and they searched the house and its +neighbourhood in vain. On going back into his own room, Anderson +noticed an open drawer. He had placed his pocketbook there the +night before, but without locking the drawer. It was gone, and in +its place was a dirty scrap of paper.</p> +<p>"Don't you try chivvying me, George, for you won't get any good +of it. You let me alone, and I'll let you. You were a stingy fellow +about that money, so I've took some of it. Good-bye."</p> +<p>Sick at heart, Anderson resumed the search, further afield. He +sent Ginnell along the line to make confidential inquiries. He +telegraphed to persons known to him at Golden, Revelstoke, +Kamloops, Ashcroft, all to no purpose. Twenty-four--thirty-six +hours passed and nothing had been heard of the fugitive.</p> +<p>He felt himself baffled and tricked, with certain deep instincts +and yearnings wounded to the death. The brutal manner of his +father's escape--the robbery--the letter--had struck him hard.</p> +<p>When Friday night came, and still no news, Anderson found +himself at the C.P.R. Hotel at Field. He was stupid with fatigue +and depression. But he had been in telephonic communication all the +afternoon with Delaine and Lady Merton at Lake Louise, as to their +departure for the Pacific. They knew nothing and should know +nothing of his own catastrophe; their plans should not suffer.</p> +<p>He went out into the summer night to take breath, and commune +with himself. The night was balmy; the stars glorious. On a siding +near the hotel stood the private car which had arrived that evening +from Vancouver, and was to go to Laggan the following morning to +fetch the English party. They were to pick him up, on the return, +at Field.</p> +<p>He had failed to save his father, and his honest effort had been +made in vain. Humiliation and disappointment overshadowed him. +Passionately, his whole soul turned to Elizabeth. He did not yet +grasp all the bearings of what had happened. But he began to count +the hours to the time when he should see her.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> +<br> +<p>A day of showers and breaking clouds--of sudden sunlight, and +broad clefts of blue; a day when shreds of mist are lightly looped +and meshed about the higher peaks of the Rockies and the Selkirks, +dividing the forest world from the ice world above....</p> +<p>The car was slowly descending the Kicking Horse Pass, at the +rear of a heavy train. Elizabeth, on her platform, was feasting her +eyes once more on the great savage landscape, on these peaks and +valleys that have never till now known man, save as the hunter, +treading them once or twice perhaps in a century. Dreamily her mind +contrasted them with the Alps, where from all time man has laboured +and sheltered, blending his life, his births and deaths, his loves +and hates with the glaciers and the forests, wresting his food from +the valleys, creeping height over height to the snow line, writing +his will on the country, so that in our thought of it he stands +first, and Nature second. The Swiss mountains and streams breathe a +"mighty voice," lent to them by the free passion and aspiration of +man; they are interfused and interwoven forever with human fate. +But in the Rockies and the Selkirks man counts for nothing in their +past; and, except as wayfarer and playfellow, it is probable that +he will count for nothing in their future. They will never be the +familiar companions of his work and prayer and love; a couple of +railways, indeed, will soon be driving through them, linking the +life of the prairies to the life of the Pacific; but, except for +this conquest of them as barriers in his path, when his summer +camps in them are struck, they, sheeted in a winter inaccessible +and superb, know him and his puny deeds no more, till again the +lakes melt and the trees bud. This it is that gives them their +strange majesty, and clothes their brief summer, their laughing +fields of flowers, their thickets of red raspberry and slopes of +strawberry, their infinity of gleaming lakes and foaming +rivers--rivers that turn no mill and light no town--with a charm, +half magical, half mocking.</p> +<p>And yet, though the travelled intelligence made comparisons of +this kind, it was not with the mountains that Elizabeth's deepest +mind was busy. She took really keener note of the railway itself, +and its appurtenances. For here man had expressed himself; had +pitched his battle with a fierce nature and won it; as no doubt he +will win other similar battles in the coming years. Through +Anderson this battle had become real to her. She looked eagerly at +the construction camps in the pass; at the new line that is soon to +supersede the old; at the bridges and tunnels and snow-sheds, by +which contriving man had made his purpose prevail over the physical +forces of this wild world. The great railway spoke to her in terms +of human life; and because she had known Anderson she understood +its message.</p> +<p>Secretly and sorely her thoughts clung to him. Just as, +insensibly, her vision of Canada had changed, so had her vision of +Anderson. Canada was no longer mere fairy tale and romance; +Anderson was no longer merely its picturesque exponent or +representative. She had come to realise him as a man, with a man's +cares and passions; and her feelings about him had begun to change +her life.</p> +<p>Arthur Delaine, she supposed, had meant to warn her that Mr. +Anderson was falling in love with her and that she had no right to +encourage it. Her thoughts went back intently over the last +fortnight--Anderson's absences--his partial withdrawal from the +intimacy which had grown up between himself and her--their last +walk at Lake Louise. The delight of that walk was still in her +veins, and at last she was frank with herself about it! In his +attitude towards her, now that she forced herself to face the +truth, she must needs recognise a passionate eagerness, restrained +no less passionately; a profound impulse, strongly felt, and +strongly held back. By mere despair of attainment?--or by the +scruple of an honourable self-control?</p> +<p>Could she--<i>could</i> she marry a Canadian? There was the +central question, out at last!--irrevocable!--writ large on the +mountains and the forests, as she sped through them. Could she, +possessed by inheritance of all that is most desirable and +delightful in English society, linked with its great interests and +its dominant class, and through them with the rich cosmopolitan +life of cultivated Europe--could she tear herself from that old +soil, and that dear familiar environment? Had the plant vitality +enough to bear transplanting? She did not put her question in these +terms; but that was what her sudden tumult and distress of mind +really meant.</p> +<p>Looking up, she saw Delaine beside her. Well, there was Europe, +and at her feet! For the last month she had been occupied in +scorning it. English country-house life, artistic society and +pursuits, London in the season, Paris and Rome in the spring, +English social and political influence--there they were beside her. +She had only to stretch out her hand.</p> +<p>A chill, uncomfortable laughter seemed to fill the inner mind +through which the debate passed, while all the time she was +apparently looking at the landscape, and chatting with her brother +or Delaine. She fell into an angry contempt for that mood of +imaginative delight in which she had journeyed through Canada so +far. What! treat a great nation in the birth as though it were +there for her mere pleasure and entertainment? Make of it a mere +spectacle and pageant, and turn with disgust from the notion that +you, too, could ever throw in your lot with it, fight as a +foot-soldier in its ranks, on equal terms, for life and death!</p> +<p>She despised herself. And yet--and yet! She thought of her +mother--her frail, refined, artistic mother; of a hundred +subtleties and charms and claims, in that world she understood, in +which she had been reared; of all that she must leave behind, were +she asked, and did she consent, to share the life of a Canadian of +Anderson's type. What would it be to fail in such a venture! To +dare it, and then to find life sinking in sands of cowardice and +weakness! Very often, and sometimes as though by design, Anderson +had spoken to her of the part to be played by women in Canada; not +in the defensive, optimistic tone of their last walk together, but +forbiddingly, with a kind of rough insistence. Substantial comfort, +a large amount of applied science--that could be got. But the +elegancies and refinements of English rich life in a prairie +farm--impossible! A woman who marries a Canadian farmer, large or +small, must put her own hands to the drudgery of life, to the +cooking, sewing, baking, that keep man--animal man--alive. A +certain amount of rude service money can command in the Northwest; +but it is a service which only the housewife's personal +coöperation can make tolerable. Life returns, in fact, to the +old primitive pattern; and a woman counts on the prairie according +as "she looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not +the bread of idleness."</p> +<p>Suddenly Elizabeth perceived her own hands lying on her lap. +Useless bejewelled things! When had they ever fed a man or nursed a +child?</p> +<p>Under her gauze veil she coloured fiercely. If the housewife, in +her primitive meaning and office, is vital to Canada, still more is +the house-mother. "Bear me sons and daughters; people my wastes!" +seems to be the cry of the land itself. Deep in Elizabeth's being +there stirred instincts and yearnings which life had so far stifled +in her. She shivered as though some voice, passionate and yet +austere, spoke to her from this great spectacle of mountain and +water through which she was passing.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>"There he is!" cried Philip, craning his head to look ahead +along the train.</p> +<p>Anderson stood waiting for them on the Field platform. Very soon +he was seated beside her, outside the car, while Philip lounged in +the doorway, and Delaine inside, having done his duty to the +Kicking Horse Pass, was devoting himself to a belated number of the +"Athenæum" which had just reached him.</p> +<p>Philip had stored up a string of questions as to the hunting of +goat in the Rockies, and impatiently produced them. Anderson +replied, but, as Elizabeth immediately perceived, with a complete +lack of his usual animation. He spoke with effort, occasionally +stumbling over his words. She could not help looking at him +curiously, and presently even Philip noticed something wrong.</p> +<p>"I say, Anderson!--what have you been doing to yourself? You +look as though you had been knocking up."</p> +<p>"I have been a bit driven this week," said Anderson, with a +start. "Oh, nothing! You must look at this piece of line."</p> +<p>And as they ran down the long ravine from Field to Golden, +beside a river which all the way seems to threaten the gliding +train by the savage force of its descent, he played the showman. +The epic of the C.P.R.--no one knew it better, and no one could +recite it more vividly than he.</p> +<p>So also, as they left the Rockies behind; as they sped along the +Columbia between the Rockies to their right and the Selkirks to +their left; or as they turned away from the Columbia, and, on the +flanks of the Selkirks, began to mount that forest valley which +leads to Roger's Pass, he talked freely and well, exerting himself +to the utmost. The hopes and despairs, the endurances and ambitions +of the first explorers who ever broke into that fierce solitude, he +could reproduce them; for, though himself of a younger generation, +yet by sympathy he had lived them. And if he had not been one of +the builders of the line, in the incessant guardianship which +preserves it from day to day, he had at one time played a prominent +part, battling with Nature for it, summer and winter.</p> +<p>Delaine, at last, came out to listen. Philip in the grip of his +first hero-worship, lay silent and absorbed, watching the face and +gestures of the speaker. Elizabeth sat with her eyes turned away +from Anderson towards the wild valley, as they rose and rose above +it. She listened; but her heart was full of new anxieties. What had +happened to him? She felt him changed. He was talking for their +pleasure, by a strong effort of will; that she realised. When could +she get him alone?--her friend!--who was clearly in distress.</p> +<p>They approached the famous bridges on the long ascent. Yerkes +came running through the car to point out with pride the place +where the Grand Duchess had fainted beneath the terrors of the +line. With only the railing of their little platform between them +and the abyss, they ran over ravines hundreds of feet deep--the +valley, a thousand feet sheer, below. And in that valley, not a +sign of house, of path; only black impenetrable forest--huge cedars +and Douglas pines, filling up the bottoms, choking the river with +their débris, climbing up the further sides, towards the +gleaming line of peaks.</p> +<p>"It is a nightmare!" said Delaine involuntarily, looking round +him.</p> +<p>Elizabeth laughed, a bright colour in her cheeks. Again the +wilderness ran through her blood, answering the challenge of +Nature. Faint!--she was more inclined to sing or shout. And with +the exhilaration, physical and mental, that stole upon her, there +mingled secretly, the first thrill of passion she had ever known. +Anderson sat beside her, once more silent after his burst of talk. +She was vividly conscious of him--of his bare curly head--of +certain lines of fatigue and suffering in the bronzed face. And it +was conveyed to her that, although he was clearly preoccupied and +sad, he was yet conscious of her in the same way. Once, as they +were passing the highest bridge of all, where, carried on a great +steel arch, that has replaced the older trestles, the rails run +naked and gleaming, without the smallest shred of wall or parapet, +across a gash in the mountain up which they were creeping, and at a +terrific height above the valley, Elizabeth, who was sitting with +her back to the engine, bent suddenly to one side, leaning over the +little railing and looking ahead--that she might if possible get a +clearer sight of Mount Macdonald, the giant at whose feet lies +Roger's Pass. Suddenly, as her weight pressed against the ironwork +where only that morning a fastening had been mended, she felt a +grip on her arm. She drew back, startled.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon!" said Anderson, smiling, but a trifle paler +than before. "I'm not troubled with nerves for myself, but--"</p> +<p>He did not complete the sentence, and Elizabeth, could find +nothing to say.</p> +<p>"Why, Elizabeth's not afraid!" cried Philip, scornfully.</p> +<p>"This is Roger's Pass, and here we are at the top of the +Selkirks," said Anderson, rising. "The train will wait here some +twenty minutes. Perhaps you would like to walk about."</p> +<p>They descended, all but Philip, who grumbled at the cold, +wrapped himself in a rug inside the car, and summoned Yerkes to +bring him a cup of coffee.</p> +<p>On this height indeed, and beneath the precipices of Mount +Macdonald, which rise some five thousand feet perpendicularly above +the railway, the air was chill and the clouds had gathered. On the +right, ran a line of glacier-laden peaks, calling to their fellows +across the pass. The ravine itself, darkly magnificent, made a gulf +of shadow out of which rose glacier and snow slope, now veiled and +now revealed by scudding cloud. Heavy rain had not long since +fallen on the pass; the small stream, winding and looping through +the narrow strip of desolate ground which marks the summit, roared +in flood through marshy growths of dank weed and stunted shrub; and +the noise reverberated from the mountain walls, pressing straight +and close on either hand.</p> +<p>"Hark!" cried Elizabeth, standing still, her face and her light +dress beaten by the wind.</p> +<p>A sound which was neither thunder nor the voice of the stream +rose and swelled and filled the pass. Another followed it. Anderson +pointed to the snowy crags of Mount Macdonald, and there, leaping +from ledge to ledge, they saw the summer avalanches descend, +roaring as they came, till they sank engulfed in a vaporous whirl +of snow.</p> +<p>Delaine tried to persuade Elizabeth to return to the car--in +vain. He himself returned thither for a warmer coat, and she and +Anderson walked on alone.</p> +<p>"The Rockies were fine!--but the Selkirks are superb!"</p> +<p>She smiled at him as she spoke, as though she thanked him +personally for the grandeur round them. Her slender form seemed to +have grown in stature and in energy. The mountain rain was on her +fresh cheek and her hair; a blue veil eddying round her head and +face framed the brilliance of her eyes. Those who had known +Elizabeth in Europe would hardly have recognised her here. The +spirit of earth's wild and virgin places had mingled with her +spirit, and as she had grown in sympathy, so also she had grown in +beauty. Anderson looked at her from time to time in enchantment, +grudging every minute that passed. The temptation strengthened to +tell her his trouble. But how, or when?</p> +<p>As he turned to her he saw that she, too, was gazing at him with +an anxious, wistful expression, her lips parted as though to +speak.</p> +<p>He bent over her.</p> +<p>"What was that?" exclaimed Elizabeth, looking round her.</p> +<p>They had passed beyond the station where the train was at rest. +But the sound of shouts pursued them. Anderson distinguished his +own name. A couple of railway officials had left the station and +were hurrying towards them.</p> +<p>A sudden thought struck Anderson. He held up his hand with a +gesture as though to ask Lady Merton not to follow, and himself ran +back to the station.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, from where she stood, saw the passengers all pouring +out of the train on to the platform. Even Philip emerged and waved +to her. She slowly returned, and meanwhile Anderson had +disappeared.</p> +<p>She found an excited crowd of travellers and a babel of noise. +Delaine hurried to her.</p> +<p>It appeared that an extraordinary thing had happened. The train +immediately in front of them, carrying mail and express cars but no +passengers, had been "held up" by a gang of train-robbers, at a +spot between Sicamous junction and Kamloops. In order to break open +the mail van the robbers had employed a charge of dynamite, which +had wrecked the car and caused some damage to the line; enough to +block the permanent way for some hours.</p> +<p>"And Philip has just opened this telegram for you."</p> +<p>Delaine handed it to her. It was from the District +Superintendent, expressing great regret for the interruption to +their journey, and suggesting that they should spend the night at +the hotel at Glacier.</p> +<p>"Which I understand is only four miles off, the other side of +the pass," said Delaine. "Was there ever anything more +annoying!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth's face expressed an utter bewilderment.</p> +<p>"A train held up in Canada--and on the C.P.R.--impossible!"</p> +<p>An elderly man in front of her heard what she said, and turned +upon her a face purple with wrath.</p> +<p>"You may well say that, madam! We are a law-abiding nation. We +don't put up with the pranks they play in Montana. They say the +scoundrels have got off. If we don't catch them, Canada's +disgraced."</p> +<p>"I say, Elizabeth," cried Philip, pushing his way to her through +the crowd, "there's been a lot of shooting. There's some Mounted +Police here, we picked up at Revelstoke, on their way to help catch +these fellows. I've been talking to them. The police from Kamloops +came upon them just as they were making off with a pretty +pile--boxes full of money for some of the banks in Vancouver. The +police fired, so did the robbers. One of the police was killed, and +one of the thieves. Then the rest got off. I say, let's go and help +hunt them!"</p> +<p>The boy's eyes danced with the joy of adventure.</p> +<p>"If they've any sense they'll send bloodhounds after them," said +the elderly man, fiercely. "I helped catch a murderer with my own +hands that way, last summer, near the Arrow Lakes."</p> +<p>"Where is Mr. Anderson?"</p> +<p>The question escaped Elizabeth involuntarily. She had not meant +to put it. But it was curious that he should have left them in the +lurch at this particular moment.</p> +<p>"Take your seats!" cried the station-master, making his way +through the crowded platform. "This train goes as far as Sicamous +Junction only. Any passenger who wishes to break his journey will +find accommodation at Glacier--next station."</p> +<p>The English travellers were hurried back into their car. Still +no sign of Anderson. Yerkes was only able to tell them that he had +seen Anderson go into the station-master's private room with a +couple of the Mounted Police. He might have come out again, or he +might not. Yerkes had been too well occupied in exciting gossip +with all his many acquaintances in the train and the station to +notice.</p> +<p>The conductor went along through the train. Yerkes, standing on +the inside platform, called to him:</p> +<p>"Have you seen Mr. Anderson?"</p> +<p>The man shook his head, but another standing by, evidently an +official of some kind, looked round and ran up to the car.</p> +<p>"I'm sorry, madam," he said, addressing Elizabeth, who was +standing in the doorway, "but Mr. Anderson isn't at liberty just +now. He'll be travelling with the police."</p> +<p>And as he spoke a door in the station building opened, and +Anderson came out, accompanied by two constables of the Mounted +Police and two or three officials. They walked hurriedly along the +train and got into an empty compartment together. Immediately +afterwards the train moved off.</p> +<p>"Well, I wonder what's up now!" said Philip in astonishment. "Do +you suppose Anderson's got some clue to the men?"</p> +<p>Delaine looked uncomfortably at Elizabeth. As an old adviser and +servant of the railway, extensively acquainted moreover with the +population--settled or occasional--of the district it was very +natural that Anderson should be consulted on such an event. And +yet--Delaine had caught a glimpse of his aspect on his way along +the platform, and had noticed that he never looked towards the car. +Some odd conjectures ran through his mind.</p> +<p>Elizabeth sat silent, looking back on the grim defile the train +was just leaving. It was evident that they had passed the +water-shed, and the train was descending. In a few minutes they +would be at Glacier.</p> +<p>She roused herself to hold a rapid consultation over plans.</p> +<p>They must of course do as they were advised, and spend the night +at Glacier.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The train drew up.</p> +<p>"Well, of all the nuisances!"--cried Philip, disgusted, as they +prepared to leave the car.</p> +<p>Yerkes, like the showman that he was, began to descant volubly +on the advantages and charms of the hotel, its Swiss guides, and +the distinguished travellers who stayed there; dragging rugs and +bags meanwhile out of the car. Nobody listened to him. Everybody in +the little party, as they stood forlornly on the platform, was in +truth searching for Anderson.</p> +<p>And at last he came--hurrying along towards them. His face, set, +strained, and colourless, bore the stamp of calamity. But he gave +them no time to question him.</p> +<p>"I am going on," he said hastily to Elizabeth; "they will look +after you here. I will arrange everything for you as soon as +possible, and if we don't meet before, perhaps--in Vancouver--"</p> +<p>"I say, are you going to hunt the robbers?" asked Philip, +catching his arm.</p> +<p>Anderson made no reply. He turned to Delaine, drew him aside a +moment, and put a letter into his hand.</p> +<p>"My father was one of them," he said, without emotion, "and is +dead. I have asked you to tell Lady Merton."</p> +<p>There was a call for him. The train was already moving. He +jumped into it, and was gone.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> +<br> +<p>The station and hotel at Sicamous Junction, overlooking the +lovely Mara lake, were full of people--busy officials of different +kinds, or excited on-lookers--when Anderson reached them. The long +summer day was just passing into a night that was rather twilight +than darkness, and in the lower country the heat was great. Far +away to the north stretched the wide and straggling waters of +another and larger lake. Woods of poplar and cottonwood grew along +its swampy shore, and hills, forest clad, held it in a shallow cup +flooded with the mingled light of sunset and moonlight.</p> +<p>Anderson was met by a district superintendent, of the name of +Dixon, as he descended from the train. The young man, with whom he +was slightly acquainted, looked at him with excitement.</p> +<p>"This is a precious bad business! If you can throw any light +upon it, Mr. Anderson, we shall be uncommonly obliged to you--"</p> +<p>Anderson interrupted him.</p> +<p>"Is the inquest to be held here?"</p> +<p>"Certainly. The bodies were brought in a few hours ago."</p> +<p>His companion pointed to a shed beyond the station. They walked +thither, the Superintendent describing in detail the attack on the +train and the measures taken for the capture of the marauders, +Anderson listening in silence. The affair had taken place early +that morning, but the telegraph wires had been cut in several +places on both sides of the damaged line, so that no precise news +of what had happened had reached either Vancouver on the west, or +Golden on the east, till the afternoon. The whole countryside was +now in movement, and a vigorous man-hunt was proceeding on both +sides of the line.</p> +<p>"There is no doubt the whole thing was planned by a couple of +men from Montana, one of whom was certainly concerned in the +hold-up there a few months ago and got clean away. But there were +six or seven of them altogether and most of the rest--we +suspect--from this side of the boundary. The old man who was +killed"--Anderson raised his eyes abruptly to the speaker--"seems +to have come from Nevada. There were some cuttings from a Nevada +newspaper found upon him, besides the envelope addressed to you, of +which I sent you word at Roger's Pass. Could you recognise anything +in my description of the man? There was one thing I forgot to say. +He had evidently been in the doctor's hands lately. There is a +surgical bandage on the right ankle."</p> +<p>"Was there nothing in the envelope?" asked Anderson, putting the +question aside, in spite of the evident eagerness of the +questioner.</p> +<p>"Nothing."</p> +<p>"And where is it?"</p> +<p>"It was given to the Kamloops coroner, who has just arrived." +Anderson said nothing more. They had reached the shed, which his +companion unlocked. Inside were two rough tables on trestles and +lying on them two sheeted forms.</p> +<p>Dixon uncovered the first, and Anderson looked steadily down at +the face underneath. Death had wrought its strange ironic miracle +once more, and out of the face of an outcast had made the face of a +sage. There was little disfigurement; the eyes were closed with +dignity; the mouth seemed to have unlearnt its coarseness. Silently +the tension of Anderson's inner being gave way; he was conscious of +a passionate acceptance of the mere stillness and dumbness of +death.</p> +<p>"Where was the wound?" he asked, stooping over the body.</p> +<p>"Ah, that was the strange thing! He didn't die of his wound at +all! It was a mere graze on the arm." The Superintendent pointed to +a rent on the coat-sleeve. "He died of something quite +different--perhaps excitement and a weak heart. There may have to +be a post-mortem."</p> +<p>"I doubt whether that will be necessary," said Anderson.</p> +<p>The other looked at him with undisguised curiosity.</p> +<p>"Then you do recognise him?"</p> +<p>"I will tell the coroner what I know."</p> +<p>Anderson drew back from his close examination of the dead face, +and began in his turn to question the Superintendent. Was it +certain that this man had been himself concerned in the hold-up and +in the struggle with the police?</p> +<p>Dixon could not see how there could be any doubt of it. The +constables who had rushed in upon the gang while they were still +looting the express car--the brakesman having managed to get away +and convey the alarm to Kamloops--remembered seeing an old man with +white hair, apparently lame, at the rear of the more active +thieves, and posted as sentinel. He had been the first to give +warning of the police approach, and had levelled his revolver at +the foremost constable but had missed his shot. In the free firing +which had followed nobody exactly knew what had happened. One of +the attacking force, Constable Brown, had fallen, and while his +comrades were attempting to save him, the thieves had dropped down +the steep bank of the river close by, into a boat waiting for them, +and got off. The constable was left dead upon the ground, and not +far from him lay the old man, also lifeless. But when they came to +examine the bodies, while the constable was shot through the head, +the other had received nothing but the trifling wound Dixon had +already pointed out.</p> +<p>Anderson listened to the story in silence. Then with a last long +look at the rigid features below him, he replaced the covering. +Passing on to the other table, he raised the sheet from the face of +a splendid young Englishman, whom he had last seen the week before +at Regina; an English public-school boy of the manliest type, full +of hope for himself, and of enthusiasm, both for Canada and for the +fine body of men in which he had been just promoted. For the first +time a stifled groan escaped from Anderson's lips. What hand had +done this murder?</p> +<p>They left the shed. Anderson inquired what doctor had been sent +for. He recognised the name given as that of a Kamloops man whom he +knew and respected; and he went on to look for him at the +hotel.</p> +<p>For some time he and the doctor paced a trail beside the line +together. Among other facts that Anderson got from this +conversation, he learnt that the American authorities had been +telegraphed to, and that a couple of deputy sheriffs were coming to +assist the Canadian police. They were expected the following +morning, when also the coroner's inquest would be held.</p> +<p>As to Anderson's own share in the interview, when the two men +parted, with a silent grasp of the hand, the Doctor had nothing to +say to the bystanders, except that Mr. Anderson would have some +evidence to give on the morrow, and that, for himself, he was not +at liberty to divulge what had passed between them.</p> +<p>It was by this time late. Anderson shut himself up in his room +at the hotel; but among the groups lounging at the bar or in the +neighbourhood of the station excitement and discussion ran high. +The envelope addressed to Anderson, Anderson's own demeanour since +his arrival on the scene--with the meaning of both conjecture was +busy.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>Towards midnight a train arrived from Field. A messenger from +the station knocked at Anderson's door with a train letter. +Anderson locked the door again behind the man who had brought it, +and stood looking at it a moment in silence. It was from Lady +Merton. He opened it slowly, took it to the small deal table, which +held a paraffin lamp, and sat down to read it.</p> +<blockquote>"Dear Mr. Anderson--Mr. Delaine has given me your +message and read me some of your letter to him. He has also told me +what he knew before this happened--we understood that you wished +it. Oh! I cannot say how very sorry we are, Philip and I, for your +great trouble. It makes me sore at heart to think that all the time +you have been looking after us so kindly, taking this infinite +pains for us, you have had this heavy anxiety on your mind. Oh, why +didn't you tell me! I thought we were to be friends. And now this +tragedy! It is terrible--terrible! Your father has been his own +worst enemy--and at last death has come,--and he has escaped +himself. Is there not some comfort in that? And you tried to save +him. I can imagine all that you have been doing and planning for +him. It is not lost, dear Mr. Anderson. No love and pity are ever +lost. They are undying--for they are God's life in us. They are the +pledge--the sign--to which He is eternally bound. He will surely, +surely, redeem--and fulfil.<br> +<br> +"I write incoherently, for they are waiting for my letter. I want +you to write to me, if you will. And when will you come back to us? +We shall, I think, be two or three days here, for Philip has made +friends with a man we have met here--a surveyor, who has been +camping high up, and shooting wild goat. He is determined to go for +an expedition with him, and I had to telegraph to the +Lieutenant-Governor to ask him not to expect us till Thursday. So +if you were to come back here before then you would still find us. +I don't know that I could be of any use to you, or any consolation +to you. But, indeed, I would try.<br> +<br> +"To-morrow I am told will be the inquest. My thoughts will be with +you constantly. By now you will have determined on your line of +action. I only know that it will be noble and upright--like +yourself.<br> +<br> +"I remain, yours most sincerely"<br> +<br> +"ELIZABETH MERTON."</blockquote> +<p>Anderson pressed the letter to his lips. Its tender +philosophising found no echo in his own mind. But it soothed, +because it came from her.</p> +<p>He lay dressed and wakeful on his bed through the night, and at +nine next morning the inquest opened, in the coffee-room of the +hotel.</p> +<p>The body of the young constable was first identified. As to the +hand which had fired the shot that killed him, there was no certain +evidence; one of the police had seen the lame man with the white +hair level his revolver again after the first miss; but there was +much shooting going on, and no one could be sure from what quarter +the fatal bullet had come.</p> +<p>The court then proceeded to the identification of the dead +robber. The coroner, a rancher who bred the best horses in the +district, called first upon two strangers in plain clothes, who had +arrived by the first train from the South that morning. They proved +to be the two officers from Nevada. They had already examined the +body, and they gave clear and unhesitating evidence, identifying +the old man as one Alexander McEwen, well known to the police of +the silver-mining State as a lawless and dangerous character. He +had been twice in jail, and had been the associate of the notorious +Bill Symonds in one or two criminal affairs connected with "faked" +claims and the like. The elder of the two officers in particular +drew a vivid and damning picture of the man's life and personality, +of the cunning with which he had evaded the law, and the +ruthlessness with which he had avenged one or two private +grudges.</p> +<p>"We have reason to suppose," said the American officer finally, +"that McEwen was not originally a native of the States. We believe +that he came from Dawson City or the neighbourhood about ten years +ago, and that he crossed the border in consequence of a mysterious +affair--which has never been cleared up--in which a rich German +gentleman, Baron von Aeschenbach, disappeared, and has not been +heard of since. Of that, however, we have no proof, and we cannot +supply the court with any information as to the man's real origin +and early history. But we are prepared to swear that the body we +have seen this morning is that of Alexander McEwen, who for some +years past has been well known to us, now in one camp, now in +another, of the Comstock district."</p> +<p>The American police officer resumed his seat. George Anderson, +who was to the right of the coroner, had sat, all through this +witness's evidence, bending forward, his eyes on the ground, his +hands clasped between his knees. There was something in the +rigidity of his attitude, which gradually compelled the attention +of the onlookers, as though the perception gained ground that +here--in that stillness--those bowed shoulders--lay the real +interest of this sordid outrage, which had so affronted the pride +of Canada's great railway.</p> +<p>The coroner rose. He briefly expressed the thanks of the court +to the Nevada State authorities for having so promptly supplied the +information in their possession in regard to this man McEwen. He +would now ask Mr. George Anderson, of the C.P.R., whether he could +in any way assist the court in this investigation. An empty +envelope, fully addressed to Mr. George Anderson, Ginnell's +Boarding House, Laggan, Alberta, had, strangely enough, been found +in McEwen's pocket. Could Mr. Anderson throw any light upon the +matter?</p> +<p>Anderson stood up as the coroner handed him the envelope. He +took it, looked at it, and slowly put it down on the table before +him. He was perfectly composed, but there was that in his aspect +which instantly hushed all sounds in the crowded room, and drew the +eyes of everybody in it upon him. The Kamloops doctor looked at him +from a distance with a sudden twitching smile--the smile of a +reticent man in whom strong feeling must somehow find a physical +expression. Dixon, the young Superintendent, bent forward eagerly. +At the back of the room a group of Japanese railway workers, with +their round, yellow faces and half-opened eyes stared impassively +at the tall figure of the fair-haired Canadian; and through windows +and doors, thrown open to the heat, shimmered lake and forest, the +eternal background of Canada.</p> +<p>"Mr. Coroner," said Anderson, straightening himself to his full +height, "the name of the man into whose death you are inquiring is +not Alexander McEwen. He came from Scotland to Manitoba in 1869. +His real name was Robert Anderson, and I--am his son."</p> +<p>The coroner gave an involuntary "Ah!" of amazement, which was +echoed, it seemed, throughout the room.</p> +<p>On one of the small deal tables belonging to the coffee-room, +which had been pushed aside to make room for the sitting of the +court, lay the newspapers of the morning--the <i>Vancouver +Sentinel</i> and the <i>Montreal Star</i>. Both contained short and +flattering articles on the important Commission entrusted to Mr. +George Anderson by the Prime Minister. "A great compliment to so +young a man," said the <i>Star</i>, "but one amply deserved by Mr. +Anderson's record. We look forward on his behalf to a brilliant +career, honourable both to himself and to Canada."</p> +<p>Several persons had already knocked at Anderson's door early +that morning in order to congratulate him; but without finding him. +And this honoured and fortunate person--?</p> +<p>Men pushed each other forward in their eagerness not to lose a +word, or a shade of expression on the pale face which confronted +them.</p> +<p>Anderson, after a short pause, as though to collect himself, +gave the outlines of his father's early history, of the farm in +Manitoba, the fire and its consequences, the breach between Robert +Anderson and his sons. He described the struggle of the three boys +on the farm, their migration to Montreal in search of education, +and his own later sojourn in the Yukon, with the evidence which had +convinced him of his father's death.</p> +<p>"Then, only a fortnight ago, he appeared at Laggan and made +himself known to me, having followed me apparently from Winnipeg. +He seemed to be in great poverty, and in bad health. If he had +wished it, I was prepared to acknowledge him; but he seemed not to +wish it; there were no doubt reasons why he preferred to keep his +assumed name. I did what I could for him, and arrangements had been +made to put him with decent people at Vancouver. But last Wednesday +night he disappeared from the boarding house where he and I were +both lodging, and various persons here will know"--he glanced at +one or two faces in the ring before him--"that I have been making +inquiries since, with no result. As to what or who led him into +this horrible business, I know nothing. The Nevada deputies have +told you that he was acquainted with Symonds--a fact unknown to +me--and I noticed on one or two occasions that he seemed to have +acquaintances among the men tramping west to the Kootenay district. +I can only imagine that after his success in Montana last year, +Symonds made up his mind to try the same game on the C.P.R., and +that during the last fortnight he came somehow into communication +with my father. My father must have been aware of Symonds's +plans--and may have been unable at the last to resist the +temptation to join in the scheme. As to all that I am entirely in +the dark."</p> +<p>He paused, and then, looking down, he added, under his breath, +as though involuntarily--"I pray--that he may not have been +concerned in the murder of poor Brown. But there is--I think--no +evidence to connect him with it. I shall be glad to answer to the +best of my power any questions that the court may wish to put."</p> +<p>He sat down heavily, very pale, but entirely collected. The room +watched him a moment, and then a friendly, encouraging murmur +seemed to rise from the crowd--to pass from them to Anderson.</p> +<p>The coroner, who was an old friend of Anderson's, fidgeted a +little and in silence. He took off his glasses and put them on +again. His tanned face, long and slightly twisted, with square +harsh brows, and powerful jaw set in a white fringe of whisker, +showed an unusual amount of disturbance. At last he said, clearing +his throat: "We are much obliged to you, Mr. Anderson, for your +frankness towards this court. There's not a man here that don't +feel for you, and don't wish to offer you his respectful sympathy. +We know you--and I reckon we know what to think about you. +Gentlemen," he spoke with nasal deliberation, looking round the +court, "I think that's so?"</p> +<p>A shout of consent--the shout of men deeply moved--went up. +Anderson, who had resumed his former attitude, appeared to take no +notice, and the coroner resumed.</p> +<p>"I will now call on Mrs. Ginnell to give her evidence."</p> +<p>The Irishwoman rose with alacrity--what she had to say held the +audience. The surly yet good-hearted creature was divided between +her wish to do justice to the demerits of McEwen, whom she had +detested, and her fear of hurting Anderson's feelings in public. +Beneath her rough exterior, she carried some of the delicacies of +Celtic feeling, and she had no sooner given some fact that showed +the coarse dishonesty of the father, than she veered off in haste +to describe the pathetic efforts of the son. Her homely talk told; +the picture grew.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Anderson sat impatient or benumbed, annoyed with Mrs. +Ginnell's garrulity, and longing for the whole thing to end. He had +a letter to write to Ottawa before post-time.</p> +<p>When the verdicts had been given, the doctor and he walked away +from the court together. The necessary formalities were carried +through, a coffin ordered, and provision made for the burial of +Robert Anderson. As the two men passed once or twice through the +groups now lounging and smoking as before outside the hotel, all +conversation ceased, and all eyes followed Anderson. Sincere pity +was felt for him; and at the same time men asked each other +anxiously how the revelation would affect his political and other +chances.</p> +<p>Late in the same evening the burial of McEwen took place. A +congregational minister at the graveside said a prayer for mercy on +the sinner. Anderson had not asked him to do it, and felt a dull +resentment of the man's officiousness, and the unctious length of +his prayer. Half an hour later he was on the platform, waiting for +the train to Glacier.</p> +<p>He arrived there in the first glorious dawn of a summer morning. +Over the vast Illecillowaet glacier rosy feather-clouds were +floating in a crystal air, beneath a dome of pale blue. Light mists +rose from the forests and the course of the river, and above them +shone the dazzling snows, the hanging glaciers, and glistening rock +faces, ledge piled on ledge, of the Selkirk giants--Hermit and +Tupper, Avalanche and Sir Donald--with that cleft of the pass +between.</p> +<p>The pleasant hotel, built to offer as much shelter and comfort +as possible to the tired traveller and climber, was scarcely awake. +A sleepy-eyed Japanese showed Anderson to his room. He threw +himself on the bed, longing for sleep, yet incapable of it. He was +once more under the same roof with Elizabeth Merton--and for the +last time! He longed for her presence, her look, her touch; and yet +with equal intensity he shrank from seeing her. That very morning +through the length of Canada and the States would go out the news +of the train-robbery on the main line of the C.P.R., and with it +the "dramatic" story of himself and his father, made more dramatic +by a score of reporters. And as the news of his appointment, in the +papers of the day before, had made him a public person, and had +been no doubt telegraphed to London and Europe, so also would it be +with the news of the "hold-up," and his own connection with it; +partly because it had happened on the C.P.R.; still more because of +the prominence given to his name the day before.</p> +<p>He felt himself a disgraced man; and he had already put from him +all thought of a public career. Yet he wondered, not without +self-contempt, as he lay there in the broadening light, what it was +in truth that made the enormous difference between this Monday and +the Monday before. His father was dead, and had died in the very +commission of a criminal act. But all or nearly all that Anderson +knew now about his character he had known before this happened. The +details given by the Nevada officers were indeed new to him; but he +had shrewdly suspected all along that the record, did he know it, +would be something like that. If such a parentage in itself +involves stain and degradation, the stain and degradation had been +always there, and the situation, looked at philosophically, was no +worse for the catastrophe which had intervened between this week +and last.</p> +<p>And yet it was of course immeasurably worse! Such is the "bubble +reputation"--the difference between the known and the unknown.</p> +<p>At nine o'clock a note was brought to his room:</p> +<blockquote>"Will you breakfast with me in half an hour? You will +find me alone.<br> +<br> +"E.M."</blockquote> +<p>Before the clock struck the half-hour, Elizabeth was already +waiting for her guest, listening for every sound. She too had been +awake half the night.</p> +<p>When he came in she went up to him, with her quick-tripping +step, holding out both her hands; and he saw that her eyes were +full of tears.</p> +<p>"I am so--so sorry!" was all she could say. He looked into her +eyes, and as her hands lay in his he stooped suddenly and kissed +them. There was a great piteousness in his expression, and she felt +through every nerve the humiliation and the moral weariness which +oppressed him. Suddenly she recalled that first moment of intimacy +between them when he had so brusquely warned her about Philip, and +she had been wounded by his mere strength and fearlessness; and it +hurt her to realise the contrast between that strength and this +weakness.</p> +<p>She made him sit down beside her in the broad window of her +little sitting-room, which over-looked the winding valley with the +famous loops of the descending railway, and the moving light and +shade on the forest; and very gently and tenderly she made him tell +her all the story from first to last.</p> +<p>His shrinking passed away, soothed by her sweetness, her +restrained emotion, and after a little he talked with freedom, +gradually recovering his normal steadiness and clearness of +mind.</p> +<p>At the same time she perceived some great change in him. The +hidden spring of melancholy in his nature, which, amid all his +practical energies and activities, she had always discerned, seemed +to have overleaped its barriers, and to be invading the landmarks +of character.</p> +<p>At the end of his narrative he said something in a hurried, low +voice which gave her a clue.</p> +<p>"I did what I could to help him--but my father hated me. He died +hating me. Nothing I could do altered him. Had he reason? When my +brother and I in our anger thought we were avenging our mother's +death, were we in truth destroying him also--driving him into +wickedness beyond hope? Were we--was I--for I was the +eldest--responsible? Does his death, moral and physical, lie at my +door?"</p> +<p>He raised his eyes to her--his tired appealing eyes--and +Elizabeth realised sharply how deep a hold such questionings take +on such a man. She tried to argue with and comfort him--and he +seemed to absorb, to listen--but in the middle of it, he said +abruptly, as though to change the subject:</p> +<p>"And I confess the publicity has hit me hard. It may be +cowardly, but I can't face it for a while. I think I told you I +owned some land in Saskatchewan. I shall go and settle down on it +at once."</p> +<p>"And give up your appointment--your public life?" she cried in +dismay.</p> +<p>He smiled at her faintly, as though trying to console her.</p> +<p>"Yes; I shan't be missed, and I shall do better by myself. I +understand the wheat and the land. They are friends that don't fail +one."</p> +<p>Elizabeth flushed.</p> +<p>"Mr. Anderson!--you mustn't give up your work. Canada asks it of +you."</p> +<p>"I shall only be changing my work. A man can do nothing better +for Canada than break up land."</p> +<p>"You can do that--and other things besides. Please--please--do +nothing rash!"</p> +<p>She bent over to him, her brown eyes full of entreaty, her hand +laid gently, timidly on his.</p> +<p>He could not bear to distress her--but he must.</p> +<p>"I sent in my resignation yesterday to the Prime Minister."</p> +<p>The delicate face beside him clouded.</p> +<p>"He won't accept it."</p> +<p>Anderson shook his head. "I think he must."</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked at him in despair.</p> +<p>"Oh! no. You oughtn't to do this--indeed, indeed you oughtn't. +It is cowardly--forgive me!--unworthy of you. Oh! can't you see how +the sympathy of everybody who knows--everybody whose opinion you +care for--"</p> +<p>She stopped a moment, colouring deeply, checked indeed by the +thought of a conversation between herself and Philip of the night +before. Anderson interrupted her:</p> +<p>"The sympathy of one person," he said hoarsely, "is very +precious to me. But even for her--"</p> +<p>She held out her hands to him again imploringly--</p> +<p>"Even for her?--"</p> +<p>But instead of taking the hands he rose and went out on the +balcony a moment, as though to look at the great view. Then he +returned, and stood over her.</p> +<p>"Lady Merton, I am afraid--it's no use. We are not--we can't +be--friends."</p> +<p>"Not friends?" she said, her lip quivering. "I thought I--"</p> +<p>He looked down steadily on her upturned face. His own spoke +eloquently enough. Turning her head away, with fluttering breath, +she began to speak fast and brokenly:</p> +<p>"I, too, have been very lonely. I want a friend whom I might +help--who would help me. Why should you refuse? We are not either +of us quite young; what we undertook we could carry through. Since +my husband's death I--I have been playing at life. I have always +been hungry, dissatisfied, discontented. There were such splendid +things going on in the world, and I--I was just marking time. +Nothing to do!--as much money as I could possibly want--society of +course--travelling--and visiting--and amusing myself--but oh! so +tired all the time. And somehow Canada has been a great revelation +of real, strong, living things--this great Northwest--and you, who +seemed to explain it to me--"</p> +<p>"Dear Lady Merton!" His tone was low and full of emotion. And +this time it was he who stooped and took her unresisting hands in +his. She went on in the same soft, pleading tone--</p> +<p>"I felt what it might be--to help in the building up a better +human life--in this vast new country. God has given to you this +task--such a noble task!--and through your friendship, I too seemed +to have a little part in it, if only by sympathy. Oh, no! you +mustn't turn back--you mustn't shrink--because of what has happened +to you. And let me, from a distance, watch and help. It will +ennoble my life, too. Let me!"--she smiled--"I shall make a good +friend, you'll see. I shall write very often. I shall argue--and +criticise--and want a great deal of explaining. And you'll come +over to us, and do splendid work, and make many English friends. +Your strength will all come back to you."</p> +<p>He pressed the hands he held more closely.</p> +<p>"It is like you to say all this--but--don't let us deceive +ourselves. I could not be your friend, Lady Merton. I must not come +and see you."</p> +<p>She was silent, very pale, her eyes on his--and he went on:</p> +<p>"It is strange to say it in this way, at such a moment; but it +seems as though I had better say it. I have had the audacity, you +see--to fall in love with you. And if it was audacity a week ago, +you can guess what it is now--now when--Ask your mother and brother +what they would think of it!" he said abruptly, almost +fiercely.</p> +<p>There was a moment's silence. All consciousness, all feeling in +each of these two human beings had come to be--with the irrevocable +swiftness of love--a consciousness of the other. Under the sombre +renouncing passion of his look, her own eyes filled +slowly--beautifully--with tears. And through all his perplexity and +pain there shot a thrill of joy, of triumph even, sharp and +wonderful. He understood. All this might have been his--this +delicate beauty, this quick will, this rare intelligence--and yet +the surrender in her aspect was not the simple surrender of love; +he knew before she spoke that she did not pretend to ignore the +obstacles between them; that she was not going to throw herself +upon his renunciation, trying vehemently to break it down, in a +mere blind girlish impulsiveness. He realised at once her heart, +and her common sense; and was grateful to her for both.</p> +<p>Gently she drew herself away, drawing a long breath. "My mother +and brother would not decide those things for me--oh, +<i>never</i>!--I should decide them for myself. But we are not +going to talk of them to-day. We are not going to make any--any +rash promises to each other. It is you we must think for--your +future--your life. And then--if you won't give me a friend's right +to speak--you will be unkind--and I shall respect you less."</p> +<p>She threw back her little head with vivacity. In the gesture he +saw the strength of her will and his own wavered.</p> +<p>"How can it be unkind?" he protested. "You ought not to be +troubled with me any more."</p> +<p>"Let me be judge of that. If you will persist in giving up this +appointment, promise me at least to come to England. That will +break this spell of this--this terrible thing, and give you +courage--again. Promise me!"</p> +<p>"No, no!--you are too good to me--too good;--let it end here. It +is much, much better so."</p> +<p>Then she broke down a little.</p> +<p>She looked round her, like some hurt creature seeking a means of +escape. Her lips trembled. She gave a low cry. "And I have loved +Canada so! I have been so happy here."</p> +<p>"And now I have hurt you?--I have spoilt everything?"</p> +<p>"It is your unhappiness does that--and that you will spoil your +life. Promise me only this one thing--to come to England! Promise +me!"</p> +<p>He sat down in a quiet despair that she would urge him so. A +long argument followed between them, and at last she wore him down. +She dared say nothing more of the Commissionership; but he promised +her to come to England some time in the following winter; and with +that she had to be content.</p> +<br> +<p>Then she gave him breakfast. During their conversation, which +Elizabeth guided as far as possible to indifferent topics, the name +of Mariette was mentioned. He was still, it seemed, at Vancouver. +Elizabeth gave Anderson a sudden look, and casually, without his +noticing, she possessed herself of the name of Mariette's +hotel.</p> +<p>At breakfast also she described, with a smile and sigh, her +brother's first and last attempt to shoot wild goat in the Rockies, +an expedition which had ended in a wetting and a chill--"luckily +nothing much; but poor Philip won't be out of his room to-day."</p> +<p>"I will go and see him," said Anderson, rising.</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked up, her colour fluttering.</p> +<p>"Mr. Anderson, Philip is only a boy, and sometimes a foolish +boy--"</p> +<p>"I understand," said Anderson quietly, after a moment. "Philip +thinks his sister has been running risks. Who warned him?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders without replying. He saw a +touch of scorn in her face that was new to him.</p> +<p>"I think I guess," he said. "Why not? It was the natural thing. +So Mr. Delaine is still here?"</p> +<p>"Till to-morrow."</p> +<p>"I am glad. I shall like to assure him that his name was not +mentioned--he was not involved at all!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth's lip curled a little, but she said nothing. During +the preceding forty-eight hours there had been passages between +herself and Delaine that she did not intend Anderson to know +anything about. In his finical repugnance to soiling his hands with +matters so distasteful, Delaine had carried out the embassy which +Anderson had perforce entrusted to him in such a manner as to rouse +in Elizabeth a maximum of pride on her own account, and of +indignation on Anderson's. She was not even sorry for him any more; +being, of course, therein a little unjust to him, as was natural to +a high-spirited and warm-hearted woman.</p> +<p>Anderson, meanwhile, went off to knock at Philip's door, and +Philip's sister was left behind to wonder nervously how Philip +would behave and what he would say. She was still smarting under +the boy's furious outburst of the night before when, through a +calculated indiscretion of Delaine's, the notion that Anderson had +presumed and might still presume to set his ambitions on Elizabeth +had been presented to him for the first time.</p> +<p>"My sister marry a mining engineer!--with a drunken old robber +for a father! By Jove! Anybody talking nonsense of that kind will +jolly well have to reckon with me! Elizabeth!--you may say what you +like, but I am the head of the family!"</p> +<p>Anderson found the head of the family in bed, surrounded by +novels, and a dozen books on big-game shooting in the Rockies. +Philip received him with an evident and ungracious +embarrassment.</p> +<p>"I am awfully sorry--beastly business. Hard lines on you, of +course--very. Hope they'll get the men."</p> +<p>"Thank you. They are doing their best."</p> +<p>Anderson sat down beside the lad. The fragility of his look +struck him painfully, and the pathetic contrast between it and the +fretting spirit--the books of travel and adventure heaped round +him.</p> +<p>"Have you been ill again?" he asked in his kind, deep voice.</p> +<p>"Oh, just a beastly chill. Elizabeth would make me take too many +wraps. Everyone knows you oughtn't to get overheated walking."</p> +<p>"Do you want to stay on here longer?"</p> +<p>"Not I! What do I care about glaciers and mountains and that +sort of stuff if I can't hunt? But Elizabeth's got at the doctor +somehow, and he won't let me go for three or four days unless I +kick over the traces. I daresay I shall."</p> +<p>"No you won't--for your sister's sake. I'll see all arrangements +are made."</p> +<p>Philip made no direct reply. He lay staring at the ceiling--till +at last he said--</p> +<p>"Delaine's going. He's going to-morrow. He gets on Elizabeth's +nerves."</p> +<p>"Did he say anything to you about me?" said Anderson.</p> +<p>Philip flushed.</p> +<p>"Well, I daresay he did."</p> +<p>"Make your mind easy, Gaddesden. A man with my story is not +going to ask your sister to marry him."</p> +<p>Philip looked up. Anderson sat composedly erect, the traces of +his nights of sleeplessness and revolt marked on every feature, but +as much master of himself and his life--so Gaddesden intuitively +felt--as he had ever been. A movement of remorse and affection +stirred in the young man mingled with the strength of other +inherited things.</p> +<p>"Awfully sorry, you know," he said clumsily, but this time +sincerely. "I don't suppose it makes any difference to you that +your father--well, I'd better not talk about it. But you +see--Elizabeth might marry anybody. She might have married heaps of +times since Merton died, if she hadn't been such an icicle. She's +got lots of money, and--well, I don't want to be snobbish--but at +home--we--our family--"</p> +<p>"I understand," said Anderson, perhaps a little +impatiently--"you are great people. I understood that all +along."</p> +<p>Family pride cried out in Philip. "Then why the deuce--" But he +said aloud in some confusion, "I suppose that sounded +disgusting"--then floundering deeper--"but you see--well, I'm very +fond of Elizabeth!"</p> +<p>Anderson rose and walked to the window which commanded a view of +the railway line.</p> +<p>"I see the car outside. I'll go and have a few words with +Yerkes."</p> +<p>The boy let him go in silence--conscious on the one hand that he +had himself played a mean part in their conversation, and on the +other that Anderson, under this onset of sordid misfortune, was +somehow more of a hero in his eyes, and no doubt in other people's, +than ever.</p> +<p>On his way downstairs Anderson ran into Delaine, who was +ascending with an armful of books and pamphlets.</p> +<p>"Oh, how do you do? Had only just heard you were here. May I +have a word with you?"</p> +<p>Anderson remounted the stairs in silence, and the two men +paused, seeing no one in sight, in the corridor beyond.</p> +<p>"I have just read the report of the inquest, and should like to +offer you my sincere sympathy and congratulations on your very +straightforward behaviour--" Anderson made a movement. Delaine went +on hurriedly--</p> +<p>"I should like also to thank you for having kept my name out of +it."</p> +<p>"There was no need to bring it in," said Anderson coldly.</p> +<p>"No of course not--of course not! I have also seen the news of +your appointment. I trust nothing will interfere with that."</p> +<p>Anderson turned towards the stairs again. He was conscious of a +keen antipathy--the antipathy of tired nerves--to the speaker's +mere aspect, his long hair, his too picturesque dress, the antique +on his little finger, the effeminate stammer in his voice.</p> +<p>"Are you going to-day? What train?" he said, in a careless voice +as he moved away.</p> +<p>Delaine drew back, made a curt reply, and the two men +parted.</p> +<p>"Oh, he'll get over it; there will very likely be nothing to get +over," Delaine reflected tartly, as he made his way to his room. "A +new country like this can't be too particular." He was thankful, at +any rate, that he would have an opportunity before long--for he was +going straight home and to Cumberland--of putting Mrs. Gaddesden on +her guard. "I may be thought officious; Lady Merton let me see very +plainly that she thinks me so--but I shall do my duty +nevertheless."</p> +<p>And as he stood over his packing, bewildering his valet with a +number of precise and old-maidish directions, his sore mind ran +alternately on the fiasco of his own journey and on the incredible +folly of nice women.</p> +<p>Delaine departed; and for two days Elizabeth ministered to +Anderson. She herself went strangely through it, feeling between +them, as it were, the bared sword of his ascetic will--no less than +her own terrors and hesitations. But she set herself to lift him +from the depths; and as they walked about the mountains and the +forests, in a glory of summer sunshine, the sanity and sweetness of +her nature made for him a spiritual atmosphere akin in its healing +power to the influence of pine and glacier upon his physical +weariness.</p> +<p>On the second evening, Mariette walked into the hotel. Anderson, +who had just concluded all arrangements for the departure of the +car with its party within forty-eight hours, received him with +astonishment.</p> +<p>"What brings you here?"</p> +<p>Mariette's harsh face smiled at him gravely.</p> +<p>"The conviction that if I didn't come, you would be committing a +folly."</p> +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> +<p>"Giving up your Commissionership, or some nonsense of that +sort."</p> +<p>"I have given it up."</p> +<p>"H'm! Anything from Ottawa yet?"</p> +<p>It was impossible, Anderson pointed out, that there should be +any letter for another three days. But he had written finally and +did not mean to be over-persuaded.</p> +<p>Mariette at once carried him off for a walk and attacked him +vigorously. "Your private affairs have nothing whatever to do with +your public work. Canada wants you--you must go."</p> +<p>"Canada can easily get hold of a Commissioner who would do her +more credit," was the bitter reply. "A man's personal circumstances +are part of his equipment. They must not be such as to injure his +mission."</p> +<p>Mariette argued in vain.</p> +<p>As they were both dining in the evening with Elizabeth and +Philip, a telegram was brought in for Anderson from the Prime +Minister. It contained a peremptory and flattering refusal to +accept his resignation. "Nothing has occurred which affects your +public or private character. My confidence quite unchanged. Work is +best for yourself, and the public expects it of you. Take time to +consider, and wire me in two days."</p> +<p>Anderson thrust it into his pocket, and was only with difficulty +persuaded to show it to Mariette.</p> +<p>But in the course of the evening many letters arrived--letters +of sympathy from old friends in Quebec and Manitoba, from +colleagues and officials, from navvies and railwaymen, even, on the +C.P.R., from his future constituents in Saskatchewan--drawn out by +the newspaper reports of the inquest and of Anderson's evidence. +For once the world rallied to a good man in distress! and Anderson +was strangely touched and overwhelmed by it.</p> +<p>He passed an almost sleepless night, and in the morning as he +met Elizabeth on her balcony he said to her, half reproachfully, +pointing to Mariette below--</p> +<p>"It was you sent for him."</p> +<p>Elizabeth smiled.</p> +<p>"A woman knows her limitations! It is harder to refuse two than +one."</p> +<p>For twenty-four hours the issue remained uncertain. Letters +continued to pour in; Mariette applied the plain-spoken, +half-scornful arguments natural to a man holding a purely spiritual +standard of life; and Elizabeth pleaded more by look and manner +than by words.</p> +<p>Anderson held out as long as he could. He was assaulted by that +dark midway hour of manhood, that distrust of life and his own +powers, which disables so many of the world's best men in these +heightened, hurrying days. But in the end his two friends saved +him--as by fire.</p> +<p>Mariette himself dictated the telegram to the Prime Minister in +which Anderson withdrew his resignation; and then, while Anderson, +with a fallen countenance, carried it to the post, the French +Canadian and Elizabeth looked at each other--in a common exhaustion +and relief.</p> +<p>"I feel a wreck," said Elizabeth. "Monsieur, you are an +excellent ally." And she held out her hand to her colleague. +Mariette took it, and bowed over it with the air of a <i>grand +seigneur</i> of 1680.</p> +<p>"The next step must be yours, madam--if you really take an +interest in our friend."</p> +<p>Elizabeth rather nervously inquired what it might be.</p> +<p>"Find him a wife!--a good wife. He was not made to live +alone."</p> +<p>His penetrating eyes in his ugly well-bred face searched the +features of his companion. Elizabeth bore it smiling, without +flinching.</p> +<p>A fortnight passed--and Elizabeth and Philip were on their way +home through the heat of July. Once more the railway which had +become their kind familiar friend sped them through the prairies, +already whitening to the harvest, through the Ontarian forests and +the Ottawa valley. The wheat was standing thick on the illimitable +earth; the plains in their green or golden dress seemed to laugh +and sing under the hot dome of sky. Again the great Canadian +spectacle unrolled itself from west to east, and the heart +Elizabeth brought to it was no longer the heart of a stranger. The +teeming Canadian life had become interwoven with her life; and when +Anderson came to bid her a hurried farewell on the platform at +Regina, she carried the passionate memory of his face with her, as +the embodiment and symbol of all that she had seen and felt.</p> +<p>Then her thoughts turned to England, and the struggle before +her. She braced herself against the Old World as against an enemy. +But her spirit failed her when she remembered that in Anderson +himself she was like to find her chiefest foe.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +<br> +<p>"What about the shooters, Wilson? I suppose they'll be in +directly?"</p> +<p>"They're just finishing the last beat, ma'am. Shall I bring in +tea?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Gaddesden assented, and then leaving her seat by the fire +she moved to the window to see if she could discover any signs in +the wintry landscape outside of Philip and his shooting party. As +she did so she heard a rattle of distant shots coming from a point +to her right beyond the girdling trees of the garden. But she saw +none of the shooters--only two persons, walking up and down the +stone terrace outside, in the glow of the November sunset. One was +Elizabeth, the other a tall, ungainly, yet remarkable figure, was a +Canadian friend of Elizabeth's, who had only arrived that +forenoon--M. Félix Mariette, of Quebec. According to +Elizabeth, he had come over to attend a Catholic Congress in +London. Mrs. Gaddesden understood that he was an Ultramontane, and +that she was not to mention to him the word "Empire." She knew also +that Elizabeth had made arrangements with a neighbouring landowner, +who was also a Catholic, that he should be motored fifteen miles to +Mass on the following morning, which was Sunday; and her own +easy-going Anglican temper, which carried her to the parish church +about twelve times a year, had been thereby a good deal +impressed.</p> +<p>How well those furs became Elizabeth! It was a chill frosty +evening, and Elizabeth's slight form was wrapped in the sables +which had been one of poor Merton's earliest gifts to her. The +mother's eye dwelt with an habitual pride on the daughter's grace +of movement and carriage. "She is always so distinguished," she +thought, and then checked herself by the remembrance that she was +applying to Elizabeth an adjective that Elizabeth particularly +disliked. Nevertheless, Mrs. Gaddesden knew very well what she +herself meant by it. She meant something--some quality in +Elizabeth, which was always provoking in her mother's mind +despairing comparisons between what she might make of her life and +what she was actually making, or threatening to make of it.</p> +<p>Alas, for that Canadian journey--that disastrous Canadian +journey! Mrs. Gaddesden's thoughts, as she watched the two +strollers outside, were carried back to the moment in early August +when Arthur Delaine had reappeared in her drawing-room, three weeks +before Elizabeth's return, and she had gathered from his cautious +and stammering revelations what kind of man it was who seemed to +have established this strange hold on her daughter. Delaine, she +thought, had spoken most generously of Elizabeth and his own +disappointment, and most kindly of this Mr. Anderson.</p> +<p>"I know nothing against him personally--nothing! No doubt a very +estimable young fellow, with just the kind of ability that will +help him in Canada. Lady Merton, I imagine, will have told you of +the sad events in which we found him involved?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Gaddesden had replied that certainly Elizabeth had told her +the whole story, so far as it concerned Mr. Anderson. She pointed +to the letters beside her.</p> +<p>"But you cannot suppose," had been her further indignant remark, +"that Elizabeth would ever dream of marrying him!"</p> +<p>"That, my dear old friend, is for her mother to find out," +Delaine had replied, not without a touch of venom. "I can certainly +assure you that Lady Merton is deeply interested in this young man, +and he in her."</p> +<p>"Elizabeth--exiling herself in Canada--burying herself on the +prairies--when she might have everything here--the best of +everything--at her feet. It is inconceivable!"</p> +<p>Delaine had agreed that it was inconceivable, and they had +mourned together over the grotesque possibilities of life. "But you +will save her," he had said at last. "You will save her! You will +point out to her all she would be giving up--the absurdity, the +really criminal waste of it!"</p> +<p>On which he had gloomily taken his departure for an +archæological congress at Berlin, and an autumn in Italy; and +a few weeks later she had recovered her darling Elizabeth, paler +and thinner than before--and quite, quite incomprehensible!</p> +<p>As for "saving" her, Mrs. Gaddesden had not been allowed to +attempt it. In the first place, Elizabeth had stoutly denied that +there was anything to save her from. "Don't believe anything at +all, dear Mummy, that Arthur Delaine may have said to you! I have +made a great friend--of a very interesting man; and I am going to +correspond with him. He is coming to London in November, and I have +asked him to stay here. And you must be <i>very</i> kind to him, +darling--just as kind as you can be--for he has had a hard time--he +saved Philip's life--and he is an uncommonly fine fellow!"</p> +<p>And with that--great readiness to talk about everything except +just what Mrs. Gaddesden most wanted to know. Elizabeth sitting on +her mother's bed at night, crooning about Canada--her soft brown +hair over her shoulders, and her eyes sparkling with patriotic +enthusiasm, was a charming figure. But let Mrs. Gaddesden attempt +to probe and penetrate beyond a certain point, and the way was +resolutely barred. Elizabeth would kiss her mother tenderly--it was +as though her own reticence hurt her--but would say nothing. Mrs. +Gaddesden could only feel sorely that a great change had come over +the being she loved best in the world, and that she was not to know +the whys and wherefores of it.</p> +<p>And Philip--alack! had been of very little use to her in the +matter!</p> +<p>"Don't you bother your head, Mother! Anderson's an awfully good +chap--but he's not going to marry Elizabeth. Told me he knew he +wasn't the kind. And of course he isn't--must draw the line +somewhere--hang it! But he's an awfully decent fellow. He's not +going to push himself in where he isn't wanted. You let Elizabeth +alone, Mummy--it'll work off. And of course we must be civil to him +when he comes over--I should jolly well think we must--considering +he saved my life!"</p> +<p>Certainly they must be civil! News of Anderson's sailing and +arrival had been anxiously looked for. He had reached London three +days before this date, had presented his credentials at the Board +of Trade and the Colonial Office, and after various preliminary +interviews with ministers, was now coming down to Martindale for a +week-end before the assembling of the small conference of English +and colonial representatives to which he had been sent.</p> +<p>Mrs. Gaddesden saw from the various notices of his arrival in +the English papers that even in England, among the initiated he was +understood to be a man of mark. She was all impatience to see him, +and had shown it outwardly much more plainly than Elizabeth. How +quiet Elizabeth had been these last days! moving about the house so +silently, with vaguely smiling eyes, like one husbanding her +strength before an ordeal.</p> +<p>What was going to happen? Mrs. Gaddesden was conscious in her +own mind of a strained hush of expectation. But she had never +ventured to say a word to Elizabeth. In half an hour--or less--he +would be here. A motor had been sent to meet the express train at +the country town fifteen miles off. Mrs. Gaddesden looked round her +in the warm dusk, as though trying to forecast how Martindale and +its inmates would look to the new-comer. She saw a room of medium +size, which from the end of the sixteenth century had been known as +the Red Drawing Room--a room panelled in stamped Cordovan leather, +and filled with rare and beautiful things; with ebony cabinets, and +fine lacquer; with the rarest of oriental carpets, with carved +chairs, and luxurious sofas. Set here and there, sparingly, among +the shadows, as though in scorn of any vulgar profusion, the eye +caught the gleam of old silver, or rock crystal, or agate; +<i>bibelots</i> collected a hundred and fifty years ago by a +Gaddesden of taste, and still in their original places. Overhead, +the uneven stucco ceiling showed a pattern of Tudor roses; opposite +to Mrs. Gaddesden the wall was divided between a round mirror, in +whose depths she saw herself reflected and a fine Holbein portrait +of a man, in a flat velvet hat on a green background. Over the +carved mantelpiece with its date of 1586, there reigned a Romney +portrait--one of the most famous in existence--of a young girl in +black. Elizabeth Merton bore a curious resemblance to it. +Chrysanthemums, white, yellow and purple, gleamed amid the richness +of the room; while the light of the solitary lamp beside which Mrs. +Gaddesden had been sitting with her embroidery, blended with the +orange glow from outside now streaming in through the unshuttered +windows, to deepen a colour effect of extraordinary beauty, +produced partly by time, partly by the conscious effort of a dozen +generations.</p> +<p>And from the window, under the winter sunset, Mrs. Gaddesden +could see, at right angles to her on either side, the northern and +southern wings of the great house; the sloping lawns; the river +winding through the park; the ivy-grown church among the trees; the +distant woods and plantations; the purple outlines of the fells. +Just as in the room within, so the scene without was fused into a +perfect harmony and keeping by the mellowing light. There was in it +not a jarring note, a ragged line--age and dignity, wealth and +undisputed place: Martindale expressed them all. The Gaddesdens had +twice refused a peerage; and with contempt. In their belief, to be +Mr. Gaddesden of Martindale was enough; a dukedom could not have +bettered it. And the whole country-side in which they had been +rooted for centuries agreed with them. There had even been a +certain disapproval of the financial successes of Philip +Gaddesden's father. It was true that the Gaddesden rents had gone +down. But the country, however commercialised itself, looked with +jealousy on any intrusion of "commercialism" into the guarded and +venerable precincts of Martindale.</p> +<p>The little lady who was now, till Philip's majority and +marriage, mistress of Martindale, was a small, soft, tremulous +person, without the intelligence of her daughter, but by no means +without character. Secretly she had often felt oppressed by her +surroundings. Whenever Philip married, she would find it no +hardship at all to retire to the dower house at the edge of the +park. Meanwhile she did her best to uphold the ancient ways. But if +<i>she</i> sometimes found Martindale oppressive--too old, too +large, too rich, too perfect--how was it going to strike a young +Canadian, fresh from the prairies, who had never been in England +before?</p> +<p>A sudden sound of many footsteps in the hall. The drawing-room +door was thrown open by Philip, and a troop of men entered. A +fresh-coloured man with grizzled hair led the van.</p> +<p>"Well, Mrs. Gaddesden, here we all are. Philip has given us a +capital day!"</p> +<p>A group of men followed him; the agent of the property, two +small neighbouring squires, a broad-browed burly man in +knickerbockers, who was apparently a clergyman, to judge from his +white tie, the adjutant of the local regiment, and a couple of +good-looking youths, Etonian friends of Philip. Elizabeth and +Mariette came in from the garden, and a young cousin of the +Gaddesdens, a Miss Lucas, slipped into the room under Elizabeth's +wing. She was a pretty girl, dressed in an elaborate demi-toilette +of white chiffon, and the younger men of the party in their +shooting dress--with Philip at their head--were presently clustered +thick about her, like bees after pollen. It was clear, indeed, that +Philip was paying her considerable attention, and as he laughed and +sparred with her, the transient colour that exercise had given him +disappeared, and a pale look of excitement took its place.</p> +<p>Mariette glanced from one to another with a scarcely disguised +curiosity. This was only his third visit to England and he felt +himself in a foreign country. That was a <i>pasteur</i> he +supposed, in the gaiters--grotesque! And why was the young lady in +evening dress, while Lady Merton, now that she had thrown off her +furs, appeared in the severest of tweed coats and skirts? The rosy +old fellow beside Mrs. Gaddesden was, he understood from Lady +Merton, the Lord Lieutenant of the county.</p> +<p>But at that moment his hostess laid hands upon him to present +him to her neighbour. "Monsieur Mariette--Lord Waynflete."</p> +<p>"Delighted to see you," said the great man affably, holding out +his hand. "What a fine place Canada is getting! I am thinking of +sending my third son there."</p> +<p>Mariette bowed.</p> +<p>"There will be room for him."</p> +<p>"I am afraid he hasn't brains enough to do much here--but +perhaps in a new country--"</p> +<p>"He will not require them? Yes, it is a common opinion," said +Mariette, with composure. Lord Waynflete stared a little, and +returned to his hostess. Mariette betook himself to Elizabeth for +tea, and she introduced him to the girl in white, who looked at him +with enthusiasm, and at once threw over her bevy of young men, in +favour of the spectacled and lean-faced stranger.</p> +<p>"You are a Catholic, Monsieur?" she asked him, fervently. "How I +envy you! I <i>adore</i> the Oratory! When we are in town I always +go there to Benediction--unless Mamma wants me at home to pour out +tea. Do you know Cardinal C----?"</p> +<p>She named a Cardinal Archbishop, then presiding over the diocese +of Westminster.</p> +<p>"Yes, mademoiselle, I know him quite well. I have just been +staying with him."</p> +<p>She clasped her hands eagerly.</p> +<p>"How <i>very</i> interesting! I know him a little. <i>Isn't</i> +he nice?"</p> +<p>"No," said Mariette resolutely. "He is magnificent--a saint--a +scholar--everything--but not nice!"</p> +<p>The girl looked a little puzzled, then angry, and after a few +minutes' more conversation she returned to her young men, +conspicuously turning her back on Mariette.</p> +<p>He threw a deprecating, half-penitent look at Elizabeth, whose +faced twitched with amusement, and sat down in a corner behind her +that he might observe without talking. His quick intelligence +sorted the people about him almost at once--the two yeoman-squires, +who were not quite at home in Mrs. Gaddesden's drawing-room, were +awkward with their tea-cups, and talked to each other in subdued +voices, till Elizabeth found them out, summoned them to her side, +and made them happy; the agent who was helping Lady Merton with +tea, making himself generally useful; Philip and another gilded +youth, the son, he understood, of a neighbouring peer, who were +flirting with the girl in white; and yet a third fastidious +Etonian, who was clearly bored by the ladies, and was amusing +himself with the adjutant and a cigarette in a distant corner. His +eyes came back at last to the <i>pasteur</i>. An able face after +all; cool, shrewd, and not unspiritual. Very soon, he, the +parson--whose name was Everett--and Elizabeth were drawn into +conversation, and Marietta under Everett's good-humoured glance +found himself observed as well as observer.</p> +<p>"You are trying to decipher us?" said Everett, at last, with a +smile. "Well, we are not easy."</p> +<p>"Could you be a great nation if you were?"</p> +<p>"Perhaps not. England just now is a palimpsest--the new writing +everywhere on top of the old. Yet it is the same parchment, and the +old is there. Now <i>you</i> are writing on a fresh skin."</p> +<p>"But with the old ideas!" said Mariette, a flash in his dark +eyes. "Church--State--family!--there is nothing else to write +with."</p> +<p>The two men drew closer together, and plunged into conversation. +Elizabeth was left solitary a moment, behind the tea-things. The +buzz of the room, the hearty laugh of the Lord Lieutenant, reached +the outer ear. But every deeper sense was strained to catch a +voice--a step--that must soon be here. And presently across the +room, her eyes met her mother's, and their two expectancies +touched.</p> +<p>"Mother!--here is Mr. Anderson!"</p> +<p>Philip entered joyously, escorting his guest.</p> +<p>To Anderson's half-dazzled sight, the room, which was now fully +lit by lamplight and fire, seemed crowded. He found himself greeted +by a gentle grey-haired lady of fifty-five, with a strong likeness +to a face he knew; and then his hand touched Elizabeth's. Various +commonplaces passed between him and her, as to his journey, the new +motor which had brought him to the house, the frosty evening. +Mariette gave him a nod and smile, and he was introduced to various +men who bowed without any change of expression, and to a girl, who +smiled carelessly, and turned immediately towards Philip, hanging +over the back of her chair.</p> +<p>Elizabeth pointed to a seat beside her, and gave him tea. They +talked of London a little, and his first impressions. All the time +he was trying to grasp the identity of the woman speaking with the +woman he had parted from in Canada. Something surely had gone? This +restrained and rather cold person was not the Elizabeth of the +Rockies. He watched her when she turned from him to her other +guests; her light impersonal manner towards the younger men, with +its occasional touch of satire; the friendly relation between her +and the parson; the kindly deference she showed the old Lord +Lieutenant. Evidently she was mistress here, much more than her +mother. Everything seemed to be referred to her, to circle round +her.</p> +<p>Presently there was a stir in the room. Lord Waynflete asked for +his carriage.</p> +<p>"Don't forget, my dear lady, that you open the new Town Hall +next Wednesday," he said, as he made his way to Elizabeth.</p> +<p>She shrugged her shoulders.</p> +<p>"But you make the speech!"</p> +<p>"Not at all. They only want to hear you. And there'll be a great +crowd."</p> +<p>"Elizabeth can't speak worth a cent!" said Philip, with +brotherly candour. "Can you, Lisa?"</p> +<p>"I don't believe it," said Lord Waynflete, "but it don't matter. +All they want is that a Gaddesden should say something. Ah, Mrs. +Gaddesden--how glorious the Romney looks to-night!" He turned to +the fireplace, admiring the illuminated picture, his hands on his +sides.</p> +<p>"Is it an ancestress?" Mariette addressed the question to +Elizabeth.</p> +<p>"Yes. She had three husbands, and is supposed to have murdered +the fourth," said Elizabeth drily.</p> +<p>"All the same she's an extremely handsome woman," put in Lord +Waynflete. "And as you're the image of her, Lady Merton, you'd +better not run her down." Elizabeth joined in the laugh against +herself and the speaker turned to Anderson.</p> +<p>"You'll find this place a perfect treasure-house, Mr. Anderson, +and I advise you to study it--for the Radicals won't leave any of +us anything, before many years are out. You're from Manitoba? Ah, +you're not troubled with any of these Socialist fellows yet! But +you'll get 'em--you'll get 'em--like rats in the corn. They'll pull +the old flag down if they can. But you'll help us to keep it +flying. The Colonies are our hope--we look to the Colonies!"</p> +<p>The handsome old man raised an oratorical hand, and looked round +on his audience, like one to whom public speaking was second +nature.</p> +<p>Anderson made a gesture of assent; he was not really expected to +say anything. Mariette in the background observed the speaker with +an amused and critical detachment.</p> +<p>"Your carriage will be round directly, Lord Waynflete," said +Philip, "but I don't see why you should go."</p> +<p>"My dear fellow--I have to catch the night train. There is a +most important debate in the House of Lords to-morrow." He turned +to the Canadian politely. "Of course you know there is an autumn +session on. With these Radical Governments we shall soon have one +every year."</p> +<p>"What! the Education Bill again to-morrow?" said Everett. "What +are you going to do with it?"</p> +<p>Lord Waynflete looked at the speaker with some distaste. He did +not much approve of sporting parsons, and Everett's opinions were +too Liberal to please him. But he let himself be drawn, and soon +the whole room was in eager debate on some of the old hot issues +between Church and Dissent. Lord Waynflete ceased to be merely +fatuous and kindly. His talk became shrewd, statesmanlike even; he +was the typical English aristocrat and Anglican Churchman, +discussing topics with which he had been familiar from his cradle, +and in a manner and tone which every man in the room--save the two +Canadians--accepted without question. He was the natural leader of +these men of the land-owning or military class; they liked to hear +him harangue; and harangue he did, till the striking of a clock +suddenly checked him.</p> +<p>"I must be off! Well, Mrs. Gaddesden, it's the +<i>Church</i>--the Church we have to think of!--the Church we have +to fight for! What would England be without the Church--let's ask +ourselves that. Good-bye--good-bye!"</p> +<p>"Is he talking of the Anglican establishment?" muttered +Mariette. "<i>Quel drôle de vieillard!</i>"</p> +<p>The parson heard him, and, with a twinkle in his eyes, turned +and proposed to show the French Canadian the famous library of the +house.</p> +<p>The party melted away. Even Elizabeth had been summoned for some +last word with Lord Waynflete on the subject of the opening of the +Town Hall. Anderson was left alone.</p> +<p>He looked around him, at the room, the pictures, the panelled +walls, and then moving to the window which was still unshuttered, +he gazed out into the starlit dusk, and the dim, stately landscape. +There were lights in the church showing the stained glass of the +perpendicular windows, and a flight of rooks was circling round the +old tower.</p> +<p>As he stood there, somebody came back into the room. It was the +adjutant, looking for his hat.</p> +<p>"Jolly old place, isn't it?" said the young man civilly, seeing +that the stranger was studying the view. "It's to be hoped that +Philip will keep it up properly."</p> +<p>"He seems fond of it," said Anderson.</p> +<p>"Oh, yes! But you've got to be a big man to fill the position. +However, there's money enough. They're all rich--and they marry +money."</p> +<p>Anderson murmured something inaudible, and the young man +departed.</p> +<p>A little later Anderson and Elizabeth were seated together in +the Red Drawing Room. Mrs. Gaddesden, after a little perfunctory +conversation with the new-comer, had disappeared on the plea of +letters to write. The girl in white, the centre of a large party in +the hall, was flirting to her heart's content. Philip would have +dearly liked to stay and flirt with her himself; but his mother, +terrified by his pallor and fatigue after the exertion of the +shoot, had hurried him off to take a warm bath and rest before +dinner. So that Anderson and Elizabeth were alone.</p> +<p>Conversation between them did not move easily. Elizabeth was +conscious of an oppression against which it seemed vain to fight. +Up to the moment of his sailing from Canada his letters had been +frank and full, the letters of a deeply attached friend, though +with no trace in them of the language of love. What change was it +that the touch of English ground--the sight of Martindale--had +wrought? He talked with some readiness of the early stages of his +mission--of the kindness shown to him by English public men, and +the impressions of a first night in the House of Commons. But his +manner was constrained; anything that he said might have been heard +by all the world; and as their talk progressed, Elizabeth felt a +miserable paralysis descending on her own will. She grew whiter and +whiter. This old house in which they sat, with its splendours and +treasures, this environment of the past all about them seemed to +engulf and entomb them both. She had looked forward with a girlish +pleasure--and yet with a certain tremor--to showing Anderson her +old home, the things she loved and had inherited. And now it was as +though she were vulgarly conscious of wealth and ancestry as +dividing her from him. The wildness within her which found its +scope and its voice in Canada was here like an imprisoned stream, +chafing in caverns underground. Ah! it had been easy to defy the +Old World in Canada, its myriad voices and claims--the +many-fingered magic with which an old society plays on those born +into it!</p> +<p>"I shall be here perhaps a month," said Anderson, "but then I +shall be wanted at Ottawa."</p> +<p>And he began to describe a new matter in which he had been +lately engaged--a large development scheme applying to some of the +great Peace River region north of Edmonton. And as he told her of +his August journey through this noble country, with its superb +rivers, its shining lakes and forests, and its scattered settlers, +waiting for a Government which was their servant and not their +tyrant, to come and help their first steps in ordered civilisation; +to bring steamers to their waters, railways to link their +settlements, and fresh settlers to let loose the fertile forces of +their earth--she suddenly saw in him his old self--the Anderson who +had sat beside her in the crossing of the prairies, who had looked +into her eyes the day of Roger's Pass. He had grown older and +thinner; his hair was even lightly touched with grey. But the +traces in him of endurance and of pain were like the weathering of +a fine building; mellowing had come, and strength had not been +lost.</p> +<p>Yet still no word of feeling, of intimacy even. Her soul cried +out within her, but there was no answer. Then, when it was time to +dress, and she led him through the hall, to the inlaid staircase +with its famous balustrading--early English ironwork of +extraordinary delicacy--and through the endless corridors upstairs, +old and dim, but crowded with portraits and fine furniture, +Anderson looked round him in amazement.</p> +<p>"What a wonderful place!"</p> +<p>"It is too old!" cried Elizabeth, petulantly; then with a touch +of repentance--"Yet of course we love it. We are not so stifled +here as you would be."</p> +<p>He smiled and did not reply.</p> +<p>"Confess you have been stifled--ever since you came to +England."</p> +<p>He drew a long breath, throwing back his head with a gesture +which made Elizabeth smile. He smiled in return.</p> +<p>"It was you who warned me how small it would all seem. Such +little fields--such little rivers--such tiny journeys! And these +immense towns treading on each other's heels. Don't you feel +crowded up?"</p> +<p>"You are home-sick already?"</p> +<p>He laughed--"No, no!" But the gleam in his eyes admitted it. And +Elizabeth's heart sank--down and down.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>A few more guests arrived for Sunday--a couple of politicians, a +journalist, a poet, one or two agreeable women, a young Lord S., +who had just succeeded to one of the oldest of English marquisates, +and so on.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had chosen the party to give Anderson pleasure, and as +a guest he did not disappoint her pride in him. He talked well and +modestly, and the feeling towards Canada and the Canadians in +English society had been of late years so friendly that although +there was often colossal ignorance, there was no coolness in the +atmosphere about him. Lord S. confused Lake Superior with Lake +Ontario, and was of opinion that the Mackenzie River flowed into +the Ottawa. But he was kind enough to say that he would far sooner +go to Canada than any of "those beastly places abroad"--and as he +was just a simple handsome youth, Anderson took to him, as he had +taken to Philip at Lake Louise, and by the afternoon of Sunday was +talking sport and big game in a manner to hold the smoking-room +enthralled.</p> +<p>Only unfortunately Philip was not there to hear. He had been +over-tired by the shoot, and had caught a chill beside. The doctor +was in the house, and Mrs. Gaddesden had very little mind to give +to her Sunday party. Elizabeth felt a thrill of something like +comfort as she noticed how in the course of the day Anderson +unconsciously slipped back into the old Canadian position; sitting +with Philip, amusing him and "chaffing" him; inducing him to obey +his doctor; cheering his mother, and in general producing in +Martindale itself the same impression of masculine help and support +which he had produced on Elizabeth, five months before, in a +Canadian hotel.</p> +<p>By Sunday evening Mrs. Gaddesden, instead of a watchful enemy, +had become his firm friend; and in her timid, confused way she +asked him to come for a walk with her in the November dusk. Then, +to his astonishment, she poured out her heart to him about her son, +whose health, together with his recklessness, his determination to +live like other and sound men, was making the two women who loved +him more and more anxious. Anderson was very sorry for the little +lady, and genuinely alarmed himself with regard to Philip, whose +physical condition seemed to him to have changed considerably for +the worse since the Canadian journey. His kindness, his real +concern, melted Mrs. Gaddesden's heart.</p> +<p>"I hope we shall find you in town when we come up!" she said, +eagerly, as they turned back to the house, forgetting, in her +maternal egotism, everything but her boy. "Our man here wants a +consultation. We shall go up next week for a short time before +Christmas."</p> +<p>Anderson hesitated a moment.</p> +<p>"Yes," he said, slowly, but in a changed voice, "Yes, I shall +still be there."</p> +<p>Whereupon, with perturbation, Mrs. Gaddesden at last remembered +there were other lions in the path. They had not said a single +word--however conventional--of Elizabeth. But she quickly consoled +herself by the reflection that he must have seen by now, poor +fellow, how hopeless it was; and that being so, what was there to +be said against admitting him to their circle, as a real friend of +all the family--Philip's friend, Elizabeth's, and her own?</p> +<p>That night Mrs. Gaddesden was awakened by her maid between +twelve and one. Mr. Gaddesden wanted a certain medicine that he +thought was in his mother's room. Mrs. Gaddesden threw on her +dressing-gown and looked for it anxiously in vain. Perhaps +Elizabeth might remember where it was last seen. She hurried to +her. Elizabeth had a sitting-room and bedroom at the end of the +corridor, and Mrs. Gaddesden went into the sitting-room first, as +quietly as possible, so as not to startle her daughter.</p> +<p>She had hardly entered and closed the door behind her, guided by +the light of a still flickering fire, when a sound from the inner +room arrested her.</p> +<p>Elizabeth--Elizabeth in distress?</p> +<p>The mother stood rooted to the spot, in a sudden anguish. +Elizabeth--sobbing? Only once in her life had Mrs. Gaddesden heard +that sound before--the night that the news of Francis Merton's +death reached Martindale, and Elizabeth had wept, as her mother +believed, more for what her young husband might have been to her, +than for what he had been. Elizabeth's eyes filled readily with +tears answering to pity or high feeling; but this fierce stifled +emotion--this abandonment of pain!</p> +<p>Mrs. Gaddesden stood trembling and motionless, the tears on her +own cheeks. Conjecture hurried through her mind. She seemed to be +learning her daughter, her gay and tender Elizabeth, afresh. At +last she turned and crept out of the room, noiselessly shutting the +door. After lingering a while in the passage, she knocked, with an +uncertain hand, and waited till Elizabeth came--Elizabeth, hardly +visible in the firelight, her brown hair falling like a veil round +her face.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> +<br> +<p>A few days later the Gaddesdens were in town, settled in a house +in Portman Square. Philip was increasingly ill, and moreover +shrouded in a bitterness of spirit which wrung his mother's heart. +She suspected a new cause for it in the fancy that he had lately +taken for Alice Lucas, the girl in the white chiffon, who had piped +to Mariette in vain. Not that he ever now wanted to see her. He had +passed into a phase indeed of refusing all society--except that of +George Anderson. A floor of the Portman Square house was given up +to him. Various treatments were being tried, and as soon as he was +strong enough his mother was to take him to the South. Meanwhile +his only pleasure seemed to lie in Anderson's visits, which however +could not be frequent, for the business of the Conference was +heavy, and after the daily sittings were over, the interviews and +correspondence connected with them took much time.</p> +<p>On these occasions, whether early in the morning before the +business of the day began, or in the hour before dinner--sometimes +even late at night--Anderson after his chat with the invalid would +descend from Philip's room to the drawing-room below, only allowing +himself a few minutes, and glancing always with a quickening of the +pulse through the shadows of the large room, to see whether it held +two persons or one. Mrs. Gaddesden was invariably there; a small, +faded woman in trailing lace dresses, who would sit waiting for +him, her embroidery on her knee, and when he appeared would hurry +across the floor to meet him, dropping silks, scissors, +handkerchief on the way. This dropping of all her incidental +possessions--a performance repeated night after night, and followed +always by her soft fluttering apologies--soon came to be symbolic, +in Anderson's eyes. She moved on the impulse of the moment, without +thinking what she might scatter by the way. Yet the impulse was +always a loving impulse--and the regrets were sincere.</p> +<p>As to the relation to Anderson, Philip was here the pivot of the +situation exactly as he had been in Canada. Just as his physical +weakness, and the demands he founded upon it had bound the Canadian +to their chariot wheels in the Rockies, so now--<i>mutatis +mutandis</i>--in London. Mrs. Gaddesden before a week was over had +become pitifully dependent upon him, simply because Philip was +pleased to desire his society, and showed a flicker of cheerfulness +whenever he appeared. She was torn indeed between her memory of +Elizabeth's sobbing, and her hunger to give Philip the moon out of +the sky, should he happen to want it. Sons must come first, +daughters second; such has been the philosophy of mothers from the +beginning. She feared--desperately feared--that Elizabeth had given +her heart away. And as she agreed with Philip that it would not be +a seemly or tolerable marriage for Elizabeth, she would, in the +natural course of things, both for Elizabeth's sake and the +family's, have tried to keep the unseemly suitor at a distance. But +here he was, planted somehow in the very midst of their life, and +she, making feeble efforts day after day to induce him to root +himself there still more firmly. Sometimes indeed she would try to +press alternatives on Philip. But Philip would not have them. What +with the physical and moral force that seemed to radiate from +Anderson, and bring stimulus with them to the weaker life--and what +with the lad's sick alienation for the moment from his ordinary +friends and occupations, Anderson reigned supreme, often clearly to +his own trouble and embarrassment. Had it not been for Philip, +Portman Square would have seen him but seldom. That Elizabeth knew +with a sharp certainty, dim though it might be to her mother. But +as it was, the boy's tragic clinging to his new friend governed all +else, simply because at the bottom of each heart, unrecognised and +unexpressed, lurked the same foreboding, the same fear of +fears.</p> +<p>The tragic clinging was also, alack, a tragic selfishness. +Philip had a substantial share of that quick perception which in +Elizabeth became something exquisite and impersonal, the source of +all high emotions. When Delaine had first suggested to him "an +attachment" between Anderson and his sister, a hundred impressions +of his own had emerged to verify the statement and aggravate his +wrath; and when Anderson had said "a man of my history is not going +to ask your sister to marry him," Philip perfectly understood that +but for the history the attempt would have been made. Anderson was +therefore--most unreasonably and presumptuously--in love with +Elizabeth; and as to Elizabeth, the indications here also were not +lost upon Philip. It was all very amazing, and he wished, to use +his phrase to his mother, that it would "work off." But whether or +no, he could not do without Anderson--if Anderson was to be had. He +threw him and Elizabeth together, recklessly; trusting to +Anderson's word, and unable to resist his own craving for comfort +and distraction.</p> +<p>The days passed on, days so charged with feeling for Elizabeth +that they could only be met at all by a kind of resolute stillness +and self-control. Philip was very dependent on the gossip his +mother and sister brought him from the world outside. Elizabeth +therefore, to please him, went into society as usual, and forgot +her heartaches, for her brother and for herself, as best she could. +Outwardly she was much occupied in doing all that could be +done--socially and even politically--for Anderson and Mariette. She +had power and she used it. The two friends found themselves the +object of one of those sudden cordialities that open all doors, +even the most difficult, and run like a warm wave through London +society. Mariette remained throughout the ironic +spectator--friendly on his own terms, but entirely rejecting, +often, the terms offered him tacitly or openly, by his English +acquaintance.</p> +<p>"Your ways are not mine--your ideals are not mine, God forbid +they should be!"--he seemed to be constantly saying. "But we happen +to be oxen bound under the same yoke, and dragging the same plough. +No gush, please--but at the same time no ill-will! Loyal?--to your +loyalties? Oh yes--quite sufficiently--so long as you don't ask us +to let it interfere with our loyalty to our own! Don't be such +fools as to expect us to take much interest in your Imperial +orgies. But we're all right! Only let us alone--we're all +right!"</p> +<p>Such seemed to be the voice of this queer, kindly, satiric +personality. London generally falls into the arms of those who +flout her; and Mariette, with his militant Catholicism, and his +contempt for our governing ideals, became the fashion. As for +Anderson, the contact with English Ministers and men of affairs had +but carried on the generous process of development that Nature had +designed for a strong man. Whereas in Mariette the vigorous, +self-confident English world--based on the Protestant +idea--produced a bitter and profound irritation, Anderson seemed to +find in that world something ripening and favouring that brought +out all the powers--the intellectual powers at least--of his +nature. He did his work admirably; left the impression of a "coming +man" on a great many leading persons interested in the relations +between England and Canada; and when as often happened Elizabeth +and he found themselves at the same dinner-table, she would watch +the changes in him that a larger experience was bringing about, +with a heart half proud, half miserable. As for his story, which +was very commonly known, in general society, it only added to his +attractions. Mothers who were under no anxieties lest he might want +to marry their daughters, murmured the facts of his unlucky +<i>provenance</i> to each other, and then the more eagerly asked +him to dinner.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, for Elizabeth life was one long debate, which left +her often at night exhausted and spiritless. The shock of their +first meeting at Martindale, when all her pent-up yearning and +vague expectation had been met and crushed by the silent force of +the man's unaltered will, had passed away. She understood him +better. The woman who is beloved penetrates to the fact through all +the disguises that a lover may attempt. Elizabeth knew well that +Anderson had tones and expressions for her that no other woman +could win from him; and looking back to their conversation at the +Glacier House, she realised, night after night, in the silence of +wakeful hours, the fulness of his confession, together with the +strength of his recoil from any pretension to marry her.</p> +<p>Yes, he loved her, and his mere anxiety--now, and as things +stood--to avoid any extension or even repetition of their +short-lived intimacy, only betrayed the fact the more eloquently. +Moreover, he had reason, good reason, to think, as she often +passionately reminded herself, that he had touched her heart, and +that had the course been clear, he might have won her.</p> +<p>But--the course was not clear. From many signs, she understood +how deeply the humiliation of the scene at Sicamous had entered +into a proud man's blood. Others might forget; he remembered. +Moreover, that sense of responsibility--partial responsibility at +least--for his father's guilt and degradation, of which he had +spoken to her at Glacier, had, she perceived, gone deep with him. +It had strengthened a stern and melancholy view of life, inclining +him to turn away from personal joy, to an exclusive concern with +public duties and responsibilities.</p> +<p>And this whole temper had no doubt been increased by his +perception of the Gaddesdens' place in English society. He dared +not--he would not--ask a woman so reared in the best that England +had to give, now that he understood what that best might be, to +renounce it all in favour of what he had to offer. He realised that +there was a generous weakness in her own heart on which he might +have played. But he would not play; his fixed intention was to +disappear as soon as possible from her life; and it was his honest +hope that she would marry in her own world and forget him. In fact +he was the prey of a kind of moral terror that here also, as in the +case of his father, he might make some ghastly mistake, pursuing +his own will under the guise of love, as he had once pursued it +under the guise of retribution--to Elizabeth's hurt and his own +remorse.</p> +<p>All this Elizabeth understood, more or less plainly. Then came +the question--granted the situation, how was she to deal with it? +Just as he surmised that he could win her if he would, she too +believed that were she merely to set herself to prove her own love +and evoke his, she could probably break down his resistance. A +woman knows her own power. Feverishly, Elizabeth was sometimes on +the point of putting it out, of so provoking and appealing to the +passion she divined, as to bring him, whether he would or no, to +her feet.</p> +<p>But she hesitated. She too felt the responsibility of his life, +as of hers. Could she really do this thing--not only begin it, but +carry it through without repentance, and without recoil?</p> +<p>She made herself look steadily at this English spectacle with +its luxurious complexity, its concentration within a small space of +all the delicacies of sense and soul, its command of a rich +European tradition, in which art and literature are living streams +springing from fathomless depths of life. Could she, whose every +fibre responded so perfectly to the stimulus of this environment, +who up till now--but for moments of revolt--had been so happy and +at ease in it, could she wrench herself from it--put it behind +her--and adapt herself to quite another, without, so to speak, +losing herself, and half her value, whatever that might be, as a +human being?</p> +<p>As we know, she had already asked herself the question in some +fashion, under the shadow of the Rockies. But to handle it in +London was a more pressing and poignant affair. It was partly the +characteristic question of the modern woman, jealous, as women have +never been before in the world's history, on behalf of her own +individuality. But Elizabeth put it still more in the interests of +her pure and passionate feeling for Anderson. He must not--he +should not--run any risks in loving her!</p> +<p>On a certain night early in December, Elizabeth had been dining +at one of the great houses of London. Anderson too had been there. +The dinner party, held in a famous room panelled with full-length +Vandycks, had been of the kind that only London can show; since +only in England is society at once homogeneous enough and open +enough to provide it. In this house, also, the best traditions of +an older regime still prevailed, and its gatherings recalled--not +without some conscious effort on the part of the hostess--the days +of Holland House, and Lady Palmerston. To its smaller dinner +parties, which were the object of so many social ambitions, nobody +was admitted who could not bring a personal contribution. Dukes had +no more claim than other people, but as most of the twenty-eight +were blood-relations of the house, and some Dukes are agreeable, +they took their turn. Cabinet Ministers, Viceroys, Ambassadors, +mingled with the men of letters and affairs. There was indeed a +certain old-fashioned measure in it all. To be merely +notorious--even though you were amusing--was not passport enough. +The hostess--a beautiful tall woman, with the brow of a child, a +quick intellect, and an amazing experience of life--created round +her an atmosphere that was really the expression of her own +personality; fastidious, and yet eager; cold, and yet steeped in +intellectual curiosities and passions. Under the mingled stimulus +and restraint of it, men and women brought out the best that was in +them. The talk was good, and nothing--neither the last violinist, +nor the latest <i>danseuse</i>--was allowed to interfere with it. +And while the dress and jewels of the women were generally what a +luxurious capital expects and provides, you might often find some +little girl in a dyed frock--with courage, charm and breeding--the +centre of the scene.</p> +<p>Elizabeth in white, and wearing some fine jewels which had been +her mother's, had found herself placed on the left of her host, +with an ex-Viceroy of India on her other hand. Anderson, who was on +the opposite side of the table, watched her animation, and the +homage that was eagerly paid her by the men around her. Those +indeed who had known her of old were of opinion that whereas she +had always been an agreeable companion, Lady Merton had now for +some mysterious reason blossomed into a beauty. Some kindling +change had passed over the small features. Delicacy and reserve +were still there, but interfused now with a shimmering and +transforming brightness, as though some flame within leapt +intermittently to sight.</p> +<p>Elizabeth more than held her own with the ex-Viceroy, who was a +person of brilliant parts, accustomed to be flattered by women. She +did not flatter him, and he was reduced in the end to making those +efforts for himself, which he generally expected other people to +make for him. Elizabeth's success with him drew the attention of +several other persons at the table besides Anderson. The ex-Viceroy +was a bachelor, and one of the great <i>partis</i> of the day. What +could be more fitting than that Elizabeth Merton should carry him +off, to the discomfiture of innumerable intriguers?</p> +<p>After dinner, Elizabeth waited for Anderson in the magnificent +gallery upstairs where the guests of the evening party were +beginning to gather, and the musicians were arriving. When he came +she played her usual fairy godmother's part; introducing him to +this person and that, creating an interest in him and in his work, +wherever it might be useful to him. It was understood that she had +met him in Canada, and that he had been useful to the poor delicate +brother. No other idea entered in. That she could have any interest +in him for herself would have seemed incredible to this world +looking on.</p> +<p>"I must slip away," said Anderson, presently, in her ear; "I +promised to look in on Philip if possible. And to-morrow I fear I +shall be too busy."</p> +<p>And he went on to tell her his own news of the day--that the +Conference would be over sooner than he supposed, and that he must +get back to Ottawa without delay to report to the Canadian +Ministry. That afternoon he had written to take his passage for the +following week.</p> +<p>It seemed to her that he faltered in telling her; and, as for +her, the crowd of uniformed or jewelled figures around them became +to her, as he spoke, a mere meaningless confusion. She was only +conscious of him, and of the emotion which at last he could not +hide.</p> +<p>She quietly said that she would soon follow him to Portman +Square, and he went away. A few minutes afterwards, Elizabeth said +good-night to her hostess, and emerged upon the gallery running +round the fine Italianate hall which occupied the centre of the +house. Hundreds of people were hanging over the balustrading of the +gallery, watching the guests coming and going on the marble +staircase which occupied the centre of the hall.</p> +<p>Elizabeth's slight figure slowly descended.</p> +<p>"Pretty creature!" said one old General, looking down upon her. +"You remember--she was a Gaddesden of Martindale. She has been a +widow a long time now. Why doesn't someone carry her off?"</p> +<p>Meanwhile Elizabeth, as she went down, dreamily, from step to +step, her eyes bent apparrently upon the crowd which filled all the +spaces of the great pictorial house, was conscious of one of those +transforming impressions which represent the sudden uprush and +consummation in the mind of some obscure and long-continued +process.</p> +<p>One moment, she saw the restless scene below her, the diamonds, +the uniforms, the blaze of electric light, the tapestries on the +walls, the handsome faces of men and women; the next, it had been +wiped out; the prairies unrolled before her; she beheld a green, +boundless land invaded by a mirage of sunny water; scattered +through it, the white farms; above it, a vast dome of sky, with +summer clouds in glistening ranks climbing the steep of blue; and +at the horizon's edge, a line of snow-peaks. Her soul leapt within +her. It was as though she felt the freshness of the prairie wind +upon her cheek, while the call of that distant land--Anderson's +country--its simpler life, its undetermined fates, beat through her +heart.</p> +<p>And as she answered to it, there was no sense of renunciation. +She was denying no old affection, deserting no ancient loyalty. Old +and new; she seemed to be the child of both--gathering them both to +her breast.</p> +<p>Yet, practically, what was going to happen to her, she did not +know. She did not say to herself, "It is all clear, and I am going +to marry George Anderson!" But what she knew at last was that there +was no dull hindrance in herself, no cowardice in her own will; she +was ready, when life and Anderson should call her.</p> +<p>At the foot of the stairs Mariette's gaunt and spectacled face +broke in upon her trance. He had just arrived as she was +departing.</p> +<p>"You are off--so early?" he asked her, reproachfully.</p> +<p>"I want to see Philip before he settles for the night."</p> +<p>"Anderson, too, meant to look in upon your brother."</p> +<p>"Yes?" said Elizabeth vaguely, conscious of her own reddening, +and of Mariette's glance.</p> +<p>"You have heard his news?" He drew her a little apart into the +shelter of a stand of flowers. "We both go next week. You--Lady +Merton--have been our good angel--our providence. Has he been +saying that to you? All the same--<i>ma collégue</i>--I am +disappointed in you!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth's eye wavered under his.</p> +<p>"We agreed, did we not--at Glacier--on what was to be done next +to our friend? Oh! don't dispute! I laid it down--and you accepted +it. As for me, I have done nothing but pursue that object ever +since--in my own way. And you, Madam?"</p> +<p>As he stood over her, a lean Don Quixotish figure, his long arms +akimbo, Elizabeth's fluttering laugh broke out.</p> +<p>"Inquisitor! Good night!"</p> +<p>"Good night--but--just a word! Anderson has done well here. Your +public men say agreeable things of him. He will play your English +game--your English Imperialist game--which I can't play. But only, +if he is happy--if the fire in him is fed. Consider! Is it not a +patriotic duty to feed it?"</p> +<p>And grasping her hand, he looked at her with a gentle mockery +that passed immediately into that sudden seriousness--that +unconscious air of command--of which the man of interior life holds +the secret. In his jests even, he is still, by natural gift, the +confessor, the director, since he sees everything as the mystic +sees it, <i>sub specie æternitatis</i>.</p> +<p>Elizabeth's soft colour came and went. But she made no +reply--except it were through an imperceptible pressure of the hand +holding her own.</p> +<p>At that moment the ex-Viceroy, resplendent in his ribbon of the +Garter, who was passing through the hall, perceived her, pounced +upon her, and insisted on seeing her to her carriage. Mariette, as +he mounted the staircase, watched the two figures +disappear--smiling to himself.</p> +<p>But on the way home the cloud of sisterly grief descended on +Elizabeth. How could she think of herself--when Philip was +ill--suffering--threatened? And how would he bear the news of +Anderson's hastened departure?</p> +<p>As soon as she reached home, she was told by the sleepy butler +that Mrs. Gaddesden was in the drawing-room, and that Mr. Anderson +was still upstairs with Philip.</p> +<p>As she entered the drawing-room, her mother came running towards +her with a stifled cry:</p> +<p>"Oh, Lisa, Lisa!"</p> +<p>In terror, Elizabeth caught her mother in her arms.</p> +<p>"Mother--is he worse?"</p> +<p>"No! At least Barnett declares to me there is no real change. +But he has made up his mind, to-day, that he will never get better. +He told me so this evening, just after you had gone; and Barnett +could not satisfy him. He has sent for Mr. Robson." Robson was the +family lawyer.</p> +<p>The two women looked at one another in a pale despair. They had +reached the moment when, in dealing with a sick man, the fictions +of love drop away, and the inexorable appears.</p> +<p>"And now he'll break his heart over Mr. Anderson's going!" +murmured the mother, in an anguish. "I didn't want him to see +Philip to-night--but Philip heard his ring--and sent down for +him."</p> +<p>They sat looking at each other, hand in hand--waiting--and +listening. Mrs. Gaddesden murmured a broken report of the few words +of conversation which rose now, like a blank wall, between all the +past, and this present; and Elizabeth listened, the diamonds in her +hair and the folds of her satin dress glistening among the shadows +of the half-lit room, the slow tears on her cheeks.</p> +<p>At last a step descended. Anderson entered the room.</p> +<p>"He wants you," he said, to Elizabeth, as the two women rose. "I +am afraid you must go to him."</p> +<p>The electric light immediately above him showed his frowning, +shaken look.</p> +<p>"He is so distressed by your going?" asked Elizabeth, +trembling.</p> +<p>Anderson did not answer, except to repeat insistently--</p> +<p>"You must go to him. I don't myself think he is any +worse--but--"</p> +<p>Elizabeth hurried away. Anderson sat down beside Mrs. Gaddesden, +and began to talk to her.</p> +<p>When his sister entered his room, Philip was sitting up in an +arm-chair near the fire; looking so hectic, so death-doomed, so +young, that his sister ran to him in an agony--"Darling Philip--my +precious Philip--why did you want me? Why aren't you asleep?"</p> +<p>She bent over him and kissed his forehead, and then taking his +hand she laid it against her cheek, caressing it tenderly.</p> +<p>"I'm not asleep--because I've had to think of a great many +things," said the boy in a firm tone. "Sit down, please, Elizabeth. +For a few days past, I've been pretty certain about myself--and +to-night I screwed it out of Barnett. I haven't said anything to +you and mother, but--well, the long and short of it is, Lisa, I'm +not going to recover--that's all nonsense--my heart's too +dicky--I'm going to die."</p> +<p>She protested with tears, but he impatiently asked her to be +calm. "I've got to say something--something important--and don't +you make it harder, Elizabeth! I'm not going to get well, I tell +you--and though I'm not of age--legally--yet I do represent +father--I am the head of the family--and I have a right to think +for you and mother. Haven't I?"</p> +<p>The contrast between the authoritative voice, the echo of things +in him, ancestral and instinctive, and the poor lad's tremulous +fragility, was moving indeed. But he would not let her caress +him.</p> +<p>"Well, these last weeks, I've been thinking a great deal, I can +tell you, and I wasn't going to say anything to you and mother till +I'd got it straight. But now, all of a sudden, Anderson comes and +says that he's going back. Look here, Elizabeth--I've just been +speaking to Anderson. You know that he's in love with you--of +course you do!"</p> +<p>With a great effort, Elizabeth controlled herself. She lifted +her face to her brother's as she sat on a low chair beside him. +"Yes, dear Philip, I know."</p> +<p>"And did you know too that he had promised me not to ask you to +marry him?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth started.</p> +<p>"No--not exactly. But perhaps--I guessed."</p> +<p>"He did then!" said Philip, wearily. "Of course I told him what +I thought of his wanting to marry you, in the Rockies; and he +behaved awfully decently. He'd never have said a word, I think, +without my leave. Well--now I've changed my mind!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth could not help smiling through her tears. With what +merry scorn would she have met this assertion of the <i>patria +potestas</i> from the mouth of a sound brother! Her poor +Philip!</p> +<p>"Dear old boy!--what have you been saying to Mr. Anderson?"</p> +<p>"Well!"--the boy choked a little--"I've been telling him +that--well, never mind!--he knows what I think about him. Perhaps +if I'd known him years ago--I'd have been different. That don't +matter. But I want to settle things up for you and him. Because you +know, Elizabeth, you're pretty gone on him, too!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth hid her face against his knee--without speaking. The +boy resumed:</p> +<p>"And so I've been telling him that now I thought differently--I +hoped he would ask you to marry him--and I knew that you cared for +him--but that he mustn't dream of taking you to Canada. That was +all nonsense--couldn't be thought of! He must settle here. You've +lots of money--and--well, when I'm gone--you'll have more. Of +course Martindale will go away from us, and I know he will look +after mother as well as you."</p> +<p>There was silence--till Elizabeth murmured--"And what did he +say?"</p> +<p>The lad drew himself away from her with an angry movement.</p> +<p>"He refused!"</p> +<p>Elizabeth lifted herself, a gleam of something splendid and +passionate lighting up her small face.</p> +<p>"And what else, dear Philip, did you expect?"</p> +<p>"I expected him to look at it reasonably!" cried the boy. "How +can he ask a woman like you to go and live with him on the +prairies? It's ridiculous! He can go into English politics, if he +wants politics. Why shouldn't he live on your money? Everybody does +it!"</p> +<p>"Did you really understand what you were asking him to do, +Philip?"</p> +<p>"Of course I did! Why, what's Canada compared to England? Jolly +good thing for him. Why he might be anything here! And as if I +wouldn't rather be a dustman in England than a--"</p> +<p>"Philip, my dear boy! do rest--do go to bed," cried his mother +imploringly, coming into the room with her soft hurrying step. +"It's going on for one o'clock. Elizabeth mustn't keep you talking +like this!"</p> +<p>She smiled at him with uplifted finger, trying to hide from him +all traces of emotion.</p> +<p>But her son looked at her steadily.</p> +<p>"Mother, is Anderson gone?"</p> +<p>"No," said Mrs. Gaddesden, with hesitation. "But he doesn't want +you to talk any more to-night--he begs you not. +Please--Philip!"</p> +<p>"Ask him to come here!" said Philip, peremptorily. "I want to +talk to him and Elizabeth."</p> +<p>Mrs. Gaddesden protested in vain. The mother and daughter looked +at each other with flushed faces, holding a kind of mute dialogue. +Then Elizabeth rose from her seat by the fire.</p> +<p>"I will call Mr. Anderson, Philip. But if we convince you that +what you ask is quite impossible, will you promise to go quietly to +bed and try to sleep? It breaks mother's heart, you know, to see +you straining yourself like this."</p> +<p>Philip nodded--a crimson spot in each cheek, his frail hands +twining and untwining as he tried to compose himself.</p> +<p>Elizabeth went half-way down the stairs and called. Anderson +hurried out of the drawing-room, and saw her bending to him from +the shadows, very white and calm.</p> +<p>"Will you come back to Philip a moment?" she said, gently. +"Philip has told me what he proposed to you."</p> +<p>Anderson could not find a word to say. In a blind tumult of +feeling he caught her hand, and pressed his lips to it, as though +appealing to her dumbly to understand him.</p> +<p>She smiled at him.</p> +<p>"It will be all right," she whispered. "My poor Philip!" and she +led him back to the sick room.</p> +<p>"George--I wanted you to come back, to talk this thing out," +said Philip, turning to him as he entered, with the tyranny of +weakness. "There's no time to waste. You know--everybody knows--I +may get worse--and there'll be nothing settled. It's my duty to +settle--"</p> +<p>Elizabeth interrupted him.</p> +<p>"Philip darling!--"</p> +<p>She was hanging over his chair, while Anderson stood a few feet +away, leaning against the mantelpiece, his face turned from the +brother and sister. The intimacy--solemnity almost--of the +sick-room, the midnight hour, seemed to strike through Elizabeth's +being, deepening and yet liberating emotion.</p> +<p>"Dear Philip! It is not for Mr. Anderson to answer you--it is +for me. If he could give up his country--for happiness--even for +love--I should never marry him--for--I should not love him any +more."</p> +<p>Anderson turned to look at her. She had moved, and was now +standing in front of Philip, her head thrown back a little, her +hands lightly clasped in front of her. Her youth, her dress, her +diamonds, combined strangely with the touch of high passion in her +shining eyes, her resolute voice.</p> +<p>"You see, dear Philip, I love George Anderson--"</p> +<p>Anderson gave a low cry--and, moving to her side, he grasped her +hand. She gave it to him, smiling--and went on:</p> +<p>"I love him--partly--because he is so true to his own +people--because I saw him first--and knew him first--among them. +No! dear Philip, he has his work to do in Canada--in that great, +great nation that is to be. He has been trained for it--no one else +can do it but he--and neither you nor I must tempt him from +it."</p> +<p>The eyes of the brother and sister met. Elizabeth tried for a +lighter tone.</p> +<p>"But as neither of us <i>could</i> tempt him from it--it is no +use talking--is it?"</p> +<p>Philip looked from her to Anderson in a frowning silence. No one +spoke for a little while. Then it seemed to them as though the +young man recognised that his effort had failed, and his physical +weakness shrank from renewing it. But he still resisted his +mother's attempt to put an end to the scene.</p> +<p>"That's all very well, Lisa," he said at last, "but what are you +going to do?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth withdrew her hand from Anderson's.</p> +<p>"What am I going to do? <i>Wait</i>--just that!"</p> +<p>But her lip trembled. And to hide it she sank down again in the +low chair in front of her brother, propping her face in both +hands.</p> +<p>"Wait?" repeated Philip, scornfully--"and what for?"</p> +<p>"Till you and mother--come to my way of thinking--and"--she +faltered--"till Mr. Anderson--"</p> +<p>Her voice failed her a moment. Anderson stood motionless, +bending towards her, hanging upon her every gesture and tone.</p> +<p>"Till Mr. Anderson--" she resumed, "is--well!--is brave enough +to--trust a woman! and--oh! good Heavens!"--she dashed the tears +from her eyes, half laughing, as her self-control broke +down--"clever enough to save her from proposing to him in this +abominable way!"</p> +<p>She sprang to her feet impatiently. Anderson would have caught +her in his arms; but with a flashing look, she put him aside. A +wail broke from Mrs. Gaddesden:</p> +<p>"Lisa--you won't leave us!"</p> +<p>"Never, darling--unless you send me!--or come with me! And now, +don't you think, Philip dearest, you might let us all go to bed? +You are really not worse, you know; and Mother and I are going to +carry you off south--very, very soon."</p> +<p>She bent to him and kissed his brow. Philip's face gradually +changed beneath her look, from the tension and gloom with which he +had begun the scene to a kind of boyish relief--a touch of +pleasure--of mischief even. His high, majestical pretensions +vanished away; a light and volatile mind thought no more of them; +and he turned eagerly to another idea.</p> +<p>"Elizabeth, do you know that you have proposed to Anderson?"</p> +<p>"If I have, it was your fault."</p> +<p>"He hasn't said Yes?"</p> +<p>Elizabeth was silent. Anderson came forward--but Philip stopped +him with a gesture.</p> +<p>"He can't say Yes--till I give him back his promise," said the +boy, triumphantly. "Well, George, I do give it you back--on one +condition--that you put off going for a week, and that you come +back as soon as you can. By Jove, I think you owe me that!"</p> +<p>Anderson's difficult smile answered him.</p> +<p>"And now you've got rid of your beastly Conference, you can come +in, and talk business with me to-morrow--next day--every day!" +Philip resumed, "can't he, Elizabeth? If you're going to be my +brother, I'll jolly well get you to tackle the lawyers instead of +me--boring old idiots! I say--I'm going to take it easy now!"</p> +<p>He settled himself in his chair with a long breath, and his +eyelids fell. He was speaking, as they all knew, of the making of +his will. Mrs. Gaddesden stooped piteously and kissed him. +Elizabeth's face quivered. She put her arm round her mother and led +her away. Anderson went to summon Philip's servant.</p> +<p>A little later Anderson again descended the dark staircase, +leaving Philip in high spirits and apparently much better.</p> +<p>In the doorway of the drawing-room, stood a white form. Then the +man's passion, so long dyked and barriered, had its way. He sprang +towards her. She retreated, catching her breath; and in the shadows +of the empty room she sank into his arms. In the crucible of that +embrace all things melted and changed. His hesitations and doubts, +all that hampered his free will and purpose, whether it were the +sorrows and humiliations of the past--or the compunctions and +demurs of the present--dropped away from him, as unworthy not of +himself, but of Elizabeth. She had made him master of herself, and +her fate; and he boldly and loyally took up the part. He had +refused to become the mere appanage of her life, because he was +already pledged to that great idea he called his country. She loved +him the more for it; and now he had only to abound in the same +sense, in order to hold and keep the nature which had answered so +finely to his own. He had so borne himself as to wipe out all the +social and external inequalities between them. What she had given +him, she had had to sue him to take. But now that he had taken it, +she knew herself a weak woman on his breast, and she realised with +a happy tremor that he would make her no more apologies for his +love, or for his story. Rather, he stood upon that dignity she +herself had given him--her lover, and the captain of her life!</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>EPILOGUE</h2> +<br> +<p>About nine months later than the events told in the last +chapter, the August sun, as it descended upon a lake in that middle +region of the northern Rockies which is known as yet only to the +Indian trapper, and--on certain tracks--to a handful of white +explorers, shone on a boat containing two persons--Anderson and +Elizabeth. It was but twenty-four hours since they had reached the +lake, in the course of a long camping expedition involving the +company of two guides, a couple of half-breed <i>voyageurs</i>, and +a string of sixteen horses. No white foot had ever before trodden +the slender beaches of the lake; its beauty of forest and water, of +peak and crag, of sun and shadow, the terror of its storms, the +loveliness of its summer--only some stray Indian hunter, once or +twice in a century perhaps, throughout all the æons of human +history, had ever beheld them.</p> +<p>But now, here were Anderson and Elizabeth!--first invaders of an +inviolate nature, pioneers of a long future line of travellers and +worshippers.</p> +<p>They had spent the day of summer sunshine in canoeing on the +broad waters, exploring the green bays, and venturing a long way up +a beautiful winding arm which seemed to lose itself in the bosom of +superb forest-skirted mountains, whence glaciers descended, and +cataracts leapt sheer into the glistening water. Now they were +floating slowly towards the little promontory where their two +guides had raised a couple of white tents, and the smoke of a fire +was rising into the evening air.</p> +<p>Sunset was on the jagged and snow-clad heights that shut in the +lake to the eastward. The rose of the sky had been caught by the +water and interwoven with its own lustrous browns and cool blues; +while fathom-deep beneath the shining web of colour gleamed the +reflected snows and the forest slopes sliding downwards to +infinity. A few bird-notes were in the air--the scream of an eagle, +the note of a whip-poor-will, and far away across the lake a dense +flight of wild duck rose above a reedy river-mouth, black against a +pale band of sky.</p> +<p>They were close now to the shore, and to a spot where lightning +and storm had ravaged the pines and left a few open spaces for the +sun to work. Elizabeth, in delight, pointed to the beds of wild +strawberries crimsoning the slopes, intermingled with stretches of +bilberry, and streaks of blue and purple asters. But a wilder life +was there. Far away the antlers of a swimming moose could be seen +above the quiet lake. Anderson, sweeping the side with his field +glass, pointed to the ripped tree-trunks, which showed where the +brown bear or the grizzly had been, and to the tracks of lynx or +fox on the firm yellow sand. And as they rounded the point of a +little cove they came upon a group of deer that had come down to +drink.</p> +<p>The gentle creatures were not alarmed at their approach; they +raised their heads in the red light, seeing man perhaps for the +first time, but they did not fly. Anderson stayed the boat--and he +and Elizabeth watched them with enchantment--their slender bodies +and proud necks, the bright sand at their feet, the brown water in +front, the forest behind.</p> +<p>Elizabeth drew a long breath of joy--looking back again at the +dying glory of the lake, and the great thunder-clouds piled above +the forest.</p> +<p>"Where are we exactly?" she said. "Give me our bearings."</p> +<p>"We are about seventy miles north of the main line of the +C.P.R., and about forty or fifty miles from the projected line of +the Grand Trunk Pacific," said Anderson. "Make haste, dearest, and +name your lake!--for where we come, others will follow."</p> +<p>So Elizabeth named it--Lake George--after her husband; seeing +that it was his topographical divination, his tracking of the lake +through the ingenious unravelling of a score of Indian clues which +had led them at last to that Pisgah height whence the silver +splendour of it had first been seen. But the name was so hotly +repudiated by Anderson on the ground of there being already a +famous and an historical Lake George on the American continent, +that the probability is, when that noble sheet of water comes to be +generally visited of mankind, it will be known rather as Lake +Elizabeth; and so those early ambitions of Elizabeth which she had +expressed to Philip in the first days of her Canadian journeying, +will be fulfilled.</p> +<br> +<a name="img2.jpg"></a> +<p class="ctr"><a href="images/img2.jpg"><img src="images/img2.jpg" +width="90%" alt=""></a><br> +<b>"LAKE ELIZABETH"</b></p> +<br> +<p>Alas!--poor Philip! Elizabeth's black serge dress, and the black +ribbon on her white sun-hat were the outward tokens of a grief, +cherished deep in her protesting, pitiful heart. Her brother had +lived for some four months after her engagement to Anderson; +always, in spite of encouraging doctors, under the same sharp +premonition of death which had dictated his sudden change of +attitude towards his Canadian friend. In the January of the new +year, Anderson had joined them at Bordighera, and there, after many +alternating hopes and fears, a sudden attack of pneumonia had slit +the thin-spun life. A few weeks later, at Mrs. Gaddesden's urgent +desire, and while she was in the care of a younger sister to whom +she was tenderly attached, there had been a quiet wedding at Genoa, +and a very pale and sad Elizabeth had been carried by her Anderson +to some of the beloved Italian towns, where for so long she had +reaped a yearly harvest of delight. In Rome, Florence, and Venice +she must needs rouse herself, if only to show the keen novice eyes, +beside her what to look at, and to grapple with the unexpected +remarks which the spectacle evoked from Anderson. He looked in +respectful silence at Bellini and Tintoret; but the industrial +growth of the north, the strikes of <i>braccianti</i> on the +central plains, and the poverty of Sicily and the south--in these +problems he was soon deeply plunged, teaching himself Italian in +order to understand them.</p> +<p>Then they had returned to Mrs. Gaddesden, and to the surrender +of Martindale to its new master. For the estate went to a cousin, +and when the beauty and the burden of it were finally gone, +Philip's gentle ineffectual mother departed with relief to the +moss-grown dower-house beside Bassenthwaite lake, there to sorrow +for her only son, and to find in the expansion of Elizabeth's life, +in Elizabeth's letters, and the prospects of Elizabeth's visits, +the chief means left of courage and resignation. Philip's love for +Anderson, his actual death in those strong arms, had strengthened +immeasurably the latter's claim upon her; and in March she parted +with him and Elizabeth, promising them boldly that she would come +to them in the fall, and spend a Canadian winter with them.</p> +<p>Then Anderson and Elizabeth journeyed West in hot haste to face +a general election. Anderson was returned, and during three or four +months at Ottawa, Elizabeth was introduced to Canadian politics, +and to the swing and beat of those young interests and developing +national hopes which, even after London, and for the Londoner, lend +romance and significance to the simpler life of Canada's nascent +capital. But through it all both she and Anderson pined for the +West, and when Parliament rose in early July, they fled first to +their rising farm-buildings on one of the tributaries of the +Saskatchewan, and then, till the homestead was ready, and the fall +ploughing in sight, they had gone to the Rockies, in order that +they might gratify a passionate wish of Elizabeth's--to get for +once beyond beaten tracks, and surprise the unknown. She pleaded +for it as their real honeymoon. It might never be possible again; +for the toils of life would soon have snared them.</p> +<p>And so, after a month's wandering beyond all reach of +civilisation, they were here in the wild heart of Manitou's wild +land, and the red and white of Elizabeth's cheek, the fire in her +eyes showed how the god's spell had worked....</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The evening came. Their frugal meal, prepared by one of the +Indian half-breeds, and eaten in a merry community among beds of +orchids and vetch, was soon done; and the husband and wife pushed +off again in the boat--for the densely wooded shores of the lake +were impassable on foot--to watch the moon rise on this mysterious +land.</p> +<p>And as they floated there, often hand in hand, talking a little, +but dreaming more--Anderson's secret thoughts reviewed the past +year, and the incredible fortune which had given him Elizabeth.</p> +<p>Deep in his nature was still the old pessimism, the old sadness. +Could he make her happy? In the close contact of marriage he +realised all that had gone to the making of her subtle and delicate +being--the influences of a culture and tradition of which he was +mostly ignorant, though her love was opening many gates to him. He +felt himself in many respects her inferior--and there were dark +moments when it seemed to him inevitable that she must tire of him. +But whenever they overshadowed him, the natural reaction of a +vigorous manhood was not far off. Patriotism and passion--a +profound and simple pride--stood up and wrestled with his doubt. +She was not less, but more, than he had imagined her. What was in +truth his safeguard and hers, was the fact that, at the very root +of her, Elizabeth was a poet! She had seen Canada and Anderson from +the beginning in the light of imagination; and that light was not +going to fail her now. For it sprang from the truth and glow of her +own nature; by the help of it she <i>made</i> her world; and Canada +and Anderson moved under it, nobly seen and nobly felt.</p> +<p>This he half shrinkingly understood, and he repaid her with +adoration, and a wisely yielding mind. For her sake he was ready to +do a hundred things he had never yet thought of, reading, +inquiring, observing, in wider circles and over an ampler range. +For as the New World, through Anderson, worked on Elizabeth--so +Europe, through Elizabeth, worked on Anderson. And thus, from life +to life, goes on the great interpenetrating, intermingling flux of +things!</p> +<p>It seemed as though the golden light could not die from the +lake, though midsummer was long past. And presently up into its +midst floated the moon, and as they watched the changing of the +light upon the northern snow-peaks, they talked of the vast +undiscovered regions beyond, of the valleys and lakes that no +survey has ever mapped, and the rivers that from the beginning of +time have spread their pageant of beauty for the heavens alone; +then, of that sudden stir and uproar of human life--prospectors, +navvies, lumbermen--that is now beginning to be heard along that +narrow strip where the new line of the Grand Trunk Pacific is soon +to pierce the wilderness--yet another link in the girdling of the +world. And further yet, their fancy followed, ever +northward--solitude beyond solitude, desert beyond desert--till, in +the Yukon, it lit upon gold-seeking man, dominating, at last, a +terrible and hostile earth, which had starved and tortured and +slain him in his thousands, before he could tame her to his +will.</p> +<p>And last--by happy reaction--it was the prairies again--their +fruitful infinity--and the emigrant rush from East and South.</p> +<p>"When we are old"--said Elizabeth softly, slipping her hand into +Anderson's--"will all this courage die out of us? Now--nothing of +all this vastness, this mystery frightens me. I feel a kind of +insolent, superhuman strength!--as if I--even I--could guide a +plough, reap corn, shoot rapids, 'catch a wild goat by the +hair--and hurl my lances at the sun!'"</p> +<p>"With this hand?" said Anderson, looking at it with a face of +amusement. But Elizabeth took no heed--except to slip the other +hand after it--both into the same shelter.</p> +<p>She pursued her thought, murmuring the words, the white lids +falling over her eyes:</p> +<p>"But when one is feeble and dying, will it all grow awful to me? +Suddenly--shall I long to creep into some old, old corner of +England or Italy--and feel round me close walls, and dim small +rooms, and dear, stuffy, familiar streets that thousands and +thousands of feet have worn before mine?"</p> +<p>Anderson smiled at her. He had guided their boat into a green +cove where there was a little strip of open ground between the +water and the forest. They made fast the boat, and Anderson found a +mossy seat under a tall pine from which the lightning of a recent +storm had stripped a great limb, leaving a crimson gash in the +trunk. And there Elizabeth nestled to him, and he with his arm +about her, and the intoxication of her slender beauty mastering his +senses, tried to answer her as a plain man may. The commonplaces of +passion--its foolish promises--its blind confidence--its trembling +joy--there is no other path for love to travel by, and Elizabeth +and Anderson trod it like their fellows.</p> +<p>Six months later on a clear winter evening Elizabeth was +standing in the sitting-room of a Saskatchewan farmhouse. She +looked out upon a dazzling world of snow, lying thinly under a pale +greenish sky in which the sunset clouds were just beginning to +gather. The land before her sloped to a broad frozen river up which +a wagon and a team of horses was plodding its way--the steam rising +in clouds round the bodies of the horses and men. On a track +leading to the river a sledge was running--the bells jingling in +the still, light air. To her left were the great barns of the +homestead, and beyond, the long low cowshed, with a group of +Shorthorns and Herefords standing beside the open door. Her eyes +delighted in the whiteness of the snow, or the touches of orange +and scarlet in the clumps of bush, in a note of crimson here and +there, among the withered reeds pushing through the snow, or in the +thin background of a few taller trees--the "shelter-belt" of the +farm--rising brown and sharp against the blue.</p> +<p>Within the farmhouse sitting-room flamed a great wood fire, +which shed its glow on the white walls, on the prints and +photographs and books which were still Elizabeth's companions in +the heart of the prairies, as they had been at Martindale. The room +was simplicity itself, yet full of charm, with its blue +druggetting, its pale green chairs and hangings. At its further +end, a curtain half drawn aside showed another room, a dining-room, +also firelit--with a long table spread for tea, a bare floor of +polished woodblocks, and a few prints on the walls.</p> +<p>The wagon she had seen on the river approached the homestead. +The man who was driving it--a strong-limbed, fair-haired +fellow--lifted his cap when he saw Elizabeth at the window. She +nodded and smiled at him. He was Edward Tyson, one of the two +engine-drivers who had taken her and Philip through the Kicking +Horse Pass. His friend also could be seen standing among the cattle +gathered in the farmyard. They had become Anderson's foremen and +partners on his farm of twelve hundred acres, of which only some +three hundred acres had been as yet brought under plough. The rest +was still virgin prairie, pasturing a large mixed herd of cattle +and horses. The two North-Countrymen had been managing it all in +Anderson's Parliamentary absences, and were quite as determined as +he to make it a centre of science and progress for a still remote +and sparely peopled district. One of the kinsmen was married, and +lived in a small frame house, a stone's throw from the main +buildings of the farm. The other was the head of the "bothy" or +boarding-house for hired men, a long low building, with cheerful +white-curtained windows, which could be seen just beyond the +cow-house.</p> +<p>As she looked over the broad whiteness of the farmlands, above +which the sunset clouds were now tossing in climbing lines of +crimson and gold, rising steeply to a zenith of splendour, and +opening here and there, amid their tumult, to show a further heaven +of untroubled blue--Elizabeth thought with lamentation that their +days on the farm were almost done. The following week could see +them at Ottawa for the opening of the session. Anderson was full of +Parliamentary projects; important work for the Province had been +entrusted to him; and in the general labour policy of the Dominion +he would find himself driven to take a prominent part. But all the +while his heart and Elizabeth's were in the land and its problems; +for them the true, the entrancing Canada was in the wilds. And for +Anderson, who through so many years, as an explorer and engineer, +had met Nature face to face, his will against hers, in a direct and +simple conflict, the tedious and tortuous methods of modern +politics were not easy to learn. He must indeed learn them--he was +learning them; and the future had probably great things in store +for him, as a politician. But he came back to the Saskatchewan farm +with joy, and he would leave it reluctantly.</p> +<p>"If only I wasn't so rich!" thought Elizabeth, with compunction. +For she often looked with envy on her neighbours who had gone +through the real hardships of the country; who had bought their +Canadian citizenship with the toil and frugality of years. It +seemed to her sometimes that she was step-child rather than +daughter of the dear new land, in spite of her yearning towards +it.</p> +<p>And yet money had brought its own romance. It had enabled +Anderson to embark on this ample farm of nearly two square miles, +to staff it with the best labour to be got, on a basis of +copartnership, to bring herds of magnificent cattle into these +park-like prairies, to set up horse-breeding, and to establish on +the borders of the farm a large creamery which was already proving +an attraction for settlers. It was going to put into Elizabeth's +hands the power of helping the young University of Strathcona just +across the Albertan border, and perhaps of founding in their own +provincial capital of Regina a training college for +farm-students--girls and boys--which might reproduce for the West +the college of St. Anne's, that wonderful home of all the useful +arts, which an ever-generous wealth has given to the Province of +Quebec. Already she had in her mind a cottage hospital--sorely +wanted--for the little town of Donaldminster, wherein the weaklings +of this great emigrant army now pouring into the country might find +help.</p> +<p>Her heart, indeed, was full of schemes for help. Here she was, a +woman of high education, and much wealth, in the midst of this +nascent community. Her thoughts pondered the life of these +scattered farms--of the hard-working women in them--the lively +rosy-cheeked children. It was her ambition so to live among them +that they might love her--trust her--use her.</p> +<p>Meanwhile their own home was a "temple of industrious peace." +Elizabeth was a prairie housewife like her neighbours. She had +indeed brought out with her from Cumberland one of the Martindale +gardeners and his young wife and sister; and the two North-Country +women shared with the farm mistress the work of the house, till +such time as Anderson should help the husband to a quarter-section +of his own, and take someone else to train in his place. But the +atmosphere of the house was one of friendly equality. +Elizabeth--who had herself gone into training for a few weeks at +St. Anne's--prided herself on her dairy, her bread, her poultry. +One might have seen her, on this winter afternoon, in her black +serge dress with white cap and apron, slipping into the kitchen +behind the dining-room, testing the scones in the oven, looking to +the preparations for dinner, putting away stores, and chatting to +the two clear-eyed women who loved her, and would not for the world +have let her try her strength too much! For she who was so eagerly +planning the help of others must now be guarded and cherished +herself--lest ill befall!</p> +<p>But now she was at the window watching for Anderson.</p> +<p>The trail from Donaldminster to Battleford passed in front of +the house, dividing the farm. Presently there came slowly along it +a covered wagon drawn by a pair of sorry horses and piled at the +back with household possessions. In front sat a man of slouching +carriage, and in the interior of the wagon another figure could be +dimly seen. The whole turn-out gave an impression of poverty and +misfortune; and Elizabeth looked at it curiously.</p> +<p>Suddenly, the wagon drew up with a jerk at the gate of the farm, +and the man descended, with difficulty, his limbs being evidently +numb with cold.</p> +<p>Elizabeth caught up a fur cloak and ran to the door.</p> +<p>"Could you give us a bit of shelter for the night?" said the man +sheepishly. "We'd thought of getting on to Battleford, but the +little un's bad--and the missus perished with cold. We'd give you +no trouble if we might warm ourselves a bit."</p> +<p>And he looked under his eyebrows at Elizabeth, at the bright +fire behind her, and all the comfort of the new farmhouse. Yet +under his shuffling manner there was a certain note of confidence. +He was appealing to that Homeric hospitality which prevails +throughout the farms of the Northwest.</p> +<p>And in five minutes, the horses were in the barn, the man +sitting by the kitchen fire, while Elizabeth was ministering to the +woman and child. The new-comers made a forlorn trio. They came from +a district some fifty miles further south, and were travelling +north in order to take shelter for a time with relations. The +mother was a girl of twenty, worn with hardship and privation. The +father, an English labourer, had taken up free land, but in spite +of much help from a paternal Government, had not been able to +fulfil his statutory obligation, and had now forfeited his farm. +There was a history of typhoid fever, and as Elizabeth soon +suspected, an incipient history of drink. In the first two years of +his Canadian life the man worked for a farmer during the summer, +and loafed in Winnipeg during the winter. There demoralisation had +begun, and as Elizabeth listened, the shadow of the Old World +seemed to be creeping across the radiant Canadian landscape. The +same woes?--the same weaknesses?--the same problems of an unsound +urban life?</p> +<p>Her heart sank for a moment--only to provoke an instant reaction +of cheerfulness. No!--in Canada the human will has still room to +work, and is not yet choked by a jungle growth of interests.</p> +<p>She waited for Anderson to come in, and meanwhile she warmed and +comforted the mother. The poor girl looked round her in amazement +at the pretty spacious room, as she spread her hands, knotted and +coarsened by work, to the blaze. Elizabeth held her sickly babe, +rocking it and crooning to it, while upstairs one of kind-eyed +Cumberland women was getting a warm bath ready, and lighting a fire +in the guest-room.</p> +<p>"How old is it?" she asked.</p> +<p>"Thirteen months."</p> +<p>"You ought to give up nursing it. It would be better for you +both."</p> +<p>"I tried giving it a bit o' what we had ourselves," said the +mother, dully--"But I nearly lost her."</p> +<p>"I should think so!" laughed Elizabeth indignantly; and she +began to preach rational ways of feeding and caring for the child, +while the mother sat by, despondent, and too crushed and hopeless +to take much notice. Presently Elizabeth gave her back the babe, +and went to fetch hot tea and bread and butter.</p> +<p>"Shall I come and get it in the kitchen?" said the woman, +rising.</p> +<p>"No, no--stay where you are!" cried Elizabeth. And she was just +carrying back a laden tray from the dining-room when Anderson +caught her.</p> +<p>"Darling!--that's too heavy for you!--what are you about?"</p> +<p>"There's a woman in there who's got to be fed--and there's a man +in there"--she pointed to the kitchen--"who's got to be talked to. +Hopeless case!--so you'd better go and see about it!"</p> +<p>She laughed happily in his face, and he snatched a kiss from her +as he carried off the tray.</p> +<p>The woman by the fire rose again in amazement as she saw the +broad-shouldered handsome man who was bringing in the tea. Anderson +had been tramping through the thin-lying snow all day, inquiring +into the water-supply of a distant portion of the farm. He was +ruddy with exercise, and the physical strength that seemed to +radiate from him intimidated the wanderer.</p> +<p>"Where are you bound to?" he said kindly, as he put down the tea +beside her.</p> +<p>The woman, falteringly, told her story. Anderson frowned a +little.</p> +<p>"Well, I'd better go and talk to your husband. Mrs. Anderson +will look after you."</p> +<p>And Elizabeth held the baby, while the woman fed languidly--too +tired and spiritless indeed to eat.</p> +<p>When she could be coaxed no further, Elizabeth took her and the +babe upstairs.</p> +<p>"I never saw anything like this in these parts!" cried the girl, +looking round her at the white-tiled bathroom.</p> +<p>"Oh, they're getting quite common!" laughed Elizabeth. "See how +nice and warm the water is! Shall we bathe the baby?" And presently +the child lay warm and swaddled in its mother's arms, dressed in +some baby-clothes produced by Elizabeth from a kind of travellers' +cupboard at the top of the stairs. Then the mother was induced to +try a bath for herself, while Elizabeth tried her hand at +spoon-feeding the baby; and in half an hour she had them both in +bed, in the bright spare-room--the young mother's reddish hair +unbound lying a splendid mass on the white pillows, and a strange +expression--as of some long tension giving way--on her pinched +face.</p> +<p>"We'll not know how to thank you"--she said brokenly. "We were +just at the last. Tom wouldn't ask no one to help us before. But +we'd only a few shillings left--we thought at Battleford, we'd sell +our bits of things--perhaps that'd take us through." She looked +piteously at Elizabeth, the tears gathering in her eyes.</p> +<p>"Oh! well, we'll see about that!" said Elizabeth, as she tucked +the blankets round her. "Nobody need starve in this country! Mr. +Anderson'll be able perhaps to think of something. Now you go to +sleep, and we'll look after your husband."</p> +<p>Anderson joined his wife in the sitting-room, with a perplexed +countenance. The man was a poor creature--and the beginnings of the +drink-craving were evident.</p> +<p>"Give him a chance," said Elizabeth. "You want one more man in +the bothy."</p> +<p>She sat down beside him, while Anderson pondered, his legs +stretched to the fire. A train of thought ran through his mind, +embittered by the memory of his father.</p> +<p>He was roused from it by the perception that Elizabeth was +looking tired. Instantly he was all tenderness, and anxious +misgiving. He made her lie down on the sofa by the fire, and +brought her some important letters from Ottawa to read, and the +English newspapers.</p> +<p>From the elementary human need with which their minds had just +been busy, their talk passed on to National and Imperial affairs. +They discussed them as equals and comrades, each bringing their own +contribution.</p> +<p>"In a fortnight we shall be in Ottawa!" sighed Elizabeth, at +last.</p> +<p>Anderson smiled at her plaintive voice.</p> +<p>"Darling!--is it such a tragedy?"</p> +<p>"No, I shall be as keen as anybody else when we get there. +But--we are so happy here!"</p> +<p>"Is that really, really true?" asked Anderson, taking her hand +and pressing it to his lips.</p> +<p>"Yes"--she murmured--"yes--but it will be truer still next +year!"</p> +<p>They looked at each other tenderly. Anderson stooped and kissed +her, long and closely.</p> +<p>He was called away to give some directions to his men, and +Elizabeth lay dreaming in the firelight of the past and the future, +her hands clasped on her breast, her eyes filling with soft tears. +Upstairs, in the room above her, the emigrant mother and baby lay +sleeping in the warmth and shelter gathered round them by +Elizabeth. But in tending them, she had been also feeding her own +yearning, quickening her own hope. She had given herself to a man +whom she adored, and she carried his child on her heart. Many and +various strands would have gone to the weaving of that little soul; +she trembled sometimes to think of them. But no fear with her +lasted long. It was soon lost in the deep poetic faith that +Anderson's child in her arms would be the heir of two worlds, the +pledge of a sympathy, a union, begun long before her marriage in +the depths of the spirit, when her heart first went out to +Canada--to the beauty of the Canadian land, and the freedom of the +Canadian life.</p> +<br> +<h3>THE END</h3> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13823 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |