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diff --git a/25910.txt b/25910.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..839433c --- /dev/null +++ b/25910.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11374 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Long Portage, by Harold Bindloss + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Long Portage + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Illustrator: Arthur Hutchins + +Release Date: June 27, 2008 [EBook #25910] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LONG PORTAGE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: "ALL DAY LONG THEY PADDLED UP THE GLEAMING LAKE" +--Page 290] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +THE LONG PORTAGE + +By +HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of +A Prairie Courtship, +Winston of the Prairie, etc. + +With a Frontispiece in colors by +ARTHUR HUTCHINS + +New York +GROSSET & DUNLAP +Publishers + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Copyright, 1912, by +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + +All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign +languages, including the Scandinavian + +Published in England under the title, "The Pioneer" + +September, 1912 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Gladwyne Expedition 1 + II. The Divide 12 + III. The Cache 23 + IV. A Painful Decision 35 + V. Millicent Gladwyne 47 + VI. Nasmyth Tells his Story 58 + VII. On the Moors 68 + VIII. Gladwyne Receives a Shock 81 + IX. Lisle Gathers Information 92 + X. Bella's Champion 102 + XI. Crestwick Gives Trouble 118 + XII. Mrs. Gladwyne's Appeal 129 + XIII. A Futile Protest 142 + XIV. Lisle Comes to the Rescue 153 + XV. Bella's Defeat 165 + XVI. Gladwyne Surrenders 177 + XVII. A Bad Fall 189 + XVIII. A Prudent Decision 200 + XIX. Gladwyne Gains a Point 211 + XX. Mrs. Gladwyne's Temptation 223 + XXI. The Last Afternoon 233 + XXII. Startling News 243 + XXIII. A Forced March 254 + XXIV. Millicent Summons Her Guide 265 + XXV. A Reliable Man 276 + XXVI. Lisle Turns Autocrat 287 + XXVII. An Unpleasant Surprise 298 +XXVIII. Clarence Reaches Camp 309 + XXIX. A Bold Scheme 321 + XXX. The End of the Pursuit 332 + XXXI. Lisle Goes To England 343 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +THE LONG PORTAGE + +CHAPTER I + +THE GLADWYNE EXPEDITION + + +Vernon Lisle was fishing with a determination that did not spring +altogether from love of the sport. The water of the British Columbian +river in which he stood knee-deep was icy cold; his rubber boots were +badly ripped and leaky, and he was wet with the drizzle that drove down +the lonely valley. It was difficult to reach the slack behind a boulder +some distance outshore, and the arm he strained at every cast ached from +hours of assiduous labor; but there was another ache in his left side +which was the result of insufficient food, and though the fish were shy +he persevered. + +A few hundred yards away the stream came roaring down a long declivity in +a mad white rapid and then shot across the glassy green surface of the +pool below in a raised-up wedge of foam. Wet boulders and outcropping +fangs of rock hemmed in the water, and among them lay stranded logs and +stream-packed masses of whitened branches. Farther back, ragged cypresses +and cedars, half obscured by the drifting haze of spray, climbed the +sides of the gorge, and beyond rose the dim, rounded summits of treeless +hills. There were streaks of snow on some of them, for winter threatened +to close in unusually early. + +With a lowering sky overhead and the daylight beginning to fade, it was a +desolate picture; one into which the lonely figure of the man in tattered +deerskin jacket and shapeless hat somehow fitted. His attire matched the +gray-white coloring of rock and boulder; his spare form and agile +movements, together with the intentness of his bronzed face and the +steadiness of his eyes, hinted at the quickness of observation, the +stubborn endurance, and the tireless activity, by which alone life can be +maintained in the savage North. He had the alertness of the wild +creatures of the waste; and it was needed. + +All round him stretched a forbidding wilderness, part of the great +desolation which runs north from the warmer and more hospitable +thick-forest belt of British Columbia. Indeed, this wilderness, broken by +the more level spaces between the Rockies and Lake Winnipeg, runs right +across Canada from Labrador to the Pacific on the northern edge of the +heavy-timber line. It contains little human life--a few Hudson Bay +fur-traders and the half-breed trappers who deal with them--and it is +frozen for eight months in the year. There are only two practicable means +of traversing it--with dog sledges on the snow, or by canoe on the lakes +and rivers in the brief summer. + +The water routes are difficult in British Columbia, but Lisle and his two +companions had chosen to go by canoe, partly because the question of food +is vitally important to men cut off from all source of supply except +game, and even that is scarce in places. To transport upon one's back any +weight of provisions besides tents, blankets, and other necessaries, +through a rugged country is an almost impossible task. The men, +accordingly, after relaying part of their stores, had secured an Indian +craft and had paddled and poled her laboriously across lakes and up +rivers. Now when their provisions were running short, they were +confronted with a difficult portage round a thundering rapid. + +At length Lisle, securing another trout, waded ashore and glanced with a +rueful smile at the dozen this one made. They scarcely averaged half a +pound, and he had spent most of a day that could badly be spared in +catching them. Plodding back along the shingle with his load, he reached +a little level strip beneath a scarp of rock, where a fire blazed among +the boulders. A tent stood beneath two or three small, wind-stunted +spruces, and a ragged man in long river-boots lay resting on one elbow +near the blaze, regardless of the drizzle. He was a few years over +thirty, Lisle's age, and he differed from Lisle in that something in his +appearance suggested that he was not at home in the wilds. As a matter of +fact, Nasmyth was an adventurous English sportsman--which describes him +fairly in person and character. + +"Not many," he commented, glancing at the trout Lisle laid down. "They'll +hardly carry us over to-morrow, and I only got a couple from the canoe +with the troll. We've gained nothing by stopping here, and time's +precious." + +"A sure thing," Lisle agreed, beginning to clean the trout. "We'll tackle +the portage as soon as it's light to-morrow. Where's Jake?" + +"Gone off to look for a deer," was the answer. "Said he wouldn't come +back without one if he camped on the range all night." + +Lisle made no comment, but went on dexterously with his work, while +Nasmyth watched him with half-amused admiration. + +"You're handy at that and at everything else you do," Nasmyth remarked at +length. "In fact, you easily beat Jake, though he's a professional packer +and, so to speak, to the manner born." + +"So am I," said Lisle. + +It was growing dark, but the coppery glow of the fire fell upon his face, +emphasizing the strong coloring of his weather-darkened skin. On the +whole, it was a prepossessing face, clearly cut--indeed, it was a trifle +thin--with a hint of quiet determination in the clear gray eyes and firm +mouth. He looked capable of resolute action and, when it was needed, of +Spartan self-denial. There was no suggestion of anything sensual, or even +of much regard for bodily comfort. + +"If you don't mind my being a little personal, I'd better own that I +suspected the fact you mention, and it puzzled me," Nasmyth replied. "You +see, when I first met you at the Empress Hotel, in Victoria, you were +dressed and talked like the usual prosperous business man. Trafford, who +introduced us, said that you had a good deal of money in some of the +Yukon mines." + +"Trafford was quite right. The point is that I took a part in locating +two of the claims. Before that I followed a good many rough occupations, +mostly in the bush. My prosperity's recent." + +Nasmyth still looked curious, and Lisle smiled. + +"I can guess your thoughts--I don't speak altogether like a bushman? +Well, my father was an Englishman, and my mother a lady of education from +Montreal; that was why, at the cost of some self-denial on their part, I +was sent East to school." + +It was an incomplete explanation. He had inherited the Englishman's +reticence, which forbade him to point out that his father sprang from an +old family of standing and had, for some reason which his son had never +learned, quarreled bitterly with his English relatives. Coming to Canada, +he had married and taken up the bush life on a small and unremunerative +ranch, where he had died and left his widow and his son badly provided +for. + +"Thank you," responded Nasmyth; and Lisle supposed it was in recognition +of the fact that he would hardly have furnished even those few +particulars to one whom he regarded as a stranger. "To reciprocate, a few +words will make clear all there is to know about me. English public +school, Oxford afterward--didn't take a degree. Spend most of my time in +the country, though I make a few sporting trips abroad when I can afford +it and have nothing better to do. That partly explains this journey. But +I haven't tried to force your confidence, nor offered you mine, +altogether casually." + +"So I supposed," returned Lisle. "It strikes me that since we got near +the Gladwyne expedition's line of march we have both felt that some +explanation is needed. To go back a little, when I met you in Victoria +and you offered to join me in the trip, I agreed partly because I wanted +an intelligent companion, but I had another reason. At first I supposed +you wished to go because a journey through a rough and little-known +country seems to appeal to one kind of Englishman, but I changed my mind +when you showed your anxiety to get upon the Gladwyne party's trail." + +"You were right. I knew the Gladwynes in England; the one who died was an +old and valued friend of mine. I could give you the history of their +march, though I hardly think that's needful. You seem remarkably well +acquainted with it." + +Lisle's face hardened. With the exception of one man, he knew more than +anybody else about the fatal journey a party of four had made a year +earlier through the region he and Nasmyth were approaching. + +"I am," he said. "There's a cause for it; but I'll ask you to tell me +what you know." + +He threw more branches on the fire and a crackling blaze sprang aloft, +forcing up the ragged spruce boughs out of the surrounding gloom. + +"This is the survivor's narrative. I heard it from his own lips more than +once," began Nasmyth. "I dare say most of it's a kind of story that's not +unusual in the North." + +"It's one that has been repeated with local variations over and over +again. But go on." + +"There were two Gladwynes--cousins. George, the elder of the two, was a man +of means and position; Clarence, the younger, had practically nothing--two +or three hundred pounds a year. They were both sportsmen--George was a bit +of a naturalist--and they made the expedition with the idea of studying the +scarcer game. Well, their provisions were insufficient; an Indian packer +deserted them; they were delayed here and there; and when they reached the +river that we are making for they were badly worn out and winter was +closing in. Knowing it was dangerous to go any farther, they started +down-stream to strike their outgoing trail, but not long afterward they +wrecked their canoe in a rapid and lost everything except a few pounds of +provisions. To make things worse, George had fallen from a slippery rock at +the last portage and badly hurt his leg. After making a few leagues with +difficulty, he found he could go no farther, and they held a council. They +were already suffering from want of food, but their guide estimated that by +a forced march overland they might reach a place where some skin-hunters +were supposed to be camped. There was a Hudson Bay post farther away. On +coming up they had cached some provisions in two places on opposite sides +of the river--they kept crossing to pole through the easiest slack. George +accordingly insisted that the others go on; each was to follow a different +bank and the first to find the provisions was to try to communicate with +the other and hurry back with food. If they were unable to locate the +caches they were to leave the river and push on in search of help. They +agreed; but deep snow had fallen and Clarence Gladwyne failed to find the +cache. He reached the hunters' camp famishing, and they went back with him. +He found his cousin dead." + +"And the guide?" + +"It's rather an ugly story. You must have heard it." + +"I haven't heard the one Gladwyne told in England." + +"The guide reached the Hudson Bay post--a longer journey than the one +Gladwyne made--in the last stage of exhaustion. He had taken very little +food with him--Gladwyne knew exactly how much--and the Hudson Bay agent +decided that it was impossible he could have covered the distance on the +minute quantity. There was only one inference." + +"That he had found the cache?" Lisle's face grew very stern. + +Nasmyth nodded. + +"In a way, there was some slight excuse for him. Think of it--a worn-out, +famishing man, without blankets or means of making a fire, who had +struggled over icy rocks and through leagues of snow, finding a few cans +of provisions and a little moldy flour! Even when he had satisfied his +hunger, he was, no doubt, unequal to making the return journey to rejoin +a man who was probably already dead." + +"If that man had found a scrap of food, he would have tried!" + +Lisle's voice had a curious ring in it, and Nasmyth looked at him hard. + +"You seem convinced." + +"I am; I knew him well." + +Nasmyth was startled and he showed it, but afterward he looked +thoughtful. + +"I believe I understand," he said. + +For a minute or two there was silence which was broken only by the +snapping of the branches on the fire and the hollow roar of the rapid. +The latter had a curious, irritating effect on Nasmyth, who hitherto had +scarcely noticed the insistent pulsatory clamor. At length Lisle spoke +again, laying a strong restraint upon himself. + +"Our mutual friend called me Lisle at the Empress Hotel. I don't think he +mentioned my first name, Vernon; and as that was the name of Gladwyne's +guide I kept it in the background. I was anxious to take you with me; I +wanted an Englishman of some standing in the old country whose word would +be believed. What was more, I wanted an honest man who would form an +unbiased opinion. I didn't know then that you were a friend of +Gladwyne's." + +Nasmyth made a slight gesture which suggested the acknowledgment of a +compliment. + +"I'll try to be just--it's sometimes hard." His voice had a throb of pain +in it as he went on: "I was the friend of George Gladwyne--the one who +perished. I had a strong regard for him." + +Something in his expression hinted that this regard had not been shared +by the Gladwyne who survived. + +"When my father first came out to British Columbia, new to the bush +ways," Lisle resumed, "a neighbor, Vernon, was of great help to him--lent +him teams, taught him how to chop, and what cattle to raise. He died +before my father, and I was named for him; but he left a son, older than +I, who grew up like him--I believe he was the finest chopper and trailer +I have ever come across. He died, as you have heard, from exposure and +exhaustion, a few days after he reached the Hudson Bay post--before he +could clear himself." + +Lisle broke off for a moment and seemed to have some difficulty in +continuing. + +"When my father died, Vernon took charge of the ranch, at my mother's +request--I was rather young and she meant to launch me in some +profession. Vernon had no ambition--he loved the bush--and he tried to +give me enough to finish my education while he ran both ranches with a +hired man. I think my mother never suspected that he handed her over more +than she was entitled to, but I found it out and I've been glad ever +since that I firmly prevented his continuing the sacrifice. For all that, +I owe him in many ways more than I could ever have repaid." He clenched +one hand tight as he concluded: "I can at least clear his memory." + +Nasmyth nodded in sympathy. + +"You called me an honest man; you have my word--I'll see the right done." + +Quietly as it was spoken, Lisle recognized that it was no light thing his +companion promised him. In the Dominion, caste stands by caste, and +Lisle, having seen and studied other Englishmen of his friend's +description, knew that the feeling was stronger in the older country. To +expose a man of one's own circle to the contempt and condemnation of +outsiders is, in any walk of life, a strangely repugnant thing. + +"Well," he said, "to-morrow we'll pull out and portage across the divide +to strike the Gladwynes' trail. And now I'll fry the trout and we'll have +supper." + +They let the subject drop by tacit agreement during the meal, and soon +after it was over a shout from the crest of the ridge above, followed by +a smashing of underbrush, announced that their packer was making for the +camp. Lisle answered, and a cry came down: + +"Got a deer, and there are duck on the lake ahead! We'll try for some as +we go up!" + +Nasmyth's smile betokened deep satisfaction. + +"That's a weight off my mind," he declared. "I'll smoke one pipe, and +then I think I'll go to sleep. We'll make a start with the first loads as +soon as it's light enough." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DIVIDE + + +Dawn was late the next morning; the light crept slowly through bitter +rain, and when Lisle and his companions had breakfasted sumptuously for +the first time during several days it was with reluctance that they broke +camp. Indeed, Nasmyth would have suggested remaining under shelter only +that he had come to accept Lisle's decision as final and the latter was +eager to push on. The blacktail deer would not last them long; the trout +were getting shyer every day with the increasing cold; they were a long +distance from the nearest settlement; while winter was rapidly coming on. + +Nasmyth shouldered his load with the others, and they set out across a +strip of gravel strewn with boulders. Here and there networks of stranded +branches had to be floundered through, and the ragged ends rasped their +dilapidated boots and bruised their legs. Then, where the bluff rose +almost precipitously from the water, they crept along slippery ledges, or +waded through the shallower pools, with the white rapid roaring down a +few yards outshore of them. There were places where a slip would have +meant destruction, but that was nothing unusual and time was too precious +to spend in an attempt to climb the ridge which hemmed them in. + +The pack-straps hurt Nasmyth's shoulders--one of them had been rubbed raw +by previous loads and it smarted painfully until he grew warm with +exertion. He was soon wet through; in places the spray drove into his +face so that he could hardly see; but he held on with dogged +determination, trying to keep up with the others. With the exception of a +few hunting trips, his life had been smooth, and now, dressed mostly in +rags and aching in every limb, he smiled grimly as he remembered how he +had hitherto taken his pleasure. When he had shot partridges, he had, as +a rule, been driven to such stubble or turnip fields as lay at any +distance from his residence, and he had usually been provided with a pony +when he ascended the high moors in search of grouse. Money smoothed out +many small difficulties in the older land, but it was powerless in the +wilds of the new one, where one must depend on such things as native +courage, brute strength, and the capacity for dogged endurance, which are +common to all ranks of men. It was fortunate for Nasmyth that he +possessed them, but that, as he was discovering, is not quite enough. +They are great gifts in the raw, but, like most others, they need +exercise and assiduous cultivation for their full development. + +On reaching the head of the rapid, they went back for another load, and +afterward Jake got into the canoe, while Lisle fixed the end of the +tracking-line about his shoulders. Aided by the line, the packer swung +the canoe across madly whirling eddies and in and out among foam-lapped +rocks, and now and then drove her, half hidden by the leaping froth, up +some tumultuous rush. At times Lisle, wading waist-deep and dragged +almost off his feet, barely held her stationary--Nasmyth could see his +chest heave and his face grow darkly flushed--but in another instant they +were going on again. That a craft could be propelled up any part of the +rapid would, Nasmyth thought, have appeared absolutely incredible to any +one who had not seen it done. + +At last, however, the task became too hard for them and after dragging +her out they carried her, upside down, in turn. It was difficult for them +to see where they were going, and the craft, made from a hollowed log, +was by no means so well fitted for the work as the bark or canvas canoe +of the more eastern wilds. She was comparatively heavy, and their heads +and shoulders were inside of her. Once or twice the portager fell; and +the fall is an awkward one, as it is impossible to break it with one's +hands, which are occupied in holding the canoe. Still, they made +progress, and, launching again above the rapid, they reached a lake at +noon, by hard paddling. Here they landed, and Nasmyth dropped down upon a +boulder to look about him. + +It was a cheerless prospect he saw through the haze of rain. Back into +the distance ran a stretch of slate-gray water, flecked and seamed by the +white tops of little splashing waves, for a nipping wind blew down the +lake. On either side rose low hills, dotted here and there with somber +and curiously rigid trees. They were not large, and though from a +distance they looked much the same, Nasmyth recognized some as spruce and +supposed the other ragged spires to be cedars. In one spot there were +some that resembled English larch, and these were almost bare. + +Then his companions began to discuss the best means of further progress. +With a fresh breeze ahead, Jake advocated poling through the shallows +near the beach; and Lisle, with a courtesy which Nasmyth had already +noticed, turned toward him when he answered, as if his opinion might be +valuable. + +"The trouble is that the beach sweeps back off the straight. We'd drive +her right up the middle to headwater with the paddle before we'd make +two-thirds of the way poling alongshore." + +"It would be a good deal harder work, wouldn't it?" Nasmyth ventured, and +laughed when he saw Lisle's faint amusement. "I suppose that doesn't +count. It's not worth mentioning," he added. "Since you're anxious to get +on, what's the use of stopping for dinner? After the breakfast I had, I +can hold out some time." + +"I want to get through as quickly as I can; that's why I'm not going to +rush you unless it's necessary," Lisle answered. "Try to get hold of the +fact that a man needs food regularly to keep him in efficient going +order." + +"Indisputable," Nasmyth agreed. "But he can do without it and work for a +while. We've proved it." + +"Not without paying," Lisle pointed out. "You can draw upon your +reserves, but it takes time and rest to make them good. We may need all +ours badly before we're through." + +There was a grim hint in his last words which Nasmyth found convincing, +and when he had rested he helped to prepare the meal. It was a simple +one--cold doughy cakes baked in a frying-pan, extraordinarily tough and +stringy venison, with a pint-can each of strong green tea. Their sugar +had long ago melted and the condensed milk was exhausted. + +Afterward, they shoved the canoe out and paddled doggedly into the +driving rain and the strong headwind. The spray from the splashing bows +blew into their faces, and the broken water checked them badly. Nasmyth's +hands began to blister. To make it worse, there was a raw wound on one of +them, the result of a similar day's toil; and his knees chafed sore +against the branches in the craft's bottom. There was, however, no +respite--the moment they slackened their exertions they would drift to +lee--and he held on, keeping awkward stroke with Jake, while Lisle swung +the balancing paddle astern. + +They kept it up for several hours, and then, toward evening, the rain +ceased and the clouds rolled aside. A wonderful yellow light shone behind +the bordering hills, and the twisted, wind-battered cedars on their +crests stood out against it in hard, fretted tracery. The wind dropped; +the short, white waves smoothed down; the water, heaving gently, gleamed +with a coppery glare, and the paddle blades seemed to splash up liquid +fire. Then the shores closed in ahead, and, landing on a shingle beach, +they made camp in the mouth of a gap among the hills. Supper was prepared +and eaten, and afterward Jake took up his rifle. + +"I saw some ducks in the next bay," he explained. + +He strolled out of camp, and Nasmyth smiled at Lisle. + +"Except when he advised you to pole, that's about all he has said +to-day." + +This was correct. The packer was a taciturn inhabitant of the wilds who +seldom indulged in an unnecessary remark. There was, however, no +moroseness about him; the man was good-humored in his quiet way, and his +usual ruminative calm was no deterrent from apparently tireless action. +For the most part, he lived alone in the impressive stillness of the +bush, where he had a few acres of partly cleared land which failed to +provide him with a living. For that reason, he periodically left his tiny +log house and packed for some survey expedition, or went down to work for +a few months at a sawmill. Capable of most determined labor, wonderfully +proficient with his hands, he asked no more from life than a little plain +food and indifferent shelter. No luxury that civilization could offer +would have tempted him to desert the wilds. + +Lisle filled his pipe with leisurely content. He shared Jake's love for +the wilderness, and he found it strangely pleasant to rest in camp after +a day's persistent toil. Besides, he usually enjoyed his evening chat +with Nasmyth, for, widely different as their training and mode of life +had been, they had much in common. Then, too, there was something in the +prospect spread out before them that impelled tranquillity. The clump of +wet cedars among which they had camped distilled a clean, aromatic smell; +and there was a freshness in the cool evening air that reinvigorated +their tired bodies. Above the low hilltops the sky glimmered with saffron +and transcendental green, and half the lake shone in ethereal splendor; +the other half was dim and bordered with the sharply-cut shadows of the +trees. Except for the lap of water upon the pebbles and the wild cry of a +loon that rang like a peal of unearthly laughter out of a darkening bay, +there was nothing to break the deep stillness of the waste. + +Lisle pointed to the gap in the hills, which was filling with thin white +mist. + +"That's the last big portage the Gladwynes made," he remarked. "They came +in by a creek to the west, and they were badly played out when they +struck this divide; the struggle to get through broke them up." He paused +before he added: "What kind of men were they?" + +"George wasn't effusive; he was the kind of man you like better the +longer you know him. If I were told that he ever did a mean thing, I +wouldn't believe it. His last action--sending the others on--was +characteristic." + +"They didn't want to go," Lisle interposed quietly. + +His companion nodded. + +"I believe that's true. I like to think so." + +There was something curious in his tone, which Lisle noticed. + +"From the beginning," Nasmyth went on, "George behaved very generously to +Clarence." + +"It was Clarence that I meant to ask about more particularly." + +Nasmyth looked thoughtful, and when he answered, it struck Lisle that he +was making an effort to give an unbiased opinion. + +"Clarence," he said, "is more likable when you first meet him than George +used to be; a handsome man who knows how to say the right thing. Makes +friends readily, but somehow he never keeps the best of them. He's one of +the people who seem able to get whatever they want without having to +struggle for it and who rarely land in any difficulty." + +Again a grudging note became apparent, as though the speaker were trying +to subdue faint suspicion or disapproval, and Lisle changed the subject. + +"Had George Gladwyne any immediate relatives?" + +"One sister, as like him as it's possible for a woman to be. He wasn't +greatly given to society; I don't think he'd ever have married. His death +was a crushing blow to the girl--they were wonderfully attached to each +other--but I've never seen a finer display of courage than hers when +Clarence cabled the news." + +He broke off, as if he felt that he had been talking with too much +freedom, and just then the report of a rifle came ringing across the +water. + +"That's a duck's head shot off. Jake doesn't miss," he said. + +Lisle nodded. He could take a hint; and he had no doubt that Nasmyth was +right regarding the shot, though it is not easy to decapitate a swimming +duck with a rifle. He began to talk about the portage; and soon after +Jake returned with a single duck they went to sleep. + +It was clear and bright the next morning and they spent the day carrying +their loads a few miles up the hollow which pierced the height of the +divide. Part of it was a morass, fissured with little creeks running down +from the hills whose tops rose at no great elevation above the opening. +This was bad to traverse, but it was worse when they came to a muskeg +where dwarf forest had once covered what was now a swamp. Most of the +trees had fallen as the soil, from some change in the lake's level, had +grown too wet. They had partly rotted in the slough, and willows had +afterward grown up among them. + +Now and then the men laid down their loads and hewed a few of the still +standing trunks, letting them fall to serve as rude bridges where the +morass was almost impassable, but the real struggle began when they went +back for the canoe. At first they managed to carry her on their shoulders, +wading in the bog, but afterward she must be dragged through or over +innumerable tangles of small fallen trunks and networks of rotten branches +that had to be laboriously smashed. It was heroic labor--sometimes they +spent an hour making sixty yards--and Lisle's face grew anxious as well as +determined. Game had been very scarce; the deer would not last them long; +and disastrous results might follow a continuance of their present slow +progress. When, utterly worn out, they made camp on slightly firmer ground +toward four o'clock in the afternoon, Lisle strode off heavily toward the +bordering hills, while Jake pushed on to prospect ahead. Nasmyth, who was +quite unable to accompany either, prepared the supper and awaited their +reports with some anxiety. + +Lisle came back first and shook his head when Nasmyth asked if he had +found a better route on higher ground. + +"Not a slope we could haul along," he reported. "That way's impracticable." + +It was nearly dark when Jake came in. + +"It's not too bad ahead," he informed them. + +They were not greatly reassured, because Jake's idea of what was really +bad was alarming. Nasmyth glanced at his companion with a smile. + +"Is it any better than this?" he asked. + +"A little," answered Jake. "An old trail runs in." + +"Gladwyne's trail?" exclaimed Nasmyth. "The one we're looking for?" + +"Why, yes," drawled Jake, as if it were scarcely worth mentioning. "I +guess it is." + +Nasmyth turned to Lisle. + +"I was lucky when I lighted on you as a companion for this trip. You have +been right in your predictions all along, and now you're only out in +striking the trail a day before you expected." + +"I know the bush," returned Lisle. "It's been pretty easy so far--but, +for several reasons, I wish the next week or two were over." + +Nasmyth looked troubled. One could have imagined that misgivings which +did not concern his personal safety were creeping into his mind. + +"So do I," he confessed, and turning toward the fire he busied himself +with Jake's supper. + +There was no change in the work the next morning, but in the afternoon it +became evident that another party had made that portage ahead of them. +The soil was a little drier and where the small trees grew more thickly +they could see that a passage had been laboriously cleared. In the swampy +hollows, which still occurred, trunks had here and there been flung into +the ooze. This saved them some trouble and they made better progress, but +both Lisle and Nasmyth became silent and grave as the signs of their +predecessors' march grew plainer. By nightfall they had reached the +second camping-place, which told an eloquent story of struggle with +fatigue and exhaustion. Lisle, stopping in the gathering dusk, glanced +around the old camp site. + +"A good place to pitch the tent, but I think I'd rather move on a +little," he said. + +Nasmyth made a sign of comprehension. + +"Yes," he agreed. "I couldn't sleep soundly here. Everything about us is +too plain a reminder; I've no doubt you feel it as I do. A firm and +trusted friend lay, famishing, beside that fire, in what extremity of +weakness and suffering I dare not let myself think. It's possible he cut +those branches yonder." + +Lisle's face expressed emotion sternly held in check. + +"That was Vernon's work--no Englishman new to the country could have +slashed them off so cleanly. But look at this small spruce stump. He was +the better chopper, but it's significant that he used three or four +strokes where I would have taken one." + +Even the laconic Jake appeared relieved when they forced their way a +little farther through the tangled undergrowth, until finding a clear +space they set up the tent. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CACHE + + +They spent the greater part of a week on the portage, crossing here and +there a little lake; and then came out one evening on a river that +flowed, green and tranquil, beneath a ridge of hills. Here they camped; +and on rising with a shiver in the raw and nipping dawn the next morning, +Nasmyth found Lisle busy at the fire. Jake was cutting wood some distance +off, for the thud of his ax rang sharply through the stillness. + +"I was awake--thinking--a good deal last night; in fact, I've been +restless ever since we struck the Gladwynes' trail," Nasmyth began. "Now, +I understand that an uninterrupted journey of about sixteen days would +take us well on our way toward civilization. You say you apprehend no +difficulty after that?" + +"No." Lisle waited, watching his companion in an intent fashion. + +Nasmyth hesitated. + +"Then, considering everything, mightn't it be better to waste no time, +and push straight on?" + +"And leave the work that brought me here--I believe that brought us both +here--undone?" + +"You'll forgive me if I don't express myself very fortunately. What I +feel is this--Gladwyne's story is a tragic one, but it's twelve months +old. In a way, it's forgotten; the wounds it made have healed." + +"Is such a man as the one you have described forgotten in a year?" Lisle +asked with a hardening expression. + +Nasmyth, being a man of simple and, for the most part, wholesome ideas, +was in a quandary. His feelings were generous, but he shrank from putting +them into words. Moreover he was just and was not wholly convinced that +the course he wished to recommend was right. + +"Well," he contended, "there are faithful hearts that never quite +forget--with them the scar remains; but it's fortunate that the first +keen pain does not last. Is it decent--I almost think that's the right +word--to reopen the wound?" + +He paused and spread out one hand as if in expostulation. + +"Your late comrade has gone beyond your help; you told me he had left no +relatives; and you have only yourself to consider. Can you do any good by +bringing this sorrowful tale of disaster up again?" + +"Are you pleading for your English friends, anxious to save them pain at +my expense? Can't you understand my longing to clear my dead partner's +name?" + +A trace of color crept into Nasmyth's face. + +"I suppose I deserve that, though it wasn't quite the only thing I meant. +I've an idea that you are somehow going to lay up trouble for yourself by +persevering in this search." + +"I don't want to be offensive; but can't you see that by urging me to let +the thing drop you are casting grave doubts upon the honor of a man of +your own caste and kind, one with whom you are closely acquainted? Are +you afraid to investigate, to look for proofs of Clarence Gladwyne's +story?" + +Nasmyth looked him steadily in the eyes. + +"For the sake of one or two others, I think I am. Your belief in the +guide, Vernon, has had its effect on me." + +"Then," said Lisle, "I have no fear of putting my belief to the test; I +came up here for that purpose, and I mean to call upon you as my witness. +As you said of George Gladwyne, the man I owe so much to never did a +shabby thing. That he should have deserted a starving comrade is clean +impossible!" + +"I suppose there's no help for it," responded Nasmyth, with a gesture of +acquiescence. "We have said enough. Since you insist, I'll stand by my +promise." + +The thudding of the ax ceased, and they heard Jake returning with the +wood. Lisle set out the simple breakfast, and when they had eaten they +launched the canoe and floated swiftly down the smooth green river all +that day. They had accomplished the worst half of the journey; +henceforward their way lay down-stream, and with moderate good fortune +they need have no apprehension about safely reaching the settlements, but +they were both silent and ill at ease. Lisle was consumed with fierce +impatience; and Nasmyth shrank from what might shortly be revealed to +him. Scarcely a word was spoken when they lay in camp that night. + +The next day they came to the head of a long and furiously-running rapid. +Rocks encumbered its channel; the stream boiled fiercely over sunken +ledges, dropping several feet here and there in angry falls; and in one +place, where the banks narrowed in, a white stretch of foaming waves ran +straight down the middle. Here they unloaded and spent the day +laboriously relaying their stores and camp-gear over the boulders and +ragged ledges between a wall of rock and the water. It was a remarkably +difficult traverse. In places they had to hoist the leader up to some +slippery shelf he could not reach unassisted and to which he dragged his +companions up in turn; in others deep pools barred their way, and in +skirting them they were forced to cling to any indifferent handhold on +the rock's fissured side. As they toiled on, badly hampered by their +loads, the same thought was in the minds of two of the men--a wonder as +to how Gladwyne's exhausted party had crossed that portage, unless the +water had been lower. It was not difficult to understand how the +famishing leader had fallen and lamed himself. + +When at last, toward the end of the afternoon, the stores had been +deposited on the banks of the pool below, Lisle sat down and filled his +pipe. + +"It would take us most of two days to portage the canoe, and we might +damage her badly in doing so," he said. "The head of the rapid's +impossible, but with luck we might run her down the rest in about ten +minutes. The thing seems worth trying, though I wouldn't have risked it +with the stores on board." + +"Suppose you swamped or upset her?" Nasmyth suggested. + +"It's less likely, since she'd go light, with only two of us paddling." + +Nasmyth considered. The sight of the rapid was not encouraging, but he +shrank from the intense effort that would be needed to transport the +craft by the way they had come. Eventually it was decided to leave Jake +below, ready to swim out with the tracking-line and seize the canoe if +any mishap befell, and Lisle and Nasmyth went back to the head of the +rapid. They dragged the canoe round the worst rush with infinite +difficulty; and then Nasmyth set his lips and braced himself for the mad +descent when his companion thrust her off. + +A few strokes of the paddle drove them out into the stream, and then +their task consisted in holding her straight and swinging her clear of +the rocks that showed up through the leaping foam, which was difficult +enough. Seen from the water, the prospect was almost appalling, though it +was blurred and momentarily changing. Nasmyth's eyes could hardly grasp +salient details--he had only a confused impression of flying spray, +rushing green water that piled itself here and there in frothy ridges, +flitting rocks, and trees that came furiously speeding up toward him. He +had an idea that Lisle once or twice shouted sharp instructions and that +he clumsily obeyed, but he could not have told exactly what he did. He +only knew that now and then he paddled desperately, but more often he +knelt still, gazing fascinated at the mad turmoil in front of him. + +At last there was an urgent cry from Lisle and he backed his paddle. The +canoe swerved, a foaming wave broke into her, and in another moment +Nasmyth was in the water. He was dragged down by the swirling stream, and +when he rose he dimly saw the canoe a few yards in front of him. He +failed to reach her--she was traveling faster than he was--and, though he +could swim well, he grew horribly afraid. It struck him that there was a +strong probability of his being driven against a boulder with force +enough to break his bones or of being drawn down and battered against the +stony bottom. Still, he struck out for a line of leaping froth between +him and the bank and was nearing it when Lisle grasped his shoulder and +thrust him straight down-stream. Scarcely able to see amid the turmoil, +confused and bewildered, he nevertheless realized that it was not +desirable to attempt a landing where he had intended. Yielding to the +guiding impulse, he floundered down-stream, until Lisle again seized him +and drove him shoreward, and a few moments later he stood up, breathless, +in a few feet of slacker water. He waded to the bank, and then turned to +Lisle, who was close behind. + +"Thanks," he gasped. "I owe you something for that." + +"Pshaw!" disclaimed the other. "I only pulled you back. You'd have got +badly hammered if you'd tried to cross that ledge. I'd noticed the +inshore swirl close below it when we were packing along the bank, and +remembered that we could land in it." + +"But you had hold of the canoe. I saw you close beside her." + +"I only wanted her to take me past the ledge," Lisle explained. "I'd no +notion of going right through with her. Now we'll make for camp." + +On arriving there as darkness closed down, they found that Jake had +recovered the craft. The paddles had gone, but he could make another pair +in an hour or two. They had a few dry things to put on, and as they lay +beside the fire after supper they were sensible that the slight +constraint both had felt for the last two days had vanished. Neither +would have alluded to the feeling which had replaced it, nor, indeed, +could have clearly expressed his thoughts, but mutual liking, respect and +confidence had suddenly changed to something stronger. During the few +minutes they spent in the water a bond, indefinite, indescribable, but +not to be broken, had been forged between the two. + +The next morning it was clear and cold, and they made good progress until +they landed late in the afternoon. Then, after scrambling some distance +over loose gravel, Lisle and Nasmyth stopped beside a slight hollow in a +wall of rock. A few large stones had been rudely placed on one another to +form a shelter; there were still some small spruce branches, which had +evidently been used for a roof, scattered about; and the remains of a +torn and moldering blanket lay near by. In another place was a holed +frying-pan and a battered kettle. + +Nasmyth gravely took off his shapeless hat, and stood glancing about him +with a fixed expression. + +"This," he said quietly, "is where my friend died--as you have heard, +they afterward took his body out. There are few men who could compare +with that one; I can't forget him." + +There was nothing to be done, and little that could be said; and they +turned away from the scene of the tragedy, where a man, who to the last +had thought first of his companions, had met his lonely end. Launching +the canoe, they sped on down-river, making a few easier portages, and +four days later they landed on the bank of a turbulent reach shut in by +steep, stony slopes. There was a little brushwood here and there, but not +a tree of any kind. + +"It was on this beach that Gladwyne made one cache," said Lisle. "If +there had been a cypress or a cedar near, he'd have blazed a mark on it. +As it is, we'd better look for a heap of stones." + +They searched for some time without finding anything, for straight beach +and straight river presented no prominent feature which any one making a +cache would fix upon as guide. Lisle directed Nasmyth's attention to +this. + +"There was deep snow when Vernon came down the gorge, on this side," he +pointed out. "It doesn't follow that he was with the others when they +buried the stores--he might have been carrying up a load--and it's +possible they couldn't give him a very exact description. If I'm right in +this, he'd have a long stretch of beach to search, and a man's senses +aren't as keen as usual when he's badly played out." + +Nasmyth made no comment, but his expression suggested that he would not +be disappointed if they failed to strike the cache. Shortly afterward, +however, Jake called out, and on joining him they saw a cross scratched +on a slab of slightly projecting rock. Even with that to guide them, it +was some time before they came upon a few stones roughly piled together +and almost hidden in a bank of shingle. + +"First of all, I want you to notice that this gravel has slipped down +from the bluff after the cache was made," Lisle said to Nasmyth. "With +snow on the ground and the slab yonder covered, it would be almost +impossible to locate it." He turned to Jake. "How long would you say it +was since the rain or frost brought that small stuff down?" + +Jake glanced at the young brushwood growing higher up the slope. It was +shorter than that surrounding it, and evidently covered the spot which +the mass of debris had laid bare in its descent. + +"Part of one summer and all the next," he answered decidedly. + +"Tell us how you figured it out." + +Jake climbed the bank and returned with two or three young branches which +he handed to Lisle. + +"The thing's plain enough to you." He turned toward Nasmyth. "No growth +except in the summer--they'd had a few warm months to start them, but +they don't fork until the second year. See these shoots?" + +"As winter was beginning when the Gladwyne party came down, that small +landslide must have taken place some time before then," declared Lisle. + +They set to work and carefully moved aside the stones. First they +uncovered three cans of preserved meat, and then a small flour bag which +had rotted and now disclosed a hard and moldy mass inside. There was also +another bag which had evidently contained sugar; and a few other things. +All examined them in silence, and then sat down grave in face. + +"It's unfortunate that nobody could positively state whether this cache +has been opened or not since it was made, but there are a few points to +guide us," said Lisle. "Do you know what kind of food civilized men +who've been compelled to work to exhaustion on insufficient rations, +helped out by a little fish or game, generally long for most?" + +"No," answered Nasmyth, with a feeble attempt at levity. "I've now and +then remembered with regret the kind of dinner I used to get in England." + +"You have scarcely felt the pinch," Lisle informed him. "The two things +are farinaceous stuff and sugar. No doubt, it will occur to you that +Vernon might have taken a can or two of meat; but that's not likely." + +"If you're right about the longing for flour and sweet-stuff, it's a +strong point," Nasmyth declared. "Where did you learn the fact?" + +Lisle looked at Jake, and the packer smiled in a significant manner. + +"He's right," he vouched. "We know." + +"Then," continued Lisle, indicating the sugar bag, which had been wrapped +in a waterproof sheet, "can you imagine a starving man, in desperate +haste, making up this package as it was when we found it?" + +"No," admitted Nasmyth; "it's most improbable." + +Somewhat to his astonishment, the usually taciturn Jake broke in. + +"You're wasting time! Vernon never struck this cache--he told the folks +at the post so. Worked with him once trail-cutting--what that man said +goes!" + +"You never told me you knew Vernon!" exclaimed Lisle. + +"Quite likely," Jake drawled. "It didn't seem any use till now." + +For the first time since they landed, Nasmyth laughed--he felt that +something was needed to relieve the tension. + +"If people never talked unless they had something useful to say, there +would be a marvelous change," he declared. + +Lisle disregarded this, but he was a little less grave when he resumed: + +"There's another point to bear in mind. Two of Gladwyne's party left him; +and of those two which would be the more likely to succumb to extreme +exertion, exposure, and insufficient food?" + +"Against the answer you expect, there's the fact that Vernon made the +longer journey," Nasmyth objected. + +"It doesn't count for much. Was Clarence Gladwyne accustomed to roughing +it and going without his dinner? Would you expect him to survive where +you would perish, even if you had a little more to bear?" + +"No," confessed Nasmyth; "he's rather a self-indulgent person." + +"Then, for example, could you march through a rough, snow-covered country +on as little food as I could?" + +"No, again," answered Nasmyth. "You would probably hold out two or three +days longer than I could." + +"Vernon was a stronger and tougher man than I am," Lisle went on. "Now, +without finding definite proof, which I hardly expected, there is, I +think, strong presumptive evidence that Vernon's story is correct." + +"Yes," agreed Nasmyth, and added gravely: "Will you ever find the proof?" + +"I think there's a way--it may be difficult; but I'm going right through +with this." + +"What's your next move?" + +"I've willingly laid my partner's story open to the only tests we can +impose. Now I'm going to do the same with Clarence Gladwyne's." + +Nothing more was said, and turning away from the cache, they went back to +the canoe. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A PAINFUL DECISION + + +Two days passed uneventfully, though Nasmyth was conscious of a growing +uneasiness during them; and then one evening they landed to search +another beach. They had less difficulty here, for small cedars and +birches crept down to the waterside and Jake found an ax-blaze on one. +After that, it was easy to locate the cache, and there were signs that it +had been either very roughly made, or afterward opened and reclosed in +careless haste. Lisle had no hesitation in deciding upon the latter, and +Jake was emphatic in his brief assurance on the point. + +On removing the covering stones, they found very little beneath them, but +every object was taken out and Lisle, measuring quantities and guessing +weights, carefully enumerated each in his notebook. Neither he nor +Nasmyth said anything of import then; both felt that the subject was too +grave to be lightly discussed; and walking back silently along the +shingle, they pitched the tent and prepared supper. After the meal, Jake, +prompted by an innate tact, sauntered away down the beach, and the other +two, lounging beside the fire, took out their pipes. A full moon hung +above the lonely gorge, which was filled with the roar of the river, and +the shadows of the cedars lay black upon the stones. + +Some minutes passed before a word was spoken; and then Nasmyth looked up. + +"Well?" he said briefly. + +Lisle moved a little, so that he could see his companion's face. + +"In the first place," he explained, "Clarence Gladwyne came down this +bank. One could locate the cache by the blazed tree, even with snow upon +the ground--and it has been opened. Apart from the signs of this, no +party of three men would have thought it worth while to make a cache of +the few things we found." + +"Mightn't it have been opened by some Indian?" + +"It's most unlikely, because he would have cleaned it out. A white +prospector would certainly have taken the tobacco." + +Nasmyth knit his brows. He was deeply troubled, because there were +respects in which the matter would hardly bear discussion, though he +recognized that it must now be thrashed out. + +"Well," he admitted reluctantly, "what we have discovered has its +significance; but it isn't conclusive." + +His companion took out from a pocket the palm and wrist portion of a fur +glove. It was badly rotted, and the rest had either fallen away or been +gnawed by some animal, but a button with a stamp on it remained. + +"Jake found that and gave it to me," he said. "There's enough left to +show that it had finger-stalls, and there are none on the mittens we use +in cold weather. The thing's English, and with a little rubbing I expect +you'll find the maker's name on that button. When the party went up it +was warm weather, but we know there was sharp frost when Gladwyne came +back. A buttoned glove doesn't drop off one's hand, and even if it had +done so Gladwyne would have noticed and picked it up. It seems to me he +took it off to open one of the provision bags and couldn't find it +afterward because he'd trodden it into the snow." + +Nasmyth could doubt no longer, and his face grew red. + +"The hound!" he broke out. "He had a hand frost-bitten--one finger is +different from the others yet." + +Lisle said nothing; he could understand and sympathize with what was +going on in his companion's mind and the latter was filled with +bitterness and humiliation. A man of his own kind and station in life, +one with whom he fished and shot, had broken faith with his starving +comrade and with incredible cowardice had left him to perish. Even this +was not the worst; though Nasmyth had always taken the personal courage +of his friends for granted. He was not a clever man and he had his +faults, but he shaped his life in accordance with a few simple but +inflexible rules. It was difficult for him to understand how one could +yield to a fit of craven fear; but there was a fact which made Gladwyne's +transgression still blacker. + +"This thing hits hard," he said at length. "The man should have gone +back, if he had known it meant certain death." + +Lisle filled his pipe and smoked in silence for several minutes during +which the eery cry of a loon rang about the camp. It roused Nasmyth to an +outbreak of anger. + +"I hate that unearthly noise!" he exclaimed vehemently. "The thing seems +to be gloating; it's indecent! When I think of that call it will bring +back the long portage and this ghostly river! I wish I'd never made the +journey, or that I could blot the whole thing out!" + +"It can't be done," Lisle replied. "It's too late. You have learned the +truth of what has been done here--but the results will work themselves +out. Neither you nor I can stop them; they have to be faced." + +"The pity of it is that the innocent must suffer; they've borne enough +already." + +"There's a point I don't quite understand," declared Lisle. "Whatever the +Hudson Bay agent thought, he'd have kept it to himself if he'd been +allowed--I've met him. It was Gladwyne who laid the whole blame on +Vernon; he forced the agent to bear him out. Why should he have taken so +much trouble? His own tale would have cleared him." + +Nasmyth looked irresolute; and then he answered reluctantly: + +"There's a fact I haven't told you yet--Clarence came into the family +property on George's death; a fine old place, a fairly large estate. The +sister doesn't count, though she got her brother's personal property--the +land goes down in the male line." + +Lisle dropped his pipe. + +"Now I understand! Gladwyne profits, my dead partner bore the shame. But +do you believe the man meant to let his cousin die?" + +"No," Nasmyth answered sharply, "that's unthinkable! But I blame him +almost as much as if he had done so. Besides his duty to George, he had a +duty to himself and to the family--the honorable men and women who had +kept the name clean before him. Knowing he would inherit on George's +death, there was only one way open--he should have gone back, at any +cost. Instead, to clear himself of the faintest trace of ugly suspicion, +he lays the blame upon an innocent man." + +Lisle did not reply to this. He felt that had the grim choice been +imposed upon his companion, the man would have taken the course he had +indicated. + +"You said that George Gladwyne was a naturalist," he remarked. "Was he a +methodical man?" + +"Eminently so," replied Nasmyth, wondering where the question led. He had +already been astonished at Lisle's close reasoning and the correctness of +his deductions. + +"Then he would have made notes on his journey and no doubt have kept some +kind of diary. Did the rescue party recover it?" + +"They did. It was given to George's sister." + +"Damaged by snow or water, badly tattered?" + +"It was," assented Nasmyth. "I've had the book in my hands. I suppose +it's natural that you should guess its condition, but I don't see what it +points to." + +Lisle smiled grimly. + +"One wouldn't be astonished to find some leaves missing from a tattered +book." + +"You're right again." Nasmyth started. "Several had gone." + +"I think I can tell which part of the journey they related to. A +methodical man would make a note of the stores cached, and the lists +would be conclusive evidence if anybody afterward opened the caches and +enumerated their contents, as we have done. If everything put into the +one on the bank Vernon followed remained there, it would prove that he +couldn't have found it. On the other hand, if the one on Gladwyne's side +of the river--" + +"Of course!" Nasmyth broke in. "You needn't labor the point; it's plain +enough." He stopped for a few moments before he went on again. "I'm +convinced; but without that list of Gladwyne's you still haven't proof +enough to place your account of the affair beyond dispute. What are you +going to do?" + +"I'm going to England--it's my father's country, and I meant to visit it +some day. Whether I shall find out anything more there or not I don't +know." + +"Then you must stay with me. That's a point I insist upon. But I must +make my situation clear--though I've been drawn into this matter against +my will, you have my promise, and if ever the time for action comes, I'll +stand by you. But I'll take no part in trapping Clarence Gladwyne into +any admission, nor will I countenance any charge against him unless some +chance supplies you with indisputable evidence." + +"Thanks," said Lisle; "I'm agreeable. You stand neutral until I call on +you." + +"There are two more questions, and then we'll let the subject drop. Why +didn't you make this search earlier? Why didn't Gladwyne rearrange the +caches afterward? He went back, you know." + +"They're easily answered. It was some time before I heard of Vernon's +death and met the Hudson Bay man in Victoria--I'd been away in the North. +Gladwyne had the rescue party with him when he went back; he couldn't +replace the provisions in the cache on this side without their knowing +it, and I don't suppose he could have crossed the river to the other +cache. Now we'll talk of something else." + +They started again the next morning, and instead of leaving the river for +the Hudson Bay post, which stood farther back into the wilderness, they +held on down-stream, though they afterward regretted this when their +provisions once more grew scanty. There was now sharp frost at nights; +fangs of ice stretched out behind the boulders and crackling sheets of it +gathered in the slacker eddies along the bank. What mattered more was +that the portages were frequent, and carrying the canoe over rock coated +with frozen spray became dangerous as well as difficult, and Nasmyth +working on short rations began to feel the strain. It was only since he +had entered that inhospitable region that he had ever been compelled to +go without his dinner; and now breakfast and supper were sternly +curtailed. When they were stopped for two days by a blinding snowstorm he +grew anxious, and his uneasiness had increased when some time afterward +they made their evening meal of a single flapjack each. He could readily +have eaten a dozen of the thin, flat cakes. The duck they had shot every +now and then since crossing the divide had gone; they had not seen a +trout since the cold set in; and there did not appear to be any salmon in +the river. + +After breakfast the next morning, Lisle concluded that it would be wise +to risk a day looking for a deer, so he invited Nasmyth to take his rifle +and the two set out. It cost them some trouble to climb the low bluff +above the river through a horrible tangle of fallen trunks. The trees +were getting larger and the branches of those the wind had brought down +lay spread about them or were resting on the standing growth in networks +which Nasmyth would have thought it impossible to traverse had he been +alone. Lisle scrambled through, however, and he had no choice except to +follow. Where the timber was thinner, the slope was covered with +sharp-edged stones which further damaged his already dilapidated boots; +and when at last they came out upon a comparatively bare, rocky +tableland, a bitter wind met them in the teeth. It drove a little fine +snow before it, but Lisle plodded steadily on, explaining that any deer +which might be in the neighborhood would have gone down into the +sheltered valleys. He had no doubt they would find one of the valleys, +for they were generally numerous. + +It was an hour before they reached one, and Nasmyth was conscious of an +unpleasant pain in his side and a headache which he supposed resulted +from want of food. For all that, he scrambled after his companion down an +almost impossible descent, where trees of increasing size grew up among +outcropping rock and banks of stones. When he reached the bottom he found +himself in a deep rift filled with densely-matted underbrush, through +which a swift stream flowed. Its banks promised a slightly easier road, +though now and then they had to wade through the water, which was icy +cold. Noon came and they had seen no sign of life, except two or three +willow-grouse which they failed to dislodge from cover; but Lisle held +on, his course running roughly in a line with the river. + +It was toward three o'clock, and a little snow was sifting down between +the somber branches overhead, when Lisle, stopping, raised a warning hand +and pointed to an opening in the trees. The light was dim among the rows +of trunks, and for a few seconds Nasmyth gazed down the long colonnade, +seeing nothing. Then Lisle pointed again, impatiently, and he made out +something between a gray trunk and a thicket. Sportsman as he was, he had +not the bush-man's eye, and he would never have supposed that formless +object to be a deer. It moved, however; a prong of horn appeared; and +waiting for nothing further he pitched up his rifle. + +It was a long shot, standing; he guessed the range in a deceptive light; +but he found himself strangely steady as he squeezed the trigger. He was +desperately hungry and weak from want of food; the deer must not escape. +Yet he was in no rash haste; for two or three seconds the tiny foresight +trembled slightly upon the mark, while the pressure on the trigger +increased. Then there was a flash; he heard no report but the smoke blew +into his eyes. Almost simultaneously, a train of red sparks leaped out +from somewhere close at his side and there was a sharp snapping in the +bush ahead. + +"You got your shot in!" cried Lisle. "I think I missed him on the jump. +Come on; we must pick up the trail!" + +It was easy to find; the deer had been too badly hit to bound across each +obstacle as cleanly as usual, and broken twigs and scattering withered +leaves showed which way it had gone. Besides, there were red splashes +here and there. It was, however, a difficult matter to follow the trail. +Fallen trees and dense thickets barred the way, and they had to cross the +creek every now and then. Nasmyth rapidly got breathless and before long +he was badly distressed, but he held on behind his companion. Once or +twice he was held fast for a moment or two, and breaking free, found he +had badly ripped his garments on the ragged branches. Still, it was +unthinkable that they should let the deer escape. + +As he struggled forward, he remembered that the days were rapidly +shortening, and he shrank from the prospect of retracing his way to camp +in the dark. It occurred to him that it was a compliment and a mark of +very fine courtesy that Lisle had left the first shot to him. In return +for this, he must endeavor to be present to assist when he was wanted. + +The deer was still invisible, but it was not very far ahead, for at times +the snapping of a stick or a rustle of disturbed underbrush came sharply +out of the woods. The light was getting dimmer and the snow was falling +more thickly. + +At last the hunted creature left the valley and after a desperate +scramble the men reached the summit of the ridge above. Here the +tableland between them and the river was covered with straggling bush, +and though the undergrowth was thin they could see nothing but the long +rows of shadowy trunks. Lisle, however, picked up the trail, and they +followed it as rapidly as possible until, when Nasmyth was lagging some +distance behind, there was a shout in front of him and his companion's +rifle flashed. Making a last effort, he broke into a run and presently +came to the brink of a steep descent covered with thick brush and +scattered trees, with a wide reach of palely gleaming water at the foot +of it. It was the kind of place one would have preferred to climb down +cautiously, but there was a sharp snapping and crackling below and +Nasmyth knew that a hard-pressed deer will frequently take to the water. +If it crossed the river, it would escape; and that could not be +contemplated. + +Holding his rifle up, he plunged madly down the descent, smashing through +matted bushes, stumbling over slippery stones. Once or twice he collided +with a slender tree and struck his leg against some ridge of rock; but he +held on, gasping, and the water rapidly grew nearer. He had almost +reached it when a dim shape broke out from a thicket at the bottom of the +slope. There were still some cartridges in his rifle cylinder, but he was +slipping and sliding down an almost precipitous declivity at such a rate +that it was impossible to stop and shoot. Indeed, in another moment he +fell violently into a brake and had some difficulty in smashing through +it, but when he struggled free he saw shingle and boulders in front of +him and Lisle bounding across them a few yards behind the deer. He +reached the stones, wondering why Lisle did not fire; and then he saw man +and deer plunge into the water together. + +A few seconds later he was waist-deep in the swift icy current, savagely +endeavoring to drag the animal toward the bank, while Lisle stood near +him, breathing hard, with a red hunting-knife in his hand. + +"Steady!" gasped Lisle. "You can't do it that way! Help me throw the +beast on his side. Now heave!" + +They got the deer out, and Nasmyth sat down limply. All the power seemed +to have gone out of him; he did not want to move, though he was filled +with exultation, for they now had food. It was a minute or two before he +noticed that Lisle had left him; and then he saw him coming back with his +rifle. + +"I dropped the thing," Lisle explained. "Couldn't snap a fresh shell in; +guess I bent the slide. I took the knife to finish it." + +"In another moment or two you'd have been too late." + +Lisle laughed. + +"I don't know. It wouldn't have been decided until we'd reached the other +side." + +"You would have swum across?" Nasmyth asked in astonishment. + +"Sure," said Lisle simply. "Anyway, I'd have tried." + +Nasmyth glanced at the river. It was broad, icy cold, and running fast, +and he could hardly imagine a worn-out and half-fed man safely swimming +it. Lisle, however, called upon him to assist in an unpleasant operation +which, when Nasmyth had killed a deer at home, had been judiciously left +to the keepers or gillies. After that, he was directed to light a fire on +a neighboring point, from which it could be seen some way up the river, +and by and by Jake arrived in the canoe. Then they made camp, and after a +feast on flesh so tough that only hungry men could have eaten more than a +few morsels of it they went to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MILLICENT GLADWYNE + + +In a few more days they left the river, abandoning the canoe and tent and +a portion of their gear. Ascending to higher levels, they crossed a +rugged waste, which, fortunately for them, was thinly timbered; but there +was keen frost, and snow in places, and Nasmyth suffered a good deal +during this portion of the journey. At last, however, they descended to a +sheltered valley in which the firs grew tall, and Jake agreed with Lisle +that it would form the best road to the settlements. + +Nasmyth was longing for civilization when he lay awake late one night, +wrapped in a single blanket, beside the sinking fire. Dark columnar +trunks rose about him, touched with the uncertain red radiance now and +then cast upon them when little puffs of bitter wind stirred the blaze, +and he could see the filmy wreaths of smoke eddy among the branches. He +was cold and overtired; the day's march had been a long one; his +shoulders ached cruelly after carrying a heavy load, and every joint was +sore. Besides, his bed was unpleasantly hard, and he envied his +companions, who had long ago sunk into heavy slumber. For the last hour +he had been thinking over the discoveries he had made on the journey, +which he devoutly wished he had never undertaken; the thought of them had +troubled him on other bitter nights. Lisle was not the man to let the +matter drop; he was much more likely to follow it up with dogged +persistence to the end; and Nasmyth, who was to some extent pledged to +assist him, saw trouble ahead. + +In spite of this, he was beginning to get drowsy when a faint and yet +strangely melodious chiming broke through the whispering of the firs. It +seemed to come from above him, falling through the air, and he roused +himself to listen, wondering if he were quite awake. The musical clash he +had first heard had ceased, but for a while he thought he could +distinguish the tolling of a single bell; then in varying notes the peal +broke out again. + +There was something ethereal in the clear tones. The last time he had +heard anything like them he was sitting one Sunday morning on a shady +lawn while the call of the bells came softly up to him across the English +woods. He glanced at his comrades, but they showed no sign of hearing, +and raising himself on one elbow he lay and listened, until the music, +growing fainter and fainter, died away. Then, puzzled and half convinced +that his imagination had played him some fantastic trick, he went to +sleep. + +He mentioned the occurrence diffidently at breakfast the next morning, +expecting incredulous laughter; but Lisle, without making a comment, +glanced at Jake questioningly. + +"No," responded Jake. "Nothing to bring them up so far." + +"You couldn't have been mistaken?" Lisle asked Nasmyth. + +"I thought I must be; but the more I listened, the clearer it got." + +"Go and see," Lisle said, addressing Jake, and when they had finished +breakfast the packer strode away. + +"We'll wait a bit," advised Lisle. "I'm a little worried about provisions +again. It's still a long march to the nearest wagon trail." + +Nasmyth failed to understand how the delay would improve their position, +but believing that his companion was somewhat dubious about his tale he +restrained his curiosity. In half an hour Jake came back and nodded to +Lisle. + +"Quite a bunch of them," he reported. "I struck the fellow's trail." + +"What was it I heard?" Nasmyth asked. + +"Cow-bells," Lisle explained, laughing. "In this country, they generally +put them on any cattle that run loose in the timber. Some adventurous +rancher has located up here, though I hadn't expected to find one so far +north. Anyway, it's a relief; he'll no doubt be able to let us have +something to eat." + +They reached the man's log house an hour later, and spent the day with +him, enjoying a much needed rest. The next morning he supplied them with +provisions and told them how to find a trail down to a wagon road; and, +setting out, they safely reached a settlement in regular communication +with the cities. + +It was the settlement Lisle had expected to come to, and he found a +bundle of correspondence awaiting him there. Before he opened it, +however, he and Nasmyth supplied themselves with such clothing as they +could obtain at the local store, and then demanded a bath at the little +wooden hotel. They had some trouble in obtaining it, but Nasmyth was +firm, and eventually he sat down to supper, clad in a blue shirt with +scarlet trimmings, extremely tight-fitting clothes and daintily-pointed +shoes. + +"I think I'd have done better if I'd stuck to my rags, or else bought a +pair of what that fellow called river-Jacks' boots," he commented +ruefully. + +Lisle was similarly attired, but he was too busy with his meal to +sympathize with him, and some time after it was over Nasmyth, strolling +into the private room which they had obtained as a signal concession, +found him writing at a littered table. Sitting down, he watched him for a +while with some slight wonder. For a number of weeks, he had seen his +companion handling heavy loads, cooking, and hauling canoes round rapids +with the skill of a professional packer. It was hard to disassociate him +from the ranges and the bush; but now, with the pile of letters before +him, he had suddenly become a business man. Nasmyth saw him answer a +couple in a swift, decided manner which showed that he was at home in his +present occupation. It was one of the quick character-changes which, +while common in the West, are apt to bewilder the more stereotyped +Englishman. + +"Are you coming to England with me?" Nasmyth asked at length. + +"No; I'm sorry I can't," answered Lisle, pausing, pen in hand. "This +Gladwyne matter will probably take time and I have none to spare now. +There have been some unexpected developments in my affairs. I don't know +when I can get away." + +Nasmyth was conscious of some relief. His companion would have to defer +the prosecution of plans that threatened to cause trouble in England, +which was something to be thankful for, though he had a strong sympathy +for the man. + +"Has it ever struck you that you might have less difficulty if you could +be content with proving half of what you claim?" he asked. "It's the more +important part--I mean that your late comrade failed to find the cache." + +"Half a truth is not much use--Gladwyne realized that. To declare you +haven't done the wrong is a good deal less effective than pointing to the +guilty man." + +"I suppose that's correct," Nasmyth agreed. "But, after all, unless you +can get hold of a list of the provisions cached--and it has most likely +been destroyed--there's only one way of substantiating your views." + +"Exactly. Gladwyne's confession will place the matter beyond all doubt." + +"Do you think you will ever get it?" + +Lisle's expression hardened. + +"Well," he said, "I'm going to try." + +Nasmyth abandoned all attempt to daunt or dissuade him. + +"Anyway," he resumed, "when you come over you must stay with me. I'm +sorry we'll have to part company to-morrow. I start east by the first +train." + +He strolled out into the moonlight and the keen frosty air. The little +wooden town was soon left behind, and sauntering down the rough wagon +road beneath towering firs, he saw the great hill summits glitter white +against the sky. It was a wonderful country; the grandest he had ever +traversed; but it demanded a good deal from the man who ventured into its +wilds, and he was not sorry that he was turning his back on it. + +Then, as he thought of the land he was bound for and recalled the tragic +story of Gladwyne's journey, he once more grew troubled. He realized the +immutable sequence of cause and effect--each action had its result which +must be faced however much one repented and regretted it. The deed, once +done, could not be altered and, what was worse, its consequences reached +out to others. Then he wondered whether Clarence had ever repented, and +admitted, with a recurrence of his indignation against the man, that it +was far from probable. Clarence was one who took life lightly, and +although his means had been small until he came into his cousin's +possessions, he had somehow succeeded in getting what is often considered +the best out of it. Self-denial in any shape was unknown to him. + +The next morning Nasmyth took the train for Montreal, and about a +fortnight later alighted at a little station in the north of England as +the early dusk was closing in. It was a quiet evening and the soft +moistness of his native air struck him as something pleasantly familiar +after the keener, drier atmosphere of the Dominion. He was glad to be +back again, but when he looked around, the trap waiting in the wet road +outside the railings was not his own. Neither did it belong to Clarence, +whom he had partly expected; but on the whole Nasmyth was glad of that. +He had not looked forward to the first meeting with Clarence with any +pleasure. + +In another moment, a girl came along the platform through the groups of +local passengers, who respectfully made way for her. She was tall, and +her long outer garment failed to conceal her grace of movement and fine +poise, though in the fading light her face was almost invisible beneath a +large hat. The sight of her sent a thrill of satisfaction through the +man; it was seldom that Millicent Gladwyne's appearance was unwelcome to +her friends. She approached him with outstretched hand. + +"I drove over for you. Clarence couldn't come; he was suddenly called up +to town," she began. "It would have been rather lonely for you to spend +the first evening by yourself at the Lodge. You will come to us?" + +"Thoughtful as ever," smiled Nasmyth, with a little bow which was +respectful as well as friendly. "I needn't ask how you are; the way you +walked along the platform was a testimony to our Border air." + +She laughed, softly and musically. + +"It is more needful to inquire how you have stood your adventures?" + +"I believe I'm thinner; but that isn't astonishing, everything +considered. I suppose Clarence is getting on pretty satisfactorily?" + +"Clarence? Oh, yes!" There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice which +Nasmyth noticed. "He has been in town a good deal of late. But come +along; the horse--he's a new one--is rather restive. They'll send on your +things." + +"The remnant of my outfit's contained in one small bag," laughed Nasmyth; +"the rest's scattered about the hillsides of British Columbia. I was a +picturesque scarecrow when I reached the settlements." + +They moved away along the platform, and on reaching the trap he got up +beside her and handed her the reins. + +"I want to look about, if you don't mind," he explained. + +"I really think the prospect's worth it," she replied. "Besides, Riever's +fresh and needs humoring." + +She shook the whip, and as they clattered away down the steep, twisting +road, Nasmyth glanced with satisfaction to left and right. He had seen +wilder and grander lands, but none of them appealed to him like this +high, English waste. On one hand dim black hills rose out of fleecy mist; +on the other a leafless birch wood, close by, stood out in curiously +fragile and delicate tracery against a paling saffron glow, though +overhead the sky was barred with motionless gray cloud. A sharp smell of +peat-smoke followed them as they clattered past a low white cottage with +a yellow glow in one window; and then the earthy scent of rotting leaves +replaced it as they plunged into the gloom of an oak wood beneath the +birches. A stream splashing down a hollow made faint music in the midst +of it. When they had emerged from the shadow and climbed a steep rise, +wide moors stretched away in front, rising and falling in long +undulations, streaked with belts of mist. The crying of restless plovers +came out of the gathering dimness. + +"All this is remarkably nice; though I don't think I should have +appreciated it quite so much if I'd been alone," Nasmyth said at length. + +Millicent laughed lightly. She had known him since her childhood and was +quite aware that he had not intended to pay her a labored compliment; +they were too good friends for that. Once, indeed, he had desired a +closer bond, but he had quietly acquiesced when with gentle firmness she +had made it clear that she was not for him. Submission had not been easy, +but he had long admitted her right to more than he could offer. In this, +however, he was to some extent mistaken, because the gifts he could +bring--a staunch honesty, faithfulness, and a genial nature--are not to +be despised. + +"Well," she replied, "I love these moors and dales, as of course you +know, and I've become more of a stay-at-home than ever during the past +year." There was a slight regretfulness in her voice which had its +meaning for him. "I'm never satisfied with the drawings," she went on, +"though I've made so many of them." + +Nasmyth made a sign of comprehension. She had undertaken to finish and +illustrate her brother's roughed-out work, a book on the fauna of the +Border, and she had brought to it a fine artistic skill and patience, as +well as a love of the wild creatures of the waste. It was, perhaps, a +curious occupation for a young woman, but she had devoted herself to it +with characteristic thoroughness. + +"He wanted it to be as complete and accurate as possible," she added +simply. + +Her companion felt compassionate. In some respects, it was almost a pity +that Millicent could not forget. + +"You got my letter--the one in which I said I meant to pick up and follow +out his trail?" he asked. + +"Yes. I knew it would be difficult. Indeed, I was anxious about you; the +wilderness has claimed so much from me. But did you--" + +"I succeeded," Nasmyth answered quietly. + +The nod she gave him was expressive. It meant that she had expected him +to succeed; he was a man who did what he said. + +"I think George should never have made that journey," she resumed. "Fond +of the open as he was, he hadn't the physical stamina. He never spared +himself; he was apt to overestimate his powers." + +It was spoken with a grave regretfulness that troubled Nasmyth and yet +stirred him to strong appreciation of her character. With all her love +for her brother, she could face the truth. + +"I've learned that he bore everything with the fortitude one would expect +from him--doing his share always with the rest," Nasmyth said. "We got +through a little earlier, and had better weather; but I saw enough to +convince me that the difficulties George had to contend with would have +killed any ordinary man." + +"They did not kill Clarence." + +Nasmyth once more burned with anger against the transgressor. + +"No," he replied in a strained tone; "Clarence escaped." + +She flashed a sharp glance at him, and he felt glad that it was too dark +for her to see his face. + +"You must tell me the whole story to-night," she requested. + +Her companion made no answer. With the reserve that must be maintained on +several points, the story would be difficult to relate; and it could not +fail to be painful to her. The horror she would feel if she ever learned +that her brother might have been saved had his cousin shown more +resolution was a thing he dare not contemplate, and he wondered if the +shock the knowledge must bring could be spared her. This depended upon +Lisle, whom he had promised to assist. Nasmyth could foresee nothing but +trouble, and he was silent for a while as they drove on across the lonely +moor. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +NASMYTH TELLS HIS STORY + + +Dinner was over, and Millicent's elderly companion had discreetly left +them alone, when the girl led Nasmyth into her drawing-room. It was +brightly lighted and was tastefully decorated in delicate colors, and a +wood fire was burning on the hearth; but, for the first time that he +could remember, Nasmyth felt ill at ease in it. He was fresh from the +snow-covered rocks and shadowy woods and the refinement and artistic +luxury of his surroundings rather jarred on him. The story he had to +relate dealt with elemental things--hunger, toil, and death--it would +sound harsher and more ugly amid the evidences of civilization. + +"You have a good deal to tell me," Millicent suggested at length. + +He stood still a moment, looking at her. She had already seated herself, +and the sweeping lines of her pose suggested vigor and energy held in +quiet control. Her face was warm in coloring, bearing signs of exposure +to wind and sun, but it was chastely molded in a fine oval with the +features firmly lined. Her hair was dark, though there were bronzy gleams +in it, and her eyes, which were deeply brown, had a sparkle in them. As a +whole, her appearance indicated a sanguine, optimistic temperament, but +there was also an indefinite something which spoke of due balance and +repose. Nasmyth was more convinced than ever that he had not met any +other woman fit to compare with her. Her age, as he knew, having given +her many birthday presents, was twenty-four. + +"Yes," he said, in answer to her remark, "but it's curious that I can't +fix my mind upon the subject here. The night's mild; shall we go out on +to the veranda?" + +"Wait until I get a wrap. I understand." + +"You always do that," Nasmyth declared. + +She joined him outside in another minute and seated herself in the chair +he drew out. The house was small and irregularly built, and a glass roof +supported on light pillars stretched along part of the front. A half-moon +hung above a ridge of dark fir wood, a tarn gleamed below, and here and +there down a shadowy hollow there was a sparkle of running water. On the +other side of the dale the moors stretched away, waste and empty, toward +the half-seen hills. The loneliness of the prospect reminded Nasmyth of +Canada, and the resemblance grew more marked when the crying of plover +rose from the dim heath--it brought back the call of the loon. Still, he +did not wonder why Millicent, an orphan with ample means, lived alone +except for her elderly companion on the desolate Border. + +"You don't mind, I know," he said as he lighted a cigar. + +"I can make that concession willingly," she answered with a smile. "I +suppose I'm old-fashioned, because I go no farther." + +"Keep so," advised Nasmyth. "Of course, that's unnecessary; but I never +could make out why women should want to smoke. From my point of view, it +isn't becoming." + +He was putting off a task from which he shrank, and she indulged him. + +"One retains one's prejudices in a place like this," she said. "I felt +sadly left behind when I was last in London; and the few visits I made in +the home counties a little while ago astonished me. Nobody seemed to stay +at home; the motors were continually whirling them up to town and back; +the guests kept coming and going. There was so much restlessness and +bustle that I was glad to be home again." + +"It has struck me," returned Nasmyth with an air of sage reflection, +"that we who live quietly in the country are the pick of the lot. Sounds +egotistical, doesn't it? But if we don't do much good--and I'm afraid I +don't, anyway--neither do we do any harm." + +"I'm not sure that that's a great deal to be proud of." + +"I didn't include you," Nasmyth assured her. "There have been wholesome +changes in the village since you grew up and made your influence felt. +And that leads to a question: How does Clarence get on with his tenants +and the rank and file? George understood them, but they're difficult +folks to handle." + +"He's away a good deal--I'm afraid there has been some friction now and +then." The girl's manner suddenly changed. "But that's beside the point. +Aren't you wasting time?" + +"I am almost afraid to begin. You will find the story trying." + +She turned toward him, and the moonlight showed her face was reassuringly +quiet. + +"I expect that; but your fears are groundless. You needn't hesitate on my +account." + +Nasmyth knew that she was right; Millicent was not one to flinch from +pain. With an effort, he began his story at the portage over the divide, +and, possessed by vivid memories, he made her see the desolate region +they had laboriously traversed. Because her imagination was powerful, she +could picture the brother she had loved toiling with desperate purpose +and failing strength through muskeg and morass. Then, when she quietly +insisted, he described Gladwyne's last camp. She saw that, too: the +hollow beneath the dark rock, with the straggling cedars on the ridge +above. Next he outlined the journey down the first few rapids, saying +little about the caches, and at last, with considerable relief, he came +to a stop. Millicent sat silent for several minutes, during which he did +not look at her. + +"Thank you," she said at length. "I have tried often to imagine it, and +failed; but it is quite clear now. Clarence would never give me more than +the barest details--I think he hated to speak of it." + +"In a way, he was wise," replied Nasmyth. He understood the man's +reluctance. "Now don't you think it would be better if you tried to drive +the thing out of your mind? It can't be altered--there's a danger in +dwelling too much upon one's grief." + +She looked up at him, though her eyes were dim with tears. + +"It can't be driven out. There were only the two of us; we had so much in +common--there was such trust between us." + +Nasmyth nodded in comprehension and sympathy. + +"Now that I've told you," he said quietly, as he rose, "I think I'll go. +I am sure you'd rather be alone." + +"No," she answered, motioning to him to sit down. "Please stay." She +seemed to rouse herself with an effort. "Of course, there was only one +thing George could do when he was lamed--send them on. But Clarence, who +was with him, never made his fortitude and cheerfulness so clear as you +have done. You even mentioned the exact words he said now and then--how +did you hear of them?" + +"From my companion, a young Canadian. He had the whole thing by heart; +got it from the Hudson Bay agent. George's guide told the agent." + +"Did your companion also teach you how to tell the story?" + +Nasmyth smiled. He saw that she was desirous of changing the subject and +he was glad of it. + +"Anyway, he made me see it at the time; pointed out the full significance +of things--a broken branch, a scratch on a rock. A rather striking man in +several ways. But you shall see him; he's coming over to stay with me by +and by." He paused a moment. "I understand that Clarence has been having +some trouble." + +"It hardly amounts to that. But things are not the same as they were"--in +spite of her courage she faltered--"when George held control. The tenants +don't take to Clarence; I think he was not well advised in increasing +rents here and there. Indeed, that was a little puzzling, because he was +once so liberal." + +"In small matters; it's his own money now." Nasmyth could not repress +this show of bitterness. + +"Whose money was it in his extravagant days?" + +"That's a question I've thought over and failed to find an answer to. +I've no doubt most of what he gets is now being spent in town, though in +my opinion as much as possible ought to go back to the locality in which +it was produced. Why don't you impress that on him?" + +Millicent, as he knew, could judiciously offer sound advice where it was +needed. She was young, but, having been left an orphan early, she had +long enjoyed her brother's close companionship and confidence, and the +man's wide knowledge and thoughtfulness had had its effect in molding her +character. Still, in this case, she did not respond. + +"It would be better for his tenants and the neighborhood generally if +Clarence married; he can afford it now," Nasmyth went on. + +Again the girl was silent, and he wondered whether he had thoughtlessly +made a serious blunder. It had been supposed among their friends that she +would marry Clarence some day, though, so far as it was known, there was +no definite understanding between them, and for a while the man's +attitude had strengthened the idea. Indeed, when he had succeeded to +George's possessions, every one had expected an announcement, which had +not been made. What Millicent thought, or what she had looked for all +along, did not appear. + +"I think you are right in one thing," she said, very calmly, at length. +"If he would stay here, as George did and his neighbors do, it would be +better for everybody, including himself." + +Nasmyth made a sign of agreement. Their intimate friends remained for the +greater portion of the year on their estates, understanding the needs of +their tenants and dependents and enjoying their good opinion, which was +naturally increased by the fact that their expenses were chiefly incurred +in the neighborhood. There were others who, as the small farmer +recognized, returned as little as possible to the soil, squandering +revenues raised by the stubborn labor of others in doubtful pleasures +elsewhere and, when they brought their friends home, on luxuries +despatched from town. These things made for bitterness. + +An unfortunate persistence in his hobby drove Nasmyth into a second +blunder. + +"We're in accord on that point," he assured her. "It's a pity the land +passed out of your hands. However, as there's no male succession, it +might, after all, come back to you." + +She bore it very calmly. + +"You wouldn't have me speculate on such a thing?" + +Then as if to find a safer topic she went on with a thrill of anger in +her tone: + +"I'll tell you of an incident I witnessed two or three days ago, which +annoyed me seriously. I'd just met old Bell--you know how lame he +is--driving some sheep along the road. It has been a wet, cold year; Bell +lost his hay, the oats are dreadfully poor, and his buildings are in very +bad repair." + +"They were a disgrace to any estate when I last saw them," Nasmyth broke +in. "Besides, the sour land near the river should have been tile-drained +long ago." + +"So Bell has urged; but he can't get Marple to spend a penny--I'm glad +that man's new to this part of the country and doesn't belong to us. +Well, just after I met Bell, Marple's big motor came along. He had Batley +with him and the Crestwicks, who were down before. I think you met them?" + +"I did," assented Nasmyth. "In Canada they'd call them a mighty tough +crowd; they're about the limit here." + +"I turned round after the car had passed," Millicent went on. "Marple was +driving, as fast as usual, and he made no attempt to pull up. Bell, who +didn't hear, tried to jump and fell into the ditch; most of the sheep +were scattered across the moor, but two or three got right in front of +the car and at the last moment Marple had to stop. One of the women +laughed, she had a very shrill voice and she explained that the old man +looked so funny in the ditch; Marple shouted to Bell--something about the +damage to his tires--and I could see the others smiling at what he said. +That was worse than the words he used. Then they went on, leaving the old +man to gather up his sheep; he hadn't a dog with him. That kind of thing +leaves its mark!" + +"Distinctly so," Nasmyth agreed. "Still, Marple and his lot are +exceptions. Wasn't Clarence rather thick with them?" + +"Yes," she answered. "I've been rather disturbed about him." + +Nasmyth did not know what this meant. He thought she would hardly have +made such an admission had she contemplated marrying the man; and, if +not, it was somewhat difficult to see why he should cause her serious +concern. He knew, however, that Millicent could not look on unmoved when +her friends left the right path; he could think of two or three whom she +had helped and gently checked from further straying. This reflection was +a relief to him, because he was determined that she should not marry +Clarence if he could prevent it. If necessary, he would tell her the part +the man had played in Canada, though he shrank from doing so. + +"Marple and his acquaintances are not the people one would have expected +Clarence to associate with," he continued. "Still, in my opinion, he's +doing worse in making a friend of that fellow Batley. I could never +understand the connection--the man strikes me as an adventurer. Has he +spent much time here since I've been away?" + +"A good deal, off and on. But it's getting chilly and I half expect a +reproving lecture from Miss Hume when I go in. First, though, tell me a +little more about the young Canadian you had with you." + +"I don't know much. I met him by accident--he has an interest in some +mines, I believe, but he struck me as a remarkably fine type. Clever at +woodcraft, as handy with the ax and paddle as our professional guide, but +when he talked about other things he seemed to know a good deal more than +I do." He smiled. "After all, that's not surprising. But what I liked +most was the earnestness of the fellow; he had a downright way of +grappling with things, or explaining them to you. Sensible, but direct, +not subtle." + +"I've met men of that description, and I'm rather prejudiced in their +favor," declared Millicent, smiling. "But what was he like in +person--slightly rugged?" + +"No; that's where you and others sometimes go wrong. There's nothing of +the barbarian about these bushmen. Physically, they're as fine a type as +we are--I might go farther--straight in the limb, clean-lined every way, +square in the shoulder. They'd make an impression at any London +gathering." + +"So long as they didn't speak?" + +"It wouldn't matter. Allowing for a few colloquialisms, they're worth +listening to; which is more than I'd care to say for a number of the +people one meets in this country." + +Millicent laughed. + +"Well, I'll be glad to see him when he comes." Her voice grew graver. "I +feel grateful to him already for what he told you about George." + +They went in together and half an hour later Nasmyth walked home across +the moor. He had never thought more highly of Millicent, but somehow he +now felt sorry for her. It scarcely seemed fitting that she should live +in that lonely spot with only the company of an elderly and staid +companion, though he hardly thought she would be happier if she plunged +into a round of purposeless amusements in the cities. Still, she was +young and very attractive; he felt that she should have more than the +thinly-peopled countryside had to offer. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ON THE MOORS + + +Nearly a year had passed since Nasmyth's return when Lisle at length +reached England. Soon after his arrival, he was, as Nasmyth's guest, +invited to join a shooting party, and one bright afternoon he stood +behind a bank of sods high on a grouse-moor overlooking the wastes of the +Border. The heath was stained with the bell-heather's regal purple, +interspersed with the vivid red of the more fragile ling, and where the +uplands sloped away broad blotches of the same rich colors checkered the +grass. In the foreground a river gleamed athwart the picture, and +overhead there stretched an arch of cloudless blue. There was no wind; +the day was still and hot. + +A young lad whose sunburned face already bore the stamp of self-indulgence +was stationed behind the butt with Lisle, and the latter was not favorably +impressed with his appearance or conversation. + +"Look out," he cautioned by and by. "You were a little slow last time. +They travel pretty fast." + +Lisle picked up his gun; he had used one in the West, though he was more +accustomed to the rifle. Cutting clear against the dazzling sky, a +straggling line of dark specks was moving toward him, and a series of +sharp cracks broke out from the farther wing of the row of butts, which +stretched across the moor. Lisle watched the birds, with fingers +tightening on his gun; one cluster was coming his way, each flitting body +growing in size and distinctness with marvelous rapidity. Then there was +a flash beside him, and another crash as he pitched up his gun. Something +struck the heather with a thud not far away, and swinging the muzzle a +little, he pulled again. He was not surprised to hear a second thud, and +laying down his gun he turned to his youthful companion, while a thin +cloud of acrid vapor hung about him. + +"Get anything?" he asked. + +"I didn't," was the sullen answer. "Couldn't expect it with the second +barrel, after you'd filled the place with smoke. Wonder why Gladwyne's +man gave you the old black powder?" + +As nearly everybody else used smokeless, this was a point that had +aroused Lisle's curiosity, though it was not a matter of much importance. +Nasmyth had provided him with cartridges, but they had somehow been left +behind, and on applying to Gladwyne's keeper he had been supplied with +ammunition which, it seemed, was out of date. + +"After all, you have done well enough," his companion resumed. "We'd +better get on to our next station--it's right across the moor on the high +ridge yonder. Don't bother about the birds." + +"Shall I leave them there?" + +"Certainly! Do you want to carry them all the afternoon? One of the +keeper fellows will bring them along." + +The lad's tone was half contemptuous; he had already shown that he +considered the Canadian what he would have called an outsider; but he was +willing to make use of him. + +"You might look after Bella; she's alone in the next butt--and I've +something else to do," he said. "There's an awkward ghyll to cross and +she won't carry anything lighter than a 14-gun. See she doesn't leave the +cartridges in it." + +He strode away across the heather, and Lisle turned toward the turf +shelter indicated. As he approached it, a girl appeared and glanced at +him with very obvious curiosity; but as he supposed that she was the +sister of his late companion he did not expect any diffidence from her. +She was short in stature and slight in figure, and dressed in grayish +brown; hat, coat, and remarkably short skirt all of the same material. +Her hair was of a copper color; her eyes, which were rather narrow, of a +pale grayish-green. He would have called them hard, and there was a hint +of arrogance in her expression. Yet she was piquantly pretty. + +"I suppose you're Nasmyth's Canadian friend?" she began, and went on +without waiting for an answer: "As we occupy adjoining butts on the next +drive, you may take my gun. Teddy has deserted me." + +"Teddy?" queried Lisle, who wondered if she were referring to her +brother. "I thought his name was Jim." + +"It's Marple's stout friend with the dyed hair I mean. I told him what +would happen if he ate as he persisted in doing at lunch. It's too hot to +gormandize; I wasn't astonished when he collapsed at the steep place on +the last walk. Reflecting that it was his own fault, I left him." + +Lisle was not charmed with the girl's manners, but he could not check a +smile. + +"Are you tired? You oughtn't to be," she continued with another bold +glance at him. + +"No," he replied; "if it's any consolation to you, I'm far from exhausted +yet." + +"That's reassuring," she retorted. "You haven't taken my gun." + +Having forgotten it for the moment, he flushed a little, and she watched +him with unconcealed amusement while he opened the weapon and took out +the cartridges. + +"What's that for?" she asked impertinently. "It's hammerless; there's +nothing to catch." + +"The pull-off's probably very light, if it's been made for a lady's use. +It's sometimes possible to jar the strikers down when they set the +springs to yield at a touch." + +"Then you know something about guns?" she said, as if she had not +expected this. + +"Not a great deal about the scatter kind, though I've stripped a few." + +"We never do that," she informed him. "We send them to London. Still, +you're right; the gun did go off when I knocked it jumping down from a +wall." + +"If you'll let me have it to-night, I'll alter that. I understand we're +going out again to-morrow." + +She considered a moment. + +"Well," she consented, with the air of one conferring a favor, "you may +take it when we've finished." + +Lisle wondered what had prompted him to make the offer. The way she had +addressed him was not ingratiating, but he delighted in examining any +fine mechanism and he had never handled such a beautifully made weapon. + +They plodded on side by side through the heather, which was long and +matted, and presently, seeing that she was breathless, he stopped on the +crest of a higher rise and once more looked about with keen appreciation. + +In front of him the crimson and purple heath was rent and fissured, and +in the deep gaps washed out by heavy rains the peat gleamed a warm +chocolate-brown. Elsewhere, patches of moss shone with an emerald +brightness, and there were outcrops of rock tinted lustrous gray and +silver with lichens. Below, near the foot of the moor, ran a straight +dark line of firs, the one coldly-somber streak in the scene; but beyond +it the rolling, sunlit plain ran back, fading through ever varying and +softening colors to the hazy blue heights of Scotland. + +Lisle's companion noticed his intent expression. + +"It is rather fine up here," she conceded. "I sometimes feel it's almost +a pity one couldn't live among the heather. Certain things would be +easier on these high levels." + +"Yes?" interrogated Lisle, slightly puzzled and astonished. + +"You're obviously from the woods," she smiled. "If you had spent a few +years among my friends, you would understand. I was referring to the +cultivation of ideas and manners which seem to be considered out of date +now." + +Lisle made no reply to this, but he glanced too directly at a red stain +on her hand. + +"Blood," she explained. "I had a bet with Alan that I'd get a brace more +than Flo; that's why I went after a cripple running in the ling. It +wasn't dead when I picked it up--rather horrid, wasn't it?" + +The man was conscious of some disgust. She looked very young and, slight +as she was, her figure was prettily rounded and she had a soft, kittenish +gracefulness; but she spoke with the assurance of a dowager. Though he +had killed and cut up many a deer, he shrank from the small red stain on +her delicate hand. She saw it and laughed, and then with a sudden change +of mood she stooped and swiftly rubbed her fingers in the heather. + +"Now," she said sharply, "if you're sufficiently rested, we'll go on." + +Lisle moved away, but he asked a question: + +"Do many girls shoot in this country?" + +"No," she answered with a mocking smile; "not so many, after all. That's +comforting, isn't it? This kind of thing is hard work, and damaging to +the complexion." + +Presently they came to a wall, and Lisle stopped in some uncertainty. It +was as high as his shoulders and built of loose, rough stones. + +"Get over," she ordered him. "Then pull a lot of it down." + +He did so, making, though he endeavored to avoid this, a rather wide +hole. + +She scrambled through agilely and then regarded him with surprise as he +proceeded to replace the stones. + +"Why are you doing that?" she asked. + +"There are sheep up here." + +"Too many, considering that it's a grouse-moor; but what of it? They +don't belong to us." + +"They belong to somebody who would rather they didn't stray," Lisle +rejoined. "In the country I come from, it's considered a serious +transgression to knock over another person's fence and not put it up +again." + +He calmly went on with his task, and sitting down she took out a silver +cigarette-case. After a minute or two she looked up at him. + +"You're doing that very neatly," she remarked. + +"I've done something of the kind for a living," Lisle informed her. + +"Oh! It's curious that you seem proud of it. In this case, I don't mind +your keeping me, because they can't drive up the birds until we have +crossed the higher moor. It will annoy Gladwyne and his keeper, and I'm +not pleased with either of them. I wanted Flo Marple's station at the +first butts." + +Lisle considered this. He had wondered why she had favored him with her +company, when, although her previous companion had deserted her, she +could by hurrying a little have joined the others. The butts were not +spaced very far apart. Their late occupants had, however, now vanished +into a dip of the moor. He asked himself why a girl with her assurance +should have troubled to offer him an explanation. + +When he had finished the repairs to the wall, they went on, and a little +later he heard a sharp "Cruck--cruck-curruck," to one side of him. +Swinging around, he saw a grouse skimming the heather. + +"A pair of gloves to a sovereign that you miss!" cried his companion. + +The bird was flying fast; Lisle had to load, and by the time he had +snapped in a cartridge it was a long range. This, however, was somewhat +in his favor, as he was better used to the rifle. There was a flash and +the bird struck the heath. The girl glanced at him in unveiled +appreciation. + +"A clean kill!" she exclaimed. "You have won the gloves; and you'll +deserve them before you have heard the last of this incident. I suppose +you don't know that you shouldn't have fired a shot except from behind +the butts." + +She watched his expression with open amusement. + +"You don't like to ask why I tempted you," she went on. "It was to vex +the keeper; you may have turned back the birds the beaters are driving +up." + +"Thanks for the information," Lisle said coolly. "Do you mind my +inquiring whether you would have taken the sovereign in case I'd missed? +As you suggested, I'm lately from the wilds." + +"Of course!" she mocked. "I could have had it drilled and worn it on a +chain!" + +The man made no comment as they went on. Presently they came to a deep +rift in the moor through which a stream leaped sparkling. The girl +scrambled down, waist-deep in yellow fern, but the other side was steep +and stony and she was glad of help when he held out his hand. They made +the ascent with some difficulty and on reaching the summit she looked +around, breathless. + +"This is a romantic spot, if you're interested in the legends of the +Border," she told him. + +"I am," Lisle said; and she sat down among the heather. + +"It's an excuse for a rest," she confessed. "The old moss-troopers used +to ride this way to ravage Cumberland. It was advisable for them to +follow hidden paths among the moors, and once an interesting little +skirmish took place among those brakes down the hollow." + +She pointed toward a spot where the ravine widened into a level strip of +quaggy grass and moss which glowed a brilliant emerald. On either side of +it a gnarled and stunted growth of alders and birches fringed the foot of +the steep slopes, and between them the stream spread out across a stretch +of milk-white stones. The hollow was flooded with light and filled with +the soft murmur of running water. + +"It would be a strong place to hold, if the defenders had time to choose +their ground," Lisle remarked. + +"So it proved," replied his companion. "Well, once upon a time, a bold +Scots reaver, riding south, saw a maid who pleased him near a Cumberland +pele. His admiration was not reciprocated, but he came again, often, +though being an armed thief by profession there was a price upon his +head. It is stated that on each occasion he returned unaccompanied by any +of the cattle belonging to his lady's relatives, which was an unusual +piece of forbearance. In those days, men must have been able to +disassociate business from their love-making." + +"Don't they do so now?" Lisle inquired lazily. + +She looked at him with a smile which had a hint of real bitterness in its +light mockery. + +"Not often, one would imagine. Perhaps they can't be blamed--I'm afraid +we're all given to cultivating dreadfully expensive tastes. No doubt, +when it was needful, the Border chieftain of the story could live on +oatmeal and water, and instead of buying pedigree hunters he probably +stole his pony. He haunted the neighborhood of the pele until the maid +became afraid and urged her kinsmen to rid her of him. Several of them +tried and failed--which wasn't surprising." + +"Love made him invulnerable?" Lisle suggested. + +"No," retorted his companion. "A man with a heart constant and stout +enough to face the risks he ran would be hard to kill. When you read +between the lines, it's a moving tale. Think of the long, perilous rides +he made through an enemy's land, all for a glance at his disdainful lady! +They watched the fords in those days, but neither brawling rivers nor +well-mounted horsemen could stop him. At last, he came one night with a +dozen spears, broke in the barmkin gate and carried her off. All her +relatives rode hard after them and came up with them in this ghyll. Then +there happened what was, in one way, a rather remarkable thing--the +abducted maid firmly declined to be rescued. There was a brisk encounter, +I believe two or three were killed; but she rode off to Scotland with her +lover. I suppose I needn't point the moral?" + +"I can see only the ancient one--that it's unwise to take a lady's 'No' +as conclusive," Lisle ventured. + +She laughed at him in a daring manner. + +"The pity is that we haven't often a chance of saying it to any one worth +while. But I'll express the moral in a prettier way--sometimes +disinterested steadfastness and real devotion count with us. +Unfortunately, they're scarce." + +There was a challenge in her glance, but the man, not knowing what was +expected of him, made no answer. At first he had been almost repelled by +the girl, but he was becoming mildly interested in her. She could, he +thought, be daring to the verge of coarseness, and he did not admire her +pessimism, which was probably a pose; but there was a vein of elfish +mischief in her that appealed to him. Sitting among the heather, small, +lithe, and felinely graceful, watching him with a provocative smile in +her rather narrow eyes, she compelled his attention. + +"Well," she laughed, "you're not much of a courtier. But doesn't that +story bring you back into touch with elemental things--treacherous +mosses, dark nights, flooded rivers, passion, peril, dauntlessness? Now +we're wrapped about with empty futilities." + +He understood part of what was in her mind and sympathized with it. He +had lived close to nature in stern grapple with her unbridled forces. +From women he demanded no more than beauty or gentleness; but a man, he +thought, should for a time, at least, be forced to learn the stress and +joy of the tense struggle with cold and hunger, heat and thirst, on long +marches or in some dogged attack on rock and flood. He had only contempt +for the well-fed idlers who lounged through life, not always, as he +suspected, even gracefully. These, however, were ideas he had no +intention of expressing. + +"There are still people who have to face realities in the newer lands; +and I dare say you have some in this country, on your railroads and in +your mines, for example," he said. "But hadn't we better be getting on?" + +They left the brink of the hollow and plodded through the heather toward +where a row of butts stood beneath a lofty ridge of the moor. A man +appeared from behind one as they approached and glanced at them with +unconcealed disapproval. + +"Couldn't you have got here earlier, Bella?" he asked. "In another few +minutes you'd have spoiled the drive--the birds can't be far off the dip +of the ridge. Hardly fair to the keepers or the rest of us to take these +risks, is it?" + +"When I do wrong, I never confess it, Clarence," the girl replied. "You +ought to know that by now." + +Lisle heard the name and became suddenly intent--this was Clarence +Gladwyne! There was no doubt that he was a handsome man. He was tall and +held himself finely; he had a light, springy figure, with dark eyes and +hair. Besides, there was a certain stamp of refinement or fastidiousness +upon him which was only slightly spoiled by the veiled hint of languid +insolence in his expression. + +"I heard a shot," he resumed. + +"I've no doubt you did," the girl agreed. "An old cock grouse got up in +front of us--it was irresistibly tempting." + +Gladwyne turned to Lisle with a slight movement of his shoulders which +was somehow expressive of half-indulgent contempt. + +"You're Nasmyth's friend from Canada? I guess you don't understand these +things, but you might have made the birds break back," he said. "However, +we must get under cover now--there's your butt. I'll see you later." + +He turned away and Lisle took up his station behind the wall of turf +pointed to. He had once upon a time been forcibly rebuked for his +clumsiness at some unaccustomed task in the Canadian bush and had not +resented it, but the faint movement of Gladwyne's shoulders had brought a +warmth to his face. The girl noticed this. + +"Clarence can be unpleasant when he likes, but there are excuses for +him," she said. "A day's shooting is one of the things we take seriously, +and manners are not at a higher premium here than I suppose they are in +the wilds." + +Lisle made no response, and there was silence on the sun-steeped moor +until a row of small dark objects skimming the crest of the ridge above +became silhouetted against the sky. Then a gun cracked away to the right +and in another moment a dropping fusillade broke out. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +GLADWYNE RECEIVES A SHOCK + + +It was about nine o'clock in the evening, and Gladwyne's somewhat noisy +guests were scattered about his house and the terrace in front of it. +Several of them had gathered in the hall, and Bella Crestwick, Lisle's +companion on the moors, stood, cigarette in hand, with one foot on the +old-fashioned hearth-irons, frankly discussing him. A few birch logs +glowed behind the bars, for on those high uplands the autumn nights were +chilly, but the wide door stood open, revealing a pale green band of +light behind the black hills, and allowing the sweet, cool air of the +moors to flow in. + +The girl had gained something by the change from her outdoor attire to +the clinging evening dress, but it was with characteristic unconcern that +she disregarded the fact that the thin skirt fell well away from one +shapely ankle effectively displayed by a stocking of the finest texture. + +"The man," she said, "is a bit of a Puritan. They still live over there, +don't they? His idea of English women is evidently derived from what his +father told him, or from early-Victorian literature. I'm inclined to +believe I shocked him." + +"It's highly probable," laughed a man lounging near. "Still, I believe +the descendants of the folks you mention live three thousand miles from +his country, in the neighborhood of the Atlantic shore. One wouldn't +fancy that you'd like Puritans." + +There was nothing offensive in the words, but his glance was a little too +bold and too familiar, and Bella looked at him with a gleam of malice in +her eyes. + +"Extremes meet; it's the middle--the medium mediocrity--that's +irreconcilable with either end," she retorted. "For instance, I led a +life of severe asceticism all last Lent." There were incredulous smiles, +though the statement was perfectly correct. "It's a course I could +confidently recommend to you," she proceeded, unheeding; "of late you +have been putting on flesh with an alarming rapidity." + +The man made no response and Bella resumed: + +"Besides, the Puritans have their good points; they're so refreshingly +sure of themselves and their views, while the rest of us don't believe in +anything. You can't be a fanatic without being thorough, and in +renouncing the world and the flesh you may gain more than a passable +figure. Among other things, the ascetic life means straight shooting, +steady hands, and an eye you can depend upon. The overcivilized man who +does nothing to counterbalance his luxuriousness is generally a rotter." + +"But what has all this to do with Nasmyth's Canadian?" somebody asked. + +Bella waved her cigarette. + +"Try to walk a steep moor with him and you'll see. If that's not +sufficient, take the same butt with him when the grouse are coming over." + +Suddenly she straightened herself, dropping her foot from the iron and +flinging the cigarette into the fire, as a gray-haired lady entered the +hall. She had been a beauty years ago and now her fragility emphasized +the fineness of her features and the clear pallor of her skin. She was +dressed in a thin black fabric, and her beautifully shaped hands gleamed +unusually white against its somber folds. + +"Where's Clarence?" she asked the group collectively, in a voice that was +singularly clear and penetrative. "I haven't seen him for the last +half-hour." + +One of the men immediately went in search of him, and the lady crossed +the hall to where Millicent Gladwyne was sitting, for the time being +alone. Millicent had noticed Bella's sudden change of demeanor upon her +hostess's entrance, with something between amusement and faint disgust. +Mrs. Gladwyne was what Bella would have called early-Victorian in her +views, and she would occasionally have been disturbed by the conversation +of some of her son's guests, had she not been a little deaf. + +"Sitting quiet?" she said to Millicent, who was a favorite of hers; and +her voice carried farther than she was aware of as she continued: "I +heard the laughter and it brought me down, though I want to tell Clarence +something. I like to see bright faces; but the times have changed since I +was young. We were a little more reserved and not so noisy then." + +"A dear old thing! It's a pity she's quite so antediluvian," Bella +remarked to a man at her side. + +"Isn't that the natural penalty of being a dear old thing?" laughed her +companion. "There's no doubt we have progressed pretty rapidly of late." + +Clarence appeared shortly after this and was gently chidden by his mother +for going out without his hat, because the autumn nights were getting +chilly. A few minutes later, footsteps became audible outside the open +door and Nasmyth entered the hall with Lisle. It was spacious and +indifferently lighted; the others, standing near the hostess, concealed +her, and Lisle stopped for a word with Bella. Then Nasmyth noticed Mrs. +Gladwyne and called to his companion. + +"This way, Vernon." + +Clarence swung round with a start and cast a swift glance at the +stranger, and Millicent wondered why his face set hard; but the next +moment Nasmyth led up the Canadian and presented him. Mrs. Gladwyne had +risen and Lisle made a little respectful inclination over the delicate +hand she held out. Age had but slightly spoiled her beauty; she had still +a striking presence, and a manner in which a trace of stateliness was +counterbalanced by gentle good-humor. Lisle was strongly impressed, but, +as Millicent noticed, he betrayed no awkwardness. + +"I seem to have heard your name before in connection with Canada," said +Mrs. Gladwyne, confusing it with his surname. "Ah, yes! Of course; it was +George's guide I was thinking of." She turned to Millicent, adding in an +audible aside: "I've a bad habit of forgetting. Forgive me, my dear." + +Everything considered, it was, perhaps, the most awkward thing she could +have said; but Lisle's bronzed face was imperturbable, and Gladwyne had +promptly recovered his composure as he realized the mistake. Still, for a +moment, he had been badly startled. Nobody noticed Nasmyth, which was +fortunate, because his unnatural immobility would have betrayed him. + +"I'd been expecting you both earlier; told you to come to dinner," said +his host. + +Then he addressed Lisle. + +"As my mother mentioned, I had once something to do with a man called +Vernon, in Canada." + +Knowing what he did, Lisle fancied that Gladwyne's indifferent tone had +cost him an effort. + +"It's only my Christian name, as you have heard," he explained. + +"You were up in the bush with Nasmyth, were you not?" + +"Yes," answered Lisle. "I met him quite by chance in a Victoria hotel +when I happened to have a few weeks at my disposal which I thought of +spending in the wilds. When he heard that I intended making a trip +through the northern part of the country and suggested that we should go +together I was glad to consent." + +"Then you belong to Victoria?" + +"I was located there when I met Nasmyth. Before that I was up in the +Yukon district for some time. Since leaving him I've lived in the city." + +He thought Gladwyne was relieved at his answer, for the latter smiled +genially. + +"Well," he said, "we must try to make your visit to this country +pleasant." + +Shortly after this, the group broke up and Gladwyne, escaping from his +guests, slipped out on to the terrace and walked up and down. Nasmyth had +merely mentioned that he had a Canadian friend staying with him; somehow +a formal introduction had been omitted during the day on the moors, and +Gladwyne had been badly disconcerted when he heard the man addressed as +Vernon. The name vividly recalled a Canadian episode that he greatly +desired to forget, and he had, indeed, to some extent succeeded in doing +so. That unfortunate affair was done with, he had assured himself; for +two years it had scarcely been mentioned in his hearing, but for a +horrible moment which had taxed his courage to the utmost he had almost +fancied that it was about to be brought to light again. Lisle's answer +and manner had, however, reassured him. Nasmyth had met the man +accidentally and it was merely as the result of this that they had made +the journey through the bush together. It was evident that he had been +needlessly alarmed. + +For all that, he was troubled. Living for his own pleasure, as he did, he +was nevertheless a man who valued other people's good opinion and prided +himself upon doing the correct and most graceful thing. There was no +doubt that he had once badly failed in this, but it was in a moment of +physical weakness, when he was exhausted and famishing. After all, it was +most probable that his cousin had died before he could have reached him, +and there were, he thought, few men who, if similarly situated, would +have faced the risk of the return journey. Still, the truth would have +had an ugly sound had it come out. This was why he had spread the story +of the guide's defection, which he now regretted. It might not have been +strictly necessary, but he had reached the trappers' camp on the verge of +a collapse, too far gone to reason out the matter calmly. A man in that +condition could hardly be held accountable for his action. Besides, it +was incredible that the guide's statement that he had made the journey +without replenishing his provisions could be correct. + +His reflections were interrupted by Mrs. Gladwyne, who came out, wrapped +in a shawl. + +"Why are you here alone?" she asked. "You look disturbed. Has anything +gone wrong?" + +Gladwyne was sorry that she had joined him where the light from a window +fell on his face, but he smiled. + +"No," he answered quietly, for he was always gentle with her. "I only +felt that I'd rather avoid the chatter of the others for a few minutes. I +suppose it was the man's name, together with your reference to George, +that upset me." + +Mrs. Gladwyne laid her hand on his arm. She was inordinately fond and +proud of the son whom she had spoiled. + +"I sometimes think you are too sensitive on that point, Clarence," she +said. "Of course, it was very tragic and we both owe George a great deal, +but you did all that anybody could have done." + +The man winced, and it was fortunate that they had now left the light +behind and his mother could not see his face. + +"I could have stayed and died with him," he broke out with unaffected +bitterness. "There were times at the beginning when I was sorry I let him +send me away." + +Mrs. Gladwyne shook her head reproachfully. She was gracious and quietly +dignified and refined in thought, but for all that she was not one to +appreciate such a sacrifice as he had indicated. + +"I'm afraid that was an undue exaggeration of a natural feeling," she +remonstrated. "How could your staying have helped him, when by going in +search of help you increased his only chance of safety? I have always +been glad you were clear-headed enough to realize it, instead of yielding +to mistaken emotional inclinations." + +Gladwyne felt hot with shame. His mother had an unshaken confidence in +his honor, which was the less surprising because her perceptions had +never been very keen and she had always shrunk from the contemplation of +unpleasant things. It was an amiable weakness of hers to idealize those +she loved, and by resolutely shutting her eyes on occasions she succeeded +in accomplishing it more or less successfully. Clarence was, of course, +aware of this, and it hurt to remember that in deserting his cousin he +had been prompted chiefly by craven fear. His mother, however, quite +unconscious of what she was doing, further humiliated him. + +"Of course," she continued, "if you had found the cache of provisions, it +would have been your duty to return to George at any hazard, and I have +no doubt whatever that you would have gone." + +The damp stood beaded on the man's forehead. He realized that even his +lenient and indulgent mother would shrink from him if she knew that he +had abandoned his dying benefactor like a treacherous coward. He said +nothing and they had strolled to the end of the terrace before she spoke +again. + +"I think it would be better to go back to the others and drive away these +morbid ideas," she advised. "It's a duty to look at the brightest side of +everything." + +He made no answer, but he strove with some degree of success to recover +his usual tranquillity as they turned toward the entrance of the hall. + +In the meanwhile, Lisle had been talking to Millicent. She had already +made a marked impression on him, for in the wilds the man had acquired a +swift and true insight into character. One has time to think in the +lonely places where, since life itself often depends upon their accuracy, +a man's perceptions grow keen, and though some of the minor complexities +and subtleties of modern civilization might have puzzled him he was +seldom mistaken in essentials. + +He liked her direct and calmly searching gaze; he liked her voice which, +while soft and pleasant, had a trace of gravity in it. He knew that her +fine carriage was a sign of physical vigor and he recognized how it had +been gained by the clear, warm tinting of her slightly sun-darkened skin. +But, apart from this and her comeliness, which was marked, there was that +in her personality which spoke of evenness and depth of character. She +was steadfast, not lightly to be swayed from a resolve, he thought. + +"Nasmyth has often spoken about you," she told him. "I understand it was +chiefly by your help that he succeeded in reaching the scene of my +brother's death. I want to thank you for that." + +Her voice was quiet, but it did not betoken indifference; he knew that +she was not one to forget. He could not think of any apposite answer, but +she saw the sympathy in his eyes and it pleased her more than words would +have done. + +"It was a relief to me that Nasmyth made that journey," she went on. "I +wanted to learn everything that could be known--instead of shrinking from +it. You see, I had a great faith in my brother." + +"He deserved it," Lisle declared warmly. "I have gathered enough to +convince me of that!" + +"Thank you! Clarence was not in a condition to notice anything very +clearly during his journey, and I think what he suffered blunted his +recollection. Besides, the subject is a distressing one to him, and it is +seldom he can be induced to speak about it. Perhaps that is a pity; I +find it does not always save one trouble in the end to avoid a little +immediate pain." + +Lisle was gratified. She had spoken so unrestrainedly, though he imagined +that it was a somewhat unusual thing for her to take a stranger into her +confidence. + +"Yes," he replied; "I think that's very true. It's better to face it and +get it over. The wound sooner heals." + +She smiled rather wistfully and changed the subject. + +"I told Nasmyth that you taught him to see." + +"I suppose I did," acknowledged Lisle. "Still, it was only as far as it +concerned the things that I'm acquainted with. I'm not sure that my +meaning's very clear?" + +"I understand. You knew what to expect; that carries one a long way. Were +you disappointed in finding it?" + +He was a little surprised at her keenness, and rather confused. This was +a question that could not be directly answered. + +"What I was more particularly referring to was the meaning of such things +as a broken branch, a gap in a thicket, or a few displaced stones," he +explained. "I taught him what to infer from those." + +"Yes," she said; "I understand that you discovered nothing new--I mean +nothing that could throw any further light upon what befell my brother +after the others left him." + +He was glad that he could answer her candidly. + +"No; we can only suppose that the conclusions the rescue party came to +were correct. But all that we found relating to the week or two before +the separation spoke of the courageous struggle that your brother made +and his generosity in sending the others away." + +She bent her head. + +"That," she said quietly, "is only what one would have expected. He left +a diary; you must come over and see it." + +"I should like to, if it wouldn't be painful to you." + +"No," she replied; "I shall be glad to show it to you." + +She left him shortly after this and strolled out on to the terrace, +thinking about him. The little she had seen of him had pleased her; he +had earnest eyes and a resolute air, and she liked the men who lived in +the open. He was direct, and perhaps a little rudimentary without being +awkward, which was in his favor, for subtlety of any kind was distasteful +to her. Still, in one respect, she was disappointed--he had in no way +amplified Nasmyth's story, and she had expected to hear a little more of +the expedition from him. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +LISLE GATHERS INFORMATION + + +Nasmyth's dinner was over and he lay, pipe in hand, in an easy-chair in +his smoking-room, with Lisle lounging opposite him. They had been walking +up partridges among the higher turnip fields all day, and now both were +pleasantly tired and filled with languid good-humor. Nasmyth's house was +old--it had been built out of the remains of a Border pele--and the room +was paneled to the ceiling and very simply furnished. It had an ancient +look and an ancient smell, and the few articles of plain oak furniture +harmonized with it. The window stood wide open, and the fragrance of a +grove of silver firs outside drifted in. The surroundings had their +effect on Lisle, who had not been accustomed to dwellings of that kind. + +"You have been here a fortnight and must have formed a few opinions about +us," Nasmyth remarked at length. "You needn't be shy about expressing +them, and I've no doubt there are things you'd like to ask." + +"As a whole, my opinion's highly favorable," Lisle announced with a +smile. "I'd be uncommonly hard to please if it weren't." + +"That's flattering. But I'm not sure that I meant as a whole; I had a few +particular instances in my mind. Bella Crestwick, for example; I'm +curious to hear what you think of her. She seems quite favorably +impressed with you." + +"She's interesting," Lisle replied. "A type that's new to me; the latest +development, isn't it? Anyway, I like her--whatever the admission's +worth--though I must say that I found her rather startling at first. +She's honest, I think, and that counts for a good deal." + +"I suppose you're not aware that she's desirably rich?" + +"I wasn't. It's not a fact of any moment to me. Besides, I've a suspicion +that it's Gladwyne's scalp she's after." + +Nasmyth nodded. + +"You're pretty shrewd. Though I've had much greater opportunities for +observation, that idea has only lately occurred to me. Of course, in a +general way, I shouldn't discuss my acquaintances in this casual fashion, +but as you are likely to see a good deal of us there are things you'd +better know." + +"I'll explain my point of view," said Lisle, refilling his pipe. "You +have seen something of the kind of life I've led. Half my time, I +suppose, has been spent in primeval surroundings; the rest in contact +with the latest efforts of a rather unfinished civilization. Well, what +you have to show me here is vastly different. These old houses, your +smoothed-down ways, are a revelation to me. The polish on some of your +furniture has taken several hundred years to put on; that in my Victoria +quarters smells of the factory, and the board walls of other hotels I've +lived in rend into big cracks because they're fresh from the mill. I'm +full of interest; everything's new to me. But so far my curiosity's +impersonal; I'm taking no hand in anything." + +His companion's face grew grave. + +"The trouble is that you may not be able to avoid it later. You're here, +and some part will probably be forced on you. However, as I said, I think +you're right about Bella." + +"But her money would be no great inducement to Gladwyne." + +"That's not certain. Clarence has a way of squandering money, and you may +as well understand that there's very little to be derived from +agricultural property. George had his mother's money, but he left it to +Millicent; Clarence got only the land. That's what made a match between +them seem so desirable." + +"Desirable!" Lisle broke out. "It's impossible! Not to be contemplated!" + +"Yes," Nasmyth agreed quietly. "If necessary, it will have to be +prevented. I was only stating popular opinion." + +There was something curious in his tone and Lisle looked hard at him. +Their eyes met full for a moment and the thoughts of each were clear to +the other. + +"If anything must be done, it will fall to you," Nasmyth went on. "In +this case it would be particularly invidious for me to interfere. But, if +there had been nobody else, I'd have broken off the match." + +Lisle made no comment, but there was comprehension and sympathy in his +expression, and Nasmyth nodded. + +"Yes," he acknowledged; "it's an open secret that I would have looked for +nothing better than to marry Millicent Gladwyne." He paused with a slight +flush creeping into his bronzed face. "For all that, I knew some years +ago that I hadn't the faintest chance and never would have. I have her +confidence and friendship; that has to be enough." + +"I think it's a good deal," said Lisle. + +There was silence for a minute or two, and then Lisle asked a question: + +"How could a girl like Millicent Gladwyne ever contemplate the +possibility of marrying Clarence?" + +"It's puzzling to me. These things often are to outsiders. Still, +Clarence is a handsome man, and I think George was in favor of the match, +which would count with her. Then, in a way, she was always fond of +Clarence, and now that she has the money and he's far from prospering on +the land, the idea that she could set him firmly on his feet by sharing +her possessions with him may prove tempting. It's very much the sort of +thing that would appeal to her." + +"You suggest that she isn't strongly attached to the man." + +"I really believe she isn't; but, for all that, I'm sometimes afraid +she'll end by marrying him. It's very probable that she suspects some of +his faults, but I'm not sure they'd deter her. It would make her more +compassionate, believing it was her duty to help him--that kind of +thing's an old delusion. Still, to do the fellow justice, he hasn't of +late shown much eagerness to profit by his opportunities." + +Lisle mused for a few moments. It struck him that Nasmyth had described a +very fine type of woman, which was quite in accordance with his own ideas +of Miss Gladwyne. + +"What led Gladwyne to cultivate Marple and the Crestwicks?" he asked. +"They're different from the rest of you." + +"I can't say. It's a point I've wondered about, though Marple and his +rather rowdy friends are prosperous. I can better see why they got hold +of Clarence." + +"I don't see it," responded Lisle. "Remember I'm an unsophisticated +stranger in search of information. If they've means enough, can't they +associate with whom they like?" + +Nasmyth smiled, but there was a trace of diffidence in his manner. + +"In a way, you're right; but there are limits, more particularly in such +a place as this. The counties, I'm sometimes thankful, don't keep pace +with London. It's a little difficult to explain, but we're old-fashioned +and possibly prejudiced here. Anyhow, we exercise a certain amount of +caution in the choice of our friends." + +"But Mrs. Gladwyne seems cordial to the people you object to, and one +would imagine that she's the embodiment of your best traditions, a worthy +representative of the old regime." + +"Mrs. Gladwyne is a remarkably fine lady, but it's unfortunate that she's +a little deaf and--it must be owned--not particularly intelligent. A good +deal of what goes on escapes her. Besides, she has always idolized +Clarence, and that would account for her not seeing his friends' +failings." + +"It's curious that Gladwyne makes so much of that young Crestwick." + +"I've wondered about it," Nasmyth confessed. "The lad's vicious--and I've +an idea that the influence Clarence has over him isn't beneficial. In +fact, I'm sorry for his sister. She has been given her head too young, +but, in my opinion, the girl's the pick of a very indifferent bunch." + +"But you haven't accounted for these people's desire to be on good terms +with Gladwyne." + +Nasmyth hesitated. + +"Oh, well, since you're so persistent, the Crestwicks have evidently been +left with ample means, acquired by their parents, not much education, and +big ambitions. They can get into certain circles, but that won't content +them, and other doors, which Gladwyne can open to them, are shut. After +all, he's a good sportsman, a man of some culture, with a manner that's +likely to impress such people. The lad's holding on to him and taking his +worst aspect for a copy, while Clarence seems willing to extend his +patronage." + +"For some consideration?" + +Nasmyth looked disturbed. + +"It's unpleasant, but I can't help feeling that you're right. One way or +another, young Crestwick will have to pay his entrance fees." He rose and +stretched himself lazily. "I'll spoil my temper if I say any more about +it, and as we've had a long day I'm off to bed." + +Lisle followed him from the room, but he was up early the next morning +and strolled down to the river while the light was creeping across the +moors and the dew lay thick upon the grass, thinking over what he had +heard on the previous night. It was his nature to be interested in almost +everything and he was curious to learn what he could of the people to +whom his father had belonged. In Canada he had, for the most part, met +only men of somewhat primitive habits and simple desires, grappling with +rock and forest, or with single purpose toiling to acquire wealth in the +new cities. What was more to the purpose, few of them were married. Now +he was thrown among a people not more intelligent--indeed, he thought +they were less endowed with practically useful knowledge--but in some +respects more complex, actuated by different and less obvious ambitions +and desires. He felt impelled to watch them, though he recognized that, +as Nasmyth had predicted, this might not be all. It was possible that +sooner or later he would be drawn into action. + +He reached the stream at a spot where it flowed, still and clear, beneath +a birch wood. A few of the leaves were green, but most of them gleamed a +delicate saffron among the gray and silver stems, and the ground beneath +was flecked with yellow. Behind the trees rough, lichened rock and stony +slopes ran up to a bare ridge, silhouetted against the roseate glow of +the morning sky. The sun had not risen, the water lay in shadow; it was +very quiet and rather cold, and Lisle was surprised to see Millicent +Gladwyne picking her way cautiously over a bank of stones. It was only +her movements that betrayed her, for her neutral-tinted attire harmonized +with the background; but when she caught sight of him she left the foot +of the slope she was skirting and came directly toward him. He thought +she looked wonderfully fresh and wholesome, and he noticed that she +carried a small camera. + +"I'm afraid you have spoiled my sport," she laughed. "I was after an +otter--though you mustn't tell Nasmyth that there is one about here." + +"Certainly not," acquiesced Lisle. "But why?" + +"He would consider it his duty to bring up the hounds the next meet. +Isn't it curious how slaughter appeals to a man? But Nasmyth isn't +unreasonable; there are reserves in which even the jays he longs to shoot +have sanctuary." + +"But you were looking for an otter?" + +"Yes; I wanted its picture, not its life. I've got several, but I'm not +satisfied; though I've been lucky lately. I got a dabchick--they're +growing scarce--not long ago." + +"We'll try the next pool, if you'll let me come," suggested Lisle. "I'm +pretty good at trailing. But what do you want with their pictures?" + +"For my book," she told him. "I have to make ever so many drawings in +color before I get them right. If you're fond of the wild creatures, I'll +show them to you." + +Lisle said that he would be delighted, and they went on, keeping back +among tall brushwood where they skirted the swift stream at the head of +the pool, and then proceeding cautiously with the outline of their +figures softened by the heathy slopes behind. At length, creeping up +through a thin growth of alders, they stopped near another still reach +and the girl pointed to a few floating objects on its surface. + +"You're good at trailing or they'd have taken fright," she said. "Still, +I think I will surprise you, if you will wait here." + +"Mallard," Lisle commented. "Young birds--even where we seldom disturb +them, they're shy." + +She slipped away through the alders and he noticed how little noise she +made, though the lower branches here and there brushed against her +gliding form. She was wonderfully light and graceful in her movements. As +she came out into the open there was a startled quack or two from the +birds. Lisle expected to see them rise from the water, but she called +softly and, to his vast astonishment, they ceased paddling away from her. +She called again and they turned and swam cautiously toward her, and when +she took a handful of something from a pocket and flung it upon the +surface of the stream, three or four heads were stretched forward to +seize the morsels. + +While the birds drew nearer Lisle looked on admiring. She had roused his +interest when he had first seen her in her rich evening dress, but now he +thought she made a far more striking picture, and her sympathy with the +timid wild creatures which evidently knew and trusted her awakened +something responsive in him. Half the pool now glimmered in the rosy +light, with here and there an alder branch reflected upon its mirror-like +surface, and Millicent stood on a strip of gravel with her figure clearly +outlined against it. Dressed in closely-fitting, soft-colored tweed, tall +and finely symmetrical, she harmonized with rock and flood wonderfully +well. Lisle had occasionally seen a bush rancher's daughter, armed with +gun or fishing-rod, look very much at home in similar surroundings; but +this English lady, of culture and station, reared in civilized luxury, +appeared equally in her right place. + +He afterward recollected each adjunct of the scene--the stillness, the +pale gleam of the water, and the aromatic smell of fallen leaves, but the +alluring, central figure formed the sharpest memory. By and by she +clapped her hands, the ducks rose and flew away up-stream with necks +stretched out, and she came back toward him, laughing softly. + +"Sometimes they will come almost up to my feet; but I'm afraid it's +hardly fair to inspire them with an undue confidence in human nature. It +might cost them dear." + +"You're wonderful!" Lisle exclaimed, expressing what he felt, for she +seemed to him endowed with every gracious quality. + +"Oh," she smiled, "there's nothing really remarkable in what I showed +you. I happened to find the nest and by slow degrees disarmed the mother +bird's suspicions; mallard have been domesticated, you know, though +they're often hard to get very near. But we may as well turn back; it's +now too late to see an otter. I'm inclined to think they're the shyest of +all the British wild creatures." + +They moved away down-stream side by side, and some time later she left +him where a stile-path crossed a meadow. + +"Come and see my drawings whenever you like," she said on parting. + +Lisle determined to go as soon as possible. Quite apart from the +drawings, the idea of going had its attractions for him, and he walked +homeward determined that this girl should never marry Clarence Gladwyne. +It was unthinkable--that was the only word for it. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BELLA'S CHAMPION + + +It was early in the afternoon when Lisle arrived at Millicent's house +and, after a glance at its quaint exterior, was ushered into her +drawing-room. There he sat down and looked about while he waited. The +salient tones of its decoration were white and aqueous blue, and the +effect struck him as pleasantly chaste and cool. Among the rather mixed +ornaments were a couple of marble statuettes, the figures airily poised +and very finely wrought. Next, he noticed some daintily carved objects in +ivory, and a picture in water-color of a wide, gray stretch of moor with +distance and solitude skilfully conveyed. He had risen to examine it when +Millicent entered. + +"I'm glad you came, though, as you're used to the life of the woods and +rivers, I'm a little diffident about showing you my sketches," she said. +"I'm afraid I've kept you waiting." + +Lisle smiled and she liked the candidly humorous gleam in his eyes. + +"Nasmyth warned me that I was early--or rather he said that if I were +going to visit anybody else I would have been too soon. I'd better +confess, however, that I've been making a good use of the time. Things of +this kind"--he indicated the statuettes--"are almost new to me. They +strike me as unusually fine." + +"Yes," she answered, realizing that he had an artistic eye, "they are +beautiful--and one sees so many that are not. George brought them from +Italy for me. This"--she moved toward a representation in ivory of a +Mogul gateway--"is of course a different style, but it's remarkable in +its patient elaboration of detail. The mosque's not so fine. Nasmyth sent +me the pair from India; he once made a trip to the fringe of the +Himalayas." + +Lisle examined the object carefully, and she waited with some interest +for his comment. + +"It's wonderful," he declared. "I suppose it's a truthful copy?" + +"I'm inclined to think the man who carved that had not the gift of +imagination. He merely reproduced faithfully what he saw." + +"Different peoples have strikingly different ways, haven't they?" +commented Lisle. "While they were making that small Eastern arch, we'd +fling up a thriving wooden town or build a hotel of steel and cement to +hold a thousand guests. The biggest bridges that carry our great +freight-trains across the roaring gorges in the Rockies cost less labor." + +"I should imagine it. What then?" + +He studied the carved ivory. + +"In a dry climate the original of this would last for centuries--it has +lasted since the days of the Moguls--an object of beauty for generations +to enjoy. Perhaps those old builders used their time as well as we do. +Our works serve their purpose, but one can't call them pretty." + +She was pleased with his answer. + +"I think that gets the strongest hold on me," he went on, glancing toward +the picture of the moor; "it's real!" + +There was a hint of diffidence in Millicent's expression. + +"But you can hardly judge, can you? You have scarcely seen the English +moors." + +"I've spent a while on the high Albertan plains, and you have the same +things yonder; the vast sweep of sky, the rolling waste running on +forever. It's all in that picture; how expressed, I don't know--there are +only the grades of color, scarcely a line to gage the distance by. Still, +the sense of space is vivid." + +Millicent blushed. + +"You're an indulgent critic; that drawing is my own." + +He did not appear embarrassed, though she saw that he had not suspected +the fact. She had already noticed that when he might, perhaps, have +looked awkward he only looked serious. + +"After what you have said," she resumed, "I'll show you the other things +with greater confidence. Do you know, I thought all you Western people +were grimly utilitarian?" + +He sat down and considered this. The man could laugh readily, but he was +also characterized by a certain gravity, which she found refreshing by +contrast with the light glibness to which she was more accustomed. + +"Well," he reasoned, "in my opinion, the white man's greatest superiority +over all other peoples is his capacity for making useful things--even if +they're only ugly sawmills or grimy locomotives. Philosophy never fed any +one or lightened anybody's toil; commerce is a convenience, but the man +who makes a big profit out of it is only levying a heavy toll on somebody +else. It seems to me that all our actual benefits come from the +constructor." + +"Have you been building sawmills?" Millicent asked mischievously. + +He laughed with open good-humor. "Oh, no; that's why I'm free to talk. I +happened to find a lode with some gold in it, and gold is only a handy +means of exchanging things. I'll own that I was probably doing more +useful work when I stood up to my waist in ice-water, fitting sharp +stones into a pulp-mill dam." + +"Perhaps you're right," Millicent agreed, "but it sounds severe. What of +the people who never do anything directly useful at all?" + +"There are a few who, by just going up and down in it, keep the world +sweet and clean. Some of the rest could very well be spared." + +"Then you believe that everybody must practically justify his existence?" + +"If he fails to do so with us, his existence generally ceases. The +wilderness where I found the gold is full of the bones of the unfit." + +Millicent spread out some drawings. Most were in color, in some cases +several of the same object, done with patient care, and she was strangely +pleased when she saw the quick appreciation in his eyes. + +"An otter; it's alive," he remarked. "You've shown it working through a +shallow, looking much less like an animal than a fish--that's right." + +"I made half a dozen sketches, and I'm not satisfied yet." + +"Thorough," he commented. "You get there, if you have to hammer the heart +out of whatever you're up against." + +"It's my brother's book," she answered. "I'm finishing it for him. He did +other things--most of them useful, indirectly. I've only this--and I'd +like my part to be good." + +He nodded sympathetically, looking troubled. + +"I can understand," he said. "I had a partner--I owe him more than I +could ever have repaid, and he left a troublesome piece of work to me. It +will have to be put through. But let me see some more; they're great." + +She showed him a red jay; a tiny gold-crest perched on a thorn branch; a +kingfisher gleaming with turquoise hues, poised ready for a dive upon a +froth-lapped stone. He was no cultured critic, but he knew the ways of +the wild creatures and saw that she had talent, for her representations +of them were instinct with life. + +They were interrupted by a scratching at the door and when she opened it +a white setter hobbled awkwardly in and curled itself at her feet. + +"He's rather a big dog for the house, but I can't keep him away from me," +she explained. "As you see, he has lost a foot, in a trap, and he was +marked for destruction when I asked for him. Sometimes I think he knows +that I saved his life." + +The dog looked up and raising a paw scraped at her hand, until she opened +it, when he thrust his chin into her palm. It was a trivial incident, but +it somehow stirred the man. + +"Now I know where you got power to draw these lesser brethren," he said. +"Study alone would never have given it to you." + +She let this pass. He was almost embarrassing in his directness, though +she acquitted him of any crude intention of flattering her. + +"I promised to let you read my brother's diary," she reminded him. "If +you will wait a few moments, I'll get it." + +The dog pattered after her, as though unwilling to remain out of her +sight, and she came back presently with a small leather case and opening +it took out a tattered notebook. Noticing how she handled it and that the +case was beautifully made, Lisle fancied that it was precious to her, in +which he was correct. Indeed, she was then wondering why she had +volunteered to show it to this stranger when only two of her intimate +friends had seen it. + +"Thank you," he said, when she gave it to him; and drawing his chair +nearer the window he began to read. + +Though he was already acquainted with most of it, the story gripped him. +On the surface, it was merely a plain record of a hazardous and laborious +journey; but to one gifted with understanding it was more than this--a +vivid narrative of a struggle waged against physical suffering, weakness, +and hunger, by optimistic human nature. An odd word here, a line or two +in another place, was eloquent of simple, steadfast courage and +endurance; and even when the weakening man clearly knew that his end was +near there was no outbreak of desperation or sign of faltering. He had +dragged himself onward to the last, indomitable. + +Then Lisle proceeded to examine the book more closely. It showed the +effects of exposure to the weather to an unusual degree, considering that +the covers were thick and that the rescue party had recovered it shortly +after its owner's death. Moreover, Lisle did not think that George +Gladwyne would have left it in the snow. Several pages were missing, and +having been over the ground, he knew that they recorded the part of the +journey during which the two caches of provisions had been made, and he +had already decided that there would be a list of their contents. This +conclusion was confirmed by the fact that Gladwyne had enumerated the +stores they started with, and had once or twice made a reduced list when +they had afterward taken stock. The abstraction of the records was +clearly Clarence's work. Then he realized that he had spent some time in +perusing the diary and he handed it back to Millicent with something that +implied a respect for it. She noticed the sparkle in his eyes and her +heart warmed toward him. + +"It's the greatest story I've ever read," he declared. + +She made no answer, but he knew that she was pleased and it filled him +with a wish to tell her that she was very much like her dead brother. +More he could not have said, but remembering that he had already gone as +far as was permissible he had sense enough to repress the inclination. He +saw the girl's lips close firmly, as if she were conscious of some +emotion, but there was silence for a minute or two. He broke it at +length. + +"I know that you have granted me a very great privilege, and I'm +grateful," he told her, and added, because he thought a partial change of +the subject might be considerate: "In a way, it's hard to realize that +tale in this restful place. It's easier out yonder, where what you could +call the general tone is different." + +"Nasmyth once said something like that," Millicent replied. "I suppose +the change is marked." + +Lisle nodded. + +"Here you have order, peace, security. In the wilds, it's all battle, the +survival of the strong; frost and ice rending the solid hills, rivers +scoring out deep ravines, beast destroying beast, or struggling with +starvation. Man's not exempt either; a small blunder--a deer missed or a +flour bag lost--may cost him his life. For the difference you have to +thank the constructor, the maker of plows and spades and more complex +machines." + +"That's one of your pet hobbies, isn't it?" + +He once more changed the subject. + +"I wish that I could show you the wilderness," he said. + +Millicent looked thoughtful. + +"I should like to see it. I've an idea that if this book is well received +I might, perhaps, try something a little more ambitious--the larger +beasts and wilder birds of other countries. In that case, I should choose +British Columbia." + +"Then you will let me be your guide?" + +She made a conditional promise, and shortly afterward he left her. +Meeting Nasmyth he walked with him toward Gladwyne's house, where they +found the guests assembled on the lawn and Mrs. Gladwyne sitting by a +tea-table. One or two young women were standing near and several men had +gathered about a mat laid upon the grass fifty yards from where a small +target had been set up. Lisle joined Bella Crestwick, who detached +herself from the others. + +"What is this?" he asked. "It's a very short range." + +"Miniature rifle shooting," she informed him. "It's becoming popular. +Gladwyne has been trying to form a club. My brother Jim is president of +some league. He's rather keen and there are reasons why I'm glad of it." + +She added the last words confidentially and Lisle ventured to nod. It +struck him that a healthy interest in any organized work or amusement +would be beneficial to young Crestwick. The girl looked at him, as if +considering something; and then she seemed to make up her mind. + +"There's one thing I don't like," she complained. "They will shoot for +high stakes. Jim isn't a bad shot, but he's too eager. I'm afraid he's +inclined to be venturesome just now." + +Lisle thought that she had a request to make. There was something about +him that inspired confidence, and the girl had made a friend of him. + +"What do you want me to do?" he asked. + +She made a sign of impatience; he was too direct. "Oh," she pouted, +"aren't you taking a good deal for granted? Still, you bushmen can shoot, +can't you?" + +"As a rule," Lisle answered. "I almost think I see." + +"Then," she retorted, "you shouldn't have said so; you should merely have +smiled and acted." + +"I'm from the wilds; you mustn't expect too much. Well, if you'll excuse +me." + +She flashed a grateful glance at him, and he sauntered toward the group +of men, among whom Gladwyne stood. There was a sharp crack as he +approached them, a thin streak of smoke drifted across the figure lying +on the mat, and a man beside it lowered the glasses he held. + +"High to the left," he announced. "You're not in good form, Jim. Hadn't +you better give up?" + +Lisle studied the speaker, whom he had met once or twice already. He was +approaching middle-age and was inclined to corpulence, but there was +something in his pose that suggested a military training. His face was +fleshy, but the features were bold and he was coarsely handsome. As a +rule, he affected an easy good-humor, but Lisle had felt that there was +something about him which he could best describe as predatory. He +occasionally spoke of business ties, so he had an occupation, but he had +not in Lisle's hearing mentioned what it was. + +Crestwick's face was hot as he answered his remark. + +"Not at all, Batley. The trouble is that I'm used to the Roberts target, +and the spots on the card are puzzling after the rings. I'll get into it +presently." + +"Oh, well," acquiesced the other. "As you didn't fix a time limit, we'll +go on again, though it's getting tame and I want some tea." + +"I'll increase the interest again, if you like," the lad replied. + +Lisle joined the group. + +"What's it all about?" he asked. + +"Batley's a pretty good rifle shot, but if he won't mind my saying so +he's a little opinionated," Gladwyne explained. "Crestwick questioned an +idea of his, and the end of it was that Batley offered to prove his +point--that a stiff pull-off is as good as a light one in practised +hands--by backing himself to beat the field. Crestwick took him up, and +since the rest of us were obviously out of it, the thing has resolved +itself into a match between the two. Crestwick is using an easy-triggered +rifle; Batley's has an unusually hard spring." + +Lisle considered. Remembering Bella's remarks, he thought it would be +easy to lure the lad into a rash bet. He was headstrong and his manners +might have been more conciliatory, but Lisle, learning the amount of the +stakes, decided that his host should not have let the thing go so far. + +"Crestwick doubled several times; he's stubborn and doesn't like to be +beaten," Gladwyne resumed. "I had the same ideas when I was as young as +he is." + +"I've offered to let him off," Batley broke in. "I'd do so now only he's +kept me shooting for the last half-hour. As Gladwyne says, he's +obstinate, and it's a pity that he's wrong. If he'd trained his +wrist-tendons by using a harder trigger, he'd have made a passably good +shot." + +Lisle was aware that while there was something to be said for Batley's +view, Crestwick was justified in contending that the lighter tension was +more adapted to the case of the average person; but he recognized that +the indulgent manner of the older men was calculated, he thought +intentionally, to exasperate the hot-headed lad. + +"Well," he observed, addressing Batley, "you have the courage of your +convictions if you have offered to maintain them against all comers, +which I understand is what you have done." + +The man nodded carelessly and Lisle went on: + +"After all, since I dare say these gentlemen are more used to the +shotgun, your superiority doesn't prove very much." + +Crestwick looked around at him quickly. + +"Most of you Colonials can use the rifle; do you feel inclined to take +him on? You're a dark horse, but I'll double the stakes if he'll throw +you in." + +This was what Lisle wanted, but he turned to the others. + +"I've never had a small rifle in my hands--we use the 44-70, and I must +leave you to decide whether my shooting would be fair to Mr. Batley. In +that case, I'll put up half the stakes." + +The men said there was no reason why he should not join, and Batley made +no protest, though Lisle fancied that he was not pleased. Lying down on +the mat, he took the light-springed rifle and the six cartridges handed +him and fixed his eyes on the target, which was a playing-card pinned to +a thick plank. He got the first shot off before he was quite ready--the +light pull was new to him--and somebody called that he had touched the +left top corner. The next shot was down at the bottom, and the four +following marks were scattered about the card. When he got up, Batley +looked reassured and proceeded to make a neat pattern around the center +of another card. There was no doubt that Crestwick was anxious, and when +he took his turn he shot badly. In the meanwhile, the rest of the party +on the lawn had gradually gathered round; the eager attitude of the +original spectators hinted that something out of the usual course was +going on. + +Lisle was very cool when he lay down again. A swift, encouraging glance +from Bella Crestwick made him determined, and during his previous six +shots he had, he thought, learned the right tension on the trigger. + +"Wipe it out for me, somebody," he said, holding up the rifle. + +Bella seized it and deftly used the rod, regardless of soiled fingers. + +"May it bring you luck," she wished, with a defiant glance at Batley, who +smiled at her as she returned the weapon. + +Then there was a hush of expectancy. Lisle took his time; a sharp crack, +a streak of smoke, and Gladwyne raising his glasses, laughed. + +"High!" he called. "Top spot!" + +It was a three of hearts, and Gladwyne's smile lingered for a moment +after Lisle fired again. + +"Bottom now; you're low!" he cried, and then his expression slightly +changed. Both spots were drilled out--this did not look altogether like +an accident. + +"Center!" he announced after another shot, and all the faces surrounding +him became intent. The three hearts were neatly punched. + +"A fresh card!" exclaimed Crestwick, looking around at Batley with an +exultant sparkle in his eyes. "You offered to let me off. Shall I return +the compliment?" + +The man laughed carelessly, though Lisle thought it cost him an effort. + +"No," he retorted; "I can't show myself less of a sportsman than you are; +but I think I've the option of demanding a longer range. Move the mat +back twenty-five yards and put up an ace of spades; it's the plainest. +Three shots each should suffice at the distance." + +Crestwick got down and thrice touched the outside of the card; Batley did +better, for two shots broke the edge of the black and one was close above +them. It was good shooting at so small a mark, and Lisle was a little +anxious as he very deliberately stretched himself out on the mat. Having +little of the gambler's instinct in his nature, he was reluctant to lose +the money at stake, but he was more unwilling to let Batley fleece the +lad whom, as he recognized now, he had been asked to aid. He meant to do +so, if the thing were possible, and twice he paused and relaxed his grip +when his sight grew slightly blurred. + +Then there was a sharp crack, and he smiled when he heard Gladwyne's +report. + +"I can't see it. These are only opera-glasses." + +Dead silence followed the next shot, which left no visible mark on the +target; and Lisle did not look around as he thrust his last cartridge +into the rifle. He let it lie beside him for half a minute while he +opened and shut his right hand, and then, taking it up quickly, fired. +Still there was no blur on the white surface of the card and Gladwyne +sharply shut his glasses, while two of the onlookers ran toward the +target. They came back in silence and one significantly held up the ace. +There were three small holes in the black center. + +Gladwyne had turned away when Lisle got up, but Batley concealed his +feelings very well. + +"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "As I can't beat that, the only thing left me +is to pay up." + +Lisle turned to Crestwick, who looked hot and excited. + +"You made the bet," he said. "Will you use my half in buying a +competition cup for one of your clubs?" + +He saw Batley's smile and a somewhat curious look in Gladwyne's face, but +the group broke up and he strolled back across the lawn with Bella. + +"I'm grateful," she said softly. "I was a little afraid at first that I +was asking too much of you." + +Lisle met her glance with a good assumption of surprise. + +"Grateful? Because I indulged in a rather enjoyable match?" + +She laughed. + +"You learn rapidly. But I'd better say in excuse that I didn't think I'd +involved you in a very serious risk. He hasn't your eyes and hands--one +couldn't expect it. You don't need pick-me-ups in the morning, do you?" + +Lisle was slightly embarrassed. This girl's knowledge of life was too +extensive, and he would have preferred that she should exhibit it to +somebody else. + +"Well," she concluded as they approached the tea-table, "my thanks are +yours, even if you don't value them." + +"What do you expect me to say?" he asked, regarding her with some +amusement and appreciation. She was alluringly pretty in her rather +elaborate light dress. + +"Yes," she smiled mockingly, disregarding his question; "these things +become me better than the tweeds, don't they? They make one look nice and +soft and fluffy; but that's deceptive. You see, I can scratch; in fact, I +felt I could have scratched Batley badly if I'd got the chance. There's +another hint for you--make what you like of it." + +Then with a laugh she swung round and left him, puzzled. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CRESTWICK GIVES TROUBLE + + +The little room in Marple's house, where the Crestwicks were staying, was +hot and partly filled with cigar smoke which drifted in filmy streaks +athwart the light of the green-shaded hanging-lamp. Lisle sat beneath the +lamp, studying the cards in his hand, until he leaned back in his chair +and flung a glance about the table. There were no counters on it, but +Gladwyne had just noted something in a little book and was waiting with a +languid smile upon his handsome face. Next to him sat Batley, looking +thoughtful; and Crestwick sat opposite Lisle, eager and unhealthily +flushed. His forehead showed damp in the lamplight and there was an +unpleasant glitter in his eyes. It was close on to midnight and luck had +gone hard against him during the past hour, half of which Lisle had spent +in his company. This had cost Lisle more money than he was willing to +part with. + +"It's getting late," he said with a yawn. "After this hand, I'll drop +out; I dare say one of the other two will take my place. Crestwick, I +believe your sister and Miss Leslie will be waiting. You're going with +them, aren't you?" + +The lad, turning in his chair, reached toward a near-by table on which +there were bottles and siphons, and took a glass from it. He had been +invited to join a shooting party at a house in the neighborhood and was +to spend the night there. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed with some irritation; "Bella's always in such an +unreasonable hurry. The others can't be going yet. I think I hear Flo +Marple singing." + +A voice from somewhere below reached them through the open door. It was a +good voice, but the words were a silly jingle and the humor in them could +not be considered delicate. Lisle, glancing at Gladwyne, noticed his +slight frown, but one of the two young men lounging by the second table +watching the game hummed the refrain with an appreciative smile upon his +heavy and somewhat fatuous face. + +"They'll take half an hour to get ready," declared Batley. "Better play +out this round, anyhow." + +They laid down their cards in turn and then Crestwick noisily thrust his +chair back. + +"Another knock-out!" he exclaimed savagely. "I don't like to get up so +far behind. Shall we double on another deal?" + +"As you like," returned Batley. "You're plucky, considering the cards +you've had; but if Fortune's fickle, she's supposed to favor a determined +suitor." + +It was innocent enough, but Lisle fancied that there was sufficient +flattery in the speech to incite the headstrong lad, who had now emptied +the glass at his hand. He remembered that on another occasion when there +had been a good deal at stake, Batley had played on Crestwick's feelings, +though in a slightly different manner. Whether or not the young man lost +more than he could afford was, in one way, no concern of Lisle's, and he +did not find him in the least attractive; but half an hour previously +Bella had met him in the hall and had hinted, with a troubled look, that +she would appreciate it if he could get her brother away. It was this +that accounted for the Canadian's presence in the card-room. + +"I'm going, anyway," he said, taking out some notes and gold and laying +them down. "There has been a smart shower and you had better remember +that Miss Leslie walked over--the roads will be wet. As you know, I +promised to take the girls back in Nasmyth's trap, and he won't thank me +if I keep his groom up." + +Crestwick grumbled and hesitated, and he grew rather red in face as he +turned to Batley. + +"I've only these two notes," he explained. "Expected all along I'd pull +up even. Will you arrange things? See you about it when I come back." + +Batley nodded carelessly, and the lad stood up, looking irresolutely at +the table. + +"Fact is," he went on, "I'd like to get straight before I go. I'm in +pretty heavy for one night; another round might do something to set me +straight." + +"Gladwyne and I are quite willing to give you your chance," was Batley's +quick reply; but Lisle unceremoniously laid his hand on Crestwick's +shoulder. + +"Come along," he urged, laughing. "Luck's against you; you've had quite +enough." + +He had the lad out of the door in another moment, and looking back from +the landing he saw a curious look in Gladwyne's face which he thought was +one of disgust. Batley, however, was frowning openly; and the two men's +expressions had a meaning for him. He was inclined to wonder whether he +had used force too ostensibly in ejecting the lad; but, after all, that +did not very much matter--his excuse was good enough. As they went down +the stairs, Crestwick turned to him, hot and angry. + +"It strikes me you're pretty officious! Never saw you until two or three +weeks ago," he muttered. "Not accustomed to being treated in that offhand +manner. It's Colonial, I suppose!" + +"Sorry," Lisle apologized with a smile. "I've an idea that you'll be +grateful when you cool off. You've been going it pretty strong to-night." + +"That's true," agreed the other with a show of pride. "Kept on raising +them; made things lively!" + +"Found it expensive, didn't you?" Lisle suggested; and as they reached +the foot of the stairs he led his companion toward the door. "Suppose we +take a turn along the terrace before we look for your sister." + +Crestwick went with him, but presently he stopped and leaned on the low +wall. + +"Do you ever feel inclined for a flutter on the stock-market?" he +inquired. "There's a thing Batley put me on to--there'll be developments +in a month or two; it's going to a big premium. Let you have a hundred +shares at par. Rather in a hole, temporarily." + +Lisle had no intention of buying the stock, but he asked a few questions. +It appeared that it had been issued by a new company formed to grow +coffee and rubber in the tropics. + +"No," he said; "a deal of that kind is out of my line. Why not sell them +through a broker and get your full profit?" + +"It would take some days," answered the other. "Besides, they won't move +up until the directors let things out at the next meeting. Something of +that kind, anyway; I forget--Batley explained it." He paused and added +irritably: "Believe I told you I'm in a hole." + +"You must meet your losses and don't know how to manage it?" + +Lisle was curious and had no diffidence about putting the question, +though the lad was obviously off his guard. + +"I can raise the money right enough--Batley'll see to that; but I'd +sooner do it another way. The interest's high enough to make one think, +and in this case I'm paying it on money he's putting into his pocket." + +There was a good deal to be inferred from this reply, but Lisle +considered before he spoke again. + +"You're twenty-one, aren't you?" he asked. + +"Yes," assented the lad, "but the trustees keep hold until I'm +twenty-four." + +He turned with quick suspicion to the Canadian. + +"I don't see what that has to do with you!" + +"It isn't very obvious," Lisle agreed. "Shall we go in?" + +They found Bella in the hall, and when her brother went to get-his coat +she walked out on to the terrace with Lisle. + +"Thank you," she said gratefully when they were out of sight from the +hall. "It was a relief to see you had succeeded in getting him away." + +"I'm sorry I was unable to do so sooner," Lisle replied. + +"Ah! Then he has been losing heavily again?" + +"I'm afraid so. I couldn't make my interference too marked." Obeying some +impulse, he laid his hand on her arm. "Rather a handful for you, isn't +he?" + +Bella nodded, making no attempt to shake off his grasp. + +"Yes," she acknowledged with some bitterness; "but I can hardly complain +that I have no control over him. It would be astonishing if I had." She +broke into a little harsh laugh. "Anyway, I manage to keep my head, and +do not deceive myself, as he does. I know what our welcome's worth and +what the few people whose opinion counts for anything think of us." + +"Well," offered Lisle, "if I can be of service in any respect--" + +"Thanks," she interrupted, and turned back toward the door. + +When they reached the hall she glanced at her companion as the light fell +on his face. + +"Your offer's genuine," she said impulsively. "I can't see what you +expect in return." + +Lisle was puzzled by her expression. She was variable in her moods, +generally somewhat daring, and addicted to light mockery. He could not +tell whether she spoke in bitterness or in mischief. + +"No," he replied gravely, "nor do I." + +She left him with a laugh; and a little later he drove her and her +companions away and afterward returned to Nasmyth's house to find that +his host had retired. Lisle followed his example and rising early the +next morning they set off for the river, up which the sea-trout were +running. They were busy all morning and it was not until noon, when they +lay in the sunshine eating their lunch on a bank of gravel, that either +of them made any allusion to the previous evening. + +"Did you enjoy yourself last night?" Nasmyth asked. + +"Fairly," Lisle responded, smiling. "I've already confessed that you +people interest me. At the same time, I had my difficulties--first of all +to explain to the Marples why you didn't come. The reasons you gave +didn't sound convincing." + +"They were good enough. It's probable that Marple understood them. Like +most of my neighbors, I go once or twice in a year; his subscription to +the otter hounds entitles him to that." + +"We don't look at things in that way in the parts of Canada I'm +acquainted with," laughed Lisle. + +"Then I've no doubt you'll come to it," Nasmyth replied with some +dryness. "They've done so already in the older cities. Now--since you're +fond of candor--you have been glad to earn a dollar or two a day by +chopping and shoveling, haven't you? Have you felt left out in the cold +at all during the little while you have spent among us?" + +"Not in the least," Lisle owned. + +"Then you can infer what you like from that. In this country, we take a +good deal for granted and avoid explanations. But you haven't said +anything about the proceedings at Marple's. I suppose you were invited to +take a hand at cards?" + +"I invited myself; result, sixty dollars to the bad in half an hour. I +used to hold my own in our mining camps, and I hadn't the worst cards." + +Nasmyth laughed with unconcealed enjoyment. + +"The only fault I have to find with you Westerners is that you're rather +apt to overrate yourselves. I suppose they let young Crestwick in a good +deal deeper?" + +"That," laughed Lisle, "is what you have been leading up to from the +beginning." + +"I'll admit it. As I've hinted, one of the differences between an +American and an Englishman is that the former usually expresses more or +less forcibly what he thinks, unless, of course, he's a financier or a +politician; while you have often to learn by experience what the latter +means. Better use your own methods in telling me what took place." + +Lisle did so, omitting any reference to Bella, and Nasmyth looked +disturbed and disgusted. + +"Crestwick's as devoid of sense as he is of manners; he deserves to lose. +What I can't get over is that fellow Batley's staying in what was once +George Gladwyne's house, with Clarence standing sponsor for him." + +Lisle fancied he could understand. Nasmyth had his failings, but he had +also his simple, drastic code, and it was repugnant to him that a man of +his own caste, one of a family he had long known and respected, should +countenance an outsider of Batley's kind and assist him in fleecing a +silly vicious lad. + +"You have no reason to think well of Gladwyne," Lisle reminded him. + +"I haven't," Nasmyth owned. "Still, though the man has made one very bad +break, I hardly expected him to exceed every limit. At present it looks +as if he might do so; he'll probably be forced to." + +"I don't quite understand." + +"Then I'll have to explain. It's unpleasant, but here the thing is, as I +see it--Batley's not the kind of man Clarence would willingly associate +with, and to give Clarence his dues, all his instinct must make him +recoil from the fellow's game with Crestwick. Considering that he's +apparently making no protest against it, this is proof to me that Batley +has some pretty firm hold on him." + +"What's Batley's profession?" + +"I suspect he's something in the smart money-lending line; one of the +fellows who deal with minors and others on post-obits." + +"Post-obits?" + +"Promises to pay after somebody's dead. Suppose there should be only an +invalid or an old man between you and a valuable property; you could +borrow on the strength of your expectations. Now, what Crestwick told you +shows that the person who left him his money very wisely handed it to +trustees, with instructions to pay him only an allowance until he's +twenty-four. It's a somewhat similar case to the one I've instanced--he's +drawing on a capital he can't get possession of for two or three years, +and no doubt paying an extortionate interest. So far as I know, no +respectable bank or finance broker would handle that kind of business." + +"But if the boy died before he succeeded to the property?" + +"Batley could cover the risk by making Crestwick take out an insurance +policy in his favor." + +Lisle's face grew stern, and Nasmyth lay smoking in silence for a while. +Then he broke out again: + +"It's intolerable! George Gladwyne's successor abetting that fellow in +robbing the lad, luring him into wagers and reckless play with the result +that most of the borrowed money goes straight back into the hands of the +man who lent it!" + +"Have you any suspicion that Gladwyne gets a share?" + +"No," replied Nasmyth, with signs of strong uneasiness; "I can't believe +he benefits in that manner--if he did, I'd feel it my duty to denounce +him. Still, I expect he wins a little now and then, incidentally." + +Again there was silence for a while, broken finally by Lisle. + +"When I'd been here a week or two I began to see that my task wasn't +quite so simple as it had appeared--you can't attack a man situated as +Gladwyne is without hurting innocent people. Indeed, I've spent hours +wondering how, when the time comes, I can clear Vernon's memory, with the +least possible damage--that is my business, not the punishing of +Gladwyne, though he deserves no consideration. As you say, a man may make +a bad break and pull up again, but this one has had his chance and has +gone in deeper. What he's doing now--helping to ruin that lad in +cold-blood--is almost worse than the other offense." + +Nasmyth made an acquiescent gesture. + +"It's true; let it go at that. I don't see how the thing can be stopped. +There's a fish rising in the slack yonder!" + +Lisle saw a silvery gleam in a strip of less-troubled water behind a +boulder and taking up his rod he cast the gaudy fly across the ripple. +There was a jar, a musical clinking of the reel, and when Nasmyth waded +in with ready net all thought of Gladwyne passed out of the Canadian's +mind. + +After a few minutes' keen excitement, they landed the beautiful +glistening trout; and then they set off down-stream in search of another, +scrambling over rock and gravel and wading amidst the froth in the pools. +Overhead, soft gray clouds drifted by, casting long shadows across +fern-clad hillside and far-reaching moor; and the flood flashed into +silver gleams and grew dim again. + +Both of the men were well content with their surroundings, and now and +then Nasmyth wondered why Clarence could not be satisfied with the simple +pleasures that were freely offered him. He could have had the esteem of +his neighbors and the good will of his tenants, and there were healthful +tasks that would have kept him occupied--the care of his estate, the +improving of the homes and conditions of life of those who worked for +him, experiments in stock-raising, local public duties. He had once +slipped badly, so badly that the offense could hardly be contemplated; +but that was when he was weak and famishing and under the influence of an +overwhelming fear. At least, he could make some reparation by leaving the +countryside better than he found it, and in this he had friends who would +loyally assist him. + +Clarence, however, had chosen another way, one that led down-hill to +further dishonor; and Nasmyth considered gloomily what the end of it all +would be. Occasionally he glanced at the lithe figure of the Canadian, +standing knee-deep amid the froth of the stream. Serious-eyed, alert, +resolute, he could be depended on to carry out any purpose he had +determined on; it was his firm hands that would hold Clarence's scourge. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MRS. GLADWYNE'S APPEAL + + +Millicent was sitting in a window-seat with a paint-box beside her and a +drawing of a water-ouzel upon her knee. It was a lifelike sketch, but she +had a great capacity for painstaking and she was not altogether pleased +with the drawing. The bird stood on a stone an inch or two above a +stream, its white breast harmonizing with the flecks of snowy froth, and +the rest of its rather somber plumage of the same hue as a neighboring +patch of shadow. This was as it should be, except that, as the central +object of a picture, it was too inconspicuous. She was absorbed in +contemplating it when Mrs. Gladwyne was shown in. Clarence's mother did +not pay many visits and Millicent fancied she had some particular object +in coming. + +She sat down where the sunlight fell on her gentle face and silvery hair, +her delicate white hands spread out on her dark dress. + +"Busy, as usual, my dear," she said, glancing at the sketch. "That's very +pretty." + +"I think it's correct," returned Millicent; "but I'm not sure it's what +it ought to be in other respects. You see, its purpose is to show people +what a water-ouzel is like and it's hard to make the creature out. Of +course, I could have drawn it against a background that would have forced +up every line, but that wouldn't have been right--these wild things were +made to fade into their surroundings." She laughed. "Truth is rigid and +uncompromising--it's difficult to make it subservient to expediency." + +Her visitor did not feel inclined to discuss the matter. + +"You're too fastidious," she smiled, and added with a sigh: "George was +like that. Little things keep cropping up every day to show it--I mean in +connection with his care of the property. I'm sometimes afraid that +Clarence is different." + +Millicent could not deny this, but she did not see his mother's purpose +in confessing it. + +"Of course," she answered, as she rang for tea, "he hasn't been in charge +very long. One can learn only by experience." + +Mrs. Gladwyne looked grateful; but although she was very tranquil there +was something in her manner that hinted at uncertainty. + +"You will finish the book and these pictures some day," she said. "What +will you do then?" + +"I really don't know. Perhaps I shall start another. If not, there is +always something I can turn my hand to. So many things seem to need +doing--village matters alone would find me some occupation." + +The elder lady considered this. + +"Yes," she agreed with diffidence. "I'm now and then afraid everything's +not quite so satisfactory as it used to be. The cottages don't look so +pretty or well cared for, the people are not so content--some of them are +even inclined to be bitter and resentful. Of course, things change, our +relations with our dependents among them; but I feel that people like the +Marples, living as they do, have a bad effect. They form a text for the +dissatisfied." + +Millicent contented herself with a nod. She could not explain that in +spite of the changing mode of thought it is still possible for an +old-fashioned landlord to retain almost everybody's good will. Sympathy +and tactful advice are appreciated, though not effusively, and even a +bluff, well-meant reproof is seldom resented. But when rents are +rigorously exacted by a solicitor's or banker's clerk, and repairs are +cut down, when indifference takes the place of judicious interest, it is +hardly logical to look for the cordial relations that might exist. +Nasmyth's tenants stopped and exchanged a cheery greeting or a jest with +him; most of Gladwyne's looked grim when he or his friends, the Marples, +passed. + +Then tea was brought in and Millicent found pleasure in watching her +guest. Mrs. Gladwyne made a picture, she thought, sitting with the dainty +china in her beautiful hands; she possessed the grace and something of +the stateliness which is associated with the old regime. + +"How quick your people are," she commented. "You rang and the things were +brought in. Our staff is large and expensive, but as a rule they keep us +waiting. Though you paint and go out so much, you have the gift of making +a home comfortable. It really is a gift; one that should not be wasted." + +Millicent grew serious. It looked as if her companion were coming to the +point, and this became plainer when Mrs. Gladwyne proceeded. + +"Do you think the life you contemplate--writing books on birds and +animals--is the best or most natural one for a woman?" + +A little color crept into the girl's face. + +"I don't know; perhaps it isn't. It is the one that seems open to me." + +"The only one, my dear? You must know what I mean." + +Millicent turned and faced her. She was disturbed, but she seldom avoided +a plain issue. + +"I think," she said, "it would be better if you told me." + +"It's difficult." Mrs. Gladwyne hesitated. "You must forgive me if I go +wrong. Still, you know it was always expected that you would marry +Clarence some day. It would be so desirable." + +"For which of us?" Millicent's tone was sharp. She sympathized with Mrs. +Gladwyne, but something was due to herself. + +"It was Clarence that I was thinking of," admitted her visitor. "I +suppose that I am selfish; but I am his mother." She laid down her cup +and looked at the girl with pleading eyes. "I must go on, though I don't +think I could say what I wish to any one but you. Clarence has many good +qualities, but he needs guidance. An affectionate son; but it is my +misfortune that I am not wise or firm enough to advise or restrain him. I +have dropped behind the new generation; the standards are different from +what they were when I was young." + +This was true, but it was incomplete, and Millicent let her finish. + +"I have been a little anxious, perhaps foolishly so, about him now and +then. I cannot approve of all his friends--sometimes they jar on me--and +I do not like the views he seems to have acquired from them. They are not +the ones his father held. Of course, this is only the result of wrong +associations and of having a good-humored, careless nature; it would be +so different if he could be brought under some wholesome influence." She +smiled at Millicent. "One could trust implicitly to yours." + +It was an old plea, fallacious often, but none the less effective. +Millicent was devoid of officious self-righteousness, but she was endowed +with a compassionate tenderness which prompted her to extend help to all +who needed it. She thought that Clarence did so, but in spite of that she +did not feel so responsive as she could have wished. + +"There is one difficulty," she answered while the blood crept into her +face. "I'll own that I recognized what your ideas and George's were about +Clarence and myself. I may go so far. But of late there has been nothing +to show that Clarence desired to carry out those ideas." + +Mrs. Gladwyne gathered her courage. + +"My dear, it is rather hard to say, but the truth is that a declaration +from a man is not usually quite spontaneous. He looks for some tacit +encouragement, a sign that one is not altogether indifferent to him. Now +it has struck me that during the past year you have rather stood aloof +from my son." + +Millicent started slightly; there was some truth in this statement. Mrs. +Gladwyne, however, was not wise enough to stop. + +"I think that is why there is some risk of his falling into bad +hands--that Crestwick girl isn't diffident," she went on. "I know the +strong regard he has for you; but the girl sees a good deal of him, and a +man is sometimes easily led where he does not mean to go." + +Millicent's cheeks burned. + +"Do you wish me to compete openly for Clarence's favor with Bella +Crestwick?" + +Mrs. Gladwyne spread out her hands in protest. + +"Oh, my dear!" she exclaimed. "I have said the wrong thing. I warned you +that you might have to forgive me." + +"But the thought must have been in your mind!" + +"I only meant that you needn't repel or avoid him, as you have done of +late." + +Millicent felt compassionate. After all, Mrs. Gladwyne was pleading for +what she believed would benefit her only son; but the girl was very human +and a trace of her resentment remained. It was, however, obvious that +Mrs. Gladwyne expected some response. + +"I can venture to promise that I won't be openly rude," Millicent agreed +with a faint smile. + +"Can't you go a little beyond that, my dear?" + +The girl, seeing the look in her eyes, yielded to an impulse which +prompted her to candor. + +"What there is to be said had better be spoken now," she replied. "I have +confessed that I knew what was expected--Clarence showed that he knew it, +too--and the idea was not altogether repugnant to me. But since he came +back from Canada there has been a change in both of us. How or why I +can't explain, but we have drifted apart. I don't know whether this will +go on--I don't understand myself--I only know that I am as anxious for +his welfare as I always have been. It must be left to him; there is +nothing you must urge me to do." + +Mrs. Gladwyne looked regretful, but she made a sign of acquiescence and +rising came toward the girl and took her hand. + +"What I could do I have done--badly perhaps," she said. "I can't blame +you. I am only sorry." + +She went out in a few minutes and left Millicent in a thoughtful mood. +Looking back on the past, the girl recognized that she had been fond of +Clarence--which was the best word for it--and that she would have married +him had he urged it. He had, however, hardly been in a position to do so +then, and she remembered that she had in no way regretted the fact. This +was, she thought, significant. Then the change had gradually come about. +She saw his faults more clearly and it grew increasingly difficult to +believe that she could eradicate them. What was more, during the past few +weeks she had once or twice felt scornfully angry with him. She had tried +not to yield to the sensation, and now she wondered how it had originated +and why she was less tolerant. + +As she considered the question, a shadow fell upon the sunlit lawn and +looking up she saw Lisle approaching with a creel upon his back. She +started at the sight of him and once more felt her cheeks grow hot; then +she smiled, for the half-formed suspicion that had flashed into her mind +was obviously absurd. He saw her the next moment and strode toward the +open window. + +"We got a few good white trout, fresh run," he said. "It occurred to me +that you might like one or two of them." + +He glanced at the long French window. + +"May I come in this way?" + +"I've no doubt you could do so, but out of deference to conventional +prejudices it might be better if you went round by the usual entrance." + +"Charmed!" he smiled. "That's easy." + +"Would you rather have it hard?" + +"That wasn't the idea," he answered. "I only felt that a much greater +difficulty wouldn't stop my getting in." + +Millicent laughed. + +"If one of my neighbors made such speeches, they'd sound cheap. From you +they're amusing." + +He affected to consider this. + +"I suppose the difference is that I mean them. Anyway, I'll walk around." + +She gave him some tea when he came in, and afterward admired the fish. + +"They're well above the average weight," she said. + +"We had two or three that would beat them," Lisle declared. "Miss +Crestwick came along and corralled the finest." + +"Was the explanation essential?" Millicent inquired with a smile. + +"That was a bad break of mine. So bad that I won't try to explain it +away." + +"I think you are wise," Millicent retorted with a trace of dryness. + +On the face of it, she was pleased with his answer, but the fact he had +mentioned caused her some irritation. Bella Crestwick, not content with +monopolizing Clarence, must also seek to include the Canadian in her +train. It was curious that for the moment that seemed the more serious +offense. The girl was insatiable and going too far, Millicent thought. + +Lisle noticed her silence. + +"Remember that I'm from the wilds," he said. + +She smiled at him reassuringly. + +"After all, that isn't a great drawback. Anyway, I'm grateful for the +trout." Then, somewhat to his surprise, she abruptly changed the subject. +"I wonder what you think of a tacit promise?" + +His face grew thoughtful; she liked his quick change to seriousness. + +"Well, I don't know that my opinion's of much value, but you may have it. +Supposing two people allow each other to assume that they're agreed upon +the same thing, it's binding upon both of them." + +"But if only one actually made his wishes clear." + +"In that case, the other had the option of showing that they couldn't be +acceded to. Failing that, in my view, he can't go back on it." Then his +eyes gleamed with amusement. "I don't often set up as a philosopher." + +Millicent was a little vexed with herself for asking him and did not +quite understand why she had done so, unless it was because she had not +altogether recovered her usual collectedness after Mrs. Gladwyne's visit. +Why she should be interested in this man's opinion was not clear, but she +thought he was one who would act in accordance with it. She was afterward +even more astonished at her next remark, which she made impulsively. + +"You have seen a good deal of Miss Crestwick, one way or another." + +He considered this gravely. + +"Yes," he replied. "I like her. For one thing, she's genuinely concerned +about that brother of hers." + +"What do you think of him?" + +"Not much," Lisle answered candidly. "I've no use for a man who needs a +woman to keep him straight and look after him. But one feels a strong +respect for the woman, even though it's obvious that she's wasting her +time." + +"Is it wasting time?" + +"It strikes me like that. A man of that sort is bound to come down badly +some day." + +Millicent sat silent a while. The conversation had taken an unusually +serious turn, but she wondered whether he were right. She had, she +thought, allowed Clarence to assume that she would not repulse him when +he formally claimed her and that--so this man from the wilds +considered--constituted a binding obligation. She could not contest this +view; but Clarence seemed more interested in Bella Crestwick than he was +in her. Then she wondered why the girl had made so much of Lisle, unless +it was to use him for the purpose of drawing Clarence on. If that were +so, it seemed a pity that the confiding Canadian could not be warned, +though that, of course, was out of the question. + +"I'm afraid I'm not very amusing to-day," she acknowledged. + +He smiled. + +"I'll go the moment you want to get rid of me; but, even if you don't say +anything, I like sitting here. This place rests me." + +"I shouldn't have imagined you to be of a very restful nature." + +"Oh," he declared, "there's a kind of quietness that braces you." + +He was less reserved than the average Englishman, but he felt the charm +of his surroundings more keenly than the latter would probably have done. +Everything in the room was artistic, but its effect was deeper than mere +prettiness. It was cool, though the autumn sunshine streamed in, and the +girl had somehow impressed her personality upon it. Soft colorings, +furniture, even the rather incongruous mixture of statuettes and ivory +carvings, blended into a harmonious whole, and the girl made a most +satisfactory central figure, as she sat opposite him in her unusually +thoughtful mood. He felt the charm of her presence, though he could +hardly have analyzed it. As he said, it was not even needful that she +should talk to him. + +"There are lakes in British Columbia from which you can look straight up +at the never-melting snows," he went on. "You feel that you could sit +there for hours, without wanting to move or speak, though it must be +owned that one very seldom gets the opportunity." + +"Why?" Millicent inquired. + +"As a rule, the people who visit such places are kept too busy chopping +big trees, hauling canoes round rapids, or handling heavy rocks. Besides, +you have your food to cook and your clothes to mend and wash." + +"Then, after the day's labor, a man must do his own domestic work?" + +"Of course," answered Lisle. "Now and then one comes back to camp too wet +or played out to worry, and goes to sleep without getting supper. I'm +speaking of when you're working for your own hand. In a big logging or +construction camp you reach the fringe of cooperation. This man sticks to +the saw, the other to the ax, somebody else who gets his share of the +proceeds chops the cord-wood and does the cooking." + +"And if you can neither chop nor saw nor cook?" + +"Then," Lisle informed her dryly, "you have to pull out pretty quick." + +"It sounds severe; that's cooperation in its grimmest aspect, though it's +quite logical--everybody must do his part. I'm afraid I shouldn't be +justified if we adopted it here." + +"Cooperation implies a division of tasks," Lisle pointed out. "In a +country like this, they're many and varied. So long as you draw the wild +things as you do, you'll discharge your debt." + +"Do you know that that's the kind of work the community generally pays +one very little for?" + +"Then it shows its wrong-headedness," Lisle answered as he glanced +meaningly round the room. "But haven't you got part of your fee already? +Of course, that's impertinent." + +"I believe we would shrink from saying it, but it's quite correct," +Millicent replied. "Still, since you have mentioned the drawings, I'd +like your opinion about this ouzel." + +She took up the sketch and explained the difficulty, as she had done to +Mrs. Gladwyne. + +"It's right; don't alter it," advised Lisle. "It's your business to show +people the real thing as it actually is, so they can learn, not to alter +it to suit their untrained views." + +He laughed and rose somewhat reluctantly. + +"After that, I'd better get along. I have to thank you for allowing me to +come in." + +She let him go with a friendly smile, and then sat down to think about +him. He was rather direct, but the good-humor with which he stated his +opinions softened their positiveness. Besides, she had invited them; and +she felt that they were correct. He was such another as Nasmyth, simple +in some respects, but reliable; one who could never be guilty of anything +mean. She liked the type in general, and she admitted that she liked this +representative of it in particular. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A FUTILE PROTEST + + +It was late at night, but Gladwyne sat, cigar in hand, in his library, +while Batley lounged beside the hearth. A wood fire diffused a faint +aromatic fragrance into the great high-ceilinged room, and the light of a +single silver lamp flickered on the polished floor, which ran back like a +sheet of black ice into the shadow. Heavily-corniced bookcases rose above +it on either band, conveying an idea of space and distance by the way +they grew dimmer as they receded from the light. + +The room had an air of stateliness in its severe simplicity, and its +owner, sitting just inside the ring of brightness, clad in conventional +black and white, looked in harmony with it. Something in his finely-lined +figure and cleanly-molded face stamped him as one at home in such a +place. A decanter stood near his elbow, but it was almost full. Gladwyne, +in many ways, was more of an ascetic than a sensualist, though this was +less the result of moral convictions than of a fastidious temperament. +The man had an instinctive aversion for anything that was ugly or +unpleasant. His companion, dressed with an equal precision, looked +different, more virile, coarser; he was fuller in figure and heavier in +face. + +"No," declared Gladwyne with a show of firmness; "the line must be drawn. +I've already gone farther than I should have done." + +"I'm sorry for you, Gladwyne--you don't seem to realize that a man can't +very well play two widely different parts at once," Batley rejoined, +smiling. "Your interfering Canadian friend would describe your attitude +as sitting upon the fence. It's an uncomfortable position, one that's not +often tenable for any length of time. Hadn't you better make up your mind +as to which side you'll get down on?" + +Gladwyne looked uneasy. The choice all his instinct prompted him to make +was not open to him, except at a cost which he was hardly prepared to +face. He was known as a bold rider, he had the steady nerves that usually +result from a life spent in the open air, but, as Batley recognized, he +lacked stamina. + +"You are going wide of the mark," he answered. "What I have asked you to +do is to let the lad alone. The thing's exciting comment. You"--he +hesitated--"have made enough out of him." + +"I think," replied the other coolly, "I was very much to the point. If +you don't recognize this, I'll ask: Suppose I don't fall in with your +request, what then?" + +Gladwyne examined his cigar. It was not in his nature to face an issue +boldly, and his companion seemed determined to force one. + +"I've asked it as a favor," he finally said. + +"No," corrected Batley; "I don't think you did so. You intimated your +wishes in a rather lordly style." + +This was true, but Gladwyne winced at the man's cold smile. He had, in a +fit of indignation which was both honest and commendable, expressed +himself with some haughtiness; but he knew that he would be beaten if it +came to an open fight. This was unfortunate, because his intentions were +good. + +"Besides," Batley continued, "I'm not in a position to grant expensive +favors. My acquaintance with young Crestwick is, of course, profitable. +What's more, I've very liberally offered you a share." + +Gladwyne's face grew hot. He had acted, most reluctantly, as a decoy to +the vicious lad, but he had never benefited by it, except when now and +then some stake fell into his hands. The suggestion that he should share +in the plunder filled him with disgust, and he knew that Batley had made +it to humiliate him. + +"You're taking risks," he continued. "There's legislation on the subject +of minors' debts; Crestwick began to deal with you before he was +twenty-one, and he's still in his trustees' hands. If he made trouble, +I'm inclined to think some of your transactions would look very much like +conspiracy." + +"I know my man. You people would suffer a good deal, sooner than +advertise yourselves through the law courts." + +"Crestwick isn't one of us," Gladwyne objected. + +"Then, as he aspires to be considered one, he'll go even farther than you +would. None are so keen for the honor of the flock as those who don't +strictly belong to the fold. There's another point you overlook--a person +can't very well conspire alone, and inquiries might be made about my +confederates. That, however, is not a matter of much importance, because +I imagine Miss Crestwick would not allow any one to point to you. +Besides, her money's safe, and she's a prepossessing young lady." + +Gladwyne straightened himself sharply in his chair. "Don't go too far! +There are things I won't stand!" + +"Then we'll try to avoid them. All I require is that you still give the +lad the entry of this house and don't interfere with me. You see I'm +reasonable." + +As Gladwyne had interfered, to acquiesce was to own defeat, which was +galling, and while he hesitated Batley watched him with an air of +indulgent amusement. + +"It's a pity you were not quite straight with me at the beginning, +Gladwyne; it would have saved you trouble," he remarked at length. "I +took a sporting risk at pretty long odds--I have to do so now and then +and I pay up when I lose. But if I'd known the money was to go to Miss +Gladwyne and you would only get the land, I'd never have kept you +supplied; and in particular I wouldn't have made the last big loan +shortly before you and your cousin sailed for Canada." + +"You knew it was a blind speculation--that I ran the same risk as George +did, and that he might outlive me." + +"You're wrong on one point," Batley objected dryly. "I'm acquainted with +your temperament--it's not one that would lead you into avoidable +difficulties. Well, you came through and your cousin died, but you failed +to pay me off when you came into possession." + +"I've explained that I couldn't foresee the trouble I have in meeting +expenses. I've paid you an extortionate interest." + +"That's in arrears," retorted Batley. "You should have pinched and denied +yourself to the utmost until you had got rid of me. You couldn't bring +yourself to do so--well, it's rather a pity one can't have everything." + +Approaching the table, he quietly took up the lamp. It was heavy, +standing on a massive silver pillar, but he raised it above his head so +that the light streamed far about the stately room. Then he laughed as he +set it down. + +"It's something to be the owner of such a place and enjoy all that it +implies--which includes your acknowledged status and your neighbors' +respect. There would be a risk of losing the latter if it came out that, +driven by financial strain, you had been speculating on your cousin's +death." + +Gladwyne made a little abrupt movement and Batley saw that his shot had +told. + +"It would be enough to place you under a cloud," he went on. "People +might think that you had at least not been very reluctant to leave him to +starve. Well, I've had to wait for my money, with the interest by no +means regularly paid, and unless you can square off the account, I must +ask you to leave me a free hand to deal with Crestwick as I think fit. In +return, if it's needful, I'll see you through on reasonable terms until +you marry Miss Crestwick or somebody else with money." + +On the whole, Gladwyne was conscious of relief. He had been badly +frightened for a moment or two. If Batley, who had good reasons for +distrusting him, had accepted his account of his cousin's death, it was +most unlikely that it had excited suspicion in the mind of anybody else. +Crestwick, however, must be left to his fate. It was, though he failed to +recognize this, an eventful decision that Gladwyne made. + +"As you will," he answered, rising. "It's late; I'm going for my candle." + +He strode out of the room, and Batley smiled as he followed him. + +A day or two later Lisle stood on Gladwyne's lawn. Gladwyne entertained +freely, and though his neighbors did not approve of all of his friends, +the man had the gift of pleasing, and his mother unconsciously exerted a +charm on every one. She rarely said anything witty, but she never said +anything unkind and she would listen with a ready sympathy that sometimes +concealed a lack of comprehension. + +Lisle had a strong respect for the calm, gracious lady, though she had +won it by no more than a smile or two and a few pleasant words, and he +went over to call upon her every now and then. He was interested in the +company he met at her house; it struck him as worth studying; and he had +a curious feeling that he was looking on at the preliminary stages of a +drama in which he might presently be called upon to play a leading part. +Besides, he had reasons for watching Gladwyne. + +The stage was an attractive one to a man who had spent much of his time +in the wilderness--a wide sweep of sunlit sward with the tennis nets +stretched across part of it; on one side a dark fir wood; and for a +background a stretch of brown moor receding into the distance, dimmed by +an ethereal haze. A group of young men and women, picturesquely clad, +were busy about the nets; others in flannels and light draperies strolled +here and there across the grass, and a few more had gathered about the +tea-table under a spreading cedar, where Mrs. Gladwyne sat in a low +wicker-chair. Over all there throbbed the low, persistent murmur of a +stream. + +Lisle was talking to Millicent near the table. He looked up as a burst of +laughter rose from beside the nets and saw Bella Crestwick walk away from +them. One or two of the others stood looking after her, and Mrs. Gladwyne +glanced from her chair inquiringly. + +"They seem amused," she said. + +"It was probably at one of Miss Crestwick's remarks; she's undoubtedly +original," returned Millicent. "Still, I think it was chiefly Mr. +Marple's laugh you heard." + +His voice had been most in evidence--it usually carried far--but Lisle +was half amused at the disapproval in the girl's tone. + +"I'm afraid I'm now and then a little boisterous, too," he ventured. + +"It depends a good deal upon what you laugh at," Millicent informed him. + +Mrs. Gladwyne looked up again, as if she had not heard, and the girl +smiled at her. + +"What I said isn't worth repeating." + +She moved away a pace or two and Lisle watched Bella, who glanced once or +twice in his direction as she crossed the lawn. Somehow he felt that he +was wanted and a little later he strolled after the girl. Millicent +noticed it with a slight frown, though she did not trouble to ask herself +why she was vexed. When Lisle reached Bella, she regarded him with +mischief in her eyes. + +"As I once mentioned, you learn rapidly," she laughed. "You'll be +thankful for the instruction some day, and I promise not to teach you +anything very detrimental. But I'm a little surprised that Millicent +Gladwyne allowed you to come." + +"I dare say she could spare me; I'm not a very entertaining companion," +Lisle said humbly. + +"It wasn't that," Bella explained. "I don't think she'd like you +spoiled--perhaps I should say contaminated; she has ideas on the subject +of education, too. She always calls me Miss Crestwick, which is +significant; I've no doubt she did so when Marple made himself +conspicuous by his amusement just now." + +Lisle had noticed the correctness of her assumptions on other occasions, +but he said nothing, for he had noticed some bitterness in her voice. He +walked on with her and she led him into a path through a shrubbery +bordering the lawn, where she sat down on a wooden seat. + +"Now," she said teasingly, "we have given the others something to think +about; but I've really no designs on you. It wouldn't be much use, +anyway. You're safe." + +She looked up at him with elfish mischief in her aggressively pretty +face. Dressed in some clinging fabric of pale watery green that matched +the greenish light in her eyes and the reddish gleam in her hair, she was +very alluring; but it was borne in upon Lisle that to take up her +challenge too boldly would lower him in the girl's regard. + +"I'm human," he laughed. "Perhaps I'd better mention it. But I think it's +more to the purpose to say that I'm altogether at your disposal." + +"Well," she answered, "I wanted you. As you're almost a stranger, it's +curious, isn't it? But, you see, I haven't a real friend in the world." + +"I wonder if that can be quite correct?" + +"So far as the people here go, haven't you eyes?" + +Lisle had seen the men gather about her, but it was those he thought +least of who followed her most closely, and the women stood aloof. + +"There are Miss Marple and her mother, anyway; they're friends of yours," +he pointed out. + +"Just so. Flo and I are in the same class, making the same fight; but +that isn't always a reason for mutual appreciation or support. Mrs. +Marple, of course, is her daughter's partizan, though in some ways it +suits us to stand together. But I didn't bring you here to listen to my +grievances, but because you happen to be the one man I can trust." + +Lisle looked embarrassed, but merely bent his head. + +"It's that silly brother of mine again," she went on. + +"What has he been doing now?" + +"It's what he's thinking of doing that's the worst. He has been led to +believe it's easy to acquire riches on the stock exchange and that he has +the makings of a successful speculator in him. Cards and the turf I've +had to tolerate--after all, there were ways in which he got some return +for what he spent on them--but this last craze may be disastrous." + +"Where did he get the idea that he's a financial genius? It wouldn't be +from you." + +"No," she said seriously; "I'm his sister and most unlikely to encourage +him in such delusions. I don't think Batley had much trouble in putting +the notion into his mind." Her expression suddenly changed. "How I hate +that man!" + +Lisle looked down at her with grave sympathy. + +"It's quite easy to get into difficulties by speculating, unless one has +ample means. But I understood--" + +Bella checked him with a gesture. + +"Jim comes into money--we have a good allowance now--but it will be +nearly two years before he gets possession. I want him to start fair when +he may, perhaps, have learned a little sense, and not to find himself +burdened with debts and associates he can't get rid of. At present, +Batley's lending him money at exorbitant interest. I've pleaded, I've +stormed and told him plain truths; but it isn't the least use." + +"I see. Why don't you take him away?" + +"He won't come. It would be worse if I left him." + +"Do you know why Gladwyne tolerates Batley?" + +"I don't." Bella looked up sharply. "What has that to do with it?" + +Lisle thought it had a bearing on the matter, as the lad would have seen +less of Batley without Gladwyne's connivance. + +"Well," he countered, "what would you like me to do?" + +"It's difficult to answer. He's obstinate and resents advice. You might, +however, talk to him when you have a chance; he's beginning to have a +respect for your opinions." + +"That's gratifying," Lisle commented dryly. "He was inclined to patronize +me at first." + +She spread out her hands. + +"You're too big to mind it! Tell him anything you can about disastrous +mining ventures; but don't begin as if you meant to warn him--lead up to +the subject casually." + +"I'm afraid I'm not very tactful," Lisle confessed. "He'll see what I'm +after." + +"It's not very likely. Talk as if you considered him a man of experience. +It's fortunate that you can be of help in this case, because I think some +Canadian mining shares are to be the latest deal. From what Jim said it +looks as if Batley was to give him some information about them on +Wednesday, when Gladwyne and he are expected at Marple's. Can't you come? +I understand you have been asked." + +"Yes," promised Lisle. "If I have an opportunity, I'll see what can be +done." + +Bella rose and smiled at him. + +"We'll go back; I'm comforted already. You're not profuse, but one feels +that you will keep a promise." + +They walked across the lawn, Bella now conversing in an animated strain +about unimportant matters, though it did not occur to Lisle that this was +for the benefit of the lookers-on. On approaching the tea-table, she +adroitly secured possession of a chair which another lady who stood +higher in her hostess's esteem was making for, and sitting down chatted +cheerfully with Mrs. Gladwyne. Lisle was conscious of some amusement as +he watched her. She was clever and her courage appealed to him; but +presently he saw Millicent and strolled toward where she was standing. +She spoke to him, but he thought she was not quite so gracious as she had +been before he went away. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LISLE COMES TO THE RESCUE + + +A few days after his interview with Bella, Lisle overtook Millicent as +she was walking up a wooded dale. She looked around with a smile when he +joined her and they fell into friendly talk. There were points on which +they differed, but a sense of mutual appreciation was steadily growing +stronger between them. Presently Lisle happened to mention the Marples, +and Millicent glanced at him thoughtfully. She knew that he met Bella at +their house. + +"You have seen a good deal of these people, one way or another," she +remarked. + +"These people? Aren't you a little prejudiced against them?" + +"I suppose I am," Millicent confessed. + +"Then won't you give me the reason? Your point of view isn't always clear +to an outsider." + +"I'll try to be lucid. I don't so much object to Marple as I do to what +he stands for; I mean to modern tendency." + +"That's as involved as ever." + +The girl showed a little good-humored impatience. She did not care to +supply the explanation--it was against her instincts--and she was +inclined to wonder why she should do so merely because the man had asked +for it. + +"Well," she said, "the feudal system isn't dead, and I believe that what +is best in it need never disappear altogether. Of course, it had its +drawbacks, but I think it was better than the commercialism that is +replacing it. It recognized obligations on both sides, and there is a +danger of forgetting them; the new people often fail to realize them at +all. Marple--I'm using him as an example--bought the land for what he +could get out of it." + +"About three per cent., he told me. It isn't a great inducement." + +Millicent made a half-disdainful gesture. + +"He gets a great deal more--sport, a status, friends and standing, and a +means of suitably entertaining them. That, I suppose, is one reason why +the return in money from purely agricultural land is so small." + +"Then is it wrong for a business man to buy these things, if he can pay +for them?" + +"Oh, no! But he must take up the duties attached to his purchase. When +you buy land, human lives go with it. They're still largely in the +landlord's hands. Of course, we have legislation which has curtailed the +land-owner's former powers, but it's a soulless, mechanical thing that +can never really take the place of direct personal interest." + +She stopped and glanced back down the winding dale. Here and there smooth +pastures climbed the slopes that shut it in, but over part of them ranged +mighty oaks, still almost green. Beyond these, beeches tinted with brown +and crimson glowed against the dusky foliage of spruces and silver-firs. + +"One needs wisdom, love of the soil and all that lives on it, and perhaps +patience most of all," she resumed. "These woods are an example. They are +not natural like your forests--every tree has been carefully planted and +as it grew the young sheltering wood about it carefully thinned out. Then +as the trunks gained in size it was necessary to choose with care and +cut. With the oaks it's a work of generations, planting for one's +great-grandchildren, and the point that is suggested most clearly is the +continuity of interest that should exist between the men who use the +spade and ax and the men who own and plan. It is not a little thing that +the third and fourth generations should complete the task, when a mutual +toleration and dependence is handed down." + +Lisle was conscious of a curious stirring of his feelings as he listened +to her. She was tall and finely proportioned, endowed with a calm and +gracious dignity which was nevertheless, he thought, in keeping with a +sanguine and virile nature. This girl was one of the fairest and most +precious products of the soil she loved. + +"It's a pity in many ways that the Gladwyne property didn't come to you," +he observed. + +Her expression changed and he spread out one hand deprecatingly. + +"That's another blunder of mine. I haven't acquired your people's +unfailing caution yet, but I only meant--" + +"Perhaps it would be better if you didn't tell me what you did mean." + +Lisle nodded. He felt that he had deserved the rebuke, as the truth of +his assertion could not be admitted without disparaging Gladwyne. She +would allow nothing to the latter's discredit to be said by a stranger, +but it was unpleasant to think that she regarded him as one. He changed +the subject. + +"You mentioned that landlord and laborer had a joint interest in the +soil, and that's undoubtedly right," he said. "The point where trouble +arises is, of course, over the division of the yield. The former's share +is obvious, but nowadays plowman and forester want more than their +fathers seem to have been satisfied with. I don't think you can blame +them--in Canada they get more." + +"I'll give you an instance to show why one can't treat them very +liberally. When my brother got possession he spent a great deal of +money--it was left him by his mother and didn't come out of the land--in +draining, improvements, and rebuilding homesteads and cottages, besides +freely giving his time and care. For a number of years he got no return +at all, and part of the expenditure will always be unproductive. It isn't +a solitary case." + +They went on together through the shadowy, crimson-tinted dale until +Millicent stopped at the gate of a field-road. + +"I am going to one of the cottages yonder," she explained. "I expect +Nasmyth on Wednesday evening. Are you coming with him?" + +"I'm sorry, but I'm going to Marple's. You see, I promised." + +"Promised Marple?" + +He was learning to understand her, for though she showed no marked sign +of displeasure he knew that she was not gratified. + +"No," he answered; "Miss Crestwick." + +She did not speak, but there was something in her manner that hinted at +disdainful amusement. + +"I think you're hardly fair to her," he said. + +"It's possible," Millicent replied carelessly. "Does it matter?" + +"Well," he broke out with some warmth, "the girl hasn't such an easy time +among you; and one can only respect her for the way she stands by her +brother." + +"Have you anything to say in his favor?" + +"It would be pretty difficult," admitted Lisle. "But you can't blame his +sister for that." + +"I don't think I've shown any desire to do so," she retorted. + +Lisle knit his brows. + +"You people are rather curious in your ideas. Now, here's a lonely girl +who's pluckily trying to look after that senseless lad, and not a one of +you can spare her a word of sympathy, because she doesn't run on the same +stereotyped lines as you do. Can you help only the people who will +conform?" + +Millicent let this pass, and after an indifferent word or two she turned +away. Before she reached home, however, she met Nasmyth. + +"Why don't you keep Mr. Lisle out of those Marples' hands?" she asked +him. + +"In the first place, I'm not sure that I could do so; in the second, I +don't see why I should try," Nasmyth replied. "On the whole, considering +that he's a Western miner, I don't think he's running a serious risk. +Perhaps I might hint that Bella Crestwick's hardly likely to consider him +as big enough game." + +"Don't be coarse!" Millicent paused. "But he spoke hotly in her defense." + +"After all," responded Nasmyth, "I shouldn't wonder if she deserves it; +but it has no significance. You see, he's a rather chivalrous person." + +Millicent flashed a quick glance at him, but his face was expressionless. + +"What did he say?" he asked. + +"I don't remember exactly: he hinted that we were narrow-minded and +uncharitable." + +Nasmyth laughed. + +"I almost think there's some truth in it. I've seen you a little severe +on those outside the fold." + +"A man's charity is apt to be influenced by a pretty face," Millicent +retorted. + +"I'll admit it," replied Nasmyth dryly. "But I can't undertake to +determine how far that fact has any bearing on this particular instance." + +Millicent talked about something else, but she was annoyed with herself +when the question Nasmyth had raised once more obtruded itself on her +attention during the evening. + +On Wednesday Lisle walked over to Marple's house, because he had promised +to go, though he would much rather have spent an hour or two with Nasmyth +and Millicent in the latter's drawing-room. He had no opportunity for any +private speech with Bella, but she flung him a grateful glance as he came +in. He waited patiently and followed her brother here and there, but he +could not secure a word with him alone. + +Some time had passed when, escaping from a group engaged in what struck +him as particularly stupid badinage, he sauntered toward the +billiard-room, struggling with a feeling of irritation. He was generally +good-humored and tolerant rather than hypercritical, but the somewhat +senseless hilarity of Marple's guests was beginning to jar on him. A +burst of laughter which he thought had been provoked by one of Bella's +sallies followed him down the corridor, but when he quietly opened the +door the billiard-room was empty except for a group of three in one +corner. He stopped just inside the threshold, glancing at them, and it +was evident that they had not heard his approach. + +Wreaths of cigar smoke drifted about the room; the light of the shaded +lamps fell upon the men seated on a lounge, and their expressions and +attitudes were significant. Gladwyne leaned back languidly graceful; +Batley, a burlier figure, was talking, his eyes fixed on Crestwick; and +the lad sat upright, looking eager. Batley appeared to be discussing the +principles of operating on the stock exchange. + +"It's obvious," he said, "that there's very little to be made by waiting +until any particular stock becomes a popular favorite--the premium +equalizes the profit and sometimes does away with it. The essential thing +is to take hold at the beginning, when the shares are more or less in +disfavor and can be picked up cheap." + +Lisle stood still--he was in the shadow--watching the lad, who now showed +signs of uncertainty. + +"I dropped a good deal of money the last time I tried it," he protested. +"The trouble is that if you come in when the company's starting, you +can't form an accurate idea of how it ought to go." + +"Exactly," replied Batley. "You can rarely be quite sure. What you need +is sound judgment, the sense to recognize a good thing when you see it, +pluck, and the sporting instinct--you must be ready to back your opinion +and take a risk. It's only the necessity for that kind of thing which +makes it a fine game." + +He broke off, looking up, and as Lisle strolled forward with a glance at +Crestwick, he saw Batley's genial expression change. It was evident that +the idea of being credited with the qualities mentioned appealed to the +lad, and Lisle realized that Batley was wishing him far away. He had, +however, no intention of withdrawing, and taking out a cigar he chose a +cue and awkwardly proceeded to practise a shot. + +"This," he said nonchalantly, "is an amusement I never had time to learn, +and I really came along for a quiet smoke. Don't let me disturb you." + +He saw Crestwick's look and understood what was in the lad's mind. It was +incomprehensible to the latter that a man should boldly confess his +ignorance of a game of high repute. Batley, however, seeing that the +intruder intended to remain, returned to the attack, and though he spoke +in a lower voice Lisle caught part of his remarks and decided that he was +cleverly playing upon Crestwick's raw belief in himself. This roused the +Canadian to indignation, though it was directed against Gladwyne rather +than his companion. Batley, he thought, was to some extent an adventurer, +one engaged in a hazardous business at which he could not always win, and +he had some desirable qualities--good-humor, liberality, coolness and +daring. The well-bred gentleman who served as his decoy, however, +possessed none of these redeeming characteristics. His part was merely +despicable; there was only meanness beneath his polished exterior. + +"It certainly looks promising," Lisle heard Crestwick say; "you have +pretty well convinced me that it can't go wrong." + +"I can't see any serious risk," declared Batley. "That, in the case of +mining stock, is as far as I'd care to go. On the other hand, there's +every prospect of a surprising change in the value of the shares as soon +as the results of the first reduction of ore come out. I can only add +that I'm a holder and I got you the offer of the shares as a favor from a +friend who's behind the scenes. Don't take them unless you feel +inclined." + +This was a slip, as Lisle recognized. It is not in human nature to +dispose of a commodity that will shortly increase in value. Crestwick, +however, obviously failed to notice this; Lisle thought the idea of +getting on to the inside track appealed to his vanity. + +"It's a curious name they've given the mine," commented the lad, +repeating it. "What does it mean?" + +Lisle started, for he recognized the name, and it offered him a lead. +Strolling toward the group, he leaned against the table. + +"I can tell you that," he said. "It's an Indian word for a river gorge. I +went up it not long ago." + +"Then," exclaimed Crestwick, "I suppose you know the mine?" + +Lisle glanced at the others. Their eyes were fixed upon him, Batley's +steadily, Gladwyne's with a hint of uneasiness. It was, he felt, a +remarkable piece of good fortune that had given him control of the +situation. + +"Yes," he answered carelessly, "I know the mine." + +"I'm thinking of taking shares in it," Crestwick informed him. + +"Well," said Lisle, "that wouldn't be wise." + +Gladwyne leaned farther back in his seat, as if to disassociate himself +from the discussion, which was what the Canadian had expected from him; +but Batley, who was of more resolute fiber, showed fight. His appearance +became aggressive, his face hardened, and there was a snap in his eyes. + +"You have made a serious allegation in a rather startling way, Mr. Lisle. +As I've an interest in the company in question, I must ask you to +explain." + +"Then I'd advise you to get rid of your interest as soon as possible; +that is, so long as you don't sell out to Crestwick, who's a friend of +mine." + +Batley's face began to redden, and Lisle, looking around at the sound of +a footstep, saw Marple standing a pace or two away. He was a fussy, +bustling man, and he raised his hand in expostulation. + +"Was that last called for, or quite the thing, Lisle?" he asked. + +Batley turned to Gladwyne, as if for support, and the latter assumed his +finest air. + +"I think there can be only one opinion on that point," he declared. + +Lisle's eyes gleamed with an amusement that was stronger than his +indignation. That Gladwyne should expect this gravely delivered decision +to have any marked effect tickled him. + +"Well," he replied, "I'm ready to stand by what I said, and I'll add that +if I had any shares I'd give them away to anybody who would register as +their owner before the next call is made." + +"I understood there wouldn't be a call for a long while," Crestwick broke +in. + +"Then whoever told you so must have been misinformed," Lisle rejoined. + +"Are you casting any doubt upon my honor?" Batley demanded in a bellicose +voice. + +"I don't think so; anyway, so long as you don't rule out my suggestion. +Still, I'm willing to leave Gladwyne to decide the point. He seems to +understand these delicate matters." + +Marple, looking distressed and irresolute, broke in before Gladwyne had a +chance to reply. + +"Do you know much about mining, Lisle?" + +Lisle laughed. + +"I've had opportunities for learning something, as prospector, locator of +alluvial claims and holder of an interest in one or two comparatively +prosperous companies." + +He leaned forward and touched Crestwick's shoulder. + +"Come along, Jim, and I'll give you one or two particulars that should +decide you." + +Somewhat to his astonishment, the lad rose and rather sheepishly followed +him. There was an awkward silence for a few moments after they left the +room; then Marple turned to his guests. + +"I can't undertake to say whether Lisle was justified or not," he began. +"I'm sorry, however, that anything of this nature should have happened in +my house." + +"So am I," said Gladwyne with gracious condescension. "There is, of +course, one obvious remedy." + +Marple raised his hands in expostulation. He liked Lisle, and Gladwyne +was a distinguished guest. Batley seemed to find his confusion amusing. + +"I think the only thing we can do is to let the matter drop," he +suggested. "These fellows from the wilds are primitive--one can't expect +too much. The correct feeling or delicacy of expression we'd look for +among ourselves is hardly in their line." + +Marple was mollified, and he fell in with Batley's suggestion that they +should try a game. + +In the meanwhile, Crestwick looked around at his companion as they went +down the corridor. + +"I believe I owe you some thanks," he admitted. "I like the way you +headed off Batley--I think he meant to turn savage at first--and I +wouldn't have been willing to draw in Gladwyne, as you did. He has a way +of crushing you with a look." + +"It's merely a sign that you deserve it," Lisle laughed. "You take too +many things for granted in this country. Test another man's assumption of +superiority before you agree with it, and you'll sometimes be astonished +to find out what it's really founded on. And now we'd better join those +people who're singing." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +BELLA'S DEFEAT + + +The afternoon was calm and hazy, and Lisle lounged with great content in +a basket-chair on Millicent's lawn. His hostess sat near by, looking +listless, a somewhat unusual thing for her, and Miss Hume, her elderly +companion, genial in spite of her precise formality, was industriously +embroidering something not far away. There was not a breath of wind +astir; a soft gray sky streaked with long bars of stronger color hung +motionless over the wide prospect. Wood and moorland ridge and distant +hill had faded to dimness of contour and quiet neutral tones. Indeed, the +whole scene seemed steeped in a profound tranquillity, intensified only +by the murmur of the river. + +Lisle enjoyed it all, though he was conscious that Millicent's presence +added to its charm. He had grown to feel restful and curiously at ease in +her company. She was, he thought, so essentially natural; one felt at +home with her. + +"I haven't often seen you with the unoccupied appearance you have just +now," he remarked at length. + +"I have sent the book off, and after being at work on it so long, I feel +disinclined to do anything else," she said. "I've just heard from the +publishers; they don't seem enthusiastic. After all, one couldn't expect +that--the style of the thing is rather out of the usual course." + +Lisle looked angry and she was pleased with his indignation on her +behalf. + +"They show precious little sense!" he declared; "but you're right. It's +one of your English customs to go on from precedent to precedent until +you get an unmodifiable standard, when you slavishly conform to it. Now +your book's neither a classification nor a catalogue--it's something far +bigger. Never mind what the experts and scientists say; wait until the +people who love the wild things and want their story made real get it +into their hands!" + +His confidence was gratifying, but she changed the subject. + +"You Canadians haven't much respect for precedent?" + +"No; we try to meet the varying need by constantly changing means. +They're often crude, but they're successful, as a rule." + +"It's a system that must have a wide effect," she responded, to lead him +on. She liked to hear him talk. + +"It has. You can see it in the difference between your country and mine. +This land's smooth and well trimmed; everything in it has grown up little +by little; its mellow ripeness is its charm. Ours is grand or rugged or +desolate, but it's never merely pretty. The same applies to our people; +they're bubbling over with raw, optimistic vigor, their corners are not +rubbed off. Some of them would jar on overcivilized people, but not, I +think, on any one with understanding." He spread out his hands. "You have +an example; I'm spouting at large again." + +"Go on," she begged; "I'm interested. But have you ever thought that +instead of being younger than we are you're really older. I mean that you +have gone back a long way; begun again at an earlier stage, instead of +going ahead?" + +"Now you get at the bottom of things!" he exclaimed. "That's always been +an idea of mine. The people of the newer countries, perhaps more +particularly those to whom I belong, are brought back to the grapple with +elemental conditions. We're on the bed-rock of nature." + +"Are you too modest to go any further?" + +He showed faint signs of confusion and she laughed. "No doubt, the +situation makes for pristine vigor, and we are drifting into +artificiality," she suggested. "Perhaps you, the toilers, the subduers of +the wilderness, are to serve as an anchor for the supercivilized +generations to hold on by." She paused and quoted softly: "'Pioneers; O +pioneers!'" + +"What can I say to that?" he asked with half-amused embarrassment. "We're +pretty egotistical, but one can't go back on Whitman." + +"No," she laughed mischievously; "I think you're loyal; and there are +situations from which it's difficult to extricate oneself. Didn't you +find it so, for example, when you declined to come here with Nasmyth, +because Miss Crestwick had pressed you to go to Marple's?" + +He could think of no neat reply to this and the obvious fact pleased her, +for she guessed that he would rather have spent the evening with her. +This was true, for now, sitting in the quiet garden in her company, he +looked back on the entertainment with something like disgust. Marple's +male friends were, for the most part, characterized by a certain +grossness and sensuality; in their amusements at games of chance one or +two had displayed an open avarice. These things jarred on the man who had +toiled among the rocks and woods, where he had practised a stringent +self-denial. + +"I heard that you figured in a striking little scene," Millicent went on. + +"I couldn't help it." Lisle appeared annoyed. "That man Batley irritated +me; though, after all, I don't blame him the most." + +This was a slip. + +"Whom do you blame?" she asked sharply. + +"Oh," he explained, "I wasn't the only person, present, and I hadn't +arrived at the beginning. Somebody should have stopped the fellow; the +shares he tried to work off on Crestwick were no good." + +"Then Batley wanted to sell that silly lad some worthless shares--and +there were other people looking on?" + +He would not tell her that Gladwyne had watched the proceedings, to some +extent acquiescing. + +"I thought from what you said that you knew all about it," he answered. + +"No," she replied, suspecting the truth, but seeing that it would be +difficult to extract anything definite from him. "I only heard that you +had an encounter of some kind with Batley. But why did you hint that he +was not the worst?" + +"He was merely acting in accordance with his instincts; one wouldn't +expect anything else." + +"The implication is that he was tacitly abetted by people of a different +kind who ought to have known better." + +He was not to be drawn on this point, and she respected him for it. + +"Was it only an animus against Batley that prompted you?" she asked. + +"No," he admitted candidly; "I wanted to get young Crestwick out of his +clutches. I'm not sure he's worth troubling about, but I'm sorry for his +sister. As I've said before, there's something fine in the way she sticks +to him." + +The chivalrous feeling did him credit, Millicent admitted, but she was +dissatisfied with it and was curious to learn if it were the only one he +cherished toward the girl. + +"That's undoubtedly in her favor," she commented indifferently. + +He did not respond and they talked about other matters; but Lisle was now +sensible of a slight constraint in Millicent's manner and on the whole +she was glad when he took his leave. Quick-witted, as she was, she +guessed that he disapproved of the part Clarence had played in the affair +at Marple's, and this, chiming with her own suspicions, troubled her. She +had a tenderness for Clarence, and she wondered how far her influence +might restrain and protect him if, as his mother had suggested, she +eventually married him. Another point caused her some uneasiness--Bella +Crestwick had boldly entered the field against her and was making use of +the Canadian to rouse Clarence by showing him that he had a rival. The +thought of it stirred her to indignation; she would not have Lisle +treated in that fashion. After sitting still for half an hour, she rose +with a gesture of impatience and went into the house. + +On the same evening Bella Crestwick felt impelled to lecture her brother +after dinner. That was not a favorable time, for the young man's good +opinion of himself was generally strengthened by a glass or two of wine. + +"I thought that matter of the shares would have taught you sense, but you +must listen to Batley again this afternoon," she scolded. "You were with +him for half an hour. I've no patience with you, Jim." + +"He's not so easy to shake off, particularly as I'm in his debt," +returned the lad. "Besides, he's an interesting fellow, the kind you +learn a good deal from. It's an education to mix with such men." + +"The trouble is that it's expensive. Come away with me before he ruins +you. There's Mrs. Barnard's invitation to their place in Scotland; it +would be a good excuse." + +Her brother's rather lofty manner changed. + +"You're a dear, Bella. You know you don't want to go." + +Having a strong reason for wishing to stay, she colored at this. Among +his other unprepossessing characteristics, Jim had a trick of saying +things he should suppress. + +"Never mind me," she answered. "Will you come?" + +He had an incomplete recognition of the magnitude of the sacrifice she +was ready to make, though it was not this that decided him not to fall in +with it. + +"No," he said with raw self-confidence. "I'm not one to run away; but +I'll promise to keep my eye on the fellow after this and be cautious. All +his schemes aren't in the same class as those mining shares, you know." + +Bella lost her temper and told him some plain truths about himself, and +this did not improve matters, for in the end she retired, defeated, +leaving Jim rather sore but on the whole satisfied with the firmness he +had displayed. The girl felt dejected and almost desperate. She could not +continually apply to Lisle for assistance, and she shrank from the only +other course that seemed open to her; but her affection for the misguided +lad impelled her to make another attempt to rescue him, and a few days +later she found her opportunity. It was a bold measure she had decided +on, one that might cost her a good deal, but she was a young woman of +courage and determination. + +Mrs. Marple and her daughter drove over with her to call on Mrs. +Gladwyne. They found several other people present, and as usual there was +no ceremony; the day was fine, and the hostess sat outside, while the +guests strolled about the terrace and gardens very much as they liked. +Bella, hearing that Clarence was engaged in the library and would not be +down for a little while, slipped away in search of him. Her heart beat +painfully fast as she went up the wide staircase, but she was outwardly +very collected--a slender, attractive figure--when she entered the room. +In her dress as well as in her manner Bella was usually distinguished by +something unconventional and picturesque. She was not pleased to see +Batley standing beside the table at which Gladwyne sat, but the man +gathered up some papers when he noticed her. + +"I've explained the thing, Gladwyne, and I expect Miss Crestwick will +excuse me," he said. + +His manner was good-humored as he bowed to her and though she almost +hated the man she was conscious of a faint respect for him. He might have +thwarted her by remaining, for she had often made him a butt for her +bitter wit. Now, however, when she had shown that his presence was not +required, he was gallantly withdrawing. When he went out she sat down and +Gladwyne rose and stood with one hand on the mantel, waiting for her to +begin. Instead, she glanced round the room, which always impressed her. +It was lofty and spacious, the few articles of massive furniture gave it +a severe dignity, and there was no doubt that Gladwyne, with his handsome +person and highbred air, appeared at home in it. + +While she looked around, he was thinking about her. She was provocatively +pretty; a fearless, passionate creature, addicted to occasional reckless +outbreaks, but nevertheless endowed with a vein of cold and calculating +sense. What was as much to the point, she was wealthy, and people were +becoming more tolerant toward her; but in the meanwhile he wondered what +she wanted. + +"I came about Jim," she said at length. + +"Well?" + +The man's expression, which suddenly changed, was not encouraging and she +hesitated. + +"You know what he's doing. I've come to ask a favor." + +He avoided the issue. + +"It's nothing alarming; I don't suppose he's very different from most +lads of his age. Perhaps it would be better to let him have his head." + +"No," she replied decidedly. "The pace is too hot; I can't hold him. +He'll come to grief badly if he's not pulled up. You know that as well as +I do!" + +Her anger became her, bringing a fine glow to her cheeks and a hint of +half-imperious dignity into her pose. It had an effect on him, but he +felt somewhat ashamed of himself. + +"Well," he asked in a quiet voice, "what's the favor?" + +"Shouldn't a sportsman and a man of your kind grant it unconditionally +beforehand? Must you be sure you won't get hurt when you make a venture?" + +"You'd risk it," he answered, bowing. "You're admirable, Bella. Still, +you see, I'm either more cautious or less courageous." + +She was badly disappointed. She knew that a good deal depended on his +answer to her request, and shrank from making it, because it would prove +the strength or weakness of her hold on him. The man attracted her, and +she had somewhat openly attempted to capture him. She longed for the +position he could give her; she would have married him for that and his +house, but she was willing to risk her success for her brother's welfare. + +"I want you to tell Batley that he must keep his hands off of Jim," she +said. + +He started at this. + +"He can't do the lad much harm. Aren't you attaching a little too much +importance to the matter?" + +"No; not in the least," she answered vehemently. "I've told you so +already. But can't you keep to the point? My brother's being ruined in +several ways besides the debts he's heaping up; and I've humbled myself +to beg your help." + +"Was it so very hard?" he asked, and his voice grew soft and caressing. + +She was shaken to the verge of yielding. The man was handsome, +cultivated, distinguished, she thought. Whether she actually loved him, +she did not know, but he could gratify her ambitions and she was strongly +drawn to him. He had given her a lead, an opening for a few telling words +that might go far toward the accomplishment of her wishes; but, tempted +as she was, she would not utter them. She was loyal to the headstrong +lad; Jim stood first with her. + +"That is beside the point," she said with a becoming air of pride. "I +expected you would be willing to do whatever you could. To be refused +what I plead for is new to me." + +He considered for a moment or two, watching her with keen appreciation. +Bella in her present mood, with her affectations cast aside, appealed to +him. She was not altogether the woman he would have chosen, but since he +must secure a rich wife, there were obvious benefits to be derived from a +match with her. He devoutly wished he could accede to her request. + +"Well?" she broke out impatiently. + +"I'm sorry," he said; "I'm unable to do as you desire. Of course, I wish +I could, if only to please you, though I really don't think the thing's +necessary." + +"You needn't tell me that again! It's a waste of time; I'm not going to +discuss it. Face the difficulty, whatever it is. Do you mean that you +can't warn off Batley?" + +Gladwyne saw that she would insist on a definite answer and in +desperation he told the truth. + +"It's out of the question." + +It was a shock to her. In a sudden flash of illumination she saw him as +he was, weak and irresolute, helpless in the grip of a stronger man. It +was significant that she felt no compassion for him, but only disgust and +contempt. She was no coward, and even Jim, who could so easily be +deluded, was ready enough to fight on due occasion. + +"You are afraid of the fellow!" she exclaimed. + +Gladwyne colored and moved abruptly. He had imagined that she was his for +the asking, but there was no mistaking her cutting scorn. + +"Bella," he pleaded, "don't be bitter. You can't understand the +difficulties I'm confronted with." + +"I can understand too much!" Her voice trembled, but she rose, rather +white in face, with an air of decision. "When I came I expected--but +after all that doesn't matter--I never expected this!" + +He made no answer; the man had some little pride and there was nothing to +be said. He had fallen very low even in this girl's estimation and the +fact was almost intolerably galling, but he could make no effective +defense. She went from him slowly, but with a suggestive deliberation, +without looking back, and there was a hint of finality in the way she +closed the door. + +Once outside, she strove to brace herself, for the interview had tried +her hard. She had had to choose between Gladwyne and her brother, but for +that she was now almost thankful. The man she had admired had changed and +become contemptible. It was as if he had suddenly collapsed and shriveled +before her startled eyes. But that was not all the trouble--she was as +far from saving Jim as ever. + +It cost her an effort to rejoin the others, but she was equal to it and +during the rest of her stay her conversation was a shade more audacious +than usual. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +GLADWYNE SURRENDERS + + +Evening was drawing on when Bella strolled aimlessly down the ascending +road that led to Marple's residence. On one hand of the road there was a +deep rift, filled with shadow, in which a beck murmured among the stones, +and the oaks that climbed to the ridge above flung their great branches +against the saffron glow in the western sky. Fallen leaves, glowing brown +and red, had gathered thick beneath one hedgerow and more came slowly +sailing down; but Bella brushed through them unheeding, oblivious to her +surroundings. She had suffered during the few days that had followed her +interview with Gladwyne and even the sharp encounter with Miss Marple in +which she had recently indulged had not cheered her, though it had left +her friend smarting. + +Presently she looked around with interest as a figure appeared farther up +the road, and recognizing the fine poise and vigorous stride, she stopped +and waited. Lisle was a bracing person to talk to, and she wanted to see +him. He soon came up with her and she greeted him cordially. Unlike +Gladwyne, he was a real man, resolute and resourceful, with a generous +vein in him, and she did not resent the fact that he looked rather hard +at her. + +"You don't seem as cheerful as usual," he observed. + +"I'm not," she confessed. "In fact, I think I was very nearly crying." + +"What's the trouble?" He showed both interest and sympathy. + +"Oh, you needn't ask. It's Jim again. I've tried every means and I can't +do anything with him." + +"He is pretty uncontrollable. Seems to have gone back to Batley again. I +wonder if it would be any good if I looked for an opportunity for making +a row with the fellow?" + +"No," she answered, with appreciation, for this was very different from +Gladwyne's attitude. "It would only separate Jim from you, and I don't +want that to happen. Please keep hold of him, though I know that can't be +pleasant for you." + +"He is trying now and then, but I'll do what I can. Gladwyne, however, +has more influence than I have. Did you think of asking him?" + +She colored, and in her brief confusion he read his answer with strong +indignation--she had pleaded with Gladwyne and he had refused to help. + +"Do you know," she said, looking up at him, "you're the only real friend +I have. There's nobody else I can trust." + +"I think you're wrong in that," he declared; and acting on impulse he +laid a hand protectingly on her shoulder, for she looked very dejected +and forlorn. "Anyway, you mustn't worry. I'll do something--in fact, +something will have to be done." + +"What will you do?" + +He knitted his brows. There was a course, which promised to be effective, +open to him, but he was most averse to adopting it. He could give +Gladwyne a plain hint that he had better restrain his confederate, but he +could enforce compliance only by stating what he knew about the former's +desertion of his cousin. He was not ready to do that yet; it would +precipitate the climax, and once his knowledge of the matter was revealed +his power to use it in case of a stronger need might be diminished. The +temptation to leave Jim Crestwick to his fate was strong, but his pity +for the anxious girl was stronger. + +"I'll have a talk with Gladwyne," he promised. + +"That wouldn't be of the least use!" + +"I think he'll do what I suggest," Lisle answered with a trace of +grimness. "Make your mind easy; I'll have Batley stopped." + +She looked at him in surprise, filled with relief and gratitude. He was +one who would not promise more than he could perform; but how he could +force his will on Gladwyne she did not know. + +"You're wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Whatever one asks you're able to do." + +"And you're very staunch." + +"Oh!" she said, standing very close to him, with his hand still on her +shoulder, "we won't exchange compliments--they're too empty, and you +deserve something better." She glanced round swiftly. "Shut your eyes, +tight!" + +He obeyed her, and for a moment light fingers rested on his breast; then +there was a faint warm touch upon his cheek. When he looked up she was +standing a yard away, smiling mockingly. + +"Don't trust your imagination too much--it might have deceived you," she +warned. "But you have sense; you wouldn't attach an undue value to +anything." + +"Confidence and gratitude are precious," he answered. "I'd better point +out that I haven't earned either of them yet." + +Bella was satisfied with this, but she grew graver, wondering how far she +might have delivered Gladwyne into his hands. She was angry with the man, +but she would not have him suffer. + +"I don't know what power you have--but you won't make too much use of +it--I don't wish that," she begged. "After all, though, Jim must be got +out of that fellow's clutches." + +"Yes," assented Lisle, "there's no doubt of it." + +She left him presently and he went on down the dale, not exactly +repenting of his promise, but regretting the necessity which had led to +his making it. The task with which he had saddled himself was an +exceedingly unpleasant one and might afterward make it more difficult for +him to accomplish the purpose that had brought him to England, but he +meant to carry it out. + +As it happened, he met Mrs. Gladwyne at Millicent's, where he called, and +he spent an uncomfortable half-hour in her company. She had shown in +various ways that she liked him, and calling him to her side soon after +he came in, she talked to him in an unusually genial manner. He felt like +a traitor in this gracious lady's presence and it was a relief when she +took her departure. + +"You look troubled," Millicent observed. + +"That's how I feel," he confessed. "After all, it isn't a very uncommon +sensation. It's sometimes difficult to see ahead." + +"Often," she answered, smiling. "What do you do then--stop a little and +consider?" + +"Not as a rule. The longer you consider the difficulties, the worse they +look. It's generally better to go right on." + +Millicent agreed with this; and soon afterward Lisle took his departure +and walked back to Nasmyth's in an unusually serious mood. They were +sitting smoking when his host broached the subject that was occupying +him. + +"It's some time since you said anything about the project that brought +you over," he remarked. + +"That's so," assented Lisle. "I'm fixed much as I was when we last spoke +of it. When I was in Canada, I thought I'd only to find Gladwyne and +scare a confession out of him. Now I find that what I've undertaken isn't +by any means so simple." + +"I warned you that it wouldn't be." + +"You were right. There's his mother to consider--it's a privilege to know +her--she's devoted to the fellow. Then there's Millicent; in a way, she's +almost as devoted, anyhow she's a staunch friend of his. I don't know how +either of them would stand the revelation." + +"It would kill Mrs. Gladwyne," Nasmyth declared. + +There was silence for a while, and then Lisle spoke again. + +"I'm badly worried; any move of mine would lead to endless trouble--and +yet there's the black blot on the memory of the man to whom I owe so +much; I can't bring myself to let it remain. Besides all this, there's +another complication." + +"Young Crestwick's somehow connected with it," Nasmyth guessed. + +Lisle did not deny it. + +"That crack-brained lad seems to be the pivot on which the whole thing +turns. Curious, isn't it? I wish the responsibility hadn't been laid on +my shoulders. Just now I can't tell what I ought to do--it's harassing." + +"Don't force things; wait for developments," Nasmyth advised him. "I'm +not trying to extract information; the only reason I mentioned the +subject is that a man in the home counties has asked me to come up for a +few weeks and bring you along. He's a good sort, there's fair sport, and +it's a nice place; but I don't mind in the least whether I go or not." + +"Then I'd rather stay. I've a feeling that I may be wanted here." + +"I'm quite satisfied, for a reason I'll explain. You have ridden that +young bay horse of mine. He comes of good stock and he's showing signs of +an excellent pace over the hurdles. Now I couldn't expect to enter him +for any first-rate event--he's hardly fast enough and it's too expensive +in various ways--but there's a little semi-private meeting to be held +before long at a place about thirty miles off. I might have a chance +there if we put him into training immediately. You know something about +horses?" + +"Not much," responded Lisle. "I've made one long journey in the saddle in +Alberta; but you've seen our British Columbian trails. Our cayuses have +generally to climb, and as a rule I've used horses only for packing. +Still, I'm fond of them; I'd be interested in the thing." + +Nasmyth nodded. + +"One difficulty is that there's nothing in the neighborhood that I could +try him for pace against except that horse of Gladwyne's." + +"He'd no doubt let you have the beast." + +"It's possible," Nasmyth agreed dryly. "But I've objections to being +indebted to him; and I don't want Batley, Marple and Crestwick to take a +hand in and put their money on me. However, we'll think it over." + +They retired to sleep soon afterward; and the next day Lisle walked +across to call on Gladwyne, in a quietly determined mood. Clarence was in +his library, and he looked up with some curiosity when Lisle was shown +in. Lisle came to the point at once. + +"You've no doubt noticed that Jim Crestwick has been going pretty hard of +late," he said. "Bets, speculation, and that sort of thing. He can't keep +it up on a minor's allowance. It will end in a bad smash if he isn't +checked." + +Gladwyne's manner became supercilious. + +"I fail to see how it concerns you, or, for that matter, either of us." + +"We won't go into the question--it's beside the point. What I want you to +do is to pull him up." + +He spoke as if he meant to be obeyed, and Gladwyne looked at him in +incredulous astonishment. + +"Do you suppose I'm able to restrain the lad?" + +"You ought to be," Lisle answered coolly. "It's your friend Batley who's +leading him on to ruin; I'm making no comments on your conduct in +standing by and watching, as if you approved of it." + +The man grew hot with anger. + +"Thank you for your consideration." His tone changed to a sneer. "I +suppose you couldn't be expected to realize that the attitude you're +adopting is inexcusable?" + +"If you don't like it, I'll try another," Lisle returned curtly. "You'll +give Batley his orders to leave the lad alone right now." + +Gladwyne rose with his utmost dignity, a fine gentleman whose feelings +had been outraged by the coarse attack of a barbarian; but Lisle waved +his hand in a contemptuous manner. + +"Stop where you are; that kind of thing is thrown away on me. You're +going to listen for a few minutes and afterward you're going to do what I +tell you. To begin with--why, after you'd opened it, didn't you wipe out +all trace of the cache on the reach below the last portage your cousin +made?" + +The shot obviously reached its mark, for Gladwyne clutched the table +hard, and then sank back limply into his seat. He further betrayed +himself by a swift, instinctive glance toward the rows of books behind +him, and Lisle had no doubt that the missing pages from George Gladwyne's +diary were hidden among them. He waited calmly, sure of his position, +while Gladwyne with difficulty pulled himself together. + +"Have you any proof that I found the cache?" he asked. + +"I think so," Lisle informed him. "But we'll let that slide. You'd better +take the thing for granted. I'm not here to answer questions. I've told +you plainly what I want." + +There was silence for nearly a minute during which Gladwyne sat very +still in nerveless dismay. All resistance had melted out of him, his +weakness was manifest--he could not face a crisis, there was no courage +in him. + +"The miserable young idiot!" he broke out at length in impotent rage. +"This is not the first trouble in which he has involved me!" + +"Just so," said Lisle. "Not long ago his sister came here, begging you to +save him, and you wouldn't. It's not my part to point what she must think +of you. But I'm in a different position; you won't refuse me." + +Gladwyne leaned forward, gripping the arms of his chair as if he needed +support, and his face grew haggard. + +"The difficulty is that I'm helpless," he declared. + +Lisle regarded him with contempt. + +"Brace up," he advised him. "The fellow you're afraid of is only flesh +and blood; he has his weak point somewhere. Face him and find it, if you +can't talk him round. There's no other way open to you." + +A brief silence followed; and then Gladwyne broke it. + +"I'll try. But suppose I can induce him to leave Crestwick alone?" + +"So much the better for you," Lisle answered with a dry smile. "I'm not +here to make a bargain. I don't want anything for myself." + +He went out, consoling himself with the last reflection, for the part he +had played had been singularly disagreeable. Passing down the wide +staircase and through the great hall, he turned along the terrace with a +sense of wonder and disgust. It was a stately house; the wide sweep of lawn +where two gardeners were carefully sweeping up the leaves, the borders +beyond it, blazing with dahlias and ranks of choice chrysanthemums, +conveyed the same suggestion of order, wealth and refinement. One might, he +thought, have expected to find some qualities that matched with +these--dignity, power, a fine regard for honor--in the owner of such a +place, but he had not even common courage. An imposing figure, to outward +seeming, the Canadian regarded him as one who owed everything to a little +surface polish and his London clothes. + +Lisle paused to look back when he reached the end of the terrace, from +which a path that would save him a short walk led through a shrubbery. +One wing of the building was covered with Virginia creeper that glowed +with the gorgeous hues of a fading maple leaf, the sunlight lay on the +grass, and the feeling of tranquillity that hung about the place grew +stronger. He thought that he could understand how the desire to possess +it would stir an Englishman reared in such surroundings, and yet he was +now convinced that this was not the impulse which had driven Gladwyne +into deserting his starving cousin. The man had merely yielded to craven +fear. + +He heard footsteps, and looking around was a little surprised to see +Batley moving toward him. + +"You have just called on Gladwyne," Batley began. + +Lisle stopped. There was, so far as he knew, nothing to be said in favor +of the man, but his cool boldness was tempered by a certain geniality and +an occasional candor that the Canadian could not help appreciating. He +preferred Batley to Gladwyne. + +"That's so," he agreed. + +"I'm inclined to think your visit concerned me. I've noticed your +interest in young Crestwick--it's obvious--I don't know whether one could +say the same of the cause of it?" + +"We won't discuss that. If you have anything to say to me, you had better +adopt a less offensive style." + +Batley smiled good-humoredly. + +"You're quick at resenting things. I don't see why you should expect a +longer patience from me." + +"I don't expect anything from you," Lisle informed him. "In proof of it, +I'll mention that I called to tell Gladwyne he must keep you off of Jim +Crestwick." + +He made a slip in the last few words, which the other quickly noticed. + +"Ordered him, in fact," he said. + +Lisle made no answer and Batley resumed: + +"You have some kind of a hold on Gladwyne; so have I. Of course, it's no +news to you. I'm a little curious to learn what yours consists of." + +"Why?" + +"It struck me that we might work together." + +"I'm not going in for card-sharping or anything of that kind!" + +The man seemed roused by this, but he mastered his anger. + +"Civility isn't expensive and sometimes it's wise," he observed. "I won't +return the compliment; in fact, I'll credit you with the most +disinterested motives. All I mean is that I might help you and you might +help me. I'm not quite what you seem to think I am, and if I can get my +money back out of Gladwyne I won't harm him." + +"I don't care in the least whether you harm him or not. But I'll try to +arrange that you drop Crestwick." + +Batley considered this for a moment or two. + +"Well," he said, "I'm sorry we can't agree; but as regards Crestwick you +can only head me off by forcing Gladwyne to interfere. Between ourselves, +do you think he's a man who's likely to take a bold course?" + +"I think so--in the present case." + +"You mean if the pressure's sufficient. Now you have given me a glimpse +at your hand and I'll be candid. Gladwyne rather let me in, and there's a +risk in dealing with a lad who's to all intents and purposes a minor; +I've gone about as far with him as I consider judicious. Don't do +anything that may damage Gladwyne financially without giving me warning, +and in return I'll let Crestwick go. To some extent, I only got hold of +him as an offset to the trouble I've had with Gladwyne. Is it a bargain? +You can trust me." + +"We'll let it go at that," replied Lisle. "But I'll keep my eye on you." + +Batley's gesture implied that he would not object to this, and he turned +away, leaving the Canadian to walk back to Nasmyth's thoughtfully. Lisle +did not think he had done Gladwyne much harm by his tacit admissions, and +he had some degree of confidence in Batley's assurance. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A BAD FALL + + +Gladwyne spent the first few days that followed Lisle's visit in a state +of dread and indecision. He had allowed the Canadian to understand that +he would endeavor to prevent Crestwick's being further victimized, but he +had already failed to induce Batley to abandon the exploitation of the +lad and he had no cause for believing that a second attempt would be more +successful. Moreover, he shrank from making it; the man had shown him +clearly that he would brook no interference. + +On the other hand, he was equally afraid of Lisle. This cool, determined +Canadian was not to be trifled with, and he knew or suspected enough +about the tragedy in British Columbia to make him dangerous. It was +certain that a revelation of Batley's speculation would go a very long +way toward establishing the truth of any damaging story Lisle thought fit +to tell. Supposing the two by any chance combined their knowledge--that +he had raised money in anticipation of his cousin's death, and afterward +left him to perish--nothing that he could say would count against the +inference. George had been a healthy man, not much older than Clarence, +when the money was borrowed, and his decease within a limited time had +appeared improbable. Nobody would believe the actual truth that Batley +with characteristic boldness had, in return for what he thought a +sufficient consideration in the shape of an exorbitant interest, taken a +serious risk. The thing would look like a conspiracy between the heir +presumptive and the speculator who lent the money; and in this, for a +bold man, there might have been a loophole for escape, but Gladwyne knew +that he had not the nerve to use the fact against his ally. + +Nevertheless, Gladwyne was really guiltless in one respect--he had not +desired his cousin's death; he would have gone back to the rescue had he +not dreaded that he would share George's fate. Lack of courage had been +his bane, and it was so now, for instead of speaking to Batley he +temporized. The man had made no further attempt upon Crestwick, and +Gladwyne decided that until he did so there was no need for him to +interfere. Still, as the next few weeks passed, he was conscious of a +growing dread of the Canadian which, as sometimes happens, became tinged +with hatred. Lisle was the more serious menace, and it was ominous that +he now and then exchanged a word or two with Batley. If the two formed an +offensive alliance, he would be helpless at their hands. + +In the meanwhile, Nasmyth has been training his horse for the approaching +meeting and after trying him against one belonging to a neighbor and not +finding it fast enough he had reluctantly fallen back on a chestnut owned +by Gladwyne. The animal possessed a fine speed and some jumping powers. +Its chief fault was a vicious temper; but Gladwyne was seldom troubled by +lack of nerve in the saddle. It was in time of heavy moral strain that he +failed, and he was glad to arrange with Nasmyth for a sharp gallop. + +Somewhat to the latter's regret, news of his intentions had spread, and +on the morning of the trial a number of people, including the Marples and +Crestwicks and Millicent, had gathered about the course. It was a dark +day, with a moist air and a low, gray sky. The grass was wet, a strip of +plowing which could not be avoided was soft and heavy, and the ground in +front of several of the jumps was in a far from satisfactory state. +Nasmyth, who kept a very small establishment and had hitherto generally +ridden the horse, walked round part of the course with Lisle. + +"It will be heavy going and there's a nasty greasy patch at the biggest +fence," he said. "I'd have waited for a better day only that it's often +wet where they have the meeting, and I want to see what he can do over +ground like this. You'll have to watch him at the jumps." + +"He'd do better with you in the saddle," Lisle suggested. + +"I'd rather put you up. I'm not going to ride at the meeting; I'm over +the weight they ought to give him and I want to get him used to a +stranger's hands. As it's an outside event of no importance, I haven't +fixed on my man yet." + +They walked back toward the starting-point, where Gladwyne was waiting, +with Batley and Crestwick in attendance. As they approached it, Millicent +joined them. + +"Are you going to ride to-day?" she asked Lisle. + +"Nasmyth insists," was the answer. "I'm afraid I won't do him much +credit." + +Gladwyne looked up with a slight frown. + +"You won't mind?" Nasmyth asked him. "I'd penalize the horse by nearly a +stone." + +"No," replied Gladwyne, shortly; "there's no reason why I should object." + +This was true, but he had an unreasoning aversion to facing this +opponent. Of late, the Canadian had caused him trouble at almost every +turn, and it looked as if he could not even indulge in a morning's +amusement without being plagued with him. He was conscious of a most +uncharitable wish that Lisle would come to grief at one of the fences and +break his neck. In many ways, this would be a vast relief. + +"Would anybody like to make it a sporting match?" Crestwick asked. "The +bay's my fancy; I'm ready to back it." + +Bella tried to catch his eye, but he disregarded this. She, however, saw +Lisle glance at Batley and noticed the latter's smile. + +"It isn't worth while betting on trials," Batley declared. "Better wait +until the meeting." + +The girl was less astonished than gratified. Gladwyne was surprised and +disconcerted. He had said nothing to Batley about Crestwick, but he had +noticed Lisle's warning glance, and the other's prompt acquiescence +appeared significant. It looked as if the two had joined hands, and that +was what he most dreaded. An almost overpowering rage against the +Canadian possessed him. When he attempted to mount, the chestnut gave him +trouble by backing and plunging; but the bay was quiet and Nasmyth stood +for a few moments by Lisle's stirrup. + +"Save him a bit for the second round," he advised. "Another thing, look +out when you come to the big-brushed hurdles, particularly the second +time." + +Batley volunteered as starter, and when he got them off satisfactorily +the spectators scattered, one or two to watch the pace across the plowed +land, the others moving toward the stiffest jumps--the course was roughly +circular. + +The trial was a new experience to Lisle, and he felt the exhilaration of +it as, remembering his instructions, he strove to hold his mount. +Gladwyne's horse was a length ahead of him, the wind lashed his face, and +the thrill of the race grew keener when he swept over the first fence, +hard upon the flying chestnut's heels. He dropped another length behind +as they crossed the next field and labored over the sticky plowing; then +there was a low fence and ditch, a narrow meadow, and then the hurdles +Nasmyth had mentioned, filling a gap in a tall thorn hedge. They were +wattled with branches which projected a foot or so above them. + +It did not look an easy jump and the grass was slippery and soft, but the +chestnut accomplished it cleverly and the bay flew at the hurdles with +every sign of confidence. Then, though Lisle felt the hoofs slide as the +beast took off, they were over and flying faster than ever across a long, +wet field. As they approached the end of the first round, the chestnut +began to drop back; Lisle could let the bay go and he determined to bring +him home the winner. It was his first fast ride in England; and he had, +indeed, seldom urged a horse to its utmost pace--the British Columbian +trails, for the most part, led steeply up or down rugged hillsides, where +speed was out of the question. It was very different on these level +English meadows, though the ground was softer than usual and the fences +were troublesome. He rode with a zest and ardor he had hardly expected to +feel. + +He led at the next fence and some of the onlookers shouted encouragement +when, drawing a little farther ahead, he once more reached the sticky +plowed land. Here the bay slowed a little, toiling across the clods, but +a glance over his shoulder showed his opponent still at least two lengths +behind. Gladwyne, however, now roused himself to ride in earnest. +Hitherto he had taken no great interest in the proceedings, but he had +just seen Bella wave her hand to Lisle and then Millicent's applauding +smile. He resented the fact that both should be pleased to see him beaten +by this intrusive stranger. It reawakened his rancor, and the strain of +the last week or two had shaken him rather badly. He was nervous, his +self-control was weak; but he meant to pass his rival. + +He was still behind at the next fence, but pressing his horse savagely he +crept up a little as they approached the one really difficult jump; and +as they sped across the narrow meadow Lisle fancied that the bay was +making its last effort. Crestwick was standing near the hurdles, with +Nasmyth moving rapidly toward them not far away and Bella running across +a neighboring field. Crestwick watched Gladwyne intently. The man's face +was strangely eager, considering that all he had been asked to do was to +test the bay's speed, and there was a hardness in his expression that +fixed Crestwick's attention; he wondered the cause of it. + +Bella was close to him, when Lisle, riding hard, rushed at the hurdles, +and Jim found it hard to repress a shout as the bay's hoofs slipped and +slid on the treacherous turf. The horse rose, however; there was a heavy +crash; wattled branches and the top bar of the hurdle smashed. Lisle +lurched in his saddle; and then the bay came down in a heap, with the man +beneath him. + +It was impossible to doubt that Gladwyne had seen the accident, but the +chestnut rushed straight at the shattered hurdle, teeth bare, nostrils +dilated, head stretched forward, and Crestwick thrilled with horror. The +fallen horse was struggling, rolling upon its rider, just beyond the +fence; but Gladwyne did nothing, except sit ready for the leap. It was +incomprehensible; so was the look in the man's face, which was grimly +set, as the big chestnut rose in a graceful bound. + +There was a sickening thud on the other side, a flounder of slipping +hoofs, and the staccato pounding of the gallop broke out again. The +chestnut had come down upon the fallen horse or helpless man, and was +going on, uncontrollable. Crestwick rushed madly at the hedge, and +scrambling through, badly scratched and bareheaded, found Nasmyth trying +to drag Lisle clear of the bay. The Canadian's eyes were half open, but +there was no expression in them; one arm and shoulder looked distorted, +and his face was gray. Half-way across the field Gladwyne was struggling +savagely with the plunging chestnut. + +"Get hold!" ordered Nasmyth hoarsely. "Some bones broken, by the look of +him; but he'll have his brains knocked out in another moment." + +Crestwick was cruelly kicked as the bay rolled in agony, striking with +its hoofs; but he stuck to his task, and with some difficulty they +dragged Lisle out of danger. When they had accomplished it, Marple came +running up with two or three others and Nasmyth called to him. + +"Came in the car, didn't you? Go off for Irvine as hard as you can drive. +Drop somebody at my place to run back with a gun." + +Marple swung round and set off across the field, and Crestwick understood +why the gun was wanted when he glanced at the fallen horse. Nasmyth +informed him that nothing could be done until the doctor came, and he +turned away toward where his sister was waiting. His forehead and hands +were torn and he was conscious of a bad ache in his back where a hoof had +struck, but these things scarcely troubled him. He was overwhelmed, +horror-stricken; and the shock of seeing Lisle crushed and senseless was +not the only cause of it. Bella, gasping after her run, with hair shaken +loose about her face, seemed to be suffering from the same sensation that +unnerved him. + +"Is he dead?" she asked falteringly. + +"No. Badly hurt, I think." + +"Ah!" she exclaimed with intense relief. "I was most horribly afraid." +She paused before she resumed: "You were close by the hurdles." + +Jim knew she meant that he must have seen what happened, but, shaking as +he was, he looked hard at her, wondering in a half-dazed fashion what +reply he should make. He thought her suspicions were aroused. + +"You were some way back; you couldn't have seen anything plainly," he +ventured. + +"I was very near--looking back toward them--when they crossed the field +before the jump. You've gone all to pieces. What did you see?" + +"I can't talk about it now," Jim broke out. "He's coming back." + +Gladwyne had dismounted and was with some difficulty leading the chestnut +toward the hedge. His face was white; he moved with a strong suggestion +of reluctance; and when he reached the spot where Lisle lay he seemed to +have trouble in speaking. + +"Is it dangerous?" he asked. + +"I can't tell," Nasmyth answered sternly. "Shoulder's smashed; don't know +if that's the worst. Why didn't you pull up the brute or send him at the +hedge to the right?" + +"He's hard in the mouth--you know his temper. You couldn't have turned +him." + +"I'd have tried, if I'd had to bring him down and break his neck!" + +Nasmyth checked himself, for this was not the time for recriminations, +and Millicent, who had been running hard, brushed past them. She did not +stop until she bent over Lisle. Then she turned to Nasmyth with fear in +her strained expression. + +"I think he'll get over it," Nasmyth told her. "I won't take the +responsibility of having him moved until the doctor arrives." + +"Quite right," agreed Batley, walking up and casting a swift and +searching glance at Gladwyne. + +"But you can't let him lie on the wet grass!" Millicent expostulated. + +"I'm afraid we must; it's safest," said Batley. "The shock's not so much +to be dreaded with a man of his kind." + +He and Nasmyth took charge of the situation, sternly refusing to listen +to all well-meant suggestions, until at last the doctor and Marple came +hurrying across the field. The former hastily examined the injured man +and then looked up at Nasmyth. + +"Upper arm gone, close to the shoulder joint," he announced. "Collar-bone +too. I'll give him some brandy. Shout to those fellows with the +stretcher." + +He was busy for some time, and in the meanwhile Batley picked up the +flask he had laid down and handed it to Gladwyne. + +"Take a good drink and pull yourself together," he said quietly. + +At length Lisle was gently lifted on to the stretcher, and as they +carried him away the report of a gun ran out. The onlookers dispersed and +Gladwyne was walking home alone when Millicent overtook him. She was +puzzled by his limp appearance and the expression of his haggard face. It +was only natural that he should keenly feel his responsibility for the +accident, but this did not quite seem to account for the man's condition. +He looked absolutely unnerved, like one who had barely escaped from some +appalling catastrophe. + +"You shouldn't take it quite so much to heart," she comforted him. "I +don't think Irvine felt any great uneasiness; and nobody could blame +you." + +"You're the only one who has said so," he answered moodily. + +"They couldn't; you stole away. Of course, it's a great pity--I'm +distressed--but you must try to be sensible. These accidents happen." + +He walked on a while in silence, and then with an effort looked around at +her. + +"Millicent," he said, "you're wonderfully generous--the sight of anybody +in trouble stirs you--but I don't feel able to bear your sympathy." + +"Then I'll have to offer it to Lisle," she smiled. "But I'll walk with +you to the lodge; and then you had better go in and keep quiet until you +get back your nerve." + +When she left Gladwyne she went on to Nasmyth's, where she waited until +the doctor on leaving told her that he was perfectly satisfied with the +prospect for the Canadian's recovery. It would, he said, be merely a +question of lying still for a considerable time. Millicent was conscious +of a relief which puzzled her by its intensity as she heard the news, but +she asked Nasmyth to send somebody to inform Gladwyne. + +"I think he's desperately anxious and feeling the thing very badly," she +concluded. + +"Then he could have come over to inquire, as you have done," Nasmyth +answered. "In my opinion, he deserves to be uncomfortable." + +"Why are you so hard on him?" + +The man's face grew grim. + +"I've had to help Irvine with Lisle, for one thing. We were satisfied +that his injuries were not caused by the bay rolling on him; he seems to +have escaped from that with a few bad bruises. The worst of the accident +might have been avoided if Clarence had had nerve enough." + +"But you couldn't blame him very greatly for losing his head--he had no +warning, scarcely a moment to think. It was so sudden." + +"The result's the same," retorted Nasmyth. "Lisle has to pay. But to +please you I'll send Clarence word that Irvine's not anxious about him." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A PRUDENT DECISION + + +It had been dark some time and the night was raw, but Jim Crestwick +strolled up and down the drive to Marple's house, thinking unusually +hard. In the first place, part at least of the folly of his conduct +during the last year or two had been plainly brought home to him, and the +realization was bitter. It was galling to discover that while he had +regarded himself as a man of the world he had been systematically +victimized by the men who had encouraged him in the delusion. He felt +very sore as he remembered how much he owed Batley, but this troubled him +less than the downright abhorrence of Gladwyne which had suddenly +possessed him. He had looked up to the latter as a model and had tried to +copy his manners; and it was chiefly because Batley was a friend of +Gladwyne's that he had paid toll to him. For he had felt that whatever +the man he admired was willing to countenance must be the correct thing. +Now he saw Gladwyne as he really was--a betrayer of those who trusted +him, a counterfeit of an honorable type, one who had by the merest chance +escaped from crime. + +In the second place, he was concerned about Bella. She had obviously been +attracted by Gladwyne, and it was his duty to warn her. Whether the +warning was altogether necessary he could not tell--he had watched her +face that morning--and Bella sometimes resented advice. When she did so, +she had an exasperating trick of putting him in the wrong; but he meant +to speak to her as plainly as appeared desirable. He had another duty--to +Lisle; but he was inclined to think that on the whole he had better not +saddle himself with it. His self-confidence had been rudely shaken and he +recognized the possibility of his making things worse. Moreover, he had +cultivated the pride of caste, and having with some difficulty obtained +an entry to the circle in which Gladwyne moved, he felt it incumbent on +him to guard the honor of all who belonged to it. + +Presently Bella came out, as he had anticipated, and joined him. + +"You have been very quiet since this morning," she began. "I saw that you +meant to slip away as soon as you could." + +"Yes," he admitted; "I've had something to think about--I've been a fool, +Bella; the commonest, most easily gulled kind of imbecile!" + +He had expected her to remind him that she had more than once tried to +convince him of this, but she failed to do so. Instead, she answered with +a touch of the candor that sometimes characterized her. + +"You're not the only one." + +This was satisfactory, for it suggested that she had been undeceived +about Gladwyne; but she had not finished. + +"What did you see this morning?" she asked, and he felt that she was +speaking with keen anxiety. + +"I'll tell you, but it must never go any farther. I hate to think of it! +But first of all, what makes you ask?" + +She had already mentioned that she had been near when Gladwyne made his +attempt to come up with Lisle, but she had not explained that she had +seen hatred stamped in hideous plainness on his face. + +"Never mind," she answered sharply. "Go on!" + +"Well," said Jim, "I was standing right against the hedge, the only +person on that side, and I don't think Gladwyne saw me. Lisle's bay +fouled the top bar of the hurdle, but it held long enough to bring him +down in a heap. Gladwyne was then a length or two behind. He rode +straight at the broken hurdle, hands still--I can't get his look out of +my mind!" + +"But perhaps he couldn't pull up," Bella defended him desperately, as if +she would not believe the truth she dreaded. + +"There were other ways open. He could have gone at the hedge a yard or +two on one side; he could have spoiled the chestnut's take-off and made +him jump short. It might have brought him down--the hurdle was firm in +the ground--but that would have been better than riding over a fallen +man!" + +"Are you sure he did nothing?" + +"I wish I were not! The thing's horrible! Gladwyne must have seen that +he'd come down on Lisle or the struggling bay--he could have prevented +it--he didn't try." + +Bella shivered. Her brother was right: it was almost beyond contemplation. +But that was only half of the matter. + +"He must have had a reason," she argued harshly. + +"Yes; one doesn't ride over a man in cold-blood for nothing. I think he +had some cause for being afraid of Lisle; several things I remember now +point to it. His chance came suddenly--nobody could have arranged it--he +only remembered that Lisle with his brains crushed out could do him no +harm." + +The girl recognized that Jim had guessed correctly. When she had gone to +Lisle for help, he had allowed her to understand that he could compel +Gladwyne's compliance with his request, which was significant. Still, +convinced as she was, she would not openly acquiesce in her brother's +theory. + +"Jim," she protested, "if he'd ridden at the hedge or made the chestnut +jump short, he might have broken his own neck. He must have realized +it--it would make him hesitate." + +The lad laughed scornfully. + +"It's quite possible, but is that any excuse? Would Nasmyth or Lisle or +Batley have shirked a risk that would mean the saving of the other +fellow? Supposing your idea's right--though it isn't--it only shows the +man as a disgusting coward." + +There was no gainsaying this; and Bella was crushed and humiliated. She +had already seen Gladwyne's weakness, and after the choice she had been +compelled to make between him and her brother, she had tried to drive all +thought of him out of her mind. It had been difficult; he was fascinating +in many ways and she had set her heart upon his capture. Now she had done +with him; after the morning's revelation she shrank from him with +positive horror. Jim seemed to guess this. + +"I'm sorry, Bella," he said gently. "But the fellow's impossible." + +She laid her hand upon his arm. + +"Jim," she replied, "we have both been mad, and I suppose we must pay for +it. I'll help you to get clear of Batley when the time comes, but you +must never have a deal of any kind with him again." + +"That's promised; I've had my lesson. I think I'll ask Lisle to take me +with him when he goes back to Canada. He and Nasmyth are the only men +worth speaking of I've met for a long while. When Lisle first came here I +tried to patronize him." + +Bella laughed, rather feebly, but she wanted to relieve the tension. + +"It was like you. But we'll go in. This is our secret, Jim. Nobody would +believe you if you let fall a hint as to what really happened, and there +are many reasons why you shouldn't. I think you said nobody else could +have suspected?" + +"Nasmyth hadn't come up when the chestnut reached the hurdles; he was the +nearest. Lisle was down with the horse upon him. He couldn't have seen +anything." + +"Well," she decided, "perhaps that's fortunate. It isn't likely that +Gladwyne will get such an opportunity again, and at the worst he acted on +the spur of the moment." + +The lad nodded. He had felt that silence would entail some responsibility, +but Bella accepted it without uneasiness. She seldom showed any hesitation +when she had decided on a course. + +In the meanwhile, Gladwyne had spent a miserable day, alternating between +horror of himself and doubts about the future. Jim Crestwick's +description of the incident was correct--Gladwyne had ridden straight at +the broken hurdle, knowing what the consequences might be and +disregarding them. The next moment, however, the reaction had begun and +he was thankful that he had not committed a hideous crime. Indeed, the +knowledge that he had come so near to killing his opponent had left him +badly shaken. He wondered at his insensate action until he recollected +how he had once stood beside an opened cache in Canada, and then, +ignoring his manifest duty, had hurried on through the frozen wilderness. +On that occasion he had been accountable for his cousin's death, and now +Lisle had very narrowly escaped. + +Yet he could with justice acquit himself of any premeditated intention in +either case; fate had thrust him into a situation he was not strong +enough to grapple with. Dreading Lisle, as he did, his chief thought had +been for his own safety when he saw the bay blunder at the leap. To save +the Canadian he must take a serious personal risk, which was foreign to +his nature, and though a recognition of the fact that the death of the +fallen man would be a great relief to him had been clearly in his mind, +it was impossible to say how far it had actuated him. + +He had grown more collected when he sat in his library as dusk was +closing in, considering other aspects of the affair. He had not seen +Crestwick, and Lisle, he thought, would remember nothing except his fall. +After trying to recall the positions of the others, he felt comforted; +nobody could charge him with anything worse than reckless riding or a +failure of nerve at a critical moment. He would confess to the latter--it +was to some extent the truth--and show concern about Lisle's injury. +Awkward as it was, the incident could be smothered over; it was consoling +to remember that the people he lived among were addicted to treating +anything of an unpleasant nature as lightly as possible. There was a good +deal to be said for the sensible English custom of ignoring what it would +be disconcerting to realize. + +After a while his mother came in and gently touched him. + +"My dear," she urged, "you mustn't brood over it. Lisle's condition's +satisfactory. As it's some hours since we got Nasmyth's message, I sent a +man over and he has just come back." + +"I'm glad you sent," Gladwyne responded. "It was thoughtful. I forgot; +but I've been badly troubled." + +She sat down near him, with her hand laid caressingly on his arm. + +"It's natural; I understand and feel for you. I wouldn't have liked you +to be indifferent; but you mustn't make too much of it. The man is +strong, he will soon be about again, and you couldn't have saved him. +Everybody I've seen so far has given me that impression. Of course, I +didn't need their assurances, but I was glad to see they exonerated and +sympathized with you." + +Her confidence hurt him; he had still a sense of shame, and he found no +great comfort in what she told him. His mother was generally loved, and +he wondered how far his neighbors had been influenced by a desire to save +her pain. + +"It looks as if Lisle deserves their commiseration more than I do," he +answered with a smile which cost him an effort. + +"It is being shown. I noticed nearly everybody in the neighborhood +motoring or driving toward the house during the afternoon. Millicent's +with Nasmyth now, helping to arrange things. It's wonderful what a +favorite Lisle has become in so short a time; but I own that I find +something very likable about him." + +Gladwyne moved impatiently. His hatred of the man was as strong as ever, +and his mother's attempts at consolation irritated him. Lisle was too +popular; first Bella and now Millicent had taken him in hand. + +"Millicent," Mrs. Gladwyne went on, "is an exceptional woman in every +desirable respect. I think you have long been as convinced of that as I +am." + +"I'm afraid she can't have an equally favorable opinion of me," he said +with a short laugh. + +"One does not look for perfection in a man," his mother informed him +seriously. "He is criticized much less severely than a woman. It seems to +be the universal rule, though I have sometimes thought it wasn't +absolutely just and that it had its drawbacks. It's one of the things the +women who go out and speak are declaiming against and something one of +them lately said sticks in my mind." She sighed as she added: "The times +are changing; there was no need to consider such questions in your +father's case. He was the soul of honor--you were very young when death +parted us." + +She did not always express herself clearly, but Gladwyne saw that she did +not place him in the same category as his father and he recognized her +half-formulated thought that it would have been better had he grown up +under the latter's firmer guidance. + +"Wonders never cease, mother," he responded with an attempt at lightness. +"It's difficult to imagine your being influenced by the latest +propaganda. I thought you shuddered at it." + +"Well," she said, "I was forgetting what I meant to talk about, drifting +away from the subject; I'm afraid it's a habit of mine. What I have long +felt is that it would be so desirable if you married suitably." + +"The trouble is to define the suitability. It's a point upon which +everybody has a different opinion." + +"I would choose a girl of good family and education for you, one with a +well-balanced will, who could see what was right and cling to it. Still, +she must be wise and gentle; a tactful, considerate guide; and though +means are not of first importance, they are not to be despised." + +Gladwyne leaned back in his chair with a laugh that had in it a tinge of +irritation. + +"Are such girls numerous? But why do you insist on a will and the power +of guiding? It looks as if you thought I needed it. Sometimes you're the +reverse of flattering." + +His mother looked troubled; she would have wounded no living creature +unnecessarily. + +"My dear, it's not always easy to express what one feels, and I dare say +I'm injudicious in choosing my words. But your welfare is very near to my +heart." + +"I know that," he answered gently. "But you were not describing an +imaginary paragon. Hadn't you Millicent in your mind?" + +"I should be very happy if I could welcome her as my daughter. I should +feel that you were safe then." + +There was a thrill of regret in her voice that touched him. It hinted +that she blamed herself for omissions and lack of wisdom in his +upbringing. Besides, her confidence in any one who had won her respect, +as Millicent had done, was bestowed so generously. + +"I'm afraid I've often given you trouble, and I do you little credit +now," he said. "But, as to the other matter, one can't be sure that +Millicent would welcome the idea. Of late I've had a suspicion that she +hasn't a very high opinion of me." + +"You could hardly expect to gain it by devoting yourself to Miss +Crestwick." + +The man smiled rather grimly. + +"If it's any consolation to you, I'm inclined to think that Miss +Crestwick has let me drop. The truth's not very flattering, but I can't +hide it." + +Mrs. Gladwyne's relief was obvious, but she had more to say and she +ventured upon it with some courage. + +"If you would only get rid of Batley too!" + +"I can hardly do that just now; he's useful in several ways. Still, of +course, if I married--" + +He broke off abruptly, for his mother had occasional flashes of +discernment. + +"Millicent has means," she said. + +He started at this, wondering how much she had guessed, but he veiled his +embarrassment with a smile. + +"Well," he acknowledged, "means, as you most wisely remarked, are not to +be despised, and mine are unfortunately small." + +She saw that she had said enough and she left him sitting in the +darkening room thinking rather hard. Bella had thrown him over when he +had refused to help her brother, and there were many ways in which +Millicent appealed to him. Besides, she could free him of his debt to +Batley, which was a thing greatly to be desired. She had shown that she +did not blame him severely for the accident at the hurdles, but he +realized that in trying to comfort him she had been prompted by pity for +his dejected mood, and it was clear that the part he had played was +scarcely likely to raise him in her esteem. This was unfortunate, but he +would not dwell on it; there were other points to consider and anything +that served to divert his thoughts from the unfortunate affair was a vast +relief. + +When at last he rose he had partly recovered his usual equanimity and had +decided that he would watch for some sign of Millicent's feelings toward +him. He was aware that they had somewhat changed, but this was to a large +extent his fault, and with caution and patience he thought it might be +possible to reinstate himself in her favor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +GLADWYNE GAINS A POINT + + +Some weeks had passed since the accident and Lisle was lying one +afternoon on a couch near a window of Nasmyth's sitting-room. Two or +three Canadian newspapers lay on the floor and he held a few letters in +one hand. The prospect outside was cheerless--a stretch of leaden-colored +moor running back into a lowering sky, with a sweep of fir wood that had +lost all distinctive coloring in the foreground. He was gazing at it +moodily when Millicent came in. His face brightened at the sight of her, +and he raised himself awkwardly with his uninjured arm, but she shook her +head at him in reproof. + +"You had orders to keep as quiet as possible for some time yet. Lie down +again!" + +"Keeping quiet is fast breaking me up," he protested. "I'm quite able to +move about." + +"All the same, you're not to try." + +He looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. + +"Then I suppose I'll have to give in. You're a determined person. People +do what you ask them without resenting it. You have an instance here, +though in a general way it's a very undignified thing to be ordered +about." + +He resumed his former position and she seated herself. + +"I don't see why you should drag my character in," she objected with a +smile. "Other people who occasionally obey me don't say such things." + +"They're English; that accounts for a good deal. I'm inclined to think my +power of expressing my feelings on any point is a gift, though it's one +that's not uncommon in the West." + +"Doesn't it presuppose an assurance that any one you address must be +interested in your views?" + +"I deserve that," he laughed; "but you're not quite right. We say, in +effect, 'These are my sentiments, but I won't be down-hearted if you +haven't the sense to agree with them.' The last, however, doesn't apply +to you." + +"Thank you for the explanation," she rejoined. "But why do you insist on +a national difference? You're really English, aren't you, in Canada?" + +"No," he answered; "you and the others who talk in that strain are +mistaken. We're a brand new nation still fusing and fuming in the +melting-pot. The elements are inharmonious in some respects--French from +the Laurentian littoral, Ontario Scots, Americans, Scandinavians, +Teutons, Magyars, Slavs. The English element's barely strong enough to +temper the mixture; the land's too wide and the people too varied for +British traditions to bind. When the cooling amalgam's run out it will be +into a fresh mold." + +"One made in Pennsylvania, or wherever the American foundries are?" + +"They run the one you have in mind at Washington. You understand things a +good deal better than many people I've talked to here; but you're not +right yet. If Canadians deliberately chose the American mold because it +was American, a number of us would kick; but the cause is a bigger one +than that. From Texas to Athabasca, from Florida to Labrador, pretty much +the same elemental forces are fanning the melting fires. We have the same +human raw material; we've much the same problems to tackle; the +conditions are, or soon will be, pretty similar. It's only natural that +the result should be more or less identical. I've said nothing yet about +our commercial and social relations with our neighbors." + +"But doesn't England count?" + +"Morally, yes. It's your part to keep our respect and show us a clean +lead." + +"After all," she rejoined, "you, in particular, are essentially English +by connection with the part of the country you're now staying in." + +He smiled curiously. + +"So you or Nasmyth have been tracing up the family!" + +"No," she replied with a little sharpness. "Why should I have done so? Of +course, we knew the name; and you have relations living at no great +distance. I understand Nasmyth got a hint that they would be glad to +receive you." + +"Let it go at that," he answered. "My father was cast out because he +dared to think for himself and my mother was Canadian born. I'm a unit in +the new nation; one of the rank and file." + +She considered this for a moment or two. It was hardly an English point +of view, but--for his family had long been one of station--there was a +hint of pride that struck her as rather fine about this renunciation. It +was a risky thing to insist on being taken at one's intrinsic value, +stripped of all accidental associations that might enhance it, but she +thought he need not shrink from the hazard. Now and then he spoke with +slightly injudicious candor, and sometimes too vehemently, but in +essential matters he displayed an admirable delicacy of feeling and she +recognized in him a sterling sense of honor. + +"I've broken loose again and you're feeling shocked," he said humorously. +"It's your own fault; you have a way of making one talk. There's no use +in discoursing to people who don't understand. However--and it's much +more important--how's the book getting on?" + +"More important than my wounded susceptibilities?" Millicent laughed. +"But we won't mind them. I'm pleased to say I've heard from the +publishers that it's in strong request. Indeed, they add, rather +superfluously, that the demand is somewhat remarkable, considering the +nature of the work." + +Lisle laughed at this. + +"Any more reviews?" + +She handed him several and he noticed the guarded, unenthusiastic tone of +the first two. + +"These are the people who prefer a thing like a catalogue. This fellow +says the first portion of the book shows most care in particulars and +classification--it's what one would expect from him. That was your +brother's work, I think. He was not an imaginative person." + +"No," replied Millicent. "He was eminently practical and methodical." + +"There's a great deal to be said in favor of that kind of man. You can +trust him when it's a case of grappling with practical difficulties. But +I feel quite angry with the next reviewer. 'The illustrations are rather +impressionist drawings than a useful guide to identification.' The fellow +would no doubt rather have those stiff, colored plates which are about as +like the real, breathing creature as a stuffed specimen in a museum." + +Millicent was pleased with his indignation, but his disgusted expression +changed as he read the next cutting. + +"Now," he exclaimed, "we're arriving at the sound sense of ordinary +people, lovers of nature who're not naturalists. This man's enthusiastic; +the next review's even better!" He took up the others and there was keen +satisfaction in his eyes when he laid them down. "Great!" he ejaculated. +"I expected it. You've made your mark!" + +The girl thrilled with pleasure; his delight at her success was so +genuine. + +"Well," she told him, "the publishers suggest that I undertake another +and more ambitious work. I've often thought that I should like to do so. +The lonely country between the Rockies and the Pacific has a peculiar +interest to me and I've long had a desire to follow my brother's trail. I +don't think it's a morbid wish--somehow I feel impelled to go." + +"It's a beautiful, wild land, and the creatures that inhabit it are among +the finest in the world. You promised to let me be your guide, and you +should take Nasmyth, too; he's a man to be depended on. You could start +in the early summer next year." + +She smiled at his eagerness; but he suddenly grew thoughtful. + +"It's curious how events seem to have started beside those lonely +river-reaches among the rocks," he remarked. "It was there that I got to +know Nasmyth, and through him I met you. It was there that I learned +something about your brother and Clarence Gladwyne. The drama began in +those wilds and I've a feeling that it will end among them." + +"The drama?" she queried, and he was conscious that he had made a slip. + +"Well," he answered, "before we crossed the big divide I wasn't aware of +your existence, and I'd only a hazy idea that I might come to England +some day. Now, if I may say it, I've joined your group of friends and +entered into their lives. One feels it can't have sprung from nothing; it +isn't blind chance." + +She mused for a few moments. + +"It's strange," she asserted, "but I've had something of the same +feeling. You seem to have become a part of things, a connecting link +between us all--Mrs. Gladwyne, Clarence, Nasmyth, and even young +Crestwick. One could almost fancy that some mysterious agency were +working upon us through you." + +He did not wish her to pursue this train of thought too far. + +"I've promised to take Jim Crestwick back with me," he said. "I'm going +as soon as I'm fit to get about." + +"Going back, in a few weeks?" + +"Yes. In many ways, I'm sorry; but I've had some letters that show it's +needful. Business calls." + +She made no reply for some moments. There was no doubt that she would +miss him badly, and she recalled the strange and tense anxiety of which +she had been conscious when he had fallen at the hurdles. + +"We have come to look upon you as one of us," she told him simply. +"Somehow we never contemplated your going away, and now it seems an +almost unnatural thing." + +"It would be, if I broke off the connection with my English friends, but +I think that can't be done. We're to see more of each other; I'm to be +your guide when you come out next year." + +"It's very likely that I shall come." + +She left him shortly after this and walked home in a thoughtful mood, +regretting his approaching departure and pondering over what he had said. +With reflection it became clearer that she had entertained the same idea +as his. He and she and the others he mentioned were not acting and +reacting upon one another casually; it was all a part of a purpose, +leading up to something that still lay unrevealed on the knees of +destiny. Perhaps he had been right in speaking of a drama; it suggested a +sequence of prearranged events, springing from George's death. Reaching +home, she endeavored to banish these thoughts, which were vaguely +troublesome, but Miss Hume found her preoccupied and absent-minded during +the evening. + +The following day she went over to see Mrs. Gladwyne and was asked to +wait until her return. Shortly afterward, Clarence entered the room where +she was sitting, and she alluded to her visit to Lisle. + +"He is going back as soon as he can stand the journey," she said. + +Gladwyne made an abrupt movement and she noticed with surprise and some +indignation the relief in his expression. Though the men had not been on +very cordial terms, it puzzled her. + +"You don't attempt to conceal your satisfaction," she commented. "Isn't +it a little ungenerous?" + +His effort to recover his composure was obvious, but he answered her +quietly. + +"I'm afraid it is. After the accident--I think I was partly blamed for +that--he behaved very well; told everybody about the slippery ground and +said what he could to exonerate me." + +"I didn't mean to refer to that matter," explained Millicent. She knew +that it was a painful one to him. + +"Still," he resumed, "even if it's ungrateful, I am rather glad he's +going." + +"'Rather glad' hardly seems to describe it; you looked overjoyed." + +"Don't be severe, Millicent. Let me explain. Since Lisle came over, +nothing has been quite the same. He got hold of you and Nasmyth and the +others, and in a way alienated you from me. I don't mean he did it with +deliberate intention, but he took up your time and monopolized your +interest. I've seen much less of both of you." + +"And, of late, of the Crestwicks." + +"Oh," he returned in his most casual manner, "I shouldn't have had much +more of their company in any case. Jim's going to Canada and Bella to +Sussex. I understand from Marple that it will be some time before she +visits us again." + +Millicent was glad to hear it, but she made no comment. + +"It's unreasonable to blame Lisle," Gladwyne went on; "though he did make +some unpleasantness with Batley; but I have had so many annoyances and +troubles since he arrived. Everything has been going wrong and I can't +disassociate him from the unfortunate tendency." + +He sat where the light fell upon his face, and Millicent, studying it, +was stirred to compassion, which was always ready with her. He looked +harassed and nervous, as if he had borne a heavy strain, and she knew +that the accident had preyed upon his mind. That, she thought, was to his +credit. In addition to this, she had suspected that he was threatened +with financial difficulties. The man had a dangerous gift of rousing +women's interest and sympathy. + +"I'm sorry," she said with sincere feeling. "You should go away for a +time. You need a change." + +"I've thought of it; but I'm afraid I've been neglecting things lately +and there's a good deal that needs straightening up--farm buildings to be +looked to, the stream to dyke in the low ground, and that draining +scheme." + +It was not all acting; he had meant to give those matters some attention +when he found it convenient, and she was far from suspicious and was +quick to take the most favorable view of any one. That he recognized his +duties and intended to discharge them gratified her. + +"I think," she told him, "that if you undertake these things in earnest, +you'll be better for the occupation; and they certainly need looking +after." + +"I've been slack," he owned. "I seemed to lose interest and, as I said, +I've had difficulties to distract me." + +He had struck the right note again. Anything of the nature of a +confession or appeal for sympathy seldom failed to stir her. + +"In fact," he resumed, "I'm not clear of troubles now. If I do half that +I'm asked to do, it will nearly ruin me, and I don't know where to begin. +I haven't any great confidence in Grierson's advice; he doesn't seem to +grip things readily." + +"The trouble is that he has his favorites," she said bluntly. "I don't +think he suffers from any lack of understanding." + +"What do you mean?" + +It was unpleasant, but she had courage and the man was doing Clarence +harm. + +"Well, there are people who can get very much what they ask Grierson for, +in the shape of repairs and improvements, whether they need it or not." + +"At my expense, while the rest get less than they should have?" + +"A number of your tenants have got practically nothing for some years. +It's false economy; you'll have to lay out twice as much as would keep +them here satisfied, when they leave you in disgust." + +She supplied him with several instances of neglect, and a few clever +suggestions, and he looked at her in admiration which was only partly +assumed. + +"What an administrator you would have made!" he exclaimed. "The place +would thrive in your hands and everybody be content. It's obvious, quite +apart from his good qualities, why George was so popular." + +Millicent did not suspect him of an intent to flatter her, and she +recognized that there was truth in what he said. She knew everybody on +the estate and knew their most pressing needs, and she undoubtedly +possessed the power of management. She had a keen discernment and could +arrive at a quick and just decision. + +"Clarence," she said, "I shouldn't advise you to take the business +altogether out of Grierson's hands. He's honest, so far as you are +concerned, and one or two of the hardest things he did were by your +orders." + +"You mean the Milburn and Grainger affair?" He showed a little +embarrassment. "Well, perhaps I was hasty then, but they would have +exasperated a much more patient man. I sometimes feel that I can't please +these people, whatever I do." + +She smiled at this. + +"They're not effusive, but they're loyal once you win their confidence. +But, to go back to Grierson--let him collect payments and handle the +money, but don't ask his advice as to how you will lay it out. Look +around, inquire into things, and trust your own judgment." + +He turned to her beseechingly. + +"I can't trust it in these matters--it hasn't been cultivated. If I'm to +keep out of further trouble and do any good, you must help me." + +Millicent hesitated. It was not a little thing he asked. To guide him +aright would need thought and patient investigation. Still, there was, as +she had said, so much to be done--abuses to be abolished, houses to be +made habitable, burdens to be lifted from shoulders unable to carry them. +There was also land the yield from which could be increased by a very +moderate expenditure. She would enjoy the power to do these things which +the man's demand for help offered her, but she was more stirred by his +desire to redeem past neglect and set right his failures. + +"Well," she promised, "you shall have my candid advice whenever you need +it." + +He showed his gratitude, but he was conscious of a satisfaction that had +no connection with the welfare of his estate. He would have a legitimate +excuse for seeing her often; the work jointly undertaken would lead to a +closer confidence. He had always cherished a certain tenderness for her; +he must marry somebody with money before long; and though Millicent's +means were not so large as Bella's, they were not contemptible. He had +not the honesty to let these thoughts obtrude themselves, but they +nevertheless hovered at the back of his mind. It was more graceful to +reflect that Millicent possessed refinement, a degree of beauty, and many +most desirable qualities. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MRS. GLADWYNE'S TEMPTATION + + +Clarence had gone away with Batley when Lisle called on Mrs. Gladwyne. +She was leaving home for a visit on the following day and he wished to +say good-by, and, if an opportunity offered, to ask her opinion upon a +matter he had at heart. She was not a clever woman, but there were points +on which he thought her judgment could be trusted. He was told that she +would be occupied for a few minutes and was shown into her drawing-room. +He sat down to wait and, though he was familiar with the house, he looked +about him with an interest for which there was a reason. The room had +always impressed him by its size and loftiness, and it did so more than +ever that afternoon. + +The floor was of hardwood, polished to a glossy luster by the hands of +several generations, and the rugs scattered here and there emphasized its +extent. Most of the furniture was old, and the few articles apparently +bought in later times harmonized with it. The faded ceiling had been +painted with Cupid's trailing ribands, he judged by some artist of the +period shortly preceding the French Revolution, and two or three Arcadian +figures hinted at the same date. There were other things--a luster +chandelier, quaintly-wrought hearth-irons, a carved wood mantel--that +posited to bygone days. + +It all impressed him with a sense of the continuity of English traditions +and mode of life, as applied to such families as the Gladwynes. Cradled +in a degree of luxury which nevertheless differed from modern profusion +and ostentation, steeped in a slightly austere refinement, he could +understand their shrinking from sudden chance and clinging to the customs +of the past. They were all, so far as he had seen, characterized by the +possession of high qualities, with the exception of Clarence, whom he +regarded as a reversion to a baser type; but he thought that they would +suffer if uprooted and transplanted in a less sheltered and less +cultivated soil. Inherited instincts were difficult to subdue; he was +conscious of their influence. He came from a new land where he had often +toiled for a dollar or two daily, but a love and veneration for the +ancient English homes in which his people had lived was growing strong in +him. + +Mrs. Gladwyne did not appear, but he had a good deal to think of and was +content to wait. He had grown fond of the stately lady and it was, +indeed, largely for her sake that he had decided not to reveal for a +while what he knew about the tragedy in British Columbia. He could not +absolutely prove his version of the affair, and it would bring distress +upon the mother of the offender; he had already waited two years and, +though he felt that his dead comrade had a strong claim on him, he could +wait a little longer. Fate might place conclusive evidence in his hands +or remove some of his difficulties. Besides, he must go back as soon as +possible to the Canadian North, and in one respect he was very loath to +do this. + +At last he heard a footstep and his hostess came in. Her dress was not of +the latest fashion, but it somehow struck him as out of place; she ought +to have been attired in the mode of a century ago, with powder in her +hair. Nevertheless, fragile as she was, with her fine carriage and her +gracious smile, she made an attractive picture in the ancient room. + +"I've come on an unpleasant errand--to say good-by--and to thank you for +many favors shown to a stranger," he said. + +"I think you were never that from the beginning," she told him. "By and +by we learned the reason--you really belong to us." + +He made a gesture of humorous expostulation. + +"I like to believe that I belong here, but not because of the explanation +you give. It doesn't seem to be much to my credit that my forefathers +lived in this part of the country; I'd rather be taken on my actual +merits, if that isn't, too egotistical." + +"They did live here," she rejoined. "You can't get over that--it has its +influence." + +It was the point of view he had expected her to take. + +"We are very sorry you are going," she continued; "somehow we hardly +anticipated it. Have you ever thought of coming back for good?" + +She was unconsciously giving him the lead he desired, but he would not +seize it precipitately; he was half afraid. + +"No," he answered, smiling; "my work's out yonder. I couldn't sit idle. I +think Miss Gladwyne hit it when she told me that I was one of the +pioneers." + +His hostess showed more comprehension than he had looked for. + +"Yes; I set you down as one of the men who prefer heat and cold, want of +food, and toil, to the comforts they could have at home. I have met a +few, sons of my old friends, and heard of others. After all, we have a +good many of them in England." + +"Troublesome people, aren't they? What do you do with them?" + +"Let them go. How do we rule India and hold so much of Africa? How did we +open up Canada for you?" + +He nodded. + +"That's right. It doesn't matter that in respect to Canada the sons of +Highland peasants did their share; the Hudson Bay people and the +Laurentian Frenchmen showed us the way. We found out what kind of men +they were when we went in after them." + +There was silence for a few moments and he glanced at her with +admiration. The honorable pride of caste she had shown strongly appealed +to him. She stood for all that was fine in the old regime, and once more +he wondered how such a woman could have borne such a son. + +"I'm returning because business calls," he explained. "My means won't +keep me in idleness, and that fact has a bearing on the question as to +whether I'll ever come back again. It's a very momentous one to me." + +She waited, noticing with some surprise the sudden tenseness of his +expression, until he spoke again, hesitatingly. + +"You are the only person I can come to for advice. I'd be grateful for +your opinion." + +"I'll try to give it carefully," she promised. + +"Well," he said, "the life you people lead here has its attractions; they +must be strong to you. It would be hard to break with all its +associations, to face one that was new and different; I mean for a woman +to do so?" + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, seeing the drift of his remarks at last. "You had +better tell me whom you are thinking of." + +"Millicent." + +She started. This was a painful surprise, though she now wondered why she +had never suspected it. He had met the girl frequently before his +accident, and she had since gone over to Nasmyth's to talk with him now +and then; yet, for some not very obvious reason, nobody seemed to have +contemplated the possibility of his falling in love with her. Mrs. +Gladwyne had undoubtedly not done so, and she was filled with alarm. It +was most desirable that Millicent should marry Clarence. + +"How long have you had this in your mind?" she asked. + +"That is more than I can tell you," he answered thoughtfully. "I admired +her greatly the first time I saw her; I admired her more when we made +friends, but I don't think I went much farther for a while. In Tact, I +believe it was only when I knew I must go back soon that I realized how +strong a hold she had on me, and then I fought against yielding. The +difficulties to be got over looked so serious." + +"Has Millicent any suspicion of your regard for her?" It was an important +question and Mrs. Gladwyne waited in suspense for his reply. + +"Not the slightest, so far as I can tell. I tried to hide my feelings +until I could come to a decision as to what I ought to do." + +This was satisfactory, provided that his supposition was correct, and his +companion could imagine his exercising a good deal of self-repression. + +"What is your fear?" she asked. + +"Well, I'm rough and unpolished compared with Nasmyth and the rest, but +with her large mind she might overlook that. I couldn't live here as +Nasmyth and Clarence do; I'm not rich enough. My wife, if I marry, must +come out West with me, and I might have to be away from her for months +now and then. I don't know that I could even establish myself in +Victoria, where she would find something resembling your English society. +Besides, my small share of prosperity might come to an end; I'm going +back now, sooner than I expected, because there are business difficulties +to be grappled with." + +Mrs. Gladwyne nodded. She could follow his thought, but after a pause he +continued. + +"What troubles me most is that Millicent seems so much in harmony with +her surroundings. We have nothing like them in Canada--anyway, not in the +West. Whether ours are better or worse doesn't affect the case; they're +widely different. There is much she would have to give up; what I could +offer her in place of it would be new and strange, less finished, less +refined. Could a woman of your station stand it? Would she suffer from +being torn adrift from the associations that surround her here?" + +His companion considered. Allowing for his generosity in thinking first +of Millicent, he was a little too practical and dispassionate. She did +not think he was very greatly in love with the girl as yet, and that was +consoling. What Millicent thought she did not know, but in many respects +the man was eminently likable. Mrs. Gladwyne had grown fond of him; but +that must not be allowed to stand in her son's way. Clarence came before +anybody else. + +"I feel my responsibility," she said slowly. "Would you act on my +advice?" + +"I think so--it might be hard. Anyway, I'd try." + +She hesitated. The man had won her respect. Had she been wholly free from +extraneous influences she might, perhaps, have counseled him to make the +venture, but half-consciously she tried to see only the shadows in the +picture he had drawn. + +"Well," she answered him, "until two years ago Millicent lived in this +house--that must have had its effect on her." + +"Yes," he agreed; "she shows it. These old places set their stamp on +people--it's very plain on you." + +Mrs. Gladwyne saw that he understood, but she felt half guilty as she +proceeded: + +"You admit that you could not give her anything of this kind in Canada?" + +He laughed rather grimly. + +"No; our homes were built yesterday, and we move on rapidly--they'll be +pulled down again to-morrow. I'll own that our ideas and manners are in +the same unfinished, transitory stage. We haven't been able to sit down +and learn how to be graceful." + +She made a sign of comprehension, though her reluctance to proceed grew +stronger. He was very honest and there was pain in his face. + +"Millicent," she said, "is essentially one of us, used to what we +consider needful, bred to our ways. The endless small amenities which +make life smooth here have always surrounded her. Can you imagine her, +for instance, living with the Marples?" + +"No," he replied harshly; "I can't." + +"Then do you think it would be wise to take her to Canada?" + +"I have thought she would not mind giving up many things she values, if +one could win her affection." + +"That is very true; but it doesn't get over the difficulty. It isn't so +very hard to nerve oneself to make a sacrifice, it's the facing of the +inevitable results when the reaction sets in that tells. She would +continually miss something she had been used to and she would long for +it." + +He sat silent for nearly a minute, with his face set hard, and then he +looked up. + +"If Millicent were your daughter, would you let her go?" + +Again Mrs. Gladwyne hesitated. His confidence hurt her; she shrank from +delivering what she thought would be the final blow, but she strove to +assure herself that she was acting in Millicent's best interest. + +"No," she answered, "not unless she was passionately attached to the man +who wished to take her out, and then I should do my utmost to dissuade +her." + +He made no answer for a few moments. Then slowly he rose. + +"Thank you," he said gravely. "I'm afraid you're right. It's generally +hard to do what one ought. Well,"--he took the hand she held out--"I'm +grateful to you in many ways and I'd like you to remember me now and +then." + +She let him go, and crossing the room to a window, she watched him stride +down the drive with a swift, determined gait. He might be tried severely, +but there was little fear of this man's resolution deserting him. She +was, however, troubled by a recurrence of the unpleasant sense of guilt +when he disappeared; it was difficult to persuade herself that she had +been quite honest, and the difficulty was new to her. + +In the meanwhile Lisle walked on rapidly, disregarding the ache that the +motion started in his injured arm and shoulder. In his dejected mood, the +twinge at every step was something of a welcome distraction. Since a +sacrifice must be made, it should, he resolved, be made by him; Millicent +should not suffer, though he admitted that he had no reason for supposing +that she would have been willing to do so. She had never shown him more +than confidence and friendliness, and it was only during the past few +weeks that he had ventured to think of the possibility of winning her. +Even then, the thought had roused no excess of ardent passion; much as he +desired her, a strong respect and steadfast affection were more in +keeping with his temperament. Nevertheless, had he known that she loved +him and he could confer benefits upon her in place of demanding a +sacrifice, he would have been strangely hard to deter. + +On his return, Nasmyth met him at the door. + +"Where have you been?" he asked with some indignation. + +"To Mrs. Gladwyne's," Lisle informed him. + +"You walked to the house, after what Irvine said when you insisted on his +taking the bandages off?" + +"I took them off; he only protested. Anyway, I didn't break my leg." + +Nasmyth noticed his gloomy expression. + +"Well," he responded, "I suppose there was very little use in warning you +to keep quiet; but you look as if you had suffered for your rashness." + +"That's true," answered the Canadian with a grim smile. "After all, it's +what usually happens, isn't it?" + +They went in, Nasmyth a little puzzled by his companion's manner; but +Lisle offered no explanation of its cause. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE LAST AFTERNOON + + +It was a bright day when Lisle took his leave of the Marples. They gave +him a friendly farewell and when he turned away Bella Crestwick walked +with him down the drive. + +"I don't care what they think; I couldn't talk to you while they were all +trying to say something nice," she explained. "Still, to do them justice, +I believe they meant it. We are sorry to part with you." + +"It's soothing to feel that," Lisle replied. "In many ways, I'm sorry to +go. I've no doubt you'll miss your brother after to-morrow." + +"Yes," she said with unusual seriousness. "More than once during the last +two years I felt that it would be a relief to let somebody else have the +responsibility of looking after him, but now that the time has come I'm +sorry he's going. I can't help remembering how often I lost my temper, +and the mistakes I made." + +"You stuck to your task," commended Lisle. "I dare say it was a hard one, +almost beyond you now and then." + +He knew that he was not exaggerating. She was only a year older than the +wilful lad, who must at times have driven her to despair. Yet she had +never faltered in her efforts to restrain and control him; and had made a +greater sacrifice for his sake than Lisle suspected, though in the light +of a subsequent revelation of Gladwyne's character she was thankful for +this. + +"Well," she replied, "I suppose that one misses a load one has grown used +to, and I feel very downcast. It's hardly fair to pass Jim on to you--but +I can trust you to take care of him." + +"You can trust the work and the country," Lisle corrected her with a +trace of grimness. "He's not going out to be idle, as he'll discover. +There's nothing like short commons and steady toil for taming any one. +You'll see the effect of my prescription when I send him back again." + +"He has physical pluck. I'm glad to remember it; and he has shown signs +of steadying since he found Gladwyne out." + +Lisle looked at her searchingly. + +"Since he found Gladwyne out?" + +"Oh," she answered, seeing that she had been incautious, "he rather +idolized the man, and I suppose it was painful to discover by accident +that he wasn't quite all he thought him. Now, however, he has transferred +his homage to you--I'm afraid Jim must always have somebody to prop +him--but I've no misgivings." + +Lisle laughed. + +"I've seldom had the time to get into mischief; I suppose that accounts +for a good deal." + +They were nearing the lodge and she stopped and held out her hand. + +"It's hard to say good-by; you have helped me more than you'll ever +guess, and you won't be forgotten." Then as he held her hand with signs +of embarrassment she laughed with something of her usual mocking manner +and suddenly drew away. "Good-by," she added. "I was rather daring once +and I suppose you were shocked. I can't repeat the rashness--it would +mean more now." + +She walked back toward the house, and he went on. Half an hour later he +met Millicent, who stopped to greet him. + +"I was on my way to call on you for the last time," he told her. + +There was something in his voice that troubled her, and, though she had +expected it, she shrank from the intimation of his departure. + +"Then, will you come back with me?" she asked. + +"If you're not pressed for time, I'd rather walk across the moor, the way +you once took me soon after I came. I'd like to look round the +countryside again before I leave, though it will be a melancholy +pleasure." + +For no very obvious reason, she hesitated. It was, however, hard to +refuse his last request and she really wished to go. + +"The views are unusually good," she said, as they started on. "Wouldn't +Nasmyth have gone with you?" + +"It wouldn't have been the same," he explained. "I'm storing up memories +to take away with me and somehow Nasmyth is most clearly associated with +Canada. When I think of him, it will be as sitting in camp beside a +portage or holding the canoe paddle." + +"And you can't picture my being occupied in that way?" + +"No," he answered gravely; "I associate you with England--with stately +old houses, with well-cared-for woods and quiet valleys. There's no doubt +that your place is here." + +He spoke as if he were making an admission that was forced from him, and +she endeavored to answer in a lighter manner. + +"It's the only one I've had an opportunity for trying." + +"But you love this place!" + +"Yes," she said; "I love it very well. Perhaps I am prejudiced, and I've +only had a glimpse at other countries, but I feel that this is the most +beautiful land in the world." + +He stopped and glanced round. From where they stood he could look out +upon leagues of lonely brown moors running back into the distance under a +cloudless sky. Beyond them the Scottish hills were softly penciled in +delicate gray. There was a sense of space and vastness in the picture, +but it was not that which spoke most plainly to him. Down on the +far-spread low ground lay such white homesteads, built to stand for +generations, as he had never seen in Canada; parks sprinkled with noble +trees, amid which the gray walls of some ancient home peeped out; +plantations made with loving care, field on field, fenced in with +well-trimmed trimmed hedges. + +It was all eloquent of order, security and long-established ease; a +strong contrast to the rugged wilderness where, in the bush and on +treeless prairie, men never relaxed their battle with nature. In many +ways, his was a stern country; a land of unremitting toil from which one +desisted only long enough to eat and sleep, and he was one of the +workers. Mrs. Gladwyne had been right--it was no place for this +delicately nurtured girl with her sensitiveness and artistic faculties. + +"For those who can live as you live, it would be hard to find the equal +of this part of England," he said. "But I'm not sure you can keep it very +much longer as it is." + +"Why?" she asked. + +It was a relief to talk of matters of minor interest, for he dare not let +his thoughts dwell too much on the subject that was nearest them. + +"Well," he replied, "there's the economic pressure, for one thing; the +growth of your cities; the demand for food. I see land lying almost idle +that could be made productive at a very moderate outlay. Our people often +give nearly as much as it's worth here for no better soil." + +"But how do they make it pay?" + +He laughed. + +"The secret is that they expect very little--enough to eat, a shack they +build with their own hands to sleep in--and they're willing to work +sixteen hours out of the twenty-four." + +"They can't do so in winter." + +"The hours are shorter, but where the winter's hardest--on the open +middle prairie--the work's more severe. There the little man spends a +good deal of his time hauling home stove-wood or building-logs for new +stables or barns. He has often to drive several leagues with the +thermometer well below zero before he can find a bluff with large enough +trees. In the Pacific Slope forests, where it's warmer, work goes on much +as usual. The bush rancher spends his days chopping big trees in the rain +and his nights making odd things--furniture, wagon-poles, new doors for +his outbuildings. What you would call necessary leisure is unknown." + +This was not exaggeration; but he spoke of it from a desire to support +his resolution by emphasizing the sternest aspects of western life. It +had others more alluring: there were men who dwelt more or less at their +ease; but they were by no means numerous, and the toilers--in city +office, lonely bush, or sawmill--were consumed by or driven into a +feverish activity. As one of them, it was his manifest duty to leave this +English girl in her sheltered surroundings. There was, however, one +remote but alluring possibility that made this a little easier--he might, +after all, win enough to surround her with some luxury and cultured +friends in one of the cities of the Pacific coast. Though they differed +from those in England, they were beautiful, with their vistas of +snow-capped mountains and the sea. + +"But you are not a farmer," she objected. + +"No; mining's my vocation and it keeps me busy. In the city, I'm at work +long before they think of opening their London offices, and it's +generally midnight before I've finished worrying engineers and +contractors at their homes or hotels. In the wilds, we're more or less +continuously grappling with rock or treacherous gravel, or out on the +prospecting trail, while the northern summer lasts; it's then light most +of the night. In the winter, we sometimes sleep in the snow, with the +thermometer near the bottom of its register." + +Millicent shivered a little, wondering uneasily why he had taken the +trouble to impress this upon her. It was, she thought, certainly not to +show what he was capable of. + +"Are you glad to go back, or do you dread it?" she asked. + +"I don't dread it--it's my life, and things may be easier by and by. +Still, I'm very loath to go." + +Millicent could believe that. His troubled expression confirmed it; and +she was strangely pleased. She had never had a companion in whom she +could have so much confidence, and she had already recognized that she +was, in one sense of the word, growing fond of him. Indeed, she had begun +to be curious about the feeling and to wonder whether it stopped quite +short at liking. + +"Well," she told him, "I'm glad that you asked me to come with you. I +think I was one of your first friends and I'm pleased that you should +wish to spend part of your last day in my company." + +"You come first of all!" + +"That's flattering," she smiled. "What about Nasmyth?" + +"An unusually fine man, but he has his limits. You have none." + +"I'm not sure I quite understand you." + +"Then," he explained seriously, "what I think I mean is this--you're one +of the people who somehow contrive to meet any call that is made on them. +You would never sit down, helpless, in a trying situation; you'd find +some way of getting over the difficulties. It's a gift more useful than +genius." + +"You're rating me too highly," she answered with some embarrassment. "You +admitted that you thought my place was here--the inference was that I +shouldn't fit into a different one." + +"No," he corrected her; "you'd adapt yourself to changed conditions; but +that wouldn't prevent your suffering in the process. Indeed, I think +people of your kind often suffer more than the others." + +He was to some extent correct in his estimate of her, but she shrank from +the direct personal application of his remarks. + +"Aren't the virtues you have described fairly common?" she asked. "I +think that must be so, because they're so necessary." + +"In a degree, I suppose they are. You see them, perhaps, most clearly in +such lands as mine. The pioneer has a good deal against him--frost and +floods, hard rock and sliding snow; he must face every discomfort, hunger +and stinging cold. The prospector crawls through tangled forests, and +packs his stores across snowy divides; shallow shafts cave in, rude dams +are swept away. A man worked to exhaustion on the trail runs out of +provisions and goes on, starving; he lames himself among the rocks, sets +his teeth and limps ahead. I've thought the capacity to do so is +humanity's greatest attribute, but after all it's not shown in its finest +light battling with material things. When the moral stress comes, the man +who would face the other often fails." + +"Yes," she asserted; "there are barriers that can't be stormed. Merely to +acquiesce is the hardest thing of all, but in that lies the victory." + +"It's a bitter one," he answered moodily. + +There was silence for a few minutes while they strolled on through the +heather. Afterward, Millicent understood where his thoughts had led, but +now she was chiefly conscious of a slight but perplexing resentment +against the fact that he should discourse rather crude philosophy. +Indeed, the feeling almost amounted to disappointment--it was their last +walk, and though she did not know what she had expected from him, it was +something different from this. Walking by her side, with his fine poise, +his keen eyes that regarded her steadily when she spoke, and his resolute +brown face, he appealed to her physically, and in other ways she approved +of him. It was borne in upon her more clearly that she would miss him +badly, and she suspected that he would not find it easy to part from her. +In the meanwhile he recognized that she had, no doubt unconsciously, +given him a hint--when the moral difficulties were unsurmountable one +must quietly submit. + +They stopped when they reached the highest strip of moor. The sun was +low, the vast sweep of country beneath them was fading to neutral color, +woods, low ridges, and river valleys losing their sharpness of contour as +the light left them. A faint cold wind sighed among the heather, +emphasizing the desolation of the moorland. + +Millicent shivered. + +"We'll go down," Lisle said quietly; "the brightness has gone. I've had a +great time here--something to think of as long as I live--but now it's +over." + +"But you'll come back some day?" she suggested. + +"I may; I can't tell," he answered. "I've schemes in view, to be worked +out in the North, that may make my return possible; but even then it +couldn't be quite the same. Things change; one mustn't expect too much." + +His smile was a little forced; his mood was infectious, and an unusual +melancholy seized upon Millicent as they moved down-hill across the long, +sad-colored slopes of heather. Then they reached a bare wood where dead +leaves that rustled in the rising wind lay in drifts among the withered +fern and the slender birch trunks rose about them somberly. The light had +almost gone, the gathering gloom reacted upon both of them, and there was +in the girl's mind a sense of something left unsaid. Once or twice she +glanced at her companion; his face was graver than usual and he did not +look at her. + +It was quite dark when they walked down the dale beneath the leafless +oaks, talking now with an effort about indifferent matters, until at last +Millicent stopped at the gate of the drive to her house. + +"Will you come in?" she asked. + +"No; Nasmyth's waiting. I'm glad you came with me, but I won't say +good-by. I'll look forward to the journey we're to make together through +British Columbia." + +She held out her hand; in another moment he turned away, and she walked +on to the house with a strange sense of depression. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +STARTLING NEWS + + +It was snowing in the northern wilderness and the bitter air was filled +with small, dry flakes, which whirled in filmy clouds athwart the red +glow of a fire. A clump of boulders stood outlined beside a frozen river, +and behind the boulders a growth of willows rose crusted with snow, while +beyond them, barely distinguishable, were the stunted shapes of a few +birches. So far the uncertain radiance reached when the fire leaped up, +but outside it all was shut in by a dense curtain of falling snow. + +It had been dark for some time, and Lisle was getting anxious as he lay, +wrapped in a ragged skin coat, in a hollow beside a boulder. A straining +tent stood near the fire, but the big stone afforded better shelter, and +drawing hard upon his pipe, he listened eagerly. The effort to do so was +unpleasant as well as somewhat risky, for he had to turn back the old fur +cap from his tingling ears; and he shivered at every variation of the +stinging blast. There was nothing to be heard except the soft swish of +the snow as it swirled among the stones and the hollow rumble of the +river pouring down a rapid beneath a rent bridge of ice. + +The man had spent the early winter, when the snow facilitates traveling, +in the auriferous regions of the North, arranging for the further +development of the mineral properties under his control. That done, he +had, returning some distance south, struck out again into the wilds to +examine some alluvial claims in which he had been asked to take an +interest. It was difficult to reach the first of them; and then he had +spent several weeks in determined toil, cutting and hauling in wood to +thaw out the frozen surface sufficiently to make investigations. +Crestwick had accompanied him, but during the last few days he had gone +down to a Hudson Bay post with the owners of the claim, who were +returning satisfied with the arrangements made. His object was to obtain +any letters that might have arrived, and Lisle, going on to look at +another group of claims, had arranged to meet him where he had camped. + +It would be difficult to miss the way, for it consisted of the frozen +river, but Crestwick should have arrived early in the afternoon and Lisle +felt uneasy. On the whole, the Canadian was satisfied with the conduct of +his companion. Deprived during most of the time of any opportunity for +dissipation, scantily fed, and forced to take his share in continuous +labor, the lad's better qualities had become manifest and he had +responded pluckily to the demands on him. Abstinence and toil were +already producing their refining effect. Still, he had not come back, and +with the snow thickening, it was possible that he might not be able to +keep to the comparatively plain track of the river. There was also the +risk that by holding on too far when he saw the fire he might blunder in +among the fissured ice at the foot of the rapid. + +Rising at length, Lisle walked toward the dangerous spot, guiding himself +by sound, for once he was out of the firelight there was nothing to be +seen but a white driving cloud. He knew when he had reached the +neighborhood of the rapid by the increased clamor of the stream, and he +crept on until he decided that he was abreast of the pool below. The +rapid was partly frozen, but the ice was fissured and piled up at the +tail of it. + +Lisle could not remember how long he waited, beating his stiffened hands +and stumbling to and fro to keep his feet from freezing, but at last, +though he could see nothing, he heard a crunching sound, and he called +out sharply. + +"I've got here!" came the answer. "Where shall I leave the ice? Seems to +be an opening in front of me!" + +It was difficult to hear through the clamor of the water and the crash of +drifting ice; but Lisle caught the words and called again: + +"Turn your back on the wind and walk straight ahead!" + +He supposed that Crestwick was obeying him, but a few moments later he +heard a second shout: + +"Brought up by another big crack!" + +The voice was hoarse and anxious, and Lisle, deciding that the lad was +worn out by his journey and probably confused, bade him wait, and +hurrying down-stream a little he moved out upon the frozen pool. He +proceeded along it for a few minutes, calling to Crestwick and guiding +himself by the answers; and then he stopped abruptly with a strip of +black water close beneath his feet. On the other side was a ridge of +rugged ice; but what lay beyond it he could not see. + +"I'm in among a maze of cracks; can't find any way out!" Crestwick cried, +answering his hail. + +Lisle reflected rapidly as he followed up the crevasse, which showed no +sign of narrowing. The snow was thick, the bitter wind increasing, and a +plunge into icy water might prove disastrous. It was obvious that he must +extricate his companion as soon as possible, but the means of +accomplishing it was not clear. Crestwick was somewhere on the wrong side +of the crack, which seemed to lead right across the stream toward the +confusion of broken ridges and hummocks which, as Lisle remembered, +fringed the opposite bank. He must endeavor to find the place where the +lad had got across; but this was difficult, for fresh breaches and ridges +drove him back from the edge. Presently the chasm ended in a wide opening +filled with an inky flood, and Lisle, turning back a yard or two, braced +himself and jumped. + +He made out a shapeless white object ahead, and coming to another crack +he scrambled to the top of an ice-block and leaped again. There was a +sharp crackle when he came down, the piece he alighted on rocked, and +Crestwick staggered. + +"Look out!" he cried. "It's tilting under!" + +Lisle saw water lapping in upon the snow, but it flowed back, and the +cake he had detached impinged upon the rest with a crash. + +"Come on!" he shouted. "The stream will jamb it fast!" + +They reached the larger mass and moved across it, but Lisle, clutching +his companion's arm, bewildered and almost blinded by the snow, doubted +if he were retracing his steps. He did not remember some of the ridges +and ragged blocks over which they stumbled, and the smaller rents seemed +more numerous. It was evident that Crestwick was badly worn out and they +must endeavor to reach the bank with as little delay as possible. + +At last they came to the broad crevasse, farther up the stream, and Lisle +turned to Crestwick. + +"Better take off your skin-coat. You'll have to jump." + +"I can't," said the other dejectedly. "It's not nerve--the thing's clean +beyond me." + +His slack pose--for he was dimly visible amid the haze of driving +snow--bore out his words. The long march he had made had brought him to +the verge of exhaustion; his overtaxed muscles would respond to no +further call on them. For a moment or two Lisle stood gazing at the dark +water in the gap. + +"Then we'll look for a narrower place," he decided. "Where did you get +across?" + +"I don't know. Don't remember this split, but the ice was working under +me. Perhaps the snow had covered it and now it's fallen in." + +They scrambled forward, following the crevasse, but could find no means +of passing it and now and then the ice trembled ominously. At last, when +the opposite side projected a little, Lisle suddenly sprang out from the +edge and alighted safely. + +"It's easy!" he called, stripping off his long skin coat and flinging one +end of it across the chasm to Crestwick. "Get hold and face the jump!" + +It was not a time for hesitation; the exhausted lad dare not contemplate +the gap, lest his courage fail him, and nerving himself for an effort, he +leaped. Striking the edge on the other side, he plunged forward as Lisle +dragged at the coat, and then rolled over in the snow. He was up in a +moment, gasping hard, almost astonished to find himself in security, and +Lisle led him back to the snow-covered shingle. + +"It strikes me as fortunate that I came to look for you," he observed. +"You'd probably have ended by walking into the river." + +"Thanks," said Crestwick simply. "It isn't the first hole you've pulled +me out of." + +They reached the camp and the lad, shaking the snow off his furs, sat +down wearily on a few branches laid close to the sheltering boulder, +while Lisle took a frying-pan and kettle off the fire, and afterward +filled his pipe again and watched his companion while he ate. Crestwick +had changed since he left England; his face was thinner, and the hint of +sensuality and empty self-assurance had faded out of it. His eyes were +less bold, but they were steadier; and, sitting in the firelight, clad in +dilapidated furs, he looked somehow more refined than he had done in +evening dress in Marple's billiard-room. When he spoke, as he did at +intervals, the confident tone which had once characterized him was no +longer evident. He had learned to place a juster estimate upon his value +in the icy North. + +"I was uncommonly glad to see the fire," he said at length. "Another mile +or two would have beaten me; though I spent nearly twice as long in +coming up from the Forks as the prospectors said it would take. I was +going light, too." + +"They've been doing this kind of thing most of their lives. You couldn't +expect to equal them. Where did you sleep last night?" + +"In some withered stuff among a clump of willows; I scraped the snow off +it. That is, I lay down there, but as the fire wouldn't burn well, I +don't think I got much rest. Part of the time I wondered what I was +staying in this country for. I didn't seem to find any sensible answer." + +"You could get out of it when the freighters go down with the dogs and +sledges," Lisle suggested. "It would be a good deal more comfortable at +Marple's, for instance." + +"Do you want to get rid of me? I suppose I'm not much help." + +"Oh, no!" Lisle assured him. "It only struck me that you might find the +novelty of the experience wearing off. Besides, you're improving; in a +year or two you'll make quite a reliable prospector's packer." + +"That's something," replied Crestwick, grinning. "Not long ago I thought +I'd make a sportsman; one of Gladwyne's kind. The ambition doesn't so +much appeal to me now. But I want to be rather more than a looker-on. +Can't you let me put something into one of these claims?" + +"Not a cent! In the first place, you'd have some trouble in raising the +money; in the second, I might be accused of playing Batley's game." + +"The last's ridiculous. But if I'm not to do anything, it brings me back +to the question--why am I staying here?" + +"I can't tell you that. I'll only suggest that if you hold out until you +come into your property, you'll go back much more fit in several ways to +look after it. I should imagine you'd find less occasion to emulate +people like Batley and Gladwyne then. Of course, I don't know if that's +worth waiting for." + +It was the nearest approach to seriousness he considered advisable, for +precept was obnoxious to him and apt to be resented by his companion. + +"Now," he added, "what about the mail?" + +Crestwick produced a packet of letters which he had not opened yet and +Lisle glanced at two business communications. The boulder kept off most +of the snow, and the glare of the snapping branches, rising and falling +with the gusts, supplied sufficient light. + +"Mine's from Bella; there's news in it," Crestwick remarked. "She says +Carew--I don't think you've seen him--is anxious to marry her, and if +she's convinced that I'm getting on satisfactorily, she'll probably +agree. He's--I'm quoting--about as good as she's likely to get; that's +Bella all over." + +"What's he like?" Lisle asked with interest. + +"To tell the truth, in one way I think she's right--the man's straight; +not the Marple crowd's style. In fact, I found him decidedly +stand-offish, though I'll own there might have been a reason for that. +Anyhow, I'm glad; she might have done a good deal worse. I suppose you +won't mind giving me a testimonial that will set her doubts at rest?" + +"You shall have it. Since the man's a good one, I'm nearly as glad as you +are. I've a strong respect for your sister; she stood by you pluckily." + +"That's true," asserted Crestwick. "I was a bit of an imbecile, and she's +really hard to beat. She says if the life here's too tough for me I'm to +come back and live with them. That's considerate, because in a way she +can't want me, though I haven't the least doubt she'd make Carew put up +with my company. It decides the question--I'm not going." + +"A little while ago you'd have taken Carew's delight for granted, +wouldn't you?" + +"I'm beginning to see things," Crestwick answered with a wave of his +hand. Then he paused and looked confused. "After all, though she says I'm +to give you the message, Bella really goes too far now and then." + +"She doesn't always mean it. You may as well obey her." + +"It's this--if it's any consolation, she has no intention of forgetting +you, and Arthur--that's the fellow's name--is anxious to make your +acquaintance. She says there are men who're not so unresponsive as you +are, but Arthur has never been into the North to get frozen." + +Lisle laughed--it was so characteristic of Bella. + +"Here's something else," Crestwick proceeded; "about Miss Gladwyne. Bella +thinks you'd be interested to hear that there's a prospect of--" + +"Go on!" cried Lisle, dropping his pipe. + +"I can't see," said Crestwick. "You might stir the fire." + +Lisle threw on some fresh wood and poked the fire savagely with a branch, +and the lad continued, reading with difficulty while the pungent smoke +obscured the light. + +"It seems that she saw Gladwyne and his mother and Millicent together in +town, and she afterward spent a week with Flo Marple at somebody's house. +Flo told her that it looks as if the long-deferred arrangement was to be +brought about at last." He laid down the letter. "If that means she's to +marry Gladwyne, it ought to be prevented!" + +They looked at each other curiously, and Lisle, struggling to command +himself, noticed the lad's strained expression. + +"Why?" he asked with significant shortness. + +Crestwick seemed on the verge of some vehement outbreak and Lisle saw +that it was with an effort he refrained. + +"Oh, well," he answered, "the man's not half good enough. He's a +dangerous rotter." + +"Dangerous?" + +"Yes," returned Crestwick dryly; "I think that describes it." + +There was an impressive silence, while each wondered how far he might +have betrayed himself. Then Lisle spoke. + +"Read the rest of the letter. See if Bella says anything further." + +"No announcement made," Crestwick informed him a little later. "All the +same, Flo's satisfied that the engagement will be made known before +long." He looked up at Lisle with uncertainty and anger in his face. "It +almost makes me forget Bella's other news. What can be done?" + +"What do you want to do?" + +"Don't fence!" said Crestwick. "I'm not smart at it. Don't you know a +reason why Miss Gladwyne shouldn't marry the fellow?" + +"Yes. It has nothing to do with you." + +"Perhaps not," replied Crestwick. "I can only say that the match ought to +be broken off. It isn't to be contemplated!" + +"Well," Lisle responded with forced quietness, "if it's any relief to +you, I'll write to Nasmyth the first chance I get, asking what he's +heard. Now we'll drop the subject. Is there anything else of general +interest in your letter?" + +"Bella says her wedding won't be until the early summer and she's +thinking of making Carew bring her out to Banff or Glacier--he came out +shooting or climbing once before. Then she'll endeavor to look us up." + +He lighted his pipe and they sat in silence for a while. Then Crestwick +rose and bringing a blanket from the tent wrapped it about him and lay +down in the lee of the boulder near the fire. A few minutes later he was +sound asleep; but Lisle sat long awake, thinking hard, while the snow +drove by above him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A FORCED MARCH + + +When Crestwick awakened, very cold, and cramped, a little before daylight +the next morning, it was still snowing, but Lisle was up and busy +preparing breakfast. + +"That looks like marching; I thought we were going to lie off to-day," +observed the lad. + +"How do you feel?" Lisle inquired. + +"Horribly stiff; but that's the worst. Why are you going on?" + +"Because the freighters should leave the Hudson Bay post to-morrow with +their dog-teams. It's the only chance of sending out a letter I may get +for a long while, and I want to write to Nasmyth." + +Crestwick shivered, glancing disconsolately at the snow; he shrank from +the prospect of a two days' hurried march. Had Lisle suggested this when +he first came out, the lad would have rebelled, but by degrees the stern +discipline of the wilds had had its effect on him. He was learning that +the weariness of the flesh must be disregarded when it is necessary that +anything shall be done. + +"Oh, well," he acquiesced, "I'll try to make it. If I can't, you'll have +to drop me where there's some shelter." + +He ate the best possible breakfast, for as wood was scarce in parts of +the country, and making a fire difficult, it was very uncertain when he +would get another meal. Then he slipped the pack-straps over his stiff +shoulders, and got ready to start with a burden he did not think he would +have been capable of carrying for a couple of hours when he left England. + +"Now we'll pull out," he said. "But wait a moment: I'd better look for a +dry place to put this paper currency." + +"Where did you get it? You told me at the last settlement that you had +hardly a dollar left." + +Crestwick grinned. + +"Oh, some of the boys offered to teach me a little game they were playing +when we thawed out that claim. I didn't find it difficult, though I must +own that I had very good luck. It was three or four months since I'd +touched a card, and there's a risk of reaction in too drastic reform. +Anyhow, I'm glad I saw that game; one fellow had a way of handling trumps +that almost took me in. If I can remember, it should come in useful." + +Lisle made no comment; restraint, he thought, was likely to prove more +effective if it were not continually exercised. They started and for +several hours plodded up the white highway of the river, leaving it only +for a while when the ice grew fissured where the current ran more +swiftly. White hills rose above them, relieved here and there by a somber +clump of cedars or leafless willows and birches in a ravine. The snow +crunched beneath their feet, and scattered in a fine white powder when +they broke the crust; more of it fell at intervals, but blew away again; +and they held on with a nipping wind in their faces and a low gray sky +hanging over them. + +Lisle, however, noticed little; he pushed forward with a steady and +apparently tireless stride, thinking bitterly. Since his return to +Canada, his mind had dwelt more or less continuously on Millicent. He +recognized that in leaving her with his regard for her undeclared he had +been sustained by the possibility that he might by determined effort +achieve such a success as would enable him to return and in claiming her +to offer most of the amenities of life to which she had been accustomed. +Though it had not been easy, he had to some extent accomplished this. On +reaching Victoria, he had found his business associates considering one +or two bold and risky schemes for the extension of their mining +interests, which he had carried out in the face of many difficulties. The +new claims he had taken over promised a favorable yield upon development; +he had arranged for the more profitable working of others by the aid of +costly plant; and his affairs were generally prospering. + +Then, when he was satisfied with the result of his exertions, Crestwick's +news had struck him a crushing blow. He was wholly unprepared for it. +Nasmyth had spoken of a match between Millicent and Gladwyne as probable, +but the latter had devoted himself to Bella, who had openly encouraged +him. The change in the girl's demeanor had escaped Lisle's notice, +because he had been kept indoors by his injury. Now the success he had +attained counted for almost nothing; he had nobody to share it with. + +The subject, however, had another aspect; he could have borne the shock +better had Millicent yielded to a worthy suitor, but it was unthinkable +that she should marry Gladwyne. She must be saved from that at any cost, +though he thought her restored liberty would promise nothing to him. Even +if her attachment to Gladwyne were free from passion, as Nasmyth had +hinted, she must cherish some degree of affection and regard for the man. +His desertion of her brother could not be forgiven, but the revelation of +his baseness would not incline her favorably toward the person who made +it, as it would seem to be merely for the purpose of separating her from +him. + +Lisle set his lips as he looked back on what he now considered his +weakness in withholding the story of Gladwyne's treachery. Had he +declared it at the beginning, Mrs. Gladwyne would have suffered no more +than she must do, and it would have saved Millicent and himself from the +pain that must fall upon them. He bitterly regretted that he had, for +once, departed from his usual habit of simply and resolutely carrying out +an obvious task without counting the cost. Still, he could write to +Nasmyth, and to do that he must reach the Hudson Bay post on the morrow. +He trudged on over the snow at a pace that kept Crestwick breathless. + +The bitter wind chilled them through in spite of their exertion, and it +had increased by noon, when Lisle halted for a minute or two to look +about him. + +They were in the bottom of a valley walled in by barren hills; the bank +of the frozen river was marked out by snow-covered stones, but none of +them was large enough to rest behind, and one could not face the wind, +motionless, in the open. While he stood, a stinging icy powder lashed his +cheeks, and his hands grew stiff in their mittens. + +"There's not even a gulch we could sit down in," he said. "We'll have to +go on; and I'm not sorry, for one reason. There's not much time to +spare." + +Crestwick's eyes were smarting from the white glare; having started when +weary from a previous journey, his legs and shoulders ached; but he had +no choice between freezing and keeping himself slightly warm by steady +walking. It would, he knew, be harder by and by, when his strength began +to fail and the heat died out of his exhausted body. + +"We'll have to find a shelter for the tent by nightfall, or dig a snowpit +where there's some wood," he declared. "I'll try to hold out." + +They proceeded and the afternoon's march tried him severely. Aching all +over, breathing hard when they stumbled among the stones to skirt some +half-frozen rapid, he labored on, regretting the comforts he had +abandoned in England and yet not wholly sorry that he had done so. His +moral fiber was toughening, for after all his faults were largely the +result of circumstances and environment. Of no great intelligence, and +imperfectly taught, he had been neglected by his penurious father who had +been engaged in building up his commercial prosperity; his mother had +died when he was young. + +One of his marked failings was an inability to estimate the true value of +things. He possessed something of the spirit of adventure and a desire to +escape from the drab monotony of his early life, but these found +expression in betting on the exploits of others on the football field and +the turf, a haunting of the music-halls, and the cultivation of +acquaintances on the lowest rung of the dramatic profession. All this +offered him some glimpses of what he did not then perceive was merely +sham romance. Later when, on the death of his father, wealth had opened a +wider field, deceived by surface appearances, he had made the same +mistake, selecting wrong models and then chiefly copying their failings. +Even his rather generous enthusiasm for those whom he admired had led him +farther into error. + +Now, however, his eyes had been partly opened. Thrown among men who +pretended nothing, in a land where pretense is generally useless, he was +learning to depreciate much that he had admired. Called upon to make the +true adventure he had blindly sought for, he found that little counted +except the elemental qualities of courage and steadfastness. Dear life +was the stake in this game, and the prizes were greater things than a +repute for cheap gallantry, and pieces of money; they were the +subjugation of rock and river, the conversion of the wilderness to the +use of man. Crestwick was growing in the light he gained, and in proof of +it he stumbled forward, scourged by driving snow, throughout the bitter +afternoon, although before the end of it he could scarcely lift his weary +feet. + +It was getting dark, when they found a few cedars clustered in the +shelter of a crag, and Lisle set to work hewing off the lower branches +and cutting knots of the resinous wood. Crestwick could not rouse himself +to assist, and when the fire was kindled he lay beside it, shivering +miserably. + +"There's the kettle to be filled," suggested Lisle. "You could break the +ice where the stream's faster among those stones; we'd boil water quicker +than we'd melt down snow." + +Crestwick got up with an effort that cost him a good deal and stumbled +away from the fire. Then a gust of wind met him, enveloping him in +snow-dust and taking the power of motion momentarily away. He shook +beneath his furs in the biting cold. Still, the river was near, and he +moved on another few yards, when the kettle slipped from his stiffened +hands and rolled down a steep slope. He stopped, wondering stupidly +whether he could get down to recover it. + +"Never mind; come back!" Lisle called to him. "I'll go for the thing." + +The lad turned at the summons and sank down again beside the fire. + +"I think I'm done," he said wearily. "I may feel a little more fit in the +morning." + +Lisle filled the kettle and prepared supper, and after eating +voraciously, Crestwick lay down in the tent. It was in comparative +shelter, but the frost grew more severe and the icy wind, eddying in +behind the rock, threatened to overturn the frail structure every now and +then. He tried to smoke, but found no comfort in it after he had with +difficulty lighted his pipe; he did not feel inclined to talk, and it was +a relief to him when Lisle sank into slumber. + +Crestwick long remembered that night. His feet and hands tingled +painfully with the cold, the branches he lay upon found out the sorest +parts of his aching body, and he would have risen and walked up and down +in the lee of the rock had he felt capable of the exertion, but he was +doubtful whether he could even get upon his feet. At times thick smoke +crept into the tent, and though it set him to coughing it was really a +welcome change in his distressing sensations. He was utterly exhausted, +but he shivered too much to sleep. + +At last, a little while before daybreak, Lisle got up and strode away to +the river after stirring the fire, and then, most cruel thing of all, the +lad became sensible of a soothing drowsiness when it was too late for him +to indulge in it. For a few moments he struggled hard, and then +blissfully yielded. He was awakened by his companion, who was shaking him +as he laid a plate and pannikin at his feet. + +"We must be off in a few minutes," he announced. + +Crestwick raised himself with one hand and blinked. + +"I don't know whether I can manage it." + +"Then," responded Lisle, hiding his compassion, "you'll have to decide +which of two things you'll do--you can stay here until I come back, or +you can take the trail with me. I must go on." + +Crestwick shrank from the painful choice. He did not think that he could +walk; but to prolong the experience of the previous night for another +twenty-four hours or more seemed even worse. He ate his breakfast; and +then with a tense effort he got upon his feet and slipped the straps of +the pack over his shoulders. Moving unevenly, he set off, lest he should +yield to his weariness and sink down again. + +"Come on!" he called back to Lisle. + +He sometimes wondered afterward how he endured throughout the day. He was +half dazed; he blundered forward, numbed in body, with his mind too +dulled to be conscious of more than a despairing dejection. As he +scarcely expected to reach the post, it did not matter how soon he fell. +Yet, by instinctive effort stronger than conscious volition, the struggle +for life continued; and Lisle's keen anxiety concerning him diminished as +the hours went by. Every step brought them nearer warmth and shelter, and +made it more possible that help could be obtained if the lad collapsed. +That was the only course that would be available because they were now +crossing a lofty wind-swept elevation bare of timber. + +It was afternoon when they entered a long valley, and Lisle, grasping +Crestwick's arm, partly supported him as they stumbled down the steep +descent. Stunted trees straggled up toward them as they pushed on down +the hollow, and Lisle surmised that the journey was almost over. That was +fortunate, for he had some trouble in keeping his companion upon his +feet. At length a faint howl rose from ahead and Lisle stopped and +listened intently. The sound was repeated more plainly, and was followed +by a confused snarling, the clamor of quarreling dogs. + +"Malamutes; the freighters can't have started yet with their sledges," he +said to Crestwick, who was holding on to him. "I don't think they can be +more than half a mile off." + +"I'll manage that somehow," replied the lad. + +They went on through thickening timber, until at last a log house came +into sight. In front of it stood two sledges, and a pack of snapping, +snarling dogs were scuffling in the snow. Lisle was devoutly thankful +when he opened the door and helped the lad into a log-walled room where +four men, two of whom wore furs, were talking. The air was dry and +strongly heated, besides being heavy with tobacco smoke and Crestwick +sank limply into a chair. Gasping hard, he leaned forward, as if unable +to hold himself upright; but Lisle was not alarmed: he had suffered at +times, when exhausted, from the reaction that follows the change from the +bitter cold outside to the stuffiness of a stove-heated room. + +"Played out; I'd some trouble to get him along," he explained to the men. +"We're going on to the claims at the gulch to-morrow." Then he addressed +the two in furs: "I guess you'll take me out a letter?" + +"Why, of course; but you'll have to hustle," said one of them, and Lisle +turned to a man in a deerskin jacket whom he took for the agent. + +"Can you give me some paper?" + +"Sure! Sit down right here." + +It was not easy to write with stiffened fingers or to collect his +thoughts with his head swimming from the change of temperature, but he +informed Nasmyth briefly of what he had heard and asked how much truth +there was in it. He added that he would have started for England +forthwith, only that he could not be sure that this was necessary, and to +leave his work unfinished might jeopardize the interests of people who +had staked a good deal of money on the success of his schemes. +Nevertheless he would come at once, if Nasmyth considered the match +likely to be brought about and would cable him at Victoria, from whence a +message would reach him. In the meanwhile, Nasmyth could make such use of +their knowledge of Gladwyne's treachery as he thought judicious. + +Shortly after he had written the letter the two men in furs set out, and +when the sound of their departure had died away the agent addressed his +guests. + +"I'll fix you some supper; you look as if you needed it. Rustle round, +Larry, and get the frying-pan on." + +They ate an excellent meal and shortly afterward Crestwick crawled into a +wooden bunk, where he reveled in the unusual warmth and the softness of a +mattress filled with swamp-hay. He had never lain down to rest in England +with the delicious sense of physical comfort that now crept over his +worn-out body. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MILLICENT SUMMONS HER GUIDE + + +Lisle was living luxuriously in Victoria when Nasmyth's answer reached +him by mail. Though it was still winter among the ranges of the North, +the seaboard city had been bathed in clear sunshine and swept by mild +west winds during the past few days, and after the bitter frost and +driving snow Lisle rejoiced in the genial warmth and brightness. There +are few more finely situated cities than Victoria, with its views across +the strait of the white heights of Mount Baker and the Olympians on the +American shore, even in the Pacific Province where the environment of all +is beautiful. + +Lisle was sitting in the hotel lounge after dinner when three English +letters were handed to him. The sight of them affected him curiously, and +leaning back in his chair he glanced round the room. Like the rest of the +great building in which he had his quarters, it was sumptuously +furnished, but everything was aggressively new. There was, he felt, +little that suggested fixity of tenure and continuity in the West; the +times changed too rapidly, people came and went, alert, feverishly +bustling, optimistic. In the old land, his friends among the favored few +dwelt with marked English calm in homes that had apparently been built to +stand forever. Yet he was Western, by deliberate choice as well as by +birth; while there was much to be said for the other life which had its +seductive charm, the strenuous, eager one that he led was better. + +He opened the letters--one from Bella, announcing her engagement and +inquiring about her brother; a second from Millicent, stating that it was +decided that she would visit British Columbia in the early summer; and a +third from Nasmyth, which, dreading its contents, he kept to the last. + +He was, however, slightly reassured when he opened it. Nasmyth's remarks +were brief but clear enough. There was no actual engagement between +Millicent and Clarence, though Mrs. Gladwyne was doing her utmost to +bring one about and Millicent saw the man frequently. In the meanwhile, +he did not think there was anything to be done; Lisle could not +conclusively prove his story, though he could make a disastrous +sensation, which was to be avoided, and it would be wiser to defer the +disclosure until the engagement should actually be announced. Millicent's +attachment to Clarence was not likely to grow very much stronger in a +month or two. In conclusion, he urged Lisle to wait. + +On the whole, Lisle agreed with him. Somehow he felt that Millicent would +never marry Gladwyne. Apart from his interference, he thought that her +instincts would, even at the last moment, cause her to recoil from the +match. Furthermore, turning to another aspect of the matter, he could not +clear his dead comrade's memory by telling a tale that was founded merely +on probabilities. There was nothing for it but to await events, though he +was still determined to start for England the moment Nasmyth's letter +made this seem advisable. + +Shortly afterward, one of his business associates came in: a young man +with a breezy, restless manner who would not have been trusted in England +with the responsibilities he most efficiently discharged. In the West, a +staid and imposing air carries no great weight with it and eagerness and +even rather unguided activity are seldom accounted drawbacks. There +dulness is dreaded more than rashness. + +"I've seen Walthew and Slyde," he announced. "It will be all right about +the money; we'll put the hydraulic plant proposition through at the next +Board meeting. You'll have to go back right away." + +"I've only just come down; the frost's not out of me yet," Lisle +grumbled. "Besides, you seem to be going ahead rather fast here in the +city. Walthew's a little too much of a hustler; I'd rather he'd stop to +think. You're almost as bad, Garnet." + +The young man laughed. + +"I guess you can't help it, it's the English streak in you; but in a way +you're right. Fact is Walthew and I have hustled the rest of the crowd +most off their feet, and we mean to keep them on the jump. Last meeting +old Macalan's eyes were bulging with horror, he could hardly stammer out +his indignation--said our extravagance was sinful. Anyway, you've got to +go." + +Lisle made an acquiescent grimace. His face was strongly darkened by +exposure to the frost and the glare of the snow; his hands were scarred, +with several ugly recently-healed wounds on them. + +"Well," he complied with some reluctance, "if it's necessary." + +"It is," Garnet explained. "Think we're going to have washing plant worth +a good many thousand dollars left lying in the bush or dropped into +rivers? You'll have to arrange for transport and break new trails. You +can do it best when the snow's still on the ground, and that plant must +start working soon after the thaw comes. We've got to justify our +expenditure while the season's open." + +"You haven't got your authority to buy the plant yet." + +Garnet chuckled. + +"It was ordered, provisionally, the day you came down; the makers are +only waiting for a wire from the Board meeting. In fact, I shouldn't be +astonished if some of the work isn't in progress now." + +Lisle was quick of thought and prompt in action, but he sometimes felt as +if Garnet took his breath away. + +"If you have it all arranged, I may as well agree," he laughed. "I'll +take Crestwick back." + +"That reminds me; he said something about taking an interest--asked if I +could get him shares at a moderate premium, though he owned that his +trustees might make trouble about letting him have the money." + +"He's not to have them!" Lisle replied emphatically. "What's more, the +trustees won't part with a dollar unless I guarantee the project--I've +been in communication with them. Rest assured that the idea won't get my +endorsement." + +"I could never get at the workings of the English mind," Garnet declared. +"Now if my relatives had any money, I'd rush them all in. This is the +safest and best-managed mining proposition on the Pacific Slope. What +kind of morality is it that gathers in the general investor and keeps +your friends out?" + +"I don't know; it doesn't concern the point. I'm actuated by what you may +call a prejudice. You can't remove it." + +"Well," Garnet responded good-humoredly, "it's a pretty tough country up +yonder and I suppose the lad's of some service. You're saving us a pile +of money in experts' fees and I don't see why you shouldn't put him on +the company's payroll. I mentioned the thing to Walthew; he was +agreeable." + +They talked about other matters and presently Crestwick came in, smartly +dressed and looking remarkably vigorous and clear-skinned. There were +many points of difference between his appearance now and when Lisle had +first met him. + +"Mr. Garnet has a proposition to make," Lisle informed him; and the +Canadian briefly stated it. + +Crestwick did not seem surprised, nor did he display much appreciation. + +"To tell the truth, I thought you might have mentioned the matter +before," he remarked. "Still, if you want my services, you'll have to go +up twenty dollars." + +"A week?" Garnet asked ironically. "You promise well; if you stay here a +year or two you'll make a useful and enterprising citizen. We could get +an experienced boss packer for what I offered you." + +"Down here, yes. When he got to where the claims are, he'd almost +certainly drop you and turn miner, and you couldn't blame him. A man +deserves a hundred dollars a day merely for living up yonder. But it's a +month I was speaking of. If you want me, you'll have to come up." + +Garnet laughed. + +"I guess I can fix it; but we'll get our value out of you." + +"That's a compliment, if you look at it in one way," Crestwick grinned in +reply. + +When Garnet had left them, he turned to Lisle. + +"Thanks awfully. Of course, it was your idea." + +"Garnet suggested the thing; that's more flattering, isn't it?" + +Crestwick looked at him, smiling. + +"I'm not to be played so easily as I was when I first met you," he said. +"Of course, in a sense, the pay's no great inducement to me; it's the +idea of being offered it. I'm going to advise old Barnes, my trustee; he +was fond of saying that I was fortunate in being left well off because +I'd never earn sixpence as long as I lived, until I stopped the thing by +offering him ten to one I'd go out and make it in a couple of hours by +carrying somebody's bag from the station. Anyhow, this is the first +move." + +"Then you're going farther?" + +"Quite so," was the cheerful answer. "I'll be a director of this company +before I've finished. You can't stop my buying shares when I come into my +property." + +Lisle was conscious of some relief. It was a laudable ambition and +Crestwick promised to be much less of a responsibility than he had once +anticipated. + +"I've a letter from Bella," Lisle told him. "She still desires to be +informed if you're getting along satisfactorily. I think I can tell her +there's no cause for uneasiness." + +"Bella's a good sort," returned Crestwick. "She'll stop asking such +questions by and by. At least, I think she'll have some grounds for doing +so." + +They went out into the city and a week afterward they sailed together for +the North. It was still winter in the wilds, and though that made Lisle's +work a little easier, because rivers and lakes and muskegs were frozen, +he found it sufficiently arduous. He had to survey and break new trails +suitable for the conveyance of heavy machinery, up rugged valleys and +over high divides, and to arrange for transport--canoes here, a +log-bridge there, relays of packers farther on. No man's efforts could be +wasted, for time was precious and wages are high in the wilderness. Then, +when at last the frost relaxed its grip and rock and snow and loosened +soil came thundering down the gullies in huge masses, the work grew more +difficult as he began to build a dam. + +Some of the men sent up to him, artizans from the cities, sailor +deserters, dismayed by the toils of the journey and the nature of their +tasks, promptly mutinied on arrival. Others dispatched after them failed +to turn up, and Lisle never discovered what became of them. The camp-site +was a sea of puddled mire with big stones in it; tents and shacks were +almost continuously dripping; and every hollow was filled with a raging +torrent. Nobody had dry clothes, even to sleep in; the work was mostly +carried on knee-deep in water, and at first things got little better as +the days grew warmer. The hill-benches steamed and clammy mists wrapped +the camp at night; the downward rush of melting snow increased, and +several times wild floods swept away portions of the dam and half-built +flume. + +In spite of it all, the work went on: foot by foot the wall of pile-bound +rock rose and the long wooden conduit curved away down the valley; and +when at length the hydraulic plant began to arrive, piecemeal, Lisle +found Crestwick eminently useful. He superintended the transport, +patrolling the trails and keeping them repaired. His skill with shovel +and ax was negligible, but he could send a man or two to mend the gap +where the path had slipped away down some gully or to fling a couple of +logs across a swollen creek that could not be forded. He got thinner and +harder from constant toil and from sleeping, often scantily fed, +unsheltered in the rain. + +After a while, however, there was a pleasant change: the days grew hot, +the nights were clear and cold, and the short, vivid summer broke +suddenly upon the mountain land. Then it seldom rained, as the high +seaward barrier condensed most of the Pacific moisture, but at times the +clouds which crossed the summits unbroken descended in a copious deluge, +and it was in the midst of such a downpour that Crestwick returned to +camp one evening after a week's absence on the trail. His dripping +garments were ragged, his boots gaped open, and his soft felt hat had +fallen shapeless about his head. He found Lisle in a similar guise +sitting at his evening meal. + +"Have they got the pipes and those large castings across the big ravine?" +Lisle asked. + +"Yes, that has been done," Crestwick answered. "By the way, one of the +packers told me that the man who's coming up to run the plant--Carsley, +isn't it?--has arrived. There were some fittings or something wrong and +he stopped behind to investigate, but the packer seemed to think he'd get +through soon after I did. That turns us loose, doesn't it?" + +"I dare say I could hand things over to him in about a week," replied +Lisle. "Then we'll clear out. I suppose you won't be sorry?" + +Crestwick stretched out his feet to display his broken boots and rent +trousers. + +"Well," he said, "since I left here, I've spent a good deal of my time in +an icy creek, and it's nearly a week since I had any sleep worth speaking +of. We had to make a bridge for the freighters to bring those castings +over and we'd no end of trouble to get the stringers fixed--the stream +was strong and we had to build a pier in it. Not long ago, I'd have +considered anybody who did this kind of thing without compulsion mad, but +in some mysterious way it grows on you. I don't pretend to explain it, +but it won't be with unmixed delight that I'll go back to the city." + +He paused and fumbled in his pocket. + +"I was forgetting your mail. I'm afraid it's rather pulpy, but I couldn't +help that. By the way, I'd a letter from Bella, written at the Frontenac, +Quebec. She's brought Carew out; they're going to Glacier very soon, and +she still intends to look me up." + +Lisle opened the letters handed him and managed to read them, though +their condition fully bore out Crestwick's description. Two or three were +on business matters, but there was one from Millicent, and he started at +the first few lines. + +"Miss Gladwyne and Miss Hume have sailed--they must have landed a week +ago," he announced. "She wants to go over the ground her brother +traversed--you have heard of that project. Nasmyth sailed a week earlier +to arrange matters at this end; but I don't know how Miss Hume will get +along." + +"It's merely a question of transport," asserted Crestwick with the air of +an authority on the subject. "So long as you provide sufficient packers, +with relays from supply bases, you can travel in comparative comfort, +though it's expensive." Then an idea occurred to him. "They're pretty +sure to run across Bella; Miss Gladwyne knows Carew." + +Lisle sat silent a few minutes, conscious of a strong satisfaction. +Millicent was in Canada, and there was no mention of Gladwyne! Then it +struck him as curious that Bella should have come over at the same time. +As Millicent knew Carew, it was very probable that Bella would insist on +joining the expedition, which Millicent might agree to, if, as seemed +likely, her rather elderly companion had to be left behind. Nasmyth had, +no doubt, already reached British Columbia; and it looked as if those +indirectly brought together by George Gladwyne's tragic death would be +reunited at the scene of it. This was, Lisle reflected, merely the result +of a natural sequence of events, but there was for all that something +strangely significant about it. + +"Well," he said, "it has been arranged that I'm to act as guide, and Miss +Gladwyne says they'll wait for me. As that's the case, I don't see why I +shouldn't start as soon as Carsley gets through. I shouldn't wonder if he +brings a letter from Nasmyth. It will be a tough journey, and I'll have +to break a new trail. Are you coming, or will you head for Vancouver to +join Bella?" + +"We'll stick together," replied the lad. "Bella's to stay over here some +months, and if she decides to join Miss Gladwyne she'll leave Glacier +long before I could reach the place." + +Lisle rose and shook out his pipe. + +"Then," he responded, "I'll take a look around, and you had better start +off the first thing to-morrow and hurry those castings on. There's a good +deal to be done if we're to get away when Carsley turns up." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A RELIABLE MAN + + +The sun had just dipped behind a black ridge of hills, and the lake lay +still, mirroring the tall cedars on its farther shore. A faint chill was +creeping into the mountain air, which was scented with resinous smoke, +and somewhere across the water a loon was calling. A cluster of tents +stood upon the shingle, and in front of the largest Millicent reclined in +a camp-chair. Near her Miss Hume sat industriously embroidering; and +Nasmyth lay upon the stones. Bella occupied another camp-chair, a young +man with a pleasant brown face sitting at her feet; and farther along the +beach a group of packers in blue shirts and duck trousers lay smoking +about a fire. By and by one rose and when he began to hack at a drift-log +the sharp thudding of his ax startled the loon which departed with a peal +of shrieking laughter. + +The party had reached the fringe of the wilderness after a long stage +journey from the railroad through a rugged country. They had met with no +mishaps beyond a delay in the transport of some of their baggage, and +everything had been made comparatively easy for them; but they knew that +henceforward there might be a difference. Man must depend largely upon +his own natural resources in the wilds, where, after furnishing the +traveler with the best equipment and packers to carry it, the power of +wealth is strictly limited. A recognition of the fact hovered more or +less darkly in all their minds, but Millicent was the first to hint at +it. + +"So far we have had absolutely nothing to complain of except a little +jolting in the stage," she said. "I'm beginning to understand why +adventurous sight-seers are coming out here--it's a glorious country!" + +"It's my duty to point out that it won't be quite the same as we go on," +Nasmyth remarked. "What do you say, Carew?" + +"It doesn't matter; he's said it all before," Bella broke in. "I've had +to listen to appalling accounts of his previous adventures in Canada, +which were, no doubt, meant to deter me; but the reality is that the +hotels at Banff and Glacier are remarkably comfortable, and I haven't the +least fault to find with this camp. We ought to be grateful to Millicent +for letting us come, and though Arthur hinted that it would be a rather +sociable honeymoon, I said that was a safeguard. One's illusions might +get sooner shattered in a more conventional one." She stooped and ruffled +her husband's hair. "Still, he hasn't deteriorated very much on closer +acquaintance, and perhaps I'm fortunate in this." + +Millicent sat silent for a few moments. She knew, to her sorrow, one man +who did not improve the more one saw of him, and that was the man she had +tacitly agreed to marry. She could not tell why she had done so--she had +somehow drifted into it. Interest, family associations, a feeling that +could best be described as liking, even pity, had played their part in +influencing her, and now she realized that she could not honorably draw +back when he formally claimed her. She laughed as one of the packers who +had a good voice broke into a song. + +"That's the climax; it needs only the cockney accent to make the thing +complete," she said. "When I was last in London, one heard that silly +jingle everywhere. I suppose it's a triumph of the music-halls." + +"Or of modern civilization--a rendering of distance of no account," +suggested Carew. "There's a good deal to be said for the latter +achievement, as we are discovering." + +"Distance," declared Bella, "still counts for something here. I've been +thinking about Jim all day; imagining him dragging his canoe through the +timber beyond those hills, and wondering whether he'd find us when he got +to the other side." + +"She has been doing more," her husband broke in. "Though she hasn't +confessed it, she has been looking out for him ever since this morning. +In fact, I discovered that our cook is keeping a supper ready that would +satisfy four or five men." + +Bella turned to Millicent with a smile. + +"Do you think the meal will be wasted?" she asked. + +"No; I can hardly believe it." + +"Mark the assurance of that answer," commented Carew. "A man couldn't +feel it; it's irrational. Miss Gladwyne speaks with a certainty that our +guide will come, though she has nothing to base her calculations on--she +doesn't know the distance or the difficulties of the way." + +"What does that matter?" Bella retorted. "She knows the man." + +Carew made a grimace. + +"A woman's reasoning. As we've nothing better to do, I'll try to show the +absurdity of it. A man, so far as he concerns this discussion, consists +of a certain quantity of bones, with muscles and tendons capable of +setting them in motion--" + +"Be careful," Bella warned him. "It's safer to avoid these details. +Besides, you're leaving something out; I don't mean the nerve-cells, but +the inner personality, whatever it is, that commands them." + +"I'm trying to show that, as a mechanical structure, he is capable of +moving his own weight and so much extra a limited distance in a given +time, so long as he can secure the necessary food and sleep. Neither the +weight nor the distance can be increased except by an effort which, if +continued, will soon reduce them below their former level." + +Bella laughed. + +"Yes," she said, "that's how you reason--mechanically. We're different." + +"I'll take quite another line," Nasmyth interposed. "Lisle's traversing a +country new to him; he can't tell what rapids, ranges, or thick timber +may cause delay. No amount of determination will enable one, for +instance, to knock more than a few minutes off the time needed to carry a +canoe round a portage, nor by any effort can one cross a range as quickly +as one can walk up a valley. Isn't that clear, Millicent?" + +There was a smile in the girl's eyes. + +"Yes," she replied, "but, all the same, Lisle's supper's waiting." + +"Such confidence makes one jealous," grumbled Carew. "Lisle, whom I +haven't met, is evidently a man who keeps his promise. That means a good +deal." + +"A very great deal," Bella assured him. "Since one's bound to meet with +difficulties one can't foresee, it proves that one man has resource, +resolution, and many other eminently useful qualities; but all this is +getting too serious. I'd better point out that Lisle hasn't even promised +to meet us here at any particular time." She paused and laughed +mischievously. "Millicent merely sent for him, mentioning to-morrow as +the day she would like to start." + +A little color crept into Millicent's face, but Bella went on: + +"She called and I haven't the least doubt that our guide set out, over +ranges, up rapids, across wide lakes. One can't imagine that man taking +it easily, and there's the obvious fact that Jim will have to keep up +with him. He will find it hard, but I dare say it will do him good." + +Nasmyth laughed and strolled away with Carew. The sunset green grew +dimmer behind the hills and a pale half-moon appeared above the shadowy +woods. It was very still, except for the lapping of the water upon the +stones. + +Bella leaned back lazily in her chair. + +"This is delightful," she exclaimed. "Didn't Clarence want to come?" + +The unexpectedness of the question startled Millicent into answering: + +"He didn't know." + +"Ah! Then you didn't tell him? Why didn't you?" + +It was difficult to reply, but there was something in Bella's voice that +disarmed Millicent's resentment. Bella had grown gentler since her +marriage and less often indulged in bitterness. + +"I think," said Millicent, "I didn't want any one to distract me; I'm +going to make photographs and sketches for the book, you know." + +"But you let us come!" + +"Yes," assented Millicent; "you're different." + +"That's true. We won't disturb you; and Nasmyth wouldn't count. He's an +unobtrusive person, only to the front when he is wanted, which is a good +deal to say for him; he doesn't expect anything. No doubt, the same +applies to Lisle." + +Millicent made no answer and Bella wondered whether she had gone too far. + +"But didn't Clarence hear that you were going?" she asked. + +"He was in Switzerland with his mother. She had been recommended to try a +change." + +Bella asked no more questions and Millicent sat wondering how far she had +been influenced by the reason she had given for leaving Clarence behind. +She had undoubtedly desired to be free to devote herself to the gathering +of material for her book, but that was not quite all. She had also +half-consciously shrunk from the close contact with Clarence which would +have been one result of their life in camp, but this she refused to +admit. It was clearer that she desired an extension of the liberty which +she must sometime relinquish. Taking it all round, she was rather +troubled in mind. + +"There's one thing," remarked Bella. "He can't write you any reproachful +letters for stealing away. At least, if he does so, you won't get them." + +This, as Millicent recognized, was a relief, but Miss Hume broke in upon +her reflections with some trifling request and soon afterward the men +strolled back toward the fire. The packers had already gone to sleep; the +dew was heavy, but Nasmyth lay down on the shingle and Carew took a place +beside his wife's chair. Suddenly Millicent leaned forward with her face +turned toward the lake. + +"Listen!" she cried sharply. "Can't you hear something?" + +No sound reached the others for a moment; and then Nasmyth jumped up. + +"Yes," he exclaimed; "canoe paddles." + +A measured beat stole out of the silence, increasing until it broke +sharply through the tranquil lapping of the water. Then, far up the +glittering lake, a dim black bar crept out into the moonlight and by +degrees grew plainer. + +"Of course, they may be Indians," Bella suggested mischievously. + +Carew included Millicent in his answering bow. + +"No; I believe I'm beaten. You and Miss Gladwyne were right." + +The moonlight was on Millicent's face, and Bella, watching her, read +something that roused her interest in its expression--it was stronger +than satisfaction, a deeper feeling not unmixed with pride. She had +called and the man she had summoned from the depths of the wilderness had +responded. + +A few minutes later the canoe grounded noisily on the shingle and +Crestwick leaped out; Bella, regardless of the others, flung her arms +about his neck and kissed him; and then she held him off so that she +might see him. His garments were rent and tattered, his face was very +lean, and one of his hands was bleeding from continuous labor with the +paddle. + +"Oh!" she cried; "you disreputable scarecrow! You're not fit for select +society. And how long is it since you had anything to eat?" + +"We had a rather rough time getting through; there was thick scrub timber +in some of the valleys," Crestwick explained. "We might have made things +easier by spending another few days on the trail, but Lisle wouldn't +listen when I suggested it." + +"Then you did suggest it," said Bella reproachfully. "Of course, I'm +merely your sister." + +"I don't want a better one," Crestwick rejoined, grinning. "It strikes me +you're looking prettier than you did; but that's perhaps because you have +taken to wearing more ladylike clothes. As regards my appearance, I'll +venture to say that yours will be very much the same before you've +finished this journey." + +Lisle had walked toward Miss Hume and had shaken hands with her before he +turned to Millicent. That pleased the girl. + +"We ran it rather close, but the day isn't quite finished yet," he +laughed. "We had some little trouble once or twice which prevented our +turning up earlier." + +Millicent smiled in a manner that sent a thrill through him. + +"I can only say that we kept your supper; but that's significant, isn't +it?" Then she called to Nasmyth. + +"Will you see if the cook's awake?" + +She had no opportunity for saying anything further, for Carew came up +with Bella, who was voluble, and some time later Lisle and Crestwick sat +down to a bountiful meal, while Millicent and Bella waited on them. Lisle +was slightly embarrassed by their ministrations, but Crestwick openly +enjoyed them. + +"Put the plate where I can reach it easily," he bade his sister. "Look +how you have placed that cup; if I move, it will spill!" + +"You have more courage than I have, Jim," Carew remarked with a smile. + +"I've needed it," the lad declared. "I've borne enough from Bella in my +time. She'll no doubt say that I deserved it, and there may be some +ground for the notion." + +When the meal was finished they all gathered round the replenished fire, +Lisle lying back in the shadow because of the state of his clothes. With +the exception of Jim, the others were dressed much as they had been at +home; their conversation was light and easy, and their manner tranquil. +If he could have blotted out the background of tall straight trunks and +shadowy rocks, he could have imagined that they were lounging on a +sheltered English lawn. Double-skinned tents, camp-chairs, and other +signs of a regard for physical comfort bore out the idea in his mind. +These English people with their quiet confidence that what they +needed--and that was a good deal--would, as had always happened, somehow +be supplied, were at once exasperating and admirable. They were the same +everywhere, unmoved by change, claiming all that was choicest as by +right, and very much at ease on the fringe of the wilderness. They did +not belong to it; one could have imagined that it belonged to them. Their +journey, however, had only begun, and there were alterations that must +obviously be made on the morrow. + +Then Lisle yielded to a strong sense of satisfaction. For the next month +or two he would be almost constantly in Millicent's company; her +companions were his friends, and he thought that he would not be troubled +by Gladwyne's presence. Desiring to assure himself on the latter point, +he turned to Bella. + +"Nobody has mentioned Clarence. I was wondering if he would join us?" + +"No," she answered, smiling at him meaningly; "he wasn't invited." Then +she moved away, leaving Lisle more deeply content. + +Presently the party broke up, and when they reached the tent they jointly +occupied, Miss Hume remarked to Millicent: + +"You look unusually pleased, my dear." + +"I dare say I do," Millicent smiled. "It's something to feel that one's +confidence has been justified, and perhaps rather more to rest assured +that everything will now go as smoothly as possible." + +"I suppose you mean since Mr. Lisle has come? Apart from his practical +abilities, I'm fond of that man. No doubt you noticed that he came first +to me, as the eldest, though he is aware that I'm only a dependent. In a +way, of course, he wasn't altogether right, Bella Carew being married and +you the actual hostess." + +"I wonder if such points are of any importance in the bush," Millicent +answered, laughing. "But I'm glad Mr. Lisle's action won your good +opinion. I like my friends to be graceful." + +Miss Hume, faded, gray-haired and formal, looked reflective. + +"The word you used is not quite the one I should have chosen. Clarence +Gladwyne is graceful; I think this Canadian is something better. To-night +he was actuated by genuine chivalry. My esteem may not be worth much, but +it is his." + +Moved by some impulse, Millicent kissed her. + +"I've no doubt he'd value it. But I can't have Clarence depreciated; and +it's getting very late." + +Miss Hume noticed a slight change in the girl's voice as she mentioned +Gladwyne. She put out the lamp but it was some time before she went to +sleep. She loved Millicent, and she believed there was trouble awaiting +her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +LISLE TURNS AUTOCRAT + + +On the morning after his arrival, Lisle called the company together and +first of all addressed Millicent. + +"It's your wish that I should act as guide to this expedition?" + +Millicent answered in the affirmative and he went on: + +"The guide must be commander-in-chief, with undisputed authority. Before +we start, I must ask if any one objects to that?" + +They gave him full power, with acclamation, and he nodded. + +"Well," he continued, "I'd better explain that the main difficulty +attending any expedition into an almost uninhabited region is to keep it +supplied with food and means of shelter; it's a question of transport. +There are two ways of getting over the difficulty--by reducing the +weight, or by increasing the number of packers; and the latter are useful +only when each man can transport more than will satisfy his personal +requirements. I think that's clear?" + +They assented with some curiosity mixed with a slight uneasiness. + +"Then," he proceeded, "I'll exercise my authority by asking you to lay +out in front of each tent everything you have brought with you." + +"Including our clothes?" Bella asked. + +"Assuredly," said Crestwick. "You can put them in a heap; it's the +quantity and not the cut that counts." + +It was evident that the leader's first instructions were received with +little favor. Millicent looked dubious and Miss Hume alarmed; but the +orders were carried out, and Lisle accompanied by Crestwick made a tour +of inspection. Stopping in front of Bella's and Carew's tent, he pointed +to their rather imposing pile of baggage. + +"Two-thirds of this will have to be left behind, though we'll try to pick +it up again. You can make your selection." He went on to Millicent's and +Miss Hume's collection. "We can't take more than half of this," he +informed them. Then he addressed the company in general. "The three +ladies must occupy Miss Gladwyne's tent, and the men Carew's; Nasmyth's +must be abandoned. Each man's outfit must be cut down to one change of +clothes and his blanket." + +The announcement was received with open murmurs. They had all been +accustomed to every comfort with which a high civilization could provide +them; they had already cut down their belongings to the lowest limit at +which, in their estimation, life could be made endurable; and many of the +articles they were told must be left behind were costly and artistic. It +was a severe test of obedience and even Nasmyth, who knew the wilderness, +desiring to safeguard the women, was not inclined to yield. Lisle had +only Crestwick to support him until Bella touched his arm. + +"Stand fast," she urged, somewhat to his surprise. "If you give way an +inch now, you'll be sorry." + +Lisle smiled and then raised his voice. + +"I'm afraid I must insist. Since you object, Carew, are you willing to +carry forty pounds upon your back while you break a trail through thick +timber, where we find it needful to leave the water?" + +"Certainly not," said Carew decidedly. + +"Then," Lisle advised dryly, "you had better leave as much as possible of +the weight behind; there's no likelihood of our getting more packers. You +have to choose between a camp-chair or a suitcase, for example, and your +daily dinner." + +For a moment or two they hesitated. Lisle had, straining his new +authority to the utmost, asked them a very hard thing, for in their +regard some degree of luxury was less an accidental favor than a +prescriptive right. Then Bella took up a long garment and with a little +resolute gesture flung it from her. + +"That," she laughed, "is the first sacrifice to the stern guardians of +the wilds. It ought to satisfy them, considering who made it and what it +cost." She seized a small valise and hurled it after the dress. "There's +the next; I'm thankful my complexion will stand the weather." + +Millicent looked up at Lisle, indicating a small easel, a bulky +sketch-book, and a box of water-colors. + +"Are these to go?" she asked with indignant eyes. + +"No," he answered gravely; "they're the reason for the whole expedition, +and their transport is provided for. But you'll have to jettison +something else." + +The selections were made and Lisle summoned one of the packers. + +"Roll these things up in Mr. Nasmyth's tent, Pete," he bade him. "You'll +have to make a cache of them." + +"Like burying money, isn't it?" remarked the man, regarding the pile of +sundries with a grin. "Guess they won't be worth much when they're dug up +again." + +Half an hour later, three deeply-laden canoes left the beach; and all day +the party paddled up the gleaming lake and crept with poles going up a +slow, green river. Sunset was near when they landed and ate supper among +a clump of cedars; and after the meal most of them, cramped with the +canoe journey, climbed the steep hill-bench or strolled away along the +shingle. Lisle was lying, smoking, beside the fire when Millicent +sauntered toward him and sat down upon a neighboring stone. + +"You were right, of course," she apologized. "Am I forgiven? It was only +a momentary revolt." + +He smiled, though his bronzed coloring deepened, for there was an unusual +gentleness in her voice. + +"It was very natural," he replied. "I had expected more determined +opposition; but I didn't go farther than was necessary." + +"No; I think the others realize that now." + +"They'll be more convinced of it later," he responded with a trace of +grimness. + +"I don't think they'll give you any trouble; but since you got rid of +Nasmyth's tent, where will you and Crestwick sleep?" + +"Jim and I can make a shelter of some kind; we're used to the bush." + +"What have you done to the lad?" Millicent asked. "I can hardly realize +the change in him; he's a different being." + +"I've merely given him a chance he would hardly have had in England. The +country has done the rest. You can ask him how much advice or +admonishment he got." + +"Oh," she explained, "I shouldn't expect you to give him advice; it's +cheap!" + +He made no reply, and her eyes rested with quiet approval on his rather +embarrassed face. She had no doubt that close contact with this man had +had more to do with the change in Crestwick than the influence of the +country; and then she recollected that the lad's degeneration had been +marked and rapid while he had taken Clarence for a model. It was a +troublesome thought and she banished it with an effort. + +"You didn't get here without difficulty; and our journey will keep you +away from your business for some time," she observed. + +"As to that, I've earned a little leisure; and I've been looking forward +to this trip ever since I left England. Now it's almost like being back +there again, only that in some ways it's even better." + +So far as their surroundings might explain his satisfaction, Millicent +could frankly agree with him. The black spires of the cedars, towering +far above them, cut in rigid tracery against the splendors of the sunset +sky; one stretch of the river still shone with a saffron light; the rest, +which had grown dim, flowed through deepening shadow. Filmy mist trails +streaked the rugged hills and the hoarse clamor of a rapid quivered in +the cool air. Behind it all, there was something that set the lonely +scene apart from any other that the girl had looked upon--one could +realize that this was as yet an untamed and unsullied region. But her +companion was accustomed to the wilderness, so there must be, she +thought, another cause for his content. + +"I am glad you do not grudge the time you may have to spend with us," she +said. + +"Grudge it!" he exclaimed; and then, restraining himself, he broke into a +soft laugh. "You may accuse me of that feeling when you hear me grumble." + +The ring in his voice had its meaning and it left her thoughtful. The +revelation was not altogether new; she had guessed his regard for her, +but she imagined that she could hold him at arm's length if it were +necessary. It was with him as it was with Nasmyth, and they were alike in +their self-restraint. Nasmyth had quietly accepted his dismissal when she +had shown him that it was irrevocable; and the Canadian would not trouble +her with futile complaints. She wondered if out of three suitors she had +not chosen the least desirable in some respects; but this could not be +admitted and she resolutely thrust the idea aside. + +"There's a point I'd better mention," Lisle resumed in a matter-of-fact +tone. "I'm not going to follow the route of the first expedition from the +beginning. I've thought of a shorter and easier one; we'll strike the +other by the big portage and then follow it down." + +"Are you afraid of wearing out your untried followers?" + +"Well," he admitted, "I'm taking no risks that can be avoided this +journey." + +She smilingly commended his caution, though she was conscious of a +desire, which must be held in check, to see what he would do if he could +be shaken out of his self-control. She approved of his restraint, because +only while it was exerted could she meet him on friendly terms; but, as +had happened on his last afternoon in England, it piqued her. She +wondered how much it cost him. + +"After all," she said with a forced laugh, "it's better to keep carefully +clear of danger." + +"Yes," he agreed; "but there's now and then a temptation to face the +hazard. One feels that it's worth while." + +"Never mind that. I think I'd rather enjoy the wildness of this scene +than to philosophize. Tell me about the bear and deer we are likely to +come across." + +He discoursed at length, and she sat listening while the light faded and +the cedars grew blacker. Then the others approached and they went back to +camp. + +"Breakfast will be at seven prompt," he informed them. "The packers will +strike tents while you eat, so have everything ready. There are two +awkward portages to be tackled to-morrow." + +They started in a clammy mist which clung about them until they reached +the foot of the first wild rapid, where the green and white flood came +roaring over ledges and between huge boulders, with wisps of spray +tossing over it. This was Millicent's first sight of the river in anger, +and she watched, at first almost appalled and then thrilled with strong +excitement, when Lisle and one packer took the leading canoe up the +lowest rush. They stood upright in the unloaded, unstable craft, long +pole in hand, guiding her with what seemed wonderful skill across +madly-whirling eddies and through tumbling foam, while Nasmyth and +another man, floundering deep in water, assisted them at intervals with +the tracking-line. Once Nasmyth's companion lost his footing and +disappeared, but he rose and Millicent saw that instead of clinging to +the line for safety he loosed it, and swimming down a wild white tumult, +came dripping ashore. This, she thought, was bracing work that made for +more than physical vigor; but she could not imagine Clarence indulging in +it. It was too elemental, too barbarous for him. He was fond of exertion +in the form of sport, but he required somebody to saddle and lead out his +horse and to load his second gun. There was a difference between him and +those who delighted to grapple at first hand with nature. + +She was astonished to see Crestwick get a heavy flour bag upon his back +and move away with it over very rough stones, and she joined in Bella's +laugh when Carew attempted to shoulder another and dropped it. + +"It's the first time he's ever tried such a thing in his life," Bella +remarked. "There's nothing like personal experience. You don't realize +that it isn't easy when you give a porter sixpence to lift your biggest +trunk at a station." + +"The difference is that the porter's used to it," Carew, who was +red-faced and breathless, pointed out. + +"It looks as if that would apply to you before we've finished," Bella +retorted. "If you can't do anything else, why don't you help those men in +the river?" + +Carew made a gesture of resignation and resolutely plunged in. + +"That," laughed Bella, to Millicent and Miss Hume, "is excellent +discipline; after a little of it, I believe he'll do me credit. I can +think of a few overfed men that I'd like to put through a drastic course +of it, only in their case I'd go in the canoe and take my heaviest +luggage with me." + +"It wouldn't be wise," asserted Millicent. "When they reached broken +water they'd probably let you go." + +She collected an armful of odds and ends and set off up-stream over the +portage. The men spent several hours bringing the canoes and stores +across, and there followed some laborious poling before they reached the +second rapid, which was safely passed. The party was quieter than usual +after supper that night. They had had their first glimpse of the +strenuous life of the wilderness and it had impressed them. The effect +passed off, however, as they pushed on day after day without mishap. +Millicent, in particular, delighted in all she saw--the fresh green of +the birches among the somber cedars, the lonely heights that ever +surrounded them, the gleaming lakes, the broad green flood that here and +there filled the gorges with its thunder. + +She suffered no discomfort she could not laugh at; there was something +that braced her in mind and body in the mountain air; and Clarence no +longer held a leading place in her memory. She realized now that the +thought of him had hitherto occasioned her a vague uneasiness. Indeed, +she was almost glad that he was far away; liberty was unexpectedly sweet, +and though she had a few misgivings, she meant to enjoy it while it +lasted. + +Then one afternoon when they were stopped by a fall, she slipped away +from the others with her sketch-book, and wandering back through +straggling bush, climbed a rocky ridge. The ascent was steep, but by +clambering up a gully she reached the summit, and after strolling along +it she sat down to sketch the gorge below. The work absorbed her +attention and some time had passed when the lengthening shadows warned +her that she would better retrace her steps to camp. + +It proved difficult. She could not find the gully she had climbed up and +the side of the ridge was almost precipitous and was clothed with +brushwood. At last, however, she reached a spot from which it seemed +possible to make the descent; but after scrambling and sliding for some +distance she was suddenly stopped by a sheer drop of several yards to a +ledge. Being agile, she might have reached the ledge by lowering herself +by her hands, but it was narrow and slanted outwards, so that she feared +to slip off in alighting and fall over the crag below. She attempted to +climb back to the summit and found it impossible, for the stones she +seized were loose and came away when she disturbed them. She could only +stay where she was and call for assistance, though the clamor of the +fall, ringing up the valley, almost drowned her voice. + +By and by the sunlight faded off the rocks above, the trees below grew +shadowy, and Millicent began to feel anxious and to envy the others who +would, no doubt, be sitting down to their evening meal. They would miss +her and set out in search; but they might not reach her until it was +dark, when it would be difficult to extricate her, and she had no desire +to spend the night among the rocks. She made another determined attempt +to get up, but slid back, nearly slipping over the edge, while her +sketch-book went clattering far below. Then she sat still, calling out at +intervals. + +The light grew dimmer, white mists began to trail about the heights +above, and Millicent was getting cold. She was also getting angry--it +looked as if the others were too busy eating or talking to care what had +become of her; some of them ought to have come in search. She felt a +grievance against Lisle in particular. Why she should blame him more than +Nasmyth or Carew was not very clear, except that he was more used to the +country; but she felt that he ought to have come to her rescue. Then, +fearing that she would have to spend the night on the hillside, she +carefully crept toward a small level space near a jutting rock and sat +down, shivering, while dusk slowly crept across the bush. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE + + +Millicent had no intention of going to sleep among the rocks, but after a +while she grew drowsy, and when at length she raised her head with a +start the moon hung over the hills across the river, flooding the heights +above her with a silvery light. The trees below were sharper in form, but +everything was very still; only the thunder of the fall seemed to have +increased in depth of tone. Millicent shivered from the cold as she sent +a sharp cry ringing across the woods. + +This time it was answered, and she recognized the voice. Looking down, +she could see Lisle's black figure moving cautiously along the ledge, for +although the lower rocks were wrapped in shadow it is never altogether +dark in the northern summer. Coming out into the moonlight, he examined +the slab of rock which had arrested her descent, but when he spoke she +was not quite pleased with his very matter-of-fact tone. It left +something to be desired--she thought he might have displayed more +satisfaction at finding her safe. + +"Is there anything you could catch hold of at the top?" he asked. "If so, +you'd better lower yourself until I can reach you." + +Anxious as she was to get down, Millicent hesitated; if she did as he +suggested she would descend into his arms. She was not unduly prudish, +and indeed, after being left alone in the impressive solitude of the +wilds, she would have been glad of the reassuring grasp of a human being. +But an obscure feeling, springing, perhaps, from primitive instincts, +made her shrink from close contact with this particular man. + +"No," she answered coldly; "the rock is loose. Besides, the ledge is +narrow, and if I came down heavily, we might both fall over." + +He again examined the slab, and then stood still, considering. + +"Well," he decided, "there's a crack some way up that should give me a +hold, and a bit of a projection you could rest a foot on yonder. Then if +you gave me one hand, I could lower you down." + +He came up, thrusting his fingers into a fissure near the summit and +finding a tiny support for his toes. Lowering herself cautiously, she +clutched the hand he extended. + +"Now," he cautioned, "as gently as possible!" + +Loosing her hold above, she hung for a moment or two, half afraid to let +go his hand, while his arm and body grew tense with the strain and she +could hear his labored breath. Summoning her courage she relaxed her +grasp. In another second she was safe upon the ledge, and, scrambling +down, he stood beside her with a set, flushed face, the veins protruding +on his forehead. + +"I'm glad that's over; I was badly scared," he acknowledged. + +She thrilled at the confession, though she thought there had been no +serious risk; his concern for her safety was strangely pleasant and the +strenuous grasp of his fingers had stirred her. + +"Oh," she replied, "I believe I was quite safe after you got hold of me." + +He glanced at the steep face of broken rock that ran down into the +shadow. + +"If we'd gone over, we might not have brought up for a while," he said. +"But what's that resting on yonder jutting stone?" + +"I'm sorry it's my sketch-book," Millicent answered unguardedly. "It's +nearly filled." + +"Then wait here a little." + +"You can't get it!" Millicent cried sharply. "You mustn't try!" + +"It's quite easy." + +Millicent could not resist the temptation to make a rather dangerous +experiment. + +"And yet you were afraid a minute or two ago!" + +"Yes," he answered, looking at her steadily. "But that was different." + +She felt her heart-beats quicken and her face grow hot, but she laid a +restraining hand on his arm. + +"I won't let you go." + +"You must be reasonable," he urged, moving a pace away. "That book stands +for a good deal of high-grade work. If you lose it, you will have wasted +all the first part of your journey. Besides, I should feel very mean if I +left it lying there." + +He lowered himself over the edge, and moving from cranny to cranny and +stone to stone, went cautiously down, while she watched him with her +hands closed tight. What the actual peril was she could not estimate; but +it looked appallingly dangerous, particularly when in one place he had to +descend from a slightly overhanging stone. He reached the book, however, +and came up, and when at length he stood beside her his expression was +quite normal and he was only a little breathless. Again she felt a +disconcerting thrill which was accompanied by a confused sense of pride. +What he had done was in her service, and this time he had shown no sign +of fear or strain. + +"Thank you," she said. "But I'm a little angry--you shouldn't have gone. +I should never have forgiven myself if you had got hurt." + +There was light enough to show that the blood crept into his face; but he +turned and glanced at the descending ledge. + +"You had better put your hand on my shoulder where it's steep," he +suggested. "Still, we're not going to have much trouble in getting down." + +They had reached level ground before anything more was said, and then she +turned to him with a smile. + +"Why didn't you come before? You left me an unpleasantly long while among +the rocks." + +"We didn't miss you until supper," he explained. "Then I set off at once, +but I didn't know which way to look and the bush was pretty thick." +Stopping in the moonlight, he indicated his rent attire. "I think this +speaks for itself," he added humorously. "There's one consolation--the +things belong to Carew." + +Millicent was glad that he was not going to be serious. + +"I remember that you didn't bring much of an outfit," she replied. "I +suppose you had one. What became of it?" + +"I left it behind, in pieces, on the thorns and rocks along a good many +leagues of trail; but it wasn't extensive--when you travel in this +country you have often to choose between food and clothes. It was +obviously impossible to buy any more, but the day before we reached camp +I made Crestwick cut my hair. After a look at myself in Nasmyth's +pocket-glass, I'm inclined to think he was unwarrantably proud of his +success." + +After that they chatted lightly, until they walked into the glow of the +camp-fire, and while Bella and Miss Hume plied Millicent with questions +and congratulations, Lisle took up Nasmyth's repeating rifle and fired it +several times. + +"That will bring the boys in," he explained. "Now I'll get Miss +Gladwyne's supper." + +During the meal the others came back and when they had all assembled, +looking the worse for their scramble through the bush, Crestwick, who had +occasional lapses from good behavior, addressed them collectively. + +"Wasn't I right?" he asked. "I offered anybody three to one that Lisle +would be the first to find her." + +"Then you ought to be ashamed of it, after the expensive way in which +your confidence in your opinions has often been shown to be mistaken," +declared Bella. "Besides, you promised me you wouldn't waste your money +that way again!" + +"This time I was backing a moral certainty," Crestwick rejoined. "That +isn't gambling; if you're not convinced, you can ask the others on what +grounds they were so unwilling to take me." + +Receiving no encouragement, he addressed Millicent, who was extremely +vexed with him. + +"I suppose you know that you have given us all a good deal of anxiety. +You ought to feel contrite." + +"I'm not sorry if I've given you a good deal of trouble," Millicent +retorted. "You were a long time in coming to my rescue." + +"That," he exclaimed, "is just the kind of thing Bella used to delight in +saying, though I'll own that she's been much more civil lately. It's +possible that Carew's patience is not so long as mine." + +"Aren't you getting rather personal?" Carew hinted. + +Crestwick subsided with an indulgent grimace, but when they retired to +their shelter Lisle turned upon him. + +"It struck me that those jokes of yours were in what you would call +uncommonly bad form," he said. "It would be better if you didn't make any +more of them." + +"Bella doesn't mind; she's used to me," Crestwick grinned. + +"I wasn't referring to Bella--she has somebody to take care of her." + +"And Miss Gladwyne hasn't? Still, that's her own fault, isn't it? In my +opinion, she has only to say the word." He paused, seeing his companion's +face in the moonlight, for its expression was not encouraging. "Oh, +well!" he added, "you needn't lose your temper. There are people who can +never see when a thing's humorous; I'll wind up." + +In the meanwhile Millicent sat in the entrance of her tent, looking out +between the dark trunks of the cedars on the glittering river. It sluiced +by, lapping noisily upon the shingle, lined with streaks of froth, and +the roar of the neighboring fall filled the lonely gorge. The wildness of +her surroundings had its charm; she had been happier among them than she +had been at any time during the last twelve months in England, and now +she was uneasily conscious of the reason. Lisle's constant watchfulness +over her comfort, his cheery conversation, even the sight of him when he +was too busy to talk, were strangely pleasant. She realized why she had +made him take the harder way in helping her down from the rock and the +knowledge was disconcerting. She had been afraid to trust herself to the +clasp of his arms, but not because of any want of confidence in him. + +Then she saw Carew kiss Bella among the cedars before she left him to +walk toward the tent, and the sight stirred her blood. It was clear that +she must be on her guard; her guide must be kept firmly at a distance, +though this promised to be difficult. She was, to all intents and +purposes, pledged to Clarence; and until Bella joined her she tried to +fix her thoughts on him, wondering where he was and what he was doing, +without being able to find much interest in the question. + +As it happened, Clarence was then sitting in a luxurious parlor-car as a +big west-bound train sped through the forests of Ontario, but his face +was troubled and he felt ill at ease. A little more than a fortnight +earlier he had met Marple at a Swiss hotel, and the man had informed him +that Miss Gladwyne and Miss Hume had sailed for Canada. Nasmyth, he +added, had gone by a previous steamer, to make arrangements for some +journey they wished to undertake. This was the first intimation Clarence +had received. Millicent had written to him on the day before she sailed, +but the letter, following him to one of the Italian valleys, had not yet +reached him, and he was filled with consternation. She had stolen away, +as if she did not wish to be burdened with his company; she was going to +visit the scene of her brother's death, no doubt under the guidance of +Lisle, who had strong suspicions concerning it. He might communicate them +to Millicent; perhaps he had done so already, which would account for her +silent departure. With an effort Gladwyne roused himself to action. He +made up his mind to follow her and, if necessary, attempt some defense. +Perhaps, he thought, he could manage to destroy any evidence of his +treachery which the Canadian had discovered. + +Still, he was tormented by doubts as he lounged in the parlor-car, and, +growing restless, he went out on the rear platform and lighted a cigar. +There was faint moonlight, and dim trees fled past him; the rattle of +wheels and the rush of the cool wind was soothing. He could not think +while he stood holding on by the brass rail to protect himself against +the lurching, and he found a relief in the roar as the great train swept +across a foaming river. They had been detained at a junction during the +afternoon, and the engineer was evidently bent on making up the wasted +time. + +Presently the door of the next car opened, and Gladwyne started violently +as a dark figure came out on to the platform. + +"Batley!" he cried. "What in the name of wonder has brought you here!" + +Batley moving forward into the moonlight, regarded him with a mocking +smile. + +"Nothing very remarkable; I'd several motives. For one thing, I felt I'd +like the trip--had a stroke of luck not long ago which justified the +expense. British Columbia's nowadays almost as accessible as parts of +Norway, where I've generally gone to, and I understand it's wilder." + +"But how is it I haven't seen you on the train?" Gladwyne asked, in no +way reassured by the man's careless explanation. + +"I only got on at the last junction." Batley's tone was significant as he +proceeded. "I was too late for your Allan boat; when I inquired about you +in London I found that you had gone; but I caught the next New York +Cunarder and came on by Buffalo. I suppose you stopped a day or two in +Montreal, which explains how I've overtaken you." + +"We were held up by ice off Newfoundland." + +"Well," suggested Batley, "suppose we go into the smoking end of the car. +I dare say you'd like a talk and it's rather noisy here. Besides, the +cinders are a little too plentiful." + +They went in and Batley, lounging in a seat, lighted a cigar and waited +with an amused expression for the other to begin. Gladwyne was intensely +uneasy. It had been a vast relief to be free from his companion, and the +last thing he desired was that Batley, who was a remarkably keen-witted +man, should go over the track of George's expedition in company with +Lisle. + +"Now," he said, "I'd be glad if you would tell me exactly why you +followed me. The reason you gave didn't seem sufficient." + +"Then my other object ought to be clear. You're carrying a good deal of +my money; I felt it would be wiser to keep an eye on you. As I said, I'd +had a stroke of luck that enabled me to get away." + +"I suppose that means somebody has suffered!" Gladwyne, in his +bitterness, could not help the injudicious sneer. + +"Oh, no," returned Batley good-humoredly. "In this case, I'd set a man on +his feet--it's now and then as profitable as pulling one down, and my +methods aren't always destructive. The fellow was straight and I'm +inclined to believe he was grateful. I don't think he could have found +anybody else to back him, but I'm not afraid of a risk." He paused and +smiled at his companion. "Sometimes I make mistakes; I did so with you." + +Gladwyne flushed, but Batley proceeded: + +"I may remind you that when I financed you I was led to believe that you +would succeed to a handsome property; not one that was stripped of its +working capital. I'll give you credit for misleading me rather cleverly. +All this is to the point, because it explains my watchful attitude. +You're the kind of man I prefer to keep in sight." + +Disgust, humiliation and anger possessed Gladwyne, but he knew that he +was in his companion's hands, and he did not think that Batley had stated +all of his reasons yet. It was possible that he expected to discover +something in British Columbia that would strengthen his hold on his +victim. + +"Well," he replied with an attempt at calmness, "we needn't quarrel, +since it looks as if we'd have to put up with each other for some time. +Have you finished what you have to say?" + +"Not quite. There's one question yet. When do you expect to marry Miss +Gladwyne?" + +"What is that to you?" Clarence broke out. + +"Just this--I'm anxious to form some idea as to when I'm likely to get my +money back. Since Miss Crestwick dropped you, there's only Miss Gladwyne +available, so far as I know, and you have got to marry money and do so +pretty soon. I'm willing to do anything that may help on the match." + +Gladwyne's face burned, he looked savage, but Batley continued to watch +him with an ironical smile. + +"I don't want to drive you too hard, but I'm only stating an obvious +fact," he concluded. "Now I'll leave you to think it over while I +interview the porter of the sleeping-car." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CLARENCE REACHES CAMP + + +The evening was dull and gloomy, a gray sky hung over the desolate hills, +and Millicent, sitting alone on a rocky slope, felt troubled and +depressed. Beneath her, the long hollow that crossed the big divide +stretched back, colored in cheerless neutral tints, into drifting mist. +It was sprinkled with little ponds, and banded here and there with belts +of stunted trees, small birches and willows, and ragged cedars that hid +the oozy muskegs under them. + +The girl was worn with travel, for Lisle had abandoned the canoes some +time ago, and the party had followed, by what he called easy stages, the +trail he and the packers had broken, though the women had found the way +hard enough. This, he had informed them, would shorten the journey a good +deal, and he expected to fall in with some Indians, from whom canoes +could be obtained, once they had crossed the divide; failing this, they +might be compelled to retrace their steps. + +It was up the forbidding hollow they had lately reached that George +Gladwyne had doggedly plodded, faint with hunger, on his last journey. +Millicent had followed his trail for the past two days and she had found +them filled with painful memories. All that Lisle had shown her had +brought back her brother and once more she mourned for him. But that was +an old wound that had partly healed and she could face the sorrowful +story of George's last struggles with a certain pride; he had endured +with unwavering courage, and the manner of his death became him. The girl +had other troubles which clouded the present and filled her with +misgivings for the future. + +During her first few weeks in the wilderness, lying all day under clear +sunshine and cloudless skies, it had seemed to her an enchanted land. +Snow-peaks, and crystal lakes that mirrored ranks of climbing firs, +struck her as endowed with an almost unearthly beauty and as wonderful a +tranquillity; and when she pushed on through the savage portals of the +mountains there was something that stirred her nature in the sight of the +foaming rivers and the roar of the spray-veiled falls. Now, however, the +glamour had gone, it had been rudely banished on the night when Lisle had +helped her down the rocks. She, who had allowed Clarence to believe that +she would marry him, had found a strange delight in the company of +another man; one whom she might have loved had she been free, she tried +to convince herself, in a determined attempt to hide the fact that her +heart cried out for him. + +Lisle had pushed on with a single companion on the previous night to see +if he could obtain canoes; the packers were breaking a trail, and the +others were resting in camp. Millicent was glad of this, for she wanted +to be alone. Suddenly, as she looked down the hollow, two indistinct +figures appeared out of the mist. The packers had gone up the valley, but +there was no doubt that it was two men she saw, and they were apparently +making for the camp. As the party had met nobody since entering the +wilderness, she felt curious about the strangers. There was something in +the carriage of one of them that seemed familiar; and then the uneasiness +of which she had already been conscious became intensified as she +recognized that he walked like Clarence. + +A few minutes later the men were hidden by a growth of willows and she +sped back to camp, scrambling among the rocks with a haste that was born +of nervous tension. She did not see the men again--it was needful to pick +a path down the steep descent very carefully--and when she came, +breathless, upon the clump of birches among which the tents were pitched +it was evident from the hum of voices that the strangers had already +arrived. Pushing in among the trees, she stopped, with her heart beating +unpleasantly fast, face to face with Clarence. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, moving forward to meet her; "now I'm rewarded for my +journey. How fit and brown you look, Millicent!" + +She stood still a moment, with an expressionless face, finding no words +to say; then with an effort she roused herself and shook hands with him. + +"You must have had a trying march if you followed our trail," she said. +"But how did you get here--I mean why did you leave Switzerland?" + +Crestwick chuckled. + +"That's very much what we all asked him," he broke in. "In one way, it's +hardly civil; if we'd known he was coming, we'd have been better prepared +to express our delight." + +The lad was not, as a rule, considerate and he suffered from want of +tact, but there was truth behind what he said. It is given to only a few +to be sure of a warm and sincere welcome when they take their friends by +surprise. Nasmyth frowned at Crestwick, who had rashly hinted at the +feeling of constraint that had seized upon the party. Millicent, however, +was looking at Gladwyne and her heart grew softer as she noticed his +weariness and his strained expression. + +"Well," she said when he had answered her, "you must sit down and rest. +Nasmyth and Crestwick will get you something to eat as soon as possible." + +It was not what she would have wished to say--it sounded dreadfully +commonplace--but Batley came forward with an easy laugh. + +"I'm afraid our young friend"--he indicated Crestwick--"is not a +diplomatist, but on the whole his fault's a good one; he's more or less +honest. You'll forgive us for surprising you; it was quite impossible to +send you a warning." + +Millicent smiled, the tension suddenly slackened, and as the packer who +cooked was away with his comrade, they all set about preparing a meal +which, thanks to Batley, was eaten amid a flow of lively conversation. +The man was weary, but he could rise to an occasion and summon to his aid +a genial wit. Clarence was glad of this; fatigue had reacted on him, +increasing his anxiety, and he had been chilled by the coldness of his +reception. Even the cordiality his companions now displayed was +suspicious, because it suggested that they wished to atone for something +that had previously been lacking. He ate, however, and talked when he +found an opportunity, and afterward acquiesced when Millicent declined to +be drawn away from the others. + +When the meal was finished, they sat close together about the fire, for +coldness came with the dusk, but by degrees the conversation languished. +The increasing chill, the gloom and the desolation of their surroundings +affected them all; and nobody had been quite at ease since Gladwyne's +arrival. He was too tired to make more than spasmodic attempts to talk, +and though Millicent was sorry for him she could not help contrasting him +with Lisle. She had seen the latter almost worn out with severe labor, +but even then he had been cheerful, ready to encourage his companions +with lively badinage. He seemed to take pleasure in forcing his body to +the utmost strain it could bear. + +The light had died away into the partial obscurity which would last until +sunrise when Lisle walked into camp. The fire had burned up, and +Millicent saw his start and his face set hard at the sight of Gladwyne. + +"This is a surprise," he said. "When did you get here?" + +"About two hours ago. We found where you left the water and followed up +your trail," Gladwyne answered. + +"How many packers and what stores did you bring?" + +"Two packers," replied Gladwyne. "There were no more available at the +last settlement. Batley has a list of the provisions--we cut them down as +much as possible. As we were anxious to overtake you, we traveled light." + +Lisle took the list Batley gave him and examined it by the glow of the +fire. + +"It looks as if you didn't mind endangering the safety of the whole +party," he broke out. "This expedition is already quite large enough, and +you add four people to it with less than half the necessary stores, so +that you could save yourself a little trouble on the journey! What's more +important, we can't make up for the shortage by better speed. Only two of +you can pack an average load, though all four must be fed." + +Millicent had listened, hot with anger and a little surprised. Lisle had +his faults, including a shortness of temper, but he was now showing a +strain of what she considered primitive barbarism which he had hitherto +concealed. A cultured Englishman would have led Clarence aside or waited +for an opportunity before remonstrating with him; and then her face +burned as she wondered whether Lisle had been actuated by savage +jealousy. It was, however, insufferable that he should display it in this +fashion. + +"I must point out that I organized the expedition," she said. "Everybody +here is my guest." + +"Did you invite Gladwyne and Batley?" + +"I did not," Millicent was compelled to own. "For all that, they are now +in the same position as the rest. I must ask you to remember it." + +Lisle had some trouble in controlling himself, but he nodded. "Well," he +responded, "I'll have to alter several of our arrangements and I'll go +along and talk it over with the packers. I've got the canoes required, +and we'll take the trail at seven to-morrow." + +He strode away toward the packers' fire, quite aware that he had not +behaved in a very seemly way, but still consumed with indignation against +Gladwyne. When he had disappeared, Clarence looked up. + +"I'm sorry if we have given you unnecessary trouble; but does your guide +often adopt that rather hectoring tone?" + +His languid contempt roused Crestwick. + +"Lisle's responsible for the safety of all of us," the lad broke out, +"and you haven't shown much regard for it in making your loads as light +as you could!" + +Millicent raised her hand. + +"We'll talk about something else for a few minutes and then break up. +It's an early start to-morrow." + +They dispersed shortly afterward, but Batley sought Lisle before retiring +to rest. + +"I regret that we have added to your anxiety," he began. "Of course, +transport is a serious difficulty--I've had some little experience of +this kind of thing." + +"In the field?" Lisle asked bluntly. "I've had a suspicion of it. Then +why didn't you remember?" He saw Batley's smile, for they were standing +by the packers' fire. "Oh," he added, "you needn't trouble to shield +Gladwyne. I formed my opinion of him some time ago--he's a mighty poor +specimen." + +"I'm inclined to agree with you," replied Batley dryly. + +They set off early the next morning, and after his forced march, Gladwyne +found the load given him sufficiently heavy. He was badly jaded, aching +all over, and disturbed in mind, when they camped near the summit of the +divide late in the afternoon without his having been able to secure a +word with Millicent alone. He felt that he must gain her consent to a +formal engagement before Lisle let fall any hint of his suspicions, which +he did not believe had been done so far. Afterward, knowing Millicent, he +thought she would staunchly refuse to listen to anything to his +discredit, and he could, if it were needful, ascribe Lisle's attack to +jealousy. He must, however, also contrive to push on ahead of the party, +on some excuse, and obliterate any remaining trace of the former +expedition's provision caches; then he would be safe. + +Millicent had strolled away from the others and was standing among the +rocks when he overtook her. The signs of fatigue and tension in his face +softened her toward him. Still, it was only compassion; she felt no +thrill, but rather an involuntary shrinking and a sense of alarm. She was +to be called upon to fulfil a duty to which she had somehow pledged +herself. + +"Millicent," he began, "things can't go on as they have been +doing--pleasant as it was. I have waited patiently, but you can't expect +too much. Now I have come a long way to claim my reward. I want the right +to look after you, and to tell the others so." + +His abruptness and hoarseness were expressive, but she felt that there +was something lacking and she answered with a flippancy she seldom +indulged in. + +"You thought it needful to bring your privy counselor with you?" + +"No; he came without even asking my permission." + +"Well," she said, sitting down with forced calmness, "it doesn't matter; +but are you quite sure now that you really want me?" + +There was no doubt that he was desperately anxious for her formal word; +there was a feverish eagerness in his eyes. It puzzled her, but it left +her unmoved and cold. + +"Want you!" he cried. "Can you ask? Haven't I constantly shown my +devotion?" + +"For the last few months--I mean after Lisle went back to Canada," she +replied with gathering color. "Before then, for a time, I think one could +reasonably have doubted it." + +He looked confused; that Bella had attracted him had been obvious, and +there was no way of getting over the fact gracefully. + +"I'm afraid I have my weaknesses--want of balance, impulsiveness, and a +capacity for being easily piqued," he confessed. "Well, though perhaps I +deserved it, you were cold and aloof enough to madden a more patient man, +and I suppose I slackly yielded to wounded vanity. All the time, you were +the one I had chosen, the only woman who had ever really stirred or could +influence me. Nearly as long as I can remember I have loved and respected +you. Occasionally you unbent enough to show me that you recognized it." + +There was some truth in this, and seeing the change in her expression, he +went on: + +"You can't cast me off and fling me back upon myself--I couldn't face +that. During those last few months in England, you helped me forward far +more than you suspected--showed me my duties, enabled me to carry them +out. I can't go on alone; I'm your responsibility; having taken it up, +you can't deny it now." + +Millicent smiled faintly. + +"No," she admitted; "I suppose that would be hardly fair." + +He would have thrown his arm about her, but she laid a hand on his +shoulder and with gentle firmness held him back. + +"No," she said, with a deep color in her face; "not yet. We have been +associated as cousins; I must get used to the new position." + +He had wit enough to yield, but he kissed her hands exultantly. + +"It's a pledge! I may tell the others?" + +"Yes," she consented quietly, "I think you may." + +For a while he sat at her feet, with her hand on his shoulder, talking +about the future, and she was sensible of a certain calm satisfaction +which had in it more than a trace of resignation. She had not shirked her +duty, she was safe from temptation, and she had after all a sincere, +half-pitying tenderness for the man. Her liking for him would, she +thought, grow stronger, and the passion which Lisle had once or twice +half awakened in her was a thing to be subdued and dreaded. Though +Gladwyne saw that she was but lightly moved, he was content, and some +time had passed when they went slowly back together to the camp. + +Miss Hume was the first to notice them and when Millicent smiled she went +hastily forward and kissed her. Then Bella joined them and Batley offered +his good wishes in fitting terms. When Lisle and Nasmyth came up, a word +from Bella was sufficient for them. For a moment the girl was startled by +what she read in the Canadian's face. It was, however, invisible to +Millicent. Turning suddenly round without speaking he strode away, +followed by Nasmyth. Stopping when he was hidden from the camp among the +rocks Lisle turned savagely to his companion. + +"You heard what Bella said!" + +"I did!" replied Nasmyth. "The hound! It must be stopped!" + +"Yes," asserted Lisle, more coolly, "that's a sure thing. Still, there +are difficulties--she may not believe my story now. I almost think I'll +wait until we reach the two caches; then with something to back my +statements, I might force the truth from him." + +"In that case, you had better watch him," warned Nasmyth, looking deeply +disturbed. "He may try to reach them first." + +The next moment Crestwick joined them. + +"What's to be done, Vernon?" he exclaimed. "Miss Gladwyne's engagement's +formally announced--it can't go on!" + +"Why?" Lisle's voice was stern. "What has it to do with you?" + +"Well," explained Crestwick, hesitating, "the man's not to be trusted, +he's dangerous. He simply can't be allowed to make this match!" He paused +and spread out his hands. "I'm horribly troubled about it--I'd better +tell you that I know--" + +"You know nothing that need be mentioned," Lisle interrupted him. "That's +positive; you have to remember it. As to the rest, you'll leave the +matter entirely in my hands." + +"Oh, well," agreed Crestwick, "if you order it. That relieves me of my +responsibility. I'm uncommonly glad to get rid of it." + +Lisle abruptly strode away, and Crestwick saw that Nasmyth was regarding +him curiously. + +"Lisle was quite right," Nasmyth said. "He only forestalled me in +instructions I meant to give you." + +"Then you understand what I was referring to?" exclaimed Crestwick. + +"I've a good idea," Nasmyth answered dryly. "In my opinion, so has +Lisle." + +"But you were on the far side of the hedge on the morning we tried the +horse, and Lisle was down. He wasn't conscious when I broke through the +thorns." + +"Quite correct; but it's most unlikely he lost consciousness from the +fall, and he was lying with his face turned toward the jump--it wasn't +until the chestnut came down on his shoulder that he was badly hurt. The +doctor agreed with me on that point." + +"That might have struck me," Crestwick rejoined. "But you owned that you +had an idea of what happened at the jump. How did you get it? Did Lisle +tell you?" + +Nasmyth smiled grimly. + +"I'm firmly convinced that he'll never mention what he saw or suspects to +anybody, unless it's to Gladwyne. As to the rest, the hedge wasn't thick +enough to prevent my seeing through it." + +"He's an unusual man," declared Crestwick in an admiring tone. "I haven't +met his equal. But I'll keep my eye on Gladwyne--there's risk enough at +some of the rapids--the hound shan't have another chance if I can help +it." + +They turned and went back to camp, but on reaching it they sat down among +the packers, avoiding Gladwyne and Millicent. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A BOLD SCHEME + + +The sense of security which Millicent experienced on announcing her +engagement was not permanent and in a few days the doubts that had +troubled her crept back into her mind. She had never entertained any +marked illusions about Clarence and although, now that she was +irrevocably pledged to him, she endeavored to fix her thoughts on his +most likable qualities, even these appeared in a less favorable light +than they had formerly done. The growth of the warmer attachment she had +expected to feel was strangely slow, and though it was early to indulge +in regrets her heart sometimes grew heavy as she looked forward to the +future. Clarence was considerate, attentive and deferential in a polished +way, but he lacked something one looked for in a lover. Besides, she was +anxious about him; he looked worn, his manner suggested that he was +bearing a strain, but this was in his favor, for it roused her +compassion. She fancied that the cause of it was financial, and this in a +sense was encouraging, because this was a trouble from which she could +purchase him immunity. + +In the meanwhile she was stirred by mournful memories as she followed the +last stages of her brother's journey and visited the lonely spot where he +had met his end. Somehow the thought of him encouraged her--George had +quietly done his duty, regardless of the cost, and even if her burden +proved heavy, which it was premature to admit, she must bear it +cheerfully. + +At length they stopped one evening at a portage, and Lisle examined the +stores. + +"The food's getting short," he announced. "One or two of you had better +take out your rifles the first thing to-morrow, while the rest go +fishing. I'll tackle the portage with two packers." + +He began his work at sunrise the next morning and it was toward evening +when Crestwick came back exultant with a blacktail buck. Nasmyth was +fishing near the camp and Lisle was busy with a canoe near by. + +"Where are the rest? How have they got on?" Lisle asked. + +"I think Batley went back to the last reach with Carew's rod," Crestwick +answered. "I met Gladwyne and one of the packers on the low range back +yonder; they'd only got a blue grouse." + +"I could have done with the man here," said Lisle. "Which way were they +heading?" + +"Back up-river, the way we came." + +Lisle made no comment, but Crestwick thought he found the information +reassuring, and thrusting out the canoe he was swept away down the +easiest part of the rapid, while Crestwick assisted Nasmyth to land a +trout. Lisle had returned to the camp when the packer who had accompanied +Clarence came in alone, bringing a couple of grouse. + +"What's become of Mr. Gladwyne?" Lisle asked him. + +"Hasn't he got back?" replied the other, glancing about. "I lost him on +the far slope of the bluff about noon, but as he could see the river most +anywhere from the top I went right on. There was a deer trail I was +trying to follow." + +Lisle said nothing more to the packer but walked rapidly toward where the +cook was getting supper ready. Nasmyth followed him. + +"Did you give Mr. Gladwyne any lunch to carry with him when he left +camp?" Lisle asked the man. + +"I was busy when he came along and I told him to look around for himself. +I think he took some canned stuff and there was quite a big loaf +missing." + +"Bring the box you keep the canned goods in!" + +The cook produced it. + +"There's two meat cans gone, anyway," he remarked. "Looks as if Mr. +Gladwyne figured on getting mighty hungry." + +Lisle nodded. + +"Put me up enough bread and fish for two of us for two days." + +He moved away with Nasmyth, and they had left the fire behind when he +spoke, his voice hoarse with anger. + +"Gladwyne's gone to the cache! He's got half a day's clear start of us +and he knows the country. It's pretty open and he'll make quite a good +pace on a straight trail, while the river bends. Get the stuff I asked +for while I give the others a few instructions." + +"You mean to start after him at once?" + +"As soon as you're ready," Lisle said shortly. + +He turned back toward where the others were sitting waiting for supper. + +"As Gladwyne hasn't turned up, Nasmyth and I are going to look for him," +he announced. "There's nothing to be alarmed about, but it's quite likely +we may not be back in the morning. If we don't turn up by noon, you had +better start down-river and we'll pick you up farther on. I don't want to +waste another day." + +"Do you think he has got lost altogether?" Millicent asked anxiously. + +"No," answered Lisle, in a reassuring manner. "Still, some of these +ridges are bad to climb and quite a lot of things may happen to delay +him." + +He called to a packer and gave him definite orders to take the party +down-river and wait at a spot agreed upon; and a few minutes later he and +Nasmyth left the camp. + +Shortly afterward Batley came in. + +"Where are the others?" he asked. + +They told him and he looked thoughtful. + +"So Lisle started at once! Which way did he and Nasmyth go?" + +"Up the ridge behind us, but they turned down-stream when they reached +the top," Carew replied. + +Batley scented a mystery. + +"Well," he said, "I think I'll go after them; I might be useful. Of +course, you'll start to-morrow as Lisle told you, and if I'm not back by +then, I'll follow the river to the rendezvous he mentioned." + +He disappeared, as did Crestwick, who came in for supper later on, and as +the packers had pitched their tent lower down, there was now only Carew +left with the women in camp. They were all a little uneasy as dusk grew +near; the haste with which the men had set out one after another struck +them as ominous. Bella's mind was unusually active, for she had promptly +decided that there was something behind all this, and when at last +Millicent strolled away from the others she followed her to the edge of +the water. A ridge of rock cut them off from view of the camp and though +she fancied that Millicent was not pleased to see her, Bella sat down +upon a stone. + +"In a way, the anxiety that Lisle and the rest have shown to find +Clarence is flattering," she began, expressing part of her thoughts. "I +wonder if they'd all have gone off in such a hurry if Jim had got lost." + +"Your brother knows the bush," returned Millicent, hiding her fears. + +Bella did not respond to this. She had decided that Millicent must not be +allowed to marry Gladwyne, but she could not bring herself to denounce +the man. If that must be done, somebody else would have to undertake the +task. At the same time, she felt it incumbent on her to give the girl +some warning, or at least to find out how far her confidence in her lover +went, in order to determine how advice could best be offered. + +"I wonder if you feel quite sure you will be happy with Clarence?" she +ventured. + +"You have provoked the retort--were you convinced that you would be happy +with Arthur Carew, when you made up your mind to marry him so suddenly?" + +Bella's smile expressed forbearance. It was getting dark, but she could +see the hot flush in her companion's cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes. +Neither was encouraging, but Bella was not easily, daunted, and she felt +that her persistence was really meritorious, considering that until +lately Millicent had never been cordial to her. + +"Perhaps I'd better answer," she said sweetly. "I was sure of Arthur, and +that means a good deal more than that I knew he was in love with me--I +don't suppose you heard that he'd proposed to me once before?" + +"Why didn't you take him then?" Millicent asked coldly. "Remember you +have justified my being personal." + +Bella grew rather hot--when Carew had made his first offer she had been +in eager pursuit of Gladwyne--but she sternly suppressed a desire to +retaliate. + +"I don't think we need go into that," she replied. "As I said, I was sure +of Arthur--I knew his character, knew he was better than I am, that he +could be depended on. He's the kind of man one is safe with; I felt that +the more I saw of him, the more I could trust him. Perhaps the feeling's +a safer guide than passion--it stands longer wear--and now I'm getting to +like him better every day." + +Her voice dropped to a tender note and Millicent felt a little +astonished, and ashamed of her harshness. This was a new Bella, one in +whose existence she could hardly have believed. + +"I haven't quite finished, though I don't often talk like this," Bella +went on. "I feel that without the confidence I've tried to describe +marriage must be a terrible risk--one might find such ugly qualities in +the man; even defects you could forgive beforehand would become so much +worse when you had to suffer because of them. Of course, one can't expect +perfection, but there ought to be something--honor, a good heart, a +generous mind--that one can rely on as a sure foundation. When you have +that, you can build, and even then the building may be difficult." She +paused before she concluded: "My dear, I'm happier than I deserve to be; +I have chosen wisely." + +Nothing more was said for a few minutes, but Bella, studying her +companion's face, was more or less content. Millicent's faith in Clarence +was weak, she was forcing herself to believe in him; it might be possible +to make her see her lover in his true character, though Bella had not yet +determined on the exact course she would adopt. Then Carew called from the +camp and she went back, while Millicent sat still with grave doubts in her +heart. Bella's faith in her husband was warranted, and Millicent was +enough of an optimist to believe that such men were not uncommon--there +was Lisle, for example, and Nasmyth. With them one would undoubtedly have +something to build a happy and profitable life upon--but what could be +done with one in whom there was no foundation, only the shifting sands of +impulses, or, perhaps, unsounded depths of weakness into which the +painfully-raised edifice might crumble? She stove to convince herself that +she was becoming wickedly hypercritical, thinking treasonably of her +lover, particularly in contrasting him with her guide. There must be no +more of that, and she rose and walked back to her tent with a resolution +that cost her an effort. + +In the meanwhile Lisle and Nasmyth were pushing on as fast as possible +along the stony summit of the ridge. There was moonlight, which made it a +little easier, but they stumbled every now and then. Here and there they +were forced to scramble down the sides of a gully and on reaching the +bottom to plunge into water, and once they had to scramble some distance +shut in by the rocks before they could find a means of ascending. Still, +they were hard and inured to fatigue, and they never slackened the pace. +When striding along a stretch of smoother ground Nasmyth gathered breath +to speak. + +"We were easily taken in," he declared; "though the thing was cunningly +planned. Gladwyne took the packer with him and headed back at first, to +divert suspicion. It would be easy enough to lose the man and turn +down-stream again; and that he intended something of the kind is proved +by his taking so much food with him. No doubt, he'd rather have avoided +that, in case it looked suspicious, but he's had one hungry march over +the same ground, and I dare say it was quite enough. Besides, he could +defy us once he'd emptied and obliterated the caches." + +"You understand the way your people's minds work better than I do," Lisle +returned dryly. + +"That's natural, isn't it? The idea that I'm most impressed with just now +is that Millicent might believe it her duty to stick to Clarence more +closely because of a tale that was merely damaging. She would never allow +herself or anybody else to credit it, unless she had absolutely +convincing proof." + +"Yes," agreed Lisle; "I guess you're right. That's precisely why we have +got to get there first." + +A thicket of thorny vines and canes barred his way, but he went straight +at the midst of it and struggled through, savagely smashing and rending +down the brush. The clothes he had borrowed from Carew looked +considerably the worse for wear when he came out; and then he recklessly +leaped across a dark cleft the bottom of which he could not see. +Presently they left the ridge and headed away from the river, which +flowed round a wide curve, and toward dawn they were brought up by a +ravine. The roar of water rose hoarsely from its depths. The moon was +getting low and the silvery light did not reach far down the opposite +side, but they could see a sheer, smooth wall of rock, and the width of +the chasm rendered any attempt to jump it out of the question. + +"No way of getting across here," decided Lisle. "At the same time, it +looks as if Gladwyne must be held up on the same side that we are. We'll +follow the canon; down-stream, I think." + +The moonlight was getting dimmer, but, at some risk of falling into the +rift, they pushed on along the brink, looking down as they went. They +could see no means of descending, but at length, when rocks and trees +were getting blacker and a little more distinct in the chilly dawn, they +made out a fallen trunk with broken white branches lying upon a tall mass +of rock below. + +"I've an idea that the top of that tree reached across to this side when +it first came down," Lisle said. "Have you got a match?" + +Nasmyth had brought a few carefully-treasured wax matches with him, and +he lighted one. It was very still, except for the roar of the hidden +torrent, and the pale flame burned steadily in the motionless cold air. +It showed a couple of hollows, where something had rested, close to the +edge of the rift, and one or two fresh scratches on a strip of rock. +Lisle stooped down beside them. + +"Hold the thing lower!" he exclaimed sharply. "It's as I suspected--this +is where Gladwyne got across; though he has better nerves than I thought +he had. The broken end of a branch or two rested right here, and he was +smart enough to heave the butt off the other bank, after he'd crawled +over. Looks to me as if it had broken off yonder stump. Guess there'll be +light enough to look for a way across in half an hour." + +Sitting down he filled his pipe, and shortly afterward he raised one hand +as if listening. For a while, Nasmyth could hear nothing except the roar +of water; there was not a sound that he could catch in the thin +straggling bush behind them where few trails of mist were stretched +athwart the trees. Then he started as a faint crackling and snapping +began in the distance. + +"Can it be a bear?" he asked. + +"No; it's a man!" + +Nasmyth was somewhat astonished. They had not seen a human being except +those of their party for a long while, and it seemed strange that they +should come across one now in the early dawn in those remote wilds. + +"He's wearing boots," he said diffidently, as the crackling drew nearer. + +"Yes," Lisle responded; "he's making a good deal more noise than a +bushman would." + +The sound steadily approached them. Nasmyth found something mysterious +and rather eerie in it, and he was on the whole relieved when a dark +figure materialized among the trees near by. He could barely see it, but +Lisle called out sharply: + +"What has brought you on our trail, Batley?" + +The man came toward them with a breathless laugh and sat down. + +"It isn't your trail but Gladwyne's I'm interested in, and I can't say +that I've succeeded in following that. I merely pushed on, until I struck +this canon and as I couldn't get across, I followed it up." + +"You're not easily scared," Lisle commented. "You might have got lost. +Guess you had some motive that made you take the risk." + +"I felt pretty safe. You see, I knew I could strike the river, if +necessary. At the same time you were right about the motive--in fact, +there's no use in trying to hide it. I may as well confess that I'd +sooner keep Gladwyne in sight." + +"Out of regard for his welfare?" Nasmyth asked. + +Batley laughed. + +"Not altogether. The fact is, he's carrying a good deal of my money." + +"One should have imagined that you'd have had him well insured." + +"That's quite correct. If he came to grief in England, I shouldn't +anticipate any trouble, but it would be different out here and, +everything considered, I'd rather avoid complications with the insurance +companies. Now that I've been candid, do you feel inclined to +reciprocate?" + +"Not in the least," Lisle replied shortly. "I'm not sure I even +sympathize. But since you've turned up you'll have to stick to us; I +don't want to waste time in leading another search party. As soon as +there's a little more light, we'll try to get across the canon." + +"Thanks for the permission," smiled Batley, lighting a cigar. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE END OF THE PURSUIT + + +By degrees the light got clearer, the scattered black cedars grew into +definite form, and a strip of foaming water showed in the depths of the +chasm. Lisle walked some distance along the edge, searching for an easier +place to cross, but the rocks were smooth and almost perpendicular except +where they overhung the torrent. He went back to where the others were +sitting and found that they had been joined by Crestwick, who briefly +explained that having set out on their trail he had been stopped by the +canon and had followed it up until it led him to them. + +"It looks worse farther along; we'll have to try it here," Lisle +announced. "Can you get down, Nasmyth?" + +Nasmyth glanced into the rift. It was, he judged, nearly sixty feet in +depth, but part of the bank on which he stood had slipped down into the +stream, leaving an uneven surface by means of which an agile man might +descend. A tall slab of rock, evidently part of the fallen mass, rose in +a pinnacle from the water, and on top of it rested the branches of the +tree that Gladwyne had used as a bridge and had afterward dislodged. The +rock behind it on the opposite bank was absolutely smooth, but the +thicker end of the log, which had fallen against the face, reached to +within about nine feet of the summit. + +"Yes," he said, answering Lisle's question; "but I'm very doubtful +whether I can get up the other side. The last bit looks particularly +awkward; there's an outward bulge just beneath the top." + +"We might manage it by giving the leader a lift, if we got so far," +Batley suggested, pointing to the sharp slab. "That pike should help us; +I think it would go." + +"You think it would go?" queried Nasmyth meaningly. "Aren't you mixing +idioms? Pike's what we'd say round Wasdale, and your other expression's +not uncommon in Switzerland." + +Batley laughed. + +"I'll own that I've done some rock work in both districts, though I was +thinner then. But I've an idea that time's precious to our leader." + +He lowered himself over the edge and finding foothold, went down +cautiously by crack and fissure, while the others followed with some +trouble. Alighting waist-deep in a frothing rush of water, he was driven +for a few yards down-stream, and it was only by seeking the support of +the rock that he slowly made head against the torrent. Lisle joined him +when he reached the foot of the pinnacle, where they stopped to gather +breath with a thin shower of spray whirling about them. The light was +still dim down in the bottom of the chasm, and the mass of rock ran up +above them, shadowy, black and almost smooth. + +Wasting no time in examination, Lisle flung himself upon it, seeking for +a grip with elbows and knees. He had ascended a yard or two when he lost +hold and coming down with a run fell with a splash into the stream. + +"I didn't think you'd manage it that way," Batley remarked. "The edge +appears a little more promising." + +He went up, with Lisle following, finding hold for knees and fingers, +while Nasmyth and Crestwick, panting heavily, encouraged each other +below. On reaching the top of the pinnacle, Batley lay upon it and gave +Lisle his hand; and when he had drawn him up he pointed to the tree. + +"I'll go first, for reasons that will become apparent later," he +explained. "Hold on to the log; it doesn't seem firmly fixed." + +The tree was small and when Lisle shook it the butt moved against the +face of the rock, which was separated by a broad gap from the top of the +fallen mass. Batley was heavy, but he ascended cautiously, while Lisle +leaned upon the log to steady it. Then, calling Nasmyth to take his +place, Lisle went up. When he was near the top, it looked as if their +progress must abruptly cease. The butt was narrow and the summit of the +rock above it projected somewhat. There was not the smallest knob or +crevice one could grasp, and below them in the shadowy rift the torrent +boiled furiously among massy stones. It was not a place to slip in. + +Batley, however, rose very carefully, with his feet upon the shattered +butt and his hands pressed against the rock, until he stood almost +upright. + +"You'll have to climb up over me until you can get your fingers on the +top," he said. "Take time when you get up and feel for a good hold." + +Reaching his shoulders, Lisle stood on them while Nasmyth and Crestwick +on the pinnacle beneath looked up at a somewhat impressive spectacle. +Lisle's head and shoulders were now above the edge, but he was forced to +bend backward and outward by the projecting bulge which pressed against +his breast, and his cautious movements suggested that he could find no +hold. It appeared impossible for him to descend, unless he did so +accidentally, and in that event nothing could save him from a fall to the +bottom of the ravine. For a while, they watched his tense figure moving +futilely; and then Batley, standing most precariously poised, bent his +arm and seized one of Lisle's feet. He spoke in a breathless gasp as he +thrust it upward; Lisle's legs swung free and he disappeared beyond the +edge. The two below were conscious of a vast relief. It was tempered, +however, by the knowledge that they must shortly emulate their +companion's exploit. + +"Take off your pack!" Batley called to Lisle. "Split the bag, if it's +necessary, and lower the end! But be quick! This isn't a comfortable +position." + +The pack in which the small bush rancher conveys his provisions from the +nearest store as a rule consists of a cotton flour bag with a pair of +suspenders fastened to its corners, and Nasmyth had provided the party +with a few receptacles of similar pattern but more strongly made before +entering the wilds. The straps, when Lisle let them down, reached several +feet from the top, and Batley bade Nasmyth and Crestwick ascend. They +managed it with assistance from Lisle, who seized them from above. Then +Batley called up to them. + +"I'm going to test the tackle. Give me a hand up as soon as I'm over the +bulge!" + +It was difficult to hear him, as he was still beneath the projecting +edge, and they watched the straining straps with keen anxiety until a +hand that felt for a hold upon the rock appeared. Lisle seized it, with +Nasmyth ready to assist, and Batley came up, gasping, with the +perspiration streaming from his face. + +"I'd have managed it easily at one time," he said. "This is what comes of +civilization and soft living." + +"You brought us across; we owe you a good deal for it," declared Lisle. + +Batley smiled at him as they set off again. + +"In this case, I won't be an exacting creditor. In fact, it's rather +curious how we've hit it off, considering that you wouldn't hear of a +compromise and our interests are opposed." + +"I don't know what your interests are," Lisle returned dryly. + +"Then, in one way, I'm ahead of you. I know your wishes, and +Nasmyth's--you don't want Clarence to marry Miss Gladwyne. It's your +motive I'm not sure about. Do you want the girl yourself?" + +They were some distance in front of the others, who were too far behind +to hear them. Lisle looked at his companion steadily. The man was engaged +in a business that was regarded with general disfavor, but there was +something he liked about him and he did not resent his bluntness. + +"Well," he answered, "it isn't for the reason you've given that I mean to +stop the match." + +"Can you do so?" + +"I'm going to try." + +Batley smiled reflectively. + +"And the present journey is somehow connected with the attempt? Now I +believe I might have left you held up on the wrong side of the canon; +the idea was in my mind and you can give me credit for not yielding to +it. I suppose there would be no use in my asking you for a hint as to the +relation between my rather tricky companion's expedition and his cousin's +death?" + +"None in the least," said Lisle decidedly. + +Batley made a gesture of acquiescence. + +"Oh, well! We must try to be friends as long as possible." + +Nothing more was said about the matter, and they spent the day forcing a +passage through scrub timber, up precipitous hillsides, and across long +stony ridges. + +There was no sign of Gladwyne's trail, but that did not trouble Lisle, +for he knew where the man was heading for. On the second day Batley +showed signs of distress, and Nasmyth and Crestwick were walking very +wearily, but Lisle held on at a merciless pace. It was essential that he +should reach the cache before Gladwyne could interfere with it. Toward +evening, Nasmyth made an effort and caught up with Lisle. + +"How would Clarence get across to the second cache on the other side of +the water?" he asked. "It's a point I've been considering; I suppose it's +occurred to you." + +"I don't know," Lisle confessed. "The Indians near the divide said there +was another party with canoes somewhere lower down; but, as the packer +who was with me didn't talk to them, so far as I noticed, I don't see how +Gladwyne could have heard of it; but that's as far as I can go. If he +destroyed the first cache, it would help to clear him, unless you can +vouch for the correctness of the list I made; but he may have some +further plan in his mind." He paused and raised his hand. "Listen! Isn't +that the river? We can't be far from the cache." + +The day, like the two or three preceding it, had been hot and bright, and +now that evening was drawing on, the still air was heavy with the smell +of the cedars in a neighboring hollow. A high ridge stood out black +against a vivid green glow, and from beyond it there rose a faint, hoarse +murmur. Nasmyth welcomed it gladly as announcing the end of the march. + +"The rest of the party can hardly be down until to-morrow; there's a +couple of portages," he said. "It looks as if we'll have to go without +our supper." + +"I don't want to see them before morning," Lisle returned grimly. + +They pushed on, the light growing dimmer as they went, until at length +the moon rose from behind the ridge; and when they had skirted the ridge +they saw the river glimmer beneath them in a flood of silvery radiance. +It filled the gorge with its deep murmur, for the hot sunshine for three +days had melted the snow, which had poured down to swell the flood by +every gully. Not far below the neck the broken surface was flecked with +white where the river swept angrily over a sharper slope of its bed, and +a black boulder or two stood out in the midst of the rushing foam. +Up-stream of this there was a strip of shingle which Nasmyth recognized +as the one where the cache had been made; he supposed that Lisle had +struck the spot by heading for the narrow rift of the neck, which was +conspicuous for some distance from both sides. + +From end to end the sweep of pebbles was clearly distinct; but there was +no dark figure moving about it, and Nasmyth wondered if they had come too +late. They had marched fast, as his aching muscles testified, but they +had been delayed at the canon and Gladwyne had had a long start. If he +had arrived and had visited the cache, their efforts might prove to have +been thrown away. There must be no shadow of doubt when Lisle told his +startling story. + +They descended with caution, moving through shadow, for the ridge above +them cut off the moonlight, though it was far from dark, and they were +near the bottom when Crestwick dislodged a bank of stones which went +rattling and crashing down to the beach. A moment later a black form +sprang out from among the rocks below and ran hurriedly along the +shingle. This surprised Nasmyth because he could not doubt that the man +was Gladwyne and he failed to understand his object in making what would +probably be a futile attempt to avoid them. Lisle was some distance in +front, and his voice rang out sharply: + +"Head him off from the canoe!" + +Nasmyth broke into a stumbling run--it was now obvious that Gladwyne +meant to cross the river, and perhaps destroy the second cache. + +Gladwyne had reached the canoe when Lisle gained the beach, and Nasmyth, +descending in reckless haste, saw him hurriedly turn it over and raise +the forward end of it. Lisle was running his hardest, almost as if he +were fresh, up the long strip of shingle; but it was evident that he +would be too late, and they would have no means of following Gladwyne +after the canoe was launched. There was a sharp rattle of stones as he +hauled it down; Lisle was still some way behind; Gladwyne sprang on board +and thrust the light craft off, and a few strokes of the paddle drove her +well out into the stream. + +Lisle stopped, standing in the moonlight, and his comrade could see his +hands tightly clenched at his side; then he suddenly tore off his jacket +and flung it behind him. Noticing this, Nasmyth attempted to increase his +pace. The river was running fast, swollen with melted snow, and Lisle +must be badly worn out. If he had to be restrained by force, he should +not attempt to swim across. + +Then, to Nasmyth's astonishment, Gladwyne leaned over the stern of the +craft and began to paddle desperately with one hand. This proceeding +caused Lisle to stop again, close at the water's edge. + +"Come back!" he shouted. + +Nasmyth ran up and Lisle turned. + +"He's dropped or broken his paddle--cracked it when he shoved her out. +There are two or three ugly rocks in the rapid." + +They ran along the bank together, keeping pace with the craft which was +sliding away fast with the stream. Nasmyth could feel his heart thumping +as he wondered what Clarence would do. Though he could not cross the +river, it was possible that he might propel the light canoe back to the +shingle with his hand before he reached the rapid. As he could not guide +her in the strong rush of water, there would be danger in attempting to +descend it. He made no response, however, to their warning shouts. + +Batley and Crestwick overtook the others shortly before the canoe swept +into the faster stream at the head of the rapid and they watched her +eagerly. There was a narrow pass between several boulders close ahead, +which was the chief danger, and the current seemed to be carrying the +craft down on one of them. In a few moments she struck and jambed, +broadside on, across the mass of stone. White foam boiled about her; they +saw Gladwyne rise and clutch the rock, but whether to thrust her off or +to climb out did not appear. He suddenly sank down and, so far as they +could make out, the canoe rolled over. + +The next moment Lisle plunged into the river. Nasmyth ran to the water's +edge, but seeing that he was too late, he sat down limply. Lisle was a +good swimmer, but it did not seem possible that any man could reach +Clarence before he was washed out at the tail of the rapid. It became +evident, however, that somebody else meant to try, for Batley, running +hard down the beach, plunged in. + +"It's awful!" gasped Jim Crestwick behind Nasmyth. "It's not the risk of +drowning; they'll be smashed to bits! Anyway, we'd better make for the +slack at the tail." + +Nasmyth got up. He could see nothing of Gladwyne or either of the others; +there were only black rocks, rushing water and outbreaks of foam, and he +had a sickening idea that long before they reached the quieter pool the +need for any services he could render would be past. Fortunately, the +beach was fairly smooth, and after a desperate run they reached a tongue +of rock beneath which the eddy swung. Farther on, in the shadow, Batley +stood in the water, calling to them and apparently clinging hard to a +half-seen object in the stream. + +Nasmyth leaped in knee-deep, with Crestwick behind him, and gripping the +loosely-hanging arm of the body Batley was supporting, he asked hoarsely: + +"Who is it?" + +"Lisle!" was the breathless answer. "Help me to get him out!" + +They dragged him up the beach and let him sink down. He lay upon the +shingle, silent and inert. + +"Make a fire, Jim!" commanded Batley. "Lift his shoulder a bit, Nasmyth! +Turn him partly over!" + +He hurriedly examined Lisle and then looked up. + +"It's not a case of drowning; and his limbs look sound. Must have got the +breath knocked out of him against a boulder." He pointed to a broad red +gash on Lisle's forehead as Nasmyth eased him down again. "That explains +his unconsciousness." + +"Where's Gladwyne?" Nasmyth asked. + +Batley made an expressive gesture. + +"Beyond our help, anyway; somewhere down-river." He appeared to brace +himself with an effort. "I'm pretty nearly finished, but there's a good +deal to be done. We'll strip Lisle, and you and Crestwick can share your +dry things with him. Then one of you had better gather cedar twigs for +him to lie on." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +LISLE GOES TO ENGLAND + + +Lisle had with some difficulty been dressed in dry clothes, and he lay +with his eyes shut on a couch of cedar sprays beside a fire, when Batley +rose and turned to Nasmyth. + +"I don't think we need be anxious," he said. "The warmth is coming back +to him and he's breathing regularly. The knock on the head must have been +a bad one, and it's very likely that he got another thump or two washing +down the rapid, and the water was icy cold; but he'll feel better after a +few hours' sleep." + +Nasmyth was inclined to agree with this prediction and he stood up +wearily. + +"Then you won't want me for a little while," he replied, walking away +from the fire. + +Having given most of his clothes to Lisle, he was very lightly clad and +the night was cold. He shivered as he plodded over the shingle, aching in +every limb, but he looked about eagerly and after a while he found the +cache. It was uncovered, but there were signs that Gladwyne had only +begun his task when he had been surprised by the arrival of the party +which had followed him. + +Nasmyth did not pause to think what Lisle's wishes might be, or whether +he would resent his action. So far, he had kept his promise; but, with +physical weariness reacting on his mental faculties, he was only +conscious of a hazy idea that Gladwyne's death had released him from his +pledge. The traitor had expiated his offense; the tragic story must never +be raked up again. + +Stooping over the receptacle, he dragged out the different articles in +it, and avoiding a direct glance at them or any attempt to enumerate +them, he gathered them up and striding over the shingle hurled them as +far as possible into the river. It cost him several journeys, but his +heart grew lighter with every splash. When at last the work was finished +and he had refilled the hole and scattered the stones that had covered +it, he sat down with a great sense of relief. A burden which had long +weighed upon his mind was gone; Mrs. Gladwyne and Millicent were safe at +last from the grief and shame that a revelation would have brought them. +Exhausted and confused as he was, he could not tell whether he felt any +sorrow for Gladwyne's tragic end; the man had passed beyond the reach of +human censure, one could only let his memory sink into oblivion. + +Growing very cold, he went back to the fire, but he offered no +explanation of his absence. Lisle was still asleep or unconscious, but +the natural color in his face was reassuring. + +"I've heard nothing about your part in the water," Nasmyth said to +Batley. + +"There's not much to tell. It isn't astonishing that my memory's by no +means clear. Anyhow, I wasn't far from Gladwyne, who was swimming well, +when he was swept away from me and in among the lower boulders by the +swirl of an eddy. I suppose it didn't quite reach me, but the next moment +I was sucked into a rush of broken water and went down-stream, below the +surface part of the time, because I was surprised when I found I could +breathe and look about again. By good luck, I'd got into the smoothest, +deepest flow, which swept me straight through. After a little, I saw +somebody washing down in a slack and got hold of him. I didn't know +whether it was Gladwyne or Lisle; but I held on and a side-swing of the +current brought us both ashore. Gladwyne, of course, must have gone under +after being badly damaged among the rocks." + +"There's only one place where he could have landed and I searched it +while you were away," Crestwick said gravely. + +"Why did you go in after him?" Nasmyth asked Batley. "You must have seen +that you couldn't save him." + +"That," Batley answered with a curious smile, "is more than I can clearly +tell you; and I might suggest that Lisle's venture is even harder to +understand. I don't honestly think I owe Gladwyne anything; but, after +all, we passed for friends, and I used to be fond of swimming. Of course, +there's a more obvious explanation--I'd lent him a good deal of money and +from what I've learned since, I may have some difficulty in enforcing my +claim on the estate. It was natural that I should make an effort to +recover the debt." + +Nasmyth did not think that the man had been most strongly influenced by +that desire, but he addressed Crestwick: + +"Hadn't you better gather some more branches or driftwood for the fire, +Jim?" + +Crestwick disappeared, and Nasmyth filled his pipe before he turned to +Batley. + +"Now," he said, "I don't want to be offensive; but there are two people +connected with this affair who must be spared any unnecessary suffering. +That's a fact you had better recognize." + +"I hardly think you do me justice," returned Batley, looking amused. +"It's perfectly plain that there's a mystery behind these recent events; +one that has some relation to George Gladwyne's death. Your idea is that +an unscrupulous person of my description might find some profit in +probing it?" + +"You'll never learn the truth. I've seen to that." + +"The fact is, I don't mean to try." + +Nasmyth was a little astonished at finding himself ready to believe this. + +"Then," he asked, "what do you mean to do about your claim on Gladwyne?" + +"In the first place, there's the insurance; but I discovered by accident +that the company Gladwyne had his policy on was the one that had insured +his cousin. Whether they'll be struck by the coincidence and the unusual +nature of both accidents and make trouble or not, I can't tell; but if +they pay up there'll be an end of the thing. Failing that, I'll have to +consider. My demands might be contested by the Gladwyne trustees--the +deal was a little irregular in some respects--but I parted with the money +and I'm going to make an effort to get it back." + +"How much did Clarence owe you?" + +Batley told him and Nasmyth looked thoughtful. + +"Well," he requested, "if you meet with strong opposition, come to me +before you decide on any course, and I'll see what can be arranged. I +dare say there'll be some trouble, but I know the trustees--and, as I +said, there are people who must be saved all needless pain, at any cost." + +"It's promised," agreed Batley. "I'll make things as easy as possible, +but that's as far as I can go. I'm not rich enough to be recklessly +generous." + +Lisle woke soon after this and asked one or two half-intelligible +questions, but they gave him no information and he went to sleep again; +then Crestwick arrived with more fuel and Nasmyth took the first watch +while his companions rested. He was very cold, and now and then he saw +Batley, who had discarded most of his wet clothes, wake up for a few +moments and shiver. Once or twice he glanced longingly at the garments +spread out round the fire, but when he felt them they were still too wet +to put on. After a while Crestwick relieved him, and when he awakened +dawn was breaking across the black ridges and the rushing river. Batley +had left his place, and Crestwick began to stride up and down the beach, +presumably to warm himself. To Nasmyth's satisfaction and surprise, Lisle +spoke to him. + +"You slept pretty sound," he said. "Didn't hear me getting some +information about what happened out of Batley." + +"Then you know?" + +"Yes," was the grim answer. "The thing's finished; there's nothing to be +done." + +Nasmyth made a sign of agreement. + +"How do you feel?" he asked. + +"Horribly sore all over, left side particularly. Struck a big boulder, +and then drove in among a nest of stones before my senses left me. Tried +to get up a while ago, but couldn't manage it. What's as much to the +purpose, I'm feeling hungry." + +"Unfortunately, there's nothing left for breakfast. One of us had better +go up-stream and look out for the canoes." + +Lisle nodded. + +"That's your duty--I don't envy you. Make them camp a little higher up. +It would be better, in several ways, and I'd rather be on my feet again +before they come here." + +Nasmyth set off, jaded and hungry, and he was feeling very limp when, as +he plodded along a high ridge, he saw the canoes sliding down the river. +He had hard work to reach the bank and he shrank from the task before him +when the first canoe grounded upon the stones. Millicent and Bella were +in it, and Millicent gazed at the lonely man with fixed, anxious eyes. He +was ragged and looked very weary; his face was worn and haggard. + +"Where are the rest?" she asked in a strained voice. "Something has +happened--what is it?" + +"Three of them are some miles down the river." + +"Three!" cried Millicent, in dismay. "Haven't you found Clarence yet?" + +Nasmyth hesitated, regarding her compassionately, but she made a sign of +protest. + +"Go on! Don't keep me in suspense!" + +"Clarence," said Nasmyth quietly, "is dead. Lisle is rather badly +damaged." + +Millicent left the canoe and sat down, very white in face, upon a +neighboring stone. In the meanwhile the other canoes had grounded and her +companions gathered about her. She did not speak to them and some time +passed before she turned to Nasmyth. + +"Tell me all," she begged. + +He briefly related what had happened, and there was an impressive silence +when he finished. Then Millicent slowly rose. + +"And Lisle's badly hurt," she said. "We must go on!" + +They relaunched the canoes and Nasmyth had no further speech with her, +for as they floated down-river she sat, still and silent, in another +canoe. She was conscious chiefly of an unnerving horror and a sense of +contrition. Clarence was dead, and she had been coldly hypercritical; +hardly treating him as a lover, thinking of his failings. She blamed +herself bitterly in a half-dazed fashion, but it was only afterward she +realized that she had not been troubled by any very poignant sense of +loss. + +After a while Nasmyth said they would land, but Millicent roused herself +to countermand his instructions and eventually they reached Batley's +camp. Lisle had got up during the day and he now walked painfully down to +the water's edge to meet her. When she landed he gravely pressed her +hand. + +"I'm sorry," he said simply. "We did what we could to save him." + +"Oh, I know," she responded. "Nobody could doubt that." + +Then Nasmyth landed with provisions and while the men ate two Indians +strode into the camp and addressed Lisle angrily. They were curing +salmon, they said, and had left a canoe on the shingle, in order to avoid +a portage when returning, and they had gone in another craft to set some +fish-traps in a lower rapid. To their surprise they had afterward seen +their canoe drifting down-stream full of water and badly damaged, and +they had set off at once to discover who was responsible. + +Lisle offered them some silver currency, and after a little chaffering +they departed satisfied. + +"Now we know how the canoe came to be lying where Gladwyne found her," he +said to Nasmyth. + +Then he sought Millicent. + +"I think," he told her gently, "we had better go on--to stay here would +be painful." He hesitated. "I'll leave Crestwick and an experienced +river-Jack packer to investigate. If you would rather, I'll stay with +them, though I'm afraid I can't get about much." + +"Thank you," she replied in a voice which had a break in it. "You must +come with us; you don't look fit to stand." + +Running the rapid, they slid away down-river, and once more Millicent sat +very still, thinking confused thoughts, until at last they made camp for +the night and she crept away to the shelter of her tent. A day or two +later Crestwick and the packer overtook them, having discovered nothing; +and then the party was animated by a strong desire to escape from the +river and reach the trail to the settlements as soon as possible. Further +search for Gladwyne was useless; the flood had swept him away and no one +would ever know where his bones lay. He had set out on his longest and +most mysterious journey, leaving only two women to mourn him, and of +these one, who had tried to love him out of duty, would by and by forget. + +On the evening before they left the river, Lisle stood with Millicent +looking back up the long reach they had descended. They had reached the +taller timber, and on one bank black firs, climbing the hillside, stood +out against the fading light with a gauzy mist-curtain drawn across their +higher ranks. The flood slid by, glimmering dimly, smooth and green, and +from out of the distance came the throbbing clamor of a rapid. + +"It's your last look," said Lisle. "We'll be in the bush to-morrow and I +expect to hire a wagon, or at least a horse or two, in a few days. Now +I'm sorry I ever brought you here. You'll be glad to get away." + +"You mustn't blame yourself," she told him. "We have only gratitude for +you. You have no part in the painful memories." + +She glanced once more up the valley; and then moved back into the shadow +of the firs. + +"It's all wildly beautiful, but it's so pitiless--I shall never think of +it without a shiver." + +"You have made plenty of notes and sketches for the book," suggested +Lisle, seeing her distress. + +"The book? I don't know that I shall ever finish it. I feel cut adrift, +as if there were no use in working and I hadn't a purpose left. First +George went, and then Clarence--so far, there was always some one to +think of--and now I'm all alone." + +She broke out into open sobbing and Lisle, feeling very sympathetic and +half dismayed, awkwardly tried to soothe her. + +"I'm better," she said at last. "It was very foolish, but I couldn't help +it. I think we'll go back to the others." + +He gave her his arm, for the way was rough, but as they approached the +camp she stopped a moment amid the shadow and stillness of the great fir +trunks. + +"I have done with the river--I think I am afraid of it," she confessed. +"Can't we get away early to-morrow?" + +Lisle said it should be arranged and she turned to him gratefully. + +"One can always rely on you! You're just like George was in many ways. +It's curious that whenever I'm in trouble I think of him--" + +She seemed on the verge of another breakdown, and she laid her hand in +his for a moment before she went from him hurriedly with a low, "Good +night!" + +Lisle strolled back to the river and lighted his pipe. He had noticed and +thought it significant that she spoke more of the brother whom she had +lost several years ago than of the lover who had perished recently; but, +from whatever cause it sprung, her distress troubled him. + +His thoughts were presently interrupted by Nasmyth. + +"There's a thing I'd better tell you, Vernon," he said, sitting down near +by. "The night you were half drowned I emptied the cache and, without +making any note of what was in it, pitched everything into the river." + +"So I discovered. At least, when I managed with some trouble to reach the +place, I knew it was either you or Gladwyne, and I blamed you." + +"Well?" + +"I've decided," Lisle said gravely, "that you did quite right. It's the +end of that story." + +"Then you have abandoned the purpose you had in view?" + +"I've been thinking hard, and it seems to me that if Vernon were with me +now, the last thing that would please him would be to see the two women +suffer; he was a big man in every way. There's another thing--he left no +relations to consider." + +Nasmyth laid a hand on his shoulder in a very expressive way. + +"I felt all along that you'd come to look at it like that!" + +"But there's Batley; he has some suspicions." + +"I can silence him," promised Nasmyth. "The man has his good points, +after all." + +"That's so," Lisle agreed. "Still, I'll come straight across to England +and tackle him if you fail. If it's a question of money, you can count me +in--I've been prospering lately." He rose and knocked out his pipe. +"That's the last word on the matter." + +They went back to camp, and starting soon after sunrise the next morning +they reached a settlement on the railroad after a comparatively easy +journey; and that evening Lisle stood with a heavy heart beside the track +while the big cars moved away, his eyes fixed on a woman's figure that +leaned out from a vestibule platform, waving a hand to him. + +After that he went back to his work, with Crestwick; and nearly twelve +months had passed when he sent a cable to England and started for that +country a day after receiving the answer. Crestwick insisted on going +with him. + +"You'll no doubt want my support again," he grinned. "There's an office I +mean to rob Nasmyth of, if I can." + +It was evening when they drove into sight of Millicent's house. Lisle's +heart throbbed painfully fast as he got down, but he was not kept +waiting. Millicent was standing in her drawing-room, and as he came in +she held out her hand to him. + +"You answered my message," he said, seizing it. "You must have guessed +what I meant when I asked if I might come across." + +"Yes," she confessed softly; "I knew and I told you to come." + +He still held her a little away from him as he gave a quick glance at the +refined and artistic appointments of the room. + +"There's a good deal you will have to give up," he told her. "You're not +afraid of our new and rugged country? But it has something to offer--and +we need such people as you." + +"It's going to be a great country before very long," she answered +gravely; "and I have no dread of it now. But--I gave my dearest--I think +it owes me something in return." + +He drew her masterfully into his arms. + +"It discharges all its debts. You must teach me how to pay you back in +full measure; that's my one big task. You're giving so much freely; but, +of course, I'm glad--I don't want duty." + +"This isn't duty," she smiled; "it's love!" + +THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Long Portage, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LONG PORTAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 25910.txt or 25910.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/1/25910/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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