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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6212.txt b/6212.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3799aa5 --- /dev/null +++ b/6212.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1690 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Translation of A Savage, v2, by G. Parker +#39 in our series by Gilbert Parker + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Translation of a Savage, Volume 2. + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6212] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 27, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE, V2, PARKER *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + + +THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE + +By Gilbert Parker + +Volume 2. + +VI. THE PASSING OF THE YEARS +VII. A COURT-MARTIAL +VIII. TO EVERY MAN HIS HOUR +IX. THE FAITH OF COMRADES + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PASSING OF THE YEARS + +Lali's recovery was not rapid. A change had come upon her. With that +strange ride had gone the last strong flicker of the desire for savage +life in her. She knew now the position she held towards her husband: +that he had never loved her; that she was only an instrument for unworthy +retaliation. So soon as she could speak after her accident, she told +them that they must not write to him and tell him of it. She also made +them promise that they would give him no news of her at all, save that +she was well. They could not refuse to promise; they felt she had the +right to demand much more than that. They had begun to care for her for +herself, and when the months went by, and one day there was a hush about +her room, and anxiety, and then relief, in the faces of all, they came to +care for her still more for the sake of her child. + +As the weeks passed, the fair-haired child grew more and more like his +father; but if Lali thought of her husband they never knew it by anything +she said, for she would not speak of him. She also made them promise +that they would not write to him of the child's birth. Richard, with his +sense of justice, and knowing how much the woman had been wronged, said +that in all this she had done quite right; that Frank, if he had done his +duty after marrying her, should have come with her. And because they all +felt that Richard had been her best friend as well as their own, they +called the child after him. This also was Lali's wish. Coincident with +her motherhood there came to Lali a new purpose. She had not lived with +the Armours without absorbing some of their fine social sense and +dignity. This, added to the native instinct of pride in her, gave her a +new ambition. As hour by hour her child grew dear to her, so hour by +hour her husband grew away from her. She schooled herself against him. +--At times she thought she hated him. She felt she could never forgive +him, but she would prove to him that it was she who had made the mistake +of her life in marrying him; that she had been wronged, not he; and that +his sin would face him with reproach and punishment one day. Richard's +prophecy was likely to come true: she would defeat very perfectly indeed +Frank's intentions. After the child was born, so soon as she was able, +she renewed her studies with Richard and Mrs. Armour. She read every +morning for hours; she rode; she practised all those graceful arts of the +toilet which belong to the social convention; she showed an unexpected +faculty for singing, and practised it faithfully; and she begged Mrs. +Armour and Marion to correct her at every point where correction seemed +necessary. When the child was two years old, they all went to London, +something against Lali's personal feelings, but quite in accord with what +she felt her duty. + +Richard was left behind at Greyhope. For the first time in eighteen +months he was alone with his old quiet duties and recreations. During +that time he had not neglected his pensioners,--his poor, sick, halt, and +blind, but a deeper, larger interest had come into his life in the person +of Lali. During all that time she had seldom been out of his sight, +never out of his influence and tutelage. His days had been full, his +every hour had been given a keen, responsible interest. As if by tacit +consent, every incident or development of Lali's life was influenced by +his judgment and decision. He had been more to her than General Armour, +Mrs. Armour, or Marion. Schooled as he was in all the ways of the +world, he had at the same time a mind as sensitive as a woman's, an +indescribable gentleness, a persuasive temperament. Since, years before, +he had withdrawn from the social world and become a recluse, many of his +finer qualities had gone into an indulgent seclusion. He had once loved +the world and the gay life of London, but some untoward event, coupled +with a radical love of retirement, had sent him into years of isolation +at Greyhope. + +His tutelar relations with Lali had reopened many an old spring +of sensation and experience. Her shy dependency, her innocent +inquisitiveness, had searched out his remotest sympathies. In teaching +her he had himself been re-taught. Before she came he had been satisfied +with the quiet usefulness and studious ease of his life. But in her +presence something of his old youthfulness came back, some reflection of +the ardent hopes of his young manhood. He did not notice the change in +himself. He only knew that his life was very full. He read later at +nights, he rose earlier in the morning. But unconsciously to himself, +he was undergoing a change. The more a man's sympathies and emotions +are active, the less is he the philosopher. It is only when one has +withdrawn from the more personal influence of the emotions that one's +philosophy may be trusted. One may be interested in mankind and still +be philosophical--may be, as it were, the priest and confessor to all +comers. But let one be touched in some vital corner in one's nature, +and the high, faultless impartiality is gone. In proportion as Richard's +interest in Lali had grown, the universal quality of his sympathy had +declined. Man is only man. Not that his benefactions as lord-bountiful +in the parish had grown perfunctory, but the calm detail of his interest +was not so definite. He was the same, yet not the same. + +He was not aware of any difference in himself. He did not know that he +looked younger by ten years. Such is the effect of mere personal +sympathy upon a man's look and bearing. When, therefore, one bright May +morning, the family at Greyhope, himself excluded, was ready to start for +London, he had no thought but that he would drop back into his old silent +life, as it was before Lali came, and his brother's child was born. He +was not conscious that he was very restless that morning; he scarcely was +aware that he had got up two hours earlier than usual. At the breakfast- +table he was cheerful and alert. After breakfast he amused himself in +playing with the child till the carriage was brought round. It was such +a morning as does not come a dozen times a year in England. The sweet, +moist air blew from the meadows and up through the lime trees with a +warm, insinuating gladness. The lawn sloped delightfully away to the +flowered embrasures of the park, and a fragrant abundance of flowers met +the eye and cheered the senses. While Richard loitered on the steps with +the child and its nurse, more excited than he knew, Lali came out and +stood beside him. At the moment Richard was looking into the distance. +He did not hear her when she came. She stood near him for a moment, and +did not speak. Her eyes followed the direction of his look, and idled +tenderly with the prospect before her. She did not even notice the +child. The same thought was in the mind of both--with a difference. +Richard was wondering how any one could choose to change the sweet +dignity of that rural life for the flaring, hurried delights of London +and the season. He had thought this a thousand times, and yet, though he +would have been little willing to acknowledge it, his conviction was not +so impregnable as it had been. + +Mrs. Francis Armour was stepping from the known to the unknown. She was +leaving the precincts of a life in which, socially, she had been born +again. Its sweetness and benign quietness had all worked upon her nature +and origin to change her. In that it was an out-door life, full of +freshness and open-air vigour, it was not antagonistic to her past. Upon +this sympathetic basis had been imposed the conditions of a fine social +decorum. The conditions must still exist. But how would it be when she +was withdrawn from this peaceful activity of nature and set down among +"those garish lights" in Cavendish Square and Piccadilly? She hardly +knew to what she was going as yet. There had been a few social functions +at Greyhope since she had come, but that could give her, after all, but +little idea of the swing and pressure of London life. + +At this moment she was lingering over the scene before her. She was +wondering with the naive wonder of an awakened mind. She had intended +many times of late saying to Richard all the native gratitude she felt; +yet somehow she had never been able to say it. The moment of parting had +come. + +"What are you thinking of, Richard?" she said now. He started and +turned towards her. + +"I hardly know," he answered. "My thoughts were drifting." + +"Richard," she said abruptly," I want to thank you." + +"Thank me for what, Lali?" he questioned. + +"To thank you, Richard, for everything--since I came, over three years +ago." + +He broke out into a soft little laugh, then, with his old good-natured +manner, caught her hand as he did the first night she came to Greyhope, +patted it in a fatherly fashion, and said: + +"It is the wrong way about, Lali; I ought to be thanking you, not you me. +Why, look what a stupid old fogy I was then, toddling about the place +with too much time on my hands, reading a lot and forgetting everything; +and here you came in, gave me something to do, made the little I know of +any use, and ran a pretty gold wire down the rusty fiddle of life. If +there are any speeches of gratitude to be made, they are mine, they are +mine." + +"Richard," she said very quietly and gravely, "I owe you more than I can +ever say--in English. You have taught me to speak in your tongue enough +for all the usual things of life, but one can only speak from the depths +of one's heart in one's native tongue. And see," she added, with a +painful little smile, "how strange it would sound if I were to tell you +all I thought in the language of my people--of my people, whom I shall +never see again. Richard, can you understand what it must be to have a +father whom one is never likely to see again--whom, if one did see again, +something painful would happen? We grow away from people against our +will; we feel the same towards them, but they cannot feel the same +towards us; for their world is in another hemisphere. We want to love +them, and we love, remember, and are glad to meet them again, but they +feel that we are unfamiliar, and, because we have grown different +outwardly, they seem to miss some chord that used to ring. Richard, I-- +I--" She paused. + +"Yes, Lali," he assented--"yes, I understand you so far; but speak out." + +"I am not happy," she said. "I never shall be happy. I have my child, +and that is all I have. I cannot go back to the life in which I was +born; I must go on as I am, a stranger among a strange people, pitied, +suffered, cared for a little--and that is all." + +The nurse had drawn away a little distance with the child. The rest of +the family were making their preparations inside the house. There was no +one near to watch the singular little drama. + +"You should not say that," he added; "we all feel you to be one of us." + +"But all your world does not feel me to be one of them," she rejoined. + +"We shall see about that when you go up to town. You are a bit morbid, +Lali. I don't wonder at your feeling a little shy; but then you will +simply carry things before you--now you take my word for it! For I know +London pretty well." + +She held out her ungloved hands. + +"Do they compare with the white hands of the ladies you know?" she said. + +"They are about the finest hands I have ever seen," he replied. "You +can't see yourself, sister of mine." + +"I do not care very much to see myself," she said. "If I had not a maid +I expect I should look very shiftless, for I don't care to look in a +mirror. My only mirror used to be a stream of water in summer," she +added, "and a corner of a looking-glass got from the Hudson's Bay fort in +the winter." + +"Well, you are missing a lot of enjoyment," he said, "if you do not use +your mirror much. The rest of us can appreciate what you would see +there." + +She reached out and touched his arm. + +"Do you like to look at me?" she questioned, with a strange simple +candour. + +For the first time in many a year, Richard Armour blushed like a girl +fresh from school. The question had come so suddenly, it had gone so +quickly into a sensitive corner of his nature, that he lost command of +himself for the instant, yet had little idea why the command was lost. +He touched the fingers on his arm affectionately. + +"Like to look at you--like to look at you? Why, of course we all like +to look at you. You are very fine and handsome and interesting." + +"Richard," she said, drawing her hands away, "is that why you like to +look at me?" + +He had recovered himself. He laughed in his old hearty way, and said: + +"Yes, yes; why, of course! Come, let us go and see the boy," he added, +taking her arm and hurrying her down the steps. "Come and let us see +Richard Joseph, the pride of all the Armours." + +She moved beside him in a kind of dream. She had learned much since she +came to Greyhope, and yet she could not at that moment have told exactly +why she asked Richard the question that had confused him, nor did she +know quite what lay behind the question. But every problem which has +life works itself out to its appointed end, if fumbling human fingers do +not meddle with it. Half the miseries of this world are caused by +forcing issues, in every problem of the affections, the emotions, and the +soul. There is a law working with which there should be no tampering, +lest in foolish interruption come only confusion and disaster. Against +every such question there should be written the one word, "Wait." + +Richard Armour stooped over the child. "A beauty," he said, "a perfect +little gentleman. Like Richard Joseph Armour there is none," he added. + +"Whom do you think he looks like, Richard?" she asked. This was a +question she had never asked before since the child was born. Whom the +child looked like every one knew; but within the past year and a half +Francis Armour's name had seldom been mentioned, and never in connection +with the child. The child's mother asked the question with a strange +quietness. Richard answered it without hesitation. + +"The child looks like Frank," he said. "As like him as can be." + +"I am glad," she said, "for all your sakes." + +"You are very deep this morning, Lali," Richard said, with a kind of +helplessness. "Frank will be pretty proud of the youngster when he comes +back. But he won't be prouder of him than I am." + +"I know that," she said. "Won't you be lonely without the boy--and me, +Richard?" + +Again the question went home. "Lonely? I should think I would," he +said. "I should think I would. But then, you see, school is over, and +the master stays behind and makes up the marks. You will find London a +jollier master than I am, Lali. There'll be lots of shows, and plenty to +do, and smart frocks, and no end of feeds and frolics; and that is more +amusing than studying three hours a day with a dry old stick like me. I +tell you what, when Frank comes--" + +She interrupted him. "Do not speak of that," she said. Then, with a +sudden burst of feeling, though her words were scarcely audible: "I owe +you everything, Richard--everything that is good. I owe him nothing, +Richard--nothing but what is bitter." + +"Hush, hush," he said; "you must not speak that way. Lali, I want to say +to you--" + +At that moment General Armour, Mrs. Armour, and Marion appeared on the +door-step, and the carriage came wheeling up the drive. What Richard +intended to say was left unsaid. The chances were it never would be +said. + +"Well, well," said General Armour, calling down at them, "escort his +imperial highness to the chariot which awaits him, and then ho! for +London town. Come along, my daughter," he said to Lali; "come up here +and take the last whiff of Greyhope that you will have for six months. +Dear, dear, what lunatics we all are, to be sure! Why, we're as happy as +little birds in their nests out in the decent country, and yet we scamper +off to a smoky old city by the Thames to rush along with the world, +instead of sitting high and far away from it and watching it go by. God +bless my soul, I'm old enough to know better! Well, let me help you in, +my dear," he added to his wife; "and in you go, Marion; and in you go, +your imperial highness"--he passed the child awkwardly in to Marion; +"and in you go, my daughter," he added, as he handed Lali in, pressing +her hand with a brusque fatherliness as he did so. He then got in after +them. + +Richard came to the side of the carriage and bade them all good-bye one +by one. Lali gave him her hand, but did not speak a word. He called a +cheerful adieu, the horses were whipped up, and in a moment Richard was +left alone on the steps of the house. He stood for a time looking, then +he turned to go into the house, but changed his mind, sat down, lit a +cigar, and did not move from his seat until he was summoned to his lonely +luncheon. + +Nobody thought much of leaving Richard behind at Greyhope. It seemed the +natural thing to do. But still he had not been left alone--entirely +alone--for three years or more. + +The days and weeks went on. If Richard had been accounted eccentric +before, there was far greater cause for the term now. Life dragged. Too +much had been taken out of his life all at once; for, in the first place, +the family had been drawn together more during the trouble which Lali's +advent had brought; then the child and its mother, his pupil, were gone +also. He wandered about in a kind of vague unrest. The hardest thing in +this world to get used to is the absence of a familiar footstep and the +cheerful greeting of a familiar eye. And the man with no chick or child +feels even the absence of his dog from the hearth-rug when he returns +from a journey or his day's work. It gives him a sense of strangeness +and loss. But when it is the voice of a woman and the hand of a child +that is missed, you can back no speculation upon that man's mood or mind +or conduct. There is no influence like the influence of habit, and that +is how, when the minds of people are at one, physical distances and +differences, no matter how great, are invisible, or at least not obvious. + +Richard Armour was a sensible man; but when one morning he suddenly +packed a portmanteau and went up to town to Cavendish Square, the act +might be considered from two sides of the equation. If he came back to +enter again into the social life which, for so many years, he had +abjured, it was not very sensible, because the world never welcomes its +deserters; it might, if men and women grew younger instead of older. If +he came to see his family, or because he hungered for his godchild, or +because--but we are hurrying the situation. It were wiser not to state +the problem yet. The afternoon that he arrived at Cavendish Square all +his family were out except his brother's wife. Lali was in the drawing- +room, receiving a visitor who had asked for Mrs. Armour and Mrs. Francis +Armour. The visitor was received by Mrs. Francis Armour. The visitor +knew that Mrs. Armour was not at home. She had by chance seen her and +Marion in Bond Street, and was not seen by them. She straightway got +into her carriage and drove up to Cavendish Square, hoping to find Mrs. +Francis Armour at home. There had been house-parties at Greyhope since +Lali had come there to live, but this visitor, though once an intimate +friend of the family, had never been a guest. + +The visitor was Lady Haldwell, once Miss Julia Sherwood, who had made +possible what was called Francis Armour's tragedy. Since Lali had come +to town Lady Haldwell had seen her, but had never met her. She was not +at heart wicked, but there are few women who can resist an opportunity of +anatomising and reckoning up the merits and demerits of a woman who has +married an old lover. When that woman is in the position of Lali, the +situation has an unusual piquancy and interest. Hence Lady Haldwell's +journey of inquisition to Cavendish Square. + +As Richard passed the drawing-room door to ascend the stairs, he +recognised the voices. + +Once a sort of heathen, as Mrs. Francis Armour had been, she still could +grasp the situation with considerable clearness. There is nothing keener +than one woman's instinct regarding another woman, where a man is +concerned. Mrs. Francis Armour received Lady Haldwell with a quiet +stateliness, which, if it did not astonish her, gave her sufficient +warning that matters were not, in this little comedy, to be all her own +way. + +Thrown upon the mere resources of wit and language, Mrs. Francis Armour +must have been at a disadvantage. For Lady Haldwell had a good gift of +speech, a pretty talent for epithet, and no unnecessary tenderness. She +bore Lali no malice. She was too decorous and high for that. In her +mind the wife of the man she had discarded was a mere commonplace +catastrophe, to be viewed without horror, maybe with pity. She had heard +the alien spoken well of by some people; others had seemed indignant that +the Armours should try to push "a red woman" into English society. Truth +is, the Armours did not try at all to push her. For over three years +they had let society talk. They had not entertained largely in Cavendish +Square since Lali came, and those invited to Greyhope had a chance to +refuse the invitations if they chose. Most people did not choose to +decline them. But Lady Haldwell was not of that number. She had never +been invited. But now in town, when entertainment must be more general, +she and the Armours were prepared for social interchange. + +Behind Lady Haldwell's visit curiosity chiefly ran. She was in a way +sorry for Frank Armour, for she had been fond of him after a fashion, +always fonder of him than of Lord Haldwell. She had married with her +fingers holding the scales of advantage; and Lord Haldwell dressed well, +was immensely rich, and the title had a charm. + +When Mrs. Francis Armour met her with her strange, impressive dignity, +she was the slightest bit confused, but not outwardly. She had not +expected it. At first Lali did not know who her visitor was. She had +not caught the name distinctly from the servant. + +Presently Lady Haldwell said, as Lali gave her hand "I am Lady Haldwell. +As Miss Sherwood I was an old friend of your husband." + +A scornful glitter came into Mrs. Armour's eyes--a peculiar touch of +burnished gold, an effect of the light at a certain angle of the lens. +It gave for the instant an uncanny look to the face, almost something +malicious. She guessed why this woman had come. She knew the whole +history of the past, and it touched her in a tender spot. She knew she +was had at an advantage. Before her was a woman perfectly trained in the +fine social life to which she was born, whose equanimity was as regular +as her features. Herself was by nature a creature of impulse, of the +woods and streams and open life. The social convention had been +engrafted. As yet she was used to thinking and speaking with all +candour. She was to have her training in the charms of superficiality, +but that was to come; and when it came she would not be an unskilful +apprentice. Perhaps the latent subtlety of her race came to help her +natural candour at the moment. For she said at once, in a slow, quiet +tone: + +"I never heard my husband speak of you. Will you sit down?" + +"And Mrs. Armour and Marion are not in? No, I suppose your husband did +not speak much of his old friends." + +The attack was studied and cruel. But Lady Haldwell had been stung by +Mrs. Armour's remark, and it piqued her that this was possible. + +"Well, yes, he spoke of some of his friends, but not of you." + +"Indeed! That is strange." + +"There was no necessity," said Mrs. Armour quietly. + +"Of discussing me? I suppose not. But by some chance--" + +"It was just as well, perhaps, not to anticipate the pleasure of our +meeting." + +Lady Haldwell was surprised. She had not expected this cleverness. +They talked casually for a little time, the visitor trying in vain to +delicately give the conversation a personal turn. At last, a little +foolishly, she grew bolder, with a needless selfishness. + +"So old a friend of your husband as I am, I am hopeful you and I may be +friends also." + +Mrs. Armour saw the move. + +"You are very kind," she said conventionally, and offered a cup of tea. + +Lady Haldwell now ventured unwisely. She was nettled at the other's +self-possession. + +"But then, in a way, I have been your friend for a long time, Mrs. +Armour." + +The point was veiled in a vague tone, but Mrs. Armour understood. Her +reply was not wanting. "Any one who has been a friend to my husband has, +naturally, claims upon me." + +Lady Haldwell, in spite of herself, chafed. There was a subtlety in the +woman before her not to be reckoned with lightly. + +"And if an enemy?" she said, smiling. + +A strange smile also flickered across Mrs. Armour's face as she said: + +"If an enemy of my husband called, and was penitent, I should--offer her +tea, no doubt." + +"That is, in this country; but in your own country, which, I believe, is +different, what would you do?" Mrs. Armour looked steadily and coldly +into her visitor's eyes. + +"In my country enemies do not compel us to be polite." + +"By calling on you?" Lady Haldwell was growing a little reckless. "But +then, that is a savage country. We are different here. I suppose, +however, your husband told you of these things, so that you were not +surprised. And when does he come? His stay is protracted. Let me see, +how long is it? Ah yes, near four years." Here she became altogether +reckless, which she regretted afterwards, for she knew, after all, what +was due herself. "He will comeback, I suppose?" + +Lady Haldwell was no coward, else she had hesitated before speaking in +that way before this woman, in whose blood was the wildness of the +heroical North. Perhaps she guessed the passion in Lali's breast, +perhaps not. In any case she would have said what she listed at the +moment. + +Wild as were the passions in Lali's breast, she thought on the instant of +her child, of what Richard Armour would say; for he had often talked to +her about not showing her emotions and passions, had told her that +violence of all kinds was not wise or proper. Her fingers ached to grasp +this beautiful, exasperating woman by the throat. But after an effort at +calmness she remained still and silent, looking at her visitor with a +scornful dignity. Lady Haldwell presently rose,--she could not endure +the furnace of that look,--and said good-bye. She turned towards the +door. Mrs. Armour remained immovable. At that instant, however, some +one stepped from behind a large screen just inside the door. It was +Richard Armour. He was pale, and on his face was a sternness the like +of which this and perhaps only one other woman had ever seen on him. He +interrupted her. + +"Lady Haldwell has a fine talent for irony," he said, "but she does not +always use it wisely. In a man it would bear another name, and from a +man it would be differently received." He came close to her. "You are a +brave woman," he said, "or you would have been more careful. Of course +you knew that my mother and sister were not at home?" + +She smiled languidly. "And why 'of course'?" + +"I do not know that; only I know that I think so; and I also think that +my brother Frank's worst misfortune did not occur when Miss Julia +Sherwood trafficked without compunction in his happiness." + +"Don't be oracular, my dear Richard Armour," she replied. "You are +trying, really. This seems almost melodramatic; and melodrama is bad +enough at Drury Lane." + +"You are not a good friend even to yourself," he answered. + +"What a discoverer you are! And how much in earnest! Do come back to +the world, Mr. Armour; you would be a relief, a new sensation." + +"I fancy I shall come back, if only to see the 'engineer hoist with his +own'--torpedo." + +He paused before the last word to give it point, for her husband's father +had made his money out of torpedoes. She felt the sting in spite of +herself, and she saw the point. + +"And then we will talk it over at the end of the season," he added, "and +compare notes. Good-afternoon." + +"You stake much on your hazard," she said, glancing back at Lali, who +still stood immovable. "Au revoir!" She left the room. Richard heard +the door close after her and the servant retire. Then he turned to Lali. + +As he did so, she ran forward to him with a cry. "Oh, Richard, Richard!" +she exclaimed, with a sob, threw her arms over his shoulder, and let her +forehead drop on his breast. Then came a sudden impulse in his blood. +Long after he shuddered when he remembered what he thought at that +instant; what he wished to do; what rich madness possessed him. He knew +now why he had come to town; he also knew why he must not stay, or, if +staying, what must be his course. + +He took her gently by the arm and led her to a chair, speaking cheerily +to her. Then he sat down beside her, and all at once again, her face wet +and burning, she flung herself forward on her knees beside him, and clung +to him. + +"Oh, Richard, I am glad you have come," she said. "I would have killed +her if I had not thought of you. I want you to stay; I am always better +when you are with me. I have missed you, and I know that baby misses you +too." + +He had his cue. He rose, trembling a little. "Come, come," he said +heartily, "it's all right, it's all right-my sister. Let us go and see +the youngster. There, dry your eyes, and forget all about that woman. +She is only envious of you. Come, for his imperial highness!" + +She was in a tumult of feeling. It was seldom that she had shown emotion +in the past two years, and it was the more ample when it did break forth. +But she dried her eyes, and together they went to the nursery. She +dismissed the nurse and they were left alone by the sleeping child. She +knelt at the head of the little cot, and touched the child's forehead +with her lips. He stooped down also beside it. + +"He's a grand little fellow," he said. "Lali," he continued presently, +"it is time Frank came home. I am going to write for him. If he does +not come at once, I shall go and fetch him." + +"Never! never!" Her eyes flashed angrily. "Promise that you will not. +Let him come when he is ready. + +"He does not, care." She shuddered a little. + +"But he will care when he comes, and you--you care for him, Lali?" + +Again she shuddered, and a whiteness ran under the hot excitement of her +cheeks. She said nothing, but looked up at him, then dropped her face in +her hands. + +"You do care for him, Lali," he said earnestly, almost solemnly, his lips +twitching slightly. "You must care for him; it is his right; and he +will--I swear to you I know he will--care for you." + +In his own mind there was another thought, a hard, strange thought; and +it had to do with the possibility of his brother not caring for this +wife. + +Still she did not speak. + +"To a good woman, with a good husband," he continued, "there is no one-- +there should be no one--like the father of her child. And no woman ever +loved her child more than you do yours." He knew that this was special +pleading. + +She trembled, and then dropped her cheek beside the child's. "I want +Frank to be happy," he went on; "there is no one I care more for than +for Frank." + +She lifted her face to him now, in it a strange light. Then her look ran +to confusion, and she seemed to read all that he meant to convey. He +knew she did. He touched her shoulder. + +"You must do the best you can every way, for Frank's sake, for all our +sakes. I will help you--God knows I will--all I can." + +"Ah, yes, yes," she whispered, from the child's pillow. + +He could see the flame in her cheek. "I understand." She put out her +hand to him, but did not look up. "Leave me alone with my baby, +Richard," she pleaded. + +He took her hand and pressed it again and again in his old, unconscious +way. Then he let it go, and went slowly to the door. There he turned +and looked back at her. He mastered the hot thought in him. "God help +me!" she murmured from the cot. The next morning Richard went back to +Greyhope. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A COURT-MARTIAL + +It was hard to tell, save for a certain deliberateness of speech and a +colour a little more pronounced than that of a Spanish woman, that Mrs. +Frank Armour had not been brought up in England. She had a kind of grave +sweetness and distant charm which made her notable at any table or in +any ballroom. Indeed, it soon became apparent that she was to be the +pleasant talk, the interest of the season. This was tolerably comforting +to the Armours. Again Richard's prophecy had been fulfilled, and as he +sat alone at Greyhope and read the Morning Post, noticing Lali's name +at distinguished gatherings, or, picking up the World, saw how the lion- +hunters talked extravagantly of her, he took some satisfaction to himself +that he had foreseen her triumph where others looked for her downfall. +Lali herself was not elated; it gratified her, but she had been an angel, +and a very unsatisfactory one, if it had not done so. As her confidence +grew (though outwardly she had never appeared to lack it greatly), she +did not hesitate to speak of herself as an Indian, her country as a good +country, and her people as a noble if dispossessed race; all the more so +if she thought reference to her nationality and past was being rather +conspicuously avoided. She had asked General Armour for an interview +with her husband's solicitor. This was granted. When she met the +solicitor, she asked him to send no newspaper to her husband containing +any reference to herself, nor yet to mention her in his letters. + +She had never directly received a line from him but once, and that was +after she had come to know the truth about his marriage with her. She +could read in the conventional sentences, made simple as for a child, +the strained politeness, and his absolute silence as to whether or not +a child had been born to them, the utter absence of affection for her. +She had also induced General Armour and his wife to give her husband's +solicitor no information regarding the birth of the child. There was +thus apparently no more inducement for him to hurry back to England than +there was when he had sent her off on his mission of retaliation, which +had been such an ignominious failure. For the humiliation of his family +had been short-lived, the affront to Lady Haldwell nothing at all. The +Armours had not been human if they had failed to enjoy their daughter-in +-law's success. Although they never, perhaps, would quite recover the +disappointment concerning Lady Agnes Martling, the result was so much +better than they in their cheerfulest moments dared hope for, that they +appeared genuinely content. + +To their grandchild they were devotedly attached. Marion was his +faithful slave and admirer, so much so that Captain Vidall, who now and +then was permitted to see the child, declared himself jealous. He and +Marion were to be married soon. The wedding had been delayed owing to +his enforced absence abroad. Mrs. Edward Lambert, once Mrs. Townley, +shyly regretted in Lali's presence that the child, or one as sweet, +was not hers. Her husband evidently shared her opinion, from the +extraordinary notice he took of it when his wife was not present. Not +that Richard Joseph Armour, Jun., was always en evidence, but when asked +for by his faithful friends and admirers he was amiably produced. + +Meanwhile, Frank Armour across the sea was engaged with many things. +His business concerns had not prospered prodigiously, chiefly because his +judgment, like his temper, had grown somewhat uncertain. His popularity +in the Hudson's Bay country had been at some tension since he had shipped +his wife away to England. Even the ordinary savage mind saw something +unusual and undomestic in it, and the general hospitality declined a +little. Armour did not immediately guess the cause; but one day, about a +year after his wife had gone, he found occasion to reprove a half-breed, +by name Jacques Pontiac; and Jacques, with more honesty than politeness, +said some hard words, and asked how much he paid for his English hired +devils to kill his wife. Strange to say, he did not resent this +startling remark. It set him thinking. He began to blame himself for +not having written oftener to his people--and to his wife. He wondered +how far his revenge had succeeded. He was most ashamed of it now. He +knew that he had done a dishonourable thing. The more he thought upon +it the more angry with himself he became. Yet he dreaded to go back to +England and face it all: the reproach of his people; the amusement of +society; his wife herself. He never attempted to picture her as a +civilised being. He scarcely knew her when he married her. She knew +him much better, for primitive people are quicker in the play of their +passions, and she had come to love him before he had begun to notice +her at all. + +Presently he ate his heart out with mortification. To be yoked for ever +to--a savage! It was horrible. And their children? It was strange he +had not thought of that before. Children? He shrugged his shoulders. +There might possibly be a child, but children--never! But he doubted +even regarding a child, for no word had come to him concerning that +possibility. He was even most puzzled at the tone and substance of their +letters. From the beginning there had been no reproaches, no excitement, +no railing, but studied kindness and conventional statements, through +which Mrs. Armour's solicitous affection scarcely ever peeped. He had +shot his bolt, and got--consideration, almost imperturbability. They +appeared to treat the matter as though he were a wild youth who would not +yet mend his ways. He read over their infrequent letters to him; his to +them had been still more infrequent. In one there was the statement that +"she was progressing favourably with her English"; in another, that "she +was riding a good deal"; again, that "she appeared anxious to adapt +herself to her new life." + +At all these he whistled a little to himself, and smiled bitterly. Then, +all at once, he got up and straightway burned them all. He again tried +to put the matter behind him for the present, knowing that he must face +it one day, and staving off its reality as long as possible. He did his +utmost to be philosophical and say his quid refert, but it was easier +tried than done; for Jacques Pontiac's words kept rankling in his mind, +and he found himself carrying round a vague load, which made him +abstracted occasionally, and often a little reckless in action and +speech. In hunting bear and moose he had proved himself more daring than +the oldest hunter, and proportionately successful. He paid his servants +well, but was sharp with them. + +He made long, hard expeditions, defying the weather as the hardiest of +prairie and mountain men mostly hesitate to defy it; he bought up much +land, then, dissatisfied, sold it again at a loss, but subsequently made +final arrangements for establishing a very large farm. When he once +became actually interested in this he shook off something of his +moodiness and settled himself to develop the thing. He had good talent +for initiative and administration, and at last, in the time when his wife +was a feature of the London season, he found his scheme in working order, +and the necessity of going to England was forced upon him. + +Actually he wished that the absolute necessity had presented itself +before. There was always the moral necessity, of course--but then! +Here now was a business need; and he must go. Yet he did not fix a day +or make definite arrangements. He could hardly have believed himself +such a coward. With liberal emphasis he called himself a sneak, and one +day at Fort Charles sat down to write to his solicitor in Montreal to say +that he would come on at once. Still he hesitated. As he sat there +thinking, Eye-of-the-Moon, his father-in-law, opened the door quietly and +entered. He had avoided the chief ever since he had come back to Fort +Charles, and practically had not spoken to him for a year. Armour +flushed slightly with annoyance. But presently, with a touch of his old +humour, he rose, held out his hand, and said ironically: "Well, father- +in-law, it's about time we had a big talk, isn't it? We're not very +intimate for such close relatives." + +The old Indian did not fully understand the meaning or the tone of +Armour's speech, but he said "How!" and, reaching out his hand for the +pipe offered him, lighted it, and sat down, smoking in silence. Armour +waited; but, seeing that the other was not yet moved to talk, he turned +to his letter again. After a time, Eye-of-the-Moon said gravely, getting +to his feet: "Brother!" + +Armour looked up, then rose also. The Indian bowed to him courteously, +then sat down again. Armour threw a leg over a corner of the table and +waited. + +"Brother," said the Indian presently, "you are of the great race that +conquers us. You come and take our land and our game, and we at last +have to beg of you for food and shelter. Then you take our daughters, +and we know not where they go. They are gone like the down from the +thistle. We see them not, but you remain. And men say evil things. +There are bad words abroad. Brother, what have you done with my +daughter?" + +Had the Indian come and stormed, begged money of him, sponged on him, +or abused him, he had taken it very calmly--he would, in fact, have been +superior. But there was dignity in the chief's manner; there was +solemnity in his speech; his voice conveyed resoluteness and earnestness, +which the stoic calm of his face might not have suggested; and Armour +felt that he had no advantage at all. Besides, Armour had a conscience, +though he had played some rare tricks with it of late, and it needed more +hardihood than he possessed to face this old man down. And why face him +down? Lali was his daughter, blood of his blood, the chieftainess of one +branch of his people, honoured at least among these poor savages, and the +old man had a right to ask, as asked another more famous, "Where is my +daughter?" + +His hands in his pockets, Armour sat silent for a minute, eyeing his +boot, as he swung his leg to and fro. Presently he said: "Eye-of-the- +Moon, I don't think I can talk as poetically as you, even in my own +language, and I shall not try. But I should like to ask you this: +Do you believe any harm has come to your daughter--to my wife?" + +The old Indian forgot to blow the tobacco-smoke from his mouth, and, as +he sat debating, lips slightly apart, it came leaking out in little +trailing clouds and gave a strange appearance to his iron-featured face. +He looked steadily at Armour, and said: "You are of those who rule in +your land,"--here Armour protested, "you have much gold to buy and sell. +I am a chief, "he drew himself up,--"I am poor: we speak with the +straight tongue; it is cowards who lie. Speak deep as from the heart, +my brother, and tell me where my daughter is." + +Armour could not but respect the chief for the way this request was put, +but still it galled him to think that he was under suspicion of having +done any bodily injury to his wife, so he quietly persisted: "Do you +think I have done Lali any harm?" + +"The thing is strange," replied the other. "You are of those who are +great among your people. You married a daughter of a red man. Then she +was yours for less than one moon, and you sent her far away, and you +stayed. Her father was as a dog in your sight. Do men whose hearts +are clear act so? They have said strange things of you. I have not +believed; but it is good I know all, that I may say to the tale-bearers, +'You have crooked tongues.'" + +Armour sat for a moment longer, his face turned to the open window. He +was perfectly still, but he had become grave. He was about to reply to +the chief, when the trader entered the room hurriedly with a newspaper in +his hand. He paused abruptly when he saw Eye-of-the-Moon. Armour felt +that the trader had something important to communicate. He guessed it +was in the paper. He mutely held out his hand for it. The trader handed +it to him hesitatingly, at the same time pointing to a paragraph, and +saying: "It is nearly two years old, as you see. I chanced upon it by +accident to-day." + +It was a copy of a London evening paper, containing a somewhat +sensational account of Lali's accident. It said that she was in a +critical condition. This time Armour did not ask for brandy, but the +trader put it out beside him. He shook his head. "Gordon," he said +presently, "I shall leave here in the morning. Please send my men to +me." + +The trader whispered to him: "She was all right, of course, long ago, Mr. +Armour, or you would have heard." + +Armour looked at the date of the paper. He had several letters from +England of a later date, and these said nothing of her illness. It +bewildered him, made him uneasy. Perhaps the first real sense of his +duty as a husband came home to him there. For the first time he was +anxious about the woman for her own sake. The trader had left the room. + +"What a scoundrel I've been!" said Armour between his teeth, oblivious, +for the moment, of Eye-of-the-Moon's presence. Presently, bethinking +himself, he turned to the Indian. "I've been debating," he said. "Eye- +of-the-Moon, my wife is in England, at my father's home. I am going to +her. Men have lied in thinking I would do her any injury, but--but-- +never mind, the harm was of another kind. It isn't wise for a white man +and an Indian to marry, but when they are married--well, they must live +as man and wife should live, and, as I said, I am going to my wife." + +To say all this to a common Indian, whose only property was a dozen +ponies and a couple of tepees, required something very like moral +courage; but then Armour had not been exercising moral courage during +the last year or so, and its exercise was profitable to him. The next +morning he was on his way to Montreal, and Eye-of-the-Moon was the +richest chief in British North America, at that moment, by five thousand +dollars or so. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TO EVERY MAN HIS HOUR + +It was the close of the season: many people had left town, but +festivities were still on. To a stranger the season might have seemed +at its height. The Armours were giving a large party in Cavendish Square +before going back again to Greyhope, where, for the sake of Lali and +her child, they intended to remain during the rest of the summer, +in preference to going on the Continent or to Scotland. The only +unsatisfactory feature of Lali's season was the absence of her husband. +Naturally there were those who said strange things regarding Frank +Armour's stay in America; but it was pretty generally known that he was +engaged in land speculations, and his club friends, who perhaps took the +pleasantest view of the matter, said that he was very wise indeed, if a +little cowardly, in staying abroad until his wife was educated and ready +to take her position in society. There was one thing on which they were +all agreed: Mrs. Frank Armour either had a mind superior to the charms +of their sex, or was incapable of that vanity which hath many suitors, +and says: "So far shalt thou go, and--" The fact is, Mrs. Frank Armour's +mind was superior. She had only one object--to triumph over her husband +grandly, as a woman righteously might. She had vanity, of course, but it +was not ignoble. She kept one thing in view; she lived for it. + +Her translation had been successful. There were times when she +remembered her father, the wild days on the prairies, the buffalo-hunt, +tracking the deer, tribal battles, the long silent hours of the winter, +and the warm summer nights when she slept in the prairie grass or camped +with her people in the trough of a great landwave. Sometimes the hunger +for its freedom, and its idleness, and its sport, came to her greatly; +but she thought of her child, and she put it from her. She was ambitious +for him; she was keen to prove her worth as a wife against her husband's +unworthiness. This perhaps saved her. She might have lost had her life +been without this motive. + +The very morning of this notable reception, General Armour had received +a note from Frank Armour's solicitor, saying that his son was likely to +arrive in London from America that day or the next. Frank had written to +his people no word of his coming; to his wife, as we have said, he had +not written for months; and before he started back he would not write, +because he wished to make what amends he could in person. He expected to +find her improved, of course, but still he could only think of her as an +Indian, showing her common prairie origin. His knowledge of her before +their marriage had been particularly brief; she was little more in his +eyes than a thousand other Indian women, save that she was better- +looking, was whiter than most, and had finer features. He could not very +clearly remember the tones of her voice, because after marriage, and +before he had sent her to England, he had seen little or nothing of her. + +When General Armour received the news of Frank's return he told his wife +and Marion, and they consulted together whether it were good to let Lali +know at once. He might arrive that evening. If so, the position would +be awkward, because it was impossible to tell how it might affect her. +If they did tell her, and Frank happened not to arrive, it might unnerve +her so as to make her appearance in the evening doubtful. Richard, the +wiseacre, the inexhaustible Richard, was caring for his cottagers and +cutting the leaves of new books--his chiefest pleasure--at Greyhope. +They felt it was a matter they ought to be able to decide for themselves, +but still it was the last evening of Lali's stay in town, and they did +not care to take any risk. Strange to say, they had come to take pride +in their son's wife; for even General and Mrs. Armour, high-minded and +of serene social status as they were, seemed not quite insensible to the +pleasure of being an axle on which a system of social notoriety revolved. + +At the opportune moment Captain Vidall was announced, and, because he and +Marion were soon to carry but one name between them, he was called into +family consultation. It is somewhat singular that in this case the women +were quite wrong and the men were quite right. For General Armour and +Captain Vidall were for silence until Frank came, if he came that day, +or for telling her the following morning, when the function was over. +And the men prevailed. + +Marion was much excited all day; she had given orders that Frank's room +should be made ready, but for whom she gave no information. While Lali +was dressing for the evening, something excited and nervous, she entered +her room. They were now the best of friends. The years had seen many +shifting scenes in their companionship; they had been as often at war as +at peace; but they had respected each other, each after her own fashion; +and now they had a real and mutual regard. Lali's was a slim, lithe +figure, wearing its fashionable robes with an air of possession; +and the face above it, if not entirely beautiful, had a strange, warm +fascination. The girl had not been a chieftainess for nothing. A look +of quiet command was there, but also a far-away expression which gave a +faint look of sadness even when a smile was at the lips. The smile +itself did not come quickly, it grew; but above it all was hair of +perfect brown, most rare,--setting off her face as a plume does a helmet. +She showed no surprise when Marion entered. She welcomed her with a +smile and outstretched hand, but said nothing. + +"Lali," said Marion somewhat abruptly,--she scarcely knew why she said +it,--"are you happy?" + +It was strange how the Indian girl had taken on those little manners of +society which convey so much by inflection. She lifted her eyebrows at +Marion, and said presently, in a soft, deliberate voice, "Come, Marion, +we will go and see little Richard; then I shall be happy." + +She linked her arm through Marion's. Marion drummed her fingers lightly +on the beautiful arm, and then fell to wondering what she should say +next. They passed into the room where the child lay sleeping; they went +to his little bed, and Lali stretched out her hand gently, touching the +curls of the child. Running a finger through one delicately, she said, +with a still softer tone than before: "Why should not one be happy?" + +Marion looked up slowly into her eyes, let a hand fall on her shoulder +gently, and replied: "Lali, do you never wish Frank to come?" + +Lali's fingers came from the child, the colour mounted slowly to her +forehead, and she drew the girl away again into the other room. Then she +turned and faced Marion, a deep fire in her eyes, and said, in a whisper +almost hoarse in its intensity: "Yes; I wish he would come to-night." + +She looked harder yet at Marion; then, with a flash of pride and her +hands clasping before her, she drew herself up, and added: "Am I not +worthy to be his wife now? Am I not beautiful--for a savage?" + +There was no common vanity in the action. It had a noble kind of +wistfulness, and a serenity that entirely redeemed it. Marion dated +her own happiness from the time when Lali met her accident, for in the +evening of that disastrous day she issued to Captain Hume Vidall a +commission which he could never--wished never--to resign. Since then +she had been at her best,--we are all more or less selfish creatures,-- +and had grown gentler, curbing the delicate imperiousness of her nature, +and frankly, and without the least pique, taken a secondary position of +interest in the household, occasioned by Lali's popularity. She looked +Lali up and down with a glance in which many feelings met, and then, +catching her hands warmly, she lifted them, put them on her own +shoulders, and said: "My dear beautiful savage, you are fit and +worthy to be Queen of England; and Frank, when he comes--" + +"Hush!" said the other dreamily, and put a finger on Marion's lips. "I +know what you are going to say, but I do not wish to hear it. He did not +love me then. He used me--" She shuddered, put her hands to her eyes +with a pained, trembling motion, then threw her head back with a quick +sigh. "But I will not speak of it. Come, we are for the dance, Marion. +It is the last, to-night. To-morrow--" She paused, looking straight +before her, lost in thought. + +"Yes, to-morrow, Lali?" + +"I do not know about to-morrow," was the reply. "Strange things come to +me." + +Marion longed to tell her then and there the great news, but she was +afraid to do so, and was, moreover, withheld by the remembrance that it +had been agreed she should not be told. She said nothing. + +At eleven o'clock the rooms were filled. For the fag end of the season, +people seemed unusually brilliant. The evening itself was not so hot as +common, and there was an extra array of distinguished guests. Marion was +nervous all the evening, though she showed little of it, being most +prettily employed in making people pleased with themselves. Mrs. Armour +also was not free from apprehension. In reply to inquiries concerning +her son she said, as she had often said during the season, that he might +be back at any time now. Lali had answered always in the same fashion, +and had shown no sign that his continued absence was singular. As the +evening wore on, the probability of Frank's appearance seemed less; and +the Armours began to breathe more freely. + +Frank had, however, arrived. He had driven straight from Euston to +Cavendish Square, but, seeing the house lighted up, and guests arriving, +he had a sudden feeling of uncertainty. He ordered the cabman to take +him to his club. There he put himself in evening-dress, and drove back +again to the house. He entered quietly. At the moment the hall was +almost deserted; people were mostly in the ballroom and supper-room. He +paused a moment, biting his moustache as if in perplexity. A strange +timidity came on him. All his old dash and self-possession seemed to +have forsaken him. Presently, seeing a number of people entering the +hall, he made for the staircase, and went hastily up. Mechanically he +went to his own room, and found it lighted. Flowers were set about, and +everything was made ready as for a guest. He sat down, not thinking, but +dazed. + +Glancing up, he saw his face in a mirror. It was bronzed, but it looked +rather old and careworn. He shrugged a shoulder at that. Then, in the +mirror, he saw also something else. It startled him so that he sat +perfectly still for a moment looking at it. It was some one laughing at +him over his shoulder--a child! He got to his feet and turned round. On +the table was a very large photograph of a smiling child--with his eyes, +his face. He caught the chair-arm, and stood looking at it a little +wildly. Then he laughed a strange laugh, and the tears leaped to his +eyes. He caught the picture in his hands, and kissed it,--very +foolishly, men not fathers might think,--and read the name beneath, +Richard Joseph Armour; and again, beneath that, the date of birth. +He then put it back on the table and sat looking at it-looking, and +forgetting, and remembering. + +Presently, the door opened, and some one entered. It was Marion. She +had seen him pass through the hall; she had then gone and told her father +and mother, to prepare them, and had followed him upstairs. He did not +hear her. She stepped softly forwards. "Frank!" she said--"Frank!" +and laid a hand on his shoulder. He started up and turned his face on +her. + +Then he caught her hands and kissed her. "Marion!" he said, and he +could say no more. But presently he pointed towards the photograph. + +She nodded her head. "Yes, it is your child, Frank. Though, of course, +you don't deserve it. . . . Frank dear," she added, "I am glad--we +shall all be glad-to have you back; but you are a wicked man." She felt +she must say that. + +Now he only nodded, and still looked at the portrait. "Where is--my +wife?" he added presently. + +"She is in the ballroom." Marion was wondering what was best to do. + +He caught his thumb-nail in his teeth. He winced in spite of himself. +"I will go to her," he said, "and then--the baby." + +"I am glad," she replied, "that you have so much sense of justice left, +Frank: the wife first, the baby afterwards. But do you think you deserve +either?" + +He became moody, and made an impatient gesture. "Lady Agnes Martling is +here, and also Lady Haldwell," she persisted cruelly. She did not mind, +because she knew he would have enough to compensate him afterwards. + +"Marion," he said, "say it all, and let me have it over. Say what you +like, and I'll not whimper. I'll face it. But I want to see my child." + +She was sorry for him. She had really wanted to see how much he was +capable of feeling in the matter. + +"Wait here, Frank," she said. "That will be best; and I will bring your +wife to you." + +He said nothing, but assented with a motion of the hand, and she left +him where he was. He braced himself for the interview. Assuredly a man +loses something of natural courage and self-confidence when he has done +a thing of which he should be, and is, ashamed. + +It seemed a long time (it was in reality but a couple of minutes) before +the door opened again, and Marion said: "Frank, your wife!" and then +retreated. + +The door closed, leaving a stately figure standing just inside it. The +figure did not move forwards, but stood there, full of life and fine +excitement, but very still also. + +Frank Armour was confounded. He came forwards slowly, looking hard. +Was this distinguished, handsome, reproachful woman his wife--Lali, the +Indian girl, whom he had married in a fit of pique and brandy? He could +hardly believe his eyes; and yet hers looked out at him with something +that he remembered too, together with something which he did not +remember, making him uneasy. Clearly, his great mistake had turned from +ashes into fruit. "Lali!" he said, and held out his hand. + +She reached out hers courteously, but her fingers gave him no response. + +"We have many things to say to each other," she said, "but they cannot be +said now. I shall be missed from the ballroom." + +"Missed from the ballroom!" He almost laughed to think how strange this +sounded in his ears. As if interpreting his thought, she added: "You +see, it is our last affair of the season, and we are all anxious to do +our duty perfectly. Will you go down with me? We can talk afterwards." + +Her continued self-possession utterly confused him. She had utterly +confused Marion also, when told that her husband was in the house. She +had had presentiments, and, besides, she had been schooling herself for +this hour for a long time. She turned towards the door. + +"But," he asked, like a supplicant, "our child! I want to see the boy." + +She lifted her eyebrows, then, seeing the photograph of the baby on the +table, understood how he knew. "Come with me, then," she said, with a +little more feeling. + +She led the way along the landing, and paused at her door. "Remember +that we have to appear amongst the guests directly," she said, as though +to warn him against any demonstration. Then they entered. She went over +to the cot and drew back the fleecy curtain from over the sleeping boy's +head. His fingers hungered to take his child to his arms. "He is +magnificent--magnificent!" he said, with a great pride. "Why did you +never let me know of it?" + +"How could I tell what you would do?" she calmly replied. "You married +me--wickedly, and used me wickedly afterwards; and I loved the child." + +"You loved the child," he repeated after her. "Lali," he added, "I don't +deserve it, but forgive me, if you can--for the child's sake." + +"We had better go below," she calmly replied. "We have both duties to +do. You will of course--appear with me--before them?" + +The slight irony in the tone cut him horribly. He offered his arm in +silence. They passed on to the staircase. + +"It is necessary," she said, "to appear cheerful before one's guests." + +She had him at an advantage at every point. "We will be cheerful, then," +was his reply, spoken with a grim kind of humour. "You have learned it +all, haven't you?" he added. + +They were just entering the ballroom. "Yes, with your kind help--and +absence," she replied. + +The surprise of the guests was somewhat diminished by the fact that +Marion, telling General Armour and his wife first of Frank's return, +industriously sent the news buzzing about the room. + +The two went straight to Frank's father and mother. Their parts were +all excellently played. Then Frank mingled among the guests, being very +heartily greeted, and heard congratulations on all sides. Old club +friends rallied him as a deserter, and new acquaintances flocked about +him; and presently he awakened to the fact that his Indian wife had been +an interest of the season, was not the least admired person present. +It was altogether too good luck for him; but he had an uncomfortable +conviction that he had a long path of penance to walk before he could +hope to enjoy it. + +All at once he met Lady Haldwell, who, in spite of all, still accepted +invitations to General Armour's house--the strange scene between Lali and +herself never having been disclosed to the family. He had nothing but +bitterness in his heart for her, but he spoke a few smooth words, and she +languidly congratulated him on his bronzed appearance. He asked for a +dance, but she had not one to give him. As she was leaving, she suddenly +turned as though she had forgotten something, and looking at him, said: +"I forgot to congratulate you on your marriage. I hope it is not too +late?" + +He bowed. "Your congratulations are so sincere," he said, "that they +would be a propos late or early." When he stood with his wife whilst the +guests were leaving, and saw with what manner she carried it all off,--as +though she had been born in the good land of good breeding,--he was moved +alternately with wonder and shame--shame that he had intended this noble +creature as a sacrifice to his ugly temper and spite. + +When all the guests were gone and the family stood alone in the drawing- +room, a silence suddenly fell amongst them. Presently Marion said to her +mother in a half-whisper, "I wish Richard were here." + +They all felt the extreme awkwardness of the situation, especially when +Lali bade General Armour, Mrs. Armour, and Marion good-night, and then, +turning to her husband, said, "Good-night"--she did not even speak his +name. "Perhaps you would care to ride to-morrow morning? I always go +to the Park at ten, and this will be my last ride of the season." + +Had she written out an elaborate proclamation of her intended attitude +towards her husband, it could not have more clearly conveyed her mind +than this little speech, delivered as to a most friendly acquaintance. +General Armour pulled his moustache fiercely, and, it is possible, +enjoyed the situation, despite its peril. Mrs. Armour turned to the +mantel and seemed tremulously engaged in arranging some bric-a-brac. +Marion, however, with a fine instinct, slid her arm through that of Lali, +and gently said: "Yes, of course Frank will be glad of a ride in the +Park. He used to ride with me every morning. But let us go, us three, +and kiss the baby good-night--'good-night till we meet in the morning.'" + +She linked her arm now through Frank's, and as she did so he replied to +Lali: "I shall be glad to ride in the morning, but--" + +"But we can arrange it at breakfast," said his wife hurriedly. At the +same time she allowed herself to be drawn away to the hall with her +husband. + +He was very angry, but he knew he had no right to be so. He choked back +his wrath and moved on amiably enough, and suddenly the fashion in which +the tables had been turned on him struck him with its tragic comedy, and +he involuntarily smiled. His sense of humour saved him from words and +acts which might possibly have made the matter a pure tragedy after all. +He loosed his arm from Marion's. + +"I must bid father and mother good-night. Then I will join you both-- +'in the court of the king.'" And he turned and went back, and said to +his father as he kissed his mother: "I am had at an advantage, General." + +"And serves you right, my boy. You had the odds with you, but she has +captured them like a born soldier." His mother said to him gently: +"Frank, you blamed us, but remember that we wished only your good. Take +my advice, dear, and try to love your wife and win her confidence." + +"Love her--try to love her!" he said. "I shall easily do that. But the +other--?" He shook his head a little, though what he meant perhaps he +did not know quite himself, and then followed Marion and Lali upstairs. +Marion had tried to escape from Lali, but was told that she must stay; +and the three met at the child's cot. Marion stooped down and kissed its +forehead. Frank stooped also and kissed its cheek. Then the wife kissed +the other cheek. The child slept peacefully on. "You can always see the +baby here before breakfast, if you choose," said Lali; and she held out +her hand again in good-night. At this point Marion stole away, in spite +of Lah's quick little cry of "Wait, Marion!" and the two were left alone +again. + +"I am very tired," she said. "I would rather not talk to-night." The +dismissal was evident. + +He took her hand, held it an instant, and presently said: "I will not +detain you, but I would ask you, Lali, to remember that you are my wife. +Nothing can alter that." + +"Still we are only strangers, as you know," she quietly rejoined. + +"You forget the days we were together--after we were married," he +cautiously urged. + +"I am not the same girl, . . . you killed her. . . We have to start +again. . . . I know all." + +"You know that in my wretched anger and madness I--" + +"Oh, please do not speak of it," she said; "it is so bad even in +thought." + +"But will you never forgive me, and care for me? We have to live our +lives together." + +"Pray let us not speak of it now," she said, in a weary voice; then, +breathlessly: "It is of much more consequence that you should love me +--and the child." + +He drew himself up with a choking sigh, and spread out his arms to her. +"Oh, my wife!" he exclaimed. + +"No, no," she cried, "this is unreasonable; we know so little of each +other. . . . Good-night, again." + +He turned at the door, came back, and, stooping, kissed the child on the +lips. Then he said: "You are right. I deserve to suffer. . . . +Good-night." + +But when he was gone she dropped on her knees, and kissed the child many +times on the lips also. + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +If fumbling human fingers do not meddle with it +Miseries of this world are caused by forcing issues +Reading a lot and forgetting everything +The world never welcomes its deserters +There is no influence like the influence of habit +There should be written the one word, "Wait." +Training in the charms of superficiality +We grow away from people against our will +We speak with the straight tongue; it is cowards who lie + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE, V2, PARKER *** + +************ This file should be named 6212.txt or 6212.zip ************ + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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