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diff --git a/6214.txt b/6214.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc5fedb --- /dev/null +++ b/6214.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5594 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Translation of a Savage, Complete, by Gilbert Parker + +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 Translation of a Savage, Complete + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Last Updated: March 12, 2009 +Release Date: October 18, 2006 [EBook #6214] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE, *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE, Complete + +By Gilbert Parker + + + +CONTENTS + + Volume 1. + I. HIS GREAT MISTAKE + II. A DIFFICULT SITUATION + III. OUT OF THE NORTH + IV. IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY + V. AN AWKWARD HALF-HOUR + + Volume 2. + VI. THE PASSING OF THE YEARS + VII. A COURT-MARTIAL + VIII. TO EVERY MAN HIS HOUR + + Volume 3. + IX. THE FAITH OF COMRADES + X. "THOU KNOWEST THE SECRETS OF OUR HEARTS" + XI. UPON THE HIGHWAY + XII. "THE CHASE OF THE YELLOW SWAN" + XIII. A LIVING POEM + XIV. ON THE EDGE OF A FUTURE + XV. THE END OF THE TRAIL + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +The Translation of a Savage was written in the early autumn of 1893, at +Hampstead Heath, where for over twenty years I have gone, now and then, +when I wished to be in an atmosphere conducive to composition. Hampstead +is one of the parts of London which has as yet been scarcely invaded +by the lodging-house keeper. It is very difficult to get apartments at +Hampstead; it is essentially a residential place; and, like Chelsea, has +literary and artistic character all its own. I think I have seen more +people carrying books in their hands at Hampstead than in any other spot +in England; and there it was, perched above London, with eyes looking +towards the Atlantic over the leagues of land and the thousand leagues +of sea, that I wrote 'The Translation of a Savage'. It was written, as +it were, in one concentrated effort, a ceaseless writing. It was, in +effect, what the Daily Chronicle said of 'When Valmond Came to Pontiac', +a tour de force. It belonged to a genre which compelled me to dispose of +a thing in one continuous effort, or the impulse, impetus, and fulness +of movement was gone. The writing of a book of the kind admitted of no +invasion from extraneous sources, and that was why, while writing 'The +Translation of a Savage' at Hampstead, my letters were only delivered +to me once a week. I saw no friends, for no one knew where I was; but I +walked the heights, I practised with my golf clubs on the Heath, and I +sat in the early autumn evenings looking out at London in that agony of +energy which its myriad lives represented. It was a good time. + +The story had a basis of fact; the main incident was true. It happened, +however, in Michigan rather than in Canada; but I placed the incident +in Canada where it was just as true to the life. I was living in +Hertfordshire at the time of writing the story, and that is why the +English scenes were worked out in Hertfordshire and in London. When I +had finished the tale, there came over me suddenly a kind of feeling +that the incident was too bold and maybe too crude to be believed, and +I was almost tempted to consign it to the flames; but the editor of +'The English Illustrated Magazine', Sir C. Kinloch-Cooke, took a wholly +different view, and eagerly published it. The judgment of the press was +favourable,--highly so--and I was as much surprised as pleased when Mr. +George Moore, in the Hogarth Club one night, in 1894, said to me: "There +is a really remarkable play in that book of yours, 'The Translation, of +a Savage'." I had not thought up to that time that my work was of +the kind which would appeal to George Moore, but he was always making +discoveries. Meeting him in Pall Mall one day, he said to me: "My dear +fellow, I have made a great discovery. I have been reading the Old +Testament. It is magnificent. In the mass of its incoherence it has a +series of the most marvellous stories. Do you remember--" etc. Then he +came home and had tea with me, revelling, in the meantime, on having +discovered the Bible! + +I cannot feel that 'The Translation of a Savage' has any significance +beyond the truthfulness with which I believe it describes the +transformation, or rather the evolution, of a primitive character into +a character with an intelligence of perception and a sympathy which is +generally supposed to be the outcome of long processes of civilisation +and culture. The book has so many friends--this has been sufficiently +established by the very large sale it has had in cheap editions--that +I am still disposed to feel it was an inevitable manifestation in the +progress of my art, such as it is. People of diverse conditions of life +have found in it something to interest and to stimulate. One of the most +volcanic of the Labour members in the House of Commons told me that the +violence of his opposition to me in debate on a certain bill was greatly +moderated by the fact that I had written 'The Translation of a Savage'; +while a certain rather grave duke remarked to me concerning the +character of Lali that "She would have been all right anywhere." I am +bound to say that he was a duke who, while a young man, knew the wilds +of Canada and the United States almost as well as I know Westminster. + + + + +THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE + + + + +CHAPTER I. HIS GREAT MISTAKE + +It appeared that Armour had made the great mistake of his life. When +people came to know, they said that to have done it when sober had shown +him possessed of a kind of maliciousness and cynicism almost pardonable, +but to do it when tipsy proved him merely weak and foolish. But the fact +is, he was less tipsy at the time than was imagined; and he could have +answered to more malice and cynicism than was credited to him. To those +who know the world it is not singular that, of the two, Armour was +thought to have made the mistake and had the misfortune, or that people +wasted their pity and their scorn upon him alone. Apparently they did +not see that the woman was to be pitied. He had married her; and she was +only an Indian girl from Fort Charles of the Hudson's Bay Company, +with a little honest white blood in her veins. Nobody, not even her +own people, felt that she had anything at stake, or was in danger of +unhappiness, or was other than a person who had ludicrously come to bear +the name of Mrs. Francis Armour. If any one had said in justification +that she loved the man, the answer would have been that plenty of +Indian women had loved white men, but had not married them, and yet the +population of half-breeds went on increasing. + +Frank Armour had been a popular man in London. His club might be found +in the vicinity of Pall Mall, his father's name was high and honoured in +the Army List, one of his brothers had served with Wolseley in Africa, +and Frank himself, having no profession, but with a taste for business +and investment, had gone to Canada with some such intention as Lord +Selkirk's in the early part of the century. He owned large shares in +the Hudson's Bay Company, and when he travelled through the North-West +country, prospecting, he was received most hospitably. Of an inquiring +and gregarious nature he went as much among the half-breeds--or 'metis', +as they are called--and Indians as among the officers of the Hudson's +Bay Company and the white settlers. He had ever been credited with +having a philosophical turn of mind; and this was accompanied by a +certain strain of impulsiveness or daring. He had been accustomed all +his life to make up his mind quickly and, because he was well enough +off to bear the consequences of momentary rashness in commercial +investments, he was not counted among the transgressors. He had his +own fortune; he was not drawing upon a common purse. It was a different +matter when he trafficked rashly in the family name so far as to marry +the daughter of Eye-of-the-Moon, the Indian chief. + +He was tolerably happy when he went to the Hudson's Bay country; for +Miss Julia Sherwood was his promised wife, and she, if poor, was notably +beautiful and of good family. His people had not looked quite kindly +on this engagement; they had, indeed, tried in many ways to prevent it; +partly because of Miss Sherwood's poverty, and also because they knew +that Lady Agnes Martling had long cared for him, and was most happily +endowed with wealth and good looks also. When he left for Canada they +were inwardly glad (they imagined that something might occur to end +the engagement)--all except Richard, the wiseacre of the family, +the book-man, the drone, who preferred living at Greyhope, their +Hertfordshire home, the year through, to spending half the time in +Cavendish Square. Richard was very fond of Frank, admiring him immensely +for his buxom strength and cleverness, and not a little, too, for that +very rashness which had brought him such havoc at last. + +Richard was not, as Frank used to say, "perfectly sound on his +pins,"--that is, he was slightly lame, but he was right at heart. He +was an immense reader, but made little use of what he read. He had an +abundant humour, and remembered every anecdote he ever heard. He was +kind to the poor, walked much, talked to himself as he walked, and was +known by the humble sort as "a'centric." But he had a wise head, and he +foresaw danger to Frank's happiness when he went away. While others had +gossiped and manoeuvred and were busily idle, he had watched things. He +saw that Frank was dear to Julia in proportion to the distance between +her and young Lord Haldwell, whose father had done something remarkable +in guns or torpedoes and was rewarded with a lordship and an uncommonly +large fortune. He also saw that, after Frank left, the distance between +Lord Haldwell and Julia became distinctly less--they were both staying +at Greyhope. Julia Sherwood was a remarkably clever girl. Though he felt +it his duty to speak to her for his brother,--a difficult and delicate +matter, he thought it would come better from his mother. + +But when he took action it was too late. Miss Sherwood naively declared +that she had not known her own heart, and that she did not care for +Frank any more. She wept a little, and was soothed by motherly Mrs. +Armour, who was inwardly glad, though she knew the matter would cause +Frank pain; and even General Armour could not help showing slight +satisfaction, though he was innocent of any deliberate action to +separate the two. Straightway Miss Sherwood despatched a letter to the +wilds of Canada, and for a week was an unengaged young person. But she +was no doubt consoled by the fact that for some time past she had had +complete control of Lord Haldwell's emotions. At the end of the week +her perceptions were justified by Lord Haldwell's proposal, which, with +admirable tact and obvious demureness, was accepted. + +Now, Frank Armour was wandering much in the wilds, so that his letters +and papers went careering about after him, and some that came first were +last to reach him. That was how he received a newspaper announcing the +marriage of Lord Haldwell and Julia Sherwood at the same time that her +letter, written in estimable English and with admirable feeling, came, +begging for a release from their engagement, and, towards its close, +assuming, with a charming regret, that all was over, and that the last +word had been said between them. + +Armour was sitting in the trader's room at Fort Charles when the carrier +came with the mails. He had had some successful days hunting buffalo +with Eye-of-the-Moon and a little band of metis, had had a long pow-wow +in Eye-of-the-Moon's lodge, had chatted gaily with Lali the daughter, +and was now prepared to enjoy heartily the arrears of correspondence +and news before him. He ran his hand through the letters and papers, +intending to classify them immediately, according to such handwriting as +he recognised and the dates on the envelopes. But, as he did so, he saw +a newspaper from which the wrapper was partly torn. He also saw a note +in the margin directing him to a certain page. The note was in Richard's +handwriting. He opened the paper at the page indicated and saw the +account of the marriage! His teeth clinched on his cigar, his face +turned white, the paper fell from his fingers. He gasped, his hands +spread out nervously, then caught the table and held it as though to +steady himself. + +The trader rose. "You are ill," he said. "Have you bad news?" He glanced +towards the paper. Slowly Armour folded the paper up, and then rose +unsteadily. "Gordon," he said, "give me a glass of brandy." + +He turned towards the cupboard in the room. The trader opened it, took +out a bottle, and put it on the table beside Armour, together with a +glass and some water. Armour poured out a stiff draught, added a very +little water, and drank it. He drew a great sigh, and stood looking at +the paper. + +"Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Armour?" urged the trader. + +"Nothing, thank you, nothing at all. Just leave the brandy here, will +you? I feel knocked about, and I have to go through the rest of these +letters." + +He ran his fingers through the pile, turning it over hastily, as if +searching for something. The trader understood. He was a cool-headed +Scotsman; he knew that there were some things best not inquired into, +and that men must have their bad hours alone. He glanced at the brandy +debatingly, but presently turned and left the room in silence. In his +own mind, however, he wished he might have taken the brandy without +being discourteous. Armour had discovered Miss Sherwood's letter. Before +he opened it he took a little more brandy. Then he sat down and read it +deliberately. The liquor had steadied him. The fingers of one hand even +drummed on the table. But the face was drawn, the eyes were hard, and +the look of him was altogether pinched. After he had finished this, he +looked for others from the same hand. He found none. Then he picked out +those from his mother and father. He read them grimly. Once he paused as +he read his mother's letter, and took a gulp of plain brandy. There was +something very like a sneer on his face when he finished reading. He +read the hollowness of the sympathy extended to him; he understood the +far from adroit references to Lady Agnes Martling. He was very bitter. +He opened no more letters, but took up the Morning Post again, and read +it slowly through. The look of his face was not pleasant. There was a +small looking-glass opposite him. He caught sight of himself in it. +He drew his hand across his eyes and forehead, as though he was in a +miserable dream. He looked again; he could not recognise himself. + +He then bundled the letters and papers into his despatch-box. His +attention was drawn to one letter. He picked it up. It was from Richard. +He started to break the seal, but paused. The strain of the event was +too much; he winced. He determined not to read it then, to wait until he +had recovered himself. He laughed now painfully. It had been better +for him--it had, maybe, averted what people were used to term his +tragedy--had he read his brother's letter at that moment. For Richard +Armour was a sensible man, notwithstanding his peculiarities; and +perhaps the most sensible words he ever wrote were in that letter +thrust unceremoniously into Frank Armour's pocket. Armour had received a +terrible blow. He read his life backwards. He had no future. The liquor +he had drunk had not fevered him, it had not wildly excited him; it +merely drew him up to a point where he could put a sudden impulse +into practice without flinching. He was bitter against his people; +he credited them with more interference than was actual. He felt that +happiness had gone out of his life and left him hopeless. As we said, he +was a man of quick decisions. He would have made a dashing but reckless +soldier; he was not without the elements of the gamester. It is possible +that there was in him also a strain of cruelty, undeveloped but radical. +Life so far had evolved the best in him; he had been cheery and candid. +Now he travelled back into new avenues of his mind and found strange, +aboriginal passions, fully adapted to the present situation. Vulgar +anger and reproaches were not after his nature. He suddenly found +sources of refined but desperate retaliation. He drew upon them. He +would do something to humiliate his people and the girl who had spoiled +his life. Some one thing! It should be absolute and lasting, it should +show how low had fallen his opinion of women, of whom Julia Sherwood had +once been chiefest to him. In that he would show his scorn of her. He +would bring down the pride of his family, who, he believed, had helped, +out of mere selfishness, to tumble his happiness into the shambles. + +He was older by years than an hour ago. But he was not without the +faculty of humour; that was why he did not become very excited; it was +also why he determined upon a comedy which should have all the elements +of tragedy. Perhaps, however, he would have hesitated to carry his +purposes to immediate conclusions, were it not that the very gods seemed +to play his game with him. For, while he stood there, looking out into +the yard of the fort, a Protestant missionary passed the window. The +Protestant missionary, as he is found at such places as Fort Charles, is +not a strictly superior person. A Jesuit might have been of advantage +to Frank Armour at that moment. The Protestant missionary is not above +comfortable assurances of gold. So that when Armour summoned this one +in, and told him what was required of him, and slipped a generous gift +of the Queen's coin into his hand, he smiled vaguely and was willing to +do what he was bidden. Had he been a Jesuit, who is sworn to poverty, +and more often than not a man of birth and education, he might have +influenced Frank Armour and prevented the notable mishap and scandal. As +it was, Armour took more brandy. + +Then he went down to Eye-of-the-Moon's lodge. A few hours afterwards +the missionary met him there. The next morning Lali, the daughter of +Eye-of-the-Moon, and the chieftainess of a portion of her father's +tribe, whose grandfather had been a white man, was introduced to the +Hudson's Bay country as Mrs. Frank Armour. But that was not all. Indeed, +as it stood, it was very little. He had only made his comedy possible as +yet; now the play itself was to come. He had carried his scheme through +boldly so far. He would not flinch in carrying it out to the last +letter. He brought his wife down to the Great Lakes immediately, +scarcely resting day or night. There he engaged an ordinary but reliable +woman, to whom he gave instructions, and sent the pair to the coast. +He instructed his solicitor at Montreal to procure passages for Mrs. +Francis Armour and maid for Liverpool. Then, by letters, he instructed +his solicitor in London to meet Mrs. Francis Armour and maid at +Liverpool and take them to Greyhope in Hertfordshire--that is, if +General Armour and Mrs. Armour, or some representative of the family, +did not meet them when they landed from the steamship. + +Presently he sat down and wrote to his father and mother, and asked +them to meet his wife and her maid when they arrived by the steamer +Aphrodite. He did not explain to them in precise detail his feelings on +Miss Julia Sherwood's marriage, nor did he go into full particulars as +to the personality of Mrs. Frank Armour; but he did say that, because he +knew they were anxious that he should marry "acceptably," he had married +into the aristocracy, the oldest aristocracy of America; and because he +also knew they wished him to marry wealth, he sent them a wife rich in +virtues--native, unspoiled virtues. He hoped that they would take her to +their hearts and cherish her. He knew their firm principles of honour, +and that he could trust them to be kind to his wife until he returned to +share the affection which he was sure would be given to her. It was not +his intention to return to England for some time yet. He had work to +do in connection with his proposed colony; and a wife--even a native +wife--could not well be a companion in the circumstances. Besides, +Lali--his wife's name was Lali!--would be better occupied in learning +the peculiarities of the life in which her future would be cast. It +was possible they would find her an apt pupil. Of this they could +not complain, that she was untravelled; for she had ridden a horse, +bareback, half across the continent. They could not cavil at her +education, for she knew several languages--aboriginal languages--of the +North. She had merely to learn the dialect of English society, and how +to carry with acceptable form the costumes of the race to which she was +going. Her own costume was picturesque, but it might appear unusual in +London society. Still, they could use their own judgment about that. + +Then, when she was gone beyond recall, he chanced one day to put on the +coat he wore when the letters and paper declaring his misfortune came to +him. He found his brother's letter; he opened it and read it. It was +the letter of a man who knew how to appreciate at their proper value the +misfortunes, as the fortunes, of life. While Frank Armour read he came +to feel for the first time that his brother Richard had suffered, maybe, +from some such misery as had come to him through Julia Sherwood. It was +a dispassionate, manly letter, relieved by gentle wit, and hinting with +careful kindness that a sudden blow was better for a man than a lifelong +thorn in his side. Of Julia Sherwood he had nothing particularly bitter +to say. He delicately suggested that she had acted according to her +nature, and that in the see-saw of life Frank had had a sore blow; +but this was to be borne. The letter did not say too much; it did +not magnify the difficulty, it did not depreciate it. It did not even +directly counsel; it was wholesomely, tenderly judicial. Indirectly, it +dwelt upon the steadiness and manliness of Frank's character; directly, +lightly, and without rhetoric, it enlarged upon their own comradeship. +It ran over pleasantly the days of their boyhood, when they were hardly +ever separated. It made distinct, yet with no obvious purpose, how good +were friendship and confidence--which might be the most unselfish thing +in the world--between two men. With the letter before him Frank Armour +saw his act in a new light. + +As we said, it is possible if he had read it on the day when his trouble +came to him, he had not married Lali, or sent her to England on this--to +her--involuntary mission of revenge. It is possible, also, that there +came to him the first vague conception of the wrong he had done this +Indian girl, who undoubtedly married him because she cared for him +after her heathen fashion, while he had married her for nothing that +was commendable; not even for passion, which may be pardoned, nor for +vanity, which has its virtues. He had had his hour with circumstance; +circumstance would have its hour with him in due course. Yet there was +no extraordinary revulsion. He was still angry, cynical, and very sore. +He would see the play out with a consistent firmness. He almost managed +a smile when a letter was handed to him some weeks later, bearing his +solicitor's assurance that Mrs. Frank Armour and her maid had been +safely bestowed on the Aphrodite for England. This was the first act in +his tragic comedy. + + + + +CHAPTER II. A DIFFICULT SITUATION + +When Mrs. Frank Armour arrived at Montreal she still wore her Indian +costume of clean, well-broidered buckskin, moccasins, and leggings, +all surmounted by a blanket. It was not a distinguished costume, but it +seemed suitable to its wearer. Mr. Armour's agent was in a quandary. He +had received no instructions regarding her dress. He felt, of course, +that, as Mrs. Frank Armour, she should put off these garments, and +dress, so far as was possible, in accordance with her new position. But +when he spoke about it to Mackenzie, the elderly maid and companion, he +found that Mr. Armour had said that his wife was to arrive in England +dressed as she was. He saw something ulterior in the matter, but it was +not his province to interfere. And so Mrs. Frank Armour was a passenger +by the Aphrodite in her buckskin garments. + +What she thought of it all is not quite easy to say. It is possible that +at first she only considered that she was the wife of a white man,--a +thing to be desired, and that the man she loved was hers for ever--a +matter of indefinable joy to her. That he was sending her to England did +not fret her, because it was his will, and he knew what was best. Busy +with her contented and yet somewhat dazed thoughts of him,--she was too +happy to be very active mentally, even if it had been the characteristic +of her race,--she was not at first aware how much notice she excited, +and how strange a figure she was in this staring city. When it did dawn +upon her she shrank a little, but still was placid, preferring to sit +with her hands folded in her lap, idly watching things. She appeared +oblivious that she was the wife of a man of family and rank; she was +only thinking that the man was hers--all hers. He had treated her kindly +enough in the days they were together, but she had not been a great deal +with him, because they travelled fast, and his duties were many, or he +made them so--but the latter possibility did not occur to her. + +When he had hastily bidden her farewell at Port Arthur he had kissed +her and said: "Good-bye, my wife." She was not yet acute enough in the +inflections of Saxon speech to catch the satire--almost involuntary--in +the last two words. She remembered the words, however, and the kiss, and +she was quite satisfied. To what she was going she did not speculate. He +was sending her: that was enough. + +The woman given to her as maid had been well chosen. Armour had done +this carefully. She was Scotch, was reserved, had a certain amount of +shrewdness, would obey instructions, and do her duty carefully. What she +thought about the whole matter she kept to herself; even the solicitor +at Montreal could not find out. She had her instructions clear in her +mind; she was determined to carry them out to the letter--for which she +was already well paid, and was like to be better paid; because Armour +had arranged that she should continue to be with his wife after they +got to England. She understood well the language of Lali's tribe, +and because Lali's English was limited she would be indispensable in +England. + +Mackenzie, therefore, had responsibility, and if she was not elated +over it, she still knew the importance of her position, and had enough +practical vanity to make her an efficient servant and companion. She +already felt that she had got her position in life, from which she was +to go out no more for ever. She had been brought up in the shadow +of Alnwick Castle, and she knew what was due to her charge--by other +people; herself only should have liberty with her. She was taking Lali +to the home of General Armour, and that must be kept constantly before +her mind. Therefore, from the day they set foot on the Aphrodite, she +kept her place beside Mrs. Armour, sitting with her,--they walked very +little,--and scarcely ever speaking, either to her or to the curious +passengers. Presently the passengers became more inquisitive, and +made many attempts at being friendly; but these received little +encouragement. It had become known who the Indian girl was, and many +wild tales went about as to her marriage with Francis Armour. Now it was +maintained she had saved his life at an outbreak of her tribe; again, +that she had found him dying in the woods and had nursed him back to +life and health; yet again, that she was a chieftainess, a successful +claimant against the Hudson's Bay Company--and so on. + +There were several on board who knew the Armours well by name, and two +who knew them personally. One was Mr. Edward Lambert, a barrister of the +Middle Temple, and the other was Mrs. Townley, a widow, a member of a +well-known Hertfordshire family, who, on a pleasant journey in Scotland, +had met, conquered, and married a wealthy young American, and had +been left alone in the world, by no means portionless, eighteen months +before. Lambert knew Richard Armour well, and when, from Francis +Armour's solicitor, with whom he was acquainted, he heard, just before +they started, who the Indian girl was, he was greatly shocked and sorry. +He guessed at once the motive, the madness, of this marriage. But he +kept his information and his opinions mostly to himself, except in so +far as it seemed only due to friendship to contradict the numberless +idle stories going about. After the first day at sea he came to know +Mrs. Townley, and when he discovered that they had many common friends +and that she knew the Armours, he spoke a little more freely to her +regarding the Indian wife, and told her what he believed was the cause +of the marriage. + +Mrs. Townley was a woman--a girl--of uncommon gentleness of disposition, +and, in spite of her troubles, inclined to view life with a sunny eye. +She had known of Frank Armour's engagement with Miss Julia Sherwood, but +she had never heard the sequel. If this was the sequel--well, it had to +be faced. But she was almost tremulous with sympathy when she +remembered Mrs. Armour, and Frank's gay, fashionable sister, Marion, and +contemplated the arrival of this Indian girl at Greyhope. She had always +liked Frank Armour, but this made her angry with him; for, on second +thoughts, she was not more sorry for him and for his people than for +Lali, the wife. She had the true instinct of womanhood, and she supposed +that a heathen like this could have feelings to be hurt and a life to be +wounded as herself or another. At least she saw what was possible in the +future when this Indian girl came to understand her position--only to be +accomplished by contact with the new life, so different from her +past. Both she and Lambert decided that she was very fine-looking, not +withstanding her costume. She was slim and well built, with modest +bust and shapely feet and ankles. Her eyes were large, meditative, and +intelligent, her features distinguished. She was a goodly product of her +race, being descended from a line of chiefs and chieftainesses--broken +only in the case of her grandfather, as has been mentioned. Her hands +(the two kindly inquisitors decided) were almost her best point. They +were perfectly made, slim, yet plump, the fingers tapering, the +wrist supple. Mrs. Townley then and there decided that the girl +had possibilities. But here she was, an Indian, with few signs of +civilisation or of that breeding which seems to white people the only +breeding fit for earth or heaven. + +Mrs. Townley did not need Lambert's suggestion that she should try to +approach the girl, make friends with her, and prepare her in some slight +degree for the strange career before her. + +Mrs. Townley had an infinite amount of tact. She knew it was best to +approach the attendant first. This she did, and, to the surprise of +other lady-passengers, received no rebuff. Her advance was not, however, +rapid. Mackenzie had had her instructions. When she found that Mrs. +Townley knew Francis Armour and his people, she thawed a little more, +and then, very hesitatingly, she introduced her to the Indian wife. Mrs. +Townley smiled her best--and there were many who knew how attractive +she could be at such a moment. There was a slight pause, in which Lali +looked at her meditatively, earnestly, and then those beautiful wild +fingers glided out, and caught her hand, and held it; but she spoke no +word. She only looked inquiringly, seriously, at her new-found friend, +and presently dropped the blanket away from her, and sat up firmly, as +though she felt she was not altogether an alien now, and had a right to +hold herself proudly among white people, as she did in her own country +and with her own tribe, who had greatly admired her. Certainly Mrs. +Townley could find no fault with the woman as an Indian. She had taste, +carried her clothes well, and was superbly fresh in appearance, though +her hair still bore very slight traces of the grease which even the most +aristocratic Indians use. + +But Lali would not talk. Mrs. Townley was anxious that the girl should +be dressed in European costume, and offered to lend and rearrange +dresses of her own, but she came in collision with Mr. Armour's +instructions. So she had to assume a merely kind and comforting +attitude. The wife had not the slightest idea where she was going, and +even when Mackenzie, at Mrs. Townley's oft-repeated request, explained +very briefly and unpicturesquely, she only looked incredulous or +unconcerned. Yet the ship, its curious passengers, the dining saloon, +the music, the sea, and all, had given her suggestions of what was to +come. They had expected that at table she would be awkward and ignorant +to a degree. But she had at times eaten at the trader's table at Fort +Charles, and had learned how to use a knife and fork. She had also +been a favourite with the trader's wife, who had taught her very many +civilised things. Her English, though far from abundant, was good. +Those, therefore, who were curious and rude enough to stare at her were +probably disappointed to find that she ate like "any Christom man." + +"How do you think the Armours will receive her?" said Lambert to +Mrs. Townley, of whose judgment on short acquaintance he had come to +entertain a high opinion. + +Mrs. Townley had a pretty way of putting her head to one side and +speaking very piquantly. She had had it as a girl; she had not lost it +as a woman, any more than she had lost a soft little spontaneous laugh +which was one of her unusual charms--for few women can laugh audibly +with effect. She laughed very softly now, and, her sense of humour +supervening for the moment, she said: + +"Really, you have asked me a conundrum. I fancy I see Mrs. Armour's face +when she gets the news,--at the breakfast-table, of course, and gives +a little shriek, and says: 'General! oh, General!' But it is all very +shocking, you know," she added, in a lower voice. "Still I think they +will receive her and do the best they can for her; because, you see, +there she is, married hard and fast. She bears the Armour name, and +is likely to make them all very unhappy, indeed, if she determines to +retaliate upon them for any neglect." + +"Yes. But how to retaliate, Mrs. Townley?" Lambert had not a suggestive +mind. + +"Well, for instance, suppose they sent her away into seclusion,--with +Frank's consent, another serious question,--and she should take the +notion to fly her retirement, and appear inopportunely at some social +function clothed as she is now! I fancy her blanket would be a wet one +in such a case--if you will pardon the little joke." + +Lambert sighed. "Poor Frank--poor devil!" he said, almost beneath his +breath. + +"And wherefore poor Frank? Do you think he or the Armours of Greyhope +are the only ones at stake in this? What about this poor girl? Just +think why he married her, if our suspicions are right,--and then imagine +her feelings when she wakes to the truth over there, as some time she is +sure to do!" + +Then Lambert began to see the matter in a different light, and +his sympathy for Francis Armour grew less as his pity for the girl +increased. In fact, the day before they got to Liverpool he swore at +Armour more than once, and was anxious concerning the reception of the +heathen wife by her white relatives. + +Had he been present at a certain scene at Greyhope a day or two before, +he would have been still more anxious. It was the custom, at breakfast, +for Mrs. Armour to open her husband's letters and read them while he was +engaged with his newspaper, and hand to him afterwards those that were +important. This morning Marion noticed a letter from Frank amongst the +pile, and, without a word, pounced upon it. She was curious--as any +woman would be--to see how he took Miss Sherwood's action. Her father +was deep in his paper at the time. Her mother was reading other letters. +Marion read the first few lines with a feeling of almost painful wonder, +the words were so curious, cynical, and cold. + +Richard sat opposite her. He also was engaged with his paper, but, +chancing to glance up, he saw that she was becoming very pale, and that +the letter trembled in her fingers. Being a little short-sighted, he +was not near enough to see the handwriting. He did not speak yet. He +watched. Presently, seeing her grow more excited, he touched her foot +under the table. She looked up, and caught his eye. She gasped slightly. +She gave him a warning look, and turned away from her mother. Then she +went on reading to the bitter end. + +Presently a little cry escaped her against her will. At that her mother +looked up, but she only saw her daughter's back, as she rose hurriedly +from the table, saying that she would return in a moment. Mrs. Armour, +however, had been startled. She knew that Marion had been reading a +letter, and, with a mother's instinct, her thoughts were instantly on +Frank. She spoke quickly, almost sharply: + +"Marion, come here." + +Richard had risen. He came round the table, and, as the girl obeyed her +mother, took the letter from her fingers and hastily glanced over it. +Mrs. Armour came forward and took her daughter's arm. "Marion," she +said, "there is something wrong--with Frank. What is it?" + +General Armour was now looking up at them all, curiously, questioningly, +through his glasses, his paper laid down, his hands resting on the +table. + +Marion could not answer. She was sick with regret, vexation, and shame; +at the first flush, death--for Frank--had been preferable to this. She +had a considerable store of vanity; she was not very philosophical. +Besides, she was not married; and what Captain Vidall, her devoted +admirer and possible husband, would think of this heathenish alliance +was not a cheer ful thought to her. She choked down a sob, and waved her +hand towards Richard to answer for her. He was pale too, but cool. He +understood the case instantly; he made up his mind instantly also as to +what ought to be--must be--done. + +"Well, mother," he said, "it is about Frank. But he is all right; that +is, he is alive and well-in body. But he has arranged a hateful little +embarrassment for us--he is married." + +"Married!" exclaimed his mother faintly. "Oh, poor Lady Agnes!" + +Marion sniffed a little viciously at this. + +"Married? Married?" said his father. "Well, what about it? eh? what +about it?" + +The mother wrung her hands. "Oh, I know it is something +dreadful--dreadful! He has married some horrible wild person, or +something." + +Richard, miserable as he was, remained calm. "Well," said he, "I don't +know about her being horrible. Frank is silent on that point; but she is +wild enough--a wild Indian, in fact." + +"Indian? Indian? Good God--a red nigger!" cried General Armour harshly, +starting to his feet. + +"An Indian? a wild Indian?" Mrs. Armour whispered faintly, as she +dropped into a chair. + +"And she'll be here in two or three days," fluttered Marion +hysterically. + +Meanwhile Richard had hastily picked up the Times. "She is due here the +day after to-morrow," he said deliberately. "Frank is as decisive as he +is rash. Well, it's a melancholy tit-for-tat." + +"What do you mean by tit-for-tat?" cried his father angrily. + +"Oh, I mean that--that we tried to hasten Julia's marriage--with the +other fellow, and he is giving us one in return; and you will all agree +that it's a pretty permanent one." + +The old soldier recovered himself, and was beside his wife in an +instant. He took her hand. "Don't fret about it, wife," he said; "it's +an ugly business, but we must put up with it. The boy was out of his +head. We are old, now, my dear, but there was a time when we should have +resented such a thing as much as Frank--though not in the same fashion, +perhaps--not in the same fashion." The old man pressed his lips hard to +keep down his emotion. + +"Oh, how could he--how could he!" said his mother: "we meant everything +for the best." + +"It is always dangerous business meddling with lovers' affairs," +rejoined Richard. "Lovers take themselves very seriously indeed, +and--well, here the thing is! Now, who will go and fetch her from +Liverpool? I should say that both my father and my mother ought to go." + +Thus Richard took it for granted that they would receive Frank's Indian +wife into their home. He intended that, so far as he was concerned, +there should be no doubt upon the question from the beginning. + +"Never--she shall never come here!" said Marion, with flashing eyes; "a +common squaw, with greasy hair, and blankets, and big mouth, and black +teeth, who eats with her fingers and grunts! If she does, if she is +brought to Greyhope, I will never show my face in the world again. Frank +married the animal: why does he ship her home to us? Why didn't he come +with her? Why does he not take her to a home of his own? Why should he +send her here, to turn our house into a menagerie?" + +Marion drew her skirt back, as if the common squaw, with her blankets +and grease, was at that moment near her. + +"Well, you see," continued Richard, "that is just it. As I said, Frank +arranged this little complication with a trifling amount of malice. +No doubt he didn't come with her because he wished to test the family +loyalty and hospitality; but a postscript to this letter says that his +solicitor has instructions to meet his wife at Liverpool, and bring her +on here in case we fail to show her proper courtesy." + +General Armour here spoke. "He has carried the war of retaliation very +far indeed, but men do mad things when their blood is up, as I have seen +often. That doesn't alter our clear duty in the matter. If the woman +were bad, or shameful, it would be a different thing; if--" + +Marion interrupted: "She has ridden bareback across the continent like a +jockey,--like a common jockey, and she wears a blanket, and she doesn't +know a word of English, and she will sit on the floor!" + +"Well," said her father, "all these things are not sins, and she must be +taught better." + +"Joseph, how can you?" said Mrs. Armour indignantly. "She cannot, she +shall not come here. Think of Marion. Think of our position." + +She hid her troubled, tear-stained face behind her handkerchief. At the +same time she grasped her husband's hand. She knew that he was right. +She honoured him in her heart for the position he had taken, but she +could not resist the natural impulse of a woman where her taste and +convention were shocked. + +The old man was very pale, but there was no mistaking his determination. +He had been more indignant than any of them, at first, but he had an +unusual sense of justice when he got face to face with it, as Richard +had here helped him to do. "We do not know that the woman has done any +wrong," he said. "As for our name and position, they, thank God! are +where a mad marriage cannot unseat them. We have had much prosperity in +the world, my wife; we have had neither death nor dishonour; we--" + +"If this isn't dishonour, father, what is?" Marion flashed out. + +He answered calmly. "My daughter, it is a great misfortune, it will +probably be a lifelong trial, but it is not necessarily dishonour." + +"You never can make a scandal less by trying to hide it," said Richard, +backing up his father. "It is all pretty awkward, but I daresay we shall +get some amusement out of it in the end." + +"Richard," said his mother through her tears, "you are flippant and +unkind!" + +"Indeed, mother," was his reply, "I never was more serious in my life. +When I spoke of amusement, I meant comedy merely, not fun--the thing +that looks like tragedy and has a happy ending. That is what I mean, +mother, nothing more." + +"You are always so very deep, Richard," remarked Marion ironically, "and +care so very little how the rest of us feel about things. You have +no family pride. If you had married a squaw, we shouldn't have been +surprised. You could have camped in the grounds with your wild woman, +and never have been missed--by the world," she hastened to add, for she +saw a sudden pain in his face. + +He turned from them all a little wearily, and limped over to the window. +He stood looking out into the limes where he and Frank had played when +boys. He put his finger up, his unhandsome finger, and caught away some +moisture from his eyes. He did not dare to let them see his face, nor +yet to speak. Marion had cut deeper than she knew, and he would carry +the wound for many a day before it healed. + +But his sister felt instantly how cruel she had been, as she saw him +limp away, and caught sight of the bowed shoulders and the prematurely +grey hair. Her heart smote her. She ran over, and impulsively put her +hands on his shoulder. "Oh, Dick," she said, "forgive me, Dick! I didn't +mean it. I was angry and foolish and hateful." + +He took one of her hands as it rested on his shoulder, she standing +partly behind him, and raised it to his lips, but he did not turn to +her; he could not. + +"It is all right--all right," he said; "it doesn't make any difference. +Let us think of Frank and what we have got to do. Let us stand together, +Marion; that is best." + +But her tears were dropping on his shoulder, as her forehead rested on +her hand. He knew now that, whatever Frank's wife was, she would not +have an absolute enemy here; for when Marion cried her heart was soft. +She was clay in the hands of the potter whom we call Mercy--more often +a stranger to the hearts of women than of men. At the other side of the +room also the father and mother, tearless now, watched these two; and +the mother saw her duty better and with less rebelliousness. She had +felt it from the first, but she could not bring her mind to do it. +They held each other's hands in silence. Presently General Armour said: +"Richard, your mother and I will go to Liverpool to meet Frank's wife." + +Marion shuddered a little, and her hands closed on Richard's shoulder, +but she said nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER III. OUT OF THE NORTH + +It was a beautiful day--which was so much in favour of Mrs. Frank Armour +in relation to her husband's people. General Armour and his wife had +come down from London by the latest train possible, that their suspense +at Liverpool might be short. They said little to each other, but when +they did speak it was of things very different from the skeleton which +they expected to put into the family cupboard presently. Each was trying +to spare the other. It was very touching. They naturally looked upon the +matter in its most unpromising light, because an Indian was an Indian, +and this unknown savage from Fort Charles was in violent contrast to +such desirable persons as Lady Agnes Martling. Not that the Armours were +zealous for mere money and title, but the thing itself was altogether +a propos, as Mrs. Armour had more naively than correctly put it. The +general, whose knowledge of character and the circumstances of life +was considerable, had worked out the thing with much accuracy. He had +declared to Richard, in their quiet talk upon the subject, that Frank +must have been anything but sober when he did it. He had previously +called it a policy of retaliation; so that now he was very near the +truth. When they arrived at the dock at Liverpool, the Aphrodite was +just making into the harbour. + +"Egad," said General Armour to himself, "Sebastopol was easier than +this; for fighting I know, and being peppered I know, by Jews, Greeks, +infidels, and heretics; but to take a savage to my arms and do for her +what her godfathers and godmothers never did, is worse than the devil's +dance at Delhi." + +What Mrs. Armour, who was not quite so definite as her husband, thought, +it would be hard to tell; but probably grief for, and indignation at, +her son, were uppermost in her mind. She had quite determined upon +her course. None could better carry that high, neutral look of social +superiority than she. + +Please Heaven, she said to herself, no one should see that her +equanimity was shaken. They had brought one servant with them, who had +been gravely and yet conventionally informed that his young master's +wife, an Indian chieftainess, was expected. There are few family +troubles but find their way to servants' hall with an uncomfortable +speed; for, whether or not stone walls have ears, certainly men-servants +and maid-servants have eyes that serve for ears, and ears that do more +than their bounden duty. Boulter, the footman, knew his business. When +informed of the coming of Mrs. Francis Armour, the Indian chieftainess, +his face was absolutely expressionless; his "Yessir" was as mechanical +as usual. On the dock he was marble--indifferent. When the passengers +began to land, he showed no excitement. He was decorously alert. When +the crucial moment came, he was imperturbable. Boulter was an excellent +servant. So said Edward Lambert to himself after the event; so, +likewise, said Mrs. Townley to herself when the thing was over; so +declared General Armour many a time after, and once very emphatically, +just before he raised Boulter's wages. + +As the boat neared Liverpool, Lambert and Mrs. Townley grew nervous. The +truth regarding the Indian wife had become known among the passengers, +and most were very curious--some in a well-bred fashion, some +intrusively, vulgarly. Mackenzie, Lali's companion, like Boulter, was +expressionless in face. She had her duty to do, paid for liberally, and +she would do it. Lali might have had a more presentable and dignified +attendant, but not one more worthy. It was noticeable that the captain +of the ship and all the officers had been markedly courteous to Mrs. +Armour throughout the voyage, but, to their credit, not ostentatiously +so. When the vessel was brought to anchor and the passengers were being +put upon the tender, the captain came and made his respectful adieus, +as though Lali were a lady of title in her own right, and not an Indian +girl married to a man acting under the influence of brandy and malice. +General Armour and Mrs. Armour were always grateful to Lambert and Mrs. +Townley for the part they played in this desperate little comedy. They +stood still and watchful as the passengers came ashore one by one. They +saw that they were the centre of unusual interest, but General Armour +was used to bearing himself with a grim kind of indifference in public, +and his wife was calm, and so somewhat disappointed those who probably +expected the old officer and his wife to be distressed. Frank Armour's +solicitor was also there, but, with good taste, he held aloof. The two +needed all their courage, however, when they saw a figure in buckskin +and blanket step upon the deck, attended by a very ordinary, austere, +and shabbily-dressed Scotswoman. But immediately behind them were +Edward Lambert and Mrs. Townley, and these, with their simple tact, +naturalness, and freedom from any sort of embarrassment, acted as foils, +and relieved the situation. + +General Armour advanced, hat in hand. "You are my son's wife?" he said +courteously to this being in a blanket. + +She looked up and shook her head slightly, for she did not quite +understand; but she recognised his likeness to her husband, and +presently she smiled up musingly. Mackenzie repeated to her what General +Armour had said. She nodded now, a flash of pleasure lighting up her +face, and she slid out her beautiful hand to him. The general took it +and pressed it mechanically, his lips twitching slightly. He pressed it +far harder than he meant, for his feelings were at tension. She winced +slightly, and involuntarily thrust out her other hand, as if to relieve +his pressure. As she did so the blanket fell away from her head and +shoulders. Lambert, with excellent intuition, caught it, and threw it +across his arm. Then, quickly, and without embarrassment, he and Mrs. +Townley greeted General Armour, who returned the greetings gravely, but +in a singular, confidential tone, which showed his gratitude. Then +he raised his hat again to Lali, and said: "Come and let me introduce +you--to your husband's mother." + +The falling back of that blanket had saved the situation; for when the +girl stood without it in her buckskin garments there was a dignity in +her bearing which carried off the bizarre event. There was timidity in +her face, and yet a kind of pride too, though she was only a savage. The +case, even at this critical moment, did not seem quite hopeless. When +they came to Mrs. Armour, Lali shrank away timidly from the look in the +mother's eyes, and, shivering slightly, looked round for her blanket. +But Lambert had deftly passed it on to the footman. Presently Mrs. +Armour took both the girl's hands in hers (perhaps she did it because +the eyes of the public were on her, but that is neither here nor +there--she did it), and kissed her on the cheek. Then they moved away to +a closed carriage. + +And that was the second act in Frank Armour's comedy of errors. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY + +The journey from Liverpool to Greyhope was passed in comparative +silence. The Armours had a compartment to themselves, and they made +the Indian girl as comfortable as possible without self-consciousness, +without any artificial politeness. So far, what they had done was a +matter of duty, not of will; but they had done their duty naturally +all their lives, and it was natural to them now. They had no personal +feelings towards the girl one way or another, as yet. It was trying to +them that people stared into the compartment at different stations. It +presently dawned upon General Armour that it might also be trying +to their charge. Neither he nor his wife had taken into account the +possibility of the girl having feelings to be hurt. But he had noticed +Lali shrink visibly and flush slightly when some one stared harder +than usual, and this troubled him. It opened up a possibility. He began +indefinitely to see that they were not the only factors in the equation. +He was probably a little vexed that he had not seen it before; for +he wished to be a just man. He was wont to quote with more or less +austerity--chiefly the result of his professional life--this: + + "For justice, all place a temple, and all season summer." + +And, man of war as he was, he had another saying which was much in his +mouth; and he lived up to it with considerable sincerity: + + "Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, + To silence envious tongues." + +He whispered to his wife. It would have been hard to tell from her look +what she thought of the matter, but presently she changed seats with +her husband, that he might, by holding his newspaper at a certain angle, +shield the girl from intrusive gazers. + +At every station the same scene was enacted. And inquisitive people must +have been surprised to see how monotonously ordinary was the manner of +the three white people in the compartment. Suddenly, at a station near +London, General Armour gave a start, and used a strong expression under +his breath. Glancing at the "Marriage" column, he saw a notice to the +effect that on a certain day of a certain month, Francis Gilbert, the +son of General Joseph Armour, C.B., of Greyhope, Hertfordshire, and +Cavendish Square, was married to Lali, the daughter of Eye-of-the-Moon, +chief of the Bloods, at her father's lodge in the Saskatchewan Valley. +This had been inserted by Frank Armour's solicitor, according to his +instructions, on the day that the Aphrodite was due at Liverpool. +General Armour did not at first intend to show this to his wife, but on +second thought he did, because he knew she would eventually come to +know of it, and also because she saw that something had moved him. +She silently reached out her hand for the paper. He handed it to her, +pointing to the notice. + +Mrs. Armour was unhappy, but her self-possession was admirable, and she +said nothing. She turned her face to the window, and sat for a long time +looking out. She did not turn to the others, for her eyes were full of +tears, and she did not dare to wipe them away, nor yet to let them be +seen. She let them dry there. She was thinking of her son, her favourite +son, for whom she had been so ambitious, and for whom, so far as she +could, and retain her self-respect, she had delicately intrigued, that +he might happily and befittingly marry. She knew that in the matter of +his engagement she had not done what was best for him, but how could she +have guessed that this would be the result? She also was sure that when +the first flush of his anger and disappointment had passed, and he came +to view this thing with cooler mind, he would repent deeply--for a whole +lifetime. She was convinced that he had not married this savage for +anything which could make marriage endurable. Under the weight of the +thought she was likely to forget that the young alien wife might have +lost terribly in the event also. + +The arrival at Euston and the departure from St. Pancras were rather +painful all round, for, though there was no waiting at either place, the +appearance of an Indian girl in native costume was uncommon enough, even +in cosmopolitan London, to draw much attention. Besides, the placards of +the evening papers were blazoned with such announcements as this: + + A RED INDIAN GIRL + MARRIED INTO + AN ENGLISH COUNTY FAMILY. + +Some one had telegraphed particulars--distorted particulars--over from +Liverpool, and all the evening sheets had their portion of extravagance +and sensation. General Armour became a little more erect and austere as +he caught sight of these placards, and Mrs. Armour groaned inwardly; but +their faces were inscrutable, and they quietly conducted their charge, +minus her blanket, to the train which was to take them to St. Albans, +and were soon wheeling homeward. + +At Euston they parted with Lambert and Mrs. Townley, who quite +simply and conventionally bade good-bye to them and their Indian +daughter-in-law. Lali had grown to like Mrs. Townley, and when they +parted she spoke a few words quickly in her own tongue, and then +immediately was confused, because she remembered that she could not be +understood. But presently she said in halting English that the face of +her white friend was good, and she hoped that she would come one time +and sit beside her in her wigwam, for she would be sad till her husband +travelled to her. + +Mrs. Townley made some polite reply in simple English, pressed the +girl's hand sympathetically, and hurried away. Before she parted from +Mr. Lambert, however, she said, with a pretty touch of cynicism: +"I think I see Marion Armour listening to her sister-in-law issue +invitations to her wigwam. I am afraid I should be rather depressed +myself if I had to be sisterly to a wigwam lady." + +"But I say, Mrs. Townley," rejoined Lambert seriously, as he loitered +at the steps of her carriage, "I shouldn't be surprised if my Lady +Wigwam--a rather apt and striking title, by the way--turned out better +than we think. She carried herself rippingly without the blanket, and I +never saw a more beautiful hand in my life--but one," he added, as his +fingers at that moment closed on hers, and held them tightly, in spite +of the indignant little effort at withdrawal. "She may yet be able to +give them all points in dignity and that kind of thing, and pay Master +Frank back in his own coin. I do not see, after all, that he is the +martyr." + +Lambert's voice got softer, for he still held Mrs. Townley's fingers, +the footman not having the matter in his eye,--and then he spoke still +more seriously on sentimental affairs of his own, in which he evidently +hoped she would take some interest. Indeed, it is hard to tell how far +the case might have been pushed if she had not suddenly looked a little +forbidding and imperious. For even people of no notable height, with +soft features, dark brown eyes, and a delightful little laugh, may +appear rather regal at times. Lambert did not quite understand why she +should take this attitude. If he had been as keen regarding his own +affairs of the affections as in the case of Frank Armour and his Indian +bride, he had known that every woman has in her mind the occasion when +she should and when she should not be wooed, and nothing disappoints her +more than a declaration at a time which is not her time. If it does +not fall out as she wishes it, retrospect, a dear thing to a woman, +is spoiled. Many a man has been sent to the right-about because he has +ventured his proposal at the wrong time. What would have occurred to +Lambert it is hard to tell; but he saw that something was wrong, and +stopped in time. + +When General Armour and his party reached Greyhope it was late in the +evening. The girl seemed tired and confused by the events of the day, +and did as she was directed, indifferently, limply. But when they +entered the gates of Greyhope and travelled up the long avenue of limes, +she looked round her somewhat eagerly, and drew a long sigh, maybe +of relief or pleasure. She presently stretched out a hand almost +caressingly to the thick trees and the grass, and said aloud: "Oh, the +beautiful trees and the long grass!" There was a whirr of birds' wings +among the branches, and then, presently, there rose from a distance the +sweet, gurgling whistle of the nightingale. A smile as of reminiscence +crossed her face. Then she said, as if to herself: "It is the same. +I shall not die. I hear the birds' wings, and one is singing. It is +pleasant to sleep in the long grass when the nights are summer, and to +hang your cradle in the trees." + +She had asked for her own blanket, refusing a rug, when they left St. +Albans, and it had been given to her. She drew it about her now with a +feeling of comfort, and seemed to lose the horrible sense of strangeness +which had almost convulsed her when she was put into the carriage at the +railway station. Her reserve had hidden much of what she really felt; +but the drive through the limes had shown General Armour and his wife +that they had to do with a nature having capacities for sensitive +feeling; which, it is sometimes thought, is only the prerogative of +certain well-bred civilisations. + +But it was impossible that they should yet, or for many a day, feel any +sense of kinship with this aboriginal girl. Presently the carriage drew +up to the doorway, which was instantly opened to them. A broad belt +of light streamed out upon the stone steps. Far back in the hall stood +Marion, one hand upon the balustrade of the staircase, the other tightly +held at her side, as if to nerve herself for the meeting. The eyes of +the Indian girl pierced the light, and, as if by a strange instinct, +found those of Marion, even before she left the carriage. Lali felt +vaguely that here was her possible enemy. As she stepped out of the +carriage, General Armour's hand under her elbow to assist her, she drew +her blanket something more closely about her, and so proceeded up +the steps. The composure of the servants was, in the circumstances, +remarkable. It needed to have been, for the courage displayed by Lali's +two new guardians during the day almost faltered at the threshold of +their own home. Any sign of surprise or amusement on the part of the +domestics would have given them some painful moments subsequently. But +all was perfectly decorous. Marion still stood motionless, almost dazed, +The group advanced into the hall, and there paused, as if waiting for +her. + +At that moment Richard came out of the study at her right hand, took her +arm, and said quietly: "Come along, Marion. Let us be as brave as our +father and mother." + +She gave a hard little gasp and seemed to awake as from a dream. She +quickly glided forwards ahead of him, kissed her mother and father +almost abruptly, then turned to the young wife with a scrutinising +eye. "Marion," said her father, "this is your sister." Marion stood +hesitating, confused. + +"Marion, dear," repeated her mother ceremoniously, "this is your +brother's wife.--Lali, this is your husband's sister, Marion." + +Mackenzie translated the words swiftly to the girl, and her eyes flashed +wide. Then in a low voice she said in English: "Yes, Marion, How!" + +It is probable that neither Marion nor any one present knew quite the +meaning of 'How', save Richard, and he could not suppress a smile, it +sounded so absurd and aboriginal. But at this exclamation Marion once +more came to herself. She could not possibly go so far as her mother did +at the dock and kiss this savage, but, with a rather sudden grasp of +the hand, she said, a little hysterically, for her brain was going round +like a wheel,--"Wo-won't you let me take your blanket?" and forthwith +laid hold of it with tremulous politeness. + +The question sounded, for the instant, so ludicrous to Richard that, in +spite of the distressing situation, he had to choke back a laugh. Years +afterwards, if he wished for any momentary revenge upon Marion (and he +had a keen sense of wordy retaliation), he simply said: "Wo-won't you +let me take your blanket?" + +Of course the Indian girl did not understand, but she submitted to the +removal of this uncommon mantle, and stood forth a less trying sight +to Marion's eyes; for, as we said before, her buckskin costume set off +softly the good outlines of her form. + +The Indian girl's eyes wandered from Marion to Richard. They wandered +from anxiety, doubt, and a bitter kind of reserve, to cordiality, +sympathy, and a grave kind of humour. Instantly the girl knew that she +had in eccentric Richard Armour a frank friend. Unlike as he was to +his brother, there was still in their eyes the same friendliness and +humanity. That is, it was the same look that Frank carried when he first +came to her father's lodge. + +Richard held out his hand with a cordial little laugh and said: "Ah, ah, +very glad, very glad! Just in time for supper. Come along. How is Frank, +eh? how is Frank? Just so; just so. Pleasant journey, I suppose?" He +shook her hand warmly three or four times, and, as he held it, placed +his left hand over it and patted it patriarchally, as was his custom +with all the children and all the old ladies that he knew. + +"Richard," said his mother, in a studiously neutral voice, "you might +see about the wine." + +Then Richard appeared to recover himself, and did as he was requested, +but not until his brother's wife had said to him in English, as they +courteously drew her towards the staircase: "Oh, my brother Richard, +How!" + +But the first strain and suspense were now over for the family, and it +is probable that never had they felt such relief as when they sat down +behind closed doors in their own rooms for a short respite, while the +Indian girl was closeted alone with Mackenzie and a trusted maid, in +what she called her wigwam. + + + + +CHAPTER V. AN AWKWARD HALF-HOUR + +It is just as well, perhaps, that the matter had become notorious. +Otherwise the Armours had lived in that unpleasant condition of being +constantly "discovered." It was simply a case of aiming at absolute +secrecy, which had been frustrated by Frank himself, or bold and +unembarrassed acknowledgment and an attempt to carry things off with +a high hand. The latter course was the only one possible. It had +originally been Richard's idea, appropriated by General Armour, and +accepted by Mrs. Armour and Marion with what grace was possible. The +publication of the event prepared their friends, and precluded the +necessity for reserve. What the friends did not know was whether they +ought or ought not to commiserate the Armours. It was a difficult +position. A death, an accident, a lost reputation, would have been +easy to them; concerning these there could be no doubt. But an Indian +daughter-in-law, a person in moccasins, was scarcely a thing to be +congratulated upon; and yet sympathy and consolation might be much +misplaced; no one could tell how the Armours would take it. For even +their closest acquaintances knew what kind of delicate hauteur was +possible to them. Even the "'centric" Richard, who visited the cottages +of the poor, carrying soup and luxuries of many kinds, accompanying them +with the most wholesome advice a single man ever gave to families and +the heads of families, whose laugh was so cheery and spontaneous,--and +face so uncommonly grave and sad at times,--had a faculty for manner. +With astonishing suddenness he could raise insurmountable barriers; and +people, not of his order, who occasionally presumed on his simplicity of +life and habits, found themselves put distinctly ill at ease by a quiet, +curious look in his eye. No man was ever more the recluse and at the +same time the man of the world. He had had his bitter little comedy of +life, but it was different from that of his brother Frank. It was buried +very deep; not one of his family knew of it: Edward Lambert, and one +or two others who had good reason never to speak of it, were the only +persons possessing his secret. + +But all England knew of Frank's mesalliance. And the question was, What +would people do? They very properly did nothing at first. They waited to +see how the Armours would act: they did not congratulate; they did not +console; that was left to those papers which chanced to resent General +Armour's politics, and those others which were emotional and sensational +on every subject--particularly so where women were concerned. + +It was the beginning of the season, but the Armours had decided that +they would not go to town. That is, the general and his wife were +not going. They felt that they ought to be at Greyhope with their +daughter-in-law--which was to their credit. Regarding Marion they +had nothing to say. Mrs. Armour inclined to her going to town for the +season, to visit Mrs. Townley, who had thoughtfully written to her, +saying that she was very lonely, and begging Mrs. Armour to let her +come, if she would. She said that of course Marion would see much of her +people in town just the same. Mrs. Townley was a very clever and tactful +woman. + +She guessed that General Armour and his wife were not likely to come +to town, but that must not appear, and the invitation should be on a +different basis--as it was. + +It is probable that Marion saw through the delicate plot, but that did +not make her like Mrs. Townley less. These little pieces of art make +life possible, these tender fictions! + +Marion was, however, not in good humour; she was nervous and a little +petulant. She had a high-strung temperament, a sensitive perception of +the fitness of things, and a horror of what was gauche; and she would, +in brief, make a rather austere person if the lines of life did not run +in her favour. She had something of Frank's impulsiveness and temper; +it would have been a great blessing to her if she had had a portion of +Richard's philosophical humour also. She was at a point of tension--her +mother and Richard could see that. She was anxious--though for the world +she would not have had it thought so--regarding Captain Vidall. She had +never cared for anybody but him; it was possible she never would. But he +did not know this, and she was not absolutely sure that his evident but +as yet informal love would stand this strain--which shows how people +very honourable and perfect-minded in themselves may allow a large +margin to other people who are presumably honourable and perfect-minded +also. There was no engagement between them, and he was not bound in any +way, and could, therefore, without slashing the hem of the code, retire +without any apology; but they had had that unspoken understanding which +most people who love each other show even before a word of declaration +has passed their lips. If he withdrew because of this scandal there +might be some awkward hours for Frank Armour's wife at Greyhope; but, +more than that, there would be a very hard-hearted young lady to play +her part in the deceitful world; she would be as merciless as she could +be. Naturally, being young, she exaggerated the importance of the event, +and brooded on it. It was different with her father and mother. They +were shocked and indignant at first, but when the first scene had been +faced they began to make the best of things all round. That is, they +proceeded at once to turn the North American Indian into a European--a +matter of no little difficulty. A governess was discussed; but General +Armour did not like the idea, and Richard opposed it heartily. She +must be taught English and educated, and made possible in "Christian +clothing," as Mrs. Armour put it. Of the education they almost +despaired--all save Richard; time, instruction, vanity, and a dressmaker +might do much as to the other. + +The evening of her arrival, Lali would not, with any urging, put on +clothes of Marion's which had been sent in to her. And the next morning +it was still the same. + +She came into the breakfast-room dressed still in buckskin and +moccasins, and though the grease had been taken out of her hair it +was still combed flat. Mrs. Armour had tried to influence her through +Mackenzie, but to no purpose. She was placidly stubborn. + +It had been unwisely told her by Mackenzie that they were Marion's +clothes. They scarcely took in the fact that the girl had pride, that +she was the daughter of a chief, and a chieftainess herself, and that it +was far from happy to offer her Marion's clothes to wear. + +Now, Richard, when he was a lad, had been on a journey to the South +Seas, and had learned some of the peculiarities of the native mind, and +he did not suppose that American Indians differed very much from certain +well-bred Polynesians in little matters of form and good taste. When +his mother told him what had occurred before Lali entered the +breakfast-room, he went directly to what he believed was the cause, +and advised tact with conciliation. He also pointed out that Lali was +something taller than Marion, and that she might be possessed of that +general trait of humanity-vanity. Mrs. Armour had not yet got used to +thinking of the girl in another manner than an intrusive being of a +lower order, who was there to try their patience, but also to do their +bidding. She had yet to grasp the fact that, being her son's wife, she +must have, therefore, a position in the house, exercising a certain +authority over the servants, who, to Mrs. Armour, at first seemed of +superior stuff. But Richard said to her: "Mother, I fancy you don't +quite grasp the position. The girl is the daughter of a chief, and the +descendant of a family of chiefs, perhaps through many generations. In +her own land she has been used to respect, and has been looked up to +pretty generally. Her garments are, I fancy, considered very smart in +the Hudson's Bay country; and a finely decorated blanket like hers is +expensive up there. You see, we have to take the thing by comparison; so +please give the girl a chance." + +And Mrs. Armour answered wearily, "I suppose you are right, Richard; you +generally are in the end, though why you should be I do not know, for +you never see anything of the world any more, and you moon about among +the cottagers. I suppose it's your native sense and the books you read." + +Richard laughed softly, but there was a queer ring in the laugh, and +he came over stumblingly and put his arm round his mother's shoulder. +"Never mind how I get such sense as I have, mother; I have so much time +to think, it would be a wonder if I hadn't some. But I think we had +better try to study her, and coax her along, and not fob her off as a +very inferior person, or we shall have our hands full in earnest. My +opinion is, she has got that which will save her and us too--a very high +spirit, which only needs opportunity to develop into a remarkable thing; +and, take my word for it, mother, if we treat her as a chieftainess, or +princess, or whatever she is, and not simply as a dusky person, we shall +come off better and she will come off better in the long run. She is not +darker than a Spaniard, anyhow." At this point Marion entered the room, +and her mother rehearsed briefly to her what their talk had been. Marion +had had little sleep, and she only lifted her eyebrows at them at first. +She was in little mood for conciliation. She remembered all at once +that at supper the evening before her sister-in-law had said How! to +the butler, and had eaten the mayonnaise with a dessert spoon. But +presently, because she saw they waited for her to speak, she said, with +a little flutter of maliciousness: "Wouldn't it be well for Richard--he +has plenty of time, and we are also likely to have it now--to put us all +through a course of instruction for the training of chieftainesses? +And when do you think she will be ready for a drawing-room--Her Majesty +Queen Victoria's, or ours?" + +"Marion!" said Mrs. Armour severely; but Richard came round to her, and, +with his fresh, child-like humour, put his arm round her waist and added +"Marion, I'd be willing to bet--if I were in the habit of betting--my +shaky old pins here against a lock of your hair that you may present her +at any drawing-room--ours or Queen Victoria's--in two years, if we go at +it right; and it would serve Master Frank very well if we turned her out +something, after all." + +To which Mrs. Armour responded almost eagerly: "I wish it were only +possible, Richard. And what you say is true, I suppose, that she is of +rank in her own country, whatever value that may have." + +Richard saw his advantage. "Well, mother," he said, "a chieftainess is a +chieftainess, and I don't know but to announce her as such, and--" + +"And be proud of it, as it were," put in Marion, "and pose her, and +make her a prize--a Pocahontas, wasn't it?--and go on pretending world +without end!" Marion's voice was still slightly grating, but there +was in it too a faint sound of hope. "Perhaps," she said to herself, +"Richard is right." + +At this point the door opened and Lali entered, shown in by Colvin, +her newly-appointed maid, and followed by Mackenzie, and, as we said, +dressed still in her heathenish garments. She had a strong sense of +dignity, for she stood still and waited. Perhaps nothing could have +impressed Marion more. Had Lali been subservient simply, an entirely +passive, unintelligent creature, she would probably have tyrannised over +her in a soft, persistent fashion, and despised her generally. But Mrs. +Armour and Marion saw that this stranger might become very troublesome +indeed, if her temper were to have play. They were aware of capacities +for passion in those dark eyes, so musing yet so active in expression, +which moved swiftly from one object to another and then suddenly became +resolute. + +Both mother and daughter came forward, and held out their hands, +wishing her a pleasant good-morning, and were followed by Richard, and +immediately by General Armour, who had entered soon after her. She had +been keen enough to read (if a little vaguely) behind the scenes, and +her mind was wakening slowly to the peculiarity of the position she +occupied. The place awed her, and had broken her rest by perplexing her +mind, and she sat down to the breakfast-table with a strange hunted look +in her face. But opposite to her was a window opening to the ground, and +beyond it were the limes and beeches and a wide perfect sward and far +away a little lake, on which swans and wild fowl fluttered. Presently, +as she sat silent, eating little, her eyes lifted to the window. They +flashed instantly, her face lighted up with a weird kind of charm, and +suddenly she got to her feet with Indian exclamations on her lips, and, +as if unconscious of them all, went swiftly to the window and out of +it, waving her hands up and down once or twice to the trees and the +sunlight. + +"What did she say?" said Mrs. Armour, rising with the others. + +"She said," replied Mackenzie, as she hurried towards the window, "that +they were her beautiful woods, and there were wild birds flying and +swimming in the water, as in her own country." + +By this time all were at the window, Richard arriving last, and the +Indian girl turned on them, her body all quivering with excitement, +laughed a low, bird-like laugh, and then, clapping her hands above her +head, she swung round and ran like a deer towards the lake, shaking her +head back as an animal does when fleeing from his pursuers. She would +scarcely have been recognised as the same placid, speechless woman in a +blanket who sat with folded hands day after day on the Aphrodite. + +The watchers turned and looked at each other in wonder. Truly, their +task of civilising a savage would not lack in interest. The old general +was better pleased, however, at this display of activity and excitement +than at yesterday's taciturnity. He loved spirit, even if it had to be +subdued, and he thought on the instant that he might possibly come +to look upon the fair savage as an actual and not a nominal +daughter-in-law. He had a keen appreciation of courage, and he thought +he saw in her face, as she turned upon them, a look of defiance or +daring, and nothing could have got at his nature quicker. If the case +had not been so near to his own hearthstone he would have chuckled. As +it was, he said good-humouredly that Mackenzie and Marion should go and +bring her back. But Mackenzie was already at that duty. Mrs. Armour had +had the presence of mind to send for Colvin; but presently, when +the general spoke, she thought it better that Marion should go, and +counselled returning to breakfast and not making the matter of too +much importance. This they did, Richard very reluctantly; while Marion, +rather pleased than not at the spirit shown by the strange girl, ran +away over the grass towards the lake, where Lali had now stopped. There +was a little bridge at one point where the lake narrowed, and Lali, +evidently seeing it all at once, went towards it, and ran up on it, +standing poised above the water about the middle of it. For an instant +an unpleasant possibility came into Marion's mind: suppose the excited +girl intended suicide! She shivered as she thought of it, and yet--! +She put that horribly cruel and selfish thought away from her with an +indignant word at herself. She had passed Mackenzie, and came first to +the lake. Here she slackened, and waved her hand playfully to the girl, +so as not to frighten her; and then with a forced laugh came up panting +on the bridge, and was presently by Lali's side. Lali eyed her a little +furtively, but, seeing that Marion was much inclined to be pleasant, she +nodded to her, said some Indian words hastily, and spread out her hands +towards the water. As she did so, Marion noticed again the beauty of +those hands and the graceful character of the gesture, so much so that +she forgot the flat hair and the unstayed body, and the rather broad +feet, and the delicate duskiness, which had so worked upon her in +imagination and in fact the evening before. She put her hand kindly on +that long slim hand stretched out beside her, and, because she knew +not what else to speak, and because the tongue is very perverse at +times,--saying the opposite of what is expected,--she herself blundered +out, "How! How! Lali." + +Perhaps Lali was as much surprised at the remark as Marion herself, and +certainly very much more delighted. The sound of those familiar +words, spoken by accident as they were, opened the way to a better +understanding, as nothing else could possibly have done. Marion was +annoyed with herself, and yet amused too. If her mind had been perfectly +assured regarding Captain Vidall, it is probable that then and there +a peculiar, a genial, comradeship would have been formed. As it was, +Marion found this little event more endurable than she expected. She +also found that Lali, when she laughed in pleasant acknowledgment of +that How! had remarkably white and regular teeth. Indeed, Marion Armour +began to discover some estimable points in the appearance of her savage +sister-in-law. Marion remarked to herself that Lali might be a rather +striking person, if she were dressed, as her mother said, in Christian +garments, could speak the English language well--and was somebody else's +sister-in-law. + +At this point Mackenzie came breathlessly to the bridge, and called +out a little sharply to Lali, rebuking her. In this Mackenzie made +a mistake; for not only did Lali draw herself up with considerable +dignity, but Marion, noticing the masterful nature of the tone, +instantly said: "Mackenzie, you must remember that you are speaking to +Mrs. Francis Armour, and that her position in General Armour's house +is the same as mine. I hope it is not necessary to say anything more, +Mackenzie." + +Mackenzie flushed. She was a sensible woman, she knew that she had +done wrong, and she said very promptly: "I am very sorry, miss. I was +flustered, and I expect I haven't got used to speaking to--to Mrs. +Armour as I'll be sure to do in the future." + +As she spoke, two or three deer came trotting out of the beeches down +to the lake side. If Lali was pleased and excited before, she was +overwhelmed now. Her breath came in quick little gasps; she laughed; +she tossed her hands; she seemed to become dizzy with delight; and +presently, as if this new link with, and reminder of, her past, had +moved her as one little expects a savage heart to be moved, two tears +gathered in her eyes, then slid down her cheek unheeded, and dried +there in the sunlight, as she still gazed at the deer. Marion, at first +surprised, was now touched, as she could not have thought it possible +concerning this wild creature, and her hand went out and caught Lali's +gently. At this genuine act of sympathy, instinctively felt by Lali, +the stranger in a strange land, husbanded and yet a widow, there came a +flood of tears, and, dropping on her knees, she leaned against the low +railing of the bridge and wept silently. So passionless was her grief +it seemed the more pathetic, and Marion dropped on her knees beside her, +put her arm round her shoulder, and said: "Poor girl! Poor girl!" + +At that Lali caught her hand, and held it, repeating after her the +words: "Poor girl! Poor girl!" + +She did not quite understand them, but she remembered that once just +before she parted from her husband at the Great Lakes he had said those +very words. If the fates had apparently given things into Frank Armour's +hands when he sacrificed this girl to his revenge, they were evidently +inclined to play a game which would eventually defeat his purpose, +wicked as it had been in effect if not in absolute motive. What the end +of this attempt to engraft the Indian girl upon the strictest convention +of English social life would have been had her introduction not been at +Greyhope, where faint likenesses to her past surrounded her, it is hard +to conjecture. But, from present appearances, it would seem that Richard +Armour was not wholly a false prophet; for the savage had shown herself +that morning to possess, in their crudeness, some striking qualities of +character. Given character, many things are possible, even to those who +are not of the elect. + +This was the beginning of better things. Lali seemed to the Armours not +quite so impossible now. Had she been of the very common order of Indian +"pure and simple," the task had resolved itself into making a common +savage into a very common European. But, whatever Lali was, it was +abundantly evident that she must be reckoned with at all points, and +that she was more likely to become a very startling figure in the Armour +household than a mere encumbrance to be blushed for, whose eternal +absence were preferable to her company. + +Years after that first morning Marion caught herself shuddering at +the thought that came to her when she saw Lali hovering on the bridge. +Whatever Marion's faults were, she had a fine dislike of anything that +seemed unfair. She had not ridden to hounds for nothing. She had at +heart the sportsman's instinct. It was upon this basis, indeed, that +Richard appealed to her in the first trying days of Lali's life among +them. To oppose your will to Marion on the basis of superior knowledge +was only to turn her into a rebel; and a very effective rebel she made; +for she had a pretty gift at the retort courteous, and she could take +as much, and as well, as she gave. She rebelled at first at assisting in +Lali's education, though by fits and starts she would teach her English +words, and help her to form long sentences, and was, on the whole, quite +patient. But Lali's real instructors were Mrs. Armour and Richard--, her +best, Richard. + +The first few days she made but little progress, for everything was +strange to her, and things made her giddy--the servants, the formal +routine, the handsome furnishings, Marion's music, the great house, the +many precise personal duties set for her, to be got through at stated +times; and Mrs. Armour's rather grand manner. But there was the relief +to this, else the girl had pined terribly for her native woods and +prairies; this was the park, the deer, the lake, the hares, and birds. +While she sat saying over after Mrs. Armour words and phrases in +English, or was being shown how she must put on and wear the clothes +which a dressmaker from Regent Street had been brought to make, her eyes +would wander dreamily to the trees and the lake and the grass. They soon +discovered that she would pay no attention and was straightway difficult +to teach if she was not placed where she could look out on the park. +They had no choice, for though her resistance was never active it was +nevertheless effective. + +Presently she got on very swiftly with Richard. For he, with instinct +worthy of a woman, turned their lessons upon her own country and Frank. +This cost him something, but it had its reward. There was no more +listlessness. Previously Frank's name had scarcely been spoken to her. +Mrs. Armour would have hours of hesitation and impotent regret before +she brought herself to speak of her son to his Indian wife. Marion tried +to do it a few times and failed; the general did it with rather a forced +voice and manner, because he saw that his wife was very tender upon the +point. But Richard, who never knew self-consciousness, spoke freely of +Frank when he spoke at all; and it was seeing Lali's eyes brighten and +her look earnestly fixed on him when he chanced to mention Frank's +name, that determined him on his new method of instruction. It had its +dangers, but he had calculated them all. The girl must be educated at +all costs. The sooner that occurred the sooner would she see her own +position and try to adapt herself to her responsibilities, and face the +real state of her husband's attitude towards her. + +He succeeded admirably. Striving to tell him about her past life, and +ready to talk endlessly about her husband, of his prowess in the hunt, +of his strength and beauty, she also strove to find English words for +the purpose, and Richard supplied them with uncommon willingness. He +humoured her so far as to learn many Indian words and phrases, but he +was chary of his use of them, and tried hard to make her appreciative +of her new life and surroundings. He watched her waking slowly to an +understanding of the life, and of all that it involved. It gave him a +kind of fear, too, because she was sensitive, and there was the possible +danger of her growing disheartened or desperate, and doing some mad +thing in the hour that she wakened to the secret behind her marriage. + +His apprehensions were not without cause. For slowly there came into +Lali's mind the element of comparison. She became conscious of it one +day when some neighbouring people called at Greyhope. Mrs. Armour, in +her sense of duty, which she had rigidly set before her, introduced Lali +into the drawing-room. The visitors veiled their curiosity and said some +pleasant casual things to the young wife, but she saw the half-curious, +half-furtive glances, she caught a sidelong glance and smile, and when +they were gone she took to looking at herself in a mirror, a thing she +could scarcely be persuaded to do before. She saw the difference between +her carriage and theirs, her manner of wearing her clothes and theirs, +her complexion and theirs. She exaggerated the difference. She brooded +on it. Now she sat downcast and timid, and hunted in face, as on the +first evening she came; now she appeared restless and excited. + +If Mrs. Armour was not exactly sympathetic with her, she was quiet and +forbearing, and General Armour, like Richard, tried to draw her out--but +not on the same subjects. He dwelt upon what she did; the walks she +took in the park, those hours in the afternoon when, with Mackenzie or +Colvin, she vanished into the beeches, making friends with the birds and +deer and swans. But most of all she loved to go to the stables. She was, +however, asked not to go unless Richard or General Armour was with her. +She loved horses, and these were a wonder to her. She had never known +any but the wild, ungroomed Indian pony, on which she had ridden in +every fashion and over every kind of country. Mrs. Armour sent for a +riding-master, and had riding-costumes made for her. It was intended +that she should ride every day as soon as she seemed sufficiently +presentable. This did not appear so very far off, for she improved daily +in appearance. Her hair was growing finer, and was made up in the modest +prevailing fashion; her skin, no longer exposed to an inclement climate, +and subject to the utmost care, was smoother and fairer; her feet, +encased in fine, well-made boots, looked much smaller; her waist was +shaped to fashion, and she was very straight and lissom. So many things +she did jarred on her relatives, that they were not fully aware of the +great improvement in her appearance. Even Richard admitted her trying at +times. + +Marion went up to town to stay with Mrs. Townley, and there had to face +a good deal of curiosity. People looked at her sometimes as if it was +she and not Lali that was an Indian. But she carried things off bravely +enough, and answered those kind inquiries, which one's friends make when +we are in embarrassing situations, with answers so calm and pleasant +that people did not know what to think. + +"Yes," she said, in reply to Lady Balwood, "her sister-in-law might be +in town later in the year, perhaps before the season was over: she could +not tell. She was tired after her long voyage, and she preferred the +quiet of Greyhope; she was fond of riding and country-life; but still +she would come to town for a time." And so on. + +"Ah, dear me, how charming! And doesn't she resent her husband's +absence--during the honeymoon? or did the honeymoon occur before she +came over to England?" And Lady Balwood tried to say it all playfully, +and certainly said it something loudly. She had daughters. + +But Marion was perfectly prepared. Her face did not change expression. +"Yes, they had had their honeymoon on the prairies; Frank was so +fascinated with the life and the people. He had not come home at once, +because he was making she did not know how great a fortune over there in +investments, and so Mrs. Armour came on before him, and, of course, as +soon as he could get away from his business, he would follow his wife." + +And though Marion smiled, her heart was very hot, and she could have +slain Lady Balwood in her tracks. Lady Balwood then nodded a little +patronisingly, and babbled that "she hoped so much to see Mrs. Francis +Armour. She must be so very interesting, the papers said so much about +her." + +Now, while this conversation was going on, some one stood not far behind +Marion, who seemed much interested in her and what she said. But Marion +did not see this person. She was startled presently, however, to hear a +strong voice say softly over her shoulder: "What a charming woman Lady +Balwood is! And so ingenuous!" + +She was grateful, tremulous, proud. Why had he--Captain Vidall--kept out +of the way all these weeks, just when she needed him most, just when he +should have played the part of a man? Then she was feeling twinges at +the heart, too. She had seen Lady Agnes Martling that afternoon, and had +noticed how the news had worn on her. She felt how much better it had +been had Frank come quietly home and married her, instead of doing the +wild, scandalous thing that was making so many heart-burnings. A few +minutes ago she had longed for a chance to say something delicately acid +to Lady Haldwell, once Julia Sherwood, who was there. Now there was a +chance to give her bitter spirit tongue. She was glad--she dared not +think how glad--to hear that voice again; but she was angry too, and he +should suffer for it--the more so because she recognised in the tone, +and afterwards in his face, that he was still absorbingly interested in +her. There was a little burst of thanksgiving in her heart, and then she +prepared a very notable commination service in her mind. + +This meeting had been deftly arranged by Mrs. Townley, with the help +of Edward Lambert, who now held her fingers with a kind of vanity of +possession whenever he bade her good-bye or met her. Captain Vidall had, +in fact, been out of the country, had only been back a week, and had +only heard of Frank Armour's mesalliance from Lambert at an At Home +forty-eight hours before. Mrs. Townley guessed what was really at the +bottom of Marion's occasional bitterness, and, piecing together many +little things dropped casually by her friend, had come to the conclusion +that the happiness of two people was at stake. + +When Marion shook hands with Captain Vidall she had herself exceedingly +well under control. She looked at him in slight surprise, and casually +remarked that they had not chanced to meet lately in the run of +small-and-earlies. She appeared to be unconscious that he had been out +of the country, and also that she had been till very recently indeed at +Greyhope. He hastened to assure her that he had been away, and to lay +siege to this unexpected barrier. He knew all about Frank's affair, and, +though it troubled him, he did not see why it should make any difference +in his regard for Frank's sister. Fastidious as he was in all things, he +was fastidiously deferential. Not an exquisite, he had all that vanity +as to appearance so usual with the military man; himself of the +most perfect temper and sweetness of manner and conduct, the unusual +disturbed him. Not possessed of a vivid imagination, he could scarcely +conjure up this Indian bride at Greyhope. + +But face to face with Marion Armour he saw what troubled his mind, +and he determined he would not meet her irony with irony, her assumed +indifference with indifference. He had learned one of the most important +lessons of life--never to quarrel with a woman. Whoever has so far erred +has been foolish indeed. It is the worst of policy, to say nothing of +its being the worst of art; and life should never be without art. It +is absurd to be perfectly natural; anything, anybody can be that. +Well, Captain Hume Vidall was something of an artist, more, however, +in principle than by temperament. He refused to recognise the rather +malicious adroitness with which Marion turned his remarks again upon +himself, twisted out of all semblance. He was very patient. He inquired +quietly, and as if honestly interested, about Frank, and said--because +he thought it safest as well as most reasonable--that, naturally, they +must have been surprised at his marrying a native; but he himself had +seen some such marriages turn out very well--in Japan, India, the South +Sea Islands, and Canada. He assumed that Marion's sister-in-law was +beautiful, and then disarmed Marion by saying that he thought of going +down to Greyhope immediately, to call on General Armour and Mrs. Armour, +and wondered if she was going back before the end of the season. + +Quick as Marion was, this was said so quietly that she did not quite see +the drift of it. She had intended staying in London to the end of the +season, not because she enjoyed it, but because she was determined to +face Frank's marriage at every quarter, and have it over, once for all, +so far as herself was concerned. But now, taken slightly aback, she +said, almost without thinking, that she would probably go back soon--she +was not quite sure; but certainly her father and mother would be glad to +see Captain Vidall at any time. + +Then, without any apparent relevancy, he asked her if Mrs. Frank Armour +still wore her Indian costume. In any one else the question had seemed +impertinent; in him it had a touch of confidence, of the privilege of +close friendship. Then he said, with a meditative look and a very calm, +retrospective voice, that he was once very much in love with a native +girl in India, and might have become permanently devoted to her, were it +not for the accident of his being ordered back to England summarily. + +This was a piece of news which cut two ways. In the first place it +lessened the extraordinary character of Frank's marriage, and it roused +in her an immediate curiosity--which a woman always feels in the past +"affairs" of her lover, or possible lover. Vidall did not take pains to +impress her with the fact that the matter occurred when he was almost a +boy; and it was when her earnest inquisition had drawn from him, bit by +bit, the circumstances of the case, and she had forgotten many parts of +her commination service and to preserve an effective neutrality in tone, +that she became aware he was speaking ancient history. Then it was too +late to draw back. + +They had threaded their way through the crowd into the conservatory, +where they were quite alone, and there, with only a little pyramid of +hydrangeas between them, which she could not help but notice chimed well +with the colour of her dress, he dropped his voice a little lower, and +then suddenly said, his eyes hard on her: "I want your permission to go +to Greyhope." + +The tone drew her eyes hastily to his, and, seeing, she dropped them +again. Vidall had a strong will, and, what is of more consequence, a +peculiarly attractive voice. It had a vibration which made some of his +words organ-like in sound. She felt the influence of it. She said a +little faintly, her fingers toying with a hydrangea: "I am afraid I do +not understand. There is no reason why you should not go to Greyhope +without my permission." + +"I cannot go without it," he persisted. "I am waiting for my commission +from you." + +She dropped her hand from the flower with a little impatient motion. +She was tired, her head ached, she wanted to be alone. "Why are you +enigmatical?" she said. Then quickly: "I wish I knew what is in your +mind. You play with words so." + +She scarcely knew what she said. A woman who loves a man very much is +not quick to take in the absolute declaration of that man's love on the +instant; it is too wonderful for her. He felt his check flush with hers, +he drew her look again to his. "Marion! Marion!" he said. That was all. + +"Oh, hush, some one is coming!" was her quick, throbbing reply. When +they parted a half-hour later, he said to her: "Will you give me my +commission to go to Greyhope?" + +"Oh no, I cannot," she said very gravely; "but come to Greyhope-when I +go back." + +"And when will that be?" he said, smiling, yet a little ruefully too. + +"Please ask Mrs. Townley," she replied; "she is coming also." + +Marion, knew what that commission to go to Greyhope meant. But she +determined that he should see Lali first, before anything irrevocable +was done. She still looked upon Frank's marriage as a scandal. Well, +Captain Vidall should face it in all its crudeness. So, in a week or +less, Marion and Mrs. Townley were in Greyhope. + +Two months had gone since Lali arrived in England, and yet no letter had +come to her, or to any of them, from Frank. Frank's solicitor in London +had written him fully of her arrival, and he had had a reply, with +further instructions regarding money to be placed to General Armour's +credit for the benefit of his wife. Lali, as she became Europeanised, +also awoke to the forms and ceremonies of her new life. She had +overheard Frank's father and mother wondering, and fretting as they +wondered, why they had not received any word from him. General Armour +had even called him a scoundrel, which sent Frank's mother into tears. +Then Lali had questioned Mackenzie and Colvin, for she had increasing +shrewdness, and she began to feel her actual position. She resented +General Armour's imputation, but in her heart she began to pine and +wonder. At times, too, she was fitful, and was not to be drawn out. But +she went on improving in personal appearance and manner and in learning +the English language. Mrs. Townley's appearance marked a change in her. +When they met she suddenly stood still and trembled. When Mrs. Townley +came to her and took her hand and kissed her, she shivered, and then +caught her about the shoulders lightly, but was silent. After a little +she said: "Come--come to my wigwam, and talk with me." + +She said it with a strange little smile, for now she recognised that +the word wigwam was not to be used in her new life. But Mrs. Townley +whispered: "Ask Marion to come too." + +Lali hesitated, and then said, a little maliciously: "Marion, will you +come to my wigwam?" + +Marion ran to her, caught her about the waist, and replied gaily: "Yes, +we will have a pow-wow--is that right--is pow-wow right?" + +The Indian girl shook her head with a pretty vagueness, and vanished +with them. General Armour walked up and down the room briskly, then +turned on his wife and said: "Wife, it was a brutal thing: Frank doesn't +deserve to be--the father of her child." + +But Lali had moods--singular moods. She indulged in one three days after +the arrival of Marion and Mrs. Townley. She had learned to ride with the +side-saddle, and wore her riding-dress admirably. Nowhere did she show +to better advantage. She had taken to riding now with General Armour on +the country roads. On this day Captain Vidall was expected, he having +written to ask that he might come. What trouble Lali had with one of the +servants that morning was never thoroughly explained, but certain it +is, she came to have a crude notion of why Frank Armour married her. The +servant was dismissed duly, but that was after the contre-temps. + +It was late afternoon. Everybody had been busy, because one or two other +guests were expected besides Captain Vidall. Lali had kept to herself, +sending word through Richard that she would not "be English," as she +vaguely put it, that day. She had sent Mackenzie on some mission. She +sat on the floor of her room, as she used to sit on the ground in her +father's lodge. Her head was bowed in her hands, and her arms rested on +her knees. Her body swayed to and fro. Presently all motion ceased. She +became perfectly still. She looked before her as if studying something. + +Her eyes immediately flashed. She rose quickly to her feet, went to her +wardrobe, and took out her Indian costume and blanket, with which she +could never be induced to part. Almost feverishly she took off the +clothes she wore and hastily threw them from her. Then she put on the +buckskin clothes in which she had journeyed to England, drew down her +hair as she used to wear it, fastened round her waist a long red sash +which had been given her by a governor of the Hudson's Bay Company +when he had visited her father's country, threw her blanket round her +shoulders, and then eyed herself in the great mirror in the room. What +she saw evidently did not please her perfectly, for she stretched out +her hands and looked at them; she shook her head at herself and put her +hand to her cheeks and pinched them, they were not so brown as they once +were, then she thrust out her foot. She drew it back quickly in disdain. +Immediately she caught the fashionable slippers from her feet and threw +them among the discarded garments. She looked at herself again. Still +she was not satisfied, but she threw up her arms, as with a sense +of pleasure and freedom, and laughed at herself. She pushed out her +moccasined foot, tapped the floor with it, nodded towards it, and said +a word or two in her own language. She heard some one in the next room, +possibly Mackenzie. She stepped to the door leading into the hall, +opened it, went out, travelled its length, ran down a back hallway, out +into the park, towards the stables, her blanket, as her hair, flying +behind her. + +She entered the stables, made for a horse that she had ridden much, put +a bridle on him, led him out before any one had seen her, and, catching +him by the mane, suddenly threw herself on him at a bound, and, giving +him a tap with a short whip she had caught up in the stable, headed him +for the main avenue and the open road. Then a stableman saw her and ran +after, but he might as well have tried to follow the wind. He forthwith +proceeded to saddle another horse. Boulter also saw her as she passed +the house, and, running in, told Mrs. Armour and the general. They both +ran to the window and saw dashing down the avenue--a picture out of +Fenimore Cooper; a saddleless horse with a rider whose fingers merely +touched the bridle, riding as on a journey of life and death. + +"My God, it's Lali! She's mad--she's mad! She is striking that horse! It +will bolt! It will kill her!" cried the general. + +Then he rushed for a horse to follow her. Mrs. Armour's hands clasped +painfully. For an instant she had almost the same thought as had Marion +on the first morning of Lali's coming; but that passed, and left +her gazing helplessly after the horse-woman. The flying blanket had +frightened the blooded horse, and he made desperate efforts to fulfil +the general's predictions. + +Lali soon found that she had miscalculated. She was not riding an +Indian pony, but a crazed, high-strung horse. As they flew, she sitting +superbly and tugging at the bridle, the party coming from the railway +station entered the great gate, accompanied by Richard and Marion. In +a moment they sighted this wild pair bearing down upon them with a +terrible swiftness. + +As Marion recognised Lali she turned pale and cried out, rising in her +seat. Instinctively Captain Vidall knew who it was, though he could not +guess the cause of the singular circumstance. He saw that the horse +had bolted, but also that the rider seemed entirely fearless. "Why, +in Heaven's name," he said between his teeth, "doesn't she let go that +blanket!" + +At that moment Lali did let it go, and the horse dashed by them, making +hard for the gate. "Turn the horses round and follow her," said Vidall +to the driver. While this was doing, Marion caught sight of her father +riding hard down the avenue. He passed them, and called to them to hurry +on after him. + +Lali had not the slightest sense of fear, but she knew that the horse +had gone mad. When they passed through the gate and swerved into the +road, a less practised rider would have been thrown. She sat like wax. +The pace was incredible for a mile, and though General Armour rode well, +he was far behind. + +Suddenly a trap appeared in the road in front of them, and the driver, +seeing the runaway, set his horses at right angles to the road. It +served the purpose only to provide another danger. Not far from where +the trap was drawn, and between it and the runaway, was a lane, which +ended at a farmyard in a cul-de-sac. The horse swerved into it, not +slacking its pace, and in the fraction of a minute came to the farmyard. + +But now the fever was in Lali's blood. She did not care whether she +lived or died. A high hedge formed the cul-de-sac. When she saw the +horse slacking she cut it savagely across the head twice with a whip, +and drove him at the green wall. He was of too good make to refuse it, +stiff as it was. He rose to it magnificently, and cleared it; but +almost as he struck the ground squarely, he staggered and fell--the girl +beneath him. He had burst a blood-vessel. The ground was soft and wet; +the weight of the horse prevented her from getting free. She felt its +hoof striking in its death-struggles, and once her shoulder was struck. +Instinctively she buried her face in the mud, and her arms covered her +head. + +And then she knew no more. + +When she came to, she was in the carriage within the gates of Greyhope, +and Marion was bending over her. She suddenly tried to lift herself, but +could not. Presently she saw another face--that of General Armour. It +was stern, and yet his eyes were swimming as he looked at her. + +"How!" she said to him--"How!" and fainted again. + + + + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE FAITH OF COMRADES + +When Francis Armour left his wife's room he did not go to his own, but +quietly descended the stairs, went to the library, and sat down. The +loneliest thing in the world is to be tete-a-tete with one's conscience. +A man may have a bad hour with an enemy, a sad hour with a friend, +a peaceful hour with himself, but when the little dwarf, conscience, +perches upon every hillock of remembrance and makes slow signs--those +strange symbols of the language of the soul--to him, no slave upon the +tread-mill suffers more. + +The butler came in to see if anything was required, but Armour only +greeted him silently and waved him away. His brain was painfully alert, +his memory singularly awake. It seemed that the incident of this hour +had so opened up every channel of his intelligence that all his life ran +past him in fantastic panorama, as by that illumination which comes to +the drowning man. He seemed under some strange spell. Once or twice he +rose, rubbed his eyes, and looked round the room--the room where as a +boy he had spent idle hours, where as a student he had been in the hands +of his tutor, and as a young man had found recreations such as belong +to ambitious and ardent youth. Every corner was familiar. Nothing was +changed. The books upon the shelves were as they were placed twenty +years ago. And yet he did not seem a part of it. It did not seem natural +to him. He was in an atmosphere of strangeness--that atmosphere which +surrounds a man, as by a cloud, when some crisis comes upon him and +his life seems to stand still, whirling upon its narrow base, while the +world appears at an interminable distance, even as to a deaf man who +sees yet cannot hear. + +There came home to him at that moment with a force indescribable the +shamelessness of the act he committed four years ago. He had thought to +come back to miserable humiliation. For four years he had refused to do +his duty as a man towards an innocent woman,--a woman, though in part +a savage,--now transformed into a gentle, noble creature of delight and +goodness. How had he deserved it? He had sown the storm, it was but just +that he should reap the whirlwind; he had scattered thistles, could he +expect to gather grapes? He knew that the sympathy of all his father's +house was not with him, but with the woman he had wronged. He was glad +it was so. Looking back now, it seemed so poor and paltry a thing that +he, a man, should stoop to revenge himself upon those who had given him +birth, as a kind of insult to the woman who had lightly set him aside, +and should use for that purpose a helpless, confiding girl. To revenge +one's self for wrong to one's self is but a common passion, which +has little dignity; to avenge some one whom one has loved, man or +woman,--and, before all, woman,--has some touch of nobility, is redeemed +by loyalty. For his act there was not one word of defence to be made, +and he was not prepared to make it. + +The cigars and liquors were beside him, but he did not touch them. He +seemed very far away from the ordinary details of his life: he knew +he had before him hard travel, and he was not confident of the end. He +could not tell how long he sat there.--After, a time the ticking of +the clock seemed painfully loud to him. Now and again he heard a cab +rattling through the Square, and the foolish song of some drunken +loiterer in the night caused him to start painfully. Everything jarred +on him. Once he got up, went to the window, and looked out. The moon was +shining full on the Square. He wondered if it would be well for him to +go out and find some quiet to his nerves in walking. He did so. Out in +the Square he looked up to his wife's window. It was lighted. Long time +he walked up and down, his eyes on the window. It held him like a charm. +Once he leaned against the iron railings of the garden and looked +up, not moving for a time. Presently he saw the curtain of the window +raised, and against the dim light of the room was outlined the figure of +his wife. He knew it. She stood for a moment looking out into the night. +She could not see him, nor could he see her features at all plainly, +but he knew that she, like him, was alone with the catastrophe which his +wickedness had sent upon her. Soon the curtain was drawn down again, +and then he went once more to the house and took his old seat beside +the table. He fell to brooding, and at last, exhausted, dropped to a +troubled sleep. He woke with a start. Some one was in the room. He heard +a step behind him. He came to his feet quickly, a wild light in his +eyes. He faced his brother Richard. + +Late in the afternoon Marion had telegraphed to Richard that Frank was +coming. He had been away visiting some poor and sick people, and when he +came back to Greyhope it was too late to catch the train. But the horses +were harnessed straightway, and he was driven into town, a three-hours' +drive. He had left the horses at the stables, and, having a latch-key, +had come in quietly. He had seen the light in the study, and guessed who +was there. He entered, and saw his brother asleep. He watched him for a +moment and studied him. Then he moved away to take off his hat, and, as +he did so, stumbled slightly. Then it was Frank waked, and for the first +time in five years they looked each other in the eyes. They both stood +immovable for a moment, and then Richard caught Frank's hand in both of +his and said: "God bless you, my boy! I am glad you are back." + +"Dick! Dick!" was the reply, and Frank's other hand clutched Richard's +shoulder in his strong emotion. They stood silent for a moment longer, +and then Richard recovered himself. He waved his hand to the chairs. The +strain of the situation was a little painful for them both. Men are shy +with each other where their emotions are in play. + +"Why, my boy," he said, waving a hand to the spirits and liqueurs, "full +bottles and unopened boxes? Tut, tut! here's a pretty how-d'ye-do. Is +this the way you toast the home quarters? You're a fine soldier for an +old mess!" + +So saying, he poured out some whiskey, then opened the box of cigars and +pushed them towards his brother. He did not care particularly to drink +or smoke himself, but a man--an Englishman--is a strange creature. He is +most natural and at ease when he is engaged in eating and drinking. +He relieves every trying situation by some frivolous and selfish +occupation, as of dismembering a partridge, or mixing a punch. + +"Well, Frank," said his brother, "now what have you to say for yourself? +Why didn't you come long ago? You have played the adventurer for five +years, and what have you to show for it? Have you a fortune?" Frank +shook his head, and twisted a shoulder. "What have you done that is +worth the doing, then?" + +"Nothing that I intended to do, Dick," was the grave reply. + +"Yes, I imagined that. You have seen them, have you?" he added, in a +softer voice. + +Frank blew a great cloud of smoke about his face, and through it he +said: "Yes, I have seen a damned sight more than I deserved to see." + +"Oh, of course; I know that, my boy; but, so far as I can see, in +another direction you are getting quite what you deserve: your wife and +child are upstairs--you are here." + +He paused, was silent for a moment, then leaned over, caught his +brother's arm, and said, in a low, strenuous voice: "Frank Armour, you +laid a hateful little plot for us. It wasn't manly, but we forgave it +and did the best we could. But see here, Frank, take my word for it, you +have had a lot of luck. There isn't one woman out of ten thousand that +would have stood the test as your wife has stood it; injured at the +start, constant neglect, temptation--" he paused. "My boy, did you ever +think of that, of the temptation to a woman neglected by her husband? +The temptation to men? Yes, you have had a lot of luck. There has been +a special providence for you, my boy; but not for your sake. God doesn't +love neglectful husbands, but I think He is pretty sorry for neglected +wives." + +Frank was very still. His head drooped, the cigar hung unheeded in his +fingers for a moment, and he said at last: "Dick, old boy, I've thought +it all over to-night since I came back--everything that you've said. I +have not a word of defence to make, but, by heaven! I'm going to win my +wife's love if I can, and when I do it I'll make up for all my cursed +foolishness--see if I don't." + +"That sounds well, Frank," was the quiet reply. "I like to hear you talk +that way. You would be very foolish if you did not. What do you think of +the child?" + +"Can you ask me what I think? He is a splendid little fellow." + +"Take care of him, then--take good care of him: you may never have +another," was the grim rejoinder. Frank winced. His brother rose, took +his arm, and said: "Let us go to our rooms, Frank. There will be time +enough to talk later, and I am not so young as I once was." + +Truth to say, Richard Armour was not so young as he seemed a few months +before. His shoulders were a little stooped, he was greyer about the +temples. The little bit of cynicism which had appeared in that remark +about the care of the child showed also in the lines of his mouth; yet +his eyes had the same old true, honest look. But a man cannot be hit in +mortal places once or twice in his life without its being etched on his +face or dropped like a pinch of aloe from his tongue. + +Still they sat and talked much longer, Frank showing better than when +his brother came, Richard gone grey and tired. At last Richard rose and +motioned towards the window. "See, Frank," he said, "it is morning." +Then he went and lifted the blind. The grey, unpurged air oozed on +the glass. The light was breaking over the tops of the houses. A +crossing-sweeper early to his task, or holding the key of the street, +went pottering by, and a policeman glanced up at them as he passed. +Richard drew down the curtain again. + +"Dick," said Frank suddenly, "you look old. I wonder if I have changed +as much?" + +Six months before, Frank Armour would have said hat his brother looked +young. + +"Oh, you look young enough, Frank," was the reply. "But I am a good deal +older than I was five years ago... Come, let us go to bed." + + + + +CHAPTER X. THOU KNOWEST THE SECRETS OF OUR HEARTS + +And Lali? How had the night gone for her? When she rose from the child's +cot, where her lips had caught the warmth that her husband had left on +them, she stood for a moment bewildered in the middle of the room. She +looked at the door out of which he had gone, her bosom beating hard, her +heart throbbing so that it hurt her--that she could have cried out from +mere physical pain. The wifedom in her was plundering the wild stores of +her generous soul for the man, for--as Richard had said that day, +that memorable day!--the father of her child. But the woman, the pure +translated woman, who was born anew when this frail life in its pink and +white glory crept out into the dazzling world, shrank back, as any girl +might shrink that had not known marriage. This child had come--from +what?--She shuddered now--how many times had she done so since she first +waked to the vulgar sacrilege of her marriage? She knew now that every +good mother, when her first child is born, takes it in her arms, and, +all her agony gone, and the ineffable peace of delivered motherhood +come, speaks the name of its father, and calls it his child. But--she +remembered it now--when her child was born, this little waif, the fruit +of a man's hot, malicious hour, she wrapped it in her arms, pressed its +delicate flesh to the silken folds of her bosom, and weeping, whispered +only: "My child, my little, little child!" + +She had never, as many a wife far from her husband has done, talked to +her child of its father, told it of his beauty and his virtues, arrayed +it day by day in sweet linen and pretty adornments, as if he were just +then knocking at her door; she had never imagined what he would say +when he did come. What could such a father think of his child, born of a +woman whose very life he had intended as an insult? No, she had loved +it for father and mother also. She had tried to be good, a good mother, +living a life unutterably lonely, hard in all that it involved of study, +new duty, translation, and burial of primitive emotions. And with all +the care and tearful watchfulness that had been needed, she had grown so +proud, so exacting--exacting for her child, proud for herself. + +How could she know now that this hasty declaration of affection was +anything more than the mere man in him? Years ago she had not been able +to judge between love and insult--what guarantee had she here? Did +he think that she could believe in him? She was not the woman he +had married, he was not the man she had married. He had deceived +her basely--she had been a common chattel. She had been miserable +enough--could she give herself over to his flying emotions again so +suddenly? + +She paced the room, her face now in her hands, her hands now clasping +and wringing before her. Her wifely duty? She straightened to that. +Duty! She was first and before all a good, unpolluted woman. No, no, it +could not be. Love him? Again she shrank. Then came flooding on her that +afternoon when she had flung herself on Richard's breast, and all those +hundred days of happiness in Richard's company--Richard the considerate, +the strong, who had stood so by his honour in an hour of peril. + +Now as she thought of it a hot wave shivered through all her body, and +tingled to her hair. Her face again dropped in her hands, and, as on +that other day, she knelt beside the cot, and, bursting into tears, +said through her sobs: "My baby, my own dear baby! Oh, that we could go +away--away--and never come back again!" + +She did not know how intense her sobs were. They waked the child from +its delicate sleep; its blue eyes opened wide and wise all on the +instant, its round soft arm ran up to its mother's neck, and it said: +"Don't c'y! I want to s'eep wif you! I'se so s'eepy!" + +She caught the child to her wet face, smiled at it through her tears, +went with it to her own bed, put it away in the deep whiteness, kissed +it, and fondled it away again into the heaven of sleep. When this was +done she felt calmer. How she hungered over it! This--this could not be +denied her. This, at least, was all hers, without clause or reservation, +an absolute love, and an absolute right. + +She disrobed and drew in beside the child, and its little dewy cheek +touching her breast seemed to ease the ache in her soul. + +But sleep would not come. All the past four years trooped by, with their +thousand incidents magnified in the sharp, throbbing light of her mind, +and at last she knew and saw clearly what was before her, what trials, +what duty, and what honour demanded--her honour. + +Richard? Once for all she gently put him away from her into that +infinite distance of fine respect which a good woman can feel, who has +known what she and Richard had known--and set aside. But he had made for +her so high a standard, that for one to be measured thereby was a severe +challenge. + +Could Frank come even to that measure? She dared not try to answer the +question. She feared, she shrank, she grew sick at heart. She did not +reckon with that other thing, that powerful, infinite influence which +ties a woman, she knows not how or why, to the man who led her to the +world of motherhood. Through all the wrongs which she may suffer by him, +there runs this cable of unhappy attraction, testified to by how many +sorrowful lives! + +But Lali was trying to think it out, not only to feel, and she did +not count that subterranean force which must play its part in this new +situation in her drama of life. Could she love him? She crept away out +of the haven where her child was, put on her dressing-gown, went to the +window, and looked out upon the night, all unconscious that her husband +was looking at her from the Square below. Love him?--Love him?--Love +him? Could she? Did he love her? Her eyes wandered over the Square. +Nowhere else was there a light, but a chimney-flue was creaking +somewhere. It jarred on her so that she shrank. Then all at once she +smiled to think how she had changed. Four years ago she could have slept +amid the hammers of a foundry. The noise ceased. Her eyes passed from +the cloud of trees in the Square to the sky-all stars, and restful deep +blue. That--that was the same. How she knew it! Orion and Ashtaroth, and +Mars and the Pleiades, and the long trail of the Milky Way. As a little +child hanging in the trees, or sprawled beside a tepee, she had made +friends with them all, even as she learned and loved all the signs of +the earth beneath--the twist of a blade of grass, the portent in the cry +of a river-hen, the colour of a star, the smell of a wind. She had known +Nature then, now she knew men. And knowing them, and having suffered, +and sick at heart as she was, standing by this window in the dead of +night, the cry that shook her softly was not of her new life, but of the +old, primitive, child-like. + +'Pasagathe, omarki kethose kolokani vorgantha pestorondikat Oni.' + +"A spear hath pierced me, and the smart of the nettle is in my wound. +Maker of the soft night, bind my wounds with sleep, lest I cry out and +be a coward and unworthy." + +Again and again, unconsciously, the words passed from her lips + +'Vorganthe, pestorondikat Oni.' + +At last she let down the blind, came to the bed, and once more gathered +her child in her arms with an infinite hunger. This love was hers--rich, +untrammelled, and so sacred. No matter what came, and she did not know +what would come, she had the child. There was a kind of ecstasy in +it, and she lay and trembled with the feeling, but at last fell into a +troubled sleep. + +She waked suddenly to hear footsteps passing her door. She listened. One +footstep was heavier than the other--heavier and a little stumbling; she +recognised them, Frank and Richard. In that moment her heart hardened. +Frank Armour must tread a difficult road. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. UPON THE HIGHWAY + +Frank visited the child in the morning, and was received with a casual +interest. Richard Joseph Armour was fastidious, was not to be won at the +grand gallop. Besides, he had just had a visit from his uncle, and the +good taste of that gay time was yet in his mouth. He did not resent the +embraces, but he did not respond to them, and he straightened himself +with relief when the assault was over. Some one was paying homage to +him, that was all he knew; but for his own satisfaction and pleasure +he preferred as yet his old comrades, Edward Lambert, Captain Vidall, +General Armour, and, above all, Richard. He only showed real interest at +the last, when he asked, as it were in compromise, if his father would +give him a sword. No one had ever talked to him of his father, and +he had no instinct for him so far as could be seen. The sword was, +therefore, after the manner of a concession. Frank rashly promised it, +and was promptly told by Marion that it couldn't be; and she was backed +by Captain Vidall, who said it had already been tabooed, and Frank +wasn't to come in and ask for favours or expect them. + +The husband and wife met at breakfast. He was down first. When his wife +entered, he came to her, they touched hands, and she presently took a +seat beside him. More than once he paused suddenly in his eating, when +he thought of his inexplicable case. He was now face to face with a +reversed situation. He had once picked up a pebble from the brown dirt +of a prairie, that he might toss it into the pool of this home life; and +he had tossed it, and from the sweet bath there had come out a precious +stone, which he longed to wear, and knew that he could not--not yet. +He could have coerced a lower being, but for his manhood's sake--he had +risen to that now, it is curious how the dignity of fatherhood helps to +make a man--he could not coerce here, and if he did, he knew that the +product would be disaster. + +He listened to her talk with Marion and Captain Vidall. Her voice +was musical, balanced, her language breathed; it had manner, and an +indescribable cadence of intelligence, joined to a deliberation, which +touched her off with distinction. When she spoke to him--and she +seemed to do that as by studied intention and with tact at certain +intervals--her manner was composed and kind. She had resolved on her +part. She asked him about his journey over, about his plans for the day, +and if he had decided to ride with her in the Park,--he could have +the general's mount, she was sure, for the general was not going that +day,--and would he mind doing a little errand for her afterwards in +Regent Street, for the child--she feared she herself would not have +time? + +Just then General Armour entered, and, passing behind her, kissed her on +the cheek, dropping his hand on Frank's shoulder at the same time with +a hearty greeting. Of course, Frank could have his mount, he said. Mrs. +Armour did not come down, but she sent word by Richard, who entered +last, that she would be glad to see Frank for a moment before he left +for the Park. As of old, Richard took both Lali's hands in his, patted +them, and cheerily said: + +"Well, well, Lali, we've got the wild man home again safe and sound, +haven't we--the same old vagabond? We'll have to turn him into a +Christian again--'For while the lamp holds out to burn'--" + +He did not give her time to reply, but their eyes met honestly, kindly, +and from the look they both passed into life and time again with a fresh +courage. She did not know, nor did he, how near they had been to an +abyss; and neither ever knew. One furtive glance at the moment, one +hesitating pressure of the hand, one movement of the head from each +other's gaze, and there had been unhappiness for them all. But they were +safe. + +In the Park, Frank and his wife talked little. They met many who greeted +them cordially, and numbers of Frank's old club friends summoned him to +the sacred fires at his earliest opportunity. The two talked chiefly of +the people they met, and Frank thrilled with admiration at his wife's +gentle judgment of everybody. + +"The true thing, absolutely the true thing," he said; and he was +conscious, too, that her instincts were right and searching, for once or +twice he saw her face chill a little when they met one or two men whose +reputations as chevaliers des dames were pronounced. These men had had +one or two confusing minutes with Lali in their time. + +"How splendidly you ride!" he said, as he came up swiftly to her, after +having chatted for a moment with Edward Lambert. "You sit like wax, and +so entirely easy." + +"Thank you," she said. "I suppose I really like it too well to +ride badly, and then I began young on horses not so good as Musket +here--bareback, too!" she added, with a little soft irony. + +He thought--she did not, however--that she was referring to that first +letter he sent home to his people, when he consigned her, like any other +awkward freight, to their care. He flushed to his eyes. It cut him deep, +but her eyes only had a distant, dreamy look which conveyed nothing of +the sting in her words. Like most men, he had a touch of vanity too, and +he might have resented the words vaguely, had he not remembered his talk +with his mother an hour before. + +She had begged him to have patience, she had made him promise that he +would not in any circumstance say an ungentle or bitter thing, that he +would bide the effort of constant devotion, and his love of the child. +Especially must he try to reach her through love of the child. + +By which it will be seen that Mrs. Armour had come to some wisdom by +reason of her love for Frank's wife and child. + +"My son," she had said, "through the child is the surest way, believe +me; for only a mother can understand what that means, how much and how +far it goes. You are a father, but until last night you never had the +flush of that love in your veins. You stand yet only at the door of +that life which has done more to guide, save, instruct, and deepen your +wife's life than anything else, though your brother Richard--to whom you +owe a debt that you can never repay--has done much in deed. Be wise, my +dear, as I have learned a little to be since first your wife came. All +might easily have gone wrong. It has all gone well; and we, my son, +have tried to do our duty lovingly, consistently, to dear Lali and the +child." + +She made him promise that he would wait, that he would not try to hurry +his wife's affection for him by any spoken or insistent claim. "For, +Frank dear," she said, "you are only legally married, not morally, not +as God can bless--not yet. But I pray that what will sanctify all may +come soon, very soon, to the joy of us all. But again--and I cannot say +it too prayerfully--do not force one little claim that your marriage +gave you, but prove yourself to her, who has cause to distrust you so +much. Will you forgive your mother, my dear, for speaking to you?" + +He had told her then that what she had asked he had intended as his own +course, yet what she had said would keep it in his mind always, for +he was sure it was right. Mrs. Armour had then embraced him, and they +parted. Dealing with Lali had taught them all much of the human heart +that they had never known before, and the result thereof was wisdom. + +They talked casually enough for the rest of the ride, and before they +parted at the door Frank received his commission for Regent Street, and +accepted it with delight, as a schoolboy might a gift. He was absurdly +grateful for any favours from her, any sign of her companionship. They +met at luncheon; then, because Lali had to keep an engagement in Eaton +Square, they parted again, and Frank and Richard took a walk, after a +long hour with the child, who still so hungered for his sword that Frank +disobeyed orders, and dragged Richard off to Oxford Street to get one. +He was reduced to a beatific attitude of submission, for he knew that +he had few odds with him now, and that he must live by virtue of new +virtues. He was no longer proud of himself in any way, and he knew that +no one else was, or rather he felt so, and that was just the same. + +He talked of the boy, he talked of his wife, he laid plans, he tore them +down, he built them up again, he asked advice, he did not wait to hear +it, but rambled on, excited, eager. Truth is, there had suddenly been +lifted from his mind the dread and shadow of four years. Wherever he had +gone, whatever he had been or done, that dread shadow had followed him, +and now to know that instead of having to endure a hell he had to win +a heaven, and to feel as if his brain had been opened and a mass of +vapours and naughty little mannikins of remorse had been let out, was +a trifle intoxicating even to a man of his usual vigour and early +acquaintance with exciting things. + +"Dick, Dick!" he said enthusiastically, "you've been royal. You always +were better than any chap I ever knew. You're always doing for others. +Hang it, Dick, where does your fun come in? Nobody seems ever to do +anything for you." + +Richard gave his arm a squeeze. "Never mind about me, boy. I've had all +the fun I want, and all I'm likely to get, and so long as you're all +willing to have me around, I'm satisfied. There's always a lot to do +among the people in the village, one way and another, and I've a heap of +reading on, and what more does a fellow want?" + +"You didn't always feel that way, Dick?" + +"No. You see, at different times in life you want different kinds of +pleasures. I've had a good many kinds, and the present kind is about as +satisfactory as any." + +"But, Dick, you ought to get married. You've got coin, you've got sense, +you're a bit distinguished-looking, and I'll back your heart against +a thousand bishops. You've never been in danger of making a fool of +yourself as I have. Why didn't you--why don't you--get married?" + +Richard patted his brother's shoulder. + +"Married, boy? Married? I've got too much on my hands. I've got to bring +you up yet. And when that's done I shall have to write a book called +'How to bring up a Parent.' Then I've got to help bring your boy up, as +I've done these last three years and more. I've got to think of that +boy for a long while yet, for I know him better than you do, and I shall +need some of my coin to carry out my plans." + +"God bless you, Dick! Bring me up as you will, only bring her along too; +and as for the boy, you're far more his father than I am. And mother +says that it's you that's given me the wife I've got now--so what can I +say?--what can I say?" + +It was the middle of the Green Park, and Richard turned and clasped +Frank by both shoulders. + +"Say? Say that you'll stand by the thing you swore to one mad day in the +West as well as any man that ever lived--'to have and to hold, to love +and to cherish from this day forth till death us do part, Amen.'" + +Richard's voice was low and full of a strange, searching something. + +Frank, wondering at this great affection and fondness of his brother, +looked him in the eyes warmly, solemnly, and replied: "For richer or for +poorer, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health--so help me +God, and her kindness and forgiveness!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. "THE CHASE OF THE YELLOW SWAN" + +Frank and Lali did not meet until dinner was announced. The conversation +at dinner was mainly upon the return to Greyhope, which was fixed for +the following morning, and it was deftly kept gay and superficial by +Marion and Richard and Captain Vidall, until General Armour became +reminiscent, and held the interest of the table through a dozen little +incidents of camp and barrack life until the ladies rose. There had been +an engagement for late in the evening, but it had been given up +because of Frank's home-coming, and there was to be a family gathering +merely--for Captain Vidall was now as much one of the family as Frank or +Richard, by virtue of his approaching marriage with Marion. The men left +alone, General Armour questioned Frank freely about life in the Hudson's +Bay country, and the conversation ran on idly till it was time to join +the ladies. + +When they reached the drawing-room, Marion was seated at the piano, +playing a rhapsody of Raff's, and Mrs. Armour and Lali were seated +side by side. Frank thrilled at seeing his wife's hand in his mother's. +Marion nodded over the piano at the men, and presently played a snatch +of Carmen, then wandered off into the barbaric strength of Tannhauser, +and as suddenly again into the ballet music of Faust. + +"Why so wilful, my girl?" asked her father, who had a keen taste for +music. "Why this tangle? Let us have something definite." + +Marion sprang up from the piano. "I can't. I'm not definite myself +to-night." Then, turning to Lali: "Lali dear, sing something--do! Sing +my favourite, 'The Chase of the Yellow Swan.'" + +This was a song which in the later days at Greyhope, Lali had sung +for Marion, first in her own language, with the few notes of an Indian +chant, and afterwards, by the help of the celebrated musician who had +taught her both music and singing, both of which she had learned but +slowly, it was translated and set to music. Lali looked Marion steadily +in the eyes for a moment and then rose. It cost her something to do this +thing, for while she had often talked much and long with Richard about +that old life, it now seemed as if she were to sing it to one who would +not quite understand why she should sing it at all, or what was her real +attitude towards her past--that she looked upon it from the infinite +distance of affectionate pity, knowledge, and indescribable change, and +yet loved the inspiring atmosphere and mystery of that lonely North, +which once in the veins never leaves it--never. Would he understand that +she was feeling, not the common detail of the lodge and the camp-fire +and the Company's post, but the deep spirit of Nature, filtering through +the senses in a thousand ways--the wild ducks' flight, the sweet smell +of the balsam, the exquisite gallop of the deer, the powder of the +frost, the sun and snow and blue plains of water, the thrilling eternity +of plain and the splendid steps of the hills, which led away by stair +and entresol to the Kimash Hills, the Hills of the Mighty Men? + +She did not know what he would think, and again on second thought she +determined to make him, by this song, contrast her as she was when +he married her, and now--how she herself could look upon that past +unabashed, speak of it without blushing, sing of it with pride, having +reached a point where she could look down and say: "This was the way by +which I came." + +She rose, and was accompanied to the piano by General Armour, Frank +admiring her soft, springing steps, her figure so girlish and lissom. +She paused for a little before she began. Her eyes showed for a moment +over the piano, deep, burning, in-looking; then they veiled; her fingers +touched the keys, wandered over them in a few strange, soft chords, +paused, wandered again, more firmly and very intimately, and then she +sang. Her voice was a good contralto, well balanced, true, of no great +range, but within its compass melodious, and having some inexpressible +charm of temperament. Frank did not need to strain his ears to hear the +words; every one came clear, searching, delicately valued: + + "In the flash of the singing dawn, + At the door of the Great One, + The joy of his lodge knelt down, + Knelt down, and her hair in the sun + Shone like showering dust, + And her eyes were as eyes of the fawn. + And she cried to her lord, + 'O my lord, O my life, + From the desert I come; + From the hills of the Dawn.' + And he lifted the curtain and said, + 'Hast thou seen It, the Yellow Swan?' + + "And she lifted her head, and her eyes + Were as lights in the dark, + And her hands folded slow on her breast, + And her face was as one who has seen + The gods and the place where they dwell; + And she said: 'Is it meet that I kneel, + That I kneel as I speak to my lord?' + And he answered her: 'Nay, but to stand, + And to sit by my side; + But speak, thou hast followed the trail, + Hast thou found It, the Yellow Swan?' + + "And she stood as a queen, and her voice + Was as one who hath seen the Hills, + The Hills of the Mighty Men, + And hath heard them cry in the night, + Hath heard them call in the dawn, + Hath seen It, the Yellow Swan. + And she said: 'It is not for my lord;' + And she murmured, 'I cannot tell, + But my lord must go as I went, + And my lord must come as I came, + And my lord shall be wise.' + + "And he cried in his wrath, + 'What is thine, it is mine, + And thine eyes are my eyes + Thou shalt speak of the Yellow Swan!' + But she answered him: 'Nay, though I die. + I have lain in the nest of the Swan, + I have heard, I have known; + When thine eyes too have seen, + When thine ears too have heard, + Thou shalt do with me then as thou wilt!' + + "And he lifted his hand to strike, + And he straightened his spear to slay, + But a great light struck on his eyes, + And he heard the rushing of wings, + And his long spear fell from his hand, + And a terrible stillness came. + And when the spell passed from his eyes, + He stood in his doorway alone, + And gone was the queen of his soul, + And gone was the Yellow Swan." + +Frank Armour listened as in a dream. The song had the wild swing of +savage life, the deep sweetness of a monotone, but it had also the fine +intelligence, the subtle allusiveness of romance. He could read between +the lines. The allegory touched him where his nerves were sensitive. +Where she had gone he could not go until his eyes had seen and known +what hers had seen and known; he could not grasp his happiness all in +a moment; she was no longer at his feet, but equal with him, and wiser +than he. She had not meant the song to be allusive when she began, but +to speak to him through it by singing the heathen song as his own sister +might sing it. As the song went on, however, she felt the inherent +suggestion in it, so that when she had finished it required all her +strength to get up calmly, come among them again, and listen to their +praises and thanks. She had no particular wish to be alone with Frank +just yet, but the others soon arranged themselves so that the husband +and wife were left in a cosey corner of the room. + +Lali's heart fluttered a little at first, for the day had been trying, +and she was not as strong as she could wish. Admirably as she had gone +through the season, it had worn on her, and her constitution had become +sensitive and delicate, while yet strong. The life had almost refined +her too much. Always on the watch that she should do exactly as Marion +or Mrs. Armour, always so sensitive as to what was required of her, +always preparing for this very time, now that it had come, and her heart +and mind were strong, her body seemed to weaken. Once or twice during +the day she had felt a little faint, but it had passed off, and she +had scolded herself. She did not wish a serious talk with her husband +to-night, but she saw now that it was inevitable. + +He said to her as he sat down beside her: "You sing very well indeed. +The song is full of meaning, and you bring it all out." + +"I am glad you like it," she responded conventionally. "Of course it's +an unusual song for an English drawing-room." + +"As you sing it, it would be beautiful and acceptable anywhere, Lali." + +"Thank you again," she answered, closing and unclosing her fan, her eyes +wandering to where Mrs. Armour was. She wished she could escape, for she +did not feel like talking, and yet though the man was her husband she +could not say that she was too tired to talk; she must be polite. Then, +with a little dainty malice: "It is more interesting, though, in the +vernacular--and costume!" + +"Not unless you sang it so," he answered gallantly, and with a kind of +earnestness. + +"You have not forgotten the way of London men," she rejoined. + +"Perhaps that is well, for I do not know the way of women," he said, +with a faint bitterness. "Yet, I don't speak unadvisedly in this,"--here +he meant to be a little bold and bring the talk to the past,--"for I +heard you sing that song once before." + +She turned on him half puzzled, a little nervous. "Where did you hear me +sing it?" + +He had made up his mind, wisely enough, to speak with much openness and +some tact also, if possible. "It was on the Glow Worm River at the Clip +Claw Hills. I came into your father's camp one evening in the autumn, +hungry and tired and knocked about. I was given the next tent to yours. +It was night, and just before I turned in I heard your voice singing. I +couldn't understand much of the language, but I had the sense of it, and +I know it when I hear it again." + +"Yes, I remember singing it that night," she said. "Next day was the +Feast of the Yellow Swan." + +Her eyes presently became dreamy, and her face took on a distant, rapt +look. She sat looking straight before her for a moment. + +He did not speak, for he interpreted the look aright, and he was going +to be patient, to wait. + +"Tell me of my father," she said. "You have been kind to him?" + +He winced a little. "When I left Fort Charles he was very well," he +said, "and he asked me to tell you to come some day. He also has sent +you a half-dozen silver-fox skins, a sash, and moccasins made by his own +hands. The things are not yet unpacked." + +Moccasins?--She remembered when last she had moccasins on her feet--the +day she rode the horse at the quick-set hedge, and nearly lost her +life. How very distant that all was, and yet how near too! Suddenly she +remembered also why she took that mad ride, and her heart hardened a +little. + +"You have been kind to my father since I left?" she asked. + +He met her eyes steadily. "No, not always; not more than I have been +kind to you. But at the last, yes." Suddenly his voice became intensely +direct and honest. "Lali," he continued, "there is much that I want to +say to you." She waved her hand in a wearied fashion. "I want to tell +you that I would do the hardest penance if I could wipe out these last +four years." + +"Penance?" she said dreamily--"penance? What guarantee of happiness +would that be? One would not wish another to do penance if--" + +She paused. + +"I understand," he said--"if one cared--if one loved. Yes, I understand. +But that does not alter the force or meaning of the wish. I swear to +you that I repent with all my heart--the first wrong to you, the long +absence--the neglect--everything." + +She turned slowly to him. "Everything-Everything?" she repeated after +him. "Do you understand what that means? Do you know a woman's heart? +No. Do you know what a shameful neglect is at the most pitiful time in +your life? No. How can a man know! He has a thousand things--the woman +has nothing, nothing at all except the refuge of home, that for which +she gave up everything!" + +Presently she broke off, and something sprang up and caught her in the +throat. Years of indignation were at work in her. "I have had a home," +she said, in a low, thrilling voice--"a good home; but what did that +cost you? Not one honest sentiment of pity, kindness, or solicitude. You +clothed me, fed me, abandoned me, as--how can one say it? Do I not know, +if coming back you had found me as you expected to find me, what the +result would have been? Do I not know? You would have endured me if I +did not thrust myself upon you, for you have after all a sense of legal +duty, a kind of stubborn honour. But you would have made my life such +that some day one or both of us would have died suddenly. For"--she +looked him with a hot clearness in the eyes--"for there is just so much +that a woman can bear. I wish this talk had not come now, but, since it +has come, it is better to speak plainly. You see, you misunderstand. A +heathen has a heart as another--has a life to be spoiled or made happy +as another. Had there been one honest passion in your treatment of +me--in your marrying me--there would be something on which to base +mutual respect, which is more or less necessary when one is expected to +love. But--but I will not speak more of it, for it chokes me, the insult +to me, not as I was, but as I am. Then it would probably have driven me +mad, if I had known; now it eats into my life like rust." + +He made a motion as if to take her hands, but lifting them away quietly +she said: "You forget that there are others present, as well as the fact +that we can talk better without demonstration." + +He was about to speak, but she stopped him. "No, wait," she said; "for +I want to say a little more. I was only an Indian girl, but you must +remember that I had also in my veins good white blood, Scotch blood. +Perhaps it was that which drew me to you then--for Lali the Indian girl +loved you. Life had been to me pleasant enough--without care, without +misery, open, strong and free; our people were not as those others which +had learned the white man's vices. We loved the hunt, the camp-fires, +the sacred feasts, the legends of the Mighty Men; and the earth was a +good friend, whom we knew as the child knows its mother." + +She paused. Something seemed to arrest her attention. Frank followed her +eyes. She was watching Captain Vidall and Marion. He guessed what she +was thinking--how different her own wooing had been from theirs, how +concerning her courtship she had not one sweet memory--the thing that +keeps alive more love and loyalty in this world than anything else. +Presently General Armour joined them, and Frank's opportunity was over +for the present. + +Captain Vidall and Marion were engaged in a very earnest conversation, +though it might not appear so to observers. + +"Come, now, Marion," he said protestingly, "don't be impossible. Please +give the day a name. Don't you think we've waited about long enough?" + +"There was a man in the Bible who served seven years." + +"I've served over three in India since I met you at the well, and that +counts double. Why so particular to a day? It's a bit Jewish. Anyhow, +that seven years was rough on Rachel." + +"How, Hume? Because she got passee?" + +"Well, that counted; but do you suppose that Jew was going to put in +those seven years without interest? Don't you believe it. Rachel paid +capital and interest back, or Jacob was no Jew. Tell me, Marion, when +shall it be?" + +"Hume, for a man who has trifled away years in India, you are strangely +impatient." + +"Mrs. Lambert says that I have the sweetest disposition." + +"My dear sir!" + +"Don't look at me like that at this distance, or I shall have to wear +goggles, as the man did who went courting the Sun." + +"How supremely ridiculous you are! And I thought you such a sensible, +serious man." + +"Mrs. Lambert put that in your head. We used to meet at the annual +dinners of the Bible Society." + +"Why do you tell me such stuff?" + +"It's a fact. Her father and my aunt were in that swim, and we were +sympathisers." + +"Mercenary people!" + +"It worked very well in her case; not so well in mine. But we conceived +a profound respect for each other then. But tell me, Marion, when is it +to be? Why put off the inevitable?" + +"It isn't inevitable--and I'm only twenty-three." + + "Only twenty-three, + And as good fish in the sea" + +he responded, laughing. "Yes, but you've set the precedent for a +courtship of four years and a bit, and what man could face it?" + +"You did." + +"Yes, but I wasn't advertised of the fact beforehand. Suppose I had seen +the notice at the start: 'This mortgage cannot be raised inside of four +years--and a bit!' There's a limit to human endurance." + +"Why shouldn't I hold to the number, but alter the years to days?" + +"You wouldn't dare. A woman must live up to her reputation." + +"Indeed? What an ambition!" + +"And a man to his manners." + +"An unknown quantity." + +"And a lover to his promises." + +"A book of jokes." Marion had developed a taste for satire. + +"Which reminds me of Lady Halwood and Mrs. Lambert. Lady Halwood was +more impertinent than usual the other day at the Sinclairs' show, and +had a little fling at Mrs. Lambert. The talk turned on gowns. Lady +Halwood was much interested at once. She has a weakness that way. 'Why,' +said she, 'I like these fashions this year, but I'm not sure that they +suit me. They're the same as when the Queen came to the throne.' 'Well,' +said Mrs. Lambert sweetly, 'if they suited you then--' There was an +audible titter, and Mrs. Lambert had an enemy for life." + +"I don't see the point of your story in this connection." + +"No? Well, it was merely to suggest that if you had to live up to this +scheme of four-years' probation, other people besides lovers would make +up books of jokes, and--" + +"That's like a man--to threaten." + +"Yes, I threaten--on my knees." + +"Hume, how long do you think Frank will have to wait?" + +They were sitting where they had a good view of the husband and wife, +and Vidall, after a moment, said: "I don't know. She has waited four +years, too; now it looks as if, like Jacob, she was going to gather in +her shekels of interest compounded." + +"It isn't going to be a bit pleasant to watch." + +"But you won't be here to see." + +Marion ignored the suggestion. "She seems to have hardened since he came +yesterday. I hardly know her; and yet she looks awfully worn to-night, +don't you think?" + +"Yes, as if she had to keep a hand on herself. But it'll come out all +right in the end, you'll see." + +"Yes, of course; but she might be sensible and fall in love with Frank +at once. That's what she did when--" + +"When she didn't know man." + +"Yes, but where would you all be if we women acted on what we know of +you?" + +"On our knees chiefly, as I am. Remember this, Marion, that half a +sinner is better than no man." + +"You mean that no man is better than half a saint?" + +"How you must admire me!" + +"Why?" + +"As you are about to name the day, I assume that I'm a whole saint in +your eyes." + +"St. Augustine!" + +"Who was he?" + +"A man that reformed." + +"Before or after marriage?" + +"Before, I suppose." + +"I don't think he died happy." + +"Why not?" + +"I've a faint recollection that he was boiled." + +"Don't be horrid. What has that to do with it?" + +"Nothing, perhaps. But he probably broke out again after marriage, and +sank at last into that caldron. That's what it means by being-steeped in +crime." + +"How utterly nonsensical you are!" + +"I feel light-headed. You've been at sea, on a yacht becalmed, haven't +you? when along comes a groundswell, and as you rock in the sun there +comes trouble, and your head goes round like a top? Now, that's my case. +I've been becalmed four years, and while I pray for a little wind to +take me--home, you rock me in the trough of uncertainty. Suspense is +very gall and wormwood. You know what the jailer said to the criminal +who was hanging on a reprieve: 'Rope deferred maketh the heart sick.' +Marion, give me the hour, or give me the rope." + +"The rope enough to hang yourself?" + +She suddenly reached up and pulled a hair from her head. She laid it in +his hand-a long brown silken thread. "Hume," she said airily yet gently, +"there is the rope. Can you love me for a month of Sundays?" + +"Yes, for ever and a day!" + +"I will cancel the day, and take your bond for the rest. I will be +generous. I will marry you in two months-and a day." + +"My dearest girl!"--he drew her hand into both of his--"I can't have you +more generous than myself, I'll throw off the month." But his eyes were +shining very seriously, though his mouth smiled. + +"Two months and a day," she repeated. + +"We must all bundle off to Greyhope to-morrow," came General Armour's +voice across the room. "Down comes the baby, cradle and all." + +Lali rose. "I am very tired," she said; "I think I will say good-night." + +"I'll go and see the boy with you," Frank said, rising also. + +Lali turned towards Marion. Marion's face was flushed, and had a sweet, +happy confusion. With a low, trembling good-night to Captain Vidall, +a hurried kiss on her mother's cheek, and a tip-toed caress on her +father's head, she ran and linked her arm in Lali's, and together they +proceeded to the child's room. Richard was there when they arrived, +mending a broken toy. Two hours later, the brothers parted at Frank's +door. + +"Reaping the whirlwind, Dick?" Frank said, dropping his hand on his +brother's arm. + +Richard pointed to the child's room. + +"Nonsense! Do you want all the world at once? You are reaping the +forgiveness of your sins." Somehow Richard's voice was a little stern. + +"I was thinking of my devilry, Dick. That's the whirlwind--here!" His +hand dropped on his breast. + +"That's where it ought to be. Good-night." + +"Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. A LIVING POEM + + +Part of Frank's most trying interview, next to the meeting with his +wife, was that with Mackenzie, who had been his special commissioner in +the movement of his masquerade. Mackenzie also had learned a great deal +since she had brought Lali--home. She, like others, had come to care +truly for the sweet barbarian, and served her with a grim kind of +reverence. Just in proportion as this had increased, her respect for +Frank had decreased. No man can keep a front of dignity in the face of +an unbecoming action. However, Mackenzie had her moment, and when it +was over, the new life began at no general disadvantage to Frank. To all +save the immediate family Frank and Lali were a companionable husband +and wife. She rode with him, occasionally walked with him, now and again +sang to him, and they appeared in the streets of St. Albans and at the +Abbey together, and oftener still in the village church near, where the +Armours of many generations were proclaimed of much account in the solid +virtues of tomb and tablet. + +The day had gone by when Lali attracted any especial notice among the +villagers, and she enjoyed the quiet beauty and earnestness of the +service. But she received a shock one Sunday. She had been nervous all +the week, she could not tell why, and others remarked how her face had +taken on a new sensitiveness, a delicate anxiety, and that her strength +was not what it had been. As, for instance, after riding she required to +rest, a thing before unknown, and she often lay down for an hour before +dinner. Then, too, at table once she grew suddenly pale and swayed +against Edward Lambert, who was sitting next to her. She would +not, however, leave the table, but sat the dinner out, to Frank's +apprehension. He was devoted, but it was clear to Marion and her mother +at least that his attentions were trying to her. They seemed to put her +under an obligation which to meet was a trial. There is nothing more +wearing to a woman than affectionate attentions from a man who has +claims upon her, but whom she does not love. These same attentions from +one who has no claims give her a thrill of pleasure. It is useless to +ask for justice in such a matter. These things are governed by no +law; and rightly so, else the world would be in good time a loveless +multitude, held together only by the hungering ties of parent and child. + +But this Sunday wherein Lali received a shock. She did not know that the +banns for Marion's and Captain Vidall's marriage were to be announced, +and at the time her thoughts were far away. She was recalled to herself +by the clergyman's voice pronouncing their names, and saying: "If any of +you do know cause or just impediment why these two people should not be +joined together in the bonds of holy matrimony, ye are to declare it." +All at once there came back to her her own marriage when the Protestant +missionary, in his nasal monotone, mumbled these very words, not as if +he expected that any human being would, or could, offer objection. + +She almost sprang from her seat now. Her nerves all at once came to such +a tension that she could have cried out. Why had there been no one there +at her marriage to say: "I forbid it"? How shameful it had all been! And +the first kiss her husband had given her had the flavour of brandy! +If she could but turn back the hands upon the clock of Time! Under the +influence of the music and the excited condition of her nerves, the +event became magnified, distorted; it burned into her brain. It was +not made less poignant by the sermon from the text: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, +Upharsin." When the words were first announced in the original, it +sounded like her own language, save that it was softer, and her heart +throbbed fast. Then came the interpretation: "Thou art weighed in the +balance and found wanting." + +Then suddenly swept over her a new feeling, one she had never felt +before. Up to this point a determination to justify her child, to +reverse the verdict of the world, to turn her husband's sin upon +himself, had made her defiant, even bitter; in all things eager to +live up to her new life, to the standard that Richard had by manner and +suggestion, rather than by words, laid down for her. But now there +came in upon her a flood of despair. At best she was only of this race +through one-third of her parentage, and education and refinement and all +things could do no more than make her possible. There must always be in +the record: "She was of a strange people. She was born in a wigwam." She +did not know that failing health was really the cause of this lapse of +self-confidence, this growing self-depreciation, this languor for which +she could not account. She found that she could not toss the child and +frolic with it as she had done; she was conscious that within a month +there had stolen upon her the desire to be much alone, to avoid noises +and bustle--it irritated her. She found herself thinking more and more +of her father, her father to whom she had never written one line +since she had left the North. She had had good reasons for not +writing--writing could do no good whatever, particularly to a man who +could not read, and who would not have understood her new life if he +had read. Yet now she seemed not to know why she had not written, and to +blame herself for neglect and forgetfulness. It weighed on her. Why had +she ever been taken from the place of tamarack-trees and the sweeping +prairie grass? No, no, she was not, after all, fit for this life. She +had been mistaken, and Richard had been mistaken--Richard, who was +so wise. The London season? Ah! that was because people had found a +novelty, and herself of better manners than had been expected. + +The house was now full of preparations for the wedding. It stared her in +the face every day, almost every hour. Dressmakers, milliners, tailors, +and all those other necessary people. Did the others think what all this +meant to her? It was impossible that they should. When Marion came back +from town at night and told of her trials among the dressmakers, when +she asked the general opinion and sometimes individual judgment, she +could not know that it was at the expense of Lali's nerves. + +Lali, when she married, had changed her moccasins, combed her hair, and +put on a fine red belt, and that was all. She was not envious now, not +at all. But somehow it all was a deadly kind of evidence against herself +and her marriage. Her reproach was public, the world knew it, and no +woman can forgive a public shame, even was it brought about by a man she +loved, or loves. Her chiefest property in life is her self-esteem and +her name before the world. Rob her of these, and her heaven has fallen, +and if a man has shifted the foundations of her peace, there is no +forgiveness for him till her Paradise has been reconquered. So busy were +all the others that they did not see how her strength was failing. There +were three weeks between the day the banns were announced and the day of +the wedding, which was to be in the village church, not in town; for, as +Marion said, she had seen too many marriages for one day's triumph and +criticism; she wanted hers where there would be neither triumph nor +criticism, but among people who had known her from her childhood up. A +happy romance had raised Marion's point of view. + +Meanwhile Frank was winning the confidence of his own child, who, +however, ranked Richard higher always, and became to a degree his +father's tyrant. But Frank's nature was undergoing a change. His point +of view also had enlarged. The suffering, bitterness, and humiliation +of his life in the North had done him good. He was being disciplined +to take his position as a husband and father, but he sometimes grew +heavy-hearted when he saw how his attentions oppressed his wife, and had +it not been for Richard he might probably have brought on disaster, for +the position was trying to all concerned. A few days before the wedding +Edward Lambert and his wife arrived, and he, Captain Vidall, and Frank +Armour took rides and walks together, or set the world right in the +billiard-room. Richard seldom joined them, though their efforts to +induce him to do so were many. He had his pensioners, his books, his +pipe, and "the boy," and he had returned in all respects, in so far as +could be seen, to his old life, save for the new and larger interest of +his nephew. + +One evening the three men with General Armour were all gathered in the +billiard-room. Conversation had been general and without particular +force, as it always is when merely civic or political matters are under +view. But some one gave a social twist to the talk, and presently they +were launched upon that sea where every man provides his own chart, or +he is a very worm and no man. Each man had been differently trained, +each viewed life from a different stand-point, and yet each had been +brought up in the same social atmosphere, in the same social sets, had +imbibed the same traditions, been moved generally by the same public +considerations. + +"But there's little to be said for a man who doesn't, outwardly at +least, live up to the social necessity," said Lambert. + +"And keep the Ten Commandments in the vulgar tongue," rejoined Vidall. + +"I've lived seventy-odd years, and I've knocked about a good deal in +my time," said the general, "but I've never found that you could make +a breach of social necessity, as you call it, without paying for it one +way or another. The trouble with us when we're young is that we want to +get more out of life than there really is in it. There is not much in +it, after all. You can stand just so much fighting, just so much work, +just so much emotion--and you can stand less emotion than anything else. +I'm sure more men and women break up from a hydrostatic pressure of +emotion than from anything else. Upon my soul, that's so." + +"You are right, General," said Lambert. "The steady way is the best +way. The world is a passable place, if a fellow has a decent income by +inheritance, or can earn a big one, but to be really contented to earn +money it must be a big one, otherwise he is far better pleased to take +the small inherited income. It has a lot of dignity, which the other can +only bring when it is large." + +"That's only true in this country; it's not true in America," said +Frank, "for there the man who doesn't earn money is looked upon as a +muff, and is treated as such. A small inherited income is thought to be +a trifle enervating. But there is a country of emotions, if you like. +The American heart is worn upon the American sleeve, and the American +mind is the most active thing in this world. That's why they grow old so +young." + +"I met a woman a year or so ago at dinner," said Vidall, "who looked +forty. She looked it, and she acted it. She was younger than any woman +present, but she seemed older. There was a kind of hopeless languor +about her which struck me as pathetic. Yet she had been beautiful, and +might even have been so when I saw her, if it hadn't been for that +look. It was the look of a person who had no interest in things. And the +person who has no interest in things is the person who once had a great +deal of interest in things, who had too passionate an interest. The +revulsion is always terrible. Too much romance is deadly. It is as false +a stimulant as opium or alcohol, and leaves a corresponding mark. Well, +I heard her history. She was married at fifteen--ran away to be married; +and in spite of the fact that a railway accident nearly took her husband +from her on the night of her marriage--one would have thought that would +make a strong bond--she was soon alive to the attentions that are given +a pretty and--considerate woman. At a ball at Naples, her husband, +having in vain tried to induce her to go home, picked her up under his +arm and carried her out of the ballroom. Then came a couple of years of +opium-eating, fierce social excitement, divorce, new marriage, and so +on, until her husband agreeably decided to live in Nice, while she lived +somewhere else. Four days after I had met her at the dinner I saw +her again. I could scarcely believe my eyes. The woman had changed +completely. She was young again-twenty-five, in face and carriage, in +the eye and hand, in step and voice." + +"Who was the man?" suggested Frank Armour. "A man about her own age, +or a little more, but who was an infant beside her in knowledge of the +world." "She was in love with the fellow? It was a grande passion?" +asked Lambert. + +"In love with him? No, not at all. It was a momentary revival of an +old-possibility." + +"You mean that such women never really love?" + +"Perhaps once, Frank, but only after a fashion. The rest was mere +imitation of their first impulses." + +"And this woman?" + +"Well, the end came sooner than I expected. I tell you I was shocked at +the look in her face when I saw it again. That light had flickered out; +the sensitive alertness of hand, eye, voice, and carriage had died away; +lines had settled in the face, and the face itself had gone cold, with +that hard, cold passiveness which comes from exhausted emotions and a +closed heart. The jewels she wore might have been put upon a statue with +equal effect." + +"It seems to me that we might pitch into men in these things and not +make women the dreadful examples," said a voice from the corner. It was +the voice of Richard, who had but just entered. + +"My dear Dick," said his father, "men don't make such frightful +examples, because these things mean less to men than they do to women. +Romance is an incident to a man; he can even come through an affaire +with no ideals gone, with his mental fineness unimpaired; but it is +different with a woman. She has more emotion than mind, else there were +no cradles in the land. Her standards are set by the rules of the heart, +and when she has broken these rules she has lost her standard too. But +to come back, it is true, I think, as I said, that man or woman must +not expect too much out of life, but be satisfied with what they can get +within the normal courses of society and convention and home, and the +end thereof is peace--yes, upon my soul, it's peace." + +There was something very fine in the blunt, honest words of the old man, +whose name had ever been sweet with honour. + +"And the chief thing is that a man live up to his own standard," said +Lambert. "Isn't that so, Dick?--you're the wise man." + +"Every man should have laws of his own, I should think; commandments of +his own, for every man has a different set of circumstances wherein to +work--or worry." + +"The wisest man I ever knew," said Frank, dropping his cigar, "was a +little French-Canadian trapper up in the Saskatchewan country. A priest +asked him one day what was the best thing in life, and he answered: 'For +a young man's mind to be old, and an old man's heart to be young.' The +priest asked him how that could be. And he said: 'Good food, a good +woman to teach him when he is young, and a child to teach him when he is +old.' Then the priest said: 'What about the Church and the love of +God?' The little man thought a little, and then said: 'Well, it is the +same--the love of man and woman came first in the world, then the child, +then God in the garden.' Afterwards he made a little speech of good-bye +to us, for we were going to the south while he remained in a fork of the +Far Off River. It was like some ancient blessing: that we should always +have a safe tent and no sorrow as we travelled; that we should always +have a cache for our food, and food for our cache; that we should never +find a tree that would not give sap, nor a field that would not grow +grain; that our bees should not freeze in winter, and that the honey +should be thick, and the comb break like snow in the teeth; that we keep +hearts like the morning, and that we come slow to the Four Corners where +man says Good-night." + +Each of the other men present wondered at that instant if Frank Armour +would, or could, have said this with the same feelings two months +before. He seemed almost transformed. + +"It reminds me," said the general, "of an inscription from an Egyptian +monument which an officer of the First put into English verse for me +years ago: + + "Fair be the garden where their loves shall dwell, + Safe be the highway where their feet may go, + Rich be the fields wherein their hands may toil, + The fountains many where their good wines flow. + Full be their harvest-bins with corn and oil, + To sorrow may their humour be a foil; + Quick be their hearts all wise delights to know, + Tardy their footsteps to the gate Farewell." + +There was a moment's silence after he had finished, and then there was +noise without, a sound of pattering feet; the door flew open, and in ran +a little figure in white--young Richard in his bed-gown, who had broken +away from his nurse, and had made his way to the billiard-room, where he +knew his uncle had gone. + +The child's face was flashing with mischief and adventure. He ran in +among the group, and stretched out his hands with a little fighting air. +His uncle Richard made a step towards him, but he ran back; his father +made as if to take him in his arms, but he evaded him. Presently the +door opened, the nurse entered, the child sprang from among the group, +and ran with a laughing defiance to the farthest end of the room, and, +leaning his chin on the billiard-table, flashed a look of defiant humour +at his pursuer. Presently the door opened again, and the figure of +the mother appeared. All at once the child's face altered; he stood +perfectly still, and waited for his mother to come to him. Lali had not +spoken, and she did not speak until, lifting the child, she came the +length of the billiard-table and faced them. + +"I beg your pardon," she said, "for intruding; but Richard has led us a +dance, and I suppose the mother may go where her child goes." + +"The mother and the child are always welcome wherever they go," said +General Armour quietly. + +All the men had risen to their feet, and they made a kind of semicircle +before her. The white-robed child had clasped its arms about her neck, +and nestled its face against hers, as if, with perfect satisfaction, it +had got to the end of its adventure; but the look of humour was still in +the eyes as they ran from Richard to his father and back again. + +Frank Armour stepped forwards and took the child's hand, as it rested +on the mother's shoulder. Lali's face underwent a slight change as her +husband's fingers touched her neck. + +"I must go," she said. "I hope I have not broken up a serious +conversation--or were you not so serious after all?" she said, glancing +archly at General Armour. "We were talking of women," said Lambert. + +"The subject is wide," replied Lali, "and the speakers many. One would +think some wisdom might be got in such a case." + +"Believe me, we were not trying to understand the subject," said Captain +Vidall; "the most that a mere man can do is to appreciate it." + +"There are some things that are hidden from the struggling mind of man, +and are revealed unto babes and the mothers of babes," said General +Armour gravely, as, reaching out his hands, he took the child from the +mother's arms, kissed it full upon the lips, and added: "Men do not +understand women, because men's minds have not been trained in the same +school. When once a man has mastered the very alphabet of motherhood, +then he shall have mastered the mind of woman; but I, at least, +refuse to say that I do not understand, from the stand-point of modern +cynicism." + +"Ah, General, General!" said Lambert, "we have lost the chivalric way of +saying things, which belongs to your generation." + +By this time the wife had reached the door. She turned and held out her +arms for the child. General Armour came and placed the boy where he +had found it, and, with eyes suddenly filling, laid both his hands upon +Lali's and they clasped the child, and said: "It is worth while to have +lived so long and to have seen so much." Her eyes met his in a wistful, +anxious expression, shifted to those of her husband, dropped to the +cheeks of the child, and with the whispered word, which no one, not even +the general, heard, she passed from the room, the nurse following her. + +Perhaps some of the most striking contrasts are achieved in the least +melodramatic way. The sudden incursion of the child and its mother +into the group, the effect of their presence, and their soft departure, +leaving behind them, as it were, a trail of light, changed the whole +atmosphere of the room, as though some new life had been breathed into +it, charged each mind with new sensations, and gave each figure new +attitude. Not a man present but had had his full swing with the world, +none worse than most men, none better than most, save that each had +latent in him a good sense of honour concerning all civic and domestic +virtues. They were not men of sentimentality; they were not accustomed +to exposing their hearts upon their sleeve, but each, as the door +closed, recognised that something for one instant had come in among +them, had made their past conversation to appear meagre, crude, and +lacking in both height and depth. Somehow, they seemed to feel, although +no words expressed the thought, that for an instant they were in the +presence of a wisdom greater than any wisdom of a man's smoking-room. + +"It is wonderful, wonderful," said the general slowly, and no man asked +him why he said it, or what was wonderful. But Richard, sitting apart, +watched Frank's face acutely, himself wondering when the hour would come +that the wife would forgive her husband, and this situation so fraught +with danger would be relieved. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. ON THE EDGE OF A FUTURE + +At last the day of the wedding came, a beautiful September day, which +may be more beautiful in uncertain England than anywhere else. Lali +had been strangely quiet all the day before, and she had also seemed +strangely delicate. Perhaps, or perhaps not, she felt the crisis was +approaching. It is probable that when the mind has been strained for +a long time, and the heart and body suffered much, one sees a calamity +vaguely, and cannot define it; appreciates it, and does not know it. She +came to Marion's room about a half-hour before they were to start for +the church. Marion was already dressed and ready, save for the few final +touches, which, though they have been given a dozen times, must still +again be given just before the bride starts for the church. Such is the +anxious mind of women on these occasions. The two stood and looked at +each other a moment, each wondering what were the thoughts of the other. +Lali was struck by that high, proud look over which lay a glamour of +infinite satisfaction, of sweetness, which comes to every good woman's +face when she goes to the altar in a marriage which is not contingent +on the rise or fall in stocks, or a satisfactory settlement. Marion, +looking, saw, as if it had been revealed to her all at once, the intense +and miraculous change which had come over the young wife, even within +the past two months. Indeed, she had changed as much within that time as +within all the previous four years--that is, she had been brought to a +certain point in her education and experience, where without a newer +and deeper influence she could go no further. That newer and deeper +influence had come, and the result thereof was a woman standing upon the +verge of the real tragedy to her life, which was not in having married +the man, but in facing that marriage with her new intelligence and +a transformed soul. Men can face that sort of thing with a kind of +philosophy, not because men are better or wiser, but because it +really means less to them. They have resources of life, they can bury +themselves in their ambitions good or bad, but a woman can only bury +herself in her affections, unless her heart has been closed; and in that +case she herself has lost much of what made her adorable. And while she +may go on with the closed heart and become a saint, even saintship is +hardly sufficient to compensate any man or woman for a half-lived life. +The only thing worth doing in this world is to live life according +to one's convictions--and one's heart. He or she who sells that fine +independence for a mess of pottage, no matter if the mess be spiced, +sells, as the Master said, the immortal part of him. + +And so Lali, just here on the edge of Marion's future, looking into that +mirror, was catching the reflection of her own life. When two women come +so near that, like the lovers in the Tempest, they have changed eyes, in +so far as to read each other's hearts, even indifferently, which is much +where two women are concerned, there is only one resource, and that is +to fall into each other's arms, and to weep if it be convenient, or to +hold their tears for a more fitting occasion; and most people will admit +that tears need not add to a bride's beauty. + +Marion might, therefore, be pardoned if she had her tears in her throat +and not in her eyes, and Lali, if they arose for a moment no higher than +her heart. But they did fall into each other's arms despite veils and +orange blossoms, and somehow Marion had the feeling for Lali that she +had on that first day at Greyhope, four years ago, when standing on +the bridge, the girl looked down into the water, tears dropping on her +hands, and Marion said to her: "Poor girl! poor girl!" The situations +were the same, because Lali had come to a new phase of her life, and +what that phase would be who could tell-happiness or despair? + +The usual person might think that Lali was placing herself and her +wifely affection at a rather high price, but then it is about the only +thing that a woman can place high, even though she be one-third a white +woman and two-thirds an Indian. Here was a beautiful woman, who had +run the gamut of a London season, who had played a pretty social part, +admirably trained therefor by one of the best and most cultured families +of England. Besides, why should any woman sell her affections even to +her husband, bargain away her love, the one thing that sanctifies "what +God hath joined let no man put asunder"? Lali was primitive, she was +unlike so many in a trivial world, but she was right. She might suffer, +she might die, but, after all, there are many things worse than that. +Man is born in a day, and he dies in a day, and the thing is easily +over; but to have a sick heart for three-fourths of one's lifetime is +simply to have death renewed every morning; and life at that price is +not worth living. In this sensitive age we are desperately anxious to +save life, as if it was the really great thing in the world; but in +the good, strong times of the earth--and in these times, indeed, when +necessity knows its hour--men held their lives as lightly as a bird upon +the housetop which any chance stone might drop. + +It is possible that at this moment the two women understood each other +better than they had ever done, and respected each other more. Lali, +recovering herself, spoke a few soft words of congratulation, and then +appeared to busy herself in putting little touches to Marion's dress, +that soft persuasion of fingers which does so much to coax mere cloth +into a sort of living harmony with the body. + +They had no more words of confidence, but in the porch of the church, +Marion, as she passed Lali, caught the slender fingers in her own and +pressed them tenderly. Marion was giving comfort, and yet if she had +been asked why she could not have told. She did not try to define it +further than to say to herself that she herself was having almost too +much happiness. The village was en fete, and peasants lined the street +leading to the church, ready with their hearty God-bless-you's. Lali sat +between her husband and Mrs. Armour, apparently impassive until there +came the question: "Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" +and General Armour's voice came clear and strong: "I do." Then a soft +little cry broke from her, and she shivered slightly. Mrs. Armour did +not notice, but Frank and Mrs. Lambert heard and saw, and both were +afterwards watchful and solicitous. Frank caught Mrs. Lambert's eye, and +it said, to a little motion of the head: "Do not appear to notice." + +Lali was as if in a dream. She never took her eyes from the group at the +altar until the end, and the two, now man and wife, turned to go into +the vestry. Then she appeared to sink away into herself for a moment, +before she fell into conversation with the others, as they moved towards +the vestry. + +"It was beautiful, wasn't it?" ventured Edward Lambert. + +"The most beautiful wedding I ever saw," she answered, with a little +shadow of meaning; and Lambert guessed that it was the only one she had +seen since she came to England. + +"How well Vidall looked," said Frank, "and as proud as a sultan. Did you +hear what he said, as Marion came up the aisle?" + +"No," responded Lambert. + +"He said, 'By Jove, isn't she fine!' He didn't seem conscious that other +people were present." + +"Well, if a man hasn't some inspirations on his wedding-day when is he +to have them?" said Mrs. Lambert. "For my part, I think that the woman +always does that sort of thing better than a man. It is her really great +occasion, and she masters it--the comedy is all hers." They were just +then entering the vestry. + +"Or the tragedy, as the case may be," said Lali quietly, smiling at +Marion. She had, as it were, recovered herself, and her words had come +with that airy, impersonal tone which permits nothing of what is said in +it to be taken seriously. Something said by the others had recalled her +to herself, and she was now returned very suddenly to the old position +of alertness and social finesse. Something icy seemed to pass over her, +and she immediately lost all self-consciousness, and began to speak to +her husband with less reserve than she had shown since he had come. But +he was not deceived. He saw that at that very instant she was further +away from him than she had ever been. He sighed, in spite of himself, as +Lali, with well-turned words, said some loving greetings to Marion, and +then talked a moment with Captain Vidall. + +"Who can understand a woman?" said Lambert to his wife meaningly. + +"Whoever will," she answered. "How do you mean?" + +"Whoever will wait like the saint upon the pillar, will suffer like the +traveller in the desert; serve like a slave, and demand like a king; +have patience greater than Job; love ceaseless as a fountain in +the hills; who sees in the darkness and is not afraid of light; who +distrusts not, neither believes, but stands ready to be taught; who +is prepared for a kiss this hour and a reproach the next; who turneth +neither to right nor left at her words, but hath an unswerving +eye--these shall understand a woman." + +"I never knew you so philosophical. Where did you get this deliverance +on the subject?" + +"May not even a woman have a moment of inspiration?" + +"I should expect that of my wife." + +"And I should expect that of my husband. It is trite to say that men are +vain; I shall remark that they sit so much in their own light that they +are surprised if another being crosses their disc." + +"You always were clever, my dear, and you always were twice too good for +me." + +"Well, every woman--worth the knowing--is a missionary." + +"Where does Lali come in?" + +"Can you ask? To justify the claims of womanhood in spite of race--and +all." + +"To bring one man to a sense of the duty of sex to sex, eh?" + +"Truly. And is she not doing it well? See her now." They were now just +leaving the church, and Lali had taken General Armour's arm, while +Richard led his mother to the carriage. + +Lali was moving with a little touch of grandeur in her manner and a more +than ordinary deliberation. She had had a moment of great weakness, and +then there had come the reaction--carried almost too far by the force +of the will. She was indeed straining herself too far. Four years of +tension were culminating. + +"See her now, Edward," repeated Mrs. Lambert. "Yes, but if I'm not +mistaken, my dear, she is doing so well that she's going to pieces. +She's overstrung to-day. If it were you, you'd be in hysterics." + +"I believe you are right," was the grave reply. "There will be an end to +this comedy one way or another very soon." + +A moment afterwards they were in a carriage rolling away to Greyhope. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE END OF THE TRAIL + +When Marion was about leaving with her husband for the railway station, +she sought out Lali, and found her standing half hidden by the curtains +of a window, looking out at little Richard, who was parading his pony +up and down before the house. An unutterable sweetness looked out of +Marion's eyes. She had found, as it seemed to her, and as so many have +believed until their lives' end, the secret of existence. Lali saw the +glistening joy, and responded to it, just as it was in her being to +respond to every change of nature--that sensitiveness was in her as deep +as being. + +"You are very happy, dear?" she said to Marion. "You cannot think how +happy, Lali. And I want to say that I feel sure that you will yet be as +happy, even happier than I. Oh, it will come--it will come. And you have +the boy now-so fine, so good." + +Lali looked out to where little Richard disported himself; her eyes +shone, and she turned with a responsive but still sad smile to Marion. +"Marion," she said gently, "the other should have come before he came." +"Frank loves you, Lali." + +"Who knows? And then, oh, I cannot tell! How can one force one's heart? +No, no! One has to wait, and wait, even if the heart grows harder, and +one gets hopeless." + +Marion kissed her on the cheek and smiled. "Some day soon the heart will +open up, and then such a flood will pour out! See, Lali. I am going now, +and our lives won't run together so much again ever, perhaps. But I +want to tell you now that your coming to us has done me a world of +good--helped me to be a wiser girl; and I ought to be a better woman for +it. Good-bye." + +They were calling to her, and with a hurried embrace the two parted, and +in a few moments the bride and bridegroom were on their way to the new +life. As the carriage disappeared in a turn of the limes, Lali vanished +also to her room. She was not seen at dinner. Mackenzie came to say that +she was not very well, and that she would keep to her room. Frank sent +several times during the evening to inquire after her, and was told that +she was resting comfortably. He did not try to see her, and in this was +wise. He had now fallen into a habit of delicate consideration, which +brought its own reward. He had given up hope of winning her heart +or confidence by storm, and had followed his finer and better +instincts--had come to the point where he made no claims, and even in +his own mind stood upon no rights. His mother brought him word from Lali +before he retired, to say that she was sorry she could not see him, but +giving him a message and a commission into town the following morning +for their son. Her tact had grown is her strength had declined. There is +something in failing health--ill-health without disease--which +sharpens and refines the faculties, and makes the temper exquisitely +sensitive--that is, with people of a certain good sort. The aplomb +and spirited manner in which Lali had borne herself at the wedding and +after, was the last flicker of her old strength, and of the second phase +in her married life. The end of the first phase came with the ride at +the quick-set hedge, this with a less intent but as active a temper. + +The next morning she did not appear at breakfast, but sent a message +to Frank to say that she was better, and adding another commission for +town. All day, save for an hour on the balcony, she kept to her room, +and lay down for the greater part of the afternoon. In the evening, when +Frank returned, his mother sent for him, and frankly told him that she +thought it would be better for him to go away for a few weeks or so; +that Lali was in a languid, nervous state, and she thought that by the +time he got back--if he would go--she would be better, and that better +things would come for him. + +Frank was no longer the vain, selfish fellow who had married +Lali--something of the best in him was at work. He understood, and +suggested a couple of weeks with Richard at their little place in +Scotland. Also, he saw his wife for a little while that evening. She +had been lying down, but she disposed herself in a deep chair before +he entered. He was a little shocked to see, as it were all at once, +how delicate she looked. He came and sat down near her, and after a few +moments of friendly talk, in which he spoke solicitously of her health, +he told her that he thought of going up to Scotland with Richard for a +few weeks, if she saw no objection. + +She did not quite understand why he was going. She thought that perhaps +he felt the strain of the situation, and that a little absence would be +good for both. This pleased her. She did not shrink, as she had so often +done since his return, when he laid his hand on hers for an instant, +as he asked her if she were willing that he should go. Sometimes in the +past few weeks she had almost hated him. Now she was a little sorry for +him, but she said that of course he must go; that no doubt it was good +that he should go, and so on, in gentle, allusive phrases. The next +evening she came down to dinner, and was more like herself as she was +before Frank came back, but she ate little, and before the men came into +the drawing-room she had excused herself, and retired; at which Mrs. +Lambert shook her head apprehensively at herself, and made up her mind +to stay at Greyhope longer than she intended. + +Which was good for all concerned; for, two nights after Frank and +Richard had gone, Mackenzie hurried down to the drawing-room with the +news that Lali had been found in a faint on her chamber floor. That was +the beginning of weeks of anxiety, in which Mrs. Lambert was to Mrs. +Armour what Marion would have been, and more; and both to Lali all that +mother and sister could be. + +Their patient was unlike any other that they had known. Feverish, she +had no fever; with a gentle, hacking cough, she had no lung trouble; +nervous, she still was oblivious to very much that went on around her; +hungering often for her child, she would not let him remain long with +her when he came. Her sleep was broken, and she sometimes talked to +herself, whether consciously or unconsciously they did not know. The +doctor had no remedies but tonics--he did not understand the case; but +he gently ventured the opinion that it was mostly a matter of race, that +she was pining because civilisation had been infused into her veins--the +old insufficient theory. + +"Stuff and nonsense!" said General Armour, when his wife told him. "The +girl bloomed till Frank came back. God bless my soul! she's falling in +love, and doesn't know what it is." + +He was only partly right, perhaps, but he was nearer the truth than the +dealer in quinine and a cheap philosophy of life. "She'll come around +all right, you'll see. Decline--decline be hanged! The girl shall +live,--damn it, she shall!" he blurted out, as his wife's eyes filled +with tears. + +Mrs. Lambert was much of the same mind as the general, but went further. +She said to Mrs. Armour that in all her life she had never seen so sweet +a character, so sensitive a mind--a mind whose sorrow was imagination. +And therein the little lady showed herself a person of wisdom. For +none of them had yet reckoned with that one great element in Lali's +character--that thing which is the birthright of all who own the North +for a mother, the awe of imagination, the awe and the pain, which in +its finest expression comes near, very near, to the supernatural. Lali's +mind was all pictures; she never thought of things in words, she saw +them; and everything in her life arrayed itself in a scene before her, +made vivid by her sensitive soul, so much more sensitive now with health +failing, the spirit wearing out the body. There was her malady--the sick +heart and mind. + +A new sickness wore upon her. It had not touched her from the day she +left the North until she sang "The Chase of the Yellow Swan" that first +evening after Frank's return. Ever since then her father was much in her +mind--the memory of her childhood, and its sweet, inspiring friendship +with Nature. All the roughness and coarseness of the life was refined +in her memory by the exquisite atmosphere of the North, the good sweet +earth, the strong bracing wind, the camaraderie of trees and streams +and grass and animals. And in it all stood her father, whom she had left +alone, in that interminable interval between the old life and the new. + +Had she done right? She had cut him off, as if he had never been--her +people, her country also; and for what? For this--for this sinking +sense, this failing body, this wear and tear of mind and heart, this +constant study to be possible where she had once been declared by the +world to be impossible. + +One night she lay sleeping after a rather feverish day, when it was +thought best to keep the child from her. Suddenly she waked, and sat up. +Looking straight before her, she said: + +"I will arise, and will go to my Father, and will say unto Him, Father, +I have sinned against heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to +be called Thy son." + +She said nothing more than this, and presently lay back, with eyes wide +open, gazing before her. Like this she lay all night long, a strange, +aching look in her face. There had come upon her the sudden impulse to +leave it all, and go back to her father. But the child--that gave her +pause. Towards morning she fell asleep, and slept far on into the day, a +thing that had not occurred for a long time. + +At noon a letter arrived for her. It came into General Armour's hands, +and he, seeing that it bore the stamp of the Hudson's Bay Company, with +the legend, From Fort St. Charles, concluded that it was news of Lali's +father. Then came the question whether the letter should be given to +her. The general was for doing so, and he prevailed. If it were bad +news, he said, it might raise her out of her present apathy and by +changing the play of her emotions do her good in the end. + +The letter was given to her in the afternoon. She took it apathetically, +but presently, seeing where it was from, she opened it hurriedly with a +little cry which was very like a moan too. There were two letters inside +one from the factor at Fort Charles in English, and one from her father +in the Indian language. She read her father's letter first, the other +fluttered to her feet from her lap. General Armour, looking down, saw a +sentence in it which, he felt, warranted him in picking it up, reading +it, and retaining it, his face settling into painful lines as he did so. +Days afterwards, Lali read her father's letter to Mrs. Armour. It ran: + + My daughter, + + Lali, the sweet noise of the Spring: + + Thy father speaks. + + I have seen more than half a hundred moons come like the sickle and + go like the eye of a running buck, swelling with fire, but I hear + not thy voice at my tent door since the first one came and went. + + Thou art gone. + + Thy face was like the sun on running water; thy hand hung on thy + wrists like the ear of a young deer; thy foot was as soft on the + grass as the rain on a child's cheek; thy words were like snow in + summer, which melts in richness on the hot earth. Thy bow and arrow + hang lonely upon the wall, and thy empty cup is beside the pot. + + Thou art gone. + + Thou hast become great with a great race, and that is well. Our + race is not great, and shall not be, until the hour when the Mighty + Men of the Kimash Hills arise from their sleep and possess the land + again. + + Thou art gone. + + But thou hast seen many worlds, and thou hast learned great things, + and thou and I shall meet no more; for how shall the wise kneel at + the feet of the foolish, as thou didst kneel once at thy father's + feet? + + Thou art gone. + + High on the Clip Claw Hills the trees are green, in the Plain of the + Rolling Stars the wings of the wild fowl are many, and fine is the + mist upon Goldfly Lake; and the heart of Eye-of-the-Moon is strong. + + Thou art here. + + The trail is open to the White Valley, and the Scarlet Hunter hath + saved me, when my feet strayed in the plains and my eyes were + blinded. + + Thou art here. + + I have friends on the Far Off River who show me the yards where the + musk-ox gather; I have found the gardens of the young sable, and my + tents are full of store. + + Thou art here. + + In the morning my spirit is light, and I have harvest where I would + gather, and the stubble is for my foes. In the evening my limbs are + heavy, and I am at rest in my blanket. The hunt is mine and sleep + is mine, and my soul is cheerful when I remember thee. + + Thou art here. + + I have built for thee a place where thy spirit comes. I hear thee + when thou callest to me, and I kneel outside the door, for thou art + wise, and thou speakest to me; but thee as thou art in a far land I + shall see no more. This is my word to thee, that thou mayst know + that I am not alone. Thou shalt not come again, as thou once went; + it is not meet. But by these other ways I will speak to thee. + + Thou art here. + + Farewell. I have spoken. + +Lali finished reading, and then slowly folded up the letter. The writing +was that of the wife of the factor at Fort Charles--she knew it. She +sat for a minute looking straight before her. She read her father's +allegory. Barbarian in so much as her father was, he had beaten this +thing out with the hammer of wisdom. He missed her, but she must not +come back; she had outgrown the old life--he knew it and she was with +him in spirit, in his memory; she understood his picturesque phrases, +borrowed from the large, affluent world about him. Something of the +righteousness and magnanimity of this letter passed into her, giving her +for an instant a sort of peace. She had needed it--needed it to justify +herself, and she had been justified. To return was impossible--she had +known that all along, though she had not admitted it; the struggle had +been but a kind of remorse, after all. That her father should come to +her was also impossible--it was neither for her happiness nor his. She +had been two different persons in her life, and the first was only a +memory to the second. The father had solved the problem for her. He too +was now a memory that she could think on with pleasure, as associated +with the girl she once was. He had been well provided for by her +husband, and General Armour put his hand on hers gently and said: + +"Lali, without your permission I have read this other letter." + +She did not appear curious. She was thinking still of her father's +letter to her. She nodded abstractedly. "Lali," he continued, "this says +that your father wished that letter to be written to you just as he said +it at the Fort, on the day of the Feast of the Yellow Swan. He stood +up--the factor writes so here--and said that he had been thinking much +for years, and that the time had come when he must speak to his daughter +over the seas--" + +General Armour paused. Lali inclined her head, smiled wistfully, and +held up the letter for him to see. The general continued: + +"So he spoke as has been written to you, and then they had the Feast of +the Yellow Swan, and that night--" He paused again, but presently, +his voice a little husky, he went on: "That night he set out on a long +journey,"--he lifted the letter and looked at it, then met the serious +eyes of his daughter-in-law, "on a long journey to the Hills of the +Mighty Men; and, my dear, he never came back; for, as he said, there was +peace in the White Valley, and he would rest till the world should come +to its Spring again, and the noise of its coming should be in his ears. +Those, Lali, are his very words." + +His hand closed on hers, he reached out and took the other hand, from +which the paper fluttered, and clasped both tight in his own firm grasp. + +"My daughter," he said, "you have another father." With a low cry, +like that of a fawn struck in the throat, she slid forward on her knees +beside him, and buried her face on his arm. She understood. Her father +was dead. Mrs. Armour came forward, and, kneeling also, drew the dark +head to her bosom. Then that flood came which sweeps away the rust that +gathers in the eyes and breaks through the closed dikes of the heart. + +Hours after, when she had fallen into a deep sleep, General Armour and +his wife met outside her bedroom door. + +"I shall not leave her," Mrs. Armour said. "Send for Frank. His time has +almost come." + +But it would not have come so soon had not something else occurred. The +day that he came back from Scotland he entered his wife's room, prepared +for a change in her, yet he did not find so much to make him happy as he +had hoped. She received him with a gentleness which touched him, she let +her hand rest in his, she seemed glad to have him with her. All bars had +been cast down between them, but he knew that she had not given him all, +and she knew it also. But she hoped he did not know, and she dreaded the +hour when he would speak out of his now full heart. He did not yet urge +his affection on her, he was simply devoted, and watchful, and tender, +and delightedly hopeful. + +But one night she came tapping at his door. When he opened it, she said: +"Oh come, come! Richard is ill! I have sent for the doctor." + +Henceforth she was her old self again, with a transformed spirit, her +motherhood spending itself in a thousand ways. She who was weak bodily +became now much stronger; the light of new vigour came to her eyes; she +and her husband, in the common peril, worked together, thinking little +of themselves, and all of the child. The last stage of the journey to +happiness was being passed, and if it was not obvious to themselves, the +others, Marion and Captain Vidall included, saw it. + +One anxious day, after the family doctor had left the sick child's room, +Marion, turning to the father and mother, said: "Greyhope will be itself +again. I will go and tell Richard that the danger is over." + +As she turned to do so, Richard entered the room. "I have seen the +doctor," he began, "and the little chap is going to pull along like a +house afire." + +Tapping Frank affectionately on the arm, he was about to continue, +but he saw what stopped him. He saw the last move in Frank Armour's +tragic-comedy. He and Marion left the room as quickly as was possible +to him, for, as he said himself, he was "slow at a quick march"; and +a moment afterwards the wife heard without demur her husband's tale of +love for her. + +Yet, as if to remind him of the wrong he had done, Heaven never granted +Frank Armour another child. + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + Being young, she exaggerated the importance of the event + Every man should have laws of his own + Flood came which sweeps away the rust that gathers in the eyes + His duties were many, or he made them so + How can one force one's heart? No, no! One has to wait + If fumbling human fingers do not meddle with it + Man or woman must not expect too much out of life + May be more beautiful in uncertain England than anywhere else + Men must have their bad hours alone + Men are shy with each other where their emotions are in play + Miseries of this world are caused by forcing issues + Most important lessons of life--never to quarrel with a woman + Prepared for a kiss this hour and a reproach the next + Reading a lot and forgetting everything + Romance is an incident to a man + Simply to have death renewed every morning + Sympathy and consolation might be much misplaced + The world never welcomes its deserters + There should be written the one word, "Wait." + There is no influence like the influence of habit + These little pieces of art make life possible + Think of our position + To sorrow may their humour be a foil + Training in the charms of superficiality + We grow away from people against our will + We want to get more out of life than there really is in it + We speak with the straight tongue; it is cowards who lie + Who never knew self-consciousness + Who can understand a woman? + Worth while to have lived so long and to have seen so much + You never can make a scandal less by trying to hide it + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Translation of a Savage, Complete +by Gilbert Parker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE, *** + +***** This file should be named 6214.txt or 6214.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/1/6214/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +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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