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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9924-8.txt b/9924-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07b53be --- /dev/null +++ b/9924-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3957 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Viviette, by William J. Locke + +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: Viviette + +Author: William J. Locke + +Posting Date: November 12, 2011 [EBook #9924] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: October 31, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIVIETTE *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + + +VIVIETTE + +BY + +WILLIAM J. LOCKE + +1916 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me"] + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BROTHERS + + II. THE CONSPIRATORS + +III. KATHERINE + + IV. THE FAMOUS DUELLING PISTOLS + + V. A CRISIS + + VI. VIVIETTE TAKES THE RISK + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me" + + "Dick glared at him" + + "He held out imploring hands" + + "I want you to love me forever and ever" + + + +VIVIETTE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BROTHERS + + +"Dick," said Viviette, "ought to go about in skins like a primitive +man." + +Katherine Holroyd looked up from her needlework. She was a gentle, +fair-haired woman of thirty, with demure blue eyes, which regarded the +girl with a mingling of pity, protection, and amusement. + +"My dear," she said, "whenever I see a pretty girl fooling about with a +primitive man I always think of a sweet little monkey I once knew, who +used to have great sport with a lyddite shell. Her master kept it on his +table as a paper-weight, and no one knew it was loaded. One day she hit +the shell in the wrong place--and they're still looking for the monkey. +Don't think Dick is the empty shell." + +Whereupon she resumed her work, and for a few moments the click of +thimble and needle alone broke the summer stillness. Viviette lay idly +on a long garden chair admiring the fit of a pair of dainty tan shoes, +which she twiddled with graceful twists of the ankles some five feet +from her nose. At Mrs. Holroyd's remark she laughed after the manner of +one quite contented with herself--a low, musical laugh, in harmony with +the blue June sky and the flowering chestnuts and the song of +the thrushes. + +"My intentions with regard to Dick are strictly honourable," she +remarked. "We've been engaged for the last eleven years, and I still +have his engagement ring. It cost three-and-sixpence." + +"I only want to warn you, dear," said Mrs. Holroyd. "Anyone can see that +Dick is in love with you, and if you don't take care you'll have Austin +falling in love with you too." + +Viviette laughed again. "But he has already fallen! I don't think he +knows it yet; but he has. It's great fun being a woman, isn't it, dear?" + +"I don't know that I've ever found it so," Katherine replied with a +sigh. She was a widow, and had loved her husband, and her sky was still +tinged with grey. + +Viviette, quick to catch the sadness in the voice, made no reply, but +renewed the contemplation of her shoe-tips. + +"I'm afraid you're an arrant little coquette," said Katherine +indulgently. + +"Lord Banstead says I'm a little devil," she laughed. + +If she was in some measure a coquette she may be forgiven. What woman +can have suddenly revealed to her the thrilling sense of her sex's +mastery over men without snatching now and then the fearful joy of +using her power? She was one-and-twenty, her heart still unawakened, and +she had returned to her childhood's home to find men who had danced her +on their knees bending low before her, and proclaiming themselves her +humble vassals. It was intoxicating. She had always looked up to Austin +with awe, as one too remote and holy for girlish irreverence. And now! +No wonder her sex laughed within her. + +Until she had gone abroad to finish her education, she had lived in that +old, grey manor-house, that dreamed in the sunshine of the terrace below +which she was sitting, ever since they had brought her thither, an +orphaned child of three. Mrs. Ware, her guardian, was her adopted +mother; the sons, Dick and Austin Ware, her brothers--the engagement, +when she was ten and Dick one-and-twenty, had hardly fluttered the +fraternal relationship. She had left them a merry, kittenish child. She +had returned a woman, slender, full-bosomed, graceful, alluring, with a +maturity of fascination beyond her years. Enemies said she had gipsy +blood in her veins. If so, the infusion must have taken place long, long +ago, for her folks were as proud of their name as the Wares of Ware +House. But, for all that, there was a suggestion of the exotic in the +olive and cream complexion, and the oval face, pointing at the dimpled +chin; something of the woodland in her lithe figure and free gestures; +in her swimming, dark eyes one could imagine something fierce and +untamable lying beneath her laughing idleness. Katherine Holroyd called +her a coquette, Austin whatever the whim of a cultured fancy suggested, +and Lord Banstead a little devil. As for Dick, he called her nothing. +His love was too great; his vocabulary too small. + +Lord Banstead was a neighbour who, in the course of three months, had +proposed several times to Viviette. + +"I'm not very much to look at," he remarked on the first of these +occasions--he was a weedy, pallid youth of six-and-twenty--"and the +title's not very old, I must admit. Governor only a scientific Johnnie, +Margetson, the celebrated chemist, you know, who discovered some beastly +gas or other and got made a peer--but I can sit with the other old +rotters in the House of Lords, you know, if I want. And I've got enough +to run the show, if you'll keep me from chucking it away as I'm doing. +It'd be a godsend if you'd marry me, I give you my word." + +"Before I have anything to do with you," replied Viviette, who had heard +Dick express his opinion of Lord Banstead in forcible terms, "you'll +have to forswear sack, and--and a very big AND--" + +Lord Banstead, not being learned in literary allusions, looked +bewildered. Viviette laughed. + +"I'll translate if you like. You'll have to give up unlimited champagne +and whiskey and lead an ostensibly respectable life." + +Whereupon Lord Banstead called her a little devil and went off in +dudgeon to London and took golden-haired ladies out to supper. When he +returned to the country he again offered her his title, and being +rejected a second time, again called her a little devil, and went back +to the fashionable supper-room. A third and a fourth time he executed +this complicated manoeuvre; and now news had reached Viviette that he +was in residence at Farfield, where he was boring himself exceedingly in +his father's scientific library. + +"I suppose he'll be coming over to-day," said Viviette. + +"Why do you encourage him?" asked Katherine. + +"I don't," Viviette retorted. "I snub him unmercifully. If I am a +coquette it's with real men, not with the by-product of a chemical +experiment." + +Katherine dropped her work and her underlip, and turned reproachful blue +eyes on the girl. + +"Viviette!" + +"Oh, she's shocked! Saint Nitouche is shocked!" Then, with a change of +manner, she rose and, bending over Katherine's chair, kissed her. "I'm +sorry, dear," she said, in pretty penitence. "I know it was an +abominable and unladylike thing to say, but my tongue sometimes runs +away with my thoughts. Forgive me." + +At that moment a man dressed in rough tweeds and leggings, who had +emerged from the stable side of the manor-house, crossed the terrace, +and, descending the steps, walked over the lawn towards the two ladies. +He had massive shoulders and a thick, strong neck, coarse reddish hair, +and a moustache of a lighter shade. Blue eyes looked with a curious +childish pathos out of a face tanned by sun and weather. He slouched +slightly in his gait, like the heavy man accustomed to the saddle. This +was Dick Ware, the elder of the brothers and heir to fallen fortunes, +mortgaged house and lands, and he gave the impression of failure, of a +man who, in spite of thews and sinews, had been unable to grapple with +circumstance. + +Viviette left Katherine to her needlework, and advanced to meet him. At +her spontaneous act of welcome a light came into his eyes. He removed +from his lips the short corn-cob pipe he was smoking. + +"I've just been looking at the new mare. She's a beauty. I know I +oughtn't to have got her, but she was going dirt cheap--and what can a +man do when he's offered a horse at a quarter its value?" + +"Nothing, my dear Dick, save pay four times as much as he can afford." + +"But we had to get a new beast," he argued seriously. "We can't go about +the country in a donkey-cart. If I hadn't bought one, Austin would, for +the sake of the family dignity--and I do like to feel independent of +Austin now and then." + +"I wish you were entirely independent of Austin," said Viviette, walking +with him up the lawn. + +"I can't, so long as I stay here doing nothing. But if I went out to +Canada or New Zealand, as I want to do, who would look after my mother? +I'm tied by the leg." + +"I'd look after mother," said Viviette. "And you'd write me nice long +letters, saying how you were getting on, and I would send you nice +little bulletins, and we should all be very happy." + +"Do you want to get rid of me, Viviette?" + +"I want you to have your heart's desire." + +"You know what my heart's desire is," he said unsteadily. + +"Why, to raise sheep or drive cattle, or chop down trees in the +backwoods," she replied, lifting demure eyebrows. "Oh, Dick, don't be +foolish. See--there's mother just come out." + +With a light laugh she escaped and ran up the steps to meet an old lady, +rather infirm, who, with the aid of a stick, was beginning to take her +morning walk up and down the terrace. Dick followed her moodily. + +"Good morning, mother," said he, bending down to kiss her. + +Mrs. Ware put up her cheek, and received the salute with no great show +of pleasure. + +"Oh, how you smell of tobacco smoke, Dick. Where's Austin? Please go and +find him. I want to hear what he has to say about the stables." + +"What can he say, mother?" + +"He can advise us and help us to put the muddle right," said Mrs. Ware. + +These stables had been a subject of controversy for some time. The old +ones having fallen into disgraceful disrepair, Dick had turned architect +and erected new ones himself. As shelters for beasts, they were +comparatively sound; as appanages to an Elizabethan manor-house, they +were open to adverse criticism. Austin, who had come down from London a +day or two before to spend his Whitsuntide holiday at home, had promised +his mother to make inspection and report. + +"But what does Austin know about stables?" Viviette asked, as soon as +Dick had slouched away in search of his brother. + +"Austin knows about everything, my dear," replied the old lady +decisively. "Not only is Austin a brilliantly clever man, but he's a +successful barrister, and a barrister's business is to know all about +everything. Give me your arm, dear, and let us walk up and down a +little till they come." + +Presently Dick returned with Austin, whom he had found smoking a cigar +in a very meditative manner in front of the stables. Dick's face was +gloomy, but Austin's was bright, as he came briskly up and, cigar in +hand, stooped to his mother. She put her arms round his neck, kissed him +affectionately, and inquired after his sleep and his comfort and the +quality of his breakfast. + +"Doesn't Austin smell of tobacco smoke, mother?" asked Dick. + +"Austin," replied Mrs. Ware, "has a way of smoking and not smelling of +it." + +Austin laughed gaily. "I believe if I fell into a pond you'd say I had a +way of coming up dry." + +Dick turned to Viviette, and muttered with some bitterness: "And if I +fell into a dry ditch she'd say I came up slimy." + +Viviette, touched by pity, raised a bewitching face. "Dry or slimy, you +would be just the same dear old Dick," she whispered. + +"And what about the stables?" asked Mrs. Ware. + +"Oh, they're not bad. They're rather creditable; but," Austin added, +turning with a laugh to his brother, "the mother will fidget, you know, +and the somewhat--let us say rococo style of architecture has got on her +nerves. I think the whole thing had better come down, don't you?" + +"If you like," said Dick gruffly. He had given way to Austin all his +life. What was the use of opposing him now? + +"Good. I'll send young Rapson, the architect, along to make a design. +Don't you worry, old chap, I'll see it through." + +Young, brisk, debonair, flushed with success and the sense of the +mastery of life, he did not notice the lowering of Dick's brows, which +deepened into almost a scowl when he turned frankly admiring eyes on +Viviette, and drew her into gay, laughing talk, nor did he catch the +hopelessness in the drag of Dick's feet as he went off to gaze +sorrowfully at the fallen pride of his heart, the condemned stables. + +But Viviette who knew, as Austin did not, of Dick's disappointment, soon +broke away and joined him in front of the amorphous shed of timber. She +took him by the arm. + +"Come for a stroll in the orchard." + +He suffered himself to be led through the stable-yard gate. She talked +to him of apple blossoms. He listened for some time in silence. Then he +broke out. + +"It's an infernal shame," said he. + +"It is," said Viviette. "But you needn't put on such a glum face when +I'm here especially to comfort you. If you're not glad to see me I'll go +back to Austin. He's much more amusing than you." + +"I suppose he is. Yes, go back to him. I'm a fool. I'm nobody. No, +don't, Viviette; forgive me," he cried, catching her as she turned away +somewhat haughtily. "I didn't mean it, but things are getting beyond my +endurance." + +Viviette seated herself on a bench beneath the apple blossoms. + +"What things?" + +"Everything. My position. Austin's airy ways." + +"But that's what makes him so charming." + +"Yes, confound him. My ways are about as airy as a hippopotamus's. Look +here, Viviette. I'm fond of Austin, God knows--but all my life he has +been put in front of me. He has had all the chances; I've had none. With +my father when he was alive, with my mother, it has always been Austin +this and Austin that. He was the head of the school when I, the elder, +was a lout in the lower fourth. He had a brilliant University career and +went into the world and is making a fortune. I'm only able to ride and +shoot and do country things. I've stuck here with only this mortgaged +house belonging to me and the hundred or so a year I get out of the +tenants. I'm not even executor under my father's will. It's Austin. +Austin pays mother the money under her marriage settlement. If things go +wrong Austin is sent for to put them right. It never seems to occur to +him that it's my house. Oh, of course I know he pays the interest on the +mortgage and makes my mother an allowance--that's the humiliation +of it." + +He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, staring +at the grass. + +"But surely you could find some work to do, Dick?" + +He shrugged his great shoulders. "They stuck me once in an office in +London. I suffocated and added up things wrong and told the wrong lies +to the wrong people, and ended up by breaking the junior +partner's head!" + +"You had some satisfaction out of it, at any rate," laughed Viviette. + +A faint reminiscent smile crossed his face. "I suppose I had. But it +didn't qualify me for a successful business career. No. I might do +something in a new country. I must get away from this. I can't stand it. +But yet--as I've told you all along, I'm tied--hand and foot." + +"And so you're very miserable, Dick." + +"How can I help it?" + +Viviette edged a little away from him, and said, rather resentfully: + +"I don't call that polite, seeing that I have come back to live with +you." + +He turned on her with some fierceness. "Don't you see that your being +here makes my life all the more impossible? How can I be with you day +after day without loving you, hungering for you, wanting you, body and +soul? I've never given a thought to another woman in my life. You're my +heart's blood, dear. I want to hold you so tight in my arms that not the +ghost of another man can ever come between us. You know it." + +Viviette shredded an apple blossom that had fallen into her lap. The +fingers that held the petal tingled, and a flush rose in her cheek. + +"I do know it," she said in a low voice. "You're always telling me. But, +Dick"--she flashed a mischievous glance at him--"while you're holding +me--although it would be very nice--we should starve." + +"Then let us starve," he cried vehemently. + +"Oh, no. Oh, most decidedly no. Starvation would be so unbecoming. I +should get to be a fright--a bundle of bones and a rundle of skin--and +you'd be horrified--I couldn't bear it." + +"If you would only say you cared a scrap for me it would be easier," he +pleaded. + +"I should have thought it would be harder." + +"Anyhow, say it--say it this once--just this once." + +She bent her head to hide a smile, and said in a voice adorably soft: + +"Dick, shut your eyes." + +"Viviette!" he cried, with sudden hope. + +"No. Shut your eyes. Turn round. Now tell me," she continued, when he +had turned obediently, "just what I've got on. No!" she held him by the +shoulders, "you're not to move." + +Now, she was wearing a white blouse and a blue skirt and tan shoes, and +a yellow rose was pinned at her bosom. + +"What dress am I wearing?" + +"A light-coloured thing," said Dick. + +"And what's it trimmed with?" + +"Lace," said the unfortunate man. Lace indeed! + +"And what coloured boots?" + +"Black," said Dick, at a venture. + +"And what flower?" + +"I don't know--a pink rose, I think." + +She started up. "Look," she cried gaily. "Oh, Dick! I'll never marry you +till you have the common decency to look at me--never! never! never! I +dressed myself this beautiful morning just to please you. Oh, Dick! +Dick, you've lost such a chance." + +She stood with her hands behind her back regarding him mockingly, as Eve +in the first orchard must have regarded Adam when he was more dull and +masculine than usual--when, for instance, she had attired herself in +hybiscus flowers which he took for the hum-drum, everyday fig-leaves. + +"I'm a born duffer," said Dick pathetically. "But your face is all that +I see when I look at you." + +"That's all very pretty," she retorted. "But you ought to see more. Now +let us talk sense. Mind, if I sit on that bench again you're to +talk sense." + +Dick sighed. "Very well," said he. + +That was the history of all his love-making. She drew him on to +passionate utterance, and then, with a twist of her wit and a twirl of +her skirts, she eluded him. When she had thus put herself out of his +reach, he felt ashamed. What right had he, dull, useless, lumbering, +squiredomless squire, to ask a woman like Viviette to marry him? How +could he support a wife? As it was, he lived a pensioner on Austin's +bounty. Could he ask Austin to feed his wife and family as well? This +thought, which always came to him as soon as his passion was checked, +filled him with deep humiliation. Viviette had reason on her side when +she said, "Let us talk sense." + +He glowered at his fate, and tugged his tawny moustache for some time in +silence. Then Viviette began to talk to him prettily of things that +made up his country interests, his dogs, the garden, the personalities +of the country-side. Soon she had him laughing, which pleased and +flattered her, as it proved her power over the primitive man. Indeed, at +such moments, she felt very tenderly towards him, and would have liked +to pat his cheeks and crown him with flowers, thus manifesting her +favour by dainty caresses. But she refrained, knowing that primitive men +are too dense to interpret such demonstrations rightly, and limited +herself to less compromising words. + +"I am going to tell you a secret," he said at last, in a shamefaced way. +"You mustn't laugh at me--promise me you won't." + +"I promise," said Viviette solemnly. + +"I am thinking of going in for local politics--Rural District Council, +you know." + +Viviette nodded her head approvingly. "A village Hampden--in Tory +clothing?" + +"They're running things on party lines down here. The influence of +Westhampton is Radical, and fills the Council with a lot of outsiders. +So they've got together a Conservative Committee, and are going to run a +good strong man for a vacancy. I've given them to understand that I'll +be a candidate if they'll have me. I'd like to be one. It's a rubbishy +thing, dear, but somehow it would give me a little interest in life." + +"I don't think it a rubbishy thing at all," said Viviette. "A country +gentleman ought to have a hand in rural administration. I do hope you'll +get in. When will you know that the committee have selected you?" + +"There's a meeting this evening. I ought to know to-night or to-morrow +morning." + +"Are you very keen on it?" + +"Very," said Dick. And he added proudly, "It was my own idea." + +"But you're not as keen on that as on going abroad?" + +"Ah, that!" said Dick. "That, bar one, is the dearest wish of my heart. +And who knows--it might enable me to carry out the other." + +The sound of a gong within the house floated through the still June air. +Viviette rose. "I must tidy myself for lunch." + +They walked to the house together. On parting she put out both her +hands. + +"Do be reasonable, Dick, and don't look for slights in what you call +Austin's airy ways. He is awfully fond of you, and would not hurt you +for the world." + +At the luncheon table, however, Austin did hurt him, in utter +unconsciousness, by his gay command of the situation, his eager talk +with Viviette of things Dick did not understand, places he had not +visited, books he had never read, pictures he had never seen. It was +heartache rather than envy. He did not grudge Austin his scholarship and +brilliance. But his soul sank at the sight of Austin and Viviette moving +as familiars in a joyous world as remote from him as Neptune. Mrs. Ware +kept Katherine Holroyd engaged in mild talk of cooks and curates, while +the other two maintained their baffling conversation, half banter, half +serious, on a bewildering number of topics, and poor Dick remained as +dumb as the fish and cutlets he was eating. He sat at the head of the +table, Mrs. Ware at the foot. On his right hand sat Katherine Holroyd, +on his left Viviette, and between her and his mother was Austin. With +Viviette talking to Austin and Mrs. Ware to Katherine, he felt lonely +and disregarded in a kind of polar waste of snowy tablecloth. Once +Katherine, escaping from Mrs. Ware's platitudinous ripple, took pity on +him, and asked him when he was going to redeem his promise and show her +his collection of armour and weapons. Dick brightened. This was the only +keen interest he had in life outside things of earth and air and stream. +He had inherited a good family collection, and had added to it +occasionally, as far as his slender means allowed. He had read deeply, +and understood his subject. + +"Whenever you like, Katherine," he said. + +"This afternoon?" + +"I'm afraid they want polishing up and arranging. I've got some new +things which I've not placed. I've rather neglected them lately. Let us +say to-morrow afternoon. Then they'll all be spick and span for you." + +Katherine assented. "I've been down here so often and never seen them," +she said. "It seems odd, considering the years we've known each other." + +"I only took it up after father's death," said Dick. "And since then, +you know, you haven't been here so very often." + +"It was only the last time that I discovered you took an interest an the +collection. You hid your light under a bushel. Then I went to London and +heard that you were a great authority on the subject." + +Dick's tanned face reddened with pleasure. + +"I do know something about it. You see, guns and swords and pistols are +in my line. I'm good at killing things. I ought to have been a soldier, +only I couldn't pass examinations, so I sort of interest myself in the +old weapons and do my killing in imagination." + +"You give a regular lecture, don't you?" + +"Well, you know," said Dick modestly, "a lot of them are historical. +There's a mace used by a bishop, an ancestor of ours. He couldn't wield +a sword in battle, so he cottoned on to that, and in order to salve his +conscience before using it he would cry out 'Gare! gare!'--and they say +that's what our name comes from--see? 'Ware--Ware.' He was the founder +of our family--though, of course, he oughtn't to have been. And then we +have the duelling pistols my great-grandfather shot Lord Estcourt with. +They're beautiful things--in the case just as he left it after the duel, +with powder, balls, and caps, all complete. It's a romantic story--" + +"My dear Dick," interposed Mrs. Ware, with fragile, uplifted hand, +"please don't offend us with these horrible family scandals. Katharine, +dear, are you going to the vicar's garden party this afternoon? If you +are, will you take a message to Mrs. Cook?" + +So Katherine being monopolized, Dick was silenced, and as Austin and +Viviette were talking in a lively but unintelligible way about a thing, +or a play, or a horse called Nietzsche, he relapsed into the heavy, +full-blooded man's animal enjoyment of his food and the sensitive's +consciousness of heartache. + +When the ladies had left the table and the coffee had been brought in, +and the men's cigars were lit, Austin said: + +"What a magnificently beautiful creature she has grown into." + +"Whom do you mean?" asked Dick. + +"Why, Viviette, of course. She's the most fascinating thing I've come +across for years." + +"Do you think so?" said Dick shortly. + +"Don't you?" + +Dick shrugged his shoulders. Austin laughed. + +"What a stolid old beggar you are. To you, she's just the same little +girl that used to run about here in short frocks. If she were a horse +you'd have a catalogue yards long of her points." + +"But as she's a lady," said Dick, tugging his moustache, "I don't care +to catalogue them." + +Austin laughed again. "Fairly scored!" He raised his cup to his lips, +took a sip, and set it down again. + +"Why on earth," said he with some petulance, "can't mother give us +decent coffee?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CONSPIRATORS + + +Dick went heavy-hearted to bed that night, pronouncing himself to be the +most abjectly miserable of God's creatures, and calling on Providence to +remove him speedily from an unsympathetic world. He had said good night +to the ladies at eleven o'clock when the three went upstairs to bed, and +had forthwith gone to spend the rest of the evening in the friendly +solitude of his armoury. Emerging thence an hour later into the hall, he +had come upon a picturesque, but heart-rending, spectacle. There, on the +third step of the grand staircase, stood Viviette, holding in one hand a +candle, and extending the other regally downwards to Austin, who, with +sleek head bent, was pressing it to his lips. In the candle-light her +hair threw disconcerting shadows over her elfin face, and her great eyes +seemed to glow with a magical intensity that poor Dick had never seen in +them before. As soon as he had appeared she had broken into her low +laugh, drawn away her hand from Austin, and, descending the steps, +extended it in much the same regal manner to Dick. + +"Good night again, Dick," she said sweetly. "Austin and I have been +having a little talk." + +But he had disregarded the hand, and, with a gruff "Good night," had +returned to his armoury, slamming the door behind him. There he had +nourished his wrath on more whiskey and soda than was good for him, and +crawled upstairs in the small hours to miserable sleeplessness. + +This was the beginning of Dick's undoing, the gods (abetted by Viviette) +employing their customary procedure of first driving him mad. But +Viviette was not altogether a guilty abettor. Indeed, all day long, she +had entertained high notions of acting fairy godmother, and helping Dick +along the road to fortune and content. He himself, she learned, had +taken no steps to free himself from his present mode of life. He had not +even confided in Austin. Viviette ran over the list of her influential +friends. There was Lady Winsmere, a dowager countess of seventy, +surrounded by notabilities, at whose house she stayed now and then in +London. On the last occasion an Agent-General for one of the great +Colonies had sat next her at dinner. Then there was her friend Mrs. +Penderby, whose husband gathered enormous wealth in some mysterious way +in Mark Lane. Why should she not go up to London and open a campaign on +Dick's behalf, secure him an appointment, and come back flourishing it +before his dazzled and delighted eyes? The prospect was enchanting. The +fairy godmother romance of it fascinated her girlish mind. But first +she must clear the ground at home. There must be no opposition from +Austin. He must be her ally. + +When a woman gets an idea like this into her head she must execute it, +as the Americans say, right now. A man waits, counts up all the +barriers, and speculates on the strength and courage of the lions in the +path--but a woman goes straight forward, and does not worry about the +lions till they bite her. Viviette resolved to speak to Austin at once; +but, owing to a succession of the little ironies of circumstance, she +found no opportunity of doing so all the afternoon or evening. It was +only when, standing at the top of the stairs, she had seen Dick go off +to the armoury, and Austin return to the drawing-room--for the men had +bidden the ladies good night in the hall--that she saw her chance. She +went downstairs and opened the drawing-room door. + +"I don't want to go to bed after all. Do you think you can do with me a +little longer?" + +"A great deal longer," he said, drawing a chair for her, and arranging +the shade of a lamp so that the light should not shine full in her eyes. +"I was just thinking how dull the room looked without you--as if all the +flowers had suddenly been taken away." + +"I suppose I am decorative," she said blandly. + +"You're bewitching. What instinct made you choose that shade of pale +green for your frock? If I had seen it in the pattern I should have said +it was impossible for your colouring. But now it seems to be the only +perfect thing you could wear." + +She laughed her little laugh of pleasure, and thanked him prettily for +the compliment. They bandied gay words for a while. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you have come down--even for this short visit," said +Viviette at last. "I was pining for talk, for wit, for a breath of the +great world beyond these sleepy meadows. You bring all that with you." + +Austin leaned forward. "How do you know I'm not bringing even more?" + +The girl's eyes drooped before his gaze. Then she fluttered a glance at +him in which there was a gleam of mockery. + +"You bring the most valuable gift of all--appreciation of my frocks. I +love people to notice them. Now Dick is frock-blind. Why is that?" + +"He's a dear old duffer," said Austin. + +"I don't think he's happy," said Viviette, who, in her feminine way, had +worked round to the subject of the interview. + +"He did seem rather cut up about the stables," Austin admitted. "But the +things are an eyesore, and mother was worrying herself to death +about them." + +"It isn't only the stables," said Viviette. "Dick is altogether +discontented." + +Austin looked at her in amazement. "Discontented?" + +"He wants something to do." + +"Nonsense," he laughed, with the air of a man certain of his facts. +"He's as happy as a king here. He shoots and hunts--looks after the +place--runs the garden and potters about in his armoury--in fact, does +just what he likes all day long. He goes to bed without a care sharing +his pillow, and, when he wakes up, gets into comfortable country clothes +instead of a tight-fitting suit of responsibilities. For a man of his +tastes he leads an ideal existence." + +He threw away the end of the cigarette he was smoking, as though to say +that the argument was finished. But Viviette regarded him with a +smile--the smile of woman's superior wisdom. How astonishingly little he +knew of Dick! + +"Do you really think there is one contented being on earth?" she asked. +"Even I know better than that." + +Austin maintained that Dick ought to be contented. + +"Dependent for practically all he has on you?" + +"I've never let him feel it," he said quickly. + +"He does, though. He wants to get away--to earn his own living--make a +way for himself." + +"That's the first I've heard of it," said Austin, genuinely surprised. +"I really thought he was perfectly contented here. Of course, now and +then he's grumpy--but he always has had fits of grumpiness. What kind of +work does he want?" + +"Something to do with sheep or cattle--in Arizona or New Zealand--the +place doesn't matter--any open-air life." + +Austin lit another cigarette and walked about the room. He was a man of +well-regulated habits, and did not like being taken unawares. Dick +ought to have told him. Then there was their mother. Who would look +after her? Dick was a dispensation of Providence. + +"Perhaps I might be a deputy dispensation, mightn't I?" said Viviette. +"I don't think mother is so desperately attached to Dick as all that. It +could be arranged somehow or other. And Dick is growing more and more +wretched about it every day. Every day he pours out his woes to me till +I can almost howl with misery." + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"Not to stand in his way if he gets a chance of going abroad." + +"Of course I won't," cried Austin eagerly. "It never entered my head +that he wanted to go away. I would do anything in the world for his +happiness, poor old chap. I love Dick very deeply. In spite of his huge +bulk and rough ways there's something of the woman in him that makes one +love him." + +They catalogued Dick's virtues, and then Viviette unfolded her scheme. +One or other of the powerful personages whom, in her young confidence, +she proposed to attack, would surely know of some opening abroad. + +"Even humble I sometimes hear of things," said Austin. "Only a day or +two ago old Lord Overton asked me if I knew of a man who could manage a +timber forest he's got in Vancouver--" + +Viviette jumped up and clapped her hands. + +"Why, that's the very thing for Dick!" she cried exultingly. + +"God bless my soul!" said Austin. "So it is. I never thought of it." + +"If you get it for him I'll thank you in the sweetest way possible." She +glanced at him swiftly, under her eyelids. "I promise you I will." + +"Then I'll certainly get it," replied Austin. + +Austin then went into details. Lord Overton wanted a man of +education--a gentleman--one who could ride and shoot and make others +work. He would have to superintend the planting and the cutting and the +transportation of timber, and act as agent for the various farms Lord +Overton possessed in the wide district. The salary would be £700 a year. +The late superintendent had suddenly died, and Lord Overton wanted a man +to go out at once and fill his place. If only he had thought of Dick! + +"But you're thinking of him now. It can't be too late--men with such +qualifications aren't picked up at every street corner." + +"That's quite true," said Austin. "And as for my recommendation," he +added in his confident way, "Lord Overton and I are on such terms that +he would not hesitate to give the appointment to a brother of mine. I'll +write at once." + +"And we'll say nothing to Dick until we've got it all in black and +white." + +"Not a word," said he. + +Then they burst out laughing like happy conspirators, and enjoyed +beforehand the success of their plot. + +"The old place will be very strange without him," said Austin. + +A shadow passed over Viviette's bright face. The manor-house would +indeed be very lonely. Her occupation as Dick's liege lady, confidante, +and tormentor would be gone. Parting from him would be a wrench. There +would be a dreadful scene at the last moment, in which he would want to +hold her tight in his arms and make her promise to join him in +Vancouver. She shivered a little; then tossed her head as if to throw +off the disturbing thoughts. + +"Don't let us look at the dismal side of things. It's selfish. All we +want is Dick's happiness." She glanced at the clock and started up. +"It's midnight. If Katherine knew I was here she would lecture me." + +"It's nothing very dreadful," he laughed. "Nor is Katherine's lecture." + +"I call her Saint Nitouche--but she's a great dear, isn't she? Good +night." + +He accompanied her to the foot of the stairs and lit her candle. On the +third stair she paused. + +"Remember--in all this it's I who am the fairy godmother." + +"And I," said Austin, "am nothing but the fairy godmother's humble and +devoted factotum." He took the hand which she extended and, bending over +it, kissed it gallantly. + +Then by unhappy chance out came Dick from the armoury, and beheld the +spectacle which robbed him of his peace of mind. + +The next morning, when Dick came down gloomily to breakfast, she was +very gentle with him, and administered tactfully to his wants. She +insisted on going to the sideboard and carving his cold ham, of which he +ate prodigious quantities after a hot first course, and when she put the +plate before him laid a caressing touch on his shoulder. She neglected +Austin in a bare-faced manner, and drew Dick into reluctant and then +animated talk on his prize roses and a setter pup just recovering from +distemper. After the meal she went with him round the garden, inspected +both roses and puppy, and manifested great interest in a trellis he was +constructing for the accommodation later in the summer of some climbing +cucumbers, at present only visible as modest leaves in flower-pots. +Neither made any reference to the little scene of the night before. +Morning had brought to Dick the conviction that in refusing her hand and +slamming the door he had behaved in an unpardonably bearish manner; and +he could not apologise for his behaviour unless he confessed his +jealousy of Austin, which, in all probability, would have subjected him +to the mocking ridicule of Viviette--a thing which, above all others, he +dreaded, and against which he knew himself to be defenceless. Viviette, +too, found silence golden. She knew perfectly well why Dick had slammed +the door. An explanation would have been absurd. It would have +interfered with her relations with Austin, which were beginning to be +exciting. But she loved Dick in her heart for being a bear, and evinced +both her compunction and her appreciation in peculiar graciousness. + +"You've never asked me to try the new mare," she said. "I don't think it +a bit kind of you." + +"Would you care to?" he asked eagerly. + +"Of course I should. I love to see you with horses. You and the trap and +the horse seem to be as much one mechanism as a motor-car." + +"I can make a horse do what I want," he said, delighted at the +compliment. "We'll take the dog-cart. When will you come? This morning?" + +"Yes--let us say eleven. It will be lovely." + +"I'll have it round at eleven o'clock. You'll see. She's a flyer." + +"So am I," she said with a laugh, and pointed to the front gate, which a +garden lad had just run to open to admit a young man on horseback. + +"Oh, lord! it's Banstead," said Dick with a groan. + +"Au revoir--eleven o'clock," said Viviette, and she fled. + +Lord Banstead dismounted, gave his horse to the lad, and came up to +Dick. He was an unhealthy, dissipated-looking young man, with lustreless +eyes, a characterless chin, and an underfed moustache. He wore a light +blue hunting stock, fastened by a ruby fox in full gallop, and a round +felt hat with a very narrow flat brim, beneath which protruded strands +of Andrew aguecheek hair. + +"Hallo, Banstead," said Dick, not very cordially. + +"Hallo," said the other, halting before the rose-bed, where Dick was +tying up some blooms with bast. He watched him for a moment or two. +Conversation was not spontaneous. + +"Where's Viviette?" he asked eventually. + +"Who?" growled Dick. + +"Rot. What's the good of frills? Miss Hastings." + +"Busy. She'll be busy all the morning." + +"I rather wanted to see her." + +"I don't think you will. You might ring at the front door and send in +your card." + +"I might," said Banstead, lighting a cigar. He had tried this method of +seeing Viviette before, but without success. There was another pause. +Dick snipped off an end of bast. + +"You're up very early," said he. + +"Went to bed so bally sober I couldn't sleep," replied the misguided +youth. "Not a soul in the house, I give you my word. So bored last night +I took a gun and tried to shoot cats. Shot a damn cock pheasant by +mistake, and had to bury the thing in my own covers. If I'm left to +myself to-night I'll get drunk and go out shooting tenants. Come over +and dine." + +"Can't," said Dick. + +"Do. I'll open a bottle of the governor's old port. Then we can play +billiards, or piquet, or cat's-cradle, or any rotten thing you like." + +Dick excused himself curtly. Austin had come down for Whitsuntide, and a +lady was staying in the house. Lord Banstead pushed his hat to the back +of his head. + +"Then what the devil am I to do in this hole of a place?" + +"Don't know," said Dick. + +"You fellows in the country are so unfriendly. In town I never need +dine alone. Anyone's glad to see me. Feeding all by myself in that +dining-room fairly gives me the pip." + +"Then come and dine here," said Dick, unable to refuse a neighbour +hospitality. + +"Right," said Banstead. "That is really like the Samaritan Johnnie. I'll +come with pleasure." + +"Quarter to eight." + +Banstead hesitated. "Couldn't you make it a quarter past?" + +Dick stared. "Alter our dinner hour? You've rather a nerve, haven't you, +Banstead?" + +"I wouldn't suggest it, if we weren't pals," replied the other, grinning +somewhat shamefacedly. "But the fact is I've got an appointment late +this afternoon." The fatuity of vicious and coroneted youth outstripped +his discretion. "There's a devilish pretty girl, you know, at 'The Green +Man' at Little Barton; I don't know whether I can get away in time." + +Dick stuffed his bast in his pocket, and muttered things uncomplimentary +to Banstead. + +"Dinner's at a quarter to eight. You can take it or leave it," said he. + +"I suppose I've jolly well got to take it," said Banstead, unruffled. +"Anything's better than going through dinner from soup to dessert all +alone under the fishy eye of that butling image of a Jenkins. He was +thirty years in my governor's service, and doesn't understand my ways. I +guess I'll have to chuck him." + +A perspiring, straw-hatted postman lurched along the gravel drive with +the morning's post. He touched his hat to Dick, delivered the Manor +House bag into his hands, and departed. + +"I'll sort these in the morning-room," said Dick, moving in the +direction of the house, and Lord Banstead, hoping to see Viviette, +followed at his heels. The control of the family post was one of the few +privileges Dick retained as master of the house. His simple mind still +regarded the receipt and despatch of letters as a solemn affair of life, +and every morning he went through the process of distribution with +ceremonial observance. In the morning-room they found Austin and +Viviette, the former writing in a corner, the latter reading a novel by +the French window that opened on to the terrace. Dick went up to a +table, and, opening the mail-bag, began to sort the letters into various +heaps. Austin greeted Lord Banstead none too warmly, and, with scarcely +an apology, went back to his writing. He disapproved of Banstead, who +was of a type particularly antagonistic to the young, clean, and +successful barrister. When Viviette had informed him of the youth's +presence in the garden, he had exclaimed impatiently: + +"It ought to be somebody's business to go round the world occasionally +with a broom and sweep away spiders like that." + +Viviette, mindful of the invective, received Lord Banstead with a smile +of amusement. As she had two protectors against a fifth proposal of +marriage, she stood her ground. + +"I expected you to come over yesterday," she said. + +"No, did you really?" he exclaimed, a flush rising to his pale cheeks. +"If I had thought that I should have come." + +"You've made up for it by arriving early to-day, at any rate," said +Viviette. + +"And I'm making up for it further by coming to dinner to-night. Dick +asked me," he added, seeing the polite questioning in her eyes. + +"That will be very nice," she said. "You can talk to mother. You see, +Dick talks to Mrs. Holroyd, who is staying with us, Austin talks to me, +so poor mother is left out in the cold. She'll enjoy a nice long talk +with you." + +When Banstead took the chorus out to supper he had the ready repartee of +his kind. In such a case he would have told the lady not to pull his +leg. But the delicate mockery in Viviette's face seemed to forbid the +use of this figure of speech, and as his vocabulary did not readily +allow him to formulate the idea in other terms he said nothing, but +settled his stock, and looked at her adoringly. At last he bent forward, +after a glance at the protectors, and said in a low tone: + +"Come out into the garden. I've something to say to you." + +"Why not say it here?" she replied in her ordinary voice. + +Banstead bit his lip. He would have liked to call her a little devil. +But he reflected that if he did she would be quite capable of repeating +the phrase aloud, somewhat to the astonishment of Dick and Austin, who +might ask for embarrassing explanations. Instead he bent still nearer, +and whispered: + +"I can only say it to you alone. I've been awake all night thinking of +it--give you my word." + +"Wait till to-morrow morning, and by then you may have slept upon it," +she counselled. + +"You'll drive me to drink!" he murmured. + +She rose with a laugh. "In that case I must go. I ought to be labelled +'dangerous.' Don't you think so, Dick? Besides, I'm going for a drive, +and must put on my things. These my letters? Au revoir." And, with a +wave of her hand she left them. + +Banstead lingered by the threshold and took up an illustrated paper. The +maid, in response to Dick's summons, bore away the letters for the rest +of the household. Austin and Dick concerned themselves with their +correspondence, Dick's chiefly consisting of gardeners' catalogues. + +For a while there was silence. It was broken by a loud laugh from +Austin. + +"Dick! I say, Dick! What do you think these village idiots have asked me +to do? To accept their nomination and stand as a Rural District +Councillor! Me!" + +Dick quickly crossed to the table where his brother was sitting. + +"That's my letter, old chap. I must here put it in your heap by mistake. +The invitation is meant for me." + +"You?" laughed Austin. "Why, what do you want to fool about with village +politics for? No. The letter is meant for me right enough." + +"I can't understand it," said Dick. + +Lord Banstead looked up from his paper. + +"That the Rural District Council? I'm on the committee. Had a meeting +yesterday. I'm chairman of the silly rotters." + +"Then your silly rotter of an honorary secretary," cried Dick angrily, +"has sent Austin the letter of invitation that was meant for me." + +"Oh, no, he didn't," said Banstead. "It's all right. They chucked you, +old son. Now I remember. I promised to explain." + +Dick turned aside. "Oh, you needn't explain," he said bitterly. + +"But I must. They had their reasons, you know. They thought they'd +rather have a brainy nobleman like your brother than a good old rotter +like you. You're--" + +"Oh, hold your tongue, Banstead," cried Austin, rising and putting his +hand on Dick's shoulder. "Really, my dear old Dick, you're the right +person to stand. They only thought a lawyer could help them--but I'm far +too busy--of course I decline. I'm deeply pained, Dick, at having hurt +you. I'll write to the committee and point out how much fitter, as a +country gentleman, you are for the duties than I am. They're bound +to ask you." + +Dick swung away passionately, his lips quivering with anger and +mortification beneath his great moustache. + +"Do you think I would accept? I'm damned if I would. Do you expect me to +pick up everything you've thrown in the mud and feel grateful? I'm +damned if I will!" + +He flung out of the room on to the terrace and strode away in a rage. + +"Seems to take it badly," remarked Banstead, looking at his +disappearing figure. "I had better say good-bye." + +"Good-bye," said Austin. And he added, as he accompanied him with grim +politeness to the front gate, "if you exercise the same tact in the +chair as you've done here, your meetings must be a huge success." + +He returned with a shrug of the shoulders to his table in the +morning-room. He was deeply attached to Dick, but a lifelong habit of +regarding him as a good-natured, stupid, and contented giant blinded him +to the storm that was beginning to rage in the other's soul. The +occurrence was unfortunate. It wounded the poor old fellow's vanity. +Banstead's blatant folly had been enough to set any man in a rage. But, +after all, Dick was a common-sense creature, and, recognising that +Austin was in no way to blame, he would soon get over it. Meanwhile, +there was awaiting him the joyful surprise of Vancouver, which would +soon put such petty mortifications out of his head. Thus Austin consoled +himself, and settled down to the serious matters of his correspondence. + +Viviette, coming in later in hat and jacket, found him busily writing. +He looked up at her admiringly as she stood against the background of +light framed by the great French window. + +"Am I presentable?" she asked, with a smile, interpreting his glance. + +"Each modification of your dress makes you seem more bewitching than the +last." + +"I trimmed this hat myself," she said, coming into the room, and +looking at herself in a Queen Anne mirror on the wall. + +"That's why it's so becoming," said Austin. + +She wheeled round on him with a laugh. "You really ought to say +something cleverer than that!" + +"How can I," he replied, "when you drive my wits away?" + +"Poor me," she said. And then, suddenly, "Where's Dick?" + +"What do you want Dick for?" + +"He promised to take me for a drive." She consulted the watch on her +wrist. "It's past eleven now." + +"I'm afraid poor Dick is rather upset. He seems to have been counting on +being nominated to stand for the Rural District Council, and the +imbeciles invited me instead." + +"Oh, how could they?" she cried, smitten with a great pity. "How could +they be so stupid and cruel? I know all about it. He told me yesterday. +He must be bitterly disappointed." + +Austin did not tell her of Lord Banstead's tactful explanation of the +committee's action. He was a fastidious man, and did not care to soil +his mind with the memory of Banstead's existence. If he had described +the scene, the young man's vulgarity, his own attempt at conciliation, +and Dick's passionate outburst--the course of the drama that was shaping +itself might have been altered. But the stars in their courses were +fighting against Dick. Austin only said: + +"If we get him this appointment, it will be ample compensation, anyhow." + +"Please don't say 'if,'" exclaimed Viviette, "we must get it." + +"Unless Lord Overton has already found a man, which is unlikely, owing +to the general suspension of business at Whitsuntide, it's practically +a certainty." + +"When shall we know?" + +"My letter's written and is waiting for the post. If he replies by +return we shall hear the day after to-morrow." + +"That is such a long time to wait. Do you know what to-morrow is?" + +"Wednesday," said Austin. + +"It's Dick's birthday." She clapped her hands at a happy inspiration, +and hung on his arm. "Oh, Austin! If we could only give him the +appointment as a birthday present!" + +Her touch, her fresh charm, the eagerness in her eyes roused him to +unwonted enthusiasm. In his sane moments he did not care a fig for +anybody's birthday. What man ever does? He proclaimed the splendour of +her idea. But how was it to be realised? + +"Send a long prepaid telegram to Lord Overton, of course," said Viviette +triumphantly. (How unresourceful are men!) "Then we can get an +answer to-day." + +"You forget the nearest telegraph office is at Witherby, seven miles +off." + +"But Dick and I are going for a drive. I'll make him go to Witherby and +I'll send the telegram. Write it." + +She drew him in her caressing way to the table, seated him in the chair, +and laid the block of telegram forms before him. He scribbled +industriously, and when he had finished handed her the sheets. + +"There!" + +He fished in his pockets for money, but Viviette checked him. She was +the fairy godmother in this fairy tale, and fairy godmothers always held +the purse. She glanced again at her watch. It was ten minutes +past eleven. + +"Perhaps he's waiting with the trap for me all the time. Au revoir." + +"I'll see you off," said Austin. + +They went together into the hall and opened the front door. The new +mare and the dog-cart in charge of the stable lad were there, but +no Dick. + +"Where's Mr. Ware?" + +"Don't know, miss." + +Then the Devil entered into Viviette. There is no other explanation. The +Devil entered into her. + +"We must get to Witherby and back before lunch. You drive me over +instead of Dick." + +They exchanged glances. Austin was young. He was in love with her. Dick +had committed the unpardonable offence of being late. It would serve +him right. + +"I'll come," said he, disappearing in search of cap and gloves. + +Viviette went into the hall and scribbled a note. + +"Dear Dick,--You're late. Austin and I have the most important business +to transact at Witherby, so he's driving me over. We're preparing a +great surprise for you.--Viviette." + +"Give this to Mr. Ware," she said to the stable boy as she prepared to +get into the dog-cart. + +The boy touched his cap and ran to open the gate. Viviette lightly +mounted by Austin's side. They had just turned into the road when Dick +came racing through the hall and saw them disappear. He walked up the +drive, and met the boy coming down, who handed him the note, with some +words, which he did not hear. He watched the boy out of sight. Then he +tore the note unread into tiny fragments, stamped them furiously into +the mould of the nearest bed, and, flying into his armoury, threw +himself into a chair and cursed the day that ever Austin was born. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +KATHERINE + + +The drive was a memorable one for many reasons. First the new mare flew +along at an exhilarating trot, as if showing off her qualities to her +new masters. Then the morning sunshine flooded the soft, undulating +Warwickshire country, and slanted freshly through the bordering elms in +sweet-scented lanes. Summer flaunted its irresponsible youth in the +faces of matronly, red-brick Manor House, old grey church, and crumbling +cottage, danced about among the crisp green leaves, kissed the wayside +flowers, and tossing up human hearts in sheer gaiety, played the very +deuce with them. The drive also had its altruistic side. They were on an +errand of benevolence. Austin, his mind conscious of nothing but right, +felt the unusual glow of unselfish devotion to another's interests. When +he had awakened that morning he had had misgivings as to the +advisability of sending Dick to another hemisphere. After all, Dick was +exceedingly useful at Ware House, and saved him a great deal of trouble. +An agent would have to be appointed to replace him, whose salary--not a +very large one, in view of the duties to be performed, but still a +salary--would have to be provided out of his, Austin's, pocket. Who, +again, could undertake the permanent care of his mother? Viviette would +stay at home for some little time; but she would be marrying one of +these fine days--a day which Austin had reasons for hoping would not be +very remote. He would have to make Heaven knows what arrangements for +Mrs. Ware and the general upkeep of the Manor House, while he was in +London carrying on his profession. Decidedly, Dick had been a godsend, +and his absence would be a calamity. In sending him out to Vancouver +Austin had all the unalloyed, pure pleasure of self-sacrifice. + +They talked of Dick and Dick's birthday and Dick's happiness most of the +way to Witherby. The telegram despatched, prepaid with the porterage by +Viviette, Austin felt that he had done his duty by his brother, and +deserved some consideration on his own account. And here it was that the +summer began its game with their hearts. On such sportive occasions it +is not so much what is said that matters. A conversation that might be +entirely conventional between comparative strangers in a fog may become +the most romantic interchange of sentiment imaginable between intimates +in the sunshine. There are tones, there are glances, there are +half-veiled allusions, there are--in a dog-cart, especially when it +jolts--thrilling contacts of arm and arm. There is man's undisguised +tribute to beauty; there is beauty's keen feminine appreciation of the +tribute. There is a manner of saying "we" which counts for more than the +casual conjunction of the personalities. + +"This is _our_ day, Viviette," said Austin. "I shall always remember +it." + +"So shall I. We must put a white mark against it in our diaries." + +"With white ink?" + +"Of course. Black would never do, nor red, nor violet." + +"But where shall we get it?" + +"I'll make us some when I get home out of white cloud and lilies and +sunshine and a bit of the blue sky." + +Laughter fluttered through her veins. Yesterday she had teasingly +boasted to Katherine that Austin was in love with her. Now she knew it. +He proclaimed it in a thousand ways. A note of exultation in his laugh, +like that in a blackbird's call, alone proclaimed it. Instinct told her +of harmless words she might use which would bring the plain avowal. But +the hour was too delicate. As yet nothing was demanded. All was given. +Her woman's vanity blossomed deliciously in the atmosphere of a man's +love. Her heart had not yet received the inevitable summons to respond. +She left it, careless in the gay hands of summer. + +When they drew up before the front door of Ware House he lifted her from +the dog-cart and set her laughing on her feet. + +"How strong you are," she cried. + +"I'm not a giant, like Dick," said he, "but I'm strong enough to do what +I like with a bit of a thing like you." + +She entered the hall and glanced at him provokingly over her shoulder. + +"Don't be too sure of that." + +"Whatever I like," he repeated, striding towards her. + +But Viviette laughed, and fled lightly up the stairs, and on the +landing blew him an ironical kiss from her finger tips. + +When Viviette came down for lunch, she found Dick awaiting her in the +hall. With a lowering face he watched her descend and, his hand on the +newel, confronted her. + +"Well?" said he indignantly. + +"Well?" she said, cheerfully smiling. + +"What have you got to say for yourself?" + +"Lots of things. I had a lovely drive. I got through all my business, +and I have a beautiful appetite. I also don't like standing on a stair." + +At her look he drew aside and let her pass into the hall. + +"You promised to drive with me," he said, following her to a chair in +which she sat. "Driving with me is no great catch, perhaps; but a +promise is a promise." + +"You were late," said Viviette. + +"My mother kept me--some silly nonsense about vegetables. You must have +known it was something I couldn't help." + +"I really don't see why you're so angry, Dick," she said, lifting candid +eyes. "I explained why we had gone in my note." + +"I didn't read the note," said Dick wrath-fully. "A thousand notes +couldn't have explained it. I tore the note into little pieces." + +Viviette rose. "If that's the way you treat me," she said, piqued, "I +have nothing more to say to you." + +"It's the way you're treating me," he cried, with a clumsy man's awkward +attempt at gesture. "I know I'm not clever. I know I can't talk to you +as sweetly as other people; but I'm not a dog, and I deserve some +consideration. Perhaps, after all, I might have the brains to jest and +toss about words and shoot off epigrams. I'll try, if you like. Let us +see. Here. A man who entrusts his heart to a woman has a jade for his +banker. That's devilish smart, isn't it. Now then--there must be some +repartee to it. What is it?" + +Viviette looked at him proudly, and moving in the direction of the +morning-room door, said with much dignity: + +"That depends on the way in which the woman you are talking to has been +brought up. My repartee is--good morning." + +Dick, suddenly repentant, checked her. + +"No, Viviette. Don't go. I'm a brute and a fool. I didn't mean it. +Forgive me. I would rather go on the rack than hurt your little finger. +But it maddens me--can't you believe it? It maddens me to see Austin--" + +She broke into a little laugh and smiled dazzlingly on him. + +"I do believe you're jealous!" she interrupted. + +"Good heavens!" he cried passionately. "Haven't I cause? Austin has +everything his heart can desire. He has always had it. I have +nothing--nothing but one little girl I love. Austin, with all the world +at his feet, comes down here, and what chance has a rough yokel like me +against Austin? My God! It's the one ewe lamb." + +He raised his clenched fists and brought them down against his sides and +turned away. The allusion and a consciousness of Vancouver brought a +smile into Viviette's eyes. She had a woman's sense of humour, which is +not always urbane. When he turned to meet her she shook her head +reprovingly. + +"And David put Uriah into the forefront of the battle, and carried off +poor little Bathsheba. No one seemed to have concerned himself with what +Bathsheba thought of it all. Don't you consider she ought to have some +choice in the matter--whether she should follow the sprightly David or +cling to the melancholy Uriah?" + +"Oh, don't jest like that, Viviette," he cried. "It hurts!" + +"I'm sorry, Dick," she said innocently. "But, really, Bathsheba has her +feelings. What am I to do?" + +"Choose, dear, between us. Choose now--in Heaven's name, choose." + +"But, Dick, dear," said Viviette, all that was wickedly feminine in her +shouting her sex's triumph song, "I want a longer time to choose between +two hats!" + +Dick stamped his foot. "Then Austin has been robbing me! I'm growing +desperate, Viviette, tell me now. Choose." + +He seized her arms in his strong hands. She felt a delicious little +thrill of fear. But knowing her strength, she looked up at him with a +childish expression and said plaintively: "Oh, Dick, dear, I'm +so hungry." + +He released her arms. She rubbed them ruefully. "I'm sure you've made +horrid red rings. Fancy choosing a hard, uncomfortable hat like that!" + +He was about to make some rejoinder when the presence of Mrs. Ware and +Katherine Holroyd at the top of the stairs put an end to the encounter. +The victory, such as it was, remained with Viviette. + +At lunch, Austin, his veins still tingling with the summer, laughed and +jested light-heartedly. What a joy it was to get away from stuffy courts +of justice into the pure Warwickshire air. What a joy to drink of the +wine of life. What was that? Only those that drank of the wine +could tell. + +"What about the poor devils that only get the dregs?" muttered Dick. + +Austin declared that the real wine had no dregs. He called his mother +and Katherine Holroyd to witness. Mrs. Ware was not sure. Old port had +to be very carefully decanted. Did he remember the fuss his dear father +used to make about it? She was very glad there was no more left--for +Dick would be sure to drink it and it would go to his head. + +"Or his toes!" cried Viviette. + +When Austin explained Viviette's meaning to his mother, who had not an +allusive habit of mind, she acquiesced placidly. Port was not good for +gouty people. Their poor father suffered severely. Austin listened to +her reminiscences and turned the talk to the drive. It had been more +like driving through Paradise with Pegasus harnessed to Venus's car than +anything else. He must take his mother out and show her what a good +judge of horseflesh was dear old Dick. + +"As she's my mare, perhaps I might have the privilege," said Dick. + +Austin cried out, in all good faith: "My dear old boy, is there anything +especially mine or yours in this house?" + +Katherine, a keen observer, broke quickly into the talk. + +"There's Dick's armoury. That's his own particular and private domain. +You're going to explain it all to me this afternoon, aren't you? You +promised yesterday." + +She drew Dick into talk away from the others. The lecture on the armoury +was fixed for three o'clock, when she would be free from the duty from +which, during her stay at the Manor House, she had freed Viviette, of +postprandial reading of the newspaper to Mrs. Ware. But her interest in +his hobby for once failed to awaken his enthusiasm. The dull jealousy of +Austin, against which his honest soul had struggled successfully all his +life long, had passed beyond his control. These few days of Austin's +Whitsun visit had changed his cosmic view. Petty rebuffs, such as the +matters of the stables and the Rural District Council, which formerly he +would have regarded in the twilight of his mind as part of the +unchangeable order of things in which Austin was destined to shine +resplendently and he to glimmer--Austin the arc-lamp and he the +tallow-dip--became magnified into grievances and insults intolerable. +Esau could not have raged more against Jacob, the supplanter, than did +Dick, when Austin carried off Viviette from beneath his nose. Until this +visit of Austin he had no idea that he would find a rival in his +brother. The discovery was a shock, causing his world to reel and +setting free all the pent-up jealousies and grievances of a lifetime. +Everything he had given up to Austin, if not willingly, at least +graciously, hiding beneath the rough, tanned hide of his homely face all +pain, disappointment, and humiliation. But now Austin had come and +swooped off with his one ewe lamb. Not that Viviette had encouraged him +by more than the real but mocking affection with which she had treated +her bear foster-brother ever since her elfin childhood. In a dim way he +realised this, and absolved her from blame. Less dimly, also, he felt +his mental and social inferiority, his lack of warrant in offering her +marriage. But his great, rugged manhood wanted her, the woman, with an +imperious, savage need which took all the training of civilisation to +repress. Viviette alone in her maidenly splendour, he could have fought +it down. But the vision of another man entering, light-hearted and +debonair, into those precincts maddened him, let loose primitive +instincts of hatred and revenge, and robbed him of all interest in the +toys with which men used to slay each other centuries ago. + +Austin, being nearest the door, opened it for the ladies to pass out. +Viviette, going out last, looked up at him with one of her +witch's glances. + +"Don't be very long," she said, + +Before Austin could resume his seat Dick leaped up. + +"Austin, look here; I've something to say to you." + +"Well?" said Austin. + +Dick pulled out a cigar, bit the end off, and finding that he had +ripped the outer skin, threw it angrily into the fireplace. + +"My dear old boy," said Austin, "what in the name of all that's neurotic +is the matter?" + +"I've something to say to you," Dick repeated. "Something that concerns +myself, my life. I must throw myself on your generosity." + +Austin, his head full of philanthropy, thrust his hands into his pockets +and smiled indulgently on Dick. + +"Don't, old chap, I know all about it. Viviette has told me everything." + +Dick, his head full of passion, staggered in amazement. + +"Viviette has told you?" + +"Of course; why shouldn't she?" + +Dick groped his way to the door. It were better for both that he should +not stay. Austin, left alone, laughed, not unkindly. Dear old Dick! It +was a shame to tease him--but what a different expression his honest +face would wear to-morrow! When the maid brought in his coffee he sipped +it with enjoyment, forgetful for once of its lack of excellence. + +There was one person, however, in the house who saw things clearly; and +the more clearly she saw them the less did they seem satisfactorily +ordered. This was Katherine Holroyd, a sympathetic observer and +everybody's intimate. She had known the family since her childhood, +spent in a great neighbouring house which had now long since passed from +her kin into alien hands. She had known Viviette when she first came, +with her changeling face, a toddling child of three, to the Manor House. +She had grown up with the brothers. Until her marriage the place had +been her second home. Her married life, mostly spent abroad, had +somewhat broken the intimacy. But her widowhood after the first few +hopeless months had renewed it, although her visits were comparatively +rare. On the other hand, her little daintily-furnished London house in +Victoria square was always open to such of the family as happened to be +in town. Now, as Austin was the most frequently in town, seeing that he +lived there all the year round, with the exception of the long vacation +and odd flying visits to Warwickshire, to Austin was her door most +frequently open. A deep affection existed between them, deeper perhaps +than either realised. To be purely brotherly in attitude towards a woman +whom you are fond of and who is not your sister, and to be purely +sisterly in your attitude towards a man whom you are fond of and who is +not your brother, are ideals of spiritual emotion very difficult to +attain in this respectably organised but sex-ridden world. + +During the dark time of her early widowhood it was to Austin's delicate +tact and loyalty that she owed her first weak grasp on life. It was he +that had brought her to a sense of outer things, to a realisation that +in spite of her own grey sky there was still a glory on the earth. He +was her trusted friend, ally, and adviser, who never failed her, and she +contemplated him always with a heart full of somewhat exaggerated +gratitude--which is as far on the road to love as it is given to many +women to travel. + +She had barely reached the top of the hall stairs--on her way to spend +her reading hour with Mrs. Ware, when she saw Dick come out of the +dining-room with convulsed and angry face, the veins standing out on his +thick bull's neck. She felt frightened. Something foolish and desperate +would happen before long. She resolved to give Austin a warning word. +With an excuse to Mrs. Ware she went down again to the dining-room, and +found Austin in the cosiest and sunniest frame of mind imaginable. +Obviously there had been no serious quarrel between the brothers. + +"Can I have a few minutes with you, Austin?" + +"A thousand," he said gaily. "What has gone wrong?" + +"It is nothing to do with me," she said. + +He looked amusedly into her eyes. "I know. It's about Viviette. +Confess." + +"Yes," she replied soberly, "it's about Viviette." + +"You've seen it. I make no bones about it. You can believe the very +worst. I have fallen utterly and hopelessly in love with her. I am at +your mercy." + +This beginning was not quite what Katherine had expected. In his +confident way he had taken matters out of her hands. She had not +anticipated a down-right confession. She felt conscious of a little dull +and wholly reprehensible ache at her heart. She sighed. + +"Aren't you pleased, Katherine?" he asked with a man's selfishness. + +"I suppose I must be--for your sake. But I must also sigh a little. I +knew you would be falling in love sooner or later--only I hoped it would +be later. But _que veux-tu?_ It is the doom of all such friendships." + +"I don't see anything like a doom about it, my dear," said he. "The +friendship will continue. Viviette loves you dearly." + +She took up a peach from a dish to her hand, regarded it for a moment, +absent-mindedly, and delicately replaced it. + +"Our friendship will continue, of course. But the particular essence of +it, the little sentimentality of ownership, will be gone, won't it?" + +Austin rose and bent over Katherine's chair in some concern. "You're not +distressed, Katherine?" + +"Oh, no. You have been such a kind, loyal friend to me during a very +dark and lonely time--brought sunshine into my life when I needed it +most--that I should be a wicked woman if I didn't rejoice at your +happiness. And we have been nothing more than friends." + +"Nothing more," said Austin. + +She was smiling now, and he caught a gleam of mischief in her eyes. + +"And yet there was an afternoon last winter--" + +His face coloured. "Don't throw my wickedness in my face. I remember +that afternoon. I came in fagged, with the prospect of dinner at the +club and a dismal evening over a brief in front of me, and found you +sitting before the fire, the picture of rest and comfortableness and +companionship. I think it was the homely smell of hot buttered toast +that did it. I nearly asked you to marry me." + +"And I had been feeling particularly lonely," she laughed. + +"Would you have accepted me?" + +"Do you think that it is quite a fair question?" + +"We have always been frank with one another since our childhood," said +he. + +She smiled. "Has Viviette accepted you?" + +He broke away from her with a gay laugh, and lit a cigarette. + +"Your feminine subtlety does you credit, Katherine." + +"But has she?" + +"Well, no--not exactly." + +"Will she?" + +He brought his hand down on the table. "By heavens, I'll make her! I've +got most of the things I've wanted during my life, and it'll be odd if I +don't get the thing I want more than all the rest put together. Now +answer my question, my dear Katherine," he continued teasingly. "Would +you have married me?" + +The smile faded from Katherine's face. She could not parry the question +as she had done before, and it probed depths. She said very seriously +and sweetly: + +"I should have done, Austin, as I always shall do, whatever you ask me +to do. I'm glad you didn't ask me--very glad--for the love a woman gives +a man died within me, you know." + +He took her hand and kissed it. + +"My dear," said he, "you are the truest friend that ever man had." + +There was a short pause. Austin looked out of the window and Katherine +wiped away some moisture in her eyes. This scene of sentimentality was +not at all what she had come for. Soon she rose with a determined air +and joined Austin by the window. + +"It was as a true friend that I wanted to speak to you to-day. To warn +you." + +"About what?" + +"About Dick. Austin, he's madly in love with Viviette too." + +Austin stared at her for a moment incredulously. "Dick in love--in love +with Viviette?" Then he broke into a peal of laughter. "My _dear_ +Katherine! Why, it's absurd! It's preposterous! It's too funny." + +"But seriously, Austin." + +"But seriously," he said, with laughing eyes, "such an idea has never +penetrated into old Dick's wooden skull. You dear women are always +making up romance. He and Viviette are on the same old fairy and great +brown bear terms that they have been ever since they first met. She +makes him dance on his hind legs--he wants to hug her--she hits him over +the nose--and he growls." + +"I warn you," said Katherine. "Great brown bears in love are dangerous." + +"But he isn't in love," he argued light-heartedly. "If he were he would +want to stay with Viviette. But he's eating his heart out, apparently, +to leave us all and go and plough fields and herd cattle abroad. The +life he lives here, my good mother's somewhat arbitrary ways, and one +thing and another have at last got on his nerves. I wonder now how the +dear old chap has stood it so long. That's what is wrong with him, not +blighted affection." + +"I can only tell you what I know," said Katherine. "If you won't believe +me, it's not my fault. Keep your eyes open and you will see." + +"And you keep your eyes open to-morrow morning and _you_ will see," he +said, with his bright self-confidence. + +So Katherine sighed at the obtuseness and inconvincibility of man and +went to read the leader in _The Daily Telegraph_ to Mrs. Ware. Austin, +with a smile on his lips, wandered out into the sunshine in search +of Viviette. + +Before they parted, however, Katherine turned by the door. + +"Are you coming to the armoury to hear Dick's lecture?" + +"Of course," said Austin gaily. "The dear old chap loves an audience." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FAMOUS DUELLING PISTOLS + + +Dick's great-grandfather (Wild Dick Ware, as he used to be called by the +country-side), besides other enormities of indiscretion, committed an +architectural crime. Having begun to form the collection of arms which +was Dick's pride and hobby, he felt the need of a fencing gallery where +they could be displayed to advantage. None of the rooms in the house +were suitable. Building a new wing would cost too much. So, like a good +old English gentleman, accustomed to get what he wanted, he ruthlessly +cut off a slice of the nobly proportioned morning-room, containing a +beautifully-mullioned casement at the side, knocked a French window +through one end, so that he could wander in and out from the terrace, +knocked a door through the other so that it opened on a corner of the +hall, forgot all about the fireplace, and left his descendants to make +the best of things. + +This long, narrow, comfortless strip of a room was Dick's armoury, den, +and refuge. It was furnished with extreme simplicity. At the further end +two rusty leather arm-chairs flanked a cast-iron stove in the corner, and +were balanced in the other and darker corner by a knee-hole writing-desk +littered with seeds and bulbs and spurs and bits of fishing tackle, and +equipped for its real purpose with a forbidding-looking pen and inkpot, +and a torn piece of weather-beaten blotting-paper. At about a third of +the way down from the terrace door a great screen, covered with American +cloth, cut the room almost in two. Against this screen stood two suits +of beautifully-finished fifteenth-century Italian armour. Between them +and the further end of the room ran a long deal table, with a green +baize cover. An odd, dilapidated chair or two stood lonely and +disconsolate against the opposite wall. The floor was covered with old +matting and a few faded rugs. The walls, however, and the cases ranged +along them gave an air of distinction to the room. There hung trophies +of arms of all sorts--a bewildering array of spiky stars like the +monstrous decorations on the breast of a Brobdingnagian diplomatist, of +guns and pistols of all ages and nationalities, of halberds, pikes, and +partisans, of curved scimitars, great two-handed swords, and long, +glittering rapiers, with precious hilts. There, too, were coats of chain +mail and great iron gauntlets, and rows of dinted helmets formed a +cornice round the gallery. + +It was Dick's sanctuary, where, according to family tradition, he was +supposed to be immune from domestic attacks. Anyone, it is true, could +open the door and worry him from the threshold, but no one entered +without his invitation. Here he was master. Here he spent solitary hours +dreaming dreams, wrestling with devils, tying trout-flies, making up +medicines for his dogs, and polishing and arranging and rearranging his +armour and weapons. Until the furies got hold of him he was a simple +soul, content with simple things. The happiest times of his life had +been passed here among the inanimate objects which he loved, and here he +was now spending the hours of his greatest agony. + +The words he had just heard from Austin rang like a crazy, deafening +chime through his ears. He sat in one of the old leather chairs, +gripping his coarse hair. It was unthinkable, and yet it was true. +Viviette had told Austin the thing that glowed sacred at the bottom of +his soul. The scene danced vividly before his eyes: the two bright +creatures making a mock of him and his love, laughing merrily at the +trick they had played him, pitying him contemptuously. There was a flame +at his heart, a burning lump in his throat. Mechanically he drew from a +little cupboard near by a bottle of whiskey, a syphon, and a glass. The +drink he mixed and swallowed contained little soda. It increased the +fire in his heart and throat. He paced the long room in crazy +indignation. Every nerve in his body quivered with a sense of +unforgivable insult and deadly outrage. Austin's face loomed before him +like that of a mocking devil. He had hell in his throat, and again he +tossed down a dose of whiskey, and threw himself into the arm-chair. The +daily paper lay on a stool at his hand. He took it up and tried to read, +but the print swam into thin, black smudges. He dashed the paper to the +ground, and gave himself up to his madness. + +After a while he remembered his appointment with Katherine at three +o'clock. He glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to the hour, and, +beyond a cleaning yesterday afternoon, no preparations were made. In an +automatic way he unlocked some cases and drew out his treasures, wiped +the sword-blades tenderly with chamois leather, and laid them on the +long, baize-covered table. Here and there from the cornice he selected a +helmet. The great mace used by his ecclesiastical ancestor he unhooked +from the wall. Soon the table was covered with weapons, selected in a +dazed way, he knew not why. A helmet fell from his hands on the floor +with a ring of steel. Its visor grinned at him--the fool, the tricked, +the supplanted. He kicked it, with a silly laugh. Then he pulled himself +together, picked it up, and examined it in great fear lest harm should +have happened to it. He put it on the table, and in order to steady his +nerves drank another large whiskey and small soda. + +He scanned the table, perplexed. Some accustomed and important exhibit +was not in its place. What was it? He clasped his head in his hands and +strove to clear his mind for a moment from obsession. It was something +historical, something unique, something he had but lately mentioned to +Katherine. Something intimately connected with this very room. At last +memory responded. He placed a chair between the two suits of armour that +stood against the screen and the end of the long table, and, mounting, +took a mahogany case from a shelf. Then he sat on the chair, put the +case on the table, and opened it by means of a small, ornamental key. It +contained a brace of old-fashioned duelling pistols, such as were used +at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They were long-barrelled, +ivory-handled, business-like weapons, provided with miniature ramrods. +The velvet-lined interior of the case was divided into various +compartments, two for the pistols, one for powder-flask, one for +bullets, one for percussion-caps, and one for wads. In his dull, +automatic way, his mind whirling madly in other spheres, he cleaned the +pistols, shook the powder-flask to make certain that powder was still +there--he loved to pour out a few grains into his hand and show the +powder that had remained in the flask for generations, ever since the +pistols were last used--counted the caps, which he had counted many +times before, looked stupidly into the only empty compartment, only to +remember that there never had been any wads, and, finally, grasping one +of the pistols, took aim at a bulb on his writing-desk at the end of +the room. + +He had been tricked, and robbed, and mocked. He could see the scene when +she had told Austin. He could hear Austin's pitiless laughter. He could +picture her mimicking his rough speech. He could picture them, +faithless, heartless, looking into each other's eyes.... Suddenly he +passed his hand over his forehead. Was he going mad? Hitherto he had +heard their voices in the dimness of imagination. Now he heard them loud +in vibrating sound. Was it real or imaginary? He drew deep, +panting breaths. + +"Dick's not here," said Viviette's voice from the terrace. "He has +forgotten." + +"Really, my dear, I don't very much care," Austin replied. "Where you +are, I am happy." + +"I wish that telegram would come. It's quite time. Don't you think we +had better tell Dick to-day?" + +"No, no. To-morrow." + +"After all, what is the good of hiding it from him?" + +A laugh from Austin. "You think we ought to put him out of his misery +at once?" + +It was real! Those two were talking in flesh and blood on the terrace. +They were talking of him. His misery! That had but one meaning. And the +devil laughed! Unconsciously his grip tightened on the butt of the +pistol. He listened. + +"Yes," said Viviette. "It would be kinder." + +"I stick to the birthday idea. It would be more dramatic." + +"The damned villain!" Dick muttered. + +"I want to-day," said Viviette. + +"And I want to-morrow." + +"You speak as if you were my lord and master," said Viviette, in the +mocking tones Dick knew so well. + +"No other man shall be if I can help it." + +The clear, young masterful voice rang down the gallery. Dick slid his +chair noiselessly to the side of the screen which hid him from the +terrace-window, and, bending down low, peered round the edge. He saw +them laughing, flushed, silhouetted against the green, distant trees. +Austin was looking at her with the light of passion in his eyes. She +looked up at him, radiant, elusive, triumphant, with parted lips. + +"Please to remember we were talking of Dick." + +"Confound Dick! In this he doesn't count. I matter. And I'll show you." + +He showed her in the one and only way. She struggled for a second in his +arms, and received his kiss with a little laugh. They had moved to the +far lintel of the door. Dick's world reeled red before his eyes. He +stood up and held the pistol pointed. Damn him! Damn him! He would kill +him. Kill him like a dog. + +Some reflex motion of the brain prompted action. Feverishly he rammed a +charge of powder down the pistol. Wads? A bit of the newspaper lying on +the floor. Then a bullet. Then a wad rammed home. Then the cap. It was +done at lightning speed. Murder, red, horrible murder blazed in his +soul. Damn him! He would kill him. He started into the middle of the +room, just as they walked away, and he sprang to the door and levelled +the pistol. + +Then reaction came. No. Not like a dog. He couldn't shoot his brother +like a dog. His arm fell helplessly at his side. He turned back again +into the room, staggering and knocking himself against the cases by the +walls, like a drunken man. The sweat rolled down his face. He put the +pistol beside the other on the table. For some moments he stood a +hulking statue, shaken as though stricken with earthquake, white-faced, +white-lipped, staring, with crossed, blue eyes, at nothing. At last he +recovered power of motion, drank another whiskey, and replaced bottle, +syphon, and glass in the cupboard. + +He found himself suddenly clear-headed, able to think. He was not in +the least degree drunk. To test himself he took up a sword from the +table, and, getting the right spot, balanced it on his finger. He could +speak, too, as well as anybody. He turned to a long Moorish musket +inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl, and began to describe it. He was +quite fluent and sensible, although his voice sounded remote in his own +ears. He was satisfied. He had his nerves under control. He would go +through the next hour without anyone suspecting the madness that was in +his mind. He was absolutely sober and self-collected. He walked along a +seam of the matting that ran the whole length of the gallery, and did +not deviate from it one hair's breadth. Now he was ready. Perfectly +prepared to deliver his lecture. He sat down and picked up the +newspaper, and the print was clear. "The weather still continues to be +fine over the British Islands. The anti-cyclone has not yet passed away +from the Bay of Biscay...." He read the jargon through to the end. But +it seemed as if it were not he who was reading, but someone else--a +quiet, placid gentleman, deeply versed in the harmless science of +meteorology. Where his real self was he did not know, so he toyed with +the illusion. + +A voice broke on his ear, coming, it seemed, from another world. + +"Dick, may we come in?" + +He rose, saw Katherine, Austin, and Viviette on the threshold. He +invited them to enter, and shook Katherine by the hand, as if he had not +met her for a long time. + +Viviette danced down to the table. "Now, Dick, we're all here. Put on +your most learned, and antiquarian mariner. Ladies and gentlemen, I call +on Mr. Richard Ware to deliver his interesting lecture on the ingenious +instruments men have devised for butchering each other." + +Dick put his hand to his head in a confused way. His real self was +beginning to merge itself into that of the quiet gentleman, and there +was a curious red mist before his eyes. + +"Come on," cried Viviette. "Look at Katherine. Her mouth is watering for +tales of bloodshed." + +Dick could not remember his usual starting-point. He stared stupidly at +the table for a moment; then picked up a weapon at random, and made a +great effort. + +"This is a Toledo sixteenth-century sword--reported to have belonged to +Cosmo de Medici. You see here the '_palle_,' the Medici emblem. The one +next to it is a sword of the same period, only used by a meaner person. +I should prefer it, if there were any killing to be done." + +He described one or two other weapons. Then, glancing over his shoulder +at Austin and Viviette, who were talking in low, confidential tones a +little way off, he stood stock still, and the beads of sweat gathered on +his forehead. Katherine's voice recalled his wandering wits. + +"This is a cross-bow, isn't it? The thing the Ancient Mariner shot the +Albatross with." + +"A cross-bow," said Dick. "The iron loop at the end was to put one's +foot into when one wanted to load it." + +"And this," said Katherine, pointing to a long steel thing with a great +knob adorned with cruel spikes, "is the family mace, I suppose. I've +seen it before, I remember." + +"Yes, that's the mace." + +"What a blood-thirsty set of people you must have been!" + +Austin came up with a laugh. "There's a legend among us that once mother +was left alone in the house and insisted on having this mace near her +bed so as to defend herself against burglars. But why do you leave me to +tell the story, Dick?" + +Dick clenched his fists, and, muttering something, turned and ascended +the gallery above the screen. Viviette followed him. + +"You're not doing it at all nicely. I don't think you want to." + +"Can you wonder at that?" he said hoarsely. + +Viviette played deliciously with the fire. + +"Why, aren't we intelligent enough for you?" she asked with childish +innocence. + +"You know what I mean." + +"I haven't the faintest idea. All I know is that you may as well be +polite, at any rate." + +He laughed. Ordinarily he had little sense of humour; but now he had the +flames in his heart and the hell in his throat, and red mist before +his eyes. + +"Oh, I'll be polite," he growled. "By God, I'll be polite! One may be +suffering the tortures of the damned, but one must smirk and be polite!" + +He snatched up the first thing to hand, a helmet that stood on a case, +and brought it down below the screen. + +"Katherine, Viviette says I'm not delivering my lecture properly. I beg +your pardon. I'm rather shy at first, but I get warmed up to my subject. +What would you like to hear about?" + +Katherine exchanged a glance with Austin. + +"Don't you think we might put off the rest till another day?" + +"Yes, old chap. Put it off till to-morrow. It's your birthday, you +know." + +"Birthday? What's that got to do with it? Who knows what may happen +between then and now? No--no. I'm all right," he cried wildly. "You're +here, and you've got to listen. I'll get into fine form presently. +Look!" he said, pointing to the helmet he was holding. "Here is a +Cromwellian morion. It was picked up by an ancestor at Naseby. It has a +clean cut in it. That's where an honest gentleman's sword found its way +into the knave's skull--the puritanical, priggish, canting knave." + +He threw the helmet with a clatter on to the table as if it had been the +knave's canting head. He caught up a weapon. + +"This is a partisan. All you had to do when you got it inside a man was +to turn it round a bit, and the wound gaped and tore. This tassel is for +catching the blood and preventing it from greasing the handle. Here's a +beauty," he went on, taking a sword from the row he had laid out for +display, and holding it out for Katherine's inspection. "One of the pets +of the collection. A French duelling sword of the middle of the +eighteenth century." He gave a fencer's flourish. "Responsive to the +hilts, eh? Ah! It must have been good to live in those days, when you +could whip this from your side at a wrong done and have the life of the +man that wronged you. The sweet morning air, the patch of green turf, +shoes off--in shirt and breeches--with the eyes of the man you hate in +front of you, and this glittering, beautiful, snaky thing thirsting for +his heart's blood. And then--"--he stood in tierce, left hand curved, +holding in tense fierceness the eyes of an imaginary opponent--"and then +a little clitter-clatter of steel, and, suddenly--ha!--the blade +disappears up to the hilt, and a great red stain comes on the shirt, and +the man throws up his arms, and falls, and you've killed him. He's dead! +dead! dead! Ha! what a time to live in!" + +Katherine uttered a little cry of fear, and grew pale. Viviette clapped +her hands. + +"Bravo, Dick!" + +"Bravo, Dick!" cried Austin. "Most dramatically done." + +"I never knew you were such an actor," said Viviette. + +Dick stood panting, his hand on the hilt of the sword, the point on the +floor. + +"I really do think I've had enough," said Katherine. + +"No, not yet," he said in a thick voice. "I've not shown you half yet. +I've something much more interesting." + +"But, Dick--" + +Viviette interrupted her. "You must stay. It's only beginning to be +exciting. If you only do the rest as beautifully as you did that, Dick, +I'll stay here all day." + +Dick, with a curious outward calm, contrasting with the fury of his mock +encounter, put down the sword and went to the end of the table, where +the case of pistols lay. + +"At any rate, I must show you," said he, "the famous duelling pistols." + +"They were the very pistols in the duel between his great-grandfather +and Lord Estcombe," said Viviette. + +"They've not been used from that day--he killed Lord Estcombe, by the +by--till this. The case is just as it was left. I was going to tell you +the story yesterday." + +"I remember," said Katherine, by way of civility. "But Mrs. Ware stopped +you." + +She was a mild-natured woman, and the realistic conjuring up of +gore-dripping tassels and bloody shirts upset her, and she desired to +get away. She also saw that Dick was abnormally excited, and suspected +that he had been drinking. Her delicate senses shrank from drunkenness. + +"You must tell the story," cried Viviette. "It's so romantic. You like +romantic things, Katherine. The great-grandfather was a Dick Ware +too--Wild Dick Ware they used to call him. Go on, Dick." + +Dick paused for a moment. He had a curious, dull, befogged sensation of +being compelled to do things independently of volition. Presently +he spoke. + +"It happened in this very room, a hundred years ago. Lord Estcombe and +my great-grandfather were friends--intimate friends from boyhood. Wild +Dick Ware was madly in love with a girl who had more or less become +engaged to him. Now, it came to his knowledge that Lord Estcombe had +been using blackguard means to win away the girl's affections. And one +day they were here"--he moved a pace or two to one side--"just as Austin +and I are now. And the girl over there--" + +Viviette, with a gay laugh, took up her position on the spot to which he +pointed. + +"Just in this identical place. I know the story--it's lovely!" + +"An old Peninsula comrade of Wild Dick Ware's was here too--a man called +Hawkins--" + +"Katherine shall be Hawkins," cried Viviette. + +"And in his presence," Dick continued, "Wild Dick Ware told the girl +that he was mad for love of her, but that he would not force her choice; +yet one of those two, himself or Lord Estcombe, she must choose, for +good and all. She could not speak for shame or confusion. He said, +'Throw your handkerchief to whichever of us you love.' And they stood +side by side--like this"--he ranged himself by Austin's side--"opposite +the girl." + +"And she threw the handkerchief!" cried Viviette. + +"Throw yours!" said Dick. He looked at her with fierce intensity beneath +rugged brows; Austin with laughing challenge. She knew that she was the +object of each man's desire, and her sex's triumph thrilled through her +from head to foot. She knew that this jesting choice would have serious +import. For some seconds the three remained stock still. She glanced +flatteringly from one man to the other. Which should she choose? Her +heart beat wildly. Choose one or the other she must. Outside that room +no man lived whom she would marry. Each second strained the situation +further. At last her spirit rose in feminine revolt against the trap +which Dick had set for her, and, with a malicious look, she threw the +handkerchief at Austin's feet. He picked it up and gallantly put it +to his lips. + +"In the story," exclaimed Viviette, "she threw it to Lord Estcombe. +Austin is Lord Estcombe." + +"And I'm Dick Ware," cried Dick, in a strangled voice. "Wild Dick Ware. +And this is what he did. He dragged the girl out of the room first." + +He took Viviette by the arm and roughly thrust her past the screen. + +"Then--that case was on the table. And without a word Wild Dick Ware +comes up to Lord Estcombe so--and says, 'Choose.'" + +He gripped the pistols by the barrels, crossed them, and presented the +butts to Austin. Austin waved them away with a deprecatory gesture and +a smile. + +"Really, old man, I can't enter into the spirit of it, like that. You're +splendid. But if I took a hand, it would be tomfoolery." + +"Oh, do, do," cried Viviette. "Let us go through with it and see just +how the duel was fought. It will be thrilling. You'll have to fall dead +like Lord Estcombe, and I'll burst into the room and tear my hair over +your poor corpse. Do, Austin, for my sake." + +He yielded. Any foolishness for her sake. He took a pistol. + +"You'll have to be Major Hawkins, Katherine," he said lightly, as if +inviting her to condescend to some child's game. + +But Katherine put her hands before her face and shrank back. "No, no, +no. I couldn't. I don't like it." + +"Then I'll be Major Hawkins," said Viviette. + +"You will?" Dick laughed harshly. "Then be it so." + +"I know just what they did." + +She placed the men back to back, so that Austin faced the further end of +the room and Dick the open French window. They were to take three paces, +count one, two, three, and, at the end of the third pace, they were to +turn and fire. + +Dick felt the touch of Austin's shoulder against his, and the flame at +his heart grew fiercer and the hell in his throat more burning, and the +universe whirled round in a red mist. Viviette moved to the +weapon-laden table. + +"Now. One--two--three!" + +[Illustration: Dick glared at him] + +They paced and turned. Dick levelled his pistol instantly at Austin, +with murderous hate in his eyes, and drew the trigger. The pistol +clicked harmlessly. Austin, self-conscious, did not raise his pistol. +But Dick, broadening his chest, glared at him and shouted, +wildly, madly: + +"Fire, damn you! Fire! Why the devil don't you fire?" + +The cry was real, vibrant with fury and despair. Austin looked at him +for an amazed moment; then, throwing his pistol on to one of the +arm-chairs, he came up to him. + +"What fool's game are you playing, Dick? Are you drunk?" + +Katherine, with a low cry, flung herself between them, and, clinging to +Dick's arm, took the pistol from his hand. + +"No more of this--no more. The duel has been too much like reality +already." + +Dick staggered to a straight-backed chair by the wall, and, sitting +down, wiped his forehead. He had grown deathly white. The flames had +been suddenly quenched within him, and he felt cold and sick. Viviette, +in alarm, ran to his side. What was the matter? Was he faint? Let her +take him into the fresh air. Austin came up. But at his approach Dick +rose and shrank away, glancing at him furtively out of bloodshot eyes. + +"Yes. The heat has oppressed me. I'm not well. I'll go out." + +He stumbled blindly towards the French window. Viviette followed him, +but he turned on her rudely and thrust her back. + +"I'm not well, I tell you. I don't want your help. Let me alone." + +He passed through the French window on to the terrace. The sky had +clouded over, and a drizzle had begun to fall. + +Viviette felt curiously frightened, but she put on an air of bravado as +she came down the gallery. + +"Have you all been rehearsing this little comedy?" + +No mirthful response lit either face. She read condemnation in both +pairs of eyes. For the first time in her life she felt daunted, +humiliated. She knew nothing more beyond the fact that in deliberate +coquetry she had pitted brother against brother, and that something +cruel and tragical had happened for which she was being judged. Neither +spoke. She summoned her outer dignity, tossed her pretty head, and went +out by the end door which Austin in cold politeness held open for her. +Then she mounted to her bedroom, and, throwing herself on her bed, burst +into a passion of meaningless weeping. + +Katherine handed Austin the pistol which she had taken from Dick's hand. + +"Now you'll believe what I told you." + +"I believe it," said Austin gravely. + +"That duel was not all play-acting." + +"That," said he, "was absurd. Dick Has been drinking. It was a silly +farce. Viviette egged him on until he seemed to take it seriously." + +"He did take it seriously, Austin. He's in a dangerous mood. If I were +you I should be careful. Take a woman's warning." + +He stood for a moment in deep thought, his gaze absently fixed on the +weapon he held in his hand. Suddenly a glint of something strange caught +his eye. He started, but recovered himself quickly. + +"I'll take your warning, Katherine. Here's my hand upon it." + +A moment later, when he was alone, he uncocked the pistol--Dick's +pistol. The glint had not been imaginary. It was a percussion cap. With +trembling fingers he picked it off the nipple. He passed his hand across +his damp forehead, for he felt faint with dread. But the task had to be +accomplished. He unscrewed the ramrod and picked out the wad, a piece +of white paper which dropped on the floor. From the barrel held downward +a bullet dropped with a dead, fateful thud on the floor. More paper +wad--a slithering shower of gunpowder. He put the pistol down, and took +up the one he himself had used from the chair where he had thrown it. It +was unloaded. His eye fell on the bits of white paper. He picked them up +and unfolded them. The daily newspaper lay by the stove, with the corner +torn accusingly. + +Then he understood. He sank into a chair, paralysed with horror. It was +Dick's pistol that was loaded. Dick had meant to murder him. By the +grace of God the pistol had missed fire. But Dick, his own brother, had +meant to murder him. An hour later he walked out of the room, the case +of pistols under his arm, with the drawn face of an old man. + +It was not until Dick had stumbled five or six miles through the +drenching downpour that the thought reached his dulled brain that he had +left the pistols loose for anyone to examine. The thought was like a +great stone hitting him on the side of the head. He turned and began to +run homewards, like a hunted man in desperate flight. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A CRISIS + + +Viviette having repaired the disorder caused by her tears went down to +tea. Mrs. Ware, Katherine, and a curate deliberately calling or taking +shelter from the rain were in the drawing-room. Austin, to his mother's +mild astonishment, had sent down a message to the effect that he was +busy. On ordinary occasions Viviette would have flirted monstrously with +the clerical youth, and sent him away undecided whether to offer to +share his lodgings and hundred pounds a year with her, or to turn +Catholic and become a monk. But now she had no mind to flirtation. She +left him to the undisturbing wiles of Mrs. Ware, and petted and +surreptitiously fed Dick's Irish terrier, whose brown eyes looked +pathetic inquiry as to his master's whereabouts. She was sobered by the +uncomprehended scene in the armoury--sobered by Dick's violence and by +Austin's final coldness. A choice had been put before her in deadly +earnest; she had refused to make one. But the choice would have to be +made very soon, unless she sent both her lovers packing, a step which +she did not for a moment contemplate. + +"You must promise to marry one or the other and end this tension," said +Katherine, a little later, after the curate had gone with Mrs. Ware to +look at her greenhouses. + +"I wish to goodness I could marry them both," said Viviette. "Have a +month with each, turn and turn about. It would be ideal." + +"It would be altogether horrid!" exclaimed Katherine. "How could such a +thought enter your head?" + +"I suppose it must have entered every woman's head who has two men +she's fond of in love with her at once. I said yesterday that it was +great fun being a woman. I find it's a d.d.d.d. imposition!" + +"For heaven's sake, child, make up your mind quickly," said Katherine. + +Viviette sighed. Which should it be? Dick, with his great love and rough +tenderness and big, protecting arms, or Austin with his conquering ways, +his wit, his charm, his perception? Austin could give her the luxury +that her sensuous nature delighted in, social position, the brilliant +life of London. What could Dick give her? It would always be a joy to +dress herself for Austin. Dick would be content if she went about in +raiment made of dusters and bath towels. In return, what could she give +each of these men? She put the question to herself. She was not +mercenary or heartless. She gave of herself freely and loved the giving. +What could she give to Austin? What could she give to Dick? These +questions, in her sober mood, weighed the others down. + +When the rain ceased and a pale sun had dried the gravel, she went out +into the grounds by herself and faced the problem. She sighed +again--many times. If only they would let her have her fun out and give +her answer six months hence! + +Her meditations were cut short by the arrival of a telegraph boy on his +bicycle at the front gate. He gave her the telegram. It was for Austin. +Her heart beat. She went into the house with the yellow envelope +containing Dick's destiny and mounted to the little room off the first +landing which had been Austin's private study since his boyhood. She +knocked. Austin's voice bade her enter. He rose from the desk where, pen +in hand, he had been sitting before a blank sheet of paper, and without +a word took the telegram. She noticed with a shock that he had curiously +changed. The quick, brisk manner had gone. His face was grey. + +"It is _the_ telegram, isn't it?" she asked eagerly. + +"Yes," said he, handing it to her. "It's from Lord Overton." + +She read: "The very man. Send him along to me early to-morrow. Hope he +can start immediately." + +"Oh, how splendid!" she exclaimed with a little gasp of happiness. "How +utterly splendid! Thank heaven!" + +"Yes. Thank heaven," Austin acquiesced gravely. "I forgot to mention to +you that Lord Overton knows Dick personally," he added, after a pause. +"They met at my house the last time Dick was in London." + +"This _is_ good news," said Viviette. "At last I can give him a birthday +present worth having." + +"He will not be here for his birthday," said Austin, in cold, even +tones. "He must catch the mail to-night." + +Viviette echoed: "To-night?" + +"And in all probability he will sail for Vancouver in a day or two. It +won't be worth his while to come back here." + +She laid a hand on her heart, which fluttered painfully. + +"Then--then--we'll never see him again?" + +"Probably not." + +"I didn't think it would be so sudden," she said, a little wildly. + +"Neither did I. But it's for the best." + +"But supposing he wants some time to look about him?" + +"I'll see to everything," said Austin. + +"Anyhow, I must be the first to tell him," said Viviette. + +"You will do me a very great favour if you will let me have that +privilege," said Austin. "I make a particular point of it. I have some +serious business to discuss with him before dinner, and that will be the +time for me to break the news." + +He was no longer the fairy godmother's devoted and humble factotum. He +spoke with a cold air of authority that chilled the fairy godmotherdom +in Viviette's bosom. Her prettly little scheme dwindled into +childishness before the dark, incomprehended thing that had happened. +She assented with unusual meekness. + +"But I'm desperately disappointed," she said. + +"My dear Viviette," he answered more kindly, and looking at her with +some wistfulness, "the pleasures and even the joy of life have to give +way to the sober, business side of existence. It isn't very gay, I know, +but we can't alter it." + +He held out his hand. Instinctively she gave him hers. He raised it to +his lips and held the door open for her. She went out scarcely knowing +that she had been dismissed. Austin closed the door, stood unsteadily +for a moment like a man stricken with great pain, and then, sitting +down at his desk again, put his elbows on the table, rested his head in +his hands, and stared at the white piece of paper. When would Dick come +home? He had given orders that Dick should be asked to go to him as soon +as he arrived. Would Dick ever come home again? It was quite possible +that some misfortune might have happened. Tragedy is apt to engender +tragedy. He shuddered, hearing in his fancy the tramp of men, and seeing +a shrouded thing they carried across the hall. He bitterly accused +himself for not having sought Dick far and wide as soon as he had made +his ghastly discovery. But he had required time to recover his balance. +The horrible suddenness had stunned him. Attempted fratricide is not a +common happening in gentle families. He had to accustom himself to the +atmosphere of the abnormal, so as to state the psychological case in its +numberless ramifications. This he had done. His head was clear. His +unalterable decision made. Now the minutes dragged with leaden feet +until Dick should come. + +Viviette was the first to see him. She had dressed early for dinner, +and, as the late June afternoon had turned out fine, was taking her +problem out to air on the terrace when she came upon him standing at the +door of his armoury. His hair was wet and matted, his eyes bloodshot, +his clothes dripping, and he himself splashed with mud from head to +foot. He trembled all over, shaken by a great terror. The case of +pistols had gone. Who had taken them? Had the loaded pistol been +discovered? + +As Viviette appeared, robed in deep blue chiffon that seemed torn from +the deep blue evening sky, and looking, in the man's maddened eyes, +magically beautiful, he held out imploring hands. + +"Come in for a moment. For the love of God come in for a moment." + +He stepped back invitingly. She hesitated for a second on the threshold, +and then followed him down the dim gallery, past the screen where all +the swords and helmets lay scattered on the table. He looked at her +haggardly, and she met his gaze with kind eyes in which there was no +mockery. No. Nothing had happened, he told himself; otherwise she would +shrink from him as from something accursed. + +"My God, if you knew how I love you!" he said hoarsely. "My God, if you +only knew!" + +His suffering racked her heart. All her pity melted over him. She laid +her caressing fingers on his arm. + +"Oh, my poor Dick!" she said. + +[Illustration: He held out imploring hands.] + +The touch, the choke in her voice, brought about Viviette's downfall. +Perhaps she meant it to do so. Who can tell? What woman ever knows? In a +flash his arms were around her and his kisses, a wild, primitive man's +kisses, were on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks. Her face was crushed +against the rough wet tweed of his coat, and its odour, raw and coarse, +was in her nostrils. She drooped, intoxicated, gasping for breath in his +unheeding giant's grip, but she made no effort to escape. As he held her +a thrill, agonising and delicious, swept through her, and she raised her +lips involuntarily to his and closed her eyes. At last he released her, +mangled, tousled, her very self a draggled piece of chiffon like the +night-blue frock, soiled with wet and mud. + +"Forgive me," he said, "I had no right. Least of all now. God knows what +is to become of me. But whatever happens, you know that I love you." + +She had her hands clasped before her face. She could not look at him. + +"Yes, I know," she murmured. + +In another moment he had gone, leaving Viviette, who had entered the +room a girl, transformed into a woman with the first shiver of passion +in her veins. + +Dick, vaguely conscious of damp and dirt, went up to his bedroom. The +sight of his evening things spread out on the bed reminded him that it +was nearly dinner-time. Mechanically he washed and dressed. As he was +buckling on his ready-made white tie--his clumsy fingers, in spite of +many lessons from Viviette, had never learned the trick of tying a +bow--a maid brought him a message. Mr. Austin's compliments and would he +see Mr. Austin for a few moments in Mr. Austin's room. The words were +like the dreaded tap on the shoulder of the hunted criminal. + +"I'll come at once," he said. + +He found Austin sitting on the chair by his desk, resting his chin on +his elbow. He did not stir as Dick entered. + +"You want to speak to me?" + +"Yes," said Austin. "Will you sit down?" + +"I'll stand," said Dick impatiently. "What have you to say to me?" + +"I believe you have expressed your desire to leave England and earn your +living in a new country. Is that so?" + +The brothers' eyes met. Dick saw that the loaded pistol had been +discovered, and read no love, no pity, only condemnation in the hard +gaze. Austin was pronouncing sentence. + +"Yes," he replied sullenly. + +"I happen," said Austin, "to know of an excellent opportunity. Lord +Overton, whom you have met, wants a man to take charge of his timber +forests in Vancouver. The salary is £700 a year. I wired to Lord Overton +asking for the appointment on your behalf. This is his answer." + +Dick took the telegram and read it with muddled head. Austin had lost no +time. + +"You see, it fits in admirably. You can start by the night mail. Your +sudden departure needs no other explanation to the household than this +telegram. I hope you understand." + +"I understand," said Dick bitterly. A sudden memory of words that +Viviette had used the day before occurred to him. "I understand. This is +to get me out of the way. 'David put Uriah in the forefront of the +battle.' Vancouver is the forefront." + +"Don't you think we had better avoid all unprofitable discussion?" +Austin rose and confronted him. "I expect you to accept this offer and +my conditions." + +"And if I refuse?" asked Dick, with rising anger. "What dare you +threaten me with?" + +Austin raised a deprecatory hand. + +"Do you suppose I'm going to threaten you? I simply expect you not to +refuse. Your conscience must tell you that I have the right to do so. +Doesn't it?" + +Dick glowered sullenly at the wall and tugged his great moustache. + +"You force me to touch on things I should have liked to keep hidden," +said Austin. "Very well." He took a scrap of crumpled paper from the +desk. "Do you recognise this? It formed the wad of the pistol that was +in _your_ hand." + +Dick started back a pace. "You're wrong," he gasped. "It was _your_ +pistol that was loaded." + +"No. Yours. The cap missed fire, or I should have been a dead +man--murdered by my brother." + +"Stop," cried Dick. "Not murdered. No, no, not murdered. It was in fair +fight. I gave you the choice. When I thought I had the unloaded one I +called on you to fire. Why the devil didn't you? I wanted you to fire. I +was mad for you to fire. I wanted to be killed there and then. No one +can say I shirked it. I gave you your chance." + +"That's nothing to do with it," said Austin sternly. "When you fired you +meant murder. Your face meant killing. And supposing I had fired--and +killed you! Good God! I would sooner you had killed me than burdened my +soul with your death. It would have been less cowardly. Yes, cowardly. +The conditions were not even. To me it was trivial fooling. To you, +deadly earnest. Are you not man enough to see that I have the right to +exact some penalty?" + +Dick remained silent for a few moments, while the powers of light and +darkness struggled together in his soul. At last he said in a low voice, +hanging his head: + +"I'll accept your terms." + +"You leave by the night mail for Witherby." + +"Very well." + +"There's another point," said Austin. "The most important point of all. +You will not speak alone to Viviette before you start." + +Dick turned with an angry flash, + +"What?" + +"You will not speak to Viviette alone. When you are gone--for there is +no need for you to come back here before you sail--you will not write to +her. You will go absolutely and utterly out of her life." + +Dick broke into harsh, furious laughter. + +"And leave her to you? I might have known that the lawyer would have had +me in the trap. But this time you've over-reached yourself. I'll never +give her up. Do you hear me? Never--never--never! I would go through the +horror of to-day a thousand times--day by day until I die, rather than +give her up to you. You shall not take this last thing from me--this +hope of winning her--as you have taken everything else. You have +supplanted me since first you learned to speak. It has been Esau +and Jacob--" + +"Or Cain and Abel," said Austin. + +"You can taunt me if you like," cried Dick, goaded to fury, and the +whole bitterness of a lifetime surging up in passionate speech. "I have +got past feeling it. Your life has been one continual taunt of me. You +have thought me a dull, good-natured boor, delighted to have a word +thrown at him now and again by the elegant gentleman, and rather +honoured than otherwise to be ridden over roughshod, or kicked into the +mud when it pleased the elegant gentleman to ride by. No, listen to me," +he thundered, as Austin was about to protest. "By God, you shall listen +this time. You've made me your butt, your fool, your doer of trivial +offices. I've wondered sometimes why you haven't addressed me as 'my +good fellow,' and asked me to touch my cap to you. I've borne it all +these years without complaining--but do you know what it is to eat your +heart out and remain silent? I have borne it for my mother's sake--in +spite of her dislike of me--and for your sake, because I loved you. Yes. +If ever one man has loved another I've loved you. But you took no heed. +What was my affection worth? I was only the stupid, dull boor ... but I +suffered it all till you came between me and her. I had spent the whole +passion of my life upon her. She was the only thing left in the world +for which I felt fiercely. I hungered for her, thirsted for her, my +brain throbbed at the thought of her, the blood rushed through my veins +at the sight of her. And you came between us. And if I have damned my +soul, by God! the damnation is your doing. Do you think, while I live, +that I'll give her up to you? I'll get my soul's worth, anyhow." + +He smote his palm with his clenched fist and strode about the little +room. Austin sat for a while dumb with astonishment and dismay. His +cherished, lifelong conception of "dear old Dick" lay shattered. A new +Dick appeared to him, a personality stronger, deeper than he could have +imagined. A new respect for him, also a new pity that was generous and +not contemptuous, crept into his heart. + +"Listen, Dick," said he, using the familiar name for the first time. "Do +I understand that you accuse me of sending you out to Vancouver and +hastening your departure so as to gain my own ends with Viviette?" + +"Yes," returned Dick. "I do. You have laid this trap for me." + +"Have you ever heard me lie to you?" + +"No," said Dick. + +"Then I tell you, as man to man, that until this afternoon I had no +suspicion that your feelings towards Viviette were deeper than those of +an elder brother." + +Dick laughed bitterly. "You couldn't conceive a clod like me falling in +love. Well?" + +"That's beside the question," said Austin. "I did not behave +dishonourably towards you. I came down. I fell in love with Viviette. +How could I help it? How could I help loving her? How could I help +telling her so? But she is young and innocent, and her heart is her own +yet. Tell me--man to man--dare you say that you have won it or that I +have won it?" + +"What's the good of talking?" said Dick, relapsing into his sullen mood. +"If I go she is yours. But I won't go." + +Austin rose again and laid his hand on his brother's arm. + +"Dick. If I give her up, will you obey my conditions?" + +"You give her up voluntarily? Why should you?" + +"A damnable thing was done this afternoon," said Austin. "I see I had my +share in it, and I as well as you have to make reparation. Man alive! +You are my brother," he cried with an outburst of feeling. "The nearest +thing in the world to me. Do you think I could rest happy with the +knowledge that a murderous devil is always in your heart, and that it's +in my power to--to exorcise it? Do you think the cost matters? Come. +Shall we make this bargain? Yes or no?" + +"It's easy for you to promise," said Dick. "But when I am gone, how can +you resist?" + +Austin hesitated for a moment, biting his lips. Then, with the air of a +man who makes an irrevocable step in life, he crossed the room and +rang the bell. + +"Ask Mrs. Holroyd if she will have the kindness to come here for a +minute," he said to the servant. + +Dick regarded him wonderingly. "What has Mrs. Holroyd to do with our +affairs?" + +"You'll see," said Austin, and there was silence between them till +Katherine came. + +She looked from one joyless face to the other, and sat without a word +on the chair that Austin placed for her. Her woman's intuition divined a +sequel to the afternoon's drama. Some of it she had already learned. +For, going earlier into Viviette's room, she had found her white and +shaken, still disordered in hair and dress as Dick had left her; and +Viviette had sobbed on her bosom and told her with some incoherence that +the monkey had at last hit the lyddite shell in the wrong place, and +that it was all over with the monkey. So, before Austin spoke, she half +divined why he had summoned her. + +Her heart throbbed painfully. + +"Dick and I," said Austin, "have been talking of serious matters, and we +need your help." + +She smiled wanly. "I'll do whatever I can, Austin." + +"You said this afternoon you would do anything I asked you. Do you +remember?" + +"Yes, I said so--and I meant it." + +"You said it in reply to my question whether you would accept me if I +asked you to marry me." + +Dick started from the sullen stupor into which he had fallen and +listened with perplexed interest. + +"You are not quite right in your tenses, Austin," she remarked. "You +said: Would I have accepted you if you had asked me?" + +"I want to change the tense into the present," he replied. + +She met his glance calmly. "You ask me to marry you in spite of what you +told me this afternoon?" + +"In spite of it and because of it," he said, drawing up a chair near to +her. "A great crisis has arisen in our lives that must make you forget +other words I spoke this afternoon. Those other words and everything +connected with them I blot out of my memory forever. I want you to do me +an infinite service. If there had been no deep affection between us I +should not dare to ask you. I want you to be my wife, to take me into +your keeping, to trust me as an upright man to devote my life to your +happiness. I swear I'll never give you a moment's cause for regret." + +She plucked for a while at her gown. It was a strange wooing. But in her +sweet way she had given him her woman's aftermath of love. It was a +gentle, mellow gift, far removed from the summer blaze of passion, and +it had suffered little harm from the sadness of the day. She saw that he +was in great stress. She knew him to be a loyal gentleman. + +"Is this the result of that scene in the armoury?" she asked quietly. + +"Yes," said Austin. + +"I was right then. It was a matter of life and death." + +"It was," said he. "So is this." + +She looked again from one face to the other, rose, hesitated for a +moment--and then held out her hand. "I am willing to trust you, +Austin," she said. + +He touched her hand with his lips and said gravely: "I will not fail +your trust." + +As soon as she had gone he went to the chair where Dick sat in gloomy +remorse and laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"Well?" said he. + +"I agree," Dick groaned, without looking up. "I have no alternative. I +appreciate your generosity." + +Then Austin spoke of the appointment in Vancouver. He explained how the +idea had occurred to him; how Viviette had come late the night before to +tell him of what he had never before suspected--Dick's desire to go +abroad; how they had conspired to give him a birthday surprise; how they +had driven over to Witherby to send the telegram to Lord Overton. And as +he spoke, Dick looked at him with a new ghastliness on his face. + +"This afternoon--in the dining-room--when you said that Viviette had +told you everything--?" + +"About your wish to go to the Colonies. What else?" + +"And what I overheard in the armoury--about a telegram--telling +me--putting me out of my misery?" + +"Only whether we should tell you to-night or to-morrow about the +appointment. Dick--Dick," said Austin, deeply moved by the great +fellow's collapse, "if I have wronged you all these years, it was +through want of insight, not want of affection. If I have taunted you, +as you say, it was merely a lifelong habit of jesting which you never +seemed to resent. I was unconscious of hurting you. For my blindness and +carelessness I beg your forgiveness. With regard to Viviette--I ought to +have seen, but I didn't. I don't say you had no cause for jealousy--but +as God hears me--all the little conspiracy to-day was lovingly +meant--all to give you pleasure. I swear it." + +Dick rose and stumbled about among the furniture. The setting sun fell +just below the top of the casement window, and its direct rays flooded +the little room and showed Dick in a strange, unearthly light. + +"I wronged you," he said bitterly. "Even in my passions I'm a dull fool. +I thought you a damned cad, and I got more and more furious, and I +drank--I was drunk all this afternoon--and madness came, and when I saw +you kiss her--yes, I saw you, I was peeping from behind the +screen--things went red before my eyes, and it was then that I loaded +the pistol to shoot you on the spot. God forgive me! May God have +mercy upon me." + +He leant his arms on the sill and buried his face. + +"I can't ask your forgiveness," he went on, after a moment. "It would +be a mockery." He laughed mirthlessly. "How can I say. 'I'm sorry I +meant to murder you--please don't think anything about it?'" He turned +with a fierce gesture. "Oh, you must take it all as said, man! Now, have +you finished with me? I can't stand it much longer, I agree to all your +terms. I'll drive over to Witherby now and wait for the train--and +you'll be free of me." + +He turned again and moodily looked out of the window in the full flood +of the sunset. + +"We must play the game, Dick," said Austin gently, "and go through the +horrible farce of dinner--for mother's sake." + +Dick heard him vaguely. Below, on the terrace, Viviette was walking, and +she filled his universe. She had changed the bedraggled frock for the +green one she had worn the night before. Presently she raised her eyes +and saw him leaning out of the window. + +"Have they told you that dinner is not till a quarter past eight?" she +cried, looking deliciously upwards, with a dainty hand to her cheek. +"Lord Banstead sent a message to mother that he was unexpectedly +detained, and mother has put back dinner. Isn't it impudence?" + +But Dick was far too crushed with misery to respond. He nodded +dejectedly. She remained staring up at him for a while and then ran into +the house. + +Dick listlessly mentioned the postponement of dinner. + +"I'm sorry I asked the little brute, but I couldn't avoid it." + +"What does it matter?" said Austin. He was silent for a moment. Then he +came close to Dick. + +"Dick," said he. "Let us end this awful scene as friends and brothers. +As Heaven hears me, there is no bitterness in my heart. Only deep +sorrow--and love, Dick. Shake hands." + +Dick took his hand and broke down utterly, and said such things of +himself as other men do not like to hear. Presently there was a light +rap of knuckles at the door. Austin opened it and beheld Viviette. + +"I won't disturb you," she said; "I only want to give this note to +Dick." + +"I will hand it to him," said Austin. + +She thanked him and departed. He closed the door and gave Dick the note. +Dick opened it, read, and with a great cry of "Viviette!" rushed to the +door. Austin interposed, grasped him by the wrist: + +"What are you doing?" + +"I'm going to her," shouted Dick wildly, wrenching himself free. "Read +this." He held up the note before Austin's eyes, with shaking fingers. +Austin read: + +"I can't bear to see the misery on your face, when I can make you happy. +I love you, dear, better than anything on earth. I know it now, and +I'll go out with you to Vancouver." + +"She loves me. She'll marry me. She'll go out to Vancouver!" cried Dick. +"It changes everything. I must go to her." + +"You shall not go," said Austin. + +"Shall not? Who dares prevent me?' + +"I do. I hold you to your word." + +"But, man alive! she loves me--don't you see? The bargain is dissolved. +This is none of my seeking. She comes of her own free will. I am +going to her." + +Austin put both his hands affectionately on the big man's shoulders and +forced him into a chair. + +"Listen to me just for one minute, Dick. Dick, you dare not marry. Don't +drive me to tell you the reason. Can't you see for yourself why I've +imposed this condition on you all along?" + +"I know no reason," said Dick. "She loves me, and that is enough." + +The greyness deepened over Austin's face and the pain in his eyes. + +"I must speak, then, in plain terms. That horrible murder impulse is the +reason. Today, in a fit of frenzied jealousy, you would have killed me, +your brother. Is there any guarantee that, in another fit of frenzied +jealousy, you might not--?" + +A shudder ran through Dick's great frame. He stretched out his hand. +"For God's sake--don't." + +"I must--until you see this ghastly business in its true aspect. Look at +the lighter side of Viviette's character. She is gay, fond of +admiration, childishly fond of teasing, a bright creature of bewildering +moods. Would she be safe in your hands? Might you not one day again see +things red before your eyes and again go mad?" + +"Don't say any more," Dick said in a choking voice. "I can't stand it." + +"Heaven knows, I didn't want to say as much." + +Dick shuddered again. "Yes, you are right. I am a man with a curse. I +can't marry her. I daren't." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +VIVIETTE TAKES THE RISK + + +Presently Dick raised the face of Cain when he told the Lord that his +punishment was greater than he could bear. Tears leaped to Austin's +eyes, but he turned his head away lest Dick should see them. He would +have given years of his life to spare Dick--everything he had in the +world--save his deep convictions of right and wrong. He was responsible +for Viviette. That risk of horror he could not let her run. He had +hoped, with a great agony of hope, that Dick would have seen it for +himself. To formulate it had been torture. But he could not weaken. The +barrier between Dick and Viviette was not of his making. It was composed +of the grim psychological laws that govern the abnormal. To have +disregarded it would have been a crime from which his soul shrank. All +the despair in Dick's face, though it wrung his heart, could not move +him. It was terrible to be chosen in this way to be the arbiter of +Destiny. But there was the decree, written in letters of blood and +flame. And Dick had bowed to it. + +"What's to become of her?" he groaned. + +"This will be her home, as it always has been," said Austin. + +"I don't mean that--but between us we shall break her heart. She has +given it to me just in time for me to do it. My luck!" + +Austin tried to comfort him. A girl's heart was not easily broken. Her +pride would suffer most. Pain was inevitable. But Time healed many +wounds. In this uncertain world nothing was ever so good as we hoped, +and nothing ever so bad as we feared. Dick paid little heed to the +platitudes. + +"She must be told!" + +"Not what happened this afternoon," cried Austin quickly. "That we bury +forever from all human knowledge." + +"Yes," said Dick, staring in front of him and speaking in a dull, even +voice. "We must hide that. It's not a pretty thing to spread before a +girl's eyes. It will be always before my own--until I die. But she must +be told that I can't marry her. I can't ride away and leave her in doubt +and wonder forever and ever." + +"Let us face this horrible night as best we can," said Austin. "Avoid +seeing her alone. You'll be with mother or packing most of the evening. +Slip away to Witherby an hour or so before your time. When you're gone +I'll arrange matters. Leave it to me." + +He made one of his old, self-confident gestures. But now Dick felt no +resentment. His spirit in its deep abasement saw in Austin the better, +wiser, stronger man. + +At a quarter-past eight they went slowly downstairs to what promised to +be a nightmare kind of meal. There would be four persons, Viviette, +Katherine, and themselves, in a state of suppressed eruption, and two, +Mrs. Ware and the unspeakable Banstead, complacently unaware of volcanic +forces around them, who might by any chance word bring about disaster. +There was danger, too--and the greatest--from Viviette, ignorant of +Destiny. Austin dreaded the ordeal; but despair and remorse had benumbed +Dick's faculties; he had passed the stage at which men fear. With his +hand on the knob of the drawing-room door Austin paused and looked +at him. + +"Pull yourself together, man. Play your part. For God's sake, try to +look cheerful." + +Dick tried. Austin shivered. + +"For God's sake, don't," he said. + +They entered the drawing-room, expecting to find the three ladies, and +possibly Lord Banstead, assembled for dinner. To Austin's discomfiture, +Viviette was alone in the room. She rose, made a step or two to meet +them, then stopped. + +"What a pair of faces! One would think it were the eve of Dick's +execution, and you were the hangman measuring him for the noose." + +"Dick," said Austin, "is leaving us to-night--possibly for many years." + +"I don't see that he is so very greatly to be pitied," said Viviette, +trying in vain to meet Dick's eyes. She drew him a pace or two aside. + +"Did you read my note--or did you tear it up like the other one?" + +"I read it," he said, looking askance at the floor. + +"Then why are you so woe-begone?" + +He replied in a helpless way that he was not woe-begone. Viviette was +puzzled, hurt, somewhat humiliated. She had made woman's great surrender +which is usually followed by a flourish of trumpets very gratifying to +hear. In fact, to most women the surrender is worth the flourish. But +the recognition of this surrender appeared to find its celebration in a +funeral march with muffled drums. A condemned man being fitted for the +noose, as she had suggested, a mute conscientiously mourning at his own +funeral, a man who had lost a stately demesne in Paradise and had been +ironically compensated by the gift of a bit of foreshore of the Styx +could not have worn a less joyous expression than he on whom she had +conferred the boon of his heart's desire. + +"You're not only woe-begone," she said, with spirit, "but you're utterly +miserable. I think I have a right to know the reason. Tell me, what +is it?" + +She tapped a small, impatient foot. + +"We haven't told my mother yet," Austin explained, "and Dick is rather +nervous as to the way in which she will take the news." + +"Yes," said Dick, with lame huskiness. "It's on mother's account." + +Viviette laughed somewhat scornfully. + +"I am not a child, my dear Austin. No man wears a face like that on +account of his mother--least of all when he meets the woman who has +promised to be his wife." + +She flashed a challenging glance at Austin, but not a muscle of his grey +face responded. Her natural expectations were baffled. There was no +start of amazement, no fierce movement of anger, no indignant look of +reproach. She was thrown back on herself. She said: + +"I don't think you quite understand. Dick had two aims in life--one to +obtain a colonial appointment, the other--so he led me to suppose--to +marry me. He has the appointment, and I have promised to marry him." + +"I know," said Austin, "but you must make allowances." + +"If that's all you can say on behalf of your client," retorted Viviette, +"I rather wonder at your success as a barrister." + +"Don't you think, my dear," said Austin gently, "that we are treading on +delicate ground?" + +"Delicate ground!" she scoffed. "We seem to have been treading on a +volcano all the afternoon. I'm tired of it." She faced the two men with +uplifted head. "I want an explanation." + +"Of what?" Austin asked. + +"Of Dick's attitude. What has he got to be miserable about? Tell me." + +"But I'm not miserable, my dear Viviette," said poor Dick, vainly +forcing a smile. "I'm really quite happy." + +Her woman's intuition rejected the protest with contumely. All the +afternoon he had been mad with jealousy of Austin. An hour ago he had +whirled her out of her senses in savage passion. But a few minutes +before she had given him all a woman has to give. Now he met her with +hang-dog visage, apologies from Austin, and milk-and-water asseveration +of a lover's rapture. The most closely-folded rosebud miss of Early +Victorian times could not have faced the situation without showing +something of the Eve that lurked in the heart of the petals. So much the +less could Viviette, child of a freer, franker day, hide her just +indignation under the rose-leaves of maidenly modesty. + +"Happy!" she echoed. "I've known you since I was a child of three. I +know the meaning of every light and every shadow that passes over your +face--except this shadow now. What does it mean?" + +She asked the question imperiously, no longer the elfin changeling, the +fairy of bewildering moods of Austin's imagination, no longer the +laughing coquette of Katherine's less picturesque fancy, but a modern +young woman of character, considerably angered and very much in earnest. +Austin bit his lip in perplexity. Dick looked around like a hunted +animal seeking a bolting-hole. + +"Dick is anxious," said Austin, at length, seeing that some explanation +must be given, "that there should be no engagement between you before he +goes out to Vancouver." + +"Indeed?" said Viviette. "May I ask why? As this concerns Dick and +myself, perhaps you will leave us alone for a moment so that Dick +may tell me." + +"No, no," Dick muttered hurriedly. "Don't leave us, Austin. We can't +talk of such a thing now." + +Again she tapped her foot impatiently. + +"Yes, now. I'm going to hear the reason now, whatever it is." + +The brothers exchanged glances. Dick turned to the window, and stared +at the mellow evening sky. + +Austin again was spokesman. + +"Dick finds he has made a terrible and cruel mistake. One that concerns +you intimately." + +"Whatever Dick may have done with regard to me," replied Viviette, "I +forgave him for it beforehand. When once I give a thing I don't take it +back. I have given him my love and my promise." + +"My dear," said Austin, gravely and kindly. "Here are two men who have +loved you all your life. Don't think hardly of us. You must be brave and +bear a great shock. Dick can't marry you." + +She looked at him incredulously. + +"Can't marry me? Why not?" + +"It would be better not to ask." + +She moved swiftly to Dick, and with her light touch swung him round to +face the room. + +"I don't understand. Is it because you're going out into the wilds? +That doesn't matter. I told you I would go to Vancouver with you. I want +to go. My happiness is with you." + +Dick groaned. "Don't make it harder for me." + +"What are you keeping from me?" she asked. "Is it anything you don't +think fit for my ears? If so, speak. I'm no longer a child. Is there +another woman in the case?" + +She met Austin's eyes full. He said: "No, thank God! Nothing of that +sort." And as her eyes did not waver, he made the bold stroke. "He finds +that he doesn't love you as much as he thought. There's the whole +tragedy in a few words." + +She reeled back as if struck. "Dick doesn't love me?" Then the +announcement seemed so grotesque in its improbability that she began to +laugh, a trifle hysterically. + +"Is this true?" + +"It's quite true," said poor Dick. + +"You see, my dear," said Austin, "what it costs him--what it costs us +both--to tell you this." + +"But I don't understand. I don't understand!" she cried, with sudden +piteousness. "What did you mean, then--a little while ago--in +the armoury?" + +Austin, who did not see the allusion, had to allow Dick to speak for +himself. + +"I was drunk," said Dick desperately. "I've been drinking heavily of +late--and not accountable for my actions. I oughtn't to have done what +I did." + +"And so, you see," continued Austin, with some eagerness, "when he +became confronted with the great change in his life--Vancouver--he +looked at things soberly. He found that his feelings towards you were +not of the order that would warrant his making you his wife." + +Before Viviette could reply the door opened, and Mrs. Ware and +Katherine entered the room. Mrs. Ware, ignorant of tension, went +smilingly to Austin, and, drawing down his shapely head with both hands, +kissed him. + +"My dear, dear boy, I'm so glad, so truly glad. Katherine has just told +me." + +"Told you what, mother?" asked Viviette quickly, with a new sharpness in +her voice. + +Mrs. Ware turned a beaming face. "Can't you guess, darling? Oh, Austin, +there's no living woman whom I would sooner call my daughter. You've +made me so happy." + +The facile tears came, and she sat down and dried them on her little +wisp of handkerchief. + +"I thought it for the best to tell your mother, Austin," said Katherine, +somewhat apologetically. "We were speaking of you--and--I couldn't +keep it back." + +Viviette, white-lipped and dazed, looked at Austin, Katherine, and Dick +in turns. She said, in the high-pitched voice, to Austin: + +"Have you asked Katherine to marry you?" + +"Yes," he replied, not quite so confidently, and avoiding her +glance--"and she has done me the honour of accepting me." + +Katherine held out a conciliatory hand to Viviette. "Won't you +congratulate me, dear?" + +"And Austin, too," said Mrs. Ware. + +But Viviette lost control of herself. "I'll congratulate nobody," she +cried shrilly. She burned with a sense of intolerable outrage. Only a +few hours before she had been befooled into believing herself to be the +mistress of the destinies of two men. Both had offered her their love. +Both had kissed her. The memory lashed her into fury. Now one of them +avowed that she had been merely the object of a drunken passion, and +the other came before her as the affianced husband of the woman who +called herself her dearest friend. + +Katherine, in deep distress, laid her hand on the girl's arm. "Why not, +dear? I thought that you and Dick--in fact--I understood--" + +Viviette freed herself from Katherine's touch. + +"Oh, no, you didn't. You didn't understand anything. You didn't try to. +You are all lying. The three of you. You have all lied, and lied, and +lied to me. I tell you to your faces you have lied to me." She swung +passionately to each in turn. "'Austin can never be anything to me but a +friend'--how often have you said that to me? Ah--Saint Nitouche! And +you"--to Austin--"How dared you insult me this morning? And you--how +have you dared to insult me all the time? You've lied--the whole lot of +you--and I hate you all!" + +Mrs. Ware had risen, scared and trembling. + +"What does the girl mean? I've never heard such unladylike words in a +drawing-room in my life." + +Dick blundered in: "It's all my fault, mother--" + +"I've not the slightest doubt of that," returned the old lady with +asperity. "But what Austin and Katherine have to do with it I +can't imagine." + +The servant opened the door. + +"Lord Banstead." + +He entered a cold, strange silence. Everyone had forgotten him. He must +have attributed the ungenial atmosphere to his own lateness--it was +half-past eight--for he made penitent apology to Mrs. Ware. Austin +greeted him coldly. Dick nodded absently from the other side of the +room. Viviette, with a sweeping glance of defiance at the assembled +family, held herself very erect, and with hard eyes and quivering lips +came straight to the young fellow. + +"Lord Banstead," she said. "You have asked me four times to marry you. +Did you mean it, or were you lying, too?" + +Banstead's pallid cheeks flushed. He was overcome with confusion. + +"Of course I mean it--meant to ask you again to-day--ask you now." + +"Then I will marry you." + +Dick strode forward, and, catching her by the wrist, swung her away from +Banstead, his face aflame with sudden passion. + +"No, by God, you shan't!" + +Banstead retreated a few paces, scared out of his life. Mrs. Ware sought +Austin's protecting arm. + +"What does all this mean? I don't understand it." + +Austin led her to the door. "I'll see nothing unpleasant happens, dear. +You had better go and tell them to keep back dinner yet a few minutes." + +His voice and authority soothed her, and she left the room, casting a +terrified glance at Dick, standing threateningly over Lord Banstead, who +had muttered something about Viviette being free to do as she liked. + +"She can do what she likes, but, by God! she shan't marry you." + +"I'm of age," declared Viviette fiercely. "I marry whom I choose." + +"Of course she can," said Banstead. "Are you taking leave of your +senses?" + +"How dare you ask a pure girl to marry you?" cried Dick furiously. "You, +who have come straight here from--" + +Banstead found some spirit. "Shut up, Ware," he interrupted. "Play the +game. You've no right to say that." + +"I have the right," cried Dick. + +"Hush!" said Austin, interposing. + +"There's no need to prolong this painful discussion. To-morrow--as +Viviette's guardian--" + +"To-morrow?" Dick shouted. "Where shall I be to-morrow? Away from +here--unable to defend her--unable to say a word." + +"If you said a thousand words," said Viviette, "they wouldn't make an +atom of difference. Lord Banstead has asked me to marry him. I have +accepted him openly. What dare you say to it?" + +"Yes," said Banstead. "She has made no bones about it. I've asked her +five times. Now she accepts me. What have you to say to it?" + +"I say she shan't marry you," said Dick, glaring at the other. + +"Steady, steady, Dick," said Austin warningly. But Dick shook his +warning angrily aside, and Austin saw that, once again that day, Dick +was desperate. + +"Not while I live shall she marry you. Don't I know your infernal +beastly life?" + +"Now, look here," said Banstead, at bay. "What the deuce have you got to +do with my affairs?" + +"Everything. Do you think she loves you, cares for you, honours you, +respects you?" + +Viviette faced him with blazing eyes. + +"I do," she said defiantly. + +"It's a lie," cried Dick. "It's you that are lying now. Heaven and +earth! I've suffered enough to-day--I thought I had been through +hell--but it's nothing to this. She loves me--do you hear +me?--me--me--me--and I can't marry her--and I don't care a damn who +knows the reason." + +"Stop, man," said Austin. + +"Let me be. She shall know the truth. Everyone shall know the truth. At +any rate, it will save her from this." + +"I will do it quietly, later, Dick." + +"Let me be, I tell you," said Dick, with great, clumsy, passionate +gesture. "Let's have no more lies." He turned to Viviette. "You wrote me +a letter. You said you loved me--would marry me--come out to +Vancouver--the words made me drunk with happiness--at first. You saw me. +I refused your love and your offer. I said I didn't love you. I lied. I +said I couldn't marry you. It was the truth. I can't. I can't. But love +you! Oh, my God! My God! There were flames of hell in my heart--but +couldn't you see the love shining through?" + +"Don't, Dick, don't," cried Katherine. + +"I will," he exclaimed wildly. "I'll tell her why I can't marry any +woman. I tried to murder Austin this afternoon!" + +Katherine closed her eyes. She had guessed it. But Viviette, with parted +lips and white cheeks, groped her way backwards to a chair, without +shifting her terror-stricken gaze from Dick; and sitting, she gripped +the arms of the chair. + +There was a moment of tense silence. Banstead at last relieved his +feelings with a gasping, "Well, I'm damned!" + +Dick continued: + +"It was jealousy--mad jealousy--this afternoon--in the armoury--the mock +duel--one of the pistols was loaded. I loaded it--first, in order to +kill him out of hand--then I thought of the duel--he would have his +chance--either he would kill me or I would kill him. Mine happened to be +loaded. It missed fire. It was only the infinite mercy of God that I +didn't kill him. He found it out. He has forgiven me. He's worth fifty +millions of me. But my hands are red with his blood, and I can't touch +your pure garments. They would stain them red--and I should see red +again before my eyes some day. A man like me is not fit to marry any +woman. A murderer is beyond the pale. So I said I didn't love her to +save her from the knowledge of this horror. And now I'm going to the +other side of the world to work out my salvation--but she shall know +that a man loves her with all his soul, and would go through any torment +and renunciation for her sake--and, knowing that, she can't go and throw +herself away on a man unworthy of her. After what I've told you, will +you marry this man?" + +Still looking at him, motionless, she whispered, "No." + +"I say!" exclaimed Banstead. "I think--" + +Austin checked further speech. Dick looked haggardly round the room. + +"There. Now you all know. I'm not fit to be under the same roof with +you. Good-bye." + +He slouched in his heavy way to the door, but Viviette sprang from her +chair and planted herself in his path. + +"No. You shan't go. Do you think I have nothing to say?" + +"Say what you like," said Dick sadly. "Nothing is too black for me. +Curse me, if you will." + +She laughed, and shook her head. "Do you think a woman curses the man +who would commit murder for the love of her?" she cried, with a strange +exultation in her voice. "If I loved you before--don't you think I love +you now a million times more?" + +Dick fell back, thrilled with amazement. + +"You love me still?" he gasped. "You don't shrink--" + +"Excuse me," interrupted Banstead, crossing the room. "Does this mean +that you chuck me, Miss Hastings?" + +"You must release me from my promise, Lord Banstead," she said gently. +"I scarcely knew what I was doing. I'm very sorry. I've not behaved +well to you." + +"You've treated me damned badly," said Banstead, turning on his heel. +"Good-bye, everybody." + +Austin, moved by compunction, tried to conciliate the angry youth, but +he refused comfort. He had been made a fool of, and would stand that +from nobody. He would not stay for dinner, and would not put his foot +inside the house again. + +"At any rate," said Austin, bidding him good-bye, "I can rely on you not +to breathe a word to anyone of what you've heard this evening?" + +Banstead fingered his underfed moustache. + +"I may be pretty rotten, but I'm not that kind of cad," said he. And he +went, not without a certain dignity. + +Dick took Viviette's hand and kissed it tenderly. + +"God bless you, dear. I'll remember what you've said all my life. I can +go away almost happy." + +"You can go away quite happy, if you like," said Viviette. "Take me with +you." + +"To Vancouver?" + +Austin joined them. "It is impossible, dear," said he. + +"I go with him to Vancouver," she said. + +Dick wrung his hands. "But I daren't marry you, Viviette, I daren't, I +daren't." + +"Don't you see that it's impossible, Viviette?" said Austin. + +"Why?" + +"I've explained it to Dick. He has hinted it to you. You're scarcely old +enough to understand, my dear. It is the risk you run." + +"Such men as I can't marry," said Dick loyally. "You don't understand. +Austin is right. The risk is too great." + +She laughed in superb contempt. + +"The risk? Do you think I'm such a fool as not to understand? Do you +think, after what I've said, that I'm a child? Risk? What is life or +love worth without risk? When a woman loves a fierce man she takes the +risk of his fierceness. It's her joy. I'll take the risk, and it will be +a bond between us." + +Austin implored her to listen to reason. She swept his arguments aside. + +"God forbid. I'll listen to love," she cried. "And if ever a man wanted +love, it's Dick. Reason! Come, Dick, let us leave this god and goddess +of reason alone. I've got something to say which only you can hear." + +She dragged him in a bewildered state of mind to the door, which she +held open. She was absolute mistress of the situation. She motioned to +Dick to precede her, and he obeyed, like a man in a dream. On the +threshold she paused, and flashed defiance at Austin, who appeared to +her splendid scorn but a small, narrow-natured man. + +[Illustration: "I want you to love me forever and ever."] + +"You can say and think what you like, you two. You are civilised +people--and I suppose you love in a civilised way according to reason. +I'm a primitive woman, and Dick's a primitive man--and, thank God! we +understand each other, and love each other as primitive people do." + +She slammed the door, and in another moment was caught in Dick's great +arms. + +"What do you want to say that only I can hear?" he asked after a while. + +"This," she said. "I want you to love me strongly and fiercely for ever +and ever--and I'll be a great wife to you--and, if I fail--if I am ever +wanton, as I have been to-day--for I have been wanton--and all that has +happened has been my fault--if ever I play fast and loose with your love +again--I want you to kill me. Promise!" + +She looked at him with glowing eyes. All the big man's heart melted +into adoring pity. He took her face in both his hands as tenderly as he +would have touched a prize rose bloom. + +"Thank God, you're still a child, dear," he said. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Viviette, by William J. 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Locke</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + h1,h2,h3,h4 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps } + h1,h2 { margin-top: 2em } + li,.smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + img { border-style: none } + p {margin: 2em 20% 1em 20%} + ol {margin: 3em 20% 3em 20%} + blockquote {margin: 3em 20% 3em 25%} + hr ( margin: 2em 0% 2em 0% } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + + --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Viviette, by William J. Locke + +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: Viviette + +Author: William J. Locke + +Posting Date: November 12, 2011 [EBook #9924] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: October 31, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIVIETTE *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<p align="center"><img src="images/001.jpg" alt="[Illustration: "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me"]" /></p> + +<h1>Viviette</h1> + +<h3>By</h3> + +<h2>William J. Locke</h2> + + +<p class="smallcaps" align="center">Copyright, 1916<br /> +By AINSLER MAGAZINE COMPANY</p> + +<p class="smallcaps" align="center">Copyright, 1916<br /> +By JOHN LANE COMPANY</p> + + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<ol type="upper-roman"> +<li><a href="#I">The Brothers</a></li> +<li><a href="#II">The Conspirators</a></li> +<li><a href="#III">Katherine</a></li> +<li><a href="#IV">The Famous Duelling Pistols</a></li> +<li><a href="#V">A Crisis</a></li> +<li><a href="#VI">Viviette Takes The Risk</a></li> +</ol> + + +<h2>Illustrations</h2> + +<ol> +<li><a href="images/001.jpg">"No, don't, Viviette; forgive me"</a></li> +<li><a href="images/002.jpg">"Dick glared at him"</a></li> +<li><a href="images/003.jpg">"He held out imploring hands"</a></li> +<li><a href="images/004.jpg">"I want you to love me forever and ever"</a></li> +</ol> + + +<h2>Viviette</h2> + + + +<a name="I"></a> +<h2>Chapter I</h2> + +<h3>The Brothers</h3> + +<p>"Dick," said Viviette, "ought to go about in skins like a primitive +man."</p> + +<p>Katherine Holroyd looked up from her needlework. She was a gentle, +fair-haired woman of thirty, with demure blue eyes, which regarded the +girl with a mingling of pity, protection, and amusement.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said, "whenever I see a pretty girl fooling about with a +primitive man I always think of a sweet little monkey I once knew, who +used to have great sport with a lyddite shell. Her master kept it on his +table as a paper-weight, and no one knew it was loaded. One day she hit +the shell in the wrong place--and they're still looking for the monkey. +Don't think Dick is the empty shell."</p> + +<p>Whereupon she resumed her work, and for a few moments the click of +thimble and needle alone broke the summer stillness. Viviette lay idly +on a long garden chair admiring the fit of a pair of dainty tan shoes, +which she twiddled with graceful twists of the ankles some five feet +from her nose. At Mrs. Holroyd's remark she laughed after the manner of +one quite contented with herself--a low, musical laugh, in harmony with +the blue June sky and the flowering chestnuts and the song of +the thrushes.</p> + +<p>"My intentions with regard to Dick are strictly honourable," she +remarked. "We've been engaged for the last eleven years, and I still +have his engagement ring. It cost three-and-sixpence."</p> + +<p>"I only want to warn you, dear," said Mrs. Holroyd. "Anyone can see that +Dick is in love with you, and if you don't take care you'll have Austin +falling in love with you too."</p> + +<p>Viviette laughed again. "But he has already fallen! I don't think he +knows it yet; but he has. It's great fun being a woman, isn't it, dear?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I've ever found it so," Katherine replied with a +sigh. She was a widow, and had loved her husband, and her sky was still +tinged with grey.</p> + +<p>Viviette, quick to catch the sadness in the voice, made no reply, but +renewed the contemplation of her shoe-tips.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you're an arrant little coquette," said Katherine +indulgently.</p> + +<p>"Lord Banstead says I'm a little devil," she laughed.</p> + +<p>If she was in some measure a coquette she may be forgiven. What woman +can have suddenly revealed to her the thrilling sense of her sex's +mastery over men without snatching now and then the fearful joy of +using her power? She was one-and-twenty, her heart still unawakened, and +she had returned to her childhood's home to find men who had danced her +on their knees bending low before her, and proclaiming themselves her +humble vassals. It was intoxicating. She had always looked up to Austin +with awe, as one too remote and holy for girlish irreverence. And now! +No wonder her sex laughed within her.</p> + +<p>Until she had gone abroad to finish her education, she had lived in that +old, grey manor-house, that dreamed in the sunshine of the terrace below +which she was sitting, ever since they had brought her thither, an +orphaned child of three. Mrs. Ware, her guardian, was her adopted +mother; the sons, Dick and Austin Ware, her brothers--the engagement, +when she was ten and Dick one-and-twenty, had hardly fluttered the +fraternal relationship. She had left them a merry, kittenish child. She +had returned a woman, slender, full-bosomed, graceful, alluring, with a +maturity of fascination beyond her years. Enemies said she had gipsy +blood in her veins. If so, the infusion must have taken place long, long +ago, for her folks were as proud of their name as the Wares of Ware +House. But, for all that, there was a suggestion of the exotic in the +olive and cream complexion, and the oval face, pointing at the dimpled +chin; something of the woodland in her lithe figure and free gestures; +in her swimming, dark eyes one could imagine something fierce and +untamable lying beneath her laughing idleness. Katherine Holroyd called +her a coquette, Austin whatever the whim of a cultured fancy suggested, +and Lord Banstead a little devil. As for Dick, he called her nothing. +His love was too great; his vocabulary too small.</p> + +<p>Lord Banstead was a neighbour who, in the course of three months, had +proposed several times to Viviette.</p> + +<p>"I'm not very much to look at," he remarked on the first of these +occasions--he was a weedy, pallid youth of six-and-twenty--"and the +title's not very old, I must admit. Governor only a scientific Johnnie, +Margetson, the celebrated chemist, you know, who discovered some beastly +gas or other and got made a peer--but I can sit with the other old +rotters in the House of Lords, you know, if I want. And I've got enough +to run the show, if you'll keep me from chucking it away as I'm doing. +It'd be a godsend if you'd marry me, I give you my word."</p> + +<p>"Before I have anything to do with you," replied Viviette, who had heard +Dick express his opinion of Lord Banstead in forcible terms, "you'll +have to forswear sack, and--and a very big AND--"</p> + +<p>Lord Banstead, not being learned in literary allusions, looked +bewildered. Viviette laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'll translate if you like. You'll have to give up unlimited champagne +and whiskey and lead an ostensibly respectable life."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Lord Banstead called her a little devil and went off in +dudgeon to London and took golden-haired ladies out to supper. When he +returned to the country he again offered her his title, and being +rejected a second time, again called her a little devil, and went back +to the fashionable supper-room. A third and a fourth time he executed +this complicated manoeuvre; and now news had reached Viviette that he +was in residence at Farfield, where he was boring himself exceedingly in +his father's scientific library.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he'll be coming over to-day," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"Why do you encourage him?" asked Katherine.</p> + +<p>"I don't," Viviette retorted. "I snub him unmercifully. If I am a +coquette it's with real men, not with the by-product of a chemical +experiment."</p> + +<p>Katherine dropped her work and her underlip, and turned reproachful blue +eyes on the girl.</p> + +<p>"Viviette!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's shocked! Saint Nitouche is shocked!" Then, with a change of +manner, she rose and, bending over Katherine's chair, kissed her. "I'm +sorry, dear," she said, in pretty penitence. "I know it was an +abominable and unladylike thing to say, but my tongue sometimes runs +away with my thoughts. Forgive me."</p> + +<p>At that moment a man dressed in rough tweeds and leggings, who had +emerged from the stable side of the manor-house, crossed the terrace, +and, descending the steps, walked over the lawn towards the two ladies. +He had massive shoulders and a thick, strong neck, coarse reddish hair, +and a moustache of a lighter shade. Blue eyes looked with a curious +childish pathos out of a face tanned by sun and weather. He slouched +slightly in his gait, like the heavy man accustomed to the saddle. This +was Dick Ware, the elder of the brothers and heir to fallen fortunes, +mortgaged house and lands, and he gave the impression of failure, of a +man who, in spite of thews and sinews, had been unable to grapple with +circumstance.</p> + +<p>Viviette left Katherine to her needlework, and advanced to meet him. At +her spontaneous act of welcome a light came into his eyes. He removed +from his lips the short corn-cob pipe he was smoking.</p> + +<p>"I've just been looking at the new mare. She's a beauty. I know I +oughtn't to have got her, but she was going dirt cheap--and what can a +man do when he's offered a horse at a quarter its value?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, my dear Dick, save pay four times as much as he can afford."</p> + +<p>"But we had to get a new beast," he argued seriously. "We can't go about +the country in a donkey-cart. If I hadn't bought one, Austin would, for +the sake of the family dignity--and I do like to feel independent of +Austin now and then."</p> + +<p>"I wish you were entirely independent of Austin," said Viviette, walking +with him up the lawn.</p> + +<p>"I can't, so long as I stay here doing nothing. But if I went out to +Canada or New Zealand, as I want to do, who would look after my mother? +I'm tied by the leg."</p> + +<p>"I'd look after mother," said Viviette. "And you'd write me nice long +letters, saying how you were getting on, and I would send you nice +little bulletins, and we should all be very happy."</p> + +<p>"Do you want to get rid of me, Viviette?"</p> + +<p>"I want you to have your heart's desire."</p> + +<p>"You know what my heart's desire is," he said unsteadily.</p> + +<p>"Why, to raise sheep or drive cattle, or chop down trees in the +backwoods," she replied, lifting demure eyebrows. "Oh, Dick, don't be +foolish. See--there's mother just come out."</p> + +<p>With a light laugh she escaped and ran up the steps to meet an old lady, +rather infirm, who, with the aid of a stick, was beginning to take her +morning walk up and down the terrace. Dick followed her moodily.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, mother," said he, bending down to kiss her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ware put up her cheek, and received the salute with no great show +of pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how you smell of tobacco smoke, Dick. Where's Austin? Please go and +find him. I want to hear what he has to say about the stables."</p> + +<p>"What can he say, mother?"</p> + +<p>"He can advise us and help us to put the muddle right," said Mrs. Ware.</p> + +<p>These stables had been a subject of controversy for some time. The old +ones having fallen into disgraceful disrepair, Dick had turned architect +and erected new ones himself. As shelters for beasts, they were +comparatively sound; as appanages to an Elizabethan manor-house, they +were open to adverse criticism. Austin, who had come down from London a +day or two before to spend his Whitsuntide holiday at home, had promised +his mother to make inspection and report.</p> + +<p>"But what does Austin know about stables?" Viviette asked, as soon as +Dick had slouched away in search of his brother.</p> + +<p>"Austin knows about everything, my dear," replied the old lady +decisively. "Not only is Austin a brilliantly clever man, but he's a +successful barrister, and a barrister's business is to know all about +everything. Give me your arm, dear, and let us walk up and down a +little till they come."</p> + +<p>Presently Dick returned with Austin, whom he had found smoking a cigar +in a very meditative manner in front of the stables. Dick's face was +gloomy, but Austin's was bright, as he came briskly up and, cigar in +hand, stooped to his mother. She put her arms round his neck, kissed him +affectionately, and inquired after his sleep and his comfort and the +quality of his breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't Austin smell of tobacco smoke, mother?" asked Dick.</p> + +<p>"Austin," replied Mrs. Ware, "has a way of smoking and not smelling of +it."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed gaily. "I believe if I fell into a pond you'd say I had a +way of coming up dry."</p> + +<p>Dick turned to Viviette, and muttered with some bitterness: "And if I +fell into a dry ditch she'd say I came up slimy."</p> + +<p>Viviette, touched by pity, raised a bewitching face. "Dry or slimy, you +would be just the same dear old Dick," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"And what about the stables?" asked Mrs. Ware.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're not bad. They're rather creditable; but," Austin added, +turning with a laugh to his brother, "the mother will fidget, you know, +and the somewhat--let us say rococo style of architecture has got on her +nerves. I think the whole thing had better come down, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"If you like," said Dick gruffly. He had given way to Austin all his +life. What was the use of opposing him now?</p> + +<p>"Good. I'll send young Rapson, the architect, along to make a design. +Don't you worry, old chap, I'll see it through."</p> + +<p>Young, brisk, debonair, flushed with success and the sense of the +mastery of life, he did not notice the lowering of Dick's brows, which +deepened into almost a scowl when he turned frankly admiring eyes on +Viviette, and drew her into gay, laughing talk, nor did he catch the +hopelessness in the drag of Dick's feet as he went off to gaze +sorrowfully at the fallen pride of his heart, the condemned stables.</p> + +<p>But Viviette who knew, as Austin did not, of Dick's disappointment, soon +broke away and joined him in front of the amorphous shed of timber. She +took him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Come for a stroll in the orchard."</p> + +<p>He suffered himself to be led through the stable-yard gate. She talked +to him of apple blossoms. He listened for some time in silence. Then he +broke out.</p> + +<p>"It's an infernal shame," said he.</p> + +<p>"It is," said Viviette. "But you needn't put on such a glum face when +I'm here especially to comfort you. If you're not glad to see me I'll go +back to Austin. He's much more amusing than you."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he is. Yes, go back to him. I'm a fool. I'm nobody. No, +don't, Viviette; forgive me," he cried, catching her as she turned away +somewhat haughtily. "I didn't mean it, but things are getting beyond my +endurance."</p> + +<p>Viviette seated herself on a bench beneath the apple blossoms.</p> + +<p>"What things?"</p> + +<p>"Everything. My position. Austin's airy ways."</p> + +<p>"But that's what makes him so charming."</p> + +<p>"Yes, confound him. My ways are about as airy as a hippopotamus's. Look +here, Viviette. I'm fond of Austin, God knows--but all my life he has +been put in front of me. He has had all the chances; I've had none. With +my father when he was alive, with my mother, it has always been Austin +this and Austin that. He was the head of the school when I, the elder, +was a lout in the lower fourth. He had a brilliant University career and +went into the world and is making a fortune. I'm only able to ride and +shoot and do country things. I've stuck here with only this mortgaged +house belonging to me and the hundred or so a year I get out of the +tenants. I'm not even executor under my father's will. It's Austin. +Austin pays mother the money under her marriage settlement. If things go +wrong Austin is sent for to put them right. It never seems to occur to +him that it's my house. Oh, of course I know he pays the interest on the +mortgage and makes my mother an allowance--that's the humiliation +of it."</p> + +<p>He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, staring +at the grass.</p> + +<p>"But surely you could find some work to do, Dick?"</p> + +<p>He shrugged his great shoulders. "They stuck me once in an office in +London. I suffocated and added up things wrong and told the wrong lies +to the wrong people, and ended up by breaking the junior +partner's head!"</p> + +<p>"You had some satisfaction out of it, at any rate," laughed Viviette.</p> + +<p>A faint reminiscent smile crossed his face. "I suppose I had. But it +didn't qualify me for a successful business career. No. I might do +something in a new country. I must get away from this. I can't stand it. +But yet--as I've told you all along, I'm tied--hand and foot."</p> + +<p>"And so you're very miserable, Dick."</p> + +<p>"How can I help it?"</p> + +<p>Viviette edged a little away from him, and said, rather resentfully:</p> + +<p>"I don't call that polite, seeing that I have come back to live with +you."</p> + +<p>He turned on her with some fierceness. "Don't you see that your being +here makes my life all the more impossible? How can I be with you day +after day without loving you, hungering for you, wanting you, body and +soul? I've never given a thought to another woman in my life. You're my +heart's blood, dear. I want to hold you so tight in my arms that not the +ghost of another man can ever come between us. You know it."</p> + +<p>Viviette shredded an apple blossom that had fallen into her lap. The +fingers that held the petal tingled, and a flush rose in her cheek.</p> + +<p>"I do know it," she said in a low voice. "You're always telling me. But, +Dick"--she flashed a mischievous glance at him--"while you're holding +me--although it would be very nice--we should starve."</p> + +<p>"Then let us starve," he cried vehemently.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. Oh, most decidedly no. Starvation would be so unbecoming. I +should get to be a fright--a bundle of bones and a rundle of skin--and +you'd be horrified--I couldn't bear it."</p> + +<p>"If you would only say you cared a scrap for me it would be easier," he +pleaded.</p> + +<p>"I should have thought it would be harder."</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, say it--say it this once--just this once."</p> + +<p>She bent her head to hide a smile, and said in a voice adorably soft:</p> + +<p>"Dick, shut your eyes."</p> + +<p>"Viviette!" he cried, with sudden hope.</p> + +<p>"No. Shut your eyes. Turn round. Now tell me," she continued, when he +had turned obediently, "just what I've got on. No!" she held him by the +shoulders, "you're not to move."</p> + +<p>Now, she was wearing a white blouse and a blue skirt and tan shoes, and +a yellow rose was pinned at her bosom.</p> + +<p>"What dress am I wearing?"</p> + +<p>"A light-coloured thing," said Dick.</p> + +<p>"And what's it trimmed with?"</p> + +<p>"Lace," said the unfortunate man. Lace indeed!</p> + +<p>"And what coloured boots?"</p> + +<p>"Black," said Dick, at a venture.</p> + +<p>"And what flower?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know--a pink rose, I think."</p> + +<p>She started up. "Look," she cried gaily. "Oh, Dick! I'll never marry you +till you have the common decency to look at me--never! never! never! I +dressed myself this beautiful morning just to please you. Oh, Dick! +Dick, you've lost such a chance."</p> + +<p>She stood with her hands behind her back regarding him mockingly, as Eve +in the first orchard must have regarded Adam when he was more dull and +masculine than usual--when, for instance, she had attired herself in +hybiscus flowers which he took for the hum-drum, everyday fig-leaves.</p> + +<p>"I'm a born duffer," said Dick pathetically. "But your face is all that +I see when I look at you."</p> + +<p>"That's all very pretty," she retorted. "But you ought to see more. Now +let us talk sense. Mind, if I sit on that bench again you're to +talk sense."</p> + +<p>Dick sighed. "Very well," said he.</p> + +<p>That was the history of all his love-making. She drew him on to +passionate utterance, and then, with a twist of her wit and a twirl of +her skirts, she eluded him. When she had thus put herself out of his +reach, he felt ashamed. What right had he, dull, useless, lumbering, +squiredomless squire, to ask a woman like Viviette to marry him? How +could he support a wife? As it was, he lived a pensioner on Austin's +bounty. Could he ask Austin to feed his wife and family as well? This +thought, which always came to him as soon as his passion was checked, +filled him with deep humiliation. Viviette had reason on her side when +she said, "Let us talk sense."</p> + +<p>He glowered at his fate, and tugged his tawny moustache for some time in +silence. Then Viviette began to talk to him prettily of things that +made up his country interests, his dogs, the garden, the personalities +of the country-side. Soon she had him laughing, which pleased and +flattered her, as it proved her power over the primitive man. Indeed, at +such moments, she felt very tenderly towards him, and would have liked +to pat his cheeks and crown him with flowers, thus manifesting her +favour by dainty caresses. But she refrained, knowing that primitive men +are too dense to interpret such demonstrations rightly, and limited +herself to less compromising words.</p> + +<p>"I am going to tell you a secret," he said at last, in a shamefaced way. +"You mustn't laugh at me--promise me you won't."</p> + +<p>"I promise," said Viviette solemnly.</p> + +<p>"I am thinking of going in for local politics--Rural District Council, +you know."</p> + +<p>Viviette nodded her head approvingly. "A village Hampden--in Tory +clothing?"</p> + +<p>"They're running things on party lines down here. The influence of +Westhampton is Radical, and fills the Council with a lot of outsiders. +So they've got together a Conservative Committee, and are going to run a +good strong man for a vacancy. I've given them to understand that I'll +be a candidate if they'll have me. I'd like to be one. It's a rubbishy +thing, dear, but somehow it would give me a little interest in life."</p> + +<p>"I don't think it a rubbishy thing at all," said Viviette. "A country +gentleman ought to have a hand in rural administration. I do hope you'll +get in. When will you know that the committee have selected you?"</p> + +<p>"There's a meeting this evening. I ought to know to-night or to-morrow +morning."</p> + +<p>"Are you very keen on it?"</p> + +<p>"Very," said Dick. And he added proudly, "It was my own idea."</p> + +<p>"But you're not as keen on that as on going abroad?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that!" said Dick. "That, bar one, is the dearest wish of my heart. +And who knows--it might enable me to carry out the other."</p> + +<p>The sound of a gong within the house floated through the still June air. +Viviette rose. "I must tidy myself for lunch."</p> + +<p>They walked to the house together. On parting she put out both her +hands.</p> + +<p>"Do be reasonable, Dick, and don't look for slights in what you call +Austin's airy ways. He is awfully fond of you, and would not hurt you +for the world."</p> + +<p>At the luncheon table, however, Austin did hurt him, in utter +unconsciousness, by his gay command of the situation, his eager talk +with Viviette of things Dick did not understand, places he had not +visited, books he had never read, pictures he had never seen. It was +heartache rather than envy. He did not grudge Austin his scholarship and +brilliance. But his soul sank at the sight of Austin and Viviette moving +as familiars in a joyous world as remote from him as Neptune. Mrs. Ware +kept Katherine Holroyd engaged in mild talk of cooks and curates, while +the other two maintained their baffling conversation, half banter, half +serious, on a bewildering number of topics, and poor Dick remained as +dumb as the fish and cutlets he was eating. He sat at the head of the +table, Mrs. Ware at the foot. On his right hand sat Katherine Holroyd, +on his left Viviette, and between her and his mother was Austin. With +Viviette talking to Austin and Mrs. Ware to Katherine, he felt lonely +and disregarded in a kind of polar waste of snowy tablecloth. Once +Katherine, escaping from Mrs. Ware's platitudinous ripple, took pity on +him, and asked him when he was going to redeem his promise and show her +his collection of armour and weapons. Dick brightened. This was the only +keen interest he had in life outside things of earth and air and stream. +He had inherited a good family collection, and had added to it +occasionally, as far as his slender means allowed. He had read deeply, +and understood his subject.</p> + +<p>"Whenever you like, Katherine," he said.</p> + +<p>"This afternoon?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid they want polishing up and arranging. I've got some new +things which I've not placed. I've rather neglected them lately. Let us +say to-morrow afternoon. Then they'll all be spick and span for you."</p> + +<p>Katherine assented. "I've been down here so often and never seen them," +she said. "It seems odd, considering the years we've known each other."</p> + +<p>"I only took it up after father's death," said Dick. "And since then, +you know, you haven't been here so very often."</p> + +<p>"It was only the last time that I discovered you took an interest an the +collection. You hid your light under a bushel. Then I went to London and +heard that you were a great authority on the subject."</p> + +<p>Dick's tanned face reddened with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"I do know something about it. You see, guns and swords and pistols are +in my line. I'm good at killing things. I ought to have been a soldier, +only I couldn't pass examinations, so I sort of interest myself in the +old weapons and do my killing in imagination."</p> + +<p>"You give a regular lecture, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you know," said Dick modestly, "a lot of them are historical. +There's a mace used by a bishop, an ancestor of ours. He couldn't wield +a sword in battle, so he cottoned on to that, and in order to salve his +conscience before using it he would cry out 'Gare! gare!'--and they say +that's what our name comes from--see? 'Ware--Ware.' He was the founder +of our family--though, of course, he oughtn't to have been. And then we +have the duelling pistols my great-grandfather shot Lord Estcourt with. +They're beautiful things--in the case just as he left it after the duel, +with powder, balls, and caps, all complete. It's a romantic story--"</p> + +<p>"My dear Dick," interposed Mrs. Ware, with fragile, uplifted hand, +"please don't offend us with these horrible family scandals. Katharine, +dear, are you going to the vicar's garden party this afternoon? If you +are, will you take a message to Mrs. Cook?"</p> + +<p>So Katherine being monopolized, Dick was silenced, and as Austin and +Viviette were talking in a lively but unintelligible way about a thing, +or a play, or a horse called Nietzsche, he relapsed into the heavy, +full-blooded man's animal enjoyment of his food and the sensitive's +consciousness of heartache.</p> + +<p>When the ladies had left the table and the coffee had been brought in, +and the men's cigars were lit, Austin said:</p> + +<p>"What a magnificently beautiful creature she has grown into."</p> + +<p>"Whom do you mean?" asked Dick.</p> + +<p>"Why, Viviette, of course. She's the most fascinating thing I've come +across for years."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?" said Dick shortly.</p> + +<p>"Don't you?"</p> + +<p>Dick shrugged his shoulders. Austin laughed.</p> + +<p>"What a stolid old beggar you are. To you, she's just the same little +girl that used to run about here in short frocks. If she were a horse +you'd have a catalogue yards long of her points."</p> + +<p>"But as she's a lady," said Dick, tugging his moustache, "I don't care +to catalogue them."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed again. "Fairly scored!" He raised his cup to his lips, +took a sip, and set it down again.</p> + +<p>"Why on earth," said he with some petulance, "can't mother give us +decent coffee?"</p> + + + +<a name="II"></a> +<h2>Chapter II</h2> + +<h3>The Conspirators</h3> + +<p>Dick went heavy-hearted to bed that night, pronouncing himself to be the +most abjectly miserable of God's creatures, and calling on Providence to +remove him speedily from an unsympathetic world. He had said good night +to the ladies at eleven o'clock when the three went upstairs to bed, and +had forthwith gone to spend the rest of the evening in the friendly +solitude of his armoury. Emerging thence an hour later into the hall, he +had come upon a picturesque, but heart-rending, spectacle. There, on the +third step of the grand staircase, stood Viviette, holding in one hand a +candle, and extending the other regally downwards to Austin, who, with +sleek head bent, was pressing it to his lips. In the candle-light her +hair threw disconcerting shadows over her elfin face, and her great eyes +seemed to glow with a magical intensity that poor Dick had never seen in +them before. As soon as he had appeared she had broken into her low +laugh, drawn away her hand from Austin, and, descending the steps, +extended it in much the same regal manner to Dick.</p> + +<p>"Good night again, Dick," she said sweetly. "Austin and I have been +having a little talk."</p> + +<p>But he had disregarded the hand, and, with a gruff "Good night," had +returned to his armoury, slamming the door behind him. There he had +nourished his wrath on more whiskey and soda than was good for him, and +crawled upstairs in the small hours to miserable sleeplessness.</p> + +<p>This was the beginning of Dick's undoing, the gods (abetted by Viviette) +employing their customary procedure of first driving him mad. But +Viviette was not altogether a guilty abettor. Indeed, all day long, she +had entertained high notions of acting fairy godmother, and helping Dick +along the road to fortune and content. He himself, she learned, had +taken no steps to free himself from his present mode of life. He had not +even confided in Austin. Viviette ran over the list of her influential +friends. There was Lady Winsmere, a dowager countess of seventy, +surrounded by notabilities, at whose house she stayed now and then in +London. On the last occasion an Agent-General for one of the great +Colonies had sat next her at dinner. Then there was her friend Mrs. +Penderby, whose husband gathered enormous wealth in some mysterious way +in Mark Lane. Why should she not go up to London and open a campaign on +Dick's behalf, secure him an appointment, and come back flourishing it +before his dazzled and delighted eyes? The prospect was enchanting. The +fairy godmother romance of it fascinated her girlish mind. But first +she must clear the ground at home. There must be no opposition from +Austin. He must be her ally.</p> + +<p>When a woman gets an idea like this into her head she must execute it, +as the Americans say, right now. A man waits, counts up all the +barriers, and speculates on the strength and courage of the lions in the +path--but a woman goes straight forward, and does not worry about the +lions till they bite her. Viviette resolved to speak to Austin at once; +but, owing to a succession of the little ironies of circumstance, she +found no opportunity of doing so all the afternoon or evening. It was +only when, standing at the top of the stairs, she had seen Dick go off +to the armoury, and Austin return to the drawing-room--for the men had +bidden the ladies good night in the hall--that she saw her chance. She +went downstairs and opened the drawing-room door.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to go to bed after all. Do you think you can do with me a +little longer?"</p> + +<p>"A great deal longer," he said, drawing a chair for her, and arranging +the shade of a lamp so that the light should not shine full in her eyes. +"I was just thinking how dull the room looked without you--as if all the +flowers had suddenly been taken away."</p> + +<p>"I suppose I am decorative," she said blandly.</p> + +<p>"You're bewitching. What instinct made you choose that shade of pale +green for your frock? If I had seen it in the pattern I should have said +it was impossible for your colouring. But now it seems to be the only +perfect thing you could wear."</p> + +<p>She laughed her little laugh of pleasure, and thanked him prettily for +the compliment. They bandied gay words for a while.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad you have come down--even for this short visit," said +Viviette at last. "I was pining for talk, for wit, for a breath of the +great world beyond these sleepy meadows. You bring all that with you."</p> + +<p>Austin leaned forward. "How do you know I'm not bringing even more?"</p> + +<p>The girl's eyes drooped before his gaze. Then she fluttered a glance at +him in which there was a gleam of mockery.</p> + +<p>"You bring the most valuable gift of all--appreciation of my frocks. I +love people to notice them. Now Dick is frock-blind. Why is that?"</p> + +<p>"He's a dear old duffer," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"I don't think he's happy," said Viviette, who, in her feminine way, had +worked round to the subject of the interview.</p> + +<p>"He did seem rather cut up about the stables," Austin admitted. "But the +things are an eyesore, and mother was worrying herself to death +about them."</p> + +<p>"It isn't only the stables," said Viviette. "Dick is altogether +discontented."</p> + +<p>Austin looked at her in amazement. "Discontented?"</p> + +<p>"He wants something to do."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," he laughed, with the air of a man certain of his facts. +"He's as happy as a king here. He shoots and hunts--looks after the +place--runs the garden and potters about in his armoury--in fact, does +just what he likes all day long. He goes to bed without a care sharing +his pillow, and, when he wakes up, gets into comfortable country clothes +instead of a tight-fitting suit of responsibilities. For a man of his +tastes he leads an ideal existence."</p> + +<p>He threw away the end of the cigarette he was smoking, as though to say +that the argument was finished. But Viviette regarded him with a +smile--the smile of woman's superior wisdom. How astonishingly little he +knew of Dick!</p> + +<p>"Do you really think there is one contented being on earth?" she asked. +"Even I know better than that."</p> + +<p>Austin maintained that Dick ought to be contented.</p> + +<p>"Dependent for practically all he has on you?"</p> + +<p>"I've never let him feel it," he said quickly.</p> + +<p>"He does, though. He wants to get away--to earn his own living--make a +way for himself."</p> + +<p>"That's the first I've heard of it," said Austin, genuinely surprised. +"I really thought he was perfectly contented here. Of course, now and +then he's grumpy--but he always has had fits of grumpiness. What kind of +work does he want?"</p> + +<p>"Something to do with sheep or cattle--in Arizona or New Zealand--the +place doesn't matter--any open-air life."</p> + +<p>Austin lit another cigarette and walked about the room. He was a man of +well-regulated habits, and did not like being taken unawares. Dick +ought to have told him. Then there was their mother. Who would look +after her? Dick was a dispensation of Providence.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I might be a deputy dispensation, mightn't I?" said Viviette. +"I don't think mother is so desperately attached to Dick as all that. It +could be arranged somehow or other. And Dick is growing more and more +wretched about it every day. Every day he pours out his woes to me till +I can almost howl with misery."</p> + +<p>"What do you want me to do?"</p> + +<p>"Not to stand in his way if he gets a chance of going abroad."</p> + +<p>"Of course I won't," cried Austin eagerly. "It never entered my head +that he wanted to go away. I would do anything in the world for his +happiness, poor old chap. I love Dick very deeply. In spite of his huge +bulk and rough ways there's something of the woman in him that makes one +love him."</p> + +<p>They catalogued Dick's virtues, and then Viviette unfolded her scheme. +One or other of the powerful personages whom, in her young confidence, +she proposed to attack, would surely know of some opening abroad.</p> + +<p>"Even humble I sometimes hear of things," said Austin. "Only a day or +two ago old Lord Overton asked me if I knew of a man who could manage a +timber forest he's got in Vancouver--"</p> + +<p>Viviette jumped up and clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>"Why, that's the very thing for Dick!" she cried exultingly.</p> + +<p>"God bless my soul!" said Austin. "So it is. I never thought of it."</p> + +<p>"If you get it for him I'll thank you in the sweetest way possible." She +glanced at him swiftly, under her eyelids. "I promise you I will."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll certainly get it," replied Austin.</p> + +<p>Austin then went into details. Lord Overton wanted a man of +education--a gentleman--one who could ride and shoot and make others +work. He would have to superintend the planting and the cutting and the +transportation of timber, and act as agent for the various farms Lord +Overton possessed in the wide district. The salary would be £700 a year. +The late superintendent had suddenly died, and Lord Overton wanted a man +to go out at once and fill his place. If only he had thought of Dick!</p> + +<p>"But you're thinking of him now. It can't be too late--men with such +qualifications aren't picked up at every street corner."</p> + +<p>"That's quite true," said Austin. "And as for my recommendation," he +added in his confident way, "Lord Overton and I are on such terms that +he would not hesitate to give the appointment to a brother of mine. I'll +write at once."</p> + +<p>"And we'll say nothing to Dick until we've got it all in black and +white."</p> + +<p>"Not a word," said he.</p> + +<p>Then they burst out laughing like happy conspirators, and enjoyed +beforehand the success of their plot.</p> + +<p>"The old place will be very strange without him," said Austin.</p> + +<p>A shadow passed over Viviette's bright face. The manor-house would +indeed be very lonely. Her occupation as Dick's liege lady, confidante, +and tormentor would be gone. Parting from him would be a wrench. There +would be a dreadful scene at the last moment, in which he would want to +hold her tight in his arms and make her promise to join him in +Vancouver. She shivered a little; then tossed her head as if to throw +off the disturbing thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Don't let us look at the dismal side of things. It's selfish. All we +want is Dick's happiness." She glanced at the clock and started up. +"It's midnight. If Katherine knew I was here she would lecture me."</p> + +<p>"It's nothing very dreadful," he laughed. "Nor is Katherine's lecture."</p> + +<p>"I call her Saint Nitouche--but she's a great dear, isn't she? Good +night."</p> + +<p>He accompanied her to the foot of the stairs and lit her candle. On the +third stair she paused.</p> + +<p>"Remember--in all this it's I who am the fairy godmother."</p> + +<p>"And I," said Austin, "am nothing but the fairy godmother's humble and +devoted factotum." He took the hand which she extended and, bending over +it, kissed it gallantly.</p> + +<p>Then by unhappy chance out came Dick from the armoury, and beheld the +spectacle which robbed him of his peace of mind.</p> + +<p>The next morning, when Dick came down gloomily to breakfast, she was +very gentle with him, and administered tactfully to his wants. She +insisted on going to the sideboard and carving his cold ham, of which he +ate prodigious quantities after a hot first course, and when she put the +plate before him laid a caressing touch on his shoulder. She neglected +Austin in a bare-faced manner, and drew Dick into reluctant and then +animated talk on his prize roses and a setter pup just recovering from +distemper. After the meal she went with him round the garden, inspected +both roses and puppy, and manifested great interest in a trellis he was +constructing for the accommodation later in the summer of some climbing +cucumbers, at present only visible as modest leaves in flower-pots. +Neither made any reference to the little scene of the night before. +Morning had brought to Dick the conviction that in refusing her hand and +slamming the door he had behaved in an unpardonably bearish manner; and +he could not apologise for his behaviour unless he confessed his +jealousy of Austin, which, in all probability, would have subjected him +to the mocking ridicule of Viviette--a thing which, above all others, he +dreaded, and against which he knew himself to be defenceless. Viviette, +too, found silence golden. She knew perfectly well why Dick had slammed +the door. An explanation would have been absurd. It would have +interfered with her relations with Austin, which were beginning to be +exciting. But she loved Dick in her heart for being a bear, and evinced +both her compunction and her appreciation in peculiar graciousness.</p> + +<p>"You've never asked me to try the new mare," she said. "I don't think it +a bit kind of you."</p> + +<p>"Would you care to?" he asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Of course I should. I love to see you with horses. You and the trap and +the horse seem to be as much one mechanism as a motor-car."</p> + +<p>"I can make a horse do what I want," he said, delighted at the +compliment. "We'll take the dog-cart. When will you come? This morning?"</p> + +<p>"Yes--let us say eleven. It will be lovely."</p> + +<p>"I'll have it round at eleven o'clock. You'll see. She's a flyer."</p> + +<p>"So am I," she said with a laugh, and pointed to the front gate, which a +garden lad had just run to open to admit a young man on horseback.</p> + +<p>"Oh, lord! it's Banstead," said Dick with a groan.</p> + +<p>"Au revoir--eleven o'clock," said Viviette, and she fled.</p> + +<p>Lord Banstead dismounted, gave his horse to the lad, and came up to +Dick. He was an unhealthy, dissipated-looking young man, with lustreless +eyes, a characterless chin, and an underfed moustache. He wore a light +blue hunting stock, fastened by a ruby fox in full gallop, and a round +felt hat with a very narrow flat brim, beneath which protruded strands +of Andrew aguecheek hair.</p> + +<p>"Hallo, Banstead," said Dick, not very cordially.</p> + +<p>"Hallo," said the other, halting before the rose-bed, where Dick was +tying up some blooms with bast. He watched him for a moment or two. +Conversation was not spontaneous.</p> + +<p>"Where's Viviette?" he asked eventually.</p> + +<p>"Who?" growled Dick.</p> + +<p>"Rot. What's the good of frills? Miss Hastings."</p> + +<p>"Busy. She'll be busy all the morning."</p> + +<p>"I rather wanted to see her."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you will. You might ring at the front door and send in +your card."</p> + +<p>"I might," said Banstead, lighting a cigar. He had tried this method of +seeing Viviette before, but without success. There was another pause. +Dick snipped off an end of bast.</p> + +<p>"You're up very early," said he.</p> + +<p>"Went to bed so bally sober I couldn't sleep," replied the misguided +youth. "Not a soul in the house, I give you my word. So bored last night +I took a gun and tried to shoot cats. Shot a damn cock pheasant by +mistake, and had to bury the thing in my own covers. If I'm left to +myself to-night I'll get drunk and go out shooting tenants. Come over +and dine."</p> + +<p>"Can't," said Dick.</p> + +<p>"Do. I'll open a bottle of the governor's old port. Then we can play +billiards, or piquet, or cat's-cradle, or any rotten thing you like."</p> + +<p>Dick excused himself curtly. Austin had come down for Whitsuntide, and a +lady was staying in the house. Lord Banstead pushed his hat to the back +of his head.</p> + +<p>"Then what the devil am I to do in this hole of a place?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know," said Dick.</p> + +<p>"You fellows in the country are so unfriendly. In town I never need +dine alone. Anyone's glad to see me. Feeding all by myself in that +dining-room fairly gives me the pip."</p> + +<p>"Then come and dine here," said Dick, unable to refuse a neighbour +hospitality.</p> + +<p>"Right," said Banstead. "That is really like the Samaritan Johnnie. I'll +come with pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Quarter to eight."</p> + +<p>Banstead hesitated. "Couldn't you make it a quarter past?"</p> + +<p>Dick stared. "Alter our dinner hour? You've rather a nerve, haven't you, +Banstead?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't suggest it, if we weren't pals," replied the other, grinning +somewhat shamefacedly. "But the fact is I've got an appointment late +this afternoon." The fatuity of vicious and coroneted youth outstripped +his discretion. "There's a devilish pretty girl, you know, at 'The Green +Man' at Little Barton; I don't know whether I can get away in time."</p> + +<p>Dick stuffed his bast in his pocket, and muttered things uncomplimentary +to Banstead.</p> + +<p>"Dinner's at a quarter to eight. You can take it or leave it," said he.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I've jolly well got to take it," said Banstead, unruffled. +"Anything's better than going through dinner from soup to dessert all +alone under the fishy eye of that butling image of a Jenkins. He was +thirty years in my governor's service, and doesn't understand my ways. I +guess I'll have to chuck him."</p> + +<p>A perspiring, straw-hatted postman lurched along the gravel drive with +the morning's post. He touched his hat to Dick, delivered the Manor +House bag into his hands, and departed.</p> + +<p>"I'll sort these in the morning-room," said Dick, moving in the +direction of the house, and Lord Banstead, hoping to see Viviette, +followed at his heels. The control of the family post was one of the few +privileges Dick retained as master of the house. His simple mind still +regarded the receipt and despatch of letters as a solemn affair of life, +and every morning he went through the process of distribution with +ceremonial observance. In the morning-room they found Austin and +Viviette, the former writing in a corner, the latter reading a novel by +the French window that opened on to the terrace. Dick went up to a +table, and, opening the mail-bag, began to sort the letters into various +heaps. Austin greeted Lord Banstead none too warmly, and, with scarcely +an apology, went back to his writing. He disapproved of Banstead, who +was of a type particularly antagonistic to the young, clean, and +successful barrister. When Viviette had informed him of the youth's +presence in the garden, he had exclaimed impatiently:</p> + +<p>"It ought to be somebody's business to go round the world occasionally +with a broom and sweep away spiders like that."</p> + +<p>Viviette, mindful of the invective, received Lord Banstead with a smile +of amusement. As she had two protectors against a fifth proposal of +marriage, she stood her ground.</p> + +<p>"I expected you to come over yesterday," she said.</p> + +<p>"No, did you really?" he exclaimed, a flush rising to his pale cheeks. +"If I had thought that I should have come."</p> + +<p>"You've made up for it by arriving early to-day, at any rate," said +Viviette.</p> + +<p>"And I'm making up for it further by coming to dinner to-night. Dick +asked me," he added, seeing the polite questioning in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"That will be very nice," she said. "You can talk to mother. You see, +Dick talks to Mrs. Holroyd, who is staying with us, Austin talks to me, +so poor mother is left out in the cold. She'll enjoy a nice long talk +with you."</p> + +<p>When Banstead took the chorus out to supper he had the ready repartee of +his kind. In such a case he would have told the lady not to pull his +leg. But the delicate mockery in Viviette's face seemed to forbid the +use of this figure of speech, and as his vocabulary did not readily +allow him to formulate the idea in other terms he said nothing, but +settled his stock, and looked at her adoringly. At last he bent forward, +after a glance at the protectors, and said in a low tone:</p> + +<p>"Come out into the garden. I've something to say to you."</p> + +<p>"Why not say it here?" she replied in her ordinary voice.</p> + +<p>Banstead bit his lip. He would have liked to call her a little devil. +But he reflected that if he did she would be quite capable of repeating +the phrase aloud, somewhat to the astonishment of Dick and Austin, who +might ask for embarrassing explanations. Instead he bent still nearer, +and whispered:</p> + +<p>"I can only say it to you alone. I've been awake all night thinking of +it--give you my word."</p> + +<p>"Wait till to-morrow morning, and by then you may have slept upon it," +she counselled.</p> + +<p>"You'll drive me to drink!" he murmured.</p> + +<p>She rose with a laugh. "In that case I must go. I ought to be labelled +'dangerous.' Don't you think so, Dick? Besides, I'm going for a drive, +and must put on my things. These my letters? Au revoir." And, with a +wave of her hand she left them.</p> + +<p>Banstead lingered by the threshold and took up an illustrated paper. The +maid, in response to Dick's summons, bore away the letters for the rest +of the household. Austin and Dick concerned themselves with their +correspondence, Dick's chiefly consisting of gardeners' catalogues.</p> + +<p>For a while there was silence. It was broken by a loud laugh from +Austin.</p> + +<p>"Dick! I say, Dick! What do you think these village idiots have asked me +to do? To accept their nomination and stand as a Rural District +Councillor! Me!"</p> + +<p>Dick quickly crossed to the table where his brother was sitting.</p> + +<p>"That's my letter, old chap. I must here put it in your heap by mistake. +The invitation is meant for me."</p> + +<p>"You?" laughed Austin. "Why, what do you want to fool about with village +politics for? No. The letter is meant for me right enough."</p> + +<p>"I can't understand it," said Dick.</p> + +<p>Lord Banstead looked up from his paper.</p> + +<p>"That the Rural District Council? I'm on the committee. Had a meeting +yesterday. I'm chairman of the silly rotters."</p> + +<p>"Then your silly rotter of an honorary secretary," cried Dick angrily, +"has sent Austin the letter of invitation that was meant for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, he didn't," said Banstead. "It's all right. They chucked you, +old son. Now I remember. I promised to explain."</p> + +<p>Dick turned aside. "Oh, you needn't explain," he said bitterly.</p> + +<p>"But I must. They had their reasons, you know. They thought they'd +rather have a brainy nobleman like your brother than a good old rotter +like you. You're--"</p> + +<p>"Oh, hold your tongue, Banstead," cried Austin, rising and putting his +hand on Dick's shoulder. "Really, my dear old Dick, you're the right +person to stand. They only thought a lawyer could help them--but I'm far +too busy--of course I decline. I'm deeply pained, Dick, at having hurt +you. I'll write to the committee and point out how much fitter, as a +country gentleman, you are for the duties than I am. They're bound +to ask you."</p> + +<p>Dick swung away passionately, his lips quivering with anger and +mortification beneath his great moustache.</p> + +<p>"Do you think I would accept? I'm damned if I would. Do you expect me to +pick up everything you've thrown in the mud and feel grateful? I'm +damned if I will!"</p> + +<p>He flung out of the room on to the terrace and strode away in a rage.</p> + +<p>"Seems to take it badly," remarked Banstead, looking at his +disappearing figure. "I had better say good-bye."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," said Austin. And he added, as he accompanied him with grim +politeness to the front gate, "if you exercise the same tact in the +chair as you've done here, your meetings must be a huge success."</p> + +<p>He returned with a shrug of the shoulders to his table in the +morning-room. He was deeply attached to Dick, but a lifelong habit of +regarding him as a good-natured, stupid, and contented giant blinded him +to the storm that was beginning to rage in the other's soul. The +occurrence was unfortunate. It wounded the poor old fellow's vanity. +Banstead's blatant folly had been enough to set any man in a rage. But, +after all, Dick was a common-sense creature, and, recognising that +Austin was in no way to blame, he would soon get over it. Meanwhile, +there was awaiting him the joyful surprise of Vancouver, which would +soon put such petty mortifications out of his head. Thus Austin consoled +himself, and settled down to the serious matters of his correspondence.</p> + +<p>Viviette, coming in later in hat and jacket, found him busily writing. +He looked up at her admiringly as she stood against the background of +light framed by the great French window.</p> + +<p>"Am I presentable?" she asked, with a smile, interpreting his glance.</p> + +<p>"Each modification of your dress makes you seem more bewitching than the +last."</p> + +<p>"I trimmed this hat myself," she said, coming into the room, and +looking at herself in a Queen Anne mirror on the wall.</p> + +<p>"That's why it's so becoming," said Austin.</p> + +<p>She wheeled round on him with a laugh. "You really ought to say +something cleverer than that!"</p> + +<p>"How can I," he replied, "when you drive my wits away?"</p> + +<p>"Poor me," she said. And then, suddenly, "Where's Dick?"</p> + +<p>"What do you want Dick for?"</p> + +<p>"He promised to take me for a drive." She consulted the watch on her +wrist. "It's past eleven now."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid poor Dick is rather upset. He seems to have been counting on +being nominated to stand for the Rural District Council, and the +imbeciles invited me instead."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how could they?" she cried, smitten with a great pity. "How could +they be so stupid and cruel? I know all about it. He told me yesterday. +He must be bitterly disappointed."</p> + +<p>Austin did not tell her of Lord Banstead's tactful explanation of the +committee's action. He was a fastidious man, and did not care to soil +his mind with the memory of Banstead's existence. If he had described +the scene, the young man's vulgarity, his own attempt at conciliation, +and Dick's passionate outburst--the course of the drama that was shaping +itself might have been altered. But the stars in their courses were +fighting against Dick. Austin only said:</p> + +<p>"If we get him this appointment, it will be ample compensation, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Please don't say 'if,'" exclaimed Viviette, "we must get it."</p> + +<p>"Unless Lord Overton has already found a man, which is unlikely, owing +to the general suspension of business at Whitsuntide, it's practically +a certainty."</p> + +<p>"When shall we know?"</p> + +<p>"My letter's written and is waiting for the post. If he replies by +return we shall hear the day after to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"That is such a long time to wait. Do you know what to-morrow is?"</p> + +<p>"Wednesday," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"It's Dick's birthday." She clapped her hands at a happy inspiration, +and hung on his arm. "Oh, Austin! If we could only give him the +appointment as a birthday present!"</p> + +<p>Her touch, her fresh charm, the eagerness in her eyes roused him to +unwonted enthusiasm. In his sane moments he did not care a fig for +anybody's birthday. What man ever does? He proclaimed the splendour of +her idea. But how was it to be realised?</p> + +<p>"Send a long prepaid telegram to Lord Overton, of course," said Viviette +triumphantly. (How unresourceful are men!) "Then we can get an +answer to-day."</p> + +<p>"You forget the nearest telegraph office is at Witherby, seven miles +off."</p> + +<p>"But Dick and I are going for a drive. I'll make him go to Witherby and +I'll send the telegram. Write it."</p> + +<p>She drew him in her caressing way to the table, seated him in the chair, +and laid the block of telegram forms before him. He scribbled +industriously, and when he had finished handed her the sheets.</p> + +<p>"There!"</p> + +<p>He fished in his pockets for money, but Viviette checked him. She was +the fairy godmother in this fairy tale, and fairy godmothers always held +the purse. She glanced again at her watch. It was ten minutes +past eleven.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he's waiting with the trap for me all the time. Au revoir."</p> + +<p>"I'll see you off," said Austin.</p> + +<p>They went together into the hall and opened the front door. The new +mare and the dog-cart in charge of the stable lad were there, but +no Dick.</p> + +<p>"Where's Mr. Ware?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know, miss."</p> + +<p>Then the Devil entered into Viviette. There is no other explanation. The +Devil entered into her.</p> + +<p>"We must get to Witherby and back before lunch. You drive me over +instead of Dick."</p> + +<p>They exchanged glances. Austin was young. He was in love with her. Dick +had committed the unpardonable offence of being late. It would serve +him right.</p> + +<p>"I'll come," said he, disappearing in search of cap and gloves.</p> + +<p>Viviette went into the hall and scribbled a note.</p> + +<p>"Dear Dick,--You're late. Austin and I have the most important business +to transact at Witherby, so he's driving me over. We're preparing a +great surprise for you.--Viviette."</p> + +<p>"Give this to Mr. Ware," she said to the stable boy as she prepared to +get into the dog-cart.</p> + +<p>The boy touched his cap and ran to open the gate. Viviette lightly +mounted by Austin's side. They had just turned into the road when Dick +came racing through the hall and saw them disappear. He walked up the +drive, and met the boy coming down, who handed him the note, with some +words, which he did not hear. He watched the boy out of sight. Then he +tore the note unread into tiny fragments, stamped them furiously into +the mould of the nearest bed, and, flying into his armoury, threw +himself into a chair and cursed the day that ever Austin was born.</p> + + + +<a name="III"></a> +<h2>Chapter III</h2> + +<h3>Katherine</h3> + +<p>The drive was a memorable one for many reasons. First the new mare flew +along at an exhilarating trot, as if showing off her qualities to her +new masters. Then the morning sunshine flooded the soft, undulating +Warwickshire country, and slanted freshly through the bordering elms in +sweet-scented lanes. Summer flaunted its irresponsible youth in the +faces of matronly, red-brick Manor House, old grey church, and crumbling +cottage, danced about among the crisp green leaves, kissed the wayside +flowers, and tossing up human hearts in sheer gaiety, played the very +deuce with them. The drive also had its altruistic side. They were on an +errand of benevolence. Austin, his mind conscious of nothing but right, +felt the unusual glow of unselfish devotion to another's interests. When +he had awakened that morning he had had misgivings as to the +advisability of sending Dick to another hemisphere. After all, Dick was +exceedingly useful at Ware House, and saved him a great deal of trouble. +An agent would have to be appointed to replace him, whose salary--not a +very large one, in view of the duties to be performed, but still a +salary--would have to be provided out of his, Austin's, pocket. Who, +again, could undertake the permanent care of his mother? Viviette would +stay at home for some little time; but she would be marrying one of +these fine days--a day which Austin had reasons for hoping would not be +very remote. He would have to make Heaven knows what arrangements for +Mrs. Ware and the general upkeep of the Manor House, while he was in +London carrying on his profession. Decidedly, Dick had been a godsend, +and his absence would be a calamity. In sending him out to Vancouver +Austin had all the unalloyed, pure pleasure of self-sacrifice.</p> + +<p>They talked of Dick and Dick's birthday and Dick's happiness most of the +way to Witherby. The telegram despatched, prepaid with the porterage by +Viviette, Austin felt that he had done his duty by his brother, and +deserved some consideration on his own account. And here it was that the +summer began its game with their hearts. On such sportive occasions it +is not so much what is said that matters. A conversation that might be +entirely conventional between comparative strangers in a fog may become +the most romantic interchange of sentiment imaginable between intimates +in the sunshine. There are tones, there are glances, there are +half-veiled allusions, there are--in a dog-cart, especially when it +jolts--thrilling contacts of arm and arm. There is man's undisguised +tribute to beauty; there is beauty's keen feminine appreciation of the +tribute. There is a manner of saying "we" which counts for more than the +casual conjunction of the personalities.</p> + +<p>"This is _our_ day, Viviette," said Austin. "I shall always remember +it."</p> + +<p>"So shall I. We must put a white mark against it in our diaries."</p> + +<p>"With white ink?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Black would never do, nor red, nor violet."</p> + +<p>"But where shall we get it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll make us some when I get home out of white cloud and lilies and +sunshine and a bit of the blue sky."</p> + +<p>Laughter fluttered through her veins. Yesterday she had teasingly +boasted to Katherine that Austin was in love with her. Now she knew it. +He proclaimed it in a thousand ways. A note of exultation in his laugh, +like that in a blackbird's call, alone proclaimed it. Instinct told her +of harmless words she might use which would bring the plain avowal. But +the hour was too delicate. As yet nothing was demanded. All was given. +Her woman's vanity blossomed deliciously in the atmosphere of a man's +love. Her heart had not yet received the inevitable summons to respond. +She left it, careless in the gay hands of summer.</p> + +<p>When they drew up before the front door of Ware House he lifted her from +the dog-cart and set her laughing on her feet.</p> + +<p>"How strong you are," she cried.</p> + +<p>"I'm not a giant, like Dick," said he, "but I'm strong enough to do what +I like with a bit of a thing like you."</p> + +<p>She entered the hall and glanced at him provokingly over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Don't be too sure of that."</p> + +<p>"Whatever I like," he repeated, striding towards her.</p> + +<p>But Viviette laughed, and fled lightly up the stairs, and on the +landing blew him an ironical kiss from her finger tips.</p> + +<p>When Viviette came down for lunch, she found Dick awaiting her in the +hall. With a lowering face he watched her descend and, his hand on the +newel, confronted her.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said he indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Well?" she said, cheerfully smiling.</p> + +<p>"What have you got to say for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Lots of things. I had a lovely drive. I got through all my business, +and I have a beautiful appetite. I also don't like standing on a stair."</p> + +<p>At her look he drew aside and let her pass into the hall.</p> + +<p>"You promised to drive with me," he said, following her to a chair in +which she sat. "Driving with me is no great catch, perhaps; but a +promise is a promise."</p> + +<p>"You were late," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"My mother kept me--some silly nonsense about vegetables. You must have +known it was something I couldn't help."</p> + +<p>"I really don't see why you're so angry, Dick," she said, lifting candid +eyes. "I explained why we had gone in my note."</p> + +<p>"I didn't read the note," said Dick wrath-fully. "A thousand notes +couldn't have explained it. I tore the note into little pieces."</p> + +<p>Viviette rose. "If that's the way you treat me," she said, piqued, "I +have nothing more to say to you."</p> + +<p>"It's the way you're treating me," he cried, with a clumsy man's awkward +attempt at gesture. "I know I'm not clever. I know I can't talk to you +as sweetly as other people; but I'm not a dog, and I deserve some +consideration. Perhaps, after all, I might have the brains to jest and +toss about words and shoot off epigrams. I'll try, if you like. Let us +see. Here. A man who entrusts his heart to a woman has a jade for his +banker. That's devilish smart, isn't it. Now then--there must be some +repartee to it. What is it?"</p> + +<p>Viviette looked at him proudly, and moving in the direction of the +morning-room door, said with much dignity:</p> + +<p>"That depends on the way in which the woman you are talking to has been +brought up. My repartee is--good morning."</p> + +<p>Dick, suddenly repentant, checked her.</p> + +<p>"No, Viviette. Don't go. I'm a brute and a fool. I didn't mean it. +Forgive me. I would rather go on the rack than hurt your little finger. +But it maddens me--can't you believe it? It maddens me to see Austin--"</p> + +<p>She broke into a little laugh and smiled dazzlingly on him.</p> + +<p>"I do believe you're jealous!" she interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" he cried passionately. "Haven't I cause? Austin has +everything his heart can desire. He has always had it. I have +nothing--nothing but one little girl I love. Austin, with all the world +at his feet, comes down here, and what chance has a rough yokel like me +against Austin? My God! It's the one ewe lamb."</p> + +<p>He raised his clenched fists and brought them down against his sides and +turned away. The allusion and a consciousness of Vancouver brought a +smile into Viviette's eyes. She had a woman's sense of humour, which is +not always urbane. When he turned to meet her she shook her head +reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"And David put Uriah into the forefront of the battle, and carried off +poor little Bathsheba. No one seemed to have concerned himself with what +Bathsheba thought of it all. Don't you consider she ought to have some +choice in the matter--whether she should follow the sprightly David or +cling to the melancholy Uriah?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't jest like that, Viviette," he cried. "It hurts!"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Dick," she said innocently. "But, really, Bathsheba has her +feelings. What am I to do?"</p> + +<p>"Choose, dear, between us. Choose now--in Heaven's name, choose."</p> + +<p>"But, Dick, dear," said Viviette, all that was wickedly feminine in her +shouting her sex's triumph song, "I want a longer time to choose between +two hats!"</p> + +<p>Dick stamped his foot. "Then Austin has been robbing me! I'm growing +desperate, Viviette, tell me now. Choose."</p> + +<p>He seized her arms in his strong hands. She felt a delicious little +thrill of fear. But knowing her strength, she looked up at him with a +childish expression and said plaintively: "Oh, Dick, dear, I'm +so hungry."</p> + +<p>He released her arms. She rubbed them ruefully. "I'm sure you've made +horrid red rings. Fancy choosing a hard, uncomfortable hat like that!"</p> + +<p>He was about to make some rejoinder when the presence of Mrs. Ware and +Katherine Holroyd at the top of the stairs put an end to the encounter. +The victory, such as it was, remained with Viviette.</p> + +<p>At lunch, Austin, his veins still tingling with the summer, laughed and +jested light-heartedly. What a joy it was to get away from stuffy courts +of justice into the pure Warwickshire air. What a joy to drink of the +wine of life. What was that? Only those that drank of the wine +could tell.</p> + +<p>"What about the poor devils that only get the dregs?" muttered Dick.</p> + +<p>Austin declared that the real wine had no dregs. He called his mother +and Katherine Holroyd to witness. Mrs. Ware was not sure. Old port had +to be very carefully decanted. Did he remember the fuss his dear father +used to make about it? She was very glad there was no more left--for +Dick would be sure to drink it and it would go to his head.</p> + +<p>"Or his toes!" cried Viviette.</p> + +<p>When Austin explained Viviette's meaning to his mother, who had not an +allusive habit of mind, she acquiesced placidly. Port was not good for +gouty people. Their poor father suffered severely. Austin listened to +her reminiscences and turned the talk to the drive. It had been more +like driving through Paradise with Pegasus harnessed to Venus's car than +anything else. He must take his mother out and show her what a good +judge of horseflesh was dear old Dick.</p> + +<p>"As she's my mare, perhaps I might have the privilege," said Dick.</p> + +<p>Austin cried out, in all good faith: "My dear old boy, is there anything +especially mine or yours in this house?"</p> + +<p>Katherine, a keen observer, broke quickly into the talk.</p> + +<p>"There's Dick's armoury. That's his own particular and private domain. +You're going to explain it all to me this afternoon, aren't you? You +promised yesterday."</p> + +<p>She drew Dick into talk away from the others. The lecture on the armoury +was fixed for three o'clock, when she would be free from the duty from +which, during her stay at the Manor House, she had freed Viviette, of +postprandial reading of the newspaper to Mrs. Ware. But her interest in +his hobby for once failed to awaken his enthusiasm. The dull jealousy of +Austin, against which his honest soul had struggled successfully all his +life long, had passed beyond his control. These few days of Austin's +Whitsun visit had changed his cosmic view. Petty rebuffs, such as the +matters of the stables and the Rural District Council, which formerly he +would have regarded in the twilight of his mind as part of the +unchangeable order of things in which Austin was destined to shine +resplendently and he to glimmer--Austin the arc-lamp and he the +tallow-dip--became magnified into grievances and insults intolerable. +Esau could not have raged more against Jacob, the supplanter, than did +Dick, when Austin carried off Viviette from beneath his nose. Until this +visit of Austin he had no idea that he would find a rival in his +brother. The discovery was a shock, causing his world to reel and +setting free all the pent-up jealousies and grievances of a lifetime. +Everything he had given up to Austin, if not willingly, at least +graciously, hiding beneath the rough, tanned hide of his homely face all +pain, disappointment, and humiliation. But now Austin had come and +swooped off with his one ewe lamb. Not that Viviette had encouraged him +by more than the real but mocking affection with which she had treated +her bear foster-brother ever since her elfin childhood. In a dim way he +realised this, and absolved her from blame. Less dimly, also, he felt +his mental and social inferiority, his lack of warrant in offering her +marriage. But his great, rugged manhood wanted her, the woman, with an +imperious, savage need which took all the training of civilisation to +repress. Viviette alone in her maidenly splendour, he could have fought +it down. But the vision of another man entering, light-hearted and +debonair, into those precincts maddened him, let loose primitive +instincts of hatred and revenge, and robbed him of all interest in the +toys with which men used to slay each other centuries ago.</p> + +<p>Austin, being nearest the door, opened it for the ladies to pass out. +Viviette, going out last, looked up at him with one of her +witch's glances.</p> + +<p>"Don't be very long," she said,</p> + +<p>Before Austin could resume his seat Dick leaped up.</p> + +<p>"Austin, look here; I've something to say to you."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Austin.</p> + +<p>Dick pulled out a cigar, bit the end off, and finding that he had +ripped the outer skin, threw it angrily into the fireplace.</p> + +<p>"My dear old boy," said Austin, "what in the name of all that's neurotic +is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"I've something to say to you," Dick repeated. "Something that concerns +myself, my life. I must throw myself on your generosity."</p> + +<p>Austin, his head full of philanthropy, thrust his hands into his pockets +and smiled indulgently on Dick.</p> + +<p>"Don't, old chap, I know all about it. Viviette has told me everything."</p> + +<p>Dick, his head full of passion, staggered in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Viviette has told you?"</p> + +<p>"Of course; why shouldn't she?"</p> + +<p>Dick groped his way to the door. It were better for both that he should +not stay. Austin, left alone, laughed, not unkindly. Dear old Dick! It +was a shame to tease him--but what a different expression his honest +face would wear to-morrow! When the maid brought in his coffee he sipped +it with enjoyment, forgetful for once of its lack of excellence.</p> + +<p>There was one person, however, in the house who saw things clearly; and +the more clearly she saw them the less did they seem satisfactorily +ordered. This was Katherine Holroyd, a sympathetic observer and +everybody's intimate. She had known the family since her childhood, +spent in a great neighbouring house which had now long since passed from +her kin into alien hands. She had known Viviette when she first came, +with her changeling face, a toddling child of three, to the Manor House. +She had grown up with the brothers. Until her marriage the place had +been her second home. Her married life, mostly spent abroad, had +somewhat broken the intimacy. But her widowhood after the first few +hopeless months had renewed it, although her visits were comparatively +rare. On the other hand, her little daintily-furnished London house in +Victoria square was always open to such of the family as happened to be +in town. Now, as Austin was the most frequently in town, seeing that he +lived there all the year round, with the exception of the long vacation +and odd flying visits to Warwickshire, to Austin was her door most +frequently open. A deep affection existed between them, deeper perhaps +than either realised. To be purely brotherly in attitude towards a woman +whom you are fond of and who is not your sister, and to be purely +sisterly in your attitude towards a man whom you are fond of and who is +not your brother, are ideals of spiritual emotion very difficult to +attain in this respectably organised but sex-ridden world.</p> + +<p>During the dark time of her early widowhood it was to Austin's delicate +tact and loyalty that she owed her first weak grasp on life. It was he +that had brought her to a sense of outer things, to a realisation that +in spite of her own grey sky there was still a glory on the earth. He +was her trusted friend, ally, and adviser, who never failed her, and she +contemplated him always with a heart full of somewhat exaggerated +gratitude--which is as far on the road to love as it is given to many +women to travel.</p> + +<p>She had barely reached the top of the hall stairs--on her way to spend +her reading hour with Mrs. Ware, when she saw Dick come out of the +dining-room with convulsed and angry face, the veins standing out on his +thick bull's neck. She felt frightened. Something foolish and desperate +would happen before long. She resolved to give Austin a warning word. +With an excuse to Mrs. Ware she went down again to the dining-room, and +found Austin in the cosiest and sunniest frame of mind imaginable. +Obviously there had been no serious quarrel between the brothers.</p> + +<p>"Can I have a few minutes with you, Austin?"</p> + +<p>"A thousand," he said gaily. "What has gone wrong?"</p> + +<p>"It is nothing to do with me," she said.</p> + +<p>He looked amusedly into her eyes. "I know. It's about Viviette. +Confess."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied soberly, "it's about Viviette."</p> + +<p>"You've seen it. I make no bones about it. You can believe the very +worst. I have fallen utterly and hopelessly in love with her. I am at +your mercy."</p> + +<p>This beginning was not quite what Katherine had expected. In his +confident way he had taken matters out of her hands. She had not +anticipated a down-right confession. She felt conscious of a little dull +and wholly reprehensible ache at her heart. She sighed.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you pleased, Katherine?" he asked with a man's selfishness.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I must be--for your sake. But I must also sigh a little. I +knew you would be falling in love sooner or later--only I hoped it would +be later. But _que veux-tu?_ It is the doom of all such friendships."</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything like a doom about it, my dear," said he. "The +friendship will continue. Viviette loves you dearly."</p> + +<p>She took up a peach from a dish to her hand, regarded it for a moment, +absent-mindedly, and delicately replaced it.</p> + +<p>"Our friendship will continue, of course. But the particular essence of +it, the little sentimentality of ownership, will be gone, won't it?"</p> + +<p>Austin rose and bent over Katherine's chair in some concern. "You're not +distressed, Katherine?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. You have been such a kind, loyal friend to me during a very +dark and lonely time--brought sunshine into my life when I needed it +most--that I should be a wicked woman if I didn't rejoice at your +happiness. And we have been nothing more than friends."</p> + +<p>"Nothing more," said Austin.</p> + +<p>She was smiling now, and he caught a gleam of mischief in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"And yet there was an afternoon last winter--"</p> + +<p>His face coloured. "Don't throw my wickedness in my face. I remember +that afternoon. I came in fagged, with the prospect of dinner at the +club and a dismal evening over a brief in front of me, and found you +sitting before the fire, the picture of rest and comfortableness and +companionship. I think it was the homely smell of hot buttered toast +that did it. I nearly asked you to marry me."</p> + +<p>"And I had been feeling particularly lonely," she laughed.</p> + +<p>"Would you have accepted me?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think that it is quite a fair question?"</p> + +<p>"We have always been frank with one another since our childhood," said +he.</p> + +<p>She smiled. "Has Viviette accepted you?"</p> + +<p>He broke away from her with a gay laugh, and lit a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"Your feminine subtlety does you credit, Katherine."</p> + +<p>"But has she?"</p> + +<p>"Well, no--not exactly."</p> + +<p>"Will she?"</p> + +<p>He brought his hand down on the table. "By heavens, I'll make her! I've +got most of the things I've wanted during my life, and it'll be odd if I +don't get the thing I want more than all the rest put together. Now +answer my question, my dear Katherine," he continued teasingly. "Would +you have married me?"</p> + +<p>The smile faded from Katherine's face. She could not parry the question +as she had done before, and it probed depths. She said very seriously +and sweetly:</p> + +<p>"I should have done, Austin, as I always shall do, whatever you ask me +to do. I'm glad you didn't ask me--very glad--for the love a woman gives +a man died within me, you know."</p> + +<p>He took her hand and kissed it.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said he, "you are the truest friend that ever man had."</p> + +<p>There was a short pause. Austin looked out of the window and Katherine +wiped away some moisture in her eyes. This scene of sentimentality was +not at all what she had come for. Soon she rose with a determined air +and joined Austin by the window.</p> + +<p>"It was as a true friend that I wanted to speak to you to-day. To warn +you."</p> + +<p>"About what?"</p> + +<p>"About Dick. Austin, he's madly in love with Viviette too."</p> + +<p>Austin stared at her for a moment incredulously. "Dick in love--in love +with Viviette?" Then he broke into a peal of laughter. "My _dear_ +Katherine! Why, it's absurd! It's preposterous! It's too funny."</p> + +<p>"But seriously, Austin."</p> + +<p>"But seriously," he said, with laughing eyes, "such an idea has never +penetrated into old Dick's wooden skull. You dear women are always +making up romance. He and Viviette are on the same old fairy and great +brown bear terms that they have been ever since they first met. She +makes him dance on his hind legs--he wants to hug her--she hits him over +the nose--and he growls."</p> + +<p>"I warn you," said Katherine. "Great brown bears in love are dangerous."</p> + +<p>"But he isn't in love," he argued light-heartedly. "If he were he would +want to stay with Viviette. But he's eating his heart out, apparently, +to leave us all and go and plough fields and herd cattle abroad. The +life he lives here, my good mother's somewhat arbitrary ways, and one +thing and another have at last got on his nerves. I wonder now how the +dear old chap has stood it so long. That's what is wrong with him, not +blighted affection."</p> + +<p>"I can only tell you what I know," said Katherine. "If you won't believe +me, it's not my fault. Keep your eyes open and you will see."</p> + +<p>"And you keep your eyes open to-morrow morning and _you_ will see," he +said, with his bright self-confidence.</p> + +<p>So Katherine sighed at the obtuseness and inconvincibility of man and +went to read the leader in _The Daily Telegraph_ to Mrs. Ware. Austin, +with a smile on his lips, wandered out into the sunshine in search +of Viviette.</p> + +<p>Before they parted, however, Katherine turned by the door.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming to the armoury to hear Dick's lecture?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Austin gaily. "The dear old chap loves an audience."</p> + + + +<a name="IV"></a> +<h2>Chapter IV</h2> + +<h3>The Famous Duelling Pistols</h3> + +<p>Dick's great-grandfather (Wild Dick Ware, as he used to be called by the +country-side), besides other enormities of indiscretion, committed an +architectural crime. Having begun to form the collection of arms which +was Dick's pride and hobby, he felt the need of a fencing gallery where +they could be displayed to advantage. None of the rooms in the house +were suitable. Building a new wing would cost too much. So, like a good +old English gentleman, accustomed to get what he wanted, he ruthlessly +cut off a slice of the nobly proportioned morning-room, containing a +beautifully-mullioned casement at the side, knocked a French window +through one end, so that he could wander in and out from the terrace, +knocked a door through the other so that it opened on a corner of the +hall, forgot all about the fireplace, and left his descendants to make +the best of things.</p> + +<p>This long, narrow, comfortless strip of a room was Dick's armoury, den, +and refuge. It was furnished with extreme simplicity. At the further end +two rusty leather arm-chairs flanked a cast-iron stove in the corner, and +were balanced in the other and darker corner by a knee-hole writing-desk +littered with seeds and bulbs and spurs and bits of fishing tackle, and +equipped for its real purpose with a forbidding-looking pen and inkpot, +and a torn piece of weather-beaten blotting-paper. At about a third of +the way down from the terrace door a great screen, covered with American +cloth, cut the room almost in two. Against this screen stood two suits +of beautifully-finished fifteenth-century Italian armour. Between them +and the further end of the room ran a long deal table, with a green +baize cover. An odd, dilapidated chair or two stood lonely and +disconsolate against the opposite wall. The floor was covered with old +matting and a few faded rugs. The walls, however, and the cases ranged +along them gave an air of distinction to the room. There hung trophies +of arms of all sorts--a bewildering array of spiky stars like the +monstrous decorations on the breast of a Brobdingnagian diplomatist, of +guns and pistols of all ages and nationalities, of halberds, pikes, and +partisans, of curved scimitars, great two-handed swords, and long, +glittering rapiers, with precious hilts. There, too, were coats of chain +mail and great iron gauntlets, and rows of dinted helmets formed a +cornice round the gallery.</p> + +<p>It was Dick's sanctuary, where, according to family tradition, he was +supposed to be immune from domestic attacks. Anyone, it is true, could +open the door and worry him from the threshold, but no one entered +without his invitation. Here he was master. Here he spent solitary hours +dreaming dreams, wrestling with devils, tying trout-flies, making up +medicines for his dogs, and polishing and arranging and rearranging his +armour and weapons. Until the furies got hold of him he was a simple +soul, content with simple things. The happiest times of his life had +been passed here among the inanimate objects which he loved, and here he +was now spending the hours of his greatest agony.</p> + +<p>The words he had just heard from Austin rang like a crazy, deafening +chime through his ears. He sat in one of the old leather chairs, +gripping his coarse hair. It was unthinkable, and yet it was true. +Viviette had told Austin the thing that glowed sacred at the bottom of +his soul. The scene danced vividly before his eyes: the two bright +creatures making a mock of him and his love, laughing merrily at the +trick they had played him, pitying him contemptuously. There was a flame +at his heart, a burning lump in his throat. Mechanically he drew from a +little cupboard near by a bottle of whiskey, a syphon, and a glass. The +drink he mixed and swallowed contained little soda. It increased the +fire in his heart and throat. He paced the long room in crazy +indignation. Every nerve in his body quivered with a sense of +unforgivable insult and deadly outrage. Austin's face loomed before him +like that of a mocking devil. He had hell in his throat, and again he +tossed down a dose of whiskey, and threw himself into the arm-chair. The +daily paper lay on a stool at his hand. He took it up and tried to read, +but the print swam into thin, black smudges. He dashed the paper to the +ground, and gave himself up to his madness.</p> + +<p>After a while he remembered his appointment with Katherine at three +o'clock. He glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to the hour, and, +beyond a cleaning yesterday afternoon, no preparations were made. In an +automatic way he unlocked some cases and drew out his treasures, wiped +the sword-blades tenderly with chamois leather, and laid them on the +long, baize-covered table. Here and there from the cornice he selected a +helmet. The great mace used by his ecclesiastical ancestor he unhooked +from the wall. Soon the table was covered with weapons, selected in a +dazed way, he knew not why. A helmet fell from his hands on the floor +with a ring of steel. Its visor grinned at him--the fool, the tricked, +the supplanted. He kicked it, with a silly laugh. Then he pulled himself +together, picked it up, and examined it in great fear lest harm should +have happened to it. He put it on the table, and in order to steady his +nerves drank another large whiskey and small soda.</p> + +<p>He scanned the table, perplexed. Some accustomed and important exhibit +was not in its place. What was it? He clasped his head in his hands and +strove to clear his mind for a moment from obsession. It was something +historical, something unique, something he had but lately mentioned to +Katherine. Something intimately connected with this very room. At last +memory responded. He placed a chair between the two suits of armour that +stood against the screen and the end of the long table, and, mounting, +took a mahogany case from a shelf. Then he sat on the chair, put the +case on the table, and opened it by means of a small, ornamental key. It +contained a brace of old-fashioned duelling pistols, such as were used +at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They were long-barrelled, +ivory-handled, business-like weapons, provided with miniature ramrods. +The velvet-lined interior of the case was divided into various +compartments, two for the pistols, one for powder-flask, one for +bullets, one for percussion-caps, and one for wads. In his dull, +automatic way, his mind whirling madly in other spheres, he cleaned the +pistols, shook the powder-flask to make certain that powder was still +there--he loved to pour out a few grains into his hand and show the +powder that had remained in the flask for generations, ever since the +pistols were last used--counted the caps, which he had counted many +times before, looked stupidly into the only empty compartment, only to +remember that there never had been any wads, and, finally, grasping one +of the pistols, took aim at a bulb on his writing-desk at the end of +the room.</p> + +<p>He had been tricked, and robbed, and mocked. He could see the scene when +she had told Austin. He could hear Austin's pitiless laughter. He could +picture her mimicking his rough speech. He could picture them, +faithless, heartless, looking into each other's eyes.... Suddenly he +passed his hand over his forehead. Was he going mad? Hitherto he had +heard their voices in the dimness of imagination. Now he heard them loud +in vibrating sound. Was it real or imaginary? He drew deep, +panting breaths.</p> + +<p>"Dick's not here," said Viviette's voice from the terrace. "He has +forgotten."</p> + +<p>"Really, my dear, I don't very much care," Austin replied. "Where you +are, I am happy."</p> + +<p>"I wish that telegram would come. It's quite time. Don't you think we +had better tell Dick to-day?"</p> + +<p>"No, no. To-morrow."</p> + +<p>"After all, what is the good of hiding it from him?"</p> + +<p>A laugh from Austin. "You think we ought to put him out of his misery +at once?"</p> + +<p>It was real! Those two were talking in flesh and blood on the terrace. +They were talking of him. His misery! That had but one meaning. And the +devil laughed! Unconsciously his grip tightened on the butt of the +pistol. He listened.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Viviette. "It would be kinder."</p> + +<p>"I stick to the birthday idea. It would be more dramatic."</p> + +<p>"The damned villain!" Dick muttered.</p> + +<p>"I want to-day," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"And I want to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"You speak as if you were my lord and master," said Viviette, in the +mocking tones Dick knew so well.</p> + +<p>"No other man shall be if I can help it."</p> + +<p>The clear, young masterful voice rang down the gallery. Dick slid his +chair noiselessly to the side of the screen which hid him from the +terrace-window, and, bending down low, peered round the edge. He saw +them laughing, flushed, silhouetted against the green, distant trees. +Austin was looking at her with the light of passion in his eyes. She +looked up at him, radiant, elusive, triumphant, with parted lips.</p> + +<p>"Please to remember we were talking of Dick."</p> + +<p>"Confound Dick! In this he doesn't count. I matter. And I'll show you."</p> + +<p>He showed her in the one and only way. She struggled for a second in his +arms, and received his kiss with a little laugh. They had moved to the +far lintel of the door. Dick's world reeled red before his eyes. He +stood up and held the pistol pointed. Damn him! Damn him! He would kill +him. Kill him like a dog.</p> + +<p>Some reflex motion of the brain prompted action. Feverishly he rammed a +charge of powder down the pistol. Wads? A bit of the newspaper lying on +the floor. Then a bullet. Then a wad rammed home. Then the cap. It was +done at lightning speed. Murder, red, horrible murder blazed in his +soul. Damn him! He would kill him. He started into the middle of the +room, just as they walked away, and he sprang to the door and levelled +the pistol.</p> + +<p>Then reaction came. No. Not like a dog. He couldn't shoot his brother +like a dog. His arm fell helplessly at his side. He turned back again +into the room, staggering and knocking himself against the cases by the +walls, like a drunken man. The sweat rolled down his face. He put the +pistol beside the other on the table. For some moments he stood a +hulking statue, shaken as though stricken with earthquake, white-faced, +white-lipped, staring, with crossed, blue eyes, at nothing. At last he +recovered power of motion, drank another whiskey, and replaced bottle, +syphon, and glass in the cupboard.</p> + +<p>He found himself suddenly clear-headed, able to think. He was not in +the least degree drunk. To test himself he took up a sword from the +table, and, getting the right spot, balanced it on his finger. He could +speak, too, as well as anybody. He turned to a long Moorish musket +inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl, and began to describe it. He was +quite fluent and sensible, although his voice sounded remote in his own +ears. He was satisfied. He had his nerves under control. He would go +through the next hour without anyone suspecting the madness that was in +his mind. He was absolutely sober and self-collected. He walked along a +seam of the matting that ran the whole length of the gallery, and did +not deviate from it one hair's breadth. Now he was ready. Perfectly +prepared to deliver his lecture. He sat down and picked up the +newspaper, and the print was clear. "The weather still continues to be +fine over the British Islands. The anti-cyclone has not yet passed away +from the Bay of Biscay...." He read the jargon through to the end. But +it seemed as if it were not he who was reading, but someone else--a +quiet, placid gentleman, deeply versed in the harmless science of +meteorology. Where his real self was he did not know, so he toyed with +the illusion.</p> + +<p>A voice broke on his ear, coming, it seemed, from another world.</p> + +<p>"Dick, may we come in?"</p> + +<p>He rose, saw Katherine, Austin, and Viviette on the threshold. He +invited them to enter, and shook Katherine by the hand, as if he had not +met her for a long time.</p> + +<p>Viviette danced down to the table. "Now, Dick, we're all here. Put on +your most learned, and antiquarian mariner. Ladies and gentlemen, I call +on Mr. Richard Ware to deliver his interesting lecture on the ingenious +instruments men have devised for butchering each other."</p> + +<p>Dick put his hand to his head in a confused way. His real self was +beginning to merge itself into that of the quiet gentleman, and there +was a curious red mist before his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Come on," cried Viviette. "Look at Katherine. Her mouth is watering for +tales of bloodshed."</p> + +<p>Dick could not remember his usual starting-point. He stared stupidly at +the table for a moment; then picked up a weapon at random, and made a +great effort.</p> + +<p>"This is a Toledo sixteenth-century sword--reported to have belonged to +Cosmo de Medici. You see here the '_palle_,' the Medici emblem. The one +next to it is a sword of the same period, only used by a meaner person. +I should prefer it, if there were any killing to be done."</p> + +<p>He described one or two other weapons. Then, glancing over his shoulder +at Austin and Viviette, who were talking in low, confidential tones a +little way off, he stood stock still, and the beads of sweat gathered on +his forehead. Katherine's voice recalled his wandering wits.</p> + +<p>"This is a cross-bow, isn't it? The thing the Ancient Mariner shot the +Albatross with."</p> + +<p>"A cross-bow," said Dick. "The iron loop at the end was to put one's +foot into when one wanted to load it."</p> + +<p>"And this," said Katherine, pointing to a long steel thing with a great +knob adorned with cruel spikes, "is the family mace, I suppose. I've +seen it before, I remember."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's the mace."</p> + +<p>"What a blood-thirsty set of people you must have been!"</p> + +<p>Austin came up with a laugh. "There's a legend among us that once mother +was left alone in the house and insisted on having this mace near her +bed so as to defend herself against burglars. But why do you leave me to +tell the story, Dick?"</p> + +<p>Dick clenched his fists, and, muttering something, turned and ascended +the gallery above the screen. Viviette followed him.</p> + +<p>"You're not doing it at all nicely. I don't think you want to."</p> + +<p>"Can you wonder at that?" he said hoarsely.</p> + +<p>Viviette played deliciously with the fire.</p> + +<p>"Why, aren't we intelligent enough for you?" she asked with childish +innocence.</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean."</p> + +<p>"I haven't the faintest idea. All I know is that you may as well be +polite, at any rate."</p> + +<p>He laughed. Ordinarily he had little sense of humour; but now he had the +flames in his heart and the hell in his throat, and red mist before +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll be polite," he growled. "By God, I'll be polite! One may be +suffering the tortures of the damned, but one must smirk and be polite!"</p> + +<p>He snatched up the first thing to hand, a helmet that stood on a case, +and brought it down below the screen.</p> + +<p>"Katherine, Viviette says I'm not delivering my lecture properly. I beg +your pardon. I'm rather shy at first, but I get warmed up to my subject. +What would you like to hear about?"</p> + +<p>Katherine exchanged a glance with Austin.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we might put off the rest till another day?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, old chap. Put it off till to-morrow. It's your birthday, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Birthday? What's that got to do with it? Who knows what may happen +between then and now? No--no. I'm all right," he cried wildly. "You're +here, and you've got to listen. I'll get into fine form presently. +Look!" he said, pointing to the helmet he was holding. "Here is a +Cromwellian morion. It was picked up by an ancestor at Naseby. It has a +clean cut in it. That's where an honest gentleman's sword found its way +into the knave's skull--the puritanical, priggish, canting knave."</p> + +<p>He threw the helmet with a clatter on to the table as if it had been the +knave's canting head. He caught up a weapon.</p> + +<p>"This is a partisan. All you had to do when you got it inside a man was +to turn it round a bit, and the wound gaped and tore. This tassel is for +catching the blood and preventing it from greasing the handle. Here's a +beauty," he went on, taking a sword from the row he had laid out for +display, and holding it out for Katherine's inspection. "One of the pets +of the collection. A French duelling sword of the middle of the +eighteenth century." He gave a fencer's flourish. "Responsive to the +hilts, eh? Ah! It must have been good to live in those days, when you +could whip this from your side at a wrong done and have the life of the +man that wronged you. The sweet morning air, the patch of green turf, +shoes off--in shirt and breeches--with the eyes of the man you hate in +front of you, and this glittering, beautiful, snaky thing thirsting for +his heart's blood. And then--"--he stood in tierce, left hand curved, +holding in tense fierceness the eyes of an imaginary opponent--"and then +a little clitter-clatter of steel, and, suddenly--ha!--the blade +disappears up to the hilt, and a great red stain comes on the shirt, and +the man throws up his arms, and falls, and you've killed him. He's dead! +dead! dead! Ha! what a time to live in!"</p> + +<p>Katherine uttered a little cry of fear, and grew pale. Viviette clapped +her hands.</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Dick!"</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Dick!" cried Austin. "Most dramatically done."</p> + +<p>"I never knew you were such an actor," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>Dick stood panting, his hand on the hilt of the sword, the point on the +floor.</p> + +<p>"I really do think I've had enough," said Katherine.</p> + +<p>"No, not yet," he said in a thick voice. "I've not shown you half yet. +I've something much more interesting."</p> + +<p>"But, Dick--"</p> + +<p>Viviette interrupted her. "You must stay. It's only beginning to be +exciting. If you only do the rest as beautifully as you did that, Dick, +I'll stay here all day."</p> + +<p>Dick, with a curious outward calm, contrasting with the fury of his mock +encounter, put down the sword and went to the end of the table, where +the case of pistols lay.</p> + +<p>"At any rate, I must show you," said he, "the famous duelling pistols."</p> + +<p>"They were the very pistols in the duel between his great-grandfather +and Lord Estcombe," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"They've not been used from that day--he killed Lord Estcombe, by the +by--till this. The case is just as it was left. I was going to tell you +the story yesterday."</p> + +<p>"I remember," said Katherine, by way of civility. "But Mrs. Ware stopped +you."</p> + +<p>She was a mild-natured woman, and the realistic conjuring up of +gore-dripping tassels and bloody shirts upset her, and she desired to +get away. She also saw that Dick was abnormally excited, and suspected +that he had been drinking. Her delicate senses shrank from drunkenness.</p> + +<p>"You must tell the story," cried Viviette. "It's so romantic. You like +romantic things, Katherine. The great-grandfather was a Dick Ware +too--Wild Dick Ware they used to call him. Go on, Dick."</p> + +<p>Dick paused for a moment. He had a curious, dull, befogged sensation of +being compelled to do things independently of volition. Presently +he spoke.</p> + +<p>"It happened in this very room, a hundred years ago. Lord Estcombe and +my great-grandfather were friends--intimate friends from boyhood. Wild +Dick Ware was madly in love with a girl who had more or less become +engaged to him. Now, it came to his knowledge that Lord Estcombe had +been using blackguard means to win away the girl's affections. And one +day they were here"--he moved a pace or two to one side--"just as Austin +and I are now. And the girl over there--"</p> + +<p>Viviette, with a gay laugh, took up her position on the spot to which he +pointed.</p> + +<p>"Just in this identical place. I know the story--it's lovely!"</p> + +<p>"An old Peninsula comrade of Wild Dick Ware's was here too--a man called +Hawkins--"</p> + +<p>"Katherine shall be Hawkins," cried Viviette.</p> + +<p>"And in his presence," Dick continued, "Wild Dick Ware told the girl +that he was mad for love of her, but that he would not force her choice; +yet one of those two, himself or Lord Estcombe, she must choose, for +good and all. She could not speak for shame or confusion. He said, +'Throw your handkerchief to whichever of us you love.' And they stood +side by side--like this"--he ranged himself by Austin's side--"opposite +the girl."</p> + +<p>"And she threw the handkerchief!" cried Viviette.</p> + +<p>"Throw yours!" said Dick. He looked at her with fierce intensity beneath +rugged brows; Austin with laughing challenge. She knew that she was the +object of each man's desire, and her sex's triumph thrilled through her +from head to foot. She knew that this jesting choice would have serious +import. For some seconds the three remained stock still. She glanced +flatteringly from one man to the other. Which should she choose? Her +heart beat wildly. Choose one or the other she must. Outside that room +no man lived whom she would marry. Each second strained the situation +further. At last her spirit rose in feminine revolt against the trap +which Dick had set for her, and, with a malicious look, she threw the +handkerchief at Austin's feet. He picked it up and gallantly put it +to his lips.</p> + +<p>"In the story," exclaimed Viviette, "she threw it to Lord Estcombe. +Austin is Lord Estcombe."</p> + +<p>"And I'm Dick Ware," cried Dick, in a strangled voice. "Wild Dick Ware. +And this is what he did. He dragged the girl out of the room first."</p> + +<p>He took Viviette by the arm and roughly thrust her past the screen.</p> + +<p>"Then--that case was on the table. And without a word Wild Dick Ware +comes up to Lord Estcombe so--and says, 'Choose.'"</p> + +<p>He gripped the pistols by the barrels, crossed them, and presented the +butts to Austin. Austin waved them away with a deprecatory gesture and +a smile.</p> + +<p>"Really, old man, I can't enter into the spirit of it, like that. You're +splendid. But if I took a hand, it would be tomfoolery."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do, do," cried Viviette. "Let us go through with it and see just +how the duel was fought. It will be thrilling. You'll have to fall dead +like Lord Estcombe, and I'll burst into the room and tear my hair over +your poor corpse. Do, Austin, for my sake."</p> + +<p>He yielded. Any foolishness for her sake. He took a pistol.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to be Major Hawkins, Katherine," he said lightly, as if +inviting her to condescend to some child's game.</p> + +<p>But Katherine put her hands before her face and shrank back. "No, no, +no. I couldn't. I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll be Major Hawkins," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"You will?" Dick laughed harshly. "Then be it so."</p> + +<p>"I know just what they did."</p> + +<p>She placed the men back to back, so that Austin faced the further end of +the room and Dick the open French window. They were to take three paces, +count one, two, three, and, at the end of the third pace, they were to +turn and fire.</p> + +<p>Dick felt the touch of Austin's shoulder against his, and the flame at +his heart grew fiercer and the hell in his throat more burning, and the +universe whirled round in a red mist. Viviette moved to the +weapon-laden table.</p> + +<p>"Now. One--two--three!"</p> + +<p align="center"><img src="images/002.jpg" alt="[Illustration: Dick glared at him]" /></p> + +<p>They paced and turned. Dick levelled his pistol instantly at Austin, +with murderous hate in his eyes, and drew the trigger. The pistol +clicked harmlessly. Austin, self-conscious, did not raise his pistol. +But Dick, broadening his chest, glared at him and shouted, +wildly, madly:</p> + +<p>"Fire, damn you! Fire! Why the devil don't you fire?"</p> + +<p>The cry was real, vibrant with fury and despair. Austin looked at him +for an amazed moment; then, throwing his pistol on to one of the +arm-chairs, he came up to him.</p> + +<p>"What fool's game are you playing, Dick? Are you drunk?"</p> + +<p>Katherine, with a low cry, flung herself between them, and, clinging to +Dick's arm, took the pistol from his hand.</p> + +<p>"No more of this--no more. The duel has been too much like reality +already."</p> + +<p>Dick staggered to a straight-backed chair by the wall, and, sitting +down, wiped his forehead. He had grown deathly white. The flames had +been suddenly quenched within him, and he felt cold and sick. Viviette, +in alarm, ran to his side. What was the matter? Was he faint? Let her +take him into the fresh air. Austin came up. But at his approach Dick +rose and shrank away, glancing at him furtively out of bloodshot eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes. The heat has oppressed me. I'm not well. I'll go out."</p> + +<p>He stumbled blindly towards the French window. Viviette followed him, +but he turned on her rudely and thrust her back.</p> + +<p>"I'm not well, I tell you. I don't want your help. Let me alone."</p> + +<p>He passed through the French window on to the terrace. The sky had +clouded over, and a drizzle had begun to fall.</p> + +<p>Viviette felt curiously frightened, but she put on an air of bravado as +she came down the gallery.</p> + +<p>"Have you all been rehearsing this little comedy?"</p> + +<p>No mirthful response lit either face. She read condemnation in both +pairs of eyes. For the first time in her life she felt daunted, +humiliated. She knew nothing more beyond the fact that in deliberate +coquetry she had pitted brother against brother, and that something +cruel and tragical had happened for which she was being judged. Neither +spoke. She summoned her outer dignity, tossed her pretty head, and went +out by the end door which Austin in cold politeness held open for her. +Then she mounted to her bedroom, and, throwing herself on her bed, burst +into a passion of meaningless weeping.</p> + +<p>Katherine handed Austin the pistol which she had taken from Dick's hand.</p> + +<p>"Now you'll believe what I told you."</p> + +<p>"I believe it," said Austin gravely.</p> + +<p>"That duel was not all play-acting."</p> + +<p>"That," said he, "was absurd. Dick Has been drinking. It was a silly +farce. Viviette egged him on until he seemed to take it seriously."</p> + +<p>"He did take it seriously, Austin. He's in a dangerous mood. If I were +you I should be careful. Take a woman's warning."</p> + +<p>He stood for a moment in deep thought, his gaze absently fixed on the +weapon he held in his hand. Suddenly a glint of something strange caught +his eye. He started, but recovered himself quickly.</p> + +<p>"I'll take your warning, Katherine. Here's my hand upon it."</p> + +<p>A moment later, when he was alone, he uncocked the pistol--Dick's +pistol. The glint had not been imaginary. It was a percussion cap. With +trembling fingers he picked it off the nipple. He passed his hand across +his damp forehead, for he felt faint with dread. But the task had to be +accomplished. He unscrewed the ramrod and picked out the wad, a piece +of white paper which dropped on the floor. From the barrel held downward +a bullet dropped with a dead, fateful thud on the floor. More paper +wad--a slithering shower of gunpowder. He put the pistol down, and took +up the one he himself had used from the chair where he had thrown it. It +was unloaded. His eye fell on the bits of white paper. He picked them up +and unfolded them. The daily newspaper lay by the stove, with the corner +torn accusingly.</p> + +<p>Then he understood. He sank into a chair, paralysed with horror. It was +Dick's pistol that was loaded. Dick had meant to murder him. By the +grace of God the pistol had missed fire. But Dick, his own brother, had +meant to murder him. An hour later he walked out of the room, the case +of pistols under his arm, with the drawn face of an old man.</p> + +<p>It was not until Dick had stumbled five or six miles through the +drenching downpour that the thought reached his dulled brain that he had +left the pistols loose for anyone to examine. The thought was like a +great stone hitting him on the side of the head. He turned and began to +run homewards, like a hunted man in desperate flight.</p> + + + +<a name="V"></a> +<h2>Chapter V</h2> + +<h3>A Crisis</h3> + +<p>Viviette having repaired the disorder caused by her tears went down to +tea. Mrs. Ware, Katherine, and a curate deliberately calling or taking +shelter from the rain were in the drawing-room. Austin, to his mother's +mild astonishment, had sent down a message to the effect that he was +busy. On ordinary occasions Viviette would have flirted monstrously with +the clerical youth, and sent him away undecided whether to offer to +share his lodgings and hundred pounds a year with her, or to turn +Catholic and become a monk. But now she had no mind to flirtation. She +left him to the undisturbing wiles of Mrs. Ware, and petted and +surreptitiously fed Dick's Irish terrier, whose brown eyes looked +pathetic inquiry as to his master's whereabouts. She was sobered by the +uncomprehended scene in the armoury--sobered by Dick's violence and by +Austin's final coldness. A choice had been put before her in deadly +earnest; she had refused to make one. But the choice would have to be +made very soon, unless she sent both her lovers packing, a step which +she did not for a moment contemplate.</p> + +<p>"You must promise to marry one or the other and end this tension," said +Katherine, a little later, after the curate had gone with Mrs. Ware to +look at her greenhouses.</p> + +<p>"I wish to goodness I could marry them both," said Viviette. "Have a +month with each, turn and turn about. It would be ideal."</p> + +<p>"It would be altogether horrid!" exclaimed Katherine. "How could such a +thought enter your head?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it must have entered every woman's head who has two men +she's fond of in love with her at once. I said yesterday that it was +great fun being a woman. I find it's a d.d.d.d. imposition!"</p> + +<p>"For heaven's sake, child, make up your mind quickly," said Katherine.</p> + +<p>Viviette sighed. Which should it be? Dick, with his great love and rough +tenderness and big, protecting arms, or Austin with his conquering ways, +his wit, his charm, his perception? Austin could give her the luxury +that her sensuous nature delighted in, social position, the brilliant +life of London. What could Dick give her? It would always be a joy to +dress herself for Austin. Dick would be content if she went about in +raiment made of dusters and bath towels. In return, what could she give +each of these men? She put the question to herself. She was not +mercenary or heartless. She gave of herself freely and loved the giving. +What could she give to Austin? What could she give to Dick? These +questions, in her sober mood, weighed the others down.</p> + +<p>When the rain ceased and a pale sun had dried the gravel, she went out +into the grounds by herself and faced the problem. She sighed +again--many times. If only they would let her have her fun out and give +her answer six months hence!</p> + +<p>Her meditations were cut short by the arrival of a telegraph boy on his +bicycle at the front gate. He gave her the telegram. It was for Austin. +Her heart beat. She went into the house with the yellow envelope +containing Dick's destiny and mounted to the little room off the first +landing which had been Austin's private study since his boyhood. She +knocked. Austin's voice bade her enter. He rose from the desk where, pen +in hand, he had been sitting before a blank sheet of paper, and without +a word took the telegram. She noticed with a shock that he had curiously +changed. The quick, brisk manner had gone. His face was grey.</p> + +<p>"It is _the_ telegram, isn't it?" she asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he, handing it to her. "It's from Lord Overton."</p> + +<p>She read: "The very man. Send him along to me early to-morrow. Hope he +can start immediately."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how splendid!" she exclaimed with a little gasp of happiness. "How +utterly splendid! Thank heaven!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Thank heaven," Austin acquiesced gravely. "I forgot to mention to +you that Lord Overton knows Dick personally," he added, after a pause. +"They met at my house the last time Dick was in London."</p> + +<p>"This _is_ good news," said Viviette. "At last I can give him a birthday +present worth having."</p> + +<p>"He will not be here for his birthday," said Austin, in cold, even +tones. "He must catch the mail to-night."</p> + +<p>Viviette echoed: "To-night?"</p> + +<p>"And in all probability he will sail for Vancouver in a day or two. It +won't be worth his while to come back here."</p> + +<p>She laid a hand on her heart, which fluttered painfully.</p> + +<p>"Then--then--we'll never see him again?"</p> + +<p>"Probably not."</p> + +<p>"I didn't think it would be so sudden," she said, a little wildly.</p> + +<p>"Neither did I. But it's for the best."</p> + +<p>"But supposing he wants some time to look about him?"</p> + +<p>"I'll see to everything," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, I must be the first to tell him," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"You will do me a very great favour if you will let me have that +privilege," said Austin. "I make a particular point of it. I have some +serious business to discuss with him before dinner, and that will be the +time for me to break the news."</p> + +<p>He was no longer the fairy godmother's devoted and humble factotum. He +spoke with a cold air of authority that chilled the fairy godmotherdom +in Viviette's bosom. Her prettly little scheme dwindled into +childishness before the dark, incomprehended thing that had happened. +She assented with unusual meekness.</p> + +<p>"But I'm desperately disappointed," she said.</p> + +<p>"My dear Viviette," he answered more kindly, and looking at her with +some wistfulness, "the pleasures and even the joy of life have to give +way to the sober, business side of existence. It isn't very gay, I know, +but we can't alter it."</p> + +<p>He held out his hand. Instinctively she gave him hers. He raised it to +his lips and held the door open for her. She went out scarcely knowing +that she had been dismissed. Austin closed the door, stood unsteadily +for a moment like a man stricken with great pain, and then, sitting +down at his desk again, put his elbows on the table, rested his head in +his hands, and stared at the white piece of paper. When would Dick come +home? He had given orders that Dick should be asked to go to him as soon +as he arrived. Would Dick ever come home again? It was quite possible +that some misfortune might have happened. Tragedy is apt to engender +tragedy. He shuddered, hearing in his fancy the tramp of men, and seeing +a shrouded thing they carried across the hall. He bitterly accused +himself for not having sought Dick far and wide as soon as he had made +his ghastly discovery. But he had required time to recover his balance. +The horrible suddenness had stunned him. Attempted fratricide is not a +common happening in gentle families. He had to accustom himself to the +atmosphere of the abnormal, so as to state the psychological case in its +numberless ramifications. This he had done. His head was clear. His +unalterable decision made. Now the minutes dragged with leaden feet +until Dick should come.</p> + +<p>Viviette was the first to see him. She had dressed early for dinner, +and, as the late June afternoon had turned out fine, was taking her +problem out to air on the terrace when she came upon him standing at the +door of his armoury. His hair was wet and matted, his eyes bloodshot, +his clothes dripping, and he himself splashed with mud from head to +foot. He trembled all over, shaken by a great terror. The case of +pistols had gone. Who had taken them? Had the loaded pistol been +discovered?</p> + +<p>As Viviette appeared, robed in deep blue chiffon that seemed torn from +the deep blue evening sky, and looking, in the man's maddened eyes, +magically beautiful, he held out imploring hands.</p> + +<p>"Come in for a moment. For the love of God come in for a moment."</p> + +<p>He stepped back invitingly. She hesitated for a second on the threshold, +and then followed him down the dim gallery, past the screen where all +the swords and helmets lay scattered on the table. He looked at her +haggardly, and she met his gaze with kind eyes in which there was no +mockery. No. Nothing had happened, he told himself; otherwise she would +shrink from him as from something accursed.</p> + +<p>"My God, if you knew how I love you!" he said hoarsely. "My God, if you +only knew!"</p> + +<p>His suffering racked her heart. All her pity melted over him. She laid +her caressing fingers on his arm.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my poor Dick!" she said.</p> + +<p align="center"><img src="images/003.jpg" alt="[Illustration: He held out imploring hands.]" /></p> + +<p>The touch, the choke in her voice, brought about Viviette's downfall. +Perhaps she meant it to do so. Who can tell? What woman ever knows? In a +flash his arms were around her and his kisses, a wild, primitive man's +kisses, were on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks. Her face was crushed +against the rough wet tweed of his coat, and its odour, raw and coarse, +was in her nostrils. She drooped, intoxicated, gasping for breath in his +unheeding giant's grip, but she made no effort to escape. As he held her +a thrill, agonising and delicious, swept through her, and she raised her +lips involuntarily to his and closed her eyes. At last he released her, +mangled, tousled, her very self a draggled piece of chiffon like the +night-blue frock, soiled with wet and mud.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," he said, "I had no right. Least of all now. God knows what +is to become of me. But whatever happens, you know that I love you."</p> + +<p>She had her hands clasped before her face. She could not look at him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," she murmured.</p> + +<p>In another moment he had gone, leaving Viviette, who had entered the +room a girl, transformed into a woman with the first shiver of passion +in her veins.</p> + +<p>Dick, vaguely conscious of damp and dirt, went up to his bedroom. The +sight of his evening things spread out on the bed reminded him that it +was nearly dinner-time. Mechanically he washed and dressed. As he was +buckling on his ready-made white tie--his clumsy fingers, in spite of +many lessons from Viviette, had never learned the trick of tying a +bow--a maid brought him a message. Mr. Austin's compliments and would he +see Mr. Austin for a few moments in Mr. Austin's room. The words were +like the dreaded tap on the shoulder of the hunted criminal.</p> + +<p>"I'll come at once," he said.</p> + +<p>He found Austin sitting on the chair by his desk, resting his chin on +his elbow. He did not stir as Dick entered.</p> + +<p>"You want to speak to me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin. "Will you sit down?"</p> + +<p>"I'll stand," said Dick impatiently. "What have you to say to me?"</p> + +<p>"I believe you have expressed your desire to leave England and earn your +living in a new country. Is that so?"</p> + +<p>The brothers' eyes met. Dick saw that the loaded pistol had been +discovered, and read no love, no pity, only condemnation in the hard +gaze. Austin was pronouncing sentence.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied sullenly.</p> + +<p>"I happen," said Austin, "to know of an excellent opportunity. Lord +Overton, whom you have met, wants a man to take charge of his timber +forests in Vancouver. The salary is £700 a year. I wired to Lord Overton +asking for the appointment on your behalf. This is his answer."</p> + +<p>Dick took the telegram and read it with muddled head. Austin had lost no +time.</p> + +<p>"You see, it fits in admirably. You can start by the night mail. Your +sudden departure needs no other explanation to the household than this +telegram. I hope you understand."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Dick bitterly. A sudden memory of words that +Viviette had used the day before occurred to him. "I understand. This is +to get me out of the way. 'David put Uriah in the forefront of the +battle.' Vancouver is the forefront."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we had better avoid all unprofitable discussion?" +Austin rose and confronted him. "I expect you to accept this offer and +my conditions."</p> + +<p>"And if I refuse?" asked Dick, with rising anger. "What dare you +threaten me with?"</p> + +<p>Austin raised a deprecatory hand.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose I'm going to threaten you? I simply expect you not to +refuse. Your conscience must tell you that I have the right to do so. +Doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>Dick glowered sullenly at the wall and tugged his great moustache.</p> + +<p>"You force me to touch on things I should have liked to keep hidden," +said Austin. "Very well." He took a scrap of crumpled paper from the +desk. "Do you recognise this? It formed the wad of the pistol that was +in _your_ hand."</p> + +<p>Dick started back a pace. "You're wrong," he gasped. "It was _your_ +pistol that was loaded."</p> + +<p>"No. Yours. The cap missed fire, or I should have been a dead +man--murdered by my brother."</p> + +<p>"Stop," cried Dick. "Not murdered. No, no, not murdered. It was in fair +fight. I gave you the choice. When I thought I had the unloaded one I +called on you to fire. Why the devil didn't you? I wanted you to fire. I +was mad for you to fire. I wanted to be killed there and then. No one +can say I shirked it. I gave you your chance."</p> + +<p>"That's nothing to do with it," said Austin sternly. "When you fired you +meant murder. Your face meant killing. And supposing I had fired--and +killed you! Good God! I would sooner you had killed me than burdened my +soul with your death. It would have been less cowardly. Yes, cowardly. +The conditions were not even. To me it was trivial fooling. To you, +deadly earnest. Are you not man enough to see that I have the right to +exact some penalty?"</p> + +<p>Dick remained silent for a few moments, while the powers of light and +darkness struggled together in his soul. At last he said in a low voice, +hanging his head:</p> + +<p>"I'll accept your terms."</p> + +<p>"You leave by the night mail for Witherby."</p> + +<p>"Very well."</p> + +<p>"There's another point," said Austin. "The most important point of all. +You will not speak alone to Viviette before you start."</p> + +<p>Dick turned with an angry flash,</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"You will not speak to Viviette alone. When you are gone--for there is +no need for you to come back here before you sail--you will not write to +her. You will go absolutely and utterly out of her life."</p> + +<p>Dick broke into harsh, furious laughter.</p> + +<p>"And leave her to you? I might have known that the lawyer would have had +me in the trap. But this time you've over-reached yourself. I'll never +give her up. Do you hear me? Never--never--never! I would go through the +horror of to-day a thousand times--day by day until I die, rather than +give her up to you. You shall not take this last thing from me--this +hope of winning her--as you have taken everything else. You have +supplanted me since first you learned to speak. It has been Esau +and Jacob--"</p> + +<p>"Or Cain and Abel," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"You can taunt me if you like," cried Dick, goaded to fury, and the +whole bitterness of a lifetime surging up in passionate speech. "I have +got past feeling it. Your life has been one continual taunt of me. You +have thought me a dull, good-natured boor, delighted to have a word +thrown at him now and again by the elegant gentleman, and rather +honoured than otherwise to be ridden over roughshod, or kicked into the +mud when it pleased the elegant gentleman to ride by. No, listen to me," +he thundered, as Austin was about to protest. "By God, you shall listen +this time. You've made me your butt, your fool, your doer of trivial +offices. I've wondered sometimes why you haven't addressed me as 'my +good fellow,' and asked me to touch my cap to you. I've borne it all +these years without complaining--but do you know what it is to eat your +heart out and remain silent? I have borne it for my mother's sake--in +spite of her dislike of me--and for your sake, because I loved you. Yes. +If ever one man has loved another I've loved you. But you took no heed. +What was my affection worth? I was only the stupid, dull boor ... but I +suffered it all till you came between me and her. I had spent the whole +passion of my life upon her. She was the only thing left in the world +for which I felt fiercely. I hungered for her, thirsted for her, my +brain throbbed at the thought of her, the blood rushed through my veins +at the sight of her. And you came between us. And if I have damned my +soul, by God! the damnation is your doing. Do you think, while I live, +that I'll give her up to you? I'll get my soul's worth, anyhow."</p> + +<p>He smote his palm with his clenched fist and strode about the little +room. Austin sat for a while dumb with astonishment and dismay. His +cherished, lifelong conception of "dear old Dick" lay shattered. A new +Dick appeared to him, a personality stronger, deeper than he could have +imagined. A new respect for him, also a new pity that was generous and +not contemptuous, crept into his heart.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Dick," said he, using the familiar name for the first time. "Do +I understand that you accuse me of sending you out to Vancouver and +hastening your departure so as to gain my own ends with Viviette?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned Dick. "I do. You have laid this trap for me."</p> + +<p>"Have you ever heard me lie to you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Dick.</p> + +<p>"Then I tell you, as man to man, that until this afternoon I had no +suspicion that your feelings towards Viviette were deeper than those of +an elder brother."</p> + +<p>Dick laughed bitterly. "You couldn't conceive a clod like me falling in +love. Well?"</p> + +<p>"That's beside the question," said Austin. "I did not behave +dishonourably towards you. I came down. I fell in love with Viviette. +How could I help it? How could I help loving her? How could I help +telling her so? But she is young and innocent, and her heart is her own +yet. Tell me--man to man--dare you say that you have won it or that I +have won it?"</p> + +<p>"What's the good of talking?" said Dick, relapsing into his sullen mood. +"If I go she is yours. But I won't go."</p> + +<p>Austin rose again and laid his hand on his brother's arm.</p> + +<p>"Dick. If I give her up, will you obey my conditions?"</p> + +<p>"You give her up voluntarily? Why should you?"</p> + +<p>"A damnable thing was done this afternoon," said Austin. "I see I had my +share in it, and I as well as you have to make reparation. Man alive! +You are my brother," he cried with an outburst of feeling. "The nearest +thing in the world to me. Do you think I could rest happy with the +knowledge that a murderous devil is always in your heart, and that it's +in my power to--to exorcise it? Do you think the cost matters? Come. +Shall we make this bargain? Yes or no?"</p> + +<p>"It's easy for you to promise," said Dick. "But when I am gone, how can +you resist?"</p> + +<p>Austin hesitated for a moment, biting his lips. Then, with the air of a +man who makes an irrevocable step in life, he crossed the room and +rang the bell.</p> + +<p>"Ask Mrs. Holroyd if she will have the kindness to come here for a +minute," he said to the servant.</p> + +<p>Dick regarded him wonderingly. "What has Mrs. Holroyd to do with our +affairs?"</p> + +<p>"You'll see," said Austin, and there was silence between them till +Katherine came.</p> + +<p>She looked from one joyless face to the other, and sat without a word +on the chair that Austin placed for her. Her woman's intuition divined a +sequel to the afternoon's drama. Some of it she had already learned. +For, going earlier into Viviette's room, she had found her white and +shaken, still disordered in hair and dress as Dick had left her; and +Viviette had sobbed on her bosom and told her with some incoherence that +the monkey had at last hit the lyddite shell in the wrong place, and +that it was all over with the monkey. So, before Austin spoke, she half +divined why he had summoned her.</p> + +<p>Her heart throbbed painfully.</p> + +<p>"Dick and I," said Austin, "have been talking of serious matters, and we +need your help."</p> + +<p>She smiled wanly. "I'll do whatever I can, Austin."</p> + +<p>"You said this afternoon you would do anything I asked you. Do you +remember?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I said so--and I meant it."</p> + +<p>"You said it in reply to my question whether you would accept me if I +asked you to marry me."</p> + +<p>Dick started from the sullen stupor into which he had fallen and +listened with perplexed interest.</p> + +<p>"You are not quite right in your tenses, Austin," she remarked. "You +said: Would I have accepted you if you had asked me?"</p> + +<p>"I want to change the tense into the present," he replied.</p> + +<p>She met his glance calmly. "You ask me to marry you in spite of what you +told me this afternoon?"</p> + +<p>"In spite of it and because of it," he said, drawing up a chair near to +her. "A great crisis has arisen in our lives that must make you forget +other words I spoke this afternoon. Those other words and everything +connected with them I blot out of my memory forever. I want you to do me +an infinite service. If there had been no deep affection between us I +should not dare to ask you. I want you to be my wife, to take me into +your keeping, to trust me as an upright man to devote my life to your +happiness. I swear I'll never give you a moment's cause for regret."</p> + +<p>She plucked for a while at her gown. It was a strange wooing. But in her +sweet way she had given him her woman's aftermath of love. It was a +gentle, mellow gift, far removed from the summer blaze of passion, and +it had suffered little harm from the sadness of the day. She saw that he +was in great stress. She knew him to be a loyal gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Is this the result of that scene in the armoury?" she asked quietly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"I was right then. It was a matter of life and death."</p> + +<p>"It was," said he. "So is this."</p> + +<p>She looked again from one face to the other, rose, hesitated for a +moment--and then held out her hand. "I am willing to trust you, +Austin," she said.</p> + +<p>He touched her hand with his lips and said gravely: "I will not fail +your trust."</p> + +<p>As soon as she had gone he went to the chair where Dick sat in gloomy +remorse and laid a hand on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said he.</p> + +<p>"I agree," Dick groaned, without looking up. "I have no alternative. I +appreciate your generosity."</p> + +<p>Then Austin spoke of the appointment in Vancouver. He explained how the +idea had occurred to him; how Viviette had come late the night before to +tell him of what he had never before suspected--Dick's desire to go +abroad; how they had conspired to give him a birthday surprise; how they +had driven over to Witherby to send the telegram to Lord Overton. And as +he spoke, Dick looked at him with a new ghastliness on his face.</p> + +<p>"This afternoon--in the dining-room--when you said that Viviette had +told you everything--?"</p> + +<p>"About your wish to go to the Colonies. What else?"</p> + +<p>"And what I overheard in the armoury--about a telegram--telling +me--putting me out of my misery?"</p> + +<p>"Only whether we should tell you to-night or to-morrow about the +appointment. Dick--Dick," said Austin, deeply moved by the great +fellow's collapse, "if I have wronged you all these years, it was +through want of insight, not want of affection. If I have taunted you, +as you say, it was merely a lifelong habit of jesting which you never +seemed to resent. I was unconscious of hurting you. For my blindness and +carelessness I beg your forgiveness. With regard to Viviette--I ought to +have seen, but I didn't. I don't say you had no cause for jealousy--but +as God hears me--all the little conspiracy to-day was lovingly +meant--all to give you pleasure. I swear it."</p> + +<p>Dick rose and stumbled about among the furniture. The setting sun fell +just below the top of the casement window, and its direct rays flooded +the little room and showed Dick in a strange, unearthly light.</p> + +<p>"I wronged you," he said bitterly. "Even in my passions I'm a dull fool. +I thought you a damned cad, and I got more and more furious, and I +drank--I was drunk all this afternoon--and madness came, and when I saw +you kiss her--yes, I saw you, I was peeping from behind the +screen--things went red before my eyes, and it was then that I loaded +the pistol to shoot you on the spot. God forgive me! May God have +mercy upon me."</p> + +<p>He leant his arms on the sill and buried his face.</p> + +<p>"I can't ask your forgiveness," he went on, after a moment. "It would +be a mockery." He laughed mirthlessly. "How can I say. 'I'm sorry I +meant to murder you--please don't think anything about it?'" He turned +with a fierce gesture. "Oh, you must take it all as said, man! Now, have +you finished with me? I can't stand it much longer, I agree to all your +terms. I'll drive over to Witherby now and wait for the train--and +you'll be free of me."</p> + +<p>He turned again and moodily looked out of the window in the full flood +of the sunset.</p> + +<p>"We must play the game, Dick," said Austin gently, "and go through the +horrible farce of dinner--for mother's sake."</p> + +<p>Dick heard him vaguely. Below, on the terrace, Viviette was walking, and +she filled his universe. She had changed the bedraggled frock for the +green one she had worn the night before. Presently she raised her eyes +and saw him leaning out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Have they told you that dinner is not till a quarter past eight?" she +cried, looking deliciously upwards, with a dainty hand to her cheek. +"Lord Banstead sent a message to mother that he was unexpectedly +detained, and mother has put back dinner. Isn't it impudence?"</p> + +<p>But Dick was far too crushed with misery to respond. He nodded +dejectedly. She remained staring up at him for a while and then ran into +the house.</p> + +<p>Dick listlessly mentioned the postponement of dinner.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I asked the little brute, but I couldn't avoid it."</p> + +<p>"What does it matter?" said Austin. He was silent for a moment. Then he +came close to Dick.</p> + +<p>"Dick," said he. "Let us end this awful scene as friends and brothers. +As Heaven hears me, there is no bitterness in my heart. Only deep +sorrow--and love, Dick. Shake hands."</p> + +<p>Dick took his hand and broke down utterly, and said such things of +himself as other men do not like to hear. Presently there was a light +rap of knuckles at the door. Austin opened it and beheld Viviette.</p> + +<p>"I won't disturb you," she said; "I only want to give this note to +Dick."</p> + +<p>"I will hand it to him," said Austin.</p> + +<p>She thanked him and departed. He closed the door and gave Dick the note. +Dick opened it, read, and with a great cry of "Viviette!" rushed to the +door. Austin interposed, grasped him by the wrist:</p> + +<p>"What are you doing?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to her," shouted Dick wildly, wrenching himself free. "Read +this." He held up the note before Austin's eyes, with shaking fingers. +Austin read:</p> + +<p>"I can't bear to see the misery on your face, when I can make you happy. +I love you, dear, better than anything on earth. I know it now, and +I'll go out with you to Vancouver."</p> + +<p>"She loves me. She'll marry me. She'll go out to Vancouver!" cried Dick. +"It changes everything. I must go to her."</p> + +<p>"You shall not go," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Shall not? Who dares prevent me?'</p> + +<p>"I do. I hold you to your word."</p> + +<p>"But, man alive! she loves me--don't you see? The bargain is dissolved. +This is none of my seeking. She comes of her own free will. I am +going to her."</p> + +<p>Austin put both his hands affectionately on the big man's shoulders and +forced him into a chair.</p> + +<p>"Listen to me just for one minute, Dick. Dick, you dare not marry. Don't +drive me to tell you the reason. Can't you see for yourself why I've +imposed this condition on you all along?"</p> + +<p>"I know no reason," said Dick. "She loves me, and that is enough."</p> + +<p>The greyness deepened over Austin's face and the pain in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I must speak, then, in plain terms. That horrible murder impulse is the +reason. Today, in a fit of frenzied jealousy, you would have killed me, +your brother. Is there any guarantee that, in another fit of frenzied +jealousy, you might not--?"</p> + +<p>A shudder ran through Dick's great frame. He stretched out his hand. +"For God's sake--don't."</p> + +<p>"I must--until you see this ghastly business in its true aspect. Look at +the lighter side of Viviette's character. She is gay, fond of +admiration, childishly fond of teasing, a bright creature of bewildering +moods. Would she be safe in your hands? Might you not one day again see +things red before your eyes and again go mad?"</p> + +<p>"Don't say any more," Dick said in a choking voice. "I can't stand it."</p> + +<p>"Heaven knows, I didn't want to say as much."</p> + +<p>Dick shuddered again. "Yes, you are right. I am a man with a curse. I +can't marry her. I daren't."</p> + + + +<a name="VI"></a> +<h2>Chapter VI</h2> + +<h3>Viviette Takes The Risk</h3> + +<p>Presently Dick raised the face of Cain when he told the Lord that his +punishment was greater than he could bear. Tears leaped to Austin's +eyes, but he turned his head away lest Dick should see them. He would +have given years of his life to spare Dick--everything he had in the +world--save his deep convictions of right and wrong. He was responsible +for Viviette. That risk of horror he could not let her run. He had +hoped, with a great agony of hope, that Dick would have seen it for +himself. To formulate it had been torture. But he could not weaken. The +barrier between Dick and Viviette was not of his making. It was composed +of the grim psychological laws that govern the abnormal. To have +disregarded it would have been a crime from which his soul shrank. All +the despair in Dick's face, though it wrung his heart, could not move +him. It was terrible to be chosen in this way to be the arbiter of +Destiny. But there was the decree, written in letters of blood and +flame. And Dick had bowed to it.</p> + +<p>"What's to become of her?" he groaned.</p> + +<p>"This will be her home, as it always has been," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that--but between us we shall break her heart. She has +given it to me just in time for me to do it. My luck!"</p> + +<p>Austin tried to comfort him. A girl's heart was not easily broken. Her +pride would suffer most. Pain was inevitable. But Time healed many +wounds. In this uncertain world nothing was ever so good as we hoped, +and nothing ever so bad as we feared. Dick paid little heed to the +platitudes.</p> + +<p>"She must be told!"</p> + +<p>"Not what happened this afternoon," cried Austin quickly. "That we bury +forever from all human knowledge."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Dick, staring in front of him and speaking in a dull, even +voice. "We must hide that. It's not a pretty thing to spread before a +girl's eyes. It will be always before my own--until I die. But she must +be told that I can't marry her. I can't ride away and leave her in doubt +and wonder forever and ever."</p> + +<p>"Let us face this horrible night as best we can," said Austin. "Avoid +seeing her alone. You'll be with mother or packing most of the evening. +Slip away to Witherby an hour or so before your time. When you're gone +I'll arrange matters. Leave it to me."</p> + +<p>He made one of his old, self-confident gestures. But now Dick felt no +resentment. His spirit in its deep abasement saw in Austin the better, +wiser, stronger man.</p> + +<p>At a quarter-past eight they went slowly downstairs to what promised to +be a nightmare kind of meal. There would be four persons, Viviette, +Katherine, and themselves, in a state of suppressed eruption, and two, +Mrs. Ware and the unspeakable Banstead, complacently unaware of volcanic +forces around them, who might by any chance word bring about disaster. +There was danger, too--and the greatest--from Viviette, ignorant of +Destiny. Austin dreaded the ordeal; but despair and remorse had benumbed +Dick's faculties; he had passed the stage at which men fear. With his +hand on the knob of the drawing-room door Austin paused and looked +at him.</p> + +<p>"Pull yourself together, man. Play your part. For God's sake, try to +look cheerful."</p> + +<p>Dick tried. Austin shivered.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, don't," he said.</p> + +<p>They entered the drawing-room, expecting to find the three ladies, and +possibly Lord Banstead, assembled for dinner. To Austin's discomfiture, +Viviette was alone in the room. She rose, made a step or two to meet +them, then stopped.</p> + +<p>"What a pair of faces! One would think it were the eve of Dick's +execution, and you were the hangman measuring him for the noose."</p> + +<p>"Dick," said Austin, "is leaving us to-night--possibly for many years."</p> + +<p>"I don't see that he is so very greatly to be pitied," said Viviette, +trying in vain to meet Dick's eyes. She drew him a pace or two aside.</p> + +<p>"Did you read my note--or did you tear it up like the other one?"</p> + +<p>"I read it," he said, looking askance at the floor.</p> + +<p>"Then why are you so woe-begone?"</p> + +<p>He replied in a helpless way that he was not woe-begone. Viviette was +puzzled, hurt, somewhat humiliated. She had made woman's great surrender +which is usually followed by a flourish of trumpets very gratifying to +hear. In fact, to most women the surrender is worth the flourish. But +the recognition of this surrender appeared to find its celebration in a +funeral march with muffled drums. A condemned man being fitted for the +noose, as she had suggested, a mute conscientiously mourning at his own +funeral, a man who had lost a stately demesne in Paradise and had been +ironically compensated by the gift of a bit of foreshore of the Styx +could not have worn a less joyous expression than he on whom she had +conferred the boon of his heart's desire.</p> + +<p>"You're not only woe-begone," she said, with spirit, "but you're utterly +miserable. I think I have a right to know the reason. Tell me, what +is it?"</p> + +<p>She tapped a small, impatient foot.</p> + +<p>"We haven't told my mother yet," Austin explained, "and Dick is rather +nervous as to the way in which she will take the news."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Dick, with lame huskiness. "It's on mother's account."</p> + +<p>Viviette laughed somewhat scornfully.</p> + +<p>"I am not a child, my dear Austin. No man wears a face like that on +account of his mother--least of all when he meets the woman who has +promised to be his wife."</p> + +<p>She flashed a challenging glance at Austin, but not a muscle of his grey +face responded. Her natural expectations were baffled. There was no +start of amazement, no fierce movement of anger, no indignant look of +reproach. She was thrown back on herself. She said:</p> + +<p>"I don't think you quite understand. Dick had two aims in life--one to +obtain a colonial appointment, the other--so he led me to suppose--to +marry me. He has the appointment, and I have promised to marry him."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Austin, "but you must make allowances."</p> + +<p>"If that's all you can say on behalf of your client," retorted Viviette, +"I rather wonder at your success as a barrister."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think, my dear," said Austin gently, "that we are treading on +delicate ground?"</p> + +<p>"Delicate ground!" she scoffed. "We seem to have been treading on a +volcano all the afternoon. I'm tired of it." She faced the two men with +uplifted head. "I want an explanation."</p> + +<p>"Of what?" Austin asked.</p> + +<p>"Of Dick's attitude. What has he got to be miserable about? Tell me."</p> + +<p>"But I'm not miserable, my dear Viviette," said poor Dick, vainly +forcing a smile. "I'm really quite happy."</p> + +<p>Her woman's intuition rejected the protest with contumely. All the +afternoon he had been mad with jealousy of Austin. An hour ago he had +whirled her out of her senses in savage passion. But a few minutes +before she had given him all a woman has to give. Now he met her with +hang-dog visage, apologies from Austin, and milk-and-water asseveration +of a lover's rapture. The most closely-folded rosebud miss of Early +Victorian times could not have faced the situation without showing +something of the Eve that lurked in the heart of the petals. So much the +less could Viviette, child of a freer, franker day, hide her just +indignation under the rose-leaves of maidenly modesty.</p> + +<p>"Happy!" she echoed. "I've known you since I was a child of three. I +know the meaning of every light and every shadow that passes over your +face--except this shadow now. What does it mean?"</p> + +<p>She asked the question imperiously, no longer the elfin changeling, the +fairy of bewildering moods of Austin's imagination, no longer the +laughing coquette of Katherine's less picturesque fancy, but a modern +young woman of character, considerably angered and very much in earnest. +Austin bit his lip in perplexity. Dick looked around like a hunted +animal seeking a bolting-hole.</p> + +<p>"Dick is anxious," said Austin, at length, seeing that some explanation +must be given, "that there should be no engagement between you before he +goes out to Vancouver."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" said Viviette. "May I ask why? As this concerns Dick and +myself, perhaps you will leave us alone for a moment so that Dick +may tell me."</p> + +<p>"No, no," Dick muttered hurriedly. "Don't leave us, Austin. We can't +talk of such a thing now."</p> + +<p>Again she tapped her foot impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Yes, now. I'm going to hear the reason now, whatever it is."</p> + +<p>The brothers exchanged glances. Dick turned to the window, and stared +at the mellow evening sky.</p> + +<p>Austin again was spokesman.</p> + +<p>"Dick finds he has made a terrible and cruel mistake. One that concerns +you intimately."</p> + +<p>"Whatever Dick may have done with regard to me," replied Viviette, "I +forgave him for it beforehand. When once I give a thing I don't take it +back. I have given him my love and my promise."</p> + +<p>"My dear," said Austin, gravely and kindly. "Here are two men who have +loved you all your life. Don't think hardly of us. You must be brave and +bear a great shock. Dick can't marry you."</p> + +<p>She looked at him incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Can't marry me? Why not?"</p> + +<p>"It would be better not to ask."</p> + +<p>She moved swiftly to Dick, and with her light touch swung him round to +face the room.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand. Is it because you're going out into the wilds? +That doesn't matter. I told you I would go to Vancouver with you. I want +to go. My happiness is with you."</p> + +<p>Dick groaned. "Don't make it harder for me."</p> + +<p>"What are you keeping from me?" she asked. "Is it anything you don't +think fit for my ears? If so, speak. I'm no longer a child. Is there +another woman in the case?"</p> + +<p>She met Austin's eyes full. He said: "No, thank God! Nothing of that +sort." And as her eyes did not waver, he made the bold stroke. "He finds +that he doesn't love you as much as he thought. There's the whole +tragedy in a few words."</p> + +<p>She reeled back as if struck. "Dick doesn't love me?" Then the +announcement seemed so grotesque in its improbability that she began to +laugh, a trifle hysterically.</p> + +<p>"Is this true?"</p> + +<p>"It's quite true," said poor Dick.</p> + +<p>"You see, my dear," said Austin, "what it costs him--what it costs us +both--to tell you this."</p> + +<p>"But I don't understand. I don't understand!" she cried, with sudden +piteousness. "What did you mean, then--a little while ago--in +the armoury?"</p> + +<p>Austin, who did not see the allusion, had to allow Dick to speak for +himself.</p> + +<p>"I was drunk," said Dick desperately. "I've been drinking heavily of +late--and not accountable for my actions. I oughtn't to have done what +I did."</p> + +<p>"And so, you see," continued Austin, with some eagerness, "when he +became confronted with the great change in his life--Vancouver--he +looked at things soberly. He found that his feelings towards you were +not of the order that would warrant his making you his wife."</p> + +<p>Before Viviette could reply the door opened, and Mrs. Ware and +Katherine entered the room. Mrs. Ware, ignorant of tension, went +smilingly to Austin, and, drawing down his shapely head with both hands, +kissed him.</p> + +<p>"My dear, dear boy, I'm so glad, so truly glad. Katherine has just told +me."</p> + +<p>"Told you what, mother?" asked Viviette quickly, with a new sharpness in +her voice.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ware turned a beaming face. "Can't you guess, darling? Oh, Austin, +there's no living woman whom I would sooner call my daughter. You've +made me so happy."</p> + +<p>The facile tears came, and she sat down and dried them on her little +wisp of handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"I thought it for the best to tell your mother, Austin," said Katherine, +somewhat apologetically. "We were speaking of you--and--I couldn't +keep it back."</p> + +<p>Viviette, white-lipped and dazed, looked at Austin, Katherine, and Dick +in turns. She said, in the high-pitched voice, to Austin:</p> + +<p>"Have you asked Katherine to marry you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, not quite so confidently, and avoiding her +glance--"and she has done me the honour of accepting me."</p> + +<p>Katherine held out a conciliatory hand to Viviette. "Won't you +congratulate me, dear?"</p> + +<p>"And Austin, too," said Mrs. Ware.</p> + +<p>But Viviette lost control of herself. "I'll congratulate nobody," she +cried shrilly. She burned with a sense of intolerable outrage. Only a +few hours before she had been befooled into believing herself to be the +mistress of the destinies of two men. Both had offered her their love. +Both had kissed her. The memory lashed her into fury. Now one of them +avowed that she had been merely the object of a drunken passion, and +the other came before her as the affianced husband of the woman who +called herself her dearest friend.</p> + +<p>Katherine, in deep distress, laid her hand on the girl's arm. "Why not, +dear? I thought that you and Dick--in fact--I understood--"</p> + +<p>Viviette freed herself from Katherine's touch.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, you didn't. You didn't understand anything. You didn't try to. +You are all lying. The three of you. You have all lied, and lied, and +lied to me. I tell you to your faces you have lied to me." She swung +passionately to each in turn. "'Austin can never be anything to me but a +friend'--how often have you said that to me? Ah--Saint Nitouche! And +you"--to Austin--"How dared you insult me this morning? And you--how +have you dared to insult me all the time? You've lied--the whole lot of +you--and I hate you all!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ware had risen, scared and trembling.</p> + +<p>"What does the girl mean? I've never heard such unladylike words in a +drawing-room in my life."</p> + +<p>Dick blundered in: "It's all my fault, mother--"</p> + +<p>"I've not the slightest doubt of that," returned the old lady with +asperity. "But what Austin and Katherine have to do with it I +can't imagine."</p> + +<p>The servant opened the door.</p> + +<p>"Lord Banstead."</p> + +<p>He entered a cold, strange silence. Everyone had forgotten him. He must +have attributed the ungenial atmosphere to his own lateness--it was +half-past eight--for he made penitent apology to Mrs. Ware. Austin +greeted him coldly. Dick nodded absently from the other side of the +room. Viviette, with a sweeping glance of defiance at the assembled +family, held herself very erect, and with hard eyes and quivering lips +came straight to the young fellow.</p> + +<p>"Lord Banstead," she said. "You have asked me four times to marry you. +Did you mean it, or were you lying, too?"</p> + +<p>Banstead's pallid cheeks flushed. He was overcome with confusion.</p> + +<p>"Of course I mean it--meant to ask you again to-day--ask you now."</p> + +<p>"Then I will marry you."</p> + +<p>Dick strode forward, and, catching her by the wrist, swung her away from +Banstead, his face aflame with sudden passion.</p> + +<p>"No, by God, you shan't!"</p> + +<p>Banstead retreated a few paces, scared out of his life. Mrs. Ware sought +Austin's protecting arm.</p> + +<p>"What does all this mean? I don't understand it."</p> + +<p>Austin led her to the door. "I'll see nothing unpleasant happens, dear. +You had better go and tell them to keep back dinner yet a few minutes."</p> + +<p>His voice and authority soothed her, and she left the room, casting a +terrified glance at Dick, standing threateningly over Lord Banstead, who +had muttered something about Viviette being free to do as she liked.</p> + +<p>"She can do what she likes, but, by God! she shan't marry you."</p> + +<p>"I'm of age," declared Viviette fiercely. "I marry whom I choose."</p> + +<p>"Of course she can," said Banstead. "Are you taking leave of your +senses?"</p> + +<p>"How dare you ask a pure girl to marry you?" cried Dick furiously. "You, +who have come straight here from--"</p> + +<p>Banstead found some spirit. "Shut up, Ware," he interrupted. "Play the +game. You've no right to say that."</p> + +<p>"I have the right," cried Dick.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" said Austin, interposing.</p> + +<p>"There's no need to prolong this painful discussion. To-morrow--as +Viviette's guardian--"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow?" Dick shouted. "Where shall I be to-morrow? Away from +here--unable to defend her--unable to say a word."</p> + +<p>"If you said a thousand words," said Viviette, "they wouldn't make an +atom of difference. Lord Banstead has asked me to marry him. I have +accepted him openly. What dare you say to it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Banstead. "She has made no bones about it. I've asked her +five times. Now she accepts me. What have you to say to it?"</p> + +<p>"I say she shan't marry you," said Dick, glaring at the other.</p> + +<p>"Steady, steady, Dick," said Austin warningly. But Dick shook his +warning angrily aside, and Austin saw that, once again that day, Dick +was desperate.</p> + +<p>"Not while I live shall she marry you. Don't I know your infernal +beastly life?"</p> + +<p>"Now, look here," said Banstead, at bay. "What the deuce have you got to +do with my affairs?"</p> + +<p>"Everything. Do you think she loves you, cares for you, honours you, +respects you?"</p> + +<p>Viviette faced him with blazing eyes.</p> + +<p>"I do," she said defiantly.</p> + +<p>"It's a lie," cried Dick. "It's you that are lying now. Heaven and +earth! I've suffered enough to-day--I thought I had been through +hell--but it's nothing to this. She loves me--do you hear +me?--me--me--me--and I can't marry her--and I don't care a damn who +knows the reason."</p> + +<p>"Stop, man," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Let me be. She shall know the truth. Everyone shall know the truth. At +any rate, it will save her from this."</p> + +<p>"I will do it quietly, later, Dick."</p> + +<p>"Let me be, I tell you," said Dick, with great, clumsy, passionate +gesture. "Let's have no more lies." He turned to Viviette. "You wrote me +a letter. You said you loved me--would marry me--come out to +Vancouver--the words made me drunk with happiness--at first. You saw me. +I refused your love and your offer. I said I didn't love you. I lied. I +said I couldn't marry you. It was the truth. I can't. I can't. But love +you! Oh, my God! My God! There were flames of hell in my heart--but +couldn't you see the love shining through?"</p> + +<p>"Don't, Dick, don't," cried Katherine.</p> + +<p>"I will," he exclaimed wildly. "I'll tell her why I can't marry any +woman. I tried to murder Austin this afternoon!"</p> + +<p>Katherine closed her eyes. She had guessed it. But Viviette, with parted +lips and white cheeks, groped her way backwards to a chair, without +shifting her terror-stricken gaze from Dick; and sitting, she gripped +the arms of the chair.</p> + +<p>There was a moment of tense silence. Banstead at last relieved his +feelings with a gasping, "Well, I'm damned!"</p> + +<p>Dick continued:</p> + +<p>"It was jealousy--mad jealousy--this afternoon--in the armoury--the mock +duel--one of the pistols was loaded. I loaded it--first, in order to +kill him out of hand--then I thought of the duel--he would have his +chance--either he would kill me or I would kill him. Mine happened to be +loaded. It missed fire. It was only the infinite mercy of God that I +didn't kill him. He found it out. He has forgiven me. He's worth fifty +millions of me. But my hands are red with his blood, and I can't touch +your pure garments. They would stain them red--and I should see red +again before my eyes some day. A man like me is not fit to marry any +woman. A murderer is beyond the pale. So I said I didn't love her to +save her from the knowledge of this horror. And now I'm going to the +other side of the world to work out my salvation--but she shall know +that a man loves her with all his soul, and would go through any torment +and renunciation for her sake--and, knowing that, she can't go and throw +herself away on a man unworthy of her. After what I've told you, will +you marry this man?"</p> + +<p>Still looking at him, motionless, she whispered, "No."</p> + +<p>"I say!" exclaimed Banstead. "I think--"</p> + +<p>Austin checked further speech. Dick looked haggardly round the room.</p> + +<p>"There. Now you all know. I'm not fit to be under the same roof with +you. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>He slouched in his heavy way to the door, but Viviette sprang from her +chair and planted herself in his path.</p> + +<p>"No. You shan't go. Do you think I have nothing to say?"</p> + +<p>"Say what you like," said Dick sadly. "Nothing is too black for me. +Curse me, if you will."</p> + +<p>She laughed, and shook her head. "Do you think a woman curses the man +who would commit murder for the love of her?" she cried, with a strange +exultation in her voice. "If I loved you before--don't you think I love +you now a million times more?"</p> + +<p>Dick fell back, thrilled with amazement.</p> + +<p>"You love me still?" he gasped. "You don't shrink--"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," interrupted Banstead, crossing the room. "Does this mean +that you chuck me, Miss Hastings?"</p> + +<p>"You must release me from my promise, Lord Banstead," she said gently. +"I scarcely knew what I was doing. I'm very sorry. I've not behaved +well to you."</p> + +<p>"You've treated me damned badly," said Banstead, turning on his heel. +"Good-bye, everybody."</p> + +<p>Austin, moved by compunction, tried to conciliate the angry youth, but +he refused comfort. He had been made a fool of, and would stand that +from nobody. He would not stay for dinner, and would not put his foot +inside the house again.</p> + +<p>"At any rate," said Austin, bidding him good-bye, "I can rely on you not +to breathe a word to anyone of what you've heard this evening?"</p> + +<p>Banstead fingered his underfed moustache.</p> + +<p>"I may be pretty rotten, but I'm not that kind of cad," said he. And he +went, not without a certain dignity.</p> + +<p>Dick took Viviette's hand and kissed it tenderly.</p> + +<p>"God bless you, dear. I'll remember what you've said all my life. I can +go away almost happy."</p> + +<p>"You can go away quite happy, if you like," said Viviette. "Take me with +you."</p> + +<p>"To Vancouver?"</p> + +<p>Austin joined them. "It is impossible, dear," said he.</p> + +<p>"I go with him to Vancouver," she said.</p> + +<p>Dick wrung his hands. "But I daren't marry you, Viviette, I daren't, I +daren't."</p> + +<p>"Don't you see that it's impossible, Viviette?" said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I've explained it to Dick. He has hinted it to you. You're scarcely old +enough to understand, my dear. It is the risk you run."</p> + +<p>"Such men as I can't marry," said Dick loyally. "You don't understand. +Austin is right. The risk is too great."</p> + +<p>She laughed in superb contempt.</p> + +<p>"The risk? Do you think I'm such a fool as not to understand? Do you +think, after what I've said, that I'm a child? Risk? What is life or +love worth without risk? When a woman loves a fierce man she takes the +risk of his fierceness. It's her joy. I'll take the risk, and it will be +a bond between us."</p> + +<p>Austin implored her to listen to reason. She swept his arguments aside.</p> + +<p>"God forbid. I'll listen to love," she cried. "And if ever a man wanted +love, it's Dick. Reason! Come, Dick, let us leave this god and goddess +of reason alone. I've got something to say which only you can hear."</p> + +<p>She dragged him in a bewildered state of mind to the door, which she +held open. She was absolute mistress of the situation. She motioned to +Dick to precede her, and he obeyed, like a man in a dream. On the +threshold she paused, and flashed defiance at Austin, who appeared to +her splendid scorn but a small, narrow-natured man.</p> + +<p align="center"><img src="images/004.jpg" alt="[Illustration: "I want you to love me forever and ever."]" /></p> + +<p>"You can say and think what you like, you two. You are civilised +people--and I suppose you love in a civilised way according to reason. +I'm a primitive woman, and Dick's a primitive man--and, thank God! we +understand each other, and love each other as primitive people do."</p> + +<p>She slammed the door, and in another moment was caught in Dick's great +arms.</p> + +<p>"What do you want to say that only I can hear?" he asked after a while.</p> + +<p>"This," she said. "I want you to love me strongly and fiercely for ever +and ever--and I'll be a great wife to you--and, if I fail--if I am ever +wanton, as I have been to-day--for I have been wanton--and all that has +happened has been my fault--if ever I play fast and loose with your love +again--I want you to kill me. Promise!"</p> + +<p>She looked at him with glowing eyes. All the big man's heart melted +into adoring pity. He took her face in both his hands as tenderly as he +would have touched a prize rose bloom.</p> + +<p>"Thank God, you're still a child, dear," he said.</p> +<br /> +<hr /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Viviette, by William J. 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Locke + +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: Viviette + +Author: William J. Locke + +Posting Date: November 12, 2011 [EBook #9924] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: October 31, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIVIETTE *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + + +VIVIETTE + +BY + +WILLIAM J. LOCKE + +1916 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me"] + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BROTHERS + + II. THE CONSPIRATORS + +III. KATHERINE + + IV. THE FAMOUS DUELLING PISTOLS + + V. A CRISIS + + VI. VIVIETTE TAKES THE RISK + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me" + + "Dick glared at him" + + "He held out imploring hands" + + "I want you to love me forever and ever" + + + +VIVIETTE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BROTHERS + + +"Dick," said Viviette, "ought to go about in skins like a primitive +man." + +Katherine Holroyd looked up from her needlework. She was a gentle, +fair-haired woman of thirty, with demure blue eyes, which regarded the +girl with a mingling of pity, protection, and amusement. + +"My dear," she said, "whenever I see a pretty girl fooling about with a +primitive man I always think of a sweet little monkey I once knew, who +used to have great sport with a lyddite shell. Her master kept it on his +table as a paper-weight, and no one knew it was loaded. One day she hit +the shell in the wrong place--and they're still looking for the monkey. +Don't think Dick is the empty shell." + +Whereupon she resumed her work, and for a few moments the click of +thimble and needle alone broke the summer stillness. Viviette lay idly +on a long garden chair admiring the fit of a pair of dainty tan shoes, +which she twiddled with graceful twists of the ankles some five feet +from her nose. At Mrs. Holroyd's remark she laughed after the manner of +one quite contented with herself--a low, musical laugh, in harmony with +the blue June sky and the flowering chestnuts and the song of +the thrushes. + +"My intentions with regard to Dick are strictly honourable," she +remarked. "We've been engaged for the last eleven years, and I still +have his engagement ring. It cost three-and-sixpence." + +"I only want to warn you, dear," said Mrs. Holroyd. "Anyone can see that +Dick is in love with you, and if you don't take care you'll have Austin +falling in love with you too." + +Viviette laughed again. "But he has already fallen! I don't think he +knows it yet; but he has. It's great fun being a woman, isn't it, dear?" + +"I don't know that I've ever found it so," Katherine replied with a +sigh. She was a widow, and had loved her husband, and her sky was still +tinged with grey. + +Viviette, quick to catch the sadness in the voice, made no reply, but +renewed the contemplation of her shoe-tips. + +"I'm afraid you're an arrant little coquette," said Katherine +indulgently. + +"Lord Banstead says I'm a little devil," she laughed. + +If she was in some measure a coquette she may be forgiven. What woman +can have suddenly revealed to her the thrilling sense of her sex's +mastery over men without snatching now and then the fearful joy of +using her power? She was one-and-twenty, her heart still unawakened, and +she had returned to her childhood's home to find men who had danced her +on their knees bending low before her, and proclaiming themselves her +humble vassals. It was intoxicating. She had always looked up to Austin +with awe, as one too remote and holy for girlish irreverence. And now! +No wonder her sex laughed within her. + +Until she had gone abroad to finish her education, she had lived in that +old, grey manor-house, that dreamed in the sunshine of the terrace below +which she was sitting, ever since they had brought her thither, an +orphaned child of three. Mrs. Ware, her guardian, was her adopted +mother; the sons, Dick and Austin Ware, her brothers--the engagement, +when she was ten and Dick one-and-twenty, had hardly fluttered the +fraternal relationship. She had left them a merry, kittenish child. She +had returned a woman, slender, full-bosomed, graceful, alluring, with a +maturity of fascination beyond her years. Enemies said she had gipsy +blood in her veins. If so, the infusion must have taken place long, long +ago, for her folks were as proud of their name as the Wares of Ware +House. But, for all that, there was a suggestion of the exotic in the +olive and cream complexion, and the oval face, pointing at the dimpled +chin; something of the woodland in her lithe figure and free gestures; +in her swimming, dark eyes one could imagine something fierce and +untamable lying beneath her laughing idleness. Katherine Holroyd called +her a coquette, Austin whatever the whim of a cultured fancy suggested, +and Lord Banstead a little devil. As for Dick, he called her nothing. +His love was too great; his vocabulary too small. + +Lord Banstead was a neighbour who, in the course of three months, had +proposed several times to Viviette. + +"I'm not very much to look at," he remarked on the first of these +occasions--he was a weedy, pallid youth of six-and-twenty--"and the +title's not very old, I must admit. Governor only a scientific Johnnie, +Margetson, the celebrated chemist, you know, who discovered some beastly +gas or other and got made a peer--but I can sit with the other old +rotters in the House of Lords, you know, if I want. And I've got enough +to run the show, if you'll keep me from chucking it away as I'm doing. +It'd be a godsend if you'd marry me, I give you my word." + +"Before I have anything to do with you," replied Viviette, who had heard +Dick express his opinion of Lord Banstead in forcible terms, "you'll +have to forswear sack, and--and a very big AND--" + +Lord Banstead, not being learned in literary allusions, looked +bewildered. Viviette laughed. + +"I'll translate if you like. You'll have to give up unlimited champagne +and whiskey and lead an ostensibly respectable life." + +Whereupon Lord Banstead called her a little devil and went off in +dudgeon to London and took golden-haired ladies out to supper. When he +returned to the country he again offered her his title, and being +rejected a second time, again called her a little devil, and went back +to the fashionable supper-room. A third and a fourth time he executed +this complicated manoeuvre; and now news had reached Viviette that he +was in residence at Farfield, where he was boring himself exceedingly in +his father's scientific library. + +"I suppose he'll be coming over to-day," said Viviette. + +"Why do you encourage him?" asked Katherine. + +"I don't," Viviette retorted. "I snub him unmercifully. If I am a +coquette it's with real men, not with the by-product of a chemical +experiment." + +Katherine dropped her work and her underlip, and turned reproachful blue +eyes on the girl. + +"Viviette!" + +"Oh, she's shocked! Saint Nitouche is shocked!" Then, with a change of +manner, she rose and, bending over Katherine's chair, kissed her. "I'm +sorry, dear," she said, in pretty penitence. "I know it was an +abominable and unladylike thing to say, but my tongue sometimes runs +away with my thoughts. Forgive me." + +At that moment a man dressed in rough tweeds and leggings, who had +emerged from the stable side of the manor-house, crossed the terrace, +and, descending the steps, walked over the lawn towards the two ladies. +He had massive shoulders and a thick, strong neck, coarse reddish hair, +and a moustache of a lighter shade. Blue eyes looked with a curious +childish pathos out of a face tanned by sun and weather. He slouched +slightly in his gait, like the heavy man accustomed to the saddle. This +was Dick Ware, the elder of the brothers and heir to fallen fortunes, +mortgaged house and lands, and he gave the impression of failure, of a +man who, in spite of thews and sinews, had been unable to grapple with +circumstance. + +Viviette left Katherine to her needlework, and advanced to meet him. At +her spontaneous act of welcome a light came into his eyes. He removed +from his lips the short corn-cob pipe he was smoking. + +"I've just been looking at the new mare. She's a beauty. I know I +oughtn't to have got her, but she was going dirt cheap--and what can a +man do when he's offered a horse at a quarter its value?" + +"Nothing, my dear Dick, save pay four times as much as he can afford." + +"But we had to get a new beast," he argued seriously. "We can't go about +the country in a donkey-cart. If I hadn't bought one, Austin would, for +the sake of the family dignity--and I do like to feel independent of +Austin now and then." + +"I wish you were entirely independent of Austin," said Viviette, walking +with him up the lawn. + +"I can't, so long as I stay here doing nothing. But if I went out to +Canada or New Zealand, as I want to do, who would look after my mother? +I'm tied by the leg." + +"I'd look after mother," said Viviette. "And you'd write me nice long +letters, saying how you were getting on, and I would send you nice +little bulletins, and we should all be very happy." + +"Do you want to get rid of me, Viviette?" + +"I want you to have your heart's desire." + +"You know what my heart's desire is," he said unsteadily. + +"Why, to raise sheep or drive cattle, or chop down trees in the +backwoods," she replied, lifting demure eyebrows. "Oh, Dick, don't be +foolish. See--there's mother just come out." + +With a light laugh she escaped and ran up the steps to meet an old lady, +rather infirm, who, with the aid of a stick, was beginning to take her +morning walk up and down the terrace. Dick followed her moodily. + +"Good morning, mother," said he, bending down to kiss her. + +Mrs. Ware put up her cheek, and received the salute with no great show +of pleasure. + +"Oh, how you smell of tobacco smoke, Dick. Where's Austin? Please go and +find him. I want to hear what he has to say about the stables." + +"What can he say, mother?" + +"He can advise us and help us to put the muddle right," said Mrs. Ware. + +These stables had been a subject of controversy for some time. The old +ones having fallen into disgraceful disrepair, Dick had turned architect +and erected new ones himself. As shelters for beasts, they were +comparatively sound; as appanages to an Elizabethan manor-house, they +were open to adverse criticism. Austin, who had come down from London a +day or two before to spend his Whitsuntide holiday at home, had promised +his mother to make inspection and report. + +"But what does Austin know about stables?" Viviette asked, as soon as +Dick had slouched away in search of his brother. + +"Austin knows about everything, my dear," replied the old lady +decisively. "Not only is Austin a brilliantly clever man, but he's a +successful barrister, and a barrister's business is to know all about +everything. Give me your arm, dear, and let us walk up and down a +little till they come." + +Presently Dick returned with Austin, whom he had found smoking a cigar +in a very meditative manner in front of the stables. Dick's face was +gloomy, but Austin's was bright, as he came briskly up and, cigar in +hand, stooped to his mother. She put her arms round his neck, kissed him +affectionately, and inquired after his sleep and his comfort and the +quality of his breakfast. + +"Doesn't Austin smell of tobacco smoke, mother?" asked Dick. + +"Austin," replied Mrs. Ware, "has a way of smoking and not smelling of +it." + +Austin laughed gaily. "I believe if I fell into a pond you'd say I had a +way of coming up dry." + +Dick turned to Viviette, and muttered with some bitterness: "And if I +fell into a dry ditch she'd say I came up slimy." + +Viviette, touched by pity, raised a bewitching face. "Dry or slimy, you +would be just the same dear old Dick," she whispered. + +"And what about the stables?" asked Mrs. Ware. + +"Oh, they're not bad. They're rather creditable; but," Austin added, +turning with a laugh to his brother, "the mother will fidget, you know, +and the somewhat--let us say rococo style of architecture has got on her +nerves. I think the whole thing had better come down, don't you?" + +"If you like," said Dick gruffly. He had given way to Austin all his +life. What was the use of opposing him now? + +"Good. I'll send young Rapson, the architect, along to make a design. +Don't you worry, old chap, I'll see it through." + +Young, brisk, debonair, flushed with success and the sense of the +mastery of life, he did not notice the lowering of Dick's brows, which +deepened into almost a scowl when he turned frankly admiring eyes on +Viviette, and drew her into gay, laughing talk, nor did he catch the +hopelessness in the drag of Dick's feet as he went off to gaze +sorrowfully at the fallen pride of his heart, the condemned stables. + +But Viviette who knew, as Austin did not, of Dick's disappointment, soon +broke away and joined him in front of the amorphous shed of timber. She +took him by the arm. + +"Come for a stroll in the orchard." + +He suffered himself to be led through the stable-yard gate. She talked +to him of apple blossoms. He listened for some time in silence. Then he +broke out. + +"It's an infernal shame," said he. + +"It is," said Viviette. "But you needn't put on such a glum face when +I'm here especially to comfort you. If you're not glad to see me I'll go +back to Austin. He's much more amusing than you." + +"I suppose he is. Yes, go back to him. I'm a fool. I'm nobody. No, +don't, Viviette; forgive me," he cried, catching her as she turned away +somewhat haughtily. "I didn't mean it, but things are getting beyond my +endurance." + +Viviette seated herself on a bench beneath the apple blossoms. + +"What things?" + +"Everything. My position. Austin's airy ways." + +"But that's what makes him so charming." + +"Yes, confound him. My ways are about as airy as a hippopotamus's. Look +here, Viviette. I'm fond of Austin, God knows--but all my life he has +been put in front of me. He has had all the chances; I've had none. With +my father when he was alive, with my mother, it has always been Austin +this and Austin that. He was the head of the school when I, the elder, +was a lout in the lower fourth. He had a brilliant University career and +went into the world and is making a fortune. I'm only able to ride and +shoot and do country things. I've stuck here with only this mortgaged +house belonging to me and the hundred or so a year I get out of the +tenants. I'm not even executor under my father's will. It's Austin. +Austin pays mother the money under her marriage settlement. If things go +wrong Austin is sent for to put them right. It never seems to occur to +him that it's my house. Oh, of course I know he pays the interest on the +mortgage and makes my mother an allowance--that's the humiliation +of it." + +He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, staring +at the grass. + +"But surely you could find some work to do, Dick?" + +He shrugged his great shoulders. "They stuck me once in an office in +London. I suffocated and added up things wrong and told the wrong lies +to the wrong people, and ended up by breaking the junior +partner's head!" + +"You had some satisfaction out of it, at any rate," laughed Viviette. + +A faint reminiscent smile crossed his face. "I suppose I had. But it +didn't qualify me for a successful business career. No. I might do +something in a new country. I must get away from this. I can't stand it. +But yet--as I've told you all along, I'm tied--hand and foot." + +"And so you're very miserable, Dick." + +"How can I help it?" + +Viviette edged a little away from him, and said, rather resentfully: + +"I don't call that polite, seeing that I have come back to live with +you." + +He turned on her with some fierceness. "Don't you see that your being +here makes my life all the more impossible? How can I be with you day +after day without loving you, hungering for you, wanting you, body and +soul? I've never given a thought to another woman in my life. You're my +heart's blood, dear. I want to hold you so tight in my arms that not the +ghost of another man can ever come between us. You know it." + +Viviette shredded an apple blossom that had fallen into her lap. The +fingers that held the petal tingled, and a flush rose in her cheek. + +"I do know it," she said in a low voice. "You're always telling me. But, +Dick"--she flashed a mischievous glance at him--"while you're holding +me--although it would be very nice--we should starve." + +"Then let us starve," he cried vehemently. + +"Oh, no. Oh, most decidedly no. Starvation would be so unbecoming. I +should get to be a fright--a bundle of bones and a rundle of skin--and +you'd be horrified--I couldn't bear it." + +"If you would only say you cared a scrap for me it would be easier," he +pleaded. + +"I should have thought it would be harder." + +"Anyhow, say it--say it this once--just this once." + +She bent her head to hide a smile, and said in a voice adorably soft: + +"Dick, shut your eyes." + +"Viviette!" he cried, with sudden hope. + +"No. Shut your eyes. Turn round. Now tell me," she continued, when he +had turned obediently, "just what I've got on. No!" she held him by the +shoulders, "you're not to move." + +Now, she was wearing a white blouse and a blue skirt and tan shoes, and +a yellow rose was pinned at her bosom. + +"What dress am I wearing?" + +"A light-coloured thing," said Dick. + +"And what's it trimmed with?" + +"Lace," said the unfortunate man. Lace indeed! + +"And what coloured boots?" + +"Black," said Dick, at a venture. + +"And what flower?" + +"I don't know--a pink rose, I think." + +She started up. "Look," she cried gaily. "Oh, Dick! I'll never marry you +till you have the common decency to look at me--never! never! never! I +dressed myself this beautiful morning just to please you. Oh, Dick! +Dick, you've lost such a chance." + +She stood with her hands behind her back regarding him mockingly, as Eve +in the first orchard must have regarded Adam when he was more dull and +masculine than usual--when, for instance, she had attired herself in +hybiscus flowers which he took for the hum-drum, everyday fig-leaves. + +"I'm a born duffer," said Dick pathetically. "But your face is all that +I see when I look at you." + +"That's all very pretty," she retorted. "But you ought to see more. Now +let us talk sense. Mind, if I sit on that bench again you're to +talk sense." + +Dick sighed. "Very well," said he. + +That was the history of all his love-making. She drew him on to +passionate utterance, and then, with a twist of her wit and a twirl of +her skirts, she eluded him. When she had thus put herself out of his +reach, he felt ashamed. What right had he, dull, useless, lumbering, +squiredomless squire, to ask a woman like Viviette to marry him? How +could he support a wife? As it was, he lived a pensioner on Austin's +bounty. Could he ask Austin to feed his wife and family as well? This +thought, which always came to him as soon as his passion was checked, +filled him with deep humiliation. Viviette had reason on her side when +she said, "Let us talk sense." + +He glowered at his fate, and tugged his tawny moustache for some time in +silence. Then Viviette began to talk to him prettily of things that +made up his country interests, his dogs, the garden, the personalities +of the country-side. Soon she had him laughing, which pleased and +flattered her, as it proved her power over the primitive man. Indeed, at +such moments, she felt very tenderly towards him, and would have liked +to pat his cheeks and crown him with flowers, thus manifesting her +favour by dainty caresses. But she refrained, knowing that primitive men +are too dense to interpret such demonstrations rightly, and limited +herself to less compromising words. + +"I am going to tell you a secret," he said at last, in a shamefaced way. +"You mustn't laugh at me--promise me you won't." + +"I promise," said Viviette solemnly. + +"I am thinking of going in for local politics--Rural District Council, +you know." + +Viviette nodded her head approvingly. "A village Hampden--in Tory +clothing?" + +"They're running things on party lines down here. The influence of +Westhampton is Radical, and fills the Council with a lot of outsiders. +So they've got together a Conservative Committee, and are going to run a +good strong man for a vacancy. I've given them to understand that I'll +be a candidate if they'll have me. I'd like to be one. It's a rubbishy +thing, dear, but somehow it would give me a little interest in life." + +"I don't think it a rubbishy thing at all," said Viviette. "A country +gentleman ought to have a hand in rural administration. I do hope you'll +get in. When will you know that the committee have selected you?" + +"There's a meeting this evening. I ought to know to-night or to-morrow +morning." + +"Are you very keen on it?" + +"Very," said Dick. And he added proudly, "It was my own idea." + +"But you're not as keen on that as on going abroad?" + +"Ah, that!" said Dick. "That, bar one, is the dearest wish of my heart. +And who knows--it might enable me to carry out the other." + +The sound of a gong within the house floated through the still June air. +Viviette rose. "I must tidy myself for lunch." + +They walked to the house together. On parting she put out both her +hands. + +"Do be reasonable, Dick, and don't look for slights in what you call +Austin's airy ways. He is awfully fond of you, and would not hurt you +for the world." + +At the luncheon table, however, Austin did hurt him, in utter +unconsciousness, by his gay command of the situation, his eager talk +with Viviette of things Dick did not understand, places he had not +visited, books he had never read, pictures he had never seen. It was +heartache rather than envy. He did not grudge Austin his scholarship and +brilliance. But his soul sank at the sight of Austin and Viviette moving +as familiars in a joyous world as remote from him as Neptune. Mrs. Ware +kept Katherine Holroyd engaged in mild talk of cooks and curates, while +the other two maintained their baffling conversation, half banter, half +serious, on a bewildering number of topics, and poor Dick remained as +dumb as the fish and cutlets he was eating. He sat at the head of the +table, Mrs. Ware at the foot. On his right hand sat Katherine Holroyd, +on his left Viviette, and between her and his mother was Austin. With +Viviette talking to Austin and Mrs. Ware to Katherine, he felt lonely +and disregarded in a kind of polar waste of snowy tablecloth. Once +Katherine, escaping from Mrs. Ware's platitudinous ripple, took pity on +him, and asked him when he was going to redeem his promise and show her +his collection of armour and weapons. Dick brightened. This was the only +keen interest he had in life outside things of earth and air and stream. +He had inherited a good family collection, and had added to it +occasionally, as far as his slender means allowed. He had read deeply, +and understood his subject. + +"Whenever you like, Katherine," he said. + +"This afternoon?" + +"I'm afraid they want polishing up and arranging. I've got some new +things which I've not placed. I've rather neglected them lately. Let us +say to-morrow afternoon. Then they'll all be spick and span for you." + +Katherine assented. "I've been down here so often and never seen them," +she said. "It seems odd, considering the years we've known each other." + +"I only took it up after father's death," said Dick. "And since then, +you know, you haven't been here so very often." + +"It was only the last time that I discovered you took an interest an the +collection. You hid your light under a bushel. Then I went to London and +heard that you were a great authority on the subject." + +Dick's tanned face reddened with pleasure. + +"I do know something about it. You see, guns and swords and pistols are +in my line. I'm good at killing things. I ought to have been a soldier, +only I couldn't pass examinations, so I sort of interest myself in the +old weapons and do my killing in imagination." + +"You give a regular lecture, don't you?" + +"Well, you know," said Dick modestly, "a lot of them are historical. +There's a mace used by a bishop, an ancestor of ours. He couldn't wield +a sword in battle, so he cottoned on to that, and in order to salve his +conscience before using it he would cry out 'Gare! gare!'--and they say +that's what our name comes from--see? 'Ware--Ware.' He was the founder +of our family--though, of course, he oughtn't to have been. And then we +have the duelling pistols my great-grandfather shot Lord Estcourt with. +They're beautiful things--in the case just as he left it after the duel, +with powder, balls, and caps, all complete. It's a romantic story--" + +"My dear Dick," interposed Mrs. Ware, with fragile, uplifted hand, +"please don't offend us with these horrible family scandals. Katharine, +dear, are you going to the vicar's garden party this afternoon? If you +are, will you take a message to Mrs. Cook?" + +So Katherine being monopolized, Dick was silenced, and as Austin and +Viviette were talking in a lively but unintelligible way about a thing, +or a play, or a horse called Nietzsche, he relapsed into the heavy, +full-blooded man's animal enjoyment of his food and the sensitive's +consciousness of heartache. + +When the ladies had left the table and the coffee had been brought in, +and the men's cigars were lit, Austin said: + +"What a magnificently beautiful creature she has grown into." + +"Whom do you mean?" asked Dick. + +"Why, Viviette, of course. She's the most fascinating thing I've come +across for years." + +"Do you think so?" said Dick shortly. + +"Don't you?" + +Dick shrugged his shoulders. Austin laughed. + +"What a stolid old beggar you are. To you, she's just the same little +girl that used to run about here in short frocks. If she were a horse +you'd have a catalogue yards long of her points." + +"But as she's a lady," said Dick, tugging his moustache, "I don't care +to catalogue them." + +Austin laughed again. "Fairly scored!" He raised his cup to his lips, +took a sip, and set it down again. + +"Why on earth," said he with some petulance, "can't mother give us +decent coffee?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CONSPIRATORS + + +Dick went heavy-hearted to bed that night, pronouncing himself to be the +most abjectly miserable of God's creatures, and calling on Providence to +remove him speedily from an unsympathetic world. He had said good night +to the ladies at eleven o'clock when the three went upstairs to bed, and +had forthwith gone to spend the rest of the evening in the friendly +solitude of his armoury. Emerging thence an hour later into the hall, he +had come upon a picturesque, but heart-rending, spectacle. There, on the +third step of the grand staircase, stood Viviette, holding in one hand a +candle, and extending the other regally downwards to Austin, who, with +sleek head bent, was pressing it to his lips. In the candle-light her +hair threw disconcerting shadows over her elfin face, and her great eyes +seemed to glow with a magical intensity that poor Dick had never seen in +them before. As soon as he had appeared she had broken into her low +laugh, drawn away her hand from Austin, and, descending the steps, +extended it in much the same regal manner to Dick. + +"Good night again, Dick," she said sweetly. "Austin and I have been +having a little talk." + +But he had disregarded the hand, and, with a gruff "Good night," had +returned to his armoury, slamming the door behind him. There he had +nourished his wrath on more whiskey and soda than was good for him, and +crawled upstairs in the small hours to miserable sleeplessness. + +This was the beginning of Dick's undoing, the gods (abetted by Viviette) +employing their customary procedure of first driving him mad. But +Viviette was not altogether a guilty abettor. Indeed, all day long, she +had entertained high notions of acting fairy godmother, and helping Dick +along the road to fortune and content. He himself, she learned, had +taken no steps to free himself from his present mode of life. He had not +even confided in Austin. Viviette ran over the list of her influential +friends. There was Lady Winsmere, a dowager countess of seventy, +surrounded by notabilities, at whose house she stayed now and then in +London. On the last occasion an Agent-General for one of the great +Colonies had sat next her at dinner. Then there was her friend Mrs. +Penderby, whose husband gathered enormous wealth in some mysterious way +in Mark Lane. Why should she not go up to London and open a campaign on +Dick's behalf, secure him an appointment, and come back flourishing it +before his dazzled and delighted eyes? The prospect was enchanting. The +fairy godmother romance of it fascinated her girlish mind. But first +she must clear the ground at home. There must be no opposition from +Austin. He must be her ally. + +When a woman gets an idea like this into her head she must execute it, +as the Americans say, right now. A man waits, counts up all the +barriers, and speculates on the strength and courage of the lions in the +path--but a woman goes straight forward, and does not worry about the +lions till they bite her. Viviette resolved to speak to Austin at once; +but, owing to a succession of the little ironies of circumstance, she +found no opportunity of doing so all the afternoon or evening. It was +only when, standing at the top of the stairs, she had seen Dick go off +to the armoury, and Austin return to the drawing-room--for the men had +bidden the ladies good night in the hall--that she saw her chance. She +went downstairs and opened the drawing-room door. + +"I don't want to go to bed after all. Do you think you can do with me a +little longer?" + +"A great deal longer," he said, drawing a chair for her, and arranging +the shade of a lamp so that the light should not shine full in her eyes. +"I was just thinking how dull the room looked without you--as if all the +flowers had suddenly been taken away." + +"I suppose I am decorative," she said blandly. + +"You're bewitching. What instinct made you choose that shade of pale +green for your frock? If I had seen it in the pattern I should have said +it was impossible for your colouring. But now it seems to be the only +perfect thing you could wear." + +She laughed her little laugh of pleasure, and thanked him prettily for +the compliment. They bandied gay words for a while. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you have come down--even for this short visit," said +Viviette at last. "I was pining for talk, for wit, for a breath of the +great world beyond these sleepy meadows. You bring all that with you." + +Austin leaned forward. "How do you know I'm not bringing even more?" + +The girl's eyes drooped before his gaze. Then she fluttered a glance at +him in which there was a gleam of mockery. + +"You bring the most valuable gift of all--appreciation of my frocks. I +love people to notice them. Now Dick is frock-blind. Why is that?" + +"He's a dear old duffer," said Austin. + +"I don't think he's happy," said Viviette, who, in her feminine way, had +worked round to the subject of the interview. + +"He did seem rather cut up about the stables," Austin admitted. "But the +things are an eyesore, and mother was worrying herself to death +about them." + +"It isn't only the stables," said Viviette. "Dick is altogether +discontented." + +Austin looked at her in amazement. "Discontented?" + +"He wants something to do." + +"Nonsense," he laughed, with the air of a man certain of his facts. +"He's as happy as a king here. He shoots and hunts--looks after the +place--runs the garden and potters about in his armoury--in fact, does +just what he likes all day long. He goes to bed without a care sharing +his pillow, and, when he wakes up, gets into comfortable country clothes +instead of a tight-fitting suit of responsibilities. For a man of his +tastes he leads an ideal existence." + +He threw away the end of the cigarette he was smoking, as though to say +that the argument was finished. But Viviette regarded him with a +smile--the smile of woman's superior wisdom. How astonishingly little he +knew of Dick! + +"Do you really think there is one contented being on earth?" she asked. +"Even I know better than that." + +Austin maintained that Dick ought to be contented. + +"Dependent for practically all he has on you?" + +"I've never let him feel it," he said quickly. + +"He does, though. He wants to get away--to earn his own living--make a +way for himself." + +"That's the first I've heard of it," said Austin, genuinely surprised. +"I really thought he was perfectly contented here. Of course, now and +then he's grumpy--but he always has had fits of grumpiness. What kind of +work does he want?" + +"Something to do with sheep or cattle--in Arizona or New Zealand--the +place doesn't matter--any open-air life." + +Austin lit another cigarette and walked about the room. He was a man of +well-regulated habits, and did not like being taken unawares. Dick +ought to have told him. Then there was their mother. Who would look +after her? Dick was a dispensation of Providence. + +"Perhaps I might be a deputy dispensation, mightn't I?" said Viviette. +"I don't think mother is so desperately attached to Dick as all that. It +could be arranged somehow or other. And Dick is growing more and more +wretched about it every day. Every day he pours out his woes to me till +I can almost howl with misery." + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"Not to stand in his way if he gets a chance of going abroad." + +"Of course I won't," cried Austin eagerly. "It never entered my head +that he wanted to go away. I would do anything in the world for his +happiness, poor old chap. I love Dick very deeply. In spite of his huge +bulk and rough ways there's something of the woman in him that makes one +love him." + +They catalogued Dick's virtues, and then Viviette unfolded her scheme. +One or other of the powerful personages whom, in her young confidence, +she proposed to attack, would surely know of some opening abroad. + +"Even humble I sometimes hear of things," said Austin. "Only a day or +two ago old Lord Overton asked me if I knew of a man who could manage a +timber forest he's got in Vancouver--" + +Viviette jumped up and clapped her hands. + +"Why, that's the very thing for Dick!" she cried exultingly. + +"God bless my soul!" said Austin. "So it is. I never thought of it." + +"If you get it for him I'll thank you in the sweetest way possible." She +glanced at him swiftly, under her eyelids. "I promise you I will." + +"Then I'll certainly get it," replied Austin. + +Austin then went into details. Lord Overton wanted a man of +education--a gentleman--one who could ride and shoot and make others +work. He would have to superintend the planting and the cutting and the +transportation of timber, and act as agent for the various farms Lord +Overton possessed in the wide district. The salary would be L700 a year. +The late superintendent had suddenly died, and Lord Overton wanted a man +to go out at once and fill his place. If only he had thought of Dick! + +"But you're thinking of him now. It can't be too late--men with such +qualifications aren't picked up at every street corner." + +"That's quite true," said Austin. "And as for my recommendation," he +added in his confident way, "Lord Overton and I are on such terms that +he would not hesitate to give the appointment to a brother of mine. I'll +write at once." + +"And we'll say nothing to Dick until we've got it all in black and +white." + +"Not a word," said he. + +Then they burst out laughing like happy conspirators, and enjoyed +beforehand the success of their plot. + +"The old place will be very strange without him," said Austin. + +A shadow passed over Viviette's bright face. The manor-house would +indeed be very lonely. Her occupation as Dick's liege lady, confidante, +and tormentor would be gone. Parting from him would be a wrench. There +would be a dreadful scene at the last moment, in which he would want to +hold her tight in his arms and make her promise to join him in +Vancouver. She shivered a little; then tossed her head as if to throw +off the disturbing thoughts. + +"Don't let us look at the dismal side of things. It's selfish. All we +want is Dick's happiness." She glanced at the clock and started up. +"It's midnight. If Katherine knew I was here she would lecture me." + +"It's nothing very dreadful," he laughed. "Nor is Katherine's lecture." + +"I call her Saint Nitouche--but she's a great dear, isn't she? Good +night." + +He accompanied her to the foot of the stairs and lit her candle. On the +third stair she paused. + +"Remember--in all this it's I who am the fairy godmother." + +"And I," said Austin, "am nothing but the fairy godmother's humble and +devoted factotum." He took the hand which she extended and, bending over +it, kissed it gallantly. + +Then by unhappy chance out came Dick from the armoury, and beheld the +spectacle which robbed him of his peace of mind. + +The next morning, when Dick came down gloomily to breakfast, she was +very gentle with him, and administered tactfully to his wants. She +insisted on going to the sideboard and carving his cold ham, of which he +ate prodigious quantities after a hot first course, and when she put the +plate before him laid a caressing touch on his shoulder. She neglected +Austin in a bare-faced manner, and drew Dick into reluctant and then +animated talk on his prize roses and a setter pup just recovering from +distemper. After the meal she went with him round the garden, inspected +both roses and puppy, and manifested great interest in a trellis he was +constructing for the accommodation later in the summer of some climbing +cucumbers, at present only visible as modest leaves in flower-pots. +Neither made any reference to the little scene of the night before. +Morning had brought to Dick the conviction that in refusing her hand and +slamming the door he had behaved in an unpardonably bearish manner; and +he could not apologise for his behaviour unless he confessed his +jealousy of Austin, which, in all probability, would have subjected him +to the mocking ridicule of Viviette--a thing which, above all others, he +dreaded, and against which he knew himself to be defenceless. Viviette, +too, found silence golden. She knew perfectly well why Dick had slammed +the door. An explanation would have been absurd. It would have +interfered with her relations with Austin, which were beginning to be +exciting. But she loved Dick in her heart for being a bear, and evinced +both her compunction and her appreciation in peculiar graciousness. + +"You've never asked me to try the new mare," she said. "I don't think it +a bit kind of you." + +"Would you care to?" he asked eagerly. + +"Of course I should. I love to see you with horses. You and the trap and +the horse seem to be as much one mechanism as a motor-car." + +"I can make a horse do what I want," he said, delighted at the +compliment. "We'll take the dog-cart. When will you come? This morning?" + +"Yes--let us say eleven. It will be lovely." + +"I'll have it round at eleven o'clock. You'll see. She's a flyer." + +"So am I," she said with a laugh, and pointed to the front gate, which a +garden lad had just run to open to admit a young man on horseback. + +"Oh, lord! it's Banstead," said Dick with a groan. + +"Au revoir--eleven o'clock," said Viviette, and she fled. + +Lord Banstead dismounted, gave his horse to the lad, and came up to +Dick. He was an unhealthy, dissipated-looking young man, with lustreless +eyes, a characterless chin, and an underfed moustache. He wore a light +blue hunting stock, fastened by a ruby fox in full gallop, and a round +felt hat with a very narrow flat brim, beneath which protruded strands +of Andrew aguecheek hair. + +"Hallo, Banstead," said Dick, not very cordially. + +"Hallo," said the other, halting before the rose-bed, where Dick was +tying up some blooms with bast. He watched him for a moment or two. +Conversation was not spontaneous. + +"Where's Viviette?" he asked eventually. + +"Who?" growled Dick. + +"Rot. What's the good of frills? Miss Hastings." + +"Busy. She'll be busy all the morning." + +"I rather wanted to see her." + +"I don't think you will. You might ring at the front door and send in +your card." + +"I might," said Banstead, lighting a cigar. He had tried this method of +seeing Viviette before, but without success. There was another pause. +Dick snipped off an end of bast. + +"You're up very early," said he. + +"Went to bed so bally sober I couldn't sleep," replied the misguided +youth. "Not a soul in the house, I give you my word. So bored last night +I took a gun and tried to shoot cats. Shot a damn cock pheasant by +mistake, and had to bury the thing in my own covers. If I'm left to +myself to-night I'll get drunk and go out shooting tenants. Come over +and dine." + +"Can't," said Dick. + +"Do. I'll open a bottle of the governor's old port. Then we can play +billiards, or piquet, or cat's-cradle, or any rotten thing you like." + +Dick excused himself curtly. Austin had come down for Whitsuntide, and a +lady was staying in the house. Lord Banstead pushed his hat to the back +of his head. + +"Then what the devil am I to do in this hole of a place?" + +"Don't know," said Dick. + +"You fellows in the country are so unfriendly. In town I never need +dine alone. Anyone's glad to see me. Feeding all by myself in that +dining-room fairly gives me the pip." + +"Then come and dine here," said Dick, unable to refuse a neighbour +hospitality. + +"Right," said Banstead. "That is really like the Samaritan Johnnie. I'll +come with pleasure." + +"Quarter to eight." + +Banstead hesitated. "Couldn't you make it a quarter past?" + +Dick stared. "Alter our dinner hour? You've rather a nerve, haven't you, +Banstead?" + +"I wouldn't suggest it, if we weren't pals," replied the other, grinning +somewhat shamefacedly. "But the fact is I've got an appointment late +this afternoon." The fatuity of vicious and coroneted youth outstripped +his discretion. "There's a devilish pretty girl, you know, at 'The Green +Man' at Little Barton; I don't know whether I can get away in time." + +Dick stuffed his bast in his pocket, and muttered things uncomplimentary +to Banstead. + +"Dinner's at a quarter to eight. You can take it or leave it," said he. + +"I suppose I've jolly well got to take it," said Banstead, unruffled. +"Anything's better than going through dinner from soup to dessert all +alone under the fishy eye of that butling image of a Jenkins. He was +thirty years in my governor's service, and doesn't understand my ways. I +guess I'll have to chuck him." + +A perspiring, straw-hatted postman lurched along the gravel drive with +the morning's post. He touched his hat to Dick, delivered the Manor +House bag into his hands, and departed. + +"I'll sort these in the morning-room," said Dick, moving in the +direction of the house, and Lord Banstead, hoping to see Viviette, +followed at his heels. The control of the family post was one of the few +privileges Dick retained as master of the house. His simple mind still +regarded the receipt and despatch of letters as a solemn affair of life, +and every morning he went through the process of distribution with +ceremonial observance. In the morning-room they found Austin and +Viviette, the former writing in a corner, the latter reading a novel by +the French window that opened on to the terrace. Dick went up to a +table, and, opening the mail-bag, began to sort the letters into various +heaps. Austin greeted Lord Banstead none too warmly, and, with scarcely +an apology, went back to his writing. He disapproved of Banstead, who +was of a type particularly antagonistic to the young, clean, and +successful barrister. When Viviette had informed him of the youth's +presence in the garden, he had exclaimed impatiently: + +"It ought to be somebody's business to go round the world occasionally +with a broom and sweep away spiders like that." + +Viviette, mindful of the invective, received Lord Banstead with a smile +of amusement. As she had two protectors against a fifth proposal of +marriage, she stood her ground. + +"I expected you to come over yesterday," she said. + +"No, did you really?" he exclaimed, a flush rising to his pale cheeks. +"If I had thought that I should have come." + +"You've made up for it by arriving early to-day, at any rate," said +Viviette. + +"And I'm making up for it further by coming to dinner to-night. Dick +asked me," he added, seeing the polite questioning in her eyes. + +"That will be very nice," she said. "You can talk to mother. You see, +Dick talks to Mrs. Holroyd, who is staying with us, Austin talks to me, +so poor mother is left out in the cold. She'll enjoy a nice long talk +with you." + +When Banstead took the chorus out to supper he had the ready repartee of +his kind. In such a case he would have told the lady not to pull his +leg. But the delicate mockery in Viviette's face seemed to forbid the +use of this figure of speech, and as his vocabulary did not readily +allow him to formulate the idea in other terms he said nothing, but +settled his stock, and looked at her adoringly. At last he bent forward, +after a glance at the protectors, and said in a low tone: + +"Come out into the garden. I've something to say to you." + +"Why not say it here?" she replied in her ordinary voice. + +Banstead bit his lip. He would have liked to call her a little devil. +But he reflected that if he did she would be quite capable of repeating +the phrase aloud, somewhat to the astonishment of Dick and Austin, who +might ask for embarrassing explanations. Instead he bent still nearer, +and whispered: + +"I can only say it to you alone. I've been awake all night thinking of +it--give you my word." + +"Wait till to-morrow morning, and by then you may have slept upon it," +she counselled. + +"You'll drive me to drink!" he murmured. + +She rose with a laugh. "In that case I must go. I ought to be labelled +'dangerous.' Don't you think so, Dick? Besides, I'm going for a drive, +and must put on my things. These my letters? Au revoir." And, with a +wave of her hand she left them. + +Banstead lingered by the threshold and took up an illustrated paper. The +maid, in response to Dick's summons, bore away the letters for the rest +of the household. Austin and Dick concerned themselves with their +correspondence, Dick's chiefly consisting of gardeners' catalogues. + +For a while there was silence. It was broken by a loud laugh from +Austin. + +"Dick! I say, Dick! What do you think these village idiots have asked me +to do? To accept their nomination and stand as a Rural District +Councillor! Me!" + +Dick quickly crossed to the table where his brother was sitting. + +"That's my letter, old chap. I must here put it in your heap by mistake. +The invitation is meant for me." + +"You?" laughed Austin. "Why, what do you want to fool about with village +politics for? No. The letter is meant for me right enough." + +"I can't understand it," said Dick. + +Lord Banstead looked up from his paper. + +"That the Rural District Council? I'm on the committee. Had a meeting +yesterday. I'm chairman of the silly rotters." + +"Then your silly rotter of an honorary secretary," cried Dick angrily, +"has sent Austin the letter of invitation that was meant for me." + +"Oh, no, he didn't," said Banstead. "It's all right. They chucked you, +old son. Now I remember. I promised to explain." + +Dick turned aside. "Oh, you needn't explain," he said bitterly. + +"But I must. They had their reasons, you know. They thought they'd +rather have a brainy nobleman like your brother than a good old rotter +like you. You're--" + +"Oh, hold your tongue, Banstead," cried Austin, rising and putting his +hand on Dick's shoulder. "Really, my dear old Dick, you're the right +person to stand. They only thought a lawyer could help them--but I'm far +too busy--of course I decline. I'm deeply pained, Dick, at having hurt +you. I'll write to the committee and point out how much fitter, as a +country gentleman, you are for the duties than I am. They're bound +to ask you." + +Dick swung away passionately, his lips quivering with anger and +mortification beneath his great moustache. + +"Do you think I would accept? I'm damned if I would. Do you expect me to +pick up everything you've thrown in the mud and feel grateful? I'm +damned if I will!" + +He flung out of the room on to the terrace and strode away in a rage. + +"Seems to take it badly," remarked Banstead, looking at his +disappearing figure. "I had better say good-bye." + +"Good-bye," said Austin. And he added, as he accompanied him with grim +politeness to the front gate, "if you exercise the same tact in the +chair as you've done here, your meetings must be a huge success." + +He returned with a shrug of the shoulders to his table in the +morning-room. He was deeply attached to Dick, but a lifelong habit of +regarding him as a good-natured, stupid, and contented giant blinded him +to the storm that was beginning to rage in the other's soul. The +occurrence was unfortunate. It wounded the poor old fellow's vanity. +Banstead's blatant folly had been enough to set any man in a rage. But, +after all, Dick was a common-sense creature, and, recognising that +Austin was in no way to blame, he would soon get over it. Meanwhile, +there was awaiting him the joyful surprise of Vancouver, which would +soon put such petty mortifications out of his head. Thus Austin consoled +himself, and settled down to the serious matters of his correspondence. + +Viviette, coming in later in hat and jacket, found him busily writing. +He looked up at her admiringly as she stood against the background of +light framed by the great French window. + +"Am I presentable?" she asked, with a smile, interpreting his glance. + +"Each modification of your dress makes you seem more bewitching than the +last." + +"I trimmed this hat myself," she said, coming into the room, and +looking at herself in a Queen Anne mirror on the wall. + +"That's why it's so becoming," said Austin. + +She wheeled round on him with a laugh. "You really ought to say +something cleverer than that!" + +"How can I," he replied, "when you drive my wits away?" + +"Poor me," she said. And then, suddenly, "Where's Dick?" + +"What do you want Dick for?" + +"He promised to take me for a drive." She consulted the watch on her +wrist. "It's past eleven now." + +"I'm afraid poor Dick is rather upset. He seems to have been counting on +being nominated to stand for the Rural District Council, and the +imbeciles invited me instead." + +"Oh, how could they?" she cried, smitten with a great pity. "How could +they be so stupid and cruel? I know all about it. He told me yesterday. +He must be bitterly disappointed." + +Austin did not tell her of Lord Banstead's tactful explanation of the +committee's action. He was a fastidious man, and did not care to soil +his mind with the memory of Banstead's existence. If he had described +the scene, the young man's vulgarity, his own attempt at conciliation, +and Dick's passionate outburst--the course of the drama that was shaping +itself might have been altered. But the stars in their courses were +fighting against Dick. Austin only said: + +"If we get him this appointment, it will be ample compensation, anyhow." + +"Please don't say 'if,'" exclaimed Viviette, "we must get it." + +"Unless Lord Overton has already found a man, which is unlikely, owing +to the general suspension of business at Whitsuntide, it's practically +a certainty." + +"When shall we know?" + +"My letter's written and is waiting for the post. If he replies by +return we shall hear the day after to-morrow." + +"That is such a long time to wait. Do you know what to-morrow is?" + +"Wednesday," said Austin. + +"It's Dick's birthday." She clapped her hands at a happy inspiration, +and hung on his arm. "Oh, Austin! If we could only give him the +appointment as a birthday present!" + +Her touch, her fresh charm, the eagerness in her eyes roused him to +unwonted enthusiasm. In his sane moments he did not care a fig for +anybody's birthday. What man ever does? He proclaimed the splendour of +her idea. But how was it to be realised? + +"Send a long prepaid telegram to Lord Overton, of course," said Viviette +triumphantly. (How unresourceful are men!) "Then we can get an +answer to-day." + +"You forget the nearest telegraph office is at Witherby, seven miles +off." + +"But Dick and I are going for a drive. I'll make him go to Witherby and +I'll send the telegram. Write it." + +She drew him in her caressing way to the table, seated him in the chair, +and laid the block of telegram forms before him. He scribbled +industriously, and when he had finished handed her the sheets. + +"There!" + +He fished in his pockets for money, but Viviette checked him. She was +the fairy godmother in this fairy tale, and fairy godmothers always held +the purse. She glanced again at her watch. It was ten minutes +past eleven. + +"Perhaps he's waiting with the trap for me all the time. Au revoir." + +"I'll see you off," said Austin. + +They went together into the hall and opened the front door. The new +mare and the dog-cart in charge of the stable lad were there, but +no Dick. + +"Where's Mr. Ware?" + +"Don't know, miss." + +Then the Devil entered into Viviette. There is no other explanation. The +Devil entered into her. + +"We must get to Witherby and back before lunch. You drive me over +instead of Dick." + +They exchanged glances. Austin was young. He was in love with her. Dick +had committed the unpardonable offence of being late. It would serve +him right. + +"I'll come," said he, disappearing in search of cap and gloves. + +Viviette went into the hall and scribbled a note. + +"Dear Dick,--You're late. Austin and I have the most important business +to transact at Witherby, so he's driving me over. We're preparing a +great surprise for you.--Viviette." + +"Give this to Mr. Ware," she said to the stable boy as she prepared to +get into the dog-cart. + +The boy touched his cap and ran to open the gate. Viviette lightly +mounted by Austin's side. They had just turned into the road when Dick +came racing through the hall and saw them disappear. He walked up the +drive, and met the boy coming down, who handed him the note, with some +words, which he did not hear. He watched the boy out of sight. Then he +tore the note unread into tiny fragments, stamped them furiously into +the mould of the nearest bed, and, flying into his armoury, threw +himself into a chair and cursed the day that ever Austin was born. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +KATHERINE + + +The drive was a memorable one for many reasons. First the new mare flew +along at an exhilarating trot, as if showing off her qualities to her +new masters. Then the morning sunshine flooded the soft, undulating +Warwickshire country, and slanted freshly through the bordering elms in +sweet-scented lanes. Summer flaunted its irresponsible youth in the +faces of matronly, red-brick Manor House, old grey church, and crumbling +cottage, danced about among the crisp green leaves, kissed the wayside +flowers, and tossing up human hearts in sheer gaiety, played the very +deuce with them. The drive also had its altruistic side. They were on an +errand of benevolence. Austin, his mind conscious of nothing but right, +felt the unusual glow of unselfish devotion to another's interests. When +he had awakened that morning he had had misgivings as to the +advisability of sending Dick to another hemisphere. After all, Dick was +exceedingly useful at Ware House, and saved him a great deal of trouble. +An agent would have to be appointed to replace him, whose salary--not a +very large one, in view of the duties to be performed, but still a +salary--would have to be provided out of his, Austin's, pocket. Who, +again, could undertake the permanent care of his mother? Viviette would +stay at home for some little time; but she would be marrying one of +these fine days--a day which Austin had reasons for hoping would not be +very remote. He would have to make Heaven knows what arrangements for +Mrs. Ware and the general upkeep of the Manor House, while he was in +London carrying on his profession. Decidedly, Dick had been a godsend, +and his absence would be a calamity. In sending him out to Vancouver +Austin had all the unalloyed, pure pleasure of self-sacrifice. + +They talked of Dick and Dick's birthday and Dick's happiness most of the +way to Witherby. The telegram despatched, prepaid with the porterage by +Viviette, Austin felt that he had done his duty by his brother, and +deserved some consideration on his own account. And here it was that the +summer began its game with their hearts. On such sportive occasions it +is not so much what is said that matters. A conversation that might be +entirely conventional between comparative strangers in a fog may become +the most romantic interchange of sentiment imaginable between intimates +in the sunshine. There are tones, there are glances, there are +half-veiled allusions, there are--in a dog-cart, especially when it +jolts--thrilling contacts of arm and arm. There is man's undisguised +tribute to beauty; there is beauty's keen feminine appreciation of the +tribute. There is a manner of saying "we" which counts for more than the +casual conjunction of the personalities. + +"This is _our_ day, Viviette," said Austin. "I shall always remember +it." + +"So shall I. We must put a white mark against it in our diaries." + +"With white ink?" + +"Of course. Black would never do, nor red, nor violet." + +"But where shall we get it?" + +"I'll make us some when I get home out of white cloud and lilies and +sunshine and a bit of the blue sky." + +Laughter fluttered through her veins. Yesterday she had teasingly +boasted to Katherine that Austin was in love with her. Now she knew it. +He proclaimed it in a thousand ways. A note of exultation in his laugh, +like that in a blackbird's call, alone proclaimed it. Instinct told her +of harmless words she might use which would bring the plain avowal. But +the hour was too delicate. As yet nothing was demanded. All was given. +Her woman's vanity blossomed deliciously in the atmosphere of a man's +love. Her heart had not yet received the inevitable summons to respond. +She left it, careless in the gay hands of summer. + +When they drew up before the front door of Ware House he lifted her from +the dog-cart and set her laughing on her feet. + +"How strong you are," she cried. + +"I'm not a giant, like Dick," said he, "but I'm strong enough to do what +I like with a bit of a thing like you." + +She entered the hall and glanced at him provokingly over her shoulder. + +"Don't be too sure of that." + +"Whatever I like," he repeated, striding towards her. + +But Viviette laughed, and fled lightly up the stairs, and on the +landing blew him an ironical kiss from her finger tips. + +When Viviette came down for lunch, she found Dick awaiting her in the +hall. With a lowering face he watched her descend and, his hand on the +newel, confronted her. + +"Well?" said he indignantly. + +"Well?" she said, cheerfully smiling. + +"What have you got to say for yourself?" + +"Lots of things. I had a lovely drive. I got through all my business, +and I have a beautiful appetite. I also don't like standing on a stair." + +At her look he drew aside and let her pass into the hall. + +"You promised to drive with me," he said, following her to a chair in +which she sat. "Driving with me is no great catch, perhaps; but a +promise is a promise." + +"You were late," said Viviette. + +"My mother kept me--some silly nonsense about vegetables. You must have +known it was something I couldn't help." + +"I really don't see why you're so angry, Dick," she said, lifting candid +eyes. "I explained why we had gone in my note." + +"I didn't read the note," said Dick wrath-fully. "A thousand notes +couldn't have explained it. I tore the note into little pieces." + +Viviette rose. "If that's the way you treat me," she said, piqued, "I +have nothing more to say to you." + +"It's the way you're treating me," he cried, with a clumsy man's awkward +attempt at gesture. "I know I'm not clever. I know I can't talk to you +as sweetly as other people; but I'm not a dog, and I deserve some +consideration. Perhaps, after all, I might have the brains to jest and +toss about words and shoot off epigrams. I'll try, if you like. Let us +see. Here. A man who entrusts his heart to a woman has a jade for his +banker. That's devilish smart, isn't it. Now then--there must be some +repartee to it. What is it?" + +Viviette looked at him proudly, and moving in the direction of the +morning-room door, said with much dignity: + +"That depends on the way in which the woman you are talking to has been +brought up. My repartee is--good morning." + +Dick, suddenly repentant, checked her. + +"No, Viviette. Don't go. I'm a brute and a fool. I didn't mean it. +Forgive me. I would rather go on the rack than hurt your little finger. +But it maddens me--can't you believe it? It maddens me to see Austin--" + +She broke into a little laugh and smiled dazzlingly on him. + +"I do believe you're jealous!" she interrupted. + +"Good heavens!" he cried passionately. "Haven't I cause? Austin has +everything his heart can desire. He has always had it. I have +nothing--nothing but one little girl I love. Austin, with all the world +at his feet, comes down here, and what chance has a rough yokel like me +against Austin? My God! It's the one ewe lamb." + +He raised his clenched fists and brought them down against his sides and +turned away. The allusion and a consciousness of Vancouver brought a +smile into Viviette's eyes. She had a woman's sense of humour, which is +not always urbane. When he turned to meet her she shook her head +reprovingly. + +"And David put Uriah into the forefront of the battle, and carried off +poor little Bathsheba. No one seemed to have concerned himself with what +Bathsheba thought of it all. Don't you consider she ought to have some +choice in the matter--whether she should follow the sprightly David or +cling to the melancholy Uriah?" + +"Oh, don't jest like that, Viviette," he cried. "It hurts!" + +"I'm sorry, Dick," she said innocently. "But, really, Bathsheba has her +feelings. What am I to do?" + +"Choose, dear, between us. Choose now--in Heaven's name, choose." + +"But, Dick, dear," said Viviette, all that was wickedly feminine in her +shouting her sex's triumph song, "I want a longer time to choose between +two hats!" + +Dick stamped his foot. "Then Austin has been robbing me! I'm growing +desperate, Viviette, tell me now. Choose." + +He seized her arms in his strong hands. She felt a delicious little +thrill of fear. But knowing her strength, she looked up at him with a +childish expression and said plaintively: "Oh, Dick, dear, I'm +so hungry." + +He released her arms. She rubbed them ruefully. "I'm sure you've made +horrid red rings. Fancy choosing a hard, uncomfortable hat like that!" + +He was about to make some rejoinder when the presence of Mrs. Ware and +Katherine Holroyd at the top of the stairs put an end to the encounter. +The victory, such as it was, remained with Viviette. + +At lunch, Austin, his veins still tingling with the summer, laughed and +jested light-heartedly. What a joy it was to get away from stuffy courts +of justice into the pure Warwickshire air. What a joy to drink of the +wine of life. What was that? Only those that drank of the wine +could tell. + +"What about the poor devils that only get the dregs?" muttered Dick. + +Austin declared that the real wine had no dregs. He called his mother +and Katherine Holroyd to witness. Mrs. Ware was not sure. Old port had +to be very carefully decanted. Did he remember the fuss his dear father +used to make about it? She was very glad there was no more left--for +Dick would be sure to drink it and it would go to his head. + +"Or his toes!" cried Viviette. + +When Austin explained Viviette's meaning to his mother, who had not an +allusive habit of mind, she acquiesced placidly. Port was not good for +gouty people. Their poor father suffered severely. Austin listened to +her reminiscences and turned the talk to the drive. It had been more +like driving through Paradise with Pegasus harnessed to Venus's car than +anything else. He must take his mother out and show her what a good +judge of horseflesh was dear old Dick. + +"As she's my mare, perhaps I might have the privilege," said Dick. + +Austin cried out, in all good faith: "My dear old boy, is there anything +especially mine or yours in this house?" + +Katherine, a keen observer, broke quickly into the talk. + +"There's Dick's armoury. That's his own particular and private domain. +You're going to explain it all to me this afternoon, aren't you? You +promised yesterday." + +She drew Dick into talk away from the others. The lecture on the armoury +was fixed for three o'clock, when she would be free from the duty from +which, during her stay at the Manor House, she had freed Viviette, of +postprandial reading of the newspaper to Mrs. Ware. But her interest in +his hobby for once failed to awaken his enthusiasm. The dull jealousy of +Austin, against which his honest soul had struggled successfully all his +life long, had passed beyond his control. These few days of Austin's +Whitsun visit had changed his cosmic view. Petty rebuffs, such as the +matters of the stables and the Rural District Council, which formerly he +would have regarded in the twilight of his mind as part of the +unchangeable order of things in which Austin was destined to shine +resplendently and he to glimmer--Austin the arc-lamp and he the +tallow-dip--became magnified into grievances and insults intolerable. +Esau could not have raged more against Jacob, the supplanter, than did +Dick, when Austin carried off Viviette from beneath his nose. Until this +visit of Austin he had no idea that he would find a rival in his +brother. The discovery was a shock, causing his world to reel and +setting free all the pent-up jealousies and grievances of a lifetime. +Everything he had given up to Austin, if not willingly, at least +graciously, hiding beneath the rough, tanned hide of his homely face all +pain, disappointment, and humiliation. But now Austin had come and +swooped off with his one ewe lamb. Not that Viviette had encouraged him +by more than the real but mocking affection with which she had treated +her bear foster-brother ever since her elfin childhood. In a dim way he +realised this, and absolved her from blame. Less dimly, also, he felt +his mental and social inferiority, his lack of warrant in offering her +marriage. But his great, rugged manhood wanted her, the woman, with an +imperious, savage need which took all the training of civilisation to +repress. Viviette alone in her maidenly splendour, he could have fought +it down. But the vision of another man entering, light-hearted and +debonair, into those precincts maddened him, let loose primitive +instincts of hatred and revenge, and robbed him of all interest in the +toys with which men used to slay each other centuries ago. + +Austin, being nearest the door, opened it for the ladies to pass out. +Viviette, going out last, looked up at him with one of her +witch's glances. + +"Don't be very long," she said, + +Before Austin could resume his seat Dick leaped up. + +"Austin, look here; I've something to say to you." + +"Well?" said Austin. + +Dick pulled out a cigar, bit the end off, and finding that he had +ripped the outer skin, threw it angrily into the fireplace. + +"My dear old boy," said Austin, "what in the name of all that's neurotic +is the matter?" + +"I've something to say to you," Dick repeated. "Something that concerns +myself, my life. I must throw myself on your generosity." + +Austin, his head full of philanthropy, thrust his hands into his pockets +and smiled indulgently on Dick. + +"Don't, old chap, I know all about it. Viviette has told me everything." + +Dick, his head full of passion, staggered in amazement. + +"Viviette has told you?" + +"Of course; why shouldn't she?" + +Dick groped his way to the door. It were better for both that he should +not stay. Austin, left alone, laughed, not unkindly. Dear old Dick! It +was a shame to tease him--but what a different expression his honest +face would wear to-morrow! When the maid brought in his coffee he sipped +it with enjoyment, forgetful for once of its lack of excellence. + +There was one person, however, in the house who saw things clearly; and +the more clearly she saw them the less did they seem satisfactorily +ordered. This was Katherine Holroyd, a sympathetic observer and +everybody's intimate. She had known the family since her childhood, +spent in a great neighbouring house which had now long since passed from +her kin into alien hands. She had known Viviette when she first came, +with her changeling face, a toddling child of three, to the Manor House. +She had grown up with the brothers. Until her marriage the place had +been her second home. Her married life, mostly spent abroad, had +somewhat broken the intimacy. But her widowhood after the first few +hopeless months had renewed it, although her visits were comparatively +rare. On the other hand, her little daintily-furnished London house in +Victoria square was always open to such of the family as happened to be +in town. Now, as Austin was the most frequently in town, seeing that he +lived there all the year round, with the exception of the long vacation +and odd flying visits to Warwickshire, to Austin was her door most +frequently open. A deep affection existed between them, deeper perhaps +than either realised. To be purely brotherly in attitude towards a woman +whom you are fond of and who is not your sister, and to be purely +sisterly in your attitude towards a man whom you are fond of and who is +not your brother, are ideals of spiritual emotion very difficult to +attain in this respectably organised but sex-ridden world. + +During the dark time of her early widowhood it was to Austin's delicate +tact and loyalty that she owed her first weak grasp on life. It was he +that had brought her to a sense of outer things, to a realisation that +in spite of her own grey sky there was still a glory on the earth. He +was her trusted friend, ally, and adviser, who never failed her, and she +contemplated him always with a heart full of somewhat exaggerated +gratitude--which is as far on the road to love as it is given to many +women to travel. + +She had barely reached the top of the hall stairs--on her way to spend +her reading hour with Mrs. Ware, when she saw Dick come out of the +dining-room with convulsed and angry face, the veins standing out on his +thick bull's neck. She felt frightened. Something foolish and desperate +would happen before long. She resolved to give Austin a warning word. +With an excuse to Mrs. Ware she went down again to the dining-room, and +found Austin in the cosiest and sunniest frame of mind imaginable. +Obviously there had been no serious quarrel between the brothers. + +"Can I have a few minutes with you, Austin?" + +"A thousand," he said gaily. "What has gone wrong?" + +"It is nothing to do with me," she said. + +He looked amusedly into her eyes. "I know. It's about Viviette. +Confess." + +"Yes," she replied soberly, "it's about Viviette." + +"You've seen it. I make no bones about it. You can believe the very +worst. I have fallen utterly and hopelessly in love with her. I am at +your mercy." + +This beginning was not quite what Katherine had expected. In his +confident way he had taken matters out of her hands. She had not +anticipated a down-right confession. She felt conscious of a little dull +and wholly reprehensible ache at her heart. She sighed. + +"Aren't you pleased, Katherine?" he asked with a man's selfishness. + +"I suppose I must be--for your sake. But I must also sigh a little. I +knew you would be falling in love sooner or later--only I hoped it would +be later. But _que veux-tu?_ It is the doom of all such friendships." + +"I don't see anything like a doom about it, my dear," said he. "The +friendship will continue. Viviette loves you dearly." + +She took up a peach from a dish to her hand, regarded it for a moment, +absent-mindedly, and delicately replaced it. + +"Our friendship will continue, of course. But the particular essence of +it, the little sentimentality of ownership, will be gone, won't it?" + +Austin rose and bent over Katherine's chair in some concern. "You're not +distressed, Katherine?" + +"Oh, no. You have been such a kind, loyal friend to me during a very +dark and lonely time--brought sunshine into my life when I needed it +most--that I should be a wicked woman if I didn't rejoice at your +happiness. And we have been nothing more than friends." + +"Nothing more," said Austin. + +She was smiling now, and he caught a gleam of mischief in her eyes. + +"And yet there was an afternoon last winter--" + +His face coloured. "Don't throw my wickedness in my face. I remember +that afternoon. I came in fagged, with the prospect of dinner at the +club and a dismal evening over a brief in front of me, and found you +sitting before the fire, the picture of rest and comfortableness and +companionship. I think it was the homely smell of hot buttered toast +that did it. I nearly asked you to marry me." + +"And I had been feeling particularly lonely," she laughed. + +"Would you have accepted me?" + +"Do you think that it is quite a fair question?" + +"We have always been frank with one another since our childhood," said +he. + +She smiled. "Has Viviette accepted you?" + +He broke away from her with a gay laugh, and lit a cigarette. + +"Your feminine subtlety does you credit, Katherine." + +"But has she?" + +"Well, no--not exactly." + +"Will she?" + +He brought his hand down on the table. "By heavens, I'll make her! I've +got most of the things I've wanted during my life, and it'll be odd if I +don't get the thing I want more than all the rest put together. Now +answer my question, my dear Katherine," he continued teasingly. "Would +you have married me?" + +The smile faded from Katherine's face. She could not parry the question +as she had done before, and it probed depths. She said very seriously +and sweetly: + +"I should have done, Austin, as I always shall do, whatever you ask me +to do. I'm glad you didn't ask me--very glad--for the love a woman gives +a man died within me, you know." + +He took her hand and kissed it. + +"My dear," said he, "you are the truest friend that ever man had." + +There was a short pause. Austin looked out of the window and Katherine +wiped away some moisture in her eyes. This scene of sentimentality was +not at all what she had come for. Soon she rose with a determined air +and joined Austin by the window. + +"It was as a true friend that I wanted to speak to you to-day. To warn +you." + +"About what?" + +"About Dick. Austin, he's madly in love with Viviette too." + +Austin stared at her for a moment incredulously. "Dick in love--in love +with Viviette?" Then he broke into a peal of laughter. "My _dear_ +Katherine! Why, it's absurd! It's preposterous! It's too funny." + +"But seriously, Austin." + +"But seriously," he said, with laughing eyes, "such an idea has never +penetrated into old Dick's wooden skull. You dear women are always +making up romance. He and Viviette are on the same old fairy and great +brown bear terms that they have been ever since they first met. She +makes him dance on his hind legs--he wants to hug her--she hits him over +the nose--and he growls." + +"I warn you," said Katherine. "Great brown bears in love are dangerous." + +"But he isn't in love," he argued light-heartedly. "If he were he would +want to stay with Viviette. But he's eating his heart out, apparently, +to leave us all and go and plough fields and herd cattle abroad. The +life he lives here, my good mother's somewhat arbitrary ways, and one +thing and another have at last got on his nerves. I wonder now how the +dear old chap has stood it so long. That's what is wrong with him, not +blighted affection." + +"I can only tell you what I know," said Katherine. "If you won't believe +me, it's not my fault. Keep your eyes open and you will see." + +"And you keep your eyes open to-morrow morning and _you_ will see," he +said, with his bright self-confidence. + +So Katherine sighed at the obtuseness and inconvincibility of man and +went to read the leader in _The Daily Telegraph_ to Mrs. Ware. Austin, +with a smile on his lips, wandered out into the sunshine in search +of Viviette. + +Before they parted, however, Katherine turned by the door. + +"Are you coming to the armoury to hear Dick's lecture?" + +"Of course," said Austin gaily. "The dear old chap loves an audience." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FAMOUS DUELLING PISTOLS + + +Dick's great-grandfather (Wild Dick Ware, as he used to be called by the +country-side), besides other enormities of indiscretion, committed an +architectural crime. Having begun to form the collection of arms which +was Dick's pride and hobby, he felt the need of a fencing gallery where +they could be displayed to advantage. None of the rooms in the house +were suitable. Building a new wing would cost too much. So, like a good +old English gentleman, accustomed to get what he wanted, he ruthlessly +cut off a slice of the nobly proportioned morning-room, containing a +beautifully-mullioned casement at the side, knocked a French window +through one end, so that he could wander in and out from the terrace, +knocked a door through the other so that it opened on a corner of the +hall, forgot all about the fireplace, and left his descendants to make +the best of things. + +This long, narrow, comfortless strip of a room was Dick's armoury, den, +and refuge. It was furnished with extreme simplicity. At the further end +two rusty leather arm-chairs flanked a cast-iron stove in the corner, and +were balanced in the other and darker corner by a knee-hole writing-desk +littered with seeds and bulbs and spurs and bits of fishing tackle, and +equipped for its real purpose with a forbidding-looking pen and inkpot, +and a torn piece of weather-beaten blotting-paper. At about a third of +the way down from the terrace door a great screen, covered with American +cloth, cut the room almost in two. Against this screen stood two suits +of beautifully-finished fifteenth-century Italian armour. Between them +and the further end of the room ran a long deal table, with a green +baize cover. An odd, dilapidated chair or two stood lonely and +disconsolate against the opposite wall. The floor was covered with old +matting and a few faded rugs. The walls, however, and the cases ranged +along them gave an air of distinction to the room. There hung trophies +of arms of all sorts--a bewildering array of spiky stars like the +monstrous decorations on the breast of a Brobdingnagian diplomatist, of +guns and pistols of all ages and nationalities, of halberds, pikes, and +partisans, of curved scimitars, great two-handed swords, and long, +glittering rapiers, with precious hilts. There, too, were coats of chain +mail and great iron gauntlets, and rows of dinted helmets formed a +cornice round the gallery. + +It was Dick's sanctuary, where, according to family tradition, he was +supposed to be immune from domestic attacks. Anyone, it is true, could +open the door and worry him from the threshold, but no one entered +without his invitation. Here he was master. Here he spent solitary hours +dreaming dreams, wrestling with devils, tying trout-flies, making up +medicines for his dogs, and polishing and arranging and rearranging his +armour and weapons. Until the furies got hold of him he was a simple +soul, content with simple things. The happiest times of his life had +been passed here among the inanimate objects which he loved, and here he +was now spending the hours of his greatest agony. + +The words he had just heard from Austin rang like a crazy, deafening +chime through his ears. He sat in one of the old leather chairs, +gripping his coarse hair. It was unthinkable, and yet it was true. +Viviette had told Austin the thing that glowed sacred at the bottom of +his soul. The scene danced vividly before his eyes: the two bright +creatures making a mock of him and his love, laughing merrily at the +trick they had played him, pitying him contemptuously. There was a flame +at his heart, a burning lump in his throat. Mechanically he drew from a +little cupboard near by a bottle of whiskey, a syphon, and a glass. The +drink he mixed and swallowed contained little soda. It increased the +fire in his heart and throat. He paced the long room in crazy +indignation. Every nerve in his body quivered with a sense of +unforgivable insult and deadly outrage. Austin's face loomed before him +like that of a mocking devil. He had hell in his throat, and again he +tossed down a dose of whiskey, and threw himself into the arm-chair. The +daily paper lay on a stool at his hand. He took it up and tried to read, +but the print swam into thin, black smudges. He dashed the paper to the +ground, and gave himself up to his madness. + +After a while he remembered his appointment with Katherine at three +o'clock. He glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to the hour, and, +beyond a cleaning yesterday afternoon, no preparations were made. In an +automatic way he unlocked some cases and drew out his treasures, wiped +the sword-blades tenderly with chamois leather, and laid them on the +long, baize-covered table. Here and there from the cornice he selected a +helmet. The great mace used by his ecclesiastical ancestor he unhooked +from the wall. Soon the table was covered with weapons, selected in a +dazed way, he knew not why. A helmet fell from his hands on the floor +with a ring of steel. Its visor grinned at him--the fool, the tricked, +the supplanted. He kicked it, with a silly laugh. Then he pulled himself +together, picked it up, and examined it in great fear lest harm should +have happened to it. He put it on the table, and in order to steady his +nerves drank another large whiskey and small soda. + +He scanned the table, perplexed. Some accustomed and important exhibit +was not in its place. What was it? He clasped his head in his hands and +strove to clear his mind for a moment from obsession. It was something +historical, something unique, something he had but lately mentioned to +Katherine. Something intimately connected with this very room. At last +memory responded. He placed a chair between the two suits of armour that +stood against the screen and the end of the long table, and, mounting, +took a mahogany case from a shelf. Then he sat on the chair, put the +case on the table, and opened it by means of a small, ornamental key. It +contained a brace of old-fashioned duelling pistols, such as were used +at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They were long-barrelled, +ivory-handled, business-like weapons, provided with miniature ramrods. +The velvet-lined interior of the case was divided into various +compartments, two for the pistols, one for powder-flask, one for +bullets, one for percussion-caps, and one for wads. In his dull, +automatic way, his mind whirling madly in other spheres, he cleaned the +pistols, shook the powder-flask to make certain that powder was still +there--he loved to pour out a few grains into his hand and show the +powder that had remained in the flask for generations, ever since the +pistols were last used--counted the caps, which he had counted many +times before, looked stupidly into the only empty compartment, only to +remember that there never had been any wads, and, finally, grasping one +of the pistols, took aim at a bulb on his writing-desk at the end of +the room. + +He had been tricked, and robbed, and mocked. He could see the scene when +she had told Austin. He could hear Austin's pitiless laughter. He could +picture her mimicking his rough speech. He could picture them, +faithless, heartless, looking into each other's eyes.... Suddenly he +passed his hand over his forehead. Was he going mad? Hitherto he had +heard their voices in the dimness of imagination. Now he heard them loud +in vibrating sound. Was it real or imaginary? He drew deep, +panting breaths. + +"Dick's not here," said Viviette's voice from the terrace. "He has +forgotten." + +"Really, my dear, I don't very much care," Austin replied. "Where you +are, I am happy." + +"I wish that telegram would come. It's quite time. Don't you think we +had better tell Dick to-day?" + +"No, no. To-morrow." + +"After all, what is the good of hiding it from him?" + +A laugh from Austin. "You think we ought to put him out of his misery +at once?" + +It was real! Those two were talking in flesh and blood on the terrace. +They were talking of him. His misery! That had but one meaning. And the +devil laughed! Unconsciously his grip tightened on the butt of the +pistol. He listened. + +"Yes," said Viviette. "It would be kinder." + +"I stick to the birthday idea. It would be more dramatic." + +"The damned villain!" Dick muttered. + +"I want to-day," said Viviette. + +"And I want to-morrow." + +"You speak as if you were my lord and master," said Viviette, in the +mocking tones Dick knew so well. + +"No other man shall be if I can help it." + +The clear, young masterful voice rang down the gallery. Dick slid his +chair noiselessly to the side of the screen which hid him from the +terrace-window, and, bending down low, peered round the edge. He saw +them laughing, flushed, silhouetted against the green, distant trees. +Austin was looking at her with the light of passion in his eyes. She +looked up at him, radiant, elusive, triumphant, with parted lips. + +"Please to remember we were talking of Dick." + +"Confound Dick! In this he doesn't count. I matter. And I'll show you." + +He showed her in the one and only way. She struggled for a second in his +arms, and received his kiss with a little laugh. They had moved to the +far lintel of the door. Dick's world reeled red before his eyes. He +stood up and held the pistol pointed. Damn him! Damn him! He would kill +him. Kill him like a dog. + +Some reflex motion of the brain prompted action. Feverishly he rammed a +charge of powder down the pistol. Wads? A bit of the newspaper lying on +the floor. Then a bullet. Then a wad rammed home. Then the cap. It was +done at lightning speed. Murder, red, horrible murder blazed in his +soul. Damn him! He would kill him. He started into the middle of the +room, just as they walked away, and he sprang to the door and levelled +the pistol. + +Then reaction came. No. Not like a dog. He couldn't shoot his brother +like a dog. His arm fell helplessly at his side. He turned back again +into the room, staggering and knocking himself against the cases by the +walls, like a drunken man. The sweat rolled down his face. He put the +pistol beside the other on the table. For some moments he stood a +hulking statue, shaken as though stricken with earthquake, white-faced, +white-lipped, staring, with crossed, blue eyes, at nothing. At last he +recovered power of motion, drank another whiskey, and replaced bottle, +syphon, and glass in the cupboard. + +He found himself suddenly clear-headed, able to think. He was not in +the least degree drunk. To test himself he took up a sword from the +table, and, getting the right spot, balanced it on his finger. He could +speak, too, as well as anybody. He turned to a long Moorish musket +inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl, and began to describe it. He was +quite fluent and sensible, although his voice sounded remote in his own +ears. He was satisfied. He had his nerves under control. He would go +through the next hour without anyone suspecting the madness that was in +his mind. He was absolutely sober and self-collected. He walked along a +seam of the matting that ran the whole length of the gallery, and did +not deviate from it one hair's breadth. Now he was ready. Perfectly +prepared to deliver his lecture. He sat down and picked up the +newspaper, and the print was clear. "The weather still continues to be +fine over the British Islands. The anti-cyclone has not yet passed away +from the Bay of Biscay...." He read the jargon through to the end. But +it seemed as if it were not he who was reading, but someone else--a +quiet, placid gentleman, deeply versed in the harmless science of +meteorology. Where his real self was he did not know, so he toyed with +the illusion. + +A voice broke on his ear, coming, it seemed, from another world. + +"Dick, may we come in?" + +He rose, saw Katherine, Austin, and Viviette on the threshold. He +invited them to enter, and shook Katherine by the hand, as if he had not +met her for a long time. + +Viviette danced down to the table. "Now, Dick, we're all here. Put on +your most learned, and antiquarian mariner. Ladies and gentlemen, I call +on Mr. Richard Ware to deliver his interesting lecture on the ingenious +instruments men have devised for butchering each other." + +Dick put his hand to his head in a confused way. His real self was +beginning to merge itself into that of the quiet gentleman, and there +was a curious red mist before his eyes. + +"Come on," cried Viviette. "Look at Katherine. Her mouth is watering for +tales of bloodshed." + +Dick could not remember his usual starting-point. He stared stupidly at +the table for a moment; then picked up a weapon at random, and made a +great effort. + +"This is a Toledo sixteenth-century sword--reported to have belonged to +Cosmo de Medici. You see here the '_palle_,' the Medici emblem. The one +next to it is a sword of the same period, only used by a meaner person. +I should prefer it, if there were any killing to be done." + +He described one or two other weapons. Then, glancing over his shoulder +at Austin and Viviette, who were talking in low, confidential tones a +little way off, he stood stock still, and the beads of sweat gathered on +his forehead. Katherine's voice recalled his wandering wits. + +"This is a cross-bow, isn't it? The thing the Ancient Mariner shot the +Albatross with." + +"A cross-bow," said Dick. "The iron loop at the end was to put one's +foot into when one wanted to load it." + +"And this," said Katherine, pointing to a long steel thing with a great +knob adorned with cruel spikes, "is the family mace, I suppose. I've +seen it before, I remember." + +"Yes, that's the mace." + +"What a blood-thirsty set of people you must have been!" + +Austin came up with a laugh. "There's a legend among us that once mother +was left alone in the house and insisted on having this mace near her +bed so as to defend herself against burglars. But why do you leave me to +tell the story, Dick?" + +Dick clenched his fists, and, muttering something, turned and ascended +the gallery above the screen. Viviette followed him. + +"You're not doing it at all nicely. I don't think you want to." + +"Can you wonder at that?" he said hoarsely. + +Viviette played deliciously with the fire. + +"Why, aren't we intelligent enough for you?" she asked with childish +innocence. + +"You know what I mean." + +"I haven't the faintest idea. All I know is that you may as well be +polite, at any rate." + +He laughed. Ordinarily he had little sense of humour; but now he had the +flames in his heart and the hell in his throat, and red mist before +his eyes. + +"Oh, I'll be polite," he growled. "By God, I'll be polite! One may be +suffering the tortures of the damned, but one must smirk and be polite!" + +He snatched up the first thing to hand, a helmet that stood on a case, +and brought it down below the screen. + +"Katherine, Viviette says I'm not delivering my lecture properly. I beg +your pardon. I'm rather shy at first, but I get warmed up to my subject. +What would you like to hear about?" + +Katherine exchanged a glance with Austin. + +"Don't you think we might put off the rest till another day?" + +"Yes, old chap. Put it off till to-morrow. It's your birthday, you +know." + +"Birthday? What's that got to do with it? Who knows what may happen +between then and now? No--no. I'm all right," he cried wildly. "You're +here, and you've got to listen. I'll get into fine form presently. +Look!" he said, pointing to the helmet he was holding. "Here is a +Cromwellian morion. It was picked up by an ancestor at Naseby. It has a +clean cut in it. That's where an honest gentleman's sword found its way +into the knave's skull--the puritanical, priggish, canting knave." + +He threw the helmet with a clatter on to the table as if it had been the +knave's canting head. He caught up a weapon. + +"This is a partisan. All you had to do when you got it inside a man was +to turn it round a bit, and the wound gaped and tore. This tassel is for +catching the blood and preventing it from greasing the handle. Here's a +beauty," he went on, taking a sword from the row he had laid out for +display, and holding it out for Katherine's inspection. "One of the pets +of the collection. A French duelling sword of the middle of the +eighteenth century." He gave a fencer's flourish. "Responsive to the +hilts, eh? Ah! It must have been good to live in those days, when you +could whip this from your side at a wrong done and have the life of the +man that wronged you. The sweet morning air, the patch of green turf, +shoes off--in shirt and breeches--with the eyes of the man you hate in +front of you, and this glittering, beautiful, snaky thing thirsting for +his heart's blood. And then--"--he stood in tierce, left hand curved, +holding in tense fierceness the eyes of an imaginary opponent--"and then +a little clitter-clatter of steel, and, suddenly--ha!--the blade +disappears up to the hilt, and a great red stain comes on the shirt, and +the man throws up his arms, and falls, and you've killed him. He's dead! +dead! dead! Ha! what a time to live in!" + +Katherine uttered a little cry of fear, and grew pale. Viviette clapped +her hands. + +"Bravo, Dick!" + +"Bravo, Dick!" cried Austin. "Most dramatically done." + +"I never knew you were such an actor," said Viviette. + +Dick stood panting, his hand on the hilt of the sword, the point on the +floor. + +"I really do think I've had enough," said Katherine. + +"No, not yet," he said in a thick voice. "I've not shown you half yet. +I've something much more interesting." + +"But, Dick--" + +Viviette interrupted her. "You must stay. It's only beginning to be +exciting. If you only do the rest as beautifully as you did that, Dick, +I'll stay here all day." + +Dick, with a curious outward calm, contrasting with the fury of his mock +encounter, put down the sword and went to the end of the table, where +the case of pistols lay. + +"At any rate, I must show you," said he, "the famous duelling pistols." + +"They were the very pistols in the duel between his great-grandfather +and Lord Estcombe," said Viviette. + +"They've not been used from that day--he killed Lord Estcombe, by the +by--till this. The case is just as it was left. I was going to tell you +the story yesterday." + +"I remember," said Katherine, by way of civility. "But Mrs. Ware stopped +you." + +She was a mild-natured woman, and the realistic conjuring up of +gore-dripping tassels and bloody shirts upset her, and she desired to +get away. She also saw that Dick was abnormally excited, and suspected +that he had been drinking. Her delicate senses shrank from drunkenness. + +"You must tell the story," cried Viviette. "It's so romantic. You like +romantic things, Katherine. The great-grandfather was a Dick Ware +too--Wild Dick Ware they used to call him. Go on, Dick." + +Dick paused for a moment. He had a curious, dull, befogged sensation of +being compelled to do things independently of volition. Presently +he spoke. + +"It happened in this very room, a hundred years ago. Lord Estcombe and +my great-grandfather were friends--intimate friends from boyhood. Wild +Dick Ware was madly in love with a girl who had more or less become +engaged to him. Now, it came to his knowledge that Lord Estcombe had +been using blackguard means to win away the girl's affections. And one +day they were here"--he moved a pace or two to one side--"just as Austin +and I are now. And the girl over there--" + +Viviette, with a gay laugh, took up her position on the spot to which he +pointed. + +"Just in this identical place. I know the story--it's lovely!" + +"An old Peninsula comrade of Wild Dick Ware's was here too--a man called +Hawkins--" + +"Katherine shall be Hawkins," cried Viviette. + +"And in his presence," Dick continued, "Wild Dick Ware told the girl +that he was mad for love of her, but that he would not force her choice; +yet one of those two, himself or Lord Estcombe, she must choose, for +good and all. She could not speak for shame or confusion. He said, +'Throw your handkerchief to whichever of us you love.' And they stood +side by side--like this"--he ranged himself by Austin's side--"opposite +the girl." + +"And she threw the handkerchief!" cried Viviette. + +"Throw yours!" said Dick. He looked at her with fierce intensity beneath +rugged brows; Austin with laughing challenge. She knew that she was the +object of each man's desire, and her sex's triumph thrilled through her +from head to foot. She knew that this jesting choice would have serious +import. For some seconds the three remained stock still. She glanced +flatteringly from one man to the other. Which should she choose? Her +heart beat wildly. Choose one or the other she must. Outside that room +no man lived whom she would marry. Each second strained the situation +further. At last her spirit rose in feminine revolt against the trap +which Dick had set for her, and, with a malicious look, she threw the +handkerchief at Austin's feet. He picked it up and gallantly put it +to his lips. + +"In the story," exclaimed Viviette, "she threw it to Lord Estcombe. +Austin is Lord Estcombe." + +"And I'm Dick Ware," cried Dick, in a strangled voice. "Wild Dick Ware. +And this is what he did. He dragged the girl out of the room first." + +He took Viviette by the arm and roughly thrust her past the screen. + +"Then--that case was on the table. And without a word Wild Dick Ware +comes up to Lord Estcombe so--and says, 'Choose.'" + +He gripped the pistols by the barrels, crossed them, and presented the +butts to Austin. Austin waved them away with a deprecatory gesture and +a smile. + +"Really, old man, I can't enter into the spirit of it, like that. You're +splendid. But if I took a hand, it would be tomfoolery." + +"Oh, do, do," cried Viviette. "Let us go through with it and see just +how the duel was fought. It will be thrilling. You'll have to fall dead +like Lord Estcombe, and I'll burst into the room and tear my hair over +your poor corpse. Do, Austin, for my sake." + +He yielded. Any foolishness for her sake. He took a pistol. + +"You'll have to be Major Hawkins, Katherine," he said lightly, as if +inviting her to condescend to some child's game. + +But Katherine put her hands before her face and shrank back. "No, no, +no. I couldn't. I don't like it." + +"Then I'll be Major Hawkins," said Viviette. + +"You will?" Dick laughed harshly. "Then be it so." + +"I know just what they did." + +She placed the men back to back, so that Austin faced the further end of +the room and Dick the open French window. They were to take three paces, +count one, two, three, and, at the end of the third pace, they were to +turn and fire. + +Dick felt the touch of Austin's shoulder against his, and the flame at +his heart grew fiercer and the hell in his throat more burning, and the +universe whirled round in a red mist. Viviette moved to the +weapon-laden table. + +"Now. One--two--three!" + +[Illustration: Dick glared at him] + +They paced and turned. Dick levelled his pistol instantly at Austin, +with murderous hate in his eyes, and drew the trigger. The pistol +clicked harmlessly. Austin, self-conscious, did not raise his pistol. +But Dick, broadening his chest, glared at him and shouted, +wildly, madly: + +"Fire, damn you! Fire! Why the devil don't you fire?" + +The cry was real, vibrant with fury and despair. Austin looked at him +for an amazed moment; then, throwing his pistol on to one of the +arm-chairs, he came up to him. + +"What fool's game are you playing, Dick? Are you drunk?" + +Katherine, with a low cry, flung herself between them, and, clinging to +Dick's arm, took the pistol from his hand. + +"No more of this--no more. The duel has been too much like reality +already." + +Dick staggered to a straight-backed chair by the wall, and, sitting +down, wiped his forehead. He had grown deathly white. The flames had +been suddenly quenched within him, and he felt cold and sick. Viviette, +in alarm, ran to his side. What was the matter? Was he faint? Let her +take him into the fresh air. Austin came up. But at his approach Dick +rose and shrank away, glancing at him furtively out of bloodshot eyes. + +"Yes. The heat has oppressed me. I'm not well. I'll go out." + +He stumbled blindly towards the French window. Viviette followed him, +but he turned on her rudely and thrust her back. + +"I'm not well, I tell you. I don't want your help. Let me alone." + +He passed through the French window on to the terrace. The sky had +clouded over, and a drizzle had begun to fall. + +Viviette felt curiously frightened, but she put on an air of bravado as +she came down the gallery. + +"Have you all been rehearsing this little comedy?" + +No mirthful response lit either face. She read condemnation in both +pairs of eyes. For the first time in her life she felt daunted, +humiliated. She knew nothing more beyond the fact that in deliberate +coquetry she had pitted brother against brother, and that something +cruel and tragical had happened for which she was being judged. Neither +spoke. She summoned her outer dignity, tossed her pretty head, and went +out by the end door which Austin in cold politeness held open for her. +Then she mounted to her bedroom, and, throwing herself on her bed, burst +into a passion of meaningless weeping. + +Katherine handed Austin the pistol which she had taken from Dick's hand. + +"Now you'll believe what I told you." + +"I believe it," said Austin gravely. + +"That duel was not all play-acting." + +"That," said he, "was absurd. Dick Has been drinking. It was a silly +farce. Viviette egged him on until he seemed to take it seriously." + +"He did take it seriously, Austin. He's in a dangerous mood. If I were +you I should be careful. Take a woman's warning." + +He stood for a moment in deep thought, his gaze absently fixed on the +weapon he held in his hand. Suddenly a glint of something strange caught +his eye. He started, but recovered himself quickly. + +"I'll take your warning, Katherine. Here's my hand upon it." + +A moment later, when he was alone, he uncocked the pistol--Dick's +pistol. The glint had not been imaginary. It was a percussion cap. With +trembling fingers he picked it off the nipple. He passed his hand across +his damp forehead, for he felt faint with dread. But the task had to be +accomplished. He unscrewed the ramrod and picked out the wad, a piece +of white paper which dropped on the floor. From the barrel held downward +a bullet dropped with a dead, fateful thud on the floor. More paper +wad--a slithering shower of gunpowder. He put the pistol down, and took +up the one he himself had used from the chair where he had thrown it. It +was unloaded. His eye fell on the bits of white paper. He picked them up +and unfolded them. The daily newspaper lay by the stove, with the corner +torn accusingly. + +Then he understood. He sank into a chair, paralysed with horror. It was +Dick's pistol that was loaded. Dick had meant to murder him. By the +grace of God the pistol had missed fire. But Dick, his own brother, had +meant to murder him. An hour later he walked out of the room, the case +of pistols under his arm, with the drawn face of an old man. + +It was not until Dick had stumbled five or six miles through the +drenching downpour that the thought reached his dulled brain that he had +left the pistols loose for anyone to examine. The thought was like a +great stone hitting him on the side of the head. He turned and began to +run homewards, like a hunted man in desperate flight. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A CRISIS + + +Viviette having repaired the disorder caused by her tears went down to +tea. Mrs. Ware, Katherine, and a curate deliberately calling or taking +shelter from the rain were in the drawing-room. Austin, to his mother's +mild astonishment, had sent down a message to the effect that he was +busy. On ordinary occasions Viviette would have flirted monstrously with +the clerical youth, and sent him away undecided whether to offer to +share his lodgings and hundred pounds a year with her, or to turn +Catholic and become a monk. But now she had no mind to flirtation. She +left him to the undisturbing wiles of Mrs. Ware, and petted and +surreptitiously fed Dick's Irish terrier, whose brown eyes looked +pathetic inquiry as to his master's whereabouts. She was sobered by the +uncomprehended scene in the armoury--sobered by Dick's violence and by +Austin's final coldness. A choice had been put before her in deadly +earnest; she had refused to make one. But the choice would have to be +made very soon, unless she sent both her lovers packing, a step which +she did not for a moment contemplate. + +"You must promise to marry one or the other and end this tension," said +Katherine, a little later, after the curate had gone with Mrs. Ware to +look at her greenhouses. + +"I wish to goodness I could marry them both," said Viviette. "Have a +month with each, turn and turn about. It would be ideal." + +"It would be altogether horrid!" exclaimed Katherine. "How could such a +thought enter your head?" + +"I suppose it must have entered every woman's head who has two men +she's fond of in love with her at once. I said yesterday that it was +great fun being a woman. I find it's a d.d.d.d. imposition!" + +"For heaven's sake, child, make up your mind quickly," said Katherine. + +Viviette sighed. Which should it be? Dick, with his great love and rough +tenderness and big, protecting arms, or Austin with his conquering ways, +his wit, his charm, his perception? Austin could give her the luxury +that her sensuous nature delighted in, social position, the brilliant +life of London. What could Dick give her? It would always be a joy to +dress herself for Austin. Dick would be content if she went about in +raiment made of dusters and bath towels. In return, what could she give +each of these men? She put the question to herself. She was not +mercenary or heartless. She gave of herself freely and loved the giving. +What could she give to Austin? What could she give to Dick? These +questions, in her sober mood, weighed the others down. + +When the rain ceased and a pale sun had dried the gravel, she went out +into the grounds by herself and faced the problem. She sighed +again--many times. If only they would let her have her fun out and give +her answer six months hence! + +Her meditations were cut short by the arrival of a telegraph boy on his +bicycle at the front gate. He gave her the telegram. It was for Austin. +Her heart beat. She went into the house with the yellow envelope +containing Dick's destiny and mounted to the little room off the first +landing which had been Austin's private study since his boyhood. She +knocked. Austin's voice bade her enter. He rose from the desk where, pen +in hand, he had been sitting before a blank sheet of paper, and without +a word took the telegram. She noticed with a shock that he had curiously +changed. The quick, brisk manner had gone. His face was grey. + +"It is _the_ telegram, isn't it?" she asked eagerly. + +"Yes," said he, handing it to her. "It's from Lord Overton." + +She read: "The very man. Send him along to me early to-morrow. Hope he +can start immediately." + +"Oh, how splendid!" she exclaimed with a little gasp of happiness. "How +utterly splendid! Thank heaven!" + +"Yes. Thank heaven," Austin acquiesced gravely. "I forgot to mention to +you that Lord Overton knows Dick personally," he added, after a pause. +"They met at my house the last time Dick was in London." + +"This _is_ good news," said Viviette. "At last I can give him a birthday +present worth having." + +"He will not be here for his birthday," said Austin, in cold, even +tones. "He must catch the mail to-night." + +Viviette echoed: "To-night?" + +"And in all probability he will sail for Vancouver in a day or two. It +won't be worth his while to come back here." + +She laid a hand on her heart, which fluttered painfully. + +"Then--then--we'll never see him again?" + +"Probably not." + +"I didn't think it would be so sudden," she said, a little wildly. + +"Neither did I. But it's for the best." + +"But supposing he wants some time to look about him?" + +"I'll see to everything," said Austin. + +"Anyhow, I must be the first to tell him," said Viviette. + +"You will do me a very great favour if you will let me have that +privilege," said Austin. "I make a particular point of it. I have some +serious business to discuss with him before dinner, and that will be the +time for me to break the news." + +He was no longer the fairy godmother's devoted and humble factotum. He +spoke with a cold air of authority that chilled the fairy godmotherdom +in Viviette's bosom. Her prettly little scheme dwindled into +childishness before the dark, incomprehended thing that had happened. +She assented with unusual meekness. + +"But I'm desperately disappointed," she said. + +"My dear Viviette," he answered more kindly, and looking at her with +some wistfulness, "the pleasures and even the joy of life have to give +way to the sober, business side of existence. It isn't very gay, I know, +but we can't alter it." + +He held out his hand. Instinctively she gave him hers. He raised it to +his lips and held the door open for her. She went out scarcely knowing +that she had been dismissed. Austin closed the door, stood unsteadily +for a moment like a man stricken with great pain, and then, sitting +down at his desk again, put his elbows on the table, rested his head in +his hands, and stared at the white piece of paper. When would Dick come +home? He had given orders that Dick should be asked to go to him as soon +as he arrived. Would Dick ever come home again? It was quite possible +that some misfortune might have happened. Tragedy is apt to engender +tragedy. He shuddered, hearing in his fancy the tramp of men, and seeing +a shrouded thing they carried across the hall. He bitterly accused +himself for not having sought Dick far and wide as soon as he had made +his ghastly discovery. But he had required time to recover his balance. +The horrible suddenness had stunned him. Attempted fratricide is not a +common happening in gentle families. He had to accustom himself to the +atmosphere of the abnormal, so as to state the psychological case in its +numberless ramifications. This he had done. His head was clear. His +unalterable decision made. Now the minutes dragged with leaden feet +until Dick should come. + +Viviette was the first to see him. She had dressed early for dinner, +and, as the late June afternoon had turned out fine, was taking her +problem out to air on the terrace when she came upon him standing at the +door of his armoury. His hair was wet and matted, his eyes bloodshot, +his clothes dripping, and he himself splashed with mud from head to +foot. He trembled all over, shaken by a great terror. The case of +pistols had gone. Who had taken them? Had the loaded pistol been +discovered? + +As Viviette appeared, robed in deep blue chiffon that seemed torn from +the deep blue evening sky, and looking, in the man's maddened eyes, +magically beautiful, he held out imploring hands. + +"Come in for a moment. For the love of God come in for a moment." + +He stepped back invitingly. She hesitated for a second on the threshold, +and then followed him down the dim gallery, past the screen where all +the swords and helmets lay scattered on the table. He looked at her +haggardly, and she met his gaze with kind eyes in which there was no +mockery. No. Nothing had happened, he told himself; otherwise she would +shrink from him as from something accursed. + +"My God, if you knew how I love you!" he said hoarsely. "My God, if you +only knew!" + +His suffering racked her heart. All her pity melted over him. She laid +her caressing fingers on his arm. + +"Oh, my poor Dick!" she said. + +[Illustration: He held out imploring hands.] + +The touch, the choke in her voice, brought about Viviette's downfall. +Perhaps she meant it to do so. Who can tell? What woman ever knows? In a +flash his arms were around her and his kisses, a wild, primitive man's +kisses, were on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks. Her face was crushed +against the rough wet tweed of his coat, and its odour, raw and coarse, +was in her nostrils. She drooped, intoxicated, gasping for breath in his +unheeding giant's grip, but she made no effort to escape. As he held her +a thrill, agonising and delicious, swept through her, and she raised her +lips involuntarily to his and closed her eyes. At last he released her, +mangled, tousled, her very self a draggled piece of chiffon like the +night-blue frock, soiled with wet and mud. + +"Forgive me," he said, "I had no right. Least of all now. God knows what +is to become of me. But whatever happens, you know that I love you." + +She had her hands clasped before her face. She could not look at him. + +"Yes, I know," she murmured. + +In another moment he had gone, leaving Viviette, who had entered the +room a girl, transformed into a woman with the first shiver of passion +in her veins. + +Dick, vaguely conscious of damp and dirt, went up to his bedroom. The +sight of his evening things spread out on the bed reminded him that it +was nearly dinner-time. Mechanically he washed and dressed. As he was +buckling on his ready-made white tie--his clumsy fingers, in spite of +many lessons from Viviette, had never learned the trick of tying a +bow--a maid brought him a message. Mr. Austin's compliments and would he +see Mr. Austin for a few moments in Mr. Austin's room. The words were +like the dreaded tap on the shoulder of the hunted criminal. + +"I'll come at once," he said. + +He found Austin sitting on the chair by his desk, resting his chin on +his elbow. He did not stir as Dick entered. + +"You want to speak to me?" + +"Yes," said Austin. "Will you sit down?" + +"I'll stand," said Dick impatiently. "What have you to say to me?" + +"I believe you have expressed your desire to leave England and earn your +living in a new country. Is that so?" + +The brothers' eyes met. Dick saw that the loaded pistol had been +discovered, and read no love, no pity, only condemnation in the hard +gaze. Austin was pronouncing sentence. + +"Yes," he replied sullenly. + +"I happen," said Austin, "to know of an excellent opportunity. Lord +Overton, whom you have met, wants a man to take charge of his timber +forests in Vancouver. The salary is L700 a year. I wired to Lord Overton +asking for the appointment on your behalf. This is his answer." + +Dick took the telegram and read it with muddled head. Austin had lost no +time. + +"You see, it fits in admirably. You can start by the night mail. Your +sudden departure needs no other explanation to the household than this +telegram. I hope you understand." + +"I understand," said Dick bitterly. A sudden memory of words that +Viviette had used the day before occurred to him. "I understand. This is +to get me out of the way. 'David put Uriah in the forefront of the +battle.' Vancouver is the forefront." + +"Don't you think we had better avoid all unprofitable discussion?" +Austin rose and confronted him. "I expect you to accept this offer and +my conditions." + +"And if I refuse?" asked Dick, with rising anger. "What dare you +threaten me with?" + +Austin raised a deprecatory hand. + +"Do you suppose I'm going to threaten you? I simply expect you not to +refuse. Your conscience must tell you that I have the right to do so. +Doesn't it?" + +Dick glowered sullenly at the wall and tugged his great moustache. + +"You force me to touch on things I should have liked to keep hidden," +said Austin. "Very well." He took a scrap of crumpled paper from the +desk. "Do you recognise this? It formed the wad of the pistol that was +in _your_ hand." + +Dick started back a pace. "You're wrong," he gasped. "It was _your_ +pistol that was loaded." + +"No. Yours. The cap missed fire, or I should have been a dead +man--murdered by my brother." + +"Stop," cried Dick. "Not murdered. No, no, not murdered. It was in fair +fight. I gave you the choice. When I thought I had the unloaded one I +called on you to fire. Why the devil didn't you? I wanted you to fire. I +was mad for you to fire. I wanted to be killed there and then. No one +can say I shirked it. I gave you your chance." + +"That's nothing to do with it," said Austin sternly. "When you fired you +meant murder. Your face meant killing. And supposing I had fired--and +killed you! Good God! I would sooner you had killed me than burdened my +soul with your death. It would have been less cowardly. Yes, cowardly. +The conditions were not even. To me it was trivial fooling. To you, +deadly earnest. Are you not man enough to see that I have the right to +exact some penalty?" + +Dick remained silent for a few moments, while the powers of light and +darkness struggled together in his soul. At last he said in a low voice, +hanging his head: + +"I'll accept your terms." + +"You leave by the night mail for Witherby." + +"Very well." + +"There's another point," said Austin. "The most important point of all. +You will not speak alone to Viviette before you start." + +Dick turned with an angry flash, + +"What?" + +"You will not speak to Viviette alone. When you are gone--for there is +no need for you to come back here before you sail--you will not write to +her. You will go absolutely and utterly out of her life." + +Dick broke into harsh, furious laughter. + +"And leave her to you? I might have known that the lawyer would have had +me in the trap. But this time you've over-reached yourself. I'll never +give her up. Do you hear me? Never--never--never! I would go through the +horror of to-day a thousand times--day by day until I die, rather than +give her up to you. You shall not take this last thing from me--this +hope of winning her--as you have taken everything else. You have +supplanted me since first you learned to speak. It has been Esau +and Jacob--" + +"Or Cain and Abel," said Austin. + +"You can taunt me if you like," cried Dick, goaded to fury, and the +whole bitterness of a lifetime surging up in passionate speech. "I have +got past feeling it. Your life has been one continual taunt of me. You +have thought me a dull, good-natured boor, delighted to have a word +thrown at him now and again by the elegant gentleman, and rather +honoured than otherwise to be ridden over roughshod, or kicked into the +mud when it pleased the elegant gentleman to ride by. No, listen to me," +he thundered, as Austin was about to protest. "By God, you shall listen +this time. You've made me your butt, your fool, your doer of trivial +offices. I've wondered sometimes why you haven't addressed me as 'my +good fellow,' and asked me to touch my cap to you. I've borne it all +these years without complaining--but do you know what it is to eat your +heart out and remain silent? I have borne it for my mother's sake--in +spite of her dislike of me--and for your sake, because I loved you. Yes. +If ever one man has loved another I've loved you. But you took no heed. +What was my affection worth? I was only the stupid, dull boor ... but I +suffered it all till you came between me and her. I had spent the whole +passion of my life upon her. She was the only thing left in the world +for which I felt fiercely. I hungered for her, thirsted for her, my +brain throbbed at the thought of her, the blood rushed through my veins +at the sight of her. And you came between us. And if I have damned my +soul, by God! the damnation is your doing. Do you think, while I live, +that I'll give her up to you? I'll get my soul's worth, anyhow." + +He smote his palm with his clenched fist and strode about the little +room. Austin sat for a while dumb with astonishment and dismay. His +cherished, lifelong conception of "dear old Dick" lay shattered. A new +Dick appeared to him, a personality stronger, deeper than he could have +imagined. A new respect for him, also a new pity that was generous and +not contemptuous, crept into his heart. + +"Listen, Dick," said he, using the familiar name for the first time. "Do +I understand that you accuse me of sending you out to Vancouver and +hastening your departure so as to gain my own ends with Viviette?" + +"Yes," returned Dick. "I do. You have laid this trap for me." + +"Have you ever heard me lie to you?" + +"No," said Dick. + +"Then I tell you, as man to man, that until this afternoon I had no +suspicion that your feelings towards Viviette were deeper than those of +an elder brother." + +Dick laughed bitterly. "You couldn't conceive a clod like me falling in +love. Well?" + +"That's beside the question," said Austin. "I did not behave +dishonourably towards you. I came down. I fell in love with Viviette. +How could I help it? How could I help loving her? How could I help +telling her so? But she is young and innocent, and her heart is her own +yet. Tell me--man to man--dare you say that you have won it or that I +have won it?" + +"What's the good of talking?" said Dick, relapsing into his sullen mood. +"If I go she is yours. But I won't go." + +Austin rose again and laid his hand on his brother's arm. + +"Dick. If I give her up, will you obey my conditions?" + +"You give her up voluntarily? Why should you?" + +"A damnable thing was done this afternoon," said Austin. "I see I had my +share in it, and I as well as you have to make reparation. Man alive! +You are my brother," he cried with an outburst of feeling. "The nearest +thing in the world to me. Do you think I could rest happy with the +knowledge that a murderous devil is always in your heart, and that it's +in my power to--to exorcise it? Do you think the cost matters? Come. +Shall we make this bargain? Yes or no?" + +"It's easy for you to promise," said Dick. "But when I am gone, how can +you resist?" + +Austin hesitated for a moment, biting his lips. Then, with the air of a +man who makes an irrevocable step in life, he crossed the room and +rang the bell. + +"Ask Mrs. Holroyd if she will have the kindness to come here for a +minute," he said to the servant. + +Dick regarded him wonderingly. "What has Mrs. Holroyd to do with our +affairs?" + +"You'll see," said Austin, and there was silence between them till +Katherine came. + +She looked from one joyless face to the other, and sat without a word +on the chair that Austin placed for her. Her woman's intuition divined a +sequel to the afternoon's drama. Some of it she had already learned. +For, going earlier into Viviette's room, she had found her white and +shaken, still disordered in hair and dress as Dick had left her; and +Viviette had sobbed on her bosom and told her with some incoherence that +the monkey had at last hit the lyddite shell in the wrong place, and +that it was all over with the monkey. So, before Austin spoke, she half +divined why he had summoned her. + +Her heart throbbed painfully. + +"Dick and I," said Austin, "have been talking of serious matters, and we +need your help." + +She smiled wanly. "I'll do whatever I can, Austin." + +"You said this afternoon you would do anything I asked you. Do you +remember?" + +"Yes, I said so--and I meant it." + +"You said it in reply to my question whether you would accept me if I +asked you to marry me." + +Dick started from the sullen stupor into which he had fallen and +listened with perplexed interest. + +"You are not quite right in your tenses, Austin," she remarked. "You +said: Would I have accepted you if you had asked me?" + +"I want to change the tense into the present," he replied. + +She met his glance calmly. "You ask me to marry you in spite of what you +told me this afternoon?" + +"In spite of it and because of it," he said, drawing up a chair near to +her. "A great crisis has arisen in our lives that must make you forget +other words I spoke this afternoon. Those other words and everything +connected with them I blot out of my memory forever. I want you to do me +an infinite service. If there had been no deep affection between us I +should not dare to ask you. I want you to be my wife, to take me into +your keeping, to trust me as an upright man to devote my life to your +happiness. I swear I'll never give you a moment's cause for regret." + +She plucked for a while at her gown. It was a strange wooing. But in her +sweet way she had given him her woman's aftermath of love. It was a +gentle, mellow gift, far removed from the summer blaze of passion, and +it had suffered little harm from the sadness of the day. She saw that he +was in great stress. She knew him to be a loyal gentleman. + +"Is this the result of that scene in the armoury?" she asked quietly. + +"Yes," said Austin. + +"I was right then. It was a matter of life and death." + +"It was," said he. "So is this." + +She looked again from one face to the other, rose, hesitated for a +moment--and then held out her hand. "I am willing to trust you, +Austin," she said. + +He touched her hand with his lips and said gravely: "I will not fail +your trust." + +As soon as she had gone he went to the chair where Dick sat in gloomy +remorse and laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"Well?" said he. + +"I agree," Dick groaned, without looking up. "I have no alternative. I +appreciate your generosity." + +Then Austin spoke of the appointment in Vancouver. He explained how the +idea had occurred to him; how Viviette had come late the night before to +tell him of what he had never before suspected--Dick's desire to go +abroad; how they had conspired to give him a birthday surprise; how they +had driven over to Witherby to send the telegram to Lord Overton. And as +he spoke, Dick looked at him with a new ghastliness on his face. + +"This afternoon--in the dining-room--when you said that Viviette had +told you everything--?" + +"About your wish to go to the Colonies. What else?" + +"And what I overheard in the armoury--about a telegram--telling +me--putting me out of my misery?" + +"Only whether we should tell you to-night or to-morrow about the +appointment. Dick--Dick," said Austin, deeply moved by the great +fellow's collapse, "if I have wronged you all these years, it was +through want of insight, not want of affection. If I have taunted you, +as you say, it was merely a lifelong habit of jesting which you never +seemed to resent. I was unconscious of hurting you. For my blindness and +carelessness I beg your forgiveness. With regard to Viviette--I ought to +have seen, but I didn't. I don't say you had no cause for jealousy--but +as God hears me--all the little conspiracy to-day was lovingly +meant--all to give you pleasure. I swear it." + +Dick rose and stumbled about among the furniture. The setting sun fell +just below the top of the casement window, and its direct rays flooded +the little room and showed Dick in a strange, unearthly light. + +"I wronged you," he said bitterly. "Even in my passions I'm a dull fool. +I thought you a damned cad, and I got more and more furious, and I +drank--I was drunk all this afternoon--and madness came, and when I saw +you kiss her--yes, I saw you, I was peeping from behind the +screen--things went red before my eyes, and it was then that I loaded +the pistol to shoot you on the spot. God forgive me! May God have +mercy upon me." + +He leant his arms on the sill and buried his face. + +"I can't ask your forgiveness," he went on, after a moment. "It would +be a mockery." He laughed mirthlessly. "How can I say. 'I'm sorry I +meant to murder you--please don't think anything about it?'" He turned +with a fierce gesture. "Oh, you must take it all as said, man! Now, have +you finished with me? I can't stand it much longer, I agree to all your +terms. I'll drive over to Witherby now and wait for the train--and +you'll be free of me." + +He turned again and moodily looked out of the window in the full flood +of the sunset. + +"We must play the game, Dick," said Austin gently, "and go through the +horrible farce of dinner--for mother's sake." + +Dick heard him vaguely. Below, on the terrace, Viviette was walking, and +she filled his universe. She had changed the bedraggled frock for the +green one she had worn the night before. Presently she raised her eyes +and saw him leaning out of the window. + +"Have they told you that dinner is not till a quarter past eight?" she +cried, looking deliciously upwards, with a dainty hand to her cheek. +"Lord Banstead sent a message to mother that he was unexpectedly +detained, and mother has put back dinner. Isn't it impudence?" + +But Dick was far too crushed with misery to respond. He nodded +dejectedly. She remained staring up at him for a while and then ran into +the house. + +Dick listlessly mentioned the postponement of dinner. + +"I'm sorry I asked the little brute, but I couldn't avoid it." + +"What does it matter?" said Austin. He was silent for a moment. Then he +came close to Dick. + +"Dick," said he. "Let us end this awful scene as friends and brothers. +As Heaven hears me, there is no bitterness in my heart. Only deep +sorrow--and love, Dick. Shake hands." + +Dick took his hand and broke down utterly, and said such things of +himself as other men do not like to hear. Presently there was a light +rap of knuckles at the door. Austin opened it and beheld Viviette. + +"I won't disturb you," she said; "I only want to give this note to +Dick." + +"I will hand it to him," said Austin. + +She thanked him and departed. He closed the door and gave Dick the note. +Dick opened it, read, and with a great cry of "Viviette!" rushed to the +door. Austin interposed, grasped him by the wrist: + +"What are you doing?" + +"I'm going to her," shouted Dick wildly, wrenching himself free. "Read +this." He held up the note before Austin's eyes, with shaking fingers. +Austin read: + +"I can't bear to see the misery on your face, when I can make you happy. +I love you, dear, better than anything on earth. I know it now, and +I'll go out with you to Vancouver." + +"She loves me. She'll marry me. She'll go out to Vancouver!" cried Dick. +"It changes everything. I must go to her." + +"You shall not go," said Austin. + +"Shall not? Who dares prevent me?' + +"I do. I hold you to your word." + +"But, man alive! she loves me--don't you see? The bargain is dissolved. +This is none of my seeking. She comes of her own free will. I am +going to her." + +Austin put both his hands affectionately on the big man's shoulders and +forced him into a chair. + +"Listen to me just for one minute, Dick. Dick, you dare not marry. Don't +drive me to tell you the reason. Can't you see for yourself why I've +imposed this condition on you all along?" + +"I know no reason," said Dick. "She loves me, and that is enough." + +The greyness deepened over Austin's face and the pain in his eyes. + +"I must speak, then, in plain terms. That horrible murder impulse is the +reason. Today, in a fit of frenzied jealousy, you would have killed me, +your brother. Is there any guarantee that, in another fit of frenzied +jealousy, you might not--?" + +A shudder ran through Dick's great frame. He stretched out his hand. +"For God's sake--don't." + +"I must--until you see this ghastly business in its true aspect. Look at +the lighter side of Viviette's character. She is gay, fond of +admiration, childishly fond of teasing, a bright creature of bewildering +moods. Would she be safe in your hands? Might you not one day again see +things red before your eyes and again go mad?" + +"Don't say any more," Dick said in a choking voice. "I can't stand it." + +"Heaven knows, I didn't want to say as much." + +Dick shuddered again. "Yes, you are right. I am a man with a curse. I +can't marry her. I daren't." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +VIVIETTE TAKES THE RISK + + +Presently Dick raised the face of Cain when he told the Lord that his +punishment was greater than he could bear. Tears leaped to Austin's +eyes, but he turned his head away lest Dick should see them. He would +have given years of his life to spare Dick--everything he had in the +world--save his deep convictions of right and wrong. He was responsible +for Viviette. That risk of horror he could not let her run. He had +hoped, with a great agony of hope, that Dick would have seen it for +himself. To formulate it had been torture. But he could not weaken. The +barrier between Dick and Viviette was not of his making. It was composed +of the grim psychological laws that govern the abnormal. To have +disregarded it would have been a crime from which his soul shrank. All +the despair in Dick's face, though it wrung his heart, could not move +him. It was terrible to be chosen in this way to be the arbiter of +Destiny. But there was the decree, written in letters of blood and +flame. And Dick had bowed to it. + +"What's to become of her?" he groaned. + +"This will be her home, as it always has been," said Austin. + +"I don't mean that--but between us we shall break her heart. She has +given it to me just in time for me to do it. My luck!" + +Austin tried to comfort him. A girl's heart was not easily broken. Her +pride would suffer most. Pain was inevitable. But Time healed many +wounds. In this uncertain world nothing was ever so good as we hoped, +and nothing ever so bad as we feared. Dick paid little heed to the +platitudes. + +"She must be told!" + +"Not what happened this afternoon," cried Austin quickly. "That we bury +forever from all human knowledge." + +"Yes," said Dick, staring in front of him and speaking in a dull, even +voice. "We must hide that. It's not a pretty thing to spread before a +girl's eyes. It will be always before my own--until I die. But she must +be told that I can't marry her. I can't ride away and leave her in doubt +and wonder forever and ever." + +"Let us face this horrible night as best we can," said Austin. "Avoid +seeing her alone. You'll be with mother or packing most of the evening. +Slip away to Witherby an hour or so before your time. When you're gone +I'll arrange matters. Leave it to me." + +He made one of his old, self-confident gestures. But now Dick felt no +resentment. His spirit in its deep abasement saw in Austin the better, +wiser, stronger man. + +At a quarter-past eight they went slowly downstairs to what promised to +be a nightmare kind of meal. There would be four persons, Viviette, +Katherine, and themselves, in a state of suppressed eruption, and two, +Mrs. Ware and the unspeakable Banstead, complacently unaware of volcanic +forces around them, who might by any chance word bring about disaster. +There was danger, too--and the greatest--from Viviette, ignorant of +Destiny. Austin dreaded the ordeal; but despair and remorse had benumbed +Dick's faculties; he had passed the stage at which men fear. With his +hand on the knob of the drawing-room door Austin paused and looked +at him. + +"Pull yourself together, man. Play your part. For God's sake, try to +look cheerful." + +Dick tried. Austin shivered. + +"For God's sake, don't," he said. + +They entered the drawing-room, expecting to find the three ladies, and +possibly Lord Banstead, assembled for dinner. To Austin's discomfiture, +Viviette was alone in the room. She rose, made a step or two to meet +them, then stopped. + +"What a pair of faces! One would think it were the eve of Dick's +execution, and you were the hangman measuring him for the noose." + +"Dick," said Austin, "is leaving us to-night--possibly for many years." + +"I don't see that he is so very greatly to be pitied," said Viviette, +trying in vain to meet Dick's eyes. She drew him a pace or two aside. + +"Did you read my note--or did you tear it up like the other one?" + +"I read it," he said, looking askance at the floor. + +"Then why are you so woe-begone?" + +He replied in a helpless way that he was not woe-begone. Viviette was +puzzled, hurt, somewhat humiliated. She had made woman's great surrender +which is usually followed by a flourish of trumpets very gratifying to +hear. In fact, to most women the surrender is worth the flourish. But +the recognition of this surrender appeared to find its celebration in a +funeral march with muffled drums. A condemned man being fitted for the +noose, as she had suggested, a mute conscientiously mourning at his own +funeral, a man who had lost a stately demesne in Paradise and had been +ironically compensated by the gift of a bit of foreshore of the Styx +could not have worn a less joyous expression than he on whom she had +conferred the boon of his heart's desire. + +"You're not only woe-begone," she said, with spirit, "but you're utterly +miserable. I think I have a right to know the reason. Tell me, what +is it?" + +She tapped a small, impatient foot. + +"We haven't told my mother yet," Austin explained, "and Dick is rather +nervous as to the way in which she will take the news." + +"Yes," said Dick, with lame huskiness. "It's on mother's account." + +Viviette laughed somewhat scornfully. + +"I am not a child, my dear Austin. No man wears a face like that on +account of his mother--least of all when he meets the woman who has +promised to be his wife." + +She flashed a challenging glance at Austin, but not a muscle of his grey +face responded. Her natural expectations were baffled. There was no +start of amazement, no fierce movement of anger, no indignant look of +reproach. She was thrown back on herself. She said: + +"I don't think you quite understand. Dick had two aims in life--one to +obtain a colonial appointment, the other--so he led me to suppose--to +marry me. He has the appointment, and I have promised to marry him." + +"I know," said Austin, "but you must make allowances." + +"If that's all you can say on behalf of your client," retorted Viviette, +"I rather wonder at your success as a barrister." + +"Don't you think, my dear," said Austin gently, "that we are treading on +delicate ground?" + +"Delicate ground!" she scoffed. "We seem to have been treading on a +volcano all the afternoon. I'm tired of it." She faced the two men with +uplifted head. "I want an explanation." + +"Of what?" Austin asked. + +"Of Dick's attitude. What has he got to be miserable about? Tell me." + +"But I'm not miserable, my dear Viviette," said poor Dick, vainly +forcing a smile. "I'm really quite happy." + +Her woman's intuition rejected the protest with contumely. All the +afternoon he had been mad with jealousy of Austin. An hour ago he had +whirled her out of her senses in savage passion. But a few minutes +before she had given him all a woman has to give. Now he met her with +hang-dog visage, apologies from Austin, and milk-and-water asseveration +of a lover's rapture. The most closely-folded rosebud miss of Early +Victorian times could not have faced the situation without showing +something of the Eve that lurked in the heart of the petals. So much the +less could Viviette, child of a freer, franker day, hide her just +indignation under the rose-leaves of maidenly modesty. + +"Happy!" she echoed. "I've known you since I was a child of three. I +know the meaning of every light and every shadow that passes over your +face--except this shadow now. What does it mean?" + +She asked the question imperiously, no longer the elfin changeling, the +fairy of bewildering moods of Austin's imagination, no longer the +laughing coquette of Katherine's less picturesque fancy, but a modern +young woman of character, considerably angered and very much in earnest. +Austin bit his lip in perplexity. Dick looked around like a hunted +animal seeking a bolting-hole. + +"Dick is anxious," said Austin, at length, seeing that some explanation +must be given, "that there should be no engagement between you before he +goes out to Vancouver." + +"Indeed?" said Viviette. "May I ask why? As this concerns Dick and +myself, perhaps you will leave us alone for a moment so that Dick +may tell me." + +"No, no," Dick muttered hurriedly. "Don't leave us, Austin. We can't +talk of such a thing now." + +Again she tapped her foot impatiently. + +"Yes, now. I'm going to hear the reason now, whatever it is." + +The brothers exchanged glances. Dick turned to the window, and stared +at the mellow evening sky. + +Austin again was spokesman. + +"Dick finds he has made a terrible and cruel mistake. One that concerns +you intimately." + +"Whatever Dick may have done with regard to me," replied Viviette, "I +forgave him for it beforehand. When once I give a thing I don't take it +back. I have given him my love and my promise." + +"My dear," said Austin, gravely and kindly. "Here are two men who have +loved you all your life. Don't think hardly of us. You must be brave and +bear a great shock. Dick can't marry you." + +She looked at him incredulously. + +"Can't marry me? Why not?" + +"It would be better not to ask." + +She moved swiftly to Dick, and with her light touch swung him round to +face the room. + +"I don't understand. Is it because you're going out into the wilds? +That doesn't matter. I told you I would go to Vancouver with you. I want +to go. My happiness is with you." + +Dick groaned. "Don't make it harder for me." + +"What are you keeping from me?" she asked. "Is it anything you don't +think fit for my ears? If so, speak. I'm no longer a child. Is there +another woman in the case?" + +She met Austin's eyes full. He said: "No, thank God! Nothing of that +sort." And as her eyes did not waver, he made the bold stroke. "He finds +that he doesn't love you as much as he thought. There's the whole +tragedy in a few words." + +She reeled back as if struck. "Dick doesn't love me?" Then the +announcement seemed so grotesque in its improbability that she began to +laugh, a trifle hysterically. + +"Is this true?" + +"It's quite true," said poor Dick. + +"You see, my dear," said Austin, "what it costs him--what it costs us +both--to tell you this." + +"But I don't understand. I don't understand!" she cried, with sudden +piteousness. "What did you mean, then--a little while ago--in +the armoury?" + +Austin, who did not see the allusion, had to allow Dick to speak for +himself. + +"I was drunk," said Dick desperately. "I've been drinking heavily of +late--and not accountable for my actions. I oughtn't to have done what +I did." + +"And so, you see," continued Austin, with some eagerness, "when he +became confronted with the great change in his life--Vancouver--he +looked at things soberly. He found that his feelings towards you were +not of the order that would warrant his making you his wife." + +Before Viviette could reply the door opened, and Mrs. Ware and +Katherine entered the room. Mrs. Ware, ignorant of tension, went +smilingly to Austin, and, drawing down his shapely head with both hands, +kissed him. + +"My dear, dear boy, I'm so glad, so truly glad. Katherine has just told +me." + +"Told you what, mother?" asked Viviette quickly, with a new sharpness in +her voice. + +Mrs. Ware turned a beaming face. "Can't you guess, darling? Oh, Austin, +there's no living woman whom I would sooner call my daughter. You've +made me so happy." + +The facile tears came, and she sat down and dried them on her little +wisp of handkerchief. + +"I thought it for the best to tell your mother, Austin," said Katherine, +somewhat apologetically. "We were speaking of you--and--I couldn't +keep it back." + +Viviette, white-lipped and dazed, looked at Austin, Katherine, and Dick +in turns. She said, in the high-pitched voice, to Austin: + +"Have you asked Katherine to marry you?" + +"Yes," he replied, not quite so confidently, and avoiding her +glance--"and she has done me the honour of accepting me." + +Katherine held out a conciliatory hand to Viviette. "Won't you +congratulate me, dear?" + +"And Austin, too," said Mrs. Ware. + +But Viviette lost control of herself. "I'll congratulate nobody," she +cried shrilly. She burned with a sense of intolerable outrage. Only a +few hours before she had been befooled into believing herself to be the +mistress of the destinies of two men. Both had offered her their love. +Both had kissed her. The memory lashed her into fury. Now one of them +avowed that she had been merely the object of a drunken passion, and +the other came before her as the affianced husband of the woman who +called herself her dearest friend. + +Katherine, in deep distress, laid her hand on the girl's arm. "Why not, +dear? I thought that you and Dick--in fact--I understood--" + +Viviette freed herself from Katherine's touch. + +"Oh, no, you didn't. You didn't understand anything. You didn't try to. +You are all lying. The three of you. You have all lied, and lied, and +lied to me. I tell you to your faces you have lied to me." She swung +passionately to each in turn. "'Austin can never be anything to me but a +friend'--how often have you said that to me? Ah--Saint Nitouche! And +you"--to Austin--"How dared you insult me this morning? And you--how +have you dared to insult me all the time? You've lied--the whole lot of +you--and I hate you all!" + +Mrs. Ware had risen, scared and trembling. + +"What does the girl mean? I've never heard such unladylike words in a +drawing-room in my life." + +Dick blundered in: "It's all my fault, mother--" + +"I've not the slightest doubt of that," returned the old lady with +asperity. "But what Austin and Katherine have to do with it I +can't imagine." + +The servant opened the door. + +"Lord Banstead." + +He entered a cold, strange silence. Everyone had forgotten him. He must +have attributed the ungenial atmosphere to his own lateness--it was +half-past eight--for he made penitent apology to Mrs. Ware. Austin +greeted him coldly. Dick nodded absently from the other side of the +room. Viviette, with a sweeping glance of defiance at the assembled +family, held herself very erect, and with hard eyes and quivering lips +came straight to the young fellow. + +"Lord Banstead," she said. "You have asked me four times to marry you. +Did you mean it, or were you lying, too?" + +Banstead's pallid cheeks flushed. He was overcome with confusion. + +"Of course I mean it--meant to ask you again to-day--ask you now." + +"Then I will marry you." + +Dick strode forward, and, catching her by the wrist, swung her away from +Banstead, his face aflame with sudden passion. + +"No, by God, you shan't!" + +Banstead retreated a few paces, scared out of his life. Mrs. Ware sought +Austin's protecting arm. + +"What does all this mean? I don't understand it." + +Austin led her to the door. "I'll see nothing unpleasant happens, dear. +You had better go and tell them to keep back dinner yet a few minutes." + +His voice and authority soothed her, and she left the room, casting a +terrified glance at Dick, standing threateningly over Lord Banstead, who +had muttered something about Viviette being free to do as she liked. + +"She can do what she likes, but, by God! she shan't marry you." + +"I'm of age," declared Viviette fiercely. "I marry whom I choose." + +"Of course she can," said Banstead. "Are you taking leave of your +senses?" + +"How dare you ask a pure girl to marry you?" cried Dick furiously. "You, +who have come straight here from--" + +Banstead found some spirit. "Shut up, Ware," he interrupted. "Play the +game. You've no right to say that." + +"I have the right," cried Dick. + +"Hush!" said Austin, interposing. + +"There's no need to prolong this painful discussion. To-morrow--as +Viviette's guardian--" + +"To-morrow?" Dick shouted. "Where shall I be to-morrow? Away from +here--unable to defend her--unable to say a word." + +"If you said a thousand words," said Viviette, "they wouldn't make an +atom of difference. Lord Banstead has asked me to marry him. I have +accepted him openly. What dare you say to it?" + +"Yes," said Banstead. "She has made no bones about it. I've asked her +five times. Now she accepts me. What have you to say to it?" + +"I say she shan't marry you," said Dick, glaring at the other. + +"Steady, steady, Dick," said Austin warningly. But Dick shook his +warning angrily aside, and Austin saw that, once again that day, Dick +was desperate. + +"Not while I live shall she marry you. Don't I know your infernal +beastly life?" + +"Now, look here," said Banstead, at bay. "What the deuce have you got to +do with my affairs?" + +"Everything. Do you think she loves you, cares for you, honours you, +respects you?" + +Viviette faced him with blazing eyes. + +"I do," she said defiantly. + +"It's a lie," cried Dick. "It's you that are lying now. Heaven and +earth! I've suffered enough to-day--I thought I had been through +hell--but it's nothing to this. She loves me--do you hear +me?--me--me--me--and I can't marry her--and I don't care a damn who +knows the reason." + +"Stop, man," said Austin. + +"Let me be. She shall know the truth. Everyone shall know the truth. At +any rate, it will save her from this." + +"I will do it quietly, later, Dick." + +"Let me be, I tell you," said Dick, with great, clumsy, passionate +gesture. "Let's have no more lies." He turned to Viviette. "You wrote me +a letter. You said you loved me--would marry me--come out to +Vancouver--the words made me drunk with happiness--at first. You saw me. +I refused your love and your offer. I said I didn't love you. I lied. I +said I couldn't marry you. It was the truth. I can't. I can't. But love +you! Oh, my God! My God! There were flames of hell in my heart--but +couldn't you see the love shining through?" + +"Don't, Dick, don't," cried Katherine. + +"I will," he exclaimed wildly. "I'll tell her why I can't marry any +woman. I tried to murder Austin this afternoon!" + +Katherine closed her eyes. She had guessed it. But Viviette, with parted +lips and white cheeks, groped her way backwards to a chair, without +shifting her terror-stricken gaze from Dick; and sitting, she gripped +the arms of the chair. + +There was a moment of tense silence. Banstead at last relieved his +feelings with a gasping, "Well, I'm damned!" + +Dick continued: + +"It was jealousy--mad jealousy--this afternoon--in the armoury--the mock +duel--one of the pistols was loaded. I loaded it--first, in order to +kill him out of hand--then I thought of the duel--he would have his +chance--either he would kill me or I would kill him. Mine happened to be +loaded. It missed fire. It was only the infinite mercy of God that I +didn't kill him. He found it out. He has forgiven me. He's worth fifty +millions of me. But my hands are red with his blood, and I can't touch +your pure garments. They would stain them red--and I should see red +again before my eyes some day. A man like me is not fit to marry any +woman. A murderer is beyond the pale. So I said I didn't love her to +save her from the knowledge of this horror. And now I'm going to the +other side of the world to work out my salvation--but she shall know +that a man loves her with all his soul, and would go through any torment +and renunciation for her sake--and, knowing that, she can't go and throw +herself away on a man unworthy of her. After what I've told you, will +you marry this man?" + +Still looking at him, motionless, she whispered, "No." + +"I say!" exclaimed Banstead. "I think--" + +Austin checked further speech. Dick looked haggardly round the room. + +"There. Now you all know. I'm not fit to be under the same roof with +you. Good-bye." + +He slouched in his heavy way to the door, but Viviette sprang from her +chair and planted herself in his path. + +"No. You shan't go. Do you think I have nothing to say?" + +"Say what you like," said Dick sadly. "Nothing is too black for me. +Curse me, if you will." + +She laughed, and shook her head. "Do you think a woman curses the man +who would commit murder for the love of her?" she cried, with a strange +exultation in her voice. "If I loved you before--don't you think I love +you now a million times more?" + +Dick fell back, thrilled with amazement. + +"You love me still?" he gasped. "You don't shrink--" + +"Excuse me," interrupted Banstead, crossing the room. "Does this mean +that you chuck me, Miss Hastings?" + +"You must release me from my promise, Lord Banstead," she said gently. +"I scarcely knew what I was doing. I'm very sorry. I've not behaved +well to you." + +"You've treated me damned badly," said Banstead, turning on his heel. +"Good-bye, everybody." + +Austin, moved by compunction, tried to conciliate the angry youth, but +he refused comfort. He had been made a fool of, and would stand that +from nobody. He would not stay for dinner, and would not put his foot +inside the house again. + +"At any rate," said Austin, bidding him good-bye, "I can rely on you not +to breathe a word to anyone of what you've heard this evening?" + +Banstead fingered his underfed moustache. + +"I may be pretty rotten, but I'm not that kind of cad," said he. And he +went, not without a certain dignity. + +Dick took Viviette's hand and kissed it tenderly. + +"God bless you, dear. I'll remember what you've said all my life. I can +go away almost happy." + +"You can go away quite happy, if you like," said Viviette. "Take me with +you." + +"To Vancouver?" + +Austin joined them. "It is impossible, dear," said he. + +"I go with him to Vancouver," she said. + +Dick wrung his hands. "But I daren't marry you, Viviette, I daren't, I +daren't." + +"Don't you see that it's impossible, Viviette?" said Austin. + +"Why?" + +"I've explained it to Dick. He has hinted it to you. You're scarcely old +enough to understand, my dear. It is the risk you run." + +"Such men as I can't marry," said Dick loyally. "You don't understand. +Austin is right. The risk is too great." + +She laughed in superb contempt. + +"The risk? Do you think I'm such a fool as not to understand? Do you +think, after what I've said, that I'm a child? Risk? What is life or +love worth without risk? When a woman loves a fierce man she takes the +risk of his fierceness. It's her joy. I'll take the risk, and it will be +a bond between us." + +Austin implored her to listen to reason. She swept his arguments aside. + +"God forbid. I'll listen to love," she cried. "And if ever a man wanted +love, it's Dick. Reason! Come, Dick, let us leave this god and goddess +of reason alone. I've got something to say which only you can hear." + +She dragged him in a bewildered state of mind to the door, which she +held open. She was absolute mistress of the situation. She motioned to +Dick to precede her, and he obeyed, like a man in a dream. On the +threshold she paused, and flashed defiance at Austin, who appeared to +her splendid scorn but a small, narrow-natured man. + +[Illustration: "I want you to love me forever and ever."] + +"You can say and think what you like, you two. You are civilised +people--and I suppose you love in a civilised way according to reason. +I'm a primitive woman, and Dick's a primitive man--and, thank God! we +understand each other, and love each other as primitive people do." + +She slammed the door, and in another moment was caught in Dick's great +arms. + +"What do you want to say that only I can hear?" he asked after a while. + +"This," she said. "I want you to love me strongly and fiercely for ever +and ever--and I'll be a great wife to you--and, if I fail--if I am ever +wanton, as I have been to-day--for I have been wanton--and all that has +happened has been my fault--if ever I play fast and loose with your love +again--I want you to kill me. Promise!" + +She looked at him with glowing eyes. All the big man's heart melted +into adoring pity. He took her face in both his hands as tenderly as he +would have touched a prize rose bloom. + +"Thank God, you're still a child, dear," he said. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Viviette, by William J. 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Locke + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9924] +[This file was first posted on October 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VIVIETTE *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +VIVIETTE + +BY + +WILLIAM J. LOCKE + +1916 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me"] + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BROTHERS + + II. THE CONSPIRATORS + +III. KATHERINE + + IV. THE FAMOUS DUELLING PISTOLS + + V. A CRISIS + + VI. VIVIETTE TAKES THE RISK + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me" + + "Dick glared at him" + + "He held out imploring hands" + + "I want you to love me forever and ever" + + + +VIVIETTE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BROTHERS + + +"Dick," said Viviette, "ought to go about in skins like a primitive +man." + +Katherine Holroyd looked up from her needlework. She was a gentle, +fair-haired woman of thirty, with demure blue eyes, which regarded the +girl with a mingling of pity, protection, and amusement. + +"My dear," she said, "whenever I see a pretty girl fooling about with a +primitive man I always think of a sweet little monkey I once knew, who +used to have great sport with a lyddite shell. Her master kept it on his +table as a paper-weight, and no one knew it was loaded. One day she hit +the shell in the wrong place--and they're still looking for the monkey. +Don't think Dick is the empty shell." + +Whereupon she resumed her work, and for a few moments the click of +thimble and needle alone broke the summer stillness. Viviette lay idly +on a long garden chair admiring the fit of a pair of dainty tan shoes, +which she twiddled with graceful twists of the ankles some five feet +from her nose. At Mrs. Holroyd's remark she laughed after the manner of +one quite contented with herself--a low, musical laugh, in harmony with +the blue June sky and the flowering chestnuts and the song of +the thrushes. + +"My intentions with regard to Dick are strictly honourable," she +remarked. "We've been engaged for the last eleven years, and I still +have his engagement ring. It cost three-and-sixpence." + +"I only want to warn you, dear," said Mrs. Holroyd. "Anyone can see that +Dick is in love with you, and if you don't take care you'll have Austin +falling in love with you too." + +Viviette laughed again. "But he has already fallen! I don't think he +knows it yet; but he has. It's great fun being a woman, isn't it, dear?" + +"I don't know that I've ever found it so," Katherine replied with a +sigh. She was a widow, and had loved her husband, and her sky was still +tinged with grey. + +Viviette, quick to catch the sadness in the voice, made no reply, but +renewed the contemplation of her shoe-tips. + +"I'm afraid you're an arrant little coquette," said Katherine +indulgently. + +"Lord Banstead says I'm a little devil," she laughed. + +If she was in some measure a coquette she may be forgiven. What woman +can have suddenly revealed to her the thrilling sense of her sex's +mastery over men without snatching now and then the fearful joy of +using her power? She was one-and-twenty, her heart still unawakened, and +she had returned to her childhood's home to find men who had danced her +on their knees bending low before her, and proclaiming themselves her +humble vassals. It was intoxicating. She had always looked up to Austin +with awe, as one too remote and holy for girlish irreverence. And now! +No wonder her sex laughed within her. + +Until she had gone abroad to finish her education, she had lived in that +old, grey manor-house, that dreamed in the sunshine of the terrace below +which she was sitting, ever since they had brought her thither, an +orphaned child of three. Mrs. Ware, her guardian, was her adopted +mother; the sons, Dick and Austin Ware, her brothers--the engagement, +when she was ten and Dick one-and-twenty, had hardly fluttered the +fraternal relationship. She had left them a merry, kittenish child. She +had returned a woman, slender, full-bosomed, graceful, alluring, with a +maturity of fascination beyond her years. Enemies said she had gipsy +blood in her veins. If so, the infusion must have taken place long, long +ago, for her folks were as proud of their name as the Wares of Ware +House. But, for all that, there was a suggestion of the exotic in the +olive and cream complexion, and the oval face, pointing at the dimpled +chin; something of the woodland in her lithe figure and free gestures; +in her swimming, dark eyes one could imagine something fierce and +untamable lying beneath her laughing idleness. Katherine Holroyd called +her a coquette, Austin whatever the whim of a cultured fancy suggested, +and Lord Banstead a little devil. As for Dick, he called her nothing. +His love was too great; his vocabulary too small. + +Lord Banstead was a neighbour who, in the course of three months, had +proposed several times to Viviette. + +"I'm not very much to look at," he remarked on the first of these +occasions--he was a weedy, pallid youth of six-and-twenty--"and the +title's not very old, I must admit. Governor only a scientific Johnnie, +Margetson, the celebrated chemist, you know, who discovered some beastly +gas or other and got made a peer--but I can sit with the other old +rotters in the House of Lords, you know, if I want. And I've got enough +to run the show, if you'll keep me from chucking it away as I'm doing. +It'd be a godsend if you'd marry me, I give you my word." + +"Before I have anything to do with you," replied Viviette, who had heard +Dick express his opinion of Lord Banstead in forcible terms, "you'll +have to forswear sack, and--and a very big AND--" + +Lord Banstead, not being learned in literary allusions, looked +bewildered. Viviette laughed. + +"I'll translate if you like. You'll have to give up unlimited champagne +and whiskey and lead an ostensibly respectable life." + +Whereupon Lord Banstead called her a little devil and went off in +dudgeon to London and took golden-haired ladies out to supper. When he +returned to the country he again offered her his title, and being +rejected a second time, again called her a little devil, and went back +to the fashionable supper-room. A third and a fourth time he executed +this complicated manoeuvre; and now news had reached Viviette that he +was in residence at Farfield, where he was boring himself exceedingly in +his father's scientific library. + +"I suppose he'll be coming over to-day," said Viviette. + +"Why do you encourage him?" asked Katherine. + +"I don't," Viviette retorted. "I snub him unmercifully. If I am a +coquette it's with real men, not with the by-product of a chemical +experiment." + +Katherine dropped her work and her underlip, and turned reproachful blue +eyes on the girl. + +"Viviette!" + +"Oh, she's shocked! Saint Nitouche is shocked!" Then, with a change of +manner, she rose and, bending over Katherine's chair, kissed her. "I'm +sorry, dear," she said, in pretty penitence. "I know it was an +abominable and unladylike thing to say, but my tongue sometimes runs +away with my thoughts. Forgive me." + +At that moment a man dressed in rough tweeds and leggings, who had +emerged from the stable side of the manor-house, crossed the terrace, +and, descending the steps, walked over the lawn towards the two ladies. +He had massive shoulders and a thick, strong neck, coarse reddish hair, +and a moustache of a lighter shade. Blue eyes looked with a curious +childish pathos out of a face tanned by sun and weather. He slouched +slightly in his gait, like the heavy man accustomed to the saddle. This +was Dick Ware, the elder of the brothers and heir to fallen fortunes, +mortgaged house and lands, and he gave the impression of failure, of a +man who, in spite of thews and sinews, had been unable to grapple with +circumstance. + +Viviette left Katherine to her needlework, and advanced to meet him. At +her spontaneous act of welcome a light came into his eyes. He removed +from his lips the short corn-cob pipe he was smoking. + +"I've just been looking at the new mare. She's a beauty. I know I +oughtn't to have got her, but she was going dirt cheap--and what can a +man do when he's offered a horse at a quarter its value?" + +"Nothing, my dear Dick, save pay four times as much as he can afford." + +"But we had to get a new beast," he argued seriously. "We can't go about +the country in a donkey-cart. If I hadn't bought one, Austin would, for +the sake of the family dignity--and I do like to feel independent of +Austin now and then." + +"I wish you were entirely independent of Austin," said Viviette, walking +with him up the lawn. + +"I can't, so long as I stay here doing nothing. But if I went out to +Canada or New Zealand, as I want to do, who would look after my mother? +I'm tied by the leg." + +"I'd look after mother," said Viviette. "And you'd write me nice long +letters, saying how you were getting on, and I would send you nice +little bulletins, and we should all be very happy." + +"Do you want to get rid of me, Viviette?" + +"I want you to have your heart's desire." + +"You know what my heart's desire is," he said unsteadily. + +"Why, to raise sheep or drive cattle, or chop down trees in the +backwoods," she replied, lifting demure eyebrows. "Oh, Dick, don't be +foolish. See--there's mother just come out." + +With a light laugh she escaped and ran up the steps to meet an old lady, +rather infirm, who, with the aid of a stick, was beginning to take her +morning walk up and down the terrace. Dick followed her moodily. + +"Good morning, mother," said he, bending down to kiss her. + +Mrs. Ware put up her cheek, and received the salute with no great show +of pleasure. + +"Oh, how you smell of tobacco smoke, Dick. Where's Austin? Please go and +find him. I want to hear what he has to say about the stables." + +"What can he say, mother?" + +"He can advise us and help us to put the muddle right," said Mrs. Ware. + +These stables had been a subject of controversy for some time. The old +ones having fallen into disgraceful disrepair, Dick had turned architect +and erected new ones himself. As shelters for beasts, they were +comparatively sound; as appanages to an Elizabethan manor-house, they +were open to adverse criticism. Austin, who had come down from London a +day or two before to spend his Whitsuntide holiday at home, had promised +his mother to make inspection and report. + +"But what does Austin know about stables?" Viviette asked, as soon as +Dick had slouched away in search of his brother. + +"Austin knows about everything, my dear," replied the old lady +decisively. "Not only is Austin a brilliantly clever man, but he's a +successful barrister, and a barrister's business is to know all about +everything. Give me your arm, dear, and let us walk up and down a +little till they come." + +Presently Dick returned with Austin, whom he had found smoking a cigar +in a very meditative manner in front of the stables. Dick's face was +gloomy, but Austin's was bright, as he came briskly up and, cigar in +hand, stooped to his mother. She put her arms round his neck, kissed him +affectionately, and inquired after his sleep and his comfort and the +quality of his breakfast. + +"Doesn't Austin smell of tobacco smoke, mother?" asked Dick. + +"Austin," replied Mrs. Ware, "has a way of smoking and not smelling of +it." + +Austin laughed gaily. "I believe if I fell into a pond you'd say I had a +way of coming up dry." + +Dick turned to Viviette, and muttered with some bitterness: "And if I +fell into a dry ditch she'd say I came up slimy." + +Viviette, touched by pity, raised a bewitching face. "Dry or slimy, you +would be just the same dear old Dick," she whispered. + +"And what about the stables?" asked Mrs. Ware. + +"Oh, they're not bad. They're rather creditable; but," Austin added, +turning with a laugh to his brother, "the mother will fidget, you know, +and the somewhat--let us say rococo style of architecture has got on her +nerves. I think the whole thing had better come down, don't you?" + +"If you like," said Dick gruffly. He had given way to Austin all his +life. What was the use of opposing him now? + +"Good. I'll send young Rapson, the architect, along to make a design. +Don't you worry, old chap, I'll see it through." + +Young, brisk, debonair, flushed with success and the sense of the +mastery of life, he did not notice the lowering of Dick's brows, which +deepened into almost a scowl when he turned frankly admiring eyes on +Viviette, and drew her into gay, laughing talk, nor did he catch the +hopelessness in the drag of Dick's feet as he went off to gaze +sorrowfully at the fallen pride of his heart, the condemned stables. + +But Viviette who knew, as Austin did not, of Dick's disappointment, soon +broke away and joined him in front of the amorphous shed of timber. She +took him by the arm. + +"Come for a stroll in the orchard." + +He suffered himself to be led through the stable-yard gate. She talked +to him of apple blossoms. He listened for some time in silence. Then he +broke out. + +"It's an infernal shame," said he. + +"It is," said Viviette. "But you needn't put on such a glum face when +I'm here especially to comfort you. If you're not glad to see me I'll go +back to Austin. He's much more amusing than you." + +"I suppose he is. Yes, go back to him. I'm a fool. I'm nobody. No, +don't, Viviette; forgive me," he cried, catching her as she turned away +somewhat haughtily. "I didn't mean it, but things are getting beyond my +endurance." + +Viviette seated herself on a bench beneath the apple blossoms. + +"What things?" + +"Everything. My position. Austin's airy ways." + +"But that's what makes him so charming." + +"Yes, confound him. My ways are about as airy as a hippopotamus's. Look +here, Viviette. I'm fond of Austin, God knows--but all my life he has +been put in front of me. He has had all the chances; I've had none. With +my father when he was alive, with my mother, it has always been Austin +this and Austin that. He was the head of the school when I, the elder, +was a lout in the lower fourth. He had a brilliant University career and +went into the world and is making a fortune. I'm only able to ride and +shoot and do country things. I've stuck here with only this mortgaged +house belonging to me and the hundred or so a year I get out of the +tenants. I'm not even executor under my father's will. It's Austin. +Austin pays mother the money under her marriage settlement. If things go +wrong Austin is sent for to put them right. It never seems to occur to +him that it's my house. Oh, of course I know he pays the interest on the +mortgage and makes my mother an allowance--that's the humiliation +of it." + +He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, staring +at the grass. + +"But surely you could find some work to do, Dick?" + +He shrugged his great shoulders. "They stuck me once in an office in +London. I suffocated and added up things wrong and told the wrong lies +to the wrong people, and ended up by breaking the junior +partner's head!" + +"You had some satisfaction out of it, at any rate," laughed Viviette. + +A faint reminiscent smile crossed his face. "I suppose I had. But it +didn't qualify me for a successful business career. No. I might do +something in a new country. I must get away from this. I can't stand it. +But yet--as I've told you all along, I'm tied--hand and foot." + +"And so you're very miserable, Dick." + +"How can I help it?" + +Viviette edged a little away from him, and said, rather resentfully: + +"I don't call that polite, seeing that I have come back to live with +you." + +He turned on her with some fierceness. "Don't you see that your being +here makes my life all the more impossible? How can I be with you day +after day without loving you, hungering for you, wanting you, body and +soul? I've never given a thought to another woman in my life. You're my +heart's blood, dear. I want to hold you so tight in my arms that not the +ghost of another man can ever come between us. You know it." + +Viviette shredded an apple blossom that had fallen into her lap. The +fingers that held the petal tingled, and a flush rose in her cheek. + +"I do know it," she said in a low voice. "You're always telling me. But, +Dick"--she flashed a mischievous glance at him--"while you're holding +me--although it would be very nice--we should starve." + +"Then let us starve," he cried vehemently. + +"Oh, no. Oh, most decidedly no. Starvation would be so unbecoming. I +should get to be a fright--a bundle of bones and a rundle of skin--and +you'd be horrified--I couldn't bear it." + +"If you would only say you cared a scrap for me it would be easier," he +pleaded. + +"I should have thought it would be harder." + +"Anyhow, say it--say it this once--just this once." + +She bent her head to hide a smile, and said in a voice adorably soft: + +"Dick, shut your eyes." + +"Viviette!" he cried, with sudden hope. + +"No. Shut your eyes. Turn round. Now tell me," she continued, when he +had turned obediently, "just what I've got on. No!" she held him by the +shoulders, "you're not to move." + +Now, she was wearing a white blouse and a blue skirt and tan shoes, and +a yellow rose was pinned at her bosom. + +"What dress am I wearing?" + +"A light-coloured thing," said Dick. + +"And what's it trimmed with?" + +"Lace," said the unfortunate man. Lace indeed! + +"And what coloured boots?" + +"Black," said Dick, at a venture. + +"And what flower?" + +"I don't know--a pink rose, I think." + +She started up. "Look," she cried gaily. "Oh, Dick! I'll never marry you +till you have the common decency to look at me--never! never! never! I +dressed myself this beautiful morning just to please you. Oh, Dick! +Dick, you've lost such a chance." + +She stood with her hands behind her back regarding him mockingly, as Eve +in the first orchard must have regarded Adam when he was more dull and +masculine than usual--when, for instance, she had attired herself in +hybiscus flowers which he took for the hum-drum, everyday fig-leaves. + +"I'm a born duffer," said Dick pathetically. "But your face is all that +I see when I look at you." + +"That's all very pretty," she retorted. "But you ought to see more. Now +let us talk sense. Mind, if I sit on that bench again you're to +talk sense." + +Dick sighed. "Very well," said he. + +That was the history of all his love-making. She drew him on to +passionate utterance, and then, with a twist of her wit and a twirl of +her skirts, she eluded him. When she had thus put herself out of his +reach, he felt ashamed. What right had he, dull, useless, lumbering, +squiredomless squire, to ask a woman like Viviette to marry him? How +could he support a wife? As it was, he lived a pensioner on Austin's +bounty. Could he ask Austin to feed his wife and family as well? This +thought, which always came to him as soon as his passion was checked, +filled him with deep humiliation. Viviette had reason on her side when +she said, "Let us talk sense." + +He glowered at his fate, and tugged his tawny moustache for some time in +silence. Then Viviette began to talk to him prettily of things that +made up his country interests, his dogs, the garden, the personalities +of the country-side. Soon she had him laughing, which pleased and +flattered her, as it proved her power over the primitive man. Indeed, at +such moments, she felt very tenderly towards him, and would have liked +to pat his cheeks and crown him with flowers, thus manifesting her +favour by dainty caresses. But she refrained, knowing that primitive men +are too dense to interpret such demonstrations rightly, and limited +herself to less compromising words. + +"I am going to tell you a secret," he said at last, in a shamefaced way. +"You mustn't laugh at me--promise me you won't." + +"I promise," said Viviette solemnly. + +"I am thinking of going in for local politics--Rural District Council, +you know." + +Viviette nodded her head approvingly. "A village Hampden--in Tory +clothing?" + +"They're running things on party lines down here. The influence of +Westhampton is Radical, and fills the Council with a lot of outsiders. +So they've got together a Conservative Committee, and are going to run a +good strong man for a vacancy. I've given them to understand that I'll +be a candidate if they'll have me. I'd like to be one. It's a rubbishy +thing, dear, but somehow it would give me a little interest in life." + +"I don't think it a rubbishy thing at all," said Viviette. "A country +gentleman ought to have a hand in rural administration. I do hope you'll +get in. When will you know that the committee have selected you?" + +"There's a meeting this evening. I ought to know to-night or to-morrow +morning." + +"Are you very keen on it?" + +"Very," said Dick. And he added proudly, "It was my own idea." + +"But you're not as keen on that as on going abroad?" + +"Ah, that!" said Dick. "That, bar one, is the dearest wish of my heart. +And who knows--it might enable me to carry out the other." + +The sound of a gong within the house floated through the still June air. +Viviette rose. "I must tidy myself for lunch." + +They walked to the house together. On parting she put out both her +hands. + +"Do be reasonable, Dick, and don't look for slights in what you call +Austin's airy ways. He is awfully fond of you, and would not hurt you +for the world." + +At the luncheon table, however, Austin did hurt him, in utter +unconsciousness, by his gay command of the situation, his eager talk +with Viviette of things Dick did not understand, places he had not +visited, books he had never read, pictures he had never seen. It was +heartache rather than envy. He did not grudge Austin his scholarship and +brilliance. But his soul sank at the sight of Austin and Viviette moving +as familiars in a joyous world as remote from him as Neptune. Mrs. Ware +kept Katherine Holroyd engaged in mild talk of cooks and curates, while +the other two maintained their baffling conversation, half banter, half +serious, on a bewildering number of topics, and poor Dick remained as +dumb as the fish and cutlets he was eating. He sat at the head of the +table, Mrs. Ware at the foot. On his right hand sat Katherine Holroyd, +on his left Viviette, and between her and his mother was Austin. With +Viviette talking to Austin and Mrs. Ware to Katherine, he felt lonely +and disregarded in a kind of polar waste of snowy tablecloth. Once +Katherine, escaping from Mrs. Ware's platitudinous ripple, took pity on +him, and asked him when he was going to redeem his promise and show her +his collection of armour and weapons. Dick brightened. This was the only +keen interest he had in life outside things of earth and air and stream. +He had inherited a good family collection, and had added to it +occasionally, as far as his slender means allowed. He had read deeply, +and understood his subject. + +"Whenever you like, Katherine," he said. + +"This afternoon?" + +"I'm afraid they want polishing up and arranging. I've got some new +things which I've not placed. I've rather neglected them lately. Let us +say to-morrow afternoon. Then they'll all be spick and span for you." + +Katherine assented. "I've been down here so often and never seen them," +she said. "It seems odd, considering the years we've known each other." + +"I only took it up after father's death," said Dick. "And since then, +you know, you haven't been here so very often." + +"It was only the last time that I discovered you took an interest an the +collection. You hid your light under a bushel. Then I went to London and +heard that you were a great authority on the subject." + +Dick's tanned face reddened with pleasure. + +"I do know something about it. You see, guns and swords and pistols are +in my line. I'm good at killing things. I ought to have been a soldier, +only I couldn't pass examinations, so I sort of interest myself in the +old weapons and do my killing in imagination." + +"You give a regular lecture, don't you?" + +"Well, you know," said Dick modestly, "a lot of them are historical. +There's a mace used by a bishop, an ancestor of ours. He couldn't wield +a sword in battle, so he cottoned on to that, and in order to salve his +conscience before using it he would cry out 'Gare! gare!'--and they say +that's what our name comes from--see? 'Ware--Ware.' He was the founder +of our family--though, of course, he oughtn't to have been. And then we +have the duelling pistols my great-grandfather shot Lord Estcourt with. +They're beautiful things--in the case just as he left it after the duel, +with powder, balls, and caps, all complete. It's a romantic story--" + +"My dear Dick," interposed Mrs. Ware, with fragile, uplifted hand, +"please don't offend us with these horrible family scandals. Katharine, +dear, are you going to the vicar's garden party this afternoon? If you +are, will you take a message to Mrs. Cook?" + +So Katherine being monopolized, Dick was silenced, and as Austin and +Viviette were talking in a lively but unintelligible way about a thing, +or a play, or a horse called Nietzsche, he relapsed into the heavy, +full-blooded man's animal enjoyment of his food and the sensitive's +consciousness of heartache. + +When the ladies had left the table and the coffee had been brought in, +and the men's cigars were lit, Austin said: + +"What a magnificently beautiful creature she has grown into." + +"Whom do you mean?" asked Dick. + +"Why, Viviette, of course. She's the most fascinating thing I've come +across for years." + +"Do you think so?" said Dick shortly. + +"Don't you?" + +Dick shrugged his shoulders. Austin laughed. + +"What a stolid old beggar you are. To you, she's just the same little +girl that used to run about here in short frocks. If she were a horse +you'd have a catalogue yards long of her points." + +"But as she's a lady," said Dick, tugging his moustache, "I don't care +to catalogue them." + +Austin laughed again. "Fairly scored!" He raised his cup to his lips, +took a sip, and set it down again. + +"Why on earth," said he with some petulance, "can't mother give us +decent coffee?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CONSPIRATORS + + +Dick went heavy-hearted to bed that night, pronouncing himself to be the +most abjectly miserable of God's creatures, and calling on Providence to +remove him speedily from an unsympathetic world. He had said good night +to the ladies at eleven o'clock when the three went upstairs to bed, and +had forthwith gone to spend the rest of the evening in the friendly +solitude of his armoury. Emerging thence an hour later into the hall, he +had come upon a picturesque, but heart-rending, spectacle. There, on the +third step of the grand staircase, stood Viviette, holding in one hand a +candle, and extending the other regally downwards to Austin, who, with +sleek head bent, was pressing it to his lips. In the candle-light her +hair threw disconcerting shadows over her elfin face, and her great eyes +seemed to glow with a magical intensity that poor Dick had never seen in +them before. As soon as he had appeared she had broken into her low +laugh, drawn away her hand from Austin, and, descending the steps, +extended it in much the same regal manner to Dick. + +"Good night again, Dick," she said sweetly. "Austin and I have been +having a little talk." + +But he had disregarded the hand, and, with a gruff "Good night," had +returned to his armoury, slamming the door behind him. There he had +nourished his wrath on more whiskey and soda than was good for him, and +crawled upstairs in the small hours to miserable sleeplessness. + +This was the beginning of Dick's undoing, the gods (abetted by Viviette) +employing their customary procedure of first driving him mad. But +Viviette was not altogether a guilty abettor. Indeed, all day long, she +had entertained high notions of acting fairy godmother, and helping Dick +along the road to fortune and content. He himself, she learned, had +taken no steps to free himself from his present mode of life. He had not +even confided in Austin. Viviette ran over the list of her influential +friends. There was Lady Winsmere, a dowager countess of seventy, +surrounded by notabilities, at whose house she stayed now and then in +London. On the last occasion an Agent-General for one of the great +Colonies had sat next her at dinner. Then there was her friend Mrs. +Penderby, whose husband gathered enormous wealth in some mysterious way +in Mark Lane. Why should she not go up to London and open a campaign on +Dick's behalf, secure him an appointment, and come back flourishing it +before his dazzled and delighted eyes? The prospect was enchanting. The +fairy godmother romance of it fascinated her girlish mind. But first +she must clear the ground at home. There must be no opposition from +Austin. He must be her ally. + +When a woman gets an idea like this into her head she must execute it, +as the Americans say, right now. A man waits, counts up all the +barriers, and speculates on the strength and courage of the lions in the +path--but a woman goes straight forward, and does not worry about the +lions till they bite her. Viviette resolved to speak to Austin at once; +but, owing to a succession of the little ironies of circumstance, she +found no opportunity of doing so all the afternoon or evening. It was +only when, standing at the top of the stairs, she had seen Dick go off +to the armoury, and Austin return to the drawing-room--for the men had +bidden the ladies good night in the hall--that she saw her chance. She +went downstairs and opened the drawing-room door. + +"I don't want to go to bed after all. Do you think you can do with me a +little longer?" + +"A great deal longer," he said, drawing a chair for her, and arranging +the shade of a lamp so that the light should not shine full in her eyes. +"I was just thinking how dull the room looked without you--as if all the +flowers had suddenly been taken away." + +"I suppose I am decorative," she said blandly. + +"You're bewitching. What instinct made you choose that shade of pale +green for your frock? If I had seen it in the pattern I should have said +it was impossible for your colouring. But now it seems to be the only +perfect thing you could wear." + +She laughed her little laugh of pleasure, and thanked him prettily for +the compliment. They bandied gay words for a while. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you have come down--even for this short visit," said +Viviette at last. "I was pining for talk, for wit, for a breath of the +great world beyond these sleepy meadows. You bring all that with you." + +Austin leaned forward. "How do you know I'm not bringing even more?" + +The girl's eyes drooped before his gaze. Then she fluttered a glance at +him in which there was a gleam of mockery. + +"You bring the most valuable gift of all--appreciation of my frocks. I +love people to notice them. Now Dick is frock-blind. Why is that?" + +"He's a dear old duffer," said Austin. + +"I don't think he's happy," said Viviette, who, in her feminine way, had +worked round to the subject of the interview. + +"He did seem rather cut up about the stables," Austin admitted. "But the +things are an eyesore, and mother was worrying herself to death +about them." + +"It isn't only the stables," said Viviette. "Dick is altogether +discontented." + +Austin looked at her in amazement. "Discontented?" + +"He wants something to do." + +"Nonsense," he laughed, with the air of a man certain of his facts. +"He's as happy as a king here. He shoots and hunts--looks after the +place--runs the garden and potters about in his armoury--in fact, does +just what he likes all day long. He goes to bed without a care sharing +his pillow, and, when he wakes up, gets into comfortable country clothes +instead of a tight-fitting suit of responsibilities. For a man of his +tastes he leads an ideal existence." + +He threw away the end of the cigarette he was smoking, as though to say +that the argument was finished. But Viviette regarded him with a +smile--the smile of woman's superior wisdom. How astonishingly little he +knew of Dick! + +"Do you really think there is one contented being on earth?" she asked. +"Even I know better than that." + +Austin maintained that Dick ought to be contented. + +"Dependent for practically all he has on you?" + +"I've never let him feel it," he said quickly. + +"He does, though. He wants to get away--to earn his own living--make a +way for himself." + +"That's the first I've heard of it," said Austin, genuinely surprised. +"I really thought he was perfectly contented here. Of course, now and +then he's grumpy--but he always has had fits of grumpiness. What kind of +work does he want?" + +"Something to do with sheep or cattle--in Arizona or New Zealand--the +place doesn't matter--any open-air life." + +Austin lit another cigarette and walked about the room. He was a man of +well-regulated habits, and did not like being taken unawares. Dick +ought to have told him. Then there was their mother. Who would look +after her? Dick was a dispensation of Providence. + +"Perhaps I might be a deputy dispensation, mightn't I?" said Viviette. +"I don't think mother is so desperately attached to Dick as all that. It +could be arranged somehow or other. And Dick is growing more and more +wretched about it every day. Every day he pours out his woes to me till +I can almost howl with misery." + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"Not to stand in his way if he gets a chance of going abroad." + +"Of course I won't," cried Austin eagerly. "It never entered my head +that he wanted to go away. I would do anything in the world for his +happiness, poor old chap. I love Dick very deeply. In spite of his huge +bulk and rough ways there's something of the woman in him that makes one +love him." + +They catalogued Dick's virtues, and then Viviette unfolded her scheme. +One or other of the powerful personages whom, in her young confidence, +she proposed to attack, would surely know of some opening abroad. + +"Even humble I sometimes hear of things," said Austin. "Only a day or +two ago old Lord Overton asked me if I knew of a man who could manage a +timber forest he's got in Vancouver--" + +Viviette jumped up and clapped her hands. + +"Why, that's the very thing for Dick!" she cried exultingly. + +"God bless my soul!" said Austin. "So it is. I never thought of it." + +"If you get it for him I'll thank you in the sweetest way possible." She +glanced at him swiftly, under her eyelids. "I promise you I will." + +"Then I'll certainly get it," replied Austin. + +Austin then went into details. Lord Overton wanted a man of +education--a gentleman--one who could ride and shoot and make others +work. He would have to superintend the planting and the cutting and the +transportation of timber, and act as agent for the various farms Lord +Overton possessed in the wide district. The salary would be L700 a year. +The late superintendent had suddenly died, and Lord Overton wanted a man +to go out at once and fill his place. If only he had thought of Dick! + +"But you're thinking of him now. It can't be too late--men with such +qualifications aren't picked up at every street corner." + +"That's quite true," said Austin. "And as for my recommendation," he +added in his confident way, "Lord Overton and I are on such terms that +he would not hesitate to give the appointment to a brother of mine. I'll +write at once." + +"And we'll say nothing to Dick until we've got it all in black and +white." + +"Not a word," said he. + +Then they burst out laughing like happy conspirators, and enjoyed +beforehand the success of their plot. + +"The old place will be very strange without him," said Austin. + +A shadow passed over Viviette's bright face. The manor-house would +indeed be very lonely. Her occupation as Dick's liege lady, confidante, +and tormentor would be gone. Parting from him would be a wrench. There +would be a dreadful scene at the last moment, in which he would want to +hold her tight in his arms and make her promise to join him in +Vancouver. She shivered a little; then tossed her head as if to throw +off the disturbing thoughts. + +"Don't let us look at the dismal side of things. It's selfish. All we +want is Dick's happiness." She glanced at the clock and started up. +"It's midnight. If Katherine knew I was here she would lecture me." + +"It's nothing very dreadful," he laughed. "Nor is Katherine's lecture." + +"I call her Saint Nitouche--but she's a great dear, isn't she? Good +night." + +He accompanied her to the foot of the stairs and lit her candle. On the +third stair she paused. + +"Remember--in all this it's I who am the fairy godmother." + +"And I," said Austin, "am nothing but the fairy godmother's humble and +devoted factotum." He took the hand which she extended and, bending over +it, kissed it gallantly. + +Then by unhappy chance out came Dick from the armoury, and beheld the +spectacle which robbed him of his peace of mind. + +The next morning, when Dick came down gloomily to breakfast, she was +very gentle with him, and administered tactfully to his wants. She +insisted on going to the sideboard and carving his cold ham, of which he +ate prodigious quantities after a hot first course, and when she put the +plate before him laid a caressing touch on his shoulder. She neglected +Austin in a bare-faced manner, and drew Dick into reluctant and then +animated talk on his prize roses and a setter pup just recovering from +distemper. After the meal she went with him round the garden, inspected +both roses and puppy, and manifested great interest in a trellis he was +constructing for the accommodation later in the summer of some climbing +cucumbers, at present only visible as modest leaves in flower-pots. +Neither made any reference to the little scene of the night before. +Morning had brought to Dick the conviction that in refusing her hand and +slamming the door he had behaved in an unpardonably bearish manner; and +he could not apologise for his behaviour unless he confessed his +jealousy of Austin, which, in all probability, would have subjected him +to the mocking ridicule of Viviette--a thing which, above all others, he +dreaded, and against which he knew himself to be defenceless. Viviette, +too, found silence golden. She knew perfectly well why Dick had slammed +the door. An explanation would have been absurd. It would have +interfered with her relations with Austin, which were beginning to be +exciting. But she loved Dick in her heart for being a bear, and evinced +both her compunction and her appreciation in peculiar graciousness. + +"You've never asked me to try the new mare," she said. "I don't think it +a bit kind of you." + +"Would you care to?" he asked eagerly. + +"Of course I should. I love to see you with horses. You and the trap and +the horse seem to be as much one mechanism as a motor-car." + +"I can make a horse do what I want," he said, delighted at the +compliment. "We'll take the dog-cart. When will you come? This morning?" + +"Yes--let us say eleven. It will be lovely." + +"I'll have it round at eleven o'clock. You'll see. She's a flyer." + +"So am I," she said with a laugh, and pointed to the front gate, which a +garden lad had just run to open to admit a young man on horseback. + +"Oh, lord! it's Banstead," said Dick with a groan. + +"Au revoir--eleven o'clock," said Viviette, and she fled. + +Lord Banstead dismounted, gave his horse to the lad, and came up to +Dick. He was an unhealthy, dissipated-looking young man, with lustreless +eyes, a characterless chin, and an underfed moustache. He wore a light +blue hunting stock, fastened by a ruby fox in full gallop, and a round +felt hat with a very narrow flat brim, beneath which protruded strands +of Andrew aguecheek hair. + +"Hallo, Banstead," said Dick, not very cordially. + +"Hallo," said the other, halting before the rose-bed, where Dick was +tying up some blooms with bast. He watched him for a moment or two. +Conversation was not spontaneous. + +"Where's Viviette?" he asked eventually. + +"Who?" growled Dick. + +"Rot. What's the good of frills? Miss Hastings." + +"Busy. She'll be busy all the morning." + +"I rather wanted to see her." + +"I don't think you will. You might ring at the front door and send in +your card." + +"I might," said Banstead, lighting a cigar. He had tried this method of +seeing Viviette before, but without success. There was another pause. +Dick snipped off an end of bast. + +"You're up very early," said he. + +"Went to bed so bally sober I couldn't sleep," replied the misguided +youth. "Not a soul in the house, I give you my word. So bored last night +I took a gun and tried to shoot cats. Shot a damn cock pheasant by +mistake, and had to bury the thing in my own covers. If I'm left to +myself to-night I'll get drunk and go out shooting tenants. Come over +and dine." + +"Can't," said Dick. + +"Do. I'll open a bottle of the governor's old port. Then we can play +billiards, or piquet, or cat's-cradle, or any rotten thing you like." + +Dick excused himself curtly. Austin had come down for Whitsuntide, and a +lady was staying in the house. Lord Banstead pushed his hat to the back +of his head. + +"Then what the devil am I to do in this hole of a place?" + +"Don't know," said Dick. + +"You fellows in the country are so unfriendly. In town I never need +dine alone. Anyone's glad to see me. Feeding all by myself in that +dining-room fairly gives me the pip." + +"Then come and dine here," said Dick, unable to refuse a neighbour +hospitality. + +"Right," said Banstead. "That is really like the Samaritan Johnnie. I'll +come with pleasure." + +"Quarter to eight." + +Banstead hesitated. "Couldn't you make it a quarter past?" + +Dick stared. "Alter our dinner hour? You've rather a nerve, haven't you, +Banstead?" + +"I wouldn't suggest it, if we weren't pals," replied the other, grinning +somewhat shamefacedly. "But the fact is I've got an appointment late +this afternoon." The fatuity of vicious and coroneted youth outstripped +his discretion. "There's a devilish pretty girl, you know, at 'The Green +Man' at Little Barton; I don't know whether I can get away in time." + +Dick stuffed his bast in his pocket, and muttered things uncomplimentary +to Banstead. + +"Dinner's at a quarter to eight. You can take it or leave it," said he. + +"I suppose I've jolly well got to take it," said Banstead, unruffled. +"Anything's better than going through dinner from soup to dessert all +alone under the fishy eye of that butling image of a Jenkins. He was +thirty years in my governor's service, and doesn't understand my ways. I +guess I'll have to chuck him." + +A perspiring, straw-hatted postman lurched along the gravel drive with +the morning's post. He touched his hat to Dick, delivered the Manor +House bag into his hands, and departed. + +"I'll sort these in the morning-room," said Dick, moving in the +direction of the house, and Lord Banstead, hoping to see Viviette, +followed at his heels. The control of the family post was one of the few +privileges Dick retained as master of the house. His simple mind still +regarded the receipt and despatch of letters as a solemn affair of life, +and every morning he went through the process of distribution with +ceremonial observance. In the morning-room they found Austin and +Viviette, the former writing in a corner, the latter reading a novel by +the French window that opened on to the terrace. Dick went up to a +table, and, opening the mail-bag, began to sort the letters into various +heaps. Austin greeted Lord Banstead none too warmly, and, with scarcely +an apology, went back to his writing. He disapproved of Banstead, who +was of a type particularly antagonistic to the young, clean, and +successful barrister. When Viviette had informed him of the youth's +presence in the garden, he had exclaimed impatiently: + +"It ought to be somebody's business to go round the world occasionally +with a broom and sweep away spiders like that." + +Viviette, mindful of the invective, received Lord Banstead with a smile +of amusement. As she had two protectors against a fifth proposal of +marriage, she stood her ground. + +"I expected you to come over yesterday," she said. + +"No, did you really?" he exclaimed, a flush rising to his pale cheeks. +"If I had thought that I should have come." + +"You've made up for it by arriving early to-day, at any rate," said +Viviette. + +"And I'm making up for it further by coming to dinner to-night. Dick +asked me," he added, seeing the polite questioning in her eyes. + +"That will be very nice," she said. "You can talk to mother. You see, +Dick talks to Mrs. Holroyd, who is staying with us, Austin talks to me, +so poor mother is left out in the cold. She'll enjoy a nice long talk +with you." + +When Banstead took the chorus out to supper he had the ready repartee of +his kind. In such a case he would have told the lady not to pull his +leg. But the delicate mockery in Viviette's face seemed to forbid the +use of this figure of speech, and as his vocabulary did not readily +allow him to formulate the idea in other terms he said nothing, but +settled his stock, and looked at her adoringly. At last he bent forward, +after a glance at the protectors, and said in a low tone: + +"Come out into the garden. I've something to say to you." + +"Why not say it here?" she replied in her ordinary voice. + +Banstead bit his lip. He would have liked to call her a little devil. +But he reflected that if he did she would be quite capable of repeating +the phrase aloud, somewhat to the astonishment of Dick and Austin, who +might ask for embarrassing explanations. Instead he bent still nearer, +and whispered: + +"I can only say it to you alone. I've been awake all night thinking of +it--give you my word." + +"Wait till to-morrow morning, and by then you may have slept upon it," +she counselled. + +"You'll drive me to drink!" he murmured. + +She rose with a laugh. "In that case I must go. I ought to be labelled +'dangerous.' Don't you think so, Dick? Besides, I'm going for a drive, +and must put on my things. These my letters? Au revoir." And, with a +wave of her hand she left them. + +Banstead lingered by the threshold and took up an illustrated paper. The +maid, in response to Dick's summons, bore away the letters for the rest +of the household. Austin and Dick concerned themselves with their +correspondence, Dick's chiefly consisting of gardeners' catalogues. + +For a while there was silence. It was broken by a loud laugh from +Austin. + +"Dick! I say, Dick! What do you think these village idiots have asked me +to do? To accept their nomination and stand as a Rural District +Councillor! Me!" + +Dick quickly crossed to the table where his brother was sitting. + +"That's my letter, old chap. I must here put it in your heap by mistake. +The invitation is meant for me." + +"You?" laughed Austin. "Why, what do you want to fool about with village +politics for? No. The letter is meant for me right enough." + +"I can't understand it," said Dick. + +Lord Banstead looked up from his paper. + +"That the Rural District Council? I'm on the committee. Had a meeting +yesterday. I'm chairman of the silly rotters." + +"Then your silly rotter of an honorary secretary," cried Dick angrily, +"has sent Austin the letter of invitation that was meant for me." + +"Oh, no, he didn't," said Banstead. "It's all right. They chucked you, +old son. Now I remember. I promised to explain." + +Dick turned aside. "Oh, you needn't explain," he said bitterly. + +"But I must. They had their reasons, you know. They thought they'd +rather have a brainy nobleman like your brother than a good old rotter +like you. You're--" + +"Oh, hold your tongue, Banstead," cried Austin, rising and putting his +hand on Dick's shoulder. "Really, my dear old Dick, you're the right +person to stand. They only thought a lawyer could help them--but I'm far +too busy--of course I decline. I'm deeply pained, Dick, at having hurt +you. I'll write to the committee and point out how much fitter, as a +country gentleman, you are for the duties than I am. They're bound +to ask you." + +Dick swung away passionately, his lips quivering with anger and +mortification beneath his great moustache. + +"Do you think I would accept? I'm damned if I would. Do you expect me to +pick up everything you've thrown in the mud and feel grateful? I'm +damned if I will!" + +He flung out of the room on to the terrace and strode away in a rage. + +"Seems to take it badly," remarked Banstead, looking at his +disappearing figure. "I had better say good-bye." + +"Good-bye," said Austin. And he added, as he accompanied him with grim +politeness to the front gate, "if you exercise the same tact in the +chair as you've done here, your meetings must be a huge success." + +He returned with a shrug of the shoulders to his table in the +morning-room. He was deeply attached to Dick, but a lifelong habit of +regarding him as a good-natured, stupid, and contented giant blinded him +to the storm that was beginning to rage in the other's soul. The +occurrence was unfortunate. It wounded the poor old fellow's vanity. +Banstead's blatant folly had been enough to set any man in a rage. But, +after all, Dick was a common-sense creature, and, recognising that +Austin was in no way to blame, he would soon get over it. Meanwhile, +there was awaiting him the joyful surprise of Vancouver, which would +soon put such petty mortifications out of his head. Thus Austin consoled +himself, and settled down to the serious matters of his correspondence. + +Viviette, coming in later in hat and jacket, found him busily writing. +He looked up at her admiringly as she stood against the background of +light framed by the great French window. + +"Am I presentable?" she asked, with a smile, interpreting his glance. + +"Each modification of your dress makes you seem more bewitching than the +last." + +"I trimmed this hat myself," she said, coming into the room, and +looking at herself in a Queen Anne mirror on the wall. + +"That's why it's so becoming," said Austin. + +She wheeled round on him with a laugh. "You really ought to say +something cleverer than that!" + +"How can I," he replied, "when you drive my wits away?" + +"Poor me," she said. And then, suddenly, "Where's Dick?" + +"What do you want Dick for?" + +"He promised to take me for a drive." She consulted the watch on her +wrist. "It's past eleven now." + +"I'm afraid poor Dick is rather upset. He seems to have been counting on +being nominated to stand for the Rural District Council, and the +imbeciles invited me instead." + +"Oh, how could they?" she cried, smitten with a great pity. "How could +they be so stupid and cruel? I know all about it. He told me yesterday. +He must be bitterly disappointed." + +Austin did not tell her of Lord Banstead's tactful explanation of the +committee's action. He was a fastidious man, and did not care to soil +his mind with the memory of Banstead's existence. If he had described +the scene, the young man's vulgarity, his own attempt at conciliation, +and Dick's passionate outburst--the course of the drama that was shaping +itself might have been altered. But the stars in their courses were +fighting against Dick. Austin only said: + +"If we get him this appointment, it will be ample compensation, anyhow." + +"Please don't say 'if,'" exclaimed Viviette, "we must get it." + +"Unless Lord Overton has already found a man, which is unlikely, owing +to the general suspension of business at Whitsuntide, it's practically +a certainty." + +"When shall we know?" + +"My letter's written and is waiting for the post. If he replies by +return we shall hear the day after to-morrow." + +"That is such a long time to wait. Do you know what to-morrow is?" + +"Wednesday," said Austin. + +"It's Dick's birthday." She clapped her hands at a happy inspiration, +and hung on his arm. "Oh, Austin! If we could only give him the +appointment as a birthday present!" + +Her touch, her fresh charm, the eagerness in her eyes roused him to +unwonted enthusiasm. In his sane moments he did not care a fig for +anybody's birthday. What man ever does? He proclaimed the splendour of +her idea. But how was it to be realised? + +"Send a long prepaid telegram to Lord Overton, of course," said Viviette +triumphantly. (How unresourceful are men!) "Then we can get an +answer to-day." + +"You forget the nearest telegraph office is at Witherby, seven miles +off." + +"But Dick and I are going for a drive. I'll make him go to Witherby and +I'll send the telegram. Write it." + +She drew him in her caressing way to the table, seated him in the chair, +and laid the block of telegram forms before him. He scribbled +industriously, and when he had finished handed her the sheets. + +"There!" + +He fished in his pockets for money, but Viviette checked him. She was +the fairy godmother in this fairy tale, and fairy godmothers always held +the purse. She glanced again at her watch. It was ten minutes +past eleven. + +"Perhaps he's waiting with the trap for me all the time. Au revoir." + +"I'll see you off," said Austin. + +They went together into the hall and opened the front door. The new +mare and the dog-cart in charge of the stable lad were there, but +no Dick. + +"Where's Mr. Ware?" + +"Don't know, miss." + +Then the Devil entered into Viviette. There is no other explanation. The +Devil entered into her. + +"We must get to Witherby and back before lunch. You drive me over +instead of Dick." + +They exchanged glances. Austin was young. He was in love with her. Dick +had committed the unpardonable offence of being late. It would serve +him right. + +"I'll come," said he, disappearing in search of cap and gloves. + +Viviette went into the hall and scribbled a note. + +"Dear Dick,--You're late. Austin and I have the most important business +to transact at Witherby, so he's driving me over. We're preparing a +great surprise for you.--Viviette." + +"Give this to Mr. Ware," she said to the stable boy as she prepared to +get into the dog-cart. + +The boy touched his cap and ran to open the gate. Viviette lightly +mounted by Austin's side. They had just turned into the road when Dick +came racing through the hall and saw them disappear. He walked up the +drive, and met the boy coming down, who handed him the note, with some +words, which he did not hear. He watched the boy out of sight. Then he +tore the note unread into tiny fragments, stamped them furiously into +the mould of the nearest bed, and, flying into his armoury, threw +himself into a chair and cursed the day that ever Austin was born. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +KATHERINE + + +The drive was a memorable one for many reasons. First the new mare flew +along at an exhilarating trot, as if showing off her qualities to her +new masters. Then the morning sunshine flooded the soft, undulating +Warwickshire country, and slanted freshly through the bordering elms in +sweet-scented lanes. Summer flaunted its irresponsible youth in the +faces of matronly, red-brick Manor House, old grey church, and crumbling +cottage, danced about among the crisp green leaves, kissed the wayside +flowers, and tossing up human hearts in sheer gaiety, played the very +deuce with them. The drive also had its altruistic side. They were on an +errand of benevolence. Austin, his mind conscious of nothing but right, +felt the unusual glow of unselfish devotion to another's interests. When +he had awakened that morning he had had misgivings as to the +advisability of sending Dick to another hemisphere. After all, Dick was +exceedingly useful at Ware House, and saved him a great deal of trouble. +An agent would have to be appointed to replace him, whose salary--not a +very large one, in view of the duties to be performed, but still a +salary--would have to be provided out of his, Austin's, pocket. Who, +again, could undertake the permanent care of his mother? Viviette would +stay at home for some little time; but she would be marrying one of +these fine days--a day which Austin had reasons for hoping would not be +very remote. He would have to make Heaven knows what arrangements for +Mrs. Ware and the general upkeep of the Manor House, while he was in +London carrying on his profession. Decidedly, Dick had been a godsend, +and his absence would be a calamity. In sending him out to Vancouver +Austin had all the unalloyed, pure pleasure of self-sacrifice. + +They talked of Dick and Dick's birthday and Dick's happiness most of the +way to Witherby. The telegram despatched, prepaid with the porterage by +Viviette, Austin felt that he had done his duty by his brother, and +deserved some consideration on his own account. And here it was that the +summer began its game with their hearts. On such sportive occasions it +is not so much what is said that matters. A conversation that might be +entirely conventional between comparative strangers in a fog may become +the most romantic interchange of sentiment imaginable between intimates +in the sunshine. There are tones, there are glances, there are +half-veiled allusions, there are--in a dog-cart, especially when it +jolts--thrilling contacts of arm and arm. There is man's undisguised +tribute to beauty; there is beauty's keen feminine appreciation of the +tribute. There is a manner of saying "we" which counts for more than the +casual conjunction of the personalities. + +"This is _our_ day, Viviette," said Austin. "I shall always remember +it." + +"So shall I. We must put a white mark against it in our diaries." + +"With white ink?" + +"Of course. Black would never do, nor red, nor violet." + +"But where shall we get it?" + +"I'll make us some when I get home out of white cloud and lilies and +sunshine and a bit of the blue sky." + +Laughter fluttered through her veins. Yesterday she had teasingly +boasted to Katherine that Austin was in love with her. Now she knew it. +He proclaimed it in a thousand ways. A note of exultation in his laugh, +like that in a blackbird's call, alone proclaimed it. Instinct told her +of harmless words she might use which would bring the plain avowal. But +the hour was too delicate. As yet nothing was demanded. All was given. +Her woman's vanity blossomed deliciously in the atmosphere of a man's +love. Her heart had not yet received the inevitable summons to respond. +She left it, careless in the gay hands of summer. + +When they drew up before the front door of Ware House he lifted her from +the dog-cart and set her laughing on her feet. + +"How strong you are," she cried. + +"I'm not a giant, like Dick," said he, "but I'm strong enough to do what +I like with a bit of a thing like you." + +She entered the hall and glanced at him provokingly over her shoulder. + +"Don't be too sure of that." + +"Whatever I like," he repeated, striding towards her. + +But Viviette laughed, and fled lightly up the stairs, and on the +landing blew him an ironical kiss from her finger tips. + +When Viviette came down for lunch, she found Dick awaiting her in the +hall. With a lowering face he watched her descend and, his hand on the +newel, confronted her. + +"Well?" said he indignantly. + +"Well?" she said, cheerfully smiling. + +"What have you got to say for yourself?" + +"Lots of things. I had a lovely drive. I got through all my business, +and I have a beautiful appetite. I also don't like standing on a stair." + +At her look he drew aside and let her pass into the hall. + +"You promised to drive with me," he said, following her to a chair in +which she sat. "Driving with me is no great catch, perhaps; but a +promise is a promise." + +"You were late," said Viviette. + +"My mother kept me--some silly nonsense about vegetables. You must have +known it was something I couldn't help." + +"I really don't see why you're so angry, Dick," she said, lifting candid +eyes. "I explained why we had gone in my note." + +"I didn't read the note," said Dick wrath-fully. "A thousand notes +couldn't have explained it. I tore the note into little pieces." + +Viviette rose. "If that's the way you treat me," she said, piqued, "I +have nothing more to say to you." + +"It's the way you're treating me," he cried, with a clumsy man's awkward +attempt at gesture. "I know I'm not clever. I know I can't talk to you +as sweetly as other people; but I'm not a dog, and I deserve some +consideration. Perhaps, after all, I might have the brains to jest and +toss about words and shoot off epigrams. I'll try, if you like. Let us +see. Here. A man who entrusts his heart to a woman has a jade for his +banker. That's devilish smart, isn't it. Now then--there must be some +repartee to it. What is it?" + +Viviette looked at him proudly, and moving in the direction of the +morning-room door, said with much dignity: + +"That depends on the way in which the woman you are talking to has been +brought up. My repartee is--good morning." + +Dick, suddenly repentant, checked her. + +"No, Viviette. Don't go. I'm a brute and a fool. I didn't mean it. +Forgive me. I would rather go on the rack than hurt your little finger. +But it maddens me--can't you believe it? It maddens me to see Austin--" + +She broke into a little laugh and smiled dazzlingly on him. + +"I do believe you're jealous!" she interrupted. + +"Good heavens!" he cried passionately. "Haven't I cause? Austin has +everything his heart can desire. He has always had it. I have +nothing--nothing but one little girl I love. Austin, with all the world +at his feet, comes down here, and what chance has a rough yokel like me +against Austin? My God! It's the one ewe lamb." + +He raised his clenched fists and brought them down against his sides and +turned away. The allusion and a consciousness of Vancouver brought a +smile into Viviette's eyes. She had a woman's sense of humour, which is +not always urbane. When he turned to meet her she shook her head +reprovingly. + +"And David put Uriah into the forefront of the battle, and carried off +poor little Bathsheba. No one seemed to have concerned himself with what +Bathsheba thought of it all. Don't you consider she ought to have some +choice in the matter--whether she should follow the sprightly David or +cling to the melancholy Uriah?" + +"Oh, don't jest like that, Viviette," he cried. "It hurts!" + +"I'm sorry, Dick," she said innocently. "But, really, Bathsheba has her +feelings. What am I to do?" + +"Choose, dear, between us. Choose now--in Heaven's name, choose." + +"But, Dick, dear," said Viviette, all that was wickedly feminine in her +shouting her sex's triumph song, "I want a longer time to choose between +two hats!" + +Dick stamped his foot. "Then Austin has been robbing me! I'm growing +desperate, Viviette, tell me now. Choose." + +He seized her arms in his strong hands. She felt a delicious little +thrill of fear. But knowing her strength, she looked up at him with a +childish expression and said plaintively: "Oh, Dick, dear, I'm +so hungry." + +He released her arms. She rubbed them ruefully. "I'm sure you've made +horrid red rings. Fancy choosing a hard, uncomfortable hat like that!" + +He was about to make some rejoinder when the presence of Mrs. Ware and +Katherine Holroyd at the top of the stairs put an end to the encounter. +The victory, such as it was, remained with Viviette. + +At lunch, Austin, his veins still tingling with the summer, laughed and +jested light-heartedly. What a joy it was to get away from stuffy courts +of justice into the pure Warwickshire air. What a joy to drink of the +wine of life. What was that? Only those that drank of the wine +could tell. + +"What about the poor devils that only get the dregs?" muttered Dick. + +Austin declared that the real wine had no dregs. He called his mother +and Katherine Holroyd to witness. Mrs. Ware was not sure. Old port had +to be very carefully decanted. Did he remember the fuss his dear father +used to make about it? She was very glad there was no more left--for +Dick would be sure to drink it and it would go to his head. + +"Or his toes!" cried Viviette. + +When Austin explained Viviette's meaning to his mother, who had not an +allusive habit of mind, she acquiesced placidly. Port was not good for +gouty people. Their poor father suffered severely. Austin listened to +her reminiscences and turned the talk to the drive. It had been more +like driving through Paradise with Pegasus harnessed to Venus's car than +anything else. He must take his mother out and show her what a good +judge of horseflesh was dear old Dick. + +"As she's my mare, perhaps I might have the privilege," said Dick. + +Austin cried out, in all good faith: "My dear old boy, is there anything +especially mine or yours in this house?" + +Katherine, a keen observer, broke quickly into the talk. + +"There's Dick's armoury. That's his own particular and private domain. +You're going to explain it all to me this afternoon, aren't you? You +promised yesterday." + +She drew Dick into talk away from the others. The lecture on the armoury +was fixed for three o'clock, when she would be free from the duty from +which, during her stay at the Manor House, she had freed Viviette, of +postprandial reading of the newspaper to Mrs. Ware. But her interest in +his hobby for once failed to awaken his enthusiasm. The dull jealousy of +Austin, against which his honest soul had struggled successfully all his +life long, had passed beyond his control. These few days of Austin's +Whitsun visit had changed his cosmic view. Petty rebuffs, such as the +matters of the stables and the Rural District Council, which formerly he +would have regarded in the twilight of his mind as part of the +unchangeable order of things in which Austin was destined to shine +resplendently and he to glimmer--Austin the arc-lamp and he the +tallow-dip--became magnified into grievances and insults intolerable. +Esau could not have raged more against Jacob, the supplanter, than did +Dick, when Austin carried off Viviette from beneath his nose. Until this +visit of Austin he had no idea that he would find a rival in his +brother. The discovery was a shock, causing his world to reel and +setting free all the pent-up jealousies and grievances of a lifetime. +Everything he had given up to Austin, if not willingly, at least +graciously, hiding beneath the rough, tanned hide of his homely face all +pain, disappointment, and humiliation. But now Austin had come and +swooped off with his one ewe lamb. Not that Viviette had encouraged him +by more than the real but mocking affection with which she had treated +her bear foster-brother ever since her elfin childhood. In a dim way he +realised this, and absolved her from blame. Less dimly, also, he felt +his mental and social inferiority, his lack of warrant in offering her +marriage. But his great, rugged manhood wanted her, the woman, with an +imperious, savage need which took all the training of civilisation to +repress. Viviette alone in her maidenly splendour, he could have fought +it down. But the vision of another man entering, light-hearted and +debonair, into those precincts maddened him, let loose primitive +instincts of hatred and revenge, and robbed him of all interest in the +toys with which men used to slay each other centuries ago. + +Austin, being nearest the door, opened it for the ladies to pass out. +Viviette, going out last, looked up at him with one of her +witch's glances. + +"Don't be very long," she said, + +Before Austin could resume his seat Dick leaped up. + +"Austin, look here; I've something to say to you." + +"Well?" said Austin. + +Dick pulled out a cigar, bit the end off, and finding that he had +ripped the outer skin, threw it angrily into the fireplace. + +"My dear old boy," said Austin, "what in the name of all that's neurotic +is the matter?" + +"I've something to say to you," Dick repeated. "Something that concerns +myself, my life. I must throw myself on your generosity." + +Austin, his head full of philanthropy, thrust his hands into his pockets +and smiled indulgently on Dick. + +"Don't, old chap, I know all about it. Viviette has told me everything." + +Dick, his head full of passion, staggered in amazement. + +"Viviette has told you?" + +"Of course; why shouldn't she?" + +Dick groped his way to the door. It were better for both that he should +not stay. Austin, left alone, laughed, not unkindly. Dear old Dick! It +was a shame to tease him--but what a different expression his honest +face would wear to-morrow! When the maid brought in his coffee he sipped +it with enjoyment, forgetful for once of its lack of excellence. + +There was one person, however, in the house who saw things clearly; and +the more clearly she saw them the less did they seem satisfactorily +ordered. This was Katherine Holroyd, a sympathetic observer and +everybody's intimate. She had known the family since her childhood, +spent in a great neighbouring house which had now long since passed from +her kin into alien hands. She had known Viviette when she first came, +with her changeling face, a toddling child of three, to the Manor House. +She had grown up with the brothers. Until her marriage the place had +been her second home. Her married life, mostly spent abroad, had +somewhat broken the intimacy. But her widowhood after the first few +hopeless months had renewed it, although her visits were comparatively +rare. On the other hand, her little daintily-furnished London house in +Victoria square was always open to such of the family as happened to be +in town. Now, as Austin was the most frequently in town, seeing that he +lived there all the year round, with the exception of the long vacation +and odd flying visits to Warwickshire, to Austin was her door most +frequently open. A deep affection existed between them, deeper perhaps +than either realised. To be purely brotherly in attitude towards a woman +whom you are fond of and who is not your sister, and to be purely +sisterly in your attitude towards a man whom you are fond of and who is +not your brother, are ideals of spiritual emotion very difficult to +attain in this respectably organised but sex-ridden world. + +During the dark time of her early widowhood it was to Austin's delicate +tact and loyalty that she owed her first weak grasp on life. It was he +that had brought her to a sense of outer things, to a realisation that +in spite of her own grey sky there was still a glory on the earth. He +was her trusted friend, ally, and adviser, who never failed her, and she +contemplated him always with a heart full of somewhat exaggerated +gratitude--which is as far on the road to love as it is given to many +women to travel. + +She had barely reached the top of the hall stairs--on her way to spend +her reading hour with Mrs. Ware, when she saw Dick come out of the +dining-room with convulsed and angry face, the veins standing out on his +thick bull's neck. She felt frightened. Something foolish and desperate +would happen before long. She resolved to give Austin a warning word. +With an excuse to Mrs. Ware she went down again to the dining-room, and +found Austin in the cosiest and sunniest frame of mind imaginable. +Obviously there had been no serious quarrel between the brothers. + +"Can I have a few minutes with you, Austin?" + +"A thousand," he said gaily. "What has gone wrong?" + +"It is nothing to do with me," she said. + +He looked amusedly into her eyes. "I know. It's about Viviette. +Confess." + +"Yes," she replied soberly, "it's about Viviette." + +"You've seen it. I make no bones about it. You can believe the very +worst. I have fallen utterly and hopelessly in love with her. I am at +your mercy." + +This beginning was not quite what Katherine had expected. In his +confident way he had taken matters out of her hands. She had not +anticipated a down-right confession. She felt conscious of a little dull +and wholly reprehensible ache at her heart. She sighed. + +"Aren't you pleased, Katherine?" he asked with a man's selfishness. + +"I suppose I must be--for your sake. But I must also sigh a little. I +knew you would be falling in love sooner or later--only I hoped it would +be later. But _que veux-tu?_ It is the doom of all such friendships." + +"I don't see anything like a doom about it, my dear," said he. "The +friendship will continue. Viviette loves you dearly." + +She took up a peach from a dish to her hand, regarded it for a moment, +absent-mindedly, and delicately replaced it. + +"Our friendship will continue, of course. But the particular essence of +it, the little sentimentality of ownership, will be gone, won't it?" + +Austin rose and bent over Katherine's chair in some concern. "You're not +distressed, Katherine?" + +"Oh, no. You have been such a kind, loyal friend to me during a very +dark and lonely time--brought sunshine into my life when I needed it +most--that I should be a wicked woman if I didn't rejoice at your +happiness. And we have been nothing more than friends." + +"Nothing more," said Austin. + +She was smiling now, and he caught a gleam of mischief in her eyes. + +"And yet there was an afternoon last winter--" + +His face coloured. "Don't throw my wickedness in my face. I remember +that afternoon. I came in fagged, with the prospect of dinner at the +club and a dismal evening over a brief in front of me, and found you +sitting before the fire, the picture of rest and comfortableness and +companionship. I think it was the homely smell of hot buttered toast +that did it. I nearly asked you to marry me." + +"And I had been feeling particularly lonely," she laughed. + +"Would you have accepted me?" + +"Do you think that it is quite a fair question?" + +"We have always been frank with one another since our childhood," said +he. + +She smiled. "Has Viviette accepted you?" + +He broke away from her with a gay laugh, and lit a cigarette. + +"Your feminine subtlety does you credit, Katherine." + +"But has she?" + +"Well, no--not exactly." + +"Will she?" + +He brought his hand down on the table. "By heavens, I'll make her! I've +got most of the things I've wanted during my life, and it'll be odd if I +don't get the thing I want more than all the rest put together. Now +answer my question, my dear Katherine," he continued teasingly. "Would +you have married me?" + +The smile faded from Katherine's face. She could not parry the question +as she had done before, and it probed depths. She said very seriously +and sweetly: + +"I should have done, Austin, as I always shall do, whatever you ask me +to do. I'm glad you didn't ask me--very glad--for the love a woman gives +a man died within me, you know." + +He took her hand and kissed it. + +"My dear," said he, "you are the truest friend that ever man had." + +There was a short pause. Austin looked out of the window and Katherine +wiped away some moisture in her eyes. This scene of sentimentality was +not at all what she had come for. Soon she rose with a determined air +and joined Austin by the window. + +"It was as a true friend that I wanted to speak to you to-day. To warn +you." + +"About what?" + +"About Dick. Austin, he's madly in love with Viviette too." + +Austin stared at her for a moment incredulously. "Dick in love--in love +with Viviette?" Then he broke into a peal of laughter. "My _dear_ +Katherine! Why, it's absurd! It's preposterous! It's too funny." + +"But seriously, Austin." + +"But seriously," he said, with laughing eyes, "such an idea has never +penetrated into old Dick's wooden skull. You dear women are always +making up romance. He and Viviette are on the same old fairy and great +brown bear terms that they have been ever since they first met. She +makes him dance on his hind legs--he wants to hug her--she hits him over +the nose--and he growls." + +"I warn you," said Katherine. "Great brown bears in love are dangerous." + +"But he isn't in love," he argued light-heartedly. "If he were he would +want to stay with Viviette. But he's eating his heart out, apparently, +to leave us all and go and plough fields and herd cattle abroad. The +life he lives here, my good mother's somewhat arbitrary ways, and one +thing and another have at last got on his nerves. I wonder now how the +dear old chap has stood it so long. That's what is wrong with him, not +blighted affection." + +"I can only tell you what I know," said Katherine. "If you won't believe +me, it's not my fault. Keep your eyes open and you will see." + +"And you keep your eyes open to-morrow morning and _you_ will see," he +said, with his bright self-confidence. + +So Katherine sighed at the obtuseness and inconvincibility of man and +went to read the leader in _The Daily Telegraph_ to Mrs. Ware. Austin, +with a smile on his lips, wandered out into the sunshine in search +of Viviette. + +Before they parted, however, Katherine turned by the door. + +"Are you coming to the armoury to hear Dick's lecture?" + +"Of course," said Austin gaily. "The dear old chap loves an audience." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FAMOUS DUELLING PISTOLS + + +Dick's great-grandfather (Wild Dick Ware, as he used to be called by the +country-side), besides other enormities of indiscretion, committed an +architectural crime. Having begun to form the collection of arms which +was Dick's pride and hobby, he felt the need of a fencing gallery where +they could be displayed to advantage. None of the rooms in the house +were suitable. Building a new wing would cost too much. So, like a good +old English gentleman, accustomed to get what he wanted, he ruthlessly +cut off a slice of the nobly proportioned morning-room, containing a +beautifully-mullioned casement at the side, knocked a French window +through one end, so that he could wander in and out from the terrace, +knocked a door through the other so that it opened on a corner of the +hall, forgot all about the fireplace, and left his descendants to make +the best of things. + +This long, narrow, comfortless strip of a room was Dick's armoury, den, +and refuge. It was furnished with extreme simplicity. At the further end +two rusty leather arm-chairs flanked a cast-iron stove in the corner, and +were balanced in the other and darker corner by a knee-hole writing-desk +littered with seeds and bulbs and spurs and bits of fishing tackle, and +equipped for its real purpose with a forbidding-looking pen and inkpot, +and a torn piece of weather-beaten blotting-paper. At about a third of +the way down from the terrace door a great screen, covered with American +cloth, cut the room almost in two. Against this screen stood two suits +of beautifully-finished fifteenth-century Italian armour. Between them +and the further end of the room ran a long deal table, with a green +baize cover. An odd, dilapidated chair or two stood lonely and +disconsolate against the opposite wall. The floor was covered with old +matting and a few faded rugs. The walls, however, and the cases ranged +along them gave an air of distinction to the room. There hung trophies +of arms of all sorts--a bewildering array of spiky stars like the +monstrous decorations on the breast of a Brobdingnagian diplomatist, of +guns and pistols of all ages and nationalities, of halberds, pikes, and +partisans, of curved scimitars, great two-handed swords, and long, +glittering rapiers, with precious hilts. There, too, were coats of chain +mail and great iron gauntlets, and rows of dinted helmets formed a +cornice round the gallery. + +It was Dick's sanctuary, where, according to family tradition, he was +supposed to be immune from domestic attacks. Anyone, it is true, could +open the door and worry him from the threshold, but no one entered +without his invitation. Here he was master. Here he spent solitary hours +dreaming dreams, wrestling with devils, tying trout-flies, making up +medicines for his dogs, and polishing and arranging and rearranging his +armour and weapons. Until the furies got hold of him he was a simple +soul, content with simple things. The happiest times of his life had +been passed here among the inanimate objects which he loved, and here he +was now spending the hours of his greatest agony. + +The words he had just heard from Austin rang like a crazy, deafening +chime through his ears. He sat in one of the old leather chairs, +gripping his coarse hair. It was unthinkable, and yet it was true. +Viviette had told Austin the thing that glowed sacred at the bottom of +his soul. The scene danced vividly before his eyes: the two bright +creatures making a mock of him and his love, laughing merrily at the +trick they had played him, pitying him contemptuously. There was a flame +at his heart, a burning lump in his throat. Mechanically he drew from a +little cupboard near by a bottle of whiskey, a syphon, and a glass. The +drink he mixed and swallowed contained little soda. It increased the +fire in his heart and throat. He paced the long room in crazy +indignation. Every nerve in his body quivered with a sense of +unforgivable insult and deadly outrage. Austin's face loomed before him +like that of a mocking devil. He had hell in his throat, and again he +tossed down a dose of whiskey, and threw himself into the arm-chair. The +daily paper lay on a stool at his hand. He took it up and tried to read, +but the print swam into thin, black smudges. He dashed the paper to the +ground, and gave himself up to his madness. + +After a while he remembered his appointment with Katherine at three +o'clock. He glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to the hour, and, +beyond a cleaning yesterday afternoon, no preparations were made. In an +automatic way he unlocked some cases and drew out his treasures, wiped +the sword-blades tenderly with chamois leather, and laid them on the +long, baize-covered table. Here and there from the cornice he selected a +helmet. The great mace used by his ecclesiastical ancestor he unhooked +from the wall. Soon the table was covered with weapons, selected in a +dazed way, he knew not why. A helmet fell from his hands on the floor +with a ring of steel. Its visor grinned at him--the fool, the tricked, +the supplanted. He kicked it, with a silly laugh. Then he pulled himself +together, picked it up, and examined it in great fear lest harm should +have happened to it. He put it on the table, and in order to steady his +nerves drank another large whiskey and small soda. + +He scanned the table, perplexed. Some accustomed and important exhibit +was not in its place. What was it? He clasped his head in his hands and +strove to clear his mind for a moment from obsession. It was something +historical, something unique, something he had but lately mentioned to +Katherine. Something intimately connected with this very room. At last +memory responded. He placed a chair between the two suits of armour that +stood against the screen and the end of the long table, and, mounting, +took a mahogany case from a shelf. Then he sat on the chair, put the +case on the table, and opened it by means of a small, ornamental key. It +contained a brace of old-fashioned duelling pistols, such as were used +at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They were long-barrelled, +ivory-handled, business-like weapons, provided with miniature ramrods. +The velvet-lined interior of the case was divided into various +compartments, two for the pistols, one for powder-flask, one for +bullets, one for percussion-caps, and one for wads. In his dull, +automatic way, his mind whirling madly in other spheres, he cleaned the +pistols, shook the powder-flask to make certain that powder was still +there--he loved to pour out a few grains into his hand and show the +powder that had remained in the flask for generations, ever since the +pistols were last used--counted the caps, which he had counted many +times before, looked stupidly into the only empty compartment, only to +remember that there never had been any wads, and, finally, grasping one +of the pistols, took aim at a bulb on his writing-desk at the end of +the room. + +He had been tricked, and robbed, and mocked. He could see the scene when +she had told Austin. He could hear Austin's pitiless laughter. He could +picture her mimicking his rough speech. He could picture them, +faithless, heartless, looking into each other's eyes.... Suddenly he +passed his hand over his forehead. Was he going mad? Hitherto he had +heard their voices in the dimness of imagination. Now he heard them loud +in vibrating sound. Was it real or imaginary? He drew deep, +panting breaths. + +"Dick's not here," said Viviette's voice from the terrace. "He has +forgotten." + +"Really, my dear, I don't very much care," Austin replied. "Where you +are, I am happy." + +"I wish that telegram would come. It's quite time. Don't you think we +had better tell Dick to-day?" + +"No, no. To-morrow." + +"After all, what is the good of hiding it from him?" + +A laugh from Austin. "You think we ought to put him out of his misery +at once?" + +It was real! Those two were talking in flesh and blood on the terrace. +They were talking of him. His misery! That had but one meaning. And the +devil laughed! Unconsciously his grip tightened on the butt of the +pistol. He listened. + +"Yes," said Viviette. "It would be kinder." + +"I stick to the birthday idea. It would be more dramatic." + +"The damned villain!" Dick muttered. + +"I want to-day," said Viviette. + +"And I want to-morrow." + +"You speak as if you were my lord and master," said Viviette, in the +mocking tones Dick knew so well. + +"No other man shall be if I can help it." + +The clear, young masterful voice rang down the gallery. Dick slid his +chair noiselessly to the side of the screen which hid him from the +terrace-window, and, bending down low, peered round the edge. He saw +them laughing, flushed, silhouetted against the green, distant trees. +Austin was looking at her with the light of passion in his eyes. She +looked up at him, radiant, elusive, triumphant, with parted lips. + +"Please to remember we were talking of Dick." + +"Confound Dick! In this he doesn't count. I matter. And I'll show you." + +He showed her in the one and only way. She struggled for a second in his +arms, and received his kiss with a little laugh. They had moved to the +far lintel of the door. Dick's world reeled red before his eyes. He +stood up and held the pistol pointed. Damn him! Damn him! He would kill +him. Kill him like a dog. + +Some reflex motion of the brain prompted action. Feverishly he rammed a +charge of powder down the pistol. Wads? A bit of the newspaper lying on +the floor. Then a bullet. Then a wad rammed home. Then the cap. It was +done at lightning speed. Murder, red, horrible murder blazed in his +soul. Damn him! He would kill him. He started into the middle of the +room, just as they walked away, and he sprang to the door and levelled +the pistol. + +Then reaction came. No. Not like a dog. He couldn't shoot his brother +like a dog. His arm fell helplessly at his side. He turned back again +into the room, staggering and knocking himself against the cases by the +walls, like a drunken man. The sweat rolled down his face. He put the +pistol beside the other on the table. For some moments he stood a +hulking statue, shaken as though stricken with earthquake, white-faced, +white-lipped, staring, with crossed, blue eyes, at nothing. At last he +recovered power of motion, drank another whiskey, and replaced bottle, +syphon, and glass in the cupboard. + +He found himself suddenly clear-headed, able to think. He was not in +the least degree drunk. To test himself he took up a sword from the +table, and, getting the right spot, balanced it on his finger. He could +speak, too, as well as anybody. He turned to a long Moorish musket +inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl, and began to describe it. He was +quite fluent and sensible, although his voice sounded remote in his own +ears. He was satisfied. He had his nerves under control. He would go +through the next hour without anyone suspecting the madness that was in +his mind. He was absolutely sober and self-collected. He walked along a +seam of the matting that ran the whole length of the gallery, and did +not deviate from it one hair's breadth. Now he was ready. Perfectly +prepared to deliver his lecture. He sat down and picked up the +newspaper, and the print was clear. "The weather still continues to be +fine over the British Islands. The anti-cyclone has not yet passed away +from the Bay of Biscay...." He read the jargon through to the end. But +it seemed as if it were not he who was reading, but someone else--a +quiet, placid gentleman, deeply versed in the harmless science of +meteorology. Where his real self was he did not know, so he toyed with +the illusion. + +A voice broke on his ear, coming, it seemed, from another world. + +"Dick, may we come in?" + +He rose, saw Katherine, Austin, and Viviette on the threshold. He +invited them to enter, and shook Katherine by the hand, as if he had not +met her for a long time. + +Viviette danced down to the table. "Now, Dick, we're all here. Put on +your most learned, and antiquarian mariner. Ladies and gentlemen, I call +on Mr. Richard Ware to deliver his interesting lecture on the ingenious +instruments men have devised for butchering each other." + +Dick put his hand to his head in a confused way. His real self was +beginning to merge itself into that of the quiet gentleman, and there +was a curious red mist before his eyes. + +"Come on," cried Viviette. "Look at Katherine. Her mouth is watering for +tales of bloodshed." + +Dick could not remember his usual starting-point. He stared stupidly at +the table for a moment; then picked up a weapon at random, and made a +great effort. + +"This is a Toledo sixteenth-century sword--reported to have belonged to +Cosmo de Medici. You see here the '_palle_,' the Medici emblem. The one +next to it is a sword of the same period, only used by a meaner person. +I should prefer it, if there were any killing to be done." + +He described one or two other weapons. Then, glancing over his shoulder +at Austin and Viviette, who were talking in low, confidential tones a +little way off, he stood stock still, and the beads of sweat gathered on +his forehead. Katherine's voice recalled his wandering wits. + +"This is a cross-bow, isn't it? The thing the Ancient Mariner shot the +Albatross with." + +"A cross-bow," said Dick. "The iron loop at the end was to put one's +foot into when one wanted to load it." + +"And this," said Katherine, pointing to a long steel thing with a great +knob adorned with cruel spikes, "is the family mace, I suppose. I've +seen it before, I remember." + +"Yes, that's the mace." + +"What a blood-thirsty set of people you must have been!" + +Austin came up with a laugh. "There's a legend among us that once mother +was left alone in the house and insisted on having this mace near her +bed so as to defend herself against burglars. But why do you leave me to +tell the story, Dick?" + +Dick clenched his fists, and, muttering something, turned and ascended +the gallery above the screen. Viviette followed him. + +"You're not doing it at all nicely. I don't think you want to." + +"Can you wonder at that?" he said hoarsely. + +Viviette played deliciously with the fire. + +"Why, aren't we intelligent enough for you?" she asked with childish +innocence. + +"You know what I mean." + +"I haven't the faintest idea. All I know is that you may as well be +polite, at any rate." + +He laughed. Ordinarily he had little sense of humour; but now he had the +flames in his heart and the hell in his throat, and red mist before +his eyes. + +"Oh, I'll be polite," he growled. "By God, I'll be polite! One may be +suffering the tortures of the damned, but one must smirk and be polite!" + +He snatched up the first thing to hand, a helmet that stood on a case, +and brought it down below the screen. + +"Katherine, Viviette says I'm not delivering my lecture properly. I beg +your pardon. I'm rather shy at first, but I get warmed up to my subject. +What would you like to hear about?" + +Katherine exchanged a glance with Austin. + +"Don't you think we might put off the rest till another day?" + +"Yes, old chap. Put it off till to-morrow. It's your birthday, you +know." + +"Birthday? What's that got to do with it? Who knows what may happen +between then and now? No--no. I'm all right," he cried wildly. "You're +here, and you've got to listen. I'll get into fine form presently. +Look!" he said, pointing to the helmet he was holding. "Here is a +Cromwellian morion. It was picked up by an ancestor at Naseby. It has a +clean cut in it. That's where an honest gentleman's sword found its way +into the knave's skull--the puritanical, priggish, canting knave." + +He threw the helmet with a clatter on to the table as if it had been the +knave's canting head. He caught up a weapon. + +"This is a partisan. All you had to do when you got it inside a man was +to turn it round a bit, and the wound gaped and tore. This tassel is for +catching the blood and preventing it from greasing the handle. Here's a +beauty," he went on, taking a sword from the row he had laid out for +display, and holding it out for Katherine's inspection. "One of the pets +of the collection. A French duelling sword of the middle of the +eighteenth century." He gave a fencer's flourish. "Responsive to the +hilts, eh? Ah! It must have been good to live in those days, when you +could whip this from your side at a wrong done and have the life of the +man that wronged you. The sweet morning air, the patch of green turf, +shoes off--in shirt and breeches--with the eyes of the man you hate in +front of you, and this glittering, beautiful, snaky thing thirsting for +his heart's blood. And then--"--he stood in tierce, left hand curved, +holding in tense fierceness the eyes of an imaginary opponent--"and then +a little clitter-clatter of steel, and, suddenly--ha!--the blade +disappears up to the hilt, and a great red stain comes on the shirt, and +the man throws up his arms, and falls, and you've killed him. He's dead! +dead! dead! Ha! what a time to live in!" + +Katherine uttered a little cry of fear, and grew pale. Viviette clapped +her hands. + +"Bravo, Dick!" + +"Bravo, Dick!" cried Austin. "Most dramatically done." + +"I never knew you were such an actor," said Viviette. + +Dick stood panting, his hand on the hilt of the sword, the point on the +floor. + +"I really do think I've had enough," said Katherine. + +"No, not yet," he said in a thick voice. "I've not shown you half yet. +I've something much more interesting." + +"But, Dick--" + +Viviette interrupted her. "You must stay. It's only beginning to be +exciting. If you only do the rest as beautifully as you did that, Dick, +I'll stay here all day." + +Dick, with a curious outward calm, contrasting with the fury of his mock +encounter, put down the sword and went to the end of the table, where +the case of pistols lay. + +"At any rate, I must show you," said he, "the famous duelling pistols." + +"They were the very pistols in the duel between his great-grandfather +and Lord Estcombe," said Viviette. + +"They've not been used from that day--he killed Lord Estcombe, by the +by--till this. The case is just as it was left. I was going to tell you +the story yesterday." + +"I remember," said Katherine, by way of civility. "But Mrs. Ware stopped +you." + +She was a mild-natured woman, and the realistic conjuring up of +gore-dripping tassels and bloody shirts upset her, and she desired to +get away. She also saw that Dick was abnormally excited, and suspected +that he had been drinking. Her delicate senses shrank from drunkenness. + +"You must tell the story," cried Viviette. "It's so romantic. You like +romantic things, Katherine. The great-grandfather was a Dick Ware +too--Wild Dick Ware they used to call him. Go on, Dick." + +Dick paused for a moment. He had a curious, dull, befogged sensation of +being compelled to do things independently of volition. Presently +he spoke. + +"It happened in this very room, a hundred years ago. Lord Estcombe and +my great-grandfather were friends--intimate friends from boyhood. Wild +Dick Ware was madly in love with a girl who had more or less become +engaged to him. Now, it came to his knowledge that Lord Estcombe had +been using blackguard means to win away the girl's affections. And one +day they were here"--he moved a pace or two to one side--"just as Austin +and I are now. And the girl over there--" + +Viviette, with a gay laugh, took up her position on the spot to which he +pointed. + +"Just in this identical place. I know the story--it's lovely!" + +"An old Peninsula comrade of Wild Dick Ware's was here too--a man called +Hawkins--" + +"Katherine shall be Hawkins," cried Viviette. + +"And in his presence," Dick continued, "Wild Dick Ware told the girl +that he was mad for love of her, but that he would not force her choice; +yet one of those two, himself or Lord Estcombe, she must choose, for +good and all. She could not speak for shame or confusion. He said, +'Throw your handkerchief to whichever of us you love.' And they stood +side by side--like this"--he ranged himself by Austin's side--"opposite +the girl." + +"And she threw the handkerchief!" cried Viviette. + +"Throw yours!" said Dick. He looked at her with fierce intensity beneath +rugged brows; Austin with laughing challenge. She knew that she was the +object of each man's desire, and her sex's triumph thrilled through her +from head to foot. She knew that this jesting choice would have serious +import. For some seconds the three remained stock still. She glanced +flatteringly from one man to the other. Which should she choose? Her +heart beat wildly. Choose one or the other she must. Outside that room +no man lived whom she would marry. Each second strained the situation +further. At last her spirit rose in feminine revolt against the trap +which Dick had set for her, and, with a malicious look, she threw the +handkerchief at Austin's feet. He picked it up and gallantly put it +to his lips. + +"In the story," exclaimed Viviette, "she threw it to Lord Estcombe. +Austin is Lord Estcombe." + +"And I'm Dick Ware," cried Dick, in a strangled voice. "Wild Dick Ware. +And this is what he did. He dragged the girl out of the room first." + +He took Viviette by the arm and roughly thrust her past the screen. + +"Then--that case was on the table. And without a word Wild Dick Ware +comes up to Lord Estcombe so--and says, 'Choose.'" + +He gripped the pistols by the barrels, crossed them, and presented the +butts to Austin. Austin waved them away with a deprecatory gesture and +a smile. + +"Really, old man, I can't enter into the spirit of it, like that. You're +splendid. But if I took a hand, it would be tomfoolery." + +"Oh, do, do," cried Viviette. "Let us go through with it and see just +how the duel was fought. It will be thrilling. You'll have to fall dead +like Lord Estcombe, and I'll burst into the room and tear my hair over +your poor corpse. Do, Austin, for my sake." + +He yielded. Any foolishness for her sake. He took a pistol. + +"You'll have to be Major Hawkins, Katherine," he said lightly, as if +inviting her to condescend to some child's game. + +But Katherine put her hands before her face and shrank back. "No, no, +no. I couldn't. I don't like it." + +"Then I'll be Major Hawkins," said Viviette. + +"You will?" Dick laughed harshly. "Then be it so." + +"I know just what they did." + +She placed the men back to back, so that Austin faced the further end of +the room and Dick the open French window. They were to take three paces, +count one, two, three, and, at the end of the third pace, they were to +turn and fire. + +Dick felt the touch of Austin's shoulder against his, and the flame at +his heart grew fiercer and the hell in his throat more burning, and the +universe whirled round in a red mist. Viviette moved to the +weapon-laden table. + +"Now. One--two--three!" + +[Illustration: Dick glared at him] + +They paced and turned. Dick levelled his pistol instantly at Austin, +with murderous hate in his eyes, and drew the trigger. The pistol +clicked harmlessly. Austin, self-conscious, did not raise his pistol. +But Dick, broadening his chest, glared at him and shouted, +wildly, madly: + +"Fire, damn you! Fire! Why the devil don't you fire?" + +The cry was real, vibrant with fury and despair. Austin looked at him +for an amazed moment; then, throwing his pistol on to one of the +arm-chairs, he came up to him. + +"What fool's game are you playing, Dick? Are you drunk?" + +Katherine, with a low cry, flung herself between them, and, clinging to +Dick's arm, took the pistol from his hand. + +"No more of this--no more. The duel has been too much like reality +already." + +Dick staggered to a straight-backed chair by the wall, and, sitting +down, wiped his forehead. He had grown deathly white. The flames had +been suddenly quenched within him, and he felt cold and sick. Viviette, +in alarm, ran to his side. What was the matter? Was he faint? Let her +take him into the fresh air. Austin came up. But at his approach Dick +rose and shrank away, glancing at him furtively out of bloodshot eyes. + +"Yes. The heat has oppressed me. I'm not well. I'll go out." + +He stumbled blindly towards the French window. Viviette followed him, +but he turned on her rudely and thrust her back. + +"I'm not well, I tell you. I don't want your help. Let me alone." + +He passed through the French window on to the terrace. The sky had +clouded over, and a drizzle had begun to fall. + +Viviette felt curiously frightened, but she put on an air of bravado as +she came down the gallery. + +"Have you all been rehearsing this little comedy?" + +No mirthful response lit either face. She read condemnation in both +pairs of eyes. For the first time in her life she felt daunted, +humiliated. She knew nothing more beyond the fact that in deliberate +coquetry she had pitted brother against brother, and that something +cruel and tragical had happened for which she was being judged. Neither +spoke. She summoned her outer dignity, tossed her pretty head, and went +out by the end door which Austin in cold politeness held open for her. +Then she mounted to her bedroom, and, throwing herself on her bed, burst +into a passion of meaningless weeping. + +Katherine handed Austin the pistol which she had taken from Dick's hand. + +"Now you'll believe what I told you." + +"I believe it," said Austin gravely. + +"That duel was not all play-acting." + +"That," said he, "was absurd. Dick Has been drinking. It was a silly +farce. Viviette egged him on until he seemed to take it seriously." + +"He did take it seriously, Austin. He's in a dangerous mood. If I were +you I should be careful. Take a woman's warning." + +He stood for a moment in deep thought, his gaze absently fixed on the +weapon he held in his hand. Suddenly a glint of something strange caught +his eye. He started, but recovered himself quickly. + +"I'll take your warning, Katherine. Here's my hand upon it." + +A moment later, when he was alone, he uncocked the pistol--Dick's +pistol. The glint had not been imaginary. It was a percussion cap. With +trembling fingers he picked it off the nipple. He passed his hand across +his damp forehead, for he felt faint with dread. But the task had to be +accomplished. He unscrewed the ramrod and picked out the wad, a piece +of white paper which dropped on the floor. From the barrel held downward +a bullet dropped with a dead, fateful thud on the floor. More paper +wad--a slithering shower of gunpowder. He put the pistol down, and took +up the one he himself had used from the chair where he had thrown it. It +was unloaded. His eye fell on the bits of white paper. He picked them up +and unfolded them. The daily newspaper lay by the stove, with the corner +torn accusingly. + +Then he understood. He sank into a chair, paralysed with horror. It was +Dick's pistol that was loaded. Dick had meant to murder him. By the +grace of God the pistol had missed fire. But Dick, his own brother, had +meant to murder him. An hour later he walked out of the room, the case +of pistols under his arm, with the drawn face of an old man. + +It was not until Dick had stumbled five or six miles through the +drenching downpour that the thought reached his dulled brain that he had +left the pistols loose for anyone to examine. The thought was like a +great stone hitting him on the side of the head. He turned and began to +run homewards, like a hunted man in desperate flight. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A CRISIS + + +Viviette having repaired the disorder caused by her tears went down to +tea. Mrs. Ware, Katherine, and a curate deliberately calling or taking +shelter from the rain were in the drawing-room. Austin, to his mother's +mild astonishment, had sent down a message to the effect that he was +busy. On ordinary occasions Viviette would have flirted monstrously with +the clerical youth, and sent him away undecided whether to offer to +share his lodgings and hundred pounds a year with her, or to turn +Catholic and become a monk. But now she had no mind to flirtation. She +left him to the undisturbing wiles of Mrs. Ware, and petted and +surreptitiously fed Dick's Irish terrier, whose brown eyes looked +pathetic inquiry as to his master's whereabouts. She was sobered by the +uncomprehended scene in the armoury--sobered by Dick's violence and by +Austin's final coldness. A choice had been put before her in deadly +earnest; she had refused to make one. But the choice would have to be +made very soon, unless she sent both her lovers packing, a step which +she did not for a moment contemplate. + +"You must promise to marry one or the other and end this tension," said +Katherine, a little later, after the curate had gone with Mrs. Ware to +look at her greenhouses. + +"I wish to goodness I could marry them both," said Viviette. "Have a +month with each, turn and turn about. It would be ideal." + +"It would be altogether horrid!" exclaimed Katherine. "How could such a +thought enter your head?" + +"I suppose it must have entered every woman's head who has two men +she's fond of in love with her at once. I said yesterday that it was +great fun being a woman. I find it's a d.d.d.d. imposition!" + +"For heaven's sake, child, make up your mind quickly," said Katherine. + +Viviette sighed. Which should it be? Dick, with his great love and rough +tenderness and big, protecting arms, or Austin with his conquering ways, +his wit, his charm, his perception? Austin could give her the luxury +that her sensuous nature delighted in, social position, the brilliant +life of London. What could Dick give her? It would always be a joy to +dress herself for Austin. Dick would be content if she went about in +raiment made of dusters and bath towels. In return, what could she give +each of these men? She put the question to herself. She was not +mercenary or heartless. She gave of herself freely and loved the giving. +What could she give to Austin? What could she give to Dick? These +questions, in her sober mood, weighed the others down. + +When the rain ceased and a pale sun had dried the gravel, she went out +into the grounds by herself and faced the problem. She sighed +again--many times. If only they would let her have her fun out and give +her answer six months hence! + +Her meditations were cut short by the arrival of a telegraph boy on his +bicycle at the front gate. He gave her the telegram. It was for Austin. +Her heart beat. She went into the house with the yellow envelope +containing Dick's destiny and mounted to the little room off the first +landing which had been Austin's private study since his boyhood. She +knocked. Austin's voice bade her enter. He rose from the desk where, pen +in hand, he had been sitting before a blank sheet of paper, and without +a word took the telegram. She noticed with a shock that he had curiously +changed. The quick, brisk manner had gone. His face was grey. + +"It is _the_ telegram, isn't it?" she asked eagerly. + +"Yes," said he, handing it to her. "It's from Lord Overton." + +She read: "The very man. Send him along to me early to-morrow. Hope he +can start immediately." + +"Oh, how splendid!" she exclaimed with a little gasp of happiness. "How +utterly splendid! Thank heaven!" + +"Yes. Thank heaven," Austin acquiesced gravely. "I forgot to mention to +you that Lord Overton knows Dick personally," he added, after a pause. +"They met at my house the last time Dick was in London." + +"This _is_ good news," said Viviette. "At last I can give him a birthday +present worth having." + +"He will not be here for his birthday," said Austin, in cold, even +tones. "He must catch the mail to-night." + +Viviette echoed: "To-night?" + +"And in all probability he will sail for Vancouver in a day or two. It +won't be worth his while to come back here." + +She laid a hand on her heart, which fluttered painfully. + +"Then--then--we'll never see him again?" + +"Probably not." + +"I didn't think it would be so sudden," she said, a little wildly. + +"Neither did I. But it's for the best." + +"But supposing he wants some time to look about him?" + +"I'll see to everything," said Austin. + +"Anyhow, I must be the first to tell him," said Viviette. + +"You will do me a very great favour if you will let me have that +privilege," said Austin. "I make a particular point of it. I have some +serious business to discuss with him before dinner, and that will be the +time for me to break the news." + +He was no longer the fairy godmother's devoted and humble factotum. He +spoke with a cold air of authority that chilled the fairy godmotherdom +in Viviette's bosom. Her prettly little scheme dwindled into +childishness before the dark, incomprehended thing that had happened. +She assented with unusual meekness. + +"But I'm desperately disappointed," she said. + +"My dear Viviette," he answered more kindly, and looking at her with +some wistfulness, "the pleasures and even the joy of life have to give +way to the sober, business side of existence. It isn't very gay, I know, +but we can't alter it." + +He held out his hand. Instinctively she gave him hers. He raised it to +his lips and held the door open for her. She went out scarcely knowing +that she had been dismissed. Austin closed the door, stood unsteadily +for a moment like a man stricken with great pain, and then, sitting +down at his desk again, put his elbows on the table, rested his head in +his hands, and stared at the white piece of paper. When would Dick come +home? He had given orders that Dick should be asked to go to him as soon +as he arrived. Would Dick ever come home again? It was quite possible +that some misfortune might have happened. Tragedy is apt to engender +tragedy. He shuddered, hearing in his fancy the tramp of men, and seeing +a shrouded thing they carried across the hall. He bitterly accused +himself for not having sought Dick far and wide as soon as he had made +his ghastly discovery. But he had required time to recover his balance. +The horrible suddenness had stunned him. Attempted fratricide is not a +common happening in gentle families. He had to accustom himself to the +atmosphere of the abnormal, so as to state the psychological case in its +numberless ramifications. This he had done. His head was clear. His +unalterable decision made. Now the minutes dragged with leaden feet +until Dick should come. + +Viviette was the first to see him. She had dressed early for dinner, +and, as the late June afternoon had turned out fine, was taking her +problem out to air on the terrace when she came upon him standing at the +door of his armoury. His hair was wet and matted, his eyes bloodshot, +his clothes dripping, and he himself splashed with mud from head to +foot. He trembled all over, shaken by a great terror. The case of +pistols had gone. Who had taken them? Had the loaded pistol been +discovered? + +As Viviette appeared, robed in deep blue chiffon that seemed torn from +the deep blue evening sky, and looking, in the man's maddened eyes, +magically beautiful, he held out imploring hands. + +"Come in for a moment. For the love of God come in for a moment." + +He stepped back invitingly. She hesitated for a second on the threshold, +and then followed him down the dim gallery, past the screen where all +the swords and helmets lay scattered on the table. He looked at her +haggardly, and she met his gaze with kind eyes in which there was no +mockery. No. Nothing had happened, he told himself; otherwise she would +shrink from him as from something accursed. + +"My God, if you knew how I love you!" he said hoarsely. "My God, if you +only knew!" + +His suffering racked her heart. All her pity melted over him. She laid +her caressing fingers on his arm. + +"Oh, my poor Dick!" she said. + +[Illustration: He held out imploring hands.] + +The touch, the choke in her voice, brought about Viviette's downfall. +Perhaps she meant it to do so. Who can tell? What woman ever knows? In a +flash his arms were around her and his kisses, a wild, primitive man's +kisses, were on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks. Her face was crushed +against the rough wet tweed of his coat, and its odour, raw and coarse, +was in her nostrils. She drooped, intoxicated, gasping for breath in his +unheeding giant's grip, but she made no effort to escape. As he held her +a thrill, agonising and delicious, swept through her, and she raised her +lips involuntarily to his and closed her eyes. At last he released her, +mangled, tousled, her very self a draggled piece of chiffon like the +night-blue frock, soiled with wet and mud. + +"Forgive me," he said, "I had no right. Least of all now. God knows what +is to become of me. But whatever happens, you know that I love you." + +She had her hands clasped before her face. She could not look at him. + +"Yes, I know," she murmured. + +In another moment he had gone, leaving Viviette, who had entered the +room a girl, transformed into a woman with the first shiver of passion +in her veins. + +Dick, vaguely conscious of damp and dirt, went up to his bedroom. The +sight of his evening things spread out on the bed reminded him that it +was nearly dinner-time. Mechanically he washed and dressed. As he was +buckling on his ready-made white tie--his clumsy fingers, in spite of +many lessons from Viviette, had never learned the trick of tying a +bow--a maid brought him a message. Mr. Austin's compliments and would he +see Mr. Austin for a few moments in Mr. Austin's room. The words were +like the dreaded tap on the shoulder of the hunted criminal. + +"I'll come at once," he said. + +He found Austin sitting on the chair by his desk, resting his chin on +his elbow. He did not stir as Dick entered. + +"You want to speak to me?" + +"Yes," said Austin. "Will you sit down?" + +"I'll stand," said Dick impatiently. "What have you to say to me?" + +"I believe you have expressed your desire to leave England and earn your +living in a new country. Is that so?" + +The brothers' eyes met. Dick saw that the loaded pistol had been +discovered, and read no love, no pity, only condemnation in the hard +gaze. Austin was pronouncing sentence. + +"Yes," he replied sullenly. + +"I happen," said Austin, "to know of an excellent opportunity. Lord +Overton, whom you have met, wants a man to take charge of his timber +forests in Vancouver. The salary is L700 a year. I wired to Lord Overton +asking for the appointment on your behalf. This is his answer." + +Dick took the telegram and read it with muddled head. Austin had lost no +time. + +"You see, it fits in admirably. You can start by the night mail. Your +sudden departure needs no other explanation to the household than this +telegram. I hope you understand." + +"I understand," said Dick bitterly. A sudden memory of words that +Viviette had used the day before occurred to him. "I understand. This is +to get me out of the way. 'David put Uriah in the forefront of the +battle.' Vancouver is the forefront." + +"Don't you think we had better avoid all unprofitable discussion?" +Austin rose and confronted him. "I expect you to accept this offer and +my conditions." + +"And if I refuse?" asked Dick, with rising anger. "What dare you +threaten me with?" + +Austin raised a deprecatory hand. + +"Do you suppose I'm going to threaten you? I simply expect you not to +refuse. Your conscience must tell you that I have the right to do so. +Doesn't it?" + +Dick glowered sullenly at the wall and tugged his great moustache. + +"You force me to touch on things I should have liked to keep hidden," +said Austin. "Very well." He took a scrap of crumpled paper from the +desk. "Do you recognise this? It formed the wad of the pistol that was +in _your_ hand." + +Dick started back a pace. "You're wrong," he gasped. "It was _your_ +pistol that was loaded." + +"No. Yours. The cap missed fire, or I should have been a dead +man--murdered by my brother." + +"Stop," cried Dick. "Not murdered. No, no, not murdered. It was in fair +fight. I gave you the choice. When I thought I had the unloaded one I +called on you to fire. Why the devil didn't you? I wanted you to fire. I +was mad for you to fire. I wanted to be killed there and then. No one +can say I shirked it. I gave you your chance." + +"That's nothing to do with it," said Austin sternly. "When you fired you +meant murder. Your face meant killing. And supposing I had fired--and +killed you! Good God! I would sooner you had killed me than burdened my +soul with your death. It would have been less cowardly. Yes, cowardly. +The conditions were not even. To me it was trivial fooling. To you, +deadly earnest. Are you not man enough to see that I have the right to +exact some penalty?" + +Dick remained silent for a few moments, while the powers of light and +darkness struggled together in his soul. At last he said in a low voice, +hanging his head: + +"I'll accept your terms." + +"You leave by the night mail for Witherby." + +"Very well." + +"There's another point," said Austin. "The most important point of all. +You will not speak alone to Viviette before you start." + +Dick turned with an angry flash, + +"What?" + +"You will not speak to Viviette alone. When you are gone--for there is +no need for you to come back here before you sail--you will not write to +her. You will go absolutely and utterly out of her life." + +Dick broke into harsh, furious laughter. + +"And leave her to you? I might have known that the lawyer would have had +me in the trap. But this time you've over-reached yourself. I'll never +give her up. Do you hear me? Never--never--never! I would go through the +horror of to-day a thousand times--day by day until I die, rather than +give her up to you. You shall not take this last thing from me--this +hope of winning her--as you have taken everything else. You have +supplanted me since first you learned to speak. It has been Esau +and Jacob--" + +"Or Cain and Abel," said Austin. + +"You can taunt me if you like," cried Dick, goaded to fury, and the +whole bitterness of a lifetime surging up in passionate speech. "I have +got past feeling it. Your life has been one continual taunt of me. You +have thought me a dull, good-natured boor, delighted to have a word +thrown at him now and again by the elegant gentleman, and rather +honoured than otherwise to be ridden over roughshod, or kicked into the +mud when it pleased the elegant gentleman to ride by. No, listen to me," +he thundered, as Austin was about to protest. "By God, you shall listen +this time. You've made me your butt, your fool, your doer of trivial +offices. I've wondered sometimes why you haven't addressed me as 'my +good fellow,' and asked me to touch my cap to you. I've borne it all +these years without complaining--but do you know what it is to eat your +heart out and remain silent? I have borne it for my mother's sake--in +spite of her dislike of me--and for your sake, because I loved you. Yes. +If ever one man has loved another I've loved you. But you took no heed. +What was my affection worth? I was only the stupid, dull boor ... but I +suffered it all till you came between me and her. I had spent the whole +passion of my life upon her. She was the only thing left in the world +for which I felt fiercely. I hungered for her, thirsted for her, my +brain throbbed at the thought of her, the blood rushed through my veins +at the sight of her. And you came between us. And if I have damned my +soul, by God! the damnation is your doing. Do you think, while I live, +that I'll give her up to you? I'll get my soul's worth, anyhow." + +He smote his palm with his clenched fist and strode about the little +room. Austin sat for a while dumb with astonishment and dismay. His +cherished, lifelong conception of "dear old Dick" lay shattered. A new +Dick appeared to him, a personality stronger, deeper than he could have +imagined. A new respect for him, also a new pity that was generous and +not contemptuous, crept into his heart. + +"Listen, Dick," said he, using the familiar name for the first time. "Do +I understand that you accuse me of sending you out to Vancouver and +hastening your departure so as to gain my own ends with Viviette?" + +"Yes," returned Dick. "I do. You have laid this trap for me." + +"Have you ever heard me lie to you?" + +"No," said Dick. + +"Then I tell you, as man to man, that until this afternoon I had no +suspicion that your feelings towards Viviette were deeper than those of +an elder brother." + +Dick laughed bitterly. "You couldn't conceive a clod like me falling in +love. Well?" + +"That's beside the question," said Austin. "I did not behave +dishonourably towards you. I came down. I fell in love with Viviette. +How could I help it? How could I help loving her? How could I help +telling her so? But she is young and innocent, and her heart is her own +yet. Tell me--man to man--dare you say that you have won it or that I +have won it?" + +"What's the good of talking?" said Dick, relapsing into his sullen mood. +"If I go she is yours. But I won't go." + +Austin rose again and laid his hand on his brother's arm. + +"Dick. If I give her up, will you obey my conditions?" + +"You give her up voluntarily? Why should you?" + +"A damnable thing was done this afternoon," said Austin. "I see I had my +share in it, and I as well as you have to make reparation. Man alive! +You are my brother," he cried with an outburst of feeling. "The nearest +thing in the world to me. Do you think I could rest happy with the +knowledge that a murderous devil is always in your heart, and that it's +in my power to--to exorcise it? Do you think the cost matters? Come. +Shall we make this bargain? Yes or no?" + +"It's easy for you to promise," said Dick. "But when I am gone, how can +you resist?" + +Austin hesitated for a moment, biting his lips. Then, with the air of a +man who makes an irrevocable step in life, he crossed the room and +rang the bell. + +"Ask Mrs. Holroyd if she will have the kindness to come here for a +minute," he said to the servant. + +Dick regarded him wonderingly. "What has Mrs. Holroyd to do with our +affairs?" + +"You'll see," said Austin, and there was silence between them till +Katherine came. + +She looked from one joyless face to the other, and sat without a word +on the chair that Austin placed for her. Her woman's intuition divined a +sequel to the afternoon's drama. Some of it she had already learned. +For, going earlier into Viviette's room, she had found her white and +shaken, still disordered in hair and dress as Dick had left her; and +Viviette had sobbed on her bosom and told her with some incoherence that +the monkey had at last hit the lyddite shell in the wrong place, and +that it was all over with the monkey. So, before Austin spoke, she half +divined why he had summoned her. + +Her heart throbbed painfully. + +"Dick and I," said Austin, "have been talking of serious matters, and we +need your help." + +She smiled wanly. "I'll do whatever I can, Austin." + +"You said this afternoon you would do anything I asked you. Do you +remember?" + +"Yes, I said so--and I meant it." + +"You said it in reply to my question whether you would accept me if I +asked you to marry me." + +Dick started from the sullen stupor into which he had fallen and +listened with perplexed interest. + +"You are not quite right in your tenses, Austin," she remarked. "You +said: Would I have accepted you if you had asked me?" + +"I want to change the tense into the present," he replied. + +She met his glance calmly. "You ask me to marry you in spite of what you +told me this afternoon?" + +"In spite of it and because of it," he said, drawing up a chair near to +her. "A great crisis has arisen in our lives that must make you forget +other words I spoke this afternoon. Those other words and everything +connected with them I blot out of my memory forever. I want you to do me +an infinite service. If there had been no deep affection between us I +should not dare to ask you. I want you to be my wife, to take me into +your keeping, to trust me as an upright man to devote my life to your +happiness. I swear I'll never give you a moment's cause for regret." + +She plucked for a while at her gown. It was a strange wooing. But in her +sweet way she had given him her woman's aftermath of love. It was a +gentle, mellow gift, far removed from the summer blaze of passion, and +it had suffered little harm from the sadness of the day. She saw that he +was in great stress. She knew him to be a loyal gentleman. + +"Is this the result of that scene in the armoury?" she asked quietly. + +"Yes," said Austin. + +"I was right then. It was a matter of life and death." + +"It was," said he. "So is this." + +She looked again from one face to the other, rose, hesitated for a +moment--and then held out her hand. "I am willing to trust you, +Austin," she said. + +He touched her hand with his lips and said gravely: "I will not fail +your trust." + +As soon as she had gone he went to the chair where Dick sat in gloomy +remorse and laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"Well?" said he. + +"I agree," Dick groaned, without looking up. "I have no alternative. I +appreciate your generosity." + +Then Austin spoke of the appointment in Vancouver. He explained how the +idea had occurred to him; how Viviette had come late the night before to +tell him of what he had never before suspected--Dick's desire to go +abroad; how they had conspired to give him a birthday surprise; how they +had driven over to Witherby to send the telegram to Lord Overton. And as +he spoke, Dick looked at him with a new ghastliness on his face. + +"This afternoon--in the dining-room--when you said that Viviette had +told you everything--?" + +"About your wish to go to the Colonies. What else?" + +"And what I overheard in the armoury--about a telegram--telling +me--putting me out of my misery?" + +"Only whether we should tell you to-night or to-morrow about the +appointment. Dick--Dick," said Austin, deeply moved by the great +fellow's collapse, "if I have wronged you all these years, it was +through want of insight, not want of affection. If I have taunted you, +as you say, it was merely a lifelong habit of jesting which you never +seemed to resent. I was unconscious of hurting you. For my blindness and +carelessness I beg your forgiveness. With regard to Viviette--I ought to +have seen, but I didn't. I don't say you had no cause for jealousy--but +as God hears me--all the little conspiracy to-day was lovingly +meant--all to give you pleasure. I swear it." + +Dick rose and stumbled about among the furniture. The setting sun fell +just below the top of the casement window, and its direct rays flooded +the little room and showed Dick in a strange, unearthly light. + +"I wronged you," he said bitterly. "Even in my passions I'm a dull fool. +I thought you a damned cad, and I got more and more furious, and I +drank--I was drunk all this afternoon--and madness came, and when I saw +you kiss her--yes, I saw you, I was peeping from behind the +screen--things went red before my eyes, and it was then that I loaded +the pistol to shoot you on the spot. God forgive me! May God have +mercy upon me." + +He leant his arms on the sill and buried his face. + +"I can't ask your forgiveness," he went on, after a moment. "It would +be a mockery." He laughed mirthlessly. "How can I say. 'I'm sorry I +meant to murder you--please don't think anything about it?'" He turned +with a fierce gesture. "Oh, you must take it all as said, man! Now, have +you finished with me? I can't stand it much longer, I agree to all your +terms. I'll drive over to Witherby now and wait for the train--and +you'll be free of me." + +He turned again and moodily looked out of the window in the full flood +of the sunset. + +"We must play the game, Dick," said Austin gently, "and go through the +horrible farce of dinner--for mother's sake." + +Dick heard him vaguely. Below, on the terrace, Viviette was walking, and +she filled his universe. She had changed the bedraggled frock for the +green one she had worn the night before. Presently she raised her eyes +and saw him leaning out of the window. + +"Have they told you that dinner is not till a quarter past eight?" she +cried, looking deliciously upwards, with a dainty hand to her cheek. +"Lord Banstead sent a message to mother that he was unexpectedly +detained, and mother has put back dinner. Isn't it impudence?" + +But Dick was far too crushed with misery to respond. He nodded +dejectedly. She remained staring up at him for a while and then ran into +the house. + +Dick listlessly mentioned the postponement of dinner. + +"I'm sorry I asked the little brute, but I couldn't avoid it." + +"What does it matter?" said Austin. He was silent for a moment. Then he +came close to Dick. + +"Dick," said he. "Let us end this awful scene as friends and brothers. +As Heaven hears me, there is no bitterness in my heart. Only deep +sorrow--and love, Dick. Shake hands." + +Dick took his hand and broke down utterly, and said such things of +himself as other men do not like to hear. Presently there was a light +rap of knuckles at the door. Austin opened it and beheld Viviette. + +"I won't disturb you," she said; "I only want to give this note to +Dick." + +"I will hand it to him," said Austin. + +She thanked him and departed. He closed the door and gave Dick the note. +Dick opened it, read, and with a great cry of "Viviette!" rushed to the +door. Austin interposed, grasped him by the wrist: + +"What are you doing?" + +"I'm going to her," shouted Dick wildly, wrenching himself free. "Read +this." He held up the note before Austin's eyes, with shaking fingers. +Austin read: + +"I can't bear to see the misery on your face, when I can make you happy. +I love you, dear, better than anything on earth. I know it now, and +I'll go out with you to Vancouver." + +"She loves me. She'll marry me. She'll go out to Vancouver!" cried Dick. +"It changes everything. I must go to her." + +"You shall not go," said Austin. + +"Shall not? Who dares prevent me?' + +"I do. I hold you to your word." + +"But, man alive! she loves me--don't you see? The bargain is dissolved. +This is none of my seeking. She comes of her own free will. I am +going to her." + +Austin put both his hands affectionately on the big man's shoulders and +forced him into a chair. + +"Listen to me just for one minute, Dick. Dick, you dare not marry. Don't +drive me to tell you the reason. Can't you see for yourself why I've +imposed this condition on you all along?" + +"I know no reason," said Dick. "She loves me, and that is enough." + +The greyness deepened over Austin's face and the pain in his eyes. + +"I must speak, then, in plain terms. That horrible murder impulse is the +reason. Today, in a fit of frenzied jealousy, you would have killed me, +your brother. Is there any guarantee that, in another fit of frenzied +jealousy, you might not--?" + +A shudder ran through Dick's great frame. He stretched out his hand. +"For God's sake--don't." + +"I must--until you see this ghastly business in its true aspect. Look at +the lighter side of Viviette's character. She is gay, fond of +admiration, childishly fond of teasing, a bright creature of bewildering +moods. Would she be safe in your hands? Might you not one day again see +things red before your eyes and again go mad?" + +"Don't say any more," Dick said in a choking voice. "I can't stand it." + +"Heaven knows, I didn't want to say as much." + +Dick shuddered again. "Yes, you are right. I am a man with a curse. I +can't marry her. I daren't." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +VIVIETTE TAKES THE RISK + + +Presently Dick raised the face of Cain when he told the Lord that his +punishment was greater than he could bear. Tears leaped to Austin's +eyes, but he turned his head away lest Dick should see them. He would +have given years of his life to spare Dick--everything he had in the +world--save his deep convictions of right and wrong. He was responsible +for Viviette. That risk of horror he could not let her run. He had +hoped, with a great agony of hope, that Dick would have seen it for +himself. To formulate it had been torture. But he could not weaken. The +barrier between Dick and Viviette was not of his making. It was composed +of the grim psychological laws that govern the abnormal. To have +disregarded it would have been a crime from which his soul shrank. All +the despair in Dick's face, though it wrung his heart, could not move +him. It was terrible to be chosen in this way to be the arbiter of +Destiny. But there was the decree, written in letters of blood and +flame. And Dick had bowed to it. + +"What's to become of her?" he groaned. + +"This will be her home, as it always has been," said Austin. + +"I don't mean that--but between us we shall break her heart. She has +given it to me just in time for me to do it. My luck!" + +Austin tried to comfort him. A girl's heart was not easily broken. Her +pride would suffer most. Pain was inevitable. But Time healed many +wounds. In this uncertain world nothing was ever so good as we hoped, +and nothing ever so bad as we feared. Dick paid little heed to the +platitudes. + +"She must be told!" + +"Not what happened this afternoon," cried Austin quickly. "That we bury +forever from all human knowledge." + +"Yes," said Dick, staring in front of him and speaking in a dull, even +voice. "We must hide that. It's not a pretty thing to spread before a +girl's eyes. It will be always before my own--until I die. But she must +be told that I can't marry her. I can't ride away and leave her in doubt +and wonder forever and ever." + +"Let us face this horrible night as best we can," said Austin. "Avoid +seeing her alone. You'll be with mother or packing most of the evening. +Slip away to Witherby an hour or so before your time. When you're gone +I'll arrange matters. Leave it to me." + +He made one of his old, self-confident gestures. But now Dick felt no +resentment. His spirit in its deep abasement saw in Austin the better, +wiser, stronger man. + +At a quarter-past eight they went slowly downstairs to what promised to +be a nightmare kind of meal. There would be four persons, Viviette, +Katherine, and themselves, in a state of suppressed eruption, and two, +Mrs. Ware and the unspeakable Banstead, complacently unaware of volcanic +forces around them, who might by any chance word bring about disaster. +There was danger, too--and the greatest--from Viviette, ignorant of +Destiny. Austin dreaded the ordeal; but despair and remorse had benumbed +Dick's faculties; he had passed the stage at which men fear. With his +hand on the knob of the drawing-room door Austin paused and looked +at him. + +"Pull yourself together, man. Play your part. For God's sake, try to +look cheerful." + +Dick tried. Austin shivered. + +"For God's sake, don't," he said. + +They entered the drawing-room, expecting to find the three ladies, and +possibly Lord Banstead, assembled for dinner. To Austin's discomfiture, +Viviette was alone in the room. She rose, made a step or two to meet +them, then stopped. + +"What a pair of faces! One would think it were the eve of Dick's +execution, and you were the hangman measuring him for the noose." + +"Dick," said Austin, "is leaving us to-night--possibly for many years." + +"I don't see that he is so very greatly to be pitied," said Viviette, +trying in vain to meet Dick's eyes. She drew him a pace or two aside. + +"Did you read my note--or did you tear it up like the other one?" + +"I read it," he said, looking askance at the floor. + +"Then why are you so woe-begone?" + +He replied in a helpless way that he was not woe-begone. Viviette was +puzzled, hurt, somewhat humiliated. She had made woman's great surrender +which is usually followed by a flourish of trumpets very gratifying to +hear. In fact, to most women the surrender is worth the flourish. But +the recognition of this surrender appeared to find its celebration in a +funeral march with muffled drums. A condemned man being fitted for the +noose, as she had suggested, a mute conscientiously mourning at his own +funeral, a man who had lost a stately demesne in Paradise and had been +ironically compensated by the gift of a bit of foreshore of the Styx +could not have worn a less joyous expression than he on whom she had +conferred the boon of his heart's desire. + +"You're not only woe-begone," she said, with spirit, "but you're utterly +miserable. I think I have a right to know the reason. Tell me, what +is it?" + +She tapped a small, impatient foot. + +"We haven't told my mother yet," Austin explained, "and Dick is rather +nervous as to the way in which she will take the news." + +"Yes," said Dick, with lame huskiness. "It's on mother's account." + +Viviette laughed somewhat scornfully. + +"I am not a child, my dear Austin. No man wears a face like that on +account of his mother--least of all when he meets the woman who has +promised to be his wife." + +She flashed a challenging glance at Austin, but not a muscle of his grey +face responded. Her natural expectations were baffled. There was no +start of amazement, no fierce movement of anger, no indignant look of +reproach. She was thrown back on herself. She said: + +"I don't think you quite understand. Dick had two aims in life--one to +obtain a colonial appointment, the other--so he led me to suppose--to +marry me. He has the appointment, and I have promised to marry him." + +"I know," said Austin, "but you must make allowances." + +"If that's all you can say on behalf of your client," retorted Viviette, +"I rather wonder at your success as a barrister." + +"Don't you think, my dear," said Austin gently, "that we are treading on +delicate ground?" + +"Delicate ground!" she scoffed. "We seem to have been treading on a +volcano all the afternoon. I'm tired of it." She faced the two men with +uplifted head. "I want an explanation." + +"Of what?" Austin asked. + +"Of Dick's attitude. What has he got to be miserable about? Tell me." + +"But I'm not miserable, my dear Viviette," said poor Dick, vainly +forcing a smile. "I'm really quite happy." + +Her woman's intuition rejected the protest with contumely. All the +afternoon he had been mad with jealousy of Austin. An hour ago he had +whirled her out of her senses in savage passion. But a few minutes +before she had given him all a woman has to give. Now he met her with +hang-dog visage, apologies from Austin, and milk-and-water asseveration +of a lover's rapture. The most closely-folded rosebud miss of Early +Victorian times could not have faced the situation without showing +something of the Eve that lurked in the heart of the petals. So much the +less could Viviette, child of a freer, franker day, hide her just +indignation under the rose-leaves of maidenly modesty. + +"Happy!" she echoed. "I've known you since I was a child of three. I +know the meaning of every light and every shadow that passes over your +face--except this shadow now. What does it mean?" + +She asked the question imperiously, no longer the elfin changeling, the +fairy of bewildering moods of Austin's imagination, no longer the +laughing coquette of Katherine's less picturesque fancy, but a modern +young woman of character, considerably angered and very much in earnest. +Austin bit his lip in perplexity. Dick looked around like a hunted +animal seeking a bolting-hole. + +"Dick is anxious," said Austin, at length, seeing that some explanation +must be given, "that there should be no engagement between you before he +goes out to Vancouver." + +"Indeed?" said Viviette. "May I ask why? As this concerns Dick and +myself, perhaps you will leave us alone for a moment so that Dick +may tell me." + +"No, no," Dick muttered hurriedly. "Don't leave us, Austin. We can't +talk of such a thing now." + +Again she tapped her foot impatiently. + +"Yes, now. I'm going to hear the reason now, whatever it is." + +The brothers exchanged glances. Dick turned to the window, and stared +at the mellow evening sky. + +Austin again was spokesman. + +"Dick finds he has made a terrible and cruel mistake. One that concerns +you intimately." + +"Whatever Dick may have done with regard to me," replied Viviette, "I +forgave him for it beforehand. When once I give a thing I don't take it +back. I have given him my love and my promise." + +"My dear," said Austin, gravely and kindly. "Here are two men who have +loved you all your life. Don't think hardly of us. You must be brave and +bear a great shock. Dick can't marry you." + +She looked at him incredulously. + +"Can't marry me? Why not?" + +"It would be better not to ask." + +She moved swiftly to Dick, and with her light touch swung him round to +face the room. + +"I don't understand. Is it because you're going out into the wilds? +That doesn't matter. I told you I would go to Vancouver with you. I want +to go. My happiness is with you." + +Dick groaned. "Don't make it harder for me." + +"What are you keeping from me?" she asked. "Is it anything you don't +think fit for my ears? If so, speak. I'm no longer a child. Is there +another woman in the case?" + +She met Austin's eyes full. He said: "No, thank God! Nothing of that +sort." And as her eyes did not waver, he made the bold stroke. "He finds +that he doesn't love you as much as he thought. There's the whole +tragedy in a few words." + +She reeled back as if struck. "Dick doesn't love me?" Then the +announcement seemed so grotesque in its improbability that she began to +laugh, a trifle hysterically. + +"Is this true?" + +"It's quite true," said poor Dick. + +"You see, my dear," said Austin, "what it costs him--what it costs us +both--to tell you this." + +"But I don't understand. I don't understand!" she cried, with sudden +piteousness. "What did you mean, then--a little while ago--in +the armoury?" + +Austin, who did not see the allusion, had to allow Dick to speak for +himself. + +"I was drunk," said Dick desperately. "I've been drinking heavily of +late--and not accountable for my actions. I oughtn't to have done what +I did." + +"And so, you see," continued Austin, with some eagerness, "when he +became confronted with the great change in his life--Vancouver--he +looked at things soberly. He found that his feelings towards you were +not of the order that would warrant his making you his wife." + +Before Viviette could reply the door opened, and Mrs. Ware and +Katherine entered the room. Mrs. Ware, ignorant of tension, went +smilingly to Austin, and, drawing down his shapely head with both hands, +kissed him. + +"My dear, dear boy, I'm so glad, so truly glad. Katherine has just told +me." + +"Told you what, mother?" asked Viviette quickly, with a new sharpness in +her voice. + +Mrs. Ware turned a beaming face. "Can't you guess, darling? Oh, Austin, +there's no living woman whom I would sooner call my daughter. You've +made me so happy." + +The facile tears came, and she sat down and dried them on her little +wisp of handkerchief. + +"I thought it for the best to tell your mother, Austin," said Katherine, +somewhat apologetically. "We were speaking of you--and--I couldn't +keep it back." + +Viviette, white-lipped and dazed, looked at Austin, Katherine, and Dick +in turns. She said, in the high-pitched voice, to Austin: + +"Have you asked Katherine to marry you?" + +"Yes," he replied, not quite so confidently, and avoiding her +glance--"and she has done me the honour of accepting me." + +Katherine held out a conciliatory hand to Viviette. "Won't you +congratulate me, dear?" + +"And Austin, too," said Mrs. Ware. + +But Viviette lost control of herself. "I'll congratulate nobody," she +cried shrilly. She burned with a sense of intolerable outrage. Only a +few hours before she had been befooled into believing herself to be the +mistress of the destinies of two men. Both had offered her their love. +Both had kissed her. The memory lashed her into fury. Now one of them +avowed that she had been merely the object of a drunken passion, and +the other came before her as the affianced husband of the woman who +called herself her dearest friend. + +Katherine, in deep distress, laid her hand on the girl's arm. "Why not, +dear? I thought that you and Dick--in fact--I understood--" + +Viviette freed herself from Katherine's touch. + +"Oh, no, you didn't. You didn't understand anything. You didn't try to. +You are all lying. The three of you. You have all lied, and lied, and +lied to me. I tell you to your faces you have lied to me." She swung +passionately to each in turn. "'Austin can never be anything to me but a +friend'--how often have you said that to me? Ah--Saint Nitouche! And +you"--to Austin--"How dared you insult me this morning? And you--how +have you dared to insult me all the time? You've lied--the whole lot of +you--and I hate you all!" + +Mrs. Ware had risen, scared and trembling. + +"What does the girl mean? I've never heard such unladylike words in a +drawing-room in my life." + +Dick blundered in: "It's all my fault, mother--" + +"I've not the slightest doubt of that," returned the old lady with +asperity. "But what Austin and Katherine have to do with it I +can't imagine." + +The servant opened the door. + +"Lord Banstead." + +He entered a cold, strange silence. Everyone had forgotten him. He must +have attributed the ungenial atmosphere to his own lateness--it was +half-past eight--for he made penitent apology to Mrs. Ware. Austin +greeted him coldly. Dick nodded absently from the other side of the +room. Viviette, with a sweeping glance of defiance at the assembled +family, held herself very erect, and with hard eyes and quivering lips +came straight to the young fellow. + +"Lord Banstead," she said. "You have asked me four times to marry you. +Did you mean it, or were you lying, too?" + +Banstead's pallid cheeks flushed. He was overcome with confusion. + +"Of course I mean it--meant to ask you again to-day--ask you now." + +"Then I will marry you." + +Dick strode forward, and, catching her by the wrist, swung her away from +Banstead, his face aflame with sudden passion. + +"No, by God, you shan't!" + +Banstead retreated a few paces, scared out of his life. Mrs. Ware sought +Austin's protecting arm. + +"What does all this mean? I don't understand it." + +Austin led her to the door. "I'll see nothing unpleasant happens, dear. +You had better go and tell them to keep back dinner yet a few minutes." + +His voice and authority soothed her, and she left the room, casting a +terrified glance at Dick, standing threateningly over Lord Banstead, who +had muttered something about Viviette being free to do as she liked. + +"She can do what she likes, but, by God! she shan't marry you." + +"I'm of age," declared Viviette fiercely. "I marry whom I choose." + +"Of course she can," said Banstead. "Are you taking leave of your +senses?" + +"How dare you ask a pure girl to marry you?" cried Dick furiously. "You, +who have come straight here from--" + +Banstead found some spirit. "Shut up, Ware," he interrupted. "Play the +game. You've no right to say that." + +"I have the right," cried Dick. + +"Hush!" said Austin, interposing. + +"There's no need to prolong this painful discussion. To-morrow--as +Viviette's guardian--" + +"To-morrow?" Dick shouted. "Where shall I be to-morrow? Away from +here--unable to defend her--unable to say a word." + +"If you said a thousand words," said Viviette, "they wouldn't make an +atom of difference. Lord Banstead has asked me to marry him. I have +accepted him openly. What dare you say to it?" + +"Yes," said Banstead. "She has made no bones about it. I've asked her +five times. Now she accepts me. What have you to say to it?" + +"I say she shan't marry you," said Dick, glaring at the other. + +"Steady, steady, Dick," said Austin warningly. But Dick shook his +warning angrily aside, and Austin saw that, once again that day, Dick +was desperate. + +"Not while I live shall she marry you. Don't I know your infernal +beastly life?" + +"Now, look here," said Banstead, at bay. "What the deuce have you got to +do with my affairs?" + +"Everything. Do you think she loves you, cares for you, honours you, +respects you?" + +Viviette faced him with blazing eyes. + +"I do," she said defiantly. + +"It's a lie," cried Dick. "It's you that are lying now. Heaven and +earth! I've suffered enough to-day--I thought I had been through +hell--but it's nothing to this. She loves me--do you hear +me?--me--me--me--and I can't marry her--and I don't care a damn who +knows the reason." + +"Stop, man," said Austin. + +"Let me be. She shall know the truth. Everyone shall know the truth. At +any rate, it will save her from this." + +"I will do it quietly, later, Dick." + +"Let me be, I tell you," said Dick, with great, clumsy, passionate +gesture. "Let's have no more lies." He turned to Viviette. "You wrote me +a letter. You said you loved me--would marry me--come out to +Vancouver--the words made me drunk with happiness--at first. You saw me. +I refused your love and your offer. I said I didn't love you. I lied. I +said I couldn't marry you. It was the truth. I can't. I can't. But love +you! Oh, my God! My God! There were flames of hell in my heart--but +couldn't you see the love shining through?" + +"Don't, Dick, don't," cried Katherine. + +"I will," he exclaimed wildly. "I'll tell her why I can't marry any +woman. I tried to murder Austin this afternoon!" + +Katherine closed her eyes. She had guessed it. But Viviette, with parted +lips and white cheeks, groped her way backwards to a chair, without +shifting her terror-stricken gaze from Dick; and sitting, she gripped +the arms of the chair. + +There was a moment of tense silence. Banstead at last relieved his +feelings with a gasping, "Well, I'm damned!" + +Dick continued: + +"It was jealousy--mad jealousy--this afternoon--in the armoury--the mock +duel--one of the pistols was loaded. I loaded it--first, in order to +kill him out of hand--then I thought of the duel--he would have his +chance--either he would kill me or I would kill him. Mine happened to be +loaded. It missed fire. It was only the infinite mercy of God that I +didn't kill him. He found it out. He has forgiven me. He's worth fifty +millions of me. But my hands are red with his blood, and I can't touch +your pure garments. They would stain them red--and I should see red +again before my eyes some day. A man like me is not fit to marry any +woman. A murderer is beyond the pale. So I said I didn't love her to +save her from the knowledge of this horror. And now I'm going to the +other side of the world to work out my salvation--but she shall know +that a man loves her with all his soul, and would go through any torment +and renunciation for her sake--and, knowing that, she can't go and throw +herself away on a man unworthy of her. After what I've told you, will +you marry this man?" + +Still looking at him, motionless, she whispered, "No." + +"I say!" exclaimed Banstead. "I think--" + +Austin checked further speech. Dick looked haggardly round the room. + +"There. Now you all know. I'm not fit to be under the same roof with +you. Good-bye." + +He slouched in his heavy way to the door, but Viviette sprang from her +chair and planted herself in his path. + +"No. You shan't go. Do you think I have nothing to say?" + +"Say what you like," said Dick sadly. "Nothing is too black for me. +Curse me, if you will." + +She laughed, and shook her head. "Do you think a woman curses the man +who would commit murder for the love of her?" she cried, with a strange +exultation in her voice. "If I loved you before--don't you think I love +you now a million times more?" + +Dick fell back, thrilled with amazement. + +"You love me still?" he gasped. "You don't shrink--" + +"Excuse me," interrupted Banstead, crossing the room. "Does this mean +that you chuck me, Miss Hastings?" + +"You must release me from my promise, Lord Banstead," she said gently. +"I scarcely knew what I was doing. I'm very sorry. I've not behaved +well to you." + +"You've treated me damned badly," said Banstead, turning on his heel. +"Good-bye, everybody." + +Austin, moved by compunction, tried to conciliate the angry youth, but +he refused comfort. He had been made a fool of, and would stand that +from nobody. He would not stay for dinner, and would not put his foot +inside the house again. + +"At any rate," said Austin, bidding him good-bye, "I can rely on you not +to breathe a word to anyone of what you've heard this evening?" + +Banstead fingered his underfed moustache. + +"I may be pretty rotten, but I'm not that kind of cad," said he. And he +went, not without a certain dignity. + +Dick took Viviette's hand and kissed it tenderly. + +"God bless you, dear. I'll remember what you've said all my life. I can +go away almost happy." + +"You can go away quite happy, if you like," said Viviette. "Take me with +you." + +"To Vancouver?" + +Austin joined them. "It is impossible, dear," said he. + +"I go with him to Vancouver," she said. + +Dick wrung his hands. "But I daren't marry you, Viviette, I daren't, I +daren't." + +"Don't you see that it's impossible, Viviette?" said Austin. + +"Why?" + +"I've explained it to Dick. He has hinted it to you. You're scarcely old +enough to understand, my dear. It is the risk you run." + +"Such men as I can't marry," said Dick loyally. "You don't understand. +Austin is right. The risk is too great." + +She laughed in superb contempt. + +"The risk? Do you think I'm such a fool as not to understand? Do you +think, after what I've said, that I'm a child? Risk? What is life or +love worth without risk? When a woman loves a fierce man she takes the +risk of his fierceness. It's her joy. I'll take the risk, and it will be +a bond between us." + +Austin implored her to listen to reason. She swept his arguments aside. + +"God forbid. I'll listen to love," she cried. "And if ever a man wanted +love, it's Dick. Reason! Come, Dick, let us leave this god and goddess +of reason alone. I've got something to say which only you can hear." + +She dragged him in a bewildered state of mind to the door, which she +held open. She was absolute mistress of the situation. She motioned to +Dick to precede her, and he obeyed, like a man in a dream. On the +threshold she paused, and flashed defiance at Austin, who appeared to +her splendid scorn but a small, narrow-natured man. + +[Illustration: "I want you to love me forever and ever."] + +"You can say and think what you like, you two. You are civilised +people--and I suppose you love in a civilised way according to reason. +I'm a primitive woman, and Dick's a primitive man--and, thank God! we +understand each other, and love each other as primitive people do." + +She slammed the door, and in another moment was caught in Dick's great +arms. + +"What do you want to say that only I can hear?" he asked after a while. + +"This," she said. "I want you to love me strongly and fiercely for ever +and ever--and I'll be a great wife to you--and, if I fail--if I am ever +wanton, as I have been to-day--for I have been wanton--and all that has +happened has been my fault--if ever I play fast and loose with your love +again--I want you to kill me. Promise!" + +She looked at him with glowing eyes. All the big man's heart melted +into adoring pity. He took her face in both his hands as tenderly as he +would have touched a prize rose bloom. + +"Thank God, you're still a child, dear," he said. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VIVIETTE *** + +This file should be named 7vvtt10.txt or 7vvtt10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7vvtt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7vvtt10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Locke + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9924] +[This file was first posted on October 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VIVIETTE *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +VIVIETTE + +BY + +WILLIAM J. LOCKE + +1916 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me"] + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BROTHERS + + II. THE CONSPIRATORS + +III. KATHERINE + + IV. THE FAMOUS DUELLING PISTOLS + + V. A CRISIS + + VI. VIVIETTE TAKES THE RISK + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me" + + "Dick glared at him" + + "He held out imploring hands" + + "I want you to love me forever and ever" + + + +VIVIETTE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BROTHERS + + +"Dick," said Viviette, "ought to go about in skins like a primitive +man." + +Katherine Holroyd looked up from her needlework. She was a gentle, +fair-haired woman of thirty, with demure blue eyes, which regarded the +girl with a mingling of pity, protection, and amusement. + +"My dear," she said, "whenever I see a pretty girl fooling about with a +primitive man I always think of a sweet little monkey I once knew, who +used to have great sport with a lyddite shell. Her master kept it on his +table as a paper-weight, and no one knew it was loaded. One day she hit +the shell in the wrong place--and they're still looking for the monkey. +Don't think Dick is the empty shell." + +Whereupon she resumed her work, and for a few moments the click of +thimble and needle alone broke the summer stillness. Viviette lay idly +on a long garden chair admiring the fit of a pair of dainty tan shoes, +which she twiddled with graceful twists of the ankles some five feet +from her nose. At Mrs. Holroyd's remark she laughed after the manner of +one quite contented with herself--a low, musical laugh, in harmony with +the blue June sky and the flowering chestnuts and the song of +the thrushes. + +"My intentions with regard to Dick are strictly honourable," she +remarked. "We've been engaged for the last eleven years, and I still +have his engagement ring. It cost three-and-sixpence." + +"I only want to warn you, dear," said Mrs. Holroyd. "Anyone can see that +Dick is in love with you, and if you don't take care you'll have Austin +falling in love with you too." + +Viviette laughed again. "But he has already fallen! I don't think he +knows it yet; but he has. It's great fun being a woman, isn't it, dear?" + +"I don't know that I've ever found it so," Katherine replied with a +sigh. She was a widow, and had loved her husband, and her sky was still +tinged with grey. + +Viviette, quick to catch the sadness in the voice, made no reply, but +renewed the contemplation of her shoe-tips. + +"I'm afraid you're an arrant little coquette," said Katherine +indulgently. + +"Lord Banstead says I'm a little devil," she laughed. + +If she was in some measure a coquette she may be forgiven. What woman +can have suddenly revealed to her the thrilling sense of her sex's +mastery over men without snatching now and then the fearful joy of +using her power? She was one-and-twenty, her heart still unawakened, and +she had returned to her childhood's home to find men who had danced her +on their knees bending low before her, and proclaiming themselves her +humble vassals. It was intoxicating. She had always looked up to Austin +with awe, as one too remote and holy for girlish irreverence. And now! +No wonder her sex laughed within her. + +Until she had gone abroad to finish her education, she had lived in that +old, grey manor-house, that dreamed in the sunshine of the terrace below +which she was sitting, ever since they had brought her thither, an +orphaned child of three. Mrs. Ware, her guardian, was her adopted +mother; the sons, Dick and Austin Ware, her brothers--the engagement, +when she was ten and Dick one-and-twenty, had hardly fluttered the +fraternal relationship. She had left them a merry, kittenish child. She +had returned a woman, slender, full-bosomed, graceful, alluring, with a +maturity of fascination beyond her years. Enemies said she had gipsy +blood in her veins. If so, the infusion must have taken place long, long +ago, for her folks were as proud of their name as the Wares of Ware +House. But, for all that, there was a suggestion of the exotic in the +olive and cream complexion, and the oval face, pointing at the dimpled +chin; something of the woodland in her lithe figure and free gestures; +in her swimming, dark eyes one could imagine something fierce and +untamable lying beneath her laughing idleness. Katherine Holroyd called +her a coquette, Austin whatever the whim of a cultured fancy suggested, +and Lord Banstead a little devil. As for Dick, he called her nothing. +His love was too great; his vocabulary too small. + +Lord Banstead was a neighbour who, in the course of three months, had +proposed several times to Viviette. + +"I'm not very much to look at," he remarked on the first of these +occasions--he was a weedy, pallid youth of six-and-twenty--"and the +title's not very old, I must admit. Governor only a scientific Johnnie, +Margetson, the celebrated chemist, you know, who discovered some beastly +gas or other and got made a peer--but I can sit with the other old +rotters in the House of Lords, you know, if I want. And I've got enough +to run the show, if you'll keep me from chucking it away as I'm doing. +It'd be a godsend if you'd marry me, I give you my word." + +"Before I have anything to do with you," replied Viviette, who had heard +Dick express his opinion of Lord Banstead in forcible terms, "you'll +have to forswear sack, and--and a very big AND--" + +Lord Banstead, not being learned in literary allusions, looked +bewildered. Viviette laughed. + +"I'll translate if you like. You'll have to give up unlimited champagne +and whiskey and lead an ostensibly respectable life." + +Whereupon Lord Banstead called her a little devil and went off in +dudgeon to London and took golden-haired ladies out to supper. When he +returned to the country he again offered her his title, and being +rejected a second time, again called her a little devil, and went back +to the fashionable supper-room. A third and a fourth time he executed +this complicated manoeuvre; and now news had reached Viviette that he +was in residence at Farfield, where he was boring himself exceedingly in +his father's scientific library. + +"I suppose he'll be coming over to-day," said Viviette. + +"Why do you encourage him?" asked Katherine. + +"I don't," Viviette retorted. "I snub him unmercifully. If I am a +coquette it's with real men, not with the by-product of a chemical +experiment." + +Katherine dropped her work and her underlip, and turned reproachful blue +eyes on the girl. + +"Viviette!" + +"Oh, she's shocked! Saint Nitouche is shocked!" Then, with a change of +manner, she rose and, bending over Katherine's chair, kissed her. "I'm +sorry, dear," she said, in pretty penitence. "I know it was an +abominable and unladylike thing to say, but my tongue sometimes runs +away with my thoughts. Forgive me." + +At that moment a man dressed in rough tweeds and leggings, who had +emerged from the stable side of the manor-house, crossed the terrace, +and, descending the steps, walked over the lawn towards the two ladies. +He had massive shoulders and a thick, strong neck, coarse reddish hair, +and a moustache of a lighter shade. Blue eyes looked with a curious +childish pathos out of a face tanned by sun and weather. He slouched +slightly in his gait, like the heavy man accustomed to the saddle. This +was Dick Ware, the elder of the brothers and heir to fallen fortunes, +mortgaged house and lands, and he gave the impression of failure, of a +man who, in spite of thews and sinews, had been unable to grapple with +circumstance. + +Viviette left Katherine to her needlework, and advanced to meet him. At +her spontaneous act of welcome a light came into his eyes. He removed +from his lips the short corn-cob pipe he was smoking. + +"I've just been looking at the new mare. She's a beauty. I know I +oughtn't to have got her, but she was going dirt cheap--and what can a +man do when he's offered a horse at a quarter its value?" + +"Nothing, my dear Dick, save pay four times as much as he can afford." + +"But we had to get a new beast," he argued seriously. "We can't go about +the country in a donkey-cart. If I hadn't bought one, Austin would, for +the sake of the family dignity--and I do like to feel independent of +Austin now and then." + +"I wish you were entirely independent of Austin," said Viviette, walking +with him up the lawn. + +"I can't, so long as I stay here doing nothing. But if I went out to +Canada or New Zealand, as I want to do, who would look after my mother? +I'm tied by the leg." + +"I'd look after mother," said Viviette. "And you'd write me nice long +letters, saying how you were getting on, and I would send you nice +little bulletins, and we should all be very happy." + +"Do you want to get rid of me, Viviette?" + +"I want you to have your heart's desire." + +"You know what my heart's desire is," he said unsteadily. + +"Why, to raise sheep or drive cattle, or chop down trees in the +backwoods," she replied, lifting demure eyebrows. "Oh, Dick, don't be +foolish. See--there's mother just come out." + +With a light laugh she escaped and ran up the steps to meet an old lady, +rather infirm, who, with the aid of a stick, was beginning to take her +morning walk up and down the terrace. Dick followed her moodily. + +"Good morning, mother," said he, bending down to kiss her. + +Mrs. Ware put up her cheek, and received the salute with no great show +of pleasure. + +"Oh, how you smell of tobacco smoke, Dick. Where's Austin? Please go and +find him. I want to hear what he has to say about the stables." + +"What can he say, mother?" + +"He can advise us and help us to put the muddle right," said Mrs. Ware. + +These stables had been a subject of controversy for some time. The old +ones having fallen into disgraceful disrepair, Dick had turned architect +and erected new ones himself. As shelters for beasts, they were +comparatively sound; as appanages to an Elizabethan manor-house, they +were open to adverse criticism. Austin, who had come down from London a +day or two before to spend his Whitsuntide holiday at home, had promised +his mother to make inspection and report. + +"But what does Austin know about stables?" Viviette asked, as soon as +Dick had slouched away in search of his brother. + +"Austin knows about everything, my dear," replied the old lady +decisively. "Not only is Austin a brilliantly clever man, but he's a +successful barrister, and a barrister's business is to know all about +everything. Give me your arm, dear, and let us walk up and down a +little till they come." + +Presently Dick returned with Austin, whom he had found smoking a cigar +in a very meditative manner in front of the stables. Dick's face was +gloomy, but Austin's was bright, as he came briskly up and, cigar in +hand, stooped to his mother. She put her arms round his neck, kissed him +affectionately, and inquired after his sleep and his comfort and the +quality of his breakfast. + +"Doesn't Austin smell of tobacco smoke, mother?" asked Dick. + +"Austin," replied Mrs. Ware, "has a way of smoking and not smelling of +it." + +Austin laughed gaily. "I believe if I fell into a pond you'd say I had a +way of coming up dry." + +Dick turned to Viviette, and muttered with some bitterness: "And if I +fell into a dry ditch she'd say I came up slimy." + +Viviette, touched by pity, raised a bewitching face. "Dry or slimy, you +would be just the same dear old Dick," she whispered. + +"And what about the stables?" asked Mrs. Ware. + +"Oh, they're not bad. They're rather creditable; but," Austin added, +turning with a laugh to his brother, "the mother will fidget, you know, +and the somewhat--let us say rococo style of architecture has got on her +nerves. I think the whole thing had better come down, don't you?" + +"If you like," said Dick gruffly. He had given way to Austin all his +life. What was the use of opposing him now? + +"Good. I'll send young Rapson, the architect, along to make a design. +Don't you worry, old chap, I'll see it through." + +Young, brisk, debonair, flushed with success and the sense of the +mastery of life, he did not notice the lowering of Dick's brows, which +deepened into almost a scowl when he turned frankly admiring eyes on +Viviette, and drew her into gay, laughing talk, nor did he catch the +hopelessness in the drag of Dick's feet as he went off to gaze +sorrowfully at the fallen pride of his heart, the condemned stables. + +But Viviette who knew, as Austin did not, of Dick's disappointment, soon +broke away and joined him in front of the amorphous shed of timber. She +took him by the arm. + +"Come for a stroll in the orchard." + +He suffered himself to be led through the stable-yard gate. She talked +to him of apple blossoms. He listened for some time in silence. Then he +broke out. + +"It's an infernal shame," said he. + +"It is," said Viviette. "But you needn't put on such a glum face when +I'm here especially to comfort you. If you're not glad to see me I'll go +back to Austin. He's much more amusing than you." + +"I suppose he is. Yes, go back to him. I'm a fool. I'm nobody. No, +don't, Viviette; forgive me," he cried, catching her as she turned away +somewhat haughtily. "I didn't mean it, but things are getting beyond my +endurance." + +Viviette seated herself on a bench beneath the apple blossoms. + +"What things?" + +"Everything. My position. Austin's airy ways." + +"But that's what makes him so charming." + +"Yes, confound him. My ways are about as airy as a hippopotamus's. Look +here, Viviette. I'm fond of Austin, God knows--but all my life he has +been put in front of me. He has had all the chances; I've had none. With +my father when he was alive, with my mother, it has always been Austin +this and Austin that. He was the head of the school when I, the elder, +was a lout in the lower fourth. He had a brilliant University career and +went into the world and is making a fortune. I'm only able to ride and +shoot and do country things. I've stuck here with only this mortgaged +house belonging to me and the hundred or so a year I get out of the +tenants. I'm not even executor under my father's will. It's Austin. +Austin pays mother the money under her marriage settlement. If things go +wrong Austin is sent for to put them right. It never seems to occur to +him that it's my house. Oh, of course I know he pays the interest on the +mortgage and makes my mother an allowance--that's the humiliation +of it." + +He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, staring +at the grass. + +"But surely you could find some work to do, Dick?" + +He shrugged his great shoulders. "They stuck me once in an office in +London. I suffocated and added up things wrong and told the wrong lies +to the wrong people, and ended up by breaking the junior +partner's head!" + +"You had some satisfaction out of it, at any rate," laughed Viviette. + +A faint reminiscent smile crossed his face. "I suppose I had. But it +didn't qualify me for a successful business career. No. I might do +something in a new country. I must get away from this. I can't stand it. +But yet--as I've told you all along, I'm tied--hand and foot." + +"And so you're very miserable, Dick." + +"How can I help it?" + +Viviette edged a little away from him, and said, rather resentfully: + +"I don't call that polite, seeing that I have come back to live with +you." + +He turned on her with some fierceness. "Don't you see that your being +here makes my life all the more impossible? How can I be with you day +after day without loving you, hungering for you, wanting you, body and +soul? I've never given a thought to another woman in my life. You're my +heart's blood, dear. I want to hold you so tight in my arms that not the +ghost of another man can ever come between us. You know it." + +Viviette shredded an apple blossom that had fallen into her lap. The +fingers that held the petal tingled, and a flush rose in her cheek. + +"I do know it," she said in a low voice. "You're always telling me. But, +Dick"--she flashed a mischievous glance at him--"while you're holding +me--although it would be very nice--we should starve." + +"Then let us starve," he cried vehemently. + +"Oh, no. Oh, most decidedly no. Starvation would be so unbecoming. I +should get to be a fright--a bundle of bones and a rundle of skin--and +you'd be horrified--I couldn't bear it." + +"If you would only say you cared a scrap for me it would be easier," he +pleaded. + +"I should have thought it would be harder." + +"Anyhow, say it--say it this once--just this once." + +She bent her head to hide a smile, and said in a voice adorably soft: + +"Dick, shut your eyes." + +"Viviette!" he cried, with sudden hope. + +"No. Shut your eyes. Turn round. Now tell me," she continued, when he +had turned obediently, "just what I've got on. No!" she held him by the +shoulders, "you're not to move." + +Now, she was wearing a white blouse and a blue skirt and tan shoes, and +a yellow rose was pinned at her bosom. + +"What dress am I wearing?" + +"A light-coloured thing," said Dick. + +"And what's it trimmed with?" + +"Lace," said the unfortunate man. Lace indeed! + +"And what coloured boots?" + +"Black," said Dick, at a venture. + +"And what flower?" + +"I don't know--a pink rose, I think." + +She started up. "Look," she cried gaily. "Oh, Dick! I'll never marry you +till you have the common decency to look at me--never! never! never! I +dressed myself this beautiful morning just to please you. Oh, Dick! +Dick, you've lost such a chance." + +She stood with her hands behind her back regarding him mockingly, as Eve +in the first orchard must have regarded Adam when he was more dull and +masculine than usual--when, for instance, she had attired herself in +hybiscus flowers which he took for the hum-drum, everyday fig-leaves. + +"I'm a born duffer," said Dick pathetically. "But your face is all that +I see when I look at you." + +"That's all very pretty," she retorted. "But you ought to see more. Now +let us talk sense. Mind, if I sit on that bench again you're to +talk sense." + +Dick sighed. "Very well," said he. + +That was the history of all his love-making. She drew him on to +passionate utterance, and then, with a twist of her wit and a twirl of +her skirts, she eluded him. When she had thus put herself out of his +reach, he felt ashamed. What right had he, dull, useless, lumbering, +squiredomless squire, to ask a woman like Viviette to marry him? How +could he support a wife? As it was, he lived a pensioner on Austin's +bounty. Could he ask Austin to feed his wife and family as well? This +thought, which always came to him as soon as his passion was checked, +filled him with deep humiliation. Viviette had reason on her side when +she said, "Let us talk sense." + +He glowered at his fate, and tugged his tawny moustache for some time in +silence. Then Viviette began to talk to him prettily of things that +made up his country interests, his dogs, the garden, the personalities +of the country-side. Soon she had him laughing, which pleased and +flattered her, as it proved her power over the primitive man. Indeed, at +such moments, she felt very tenderly towards him, and would have liked +to pat his cheeks and crown him with flowers, thus manifesting her +favour by dainty caresses. But she refrained, knowing that primitive men +are too dense to interpret such demonstrations rightly, and limited +herself to less compromising words. + +"I am going to tell you a secret," he said at last, in a shamefaced way. +"You mustn't laugh at me--promise me you won't." + +"I promise," said Viviette solemnly. + +"I am thinking of going in for local politics--Rural District Council, +you know." + +Viviette nodded her head approvingly. "A village Hampden--in Tory +clothing?" + +"They're running things on party lines down here. The influence of +Westhampton is Radical, and fills the Council with a lot of outsiders. +So they've got together a Conservative Committee, and are going to run a +good strong man for a vacancy. I've given them to understand that I'll +be a candidate if they'll have me. I'd like to be one. It's a rubbishy +thing, dear, but somehow it would give me a little interest in life." + +"I don't think it a rubbishy thing at all," said Viviette. "A country +gentleman ought to have a hand in rural administration. I do hope you'll +get in. When will you know that the committee have selected you?" + +"There's a meeting this evening. I ought to know to-night or to-morrow +morning." + +"Are you very keen on it?" + +"Very," said Dick. And he added proudly, "It was my own idea." + +"But you're not as keen on that as on going abroad?" + +"Ah, that!" said Dick. "That, bar one, is the dearest wish of my heart. +And who knows--it might enable me to carry out the other." + +The sound of a gong within the house floated through the still June air. +Viviette rose. "I must tidy myself for lunch." + +They walked to the house together. On parting she put out both her +hands. + +"Do be reasonable, Dick, and don't look for slights in what you call +Austin's airy ways. He is awfully fond of you, and would not hurt you +for the world." + +At the luncheon table, however, Austin did hurt him, in utter +unconsciousness, by his gay command of the situation, his eager talk +with Viviette of things Dick did not understand, places he had not +visited, books he had never read, pictures he had never seen. It was +heartache rather than envy. He did not grudge Austin his scholarship and +brilliance. But his soul sank at the sight of Austin and Viviette moving +as familiars in a joyous world as remote from him as Neptune. Mrs. Ware +kept Katherine Holroyd engaged in mild talk of cooks and curates, while +the other two maintained their baffling conversation, half banter, half +serious, on a bewildering number of topics, and poor Dick remained as +dumb as the fish and cutlets he was eating. He sat at the head of the +table, Mrs. Ware at the foot. On his right hand sat Katherine Holroyd, +on his left Viviette, and between her and his mother was Austin. With +Viviette talking to Austin and Mrs. Ware to Katherine, he felt lonely +and disregarded in a kind of polar waste of snowy tablecloth. Once +Katherine, escaping from Mrs. Ware's platitudinous ripple, took pity on +him, and asked him when he was going to redeem his promise and show her +his collection of armour and weapons. Dick brightened. This was the only +keen interest he had in life outside things of earth and air and stream. +He had inherited a good family collection, and had added to it +occasionally, as far as his slender means allowed. He had read deeply, +and understood his subject. + +"Whenever you like, Katherine," he said. + +"This afternoon?" + +"I'm afraid they want polishing up and arranging. I've got some new +things which I've not placed. I've rather neglected them lately. Let us +say to-morrow afternoon. Then they'll all be spick and span for you." + +Katherine assented. "I've been down here so often and never seen them," +she said. "It seems odd, considering the years we've known each other." + +"I only took it up after father's death," said Dick. "And since then, +you know, you haven't been here so very often." + +"It was only the last time that I discovered you took an interest an the +collection. You hid your light under a bushel. Then I went to London and +heard that you were a great authority on the subject." + +Dick's tanned face reddened with pleasure. + +"I do know something about it. You see, guns and swords and pistols are +in my line. I'm good at killing things. I ought to have been a soldier, +only I couldn't pass examinations, so I sort of interest myself in the +old weapons and do my killing in imagination." + +"You give a regular lecture, don't you?" + +"Well, you know," said Dick modestly, "a lot of them are historical. +There's a mace used by a bishop, an ancestor of ours. He couldn't wield +a sword in battle, so he cottoned on to that, and in order to salve his +conscience before using it he would cry out 'Gare! gare!'--and they say +that's what our name comes from--see? 'Ware--Ware.' He was the founder +of our family--though, of course, he oughtn't to have been. And then we +have the duelling pistols my great-grandfather shot Lord Estcourt with. +They're beautiful things--in the case just as he left it after the duel, +with powder, balls, and caps, all complete. It's a romantic story--" + +"My dear Dick," interposed Mrs. Ware, with fragile, uplifted hand, +"please don't offend us with these horrible family scandals. Katharine, +dear, are you going to the vicar's garden party this afternoon? If you +are, will you take a message to Mrs. Cook?" + +So Katherine being monopolized, Dick was silenced, and as Austin and +Viviette were talking in a lively but unintelligible way about a thing, +or a play, or a horse called Nietzsche, he relapsed into the heavy, +full-blooded man's animal enjoyment of his food and the sensitive's +consciousness of heartache. + +When the ladies had left the table and the coffee had been brought in, +and the men's cigars were lit, Austin said: + +"What a magnificently beautiful creature she has grown into." + +"Whom do you mean?" asked Dick. + +"Why, Viviette, of course. She's the most fascinating thing I've come +across for years." + +"Do you think so?" said Dick shortly. + +"Don't you?" + +Dick shrugged his shoulders. Austin laughed. + +"What a stolid old beggar you are. To you, she's just the same little +girl that used to run about here in short frocks. If she were a horse +you'd have a catalogue yards long of her points." + +"But as she's a lady," said Dick, tugging his moustache, "I don't care +to catalogue them." + +Austin laughed again. "Fairly scored!" He raised his cup to his lips, +took a sip, and set it down again. + +"Why on earth," said he with some petulance, "can't mother give us +decent coffee?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE CONSPIRATORS + + +Dick went heavy-hearted to bed that night, pronouncing himself to be the +most abjectly miserable of God's creatures, and calling on Providence to +remove him speedily from an unsympathetic world. He had said good night +to the ladies at eleven o'clock when the three went upstairs to bed, and +had forthwith gone to spend the rest of the evening in the friendly +solitude of his armoury. Emerging thence an hour later into the hall, he +had come upon a picturesque, but heart-rending, spectacle. There, on the +third step of the grand staircase, stood Viviette, holding in one hand a +candle, and extending the other regally downwards to Austin, who, with +sleek head bent, was pressing it to his lips. In the candle-light her +hair threw disconcerting shadows over her elfin face, and her great eyes +seemed to glow with a magical intensity that poor Dick had never seen in +them before. As soon as he had appeared she had broken into her low +laugh, drawn away her hand from Austin, and, descending the steps, +extended it in much the same regal manner to Dick. + +"Good night again, Dick," she said sweetly. "Austin and I have been +having a little talk." + +But he had disregarded the hand, and, with a gruff "Good night," had +returned to his armoury, slamming the door behind him. There he had +nourished his wrath on more whiskey and soda than was good for him, and +crawled upstairs in the small hours to miserable sleeplessness. + +This was the beginning of Dick's undoing, the gods (abetted by Viviette) +employing their customary procedure of first driving him mad. But +Viviette was not altogether a guilty abettor. Indeed, all day long, she +had entertained high notions of acting fairy godmother, and helping Dick +along the road to fortune and content. He himself, she learned, had +taken no steps to free himself from his present mode of life. He had not +even confided in Austin. Viviette ran over the list of her influential +friends. There was Lady Winsmere, a dowager countess of seventy, +surrounded by notabilities, at whose house she stayed now and then in +London. On the last occasion an Agent-General for one of the great +Colonies had sat next her at dinner. Then there was her friend Mrs. +Penderby, whose husband gathered enormous wealth in some mysterious way +in Mark Lane. Why should she not go up to London and open a campaign on +Dick's behalf, secure him an appointment, and come back flourishing it +before his dazzled and delighted eyes? The prospect was enchanting. The +fairy godmother romance of it fascinated her girlish mind. But first +she must clear the ground at home. There must be no opposition from +Austin. He must be her ally. + +When a woman gets an idea like this into her head she must execute it, +as the Americans say, right now. A man waits, counts up all the +barriers, and speculates on the strength and courage of the lions in the +path--but a woman goes straight forward, and does not worry about the +lions till they bite her. Viviette resolved to speak to Austin at once; +but, owing to a succession of the little ironies of circumstance, she +found no opportunity of doing so all the afternoon or evening. It was +only when, standing at the top of the stairs, she had seen Dick go off +to the armoury, and Austin return to the drawing-room--for the men had +bidden the ladies good night in the hall--that she saw her chance. She +went downstairs and opened the drawing-room door. + +"I don't want to go to bed after all. Do you think you can do with me a +little longer?" + +"A great deal longer," he said, drawing a chair for her, and arranging +the shade of a lamp so that the light should not shine full in her eyes. +"I was just thinking how dull the room looked without you--as if all the +flowers had suddenly been taken away." + +"I suppose I am decorative," she said blandly. + +"You're bewitching. What instinct made you choose that shade of pale +green for your frock? If I had seen it in the pattern I should have said +it was impossible for your colouring. But now it seems to be the only +perfect thing you could wear." + +She laughed her little laugh of pleasure, and thanked him prettily for +the compliment. They bandied gay words for a while. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you have come down--even for this short visit," said +Viviette at last. "I was pining for talk, for wit, for a breath of the +great world beyond these sleepy meadows. You bring all that with you." + +Austin leaned forward. "How do you know I'm not bringing even more?" + +The girl's eyes drooped before his gaze. Then she fluttered a glance at +him in which there was a gleam of mockery. + +"You bring the most valuable gift of all--appreciation of my frocks. I +love people to notice them. Now Dick is frock-blind. Why is that?" + +"He's a dear old duffer," said Austin. + +"I don't think he's happy," said Viviette, who, in her feminine way, had +worked round to the subject of the interview. + +"He did seem rather cut up about the stables," Austin admitted. "But the +things are an eyesore, and mother was worrying herself to death +about them." + +"It isn't only the stables," said Viviette. "Dick is altogether +discontented." + +Austin looked at her in amazement. "Discontented?" + +"He wants something to do." + +"Nonsense," he laughed, with the air of a man certain of his facts. +"He's as happy as a king here. He shoots and hunts--looks after the +place--runs the garden and potters about in his armoury--in fact, does +just what he likes all day long. He goes to bed without a care sharing +his pillow, and, when he wakes up, gets into comfortable country clothes +instead of a tight-fitting suit of responsibilities. For a man of his +tastes he leads an ideal existence." + +He threw away the end of the cigarette he was smoking, as though to say +that the argument was finished. But Viviette regarded him with a +smile--the smile of woman's superior wisdom. How astonishingly little he +knew of Dick! + +"Do you really think there is one contented being on earth?" she asked. +"Even I know better than that." + +Austin maintained that Dick ought to be contented. + +"Dependent for practically all he has on you?" + +"I've never let him feel it," he said quickly. + +"He does, though. He wants to get away--to earn his own living--make a +way for himself." + +"That's the first I've heard of it," said Austin, genuinely surprised. +"I really thought he was perfectly contented here. Of course, now and +then he's grumpy--but he always has had fits of grumpiness. What kind of +work does he want?" + +"Something to do with sheep or cattle--in Arizona or New Zealand--the +place doesn't matter--any open-air life." + +Austin lit another cigarette and walked about the room. He was a man of +well-regulated habits, and did not like being taken unawares. Dick +ought to have told him. Then there was their mother. Who would look +after her? Dick was a dispensation of Providence. + +"Perhaps I might be a deputy dispensation, mightn't I?" said Viviette. +"I don't think mother is so desperately attached to Dick as all that. It +could be arranged somehow or other. And Dick is growing more and more +wretched about it every day. Every day he pours out his woes to me till +I can almost howl with misery." + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"Not to stand in his way if he gets a chance of going abroad." + +"Of course I won't," cried Austin eagerly. "It never entered my head +that he wanted to go away. I would do anything in the world for his +happiness, poor old chap. I love Dick very deeply. In spite of his huge +bulk and rough ways there's something of the woman in him that makes one +love him." + +They catalogued Dick's virtues, and then Viviette unfolded her scheme. +One or other of the powerful personages whom, in her young confidence, +she proposed to attack, would surely know of some opening abroad. + +"Even humble I sometimes hear of things," said Austin. "Only a day or +two ago old Lord Overton asked me if I knew of a man who could manage a +timber forest he's got in Vancouver--" + +Viviette jumped up and clapped her hands. + +"Why, that's the very thing for Dick!" she cried exultingly. + +"God bless my soul!" said Austin. "So it is. I never thought of it." + +"If you get it for him I'll thank you in the sweetest way possible." She +glanced at him swiftly, under her eyelids. "I promise you I will." + +"Then I'll certainly get it," replied Austin. + +Austin then went into details. Lord Overton wanted a man of +education--a gentleman--one who could ride and shoot and make others +work. He would have to superintend the planting and the cutting and the +transportation of timber, and act as agent for the various farms Lord +Overton possessed in the wide district. The salary would be £700 a year. +The late superintendent had suddenly died, and Lord Overton wanted a man +to go out at once and fill his place. If only he had thought of Dick! + +"But you're thinking of him now. It can't be too late--men with such +qualifications aren't picked up at every street corner." + +"That's quite true," said Austin. "And as for my recommendation," he +added in his confident way, "Lord Overton and I are on such terms that +he would not hesitate to give the appointment to a brother of mine. I'll +write at once." + +"And we'll say nothing to Dick until we've got it all in black and +white." + +"Not a word," said he. + +Then they burst out laughing like happy conspirators, and enjoyed +beforehand the success of their plot. + +"The old place will be very strange without him," said Austin. + +A shadow passed over Viviette's bright face. The manor-house would +indeed be very lonely. Her occupation as Dick's liege lady, confidante, +and tormentor would be gone. Parting from him would be a wrench. There +would be a dreadful scene at the last moment, in which he would want to +hold her tight in his arms and make her promise to join him in +Vancouver. She shivered a little; then tossed her head as if to throw +off the disturbing thoughts. + +"Don't let us look at the dismal side of things. It's selfish. All we +want is Dick's happiness." She glanced at the clock and started up. +"It's midnight. If Katherine knew I was here she would lecture me." + +"It's nothing very dreadful," he laughed. "Nor is Katherine's lecture." + +"I call her Saint Nitouche--but she's a great dear, isn't she? Good +night." + +He accompanied her to the foot of the stairs and lit her candle. On the +third stair she paused. + +"Remember--in all this it's I who am the fairy godmother." + +"And I," said Austin, "am nothing but the fairy godmother's humble and +devoted factotum." He took the hand which she extended and, bending over +it, kissed it gallantly. + +Then by unhappy chance out came Dick from the armoury, and beheld the +spectacle which robbed him of his peace of mind. + +The next morning, when Dick came down gloomily to breakfast, she was +very gentle with him, and administered tactfully to his wants. She +insisted on going to the sideboard and carving his cold ham, of which he +ate prodigious quantities after a hot first course, and when she put the +plate before him laid a caressing touch on his shoulder. She neglected +Austin in a bare-faced manner, and drew Dick into reluctant and then +animated talk on his prize roses and a setter pup just recovering from +distemper. After the meal she went with him round the garden, inspected +both roses and puppy, and manifested great interest in a trellis he was +constructing for the accommodation later in the summer of some climbing +cucumbers, at present only visible as modest leaves in flower-pots. +Neither made any reference to the little scene of the night before. +Morning had brought to Dick the conviction that in refusing her hand and +slamming the door he had behaved in an unpardonably bearish manner; and +he could not apologise for his behaviour unless he confessed his +jealousy of Austin, which, in all probability, would have subjected him +to the mocking ridicule of Viviette--a thing which, above all others, he +dreaded, and against which he knew himself to be defenceless. Viviette, +too, found silence golden. She knew perfectly well why Dick had slammed +the door. An explanation would have been absurd. It would have +interfered with her relations with Austin, which were beginning to be +exciting. But she loved Dick in her heart for being a bear, and evinced +both her compunction and her appreciation in peculiar graciousness. + +"You've never asked me to try the new mare," she said. "I don't think it +a bit kind of you." + +"Would you care to?" he asked eagerly. + +"Of course I should. I love to see you with horses. You and the trap and +the horse seem to be as much one mechanism as a motor-car." + +"I can make a horse do what I want," he said, delighted at the +compliment. "We'll take the dog-cart. When will you come? This morning?" + +"Yes--let us say eleven. It will be lovely." + +"I'll have it round at eleven o'clock. You'll see. She's a flyer." + +"So am I," she said with a laugh, and pointed to the front gate, which a +garden lad had just run to open to admit a young man on horseback. + +"Oh, lord! it's Banstead," said Dick with a groan. + +"Au revoir--eleven o'clock," said Viviette, and she fled. + +Lord Banstead dismounted, gave his horse to the lad, and came up to +Dick. He was an unhealthy, dissipated-looking young man, with lustreless +eyes, a characterless chin, and an underfed moustache. He wore a light +blue hunting stock, fastened by a ruby fox in full gallop, and a round +felt hat with a very narrow flat brim, beneath which protruded strands +of Andrew aguecheek hair. + +"Hallo, Banstead," said Dick, not very cordially. + +"Hallo," said the other, halting before the rose-bed, where Dick was +tying up some blooms with bast. He watched him for a moment or two. +Conversation was not spontaneous. + +"Where's Viviette?" he asked eventually. + +"Who?" growled Dick. + +"Rot. What's the good of frills? Miss Hastings." + +"Busy. She'll be busy all the morning." + +"I rather wanted to see her." + +"I don't think you will. You might ring at the front door and send in +your card." + +"I might," said Banstead, lighting a cigar. He had tried this method of +seeing Viviette before, but without success. There was another pause. +Dick snipped off an end of bast. + +"You're up very early," said he. + +"Went to bed so bally sober I couldn't sleep," replied the misguided +youth. "Not a soul in the house, I give you my word. So bored last night +I took a gun and tried to shoot cats. Shot a damn cock pheasant by +mistake, and had to bury the thing in my own covers. If I'm left to +myself to-night I'll get drunk and go out shooting tenants. Come over +and dine." + +"Can't," said Dick. + +"Do. I'll open a bottle of the governor's old port. Then we can play +billiards, or piquet, or cat's-cradle, or any rotten thing you like." + +Dick excused himself curtly. Austin had come down for Whitsuntide, and a +lady was staying in the house. Lord Banstead pushed his hat to the back +of his head. + +"Then what the devil am I to do in this hole of a place?" + +"Don't know," said Dick. + +"You fellows in the country are so unfriendly. In town I never need +dine alone. Anyone's glad to see me. Feeding all by myself in that +dining-room fairly gives me the pip." + +"Then come and dine here," said Dick, unable to refuse a neighbour +hospitality. + +"Right," said Banstead. "That is really like the Samaritan Johnnie. I'll +come with pleasure." + +"Quarter to eight." + +Banstead hesitated. "Couldn't you make it a quarter past?" + +Dick stared. "Alter our dinner hour? You've rather a nerve, haven't you, +Banstead?" + +"I wouldn't suggest it, if we weren't pals," replied the other, grinning +somewhat shamefacedly. "But the fact is I've got an appointment late +this afternoon." The fatuity of vicious and coroneted youth outstripped +his discretion. "There's a devilish pretty girl, you know, at 'The Green +Man' at Little Barton; I don't know whether I can get away in time." + +Dick stuffed his bast in his pocket, and muttered things uncomplimentary +to Banstead. + +"Dinner's at a quarter to eight. You can take it or leave it," said he. + +"I suppose I've jolly well got to take it," said Banstead, unruffled. +"Anything's better than going through dinner from soup to dessert all +alone under the fishy eye of that butling image of a Jenkins. He was +thirty years in my governor's service, and doesn't understand my ways. I +guess I'll have to chuck him." + +A perspiring, straw-hatted postman lurched along the gravel drive with +the morning's post. He touched his hat to Dick, delivered the Manor +House bag into his hands, and departed. + +"I'll sort these in the morning-room," said Dick, moving in the +direction of the house, and Lord Banstead, hoping to see Viviette, +followed at his heels. The control of the family post was one of the few +privileges Dick retained as master of the house. His simple mind still +regarded the receipt and despatch of letters as a solemn affair of life, +and every morning he went through the process of distribution with +ceremonial observance. In the morning-room they found Austin and +Viviette, the former writing in a corner, the latter reading a novel by +the French window that opened on to the terrace. Dick went up to a +table, and, opening the mail-bag, began to sort the letters into various +heaps. Austin greeted Lord Banstead none too warmly, and, with scarcely +an apology, went back to his writing. He disapproved of Banstead, who +was of a type particularly antagonistic to the young, clean, and +successful barrister. When Viviette had informed him of the youth's +presence in the garden, he had exclaimed impatiently: + +"It ought to be somebody's business to go round the world occasionally +with a broom and sweep away spiders like that." + +Viviette, mindful of the invective, received Lord Banstead with a smile +of amusement. As she had two protectors against a fifth proposal of +marriage, she stood her ground. + +"I expected you to come over yesterday," she said. + +"No, did you really?" he exclaimed, a flush rising to his pale cheeks. +"If I had thought that I should have come." + +"You've made up for it by arriving early to-day, at any rate," said +Viviette. + +"And I'm making up for it further by coming to dinner to-night. Dick +asked me," he added, seeing the polite questioning in her eyes. + +"That will be very nice," she said. "You can talk to mother. You see, +Dick talks to Mrs. Holroyd, who is staying with us, Austin talks to me, +so poor mother is left out in the cold. She'll enjoy a nice long talk +with you." + +When Banstead took the chorus out to supper he had the ready repartee of +his kind. In such a case he would have told the lady not to pull his +leg. But the delicate mockery in Viviette's face seemed to forbid the +use of this figure of speech, and as his vocabulary did not readily +allow him to formulate the idea in other terms he said nothing, but +settled his stock, and looked at her adoringly. At last he bent forward, +after a glance at the protectors, and said in a low tone: + +"Come out into the garden. I've something to say to you." + +"Why not say it here?" she replied in her ordinary voice. + +Banstead bit his lip. He would have liked to call her a little devil. +But he reflected that if he did she would be quite capable of repeating +the phrase aloud, somewhat to the astonishment of Dick and Austin, who +might ask for embarrassing explanations. Instead he bent still nearer, +and whispered: + +"I can only say it to you alone. I've been awake all night thinking of +it--give you my word." + +"Wait till to-morrow morning, and by then you may have slept upon it," +she counselled. + +"You'll drive me to drink!" he murmured. + +She rose with a laugh. "In that case I must go. I ought to be labelled +'dangerous.' Don't you think so, Dick? Besides, I'm going for a drive, +and must put on my things. These my letters? Au revoir." And, with a +wave of her hand she left them. + +Banstead lingered by the threshold and took up an illustrated paper. The +maid, in response to Dick's summons, bore away the letters for the rest +of the household. Austin and Dick concerned themselves with their +correspondence, Dick's chiefly consisting of gardeners' catalogues. + +For a while there was silence. It was broken by a loud laugh from +Austin. + +"Dick! I say, Dick! What do you think these village idiots have asked me +to do? To accept their nomination and stand as a Rural District +Councillor! Me!" + +Dick quickly crossed to the table where his brother was sitting. + +"That's my letter, old chap. I must here put it in your heap by mistake. +The invitation is meant for me." + +"You?" laughed Austin. "Why, what do you want to fool about with village +politics for? No. The letter is meant for me right enough." + +"I can't understand it," said Dick. + +Lord Banstead looked up from his paper. + +"That the Rural District Council? I'm on the committee. Had a meeting +yesterday. I'm chairman of the silly rotters." + +"Then your silly rotter of an honorary secretary," cried Dick angrily, +"has sent Austin the letter of invitation that was meant for me." + +"Oh, no, he didn't," said Banstead. "It's all right. They chucked you, +old son. Now I remember. I promised to explain." + +Dick turned aside. "Oh, you needn't explain," he said bitterly. + +"But I must. They had their reasons, you know. They thought they'd +rather have a brainy nobleman like your brother than a good old rotter +like you. You're--" + +"Oh, hold your tongue, Banstead," cried Austin, rising and putting his +hand on Dick's shoulder. "Really, my dear old Dick, you're the right +person to stand. They only thought a lawyer could help them--but I'm far +too busy--of course I decline. I'm deeply pained, Dick, at having hurt +you. I'll write to the committee and point out how much fitter, as a +country gentleman, you are for the duties than I am. They're bound +to ask you." + +Dick swung away passionately, his lips quivering with anger and +mortification beneath his great moustache. + +"Do you think I would accept? I'm damned if I would. Do you expect me to +pick up everything you've thrown in the mud and feel grateful? I'm +damned if I will!" + +He flung out of the room on to the terrace and strode away in a rage. + +"Seems to take it badly," remarked Banstead, looking at his +disappearing figure. "I had better say good-bye." + +"Good-bye," said Austin. And he added, as he accompanied him with grim +politeness to the front gate, "if you exercise the same tact in the +chair as you've done here, your meetings must be a huge success." + +He returned with a shrug of the shoulders to his table in the +morning-room. He was deeply attached to Dick, but a lifelong habit of +regarding him as a good-natured, stupid, and contented giant blinded him +to the storm that was beginning to rage in the other's soul. The +occurrence was unfortunate. It wounded the poor old fellow's vanity. +Banstead's blatant folly had been enough to set any man in a rage. But, +after all, Dick was a common-sense creature, and, recognising that +Austin was in no way to blame, he would soon get over it. Meanwhile, +there was awaiting him the joyful surprise of Vancouver, which would +soon put such petty mortifications out of his head. Thus Austin consoled +himself, and settled down to the serious matters of his correspondence. + +Viviette, coming in later in hat and jacket, found him busily writing. +He looked up at her admiringly as she stood against the background of +light framed by the great French window. + +"Am I presentable?" she asked, with a smile, interpreting his glance. + +"Each modification of your dress makes you seem more bewitching than the +last." + +"I trimmed this hat myself," she said, coming into the room, and +looking at herself in a Queen Anne mirror on the wall. + +"That's why it's so becoming," said Austin. + +She wheeled round on him with a laugh. "You really ought to say +something cleverer than that!" + +"How can I," he replied, "when you drive my wits away?" + +"Poor me," she said. And then, suddenly, "Where's Dick?" + +"What do you want Dick for?" + +"He promised to take me for a drive." She consulted the watch on her +wrist. "It's past eleven now." + +"I'm afraid poor Dick is rather upset. He seems to have been counting on +being nominated to stand for the Rural District Council, and the +imbeciles invited me instead." + +"Oh, how could they?" she cried, smitten with a great pity. "How could +they be so stupid and cruel? I know all about it. He told me yesterday. +He must be bitterly disappointed." + +Austin did not tell her of Lord Banstead's tactful explanation of the +committee's action. He was a fastidious man, and did not care to soil +his mind with the memory of Banstead's existence. If he had described +the scene, the young man's vulgarity, his own attempt at conciliation, +and Dick's passionate outburst--the course of the drama that was shaping +itself might have been altered. But the stars in their courses were +fighting against Dick. Austin only said: + +"If we get him this appointment, it will be ample compensation, anyhow." + +"Please don't say 'if,'" exclaimed Viviette, "we must get it." + +"Unless Lord Overton has already found a man, which is unlikely, owing +to the general suspension of business at Whitsuntide, it's practically +a certainty." + +"When shall we know?" + +"My letter's written and is waiting for the post. If he replies by +return we shall hear the day after to-morrow." + +"That is such a long time to wait. Do you know what to-morrow is?" + +"Wednesday," said Austin. + +"It's Dick's birthday." She clapped her hands at a happy inspiration, +and hung on his arm. "Oh, Austin! If we could only give him the +appointment as a birthday present!" + +Her touch, her fresh charm, the eagerness in her eyes roused him to +unwonted enthusiasm. In his sane moments he did not care a fig for +anybody's birthday. What man ever does? He proclaimed the splendour of +her idea. But how was it to be realised? + +"Send a long prepaid telegram to Lord Overton, of course," said Viviette +triumphantly. (How unresourceful are men!) "Then we can get an +answer to-day." + +"You forget the nearest telegraph office is at Witherby, seven miles +off." + +"But Dick and I are going for a drive. I'll make him go to Witherby and +I'll send the telegram. Write it." + +She drew him in her caressing way to the table, seated him in the chair, +and laid the block of telegram forms before him. He scribbled +industriously, and when he had finished handed her the sheets. + +"There!" + +He fished in his pockets for money, but Viviette checked him. She was +the fairy godmother in this fairy tale, and fairy godmothers always held +the purse. She glanced again at her watch. It was ten minutes +past eleven. + +"Perhaps he's waiting with the trap for me all the time. Au revoir." + +"I'll see you off," said Austin. + +They went together into the hall and opened the front door. The new +mare and the dog-cart in charge of the stable lad were there, but +no Dick. + +"Where's Mr. Ware?" + +"Don't know, miss." + +Then the Devil entered into Viviette. There is no other explanation. The +Devil entered into her. + +"We must get to Witherby and back before lunch. You drive me over +instead of Dick." + +They exchanged glances. Austin was young. He was in love with her. Dick +had committed the unpardonable offence of being late. It would serve +him right. + +"I'll come," said he, disappearing in search of cap and gloves. + +Viviette went into the hall and scribbled a note. + +"Dear Dick,--You're late. Austin and I have the most important business +to transact at Witherby, so he's driving me over. We're preparing a +great surprise for you.--Viviette." + +"Give this to Mr. Ware," she said to the stable boy as she prepared to +get into the dog-cart. + +The boy touched his cap and ran to open the gate. Viviette lightly +mounted by Austin's side. They had just turned into the road when Dick +came racing through the hall and saw them disappear. He walked up the +drive, and met the boy coming down, who handed him the note, with some +words, which he did not hear. He watched the boy out of sight. Then he +tore the note unread into tiny fragments, stamped them furiously into +the mould of the nearest bed, and, flying into his armoury, threw +himself into a chair and cursed the day that ever Austin was born. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +KATHERINE + + +The drive was a memorable one for many reasons. First the new mare flew +along at an exhilarating trot, as if showing off her qualities to her +new masters. Then the morning sunshine flooded the soft, undulating +Warwickshire country, and slanted freshly through the bordering elms in +sweet-scented lanes. Summer flaunted its irresponsible youth in the +faces of matronly, red-brick Manor House, old grey church, and crumbling +cottage, danced about among the crisp green leaves, kissed the wayside +flowers, and tossing up human hearts in sheer gaiety, played the very +deuce with them. The drive also had its altruistic side. They were on an +errand of benevolence. Austin, his mind conscious of nothing but right, +felt the unusual glow of unselfish devotion to another's interests. When +he had awakened that morning he had had misgivings as to the +advisability of sending Dick to another hemisphere. After all, Dick was +exceedingly useful at Ware House, and saved him a great deal of trouble. +An agent would have to be appointed to replace him, whose salary--not a +very large one, in view of the duties to be performed, but still a +salary--would have to be provided out of his, Austin's, pocket. Who, +again, could undertake the permanent care of his mother? Viviette would +stay at home for some little time; but she would be marrying one of +these fine days--a day which Austin had reasons for hoping would not be +very remote. He would have to make Heaven knows what arrangements for +Mrs. Ware and the general upkeep of the Manor House, while he was in +London carrying on his profession. Decidedly, Dick had been a godsend, +and his absence would be a calamity. In sending him out to Vancouver +Austin had all the unalloyed, pure pleasure of self-sacrifice. + +They talked of Dick and Dick's birthday and Dick's happiness most of the +way to Witherby. The telegram despatched, prepaid with the porterage by +Viviette, Austin felt that he had done his duty by his brother, and +deserved some consideration on his own account. And here it was that the +summer began its game with their hearts. On such sportive occasions it +is not so much what is said that matters. A conversation that might be +entirely conventional between comparative strangers in a fog may become +the most romantic interchange of sentiment imaginable between intimates +in the sunshine. There are tones, there are glances, there are +half-veiled allusions, there are--in a dog-cart, especially when it +jolts--thrilling contacts of arm and arm. There is man's undisguised +tribute to beauty; there is beauty's keen feminine appreciation of the +tribute. There is a manner of saying "we" which counts for more than the +casual conjunction of the personalities. + +"This is _our_ day, Viviette," said Austin. "I shall always remember +it." + +"So shall I. We must put a white mark against it in our diaries." + +"With white ink?" + +"Of course. Black would never do, nor red, nor violet." + +"But where shall we get it?" + +"I'll make us some when I get home out of white cloud and lilies and +sunshine and a bit of the blue sky." + +Laughter fluttered through her veins. Yesterday she had teasingly +boasted to Katherine that Austin was in love with her. Now she knew it. +He proclaimed it in a thousand ways. A note of exultation in his laugh, +like that in a blackbird's call, alone proclaimed it. Instinct told her +of harmless words she might use which would bring the plain avowal. But +the hour was too delicate. As yet nothing was demanded. All was given. +Her woman's vanity blossomed deliciously in the atmosphere of a man's +love. Her heart had not yet received the inevitable summons to respond. +She left it, careless in the gay hands of summer. + +When they drew up before the front door of Ware House he lifted her from +the dog-cart and set her laughing on her feet. + +"How strong you are," she cried. + +"I'm not a giant, like Dick," said he, "but I'm strong enough to do what +I like with a bit of a thing like you." + +She entered the hall and glanced at him provokingly over her shoulder. + +"Don't be too sure of that." + +"Whatever I like," he repeated, striding towards her. + +But Viviette laughed, and fled lightly up the stairs, and on the +landing blew him an ironical kiss from her finger tips. + +When Viviette came down for lunch, she found Dick awaiting her in the +hall. With a lowering face he watched her descend and, his hand on the +newel, confronted her. + +"Well?" said he indignantly. + +"Well?" she said, cheerfully smiling. + +"What have you got to say for yourself?" + +"Lots of things. I had a lovely drive. I got through all my business, +and I have a beautiful appetite. I also don't like standing on a stair." + +At her look he drew aside and let her pass into the hall. + +"You promised to drive with me," he said, following her to a chair in +which she sat. "Driving with me is no great catch, perhaps; but a +promise is a promise." + +"You were late," said Viviette. + +"My mother kept me--some silly nonsense about vegetables. You must have +known it was something I couldn't help." + +"I really don't see why you're so angry, Dick," she said, lifting candid +eyes. "I explained why we had gone in my note." + +"I didn't read the note," said Dick wrath-fully. "A thousand notes +couldn't have explained it. I tore the note into little pieces." + +Viviette rose. "If that's the way you treat me," she said, piqued, "I +have nothing more to say to you." + +"It's the way you're treating me," he cried, with a clumsy man's awkward +attempt at gesture. "I know I'm not clever. I know I can't talk to you +as sweetly as other people; but I'm not a dog, and I deserve some +consideration. Perhaps, after all, I might have the brains to jest and +toss about words and shoot off epigrams. I'll try, if you like. Let us +see. Here. A man who entrusts his heart to a woman has a jade for his +banker. That's devilish smart, isn't it. Now then--there must be some +repartee to it. What is it?" + +Viviette looked at him proudly, and moving in the direction of the +morning-room door, said with much dignity: + +"That depends on the way in which the woman you are talking to has been +brought up. My repartee is--good morning." + +Dick, suddenly repentant, checked her. + +"No, Viviette. Don't go. I'm a brute and a fool. I didn't mean it. +Forgive me. I would rather go on the rack than hurt your little finger. +But it maddens me--can't you believe it? It maddens me to see Austin--" + +She broke into a little laugh and smiled dazzlingly on him. + +"I do believe you're jealous!" she interrupted. + +"Good heavens!" he cried passionately. "Haven't I cause? Austin has +everything his heart can desire. He has always had it. I have +nothing--nothing but one little girl I love. Austin, with all the world +at his feet, comes down here, and what chance has a rough yokel like me +against Austin? My God! It's the one ewe lamb." + +He raised his clenched fists and brought them down against his sides and +turned away. The allusion and a consciousness of Vancouver brought a +smile into Viviette's eyes. She had a woman's sense of humour, which is +not always urbane. When he turned to meet her she shook her head +reprovingly. + +"And David put Uriah into the forefront of the battle, and carried off +poor little Bathsheba. No one seemed to have concerned himself with what +Bathsheba thought of it all. Don't you consider she ought to have some +choice in the matter--whether she should follow the sprightly David or +cling to the melancholy Uriah?" + +"Oh, don't jest like that, Viviette," he cried. "It hurts!" + +"I'm sorry, Dick," she said innocently. "But, really, Bathsheba has her +feelings. What am I to do?" + +"Choose, dear, between us. Choose now--in Heaven's name, choose." + +"But, Dick, dear," said Viviette, all that was wickedly feminine in her +shouting her sex's triumph song, "I want a longer time to choose between +two hats!" + +Dick stamped his foot. "Then Austin has been robbing me! I'm growing +desperate, Viviette, tell me now. Choose." + +He seized her arms in his strong hands. She felt a delicious little +thrill of fear. But knowing her strength, she looked up at him with a +childish expression and said plaintively: "Oh, Dick, dear, I'm +so hungry." + +He released her arms. She rubbed them ruefully. "I'm sure you've made +horrid red rings. Fancy choosing a hard, uncomfortable hat like that!" + +He was about to make some rejoinder when the presence of Mrs. Ware and +Katherine Holroyd at the top of the stairs put an end to the encounter. +The victory, such as it was, remained with Viviette. + +At lunch, Austin, his veins still tingling with the summer, laughed and +jested light-heartedly. What a joy it was to get away from stuffy courts +of justice into the pure Warwickshire air. What a joy to drink of the +wine of life. What was that? Only those that drank of the wine +could tell. + +"What about the poor devils that only get the dregs?" muttered Dick. + +Austin declared that the real wine had no dregs. He called his mother +and Katherine Holroyd to witness. Mrs. Ware was not sure. Old port had +to be very carefully decanted. Did he remember the fuss his dear father +used to make about it? She was very glad there was no more left--for +Dick would be sure to drink it and it would go to his head. + +"Or his toes!" cried Viviette. + +When Austin explained Viviette's meaning to his mother, who had not an +allusive habit of mind, she acquiesced placidly. Port was not good for +gouty people. Their poor father suffered severely. Austin listened to +her reminiscences and turned the talk to the drive. It had been more +like driving through Paradise with Pegasus harnessed to Venus's car than +anything else. He must take his mother out and show her what a good +judge of horseflesh was dear old Dick. + +"As she's my mare, perhaps I might have the privilege," said Dick. + +Austin cried out, in all good faith: "My dear old boy, is there anything +especially mine or yours in this house?" + +Katherine, a keen observer, broke quickly into the talk. + +"There's Dick's armoury. That's his own particular and private domain. +You're going to explain it all to me this afternoon, aren't you? You +promised yesterday." + +She drew Dick into talk away from the others. The lecture on the armoury +was fixed for three o'clock, when she would be free from the duty from +which, during her stay at the Manor House, she had freed Viviette, of +postprandial reading of the newspaper to Mrs. Ware. But her interest in +his hobby for once failed to awaken his enthusiasm. The dull jealousy of +Austin, against which his honest soul had struggled successfully all his +life long, had passed beyond his control. These few days of Austin's +Whitsun visit had changed his cosmic view. Petty rebuffs, such as the +matters of the stables and the Rural District Council, which formerly he +would have regarded in the twilight of his mind as part of the +unchangeable order of things in which Austin was destined to shine +resplendently and he to glimmer--Austin the arc-lamp and he the +tallow-dip--became magnified into grievances and insults intolerable. +Esau could not have raged more against Jacob, the supplanter, than did +Dick, when Austin carried off Viviette from beneath his nose. Until this +visit of Austin he had no idea that he would find a rival in his +brother. The discovery was a shock, causing his world to reel and +setting free all the pent-up jealousies and grievances of a lifetime. +Everything he had given up to Austin, if not willingly, at least +graciously, hiding beneath the rough, tanned hide of his homely face all +pain, disappointment, and humiliation. But now Austin had come and +swooped off with his one ewe lamb. Not that Viviette had encouraged him +by more than the real but mocking affection with which she had treated +her bear foster-brother ever since her elfin childhood. In a dim way he +realised this, and absolved her from blame. Less dimly, also, he felt +his mental and social inferiority, his lack of warrant in offering her +marriage. But his great, rugged manhood wanted her, the woman, with an +imperious, savage need which took all the training of civilisation to +repress. Viviette alone in her maidenly splendour, he could have fought +it down. But the vision of another man entering, light-hearted and +debonair, into those precincts maddened him, let loose primitive +instincts of hatred and revenge, and robbed him of all interest in the +toys with which men used to slay each other centuries ago. + +Austin, being nearest the door, opened it for the ladies to pass out. +Viviette, going out last, looked up at him with one of her +witch's glances. + +"Don't be very long," she said, + +Before Austin could resume his seat Dick leaped up. + +"Austin, look here; I've something to say to you." + +"Well?" said Austin. + +Dick pulled out a cigar, bit the end off, and finding that he had +ripped the outer skin, threw it angrily into the fireplace. + +"My dear old boy," said Austin, "what in the name of all that's neurotic +is the matter?" + +"I've something to say to you," Dick repeated. "Something that concerns +myself, my life. I must throw myself on your generosity." + +Austin, his head full of philanthropy, thrust his hands into his pockets +and smiled indulgently on Dick. + +"Don't, old chap, I know all about it. Viviette has told me everything." + +Dick, his head full of passion, staggered in amazement. + +"Viviette has told you?" + +"Of course; why shouldn't she?" + +Dick groped his way to the door. It were better for both that he should +not stay. Austin, left alone, laughed, not unkindly. Dear old Dick! It +was a shame to tease him--but what a different expression his honest +face would wear to-morrow! When the maid brought in his coffee he sipped +it with enjoyment, forgetful for once of its lack of excellence. + +There was one person, however, in the house who saw things clearly; and +the more clearly she saw them the less did they seem satisfactorily +ordered. This was Katherine Holroyd, a sympathetic observer and +everybody's intimate. She had known the family since her childhood, +spent in a great neighbouring house which had now long since passed from +her kin into alien hands. She had known Viviette when she first came, +with her changeling face, a toddling child of three, to the Manor House. +She had grown up with the brothers. Until her marriage the place had +been her second home. Her married life, mostly spent abroad, had +somewhat broken the intimacy. But her widowhood after the first few +hopeless months had renewed it, although her visits were comparatively +rare. On the other hand, her little daintily-furnished London house in +Victoria square was always open to such of the family as happened to be +in town. Now, as Austin was the most frequently in town, seeing that he +lived there all the year round, with the exception of the long vacation +and odd flying visits to Warwickshire, to Austin was her door most +frequently open. A deep affection existed between them, deeper perhaps +than either realised. To be purely brotherly in attitude towards a woman +whom you are fond of and who is not your sister, and to be purely +sisterly in your attitude towards a man whom you are fond of and who is +not your brother, are ideals of spiritual emotion very difficult to +attain in this respectably organised but sex-ridden world. + +During the dark time of her early widowhood it was to Austin's delicate +tact and loyalty that she owed her first weak grasp on life. It was he +that had brought her to a sense of outer things, to a realisation that +in spite of her own grey sky there was still a glory on the earth. He +was her trusted friend, ally, and adviser, who never failed her, and she +contemplated him always with a heart full of somewhat exaggerated +gratitude--which is as far on the road to love as it is given to many +women to travel. + +She had barely reached the top of the hall stairs--on her way to spend +her reading hour with Mrs. Ware, when she saw Dick come out of the +dining-room with convulsed and angry face, the veins standing out on his +thick bull's neck. She felt frightened. Something foolish and desperate +would happen before long. She resolved to give Austin a warning word. +With an excuse to Mrs. Ware she went down again to the dining-room, and +found Austin in the cosiest and sunniest frame of mind imaginable. +Obviously there had been no serious quarrel between the brothers. + +"Can I have a few minutes with you, Austin?" + +"A thousand," he said gaily. "What has gone wrong?" + +"It is nothing to do with me," she said. + +He looked amusedly into her eyes. "I know. It's about Viviette. +Confess." + +"Yes," she replied soberly, "it's about Viviette." + +"You've seen it. I make no bones about it. You can believe the very +worst. I have fallen utterly and hopelessly in love with her. I am at +your mercy." + +This beginning was not quite what Katherine had expected. In his +confident way he had taken matters out of her hands. She had not +anticipated a down-right confession. She felt conscious of a little dull +and wholly reprehensible ache at her heart. She sighed. + +"Aren't you pleased, Katherine?" he asked with a man's selfishness. + +"I suppose I must be--for your sake. But I must also sigh a little. I +knew you would be falling in love sooner or later--only I hoped it would +be later. But _que veux-tu?_ It is the doom of all such friendships." + +"I don't see anything like a doom about it, my dear," said he. "The +friendship will continue. Viviette loves you dearly." + +She took up a peach from a dish to her hand, regarded it for a moment, +absent-mindedly, and delicately replaced it. + +"Our friendship will continue, of course. But the particular essence of +it, the little sentimentality of ownership, will be gone, won't it?" + +Austin rose and bent over Katherine's chair in some concern. "You're not +distressed, Katherine?" + +"Oh, no. You have been such a kind, loyal friend to me during a very +dark and lonely time--brought sunshine into my life when I needed it +most--that I should be a wicked woman if I didn't rejoice at your +happiness. And we have been nothing more than friends." + +"Nothing more," said Austin. + +She was smiling now, and he caught a gleam of mischief in her eyes. + +"And yet there was an afternoon last winter--" + +His face coloured. "Don't throw my wickedness in my face. I remember +that afternoon. I came in fagged, with the prospect of dinner at the +club and a dismal evening over a brief in front of me, and found you +sitting before the fire, the picture of rest and comfortableness and +companionship. I think it was the homely smell of hot buttered toast +that did it. I nearly asked you to marry me." + +"And I had been feeling particularly lonely," she laughed. + +"Would you have accepted me?" + +"Do you think that it is quite a fair question?" + +"We have always been frank with one another since our childhood," said +he. + +She smiled. "Has Viviette accepted you?" + +He broke away from her with a gay laugh, and lit a cigarette. + +"Your feminine subtlety does you credit, Katherine." + +"But has she?" + +"Well, no--not exactly." + +"Will she?" + +He brought his hand down on the table. "By heavens, I'll make her! I've +got most of the things I've wanted during my life, and it'll be odd if I +don't get the thing I want more than all the rest put together. Now +answer my question, my dear Katherine," he continued teasingly. "Would +you have married me?" + +The smile faded from Katherine's face. She could not parry the question +as she had done before, and it probed depths. She said very seriously +and sweetly: + +"I should have done, Austin, as I always shall do, whatever you ask me +to do. I'm glad you didn't ask me--very glad--for the love a woman gives +a man died within me, you know." + +He took her hand and kissed it. + +"My dear," said he, "you are the truest friend that ever man had." + +There was a short pause. Austin looked out of the window and Katherine +wiped away some moisture in her eyes. This scene of sentimentality was +not at all what she had come for. Soon she rose with a determined air +and joined Austin by the window. + +"It was as a true friend that I wanted to speak to you to-day. To warn +you." + +"About what?" + +"About Dick. Austin, he's madly in love with Viviette too." + +Austin stared at her for a moment incredulously. "Dick in love--in love +with Viviette?" Then he broke into a peal of laughter. "My _dear_ +Katherine! Why, it's absurd! It's preposterous! It's too funny." + +"But seriously, Austin." + +"But seriously," he said, with laughing eyes, "such an idea has never +penetrated into old Dick's wooden skull. You dear women are always +making up romance. He and Viviette are on the same old fairy and great +brown bear terms that they have been ever since they first met. She +makes him dance on his hind legs--he wants to hug her--she hits him over +the nose--and he growls." + +"I warn you," said Katherine. "Great brown bears in love are dangerous." + +"But he isn't in love," he argued light-heartedly. "If he were he would +want to stay with Viviette. But he's eating his heart out, apparently, +to leave us all and go and plough fields and herd cattle abroad. The +life he lives here, my good mother's somewhat arbitrary ways, and one +thing and another have at last got on his nerves. I wonder now how the +dear old chap has stood it so long. That's what is wrong with him, not +blighted affection." + +"I can only tell you what I know," said Katherine. "If you won't believe +me, it's not my fault. Keep your eyes open and you will see." + +"And you keep your eyes open to-morrow morning and _you_ will see," he +said, with his bright self-confidence. + +So Katherine sighed at the obtuseness and inconvincibility of man and +went to read the leader in _The Daily Telegraph_ to Mrs. Ware. Austin, +with a smile on his lips, wandered out into the sunshine in search +of Viviette. + +Before they parted, however, Katherine turned by the door. + +"Are you coming to the armoury to hear Dick's lecture?" + +"Of course," said Austin gaily. "The dear old chap loves an audience." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FAMOUS DUELLING PISTOLS + + +Dick's great-grandfather (Wild Dick Ware, as he used to be called by the +country-side), besides other enormities of indiscretion, committed an +architectural crime. Having begun to form the collection of arms which +was Dick's pride and hobby, he felt the need of a fencing gallery where +they could be displayed to advantage. None of the rooms in the house +were suitable. Building a new wing would cost too much. So, like a good +old English gentleman, accustomed to get what he wanted, he ruthlessly +cut off a slice of the nobly proportioned morning-room, containing a +beautifully-mullioned casement at the side, knocked a French window +through one end, so that he could wander in and out from the terrace, +knocked a door through the other so that it opened on a corner of the +hall, forgot all about the fireplace, and left his descendants to make +the best of things. + +This long, narrow, comfortless strip of a room was Dick's armoury, den, +and refuge. It was furnished with extreme simplicity. At the further end +two rusty leather arm-chairs flanked a cast-iron stove in the corner, and +were balanced in the other and darker corner by a knee-hole writing-desk +littered with seeds and bulbs and spurs and bits of fishing tackle, and +equipped for its real purpose with a forbidding-looking pen and inkpot, +and a torn piece of weather-beaten blotting-paper. At about a third of +the way down from the terrace door a great screen, covered with American +cloth, cut the room almost in two. Against this screen stood two suits +of beautifully-finished fifteenth-century Italian armour. Between them +and the further end of the room ran a long deal table, with a green +baize cover. An odd, dilapidated chair or two stood lonely and +disconsolate against the opposite wall. The floor was covered with old +matting and a few faded rugs. The walls, however, and the cases ranged +along them gave an air of distinction to the room. There hung trophies +of arms of all sorts--a bewildering array of spiky stars like the +monstrous decorations on the breast of a Brobdingnagian diplomatist, of +guns and pistols of all ages and nationalities, of halberds, pikes, and +partisans, of curved scimitars, great two-handed swords, and long, +glittering rapiers, with precious hilts. There, too, were coats of chain +mail and great iron gauntlets, and rows of dinted helmets formed a +cornice round the gallery. + +It was Dick's sanctuary, where, according to family tradition, he was +supposed to be immune from domestic attacks. Anyone, it is true, could +open the door and worry him from the threshold, but no one entered +without his invitation. Here he was master. Here he spent solitary hours +dreaming dreams, wrestling with devils, tying trout-flies, making up +medicines for his dogs, and polishing and arranging and rearranging his +armour and weapons. Until the furies got hold of him he was a simple +soul, content with simple things. The happiest times of his life had +been passed here among the inanimate objects which he loved, and here he +was now spending the hours of his greatest agony. + +The words he had just heard from Austin rang like a crazy, deafening +chime through his ears. He sat in one of the old leather chairs, +gripping his coarse hair. It was unthinkable, and yet it was true. +Viviette had told Austin the thing that glowed sacred at the bottom of +his soul. The scene danced vividly before his eyes: the two bright +creatures making a mock of him and his love, laughing merrily at the +trick they had played him, pitying him contemptuously. There was a flame +at his heart, a burning lump in his throat. Mechanically he drew from a +little cupboard near by a bottle of whiskey, a syphon, and a glass. The +drink he mixed and swallowed contained little soda. It increased the +fire in his heart and throat. He paced the long room in crazy +indignation. Every nerve in his body quivered with a sense of +unforgivable insult and deadly outrage. Austin's face loomed before him +like that of a mocking devil. He had hell in his throat, and again he +tossed down a dose of whiskey, and threw himself into the arm-chair. The +daily paper lay on a stool at his hand. He took it up and tried to read, +but the print swam into thin, black smudges. He dashed the paper to the +ground, and gave himself up to his madness. + +After a while he remembered his appointment with Katherine at three +o'clock. He glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to the hour, and, +beyond a cleaning yesterday afternoon, no preparations were made. In an +automatic way he unlocked some cases and drew out his treasures, wiped +the sword-blades tenderly with chamois leather, and laid them on the +long, baize-covered table. Here and there from the cornice he selected a +helmet. The great mace used by his ecclesiastical ancestor he unhooked +from the wall. Soon the table was covered with weapons, selected in a +dazed way, he knew not why. A helmet fell from his hands on the floor +with a ring of steel. Its visor grinned at him--the fool, the tricked, +the supplanted. He kicked it, with a silly laugh. Then he pulled himself +together, picked it up, and examined it in great fear lest harm should +have happened to it. He put it on the table, and in order to steady his +nerves drank another large whiskey and small soda. + +He scanned the table, perplexed. Some accustomed and important exhibit +was not in its place. What was it? He clasped his head in his hands and +strove to clear his mind for a moment from obsession. It was something +historical, something unique, something he had but lately mentioned to +Katherine. Something intimately connected with this very room. At last +memory responded. He placed a chair between the two suits of armour that +stood against the screen and the end of the long table, and, mounting, +took a mahogany case from a shelf. Then he sat on the chair, put the +case on the table, and opened it by means of a small, ornamental key. It +contained a brace of old-fashioned duelling pistols, such as were used +at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They were long-barrelled, +ivory-handled, business-like weapons, provided with miniature ramrods. +The velvet-lined interior of the case was divided into various +compartments, two for the pistols, one for powder-flask, one for +bullets, one for percussion-caps, and one for wads. In his dull, +automatic way, his mind whirling madly in other spheres, he cleaned the +pistols, shook the powder-flask to make certain that powder was still +there--he loved to pour out a few grains into his hand and show the +powder that had remained in the flask for generations, ever since the +pistols were last used--counted the caps, which he had counted many +times before, looked stupidly into the only empty compartment, only to +remember that there never had been any wads, and, finally, grasping one +of the pistols, took aim at a bulb on his writing-desk at the end of +the room. + +He had been tricked, and robbed, and mocked. He could see the scene when +she had told Austin. He could hear Austin's pitiless laughter. He could +picture her mimicking his rough speech. He could picture them, +faithless, heartless, looking into each other's eyes.... Suddenly he +passed his hand over his forehead. Was he going mad? Hitherto he had +heard their voices in the dimness of imagination. Now he heard them loud +in vibrating sound. Was it real or imaginary? He drew deep, +panting breaths. + +"Dick's not here," said Viviette's voice from the terrace. "He has +forgotten." + +"Really, my dear, I don't very much care," Austin replied. "Where you +are, I am happy." + +"I wish that telegram would come. It's quite time. Don't you think we +had better tell Dick to-day?" + +"No, no. To-morrow." + +"After all, what is the good of hiding it from him?" + +A laugh from Austin. "You think we ought to put him out of his misery +at once?" + +It was real! Those two were talking in flesh and blood on the terrace. +They were talking of him. His misery! That had but one meaning. And the +devil laughed! Unconsciously his grip tightened on the butt of the +pistol. He listened. + +"Yes," said Viviette. "It would be kinder." + +"I stick to the birthday idea. It would be more dramatic." + +"The damned villain!" Dick muttered. + +"I want to-day," said Viviette. + +"And I want to-morrow." + +"You speak as if you were my lord and master," said Viviette, in the +mocking tones Dick knew so well. + +"No other man shall be if I can help it." + +The clear, young masterful voice rang down the gallery. Dick slid his +chair noiselessly to the side of the screen which hid him from the +terrace-window, and, bending down low, peered round the edge. He saw +them laughing, flushed, silhouetted against the green, distant trees. +Austin was looking at her with the light of passion in his eyes. She +looked up at him, radiant, elusive, triumphant, with parted lips. + +"Please to remember we were talking of Dick." + +"Confound Dick! In this he doesn't count. I matter. And I'll show you." + +He showed her in the one and only way. She struggled for a second in his +arms, and received his kiss with a little laugh. They had moved to the +far lintel of the door. Dick's world reeled red before his eyes. He +stood up and held the pistol pointed. Damn him! Damn him! He would kill +him. Kill him like a dog. + +Some reflex motion of the brain prompted action. Feverishly he rammed a +charge of powder down the pistol. Wads? A bit of the newspaper lying on +the floor. Then a bullet. Then a wad rammed home. Then the cap. It was +done at lightning speed. Murder, red, horrible murder blazed in his +soul. Damn him! He would kill him. He started into the middle of the +room, just as they walked away, and he sprang to the door and levelled +the pistol. + +Then reaction came. No. Not like a dog. He couldn't shoot his brother +like a dog. His arm fell helplessly at his side. He turned back again +into the room, staggering and knocking himself against the cases by the +walls, like a drunken man. The sweat rolled down his face. He put the +pistol beside the other on the table. For some moments he stood a +hulking statue, shaken as though stricken with earthquake, white-faced, +white-lipped, staring, with crossed, blue eyes, at nothing. At last he +recovered power of motion, drank another whiskey, and replaced bottle, +syphon, and glass in the cupboard. + +He found himself suddenly clear-headed, able to think. He was not in +the least degree drunk. To test himself he took up a sword from the +table, and, getting the right spot, balanced it on his finger. He could +speak, too, as well as anybody. He turned to a long Moorish musket +inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl, and began to describe it. He was +quite fluent and sensible, although his voice sounded remote in his own +ears. He was satisfied. He had his nerves under control. He would go +through the next hour without anyone suspecting the madness that was in +his mind. He was absolutely sober and self-collected. He walked along a +seam of the matting that ran the whole length of the gallery, and did +not deviate from it one hair's breadth. Now he was ready. Perfectly +prepared to deliver his lecture. He sat down and picked up the +newspaper, and the print was clear. "The weather still continues to be +fine over the British Islands. The anti-cyclone has not yet passed away +from the Bay of Biscay...." He read the jargon through to the end. But +it seemed as if it were not he who was reading, but someone else--a +quiet, placid gentleman, deeply versed in the harmless science of +meteorology. Where his real self was he did not know, so he toyed with +the illusion. + +A voice broke on his ear, coming, it seemed, from another world. + +"Dick, may we come in?" + +He rose, saw Katherine, Austin, and Viviette on the threshold. He +invited them to enter, and shook Katherine by the hand, as if he had not +met her for a long time. + +Viviette danced down to the table. "Now, Dick, we're all here. Put on +your most learned, and antiquarian mariner. Ladies and gentlemen, I call +on Mr. Richard Ware to deliver his interesting lecture on the ingenious +instruments men have devised for butchering each other." + +Dick put his hand to his head in a confused way. His real self was +beginning to merge itself into that of the quiet gentleman, and there +was a curious red mist before his eyes. + +"Come on," cried Viviette. "Look at Katherine. Her mouth is watering for +tales of bloodshed." + +Dick could not remember his usual starting-point. He stared stupidly at +the table for a moment; then picked up a weapon at random, and made a +great effort. + +"This is a Toledo sixteenth-century sword--reported to have belonged to +Cosmo de Medici. You see here the '_palle_,' the Medici emblem. The one +next to it is a sword of the same period, only used by a meaner person. +I should prefer it, if there were any killing to be done." + +He described one or two other weapons. Then, glancing over his shoulder +at Austin and Viviette, who were talking in low, confidential tones a +little way off, he stood stock still, and the beads of sweat gathered on +his forehead. Katherine's voice recalled his wandering wits. + +"This is a cross-bow, isn't it? The thing the Ancient Mariner shot the +Albatross with." + +"A cross-bow," said Dick. "The iron loop at the end was to put one's +foot into when one wanted to load it." + +"And this," said Katherine, pointing to a long steel thing with a great +knob adorned with cruel spikes, "is the family mace, I suppose. I've +seen it before, I remember." + +"Yes, that's the mace." + +"What a blood-thirsty set of people you must have been!" + +Austin came up with a laugh. "There's a legend among us that once mother +was left alone in the house and insisted on having this mace near her +bed so as to defend herself against burglars. But why do you leave me to +tell the story, Dick?" + +Dick clenched his fists, and, muttering something, turned and ascended +the gallery above the screen. Viviette followed him. + +"You're not doing it at all nicely. I don't think you want to." + +"Can you wonder at that?" he said hoarsely. + +Viviette played deliciously with the fire. + +"Why, aren't we intelligent enough for you?" she asked with childish +innocence. + +"You know what I mean." + +"I haven't the faintest idea. All I know is that you may as well be +polite, at any rate." + +He laughed. Ordinarily he had little sense of humour; but now he had the +flames in his heart and the hell in his throat, and red mist before +his eyes. + +"Oh, I'll be polite," he growled. "By God, I'll be polite! One may be +suffering the tortures of the damned, but one must smirk and be polite!" + +He snatched up the first thing to hand, a helmet that stood on a case, +and brought it down below the screen. + +"Katherine, Viviette says I'm not delivering my lecture properly. I beg +your pardon. I'm rather shy at first, but I get warmed up to my subject. +What would you like to hear about?" + +Katherine exchanged a glance with Austin. + +"Don't you think we might put off the rest till another day?" + +"Yes, old chap. Put it off till to-morrow. It's your birthday, you +know." + +"Birthday? What's that got to do with it? Who knows what may happen +between then and now? No--no. I'm all right," he cried wildly. "You're +here, and you've got to listen. I'll get into fine form presently. +Look!" he said, pointing to the helmet he was holding. "Here is a +Cromwellian morion. It was picked up by an ancestor at Naseby. It has a +clean cut in it. That's where an honest gentleman's sword found its way +into the knave's skull--the puritanical, priggish, canting knave." + +He threw the helmet with a clatter on to the table as if it had been the +knave's canting head. He caught up a weapon. + +"This is a partisan. All you had to do when you got it inside a man was +to turn it round a bit, and the wound gaped and tore. This tassel is for +catching the blood and preventing it from greasing the handle. Here's a +beauty," he went on, taking a sword from the row he had laid out for +display, and holding it out for Katherine's inspection. "One of the pets +of the collection. A French duelling sword of the middle of the +eighteenth century." He gave a fencer's flourish. "Responsive to the +hilts, eh? Ah! It must have been good to live in those days, when you +could whip this from your side at a wrong done and have the life of the +man that wronged you. The sweet morning air, the patch of green turf, +shoes off--in shirt and breeches--with the eyes of the man you hate in +front of you, and this glittering, beautiful, snaky thing thirsting for +his heart's blood. And then--"--he stood in tierce, left hand curved, +holding in tense fierceness the eyes of an imaginary opponent--"and then +a little clitter-clatter of steel, and, suddenly--ha!--the blade +disappears up to the hilt, and a great red stain comes on the shirt, and +the man throws up his arms, and falls, and you've killed him. He's dead! +dead! dead! Ha! what a time to live in!" + +Katherine uttered a little cry of fear, and grew pale. Viviette clapped +her hands. + +"Bravo, Dick!" + +"Bravo, Dick!" cried Austin. "Most dramatically done." + +"I never knew you were such an actor," said Viviette. + +Dick stood panting, his hand on the hilt of the sword, the point on the +floor. + +"I really do think I've had enough," said Katherine. + +"No, not yet," he said in a thick voice. "I've not shown you half yet. +I've something much more interesting." + +"But, Dick--" + +Viviette interrupted her. "You must stay. It's only beginning to be +exciting. If you only do the rest as beautifully as you did that, Dick, +I'll stay here all day." + +Dick, with a curious outward calm, contrasting with the fury of his mock +encounter, put down the sword and went to the end of the table, where +the case of pistols lay. + +"At any rate, I must show you," said he, "the famous duelling pistols." + +"They were the very pistols in the duel between his great-grandfather +and Lord Estcombe," said Viviette. + +"They've not been used from that day--he killed Lord Estcombe, by the +by--till this. The case is just as it was left. I was going to tell you +the story yesterday." + +"I remember," said Katherine, by way of civility. "But Mrs. Ware stopped +you." + +She was a mild-natured woman, and the realistic conjuring up of +gore-dripping tassels and bloody shirts upset her, and she desired to +get away. She also saw that Dick was abnormally excited, and suspected +that he had been drinking. Her delicate senses shrank from drunkenness. + +"You must tell the story," cried Viviette. "It's so romantic. You like +romantic things, Katherine. The great-grandfather was a Dick Ware +too--Wild Dick Ware they used to call him. Go on, Dick." + +Dick paused for a moment. He had a curious, dull, befogged sensation of +being compelled to do things independently of volition. Presently +he spoke. + +"It happened in this very room, a hundred years ago. Lord Estcombe and +my great-grandfather were friends--intimate friends from boyhood. Wild +Dick Ware was madly in love with a girl who had more or less become +engaged to him. Now, it came to his knowledge that Lord Estcombe had +been using blackguard means to win away the girl's affections. And one +day they were here"--he moved a pace or two to one side--"just as Austin +and I are now. And the girl over there--" + +Viviette, with a gay laugh, took up her position on the spot to which he +pointed. + +"Just in this identical place. I know the story--it's lovely!" + +"An old Peninsula comrade of Wild Dick Ware's was here too--a man called +Hawkins--" + +"Katherine shall be Hawkins," cried Viviette. + +"And in his presence," Dick continued, "Wild Dick Ware told the girl +that he was mad for love of her, but that he would not force her choice; +yet one of those two, himself or Lord Estcombe, she must choose, for +good and all. She could not speak for shame or confusion. He said, +'Throw your handkerchief to whichever of us you love.' And they stood +side by side--like this"--he ranged himself by Austin's side--"opposite +the girl." + +"And she threw the handkerchief!" cried Viviette. + +"Throw yours!" said Dick. He looked at her with fierce intensity beneath +rugged brows; Austin with laughing challenge. She knew that she was the +object of each man's desire, and her sex's triumph thrilled through her +from head to foot. She knew that this jesting choice would have serious +import. For some seconds the three remained stock still. She glanced +flatteringly from one man to the other. Which should she choose? Her +heart beat wildly. Choose one or the other she must. Outside that room +no man lived whom she would marry. Each second strained the situation +further. At last her spirit rose in feminine revolt against the trap +which Dick had set for her, and, with a malicious look, she threw the +handkerchief at Austin's feet. He picked it up and gallantly put it +to his lips. + +"In the story," exclaimed Viviette, "she threw it to Lord Estcombe. +Austin is Lord Estcombe." + +"And I'm Dick Ware," cried Dick, in a strangled voice. "Wild Dick Ware. +And this is what he did. He dragged the girl out of the room first." + +He took Viviette by the arm and roughly thrust her past the screen. + +"Then--that case was on the table. And without a word Wild Dick Ware +comes up to Lord Estcombe so--and says, 'Choose.'" + +He gripped the pistols by the barrels, crossed them, and presented the +butts to Austin. Austin waved them away with a deprecatory gesture and +a smile. + +"Really, old man, I can't enter into the spirit of it, like that. You're +splendid. But if I took a hand, it would be tomfoolery." + +"Oh, do, do," cried Viviette. "Let us go through with it and see just +how the duel was fought. It will be thrilling. You'll have to fall dead +like Lord Estcombe, and I'll burst into the room and tear my hair over +your poor corpse. Do, Austin, for my sake." + +He yielded. Any foolishness for her sake. He took a pistol. + +"You'll have to be Major Hawkins, Katherine," he said lightly, as if +inviting her to condescend to some child's game. + +But Katherine put her hands before her face and shrank back. "No, no, +no. I couldn't. I don't like it." + +"Then I'll be Major Hawkins," said Viviette. + +"You will?" Dick laughed harshly. "Then be it so." + +"I know just what they did." + +She placed the men back to back, so that Austin faced the further end of +the room and Dick the open French window. They were to take three paces, +count one, two, three, and, at the end of the third pace, they were to +turn and fire. + +Dick felt the touch of Austin's shoulder against his, and the flame at +his heart grew fiercer and the hell in his throat more burning, and the +universe whirled round in a red mist. Viviette moved to the +weapon-laden table. + +"Now. One--two--three!" + +[Illustration: Dick glared at him] + +They paced and turned. Dick levelled his pistol instantly at Austin, +with murderous hate in his eyes, and drew the trigger. The pistol +clicked harmlessly. Austin, self-conscious, did not raise his pistol. +But Dick, broadening his chest, glared at him and shouted, +wildly, madly: + +"Fire, damn you! Fire! Why the devil don't you fire?" + +The cry was real, vibrant with fury and despair. Austin looked at him +for an amazed moment; then, throwing his pistol on to one of the +arm-chairs, he came up to him. + +"What fool's game are you playing, Dick? Are you drunk?" + +Katherine, with a low cry, flung herself between them, and, clinging to +Dick's arm, took the pistol from his hand. + +"No more of this--no more. The duel has been too much like reality +already." + +Dick staggered to a straight-backed chair by the wall, and, sitting +down, wiped his forehead. He had grown deathly white. The flames had +been suddenly quenched within him, and he felt cold and sick. Viviette, +in alarm, ran to his side. What was the matter? Was he faint? Let her +take him into the fresh air. Austin came up. But at his approach Dick +rose and shrank away, glancing at him furtively out of bloodshot eyes. + +"Yes. The heat has oppressed me. I'm not well. I'll go out." + +He stumbled blindly towards the French window. Viviette followed him, +but he turned on her rudely and thrust her back. + +"I'm not well, I tell you. I don't want your help. Let me alone." + +He passed through the French window on to the terrace. The sky had +clouded over, and a drizzle had begun to fall. + +Viviette felt curiously frightened, but she put on an air of bravado as +she came down the gallery. + +"Have you all been rehearsing this little comedy?" + +No mirthful response lit either face. She read condemnation in both +pairs of eyes. For the first time in her life she felt daunted, +humiliated. She knew nothing more beyond the fact that in deliberate +coquetry she had pitted brother against brother, and that something +cruel and tragical had happened for which she was being judged. Neither +spoke. She summoned her outer dignity, tossed her pretty head, and went +out by the end door which Austin in cold politeness held open for her. +Then she mounted to her bedroom, and, throwing herself on her bed, burst +into a passion of meaningless weeping. + +Katherine handed Austin the pistol which she had taken from Dick's hand. + +"Now you'll believe what I told you." + +"I believe it," said Austin gravely. + +"That duel was not all play-acting." + +"That," said he, "was absurd. Dick Has been drinking. It was a silly +farce. Viviette egged him on until he seemed to take it seriously." + +"He did take it seriously, Austin. He's in a dangerous mood. If I were +you I should be careful. Take a woman's warning." + +He stood for a moment in deep thought, his gaze absently fixed on the +weapon he held in his hand. Suddenly a glint of something strange caught +his eye. He started, but recovered himself quickly. + +"I'll take your warning, Katherine. Here's my hand upon it." + +A moment later, when he was alone, he uncocked the pistol--Dick's +pistol. The glint had not been imaginary. It was a percussion cap. With +trembling fingers he picked it off the nipple. He passed his hand across +his damp forehead, for he felt faint with dread. But the task had to be +accomplished. He unscrewed the ramrod and picked out the wad, a piece +of white paper which dropped on the floor. From the barrel held downward +a bullet dropped with a dead, fateful thud on the floor. More paper +wad--a slithering shower of gunpowder. He put the pistol down, and took +up the one he himself had used from the chair where he had thrown it. It +was unloaded. His eye fell on the bits of white paper. He picked them up +and unfolded them. The daily newspaper lay by the stove, with the corner +torn accusingly. + +Then he understood. He sank into a chair, paralysed with horror. It was +Dick's pistol that was loaded. Dick had meant to murder him. By the +grace of God the pistol had missed fire. But Dick, his own brother, had +meant to murder him. An hour later he walked out of the room, the case +of pistols under his arm, with the drawn face of an old man. + +It was not until Dick had stumbled five or six miles through the +drenching downpour that the thought reached his dulled brain that he had +left the pistols loose for anyone to examine. The thought was like a +great stone hitting him on the side of the head. He turned and began to +run homewards, like a hunted man in desperate flight. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A CRISIS + + +Viviette having repaired the disorder caused by her tears went down to +tea. Mrs. Ware, Katherine, and a curate deliberately calling or taking +shelter from the rain were in the drawing-room. Austin, to his mother's +mild astonishment, had sent down a message to the effect that he was +busy. On ordinary occasions Viviette would have flirted monstrously with +the clerical youth, and sent him away undecided whether to offer to +share his lodgings and hundred pounds a year with her, or to turn +Catholic and become a monk. But now she had no mind to flirtation. She +left him to the undisturbing wiles of Mrs. Ware, and petted and +surreptitiously fed Dick's Irish terrier, whose brown eyes looked +pathetic inquiry as to his master's whereabouts. She was sobered by the +uncomprehended scene in the armoury--sobered by Dick's violence and by +Austin's final coldness. A choice had been put before her in deadly +earnest; she had refused to make one. But the choice would have to be +made very soon, unless she sent both her lovers packing, a step which +she did not for a moment contemplate. + +"You must promise to marry one or the other and end this tension," said +Katherine, a little later, after the curate had gone with Mrs. Ware to +look at her greenhouses. + +"I wish to goodness I could marry them both," said Viviette. "Have a +month with each, turn and turn about. It would be ideal." + +"It would be altogether horrid!" exclaimed Katherine. "How could such a +thought enter your head?" + +"I suppose it must have entered every woman's head who has two men +she's fond of in love with her at once. I said yesterday that it was +great fun being a woman. I find it's a d.d.d.d. imposition!" + +"For heaven's sake, child, make up your mind quickly," said Katherine. + +Viviette sighed. Which should it be? Dick, with his great love and rough +tenderness and big, protecting arms, or Austin with his conquering ways, +his wit, his charm, his perception? Austin could give her the luxury +that her sensuous nature delighted in, social position, the brilliant +life of London. What could Dick give her? It would always be a joy to +dress herself for Austin. Dick would be content if she went about in +raiment made of dusters and bath towels. In return, what could she give +each of these men? She put the question to herself. She was not +mercenary or heartless. She gave of herself freely and loved the giving. +What could she give to Austin? What could she give to Dick? These +questions, in her sober mood, weighed the others down. + +When the rain ceased and a pale sun had dried the gravel, she went out +into the grounds by herself and faced the problem. She sighed +again--many times. If only they would let her have her fun out and give +her answer six months hence! + +Her meditations were cut short by the arrival of a telegraph boy on his +bicycle at the front gate. He gave her the telegram. It was for Austin. +Her heart beat. She went into the house with the yellow envelope +containing Dick's destiny and mounted to the little room off the first +landing which had been Austin's private study since his boyhood. She +knocked. Austin's voice bade her enter. He rose from the desk where, pen +in hand, he had been sitting before a blank sheet of paper, and without +a word took the telegram. She noticed with a shock that he had curiously +changed. The quick, brisk manner had gone. His face was grey. + +"It is _the_ telegram, isn't it?" she asked eagerly. + +"Yes," said he, handing it to her. "It's from Lord Overton." + +She read: "The very man. Send him along to me early to-morrow. Hope he +can start immediately." + +"Oh, how splendid!" she exclaimed with a little gasp of happiness. "How +utterly splendid! Thank heaven!" + +"Yes. Thank heaven," Austin acquiesced gravely. "I forgot to mention to +you that Lord Overton knows Dick personally," he added, after a pause. +"They met at my house the last time Dick was in London." + +"This _is_ good news," said Viviette. "At last I can give him a birthday +present worth having." + +"He will not be here for his birthday," said Austin, in cold, even +tones. "He must catch the mail to-night." + +Viviette echoed: "To-night?" + +"And in all probability he will sail for Vancouver in a day or two. It +won't be worth his while to come back here." + +She laid a hand on her heart, which fluttered painfully. + +"Then--then--we'll never see him again?" + +"Probably not." + +"I didn't think it would be so sudden," she said, a little wildly. + +"Neither did I. But it's for the best." + +"But supposing he wants some time to look about him?" + +"I'll see to everything," said Austin. + +"Anyhow, I must be the first to tell him," said Viviette. + +"You will do me a very great favour if you will let me have that +privilege," said Austin. "I make a particular point of it. I have some +serious business to discuss with him before dinner, and that will be the +time for me to break the news." + +He was no longer the fairy godmother's devoted and humble factotum. He +spoke with a cold air of authority that chilled the fairy godmotherdom +in Viviette's bosom. Her prettly little scheme dwindled into +childishness before the dark, incomprehended thing that had happened. +She assented with unusual meekness. + +"But I'm desperately disappointed," she said. + +"My dear Viviette," he answered more kindly, and looking at her with +some wistfulness, "the pleasures and even the joy of life have to give +way to the sober, business side of existence. It isn't very gay, I know, +but we can't alter it." + +He held out his hand. Instinctively she gave him hers. He raised it to +his lips and held the door open for her. She went out scarcely knowing +that she had been dismissed. Austin closed the door, stood unsteadily +for a moment like a man stricken with great pain, and then, sitting +down at his desk again, put his elbows on the table, rested his head in +his hands, and stared at the white piece of paper. When would Dick come +home? He had given orders that Dick should be asked to go to him as soon +as he arrived. Would Dick ever come home again? It was quite possible +that some misfortune might have happened. Tragedy is apt to engender +tragedy. He shuddered, hearing in his fancy the tramp of men, and seeing +a shrouded thing they carried across the hall. He bitterly accused +himself for not having sought Dick far and wide as soon as he had made +his ghastly discovery. But he had required time to recover his balance. +The horrible suddenness had stunned him. Attempted fratricide is not a +common happening in gentle families. He had to accustom himself to the +atmosphere of the abnormal, so as to state the psychological case in its +numberless ramifications. This he had done. His head was clear. His +unalterable decision made. Now the minutes dragged with leaden feet +until Dick should come. + +Viviette was the first to see him. She had dressed early for dinner, +and, as the late June afternoon had turned out fine, was taking her +problem out to air on the terrace when she came upon him standing at the +door of his armoury. His hair was wet and matted, his eyes bloodshot, +his clothes dripping, and he himself splashed with mud from head to +foot. He trembled all over, shaken by a great terror. The case of +pistols had gone. Who had taken them? Had the loaded pistol been +discovered? + +As Viviette appeared, robed in deep blue chiffon that seemed torn from +the deep blue evening sky, and looking, in the man's maddened eyes, +magically beautiful, he held out imploring hands. + +"Come in for a moment. For the love of God come in for a moment." + +He stepped back invitingly. She hesitated for a second on the threshold, +and then followed him down the dim gallery, past the screen where all +the swords and helmets lay scattered on the table. He looked at her +haggardly, and she met his gaze with kind eyes in which there was no +mockery. No. Nothing had happened, he told himself; otherwise she would +shrink from him as from something accursed. + +"My God, if you knew how I love you!" he said hoarsely. "My God, if you +only knew!" + +His suffering racked her heart. All her pity melted over him. She laid +her caressing fingers on his arm. + +"Oh, my poor Dick!" she said. + +[Illustration: He held out imploring hands.] + +The touch, the choke in her voice, brought about Viviette's downfall. +Perhaps she meant it to do so. Who can tell? What woman ever knows? In a +flash his arms were around her and his kisses, a wild, primitive man's +kisses, were on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks. Her face was crushed +against the rough wet tweed of his coat, and its odour, raw and coarse, +was in her nostrils. She drooped, intoxicated, gasping for breath in his +unheeding giant's grip, but she made no effort to escape. As he held her +a thrill, agonising and delicious, swept through her, and she raised her +lips involuntarily to his and closed her eyes. At last he released her, +mangled, tousled, her very self a draggled piece of chiffon like the +night-blue frock, soiled with wet and mud. + +"Forgive me," he said, "I had no right. Least of all now. God knows what +is to become of me. But whatever happens, you know that I love you." + +She had her hands clasped before her face. She could not look at him. + +"Yes, I know," she murmured. + +In another moment he had gone, leaving Viviette, who had entered the +room a girl, transformed into a woman with the first shiver of passion +in her veins. + +Dick, vaguely conscious of damp and dirt, went up to his bedroom. The +sight of his evening things spread out on the bed reminded him that it +was nearly dinner-time. Mechanically he washed and dressed. As he was +buckling on his ready-made white tie--his clumsy fingers, in spite of +many lessons from Viviette, had never learned the trick of tying a +bow--a maid brought him a message. Mr. Austin's compliments and would he +see Mr. Austin for a few moments in Mr. Austin's room. The words were +like the dreaded tap on the shoulder of the hunted criminal. + +"I'll come at once," he said. + +He found Austin sitting on the chair by his desk, resting his chin on +his elbow. He did not stir as Dick entered. + +"You want to speak to me?" + +"Yes," said Austin. "Will you sit down?" + +"I'll stand," said Dick impatiently. "What have you to say to me?" + +"I believe you have expressed your desire to leave England and earn your +living in a new country. Is that so?" + +The brothers' eyes met. Dick saw that the loaded pistol had been +discovered, and read no love, no pity, only condemnation in the hard +gaze. Austin was pronouncing sentence. + +"Yes," he replied sullenly. + +"I happen," said Austin, "to know of an excellent opportunity. Lord +Overton, whom you have met, wants a man to take charge of his timber +forests in Vancouver. The salary is £700 a year. I wired to Lord Overton +asking for the appointment on your behalf. This is his answer." + +Dick took the telegram and read it with muddled head. Austin had lost no +time. + +"You see, it fits in admirably. You can start by the night mail. Your +sudden departure needs no other explanation to the household than this +telegram. I hope you understand." + +"I understand," said Dick bitterly. A sudden memory of words that +Viviette had used the day before occurred to him. "I understand. This is +to get me out of the way. 'David put Uriah in the forefront of the +battle.' Vancouver is the forefront." + +"Don't you think we had better avoid all unprofitable discussion?" +Austin rose and confronted him. "I expect you to accept this offer and +my conditions." + +"And if I refuse?" asked Dick, with rising anger. "What dare you +threaten me with?" + +Austin raised a deprecatory hand. + +"Do you suppose I'm going to threaten you? I simply expect you not to +refuse. Your conscience must tell you that I have the right to do so. +Doesn't it?" + +Dick glowered sullenly at the wall and tugged his great moustache. + +"You force me to touch on things I should have liked to keep hidden," +said Austin. "Very well." He took a scrap of crumpled paper from the +desk. "Do you recognise this? It formed the wad of the pistol that was +in _your_ hand." + +Dick started back a pace. "You're wrong," he gasped. "It was _your_ +pistol that was loaded." + +"No. Yours. The cap missed fire, or I should have been a dead +man--murdered by my brother." + +"Stop," cried Dick. "Not murdered. No, no, not murdered. It was in fair +fight. I gave you the choice. When I thought I had the unloaded one I +called on you to fire. Why the devil didn't you? I wanted you to fire. I +was mad for you to fire. I wanted to be killed there and then. No one +can say I shirked it. I gave you your chance." + +"That's nothing to do with it," said Austin sternly. "When you fired you +meant murder. Your face meant killing. And supposing I had fired--and +killed you! Good God! I would sooner you had killed me than burdened my +soul with your death. It would have been less cowardly. Yes, cowardly. +The conditions were not even. To me it was trivial fooling. To you, +deadly earnest. Are you not man enough to see that I have the right to +exact some penalty?" + +Dick remained silent for a few moments, while the powers of light and +darkness struggled together in his soul. At last he said in a low voice, +hanging his head: + +"I'll accept your terms." + +"You leave by the night mail for Witherby." + +"Very well." + +"There's another point," said Austin. "The most important point of all. +You will not speak alone to Viviette before you start." + +Dick turned with an angry flash, + +"What?" + +"You will not speak to Viviette alone. When you are gone--for there is +no need for you to come back here before you sail--you will not write to +her. You will go absolutely and utterly out of her life." + +Dick broke into harsh, furious laughter. + +"And leave her to you? I might have known that the lawyer would have had +me in the trap. But this time you've over-reached yourself. I'll never +give her up. Do you hear me? Never--never--never! I would go through the +horror of to-day a thousand times--day by day until I die, rather than +give her up to you. You shall not take this last thing from me--this +hope of winning her--as you have taken everything else. You have +supplanted me since first you learned to speak. It has been Esau +and Jacob--" + +"Or Cain and Abel," said Austin. + +"You can taunt me if you like," cried Dick, goaded to fury, and the +whole bitterness of a lifetime surging up in passionate speech. "I have +got past feeling it. Your life has been one continual taunt of me. You +have thought me a dull, good-natured boor, delighted to have a word +thrown at him now and again by the elegant gentleman, and rather +honoured than otherwise to be ridden over roughshod, or kicked into the +mud when it pleased the elegant gentleman to ride by. No, listen to me," +he thundered, as Austin was about to protest. "By God, you shall listen +this time. You've made me your butt, your fool, your doer of trivial +offices. I've wondered sometimes why you haven't addressed me as 'my +good fellow,' and asked me to touch my cap to you. I've borne it all +these years without complaining--but do you know what it is to eat your +heart out and remain silent? I have borne it for my mother's sake--in +spite of her dislike of me--and for your sake, because I loved you. Yes. +If ever one man has loved another I've loved you. But you took no heed. +What was my affection worth? I was only the stupid, dull boor ... but I +suffered it all till you came between me and her. I had spent the whole +passion of my life upon her. She was the only thing left in the world +for which I felt fiercely. I hungered for her, thirsted for her, my +brain throbbed at the thought of her, the blood rushed through my veins +at the sight of her. And you came between us. And if I have damned my +soul, by God! the damnation is your doing. Do you think, while I live, +that I'll give her up to you? I'll get my soul's worth, anyhow." + +He smote his palm with his clenched fist and strode about the little +room. Austin sat for a while dumb with astonishment and dismay. His +cherished, lifelong conception of "dear old Dick" lay shattered. A new +Dick appeared to him, a personality stronger, deeper than he could have +imagined. A new respect for him, also a new pity that was generous and +not contemptuous, crept into his heart. + +"Listen, Dick," said he, using the familiar name for the first time. "Do +I understand that you accuse me of sending you out to Vancouver and +hastening your departure so as to gain my own ends with Viviette?" + +"Yes," returned Dick. "I do. You have laid this trap for me." + +"Have you ever heard me lie to you?" + +"No," said Dick. + +"Then I tell you, as man to man, that until this afternoon I had no +suspicion that your feelings towards Viviette were deeper than those of +an elder brother." + +Dick laughed bitterly. "You couldn't conceive a clod like me falling in +love. Well?" + +"That's beside the question," said Austin. "I did not behave +dishonourably towards you. I came down. I fell in love with Viviette. +How could I help it? How could I help loving her? How could I help +telling her so? But she is young and innocent, and her heart is her own +yet. Tell me--man to man--dare you say that you have won it or that I +have won it?" + +"What's the good of talking?" said Dick, relapsing into his sullen mood. +"If I go she is yours. But I won't go." + +Austin rose again and laid his hand on his brother's arm. + +"Dick. If I give her up, will you obey my conditions?" + +"You give her up voluntarily? Why should you?" + +"A damnable thing was done this afternoon," said Austin. "I see I had my +share in it, and I as well as you have to make reparation. Man alive! +You are my brother," he cried with an outburst of feeling. "The nearest +thing in the world to me. Do you think I could rest happy with the +knowledge that a murderous devil is always in your heart, and that it's +in my power to--to exorcise it? Do you think the cost matters? Come. +Shall we make this bargain? Yes or no?" + +"It's easy for you to promise," said Dick. "But when I am gone, how can +you resist?" + +Austin hesitated for a moment, biting his lips. Then, with the air of a +man who makes an irrevocable step in life, he crossed the room and +rang the bell. + +"Ask Mrs. Holroyd if she will have the kindness to come here for a +minute," he said to the servant. + +Dick regarded him wonderingly. "What has Mrs. Holroyd to do with our +affairs?" + +"You'll see," said Austin, and there was silence between them till +Katherine came. + +She looked from one joyless face to the other, and sat without a word +on the chair that Austin placed for her. Her woman's intuition divined a +sequel to the afternoon's drama. Some of it she had already learned. +For, going earlier into Viviette's room, she had found her white and +shaken, still disordered in hair and dress as Dick had left her; and +Viviette had sobbed on her bosom and told her with some incoherence that +the monkey had at last hit the lyddite shell in the wrong place, and +that it was all over with the monkey. So, before Austin spoke, she half +divined why he had summoned her. + +Her heart throbbed painfully. + +"Dick and I," said Austin, "have been talking of serious matters, and we +need your help." + +She smiled wanly. "I'll do whatever I can, Austin." + +"You said this afternoon you would do anything I asked you. Do you +remember?" + +"Yes, I said so--and I meant it." + +"You said it in reply to my question whether you would accept me if I +asked you to marry me." + +Dick started from the sullen stupor into which he had fallen and +listened with perplexed interest. + +"You are not quite right in your tenses, Austin," she remarked. "You +said: Would I have accepted you if you had asked me?" + +"I want to change the tense into the present," he replied. + +She met his glance calmly. "You ask me to marry you in spite of what you +told me this afternoon?" + +"In spite of it and because of it," he said, drawing up a chair near to +her. "A great crisis has arisen in our lives that must make you forget +other words I spoke this afternoon. Those other words and everything +connected with them I blot out of my memory forever. I want you to do me +an infinite service. If there had been no deep affection between us I +should not dare to ask you. I want you to be my wife, to take me into +your keeping, to trust me as an upright man to devote my life to your +happiness. I swear I'll never give you a moment's cause for regret." + +She plucked for a while at her gown. It was a strange wooing. But in her +sweet way she had given him her woman's aftermath of love. It was a +gentle, mellow gift, far removed from the summer blaze of passion, and +it had suffered little harm from the sadness of the day. She saw that he +was in great stress. She knew him to be a loyal gentleman. + +"Is this the result of that scene in the armoury?" she asked quietly. + +"Yes," said Austin. + +"I was right then. It was a matter of life and death." + +"It was," said he. "So is this." + +She looked again from one face to the other, rose, hesitated for a +moment--and then held out her hand. "I am willing to trust you, +Austin," she said. + +He touched her hand with his lips and said gravely: "I will not fail +your trust." + +As soon as she had gone he went to the chair where Dick sat in gloomy +remorse and laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"Well?" said he. + +"I agree," Dick groaned, without looking up. "I have no alternative. I +appreciate your generosity." + +Then Austin spoke of the appointment in Vancouver. He explained how the +idea had occurred to him; how Viviette had come late the night before to +tell him of what he had never before suspected--Dick's desire to go +abroad; how they had conspired to give him a birthday surprise; how they +had driven over to Witherby to send the telegram to Lord Overton. And as +he spoke, Dick looked at him with a new ghastliness on his face. + +"This afternoon--in the dining-room--when you said that Viviette had +told you everything--?" + +"About your wish to go to the Colonies. What else?" + +"And what I overheard in the armoury--about a telegram--telling +me--putting me out of my misery?" + +"Only whether we should tell you to-night or to-morrow about the +appointment. Dick--Dick," said Austin, deeply moved by the great +fellow's collapse, "if I have wronged you all these years, it was +through want of insight, not want of affection. If I have taunted you, +as you say, it was merely a lifelong habit of jesting which you never +seemed to resent. I was unconscious of hurting you. For my blindness and +carelessness I beg your forgiveness. With regard to Viviette--I ought to +have seen, but I didn't. I don't say you had no cause for jealousy--but +as God hears me--all the little conspiracy to-day was lovingly +meant--all to give you pleasure. I swear it." + +Dick rose and stumbled about among the furniture. The setting sun fell +just below the top of the casement window, and its direct rays flooded +the little room and showed Dick in a strange, unearthly light. + +"I wronged you," he said bitterly. "Even in my passions I'm a dull fool. +I thought you a damned cad, and I got more and more furious, and I +drank--I was drunk all this afternoon--and madness came, and when I saw +you kiss her--yes, I saw you, I was peeping from behind the +screen--things went red before my eyes, and it was then that I loaded +the pistol to shoot you on the spot. God forgive me! May God have +mercy upon me." + +He leant his arms on the sill and buried his face. + +"I can't ask your forgiveness," he went on, after a moment. "It would +be a mockery." He laughed mirthlessly. "How can I say. 'I'm sorry I +meant to murder you--please don't think anything about it?'" He turned +with a fierce gesture. "Oh, you must take it all as said, man! Now, have +you finished with me? I can't stand it much longer, I agree to all your +terms. I'll drive over to Witherby now and wait for the train--and +you'll be free of me." + +He turned again and moodily looked out of the window in the full flood +of the sunset. + +"We must play the game, Dick," said Austin gently, "and go through the +horrible farce of dinner--for mother's sake." + +Dick heard him vaguely. Below, on the terrace, Viviette was walking, and +she filled his universe. She had changed the bedraggled frock for the +green one she had worn the night before. Presently she raised her eyes +and saw him leaning out of the window. + +"Have they told you that dinner is not till a quarter past eight?" she +cried, looking deliciously upwards, with a dainty hand to her cheek. +"Lord Banstead sent a message to mother that he was unexpectedly +detained, and mother has put back dinner. Isn't it impudence?" + +But Dick was far too crushed with misery to respond. He nodded +dejectedly. She remained staring up at him for a while and then ran into +the house. + +Dick listlessly mentioned the postponement of dinner. + +"I'm sorry I asked the little brute, but I couldn't avoid it." + +"What does it matter?" said Austin. He was silent for a moment. Then he +came close to Dick. + +"Dick," said he. "Let us end this awful scene as friends and brothers. +As Heaven hears me, there is no bitterness in my heart. Only deep +sorrow--and love, Dick. Shake hands." + +Dick took his hand and broke down utterly, and said such things of +himself as other men do not like to hear. Presently there was a light +rap of knuckles at the door. Austin opened it and beheld Viviette. + +"I won't disturb you," she said; "I only want to give this note to +Dick." + +"I will hand it to him," said Austin. + +She thanked him and departed. He closed the door and gave Dick the note. +Dick opened it, read, and with a great cry of "Viviette!" rushed to the +door. Austin interposed, grasped him by the wrist: + +"What are you doing?" + +"I'm going to her," shouted Dick wildly, wrenching himself free. "Read +this." He held up the note before Austin's eyes, with shaking fingers. +Austin read: + +"I can't bear to see the misery on your face, when I can make you happy. +I love you, dear, better than anything on earth. I know it now, and +I'll go out with you to Vancouver." + +"She loves me. She'll marry me. She'll go out to Vancouver!" cried Dick. +"It changes everything. I must go to her." + +"You shall not go," said Austin. + +"Shall not? Who dares prevent me?' + +"I do. I hold you to your word." + +"But, man alive! she loves me--don't you see? The bargain is dissolved. +This is none of my seeking. She comes of her own free will. I am +going to her." + +Austin put both his hands affectionately on the big man's shoulders and +forced him into a chair. + +"Listen to me just for one minute, Dick. Dick, you dare not marry. Don't +drive me to tell you the reason. Can't you see for yourself why I've +imposed this condition on you all along?" + +"I know no reason," said Dick. "She loves me, and that is enough." + +The greyness deepened over Austin's face and the pain in his eyes. + +"I must speak, then, in plain terms. That horrible murder impulse is the +reason. Today, in a fit of frenzied jealousy, you would have killed me, +your brother. Is there any guarantee that, in another fit of frenzied +jealousy, you might not--?" + +A shudder ran through Dick's great frame. He stretched out his hand. +"For God's sake--don't." + +"I must--until you see this ghastly business in its true aspect. Look at +the lighter side of Viviette's character. She is gay, fond of +admiration, childishly fond of teasing, a bright creature of bewildering +moods. Would she be safe in your hands? Might you not one day again see +things red before your eyes and again go mad?" + +"Don't say any more," Dick said in a choking voice. "I can't stand it." + +"Heaven knows, I didn't want to say as much." + +Dick shuddered again. "Yes, you are right. I am a man with a curse. I +can't marry her. I daren't." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +VIVIETTE TAKES THE RISK + + +Presently Dick raised the face of Cain when he told the Lord that his +punishment was greater than he could bear. Tears leaped to Austin's +eyes, but he turned his head away lest Dick should see them. He would +have given years of his life to spare Dick--everything he had in the +world--save his deep convictions of right and wrong. He was responsible +for Viviette. That risk of horror he could not let her run. He had +hoped, with a great agony of hope, that Dick would have seen it for +himself. To formulate it had been torture. But he could not weaken. The +barrier between Dick and Viviette was not of his making. It was composed +of the grim psychological laws that govern the abnormal. To have +disregarded it would have been a crime from which his soul shrank. All +the despair in Dick's face, though it wrung his heart, could not move +him. It was terrible to be chosen in this way to be the arbiter of +Destiny. But there was the decree, written in letters of blood and +flame. And Dick had bowed to it. + +"What's to become of her?" he groaned. + +"This will be her home, as it always has been," said Austin. + +"I don't mean that--but between us we shall break her heart. She has +given it to me just in time for me to do it. My luck!" + +Austin tried to comfort him. A girl's heart was not easily broken. Her +pride would suffer most. Pain was inevitable. But Time healed many +wounds. In this uncertain world nothing was ever so good as we hoped, +and nothing ever so bad as we feared. Dick paid little heed to the +platitudes. + +"She must be told!" + +"Not what happened this afternoon," cried Austin quickly. "That we bury +forever from all human knowledge." + +"Yes," said Dick, staring in front of him and speaking in a dull, even +voice. "We must hide that. It's not a pretty thing to spread before a +girl's eyes. It will be always before my own--until I die. But she must +be told that I can't marry her. I can't ride away and leave her in doubt +and wonder forever and ever." + +"Let us face this horrible night as best we can," said Austin. "Avoid +seeing her alone. You'll be with mother or packing most of the evening. +Slip away to Witherby an hour or so before your time. When you're gone +I'll arrange matters. Leave it to me." + +He made one of his old, self-confident gestures. But now Dick felt no +resentment. His spirit in its deep abasement saw in Austin the better, +wiser, stronger man. + +At a quarter-past eight they went slowly downstairs to what promised to +be a nightmare kind of meal. There would be four persons, Viviette, +Katherine, and themselves, in a state of suppressed eruption, and two, +Mrs. Ware and the unspeakable Banstead, complacently unaware of volcanic +forces around them, who might by any chance word bring about disaster. +There was danger, too--and the greatest--from Viviette, ignorant of +Destiny. Austin dreaded the ordeal; but despair and remorse had benumbed +Dick's faculties; he had passed the stage at which men fear. With his +hand on the knob of the drawing-room door Austin paused and looked +at him. + +"Pull yourself together, man. Play your part. For God's sake, try to +look cheerful." + +Dick tried. Austin shivered. + +"For God's sake, don't," he said. + +They entered the drawing-room, expecting to find the three ladies, and +possibly Lord Banstead, assembled for dinner. To Austin's discomfiture, +Viviette was alone in the room. She rose, made a step or two to meet +them, then stopped. + +"What a pair of faces! One would think it were the eve of Dick's +execution, and you were the hangman measuring him for the noose." + +"Dick," said Austin, "is leaving us to-night--possibly for many years." + +"I don't see that he is so very greatly to be pitied," said Viviette, +trying in vain to meet Dick's eyes. She drew him a pace or two aside. + +"Did you read my note--or did you tear it up like the other one?" + +"I read it," he said, looking askance at the floor. + +"Then why are you so woe-begone?" + +He replied in a helpless way that he was not woe-begone. Viviette was +puzzled, hurt, somewhat humiliated. She had made woman's great surrender +which is usually followed by a flourish of trumpets very gratifying to +hear. In fact, to most women the surrender is worth the flourish. But +the recognition of this surrender appeared to find its celebration in a +funeral march with muffled drums. A condemned man being fitted for the +noose, as she had suggested, a mute conscientiously mourning at his own +funeral, a man who had lost a stately demesne in Paradise and had been +ironically compensated by the gift of a bit of foreshore of the Styx +could not have worn a less joyous expression than he on whom she had +conferred the boon of his heart's desire. + +"You're not only woe-begone," she said, with spirit, "but you're utterly +miserable. I think I have a right to know the reason. Tell me, what +is it?" + +She tapped a small, impatient foot. + +"We haven't told my mother yet," Austin explained, "and Dick is rather +nervous as to the way in which she will take the news." + +"Yes," said Dick, with lame huskiness. "It's on mother's account." + +Viviette laughed somewhat scornfully. + +"I am not a child, my dear Austin. No man wears a face like that on +account of his mother--least of all when he meets the woman who has +promised to be his wife." + +She flashed a challenging glance at Austin, but not a muscle of his grey +face responded. Her natural expectations were baffled. There was no +start of amazement, no fierce movement of anger, no indignant look of +reproach. She was thrown back on herself. She said: + +"I don't think you quite understand. Dick had two aims in life--one to +obtain a colonial appointment, the other--so he led me to suppose--to +marry me. He has the appointment, and I have promised to marry him." + +"I know," said Austin, "but you must make allowances." + +"If that's all you can say on behalf of your client," retorted Viviette, +"I rather wonder at your success as a barrister." + +"Don't you think, my dear," said Austin gently, "that we are treading on +delicate ground?" + +"Delicate ground!" she scoffed. "We seem to have been treading on a +volcano all the afternoon. I'm tired of it." She faced the two men with +uplifted head. "I want an explanation." + +"Of what?" Austin asked. + +"Of Dick's attitude. What has he got to be miserable about? Tell me." + +"But I'm not miserable, my dear Viviette," said poor Dick, vainly +forcing a smile. "I'm really quite happy." + +Her woman's intuition rejected the protest with contumely. All the +afternoon he had been mad with jealousy of Austin. An hour ago he had +whirled her out of her senses in savage passion. But a few minutes +before she had given him all a woman has to give. Now he met her with +hang-dog visage, apologies from Austin, and milk-and-water asseveration +of a lover's rapture. The most closely-folded rosebud miss of Early +Victorian times could not have faced the situation without showing +something of the Eve that lurked in the heart of the petals. So much the +less could Viviette, child of a freer, franker day, hide her just +indignation under the rose-leaves of maidenly modesty. + +"Happy!" she echoed. "I've known you since I was a child of three. I +know the meaning of every light and every shadow that passes over your +face--except this shadow now. What does it mean?" + +She asked the question imperiously, no longer the elfin changeling, the +fairy of bewildering moods of Austin's imagination, no longer the +laughing coquette of Katherine's less picturesque fancy, but a modern +young woman of character, considerably angered and very much in earnest. +Austin bit his lip in perplexity. Dick looked around like a hunted +animal seeking a bolting-hole. + +"Dick is anxious," said Austin, at length, seeing that some explanation +must be given, "that there should be no engagement between you before he +goes out to Vancouver." + +"Indeed?" said Viviette. "May I ask why? As this concerns Dick and +myself, perhaps you will leave us alone for a moment so that Dick +may tell me." + +"No, no," Dick muttered hurriedly. "Don't leave us, Austin. We can't +talk of such a thing now." + +Again she tapped her foot impatiently. + +"Yes, now. I'm going to hear the reason now, whatever it is." + +The brothers exchanged glances. Dick turned to the window, and stared +at the mellow evening sky. + +Austin again was spokesman. + +"Dick finds he has made a terrible and cruel mistake. One that concerns +you intimately." + +"Whatever Dick may have done with regard to me," replied Viviette, "I +forgave him for it beforehand. When once I give a thing I don't take it +back. I have given him my love and my promise." + +"My dear," said Austin, gravely and kindly. "Here are two men who have +loved you all your life. Don't think hardly of us. You must be brave and +bear a great shock. Dick can't marry you." + +She looked at him incredulously. + +"Can't marry me? Why not?" + +"It would be better not to ask." + +She moved swiftly to Dick, and with her light touch swung him round to +face the room. + +"I don't understand. Is it because you're going out into the wilds? +That doesn't matter. I told you I would go to Vancouver with you. I want +to go. My happiness is with you." + +Dick groaned. "Don't make it harder for me." + +"What are you keeping from me?" she asked. "Is it anything you don't +think fit for my ears? If so, speak. I'm no longer a child. Is there +another woman in the case?" + +She met Austin's eyes full. He said: "No, thank God! Nothing of that +sort." And as her eyes did not waver, he made the bold stroke. "He finds +that he doesn't love you as much as he thought. There's the whole +tragedy in a few words." + +She reeled back as if struck. "Dick doesn't love me?" Then the +announcement seemed so grotesque in its improbability that she began to +laugh, a trifle hysterically. + +"Is this true?" + +"It's quite true," said poor Dick. + +"You see, my dear," said Austin, "what it costs him--what it costs us +both--to tell you this." + +"But I don't understand. I don't understand!" she cried, with sudden +piteousness. "What did you mean, then--a little while ago--in +the armoury?" + +Austin, who did not see the allusion, had to allow Dick to speak for +himself. + +"I was drunk," said Dick desperately. "I've been drinking heavily of +late--and not accountable for my actions. I oughtn't to have done what +I did." + +"And so, you see," continued Austin, with some eagerness, "when he +became confronted with the great change in his life--Vancouver--he +looked at things soberly. He found that his feelings towards you were +not of the order that would warrant his making you his wife." + +Before Viviette could reply the door opened, and Mrs. Ware and +Katherine entered the room. Mrs. Ware, ignorant of tension, went +smilingly to Austin, and, drawing down his shapely head with both hands, +kissed him. + +"My dear, dear boy, I'm so glad, so truly glad. Katherine has just told +me." + +"Told you what, mother?" asked Viviette quickly, with a new sharpness in +her voice. + +Mrs. Ware turned a beaming face. "Can't you guess, darling? Oh, Austin, +there's no living woman whom I would sooner call my daughter. You've +made me so happy." + +The facile tears came, and she sat down and dried them on her little +wisp of handkerchief. + +"I thought it for the best to tell your mother, Austin," said Katherine, +somewhat apologetically. "We were speaking of you--and--I couldn't +keep it back." + +Viviette, white-lipped and dazed, looked at Austin, Katherine, and Dick +in turns. She said, in the high-pitched voice, to Austin: + +"Have you asked Katherine to marry you?" + +"Yes," he replied, not quite so confidently, and avoiding her +glance--"and she has done me the honour of accepting me." + +Katherine held out a conciliatory hand to Viviette. "Won't you +congratulate me, dear?" + +"And Austin, too," said Mrs. Ware. + +But Viviette lost control of herself. "I'll congratulate nobody," she +cried shrilly. She burned with a sense of intolerable outrage. Only a +few hours before she had been befooled into believing herself to be the +mistress of the destinies of two men. Both had offered her their love. +Both had kissed her. The memory lashed her into fury. Now one of them +avowed that she had been merely the object of a drunken passion, and +the other came before her as the affianced husband of the woman who +called herself her dearest friend. + +Katherine, in deep distress, laid her hand on the girl's arm. "Why not, +dear? I thought that you and Dick--in fact--I understood--" + +Viviette freed herself from Katherine's touch. + +"Oh, no, you didn't. You didn't understand anything. You didn't try to. +You are all lying. The three of you. You have all lied, and lied, and +lied to me. I tell you to your faces you have lied to me." She swung +passionately to each in turn. "'Austin can never be anything to me but a +friend'--how often have you said that to me? Ah--Saint Nitouche! And +you"--to Austin--"How dared you insult me this morning? And you--how +have you dared to insult me all the time? You've lied--the whole lot of +you--and I hate you all!" + +Mrs. Ware had risen, scared and trembling. + +"What does the girl mean? I've never heard such unladylike words in a +drawing-room in my life." + +Dick blundered in: "It's all my fault, mother--" + +"I've not the slightest doubt of that," returned the old lady with +asperity. "But what Austin and Katherine have to do with it I +can't imagine." + +The servant opened the door. + +"Lord Banstead." + +He entered a cold, strange silence. Everyone had forgotten him. He must +have attributed the ungenial atmosphere to his own lateness--it was +half-past eight--for he made penitent apology to Mrs. Ware. Austin +greeted him coldly. Dick nodded absently from the other side of the +room. Viviette, with a sweeping glance of defiance at the assembled +family, held herself very erect, and with hard eyes and quivering lips +came straight to the young fellow. + +"Lord Banstead," she said. "You have asked me four times to marry you. +Did you mean it, or were you lying, too?" + +Banstead's pallid cheeks flushed. He was overcome with confusion. + +"Of course I mean it--meant to ask you again to-day--ask you now." + +"Then I will marry you." + +Dick strode forward, and, catching her by the wrist, swung her away from +Banstead, his face aflame with sudden passion. + +"No, by God, you shan't!" + +Banstead retreated a few paces, scared out of his life. Mrs. Ware sought +Austin's protecting arm. + +"What does all this mean? I don't understand it." + +Austin led her to the door. "I'll see nothing unpleasant happens, dear. +You had better go and tell them to keep back dinner yet a few minutes." + +His voice and authority soothed her, and she left the room, casting a +terrified glance at Dick, standing threateningly over Lord Banstead, who +had muttered something about Viviette being free to do as she liked. + +"She can do what she likes, but, by God! she shan't marry you." + +"I'm of age," declared Viviette fiercely. "I marry whom I choose." + +"Of course she can," said Banstead. "Are you taking leave of your +senses?" + +"How dare you ask a pure girl to marry you?" cried Dick furiously. "You, +who have come straight here from--" + +Banstead found some spirit. "Shut up, Ware," he interrupted. "Play the +game. You've no right to say that." + +"I have the right," cried Dick. + +"Hush!" said Austin, interposing. + +"There's no need to prolong this painful discussion. To-morrow--as +Viviette's guardian--" + +"To-morrow?" Dick shouted. "Where shall I be to-morrow? Away from +here--unable to defend her--unable to say a word." + +"If you said a thousand words," said Viviette, "they wouldn't make an +atom of difference. Lord Banstead has asked me to marry him. I have +accepted him openly. What dare you say to it?" + +"Yes," said Banstead. "She has made no bones about it. I've asked her +five times. Now she accepts me. What have you to say to it?" + +"I say she shan't marry you," said Dick, glaring at the other. + +"Steady, steady, Dick," said Austin warningly. But Dick shook his +warning angrily aside, and Austin saw that, once again that day, Dick +was desperate. + +"Not while I live shall she marry you. Don't I know your infernal +beastly life?" + +"Now, look here," said Banstead, at bay. "What the deuce have you got to +do with my affairs?" + +"Everything. Do you think she loves you, cares for you, honours you, +respects you?" + +Viviette faced him with blazing eyes. + +"I do," she said defiantly. + +"It's a lie," cried Dick. "It's you that are lying now. Heaven and +earth! I've suffered enough to-day--I thought I had been through +hell--but it's nothing to this. She loves me--do you hear +me?--me--me--me--and I can't marry her--and I don't care a damn who +knows the reason." + +"Stop, man," said Austin. + +"Let me be. She shall know the truth. Everyone shall know the truth. At +any rate, it will save her from this." + +"I will do it quietly, later, Dick." + +"Let me be, I tell you," said Dick, with great, clumsy, passionate +gesture. "Let's have no more lies." He turned to Viviette. "You wrote me +a letter. You said you loved me--would marry me--come out to +Vancouver--the words made me drunk with happiness--at first. You saw me. +I refused your love and your offer. I said I didn't love you. I lied. I +said I couldn't marry you. It was the truth. I can't. I can't. But love +you! Oh, my God! My God! There were flames of hell in my heart--but +couldn't you see the love shining through?" + +"Don't, Dick, don't," cried Katherine. + +"I will," he exclaimed wildly. "I'll tell her why I can't marry any +woman. I tried to murder Austin this afternoon!" + +Katherine closed her eyes. She had guessed it. But Viviette, with parted +lips and white cheeks, groped her way backwards to a chair, without +shifting her terror-stricken gaze from Dick; and sitting, she gripped +the arms of the chair. + +There was a moment of tense silence. Banstead at last relieved his +feelings with a gasping, "Well, I'm damned!" + +Dick continued: + +"It was jealousy--mad jealousy--this afternoon--in the armoury--the mock +duel--one of the pistols was loaded. I loaded it--first, in order to +kill him out of hand--then I thought of the duel--he would have his +chance--either he would kill me or I would kill him. Mine happened to be +loaded. It missed fire. It was only the infinite mercy of God that I +didn't kill him. He found it out. He has forgiven me. He's worth fifty +millions of me. But my hands are red with his blood, and I can't touch +your pure garments. They would stain them red--and I should see red +again before my eyes some day. A man like me is not fit to marry any +woman. A murderer is beyond the pale. So I said I didn't love her to +save her from the knowledge of this horror. And now I'm going to the +other side of the world to work out my salvation--but she shall know +that a man loves her with all his soul, and would go through any torment +and renunciation for her sake--and, knowing that, she can't go and throw +herself away on a man unworthy of her. After what I've told you, will +you marry this man?" + +Still looking at him, motionless, she whispered, "No." + +"I say!" exclaimed Banstead. "I think--" + +Austin checked further speech. Dick looked haggardly round the room. + +"There. Now you all know. I'm not fit to be under the same roof with +you. Good-bye." + +He slouched in his heavy way to the door, but Viviette sprang from her +chair and planted herself in his path. + +"No. You shan't go. Do you think I have nothing to say?" + +"Say what you like," said Dick sadly. "Nothing is too black for me. +Curse me, if you will." + +She laughed, and shook her head. "Do you think a woman curses the man +who would commit murder for the love of her?" she cried, with a strange +exultation in her voice. "If I loved you before--don't you think I love +you now a million times more?" + +Dick fell back, thrilled with amazement. + +"You love me still?" he gasped. "You don't shrink--" + +"Excuse me," interrupted Banstead, crossing the room. "Does this mean +that you chuck me, Miss Hastings?" + +"You must release me from my promise, Lord Banstead," she said gently. +"I scarcely knew what I was doing. I'm very sorry. I've not behaved +well to you." + +"You've treated me damned badly," said Banstead, turning on his heel. +"Good-bye, everybody." + +Austin, moved by compunction, tried to conciliate the angry youth, but +he refused comfort. He had been made a fool of, and would stand that +from nobody. He would not stay for dinner, and would not put his foot +inside the house again. + +"At any rate," said Austin, bidding him good-bye, "I can rely on you not +to breathe a word to anyone of what you've heard this evening?" + +Banstead fingered his underfed moustache. + +"I may be pretty rotten, but I'm not that kind of cad," said he. And he +went, not without a certain dignity. + +Dick took Viviette's hand and kissed it tenderly. + +"God bless you, dear. I'll remember what you've said all my life. I can +go away almost happy." + +"You can go away quite happy, if you like," said Viviette. "Take me with +you." + +"To Vancouver?" + +Austin joined them. "It is impossible, dear," said he. + +"I go with him to Vancouver," she said. + +Dick wrung his hands. "But I daren't marry you, Viviette, I daren't, I +daren't." + +"Don't you see that it's impossible, Viviette?" said Austin. + +"Why?" + +"I've explained it to Dick. He has hinted it to you. You're scarcely old +enough to understand, my dear. It is the risk you run." + +"Such men as I can't marry," said Dick loyally. "You don't understand. +Austin is right. The risk is too great." + +She laughed in superb contempt. + +"The risk? Do you think I'm such a fool as not to understand? Do you +think, after what I've said, that I'm a child? Risk? What is life or +love worth without risk? When a woman loves a fierce man she takes the +risk of his fierceness. It's her joy. I'll take the risk, and it will be +a bond between us." + +Austin implored her to listen to reason. She swept his arguments aside. + +"God forbid. I'll listen to love," she cried. "And if ever a man wanted +love, it's Dick. Reason! Come, Dick, let us leave this god and goddess +of reason alone. I've got something to say which only you can hear." + +She dragged him in a bewildered state of mind to the door, which she +held open. She was absolute mistress of the situation. She motioned to +Dick to precede her, and he obeyed, like a man in a dream. On the +threshold she paused, and flashed defiance at Austin, who appeared to +her splendid scorn but a small, narrow-natured man. + +[Illustration: "I want you to love me forever and ever."] + +"You can say and think what you like, you two. You are civilised +people--and I suppose you love in a civilised way according to reason. +I'm a primitive woman, and Dick's a primitive man--and, thank God! we +understand each other, and love each other as primitive people do." + +She slammed the door, and in another moment was caught in Dick's great +arms. + +"What do you want to say that only I can hear?" he asked after a while. + +"This," she said. "I want you to love me strongly and fiercely for ever +and ever--and I'll be a great wife to you--and, if I fail--if I am ever +wanton, as I have been to-day--for I have been wanton--and all that has +happened has been my fault--if ever I play fast and loose with your love +again--I want you to kill me. Promise!" + +She looked at him with glowing eyes. All the big man's heart melted +into adoring pity. He took her face in both his hands as tenderly as he +would have touched a prize rose bloom. + +"Thank God, you're still a child, dear," he said. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VIVIETTE *** + +This file should be named 8vvtt10.txt or 8vvtt10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8vvtt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8vvtt10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Viviette + +Author: William J. Locke + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9924] +[This file was first posted on October 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VIVIETTE *** + + + +</pre> +<center> +<b>E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</b> +</center> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<p align="center"><img src="001.jpg" alt="[Illustration: "No, don't, Viviette; forgive me"]" /></p> + +<h1>Viviette</h1> + +<h3>By</h3> + +<h2>William J. Locke</h2> + + +<p class="smallcaps" align="center">Copyright, 1916<br /> +By AINSLER MAGAZINE COMPANY</p> + +<p class="smallcaps" align="center">Copyright, 1916<br /> +By JOHN LANE COMPANY</p> + + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<ol type="upper-roman"> +<li><a href="#I">The Brothers</a></li> +<li><a href="#II">The Conspirators</a></li> +<li><a href="#III">Katherine</a></li> +<li><a href="#IV">The Famous Duelling Pistols</a></li> +<li><a href="#V">A Crisis</a></li> +<li><a href="#VI">Viviette Takes The Risk</a></li> +</ol> + + +<h2>Illustrations</h2> + +<ol> +<li><a href="001.jpg">"No, don't, Viviette; forgive me"</a></li> +<li><a href="002.jpg">"Dick glared at him"</a></li> +<li><a href="003.jpg">"He held out imploring hands"</a></li> +<li><a href="004.jpg">"I want you to love me forever and ever"</a></li> +</ol> + + +<h2>Viviette</h2> + + + +<a name="I"></a> +<h2>Chapter I</h2> + +<h3>The Brothers</h3> + +<p>"Dick," said Viviette, "ought to go about in skins like a primitive +man."</p> + +<p>Katherine Holroyd looked up from her needlework. She was a gentle, +fair-haired woman of thirty, with demure blue eyes, which regarded the +girl with a mingling of pity, protection, and amusement.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said, "whenever I see a pretty girl fooling about with a +primitive man I always think of a sweet little monkey I once knew, who +used to have great sport with a lyddite shell. Her master kept it on his +table as a paper-weight, and no one knew it was loaded. One day she hit +the shell in the wrong place--and they're still looking for the monkey. +Don't think Dick is the empty shell."</p> + +<p>Whereupon she resumed her work, and for a few moments the click of +thimble and needle alone broke the summer stillness. Viviette lay idly +on a long garden chair admiring the fit of a pair of dainty tan shoes, +which she twiddled with graceful twists of the ankles some five feet +from her nose. At Mrs. Holroyd's remark she laughed after the manner of +one quite contented with herself--a low, musical laugh, in harmony with +the blue June sky and the flowering chestnuts and the song of +the thrushes.</p> + +<p>"My intentions with regard to Dick are strictly honourable," she +remarked. "We've been engaged for the last eleven years, and I still +have his engagement ring. It cost three-and-sixpence."</p> + +<p>"I only want to warn you, dear," said Mrs. Holroyd. "Anyone can see that +Dick is in love with you, and if you don't take care you'll have Austin +falling in love with you too."</p> + +<p>Viviette laughed again. "But he has already fallen! I don't think he +knows it yet; but he has. It's great fun being a woman, isn't it, dear?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I've ever found it so," Katherine replied with a +sigh. She was a widow, and had loved her husband, and her sky was still +tinged with grey.</p> + +<p>Viviette, quick to catch the sadness in the voice, made no reply, but +renewed the contemplation of her shoe-tips.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you're an arrant little coquette," said Katherine +indulgently.</p> + +<p>"Lord Banstead says I'm a little devil," she laughed.</p> + +<p>If she was in some measure a coquette she may be forgiven. What woman +can have suddenly revealed to her the thrilling sense of her sex's +mastery over men without snatching now and then the fearful joy of +using her power? She was one-and-twenty, her heart still unawakened, and +she had returned to her childhood's home to find men who had danced her +on their knees bending low before her, and proclaiming themselves her +humble vassals. It was intoxicating. She had always looked up to Austin +with awe, as one too remote and holy for girlish irreverence. And now! +No wonder her sex laughed within her.</p> + +<p>Until she had gone abroad to finish her education, she had lived in that +old, grey manor-house, that dreamed in the sunshine of the terrace below +which she was sitting, ever since they had brought her thither, an +orphaned child of three. Mrs. Ware, her guardian, was her adopted +mother; the sons, Dick and Austin Ware, her brothers--the engagement, +when she was ten and Dick one-and-twenty, had hardly fluttered the +fraternal relationship. She had left them a merry, kittenish child. She +had returned a woman, slender, full-bosomed, graceful, alluring, with a +maturity of fascination beyond her years. Enemies said she had gipsy +blood in her veins. If so, the infusion must have taken place long, long +ago, for her folks were as proud of their name as the Wares of Ware +House. But, for all that, there was a suggestion of the exotic in the +olive and cream complexion, and the oval face, pointing at the dimpled +chin; something of the woodland in her lithe figure and free gestures; +in her swimming, dark eyes one could imagine something fierce and +untamable lying beneath her laughing idleness. Katherine Holroyd called +her a coquette, Austin whatever the whim of a cultured fancy suggested, +and Lord Banstead a little devil. As for Dick, he called her nothing. +His love was too great; his vocabulary too small.</p> + +<p>Lord Banstead was a neighbour who, in the course of three months, had +proposed several times to Viviette.</p> + +<p>"I'm not very much to look at," he remarked on the first of these +occasions--he was a weedy, pallid youth of six-and-twenty--"and the +title's not very old, I must admit. Governor only a scientific Johnnie, +Margetson, the celebrated chemist, you know, who discovered some beastly +gas or other and got made a peer--but I can sit with the other old +rotters in the House of Lords, you know, if I want. And I've got enough +to run the show, if you'll keep me from chucking it away as I'm doing. +It'd be a godsend if you'd marry me, I give you my word."</p> + +<p>"Before I have anything to do with you," replied Viviette, who had heard +Dick express his opinion of Lord Banstead in forcible terms, "you'll +have to forswear sack, and--and a very big AND--"</p> + +<p>Lord Banstead, not being learned in literary allusions, looked +bewildered. Viviette laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'll translate if you like. You'll have to give up unlimited champagne +and whiskey and lead an ostensibly respectable life."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Lord Banstead called her a little devil and went off in +dudgeon to London and took golden-haired ladies out to supper. When he +returned to the country he again offered her his title, and being +rejected a second time, again called her a little devil, and went back +to the fashionable supper-room. A third and a fourth time he executed +this complicated manoeuvre; and now news had reached Viviette that he +was in residence at Farfield, where he was boring himself exceedingly in +his father's scientific library.</p> + +<p>"I suppose he'll be coming over to-day," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"Why do you encourage him?" asked Katherine.</p> + +<p>"I don't," Viviette retorted. "I snub him unmercifully. If I am a +coquette it's with real men, not with the by-product of a chemical +experiment."</p> + +<p>Katherine dropped her work and her underlip, and turned reproachful blue +eyes on the girl.</p> + +<p>"Viviette!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's shocked! Saint Nitouche is shocked!" Then, with a change of +manner, she rose and, bending over Katherine's chair, kissed her. "I'm +sorry, dear," she said, in pretty penitence. "I know it was an +abominable and unladylike thing to say, but my tongue sometimes runs +away with my thoughts. Forgive me."</p> + +<p>At that moment a man dressed in rough tweeds and leggings, who had +emerged from the stable side of the manor-house, crossed the terrace, +and, descending the steps, walked over the lawn towards the two ladies. +He had massive shoulders and a thick, strong neck, coarse reddish hair, +and a moustache of a lighter shade. Blue eyes looked with a curious +childish pathos out of a face tanned by sun and weather. He slouched +slightly in his gait, like the heavy man accustomed to the saddle. This +was Dick Ware, the elder of the brothers and heir to fallen fortunes, +mortgaged house and lands, and he gave the impression of failure, of a +man who, in spite of thews and sinews, had been unable to grapple with +circumstance.</p> + +<p>Viviette left Katherine to her needlework, and advanced to meet him. At +her spontaneous act of welcome a light came into his eyes. He removed +from his lips the short corn-cob pipe he was smoking.</p> + +<p>"I've just been looking at the new mare. She's a beauty. I know I +oughtn't to have got her, but she was going dirt cheap--and what can a +man do when he's offered a horse at a quarter its value?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, my dear Dick, save pay four times as much as he can afford."</p> + +<p>"But we had to get a new beast," he argued seriously. "We can't go about +the country in a donkey-cart. If I hadn't bought one, Austin would, for +the sake of the family dignity--and I do like to feel independent of +Austin now and then."</p> + +<p>"I wish you were entirely independent of Austin," said Viviette, walking +with him up the lawn.</p> + +<p>"I can't, so long as I stay here doing nothing. But if I went out to +Canada or New Zealand, as I want to do, who would look after my mother? +I'm tied by the leg."</p> + +<p>"I'd look after mother," said Viviette. "And you'd write me nice long +letters, saying how you were getting on, and I would send you nice +little bulletins, and we should all be very happy."</p> + +<p>"Do you want to get rid of me, Viviette?"</p> + +<p>"I want you to have your heart's desire."</p> + +<p>"You know what my heart's desire is," he said unsteadily.</p> + +<p>"Why, to raise sheep or drive cattle, or chop down trees in the +backwoods," she replied, lifting demure eyebrows. "Oh, Dick, don't be +foolish. See--there's mother just come out."</p> + +<p>With a light laugh she escaped and ran up the steps to meet an old lady, +rather infirm, who, with the aid of a stick, was beginning to take her +morning walk up and down the terrace. Dick followed her moodily.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, mother," said he, bending down to kiss her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ware put up her cheek, and received the salute with no great show +of pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how you smell of tobacco smoke, Dick. Where's Austin? Please go and +find him. I want to hear what he has to say about the stables."</p> + +<p>"What can he say, mother?"</p> + +<p>"He can advise us and help us to put the muddle right," said Mrs. Ware.</p> + +<p>These stables had been a subject of controversy for some time. The old +ones having fallen into disgraceful disrepair, Dick had turned architect +and erected new ones himself. As shelters for beasts, they were +comparatively sound; as appanages to an Elizabethan manor-house, they +were open to adverse criticism. Austin, who had come down from London a +day or two before to spend his Whitsuntide holiday at home, had promised +his mother to make inspection and report.</p> + +<p>"But what does Austin know about stables?" Viviette asked, as soon as +Dick had slouched away in search of his brother.</p> + +<p>"Austin knows about everything, my dear," replied the old lady +decisively. "Not only is Austin a brilliantly clever man, but he's a +successful barrister, and a barrister's business is to know all about +everything. Give me your arm, dear, and let us walk up and down a +little till they come."</p> + +<p>Presently Dick returned with Austin, whom he had found smoking a cigar +in a very meditative manner in front of the stables. Dick's face was +gloomy, but Austin's was bright, as he came briskly up and, cigar in +hand, stooped to his mother. She put her arms round his neck, kissed him +affectionately, and inquired after his sleep and his comfort and the +quality of his breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't Austin smell of tobacco smoke, mother?" asked Dick.</p> + +<p>"Austin," replied Mrs. Ware, "has a way of smoking and not smelling of +it."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed gaily. "I believe if I fell into a pond you'd say I had a +way of coming up dry."</p> + +<p>Dick turned to Viviette, and muttered with some bitterness: "And if I +fell into a dry ditch she'd say I came up slimy."</p> + +<p>Viviette, touched by pity, raised a bewitching face. "Dry or slimy, you +would be just the same dear old Dick," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"And what about the stables?" asked Mrs. Ware.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're not bad. They're rather creditable; but," Austin added, +turning with a laugh to his brother, "the mother will fidget, you know, +and the somewhat--let us say rococo style of architecture has got on her +nerves. I think the whole thing had better come down, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"If you like," said Dick gruffly. He had given way to Austin all his +life. What was the use of opposing him now?</p> + +<p>"Good. I'll send young Rapson, the architect, along to make a design. +Don't you worry, old chap, I'll see it through."</p> + +<p>Young, brisk, debonair, flushed with success and the sense of the +mastery of life, he did not notice the lowering of Dick's brows, which +deepened into almost a scowl when he turned frankly admiring eyes on +Viviette, and drew her into gay, laughing talk, nor did he catch the +hopelessness in the drag of Dick's feet as he went off to gaze +sorrowfully at the fallen pride of his heart, the condemned stables.</p> + +<p>But Viviette who knew, as Austin did not, of Dick's disappointment, soon +broke away and joined him in front of the amorphous shed of timber. She +took him by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Come for a stroll in the orchard."</p> + +<p>He suffered himself to be led through the stable-yard gate. She talked +to him of apple blossoms. He listened for some time in silence. Then he +broke out.</p> + +<p>"It's an infernal shame," said he.</p> + +<p>"It is," said Viviette. "But you needn't put on such a glum face when +I'm here especially to comfort you. If you're not glad to see me I'll go +back to Austin. He's much more amusing than you."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he is. Yes, go back to him. I'm a fool. I'm nobody. No, +don't, Viviette; forgive me," he cried, catching her as she turned away +somewhat haughtily. "I didn't mean it, but things are getting beyond my +endurance."</p> + +<p>Viviette seated herself on a bench beneath the apple blossoms.</p> + +<p>"What things?"</p> + +<p>"Everything. My position. Austin's airy ways."</p> + +<p>"But that's what makes him so charming."</p> + +<p>"Yes, confound him. My ways are about as airy as a hippopotamus's. Look +here, Viviette. I'm fond of Austin, God knows--but all my life he has +been put in front of me. He has had all the chances; I've had none. With +my father when he was alive, with my mother, it has always been Austin +this and Austin that. He was the head of the school when I, the elder, +was a lout in the lower fourth. He had a brilliant University career and +went into the world and is making a fortune. I'm only able to ride and +shoot and do country things. I've stuck here with only this mortgaged +house belonging to me and the hundred or so a year I get out of the +tenants. I'm not even executor under my father's will. It's Austin. +Austin pays mother the money under her marriage settlement. If things go +wrong Austin is sent for to put them right. It never seems to occur to +him that it's my house. Oh, of course I know he pays the interest on the +mortgage and makes my mother an allowance--that's the humiliation +of it."</p> + +<p>He sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, staring +at the grass.</p> + +<p>"But surely you could find some work to do, Dick?"</p> + +<p>He shrugged his great shoulders. "They stuck me once in an office in +London. I suffocated and added up things wrong and told the wrong lies +to the wrong people, and ended up by breaking the junior +partner's head!"</p> + +<p>"You had some satisfaction out of it, at any rate," laughed Viviette.</p> + +<p>A faint reminiscent smile crossed his face. "I suppose I had. But it +didn't qualify me for a successful business career. No. I might do +something in a new country. I must get away from this. I can't stand it. +But yet--as I've told you all along, I'm tied--hand and foot."</p> + +<p>"And so you're very miserable, Dick."</p> + +<p>"How can I help it?"</p> + +<p>Viviette edged a little away from him, and said, rather resentfully:</p> + +<p>"I don't call that polite, seeing that I have come back to live with +you."</p> + +<p>He turned on her with some fierceness. "Don't you see that your being +here makes my life all the more impossible? How can I be with you day +after day without loving you, hungering for you, wanting you, body and +soul? I've never given a thought to another woman in my life. You're my +heart's blood, dear. I want to hold you so tight in my arms that not the +ghost of another man can ever come between us. You know it."</p> + +<p>Viviette shredded an apple blossom that had fallen into her lap. The +fingers that held the petal tingled, and a flush rose in her cheek.</p> + +<p>"I do know it," she said in a low voice. "You're always telling me. But, +Dick"--she flashed a mischievous glance at him--"while you're holding +me--although it would be very nice--we should starve."</p> + +<p>"Then let us starve," he cried vehemently.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. Oh, most decidedly no. Starvation would be so unbecoming. I +should get to be a fright--a bundle of bones and a rundle of skin--and +you'd be horrified--I couldn't bear it."</p> + +<p>"If you would only say you cared a scrap for me it would be easier," he +pleaded.</p> + +<p>"I should have thought it would be harder."</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, say it--say it this once--just this once."</p> + +<p>She bent her head to hide a smile, and said in a voice adorably soft:</p> + +<p>"Dick, shut your eyes."</p> + +<p>"Viviette!" he cried, with sudden hope.</p> + +<p>"No. Shut your eyes. Turn round. Now tell me," she continued, when he +had turned obediently, "just what I've got on. No!" she held him by the +shoulders, "you're not to move."</p> + +<p>Now, she was wearing a white blouse and a blue skirt and tan shoes, and +a yellow rose was pinned at her bosom.</p> + +<p>"What dress am I wearing?"</p> + +<p>"A light-coloured thing," said Dick.</p> + +<p>"And what's it trimmed with?"</p> + +<p>"Lace," said the unfortunate man. Lace indeed!</p> + +<p>"And what coloured boots?"</p> + +<p>"Black," said Dick, at a venture.</p> + +<p>"And what flower?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know--a pink rose, I think."</p> + +<p>She started up. "Look," she cried gaily. "Oh, Dick! I'll never marry you +till you have the common decency to look at me--never! never! never! I +dressed myself this beautiful morning just to please you. Oh, Dick! +Dick, you've lost such a chance."</p> + +<p>She stood with her hands behind her back regarding him mockingly, as Eve +in the first orchard must have regarded Adam when he was more dull and +masculine than usual--when, for instance, she had attired herself in +hybiscus flowers which he took for the hum-drum, everyday fig-leaves.</p> + +<p>"I'm a born duffer," said Dick pathetically. "But your face is all that +I see when I look at you."</p> + +<p>"That's all very pretty," she retorted. "But you ought to see more. Now +let us talk sense. Mind, if I sit on that bench again you're to +talk sense."</p> + +<p>Dick sighed. "Very well," said he.</p> + +<p>That was the history of all his love-making. She drew him on to +passionate utterance, and then, with a twist of her wit and a twirl of +her skirts, she eluded him. When she had thus put herself out of his +reach, he felt ashamed. What right had he, dull, useless, lumbering, +squiredomless squire, to ask a woman like Viviette to marry him? How +could he support a wife? As it was, he lived a pensioner on Austin's +bounty. Could he ask Austin to feed his wife and family as well? This +thought, which always came to him as soon as his passion was checked, +filled him with deep humiliation. Viviette had reason on her side when +she said, "Let us talk sense."</p> + +<p>He glowered at his fate, and tugged his tawny moustache for some time in +silence. Then Viviette began to talk to him prettily of things that +made up his country interests, his dogs, the garden, the personalities +of the country-side. Soon she had him laughing, which pleased and +flattered her, as it proved her power over the primitive man. Indeed, at +such moments, she felt very tenderly towards him, and would have liked +to pat his cheeks and crown him with flowers, thus manifesting her +favour by dainty caresses. But she refrained, knowing that primitive men +are too dense to interpret such demonstrations rightly, and limited +herself to less compromising words.</p> + +<p>"I am going to tell you a secret," he said at last, in a shamefaced way. +"You mustn't laugh at me--promise me you won't."</p> + +<p>"I promise," said Viviette solemnly.</p> + +<p>"I am thinking of going in for local politics--Rural District Council, +you know."</p> + +<p>Viviette nodded her head approvingly. "A village Hampden--in Tory +clothing?"</p> + +<p>"They're running things on party lines down here. The influence of +Westhampton is Radical, and fills the Council with a lot of outsiders. +So they've got together a Conservative Committee, and are going to run a +good strong man for a vacancy. I've given them to understand that I'll +be a candidate if they'll have me. I'd like to be one. It's a rubbishy +thing, dear, but somehow it would give me a little interest in life."</p> + +<p>"I don't think it a rubbishy thing at all," said Viviette. "A country +gentleman ought to have a hand in rural administration. I do hope you'll +get in. When will you know that the committee have selected you?"</p> + +<p>"There's a meeting this evening. I ought to know to-night or to-morrow +morning."</p> + +<p>"Are you very keen on it?"</p> + +<p>"Very," said Dick. And he added proudly, "It was my own idea."</p> + +<p>"But you're not as keen on that as on going abroad?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, that!" said Dick. "That, bar one, is the dearest wish of my heart. +And who knows--it might enable me to carry out the other."</p> + +<p>The sound of a gong within the house floated through the still June air. +Viviette rose. "I must tidy myself for lunch."</p> + +<p>They walked to the house together. On parting she put out both her +hands.</p> + +<p>"Do be reasonable, Dick, and don't look for slights in what you call +Austin's airy ways. He is awfully fond of you, and would not hurt you +for the world."</p> + +<p>At the luncheon table, however, Austin did hurt him, in utter +unconsciousness, by his gay command of the situation, his eager talk +with Viviette of things Dick did not understand, places he had not +visited, books he had never read, pictures he had never seen. It was +heartache rather than envy. He did not grudge Austin his scholarship and +brilliance. But his soul sank at the sight of Austin and Viviette moving +as familiars in a joyous world as remote from him as Neptune. Mrs. Ware +kept Katherine Holroyd engaged in mild talk of cooks and curates, while +the other two maintained their baffling conversation, half banter, half +serious, on a bewildering number of topics, and poor Dick remained as +dumb as the fish and cutlets he was eating. He sat at the head of the +table, Mrs. Ware at the foot. On his right hand sat Katherine Holroyd, +on his left Viviette, and between her and his mother was Austin. With +Viviette talking to Austin and Mrs. Ware to Katherine, he felt lonely +and disregarded in a kind of polar waste of snowy tablecloth. Once +Katherine, escaping from Mrs. Ware's platitudinous ripple, took pity on +him, and asked him when he was going to redeem his promise and show her +his collection of armour and weapons. Dick brightened. This was the only +keen interest he had in life outside things of earth and air and stream. +He had inherited a good family collection, and had added to it +occasionally, as far as his slender means allowed. He had read deeply, +and understood his subject.</p> + +<p>"Whenever you like, Katherine," he said.</p> + +<p>"This afternoon?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid they want polishing up and arranging. I've got some new +things which I've not placed. I've rather neglected them lately. Let us +say to-morrow afternoon. Then they'll all be spick and span for you."</p> + +<p>Katherine assented. "I've been down here so often and never seen them," +she said. "It seems odd, considering the years we've known each other."</p> + +<p>"I only took it up after father's death," said Dick. "And since then, +you know, you haven't been here so very often."</p> + +<p>"It was only the last time that I discovered you took an interest an the +collection. You hid your light under a bushel. Then I went to London and +heard that you were a great authority on the subject."</p> + +<p>Dick's tanned face reddened with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"I do know something about it. You see, guns and swords and pistols are +in my line. I'm good at killing things. I ought to have been a soldier, +only I couldn't pass examinations, so I sort of interest myself in the +old weapons and do my killing in imagination."</p> + +<p>"You give a regular lecture, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you know," said Dick modestly, "a lot of them are historical. +There's a mace used by a bishop, an ancestor of ours. He couldn't wield +a sword in battle, so he cottoned on to that, and in order to salve his +conscience before using it he would cry out 'Gare! gare!'--and they say +that's what our name comes from--see? 'Ware--Ware.' He was the founder +of our family--though, of course, he oughtn't to have been. And then we +have the duelling pistols my great-grandfather shot Lord Estcourt with. +They're beautiful things--in the case just as he left it after the duel, +with powder, balls, and caps, all complete. It's a romantic story--"</p> + +<p>"My dear Dick," interposed Mrs. Ware, with fragile, uplifted hand, +"please don't offend us with these horrible family scandals. Katharine, +dear, are you going to the vicar's garden party this afternoon? If you +are, will you take a message to Mrs. Cook?"</p> + +<p>So Katherine being monopolized, Dick was silenced, and as Austin and +Viviette were talking in a lively but unintelligible way about a thing, +or a play, or a horse called Nietzsche, he relapsed into the heavy, +full-blooded man's animal enjoyment of his food and the sensitive's +consciousness of heartache.</p> + +<p>When the ladies had left the table and the coffee had been brought in, +and the men's cigars were lit, Austin said:</p> + +<p>"What a magnificently beautiful creature she has grown into."</p> + +<p>"Whom do you mean?" asked Dick.</p> + +<p>"Why, Viviette, of course. She's the most fascinating thing I've come +across for years."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?" said Dick shortly.</p> + +<p>"Don't you?"</p> + +<p>Dick shrugged his shoulders. Austin laughed.</p> + +<p>"What a stolid old beggar you are. To you, she's just the same little +girl that used to run about here in short frocks. If she were a horse +you'd have a catalogue yards long of her points."</p> + +<p>"But as she's a lady," said Dick, tugging his moustache, "I don't care +to catalogue them."</p> + +<p>Austin laughed again. "Fairly scored!" He raised his cup to his lips, +took a sip, and set it down again.</p> + +<p>"Why on earth," said he with some petulance, "can't mother give us +decent coffee?"</p> + + + +<a name="II"></a> +<h2>Chapter II</h2> + +<h3>The Conspirators</h3> + +<p>Dick went heavy-hearted to bed that night, pronouncing himself to be the +most abjectly miserable of God's creatures, and calling on Providence to +remove him speedily from an unsympathetic world. He had said good night +to the ladies at eleven o'clock when the three went upstairs to bed, and +had forthwith gone to spend the rest of the evening in the friendly +solitude of his armoury. Emerging thence an hour later into the hall, he +had come upon a picturesque, but heart-rending, spectacle. There, on the +third step of the grand staircase, stood Viviette, holding in one hand a +candle, and extending the other regally downwards to Austin, who, with +sleek head bent, was pressing it to his lips. In the candle-light her +hair threw disconcerting shadows over her elfin face, and her great eyes +seemed to glow with a magical intensity that poor Dick had never seen in +them before. As soon as he had appeared she had broken into her low +laugh, drawn away her hand from Austin, and, descending the steps, +extended it in much the same regal manner to Dick.</p> + +<p>"Good night again, Dick," she said sweetly. "Austin and I have been +having a little talk."</p> + +<p>But he had disregarded the hand, and, with a gruff "Good night," had +returned to his armoury, slamming the door behind him. There he had +nourished his wrath on more whiskey and soda than was good for him, and +crawled upstairs in the small hours to miserable sleeplessness.</p> + +<p>This was the beginning of Dick's undoing, the gods (abetted by Viviette) +employing their customary procedure of first driving him mad. But +Viviette was not altogether a guilty abettor. Indeed, all day long, she +had entertained high notions of acting fairy godmother, and helping Dick +along the road to fortune and content. He himself, she learned, had +taken no steps to free himself from his present mode of life. He had not +even confided in Austin. Viviette ran over the list of her influential +friends. There was Lady Winsmere, a dowager countess of seventy, +surrounded by notabilities, at whose house she stayed now and then in +London. On the last occasion an Agent-General for one of the great +Colonies had sat next her at dinner. Then there was her friend Mrs. +Penderby, whose husband gathered enormous wealth in some mysterious way +in Mark Lane. Why should she not go up to London and open a campaign on +Dick's behalf, secure him an appointment, and come back flourishing it +before his dazzled and delighted eyes? The prospect was enchanting. The +fairy godmother romance of it fascinated her girlish mind. But first +she must clear the ground at home. There must be no opposition from +Austin. He must be her ally.</p> + +<p>When a woman gets an idea like this into her head she must execute it, +as the Americans say, right now. A man waits, counts up all the +barriers, and speculates on the strength and courage of the lions in the +path--but a woman goes straight forward, and does not worry about the +lions till they bite her. Viviette resolved to speak to Austin at once; +but, owing to a succession of the little ironies of circumstance, she +found no opportunity of doing so all the afternoon or evening. It was +only when, standing at the top of the stairs, she had seen Dick go off +to the armoury, and Austin return to the drawing-room--for the men had +bidden the ladies good night in the hall--that she saw her chance. She +went downstairs and opened the drawing-room door.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to go to bed after all. Do you think you can do with me a +little longer?"</p> + +<p>"A great deal longer," he said, drawing a chair for her, and arranging +the shade of a lamp so that the light should not shine full in her eyes. +"I was just thinking how dull the room looked without you--as if all the +flowers had suddenly been taken away."</p> + +<p>"I suppose I am decorative," she said blandly.</p> + +<p>"You're bewitching. What instinct made you choose that shade of pale +green for your frock? If I had seen it in the pattern I should have said +it was impossible for your colouring. But now it seems to be the only +perfect thing you could wear."</p> + +<p>She laughed her little laugh of pleasure, and thanked him prettily for +the compliment. They bandied gay words for a while.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad you have come down--even for this short visit," said +Viviette at last. "I was pining for talk, for wit, for a breath of the +great world beyond these sleepy meadows. You bring all that with you."</p> + +<p>Austin leaned forward. "How do you know I'm not bringing even more?"</p> + +<p>The girl's eyes drooped before his gaze. Then she fluttered a glance at +him in which there was a gleam of mockery.</p> + +<p>"You bring the most valuable gift of all--appreciation of my frocks. I +love people to notice them. Now Dick is frock-blind. Why is that?"</p> + +<p>"He's a dear old duffer," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"I don't think he's happy," said Viviette, who, in her feminine way, had +worked round to the subject of the interview.</p> + +<p>"He did seem rather cut up about the stables," Austin admitted. "But the +things are an eyesore, and mother was worrying herself to death +about them."</p> + +<p>"It isn't only the stables," said Viviette. "Dick is altogether +discontented."</p> + +<p>Austin looked at her in amazement. "Discontented?"</p> + +<p>"He wants something to do."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," he laughed, with the air of a man certain of his facts. +"He's as happy as a king here. He shoots and hunts--looks after the +place--runs the garden and potters about in his armoury--in fact, does +just what he likes all day long. He goes to bed without a care sharing +his pillow, and, when he wakes up, gets into comfortable country clothes +instead of a tight-fitting suit of responsibilities. For a man of his +tastes he leads an ideal existence."</p> + +<p>He threw away the end of the cigarette he was smoking, as though to say +that the argument was finished. But Viviette regarded him with a +smile--the smile of woman's superior wisdom. How astonishingly little he +knew of Dick!</p> + +<p>"Do you really think there is one contented being on earth?" she asked. +"Even I know better than that."</p> + +<p>Austin maintained that Dick ought to be contented.</p> + +<p>"Dependent for practically all he has on you?"</p> + +<p>"I've never let him feel it," he said quickly.</p> + +<p>"He does, though. He wants to get away--to earn his own living--make a +way for himself."</p> + +<p>"That's the first I've heard of it," said Austin, genuinely surprised. +"I really thought he was perfectly contented here. Of course, now and +then he's grumpy--but he always has had fits of grumpiness. What kind of +work does he want?"</p> + +<p>"Something to do with sheep or cattle--in Arizona or New Zealand--the +place doesn't matter--any open-air life."</p> + +<p>Austin lit another cigarette and walked about the room. He was a man of +well-regulated habits, and did not like being taken unawares. Dick +ought to have told him. Then there was their mother. Who would look +after her? Dick was a dispensation of Providence.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I might be a deputy dispensation, mightn't I?" said Viviette. +"I don't think mother is so desperately attached to Dick as all that. It +could be arranged somehow or other. And Dick is growing more and more +wretched about it every day. Every day he pours out his woes to me till +I can almost howl with misery."</p> + +<p>"What do you want me to do?"</p> + +<p>"Not to stand in his way if he gets a chance of going abroad."</p> + +<p>"Of course I won't," cried Austin eagerly. "It never entered my head +that he wanted to go away. I would do anything in the world for his +happiness, poor old chap. I love Dick very deeply. In spite of his huge +bulk and rough ways there's something of the woman in him that makes one +love him."</p> + +<p>They catalogued Dick's virtues, and then Viviette unfolded her scheme. +One or other of the powerful personages whom, in her young confidence, +she proposed to attack, would surely know of some opening abroad.</p> + +<p>"Even humble I sometimes hear of things," said Austin. "Only a day or +two ago old Lord Overton asked me if I knew of a man who could manage a +timber forest he's got in Vancouver--"</p> + +<p>Viviette jumped up and clapped her hands.</p> + +<p>"Why, that's the very thing for Dick!" she cried exultingly.</p> + +<p>"God bless my soul!" said Austin. "So it is. I never thought of it."</p> + +<p>"If you get it for him I'll thank you in the sweetest way possible." She +glanced at him swiftly, under her eyelids. "I promise you I will."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll certainly get it," replied Austin.</p> + +<p>Austin then went into details. Lord Overton wanted a man of +education--a gentleman--one who could ride and shoot and make others +work. He would have to superintend the planting and the cutting and the +transportation of timber, and act as agent for the various farms Lord +Overton possessed in the wide district. The salary would be £700 a year. +The late superintendent had suddenly died, and Lord Overton wanted a man +to go out at once and fill his place. If only he had thought of Dick!</p> + +<p>"But you're thinking of him now. It can't be too late--men with such +qualifications aren't picked up at every street corner."</p> + +<p>"That's quite true," said Austin. "And as for my recommendation," he +added in his confident way, "Lord Overton and I are on such terms that +he would not hesitate to give the appointment to a brother of mine. I'll +write at once."</p> + +<p>"And we'll say nothing to Dick until we've got it all in black and +white."</p> + +<p>"Not a word," said he.</p> + +<p>Then they burst out laughing like happy conspirators, and enjoyed +beforehand the success of their plot.</p> + +<p>"The old place will be very strange without him," said Austin.</p> + +<p>A shadow passed over Viviette's bright face. The manor-house would +indeed be very lonely. Her occupation as Dick's liege lady, confidante, +and tormentor would be gone. Parting from him would be a wrench. There +would be a dreadful scene at the last moment, in which he would want to +hold her tight in his arms and make her promise to join him in +Vancouver. She shivered a little; then tossed her head as if to throw +off the disturbing thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Don't let us look at the dismal side of things. It's selfish. All we +want is Dick's happiness." She glanced at the clock and started up. +"It's midnight. If Katherine knew I was here she would lecture me."</p> + +<p>"It's nothing very dreadful," he laughed. "Nor is Katherine's lecture."</p> + +<p>"I call her Saint Nitouche--but she's a great dear, isn't she? Good +night."</p> + +<p>He accompanied her to the foot of the stairs and lit her candle. On the +third stair she paused.</p> + +<p>"Remember--in all this it's I who am the fairy godmother."</p> + +<p>"And I," said Austin, "am nothing but the fairy godmother's humble and +devoted factotum." He took the hand which she extended and, bending over +it, kissed it gallantly.</p> + +<p>Then by unhappy chance out came Dick from the armoury, and beheld the +spectacle which robbed him of his peace of mind.</p> + +<p>The next morning, when Dick came down gloomily to breakfast, she was +very gentle with him, and administered tactfully to his wants. She +insisted on going to the sideboard and carving his cold ham, of which he +ate prodigious quantities after a hot first course, and when she put the +plate before him laid a caressing touch on his shoulder. She neglected +Austin in a bare-faced manner, and drew Dick into reluctant and then +animated talk on his prize roses and a setter pup just recovering from +distemper. After the meal she went with him round the garden, inspected +both roses and puppy, and manifested great interest in a trellis he was +constructing for the accommodation later in the summer of some climbing +cucumbers, at present only visible as modest leaves in flower-pots. +Neither made any reference to the little scene of the night before. +Morning had brought to Dick the conviction that in refusing her hand and +slamming the door he had behaved in an unpardonably bearish manner; and +he could not apologise for his behaviour unless he confessed his +jealousy of Austin, which, in all probability, would have subjected him +to the mocking ridicule of Viviette--a thing which, above all others, he +dreaded, and against which he knew himself to be defenceless. Viviette, +too, found silence golden. She knew perfectly well why Dick had slammed +the door. An explanation would have been absurd. It would have +interfered with her relations with Austin, which were beginning to be +exciting. But she loved Dick in her heart for being a bear, and evinced +both her compunction and her appreciation in peculiar graciousness.</p> + +<p>"You've never asked me to try the new mare," she said. "I don't think it +a bit kind of you."</p> + +<p>"Would you care to?" he asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Of course I should. I love to see you with horses. You and the trap and +the horse seem to be as much one mechanism as a motor-car."</p> + +<p>"I can make a horse do what I want," he said, delighted at the +compliment. "We'll take the dog-cart. When will you come? This morning?"</p> + +<p>"Yes--let us say eleven. It will be lovely."</p> + +<p>"I'll have it round at eleven o'clock. You'll see. She's a flyer."</p> + +<p>"So am I," she said with a laugh, and pointed to the front gate, which a +garden lad had just run to open to admit a young man on horseback.</p> + +<p>"Oh, lord! it's Banstead," said Dick with a groan.</p> + +<p>"Au revoir--eleven o'clock," said Viviette, and she fled.</p> + +<p>Lord Banstead dismounted, gave his horse to the lad, and came up to +Dick. He was an unhealthy, dissipated-looking young man, with lustreless +eyes, a characterless chin, and an underfed moustache. He wore a light +blue hunting stock, fastened by a ruby fox in full gallop, and a round +felt hat with a very narrow flat brim, beneath which protruded strands +of Andrew aguecheek hair.</p> + +<p>"Hallo, Banstead," said Dick, not very cordially.</p> + +<p>"Hallo," said the other, halting before the rose-bed, where Dick was +tying up some blooms with bast. He watched him for a moment or two. +Conversation was not spontaneous.</p> + +<p>"Where's Viviette?" he asked eventually.</p> + +<p>"Who?" growled Dick.</p> + +<p>"Rot. What's the good of frills? Miss Hastings."</p> + +<p>"Busy. She'll be busy all the morning."</p> + +<p>"I rather wanted to see her."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you will. You might ring at the front door and send in +your card."</p> + +<p>"I might," said Banstead, lighting a cigar. He had tried this method of +seeing Viviette before, but without success. There was another pause. +Dick snipped off an end of bast.</p> + +<p>"You're up very early," said he.</p> + +<p>"Went to bed so bally sober I couldn't sleep," replied the misguided +youth. "Not a soul in the house, I give you my word. So bored last night +I took a gun and tried to shoot cats. Shot a damn cock pheasant by +mistake, and had to bury the thing in my own covers. If I'm left to +myself to-night I'll get drunk and go out shooting tenants. Come over +and dine."</p> + +<p>"Can't," said Dick.</p> + +<p>"Do. I'll open a bottle of the governor's old port. Then we can play +billiards, or piquet, or cat's-cradle, or any rotten thing you like."</p> + +<p>Dick excused himself curtly. Austin had come down for Whitsuntide, and a +lady was staying in the house. Lord Banstead pushed his hat to the back +of his head.</p> + +<p>"Then what the devil am I to do in this hole of a place?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know," said Dick.</p> + +<p>"You fellows in the country are so unfriendly. In town I never need +dine alone. Anyone's glad to see me. Feeding all by myself in that +dining-room fairly gives me the pip."</p> + +<p>"Then come and dine here," said Dick, unable to refuse a neighbour +hospitality.</p> + +<p>"Right," said Banstead. "That is really like the Samaritan Johnnie. I'll +come with pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Quarter to eight."</p> + +<p>Banstead hesitated. "Couldn't you make it a quarter past?"</p> + +<p>Dick stared. "Alter our dinner hour? You've rather a nerve, haven't you, +Banstead?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't suggest it, if we weren't pals," replied the other, grinning +somewhat shamefacedly. "But the fact is I've got an appointment late +this afternoon." The fatuity of vicious and coroneted youth outstripped +his discretion. "There's a devilish pretty girl, you know, at 'The Green +Man' at Little Barton; I don't know whether I can get away in time."</p> + +<p>Dick stuffed his bast in his pocket, and muttered things uncomplimentary +to Banstead.</p> + +<p>"Dinner's at a quarter to eight. You can take it or leave it," said he.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I've jolly well got to take it," said Banstead, unruffled. +"Anything's better than going through dinner from soup to dessert all +alone under the fishy eye of that butling image of a Jenkins. He was +thirty years in my governor's service, and doesn't understand my ways. I +guess I'll have to chuck him."</p> + +<p>A perspiring, straw-hatted postman lurched along the gravel drive with +the morning's post. He touched his hat to Dick, delivered the Manor +House bag into his hands, and departed.</p> + +<p>"I'll sort these in the morning-room," said Dick, moving in the +direction of the house, and Lord Banstead, hoping to see Viviette, +followed at his heels. The control of the family post was one of the few +privileges Dick retained as master of the house. His simple mind still +regarded the receipt and despatch of letters as a solemn affair of life, +and every morning he went through the process of distribution with +ceremonial observance. In the morning-room they found Austin and +Viviette, the former writing in a corner, the latter reading a novel by +the French window that opened on to the terrace. Dick went up to a +table, and, opening the mail-bag, began to sort the letters into various +heaps. Austin greeted Lord Banstead none too warmly, and, with scarcely +an apology, went back to his writing. He disapproved of Banstead, who +was of a type particularly antagonistic to the young, clean, and +successful barrister. When Viviette had informed him of the youth's +presence in the garden, he had exclaimed impatiently:</p> + +<p>"It ought to be somebody's business to go round the world occasionally +with a broom and sweep away spiders like that."</p> + +<p>Viviette, mindful of the invective, received Lord Banstead with a smile +of amusement. As she had two protectors against a fifth proposal of +marriage, she stood her ground.</p> + +<p>"I expected you to come over yesterday," she said.</p> + +<p>"No, did you really?" he exclaimed, a flush rising to his pale cheeks. +"If I had thought that I should have come."</p> + +<p>"You've made up for it by arriving early to-day, at any rate," said +Viviette.</p> + +<p>"And I'm making up for it further by coming to dinner to-night. Dick +asked me," he added, seeing the polite questioning in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"That will be very nice," she said. "You can talk to mother. You see, +Dick talks to Mrs. Holroyd, who is staying with us, Austin talks to me, +so poor mother is left out in the cold. She'll enjoy a nice long talk +with you."</p> + +<p>When Banstead took the chorus out to supper he had the ready repartee of +his kind. In such a case he would have told the lady not to pull his +leg. But the delicate mockery in Viviette's face seemed to forbid the +use of this figure of speech, and as his vocabulary did not readily +allow him to formulate the idea in other terms he said nothing, but +settled his stock, and looked at her adoringly. At last he bent forward, +after a glance at the protectors, and said in a low tone:</p> + +<p>"Come out into the garden. I've something to say to you."</p> + +<p>"Why not say it here?" she replied in her ordinary voice.</p> + +<p>Banstead bit his lip. He would have liked to call her a little devil. +But he reflected that if he did she would be quite capable of repeating +the phrase aloud, somewhat to the astonishment of Dick and Austin, who +might ask for embarrassing explanations. Instead he bent still nearer, +and whispered:</p> + +<p>"I can only say it to you alone. I've been awake all night thinking of +it--give you my word."</p> + +<p>"Wait till to-morrow morning, and by then you may have slept upon it," +she counselled.</p> + +<p>"You'll drive me to drink!" he murmured.</p> + +<p>She rose with a laugh. "In that case I must go. I ought to be labelled +'dangerous.' Don't you think so, Dick? Besides, I'm going for a drive, +and must put on my things. These my letters? Au revoir." And, with a +wave of her hand she left them.</p> + +<p>Banstead lingered by the threshold and took up an illustrated paper. The +maid, in response to Dick's summons, bore away the letters for the rest +of the household. Austin and Dick concerned themselves with their +correspondence, Dick's chiefly consisting of gardeners' catalogues.</p> + +<p>For a while there was silence. It was broken by a loud laugh from +Austin.</p> + +<p>"Dick! I say, Dick! What do you think these village idiots have asked me +to do? To accept their nomination and stand as a Rural District +Councillor! Me!"</p> + +<p>Dick quickly crossed to the table where his brother was sitting.</p> + +<p>"That's my letter, old chap. I must here put it in your heap by mistake. +The invitation is meant for me."</p> + +<p>"You?" laughed Austin. "Why, what do you want to fool about with village +politics for? No. The letter is meant for me right enough."</p> + +<p>"I can't understand it," said Dick.</p> + +<p>Lord Banstead looked up from his paper.</p> + +<p>"That the Rural District Council? I'm on the committee. Had a meeting +yesterday. I'm chairman of the silly rotters."</p> + +<p>"Then your silly rotter of an honorary secretary," cried Dick angrily, +"has sent Austin the letter of invitation that was meant for me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, he didn't," said Banstead. "It's all right. They chucked you, +old son. Now I remember. I promised to explain."</p> + +<p>Dick turned aside. "Oh, you needn't explain," he said bitterly.</p> + +<p>"But I must. They had their reasons, you know. They thought they'd +rather have a brainy nobleman like your brother than a good old rotter +like you. You're--"</p> + +<p>"Oh, hold your tongue, Banstead," cried Austin, rising and putting his +hand on Dick's shoulder. "Really, my dear old Dick, you're the right +person to stand. They only thought a lawyer could help them--but I'm far +too busy--of course I decline. I'm deeply pained, Dick, at having hurt +you. I'll write to the committee and point out how much fitter, as a +country gentleman, you are for the duties than I am. They're bound +to ask you."</p> + +<p>Dick swung away passionately, his lips quivering with anger and +mortification beneath his great moustache.</p> + +<p>"Do you think I would accept? I'm damned if I would. Do you expect me to +pick up everything you've thrown in the mud and feel grateful? I'm +damned if I will!"</p> + +<p>He flung out of the room on to the terrace and strode away in a rage.</p> + +<p>"Seems to take it badly," remarked Banstead, looking at his +disappearing figure. "I had better say good-bye."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," said Austin. And he added, as he accompanied him with grim +politeness to the front gate, "if you exercise the same tact in the +chair as you've done here, your meetings must be a huge success."</p> + +<p>He returned with a shrug of the shoulders to his table in the +morning-room. He was deeply attached to Dick, but a lifelong habit of +regarding him as a good-natured, stupid, and contented giant blinded him +to the storm that was beginning to rage in the other's soul. The +occurrence was unfortunate. It wounded the poor old fellow's vanity. +Banstead's blatant folly had been enough to set any man in a rage. But, +after all, Dick was a common-sense creature, and, recognising that +Austin was in no way to blame, he would soon get over it. Meanwhile, +there was awaiting him the joyful surprise of Vancouver, which would +soon put such petty mortifications out of his head. Thus Austin consoled +himself, and settled down to the serious matters of his correspondence.</p> + +<p>Viviette, coming in later in hat and jacket, found him busily writing. +He looked up at her admiringly as she stood against the background of +light framed by the great French window.</p> + +<p>"Am I presentable?" she asked, with a smile, interpreting his glance.</p> + +<p>"Each modification of your dress makes you seem more bewitching than the +last."</p> + +<p>"I trimmed this hat myself," she said, coming into the room, and +looking at herself in a Queen Anne mirror on the wall.</p> + +<p>"That's why it's so becoming," said Austin.</p> + +<p>She wheeled round on him with a laugh. "You really ought to say +something cleverer than that!"</p> + +<p>"How can I," he replied, "when you drive my wits away?"</p> + +<p>"Poor me," she said. And then, suddenly, "Where's Dick?"</p> + +<p>"What do you want Dick for?"</p> + +<p>"He promised to take me for a drive." She consulted the watch on her +wrist. "It's past eleven now."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid poor Dick is rather upset. He seems to have been counting on +being nominated to stand for the Rural District Council, and the +imbeciles invited me instead."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how could they?" she cried, smitten with a great pity. "How could +they be so stupid and cruel? I know all about it. He told me yesterday. +He must be bitterly disappointed."</p> + +<p>Austin did not tell her of Lord Banstead's tactful explanation of the +committee's action. He was a fastidious man, and did not care to soil +his mind with the memory of Banstead's existence. If he had described +the scene, the young man's vulgarity, his own attempt at conciliation, +and Dick's passionate outburst--the course of the drama that was shaping +itself might have been altered. But the stars in their courses were +fighting against Dick. Austin only said:</p> + +<p>"If we get him this appointment, it will be ample compensation, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Please don't say 'if,'" exclaimed Viviette, "we must get it."</p> + +<p>"Unless Lord Overton has already found a man, which is unlikely, owing +to the general suspension of business at Whitsuntide, it's practically +a certainty."</p> + +<p>"When shall we know?"</p> + +<p>"My letter's written and is waiting for the post. If he replies by +return we shall hear the day after to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"That is such a long time to wait. Do you know what to-morrow is?"</p> + +<p>"Wednesday," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"It's Dick's birthday." She clapped her hands at a happy inspiration, +and hung on his arm. "Oh, Austin! If we could only give him the +appointment as a birthday present!"</p> + +<p>Her touch, her fresh charm, the eagerness in her eyes roused him to +unwonted enthusiasm. In his sane moments he did not care a fig for +anybody's birthday. What man ever does? He proclaimed the splendour of +her idea. But how was it to be realised?</p> + +<p>"Send a long prepaid telegram to Lord Overton, of course," said Viviette +triumphantly. (How unresourceful are men!) "Then we can get an +answer to-day."</p> + +<p>"You forget the nearest telegraph office is at Witherby, seven miles +off."</p> + +<p>"But Dick and I are going for a drive. I'll make him go to Witherby and +I'll send the telegram. Write it."</p> + +<p>She drew him in her caressing way to the table, seated him in the chair, +and laid the block of telegram forms before him. He scribbled +industriously, and when he had finished handed her the sheets.</p> + +<p>"There!"</p> + +<p>He fished in his pockets for money, but Viviette checked him. She was +the fairy godmother in this fairy tale, and fairy godmothers always held +the purse. She glanced again at her watch. It was ten minutes +past eleven.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he's waiting with the trap for me all the time. Au revoir."</p> + +<p>"I'll see you off," said Austin.</p> + +<p>They went together into the hall and opened the front door. The new +mare and the dog-cart in charge of the stable lad were there, but +no Dick.</p> + +<p>"Where's Mr. Ware?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know, miss."</p> + +<p>Then the Devil entered into Viviette. There is no other explanation. The +Devil entered into her.</p> + +<p>"We must get to Witherby and back before lunch. You drive me over +instead of Dick."</p> + +<p>They exchanged glances. Austin was young. He was in love with her. Dick +had committed the unpardonable offence of being late. It would serve +him right.</p> + +<p>"I'll come," said he, disappearing in search of cap and gloves.</p> + +<p>Viviette went into the hall and scribbled a note.</p> + +<p>"Dear Dick,--You're late. Austin and I have the most important business +to transact at Witherby, so he's driving me over. We're preparing a +great surprise for you.--Viviette."</p> + +<p>"Give this to Mr. Ware," she said to the stable boy as she prepared to +get into the dog-cart.</p> + +<p>The boy touched his cap and ran to open the gate. Viviette lightly +mounted by Austin's side. They had just turned into the road when Dick +came racing through the hall and saw them disappear. He walked up the +drive, and met the boy coming down, who handed him the note, with some +words, which he did not hear. He watched the boy out of sight. Then he +tore the note unread into tiny fragments, stamped them furiously into +the mould of the nearest bed, and, flying into his armoury, threw +himself into a chair and cursed the day that ever Austin was born.</p> + + + +<a name="III"></a> +<h2>Chapter III</h2> + +<h3>Katherine</h3> + +<p>The drive was a memorable one for many reasons. First the new mare flew +along at an exhilarating trot, as if showing off her qualities to her +new masters. Then the morning sunshine flooded the soft, undulating +Warwickshire country, and slanted freshly through the bordering elms in +sweet-scented lanes. Summer flaunted its irresponsible youth in the +faces of matronly, red-brick Manor House, old grey church, and crumbling +cottage, danced about among the crisp green leaves, kissed the wayside +flowers, and tossing up human hearts in sheer gaiety, played the very +deuce with them. The drive also had its altruistic side. They were on an +errand of benevolence. Austin, his mind conscious of nothing but right, +felt the unusual glow of unselfish devotion to another's interests. When +he had awakened that morning he had had misgivings as to the +advisability of sending Dick to another hemisphere. After all, Dick was +exceedingly useful at Ware House, and saved him a great deal of trouble. +An agent would have to be appointed to replace him, whose salary--not a +very large one, in view of the duties to be performed, but still a +salary--would have to be provided out of his, Austin's, pocket. Who, +again, could undertake the permanent care of his mother? Viviette would +stay at home for some little time; but she would be marrying one of +these fine days--a day which Austin had reasons for hoping would not be +very remote. He would have to make Heaven knows what arrangements for +Mrs. Ware and the general upkeep of the Manor House, while he was in +London carrying on his profession. Decidedly, Dick had been a godsend, +and his absence would be a calamity. In sending him out to Vancouver +Austin had all the unalloyed, pure pleasure of self-sacrifice.</p> + +<p>They talked of Dick and Dick's birthday and Dick's happiness most of the +way to Witherby. The telegram despatched, prepaid with the porterage by +Viviette, Austin felt that he had done his duty by his brother, and +deserved some consideration on his own account. And here it was that the +summer began its game with their hearts. On such sportive occasions it +is not so much what is said that matters. A conversation that might be +entirely conventional between comparative strangers in a fog may become +the most romantic interchange of sentiment imaginable between intimates +in the sunshine. There are tones, there are glances, there are +half-veiled allusions, there are--in a dog-cart, especially when it +jolts--thrilling contacts of arm and arm. There is man's undisguised +tribute to beauty; there is beauty's keen feminine appreciation of the +tribute. There is a manner of saying "we" which counts for more than the +casual conjunction of the personalities.</p> + +<p>"This is _our_ day, Viviette," said Austin. "I shall always remember +it."</p> + +<p>"So shall I. We must put a white mark against it in our diaries."</p> + +<p>"With white ink?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Black would never do, nor red, nor violet."</p> + +<p>"But where shall we get it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll make us some when I get home out of white cloud and lilies and +sunshine and a bit of the blue sky."</p> + +<p>Laughter fluttered through her veins. Yesterday she had teasingly +boasted to Katherine that Austin was in love with her. Now she knew it. +He proclaimed it in a thousand ways. A note of exultation in his laugh, +like that in a blackbird's call, alone proclaimed it. Instinct told her +of harmless words she might use which would bring the plain avowal. But +the hour was too delicate. As yet nothing was demanded. All was given. +Her woman's vanity blossomed deliciously in the atmosphere of a man's +love. Her heart had not yet received the inevitable summons to respond. +She left it, careless in the gay hands of summer.</p> + +<p>When they drew up before the front door of Ware House he lifted her from +the dog-cart and set her laughing on her feet.</p> + +<p>"How strong you are," she cried.</p> + +<p>"I'm not a giant, like Dick," said he, "but I'm strong enough to do what +I like with a bit of a thing like you."</p> + +<p>She entered the hall and glanced at him provokingly over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Don't be too sure of that."</p> + +<p>"Whatever I like," he repeated, striding towards her.</p> + +<p>But Viviette laughed, and fled lightly up the stairs, and on the +landing blew him an ironical kiss from her finger tips.</p> + +<p>When Viviette came down for lunch, she found Dick awaiting her in the +hall. With a lowering face he watched her descend and, his hand on the +newel, confronted her.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said he indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Well?" she said, cheerfully smiling.</p> + +<p>"What have you got to say for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Lots of things. I had a lovely drive. I got through all my business, +and I have a beautiful appetite. I also don't like standing on a stair."</p> + +<p>At her look he drew aside and let her pass into the hall.</p> + +<p>"You promised to drive with me," he said, following her to a chair in +which she sat. "Driving with me is no great catch, perhaps; but a +promise is a promise."</p> + +<p>"You were late," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"My mother kept me--some silly nonsense about vegetables. You must have +known it was something I couldn't help."</p> + +<p>"I really don't see why you're so angry, Dick," she said, lifting candid +eyes. "I explained why we had gone in my note."</p> + +<p>"I didn't read the note," said Dick wrath-fully. "A thousand notes +couldn't have explained it. I tore the note into little pieces."</p> + +<p>Viviette rose. "If that's the way you treat me," she said, piqued, "I +have nothing more to say to you."</p> + +<p>"It's the way you're treating me," he cried, with a clumsy man's awkward +attempt at gesture. "I know I'm not clever. I know I can't talk to you +as sweetly as other people; but I'm not a dog, and I deserve some +consideration. Perhaps, after all, I might have the brains to jest and +toss about words and shoot off epigrams. I'll try, if you like. Let us +see. Here. A man who entrusts his heart to a woman has a jade for his +banker. That's devilish smart, isn't it. Now then--there must be some +repartee to it. What is it?"</p> + +<p>Viviette looked at him proudly, and moving in the direction of the +morning-room door, said with much dignity:</p> + +<p>"That depends on the way in which the woman you are talking to has been +brought up. My repartee is--good morning."</p> + +<p>Dick, suddenly repentant, checked her.</p> + +<p>"No, Viviette. Don't go. I'm a brute and a fool. I didn't mean it. +Forgive me. I would rather go on the rack than hurt your little finger. +But it maddens me--can't you believe it? It maddens me to see Austin--"</p> + +<p>She broke into a little laugh and smiled dazzlingly on him.</p> + +<p>"I do believe you're jealous!" she interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Good heavens!" he cried passionately. "Haven't I cause? Austin has +everything his heart can desire. He has always had it. I have +nothing--nothing but one little girl I love. Austin, with all the world +at his feet, comes down here, and what chance has a rough yokel like me +against Austin? My God! It's the one ewe lamb."</p> + +<p>He raised his clenched fists and brought them down against his sides and +turned away. The allusion and a consciousness of Vancouver brought a +smile into Viviette's eyes. She had a woman's sense of humour, which is +not always urbane. When he turned to meet her she shook her head +reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"And David put Uriah into the forefront of the battle, and carried off +poor little Bathsheba. No one seemed to have concerned himself with what +Bathsheba thought of it all. Don't you consider she ought to have some +choice in the matter--whether she should follow the sprightly David or +cling to the melancholy Uriah?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't jest like that, Viviette," he cried. "It hurts!"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Dick," she said innocently. "But, really, Bathsheba has her +feelings. What am I to do?"</p> + +<p>"Choose, dear, between us. Choose now--in Heaven's name, choose."</p> + +<p>"But, Dick, dear," said Viviette, all that was wickedly feminine in her +shouting her sex's triumph song, "I want a longer time to choose between +two hats!"</p> + +<p>Dick stamped his foot. "Then Austin has been robbing me! I'm growing +desperate, Viviette, tell me now. Choose."</p> + +<p>He seized her arms in his strong hands. She felt a delicious little +thrill of fear. But knowing her strength, she looked up at him with a +childish expression and said plaintively: "Oh, Dick, dear, I'm +so hungry."</p> + +<p>He released her arms. She rubbed them ruefully. "I'm sure you've made +horrid red rings. Fancy choosing a hard, uncomfortable hat like that!"</p> + +<p>He was about to make some rejoinder when the presence of Mrs. Ware and +Katherine Holroyd at the top of the stairs put an end to the encounter. +The victory, such as it was, remained with Viviette.</p> + +<p>At lunch, Austin, his veins still tingling with the summer, laughed and +jested light-heartedly. What a joy it was to get away from stuffy courts +of justice into the pure Warwickshire air. What a joy to drink of the +wine of life. What was that? Only those that drank of the wine +could tell.</p> + +<p>"What about the poor devils that only get the dregs?" muttered Dick.</p> + +<p>Austin declared that the real wine had no dregs. He called his mother +and Katherine Holroyd to witness. Mrs. Ware was not sure. Old port had +to be very carefully decanted. Did he remember the fuss his dear father +used to make about it? She was very glad there was no more left--for +Dick would be sure to drink it and it would go to his head.</p> + +<p>"Or his toes!" cried Viviette.</p> + +<p>When Austin explained Viviette's meaning to his mother, who had not an +allusive habit of mind, she acquiesced placidly. Port was not good for +gouty people. Their poor father suffered severely. Austin listened to +her reminiscences and turned the talk to the drive. It had been more +like driving through Paradise with Pegasus harnessed to Venus's car than +anything else. He must take his mother out and show her what a good +judge of horseflesh was dear old Dick.</p> + +<p>"As she's my mare, perhaps I might have the privilege," said Dick.</p> + +<p>Austin cried out, in all good faith: "My dear old boy, is there anything +especially mine or yours in this house?"</p> + +<p>Katherine, a keen observer, broke quickly into the talk.</p> + +<p>"There's Dick's armoury. That's his own particular and private domain. +You're going to explain it all to me this afternoon, aren't you? You +promised yesterday."</p> + +<p>She drew Dick into talk away from the others. The lecture on the armoury +was fixed for three o'clock, when she would be free from the duty from +which, during her stay at the Manor House, she had freed Viviette, of +postprandial reading of the newspaper to Mrs. Ware. But her interest in +his hobby for once failed to awaken his enthusiasm. The dull jealousy of +Austin, against which his honest soul had struggled successfully all his +life long, had passed beyond his control. These few days of Austin's +Whitsun visit had changed his cosmic view. Petty rebuffs, such as the +matters of the stables and the Rural District Council, which formerly he +would have regarded in the twilight of his mind as part of the +unchangeable order of things in which Austin was destined to shine +resplendently and he to glimmer--Austin the arc-lamp and he the +tallow-dip--became magnified into grievances and insults intolerable. +Esau could not have raged more against Jacob, the supplanter, than did +Dick, when Austin carried off Viviette from beneath his nose. Until this +visit of Austin he had no idea that he would find a rival in his +brother. The discovery was a shock, causing his world to reel and +setting free all the pent-up jealousies and grievances of a lifetime. +Everything he had given up to Austin, if not willingly, at least +graciously, hiding beneath the rough, tanned hide of his homely face all +pain, disappointment, and humiliation. But now Austin had come and +swooped off with his one ewe lamb. Not that Viviette had encouraged him +by more than the real but mocking affection with which she had treated +her bear foster-brother ever since her elfin childhood. In a dim way he +realised this, and absolved her from blame. Less dimly, also, he felt +his mental and social inferiority, his lack of warrant in offering her +marriage. But his great, rugged manhood wanted her, the woman, with an +imperious, savage need which took all the training of civilisation to +repress. Viviette alone in her maidenly splendour, he could have fought +it down. But the vision of another man entering, light-hearted and +debonair, into those precincts maddened him, let loose primitive +instincts of hatred and revenge, and robbed him of all interest in the +toys with which men used to slay each other centuries ago.</p> + +<p>Austin, being nearest the door, opened it for the ladies to pass out. +Viviette, going out last, looked up at him with one of her +witch's glances.</p> + +<p>"Don't be very long," she said,</p> + +<p>Before Austin could resume his seat Dick leaped up.</p> + +<p>"Austin, look here; I've something to say to you."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said Austin.</p> + +<p>Dick pulled out a cigar, bit the end off, and finding that he had +ripped the outer skin, threw it angrily into the fireplace.</p> + +<p>"My dear old boy," said Austin, "what in the name of all that's neurotic +is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"I've something to say to you," Dick repeated. "Something that concerns +myself, my life. I must throw myself on your generosity."</p> + +<p>Austin, his head full of philanthropy, thrust his hands into his pockets +and smiled indulgently on Dick.</p> + +<p>"Don't, old chap, I know all about it. Viviette has told me everything."</p> + +<p>Dick, his head full of passion, staggered in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Viviette has told you?"</p> + +<p>"Of course; why shouldn't she?"</p> + +<p>Dick groped his way to the door. It were better for both that he should +not stay. Austin, left alone, laughed, not unkindly. Dear old Dick! It +was a shame to tease him--but what a different expression his honest +face would wear to-morrow! When the maid brought in his coffee he sipped +it with enjoyment, forgetful for once of its lack of excellence.</p> + +<p>There was one person, however, in the house who saw things clearly; and +the more clearly she saw them the less did they seem satisfactorily +ordered. This was Katherine Holroyd, a sympathetic observer and +everybody's intimate. She had known the family since her childhood, +spent in a great neighbouring house which had now long since passed from +her kin into alien hands. She had known Viviette when she first came, +with her changeling face, a toddling child of three, to the Manor House. +She had grown up with the brothers. Until her marriage the place had +been her second home. Her married life, mostly spent abroad, had +somewhat broken the intimacy. But her widowhood after the first few +hopeless months had renewed it, although her visits were comparatively +rare. On the other hand, her little daintily-furnished London house in +Victoria square was always open to such of the family as happened to be +in town. Now, as Austin was the most frequently in town, seeing that he +lived there all the year round, with the exception of the long vacation +and odd flying visits to Warwickshire, to Austin was her door most +frequently open. A deep affection existed between them, deeper perhaps +than either realised. To be purely brotherly in attitude towards a woman +whom you are fond of and who is not your sister, and to be purely +sisterly in your attitude towards a man whom you are fond of and who is +not your brother, are ideals of spiritual emotion very difficult to +attain in this respectably organised but sex-ridden world.</p> + +<p>During the dark time of her early widowhood it was to Austin's delicate +tact and loyalty that she owed her first weak grasp on life. It was he +that had brought her to a sense of outer things, to a realisation that +in spite of her own grey sky there was still a glory on the earth. He +was her trusted friend, ally, and adviser, who never failed her, and she +contemplated him always with a heart full of somewhat exaggerated +gratitude--which is as far on the road to love as it is given to many +women to travel.</p> + +<p>She had barely reached the top of the hall stairs--on her way to spend +her reading hour with Mrs. Ware, when she saw Dick come out of the +dining-room with convulsed and angry face, the veins standing out on his +thick bull's neck. She felt frightened. Something foolish and desperate +would happen before long. She resolved to give Austin a warning word. +With an excuse to Mrs. Ware she went down again to the dining-room, and +found Austin in the cosiest and sunniest frame of mind imaginable. +Obviously there had been no serious quarrel between the brothers.</p> + +<p>"Can I have a few minutes with you, Austin?"</p> + +<p>"A thousand," he said gaily. "What has gone wrong?"</p> + +<p>"It is nothing to do with me," she said.</p> + +<p>He looked amusedly into her eyes. "I know. It's about Viviette. +Confess."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied soberly, "it's about Viviette."</p> + +<p>"You've seen it. I make no bones about it. You can believe the very +worst. I have fallen utterly and hopelessly in love with her. I am at +your mercy."</p> + +<p>This beginning was not quite what Katherine had expected. In his +confident way he had taken matters out of her hands. She had not +anticipated a down-right confession. She felt conscious of a little dull +and wholly reprehensible ache at her heart. She sighed.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you pleased, Katherine?" he asked with a man's selfishness.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I must be--for your sake. But I must also sigh a little. I +knew you would be falling in love sooner or later--only I hoped it would +be later. But _que veux-tu?_ It is the doom of all such friendships."</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything like a doom about it, my dear," said he. "The +friendship will continue. Viviette loves you dearly."</p> + +<p>She took up a peach from a dish to her hand, regarded it for a moment, +absent-mindedly, and delicately replaced it.</p> + +<p>"Our friendship will continue, of course. But the particular essence of +it, the little sentimentality of ownership, will be gone, won't it?"</p> + +<p>Austin rose and bent over Katherine's chair in some concern. "You're not +distressed, Katherine?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. You have been such a kind, loyal friend to me during a very +dark and lonely time--brought sunshine into my life when I needed it +most--that I should be a wicked woman if I didn't rejoice at your +happiness. And we have been nothing more than friends."</p> + +<p>"Nothing more," said Austin.</p> + +<p>She was smiling now, and he caught a gleam of mischief in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"And yet there was an afternoon last winter--"</p> + +<p>His face coloured. "Don't throw my wickedness in my face. I remember +that afternoon. I came in fagged, with the prospect of dinner at the +club and a dismal evening over a brief in front of me, and found you +sitting before the fire, the picture of rest and comfortableness and +companionship. I think it was the homely smell of hot buttered toast +that did it. I nearly asked you to marry me."</p> + +<p>"And I had been feeling particularly lonely," she laughed.</p> + +<p>"Would you have accepted me?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think that it is quite a fair question?"</p> + +<p>"We have always been frank with one another since our childhood," said +he.</p> + +<p>She smiled. "Has Viviette accepted you?"</p> + +<p>He broke away from her with a gay laugh, and lit a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"Your feminine subtlety does you credit, Katherine."</p> + +<p>"But has she?"</p> + +<p>"Well, no--not exactly."</p> + +<p>"Will she?"</p> + +<p>He brought his hand down on the table. "By heavens, I'll make her! I've +got most of the things I've wanted during my life, and it'll be odd if I +don't get the thing I want more than all the rest put together. Now +answer my question, my dear Katherine," he continued teasingly. "Would +you have married me?"</p> + +<p>The smile faded from Katherine's face. She could not parry the question +as she had done before, and it probed depths. She said very seriously +and sweetly:</p> + +<p>"I should have done, Austin, as I always shall do, whatever you ask me +to do. I'm glad you didn't ask me--very glad--for the love a woman gives +a man died within me, you know."</p> + +<p>He took her hand and kissed it.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said he, "you are the truest friend that ever man had."</p> + +<p>There was a short pause. Austin looked out of the window and Katherine +wiped away some moisture in her eyes. This scene of sentimentality was +not at all what she had come for. Soon she rose with a determined air +and joined Austin by the window.</p> + +<p>"It was as a true friend that I wanted to speak to you to-day. To warn +you."</p> + +<p>"About what?"</p> + +<p>"About Dick. Austin, he's madly in love with Viviette too."</p> + +<p>Austin stared at her for a moment incredulously. "Dick in love--in love +with Viviette?" Then he broke into a peal of laughter. "My _dear_ +Katherine! Why, it's absurd! It's preposterous! It's too funny."</p> + +<p>"But seriously, Austin."</p> + +<p>"But seriously," he said, with laughing eyes, "such an idea has never +penetrated into old Dick's wooden skull. You dear women are always +making up romance. He and Viviette are on the same old fairy and great +brown bear terms that they have been ever since they first met. She +makes him dance on his hind legs--he wants to hug her--she hits him over +the nose--and he growls."</p> + +<p>"I warn you," said Katherine. "Great brown bears in love are dangerous."</p> + +<p>"But he isn't in love," he argued light-heartedly. "If he were he would +want to stay with Viviette. But he's eating his heart out, apparently, +to leave us all and go and plough fields and herd cattle abroad. The +life he lives here, my good mother's somewhat arbitrary ways, and one +thing and another have at last got on his nerves. I wonder now how the +dear old chap has stood it so long. That's what is wrong with him, not +blighted affection."</p> + +<p>"I can only tell you what I know," said Katherine. "If you won't believe +me, it's not my fault. Keep your eyes open and you will see."</p> + +<p>"And you keep your eyes open to-morrow morning and _you_ will see," he +said, with his bright self-confidence.</p> + +<p>So Katherine sighed at the obtuseness and inconvincibility of man and +went to read the leader in _The Daily Telegraph_ to Mrs. Ware. Austin, +with a smile on his lips, wandered out into the sunshine in search +of Viviette.</p> + +<p>Before they parted, however, Katherine turned by the door.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming to the armoury to hear Dick's lecture?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Austin gaily. "The dear old chap loves an audience."</p> + + + +<a name="IV"></a> +<h2>Chapter IV</h2> + +<h3>The Famous Duelling Pistols</h3> + +<p>Dick's great-grandfather (Wild Dick Ware, as he used to be called by the +country-side), besides other enormities of indiscretion, committed an +architectural crime. Having begun to form the collection of arms which +was Dick's pride and hobby, he felt the need of a fencing gallery where +they could be displayed to advantage. None of the rooms in the house +were suitable. Building a new wing would cost too much. So, like a good +old English gentleman, accustomed to get what he wanted, he ruthlessly +cut off a slice of the nobly proportioned morning-room, containing a +beautifully-mullioned casement at the side, knocked a French window +through one end, so that he could wander in and out from the terrace, +knocked a door through the other so that it opened on a corner of the +hall, forgot all about the fireplace, and left his descendants to make +the best of things.</p> + +<p>This long, narrow, comfortless strip of a room was Dick's armoury, den, +and refuge. It was furnished with extreme simplicity. At the further end +two rusty leather arm-chairs flanked a cast-iron stove in the corner, and +were balanced in the other and darker corner by a knee-hole writing-desk +littered with seeds and bulbs and spurs and bits of fishing tackle, and +equipped for its real purpose with a forbidding-looking pen and inkpot, +and a torn piece of weather-beaten blotting-paper. At about a third of +the way down from the terrace door a great screen, covered with American +cloth, cut the room almost in two. Against this screen stood two suits +of beautifully-finished fifteenth-century Italian armour. Between them +and the further end of the room ran a long deal table, with a green +baize cover. An odd, dilapidated chair or two stood lonely and +disconsolate against the opposite wall. The floor was covered with old +matting and a few faded rugs. The walls, however, and the cases ranged +along them gave an air of distinction to the room. There hung trophies +of arms of all sorts--a bewildering array of spiky stars like the +monstrous decorations on the breast of a Brobdingnagian diplomatist, of +guns and pistols of all ages and nationalities, of halberds, pikes, and +partisans, of curved scimitars, great two-handed swords, and long, +glittering rapiers, with precious hilts. There, too, were coats of chain +mail and great iron gauntlets, and rows of dinted helmets formed a +cornice round the gallery.</p> + +<p>It was Dick's sanctuary, where, according to family tradition, he was +supposed to be immune from domestic attacks. Anyone, it is true, could +open the door and worry him from the threshold, but no one entered +without his invitation. Here he was master. Here he spent solitary hours +dreaming dreams, wrestling with devils, tying trout-flies, making up +medicines for his dogs, and polishing and arranging and rearranging his +armour and weapons. Until the furies got hold of him he was a simple +soul, content with simple things. The happiest times of his life had +been passed here among the inanimate objects which he loved, and here he +was now spending the hours of his greatest agony.</p> + +<p>The words he had just heard from Austin rang like a crazy, deafening +chime through his ears. He sat in one of the old leather chairs, +gripping his coarse hair. It was unthinkable, and yet it was true. +Viviette had told Austin the thing that glowed sacred at the bottom of +his soul. The scene danced vividly before his eyes: the two bright +creatures making a mock of him and his love, laughing merrily at the +trick they had played him, pitying him contemptuously. There was a flame +at his heart, a burning lump in his throat. Mechanically he drew from a +little cupboard near by a bottle of whiskey, a syphon, and a glass. The +drink he mixed and swallowed contained little soda. It increased the +fire in his heart and throat. He paced the long room in crazy +indignation. Every nerve in his body quivered with a sense of +unforgivable insult and deadly outrage. Austin's face loomed before him +like that of a mocking devil. He had hell in his throat, and again he +tossed down a dose of whiskey, and threw himself into the arm-chair. The +daily paper lay on a stool at his hand. He took it up and tried to read, +but the print swam into thin, black smudges. He dashed the paper to the +ground, and gave himself up to his madness.</p> + +<p>After a while he remembered his appointment with Katherine at three +o'clock. He glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to the hour, and, +beyond a cleaning yesterday afternoon, no preparations were made. In an +automatic way he unlocked some cases and drew out his treasures, wiped +the sword-blades tenderly with chamois leather, and laid them on the +long, baize-covered table. Here and there from the cornice he selected a +helmet. The great mace used by his ecclesiastical ancestor he unhooked +from the wall. Soon the table was covered with weapons, selected in a +dazed way, he knew not why. A helmet fell from his hands on the floor +with a ring of steel. Its visor grinned at him--the fool, the tricked, +the supplanted. He kicked it, with a silly laugh. Then he pulled himself +together, picked it up, and examined it in great fear lest harm should +have happened to it. He put it on the table, and in order to steady his +nerves drank another large whiskey and small soda.</p> + +<p>He scanned the table, perplexed. Some accustomed and important exhibit +was not in its place. What was it? He clasped his head in his hands and +strove to clear his mind for a moment from obsession. It was something +historical, something unique, something he had but lately mentioned to +Katherine. Something intimately connected with this very room. At last +memory responded. He placed a chair between the two suits of armour that +stood against the screen and the end of the long table, and, mounting, +took a mahogany case from a shelf. Then he sat on the chair, put the +case on the table, and opened it by means of a small, ornamental key. It +contained a brace of old-fashioned duelling pistols, such as were used +at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They were long-barrelled, +ivory-handled, business-like weapons, provided with miniature ramrods. +The velvet-lined interior of the case was divided into various +compartments, two for the pistols, one for powder-flask, one for +bullets, one for percussion-caps, and one for wads. In his dull, +automatic way, his mind whirling madly in other spheres, he cleaned the +pistols, shook the powder-flask to make certain that powder was still +there--he loved to pour out a few grains into his hand and show the +powder that had remained in the flask for generations, ever since the +pistols were last used--counted the caps, which he had counted many +times before, looked stupidly into the only empty compartment, only to +remember that there never had been any wads, and, finally, grasping one +of the pistols, took aim at a bulb on his writing-desk at the end of +the room.</p> + +<p>He had been tricked, and robbed, and mocked. He could see the scene when +she had told Austin. He could hear Austin's pitiless laughter. He could +picture her mimicking his rough speech. He could picture them, +faithless, heartless, looking into each other's eyes.... Suddenly he +passed his hand over his forehead. Was he going mad? Hitherto he had +heard their voices in the dimness of imagination. Now he heard them loud +in vibrating sound. Was it real or imaginary? He drew deep, +panting breaths.</p> + +<p>"Dick's not here," said Viviette's voice from the terrace. "He has +forgotten."</p> + +<p>"Really, my dear, I don't very much care," Austin replied. "Where you +are, I am happy."</p> + +<p>"I wish that telegram would come. It's quite time. Don't you think we +had better tell Dick to-day?"</p> + +<p>"No, no. To-morrow."</p> + +<p>"After all, what is the good of hiding it from him?"</p> + +<p>A laugh from Austin. "You think we ought to put him out of his misery +at once?"</p> + +<p>It was real! Those two were talking in flesh and blood on the terrace. +They were talking of him. His misery! That had but one meaning. And the +devil laughed! Unconsciously his grip tightened on the butt of the +pistol. He listened.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Viviette. "It would be kinder."</p> + +<p>"I stick to the birthday idea. It would be more dramatic."</p> + +<p>"The damned villain!" Dick muttered.</p> + +<p>"I want to-day," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"And I want to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"You speak as if you were my lord and master," said Viviette, in the +mocking tones Dick knew so well.</p> + +<p>"No other man shall be if I can help it."</p> + +<p>The clear, young masterful voice rang down the gallery. Dick slid his +chair noiselessly to the side of the screen which hid him from the +terrace-window, and, bending down low, peered round the edge. He saw +them laughing, flushed, silhouetted against the green, distant trees. +Austin was looking at her with the light of passion in his eyes. She +looked up at him, radiant, elusive, triumphant, with parted lips.</p> + +<p>"Please to remember we were talking of Dick."</p> + +<p>"Confound Dick! In this he doesn't count. I matter. And I'll show you."</p> + +<p>He showed her in the one and only way. She struggled for a second in his +arms, and received his kiss with a little laugh. They had moved to the +far lintel of the door. Dick's world reeled red before his eyes. He +stood up and held the pistol pointed. Damn him! Damn him! He would kill +him. Kill him like a dog.</p> + +<p>Some reflex motion of the brain prompted action. Feverishly he rammed a +charge of powder down the pistol. Wads? A bit of the newspaper lying on +the floor. Then a bullet. Then a wad rammed home. Then the cap. It was +done at lightning speed. Murder, red, horrible murder blazed in his +soul. Damn him! He would kill him. He started into the middle of the +room, just as they walked away, and he sprang to the door and levelled +the pistol.</p> + +<p>Then reaction came. No. Not like a dog. He couldn't shoot his brother +like a dog. His arm fell helplessly at his side. He turned back again +into the room, staggering and knocking himself against the cases by the +walls, like a drunken man. The sweat rolled down his face. He put the +pistol beside the other on the table. For some moments he stood a +hulking statue, shaken as though stricken with earthquake, white-faced, +white-lipped, staring, with crossed, blue eyes, at nothing. At last he +recovered power of motion, drank another whiskey, and replaced bottle, +syphon, and glass in the cupboard.</p> + +<p>He found himself suddenly clear-headed, able to think. He was not in +the least degree drunk. To test himself he took up a sword from the +table, and, getting the right spot, balanced it on his finger. He could +speak, too, as well as anybody. He turned to a long Moorish musket +inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl, and began to describe it. He was +quite fluent and sensible, although his voice sounded remote in his own +ears. He was satisfied. He had his nerves under control. He would go +through the next hour without anyone suspecting the madness that was in +his mind. He was absolutely sober and self-collected. He walked along a +seam of the matting that ran the whole length of the gallery, and did +not deviate from it one hair's breadth. Now he was ready. Perfectly +prepared to deliver his lecture. He sat down and picked up the +newspaper, and the print was clear. "The weather still continues to be +fine over the British Islands. The anti-cyclone has not yet passed away +from the Bay of Biscay...." He read the jargon through to the end. But +it seemed as if it were not he who was reading, but someone else--a +quiet, placid gentleman, deeply versed in the harmless science of +meteorology. Where his real self was he did not know, so he toyed with +the illusion.</p> + +<p>A voice broke on his ear, coming, it seemed, from another world.</p> + +<p>"Dick, may we come in?"</p> + +<p>He rose, saw Katherine, Austin, and Viviette on the threshold. He +invited them to enter, and shook Katherine by the hand, as if he had not +met her for a long time.</p> + +<p>Viviette danced down to the table. "Now, Dick, we're all here. Put on +your most learned, and antiquarian mariner. Ladies and gentlemen, I call +on Mr. Richard Ware to deliver his interesting lecture on the ingenious +instruments men have devised for butchering each other."</p> + +<p>Dick put his hand to his head in a confused way. His real self was +beginning to merge itself into that of the quiet gentleman, and there +was a curious red mist before his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Come on," cried Viviette. "Look at Katherine. Her mouth is watering for +tales of bloodshed."</p> + +<p>Dick could not remember his usual starting-point. He stared stupidly at +the table for a moment; then picked up a weapon at random, and made a +great effort.</p> + +<p>"This is a Toledo sixteenth-century sword--reported to have belonged to +Cosmo de Medici. You see here the '_palle_,' the Medici emblem. The one +next to it is a sword of the same period, only used by a meaner person. +I should prefer it, if there were any killing to be done."</p> + +<p>He described one or two other weapons. Then, glancing over his shoulder +at Austin and Viviette, who were talking in low, confidential tones a +little way off, he stood stock still, and the beads of sweat gathered on +his forehead. Katherine's voice recalled his wandering wits.</p> + +<p>"This is a cross-bow, isn't it? The thing the Ancient Mariner shot the +Albatross with."</p> + +<p>"A cross-bow," said Dick. "The iron loop at the end was to put one's +foot into when one wanted to load it."</p> + +<p>"And this," said Katherine, pointing to a long steel thing with a great +knob adorned with cruel spikes, "is the family mace, I suppose. I've +seen it before, I remember."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's the mace."</p> + +<p>"What a blood-thirsty set of people you must have been!"</p> + +<p>Austin came up with a laugh. "There's a legend among us that once mother +was left alone in the house and insisted on having this mace near her +bed so as to defend herself against burglars. But why do you leave me to +tell the story, Dick?"</p> + +<p>Dick clenched his fists, and, muttering something, turned and ascended +the gallery above the screen. Viviette followed him.</p> + +<p>"You're not doing it at all nicely. I don't think you want to."</p> + +<p>"Can you wonder at that?" he said hoarsely.</p> + +<p>Viviette played deliciously with the fire.</p> + +<p>"Why, aren't we intelligent enough for you?" she asked with childish +innocence.</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean."</p> + +<p>"I haven't the faintest idea. All I know is that you may as well be +polite, at any rate."</p> + +<p>He laughed. Ordinarily he had little sense of humour; but now he had the +flames in his heart and the hell in his throat, and red mist before +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll be polite," he growled. "By God, I'll be polite! One may be +suffering the tortures of the damned, but one must smirk and be polite!"</p> + +<p>He snatched up the first thing to hand, a helmet that stood on a case, +and brought it down below the screen.</p> + +<p>"Katherine, Viviette says I'm not delivering my lecture properly. I beg +your pardon. I'm rather shy at first, but I get warmed up to my subject. +What would you like to hear about?"</p> + +<p>Katherine exchanged a glance with Austin.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we might put off the rest till another day?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, old chap. Put it off till to-morrow. It's your birthday, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Birthday? What's that got to do with it? Who knows what may happen +between then and now? No--no. I'm all right," he cried wildly. "You're +here, and you've got to listen. I'll get into fine form presently. +Look!" he said, pointing to the helmet he was holding. "Here is a +Cromwellian morion. It was picked up by an ancestor at Naseby. It has a +clean cut in it. That's where an honest gentleman's sword found its way +into the knave's skull--the puritanical, priggish, canting knave."</p> + +<p>He threw the helmet with a clatter on to the table as if it had been the +knave's canting head. He caught up a weapon.</p> + +<p>"This is a partisan. All you had to do when you got it inside a man was +to turn it round a bit, and the wound gaped and tore. This tassel is for +catching the blood and preventing it from greasing the handle. Here's a +beauty," he went on, taking a sword from the row he had laid out for +display, and holding it out for Katherine's inspection. "One of the pets +of the collection. A French duelling sword of the middle of the +eighteenth century." He gave a fencer's flourish. "Responsive to the +hilts, eh? Ah! It must have been good to live in those days, when you +could whip this from your side at a wrong done and have the life of the +man that wronged you. The sweet morning air, the patch of green turf, +shoes off--in shirt and breeches--with the eyes of the man you hate in +front of you, and this glittering, beautiful, snaky thing thirsting for +his heart's blood. And then--"--he stood in tierce, left hand curved, +holding in tense fierceness the eyes of an imaginary opponent--"and then +a little clitter-clatter of steel, and, suddenly--ha!--the blade +disappears up to the hilt, and a great red stain comes on the shirt, and +the man throws up his arms, and falls, and you've killed him. He's dead! +dead! dead! Ha! what a time to live in!"</p> + +<p>Katherine uttered a little cry of fear, and grew pale. Viviette clapped +her hands.</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Dick!"</p> + +<p>"Bravo, Dick!" cried Austin. "Most dramatically done."</p> + +<p>"I never knew you were such an actor," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>Dick stood panting, his hand on the hilt of the sword, the point on the +floor.</p> + +<p>"I really do think I've had enough," said Katherine.</p> + +<p>"No, not yet," he said in a thick voice. "I've not shown you half yet. +I've something much more interesting."</p> + +<p>"But, Dick--"</p> + +<p>Viviette interrupted her. "You must stay. It's only beginning to be +exciting. If you only do the rest as beautifully as you did that, Dick, +I'll stay here all day."</p> + +<p>Dick, with a curious outward calm, contrasting with the fury of his mock +encounter, put down the sword and went to the end of the table, where +the case of pistols lay.</p> + +<p>"At any rate, I must show you," said he, "the famous duelling pistols."</p> + +<p>"They were the very pistols in the duel between his great-grandfather +and Lord Estcombe," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"They've not been used from that day--he killed Lord Estcombe, by the +by--till this. The case is just as it was left. I was going to tell you +the story yesterday."</p> + +<p>"I remember," said Katherine, by way of civility. "But Mrs. Ware stopped +you."</p> + +<p>She was a mild-natured woman, and the realistic conjuring up of +gore-dripping tassels and bloody shirts upset her, and she desired to +get away. She also saw that Dick was abnormally excited, and suspected +that he had been drinking. Her delicate senses shrank from drunkenness.</p> + +<p>"You must tell the story," cried Viviette. "It's so romantic. You like +romantic things, Katherine. The great-grandfather was a Dick Ware +too--Wild Dick Ware they used to call him. Go on, Dick."</p> + +<p>Dick paused for a moment. He had a curious, dull, befogged sensation of +being compelled to do things independently of volition. Presently +he spoke.</p> + +<p>"It happened in this very room, a hundred years ago. Lord Estcombe and +my great-grandfather were friends--intimate friends from boyhood. Wild +Dick Ware was madly in love with a girl who had more or less become +engaged to him. Now, it came to his knowledge that Lord Estcombe had +been using blackguard means to win away the girl's affections. And one +day they were here"--he moved a pace or two to one side--"just as Austin +and I are now. And the girl over there--"</p> + +<p>Viviette, with a gay laugh, took up her position on the spot to which he +pointed.</p> + +<p>"Just in this identical place. I know the story--it's lovely!"</p> + +<p>"An old Peninsula comrade of Wild Dick Ware's was here too--a man called +Hawkins--"</p> + +<p>"Katherine shall be Hawkins," cried Viviette.</p> + +<p>"And in his presence," Dick continued, "Wild Dick Ware told the girl +that he was mad for love of her, but that he would not force her choice; +yet one of those two, himself or Lord Estcombe, she must choose, for +good and all. She could not speak for shame or confusion. He said, +'Throw your handkerchief to whichever of us you love.' And they stood +side by side--like this"--he ranged himself by Austin's side--"opposite +the girl."</p> + +<p>"And she threw the handkerchief!" cried Viviette.</p> + +<p>"Throw yours!" said Dick. He looked at her with fierce intensity beneath +rugged brows; Austin with laughing challenge. She knew that she was the +object of each man's desire, and her sex's triumph thrilled through her +from head to foot. She knew that this jesting choice would have serious +import. For some seconds the three remained stock still. She glanced +flatteringly from one man to the other. Which should she choose? Her +heart beat wildly. Choose one or the other she must. Outside that room +no man lived whom she would marry. Each second strained the situation +further. At last her spirit rose in feminine revolt against the trap +which Dick had set for her, and, with a malicious look, she threw the +handkerchief at Austin's feet. He picked it up and gallantly put it +to his lips.</p> + +<p>"In the story," exclaimed Viviette, "she threw it to Lord Estcombe. +Austin is Lord Estcombe."</p> + +<p>"And I'm Dick Ware," cried Dick, in a strangled voice. "Wild Dick Ware. +And this is what he did. He dragged the girl out of the room first."</p> + +<p>He took Viviette by the arm and roughly thrust her past the screen.</p> + +<p>"Then--that case was on the table. And without a word Wild Dick Ware +comes up to Lord Estcombe so--and says, 'Choose.'"</p> + +<p>He gripped the pistols by the barrels, crossed them, and presented the +butts to Austin. Austin waved them away with a deprecatory gesture and +a smile.</p> + +<p>"Really, old man, I can't enter into the spirit of it, like that. You're +splendid. But if I took a hand, it would be tomfoolery."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do, do," cried Viviette. "Let us go through with it and see just +how the duel was fought. It will be thrilling. You'll have to fall dead +like Lord Estcombe, and I'll burst into the room and tear my hair over +your poor corpse. Do, Austin, for my sake."</p> + +<p>He yielded. Any foolishness for her sake. He took a pistol.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to be Major Hawkins, Katherine," he said lightly, as if +inviting her to condescend to some child's game.</p> + +<p>But Katherine put her hands before her face and shrank back. "No, no, +no. I couldn't. I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll be Major Hawkins," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"You will?" Dick laughed harshly. "Then be it so."</p> + +<p>"I know just what they did."</p> + +<p>She placed the men back to back, so that Austin faced the further end of +the room and Dick the open French window. They were to take three paces, +count one, two, three, and, at the end of the third pace, they were to +turn and fire.</p> + +<p>Dick felt the touch of Austin's shoulder against his, and the flame at +his heart grew fiercer and the hell in his throat more burning, and the +universe whirled round in a red mist. Viviette moved to the +weapon-laden table.</p> + +<p>"Now. One--two--three!"</p> + +<p align="center"><img src="002.jpg" alt="[Illustration: Dick glared at him]" /></p> + +<p>They paced and turned. Dick levelled his pistol instantly at Austin, +with murderous hate in his eyes, and drew the trigger. The pistol +clicked harmlessly. Austin, self-conscious, did not raise his pistol. +But Dick, broadening his chest, glared at him and shouted, +wildly, madly:</p> + +<p>"Fire, damn you! Fire! Why the devil don't you fire?"</p> + +<p>The cry was real, vibrant with fury and despair. Austin looked at him +for an amazed moment; then, throwing his pistol on to one of the +arm-chairs, he came up to him.</p> + +<p>"What fool's game are you playing, Dick? Are you drunk?"</p> + +<p>Katherine, with a low cry, flung herself between them, and, clinging to +Dick's arm, took the pistol from his hand.</p> + +<p>"No more of this--no more. The duel has been too much like reality +already."</p> + +<p>Dick staggered to a straight-backed chair by the wall, and, sitting +down, wiped his forehead. He had grown deathly white. The flames had +been suddenly quenched within him, and he felt cold and sick. Viviette, +in alarm, ran to his side. What was the matter? Was he faint? Let her +take him into the fresh air. Austin came up. But at his approach Dick +rose and shrank away, glancing at him furtively out of bloodshot eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes. The heat has oppressed me. I'm not well. I'll go out."</p> + +<p>He stumbled blindly towards the French window. Viviette followed him, +but he turned on her rudely and thrust her back.</p> + +<p>"I'm not well, I tell you. I don't want your help. Let me alone."</p> + +<p>He passed through the French window on to the terrace. The sky had +clouded over, and a drizzle had begun to fall.</p> + +<p>Viviette felt curiously frightened, but she put on an air of bravado as +she came down the gallery.</p> + +<p>"Have you all been rehearsing this little comedy?"</p> + +<p>No mirthful response lit either face. She read condemnation in both +pairs of eyes. For the first time in her life she felt daunted, +humiliated. She knew nothing more beyond the fact that in deliberate +coquetry she had pitted brother against brother, and that something +cruel and tragical had happened for which she was being judged. Neither +spoke. She summoned her outer dignity, tossed her pretty head, and went +out by the end door which Austin in cold politeness held open for her. +Then she mounted to her bedroom, and, throwing herself on her bed, burst +into a passion of meaningless weeping.</p> + +<p>Katherine handed Austin the pistol which she had taken from Dick's hand.</p> + +<p>"Now you'll believe what I told you."</p> + +<p>"I believe it," said Austin gravely.</p> + +<p>"That duel was not all play-acting."</p> + +<p>"That," said he, "was absurd. Dick Has been drinking. It was a silly +farce. Viviette egged him on until he seemed to take it seriously."</p> + +<p>"He did take it seriously, Austin. He's in a dangerous mood. If I were +you I should be careful. Take a woman's warning."</p> + +<p>He stood for a moment in deep thought, his gaze absently fixed on the +weapon he held in his hand. Suddenly a glint of something strange caught +his eye. He started, but recovered himself quickly.</p> + +<p>"I'll take your warning, Katherine. Here's my hand upon it."</p> + +<p>A moment later, when he was alone, he uncocked the pistol--Dick's +pistol. The glint had not been imaginary. It was a percussion cap. With +trembling fingers he picked it off the nipple. He passed his hand across +his damp forehead, for he felt faint with dread. But the task had to be +accomplished. He unscrewed the ramrod and picked out the wad, a piece +of white paper which dropped on the floor. From the barrel held downward +a bullet dropped with a dead, fateful thud on the floor. More paper +wad--a slithering shower of gunpowder. He put the pistol down, and took +up the one he himself had used from the chair where he had thrown it. It +was unloaded. His eye fell on the bits of white paper. He picked them up +and unfolded them. The daily newspaper lay by the stove, with the corner +torn accusingly.</p> + +<p>Then he understood. He sank into a chair, paralysed with horror. It was +Dick's pistol that was loaded. Dick had meant to murder him. By the +grace of God the pistol had missed fire. But Dick, his own brother, had +meant to murder him. An hour later he walked out of the room, the case +of pistols under his arm, with the drawn face of an old man.</p> + +<p>It was not until Dick had stumbled five or six miles through the +drenching downpour that the thought reached his dulled brain that he had +left the pistols loose for anyone to examine. The thought was like a +great stone hitting him on the side of the head. He turned and began to +run homewards, like a hunted man in desperate flight.</p> + + + +<a name="V"></a> +<h2>Chapter V</h2> + +<h3>A Crisis</h3> + +<p>Viviette having repaired the disorder caused by her tears went down to +tea. Mrs. Ware, Katherine, and a curate deliberately calling or taking +shelter from the rain were in the drawing-room. Austin, to his mother's +mild astonishment, had sent down a message to the effect that he was +busy. On ordinary occasions Viviette would have flirted monstrously with +the clerical youth, and sent him away undecided whether to offer to +share his lodgings and hundred pounds a year with her, or to turn +Catholic and become a monk. But now she had no mind to flirtation. She +left him to the undisturbing wiles of Mrs. Ware, and petted and +surreptitiously fed Dick's Irish terrier, whose brown eyes looked +pathetic inquiry as to his master's whereabouts. She was sobered by the +uncomprehended scene in the armoury--sobered by Dick's violence and by +Austin's final coldness. A choice had been put before her in deadly +earnest; she had refused to make one. But the choice would have to be +made very soon, unless she sent both her lovers packing, a step which +she did not for a moment contemplate.</p> + +<p>"You must promise to marry one or the other and end this tension," said +Katherine, a little later, after the curate had gone with Mrs. Ware to +look at her greenhouses.</p> + +<p>"I wish to goodness I could marry them both," said Viviette. "Have a +month with each, turn and turn about. It would be ideal."</p> + +<p>"It would be altogether horrid!" exclaimed Katherine. "How could such a +thought enter your head?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose it must have entered every woman's head who has two men +she's fond of in love with her at once. I said yesterday that it was +great fun being a woman. I find it's a d.d.d.d. imposition!"</p> + +<p>"For heaven's sake, child, make up your mind quickly," said Katherine.</p> + +<p>Viviette sighed. Which should it be? Dick, with his great love and rough +tenderness and big, protecting arms, or Austin with his conquering ways, +his wit, his charm, his perception? Austin could give her the luxury +that her sensuous nature delighted in, social position, the brilliant +life of London. What could Dick give her? It would always be a joy to +dress herself for Austin. Dick would be content if she went about in +raiment made of dusters and bath towels. In return, what could she give +each of these men? She put the question to herself. She was not +mercenary or heartless. She gave of herself freely and loved the giving. +What could she give to Austin? What could she give to Dick? These +questions, in her sober mood, weighed the others down.</p> + +<p>When the rain ceased and a pale sun had dried the gravel, she went out +into the grounds by herself and faced the problem. She sighed +again--many times. If only they would let her have her fun out and give +her answer six months hence!</p> + +<p>Her meditations were cut short by the arrival of a telegraph boy on his +bicycle at the front gate. He gave her the telegram. It was for Austin. +Her heart beat. She went into the house with the yellow envelope +containing Dick's destiny and mounted to the little room off the first +landing which had been Austin's private study since his boyhood. She +knocked. Austin's voice bade her enter. He rose from the desk where, pen +in hand, he had been sitting before a blank sheet of paper, and without +a word took the telegram. She noticed with a shock that he had curiously +changed. The quick, brisk manner had gone. His face was grey.</p> + +<p>"It is _the_ telegram, isn't it?" she asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he, handing it to her. "It's from Lord Overton."</p> + +<p>She read: "The very man. Send him along to me early to-morrow. Hope he +can start immediately."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how splendid!" she exclaimed with a little gasp of happiness. "How +utterly splendid! Thank heaven!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Thank heaven," Austin acquiesced gravely. "I forgot to mention to +you that Lord Overton knows Dick personally," he added, after a pause. +"They met at my house the last time Dick was in London."</p> + +<p>"This _is_ good news," said Viviette. "At last I can give him a birthday +present worth having."</p> + +<p>"He will not be here for his birthday," said Austin, in cold, even +tones. "He must catch the mail to-night."</p> + +<p>Viviette echoed: "To-night?"</p> + +<p>"And in all probability he will sail for Vancouver in a day or two. It +won't be worth his while to come back here."</p> + +<p>She laid a hand on her heart, which fluttered painfully.</p> + +<p>"Then--then--we'll never see him again?"</p> + +<p>"Probably not."</p> + +<p>"I didn't think it would be so sudden," she said, a little wildly.</p> + +<p>"Neither did I. But it's for the best."</p> + +<p>"But supposing he wants some time to look about him?"</p> + +<p>"I'll see to everything," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, I must be the first to tell him," said Viviette.</p> + +<p>"You will do me a very great favour if you will let me have that +privilege," said Austin. "I make a particular point of it. I have some +serious business to discuss with him before dinner, and that will be the +time for me to break the news."</p> + +<p>He was no longer the fairy godmother's devoted and humble factotum. He +spoke with a cold air of authority that chilled the fairy godmotherdom +in Viviette's bosom. Her prettly little scheme dwindled into +childishness before the dark, incomprehended thing that had happened. +She assented with unusual meekness.</p> + +<p>"But I'm desperately disappointed," she said.</p> + +<p>"My dear Viviette," he answered more kindly, and looking at her with +some wistfulness, "the pleasures and even the joy of life have to give +way to the sober, business side of existence. It isn't very gay, I know, +but we can't alter it."</p> + +<p>He held out his hand. Instinctively she gave him hers. He raised it to +his lips and held the door open for her. She went out scarcely knowing +that she had been dismissed. Austin closed the door, stood unsteadily +for a moment like a man stricken with great pain, and then, sitting +down at his desk again, put his elbows on the table, rested his head in +his hands, and stared at the white piece of paper. When would Dick come +home? He had given orders that Dick should be asked to go to him as soon +as he arrived. Would Dick ever come home again? It was quite possible +that some misfortune might have happened. Tragedy is apt to engender +tragedy. He shuddered, hearing in his fancy the tramp of men, and seeing +a shrouded thing they carried across the hall. He bitterly accused +himself for not having sought Dick far and wide as soon as he had made +his ghastly discovery. But he had required time to recover his balance. +The horrible suddenness had stunned him. Attempted fratricide is not a +common happening in gentle families. He had to accustom himself to the +atmosphere of the abnormal, so as to state the psychological case in its +numberless ramifications. This he had done. His head was clear. His +unalterable decision made. Now the minutes dragged with leaden feet +until Dick should come.</p> + +<p>Viviette was the first to see him. She had dressed early for dinner, +and, as the late June afternoon had turned out fine, was taking her +problem out to air on the terrace when she came upon him standing at the +door of his armoury. His hair was wet and matted, his eyes bloodshot, +his clothes dripping, and he himself splashed with mud from head to +foot. He trembled all over, shaken by a great terror. The case of +pistols had gone. Who had taken them? Had the loaded pistol been +discovered?</p> + +<p>As Viviette appeared, robed in deep blue chiffon that seemed torn from +the deep blue evening sky, and looking, in the man's maddened eyes, +magically beautiful, he held out imploring hands.</p> + +<p>"Come in for a moment. For the love of God come in for a moment."</p> + +<p>He stepped back invitingly. She hesitated for a second on the threshold, +and then followed him down the dim gallery, past the screen where all +the swords and helmets lay scattered on the table. He looked at her +haggardly, and she met his gaze with kind eyes in which there was no +mockery. No. Nothing had happened, he told himself; otherwise she would +shrink from him as from something accursed.</p> + +<p>"My God, if you knew how I love you!" he said hoarsely. "My God, if you +only knew!"</p> + +<p>His suffering racked her heart. All her pity melted over him. She laid +her caressing fingers on his arm.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my poor Dick!" she said.</p> + +<p align="center"><img src="003.jpg" alt="[Illustration: He held out imploring hands.]" /></p> + +<p>The touch, the choke in her voice, brought about Viviette's downfall. +Perhaps she meant it to do so. Who can tell? What woman ever knows? In a +flash his arms were around her and his kisses, a wild, primitive man's +kisses, were on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks. Her face was crushed +against the rough wet tweed of his coat, and its odour, raw and coarse, +was in her nostrils. She drooped, intoxicated, gasping for breath in his +unheeding giant's grip, but she made no effort to escape. As he held her +a thrill, agonising and delicious, swept through her, and she raised her +lips involuntarily to his and closed her eyes. At last he released her, +mangled, tousled, her very self a draggled piece of chiffon like the +night-blue frock, soiled with wet and mud.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," he said, "I had no right. Least of all now. God knows what +is to become of me. But whatever happens, you know that I love you."</p> + +<p>She had her hands clasped before her face. She could not look at him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," she murmured.</p> + +<p>In another moment he had gone, leaving Viviette, who had entered the +room a girl, transformed into a woman with the first shiver of passion +in her veins.</p> + +<p>Dick, vaguely conscious of damp and dirt, went up to his bedroom. The +sight of his evening things spread out on the bed reminded him that it +was nearly dinner-time. Mechanically he washed and dressed. As he was +buckling on his ready-made white tie--his clumsy fingers, in spite of +many lessons from Viviette, had never learned the trick of tying a +bow--a maid brought him a message. Mr. Austin's compliments and would he +see Mr. Austin for a few moments in Mr. Austin's room. The words were +like the dreaded tap on the shoulder of the hunted criminal.</p> + +<p>"I'll come at once," he said.</p> + +<p>He found Austin sitting on the chair by his desk, resting his chin on +his elbow. He did not stir as Dick entered.</p> + +<p>"You want to speak to me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin. "Will you sit down?"</p> + +<p>"I'll stand," said Dick impatiently. "What have you to say to me?"</p> + +<p>"I believe you have expressed your desire to leave England and earn your +living in a new country. Is that so?"</p> + +<p>The brothers' eyes met. Dick saw that the loaded pistol had been +discovered, and read no love, no pity, only condemnation in the hard +gaze. Austin was pronouncing sentence.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied sullenly.</p> + +<p>"I happen," said Austin, "to know of an excellent opportunity. Lord +Overton, whom you have met, wants a man to take charge of his timber +forests in Vancouver. The salary is £700 a year. I wired to Lord Overton +asking for the appointment on your behalf. This is his answer."</p> + +<p>Dick took the telegram and read it with muddled head. Austin had lost no +time.</p> + +<p>"You see, it fits in admirably. You can start by the night mail. Your +sudden departure needs no other explanation to the household than this +telegram. I hope you understand."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Dick bitterly. A sudden memory of words that +Viviette had used the day before occurred to him. "I understand. This is +to get me out of the way. 'David put Uriah in the forefront of the +battle.' Vancouver is the forefront."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think we had better avoid all unprofitable discussion?" +Austin rose and confronted him. "I expect you to accept this offer and +my conditions."</p> + +<p>"And if I refuse?" asked Dick, with rising anger. "What dare you +threaten me with?"</p> + +<p>Austin raised a deprecatory hand.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose I'm going to threaten you? I simply expect you not to +refuse. Your conscience must tell you that I have the right to do so. +Doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>Dick glowered sullenly at the wall and tugged his great moustache.</p> + +<p>"You force me to touch on things I should have liked to keep hidden," +said Austin. "Very well." He took a scrap of crumpled paper from the +desk. "Do you recognise this? It formed the wad of the pistol that was +in _your_ hand."</p> + +<p>Dick started back a pace. "You're wrong," he gasped. "It was _your_ +pistol that was loaded."</p> + +<p>"No. Yours. The cap missed fire, or I should have been a dead +man--murdered by my brother."</p> + +<p>"Stop," cried Dick. "Not murdered. No, no, not murdered. It was in fair +fight. I gave you the choice. When I thought I had the unloaded one I +called on you to fire. Why the devil didn't you? I wanted you to fire. I +was mad for you to fire. I wanted to be killed there and then. No one +can say I shirked it. I gave you your chance."</p> + +<p>"That's nothing to do with it," said Austin sternly. "When you fired you +meant murder. Your face meant killing. And supposing I had fired--and +killed you! Good God! I would sooner you had killed me than burdened my +soul with your death. It would have been less cowardly. Yes, cowardly. +The conditions were not even. To me it was trivial fooling. To you, +deadly earnest. Are you not man enough to see that I have the right to +exact some penalty?"</p> + +<p>Dick remained silent for a few moments, while the powers of light and +darkness struggled together in his soul. At last he said in a low voice, +hanging his head:</p> + +<p>"I'll accept your terms."</p> + +<p>"You leave by the night mail for Witherby."</p> + +<p>"Very well."</p> + +<p>"There's another point," said Austin. "The most important point of all. +You will not speak alone to Viviette before you start."</p> + +<p>Dick turned with an angry flash,</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"You will not speak to Viviette alone. When you are gone--for there is +no need for you to come back here before you sail--you will not write to +her. You will go absolutely and utterly out of her life."</p> + +<p>Dick broke into harsh, furious laughter.</p> + +<p>"And leave her to you? I might have known that the lawyer would have had +me in the trap. But this time you've over-reached yourself. I'll never +give her up. Do you hear me? Never--never--never! I would go through the +horror of to-day a thousand times--day by day until I die, rather than +give her up to you. You shall not take this last thing from me--this +hope of winning her--as you have taken everything else. You have +supplanted me since first you learned to speak. It has been Esau +and Jacob--"</p> + +<p>"Or Cain and Abel," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"You can taunt me if you like," cried Dick, goaded to fury, and the +whole bitterness of a lifetime surging up in passionate speech. "I have +got past feeling it. Your life has been one continual taunt of me. You +have thought me a dull, good-natured boor, delighted to have a word +thrown at him now and again by the elegant gentleman, and rather +honoured than otherwise to be ridden over roughshod, or kicked into the +mud when it pleased the elegant gentleman to ride by. No, listen to me," +he thundered, as Austin was about to protest. "By God, you shall listen +this time. You've made me your butt, your fool, your doer of trivial +offices. I've wondered sometimes why you haven't addressed me as 'my +good fellow,' and asked me to touch my cap to you. I've borne it all +these years without complaining--but do you know what it is to eat your +heart out and remain silent? I have borne it for my mother's sake--in +spite of her dislike of me--and for your sake, because I loved you. Yes. +If ever one man has loved another I've loved you. But you took no heed. +What was my affection worth? I was only the stupid, dull boor ... but I +suffered it all till you came between me and her. I had spent the whole +passion of my life upon her. She was the only thing left in the world +for which I felt fiercely. I hungered for her, thirsted for her, my +brain throbbed at the thought of her, the blood rushed through my veins +at the sight of her. And you came between us. And if I have damned my +soul, by God! the damnation is your doing. Do you think, while I live, +that I'll give her up to you? I'll get my soul's worth, anyhow."</p> + +<p>He smote his palm with his clenched fist and strode about the little +room. Austin sat for a while dumb with astonishment and dismay. His +cherished, lifelong conception of "dear old Dick" lay shattered. A new +Dick appeared to him, a personality stronger, deeper than he could have +imagined. A new respect for him, also a new pity that was generous and +not contemptuous, crept into his heart.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Dick," said he, using the familiar name for the first time. "Do +I understand that you accuse me of sending you out to Vancouver and +hastening your departure so as to gain my own ends with Viviette?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned Dick. "I do. You have laid this trap for me."</p> + +<p>"Have you ever heard me lie to you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Dick.</p> + +<p>"Then I tell you, as man to man, that until this afternoon I had no +suspicion that your feelings towards Viviette were deeper than those of +an elder brother."</p> + +<p>Dick laughed bitterly. "You couldn't conceive a clod like me falling in +love. Well?"</p> + +<p>"That's beside the question," said Austin. "I did not behave +dishonourably towards you. I came down. I fell in love with Viviette. +How could I help it? How could I help loving her? How could I help +telling her so? But she is young and innocent, and her heart is her own +yet. Tell me--man to man--dare you say that you have won it or that I +have won it?"</p> + +<p>"What's the good of talking?" said Dick, relapsing into his sullen mood. +"If I go she is yours. But I won't go."</p> + +<p>Austin rose again and laid his hand on his brother's arm.</p> + +<p>"Dick. If I give her up, will you obey my conditions?"</p> + +<p>"You give her up voluntarily? Why should you?"</p> + +<p>"A damnable thing was done this afternoon," said Austin. "I see I had my +share in it, and I as well as you have to make reparation. Man alive! +You are my brother," he cried with an outburst of feeling. "The nearest +thing in the world to me. Do you think I could rest happy with the +knowledge that a murderous devil is always in your heart, and that it's +in my power to--to exorcise it? Do you think the cost matters? Come. +Shall we make this bargain? Yes or no?"</p> + +<p>"It's easy for you to promise," said Dick. "But when I am gone, how can +you resist?"</p> + +<p>Austin hesitated for a moment, biting his lips. Then, with the air of a +man who makes an irrevocable step in life, he crossed the room and +rang the bell.</p> + +<p>"Ask Mrs. Holroyd if she will have the kindness to come here for a +minute," he said to the servant.</p> + +<p>Dick regarded him wonderingly. "What has Mrs. Holroyd to do with our +affairs?"</p> + +<p>"You'll see," said Austin, and there was silence between them till +Katherine came.</p> + +<p>She looked from one joyless face to the other, and sat without a word +on the chair that Austin placed for her. Her woman's intuition divined a +sequel to the afternoon's drama. Some of it she had already learned. +For, going earlier into Viviette's room, she had found her white and +shaken, still disordered in hair and dress as Dick had left her; and +Viviette had sobbed on her bosom and told her with some incoherence that +the monkey had at last hit the lyddite shell in the wrong place, and +that it was all over with the monkey. So, before Austin spoke, she half +divined why he had summoned her.</p> + +<p>Her heart throbbed painfully.</p> + +<p>"Dick and I," said Austin, "have been talking of serious matters, and we +need your help."</p> + +<p>She smiled wanly. "I'll do whatever I can, Austin."</p> + +<p>"You said this afternoon you would do anything I asked you. Do you +remember?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I said so--and I meant it."</p> + +<p>"You said it in reply to my question whether you would accept me if I +asked you to marry me."</p> + +<p>Dick started from the sullen stupor into which he had fallen and +listened with perplexed interest.</p> + +<p>"You are not quite right in your tenses, Austin," she remarked. "You +said: Would I have accepted you if you had asked me?"</p> + +<p>"I want to change the tense into the present," he replied.</p> + +<p>She met his glance calmly. "You ask me to marry you in spite of what you +told me this afternoon?"</p> + +<p>"In spite of it and because of it," he said, drawing up a chair near to +her. "A great crisis has arisen in our lives that must make you forget +other words I spoke this afternoon. Those other words and everything +connected with them I blot out of my memory forever. I want you to do me +an infinite service. If there had been no deep affection between us I +should not dare to ask you. I want you to be my wife, to take me into +your keeping, to trust me as an upright man to devote my life to your +happiness. I swear I'll never give you a moment's cause for regret."</p> + +<p>She plucked for a while at her gown. It was a strange wooing. But in her +sweet way she had given him her woman's aftermath of love. It was a +gentle, mellow gift, far removed from the summer blaze of passion, and +it had suffered little harm from the sadness of the day. She saw that he +was in great stress. She knew him to be a loyal gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Is this the result of that scene in the armoury?" she asked quietly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"I was right then. It was a matter of life and death."</p> + +<p>"It was," said he. "So is this."</p> + +<p>She looked again from one face to the other, rose, hesitated for a +moment--and then held out her hand. "I am willing to trust you, +Austin," she said.</p> + +<p>He touched her hand with his lips and said gravely: "I will not fail +your trust."</p> + +<p>As soon as she had gone he went to the chair where Dick sat in gloomy +remorse and laid a hand on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said he.</p> + +<p>"I agree," Dick groaned, without looking up. "I have no alternative. I +appreciate your generosity."</p> + +<p>Then Austin spoke of the appointment in Vancouver. He explained how the +idea had occurred to him; how Viviette had come late the night before to +tell him of what he had never before suspected--Dick's desire to go +abroad; how they had conspired to give him a birthday surprise; how they +had driven over to Witherby to send the telegram to Lord Overton. And as +he spoke, Dick looked at him with a new ghastliness on his face.</p> + +<p>"This afternoon--in the dining-room--when you said that Viviette had +told you everything--?"</p> + +<p>"About your wish to go to the Colonies. What else?"</p> + +<p>"And what I overheard in the armoury--about a telegram--telling +me--putting me out of my misery?"</p> + +<p>"Only whether we should tell you to-night or to-morrow about the +appointment. Dick--Dick," said Austin, deeply moved by the great +fellow's collapse, "if I have wronged you all these years, it was +through want of insight, not want of affection. If I have taunted you, +as you say, it was merely a lifelong habit of jesting which you never +seemed to resent. I was unconscious of hurting you. For my blindness and +carelessness I beg your forgiveness. With regard to Viviette--I ought to +have seen, but I didn't. I don't say you had no cause for jealousy--but +as God hears me--all the little conspiracy to-day was lovingly +meant--all to give you pleasure. I swear it."</p> + +<p>Dick rose and stumbled about among the furniture. The setting sun fell +just below the top of the casement window, and its direct rays flooded +the little room and showed Dick in a strange, unearthly light.</p> + +<p>"I wronged you," he said bitterly. "Even in my passions I'm a dull fool. +I thought you a damned cad, and I got more and more furious, and I +drank--I was drunk all this afternoon--and madness came, and when I saw +you kiss her--yes, I saw you, I was peeping from behind the +screen--things went red before my eyes, and it was then that I loaded +the pistol to shoot you on the spot. God forgive me! May God have +mercy upon me."</p> + +<p>He leant his arms on the sill and buried his face.</p> + +<p>"I can't ask your forgiveness," he went on, after a moment. "It would +be a mockery." He laughed mirthlessly. "How can I say. 'I'm sorry I +meant to murder you--please don't think anything about it?'" He turned +with a fierce gesture. "Oh, you must take it all as said, man! Now, have +you finished with me? I can't stand it much longer, I agree to all your +terms. I'll drive over to Witherby now and wait for the train--and +you'll be free of me."</p> + +<p>He turned again and moodily looked out of the window in the full flood +of the sunset.</p> + +<p>"We must play the game, Dick," said Austin gently, "and go through the +horrible farce of dinner--for mother's sake."</p> + +<p>Dick heard him vaguely. Below, on the terrace, Viviette was walking, and +she filled his universe. She had changed the bedraggled frock for the +green one she had worn the night before. Presently she raised her eyes +and saw him leaning out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Have they told you that dinner is not till a quarter past eight?" she +cried, looking deliciously upwards, with a dainty hand to her cheek. +"Lord Banstead sent a message to mother that he was unexpectedly +detained, and mother has put back dinner. Isn't it impudence?"</p> + +<p>But Dick was far too crushed with misery to respond. He nodded +dejectedly. She remained staring up at him for a while and then ran into +the house.</p> + +<p>Dick listlessly mentioned the postponement of dinner.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I asked the little brute, but I couldn't avoid it."</p> + +<p>"What does it matter?" said Austin. He was silent for a moment. Then he +came close to Dick.</p> + +<p>"Dick," said he. "Let us end this awful scene as friends and brothers. +As Heaven hears me, there is no bitterness in my heart. Only deep +sorrow--and love, Dick. Shake hands."</p> + +<p>Dick took his hand and broke down utterly, and said such things of +himself as other men do not like to hear. Presently there was a light +rap of knuckles at the door. Austin opened it and beheld Viviette.</p> + +<p>"I won't disturb you," she said; "I only want to give this note to +Dick."</p> + +<p>"I will hand it to him," said Austin.</p> + +<p>She thanked him and departed. He closed the door and gave Dick the note. +Dick opened it, read, and with a great cry of "Viviette!" rushed to the +door. Austin interposed, grasped him by the wrist:</p> + +<p>"What are you doing?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to her," shouted Dick wildly, wrenching himself free. "Read +this." He held up the note before Austin's eyes, with shaking fingers. +Austin read:</p> + +<p>"I can't bear to see the misery on your face, when I can make you happy. +I love you, dear, better than anything on earth. I know it now, and +I'll go out with you to Vancouver."</p> + +<p>"She loves me. She'll marry me. She'll go out to Vancouver!" cried Dick. +"It changes everything. I must go to her."</p> + +<p>"You shall not go," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Shall not? Who dares prevent me?'</p> + +<p>"I do. I hold you to your word."</p> + +<p>"But, man alive! she loves me--don't you see? The bargain is dissolved. +This is none of my seeking. She comes of her own free will. I am +going to her."</p> + +<p>Austin put both his hands affectionately on the big man's shoulders and +forced him into a chair.</p> + +<p>"Listen to me just for one minute, Dick. Dick, you dare not marry. Don't +drive me to tell you the reason. Can't you see for yourself why I've +imposed this condition on you all along?"</p> + +<p>"I know no reason," said Dick. "She loves me, and that is enough."</p> + +<p>The greyness deepened over Austin's face and the pain in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I must speak, then, in plain terms. That horrible murder impulse is the +reason. Today, in a fit of frenzied jealousy, you would have killed me, +your brother. Is there any guarantee that, in another fit of frenzied +jealousy, you might not--?"</p> + +<p>A shudder ran through Dick's great frame. He stretched out his hand. +"For God's sake--don't."</p> + +<p>"I must--until you see this ghastly business in its true aspect. Look at +the lighter side of Viviette's character. She is gay, fond of +admiration, childishly fond of teasing, a bright creature of bewildering +moods. Would she be safe in your hands? Might you not one day again see +things red before your eyes and again go mad?"</p> + +<p>"Don't say any more," Dick said in a choking voice. "I can't stand it."</p> + +<p>"Heaven knows, I didn't want to say as much."</p> + +<p>Dick shuddered again. "Yes, you are right. I am a man with a curse. I +can't marry her. I daren't."</p> + + + +<a name="VI"></a> +<h2>Chapter VI</h2> + +<h3>Viviette Takes The Risk</h3> + +<p>Presently Dick raised the face of Cain when he told the Lord that his +punishment was greater than he could bear. Tears leaped to Austin's +eyes, but he turned his head away lest Dick should see them. He would +have given years of his life to spare Dick--everything he had in the +world--save his deep convictions of right and wrong. He was responsible +for Viviette. That risk of horror he could not let her run. He had +hoped, with a great agony of hope, that Dick would have seen it for +himself. To formulate it had been torture. But he could not weaken. The +barrier between Dick and Viviette was not of his making. It was composed +of the grim psychological laws that govern the abnormal. To have +disregarded it would have been a crime from which his soul shrank. All +the despair in Dick's face, though it wrung his heart, could not move +him. It was terrible to be chosen in this way to be the arbiter of +Destiny. But there was the decree, written in letters of blood and +flame. And Dick had bowed to it.</p> + +<p>"What's to become of her?" he groaned.</p> + +<p>"This will be her home, as it always has been," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that--but between us we shall break her heart. She has +given it to me just in time for me to do it. My luck!"</p> + +<p>Austin tried to comfort him. A girl's heart was not easily broken. Her +pride would suffer most. Pain was inevitable. But Time healed many +wounds. In this uncertain world nothing was ever so good as we hoped, +and nothing ever so bad as we feared. Dick paid little heed to the +platitudes.</p> + +<p>"She must be told!"</p> + +<p>"Not what happened this afternoon," cried Austin quickly. "That we bury +forever from all human knowledge."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Dick, staring in front of him and speaking in a dull, even +voice. "We must hide that. It's not a pretty thing to spread before a +girl's eyes. It will be always before my own--until I die. But she must +be told that I can't marry her. I can't ride away and leave her in doubt +and wonder forever and ever."</p> + +<p>"Let us face this horrible night as best we can," said Austin. "Avoid +seeing her alone. You'll be with mother or packing most of the evening. +Slip away to Witherby an hour or so before your time. When you're gone +I'll arrange matters. Leave it to me."</p> + +<p>He made one of his old, self-confident gestures. But now Dick felt no +resentment. His spirit in its deep abasement saw in Austin the better, +wiser, stronger man.</p> + +<p>At a quarter-past eight they went slowly downstairs to what promised to +be a nightmare kind of meal. There would be four persons, Viviette, +Katherine, and themselves, in a state of suppressed eruption, and two, +Mrs. Ware and the unspeakable Banstead, complacently unaware of volcanic +forces around them, who might by any chance word bring about disaster. +There was danger, too--and the greatest--from Viviette, ignorant of +Destiny. Austin dreaded the ordeal; but despair and remorse had benumbed +Dick's faculties; he had passed the stage at which men fear. With his +hand on the knob of the drawing-room door Austin paused and looked +at him.</p> + +<p>"Pull yourself together, man. Play your part. For God's sake, try to +look cheerful."</p> + +<p>Dick tried. Austin shivered.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, don't," he said.</p> + +<p>They entered the drawing-room, expecting to find the three ladies, and +possibly Lord Banstead, assembled for dinner. To Austin's discomfiture, +Viviette was alone in the room. She rose, made a step or two to meet +them, then stopped.</p> + +<p>"What a pair of faces! One would think it were the eve of Dick's +execution, and you were the hangman measuring him for the noose."</p> + +<p>"Dick," said Austin, "is leaving us to-night--possibly for many years."</p> + +<p>"I don't see that he is so very greatly to be pitied," said Viviette, +trying in vain to meet Dick's eyes. She drew him a pace or two aside.</p> + +<p>"Did you read my note--or did you tear it up like the other one?"</p> + +<p>"I read it," he said, looking askance at the floor.</p> + +<p>"Then why are you so woe-begone?"</p> + +<p>He replied in a helpless way that he was not woe-begone. Viviette was +puzzled, hurt, somewhat humiliated. She had made woman's great surrender +which is usually followed by a flourish of trumpets very gratifying to +hear. In fact, to most women the surrender is worth the flourish. But +the recognition of this surrender appeared to find its celebration in a +funeral march with muffled drums. A condemned man being fitted for the +noose, as she had suggested, a mute conscientiously mourning at his own +funeral, a man who had lost a stately demesne in Paradise and had been +ironically compensated by the gift of a bit of foreshore of the Styx +could not have worn a less joyous expression than he on whom she had +conferred the boon of his heart's desire.</p> + +<p>"You're not only woe-begone," she said, with spirit, "but you're utterly +miserable. I think I have a right to know the reason. Tell me, what +is it?"</p> + +<p>She tapped a small, impatient foot.</p> + +<p>"We haven't told my mother yet," Austin explained, "and Dick is rather +nervous as to the way in which she will take the news."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Dick, with lame huskiness. "It's on mother's account."</p> + +<p>Viviette laughed somewhat scornfully.</p> + +<p>"I am not a child, my dear Austin. No man wears a face like that on +account of his mother--least of all when he meets the woman who has +promised to be his wife."</p> + +<p>She flashed a challenging glance at Austin, but not a muscle of his grey +face responded. Her natural expectations were baffled. There was no +start of amazement, no fierce movement of anger, no indignant look of +reproach. She was thrown back on herself. She said:</p> + +<p>"I don't think you quite understand. Dick had two aims in life--one to +obtain a colonial appointment, the other--so he led me to suppose--to +marry me. He has the appointment, and I have promised to marry him."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Austin, "but you must make allowances."</p> + +<p>"If that's all you can say on behalf of your client," retorted Viviette, +"I rather wonder at your success as a barrister."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think, my dear," said Austin gently, "that we are treading on +delicate ground?"</p> + +<p>"Delicate ground!" she scoffed. "We seem to have been treading on a +volcano all the afternoon. I'm tired of it." She faced the two men with +uplifted head. "I want an explanation."</p> + +<p>"Of what?" Austin asked.</p> + +<p>"Of Dick's attitude. What has he got to be miserable about? Tell me."</p> + +<p>"But I'm not miserable, my dear Viviette," said poor Dick, vainly +forcing a smile. "I'm really quite happy."</p> + +<p>Her woman's intuition rejected the protest with contumely. All the +afternoon he had been mad with jealousy of Austin. An hour ago he had +whirled her out of her senses in savage passion. But a few minutes +before she had given him all a woman has to give. Now he met her with +hang-dog visage, apologies from Austin, and milk-and-water asseveration +of a lover's rapture. The most closely-folded rosebud miss of Early +Victorian times could not have faced the situation without showing +something of the Eve that lurked in the heart of the petals. So much the +less could Viviette, child of a freer, franker day, hide her just +indignation under the rose-leaves of maidenly modesty.</p> + +<p>"Happy!" she echoed. "I've known you since I was a child of three. I +know the meaning of every light and every shadow that passes over your +face--except this shadow now. What does it mean?"</p> + +<p>She asked the question imperiously, no longer the elfin changeling, the +fairy of bewildering moods of Austin's imagination, no longer the +laughing coquette of Katherine's less picturesque fancy, but a modern +young woman of character, considerably angered and very much in earnest. +Austin bit his lip in perplexity. Dick looked around like a hunted +animal seeking a bolting-hole.</p> + +<p>"Dick is anxious," said Austin, at length, seeing that some explanation +must be given, "that there should be no engagement between you before he +goes out to Vancouver."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" said Viviette. "May I ask why? As this concerns Dick and +myself, perhaps you will leave us alone for a moment so that Dick +may tell me."</p> + +<p>"No, no," Dick muttered hurriedly. "Don't leave us, Austin. We can't +talk of such a thing now."</p> + +<p>Again she tapped her foot impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Yes, now. I'm going to hear the reason now, whatever it is."</p> + +<p>The brothers exchanged glances. Dick turned to the window, and stared +at the mellow evening sky.</p> + +<p>Austin again was spokesman.</p> + +<p>"Dick finds he has made a terrible and cruel mistake. One that concerns +you intimately."</p> + +<p>"Whatever Dick may have done with regard to me," replied Viviette, "I +forgave him for it beforehand. When once I give a thing I don't take it +back. I have given him my love and my promise."</p> + +<p>"My dear," said Austin, gravely and kindly. "Here are two men who have +loved you all your life. Don't think hardly of us. You must be brave and +bear a great shock. Dick can't marry you."</p> + +<p>She looked at him incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Can't marry me? Why not?"</p> + +<p>"It would be better not to ask."</p> + +<p>She moved swiftly to Dick, and with her light touch swung him round to +face the room.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand. Is it because you're going out into the wilds? +That doesn't matter. I told you I would go to Vancouver with you. I want +to go. My happiness is with you."</p> + +<p>Dick groaned. "Don't make it harder for me."</p> + +<p>"What are you keeping from me?" she asked. "Is it anything you don't +think fit for my ears? If so, speak. I'm no longer a child. Is there +another woman in the case?"</p> + +<p>She met Austin's eyes full. He said: "No, thank God! Nothing of that +sort." And as her eyes did not waver, he made the bold stroke. "He finds +that he doesn't love you as much as he thought. There's the whole +tragedy in a few words."</p> + +<p>She reeled back as if struck. "Dick doesn't love me?" Then the +announcement seemed so grotesque in its improbability that she began to +laugh, a trifle hysterically.</p> + +<p>"Is this true?"</p> + +<p>"It's quite true," said poor Dick.</p> + +<p>"You see, my dear," said Austin, "what it costs him--what it costs us +both--to tell you this."</p> + +<p>"But I don't understand. I don't understand!" she cried, with sudden +piteousness. "What did you mean, then--a little while ago--in +the armoury?"</p> + +<p>Austin, who did not see the allusion, had to allow Dick to speak for +himself.</p> + +<p>"I was drunk," said Dick desperately. "I've been drinking heavily of +late--and not accountable for my actions. I oughtn't to have done what +I did."</p> + +<p>"And so, you see," continued Austin, with some eagerness, "when he +became confronted with the great change in his life--Vancouver--he +looked at things soberly. He found that his feelings towards you were +not of the order that would warrant his making you his wife."</p> + +<p>Before Viviette could reply the door opened, and Mrs. Ware and +Katherine entered the room. Mrs. Ware, ignorant of tension, went +smilingly to Austin, and, drawing down his shapely head with both hands, +kissed him.</p> + +<p>"My dear, dear boy, I'm so glad, so truly glad. Katherine has just told +me."</p> + +<p>"Told you what, mother?" asked Viviette quickly, with a new sharpness in +her voice.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ware turned a beaming face. "Can't you guess, darling? Oh, Austin, +there's no living woman whom I would sooner call my daughter. You've +made me so happy."</p> + +<p>The facile tears came, and she sat down and dried them on her little +wisp of handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"I thought it for the best to tell your mother, Austin," said Katherine, +somewhat apologetically. "We were speaking of you--and--I couldn't +keep it back."</p> + +<p>Viviette, white-lipped and dazed, looked at Austin, Katherine, and Dick +in turns. She said, in the high-pitched voice, to Austin:</p> + +<p>"Have you asked Katherine to marry you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, not quite so confidently, and avoiding her +glance--"and she has done me the honour of accepting me."</p> + +<p>Katherine held out a conciliatory hand to Viviette. "Won't you +congratulate me, dear?"</p> + +<p>"And Austin, too," said Mrs. Ware.</p> + +<p>But Viviette lost control of herself. "I'll congratulate nobody," she +cried shrilly. She burned with a sense of intolerable outrage. Only a +few hours before she had been befooled into believing herself to be the +mistress of the destinies of two men. Both had offered her their love. +Both had kissed her. The memory lashed her into fury. Now one of them +avowed that she had been merely the object of a drunken passion, and +the other came before her as the affianced husband of the woman who +called herself her dearest friend.</p> + +<p>Katherine, in deep distress, laid her hand on the girl's arm. "Why not, +dear? I thought that you and Dick--in fact--I understood--"</p> + +<p>Viviette freed herself from Katherine's touch.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, you didn't. You didn't understand anything. You didn't try to. +You are all lying. The three of you. You have all lied, and lied, and +lied to me. I tell you to your faces you have lied to me." She swung +passionately to each in turn. "'Austin can never be anything to me but a +friend'--how often have you said that to me? Ah--Saint Nitouche! And +you"--to Austin--"How dared you insult me this morning? And you--how +have you dared to insult me all the time? You've lied--the whole lot of +you--and I hate you all!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ware had risen, scared and trembling.</p> + +<p>"What does the girl mean? I've never heard such unladylike words in a +drawing-room in my life."</p> + +<p>Dick blundered in: "It's all my fault, mother--"</p> + +<p>"I've not the slightest doubt of that," returned the old lady with +asperity. "But what Austin and Katherine have to do with it I +can't imagine."</p> + +<p>The servant opened the door.</p> + +<p>"Lord Banstead."</p> + +<p>He entered a cold, strange silence. Everyone had forgotten him. He must +have attributed the ungenial atmosphere to his own lateness--it was +half-past eight--for he made penitent apology to Mrs. Ware. Austin +greeted him coldly. Dick nodded absently from the other side of the +room. Viviette, with a sweeping glance of defiance at the assembled +family, held herself very erect, and with hard eyes and quivering lips +came straight to the young fellow.</p> + +<p>"Lord Banstead," she said. "You have asked me four times to marry you. +Did you mean it, or were you lying, too?"</p> + +<p>Banstead's pallid cheeks flushed. He was overcome with confusion.</p> + +<p>"Of course I mean it--meant to ask you again to-day--ask you now."</p> + +<p>"Then I will marry you."</p> + +<p>Dick strode forward, and, catching her by the wrist, swung her away from +Banstead, his face aflame with sudden passion.</p> + +<p>"No, by God, you shan't!"</p> + +<p>Banstead retreated a few paces, scared out of his life. Mrs. Ware sought +Austin's protecting arm.</p> + +<p>"What does all this mean? I don't understand it."</p> + +<p>Austin led her to the door. "I'll see nothing unpleasant happens, dear. +You had better go and tell them to keep back dinner yet a few minutes."</p> + +<p>His voice and authority soothed her, and she left the room, casting a +terrified glance at Dick, standing threateningly over Lord Banstead, who +had muttered something about Viviette being free to do as she liked.</p> + +<p>"She can do what she likes, but, by God! she shan't marry you."</p> + +<p>"I'm of age," declared Viviette fiercely. "I marry whom I choose."</p> + +<p>"Of course she can," said Banstead. "Are you taking leave of your +senses?"</p> + +<p>"How dare you ask a pure girl to marry you?" cried Dick furiously. "You, +who have come straight here from--"</p> + +<p>Banstead found some spirit. "Shut up, Ware," he interrupted. "Play the +game. You've no right to say that."</p> + +<p>"I have the right," cried Dick.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" said Austin, interposing.</p> + +<p>"There's no need to prolong this painful discussion. To-morrow--as +Viviette's guardian--"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow?" Dick shouted. "Where shall I be to-morrow? Away from +here--unable to defend her--unable to say a word."</p> + +<p>"If you said a thousand words," said Viviette, "they wouldn't make an +atom of difference. Lord Banstead has asked me to marry him. I have +accepted him openly. What dare you say to it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Banstead. "She has made no bones about it. I've asked her +five times. Now she accepts me. What have you to say to it?"</p> + +<p>"I say she shan't marry you," said Dick, glaring at the other.</p> + +<p>"Steady, steady, Dick," said Austin warningly. But Dick shook his +warning angrily aside, and Austin saw that, once again that day, Dick +was desperate.</p> + +<p>"Not while I live shall she marry you. Don't I know your infernal +beastly life?"</p> + +<p>"Now, look here," said Banstead, at bay. "What the deuce have you got to +do with my affairs?"</p> + +<p>"Everything. Do you think she loves you, cares for you, honours you, +respects you?"</p> + +<p>Viviette faced him with blazing eyes.</p> + +<p>"I do," she said defiantly.</p> + +<p>"It's a lie," cried Dick. "It's you that are lying now. Heaven and +earth! I've suffered enough to-day--I thought I had been through +hell--but it's nothing to this. She loves me--do you hear +me?--me--me--me--and I can't marry her--and I don't care a damn who +knows the reason."</p> + +<p>"Stop, man," said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Let me be. She shall know the truth. Everyone shall know the truth. At +any rate, it will save her from this."</p> + +<p>"I will do it quietly, later, Dick."</p> + +<p>"Let me be, I tell you," said Dick, with great, clumsy, passionate +gesture. "Let's have no more lies." He turned to Viviette. "You wrote me +a letter. You said you loved me--would marry me--come out to +Vancouver--the words made me drunk with happiness--at first. You saw me. +I refused your love and your offer. I said I didn't love you. I lied. I +said I couldn't marry you. It was the truth. I can't. I can't. But love +you! Oh, my God! My God! There were flames of hell in my heart--but +couldn't you see the love shining through?"</p> + +<p>"Don't, Dick, don't," cried Katherine.</p> + +<p>"I will," he exclaimed wildly. "I'll tell her why I can't marry any +woman. I tried to murder Austin this afternoon!"</p> + +<p>Katherine closed her eyes. She had guessed it. But Viviette, with parted +lips and white cheeks, groped her way backwards to a chair, without +shifting her terror-stricken gaze from Dick; and sitting, she gripped +the arms of the chair.</p> + +<p>There was a moment of tense silence. Banstead at last relieved his +feelings with a gasping, "Well, I'm damned!"</p> + +<p>Dick continued:</p> + +<p>"It was jealousy--mad jealousy--this afternoon--in the armoury--the mock +duel--one of the pistols was loaded. I loaded it--first, in order to +kill him out of hand--then I thought of the duel--he would have his +chance--either he would kill me or I would kill him. Mine happened to be +loaded. It missed fire. It was only the infinite mercy of God that I +didn't kill him. He found it out. He has forgiven me. He's worth fifty +millions of me. But my hands are red with his blood, and I can't touch +your pure garments. They would stain them red--and I should see red +again before my eyes some day. A man like me is not fit to marry any +woman. A murderer is beyond the pale. So I said I didn't love her to +save her from the knowledge of this horror. And now I'm going to the +other side of the world to work out my salvation--but she shall know +that a man loves her with all his soul, and would go through any torment +and renunciation for her sake--and, knowing that, she can't go and throw +herself away on a man unworthy of her. After what I've told you, will +you marry this man?"</p> + +<p>Still looking at him, motionless, she whispered, "No."</p> + +<p>"I say!" exclaimed Banstead. "I think--"</p> + +<p>Austin checked further speech. Dick looked haggardly round the room.</p> + +<p>"There. Now you all know. I'm not fit to be under the same roof with +you. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>He slouched in his heavy way to the door, but Viviette sprang from her +chair and planted herself in his path.</p> + +<p>"No. You shan't go. Do you think I have nothing to say?"</p> + +<p>"Say what you like," said Dick sadly. "Nothing is too black for me. +Curse me, if you will."</p> + +<p>She laughed, and shook her head. "Do you think a woman curses the man +who would commit murder for the love of her?" she cried, with a strange +exultation in her voice. "If I loved you before--don't you think I love +you now a million times more?"</p> + +<p>Dick fell back, thrilled with amazement.</p> + +<p>"You love me still?" he gasped. "You don't shrink--"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," interrupted Banstead, crossing the room. "Does this mean +that you chuck me, Miss Hastings?"</p> + +<p>"You must release me from my promise, Lord Banstead," she said gently. +"I scarcely knew what I was doing. I'm very sorry. I've not behaved +well to you."</p> + +<p>"You've treated me damned badly," said Banstead, turning on his heel. +"Good-bye, everybody."</p> + +<p>Austin, moved by compunction, tried to conciliate the angry youth, but +he refused comfort. He had been made a fool of, and would stand that +from nobody. He would not stay for dinner, and would not put his foot +inside the house again.</p> + +<p>"At any rate," said Austin, bidding him good-bye, "I can rely on you not +to breathe a word to anyone of what you've heard this evening?"</p> + +<p>Banstead fingered his underfed moustache.</p> + +<p>"I may be pretty rotten, but I'm not that kind of cad," said he. And he +went, not without a certain dignity.</p> + +<p>Dick took Viviette's hand and kissed it tenderly.</p> + +<p>"God bless you, dear. I'll remember what you've said all my life. I can +go away almost happy."</p> + +<p>"You can go away quite happy, if you like," said Viviette. "Take me with +you."</p> + +<p>"To Vancouver?"</p> + +<p>Austin joined them. "It is impossible, dear," said he.</p> + +<p>"I go with him to Vancouver," she said.</p> + +<p>Dick wrung his hands. "But I daren't marry you, Viviette, I daren't, I +daren't."</p> + +<p>"Don't you see that it's impossible, Viviette?" said Austin.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I've explained it to Dick. He has hinted it to you. You're scarcely old +enough to understand, my dear. It is the risk you run."</p> + +<p>"Such men as I can't marry," said Dick loyally. "You don't understand. +Austin is right. The risk is too great."</p> + +<p>She laughed in superb contempt.</p> + +<p>"The risk? Do you think I'm such a fool as not to understand? Do you +think, after what I've said, that I'm a child? Risk? What is life or +love worth without risk? When a woman loves a fierce man she takes the +risk of his fierceness. It's her joy. I'll take the risk, and it will be +a bond between us."</p> + +<p>Austin implored her to listen to reason. She swept his arguments aside.</p> + +<p>"God forbid. I'll listen to love," she cried. "And if ever a man wanted +love, it's Dick. Reason! Come, Dick, let us leave this god and goddess +of reason alone. I've got something to say which only you can hear."</p> + +<p>She dragged him in a bewildered state of mind to the door, which she +held open. She was absolute mistress of the situation. She motioned to +Dick to precede her, and he obeyed, like a man in a dream. On the +threshold she paused, and flashed defiance at Austin, who appeared to +her splendid scorn but a small, narrow-natured man.</p> + +<p align="center"><img src="004.jpg" alt="[Illustration: "I want you to love me forever and ever."]" /></p> + +<p>"You can say and think what you like, you two. You are civilised +people--and I suppose you love in a civilised way according to reason. +I'm a primitive woman, and Dick's a primitive man--and, thank God! we +understand each other, and love each other as primitive people do."</p> + +<p>She slammed the door, and in another moment was caught in Dick's great +arms.</p> + +<p>"What do you want to say that only I can hear?" he asked after a while.</p> + +<p>"This," she said. "I want you to love me strongly and fiercely for ever +and ever--and I'll be a great wife to you--and, if I fail--if I am ever +wanton, as I have been to-day--for I have been wanton--and all that has +happened has been my fault--if ever I play fast and loose with your love +again--I want you to kill me. Promise!"</p> + +<p>She looked at him with glowing eyes. All the big man's heart melted +into adoring pity. He took her face in both his hands as tenderly as he +would have touched a prize rose bloom.</p> + +<p>"Thank God, you're still a child, dear," he said.</p> +<br /> +<hr /> +<pre> + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VIVIETTE *** + +This file should be named 8vvtt10h.htm or 8vvtt10h.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8vvtt11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8vvtt10ah.htm + + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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