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diff --git a/35591.txt b/35591.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4d4b0f --- /dev/null +++ b/35591.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13181 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Daughter Pays, by Mrs. Baillie Reynolds + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Daughter Pays + +Author: Mrs. Baillie Reynolds + +Release Date: March 17, 2011 [EBook #35591] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAUGHTER PAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + +The Daughter Pays + + +By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds + + + + +A. L. BURT COMPANY + +Publishers + +New York + +Published by Arrangements with George H. Doran Company + + + + +Copyright, 1915, 1916, + +By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds + + + + +TO + +ALICE PERRIN + +PRE-EMINENT IN SYMPATHY FOR THE WORK OF HER SISTER WRITER + +WITH AFFECTIONATE ADMIRATION + + + + + _Qui que tu sois, voici ton maitre! + Il l'est, le fut, ou le doit etre._ + + Inscription upon a statue of Love, in the Louvre. + + Freely rendered-- + + _Whoe'er thou art, thy lord is he. + He is, or was, or he must be._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I The Man in the Gallery + II Father and Son + III Virginia at Home + IV The Two Virginias + V The Old Love + VI Gaunt's Terms + VII Virginia Decides + VIII Into the Unknown + IX In the Trap + X Andromeda + XI A First Experience + XII The Beginning of Defeat + XIII The Treatment Breaks Down + XIV Instantaneous Conversion + XV No Place of Repentance + XVI Renouncement + XVII What Comes Next? + XVIII The Final Test + XIX Absence + XX A Case for Interposition? + XXI The Last Ride Together + XXII The Roman Villa + XXIII Temptation + XXIV Escape + XXV The Return + XXVI The Difficult Path + XXVII Lunch at Perley Hatch + XXVIII The Way Back + XXIX The Mastery + XXX The Escape + + + + +THE DAUGHTER PAYS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE MAN IN THE GALLERY + + + "_Yes, I have felt like some deserted world + That God hath done with, and had cast aside + Untilled, no use, no pleasure, not desired ... + Could such a world have hope that, some blest day, + God would remember her, and fashion her + Anew?_"--Jean Ingelow. + + +The full sunshine of late June, tempered by the medium of London +atmosphere, illumined the long extent of Gallery Number Sixteen at +Hertford House. + +It was a pay-day, and there were, in consequence, but few visitors. The +expanse of polished floor glimmered with a suggestion of coolness, a +hint of ice; and the summer light touched with brilliance the rich +colour on the walls, the mellow harmonies of the bits of old furniture +ranged below. + +The space and solitude, the silence and sunlight, emphasised and threw +into strong relief the figures of two girls, deep in contemplation +before the portrait of Isabella, wife of Paul de Vos. + +Though these were modern, even ultra-modern, Nattier and Boucher, great +interpreters of an artificial age, might have hailed them as kindred +spirits. They seemed eloquent of all that luxury could produce in the +way of exotic perfection. But for the absence of rouge and powder, they +were as far removed from the dingy, the commonplace, or the underbred, +as any pre-Revolution marquise, smiling from the windows of her chateau +upon a world dark with misery, convulsed with pain, and all unconscious +of its very existence. + +Far indeed from these hot-house blooms seemed the seamy side. They were +of those who feed on the roses and lie in the lilies of life. They +belonged to the class which a novelist of our own day has so happily +described as expensive. They were the fine flower of our epoch, and +unconscious of their own supreme selfishness. + +One was of the petite type, gipsy brown and captivating, from the tip +of her plumes to the shoes and stockings which matched her gown, and +upon whose buckles the light winked. The other was taller and more +willowy. She was not big, but formed with the lithe grace of the modern +Atalanta. Something in the veiled loveliness of her soft eye suggested +a dove. Her hair was fair, and her face, wide across the brows, and +tapering at the chin, seemed designed to make an involuntary appeal to +the heartstrings of any man who looked at her. Every movement of this +girl was graceful. Yet one would have felt certain that her grace was +unstudied; she was not self-conscious; her attentions seemed entirely +absorbed by the beauty of the paintings at which she gazed. + +Thus she stood, her chin uplifted; and a man who entered, with halting +step, from Gallery Fifteen, shot a keen glance and stopped short. + +He was not a young man, and his dress, for London, was negligent; +whilst his long black moustache gave him a slightly out-of-date, or +provincial, aspect. His black hair showed some grey at the temples, but +he appeared to be in vigorous health. + +For some long moments he stood in absorbed contemplation of the girlish +figure isolated against the dim, dignified background of the gallery: +and as he gazed there crept into his face an expression which made it +almost devilish. Every feature hardened--the mouth took on a sneer, the +eyes glowed with some concentration of feeling which altered his whole +face for the worse. + +As yet unconscious of his presence, the girl gazed on; and after a +minute her smaller, darker friend strolled up and joined her. She said +something that made the other laugh. The chime of their mirth sounded +sweetly through the empty space, but brought to the lips of the watcher +a curl of contempt. He began to move forward slowly, seemingly intent +upon the pictures, but always coming nearer, until he stood where he +could hear the girls' light, careless talk. + +"My dear," said the smaller girl, "I am thinking all the time what a +fancy dress this would make, for anybody that could wear it." They were +standing before Mierevelt's lovely portrait of the young nameless lady +in the ruff. + +As her companion did not immediately reply, she added insistently: +"Virginia! Did you hear?" + +The lame man started, or, as it were, winced at the sound of the name; +yet a certain satisfaction crept into his eyes, as of one who inly +reflects: "I thought so! I was not mistaken." + +Virginia, thus appealed to, brought her dreamy gaze from the portrait +of the burgomaster who sits with his small son. "What? A fancy dress? +Oh, Mims, yes! That little bit of stiffened lace round the back of her +hair is an inspiration. I could make it, too--I see just how it's done." + +The two proceeded to examine the head-dress in detail, with girlish +talk about the way to copy it. "Gold embroidery all down the front of +her gown. How sweet!" sighed Virginia admiringly. "But that ruff--would +it do?" + +"For you? Of course! You could wear it, for you have a throat. But what +_did_ little people like me do, when they had all that between +their chin and their chest?" + +Virginia was much amused. "No, Mims, you were not made for a ruff! But +then, _en revanche,_ you can wear all those lovely Venetian reds +and ambers that I can't touch!" + +Childish talk, but with no suspicion of a critical listener! The lame +man heard every word. As the eager girl turned to point across the +gallery to a picture exemplifying the colours she meant, she slightly +brushed against him, for he was standing within a few feet of her. He +stepped back, raising his hat in acknowledgment of her gentle apology; +and his eyes, full of something between hostility and contempt, met +hers hardly, as if in a challenge, for a puzzling instant before he +turned away and limped to another place. + +Virginia's colour rose and her lips set, as if an unspoken insult had +reached her. She was not used to read hostility in the eyes of men. She +recovered, however, in a moment, and continued her study of the +pictures, moving round for some minutes longer, until Miriam, leaning +near her, murmured: + +"Shall we go into the next room? There is a custodian there, and that +man keeps on staring odiously." + +"Yes; let us go and look at the Greuzes," replied Virginia. + +It was not long before the unknown man followed them. He was now more +careful, however, and kept his eyes for the beauties of the catalogue +instead of allowing them to roam towards the beauties of his own day. + +"I don't think he meant to be rude," presently said Virginia +doubtfully. "He looked at me almost as though he thought he knew me--as +if he expected me to speak to him." + +"My dear, it is evident that you must never be allowed to go about +London alone," laughed Mims. "As if he knew you, indeed! That's the +commonest dodge of all. I am sure he is trying to be rude--he is edging +round here now----" + +"Oh, nonsense! Let us think about the pictures and take no notice. He +could not be rude in a public place like this--he cannot think we are +girls of that sort." + +"There's the portrait of you," said Mims mischievously, pausing before +Greuze's picture entitled "Innocence"--the picture with the lamb. + +It was true, the likeness was striking. Virginia even coloured slightly +as she gazed. "Chocolate box!" said she disdainfully. "Greuze is only +pretty-pretty! I would far rather be like Isabella de Vos!" + +As she spoke she moved away with her undulating grace, the lame man +having again approached nearer than was quite consistent with good +manners. + +"That's the worst of you, Virginia--you can't go about without dragging +backwards the heads of all the men that pass," said Mims in injured +tones. + +"Talk about glass-houses!" was her friend's sarcastic response, adding +with a little sigh: "Well, you won't long be troubled. Cinderella's +clock strikes to-morrow, and I go back to Wayhurst and my native +obscurity." + +Miriam's soft, dark eyes clouded. + +"Native obscurity! No, my dear, that's the tragedy! You were _not_ +born to it, and you will never thrive in it! Oh, the pity! I could cry +when I think of you, mewed up in that wee brick-box of a villa, and +when I remember that it's not much more than two years ago since we +were staying with you at Lissendean--riding, hunting, motoring!" + +"Don't talk of it, Mimsie, for pity's sake! It can't be helped, you +know; and, of course, it isn't half as bad for me as for poor mother." + +Mims made a grumpy sound. She was depressed, not only by her friend's +impending departure, but by the thought of that friend's destiny. + +Virginia Mynors, in the days when she and Miriam Rosenberg were at +school together, had been queen of everything. She was the elder +daughter of a county gentleman, her clothes came from the best places, +she took all the extras, rode, swam, hunted--with no more thought of +ways and means than her present appearance led one to suppose. + +During the weary days of her father's long illness--a kind of creeping +paralysis which lasted for two years--Virginia had known that he had +money troubles. But though she had been his devoted nurse and trusted +secretary, she was no more prepared than was her butterfly mother for +the state of financial catastrophe revealed at his death. The solid +ground had failed beneath her feet. Everything was gone. Even +Lissendean, the home in which she had been born, was mortgaged. They +all moved out, the house was let, and upon the few hundreds a year +received as rent her mother, herself, her brother Antony, and her +little sister Pansy, were to live. + +Virginia had to be the moving spirit in it all. She elected to settle +at Wayhurst, because there is an excellent public school there, and, as +a day boy, Antony, who was nearly fourteen, might obtain the education +of a gentleman. For nearly two years now such had been the girl's life. +Yet even Miriam did not guess the truth--did not guess the drudgery and +devotion of Virginia's daily round. + +Mr. Rosenberg was what is described as rolling in money. He had social +ambitions, and was very well pleased when his daughter made friends at +school with the daughter of Bernard Mynors. The Rosenbergs, brother and +sister, had more than once accepted the whole-hearted hospitality of +Lissendean. Their father could not, therefore, with any good grace, +make objections to Miriam's pleading when she begged to have Virginia +to stay with her. + +Miriam had a great deal too much pocket-money. She sent a substantial +cheque to Virginia, that she might provide herself with an outfit and +railway fares for the projected visit. Virginia was able to devote part +of this cheque to the providing of what was locally known as a "supply" +to do the housework while she herself was away. She belonged, indeed, +to that wonderful type of woman who can make a pound, expended upon +clothes, go as far as another woman makes five, or even ten. She +arrived in Bryanston Square for her visit with exactly the right +frocks, with her spirits high, and her bloom unimpaired, in spite of +the hard life she led. Youth and high spirit will carry all before +them. Mr. Rosenberg, when his astute eye rested upon the charming +creature, became suddenly aware of her as an incarnate temptation to +his son Gerald, upon whom all his hopes were concentrated. + +Mr. Rosenberg was not without good impulses. He desired to befriend +this beautiful girl to whom Fate had shown herself so cruel. It was, +however, more than could be demanded of human nature that he should be +ready to console her for her misfortunes with the gift of all his +wealth and all his social ambition. As a man of business, he divined +her mother to have been the ruin of the family. He knew Mrs. Mynors as +a lovely, vain, shallow and selfish person, who all her life had lived +for her own amusement. Such a mother-in-law would be a burden that +Gerald could never carry. Moreover, there were two younger children, of +whom one, the little girl, was badly crippled--a permanent invalid. + +Had Virginia, being her father's daughter, stood alone, it is just +possible that her extreme beauty would have brought Mr. Rosenberg to +the point of allowing the match. With her encumbrances he felt it to be +impossible. He did not know that it was at Gerald's instigation that +Mims had gone to the length of actually financing the scheme of the +visit. Yet his shrewdness rather suspected something of the sort. +During the whole fortnight of Virginia's sojourn he had been on +tenter-hooks--manoeuvring to keep his son out of the way without +seeming to do so. + +They had--thanks, he felt sure, to his policy--arrived safely at the +last day of Miss Mynors' stay. Last moments, however, are fraught with +particular danger. Mr. Rosenberg could not feel that he was as yet "out +of the wood," and would probably have undergone even worse +apprehensions had he known of Gerald's appointment to meet the two +girls at Hertford House and give them tea. + +"If we hadn't arranged to meet Gerald here, I would just walk right +away, out of the place," muttered Mims presently. "I wish that man +would not dog us like this." + +"Let us leave off looking at the pictures," suggested Virginia, "and go +and sit at the top of the staircase, in that recess. Then we shall see +Mr. Rosenberg as he comes up--and the man could hardly pursue us there +without being openly offensive." + +"Good!" replied Mims with satisfaction. They left the Boucher room, in +which the stranger seemed to be absorbed in contemplation, and seated +themselves in the alcove, behind the statue of "Triumphant Love." + +They made a dainty picture in the fuller light which fell upon them +there; and they sat on undisturbed until they saw the head of their +escort appearing above the edge of the staircase. + +Mims stood up and called to him, and in a moment he had joined them. + +"Tired of the pictures already?" he asked, glancing at his watch. "I am +not late, am I?" + +"Oh, no, not a bit. We have only been here a very few minutes," replied +his sister, noting that the lame man was now standing in the doorway, +and that his eyes were fixed on Gerald. + +"Read what is written round the pedestal of this statue, boy," she went +on mischievously. "Is it true, or is it not?" + +Gerald stooped over the words cut upon the circular base of the figure. +He was not actually a handsome man, but he was, without doubt, +distinguished-looking. Mr. Rosenberg senior prided himself upon the +fact that his son's face showed no racial characteristics. His features +were clean-cut, he was well-shaved and well-groomed, carried himself +with dignity, and was usually self-possessed. He stood before the +marble cupid, conscious in every nerve of the close proximity of his +sister's beautiful friend, and read aloud the couplet: + + + _Qui que tu sois, voici ton maitre! + Il l'est, le fut, ou le doit etre._ + + +"Is it true, Gerald?" asked Mims naughtily. He looked at Virginia. + +"Is it true, Miss Mynors?" + +Virginia hesitated. "Well, I think it is, but not in the sense in which +this inscription means it," she ventured timidly. "I mean--there is a +love which is stronger than anything or anybody--but not _that_ +love--not that silly winged boy." She blushed a little as she spoke, +and looked so divinely pretty, her small teeth just showing between the +parted lips, her shadowy, Greuze eyes uplifted, that Gerald felt his +head swim. + +"I think you are right," he said, speaking with extra gravity to hide +his emotion. + +"Virgie is simply ridiculous about love," grumbled Mims. "She would +give away her head, her heart, her hand, anything she had, for those +she loves--her mother and her little sister----" + +"And Tony," reprovingly put in Virginia. + +"And Tony," teased her friend. "Isn't she a baby, Gerald?" + +The young man considered her. "Or an angel?" he suggested. There was, +to him, something awe-inspiring in the simplicity of this girl. With a +face that might have brought the world to her feet, she was absorbed in +the domestic affections, untouched, as it would seem, by the admiration +she excited. + +"Well, as the car is down there waiting, we had better be off," +remarked Mims, after a short interval in which she had left the two to +talk together. "Are you going to take us to Fuller's, Gerald? If so, we +ought to move on. You know we must dine early; we are going to the +theatre for Virgie's last night." + +The eyes of the man and the girl met, upon that, with mutual regret. +Her last night! Cinderella must put off her dainty raiment and return +to her saucepan-scouring, bed-making, account-keeping, making-ends-meet +existence. The pang that shot through Gerald's heart was so like +physical pain that he had a fanciful idea of the marble boy--the +"Triumphant Love" who looked smiling down upon them--having shot his +dart and reached the mark of his innermost feeling. + +Could he let her go? + +Like his father, he was a man of the world. Like his father, he had +planned the alliance with birth and money which was to establish his +position among English gentry. There was a sharp struggle in his mind. +Had Virginia had one ounce of the coquette in her, she could have +clinched the matter in five minutes. + +The lame man, who had watched the whole colloquy, descended the stairs +behind them in time to see the perfectly appointed motor in waiting, +with its two men in livery. As he turned about and reascended to enter +the galleries once more, there was a bitter sneer on his mouth, a look +of active malevolence, as of one who deliberately turns his back upon +his better feelings. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FATHER AND SON + + + "_The wise sometimes from wisdom's ways depart: + Can youth then hush the dictates of the heart? + Precepts of prudence curb, but can't control + The fierce emotions of the flowing soul._"--Byron. + + +The three young people, after partaking at Fuller's of an excellent +tea, returned to Bryanston Square in good time to dress for dinner. + +As they entered the house, Mr. Rosenberg emerged from his library on +the ground floor, and called to Gerald, who, thus summoned, hung up his +hat and walked into the dark, cool room where his father was seated at +his roll-top desk, with a letter lying before him. + +The elder man looked up at his only son with a kindly, half-rueful +expression. "Gerald," he said, "I'm not as a rule tyrannical, and I +think you will admit that I don't pry unduly into your affairs." + +"I do admit it, father----" + +"Well, if I put a question which may seem to you unwarranted, I want +you to understand that there is grave reason for it. The question is +this. Is there any understanding between yourself and Miss Mynors?" + +Gerald flushed, a slow, dark flush, as he seated himself near his +father, his eyes on the ground. "No," he said quietly, "not as yet." + +"Ha!" The shrewd, kindly eyes above the rims of the reading-glasses +were fixed upon him. "That means that you might--eh, Gerald?" + +The younger man did not at once reply. He seemed to be weighing +carefully the thing he wished to say. At last: + +"I am not a fool, father," he began, "and I have ambition, or I should +be no son of yours. I should prefer to make a marriage which would +establish me socially." Embarrassment made his phrasing somewhat +stilted. "You will remember that when I first saw Miss Mynors, she was +the daughter of a man with a county position. One assumed the adequate +rent-roll that went with it." + +"Yes, yes, my boy--I quite understand." + +There was a pause. "She is far the most beautiful girl I ever saw," +said Gerald at length. + +"I grant it." + +"She has also a beautiful disposition." + +"H'mph!" + +"Yes, it is so. Her birth being undeniable, and her beauty so great, I +have been wondering whether--whether anything else that is within my +reach could ever be as well worth having--could ever compensate me for +her loss." + +"In short, my able, intellectual son is preparing to consider the world +well lost for love--eh?" + +"I think, father, you will admit the temptation to do so in this case." + +"I do," was the answer, in tones abrupt but heartfelt. "I don't mind +owning that, during the past fortnight, while seeing whither you were +drifting, I have been half-inclined to drift also in that direction. +But, my boy, it won't do." He laid his clenched hand heavily on the +desk before him. "I tell you plainly that it won't do. The girl is +beautiful, I don't deny it. But she comes of a bad stock. Her mother is +a woman whom I should describe as having no moral sense. They are +beggars. You would have bound upon your back, for the term of your +natural life, a ready-made family of three, none of whom, I dare swear, +will ever earn a farthing as long as they live. Just run your eye over +that." + +With a sudden twisting gesture he pushed a note, on lavender paper with +a tiny, narrow black border, and scented with orris root, towards where +his son sat. Gerald read: + +Laburnum Villa, Wayhurst. + +_My dear, generous friend,_ + +_With your kindness to my Virginia already placing me under a burden +of obligation to you, it must indeed seem to you that I stretch +friendship to its utmost in writing to weary you with my troubles and +to beseech advice. My excuses are, briefly, these: I know you to be an +excellent man of business; and I know that you love my girl._ + +_I will try not to be tiresome, and, indeed, the story of my +misfortune, though dire, will not take long to tell. My poor +husband--who, alas! had not your gift for finance--mortgaged our dear +home during his lifetime. At his death, the debts on the estate +swallowed up almost all other available money. We were obliged to let +Lissendean, and to live upon the rent paid. I am quite unused to +business, having lived, till my sad widowhood, so sheltered a life, and +I forgot that if the payments were not kept up--the interest on the +mortgage--I should lose the house altogether. Believe me, in our +straitened circumstances, it was impossible to keep up the payments. +Only yesterday have I heard from my solicitor that the mortgagee has +foreclosed, and that we are left as destitute as though my husband had +been a crossing-sweeper._ + +_Can you suggest to me any means by which this trouble could be met? +Is there any way of raising money by which I can stave off the utter +ruin that threatens my helpless children? I turn to you as a last +resort, and you will never know what it costs my pride to let you into +the secret of our misery. Do not tell my darling child until her visit +is over--let her have her happy, happy moments with you undimmed. I can +break the bad news to her to-morrow, upon her return--or later, should +you by any chance wish her to extend her visit.--I am, dear Mr. +Rosenberg, your sorely tried friend,_ + +Virginia Mynors. + + +The dark colour deepened upon Gerald's face as he read this letter. He +laid it down with a gesture of distaste, and made no audible comment. + +His father, looking sympathetically at him, tapped the paper with his +broad finger-tips. "Gerald," he said, "that woman is a humbug, through +and through. It is the letter of a cadger. Look at it--written on paper +that cost exactly ten times what her note-paper ought to cost. Little +things like that tell one a lot. No doubt everything else is on the +same scale. I expect they are up to their necks in debt. What can I do +with that letter, except send the writer ten pounds and regret my +inability to help her further? Nobody could help her. But I tell you +plainly, my son--if I can prevent it, as God's above us, that woman +shall never be your mother-in-law." + +He did not speak violently, but judicially, as one summing up a case. + +"I went down there once, you may remember, for a week-end, while they +were still at Lissendean," he continued. "I took her measure then. She +is a woman who would fleece any man who could be got to admire her. She +is that type. You think the girl is different. I tell you that what is +bred in the bone will come out in the flesh. The girl isn't to be +trusted any more than the mother. You see the position--absolutely +destitute! Three of them! What is to happen? Say you marry--say you +allow her two or three hundred a year--that's going to cripple you, and +it isn't going to keep her." He spoke with ever-increasing urgency. "If +you give her three, she'll spend five. If you give her five, she'll +spend eight. Can't you see that for yourself, Gerald? It's all in that +letter--every word of it--if you read between the lines." + +"It's a contemptible letter," said Gerald, pushing back his chair +abruptly; "but I can't believe that the girl----" + +"Gerald, put it to yourself a moment. Even if the girl is the best girl +in the world, are you prepared to keep the lot? Virginia's very +qualities--her love for her family, her generosity where they are +concerned--would be your ruin. You couldn't say no to her; she couldn't +say no to them. There you would all be." + +Gerald's face hardened. His likeness to his father came out +clearly--breaking, as it were, through the polish of his public school +and university training. He saw the case with the Rosenberg eye, and he +flinched. + +"But how," he stammered, and cleared his throat, "how am I to draw back +with honour, father?" + +"I've done that for you. That is, the way out is open if you will take +it. The Liverpool house wrote me this morning, asking to have you sent +down for a week--some bother about that inspector, Routledge; you know +the man. I wired to the hotel that you might come on by the night +train. It may fairly be called urgent. My counsel to you is that you +just bolt--bolt and get clear away before you have committed yourself +to a thing which must be hopeless." + +Gerald leaned forward, covering his face with his hands. It was a very +rare sign of feeling with him. + +"You haven't committed yourself--you haven't said or done anything that +makes it impossible to draw back?" asked the elder man in deep anxiety. +"You said you hadn't." + +"That is true. I have said nothing. I am not even certain what her +answer would be. I could not say that she had given me any reason to +hope. She is so serene, so impartially sweet, one cannot tell--like my +'Last Duchess,' you know--'who passed without much the same smile'?" + +Mr. Rosenberg did not read Browning. The allusion passed him by. + +"Then take your courage in your two hands, boy, and do as I tell you. +In a month or two you'll be thanking me on your knees. Bolt, I tell +you, bolt. Don't see her again. Leave a message by me--catch the +restaurant-train. I told Brown to pack your valise, and the car is +waiting." + +Gerald was pale now. "She'll think me a cur." + +"No such thing. I shall make good your case. Urgency. She will think +you could not help yourself. She will look upon the affair as hung up, +not ended. After a while she will forget it." + +"But--but what are they to do?" stammered Gerald. "The mother may +deserve this, but she doesn't. It is she who will have to suffer." + +"She shall not suffer. I will send them enough to carry on, and I will +recommend that wax doll of a mother to take a situation--to go as +companion to some heiress or something--to put her shoulder to the +wheel and help to keep her children. She has had a good run for her +money, now let her taste the rough side of things for a while. Do her +no harm. Do her good." + +Gerald rose and went to the window, gazing out with unseeing eyes at +the busy welter of society traffic--the swift cars, laden with +well-dressed occupants, which flashed by in the summer evening. + +His father watched him anxiously. + +"Gerald," he said at last, "listen to me. If you go now--if you do as I +tell you--there need be nothing final about it. The girl will be at +Wayhurst--you will know where to find her. Suitors are not likely to be +as common as blackberries, even with her looks. Take this chance to +think things over more coolly than is possible when she is in the same +house with you. I don't want to demand too great a sacrifice, boy----" + +The last words were husky and wistful. He loved his son sincerely. + +Gerald swung round. "You have me beat, as the Irish say," he muttered +abruptly. "I know I'm not master of myself. If I speak to her, it might +be against my better judgment; I might regret it. You are right--it is +better to temporise, to postpone a decision. Yes, it is better--I am +almost sure." + +He spoke absently, jerkily. In his mind was one of those pictures which +rise unbidden--and apparently without reason--to the memory. It was the +picture of the face of a man he had remarked that afternoon at the +Wallace collection, standing in the doorway of the Boucher room, as the +Rosenberg party went downstairs. The man had a noticeable face--dark, +with an expression in the eyes which brought to mind the word +"smouldering." + +He had watched the gay little party of three with an air that was like +Mephistopheles sneering at Faust. "So! You are snared--snared like +other men, by a pretty face and luminous eyes----" + +That was what the silent watcher had conveyed to the prosperous young +suitor. + +Oddly, the recollection of his face, swimming all unaware into the +field of memory, turned the scale. + +"Yes, father, I shall go," said Gerald. + + * * * * * + +"Why, where's Jerry?" demanded Mims, as she and Virginia entered the +drawing-room, and proceeded to greet a couple of young men, who stood +there with the before-I-have-dined expression upon their clean faces. +"How do you do, Lawrence? How do you do, Mr. Bent? I expect our box +will hold five." + +"I telephoned Bent an hour ago, Mims," said Mr. Rosenberg. "Poor old +Gerald has had a stroke of bad luck. I have been obliged to send him +away." + +Mims paused in consternation, and, as though she could not help it, her +glance flew to Virginia. "To send him away? Why, where?" she cried +blankly. + +Virginia, more in reply to the glance than as a result of the news, +coloured divinely. She had put on her very sweetest gown. It was a +survival of Lissendean days, carefully altered by the finger of genius, +so that it looked to be the very latest. It was pale blue, with touches +of faint periwinkle mauve: and young Bent, as he gazed, was trying to +decide which colour matched her eyes more nearly. + +She was hurt. The news wounded. She had spent this fairy fortnight in +luxury and also in a dream of happiness. She had not singled out Gerald +as anything more than one factor in her bliss. He was just a part of a +scheme of things which must be injured by any interference. + +So unconscious was she of any deeper significance, that she turned at +once to Mr. Rosenberg, lifting to him the eyes that even he found a +difficulty in resisting, and cried impulsively: + +"Do you mean that Gerald is gone--that I shall not see him again before +I leave?" + +"Why, if you are leaving in course of the next few days, I fear not," +said the hypocrite. "He was not pleased, as you may imagine. But +business is sometimes urgent, you know. Had he not gone, I must have +done so myself: and he thought a night journey to Liverpool rather much +to expect from a man of my age who had a son to send. Eh?" + +"Of course," murmured Virginia. "But it is a pity! Spoils our last +evening!" + +"Oh, now, now, Miss Virginia! That is a little rough upon poor Bent, +who has rallied up at a moment's notice to make your party complete. +Confess now--in the lamentable circumstances, could I have done better? +Eh? I think not. There is dinner announced. Come, take my arm. Mims +must divide herself between the two young men." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +VIRGINIA AT HOME + + + "_Learn, by a mortal yearning, to ascend, + Seeking a higher object. Love was given, + Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for that end, + That self might be annulled--her bondage prove + The fetters of a dream, opposed to Love!_" + --Wordsworth. + + +The six-forty-six express from London swept majestically into the +station at Wayhurst. + +It was one of the events of the day in the sleepy place--the arrival of +the 6.46; the evening papers came down on that train. Many residents +were on the platform--the retired Army men to fetch their _Pall Mall +Gazette_, others to meet friends. There was nobody to meet Virginia +Mynors, but evidently she did not expect it. She stood among the +throng, in her simplest linen suit, and searched with her eyes for the +outside porter. It was some time before she could secure his +services--he was busy with more important clients--and when at last he +had shouldered her trunk and hat-box, it was with the remark that he +couldn't "promise to be out at the villas, not much afore nine o'clock, +at any rate." + +Virginia intimated that nine o'clock would suit, and turned, +travelling-bag and umbrella-case in hand, to brave her hot walk. It was +a sultry evening. The country town was bathed in dust; the roads, +though it was almost seven o'clock, seemed shadeless. After a while the +girl stopped to withdraw her sunshade from the case, and proceeded on +her way, holding it up with one hand, the weight of her hand-luggage in +the other. + +She looked pale and dispirited. Somehow, the end of her glorious London +visit had tailed off in dissatisfaction. The Rosenbergs had been +kind--most kind--to the last. They had insisted upon keeping her one +day longer, that Mr. Bent might take them to Hendon to see some flying. +But longer than that she would not stay, for Pansy, her little lame +sister, had written her a letter containing the following disquieting +news: + + +_Mama is in an awfull stayt. I think she has had bad news. She says +we are rewend._ + + +This last word Virginia interpreted "ruined," and as she plodded along +the High Street, and up the Balchurch Road, past Sycamore Terrace and +its handsome houses, to the region of tiny villas, these words were +haunting her. She had supposed their ruin already accomplished. What +could have happened afresh? What had mamma been doing? Incurring debts +which she could not pay? This she was constantly doing upon a small +scale, in spite of the fact that her daughter rigorously supervised her +cheque-book and controlled the household expenditure. + +Virginia took it for granted that her mother would always spend more +than she ought, and was quite used to depriving herself of necessaries +in order to provide mamma with such small luxuries as expensive soap, +note-paper, perfume, a library subscription, and so on. Graver +expenditure than this she had not anticipated; but she was blaming +herself for having yielded to the imploring desire of Mims that she +should go to London, and her mother's eager advocacy of the plan. She +ought not to have left mamma to the management of anything; she knew +it. She was prepared to find the weekly expenses doubled, but she had +still a couple of sovereigns in her purse with which she hoped to meet +this deficiency. + +As she moved along in the heat, laden and depressed, her face assumed +an aspect of anxiety which altered it surprisingly. Seen thus, it was +obvious that she was not merely slender, but sadly thin: hollows were +discernible in the cheeks, shadows lurked around the smiling mouth when +it was grave. + +At last Laburnum Villa was reached. + +With a sigh of relief Virginia trod the tiny garden approach, pushed +open the narrow door, and deposited her burdens within the passage. + +The passage was extremely small. It was distempered in pale green +(Virginia had distempered it), and the paint was white (Virginia had +enamelled it). The floor was stained (Virginia had stained it), and on +the ground there lay a very valuable old Persian corridor-rug, relic of +Lissendean. From Lissendean, too, came the marble fountain-head which +was used for umbrellas, and the little carved oak table. + +Cinderella's expression changed as she entered her home--changed to an +eager, glowing delight of anticipation. Light-footed she ran up the +tiny staircase, and, pushing open the door of the back room on the +landing, flew to the side of a child who lay almost flat upon an +invalid-couch at the open window. + +There were ecstatic cries: "Virgie, Virgie!" and "Pansy, my Pansy +blossom!" and the two sisters were clinging together in a rapture of +affection. + +"Let's look at you, Virgie, darling! Oh, yes, you are better! It has +done you good, hasn't it, dear? Plenty to eat--you never have enough at +home." + +"Pansy, Pansy, what nonsense you talk, you silly baby! Of course I +always have plenty to eat! The point is, how have _you_ been +getting on? Has old Mrs. Brown fed you properly?" + +Pansy was able to reassure her. The "supply" had been quite +satisfactory. "Only she said she thought the missus didn't ought to +expect no general to do up her boots for her, and mend her stockings," +remarked the child. "I told her to give mamma's stockings to me--you +know her darning was abominable. Mamma would never have worn them +afterwards if she had done them. She grumbles enough as it is at having +to wear darned stockings at all. Mrs. Brown is quite a kind old thing. +She is staying to-night until eight o'clock to get supper, so that you +should not have to set to work the moment you come home." + +"That's a relief," owned Virginia, fetching a deck-chair and seating +herself with her arms behind her head. "Where is mamma now?" + +"She's still out, I think. I haven't heard her come in. She went this +afternoon to call upon Major and Mrs. Simpson, and to buy some things +to trim up a hat." + +"Oh, but she doesn't want another hat----" began Virgie in vexation, +and checked herself. "I only trimmed her a new one the day I left home." + +"Well, somebody sent her some money yesterday, I think," replied Pansy. +"She went this morning and bought herself a winter coat at Baxter's +sale. She said it was an economy." + +"And when the winter comes, she'll say it's out of date," replied +Virgie with a little groan. "Oh dear, I do wish she wouldn't do things +like that--with poor Tony's suit almost in rags." + +"Well, you know it is no use for me to say anything, don't you, dear?" +remarked Pansy, with the quaintest assumption of wisdom. + +She would have been a pretty child but for her look of transparent, +egg-shell frailness. Her hair, with bronze lights in it, clustered +charmingly about her small face, and her eyes were as lovely as +Virginia's own, but with the haggard, hungry expression of a child who +has no health. + +She was very small for her age, which was twelve. Her lameness was the +result of a bad accident in babyhood. Mr. and Mrs. Mynors spent a +winter on the Riviera, leaving their children in charge of a nurse who +was not trustworthy. Mrs. Mynors had been warned that the nurse was +flighty, but had taken no notice of the caution. She wished to set out +on a certain date, and said she had no time to make other arrangements. +The woman went out for what is now known as a "joy-ride" with the +chauffeur and other chosen companions. She took with her Pansy, who was +the baby, and Bernard, the elder boy, who was her favourite, leaving +Tony at home in charge of Virginia. The party refreshed itself at many +taverns on the way, and it was hardly surprising that the affair ended +in a serious accident. Bernard was killed, and the baby's spine was +injured. + +The shock of his eldest son's loss was thought to have been the source +of Mr. Mynors' own lingering illness. He had forgiven his wife many a +flirtation, much consistent neglect of himself. He never forgave her +for Bernard's death. + +Nine-year-old Virginia waited, all that terrible day, and part of the +night, for the return of the motoring party. Old Brand, the butler, who +had been with the Mynors from the time of her father's boyhood, and who +had begged his mistress not to leave this nurse in charge of the +children, sat hour after hour with Virginia on his lap, until, at ten +o'clock, he carried her up to bed, left her in charge of the +under-nurse, and himself went out with one or two gardeners to see if +he could hear news of the motor-party. + +Virginia, though in bed, could not sleep. She lay listening, listening +for a sound in the silent house, until the dawn began to break. Then +she heard wheels--wheels and voices on the gravel of the drive; and, +slipping from her bed, without arousing the fast-sleeping nursemaid or +Tony, she ran downstairs in her white nightie. + +All her life she would remember Brand's face as he strode into the hall +and laid down upon a settle the burden that he carried--Bernard, with +his head all shrouded in white linen. Then came a doctor, stern and +tight-lipped, with the moaning baby in his arms. Virginia could still +recall the carbolic smell of the doctor's clothes as he went upstairs, +the blueness of the baby's face in its waxen stillness, and the silence +punctuated by faint moans. + +The grim realities of life came then to the girl's consciousness for +the first time, never to leave her more. For some years--until she went +to the school at which she met Miriam Rosenberg--she was grave and +silent with a gravity unbefitting her years, her fine health, her +promising future. After that she yielded to the spell of youth and +friendship and adventure, and the world had seemed ever more alluring, +until the final shock of her father's loss. + +This hot afternoon, gazing down upon Pansy's pathetic fragility, she +thought what sorrows had been hers in the twenty years of her short +life. The future looked sadder than usual, and her customary good cheer +was temporarily absent; she felt a curious depression, or sense of +coming trouble. + +"You look so grave, Virgie darling!" + +"Pansy, I'm a perfect pig. I believe I am suffering from that horrible +feeling we used to call 'after-the-party' feeling." + +"I don't wonder," replied Pansy sagely. "It must be pretty rotten to +come back from all that fun and luxury and money to start being maid of +all work again. Oh, Virgie, what are we to do?" + +"Do? Why, get on, of course--do our work and enjoy it!" cried Virginia, +springing up and going to the window. "Oh, Pansy, the delphiniums! How +this hot weather has brought them out! There was not one in bloom when +I left." + +"I thought you'd be pleased with that!" cried the child in eager +delight. "And look at the roses too, Virgie--the Hiawatha that you +thought was dead!" + +"Darling Hiawatha! He came from home," whispered Virginia. She knelt by +the window, her elbows on the sill and her curved chin resting on her +hands, while her Greuze eyes rested on the row of little garden plots, +on the farther row that abutted upon them, and on the backs of the +houses beyond those. She was young, it was summer-time, and yet, and +yet---- + +"Well," said Pansy, "did Gerald send me his love or anything?" + +Virginia started. Gerald at the moment filled her thoughts. She had +missed him when he went away--went away without a word! She had not +expected to miss him so much. Yet, with the lack of perception of her +youth, she failed to connect her present formless dejection with the +thought of his departure. + +Pulling herself together with a determined effort, she turned from the +window, explained to Pansy the fact that Gerald had been obliged to +rush off to Liverpool for his father, and thus had naturally not had +time for any special message or present. "But I have got something for +you, sweetums," she murmured caressingly. "You wait until the outside +porter condescends to deliver my boxes! You only wait!" + +The colour flooded the cripple's transparent skin. "Oh, Virgie, Virgie, +what is it? Tell me what it is!" + +"We'll make it a guessing game," replied Virgie. "I will just go and +get on some old things, and we will play it properly. Where's Tony, by +the way?" + +"Gone with the eleven to play Balchurch. Did you know they have made +him twelfth man? He's awfully bucked," said Pansy, with satisfaction. +"I don't expect he'll be back yet." + +"Oh! Pansy! but how splendid! He's very young, isn't he?" + +"Two years younger than the youngest man in the eleven," announced +Pansy, with satisfaction. "I'm making him a tie in the school colours." +She took up her knitting with pride. + +A sound in the hall below struck Virginia's ear. "There's mamma," she +said; "I must go and greet her." + +Slipping out of the room, she descended the stairs, and entering the +tiny drawing-room on the right of the entrance passage, stood face to +face with Mrs. Mynors. + +It was hard to believe that these were mother and daughter; they looked +more like sisters. The elder woman, in coquettish slight mourning, had +the same face, broad at the brow, tapering at the chin, the same long +lovely eyes, deep-lashed, the same poise of the head and wavy +golden-brown hair. A close observer alone would mark differences. The +elder woman's eyes were blue, like forget-me-nots--the hard blue that +looks so soft, that never varies. Her daughter's were less easy to +describe. They were changeful as the sea, responsive to varying skies; +and just now, in the waning light, they seemed dark grey. + +"Well, my chick, how are you? I was having tea with the Simpsons and +forgot the time, or I should have been back before this. You are +looking better for your change! I'm glad I persuaded you to go, though +we get on pretty badly without you." Passing keen eyes over her +daughter's face she seated herself, slightly drawing up her skirt with +a motion which intimated that she expected to have her shoes untied. + +Unhesitatingly Virginia knelt upon the ground and performed this +service. The little room in which they were was a bower of luxury. In +it were collected all the relics of their vanished past which Mrs. +Mynors had thought herself unable to do without. Silver, miniatures, +cushions, foot-stools, a soft couch, an empire writing-table. It was +like the tiny boudoir of a rich woman. Its owner cast a disgusted +glance about her, as she remarked: "Charwomen never will dust, will +they?" + +"Oh, I hoped you would have dusted this room yourself, just while I was +away," replied Virginia, with a sigh, casting her housewifely eye upon +the tarnished silver. It was a room which would take a good hour a day +to keep in proper order. + +"Well, Virgie, have you any news for me?" asked Mrs. Mynors presently, +in her voice of tantalising sweetness. + +Virginia raised her eyes, puzzled by something in the voice. "News?" +she answered wonderingly. "Nothing very special. I told you most of it +in my letters. The flying yesterday was most interesting--quite worth +staying for." + +Mrs. Mynors sat meditatively, while her daughter left the room, went +upstairs, found indoor shoes and brought them down. She then carefully +pulled the pins from the becoming hat and removed it, her mother +sitting in calm acquiescence the while. Mrs. Mynors was uneasy. Her +reading between the lines in Virginia's innocent letters had certainly +led her to conclude that Gerald Rosenberg meant to marry the girl. Had +she herself made a fatal mistake in sending that letter to Gerald's +father before the matter had been clinched? She had felt doubts, but +her dire need had driven her on. Now she was wondering how to find +words in which to convey to Virginia the blow which had descended. + +Virginia always divided the money. Each quarter she had apportioned to +her mother the sum for the interest on the mortgage. There had always +been something else on which that money must be spent. + +What would Virgie say when she knew that Lissendean had gone, vanished; +that they would never revisit it; that Tony could never come into his +inheritance? + +Far though she was from any feeling of self-blame, she yet was +conscious of discomfort as she looked at her daughter's unsuspecting +face. + +It was easy to decide not to spoil Virgie's first evening at home by +bad news. Leaving her daughter to carry her hat, gloves and sunshade to +the room above, she settled herself luxuriously by the open window, +with her feet up, and plunged into temporary forgetfulness in the pages +of a very exciting novel. + +Meanwhile--the outside porter proving better than his word--the trunk +arrived and was unpacked. The enraptured Pansy found herself mistress +of a doll of almost inconceivable beauty, with jointed limbs, and a +body that could be washed in real water. Mims had added a chest of +drawers, and various articles of costume. The dressing and undressing +of dolls had always been the little cripple's one joy. And never had +she hoped to possess such a doll as this. + +Then Tony came home, hot and exultant, looking such a fine boy in his +flannels and blazer. His team had beaten the other after a hard fight, +during which, of course, the umpire had given an l.b.w., grossly unfair +and in favour of the rival eleven. + +He received his own present very graciously--a curious collection of +oddments it seemed to the unlearned; but he had marked what he wanted +in a catalogue, and his sister had obediently bought as directed. +Contrite wheels, eccentrics, female screws, and so on, were darkness to +her mind, but pure joy to the recipient. + +Her gift to her mother--a pair of really nice gloves--was also accepted +graciously, though with an absence of enthusiasm which led Virginia to +suspect that other things, besides the winter coat, had been purchased +that morning at Baxter's sale. Who could have sent money to her mother? +She could think of nobody; for the men friends who had hovered +continually about Lissendean had never penetrated to Laburnum Villa. +Mamma, however, made no confidence, and could not, of course, be +questioned. + +It came to be time for Mrs. Brown to depart. Mamma had no silver, and +asked Virgie to pay her off. The young housekeeper then felt at liberty +to go and survey her kitchen premises, and to heave deep sighs at the +sight of so many dirty pots and pans, and the inevitable brown patch +burnt upon the enamel of her favourite milk-saucepan. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE TWO VIRGINIAS + + + "_But hadst thou--Oh, with that same perfect face, + And perfect eyes, and more than perfect mouth, + And that same voice my soul hears, as a bird + The fowler's note, and follows to the snare!-- + Hadst thou, with these the same, but brought a mind!_" + --R. Browning. + + +Nobody who saw Virginia next morning, in her blue linen overall, +bringing up her mother's early morning tea, would have recognised the +dainty flower of luxury who had moved over the polished floors of the +galleries of Hertford House. She put the tray beside the bed, drew back +the curtains, and brought in the hot water, just as a housemaid might +have done. Mrs. Mynors, rosy and beautiful among her pillows, rubbed +her sleepy eyes, and murmured "Thank you, dear one!" in a perfunctory +manner, stretching her white arms luxuriously, and adding fretfully: +"Another grilling day!" + +Virginia returned no answer to this comment, but withdrew to the +kitchen, where Tony sat munching his fried bread and bacon and drinking +his coffee with a schoolboy's appetite. When he had been despatched, +clean and ready for his day's work, there was Pansy's breakfast to be +thought of. Dainty toast, fresh tea, a spoonful of jam, were arranged +on a pretty tray and carried upstairs. Then Virginia was at leisure to +sit down for a few minutes, drink what was left of the coffee in Tony's +pot, and eat some bread-and-butter. In truth she had little appetite. +The heat sapped her strength, and she reflected sadly that it was a +mistake to go away. + +A holiday made it harder to begin again. + +From the moment of finishing her breakfast till the moment of laying +lunch, she never ceased from her labours. The kitchen had to be +thoroughly scrubbed before its dainty mistress could be friends with it +again. Then there were beds to make, a room to sweep, three rooms to +dust. Then her mother came down, drank a cup of Bovril, and settled +herself in the garden with some embroidery, while Virginia went up to +make her bed and do her room. + +When lunch had been cleared and washed up, the drudge had an hour's +breathing space. She spent it lying upon the bed in Pansy's room, the +little cripple having been moved as usual to her invalid couch by the +window. Virginia was so tired that she herself felt alarmed. What was +to become of them all if her health were to give way? The thought was +too horrible to be dwelt upon. + +Her mother, remarking the depression of her spirits, was vexed. She +could not help wishing that Virginia were not quite such a simpleton. +If she had had an ounce of the coquette in her, she could have secured +Gerald Rosenberg, and all would have been well. Mrs. Mynors had +refrained from any kind of hint when the girl went to London in +response to Miriam's urgent invitation. She thought her hint might +defeat itself. Now she was wondering whether, in view of her daughter's +obtuseness, she would not have done well to let her know what was +expected of her. She could see that the girl was out of heart, and she +shrank, partly from cowardice, partly from affection, from dealing the +final blow. Yes, her utter selfishness notwithstanding, Mrs. Mynors had +some affection for Virginia. She misunderstood the girl, and +undervalued her; she accepted all her burnt offerings and sacrifices as +manifestly her own due; yet she trusted and leaned upon her with all +the weight of her own empty egotism. + +Next morning, when the little figure in its blue overall brought in the +tea, there was a business-like letter lying upon the tray. + +Mrs. Mynors did not open it until she had enjoyed her tea, for it was +from the solicitors who had foreclosed the mortgage, and well she knew +that it was not likely to contain anything that would please her. + +She lay for some time--after she had eaten and drunk--glancing at the +morning paper, and trying to determine to face the necessary +unpleasantness. At last, heaving a sigh of boundless self-pity, she +took the envelope in her pretty white hands and opened it. + +As she read a sudden flush mounted to her very brow. A smothered +exclamation broke from her. She was seized with trembling, her heart +beat suffocatingly, and with a bound she sprang from bed, rushed to her +mirror, and stood there, surveying with sparkling eyes the image of +Virginia Mynors at the age of forty-one. + +Oh, did the mirror lie, or was it true that she was very nearly as +pretty as ever? Hardly a silver thread in the beautiful ripe gold hair +that had no slightest hint of red in it! The teeth still perfect within +the pretty lips, barely discernible crows' feet at the corners of the +brilliant, expressive eyes! Plumper she was no doubt, but to be plump +prevents wrinkles. As she stood there, even in her disarray, she knew +that she did not deceive herself. She was still a most attractive woman. + +... And fate had sent her a chance like this! With pulses racing she +crept back to her bed and curled up there, trying to decide how best to +take advantage of this marvellous coincidence, this strange turn of +fortune's wheel. What a good thing that she was a woman of experience, +no longer a shy girl. She must not lose this chance, as silly Virginia +had lost hers! No, no! She was too clever for that. How well the +French wit had said: "_Si la jeunesse savait! Si la vieillesse +pouvait!_" + +In herself, the two states of youth and age were met felicitously. She +was old enough to know, young enough to enjoy! If she could not now +take hold on circumstance, and wrest her defeat into pure victory, then +she was no better than a fool--and she had never thought herself that. + +All the time she was dressing her lips would part in a smile that +revealed those pretty teeth, and a dimple which still lurked in a fold +of her smooth cheek. She passed her own plans in review before her +mind, pondering--pondering as to how much she would have to tell +Virgie. Her excitement was so great that she felt sure she would have +to tell most of it. Thrills of anticipation coursed most agreeably +through her being. How had she been able to bear it so far--this +crushing, stifling existence in an odious little box in a horrid +third-rate town? How patient she had been! What a martyrdom she had +borne! For the children it was of course different. For her it had been +a living burial. Now that it was over--now that she saw a shining +gateway admitting her back to the world she loved so well, it seemed +incredible that she could have stood it so long. + +... What would Virgie say now--Virgie, who was always so mean and +stingy, reproving her for gratifying even the simplest taste, expecting +her to live as though she had been brought up in one of the cottages on +her husband's estate? She pictured the rapture of gratitude and +devotion with which the girl would realise that her mother's charm, her +mother's ability to hold a man's affection for twenty years and more, +was to mend the family fortunes. She faced--only to disregard it--the +fact that Virginia would have some ridiculous scruples about her +father's memory. She recollected very soon that, for Pansy's sake, the +girl would welcome any way out--Pansy, whose lameness might be cured, +if she could only have the required advice and treatment. + +She sat before her glass in a dream of reminiscence. + +There was a tap at the door, and her daughter entered, soft-footed, +carrying a cup on a tray. "I've brought your cold beef-tea jelly, +dearest, as it is such a hot day," said she, putting it down. "Would +you like me to do your hair for you?" + +"Oh, my chick, if you only would! I feel quite over-strained! I have +had such extraordinary--such heart-searching news! I very nearly +fainted when I was having my bath." + +Virginia turned pale. The remembrance of Pansy's revelation concerning +their "rewend" condition leapt to her mind. She had now been home three +days, and her mother had said nothing of it, but seemed flush of cash. +Virginia had consulted the cheque-book--nothing out of the way there. +The money spent on house-keeping had been, as she expected, too large, +but not out of all bounds. + +Something had stolen Virginia's buoyancy. She felt an inward flinching, +as though she could not bear a fresh blow. It must be the heat. She +took up a silver brush, and said, as stoutly as she could: + +"Well, Mums, tell me all about it. I can bear it." + +Mrs. Mynors pushed aside her golden tresses, opened a small drawer, +searched it, and drew out the solicitor's letter. + +"Virgie, I could not tell you the very day you came home," she +faltered. "It would have been brutal, but I suppose you must know." + +Her daughter, taking the legal-looking documents in her suddenly cold +hands, sank rather than seated herself upon a chair, for the +humiliating reason that she felt unable to stand. + +There was stillness for a while in the tiny room, which, like the +drawing-room downstairs, was a bower of luxury. Carpet, curtains, +furniture, plenishings--all were costly relics of bygone days, +something to make a pillow between the dainty head of its mistress and +the hard cold boards of poverty. Even as she cleaned the silver toilet +articles yesterday, Virgie had noted a fresh bottle of a particularly +expensive perfume affected by her mother. + +Now she read the letters--read the family doom. + +All gone! Everything! Lissendean!... + +She put her hands to her head. She must think. + +What was left? + +Nothing! They were paupers. Tony must leave school and begin to be an +errand boy. She, Virginia, must go into service. Pansy must be got into +a home for cripples! Her mother?... + +... And she had gone without the necessities of life to keep up those +payments, while Mrs. Mynors was squandering the money on petty luxuries! + +For the moment passion surged up so strongly in Virginia that she had +to clench her hands and grind her teeth, while she shook with the +effort to refrain from telling the pretty, golden-haired doll once for +all what she thought of her. This mother, whom she had loved, whom dad +had loved! Almost his last words had been a plea to his daughter not to +let her mother suffer if she could help it. + +Had she not done her best? What more could have been required of her +that she had not given? She had sacrificed her whole life to the +service of her loved ones, had drudged and toiled that her mother might +have ease, had listened to her grumbling complaints, had humoured her +wilfulness. Yet all had been in vain. In vain! + +To her mother's consternation, and even annoyance, Virginia slipped off +her chair in a dead faint. + +With a sense of acute injury at being called upon to render such +service, the plump, useless hands succeeded in lowering the girl to the +floor. Then, still resentful, Mrs. Mynors actually got a wet sponge and +laid it on her daughter's forehead. This not succeeding, she found +_eau-de-Cologne_ and applied that. After a time Virginia slowly +returned to life, and to a knowledge of the enormity of her behaviour. +She dragged herself to her mother's bed, and lay down there until her +swimming senses should readjust themselves. + +They were ruined; and her mother was buying winter coats and bottles of +perfume! It was really laughable. + +"You cannot reproach me, really, Virgie," said her mother presently, +speaking with sad submissiveness from out her cloud of hair. "You must +see that I could not help spending that money, and also that I never +dreamed what would be the result of getting behindhand with my +payments. Our own lawyer ought to have warned me. I consider him much +to blame in the matter." + +Virginia had nothing at all to say. + +"I can see that you do blame me!" sharply cried Mrs. Mynors. "You lie +there without a word of comfort--as if I had ruined you and not myself +too! I suppose it is as hard for me as for you." + +Virgie turned her face over and hid it on the pillow. + +After gazing at her for some time, in a mood which accusing conscience +made bitter, Mrs. Mynors decided to play her trump card. + +"You need not put on all these airs of tragic despair, Virgie. I have +told you the bad news first. This morning I have had other news--the +most extraordinary thing--the most unlikely coincidence--that you ever +heard! Do you want me to tell you about it, or are you too ill to pay +any attention?" + +Virgie made an effort and sat up. "I'm so sorry, mother. It was very +sudden, you know, and it is all so horrible--like falling over a +precipice. I felt as if I could not grasp it. I am better now." + +She slipped off the bed and tottered to the window, leaning out into +the air. "Please tell me--everything," she begged. + +Mrs. Mynors leaned forward, and a little, mischievous smile showed her +dimple, as she said, playing nervously with the articles in her +manicure set: "Did you ever hear me speak of the man I was once engaged +to--the man I jilted to marry your father--Mr. Gaunt?" + +"I believe I have," replied Virginia, knitting her brows. + +"It was a tiresome affair," went on the lady, with a sigh. "He was very +young and impetuous; perhaps that is putting it too mildly; he had a +shocking temper, and he didn't take his jilting at all peaceably. I +know I was in fault, but what is a girl to do? He was a mere boy. When +I promised to marry him I had never seen your father; and you know, +Virgie darling, how irresistible he was." + +"Yes. I know," said Virginia, telling herself that, after all, her +mother must have loved the dead man better than had appeared. Yet why, +if she loved him so much, had there always been so many others? +Virginia recalled the familiar figures--Colonel Duke, and Major Gibson, +the M.F.H., and Sir Edmund Hobbs. Certainly, for the last two years of +his life Bernard Mynors had been unable to escort his wife himself. If +she hunted, it must be with others. It had, in fact, been with others. + +The dainty lips curved into a yet broader smile. "Poor Gaunt! It seems +that he has never married," went on the musical voice. "He was too +madly in love, I suppose, for any transfer of his affections to be +possible. But the point of it all is this. I have this morning heard +that it is he who holds the mortgage on our property. Lissendean +belongs to him!" + +Virginia's big, woful eyes opened very wide. + +"I heard this morning from the lawyers that he is in London for a week +or two, and wants to get the business finished off. I have made my +little plan. I mean to go up to town and see him, Virgie." + +The words brought Virginia to her feet. "To go and see him?" + +"Yes. I must, for my children's sake, make an appeal to his kindness of +heart. The pain I caused him must long ago have been forgotten, and if +I can only procure an interview with him, I feel very little doubt of +being able to persuade him to allow us more time." + +Virginia considered. "Do you think he will see you? It might be very +painful for him. Have you heard nothing of him since your marriage?" + +"Nothing. He lives in the country now, it seems. He must have inherited +the place that belonged to his old great-aunts. He always used to tell +me that there was not much chance of his coming into it. He was a fine +fellow in his way, only difficult--so jealous, for one thing. However, +it would be most interesting to meet him. I wonder"--coquettishly--"if +he will know me again. I don't fancy that I have changed much." + +"Very little, I should think," said Virgie; "the miniature that father +had done of you the first year you were married is still just like you." + +Mrs. Mynors smiled brightly. She was beginning to recover her good +humour. "Unless he has altered strangely, he will not be cruel to the +widow and the fatherless," she murmured pensively. "Cheer up, Virgie, +all is not yet lost. Try to be a little hopeful, dear child." + +Virginia sat, twisting her hands together, turning the matter over in +her mind. Her mother's creditor was her mother's old lover. Her mother +was going to seize this fact, and make the most of it. Something in +Virginia revolted from the idea; but she could not urge her objections. +She fixed her purple-grey eyes upon the gay face in the mirror. It +might have been that of a woman without a care. Every instinct in her +mother was kindled at the idea of once more encountering, and most +probably conquering, what had been hers once, and would turn to her +again. + +A step-father! That was an idea to make one wince. With all the +ingrained fidelity of her simple nature, the girl hated the thought. +Yet, after all, what was the alternative? + +She felt that the family fortunes had passed beyond her own power to +adjust or alter. As long as a foothold of dry ground remained she had, +as it were, protected these dear ones from the raging flood. Now that +the tide had swept them away, and they were all tossing on the waters, +could she object to her mother's seizing a rope--any rope--that might +be flung to them? + +"I suppose he knows," she said, after a long pause, "he knows that it +is you?" + +"I suppose so. These coincidences are very curious. I have never seen +him, never even heard of him, since our rupture." She reflected, her +chin on her hand. "Strange that he should have inherited money," she +observed. "He was not at all well off when I knew him, though he was +very ambitious. He wrote--essays and so on for the Press. He was +certainly clever. Twenty-two years since I last saw him! How strange it +seems! I used to be afraid at first that he might try to kill me or +your father. He was so violent. At our wedding we had special police +arrangements. But nothing happened. Nothing at all." She spoke as if +the fact were slightly disappointing. + +"It is a chance," sighed out Virginia at length. "If you can bear it, +mother--if it is not asking too much of you to go and beg a favour from +a man you once treated badly, then I think you had better try." + +Mrs. Mynors' mouth drooped at the corners, and her face took on the +sweetest look of resignation. "Virgie, dearest, you can fancy--you can +understand something of what it will cost me. But for my children's +sakes I must put my own feelings aside. I must go and see what I can +do. Let me see! Where--how could I meet him? A solicitor's office does +not lend itself. Oh, Virgie, I have it! What a comfort, what a piece of +good luck, that I became a life-member of the 'Sportswoman' three years +ago! I will ask him to meet me there! I will write a note, to be given +to him direct; and I don't think he will refuse. If he does, I will +just go to London and take him by storm. I vow I'll see him somehow! +Leave it to me, Virgie! You shall see what I can do. When my children's +bread is at stake, no effort shall be too great, no sacrifice too +difficult." + + * * * * * + +Later on, when Virginia had done her hair to perfection, and gone away +to do the house-work, Mrs. Mynors took a chair, mounted it, and +unlocked a small drawer at the top of her tall-boy. There were several +bundles of letters and papers in the drawer, and a small jewel-case +containing a ring. She searched among the papers for one loose +envelope, addressed in a forcible, small but not cramped handwriting. + +She sat down, with this letter and the ring-box upon her knee, and read: + + +_You make a mistake. It is not the transfer of your affections from +myself to Mynors of which I complain, for this has not taken place. +What has happened is simply that you have bartered yourself for his +money and position. If I had been cursed with a few hundreds a year +more than he has, you would not have forsaken me. You never loved me; +but for a whole year you have succeeded in deceiving me--in making me +believe that you did. This is the thing I find unpardonable. Men have +killed women for such treachery as yours. Were I to kill you, it would +save poor Mynors a good many years of misery. But the code of civilised +morals forbids so satisfactory a solution. You must live, and destroy +his illusions one by one. I ought to thank you for my freedom, but that +I cannot do, being human. As a man in worse plight than mine once said: +"My love hath wrought into my life so far that my doom is, I love thee +still." There lies the humiliation and the sting._ + + +The woman's lips curved into a smile of foreseen triumph. The insult of +the first part of the letter was nothing to her. There was his written +confession. In spite of her betrayal, he loved her still. + +After the lapse of all these years the lava-torrent of his boyish fury +had no doubt cooled. The love might well remain. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE OLD LOVE + + + "_Now hate rules a heart which in love's easy chains + Once passion's tumultuous blandishments knew; + Despair now inflames the dark tide of his veins, + He ponders in frenzy o'er love's last adieu._"--Byron. + + +A week later Mrs. Mynors stood before her mirror at a much earlier hour +than was her wont. She was arranging her veil with a hand that shook, +and eyes full of a curious mixture of anxiety and triumph. The anxiety +was because she was bound upon an errand of enormous strategic +importance; the triumph because her imagination ran on ahead and +pictured things that she would have blushed to own. + +Her old lover had assented to her proposal for a meeting. He was to be +this morning at twelve o'clock at the Sportswoman--that smartest and +most go-ahead of county ladies' clubs in London. + +Virginia stood near. She held in her hand a dainty handbag, embroidered +in steel beads and lined with pale violet. Into this she was putting a +purse, a powder-puff, a wisp of old lace that was supposed to be a +handkerchief, and so on. The aroma of the expensive perfume was over +everything. + +Mrs. Mynors' costume was a subtle scheme of faint half-mourning. It was +most becoming. + +"What time do you think you shall be back?" asked Virginia. + +"My child, how can I say? You must expect me when you see me. It +depends so much upon what I accomplish. If Osbert Gaunt proves +disagreeable, I must just get a bit of lunch at the club and come +straight home. If he is hospitably inclined, why, you see, it might be +later." + +"I only wanted to know how much money you are likely to spend." + +"Don't trouble about that, dear one. I have plenty of money for my +modest needs." + +She stepped back, surveyed the general effect of her appearance, and +sighed a little. Then, opening one of the small jewel drawers in her +toilet table, she took out a ring-case, extracted the ring it +contained, and slipped it upon her finger. It was a large tourmalin, +set in small brilliants--a lovely blue, like the eyes of its wearer. + +"What a pretty ring! I never saw it before," said Virginia, with +interest. She loved pretty things. That trait she had inherited from +her mother. + +"His engagement ring," said the widow pensively. "He would not take it +back. He said it would bring a curse upon any woman who wore it. He +shall see that I have kept it." + +Virginia's heart surged up within her until she almost broke into +weeping. Her own mother, the widow of Bernard Mynors, the widow of the +most-beloved, the dearest, the best, the handsomest--she was setting +out gaily to fascinate an old lover, wearing on her finger the ring he +had bestowed in the days when she had never seen her husband. + +"How she can!" thought Virgie to herself. Her mother was a continual +puzzle to her. In her intense simplicity the girl took her usually at +her own value. She believed devoutly that it was at great personal cost +that Mrs. Mynors was going to town that day. She judged her feelings by +her own. And yet, and yet---- + +The sound of wheels on the road outside caused her to look from the +window. "Why, here is an empty fly stopping at the door," said she in a +tone of surprise. + +"I ordered it, Virgie," replied her mother, a little embarrassed. "I +have so little strength, especially of a morning, I felt that, on an +errand like this, I should want all my force, all my coolness. This +heat is so unnerving." + +She smiled deprecatingly. "My poor little fly is the sprat to catch a +whale," she laughed. Then impetuously she flung her arms about her +daughter's neck. "Wish me luck! Oh, wish me luck!" she cried. + +Virginia's warm heart leapt at the cry. She embraced her mother with +all the fervour she dare employ without crushing the delicate toilette. +They went downstairs together, the lady stepped into the shabby fly +with a look of disdainful fortitude, her sunshade was given her, and +with a wave of the hand to the girl at the gate she started off upon +her great mission. Virgie went slowly into the kitchen, sat down +wearily, and poured out her tepid tea. After eating and drinking a few +mouthfuls listlessly, she roused herself to prepare fresh tea for Pansy +and to carry her breakfast upstairs. + +"Good morning, precious! How have you slept?" she cried cheerily, as +she set down the tray, drew up the blind, and came to the bedside. +Pansy lay there smiling, perfectly flat on her back, with Ermyntrude, +the new doll, at her side. + +"Slept booful. Not one pain all night. But I'm fearfully hungry, +Virgie!" + +"I don't wonder; I am dreadfully late! I had to get mother off, you +see. She has just started," replied Virginia, trying to keep the sorrow +out of her trembling voice. She stooped, touched a handle below the +bed, and with incredible care and delicacy wound the little cripple up +into a posture just enough tilted to enable her to feed herself. + +"Gone to see a gentleman she used to know before she knew dad," +remarked Pansy, pondering. "He'll think she's every bit as pretty as +she was then. Don't you think so?" + +"Yes, I am sure he must think so." + +"Oh, Virgie!"--after a long pause--"suppose he was to ask her again?" + +Her sister winced as this dark idea was thus frankly expressed in +words. She had, however, been more or less prepared for it. + +"I don't think it very likely, Pansy," she replied slowly, "but if he +did, and if mother thought it was her duty to say 'Yes,' we must not +make it hard for her." + +"How could it be her duty to say 'Yes'?" demanded Pansy +argumentatively. "She loved dad, and it would be beastly to have a +step-father." + +"It would be beastlier still not have enough to eat," was the thought +in Virgie's heart. She did not express it, however. The child knew +nothing of the terrible state of things, and must not know unless it +was inevitable. "We'll hope for the best, darling. He may not ask her," +she softly told the child. "And now eat your breakfast, while I go and +clear away downstairs." + + * * * * * + +From Euston one must positively take a taxi in order to arrive at Dover +Street. Mrs. Mynors instructed the driver to throw back the hood; and +reclined, her sunshade between her delicate face and the June sun, +enjoying a few minutes of the kind of pleasure in which she revelled. + +Ah! the joy of it. The gay streets, the well-dressed crowds, the +enticing shops, the loaded flower-baskets, at the street corners, the +window-boxes in the tall houses, the flashing cars, the bustle and +movement of London in the season. Here, she felt, was her native +element. To this she belonged--she whom a cruel fate had treated so ill +as to cause the whole structure of her pleasure to crumble to nothing +at the very time of life when a woman begins to feel that she needs +comforts and luxury. + +For forty years she had enjoyed that empire which any beautiful woman +may enjoy if she chooses. Her beauty had prevented every one who came +near her from realising the truth about her. Had you told her that she +was a monster of selfishness, that she had never loved anybody but +herself, that she had jilted a poor man to marry a rich one, and that +she had loved neither the one nor the other, she would simply have +wondered how your mind could have become so warped as to cause you to +utter such slanders. + +Now that she had the twofold weapons of beauty and misfortune, surely +none could resist. + +Not for long years had her heart so throbbed, her blood run so swiftly, +as this morning, as the taxi turned out of Bond Street, slid along +Grafton Street into Dover Street, and stopped at the doors of the club. + +Since her husband's death she had never entered it. Now she wondered +how she had kept away so long, and admired with fervour her own Spartan +heroism. How meekly she had bowed under undeserved adversity! + +She strolled into the dressing-room, put down her sun-shade, and +contemplated herself in a mirror. The things she had seen in the shops +that morning, and the costumes in the streets, had put her somewhat out +of conceit of her own appearance. The mirror, however, restored all her +self-confidence. She was looking lovely, with a bloom in her cheeks +that the fagged-looking London women could not hope to emulate. + +She used her powder with judgment and restraint, adjusted her veil, and +went out into the hall. + +"I am going into the chintz parlour," said she to the page-boy, "and I +am expecting a gentleman by appointment. Bring him to me there--Mrs. +Mynors." + +She went upstairs, outwardly quite tranquil, though inwardly she was +shaken with a storm of excitement which she could not wholly +understand. In old days she had feared Osbert Gaunt. She remembered +that, though she did not own it to herself. Devoted slave as he had +been, she had had perhaps some faint instinctive premonition that he +was in reality her master. He had been subject to bursts of passion, to +fits of sullen rage. It had been exciting, but exhausting, to be loved +by him. + +All that was twenty years ago. What was he now? + +She surveyed the pretty little parlour, furnished in a clever imitation +of the Georgian era. From among the chairs she selected two. Then, +changing her mind, she chose a small couch, with room for two to sit +upon it. She brought forward a little table, put some magazines upon +it, opened one and became so absorbed in the sketch of a Paris gown +which it contained that she started annoyingly at the voice of the +page-boy announcing her visitor. + +Osbert Gaunt walked in. Her first thought was that, changed though he +was, she should have known him anywhere. Certainly his was a +personality not easy to forget. He was dark complexioned by nature, +and, as he lived in the open air, he was also much tanned. His +coal-black hair was slightly softened with grey at the temples, but his +moustache was raven black, and it altered his appearance to something +curiously unlike her memory of the keen young boyish face. He walked +with the limp which she remembered well, and as they shook hands his +glance swept over her from head to foot, appraising and, as it seemed, +condemning, for his lip curled into a sneer. + +He was perfectly self-possessed. The lady was genuinely agitated. + +"I trust that I am punctual to your appointment, madam," he said drily. + +They were alone in the room. She noticed that with thankfulness, even +while she realised how entirely the man had the advantage over her. To +her, this interview meant everything. To him, apparently, very little. +She was so much affected that she sat down at once, making a little +appealing movement with her hand that he should sit beside her, as she +murmured: "Oh, Osbert, you are good to come ... and you are so little +changed." + +He replied, with indifference that amounted to discourtesy: "I came to +suit my own convenience; and I have changed completely." + +With this preliminary amenity he looked around, chose a chair, brought +it forward, and sat down facing her. His rudeness was so disconcerting +that she forgot her part, and spoke confusedly: + +"Oh no, indeed, you have not changed; you always used to contradict. +That was part of your temperament." + +"Pardon me, I am not here to discuss my temperament. I have come on +business." + +She made a little deprecating sound, as though he had hurt her. "Oh, +Osbert, this is dreadful! Dreadful! If I had expected this, I would not +have appealed to you. How could I dream that you would have remained +unforgiving all these years?" + +She drew out the tiny handkerchief, redolent of lily of the valley. In +old days a tear from her had driven him mad. + +"You surprise me," was his answer. "I understood that you desired to +discuss a mortgage. If you will allow me to say so, I must confess that +any allusion from you to our past relations seems to me to be in the +worst of taste." + +"Osbert! Oh, Osbert! That you can speak so to me! It is useless--quite +useless to go farther. Had I been rich and prosperous, I could +understand your desire to taunt me.... I never could have believed that +you would stoop to it when you know quite well the straits to which we +are reduced--that I and mine are starving!" + +Again his look swept over her, as if mocking at her general aspect of +subdued luxury. + +"Madam, it seems to me that the unfortunate tradesmen whom you employ +are more likely to starve than you are," he said emphatically. "But, as +regards your financial position, that is, I suppose, part of the +subject which we are here to discuss. I gather that my foreclosing of +this mortgage embarrasses you seriously?" + +She kept her face turned from him, allowing one crystal tear to lie +undried upon her soft cheek, as she answered in low, grief-broken tones: + +"We were almost beggars before. This is the final straw." + +He took the chance she gave him to look full at her. Her aspect of +humiliation and discouragement seemed to please him. + +"Good!" said he. "Then we come to something definite. What do you +suggest that I should do in this matter? I am a little puzzled, because +you cannot, I think, have supposed that I should be likely to strain +any point in your favour--rather perhaps the reverse. Eh?" + +She paused, as it were for breath. What could she do? She had thought +of him in many ways, but had foreseen nothing like this. Even her +impervious vanity was forced to the conclusion that the sight of her in +her scarcely impaired beauty moved him no more than if she had been a +hairdresser's block. Not even the ashes of passion remained. He was +pleased that she should be humiliated. He liked to have her at his +feet. Oh, why had she not guessed that a nature like his--warped, +distorted, embittered--would rejoice at seeing the woman who had +injured him brought low? His foot was on her neck! She felt inclined to +spring up and rush from the room--or to snatch his hands and make some +wild appeal! Why, this was the man who had trembled at her touch--who +had thrashed the son of a peer for saying that she was a flirt! This +was the man who had been made happy with a smile, desperate with a +frown. Yet now.... + +In fierce longing to bring him once more into subjection, she stifled +down her resentment, resisted her impulse to give way. As his insulting +words stung her, she winced, like one enduring an unworthy blow. + +"I made a mistake," said she in low tones. "I must own it. I actually +did, as you suggest, hope that you would strain a point in my favour. +All that I remember of you is noble. I fancied that the fact--which I +admit--that I once injured you, so far from being against me, would +constrain you the more to serve me, if you could." + +"Indeed! So that was what you thought! It was rather clever of you, but +not quite clever enough. I have to own that I don't at all consider +that your having successfully hoodwinked me twenty years ago gives you +a right to do it again. But let that pass. It is the mortgage which we +must keep in mind. I think it not impossible that we may come to terms, +that I may be able to afford you some relief--on conditions"--he held +up his hand hastily as she turned impulsively on her seat--"on +conditions, I say--you had better wait to hear me." + +For the first time she let her eyes meet his. The cruelty, the ironic +sense of mastery conveyed to her from beneath those half-shut lids, +made her shudder involuntarily. So might an Inquisitor survey the +victim brought bound into his presence. Still she kept up the pose--the +only one that occurred to her scared wits--the pose of relying upon his +nobility. + +"I knew--I knew you could not mean to be merciless," she faltered. + +"Don't go too fast," he replied coldly. "There is much to consider +before thanks can appropriately be offered. In the first place, a few +questions are necessary. To begin. Have you a daughter bearing a +remarkable resemblance to yourself? And was she in London a week or two +ago with some friends who have a motor-car--a young man and a young +woman?" + +Mrs. Mynors sat a moment speechless, considering this new turn of the +incredible conversation. "Yes," she faltered at last, "that is quite +true. Virginia was in town with our friends, the Rosenbergs." + +His lip curled. "_Virginia!_ You named her after yourself!" + +"It was my husband's wish," she stammered. "She is the dearest, the +best girl in the world!" + +"Madam"--with mock reverence--"that is an unnecessary statement; she is +your daughter--and she is, I feel sure, in all respects worthy of you. +I saw her in a picture-gallery not long ago. Interested by the +astonishing likeness, I took pains to overhear some of her +conversation. The second Virginia is a replica of the first--which is +saying a great deal. You are attached to her, madam." + +"Attached to her? Attached to my darling daughter? Are you mad, Osbert?" + +"I don't think so. I am still a bachelor, you know, and the proposal +which I put before you is this: If your daughter will undertake the +position which her mother declined, we will cry quits, you and I." + +She had almost screamed in the extremity of her surprise and +mortification. Had he struck her with a horsewhip she could not have +felt more outraged. Fury, resentment, a wild, combative resistance +which she could not recognise as jealousy, deprived her for a while of +speech. She was choking, inarticulate with the force of blind feeling +which shook her as a tempest shakes a tree. + +"You are atrocious!" she ejaculated at last. "Simply atrocious! What +can you mean? Virgie won't have you." + +"In that case there will be no need of further discussion," was his +answer. "In your place, I think I should at least place the offer +before her. Should she accept it, I will make you an allowance of three +hundred pounds a year for life, besides undertaking the cost of your +son's education. Are there other children?" + +She was staring at him as one may gaze, fascinated, upon a cobra about +to strike. "One other," she hurriedly replied. "A little girl--_she +is lame_." + +"Ha!" A dull flush rose to his face. "Cripples seem to haunt your +footsteps. Well--in the event of the acceptance of my offer, it shall +be my care to see that she has the proper treatment and the best +advice." + +"Good gracious me!" slowly said the bewildered woman. "Am I dreaming? +Osbert, you _must_ be mad!" + +"Madam, I think you will find that I am considered remarkably sane by +most people. Anyway, you have my offer--make what you can of it. I will +put it in writing, if you like. Your daughter won't find many husbands +who would be willing to marry and provide for the entire family. Yet, +you see, such is my devotion, that I am ready to do even this for her +charming sake." + +"Devotion? You have no devotion!" she cried wildly. "You are taking +advantage of my helplessness to torture me! You would torture Virgie! +How can you feel any devotion for a girl you have only set eyes upon +once?" + +"Well, we will say it is not devotion that inspires me, but a desire to +get a bit of my own back," said he, with a most unpleasant smile. "She +will be the Andromeda, sacrificed for the rest of you--offered to the +Beast--myself. You flinched from such a fate. If she now undertakes to +brave it, will not that be poetic justice?" + +Mrs. Mynors swallowed once or twice, blinked, tried to visualise the +impression this speech gave. Since his entrance, nothing that Gaunt +said had sounded real. There had been a sarcasm, a jeering cadence; he +had been playing with her all the time. But these words had a different +ring. He was in earnest. It seemed as if the last sentence revealed to +her something of his inner state of mind. It was like coming, in the +dusk, upon the sudden mouth of a black pit. She had said, "You would +torture Virginia!" and something in his reply suggested that her random +words were true. + +She sat staring, confronting the set mask of his face. The old fear of +him came back, after twenty years, racing up across the vistas of +memory as the Brittany tide races over the St. Malo sands. In this man +there was something perverted, something evil, something with which she +must hold no traffic, make no bargain. She knew that she ought to end +this preposterous interview; to speak a few dignified reproachful words +and leave the tempter and his monstrous proposal. + +"Virginia," she managed at last to say, "shall never even know of your +horrible suggestion." + +He took his watch from his pocket, glanced at it, replaced it, and +spoke. + +"Then you reject this offer unconditionally?" + +"As you foresaw that I should!" she cried, with a burst of tears +hastily choked back. + +"Oh, pardon me, I foresaw nothing of the kind. You forget that in old +times I knew you rather well; and I never thought you a fool." + +"But you are impossible--outrageous!" she expostulated. "Why should you +want to marry Virginia?" + +"I am old enough to know my own mind, I suppose. My reasons--pardon +me--are not your concern. My terms are before you, and I am somewhat +pressed for time. If you refuse _tout court_, there is nothing +further to be said. I will take my leave. But it seems to me that you +might submit the case to the judgment of Miss Mynors. Tell her that I +have an estate in Derbyshire, and can settle five thousand pounds upon +her, in addition to what I propose doing for her family. If she has +anything like her mother's eye to the main chance, she will think twice +before turning me down." + +Part of the rage which surged in the woman's heart as she glared at him +was sheer jealousy--jealousy of her young, fresh daughter. They had +met, those two. He had seen Virginia in a picture-gallery. He, a man of +past forty, wanted to marry this girl of twenty! Oh, what a fool! What +a fool! When she, the suitable age, the suitable partner, the old, lost +love in almost all her old charm, sat there before him! + +"Osbert," she murmured faintly, "don't jeer at me! For pity's sake be +yourself, your old self, for five minutes! Tell me the meaning of this +unkind jest." + +"Once more, madam, let me assure you that I am in earnest. I mean what +I say. I am aware that my proposal does sound quixotic; but I will have +it all legally embodied and made certain. If Miss Mynors will marry me, +I will do for you what I have said. If she will not, then I regret to +be unable to offer you _any_ assistance." + +He took up his hat and rose. "May I know whether you will undertake to +convey my offer to your daughter?" he asked. "If you decline, I leave +London to-day. I farm my own land, and we are busy at Omberleigh just +now. If you decide to tell her, I will await the first post here in +London the day after to-morrow; and, in the event of her being +favourably inclined, I shall come down to Wayhurst that afternoon." + +Mrs. Mynors clenched her small, ineffectual fists. There he stood, +pitiless. Her presence meant nothing to him. It left him utterly +unmoved. How he had changed from the days of his emotional youth! + +He was master of the situation. If she arose in her offended majesty, +marched off and left him--to what must she return? To absolute +pauperism. She had no relatives of her own, and her husband's few +distant cousins had been far more frequently appealed to than her +daughter knew, and were tired of helping. By promising to let Virginia +know his terms, she committed herself to nothing. If there had been an +alternative.... But there really was not! + +She, too, rose. "I--I suppose I must tell Virginia," she said sullenly; +"but I shall forbid her to accept your preposterous suggestion." + +"Oh, no, you won't," he replied, again with that odious smile. "Too +much hangs upon it for you. We part, then, with at least a sporting +chance of meeting again. I hope I shall prove a dutiful son-in-law. +Good morning." + +He bowed, seeming not to notice her appealing hands, outstretched in +one last attempt to pierce his armour. + +He was gone. Thus ended her mission--the last throw of the dice, upon +which she had staked so much! + +Nothing now between her and beggary but the remains of the cheque for +twenty pounds, sent to her by Mr. Rosenberg. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GAUNT'S TERMS + + + "_Her hand was close to her daughter's heart + And it felt the life-blood's sudden start; + A quick deep breath did the damsel draw + Like the struck fawn in the oakenshaw._"--Rossetti. + + +Virginia, lily-pale in the heat, sat at the window of the tiny parlour +dignified by the name of dining-room, adding up accounts. She had given +Pansy her lunch, eaten some bread and cheese herself, and left the +child to her daily afternoon rest while she applied herself to the +discussion of ways and means. + +It was Tony's half-holiday, and he would be home, he promised, at five +o'clock, to help her carry down the little invalid into the garden to +have tea. He was renouncing an hour of his precious cricket to do this. +What a darling he was! Virginia's eyes grew misty as she thought of +him--how pluckily he went without things that "other chaps" had! How +loyally he refrained from piercing her heart with the thought of her +own helplessness to supply him with what he wanted! + +Now, for the first time, she was alone with the problem created by her +mother's improvidence. In all its bare hideousness, the thing +confronted her. The rent was due. They had always waited to pay it +until the cheque for the quarter's rent at Lissendean came in. Now +there was no cheque to be expected. If her mother's errand to-day had +failed, she must give notice to quit that very afternoon. Even so, +where was this quarter's rent to come from? The balance at the bank was +seven pounds six and two-pence. + +The furniture must be sold. This, with her mother's pretty things, +would pay the landlord. Afterwards--what? + +The sweet eyes grew dim with a secret, bewildered kind of pain. Why had +Gerald Rosenberg gone away without a word?... Yet, when she asked +herself why not, she had no intelligible answer to give. Nothing had +passed between himself and her, in words. Only she had been conscious +of his unceasing, absorbed attention, given to herself, whenever they +had been in company. There had been a tiny secret thread of mutual +understanding--or so Virginia had thought. It now appeared that she was +mistaken. There had been nothing between them. It was like brushing +gossamer from before one's eyes. It had been there, but it was nothing. +The first strong light of reason dispersed it. Something that had been +very sweet, very poignant, had come to an end. While telling herself +that it had all been her own fancy, inwardly she knew it was not so. +There had been something. But it was only gossamer--just midsummer +madness. + +Now that the doom had fallen, she would never see the Rosenbergs again. +She would have to be a governess, if such a post could be obtained. + +Keenly she wondered what was passing between Mrs. Mynors and her old +lover. Though her nature revolted from the idea, she yet caught herself +hoping that a marriage between the two might come about. If this Mr. +Gaunt--what an uncomfortable name!--was ready to take his former +sweetheart to his home, he surely would offer asylum to her children, +or if not, arrange that they could be together elsewhere. + +Ah! That would be the thing! She lost herself in visions of this little +home with herself, Pansy and Tony in it--no mother to wait upon; for +dearly as she loved the privilege of waiting upon her mother, Virginia +had to own that it was mamma who made things difficult. + +She shut her neatly kept books with a sigh, and as she did so, glancing +up, she saw to her surprise, that her mother was opening the garden +gate. + +She must have caught a very early train home! + +Swiftly Virginia sprang up, hurried to the door, and admitted the +returned traveller. One glance at the pretty, sulky face, the lids +slightly puffed as with recent tears, told Virginia that the news was +not good; and her heart sank to a degree so unexpectedly low that she +girded at herself for a coward and a despicable person. + +"Oh, my dear, you have walked all this way alone in the heat! How tired +you must be. We are going to have tea in the garden later on--come to +your sitting-room; let me put you on the sofa and take off your shoes. +You will soon feel better," she crooned over her mother, as she led her +to the couch, tended her gently and lovingly, and--oh, crowning +boon--asked no questions. + +The care was accepted, but with a reservation which the sensitive girl +was quick to feel. Gazing on the averted face and pouting lips, she +could almost have thought that mamma was vexed with her, had that not +been improbable under the circumstances. What was it? Did mamma think +she ought to have met the train? Or did she want special tea made for +her alone, immediately? Well, that was easily done. "Lie and rest, dear +one," she said sympathetically, "and I will just make you a cup of tea; +the kettle won't take five minutes to boil." + +When she returned, with the dainty tray, and the wafer bread and +butter, her mother was sitting up, her feet on the ground, her elbows +on a small table, crying silently into her ridiculous +pocket-handkerchief. This could, of course, only mean complete +disaster. With a dreadful sinking of the heart Virginia murmured: + +"You will tell me all about it when you feel able?" + +Uncovering her eyes, Mrs. Mynors fixed them reproachfully upon her +daughter; and the girl, conscious of some unspoken reproach, felt +guilty, though no misdeeds came to her mind. + +"Virgie," said a hollow voice, as at last the silence was broken, "did +Miriam Rosenberg, when you were in town, take you to any picture +galleries?" + +Virgie stood, the picture of astonishment. + +"Why, yes, we went to the Academy," said she, wonderingly, "and--oh, +yes--we went to Hertford House as well." + +As she spoke the words, the memory of that day, that last day with +Gerald, caused the rosy tint to steal up on her pale cheeks. The lynx +eyes fixed upon her saw and misinterpreted. + +"Did you meet a gentleman there?" + +Still more mystified, Virginia shook her head. + +"Virginia, think! A dark man, who walked lame." + +The girl started--yes, her mother was not mistaken, she started quite +visibly. "The lame man," she said. "Yes, of course, I remember." + +Something like fury gleamed in the elder woman's blue eyes as she stood +up, confronting her taller daughter. "He was Mr. Gaunt!" she flashed. + +"What! _That_ was Mr. Gaunt? Was it indeed? Oh, then, perhaps that +accounts for it!" + +"Accounts for what?" + +"That he looked as if he expected me to bow to him or speak to +him--that he looked as if he thought he knew me! I am very like you, +mamma, am I not? Everybody says so." + +"He saw the likeness, and remembers the meeting," muttered Mrs. Mynors, +crumpling up her handkerchief into a tight ball with vindictive +fingers. "I suppose you thought he admired you very much?" + +"Not at all," returned the girl at once. "I thought he looked angry or +offended. He--he followed us about rather persistently, until Mims and +I felt uncomfortable. We went and sat outside, at the top of the +stairs, to get out of his way." + +"Humph! He did admire you, though, for all that! At least, he wants to +marry you!" + +"Wha-a-t!" Virginia was guilty of vulgarity in her amused amaze. "Oh, +mummie, don't be silly! He meant you. You have made a mistake." + +Her mother gave a short, bitter laugh. "I am _passee_," she said +through her teeth. "I ought to have known better. I ought to have sent +you as my ambassador! You might have been able to come to terms. Tell +me," she cried sharply, grasping her daughter's wrist, "tell me what +you thought of him? Sombre, interesting--eh? The strong silent +man--that kind of thing? You must have used your eyes in a way that I +am sure I never taught you." + +Virginia stood transfixed. She felt as if she were talking to a +stranger. This was a mother she had never seen. "Oh, mother, dear, what +can you mean?" she remonstrated, in low, hurt tones. + +With another mirthless laugh, Mrs. Mynors flung back upon her sofa +pillows. She began to pour tea into a cup, and her hand shook. + +"How little girls understand," said she with sarcasm. "Tell me now, +honestly, what _did_ you think of him?" + +Virginia remained a moment, searching her memory. Every minute of that +afternoon was etched clearly in her mind's eye. "Mims did not like him +at all," said she. "She thought he meant to be rude. But I thought that +he looked--very unhappy." + +"A case of mutual love at first sight, evidently," was the scornful +comment. "Well, shall you have him, Virgie? I am to make you the formal +offer of his hand." + +"Mother, I think--I think I had better leave you to drink some tea and +rest," said the meek Virginia. "I really can't understand what you +mean, you are talking wildly, and I am afraid the long, hot journey has +unnerved you." + +"Stop, Virgie, don't go out. I forbid it. You must stay and listen to +what I have to say. Before saying it, I wanted to find out just how +much had passed between you, and I understand things a little better +after what you tell me. Well! In short, I have what Mr. Gaunt calls a +business offer to put before you, and you have until to-morrow +afternoon's post in which to make up your mind." + +Virginia obediently seated herself upon a chair opposite her mother, +who, between sips of tea, told her of the offer made by Gaunt. + +The elder woman's mind was in a strange tumult--she hardly knew which +was the keener feeling in her--her furious jealousy or her devouring +desire that her daughter should accept the offer which would lift them +out of poverty. On her journey down in the train, she had been growing +used to the idea. The sense of outrage, which had stung her so smartly +at first, subsided a little, in the light of other considerations. What +chances of matrimony had Virginia? Since she had let young Rosenberg +slip through her fingers, her mother was beginning to see that she was +not the kind of girl to seize chances, even should they present +themselves. If Gaunt were serious in his wild plan, if it could be +shown that he was financially solvent and able to do as he promised, +then she had better swallow her feelings and take what she could get. + +She told herself that it was one of those cases of sudden electric +sympathy--of love at first sight. Yet she knew that she said this only +to salve her conscience. She was, as her old lover had told her, no +fool. She saw his conduct, all of a piece. Why had he taken up the +mortgage on Lissendean? To have her in his power. Why did he wish to +become her son-in-law? For the same reason. Try to deceive herself as +she might, she knew that love had no place in the man's thoughts. When +he had spoken of "getting a bit of his own back," he had spoken with a +certain momentary glimpse of self revelation. He had uncovered a corner +of a mind perverted, a mind which had brooded long upon a solitary idea +of grievance until obsessed by it. + +Mrs. Mynors, in her sub-conscious self, knew all this. Had she told her +daughter, the girl must have recoiled shuddering from the prospect of +such an alliance. As her old lover had foreseen, she was very careful +_not_ to tell her daughter anything of the kind. Her better nature +had at first fought within her a little. She resolved that she would +describe Gaunt's malevolence, his cold-blooded assurance. Then she +would come forward, offer to share a part of Virginia's burden, decide +that they must stand together and face what her own selfish, mean folly +had brought upon them all. But, as she strove to envisage some of what +such a step must cost her, she had cowered away from the picture. + +She _could not_ face beggary. + +She began to temporise. How did she know the exact position of affairs? +It was possible that, strive though he might to conceal it from her, +the man was in love. She determined upon her course of action. She +would tell Virginia how Gaunt had watched her in the Gallery. The +girl's own demeanour should give her the cue as to whether or no she +should proceed to unfold his proposal. If the sudden fancy had been +mutual ... after all, it _might_ have been mutual.... + +She returned home. She spoke. Virginia betrayed consciousness. Before +the mention of the lame man--at the very memory of Hertford House--she +had blushed, she had been embarrassed. Further questioning had elicited +her clear memory of Gaunt's attention and pursuit. She had owned, with +a distinct hesitation, that she thought he looked unhappy. That decided +Mrs. Mynors. With a new hard-heartedness, born of her new, tormenting +jealousy of Virgie's youth and sweetness, she stamped down the +deep-lying scruples. She made the best of Gaunt's case, and said that +he wished to come down to Wayhurst to plead his suit himself. + +It took some time to convince Virgie that the man was in earnest. Yet, +recalling his appearance and manner, as she held them in her memory, +the girl owned to herself that this was a man who might make an +eccentric, even a quixotic, offer. + +The interview was broken off short by the entrance of Tony, who flung +open the front door, loudly whistling, and could be heard throwing down +his books, and shouting for Virgie. He knew better than to enter the +little boudoir, his mother's sanctum. Very, very rarely was he +permitted to set foot within its charmed area. + +"I have until to-morrow's post," said Virgie gravely, as she lifted the +tray with the tea-things, and carried it away. + +The whole affair must be pushed into the background for the time being. +Pansy was to be fetched downstairs, the tea-table spread in the garden, +more tea prepared. Tony was a willing, if somewhat boisterous, helper. +He and his sister between them soon arranged things, and the too +brilliant eyes of the little cripple glistened with pleasure as she was +laid beside the wire arch smothered in Hiawatha, to enjoy the air of +the exquisite summer evening. + +Virgie sat, the socks she endlessly knitted for Tony in her never idle +fingers, watching the clear-cut profile, which, as she could not +conceal from herself, grew ever more ethereal. Pansy did not seem +definitely worse, and had less pain than formerly. But she was wasting, +and her sister knew it. + +The Wayhurst doctor was very anxious that a new treatment, in which he +had great faith, should be tried. He thought it the only chance; but as +it was protracted, and involved a long course of skilled nursing, with +daily medical supervision, it would be extremely costly. It was, +therefore, out of the question. + +Yet, if Virginia married Mr. Gaunt, it would become easy. He had +actually volunteered that Pansy should have all the help obtainable. +She glanced from Pansy to Tony, and at the darns on his threadbare +trouser-knees. She heard his jolly laugh, and also his quickly +smothered sigh, as he remarked that he was the only chap in his form +who did not belong to the school O.T.C. He knew that the uniform and +camp expenses were beyond his sister's resources. + +This, too, would be rectified, if she did as suggested. It was a bribe +of whose strength Gaunt himself could form no idea. + +Later, when Tony had scampered away to bowl at the nets, and she was +alone in the kitchen washing up tea-things, she bent her mind upon the +extraordinary turn of affairs. The heat had made her so languid that +she was obliged to sit down while the kettle boiled upon her tiny +oil-stove. Her visit to London had done her spirits good, but London +air is not the best for recuperative purposes. Moreover, she had been +up late most nights during her stay in town, and the thought of Gerald +had at times disturbed her rest. Since her return--and more especially +since hearing about the mortgage trouble--her strength seemed to grow +less and less. The knowledge that she was almost at the end of her +means, and saw no chance of replenishing the empty exchequer, had acted +upon a body weakened by a long course of underfeeding. In her heart she +knew that she could not go on much longer acting as general servant, +and starving herself that the others might have enough. If she broke +down--if her health proved to be so undermined that she could not take +a situation--what was to become of these helpless ones? + +The idea that her mother could help in any way never occurred to her. +The three were bracketed together in her mind, as those for whom she +had promised her dying father to care. + +Now came a way out--not an inviting one, but one that had to be faced +nevertheless. If she married Mr. Gaunt, he undertook to lift her +burdens from her shoulders. Moreover, he lived in the country--the real +country. Omberleigh Grange was in Derbyshire, and it must have a +garden--a real garden, such as she had been born to, such as she loved. +A garden in which to rest and grow strong again, a garden in which +Pansy might be wheeled along smooth walks, and lie under the spreading +shade of big trees. These things could be hers, at a price. What did +the price involve? + +Mr. Gaunt had loved her mother. He knew, of course, that her mother had +preferred another man; but she, Virginia, bore a wonderful resemblance +to the woman lost, and the lonely man wanted to satisfy his empty heart +by cherishing her. In return, he would do for mother, for Pansy, for +Tony, all the things that she, poor Virgie, in her helplessness, could +not do, with all her love. The sacrifice demanded was just the +sacrifice of herself. Well--what did that matter? Why should she not be +sacrificed, for the good and happiness of those she loved so ardently? +It really was very simple, after all. + +Perhaps a few weeks earlier she might not have felt quite so +indifferent. There had been shining gates--the gates of a young girl's +fancy--and shyly they had begun to open, and to show a tiny glimpse of +rosy mysteries within. + +That was over now. It had been but gossamer and illusion. This was a +real, definite, tangible plan--a rope held out to save her perishing +family, drifting on a bit of wreckage. In the seizing of the rope, she +herself, incidentally, would be sacrificed. That was all. Why not? + +By the time that the scanty crockery was arranged in spotless order on +the shelves, and the kitchen as tidy as a new pin, the girl had +practically come to a decision. She said nothing, however, that night. +Pansy was a little over-tired after her garden excursion, and could not +get to sleep, so, instead of sitting with her mother downstairs, +Virginia remained at the little invalid's bedside and read aloud. When +at last the child slept, she was too tired to do anything but go to bed +herself. Nevertheless, her preoccupations awoke her in the early summer +dawn. + +In her utter simplicity she slipped from bed and knelt down in her +white garment. She asked for guidance, and it seemed to her childlike +faith that it was granted. Like her namesake in far-off old Rome, she +must be sacrificed. She remembered the words of the ballad she had +learned as a child, the words spoken by the frantic father of the Roman +Virginia: "And now, my own dear little girl, there is no way but this!" + +It was as though her own father's voice spoke to her from the grave, +urging her to courage and a stout heart. The man was a stranger, the +man was formidable; but she would be so good to him that they must grow +to understand each other. + +It was the only way, and she resolved to take it. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +VIRGINIA DECIDES + + + "_Early in the morning + When the first cock crowed his warning + Neat as bee, as sweet and busy, + Fetched in honey, milked the cows, + Aired and set to rights the house,... + Fed the poultry, sat and sewed; + Talked as modest maidens should._" + --Christina Rossetti. + + +When Virginia went into her mother's room after breakfast that morning, +she told her quietly that she had made her decision. + +Mrs. Mynors gave a half-stifled, excited exclamation. For the life of +her she could not have told what she hoped or desired. She stared at +her composed daughter with eyes half of entreaty, half of fear. + +"I shall write and tell Mr. Gaunt to come to-morrow," said Virginia +with calm. + +"Oh, for pity's sake, child, are you not mad?" cried the wretched woman +in the bed. + +"I have considered it," was the steady answer. "He is unhappy, and I am +pretty sure that I could be a comfort to him. His way of doing things +seems odd; but he is lonely, and I daresay he has been soured. I will +do all I can to make him happy, if he on his side will perform his +promises to you and the children." + +"Virgie, don't!" The voice was so altered, so strange, that the girl +paused, wondering. + +"Don't? Why do you say so?" + +"Because I----" Mrs. Mynors came to a stop. What could she say? +"Because I have a lurking idea that he will not be kind to you." How +ridiculous that sounded! And upon what was it based? Only upon the +man's manner--his insolence, his evident desire to wound and insult +her. Somehow she could not tell Virgie how his open contempt had stung. + +"Because you--you don't know him--you can't love him," she stammered. + +"But _you_ knew him and loved him well enough to promise to marry +him," countered Virgie instantly. "Of course, that has great weight +with me. If he were a complete stranger, it would be different." She +stood beside the bed, playing with one of its brass corner-knobs. "You +know, mamma, I am rather an odd girl," said she with a swift blush. "I +think I am attracted to what I pity. It would be waste to marry me to +an adoring husband, who would give me everything I desired. I would +rather give than have things given to me." + +Mrs. Mynors lay back, watching her through narrowed eyes. "You +are--yes, you certainly are odd," she muttered. "I own that I don't +understand you in the least." + +Virgie smiled. None knew better than she herself the truth of this +statement. + +"Of course," said she, "I am not accepting his offer definitely. I am +simply saying that he may come here and see me to-morrow. I could not +clinch the matter until we have some hold over him." + +"What?" cried her mother sharply. "What do you mean by that?" + +"Well," replied her young daughter simply, "Mr. Gaunt has made some big +promises. How do we know that he means to keep them? You say he is +eccentric. He may not be trustworthy. In any case, I shall not agree to +do as he asks without being certain that he will do as he offers. We +must go to Mr. Askew and ask him to come and meet him, so that a proper +settlement may be prepared." + +"Well, upon my word! Virgie, you cold-blooded little horror!" began +Mrs. Mynors, almost in a scream. She broke off abruptly and rolled +over, hiding her face in the pillows. + +"But, mother," said Virgie wonderingly, "you don't reflect. I am +promising to give all that I have or am. Suppose I did that, and found +myself cheated of the price? You must know that I should not think of +marrying a man I have hardly seen and do not love, except for you and +the children. Do you call me cold-blooded because I am careful to +assure myself that I shan't be sacrificed in vain?" + +Her mother wrung her hands. "Virgie, you know that I do not demand such +an unnatural bargain?" + +"Of course I know that you don't demand it," was the quiet answer. "It +is my own decision. I promise you one thing: if, when Mr. Gaunt comes, +I feel that he is a person I never could care for, if he repels me +utterly, I will draw back. But you know, mother, you have told me one +or two things about him, as he was in the old days when you loved +him--and they were rather fine." + +"Oh, but he is so altered," sobbed Mrs. Mynors from the pillow. "You +would never know him for the same man. He used to be so tender, so +chivalrous, so impulsive. Now he seems so hard, so----" + +She broke off. What was she doing? The affair that was to bring her +comparative ease, to keep her from starvation, was well in train. +Should she herself stop it? She reflected that Virginia was not +accepting definitely--only promising to consider the matter. Let things +take their course. She believed the girl had some sentimental +school-girl fancy about Osbert! Yes, she had thought that from the +first. She was wasting her compassion, her delicate feeling. + +After all, considering Virgie's beauty, was it likely that Gaunt would +be cruel to her? With a feeling almost like hatred she studied the pure +outline of the profile, the effect of the sunlight glinting through the +brown-gold hair, the curve of the chin, the slimness of the young, +drooping body, veiled in its blue overall. + +"Oh, do as you like!" she cried, "send your letter; but talk as little +as you can to me about it! How do you suppose I like being told that +you are sacrificing yourself for me? I can go to the workhouse in the +last resort, like other people." + +"Perhaps. But Pansy can't," said Virginia, a trifle rigidly. She took +up the tray and disappeared. + + * * * * * + +The day dragged by. To Virginia it seemed as if it would never end, and +yet as if it were passing like a sigh. She felt as those who have been +in a sinking ship have described themselves as feeling when the wave +rose above the gunwale, and seemed to hesitate--to pause +awfully--before it burst. + +Pansy was very insistently eager to know what had passed between mamma +and Mr. Gaunt the previous day. It was hard to stave off her +pertinacious inquiry, but Virgie was able to tell her that negotiations +were going on which might, or might not, lead to something. To-morrow +would bring more news. + +Thus the dawn broke upon the fatal day--a day of persistent fine rain +which did nothing to abate the heat. + +At about ten o'clock the loud imperative knock of a telegraph boy +sounded upon the little door. Virginia took in the message. It was from +Gaunt, and ran thus-- + + +_Please reply definitely to business offer, which otherwise is off._ + + +The girl sat down, with knees shaking, staring at the message, which +was reply paid. The boy waited whistling in the little entrance passage. + +Should she give the definite answer demanded? Could she face the +knowledge that all hope was over? She would not show her mother the +despotic telegram. She knew that she must answer it for herself. + +Taking a pencil she wrote: + + +_Definite reply impossible till after visit. May we expect you?_ + + +She prepaid the reply to this, dismissed the boy, and walked into the +kitchen with limbs shaking. She felt as if she had defied the robber +chief who was holding them all to ransom. + +It is difficult to describe the storm of excitement in which she +awaited the second message. Her mother and Pansy both demanded the +meaning of the double knock. She replied tranquilly to her mother that +Mr. Gaunt had tried to extort a definite answer, which she had refused +to give. Mrs. Mynors' cry: "Then he won't come after all?" was so +tragic that the girl's heart contracted. + +Within an hour she held in her hands the following remarkable sentence: + + +_You gain nothing by delay. Arrive about four._ + + +Virgie could not conceal from herself that it was relief which she +experienced. Putting on her hat, she went out in the rain, down to the +town, to the office of Mr. Askew, the solicitor, who had helped her +with the agreement for Laburnum Villa, and in one or two other small +matters. She asked him to come up that afternoon, at about half-past +four. Then she bought a few little cakes for tea, and returned home to +arrange everything as spick and span as possible. + +Her mother had insisted that the "supply" should be asked to come up +for the afternoon, that their guest might not know of their servantless +condition. Virginia was at first opposed to the idea, but after +reflection she agreed. Mr. Gaunt must not think them too utterly in his +power. She felt like the besieged citizens who threw loaves of bread +over the walls, in order that the besiegers might suppose that they +were living in plenty. Moreover, the presence of Mrs. Brown would +ensure that Pansy and Tony were not neglected, but had tea at the +proper time, Virgie being otherwise engaged. + +Thus it was that Gaunt, on his arrival, was admitted by a +responsible-looking middle-aged woman in a very clean apron, and shown +into a room which, though tiny, was a bower of luxury. + +Mrs. Mynors, beautifully gowned, rose from the downy Chesterfield to +greet him. She thought he looked less vindictive, less ironical than he +had seemed at their last meeting. After all, perhaps she had been +fancying things! + +"Well," he said, "so our young lady is considering the subject, as I +foresaw she would do. She is her mother's own daughter." + +Mrs. Mynors smothered her resentment at this extraordinary address. She +was conscious of a hatred which was difficult to keep within bounds, +but her own panic, when she knew that there was a doubt of his coming, +had shown her something of what would be her frame of mind if Virginia +declined to marry. + +"Virginia," said she, "is by no means my own daughter. I am a wretched +woman of business, whereas her head is as clear as a man's. She wishes +to have all that you propose to do for us embodied in a marriage +settlement." + +"Ha!" said Gaunt, as if delighted. The mother could hardly have made a +more misleading statement. "Sharp young woman, indeed! Well, I respect +her for that. There's no reason that I know of, for her to trust me. +Where is she, by the bye? Has she entrusted the preliminaries to you?" + +"No, she has not. She is acting quite independently in this matter," +snapped Mrs. Mynors. "She is not quite of age, but I have always left +her a great liberty of action. In fact, we have been more like sisters +than mother and daughter." She dabbed her eyes daintily, and her voice +was fraught with pathos. + +"How charming!" said Gaunt gravely. "Did she remember having met me at +the Wallace Collection?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed she did! She remembered very well!" cried Mrs. Mynors, +and her laugh was nearly as unpleasant as his own. + +"Capital," was his comment. "All should go well then. Is love at first +sight the proper cue, eh? Advise me. What do you think?" + +For a moment the mask dropped. The real woman looked at him through the +eyes of the elder Virginia. "I think you are a devil," she said +distinctly. + +He seemed much amused. "Well, perhaps you are not so far out this time. +I told you that you were no fool. I thought you could be trusted to +prepare the way for these difficult negotiations. Now may I see the +lady of my heart?" + +As he spoke, the door opened softly and Virginia walked in. + +She wore her deceptive air of extreme elegance, and her prettiest +frock. It was a costume grossly unsuited to the tiny villa, and she had +hitherto worn it only in London. Any man beholding her might have been +pardoned for supposing her to be a luxury-loving idler, a girl who +thought of little else but appearances. + +Gaunt stood up. She approached him with a mingling of shyness and +welcome; her manner seemed to trust him completely--to say that she +knew herself safe in his hands. It might have made appeal to the +veriest ruffian, had not his eye been jaundiced by his knowledge of her +mother, and of their penniless circumstances. Her virginal modesty was +to him merely consummate hypocrisy. + +"Well," he said, "so I hear that you are not going to commit yourself +until I stand committed too? Is that so?" + +She laughed a little breathlessly. His non-smiling, dark face and big, +rather hulking person were formidable, and she was conscious of fear. + +"You said it was a business transaction, and business transactions +ought to be business-like, ought they not?" she asked. She was speaking +playfully, while her eyes sought his, as wanting to understand, to +obtain some key to his curious behaviour. "It was kind of you to come, +nevertheless," she added, with a hesitation born of his lack of +response. + +"I am a non-social, boorish kind of person," he said abruptly, after a +pause, during which she withdrew herself and sat down. "I suppose I +ought to begin with some kind of apology for such a blunt offer, hey? +But I am told that young ladies nowadays like something out of the way; +and you could fill in the details for yourself, I expect. You saw me +admiring you that day in the Gallery, did you not?" + +Again the eyes, so like, so unlike, her mother's, were lifted to those +of the man who remembered each look and smile of twenty years back as +if it had been yesterday. + +"I noticed something special--something I could not interpret--in your +manner," was her gentle reply. "I told my friend that I thought you +must imagine that you knew me. I was interested when mamma said that it +was my likeness to her which drew your attention. I was glad to have it +so well explained." + +He leaned forward, intent upon her face and her down-bent gaze. "Well," +he said, in a voice which thrilled her curiously, "perhaps you think +that my suggestion is not quite so surprising, after all?" + +Virginia made no reply. Her mother clenched her hands in rage, made +some small movement, enough to attract his attention, and caught a ray +of what was undoubtedly malice directed at her from under his heavy +lids. + +"Well," he went on, turning again to the girl, his tone subdued and +almost gentle, "what do you say?" + +She wavered--her colour came. Innocent and ignorant of life though she +was, she yet felt the immensity of the step she was taking; but, +strangely enough, the fact that the man gave her no help counted in his +favour with her. His manner suggested some tremendous feeling, out of +sight. His aloofness was like a fine and delicate consideration. The +mocking quality in his address, so obvious to her mother, passed her by. + +"Do you really think," she asked, her gaze still upon the ground, "that +I am an adequate exchange for all the things you promise to do +for--_them_?" + +"Tell me now--enumerate--what have I promised to do for _them_?" + +She lifted her eyes then. He was not looking at her, but brushing the +sleeve of his coat where a crumb had fallen upon it. This avoidance +gave her courage. "To educate Tony," said her voice, so fatally like +her mother's in its cadenced sweetness, "to allow mother three hundred +pounds a year, and to let Pansy have the best advice and treatment for +her lameness." + +"I admit all that, right enough. Anything more?" + +"To settle five thousand pounds on me----" + +He looked in triumph at Mrs. Mynors. "Admirable!" he said, with a +sarcasm which penetrated to the girl's intelligence with a shock. She +broke off, startled. + +"All right," he told her soothingly. "I agree to that too. Anything +more?" + +"Our solicitor, Mr. Askew, said there was another thing that I ought to +ask," she replied, quite tranquilly. "It is that you should make a will +in my favour, so that if anything happened to you, we should not be +left destitute." + +He once more let his mocking glance lash Mrs. Mynors. "I appreciate my +future wife's business capacity," said he, "but I warn you that I am +horribly healthy. Except for the accident which lamed me, I have not +had a day's illness in my life. I fear I shan't oblige you by dying +just yet." + +Virgie grew pink. "Oh, I beg your pardon! That must have sounded very +cold-blooded," she apologised. "But you said it was a business offer, +did you not?" + +He smiled for the first time. Dropping his voice to a low +persuasiveness: "Did you quite believe that?" he asked. + +Thus challenged, the truth in Virginia spoke. "No," she told him; "I +thought it too extraordinary to be true." + +"Besides," he persisted, still in that wooing undertone, "with a man +who had seen you, it could hardly be, eh?" + +Virgie held her breath. Something was here which was utterly beyond +her. She was half terrified, half fascinated. + +"Do you remember the statue on the landing at Hertford House?" he +asked. The blood rushed to her cheeks now in headlong tide. _He_ +knew what brought it; her mother misinterpreted. + +"When you had gone, I went and read the inscription," he pursued. "I +told myself how true it was. Do you remember it? _Voici ton +maitre?_" + +He sat and watched the memory, the pang that rent her. The sight of it +seemed to give him real pleasure. He could trace the regret, the quiver +of feeling, and he could say to himself: "She loves young Rosenberg, +but she will marry me for my money. She deserves the punishment which I +am going to inflict." + +"So, you see, I am a wise man; I know when I am beaten," he went on +smoothly. "I acknowledged my master when I found him." + +The struggle in Virginia was keen. She was telling herself that this +was Mr. Gaunt's highly unusual way of confessing himself attracted. If +it were true that he already felt this strong inclination, then she +must satisfy him; the marriage ought to be a success, since he had the +desire to love, and she the will to please, to serve, to cherish. Yet +there was an undernote, like the boom of the far-away storm in the +voice of a calm sea. This alarmed her, for she did not understand it. + +To steady herself and hide her embarrassment she rose and went to the +tea-table, at which she seated herself, pouring the tea and dispensing +it with the noticeable grace which characterised her least important +actions. + +She noticed that her mother was shedding tears, and the sight caused +her to make a great effort and launch into small talk--of the late +heat, and the rain, and the climate of Wayhurst. Small support did she +receive from either of her companions; and by the time that Gaunt had +eaten a slice of cake and drunk two cups of tea, his patience seemed +suddenly to give out. + +"Come, then," he asked suddenly, "have we arranged matters, subject to +your finding the business side of the transaction in good order?" + +Thus confronted with the bald issue, Virgie felt as if he had slapped +her in the face; but in a moment she had rallied. He had promised to +give her all she asked. Could she, logically, do aught else but accept? +She clasped her hands tightly in her lap, hesitated, rose, and went to +the window, gazing forth upon the little wet street. Over the way, at +Alpine Cottage, the pug had managed to get shut out in the rain. It was +astonishing how often he did this. It was the one thing that seriously +displeased his prim and elderly mistress. Virgie's mind caught at the +trifling fact, the little bit of her daily life, as if its +consideration could protect her against the awful decision which loomed +ahead. + +"If you want to stipulate for other things, now is your time," said +Gaunt, rising and coming towards her. It was but a step, for the room +was tiny. "For instance, don't you want it put in the settlements that +you should have so many months in town every year, or that I should +give you a motor? I haven't got a motor, I must warn you." + +Here was something that she could answer without hesitation. She turned +to him her lovely, tender smile. "Oh, all that! Why, I shall be your +wife," she sweetly answered him. + +There was a tingling silence after this artless speech. Gaunt's face +fell. He looked as though a momentary doubt assailed him. Then he +realised that he must seize the chance she thus unwittingly gave him of +assuming her consent. + +"Ah! then you can think of yourself as my wife?" He turned his face to +where Mrs. Mynors sat like a woman hypnotised. "Then we are engaged!" +he cried. "I am such a crusted old provincial bachelor that I did not +provide for this occasion before I left town by the purchase of a ring. +But I see upon your mother's finger a jewel which, if I mistake not, +belongs to me." He approached the sofa with hand outstretched. "Thank +you, madam. It seems to me a most touching idea that the mother and +daughter should wear the same betrothal ring." He held it out to +Virginia. + +"Put it on," he said. + +Virginia wavered. She looked from the man to the woman, bewildered with +the invisible clash of feelings which she could not interpret. Mrs. +Mynors hid her face behind her perfumed wisp of lawn; but, then, she +would have done that in any case at such a moment as her daughter's +betrothal. Gaunt's eyes were alight, but, as it were, a-smoulder; there +was no flame in their glance. + +Turning very white, the girl took the ring from him and obediently +slipped it upon her finger. + +"Done!" he said, in tones of boundless satisfaction. "Now we come to +definite arrangements." He seated himself again, but Virginia remained +standing as if something had turned her to stone. "I live a very busy +life at Omberleigh," he told her briskly, "farming my own land; and my +estate is a big one. I must go down there to-night to superintend the +end of the hay harvest, and I must stay there a few days in order to +prepare the house for your reception. I should like to be married this +day week if that will suit you. As we both live in our own parishes, +there will be no difficulty about a licence. It is not possible for me +to take a honeymoon at this time of year, so I shall carry you straight +back to Derbyshire after the ceremony." + +"Wait--wait. No, no, Osbert, this is preposterous!" broke in Mrs. +Mynors. "This cannot be. Virginia does not know you; she is all +unprepared. Such haste is--improper! I will not have it." + +He looked as obstinate as a mule with its ears laid back. "Sorry," he +said. "On this matter I shall be obliged to insist. I must be married +before we begin to reap, and it is going to be a very early harvest +this year. Don't make difficulties. Remember that you profess to be +very hard up, and I don't begin to make you any allowance until your +daughter is my wife." + +Virginia was reflecting. "If they told me I was to have an operation I +would rather have it at once, than be left to think about it." + +She spoke suddenly. "Mother, I can be ready," she said gently. "Let it +be as Mr. Gaunt thinks best." + +"Excellent!" said the bridegroom. "Your mother tells me that she allows +you complete independence of action, so we will take this as settled. +Is that your solicitor now entering the gate? I will give him my +instructions at once with your permission, for I must go back to London +by the six train to catch the express to Ashbourne." + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +INTO THE UNKNOWN + + + "_Graceful as an ivy bough + Born to cling and lean, + Thus she sat to sing and sew.... + When she raised her lustrous eyes + A beast peeped at the door._"--Christina Rossetti. + + +Mr. Askew stood at the window, watching the figure of the prospective +bridegroom limping down the road. He turned his mild eyes back to the +two ladies within the room with something like wonder in their depths. + +"Miss Virginia, I congratulate you," he said almost reverently. "You +have indeed found a generous husband." + +"You think--you are of opinion--that his generosity is exceptional?" +faltered Mrs. Mynors. + +"Exceptional? But, my _dear_ madam, it is unheard of! Strong +indeed must be the attachment! He told me," added the kind old man, +with a smile of appreciation at the bride-elect, "that it was a case of +love at first sight. Miss Virginia has made a conquest worth boasting +of!" + +Virginia stood gazing anxiously at the speaker. She longed to ask if he +was quite sure that her future husband was sane; but such a question +must appear too eccentric for her to venture upon it. Fortunately, the +next words of the lawyer practically answered it. + +"And such a grasp of business! Such a fine, keen intelligence! He tells +me that he runs his estate at a profit, has all these new intensive +culture ideas, and plenty of capital to carry them out. A fine fortune, +indeed! One wonders how it chances that such a man has remained so long +a bachelor!" + +Mrs. Mynors bridled, but said nothing. Virginia absorbed the sense of +the opinion just given with considerable relief. The information +respecting Gaunt's scientific cultivation of his land interested her. +Her own father, living on his hereditary acres, had been in like manner +devoted to the soil. At Lissendean, however, the land had starved to +supply the constantly increasing demands of the mistress of the house; +and the shadow of the approaching, inevitable bankruptcy had paralysed +all planning, and embittered the premature illness and death of a +chivalrous and simple gentleman. + +The thought that this free life, of tramping over fields and through +spinneys, of riding across one's own acres, and watching the response +of the earth to the hand of man, might once more be hers, went far to +reconcile the new Andromeda to her lot. The manner and appearance of +her suitor had rather puzzled than hurt her. He had pleaded solitude +and boorishness as a reason for his extraordinarily abrupt tactics. If +he atoned for his surprising rudeness in the matter (for instance) of +her mother's ring by being good to his wife, and allowing her to have +Pansy to stay with her, then she might be so nearly happy that she need +waste little regret upon her own action in shutting upon her youth the +gate of dreams. Softly she stole from the room, leaving her mother +still in talk with Mr. Askew, finding out all she could as to the +extent of her son-in-law's means; and privately speculating as to how +far it would be prudent to exceed the miserable allowance which he +proposed to make her. + +Virginia went upstairs to Pansy's room to console the child for her +disappointment in not having seen her future brother. Shyly the elder +sister, when Gaunt was taking leave, had suggested a moment's visit to +the little invalid. She had been curtly refused. He had barely time in +which to catch his train to London. By way of comfort, Virgie now +enlarged upon the big, beautiful garden at Omberleigh, wherein, of +course, Pansy would ere long find herself installed. Eagerly the child +noticed and remarked upon the beautiful ring which her sister wore. She +had not previously seen it, and was naturally kept in ignorance of its +somewhat humiliating history. + +"I wonder what else he will send you, Virgie," said the child eagerly. +"I expect that before long lovely wedding presents will begin to come. +What dress shall you buy to be married in, darling?" + +"I shan't buy any," was the calm reply. "We are to be married with +nobody there but mother and Tony, at ten o'clock in the morning, and I +shall have to travel back to Omberleigh afterwards. I shall just wear +my frock that you are so fond of, with the chiffon tunic, and take a +dust-coat to church with me." + +Pansy was inclined to be disappointed, but Virginia showed her how +impossible it was for her to spend money which they had not got, and +how far more honourable she felt it to be going to her marriage in +things which had been paid for. + +Busy days they were for Virgie, for she had to engage a good, competent +servant for Laburnum Villa, and also to make arrangements with their +doctor for Pansy to try the treatment he had always been so eager to +recommend. Everything had to be so ordered that it might be fully in +train by the wedding day, that her mother should not feel too much +inconvenienced by the departure of her devoted maid-of-all-work. + +Perhaps the most difficult task of all that fell to the bride was the +writing of her news to Miriam Rosenberg. Long did she sit with the tip +of her penholder laid thoughtfully on her lip, her eyes gazing gravely +forth, but seeing nothing. She felt the extraordinary circumstances +needed some handling. She must try to put things in their most +favourable light without actually violating truth. And it was only a +few days before her day of doom that she finally achieved the following: + + +_My dearest Mims,_ + +_I am writing a line to tell you a piece of news which will, I think, +astonish you. I am going to be married! More surprising still, I am +going to be married next Tuesday! It sounds wild, I know, considering +that when I was with you there was no such idea; but it is not quite as +sudden as it seems, for Mr. Gaunt is a very old friend, and knew mother +before I was born. He is being most incredibly good, and is to provide +for mother, Pansy and Tony. Is it not wonderful? Like a story in a +book. He lives in Derbyshire, and has a big estate, so I shall be in +the country, as in old days--and you know how I love a country life. +When we are settled down, you must come and stay with us._ + +_Nobody is invited to the wedding, Mr. Gaunt having no near relative. +It is to be early in the morning, with only mother and Tony present, as +we have a long way to go afterwards._ + +_I send you much love, and I shall never forget all your goodness to +me.--Your constant friend_, + +Virginia Mynors. + + +For the two days which followed the despatch of this letter Virginia +lived in secret suspense. She did not really believe that there was any +likelihood that Perseus, in the handsome person of Gerald Rosenberg, +would arrive to unchain her from her rock; yet the tiny chance that he +might fought and struggled within her. Each time the postman passed she +felt her heart lift in her side. Each time the bell rang she wondered +whether there might not be a tall figure waiting on the other side of +the door. + +As might have been expected, no such thing happened. A letter came from +Mims by return of post, full of congratulation and excitement, and +stating that a consignment of wedding presents had been despatched. In +fact, Mr. Rosenberg, senior, was so transported with gratitude to +Virginia for refraining from becoming his daughter-in-law that he +bestowed on her a set of ermine furs fit for a princess. Mims sent a +mirror in a silver frame; Gerald a pendant. + +Except for a silver cream-jug from Mr. Askew, these were the only +presents the girl received. Tony and Pansy almost broke their hearts at +being unable to give anything, until Mrs. Mynors, roused to most +unexpected generosity, allowed them to go shares with her in pressing +upon Virgie's acceptance some articles of her mother's silver toilet +set--brush, comb, and so on. + +Small time had the bride for reflection, until the dawn of the fatal +day. + +The rain had changed the weather. The heat was no longer great--in +fact, the day was chilly and grey, with a gusty little wind which blew +up the dust in sudden puffs. + +The bride's toilette, of pale blue over white, was extremely pretty. As +she stood in the drawing-room awaiting the fly which would drive her, +her mother and Tony to the church, Mrs. Mynors thought she had never +seen a more perfect picture of girlish fairness. Excitement and nervous +trepidation had chased the pallor with which a sleepless night had +invested her. Up to the last moment she had been at work upon this and +that--rearranging her own room to accommodate the professional nurse +who would be in charge of Pansy during her treatment, trying to think +out and plan everything so exactly that her mother would not be able to +upset it afterwards. It was not until nearly two o'clock in the morning +that she finished her own packing, and lay down to the thoughts of +unspeakable dread with which she now knew that she regarded her +approaching marriage. + +Since the day of Gaunt's visit her mother had hardly spoken to her. Her +silence was not exactly hostile, but it was very wounding. It was as +though she had suddenly discovered that her daughter was not the girl +she took her to be; as if the poor child was abandoning her home and +duties to make a rich marriage--leaving her mother to pine in the +little villa, cut off from all her own set. There was nothing to take +hold of, nothing that Virginia could plead against; it was just an +atmosphere of coldness, of pained surprise, but it seemed to the +depressed girl to be the last straw. + +With her usual patience she shouldered the burden and bore it. She +guessed, with her quick, sensitive sympathy, that perhaps it hurt mamma +less to adopt this attitude. Her daughter was sacrificing herself to +her family. To admit this stunning weight of obligation must, of +course, be painful. Mamma always shrank from painful things. She had +discovered this pose of hers as a kind of refuge from humiliation. +Virgie accepted it meekly. Nevertheless, the tears which it wrung from +her in the darkness of her last night at home were bitter, and could +not be checked for a long time. + +The knowledge that Gaunt was in the town, that he had arrived by the +last train the previous night, and was putting up at the Ducal Arms +near the station, seemed to render sleep impossible. She could not tell +why. Not till five o'clock had struck was she compelled by mere +exhaustion to close her eyes. + +All her life Virginia had been a poor eater, and the least excitement +was wont to deprive her of appetite. As a result of this, she had +eaten, during the past ten days, barely enough to keep her alive. There +was nobody to notice what she ate, or whether she took a sufficient +quantity. As she had been under-nourished for the last two years, with +the sole exception of her fortnight with the Rosenbergs, during great +part of which mental agitation had made it difficult for her to eat, +she was in a state of real debility. Wholly inadequate did she feel for +what lay before her--the new beginning, the effort to understand the +unknown being whom she was to marry, the settling into strange +surroundings. Her weakness and discouragement were so profound that, by +the time she had arisen, dressed for church, and passed through the +sharp and biting agony of her parting from Pansy, she was reduced to a +state of passive endurance. + +All the way to church she talked feverishly, eagerly to Tony of what +they would do in the future. She would pay his pocket money out of her +own allowance. He was to join the school O.T.C. at once, so that he +might go into camp at the end of term.... + +In such plans as these lay her only anodyne. + +Her mother was reduced to complete silence. Mrs. Mynors--in her own +opinion--was the interesting and tragic heroine of this occasion. She, +in all her beauty, all her desolation, had been passed by in favour of +her inexperienced, immature daughter. The pathos of her position--left +in Laburnum Villa while Virginia went to take up a place in county +society--flooded her with self-pity. Never had she felt capable of such +an intensity of emotion as upon this day, when she was carried helpless +to church to give her daughter away. Never had she come so near to +being primally and brutally elementary as at the moment when the +carriage stopped at the church door, and Gaunt came forward, greeting +her with: + +"Good morning, my mother-in-law!" + +She drew in her breath with a sound like a moan; but in a flash she had +seen that she must make no manifestation. The time for that had gone +by. As she moved up the church, side by side with her daughter, she +realised two things, sharply and simultaneously. One, that she could +and ought to have prevented this marriage; the other, that it was now +too late. + +What was Gaunt's plan she could not exactly know. If it was simply to +mortify her, then she could not see why he should be unkind to Virgie. +Yet she distrusted and feared him; and she had given no warning to the +simple creature at her side, going like a lamb to the slaughter, blind +to all life's mysterious issues, blind to the sinister motive which her +mother so clearly saw behind Gaunt's eccentric marriage. For Virginia, +the old truth held good, that at the actual moment one ceases to +realise what is happening. The service struck her with a sense of +detachment. She heard it with interest, almost for the first time. The +vows were, indeed, comprehensive. One had, however, the comforting +knowledge that the vowing was mutual. He promised things as well as +she. There was a curious consolation in the reflection that he vowed to +love, cherish, and even worship his wife. There seemed nothing detached +about his own participation in the rite. He grasped her fingers so +strongly as to be almost painful as he vowed "to have and to hold." + +And now it was done, and there was no more use in wondering whether one +had been right or wrong. + +The bare and unadorned service was quickly over. The elderly vicar read +a short and platitudinous address to the newly married out of a small +pastoral book. Gaunt took his wife's hand, placed it on his arm, and +marched her into a stuffy, small vestry, wherein she was to write for +the last time her name, Virginia Mynors. + +She wrote it; and turning, fixed her troubled gaze upon her mother with +an expression so bewildered, so lost, that it pierced even through the +crust of egotism. Mrs. Mynors began to gasp hysterically, but, after a +momentary fight for composure, managed to say, "Osbert, Osbert, I +conjure you! Be good to her! Be good to my Virgie!" + +"My dear mother-in-law, I promise you that Virgie shall have the +treatment she deserves," was his reply. "Come, Mrs. Gaunt, we must be +off, if we are to catch the London train." + +Virginia was now quite numb. She took his arm because he offered it, +and because there seemed nothing else to do. They were at the church +door. She broke away from Gaunt to fling her arms round Tony. The boy +was radiant, showing her with glowing eyes a sovereign which his new +brother-in-law had just bestowed. The sight did more to encourage the +bride than might be supposed. She kissed her mother next, finding it +out of the question to give any parting message or direction, because +the attempt to articulate would let loose a flood of feeling hardly +complimentary to her husband. + +Then she was in the carriage, alone with the man who was to walk +through life at her side. Still the merciful numbness held her. + +Gaunt, in an unconcerned way, said he thought they had better lunch at +the Savoy, and she agreed, not knowing what he meant. He made one or +two other trifling remarks concerning the disposal of her luggage, +which awaited them at the station. + +They found the train, and he put her in, walking away himself, and +returning with the news that all the trunks were safe, and in the van. +He laid upon her lap a pile of magazines and one or two novels. + +"I hate talking in a train," he remarked. She could have loved him for +such marvellous consideration. + +He had a small bag, stuffed with legal-looking documents, which he +diligently perused. Virginia, thus released momentarily from strain, +lay back against the cushions. The breeze fluttered into the carriage, +sweet with the breath of summer. She tried to rest, and not to think. +It was impossible not to think, however. Her thoughts were glued, as it +were, to the consideration of this man to whom she was so strangely +tied. + +"He loved me at first sight. He guessed who I was. He got into +communication with mother in order to be introduced. He suggested +marriage there and then. When will he begin to woo me? What will he +tell me? What shall I answer? Shall I be able to help flinching, from +letting him see how abjectly afraid I am?" + +He did not put her to the test. Was it possible that he divined her +exhaustion, and respected it? + +She was still wondering when the non-stop express ran into the terminus. + +He put her into a taxi while he went and looked after their baggage. +Then he rejoined her, and directed the driver to the Savoy Hotel. + +They secured a table near the window, whence could be seen the waters +of the Thames, the endless movement of the traffic on the Embankment +and the brilliant flowers of the public gardens. + +The beauty of it revived Virgie a little. She ate some lunch, drank a +glass of champagne, and began to make small, shy comments upon the +scene, to which her husband listened tolerantly, but not as though +interested. She reflected that she must seem to him altogether young +and childish. + +Her slender grace and charm drew many eyes. As Gaunt glanced about him, +he was keenly conscious of this. Presently he leant back with the smile +that his mother-in-law hated. + +"Glad you are pleased," said he. "Make the most of it. You are going to +be buried in the heart of the country from to-day onward." + +She laughed lightly. "That will be no hardship," said she. "What I +should not like would be to be buried in the heart of London. The walls +in London seem as if they must fall down and crush you--so near +together. Have you ever felt that?" + +"I don't like London." + +"Then that is one taste we share," said she thoughtfully, leaning back +to survey him. "How strange that I should know so little of your +tastes! We shall have to begin at the very beginning, shall we not?" + +"The beginning of what?" asked Gaunt. + +"Of acquaintanceship," she answered. + +"Pardon me. I know you through and through. You have not a taste, a +habit, nor an idea that I am not intimately acquainted with. Gives me +an unfair advantage, does it not?" + +"If it's true, it does indeed; but I don't think it is true," was her +frank answer. + +He gave something between a grunt and a laugh. "You are not competent +to form an opinion," he replied, looking at his watch. "It is now five +minutes to two," he went on, "and our train leaves St. Pancras at four. +What will you do? I am going to have a smoke. Perhaps you would like to +lie down and rest a while--eh?" + +It was so exactly what she craved that she thought his sympathy +wonderful. That he was dismissing her to solitude on her wedding day, +while he smoked, did not occur to her. She thanked him quite eagerly, a +maid was summoned, and she was shown into a room with a deliciously +downy bed. The maid removed her hat, took off her shoes, drew the +blinds, and left, promising to call her in plenty of time. + +She could not sleep, but the silence and the recumbent posture helped +her. She went down to the entrance hall after her rest, feeling much +more able to endure the remainder of her journey than she had dared to +hope. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN THE TRAP + + + "_'Sit fast--dost fear?--The moon shines clear-- + Fleet goes my barb--keep hold! + Fearst thou?'--'Oh, no!' she faintly said; + 'But why so stern and cold?'_"--Scott. + + +Virgie awoke, so to speak, from her numbness in the train, somewhere +between London and Derby. + +She was sitting, with her pile of light literature and fashion papers, +opposite the man who had married her, and who was to all appearance +immersed in the folios of blue foolscap, which he was marking here and +there with red pencil. The documents, so far as she could judge, were +leases. + +The motion of the train had lulled her into a short nap, and it seemed +as if quite suddenly she was wide awake, and pinching herself to make +sure that it was not all a dream. Here was a man who had, as it were, +leaped at a girl, and married her in such hot haste that there was no +time for reflection. One argued, one assumed, the strong feeling which +made such behaviour credible. Yet now he sat, as a man twenty years +married might sit, marking passages in a lease with red pencil, while +his few hours' bride, in all her delicate loveliness, faced him, +neglected, ignored. + +Surely this was puzzling! + +Had she but known, her own demeanour was much more surprising to him +than his could be to her. He was wondering when an outburst of wounded +vanity would come, how much longer she could refrain from comment upon +his behaviour. Surely she must be piqued beyond endurance, she who +imagined herself to have captured his heart at a glance, and was +doubtless pondering the question of exactly what her conquest +represented, in money, luxury, and pleasure. + +His seemingly absorbed attention had, as a fact, hardly wandered from +her for an instant since they met that morning; and the results of his +observations were not according to his expectation. So far, she had not +merely been pliant, she had seemed grateful for kindness. Of course he +knew her to be badly frightened. At the Savoy, for a few minutes, under +the influence of gay surroundings and champagne, there had been, as he +thought, a glimpse of the real woman--the coquette incarnate. It had +vanished, however, the moment he set his heavy hand thereon. + +Now she sat before him in her Dresden china daintiness, a picture of +luxury, carefully tended down to her very finger-nails. While she slept +he had perused the features that moved him so vitally--the well +remembered breadth of brow and pointedness of chin, the deep setting of +the shadowy eyes, the lines of the throat, the base of which rose milky +from its setting of misty chiffon. + +As soon as she stirred, he returned to his blue foolscap. Now she was +returning his compliment--studying him. + +Reluctantly she found that experience was confirming the judgment she +had formed instantaneously at Hertford House. She did not like her +husband's face, and could hardly say why this was so, since in a +virile, somewhat rough-hewn fashion, his features were good. She was +just saying to herself, "It is the expression that is wrong; it must be +the expression," when he raised his head, met her eyes, and smiled in +the way she was learning to dislike. + +"Well, don't you think I am an ideal husband?" he asked. + +She answered his smile. "That remains to be seen," she countered. + +"At least," he said, "I fulfil the one essential condition, don't I? +The one thing needful for husbands?" + +"What is that?" + +"Why, a long purse, of course." + +She coloured warmly, and showed, by downcast eye and close-pressed +lips, how this wounded. She felt that she had nothing to say in reply, +except a low, reproachful, "Oh!" in the shock of such an unkindness. + +"Not very tactful of me, was it, to taunt you with the amiable weakness +which has procured me the lifelong privilege of your society?" + +"Amiable weakness?" she repeated vaguely. + +"The woman's desire for physical comforts, luxury, and so on, at any +cost." + +"Oh," murmured Virgie, "I don't think--indeed, I'm sure you don't +understand." + +"No? We must discuss the matter at greater length; but as I told you +this morning, I dislike talking in the train. We shall be at Luton in a +minute, and I telegraphed for a tea-basket." + +The train slowed down as he spoke. He rose, leaned from the window, and +took the tray from the boy who was waiting on the platform. + +Virginia poured out the tea, and dispensed the bread and butter and +cake with a sinking heart. + +Of all the things she had anticipated, unkindness from her newly made +husband had been farthest from her thoughts. Her maiden terrors had +concerned themselves in the opposite direction. She had feared +demonstrative display of feeling which as yet she must be unable to +reciprocate. His attitude froze her timid efforts to make friends. The +remaining words that passed between them during the journey were +negligible, except for once, when he looked up suddenly--they were +passing a lonely stretch of moorland, and he had been gazing from the +window--and said: + +"So you think you will like living in the country?" + +"I know I shall. I have always lived in the country," she replied. + +"Not with me," was his comment, while a faint smile crossed his eyes. + +"No. Not with you," was her gentle answer. + +She wanted to speak to him, to tell him how well she meant to keep her +new-made vows, that though her marriage was, as he must know, a +marriage of convenience, she intended to do her duty to the utmost +limit of her powers. But he said he did not like talking in the train; +and her spirits were so exhausted that she dare not risk a breakdown. +She remained, therefore, rapt in the silence which seemed the sole +alternative, until they reached their journey's end. + +A brougham awaited them, drawn by a pair of fine horses. There followed +a drive of more than five miles through country which grew each moment +wilder and more beautiful. They came at last to a pine wood, set among +swelling uplands. A lodge gate here flanked the road, and as the +lodge-keeper's child opened it, and touched his forelock, Virginia +guessed that they were in their own domain. + +The trees were so thick and dark as to produce a premature twilight. +Through this they drove for the best part of a mile. The name of +Omberleigh could be well understood. It was, indeed, a place of +shadows. The house stood in the depths of the wood, so far as the side +from which they approached was concerned. It was a Georgian house, +straight and square, with a classic porch of grey stone, supported upon +columns. + +The house door stood open, and revealed a dark hall, somewhat untidy, +and furnished with big black cupboards, surmounted by foxes' masks, +antlers, and stuffed fish. On its shabby turkey carpet stood an elderly +man-servant, a middle-aged parlourmaid, and a grey-haired woman who was +presumably a cook-housekeeper. All of them looked as though they were +patiently trying to grapple with undeserved calamity in the shape of a +new mistress. + +"Mrs. Wells, this is my wife," said Gaunt, in tones that sounded as if +he were trying to conceal his triumph. + +"I am sure I wish you joy, ma'am," replied Mrs. Wells, with an implied +despair of the fulfilment of any such wish. + +Virginia was used to a large household. She slipped off her glove, and +shook hands kindly with Mrs. Wells. "Thank you so much. I am sure I +shall be happy in this beautiful place," said she cordially. + +"This is Hemming, who has been with me a great many years," went on +Gaunt, indicating the man-servant, who murmured, "Namely fifteen," as +he glanced at the fair creature standing there, who looked, as he +afterwards remarked, like a fairy strayed in from the woods. + +"And this is Grover, who will wait upon you," he went on. "Grover, you +had better take Mrs. Gaunt straight upstairs. Hemming, let the men +carry up the luggage into Mrs. Gaunt's room forthwith." + +"This way, ma'am," said Grover, distantly. She took the dust-cloak +which Virgie had slipped off, flashing a glance of reluctant admiration +as she did so at the pretty frock displayed. The staircase was on the +dark side of the house, and the corridor above seemed very sombre to +the girl as she followed her guide. + +Her bedroom was big and old-fashioned, with three high sash windows, +set deep in the walls. This lay on the other side of the house, and the +bride stepped forward into the full glory of a sunset, far over land +which sloped away downward in a wide prospect. The aspect of this side +of the house was south with a touch of west. + +Grover was pleased at the involuntary cry of pleasure which the new +mistress gave as she went to one of the windows and gazed out. She +thawed a little as she pointed out to the eager girl the fine hill +which was the pride of their part of the county, Gladby Top. + +The men brought up the boxes, and by the time she had arrayed Virginia +in the frock which young Mr. Bent so much admired in Bryanston Square, +Grover had laid aside the greater part of her resentment, and was +inclined to think that very few of the neighbouring families could show +anything in the way of a bride approaching the quality of the specimen +just brought to Omberleigh. + +"You can excuse him and understand him, if you take what I mean," she +said later on in the kitchen. "Most times there's really no knowing +what it is as takes their fancy when they get to his age. But with +her--well, I don't see how he could help himself! If she was to be had, +right he was to snap her up. What seems odd to me is that she should +have taken him, for you can see she's a tip-topper--none of your +soap-makers' daughters, but real gentry." + +Grover showed the bride downstairs into the drawing-room with an +uncomfortable feeling that it was not an adequate setting for so fair +and youthful a presence. Virginia had not lingered over her dressing, +and found that there was half an hour yet before the dinner would be +served. She stood in the long, bare room, probably last re-furnished in +the '60's, and gazed about her forlornly. This room was on the sunny +side of the house, and its windows opened upon a paved terrace with an +Italian balustrade in stone. + +She strayed across the Brussels carpet to the window, and stood there +gazing out upon the falling slopes of a garden--yes, a garden--but as +it seemed to her a somewhat bare one. There was just enough bedding-out +to make a meagre display; but when she thought of the flaming +herbaceous flowers which ought to fill those long border edgings, of +the Alpine plants which ought to bloom from every cleft in those +limestone walls, she sighed at the thought of wasted opportunities. The +tastes of the master of the house were not for horticulture, it +appeared. + +The thought of his sneer at her for a mercenary marriage rushed to her +mind. This husband--this stranger--what manner of man was he? What was +to be her fate at his hands? The doubt and terror turned her blood to +water. She put her two hands to her throat to keep down the swelling +sobs. Then she turned swiftly, instinctively backward, and saw that +Gaunt had noiselessly entered, and stood just behind her. + +"Well," he said, "it is done now. The trap has closed behind you, and +you cannot get out. What do you think of your life-sentence?" + +A sudden determination came to her not to show fear. His manner was +that of one grimly jesting. She answered playfully, "I think my jailer +likes to tease." + +"Well," he went on, "you walked into the snare with your eyes open. You +knew nothing of me, did you, beyond the one glorious fact that I am +rich? Nothing else mattered. My negligence, my rudeness, my neglect, +could not drive you from your purpose. True daughter of Virginia +Sheringham, you have made your bed, and now you must lie upon it." + +His wife's eyes flashed, and her answer came clearly. "Pardon me! You +say that I knew nothing of you but that you were rich. That is not +true. I knew that you were a man of whom my own mother thought so well +that she engaged herself to marry you. I knew also--or guessed--that +you were lonely and unhappy. I could see that you were--lame." + +"What?" he cut her off short. "You have the assurance to tell me to my +face that my infirmity was a reason for your marrying me? You thought +that you could elude the vigilance of a lame man--was that it? But +though I limp I am no cripple. In fact, I am particularly +active--active enough to guard you very carefully, as I warn you." + +Bewildered, roused to hot indignation though she now was, Virginia felt +her spirits rise defiant to meet this bullying tone. "A husband should +guard his wife, and I hope you will guard me," she replied promptly, +"but you speak as though you intended to hold me captive. What do you +mean by that?" + +"I mean," he said, measuring his words, and keeping his eyes steadily +upon her, "to undertake the task of your reformation. I am going to +turn you into something human--into a feeling, breathing, and, if +necessary, a suffering woman. I am going to take away your false +standards, to humble your vanity, to mortify your avarice. You shall +see yourself, Virginia Gaunt, as you really are! Your outward beauty, +upon which you trade, as your mother traded, is nothing to me but a +whip, reminding me of the fool I was in my youth. I saw you first, +using your lure, casting your net, hoping to secure young Rosenberg as +your escape from poverty and debt. You nearly succeeded; you would have +succeeded had not your friend belonged to a race which likes to have +its money's-worth. You blush--yes, that shows the truth of my surmise. +He would doubtless have been a more congenial solution of your problem +than I; but he, alas, was not available! So you took me! And so you +were very careful about the settlements! But there were things for +which you forgot to stipulate--and those you must learn to do without!" + +She was white now. Only her force of will kept her upon her feet. The +insulting words stormed at her brain, and filled her with despair. + +"You say this to me--_to your wife_. Is it fair, do you think?... +I have not deceived you. You never asked me to give you love. I mean to +keep my promises, without the goad of threats.... If--if I did wrong, +in accepting what you offered, I am sorry. I want to do my duty, if you +will help me ... but don't make it too--difficult." + +"Excellent!" he commented. "A picture of wifely submission! We shall +make something of you yet--perhaps in time. Meanwhile, it is as well to +warn you that yours is to be no life of luxury. You must work, my +girl--work, do you hear?" + +"That will be nothing new," she replied tremulously. "I am used to hard +work." + +He laughed out. She looked like a creature whom the weariness of toil +had never touched. He was so convinced of her idleness and frivolity +that he could see nothing else. + +"Work? You look like it. Your mother looks like it too. She fluttered +into her Dover Street Club, clad like Solomon in all his glory, and +with no more concern about the cost of her finery than the lilies of +the field. The only work that women like you understand is how to spend +money. That's your vocation, the business of your life! How to catch +some man and wring from him the means to indulge your desires." + +He was mounted on his hobby now, and his words came with a sudden +fluency for which his previous taciturnity made her unprepared. "She +was quite young--young enough to have been unworldly, you would have +thought--when she jilted a poor man to marry a rich one. In spite of +that innocent exterior, she was as clever as a pickpocket, as cautious +as a Jew. Afterwards I remembered how carefully she had questioned me +as to the likelihood of my coming into this property. There was a life +between me and it. She was not taking any chances!... But, after all, +the life failed. I came into my inheritance not so many years after my +jilting ... and, by the Lord! when she was a needy widow and I was a +rich man, she would have married me, had I so much as held up a finger. +Do you deny it?" + +Virginia could hardly breathe. If the hands she had clutched when +drowning had contracted about her throat and held her down under water, +she might have felt something the same consternation. Love! Love at +first sight! Why, the man loathed her. + +"But," she brought out breathlessly, "if this--if this is what you +think of me, why--why have you married me?" + +"I'll tell you why. I married because I am siren-proof, and I am going +to reform you. You're young; you may not be irreclaimable. We'll see if +I can change your nature; but if I can't do that, I swear I will +control your actions. For the first time in your life, you are going to +be disciplined. The starting-point for your training is that you should +be completely cut off from your past. Therefore, you will not again see +any of the members of your family, either here, or elsewhere. You need +not look so incredulous. I carry out the things I undertake. Don't +suppose you can escape from me." + +The hatred in his voice was the outcome of twenty years of morbid +egotism. The very atrocity of his amazing tirade helped his wife to +rally. All her dignity, all her good breeding, came now to her support. + +She spoke low but steadily. "It is true that I cannot escape. I bound +myself this morning, by vows which to me are more binding than cords. +But let me remind you that you also took vows--to love and to cherish." + +He bowed ironically. "Oh, be sure that I shall cherish my piece of +perfection," he replied, "and, when I have broken her to harness, I may +reward her with my affection." + +Her face, as she met his look, merited study. She had found a source of +consolation in her misery--the consciousness of her own immense height +above him. Terror, which had been succeeded by disgust, now disappeared +altogether in sheer contempt. + +"You have made us quits," she said simply. "This morning I felt myself +under a great weight of obligation. Now you have paid yourself in full, +paid yourself in insult to a helpless woman." + +"Take care! Take care what you say to me!" he cried, swayed by a tumult +of inexplicable feeling. + +She made no answer. Only she faced him, no longer afraid, but coldly +critical. Her look was almost pitying. As they stood confronted, the +man had a curious experience. Her wonderful likeness to her mother +vanished utterly, and he saw a woman strange to him not only in person +but in type--a type as yet unknown. + +There was a pause, which was broken by the roll of the gong in the +hall. Gaunt started. Hemming threw open the door and announced dinner. + +Caught at such a moment, the master of the house, to his annoyance, was +taken aback and hesitated. His wife did not seem to share his +embarrassment. With her head held high she advanced the few steps which +separated them, and laid her hand upon his arm. + +Together they walked out into the hall, under the respectful but close +observation of the butler, and entered the dining-room, a dark and +gloomy apartment, on the wooded north side of the house. + +Here dinner was laid, in the style of a half-century ago. + +To Gaunt's surprise, his wife began to talk almost at once. She spoke +of the glorious view from the window of her room, inquired the height +of Gladby Top, and mentioned her own taste for gardening. After a few +minutes of moody uncertainty, Gaunt joined in her attempt to keep up +appearances; and it was not until Hemming and Grover had placed dessert +upon the table and left the room that the inevitable silence fell. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ANDROMEDA + + + "_Up she looked, down she looked, round at the mead, + Straight at the castle, that's best indeed + To look at, from outside the walls.... + And up, like a weary yawn, with its pulleys, + Went, in a shriek, the rusty portcullis; + And, like a glad sky the north wind sullies, + The lady's face stopped its play + As if her first hair had grown grey_."--Browning. + + +The final closing of the door upon Hemming, as he discreetly retired, +seemed to the bride to fill the gloomy room with reverberations. The +door was not banged, yet she heard its echoing dying away like a murmur +in cavernous heights. She had an illusion of being in some dark +sea-cave, into which the tide would slowly crawl and swallow her up. +Her feet were cold, as though the first shallow waves already laved +them. + +All through the dinner she had been putting a strain upon herself. She +was now near the breaking-point. Gaunt was pouring wine from the heavy, +stumpy cut-glass decanter into a wine-glass. She heard the lip of the +bottle clink, as though his hand were not quite steady. + +As usual in moments of stress her appetite had forsaken her. She had +seemed to help herself to the various dishes, and had played with her +knife and fork, so that Gaunt, from his end of the table, did not +notice that she ate practically nothing. Before leaving the room, +Hemming had handed her a dish of fine strawberries. These she felt she +could eat. She took some cream, broke the fruit with a fork, and ate +with thankfulness that she had some mechanical process with which to +fill in this hollow pause before the commencement of what she felt +might be definite hostilities. + +The moments lengthened. He did not speak nor raise his eyes; but as +soon as she laid down her spoon, he lifted his head, and said abruptly: + +"Come here!" + +Virgie jumped. The attack was indeed sudden. For a moment she wavered, +then rose and moved noiseless down the length of the floor, along the +edge of the table, until she stood beside him. + +He leaned back, contemplating her. More than ever she looked like the +princess in a fairy-tale. Her dress was cut and fashioned with the +mystic skill that belongs to very few of the daughters of our race. It +was subtle; it had a disturbing effect. There was a general impression +of charm--elusive and faintly fragrant--of a finished work of art, from +the curve of the soft hair to the satin of the small shoes. + +"You are quite as good an actress as I supposed," remarked her husband, +with satisfaction. + +She pondered this for a minute. Then: "You mean that I kept up +appearances before the servants? That is second nature with me, I +think--hardly acting. But I thought I was doing what you would wish?" + +He placed his hands upon the table edge, pushing his chair back +slightly on its hind legs, while he looked up at her. Again he had the +air of one who grimly jests. + +"Excellent! A wife who actually foresees her husband's wishes, and acts +accordingly! Yes, I suppose it is best that it should be so. Pray +continue to enliven my meals with your pretty prattle." + +The colour sprang to her face at the gibe. "Perhaps you will give me +more efficient support next time," she said quickly, speaking before +reflecting. + +He laughed as though he had scored a point. "I think I warned you +against answering back," he softly reminded her. + +She looked him full in the eyes--a look which apparently infuriated +him. With a sudden forward movement he caught her by the waist, +dragging her down upon his knee. "Here, drink to our good health and +future happiness!" he cried, pushing the glass of wine towards her. + +The unlooked-for assault made her so faint that she knew the wine would +do her good, help her to maintain her self-command in this ghastly +situation. She sat where he placed her, took the glass from his hand +with both hers, and lifted it to her lips. "I drink to your good +health," she said with dignity. + +He gave a wrathful exclamation, snatched the glass from her, so that +the remainder of the wine was shot over the carpet, and said: "Little +hypocrite! You would sooner drink to my death!" + +"Oh, no," said she, "I desire your health. You are a very sick man just +now, in mind if not in body." + +"Sick or well, I am your husband--in sickness or in health, you know." + +She answered patiently. "Yes; I know. I am not likely to forget." + +She took out a tiny handkerchief, wiping her trembling lips with it. +The action drew his attention to the tourmalin ring she wore above her +wedding-ring. He snatched at her hand, pulled off the ring, and flung +it into the heart of the fire which glowed dully afar off in the +old-fashioned steel grate, for the day had not been warm. + +"An end of that," he said. "I only used it to get it out of your +mother's hands." + +She drew in her breath in a long sigh, but made no other demonstration, +though she felt her head swim. He was holding her with both hands, and +his touch seemed as if it seared. He looked as if he longed to provoke +some sign of acute feeling. + +"You are proud," he said, under his breath. "Proud as Lucifer. But I'll +tame your pride." + +There seemed no answer to this, and she attempted none. + +"You are going to be the passive martyr, the persecuted victim, are +you?" he went on. "That is the role you select? But don't try me too +far, or you may provoke me to _make_ you show yourself in your +true colours." + +She raised her hands to her mouth with a little moan. "Oh!" she +faltered, shaken with the storm of her wounded heart. "Isn't it enough +for you to know me broken? Must you see the tears and hear the cries +before you can be satisfied? Well, you will--very soon. I--don't feel +as if I can bear much more. But to-night you have hit too hard. You +have blunted all feeling. I _could_ not care, whatever happened. I +have got past that." + +With a sudden gasping for breath, she made an effort to rise. For a +moment he seemed minded to constrain her, but almost immediately let +her go. She stood, supporting herself a moment against the corner of +the table, then tried a few uncertain steps, and collapsed softly in a +little forlorn heap of silk and gauze upon the carpet, midway to the +door. + +Gaunt rose, his face dark with annoyance. This was altogether so unlike +his own forecasts of the scene that he was bewildered. He had expected +coaxings, blandishments, the pleadings and wiles with which Virginia +the elder had made him so intimately acquainted. He remembered how, +when in the old days his sullen temper had made him harsh, she had hung +about him, how sweetly and pathetically she had put him in the wrong, +how deftly she had smoothed his ruffled fur and achieved her own ends +whatever they were. + +Continually in his solitude, brooding over the wreck of his life, he +had told himself that now he knew, now he was wise with the wisdom we +garner from the fields of tragedy and disappointment. He was proof +against the sirens, his ears were plugged with wool. Was he not the man +to punish and reform a coquette? + +He went and stood over Virginia; then knelt at her side, passed an arm +under her, and arranged her in a more easy posture. She was in a dead +faint. He stared doubtfully, rose, haltingly crossed the room, and laid +his fingers upon the bell. He did not ring it. His hand fell away; he +went to the table, poured some water into a glass, knelt and dabbed her +temples. She did not move. + +After a minute or two he rose, went softly to the door and peered out +into the hall. There was no sound of Hemming or the coffee. Turning +back he stooped, lifted Virgie with ease, carried her into the +drawing-room, laid her on a sofa near the window, and opened the +casement wide upon the night. The fresh, strong air revived her. She +opened her eyes, and looking upward, saw the canopy of stars in the +deep-blue velvet heavens. + +Slowly coming back to the realisation of the present moment, she turned +her head, and saw Gaunt stooping over the hearth, placing a fresh log +upon the fire. She sat up, sick and shivering. He looked round quickly +at her movement, but turned away again and did not speak. He stood +gazing down at the leaping flames in brooding silence; then, facing +about with one of his sudden, flinging movements, which sent her heart +into her mouth, he marched across the room, opened the grand piano and +sat down. + +Virginia was conscious of great astonishment as he began to play. It +was wild, Hungarian music, leaping and striking like lightning flashes. +But it seemed the one thing she could have borne at the moment. With a +sigh of utter fatigue, she let her head droop against the hard, +uncompromising cushion of the old-fashioned sofa and listened. He had +been playing about ten minutes, when Hemming and the coffee came in; +and Virginia was able to sit up and help herself with composure. + +"Hemming," said Gaunt, as the servant was leaving the room, "Mrs. Gaunt +is overtired. Tell Grover she will be coming upstairs almost at once." + +"Yes, sir." + +The man departed, and again the closing of the door awoke those faint, +mysterious reverberations which were like the last contact of the +outside world with the tragedy of the isolated and rock-chained maiden. +So might Andromeda have felt, when the smith had hammered into place +the last rivet of her fetters, and she was left--left helpless and in +an anguish of suspense, to await the oncoming of the monster. + +Gaunt drank his coffee seated upon the piano-stool. Then he set down +his cup and began once more to play. This time it was soft and gentle, +a lullaby, like falling water. It brought the tears rushing to +Virginia's eyes, so that she hid her face against the cushions, and +covered her mouth to suppress her crying. + +Oh for just one moment of the clinging of Pansy's arms; of the bear's +hug from a leaping boy in pyjamas, declining to go to bed tractably, +wasting his sister's time in the fashion in which she loved to have it +wasted! What were they all doing now, at this hour? Caroline, the new +maid, was just bringing up Pansy's cup of Benger's food. Was it +properly made?--"thin, but not too thin," like Mr. Woodhouse's gruel? +Virgie had taken pains to show Caroline exactly how to do it. She had +seemed to understand. + +Were they missing their sister? Would Pansy--intolerable thought--cry +for Virgie's good-night kiss and tuck-in? Oh, no, surely not! They +would all be lapped in their new comfort and security. They would be +better cared for than she, with all her goodwill, had been able to +accomplish, unsupported by funds. + +Yet, oh, to be back, with that burden hanging over her as of old! To +take up and shoulder the weight that had been crushing her, even if to +do so meant death--a maiden death, a blessed release from this hard, +difficult world. + +She grasped, she clutched at the only consolation she had. Her present +agony of terror and apprehension was just the price she had to pay for +their safety and welfare. She had determined to pay it, and she would +carry out her resolve. She must not flinch because it was turning out +so much worse than she had thought possible. What did it matter--what +_could_ it matter, what became of her? They were happy and secure; +Gaunt was tightly bound down to go on helping them, even in the case of +her own death. She felt so weak, so scared that night, that she thought +for the first time in all her life of death as a thing which might +conceivably happen to herself. + +"What is the use of minding," she whispered, trying to reassure +herself. "It doesn't matter--nobody but me will ever know." + +Her sobbing ceased. Something in the music helped to soothe it. The +flutter of harmonious notes was like the beating of wings. It suggested +the flight of wild birds. She thought of the swans which used to cross +the sky in autumn at Lissendean, flying to seek new spheres for +themselves. There came to her mind that story of Hans Andersen, in +which the princess has to weave coats of nettles for the princes, her +brothers, in order to break the spell that binds them. Should she not +gladly plait her nettle-coats, endure her doom, to lift from those two +beloved heads the evil spell of poverty and sickness? + + * * * * * + +The music stopped. + +With it, her thoughts ceased as if shivered suddenly to fragments. + +Her husband rose from the piano. Her heart was in her mouth, and she +found herself shuddering in a panic terror which drove out every other +sensation. He came up and stood looking at her, with a somewhat +resentful expression. + +"You seem quite done up," he observed. "You had better go to bed and to +sleep. A good night's rest is what you want. To-morrow let us hope you +will be more fit to take up your new duties." + +She raised her wet eyes with a glance of incredulous gratitude. "I am +sorry I gave way," she murmured. "I am not usually so weak. But you +see, a great deal has happened ... and I hardly slept at all last +night, and I am very tired." Slowly she stood up, eagerly but silently +questioning him. + +After a moment's embarrassment she held out her hand. He drew his own +from his pocket to present in return. Half contemptuously, he threw a +glance at the little girlish fingers lying in his square brown palm. +"I'll give you another ring," he said brusquely, "but I couldn't stand +seeing you wear that other. When we meet to-morrow morning, I hope you +will be rested. Good night. Off with you." + +She needed no second bidding. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A FIRST EXPERIENCE + + + "_Living alone in an empty house + Here half hid in the gleaming wood, ... + Till a morbid hate and horror have grown + Of a world in which I have hardly mixt, + And a morbid, eating lichen fixt + On a heart half turned to stone._"--Tennyson. + + +It seemed to Virginia, as she let her limbs relax in the big, downy old +bed, as though she never could sleep again. Somewhere in that silent +house couched the Monster, as yet inert, but one day to awake, one day +to rise before her as she cowered there chained to her rock. The very +silence seemed full of breathings, the whispering of the trees outside +her window was like a stealthy approach. How could sleep visit her? Yet +youth exhausted will have its way, and she had not been laid to rest +more than half an hour when she was in a profound and tranquil slumber, +which lasted without a break until she was called next morning. + +Grover had drawn back the curtains, and her room was full of sunshine. +The maid brought her tea to the bedside, and smiled as though she could +not help smiling at the angelic little face in its tumbled golden halo. + +"Dear me, ma'am, if you'll pardon the liberty, it does seem that odd to +have a lady in this house," said she benevolently. + +"Why? Does Mr. Gaunt not have many visitors?" asked Virgie drowsily. + +"Oh, never ladies, ma'am! Why, ever since I came, no lady has stayed in +this house--no, nor so much as dined! What is it they call the master +in these parts--it means one that hates women?" + +"Misogynist?" said Virgie. "Have I married a misogynist?" + +"Indeed, ma'am; it's high time he was cured. A fine man like him, +strong and in the prime of life. We've all wished it, many a time! And +cured he could not help but be, once he had seen you, as we all agreed +last night," was the flattering verdict, given rather timidly. + +The bride coloured, but did not seem offended. She raised herself on +her elbow and ate her morsel of toast, asking Grover various questions. + +"Our courtship has been so short, I know nothing about his home life," +she said. "But this seems to be a very pretty place." + +"Pretty indeed, and a different house it will be when once you get it +going, and full of friends, ma'am. Of course, they all say he was +disappointed in love as a young man, ma'am, and that is why he dislikes +the poor ladies so much. I expect, however, you know a good bit more +about that than what I do." + +"Yes," said Virgie, "I know all about that." She sighed. "I hope I +shall do right," she remarked, "but gentlemen who live alone grow very +set in their ways. You must tell me of any little tastes or fancies he +may have." + +Grover laughed gaily as she gathered up the tea-things and went to fill +the bath. "You that can turn him round your little finger, I'll be +bound," she chuckled. + +The new mistress left her in this pleasing delusion, and lay back upon +her pillows with a sigh. If she could but have the whole day in bed, +she thought wistfully. A long day's rest, after her good sleep, would +set her up once more. At this moment her one desire was to snuggle down +in the safe refuge of the bedclothes, and remain there utterly passive +and inert. + +She appeared, however, punctually in the dining-room when the gong for +breakfast sounded. + +The meal was set in the old-fashioned way, the tea and coffee service +before the mistress, the hot dishes at the other end. + +Gaunt was standing with an open newspaper in his hand near the window. + +"Well," he said, "did you sleep?" + +"Yes, thank you, I did." + +She came up and shook hands. He eyed her keenly. This was the first +time he had seen her in morning dress. Her white linen was simple and +fresh, and she was daintily neat; but there were blue shadows under the +melting eyes, and a sad droop of the mouth which spoke of dejection. + +"Come, sit down, and pour out my coffee," he said, limping quickly to +his own place. "We have much to get through to-day. You must go and see +Mrs. Wells, and give the orders for the day." He added, with his "bad +smile": "If you are not very good at housekeeping, I don't envy you. +She will think very small beer of you." + +"It is two years since I had the management of a large house," was the +gentle reply, "but I do not think I have forgotten. London housekeeping +would seem more difficult to me." + +He looked at her, puzzled. "But your mother kept house at Lissendean, I +presume?" + +"N-no, I don't think mother ever kept house," said Virgie doubtfully. +"She used to have a first-rate housekeeper who managed everything when +we were little. But afterwards, when I grew up, we were becoming so +much poorer, that I told father to dismiss the housekeeper and save her +wages, because I thought I could manage. It was wonderful," she added +reminiscently, "how much we saved then." + +"Perhaps your father was not as particular about his food as I am," he +remarked sourly. + +"I expect Mrs. Wells knows your likes and dislikes, does she not? If +she will help me for the first few weeks, I think I can manage to +please you," was the courteous rejoinder. + +Gaunt laid down his knife and fork to contemplate her. "In some ways," +he said slowly, "it appears that you do _not_ resemble your +mother." + +"Who? I? Oh, no, I am not a bit like mother, except in looks," calmly +replied Virgie. "Did you suppose I was? She is social and I am +domestic. She likes going out, and I like home. I am shy with +strangers, and she never is." After a minute's thought, she added: "You +see, ever since I grew up, I have known the seamy side of +things--trouble, losing father, and poverty. I suppose it has made me +dull." + +The man glowered upon her fixedly as she sat, with an empty plate, +sipping her cup of tea. + +"You're not eating," he threw out, at length. + +"I have not much appetite this morning," was her gentle reply. + +"Eat!" he shouted, springing from his place and noting with +satisfaction her involuntary recoil. "Come, what's it to be? Kidney and +mushroom, eggs, ham--what?" + +She grew pink with distress. "Please, no," she pleaded. "I--I can't +manage it. I--I simply can't swallow." + +"Nonsense!" he declared loudly. "No airs and graces here, please. What +will you have?" He held his fork poised above the dishes. There was an +electric silence, and he thought she was going to rebel openly. But, +after a brief struggle, she commanded herself. + +"An egg, please." + +He rose, brought her the egg and the toast rack. She thanked him +carefully, and he seemed to retire behind his paper. But, after some +silence, he abruptly flung it down. + +"If you don't eat what you have there, I'll come and stand over you," +he threatened. + +He was obeyed then, though with a most evident effort. + +"As soon as you have had your interview with Mrs. Wells," said he, when +she had finished, "I want to take you round the farms. Be ready in the +hall at ten-thirty sharp." + +She rose. "Perhaps you will either show me the way to the kitchens, or +ring for one of the servants?" said she rather stiffly. + +"Hoity toity!" cried her husband, stopping short to gaze upon her. "We +stand upon our dignity, don't we? Come along. I'll show you." + +She followed him down the tiled passage, to the comfortable, though not +very extensive kitchen premises. Omberleigh was not a large house, +though the reception rooms were spacious and dignified. + +"Now, Mrs. Wells," he announced, "here's your new tyrant. She fancies +herself on her housekeeping, so I expect there will be wigs on the +green before very long. But remember, if you quarrel you part; I am not +going to have any wranglings in my peaceful bachelor abode." + +Mrs. Wells evidently looked upon this speech as a particularly choice +specimen of humour. "Well, there now! I never!" was her good-humoured +comment. "If I can't make friends with this young lady, sir, I think I +shall deserve to be turned out, if I have served you for a goodish +while. He thinks to tease you and me, ma'am, don't he?" + +The new mistress had a deft smile all ready. "Indeed, Mrs. Wells, I +think he is fond of teasing," she said; and, as so often, the cadence +of her voice reminded him unbearably of the woman who had forsaken him, +hardened his heart, and drove him away, hostile and irritated. + +Mrs. Wells proceeded to make Virginia welcome. Grover had evidently +carried down a good report of the new arrival. The housekeeper took her +lady round dairy, scullery, store-room and larder, and was soon +impressed with her thorough knowledge of the workings of a gentleman's +country household. + +"Bless me, to look at her you'd never think it!" she declared +afterwards. "Just like one of the coloured plates in the fashion +papers, or a wax doll with the paper just off of it. But what she don't +know about churning ain't worth learning; and as to bread and +cakes--why, you'd think she had kept house all her life, and it's my +belief she has too--ever since she was old enough to have the sense for +it." + + * * * * * + +At half-past ten, when Gaunt strolled into the hall, his wife, in a +shady hat and with a white sunshade, was descending the stairs. Her +unquestioning submission--the punctuality which left him no ground for +any kind of complaint--was annoying. He felt that the ground was being +fairly cut away under his feet, and decided that he must make it clear +that a mere policy of yielding would not exempt her from the discipline +he meant to inflict. + +They left the house together and, turning to the left among the thick +pines, soon found a gate which let them through into the sunny +meadowland. + +They first visited the stables, the barnyards, and the orchards. Then +descending the slope, they came to the cattle in the pastures. Beyond +this again was cornland, and the fields were beginning to grow faintly +golden with the promise of harvest. + +Mindful of his sneer at her "prattle" Virginia said little; but he +could not but recognise, from what she did say, that she knew what she +was talking about. She asked one or two questions about his manures, +which touched upon the very point that just now interested him keenly. +He was almost as much surprised as if she had begun to speak to him in +Arabic. More clearly than ever he was beginning to perceive that this +was not by any means the woman he had expected. Yet he hardened his +heart. He gazed upon her elegance, her fragility, her Dresden china +fairness, and told himself she was merely cleverer than he had +foreseen. The agricultural interest was just a pose, meant to +conciliate him. She had, apparently, more than one weapon up her +sleeve. She intended his conquest, and was planning her campaign +accordingly. As for him, he felt as a man may who has been taught only +English methods of self-defence when confronted for the first time with +a professor of Jiu-jitsu. + +He had planned for himself the gratification of breaking in to a life +of country solitude a second Virginia Sheringham. He had thought that +he knew and understood the methods which would be most effective. He +had his victim in his power, but behold! It was not merely not Virginia +Sheringham, it was nobody in the least like her. More than once already +he had been visited by the notion that he was behaving like a brute, +that he was bullying a defenceless thing. Such a thought was +intolerable. It simply could not be true. If it were, what outcome to +the situation was there? No. It was not true. This submissiveness, this +helpless passivity, was merely the policy of _reculer pour mieux +sauter_. She had some desperate plan in her head--meant, perhaps, to +escape? He must be ready. + +Meanwhile, they had tramped for nearly two hours, and Virginia's powers +were giving out. The day was a fine one, and it was the hottest hour. +When they reached a stile, overshadowed by the grateful coolness of a +huge beech tree in the corner of a lately mown field, she sat down and +begged for a few minutes' rest. + +"What, done up again? You don't seem to be very strong. We are two +miles from home, and if we wait about we shall be late for lunch. Come +along now, you can rest when we get back." + +"I don't want any lunch," she answered faintly, "but I must rest. +Please go on and have lunch yourself, and leave me here awhile in the +shade." + +"Ha!" he said, delighted at this confirmation of his thoughts. "No, +young woman, I think it safer to keep my eye on you." + +She made no reply in words. Her eyes were closed, and two tears forced +their way beneath the lids and slipped down her cheeks. + +He made an exclamation of vexation. "Not good for much, are you?" he +grunted. "Comes of eating no breakfast. What am I going to do with you +now, I wonder? Why didn't you call a halt before you were completely +done for?" + +"I didn't think we should go so far," she answered listlessly. She was +beyond caring how he felt. She only knew that she could not get up and +go on. + +The sound of trotting hoofs approaching along the lane beyond the stile +was heard. A dog-cart, driven by a pleasant-looking young man, came in +sight. + +"Good luck!" muttered Gaunt. He raised his voice. "Hallo, Caunter! My +wife has been making the rounds with me, and is a bit done up by the +heat. Will you get down, and let me drive her home?" + +"Why, certainly," said a good-humoured voice, "only too much honoured. +May I beg to be presented to Mrs. Gaunt?" + +"Virginia, this is Caunter, my bailiff," said Gaunt, concealing his +unwillingness as best he could. + +Virginia sat up, opened her eyes and summoned a smile. Young Caunter +had descended from the trap, and stood by the stile. As his eyes fell +upon the bride, they widened with very spontaneous surprise and +admiration. + +"I say, this is luck to meet you, to be the first to wish you joy, Mrs. +Gaunt," he said boyishly. "My chief is hugely to be congratulated." + +"Oh," said the pale bride, "it is kind of you to say that! But you +ought to say he is to be pitied, when I behave in this weak way! I am +usually quite a good walker." + +Caunter fixed his eyes intently upon the quickly changing colour, and +marked the faltering voice. "I've got my flask in my pocket," he said +hesitatingly to Gaunt, who nodded and held out his hand. + +"A thimbleful of brandy will be the best thing for you," said he, +bending over his wife with the cup. "Drink that!" + +As usual, she obeyed without dispute. Her colour came back by degrees +as the two men exchanged a few sentences about the land. + +"Do you feel well enough now to let me drive you back?" asked Gaunt +presently. + +"Oh, yes, of course. Thank you very much, Mr. Caunter." She held out +the cup to its owner as she spoke the words, lifting her appealing +chin, and giving him a smile such as he had thought existed only in +romances. + +The husband marked the emotions which expressed themselves in his +bailiff's honest countenance. He noticed also the simplicity and +unconsciousness of his wife's expression. Nothing he could take hold of. + +He crossed the stile, helped her over, put her into the cart, got in +himself and gathered up the reins. + +"Better get up behind, Hugh," said he. + +Caunter reddened slightly and hung back. These two were married only +yesterday. + +"Yes, you had better. I don't want to have to stable your mare till you +come for her," bade his master. + +He yielded and jumped up. + +With a tact which spoke well for him, he said a few words to Gaunt as +they drove, until the quick motion through the air revived Virginia +completely, and she began to ask one or two eager questions about the +neighbourhood. He found himself speaking of the beauties of Dovedale, +of the weird limestone caverns of the Peak, and of the Druid circle at +Arbor Low. She was interested. To Caunter it seemed but a minute before +they stood at the drive gate of Omberleigh. His head was whirling. He +jumped down to open the gate, and said: + +"If you don't mind, I will leave you to take Mrs. Gaunt to the door. I +want to speak to Emerson." + +He opened the gate, and was about to disappear into the lodge, which +was occupied by the head gardener, when Gaunt called him back for some +message with regard to cucumbers. As he was speaking, bending down over +the side of the cart, the sound of horse's feet upon the road became +audible, and a rider hove in sight, who drew rein promptly and shouted +a greeting. + +He was a somewhat showy young man, with a chestnut moustache and eyes +set too close together. He rode a fine beast, and was got up in +leggings and cord breeches. + +"Why, hang me if it isn't true!" he cried hilariously. "They told me +you had been taken prisoner, Gaunt, and I refused to believe it. Bet +Charlie Myers two to one against, down at the Market Hall yesterday. +But"--raising his hat, and riding up close to Virginia--"when one sees +the lady, the whole thing becomes clear. Poor old chap! you never had a +chance. Present me, won't you?" + +"This is Mr. Ferris, whose land is not far from here," said Gaunt. "My +wife, Ferris." + +"But this is simply grand," declared Ferris. "My wife will be ready to +eat you, Mrs. Gaunt. Never, since your husband came to these parts, has +she been allowed inside his doors. I say, Gaunt, you'll have to keep +your door on the chain nowadays to bar out the women, you will, by +Jove! They'll simply roll up. When may Joey come and pay her respects? +Give her the start, won't you?" + +To Virginia's surprise, Gaunt's manners were equal to an occasion which +she could see was very disagreeable to him. + +"Mrs. Ferris must give us time," he said simply. "My wife has to go +over the house and make some changes before she will feel ready to +receive guests. At present we are on our honeymoon, and must not be +disturbed. Sure you'll understand." + +"Right-O!" replied Mr. Ferris. "But don't bar us out too long, or we +may get restive and break in. Welcome to the county, Mrs. Gaunt! You're +going to make things hum hereabouts, I can see." + +Gaunt, his lips set in a tight, thin line, turned the cart into the +drive, waved a hand to his neighbour and drove off. "Damn!" he +ejaculated under his breath, as the mare quickened her pace. "If I +hadn't had to bring you back by the road, we shouldn't have met that +jackass!" + +"I'm sorry," said Virginia gravely. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BEGINNING OF DEFEAT + + + "_Oh, heart of stone, are you flesh, and caught + By that which you swore to withstand?_"--Tennyson. + + +"My word, but she's a peach," muttered Mr. Percy Ferris to himself as +he rode hastily home through the lanes to lunch. "And old Gaunt's got +her! That smoke-dried old curmudgeon! Well, some people have the +devil's own luck. Poor little woman. Sold to him, I suppose? Sold, body +and soul. And he sits looking as though he would like to shut her up in +a harem where no other man but himself could ever set eyes on her. Oh, +why wasn't she about in my day? However, one can't have everything, I +suppose." + +It was as well that he should admit this, for he was considered +extremely lucky by most of his neighbours. Beginning life as a +veterinary surgeon, he had happened to be about when the late Colonel +Coxon departed this life, leaving Josephine, his only daughter, sole +heiress of Perley Hatch, a nice little property. + +Joey was only nineteen at the time, and was what the Americans, with +delicate euphemism, call homely. She had projecting teeth, a freckled +skin, little twinkling eyes, and a loud voice. In person she was large +and ungainly; but she had her points. A bouncing good humour, a fine +seat on horseback, and a real love of children and animals made her +more or less popular in the district. Ferris was not a good husband, +but he was not actively unkind to her, though he spared no chance of +letting her know that, but for her money, he would never have looked +her way. + +As he entered his home, and passed through the untidy hall, littered +with whips, sticks, children's toys, golf clubs and tennis bats, +mingled in wild disorder with coats, jerseys, old hats, gardening +gloves and aprons, a loud roaring could be heard, and Joey presently +came downstairs, her firstborn son, an ugly fat child of about five, +tucked under her arm, kicking, fighting, and bellowing. + +"Hallo!" said she, perceiving her husband. "I've been giving Tom a good +spanking to teach him not to torture things. I can't think what makes +'em such little demons of cruelty. Bill's just as bad. I won't have it, +that's flat. You hear, Tom? If ever you hurt anything you're going to +get hurt yourself. Comprenny, my son?" + +She set Tom on his feet, dusted him down, pushed her untidy hair out of +her eyes with one hand, and patted the boy with the other. + +"Kiss and make friends," said she. "Here's daddy, and we're going to +have dinner." + +Tom bore no malice. He gave and received the kiss of amity, and they +went into the dining-room, where a huge dish of boiled beef, flanked +with carrots, turnips, and suet dumplings steamed upon the board. + +A nurse brought down Bill, and seated him on his high chair. Then +Ferris, having begun to carve with celerity, could keep his news no +longer to himself. + +"Jo," he said, "it's true--true, after all." + +"Eh, what?" said Joey, busy preparing Bill's dinner in a plate with a +special high edge. + +"I wouldn't believe it--actually betted against it," continued her +husband, chuckling, "but it's gospel truth. Old Gaunt's gone and got +married." + +"Go on! Pulling my leg!" observed Joey, with equal elegance and good +humour. + +"My girl, I've seen 'em--actually seen 'em together. Came up just as he +was at his drive gate--telling Caunter something. She was sitting in +the trap beside him, and--Jee-rusalem, she's a peach, if you like!" + +"Percy, you are the limit. Remember the boys." + +"Lucky little beggars, they aren't old enough to suffer like their +daddy. I tell you I've never seen anything quite like her. She looks as +if a breath would blow her away--like what the serials call a vision +from another world. And old Gaunt sitting there beside her, looking as +if he would like to lay forcible hands on my windpipe. Old Gaunt. Help!" + +"Well, I never," said Joey, deeply impressed. "It may be a bit of all +right for us, if she's a decent sort. Nearest neighbours, aren't we?" + +"My dear, there's nothing else within miles of her. I believe the Chase +is next nearest. By the bye, think I'll ride over there this afternoon +and tell her ladyship the news. Come with me, old girl?" + +"I believe I will," said Joey. "Let's see, what's the first day it will +be decent to call at Omberleigh?" + +"Not till further orders," laughed her husband. "Mrs. G. will send out +cards when she is ready to receive. Poor little soul. I thought she +looked as if she hoped somebody would throw her a rope before long. Old +Gaunt. My hat!" + +"You call him old," observed Joey after a pause, during which she took +out her handkerchief and thoughtfully scrubbed Tom's nose, "but he's +only five or six years older than you." + +"And looks twenty years older." + +"That's only because he doesn't care what he looks like. Perhaps she'll +furbish him up." + +"Just fancy," burst out her husband. "That sweet little creature up +there in his clutches. It makes one shudder. I wonder if he talks to +her about manure? What should you suppose he _does_ talk about, +eh?" + +"You can search me," responded Mrs. Ferris tranquilly. She never spoke +English where slang could conveniently be substituted. "It's one of +these money transactions--like ours," she presently remarked. "She gets +Gaunt and you got me. You are both of you adventurers." + +"They were saying, down at the market Hall, that she was a daughter of +Bernard Mynors, of Lissendean, somewhere in Dorsetshire. Didn't your +father know something of the family?" + +"He knew a General Mynors. Yes, he had a brother named Bernard, and +their place was in Dorset. Came out of the top drawer, she did, if +she's one of that lot. But stony, you know--simply stony. I wonder +where he picked her up?" + +"You can search me," retorted Percy at once, and they both giggled. +"All I can tell you about her is that she is It." + + * * * * * + +The bride appeared at lunch, pale but valiant. Gaunt was standing in +the hall as she descended the stairs, and noticed that she leaned her +hand upon the rail, and moved as if she were stiff. He decided that +there was no doubt that this was a mere piece of humbug. She wished to +impress him with an idea of helplessness, under cover of which she was +forming some plan of campaign. + +She forced herself to eat a little, because he was watching her under +his lowered lids. When she had done, and Hemming had left the room, he +rose, came to her end of the table, produced from his pocket a handful +of gem rings, and tossed them on the table-cloth. "Choose what you +like," he said carelessly. + +The colour sprang hot to her face. With a dignified gesture she pushed +away the jewels and rose to her feet. + +"After what you said yesterday, you cannot expect me to take presents +from you," said she, making as if to pass from the room. + +"Ha!" he stood before her, the light of combat in his eyes. "You +decline to take presents from me--good! But you can't decline to do as +I order you. I order you to wear two of those rings, one on your left +hand and the other on your right. Choose quickly, or I will put them on +your finger myself." + +She stood, and he could see how hard she found it to fight back words. +In fact, she could not but realise that it would be madness to arouse +the resentment of the extraordinary being whose motives she was quite +unable to fathom; yet she made one effort to brave him. + +"I will not choose--I have no choice," said she, not glancing at the +rings, but with her eyes on his face. + +He turned, scooped up the rings in one hand, laid the other on her arm +just above the elbow, and said: + +"Come, I will help you to make a selection. There is a little room at +the west corner of the house which I think you may like to consider +yours. Let me show you." + +She went with him unprotesting, and tried to control the shuddering +which his grip upon her arm caused her to experience. + +The room which they entered was evidently his own study. It was full of +books and papers, untidy and dingy looking, like the haunts of most men +where the housemaid is forbidden. Through this he passed by an inner +door to a smaller room, with two windows--one south, one west. + +It was scantily furnished, but might have been pretty if artistically +arranged. She glanced round. There _was_ a second door. A room +which she could neither enter nor leave without passing through his +would be a poor boon. He pushed her down upon a sofa, seated himself +beside her, and laid the little pile of rings upon her knee. Without +speaking, he took her left hand in his own, and began fitting the rings +one after another. All were too large, except a fine half-hoop of +emeralds. + +"That for the present," said he, "and we can have some others altered. +Which do you like next best?" + +"I do not like to wear any of them," she answered faintly. His shoulder +was touching her own, and her terror grew with each moment. + +"You are obstinate," he said, with a scowl. + +She shook her head. "It is not a question of what I like, so why +pretend that it is? I will do anything that you say I must," she +murmured, so low that he could hardly hear. + +"Well, then, I say you must choose another ring." She turned them over +listlessly. "This," said she at last, taking a single diamond. + +"Good!" He gathered up the rest. Then, to her utter relief, he rose. "I +will make it into a packet for the post," said he. + +"Oh! That reminds me!" She was suddenly eager. "Please tell me, have +you a second post here?" + +"Yes. It will be in soon--about an hour's time." + +"Oh, I am glad!" A glow irradiated her wistful face. "Pansy promised to +write; I thought she could not have forgotten." There was a break in +her voice as she mentioned her little sister. "When does the post go +out?" she went on. + +"Very inconveniently, the man who brings the bag also takes it back, so +that if you are going to write, you must have your letter ready before +you receive the one you expect. Will you like to write it now? You will +find things on the table." + +He turned, went back into his own room, and closed the communicating +door. + +Left alone, her first act was to steal across the floor to the other +exit, and turn the handle. It was locked, and the key had been taken +out. + +The knowledge that she was actually a prisoner came to her with a shock +of horror. What would happen to her, what was she to expect in this +house of mysterious terror? She dare not give way, however. No matter +what she suffered, Pansy must know nothing of it--Tony must know +nothing. She must write a letter which should reassure them; and, if +once she yielded to the creeping, nameless horror which assailed her, +this would be impossible. + +Rallying her courage, she fought the sobs which rose in her throat, and +sat down to the writing-table. + +She had just sealed and stamped her letter, and was wondering whether +she dare lie down upon the sofa and rest, when Gaunt came in, his +letters for the post and the packet for the jeweller in his hand. He +went up to the place she had just vacated, laid down what he carried, +and took up the letter which she had left lying on the blotter. + +"Shouldn't have sealed it until I had read it," he remarked coolly, as +he broke the envelope open. + +Virginia sprang to her feet, and her angry cry of "Oh, how _can_ +you?" convinced him that he was on the right track at last. He was +going to hear the truth, as she had written it to those with whom she +knew no reserve. "One of my rules," said he, "is to read all the +letters you write." + +"You----" Half in shame, half in rage she broke off, she stifled the +word upon her tongue. Drawing back, mistress of herself, she remarked +scornfully: "I might have thought. People who break vows will not +respect seals." + +His back was towards her, so she could not see whether that stung. It +certainly did not avail to change his intention. He read her letter +deliberately through. + + +_My Own Precious Little Sister,_ + +_You will be so anxious to know how I am, and what my new home is +like, that although I am very tired, I must send you a scribble before +the post goes out, which is much earlier than I thought._ + +_Well, my darling, we got here quite safely. This house stands on a +hill, and there are woods behind it. The garden goes right down the +hill. It is not as big as Lissendean, but it is a very nice house, and +there are kind servants._ + +_You would have laughed if you had seen Osbert and me, sitting each +at one end of a great long table, having dinner in state._ + +_It seemed so odd this morning to be called--to have tea brought to +me instead of taking it to mamma--to have no bed to make, nor breakfast +things to wash up. Nothing to do, in fact, except order the dinner. The +housekeeper, Mrs. Wells, is very nice. I think we shall be great +friends. Her dairy is beautiful; they have those churns that darling +father and I used to long for at Lissendean. I almost cried, +remembering._ + +_This morning was gloriously fine. Osbert took me out over the farms, +and showed me the horses and the cornland and all the estate. I was +very silly and got faint when we had gone some way. You see, I don't +like to confess to him how run down I have been; and having had so +little food for so long, I have no appetite, and the very sight of the +abundant meals makes me feel ill. I simply can't swallow. I know this +good air will make me better by degrees._ + +_Oh, darling, I felt so homesick--so deadly homesick last night. I +thought of you all, and wondered what you were doing, how you were +getting on, and whether you missed Virgie. Also I remembered that I +never showed Caroline the place where your surgical things are kept. +You must show her before the great doctor comes. Oh, how anxious I +shall be until I hear all about his visit. Keep up your heart, darling. +I know you will be much better before long._ + +_Osbert has given me a little sitting-room for my own. I am writing +there now. He has given me a splendid emerald ring, and another with a +diamond in it._ + +_Oh, Pansy, love, darling, pet, write and tell me everything--just +everything you can think of, because I am very lonely._ + +_Your own most loving_ + Virgie. + +_P.S.--Hugs and kisses to my old Tony. I hope the bat is +satisfactory._ + + +While this letter was being read, there was complete stillness in the +room. The writer stood in the window, her back turned to Gaunt. He, +when he had finished reading, let the hand which held the paper drop +between his knees, while he sat staring upon the motionless figure of +his wife. He could not doubt that the letter was spontaneous. She had +evidently no idea at all of his demanding to see it. But, if it were +true, then what was he? Had he made the greatest mistake of his life? + +"What induced you," he demanded huskily, "to write such a letter as +this?" + +She turned round, puzzled. "What do you mean?" + +"If you had written as you felt about me and my treatment of you----" + +"But I cannot do that. I am bound to be loyal to you," she said +quietly. "You know it. Besides, I may suffer, and perhaps I deserve it. +They never shall, if I can help it." + +"But they shall, and can," he snarled. "This child will suffer if she +never sees you again--and she never shall. No, by----" + +He checked the oath. What was he saying? What was he thinking? There +stood before him a dauntless creature, submissive but utterly +unconquered. Was he going to find his pleasure in torturing her?... His +head swam. Yet the perverse devil in him drove him on. "That's part of +my plan," he said, "part of my scheme to pay your mother in full. You +will never set eyes on any of them again. I told you yesterday--it is a +life-sentence." + +She answered gravely: "Yes, you told me that." + +"And you--you write like this, because you think it would make the +child unhappy if she knew the truth. How long do you think you can +manage to keep up this farce, eh?" + +She shook her head. "I don't know. I can't look forward," she muttered +hurryingly. "I must just do what I can--as long as I can." + +He tossed the letter upon the table. "Seal it down and put it in the +bag, for the lie it is," he said thickly. + +She sat down obediently to re-seal the envelope. He stood watching her, +with eyes full of baffled purpose. Upon them there entered Hemming, +bearing a locked post-bag in his hand. + +Gaunt unlocked it with a key which was fastened to his watch-chain, +took out the contents, placed his own correspondence and his wife's one +letter within, relocked the bag, and handed it to the man, who retired. + +The letters lay behind him in a little pile. He sorted them, and +selected one in a childish, unformed hand, addressed to Mrs. Gaunt. + +"Of course," he said, "I also read all the letters you receive." + +"I suppose so," replied Virginia dryly. + +She felt that her limbs would no longer support her, and sat down white +and shaking, clenching her hands together while again silence fell and +Gaunt read: + + +_Virgie, my own darling, I must use up the time while you are being +married, in writing to say O my sweet dear I hope God will let you be +hapy like you deserve to be. I am so sorry I did not see Osbert when he +came hear, but you must send me his foto, then I shall know what he is +like. O, it is nise to think you will alwas have enuf to eat now. You +used to think I did not notice when you gave it all to Tony and me, but +I did. I knew too that morning when you fainted over scrubing the +kitchen floor, when you came up with that wet stain on your apron I +knew because I caled so many times and you did not answer. Now you will +be rich and grand and hapy, and you must not think I shall fret, +because I don't mean to. Carroline is a nise woman, very kind to me, +but O Virgie, I shall not be so hapy with Mamma now you are not hear to +keep her pleased, I hope it is not rong to write this. It must be so +funny to have a husband, give him my love if you think he would like +it, are your nees well yet? Mind you don't walk too far till they are. +Have you dissided which room is to be mine when I come to Omberleigh? +Do let it look out on the yard so I can see the chickens. Good-bye, +darling_, DARLING, + +Your LITTLE Pansy Blossom. + +_P.S.--Urmintrude is quite well._ + + +There was a pause after the man had finished reading. He frowned, bit +his lip, and stared at the floor. At last he flung a question at his +wife. "What's wrong with your knees?" + +She started and flushed. "They are--they are a little swollen and +sore--with housework--kneeling about, you know," she murmured +apologetically. "Does Pansy mention it?" + +"What housework have you had to do?" + +"Only the keep of Laburnum Villa." + +"But there was a servant; I saw her." + +"Oh, she only came for that afternoon, because I--I didn't want to let +you in myself...." + +"... And you ask me to believe that you--_you_ have been a +maid-of-all-work for the past two years?" + +"Oh, no, I do not ask you to believe it," came the disdainful retort. +"I do not mind whether you believe it or not." + +He went up to her with one of his unexpected, almost violent movements, +snatched the hand which hung at her side, opened it--studied its pink +palm. It had been carefully tended, but it bore unmistakable marks of +hard usage. + +"It seems to me that I have married the wrong woman," he said, letting +it fall again. "It was your mother who ought to have been made to +suffer." + +"Mother has suffered a great deal," murmured Virginia. + +He thrust his hands deep in his pockets, walked away, across the room, +came back slowly, paused, staring at her. + +"Tell me, for God's sake, what made you consent to such a marriage as +this?" + +She made a backward movement away from him, her eyes blazing, her +temper high. "I did _not_ consent--I never consented to such a +marriage as this!" + +She was in act to go out of the room. He put himself in the way. "What +then? What did you expect?" + +"I will not speak of it to you!" + +"You will speak of what I please!" As she made to pass him, he took her +by both arms, holding her before him. "You are to tell me what induced +you to agree to marry me." + +"Why should I tell you when you do not believe what I say?" + +"You tell me--I'll believe or not, as I see fit. Out with it!" + +She once more checked the hysterical sobs that threatened her. + +"You--you had once loved mother," she said slowly. "You knew that she +preferred another man. I am like her. You saw me; it brought back to +you that bygone love. I supposed that you were attracted." + +She paused. + +"But what of yourself? Your own feeling in the matter? I want to get at +that." + +"It was only a question of me," she muttered, "and it was giving myself +up for them. I--you see, I could do nothing." In spite of her control +sobs began to shake her voice. "It was hopeless; we were at the +end----" She broke off to summon fresh nerve. He stood immovable, +holding her, compelling her, as it were, to continue. + +"The end of your resources?" + +She nodded. "And nearly the end of my strength too. I was afraid that, +if I took a place anywhere, my health would give way. I was afraid--a +coward!" Suddenly her own emotion gave her words and steadied her +voice. "I ought to have gone on--just died, and trusted God to care for +them! But, oh, you have never known--never thought of what it means--to +have the ones you love, your own, your darlings--destitute, and to know +that you--can't go on much longer.... As for you"--she looked him +squarely in the eyes, her own full of scorn--"how could I have guessed +that a man like you could be? A man who could find pleasure in +bullying, browbeating the helpless girl he had sworn to love?" + +"Ha!" he said, "so you break out at last, do you? How dare you speak to +me like that? I shall punish you for it. You haven't read that letter +yet. Give it me." + +She held Pansy's as yet unread epistle crushed in her left hand. +Without reflecting, she snatched it to her breast, covering it with her +other hand. In a whirlwind of some blind fury which he could not +analyse he took it from her, using force to unclasp her fingers. + +There was a tussle--momentary only--then she stood free of him in the +middle of the room, a wild look on her face, glancing this way and that +as if for escape. He stood before the one door, the other was locked. +Like a flame blown out by a puff of wind her passion died as the +knowledge of her own desperate case overflooded her. Turning away with +a long-drawn moan she crouched down in a big chair, hiding her face, +giving way to her despair unrestrained. + +In a minute or two she heard his voice, harsh and broken, speaking +close to her. "Why did you provoke me? You shouldn't; it's dangerous," +he growled hurriedly. "Here, take your letter; here it is"--pushing it +into her hands. "Stop crying, can you? or conceal your face. Here comes +Hemming with the tea." + +At the admonition she sprang to her feet, and he saw the pathos of her +pale, tear-washed cheeks. With a swift movement she ran to the +writing-table, seated herself thereat, and bent down her face as if +busily occupied. Gaunt placed himself beside her, leaning partly over, +as if watching what she wrote; and upon the domestic tableau the +servant entered with his tray. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TREATMENT BREAKS DOWN + + + "_Oh, do not die, for I shall hate + All women so, when thou art gone, + That thee I shall not celebrate, + When I remember thou wast one._"--Donne. + + +The otter hounds were out, and Mr. Ferris was driving his wife in the +car to the meet. The gentleman was in capital humour, for he knew how +acceptable a companion he would prove to everybody this morning; being, +so far as he knew, the only person who had yet actually beheld the +romantic creature who had conquered that hard and woman-hating +bachelor, Gaunt of Omberleigh. + +"I wonder if she'll hunt?" remarked Joey. "Gaunt's a good horseman in +spite of his lameness. Just fancy seeing him about this winter with a +pretty wife in tow! It's simply too rippin'--best news I've heard for a +long time." + +"Hallo! Who's this riding the wrong way?" said her husband suddenly. +"If it isn't the doctor. Hallo, Dymock, where are you off to on such a +grand morning?" he cried, stopping the engine. + +"Give you three guesses," said Dymock, drawing rein with a grin on his +clever, keen face. "But you won't guess in fifty." + +"Got it in one," shouted Joey. "You're going to Omberleigh, I can see +it in your eye." + +"You're a wizard, Mrs. Ferris. Have you seen her, then?" + +"What, the bride? You don't say you're going to see her?" + +"I saw her yesterday," burst in Percy, "and she looked as well +as--well, as health itself." + +"Old Gaunt is not satisfied, however," replied Dymock. "It's probably +nothing much, but he says she seems a bit run down. I suppose I must +expect to be sent for if her little finger aches." + +"Sure," laughed Ferris. "He looks as if he wishes he could cause her to +become invisible when any one of the male sex is passing by. Just the +age to make a fool of himself, isn't he? Well, if you're passing our +way later, look in, won't you?" + +"You'll be wasting your whisky, Ferris. I don't give away my patients." + +Ferris grinned. "Welcome, anyway," he said, as he and his wife drove on. + +Dr. Dymock pursued his road, his mind as he rode up through the +pinewoods being filled with as lively a curiosity as even the couple +from Perley Hatch confessed to feeling. What like was the girl--for +Ferris said she was a girl, and beautiful at that--who could have +married Gaunt? + +Hemming showed him into the study. It surprised him vaguely to find the +house as untidy and dingy as usual--the abode of a woman-hating +bachelor, untouched by the coming of a fair young mistress. Certainly +the affair had been very sudden. + +Gaunt joined him almost at once, his own appearance just as normal and +unchanged as that of his house. + +"I must begin with hearty congratulations," observed the doctor, +shaking hands cordially. "Ferris, it appears, caught a glimpse of Mrs. +Gaunt yesterday, and he says she is perfectly lovely." + +"Thanks. Yes, my wife is certainly pretty, but I fear she is not very +strong. As I think I hinted to you in my note, she was bitten with the +idea which infects many girls nowadays--this notion of taking up Work, +with a capital W. She has been scrubbing floors and cooking +meals--laying tables and lighting fires. It has been quite too much for +her. She told me nothing of it, and I was inconsiderate enough to take +her a long ramble over the estate yesterday. She was so done up +afterwards that I persuaded her to stay in bed to-day until you had +seen her." + +It was frankly and quite pleasantly said. The doctor applauded the +new-made husband's care, and was taken upstairs, under Grover's escort, +to the room where his patient lay. + +He was not a man observant of details, but it struck even him that +these were curious surroundings for a modern bride. + +Since his inheritance of the property from his great aunt, the survivor +of four aged sisters, Gaunt had not thought of touching or altering +anything. + +The big bedstead on which Virginia lay was what used to be known as a +"tester." It had a wooden canopy, and hangings of washed-out chintz. + +There was an early Victorian mahogany wardrobe, big, heavy, ugly, and +commodious. The rest of the furniture was in keeping. However, plenty +of sunshine came in through the long windows, and there was a bunch of +roses on a small table near the bed. + +With her hair tumbling about her, Mrs. Gaunt looked like a child. He +had a moment's horror as he met the nervous, shrinking dread in her +lovely eyes. Was this a tragedy? + +"I had no idea," stammered the patient, "no idea that my--husband had +sent for a doctor. There is no need, I am well, I am only a little +tired." + +"Just what he told me," said Dymock good-humouredly. "I expect you are +both right. You can't wonder at his being a bit anxious, can you?" He +glanced up humorously at Grover, who had evidently had strict orders to +remain, and who stood primly by the bed. She smiled, however, at his +question. + +"Indeed, sir, I think the master is quite right. Mrs. Gaunt is +thoroughly overdone," said she. "I daresay he told you, sir, as he told +us, that she has been going in for this here domestic science work. +Young ladies like her, sir, is not fit for it. If you'll believe me, +she has been actually washing clothes! That is, she says she had in a +woman to help, but it's a sin, sir, for the likes of her. However, now +we've put our foot down"--she cast a glance of real kindness at the +wistful creature lying there. "There's plenty of us here, sir, to wait +on her, hand and foot; and in a few days you'll see she'll be a +different thing--a different thing altogether. It is her knees I want +you to look at particular, sir, after you've took her pulse, of course." + + * * * * * + +When the doctor came downstairs the bridegroom was standing at the hall +door, his hands deep thrust in his pockets, gazing out gloomily over +the thick and shadowy pinewood. + +As Dymock approached, he turned, fixing his eyes upon him. The doctor +stood, drawing on his riding gloves, and did not at first speak. + +"Well?" said Gaunt at last, with an odd air of exploding. + +"Well, I am a little puzzled. No doubt there is debility as a result of +overwork, but there is more than that. To tell you the actual truth, +your wife has been starving herself. You see, that is a queer, +unnatural symptom. When a healthy girl starves herself, it means one of +two things. Either her nerves are all to pieces--she is what we call +hysterical--or in the alternative--why, she simply hasn't been able to +get enough to eat. Now your wife shows no sign of hysteria that I can +see, except for the undoubted fact that she is under-nourished. So----" + +Gaunt folded his arms and looked away. "Dymock," he said unwillingly, +"one's doctor keeps one's secrets--eh?" + +Dymock raised his clear steady eyes and looked full at him. "I do," was +all he said. + +"Well, I fear it is true, that she is under-fed and over-worked. It has +been cruel. I had no idea myself. She looks so, somehow, so unlike +that." + +"Yes, indeed. You mean that her over-exertion has been necessary?" + +"I do." + +"Well, I thought as much," replied Dymock, after a pause. "Some +unscrupulous employer, I suppose. A good thing you rescued her. She is +perfectly healthy and sound, but she won't be anything like robust for +some time yet. I am forbidding solid food at present. She must have +nourishment every two hours--eggs beaten up in milk, port wine, strong +soup, Benger's food--things like that. In a few days her appetite will +return. But meanwhile she must be left perfectly quiet, Gaunt--you +understand?" + +"I understand perfectly. I give you my word for that." + +"It won't be for long," said Dymock consolingly. "She is young, and she +will pick up fast in this good air; her convalescence will be twice as +rapid if you are considerate. She is in a state of acute nervous +tension, and must be soothed; kept happy and quiet." + +"Perhaps," said Gaunt, after a long pause, "it would be better if I do +not see her at all, just at present. What do you think?" + +"It all depends. Does it excite her to see you?" + +"It might. Our marriage was sudden, you know. She hardly knows me." + +"I think it should depend upon what she would like. Might it not +distress her that you should keep away?" + +"Perhaps." + +"In a few days," went on the doctor, "she ought to go out, if it can be +managed without her putting her feet to the ground. You have no motor, +have you?" + +"No." + +"See here, Gaunt--forgive me if this sounds like interference, but the +fact of your never having had any ladies to the house--your well-known +tastes, or distastes--make things a bit difficult for your wife. She is +all alone--there's nobody to come and see her, or cheer her up. I am +going to make a bold suggestion. Young Mrs. Ferris is simply bursting +with hospitable intentions, and, though she is a bit of a rough +diamond, she is one of the best. They have a motor, and she has nothing +else to do. Let me send her round in a day or two to call upon Mrs. +Gaunt?" + +Gaunt's brow lowered. "A woman with a voice like a fog-horn----" + +"No beauty, I grant you, but a real good sort, and your only near +neighbour. Let her drive Mrs. Gaunt about, show her the Peak, take her +shopping to Buxton, import some light literature from the circulating +library--something to pass the time." + +"It may be that you are right," replied Gaunt after some hesitation. "I +don't want visitors yet, but if Mrs. Ferris would understand that she +is quite an exception----" + +"It would double her desire to be of use," laughed the doctor. "Well, +good day. I'll send along a tonic, and I think I should like to see +your wife again to-morrow." + +"Come as often as you think wise." + +The clatter of the hoofs of the doctor's mare died away along the +wooded aisles. Gaunt remained standing, his head bent, his hands locked +behind his back. He hardly knew what he felt, what dominating impulse +would emerge out of the present confusion of a mind which for more than +twenty years had been swayed by one sole idea. + +The surroundings upon which his moody gaze was fixed were the scene of +that accident which had done much to warp his temperament, to give a +twist to a disposition which from birth had been passionate and what is +known as "difficult." The kind of boy who would have been saved by the +devotion of a mother who understood him, he had been left doubly an +orphan at an age so early that he had but a confused memory even of his +mother's face. His old great-aunts at Omberleigh knew nothing of boys. +During his summer vacation he stayed with them and ran wild among the +men servants. + +He was about fifteen years old, a wilful, even violent-tempered lad, +when he disobeyed a direct order by going for a ride upon the bailiff's +horse, an uncertain-tempered brute, who could be controlled only by his +master. Contrary to his own expectation, all had gone well. He was +returning in triumph up the drive, off his guard, exulting in his +successful bit of disobedience, when something white rushed across the +road. It was a shirt, blown from an adjacent clothes-line by the fury +of the gale, and flying upon the wind like some wild ghost, flapping, +rolling, staggering. As if in sheer malice, it shot out from among the +tree-trunks, and wrapped itself momentarily over the eyes of the +outraged steed, which swerved, terrified, and bolted into the wood. +Madly the creature strove to thrust itself in between the close-growing +pines. Pluckily the boy clung to his seat, though knocked violently +against one obstacle after another in his hurtling progress. Finally, +the horse attempted to rush through a narrow space between two extra +strong and large trees, and the rider came off, but not before one leg +had been horribly crushed in the struggle. + +His right knee proved to be so badly lacerated that amputation was at +first thought inevitable. By the skill of the surgeon this was +obviated, but the snapping of a tendon produced a life-long stiffness +of the joint and for a year or two prevented his indulging in any kind +of athletics. + +The isolation of mind and body which resulted fostered his already +existing tendency to morbidity. At Oxford he withdrew himself as much +as he could from society, becoming more morose as his former friends, +tired of being repulsed, left him by degrees more and more to himself. +At Oxford, one Commemoration week, he met the beautiful Virginia +Sheringham, and fell so violently in love that his natural reserve was +swept out of sight, and he conquered by sheer force of will. This girl +became his idol, his universe, his obsession. For her he would work +unceasingly, remove mountains, make a name, make a fortune. + +Perhaps he should have thought himself lucky that so fascinating a +young lady endured a whole year of so unpromising an engagement. At +first she was taken off her feet by the violence of his passion, the +impetuosity of his wooing. Very soon, however, her natural prudence +began to get the upper hand. What, she very properly asked herself, +could be the outcome of this long-drawn affair? The love-letters which +at first had been so irresistible, inevitably palled on repetition. +Moreover, one cannot buy new frocks with love-letters. Perhaps she +announced the end of it all too suddenly. Yet it is doubtful whether +any preliminary hinting could have made Osbert believe that his adored +one could possibly be contemplating the treachery of jilting him. + +The thing was done. It had to be done, for Virginia had given her lover +a whole year, and a maiden's market is short. Unfortunately, the young +man involved belonged to that pitiable but happily small minority with +whom to love seems final, who cannot rally from the blow given by the +beloved hand. + +Everything was against Gaunt's recovery. He had no friends. His nearest +relatives were the old great-aunts at Omberleigh, who understood him +not at all, and liked him but little. During his engagement he flung +away every other interest, every other resource, to give himself up to +the passion which filled him. His jilting was for him the end of all +things. For the first few years he disappeared from England, became a +special correspondent at out-of-the-way spots such as Valparaiso, +visited such outposts of empire as the Solomon Islands. Then the last +surviving aunt passed away from Omberleigh. He found that the place was +his, and he decided to occupy it, since he had formed a plan which +needed residence in England for its maturing. + +He had thought, during those years of wandering, upon one subject only. +The behaviour of Virginia Sheringham had been brought to the bar of his +judgment. She had been tried, and found guilty on every count. She had +been treacherous, light, covetous, cruel, selfish, and callous. For +these things he decided that she deserved punishment. Why should he +suffer as for years he had suffered, while the criminal went scot free? + +He had money now. Money was power. One day his turn would come. He +could wait for it. + +As the waiting went on he grew used to it. He lived in an atmosphere of +it. One day this long-planned thing would happen, this long-prepared +design would materialise. He hardly noticed the flight of the years. He +hardly noticed any material or outward circumstances, except the +development of his land. He lived in the nursing, the contemplation, +the fondling, of an idea of future vengeance and retribution, when +Virginia Sheringham should be at his mercy, and should plead to +him--and plead in vain. + +When at last the scheme did really mature, when the mortgage fell in, +he could hardly realise that this had actually happened. He felt dazed, +like a man who has lived for years in the dark when he is faced with +sudden daylight. + +It was all happening so ludicrously as he had foreseen. Mrs. Mynors had +found out who was the mortgagee, and she had made an appeal--just the +kind of appeal he had expected. He found himself taking a ticket for a +journey to London for the first time during years. + +There was nothing to do in London. To wait patiently there was by no +means the easy matter that it was in the country, in the midst of his +own work upon his own land. To occupy himself he went and saw pictures. +He had a taste for pictures, though he never indulged it by buying any. + +This it was which brought him to Hertford House, and suggested to him a +totally new idea--an idea so brilliant, and yet so horrible, that it +attracted and repelled him both at once. The shock of the sight of +Virginia the younger was so great as partially to unnerve him. Her +daughter! He had never thought about her children, except when the +death of her son and heir, by means of the motor accident, had appeared +in the paper, and he had been glad. + +Now here was something like a resurrection of the Virginia of twenty +years ago. He contemplated her, considered her, appraised her. The +whole appearance of her was to him the top-note of luxury, +extravagance, affectation. Long residence in the country, avoidance of +women, had made him unaccustomed to the growing call for elaborate +taste in feminine attire. He had never seen anything like the slim +perfection of Virginia. He listened while girl-like she prattled of the +costumes of the pictured women on the walls. He heard her wonder +gravely whether she could wear rose-colour and contrast her own style +with that of her friend! + +She stood, to the man who glowered upon her, for the incarnation of a +type. She was the temptress woman, who would, as her mother had done, +enslave and then forsake. Could he prevent the life-long unhappiness of +some unfortunate man, by exerting his own will, his own wealth to get +the siren into his power? + +He marked the arrival of Gerald Rosenberg. His faculties, sharpened to +the point of brilliance by his own keen personal hatred, discerned the +situation between the two young people. Upon the upshot of it depended +all his own plans. If Gerald hesitated--if he took time for +reflection--then Gaunt would have a chance to carry out a scheme of +retribution more complete than anything of which he had yet dreamed. In +his pocket was a letter from his old love--a letter which he described +to himself as loathsome. It told him, practically, that she was his for +the asking. What a buffet in the face for her, if he should propose for +her daughter! And what a hold upon the entire family if he could catch +the mercenary young adventuress, and keep her caged, and mould her to +his will! + +And it had all happened so marvellously according to his plan. + +He succeeded not merely as well as he hoped, but far more easily. He +was met more than half-way, both by mother and daughter. Gerald +Rosenberg had evidently hung fire. The dressed-up doll which looked so +fair and innocent was ready to consent to the sale of herself--to the +shameful bargain which he had proposed. So he had taken her hand--led +her into the steel jaws of his trap. It had closed upon her, and she +lay at the bottom, lacerated, helpless, awaiting the moment when her +captor should come and devour her. + +He felt as might a hunter, who, having laid a snare for a man-eating +tigress, comes creeping through the woods at dawn, and finds the pit +occupied by a strayed lamb. + +From the moment of reading the two letters which yesterday had passed +between the sisters, he knew that his weapon had broken in his hand. + +The dreadful thing was that, having made captive this helpless +creature, towards whom his ill-will was no longer active, he was unable +to release her. + +And what could he do with her? + +He had saddled himself for life with a female companion, of whom he had +no need at all. What satisfaction could be derived from asserting his +mastery over one so weak, so submissive, so--so confoundedly childish? +As to making friends with her, the prospects of that were not +encouraging. His treatment of her yesterday must have made a deep +impression. Besides, he felt within himself no hankering at all after a +_rapprochement_. Since his wife could not feed his hate, nor +satisfy his vengeance, he had, quite frankly, no use for her. + +Yet she was there. What was he to do with her? + +As the endless complications--the annoying changes to be wrought in his +life by the introduction of such trying persons as Joey Ferris into his +hitherto unmolested retreat--as all this swept over him, he realised +that he had overshot his mark and landed himself in unforeseen +difficulties and vexations. Some gratifications still remained--for +instance, the prospect of reading and of answering his mother-in-law's +first letter, appealing for more money! Ah, that still lay in the +future, along with her inevitable suggestion that she should come for a +"nice long visit" to Omberleigh, and his blunt refusal of her company! + +In her, at least, he had not been mistaken. It was only in the case of +this artless, babyish creature upstairs that he had made such an ass of +himself. + +Shrugging his shoulders, he turned slowly away from the doorway, and +betook himself to his study. There he sat down and wrote a message. + + +_The doctor tells me you need rest, and should be left quite quiet. +That being so, I feel sure that I had better keep away altogether. But +there is something I have to say, so will you, for the sake of +appearances, grant me a few minutes' conversation this afternoon. +Choose your own time.--O. G._ + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +INSTANTANEOUS CONVERSION + + + "_I was a moody comrade to her then, + For all the love I bore her.... + ... This had come to be + A game to play, a love to clasp, a hate + To wreak, all things together that a man + Needs for his blood to ripen.... + ... In those hours no doubt + To the young girl, my eyes were like my soul,-- + Dark wells of death-in-life that yearned for day._"-- + --D. G. Rossetti. + + +A pencil note was brought downstairs to the master by Grover, who wore +a demure look, as though she guessed how novel and charming a pastime +to the woman-hater was this playful exchange of love-letters. + +He was seated at the lunch-table when the little envelope was handed to +him, and a surly self-consciousness kept him from opening it until +Hemming had retired, which conduct on his part caused amused nudgings +between the servants outside. + + +_Please come to tea at four._--Virginia. + + +Such was the extent of the "love-letter" when he had opened it. + +He shrugged his shoulders. He did not want to have tea with her in the +least. However, it would have a good effect upon the household--keep up +the fiction of their mutual desire for each other's society. + +At a few minutes after four, he knocked at her door. Grover had just +arranged the tea-table close to the bed, and was putting away one or +two things before leaving the room. Virginia blushed brightly as her +jailer entered, but gave him a timid smile of welcome. She told Grover, +with whom she was evidently on the best of terms already, to set a +chair for him, directed the closing of one window, lest there be too +much draught; and so did the honours until the maid, benevolently +smiling, had disappeared. + +The bride knew that even a minute's hesitation would make her too +nervous to speak, so she said at once: "It was kind of you to send for +the doctor, but indeed there was no need. I shall be well in a very few +days. I feel rested already." + +"That's right," he said briefly. "Proper treatment will bring you round +sooner, I expect." + +"I like Dr. Dymock," she said timidly. + +"He's not a bad sort." + +A silence ensued. How difficult it was to find things to say. Virginia +made another effort. "Grover is so kind, she waits on me hand and foot!" + +"It's her work to wait on you. What she's paid for. I don't know why +you should call her kind." + +"Don't you know," she asked earnestly, "the difference between the work +you can pay for and the work you can't? Oh, but I am sure you must." + +He grunted. Evidently he was not interested, but bored. She offered him +more tea, and refrained from further efforts at talk, remembering his +sneer at her "prattle." + +They were too utterly out of sympathy for her to have any idea of how +best to approach him. + +He drank his second cup of tea in silence, his gaze travelling over the +room, over the dressing-table with its dainty appointments, over the +white silk kimono, embroidered in faintly coloured flowers, which his +bride wore. The loose sleeve revealed the thinness of her arm and +wrist, which her dresses had formerly more or less concealed. On her +white flesh he remarked a row of round purple marks. Had she rubbed her +arm on something dirty? What could have caused those stains? They +looked like finger-marks. The memory of yesterday--of their tussle, and +his snatching of the letter from her desperate grip--came suddenly to +him. + +Could it be true that he, Osbert Gaunt, with the upbringing and +traditions of a gentleman, had left the marks of his hands upon a +fragile girl? Self-disgust turned him for a moment almost sick. + +Yet he would say what he had come to say. He cleared his throat. + +"The doctor suggested to me that he should send our neighbour, Mrs. +Ferris, to call upon you in a day or two. I don't suppose you will like +her much, but she is about the only person available. She is one of +nature's mistakes--daughter of a colonel, and ought to have worked in a +factory. However, they tell me she is a good sort. She has a motor, and +would take you for a spin. I want you to understand that, if you go out +with her, it is only on conditions--that it would be of no use for you +to attempt to escape." + +Virgie was so surprised that she dropped the sugar-tongs. "To escape!" + +"From me." + +"I don't understand----" + +"I think you do. If Mrs. Ferris motors you to any place where there is +a railway station you might be tempted to take the train and go off. I +ought to tell you that if you do, I shall bring you back." + +"You suppose that I should--that I should let Mrs. Ferris into the +secret of my--of your--of our----" + +"What more likely?" + +"If you think so," replied Virginia with shaking voice, "please don't +let Mrs. Ferris come. I did not ask--you must not think I asked the +doctor--for company or complained of loneliness. I am----" she could +not go on. + +"Have I your word that if I allow you to go about as you like you will +make no attempt to leave me?" + +"Would you take my word?" she cried vehemently; then checked herself, +and seemed to hold herself quiet by an act of will. + +"The doctor told me that you ought not to be distressed, that perfect +rest was necessary for you," said Gaunt, rising abruptly from his seat. +"Don't upset yourself, I didn't mean to bully. I will take it for +granted that you will do as I wish, now that you know what my wishes +are. Good afternoon." + +She did not answer. She had turned her face inwards to the pillow, and +her slight shoulders were shaking. He stood a moment, contemplating her +in dark vexation. Then he went out of the room, annoyed with himself, +but still more annoyed with her. + +His mind was chaotic. He had just been wondering what he could do with +her--how deal with the preposterous situation he had himself +created--and hardly had the thoughts formed themselves before he was +found threatening her with penalties in case she should attempt to +disembarrass him of her presence. Dimly he descried the reason of this +apparent inconsistency. It was that he knew her to be spiritually free +of him. He could not bear that she should be actually free as well. +After all, he had married her. He had his rights. He was her husband. +But, Oh, ye gods, what a child she was--how easily cowed, how shrinking +and timid and all the other things that he hated! + +From the bottom of his heart he wished that he had never set eyes upon +her. + + * * * * * + +The following morning the post-bag, when it was brought to him at +breakfast time, contained two letters for Virginia. One was addressed +in the unformed, sprawling hand which he knew to be Pansy's. The other +was inscribed with a flowing, ornamental script which once had power to +illuminate the world for him, and now produced in his fermenting mind +the most curious mixture of rage, bitterness, and gratification. + +He had determined yesterday to abandon his cruel intention of +overlooking his wife's correspondence. His perusal of Pansy's letter +had been enough. This sight of his mother-in-law's writing, however, +touched him upon the corrupt spot in his heart, and shook his +resolution. + +He laid the letter down among his own, before Grover, who waited near, +had seen the address. The letter from Pansy he handed to her as it was, +and joyfully it was received by its lawful recipient when it arrived +upstairs upon her breakfast tray, the sanctity of its seal inviolate. + +When he was alone, Gaunt leaned forward, his elbows propped upon the +table, and held Mrs. Mynors' envelope in the steam of the spirit kettle +which stood upon the silver tray. + +It was easily opened. He drew forth the contents with a detestable +eagerness, and read as follows: + + +_My dearest girl,--_ + +_This is the first moment that I have felt able to write to you, so +great have been my sufferings, so keen my humiliation over this +mercenary marriage of yours. I feel as if I had been living in a +nightmare ever since that fatal day when I went to town to meet the +inhuman monster who almost blighted my young life, and has now fastened +his claws into you instead._ + +_Oh, Virginia! Sooner--far sooner--would I have gone to the workhouse +than be obliged to think of you in Gaunt's power! But you knew that! +Again and again did I assure you, did I not, how far I was from +demanding this sacrifice at your hands? How is he using you? That is +the question that forces itself upon me every hour--that keeps me awake +at night with the horrors! Your letter to Pansy was more or less +reassuring, I must own. Perhaps, when he finds how useful and domestic +you are, he may be kinder than my fears suggest?_ + +_Meantime, I miss you every moment. You will know how I have always +detested the petty meannesses of life, the half-pounds of cooking +butter, the scraps for the stock-pot, the way the coal disappears, the +price of fish--all the endless, nauseating haggling over pence! To this +you have left me, after all that I have suffered. After the shattering +blows of the death of my first-born, my widowhood, our ruin--you have +taken the hand of a man who can give you life's good things, and you +have left me to the slavery which you found so unbearable. But I must +not reproach you, for you may be already suffering for your mistake. Do +write me a few lines, and tell me frankly how he is treating you?_ + +_If I am wrong, if he is behaving kindly to you, it will be such a +relief to know it. He may, of course, actually have fallen in love with +your looks. You are, as all declare, absurdly like me. If this should +be so, I know, my darling daughter, that you will use your opportunity +to help me. You must see that the allowance secured to me is wretchedly +inadequate. L300 a year is impossible. It will mean an existence of +continual debt. L400--that is, a hundred pounds a quarter--might be +conceivable. It is the very lowest upon which one should be called upon +to live. If Gaunt is inclined to be indulgent--if you have managed to +get on his blind side--do strike while the iron is hot, and have this +matter arranged for me, won't you?_ + +_It is not as if I asked for riches. Think of what I have been used +to? Think of me here in this odious little town, non-existent as far as +the county is concerned--Me, Mrs. Bernard Mynors--a prouder name than +that of many a peer. Think of this in your luxury, and spare a little +pity for your wretched mother._ + +Virginia Mynors. + + +Before that letter, Gaunt sat with clenched hands. The veins in his +forehead swelled. How right he had been--how fatally exact in his +forecast as far as the mother was concerned! How far was he right, +after all, about the daughter? + +Could that letter of hers to Pansy have conceivably been written as a +blind--in case he should read it? No. That was not possible--at least +it was not possible that Pansy's letter to her sister could have been +the result of any kind of premeditation. Besides, the doctor's evidence +of his wife's starved condition. Yet here were reproaches for the girl +who had been obstinately bent upon a mercenary marriage--a sacrifice +which she seemed to have made against her mother's pleadings! + +How did the rest of the letter harmonise with the outburst of maternal +agony which began it? His lip curled, ever more and more, until all his +teeth showed, as he read once more the suggestion that, if he had been +successfully hoodwinked, he might be bled for an extra hundred a year! +As he sat, staring at the paper, he knew one thing certainly. _He +must see the reply to that letter._ Moreover, Virginia must write it +under the impression that he would _not_ see it. + +He hardly knew himself as he carefully resealed the envelope, and +satisfied himself that it bore no signs of having been tampered with. +In that moment he felt that he recked neither of his honour nor of his +manhood. He had no scruples. One thing only stood out in his mind as +essential. He must know how far his wife was victim and martyr, how far +a designing girl. + +If she was, as her mother declared her to be--mercenary, then there +were ways, plenty of ways, in which she might do penance for such +fault. But, if it were true that she had been sacrificed for pure love, +that her unselfishness was so wonderful, so unheard-of, that she really +had laid down her all upon the altar of family affection--why, then, +what would happen? He asked himself desperately, what _could_ +happen? The only solution that occurred to him at the moment was that +he should hang himself. + + * * * * * + +When Virginia's tea went upstairs that afternoon, her mother's letter +lay upon the tray, as though it had arrived by the second post. With it +was a note from Gaunt, to the effect that he was sorry to have to be +out that afternoon. An accident had happened on the estate--a large +tree had fallen, most unexpectedly, and the huge trunk had blocked the +course of the trout-stream, and the water was flooding a meadow. He +hoped to look in upon her that evening on his return. Then, below his +initials: + + +_For the future I waive my right to inspect your correspondence._ + + +It was late when he came in, wet to the knees and tired out. He had a +bath, changed for the evening, and then, before going downstairs, +rapped on the door of communication between his own room and Virginia's. + +Grover was not there, so there was nobody to see that the bride turned +as white as a sheet. She had not known, for certain, that his room +adjoined her own. + +"Come in," she faltered. He pushed the door wide. + +She was on a sofa, in the window, and the late evening light shone +through her hair as she turned to him that face which might have been +an angel's. It was the face that had stood for him for so many years as +the expression of treachery incarnate. Now it gave him the most +extraordinary sensation. + +For the first time in their mutual acquaintance she did not smile. Her +look as she faced him was grave and cold. It seemed that at last his +repeated insults had quenched her timid impulse to friendliness. The +thought affected him profoundly. + +"I hope you haven't been too lonely this afternoon?" he asked +haltingly, standing in the doorway. + +"No, not at all. Mrs. Ferris came to see me." + +"Ha! How did you like her?" + +"She seems very kind." The tone was entirely noncommittal. It seemed to +say, "Whether I liked her or not is no concern of yours." + +"H'm! Did she say anything about taking you out in the motor?" + +"Yes." + +"What did you say?" + +"I said I would rather not go." + +"You would rather not go?" + +She turned her eyes away from him, out to the garden, and did not +speak. He remembered what he had said the previous day, and guessed how +it must have hurt her, if she were really what he was beginning to +believe. + +His next words were utterly unpremeditated. "I'll buy a car and take +you out myself." + +"That would be safer," she replied gravely. Then she raised herself on +her elbow, searched among her papers on a little table at her side, and +held out a letter to him. + +"Will you put that out to be posted, please?" + +He limped across the room and stood quite near--near enough to take the +envelope from her hand. + +"You read what I said about your correspondence?" + +"Yes." He thought he could detect an impulse to say "Thank you," and +the determination not to yield to it. Thanks for the right to breathe! +The right to be herself! He saw that she could not frame it. + +The sound of the gong in the hall below was audible. He turned +away--lingered, trying to put together some sentence expressive of his +satisfaction that she should be on the sofa to-day, but he found the +thing too difficult, and was off with a curt, "Well, good night!" + +"Good night," she answered. + +When he was back at the door, he turned again and looked at her. Her +whole fair outline, supine upon the couch, was illumined in a rosy +gilding. The room behind her lay shadowy; her own form on its dark side +was blurred. But that outline against the purple misty garden without +was like a thing of enchantment. So still--so very beautiful--he +thought of an effigy upon a tomb. He closed the door with a hissing +breath drawn between his teeth. In his hand he held the key to all his +doubt--the reply to the letter he had read. When he had also read this +he would know what he must do; he would be able to realise what he had +already done. + +He hastened downstairs feeling like a thief in his own house. He +resented the fact of Hemming's quite natural presence in the hall, +where the servant was busy removing the sticks, wet gloves, etc., which +he had discarded upon his return home. He disappeared into his study, +and sat down, wondering how his nefarious purpose could be best +achieved, as there was no fire and no spirit-kettle handy. At first he +thought he would have to wait until the following morning; but he +believed that he should not sleep unless he had snatched the knowledge +he so inordinately desired. + +He dined morosely, and there was sympathy in the kitchen for his lack +of appetite. It was not surprising to Hemming when he brought coffee to +find it declined, and to be ordered to bring in the small spirit-kettle +and the whisky decanter. + +Alone at last, with the desired jet of steam, the monomaniac once more +settled himself to his novel pursuit of tampering with seals. He had +done so this morning without scruple. The letter he now held seemed to +him far more sacred than the other. The blood rushed to his face, and +his heart beat heavily as he peeled back the flap of the envelope. He +felt almost as he might have felt had he intruded upon Virginia +herself, as if he violated something pure and intact. + +The letter was withdrawn. It lay under his relentless gaze. He took a +peep into his wife's very soul. + + +_Mother! Mother!_ + +_If you had known how it would hurt, you could not have written to me +so! What can I say to you? Can I reproach my own mother with injustice? +Yet I feel I cannot let you write as you do without telling you how +unkind it sounds._ + +_What I have done is wrong. I know that now. I half knew it all the +time. But what else was there for me to do? I believe God knows I did +it for the best. I was at the very end of all my own strength; I was at +the very end of all our money; I had you all dependent upon me; and I +knew I was going to break down._ + +_I felt I had to serve you, and, oh, mother, you can't, you simply +mustn't, deny that I have done that. Don't, for pity's sake, talk of my +going off to be rich, and leaving you to the slavery that I found +unbearable. That is not just, it is not true, but all the same it is +torture to me that you should say it._ + +_The unfairness of it gives me strength to write what perhaps I might +not dare if I were not so indignant, but it has to be said. Never, +never, under any circumstances, will I ask Osbert to do more for you +than he has already done. Please understand that that is my last word. +Last year we lived on less than L200, including Tony's school bills, +which you will not now have to pay. With care, you ought to be quite +comfortable on what you have._ + +_I do not know whether Osbert means to make me any allowance. He has +said nothing about it yet, and I cannot ask him. If he does, you shall +have anything I can spare, you know how little I want myself. At least, +I ought to be able to keep Tony in pocket-money, the darling has +suffered so from not having any. At this moment I have five shillings +in the world, which I must use to buy materials to embroider a kimono +for my Pansy. I promised her that! It is to be blue, with pale pink +embroidery. Tell her I have not forgotten; I will get it next time I go +out shopping._ + +_I have been resting all yesterday and to-day, and I think I shall +soon pick up my strength; but not if you write me such cruel letters. +Oh, mother, for father's sake, who told me always to take care of you, +don't let me think that what I have done has been all in vain!_ + +Virginia. + + +Osbert Gaunt pushed back his chair. His face was ghastly, and the drops +stood on his forehead. He felt as if the house were too small, too +close, to contain him. With shaking hands he pushed the letter and its +envelope into a drawer, stumbled to his feet, hastened from the room, +snatched a hat from the hall, and went out into the moonlight. + +He walked on blindly, striding fast, taking the direction that led him +down into the long avenue through the park, from which one approached +the house upon its southern side. He knew now what he had done. He had +immolated an innocent victim. He felt as if there might be blood upon +his hands. Stories are told of men who, having lost the use of a +portion of the brain, have had this restored by means of a sudden shock +or a terrific blow. Something of the kind had now happened to Gaunt. He +looked back upon the man whom he had been, whom he had gradually +become, during the past twenty years, as upon a leper. He shuddered at +the very idea of such a monster. + +Always before the eye of his imagination was the outline of Virginia's +pale beauty, suffused with rose and gold. He recalled her patient +quietude, her dignity and sadness. He knew now what she had been +feeling. She had been quivering under the lash of her mother's +diabolical selfishness; she had just relieved the anguish of her soul +by writing that letter. + +And he! What of the man who had tempted her? + +A wild idea of crawling to her feet, of kissing them, of crying to her +for pardon, turned him about and sent him striding unevenly half a mile +upon his homeward way. + +The futility of such a course suddenly struck him and once more turned +him back. + +She might pardon. Yes. She was the sort of nature that would pardon. +How might that help their future together? He knew that there could be +no such thing as a future together for them. He hardly wished it. + +His passion of pity and remorse was quite untinged with any passion of +desire. He thought of Virgie as of a saint, a creature apart, something +to be rescued from himself, if such an end could possibly be compassed. +If he spoke to her, if he begged forgiveness, he would have to confess +his own late action. He would have to say: "I am such a cad, so lost to +any sense of honour, that I first assured you of the safety of your +private correspondence, and then deliberately read it." + +He could not do that. + +To one emotion of the human soul this man had been for years a +stranger--tenderness. + +The first invasion of his breast by the new-comer was torture. He had +not wept since he could remember. Now his lashes were thick with the +drops which the pathos of Virginia wrung from his unwilling spirit. He +contemplated her as a man may study the outstanding merits of his +patron saint, seeing her inner and her outward loveliness. Her +reticence--the way in which she concealed from her mother all that he +had made her bear! She made no complaint, left herself almost +completely out of sight, was only passionately anxious for reassurance, +to be consoled by the knowledge that her sacrifice had not been in vain +for _them_! Pity flooded him. When he had been walking a long way +he became aware that he was sobbing audibly. + +This pain of unavailing compassion was maddening. What could he do? He +had humiliated this rare creature, laid rough hands upon her, borne her +off far from every one she loved. Yes, incredible though it seemed, she +actually loved that mother--that trivial wanton upon whom he himself +had lavished all that was best in him during the long, fruitless years +that the locust had eaten. + +Frustration--misunderstanding--injustice--and helpless regret! + +This is life, and the old Greeks knew it. He thought of the majestic +dramas of wrong and passion and irretrievable disaster. He thought of +Clytemnestra and Electra. They sound crude to us, the ancient +stories--crude and bloody. We do not slay our husbands with axes in +these days. Virginia Sheringham had not, in act, been an unfaithful +wife; but by her neglect, her lightness, her extravagance and +selfishness, she had ruined her husband financially, had contributed to +his early death.... + +... And she had handed over her daughter to Gaunt as calmly as +Clytemnestra handed over Electra to the swine-herd. + +Human nature--ancient--modern! The setting different, the actions +different, the motives eternally the same. + + * * * * * + +It was nearly two o'clock when, weary and footsore, Gaunt let himself +in with his latch-key, through the door left purposely unlocked by +Hemming, who was wholly astonished at finding that his master was out +of doors when it came to shutting-up time. + +Like a thief he crept to the study, re-sealed with infinite precaution +the envelope he had opened, and slipped it into the post-bag. + +Later, as he lay rigid, open-eyed, in his bed, watching the dawn creep +on, it almost seemed to him as if the tumult and energy of his thoughts +must travel through the door and penetrate to the silent room +within--to the little golden head which, please God, was forgetting its +sorrows temporarily in dreams. + +If he could but send her a wordless message--some deep impression of +penitence, of reverence, of his hunger to be forgiven! + +Could this indeed be Gaunt of Omberleigh? Changed, the whole structure +of his character demolished in a few hours by mere contact with the +crystal honesty of a very simple girl! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +NO PLACE OF REPENTANCE + + + "_The moving finger writes; and, having writ, + Moves on. Nor all your piety nor wit + Can lure it back to cancel half a line, + Nor all your tears wash out a word of it._" + --Omar Khayyam. + + +Next morning, when Virginia's breakfast-tray went up, there lay upon it +a fat envelope, addressed to her in pencil by Gaunt. It contained a +packet of bank-notes, with the intimation that this was her first +quarter's allowance of pocket-money. He added that he should expect her +to keep an account of what she spent, and that her account-book should +be accessible to him on demand. + +He hardly knew how to describe the impulse which made him throw in that +stipulation. It came primarily from a desire to gloat over the beauties +of this character so suddenly revealed to him. He wanted to know what +proportion of his somewhat lavish gift was spent upon herself, and how +much went to the shark at Laburnum Villa. + +There was another lurking idea. He could not, or, rather, would not, +fling away his control over her while as yet he had no other ties with +which to bind her to himself. Had he yielded to his first impulse, and +thrown himself at her feet for pardon, the result could be easily +forecast. She would give him a gentle, chilly forgiveness, and he would +have to step back and let her go, see her pass away altogether, without +any knowledge of him, ignorant of what manner of man he really was. + +If he abandoned his present position entirely, he must, logically, +admit that he had no more right to her than the nearest man breaking +stones in the road. She would stoop to bestow forgiveness, and then +depart; and it dawned upon him that, embarrassing though her presence +had now become, her absence would be worse. These few days of her +sojourn had already wrought a subtle change in all about him. When he +met Grover coming upstairs with a tray, her face wore a look of +interest, of sympathy, which he had never before observed. She had +taken to putting flowers about the rooms--a wholly new departure at +Omberleigh. Only that morning he had caught Mrs. Wells half-way +upstairs with a sheepish expression of countenance, and something +concealed under her apron, which, on inquiry, was admitted to be +kittens, the mistress having expressed a desire for their company. +After the woman had passed, he lingered on the stairs, heard her +admitted, heard the little spontaneous exclamation of pleasure which +greeted the appearance of the babes. The chattering, laughing voices of +Wells and Grover were blended with a faint mewing. It was all very +childish, and as he went down he thought he scorned it. But if it were +all to cease? + +These considerations, formless and not consciously held, were, as a +fact, of more weight with him than even the other aspect of the +question--the scandal that would arise, the talk that must ensue, the +contemptuous pity that he might receive--should his marriage experiment +abruptly terminate at the end of so brief a trial. Just then he saw no +way to end the present situation. He must wait and allow it to develop. +He must make further proof of the spotless integrity of his wife. She +was not strong enough to face a scene as yet. He could not see clearly, +his thoughts were confused. For the first time in twenty years he found +himself no longer pursuing one aim with reckless disregard of +everything else, but fumbling, hesitating, uncertain what to do. + +He was a J.P., and this was his day for sitting on the bench. He had a +long way to drive to the court. It was an important occasion, since +there had been considerable disorder in Hoadlam, a large manufacturing +town, and many of those implicated came from his own district. Gaunt's +knowledge of law was valuable to his fellow magistrates, and he had had +the previous day a note from Lord St. Aukmund congratulating him on his +marriage, but begging him not to let his honeymoon prevent him from +attending that day. This note Gaunt enclosed with the bank-notes to his +wife, telling her that he must be away all day. He added: + + +_If Mrs. Ferris asks you again to go out with her, I should advise +your accepting if you feel well enough._ + + +That day was pouring wet, and he reached home so late that it seemed +wrong to disturb Virginia. The next morning Hugh Caunter came for him +before seven o'clock. The flooding of the meadow where the tree had +fallen had become serious. Gaunt arose and went out, breakfasted with +Caunter at his house, and did not get home till nearly noon. He +returned by the uphill avenue which approached the house by way of the +garden--that avenue down which he had plunged in the moonlight, trying +to allay the disorder of his mind after reading Virginia's letter. + +As he walked somewhat slowly up the road, which grew steeper as it +entered the garden, he heard the sound of voices on the breeze. The +morning, which had broken cloudy, had developed into a fine, warm day. +The heavy rain of yesterday had brought out the scents of the flowers, +and the very earth was fragrant. On the terrace, in a lounge chair, lay +Virginia, and Joey Ferris was sitting near, relating something in her +loud, hearty tones, some story which brought laughter from the +listening girl. + +Gaunt's heart began to thump. He had not seen her since his treachery +and subsequent conversion. He left the avenue and struck into a path +which would bring him to where they sat. The chair in which his wife +was placed had a striped awning to keep her from the sun. She therefore +wore no hat. He thought her more like a patron saint--a Virgin +martyr--than ever. The background might have been the canopy in some +old Florentine painting, with a glimpse of flowery garden seen beyond. + +He had the mortification of seeing the laughter wiped from her face as +she caught sight of him. + +"There is my husband," said she to Joey; and Mrs. Ferris jumped up, too +eager to shower congratulations upon the bridegroom to heed the +expression of either face. + +She ran along the terrace to meet him, intercepted him, shook hands as +with the handle of a pump, shouted her chaff upon his change of +attitude towards things feminine. He bore it marvellously, managing to +approach nearer Virginia's chair while the storm broke over him. As +soon as he could get in a word: + +"You are very good," he said, "and I expect I deserve all you say. Men, +after all, are only very moderately intelligent animals, you know. They +have to wait until some lady takes enough interest in them to teach +them these things. But forgive me a moment--I had to go out before +seven this morning, and have not seen my wife. I must just ask her how +she is." + +He drew up a chair close to the couch, and took an unwilling hand in +his. Things psychological did not, as a rule, interest him, but now he +found himself wondering how it was possible to withdraw all response +from a warm, living hand so that it should lie in one's own like +something dead. + +"How are you this morning?" he asked. + +His eyes seemed to her to be imploring her to play up, not to allow +Mrs. Ferris to suppose that she was scared. "Why, you can see how much +better I am," she answered, responding to the unspoken desire, but +withdrawing her hand from his clasp. "Here am I out here in the +sunshine, and it is so nice. I am planning what you ought to do with +this terrace garden. Mrs. Ferris is fond of gardens, too." + +"Indeed!" He turned politely to Joey. "You're not satisfied with mine, +either of you, that's evident," he said, with an immense effort to be +friendly. + +"Oh, it isn't my place to criticise," laughed Joey gaily. "But Mrs. +Gaunt has got taste. She says she has been lying at her window, the +past few days, thinking what she could do here; and if it was done, +you'd have the show-garden of the county!" + +"If she wants it done, you may feel pretty sure it will be done," said +Gaunt; and he saw the slight curl of the mouth he was watching, at what +Virginia took to be a cruel bit of mockery. "I am much indebted to you, +Mrs. Ferris, for coming to cheer up my girl," he went on hurriedly. +"She is doing a kind of rest-cure, you know, and it's rather hard +lines, both on her and me. However, it is very necessary. She has been +overtaxing her strength for months, and we must be patient until she is +quite strong again." + +"You're a regular trump," replied Joey with warmth. "You bet she'll +pick up soon enough in this air, and with everything she wants. I am +coming to fetch her in the motor this afternoon. Shall you mind if I +take her home to tea? I want to show her my kiddies." + +He expressed his entire willingness that they should amuse themselves +as they liked, and for some minutes the talk sounded almost natural. + +"Have you pressed Mrs. Ferris to stay to lunch, Virginia?" asked Gaunt +after ten minutes' chat. + +She lifted her eyes to his as she answered quite shortly: "No." + +"But, of course, you understand that we shall insist upon your +staying?" said Gaunt almost courteously to the visitor. + +"Jolly nice of you, but can't be done," replied Joey. "Got my old man +and the kiddies to consider. They have a kind of idea that they can't +eat their food unless I'm there. I must be off at once." She stood up. +"You see, I came on foot, through the woods, and I must get back, +because I have to bring round the car, and also to get my big coat. +Mind you see that your Dresden china there is well wrapped up, won't +you?" + +"It must be over a mile through the woods," objected Gaunt, rising. +"Let me order the cart----" + +She cut him short. "Bless the man! What's a mile? I do it in ten. I'm +as strong as a horse. No, you don't come with me. Stop along o' your +missus. I know every step of the way." + +He accompanied her to the end of the terrace, saw her run down the hill +and disappear through the little gate into the woods. Then he came +slowly back to where his wife lay awaiting him with lowered lids. She +was softly stroking two of the kittens who lay curled into balls in her +lap. + +He sat down again beside her. His vicinity made her quiver, but she +controlled her nerves valiantly. + +"Thank you for the note you sent me yesterday," she said, "and the +enclosure. I do not want so large an allowance as you are giving me." + +"Try it for a year," he told her. "If it is too much, you need not +spend it. Save it up against a rainy day." + +"_A year!_" The words escaped her unawares. It was as if she said, +"_A century!_" Well, he had told her it was a life-sentence. The +prospect of that future made the sunshine dim, and for a moment she +felt as though she could not bear it. + +"While we are on the subject," he went on, ignoring the faint cry, +though he heard it well enough, "I mean the subject of allowances, I am +wondering whether I am allowing your mother enough. Since I saw you +first I have let Lissendean at a very good rent, and I have been +thinking I might spare another hundred----" + +"Stop!" She was quite white--even her lips lost colour. "On no +account!" she gasped. "It is quite enough--more than enough! You have +bought me and paid the price. It is done with. I can't talk about it." + +Her pallor frightened him. "By all means, if it affects you so," he +replied at once. "I certainly don't want to bother you. Sorry I blunder +so badly. Let us talk of something else. How did you get downstairs +this morning?" + +"Hemming was very clever. He remembered that the old ladies who lived +here had a carrying-chair, and he found it in the coach-house. He +scrubbed it, and Grover and he carried me down quite easily." + +"Here comes Hemming to say that our lunch is ready," he broke in. "I +can carry you indoors." + +"Oh, no, no, please!" she broke out in distaste which she could not +control. "Hemming is bringing the chair. Don't trouble yourself--I can +easily----" + +Hemming was quite near, so Gaunt made no further protest. Grover had +likewise appeared, and soon had the invalid carefully placed in the +chair. + +"Doctor said this morning that 'twould do her no harm to put her feet +down for meals, provided she don't stand on 'em," she remarked; and the +two men picked up and carried the light weight into the house. + +There was little embarrassment during lunch, for they were not +_tete-a-tete_. Grover and Hemming seemed to be hovering about Mrs. +Gaunt all the time with little dishes specially prepared, and they did +not withdraw finally until the cheese was on the table. Then, indeed, +silence dropped deeply. Evidently Virginia had come to the end of her +former policy. He was to have no more "prattle." She sat quite silent, +sipping her prescribed champagne and eating a biscuit. + +Gaunt lit a cigarette, and smoked for a few minutes without attempting +conversation. Then he rose, laying the stump carefully in his plate, +and came to the hearth-rug, half-way between his place and hers. + +"You would like to go up to your room and rest before getting ready for +your drive?" he asked. + +"Presently, thank you--when Hemming comes back." + +"I can carry you quite easily. I should like to." + +"I would rather not. Please let me wait." + +He came a step nearer. "Is it that you don't want to give me trouble, +or that you won't let me touch you?" he asked with a sort of +breathlessness. + +"Oh, of course, because you must not take the trouble," she faltered +hastily, not daring to say that his other surmise was the truth. The +sequel to this hollow politeness was what she might have imagined. +"Then I shall take you." + +He came close up, and she gave a little cry, rather like a small furry +thing in a trap. The sound caused him to lose his head, and determine +to do as he liked. Stooping, he placed his arms under her securely. + +"Put your arms round my neck," he bade her curtly. She obeyed, as she +had schooled herself to obey every direct order given by him. + +He stood upright, raising her in his arms, and strode from the room +with her. He could actually hear the pulsings of her heart against his +ear, and the hurry of her panting, sobbing breath. + +He _was_ her husband, and he _was_ going to carry her +upstairs, if he chose! + +He did so without difficulty, and laid her down carefully upon the sofa +in her room, looking with a wistfulness almost pitiful, had she seen +it, upon her sick, averted face. Was there nothing--absolutely +nothing--that he could say or do to wipe out the bitterness of his +former conduct? + +He took a turn through the room, walked to the window, stared moodily +out upon the garden. He had an impulse to say to her: "The garden is +yours, do as you like with it--order what you like--plan, direct, +assume command." But what would that avail? See how she had received +his lavish gift of money, his offer of an increased allowance to her +mother! He had put himself out of court. + +There were sounds of panting, and Grover's substantial foot caused the +stairs to creak. She entered, flushed but beaming. + +"If I didn't say so to Hemming! I says: 'See if he doesn't take and +carry her up himself,' I says," she remarked brightly. "Now, ma'am, I +suppose you will wear the dear little motor-bonnet and veil; but the +puzzle is--what are you going to do for a coat? There isn't a thick one +in all your things!" + +Gaunt exploded in the window. "Great Scott, what do you suppose you are +for, but to look to your mistress's things and see that she has what +she wants?" he cried. "The moment you have finished dressing her, you +sit down and write to London for fur coats--sable, seal--whatever she +prefers, and make them send down a consignment to look at. Or perhaps I +had better do it myself, as you seem so incompetent." He turned +fiercely to Virginia, whom sheer surprise had caused to sit up and +stare. "You shall have a coat by to-night, if I go to London for it +myself!" he stormed. + +"Please, Osbert," said her clear voice, "you don't understand. I have a +white serge coat which is warm enough for to-day, and you have given me +plenty of money to buy myself a thicker one." + +"There now, and I put it to air in the work-room," muttered Grover, who +had stood like what is known as a "stuck pig" during her master's +outburst, and who now hurried from the room, divided between laughter +and anxiety. + +"No wonder he's beside himself; but he shouldn't shout like that," she +thought. "It's my belief he frightens her, and she won't get well while +that goes on. Poor chap!" + +Meanwhile, Gaunt, swept on by the impulse to do or say something that +might please, was floundering worse than ever. "You must have a good +coat," he hectored, standing over the sofa. "You can't buy that sort of +thing out of a dress-allowance. I will give you one. I'll see that you +have what's necessary. You mustn't risk taking a chill----" + +With a kind of bound she sat up, her hands clenched upon the cushions +that supported her. Her expression checked his words in mid-flow. + +"Stop, stop--you must _stop_!" she cried piercingly, "or I don't +know what will happen! You think a woman is a thing you can beat, swear +at, insult, and then appease with presents! Didn't I tell you I would +have no gifts from you? I'll bear your unkindness, but I won't take +your presents! If you could understand--oh, how can I make you +understand?" + +Lifting her hands, she held them before her, glaring upon them as if +they were contaminated. Fumbling in her vehement haste, she pulled off +her wedding-ring and both the others which he had given her, and flung +them upon the floor at his feet. "I wear them when I must," she sobbed +out; "but at night I tear them off! I shake myself free of them, and +then I feel clean--clean at last! I lie down in bed and tell myself +that I am just Virgie Mynors again--as I used to be--ill, hungry, +penniless--but clean! _Clean!_" + +As suddenly as she had upreared herself she collapsed, hid her face and +lay prone while the sobbing tore her and shook her slight frame. + +He stood some seconds motionless. Her outburst seemed to have frozen +him. Then, in silence, he picked up her rings, laid them on the little +table at her side, and walked away into his own room, shutting the door +behind him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +RENOUNCEMENT + + + "_I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong, + I shun the thought that lurks in all delight-- + The thought of thee--and in the blue Heaven's height, + And in the sweetest passage of a song._ + + _Oh, just beyond the fairest thoughts that throng + This breast, the thought of thee awaits, hidden yet bright; + But it must never, never come in sight; + I must go short of thee, the whole day long._" + --Alice Meynell. + + +It was upon the following day that Dr. Dymock asked to see Gaunt, and +with all the diplomacy that he could muster, begged him to keep away +from his wife entirely for a fortnight at least. + +"I do not like her state of evident mental tension," he said. "She +seems strung up to an unnatural pitch, and in these cases we always +find that the society of those who are nearest and dearest has a +disturbing effect. The whole structure of your future happiness +probably depends upon your patience and forbearance now. There are many +girls who can, so to speak, take marriage in their stride, without its +making any perceptible difference. She is not like that. She is acutely +sensitive, just now abnormally so; and, unfortunately for you, she was +at the time of her marriage seriously out of health. At present she is +not what is unscientifically known as hysterical; but she might become +so, as the result of quite a small error of judgment on our part. I +shall make it clear to her that you are keeping away entirely out of +consideration for her, and I will also speak to your servants, who have +been with you long, and are trustworthy. Nobody else need know anything +of the matter. You could hardly have a better companion for her than +Mrs. Ferris, who has no nerves, who is not observant, and who will keep +her amused without wanting to pry into her feelings." + +Gaunt was lighting a cigar, sheltering the match from the wind with his +hand, so that his expression revealed nothing. + +"I'll do anything on earth that you advise," he replied after a minute. +"I expect you are right. I do blunder. I find myself blundering. The +fact is, I know nothing of women. This was very sudden with me, and +I--I haven't gone the right way to work. I need hardly say that her +happiness is the first consideration." + +"If you feel that, I expect it will all come right," Dymock told him +hopefully. "Your forbearance is bound to impress her. I will see that +it does impress her. In two or three weeks she will be a different +creature. Even then you must let her come along at her own pace. She +wants delicate handling." + +Gaunt said nothing, but shrugged his shoulders as if he felt himself +incapable of the requisite diplomacy. So the other went on: + +"Of course, I guess at the circumstances. You fell abruptly in +love--you found the lady in a position from which you felt she must be +instantly rescued. Your marriage came, as it were, too early in the +programme. Well--you must do what a good many other men have done +successfully--begin your wooing after you are wed. I seem to have a +pretty cool cheek, talking to you like this--what?" + +"Circumstances justify you, I think," replied Gaunt. He did not speak +as if he were offended, but his voice did not invite further admonition. + +Dymock rose to go, and for the first time in his life found himself +thinking sympathetically of Gaunt of Omberleigh. How was this affair +going to pan out, he wondered. + +He turned on the doorstep. "She's anxious about her little sister, I +gather," said he. + +"The child has been taken to London to undergo treatment," replied +Gaunt. "Is she not doing well? I had not heard that." + +"Oh, she was only moved to London yesterday, so nothing can be known +yet. However, Mrs. Gaunt is anxious." + +"Do you mean that she wants to be there? Ought one to let her go?" +asked Gaunt, startled. + +"On no account. She is quite unfit for such exertion. Only, if it can +be done, arrange that she gets good news, that nobody writes +disquieting bulletins." + +"I'll see to that," replied Gaunt with emphasis, as the doctor rode off. + +This was a chance to send a line to his mother-in-law--a chance of +which he would take the fullest advantage. He would write also to the +head of the nursing home where Pansy was installed, directing that his +wife should be as much reassured as was consistent with the facts. + + * * * * * + +During the days that followed found Gaunt himself the object of a +universal sympathy and kindness. Dr. Dymock had dropped hints, among +those of his patients best famed for gossiping, as to the chivalrous +nature of the misogynist's marriage. It seemed that he had found a fair +maiden languishing in bondage, and had endowed her with the half of his +kingdom. Unfortunately, she had suffered so severely as to undermine +her health, and the first task for the newly made husband was to have +her properly nursed and fed. + +This, of course, explained why he had not taken her upon a wedding +tour. That would doubtless come later, when she was strong enough to +enjoy it. Rumours of her beauty and of Gaunt's devotion were rife. When +he drove into the market town he found people cordial after a wholly +new fashion. + +Meanwhile, he himself was changing to an extent of which he was far +from being aware. The heart and head which for so many years had been +wholly occupied with self, were now filled exclusively with the image +of another. As the days passed, and he held rigidly to his promise to +Dr. Dymock, his thoughts were more and more completely given up to the +question of Virginia's future health and happiness. Some deep-lying +shyness had prevented his admitting to the doctor that, except for the +ceremony, she was not as yet his wife. Yet he had this fact in reserve, +as perhaps his only chance to restore to her her freedom. + +He recognised that, as soon as she was strong enough, he and she must +come to an understanding. He must show her his change of heart, and if +it could be done, he must give her liberty. She would have to know that +he was no longer her jailer, but her devotee. + +He could see now how for all these years he had been yielding himself +prisoner to the devil, and how his apprenticeship had culminated in the +perpetration of a devilish deed. Night and day he was haunted by the +memory of Virginia sitting up, tearing his jewels from her fingers, +wringing her bare hands and crying that she was not clean. + +These new thoughts, of pity and regret and unavailing tenderness, began +to touch the lines of his mouth, to alter the expression of his eyes. +He no longer went about scowling. He was seeing the world through a new +medium. It was terrible to be able to do nothing. Virginia's vehement +repudiation of gifts from him left him helpless. He dare not even send +up flowers in his own name. He had to be content with seeking out the +finest plants in the conservatory, the best blooms of the garden, and +giving them to Grover. Carnations seemed to be in favour, and he sent +to Derby for fine specimens. One day, in the innocence of her heart, +Grover revealed the fact to the patient, who was inhaling with +satisfaction the spicy perfume of some particularly fine ones. Virginia +said nothing at the time, but about half an hour after remarked that +her head ached, and she thought the flowers smelt too strong. She sent +them downstairs and said she would have no more carnations. + +Gaunt, when he found the whole array on the table in the hall, asked +the reason, and was told that Mrs. Gaunt seemed to have turned against +them. Intent upon knowing the worst, he said: "Oh, you should have told +her that I sent for them expressly." + +"Just what I did tell her, sir," replied Grover at once. + +He himself was startled by the pain this trifling fact caused him to +feel. He went out of doors, and walked for hours, trying to escape from +it. He found Hugh Caunter, and passed the rest of the day with him. The +young agent, or bailiff, as the old-fashioned folk called him, was +struck by the softening of his master's whole disposition. Anxiety and +remorse did not make Gaunt irritable. He became quiet, with a hopeless +kind of passive unhappiness which seemed to feel itself to be +irremediable. Only now and then did he break out into sudden spasms of +rage which, in the opinion of his household, were most excusable and +infinitely preferable to his former continual surliness. + +He was more approachable these days. Each morning he waited for the +doctor and walked with him down the avenue, hearing the latest +bulletin. When he came in, Grover usually contrived to be about, to +pass on to him any details of interest. + +"Better news from London this morning, sir. Yes, it has sent up Mrs. +Gaunt's spirits something wonderful. Gave each of the little cats a new +ribbon, she has. Yes, she has give them strange names, that she has. +Cosmo and Damian, she calls 'em; and when I asked why such outlandish +names, she laughs and says that they were doctors--great men, kind to +the poor--and that she loves doctors, because they are going to make +her little sister well. Fairly wrapped up in that little girl, she is, +sir. I fear to think what the consequences would be if anything was to +go wrong with the child. Has her photo there on the table beside her +bed, with fresh flowers in front of it every day; and the boy, too--a +handsome young gentleman, if you like! He will enjoy spending his +holidays here, won't he, sir?" + +Grover herself wondered how she dared to chatter in this way to him. +The change must have been very marked. A month ago she had hardly +opened her lips to him during her seven years' service in his house, +except for the necessary conventional words she was obliged to speak. +To-day, the silence in which he heard her had lacked any audible sign +of encouragement. Yet it had encouraged. It had been the silence that +eagerly awaits--that longs for more. + +Cosmo and Damian! Surely the set lips under the heavy moustache were +curving into an unwilling smile. How young it was--how freakish! How +strangely he relished it! To have a creature like that always about him! + +If he had only known!... + +Definitely he had rendered his own happiness impossible. For his mind +had begun to reach out, to curl itself about the idea of a new, strange +happiness, subtle and flooding--happiness that must spring from this +single-minded, loving, exquisite child, whom he had imprisoned in his +gloomy fortress. + +He wandered aimlessly into his study, sat down at his writing table, +rested his elbows upon it, his chin on his hands, and stared out upon +the garden without moving for nearly an hour. + + * * * * * + +Virginia's first visit to Perley Hatch gave her food for much +reflection. + +They motored there upon a fine sultry afternoon, and the chauffeur and +his mistress made a "sedan chair" with their locked hands, to carry the +invalid from the car across the grass to where a long chair had been +spread for her in the shade. + +Tom and Bill were produced from somewhere in the grounds, with more or +less grimy faces and shabby overalls, but very healthy and vivacious +manners. They quickly made friends with Mrs. Gaunt, divining a +sympathetic spirit from the first. The baby, a damsel of about twelve +months, being still largely in her nurse's hands, was cleaner and more +amenable, but just as hilarious. The two boys were both frankly ugly, +but the girl had taken after her somewhat showy father, and was a +handsome child, of whom her mother was justly proud. She danced upon +Virgie's lap, stroked her face, and tried earnestly to feed her with +the soppy remnants of a biscuit, which was her own idea of the greatest +civility possible to offer. + +Virgie, gifted with an innate understanding of babyhood, was delighted +with these amenities. She enjoyed her visit thoroughly, and was +startled when a stable clock struck six times. + +"Six o'clock! Oh, Mrs. Ferris, it can't be!" cried she in consternation. + +"Oh, I daresay that's a bit fast," replied Joey comfortably. "Anyhow, +here comes Percy, so you must just wait five minutes and make friends +with him." + +Mr. Ferris, with every sign of animation and surprise, was advancing +across the grass. + +"Why, Jo, you never told me that you expected Mrs. Gaunt to tea! This +is an unlooked-for pleasure!" He shook hands with effusion, and Virgie +felt repugnance in every nerve. The man's voice, his manner, even his +good looks, were obviously second-rate. He sat down and began to make +himself agreeable--or so he thought--by talk of the emptiest, and +glances of the most eloquent. Almost everything he said was a scarcely +veiled compliment. Joey had risen, and was helping nurse to remove the +family, which was not inclined to part from the new friend who knew so +much about steam engines and the other prime interests of life. Ferris +had ten minutes' talk with the new beauty, and flattered himself that +he made the most of his opportunity. + +His fawning turned Virgie almost sick. From her heart she pitied Joey. +But that young person was apparently well satisfied with her lot, and +quite impervious to the fact that her husband was a bounder. As soon as +she came back to the tea-table, Virgie urgently said that she must go. +The doctor would not approve of her being out so many hours, even +though she had rested all the time, and been so happy and well amused. +Then at once Ferris offered to carry her to the car, and hardly waited +for permission before taking her up in his arms, and at once seizing +the chance to whisper something to the effect that Gaunt was, in his +opinion, more to be envied than any man under the sun. + +"What, to have his wife fall ill when he had been two days married? I +don't fancy he would agree with you," replied Mrs. Gaunt, in a voice so +frigid that it pierced even Ferris's hide and made him say to himself +that he must put the brake on. + +When he had deposited what he alluded to as his "fair burden" in her +place, Virgie was almost ready to think that Gaunt's own arms were +preferable. He, at least, took no unfair advantage of proximity. Joey +took the steering wheel, and Ferris, after starting the engine for her, +actually suggested that he should get in with Mrs. Gaunt. To her untold +relief Joey declared that Mrs. Gaunt was an invalid, and already +overtired. To her dismay, the man seemed inclined to persist, and the +matter was finally settled by Joey's giving up the driver's seat to +him, and herself getting into the tonneau with Virgie. + +"He doesn't mean to bore people, but he certainly would have bored you +all the way home with the story of his treasure cave," she remarked as +they drove off. + +"His treasure cave!" + +"Yes. He thinks he has made a discovery. You know, part of our land +includes the valley they call Branterdale. I expect Mr. Gaunt has told +you that all this part of Derbyshire is limestone rock, and it is +honeycombed with caves. We did not know we had any on our land, but the +other day--that is, I should say, last season--when we were huntin', +the fox ran across the river, and disappeared as if the earth had +swallowed him. It was a narrow bit of the stream, between rocks, the +bit that the guide-books tell you is like Dovedale in miniature. Of +course, they all hunted and poked about, but they did not find so much +as a rabbit-burrow. However, the thing worked in Percy's mind, and he +went over afterwards on the quiet with the huntsman. This man, Gibbs, +is a clever fellow, and he said the fox ran up the side of the rocky +wall quite a long way; he saw the waving of the briers as he ran, and +that the seekers had looked much too low down. + +"So Percy let him down on a rope from the top--it's a sort of little +cliff, you know, too steep for a man to climb just there--and they +found the cave mouth under a great growth of blackberry bushes and +fern." + +"Oh, how exciting!" + +"Yes, it was. The entrance was so small, they had to chip the rock to +make it big enough for them to crawl in, and it was narrow when they +got inside--like a mere slit in the ground, but soon it widened out, +and then there came a low tunnel, and it went downwards, and after that +they came out into a huge cave, with pillars of stalactite." + +"It must have made quite an excitement." + +"It was a bally nuisance," was Joey's elegant response. "The papers got +hold of it, and before you could say 'knife' all the geologists in the +kingdom wanted to come hunting for bones. Well, you see, we had to let +them in, we couldn't very well keep them out. They grubbed and grubbed, +but they didn't get much, because they say at no time could the +entrance have been big enough to admit a large animal. Percy went with +them, and watched them when they grubbed, to make sure that they didn't +take anything away without leave, or keep any finds dark. And one day +he found something that they were not looking for." + +"Oh! What was that?" + +"A pocket of lead. Quite a big one. You know, this county used to be +mined for lead. The Speedwell cavern was really a mine at first. So he +said nothing to anybody, but he got hold of an expert, who thought it +quite promising; and now he wants to find people to subscribe capital, +and work the lead. Wouldn't it be splendid if he found some?" + +"It would indeed." + +"You see, the land has belonged to my forefathers ever since the +fourteenth century," said Joey. "Nobody has touched it; that bit of the +river bank has never been used for anything. If we should strike it +rich, it would not be so very surprising." + +"You will have to come and see the cave as soon as you are well enough +to walk, Mrs. Gaunt," said Ferris, turning round with a smile which he +himself thought enough to melt the most stony-hearted beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WHAT COMES NEXT? + + + "_But, ah! for a man to arise in me, + That the man I am may cease to be!_"--Tennyson. + + +Joey was in her garden next morning, tying up dahlias, whose heads, +heavy with bloom, were beginning to droop, when she caught sight of the +doctor crossing the lawn. + +"Hallo!" she said cheerfully, pushing back her untidy hair from her +red, hot face. "How are you? Been to Omberleigh? Does she want to +change the time of her drive?" + +"She sent no message," he replied, when he had shaken hands. "I have +come to see you 'on my own,' as I expect you would put it. I want to +say something to you." + +"Cough it up," said Joey, speaking lightly enough, but with a change of +expression--a dawning of apprehension in her little, unexpressive eyes, +which the doctor knew and was always sorry to see. + +"Nothing serious," he told her in a hurry. "Don't jump so to +conclusions, Joey. This is merely medical orders. You must keep Ferris +away when you are in charge of Mrs. Gaunt, please." + +Joey stooped over the garden bed to pick up her hank of bass and bundle +of sticks. When she arose, her face was even redder. "Well," she said, +"it isn't easy to tell Percy to keep out of his own car." + +The doctor looked at her with eyes of friendly pity and sympathy. He +had known her from childhood, and had brought her three children into +the world. He saw more of the workings of the household at Perley Hatch +than anybody else in the neighbourhood. + +"I know it isn't," he answered, "but if it can't be done, say so, and +Mrs. Gaunt must give up her tours with you. I may say that I suggested +them at first not for her sake only. I thought a friend of your own +sex, within reach, would be such a happy chance for you." + +Joey had turned and strolled at his side towards a garden seat. They +sat down, she with her habitual inelegance, her legs wide apart, her +thick garden boots firmly planted on the gravel. + +"I like her," she burst out with energy. "I like her to rights. She's +got no nonsense about her; you should have seen her with the kiddies +yesterday! I should hate to lose her! But what harm can poor old Percy +do her? Of course he's in love with her, but so he is with every pretty +woman he sees. And it is such a good thing"--she broke off here, her +thick mouth quivering. The doctor in his compassion understood as well +as if she had finished the sentence. The thought in her mind was--"it +is such a good thing for him to be interested in a woman of our own +class, where no harm can come of it, rather than in the daughter of the +publican in Buxton, in whose bar he has spent half the day for the past +month." + +"Mrs. Gaunt is quite an invalid, Joey," Dymock told her gently. "It +disturbs her to be introduced to strangers. Her own husband is behaving +like a trump, and you must see quite well that I'm not going to let +your husband step in and spoil things. She has got to be kept perfectly +quiet, and if you can do that you may be with her. If not--if you can't +guarantee to keep off Ferris--why the motor drives must stop. Gaunt is +getting a car for her, but there will be some delay." + +Joey sat still, saying nothing, gazing straight before her for a while, +and Dymock waited with perfect patience. + +"I thought," she began slowly, "when Gaunt got married, what a +difference it might make to me supposing she was somebody I could +cotton to. If he was more approachable, not such a disagreeable chap, +Percy would have somewhere to go--somebody to speak to about his cave +and his mining scheme. You know all Percy wants is something to do, +something to fill up his mind. Old Percy's all right, isn't he, doctor? +Only he gets bored. He's awfully struck with Mrs. Gaunt; and, you see, +like everybody else, I have tried to grind my own axe instead of +thinking only about her." + +"Joey, you're a trump," replied the doctor heartily. "I see your point +of view, and there's nothing against it, except that you must wait a +few days--say a few weeks--before starting in. You may tell Percy that +he must lie low or he will spoil his own chance with Gaunt. If that +gentleman heard that he had been trying to make the running with +madame, he would send the lead-mine to blazes. Can you get that into +Ferris's head?" + +"Yes," she replied more hopefully, "I think I could. He must hold off a +bit for the present. I can say you said so--shove it all on you, can't +I, doctor?" + +"Most certainly. Doctor's orders. Ferris is, of course, quite free to +say that he can't spare his car for Mrs. Gaunt. But if he lends it, he +must for the present stand out. I hope you can manage this, young +woman, because I think it much better for Mrs. Gaunt to have your +society than to go out quite alone. If you can arrange as I tell you, I +will do my little best to say a word to Gaunt about the Branterdale +mine. His support would be the making of the scheme; for whatever his +failings as a society man, nobody is more universally trusted and +respected than he." + +"I know. I am pretty sure I can keep Percy off, at least for a bit," +Joey assured him. "As soon as she is better, Mrs. Gaunt will like to +have him about, he is such a taking chap, isn't he?" + +"Handsome as paint," replied the doctor, smiling somewhat awry under +his moustache. He could not tell her that the style which was fatal to +the Buxton barmaid inspired in Virginia only an impatient disgust. "By +the bye, I needn't give you the hint to tell Mrs. Gaunt nothing of my +visit? She must not know that I have said a word? To put it shortly, +you mustn't apologise; don't say a word about Ferris, good or bad. +Simply arrange that he doesn't appear again." + +She promised. They strolled together to the gate, where his horse +waited, and parted with cordiality. Poor old Joey! + + * * * * * + +In ten days, Virginia was allowed to put her feet to the ground; and +the following day, which was Sunday, she elected to go to church. Dr. +Dymock told her that it would do her good, but that, if she went, she +must put up with her husband's company during service. It would be +humiliating him too deeply to ask him to allow her to appear for the +first time in public without him. Somewhat eloquently, the doctor put +before her the conduct of Gaunt--his wonderful self-denial. She +listened with drooped lids, and said nothing. In her heart she wondered +what the speaker would say if she were to look up and say straight out: +"He does not love me; he hates me. He is waiting for me to be well in +order that he may persecute me." + +No doubt he would call it hysterical raving. + +When he was gone, she fell to her usual occupation of wondering what +form Gaunt's cruelty was likely to take, when she should be strong +enough to submit to it. She dared only look forward to the immediate +future. If she tried to go beyond, to face the prospect of a whole +life-time of captivity, under the gaolership of this extraordinary man, +she found her brain reeling. There was a subject which preoccupied her +mind at this time; otherwise her speculations might have travelled +farther. The question of Pansy's cure was the one thing of which she +thought, night and day. The accounts which she regularly received were +cheerful, but not what she had hoped. They were vague--disappointing. +"The doctor thought, with patience, they would see some real +improvement." Some improvement! When she hoped for a complete cure. +"There was distinctly less temperature during the past twenty-four +hours." But why was there temperature at all? Was the new treatment +setting up a temperature? She knew enough of nursing and sickness to +understand that these reports were by no means wholly satisfactory. + +And now that Pansy was too ill to write herself, what a blank there +was! Mamma was so different! She could not tell the things one wanted +to know. Day by day, since Gaunt gave her money, Virgie had sent +parcels to the nursing home, wherein her treasure was incarcerated. +Fruit, jelly, pictures, flowers, books--anything love could suggest. +Yet she hardly knew whether they were received, or, if so, whether they +gave pleasure. + +This dearth of what she called "real news" gave her a good deal of +anxiety, though Grover usually contrived to reassure her, and to hold +up a glorious picture of what the dear little lady would say when she +was allowed to write herself! + +On Sunday morning Virginia was up and dressed by church time; and +walked downstairs, and along the hall, into the waiting carriage and +pair. Gaunt was nowhere to be seen, and she drove to Manton, the +village in whose scattered parish Omberleigh stood, escorted only by +Grover. + +At the church door, her husband was awaiting her, having apparently +traversed the two miles on foot. He timed his appearance to coincide +with hers, so that it would look as if they had arrived together. It +was almost a fortnight since she had set eyes upon him, and the sight +of him brought a rush of scarlet to her cheeks, and a trembling to her +limbs. He tried to look as if everything was normal, as if he had +driven over with her, after breakfasting together as usual. He seemed +paler than her memory of him, but displayed no emotion of any kind. + +Virginia was looking unusually pretty. Grover, when she had finally +adjusted the picturesque hat, had remarked that it was not often they +had anything like _that_ to look at in Manton church of a Sunday +morning. + +Certainly the lately married pair were the cynosure of every eye as +they took their places in the old oak seat appropriated to Omberleigh. +Gaunt had no time to feel self-conscious, so anxious was he as to how +his wife would stand the ordeal of sitting beside him for so long. He +tried, however, not to increase her nervousness by seeming aware of it. +He appeared immersed in his prayer-book and hymnal, singing the tenor +part in the hymns very correctly. + +The service was extremely simple, and not lengthy. Virginia got through +it quite well, feeling, after the first ten minutes, a sense of relief +and peace for which she could not account. She told herself that it was +the grace of God, and that, if she could sit so calmly at her captor's +side, without a tremor, it showed that strength would be given her to +endure his uttermost unkindness patiently. + +He stepped out of the seat, at the end of service, and waited for her +to follow, quite quietly and not officiously. His manner was, indeed, +so natural that only a keen observer would have suspected that +naturalness to be assumed. At her side he walked down the broad central +passage, and out at the south porch. + +He had held all his neighbours so rigorously at bay for years past that +very few had ventured to await the appearance of the bridal couple. But +one elderly lady, of shapeless bulk, with her bonnet askew, waiting +beside a big motor, escorted by a large and fine old gentleman, stepped +forward. + +"Well, Osbert Gaunt, you must allow me to shake hands, and to ask you +to make me known to your lovely young wife," said she kindly. + +Gaunt did not look pleased, but he made the necessary introduction. The +old pair were Lord and Lady St. Aukmund. "I hope you will come and see +my wife before long, when we are a bit more settled down!" he +volunteered. + +"My dear boy, I should think this is the best day's work you ever did +in all your life!" cried the old countess, holding Virgie's hand most +cordially. "And she is Bernard Mynors's daughter! Oh, yes, my dear, all +the county knows who you were! All the county is talking about you! But +nobody will be surprised at the miracle when they see you! As to him, +he is the most savage, the most _farouche_ creature that ever was +made--or was until he saw you--for you have altered him already, my +dear! I knew him when he was a little mite in velvet suits, and I never +thought he would turn out as he did! But you have come to the rescue +just in time. Put ceremony on one side, and bring him to dine with us +at the Chase just _en famille_ one day this week, won't you?" + +Gaunt was obliged to explain that his wife was a convalescent, and that +any evening engagement was at present out of the question for her. He +hoped that it would soon be different. Lady St. Aukmund showed herself +pertinacious, and asked more questions than he liked, but he managed to +parry them all, and she got into her motor at last, all compliments and +desires for showing hospitality. He waited until the great folks were +off, and then put Virgie into the carriage at once. + +As he arranged the dust rug carefully about her feet, Virginia was +struck for the first time with a sort of compunction. Her husband, for +whatever motive, was certainly carrying out the doctor's orders +loyally. She was touched with shame that he must walk home, because she +was occupying his carriage. Leaning forward impetuously, she said: "I +hope you will drive home? I hope you will not walk because of--me?" + +"Thanks, I prefer it." + +He stepped back, gave the order, and she was driven away. He stood +there in the road, his brows knit, his heart in tumult. What an ass he +had been to decline that offer! He might have been seated by her now, +conscious of her in every fibre, seeing her, even though not daring to +look at her, breathing her, as it were, into his being. It could have +done her no harm. He might have found time for some word, some +faltering sentence that should have prepared her for his change of +mind, for his entire defeat and penitence. + +He started to walk home, in the dust of her chariot wheels. He would +set eyes upon her no more that day, unless he stood, as he often did, +at the window of his study, whence he could see the canopy of her chair +as she lay out upon the terrace. + + * * * * * + +He saw her no more, except from a distance, for another week. Then the +doctor gave him cheering news. She was doing splendidly. He thought she +might lead a normal life in a few days more, if she were carefully +guarded, and not allowed to overdo herself. + +"You might take her to the coast?--Devon or Cornwall, perhaps?" he +suggested. + +Gaunt said he would consider it. It was a difficult time for him to +leave home, just as harvest was beginning. A month later perhaps. + +As he limped back, up the avenue, when Dymock had ridden away, he +thought that perhaps it might make the rupture easier, if it took place +elsewhere, and not at Omberleigh, where apparently the world and his +wife--specially his wife--was busy with his affairs. The world and his +wife had been so shut out from his own purview hitherto that he was +wholly unprepared for the shock of surprise, amusement, interest, which +his sudden marriage excited. In such a sparsely populated neighbourhood +he had believed that he might do what he pleased without exciting +comment. He saw now, with sudden clarity, how impossible such an +existence as he had planned for his unlucky wife would have been in +reality. + +A woman so used--any woman in the world except Virginia--would have +cried her wrongs from the house-tops. His persecution of her could not +have been hid for long. He felt that he was looking out upon a new +world, of whose existence he had been as unaware as the proverbial +ostrich. His vindictive malice even had its ridiculous side. He had +made an egregious fool of himself. + +Heavy as lead was his heart as he entered the house. + +Cosmo and Damian, with their coloured ribbons about their fluffy necks, +were at play in the hall, dancing about at hide and seek behind the big +chairs, while Grim, his own golden collie, sat upon a settle, her feet +tucked up like a fashionable lady afraid of a mouse, uttering panting, +whining protests against the reckless interlopers. Gaunt called her, +and she came down slowly and with quite evident nervousness from her +elevation. Cosmo hunched his lovely grey fluffy back into an arch, and +spat. His tail became a bottle brush. Grim slunk apologetically by, her +tail between her legs. + +"Poor old girl," said Gaunt, as he went into the dining-room to lunch. +"You and I are a bit superfluous in this house now, it seems." + +He went out that afternoon with the object of meeting Caunter some +distance away at a house whose tenant had asked for a new thatch. For +the first time in his life he forgot what he had come out for, and +wandered by himself until past six o'clock, his whole mind focused upon +his domestic affairs, wondering whether any readjustment were possible, +and if so, how he should set about it. + +Entering the house once more, he suddenly remembered his neglected +appointment, and told himself that he would go round to Caunter's house +after dinner and apologise. Slowly and heavily he went upstairs, and +into his room to change. In the midst of his toilet sounds came to him, +low and muffled, from the next room. At first he hardly noticed; then +he crept close to the door, and listened. What he heard gave him a +curious sensation of heat, of hurry, of desperate sympathy, and +extraordinary vexation. + +His wife was in trouble. He could hear her. The sound of sobbing, the +pitiful broken gasps of quite uncontrollable weeping came to him, +mingled with the tones, coaxing and low, with which Grover was +apparently attempting consolation. What had happened? Had she hurt +herself? Had they allowed her to run into any danger? But no! He was at +once aware, though how he knew it he could hardly say, that no pain of +her own would draw those wild tears, that unrestrained grief from +Virginia. + +Whatever it was, it must be stopped, or he should go mad. He felt as if +his head were on fire--as if he must go out and kill somebody--why was +it allowed, that she should be made unhappy? Then he thought of +himself--of his own diabolical cruelty! Could she be lamenting because +she was slowly but inexorably growing better, because she was to be +taken from the doctor's kind hands and surrendered once more to her +husband's harsh ones? + +The sweat stood upon the forehead of Gaunt of Omberleigh. It seemed to +him that never--even in his hot youth--even in the first days of his +jilting--had he suffered such torment as this. He rushed from his room +into the passage, and called aloud to Grover: + +"Come here--come out--I want to speak to you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE FINAL TEST + + + --"_I slew + Myself in that instant! a ruffian lies + Somewhere. Your slave, see, born in his place._" + --Browning. + + +In the closed room within there was a pause. The sound of weeping died +away, as though the master's voice had forced even anguish into the +silence of terror. Grover answered him at length in sudden haste, as +though anything would be better than to risk his anger. There followed +a muttering and murmuring, as though the maid were imploring her +mistress to command herself. Gaunt shook with rage and helplessness. + +Thereafter the door was softly opened, elaborately closed, and Grover, +her own eyes suspiciously red, emerged and stood before him. For one +moment he hoped he might have been mistaken. "Was it you making that +noise?" he asked thickly; and as she hesitated, he added in haste: + +"Give me the truth, please, Grover." + +Perhaps something in his voice excited the woman's pity. At any rate, +she rejected the way out which his random words had suggested. It had +been on her tongue to say yes, it was she--she had conjured up +toothache, a fall downstairs, a family bereavement, wondering which +would sound the most convincing, and was forced to reject all. + +"It was Mrs. Gaunt," she faltered baldly. + +"Well, what's the matter? Out with it. What makes her cry like +that--eh?" + +"She's had bad noos, sir. Noos of her little sister. She's fair +broken-hearted--it's awful to see her----" The kind soul's voice +failed, and she applied her handkerchief to her quivering mouth. + +"Good heavens! The child's not dead, is she?" + +"No, sir; but she's in agony, and calling for her sister. They seem to +think she can't live, sir--the treatment has made her worse----" + +"Mrs. Gaunt's not strong enough to go to London," he broke in, for the +first miserable instant conscious only that he could not part with her. + +"No, sir. She said you'd say so--that's what she's crying about," +replied Grover, fairly breaking down, and turning away. + +The man's face was white. "Stay where you are--wait--I am going in to +see her," he muttered. Grover made a movement, but shrank back again. +It was not for her to interfere with what her master chose to do. + +The opening door brought Virginia to attention. She had been lying face +downward upon the sofa, which stood near the fire they always lit in +the evening. With a bound she was on her feet, and when she saw him she +gave a gasp of terrified surprise; then, with extraordinary swiftness, +her mood changed. + +"It is you, is it?" she said in a voice that was hardly audible, so +husky was it with violent weeping. "Come and look! Come and see what +you have done. Oh, indeed you have got your wish! You have made me +suffer. Never in all your life can you have had to endure anything like +the torment--I say the torment--that I am undergoing now!" She stood +before him, defiant, tense with the force of the feeling in her, +wringing her little weak hands, clenching them over her labouring +breast. "Oh, why didn't I go on, why didn't I stay there at my +post--working, starving, loving them, till I dropped? If she had to +die, she could at least have had me with her. I could have been sure +that all was done that could be done. She wouldn't have had to die +crying for a sister that never came. Oh!" she burst out with a final +effort of uncontrollable emotion, all the more distressing because it +could but just be heard, "why was I ever born to know such agony as +this? I thought God would let me bear it all--not her--not that little +thing! Oh, Pansy, Pansy, _Pansy_!" + +She dropped again upon her sofa--her face hidden in the cushions, +trying to stifle the tearing sobs. Her husband made a gesture of +despair. He came near. He would have knelt beside her, but he dared +not. He was so overwhelmed with what he was feeling, and the +impossibility of expressing any of it, that for a moment he was choked +and could not speak. When he did, the curb he was using made his voice +sullen and without expression. + +"Virginia, I am sorry. Let me help you. Please show me your letter, or +tell me what is in it." + +Something unwonted--something she did not expect--must have spoken in +his repressed voice. She sat up, wiping away the blinding tears, and +tried to speak to him, but failed for weeping. At last, feeling that +her voice could not be controlled, she drew out a letter from the front +of her frock and held it to him. + +He took it, warm from its late contact with her; and the thought made +him for a moment dizzy, so that words and lines swam before his eyes. +He read it through. + +There was silence. When he had got to the end, he raised his heavy lids +and looked at her. Her face was now set, almost fierce. The dove-like +sweetness of her changeful eyes was gone. They showed like a stormy sea. + +"You want to go?" he almost whispered. + +She laughed bitterly. That she, Virginia the martyr, could laugh like +that! He reeled mentally with this fresh surprise of womanhood. + +"_Want to go?_ I _am_ going," she said deliberately, her +huskiness giving almost the effect of hissing. "I have borne enough. +Now I don't care what happens. I am going to Pansy. If you try to +prevent me, I will scream and rouse the house. I will call upon your +butler to protect me; I will say you are mad, as I believe you are! But +somehow I will go to her. Then, afterwards, when I come back, you may +do as you like. You may cut me to pieces with a knife, and I won't +complain! But now I am rebel! Now you can't keep me! I am not afraid of +you any more!" + +There were a thousand things to say, each more hopeless, each more +futile than the other. He could not say them. In profound humiliation +he took what she gave him, he accepted it all. A long moment ticked +past after her passionate challenge. Then he spoke humbly. + +"Virginia--would it console you to go--to-night?" + +She staggered on her feet as if his words overthrew her; then again she +laughed in derision. "To-night? Ah, but, of course, you are mocking!" + +"As God hears me, I am not. There is an express which stops at Derby at +nine o'clock. You have an hour in which to pack and eat some dinner. +Grover must go with you--you will want her when you get to London. I +will call her now." He spoke with his watch in his hand. + +Virgie caught her breath. She looked at him uncertainly.... + +Once, as a small child, during a visit to London, her father had taken +her with him upon a visit to the Law Courts. They had been in court +when sentence was passed upon a prisoner. She had completely forgotten +the crime and what its punishment was to be; but as she looked at her +husband, she recalled the expression of the prisoner in the dock, whose +doom had just been pronounced. + +"For the first time--I thank you," she muttered chokingly. + +Gaunt went to the door. With his hand upon the handle, he turned back. +"Promise me that you will now control yourself," he said frigidly. "No +more wild weeping. You have cried yourself hoarse." + +"I promise," she said in answer, her eyes upon him, her thoughts +already far away in the nursing home with Pansy. + +He went out, and she heard him speaking to Grover in the passage. + + * * * * * + +An hour later, having forced herself to eat something, and having +accomplished her packing, she came down into the hall, equipped for her +journey. + +The new motor, which had arrived only two days before, stood at the +door in charge of a chauffeur, who was to stay a month and train +Ransom, the coachman, to drive. + +Gaunt awaited her in the hall, his hat in his hand. Her face changed. + +"Don't be alarmed," he told her, coming near and speaking so low that +only she could hear. "I am coming to Derby only. There are things I +must tell you, and there was no time before starting. We shall only +just do it. Jump in." + +She obeyed. He briefly directed Grover to sit by the chauffeur, and +they were off. + +For a few minutes they sat in silence. The car slipped down the avenue, +the lamplight dancing upon the pine-trunks, and came out into the open +road, where it crossed the moor, and the day had not wholly faded from +the sky. Then Gaunt spoke. + +"Does your travelling-bag lock? Have you a key?" + +"Yes." + +"Then take these notes." He told her what sum he had given her, opened +the packet and made her verify it. She obeyed almost mechanically. + +"Now," he went on, "when you get to London, drive straight to the +Langham Hotel. I have written it down for you on this paper. Give my +name, and they will see that you have a comfortable room, with one for +Grover close by. In the morning, as soon as you are rested, telephone +to Dr. Danby at this address in Cavendish Square. Let me make a +confession, Virginia. He is the man I ought to have called in at first. +When I knew him he was a young chap just through his hospital training, +who came down here one summer as _locum tenens_. It was the year +of my own accident. I owe it to that man that I did not lose my leg. +Now he is a great specialist, at the top of his profession. When we +were arranging about your little sister, I would have mentioned him to +you; but I found you full of the idea of this new treatment, and I own +that I cared so little for the child, or what became of her, that I +thought it best you should have your own way. But if there is any hope +for her, Danby is your man. If you believe this, do as I say. Override +etiquette; take him straight to see Pansy. If there should be any +difficulty, refer every one to me; but Danby can advise you how best to +proceed; you are safe with him. You will probably have to move the +patient, if she is strong enough to stand it. Danby's nursing homes are +to be trusted. Take her where he tells you. I think you have your +cheque-book, have you not? You can write a cheque for any fees that are +necessary. I will pay in money to the bank to meet your demand. Then +you can stay at your hotel, and be with your little sister as much as +is practicable. Are you taking in what I say?" + +"Yes, I am. I--I--don't know what to answer. Thank you. You are +being--so--unlike yourself. I feel bewildered. I am sorry I was so rude +to you just now, upstairs, and said such things----" + +The meek, hoarse voice was so pitiful that he felt tears start to his +eyes. "That's all right," he muttered hurriedly. "One thing you have to +promise me. You will take care of your own health. Remember, you owe it +to me to." He broke off. What did she owe to him but misery? However, +she accepted the situation with a simplicity which was to him frankly +awful. + +"I know. I will try to do what I think you would wish. I realise that I +have caused trouble and--and expense, already. It is generous of you to +let me go like this. Please tell me, how long may I stay?" + +"Virginia!" he said, and dropped his forehead on his hands. She looked +at him in dim surprise, but with a mind too full of her own trouble to +conceive of his. + +"How long?" she persisted gently. "A week?" + +"How can I decide how long?" he asked, lifting his haggard face again. +"It depends upon the child. I must leave it to you. Stay as long as she +needs you. I can say no more than that." + +"Oh!" she murmured, "you are so good!" + +He made no sound, but his lips set themselves in a line of pain. Ah, if +only his brutality, his savage treatment of her did not lie between +them! If it had been simply that she had come to him without love, yet +longing for tenderness and protection! This would have been the moment +to take her in his arms, to enfold her with sympathy and devotion that +asked as yet no recompense. + +She leaned back in her corner, while the car rushed easily through the +country, and the yellow harvest moon came up to show him more clearly +the glimmering pearly oval that was her face. She was pondering over +his directions, and every now and then put some little question which +showed how practical was her mind, how bent upon the enterprise which +lay before her. At last, after a prolonged silence, she spoke +unexpected words. + +"I believe that being so miserable makes me understand a little bit +better; understand you, I mean. When I think of my Pansy, I could find +it in my heart to kill that wicked woman, her nurse, who let her be +hurt when she was a little helpless child. I could almost torture this +doctor, who has made her worse when he claimed to make her better; and +I seem to see how it has happened--how being miserable for so many +years has made you want to hurt somebody.... But the dreadful thought +is, that it would do no good--no good at all! If I could kill the +wicked nurse and the unskilful doctor it would not make my darling one +bit better! And to make me unhappy won't help you, either, even though +you think it will! I can't give you back the unhappy years, the lost +years! It is all no good--no good!" + +"Virginia--don't!" So much was forced out of him in his pain. He could +have told her that in one respect she was wrong--that it _was_ in +her power to restore to him the years that the locust had eaten--that +he was at her feet, conquered, submissive. + +But he saw how small a fragment of her mind was really occupied with +him. She was eagerly looking forward--searching the horizon for the +first glimpse of the chimneys of Derby. + +He mattered very little to her now. + + * * * * * + +They reached the station with six minutes in hand. Gaunt had sent a man +down to Monton to telegraph for a sleeping-carriage, and they found all +awaiting them. + +Grover and she were duly installed in their luxurious quarters, the +guard had been liberally feed to look after them. Gaunt repeated some +of his directions, and ascertained that both she and Grover thoroughly +understood them. He took the maid aside for a moment, into the corridor +of the train, while he expressed to her, in a few terse, pointed words, +how unremitting must be her care, how keen her attention. Grover's +response was reassuring, if embarrassing. + +"There, sir, I love her almost as well as you do yourself," she had +said. The words stuck for long days afterwards in the man's head. Until +he heard it put thus bluntly, he had hardly known that the keen emotion +which he experienced could be called by so divine a name as love. + +It had, then, befallen him to love a second time, with a force which +made his first love seem crude and weak--mere counterfeit. + +His impressions of the few final seconds were blurred. The guard went +along the train, closing doors. Gaunt was shut out, upon the platform. +Anxious to show her gratitude, Virgie stood by the open window of her +compartment, looking at him, trying to fix her mind upon him, but with +a fancy filled with far other visions. The image of her little sister's +face, the sound of her cries, was in her heart. She was picturing her +own appeal to this new doctor, this deliverer who had been brought to +her by no other hands than those of her husband. She looked down upon +his hand, clenched upon the sill of the door. + +"Put up the window when the train starts," he was saying. "I am defying +the doctor in letting you go like this, upon my own responsibility. You +must justify me by taking all the care of yourself that is possible. +Remember, you have Grover to wait upon you, and you are to order +anything and everything you want. There is no necessity for you to do +anything but just sit with the child when she is well enough to wish +it." + +Her face lit up gloriously. She smiled softly, pityingly, at the man +who could imagine a moment in which Pansy would not wish to have Virgie +with her. + +A whistle sounded. He started and winced. Then, gripping the door a +moment, he leaned forward, his eyes burning in his head. "Remember," he +blurted out, "you are on your honour--on your honour to come back to +me. You have undertaken to return." + +She stared at him in surprise as she stood a little back from the +window. The train began to move. "Of course I am coming back," she said +in astonishment. "You know I shall." For a moment she just smiled, but +in bitterness. "I am released on parole," she said; "I quite +understand." + +For a few moments after the smoothly running express had slithered out +of the station, off upon her way south, Virginia was held by the memory +of the look upon Gaunt's face as she passed from his sight. It was +puzzling. He behaved almost as if he meant to be kind; which was +incredible. His face seemed to her to be altering, or to have altered, +since she first saw it. + +Anyhow, he had let her go. Her mad outburst had borne fruit--her revolt +had been entirely successful. She was off, without him, going to +London, going to Pansy. Her return to bondage lay in the future, dim +and misty, not worth troubling about as yet. There were other far +weightier matters to occupy her. Before they had traversed ten miles +she had forgotten Gaunt, almost as though he did not exist. + +He, poor wretch, having made his sacrifice, stood a moment with arms +tightly folded, wishing he had not been so altruistic. His eyes +followed the train till it disappeared, then he turned, and went +haltingly out of the station, back to the empty motor. He muttered +something to himself as he opened the door. "We shall see." + +"Did you speak, sir?" said the chauffeur. + +"No, no! I didn't say anything. Home, of course." + +"Yes, sir." + +The Silent Knight sped on, and was engulfed in the darkness, now +completely fallen. + +Gaunt of Omberleigh sat down in the place which his wife had lately +occupied. His body was there in the motor; his heart, his mind, all +that was in him, was following her upon her journey. He leaned forward, +gazing upon nothing, while in his fancy he recalled the whole of the +late scene between them. Could he have done anything more? Could he +have let her see?... But no. To do that--to utter any plea--would have +deprived him of a wonderful opportunity. It was now in his power to +prove her to the uttermost. + +He had let her go. She had plenty of money, and still more credit. She +was going to her own people, to her selfish, worldly mother, to her +little sister's love and devotion. It was not to be supposed that, once +back in their midst, she could refrain from telling her family some +part at least of what she had been made to suffer. Doubtless it would +all be poured out. Every kind of influence would then be brought to +bear upon her in order to shake her allegiance. It would be pointed out +to her that he was probably mad, a person whose morbid tendencies must +not be encouraged. She would be told that it was her duty not to return +to him. A hundred arguments were ready to hand. + +As he faced the situation, he suddenly felt that it was too hard a test +which he had set her. Brave she was; single-minded he had found her; +honest she seemed, but if, in face of argument, in face of influence, +in face of love, in spite of fear, in spite of dreadful apprehension of +punishment, she returned to what she still believed to be a state of +slavery and subjection, of captivity and surveillance, then, indeed, +she was a paragon, a pearl of such price as he was not worthy to +possess. + +It was too much to hope for! She was gone, and she would never return. +The scandal and the tragedy of his marriage would be in every one's +mouth in a very few weeks' time. + +He had let her go. + +Why? + +Because it was not in his power to hold her. Even if he had followed a +certain wild, hateful impulse which bade him keep her, even by means of +locked doors and imprisonment, he would have held but the husk of her. +The lonely spirit which animated her, which was the thing he loved, and +met for the first time, would not have been there in her prison, but +away with the child she loved. His success would have been sheer +failure. + +Whereas now, deep in his heart, not to be completely annihilated, +lurked the faint hope that his present failure might possibly, by some +scarcely conceivable good fortune, turn into success. + +The miles flew past unnoticed, while he sat rapt within himself. As the +car came to a standstill before the dark porch of Omberleigh, he was +reflecting upon the strangeness of the fact that he had once thought +Virginia's resemblance to her mother so striking. + +Already she had almost ceased to remind him of his former bitterness. A +wholly new image of her had grown up in his heart. Before it for the +last weeks he had been burning incense. He had placed it in a sacred +niche upon a pedestal. + +To-night he had taken it out. He wanted to hold it in his arms, to make +it his. + +What if it failed to pass the almost superhuman test which he had +devised for it? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ABSENCE + + + "_My whole life is so strange: as strange + It is, my husband, whom I have not wronged, + Should hate and harm me._"--The Ring and the Book. + + +As once before, when the doctor visited her, Joey Ferris was busy in +the garden, cutting off dead blooms. Her little boys busily waited on +her, each with his small barrow, in which they collected the faded +flowers which she tossed upon the path, and ran off with them down the +long walks to the rubbish heap, puffing and blowing to announce the +fact of their being goods trains or expresses, or light engines, as the +fancy took them. + +It was nearly lunch time, and Ferris was going to bring home a man who +had showed signs of interest in the lead-mine scheme. As the stable +clock chimed a quarter to one, the mistress of Perley Hatch +straightened her back, took off her gardening gloves, rubbed her nose +reflectively, and wondered whether she "ought to change." + +As the doubt crossed her mind, she looked up to see some one +approaching across the grass, and with a vast surprise recognised Gaunt +of Omberleigh. + +"Why," cried she very heartily, advancing to meet him with hand +outstretched, "I _am_ glad to see you! Didn't think you knew your +way to this house! What's the news this morning? Better, I hope?" + +"It seems to be astonishingly good. The change of treatment and my +wife's presence, taken together, have worked a miracle. The child, who +was dangerously ill, is making marked progress every day." + +"Oh, well, that is some consolation for you, isn't it?" said Joey, her +eyes full of sympathy, and her voice almost tender. "I think you are +just the most unselfish man I have ever heard of--letting Virgie go off +like that!" + +"Please, Mrs. Ferris----" + +"It's no use please-Mrs.-Ferrising me! Some men in your place would +have said things! First she herself falls ill, and then, just as your +love and care has brought her round, off she goes and leaves you on the +All-alone Stone! Percy has been on the point of riding over to try and +persuade you to come to us for a bit of dinner, but he has been so +taken up over his mine." + +"You are more than kind, Mrs. Ferris. I fear I've been a most +unneighbourly neighbour for many years. Now I am going to turn over a +new leaf. As a preliminary, will you give me some lunch to-day? I want +to talk to Ferris about his mine. Dr. Dymock was telling me something +of it." + +Joey was overjoyed. "Need you ask?" she joyfully inquired. "Come to the +house and wash your hands, while I tell Daniel to take your horse +round. I conclude you rode over?" She fixed her guest with her shrewd, +twinkling glance, and thought that he had done something to himself, +she hardly knew what. Was it that he wore a new, very well-cut riding +suit, with tan gaiters, and that his hair was trimmed more sprucely +than usual? Or was he really younger, when you saw him close, than he +appeared from a distance? Certainly he had altered in some subtle +fashion, and for the better. He did not look well, though. There were +black marks under his eyes, as if he had not slept. + +Tom and Bill came rushing up at the moment, charging with their +barrows. They were wholly untroubled with shyness, and loudly announced +that Tom was a Midland express from Glasgow, and Bill a pilot engine. +Gaunt stopped and gravely shook hands with each, holding the plump, +earthy moist little fingers curiously in his brown, muscular grip. Then +he picked up Bill by his waist, and seated him upon his shoulder. "Now +you're in the look-out--the signal-box," said he. "Is the line clear?" + +This was enchanting. Bill shouted to Tom to go and be the excursion and +seized Gaunt's hand, drawing back his arm to represent a lever. + +"I'm off'ring the 4.10 to Manton box!" he cried. + +"Fancy your playing with them," said Joey, deeply gratified. "That's +what Virgie did. Bill, you remember the pretty lady who came to tea and +told you about little Runt? This is her husband, that she belongs to." + +"Oh, are you?" cried the excursion train, turning right round upon the +permanent way in horrifying fashion. "Tell us about little Runt +again--do!" + +"I don't know that story, Bill. I'll have to get the pretty lady to +tell it to me, then perhaps I can pass it on." + +"Where is she?" cried Tom. "Have you got her here?" + +"No, Tom. She has gone to be with her own little sister, who is ill. I +dare say she tells her stories, to pass the time while she has to be in +bed, flat on her back." + +"Flat on her back? Beastly!" said Tom. + +"Why's that for?" asked his brother. + +"Because her back was hurt when she was quite a baby. She was thrown +out of a motor-car, and has always been ill." + +"You'd better not let our baby go in the car, mummy," cried the little +brother promptly; and Gaunt felt a movement of affection for the child +whose feeling spoke so readily. + +They moved across the grass towards the house, and suddenly Joey gave a +pleased exclamation. "Here comes Percy!" said she brightly. + +Ferris was advancing, accompanied by a young man who, though he wore a +country suit, had the air of London about his hat and his boots. He was +a distinguished-looking, tall fellow, and Gaunt, as he set Bill upon +his feet upon the grass, knew that he had seen him before. As the +stranger drew near their eyes met, and the same look of +half-recognition appeared in both faces. + +Ferris's cordial welcome to Gaunt was somewhat flamboyant. He wrung his +hand a little too often and too vehemently. Then he introduced his +friend, Mr. Rosenberg. That cleared up the mystery, as far as Gaunt was +concerned. Instantly he saw the gallery flooded with summer sunshine, +the glimmering floors, the mellow canvases, the figure of the beautiful +girl, bending over the inscription at the foot of the marble cupid. + +To Gerald Rosenberg memory had come without difficulty. The occasion +when he first set eyes on Gaunt was a critical moment in his life--how +critical he hardly knew at the time. The same picture was stamped upon +his own brain: the picture of Virginia beginning to descend the +staircase, and of his own turning of the head with a consciousness of +being watched--of meeting face to face a pair of eyes, ironic, intent, +challenging. + +"This is our neighbour, Gaunt of Omberleigh," Ferris was jovially +proclaiming. "Luckiest man in the county; just married the most lovely +girl I ever saw in my life." + +_Gaunt!_ That was the name of Virginia's husband! She had said +that her future home would be Derbyshire! Was this--this man--her +husband? He grew quite pale. + +"Was it you," he stammered, "_you_ who married Miss Mynors?" + +Gaunt assented. The eyes of the two men once more met. "I saw you," +slowly said Rosenberg, "at Hertford House, when I went there to meet my +sister and her friend. You were in the Gallery." + +"I was; and I saw Miss Mynors." + +Gerald felt the blood rush to his head. "For the first time?" + +Gaunt again assented mutely. He was filled with exultation. Unhappy and +uncertain as he was, insecure as he knew his tenure of his prize, at +least she was his at present, at least he might claim this one triumph. + +"Fell in love at first sight, and no wonder!" cried Ferris, with +enthusiasm. "Isn't he the luckiest chap on earth? I really don't think +I have ever seen anybody quite as lovely as Mrs. Gaunt." + +"You are right--that is the almost universal opinion. I congratulate +Mr. Gaunt," said Gerald, rallying his composure. + +How all the crises of our lives come upon us unaware! How little had he +guessed, that day in the Gallery, that, although he had a good chance +then, it was his last! His father, in persuading him to flee +temptation, had urged the probability of a future recurrence of +opportunity. "She won't run away," he had said. And behold! even as he +spoke, the chain of gold was being forged to bind captive the innocent +girl. + +Gaunt was speaking to Joey. "Great as is Virginia's beauty," Gerald +heard him say, "it is the least part of her charm. It is her character +which is so fine, so exceptional. She is pure gold throughout." + +Young Rosenberg looked at him with a lingering gaze of hatred. Had he +known in what a crucible the gold of Virginia's nature had been and was +still being proved, the hate would have intensified perhaps to the +point of sending his fingers to the husband's throat. This man had +apparently been certain, where he was doubtful. _Was_ Virginia as +fair within as without? Could she have wholly escaped the taint of her +mother's ignoble nature? His father had thought not. In his indecision +he had let slip the treasure which another man had promptly gathered. +As they walked slowly towards the house, his mind was filled with the +two ideas--first, that all was over, so far as he was concerned, and, +also, that in the course of the next few hours he might possibly see +her whose dove's eyes had haunted him ever since that fatal day in the +valley of decision--the day when he had decided upon retreat. + +Then he began by degrees to grasp what the others were speaking of. He +learned that the sudden and dangerous illness of Pansy had called +Virginia to London, and that Gaunt had allowed her to go without him. +Also he learned that she had suffered with a bad knee, and that her +husband was anxious lest she should now be doing too much. He listened +as in a dream, his mind slowly assimilating all these rapid happenings; +and by degrees he realised that, if she were in London without Gaunt, +he could easily see her, if he could ascertain her address. + +The conversation soon turned to the projected lead-mine, in which Mr. +Rosenberg senior had been asked by a friend in the financial world to +take a director's place. The party were to meet Mr. Rosenberg's own +expert, and Ferris's, at Branterdale cavern that afternoon. Joey was +coming too. + +She drove their guest over in the car, Percy electing to ride with +Gaunt, whom he was most anxious to propitiate. On the way, it was quite +easy for Gerald to ask Joey where in London Mrs. Gaunt was staying. + +"Well, I don't exactly know," said Joey. "She went up to the Langham, +but directly her mother found that out, she determined that she would +go there, too. I fancy the mother's a bit of a sponge, isn't she? +Anyway, Virgie thought her husband wouldn't see keeping the two of them +there, so she has gone into rooms with her mother, as being less +expensive, and she always writes to me from the Nursing Home in Queen +Anne Street." + +"So she writes to you?" + +"Yes. When they first married, Mr. Gaunt hadn't got a motor, so ours +came in handy. I took her about a bit. She's a perfect angel. Hard on +him, poor chap! having to let her go like this, isn't it? You can see +how he is fretting!" + +"Is he? He looks to me an ill-conditioned brute," said Gerald shortly. + +"Oh, he's quite a good sort when you know him," replied Joey kindly. + +"But as a husband for her----" + +"Well, why didn't you chip in?" + +"One can't always follow the dictates of the heart, Mrs. Ferris. I +couldn't afford to marry for love." + +"Well, of course, Gaunt is much too old for her, as far as years go; +but," observed Joey, with one of her flashes of intuition, "he is +absurdly young in the sense of not having used up his emotions. He was +jilted in his youth, so they say, and ever since has imagined that he +hated women--thought himself heart-broken, and shut himself up alone +until one fine day he saw her. He has all the heaped-up love of a +lifetime to pour out at her feet." + +"I don't doubt his sentiments. The question is, will she have any use +for them?" retorted Gerald, with bitterness. + + * * * * * + +It was late when Gaunt reached Omberleigh that evening. It seemed to +him as though he had been away a week, for the reason that this was the +day when he usually heard from Virgie, and if she wrote in her usual +punctual way, there would be a letter lying in the bag upon the hall +table when he came in. + +There was. He opened the bag with hands that shook so that he was +afraid Hemming might notice; and when he drew out the letter, "he +pounced on it, like a dog on a bone," as the servant afterwards +related, "and was off with it into his study before you could count +two." + +The scrupulously business-like letters were little enough upon which to +feed the fire of a consuming passion. The point was that in every +letter she recognised, by implication, his hold over her. Before taking +any step she consulted him, she awaited his permission. In a way it was +torture; she never let him forget that he had bought and paid for her. +On the other hand, since she maintained this attitude, surely she would +come back to him! + +She never used any form of address at the beginning of her letters. +"Osbert Gaunt, Esq.," was written above, and then followed the body of +the communication. She signed herself merely "Virginia," as though the +second name were too horrible, or too distasteful to write. He had +never seen her full signature since she became his wife. He hungered to +see her written acknowledgment of her wifehood, and with this object he +had set a trap for her. He wrote a cheque which would need her +endorsement, and sent it to her. This expedient failed, for she +returned the cheque, saying she was in no need of more money; she had +enough, and more than enough. + +Each of her letters contained a small statement of account, carefully +balanced. The first he had received was the one that pleased him best. +There was very much to tell. She had to relate her experiences--how she +went first to see Pansy, and was horrified at the change in her; how +she determined to act without delay, and informed the doctor over the +telephone that she meant to have another opinion. He was not pleased, +but was, as Dr. Danby foretold, obliged to consent. The doctors met, +and differed gravely; upon which she had formally placed herself and +the case in Dr. Danby's hands. Pansy was moved that day, and from the +first few hours showed symptoms of relief. Then had come the difficulty +with her mother. This she had solved without applying to Gaunt. She had +gone to her mother's rooms in Margaret Street, found that she and +Grover could both be taken in, and had moved thither accordingly. Her +exact explanations made him smile and grunt, and brought a moisture to +his eyes. + +To this letter there had been a postscript. Under her signature these +words had been scrawled, as if on impulse: + + +_Thank you--oh, thank you!_ + + +He had dwelt upon those words until he had half persuaded himself that +she must have perceived something of his remorse, and wished to +reassure him. The following letters from her had not, however, done +anything to foster this idea. He longed to write and tell her to go +back to the Langham, and take her mother there, to bid her choose +herself a fur motor-coat, and anything else she liked, but he +restrained all these impulses. He meant her to come back, if at all, as +she had departed, in the full persuasion of his cruelty and harshness, +to come back because her crystal honesty would not allow her to break +her promise, even to him. + +With this end in view, he forced himself to write to her as curtly as +possible, signing himself "O. G." merely. + +The missive he now held in his hand was no exception to his wife's +usual style. He read it, first with his customary feeling of +disappointment and heart-hunger, then with the succeeding glow of +reassurance, as he reached the little account of money expended. +Somehow he could read between the lines what an effort it was to her to +accept his help; it was done only because Pansy mattered so infinitely +more than she did; because Pansy must not suffer merely for the reason +that Virginia's pride would be hurt in the process of curing her. + +What he hardly guessed was the constant vexation, of the pin-prick +kind, which Virginia was then enduring from her mother. Grover was a +good sort, but she was neither young nor active, and she did object to +being maid to two ladies. Moreover, her own mistress, Mrs. Gaunt, was +the most considerate of her sex, but Mrs. Mynors was "quite another +pair of shoes." As usually happens in such cases, the considerate party +was made the victim of the maid's ill-humour, while the inconsiderate +brought her mending and renovating with smiling face and got it all +done, free of charge, the while she made scornful comments upon +Grover's attainments, and wondered how Virgie could stand such a woman +about her for a moment. + +The nursing home at which Pansy was now placed was just as expensive as +the one she occupied formerly. Therefore it was surprising to Gaunt to +find that, although both Virginia and her mother were now in town, not +to mention Grover, instead of Mrs. Mynors alone, the total spent in a +week was less than in those preceding by quite a noticeable amount. + +The letter of to-day was an exception in containing a postscript. It +was apparently of the least interesting description. A small item in +the accounts was marked with an asterisk, and at the foot of the page +Virginia had written: + + +_When I come back, I can explain this._ + + +The words sent a thrill through every nerve of the man reading. + +_"When I come back!"_ + +He leaned forward, seizing old Grim by her ears, and rubbing his hands +up and down her neck in the way she loved. "When she comes back, old +girl," he whispered. Then he broke off. His eye had wandered round the +dreary, untidy, ill-arranged den. Was it a home to which to bring such +a bride as his? Was there anything he could do to improve it? + +Slowly he rose, and limped into the little sitting-room which he had +called hers. There were one or two small articles of her personal +possessions left about in it. He wondered whether he could have it done +up by the time of her return. He distrusted his own taste profoundly. +What did girls like? + +He remembered the drawing-room at Perley Hatch, which the Ferrises had +recently repainted and papered. No! That was not his idea. He felt that +Virginia would never like big bunches of floral decoration all over her +walls. + +Then he remembered the little room in which Mrs. Mynors had received +him at Wayhurst. Tiny as it was, how its charm, its dainty elegance had +impressed him! He closed his eyes and recalled its aspect. Ivory +paint--yes, that was all right; and walls of a warm, sunny golden +brown. How would that suit her? Acting on impulse he rang the bell, and +said he wanted to speak to Mrs. Wells. + +The housekeeper, when consulted, was delighted with the idea. It had +apparently presented itself to the mind of the servants' hall long ago. +She would send down a boy at once, to telephone from Manton into Derby +for a man to come over the following morning to take the order. + +"The furnishing I must leave until Mrs. Gaunt returns," said Gaunt, in +a depressed way. "I can see that this stuff is all wrong, but I can't +see what she would put in its place." + +"Oh, as to that, sir. If it's a question of what Mrs. Gaunt would +like--why, I can tell you that myself, and you won't have far to seek, +for we've got it all in the house at this moment," was Mrs. Wells's +surprising answer. + +"Got it in the house?" + +"In the lumber-room, sir. Your great-aunts, the Miss Gaunts, turned all +the old things into the lumber-room, after their father died, about +fifty years ago, and refurnished great part of the house, so I'm told. +There's a great many things up there, and Mrs. Gaunt, when she saw +them, she went into raptures over them. Said they was as old as Adam, +which I could hardly believe----"She broke off abruptly, for Gaunt, her +morose master, had laughed aloud, and the circumstance was startling. + +"Adam's period," he hastened to apologise. "Yes, go on, please. If you +showed the lumber-room to Mrs. Gaunt, why have you never mentioned it +to me?" + +The good woman's eyes grew very round. "Why, sir, you was here when I +came," said she. "I concluded you knew all about it. My part was only +to see as the things didn't perish, for I have a kind of liking myself +for all them antiquities." + +Gaunt's eyes were still dancing over the Adam joke; and his wandering +gaze had strayed to the mantel, and realised that this was of the same +period. Doubtless what made these walnut carved whatnots and arm-chairs +look so wrong was their silent clash with the fine simplicity of the +dental moulding. As his eye wandered over the faded pink wallpaper, +with its brown, green and blue roses, he suddenly perceived, like a man +whose eyes are newly opened, that the room was moulded for panels. It +struck him that this was the treatment required. + +"So Mrs. Gaunt liked the things?" + +"Indeed, yes, sir. She said how she would like to use them. I can show +you the exact pieces she picked out, sir." + +"Come along," said Gaunt impetuously. Here was a glorious idea. Here +was something to fill in blank days of waiting! Virgie should find her +own room at least habitable; incomplete, of course, and waiting for her +touch, but not impossible as at present. It would welcome her, when she +came back--_when she came back!_ + +Would she come? + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A CASE FOR INTERPOSITION? + + + "_Why, here you have the awfulest of crimes + For nothing! Hell broke loose on a butterfly! + Yet here is the monster! Why, he's a mere man-- + Born, bred and brought up in the usual way._" + --R. Browning. + + +It was six o'clock in the evening. Virginia stepped from the door of +the Nursing Home out into Queen Anne Street with a radiant face. + +She left Pansy smiling, content, in the hands of people who were not +merely experts, but kind and loving. The daily improvement grew more +marked. Dr. Danby that day had spoken more encouragingly than ever +before. The delight of it, the fascination of watching colour steal +back to the cheeks, and light to the eyes; while the awful look of pain +vanished from the lines of the mouth, leaving it a child's mouth once +more--this was enfolding the elder sister in a sweetness which it +seemed no dark future had power to impair. Gaunt was far from her mind; +she was living in the present moment--living within the walls of the +room that contained Pansy. + +A man came rapidly along the street towards her, on the same side of +the way. Just as she turned into Portland Place she came face to face +with him. It was Gerald Rosenberg. His start of surprise was admirably +done. As to Virgie, in the first moment, she was merely glad to see +him--ready to take him into the joy that filled her, to share with him +her glow of thankfulness and hope. + +"Oh!" She stopped, giving him her hand, looking into his face with +those eyes that had seemed to him so fathomless as to cause him to +hesitate before letting his very being drown in their depths. Now it +seemed that they were changed. The girl was, somehow, mysteriously a +woman. She retained all her innocence, all her girlish candour, but +there was something more, something heroic and splendid. At any rate, +it appeared so to the man's enchanted gaze. + +"This is indeed good fortune"--he hardly knew what he said. "I heard +that you were in town, but hardly hoped--why did you not let Mims know +of your being here?" + +"Oh, that is easily answered. I have been devoted, body and soul, to my +little sister. The first few nights I was in town I spent at the Home, +for we did not even know that she would live. I have not had a moment +for my friends." + +"But she is better now?" + +"Yes, thank God! I can hardly speak of it." The tears welled up and +misted the changeful eyes. "It is so wonderful--so unspeakable--seeing +her, as it were, coming back to me from the grave. If she had died, I +can't think what I should have done." + +"I remember Mims always said you were such a devoted sister." + +Virgie laughed. "So would anybody be devoted to Pansy," she replied +cheerfully. "But I am consumed with curiosity. You say that you had +heard I was in London. Do tell me how you heard it." + +His lip curled and his expression changed. "I heard it from the person +most likely to know. Mr. Gaunt told me." + +"Mr. Gaunt!" It was too sudden. Usually she had herself perfectly in +hand, but the thought of the Ogre, intruding upon her moment of bliss, +touched her inmost feeling, and she grew as white as a sheet. Gerald's +eyes never left her face. He saw that pallor, saw the fugitive glance +of panic that passed across the eyes like a cloud over the sun. It was +so, then; it was as he had feared, as he had secretly known! She had +been bought by that malevolent-looking man--the creature who had marked +her down in the picture gallery, had pursued, hunted, caught, led +captive! The feelings in the young man's heart were for a moment so +violent that he could not speak. + +Virginia and he had turned mechanically as he uttered the fatal name, +and they now began to walk down Portland Place, towards Regent's Street +side by side. "Somehow," said her soft voice at last, "it seems very +surprising to me that you should have met Mr. Gaunt. Do tell me how it +came about. I--I believed that he was at home--in Derbyshire." + +The speech showed him the measure of her apprehension. She had thought +herself free of her tyrant for a while, and now supposed him to have +followed her to London. + +"Oh, it was in Derbyshire that I met him," he hastened to assure her. +"At the house of some people called Ferris. I went down to interview +Ferris about a company that he wants to float--a lead-mine. Your +husband was lunching there." + +"Lunching at Perley Hatch?" She seemed surprised, he thought. + +"Yes. On the same line as I was, I fancy. We all went and had a look at +the cave afterwards. I think my father will accept a directorship, and +probably Mr. Gaunt also will come on the board." + +Before reflecting, she cried, in a pleased voice: "Then does that mean +that we shall see something of you? Shall you be coming down sometimes +to Derbyshire?" + +Gerald almost choked. There was so much to say about this that he knew +he had better say nothing. Yet, as in her case, words leaped to his +lips before he reflected. "I hardly know. It is a question as to how +much I could bear." + +"How much you could bear?" Her eyes were raised, astonished, troubled. +He knew that if he said what was in his mind, his present chance might +vanish in a moment. "I won't say what I meant," he replied in a low +tone. "Why should I force my troubles on you? You have enough anxiety +with your little sister. But is it too late to get some tea?" + +"Oh, yes, I have had tea, thanks!" + +"Where are you staying? " + +"In Margaret Street--my mother is with me." + +"Indeed? Do you think she would receive me, if I were to pay a short +call?" + +"I am sure she would be pleased. But you will not find her at home now; +she has gone to the theatre." + +"At this hour?" + +"She is dining at her club first. She does not like lodging-house food." + +"Do you?" + +"Oh, food makes very little difference to me. I put up with it, for I +am too tired to go and dine out, after a long day with Pansy." + +"I wish you would come and dine with me. I know a charming place quite +near here, where they give you Italian things--you are so fond of +Italy. Let me take you and give you something to eat, and then you +shall go straight back to your rooms and rest. There is so much I want +to hear." + +Her brows knit. "I have nothing to tell you," she answered slowly. + +He blamed himself for having risked the last sentence. + +She seemed to turn over his offer in her mind. At last: "No," she said, +but he felt with reluctance. "I can't come this evening. I am tired and +stupid. Some other evening, if you will ask us both." + +"Then must I go and dine alone at my club? My father and Mims are in +Switzerland, and I am all alone." + +"Oh!" Her pity was awake at once. "I did not know." + +"Because you are tired is just why you should come," he went on. "I'm +not a stranger, some one whom you must exert yourself to entertain. I'm +your friend, am I not, Virgie?" + +The last word was hardly breathed. + +"Oh, you are--and friends are precious. If you are alone--really--and +don't mind a dull person----" + +Even as she spoke he had hailed a taxi, and she was seated in it at his +side before she well knew that she had consented. + +"This is the one advantage of your being married--I can take you +about," said the young man, with an air of quiet confidence. "Gaunt +seemed anxious about you. He said you had been unwell, and would, I am +sure, be grateful to me for looking after you, and preventing your +dining on a poached egg, which is what I know to have been your immoral +intention." + +She laughed. "Tell him to stop a moment at Margaret Street. I must tell +my maid not to keep the poached egg hot," she replied. + +This was done, and he took her to Ciliani's, the most charming +restaurant in London. There was no band to drown talk, the tables were +arranged so that parties did not intrude upon each other. They found +places near a window, and as Virgie seated herself she thought of that +awful lunch with her husband at the Savoy Restaurant. The memory made +her wince. She remembered her panic terror, her dread of what was to +come, her timid attempts to seem at ease. Little had she known what +really awaited her. + +She resigned herself now to Gerald's care with a sudden beautiful +sensation of relief. He was an old friend. In fact, the Rosenbergs were +practically the only people she knew who belonged to the life at +Lissendean as well as to more recent times. Perhaps Gerald realised how +precious an asset such a link was, for he began to talk to her of +Lissendean, and of those happy days when they had ridden and golfed +together, had roamed the country with lunch in their pockets, and acted +charades in the old hall. + +All through the charm of such talk Virginia's inner self, the sentinel +conscience which ruled her, was helping her to gird on her armour. She +was keenly aware that Gerald's first mention of her husband had caught +her unprepared, also that Gerald had seen and interpreted her confusion. + +It was not until coffee had been served, and he was lighting his +cigarette that the moment came. He leaned forward and spoke, +composedly, but with a weight which made itself felt. + +"I left you--unavoidably--at my father's command, one lovely evening in +June. When we parted, there were in my heart feelings which I can't but +believe you must have seen and interpreted. A fortnight later I learned +that you were about to be married. Has it occurred to you to wonder +whether I suffered?" + +Virginia was drawing her gloves from her little beaded bag, and +daintily pulling out the fingers. "But why should I suppose that you +would be suffering?" she demanded quietly. + +He hesitated. "Are you being quite straightforward with me, Virgie?" + +Again she countered with a question. "Is there any obligation for me to +be quite straightforward with you, Mr. Rosenberg? Complete +straightforwardness is a large demand." + +He grew nettled. His elbow rested on the table, his handsome eyes were +full upon her. "Honestly, do you think you treated me fairly?" he +wished to know. + +"Certainly. I don't see quite what you mean," was her steady reply. + +"Then--then you really did not know that I was in love with you?" + +"I did not. Of course not." + +"Don't try to blind me," he went on urgently, his voice a little +unsteady. "I am better informed than you think. I know that you had +never seen Gaunt until that day at Hertford House. You went thence, and +without a word, or a sign, you engaged yourself to marry a man who was +a total stranger. Do you suppose I do not guess that you were forced +into that?" + +"If you guess so, your guess is quite wrong. I had heard of Mr. Gaunt +all my life. I had a romantic idea of him--girls do, you know. I was +told, by mother, various things about him, and I knew he was unhappy +and lonely. We looked at one another--in the Gallery--that day----" + +Her voice tailed off, and she seemed absorbed in the diligent pushing +down of the soft kid upon her fingers. + +Gerald was baffled. The same idea crossed his mind which had gripped +her mother's fancy. It had been then a case of mutual love at first +sight, one of those strange, inexplicable attractions that seem like +magnetism. He looked at the wedding-ring and the other beautiful rings +upon the little hand moving so dexterously. He thought how zealously a +middle-aged, unattractive man would strive to secure the affection of +this wonderful creature. Could it really be that she was contented with +her lot? After all, had she made her calculations? Had she realised +that his own people would make difficulties, that she and he would be +none too well off at first if they married? Had she deliberately chosen +the richer man, as his father had insinuated?... + +He recalled her husband's words, spoken only two days previously. "My +wife's beauty is the least part of her charm. She is pure gold +throughout." Was that true, or was Gaunt successfully hoodwinked? So +deft was Virginia's parry that he could not be sure. + +When first they met that evening, he had had no plan at all; he was +merely filled with an aching desire to behold her face. Now it dawned +upon him that, if she were the calculating, self-seeking person whom he +sometimes supposed her, she could not suffer from being in his society, +and there was no reason why he should not see a good deal of her. + +"Love at first sight--most interesting!" was what he said aloud; and a +long interval elapsed before he spoke at all. + +She assented to his definition, with the least little ghost of a smile. + +"How long are you likely to be in town?" he asked abruptly. + +"I think I shall stay until they can take Pansy to the sea," she +replied. "Dr. Danby says that in about ten days she can be moved on a +water-bed in a motor-car to Cliftonville. Osbert says she is to have +just what the doctor orders, so I shall arrange for her to go that way. +It is, as you may suppose, very difficult for me to be so long away +from Omberleigh, but my husband is very good and patient. He knows it +was a matter of life and death." + +"Well, as long as you are in town, I shall make it my business to see +that you have some fresh air every day," he announced. "May I bring a +motor to-morrow round to the Home, and take you and Mrs. Mynors to dine +somewhere a little way out of town? It is still light until past eight +o'clock, and in an hour or so we could get to Essendon, or Chenies, or +one of those pretty little places--no need to stew in London these +deadly August days." + +Her eye lit up, and she began to speak impatiently, then checked +herself. + +"Now, say just what you were going to say." + +She laughed. "I was going to be barefaced enough to ask you to take +Tony as well. He has been in camp, with his O.T.C., but he comes to +London to-morrow, and I want him to have a good time." + +"By all means. Couldn't you get away half an hour sooner?" + +She shook her head. "I must stay until they turn me out; Pansy would +fret if I did not. But I will be as punctual as I can, and tell mother +and Tony to come round to Queen Anne Street." + +"On no account! I shall fetch them from Margaret Street on my way to +you." + +"You are very kind and thoughtful," she responded joyfully. "I do feel +that a motor run would do me good after all those hours in the sick +room." + + * * * * * + +For the first few days Virginia said nothing of her meeting with Gerald +in her letters to Gaunt. This was not because she wished to hide them, +but because she habitually mentioned only such points as seemed +essential--Pansy's progress and her own expenditure. Tony's expenses, +her mother's club dinners and theatres, came out of her own private +allowance. It was wonderful how far a pound could be made to go in +museums and picture palaces for Tony's benefit. After a few days, +however, she thought it better to mention what was going on, lest her +husband should think there might be something clandestine about it. She +wrote accordingly, in answer to his demand for an account of her own +health: + + +_I have been feeling very much better lately, for Mr. Rosenberg--whom +I met last week in the street, and who told me he had been to Perley +Hatch, and had seen you--has been taking mother and me for drives in +the evening. His people are out of town, and he has the car to himself. +We have been to Windsor and Burnham Beeches, to Virginia Water, and all +sorts of places. The air does me a great deal of good. I am really +quite well now._ + + +Gaunt read it grimly. He told himself that he might have expected it. +Was it likely that Rosenberg would leave her alone, having learned that +she was in London without him? + +The test was growing more acute, the shadowy tie, which bound her to +him, more attenuated. She would never come back. He went into the +little sitting-room, wherein the decorators were at work, and wondered +at his own folly. He was carrying that folly to an absurd pitch. He was +having a copy executed of the statue of Love from the Wallace +collection. It was to stand upon a column in the charming semicircular +bay window, looking out upon the prim terrace garden. + +Should he write now--write and offer her her release? + +He sneered at himself for having ascertained the limits of his own +penitence. Although he was ready to swear that he would do anything for +her happiness, he could not do that. Having once seen her, at his +table, on the terrace, in the hall, having heard her voice in the stark +silence of his desolate house, the craving to have her back was, he had +to confess, even greater than the craving for her content. Besides, he +argued, she had been willing once. She had accepted her destiny, had +meant to do her duty, spoken of being bound by her vows. When she found +that there was love--even adoration--to be lavished upon her, would she +not become reconciled? + +Ah! the time for that had gone by. Rosenberg had now stepped into the +picture. She knew nothing of his own change of heart. To her he was a +gloomy and cruel tyrant. Had he used his chance when wonderfully he had +obtained it--had he not horrified her at the outset by his unmanly, +despicable behaviour--what might not have been possible? + +Thoughts such as these were his torment day and night; and his sleep +went from him. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Mynors and Gerald Rosenberg were strolling side by side upon the +North Terrace of Windsor Castle. It was growing late, and they were +expecting to be ejected by officials shortly; but Virginia and Tony had +gone off together to look at Eton College, and to sigh over the +deplorable fact that Tony would never occupy his dead father's place in +Brooke's House. + +"I found it out accidentally," Mrs. Mynors was saying, "when she first +came to town. She was in a terrible state of distress about Pansy, and +would not go away from the nursing home when night came. They were very +kind, and let her lie on a sofa in a sitting-room, and I was in an +arm-chair. She dropped off to sleep a dozen times, I should think, and +each time woke in a kind of nightmare, crying out to him that he might +torture her as he liked, but she was going to Pansy; he might cut her +to pieces when she got back." + +"Good God!" said Gerald. + +"It was dreadful to listen," sighed the mother. "First, she was +repeating: 'I am not afraid--I am not afraid of you any more!' Then she +was begging him not to make her try to walk, because she could not +stand. I can't think what he can have been doing to her, but I have +made up my mind that, by hook or by crook, she must not go back to him. +The thing is: How to prevent it?" + +The drops were standing upon the young man's forehead. He had had hints +before, but this was the first time he had succeeded in being alone +with Mrs. Mynors long enough to hear all. + +"How could you--how could you have permitted it?" he broke out +violently. "Such an inhuman sacrifice!" + +"My dear Gerald, does the modern mother control her children? Oh, don't +think I am saying a word to disparage my darling. I know she is a +martyr; I know she sacrificed herself for us. But I implored her not to +do so. If only----" She broke off. He waited, feverishly eager, and as +she did not continue, broke out: + +"Well, if only what?" + +"If only she had never gone to London," murmured the mother in a low +voice. "Then he would never have seen her, and she would never have +seen--you!" + +"Never have seen me?" + +"Oh, I know it was not the first time you had met. But it was the fatal +time. Poor innocent child! she gave you her heart, and you handed it +back with a polite thank you. Did you not, dear boy?" + +"Great heavens, Mrs. Mynors, do you know what you are saying? You are +suggesting that Virgie loves me." + +"But surely that is not news to you?" she said, with lifted brows, as +one astonished at unlooked-for density of perception. + +He turned impulsively away from her, leaning his arms upon the grey +stone wall and gazing away into the dusk. Some moments passed in a wild +kind of silence. Then the castle warder called to them that he was +closing the doors. Without a word the young man moved, walking at his +companion's side through the little door in the wall, under the arch, +out upon the ramp which descends past St. George's Chapel to the large +gate. He was as white as a sheet. + +Not a soul was in sight. They paused, gazing down upon the sunk garden +which now blooms in the dry moat of the Round Tower. Suddenly Gerald +burst into speech. Forgetting for the moment all that his father had +told him of this woman, he poured out the story of how he had been +overpersuaded, how his father--urging upon him the imprudence of such a +match--had coaxed him away that last night of Virgie's stay, when the +confession of his feeling was trembling on the tip of his tongue. + +"That was what I did," he said. "I was just waiting. I knew of no +danger to her. If I had had a hint, if you had sent me a line to tell +me that she was being hunted. But all the same," he broke off, his eyes +burning in his head, "all the same, to me it is inconceivable that any +man, however sunk, could have been cruel to her! Afterwards he +might--later, but not at first--not when he had but just acquired that +perfect thing for his own! Oh, it makes me mad! I daren't think of it! +It's too incredibly ugly--too wild. Are you sure? You don't think those +cries of hers that you overheard can have been delirium? It seems +altogether outside the pale of possibility that he should have done +anything but grovel at her feet!" + +Mrs. Mynors had her lovely face averted. She sighed. "There is more in +it than that, Gerald," she murmured in a low voice. "I fear it is worse +than you think. Have you ever heard of such a thing as a secret maniac? +Do you know that there are men, outwardly sane, who go about the world +like other people, but who have one single streak of insanity--a bee in +the bonnet, as the vulgar saying has it?" + +He looked sick with horror. "Do you mean that she is bound for life to +a man who isn't sane?" + +"Gaunt has had a sad life. I know his story. He thought himself badly +used by a woman. It made a profound impression upon him. It is his +fixed idea. When I heard my child's broken ravings, the awful thought +flashed through my mind--has he some horrible idea of making Virginia +pay for another woman's sins?" + +"If so, he must be mad, raving mad. We could get him put into an +asylum," hissed Gerald. + +"Not so easily as you think. Such men are very cunning. You see, he has +allowed her to come away from him. He is acting, as every one would +say, a most magnanimous part. I and my orphan children are the +creatures of his bounty. It would be difficult, indeed, to bring home +to him what he may make her endure in private." + +"Unbearable," muttered Gerald. "I hardly dare let my mind dwell upon +it. But you are going merely upon what you overheard. She has said +nothing to you of his being unkind?" + +"She is far too proud. I judge by what she does not say. Her reticence +to me, her mother, can have but one explanation. He has forbidden her, +on pain of certain punishment, to say anything. I know that it is so. I +am certain of it." + +His burning eyes, searching through the twilight which gathered thickly +about them, saw the dim figures of Tony and his sister advancing +through the gateway. "There they are," he muttered hoarsely. "We must +drop this now, but mind, we must speak of it again. Something must be +done. If all this is true, I swear she shall never go back to him. I'll +see to that. She loves me! Oh, what a gigantic blunder life is!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE LAST RIDE TOGETHER + + + "_Take back the love you gave, I claim + Only a memory of the same; + With this beside, if you will not blame, + Your leave for one more last ride with me._"--Browning. + + +For ten days more Virginia's life floated upon a summer sea. She had +Tony, she had Pansy, she had Gerald. She was away from Gaunt, and his +letters made no demand upon her. He never mentioned the date, or even +alluded to the fact, of her return. She had, however, set herself a +limit. When Pansy went to the seaside she must go back to her prison. + +The nurse who was now in charge of the case would be permitted to +accompany the child, so that there would be no valid reason for +Virginia to go too. Mrs. Mynors, who was having the time of her life in +London, though she grumbled incessantly at the need to keep her +expenditure so rigorously within bounds, was not anxious for the move. +Her daughter, however, was scrupulously determined that it should take +place at the earliest date which Dr. Danby would sanction. She was very +grateful to her husband. Her gratitude had taken the edge off the +bitterness with which she regarded him. Her fear remained, but his +present generosity could not but do something to salve the wound his +cruelty had made. To take undue advantage of his kindness was what she +would never suffer herself to do. + +Yet, when the time of parting drew near, it became evident to every one +that Pansy would fret so much at her sister's departure as to make it +likely that her grief might react disastrously upon her frail returning +health. + +This distressed Virginia terribly. She hardly knew which way her duty +lay. It seemed almost as if she must stay with the child until she was +strong enough to be reasoned with. At least Gaunt's health would not +suffer from her absence. Yet the situation galled her. Here they all +were, living upon his bounty, while he waited alone in Derbyshire +bereft of his newly made wife. Had she loved him, all would have been +otherwise, she would have felt it natural that he should help her, and +she would not have hesitated to choose the path of duty, even if +absence from him had been a misery to her. As things stood, she was +uncomfortably aware that, so far, she had not fulfilled her share of +the contract. He had paid her price, but she was devoted, body and +soul, to Pansy and not to him. + +That night she cried bitterly when alone in bed, while the conflict +raged in her heart; and strangely, that night, at Omberleigh, Gaunt had +the illusion that he heard her sobbing, as he had heard her upon the +night when she received the news of Pansy's danger. So vivid was the +impression that he got up, opened the door of her room, and stood a +long moment, in the moonlight, gazing at the smooth, empty bed and the +dim outlines of the furniture, before he could realise that she was not +there. + +Next morning she wrote to him: + + +_I am in a difficulty. Pansy is making herself unhappy about going to +the sea without me. She has fretted so that Dr. Danby spoke seriously +to me yesterday, asking if I could not manage to stay a few days longer +just to settle her into her new surroundings. We have found rooms very +near the sea, not at Cliftonville, but at Worthing. The roads there are +so nice and flat that she can be wheeled out upon the Parade every day, +and the doctor says as soon as she is a little stronger she will lose +this silly fancy about my leaving her. I am ashamed to mention it to +you, when you have done and are doing so much. I will be guided by what +you wish. I had arranged definitely to go back to Omberleigh on Monday. +If you think I had better keep to that date I will do so. If I may +instead take Pansy to Worthing, and stay there with her till the +following Friday, returning to you on Saturday, I shall be most +grateful, but I feel guilty in asking for it, when I have already made +such large demands upon your patience._ + + +The answer to this letter came by telegram: + + +_Stay as long as advisable.--Gaunt._ + + +Tony brought this message round to the Home from Margaret Street in the +course of the morning, and great, indeed, was the joy it caused. Pansy +was a different creature when she learned that "that dear old trump of +an Osbert was going to let Virgie come to Worthing." + +There was a tea-party in the little invalid's room that afternoon to +celebrate the occasion. Gerald Rosenberg was present. The journey was +to be made in his car, and he thought he would take a week's holiday at +Worthing, and have a run round the country thereabout. + +It was a delightful plan, and in Virginia's eyes it had no drawbacks. +She was now wholly at ease with Gerald. Since that first day, he had +asked no awkward questions, trenched on no dangerous ground. He had +been the best of friends, and was apparently quite content to talk to +her mother for long periods during which she and Tony roamed together. + +Under his auspices the removal to Worthing took place most +satisfactorily. The day was dull and chilly, but there was no rain, and +Pansy's spirits never flagged. + +For the first day or two following their arrival, there was so much to +be done, the elder sister's time was so fully occupied in making all +the arrangements that were necessary, that she hardly realised how time +was flying. It was on Thursday morning that she awoke with a terrible +sensation of depression, amounting to horror. She had dreamed of Gaunt. +This had happened to her twice, and only twice, before. Once, upon the +night following their first wordless encounter at Hertford House. It +had been an oddly vivid dream, producing a feeling of excitement which +persisted after she awoke. The second occasion was at Omberleigh. It +occurred--though she naturally was unaware of the fact--on the night +during which her husband wandered through the park in an agony of +remorse. That dream too had left an impression which seemed +disproportionate. This last was, however, the most haunting of all. + +In it she found herself searching through the house at Omberleigh, +looking for Gaunt, who could not be found. She went upstairs to the +garrets, where Mrs. Wells had once taken her, but the rooms seemed to +have been altered. In her dream she said: "If I come to the room with +the Sheraton furniture in it, I shall know where I am." She could not +find it, however, and after descending stairs which were the stairs of +the Hertford House Gallery, she ran along a passage in search of the +sitting-room she had been told she might call her own. That, too, had +vanished; in its place was something pale, dim, and shapeless. All +empty--Gaunt was not to be seen, and she had been made aware that it +was most important that she should find him. She passed out into the +garden, in a wet mist which hid everything from her sight, and she dare +not hasten for fear of stepping upon his dead body. Terror took her, +and she tried, as one tries in dreams, to run. Her feet were rooted to +the ground, she was incapable of movement; and out of the fog came +Gaunt, with his eyes closed. He was repeating words, but in so low a +tone that she could not immediately hear. She listened, first +attentively, then eagerly, because she knew that it was so tremendously +urgent that she should understand; and at last something reached her +consciousness. "Are you coming? No. I said you would not come. I never +dared to think you would. But you promised--you promised----" + +She tried to say: "Here I am, do you not see me?" But she failed to +articulate, and awoke with the sound of his muttered words ringing in +her ears. + +The morning scene upon which she looked out was gay. The sun shone +lazily over a calm sea, there was no wind, and the seafront was already +lively with the passing figures of those who had been out for an early +dip. When she went into Pansy's room she found that the child had slept +without awakening the whole night through; and was greeted with a smile +of content and freedom from pain which made her heart swell with joy +and gratitude. + +This was Gaunt's doing! Without him, this marvellous recovery would +have been impossible. It was he who had not only furnished the funds, +but who had sent her to Dr. Danby, perhaps the one man in the world who +could have achieved so wonderful a result. For the authorities, at +first so grave, now began to talk of a cure. Lameness there would +always be, but the nurse was certain that the power of locomotion would +be recovered. Virgie knelt by the bed, her whole mind flooded with the +poignant memory of her pitiful dream. "Oh, Pansy blossom," said she, +"isn't it wonderful? What do we not owe to Osbert?" + +"Yes," said Pansy, turning her head eagerly, "do you know, Virgie, I +was just thinking about that. Nurse talked to me a bit yesterday. She +said I must not be selfish. She said how good you had been to sacrifice +so much of your time to me; and how miserable it is for Osbert all +alone at Omberleigh. I feel rather ashamed of myself, darling, and I +can see quite plainly that I must let you go." + +"Oh, Pansy!" cried Virginia brokenly, seeing her way thus unexpectedly +made clear. Was she glad or sorry? Her imagination took a peep into the +future, and for a minute sheer fright paralysed her. Then her dream +floated before her, and she almost heard the words: "Are you coming? +You promised! You promised!" + +Yes, she was coming. She would keep her promise, as she had always +intended; but now, for the first time, she faced the terror of it. Once +away from her gaoler, in the insistence of the present moment, she had +been able to forget. Other things had filled her heart. Apprehension +for Pansy's safety had blotted out apprehension for Virginia's +happiness. Now with vehemence her panic fear resurged. + + * * * * * + +Down in the sitting-room, Mrs. Mynors, daintily attired in seaside +raiment and white shoes, had just rung for breakfast. Tony and Gerald, +who had been together for a swim, walked past under the window. Gerald +stopped and called up that he was going along to his hotel for +breakfast, and would be back in an hour, decently attired. + +"Come in and have some breakfast with us, just as you are," urged Mrs. +Mynors, leaning from the open casement. + +"Yes, yes," cried Tony, gripping his arm joyfully. + +"Don't mind if I do," answered Gerald, and ascended the stairs +leisurely, while the boy dashed up to a higher floor, to put down his +towels. "Tony met a pal down on the sands," remarked Rosenberg, as he +shook hands with Virginia's mother. "I have taken two tickets on the +_char-a-banc_ for them to go to Arundel. If you will stay with +Pansy the arrangements are quite complete." + +"That's a splendid idea," replied Mrs. Mynors with satisfaction. "You +are a good general, Gerald." + +He looked somewhat doubtful, as though a cloud passed over his mood. + +"I hate it," he said, "but I must do something. If I don't, she will go +back to that crazy beast to-morrow as sure as the sun rises, and what +can we do then?" + +"My dear Gerald, why do you say that you hate it? You are not going to +do anything to which anybody could take exception!" + +"No, but I am going to trick her with a put-up job. If she ever found +that out she would dislike it. I have seen so much of her lately, and +her sincerity and simplicity are almost terrible." + +Virgie's mother smiled rather superciliously. "Yet she can keep her own +counsel," she remarked incisively. "I have done all that I knew to +secure her confidence, and never one word has she let slip. But for the +fact that she never mentions him and will not let me see letters from +him, I should hardly suspect----" + +"You are sure?" He turned from the window with intent expression. +"Remember, I am going almost entirely upon what you tell me----" + +"Gerald, it seemed to me that I must have some certainty, and I did a +thing which you will probably condemn. I looked at a letter from him to +her, which was accidentally left accessible. I made a copy of it to +show you. This is it, word for word. There was no more." + +He grew scarlet. The pretty woman was approaching him with the bit of +paper. Was it taking an unfair advantage of Virgie to steal a march +upon her loyalty thus? He told himself that the end justified the +means. He was too deep in love now. He could not draw back. He took the +paper and read: + + +Omberleigh. + Tuesday. + +_Yours of 5th duly recd. Glad journey satisfactorily accomplished. +Rooms seem reasonable. Suppose Mrs. M. will go back to Wayhurst in a +few days, leaving child in charge of nurse. Trust you have done as I +ordered you with regard to m.c. This is important.--O. G._" + + +"That is all--absolutely all--that was written on the sheet of paper," +murmured Mrs. Mynors, watching him read. + +"What is m.c., do you know?" + +"Have no idea. A nice letter for a man to write to his few weeks' +bride, is it not?" + +"It shows them to be on very peculiar terms," he admitted, with knit +brows. "Yes, you must be right. The man is a bit cracked. Was there no +beginning to the letter?" + +"Nothing." + +"Yet you think there is no chance of our being able to get him +certified as of unsound mind?" + +"Not the least; because he is very sane, except on this point. Have you +asked Mr. Ferris what he thinks of him?" + +"Ferris thinks him most able. Says he is the best magistrate in the +district. They all down there seem to suppose that he is quite devoted +to his wife. They laugh at him as an old bachelor hopelessly in love." + +"That letter is the letter of a man in love, is it not?" + +Gerald shrugged his shoulders. "Of course, I have been extremely +careful to keep off the subject with her," he said. "There is one +thing, however, which makes me horribly suspicious that you may be +right--that he is being actually unkind to her. I mean this. She seems +to believe that, when she leaves here, it is final. Now and then, when +she is off her guard, she seems to assume that she will never see any +of us again. I did what amounted to some pretty open fishing for an +invitation to Omberleigh the other day. She was wholly unresponsive." + +"She did admit to me, in one letter, that she did very wrong to marry +him," slowly said Mrs. Mynors. + +"She did?" he cried quickly. + +"She practically admitted that her marriage was a failure as far as she +was concerned. I will show you that bit of the letter, though most of +it is private. I have it here." + +Upon his eager assent she produced that letter from Virginia, which +Gaunt had intercepted, and read a paragraph to him: + + +_... What I have done is wrong. I know that now. I half knew it all +the time. But what else was there for me to do? I believe God knows I +did it for the best. I was at the end of my own strength; I was at the +end of all our money. I had you all dependent upon me, and I knew I was +going to break down._ + +_I felt I had to save you, and, Oh, mother, you can't, you simply +must not deny that I have done that!..._ + + +Mrs. Mynors glanced at the young man's face. It was set and hard. + +"You should have shown me that before. I think it conclusive," said he. +"Only a most unhappy woman could have written so." He broke off with a +catch in his breath. "And to think that I had failed her, that she was +in those desperate straits and I never knew! Oh, ye gods, how blind we +are! But you see, don't you, that the fact of my deserting her then +makes it more incumbent upon me to save her now, if I can? Mad or sane, +there can be no doubt that the brute must be desperately jealous. We +only want suspicious circumstances and somebody who will be sure to +mention them to him. If I mistake not, Mr. Ferris is the very man for +our purpose. The fact that he himself admires Virgie to the point of +fatuity will give the necessary edge to his malice." + +"Have you heard from him? He is coming to-day?" + +"Yes, that's all right," replied Gerald hastily. "No more now; I hear +her on the stairs." + +Virginia came in. Happiness and returning health together had made her +radiant. She wore to-day a pale mauve frock, and a hat trimmed with a +garland of mauve and faint blue flowers. Like Mr. Bent on another +occasion, Gerald found himself distracted with the wonder as to which +of the two colours matched her eyes. + +"What a day!" she said. "Oh, what a heavenly blue day, isn't it? Have +you come to breakfast, Gerald? How nice!" + +"Gerald is afraid he may be obliged to go back to town to-morrow," +remarked her mother, as they sat down to table. "He wants to have one +good day's motoring for the last, and as the driving does you so much +good, I have arranged to stay with Pansy and leave you free to go with +him." + +"Tony and I! Oh, how splendid!" cried Virgie, sparkling. "I, too, must +leave to-morrow, and I want to have a really delightful day for the +last." She broke off a little abruptly, afraid lest what she said might +be by implication uncomplimentary to her husband. Both her hearers +remarked it, and they exchanged glances. + +They did not say that Tony would not be going. Instead, Gerald produced +a map from his pocket, and spread it on a corner of the table. + +"I have more or less thought out a route," said he. "I wonder if you +will approve. There were two places which you told me that you would +particularly like to see--one was Bodiam Castle. The other was the +Roman Pavement at Bignor. I have been talking to Baines (his +chauffeur), and he says it would be quite possible to do both. It is a +fifty-mile run to Bodiam--less than two hours. We could lunch on the +way back--say at Lewes--and go on to Bignor, where we could have tea, +and get back any time we like." + +"How simply perfect!" laughed Virgie as she helped herself to marmalade +with an appetite which was so recent an acquirement that she herself +could not understand it. Nobody present noticed it. Mrs. Mynors would +never have known had her daughter starved herself to death under her +eyes. Across the girl's mind stole the thought of some one who had +watched every mouthful, had hectored and bullied her into eating. + +She leant across to Gerald, and perused the map with attention. "What a +way it seems! Bodiam is in the very eastest corner of Sussex. And +Bignor is more than the whole way back--positively on the other side of +Worthing! Are you sure it won't be too far? I am so afraid Pansy will +miss me." + +"You forget," put in her mother, "Pansy is going to have the first of +her electric baths to-day, and nurse says she will have to be very +quiet for some hours after it. Besides, it will accustom her to the +idea of being without you." + +"Yes. That is true," was the reply, while a shadow crept over the +gladness of the face. + +"I expect Osbert is beginning to be restive, isn't he?" asked her +mother, in order to gauge the effect of a sudden reference to Gaunt. + +The effect, as always, was a momentary confusion, slight but evident. +She soon rallied. "He is very patient," she replied, while her thoughts +went obstinately back to the dream garden, veiled in mist, to the man +who approached her, groping blindly, to his words, "Are you coming +back? No!" + +"It seems wonderful that he _can_ be patient under the +circumstances," observed Gerald drily. He did not pursue the subject. +He was folding up his map. "I told the chauffeur to be round in exactly +twenty minutes from now. I must bolt, and do a change. Can you be ready +in twenty minutes?" + +She eagerly assented, and he caught up his hat and ran out of the room, +with a smile to her of glowing, eager anticipation which set her heart +dancing in response. What a dear fellow he was! How good he had been to +them all! He had saved quite a lot of Gaunt's money by taking them down +to Worthing in the car. She did not ask herself why it was terrible to +take her husband's money, but easy to take Gerald's. + +She ran away upstairs, calling to Tony. He appeared from his room, got +up in a striped flannel suit, a soft linen collar, a most +_recherche_ tie, and a Panama hat--a real one. + +"Why, Tony, you have made yourself a swell!" cried the girl. + +"Pretty decent, isn't it?" was the gratified reply. "Left me any +brekker?" + +"Plenty, but be quick, we have to start in twenty minutes." + +"Not me, sis. I'm going with Mullins Major to Arundel." + +"To Arundel! Oh, no, Tony, you are going with Gerald and me in the car!" + +"Not much. This is heaps better. Good old Gerald bought us the +ticket--front places, and he has given me half a sov. for our grub. +Isn't he great?" + +"Oh, Tony!" She stood back as the boy ran down the stairs whistling +gaily. "Did Gerald give you that suit, too, and that overwhelmingly +elegant hat?" + +"He did. Took me into the town the first day we got here and rigged me +out." + +Virgie burst out laughing. She was so glad that Tony should be +young--should put on a bit of "swank." How dear of Gerald to be so good +to him! + +Money makes life very easy. The thought turned her grave once more. Am +I mercenary? she asked herself. Does love of money mean the desire to +obtain good doctors and nursing, to educate a boy well, to live cleanly +and keep out of debt? With a sigh she admitted that her marriage had +been mercenary. Yet how small a share of life's good things would have +prevented her from making so hideous a mistake--a mistake which as yet +she had hardly begun to pay for. Oh, why, why, had Gerald stepped aside +and failed her at the critical moment? + +"If I had only had patience, if only I had waited," she told herself, +"it would have come right! He as good as told me so that first night we +dined together. I ought to have refused to do what I knew to be wrong, +and left the consequences to God." + +She made herself ready for the drive, slipped into Pansy's room, and to +her relief found the child quite prepared for her going. "Gerald told +me yesterday that he should take you," she said sedately. + +Gerald was then heard calling for Virgie, and with a hasty kiss she ran +off. Both the plotters heaved a sigh of relief when they found she took +Tony's defection in good part. The boy came down from his half-eaten +breakfast to see them off, and the car spun away, up to Broadwater and +Sompting, and on along the northern slopes of those magical South +Downs, the love of which can never fade from a Sussex heart. + +Virgie's heart sang as the sunny miles whizzed past. She and Gerald +were together, and who knew what might come after? She caught herself +wishing that an accident might terminate the day, that she might be +fatally injured, and gasp out her life in Gerald's arms. Gaunt would be +legally compelled to continue the allowances to her family. The idea +fascinated her, so that at length, after a long silence, she said to +her companion: "Isn't there a piece of poetry about two people riding +together for the last time? The man said he wished the world would end +at the end of the ride--do you know it?" + +"Can't say I do. I'm not much at poetry," he answered apologetically, +"but he was a wise chap if he wanted to end off at the best bit. So you +think we are in like case?" he stooped to look into her eyes. + +She was shaken into remembrance, and stood on guard in a moment. "Oh, +no, of course not! What nonsense! I was only thinking to myself in the +silly way I sometimes do." + +"Just so. For you the world is but just beginning. You are returning +to-morrow to the arms of the man who loved you so devotedly that for +the sake of calling you his own he was ready to come to the rescue of +your family. For me the case is very, very different. I don't know who +could blame me if I wished that this day should end my life." + +She laughed. "But that is really nonsense. You are a man--you can go +where you like and do as you like. I must do as some one else wills all +my life long." + +"You think that I can do as I like, Virgie?" + +"Of course you can." + +"If I did, you would be distinctly surprised. I should tell the +chauffeur to change his course--or, rather, to continue on, past Lewes, +to Newhaven; and I should carry you on board the first steamer that +sailed, and we should vanish across the sea and start life together in +some glorious new land, and you would be mine--all mine!" + +He spoke half banteringly, but very tenderly, and she hardly knew how +to take him. + +"As I am I, and as you are you, that is out of the question, you know," +he went on, almost in a whisper. "You are not the girl to break your +oath and I am not the man to tempt you, even if I thought I could do it +with success. So all will go on as before. We shall be together to-day +and we shall part to-morrow; and for the rest of my life I shall be +fully occupied in resisting the temptation to cut Gaunt's throat." + +Virgie decided that she was expected to laugh, and did so, but very +softly. + +"Don't talk like that," she begged him wistfully. "Let us be quite +happy, and think about Pansy, and how wonderful it is that she should +be getting well." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ROMAN VILLA + + + "_When you and I behind the Veil are past, + Oh! but the long, long while the world shall last, + Which of our Coming and Departure heeds + As much as Ocean of a pebble cast. + One moment in Annihilation's Waste, + One moment of the Well of Life to taste-- + The Stars are setting, and the Caravan + Draws to the dawn of nothing!--Oh, make haste!_" + --Omar Khayyam. + + +The docility with which Gerald accepted the change of subject was +completely reassuring to Virginia. His words led her to suppose that he +imagined all to be well between herself and her husband. She gave +herself up to fullest enjoyment of the fine weather, the swift motion, +the beautiful country. + +Bodiam Castle she found entrancing, and her fresh, almost childlike +interest in exploring it gave Gerald a kind of pleasure hard to +explain. Her unconsciousness put him upon his honour; yet it was subtly +alluring, too. It urged him to find out what would happen if she could +be brought face to face with the truth about herself and him. + +He found himself lost in contemplation of the curious subtlety of her +nature, as contrasted with its simplicity. He knew, as it happened, +that her marriage was most unhappy. He doubted whether he could have +discovered as much without the information given him by her mother. Her +reserve was impenetrable. If she betrayed herself, it was quite +involuntarily, in some phrase which, to him who knew, bore a tragic +significance. "You are a man--you can do as you like. I must do as some +one else wills, all my life long." + +This was as near as she had come, in words, to lifting the veil so +carefully dropped. He ranged her qualities one against the other--her +incapacity for flirtation, her power of preserving a dignified secrecy. +Artlessness combined with prudence! It was another such apparent +contradiction which had mystified Gaunt--her hard toil and ceaseless +sacrifice, taken in conjunction with her regard for appearances, her +love of dainty raiment. As a matter of fact, there was no +contradiction. Innate pride and refinement accounted for attributes +which seemed to clash. + +The day's programme was carried through with much success. They lunched +at Lewes, and thence, hugging the northern edge of the Downs, they +passed to Steyning and on through Storrington to Pulborough. Here they +had an early tea, being warned that no tea was obtainable at Bignor; +and went on, through the exquisite late afternoon, along roads which +grew to be what Virgie described as "lanier and more laney." + +It was as they approached Bignor that Gerald said: + +"As soon as Baines has set us down he is going to run the car into +Chichester and back. I am expecting a man down for a couple of nights +from town, and I told him to come to Chichester, because I thought we +could pick him up from thence more easily. Baines will run there in no +time--'tisn't more than twelve or fifteen miles each way, and he can +fill up his petrol-tank there. He'll be back by the time we have done +our sightseeing." + +"Bringing the man with him?" she asked, in evident disappointment. + +"Yes. By the way, it's a friend of yours--Mr. Ferris, from Perley +Hatch." + +"_What!_" cried Virgie, with so sharp an accent of dislike that he +was startled. + +"Don't you like him? I thought they were friends of yours--they spoke +most warmly of you," he began awkwardly. + +"Oh, his wife is all right, but he--do you know, Gerald, I think he is +odious," said she warmly. "It will just spoil our day, having him with +us! What a pity!" + +"Have I put my foot into it? You don't know how sorry I am," said +Gerald warmly. "I wouldn't have done it for worlds; but I didn't like +him to come down and spend the evening alone in Worthing. I thought we +could dine at Pulborough, and go home at leisure by moonlight." + +"Well, promise me one thing--you won't sit in front with Baines and +leave me behind with him, will you?" she begged. "I really couldn't +bear that. You don't know what an outsider he is." + +He was fervent in his protestations that she should not be left to the +society of the dashing Percy. He was a good deal put out by her evident +distaste of the whole arrangement. He had never heard her speak so +decidedly about any one in her life as she expressed herself with +regard to Ferris. + +The talk was put a stop to by their arrival in the narrow lane where a +small finger-post announced: "This way to the Roman Villa." + +They paused, alighted; Gerald put a wrap over his arm for her, gave his +final instructions to Baines, and the car hurried on to the forge, +where the width of the road permitted it to turn and run back along the +lane by which they had come. + +"He will be out on the high road in two or three miles, and then he can +let her rip," said Gerald; "but he can't be back for an hour, so we +will take things easy." + +They leisurely ascended the grassy field which leads to the carefully +covered-in and precious pavements. + +Then for a while Virgie forgot everything in the delight of examining +this wonderful relic of a bygone civilisation. The sweet-faced, elderly +lady who is custodian of the place, and speaks of it with reverence and +fervour which are infectious, warmed towards the beauty and enthusiasm +of this visitor. She showed her all that was to be seen, and explained +each small detail of plan and execution. Virgie reconstructed in her +own mind the entire existence of the wealthy officials, exiled from all +that constituted their world, and cast away among these barbarian +British in a fold of the Sussex hills, far, as it seemed, from all +communication with their kind. Then, pointing across the valley to the +romantic swell of the southern Downs, the custodian told how Stane +Street, the great Roman highway, had crossed the hills from Chichester, +just opposite where they stood. The Roman noble's sentinels must have +seen every figure, every horseman, as he topped the rise, and have kept +him in sight as he approached, the whole way into the valley. All gone! +Even the semblance of the track wiped out! It would be ten miles before +Baines would strike the still surviving section of the Roman road. + +The hour was nearly expired when they had seen all, and they strolled +away to find somewhere to sit down until the car's return. Finally they +sat upon the grass, Gerald's raincoat under them, near the lane, and +watched the sunset fade from the sky. + +Gerald reverted to the coming of Ferris, and said how sorry he was to +have made so stupid a plan. Virgie answered with impulsive penitence. +She could not think how she came to be so disagreeable about a +trifle--when he had given her this glorious day, and shown her such +grand things, when she owed all her pleasure to him. She felt ashamed +of herself. + +"I am so glad to have seen this," she said with unconscious pathos. "It +has done me good. The thought of all that life and energy, here where +even the memory has passed away, the quiet to which it has gone +back--the disappearance of the great road, have brought home to me what +a little thing one human life is. We walk in a vain shadow and disquiet +ourselves in vain. I mean suffering, and being what we call unhappy, +matters so little when you think how soon it will be over. That helps +one to bear things." + +Her eyes, misty with regret, were fixed upon the amphitheatre of +rolling downs and on the green, rabbit-run turf, where once the busy +highway swarmed with traffic. + +He leaned towards her and spoke softly. "Thank you, dear, for trying to +comfort me. I am trying to bear things, as you put it--I truly am. Most +particularly because I know they are all my own fault. But I have to +own that your thought brings me very little comfort. Here are you and +here am I, alive and warm, wanting to enjoy our little day. The +knowledge that, five centuries hence, nobody will ever have heard our +names, does nothing to still my craving." + +She looked at him dumbly, and her lip quivered. + +"You didn't surely mean--you can't have meant that it is +you--_you_ who have to bear things?" he added in a hurried, choky +whisper. + +For the first time he saw panic in her eyes. She was staring into his +as though fascinated. He could almost _see_ the hasty clutch of +her will upon her tongue, to prevent her making any admission. +"Nobody," she said, almost inaudibly, "has more to bear than they +deserve--more than they can carry; but every one has +something--something, don't you think?" + +He mercilessly held her gaze. "If I were to tell you what I think of +you," he began; and she made a little motion with her hand. + +"No, don't. Please don't. Because it really does comfort me to feel +that I am only a grain of sand upon the shore of time, and that soon I +shall be swept away. Only one thing matters, and that is, to have done +one's best while one was here. Sometimes it seems hard, but one has to +go on, one has to keep on trying. Don't you agree--oh, you must +agree--that everybody has something to bear?" + +"I think," he muttered savagely, "that you have always been made to +bear too much. All the burdens of the whole family have rested on your +little, tender shoulders. It is time that you were freed----" + +"No," she cried quickly, sharply, "that is the one thing I can never +be! I have tied myself, and no human power can release me now." + +Even as Gerald's blood leapt with the throb of triumph, he realised how +careful he must be not to let her see the admission she had just made. +The thing which he might safely say sprang into his mind as by +inspiration. "There is such a thing as spiritual freedom, Virgie," he +softly murmured. "Don't forget that liberty is a thing nobody can +really take from you." + +She turned a radiant face to him, and broke into a smile. "Oh, Gerald, +how lovely! How fine of you to say that! Yes, it is so. You are right. +I shall remember that always, and that it was you who said it." + +"Because I am your friend," he continued steadily, knowing himself upon +the right road. "Remember always that I am your friend, and that I have +a right to your spiritual freedom. If ever you should be in trouble or +difficulty, you will think of our friendship, won't you? Think of this +perfect day, and how we have been together in pure friendship and +mutual confidence. You trust me, don't you, Virgie?" + +"I should think so." She gave her hand, impulsively, and as he held +it--soft, warm, and ungloved--he wondered how much more of this he +could stand. She hesitated, as if she wanted to say something, and +dared not. At last: "You don't want words, do you, Gerald? You +understand?" she faltered. + +"Yes." The word was gulped. He lifted her hand, kissed it, laid it upon +her knee, and rose hurriedly. Baines had been gone nearly two hours. + +"Something has delayed the car," he remarked, coming back to her, watch +in hand. "I wonder what we had better do? It is getting late--you will +want some dinner." + +"Oh, no, I have had a very good tea," she answered calmly, "but we +shall be cold if we sit here much longer." + +He went into the lane and looked up and down. Then he returned again. +"I wonder if the kind old lady would let you sit in her parlour while I +go and reconnoitre?" he suggested. "We might go off together somewhere +and get some dinner, while I station a sentry here to warn Baines where +to find us? I am afraid we are a good way from anything in the way of +food, but I may as well inquire." + +This was agreed upon, and Virgie settled herself in a tiny parlour, +full of furniture, while Gerald disappeared. She kept her ears strained +for the humming of the car, but no such sound broke the pastoral +silence of the remote spot. She began to wonder what they really would +do should the car have broken down, for she knew that her own powers of +walking were very limited, in spite of her immensely improved health. + +Half an hour passed slowly, and then Gerald returned. + +"There is apparently an inn of sorts at Dilvington, but a very poor +one. I suppose they could give some fried ham and potatoes. That would +be better than nothing, wouldn't it?" + +"How far is it?" + +He studied the map. "Inside a mile." + +"I think I can do that if we walk slowly." + +He looked taken aback. "I say! I forgot how little you can walk!" + +"Oh, I can walk a mile, but I could not do much more." + +"No, by Jove, I suppose you could not. I hope I am not going to knock +you up. What an ass I was to trouble about Ferris!" + +She smiled bravely, and said it would be all right. The weather was +lovely. Gerald laughed uncomfortably. A flurry of rain was coming up +slowly from the southwest, across the heave of the downs. + +They left word at the custodian's house and also at the forge, as to +the direction they had taken, and walked off towards Dilvington. + +Virgie came along quite bravely, but before they reached the little +roadside "public" the rain had begun to fall. + +Gerald ordered such food as the place afforded, and they were taken +into a small and stuffy parlour, with a short, horsehair sofa, upon +which the lady could rest. + +"By the time we have eaten something, the car is bound to catch us up," +he asserted cheerfully. + +The meal took long to prepare, and was, to say the least of it, +inadequate when it arrived. Hunger, however, compelled them to eat, and +almost to enjoy it. By the time they had done, it was considerably +later than Gerald had foreseen. In Virgie's society time had a knack of +eluding him. With a hurried glance at his watch he sprang up and went +out to inquire about horses. + +He came back in a bustle. "They have only one horse, and she has been +out all day, and is tired." said he, "but they think she can take us as +far as Fittleworth, where we can catch a train to Petworth at 9.20. We +should be able to hire a car there, and get back to Worthing or, if we +can't, there is a first rate inn at Petworth. No trains later than +about 9.30." + +"Wouldn't it be safer to wait here for our own car?" she asked +doubtfully, as she gazed at the steady rain. + +"Daren't risk it," he answered peremptorily. "If we had to stay the +night this place is impossible. I suppose they can lend umbrellas, and +you have a thick coat. They are putting in the mare now." + +When the cart came round, it was found that there was not an umbrella +in the house. The September night was cold, and the rain fell +unrelentingly. They were very uncomfortable, and there seemed nothing +to say except to wonder where Baines and the car could be. The road +seemed interminable, and, as the mare ambled along like one moving in +her sleep, Gerald began to betray signs of desperate impatience. As +they emerged from a rough lane, upon a wider road, they heard a long, +sad whistle and the sound of a train. + +"I doubt ye've missed her," remarked the lad who drove. + +"Impossible! Make haste!" cried Gerald with some urgency. He ordered +that the drowsy steed should be whipped up, and she, indignant at such +outrage when by all the rules of the game she should have been sleeping +in her stable, made a wild spurt. + +A quarter of a mile brought them to the little lonely station. + +All was still. The lights were out. The door, when Gerald tried it, was +shut. They had missed the last train. + +When he came back to the side of the trap, and stood looking up at her, +Virginia perceived that he was terribly vexed. Up to this moment he had +maintained a composure and cheerfulness which was reassuring. Now, he +was obviously nonplussed. + +In reply to questions, their driver said sullenly that it was of no use +to fetch the station-master. He had gone home to bed. He couldn't make +a train if there was no train. Gerald shook his cap, from the edge of +which the water streamed, for the rain had become a downpour. + +"One gets out of the habit of calculating distance when one is used to +a car," he said to Virginia, in a voice which was an odd blend of rage +and apology. "They were such a time bringing that food--we started too +late. The only thing now is to go on to Pulborough, I suppose." + +The lad intimated that this journey, if taken, would be made upon their +own feet. The mare could do no more. She would just get home to her +stable, and that was all. + +Virginia could not offer to walk. She would not risk over-exertion, +with her return to Gaunt so near. She tried to cheer Gerald with the +reminder that, most likely, when they returned to the inn at +Dilvington, they would find Baines and the car awaiting them. + +As he knew this to be impossible, the thought could not console him. He +climbed up at the back of the wet cart thoroughly out of temper, +muttering that a wooden horse with three legs could have done two miles +in three quarters of an hour. + +Their discomfort was now far too great for further conversation. The +rain was pitiless, and the horse-cloth over Virginia's knees, though +thick, was not waterproof. Her head ached, and she was very cold, +though she endured patiently, so as not to increase her companion's +evidently acute sense of the pass to which he had brought her. + +She felt a final lowering of her spirits when once more the comfortless +inn came into sight. Their host and hostess were apparently no more +pleased to see them than were they to return. Nothing had been seen of +the car, and judging from their manner, these people did not seem sure +that it existed. It seemed, however, that they had half anticipated the +missing of the train. The only guest bed in the house had been made up. +Gerald somewhat nervously explained to the woman that Mrs. Gaunt would +have this room, and he would pass the night on the horse-hair sofa in +the parlour. + +At first the reaction from cold and darkness was such that they found +it delightful to be seated by a fire, sipping some abominable spirits +and water. The circumstances, however, were too deplorable for Virginia +to be able to rally her spirits. The cloak she wore was really a +dust-coat, and it had not kept out the rain. She could feel that she +was very wet, and was solely occupied with the consideration of how +long she ought, in politeness, to sit with Gerald, and how soon she +could go upstairs and take off her uncomfortable clothing. + +Gerald stood, his foot on the fender, his brow contracted. His state of +mind was most unenviable. He had formed this plan for the securing of +Virginia's freedom; and that they should spend the night out had seemed +a necessary part of the programme. + +But anything like this had been far from his thoughts. How could he +have been such an ass as to allow himself to miss that train? Had they +caught it, all would have been well. He knew it was due at Petworth +just late enough to make it certain that they would miss the last +train. Then they would have been safe in the warmth and comfort of a +first-rate inn. The worst aspect of it all was that to Virginia, to +whom nothing could be explained, he must seem merely a hopeless +bungler, a person unable to manage a simple expedition like this. + +"Need I say," he began, after a longish silence, "that I am repenting +in dust and ashes? I am so sorry for such an atrocious muddle. What can +I do to help you through with it? Draw your chair close to the fire. +Might I be privileged to take off your shoes?" + +"No, thanks, I will do that when I get upstairs," said Virginia +wearily. "I don't feel inclined to sit up." + +"But the car may turn up at any moment," he urged, hating himself for +his deceit. + +"Why, so it may; we could get home then," she replied, with a dawning +of hope. "You see, I have to travel to-morrow; it is so inconvenient +for me to be detained, that is why I am so grumpy!" + +He renewed his apologies, and she asked him to talk about something +else. He made a hesitating attempt to revert to the key in which they +had conversed at Bignor; but obtained no response from her. At last, +after another long silence, he could bear it no longer, but went down +on his knees beside her, and cried impulsively: "Virgie, you must +forgive me! Don't be so unhappy, dear!" + +She had been lost in the mazes of her own thoughts, which wandered +always to Gaunt and her return to Omberleigh. She turned to Rosenberg +with a start, and said hurriedly: "Oh, don't! What are you talking of? +Get up, those people might come in." + +The words were hasty, the tone so void of all warmth, all friendliness, +that it froze the genial current of his soul into something like +consternation. If the result of his escapade was to be that Virgie took +a dislike to him, things were indeed hopeless. She rose, and picked up +her steaming shoes. + +"Good night! I am going upstairs to lie down. If the car comes, you +must call me." + +He made no objection at all, but held open the door in silence. + +The ungracious woman, summoned from the kitchen in the act of yawning +prodigiously, ushered her into a room as cold as a well, with a mingled +perfume of pomatum and apple-garret which turned her what Tony would +have described as "niffy." She took off her skirt, and asked that it +might be hung before the kitchen fire. She could not, however, undress, +since she had with her no necessaries for the night, and the landlady +volunteered no assistance. + +She lay down in wretched discomfort, thinking that Gerald downstairs, +with a fire, had far the best of the bargain; but she was determined +not to go down to him. Until the last quarter of an hour, though she +was acutely alive to the inconvenience of the situation, it had not +struck her as awkward. Now this aspect had presented itself, and she +felt a new mental disquiet which greatly increased her physical +suffering. In view of her late ill-health, and the care which her +husband had exercised in order that she might recover completely, the +accident was most unfortunate. From that point of view, if from no +other, she felt certain of Gaunt's displeasure; and a creeping terror, +vague and formless, prevented her from resting. She hardly slept until +after dawn, when she dropped into heavy sleep, only to wake, +affrighted, about seven with a sore throat and a burning forehead. + +She sat up, dizzy and sick. Yet if there was one thing more certain +than another, it was that she could not possibly stay where she was. +Somehow or other she must get back to Worthing at once, even though she +could not stand upon her feet. + +She flung herself out of bed, animated with the strength of +desperation. Peering into the small, cracked mirror, she was encouraged +by finding that she did not look ill. Her temperature was, as a matter +of fact, 101, and her colour was the flush of fever, but she did not +know that. + +There was no bell in her wretched room, and she had to call repeatedly +before she could make anybody hear. At last the woman appeared, and she +begged soap, hot water and a towel. After a long interval, an +earthenware jug, containing about a pint of liquid, was produced. With +this, and a tiny comb which she kept in her vanity bag, she made what +toilette she could. + +It was somewhat consoling to find a good fire burning, and a cloth +spread for breakfast, when she crawled downstairs, stiff and aching. +Gerald had gone out for news of the car, and presently returned with +milk, butter and eggs, neither of which commodities seemed to be kept +in stock at the inn. He had found at Bignor a telegram from Baines, +announcing a bad breakdown, but saying he hoped to be along at about +9.30. Gerald had left instructions for him to come on straight to the +inn at Dilvington; and, with a great assumption of cheerfulness, hoped +that their troubles were over. + +Virginia hardly answered him. In spite of her desire that he should not +know how ill she felt, she found it impossible to keep up appearances, +and could not eat. He attributed all to her sense of the unpleasant +position in which she found herself. He was acutely conscious of the +fact that the car, when it arrived, would bring Ferris with it; and he +now felt himself an unutterable hound to have consented to such a plan. + +At a few minutes to ten, the welcome horn was heard. The girl's eyes +cleared a little, she rose, and eagerly put on her hat and coat, filled +with the one wish to be out of the place and away. She was at the door +when the motor appeared; and as it came to a stop, she started and +shrank back with a momentary loss of self-control. She had quite +forgotten Ferris. + +Though he had plotted and arranged the moment, Gerald was hatefully +embarrassed now that it was upon him. There was a knowing, confidential +flavour about Ferris's manner which was detestable. He seemed to be +metaphorically winking at Gerald, who believed he would have done it +actually, could he have caught his eye when Mrs. Gaunt was not looking. + +To Virginia a new thought presented itself. Since Ferris was here, and +saw their plight--since he knew they had been there all night--he +would, of course, tell Gaunt. This necessitated her telling her husband +herself the whole vexatious story--a feat of daring which it made her +head swim to contemplate. + +She hardly spoke to Ferris, but entered the car without delay. + +Gerald did all he could. In view of what he knew her opinion of Percy +to be, he would not sit beside Baines, but came inside with them; and +was obliged to accommodate himself on the small seat in front, doubled +up with his knees almost to his chin, unable to smoke, restless and +irritable. + +At first he was almost angry with Virginia. She might buck up and help +him to carry off these infernally awkward moments. Her listless silence +was the worst demeanour she could possibly assume. As the miles passed, +he became aware that she was feeling physically ill, and remorse made +him frantic. + +Oh, damn the whole thing! He had done what he was ashamed of, blundered +unpardonably; and, as far as he could see, he would gain nothing by +it.... One idea gave him some consolation. If Virginia were really +ill--if the doctor could be persuaded to keep her in bed for some +days--then Ferris would go back to Derbyshire with his tale; and it was +dimly possible that Virginia might never return thither at all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +TEMPTATION + + + "_I would not if I might + Rebuild my house of lies, wherein I joyed + One time to dwell: my soul shall walk in white + Cast down, but not destroyed._"--Christina Rossetti. + + +It may seem a curious thing that Mrs. Mynors, dependent upon the bounty +of Osbert Gaunt, should be so ready to consent to a plan which, if +successful, might once more cast her penniless upon the world. She +herself was at a loss to understand the true meaning of the malice +which actuated her. In all her life she had hitherto never known the +strength of any passion. She was incapable of deep love, of real +suffering. Her maternal instinct was not strongly developed, and +selfishness had, up to now, preserved her from anything more disturbing +than temper or discomfort. + +The first emotion of compelling force which had ever gripped her was +the desire for revenge, which took its rise upon the day she went to +meet her old lover at the club, carefully adorned for conquest, and +received from him so unexpected a slap in the face. So unused was she +to be dominated by any overmastering emotion that she was being run +away with; and now and then by fits and starts she saw with dismay that +this was so. She reassured herself however. Like most women who have +always been attractive to the male, she overrated her own powers. She +believed that Gerald Rosenberg was her slave. As a son-in-law he would +be quite ideal, and unable to refuse her anything. She could not deny +Gaunt's generosity; but he, although spending large sums when he +believed it necessary, was severe upon luxury; he hated the wasting of +pence; whereas Gerald was always giving presents of the kind she +welcomed and understood--cut flowers, places at the theatre, pretty +trifles--to her, to Tony, to Pansy, even to Virginia. She was convinced +that her influence was paramount with Gerald, and, if with him, then +with his father also. + +After all, he was the only son; the old man could not afford to be +implacable. Socially, her daughter was more than his equal. Her +superficial mind glossed over such ugly facts as divorce. Everybody did +such things nowadays, and everybody could be told the true story of +this particular case. Gerald and Virginia were blameless; the mistake +had been in the hasty, ill-considered marriage; Gaunt would have to own +himself beaten. She sometimes pictured an interview between herself and +Gaunt, wherein she would nobly repudiate his gross insinuations, and +speak beautifully of her daughter's angelic innocence. + +Seldom had she been more gratified by anything than by the task which +fell to her of writing to "dear Osbert" to explain that Virginia had +caught a chill, and would not be able to travel for some days. She used +the term "days," much as she longed to write "weeks"; for there was one +possibility which she kept ever before her eyes, and that was the fear +lest Gaunt should lose patience, and come to Worthing himself. + +Virgie's feverish attack suited her plan so well that she could not +blame Gerald for his carelessness, though she privately thought he had +badly mismanaged things. + +Virgie indeed was feeling downright ill, and had such a splitting +headache that, upon hearing that Gaunt was duly informed of her +illness, she abandoned the effort of writing to him herself, and merely +lay still, feeling in every aching bone the relief of a few days' +respite before taking the final step. + +Grover received her in a state of queer agitation, and was half +inclined to pet and pity, half to blame. The good woman had been very +uncertain in her moods ever since they came to Worthing. Her heart was +jealous for the lonely man in Derbyshire. She saw well enough what were +Mr. Rosenberg's feelings, and she felt convinced that Mrs. Mynors was +also well aware of them. She was indignant that the pretty woman, whom +she cordially hated, should allow such freedom of intercourse. + +When the couple failed to return, or even to telegraph, the previous +night, Grover had gone through some awful moments. The thought "They're +off!" flashed through her mind, in spite of her real attachment to her +young mistress. She was so relieved when they returned that, like many +people in like case, she felt she must scold a little. + +"Don't tell me! England's a place where there's railway stations and +where there's telegraph offices," said she severely. "If the last train +had gone before you got to the station, I suppose there was a village +near, and where there's a village, there's a telegraph. The young man +could have knocked up the postmaster, couldn't he?" + +"I dare say; I never thought of that. I was so sure we should find the +motor when we got back to the inn. Oh, it was such a horrid place, +Grover, and so uncomfortable. The woman was so disagreeable, and seemed +never to have heard of anybody wanting hot water to wash with!" + +"Serve you right, I'd say, that I would, if it wasn't for your being so +poorly. After all the care the master took of you! After his standing +to one side and denying himself even the sight of your face, so as you +should get well quicker. If he was to see the way you carry on here +among them all! At everybody's beck and call! Fetch and carry, first +here, then there. Fine and pleased he'd be, wouldn't he?" + +"Oh, Grover, but I have been so well until this happened! And how could +I help it? Here are you, cross old thing, scolding me in the same +breath, first for taking a chill, and then because I didn't stay +pottering out in the rain still longer, hunting for a telegraph office. +The horse was dead beat; she couldn't go any farther." + +"If I could box Mr. Rosenberg's ears, I'd do it with pleasure," was +Grover's vindictive reply, somewhat qualified by the extreme tenderness +with which she handled the culprit, undressing, tending, soothing her, +and laying her down among her pillows to rest. + +"Men don't think of things," murmured Virgie weakly, feeling bound to +excuse Gerald. + +"There's one that does," was the immediate retort. "One that has never +had anything to do with ladies, all the time I've known him, till now, +but has shown more true consideration than any one of these young fancy +men, thinking of nothing but their own pleasure." + +Virgie coloured painfully and was silent. This subject was taboo +between mistress and maid. Grover could not but know that Virginia was +in mortal fear of her husband, and the good woman regretted the man's +awkward shyness, which prevented him, as she thought, from making +headway. Her mind was filled with keen anxiety lest all the hopes +entertained by the household at Omberleigh should be brought to naught +by this unnatural separation of the newly wed. + +No more was said; and later in the day the maid bitterly regretted +having said even so much, for Mrs. Gaunt's fever mounted, and by the +night she was delirious. + + * * * * * + +It seemed to the patient a long time afterwards, though in reality not +more than forty-eight hours, when she awoke from a sound sleep, and, +glancing round, found the curtains drawn, excluding the sunshine, and +her mother seated by her bed. + +Mrs. Mynors looked up with an angelic smile when the sleeper stirred, +rose and came to the bedside, stooping over her with a look of pity and +sympathy. + +"Oh, how long have I slept?" said Virginia, sitting up and rubbing her +eyes. "Where's Grover, mamma? I must get up and be off. I am going back +to Omberleigh to-day." + +"Not to-day, my sweetest," was the murmured reply. "The doctor would +not allow that." + +"Oh, but Osbert is expecting me; he will be vexed." She put her hand to +her head. + +"Lie down, darling; you must not exert yourself. You are weak. Osbert +knows. It is all right." + +Virginia, conscious of a swimming in her head, though the pain was +gone, subsided upon her pillows. + +"Oh, mamma, how tiresome! How very tiresome!" she faltered. "I have +been away so long; I must go back!" + +"My dearest, my most precious child, don't grieve yourself! It is all +right! You are with those that love you, and will take care of you," +was the cooing answer. "There is no need for fear, my Virgie." + +"It isn't fear. It is breaking my word," stammered the girl, knowing +that her words sounded like nonsense, but feeling explanation too +difficult. + +Mrs. Mynors, without speaking, brought her a cup of strong broth which +was keeping warm over a little lamp. + +"I have sent that poor, good Grover out for a walk," said she. "She is +not as young as she was, and the nursing has tired her. But I had +another reason for sending her away when you should wake. I wanted to +be alone with you." + +She did not say this until the soup had been drunk, and Virginia felt +refreshed. + +"Why, mamma?" + +Her mother sank to her knees beside the bed, holding her hand. "My +darling," said she, half sobbing, "there is no more need for +concealment between your mother and you. When you were delirious I sat +beside you--I had to listen to what you said--and I know--I know your +pitiful secret." + +There was a long, deep silence. At last Virginia spoke. + +"Mother, tell me what you mean. What do you know?" + +"I know that Osbert has been cruel to you. I know that you go in fear +of his cruelty," came the whispered answer. + +There was another silence. "Well, mamma, if that were true? I do not +say it is true, but if it were, what then?" + +"What then? Why, Virgie, then you must be rescued from him. He must be +a madman if he could ill-treat you, and the law will protect you +against him." + +For a moment the eyes of the girl in the bed lit up with a flaming +hope. For a moment she turned to her mother with a rush of eager, +palpitating confidence. Then a new look crossed her face, which grew +composed and firm. Her voice was not sad, but steady as she replied: "I +have sworn." + +"Sworn, Virgie? Darling, what do you mean by that?" + +"I have sworn to love him," was the answer. "I am his wife." + +"But, Virginia, if he has failed to keep his oath?" + +"You think that absolves me from keeping mine?" There was a faint smile +on the girl's lips, and her mother thought, as she so often did, that +she never as long as she lived should understand her daughter. + +"But, of course, dear, you are under no obligation to endure cruelty. +The law----" + +Virginia raised herself upon her elbow. "I _am_ under an +obligation to endure it," she replied. "I have sworn to love him, and +while he wishes me to be with him, I shall be with him. He has done all +he undertook to do. He has done more. He has not only given you comfort +and security, not only provided funds for this marvellous cure of +Pansy's; he has let me come to you, and stay all this time, because he +trusted me. He knew I should go back, because I have promised to do so. +I am going back." + +"Dear one, we will not argue," was the gentle response after a pause, +during which the elder lady decided to change her tactics. "You are +weak as yet, and must rest and grow strong. Thank God you need not +decide at once, since the doctor would most certainly not sanction your +travelling at present. I only touched upon this painful subject, +because I wanted you to know that, without any treachery to Osbert, you +have inadvertently allowed me to know how things stand between you and +him, so there is no need for further concealment. You may rest safely +in the knowledge that you have loving guardians who will not let you +suffer from the caprice of a perverted mind." + +"How long have I been ill?" asked Virginia, after a pause. + +"This is Monday. You got home on Friday." + +After a few minutes' silence, the invalid asked in her usual tones for +news of Pansy and Tony. Pansy was wonderfully well. The air of Worthing +was doing for her even more than the doctors expected. It was at the +request of Dr. Danby that they had come to Worthing. He had a friend in +practice there, in whose skill and kindness he had the utmost +confidence. Pansy adored her new doctor, and the electric baths were +proving a great success. Tony was out a great deal with his friend +Mullins. Gerald had gone to town, but was coming down on Wednesday. + +A tap on the door announced the doctor's visit. He was pleased to find +the patient so much improved. + +"When shall I be able to travel?" she asked him. + +"Oh, some time next week, I hope," he answered comfortably. + +Mrs. Mynors looked triumphant. She went out of the room with the +doctor, and Virginia was left to her own reflections. + +"_The caprice of a perverted mind!_" That phrase stuck in her +head. It seemed to her that it did just exactly describe Gaunt's +conduct. It is possible, however, that a perverted mind may be put +right again, if it encounters some agency sufficiently powerful. When +she was in town Dr. Danby had spoken to her of her husband. + +"He was one of the most interesting boys I ever saw," had been his +verdict. "I was very sorry for him. He was thoroughly mishandled, +misunderstood, by the old ladies, his great-aunts, who were all the +kith and kin he had." + +(I can believe anything of them. They put the Chippendale in the attic, +and furnished their dining-room in horsehair and mahogany, had been +Virginia's inward comment.) + +"I saw him several times during his university period. The authorities +there thought as highly of him as I did. Then came the _debacle_. +Some girl, upon whom he fixed all his heart, failed him. He could not +stand it. The weak spot in his nature was touched--his fatal tendency +to concentrate violently upon one object. He went all to pieces for a +while--dashed off abroad--and I lost touch with him." + +It seemed to the girl, who revolved this information in her mind, that +her own duty lay clear. If she could but overcome his prejudice, his +perverted idea of her, might she not do something after all towards +making him happy? + +Mims had once praised her for her inveterate habit of doing her duty. +Easy enough had duty been when it was a case of Pansy and Tony. Now +because duty was formidable and difficult, was she to shrink from it? +She covered her face with her hands, she stopped her ears against an +imaginary voice. She would go back--she must go back. + +But if Gerald joined in the argument, would she be able to resist? + +Well she knew her mother, and she was positive that, being on such +terms of confidence as she had lately established with young Rosenberg, +she would tell him what she had inadvertently learned, of the true +inwardness of Virginia's marriage. At the mere thought the girl writhed. + +She was going back, whatever they said, whatever they did. She must and +would go back, in fulfilment of her promise. Yet her mind was racked +with the conflict. If she went back, if she entered the Beast's den a +second time, it was final. Suppose the worst were to prove true? +Suppose that nothing she could do would disarm Gaunt, that he persisted +in his hate, that he took delight in thwarting her, bullying her, +frightening her? How vilely so ever he used her, _still she would +have to be his wife._ He would shut her up in captivity, keep her +from those she loved--and yet she would have to be his wife! + +Could she bear it? + +She remembered her own boast: "You can cut me to pieces with a knife if +you choose, when I come back. Anything, if you will let me go to Pansy!" + +Well, he had let her go. He had performed that, as he had performed his +half of all points in the bargain between them. She, so far, had +performed nothing at all. She had spent his money freely, and had lived +away from him. Was her wild promise nothing but an empty boast, after +all? Was she content to take these favours she had wrung from him, but +to refuse to pay when pay-day came round? + +All at once she knew that her mind was made up. She was going back. + +She bounded out of bed, but soon found, when standing up, that she was +far from fit to travel that day. She succeeded, however, in finding a +writing block and a pencil, and returning to bed wrote a hasty line to +Gaunt. In it she said only that she had had a tiresome chill, but that +she was almost well, and intended to reach home without fail on +Wednesday. + +Her mother returned to the room just as she had sealed and stamped the +letter. + +"Good child!" said she, smiling, "I was just about to suggest that you +should send Osbert a line to keep him quiet. You have told him what the +doctor said, about hoping that you could travel next week?" + +"I have told him I cannot travel to-day," replied Virginia; and Mrs. +Mynors carried off the letter to post. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +ESCAPE + + + "_But next day passed, and next day yet + With still some cause to wait one day more._" + --Robert Browning. + + +When Grover presently entered her room with lunch, Virginia was quick +to perceive an estrangement. The woman's face was set in stern lines, +and her eyes were cast down, except at such moments as she fancied that +Virginia was not looking, when she sent furtive, searching glances at +the wistful face upon the pillow. + +Virginia wondered what had happened, But felt too languid to inquire, +dreading that some kind of a scene might follow. By degrees she +gathered, more from hint than direct speech, that the main grievance +was being turned out of the room during the two nights of delirium. + +After what her mother had just revealed, of her unconscious ravings, +she could not but be thankful that Grover had not heard them. She did +not know of the short dialogue which took place between the two deadly +enemies, outside her door that morning. + +Mrs. Mynors had arisen from the sofa and gone out to speak to Grover, +who was in waiting outside with the early tea for her mistress, +Virginia being still asleep. + +"I hope Mrs. Gaunt's better, ma'am?" Grover asked, with prim frigidity. + +"Better? Poor unhappy child! It might be better for her perhaps if +there were no chance of her recovery," was the unlooked-for reply, +delivered with exaggerated emphasis. + +"Indeed, ma'am?" + +"Yes, indeed, and indeed! God help her, poor innocent lamb! You need +not think to keep anything dark in future, you and your wretched +master! In her delirium the unhappy creature has let out everything. +And you--you must have known! You who came here with her as his spy! +Mounting guard over her night and day, lest she should let her people +know of his diabolical cruelty. I have outwitted you, and now I know +everything. I shall find means to protect my injured child!" + +"I have no idea what you mean, ma'am," replied Grover, inflexibly +respectful. + +"Oh, no, of course not! You may as well drop the mask. I know you, and +I know him," was the instant retort, as Mrs. Mynors, in her elegant +wrapper, disappeared into her own room. + +Grover went about all that day racking her brains as to what she ought +to do. She was quite confident that she had been turned out of the room +in order that these revelations--in which she did not believe--might be +made, or be said to have been made. They were part, she was sure, of +some plot or scheme which was being hatched. Ought she to write to Mr. +Gaunt, and tell him that she thought he had better come to Worthing and +take his wife home? She was a slow-witted, but very sensible woman, and +she feared that, should she take such a course, Gaunt might fear that +things were more serious than they actually were. Yet she distrusted +Mrs. Mynors profoundly, and watched her as closely as she could. She +overheard her say to the doctor, outside Virginia's room: + +"She ought to be kept very quiet; her nerves are all wrong. Mind you +make her stay in bed as long as you can. Don't let her think of +travelling till next week at the soonest." + +She also saw her come out of the sick-room with the letter just written +by Virginia to Gaunt in her hand. She carried it into her own room, and +something in the way she looked at it produced in Grover an +overpowering impression that she did not mean to forward it. + +With a determination to ascertain, the woman knocked at the door some +minutes later, and was sure she heard the rustle of paper and the hasty +closing of a drawer before Mrs. Mynors told her to come in. + +"Beg pardon, ma'am, but should I take Mrs. Gaunt's letter to post? It's +almost time." + +"Thanks, I have just sent it off." + +This made the servant certain that her suspicion was correct. She went +slowly into Virginia's room, more and more perplexed as to what she +ought to do, and wondering what were her mistress's own feelings in the +matter. Since the Bignor episode, she had been so shaken in her faith +in Virginia that she was half ready to believe that it was a case of +like mother, like daughter, and that the dainty butterfly would never +return to gloomy Omberleigh. The idea filled her with resentment. "His +fault," she muttered to herself. "Such a place, enough to give you a +fit of the blues, dirty and dull and drab; he ought to have had it all +done up for her--make her think that he wanted to please her! He don't +know enough to go indoors when it rains, not where a woman's concerned, +that's very certain. But, oh, gracious goodness, what will happen to +him if she turns out a light one? It's my belief he'd never stand it. +He'd go mad or cut his throat." + +Gloomily she ran ribbons into under-linen, made the bed, and went about +her usual sick-room duties. All the time she was wondering whether she +could not "say something." The difficulty lay in thinking what to say. + +Virginia was very quiet--unusually so. When Grover had gone out, she +locked the door, put on a dressing-gown, and sat up by the fire. She +found herself stronger than she had thought. Her fever having passed, +she was all right. She was certain that there was no reason why she +should not travel on Wednesday; but she determined to say nothing about +it to her mother. + +When next Mrs. Mynors came in to see her, she was lying with eyes half +closed, and whispered that she felt very weak, and was not equal to +talking. This was satisfactory, and the visitor crept away. + +Next morning the girl, with the elasticity of youth, awoke feeling very +much better. Grover could not but remark it. Yet, when her mother came +in, she was languid and monosyllabic. + +She could not, however, escape a renewal of the bombardment of +yesterday, with regard to her return to Omberleigh. Mrs. Mynors brought +in her work after lunch, and attacked the subject with determination. +She was met with a meekness which surprised her. Virginia owned that +she was at present too unwell to face anything difficult--to undergo +any trying experience. Next week it would be different. She thought +they might postpone serious discussion. The wind was somewhat taken out +of her opponent's sails, but there was no doubt this depression and +invalidism was satisfactory in her eyes. She made, as she thought, +quite certain that her daughter had no intention of travelling at +present. + +"I'm sure Osbert does not expect me. He has not written at all. He is +waiting to hear again, I suppose." + +"Not written! When I told him how ill you are! Oh, Virgie, what a brute +the man is!" + +The speaker omitted to mention that in her letter to her son-in-law she +had begged him not to write to Virgie, as his letters "agitated her +unaccountably," and that she herself had heard from him that morning to +the effect that he hoped a doctor had been called in. + +She went away after a while, and wrote to Gerald in town. + +"I think there is no doubt she is growing to see that we are right," +she wrote. "I am letting her come along at her own pace. The discovery +that we know her secret has shaken her, and she has at least given up +all idea of travelling at present. That being so, I shall run up to +town to-morrow morning, as there are several things I must do. You and +I can return here together in the evening. I will come up by the early +express, and if you were to take tickets for the matinee at the +Criterion, I should not object. One gets so bored here with invalids +all day." + + * * * * * + +That night when Grover came into the room to make the final +arrangements, she found Mrs. Mynors there, in the act of saying good +night to a limp and disconsolate daughter. + +"I am running up to town on business by the 8:4 to-morrow, Grover," +said she, turning round with that alarming sweetness which convinced +the hearer that some demand upon her good-nature would be immediately +made. "I wonder whether, while you are making Mrs. Gaunt's tea +to-morrow morning, you would bring me a cup; these lodging-house people +are so disagreeable about a little thing like that! Bring it at seven +o'clock sharp, if you would be so kind." + +"Very well, mum," replied Grover in her gruffest tones, which were very +gruff indeed. + +"Good-bye, my precious; rest well," murmured the lady, bending over the +bed. "We shall cheer up when Gerald comes back, and if you are very +good I will beg the doctor to let you get up on Thursday." + +"If I feel well enough," sighed Virginia, closing her eyes. + +Grover felt all her distrust reviving. She was certain that Virgie was +feeling almost completely recovered. Was there anything up? Some plot? +Had young Rosenberg planned for the mother to be away in town while he +came down here and carried off Virginia in his car? + +She turned from the closing of the door upon Mrs. Mynors' exit, with a +very grim mouth. The patient was sitting bolt upright in bed, with an +expression so changed, so alert, that she paused just where she stood, +in amazement. + +"Grover," panted the girl, in a shaken, excited voice, "come here; I +want to speak to you." + +Grover approached, slowly and doubtfully, suspicion written all over +her. When she was quite near, Virginia drew her down so that she sat +upon the bed, and put her arms round her, laying her head upon a +singularly unresponsive bosom. + +"Grover, I want you to help me," she whispered. "I am going to do +something desperate--something secret--and I can't do it unless you +stand by me." + +The woman paused. She was angry with herself for being influenced, as +influenced she undoubtedly was, by the clinging arms, and the nestling +golden head. "Now, what have you got in your head, ma'am?" she asked, +as coldly as she could. She almost jumped when she heard the reply. + +"_I want you to help me run away._" + +"Never!" Putting aside the girlish embrace, she rose to her feet, her +homely face stern and reproachful. "Never! Not while I'm in his +service! He may have scared you, as your mother tells me he has, but if +so, you should have known better. It's only because you know so little +of him, and he so unused to women. Oh, my dear, my dear, I don't +suppose for a minute you'll listen to me, but I must say it! You go +back, my dear, and do your duty! Your place is there, with him! You +chose him, and it's God's law that you should cleave to him, though I +have no right to be talking like this, ma'am, but if it was the last +word I ever said----" + +"Grover, Grover," cried Virginia, grasping a solid arm and shaking it, +"what on earth are you talking about? Isn't that just what I want you +to do? To take me back to Omberleigh? What did you think I meant?" + +Grover's face was a study. It was as though layer after layer of gloom +and apprehension passed from its surface. + +"That what you mean? Run away _home_?" she panted. + +"To Omberleigh, yes." She could not bring her lips to utter the word +_home_, but Grover did not remark such a detail, though Gaunt had +noted it fast enough in the letter she wrote him the previous week. + +"I don't know whether it is that my chill has made me a little mad," +whispered Virgie, "but I feel as if I am in prison. I feel as if they +had made up their minds that I should not go back, and you know I must. +I have overstayed my time already." + +"Well, ma'am, if that's what you want, to go back where you belong, you +shall go, though an army stood in the way," cried Grover, with such +goodwill that Virgie flung her arms round her again, this time to meet +with a warm response. Then she slid out of bed, and stood, her arms +outstretched, making graceful motions to show that she was strong and +vigorous. + +"I am a horrid little cheat," she said, smiling. "I am afraid I tried +to make mother think I was feeling very bad, so that she might not be +afraid to go off by the early train and leave me! Grover, I have looked +up all the trains. You must pack to-night, and we can get to town by +one o'clock. We must go straight through; there is a train with a +dining-car, getting us to Derby at 6:34, and we can wire for the car to +meet us. I hope I am not being very silly, but it seems to me the only +way to get free of it all. Another thing is the parting from Pansy. I +shall go without saying anything at all to her, and leave a letter for +her. She is so happy here, she will not really miss me, and it will +save her a bad fit of crying if I slip away. Me, too, for that matter," +she added, colouring. "I can't help feeling the parting, you know, +Grover." + +"That I well believe, ma'am, but it is for a time. She is doing so +nicely that she will be able to come to Omberleigh before long, and +think how she will enjoy lying on the terrace and playing with Cosmo +and Damian." + +Virgie had to laugh, though a pang shot through her heart. Little did +this good, loyal Grover know the dreadful truth! + +At the thought of the malice that awaited her, the unknown suffering in +store, she flinched, and for a moment felt faint. Then she rallied. + +This precipitate flight was, she knew, her only chance of preserving +her self-respect. When Gerald returned, it would all be different +somehow. Now, before she had time to think, she must make her dash for +duty. What she had said in her delirium she knew not; but she knew well +enough that, during those confidential moments, seated in the field +below the Roman Villa, she had admitted her marital unhappiness, and +that Gerald had understood. + +"I can't understand one thing," she said, as she lay watching Grover +draw out her trunk, open it, and begin her packing methodically. "And +that is, why Mr. Gaunt has not written to me since I took my chill." + +"I think I can tell you, ma'am. It is because your letters to him have +been stopped." + +"Grover!" + +"If, when we get home, ma'am, you find that he has had the letter you +wrote this afternoon, why, I'll beg your mamma's pardon for what I have +said. But I am sure she opened it, and I don't believe she ever sent it +to post. Another thing, ma'am. Muriel (the lodging-house maid) told me +that Mrs. Mynors had a letter with the Manton postmark yesterday. Why +didn't she tell you she had heard?" + +"I thought it so strange he did not write," said Virgie, knitting +puzzled brows. "But, Grover, they have no right to do such things! Even +if mamma thinks, as she seems to think, that he--Mr. Gaunt--is not--I +mean, if she does not like him, and does not want me to go away, she +has no right to tamper with letters, do you think?" + +"It's not for me, ma'am, to pass any remarks upon what your mamma does. +But I think it is for me to let you know she done it," replied Grover, +with demure emphasis. Virgie could not help smiling, in spite of her +tumultuous emotions. + +Grover proved a most able accomplice and conspirator. She duly brought +tea to Mrs. Mynors next morning, and said, in subdued tones, that Mrs. +Gaunt had not passed a very good night. She was now sleeping, and had +better not be disturbed. Would Mrs. Mynors mind slipping downstairs +without coming into her room? + +This had the desired effect. The elder Virginia departed for her little +jaunt to town--travelling by the first-class-only express--with a +perfectly serene mind. Virginia the younger was, she felt convinced, +wholly contented with her bed for that day. Grover meanwhile completed +her preparations with the utmost composure. She went down, paid the +landlady, and explained to her that Mrs. Gaunt was called home +unexpectedly, and wanted to slip away without distressing the little +lady. + +Noiselessly the trunks were carried downstairs, noiselessly though, +with beating heart, Virginia followed. It was not until Worthing was +left behind; not, indeed, until they had passed, safe and unrecognised, +through London, that she could relax the tension of her will. + +Now the die was cast. She had chosen. She was doing what she firmly +believed to be right. Once before, when in straits, she had taken a way +out which seemed the only way, but which she yet knew to be unworthy of +her. Now she was blindly doing the hard thing because it was the right +thing. The consequences were not in her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE RETURN + + + "_With all my will, but much against my heart, + We two now part. + My very Dear, + Our solace is, the sad road lies so clear. + It needs no art, + With faint, averted feet, and many a tear, + In our opposed paths to persevere. + Go thou to East, I West, we will not say + There's any hope, it is so far away._"--Coventry Patmore. + + +The rain which had so interfered with Rosenberg's plans, and spoiled +the close of the motoring day, seemed to mark also the end of summer. +The weather ever since had been grey and autumnal. In Derbyshire the +change was more marked than in Sussex. A wild wind moaned in the black +pines of Omberleigh, and brown leaves drifted upon the blast as Gaunt +rode forth to Sessions that Wednesday morning. + +His mood was one not only of depression, but of anxiety. He hardly +realised how much he had built upon Virginia's cheering accounts of her +own restored health, until he received his mother-in-law's feline +epistle, telling him of a severe chill and consequent fever. The +wording was careful, even clever, but she had conveyed with full force +the impression that she meant to convey, which was that the fever and +delirium were more the result of distress of mind than of the actual +chill--that the prospect of returning to her loveless marriage and +gloomy home were working untold harm to the patient, and hindering +recovery. + +Since the receipt of this most disquieting letter, no word from +Worthing had reached him. Morning after morning the empty postbag +mocked him. To-day he was making up his mind that if he held to his +resolution, and remained silent--if he adhered to his foolhardy +determination to prove his wife to the uttermost--he would lose her +altogether. + +He still told himself that she would do her duty at all costs. He was, +however, beginning to perceive that the strength of influence now being +brought to bear might succeed in persuading her that to return to him +was _not_ her duty. After all--in view of what he had made her +bear--could he say that he thought it was her duty? + +Mrs. Mynors spoke as though the illness were serious. He knew she was a +liar; he knew she wished to hurt him. Yet, after all, it might be true. +He had dwelt such a blow at Virgie's tenderest feelings as might well +shock a sensitive girl into real illness. Neither had he done anything, +since they parted, to allay her fears. He had not so much as suggested +the change of heart which awaited her. As the date of her return drew +near--as she contemplated the renewal of her martyrdom--her flesh might +well shrink from the demand made upon it by the dauntless spirit. + +Violently though he struggled against indulging hope, it had all the +same risen insurgent when he got Virginia's letter fixing Saturday as +the date of her return. He had lain sleepless most of Friday night, +planning what he could do, or say, when they met at the railway +station; living over again his drive at her side, through the summer +dusk, on the night of her departure when she had been, in her +absorption, hardly conscious of his presence. He wondered whether he +could break through the tongue-tied gloom which held him like an evil +spell, and let her see something--not too much at first--of what he +felt. + +His mortification when he received his mother-in-law's wounding letter +had been proportionately great. The intensity of his feeling surprised +and half frightened him. + +Since that dark moment--silence. + +He rode into town in a mood which alternated between something which +was a colourable imitation of despair and a haunting notion that +perhaps some letter or telegram might be awaiting him when he returned +home in the evening. There was much business to transact that day. It +was half-past four before he was free; and as he walked along the High +Street, making for the inn where his horse was put up, he came face to +face with Ferris. + +"Ha, Gaunt, how goes it?" cried Percy, wringing his hand with effusion, +proud that the passers-by should see him on such terms with Gaunt of +Omberleigh. "Not looking very fit--what? Why don't you run down to +Worthing for the week-end and give your wife a surprise? Do you good. +Well, I can give you the latest news of her. Been down there myself, +staying over Sunday with Rosenberg at the Beausejour." + +"You have?" Gaunt's tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. He could not +own that he himself had no news of Virginia. + +"Yes, not a bad little hole, Worthing. Plenty of sun and sea air and so +on. Think it might suit Joey and the kids for a month or two, later on. +Pity Mrs. Gaunt knocked up, wasn't it, though?" + +"Yes, I was very much vexed to hear it," Gaunt was able by this to +reply with his natural brevity. + +"Enough to make her, though, wasn't it? Pretty bad generalship on +Rosenberg's part. You take my tip and run down, Gaunt. They tell me +she's deuced seedy." There was meaning in the tone. + +"She makes light of it to me," said Gaunt, choosing his line quickly. +"Tell me what you know of it." + +"Oh, well, of course, you heard that she got wet through, driving in an +open cart in the pouring rain late at night, trying to reach Petworth +in time for the last train, or something. Of course, Rosenberg's car is +a beauty; you couldn't expect it to break down like that ... still, to +send off his chauffeur to meet me at Chichester, leaving himself and +Mrs. Gaunt stranded in a place where there was no accommodation, no +telegraph--gad, if you had seen the hovel where they spent the night, +Gaunt, I think you'd have given him a bit of the rough side of your +tongue." + +"The same idea has occurred to me," said Gaunt drily, "but I understood +that the whole thing could not be avoided; it was quite an accident. +Still, to drive her in the wet, without even an umbrella--no wonder my +wife fell ill!" There was a certain relief in his heart, among all the +turmoil of jealousy and vexation. The circumstances were, in +themselves, quite enough to account for illness, without his own +shortcomings being in any way responsible. + +"You see, she had nothing for the night," explained Ferris, "so I +suppose she couldn't take off her wet things. I had a line from +Rosenberg this morning about the directors' meeting, and he mentioned +that the doctor won't let her leave her room." + +"So I understood. I think I had better take your advice and run down. +Thank you, Ferris. I am glad to have seen you. My mother-in-law has the +art of making the most of things, and I was not sure just how unwell my +wife is." + +After the exchange of a few commonplaces, they parted. Ferris watched +Gaunt limp into the inn yard, and turned away with an involuntary, +"Poor devil!" He stood irresolute upon the pavement for a minute or +two, then strolled into the post office, and wrote a telegram to +Rosenberg: + + +_Gaunt coming down. Be on your guard._ + + +He was eager to stand well with both parties, and this was his idea of +accomplishing such object. + + * * * * * + +Never had the avenue which led to his own housedoor seemed to Gaunt so +wild, so desolate, as when he rode up it this evening. The sun was +already setting, gleaming fierce and threatening red through the purple +ragged clouds which all day long had veiled it. + +He knew that everything was over, but he also knew that to be any +longer passive was beyond him. He was going to London at once, by that +same late train from Derby which had taken her from him. To sleep in a +bed this night would be insupportable. If he were in the train he would +feel that he was not wasting hours of enforced inaction. He would be in +London in time to take an early train to Worthing, and he would arrive +there during the morning, and ascertain his exact fate. + +Now he knew how firmly he had built upon the idea of Virginia's faith. +In the depths of his twisted, shrunken, yet living heart, he had been +certain that she would keep her word. He still believed that she would +have kept it, had not revelation come to her. She and Rosenberg having +discovered the feeling which existed between them, how could she come +back to her nominal husband with a lie upon her lips? + +As soon as she was well enough, she meant to write and explain. He was +sure of that. He kept insisting upon it, in his mind. He would save her +that effort. He would go to her and make things as easy as he could. He +would explain that he knew himself to have forfeited all claim. + +His horse's hoofs were beating to the refrain: "All over! All over!" + +What a fool he had made himself over the redecorating of that room! +That room which from henceforth no human foot would enter. Only the +previous night he had sat there for a couple of hours, playing upon the +new piano he had bought for her, and conjuring up the picture of her, +outlined against the delicate ivory walls, each tint of her faint +sea-shell colouring properly emphasised by the appropriate background. +He would always see her like that in future. His desolate house would +be haunted for all the desolate time to come. + +He rode round by the stable yard, gave his horse to the groom, and such +was the disorder of his mind that he flinched from being seen, even by +Hemming. He forgot that he had hoped the mid-day post might bring him +news. He went out of the yard, round by the garden, and in through the +window of his own den. + +Seating himself by his writing table, he found a railway guide, but he +did not even open it. His mind was too thoroughly preoccupied with its +own bitterness. He rested his elbows on the desk, propping his chin +upon them, in a sort of exhaustion of defeat. + +When he wandered that day all unwitting into Hertford House, his two +angels had wandered with him--the good and the evil. The good had taken +his hand, had whispered persuasively that his sad days were over--had +shown him something so fair and sweet that----Ah, but the black spirit +at his elbow had pushed forward. "After all these years in my service, +do you think I am going to stand aside and see you join the opposition?" + +He heard the dressing-bell ring, and realised that, if he meant to +catch that train, he must call Hemming and have his things put together +at once. Yet still he could not move. The bonds of his misery seemed to +hold him tied to his chair, tied to this ghastly echoing house full of +phantoms. He had had no food since about noon, and his emptiness had +passed beyond the stage of hunger. It made him dazed. As he sat there, +it was as though life surged within him for the last time, urging him +to go to Worthing and face his doom like a man; and as though the old +house rejoiced over his stupor, murmuring that his place was there, +among the ruins of his own brutal folly and fruitless hate. + +With an effort he stood up, found matches, lit the gas. He must and +would look at that railway guide. Yet, when the light shone upon his +untidy table, he forgot all about Bradshaw. There, lying where he had +laid them before going out, were certain cases of jewellery which had +that morning come back from London. He had had everything cleaned, and +some things re-set, in the phantom hope of a time when he might be +allowed to give her presents. + +He fixed his eyes upon the leather cases, as if they had been so many +coffins. For the moment he gave up the attempt to consider his +expedition. It seemed so important that he should realise just how +futile his attempts to undo the past must inevitably prove. + +A light step came along the passage. He almost groaned, for it might +have been hers; and he dreaded lest all his life he should be pursued +by those haunting footfalls. Then a touch upon the handle of the door +startled him in a second from apathy. The handle was turning, the door +was about to open. What should he see? In his present exalted abnormal +frame of mind, he might see anything, might even cause his thought of +her to take shape, so that she stood in bodily presence before him. + +It seemed to him only what he had foreseen when the slowly opening oak +revealed her standing there. + +He knew that it was her wraith, because she was so white--so +unnaturally white. She wore white, too. Her eyes were dilated, with a +dread which she could not conceal. It is possible that he might have +heard the beating of her heart, had his own not pulsed so loudly. + +He rose slowly to his feet--slowly, to match her entrance. He neither +moved nor spoke, as she shut the door carefully behind her. As she did +so the thought stirred in his mind that he had never heard of a ghost +who closed a door. But his mind was a long way off. The part of him now +active was something utterly different. + +Then she moved forward towards him as he stood in the circle of light. +She came on bravely until she was within a few paces of him, and then +paused, and gave a little sound between a laugh and a gasp. + +"Well," said she, and valiantly held out her hand, "I have come back, +you see!" + +He was so startled at her voice that he gave a low cry. Moving +suddenly--always with him a mark of strong agitation--he first grasped +her hand in both his own, then retaining it with one, passed the other +hesitatingly up her arm, till it rested upon her warm shoulder. "My +God," he said, "you are real! Speak, Virginia--are you real?" + +She set her teeth in the effort not to flinch, but she shook so that +her trembling was perceptible to him. + +"Real? Yes, of course. Did you think I was a ghost?" she asked, +shrinking a little backward, so that his hand fell from her shoulder. + +"I did! How could you come here? You were ill! Ferris said----" + +"But I am better, and I told you in my letter that I should come the +first minute that I was able." + +"What letter?" + +She shuddered a little. Then it was true! Her letter had been kept +back! "I telegraphed to-day," she stammered, more and more nervous. +"You were out, but the motor met me at the station. When I arrived I +told them not to tell you I was here. I--I thought I would tell you +myself. Oh, are you angry with me?" + +"Angry?" he said with breaking voice. He turned his head aside, for he +could not control the working of his face. + +"Why are you so surprised to see me?" she ventured, after a pause. "You +knew I should come back." + +"How could I know it?" he asked, almost inaudibly. + +"I was on my honour," she answered, equally low. Then, gathering force +as he still stood with averted face, "I gave you my word to submit to +anything, if you let me go to Pansy. She doesn't need me any more, so I +am here." She waited a moment, but still he did not speak. "I am well +and strong now," she persisted bravely. "I can do anything that you +wish. What are you going to do with me?" + +"There's only one thing I can do with you," came the answer. "I can't +let you go." + +She stood immovably, her eyes fixed upon him. The dread lest he was not +perfectly sane once more assailed her. Her mother had spoken of him as +a monomaniac. Perhaps she feared him more at that moment than ever +previously. + +When he turned abruptly, with his characteristic jerk, she started and +shrank only too visibly. + +"Explain," he said. "Sit down in this chair--you look as white as a +sheet--and explain. You tell me you are well and strong. Your mother in +a letter which I got last Saturday morning told me you were seriously +ill. Ferris, whom I met to-day in town, said that the doctor would not +let you get up. There is some discrepancy here." + +Her eyes filled with tears. "I know," she said. "May I tell you about +it?" + +"Certainly." + +He had seated her in the old wooden writing-chair from which he had +risen. He fetched another for himself, and placed it near. The lamp +fell upon her burnished hair and upon his strained face as he raised it +to her. It struck her that he was very different from her memory of +him. His eyes had surely grown larger, his face thinner. His close-cut +hair changed his appearance. He wore other, nicer clothes than those in +which she was accustomed to see him; but chiefly he looked younger, +less assured. There was something almost wistful in his expression. + +She gave a swift, appraising glance, and lowered her eyes to the table. +In her nervousness she would have liked to take up a paper knife and +play with it. Some deep instinct told her to be simple and perfectly +straightforward. She let her hands lie in her lap. + +"Mamma," she began, "did not want me to come back. I--I suppose she +told you of the vexatious motor accident, which obliged Mr. Rosenberg +and me to stop the night in a horrid little wayside inn?" + +"She said something of it--yes." + +"Of course I was most anxious not to have to be away all night, because +I was to leave Worthing next day to come back here, and so, when the +car did not return, I was urgent in begging that we might try to reach +home some other way. So we drove in a little open cart, through pouring +rain, to try and catch a train--the last train--and just missed it. I +got very wet, and I could not dry my things properly, the place was so +dirty and comfortless; and I got a little feverish chill. It was not +much, but it made me delirious for some hours. I think the fever was +partly because I was vexed and anxious. You see, I had written to you +to say I was coming, and it was annoying to be stopped like that. +Anyway, when I was sensible again mamma said I--I had been saying +things ... you understand ... things about you ... when I didn't know +what I was talking about." + +"I see." His tone was dry. + +"I had been very careful," she urged humbly, "not to say anything about +what had passed between us. I hope you will forgive me for letting +things out, unintentionally?" + +"Let me hear all that happened before we talk about that." + +She looked frightened, but after a short pause continued indomitably. + +"Mamma seemed horrified. She begged me not to come back to you. In +order to delay my coming, she told the doctor to keep me in bed, though +I was practically well. I did not know what to do. I pretended to give +in. Then she went to town--this morning--for a day's shopping or +something, and Grover and I ran away without telling anybody. I hope +you think I did right. You see, I knew I ought to come; I would not +have deceived mamma, but my first duty is to you, and Grover told me +that she had done something she really had no right to do. She had +intercepted a letter from me to you. Ah, I know, it was partly my +fault. I don't know what I may have said when I was wandering. She +thought she was acting for the best, no doubt. But I felt unsafe +somehow." + +"I suppose you mean," said Gaunt slowly, "that your mother thought you +had better not come back to me at all?" + +"I think so--yes. She said the law would give me relief----" + +"She was very probably right. And yet--you came? ... It did not strike +you that that was a foolish thing to do? You did not reflect that +possession is nine points of the law?" + +He was looking fully at her, voice and eyes alike charged with meaning +which could not be mistaken. She did not flinch. Her brown eyes told +him that she had reflected, that in returning she was fully conscious +of the finality of her action. + +"I had not to consider that," was her instant reply. "I had to do what +I knew to be right. I had to keep my word." + +She spoke most evidently without any desire to create an effect. The +listening man restrained himself with difficulty, but held on for a +moment, to elucidate one more point. + +"You came back, perhaps, in order to lay the case before me? To see if +I would set you free?" + +"Certainly not," was the steady answer. "You and I made an agreement. +You have kept your half--you have done all you promised; but I"--the +colour rushed over her face--"I have not done any of my share." + +Not at all theatrically, but as naturally as an old Italian peasant +will kiss the Madonna's feet, he slipped from his chair to his knees. +So quietly that it did not startle Virginia at all, he took up one of +the hands that lay in her lap and raised it to his lips. The action, so +unlike him, the silence in which he performed it, amazed her so that +she neither moved nor spoke. He replaced her hand, laying it tenderly +down, and seemed as though he would speak, from his lowly position at +her feet. Then, with his own brusque suddenness, he rose, and stood +beside her, almost over her. + +"God has used me better than I deserved," he muttered gruffly. "He has +let me prove--prove to the hilt--that there is such a thing as a +perfectly noble woman. Virginia, there shall be a way out for you. If +you think my word of any value, I give it solemnly. I will make things +right somehow. I may not be able to do it at once; I must think the +matter over carefully. In the meantime, I want you to understand my +position." He paused a moment, and then spoke more fluently, as if the +thing he expressed had long been in his mind and so came easily from +his lips. "When I first met you I had been, to all intents and +purposes, a madman for twenty years. I had not been twenty-four hours +your husband before I came to myself. It was as though--only I can't +express it--as though your innocence were a looking-glass, in which I +saw the kind of thing I am. Ever since, I have been your humble +servant. I--I tried to let you see this, but of course it was hopeless. +You were ill, and they told me to keep out of your way. Then, when you +left me ... your heart was full of your little sister, occupied with +your own grief. I couldn't force on you the consideration of mine." + +He paused, and she knew it was to summon command of his voice. + +"And the idea came to me that I would wait--that I would find out, for +a certainty, that you really were as fine as I had grown to think you. +I wanted to prove that you were heroic enough to come back to--to the +sort of thing which, as you believed, awaited you here. So I wouldn't +write to you as I longed to ... I just kept silence ... and you came. +You are here ... I am such a fool at saying what I mean, but I must +make you understand that, for so long as it may be necessary for you to +remain, you are sacred. I--I will ask you to let me eat with you, and +be with you sometimes, because of--er--the household. But once for all, +I want you to feel quite sure that you have nothing to fear from me." + +Thus, for the second time in her knowledge of him, the man broke +through his taciturnity. She could not know that this outburst was far +more characteristic of the real Osbert Gaunt than the sullen, frozen +surface hitherto presented. + +She had no words in which to answer it. The world had turned upside +down, she could not reason, could not think out what this might +ultimately mean for her. She could not grasp the fact of her husband's +complete change of front. Seated in the old chair, worn shiny with many +years of usage, she laid her hands upon its arms and lifted her eyes to +his, first in wonder, then in a gladness which shone out in a smile +that transfigured her pale face. He was quite near--almost stooping +over her, and he held his breath with the intensity of the thrill that +ran through him. + +"O-o-oh!" she cooed tremulously. "Oh, Osbert!" + +The sound of his name so moved him that he almost lost control. It +sounded like a caress, it was as if she had kissed him. He told himself +that he would count up the times she said it, from now until his final +exit--treasure them in his mind and call them kisses. + +At this moment the gong for dinner boomed in the hall. It brought both +of them back with a start to the present moment. Virgie put her hands +to her eyes as if she had been dreaming. The man was first of all +uncomfortably conscious of riding breeches and gaiters. + +"Good heavens, dinner, and I haven't dressed! I can't sit down with you +like this!" + +"Oh, yes, please do," she said, rising from her seat with a new gaiety, +as though a weight had rolled away. + +"Please don't keep me waiting while you dress, I am so hungry, and I +want to show you my fine new appetite! Besides, Grover is sure to drive +me upstairs at an unearthly hour, she has been clucking after me all +day like an old mother hen, because, you see, I actually got out of bed +to travel! So don't waste any more time, but just come in as you are." + +"I'll wash my hands--shan't be five minutes," he stammered out, the +sudden, everyday intimacy breaking upon him like a fiery, hitherto +untasted source of bliss. "Wait for me, won't you?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE DIFFICULT PATH + + + "_I will but say what mere friends say. + Or only a thought stronger; + I will hold your hand but as long as all may, + Or so very little longer._"--R. Browning. + + +When Gaunt entered the dining-room, his wife was standing before the +fire, its red glow making her white dress and white arms rosy. Hemming +was busily employed in fixing a screen at the back of her chair. + +"I asked Hemming to move my place," said she. "I hope you don't mind. I +felt so far away, there at the end of the table. If I sit here we can +talk much better." + +"A good idea." Gaunt hoped his voice sounded natural as he spoke. He +hardly knew what he said, such was the turmoil within him that he +wondered whether his own appetite would fail as hers had done when last +they ate together. Yet he was, as a matter of fact, ravenously hungry; +and the taking of food steadied him down and made him feel more normal. +He found himself obliged, however, to leave the burden of conversation +to her. She talked on bravely, about Dr. Danby and his kindness to +Pansy, until, the servants having left the room to fetch the next +course, she turned half-frightened, half-challenging eyes to her +husband. + +"I'm afraid I'm 'prattling,' as you call it," she said deprecatingly. +"Shall I leave off? I will, if I am teasing you." + +"Forgive me. I'm not really unresponsive--only a bit bewildered," he +answered. "You know that nothing you could conceivably say could fail +to interest me. Don't remind me of my unconverted days." + +She could not answer, for Hemming returned at the moment. She smiled +and coloured. + +Left to themselves before the peaches and grapes, when dinner was over, +they fell silent. The memory of the former occasion tied the girl's +tongue. + +The man was facing his problem. Virginia sat there with him, in his +house--his wife. She had come back prepared to accept this fate. Had he +the strength to resist, the greatness not to take advantage of, her +integrity and courage? + +The first thing he must do was to ascertain, if possible, her feeling +for Gerald Rosenberg, and also whether the young man was really earnest +in his love for her. + +If he could be satisfied on both these heads, he told himself that he +must make atonement in the one possible way. His white lily should +never go through the mire of a divorce court, nor must lack of money +stand between her and the man of her choice. + +Such thoughts as these are inimical to conversation. He sat for some +long minutes peeling a peach, and then sensing the delight of watching +her while she ate it. + +Grover entered quietly. "I just looked in to say I hope you will come +upstairs punctually at nine, ma'am," said she, with a keen glance at +the two. + +"Yes, Grover; I will be good to-night--though I warn you your tyranny +is nearly over," said Virgie, her eyes full of mischief. How gay she +was when the gaiety was not dashed out of her! As Grover retired, she +rose from her chair and looked at him pleadingly. "I wonder if you +would do something for me to-night--something I specially want you to +do?" said she in tones of coaxing. + +"But of course!" He was on his feet in a moment. + +"I want you to play to me--on the piano. You played that--first--night. +Do you remember?" + +"You liked it?" + +She nodded. + +"I used to hear you afterwards--when I was upstairs. Grover used to +open the door for me to listen," she confessed. + +"Really?" He showed his intense pleasure in this tribute. "Come," he +said, "I have got a new piano to show you." + +They went together down the passage to the door of her own +sitting-room, now, needless to say, unlocked. They passed in; and Gaunt +thought himself overpaid for anything he had ever suffered when he +heard her first "O-o-oh!" of surprise and pleasure. + +The ivory room lay in warm light. The fire danced on the hearth; and +upon the pale blue, rose-garlanded hearth-rug lay Cosmo and Damian, +with bows to match their surroundings. + +The graceful, wine-dark furniture gleamed in the mellow lamp-light. +Every piece in the room was perfection in its way. There was a +Chesterfield in just the right place, at right angles to the fire. +Beside it, a small revolving table book-case alone struck a note of +frank modernity, and needed but the books and work to complete it. + +"You like it?" he asked, trying to mask his eager wistfulness. + +"I should think so! You never told me a word! You had this all done! +Oh, how curious!" she murmured in wonder, recalling with a shock the +dream which she had dreamt--how she had sought in vain for the old +furniture in the attic, and going into this room where she now stood +had seen it full of formless whiteness. + +"Why do you call it curious?" he asked. + +"Because I dreamt about it," she answered, laughing shamefacedly. "I +dreamt that I had come back, and was looking for you--that I was up in +the attics and could not find this furniture--and that when I came +downstairs, this room was empty and all white and ghostly----" + +"Did you succeed in finding me--in your dream?" + +"Yes." She laughed again. "But it was all stupid--you know dreams are. +Oh, what a darling piano! And that fine old book-cupboard with glass +doors! A secretaire--isn't that the proper name for it?" + +"Do you like it? I am glad. I have hung no pictures. Daren't trust my +own taste there. Also, I felt that I must leave you to choose your own +books--or perhaps you would put china in that cupboard? I find there is +a quantity of old blue stored away up above in the garret. It might +amuse you to select and arrange it." + +"Oh, it will!" said Virgie in delight. "How pretty it all looks! I had +no idea it could be so changed by just being treated right. Don't you +want to do all the rest of the house?" + +"I want _you_ to do it," he answered. + +"But I couldn't have thought of anything half as perfect as this!" was +her admiring response. + +He smiled, but let the compliment pass. + +"I want you to put your feet up now," he said, "for I know you must be +tired to death. Let me show you how the end of your couch lets down. +There! Are the pillows right?" + +She ensconced herself in luxury. "This is just like a dream," she said; +"and if you will play to me, it will be still more so. I'll graciously +allow you to drink your coffee first," she added, as Hemming came in. + +He stood before the hearth as he drank his coffee, looking down upon +her and wondering how long he was going to bear things. He must find a +way out before his resolution quite failed. + +With that disconcerting suddenness of his, he put down his cup and made +a dash for the piano. As he sat at the keyboard he could see the top of +her shining head just above the delicate-hued cushions which supported +it. He saw Cosmo jump upon her lap, and he watched the waving to and +fro of her hand as she gently stroked the cat. When he stopped playing +she begged him to go on. Then after a while the little hand ceased to +move. The head was very still. At last he paused, let his hands fall, +waited. No sound. He rose and limped across the soft carpet with +noiseless feet. She was fast asleep. + +Just for a moment he allowed himself to stand there looking upon her. +His strong, somewhat harsh features wore a look which transfigured +them. Then he turned away with his mouth hard set. He had no right +there, he bitterly reminded himself. + +The little buhl clock chimed nine in silver tones. He went softly to +the door to prevent Grover from coming in and awakening her abruptly. +As he opened it, Hemming was approaching with a telegram upon a tray. +He took it, and as he read his eyes lit with a gleam of satisfaction. + + +_Is Virginia with you? She left Worthing this morning._ + + +Making a sign to Hemming not to disturb Mrs. Gaunt, he went over to the +writing-table and wrote: + + +_Virginia came home to-day, as previously arranged. Seems very +well._ + + +As Hemming took the message and departed, Grover came along the +passage. Gaunt admitted her, with a shy smile. + +"I have played her to sleep," he said. "It seems a shame to disturb +her." + +Grover went and stooped over Virginia, then raised her eyes to the +husband's face. + +"Spite of that tiresome chill, she looks a deal stronger, doesn't she, +sir?" she asked in hushed accents. + +He nodded, beckoning her to come to him at some distance, that their +lowered tones might not disturb the sleeper. "Grover, is it true, for a +fact, that Mrs. Mynors kept back a letter from Mrs. Gaunt to me?" + +"I can't swear to it, sir, not what they'd take in a court of justice, +I suppose; but I'll tell you what happened about it." She related the +circumstances, and then asked whether he had, in fact, received the +letter. When she heard that he had not, she looked triumphant, but she +looked troubled too. + +"I can't seem to make out the rights of it, sir, but there was +something afoot. For some reason which I can't understand, they didn't +want her to come back here. I can't make head nor tail of it myself." + +"Was this Mr. Rosenberg's plot, do you think?" + +"Well, sir, that is what is so puzzling. Mrs. Mynors is, I suppose, a +respectable lady. She isn't what you call fast; and her daughter is a +married woman. What could she mean?" + +"Tell me frankly, Grover. Do you think they had an idea of making +mischief, serious enough to cause a breach between Mrs. Gaunt and me?" + +"Oh, for pity's sake, they couldn't be so wicked as that! And you but +just married! But since you have put it so plain, I will just own to +you that I feel sure in my own mind about one thing, which is that +Baines, that's Mr. Rosenberg's chauffeur, was given orders not to bring +back the car to fetch them that night. He never said so to me, not in +so many words, but it was the look in his eye, sir, if you understand +me." + +"Do you think that her mother supposed that Mrs. Gaunt was not happy +with me?" + +"Why, sir, if you'll pardon the remark, that sounds like nonsense, for +you have had no chance to be together so far. I can tell you I was +thankful when I was once safe in the train with her this morning. I +felt, even if she has to go back to bed the minute she gets home, home +is the proper place for her, any way of it. And though she was leaving +her little sister and all, she seemed to cheer up when we were off; and +I know she felt a relief when we had got through London and were fair +on our way. We had to steal out of the house as careful as anything, +for Miss Pansy was not started for the parade front, it being so early. +Fortunately, Mr. Tony was off for the day with his friend." + +"Tony? Was the boy there?" + +"Oh, yes, sir, for the whole time, and the last week we were in London +as well." + +Gaunt was surprised. No room or board for Tony had been charged in any +of the minutely kept accounts which he had received. He made no +comment, however, and the maid crossed the room and gazed once more +upon the sleeping girl. + +"Don't you think she looks bonny, sir?" she asked timidly; and was +reassured when Gaunt's eyes met her own in friendly approval. + +"She's more lovely than ever, Grover," he replied, to her immense +gratification. + +"You might carry her upstairs, sir," she suggested; "you can do it +easy, can't you?" + +His face changed. "No," he said decidedly, "it would startle her. You +had better rouse her, please, if you want her to go with you now." + +He walked away to the window, and stood in the empty space for which he +had designed the statue of Love. Grover sent a keen, vexed glance after +him. "Silly thing," was her disrespectful inward comment. "Why is he so +plaguey shy of his own wife?" + +"She'll have to get used to you, sir," she ventured after a pause, her +heart in her mouth. + +"It must be by degree," he answered, speaking with his back towards her. + +With a shrug of her shoulders, having ventured all and more than all +she dare, she bent over Virginia and aroused her. The grey cat bounded +to the floor, hunching his back and stretching his legs in the heat of +the glowing logs. + +"Oh!" cried Virgie, springing to her feet, "I went to sleep while Mr. +Gaunt was playing!" + +"The greatest tribute you could pay me, since I played a lullaby," +remarked her husband, strolling up. + + * * * * * + +Next morning, though it was still cold, autumnal weather, the sun was +shining. Gaunt could hardly believe his eyes when Virgie ran into the +dining-room at the summons of the breakfast gong, looking as fresh and +gay as the morning. The contrast between what was in his heart, and his +cool, undemonstrative greeting, struck him as so grotesque that he +almost laughed. + +When they were seated, and she had poured out his coffee, they found it +very difficult to know what to say. Virginia felt herself held back by +what he had said the previous day. He had spoken as though he thought +her stay at Omberleigh would be only temporary. She was eager to settle +down, to know what she might do and plan, to begin some kind of a life +together. In face of his attitude, she felt unable to make any advance, +to offer any request or suggestion. + +At last it occurred to her to ask what he had to do that day. He began +to tell her that he was due in a certain part of the estate to----Then +he pulled himself up, and said, with a covert eagerness: + +"Unless you want me?" + +She rested her elbows on the table and looked shyly at him. "Of course +I should like to have your society for a while," she answered. "I want +to go round the place again. I was so stupid that first day--I felt so +ill I hardly knew what I was doing. But now I can walk finely! If you +have time----" + +"But of course I have. Caunter is all right without me. I am at your +service. Do you remember one day when you were on the terrace, and Mrs. +Ferris was here, you said, or she said, that you would like to remodel +the garden? Well, you know this is the time of year to do that. If you +set to work now it will be all ready for next spring." + +She looked at him earnestly. "Please forgive me for asking," she said +hesitatingly, "but yesterday I thought you said--you spoke as if you +did not mean to keep me here. Did you mean that, or was it my fancy?" + +He cleared his throat. "Oh, that was your fancy. Certainly it was. I +was only thinking that--of course everything is uncertain--human life, +for instance. I'm a good deal older than you. If anything +should--should happen to me, for example--this place would be yours. I +have bequeathed it to you. So it is worth your while to make it what +you like." + +"If anything happened to you?" Obviously she was surprised, and also +distressed. "Osbert, what is likely to happen to you?" + +"Oh, nothing, of course," he replied hastily. "Only sometimes the +unexpected may arrive, may it not?" + +"Don't talk like that," she cried impetuously. "It would be too +dreadful, if anything stopped us just at the beginning--just as we are +making a start. Oh, do you remember----" She broke off short. + +"I remember every single smallest thing you ever did or said," he threw +out suddenly. + +"Then you remember when you and I had lunch together at the Savoy. I +bored you horribly by trying to make conversation, when you didn't want +to talk; and you told me that you knew all about me, as if you had +known me all my life. I didn't think it was true," she laughed, playing +with a fork and not daring to look at him. "Do you think it was?" + +"It was as false, as detestable, as mistaken, and as insulting as all +the other things I said that day," was his energetic answer. + +She looked up then, and smiled at him. She was beginning to adjust her +ideas. + +"Then you are not thinking of sending me away?" she begged to know. + +"Put that completely out of your head." + +"If that is so, it will be the greatest fun to set to work upon the +garden." She paused, recollected herself. "Will that interest you too? +I beg your pardon for asking, but I do know so ridiculously little +about you; and, you see, your garden doesn't _look_ as if you +liked gardens, if you will forgive me for saying it." + +"I've been so lonely," he answered meekly. "There was nobody who cared +whether the garden was nice or not. If you care, why I shall take the +most tremendous interest in it." + +She was evidently quite satisfied. "Let me see," she reflected. "How +soon can we begin? I must go and say how-do-you-do to Mrs. Wells, and +she will tell me what I am to order for dinner; and then I must send a +line to Joey, and ask her to come over to tea to-morrow." + +"You have a car of your own now," he broke in. "Don't be beholden to +her any more than you wish." + +"She was very kind," said Virgie, "and I know she would like to come if +you don't mind. I'm sorry for her too." + +"Why are you sorry for her?" + +She looked up at him, with a half smile, and an appeal for response. +"Her husband is such a--such a _dreadful_ person, isn't he?" + +Gaunt, for the first time in their mutual acquaintance, gave the +sympathy, the understanding for which she begged. He smiled, in the +same way that she smiled, as if they were thoroughly in accord upon the +point of Mr. Ferris. "Poor old Joey!" he replied. "Your society must be +a godsend to her. They were kind to me while you were away. I went +there several times. Joey let me read your letters to her." + +This last was very tentatively said, with an apprehensive glance. + +Virgie laughed, however. "Such silly letters," she remarked. Then, +laying aside her table-napkin and rising: "Then in an hour's time, +shall we go out in the garden?" + +He eagerly assented. "I'll go down to the lodge and get Emerson to come +along," he told her. "Then we can plan something." + +They spent the entire morning in the garden, and at lunch time there +was certainly no lack of conversation. In the absorbing topic of +rock-gardening, the idea of redecorating the house fell temporarily +into the background. + +They motored into Buxton that afternoon, and spent some time viewing +the plants in a celebrated nursery garden. Gaunt had learned to drive +the car during her absence, and was himself at the wheel, which fact +lessened for him the hardship of the situation. He was occupied with +his driving, and not drawn irresistibly by the magnet of her charm. +That evening, however, after dinner, when they were together in her +beautiful warm white room, the tug of war began. He had to smother down +the impulse to fight for his life, to make some kind of blundering bid +for the love which he knew in his heart had been given to Rosenberg +before he ever saw her. + +Virginia could not but suppose that his coldness, his complete +aloofness, his apparent declining of all beginnings of intimacy, arose +from sheer shyness. She believed that some things are better and more +easily expressed without words. Thus, that evening, when he was at the +piano, playing out his heartache in soft, sad chords in passionate, +rapid movements, she came and stood behind him--close behind him. + +This was hard, but he bore it. Manfully he went on playing for a while; +but the influence of her presence standing there, the emanation of her +personality, checked his fingers. He stumbled, missed a note, dropped +his hands, sat silent. + +"It is cold, so far from the fire," said her coaxing voice. "I've been +making you play till your fingers are frozen;" with which she took them +in her velvet, soft clasp. + +This was too much. He drew his hand from her clinging touch with a +sensation as though he tore it from a trap, lacerating it in the +attempt. He sprang from his seat. "Jove! I have just thought of +something I must tell Hemming," he muttered hurriedly; and, pushing +past her, left the room by way of the door into his own den. + +Virginia stood amazed, confused, and somewhat uncomfortable. + +This, her first advance, must certainly be her only one. She went and +sat on the hearth-rug, gazing into the fire, and puzzling. Suddenly a +clear light shone upon the darkness of her musing. But, of course!... + +Gaunt had not married her for love, but in pursuance of some +half-crazed scheme of vengeance. He had thought it his duty to reform a +heartless, selfish coquette. Now that he had found her to be very +unlike his preconceived idea of her, what did he, what could he, want +with her?... + +Why had she not sooner perceived this obvious truth? Colour flooded +her, she blushed hotly in the solitude. His plans had proved abortive, +and he found himself saddled with a young woman with whose company he +would, no doubt, gladly dispense. He was apparently ready to continue +their present semi-detached existence, so long as she made no attempt +to force the barriers of his confidence or intimacy. She remembered, on +reflection, that he had made no appeal to her, that he had confessed +nothing. He had not even begged for forgiveness. He had merely owned +himself mistaken in his estimate of her. Since the outburst which had, +as it seemed, been shaken out of him at the unexpected sight of her, he +had stood on guard all the time. She had really been very slow and +stupid, or she would have seen, long ago, how embarrassing her presence +must be, unless she grasped the terms of their mutual relation. + +Her lips curved into an involuntary smile as she recalled her +well-meant attempt at a kindness he did not want. She bit her lip as +she gazed into the fire. "We-e-ell!" she said aloud, with a little +grimace, "I've been slow at picking up my cue, but I think I've got it +now." + +Almost as she spoke Gaunt re-entered, and Grim the collie slunk in at +his heels. + +"I'm most awfully sorry for bolting like that, but it was important," +he said, in tones of would-be friendly frankness. With that he turned +to shut the dog out. + +"Oh, let her come in, poor old girl! What has she done to be shut out?" +cried Virgie, sitting on her heels upon the floor. + +"I--I don't think your cats like her," he replied, hesitating. + +"Well, I never! They will have to like her. If they are to live in the +same house, they must be friends," was the quick retort. "Grim, Grim, +poor old girl, come here then!" + +Grim, more perceptive than her master, was quick to perceive the +invitation in the sweet voice, and came bounding into the circle of +firelight. Damian sat up and spat, his back an arch, his tail a column. +Virgie flung her arms round Grim's handsome neck and hugged her. + +"Don't you take a bit of notice of that cheeky kitten, my dear. If he +doesn't like you, he can lump you. This was your house, long before he +was born or thought of," she said, petting the collie till her tail +thumped the ground with ecstasy; her tongue hung out and she slobbered +with utter content. + +"Osbert," said Virgie calmly, "there's a sheepskin mat out in the hall +that would just do for her beside the fire here in the corner. If that +is her place, the cats will very soon recognise it. Will you go and +fetch it in for me, please?" + +"But"--he paused--"this is your room, isn't it? and Grim's a big dog. +Her place is in my den." + +"Oh, she'll very soon find out where the warmest corner is, won't you, +girl?" laughed Virgie. "Even if _you_ won't come into my room, +I'll warrant she will! Unless"--with a daring glance--"you mean us to +have separate establishments, even to the dogs and cats?" + +He began to speak, halted, then said quietly enough: "I want you to +have things as you like. I think you know that, really." + +"Then this poor old thing shall come in just whenever she wants to," +said Virgie, holding the golden muzzle in her hand, and kissing the +white star upon the dog's forehead. + +Gaunt, watching, made a note of the exact spot. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +LUNCH AT PERLEY HATCH + + + "_Shall I not one day remember thy bower, + One day when all days are one day to me? + Thinking, 'I stirred not, and yet had the power!' + Yearning, 'Ah, God, if again it might be!'_"--D. G. Rossetti. + + +"You're not the sort to bet on, Percy," remarked Joey Ferris. "What +have you been filling me up with? You came home here, saying you could +put me wise about the Gaunt marriage, and that the whole thing was +going phut, and she wasn't coming back to him!" + +"Well!" + +"Well, you're off the rails this time, old man. She came home on +Wednesday, and this morning I had a note from her to say she would call +for me in the car this afternoon, and take me over to Omberleigh to +tea." + +"Jove though!" Ferris stood stock still in his astonishment. "You're +kidding, Joey?" + +"Wish I may die," was the chaste rejoinder. + +Ferris turned things rapidly over in his mind. "Did you go?" he asked +at length. + +"Go? I should think so. She is as well as ever she was in her +life--laughing and talking, as different from the timid little crushed +thing she was, as you are different from Gaunt! While she was away, he +has had her own sitting-room all done up for her, and my word! he has +done it in style. You never saw anything so classy; it's like the +little boudoir at the Chase; and she says he never bought a thing, +except the carpet and curtains. The furniture and china was all in the +house, put away, and they've got enough left to furnish the dining-room +as well. My, it'll be a nice place by the time she's done with it." + +"Joey, I give you my word, that on Saturday she was in bed, delirious, +and her mother sat up all night with her." + +"That might be. Look how Bill's temperature runs up if he gets a bit of +a chill! She was all right by Wednesday, and now she's as fit as a +fiddle. Seems so keen about things too. Got a great idea of going over +the mine. I thought we might have 'em both to lunch next week, and take +them round after." + +"Good idea. But have you forgotten that Rosenberg will be staying here?" + +"Not me. That doesn't make a bit of difference. She was talking about +him as easily as you might talk about me. Tell you what, Percy, you've +got the wrong sow by the ear this time." + +"If there's been a mistake, it was Rosenberg's, not mine," said Ferris. +"You may bet on that. Seems to me he's about put himself in the cart." + +"Why, how? What do you mean?" + +Ferris laughed. "He insisted on laying me fifty sovereigns to one that +she never went back to Gaunt. I told him he didn't know O.G. as well as +I do." + +"Pooh! He didn't know Virgie, much more likely. She's still water, is +that little lady." + +"Huh? You don't mean she's not straight?" + +"Not much. She's the straightest goer I ever came across. But she +doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve." + +"I don't know where she keeps it then," said Percy, with a grin. "You +don't suppose old Gaunt's got it, do you?" + +"Couldn't tell you that, but one thing I _can_ say for certain. It +doesn't belong to young Rosenberg." + +"Are you sure, Joey?" + +"Yes," said she simply. + +"I can go pretty near the truth of it, I expect," she added presently. +"Rosenberg tried to make mischief, and it hasn't come off." + +"He told me Gaunt was cruel to her--actually tortured her," said Percy, +in a lowered voice. "Said she let it out in her delirium." + +"Go and tell that to the next one," scorned his wife. "If it's true, +then being tortured agrees with her." + +"You can't deny she was very ill when she first came here." + +"Yes, but that was none of Gaunt's doing. That was because she had been +starving herself and doing all the housework for the best part of two +years." + +"Well, I'll have to try and explain matters to Rosenberg when he comes +next week," said Percy, quite meek and crestfallen. + + * * * * * + +At Omberleigh meanwhile, since the moment when Virgie grasped the +position, things had been going on fairly well. By degrees, a footing +of friendly acquaintanceship had been established, which was sustained +without difficulty on the woman's part. The man, however, was less +satisfied. He went about each day with the knowledge that, if he was +not quick about accomplishing some sort of suicide which should be +obviously accidental, his own control might fail him at any moment, and +the present state of tantalising half-and-half would become impossible +to maintain. + +Yet, for a strong, energetic, experienced man to kill himself in such a +manner that nobody should suspect him of having done so was harder than +he had foreseen. He turned over plan after plan in his mind, only to +reject them all. He began to despair of ever accomplishing his purpose +convincingly, as long as he stayed in England. The idea of taking +Virginia to Switzerland suggested itself. There it would be +comparatively simple. He would only have to leave her in a comfortable +hotel, taking care that she had plenty of money, and go rambling on a +mountain side alone, hurling himself down any precipice which looked +sufficiently steep to make a thorough job of it. + +Against this was the fact that it was growing late in the season for +Switzerland, and most of the mountain hotels would be closed. The mere +circumstance of his selecting Switzerland for a late autumn holiday +might look suspicious in the light of after events. + +To do the thing intentionally, which was by far the easiest plan, was, +from his point of view, out of the question, because of the implied +slur upon his widow. If a newly married man commits suicide, he may +leave a hundred explanations, assuring his wife of his happiness with +her, but they will impose upon nobody. He was determined not to expose +his beloved to the evil tongues of rumour; yet he felt he must shortly +take some definite action or go mad. + +In this frame of mind he heard with interest that Gerald was coming to +stay at Perley Hatch. So far, he had had no chance to gather anything +of Virginia's feeling for him. Two or three times he had tried to ask, +but voice and courage failed him. In his male density, he imagined that +he would not be able to see the two together without coming to a +conclusion. He urged the acceptance of Joey's invitation. Virginia's +health, since her return, gave no cause for anxiety, and she was eager +to explore the cave. + +It was in a mood of great depression that he set out with her upon the +day fixed. He was uncertain of everything--of her feeling, of his own +intentions, of Gerald's worth. The existing state of things, difficult +though it might be, was perilously sweet. There were hours when he told +himself that he was an utter fool, and that his present attitude was a +quixotry which bordered upon madness; yet there seemed no way to end +it. Every day of the footing upon which he and his wife now stood made +it more irrelevant, as it were, for him to turn from luke-warm +companion into ardent lover ... and when he tried to face what would be +his feeling if she rejected him, as she might--or worse still if, as +was more likely, she submitted to his love without returning it--he +felt that he simply did not dare risk it. + +Virginia was quick to note his depression. The variability of his +spirits nowadays was more noticeable than he supposed. Sometimes her +light-hearted nonsense would beguile him into something like hilarity. +These moments were usually, as she was well aware, followed by a +corresponding withdrawal. She built all her hopes upon them, however, +for it seemed to her that in the period of reaction he never slipped +back quite so far into the realms of distance. It was an approach, +though a very gradual one. Like a rising tide, each wave fell back; +but, all the same, the flood mounted. + +She chatted gaily as she sat beside him in the car, talking of the +matters which engrossed her--the garden and the house; also of an +invitation to the Chase to dine, which had lately been accepted. He +could not perceive that she manifested the least consciousness of being +on the way to meet her lover. + +When they walked together into Joey's drawing-room, he was not so +certain. Rosenberg, in spite of self-command, betrayed a very obvious +embarrassment. If her feeling were doubtful, his was not. Her mere +presence in the room seemed to set him a-quiver. + +Gaunt shook hands with him more easily, less grudgingly than on the +former occasion of their meeting. This surprised Gerald somewhat. He +had gone from that meeting straight to the address given him by Joey, +had seen Virginia, established an intimate footing of friendship, taken +her about in his car, and done other things which a newly made husband +would be most apt to resent. Yet Gaunt's greeting was almost kindly. +This disturbed Gerald. There must be one of two reasons for it. Either +he was so sure of his wife that he could afford to ignore other men, or +he knew more than he pretended to, and was on the watch, eager to take +his adversary off guard. + +These thoughts produced considerable constraint in the young man's +manner to Virgie, whose gentle sweetness was much the same as usual. + +"You made a surprisingly quick convalescence," he remarked, thinking +how delicious she was in her tailor suit of silver corduroy. + +"Yes," she said. "I was sure you would be pleased to know that I was +not nearly so ill as mamma thought me. She was alarmed because I was +feverish, but it soon went off. I am quite splendidly well now. This +air suits me--doesn't it, Osbert?" + +"It really seems to," he replied, ready to worship her for calling him +so naturally into the conversation. "Motoring, too, agrees with you. I +feel very grateful to you, Rosenberg, for giving her some runs down in +Sussex, though I wish you could have avoided the drenching." + +The composed voice and words made Percy feel quite hot, and for a +moment they disconcerted Gerald, but he took up his cue almost at once. + +"I have been afraid to look you in the face, Gaunt," he replied +gratefully, "since making such an utter ass of myself. I'm glad to take +this chance of apologising; but I don't feel quite so repentant as I +did, now that I see Mrs. Gaunt look so well and blooming." + +Joey chimed in, vowing that the Derbyshire air was doing wonders for +Virgie. + +"If we could get some fine weather, Osbert ought to run you round the +Peak," said Virgie to Gerald. + +Gerald was puzzled. If this were acting it was jolly good. Surely this +girl could not be afraid of her husband. He looked from one to the +other, completely mystified. + +Lunch was quite a hilarious meal. Tom and Bill were both present, and +Virgie sat between them by special request. She confided various +episodes from the career of Little Runt to their willing ears, and the +way in which she understood them, and entered into conversation without +the least effort, or any departure from her usual naturalness of +manner, filled Gaunt with admiration. They behaved so well as to +surprise both their parents, seeming quite hypnotised by the spell of +the thrilling voice and the dainty nonsense talk with which she plied +them. + +After lunch, while the men stood about smoking a cigarette before +starting, baby was brought down, and Joey and Virgie, kneeling on the +drawing-room carpet, tried to inveigle her into making a tottering step +alone. It was pathetically amusing to watch her little plump body, +balanced upon its unsteady supports, her dimpled arms outspread, her +baby lips parted in glee, showing the two rows of tiny pearls between. +To and fro, to and fro, she wavered, with protecting arms on either +hand, not touching, but guarding. Then at last, with a shriek of +ecstasy at her own boldness, she ran forward--one step--two--and fell, +a triumphant, huddled sweetness, right upon Virgie's breast. + +The girl knelt up, clasping the rosy thing in her hugging arms, kissing +her cheek and praising her courage. "Oh, babs, when you are a big, +grown up girl," said she, "some day I will remind you that you took +your first step to me." + +Gaunt stood near the window, rigid, fascinated, his whole being melted +into a tenderness so poignant as to be half painful. How many sources +of happiness, simple and everyday, were in the world! How barren and +dry and selfish his own life had been! In his moment of insight, he saw +that even Joey Ferris, tied to Percy, might have her moments of utter +beatification, since he had made her the mother of this babe. + +He took a new resolve. When they got home that evening, he would have +it out with Virginia, he would give her her choice. He would persuade +her to tell him frankly if all her heart was bound up in Gerald. If it +was not.... + +He did not hear Ferris suggesting to him that they should be on the +move. They had to call him thrice before he started from his dream. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE WAY BACK + + + "_She is coming, my life, my sweet, + Were it never so airy a tread, + My heart would hear it and beat, + Were it earth in an earthy bed. + My dust would hear it and beat + Had I lain for a century dead, + Would start and tremble under her feet + And blossom in purple and red!_"--Tennyson. + + +The entrance to the lead mine cave had now been artificially widened to +allow of free entrance. From the valley below a light wooden stair had +been erected, up which the visitors passed. Some good workmen from a +similar mine elsewhere were now busy on the premises, making the final +tests before the experts would pronounce that there was really money in +the scheme. + +The party came presently upon a spot where a big underground stream +gushed from a tunnel, crossed a space about twenty feet wide, and +disappeared in another tunnel on the opposite side of the cavern. It +emerged three miles away, far down Branterdale. Nobody knew whence it +came. + +Since first the caves were discovered, great progress had been made; +and only the previous day the men had chipped open a crack in the rock +wall, discovering within another big space with a very dangerous floor. + +"We've all got to be careful in here," remarked Percy, as he marshalled +his party. "Perhaps, Joey, you and Mrs. Gaunt would be happier outside, +for it's a case of crawling in." + +Virgie and Joey, however, were not going to be left behind. They +neither of them had any objection to crawling. With the help of their +escort, they both got through quite easily, and found themselves in a +curious place. Under their feet were spikes of rock, with deep +inequalities between. The men had laid down planks, and warned the +visitors to be careful not to step off them. On the further side of +this cavern was a very deep cleft which had not yet been explored, as +the men had found the air down there too foul for them to venture to +descend. + +"Like an old well--they don't know how deep," said Percy, indicating a +black hole, or chasm, on the further side of the irregular-shaped space +in which they stood. "They got a big bundle of hay, set it alight, and +pitched it in, burning fiercely. The air down there put it out in no +time." + +"Not much chance for anybody who went over," remarked Gaunt, moving +nearer. + +"Not much. Don't stand too close," replied Percy. "You see, the men put +in a stake, and rigged up a rope, meaning to go down and explore; but +they will have to wait till something has been done before they can +make use of it." + +"What will they do?" asked Virgie, with interest. + +"Pump air down, I think, and force the bad gas upwards," replied Percy, +who was in his element, showing and explaining. + +Gaunt stood on the plank near the hole, gazing at it as if it +fascinated him. His hands were in his pockets. Virgie had made a little +movement when he first approached it, putting out her hand as if to +grasp his arm. She checked herself, for since his rebuff she had never +touched him. But as he still stood there, seeming lost in his own +thoughts, some kind of dread fell upon her. "Osbert," she said. + +He turned sharply at the sound of her voice, and moved towards her. + +"I believe my--my shoe-lace has come untied," said she. + +It was the first thing that occurred to her to say, and she knew it was +a lame excuse. He looked so intently at her that she almost thought he +was aware that it was a pretext merely. Never before had she asked him +to render her any such small personal service. + +"Lean against the wall, and give me your foot," said he. "I'll do it +up." + +"Thanks. The--the air is rather close in here, isn't it?" she faltered, +as she went to stand against the cave side. "Will you take me out? I +feel a bit faint." + +"We shall all go out in a minute or two," was his reply, as he knelt +upon the plank at her feet. + +He tried to steady himself as he bent over his task. He had seen +something in her eyes which shook his purpose--a dawning anxiety, or +fear, or.... Was that all? Was there not more? He could not be sure. + +But, if her suspicions were awake, he might have to let this chance go. + +The cave echoed to Joey's loud, jolly laugh. She and Gerald were +standing upon a plank which see-sawed slightly, and it amused her to +make it move up and down. + +"Don't play the fool there, Joe," said Ferris sharply. "This place is +really not safe, you know. You and Mrs. Gaunt had better creep out +again. Come along, there's nothing to see." + +He took her somewhat roughly by the arm. Her weight, suddenly removed +from the plank, caused Gerald, who was at the further end, to stumble. +He had been balanced upon one foot, and the uneven nature of the rocky +floor gave him no place upon which to put the other foot down. It went +into a hollow, quite a foot in depth. He gave a lurch, in the effort to +reach the next plank, which was not quite near, and came down with all +his weight upon one edge of it. It turned over, throwing him completely +off his balance. He staggered, slipped, and before Joey had time to +shriek, was over the edge of the poisonous gulf and had disappeared. + +It all took place in a single instant. At one moment Joey and he were +balancing one each end of the board, at the next Ferris had pulled her +away, Gerald was crashing and stamping in the vain effort to regain his +lost poise; and even as Ferris, hampered by the displaced planks, +sprang to help him he was gone, and the place echoed to Joey's screams. + +Gaunt, whose back had been turned to the scene, sprang up and realised +instantly what had happened. In that same instant, like a flash, he saw +what he must do. His chance had come to him, one in a thousand. In that +same heart-beat he knew that he did not want to go--that never in all +his existence had he loved life as he loved it now. + +There was, however, not a moment for delay. None of the workmen were +with them in the small cave; they were alone. A few minutes' hesitation +might be fatal to the victim. Gaunt turned away from Virginia without +looking at her, moved rapidly along a plank, took the rope which the +workmen had left ready for a descent, and began to fasten it to his own +body. + +"Gaunt--no!" Ferris, who had stood for a moment paralysed like a man +distraught, without moving or speaking, leapt at him. + +"He is dead; he must be. Don't fling away your life. It's not only the +bad air, it's the depth; these places go down nobody knows how deep!" + +"One can but try," was the reply, as Gaunt completed the swift knotting +of the rope. + +"Listen to me!" he said, laying his hand upon the shaking Percy's +nerveless arm, and speaking quietly and naturally with the intention of +calming the other's hysteria. "Summon the men--get another rope. If I +find him, I will signal by three tugs for you to pull him up. Do you +understand?" + +"Let--let one of the men go down," shrieked Ferris wildly. + +"There isn't time. Virginia!" He raised his voice a little, and the +white, still girl started. + +"Crawl out at once and summon the men--as many as you can. Then send +Ransom with the car for Dr. Dymock. Can you hear me?" + +"Yes, I am going." + +That was all. So he dismissed her, so he flung love and life away from +him out of the struggle. He sat upon the edge of the hole, his electric +torch fixed upon his chest, the rope about his middle, and began to tie +a handkerchief over his mouth. + +"Don't go--don't go; he's dead by now. Oh, can't somebody come? Help! +Help!" cried Ferris distractedly. "Your fault, confound you!" he +shrieked to the trembling, ashy Joey. + +"Silence, Ferris; I think he is calling!"... + +Percy's cries ceased abruptly, and in the sudden pause a moan came up +to them from the echoing depths. + +In another instant Gaunt had disappeared. + +The die was cast, and a curious peace descended upon him. The pressure +of the emergency held his brain to the exclusion of all else. For the +moment he had no regrets; consciousness was bounded by the difficulties +of his descent. This was not nearly as awful as he had expected. There +was plenty of foothold, and he went down rapidly, coming upon Gerald's +body some time before he thought it possible. + +Most providentially the victim had fallen upon the bundle of hay which +the workmen on the previous day had set alight and thrown in to dispel +the noxious gas. The hole, at this point, was not very deep--not deeper +than a well, though further along the cleft he saw a yawning gulf of +unexplored horror and blackness. He stooped over Rosenberg, who was +still groaning and not completely unconscious, though evidently much +hurt. + +"If you can hear what I say, try to do as I tell you," said he, +speaking with great distinctness close to his ear. "Can you sit up?" + +Gerald moved slightly, muttering something that sounded like "Let me +alone!" + +On that Gaunt saw that he had but one course. He must not attempt to +reach the surface with him. He must transfer the rope from his own +waist, and send up the injured man first. + +He was still just capable of doing this, but he was growing deadly sick +and faint. With the feeling that it was a race--a grim race between his +failing faculties and time--he detached the cord. He succeeded, after +what seemed to him like a protracted struggle, in fastening the knots +round Gerald securely. Now what must he do? His brain was swimming, his +breath came short, but he knew there was something else. Yes, of +course! He must jerk the rope. Once--twice--thrice! He did it and +waited. + +Something was about to happen. He had forgotten what it was. His mind +was swimming aimlessly round, like a fish in warm water, as he said to +himself. He lay down. Then the thing upon which he was leaning his +heavy head began to move; it was lifted; he tried to sit up, grasping +in his hands the hay upon which he was crouched. The space was very +narrow. Was it wide enough to serve him for a--for a--one of those +things they use to bury the dead? + +It was his last thought. Immediately upon thinking it he was asleep. + + * * * * * + +"Fifty pounds to the man who brings him up!" cried Virgie, kneeling +upon the very brink. + +Gerald had been hauled up, dragged forth from the cave, through the +hole, hurried into the open air. He was alive, and they thought he +would recover. But the man who had risked his life to save him lay +still in the deadly abyss. + +One of the workmen, however, speedily upon her appeal, roped himself up. + +"Can't be very deep, 'm," he said consolingly. "If I take two ropes +with me, that'll be all right. We've got a plenty hands now, and my +mates can pull." + +He disappeared, and Virgie crouched there on the brink, huddled and +shivering, counting the terrible moments. + +As she knelt in the dark, dreadful place, full of booming, terrifying +noises, all life changed its values before her eyes. + +This was a man who had a touch of greatness in him. He made big +mistakes; he was also capable of big heroism. She knew in her heart +that, if Gaunt had not been there, if the accident had happened with +only the Ferrises and herself in the cave, the delay--while men were +fetched to do what her husband had immediately and simply done +himself--might have been, would have been, fatal. The contrast between +Percy, helplessly unnerved, and Gaunt, ready to rise at once to the +height of the moment, had flashed itself upon her like an instantaneous +photograph. She had herself risen with Osbert. He had called her, given +her something to do--quiet, definite orders to carry out. Without a +question, she went and did his bidding, though she was longing to break +into cowardly pleading, to cry out to him not to throw away his life. + +And she returned to find them all busy with Gerald, and nobody +apparently giving a thought to the man still in the pit. + +She soon changed that. Her beauty, her distress, her urgency, made +stronger appeals to the men than her promise of liberal reward. And now +everything, everything, hung upon the result--whether the man they +brought to the surface would be still alive or not. + +When the signal to draw up was given, she felt as if each passing +clock-tick were a year. The dread which had sprung up in her, when she +saw Gaunt hang brooding over the chasm, could never be dispersed, if he +were dead. She would never know whether he truly wished to die or +whether life was sweet to him. + +How slowly they were hauling in the rope! How endlessly long it seemed. + +Then, at last, she saw him drawn from the living tomb--limp, inert, +ghastly. She rose, though her knees would hardly support her, and +crawled to him as they undid the rope from about him. + +The man who had gone down stood near, wiping the sweat from his eyes, +and reeling slightly on his feet. He coughed, and spat, and seemed as +if he would be sick. "Just hell down there, 'm," he told her, +apologetically. "I'm afraid it's all over with him, God help you!" + + * * * * * + +Gaunt was adrift upon a summer sea. The waves rose and fell, with a +lulling cadence. He felt only one desire--the desire for sleep; but a +perpetual calling kept him perversely awake. When he reached the land +he would, he knew, attain perfect repose. He made an inquiry of some +unseen companion as to what was the name of the land which they would +reach. The answer to this was: "They call it Virginia." + +This answer delighted him. Virginia! Country of all joy and beauty. He +was going to Virginia, if only this summons would cease--if only some +far away, disturbing voice was not calling to him from infinite +distance, begging him to make some response. He tried to plead that +this voice might be silenced. But it grew more and more insistent. He +could not hear what it said, but he knew that he was wanted. He might +not drift out into the peace he craved. He must stop, and answer, and +find out what was expected of him. He tried as hard as he could to turn +a deaf ear to the calling. He almost succeeded, several times, in +dropping off into real, sound sleep. But just as he was sure that now +he would be let alone, something shook him, something interfered with +him; and there was a pulsing in his ear, terribly loud, like the voice +of a drum, so that one could not escape it. + +The calling went on. "Osbert! Osbert! I want you! Do you hear me?" + +Quite suddenly his mind changed, and he knew that it was of supreme +importance that he should answer. The difficulty lay in the manner of +so doing. How can one communicate with the beating of a drum? He wished +that he could explain how unreasonable it was to expect any response +from him. He heard right enough, but how could he let anybody know that +he heard, with the sea lapping all about and the drum beating in his +ears?... + +Then came a curious sensation, touching a chord which vibrated +throughout his entire being. He remembered quite long ago that he had +been carrying a girl upstairs. Her arms were round his neck, and her +heart beat, beat, against his ear. _Was_ that noise the sound of a +drum after all, or was it the quick throbbing of a girl's heart? + +The moment this idea occurred, it was as though a door had been +unclosed, releasing him into the world of which hitherto he had been +unconscious. He heard somebody saying: + +"Lay him down, Mrs. Gaunt, you had much better. He will come round +sooner if his head is quite flat." + +Another voice replied, very, very near him: "I tell you I saw his lips +move. All the time he was lying flat he never moved, and directly I +lifted him up he sighed. There! Look! I tell you he is alive! I said he +was! I knew he would come back if I called!--Osbert! Osbert! Can you +hear?" + +Ah, now, indeed, it would be a grand thing had one the means of letting +other people, in other universes, know one's thoughts! He knew he must +obey the voice that spoke, yet he was dumb, deaf, blind, because he was +so far off. He was sinking away again into the tempting slumber that +invited him, in spite of his ardent desire to remain here, where he +could be sensible to the beating that was like the beating of a girl's +heart. + +"Well, lift him again then," said a doubtful voice; and once more he +heard the drum, close to his ear. Now it was urgent that he should let +it be understood that he knew what was going on. He must step over the +edge of the plane on which he moved, and come into that upon which +these others were moving; since it was clear that they would not come +to him. + +"There! I tell you it isn't fancy! He took quite a long breath! Osbert, +can you hear me? Open your eyes, and then I shall know." + +"By Jove," said another voice, "his eyelids flickered then. I saw it." + +"Go on calling him, Mrs. Gaunt. You're right, I believe, it is the only +way." + +"Another whiff of that oxygen!" + +Something like the wind of life swept through him. With an immense +effort he opened his eyes. + +All that he could see was Virgie's face as she stooped over him. + +He knew--though how he could hardly say--that he was lying in her arms. +A keen air blew upon him, his hand, which lay at his side, could feel +short turf beneath it. He was coming back--beginning to make use once +more of his outward senses. + +"Do you know me?" she asked, bending over him. Her eyes were full of an +intense purpose; there was no shyness, no consciousness--only a +vehement desire. + +He took a long breath, gathered all his force, and whispered huskily: + +"My--wife!" + +He saw the sweet face into which he gazed contract pitifully, and the +shoulders shake with sobbing. + +"There, there, that will do, Mrs. Gaunt," ordered Dr. Dymock +peremptorily. "He will be all right now. You're utterly worn out. Lay +him down and come away." + +"Try--try first, if he will drink," she gasped, while the heart against +his ear functioned violently. + +He drank, for she told him that he must do so. Obviously she had to be +obeyed. Then they laid him down, and raised her up, and took her away, +out of his sight. This was too much. He felt it to be an outrage, when +he had come back such a tremendous distance, just to be with her. +"Virginia," he said, quite clearly. + +Dymock bent towards him. "All right, old man, she is close by. You +shall go home with her quite soon. She is a bit tired, that's all. You +must try not to be inconsiderate." + +A vague smile dawned on Gaunt's face. He made an effort or two, and +finally achieved the repetition of the doctor's term. +"In-con-sid-erate," he murmured. "That's--that's a word, isn't it?" + +"Yes, a word. What did you expect?" asked the doctor gently. + +"I thought I had done with words," sighed the patient, lifting his eyes +to the grey autumnal sky. + +"So did we all--all except your wife," was the reply. "She was certain +that you would revive, if she went on calling you." + +Gaunt filled his lungs with the sharp air. The brandy they had given +him began to course in his veins. "Lift me up," he said. + +Dr. Dymock raised him against his knee, and slowly, as though it were +something of a feat, he lifted his hand and touched his forehead. +Around him was the grassy sloping of the Dale. Workmen's tools and +sheds were close by. At a distance were the two cars, in one of which +Joey Ferris was bending over some one. Memory returned in a rolling +flood. + +"Rosenberg. Is he alive?" + +"Oh, yes. Broken collar-bone, and I think a rib as well, but I am not +sure yet. A good many cuts and bruises, but he'll do." + +"You ought to--set his bones?" + +"Yes, the delay is bad, but it was inevitable. With you it was a matter +of life and death. However, you are all right now. Drink some more of +this stuff, and then you had better get home as fast as you can." + +Gaunt's eyes were fixed upon the figure of his wife, sitting on a heap +of stones not far off. Ferris was standing awkwardly by, evidently +trying to comfort her. Her face was hidden and her handkerchief was +held to her eyes. + +"Virginia--Virginia's crying," he said in slow surprise. "What for?" + +The doctor laughed. "Women are like that when it's all over," was his +reply. "Those are tears of joy. She has been strung up to a high point, +for I tell you candidly that I think, had it not been for her +persistence I should have given you up about a quarter of an hour ago, +and gone to attend upon the man who is alive. But she held on. +Everybody else thought you were gone." + +"She mustn't cry," said Gaunt anxiously. + +"She won't, now that she has got you back," was the reply; and the +doctor, after administering another drink, smiled kindly and with +meaning. "You are a lucky fellow, Gaunt--you have your reward for your +forbearance with her last month. Do you remember I told you then that +if you had patience you would win her in the end? Well, you did as I +asked, and I was a true prophet, was I not?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE MASTERY + + + "_I drew my window curtains, and instead + Of the used yesterday, there laughing stood + A new-born morning from the Infinite + Before my very face!_"--Alexander Smith. + + +Gaunt's mind never retained any very clear image of the rest of that +day. His brain was still partially clouded by the powerful poison which +had entered his system. As Dr. Dymock explained to Virginia, there was +not only CO_2, but actually the deadly CO itself present in the foul +shaft down which he had imperilled his life. CO, as she was further +instructed, gets into the blood, and milk and liquid nourishment should +be given for some hours, until normal conditions gradually reappear. + +The wonderful strength of the patient's heart had enabled him to rally +from the toxic fumes, but the action of that powerful organ was, +nevertheless, distinctly depressed; and he was content to pass the +evening in his bed, lying in a state of not unpleasant +semi-consciousness, and trying to adjust his ideas of what had happened. + +The doctor came round late that night to see how he was. He had left +his other patient fairly comfortable, though the injury to the ribs was +serious. The Ferrises were being very kind and hospitable. They were +only too anxious to do all they could, since they blamed themselves for +the accident--Percy because he had not sufficiently considered the +danger of the place; Joey because she had, as she herself expressed it, +"got larking." Now no trouble was too great for her to take. A nurse +was already installed, and there was no doubt that Gerald would have +every possible care and attention. + +Dr. Dymock was well satisfied with Gaunt's condition. He said that a +long night's rest would restore him to his usual state, except for the +fact that he must go carefully for a few days. He advised him not to +get up until about eleven the following day--an order deeply resented +by the master of Omberleigh, who could not remember to have breakfasted +in bed in his life, except when his leg was broken. It was, however, +consoling to be told that he would suffer no permanent effects at all +from his awful adventure. If one has to live, one would rather live +whole than maimed. + +He felt much himself when he descended the stairs next day, and went, +as Virginia had begged that he would, to her own sitting-room. She was +not there when he made his appearance. He had a few minutes in which to +realise how her presence and her touch permeated the place and made it +hers. She came running along the terrace very soon, her hands full of +spiky dahlias, orange, scarlet, yellow and copper coloured. Entering +through the window, she gave him a cheery greeting, pulling off her +gardening gloves and apron and laying down her flowers on a table. + +He sat watching her with a curious intentness, feeling as if the +handling of the situation were with her, waiting for some cue as to the +attitude he was expected to adopt. + +It was not for two or three minutes that he realised that she was in +precisely his own case. Her nervousness was very palpable. She coloured +finely when for a moment she met his eyes, and went eagerly to ring the +bell for the soup and wine which she had ordered for him. It came, +almost before he had had time to object. When it was set before him, he +did succeed, however, in voicing a protest. How could he be expected to +eat like this, at odd hours? "I've had breakfast," he urged. + +"But you must get up your strength," she told him, with serious +solicitude. "Dr. Dymock told me to be sure that you did; and you have +had nothing solid since yesterday. Do try and eat it." + +As he still hesitated, she sat down beside him, and took the cup of +soup in her hands, proffering it. "There was once a man," she said +gravely, "and his wife couldn't eat any breakfast. So he stood over her +with threats until she did." + +He winced, and bit his lip. "Don't joke about it"--hurriedly. + +"Why not?" she asked, deliberately provocative. "It _is_ a joke +now, since it has ceased to hurt me." + +"But it will never cease to humiliate me," he muttered. + +"Well, perhaps that is good for you," was the mischievous suggestion; +and to cover his confusion he was fain to take the cup of soup and +drink it, she watching with a glance of covert triumph. She would not +let him off until he had eaten and drunk all that was on the tray, +which she then carried to a distant table. + +He watched her as she returned, work-bag in hand, seating herself upon +a high stool, or bunch of cushions which stood near the hearth. She +drew out her bit of embroidery, using it obviously as a refuge for eyes +and hands. He leaned forward, and sat, chin cupped in palm, watching +her. + +"Must one be a little unwell in order to secure your sympathy and +attention, Virginia?" + +"Sick people need taking care of"--with a laugh and a blush--"and I +like taking care of people. I always did." + +He made no immediate reply, for he was meditating a plunge. She clung +to her work as to a raft in a tumbling sea. + +"I was very sick yesterday," he remarked at length. + +"For a long time they said you were--dead," she almost whispered. + +"I wish they had been right. It would have been better. Virginia! +_Why did you call me back?_" + +She turned pale. Her work fell upon her knee. "Then I was right!" she +muttered. "I suspected, I knew it really! You had some idea of throwing +yourself down that place and pretending it was an accident!" + +He sat still, without denying it. + +"You wanted to die!" she repeated, accusing him. "You wanted to kill +yourself! But why? Osbert, you have got to tell me why." + +"You know why well enough. To undo the harm I have done you. To set you +free." + +"Then," she pursued swiftly, "I suppose I am right in my other +suspicion, too? You don't want me here! You married me, not because you +loved me or wanted me, but to be revenged upon mother through me.... +And now that you find you are too soft-hearted--or that you have ceased +to think that I deserve punishment--you want to get rid of me! But +surely there are other ways to do that! You needn't kill yourself! If +you don't want me, I can go?... Why did you make such a point of my +coming back if--if----" + +He made a sound of speechless scorn; but he had turned pale. Clearly +this view of the question took him aback. "Of course you know that you +are talking nonsense," he said at last. + +She was now too much roused to feel nervous. "You call it nonsense," +said she, "but if those are your feelings----" + +"My feelings!" he broke in. "You know it's not a question of that at +all, but of your happiness. But if my feelings must be dragged in--if +you will have it so--why, use your own sense for a moment! Look at +yourself and then look at me! How can any future together be possible? +Think of how I have treated you, and how you have requited me! You see +the hopelessness of it all.... Child, you made your first mistake +yesterday. You should have let me die quietly. It didn't hurt a bit, +and I was not loath. I was slipping away so easily, it seemed far less +trouble to go on than to come back. Nothing but your voice could have +compelled me. And, if you had let me go, what a future for you! A few +weeks bother, perhaps--and perhaps even a little regret. Then freedom. +You would have been set at liberty, as you once told me you longed to +be! And _clean_, Virginia, as you also wished! You would have been +rich, you might have sent for Pansy, for Tony, for mother! Nothing of +mine would have remained but the name you bear, and that you would have +changed so soon! And you would have thought kindly of me in the end, +because the last thing I did was to bring your lover back to you." + +She drew herself up and gazed upon him with scarlet face and eyes +brimming with indignant tears. "_My lover!_ What have I done that +you should speak so to me? You know very well that I have no lover," +she said. + +He could see that she was deeply wounded. "I don't understand you a +bit," she cried, pushing all her work to the ground, and leaning her +forehead on her hands. "When I came back, you seemed so glad--really +glad. I hoped ... we might be friends. But what could I do? You didn't +like me even to take your hand. If you would really rather have died, +of course I am sorry I interfered. I didn't stop to think. It seemed +too important, there was only time to act.... I just felt that I--I +couldn't let you die like that!" her voice sank away till the +concluding words were half inaudible. + +"But why not?" he urged, "why could you not? That is the whole point, +don't you see?" + +She raised her tearful eyes and looked at him as though he were a +riddle she could not read. Then, without speaking, she rose, went to +her little work-table, opened it and took out a package. She laid it +upon his knee, returning to her own seat. "That was why," she said. + +His colour rose. "You found that?" + +"Dr. Dymock tore open your shirt to make sure whether there was any +perceptible movement of the heart. He pulled this out of the--the inner +pocket in your shirt, and flung it on the grass. I snatched it up, so +that nobody should pry into your private affairs; and then, of course, +I could not help seeing that they are--my letters." + +She added, as he held the package doubtfully, and said no word: "You +see I cannot make things fit together in my mind. If you wanted to be +rid of me, why should you keep my letters--_there_?" + +"Well, since you have discovered my folly, I had better make a clean +breast of it. After all, you have a right to know. It must sound pretty +ridiculous, but I suppose that even monsters fall in love. Caliban +himself had the taste to desire Miranda, which is horrible and +revolting. However, that is what has happened to me.... During all the +days of your absence, my heart was in the post-bag. Every letter you +wrote is here, hoarded like a miser's gold." He slipped the elastic +band which held them, and smiled wryly as he showed the worn corners of +the paper. "I studied these, and you in them," he went on hurriedly. "I +learned each day more of your honesty, your scrupulous accuracy, your +economy in spending money which was, as you thought, not your own!... +Virginia, in my youth your mother wrote me pages of love-letters! The +whole of them were not worth one line of this unconscious +self-revelation of yours.... You marvellous creature! How you managed +to spend so little is what puzzles me. And Tony, too! Yes, old Grover +let that out. Were _you_ paying for Tony? And if so, from what +fund did his expenses come?" + +His tone had changed insensibly from tense emotion to frank interest. +He raised his head, interrogating her with a look which was almost a +smile. She responded eagerly. + +"Oh, I managed that quite easily, out of my own allowance. It cost so +little! I only paid ten shillings a week for his small top-floor +bedroom. Then I paid in ten shillings a week to the board money, and +that was all, except his railway journey. You see, I could not send him +back to Wayhurst, he would have been so miserable, all alone in the +house, poor darling. It would have been hard for him, would it not? +When we were all at the sea, and he had not seen the sea for so long! +It did him so much good, he enjoyed it all so hugely." ... She forgot +her own affairs and his in the glow of her sisterly affection. He +smiled upon her a little sadly. + +"But you must be penniless yourself?" he said. "Surely your private +account is overdrawn?" + +"Oh, _no_, Osbert! You forget how much you gave me and how little +I am used to make do with! I have not wanted anything, and I have quite +a big balance----" + +"You have a positive genius for sacrifice," he said, laying aside the +packet of letters, and studying her. "You would give up everything for +Pansy, for Tony, for mother. And now--it being, from your point of +view, your duty--you are ready to make the final act of +self-abnegation, to sacrifice yourself for Osbert, too?" + +His voice had changed. It seemed as if he strove to keep to his old +ironic note; but some other force throbbed in his undertone, and it +affected Virginia strangely. + +"Of course I am. I promised," she assured him instantly, raising her +sweet, puzzled eyes to his tense face. + +He gave a laugh which startled her, tossed the package of letters upon +the table, rose, and went to the window. + +"And are you so ignorant of the meaning of things that you think, after +the confession I have just made, that this will satisfy me?" he flung +over his shoulder. + +She rose too. "I--I don't think I understand," she faltered. + +"I'm only a man, just a human man. I want love," he blurted out, his +face still averted. + +"But isn't that love?" she wondered, as though thinking out a problem +aloud for herself. "You are ready to sacrifice everything for me--even +your life--because you love me. I am ready to sacrifice--I mean, to do +and be what you would have me do and be. Isn't that love?" + +"No, it isn't," he bluntly answered. + +She grew pale, and twisted her hands tightly together. "Then--then what +is it?" she breathed. + +Taking no notice of her, he came back to the hearth and rang the bell. +Having done so, he remained with one hand on the mantel and one foot on +the fender, gazing at the fire, ignoring, as it seemed, her very +presence. + +"Hemming," said he, when his summons was answered, "will you please +bring back the statue and the pedestal which I told you to take away +the night Mrs. Gaunt returned?" + +The man departed, reappearing in a minute, with one of the other +servants, and bringing in first a shaft of black marble, and then a +dazzling white figure. They set up both pedestal and statue, in the +open space in the centre of the bay window recess. + +Virginia had seated herself when she heard the mysterious order given. +Gaunt remained silent until the servants had left the room. + +Then he moved slowly away from the fire. + +"Come and look at it," he said. + +Virginia rose, much puzzled, and went to him. They stood side by side +contemplating the delicate thing. For a while she was at a loss. Then +her eye fell upon the inscription which ran around the base of the +figure: + + +_Qui que tu sois, voici ton maitre!_ + + +Then the colour rushed to her face, for she remembered. + +"Oh! Where did you get it?" + +"I had it made. I thought it would complete the room." + +She stood in the sunlight, which poured through the window, and made a +glory of her hair. Many thoughts flowed about her, many memories. Yet +as he watched her narrowly, hungrily, he could see that these memories +were not bitter. + +"How little I knew about it! How little I understood--then," she +murmured presently. + +"Little blind girl, you understand no better now," said Gaunt. + +She lifted to him a solemn gaze. "Osbert, are you sure?" + +He put out his hands and gently turned her so that she stood facing +him. "Do you suppose that, loving you as I do, I could bear to take you +in my arms when I knew that you were fighting your natural inclination +in order not to flinch from my touch?" he demanded. + +She sighed, as if she felt that he was trying her too hard, but she +made no attempt to shake off his light hold. Through her thin sleeves +she felt the warmth of his hands. She felt, too, the slight vibration +which, now that she understood, indicated to her the curb that he was +using. Suddenly she gave a little gasping laugh, flashing a glance up +at him. + +"Osbert, if you know all about it, tell me--how does one fall in love?" + +"How?" he stammered, for a moment at a loss. + +"Why did you show me this?" she whispered, moving the least bit nearer +to him, as she indicated the statue. "You mean me to see that love +is--is a thing that masters you?" + +He signified assent without speech. + +"Well, well, master me, then! _Make me understand!_" + +He loosed her arms, to stretch out his own. With them thus, almost +encircling her, but not touching her, he paused, searching her downbent +face. "But the risk," he cried, "you might hate me!... And even +this--even what I have endured since you came back to me, would be +better than have you loathe me." + +"You can but try," she managed to stammer, with broken voice; and the +words were stifled upon her lips by the pressure of his own, as he +snatched her to his heart. + +This once only was his thought. This once, if never again! This once, +even though she were merely passive, for such invitation could not be +foregone. Nay, he must have yielded, even in face of her resistance ... +but she did not resist. She lay at first passive in his hold, while he +covered her face, her hair with kisses.... Then, when once more he +touched her mouth, he could feel her response. She answered his lips +with the free gift of her own. She gave him kiss for kiss ... and time +slid out of sight for a while. + + * * * * * + +His first coherent words were something like these: + +"But it can't be. How could it be? How could any woman forgive what I +made you endure? Even if I were an attractive man, instead of a lame +bear." + +They were sitting side by side upon the Chesterfield, and as he spoke, +Virginia raised her head from his shoulder and contemplated him. + +"It is curious," she replied, in tones of candid wonder, "but you know +I always thought somehow that this might be. Only things were so +strange afterwards, I never could be sure." + +"That sounds a bit cryptic," he commented, amused. "Can you explain?" + +She smiled with something like mischief. "Are you still certain that +you know all about it and I nothing?" + +"All about what, in the name of all the elves?" + +"About falling in love." + +"I know nothing at all about it, except as a man who has tumbled down a +precipice knows that he is down." + +"Well, I rather think that I am better informed. Shall I try to tell +you about it? Quite a long story. I must be careful not to 'prattle.' +Ah, Osbert, don't look so! You must let me tease." + +"Every time you stab me in the back like that you will have to pay for +it in kisses." + +"If that's so, I must be careful. But let me begin at the beginning. +That fatal day at Hertford House, when you followed us about, your face +made a queer impression upon me. I don't mean that I liked it--I +didn't, so you need not begin to plume yourself. It was simply that I +could not forget it. You had done something to me, though we barely +spoke. All the rest of the day, and even when I was at the theatre that +evening, the memory of your face, and specially of your eyes, kept +swimming into my fancy. When I went to bed I dreamed of you. The +shocking part is now to come. Perhaps you won't believe it. _I +dreamed exactly what has just happened._ I thought we were standing +just beside this statue, only, of course, in my dream we were in the +Gallery; and at the time I wondered how it was that I could see a +garden outside, through the window, you said: 'I am quite a stranger, +but may I kiss you?' I answered, 'Remember that if you do, it can never +be undone.' Then you--you did." + +"I did?" + +"Yes; and, in the dream, _I liked it!_" + +"Virgie!" + +"It's true. When I awoke, of course, I just thought it was absurd and +silly, as dreams are. But I could not forget it. The dream haunted me, +as your face had haunted me. When mother came home from meeting you in +town, and told me that you were the man in the Gallery, and that you +wanted to marry me, I was such a conceited pussy-cat that after the +first surprise I thought it really probable that you had fallen in love +at first sight." + +"Is it possible?" + +"Oh, don't make any mistake. I would not have dreamed of saying 'Yes' +if I had not been so beaten down and driven into a corner. But I do +think the dream turned the scale. I said to mother that, if, when you +came, you turned out to be a person whom I felt I could never like, I +should refuse. Then you came. I kept thinking of the ridiculous dream +all the time; and when you mentioned the statue--do you remember?--I +actually thought that you must have dreamed the same thing. I felt as +if you were talking a language that you and I understood: as if you +knew that you could convey a secret meaning to me--a message--without +words. Oh, it is so difficult to explain, but I felt that----" + +"Yes? For pity's sake go on!" + +"As if one day I might come to like you very much." + +"As much as this?" he whispered. + +"Oh, I never thought--I never imagined, _this_." + +There was a little silence. + +"And then," he sighed at last, "into the midst of your timid, hopeful +sweetness, fell the bomb-shell of my brutality." + +She laughed as in scorn at herself. "It _was_ unexpected," she +owned. "I was so sure that you wanted to make love to me and didn't +know how to begin. And I was so afraid of you, and growing more and +more so every minute. Oh, Osbert, I _did_ suffer." + +"Not as I did, for there was no remorse in your agony of mind." + +"But there was. I thought I had done so wrong to marry you." + +"And I--the moment I read your letter to Pansy, and hers to you, I knew +what I had done. I wanted to tell you, but how could I? All one night I +wandered about in the rain----" + +"It was the very night, I believe, that I had my second dream. In that, +you came and spoke to me quite kindly and tenderly. You said: 'All that +is happening now is the dream. Those kisses that I once gave you are +the reality.' I awoke, feeling so happy and all excited inside--do you +know the feeling? It was dreadful to find it just a dream. Ah, I was +miserable, what with the torment of Pansy being so ill ... and if I had +but known it, you were longing to comfort me!" + +"Oh," he muttered, "but I did feel abject! I could have crawled to your +foot and begged you to set it on my head." + +"I am glad you did not. I like you much better as you are now--fresh +from a deed of heroism which will make the whole county buzz with your +name for weeks to come." + +"Oh, great Scott!" in sudden consternation, "I never thought of that!" + +"Shall you grudge me my celebrated husband?" + +He laughed audibly, a thing so rare that the very sound thrilled her. +"You are too adorable! It can't be true! I shall awake." ... + +"Did you ever dream about me?" she whispered when again he released her. + +"Night after night. I was always just on the point of making you +understand, but it never came off." + +"Well, I dreamed of you one more time. That makes three. It was at +Worthing, just before I came back to you, and I thought I was searching +for you everywhere, all about this house. I told you part of it the +other day--about my dreaming of the alterations in this room. But I +didn't tell you how it went on. I wandered out into the garden, and +presently you came to me, out of a thick mist, and your eyes were shut. +You looked just as you did yesterday----" + +"When I came back to you out of the mists of death!" + +She gave a long sigh. "How wonderful!... Of course, I did not +understand the dream, or put any meaning to it. But you were speaking +as you came with your eyes shut, and you said, 'She will never come +back. Are you coming? No!' ... When I awoke I knew that I must go to +you at once. I knew that I had lingered too long, and that there must +be no more delay. But, oh, I was afraid!--I was so desperately afraid!" + +He told her of the dreadful day of her return, when he had ridden to +sessions in the miserable conviction that he had lost her altogether; +and how Ferris had told him of her adventures with young Rosenberg. + +"I got home that night absolutely convinced that it was all over," he +said. + +"Ah!" She turned suddenly and clung to him of her own accord. "And +yesterday I thought that all was over, too. It happened so fast; yet it +seemed to take years and years. I can't tell you how many thoughts I +had, while you turned round from tying up my shoe.... You knew, didn't +you, that the shoe was just an excuse to coax you away from the brink +of the chasm?" + +"I wondered." + +"Yes, I could see that you wondered, and just as I was casting about in +my mind to think what I could say, I heard Joey scream!... Then all in +a moment, I knew what would happen. I saw your face set ... and you +looked at me, just for one second, a look that seemed to set me on +fire. I could have shrieked out in my desperation, but I knew I must +not say a word to stop you. I knew you would go down, and that every +moment was precious.... Osbert, there, in that awful cave, in those few +seconds, I grew up. I saw what might be, and I saw that I was going to +lose it. I felt as if all my life I had foreseen that this was going to +happen to me, and that I never would be able to tell you----" + +"To tell me what?" + +"Oh, just this! What I _am_ telling you!" + +Thereafter, soft laughter, and more kisses. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE ESCAPE + + + "_I am the most wise Baviaan, saying in most wise tones: + 'Let us melt into the landscape--just us two by our lones.-- + People have come in a carriage--calling!... + Here's your boots--I've brought 'em--and here's your cap and stick, + And here's your pipe and tobacco. Oh, come along out + of it--quick!_"--Kipling. + + +They were pledged to dine at the Chase that night, and had no +reasonable excuse for failing to fulfil their engagement. They went +accordingly, and Virginia donned for the first time bridal white satin +and lace. + +Osbert came in from his room when she was nearly ready, his hands full +of leather cases, and proceeded to array her in what she considered a +most outrageous excess of diamonds. She was loath to spoil his +pleasure, and so consented to wear them, to the immense satisfaction of +Grover. + +When they arrived at the Chase she had to own that Osbert had been +wiser than she, for although Lady St. Aukmund called it a "quite +informal dinner," they found a party of twenty, including most of the +county set. Their entrance was the signal for an ovation for which they +had both been unprepared. Osbert's heroism was already known, it +appeared, to everybody present; and the attention he received so +overwhelmed him that his wife was in dread lest he should retire into +his shell and scowl upon his admirers in what the daring girl already +described as "his old, bad manner." + +However, in response to her wireless telegraphy, he acquitted himself +quite creditably, and found himself able not merely to endure but to +glory in the chorus of congratulation which he was called upon to +receive after the withdrawal of the ladies from table. Now that he knew +himself to be, by some miracle of grace which he did not profess to be +able to understand, in possession of Virginia's heart, he was free to +exult in the praise of her loveliness and charm which was universally +expressed. + +But when it was over, and the car was carrying them swiftly homeward +through a moonless night--when he drew her into his arms and held her +there, still half-incredulous of his own bliss--his first words were: + +"I say, Virgie, let us bolt--shan't we, darling?" + +"Bolt?" she questioned, puzzled. + +"Get away from everybody--just you and I together. Let us set out upon +our honeymoon. We'll go to the Riviera--or to Rome. Would you like +that?" + +There was a second's pause before she replied--just time for a tiny +doubt to stab him. Then she answered low: "Yes, I _should_ like +it. Let us go! How strange that I should feel so! But I do!" + +"Thank God!" he said with a gasp. "But quite alone, Virgie? Can you do +without Grover?" + +"But of course, silly! I am accustomed to do without a maid----" + +"Then we'll be off, all unbeknown! I can't stand it, you know, all this +act-of-heroism business. It turns me sick! And there'll be Rosenberg +calling me his preserver, or some other bad name like that. We can get +to London to-morrow, and I will give orders for them to dismantle the +house and redecorate while we are away. Isn't that a good scheme?" + +She thought it excellent, and approved so warmly that he went on glibly: + +"We will buy anything we want in London, and settle a route when we are +there. Caunter is quite fit to be left in charge of the place; and I +had all the designs prepared by the man who did your room, so you have +only to approve and they can get to work." + +"If I were talking to Tony, I would say that it is ripping!" + +"Then say so to me. Say anything to me. Don't, for pity's sake, be shy +of me, Virgie." + +"I'll try not. But you must own that you are rather formidable, are you +not?" + +"You ought to be punished for saying so." + +"There! You see, you are still a tyrant, disguise it how you may!" + +"Virgie, there is just one thing I am dying to know. May I ask?" + +"You may ask; but whether I shall tell you----" + +"Well, it's just this. Did Rosenberg make love to you that day you went +motoring with him?" + +"No, certainly not! He has never made love to me." + +"Honestly, my sweet, he does admire you?" + +"I used to think so. He tried to make me think that he was heart-broken +the first time we met in Queen Anne Street. But nothing more than that." + +"He seems to have managed very badly." + +"He managed so badly that I felt more vexed with him than I could have +thought possible. He had no right to be so careless of me that day at +Bignor. I was in his charge and he put me in a very uncomfortable +position. I have not forgiven him. I don't feel the same towards him as +I did." + +Her voice was quietly judicial, her manner wholly natural. Gaunt could +not but realise that here was no rival to be feared. + +"You liked him once, though?" he went on, to make himself doubly sure. + +"What--before I was married? Yes, I suppose I did. I thought I did. It +was just a delightful experience to feel that he thought me pretty. By +the way, do you think me pretty, Osbert?" + +"No." + +"I thought not. But I am, you know." + +"Little peacock! You should have heard what everybody was saying of you +when you went out of the dining-room to-night! These absurd ears must +have been quite hot! How stunning you looked in the diamonds! I am glad +I made you wear them.... It is a curious thing that, since I first saw +you, you have altered completely. I used to think you were like your +mother, and now----" + +She broke in eagerly. "So have you! How odd! You are quite, quite +different from what you used to be. Ever so much nicer!" + +"You won't leave off loving me because I am no longer morose and +miserable?" + +"No, for I am vain enough to believe that, if I ceased to love you, you +might again become morose and miserable." + +"What have you done to me, Virgie?" he whispered vehemently. + +"Turned the Beast into a Prince, that's all," she laughed, her cheek +close-pressed to his. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Mynors was hopelessly bored. Worthing without Gerald or Virgie was +simply too dull a hole. It needed but the news of Gerald's accident to +make her feel that her sojourn by the southern shore was unendurable. +Here was Virgie, her beloved child, who had travelled in a totally +unfit state of health for a journey, and must now be very ill, since no +word had come from her for three days! And here was Gerald, laid up +close by, at the Ferrises, longing for some one to cheer him and talk +to him in a congenial fashion. + +If she travelled to Derbyshire she could gratify her maternal anxiety +and her wish to see poor dear Gerald, both at the same time. It struck +her as the best plan not to announce her forthcoming arrival. Gaunt was +an unspeakable brute, a thorough boor, and would refuse to receive her +if she gave him half a chance. But if she arrived _a +l'improviste_, with the plea of irresistible maternal solicitude, he +could not have his door shut in her face. Besides, such a move would +put an end, once and for all, to his intolerable attitude towards +herself. + +Virgie, by flying in the face of her mother's wishes and going back to +him, had, of course, settled her own fate. She had insisted upon +returning, and now she must stay. It would be a pretty state of affairs +indeed if it should get about that Gaunt declined to receive his +mother-in-law. Seeing that for her to exist upon the pittance provided +was out of the question, she must spend about three months in every +year at Omberleigh; and this was most evidently the moment to make a +definite coup and show Osbert that she meant to stand no nonsense. To +have her in the house would give her poor child courage to stand up to +the tyrant. She would soon mend his manners for him, if she once found +herself established under his roof. + +It was a wild, cold, stormy afternoon when she alighted at the station; +and upon learning the distance to the house and the price demanded by +the fly-driver for the journey, she rather regretted her decision to +come unannounced. However, there was no help for it, so she and her +luggage were placed in and upon the vehicle, and they trundled off in +the fast-falling, gusty rain. + +Mr. and Mrs. Gaunt, since the acquisition of the car, had made use of +Derby as their point of departure. Thus, at the local station, nobody +was able to tell Mrs. Mynors that they were away. + +She thought she had never seen more desolate country than that which +they presently traversed. It seemed to her that they had driven for +hours when at last they came to a lodge and a drive gate, blocked by a +great cart full of bricks. + +A young man in riding clothes was standing by the roadside and +addressing vigorous reproof to the driver of the cart, who had knocked +against the gate-post with his wheel. This young man stared in mute +astonishment at sight of the carriage from the station, and the lady +with two or three large trunks. He said nothing, however, and after +some delay they passed through and on, along the now almost pitch-dark +avenue. + +In the centre of the gravel sweep was a place where they were mixing +mortar. The men were just striking work for the day, and upon the front +doorsteps sacking had been laid down. Within was a scene of the utmost +confusion--partially stripped walls, canvas-covered floor, heaps of +boards, tubs and trestles. + +"Good gracious!" ejaculated the visitor in horror. "Is this what my +child is called upon to put up with?" + +The driver descended and rang a jangling peal upon the bell. After some +delay, Hemming, in a linen coat, with a green baize apron, came in +astonishment to the door. + +"Is Mrs. Gaunt at home?" demanded the lady regally. + +"No, ma'am, she is not." + +"Mr. Gaunt, then?" + +"No, ma'am; they are both away--and likely to be for some time to come." + +"Away? Do you mean that they will not be home any time to-day?" + +"Not for some weeks, ma'am, as I understood. They talk of being home +for Christmas," said Hemming mildly, gazing with apprehension at the +driver, who showed signs of being about to unload the trunks. + +"You must be misinforming me. I am Mrs. Gaunt's mother. Had they been +leaving home, I should certainly have been made aware of their plans. I +insist upon coming in. I believe that Mr. Gaunt has given you +instructions to say they are not at home to visitors, but that will not +apply to me." + +"I assure you, ma'am, that Mr. and Mrs. Gaunt left on Monday for the +continong--what part I do not as yet know." + +"Did Mrs. Gaunt take Grover with her?" + +"She did not, ma'am. Perhaps you would like to see Miss Grover?" + +"Send her to me at once," was the reply, while the speaker's heart +swelled with resentment. He had taken Virgie away, somewhere out of +reach, out of touch with those who loved her! What might she not be +enduring? + +Grover presently came along the dismantled hall. She wore an expression +of complacency which made Mrs. Mynors feel ready to strike the woman. + +"I come here," she began, "to see how my poor daughter is, and I find +she has been hurried away, nobody knows where. What information can you +give me?" + +Grover wiped her hands upon her apron doubtfully. Evidently she had +been engaged upon the work of packing up the house ready for the +onslaught of the British workman. + +"Dear me, ma'am, what a pity you didn't send a wire to say you was +coming! I could have saved you the trouble," said Grover. "Mrs. Gaunt +is very well indeed, and Mr. Gaunt and she is gone off upon their +honeymoon, ma'am. I daresay they'll be away a couple of months." + +"I suppose I may at least claim shelter for the night in my daughter's +house?" demanded Mrs. Mynors with a voice which shook with +mortification. + +"Well, ma'am, I don't hardly know where we could put you," was the meek +reply. "The whole house is upset, for it is to be redecorated from top +to bottom. I do really think, ma'am, that you would be more comfortable +at the station hotel. We are all upside down, as you can see." She +turned to the butler. "Hemming," said she, "wouldn't it be better if +you was to pay the driver and let him go? Then we can give Mrs. Mynors +a cup of tea, as I know Mrs. Gaunt would wish, and send her down to +Derby in the car, to catch the late express to town. Wouldn't that be +best, ma'am?" As Mrs. Mynors hesitated, she added: "There's but one +room in the house fit for you to sit down in, and that is Mrs. Gaunt's +boodwor. I have been so busy helping above stairs, I haven't had a +minute yet to pack it up. This way, ma'am." + +Feeling that opposition was useless, Mrs. Mynors picked her dainty way +along the hall, while Hemming paid off the fly-driver and lifted the +trunks into the entrance, out of the rain. Grover, as she went, kept up +a running fire of information. + +"A dark passage, ma'am, but you will see a great difference when the +alterations are made. A window is to be knocked through here, and the +bushes outside cleared away, and a bit of a Dutch garden put in, so +Mrs. Gaunt tells me. This is her own room, ma'am, that Mr. Gaunt had +done up for a surprise for her when she come home. She was pleased, +too. I never see her so delighted, pretty dear." + +Mrs. Mynors walked in. The last ray of sunshine slanted over the wide +landscape without, and gilded the delicate colouring of the room. She +stood there, noting every detail. + +"I wish you could have seen her, ma'am, the night before they started +off," purred Grover. "Lady St. Aukmund, she give a dinner-party in her +honour, and Mr. Gaunt had had all the family jools re-set. She wore +white satin, ma'am, and with the diamonds and all she did look a +perfect picture. We heard afterwards as all the county was talking +about her. Mr. Gaunt, it's pretty to see how proud he is of her. But it +is but natural they should want to be by themselves a bit at first. +Everybody is talking about Mr. Gaunt's courage, the way he went down +the mine after that young Mr. Rosenberg! There! It was a fine deed, +wasn't it, ma'am? Sit down, I will bring you some tea directly." + +She left the room, and Virginia's mother, her mouth set in hard lines, +stood gazing about her. She thought of Osbert as she first remembered +him, in his impetuous youth. What magic wand had touched him now, +raising up love and youth from their ashes? Was he indeed lavishing +upon Virgie--Virgie, her little girl, her willing drudge, to whom she +had deputed all disagreeable duties--the torrent of devotion which she +might once have had? + +Very sincerely at that moment did she repent her own inconstancy. Had +she had the courage to stick to Osbert, her fidelity would have been +rewarded quite soon. He was not as rich a man as Bernard had been when +first they married--at least, she supposed not. Yet she knew that with +him for a husband she would never have been suffered to dissipate a +fortune. His strong hand would have been over her. She would have been +governed instead of governing. + +She stood in the window and turned her eyes upon the delicate statue of +Love. Idly she read the inscription around its base. Then her eye +caught a little brass plate affixed to the black marble shaft near the +top. + + + _O.G. V.O. JUNE 30th, 19--_ + + +It was the date of their first meeting. + +She was still contemplating this, in profound reflection, when Grover +came back with the tea. + +"You must excuse deficiencies, ma'am. Hemming have locked up pretty +near all the silver; with so many workmen about you need eyes in the +back of your head. Was you looking at the statue, ma'am? Mr. Gaunt had +it made, so Mrs. Gaunt tells me, to commemorate their first meeting. As +I daresay you know, ma'am, it was love at first sight with him. And who +can wonder? Well, he deserves to be happy, doesn't he? For he risked +all his future, and hers, to save that young man. They say he was as +near dead as anybody could be, to come back at all; but Mrs. Gaunt, she +wouldn't let them give up. + +"She sat there, so Ransom tells me, holding his head, nursing him in +her arms as she sat on the grass, and calling to him, so pitiful, there +was hardly a dry eye, ma'am, for every one thought she was speaking to +a dead man. Then, when his eyelids flickered, it seemed like a miracle. +So at last he opens his eyes, and, 'Do you know me?' she says. And he +answers very low, but you could hear it all right: '_My wife!_' he +says. + +"Just fancy, ma'am! And with that she broke down, and cried till they +couldn't stop her, with the sudden relief. More than two hours she had +been crouching there, cramped up on the ground." + +Mrs. Mynors was too interested even to feign indifference. She made +Grover give her all the details of the expedition, and relate exactly +what had taken place. Grover was more than willing, and the tale lost +nothing in the telling. + +"Like a pair of children, they was," she concluded, "when they started +off on their travels. Him laughing and talking like a boy going home +for the holidays. Making their escape, they called it, for of course +the whole countryside was buzzing with the story of what he had done, +and the carriages and cars came up the drive so fast, Hemming was to +and fro the whole day taking in cards, telling them that Mr. Gaunt was +not feeling quite equal to seeing visitors, when all the time he was +upstairs with her, packing their things for the escape! + +"Well, ma'am, we always knew that a wife was what he wanted, but I +never dared to hope for such a sweet young lady as he chose. They say +marriages are made in heaven, don't they? There's not much doubt but +what this one was, I take it upon myself to say!" + + * * * * * + +Virginia's mother finished her tea in a speculative silence. Grover +left her to herself, but when she had eaten and drunk she did not seem +inclined to linger. Rising, she went to the window and stood awhile +gazing out upon the activities of many gardeners, hard at work below +the terrace upon the beginning of the bride's rock garden. Her face +seemed to grow sharp and pinched as her eyes followed the busy scene. + +Turning, she contemplated the marble Love; and her pretty teeth bit +into her lower lip, while her breath came hissingly. + +_Made in heaven!_ A wild laugh broke from her. Its mirthless +cadence fell hatefully upon the silence. Nebuchadnezzar, when he cast +his victims into the burning fiery furnace, was, it is recorded, +thankful to find them coming forth unscathed. This woman had cast her +daughter, bound, into the hellish gulf of a loveless marriage. Now that +she saw her walking free and companied by the husband whose very soul +she had redeemed, there was no joy, no relief, but a bitterness of hate +which transformed the pretty features into a mask of horror. + +Suddenly she snatched her wraps, as if the scene were unbearable. She +hastened into the disembowelled hall and, putting on her coat amid many +apologies from Grover for enforced inhospitality, went out to the +waiting car. + + * * * * * + +It was her only glimpse of her daughter's home for many years to come. +This was not from lack of invitation, for all Osbert's hatred, and +every lingering grudge, vanished in the sunshine of his personal +happiness. It was simply that her narrow soul was torn with envy. + +The sound of Tony's laughter and shouting soon re-echoed through the +garden and stables; the ring of his pony's hoofs could be heard along +the avenue. Pansy's invalid chair set out upon the terrace the +following summer, where Virgie had once lain, watched secretly by her +husband from the shelter of his den. Even the Rosenbergs came for a +week's motoring, when Gerald had practically recovered from his hideous +accident. + +Boys, girls, dogs, cats--a perpetual stream of youth ebbed and flowed +about the erstwhile silent place. But Virginia the elder came not. + +Even when Osbert the second made his glorious appearance--when bonfires +were lit in the village, and Lord and Lady St. Aukmund stood sponsors +at a stately baptismal ceremony--the mother still held aloof. +Virginia's unhappiness she could have borne. Virginia the radiant young +wife and mother, central point of attention, mistress of Gaunt's heart +and all that he possessed, was a perpetual reminder of what she herself +had flung away. With her daughter's life as the price, she had +purchased freedom from want. Yet, from the time when it dawned upon her +that the girl was miraculously saved, she never knew a moment free from +the gnawing tooth of jealous bitterness. + +The joy which these two had so perilously snatched from the jaws of +destiny was more than she dare contemplate. + + + +THE END + + + +_The greatest pleasure in life is that of reading. Why not then own +the books of great novelists when the price is so small_ + +_Of all the amusements which can possibly be imagined for a +hard-working man, after his daily toil, or, in its intervals, there is +nothing like reading an entertaining book, it calls for no bodily +exertion. It transports him into a livelier, and gayer, and more +diversified and interesting scene, and while he enjoys himself there he +may forget the evils of the present moment. Nay, it accompanies him to +his next day's work, and gives him something to think of besides the +mere mechanical drudgery of his every-day occupation--something he can +enjoy while absent, and look forward with pleasure to return to._ + +_Ask your dealer for a list of the titles in Burt's Popular Priced +Fiction_ + +_In buying the books bearing the A. L. Burt Company imprint you are +assured of wholesome, entertaining and instructive reading_ + + + +_THE BEST OF RECENT FICTION_ + + + +Lynch Lawyers.+ William Patterson White. + +McCarty Incog.+ Isabel Ostrander. + +Major, The.+ Ralph Connor. + +Maker of History, A.+ E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +Malefactor, The.+ E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +Man and Maid.+ Elinor Glyn. + +Man from Bar 20, The.+ Clarence E. Mulford. + +Man from the Bitter Roots, The.+ Caroline Lockhart. + +Man in the Moonlight, The.+ Rupert S. Holland. + +Man in the Twilight, The.+ Ridgwell Cullum. + +Man Killers, The.+ Dane Coolidge. + +Man Who Couldn't Sleep, The.+ Arthur Stringer. + +Man's Country.+ Peter Clark Macfarlane. + +Marqueray's Duel.+ Anthony Pryde. + +Martin Conisby's Vengeance.+ Jeffery Farnol. + +Mary-Gusta.+ Joseph C. Lincoln. + +Mary Wollaston.+ Henry Kitchell Webster. + +Mason of Bar X Ranch.+ H. Bennett. + +Master of Man.+ Hall Caine. + +Master Mummer, The.+ E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.+ A. Conan Doyle. + +Men Who Wrought, The.+ Ridgwell Cullum. + +Meredith Mystery, The.+ Natalie Sumner Lincoln. + +Midnight of the Ranges.+ George Gilbert. + +Mine with the Iron Door, The.+ Harold Bell Wright. + +Mischief Maker, The.+ E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +Missioner, The.+ E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +Miss Million's Maid.+ Berta Ruck. + +Money, Love and Kate.+ Eleanor H. Porter. + +Money Master, The.+ Gilbert Parker. + +Money Moon, The.+ Jeffery Farnol. + +Moonlit Way, The.+ Robert W. Chambers. + +More Limehouse Nights.+ Thomas Burke. + +More Tish.+ Mary Roberts Rinehart. + +Moreton Mystery, The.+ Elizabeth Dejeans. + +Mr. and Mrs. Sen.+ Louise Jordan Miln. + +Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo.+ E. Phillips Oppenheim, + +Mr. Pratt.+ Joseph C. Lincoln. + +Mr. Pratt's Patients.+ Joseph C. Lincoln. + +Mrs. Red Pepper.+ Grace S. 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