HOW A JOURNEY IS BEGUN AS THE DAY DIES DOWN; AND HOW THAT JOURNEY
ENDS; AND HOW A GREAT SECRET IS DISCOVERED--THE SECRET OF TITA'S
HEART.
The parting between Margaret and Tita had taken a long time. There
had been many admonitions from the former, and entreaties from the
latter, principally about Margaret's coming to see her as soon as
possible. These precious moments had been broken in upon by Colonel
Neilson, who had sent up word by one of the servants that he asked a
few minutes' conversation with Miss Knollys.
Those minutes had grown into a quarter of an hour, and then Margaret
had come back looking decidedly guilty, but rather inclined to a
tearful mirth.
"You needn't speak," said Tita, with a pretence at contempt. "You
didn't say 'No' on Sunday, and you have said 'Yes' to-day. It is
quite simple."
"Well, it is all your fault," Margaret had returned, sinking into a
chair, and beginning to laugh rather shamefacedly. "If you had
stayed with me it never would have happened. But you have shown me
how delightful companionship is, and having shown it, you basely
desert me. And now--I feel so lonely that----"
"That?"
"I have broken through all my vows, and said----"
"Yes?"
"Yes!"
"You must _both_ come down and stay with me as soon as ever you
can," said Tita, giving her a tender hug.
* * * * * *
The long sweet summer evening is growing into night as the train
draws up at the old station that Tita knows so well. She looks out
of the window, her heart in her eyes, taking in all the old
signs--the guard fussy as ever--Evans the porter (she nods to him
through eyes filled with tears)--the glimpse of the church spire
over the top of the station-house--the little damp patch in the roof
of the booking-office.
She almost starts, so deep is her reverie, as Rylton lays a hand
upon her shoulder.
"Come," says he, smiling.
"Why----" begins she, surprised. She sees he has her travelling-bag
in his hand, and that he wants to pass her to open the window.
"This is our station," says he.
"This?"
"Yes. I think I told you the new place I had bought was in this
county."
"Yes. I know, but so near----"
Rylton has opened the door, and is calling to a porter. Evan comes
up.
"Welcome home, my lady," says he, touching his cap to Tita, who
gives him a little nod in return, whilst feeling that her heart is
breaking.
"Home!" She feels as if she hates poor Evans, and yet of course he
had meant nothing. No doubt he thought she was coming back to
Oakdean. Dear, _dear_ Oakdean, now lost to her for ever!
A carriage is waiting for them, and Rylton, putting her into it,
goes away to see to their luggage. Tita, sitting drearily within,
her heart sad with recollections of the past, is suddenly struck by
a sound that comes to her through the shut windows of the carriage.
She opens the one nearest to her and listens.
It is only a poor vagrant on the pavement without, singing for a
penny or two. But the song goes to her very heart:
"It's hame, and its hame--hame fain wad I be,
O! hame, hame, hame, to my ain countree."
A sob rises in her throat. So near to her own dear home, and yet so
far. She finds her purse, and hastily flings half a crown to the
poor wretch outside, who never guesses why she got so large a dole.
And now Rylton returns. He gets in. The carriage drives away through
the well-remembered town, over the old bridge, and into the
sweetness of the sleeping country.
Already the stars are out. Through the warm bank of dying sunset
over there a pale little dot is glimmering. Steel-gray are the
heavens, fast deepening into darkest blue, and over the hills, far,
far away, the faint suggestion of a "young May moon" is growing. A
last faint twittering of birds is in the air, and now it ceases, and
darkness falls and grows, and shadows fill the land and hide the
edges of the moors, and blacken the sides of the walls as they drive
past them.
Tita is always peering out of the window. At a sudden turn in the
road she draws back as if hurt.
"This is the turn to Oakdean!" says she sharply.
"Yes; we are going this road."
"It must be near, then, this new place--_quite_ near?"
"It is near."
She looks at him for a moment, her face fraught with great grief.
"Oh, how _could_ you?" says she. "How _could_ you have bought a
place so close to it?"
She leans back into her corner, and it is his misery at this moment
that he cannot know whether she is crying or not. Presently she
starts forward again.
"Why, we are going down the road!" cries she. "We shall go past the
gates!" She waits as if for an answer, but he makes her none. "Oh,
you _should_ have told me," says she faintly.
He puts out his hand and takes hers. She does not repulse him, and
he holds it in a close clasp. Is there some magnetic influence at
work that tells her all the truth--that betrays to her his secret?
She turns suddenly and looks at him, but he refuses to meet her
glance. He can feel that she is trembling violently. Her hand is
still in his, and her eyes are fixed intently on the open window
near her.
And now they are nearing Oakdean. She can see the pillars of the
gates. A little cry escapes her. And now, _now_ they are _at_ the
gate--soon they will be past----
_But what is this?_ The coachman has drawn up! They stop! The groom
springs down--someone from the lodge rushes quickly out. The gates
are flung wide. The horses dash down the avenue!
* * * * *
Presently they draw up at the hall door--the door of Oakdean!
Rylton, getting out, takes her in his arms, and places her on the
first step of the stones that lead to the hall.
Not one word has passed between them since that last reproach of
hers.
And now they have reached the library. It is brilliantly lit. Tita,
flinging off her wraps in a mechanical sort of way, looks round her.
Nothing is changed--nothing! It is _home_. Home really--home as it
always had been!
She is pale as a little ghost! Though she has looked at the room,
she has not once looked at _him!_ And, with a sort of feeling that
he has made a bid for her favour, Rylton makes no attempt to go to
her or say a word.
She is so silent, so calm, that doubts arise within him as to the
success of his experiment--for experiment it must be called. He had
bought in the old house expressly to please her the moment he was in
a position to do so; had bought it, indeed, when she was showing a
most settled determination to have nothing to do with him--directly
after her refusal to accept a competence at his hands.
And now, how will it be? Her eyes are wandering round the room,
noting each dear familiar object; at last they come to Rylton.
He is looking back at her--a little sad, a little hopeless. Their
eyes meet.
Then all at once she gives way. She runs to him, and flings herself
into his open arms.
"To do this for me! _This!_" cries she.
She clings to him. Her voice dies away.
She is lying on his breast. He can feel her heart beating against
his. His arms tighten round her.
"Tita, you love me!" whispers he, in a low tone, passionately.
She feels so small a thing in his embrace--a mere child of fourteen
might be a bigger thing than she is. The knowledge that she has
grown very thin during their estrangement goes to his heart like a
knife. Oh, dear little, _darling_ girl!
"You must love me--you _must,"_ says he, holding her to him, as if
he could never let her go. _"Try_ to love me, Tita."
Slowly, very slowly, she stirs within his arms. She looks up at him.
It is such a strange look. It transfigures the beautiful little
face, making it even more beautiful than it was before. But Maurice,
who is hanging on it, to whom it means life or death, does not dare
translate the expression. It seems to him that she is going into all
that intolerable past and reading his very soul. God grant she may
read it aright!
The strain grows too terrible; he breaks it.
"My darling, speak!" entreats he.
She wakes as if from a dream.
"Oh, I love you--I do love you!" cries she. She lays her hands
against his breast, and leans back from him. "I have loved you
always, I think; but now I know it. Oh, Maurice, love me too, and
not _her_--_not her!"_
* * * * *
It is half an hour later. He has induced her to eat something; and
at her request has eaten something himself--as a fact, being both
young, they were both extremely hungry, and are now feeling
infinitely better.
"I want a fresh handkerchief," says Tita, looking up at him shyly,
but with a smile that shows all her pretty teeth. _"See_ how you
have made me cry!" She holds up the little damp rag that she has
been using since her arrival. "Give me one out of my bag."
Opening her bag to get the handkerchief desired, something else
falls to the floor--a small thing. He picks it up.
"Why, what is this?" says he.
"Oh, it is my---- Give it to me. It is my forget-me-not," says she,
colouring hotly.
A pause.
"The little plant I sent?" asks he softly.
"Yes," in a lovely, shamefaced way.
"You kept that?"
"To plant it here."
"Because----"
"Oh, you _know."_
"Tell me again."
"Because I love you."
She throws her arms around his neck, and their lips meet.
THE END.
PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER.
Obvious typographical errors silently corrected by the
transcriber:
volume 1 Chapter 4 : =Marry me as I am, and for what I am in your
sight, and seek a new life with me abroad.= silently corrected as
=Marry me as I am, and for what I am in your sight, and seek a new
life with me abroad."=
volume 1 chapter 6 : ='They laugh who win," is an old proverb.=
silently corrected as ='They laugh who win,' is an old
proverb.=
volume 1 chapter 9 : =Rickfort is my house, too, but I hate it; it
is so gloomy." I'm sure," with a shrug of her shoulders= silently
corrected as =Rickfort is my house, too, but I hate it; it is so
gloomy. I'm sure," with a shrug of her shoulders=
volume 1 chapter 10 : ="God heavens, yes!" says his mother=
silently corrected as ="Good heavens, yes!" says his mother=
volume 1 chapter 21 : =she'll always be able to tell you something
about them you never heard before."= silently corrected as
=she'll always be able to tell you something about them you never
heard before=
volume 1 chapter 22 : ="Many I night I saw the Pleiads, rising
through the mellow shade,= silently corrected as ="Many a night
I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade,=
volume 1 chapter 27 : ="Oh, Randal!" you are too stupid for
anything," says Tita, showing all her pretty teeth=. Silently
corrected as ="Oh, Randal! you are too stupid for anything," says
Tita, showing all her pretty teeth.=
volume 2 chapter 1 : ="Oh, do, _do_ stop," says Margaret, lifting
her hand. "You are getting on that--that wretched old tack
again.= silently corrected as ="Oh, do, _do_ stop," says
Margaret, lifting her hand. "You are getting on that--that wretched
old tack again."=
volume 2 chapter 2 : =Tita's determination not to accept the olive
branch he offered her yesterday is before him too. What if
she=--="= silently corrected as =Tita's determination not
to accept the olive branch he offered her yesterday is before him
too. What if she--=
volume 2 chapter 4 : ="I know--I know," says she. "If is a
dishonourable thought,= silently corrected as "=I know--I
know," says she. "It is a dishonourable thought,=
volume 2 chapter 8 : ="Yes, you? When I left home this morning,
what was the last word I said to you? =silently corrected as=
"Yes, you! When I left home this morning, what was the last word I
said to you?=
volume 2 chapter 8 : =words seem to fail her. Oh! I should like to
_shake_ you," says she at last.= silently corrected as =words
seem to fail her. "Oh! I should like to _shake_ you," says she at
last.=
volume 2 chapter 8 =: "She has come close up to him. Her charming
face is uplifted to his.= silently corrected as =She has come
close up to him. Her charming face is uplifted to his.=
volume 2 chapter 17 : ="You forget," says he coldly, "that you are
married to me. It is not so simple a matter as you seem to imagine
for a wife to throw off her marriage yoke.= silently corrected as
"=You forget," says he coldly, "that you are married to me. It is
not so simple a matter as you seem to imagine for a wife to throw
off her marriage yoke."=
volume 2 chapter 17 : =" 'Alone I did it!" To-day I set you free!"
=silently corrected as =" 'Alone I did it!' To-day I set you
free!"=
volume 2 chapter 22 : =It is the mynd that maketh good or ill,"
says the old poet.= silently corrected as ="It is the mynd that
maketh good or ill," says the old poet.=
volume 2 chapter 23 =: "You loved me once. You loved me. Oh,
Maurice, smiting her hands together,= silently corrected as
"=You loved me once. You loved me. Oh, Maurice," smiting her hands
together,=
volume 2 chapter 25 : =Maurice will understand."= Silently
corrected as =Maurice will understand.=
Volume 2 chapter 25 : =says Rylton, interrupting her quickly.
Speak for yourself only. For my part,= silently corrected as
=says Rylton, interrupting her quickly. "Speak for yourself only.
For my part,=
volume 2 chapter 26 : ="I really _don't_ know," says Margaret,
"bringing a dignified eye to bear upon him=. Silently corrected
as ="I really _don't_ know," says Margaret, bringing a dignified
eye to bear upon him.=