ONE NAIL DRIVES OUT ANOTHER
I looked and saw your heart
In the shadow of your eyes,
As the seeker sees the gold
In the shadow of the stream.
_Three Shadows._
There is a legend which says that September is the month of the fading
leaf. Townsmen may fancy so, looking at their own starved avenues,
which begin to shrivel and strip themselves as early as July; but
in the country the massive woods (except that an elm here and there
hangs out a single crocus-yellow spray) keep the somber green of late
summer to the very end of the month. Then, as the days pass, first the
lime "strips to the cold and standeth naked above her yellow attire."
The horse-chestnuts on some night of frost let drop all their fans
in a rustling heap. The woodland paths are crisp with fawn-colored
oak leaves. Last of all, in mid-November, the elms loosen to the wind
and the rain those faint clouds of green and greenish-gold which have
rounded the shape of their limbs, till all the wet meadows are strewn
with them; and it is winter.
At Rochehaut it was September still, late September. Gardiner, at
leisure after the summer rush, had been to his bank at Bouillon, and,
instead of returning by the _vicinal_, had chosen to walk back over the
hills through Botassart. This route brought him past the crucifix. He
had not been there since the grand explosion, and it cost him an effort
to go back; but he refused to be sentimental, or allow a beautiful
thing to be spoiled for him by fancies. There he lay then on the grass,
smoking and dreaming.
It seemed long, long since that summer night; so long that he could
look back now, on it and on Dorothea, as part of the past. Heavens!
how she had hurt him! There was that time as a boy, when he tumbled
waist-deep into a vat of scalding liquid at some chemical works; he
could compare his feelings only to that violent assault of pain. Yes,
she had hurt him abominably; the pain of his crushed hand had been by
contrast a relief and a distraction. But the wound was on the surface;
and, though he scarcely knew it himself, already it was beginning to
heal. There was no poison in it. His passion for Dorothea had been
effectually cauterized; he thought of her now without either resentment
or desire. He was profoundly sorry; sorrier for Dorothea O'Connor
than even for Mrs. Trent. This pity, oddly enough, confirmed him in
impenitence. "I did her a good turn when I cleared that fellow out of
her road," he said to himself with inverted satisfaction. "If he'd
lived long enough for her to find him out, there'd have been _la de
Dios es Cristo_!"
Three days of pale still sunshine had closed in threatening gloom.
The grassy hill of the crucifix was burnt putty-color; the hill of
forests opposite was olive-somber; the valley fumed with tawny vapors,
breathing down from the gloom of the sky, and up from the dark current
of the river. All was still, grave, overcast, till the sun found his
sunset crevice in the clouds and split them, overflowing in long lines
of liquid gold between iron-heavy bars. Splendid transparent fan-rays
of light and dark alternate streamed up the sky; they rimmed vague
forms of mist with burning wire, they filled the empty blue with bronze
and golden vapors; the whole vault of heaven was on fire, the wet brown
hills flamed back responsive glory.
Gardiner, susceptible to every earth influence, found his senses
flooded with that golden exhilaration. Vague mists of thought took
shape in its light; he knew now that that name on the lintel of the
farm was not a mere coincidence. When he first saw the Bellevue,
"Why, I've been here before," he had said to himself, with a thrill
of startled recognition. And now, "I belong here," he added, half
aloud, with a touch of solemnity, as though the spoken word must be
irrevocable. Old ties were dear; but he knew in his heart, his body
knew, that the wild Semois down there in the valley was more to him
than the Darenth of his boyhood. This was his home.
Bringing his dazzled eyes to earth, he saw that a figure had detached
itself from the orchards of the Bellevue, and was slowly mounting the
hill. One person only would climb like that, with so many divagations
to avoid steep places, and so many halts to admire the view--or could
it be to get her breath? It was Lettice.
Since his accident, now five weeks ago, Gardiner had seen a good deal
of Miss Smith. His hand had been unexpectedly troublesome; indeed he
was only now beginning to use it. Meantime he had made use of Lettice
as his amanuensis, repaying her services by refusing to allow her to
settle her bill. "No, I am _not_ going to take that money," he said,
energetically nodding towards the pile of notes she had deposited on
his table. "I'll pitch it into the fire if you leave it there. Also
I shall wire to town for a regular secretary. Pick it up and take it
away." Lettice did not like it in the very least; but very slowly
and very stubbornly she did pick the money up and return it to her
purse. Nor was her temper soothed when Gardiner looked at her direct,
with a glint in his eye, and added, "I know you wind Denis round your
little finger, but I am not Denis. Two can play at being obstinate,
savez-vous?" Still, she continued to act as his secretary; until by the
end of the month she knew his methods and his business almost as well
as he did himself.
It was after this episode that she began to play with him, admitting
him to rank as an intimate; and that he began to discover what
it was that Denis loved in those velvet touches. But he was more
uncertain than Denis--he was not to be run by formula; he would
turn unexpectedly, and parry, and strike back. Once or twice, too,
especially at first, when he was acting the urbane and cheerful host,
he found her eyes fixed upon him. They were instantly withdrawn; but
he knew she knew he was suffering, and oddly enough he did not resent
it. Oddly, be it understood, because Gardiner was by no means fond of
sympathy. His instinct when hard hit was to cover up the wound and
keep it hidden from the world, and especially from his friends. Yet it
seemed he did not mind Lettice. And now, though he saw she was making
for the crucifix, to disturb his regal solitude, he did not stir.
She had not seen him. She plodded on without looking up, and presently
was hidden in a fold of the hill. When she emerged again, it was within
ten yards of the crucifix and that lazy, smiling figure. She stopped
short; one could almost hear her spirit say "Oh!" though her lips were
silent. Her first impulse obviously was to beat a retreat (Gardiner
chuckled, he had known it would be!), but she thought better of it,
and came on. After surveying the heap of stones, she chose the one
comfortable place, settled herself, and got out the inevitable green
tablecloth. Lettice made great play with that tablecloth.
Since she would not speak, Gardiner did.
"I didn't know you'd found your way up here."
"Why, you told me about it yourself."
"Do you like it better than your wood pile in the forest?"
Lettice paused in the act of threading her needle to look round on the
brown and gold of hills and woods and sky. "Yes," said she; and if she
had raved for an hour she could have expressed no more. Comfortable
silence fell between them. Lettice stitched, and Gardiner smoked,
and in the west the sunset flared in citron, amber, saffron, bronze,
and a thousand shades of glory. In the east a scroll of cloud reared
dazzling sunny heights of snow against dazzling blue. Lettice's needle
slackened; it came to a standstill.
"Penny for your thoughts," said Gardiner.
"I haven't any."
"I thought you were composing a poem."
Insults of insults! Lettice looked volumes of reproach. "I was _not_,"
said she.
"But you do write poetry."
"Who told you so?"
"Who do you suppose? Denis has told me quite a lot about you. Hasn't he
told you a lot about me?"
"Yes; but it wasn't all of it true."
Gardiner burst out laughing. "Well, that is good! How do you know?"
"Oh, it's, it's--it's obvious," said Lettice, with an exasperated
wave of the hand to help out her meaning. She began to sew very fast.
Gardiner contemplated her with a broad smile; but presently it faded,
and he turned over and lay plucking at the grass.
"Did Miss O'Connor leave her address with you?"
Lettice shook her head.
"She went off in such a hurry!"
Gardiner opened his mouth to speak, and checked himself for a garrulous
fool. He did not know why he had mentioned Dorothea at all. A moment
later the impulse came again, and he found himself, to his surprise,
telling Lettice the very thing he had decided not to mention. "Rather
a queer thing about that young lady," he remarked lightly. "I found
out--to be exact, she hurled the fact in my teeth--that she wasn't a
Miss, and that O'Connor wasn't her name. She was a widow--a Mrs. Trent."
"Mrs. Trent? What, the, the--"
"Oh, you know about her, do you? Yes, the Mrs. Trent of Easedale. She's
firmly persuaded that I killed her husband. I believe she came over
here simply and solely in order to worm some sort of confession out of
me."
He stopped, amazed at himself. Then he looked at Lettice. If deep
unaffected interest can pull confidences out of a man, here was his
excuse. Why, she was all eyes and ears!
"So that was it!" she said. "That was who she was!"
"You don't mean to tell me you knew about this before?"
"No, no, not her name. But I knew she didn't much like you."
"The dickens you did! Did she say so?"
"No, I, I--I sort of gathered it."
"I begin to think what Denis said about you was true," Gardiner
remarked after a pause.
"What did Denis say about me?"
"That you could see through a flight of stairs and a deal door."
"I don't know _what_ you mean."
"You wouldn't, it's out of Dickens," said Gardiner, with a laugh which
hid considerable perturbation. So she had guessed that, had she, before
he knew it himself? What was there she did not guess? He began to feel
helplessly transparent. Yet again he was surprised to find he did not
hate her for intruding. Lettice could pick her way among sensibilities
like a cat among china, and she neither misunderstood nor misjudged.
There were episodes in his life which he would have been ashamed to
show to Denis. He could have shown them every one to Lettice, unmarried
girl though she was, and with no experience of the rough and tumble of
life. Somehow one never thought of Lettice as a girl. He looked up at
her. She had dropped her work and sat motionless, her eyes fixed on the
sunset. In nature as in human nature, Lettice looked to the limit of
sight, and beyond, to the city of God. It was that distant view which
gave her the perspective for things near. While Gardiner was making
these reflections, she turned her head suddenly and surprised him with
a question:
"Does Denis know about Mrs. Trent?"
"I should say not. I haven't told him."
"I think you'd better."
It was so unlike Lettice to offer advice that he stared in surprise.
"Why?"
"He ought to know."
"I don't want to go into that business again," said Gardiner. "He did
hate it all so desperately--no, I don't want to rake it up again. Nor
do I see any necessity. What does it matter?"
"Would you mind if I told him?"
"Why the dickens are you so keen?"
She hesitated. She found it chronically hard to put her thoughts into
speech, and in this case there were reservations to be made. Gardiner
took the words out of her mouth.
"You don't mean you think she'd go for him too?"
Lettice nodded. "She meant to get a confession out of one or the other
of you."
"Oh, my Lord!" said Gardiner, and caught himself up. "But if there's
nothing to confess?"
A flash went over Lettice's face. Was it conceivable that she had
guessed even that last thing? No, it wasn't, Gardiner decided hastily,
that was beyond her, she couldn't possibly know. For an instant
he thought of telling her himself, but caution, habit, above all
self-derision held him back. He blurt out that damaging truth to a
chance acquaintance? He wasn't such a fool!--All this passed through
his mind in the instant between his question and her reply.
"Well, she didn't give you much of a time while she was trying to find
out, did she?"
"No; but--oh, she _couldn't_ try that game on again, it would be too
beastly low down, with a man like Denis! Besides, he isn't taking any,
he simply hates women.... Look here, tell me exactly what you know, do
you mind? What makes you so certain she meant to go for him?"
Lettice drew a long breath. Her explanation, when it came, ran clear
and straight. Indeed, her thought was always lucid; it was the words
that failed.
"It was that last day before she went. She began by telling me about
herself and how unhappy she had been; and then she let out that there
was some man she hated; and then she began asking questions about you
and Denis, coupling you together, do you see?--but so that you couldn't
help guessing it was you she'd been talking about. One thing she asked
was whether Denis would tell a lie to save a friend. And then Denis
himself came up, and they talked flying; and she said she should go to
Bredon some day and see the aeroplanes."
"You think she really meant business?"
"Yes, I do."
"Pleasant," said Gardiner, tugging at his mustache, with a sort of hard
restraint. "If she exploits Denis as she did me, he'll enjoy himself.
Yes, I shall be very much obliged if you'll write to him. He'll take it
better from you than from me."
"I wish I'd known before," said Lettice, folding up her work.
"Oh, it's all right so far, she hasn't turned up at Bredon yet. I heard
from Denis this morning."
"Yes, but don't you see if she did go she'd be sure to tell him not to
tell you?"
He did see, and felt sick. It cost him an effort to lie still. But he
pulled himself together; that last secret, at least, she should not
read. What to say, then? He would not confess, but equally he would not
lie to her. He found something which was neither lie, confession, nor
equivocation, but a piece of plain fact.
"If she ever does get hold of the truth about Trent, she'll be
uncommonly sorry she tried to find out."
Then he discovered that Lettice was neither looking at nor thinking of
him.
"I hope she won't get it out of Denis," she said. "I hope you'll be in
time to prevent that."
The words were mild; the spirit, not so. Gardiner was shamed out of his
self-absorption. He saw Lettice's love for her cousin, roused in his
defense; and he saw, too, with her, Denis tricked into betraying his
friend. Why, he would never forgive himself!
"My Lord, yes!" he said with unexpected gravity. "That would be a worse
business than anything she's done or could do to me."