A MATTER OF DUTY
On the evening before George's departure, Sylvia stood with him at the
entrance to the Brantholme drive. He leaned upon the gate, a
broad-shouldered, motionless figure; his eyes fixed moodily upon the
prospect, because he was afraid to let them dwell upon his companion.
In front, across the dim white road, a cornfield ran down to the river,
and on one side of it a wood towered in a shadowy mass against a soft
green streak of light. Near its foot the water gleamed palely among
overhanging alders, and in the distance the hills faded into the
grayness of the eastern sky. Except for the low murmur of the stream,
it was very still; and the air was heavy with the smell of dew-damped
soil.
All this had its effect on George. He loved the quiet English country;
and now, when he must leave it, it strongly called to him. He had
congenial friends, and occupations in which he took pleasure--sport,
experiments in farming, and stock-raising. It would be hard to drop
them; but that, after all, was a minor trouble. He would be separated
from Sylvia until his work should be done.
"What a beautiful night!" she said at length. Summoning his
resolution, he turned and looked at her. She stood with one hand
resting on the gate, slender, graceful, and wonderfully attractive, the
black dress emphasizing the pure whiteness of her face and hands.
Sylvia was an artist where dress was concerned, and she had made the
most of her somber garb. As he looked at her a strong temptation shook
the man. He might still discover some excuse for remaining to watch
over Sylvia, and seize each opportunity for gaining her esteem. Then
he remembered that this would entail the sacrifice of her property; and
a faint distrust of her, which he had hitherto refused to admit, seized
him. Sylvia, threatened by poverty, might yield without affection to
the opportunities of a suitor who would bid high enough for her hand;
and he would not have such a course forced upon her, even if he were
the one to profit.
"You're very quiet; you must feel going away," she said.
"Yes," George admitted; "I feel it a good deal."
"Ah! I don't know anybody else who would have gone--I feel selfish and
shabby in letting you."
"I don't think you could stop me."
"I haven't tried. I suppose I'm a coward, but until you promised to
look after matters, I was afraid of the future. I have friends, but
the tinge of contempt which would creep into their pity would be hard
to bear. It's hateful to feel that you are being put up with.
Sometimes I thought I'd go back to Canada."
"I've wondered how you stood it as long as you did," George said
incautiously.
"Aren't you forgetting? I had Dick with me then." Sylvia paused and
shuddered. "It would be so different now."
George felt reproved and very compassionate.
"Yes," he said, "I'm afraid I forgot; but the whole thing seems unreal.
It's almost impossible to imagine your living on a farm in western
Canada."
"I dare say it's difficult. I'll confess I'm fond of ease and comfort
and refinement. I like to be looked after and waited on; to have
somebody to keep unpleasant things away. That's dreadfully weak, isn't
it? And because I haven't more courage, I'm sending you back to the
prairie."
"I'm quite ready to go."
"Oh, I'm sure of that! It's comforting to remember that you're so
resolute and matter-of-fact. You wouldn't let troubles daunt
you--perhaps you would scarcely notice them when you had made up your
mind."
The man smiled, rather wistfully. He could feel things keenly, and he
had his romance; but Sylvia resumed:
"I sometimes wonder if you ever felt really badly hurt?"
"Once," he said quietly. "I think I have got over it."
"Ah!" she murmured. "I was afraid you would blame me, but now it seems
that Dick knew you better than I did. When he made you my trustee, he
said that you were too big to bear him malice."
The blood crept into George's face.
"After the first shock had passed, and I could reason calmly, I don't
think I blamed either of you. You had promised me nothing; Dick was a
brilliant man, with a charm everybody felt. By comparison, I was
merely a plodder."
Sylvia mused for a few moments.
"George," she said presently, "I sometimes think you're a little too
diffident. You plodders who go straight on, stopping for nothing,
generally gain your object in the end."
His heart beat faster. It looked as if she meant this for a hint.
"I can't thank you properly," she continued; "though I know that all
you undertake will be thoroughly carried out. I wish I hadn't been
forced to let you go so far away; there is nobody else I can rely on."
He could not tell her that he longed for the right to shelter her
always--it was not very long since the Canadian tragedy--but silence
cost him an effort. At length she touched his arm.
"It's getting late, and the others will wonder where we are," she
reminded him.
They went back to the house; and when Sylvia joined Mrs. Lansing,
George felt seriously annoyed with himself. He had been deeply
stirred, but he had preserved an unmoved appearance when he might have
expressed some sympathy of tenderness which could not have been
resented. Presently Ethel West crossed the room to where he was rather
moodily standing.
"I believe our car is waiting, and, as Edgar won't let me come to the
station to-morrow, I must say good-by now," she told him. "Both
Stephen and I are glad he is on your hands."
"I must try to deserve your confidence," George said, smiling. "It's
premature yet."
"Never mind that. We're alike in some respects: pretty speeches don't
appeal to us. But there's one thing I must tell you--don't delay out
yonder, come back as soon as you can."
She left him thoughtful. He had a high opinion of Ethel's
intelligence, but he would entertain no doubts or misgivings. They
were treasonable to Herbert and, what was worse, to Sylvia.
Going to bed in good time, he had only a few words with Sylvia over his
early breakfast in the morning. Then he was driven to the station,
where Edgar joined him; and the greater part of their journey proved
uneventful.
Twelve days after leaving Liverpool they were, however, awakened early
one morning by feeling the express-train suddenly slacken speed. The
big cars shook with a violent jarring, and George hurriedly swung
himself down from his upper berth. He had some difficulty in getting
into his jacket and putting on his boots, but he pushed through the
startled passengers and sprang down upon the track before the train
quite stopped. He knew that accidents were not uncommon in the wilds
of northern Ontario.
Ragged firs rose, dripping, against the rosy glow in the eastern sky,
with the narrow gap, hewed out for the line, running through their
midst. Some had been stripped of their smaller branches by fire, and
leaned, dead and blackened, athwart each other. Beneath them, shallow
pools gleamed in the hollows of the rocks, which rose in rounded masses
here and there, and the gravel of the graded track was seamed by water
channels. George remembered having heard the roar of heavy rain and a
crash of thunder during the night, but it was now wonderfully still and
fresh, and the resinous fragrance of the firs filled the chilly air.
Walking forward, clear of the curious passengers who poured from the
cars, he saw a lake running back into the woods. A tall water-tank
stood on the margin with a shanty, in which George imagined a telegraph
operator was stationed, at its foot. Ahead, the great locomotive was
pouring out a cloud of sooty smoke. When George reached it he waited
until the engineer had finished talking to a man on the line.
"What are we stopping for? Has anything gone wrong?" he asked.
"Freight locomotive jumped the track at a wash-out some miles ahead,"
explained the engineer. "Took the fireman with her; but I don't know
much about it yet. Guess they'll want me soon."
George got the man to promise to take him, and then he went back until
he met Edgar, to whom he related what he had heard.
"I'm not astonished," remarked the lad, indicating one of the sleepers.
"Look at that--the rail's only held down by a spike or two; we fasten
them in solid chairs. They're rough and ready in this country."
It was the characteristic hypercritical attitude of the newly-arrived
Englishman; and George, knowing that the Canadians strongly resent it,
noticed a look of interest in the eyes of a girl standing near them.
She was, he imagined, about twenty-four years of age, and was dressed
in some thin white material, the narrow skirt scarcely reaching to the
tops of her remarkably neat shoes. Her arms were uncovered to the
elbows; her neck was bare, but this displayed a beautiful skin; and the
face beneath the turned-down brim of the big hat was attractive.
George thought she was amused at Edgar's comment.
"Well," he said, "while we put down a few miles of metals they'd drive
the track across leagues of new country and make a start with the
traffic. They haven't time to be particular, with the great western
wheat-land waiting for development."
The girl moved away; and when word went around that there would be a
delay of several hours, George sat down beside the lake and watched the
Colonist passengers wash their children's clothes. It was, he thought,
rather a striking scene--the great train standing in the rugged
wilderness, the wide stretch of gleaming water running back among the
firs, and the swarm of jaded immigrants splashing bare-footed along the
beach. Their harsh voices and hoarse laughter broke discordantly on
the silence of the woods.
After a while an elderly man, in badly-fitting clothes and an old
wide-brimmed hat, sauntered up with the girl George had noticed, and
stopped to survey the passengers.
"A middling sample; not so many English as usual," he remarked. "If
they keep on coming in as they're doing, we'll get harvest hands at a
reasonable figure."
"All he thinks about!" Edgar commented, in a lowered voice. "That's
the uncivil old fellow who smokes the vile leaf tobacco; he drove me
out of the car once or twice. It's hard to believe he's her father;
but in some ways they're alike."
"I can't help feeling sorry for them," the girl replied. "Look at
those worn-out women, almost too limp to move. It's hot and shaky
enough in our cars; the Colonist ones must be dreadful."
"Good enough for the folks who're in them; they're not fastidious,"
said the man.
They strolled on, and George felt mildly curious about them. The girl
was pretty and graceful, with a stamp of refinement upon her; the man
was essentially rugged and rather grim. Suddenly, however, a whistle
blast rang out, and George hurried toward the engine. It was beginning
to move when he reached it but, grasping a hand-rail, he clambered up.
The cab was already full of passengers, but he had found a place on the
frame above the wheels when he saw the girl in the light dress running,
flushed and eager, along the line. Leaning down as far as possible, he
held out his hand to her.
"Get hold, if you want to come," he called. "There's a step yonder."
She seized his hand and smiled at him when he drew her up beside him.
"Thanks," she said. "I was nearly too late."
"Perhaps we had better make for the pilot, where there'll be more
room," George suggested, as two more passengers scrambled up.
They crept forward, holding on by the guard-rail, while the great
engine began to rock as it gathered speed. The girl, however, was
fearless, and at length they reached the front, and stood beneath the
big head-lamp with the triangular frame of the pilot running down to
the rails at their feet. The ledge along the top of it was narrow, and
when his companion sat down George felt concerned about her safety.
Her hat had blown back, setting free tresses of glossy hair; her light
skirt fluttered against the sooty pilot.
"You'll have to allow me," he said, tucking the thin fabric beneath her
and passing an arm around her waist.
He thought she bore it well, for her manner was free from prudish alarm
or coquettish submission. With sound sense, she had calmly acquiesced
in the situation; but George found the latter pleasant. His companion
was pretty, the swift motion had brought a fine warmth into her cheeks,
and a sparkle into her eyes; and George was slightly vexed when Edgar,
appearing round the front of the engine, unnoticed by the girl,
surveyed him with a grin.
"Is there room for me?" he asked. "I had to leave the place where I
was, because my fellow passengers didn't seem to mind if they pushed me
off. A stranger doesn't get much consideration in this country."
The girl looked up at him consideringly and answered, through the roar
of the engine:
"You may sit here, if you'll stop criticizing us."
"It's quite fair," Edgar protested, as he took his place by her side.
"I've been in Canada only three days, but I've several times heard
myself alluded to as an Englishman, as if that were some excuse for me."
"Are you sure you haven't been provoking people by your superior air?"
"I didn't know I possessed one; but I don't see why I should be very
humble because I'm in Canada."
The girl laughed good-humoredly, and turned to George.
"I'm glad I came. This is delightful," she said.
It was, George admitted, an exhilarating experience. The big engine
was now running at top speed, rocking down the somewhat roughly laid
line. Banks of trees and stretches of gleaming water sped past, The
rails ahead came flying back to them. The sun was on the firs, and the
wind that lashed George's face was filled with their fragrance. Once
or twice a tress of his companion's hair blew across his cheek, but she
did not appear to notice this. He thought she was conscious of little
beyond the thrill of speed.
At length the engine stopped where the line crossed a lake on a high
embankment. A long row of freight-cars stood near a break in the track
into which the rails ran down, and a faint cloud of steam rose from the
gap.
George helped the girl down, anticipating Edgar, who seemed anxious to
offer his assistance, and they walked forward until they could see into
the pit. It was nearly forty feet in depth, for the embankment,
softened by heavy rain, had slipped into the lake. In the bottom a
huge locomotive lay shattered and overturned, with half a dozen men
toiling about it. The girl stopped with a little gasp, for there was
something strangely impressive in the sight of the wreck.
"It's dreadful, isn't it?" she exclaimed.
Then the men who had come with them gathered round.
"Where's the fireman?" one of them asked. "He was too late when he
jumped. Have they got him out?"
"Guess not," said another. "See, they're trying to jack up the front
of her."
"Aren't you mistaken about the man?" George asked, looking at the first
speaker meaningly.
"Why, no," replied the other. "He's certainly pinned down among the
wreck. They'll find him before long. Isn't that a jacket sleeve?"
He broke off with an exclamation, as Edgar drove an elbow hard into his
ribs; but it was too late. The girl looked around at George, white in
face.
"Is there a man beneath the engine? Don't try to put me off."
"I'm afraid it's the case."
"Then why did you bring me?" she cried with a shudder. "Take me away
at once!"
George explained that he had forgotten the serious nature of the
accident. He hastily helped her up and turned away with her, but when
they had gone a little distance she sat down on a boulder.
"I feel badly startled and ashamed," she exclaimed. "I was enjoying
it, as a spectacle, and all the time there was a man crushed to death."
Then she recovered her composure. "Go back and help. Besides, I think
your friend is getting into trouble."
She was right. The man Edgar tried to silence had turned upon him,
savage and rather breathless.
"Now," he said, "I'll fix you mighty quick. Think I'm going to have a
blamed Percy sticking his elbow into me?"
Edgar glanced at the big and brawny man, with a twinge of somewhat
natural uneasiness; but he was not greatly daunted.
"Oh, well," he retorted coolly, "if that's the way you look at it! But
if you're not in a desperate hurry, I'll take off my jacket."
"What did you prod him for, anyway?" another asked.
"I'm sorry I didn't jab him twice as hard; though I'd have wasted my
energy," Edgar explained. "The fellow has no sense, but that's no
reason why he should be allowed to frighten a pretty girl."
His antagonist looked as if a light had suddenly dawned on him.
"Is that why you did it?"
"Of course! Do you think I'd attack a man of nearly twice my weight
without some reason?"
The fellow laughed.
"We'll let it go at that. You're all right, Percy. We like you."
"Thanks," said Edgar; "but my name isn't Percy. Couldn't you think of
something more stylish for a change?"
They greeted this with hoarse laughter; and George, arriving on the
scene, scrambled down into the pit with them to help the men below. It
was some time later when he rejoined the girl, who was then gathering
berries in the wood. She saw that his face and hands were grimy and
his clothes were soiled.
"I heard that you found the unfortunate man. It was very sad," she
said. "But what have you been doing since?"
"Shoveling a ton or two of gravel. Then I assisted in jacking up one
side of the engine."
"Why? Did you enjoy it?"
George laughed; he had, as it happened, experienced a curious pleasure
in the work. He was accustomed to the more vigorous sports; but, after
all, they led to no tangible results, and in this respect his recent
task was different--one, as he thought of it, could see what one had
done. He had been endowed with some ability of strictly practical
description, though it had so far escaped development.
"Yes," he responded. "I enjoyed it very much."
The girl regarded him with a trace of curiosity.
"Was that because work of the kind is new to you?"
"No," George answered. "It isn't altogether a novelty. I once spent
three years in manual labor; and now when I look back at them, I
believe I was happy then."
She nodded as if she understood.
"Shall we walk back?" she suggested.
They went on together, and though the sun was now fiercely hot and the
distance long, George enjoyed the walk. Once they met a ballast train,
with a steam plow mounted at one end of it, and a crowd of men riding
on the open cars; but when it had passed there was nothing to break the
deep silence of the woods. The dark firs shut in the narrow track
except when here and there a winding lake or frothing river filled a
sunny opening.
Soon after George and his companion reached the train, the engine came
back with a row of freightcars, and during the afternoon the western
express pulled out again, and sped furiously through the shadowy bush.