Eight years had passed away since the tragedy that brought the little
village of Beechfield into luckless notoriety. During those eight years
what changes had taken place! Even at quiet rustic Beechfield many
things had come to pass. Old Mr. Rumbold had been gathered to his
fathers, and Mrs. Rumbold had gone to live with friends in London. The
new Rector was young, energetic, good-looking, and unmarried. At the
Hall there were changes too. Enid Vane had grown from a delicate child
into a lovely girl of seventeen. The house was no longer chill and
desolate--brightness seemed to have come back to it with her growth--a
brightness which even the General, saddened as he had been by his
brother's death, could not resist. He had taken his own way of
contributing to the cheerfulness of the Hall. Six months after Mrs.
Sydney Vane's death he had married Florence Lepel, as Miss Vane had
predicted that he would, and a little boy of five years old was now
running about the Hall gardens and calling the General "father." The old
man positively adored this little lad, and believed him to be
perfection. He was fond of Enid and of his wife, but he doated on the
child. He seemed indeed to love him more than did the mother of the boy.
Florence Lepel was not perhaps of a very loving disposition, but it was
remarkable that she apparently almost disliked little Dick. She never
petted or fondled the child--sometimes she rebuked him very angrily. And
yet he was docile, sweet-tempered, and quick-witted, though not
particularly handsome; but Florence had never liked children, and she
made her own son no exception to the rule.
Eight years had changed Florence very little in outward appearance. She
was still pale, slender, graceful--languid in manner, slow in speech,
and given to the reading of French novels. But there were dark shades
beneath her velvety brown eyes, as if she suffered from ill-health. She
had taken to lying on a sofa a great deal; she did not visit much, and
she seldom allowed any festivity at the Hall. She remained in her
boudoir for the greater part of the day, with the rose-colored blinds
down, and the doors carefully closed and curtained to exclude any sound
of the outer world; and while she was up-stairs the General and his
niece Enid and the boy had the house to themselves, and enjoyed their
liberty extremely. In the afternoon Mrs. Vane would be found in her
drawing-room, ready for visitors; but she generally returned to her
boudoir for a rest before dinner, and steadily see her face against late
hours in the evening. Nobody knew what was the matter with her; some
people spoke vaguely of her "nerves," of the extreme delicacy and
sensitiveness of her organisation--some said that Beechfield did not
suit her, and others whispered that she had never been "quite right"
since her baby was born. At any rate, she was a semi-invalid; and she
did not seem to know what was the matter with her any more than did
other people. She sat in her luxurious lounging-chair, or lay on the
softest of sofas, day after day without complaint, always pale, silent,
graceful--an habitual smile, sweet and weary, upon her pinched lips, but
no smile in her eyes, where a fire sometimes glowed which seemed to be
burning her very life away.
One balmy September afternoon she had established herself rather earlier
than usual in the drawing-room. A bright little fire burned in the
polished steel grate--for Florence was always chilly--but the windows
were open; a faint breeze from the terrace swept into the room and moved
the lace curtains gently to and fro. The blinds were half drawn down, so
that the room was not very light; the shadowed perfumed atmosphere was
grateful after the brightness of the autumn afternoon.
Florence Vane sat in a low arm-chair near the fire. She had a small
table beside her, on which stood her dainty work-basket, half full of
colored silks, her embroidery patterns, a novel, a gold vinaigrette, and
a French fan. She had cushions at her back, a footstool for her feet, a
soft white shawl on her shoulders. It was very plain that she liked to
make herself comfortable. She wore a gown of pale blue silk embroidered
in silver--a most artistic garment, which suited her to perfection, and
which was as soft and luxurious as the rest of her surroundings. The
white cat which lay curled up on the rug at her feet could not have
looked more at her ease.
In a chair opposite to her sat a man of rather more than thirty, who
looked thirty-five or even forty when the little light from the
curtained windows fell upon his dark face, and showed the gray threads
that were beginning to appear in his moustache. If he had been a woman,
he would have sat with his back to the window, as Florence was doing
now. But Hubert Lepel was not at all the man to think about his
appearance, or to regret the fact, if he did think about it, that he
looked more than his age. He had found it rather an advantage to him
during the last few years.
Florence had not seen him for some time, and she commented silently and
acutely on the change in his appearance. He had a subtle face, she
thought--keen, stern, sardonic--too deeply furrowed for a man of his
years, too haggard to be exactly handsome, but certainly very
interesting, especially to the mind of a woman who had seen little of
the world. This was as it should be. She smiled to herself; she was a
born plotter, and she had a scheme for Hubert's benefit now. It was only
fair that he should partake of the good fortune that had fallen to her
lot.
"It was kind of you to come," she was saying languidly, "for I know that
you don't care for Beechfield."
"No," he said; "I prefer London on the whole."
"And foreign travel. It is quite extraordinary to think how little you
have been in England for the last few years! I have not seen you
for--how long, Hubert?"
"Three years, I believe."
"And then only for an hour or two in London, at intervals of six months!
I hope that you are going to be a little more sociable now, and run down
to see us occasionally."
The brother and sister looked at each other steadily for a moment
without speaking. Each knew well enough what was in the other's mind.
"Yes," said Hubert at last, in a peculiarly light and careless voice, "I
think I shall." He crossed his legs, and settled himself into an easier
position in his chair. "Beechfield is not a bad place to stay at for a
few days--or even a few weeks--now and then. And you seem very
comfortable, Florence."
"Yes," she said, "I am comfortable. The General is very kind."
"And you have a fine boy--a nice little chap," said Hubert, still
lightly.
"Yes; he is a healthy child," she answered, in the mechanical way in
which she had spoken before.
Hubert gave her a keen glance. He looked at the long but not ungraceful
lines of her slender figure, at the blue veins which showed themselves
in the dead white of her hands, at the shade beneath her eyes, and
knitted his brows a trifle impatiently. Then he spoke in lowered tones
which betrayed some suppressed emotion.
"You have gained all that you wanted," he said--"you ought to be
satisfied."
She stirred a little in her chair, and allowed a faint smile to appear
upon her lips.
"And you," she said, "are a very successful man. How many nights did
your last play run? You are popular; you have made money; you ought to
be satisfied too."
Each knew that the other was not satisfied at all, each knew the cause
of that silent dissatisfaction with what life had to give.
"I am satisfied," said the man grimly.
It was the tone that said, "I will be satisfied in spite of fate! In
spite of my own actions, my own sin, my own remorse, I will be
satisfied!"
"You have changed your note," said Florence, regarding him curiously.
"And not too soon," he answered decisively. "There is nothing so useless
as sorrowing over the past and regretting what cannot be undone. Let me
recommend my philosophy of life to you. Make the best of what remains;
we cannot bring back what we have cast away." There was a new hardness
in his tone--not of recklessness, but of unflinching determination. He
rose and stood on the hearthrug, with his hands behind him as he spoke.
"I have taken a new departure. I have wasted many hours of the past. I
am resolved to waste not one hour in future. 'Though much is taken, much
remains,' as the poet says; and you and I, Florence, have all to look
for in the future and nothing in the past."
"That is true," she said, in a very low tone. "Nothing in the past!"
Then she sat up, as if stirred to movement by his attitude, and looked
at him again. "What has caused this change of mind, Hubert? Have you
fallen in love?"
He uttered a short laugh.
"Not I--I don't know the sensation."
"You knew it a few years ago, when I thought you would marry pretty Mary
Marsden."
"She married a Jew money-lender," said Hubert drily. "I saw her the
other day--she weighs fourteen stone, I should think!"
"Poor little Mary! It is not love then?"
"No, it is not." He was silent a minute or two, pulling his moustache
with a quick nervous movement which betrayed some agitation of mind.
Then he said quickly, "I had better tell you something and get it over,
though I have no wish to rake up the memory of unpleasant subjects. I
heard a few months ago that the man Westwood was dead."
"Dead? At Portland?"
"Yes. An accident on the works where he was engaged. He died after a few
hours' unconsciousness."
Florence meditated for a few moments and then said softly--
"I think that I now understand."
"It will be better that we do not speak of the matter again," said
Hubert, in the masterful way which she was beginning to recognise as one
of his characteristics. "It is all over and done with; nothing we can
say or do will make any difference. The man is gone, and we are here. We
can begin a new life if we choose."
His sister watched him with eyes which expressed a greater gloom than he
was able to understand. Her hands began to tremble as he said the last
few words.
"You can--you can!" she cried, almost with vehemence. "But for me--there
is no new life for me!"--and covering her face with her hands, she began
to weep, not violently, but so that he saw the tears oozing from between
her slender fingers.
Hubert stood aghast. Was this trembling woman the cold imperturbable
sister whom he had known of old? He had seldom seen Florence shed tears,
even in her youthful days. Was it the consciousness of her past guilt
that had changed her thus?
He reflected that, according to all tradition, a woman's nature was more
sensitive and delicate than that of a man. Florence was weighed down
perhaps by that sense of remorse which he had well-nigh forgotten. He
had, as he had said, resolved to put the past behind him and to lead a
new life. She, a woman, with all a woman's weakness, found it a
difficult task to forgive herself the misery that she had caused; and
he, the only person who could understand and sympathise with her, who
might have strengthened her in her struggle against evil--for such he
considered must be the cause of her distress--he had neglected her, and
been perhaps a source of pain instead of encouragement. He should have
remembered that her guilt was surely not greater than his own.
Softened by these thoughts, he bent down to place his hand on her
shoulder and to kiss her forehead.
"My poor Flossy," he said, using the old pet name as he had used it for
many weary years, "you must not grieve now! Forget the past--we can but
leave it to Heaven. There is nothing--absolutely nothing now--that we
can do."
"No," she said, letting her hands fall upon her lap and wearily
submitting to his kiss--"nothing for you--nothing at all for you--now."
There was a deep meaning in her words to which he had not the slightest
clue.