The children were in the wildest state of excitement at the prospect of
seeing "mother." They quarrelled when they were having their hair
brushed as to the time she would arrive, and what she would come in.
Baby declared Mummy would arrive in a boat, at which Betty scoffed
openly.
"A boat doesn't go on the road. She'll come in a motor."
And Betty was right.
Camilla arrived in the smartest and latest of automobiles; she was
exquisitely dressed in white, and caused a flutter in the little toy
watering-place, which, with so many of its kind, stud the coast of
Normandy. She came not alone. There were two men and another woman with
her.
Mrs. Brenton and Caroline and the children were down on the digue when
she arrived, and as the children caught sight of their pretty mother
and rushed to greet her, Agnes Brenton caught Caroline by the wrist.
"There is no occasion to send for Sammy," she said; "Camilla has
brought him."
And when a little mist had cleared away from Caroline's eyes she saw
that Mrs. Brenton had made no mistake.
It was Broxbourne himself. He looked sheepish and uncomfortable as he
caught Caroline's eyes, and he made no attempt to approach her.
There was never any one so gay as Camilla. The moment she arrived she
seemed to radiate the whole place. The little crowded digue
concentrated its whole attention on her. She provoked universal
admiration.
When the whole party made a move towards the hotel for luncheon, she
caught Caroline by the hand.
"I want you, Caroline--I want to ask you something," she said. She sent
the children on ahead; then, when there was no one near, she said, "Can
you give me news of Rupert?"
"No," said Caroline, "but I have no doubt Mrs. Brenton can."
Camilla threw back her long gauze veil.
"Oh dear, how hot it is here!" she said; "there is absolutely no air.
The place lies in such a hole, but the chicks look splendid." Then, in
her restless way, "Well, if you know nothing, I must ask Agnes, for we
have heard the most extraordinary rumour about him"--she meant
Haverford. "I thought perhaps you could tell me if it was true; I mean
about his having gone to America because he has found some relations of
Matthew Woolgar, and that he intends to give them all the money."
Caroline answered almost impatiently.
"I assure you I know nothing whatever about Mr. Haverford, or what he
is doing. How should I?"
"Well, I hope to goodness there is no truth in this report," said Mrs.
Cuthbert Baynhurst. "If there is, it is a very bad look-out for all of
us."
Caroline crimsoned.
"Have you not enough already?"
This made Camilla look at her; then she stood still and gave Caroline a
little pull.
"Now, don't be cross with me," she said, and, just like Betty, she
added, "Nasty, unkind Caroline!" Then, becoming serious again, "You
know it is not at all impossible that he might do this. He is so
extraordinary about some things. I wonder who put the idea into his
mind? I always understood that old Woolgar had no relations."
They walked on, and then, with a little laugh, Camilla said--
"If you want to know the truth, we have not got _half_ enough. I find
Cuthbert is every bit as extravagant as I am. I wanted him to come with
me to-day, but do you think I could get him away from the 'petits
chevaux'? Not I! And let me tell you one can lose a fair amount of
money at that game, silly as it is."
Caroline stood still; there were tears in her eyes.
"Oh, dearest!" she said, "is ... is it always to be the same? Is...."
Camilla whipped her round, and they walked sharply back towards the
sands.
"You shan't cry for me," she said; "I'm a beast. I'm not worth it. You
don't know how little I deserve your tears."
"Yes, I do," said Caroline; "but I can't help crying; because I love
you, because you are the first person, you and the children, who have
belonged to me, who have made life real, and because I want the
children to have a proper mother. Not just a pretty doll dressed up
every time they see her in something new. You had it in your power once
to turn your back deliberately on all this worthlessness; but I won't
go into that now.... Only I must speak, I must try to let you
realize...." Once again her voice broke; then, with an effort, Caroline
said, "Though you have lost so much, there is still so much left.... I
know it will be a little bit harder for you now, but still you can do
it if you like. Everybody can rise...." The words ended abruptly.
"Don't!" said Camilla, and then she added, "When I am with you I want
to be as you want me to be, but when I am away I have not the strength
to change, and it all seems so useless; the trying, I mean...." There
was real depth in her voice as she said, "Do you think I don't know
what I have lost? I have known it more and more every day. I expect I
shall know it a good deal more surely before I come to the end of my
life. It's only this excitement that makes me want to go on at all."
"I thought you were happy," Caroline said in a low, moved voice.
The other woman shrugged her shoulders and said nothing. Then, quite
abruptly, she began speaking about Broxbourne.
"Do you know that ever so many people assured me you were going to
marry him. I wouldn't believe it, and when I saw him in Dieppe
yesterday I determined all at once that I would speak to him myself. I
don't mind telling you, Caroline, that I have been deadly afraid of
Sammy all this time; he ... I mean ... I did something to make an enemy
of him, and he can be horribly nasty when he likes.... But yesterday,
the moment I saw him, I was no longer afraid."
Caroline was staring at the white-flecked sea. Her heart was throbbing
in her throat; to speak was beyond her.
"Yes," said Camilla, "I saw at once that the worst of his anger had
burned out, and so I took my courage in both hands and went straight up
to him, and I asked him boldly if I had to congratulate him. I think I
rather startled him," Camilla said composedly; "anyhow, he would not
speak at first, and then, when he had thawed, he told me that he had
proposed to you half a dozen times, but that you would not have
anything to do with him. He said something more; that you were the best
sort he had ever come across, and that if there was anybody in the
world who could pull him up and make a decent fellow of him, he thought
you were the person who could do it, and I could see he was in earnest.
Fancy you and Sammy being such friends. You funny, quiet Caroline!
Perhaps it is you who have made him so amiable to me!" But Camilla
rejected this idea even as she said it. "No, I expect he knows I have
done for myself this time, and as I am going to be paid out for all my
sins, he feels, perhaps, he can afford to be a little generous. Anyhow,
I am glad you won't have anything to do with him. I have a good mind to
make up a match between him and this girl who is with us to-day. She
would jump at him, if only for his title. Funny," Camilla mused. "That
was never one of my weaknesses."
At this moment Betty came flying after them, announcing that _dejeuner_
was ready, and that everybody was waiting.
It was a merry meal, thanks entirely to Camilla and the children, and
very shortly afterwards the motor-party started again from Dieppe. When
they were gone, Mrs. Brenton said to Caroline--
"I don't fancy Sammy will come here any more. I tried to get five
minutes alone with him, but he avoided me."
Betty pushed a letter into Caroline's hands.
"You're to read that when you're quite alone. Sammy gived it to me,"
she said mysteriously; then she danced off, and Mrs. Brenton, with one
quick glance at the girl, turned and went into the hotel.
Caroline walked into the garden. She crossed the bridge under which the
clear white water of the mountain spring ran down to the sea, and
opened Broxbourne's letter. Inside the envelope there was a sheet of
paper on which nothing was written. Inside this paper there was a
cheque.
She just glanced at it and then crushed it in her hand.