THE TOP OF THE WORLD
By
Ethel M. Dell
Author of "The Way of an Eagle," "The Lamp in the Desert."
1920
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO THE PRECIOUS MEMORY
OF MY MOTHER
"The years shall not outgo my thinking of thee"
When you have reached the top of the world
And only the stars remain,
Where there is never the sound of storm
And neither cold nor rain,
Will it be by wealth, success, or fame
That you mounted to your goal?
Nay, I mount only by faith and love
And God's goodness to my soul.
When you have reached the top of the world
And the higher stars grow near,
When greater dreams succeed our dreams
And the lesser disappear,
Will the world at your feet seem good to you,
A vision fair to see?
Nay, I look upward for one I love
Who has promised to wait for me.
For to those who reach the top of the world
The things of the world seem less
Than the rungs of the ladder by which they climbed
To their place of happiness,
And I think that success and wealth and fame
Will be the first to pall,
For they reach their goal but by faith and love
And God's goodness over all.
CONTENTS
PART I
CHAPTER
I.--ADVICE
II.--THE NEW MISTRESS
III.--THE WHIP-HAND
IV.--THE VICTORY
V.--THE MIRACLE
VI.--THE LAND OF STRANGERS
VII.--THE WRONG TURNING
VIII.--THE COMRADE
IX.--THE ARRIVAL
X.--THE DREAM
XI.--THE CROSS-ROADS
XII.--THE STAKE
PART 11
I.--COMRADES
II.--THE VISITORS
III.--THE BARGAIN
IV.--THE CAPTURE
V.--THE GOOD CAUSE
VI.--THE RETURN
VII.--THE GUEST
VIII.--THE INTERRUPTION
IX.--THE ABYSS
X.--THE DESIRE TO LIVE
XI.--THE REMEDY
PART III
I.--THE NEW ERA
II.--INTO BATTLE
III.--THE SEED
IV.--MIRAGE
V.--EVERYBODY'S FRIEND
VI.--THE HERO
VII.--THE NET
VIII.--THE SUMMONS
IX.--FOR THE SAKE OF THE OLD LOVE
X.--THE BEARER OF EVIL TIDINGS
XI.--THE SHARP CORNER
XII.--THE COST
PART IV
I.--SAND OF THE DESERT
II.--THE SKELETON TREE
III.--THE PUNISHMENT
IV.--THE EVIL THING
V.--THE LAND OF BLASTED HOPES
VI.--THE PARTING
VII.--PIET VREIBOOM
VIII.--OUT OF THE DEPTHS
IX.--THE MEETING
X.--THE TRUTH
XI.--THE STORM
XII.--THE SACRIFICE
XIII.--BY FAITH AND LOVE
The Top of the World
PART I
CHAPTER I
ADVICE
"You ought to get married, Miss Sylvia," said old Jeffcott, the
head gardener, with a wag of his hoary beard. "You'll need to be
your own mistress now."
"I should hope I am that anyway," said, Sylvia with a little laugh.
She stood in the great vinery--a vivid picture against a background
of clustering purple fruit. The sunset glinted on her tawny hair.
Her red-brown eyes, set wide apart, held a curious look, half
indignant, half appealing.
Old Jeffcott surveyed her with loving admiration. There was no one
in the world to compare with Miss Sylvia in his opinion. He loved
the open English courage of her, the high, inborn pride of race.
Yet at the end of the survey he shook his head.
"There's not room for two mistresses in this establishment, Miss
Sylvia," he said wisely. "Three years to have been on your own, so
to speak, is too long. You did ought to get married, Miss Sylvia.
You'll find it's the only way."
His voice took on almost a pleading note. He knew it was possible
to go too far.
But the girl facing him was still laughing. She evidently felt no
resentment.
"You see, Jeffcott," she said, "there's only one man in the world I
could marry. And he's not ready for me yet."
Jeffcott wagged his beard again commiseratingly. "So you've never
got over it, Miss Sylvia? Your feelings is still the same--after
five years?"
"Still the same," said Sylvia. There was a momentary challenge in
her bright eyes, but it passed. "It couldn't be any different,"
she said softly. "No one else could ever come anywhere near him."
Jeffcott sighed aloud. "I know he were a nice young gentleman," he
conceded. "But I've seen lots as good before and since. He
weren't nothing so very extraordinary, Miss Sylvia."
Sylvia's look went beyond him, seeming to rest upon something very
far away. "He was to me, Jeffcott," she said. "We just--fitted
each other, he and I."
"And you was only eighteen," pleaded Jeffcott, "You wasn't
full-grown in those days."
"No?" A quick sigh escaped her; her look came back to him, and she
smiled. "Well, I am now anyway; and that's the one thing that
hasn't altered or grown old--the one thing that never could."
"Ah, dear!" said old Jeffcott. "What a pity now as you couldn't
take up with young Mr. Eversley or that Mr. Preston over the way,
or--or--any of them young gents with a bit of property as might be
judged suitable!"
Sylvia's laugh rang through the vinery, a gay, infectious laugh.
"Oh, really, Jeffcott! You talk as if I had only got to drop my
handkerchief for the whole countryside to rush to pick it up! I'm
not going to take up with anyone, unless it's Mr. Guy Ranger. You
don't seem to realize that we've been engaged all this time."
"Ah!" said old Jeffcott, looking sardonic. "And you not met for
five years! Do you ever wonder to yourself what sort of a man he
may be after five years, Miss Sylvia? It's a long time for a young
man to keep in love at a distance. It's a very long time."
"It's a long time for both of us," said Sylvia. "But it hasn't
altered us in that respect."
"It's been a longer time for him than it has for you," said
Jeffcott shrewdly. "I'll warrant he's lived every minute of it.
He's the sort that would."
Sylvia's wide brows drew together in a little frown. She had
caught the note of warning in the old man's words, and she did not
understand it.
"What do you mean, Jeffcott?" she said, with a touch of sharpness.
But Jeffcott backed out of the vinery and out of the discussion at
the same moment. "You'll know what I mean one day, Miss Sylvia,"
he said darkly, "when you're married."
"Silly old man!" said Sylvia, taking up the cluster of grapes for
which she had come and departing in the opposite direction.
Jeffcott was a faithful old servant, but he could be very
exasperating when he liked.
The gardens were bathed in the evening sunlight as she passed
through them on her way to the house. The old Manor stood out grey
and ancient against an opal sky. She looked up at it with loving
eyes. Her home meant very much to Sylvia Ingleton. Until the last
six months she had always regarded it as her own life-long
possession. For she was an only child, and for the past three
years she had been its actual mistress, though virtually she had
held the reins of government longer than that. Her mother had been
delicate for as long as she could remember, and it was on account
of her failing health that Sylvia had left school earlier than had
been intended, that she might be with her. Since Mrs. Ingleton's
death, three years before, she and her father had lived alone
together at the old Manor in complete accord. They had always been
close friends, the only dissension that had ever arisen between
them having been laid aside by mutual consent.
That dissension had been caused by Guy Ranger. Five years before,
when Sylvia had been only eighteen, he had flashed like a meteor
through her sky, and no other star had ever shone for her again.
Though seven years older than herself, he was little more than a
boy, full of gaiety and life, possessing an extraordinary
fascination, but wholly lacking in prospects, being no more than
the son of Squire Ingleton's bailiff.
The Rangers were people of good yeoman extraction, and Guy himself
had had a public school education, but the fact of their position
was an obstacle which the squire had found insuperable. Only his
love for his daughter had restrained him from violent measures.
But Sylvia had somehow managed to hold him, how no one ever knew,
for he was a man of fiery temper. And the end of if it had been
that Guy had been banished to join a cousin farming in South Africa
on the understanding that if he made a success of it he might
eventually return and ask Sylvia to be his wife. There was to be
no engagement between them, and if she elected to marry in the
meantime so much the better, in the squire's opinion. He had had
little doubt that Sylvia would marry when she had had time to
forget some of the poignancy of first love. But in this he had
been mistaken. Sylvia had steadfastly refused every lover who had
come her way.
He had found another billet for old Ranger, and had installed a
dour Scotchman in his place. But Sylvia still corresponded with
young Guy, still spoke of him as the man she meant to marry. It
was true she did not often speak of him, but that might have been
through lack of sympathetic listeners. There was, moreover, about
her an innate reserve which held her back where her deepest
feelings were concerned. But her father knew, and she meant him to
know, that neither time nor distance had eradicated the image of
the man she loved from her heart. The days on which his letters
reached her were always marked with a secret gladness, albeit the
letters themselves held sometimes little more than affectionate
commentary upon her own.
That Guy was making his way and that he would eventually return to
her were practical certainties in her young mind. If his letters
contained little to support this belief, she yet never questioned
it for a moment. Guy was the sort to get on. She was sure of it.
And he was worth waiting for. Oh, she could afford to be patient
for Guy. She did not, moreover, believe that her father would hold
out for ever. Also, and secretly this thought buoyed her up in
rare moments of depression, in another two years--when she was
twenty-five--she would inherit some money from her mother. It was
not a very large sum, but it would be enough to render her
independent. It would very greatly increase her liberty of action.
She had little doubt that the very fact of it would help to
overcome her father's prejudices and very considerably modify his
attitude.
So, in a fashion, she had during the past three years come to
regard her twenty-fifth birthday as a milestone in her life. She
would be patient till it came, but then--at last--if circumstances
permitted, she would take her fate into her own hands, She
would--at last--assume the direction of her own life.
So she had planned, but so it was not to be. Her fate had already
begun to shape itself in a fashion that was little to her liking.
Travelling with her father in the North earlier in the summer, she
had met with a slight accident which had compelled her to make the
acquaintance of a lady staying at the same hotel whom she had
disliked at the outset and always sought to avoid. This lady, Mrs.
Emmott, was a widow with no settled home. Profiting by
circumstances she had attached herself to Sylvia and her father,
and now she was the latter's wife.
How it had come about, even now Sylvia scarcely realized. The
woman's intentions had barely begun to dawn upon her before they
had become accomplished fact. Her father's attitude throughout had
amazed her, so astoundingly easy had been his capture. He was
infatuated, possibly for the first time in his life, and no
influence of hers could remove the spell.
Sylvia's feelings for Mrs. Emmott passed very rapidly from dislike
to active detestation. Her iron strength of will, combined with an
almost blatant vulgarity, gave the girl a sense of being borne down
by an irresistible weight. Very soon her aversion became such that
it was impossible to conceal it. And Mrs. Emmott laughed in her
face. She hated Sylvia too, but she looked forward to subduing the
unbending pride that so coldly withstood her, and for the sake of
that she kept her animosity in check. She knew her turn would come.
Meantime, she concentrated all her energies upon the father, and
with such marked success that within two months of their meeting
they were married. Sylvia had gone to that wedding in such
bitterness of soul and seething inward revolt as she had never
experienced before. She did not know how she had come through it,
so great had been her disgust. But that was nearly six weeks ago,
and she had had time to recover. She had spent part of that period
very peacefully and happily at the seaside with a young married
cousin and her babies, and it had rested and refreshed her. She
had come back with a calm resolve to endure what had to be endured
in a philosophical spirit, to face the inevitable without futile
rebellion.
Girt in an impenetrable armour of reserve, she braced herself to
bear her burdens unflinching, so that none might ever guess how it
galled her. And on that golden evening in September she prepared
herself with a smiling countenance to meet her enemy in the gate.
They were returning from a prolonged honeymoon among the Italian
lakes, and she had made everything ready for their coming. The
great west-facing bedroom, which her father had never occupied
since her mother's death, had been redecorated and prepared as for
a bride. Sylvia had changed it completely, so that it might never
again look as it had looked in the old days. She had hated doing
it, but it had been in a measure a relief to her torn heart. It
was thus she rendered inviolate that inner sanctuary of memory
which none might enter.
As she passed along the terrace in the golden glow, the slight
frown was still upon her brow. It had been such a difficult time.
Her one ray of comfort had been the thought of Guy, dear, faithful
lover working for her far away. And now old Jeffcott had cast a
shade even upon that. But then he did not really know Guy. No one
knew him as she knew him. She quickened her steps a little.
Possibly there might be a letter from him that evening.
There was. She spied it lying on the hall table as she entered.
Eagerly she went forward and picked it up. But as she did so there
came the sound of a car in the drive before the open front door,
and quickly she thrust it away in the folds of her dress. The
travellers had returned.
With a resolutely smiling face she went to meet them.
CHAPTER II
THE NEW MISTRESS
"Here is our dear Sylvia!" said Mrs. Ingleton.
She embraced the girl with much _empressement_, and then, before
Sylvia could reach her father, turned and embraced him herself.
"So very nice to be home, dear!" she said effusively. "We shall be
very happy here."
Gilbert Ingleton bestowed a somewhat embarrassed salute upon her,
one eye on his daughter. She greeted him sedately the next moment,
and though her face was smiling, her welcome seemed to be frozen at
its source; it held no warmth.
Mrs. Ingleton, tall, handsome, assertive, cast an appraising eye
around the oak-panelled hall. "Dear me! What severe splendour!"
she commented. "I have a great love for cosiness myself. We must
scatter some of those sweet little Italian ornaments about,
Gilbert. You won't know the place when I have done with it. I am
going to take you all in hand and bring you up-to-date."
Her keen dark eyes rested upon her step-daughter with a smile of
peculiar meaning. Sylvia met them with the utmost directness.
"We like simplicity," she said.
Mrs. Ingleton pursed her lips, "Oh, but there is simplicity and
simplicity! Give me warmth, homeliness, and plenty of pretty
things. This place is archaically cold--quite like a convent. And
you, my dear, might be the Sister Superior from your air. Now,
Gilbert darling, you and I are going to be very firm with this
child. I can plainly see she needs a guiding hand. She has had
much too much responsibility for so young a girl. We are going to
alter all that. We are going to make her very happy--as well as
good."
She tapped Sylvia's shoulder with smiling significance, looking at
her husband to set his seal to the declaration.
Mr. Ingleton was obviously feeling very uncomfortable. He glanced
at Sylvia almost appealingly.
"I hope we are all going to be happy," he said rather gruffly.
"Don't see why we shouldn't be, I'm sure. I like a quiet life
myself. Got some tea for us, Sylvia?"
Sylvia turned, stiffly unresponsive to her step-mother's
blandishments. "This way," she said, and crossed the hall to the
drawing-room.
It was a beautiful room aglow just then with the rays of the
western sun. Mrs. Ingleton looked all around her with smiling
criticism, and nodded to herself as if seeing her way to many
improvements. She walked to the windows.
"What a funny, old-fashioned garden! Quite medieval! I foresee a
very busy time in store. Who lives on the other side of this
property?"
"Preston--George Preston, the M.F.H.," said her husband, lounging
up behind her. "About the richest man about here. Made his money
on the Turf."
She gave him a quick look. "Is he young?" she asked.
He hesitated, "Not very."
"Married?" questioned Mrs. Ingleton, with the air of a ferret
pursuing its quarry down a hole.
"No," said the squire, somewhat reluctantly.
"Ah!" said Mrs. Ingleton, in a tone of satisfaction.
"Won't you have some tea?" said Sylvia's grave voice behind them.
Mrs. Ingleton wheeled. "Bless the child!" she exclaimed. "She has
a face as long as a fiddle. Let us have tea by all means. I am as
hungry as a hunter. I hope there is something really substantial
for us."
"It is less than an hour to dinner," said Sylvia.
She hardly looked at her father. Somehow she had a feeling that he
did not want to meet her eyes.
He sat in almost unbroken silence while she poured out the tea,
"for the last time, dear," as her step-mother jocosely remarked,
and for his sake alone she exerted herself to make polite
conversation with this new mistress of the Manor.
It was not easy, for Mrs. Ingleton did not want to talk upon
indifferent subjects. Her whole attitude was one of unconcealed
triumph. It was obvious that she meant to enjoy her conquest to
the utmost. She was not in the least tired after her journey; she
was one of those people who never tire. And as soon as she had
refreshed herself with tea she announced her intention of going
round the house.
Her husband, however, intervened upon this point, assuring her that
there would be ample time in the morning, and Mrs. Ingleton yielded
it not very gracefully.
She was placed at the head of the table at dinner, but she could
not accept the position without comment.
"Poor little Sylvia! We shall have to make up for this, or I shall
never be forgiven," with an arch look at the squire which
completely missed its mark.
There were no subtleties about Gilbert Ingleton. He was thoroughly
uncomfortable, and his manner proclaimed the fact aloud. If he
were happy with his enchantress away from home, the home atmosphere
completely dispelled all enchantment. Was it the fault of the
slim, erect girl with the red-brown eyes who sat so gravely silent
on his right hand?
He could not in justice accuse her, and yet the strong sense of her
disapproval irritated him. What right had she, his daughter, to
sit in judgment upon him? Surely he was entitled to act for
himself--choose his own course--make his own hell if he wished! It
was all quite unanswerable. He knew she would not have attempted
to answer if he had put it to her, but that very fact made him the
more sore. He hated to feel himself at variance with Sylvia.
"Can't you play something?" he said to her in desperation as they
entered the drawing-room after dinner.
She looked at bun, her wide brows slightly raised.
"Well?" he questioned impatiently.
"Ask--Mrs. Ingleton first!" she said in a rapid whisper.
Mrs. Ingleton caught it, however. She had the keen senses of a
lynx. "Now, Sylvia, my child, come here!" she commanded playfully.
"I can't have you calling me that, you know. If we are going to
live together, we must have absolutely clear understanding between
us on all points. Don't you agree with me, Gilbert?"
Ingleton growled something unintelligible, and made for the open
window.
"Don't go!" said his wife with a touch of peremptoriness. "I want
you here. Tell this dear child that as I have determined to be a
mother to her she is to address me as such!"
Ingleton barely paused. "You must settle that between yourselves,"
he said gruffly. "And for heaven's sake, don't fight over it!"
He passed heavily forth, and Sylvia, after a very brief hesitation,
sat down in a chair facing her step-mother.
"I am sorry," she said quietly. "But I can't call you Mother.
Anything else you like to suggest, but not that."
Mrs. Ingleton uttered an unpleasant laugh. "I hope you are going
to try and be sensible, my dear," she said, "for I assure you
high-flown sentiment does not appeal to me in the very least. As
head of your father's house, I must insist upon being treated with
due respect. Let me warn you at the outset, though quite willing
to befriend you, I am not a very patient woman. I am not prepared
to put up with any slights."
Her voice lifted gradually as she proceeded till she ended upon a
note that was almost shrill.
Sylvia sat very still. Her hands were clasped tightly about her
knee. Her face was pale, and the red-brown eyes glittered a
little, but she betrayed no other signs of emotion,
"I quite understand," she said after a moment. "But that doesn't
solve the present difficulty, does it? I cannot possibly call you
by a name that is sacred to someone else."
She spoke very quietly, but there was indomitable resolution in her
very calm--a resolution that exasperated Mrs. Ingleton almost
beyond endurance.
She arose with a sweeping gesture. "Oh, very well then," she said.
"You shall call me Madam!"
Sylvia looked up at her. "I think that is quite a good idea," she
said in a tone that somehow stung her hearer, unbearably. "I will
do that."
"And don't be impertinent!" she said, beginning to pace to and fro
like an angry tigress. "I will not put up with it, Sylvia. I warn
you. You have been thoroughly spoilt all your life. I know the
signs quite well. And you have come to think that you can do
anything you like. But that is not so any longer. I am mistress
here, and I mean to maintain my position. Any hint of rebellion
from you or anyone else I shall punish with the utmost severity.
So now you understand."
"I do indeed," said Sylvia.
She had not stirred from her chair, but sat watching her
step-mother's agitated pacing with grim attention. It was her
first acquaintance with the most violent temper she had ever
encountered in a woman, and it interested her. She was no longer
conscious of being angry herself. The whole affair had become a
sort of bitter comedy. She looked upon it with a species of
impersonal scorn.
Mrs. Ingleton was obviously lashing herself to fury. She could not
imagine why, not realizing at that stage that she was the victim of
a jealousy so fierce as to amount almost to a mania. She wondered
if her father were watching them from the terrace, and contemplated
getting up to join him, but hesitated to do so, reflecting that it
might appear like flight. At the same time she did not see why she
should remain as a target for her step-mother's invective, and she
had just decided upon departure when Bliss, the butler, opened the
door with his own peculiarly quiet flourish and announced, "Captain
Preston!"
A clean-shaven little man, with a horsey appearance about the legs
which evening-dress wholly failed to conceal, entered, and
instinctively Sylvia rose to receive him.
Mrs. Ingleton stopped short and stared as they met in the middle of
the room.
"Hullo, Sylvia!" said the little man, and stamped forward as if he
had just dismounted after a long ride. He had a loud voice and an
assertive manner, and Mrs. Ingleton gazed at him in frozen surprise.
Sylvia turned towards her. "May I introduce Mr. Preston--the
M.F.H.?" Her tone was cold. If the newcomer's advent had been a
welcome diversion it obviously gave her no pleasure.
Preston, however, plainly did not stand in need of any
encouragement. He strode up to Mrs. Ingleton, confronting her with
aggressive self-assurance, "Delighted to meet you, madam. You are
Sylvia's step-mother, I presume? I hope we shall be more nearly
connected before long. Anyone belongin' to Sylvia has my highest
esteem. She has the straightest seat on a horse of any woman I
know. Ingleton and I between us taught her all she knows about
huntin', and she does us credit, by gad!"
He winked at Mrs. Ingleton as he ended, and Sylvia bit her lip.
Mrs. Ingleton, however, held out her hand.
"Pray sit down, Mr. Preston! You are most welcome. Sylvia, my
dear, will you find the cigarettes?"
Sylvia took a box from the table and handed it to him. He took it
from her, openly pinching her fingers as he did so, and offered it
to her instead.
"After you, Cherry-ripe! You're lookin' spiffin' to-night, hey,
Mrs. Ingleton? What do you think of your new daughter?"
Mrs. Ingleton was smiling. "I am only wondering what all you young
men can be about," she said. "I should have thought one of you
would have captured her long ago."
Sylvia turned round, disgust in every line, and walked to the
window. "I will find Dad," she said.
Preston looked after her, standing with legs wide apart on the
hearth-rug. "It's none of my fault, I assure you," he said. "I've
been tryin' to rope her for the last two years. But she's so damn'
shy. Can't get near her, by George."
"Really?" smiled Mrs. Ingleton. "Perhaps you have not gone quite
the right way to work. I think I shall have to take a hand in the
game and see what I can do."
Preston bowed with his hand on his heart, "I always like to get the
fair sex on my side whenever possible. If you can put the halter
on her, you've only to name your price, madam, and it's yours."
"Dear me!" said Mrs. Ingleton. "You're very generous."
"I can afford to be," declared Preston. "She's a decent bit of
goods--the only one I've ever wanted and couldn't get. If you can
get the whip-hand of her and drive her my way--well, it'll be
pretty good business for all concerned. You like diamonds, hey,
madam?"
"Very much," laughed Mrs. Ingleton coquettishly. "But you mustn't
make my husband jealous. Remember that now!"
Preston closed one eye deliberately and poked his tongue into his
cheek. "You leave that to me, my good madam. Anythin' of that
sort would be the gift of the bridegroom. See?"
"Oh, quite," said Mrs. Ingleton. "I shall certainly do my best for
you, Mr. Preston."
"Good for you!" said Preston jocularly. "It's a deal then. And
you play every trump you've got!"
"You may depend upon me," said Mrs. Ingleton.
CHAPTER III
THE WHIP-HAND
"Why isn't Mr. Preston engaged to Sylvia?" demanded Mrs. Ingleton
of her husband as she faced him across the breakfast-table on the
following morning.
"He'd like to be," said Ingleton with his face bent over the
morning paper.
"Then why isn't he?" demanded Mrs. Ingleton with asperity. "He is
a rich country gentleman, and he has a position in the County.
What more could you possibly want for her?"
Reluctantly the squire made answer. "Oh, I'm willing enough. He's
quite a decent chap so far as I know. I dare say he'd make her
quite a good husband if she'd have him. But she won't. So there's
an end of that."
"Ridiculous!" exclaimed Mrs. Ingleton. "And, pray, why won't she?"
"Why? Oh, because there's another fellow, of course. There always
is," growled Ingleton. "Girls never fall in love with the right
man. Haven't you found that out yet?"
"I have found out," said Mrs. Ingleton tartly, "that Sylvia is a
most wilful and perverse girl, and I think you are very unwise to
put up with her whims. I should be ashamed to have a girl of that
age still on my hands."
"I'd like to know how you'd have managed her any differently,"
muttered the squire, without looking up.
Mrs. Ingleton laughed unpleasantly. "You don't know much about
women, do you, my dear? Of course I could have managed her
differently. She'd have been comfortably married for the past two
years at least if I had been in command."
Ingleton looked sourly incredulous. "You don't know Sylvia," he
observed. "She has a will like cast-iron. You'd never move her."
Mrs. Ingleton tossed her head. "Never? Well, look here! If you
want the girl to marry that really charming Mr. Preston, I'll
undertake that she shall--and that within a year. How is that?"
Ingleton stared a little, then slowly shook his head. "You'll
never do it, my dear Caroline."
"I will do it if it is your wish," said Mrs. Ingleton firmly.
He looked at her with a touch of uneasiness. "I don't want the
child coerced."
She laughed again. "What an idea! Are children ever coerced in
these days? It's usually the parents who have to put up with that
sort of treatment. Now tell me about the other man. What and
where is he?"
Ingleton told her with surly reluctance. "Oh, he was a handsome
young beggar she met five years ago--the son of my then bailiff, as
a matter of fact. The boy had had a fairly decent education; he
was a gentleman, but he wasn't good enough for my Sylvia, had no
prospects of any sort. And so I put my foot down."
Mrs. Ingleton smiled with her thin, hard lips, but no gleam of
humour reached her eyes. "With the result, I suppose, that she has
been carrying on with him ever since."
Ingleton stirred uneasily in his chair. "Well, she hasn't given
him up. They correspond, I believe. But he is far enough away at
present. He is in South Africa. She'll never marry him with my
approval. I'm pretty certain now that the fellow is a rotter."
"She probably deems herself very heroic for sticking to him in
spite of opposition," observed Mrs. Ingleton.
"Very likely," he conceded. "But I think she genuinely cares for
him. That's just the mischief of it. And, unfortunately, in
another couple of years she'll be in a position to please herself.
She inherits a little money from her mother then."
Mrs. Ingleton's smile became more pronounced, revealing her strong
white teeth behind. "You need not look forward so far as that, my
love," she said. "Leave Sylvia entirely to me! I will undertake,
as I said, to have her married to Mr. Preston well within a year.
So you may set your mind at rest on that point."
"He is certainly fond of her," said the squire. "And they both
have sporting tastes. He ought to have a very good chance with her
if only the other fellow could be wiped out."
"Then leave her to me!" said Mrs. Ingleton, rising. "And mind,
dear"--she paused behind her husband's chair and placed large white
hands upon his shoulders--"whatever I do, you are not to interfere.
Is that a bargain?"
Ingleton moved again uncomfortably. "You won't be unkind to the
child?" he said.
"My dear Gilbert, don't you realize that the young lady is more
than capable of holding her own against me or anyone else?"
protested Mrs. Ingleton.
"And yet you say you can manage her?" he said.
"Well, so I can, if you will only trust to my discretion. What she
needs is a little judicious treatment, and that is what I intend to
give her. Come, that is understood, isn't it? It is perfectly
outrageous that she should have ridden roughshod over you so long.
A chit like that! And think how pleasant it will be for everyone
when she is settled and provided for. Dear me! I shall feel as if
a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. We shall really
enjoy ourselves then."
She smiled down into her husband's dubious face, and after a moment
with a curt sigh he pulled her down and kissed her. "Well, you're
a woman, you ought to know how to manage your own kind," he said.
"Sylvia's mother was an invalid for so long that I expect the child
did grow a bit out of hand. I'll leave her to you then, Caroline.
If you can manage to marry her to Preston I believe you'll do her
the biggest service possible."
"Of course I should like to do that!" said Mrs. Ingleton, kissing
him loudly. "Ah! Here she comes! She mustn't catch us
love-making at this hour. Good morning, my dear child! What roses
to be sure! No need to ask where you have been."
Sylvia came in, riding-whip in hand. Her face was flushed and her
eyes shining.
"Had a ripping run, Dad. You ought to have been there," she said.
"Good morning!" She paused and kissed him, then turned to her
step-mother. "Good morning, Madam! I hope the keys have been duly
handed over. I told Mrs. Hadlow to see to it."
Mrs. Ingleton kissed her effusively. "You poor child! I am afraid
it is a very sore point with you to part with your authority to me.
The only thing for you to do is to be quick and get a home of your
own."
Sylvia laughed. "Breakfast is my most pressing need at the present
moment. Winnie carried me beautifully, Dad. George says she is a
positive marvel for her years; dear little soul."
"George--George!" repeated Mrs. Ingleton with playful surprise. "I
presume that is the estimable young man who called upon me last
night. Well, well, if you are so intimate, I suppose I shall have
to be too. He was in a great hurry to pay his respects, was he
not?"
Sylvia was staring at her from the other side of the table. "I
meant George the groom," she said coldly after a moment. "Is there
any news, Dad?"
She turned deliberately to him, but before he could speak in answer
Mrs. Ingleton intervened.
"Now, Sylvia, my love, I have something really rather serious to
say to you. Of course, I fully realize that you are very young and
inexperienced and not likely to think of these things for yourself.
But I must tell you that it is very bad for the servants to have
meals going in the dining-room at all hours. Therefore, my child,
I must ask you to make a point of being punctual--always.
Breakfast is at eight-thirty. Please bear that in mind for the
future!"
Again Sylvia's wide eyes were upon her. They looked her straight
in the face. "Dad and I are never back by eight-thirty when we go
cubbing, are we, Dad?" she said.
The squire cleared his throat, and did not respond.
Mrs. Ingleton smiled. "But we are changing all that," she said.
"At my particular request your dear father has promised me to give
up hunting."
"What?" said Sylvia, and turned upon her father with a red flash in
her eyes. "Dad, is that true?"
He looked at her unwillingly. "Oh, don't make a scene!" he said
irritably. "Your mother is nervous, so I have given it up for the
present, that's all."
"Please don't call Mrs. Ingleton my mother!" said Sylvia, suddenly
deadly calm. "Am I always to hunt alone, then, for the future?"
"You have got--George," smiled Mrs. Ingleton.
Sylvia's eyes fell abruptly from her father's face, but they did
not return to her step-mother. She turned away to the sideboard,
and helped herself from a dish that stood there. In absolute
silence she sat down at the table and began to eat.
Her father sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment or two, then
got up with a non-committal, "Well!" gathered up his letters, and
tramped from the room.
Mrs. Ingleton took up the paper and perused it, humming. Sylvia
ate her breakfast in dead silence.
She rose finally to pour herself out some coffee, and at the
movement her step-mother looked up. There was a glitter in her
hard grey eyes that somewhat belied the smile she sought to assume.
"Now, my dear," she said, in the tone of one lecturing a refractory
child, "you were a very wilful and impertinent girl last night. I
told you I should punish you, and I have kept my word. I do not
advise you to aggravate the offence by sulking."
"Will you tell me what you mean?" said Sylvia, standing stiff and
straight before her.
Mrs. Ingleton slightly shrugged her shoulders. "You are behaving
like a child of six, and really, if you go on, you will provoke me
into treating you as such. The attitude you have chosen to adopt
is neither sensible nor dignified, let me tell you. You resent my
presence here. Very well; but you cannot prevent it. Would it not
be much wiser of you either to submit to my authority or----"
"Or?" repeated Sylvia icily.
"Or take the obvious course of providing yourself with a home
elsewhere," said Mrs. Ingleton.
Sylvia put up a quick hand to her throat. She was breathing very
quickly. "You wish to force me to marry that horrible Preston
man?" she said.
"By no means, my dear," smiled Mrs. Ingleton. "But you might do a
good deal worse. I tell you frankly, you will be very much
underdog as long as you elect to remain in this establishment. Oh
yes!" She suddenly rose to her full majestic height, dwarfing the
girl before her with conscious triumph. "I may have some trouble
with you, but conquer you I will. Your father will not interfere
between us. You have seen that for yourself. In fact, he has just
told me that he leaves the management of you entirely to me. He
has given me an absolutely free hand--very wisely. If I choose to
lock you in your room for the rest of the day he will not
interfere. And as I am quite capable of doing so, I warn you to be
very careful."
Sylvia stood as if turned to stone. She was white to the lips, but
she confronted her step-mother wholly without fear.
"Do you really think I would submit to that?" she said. "I am not
a child, I assure you, whatever I may appear to you. You will
certainly never manage me by that sort of means."
Her clear, emphatic voice fell without agitation. Now that the
first shock of the encounter was past she had herself quite firmly
in hand.
But Mrs. Ingleton took her up swiftly, realizing possibly that a
moment's delay would mean the yielding of the ground she had so
arrogantly claimed.
"I shall manage you exactly as I choose," she said, raising her
voice with abrupt violence. "I know very well your position in
this house. You are absolutely dependent, and--unless you
marry--you will remain so, being quite unqualified to earn your own
living. Therefore the whip-hand is mine, and if I find you
insolent or intractable I shall use it without mercy. How dare you
set yourself against me in this way?" She stamped with sudden fury
upon the ground. "No, not a word! Leave the room instantly--I will
have no more of it! Do you hear me, Sylvia? Do you hear me?"
She raised a menacing hand, but the fearless eyes never flinched.
"I think you must be mad," Sylvia said.
"Mad!" raved Mrs. Ingleton. "Mad because I refuse to be dictated
to by an impertinent girl? Mad because I insist upon being
mistress in my own house? You--you little viper--how dare you
stand there defying me? Do you want to be turned out into the
street?"
She had worked herself up into unreasoning rage again. Sylvia saw
that further argument would be worse than useless. Very quietly,
without another word, she turned, gathered up riding-whip and
gloves, and went from the room. She heard Mrs. Ingleton utter a
fierce, malignant laugh as she went.
CHAPTER IV
THE VICTOR
The commencement of the fox-hunting season was always celebrated by
a dance at the Town Hall--a dance which Sylvia had never failed to
attend during the five years that she had been in society and had
been a member of the Hunt.
It was at her first Hunt Ball, on the occasion of her _debut_, that
she had met young Guy Ranger, and she looked back to that ball with
all its tender reminiscences as the beginning of all things.
How superlatively happy she had been that night! Not for anything
that life could offer would she have parted with that one precious
romance of her girlhood. She clung to the memory of it as to a
priceless possession. And year after year she had gone to the Hunt
Ball with that memory close in her heart.
It was at the last of these that George Preston had asked her to be
his wife. She had made every effort to avoid him, but he had
mercilessly tracked her down; and though she had refused him with
great emphasis she had never really felt that he had taken her
seriously. He was always seeking her out, always making excuses to
be alone with her. It was growing increasingly difficult to evade
him. She had never liked the man, but Fate or his own contrivance
was continually throwing him in her way. If she hunted, he
invariably rode home with her. If she remained away, he invariably
came upon her somehow, and wanted to know wherefore.
She strongly suspected that her step-mother was in league with him,
though she had no direct proof of this. Preston was being
constantly asked to the house, and whenever they went out to dine
they almost invariably met him. She had begun to have a feeling
that people eyed them covertly, with significant glances, that they
were thrown together by design. Wherever they met, he always fell
to her lot as dinner-partner, and he had begun to affect an
attitude of proprietorship towards her which was yet too indefinite
for her actively to resent,
She felt as if a net were closing around her from which, despite
her utmost effort, she was powerless to escape. Also, for weeks
now she had received no letter from Guy, and that fact disheartened
her more than any other. She had never before had to wait so long
for word from him. Very brief, often unsatisfying, as his letters
had been, at least they had never failed to arrive. And she
counted upon them so. Without them, she felt bereft of her
mainstay. Without them, the almost daily, nerve-shattering scenes
which her step-mother somehow managed to enact, however discreet
her attitude, became an infliction hardly to be borne. She might
have left her home for a visit among friends, but something held
her back from this. Something warned her that if she went her
place would be instantly filled up, and she would never return.
And very bitterly she realized the fact that for the next two years
she was dependent. She had not been trained to earn her own
living, and she lacked the means to obtain a training. Her father,
she knew, would not hear of such a thing, nor would he relinquish
the only means he possessed of controlling her actions. She
believed that privately he did not wish to part with her, though
her presence was a very obvious drawback to his comfort. He never
took her part, but also he never threw his weight into the balance
against her. He merely, with considerable surliness, looked on.
And so the cruel struggle went on till it seemed to Sylvia that her
physical strength was ultimately beginning to fail. She came to
dread her step-mother's presence with a feeling akin to nausea, to
shrink in every nerve from the constant ordeals so ruthlessly
thrust upon her,
So far she had never faltered or shown any sign of weakness under
the long-drawn-out persecution, but she was becoming aware that,
strive as she might, her endurance had its limits. She was but
human, and she was intensely sensitive to unkindness. Her nerves
were beginning to give way under the strain. There were even times
when she felt a breakdown to be inevitable, and only the thought of
her step-mother's triumph warded it off. Once down, and she knew
she would be a slave, broken beyond redemption to the most pitiless
tyranny. And so, though her strength was worn threadbare through
perpetual strain, she clung to it still. If only--oh, if only--Guy
would write! If he should be ill--if he should fail her--she felt
that it would be the end of everything. For nothing else mattered.
She did not greatly wish to go to the Hunt Ball that year. She
felt utterly out of tune with all gaiety. But she could think of
no decent excuse for remaining away. And she was still buoying
herself up with the thought that Guy's silence could not last much
longer. She was bound to hear from him soon.
She went to the Ball, therefore, feeling tired and dispirited, and
looking quite _passee_, as her step-mother several times assured
her.
She had endured a long harangue upon jealousy that evening, which
vice Mrs. Ingleton declared she was allowing to embitter her whole
life, and she was weary to death of the subject and the penetrating
voice that had discoursed upon it. Once or twice she had been
stung into some biting rejoinder, but for the most part she had
borne the lecture in silence. After all, what did it matter? What
did it matter?
They reached the Town Hall and went up the carpeted steps.
Preston, in hunting pink, received them. He captured Sylvia's hand
and pressed it tight against his heart.
She stared at him with wide unsmiling eyes. "Seen the local rag?"
he asked, as he grinned amorously into them. "There's something to
interest you in it. Our local prophet has been at work."
She did not know what he meant, or feel sufficiently interested to
inquire. She pulled her hand free, and passed on. His familiarity
became more marked and more insufferable every time she encountered
him. But still she asked herself again, what did it matter?
He laughed and let her go.
In the cloak-room people looked at her oddly, but beyond ordinary
greetings no one spoke to her. She did not know that it was solely
her utter wretchedness that kept them at a distance.
She entered the ballroom behind Mrs. Ingleton, and at once Preston
descended upon her again. He had scrawled his name against half a
dozen dances on her card before she realized what he was doing.
She began to protest, but again that deadly feeling of apathy
overcame her. She was worn out--worn out. What did it matter
whether she danced with the man or not?
Young Vernon Eversley, a friendly boy whom she had always liked,
pursed his lips when he saw her programme.
"It's true then, is it?" he said.
"What is true?" She looked at him questioningly, not feeling
greatly interested in his answer.
He met her look with straight, honest eyes. "I saw the
announcement of your engagement in the paper this morning; but
somehow I didn't believe it. He's a dashed lucky man."
That startled her out of her lethargy. She began a quick
disclaimer, but they were interrupted. One of the stewards came up
and swept young Eversley away.
The next moment Preston came and took possession of her. He was
laughing still as he whirled her in among the dancers, refusing to
give her any breathing-space.
"I want to see a little colour in those cheeks of yours,
Cherry-ripe," he said. "What's the Ingleton dragon been doin' to
you, my pretty?"
She danced with him with a feeling that the net was drawn close
about her, and she was powerless to struggle any longer. When he
suffered her to stand at last, her head was whirling so that she
had to cling to him for support.
He led her to a secluded corner and put her into a chair. Then he
bent over her and spoke into her ear. "Look here! I'm not such a
bad sort. They've coupled our names together in the local rag.
Why not let 'em?"
She looked up at him, summoning her strength with a great effort.
"So it was your doing!" she said.
"No, it wasn't!" he declared. "I swear it wasn't! I'm not such a
fool as that. But see here, Sylvia! Where's the use of holdin'
out any longer? You know I want you, and there's no sense in goin'
on pinin' for a fellow in South Africa who's probably married a
dozen blacks already. It isn't like you to cry for the moon. Put
up with me instead! You might do worse, and anyone can see you're
havin' a dog's time at the Manor now. You'll be your own boss
anyway if you come to me."
She heard him with her eyes fixed before her. Her brief energy had
gone. Her life seemed to stretch before her in a long, dreary
waste. His arguments were unanswerable. Physical weariness,
combined with the despair which till then she had refused to
acknowledge, overwhelmed her. She was down.
He put his hand upon her. "Come, I say! Is it a bargain? I swear
I won't bully you. I'm awfully fond of you, Cherry-ripe."
She raised herself slowly. It was her last effort. "One thing
first," she said, and put his hand away from her. "I must--cable
to Guy, and get an answer."
"Oh, rot!" he said. "What for?"
"Because I haven't heard from him lately, and I must know--I must
know"--she spoke with rising agitation--"the reason why. He might
be--I don't say it is likely, but he might be--on his way home to
me. I can't--I can't give him up without knowing."
Preston grimaced wryly, but he was shrewd enough to grasp and hold
such advantage as was his. "Well, failing him, you'll have me,
what? That's a promise, is it?"
She looked at him again. "If you want me under those conditions."
He put his arms about her. "Of course I want you, Cherry-ripe!
We'd be awfully happy together, you and I. I'll soon make you
forget him, if that's all. You can't be very deeply in love with
the fellow after all this time. I don't suppose he's in the least
the sort of person you take him for. You're wastin' your time over
a myth. Come, it's settled, isn't it? We're engaged."
He pressed her closer. He bent to kiss her, but she turned her
face away. His lips only found her neck, but he made the most of
that. She had to exert her strength to free herself.
"No," she said. "We're not engaged. We can't be engaged--until I
have heard from Guy."
He suppressed a short word of impatience. "And suppose you don't
hear?" he asked.
She made a blind movement with her hands. "Then---I give in."
"You will marry me?" he insisted.
"If you like," she answered drearily. "I expect you will very soon
get tired of me."
"There's a remedy for everything," he answered jauntily. "But we
needn't consider that. I'm just mad to get you, you poor little
icicle. I'll warm you up, never fear. When you've been married to
me a week, you won't know yourself." She shivered and was silent.
He turned in his tracks, perceiving he was making no headway.
"Then we're engaged provisionally anyway," he insisted. "There's
no need to contradict the general impression--unless we're obliged.
We'll behave like lovers--till further notice."
She got to her feet. Her knees were trembling. The net was close
at last. She seemed to feel it pressing on her throat. "You are
not--to kiss me," she managed to say.
He frowned at the condition, but he conceded it. The game was so
nearly his that he could afford to be generous. Besides, he would
exact payment in full later for any little concessions she wrung
from him now.
"I'm bein' awfully patient," he said pathetically. "I hope you'll
take that into account. You really might just as well give in
first as last."
But Sylvia had given in, and she knew it. Nothing but a miracle
could save her now. The only loophole she had for herself was one
which she realized already was highly unlikely to serve her. She
had been practically forced into submission, and she did not
attempt to disguise the fact from herself.
Yet if only Guy had not failed her, she knew that no power on earth
would have sufficed to move her, no clamour of battle could ever
have made her quail. That had been the chink in her armour, and
through that she had been pierced again and again, till she was
vanquished at last.
She felt too weary now, too utterly overwhelmed by circumstances,
to care what happened. Yes, she would cable to Guy as she had
said. But her confidence was gone. She was convinced already that
no word would come back in answer out of the void that had
swallowed him,
She went through the evening as one in a dream. People offered her
laughing congratulations, and she never knew how she received them.
She seemed to be groping her way through an all-enveloping mist of
despair.
One episode only stood out clearly from all the rest, and that was
when all were assembled at supper and out of the gay hubbub she
caught the sound of her own name. Then for a few intolerable
moments she became vividly alive to that which was passing around
her. She knew that George Preston's arm encircled her, and that
everyone present had risen to drink to their happiness.
As soon as it was over she crept away like a wounded thing and hid
herself. Only a miracle could save her now.
CHAPTER V
THE MIRACLE
"Well, my dear," said Mrs. Ingleton, rising to kiss her
step-daughter on the following morning, "I consider you are a
very--lucky--girl."
Sylvia received the kiss and passed on without reply. She was very
pale, but the awful inertia of the previous night had left her.
She was in full command of herself. She took up some letters from
a side table, and sat down with them.
Her step-mother eyed her for a moment or two in silence. Then:
"Well, my dear?" she said. "Have you nothing to say for yourself?"
"Nothing particular," said Sylvia.
The letters were chiefly letters of congratulation. She read them
with that composure which Mrs. Ingleton most detested, and put them
aside.
"Am I to have no share in the general rejoicing?" she asked at
length, in a voice that trembled with indignation.
Sylvia recognized the tremor. It had been the prelude to many a
storm. She got up and turned to the window. "You can read them
all if you like," she said. "I see Dad on the terrace. I am just
going to speak to him."
She passed out swiftly with the words before her step-mother's
gathering wrath could descend upon her. One of Mrs. Ingleton's
main grievances was that it was so difficult to corner Sylvia when
she wanted to give free vent to her violence.
She watched the girl's slim figure pass out into the pale November
sunshine, and her frown turned to a very bitter smile.
"Ah, my girl, you wait a bit!" she murmured. "You've met your
match, or I'm much mistaken."
The squire was smoking his morning pipe in a sheltered corner. He
looked round with his usual half-surly expression as his daughter
joined him.
She came to him very quietly and put her hand on his arm.
"Well?" he said gruffly.
She stood for a moment or two in silence, then:
"Dad," she said very quietly, "I am going to cable to Guy. I
haven't heard from him lately. I must know the reason why
before--before----" A quiver of agitation sounded in her voice and
she stopped.
"If you've made up your mind to marry Preston, I don't see why you
want to do that," said the squire curtly.
"I am going to do it," she answered steadily. "I only wish I had
done it sooner."
Ingleton burrowed into his paper. "All right," he growled.
Sylvia stood for a few seconds longer, but he did not look up at
her, and at length, with a sharp sigh, she turned and left him.
She did not return to her step-mother, however. She went to her
room to write her message.
A little later she passed down the garden on her way to the
village. A great restlessness was upon her, and she thought the
walk to the post-office would do her good.
She came upon Jeffcott in one of the shrubberies, and he stopped
her with the freedom of an old servant.
"Beggin' your pardon, missie, but you'll let me wish you joy?" he
said. "I heard the good news this morning."
She stood still. His friendly look went straight to her heart,
stirring in her an urgent need for sympathy.
"Oh, Jeffcott," she said, "I'd never have given in if Mr. Ranger
hadn't stopped writing."
"Lor!" said Jeffcott. "Did he now?" He frowned for an instant.
"But---didn't you have a letter from him last week?" he questioned.
"Friday morning it were. I see Evans, the postman, and he said as
there were a South African letter for you. Weren't that from Mr.
Ranger, missie?"
"What?" said Sylvia sharply.
"Last Friday it were," the old man repeated firmly. "Why, I see
the letter in his hand top of the pile when he stopped in the drive
to speak to me. We both of us passed a remark on it."
Sylvia was staring at him. "Jeffcott, are you sure?" she said.
"Sure as I stand here, Miss Sylvia," he returned. "I couldn't have
made no mistake. Didn't you have it then, missie? I'll swear to
heaven it were there."
"No," Sylvia said. "I didn't have it." She paused a moment; then
very slowly, "The last letter I had from Guy Ranger," she said,
"was more than six weeks ago--the day that the squire brought Madam
to the Manor."
"Lor!" ejaculated old Jeffcott again. "But wherever could they
have got to, Miss Sylvia? Don't Bliss have the sortin' of the
letters?"
"I--don't--know." Sylvia was gazing straight before her with that
in her face which frightened the old man. "Those letters have
been--kept back."
She turned from him with the words, and suddenly she was running,
running swiftly up the path.
Like a young animal released from bondage she darted out of his
sight, and Jeffcott returned to his hedge-trimming with pursed
lips. That last glimpse of Miss Sylvia's face had--to express it
in his own language--given him something of a turn.
It had precisely the same effect upon Sylvia's step-mother a little
later, when the girl burst in upon her as she sat writing letters
in her boudoir.
She looked round at her in amazement, but she had no time to ask
for an explanation, for Sylvia, white to the lips, with eyes of
flame, went straight to the attack. She was in such a whirlwind of
passion as had never before possessed her.
She was panting, yet she spoke with absolute distinctness. "I have
just found out," she said, "how it is that I have had no letters
from Guy during the past six weeks. They have been--stolen."
"Really, Sylvia!" said Mrs. Ingleton. She arose in wrath, but no
wrath had any effect upon Sylvia at that moment. She was girt for
battle--the deadliest battle she had ever known.
"You took them!" she said, pointing an accusing finger full at her
step-mother. "You kept them back! Deny it as much as you like--as
much as you dare! None but you would have stooped to do such a
thing. And it has been done. The letters have been delivered--and
I have not received them. I have suffered--horribly--because of
it. You meant me to suffer!'
"You are wrong, Sylvia! You are wrong!" Shrilly Mrs. Ingleton
broke in upon her, for there was something awful in the girl's
eyes--they had a red-hot look. "Whatever I have done has been for
your good always. Your father will testify to that. Go and ask
him if you don't believe me!"
"My father had nothing to do with this!" said Sylvia in tones of
withering scorn. "Whatever else he lacks, he has a sense of
honour. But you--you are a wicked woman, unprincipled, cruel,
venomous. It may be my father's duty to live with you, but--thank
heaven--it is not mine. You have come into my home and cursed it.
I will never sleep under the same roof with you again."
She turned with the words to leave the room, and found her father
and George Preston just coming out of the library on the other side
of the hall. Fearlessly she swung round and confronted them. The
utter freedom of her at that moment made her superb. The miracle
had happened. She had rent the net that entangled her to shreds.
Mrs. Ingleton was beginning to clamour in the room behind her. She
turned swiftly and shut and locked the door. Then she faced the
two men with magnificent courage.
"I have to tell you," she said, addressing them both impersonally,
"that my engagement to Guy Ranger is unbroken. I have just found
out that my step-mother has been suppressing his letters to me.
That, of course, alters everything. And--also of course--it makes
it impossible for me to stay here any longer. I am going to
him--at once."
Her eyes went rapidly from her father's face to Preston's. It was
he who came forward and answered her. The squire seemed struck
dumb.
"Egad!" he said. "I've never seen you look so rippin' in all my
life! That's how you look when you're angry, is it? Now I shall
know what to watch out for when we're married."
She answered him with a quiver of scorn. "We never shall be
married, Mr. Preston. You may put that out of your mind for ever.
I am going to Guy by the next boat."
"Not you!" laughed Preston. "You're in a paddy just now, my dear,
but when you've thought it over soberly you'll find there are a
good many little obstacles in the way of that. You haven't been
brought up to rough it for one. And Guy Ranger, as I think we
settled last night, has probably married half a dozen blacks
already. It's too great a risk, Cherry-ripe! And--if I know
you--you won't take it."
"You don't know me," said Sylvia. She turned, from him and went to
her father. "Have you nothing to say," she asked, "about this vile
and hateful plot? But I suppose you can't. She is your wife.
However much you despise her, you have got to endure her. But I
have not. And so I am going--to-day!"
Her voice rang clear and unfaltering. She looked him straight in
the eyes. He made a sharp movement, almost as if that full regard
pierced him.
He spoke with manifest effort. "You won't go with my consent."
"No?" said Sylvia. "Yet--you would never respect me again if I
stayed. I could never respect myself." She glanced over her
shoulder at the door which Mrs. Ingleton was violently shaking.
"You can let her out," she said contemptuously. "I have had my
turn. I leave her--in possession." She turned to go to the
stairs, then abruptly checked herself, stepped up to her father,
put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him. The anger had gone
out of her eyes. "Good-bye, Dad! Think of me sometimes!" she said.
And with that she was gone, passing Preston by as though she saw
him not, and ascending the stairs quickly, but wholly without
agitation. They heard her firm, light tread along the corridor
above. Then with a hunch of the shoulders the squire turned and
unlocked the boudoir door.
Mrs. Ingleton burst forth in a fury. "You cad to keep me boxed up
here with that little serpent pouring all sorts of poison into your
ears! Where is she? Where is she? I'll give her such a trouncing
as she's never had before!"
But Ingleton stretched an arm in front of her, barring the way.
His face was grim and unyielding. "No, you won't!" he said.
"You'll leave her alone. She's my daughter--not yours. And you'll
not interfere with her any further."
There was a finality in his tone. Mrs. Ingleton stopped short,
glaring at him.
"You take her part, do you?" she demanded.
"On this occasion--yes, I do," said the squire.
"And what about me?" said Preston.
Ingleton looked at him--still barring his wife's progress--with a
faint, sardonic smile. "Well, she seems to have given you the
boot, anyway. If I were in your place, I should--quit."
"She'll repent it!" raved Mrs. Ingleton. "Oh, she will repent it
bitterly!"
"Very likely," conceded Ingleton. "But she's kicked over the
traces now, and that fact won't pull her up--anyhow, at present,"
Mrs. Ingleton's look held fierce resentment. "Are you going to let
her go?" she said.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Seeing I can't help myself, I suppose
I shall. There's no sense in making a fuss now. It's done, so you
leave her alone!"
Mrs. Ingleton turned upon Preston. "You can bring an action for
breach of promise!" she said. "I'll support you."
He made her an ironical bow. "You are more than kind," he said.
"But--I think I shall get on better for the future without your
support."
And with the words he turned on his heel and went out.
"Hateful person!" cried Mrs. Ingleton. "Gilbert, he has insulted
me! Go after him and kick him! Gilbert! How dare you?"
Ingleton was quietly but firmly impelling her back into the
boudoir. "You go and sit down!" he said. "Sit down and be quiet!
There's been enough of this."
It was the first time in her knowledge that he had ever asserted
himself. Mrs. Ingleton stared at him wildly for a second or two,
then, seeing that he was in earnest, subsided into a chair with a
burst of hysterical weeping, declaring that no one ever treated her
so brutally before.
She expected to be soothed, comforted, propitiated, but no word of
solace came. Finally she looked round with an indignant dabbing of
her tears. How dare he treat her thus? Was he quite heartless?
She began to utter a stream of reproaches, but stopped short and
gasped in incredulous disgust. He had actually--he had
actually--gone, and left her to wear her emotion out in solitude.
So overwhelming was the result of this piece of neglect, combined
with the failure of all her plans, that Mrs. Ingleton retired
forwith to bed, and remained there for the rest of the day.
CHAPTER VI
THE LAND OF STRANGERS
It had been a day of intense and brooding heat. Black clouds hung
sullenly low in the sky, and a heavy gloom obscured the face of the
earth. On each side of the railway the _veldt_ stretched for
miles, vivid green, yet strangely desolate to unaccustomed eyes.
The moving train seemed the only sign of life in all that
wilderness.
Sylvia leaned from the carriage window and gazed blankly forth.
She had hoped that Guy would meet her at Cape Town, but he had not
been there. She had come unwelcomed into this land of strangers.
But he would be at Ritzen. He had cabled a month before that he
would meet her there if he could not get to Cape Town.
And now she was nearing Ritzen. Across the mysterious desolation
she discerned its many lights. It was a city in a plain, and the
far hills mounted guard around it, but she saw them only dimly in
the failing light.
Ritzen was the nearest railway station to the farm on which Guy
worked. From here she would have to travel twenty miles across
country. But that would not be yet. Guy and she would be married
first. There would be a little breathing-space at Ritzen before
she went into that new life that awaited her beyond the hills.
Somehow she felt as if those hills guarded her destiny. She did
not fear the future, but she looked forward to it with a certain
awe.
Paramount within her, was the desire for Guy, the sight of his
handsome, debonair countenance, the ring of his careless laugh. As
soon as she saw Guy she knew she would be at home, even in the land
of strangers, as she had never been at the Manor since the advent
of her father's second wife. She had no misgivings on that point,
or she had never come across the world to him thus, making all
return impossible. For there could be be no going back for her.
She had taken a definite and irrevocable step. There could be no
turning back upon this road that she had chosen.
It might not be an easy road. She was prepared for obstacles. But
with Guy she was ready to face anything. The adversity through
which she had come had made the thought of physical hardship of
very small account. And deep in her innermost soul she had a
strong, belief in her own ultimate welfare. She was sure that she
had done the right thing in thus striking out for herself, and she
was equally sure that, whatever it might entail, she would not
regret it in the end.
The lights were growing nearer. She discerned the brick building
of the station. Over the wide stretch of land that yet intervened
there came to her the smell of smoke and human habitation. A warm
thrill went through her. In two minutes now--in less--the long
five years' separation would be over, and she would be clasping
Guy's hand again.
She leaned from the window, scanning the few outstanding houses of
the town as the train ran past. Then they were in the station, and
a glare of light received them.
A crowd of unfamiliar faces swam before her eyes, and then--she saw
him. He stood on the platform awaiting her, distinct from all the
rest to her eager gaze--a man of medium height, broader than she
remembered, with a keen, bronzed face and eagle eyes that caught
and held her own.
She sprang form the train almost before it shopped. She held out
both her hands to him.
"Guy! Guy!"
Her voice came sobbingly. He gripped the hands hard and close.
"So you've got here!" he said.
She was staring at him, her face upraised. What was there about
him that did not somehow tally with the Guy of her memory and her
dreams? He was older, of course; he was more mature, bigger in
every way. But she missed something. There was no kindling of
pleasure in his eyes. They looked upon her kindly. Ah, yes; but
the rapture--where was the rapture of greeting?
A sense of coldness went through her. Her hands fell from his. He
had changed--he had changed indeed! His eyes were too keen. She
thought they held a calculating expression. And the South African
sun had tanned him almost bronze. His chin had a stubbly look.
The Guy she had known had been perfectly smooth of skin.
She looked at him with a rather piteous attempt to laugh. "I
wonder I knew you at all," she said, "with that hideous embryo
beard. I'm sure you haven't shaved to-day."
He put up a hand and felt his chin. "No, I shaved yesterday," he
said, and laughed. "I've been too busy to-day."
That reassured her. The laugh at least was like Guy, brief though
it was. "Horrid boy!" she said. "Well, help me collect my things.
We'll talk afterwards."
He helped her. He went into the carriage she had just left and
pulled out all her belongings. These he dumped on the platform and
told her to wait while he collected the rest.
She stood obediently in the turmoil of Britons, Boers, and Kaffirs,
that surged around. She felt bewildered, strung up, unlike
herself. It was a land of strangers, indeed, and she felt forlorn
and rather frightened. Why had Guy looked at her so oddly? Why
had his welcome been so cold? Could it be--could it be--that he
was not pleased to see her, that--that--possibly he did not want
her? The dreadful chill went through her again like a sword
thrusting at her heart, and with it went old Jeffcott's warning
words: "Do you ever ask yourself what sort of man he may be after
five years? I'll warrant he's lived every minute of it. He's the
sort that would."
She had felt no doubt then, nor ever since, until this moment. And
now--now it came upon her and overwhelmed her. She glanced about
her, almost as one seeking escape.
"I've fixed everything up. Come along to the railway hotel! You
must be pretty tired." He had returned to her, and he stood looking
at her with those strangely keen eyes, almost as if he had never
seen her before, she thought to herself desolately.
She looked bade at him with unconscious appeal in her own. "I am
tired," she said, and was aware of a sudden difficulty in speaking.
"Is it far?"
"No," he said; "only a step."
He gathered up her hand-baggage and led the way, making a path for
her through the throng.
She scarcely noticed where she went, so completely did he fill her
mind. He had changed enormously, developed in a fashion that she
had never deemed possible. He walked with a free swing, and
carried himself as one who counted. He had the look of one
accustomed to command. She seemed to read prosperity in every
line. But was he prosperous? If so, why had he not sent for her
long ago?
They reached the hotel. He led the way without pause straight to a
small private room where a table had been prepared for a meal.
"Sit down!" he said. "Take off your things! You must be starved."
He rang the bell and gave an order while she mutely obeyed. All
her confidence was gone. She had begun to tremble. The wonder
crossed her mind if perhaps she, too, had altered, grown beyond all
his previous conception of her. Possibly she was as much a
stranger to him as he to her. Was that why he had looked at her
with that oddly critical expression? Was that why he did not now
take her in his arms?
Impulsively she took off her hat and turned round to him.
He was looking at her still, and again that awful sense of doubt
mastered and possessed her. A great barrier seemed to have sprung
up between them. He was formidable, actually formidable. The Guy
of old days, impetuous, hot-tempered even, had never been that.
She stood before him, controlling her rising agitation with a great
effort. "Why do you look at me like that?" she said. "I feel--you
make me feel--as if--you are a total stranger!"
His face changed a little, but still she could not read his look.
"Sit down!" he said. "We must have a talk."
She put out her hand to him. The aloofness of his speech cut her
with an anguish intolerable. "What has happened?" she said.
"Quick! Tell me! Don't you want to--marry me?"
He took her hand. She saw that in some fashion he was moved,
though still she could not understand. "I'm trying to tell you,"
he said; "but--to be honest--you've hit me in the wind, and I don't
know how. I think you have forgotten in all these years what Guy
was like."
She gazed at him blankly. Again Jeffcott's words were running in
her mind. And something--something hidden behind them--arose up
like a menace and terrified her.
"I haven't forgotten," she whispered voicelessly. "I couldn't
forget. But go on! Don't--don't mind telling me!"
She was white to the lips. All the blood in her body seemed
concentrated at her heart. It was beating in heavy, sickening
throbs like the labouring of some clogged machinery.
He put his free hand on her shoulder with an abrupt movement that
made him for the moment oddly familiar. "It's a damned shame," he
said, and though his voice was low he spoke with feeling. "Look
here, child! This is no fault of mine. I never thought you could
make this mistake, never dreamed of such a possibility. I'm not
Guy at all. I am Burke Ranger--his cousin. And let me tell you at
once, we are not much alike now--whatever we have been in the past.
Here, don't faint! Sit down!"
He shifted his hand from her shoulder to her elbow, and supported
her to a chair. But she remained upon her feet, her white face
upraised, gazing at him--gazing at him.
"Not Guy! Not Guy!" She said it over and over as if to convince
herself. Then: "But where is Guy?" She clutched at his arm
desperately, for all her world was shaking. "Are you going to tell
me he is--dead?"
"No." Burke Ranger spoke with steady eyes looking straight into
hers. "He is not."
"Then why--then why--" She could get no further. She stopped,
gasping. His face swam blurred before her quivering vision,--Guy's
face, yet with an inexplicable something in it that was not Guy.
"Sit down!" he said again, and put her with quiet insistence into
the chair. "Wait till you have had something to eat! Then we'll
have a talk and decide what had better be done."
She was shivering from head to foot, but she faced him still. "I
can't eat," she said through white lips. "I can't do anything
till--till I know--all there is to know."
He stood looking down at her. The fingers of his right hand were
working a little, but his face was perfectly calm, even grim.
As he did not speak immediately, she went on with piteous effort.
"You must forgive me for making that stupid mistake. I see
now--you are not Guy, though there is a strong likeness. You see,
I have not seen Guy for five years, and I--I was allowing for
certain changes."
"He is changed," said Burke Ranger.
That nameless terror crept closer about her heart. Her eyes met
his imploringly.
"Really I am quite strong," she said. "Won't you tell me what is
wrong? He--cabled to me to come to him. It was in answer to my
cable."
"Yes, I know," said Ranger.
He turned from her abruptly and walked to the window. The darkness
had drawn close. It hung like a black curtain beyond the pane.
The only light in the room was a lamp that burned on a side table.
It illumined him but dimly, and again it seemed to the girl who
watched him that this could be no other than the Guy of her
dreams--the Guy she had loved so faithfully, for whose sake she had
waited so patiently for so many weary years. Surely it was he who
had made the mistake! Surely even yet he would turn and gather her
to his heart, and laugh at her folly for being so easily deluded!
Ah! He had turned. He stood looking at her across the
dimly-lighted space. Her very heart stood still to hear his voice.
He spoke. "The best thing you can do is to go back to the place
you came from--and marry someone else."
The words went through her. They seemed to tear and lacerate her.
As in a nightmare vision she saw the bitterness that lay behind
her, the utter emptiness before. She still stared full at him, but
she saw him not. Her terror had taken awful shape before her, and
all her courage was gone. She cowered before it.
"I can't--I can't!" she said, and even to herself her voice sounded
weak and broken, like the cry of a lost child. "I can't go back!"
He came across the room to her, moving quickly, as if something
urged him. She did not know that she had flung out her hands in
wild despair until she felt him gather them together in his own.
He bent over her, and she saw very clearly in his countenance that
which had made her realize that he was not Guy. "Look here!" he
said. "Have a meal and go to bed! We will talk it out in the
morning. You are worn out now."
His voice held insistence. There was no softness in it. Had he
displayed kindness in that moment she would have burst into tears.
But he put her hands down again with a brief, repressive gesture,
and the impulse passed. She yielded him obedience, scarcely
knowing what she did.
He brought her food and wine, and she ate and drank mechanically
while he watched her with his grey, piercing eyes, not speaking at
all.
Finally she summoned strength to look up at him with a quivering
smile. "You are very kind. I am sorry to have given you so much
trouble."
He made an abrupt movement that she fancied denoted impatience.
"Can't you eat any more?" he said.
She shook her head, still bravely smiling. "I can't--really. I
think--I think perhaps you are right. I had better go to bed, and
you will tell me everything in the morning."
"Finish the drink anyhow!" he said.
She hesitated momentarily, but he pushed the glass firmly towards
her and she obeyed.
She stood up then and faced him. "Will you please tell me one
thing--to--to set my mind at rest? Guy--Guy isn't ill?"
He looked her straight in the face. "No."
"You are sure?" she said.
"Yes." He spoke with curt decision, yet oddly she wondered for a
fleeting second if he had told her the truth.
His look seemed to challenge the doubt, to beat it down. Half
shyly, she held out her hand.
"Good night," she said.
His fingers grasped and released it. He turned with her to the
door. "I will show you your room" he said.
CHAPTER VII
THE WRONG TURNING
Sylvia slept that night the heavy, unstirring sleep of utter
weariness though when she lay down she scarcely expected to sleep
at all. The shock, the bewilderment, the crushing dread, that had
attended her arrival after the long, long journey had completely
exhausted her mentally, and physically. She slept as a child
sleeps at the end of a strenuous day.
When she awoke, the night was gone and all the world was awake and
moving. The clouds had all passed, and a brilliant morning sun
shone down upon the wide street below her window. She felt
refreshed though the heat was still great. The burden that had
overwhelmed her the night before did not seem so intolerable by
morning light. Her courage had come back to her.
She dressed with a firm determination to carry a brave face
whatever lay before her. Things could not be quite so bad as they
had seemed the previous night. Guy could not really have changed
so fundamentally. Perhaps he only feared that she could not endure
poverty with him. If that were all, she would soon teach him
otherwise. All she wanted in life now was his love.
She had almost convinced herself that this was practically all she
had to contend with, and the ogre of her fears was well in the
background, when she finally left her room and went with some
uncertainty through the unfamiliar passages.
She found the entrance, but a crowd of curious Boers collected
about the door daunted her somewhat, and she was turning back from
their staring eyes when Burke Ranger suddenly strode through the
group and joined her.
She gave him a quick, half-startled glance as they met, and the
first thing that struck her about him was the obvious fact that he
had shaved. His eyes intercepted hers, and she saw the flicker of
a smile pass across them and knew he had read her thought.
She flushed as she held out her hand to him. "Good morning," she
said with a touch of shyness. "I hope you haven't been wasting
your time waiting for me."
He took her hand and turned her towards the small room in which
they had talked together the previous night. "No, I haven't wasted
my time," he said. "I hope you have had a good rest?"
"Oh, quite, thank you," she answered. "I slept like the dead. I
feel--fit for anything."
"That's right," he said briefly. "We will have some breakfast
before we start business."
"Oh, you have been waiting!" she exclaimed with compunction. "I'm
so sorry. I'm not generally so lazy."
"Don't apologize!" he said. "You've done exactly what I hoped
you'd do. Sit down, won't you? Take the end of the table!"
His manner was friendly though curt. Her embarrassment fell from
her as she complied. They sat, facing one another, and, the light
being upon him, she gave him a steady look. He was not nearly so
much like Guy as she had thought the previous night, though
undoubtedly there was a strong resemblance. On a closer inspection
she did not think him handsome, but the keen alertness of him
attracted her. He looked as if physical endurance were a quality
he had brought very near to perfection. He had the stamp of the
gladiator upon him. He had wrestled against odds.
After a moment or two he turned his eyes unexpectedly to hers. It
was a somewhat disconcerting habit of his.
"A satisfactory result, I hope?" he said.
She did not look away. "I don't consider myself a good character
reader," she said. "But you are certainly not so much like Guy as
I thought at first sight."
"Thank you," he said. "I must confess I prefer to be like myself."
She laughed a little. "It was absurd of me to make such a mistake.
But yours was the only face that looked in the least familiar in
all that crowd. I was so glad to see it."
"You have never been in this country before?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Never. I feel a dreadful outsider at
present. But I shall soon learn.'
"Do you ride?" he said.
Her eyes kindled. "Yes. I was keen on hunting in England. That
will be a help, won't it?"
"It would be," he said, "if you stayed."
"I have come to stay," she said with assurance.
"Wait a bit!" said Burke Ranger.
His manner rather than his words checked her. She felt again that
cold dread pressing against her heart. She turned from the subject
as one seeking escape.
She ate a good breakfast almost in spite of herself. Ranger
insisted upon it, and since he was evidently hungry himself it
seemed churlish not to keep him company. He told her a little
about the country, while they ate, but he strenuously avoided all
things personal, and she felt compelled to follow his lead. He
imposed a certain restraint upon her, and even when he rose from
the table at length with the air of a man about to face the
inevitable, she did not feel it to be wholly removed.
She got up also and watched him fill his pipe with something of her
former embarrassment. She expected him to light it when he had
finished, but he did not. He put it in his pocket, and somewhat
abruptedly turned to her.
"Now!" he said.
She met his look with a brave face. She even smiled--a gallant,
little smile to which he made no response. "Well, now," she said,
"I want you to tell me the quickest way to get to Guy."
He faced her squarely. "I've got to tell you something about him
first," he said.
"Yes?" Her heart was beating very quickly, but she had herself well
in hand. "What is it?"
But he stood mutely considering her. It was as if the power of
speech had suddenly gone from him.
"What is it?" she said again. "Won't you tell me?"
He made a curious gesture. It was almost a movement of flinching.
"You're so young," he said.
"Oh, but I'm not--I'm not!" she assured him. "It's only my face.
I'm quite old really. I've been through a lot."
"You've never seen life yet," he said.
"I have!" she declared with an odd vehemence. "I've learnt lots of
things. Why--do you look like that? I'm not a child."
Her voice quivered a little in spite of her. Why did he look like
that? The compassion in his eyes smote her with a strange pain.
Why--why was he sorry for her?
He saw her rising agitation, and spoke, slowly, choosing his words.
"The fact is, Guy isn't what you take him for--isn't the right man
for you. Nothing on this earth can make him so now, whatever he
may have been once. He's taken the wrong turning, and there's no
getting back."
She gazed at him with wide eyes. Her lips felt stiff and cold.
"What--what--do you mean, please?" she said.
She saw his hands clench. "I don't want to tell you what I mean,"
he said. "Haven't I said enough?"
She shook her head slowly, with drawn brows. "No--no! I've got to
understand. Do you mean Guy doesn't want me after all? Didn't he
really mean me to come? He--sent a message."
"I know. That's the infernal part of it." Burke Ranger spoke with
suppressed force. "He was blind drunk when he sent it."
"Oh!" She put up her hands to her face for a moment as if to
shield herself from a blow. "He--drinks, does he?"
"He does everything he ought not to do, except steal," said Ranger
bluntly. "I've tried to keep him straight--tried every way. I
can't. It isn't to be done."
Sylvia's hands fell again. "Perhaps," she said slowly, "perhaps I
could."
The man started as if he had been shot. "You!" he said.
She met his look with her wide eyes. "But why not?" she said. "We
love each other."
He turned from her, grinding the floor with his heel. "God help me
to make myself intelligible!" he said.
It was the most forcible prayer she had ever heard. It struck
through to her very soul. She stood motionless, but she felt
crushed and numb.
Ranger walked to the end of the room and then came straight back to
her.
"Look here!" he said. "This is the most damnable thing I've ever
had to do. Let's get it over! He's a rotter and a blackguard.
Can you grasp that? He hasn't lived a clean life all these years
he's been away from you. He went wrong almost at the outset. He's
the sort that always does go wrong. I've done my best for him.
Anyhow, I've kept him going. But I can't make a decent man of him.
No one can. He has lucid intervals, but they get shorter and
shorter. Just at present--" he paused momentarily, then plunged
on--"I told you last night he wasn't ill. That was a lie. He is
down with delirium tremens, and it isn't the first time."
"Ah!" Sylvia said. He had made her understand at last. She stood
for a space staring at him, then with a groping movement she found
and grasped the back of a chair. "Why--why did you lie to me?" she
said.
"I did it for your sake," he answered briefly. "You couldn't have
faced it then."
"I see," she said, and paused to collect herself. "And does
he--does he realize that I am here?" she asked painfully. "Doesn't
he--want to see me?"
"Just now," said Ranger grimly, "he is too busy thinking about his
own troubles to worry about anyone else's. He does know you are
coming. He was raving about it two nights ago. Then came your
wire from Cape Town. That was what brought me here to meet you."
"I see," she said again. "You--you have been very good. It would
have been dreadful if--if I had been stranded here alone."
"I'd have stopped you at Cape Town if I could," he said.
"No, you wouldn't have stopped me," she answered, with a drear
little smile. "I should have had to come on and see Guy in any
case. I shall have to see him now. Where is he?"
Ranger stood close to her. He bent slightly, looking into her
eyes. "You have understood me?" he questioned.
She looked straight back at him; it was no moment for shrinking
avoidance. "Yes," she said,
"And you believe me?" he proceeded.
Her red-brown eyes widened a little. "But of course I believe you."
"And, still you want to see him?" said Burke Ranger.
"I must see him," she answered quietly. "You must realize that.
You would do the same in my place."
"If I did," said Ranger, dropping his voice, "it would be to tell
him to go to hell!" Then, as involuntarily she drew back: "No, I
shouldn't put it like that to you, I know. But what's the point of
your seeing him? It will only make things worse for you."
"I must see him," she said firmly. "Please tell me where he is!"
He looked at her for a moment or two in silence. "He is in his own
shanty on my farm," he said then. "Blue Hill Farm it is called.
You can't go to him there. It's a twenty-mile ride from here."
"Can't I get a horse to take me?" she asked.
"I could take you in my cart," said Burke slowly.
"And will you?" Sylvia said.
"I suppose you will go in any case," he said.
"I must go," she answered steadily.
"I don't see why," he said. "It's a degrading business. It won't
do any good."
Her face quivered. She controlled it swiftly. "Will you take me?"
she said.
He frowned. "What is going to happen afterwards? Have you thought
of that?"
She shook her head. "No. I can't see the future at all. I only
know that I must see Guy, and I can't go back to England."
"Why not?" he said.
She pressed a hand to her throat as if she found speaking a
difficulty. "I have no place there. My father has married again.
I must earn my living here somehow."
He moved abruptly. "You!" he said again. She tried to smile.
"You seem to think I am very helpless. I assure you I am not. I
have managed my father's house for five years. I am quite willing
to learn anything, and I am very strong."
"You are very brave," he said, almost as if he spoke in spite of
himself. "But--you've got to be sensible too. You won't marry
him?"
She hesitated. "I must see him. I must judge for myself."
He nodded, still frowning. "Very well,--if you must. But you
won't marry him as a way out of your difficulties? You've got to
promise me that."
"Why?" she said.
He answered her with that sudden force which before had startled
her. "Because I can't stand by and see purity joined to
corruption. Some women will sacrifice anything for sentiment. You
wouldn't do anything so damn' foolish as that."
"No," said Sylvia.
"Then it's a promise?" he said.
She held out her hand to him with her brave little smile. "I
promise you I won't do anything damn' foolish for the sake
of--sentiment. Will that do?"
He gripped her hand for a moment. "Yes. I think it will," he said.
"And thank you for being so good to me," she added.
He dropped her hand, and turned away. "As to that--I please
myself," he said briefly. "Be ready to start in an hour from now!"
CHAPTER VIII
THE COMRADE
That twenty-mile ride in Burke Ranger's high cart, with a pair of
skittish young horses pulling at the reins, was an experience never
to be eradicated from Sylvia's memory. They followed a course
across the veldt that began as a road and after a mile or two
deteriorated into a mere rough track. Up and down many slopes they
travelled, but the far hills never seemed to draw any nearer. Here
and there they passed kopjes stacked against the blazing blue of
the sky. They held a weird attraction for her. They were like the
stark bones of the earth pushing up through the coarse desert
grasses. Their rugged strength and their isolation made her
marvel. The veldt was swept by a burning wind. The clouds of the
night before had left no rain behind.
Sylvia would have liked to ask many things of her companion but his
attention was completely absorbed by the animals he drove. Also
talking was wellnigh impossible during that wild progress, for
though the horses presently sobered down somewhat, the roughness of
the way was such that most of the time her thoughts were
concentrated upon maintaining her seat. She clung to her perch
with both hands, and mutely admired Burke Ranger's firm control and
deftness. He seemed to know by instinct when to expect any sudden
strain.
The heat of the sun was intense, notwithstanding the shelter
afforded by the hood of the cart. The air seemed to quiver above
the burning earth. She felt after a time as if her eyes could
endure the glare no longer. The rapid, bumping progress faded into
a sort of fitful unpleasant dream through which the only actual
vivid consciousness that remained to her centred in the man beside
her. She never lost sight of his presence. It dominated all
besides, though he drove almost entirely in silence and never
seemed to look her way.
At the end of what appeared an interminable stretch of time during
which all her sensibilities had gradually merged into one vast
discomfort, Burke spoke at her side.
"We've got a bit of tough going before us. Hang on tight! We'll
have a rest after it."
She opened her eyes and saw before her a steep slant between
massive stones, leading down to a wide channel of running water.
On the further side a similar steep ascent led up again.
"Ritter Spruit," said Ranger. "It's not deep enough to be
dangerous. Hold on! We shall soon be through."
He spoke to the horses and they gathered themselves as if for a
race. They thundered down the incline and were dashing through the
stony watercourse almost before Sylvia, clinging dazed to her seat,
realized what was happening. Her sensations were indescribable.
The water splashed high around them, and every bone in her body
seemed to suffer a separate knock or jar. If Ranger had not
previously impressed her with his level-headedness she would have
thought him mad. But her confidence in him remained unshaken, and
in a very few seconds it proved to be justified. They were through
the spruit and halfway up the further side before she drew breath.
Then she found that they were slackening pace.
She turned to Ranger with kindling eyes. "Oh, you are a
sportsman!" she said. "How I should love to be able to drive like
that!"
He smiled without turning his head. "I'm afraid this last is a
man's job. So you are awake now, are you? I was afraid you were
going to tumble out."
She laughed. "The heat makes one drowsy. I shall get used to it."
He was pulling in the horses. "There's some shade round the
corner. We'll rest for an hour or two."
"I shall like that," said Sylvia.
A group of small larch-trees grew among the stones at the top of
the slope, and by these he stopped. Sylvia looked around her with
appreciation as she alighted.
"I am going to like South Africa," she said,
"I wonder!" said Ranger.
He began to unbuckle the traces, and she went round to the other
side and did the same.
"Poor dears, they are hot!" she said.
"Don't you do that!" said Ranger.
She was tugging at the buckle. "Why not? I like doing it. I love
horses, don't you? But I know you do by the way you handle them.
Do you do your own horse-breaking? That's a job you might give me."
"Am I going to find you employment, then?" said Burke.
She laughed a little, bending her flushed face down. "Don't women
do any work out here?"
"Yes. They work jolly hard, some of 'em."
"Are you married?" said Sylvia.
"No."
She heaved a sigh.
"Sorry?" he enquired.
She finished her task and looked up. Her frank eyes met his across
the horses' backs. "No. I think I'm rather glad. I don't like
feminine authority at all."
"That means you like your own way," observed Burke.
She nodded. "Yes. But I don't always get it."
"Are you a good loser?" he said.
She hesitated. "I hope I'm a sportsman. I try to be."
He moved to the horses' heads. "Come and hold this animal for me
while I hobble the other!" he said.
She obeyed him readily. There was something of boyish alertness in
her movements that sent a flicker of approval into the man's eyes.
She drew the horse's head to her breast with a crooning sound.
"He is a bit tricky with strangers," observed Burke, as he led the
other away.
"Oh, not with me!" said Sylvia, "He knows I love him."
When he returned to relieve her of her charge she was kissing the
forehead between the full soft eyes that looked at her with perfect
confidence.
"See!" she said. "We are friends already."
"I shall call you The Enchantress," said Burke. "Will you see if
you can find a suitable spot for a picnic now?"
"Yes, but I can't conjure up a meal," said Sylvia.
"I can," he said. "There's a basket under the seat."
"How ripping!" she said. "I think you are the magician."
He smiled. "Rather a poor specimen, I am afraid. You go and
select the spot, and I will bring it along!"
Again she obeyed with cheerful alacrity. Her choice was
unhesitating. A large boulder threw an inviting shade, and she sat
down among the stones and took off her hat.
Her red-gold hair gleamed against the dark background. Burke
Ranger's eyes dwelt upon it as he moved to join her. She looked up
at him.
"I love this place. It feels so--good."
He glanced up at the brazen sky. "You wouldn't say so if you
wanted rain as badly as I do," he observed. "We haven't had nearly
enough this season. But I am glad you can enjoy it."
"I like it more and more," said Sylvia. She stretched an arm
towards the wide veldt all about them. "I am simply aching for a
gallop over that--a gallop in the very early morning, and to see
the sun rise from that knoll!"
"That's a _kopje_," said Burke.
Again half-unconsciously his eyes dwelt upon her vivid face. She
seemed to draw his look almost in spite of him. He set down the
basket by her side.
"Am I to unpack?" said Sylvia.
He dropped his eyes. "No. I will. It isn't much of a feed; only
enough to keep us from starvation. Tell me some more about
yourself! Tell me about your people--your home!"
"Have you never heard of me before?" she asked. "Did--Guy--never
speak of me?"
"I knew there was someone." Burke spoke rather unwillingly. "I
don't think he ever actually spoke of you to me. We're not
exactly--kindred spirits, he and I."
"You don't like him," said Sylvia.
"Nor he me," said Burke Ranger.
She looked at him with her candid eyes. "I don't think you are
very tolerant of weakness, are you?" she said gently.
"I don't know," he said non-committally. "Won't you tell me about
yourself?"
The subject of Guy was obviously distasteful to him, yet her whole
life during the past five years had been so closely linked to the
thought of that absent lover of hers that it was impossible to
speak of the one without the other. She told him all without
reservation, feeling in a fashion that it was his right to know.
He listened gravely, without comment, until she ended, when he made
one brief observation. "And so you chose the deep sea!"
"Could I have done anything else?" she said. "Would you have done
anything else?"
"Probably not," he said. "But a man is better equipped to fight
the undercurrents!"
"You think I was very rash?" she questioned.
He smiled. "One doesn't look for caution in a girl. I think your
father deserved a horsewhipping, for letting you go."
"He couldn't prevent me," said Sylvia quickly.
"Pshaw!" said Burke Ranger.
"You're very rude," she protested.
His smile became a laugh. "I could have prevented you," he said.
She flushed. "Indeed you couldn't! I am not a namby-pamby miss. I
go my own way. I----"
She broke off suddenly. Burke's eyes, grey as steel in his
sun-tanned face, were upon her. He looked amused at her vehemence.
"Well?" he said encouragingly. "Finish!"
She laughed in spite of herself. "No, I shan't say any more. I
never argue with the superior male. I just--go my own way, that's
all."
"From which I gather that you are not particularly partial to the
superior male," said Burke.
"I hate the species," said Sylvia with simplicity.
"Except when it kneels at your feet," he suggested, looking
ironical.
"No, I want to kick it then," she said.
"You seem difficult to please," he observed.
Sylvia looked out across the _veldt_. "I like a man to be just a
jolly comrade," she said. "If he can't be that, I've no use for
him."
"I see," said Burke slowly. "That's to be my _role_, is it?"
She turned to him impulsively with extended hand. "I think you can
fill it if you try."
He took the hand, grasping it strongly. "All right. I'll try," he
said.
"You don't mind?" she said half-wistfully. "You see, it makes such
a difference to feel there's someone like that to turn to in
trouble--someone who won't let you down."
"I shan't let you down," said Burke.
Her fingers closed hard on his. "You're a brick," she said. "Now
let's have some lunch, and then, if you don't mind, I'm going to
sleep!"
"Best thing you can do," said Burke.
They rested for the greater part of the afternoon in the shadow of
their boulder. Sylvia lay with her head on a light rug that he
spread for her, and he sat with his back to the rock and smoked
with eyes fixed straight before him.
Sleep came to the girl very quickly for she was tired, and her
healthy young body was swift to find repose. But the man, watching
beside her, did not even doze. He scarcely varied his position
throughout his vigil, scarcely glanced at the figure nestled in the
long grass so close to him. But his attitude had the alertness of
the man on guard, and his brown face was set in grimly resolute
lines. It gave no indication whatever of that which was passing in
his mind.
CHAPTER IX
THE ARRIVAL
It was drawing towards evening when Sylvia at length stirred,
stretched, and opened her eyes. A momentary bewilderment showed in
them, then with a smile she saw and recognized her companion.
She sat up quickly. "I must have been asleep for ages. Why didn't
you wake me?"
"I didn't want to," he said.
She looked at him. "What have you been doing? Have you been
asleep?"
He raised his shoulders to the first question. To the second he
replied merely, "No."
"Why didn't you smoke?" she asked next.
For an instant he looked half-ashamed, then very briefly, "I don't
live on tobacco," he said.
"How very silly of you!" said Sylvia. "It wouldn't have disturbed
me in the least. I smoke cigarettes myself."
Burke said nothing. After a moment he got to his feet.
"Time to go?" she said.
"Yes. I think we ought to be moving. We have some miles to go
yet. You sit still while I get the horses in!"
But Sylvia was on her feet. "No. I'm coming to help. I like to
do things. Isn't it hot? Do you think there will be a storm?"
He looked up at the sky. "No, not yet. It'll take some time to
break. Are you afraid of storms?"
"Of course not!" said Sylvia.
He smiled at her prompt rejoinder. "Not afraid of anything?" he
suggested.
She smiled back. "Not often anyway. And I hope I don't behave
like a muff even when I am."
"I shouldn't think that very likely," he observed.
They put in the horses, and started again across the veldt. The
burning air that blew over the hot earth was like a blast from a
furnace. Over the far hills the clouds hung low and menacing, A
mighty storm seemed to be brewing somewhere on the further side of
those distant heights.
"It is as if someone had lighted a great fire just out of sight,"
said Sylvia. "Is it often like this?"
"Very often," said Burke.
"How wonderful!" she said.
They drove on rapidly, and as they went, the brooding cloud-curtain
seemed to advance to meet them, spreading ominously across the sky
as if it were indeed the smoke from some immense conflagration.
Sylvia became silent, awed by the spectacle.
All about them the veldt took on a leaden hue. The sun still
shone; but vaguely, as if through smoked glass. The heat seemed to
increase.
Sylvia sat rapt. She did not for some time wake to the fact that
Burke was urging the horses, and only when they stretched
themselves out to gallop in response to his curt command did she
rouse from her contemplation to throw him a startled glance. He
was leaning slightly forward, and the look On his face sent a
curious thrill through her. It was the look of a man braced to
utmost effort. His eyes were fixed steadily straight ahead,
marking the road they travelled. His driving was a marvel of skill
and confidence. The girl by his side forgot to watch the storm in
front of them in her admiration of his ability. It was to her the
most amazing exhibition of strength and adroitness combined that
she had ever witnessed. The wild enjoyment of that drive was
fixed in her memory for all time.
At the end of half-an-hour's rapid travelling a great darkness had
begun to envelope them, and obscurity so pall-like that even near
objects were seen as it were through a dark veil.
Burke broke his long silence. "Only two miles more!"
She answered him exultantly. "I could go on for ever!"
They seemed to fly on the wings of the wind those last two miles.
She fancied that they had turned off the track and were racing over
the grass, but the darkness was such that she could discern nothing
with any certainty. At last there came a heavy jolting that flung
her against Burke's shoulder, and on the top of it a frightful
flash and explosion that made her think the earth had rent asunder
under their feet.
Half-stunned and wholly blinded, she covered her face, crouching
down almost against the foot-board of the cart, while the dreadful
echoes rolled away.
Then again came Burke's voice, brief yet amazingly reassuring.
"Get down and run in! It's all right."
She realized that they had come to a standstill, and mechanically
she raised herself to obey him.
As she groped for the step, he grasped her arm. "Get on to the
_stoep_! There's going to be rain. I'll be with you in a second."
She thanked him, and found herself on the ground. A man in front
of her was calling out unintelligibly, and somewhere under cover a
woman's voice was uplifted in shrill tones of dismay. This latter
sound made her think of the chattering of an indignant monkey, so
shrill was it and so incessant.
A dark pile of building stood before her, and she blundered towards
it, not seeing in the least where she was going. The next moment
she kicked against some steps, and sprawled headlong.
Someone--Burke--uttered an oath behind her, and she heard him leap
to the ground. She made a sharp effort to rise, and cried out with
a sudden pain in her right knee that rendered her for an instant
powerless. Then she felt his hands upon her, beneath her. He
lifted her bodily and bore her upwards.
She was still half-dazed when he set her down in a chair. She held
fast to his arm. "Please stay with me just a moment--just a
moment!" she besought him incoherently.
He stayed, very steady and quiet beside her. "Are you hurt?" he
asked her.
She fought with herself, but could not answer him. A ridiculous
desire to dissolve into tears possessed her. She gripped his arm
with both hands, saying no word.
"Stick to it!" he said.
"I--I'm an awful idiot!" she managed to articulate.
"No, you're not. You're a brave girl," he said. "I was a fool not
to warn you. I forgot you didn't know your way. Did you hurt
yourself when you fell?"
"My knee--a little," she said. "It'll be all right directly." She
released his arm. "Thank you. I'm better now. Oh, what is that?
Rain?"
"Yes, rain," he said.
It began like the rushing of a thousand wings, sweeping
irresistibly down from the hills. It swelled into a pandemonium of
sound that was unlike anything she had ever heard. It was as if
they had suddenly been caught by a seething torrent. Again the
lightning flared, dancing a quivering, zigzag measure across the
verandah in which she sat, and the thunder burst overhead, numbing
the senses.
By that awful leaping glare Sylvia saw her companion. He was
stooping over her. He spoke; but she could not hear a word he
uttered.
Then again his arms were about her and he lifted her. She yielded
herself to him with the confidence of a child, and he carried her
into his home while the glancing lightning showed the way.
The noise within the house was less overwhelming. He put her down
on a long chair in almost total darkness, but a few moments later
the lightning glimmered again and showed her vividly the room in
which she lay. It was a man's room, half-office, half-lounge,
extremely bare, and devoid of all ornament with the exception of a
few native weapons on the walls.
The kindling of a lamp confirmed this first impression, but the
presence of the man himself diverted her attention from her
surroundings. He turned from lighting the lamp to survey her. She
thought he looked somewhat stern.
"What about this knee of yours?" he said. "Is it badly damaged?"
"Oh, not badly," she answered. "I'm sure not badly. What a lot of
trouble I am giving you! I am so sorry."
"You needn't be sorry on that account," he said. "I blame myself
alone. Do you mind letting me, see it? I am used to giving
first-aid."
"Oh, I don't think that is necessary," said Sylvia. "I--can quite
easily doctor myself."
"I thought we were to be comrades," he observed bluntly.
She coloured and faintly laughed, "You can see it if you
particularly want to."
"I do." said Burke.
She sat up without further protest, and uncovered the injured knee
for his inspection. "I really don't think anything of a tumble
like that," she said, as he bent to examine it. But the next
moment at his touch she flinched and caught her breath.
"That hurts, does it?" he said. "It's swelling up. I'm going to
get some hot water to bathe it."
He stood up with the words and turned away. Sylvia leaned back
again, feeling rather sick. Certainly the pain was intense.
The rain was still battering on the roof with a sound like the
violent jingling together of tin cans, She listened to it with a
dull wonder. The violence of it would have made a deeper
impression upon her had she been suffering less. But she felt as
one immersed in an evil dream which clogged all her senses save
that of pain.
When Burke returned she was lying with closed eyes, striving hard
to keep herself under control. The clatter of the rain had abated
somewhat, and she heard him speak over his shoulder to someone
behind him. She looked up and saw an old Kaffir woman carrying a
basin.
"This is Mary Ann," said Burke, intercepting her glance of
surprise. "A useful old dog except when there is any dope about!
Hope you don't mind niggers."
"I shall get used to them," said Sylvia rather faintly.
"There's nothing formidable about this one," he said, "She can't
help being hideous. She is quite tame."
Sylvia tried to smile. Certainly Mary Ann was hideous, but her
lameness was equally obvious. She evidently stood in considerable
awe of her master, obeying his slightest behest with clumsy
solicitude and eyes that rolled unceasingly in his direction.
Burke kept her in the room while he bathed the injury. He was very
gentle, and Sylvia was soon conscious of relief. When at length he
applied a pad soaked in ointment and proceeded to bandage with a
dexterity that left nothing to be desired, she told him with a
smile that he was as good as a professional.
"One has to learn a little of this sort of thing," he said. "How
does it feel now?"
"Much better," she answered. "I shall have forgotten all about it
by to-morrow."
"No, you won't," said Burke. "You will rest it for three days at
least. You don't want to get water on the joint."
"Three days!" she echoed in dismay, "I can't--possibly--lie up
here."
He raised his eyes from his bandaging for a moment, and a curious
thrill went through her; it was as if his look pierced her. "The
impossible often happens here," he said briefly.
She expressed a sharp tremor that caught her unawares. "What does
that mean?" she asked, striving to speak lightly.
He replied with his eyes lowered again to his task. "It means
among other things that you can't get back to Ritzen until the
floods go down. Ritter Spruit is a foaming torrent by this time."
"Good heavens!" she exclaimed. "But isn't there--isn't there a
bridge anywhere?"
"Forty miles away," said Burke Ranger laconically.
"Good--heavens!" she gasped again.
He finished his bandaging and stood up. "Now I am going to carry
you to bed," he said, "and Mary Ann shall wait on you. You won't
be frightened?"
She smiled in answer. "You've taken my breath away, but I shall
get it again directly. I don't think I want to go to bed yet.
Mayn't I stay here for a little?"
He looked down at her. "You've got some pluck, haven't you?" he
said.
She flushed. "I hope so--a little."
He touched her shoulder unexpectedly, with a hint of awkwardness.
"I'm afraid I can only offer you--rough hospitality. It's the best
I can do. My guests have all been of the male species till now.
But you will put up with it? You won't be scared anyhow?"
She reached up an impulsive hand and put it into his. "No, I
shan't be scared at all. You make me feel quite safe. I'm
only--more grateful than I can say."
His fingers closed upon hers. "You've nothing to be grateful for.
Let me take you to the guestroom and Mary Ann shall bring you
supper. You'll be more comfortable there. Your baggage is there
already."
She clung to his hand for an instant, caught by an odd feeling of
forlornness. "I will do whatever you wish. But--but--you will let
me see Guy in the morning?"
He stooped to lift her. For a moment his eyes looked straight into
hers. Then: "Wait till the morning comes!" he said quietly.
There was finality in his tone, and she knew that it was no moment
for discussion. With a short sigh she yielded to the inevitable,
and suffered him to carry her away.
CHAPTER X
THE DREAM
She had no further communication with Burke that night. The old
Kaffir woman helped her, brought her a meal on a tray, and waited
upon her until dismissed.
Sylvia had no desire to detain her. She longed for solitude. The
thought of Guy tormented her perpetually. She ached and
yearned--even while she dreaded--to see him. But Burke had decreed
that she must wait till the morning, and she had found already that
what Burke decreed usually came to pass. Besides, she knew that
she was worn out and wholly unfit for any further strain.
Very thankfully she sank down at last upon the bed in the bare
guest-room. Her weariness was such that she thought that she must
sleep, yet for hours she lay wide awake, listening to the rain
streaming down and pondering--pondering the future. Her romance
was ended. She saw that very clearly. Whatever came of her
meeting with Guy, it would not be--it could not be--the
consummation to which she had looked forward so confidently during
the past five years. Guy had failed her. She faced the fact with
all her courage. The Guy she had loved and trusted did not exist
any longer, if he ever had existed. Life had changed for her. The
path she had followed had ended suddenly. She must needs turn back
and seek another. But whither to turn she knew not. It seemed
that there was no place left for her anywhere.
Slowly the long hours dragged away. She thought the night would
never pass. Her knee gave her a good deal of pain, and she
relinquished all hope of sleep. Her thoughts began to circle about
Burke Ranger in a worried, confused fashion. She felt she would
know him better when she had seen Guy. At present the likeness
between them alternately bewildered her or hurt her poignantly.
She could not close her mind to the memory of having taken him for
Guy. He was the sort of man--only less polished--that she had
believed Guy would become. She tried to picture him as he must
have been when younger, but she could see only Guy. And again the
bitter longing, the aching disappointment, tore her soul.
Towards morning she dozed, but physical discomfort and torturing
anxiety went with her unceasingly, depriving her of any real
repose. She was vaguely aware of movements in the house long
before a low knock at the door called her back to full
consciousness.
She started up on her elbows. "Come in! I am awake."
Burke Ranger presented himself. "I was afraid Mary Ann might give
you a shock if she woke you suddenly," he said. "Can I come in?"
"Please do!" she said.
The sight of his tanned face and keen eyes came as a great relief
to her strained and weary senses. She held out a welcoming hand,
dismissing convention as superfluous.
He came to her side and took her hand, but in a moment his fingers
were feeling for her pulse. He looked straight down at her.
"You've had a bad night," he said.
She admitted it, mustering a smile as she did so. "It rained so
hard, I couldn't forget it. Has it left off yet?"
He paid no attention whatever to the question. "What's the
trouble?" he said. "Knee bad?"
"Not very comfortable," she confessed. "It will be better
presently, no doubt."
"I'll dress if again," said Burke, "when you've had some tea. You
had better stay in bed to-day."
"Oh, must I?" she said in dismay.
"Don't you want to?" said Burke.
"No. I hate staying in bed. It makes me so miserable." She spoke
with vehemence. Besides--besides----"
"Yes?" he said.
"I want--to see Guy," she ended, colouring very deeply.
"That's out of the question," said Burke, with quiet decision.
"You certainly won't see him to-day."
"Oh, but I must! I really must!" she pleaded desperately. "My
knee isn't very bad. Have you--have you told him I am here yet?"
"No," said Burke.
"Then won't you? Please won't you?" She was urging him almost
feverishly now. "I can't rest till I have seen him--indeed. I
can't see my way clearly. I can't do anything until--until I have
seen him."
Burke was frowning. He looked almost savage, But she was not
afraid of him. She could think only of Guy at that moment and of
her urgent need to see him. It was all that mattered. With nerves
stretched and quivering, she waited for his answer.
It did not come immediately. He was still holding her hand in one
of his and feeling her pulse with the other.
"Listen!" he said at length. "There is no need for all this
wearing anxiety. You must make up your mind to rest to-day, or you
will be ill. It won't hurt you--or him either--to wait a few hours
longer."
"I shan't be ill!" she assured him earnestly. "I am never ill.
And I want to see him--oh, so much. I must see him. He isn't--he
isn't worse?"
"No," said Burke.
"Then why mustn't I see him?" she urged. "Why do you look like
that? Are you keeping back something? Has--has something happened
that you don't want me to know? Ah, that is it! I thought so!
Please tell me what it is! It is far better to tell me."
She drew her hand from his and sat up, steadily facing him. She
was breathing quickly, but she had subdued her agitation. Her eyes
met his unflinchingly.
He made an abrupt gesture--as if compelled against his will.
"Well--if you must have it! He has gone."
"Gone!" she repeated. "What--do you mean by that?"
He looked down into her whitening face, and his own grew sterner.
"Just what I say. He cleared out yesterday morning early. No one
knows where he is."
Sylvia's hand unconsciously pressed her heart. It was beating very
violently. She spoke with a great effort. "Perhaps he has gone to
Ritzen--to look for me."
"I think not," said Burke drily.
His tone said more than his words. She made a slight involuntary
movement of shrinking. But in a moment she spoke again with a
pathetic little smile.
"You are very good to me. But I mustn't waste any more of your
time. Please don't worry about me any more! I can quite well
bandage my knee myself."
The grimness passed from his face. "I shall have to see it to
satisfy myself it is going on all right," he said. "But I needn't
bother you now. I'll send Mary Ann in with some tea."
"Thank you," said Sylvia. She was gathering her scattered forces
again after the blow; she spoke with measured firmness. "Now
please don't think about me any more! I am not ill--or going to be.
You may look at my knee this evening--if you are very anxious. But
not before."
"Then you will stay in bed?" said Burke.
"Very well; if I must," she conceded.
He turned to go; then abruptly turned back. "And you won't lie and
worry? You've too much pluck for that."
She smiled again--a quivering, difficult smile. "I am not at all
plucky, really. I am only pretending."
He smiled back at her suddenly. "You're a brick! I've never seen
any woman stand up to hard knocks as you do. They generally want
to be carried over the rough places. But you--you stand on your
feet."
The genuine approbation of his voice brought the colour back to her
face. His smile too, though it reminded her piercingly of Guy,
sent a glow of comfort to her chilled and trembling heart.
"I want to if I can," she said. "But I've had rather a--knock-out
this time. I shall be all right presently, when I've had time to
pull myself together."
He bent abruptly and laid his hand upon hers.
"Look here!" he said. "Don't worry!"
She lifted clear eyes to his. "No--I won't! There is always a way
out of every difficulty, isn't there?"
"There certainly is out of this one," he said.
"I'll show it you presently--if you'll promise not to be offended."
"Offended!" said Sylvia. "That isn't very likely, is it?"
"I don't know," said Burke. "I hope not. Good-bye!" He
straightened himself, stood a moment looking down at her, then
turned finally and left her.
There was something in the manner of his going that made her wonder.
The entrance of the old Kaffir woman a few minutes later diverted
her thoughts. She found Mary Ann an interesting study, being the
first of her kind that she had viewed at close quarters. She was
very stout and ungainly. She moved with elephantine clumsiness,
but her desire to please was so evident that Sylvia could not
regard her as wholly without charm. Her dog-like amiability
outweighed her hideousness. She found it somewhat difficult to
understand Mary Ann's speech, for it was more like the chattering
of a monkey than human articulation, and being very weary she did
not encourage her to talk.
There was so much to think about, and for a while her tired brain
revolved around Guy and all that his departure meant to her. She
tried to take a practical view of the situation, to grapple with
the difficulties that confronted her. Was there the smallest
chance of his return? And even if he returned, what could it mean
to her? Would it help her in any way? It was impossible to evade
the answer to that question. He had failed her finally. She was
stranded in a strange land and only her own efforts could avail her
now.
She wondered if Burke would urge her to return to her father's
house. If so, he would not succeed. She would face any hardship
sooner than that. She was not afraid of work. She would make a
living for herself somehow if she worked in the fields with Kaffir
women. She would be independent or die in the attempt. After all,
she reflected forlornly, it would not matter very much to anyone if
she did die. She stood or fell alone.
Thought became vague at last and finally obscured in the mists of
sleep. She lay still on the narrow bed and slept long and deeply.
It must have been after several hours that her dream came to her.
It arose out of a sea of oblivion--a vision unsummoned, wholly
unexpected. She saw Burke Ranger galloping along the side of a dry
and stony ravine where doubtless water flowed in torrents when the
rain came. He was bending low in the saddle, his dark face set
forward scanning the path ahead. With a breathless interest she
watched him, and the thunder of his horse's hoofs drummed in her
brain. Suddenly, turning her eyes further along the course he
followed, she saw with horror round a bend that which he could not
see. She beheld another horseman galloping down from the opposite
direction. The face of this horseman was turned from her, but she
did not need to see it. She knew, as it is given in dreams to know
beyond all doubting, that it was Guy. She recognized his easy seat
in the saddle, the careless grace of his carriage. He was plunging
straight ahead with never a thought of danger, and though he must
have seen the turn as he approached it, he did not attempt to check
the animal under him. Rather he seemed to be urging it forward.
And ever the thunder of the galloping hoofs filled her brain.
Tensely she watched, in a suspense that racked her whole body. Guy
reached the bend first. There was room for only one upon that
narrow ledge. He went round the curve with the confidence of one
who fully expected a clear path ahead. And then--on the very edge
of the precipice--he caught sight of the horseman galloping towards
him. He reined back. He threw up one hand as his animal staggered
under him, and called a warning. But the thudding of the hoofs
drowned all other sound.
Sylvia's heart stood still as if it could never beat again. Her
look flashed to Burke Ranger. He was galloping still--galloping
hard. One glimpse she had of his face as he drew near, and she
knew that he saw the man ahead of him, for it was set and
terrible--the face of a devil.
The next instant she heard the awful crash of collision. There was
a confusion indescribable, there on the very brink of the ravine.
Then one horse and its rider went hurling headlong down that wall
of stones. The other horseman struck spurs into his animal and
galloped up the narrow path to the head of the ravine without a
backward glance.
She was left transfixed by horror in a growing darkness that seemed
to penetrate to her very soul. Which of the two had galloped free?
Which lay shattered there, very far below her in an abyss that had
already become obscure? She agonized to know, but the darkness hid
all things. At last she tore it aside as if it had been a veil.
She went down, down into that deep place. She stumbled through a
valley of awful desolation till she came to that which she
sought;--a fallen horse, a rider with glassy eyes upturned.
But the hand of Death had wiped out every distinguishing mark. Was
it Guy? Was it Burke? She knew not. She turned from the sight
with dread unspeakable. She went from the accursed spot with the
anguish of utter bewilderment in her soul. She was bereft of all.
She walked alone in a land of strangers.
CHAPTER XI
THE CROSS-ROADS
When Sylvia started awake from that terrible dream it was to hear
the tread of horses' feet outside the house and the sound of men's
voices talking to each other. As she listened, these drew nearer,
and soon she heard footsteps on the _stoep_ outside. It was
drawing towards sunset, and she realized that she had slept for a
long time.
She felt refreshed in spite of her dream and very thankful to
regain possession of her waking senses. Her knee too was decidedly
better. She found with relief that with care she could use it.
The smell of tobacco wafted in, and she realized that the two men
were sitting smoking together on the _stoep_. One of them, she
felt sure, was Burke Ranger, though it very soon dawned upon her
that they were conversing in Dutch. She lay for awhile watching
the orange light of evening gleaming through the creeper that
entwined the comer of the _stoep_ outside her window. Then,
growing weary of inaction, she slipped from her bed and began to
dress.
Her cabin-trunk had been placed in a corner of the bare room. She
found her key and opened it.
Guy's photograph--the photograph she had cherished for five
years--lay on the top. She saw it with a sudden, sharp pang,
remembering how she had put it in at the last moment and smiled to
think how soon she would behold him in the flesh. The handsome,
boyish face looked straight into hers. Ah, how she had loved him.
A swift tremor went through her. She closed her eyes upon the
smiling face. And suddenly great tears welled up from her heart.
She laid her face down upon the portrait and wept.
The voices on the _stoep_ recalled her. She remembered that she
had a reputation for courage to maintain. She commanded herself
with an effort and finished her dressing. She did not dare to look
at the portrait again, but hid it deep in her trunk.
Mary Ann seemed to have forsaken her, and she was in some
uncertainty as to how to proceed when she was at length ready to
leave her room. She did not want to intrude upon Burke and his
visitor, but a great longing to breathe the air of the _veldt_ was
upon her. She wondered if she could possibly escape unseen.
Finally, she ventured out into the passage, and followed it to an
open door that seemed to lead whither she desired to go. She
fancied that it was out of sight of the two men on the _stoep_, but
as she reached it, she realized her mistake. For there fell a
sudden step close to her, and as she paused irresolute, Burke's
figure blocked the opening. He stood looking at her, pipe in hand.
"So--you are up!" he said.
His voice was quite friendly, yet she was possessed by a strong
feeling that he did not want her there.
She looked back at him in some embarrassment. "I hope you don't
mind," she said. "I was only coming out for a breath of air."
"Why should I mind?" said Burke. "Come and sit on the _stoep_! My
neighbour, Piet Vreiboom, is there, but he is just going."
He spoke the last words with great distinctness, and it occurred to
her that he meant them to be overheard.
She hung back. "Oh, I don't think I will. I can't talk Dutch.
Really I would rather----"
"He understands a little English," said Burke. "But don't be
surprised at anything he says! He isn't very perfect."
He stood against the wall for her to pass him, and she did so with
a feeling that she had no choice. Very reluctantly she moved out
on to the wooden _stoep_, and turned towards the visitor. The
orange of the sunset was behind her, turning her hair to living
gold. It fell full upon the face of the man before her, and she
was conscious of a powerful sense of repugnance. Low-browed,
wide-nosed, and prominent of jaw, with close-set eyes of monkeyish
craft, such was the countenance of Piet Vreiboom. He sat and
stared at her, his hat on his head, his pipe in his mouth.
"How do you do, Mrs. Ranger?" he said.
Sylvia checked her advance, but in a moment Burke Ranger's hand
closed, upon her elbow, quietly impelling her forward.
"Mr. Vreiboom saw you with me at Ritzen yesterday," he said, and
she suddenly remembered the knot of Boer farmers at the hotel-door
and the staring eyes that had abashed her.
She glanced up at Burke, but his face was quite emotionless. Only
something about him--an indefinable something--held her back from
correcting the mistake that Vreiboom had made. She looked at the
seated Boer with a dignity wholly unconscious. "How do you do?"
she said coolly.
He stretched out a hand to her. His smile was familiar. "I hope
you like the farm, Mrs. Ranger," he said.
"She has hardly seen it yet," said Burke.
There was a slight pause before Sylvia gave her hand. This man
filled her with distaste. She resented his manner. She resented
the look in his eyes.
"I have no doubt I shall like it very much," she said, removing her
hand as speedily as possible.
"You like to be--a farmer's wife?" questioned Piet, still freely
staring.
She resented this question also, but she had to respond to it. "It
is what I came out for," she said.
"You do not look like a farmer's wife," said Piet.
Sylvia stiffened.
"Give him a little rope!" said Burke. "He doesn't know much. Sit
down! I'll get him on the move directly."
She sat down not very willingly, and he resumed his talk with
Vreiboom in Dutch, lounging against the wall. Sylvia sat quite
silent, her eyes upon the glowing sky and the far-away hills. In
the foreground was a _kopje_ shaped like a sugar-loaf. She wished
herself upon its summit which was bathed in the sunset light.
Once or twice she was moved to glance up at the brown face of the
man who leaned between herself and the objectionable visitor. His
attitude was one of complete ease, and yet something told her that
he desired Piet's departure quite as sincerely as she did.
He must have given a fairly broad hint at last, she decided; for
Piet moved somewhat abruptly and knocked out the ashes of his pipe
on the floor with a noisy energy that made her start. Then he got
up and addressed her in his own language. She did not understand
in the least what he said, but she gave him a distant smile
realizing that he was taking leave of her. She was somewhat
surprised to see Burke take him unceremoniously by the shoulder as
he stood before her and march him off the stoep. Piet himself
laughed as if he had said something witty, and there was that in
the laugh that sent the colour naming to her cheeks.
She quivered with impotent indignation as she sat. She wished with
all her heart that Burke would kick him down the steps.
The sunset-light faded, and a soft dusk stole up over the wide
spaces. A light breeze cooled her hot face, and after the lapse of
a few minutes she began to chide herself for her foolishness.
Probably the man had not meant to be offensive. She was certain
Burke would never permit her to be insulted in his presence. She
heard the sound of hoof-beats retreating away into the distance,
and, with it, the memory of her dream came back upon her. She felt
forlorn and rather frightened. It was only a dream of course; it
was only a dream! But she wished that Burke would come back to
her. His substantial presence would banish phantoms.
He did not come for some time, but she heard his step at last. And
then a strange agitation took her so that she wanted to spring up
and avoid him. She did not do so; she forced herself to appear
normal. But every nerve tingled as he approached, and she could
not keep the quick blood from her face.
He was carrying a tray which he set down on a rough wooden table
near her.
"You must be famished," he said.
She had not thought of food, but certainly the sight of it cheered
her failing spirits. She smiled at him.
"Are we going to have another picnic?"
He smiled in answer, and she felt oddly relieved, All sense of
strain and embarrassment left her. She sat up and helped him
spread the feast.
The fare was very simple, but she found it amply satisfying. She
partook of Mary Ann's butter with appreciation.
"I can make butter," she told him presently. "And bake bread?"
said Burke.
She nodded, laughing. "Yes, and cook joints and mend clothes, too.
Who does your mending? Mary Ann?"
"I do my own," said Burke. "I cook, too, when Mary Ann takes leave
of absence. But I have a Kaffir house boy, Joe, for the odd jobs.
And there's a girl, too, uglier than Mary Ann, a relation of
hers--called Rose, short for Fair Rosamond. Haven't you seen Rose
yet?"
Sylvia's laugh brought a smile to his face. It was a very
infectious laugh. Though she sobered almost instantly, it left a
ripple of mirth behind on the surface of their conversation. He
carried the tray away again when the meal was over, firmly refusing
her offer to wash up.
"Mary Ann can do it in the morning," he said.
"Where is she now?" asked Sylvia.
He sat down beside her, and took out his pipe. "They are over in
their own huts. They don't sleep in the house."
"Does no one sleep in the house?" she asked quickly.
"I do," said Burke.
A sudden silence fell. The dusk had deepened into a starlit
darkness, but there was a white glow behind the hills that seemed
to wax with every instant that passed. Very soon the whole _veldt_
would be flooded with moonlight.
In a very small voice Sylvia spoke at length.
"Mr. Ranger!"
It was the first time she had addressed him by name. He turned
directly towards her. "Call me Burke!" he said.
It was almost a command. She faced him as directly as he faced
her. "Burke--if you wish it!" she said. "I want to talk things
over with you, to thank you for your very great goodness to me,
and--and to make plans for the future."
"One moment!" he said. "You have given up all thought of marrying
Guy?"
She hesitated. "I suppose so," she said slowly.
"Don't you know your own mind?" he said.
Still she hesitated. "If--if he should come back----"
"He will come back," said Burke.
She started. "He will?"
"Yes, he will." His voice held grim confidence, and somehow it
sounded merciless also to her ears. "He'll turn up again some day.
He always does. I'm about the only man in South Africa who
wouldn't kick him out within six months. He knows that. That's
why he'll come back."
"You are--good to him," said Sylvia, her voice very low.
"No, I'm not; not specially. He knows what I think of him anyhow."
Burke spoke slowly. "I've done what I could for him, but he's one
of my failures. You've got to grasp the fact that he's a rotter.
Have you grasped that yet?"
"I'm beginning to," Sylvia said, under her breath.
"Then you can't--possibly--many him," said Burke.
She lowered her eyes before the keenness of his look. She wished
the light in the east were not growing so rapidly.
"The question is, What am I going to do?" she said.
Burke was silent for a moment. Then with a slight gesture that
might have denoted embarrassment he said, "You don't want to stay
here, I suppose?"
She looked up again quickly. "Here--on this farm, do you mean?"
"Yes." He spoke brusquely, but there was a certain eagerness in
his attitude as he leaned towards her.
A throb of gratitude went through her. She put out her hand to him
very winningly. "What a pity I'm not a boy!" she said, genuine
regret in her voice.
He took her hand and kept it. "Is that going to make any
difference?" he said.
She looked at him questioningly. It was difficult to read his face
in the gloom. "All the difference, I am afraid," she said. "You
are very generous--a real good comrade. If I were a boy, there's
nothing I'd love better. But, being a woman, I can't live here
alone with you, can I? Not even in South Africa!"
"Why not?" he said.
His hand grasped hers firmly; she grasped his in return. "You
heard what your Boer friend called me," she said. "He wouldn't
understand anything else."
"I told him to call you that," said Burke.
"You--told him!" She gave a great start. His words amazed her.
"Yes." There was a dogged quality in his answer. "I had to
protect you somehow. He had seen us together at Ritzen. I said
you were my wife."
Sylvia gasped in speechless astonishment.
He went on ruthlessly. "It was the only thing to do. They're not
a particularly moral crowd here, and, as you say, they wouldn't
understand anything else--decent. Do you object to the idea? Do
you object very strongly?"
There was something masterful in the persistence with which he
pressed the question. Sylvia had a feeling as of being held down
and compelled to drink some strangely paralyzing draught.
She made a slight, half-scared movement and in a moment his hand
released hers.
"You do object!" he said.
She clasped her hands tightly together. "Please don't say--or
think--that! It is such a sudden idea, and--it's rather a wild
one, isn't it?" Her breath came quickly. "If--if I agreed--and
let the pretence go on--people would be sure to find out sooner or
later. Wouldn't they?"
"I am not suggesting any pretence," he said.
"What do you mean then?" Sylvia said, compelling herself to speak
steadily.
"I am asking you to marry me," he said, with equal steadiness.
"Really, do you mean? You are actually in earnest?" Her voice had
a sharp quiver in it. She was trembling suddenly. "Please be
quite plain with me!" she said. "Remember, I don't know you very
well. I have got to get used to the ways out here."
"I am quite in earnest," said Burke. "You know me better than you
knew the man you came out here to marry. And you will get used to
things more quickly married to me than any other way. At least you
will have an assured position. That ought to count with you."
"Of course it would! It does!" she said rather incoherently.
"But--you see--I've no one to help me--no one to advise me. I'm on
a road I don't know. And I'm so afraid of taking a wrong turning."
"Afraid!" he said. "You!"
She tried to laugh. "You think me a very bold person, don't you?
Or you wouldn't have suggested such a thing."
"I think you've got plenty of grit," he said, "but that wasn't what
made me suggest it." He paused a moment. "Perhaps it's hardly
worth while going on," he said then. "I seem to have gone too far
already. Please believe I meant well, that's all!"
"Oh, I know that!" she said.
And then, moved by a curious impulse, she did an extraordinary
thing. She leaned forward and laid her clasped hands on his knee.
"I'm going to be--awfully frank with you," she said rather
tremulously. You--won't mind?''
He sat motionless for a second. Then very quietly he dropped his
pipe back into his pocket and grasped her slender wrists. "Go on!"
he said.
Her face was lifted, very earnest and appealing, to his. "You
know," she said, "we are not strangers. We haven't been from the
very beginning. We started comrades, didn't we?"
"We should have been married by this time, if I hadn't put the
brake on," said Burke.
"Yes," Sylvia said. "I know. That is what makes me feel
so--intimate with you. But it is different for you. I am a total
stranger to you. You have never met me--or anyone like me--before.
Have you?"
"And I have never asked anyone to marry me before," said Burke.
The wrists he held grew suddenly rigid. "You have asked me out
of--out of pity--and the goodness of your heart?" she whispered.
"Quite wrong," said Burke. "I want a capable woman to take care of
me--when Mary Ann goes on the bust."
"Please don't make me laugh!" begged Sylvia rather shakily. "I
haven't done yet. I'm going to ask you an awful thing next.
You'll tell me the truth, won't you?"
"I'll tell you before you ask," he said. "I can be several kinds
of beast, but not the kind you are afraid of. I am not a faddist,
but I am moral. I like it best."
The curt, distinct words were too absolute to admit of any doubt.
Sylvia breathed a short, hard sigh.
"I wonder," she said, "if it would be very wrong to marry a person
you only like."
"Marriage is a risk--in any case," said Burke. "But if you're not
blindly in love, you can at least see where you are going."
"I can't," she said rather piteously.
"You're afraid of me," he said.
"No, not really--not really. It's almost as big a risk for you as
for me. You haven't bothered about--my morals, have you?" Her
faint laugh had in it a sound of tears.
The hands that held her wrists closed with a steady pressure. "I
haven't," said Burke with simplicity.
"Thank you," she said. "You've been very kind to me. Really I am
not afraid of you."
"Sure?" said Burke.
"Only I still wish I were a boy," she said. "You and I could be
just pals then."
"And why not now?" he said.
"Is it possible?" she asked.
"I should say so. Why not?"
She freed her hands suddenly and laid them upon his arms. "If I
marry you, will you treat me just as a pal?"
"I will," said Burke.
She was still trembling a little. "You won't interfere with
my--liberty?"
"Not unless you abuse it," he said.
She laughed again faintly. "I won't do that. I'll be a model of
discretion. You may not think it, but I am--very discreet."
"I am sure of it," said Burke.
"No, you're not. You're not in the least sure of anything where I
am concerned. You've only known me--two days."
He laughed a little. "It doesn't matter how long it has taken. I
know you."
She laughed with him, and sat up, "What must you have thought of me
when I told you you hadn't shaved?"
He took out his pipe again. "If you'd been a boy, I should
probably have boxed your ears," he said. "By the way, why did you
get up when I told you to stay in bed?"
"Because I knew best what was good for me," said Sylvia. "Have you
got such a thing as a cigarette?"
He got up. "Yes, in my room. Wait while I fetch them!"
"Oh, don't go on purpose!" she said. "I daresay I shouldn't like
your kind, thanks all the same."
He went nevertheless, and she leaned back with her face to the
hills and waited. The moon was just topping the great summits.
She watched it with a curious feeling of weakness. It had not been
a particularly agitating interview, but she knew that she had just
passed a cross-roads, in her life.
She had taken a road utterly unknown to her and though she had
taken it of her own accord, she did not feel that the choice had
really been hers. Somehow her faculties were numbed, were
paralyzed. She could not feel the immense importance of what she
had done, or realize that she had finally, of her own action,
severed her life from Guy's. He had become such a part of herself
that she could not all at once divest herself of that waiting
feeling, that confident looking forward to a future with him. And
yet, strangely, her memory of him had receded into distance, become
dim and remote. In Burke's presence she could not recall him at
all. The two personalities, dissimilar though she knew them to be,
seemed in some curious fashion to have become merged into one. She
could not understand her own feelings, but she was conscious of
relief that the die was cast. Whatever lay before her, she was
sure of one thing. Burke Ranger would be her safeguard against any
evil that might arise and menace her. His protection was of the
solid quality that would never fail her. She felt firm ground
beneath her feet at last.
At the sound of his returning step, she turned with the moonlight
on her face and smiled up at him with complete confidence.
CHAPTER XII
THE STALE
Whenever in after days Sylvia looked back upon her marriage, it
seemed to be wrapped in a species of hazy dream like the early
mists on that far-off range of hills.
They did not go again to Ritzen, but to a town of greater
importance further down the line, a ride of nearly forty miles
across the _veldt_. It was a busy town in the neighbourhood of
some mines, and its teeming life brought back again to her that
sense of aloneness in a land of strangers that had so oppressed her
in the beginning. It drove her to seek Burke's society whenever
possible. He was the shield between her and desolation, and in his
presence her misgivings always faded into the background. He knew
some of the English people at Brennerstadt, but she dreaded meeting
them, and entreated him not to introduce anyone to her until they
were married.
"People are all so curious. I can't face it," she said. "Mine is
rather a curious story, too. It will only set them talking, and I
do so hate gossip."
He smiled a little and conceded the point. And so she was still a
stranger to everyone on the day she laid her hand in Burke's and
swore to be faithful to him. The marriage was a civil one. That
also robbed it of all sense of reality for her. The ceremony left
her cold. It did not touch so much as the outer tissues of her
most vital sensibilities. She even felt somewhat impatient of the
formalities observed, and very decidedly glad when they were over.
"Now let's go for a ride and forget it all!" she said. "We'll have
a picnic on the _veldt_."
They had their picnic, but the heat was so great as to rob it of
much enjoyment. Sylvia was charmed by a distant view of a herd of
springbok, and her eyes shone momentarily when Burke said that they
would have to do some shooting together. But almost immediately
she shook her head.
"No, they are too pretty to kill. I love the hunt, but I hate the
kill. Besides, I shall be too busy. If I am going to be your
partner, one of us will have to do some work."
He laughed at that. "When do you want to begin?"
"Very soon," she said energetically. "Tomorrow if you like. I
don't think much of Brennerstadt, do you? It's such a barren sort
of place." He looked at her. "I believe you'll hate the winter on
the farm."
"No, I shan't. I shan't hate anything. I'm not so silly as to
expect paradise all the time."
"Is this paradise?" said Burke.
She glanced at him quickly. "No, I didn't say that. But I am
enjoying it. And," she flushed slightly, "I am very grateful to
you for making that possible."
"You've nothing to be grateful to me for," he said.
"Only I can't help it," said Sylvia.
Burke's eyes were scanning the far stretch of _veldt_ towards the
sinking sun, with a piercing intentness. She wondered what he was
looking for.
There fell a silence between them, and a vague feeling of
uneasiness began to grow up within her. His brown face was
granite-like in its immobility, but it was exceedingly grim.
Something stirred within her at last, impelling her to action. She
got up.
"Do you see that blasted tree right away over there with horrid
twisted arms that look as if they are trying to clutch at
something?"
His eyes came up to hers on the instant. "What of it?" he said.
She laughed down at him. "Let's mount! I'll race you to it."
He leapt to his feet like, a boy. "What's the betting?"
"Anything you like!" she threw back gaily. "Whoever gets there
first can fix the stakes."
He laughed aloud, and the sound of his laugh made her catch her
breath with a sharp, involuntary start. She ran to her mount
feeling as if Guy were behind her, and with an odd perversity she
would not look round to disillusion herself.
During the fevered minutes that followed, the illusion possessed
her strongly, so strongly that she almost forgot the vital
importance of being first. It was the thudding hoofs of his
companion that made her animal gallop rather than any urging of
hers. But once started, with the air swirling past her and the
excitement of rapid motion setting her veins on fire, the spirit of
the race caught her again, and she went like the wind.
The blasted tree stood on a slope nearly a mile away. The ground
was hard, and the grass seemed to crackle under the galloping
hoofs. The horse she rode carried her with superb ease. He was
the finest animal she had ever ridden, and from the first she
believed the race was hers.
On she went through the orange glow of evening. It was like a
swift entrancing dream. And the years fell away from her as if
they had never been, and she and Guy were racing over the slopes of
her father's park, as they had raced in the old sweet days of youth
and early love. She heard him urging his horse behind her, and
remembered how splendid he always looked in the saddle.
The distance dwindled. The stark arms of the naked tree seemed to
be stretching out to receive her. But he was drawing nearer also.
She could hear the thunder of his animal's hoofs close behind. She
bent low in the saddle, gasping encouragement to her own.
There came a shout beside her--a yell of triumph such as Guy had
often uttered. He passed her and drew ahead. That fired her. She
saw victory being wrested from her.
She cried back at him "You--bounder!" and urged her horse to fresh
effort.
The ground sped away beneath her. The heat-haze seemed to spin
around. Her eyes were fixed upon their goal, her whole being was
concentrated upon reaching it. In the end it was as if the ruined
tree shot towards her. The race was over. A great giddiness came
upon her. She reeled in the saddle.
And then a hand caught her; or was it one of those outstretched
skeleton arms? For a moment she hung powerless; then she was drawn
close--close--to a man's breast, and felt the leap and throb of a
man's heart against her own.
Breathless and palpitating, she lifted her face. His eyes looked
deeply into hers, eyes that glowed like molten steel, and in an
instant her illusion was swept away. It seemed to her that for the
first time she looked upon Burke Ranger as he was, and her whole
being recoiled in sudden wild dismay from what she saw.
"Ah! Let me go!" she said.
He held her still, but his hold slackened. "I won the race," he
said.
"Yes, but--but it was only a game," she gasped back incoherently.
"You--you can't--you won't----"
"Kiss you?" he said. "Not if you forbid it." That calmed her very
strangely. His tone was so quiet; it revived her courage. She
uttered a faint laugh. "Is that the stake? I can't refuse to
pay--a debt of honour."
"Thank you," he said, and she saw a curious smile gleam for a
moment on his face. "That means you are prepared to take me like a
nasty pill, doesn't it? I like your pluck. It's the best thing
about you. But I won't put it to the test this time."
He made as if he would release her, but with an odd impulse she
checked him. Somehow it was unbearable to be humoured like that.
She looked him straight in the eyes.
"We are pals, aren't we?" she said.
The smile still lingered on Burke's face; it had an enigmatical
quality that disquieted her, she could not have said wherefore.
"It's rather an ambiguous term, isn't it?" he said.
"No, it isn't," she assured him, promptly and Very earnestly. "It
means that we are friends, but we are not in love and we are not
going to pretend we are. At least," she flushed suddenly under his
look, "that is what it means to me."
"I see," said Burke. "And what would happen if we fell in love
with each other?"
Her eyes sank in spite of her. "I don't think we need consider
that," she said.
"Why not?" said Burke.
"I could never be in love with anyone again," she said, her voice
very low.
"Quite sure?" said Burke.
Something in his tone made her look up sharply. His eyes were
intently and critically upon her, but the glow had gone out of
them. They told her nothing.
"Do you think we need discuss this subject?" she asked him uneasily.
"Not if you prefer to shirk it," he said. She flushed a little.
"But I don't shirk. I'm not that sort."
"No," he said. "I don't think you are. You may be frightened, but
you won't run away."
"But I'm not frightened," she asserted boldly, looking him squarely
in the face. "We are friends, you and I. And--we are going to
trust each other. Being married isn't going to make any difference
to us. It was just a matter of convenience and--we are going to
forget it."
She paused. Burke's face had not altered. He was looking back at
her with perfectly steady eyes.
"Very simple in theory," he said. "Won't you finish?"
"That's all," she said lightly. "Except--if you really want to
kiss me now and then--you can do so. Only don't be silly about it!"
Burke's quick movement of surprise told her that this was
unexpected. The two horses had recovered their wind and begun to
nibble at one another. He checked them with a growling rebuke.
Then very quietly he placed Sylvia's bridle in her hand, and put
her from him.
"Thank you," he said again. "But you mustn't be too generous at
the outset. I might begin to expect too much. And that would
be--silly of me, wouldn't it?"
There was no bitterness in voice or action, but there was
unmistakable irony. A curious sense of coldness came upon her, as
if out of the heart a distant storm-cloud an icy breath had reached
her.
She looked at him rather piteously. "You are not angry?" she said.
He leaned back in the saddle to knock a blood-sucking fly off his
horse's flank. Then he straightened himself and laughed.
"No, not in the least," he said.
She knew that he spoke the truth, yet her heart misgave her. There
was something baffling, something almost sinister to her, in the
very carelessness of his attitude. She turned her horse's head and
walked soberly away.
He did not immediately follow her, and after a few moments she
glanced back for him. He had dismounted and was scratching
something on the trunk of the blasted tree with a knife. The
withered arms stretched out above his head. They looked weirdly
human in the sunset glow. She wished he would not linger in that
eerie place.
She waited for him, and he came at length, riding with his head up
and a strange gleam of triumph in his eyes.
"What were you doing?" she asked him, as he joined her.
He met her look with a directness oddly disconcerting. "I was
commemorating the occasion, he said.
"What do you mean?" she said.
"Never mind now!" said Burke, and took out his pipe.
The light still lingered in his eyes, firing her to something
deeper than curiosity. She turned her horse abruptly.
"I am going back to see for myself."
But in the same moment his hand came out, grasping her bridle. "I
shouldn't do that," he said. "It isn't worth it. Wait till we
come again!"
"The tree may be gone by then," she objected.
"In that case you won't have missed much," he rejoined. "Don't go
now!"
He had his way though she yielded against her will. They turned
their animals towards Brennerstadt, and rode back together over,
the sun-scorched _veldt_.
PART II
CHAPTER I
COMRADES
Some degree of normality seemed to come back into Sylvia's life
with her return to Blue Hill Farm. She found plenty to do there,
and she rapidly became accustomed to her surroundings.
It would have been a monotonous and even dreary existence but for
the fact that she rode with Burke almost every evening, and
sometimes in the early morning also, and thus saw a good deal of
the working of the farm. Her keen interest in horses made a strong
bond of sympathy between them. She loved them all. The mares and
their foals were a perpetual joy to her, and she begged hard to be
allowed to try her powers at breaking in some of the young animals.
Burke, however, would not hear of this. He was very kind to her,
unfailingly considerate in his treatment of her, but by some means
he made her aware that his orders were to be respected. The Kaffir
servants were swift to do his bidding, though she did not find them
so eager to fulfil their duties when he was not at hand.
She laughingly commented upon this one day to Burke, and he amazed
her by pointing to the riding-whip she chanced to be holding at the
time.
"You'll find that's the only medicine for that kind of thing," he
said. "Give 'em a taste of that and they'll respect you!"
She decided he must be joking, but only a few days later he quite
undeceived her on that point by dragging Joe, the house boy, into
the yard and chastising him with a _sjambok_ for some neglected
duty.
Joe howled lustily, and Sylvia yearned to fly to the rescue, but
there was something so judicial about Burke's administration of
punishment that she did not venture to intervene.
When he came in a little later, she was sitting in their
living-room nervously stitching at the sleeve of a shirt that he
had managed to tear on some barbed wire. He had his pipe in his
hand, and there was an air of grim satisfaction about him that
seemed to denote a consciousness of something well done.
Sylvia set her mouth hard and stitched rapidly, trying to forget
Joe's piercing yells of a few minutes before. Burke went to the
window and stood there, pensively filling his pipe.
Suddenly, as if something in her silence struck him, he turned and
looked at her. She felt his eyes upon her though she did not raise
her own.
After a moment or two he came to her. "What are you doing there?"
he said.
It was the first piece of work she had done for him. She glanced
up. "Mending your shirt," she told him briefly.
He laid his hand abruptly upon it. "What are you doing that for?
I don't want you to mend my things."
"Oh, don't be silly, Burke!" she said. "You can't go in tatters.
Please don't hinder me! I want to get it done."
She spoke with a touch of sharpness, not feeling very kindly
disposed towards him at the moment. She was still somewhat
agitated, and she wished with all her heart that he would go and
leave her alone.
She almost said as much in the next, breath as he did not remove
his hand. "Why don't you go and shoot something? There's plenty
of time before supper."
"What's the matter?" said Burke.
"Nothing," she returned, trying to remove her work from his grasp.
"Nothing!" he echoed. "Then why am I told not to be silly, not to
hinder you, and to go and shoot something?"
Sylvia sat up in her chair, and faced him. "If you must have it--I
think you've been--rather brutal," she said, lifting her clear eyes
to his. "No doubt you had plenty of excuse, but that doesn't
really justify you. At least--I don't think so."
He met her look in his usual direct fashion. Those eagle eyes of
his sent a little tremor through her. There was a caged fierceness
about them that strangely stirred her.
He spoke after the briefest pause with absolute gentleness. "All
right, little pal! It's decent of you to put it like that. You're
quite wrong, but that's a detail. You'll change your views when
you've been in the country a little longer. Now forget it, and
come for a ride!"
It was disarmingly kind, and Sylvia softened in spite of herself.
She put her hand on his arm. "Burke, you won't do it again?" she
said.
He smiled a little. "It won't be necessary for some time to come.
If you did the same to Fair Rosamond now and then you would
marvellously improve her. Idle little cuss!"
"I never shall," said Sylvia with emphasis.
He heaved a sigh. "Then I shall have to kick her out I suppose. I
can see she is wearing your temper to a fine edge."
She bit her lip for a second, and then laughed. "Oh, go away, do?
You're very horrid. Rose may be trying sometimes, but I can put up
with her."
"You can't manage her," said Burke.
"Anyway, you are not to interfere," she returned with spirit.
"That's my department."
He abandoned the discussion. "Well, I leave it to you, partner.
You're not to sit here mending shirts anyhow. I draw the line at
that."
Sylvia's delicate chin became suddenly firm. "I never leave a
thing unfinished," she said. "You will have to ride alone this
evening."
"I refuse," said Burke.
She opened her eyes wide. "Really"--she began.
"Yes, really," he said. "Put the thing away! It's a sheer fad to
mend it at all. I don't care what I wear, and I'm sure you don't."
"But I do," she protested. "You must be respectable."
"But I am respectable--whatever I wear," argued Burke. "It's my
main characteristic."
His brown hand began to draw the garment in dispute away from her,
but Sylvia held it tight.
Burke, don't--please--be tiresome! Every woman mends her
husband's clothes if there is no one else to do it. I want to do
it. There!"
"You don't like doing it!" he challenged.
"It's my duty," she maintained.
He gave her an odd look. "And do you always do--your duty?"
"I try to," she said.
"Always?" he insisted.
Something in his eyes gave her pause. She wanted to turn her own
aside, but could not. "To--to the best of my ability," she
stammered.
He looked ironical for an instant, and then abruptly he laughed and
released her work. "Bless your funny little heart!" he said. "Peg
away, if you want to! It looks rather as if you're starting at the
wrong end, but, being a woman, no doubt you will get there
eventually."
That pierced her. It was Guy--Guy in the flesh--tenderly taunting
her with some feminine weakness. So swift and so sharp was the
pain that she could not hide it. She bent her face over her work
with a quick intake of the breath.
"Why--Sylvia!" he said, bending over her.
She drew away from him. "Don't--please! I--I am foolish.
Don't--take any notice!"
He stood up again, but his hand found her shoulder and rubbed it
comfortingly. "What is it, partner? Tell a fellow!" he urged, his
tone an odd mixture of familiarity and constraint.
She fought with herself, and at last told him. "You--you--you were
so like--Guy--just then."
"Oh, damn Guy!" he said lightly. "I am much more like myself at
all times. Cheer up, partner! Don't cry for the moon!"
She commanded herself and looked up at him with a quivering smile.
"It is rather idiotic, isn't it? And ungrateful too. You are very
good not to lose patience."
"Oh, I am very patient," said Burke with a certain grimness. "But
look here! Must you mend that shirt? I've got another somewhere."
Her smile turned to a laugh. She sprang up with a lithe, impulsive
movement, "Come along then! Let's go! I don't know why you want
to be bothered with me, I'm sure. But I'll come."
She took him by the arm and went with him from the room.
They rode out across Burke's land. The day had been one of burning
heat. Sylvia turned instinctively towards the _kopje_ that always
attracted her. It had an air of aloofness that drew her fancy. "I
must climb that very early some morning," she said, "in time for
the sunrise."
"It will mean literal climbing," said Burke. "It's too steep for a
horse."
"Oh, I don't mind that," she said. "I have a steady head. But I
want to get round it tonight. I've never been round it yet. What
is there on the other side?"
"_Veldt_," he said.
She made a face. And then _veldt_--and then _veldt_. Plenty of
nice, sandy karoo where all the sand-storms come from! But there
are always the hills beyond. I am going to explore them some day."
"May I come too?" he said.
She smiled at him. "Of course, partner. We will have a castle
right at the top of the world, shall we? There will be mountain
gorges and great torrents, and ferns and rhododendrons everywhere.
And a little further still, a great lake like an inland sea with
sandy shores and very calm water with the blue sky or the stars
always in it."
"And what will the castle be like?" he said.
Sylvia's eyes were on the far hills as they rode. "The castle?"
she said. "Oh, the castle will be of grey granite--the sparkling
sort, very cool inside, with fountains playing everywhere; spacious
rooms of course, and very lofty--always lots of air and no dust."
"Shall I be allowed to smoke a pipe in them?" asked Burke.
"You will do exactly what you like all day long," she told him
generously.
"So long as I don't get in your way," he suggested.
She laughed a little. "Oh, we shall be too happy for that.
Besides, you can have a farm or two to look after. There won't be
any dry watercourses there like that," pointing with her whip.
"That is what you call a '_spruit_,' isn't it?"
"You are getting quite learned," he said. "Yes, that is a _spruit_
and that is a _kopje_."
"And that?" She pointed farther on suddenly. "What is that just
above the watercourse? Is it a Kaffir hut?"
"No," said Burke.
He spoke somewhat shortly. The object she indicated was
undoubtedly a hut; to Sylvia's unaccustomed eyes it might have been
a cattle-shed. It was close to the dry watercourse, a little
lonely hovel standing among stones and a straggling growth of
coarse grass.
Something impelled Sylvia to check her horse. She glanced at her
companion as if half-afraid. "What is it?" she said. "It--looks
like a hermit's cell. Who lives there?"
"No one at the present moment," said Burke.
His eyes were fixed straight ahead. He spoke curtly, as if against
his will.
"But who generally--" began Sylvia, and then she stopped and turned
suddenly white to the lips.
"I--see," she said, in an odd, breathless whisper.
Burke spoke without looking at her. "It's just a cabin. He built
it himself the second year he was out here. He had been living at
the farm, but he wanted to get away from me, wanted to go his own
way without interference. Perhaps I went too far in that line.
After all, it was no business of mine. But I can't stand tamely by
and see a white man deliberately degrading himself to the Kaffir
level. It was as well he went. I should have skinned him sooner
or later if he hadn't. He realized that. So did I. So we agreed
to part."
So briefly and baldly Burke stated the case, and every sentence he
uttered was a separate thrust in the heart of the white-faced girl
who sat her horse beside him, quite motionless, with burning eyes
fixed upon the miserable little hovel that had enshrined the idol
she had worshipped for so long.
She lifted her bridle at last without speaking a word and walked
her animal forward through the sparse grass and the stones. Burke
moved beside her, still gazing straight ahead, as if he were alone.
They went down to the cabin, and Sylvia dismounted. The only
window space was filled with wire-netting instead of glass, and
over this on the inside a piece of cloth had been firmly fastened
so that no prying eyes could look in. The door was locked and
padlocked. It was evident that the owner had taken every
precaution against intrusion.
And yet--though he lived in this wretched place at which even a
Kaffir might have looked askance--he had sent her that message
telling her to come to him. This fact more than any other that she
had yet encountered brought home to her the bitter, bitter truth of
his failure. Out of the heart of the wilderness, out of desolation
unspeakable, he had sent that message. And she had answered it--to
find him gone.
The slow hot tears welled up and ran down her face. She was not
even aware of them. Only at last she faced the desolation, in its
entirety, she drank the cup to its dregs. It was here that he had
taken the downward road. It was here that he had buried his
manhood. When she turned away at length, she felt as if she had
been standing by his grave.
Burke waited for her and helped her to mount again in utter
silence. Only as she lifted the bridle again he laid his hand for
a moment on her knee. It was a dumb act of sympathy which she
could not acknowledge lest she should break down utterly. But it
sent a glow of comfort to her hurt and aching heart. He had given
her a comrade's sympathy just when she needed it most.
CHAPTER II
THE VISITORS
It was after that ride to Guy's hut that Sylvia began at last to
regard him as connected only with that which was past. It was as
if a chapter in her life had closed when she turned away from that
solitary hut in the wilderness. She said to herself that the man
she had known and loved was dead, and she did not after that
evening suffer her thoughts voluntarily to turn in his direction.
Soberly she took up the burden of life. She gathered up the reins
of government, and assumed the ordering of Burke Ranger's
household. She did not again refer to Guy in his presence, though
there were times when his step, his voice, above all, his whistle,
stabbed her to poignant remembrance.
He also avoided the subject of Guy, treating her with a careless
kindliness that set her wholly at ease with him. She learned more
and more of the working of the farm, and her interest in the young
creatures grew daily. She loved to accompany him on his rides of
inspection in the early mornings showing herself so apt a pupil
that he presently dubbed her his overseer, and even at last
entrusted her occasionally with such errands as only a confidential
overseer could execute.
It was when returning from one of these somewhat late one blazing
morning that she first encountered their nearest British neighbours
from a farm nearly twelve miles distant. It was a considerable
shock to her to find them in possession of the _stoep_ when she
rode up, but the sight of the red-faced Englishman who strode out
to meet her reassured her in a moment.
"How do you do, Mrs. Ranger? We've just come over to pay our
respects," he announced in a big, hearty voice. "You'll hardly
believe it, but we've only recently heard of Burke's marriage.
It's been a nine days' wonder with us, but now I've seen you I
cease to marvel at anything but Burke's amazing luck."
There was something so engagingly naive in this compliment that
Sylvia found it impossible to be formal. She smiled and slipped to
the ground.
"You are Mr. Merston," she said. "How kind of you to come over! I
am afraid I am alone at present, but Burke is sure to be in soon.
I hope you have had some refreshment."
She gave her horse to a Kaffir boy, and went with her new friend up
the steps of the _stoep_.
"My wife!" said Merston in his jolly voice.
Sylvia went forward with an eagerness that wilted in spite of her
before she reached its object. Mrs. Merston did not rise to meet
her. She sat prim and upright and waited for her greeting, and
Sylvia knew in a moment before their hands touched each other that
here was no kindred spirit.
"How do you do?" said Mrs. Merston formally.
She was a little woman, possibly ten years Sylvia's senior, with a
face that had once been pink and white and now was the colour of
pale brick all over. Her eyes were pale and seemed to carry a
perpetual grievance. Her nose was straight and very thin, rather
pinched at the nostrils. Her lips were thin and took a bitter
downward curve. Her hair was quite colourless, almost like ashes;
it had evidently once been light gold.
The hand she extended to Sylvia was so thin that she thought she
could feel the bones rubbing together. Her skin was hot and very
dry.
"I hope you like this horrible country," she said.
"Oh, come, Matilda!" her husband protested.
"That's not a very cheery greeting for a newcomer!"
She closed her thin lips without reply, and the downward curve
became very unpleasantly apparent.
"I haven't found out all its horrors yet," said Sylvia lightly.
"It's a very thirsty place, I think, anyway just now. Have you had
anything?"
"We've only just got here," said Merston.
"Oh, I must see to it!" said Sylvia, and hastened within.
"Looks a jolly sort of girl," observed Merston to his wife.
"Wonder how--and when--Burke managed to catch her. He hasn't been
home for ten years and she can't be five-and-twenty."
"She probably did the catching," remarked his wife tersely. "But
she will soon wish she hadn't."
Sylvia returned two minutes later bearing a tray of which Merston
hastened to relieve her.
"We're wondering--my wife and I--how Burke had the good fortune to
get married to you," he said. "You're new to this country, aren't
you? And he hasn't been out of it as long as I have known him."
Sylvia looked up at him in momentary confusion. Then she laughed.
"We picked each other up at Ritzen," she said.
"Ritzen!" he echoed in amazement, "What on earth took you there?"
Then hastily, "I say, I beg your pardon. You must forgive my
impertinence. But you look so awfully like a duchess in your own
right, I couldn't help being surprised."
"Well, have a drink!" said Sylvia lightly. "I'm not a duchess in
my own right or anything else, except Burke's wife. We're running
this farm together on the partner system. I'm junior partner of
course. Burke tells me what to do, and I do it."
"You'll soon lose your complexion if you go out riding in this heat
and dust," said Mrs. Merston.
"Oh, I hope not," Sylvia laughed again. "If I do, I daresay I
shan't miss it much. It's rather fun to feel that sort of thing
doesn't matter. Ah, here is Burke coming now!" She glanced up at
the thudding of his horse's hoofs.
Merston went out again into the blinding sunlight to greet his
host, and Sylvia turned to the thin, pinched woman beside her.
"I expect you would like to come inside and take off your hat and
wash. It is hot, isn't it? Shall we go in and get respectable?"
She spoke with that winning friendliness of hers that few could
resist. Mrs. Merston's lined face softened almost in spite of
itself. She got up. But she could not refrain from flinging
another acid remark as she did so.
"I really think if Englishmen must live in South Africa, they ought
to be content with Boer wives."
"Oh, should you like your husband to have married a Boer wife?"
said Sylvia.
Mrs. Merston smiled grimly. "You are evidently still in the fool's
paradise stage. Make the most of it! It won't last long. The men
out here have other things to think about."
"I should hope so," said Sylvia energetically. "And the women,
too, I should think. I should imagine that there is very little
time for philandering out here."
Mrs. Merston uttered a bitter laugh as she followed her in. "There
is very little time for anything, Mrs. Ranger. It is drudgery from
morning till night."
"Oh, I haven't found that yet," said Sylvia.
She had led her visitor into the guest-room which she had occupied
since her advent. It was not quite such a bare apartment as it had
been on that first night. All her personal belongings were
scattered about, and the severely masculine atmosphere had been
completely driven forth.
"I'm afraid it isn't very tidy in here," she said. "I generally
see to things later. I don't care to turn the Kaffir girl loose
among my things."
Mrs. Merston looked around her. "And where does your husband
sleep?" she said.
"Across the passage. His room is about the same size as this.
They are not very big, are they?"
"You are very lucky to have such a home," said Mrs. Merston. "Ours
is nothing but a corrugated iron shed divided into two parts."
"Really?" Sylvia opened her eyes. "That doesn't sound very nice
certainly. Haven't you got a verandah even--I beg its pardon, a
_stoep_?"
"We have nothing at all that makes for comfort," declared Mrs.
Merston, with bitter emphasis. "We live like pigs in a sty!"
"Good heavens!" said Sylvia. "I shouldn't like that."
"No, you wouldn't. It takes a little getting used to. But you'll
go through the mill presently. All we farmers' wives do. You and
Burke Ranger won't go on in this Garden of Eden style very long."
Sylvia laughed with a touch of uncertainty. "I suppose it's a
mistake to expect too much of life anywhere," she said. "But it's
difficult to be miserable when one is really busy, isn't it?
Anyhow one can't be bored."
"Are you really happy here?" Mrs. Merston asked point-blank, in the
tone of one presenting a challenge.
Sylvia paused for a moment, only a moment, and then she answered,
"Yes."
"And you've been married how long? Six weeks?"
"About that," said Sylvia.
Mrs. Merston looked at her, and an almost cruel look came into her
pale eyes. "Ah! You wait a little!" she said. "You're young now.
You've got all your vitality still in your veins. Wait till this
pitiless country begins to get hold of you! Wait till you begin to
bear children, and all your strength is drained out of you, and you
still have to keep on at the same grinding drudgery till you're
ready to drop, and your husband comes in and laughs at you and
tells you to buck up, when you haven't an ounce of energy left in
you! See how you like the prison-house then! All your young
freshness gone and nothing left--nothing left!"
She spoke with such force that Sylvia felt actually shocked. Yet
still with that instinctive tact of hers, she sought to smooth the
troubled waters. "Oh, have you children?" she said. "How many?
Do tell me about them!"
"I have had six," said Mrs. Merston dully. "They are all dead."
She clenched her hands at Sylvia's quick exclamation of pity, but
she gave no other sign of emotion.
"They all die in infancy," she said. "It's partly the climate,
partly that I am overworked--worn out. He--" with infinite
bitterness--"can't see it. Men don't--or won't. You'll find that
presently. It's all in front of you. I don't envy you in the
least, Mrs. Ranger. I daresay you think there is no one in the
world like your husband. Young brides always do. But you'll find
out presently. Men are all selfish where their own pleasures are
concerned. And Burke Ranger is no exception to the rule. He has a
villainous temper, too. Everyone knows that."
"Oh, don't tell me that!" said Sylvia gently. "He and I are
partners, you know. Let me put a little _eau-de-cologne_ in that
water! It's so refreshing."
Mrs. Merston scarcely noticed the small service. She was too
intent upon her work of destruction. "You don't know him--yet,"
she said. "But anyone you meet can tell you the same. Why, he had
a young cousin here--such a nice boy--and he sent him straight to
the bad with his harsh treatment,--_sjamboked_ him and turned him
out of the house for some slight offence. Yes, no wonder you look
scandalized; but I assure you it's true. Guy Ranger was none too
steady, I know. But that was absolutely the finishing touch. He
was never the same again."
She paused. Sylvia was very white, but her eyes were quite
resolute, unfailingly steadfast.
"Please don't tell me any more!" she said. "Whatever Burke did
was--was from a good motive. I know that. I know him. And--I
don't want to have any unkind feelings towards him."
"You prefer to remain blind?" said Mrs. Merston with her bitter
smile,
"Yes--yes," Sylvia said.
"Then you are building your house on the sand," said Mrs. Merston,
and turned from her with a shrug. "And great will be the fall
thereof."
CHAPTER III
THE BARGAIN
THE visitors did not leave until the sun was well down in the west.
To Sylvia it had been an inexplicably tiring day, and when they
departed at length she breathed a wholly unconscious sigh of relief.
"Come for a ride!" said Burke.
She shook her head. "No, thank you. I think I will have a rest."
"All right. I'll smoke a pipe on the _stoep_," he said.
He had been riding round his land with Merston during the greater
part of the afternoon, and it did not surprise her that he seemed
to think that he also had earned a quiet evening. But curiously
his decision provoked in her an urgent desire to ride alone. A
pressing need for solitude was upon her. She yearned to get right
away by herself.
She went to her room, however, and lay down for a while, trying to
take the rest she needed; but when presently she heard the voice of
Hans Schafen, his Dutch foreman, talking on the verandah, she arose
with a feeling of thankfulness, donned her sun-hat, and slipped out
of the bungalow. It was hot for walking, but it was a relief to
get away from the house. She knew it was quite possible that Burke
would see her go, but she believed he would be too engrossed with
business for some time to follow her. It was quite possible he
would not wish to do so, but she had a feeling that this was not
probable. He generally sought her out in his leisure hours.
Almost instinctively she turned her steps in the direction of the
kopje which she had so often desired to climb. It rose steep from
the _veldt_ like some lonely tower in the wilderness.
Curious-shaped rocks cropped out unexpectedly on its scarred sides
and a few prickly pear bushes stood up here and there like weird
guardians of the rugged stronghold. Sylvia had an odd feeling that
they watched her with unfriendly attention as she approached.
Though solitude girt her round, she did not feel herself to be
really alone.
It took her some time to reach it, for the ground was rough and
sandy under her feet, and it was farther away than it looked. She
realized as she drew nearer that to climb to the round summit would
be no easy task, but that fact did not daunt her. She felt the
need for strenuous exercise just then.
The shadows were lengthening, and the full glare of the sun no
longer smote upon her. She began to climb with some energy. But
she soon found that she had undertaken a greater task than she had
anticipated. The way was steep, and here and there the boulders
seemed to block further progress completely. She pressed on with
diminishing speed, taking a slanting upward course that presently
brought her into the sun again and in view of the little cabin
above the stony watercourse that had sheltered Guy for so long.
The sight of it seemed to take all the strength out of her. She
sat down on a rock to rest. All day long she had been forcing the
picture that Mrs. Merston had painted for her into the background
of her thoughts. All day long it had been pressing forward in
spite of her. It seemed to be burning her brain, and now she could
not ignore it any longer. Sitting there exhausted in mind and
body, she had to face it in all its crudeness. She had to meet and
somehow to conquer the sickening sensation of revolt that had come
upon her.
She sat there for a long time, till the sun sank low in the sky and
a wondrous purple glow spread across the _veldt_. She knew that it
was growing late, that Burke would be expecting her for the evening
meal, but she could not summon the strength she needed to end her
solitary vigil on the _kopje_. She had a feeling as of waiting for
something. Though she was too tired to pray, yet it seemed to her
that a message was on its way. She watched the glory in the west
with an aching intensity that possessed her to the exclusion of
aught beside. Somehow, even in the midst of her weariness and
depression, she felt sure that help would come.
The glory began to wane, and a freshness blew across the _veldt_.
Somewhere on the very top of the _kopje_ a bird uttered a
twittering note. She turned her face, listening for the answer,
and found Burke seated on another boulder not six yards away.
So unexpected was the sight that she caught her breath in
astonishment and a sharp instinctive sense of dismay. He was not
looking at her, but gazing forth to the distant hills like an eagle
from its eyrie. His eyes had the look of seeing many things that
were wholly beyond her vision.
She sat in silence, a curious feeling of embarrassment upon her, as
if she looked upon something which she was not meant to see and yet
could not turn from. His brown face was so intent, almost terribly
keen. The lines about the mouth were drawn with ruthless
distinctness. It was the face of a hunter, and the iron resolution
of it sent an odd quiver that was almost of foreboding through her
heart.
And then suddenly he turned his head slightly, as if he felt her
look upon him, and like a knife-thrust his eyes came down to hers.
She felt the hot colour rush over her face as if she had been
caught in some act of trespass. Her confusion consumed her, she
could not have said wherefore. She looked swiftly away.
Quietly he left his rock and came to her.
She shrank at his coming. The pulse in her throat was throbbing as
if it would choke her. She wanted to spring up and flee down the
hill. But he was too near. She sat very still, her fingers
gripping each other about her knees, saying no word.
He reached her and stood looking down at her. "I followed you," he
said, "because I knew you would never get to the top alone."
She lifted her face, striving against her strange agitation. "I
wasn't thinking of going any further," she said, struggling to
speak indifferently. "It--is steeper than I thought."
"It aways is," said Burke.
He sat down beside her, close to her. She made a small,
instinctive movement away from him, but he did not seem to notice.
He took off his hat and laid it down.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Merston had to be inflicted on you for so long," he
said. "I'm afraid she is not exactly cheery company."
"I didn't mind," said Sylvia.
He gave her a faintly whimsical look. "Not utterly fed up with
Africa and all her beastly ways?" he questioned.
She shook her head. "I don't think I am so easily swayed as all
that."
"You would rather stay here with me than go back home to England?"
he said.
Her eyes went down to the lonely hut on the sand. "Why do you ask
me that?" she said, in a low voice.
"Because I want to know," said Burke.
Sylvia was silent.
He went on after a moment. "I've a sort of notion that Mrs.
Merston is not a person to spread contentment around her under any
circumstances. If she lived in a palace at the top of the world
she wouldn't be any happier."
Sylvia smiled faintly at the allusion. "I don't think she has very
much to make her happy," she said. It's a little hard to judge her
under present conditions."
"She's got one of the best for a husband anyway," he maintained.
"Do you think that's everything?" said Sylvia.
"No, I don't," said Burke unexpectedly. "I think he spoils her,
which is bad for any woman. It turns her head in the beginning and
sours her afterwards."
Sylvia turned at that and regarded him, a faint light of mockery in
her eyes. "What a lot you know about women!" she remarked.
He laughed in a way she did not understand. "If I had a wife," he
said, "I'd make her happy, but not on those lines."
"I thought you had one," said Sylvia.
He met her eyes with a sudden mastery which made her flinch in
spite of herself. "No," he said, "I've only a make-believe at
present. Not very satisfying of course; but better than nothing.
There is always the hope that she may some day turn into the real
thing to comfort me."
His words went into silence. Sylvia's head was bent.
After a moment he leaned a little towards her, and spoke almost in
a whisper. "I feel as if I have caught a very rare, shy bird," he
said. "I'm trying to teach it to trust me, but it takes a mighty
lot of time and patience. Do you think I shall ever succeed,
Sylvia? Do you think it will ever come and nestle against my
heart?"
Again his words went into silence. The girl's eyes were fixed upon
the stretch of sandy _veldt_ below her and that which it held.
Silently the man watched her, his keen eyes very steady, very
determined.
She lifted her own at last, and met them with brave directness.
"You know, partner," she said, "it isn't very fair of you to ask me
such a thing as that. You can't have--everything."
"All right," said Burke, and felt in his pocket for his pipe.
"Consider it unsaid!"
His abrupt acceptance of her remonstrance was curiously
disconcerting. The mastery of his look had led her to expect
something different. She watched him dumbly as he filled his pipe
with quiet precision.
Finally, as he looked at her again, she spoke. "I don't want to
seem over-critical--ungrateful, but--" her breath came
quickly--"though you have been so awfully good to me, I can't help
feeling--that you might have done more for Guy, if--if you had been
kinder when he went wrong. And--" her eyes filled with sudden
tears--"that thought spoils--just everything."
"I see," said Burke, and though his lips were grim his voice was
wholly free from harshness. "Mrs. Merston told you all about it,
did she?"
Sylvia's colour rose again. She turned slightly from him. "She
didn't say much," she said.
There was a pause. Then unexpectedly Burke's hand closed over her
two clasped ones. "So I've got to be punished, have I?" he said.
She shook her head, shrinking a little though she suffered his
touch. "No. Only--I can't forget it,--that's all."
"Or forgive?" said Burke.
She swallowed her tears with an effort. "No, not that. I'm not
vindictive. But--oh, Burke--" she turned to him impulsively,--"I
wish--I wish--we could find Guy!"
He stiffened almost as if at a blow. "Why?" he demanded sternly.
For a moment his look awed her, but only for a moment; the longing
in her heart was so great as to overwhelm all misgiving. She
grasped his arm tightly between her hands.
"If we could only find him--and save him--save him somehow from the
horrible pit he seems to have fallen into! We could do it between
us--I feel sure we could do it---if only--if only--we could find
him!"
Breathlessly her words rushed out. It seemed as if she had
stumbled almost inadvertently upon the solution of the problem that
had so tormented her. She marvelled now that she had ever been
able to endure inaction with regard to Guy. She was amazed at
herself for having been so easily content. It was almost as if in
that moment she heard Guy's voice very far away, calling to her for
help.
And then, swift as a lightning-flash, striking dismay to her soul,
came the consciousness of Burke gazing straight at her with that in
his eyes which she could not--dare not--meet.
She gripped his arm a little tighter. She was quivering from head
to foot. "We could do it between us," she breathed again.
"Wouldn't it be worth it? Oh, wouldn't it be worth it?"
But Burke spoke no word. He sat rigid, looking at her.
A feeling of coldness ran through her--such a feeling as she had
experienced on her wedding-day under the skeleton-tree, the chill
that comes from the heart of a storm. Slowly she relaxed her hold
upon him. Her tears were gone, but she felt choked, unlike
herself, curiously impotent.
"Shall we go back?" she said.
She made as if she would rise, but he stayed her with a gesture,
and her weakness held her passive.
"So you have forgiven him!" he said.
His tone was curt. He almost flung the words.
She braced herself, instinctively aware of coming strain. But she
answered him gently. "You can't be angry with a person when you
are desperately sorry for him."
"I see. And you hold me in a great measure responsible for his
fall? I am to make good, am I?"
He did not raise his voice, but there was something in it that made
her quail. She looked up at him in swift distress.
"No, no! Of course not--of course not! Partner, please don't glare
at me like that! What have I done?"
He dropped his eyes abruptly from her startled face, and there
followed a silence so intense that she thought he did not even
breathe.
Then, in a very low voice: "You've raised Cain," he said.
She shivered. There was something terrible in the atmosphere.
Dumbly she waited, feeling that protest would but make matters
worse.
He turned himself from her at length, and sat with his chin on his
hands, staring out to the fading sunset.
When he spoke finally, the hard note had gone out of his voice.
"Do you think it's going to make life any easier to bring that
young scoundrel back?"
"I wasn't thinking of that," she said, "It was only--" she
hesitated.
"Only?" said Burke, without turning.
With difficulty she answered him. "Only that probably you and I
are the only people in the world who could do anything to help him.
And so--somehow it seems our job."
Burke digested this in silence. Then: "And what are you going to
do with him when you've got him?" he enquired.
Again she hesitated, but only momentarily. "I shall want you to
help me, partner," she said appealingly.
He made a slight movement that passed unexplained. "You may find
me--rather in the way--before you've done," he said.
"Then you won't help me?" she said, swift disappointment in her
voice.
He turned round to her. His face was grim, but it held no anger.
"You've asked a pretty hard thing of me," he said. "But--yes, I'll
help you."
"You will?" She held out her hand to him. "Oh, partner, thank
you--awfully!"
He gripped her hand hard. "On one condition," he said.
"Oh, what?" She started a little and her face whitened.
He squeezed her fingers with merciless force. "Just that you will
play a straight game with me," he said briefly.
The colour came back to her face with a rush. "That!" she said.
"But of course--of course! I always play a straight game."
"Then it's a bargain?" he said.
Her clear eyes met his. "Yes, a bargain. But how shall we ever
find him?"
He was silent for a moment, and she felt as if those steel-grey
eyes of his were probing for her soul. "That," he said slowly,
"will not be a very difficult business."
"You know where he is?" she questioned eagerly.
"Yes. Merston told me to-day."
"Oh, Burke!" The eager kindling of her look made her radiant.
"Where is he? What is he doing?"
He still looked at her keenly, but all emotion had gone from his
face. "He is tending a bar in a miners' saloon at Brennerstadt."
"Ah!"' She stood up quickly to hide the sudden pain his words had
given. "But we can soon get him out. You--you will get him out,
partner?"
He got to his feet also. The sun had passed, and only a violet
glow remained. He seemed to be watching it as he answered her.
"I will do my best."
"You are good," she said very earnestly. "I wonder if you have the
least idea how grateful I feel."
"I can guess," he said in a tone of constraint.
She was standing slightly above him. She placed her hand shyly on
his shoulder. "And you won't hate it so very badly?" she urged
softly. "It is in a good cause, isn't it?"
"I hope so," he said.
He seemed unaware of her hand upon him. She pressed a little.
"Burke!"
"Yes?" He still stood without looking at her.
She spoke nervously. "I--I shan't forget--ever--that I am married.
You--you needn't be afraid of--of anything like that."
He turned with an odd gesture. "I thought you were going to forget
it--that you had forgotten it--for good."
His voice had a strained, repressed sound. He spoke almost as if
he were in pain.
She tried to smile though her heart was beating fast and hard.
"Well, I haven't. And--I never shall now. So that's all right,
isn't it? Say it's all right!"
There was more of pleading in her voice than she knew. A great
tremor went through Burke. He clenched his hands to subdue it.
"Yes; all right, little pal, all right," he said.
His voice sounded strangled; it pierced her oddly. With a sudden
impetuous gesture she slid her arm about his neck, and for one
lightning moment her lips touched his cheek. The next instant she
had sprung free and was leaping downwards from rock to rock like a
startled gazelle.
At the foot of the _kopje_ only did she stop and wait. He was
close behind her, moving with lithe, elastic strides where she had
bounded.
She turned round to him boyishly. "We'll climb to the top one of
these days, partner; but I'm not in training yet. Besides,--we're
late for supper."
"I can wait," said Burke.
She linked her little finger in his, swinging it carelessly. There
was absolute confidence in her action; only her eyes avoided his.
"You're jolly decent to me," she said. "I often wonder why."
"You'll know one day," said Burke very quietly.
CHAPTER IV
THE CAPTURE
A dust-storm had been blowing practically all day, and the mining
crowds of Brennerstadt were thirsty to a man. They congregated at
every bar with the red sand thick upon them, and cursed the country
and the climate with much heartiness and variety.
Burke Ranger was one of the thirstiest when he reached the town
after his ride through the desert--a ride upon which he had flatly
refused to allow Sylvia to accompany him. He went straight to the
hotel where he had stayed for his marriage, and secured a room.
Then he went down to the dining-room, where he was instantly
greeted by an old friend, Kelly, the Irish manager of a diamond
mine in the neighbourhood.
Kelly was the friend of everyone. He knew everyone's affairs and
gossiped openly with a childlike frankness that few could resent.
Everyone declared he could never keep a secret, yet nearly everyone
confided in him. His goodness of heart was known to all, and he
was regarded as a general arbitrator among the sometimes restless
population of Brennerstadt.
His delight at seeing Burke was obvious; he hailed him with
acclamations. "I've been meaning to ride over your way for ages,"
he declared, his rubicund face shining with geniality as he wrung
his friend's hand hard. "I was up-country when you came along last
with your bride. Dark horse that you are, Burke! I should as soon
have thought of getting married myself, as of seeing you in double
harness."
Burke laughed his careless laugh. "You'll come to it yet. No fun
in growing old alone in this country."
"And what's the lady like?" pursued Kelly, keen for news as an
Irish terrier after a rat. "As fair as Eve and twice as charming?"
"Something that style," agreed Burke. "What are you drinking, old
chap? Any ice to be had?"
He conferred with the waiter, but Kelly's curiosity was far from
being satisfied. He pounced back upon the subject the moment
Burke's attention was free.
"And is she new to this part of the world then? She came out to be
married, I take it? And what does she think of it at all?"
"You'll have to come over and see for yourself," said Burke.
"So I will, old feller. I'll come on the first opportunity. I'd
love to see the woman who can capture you. Done any shooting
lately, or is wedded bliss still too sweet to leave?"
"I've had a few other things as well to think about," said Burke
drily,
"And this is your first absence? What will the missis do without
you?"
"She'll manage all right. She's very capable. She is helping me
with the farm. The life seems to suit her all right, only I shall
have to see she doesn't work too hard."
"That you will, my son. This climate's hard on women. Look at
poor Bill Merston's wife! When she came out, she was as pretty and
as sweet as a little wild rose. And now--well, it gives you the
heartache to look at her."
"Does it?" said Burke grimly. "She doesn't affect me that way. If
I were in Merston's place,--well, she wouldn't look like that for
long."
"Wouldn't she though?" Kelly looked at him with interest. "You
always were a goer, old man. And what would your treatment consist
of?"
"Discipline," said Burke briefly. "No woman is happy if she
despises her husband. If I were in Merston's place, I would see to
it that she did not despise me. That's the secret of her trouble.
It's poison to a woman to look down on her husband."
"Egad!" laughed Kelly. "But you've studied the subject? Well,
here's to the fair lady of your choice! May she fulfil all
expectations and be a comfort to you all the days of your life!"
"Thanks!" said Burke. "Now let's hear a bit about yourself! How's
the diamond industry?"
"Oh, there's nothing the matter with it just now. We've turned
over some fine stones in the last few days. Plenty of rubbish,
too, of course. You don't want a first-class speculation, I
presume? If you've got a monkey to spare, I can put you on to
something rather great."
"Thanks, I haven't," said Burke. "I never have monkeys to spare.
But what's the gamble?"
"Oh, it's just a lottery of Wilbraham's. He has a notion for
raffling his biggest diamond. The draw won't take place for a few
weeks yet; and then only monkeys need apply. It's a valuable
stone. I can testify to that. It would be worth a good deal more
if it weren't for a flaw that will have to be taken out in the
cutting and will reduce it a lot. But even so, it's worth some
thousands, worth risking a monkey for, Burke. Think what a
splendid present it would be for your wife!"
Burke laughed and shook his head. "She isn't that sort if I know
her."
"Bet you you don't know her then," said Kelly, with a grin. "It's
a good sporting chance anyway. I don't fancy there will be many
candidates, for the stone has an evil name."
Burke looked slightly scornful. "Well, I'm not putting any monkeys
into Wilbraham's pocket, so that won't trouble me. Have you seen
anything of Guy Ranger lately?"
The question was casually uttered, but it sent a sharp gleam of
interest into Kelly's eyes. "Oh, it's him you've come for, is it?"
he said. "Well, let me tell you this for your information! He's
had enough of Blue Hill Farm for the present."
Burke said nothing, but his grey eyes had a more steely look than
usual as he digested the news.
Kelly looked at him curiously. "The boy's a wreck," he said.
"Simply gone to pieces; nerves like fiddle-strings. He drinks like
hell, but it's my belief he'd die in torment if he didn't."
Still Burke said nothing, and Kelly's curiosity grew.
"You know what he's doing; don't you?" he said. "He's doing a
Kaffir's job for Kaffir's pay. It's about the vilest hole this
side of perdition, my son. And I'm thinking you won't find it
specially easy to dig him out."
Burke's eyes came suddenly straight to the face of the Irishman.
He regarded him for a moment or two with a faintly humorous
expression; then: "That's just where you can lend me a hand,
Donovan," he said. "I'm going to ask you to do that part."
"The deuce you are!" said Kelly. "You're not going to ask much
then, my son. Moreover, it's well on the likely side that he'll
refuse to budge. Better leave him alone till he's tired of it."
"He's dead sick of it already," said Burke with conviction. "You
go to him and tell him you've a decent berth waiting for him.
He'll come along fast enough then."
"I doubt it," said Kelly. "I doubt it very much. He's in just the
bitter mood to prefer to wallow. He's right under, Burke, and he
isn't making any fight. He'll go on now till he's dead."
"He won't!" said Burke shortly. "Where exactly is he? Tell me
that!"
"He's barkeeping for that brute Hoffstein, and taking out all his
wages in drink. I saw him three days ago. I assure you he's past
help. I believe he'd shoot himself if you took any trouble over
him. He's in a pretty desperate mood."
"Not he!" said Burke. "I'm going to have him out anyway."
Again Kelly looked at him speculatively. "Well, what's the
notion?" he asked after a moment, frankly curious. "You've never
worried after him before."
Burke's eyes were grim. "You may be sure of one thing, Donovan,"
he said, "I'm not out for pleasure this journey."
"I've noted that," observed Kelly.
"I don't want you to help me if you have anything better to do,"
pursued Burke. "I shall get what I've come for in any case."
"Oh, don't you worry yourself! I'm on," responded Kelly, with his
winning, Irish smile. "When do you want to catch your hare?
Tonight?"
"Yes; to-night," said Burke soberly. "I'll come down with you to
Hoffstein's, and if you can get him out, I'll do the rest."
"Hurrah!" crowed Kelly softly, lifting his glass. "Here's luck to
the venture!"
But though Burke drank with him, his face did not relax.
A little later they left the hotel together. A strong wind was
still blowing, sprinkling the dust of the desert everywhere. They
pushed their way against it, striding with heads down through the
swirling darkness of the night.
Hoffstein's bar was in a low quarter of the town and close to the
mine-workings. A place of hideous desolation at all times, the
whirling sandstorm made of it almost an inferno. They scarcely
spoke as they went along, grimly enduring the sand-fiend that stung
and blinded but could not bar their progress.
As they came within sight of Hoffstein's tavern, they encountered
groups of men coming away, but no one was disposed to loiter on
that night of turmoil; no one accosted them as they approached.
The place was built of corrugated iron, and they heard the sand
whipping against it as they drew near. Kelly paused within a few
yards of the entrance. The door was open and the lights of the bar
flared forth into the darkness.
"You stop here!" bawled Kelly. "I'll go in and investigate."
There was an iron fence close to them, affording some degree of
shelter from the blast. Burke stood back against it, dumbly
patient. The other man went on, and in a few seconds his short
square figure passed through the lighted doorway.
There followed an interval of waiting that seemed interminable--an
interval during which Burke moved not at all, but stood like a
statue against the wall, his hat well down over his eyes, his hands
clenched at his sides. The voices of men drifted to and fro
through the howling night, but none came very near him.
It must have been nearly half-an-hour later that there arose a
sudden fierce uproar in the bar, and the silent watcher
straightened himself up sharply. The turmoil grew to a babel of
voices, and in a few moments two figures, struggling furiously,
appeared at the open door. They blundered out, locked together
like fighting beasts, and behind them the door crashed to, leaving
them in darkness.
Burke moved forward. "Kelly, is that you?"
Kelly's voice, uplifted in lurid anathema, answered him, and in a
couple of seconds Kelly himself lurched into him, nearly hurling
him backwards. "And is it yourself?" cried the Irishman. "Then
help me to hold the damned young scoundrel, for he's fighting like
the devils in hell! Here he is! Get hold of him!"
Burke took a silent hard grip upon the figure suddenly thrust at
him, and almost immediately the fighting ceased.
"Let me go!" a hoarse voice said.
"Hold him tight!" said Kelly. "I'm going to take a rest. Guy, you
young devil, what do you want to murder me for? I've never done
you a harm in my life."
The man in Burke's grasp said nothing whatever. He was breathing
heavily, but his resistance was over. He stood absolutely passive
in the other man's hold.
Kelly gave himself an indignant shake and continued his tirade. "I
call all the saints in heaven to witness that as sure as my name is
Donovan Kelly so sure is it that I'll be damned to the last most
nether millstone before ever I'll undertake to dig a man out of
Hoffstein's marble halls again. You'd better watch him, Burke.
His skin is about as full as it'll hold."
"We'll get back," said Burke briefly.
He was holding his captive locked in a scientific grip, but there
was no violence about him. Only, as he turned, the other turned
also, as if compelled. Kelly followed, cursing himself back to
amiability.
Back through the raging wind they went, as though pursued by
furies. They reached and entered the hotel just as the Kaffir
porter was closing for the night. He stared with bulging eyes at
Burke and his companion, but Burke walked straight through, looking
neither to right nor left.
Only at the foot of the stairs, he paused an instant, glancing back.
"I'll see you in the morning, Donovan," he said. "Thanks for all
you've done."
To which Kelly replied, fingering a bump on his forehead with a
rueful grin, "All's well that ends well, my son, and sure it's a
pleasure to serve you. I flatter myself, moreover, that you
wouldn't have done the trick on your own. Hoffstein will stand
more from me than from any other living man."
The hint of a smile touched Burke's set lips. "Show me the man
that wouldn't!" he said; and turning, marched his unresisting
prisoner up the stairs.
CHAPTER V
THE GOOD CAUSE
"Why can't you leave me alone? What do you want with me?"
Half-sullenly, half-aggressively, Guy Ranger flung the questions,
standing with lowering brow before his captor. His head was down
and his eyes raised with a peculiar, brutish expression. He had
the appearance of a wild animal momentarily cowed, but preparing
for furious battle. The smouldering of his look was terrible.
Burke Ranger met it with steely self-restraint. "I'll tell you
presently," he said.
"You'll tell me now!" Fiercely the younger man made rejoinder.
His power of resistance was growing, swiftly swallowing all sense
of expediency. "If I choose to wallow in the mire, what the devil
is it to you? You didn't send that accursed fool Kelly round for
your own pleasure, I'll take my oath. What is it you want me for?
Tell me straight!"
His voice rose on the words. His hands were clenched; yet still he
wore that half-frightened look as of an animal that will spring
when goaded, not before. His hair hung black and unkempt about his
burning eyes. His face was drawn and deadly pale.
Burke stood like a rock, confronting him. He blocked the way to
the door. "I'll tell you all you want to know in the morning," he
said. "You have a wash now and turn in!"
The wild eyes took a fleeting glance round the room, returning
instantly, as if fascinated, to Burke's face.
"Why the devil should I? I've got a--sty of my own to go to."
"Yes, I know," said Burke. Yet, he stood his ground, grimly
emotionless.
"Then let me go to it!" Guy Ranger straightened himself, breathing
heavily. "Get out!" he said. "Or--by heaven--I'll throw you!"
"You can't," said Burke. "So don't be a fool! You know--none
better--that that sort of thing doesn't answer with me."
"But what do you want?" The reiterated question had a desperate
ring as if, despite its urgency, the speaker dreaded the reply.
"You've never bothered to dig me out before. What's the notion?
I'm nothing to you. You loathe the sight of me."
Burke made a slight gesture as of repudiation, but he expressed no
denial in words. "As to that," he said, "you draw your own
conclusions. I can't discuss anything with you now. The point is,
you are out of that hell for the present, and I'm going to keep you
out."
"You!" There was a note of bitter humour in the word. Guy Ranger
threw back his head as he uttered it, and by the action the
likeness between them was instantly proclaimed. "That's good!" he
scoffed. "You--the man who first showed me the gates of hell--to
take upon yourself to pose as deliverer! And for whose benefit, if
one might ask? Your own--or mine?"
His ashen face with the light upon it was still boyish despite the
stamp of torment that it bore. Through all the furnace of his
degradation his youth yet clung to him like an impalpable veil that
no suffering could rend or destroy.
Burke suddenly abandoned his attitude of gaoler and took him by the
shoulder. "Don't be a fool!" he said again, but he said it gently.
"I mean what I say. It's a way I've got. This isn't the time for
explanations, but I'm out to help you. Even you will admit that
you're pretty badly in need of help."
"Oh, damn that!" Recklessly Guy made answer, chafing visibly under
the restraining hold; yet not actually flinging it off. "I know
what I'm doing all right. I shall pull up again presently--before
the final plunge. I'm not going to attempt it before I'm ready.
I've found it doesn't answer."
"You've got to this time," Burke said.
His eyes, grey and indomitable, looked straight into Guy's, and
they held him in spite of himself. Guy quivered and stood still.
"You've got to," he reiterated. "Don't tell me you're enjoying
yourself barkeeping at Hoffstein's! I've known you too long to
swallow it. It just won't go down."
"It's preferable to doing the white nigger on your blasted farm!"
flashed back Guy. "Starvation's better than that!"
"Thank you," said Burke. He did not flinch at the straight hit,
but his mouth hardened. "I see your point of view of course.
Perhaps it's beside the mark to remind you that you might have been
a partner if you'd only played a decent game. I wanted a partner
badly enough."
An odd spasm crossed Guy's face. "Yes. You didn't let me into
that secret, did you, till I'd been weighed in the balances and
found wanting? You were too damned cautious to commit yourself.
And you've congratulated yourself on your marvellous discretion
ever since, I'll lay a wager. You hide-bound, self-righteous prigs
always do. Nothing would ever make you see that it's just your
beastly discretion that does the mischief,--your infernal,
complacent virtue that breeds the vice you so deplore!" He broke
into a harsh laugh that ended in a sharp catch of the breath that
bent him suddenly double.
Burke's hand went swiftly from his shoulder to his elbow. He led
him to a chair. "Sit down!" he said. "You've got beyond yourself.
I'm going to get you a drink, and then you'll go to bed."
Guy sat crumpled down in the chair like an empty sack. His head
was on his clenched hands. He swayed as if in pain.
Burke stood looking down at him for a moment or two. Then he
turned and went away, leaving the door ajar behind him.
When he came back, Guy was on his feet again, prowling uneasily up
and down, but he had not crossed the threshold. He gave him that
furtive, hunted look again as he entered.
"What dope is that? Not the genuine article I'll wager my soul!"
"It is the genuine article," Burke said. "Drink it, and go to bed!"
But Guy stood before him with his hands at his sides. The
smouldering fire in his eyes was leaping higher and higher.
"What's the game?" he said. "Is it a damned ruse to get me into
your power?"
Burke set down the glass he carried, and turned full upon him.
There was that about him that compelled the younger man to meet his
look. They stood face to face.
"You are in my power," he said with stern insistence. "I've borne
with you because I didn't want to use force. But--I can use force.
Don't forget that!"
Guy made a sharp movement--the movement of the trapped creature.
Beneath Burke's unsparing regard his eyes fell. In a moment he
turned aside, and muttering below his breath he took up the glass
on the table. For a second or two he stood staring at it, then
lifted it as if to drink, but in an instant changed his purpose and
with a snarling laugh swung back and flung glass and contents
straight at Burke's grim face.
What followed was of so swift and so deadly a nature as to possess
something of the quality of a whirlwind. Almost before the glass
lay in shivered fragments on the floor, Guy was on his knees and
being forced backwards till his head and shoulders touched the
boards. And above him, terrible with awful intention, was Burke's
face, gashed open across the chin and dripping blood upon his own.
The fight went out of Guy then like an extinguished flame. With
gasping incoherence he begged for mercy.
"You're hurting me infernally! Man, let me up! I've been--I've
been--a damn' fool! Didn't know--didn't realize! Burke--for
heaven's sake--don't torture me!"
"Be still!" Burke said. "Or I'll murder you!"
His voice was low and furious, his hold without mercy. Yet, after
a few seconds he mastered his own violence, realizing that all
resistance in the man under him was broken. In a silence that was
more appalling than speech he got to his feet, releasing him.
Guy rolled over sideways and lay with his face on his arms, gasping
painfully. After a pause, Burke turned from him and went to the
washing-stand.
The blood continued to now from the wound while he bathed it. The
cut was deep. He managed, however, to staunch it somewhat at
length, and then very steadily he turned back.
"Get up!" he said.
Guy made a convulsive movement in response, but he only half-raised
himself, sinking back immediately with a hard-drawn groan.
Burke bent over him. "Get up!" he said again. "I'll help you."
He took him under the arms and hoisted him slowly up. Guy
blundered to his feet with shuddering effort.
"Now--fire me out!" he said.
But Burke only guided him to the bed. "Sit down!" he said.
Numbly he obeyed. He seemed incapable of doing otherwise. But
when, still with that unwavering steadiness of purpose, Burke
stooped and began to unfasten the straps of his gaiters, he
suddenly cried out as if he had been struck unawares in a vital
place.
"No--no--no! I'm damned--I'm damned if you shall! Burke--stop, do
you hear? Burke!"
"Be quiet!" Burke said.
But Guy flung himself forward, preventing him. They looked into
one another's eyes for a tense interval, then, as the blood began
to trickle down his chin again, Burke released himself.
In the same moment, Guy covered his face and burst into agonized
sobbing most terrible to hear.
Burke stood up again. Somehow all the hardness had gone out of him
though the resolution remained. He put a hand on Guy's shoulder,
and gently shook him.
"Don't do it, boy! Don't do it! Pull yourself together for
heaven's sake! Drink--do anything--but this! You'll want to shoot
yourself afterwards."
But Guy was utterly broken, his self-control beyond recovery. The
only response he made was to feel for and blindly grip the hand
that held him.
So for a space they remained, while the anguish possessed him and
slowly passed. Then, with the quiescence of complete exhaustion,
he suffered Burke's ministrations in utter silence.
Half-an hour later he lay in a dead sleep, motionless as a stone
image, while the man who dragged him from his hell rested upon two
chairs and grimly reviewed the problem which he had created for
himself. There was no denying the fact that young Guy had been a
thorn in his side almost ever since his arrival in the country.
The pity of it was that he possessed such qualities as should have
lifted him far above the crowd. He had courage, he had resource.
Upon occasion he was even brilliant. But ever the fatal handicap
existed that had pulled him down. He lacked moral strength, the
power to resist temptation. As long as he lived, this infirmity of
character would dog his steps, would ruin his every enterprise.
And Burke, whose stubborn force made him instinctively impatient of
such weakness, lay and contemplated the future with bitter
foreboding.
There had been a time when he had thought to rectify the evil, to
save Guy from himself, to implant in him something of that moral
fibre which he so grievously lacked. But he had been forced long
since to recognize his own limitations in this respect. Guy was
fundamentally wanting in that strength which was so essentially a
part of his own character, and he had been compelled at last to
admit that no outside influence could supply the want. He had come
very reluctantly to realize that no faith could be reposed in him,
and when that conviction had taken final hold upon him, Burke had
relinquished the struggle in disgust.
Yet, curiously, behind all his disappointment, even contempt, there
yet lurked in his soul an odd liking for the young man. Guy was
most strangely likable, however deep he sank. Unstable,
unreliable, wholly outside the pale as he was, yet there ever hung
about him a nameless, indescribable fascination which redeemed him
from utter degradation, a charm which very curiously kept him from
being classed with the swine. There was a natural gameness about
him that men found good. Even at his worst, he was never revolting.
He seemed to Burke a mass of irresponsible inconsistency. He was
full of splendid possibilities that invariably withered ere they
approached fruition. He had come to regard him as a born failure,
and though for Sylvia's sake he had made this final effort, he had
small faith in its success. Only she was so hard to resist, that
frank-eyed, earnest young partner of his. She was so unutterably
dear in all her ways. How could he hear the tremor of her pleading
voice and refuse her?
The memory of her came over him like a warm soft wave. He felt
again the quick pressure of her arm about his neck, the fleeting
sweetness of her kiss. How had he kept himself from catching her
to his heart in that moment, and holding her there while he drank
his fill of the cup she had so shyly proffered? How had he ever
suffered her to flit from him down the rough _kopje_ and turn at
the bottom with the old intangible shield uplifted between them?
The blood raced in his veins. He clenched his hands in impotent
self-contempt. And yet at the back of his man's soul he knew that
by that very forbearance his every natural impulse condemned, he
had strengthened his position, he had laid the foundation-stone of
a fabric that would endure against storm and tempest. The house
that he would build would be an abiding-place--no swiftly raised
tent upon the sand. It would take time to build it, infinite care,
possibly untold sacrifice. But when built, it would be absolutely
solid, proof for all time against every wind that blew. For every
stone would be laid with care and made fast with the cement that is
indestructible. And it would be founded upon a rock.
So, as at last he drifted into sleep, Guy lying in a deathlike
immobility by his side, there came to him the conviction that what
he had done had been well done, done in a good cause, and
acceptable to the Master Builder at Whose Behest he was vaguely
conscious that all great things are achieved.
CHAPTER VI
THE RETURN
When the morning broke upon Blue Hill Farm the sand-storm had blown
itself out. With brazen splendour the sun arose to burn the
parched earth anew, but Sylvia was before it. With the help of
Fair Rosamond and, Joe, the boy, she was preparing a small wooden
hut close by for the reception of a guest. He should not go back
to that wretched cabin on the sand if she could prevent it. He
should be treated with honour. He should be made to feel that to
her--and to Burke--his welfare was a matter of importance.
She longed to know how Burke had fared upon his quest. She
yearned, even while she dreaded, to see the face which once had
been all the world to her. That he had ceased to fill her world
was a fact that she frankly admitted to herself just as she
realized that she felt no bitterness towards this man who had so
miserably failed her. Her whole heart now was set upon drawing him
back from the evil paths down which he had strayed. When that was
done, when Guy was saved from the awful destruction that menaced
him, then there might come time for other thoughts, other
interests. Since Burke had acceded to her urgent request so
obviously against his will, her feelings had changed towards him.
A warmth of gratitude had filled her, It had been so fine of him to
yield to her like that.
But somehow she could not suffer her thoughts to dwell upon Burke
just then. Always something held her back, restraining her,
filling her with a strange throbbing agitation that she herself
must check, lest it should overwhelm her. Instinctively, almost
with a sense of self-preservation, she turned her mind away from
him. And she was too busy--much too busy--to sit and dream.
When the noon-day heat waxed fierce, she had to rest, though it
required her utmost strength of will to keep herself quiet, lying
listening with straining ears to the endless whirring of countless
insects in the silence of the _veldt_.
It was with unspeakable relief that she arose from this enforced
inactivity and, as evening drew on, resumed her work. She was
determined that Guy should be comfortable when he came. She knew
that it was more than possible that he would not come that day, but
she could not leave anything unfinished. It was so important that
he should realize his welcome from the very first moment of arrival.
All was finished at last even to her satisfaction. She stood alone
in the rough hut that she had turned into as dainty a guest-chamber
as her woman's ingenuity could devise, and breathed a sigh of
contentment, feeling that she had not worked in vain. Surely he
would feel at home here! Surely, even though through his weakness
they had had to readjust both their lives, by love and patience a
place of healing might be found. It was impossible to analyze her
feelings towards him, but she was full of hope. Again she fell to
wondering how Burke had fared.
At sunset she went out and saddled the horse he had given her as a
wedding-present, Diamond, a powerful animal, black save for a white
mark on his head from which he derived his name. She and Diamond
were close friends, and in his company her acute restlessness began
to subside. She rode him out to the _kopje_, but she did not go
round to view the lonely cabin above the stony watercourse. She
did not want to think of past troubles, only to cherish the hope
for the future that was springing in her heart.
She was physically tired, but Diamond seemed to understand, and
gave her no trouble. For awhile they wandered in the sunset light,
she with her face to the sky and the wonderful mauve streamers of
cloud that spread towards her from the west. Then, as the light
faded, she rode across the open _veldt_ to the rough road by which
they must come.
It wound away into the gathering dusk where no lights gleamed, and
a strong sense of desolation came to her, as it were, out of the
desert and gripped her soul. For the first time she looked forward
with foreboding.
None came along the lonely track. She heard no sound of hoofs.
She tried to whistle a tune to keep herself cheery, but very soon
it failed. The silent immensity of the _veldt_ enveloped her. She
had a forlorn feeling of being the only living being in all that
vastness, except for a small uneasy spirit out of the great
solitudes that wandered to and fro and sometimes fanned her with an
icy breath that made her start and shiver.
She turned her horse's head at last. "Come, Diamond, we'll go
home."
The word slipped from her unawares, but the moment she had uttered
it she remembered, and a warm flush mounted in her cheeks. Was it
really home to her--that abode in the wilderness to which Burke
Ranger had brought her? Had she come already to regard it as she
had once regarded that dear home of her childhood from which she
had been so cruelly ousted?
The thought of the old home went through her with a momentary pang.
Did her father ever think of her now, she wondered? Was he happy
himself? She had written to him after her marriage to Burke,
telling him all the circumstances thereof. It had been a difficult
letter to write. She had not dwelt overmuch upon Guy's part
because she could not bring herself to do so. But she had tried to
make the position intelligible to him, and she hoped she had
succeeded.
But no answer had come to her. Since leaving England, she had
received letters from one or two friends, but not one from her old
home. It was as if she had entered another world. Already she had
grown so accustomed to it that she felt as if she had known it for
years. And she had no desire to return. The thought of the summer
gaieties she was foregoing inspired her with no regret. Isolated
though she was, she was not unhappy. She had only just begun to
realize it, and not yet could she ask herself wherefore.
A distinct chill began to creep round her with the approach of
night. She lifted the bridle, and Diamond broke into a trot. Back
to Blue Hill Farm they went, leaving the silence and the loneliness
behind them as they drew near. Mary Ann was scolding the girl from
the open door of the kitchen. Her shrill vituperations banished
all retrospection from Sylvia's mind. She found herself laughing
as she slipped to the ground and handed the horse over to Joe.
Then she went within, calling to the girl to light the lamps.
There was still mending to be done in Burke's wardrobe. She
possessed herself of some socks, and went to their sitting-room.
Her former restlessness was returning, but she resolutely put it
from her, and for more than an hour she worked steadily at her
task. Then, the socks finished, she took up a book on
cattle-raising and tried to absorb herself in its pages.
She soon realized, however, that this was quite hopeless, and, at
last, in desperation she flung on a cloak and went outside. The
night was still, the sky a wonderland of stars. She paced to and
fro with her face uplifted to the splendour for a long, long time.
And still there came no sound of hoofs along the lonely track.
Gradually she awoke to the fact that she was getting very tired.
She began to tell herself that she had been too hopeful. They
would not come that night.
Her knees were getting shaky, and she went indoors. A cold supper
had been spread. She sat down and partook of food, scarcely
realizing what she ate. Then, reviving, she rallied herself on her
foolishness. Of course they would not come that night. She had
expected too much, had worn herself out to no purpose. She
summoned her common sense to combat her disappointment, and
commanded herself sternly to go to bed before exhaustion overtook
her. She had behaved like a positive idiot. It was high time she
pulled herself together.
It was certainly growing late. Mary Ann and her satellites had
already retired to their own quarters some little distance from the
bungalow. She was quite alone in the eerie silence. Obviously,
bed was the only place if she did not mean to sit and shiver with
sheer nervousness. Stoutly she collected her mental forces and
retreated to her room. She was so tired that she knew she would
sleep if she could control her imagination.
This she steadfastly set herself to do, with the result that sleep
came to her at last, and in her weariness she sank into a deep
slumber that, undisturbed by any outside influence, would have
lasted throughout the night. She had left a lamp burning in the
sitting-room that adjoined her bedroom, and the door between ajar,
so that she was not lying in complete darkness. She had done the
same the previous night, and had felt no serious qualms. The light
scarcely reached her, but it was a comfort to see it at hand when
she opened her eyes. It gave her a sense of security, and she
slept the more easily because of it.
So for an hour or more she lay in unbroken slumber; then, like a
cloud arising out of her sea of oblivion, there came to her again
that dream of two horsemen galloping. It was a terrible dream, all
the more terrible because she knew so well what was coming. Only
this time, instead of the ledge along the ravine, she saw them
clearly outlined against the sky, racing from opposite directions
along a knife-edge path that stood up, sharp and jagged, between
two precipices.
With caught breath she stood apart and watched in anguished
expectation, watched as if held by some unseen force, till there
came the inevitable crash, the terrible confusion of figures locked
in deadly combat, and then the hurtling fall of a single horseman
down that frightful wall of rock. His face gleamed white for an
instant, and then was gone. Was it Guy? Was it Burke? She knew
not. . . .
It was then that strength returned to her, and she sprang up,
crying wildly, every pulse alert and pricking her to action. She
fled across the room, instinctively seeking the light, stumbled on
the threshold, and fell headlong into the arms of a man who stood
just beyond. They closed upon her instantly, supporting her. She
lay, gasping hysterically, against his breast.
"Easy! Easy!" he said. "Did I startle you?"
It was Burke's voice, very deep and low. She felt the steady beat
of his heart as he held her.
Her senses returned to her and with them an overwhelming
embarrassment that made her swiftly withdraw herself from him. He
let her go, and she retreated into the darkness behind her.
"What is it, partner?" he said gently. "You've nothing to be
afraid of."
There was no reproach in his voice, yet something within reproached
her instantly. She put on slippers and dressing-gown and went back
to him.
"I've had a stupid dream," she said. "I expect I heard your horse
outside. So--you have come back alone!"
"He has gone back to his own cabin," Burke said.
"Burke!" She looked at him with startled, reproachful eyes. Her
hair lay in a fiery cloud about her shoulders, and fire burned in
her gaze as she faced him.
He made a curious gesture as if he restrained some urging impulse,
not speaking for a moment. When his voice came again it sounded
cold, with an odd note of defiance. "I've done my best."
She still looked at him searchingly. "Why wouldn't he come here?"
she said.
He turned from her with a movement that almost seemed to indicate
impatience "He preferred not to. There isn't much accommodation
here. Besides, he can very well fend for himself. He's used to
it."
"I have been preparing for him all day," Sylvia said. She looked
at him anxiously, struck by something unusual in his pose, and
noted for the first time a wide strip of plaster on one side of his
chin. "Is all well?" she questioned. "How have you hurt your
face?"
He did not look at her. "Yes, all's well," he said. "I cut
myself--shaving. You go back to bed! I'm going to refresh before
I turn in."
Sylvia turned to a cupboard in the room where she had placed some
eatables before retiring. She felt chill with foreboding. What
was it that Burke was hiding behind that curt manner? She was sure
there was something.
"What will Guy do for refreshment?" she said, as she set dishes and
plates upon the table.
"He'll have some tinned stuff in that shanty of his," said Burke.
She turned from the table with abrupt resolution. "Have something
to eat, partner," she said, "and then tell me all about it!"
She looked for the sudden gleam of his smile, but she looked in
vain. He regarded her, indeed, but it was with sombre eyes.
"You go back to bed!" he reiterated. "There is no necessity for
you to stay up. You can see him for yourself in the morning."
He would have seated himself at the table with the words, but she
laid a quick, appealing hand upon his arm, deterring him. "Burke!"
she said. "What is the matter? Please tell me!"
She felt his arm grow rigid under her fingers. And then with a
suddenness that electrified her he moved, caught her by the wrists
and drew her to him, locking her close.
"You witch!" he said. "You--enchantress! How shall I resist you?"
She uttered a startled gasp; there was no time for more ere his
lips met hers in a kiss so burning, so compelling, that it reft
from her all power of resistance. One glimpse she had of his eyes,
and it was as if she looked into the deep, deep heart of the fire
unquenchable.
She wanted to cry out, so terrible was the sight, but his lips
sealed her own. She lay helpless in his hold.
Afterwards she realized that she must have been near to fainting,
for when at the end of those wild moments of passion he let her go,
her knees gave way beneath her and she could not stand. Yet
instinctively she gripped her courage with both hands. He had
startled her, appalled her even, but there was a fighting strain in
Sylvia, and she flung dismay away. She held his arm in a quivering
grasp. She smiled a quivering smile. And these were the bravest
acts she had ever forced herself to perform.
"You've done it now, partner!" she said shakily. "I'm
nearly--squeezed--to death!"
"Sylvia!" he said.
Amazement, contrition, and even a curious dash of awe, were in his
voice. He put his arm about her, supporting her.
She leaned against him, panting, her face downcast. "It's--all
right," she told him. "I told you you might sometimes, didn't I?
Only--you--were a little sudden, and I wasn't prepared. I believe
you've been having a rotten time. Sit down now, and have something
to eat!"
But he did not move though there was no longer violence in his
hold. He spoke deeply, above her bent head. "I can't stand this
farce much longer. I'm only human after all, and there is a limit
to everything. I can't keep at arm's length for ever. Flesh and
blood won't bear it."
She did not lift her head, but stood silent within the circle of
his arm. It was as if she waited for something. Then, after a
moment or two, she began to rub his sleeve lightly up and down, her
hand not very steady.
"You're played out, partner," she said. "Don't let's discuss
things to-night! They are sure to look different in the morning."
"And if they don't?" said Burke.
She glanced up at him with again that little quivering smile.
"Well, then, we'll talk," she said, "till we come to an
understanding."
He put his hand on her shoulder. "Sylvia, don't--play with me!" he
said.
His tone was quiet, but it held a warning that brought her eyes to
his in a flash. She stood so for a few seconds, facing him, and
her breast heaved once or twice as if breathing had become
difficult.
At last, "There was no need to say that to me, partner," she said,
in a choked voice. "You don't know me--even as well as--as you
might--if you--if you took the trouble." She paused a moment, and
put her hand to her throat. Her eyes were full of tears. "And
now--good night!" she said abruptly.
Her tone was a command. He let her go, and in an instant the door
had closed between them. He stood motionless, waiting tensely for
the shooting of the bolt; but it did not come. He only heard
instead a faint sound of smothered sobbing.
For a space he stood listening, his face drawn into deep lines, his
hands hard clenched. Then at length with a bitter gesture he
flung himself down at the table.
He was still sitting motionless a quarter of an hour later, the
food untouched before him, when the intervening door opened
suddenly and silently, and like a swooping bird Sylvia came swiftly
behind him and laid her two hands on his shoulders.
"Partner dear, I've been a big idiot. Will you forgive me?" she
said.
Her voice was tremulous. It still held a sound of tears. She
tried to keep out of his sight as he turned in his chair.
"Don't--don't stare at me!" she said, and slipped coaxing arms that
trembled round his neck, locking her hands tightly in front of him.
"You hurt me a bit--though I don't think you meant to. And now
I've hurt you--quite a lot. I didn't mean it either, partner. So
let's cry quits! I've forgiven you. Will you try to forgive me?"
He sat quite still for a few seconds, and in the silence shyly she
laid her cheek down against the back of his head. He moved then,
and very gently clasped the trembling hands that bound him. But
still he did not speak.
"Say it's all right!" she urged softly. "Say you're not cross
or--or anything!"
"I'm not," said Burke very firmly.
"And don't--don't ever think I want to play with you!" she pursued,
a catch in her voice. "That's not me, partner. I'm sorry I'm so
very unsatisfactory. But--anyhow that's not the reason."
"I know the reason," said Burke quietly.
"You don't," she rejoined instantly. "But never mind that now!
You don't know anything whatever about me, partner. I can't say I
even know myself very intimately just now. I feel as if--as if
I've been blindfolded, and I can't see anything at all just yet.
So will you try to be patient with me? Will you--will you--go on
being a pal to me till the bandage comes off again? I--want a
pal--rather badly, partner."
Her pleading voice came muffled against him. She was clinging to
him very tightly. He could feel her fingers straining upon each
other. He stroked them gently.
"All right, little girl. All right," he said.
His tone must have reassured her, for she slipped round and knelt
beside him. "I'd like you to kiss me," she said, and lifted a pale
face and tear-bright eyes to his,
He took her head between his hands, and she saw that he was moved.
He bent in silence, and would have kissed her brow, but she raised
her lips instead. And shyly she returned his kiss.
"You're so--good to me," she said, in a whisper. "Thank you--so
much."
He said no word in answer. Mutely he let her go.
CHAPTER VII
THE GUEST
When Sylvia met her husband again, it was as if they had never been
parted or any cloud arisen to disturb the old frank comradeship.
They breakfasted at daybreak before riding out over the lands, and
their greeting was of the most commonplace description. Later, as
they rode together across the barren _veldt_, Burke told her a
little of his finding of Guy at Brennerstadt. He did not dwell
upon any details, but by much that he left unsaid Sylvia gathered
that the task had not been easy.
"He knows about--me?" she ventured presently, with hesitation.
"Yes," Burke said.
"Was he--surprised?" she asked.
"No. He knew long ago."
She asked no more. It had been difficult enough to ask so much.
And she would soon see Guy for herself. She would not admit even
to her own secret soul how greatly she was dreading that meeting
now that it was so near.
Perhaps Burke divined something of her feeling in the matter,
however, for at the end of a prolonged silence he said, "I thought
I would fetch him over to lunch,--unless you prefer to ride round
that way first."
"Oh, thank you," she said. "That is good of you."
As they reached the bungalow, she turned to him with a sudden
question. "Burke, you didn't--really--cut your chin so badly
shaving. Did you?"
She met the swift flash of his eyes without trepidation, refusing
to be intimidated by the obvious fact that the question was
unwelcome.
"Did you?" she repeated with insistence. He uttered a brief laugh.
"All right, I didn't. And that's all there is to it."
"Thank you, partner," she returned with spirit, and changed the
subject. But her heart had given a little throb of dismay within
her. Full well she knew the reason of his reticence.
They parted before the _stoep_, he leading her animal away, she
going within to attend to the many duties of her household.
She filled her thoughts with these resolutely during the morning,
but in spite of this it was the longest morning she had ever known.
She was at length restlessly superintending the laying of lunch
when Joe hurried in with the news that a _baas_ was waiting on the
_stoep_ round the corner to see her. The news startled her. She
had heard no sounds of arrival, nor had Burke returned. For a few
moments she was conscious of a longing to escape that was almost
beyond her, control, then with a sharp effort she commanded herself
and went out.
Turning the corner of the bungalow, she came upon him very
suddenly, standing upright against one of the pillar-supports,
awaiting her. He was alone, and a little throb of thankfulness
went through her that this was so. She knew in that moment that
she could not have borne to meet him for the first time in Burke's
presence.
She was trembling as she went forward, but the instant their hands
met her agitation fell away from her, for she suddenly realized
that he was trembling also.
No conventional words came to her lips. How could she ever be
conventional with Guy? And it was Guy--Guy in the flesh--who stood
before her, so little altered in appearance from the Guy she had
known five years before that the thought flashed through her mind
that he looked only as if he had come through a sharp illness. She
had expected far worse, though she realized now what Burke had
meant when he had said that whatever resemblance had once existed
between them, they were now no longer alike. He had not developed
as she had expected. In Burke, she seemed to see the promise of
Guy's youth. But Guy himself had not fulfilled that promise. He
had degenerated. He had proved himself a failure. And yet he did
not look coarsened or hardened by vice. He only looked, to her
pitiful, inexperienced eyes, as if he had been ravaged by some
sickness, as if he had suffered intensely and were doomed to suffer
as long as he lived.
That was the first impression she received of him, and it was that
that made her clasp his hand in both her own and hold it fast.
"Oh, Guy!" she said. "How ill you look!"
His fingers closed hard upon hers. He did not attempt to meet her
earnest gaze. "So you got married to Burke!" he said, ignoring her
exclamation. "It was the best thing you could do. He may not be
exactly showy, but he's respectable. I wonder you want to speak to
me after the way I let you down."
The words were cool, almost casual; yet his hand still held hers in
a quivering grasp. There was something in that grasp that seemed
to plead for understanding. He flashed her a swift look from eyes
that burned with a fitful, feverish fire out of deep hollows. How
well she remembered his eyes! But they had never before looked at
her thus. With every moment that passed she realized that the
change in him was greater than that first glance had revealed.
"Of course I want to speak to you!" she said gently. "I forgave
you long ago--as, I hope, you have forgiven me."
"I!" he said. "My dear girl, be serious!"
Somehow his tone pierced her. There was an oddly husky quality in
his voice that seemed to veil emotion. The tears sprang to her
eyes before she was aware.
"Whatever happens then, we are friends," she said. "Remember that
always, won't you? It--it will hurt me very much if you don't."
"Bless your heart!" said Guy, and smiled a twisted smile. "You
were always generous, weren't you? Too generous sometimes. What
did you want to rake me out of my own particular little comer of
hell for? Was it a mistaken idea of kindness or merely curiosity?
I wasn't anyhow doing you any harm there."
His words, accompanied by that painful smile, went straight to her
heart. "Ah, don't--don't!" she said. "Did you think I could
forget you so easily, or be any thing but wretched while you were
there?"
He looked at her again, this time intently, "What can you be made
of, Sylvia?" he said. "Do you mean to say you found it easy to
forgive me?"
She dashed the tears from her eyes. "I don't remember that I was
ever--angry with you," she said. "Somehow I realized--from the
very first--that--that--it was just--bad luck."
"You amaze me!" he said.
She smiled at him. "Do I? I don't quite see why. Is it so
amazing that one should want to pass on and make the best of
things? That is how I feel now. It seems so long ago, Guy,--like
another existence almost. It is too far away to count."
"Are you talking of the old days?" he broke in, in a voice that
grated. "Or of the time a few weeks ago when you got here to find
yourself stranded?"
She made a little gesture of protest. "It wasn't for long. I
don't want to think of it. But it might have been much worse.
Burke was--is still--so good to me."
"Is he?" said Guy. He was looking at her curiously, and
instinctively she turned away, avoiding his eyes.
"Come and have some lunch!" she said. "He ought to be in directly."
"He is in," said Guy. "He went round to the stable."
It was another instance of Burke's goodness that he had not been
present at their meeting. She turned to lead the way within with a
warm feeling at her heart. It was solely due to this consideration
of his that she had not suffered the most miserable embarrassment.
Somehow she felt that she could not possibly have endured that
first encounter in his presence. But now that it was over, now
that she had made acquaintance with this new Guy--this stranger
with Guy's face, Guy's voice, but not Guy's laugh or any of the
sparkling vitality that had been his--she felt she wanted him. She
needed his help. For surely now he knew Guy better than she did!
It was with relief that she heard his step, entering from the back
of the house. He came in, whistling carelessly, and she glanced
instinctively at Guy. That sound had always made her think of him.
Had he forgotten how to whistle also, she wondered?
She expected awkwardness, constraint; but Burke surprised her by
his ease of manner. Above all, she noticed that he was by no means
kind to Guy. He treated him with a curt friendliness from which
all trace of patronage was wholly absent. His attitude was rather
that of brother than host, she reflected. And its effect upon Guy
was of an oddly bracing nature. The semi-defiant air dropped from
him. Though still subdued, his manner showed no embarrassment. He
even, as time passed, became in a sardonic fashion almost jocose.
In company with Burke, he drank lager-beer, and he betrayed not the
smallest desire to drink too much. Furtively she watched him
throughout the meal, trying to adjust her impressions, trying to
realize him as the lover to whom she had been faithful for so long,
the lover who had written those always tender, though quite
uncommunicative letters, the lover, who had cabled her his welcome,
and then had so completely and so cruelly failed her.
Her ideas of him were a whirl of conflicting notions which utterly
bewildered her. Of one thing only did she become very swiftly and
surely convinced, and that was that in failing her he had saved her
from a catastrophe which must have eclipsed her whole life.
Whatever he was, whatever her feelings for him, she recognized that
this man was not the mate her girlish dreams had so fondly
pictured. Probably she would have realized this in any case from
the moment of their meeting, but circumstances might have compelled
her to join her life to his. And then------
Her look passed from him to Burke, and instinctively she breathed a
sigh of thankfulness. He had saved her from much already, and his
rock-like strength stood perpetually between her and evil. For the
first time she was consciously glad that she had entrusted herself
to him.
At the end of luncheon she realized with surprise that there had
not been an awkward moment. They went out on to the _stoep_ to
smoke cigarettes when it was over, and drink the coffee which she
went to prepare. It was when she was coming out with this that she
first heard Guy's cough--a most terrible, rending sound that filled
her with dismay. Stepping out on to the _stoep_ with her tray, she
saw him bent over the back of a chair, convulsed with coughing, and
stood still in alarm. She had never before witnessed so painful a
struggle. It was as if he fought some demon whose clutch
threatened to strangle him.
Burke came to her and took the tray from her hands. "He'll be
better directly," he said. "It was the cigarette."
With almost superhuman effort, Guy succeeded in forcing back the
monster that seemed to be choking him, but for several minutes
thereafter he hung over the chair with his face hidden, fighting
for breath.
Burke motioned to Sylvia to sit down, but she would not. She stood
by Guy's side, and at length as he grew calmer, laid a gentle hand
upon his arm.
"Come and sit down, Guy. Would you like some water?"
He shook his head. "No--no! Give me--that damned cigarette!"
"Don't you be a fool!" said Burke, but he said it kindly. "Sit
down and be quiet for a bit!"
He came up behind Guy, and took him by the shoulders. Sylvia saw
with surprise the young man yield without demur, and suffer himself
to be put into the chair where with an ashen face he lay for a
space as if afraid to move.
Burke drew her aside. "Don't be scared!" he said, "It's nothing
new. He'll come round directly."
Guy came round, sat slowly up, and reached a shaking hand towards
the table on which lay his scarcely lighted cigarette.
"Oh, don't!" Sylvia said quickly. "See, I have just brought out
some coffee. Won't you have some?"
Burke settled the matter by picking up the cigarette and tossing it
away.
Guy gave him a queer look from eyes that seemed to bum like red
coals, but he said nothing whatever. He took the coffee Sylvia
held out to him and drank it as if parched with thirst.
Then he turned to her. "Sorry to have made such an exhibition of
myself. It's all this infernal sand. Yes, I'll have some more,
please. It does me good. Then I'll get back to my own den and
have a sleep."
"You can sleep here," Burke said unexpectedly. "No one will
disturb you. Sylvia never sits here in the afternoon."
Again Sylvia saw that strange look in Guy's eyes, a swift intent
glance and then the instant falling of the lids.
"You're very--kind," said Guy. "But I think I'll get back to my
own quarters all the same."
Impulsively Sylvia intervened. "Oh, Guy, please,--don't go back to
that horrible little shanty on the sand! I got a room all ready
for you yesterday--if you will only use it."
He turned to her. For a second his look was upon her also, and it
seemed to her in that moment that she and Burke had united cruelly
to bait some desperate animal. It sent such a shock through her
that she shrank in spite of herself.
And then for the first time she heard Guy laugh, and it was a sound
more dreadful than his cough had been, a catching, painful sound
that was more like a cry--the hunger-cry of a prowling beast of the
desert.
He got up as he uttered it, and stretched his arms above his head.
She saw that his hands were clenched.
"Oh, don't overdo it, I say!" he begged. "Hospitality is all very
well, but it can be carried too far. Ask Burke if it can't!
Besides, two's company and three's the deuce. So I'll be
going--and many thanks!"
He was gone with the words, snatching his hat from a chair where he
had thrown it, and departing into the glare of the desert with
never a backward glance.
Sylvia turned swiftly to her husband, and found his eyes upon her.
"With a gasping cry she caught his arm. Oh, can't you go after
him? Can't you bring him back?"
He freed the arm to put it round her, with the gesture of one who
comforts a hurt child. "My dear, it's no good," he said. "Let him
go!"
"But, Burke--" she cried. "Oh, Burke----"
"I know," he made answer, still soothing her. "But it can't be
done--anyhow at present. You'll drive him away if you attempt it.
I know. I've done it. Leave him alone till the devil has gone out
of him! He'll come back then--and be decent--for a time."
His meaning was unmistakable. The force of what he said drove in
upon her irresistibly. She burst into tears, hiding her face
against his shoulder in her distress.
"But how dreadful! Oh, how dreadful! He is killing himself. I
think--the Guy--I knew--is dead already."
"No, he isn't," Burke said, and he held her with sudden closeness
as he said it. "He isn't--and that's the hell of it. But you
can't save him. No one can."
She lifted her face sharply. There was something intolerable in
the words. With the tears upon her cheeks she challenged them.
"He can be saved! He must be saved! I'll do it somehow--somehow!"
"You may try," Burke said, as he suffered her to release herself.
"You won't succeed."
She forced a difficult smile with quivering lips. "You don't know
me. Where there's a will, there's a way. And I shall find it
somehow."
He looked grim for an instant, then smiled an answering smile.
"Don't perish in the attempt!" he said. "That do-or-die look of
yours is rather ominous. Don't forget you're my partner! I can't
spare you, you know."
She uttered a shaky laugh. "Of course you can't. Blue Hill Farm
would go to pieces without me, wouldn't it? I've often thought I'm
quite indispensable."
"You are to me," said Burke briefly; and ere the quick colour had
sprung to her face, he also had gone his way.
CHAPTER VIII
THE INTERRUPTION
Sylvia meant to ride round to Guy's hut in search of him that
evening, but when the time came something held her back.
Burke's words, "You'll drive him away," recurred to her again and
again, and with them came a dread of intruding that finally
prevailed against her original intention. He must not think for a
moment that she desired to spy upon him, even though that dreadful
craving in his eyes haunted her perpetually, urging her to action.
It seemed inevitable that for a time at least he must fight his
devil alone, and with all her strength she prayed that he might
overcome.
In the end she rode out with Burke, covering a considerable
distance, and returning tired in body but refreshed in mind.
They had supper together as usual, but when it was over he
surprised her by taking up his hat again.
"You are going out?" she said.
"I'm going to have a smoke with Guy," he said. "You have a game of
Patience, and then go to bed!"
She looked at him uncertainly. "I'll come with you," she said.
He was filling his pipe preparatory to departure. "You do as I
say!" he said.
She tried to laugh though she saw his face was grim. "You're
getting rather despotic, partner. I shall have to nip that in the
bud. I'm not going to stay at home and play Patience all by
myself. There!"
He raised his eyes abruptly from his task, and suddenly her heart
was beating fast and hard. "All right," he said. "We'll stay at
home together."
His tone was brief, but it thrilled her. She was afraid to speak
for a moment or two lest he should see her strange agitation.
Then, as he still looked at her, "Oh no, partner," she said
lightly. "That wouldn't be the same thing at all. I am much too
fond of my own company to object to solitude. I only thought I
would like to come, too. I love the _veldt_ at night."
"Do you?" he said. "I wonder what has taught you to do that."
He went on with the filling of his pipe as he spoke, and she was
conscious of quick relief. His words did not seem to ask for an
answer, and she made none.
"When are you going to take me to Ritzen?" she asked instead.
"To Ritzen!" He glanced up again in surprise. "Do you want to go
to Ritzen?"
"Or Brennerstadt," she said, "Whichever is the best shopping
centre."
"Oh!" He began to smile. "You want to shop, do you? What do you
want to buy?"
She looked at him severely. "Nothing for myself, I am glad to say."
"What! Something for me?" His smile gave him that look--that
boyish look--which once she had loved so dearly upon Guy's face.
She felt as if something were pulling at her heart. She ignored it
resolutely.
"You will have to buy it for yourself," she told him sternly.
"I've got nothing to buy it with. It's something you ought to have
got long ago--if you had any sense of decency."
"What on earth is it?" Burke dropped his pipe into his pocket and
gave her his full attention.
Sylvia, with a cigarette between her lips, got up to find the
matches. She lighted it very deliberately under his watching eyes,
then held out the match to him. "Light up, and I'll tell you."
He took the slender wrist, blew out the match, and held her, facing
him.
"Sylvia," he said. "I ought to have gone into the money question
with you before. But all I have is yours. You know that, don't
you?"
She laughed at him through the smoke. "I know where you keep it
anyhow, partner," she said. "But I shan't take any--so you needn't
be afraid."
"Afraid!" he said, still holding her. "But you are to take it.
Understand? It's my wish."
She blew the smoke at him, delicately, through pursed lips. "Good
my lord, I don't want it. Couldn't spend it if I had it. So now!"
"Then what is it I am to buy?" he said.
Lightly she answered him. "Oh, you will only do the paying part.
I shall do the choosing--and the bargaining, if necessary."
"Well, what is it?" Still he held her, and there was something of
insistence, something of possession, in his hold.
Possibly she had never before seemed more desirable to him--or more
elusive. For she was beginning to realize and to wield her power.
Again she took a whiff from her cigarette, and wafted it at him
through laughing lips.
"I want some wool--good wool--and a lot of it, to knit some
socks--for you. Your present things are disgraceful."
His look changed a little. His eyes shone through the veil of
smoke she threw between them, "I can buy ready-made socks. I'm not
going to let you make them--or mend them."
Sylvia's red lips expressed scorn. "Ready-made rubbish! No, sir.
With your permission I prefer to make. Then perhaps I shall have
less mending to do."
He was drawing her to him and she did not actively resist, though
there was no surrender in her attitude.
"And why won't you have any money?" he said. "We are partners."
She laughed lightly. "And you give me board and lodging. I am not
worth more."
He looked her in the eyes. "Are you afraid to take too much--lest
I should want too much in return?"
She did not answer. She was trembling a little in his hold, but
her eyes met his fearlessly.
He put up a hand and took the cigarette very gently from her lips.
"Sylvia, I'm going to tell you something--if you'll listen."
He paused a moment. She was suddenly throbbing from head to foot.
"What is it?" she whispered.
He snuffed out the cigarette with his fingers and put it in his
pocket. Then he bent to her, his hand upon her shoulder.
His lips were open to speak, and her silence waited for the words,
when like the sudden rending of the heavens there came an awful
sound close to them, so close that is shook the windows in their
frames and even seemed to shake the earth under their feet.
Sylvia started back with a cry, her hands over her face. "Oh,
what--what--what is that?"
Burke was at the window in a second. He wrenched it open, and as
he did so there came the shock of a thudding fall. A man's
figure, huddled up like an empty sack lay across the threshold. It
sank inwards with the opening of the window, and Guy's face white
as death, with staring, senseless eyes, lay upturned to the
lamplight.
Something jingled on the floor as his inert form collapsed, and a
smoking revolver dropped at Burke's feet.
He picked it up sharply, uncocked it and laid it on the table.
Then he stooped over the prostrate body. The limbs were twitching
spasmodically, but the movement was wholly involuntary. The
deathlike face testified to that. And through the grey flannel
shirt above the heart a dark stain spread and spread.
"He is dead!" gasped Sylvia at Burke's shoulder.
"No," Burke said.
He opened the shirt with the words and exposed the wound beneath.
Sylvia shrank at the sight of the welling blood, but Burke's voice
steadied her.
"Get some handkerchiefs and towels," he said, "and make a wad! We
must stop this somehow."
His quietness gave her strength. Swiftly she moved to do his
bidding.
Returning, she found that he had stretched the silent figure full
length upon the floor. The convulsive movements had wholly ceased.
Guy lay like a dead man.
She knelt beside Burke. "Tell me what to do and I'll do it! I'll
do--anything!"
"All right," he said. "Get some cold water!"
She brought it, and he soaked some handkerchiefs and covered the
wound.
"I think we shall stop it," he said. "Help me to get this thing
under his shoulders! I shall have to tie him up tight. I'll lift
him while you get it underneath."
She was perfectly steady as she followed his instructions, and even
though in the process her hands were stained with Guy's blood, she
did not shrink again. It was no easy task, but Burke's skill and
strength of muscle accomplished it at last. Across Guy's body he
looked at her with a certain grim triumph.
"Well played, partner! That's the first move. Are you all right?"
She saw by his eyes that her face betrayed the horror at her heart.
She tried to smile at him, but her lips felt stiff and cold. Her
look went back to the ashen face on the floor.
"What--what must be done next?" she said.
"He will have to stay as he is till we can get a doctor," Burke
answered. "The bleeding has stopped for the present, but--" He
broke off.
"Child, how sick you look!" he said. "Here, come and wash!
There's nothing more to be done now."
She got up, feeling her knees bend beneath her but controlling them
with rigid effort. "I--am all right," she said. "You--you think
he isn't dead?"
Burke's hand closed upon her elbow. "He's not dead,--no! He may
die of course, but I don't fancy he will at present,--not while he
lies like that."
He was drawing her out of the room, but she resisted him suddenly.
"I can't go. I can't leave him--while he lives. Burke, don't,
please, bother about me! Are you--are you going to fetch a doctor?"
"Yes," said Burke.
She looked at him, her eyes wide and piteous. "Then please go
now--go quickly! I--will stay with him till you come back."
"I shall have to leave you for some hours," he said.
"Oh, never mind that!" she answered, "Just be as quick as you can,
that's all! I will be with him. I--shan't be afraid."
She was urging him to the door, but he turned back. He went to the
table, picked up the revolver he had laid there, and put it away in
a cupboard which he locked.
She marked the action, and as he came to her again, laid a
trembling hand upon his arm. "Burke! Could it--could it have been
an accident?"
"No. It couldn't," said Burke. He paused a moment, looking at her
in a way she did not understand. She wondered afterwards what had
been passing in his mind. But he said no further word except a
brief, "Good-bye!"
Ten minutes later, she heard the quick thud of his horse's hoofs as
he rode into the night.
CHAPTER IX
THE ABYSS
"Sylvia!"
Was it a voice that spoke in the overwhelming silence, or was it
the echo in her soul of a voice that would never speak again?
Sylvia could not decide. She had sat for so long, propped against
a chair, watching that still figure on the floor, straining her
senses to see or hear some sign of breathing, trying to cheat
herself into the belief that he slept, and then with a wrung heart
wondering if he were not better dead.
All memory of the bitterness and the cruel disappointment that he
had brought into her life had rolled away from her during those
still hours of watching. She did not think of herself at all; only
of Guy, once so eager and full of sparkling hope, now so tragically
fallen in the race of life. All her woman's tenderness was awake
and throbbing with a passionate pity for this lover of her youth.
Why, oh why had he done this thing? The horror of it oppressed her
like a crushing, physical weight. Was it for this that she had
persuaded Burke to rescue him from the depths to which he had sunk?
Had she by her rash interference only precipitated his final
doom--she who had suffered so deeply for his sake, who had yearned
so ardently to bring him back?
Burke had been against it from the beginning; Burke knew to his
cost the hopelessness of it all. Ah, would it have been better if
she had listened to him and refrained from attempting the
impossible? Would it not have been preferable to accept failure
rather than court disaster? What had she done? What had she done?
"Sylvia!"
Surely the old Guy was speaking to her! Those pallid lips could
make no sound; the new, strange Guy was dead.
As in a dream, she answered him through the silence, feeling as if
she spoke into the shadows of the Unknown.
"Yes, Guy? Yes? I am here."
"Will you--forgive me," he said, "for making--a boss shot!"
Then she turned to the prostrate form beside her on the floor, and
saw that the light of understanding had come back into those
haunted eyes.
She knelt over him and laid her hand upon his rough hair. "Oh,
Guy, hush--hush!" she said. "Thank God you are still here!"
A very strange expression flitted over his upturned face, a look
that was indescribably boyish and yet so sad that she caught her
breath to still the intolerable pain at her heart.
"I shan't be--long." he said. "Thank God for that--too! I've
been--working myself up to it--all day."
"Guy!" she said.
He made a slight movement of one hand, and she gathered it close
into her own. It seemed to her that the Shadow of Death had drawn
very near to them, enveloping them both.
"It had--to be," he said, in the husky halting voice so unfamiliar
to her. "It--was a mistake--to try to bring me back.
I'm--beyond--redemption. Ask Burke;--he knows!"
"You are not--you are not!" she told him vehemently. "Guy!" She
was holding his hand hard pressed against her heart; her words came
with a rush of pitying tenderness that swept over every barrier.
"Guy! I want you! You must stay. If you go now--you--you will
break my heart."
His eyes kindled a little at her words, but in a moment the emotion
passed. "It's too late, my dear;--too late," he said and turned
his head on the pillow under it as if seeking rest. "You
don't--understand. Just as well for me perhaps. But I'm better
gone--for your sake, better gone."
The conviction of his words went through her like a sword-thrust.
He seemed to have passed beyond her influence, almost, she fancied,
not to care. Yet why did the look in his eyes make her think of a
lost child--frightened, groping along an unknown road in the dark?
Why did his hand cling to hers as though it feared to let go?
She held it very tightly as she made reply. "But, Guy, it isn't
for us to choose. It isn't for us to discharge ourselves. Only
God knows when our work is done."
He groaned. "I've given all mine to the devil. God couldn't use
me if He tried."
"You don't know," she said. "You don't know. We're none of us
saints, I think He makes allowances--when things go wrong with
us--just as--just as we make allowances for each other."
He groaned again. "You would make allowances for the devil
himself," he muttered. "It's the way you're made. But it isn't
justice. Burke would tell you that."
An odd little tremor of impatience went through her. "I know you
better than Burke does," she said. "Better, probably--than anyone
else in the world."
He turned his head to and fro upon the pillow. "You don't know me,
Sylvia. You don't know me--at all."
Yet the husky utterance seemed to plead with her as though he
longed for her to understand.
She stooped lower over him. "Never mind, dear! I love you all the
same," she said. "And that's why I can't bear you--to go--like
this." Her voice shook unexpectedly. She paused to steady it.
"Guy," she urged, almost under her breath at length, "you will
live--you will try to live--for my sake?"
Again his eyes were upon her. Again, more strongly, the flame
kindled. Then, very suddenly, a hard shudder went through him, and
a dreadful shadow arose and quenched that vital gleam. For a few
moments consciousness itself seemed to be submerged in the most
awful suffering that Sylvia had ever beheld. His eyeballs rolled
upwards under lids that twitched convulsively. The hand she held
closed in an agonized grip upon her own. She thought that he was
dying, and braced herself instinctively to witness the last
terrible struggle, the rending asunder of soul and body.
Then--as one upon the edge of an abyss--he spoke, his voice no more
than a croaking whisper.
"It's hell for me--either way. Living or dead--hell!"
The paroxysm spent itself and passed like an evil spirit. The
struggle for which she had prepared herself did not come. Instead,
the flickering lids closed over the tortured eyes, the clutching
hand relaxed, and there fell a great silence.
She sat for a long time not daring to move, scarcely breathing,
wondering if this were the end. Then gradually it came to her,
that he was lying in the stillness of utter exhaustion. She felt
for his pulse and found it beating, weakly but unmistakably. He
had sunk into a sleep which she realized might be the means of
saving his life.
Thereafter she sat passive, leaning against a chair, waiting,
watching, as she had waited and watched for so long. Once she
leaned her head upon her hand and prayed "O dear God, let him
live!" But something--some inner voice--seemed to check that
prayer, and though her whole soul yearned for its fulfilment she
did not repeat it. Only, after a little, she stooped very low, and
touched Guy's forehead with her lips.
"God bless you!" she said softly. "God bless you!"
And in the silence that followed, she thought there was a
benediction.
CHAPTER X
THE DESIRE TO LIVE
In the last still hour before the dawn there came the tread of
horses' feet outside the bungalow and the sound of men's voices.
Sylvia looked up as one emerging from a long, long dream, though
she had not closed her eyes all night. The lamp was burning low,
and Guy's face was in deep shadow; but she knew by the hand that
she still held close between her own that he yet lived. She even
fancied that the throb of his pulse was a little stronger.
She looked at Burke with questioning, uncertain eyes as he entered.
In the dim light he seemed to her bigger, more imposing, more
dominant, than he had ever seemed before. He rolled a little as he
walked as if stiff from long hours in the saddle.
Behind him came another man--a small thin man with sleek black hair
and a swarthy Jewish face, who moved with a catlike deftness,
making no sound at all.
"Well, Sylvia?" Burke said. "Is he alive?"
He took the lamp from the table, and cast its waning light full
upon her. She shrank a little involuntarily from the sudden glare.
Almost without knowing it, she pressed Guy's inert hand to her
breast. The dream was still upon her. It was hardly of her own
volition that she answered him.
"Yes, he is alive. He has been speaking. I think he is asleep."
"Permit me!" the stranger said.
He knelt beside the still form while Burke held the lamp. He
opened the shirt and exposed the blood-soaked bandage.
Then suddenly he looked at Sylvia with black eyes of a most amazing
brightness. "Madam, you cannot help here. You had better go."
Somehow he made her think of a raven, unscrupulous, probably wholly
without pity, possibly wicked, and overwhelmingly intelligent. She
avoided his eyes instinctively. They seemed to know too much.
"Will he--do you think he win--live?" she whispered.
He made a gesture of the hands that seemed to indicate infinite
possibilities. "I do not think at present. But I must be
undisturbed. Go to your room, madam, and rest! Your husband will
come to you later and tell you what I have done--or failed to do."
He spoke with absolute fluency but with a foreign accent. His
hands were busy with the bandages, dexterous, clawlike hands that
looked as if they were delving for treasure.
She watched him, speechless and fascinated, for a few seconds.
Then Burke set the lamp upon the chair against which she had leaned
all the night, and bent down to her.
"Let me help you!" he said.
A shuddering horror of the sight before her came upon her. She
yielded herself to him in silence. She was shivering violently
from head to foot. Her limbs were so numb she could not stand. He
raised her and drew her away.
The next thing she knew was that she was sitting on the bed in her
own room, and he was making her drink brandy and water in so
burning a mixture that it stung her throat.
She tried to protest, but he would take no refusal till she had
swallowed what he had poured out. Then he put down the glass,
tucked her feet up on the bed with an air of mastery, and spread a
rug over her.
He would have left her then with a brief injunction to remain where
she was, but she caught and held his arm so that he was obliged to
pause.
"Burke, is that dreadful man a doctor?"
"The only one I could get hold of," said Burke. "Yes, he's a
doctor all right. Saul Kieff his name is. I admit he's a
scoundrel, but anyway he's keen on his job."
"You think he'll save Guy?" she said tremulously. "Oh, Burke, he
must be saved! He must be saved!"
An odd look came into Burke's eyes. She remembered it later,
though it was gone in an instant like the sudden flare of lightning
across a dark sky.
"We shall do our best," he said. "You stay here till I come back!"
She let him go. Somehow that look had given her a curious shock
though she did not understand it. She heard the door shut firmly
behind him, and she huddled herself down upon the pillow and lay
still.
She wished he had not made her drink that fiery draught. All her
senses were in a tumult, and yet her body felt as if weighted with
lead. She lay listening tensely for every sound, but the silence
was like a blanket wrapped around her--a blanket which nothing
seemed to penetrate.
It seemed to overwhelm her at last, that silence, to blot out the
clamour of her straining nerves, to deprive her of the power to
think. Though she did not know it, the stress of that night's
horror and vigil had worn her out. She sank at length into a deep
sleep from which it seemed that nought could wake her. And when
more than an hour later, Burke came, treading softly, and looked
upon her, he did not need to keep that burning hunger-light out of
his eyes. For she was wholly unconscious of him as though her
spirit were in another world.
He looked and looked with a gaze that seemed as if it would consume
her. And at last he leaned over her, with arms outspread, and
touched her sunny, disordered hair with his lips. It was the
lightest touch, far too light to awaken her. But, as if some happy
thought had filtered down through the deeps of her repose, she
stirred in her sleep. She turned her face up to him with the faint
smile of a slumbering child.
"Good night!" she murmured drowsily.
Her eyes half-opened upon him. She gave him her lips.
And as he stooped, with a great tremor, to kiss them, "Good night,
dear--Guy!" Her voice was fainter, more indistinct. She sank back
again into that deep slumber from which she had barely been roused.
And Burke went from her with the flower-like memory of her kiss
upon his lips, and the dryness of ashes in his mouth.
It was several hours later that Sylvia awoke to full consciousness
and a piercing realization of a strange presence that watched by
her side.
She opened her eyes wide with a curious conviction that there was a
cat in the room, and then all in a moment she met the cool,
repellent stare of the black-browed doctor whom Burke had brought
from Ritzen.
A little quiver of repugnance went through her at the sight,
swiftly followed by a sharp thrill of indignation. What was he
doing seated there by her side--this swarthy-faced stranger whom
she had disliked instinctively at first sight?
And then--suddenly it rushed through her mind that he was the
bearer of evil tidings, that he had come to tell her that Guy was
dead. She raised herself sharply.
"Oh, what is it? What is it?" she gasped. "Tell me quickly! It's
better for me to know. It's better for me to know."
He put out a narrow, claw-like hand and laid it upon her arm. His
eyes were like onyxes, Oriental, quite emotionless.
"Do not agitate yourself, madam!" he said. "My patient is better.
I think, that with care--he may live. That is, if he finds it
worth while."
"What do you mean?" she said in a whisper.
That there was a veiled meaning to his words she was assured at the
outset. His whole bearing conveyed something mysterious, something
sinister, to her startled imagination. She wanted to shake off the
hand upon her arm, but she had to suffer it though the man's bare
touch revolted her.
He was leaning slightly towards her, but yet his face was utterly
inanimate. It was obvious that though he had imposed his
personality upon her with a definite end in view, he was personally
totally indifferent as to whether he achieved that end or not.
"I mean," he said, after a quiet pause, "that the desire to live is
sometimes the only medicine that is of any avail. I know Guy
Ranger. He is a fool in many ways, but not in all. He is not for
instance fool enough to hang on to life if it holds nothing worth
having. He was born with an immense love of life. He would not
have done this thing if he had not somehow lost this gift--for it
is a gift. If he does not get it back--somehow--then," the black,
stony eyes looked into hers without emotion--"he will die."
She shrank at the cold deliberation of his words. "Oh no--no! Not
like this! Not--by his own hand!"
"Ah!" He leaned towards her, bringing his sallow, impassive
countenance close to hers, repulsively close, to her over-acute
sensibilities. "And how is that to be prevented? Who is to give
him that priceless remedy--the only medicine that can save him?
Can I?" He lifted his shoulders expressively, indicating his own
helplessness. And then in a voice dropped to a whisper, "Can you?"
She did not answer him. There was something horrible to her in
that low-spoken question, something that yet possessed for her a
species of evil fascination that restrained her from open revolt.
He waited for a while, his eyes so immovably fixed upon hers that
she had a mild wonder if they were lidless--as the eyes of a
serpent.
Then at last, through grim pale lips that did not seem to move, he
spoke again. "Madam, it lies with you whether Guy Ranger lives or
dies. You can open to him the earthly paradise or you can hurl him
back to hell. I have only Drought him a little way. I cannot keep
him. Even now, he is slipping--he is slipping from my hold. It is
you, and you alone, who can save him. How do I know this thing?
How do I know that the sun rises in the east? I--have--seen. It
is you who have taken from him the desire to live--perhaps
unintentionally; that I do not know. It is you--and you alone--who
can restore it. Need I say more than this to open your eyes?
Perhaps they are already open. Perhaps already your heart has been
in communion with his. If so, then you know that I have told you
the truth. If you really desire to save him--and I think you
do--then everything else in life must go to that end. Women were
made for sacrifice, they say." A sardonic flicker that was
scarcely a smile touched his face. "Well, that is the only way of
saving him. If you fail him, he will go under."
He got up with the words. He had evidently said his say. As his
hand left hers, Sylvia drew a deep hard breath, as of one emerging
from a suffocating atmosphere. She had never felt so oppressed, so
fettered, with evil in the whole of her life. And yet he had not
urged her to any line of action. He had merely somewhat baldly,
wholly dispassionately, told her the truth, and the very absence of
emotion with which he had spoken had driven conviction to her soul.
She saw him go with relief, but his words remained like a stone at
the bottom of her heart.
CHAPTER XI
THE REMEDY
When Sylvia went to Guy a little later, she found him installed in
Burke's room. Burke himself was out on the farm, but it was past
the usual hour for luncheon, and she knew he would be returning
soon.
Kieff rose up noiselessly from the bedside at her entrance, and she
saw that Guy was asleep. She was conscious of a surging,
passionate longing to be alone with him as she crept forward. The
silent presence of this stranger had a curious, nauseating effect
upon her. She suppressed a shudder as she passed him.
He stood behind her in utter immobility as she bent over the bed.
Guy was lying very still, but though he was pale, the deathly look
had gone from his face. He looked unutterably tired, but very
peaceful.
Lying so, with all the painful lines of his face relaxed, she saw
the likeness of his boyhood very clearly on his quiet features, and
her heart gave a quick hard throb within her that sent the hot
tears to her eyes. The sight of him grew blurred and dim. She
just touched his black hair with trembling fingers as she fought
back a sob.
And then quite suddenly his eyes were open, looking at her. The
pupils were enormously enlarged, giving him an unfamiliar look.
But at sight of her, a quick smile flashed across his face--his old
glad smile of welcome, and she knew him again. "Hullo--darling!"
he said.
She could not speak in answer. She could only lay her hand over
his and hold it fast.
He went on, his speech rapid, slightly incoherent. Guy had been
like that, she remembered, in moments of any excitement or stress.
"I've had a beastly bad dream, sweetheart. Thought I'd lost
you--somehow I was messing about in a filthy fog, and there were
beastly precipices about. And you--you were calling
somewhere--telling me not to forget something. What was it? I'm
dashed if I can remember now."
"It--doesn't matter," she managed to say, though her voice was
barely audible.
He opened his eyes a little wider. "Are you crying, I say? What's
the matter? What, darling? You're not crying for me? Eh? I
shall get over it. I always come up again. Ask Kelly! Ask Kieff!"
"Yes, you always come up again," Kieff said, in his brief,
mechanical voice.
Guy threw him a look that was a curious blend of respect and
disgust. "Hullo, Lucifer!" he said. "What are you doing here?
Come to show us the quickest way to hell? He's an authority on
that, Sylvia. He knows all the shortest cuts."
He broke off with a sudden hard breath, and Sylvia saw again that
awful shadow gather in his eyes. She made way for Kieff, though
not consciously at his behest, and there followed a dreadful
struggling upon which she could not look. Kieff spoke once or
twice briefly, authoritatively, and was answered by a sound more
anguished than any words. Then at the end of several unspeakable
seconds she heard Burke's footstep outside the door. She turned to
him as he entered, with a thankfulness beyond all expression.
"Oh, Burke, he is suffering--so terribly. Do see if you can help!"
He passed her swiftly and went to the other side of the bed.
Somehow his presence braced her. She looked again upon Guy in his
extremity.
He was propped against Kieff's shoulder, his face quite livid, his
eyes roaming wildly round the room, till suddenly they found and
rested upon her own. All her life Sylvia was to remember the
appeal those eyes held for her. It was as if his soul were crying
aloud to her for freedom.
She came to the foot of the bed. The anguish had entered into her
also, and it was more than she could bear.
She turned from Burke to Kieff. "Oh, do anything--anything--to
help him!" she implored him. "Don't let him suffer--like this!"
Kieff's hand went to his pocket. "There is only one thing," he
said.
Burke, his arm behind Guy's convulsed body, made an abrupt gesture
with his free hand. "Wait! He'll come through it. He did before."
And still those tortured eyes besought Sylvia, urged her, entreated
her.
She left the foot of the bed, and went to Kieff. Her lips felt
stiff and numb, but she forced them to speak.
"If you have anything that will help him, give it to him now!
Don't wait! Don't wait!"
Kieff the impassive, nodded briefly, and took his hand from his
pocket.
"Wait! He is better," Burke said.
But, "Don't wait! Don't wait!" whispered Sylvia. "Don't let him
die--like this!"
Kieff held out to her a small leather case. "Open it!" he said.
She obeyed him though her hands were trembling. She took out the
needle and syringe it contained.
Burke said no more. Perhaps he realized that the cause was already
lost. And so he looked on in utter silence while Sylvia and Kieff
between them administered the only thing that could ease the awful
suffering that seemed greater than flesh and blood could bear.
It took effect with marvellous quickness--that remedy of Kieff's.
It was, to Sylvia's imagination, like the casting forth of a demon.
Guy's burning eyes ceased to implore her. He strained no longer in
the cruel grip. His whole frame relaxed, and he even smiled at her
as they laid him back against the pillows.
"That's better," he said.
"Thank God!" Sylvia whispered.
His eyes were drooping heavily. He tried to keep them open. "Hold
my hand!" he murmured to her.
She sat on the edge of the bed, and took it between her own.
His finger pressed hers. "That's good, darling. Now I'm happy.
Wish we--could go on like this--always. Don't you?"
"No," she whispered back. "I want you well again."
"Ah!" His eyes were closing; he opened them again. "You mean
that, sweetheart? You really want me?"
"Of course I do," she said.
Guy was still smiling but there was pathos in his smile. "Ah, that
makes a difference," he said, "--all the difference. That means
you've quite forgiven me. Quite, Sylvia?"
"Quite," she answered, and she spoke straight from her heart. She
had forgotten Burke, forgotten Kieff, forgotten everyone in that
moment save Guy, the dear lover of her youth.
And he too was looking at her with eyes that saw her alone. "Kiss
me, little sweetheart!" he said softly. "And then I'll know--for
sure."
It was boyishly spoken, and she could not refuse. She had no
thought of refusing.
As in the old days when they had been young together, her heart
responded to the call of his. She leaned down to him instantly and
very lovingly, and kissed him.
"Sure you want me?" whispered Guy.
"God knows I do," she answered him very earnestly.
He smiled at her and closed his eyes. "Good night!" he murmured.
"Good night, dear!" she whispered back.
And then in the silence that followed she knew that he fell asleep.
Someone touched her shoulder, and she looked up. Burke was
standing by her side.
"You can leave him now," he said. "He won't wake."
He spoke very quietly, but she thought his face was stern. A faint
throb of misgiving went through her. She slipped her hand free and
rose.
She saw that Kieff had already gone, and for a moment she
hesitated. But Burke took her steadily by the arm, and led her
from the room.
"He won't wake," he reiterated. "You must have something to eat,"
They entered the sitting-room, and she saw with relief that Kieff
was not there either. The table was spread for luncheon, and Burke
led her to it.
"Sit down!" he said. "Never mind about Kieff! He can look after
himself."
She sat down in silence. Somehow she felt out of touch with Burke
at that moment. Her long vigil beside Guy seemed in some
inexplicable fashion to have cut her off from him. Or was it those
strange words that Kieff had uttered and which even yet were
running in her brain? Whatever it was, it prevented all intimacy
between them. They might have been chance-met strangers sitting at
the same board. He waited upon her as if he were thinking of other
things.
Her own thoughts were with Guy alone. She ate mechanically, half
unconsciously watching the door, her ears strained to catch any
sound.
"He will probably sleep for hours," Burke said, breaking the
silence.
She looked at him with a start. She had almost forgotten his
presence. She met his eyes and felt for a few seconds oddly
disconcerted. It was with an effort she spoke in answer.
"I hope he will. That suffering is so terrible."
"It's bad enough," said Burke. "But the morphia habit is worse.
That's damnable."
She drew a sharp breath. She felt almost as if he had struck her
over the heart. "Oh, but surely--" she said--"surely--having it
just once--like that----"
"Do you think he is the sort of man to be satisfied with just once
of anything?" said Burke.
The question did not demand an answer, she made none. With an
effort she controlled her distress and changed the subject.
"How long will Dr. Kieff stay?"
Burke's eyes were upon her again. She wished he would not look at
her so intently. "He will probably see him through," he said.
"How long that will take it is impossible to say. Not long, I
hope."
"You don't like him?" she ventured.
"Personally," said Burke, "I detest him. He is not out here in his
professional capacity. In fact I have a notion that he was kicked
out of that some years ago. But that doesn't prevent him being a
very clever surgeon. He likes a job of this kind."
Sylvia caught at the words. "Then he ought to succeed," she said.
"Surely he will succeed!"
"I think you may trust him to do his best," Burke said.
They spoke but little during the rest of the meal. There seemed to
be nothing to say. In some curious fashion Sylvia felt paralyzed.
She could not turn her thought in any but the one direction, and
she knew subtly but quite unmistakably that in this they were not
in sympathy. It was a relief to her when Burke rose from the
table. She was longing to get back to Guy. She had an almost
overwhelming desire to be alone with him, even though he lay
unconscious of her. They had known each other so long ago, before
she had come to this land of strangers. Was it altogether
unnatural that meeting thus again the old link should have been
forged anew? And his need of her was so great--infinitely greater
now than it had ever been before.
She lingered a few moments to set the table in order for Kieff;
then turned to go to him, and was surprised to find Burke still
standing by the door.
She looked at him questioningly, and as if in answer he laid his
hand upon her shoulder, detaining her. He did not speak
immediately, and she had a curious idea that he was embarrassed.
"What is it, partner?" she said, withdrawing her thoughts from Guy
with a conscious effort.
He bent slightly towards her. His hold upon her was not wholly
steady. It was as if some hidden force vibrated strongly within
him, making itself felt to his very finger-tips. Yet his face was
perfectly composed, even grim, as he said, "There is one thing I
want to say to you before you go. Sylvia, I haven't asserted any
right over you so far. But don't forget--don't let anyone induce
you to forget--that the right is mine! I may claim it--some day."
That aroused her from preoccupation very effectually. The colour
flamed in her face. "Burke! I don't understand you!" she said,
speaking quickly and rather breathlessly, for her heart was beating
fast and hard. "Have you gone mad?"
"No, I am not mad," he said, and faintly smiled.
"I am just looking after our joint interests, that's all."
She opened her eyes wide. "Still I don't understand you," she
said. "I thought you promised--I thought we agreed--that you were
never to interfere with my liberty."
"Unless you abused it," said Burke.
She flinched a little in spite of herself, so uncompromising were
both his tone and attitude. But in a moment she drew herself
erect, facing him fearlessly.
"I don't think you know--quite--what you are saying to me," she
said. "You are tired, and you are looking at things--all crooked.
Will you please take a rest this afternoon? I am sure you need it.
And to-night--" She paused a moment, for, her courage
notwithstanding, she had begun to tremble--"to-night,"--she said
again, and still paused, feeling his hand tighten upon her, feeling
her heart quicken almost intolerably under its weight.
"Yes?" he said, his voice low, intensely quiet, "Please finish!
What am I to do to-night?"
She faced him bravely, with all her strength. "I hope," she said,
"you will come and tell me you are sorry."
He threw up his head with a sharp gesture. She saw his eyes kindle
and burn with a flame she dared not meet.
A swift misgiving assailed her. She tried to release herself, but
he took her by the other shoulder also, holding her before him.
"And if I do all that," he said, a deep quiver in his voice that
thrilled her through and through, "what shall I get in return? How
shall I be rewarded?"
She gripped her self-control with a great effort, summoning that
high courage of hers which had never before failed her.
She smiled straight up at him, a splendid, resolute smile. "You
shall have--the kiss of peace," she said.
His expression changed. For a moment his hold became a grip that
hurt her--bruised her. She closed her eyes with an involuntary
catch of the breath, waiting, expecting she knew not what. Then,
very suddenly, the strain was over. He set her free and turned
from her.
"Thank you." he said, in a voice that sounded oddly strangled.
"But I don't find that--especially satisfying--just now."
His hands were clenched as he left her. She did not dare to follow
him or call him back.
PART III
CHAPTER I
THE NEW ERA
Looking back later, it almost seemed to Sylvia that the days that
followed were as an interval between two acts in the play of life.
It was a time of transition, though what was happening within her
she scarcely realized.
One thing only did she fully recognize, and that was that the old
frank comradeship between herself and Burke had come to an end.
During all the anxiety of those days and the many fluctuations
through which Guy passed, Burke came and went as an outsider,
scarcely seeming to be interested in what passed, never
interfering. He never spoke to Kieff unless circumstances
compelled him, and with Sylvia herself he was so reticent as to be
almost forbidding. Her mind was too full of Guy, too completely
occupied with the great struggle for his life, to allow her
thoughts to dwell very much upon any other subject. She saw that
Burke's physical wants were attended to, and that was all that she
had time for just then. He was sleeping in the spare hut which she
had prepared for Guy with such tender care, and she was quite
satisfied as to his comfort there. It came to be something of a
relief when every evening he betook himself thither. Though she
never actually admitted it to herself, she was always more at ease
when he was out of the bungalow.
She and Kieff were fighting inch by inch to save Guy, and she could
not endure any distractions while the struggle lasted. For it was
a desperate fight, and there was little rest for either of them.
Her first sensation of repugnance for this man had turned into a
species of unwilling admiration, His adroitness, his resource, the
almost uncanny power of his personality, compelled her to a curious
allegiance. She gave him implicit obedience, well knowing that,
though in all else they were poles asunder, in this thing they were
as one. They were allied in the one great effort to defeat the
Destroyer. They fought day and night, shoulder to shoulder, never
yielding, never despairing, never slacking.
And very gradually at last the tide that had ebbed so low began to
turn. Through bitter suffering, often against his will, Guy Ranger
was drawn slowly back again to the world he had so nearly left.
Kieff never let him suffer for long. He gave him oblivion whenever
the weakened endurance threatened to fail. And Sylvia, seeing that
the flickering strength was always greater under the influence of
Kieff's remedy, raised no protest. They fought death with the
weapon of death. It would be time enough when the battle was won
to cast that weapon aside.
During those days of watching and conflict, she held little
converse with Guy. He was like a child, content in his waking
hours to have her near him, and fretful if she were ever absent.
Under Kieff's guidance, she nursed him with unfailing care,
developing a skill with which she had never credited herself. As
gradually his strength returned, he would have her do everything
for him, resenting even Kieff's interference though never actively
resisting his authority. He seemed to stand in awe of Kieff,
Sylvia noticed, a feeling from which she herself was not wholly
free. For there was a subtle mastery about him which influenced
her in spite of herself. But she had put aside her instinctive
dislike of the man because of the debt she owed him. He had
brought Guy back, had wrenched him from the very jaws of Death, and
she would never forget it. He had saved her from a life-long
sorrow.
And so, as slowly Guy returned, she schooled herself to subdue a
certain distrust of him which was never wholly absent from her
consciousness. She forced herself to treat him as a friend. She
silenced the warning voice within her that had bade her so
constantly beware. Perhaps her own physical endurance had begun to
waver a little after the long strain. Undoubtedly his influence
over her was such as it could scarcely have become under any other
circumstances. Her long obedience to his will in the matter of Guy
had brought her to a state of submission at which once she would
have scoffed. And when at last, the worst of the battle over, she
was overtaken by an overpowering weariness of mind and body, all
things combined to place her at a hopeless disadvantage.
One day, after three weeks of strenuous nursing, she quitted Guy's
room very suddenly to battle with a ghastly feeling of faintness
which threatened to overwhelm her. Kieff, who had been present
with Guy, followed her almost immediately to her own room, and
found her with a deathly face groping against the wall as one
stricken blind.
He took her firmly by the shoulders and forced her down over the
back of a chair, holding her so with somewhat callous strength of
purpose, till with a half-hysterical gasp she begged him to set her
free. The colour had returned to her face when she stood up, but
those few moments of weakness had bereft her of her self-control.
She could not restrain her tears.
Kieff showed no emotion of any sort. With professional calm, he
put her down upon the bed, and stood over her, feeling her pulse.
"You want sleep," he said.
She turned her face away from him, ashamed of the weakness she
could not hide. "Yes, I know. But I can't sleep. I'm always
listening. I can't help it. My brain feels wound up.
Sometimes--sometimes it feels as if it hurts me to shut my eyes."
"There's a remedy for that," said Kieff, and his hand went to his
pocket.
She looked at him startled. "Oh, not that! Not that! I couldn't.
It would be wrong."
"Not if I advise it," said Kieff, with a self-assurance that seemed
to knock aside her resistance as of no account.
She knew she ought to have resisted further, but somehow she could
not. His very impassivity served to make opposition impossible.
It came to her that the inevitable was upon her, and whatever she
said would make no difference. Moreover, she was too tired greatly
to care.
She uttered a little cry when a few seconds later she felt the
needle pierce her flesh, but she submitted without a struggle.
After all, what did it matter for once? And she needed rest so much.
With a sigh she surrendered herself, and was amazed at the swift
relief that came to her. It was like the rolling away of an
immense weight, and immediately she seemed to float upwards,
upwards, like a soaring bird.
Kieff remained by her side, but his presence did not trouble her.
She was possessed by an ecstasy so marvellous that she had no room
for any other emotion; She was as one borne on wings, ascending,
ever ascending, through an atmosphere of transcendent gold.
Once he touched her forehead, and bringing his hand slowly
downwards compelled her to close her eyes. A brief darkness came
upon her, and she uttered a muffled protest. But when he lifted
his hand again, her eyes did not open. The physical had fallen
from her, material things had ceased to matter. She was free--free
as the ether through which she floated. She was mounting upwards,
upwards, upwards, through celestial morning to her castle at the
top of the world. And the magic--the magic that beat in her
veins--was the very elixir of life within her, inspiring her,
uplifting her. For a space she hovered thus, still mounting, but
imperceptibly, caught as it were between earth and heaven. Then
the golden glamour about her turned to a mystic haze. Strange
visions, but half comprehended, took shape and dissolved before
her. She believed that she was floating among the mountain-crests
with the Infinite all about her. The wonder of it and the rapture
were beyond all utterance, beyond the grasp of human knowledge; the
joy exceeded all that she had ever known. And so by exquisite
phases, she entered at last a great vastness--a slumber-space where
all things were forgotten, lost in the radiance of an unbroken
peace.
She folded the wings of her enchantment with absolute contentment
and slept. She had come to a new era in her existence. She had
reached the top of the world. . . .
It was long, long after that she awoke, returning to earth with the
feeling of one revisiting old haunts after half a lifetime. She
was very tired, and her head throbbed painfully, but at the back of
her brain was an urgent sense of something needed, something that
must be done. She raised herself with immense effort,--and met the
eyes of Burke seated by her side.
He was watching her with a grave, unstirring attention that did not
waver for an instant as she moved. It struck her that there was a
strange remoteness about him, almost as if he belonged to another
world. Or was it she--she who had for a space overstepped the
boundary and wandered awhile through the Unknown?
He spoke, and in his voice was a depth that awed her.
"Do you know me?" he said.
She gazed at him, bewildered, wondering. "But of course I know
you! Why do you ask? Are you--changed in any way?"
He made an odd movement, as if the question in her wide eyes
pierced him. He did not answer her in words; only after a moment
he took her hand and pushed up the sleeve as though looking for
something.
She lay passive for a few seconds, watching him. Then suddenly,
blindly, she realized what was the object of his search. She made
a quick, instinctive movement to frustrate him.
His hand tightened instantly upon hers; he pointed to a tiny mark
upon the inside of her arm. "How did you get that?" he said.
His eyes looked straight into hers. There was something pitiless,
something almost brutal, in their regard. In spite of herself she
flinched, and lowered her own.
"Answer me!" he said.
She felt the hot colour rush in a guilty flood over her face. "It
was only--for once," she faltered. "I wanted sleep, and I couldn't
get it."
"Kieff gave it you," he said, his tone grimly insistent.
She nodded. "Yes. He meant well. He saw I was fagged out."
Burke was silent for a space, still grasping her hand. Her head
was throbbing dizzily, but she would not lower it to the pillow
again in his presence. She felt almost like a prisoner awaiting
sentence.
"Did he give it you against your will?" he asked at length.
"Not altogether." Her voice was almost a whisper. Her heart was
beating with hard, uneven strokes. She felt sick and faint.
Burke moved suddenly, releasing her hand. He rose with that
decision characteristic of him and walked across the room. She
heard the splash of water in a basin, and then he came back to her.
As if she had been a child, he raised her to lean against him, and
proceeded very quietly to bathe her face and head with ice-cold
water.
She shrank at the chill of it, but he persisted in his task, and
very soon she began to feel refreshed.
"Thank you," she murmured at last. "I am better now. I will get
up."
"You had better lie still for the present," he said. "I will send
you in some supper later."
His tone was repressive. She could not look him in the face. But,
as he made as if he would rise, something impelled her to lay a
detaining hand upon his arm.
"Please wait a minute!" she said,
He waited, and in a moment, with difficulty, she went on.
"Burke, I have done wrong, I know. I am sorry. Please don't be
angry with me! I--can't bear it."
There was a catch in her voice that she could not restrain. She
had a great longing to hide her face on his shoulder and burst into
tears. But something--some inner, urgent warning--held her back.
Burke sat quite still. There was a touch of rigidity in his
attitude. "All right," he said at last. "I am not angry--with
you."
Her fingers closed upon his arm. "Please don't quarrel with Dr.
Kieff about it!" she said nervously. "It won't happen again."
She felt him stiffen still further at her words. "It certainly
won't," he said briefly, "Tell me, have you got any of the infernal
stuff by you?"
She glanced up at him, startled by the question. "Of course I
haven't!" she said.
His eyes held a glitter that was almost bestial. She dropped her
hand from, his arm as if she had received an electric shock. He
got up instantly.
"Very well. I will leave you now. You had better go to bed."
"I must see Guy first," she objected.
"I am attending to Guy," he said.
That opened her eyes. She started up, facing him, a sudden sharp
misgiving at her heart. "Burke! You! Where--is Dr. Kieff?"
He uttered a grim, exultant sound that made her quiver. "He is on
his way back to Ritzen--or Brennerstadt. He didn't mention which."
"Ah!" Her hands were tightly clasped upon her breast. "What--what
have you done to him?" she panted.
Burke had risen to his feet. "I have--helped him on his way,
that's all," he said.
She tried to stand up also, but the moment she touched the ground,
she reeled. He caught her, and held her, facing him. His eyes
shone with a glow as of molten metal,
"Do you think," he said, breathing deeply, "that I would suffer
that accursed fiend to drag my wife--my wife--down into that
infernal slough?"
She was trembling from head to foot; her knees doubled under her,
but he held her up. The barely repressed violence of his speech
was perceptible in his hold also. She had no strength to meet it.
"But what of Guy?" she whispered voicelessly. "He will die!"
"Guy!" he said, and in the word there was a bitterness
indescribable. "Is be to be weighed in the balance against you?"
She was powerless to reason with him, and perhaps it was as well
for her that this was so, for he was in no mood to endure
opposition. His wrath seemed to beat about her like a storm-blast.
But yet he held her up, and after a moment, seeing her weakness, he
softened somewhat.
"There! Lie down again!" he said, and lowered her to the bed.
"I'll see to Guy. Only remember," he stooped over her, and to her
strained senses he loomed gigantic, "if you ever touch that stuff
again, my faith in you will be gone. And where there is no trust,
you can't expect--honour."
The words seemed to pierce her, but he straightened himself the
moment after and turned to go.
She covered her face with her hands as the door closed upon him.
She felt as if she had entered upon a new era, indeed, and she
feared with a dread unspeakable to look upon the path which lay
before her.
CHAPTER XI
INTO BATTLE
When Sylvia saw Guy again, he greeted her with an odd expression in
his dark eyes, half-humorous, half-speculative. He was lying
propped on pillows by the open window, a cigarette and a box of
matches by his side.
"Hullo, Sylvia!" he said. "You can come in. The big _baas_ has
set his house in order and gone out."
The early morning sunshine was streaming across his bed. She
thought he looked wonderfully better, and marvelled at the change.
He smiled at her as she drew near. "Yes, I've been washed and fed
and generally made respectable. Thank goodness that brute Kieff
has gone anyway! I couldn't have endured him much longer. What
was the grand offence? Did he make love to you or what?"
"Make love to me! Of course not!" Sylvia flushed indignantly at
the suggestion.
Guy laughed; he seemed in excellent spirits. "He'd better not,
what? But the big _baas_ was very angry with him, I can tell you.
And I can't think it was on my account. I'm inoffensive enough,
heavens knows."
He reached up a hand as she stood beside him, and took and held
hers.
"You're a dear girl, Sylvia," he said. "Just the very sight of you
does me good. You're not sorry Kieff has gone?"
"Sorry! No!" She looked down at him with doubt in her eyes.
"Only--we owe him a good deal, remember. He saved your life."
"Oh, that!" said Guy lightly. "You may set your mind quite at rest
on that score, my dear. He wouldn't have done it if he hadn't felt
like it. He pleases himself in all he does. But I should like to
have witnessed his exit last night. That, I imagine, was more
satisfactory from Burke's point of view than from his.
He--Burke--came back with that smile-on-the-face-of-the-tiger
expression of his. You've seen it, I daresay. It was very much in
evidence last night."
Sylvia repressed a sudden shiver. "Oh, Guy! What do you think
happened?"
He gave her hand a sudden squeeze. "Nothing to worry about, I do
assure you. He's a devil of a fellow when he's roused, isn't he?
But--so far as my knowledge goes--he's never killed anyone yet.
Sit down, old girl, and let's have a smoke together! I'm allowed
just one to-day--as a reward for good behaviour."
"Are you being good?" said Sylvia.
Guy closed one eye. "Oh, I'm a positive saint to-day. I've
promised--almost--never to be naughty again. Do you know Burke
slept on the floor in here last night? Decent of him, wasn't it?"
Sylvia glanced swiftly round. "Did he? How uncomfortable for him!
He mustn't do that again,"
"He didn't notice," Guy assured her. "He was much too pleased with
himself. I rather like him for that, you know. He has a wonderful
faculty for--what shall we call it?--mental detachment? Or, is it
physical? Anyway, he knows how to enjoy his emotions, whatever
they are, and he doesn't let any little personal discomfort stand
in his way."
He ended with a careless laugh from which all bitterness was
absent, and after a little pause Sylvia sat down by his side. His
whole attitude amazed her this morning. Some magic had been at
work. The fretful misery of the past few weeks had passed like a
cloud. This was her own Guy come back to her, clean, sane, with
the boyish humour that she had always loved in him, and the old
quick light of understanding and sympathy in his eyes.
He watched her with a smile. "Aren't you going to light up, too?
Come, you'd better. It'll tone you up,"
She looked back at him. "Had you better smoke?" she said. "Won't
it start your cough?"
He lifted an imperious hand. "It won't kill me if it does. Why
are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?" she said.
"As if I'd come back from the dead." He frowned at her abruptly
though his eyes still smiled. "Don't!" he said.
She smiled in answer, and picked up the matchbox. It was of silver
and bore his initials.
"Yes," Guy said, "I've taken great care of it, haven't I? It's
been my mascot all these years."
She took out a match and struck it without speaking. There was
something poignant in her silence. She was standing again in the
wintry dark of her father's park, pressed close to Guy's heart, and
begging him brokenly to use that little parting gift of hers with
thoughts of her when more than half the world lay between them.
Guy's cigarette was in his mouth. She stooped forward to light it.
Her hand was trembling. In a moment he reached up, patted it
lightly, and took the match from her fingers. The action said more
than words. It was as if he had gently turned a page in the book
of life, and bade her not to look back.
"Now don't you bother about me!" he said. "I'm being good--as you
see. So go and cook the dinner or do anything else that appeals to
your housekeeper's soul! That is, if you feel it's immoral to
smoke a cigarette at this early hour. Needless to say, I shall be
charmed if you will join me."
But he did not mean to talk upon intimate subjects, and his tone
conveyed as much. She lingered for a while, and they spoke of the
farm, the cattle, Burke's prospects, everything under the sun save
personal matters. Yet there was no barrier in their reserve. They
avoided these by tacit consent.
In the end she left him, feeling strangely comforted. Burke had
been right. The devil had gone out of Guy, and he had come back.
She pondered the matter as she went about her various tasks, but
she found no solution thereof. Something must have happened to
cause the change in him; she could not believe that Kieff's
departure had effected it. Her thoughts went involuntarily to
Burke--Burke whose wrath had been so terrible the previous night.
Was it due to him? Had he accomplished what neither Kieff's skill
nor her devotion had been able to achieve? Yet he had spoken of
Guy as one of his failures. He had impressed upon her the fact
that Guy's, case was hopeless. She had even been convinced of it
herself until to-day. But to-day all things were changed. Guy had
come back.
The thought of her next meeting with Burke tormented her
continually, checking all gladness. She dreaded it unspeakably,
listening for him with nerves on edge during the busy hours that
followed.
She made the Kaffir boy bring the camp-bed out of the guest-hut
which Burke had occupied of late and set it up in a corner of Guy's
room. Kieff had slept on a long-chair in the sitting-room, taking
his rest at odd times and never for any prolonged spell. She had
even wondered sometimes if he ever really slept at all, so alert
had he been at the slightest sound. But she knew that Burke hated
the long-chair because it creaked at every movement, and she was
determined that he should not spend another night on the floor.
So, while with trepidation she awaited him, she made such
preparations as she could for his comfort.
Joe, the house-boy, was very clumsy in all his ways, and Guy,
looking on, seemed to derive considerable amusement from his
performance. "I always did like Joe," he remarked. "There's
something about his mechanism that is irresistibly comic. Oh, do
leave him alone, Sylvia! Let him arrange the thing upside down if
he wants to!"
Joe's futility certainly had something of the comic order about it.
He had a dramatic fashion of rolling his eyes when expectant of
rebuke, which was by no means seldom. And the vastness of his
smile was almost bewildering. Sylvia had never been able quite to
accustom herself to his smile.
"He's exactly like a golliwog, isn't he?" said Guy. "His head will
split in two if you encourage him."
But Sylvia, hot and anxious, found it impossible to view Joe's
exhibition with enjoyment. He was more stupid in the execution of
her behests than she had ever found him before, and at length,
losing patience, she dismissed him and proceeded to erect the bed
herself.
She was in the midst of this when there came the sound of a step in
the room, and Guy's quick,
"Hullo!" told her of the entrance of a third person. She stood up
sharply, and met Burke face to face.
She was panting a little from her exertions, and her hand went to
her side. For the moment a horrible feeling of discomfiture
overwhelmed her. His look was so direct; it seemed to go straight
through her.
"What is this for?" he said.
She mastered her embarrassment with a swift effort. "Guy said you
slept on the floor last night. I am sure it wasn't very
comfortable, so I have brought this in instead. You don't mind?"
with a glance at him that held something of appeal.
"I mind you putting it up yourself," he said briefly. "Sit down!
Where's that lazy hound, Joe?"
"Oh, don't call Joe!" Guy begged. "He has already reduced her to
exasperation. She won't listen to me either when I tell her that I
can look after myself at night. You tell her, Burke! She'll
listen to you perhaps."
But Burke ended the matter without further discussion by putting
her on one side and finishing the job himself. Then he stood up.
"Let Mary Ann do the rest! You have been working too hard. Come,
and have some lunch! You'll be all right, Guy?"
"Oh, quite," Guy assured him. "Mary Ann can take care of me.
She'll enjoy it."
Sylvia looked back at him over her shoulder as she went out, but
she did not linger. There was something imperious about Burke just
then.
They entered the sitting-room together. "Look here!" he said.
"You're not to tire yourself out. Guy is convalescent now. Let
him look after himself for a bit!"
"I haven't been doing anything for Guy," she objected. "Only I
can't have you sleeping on the floor."
"What's it matter," he said gruffly, "where or how I sleep?" And
then suddenly he took her by the shoulders and held her before him.
"Just look at me a moment!" he said.
It was a definite command. She lifted her eyes, but the instant
they met his that overwhelming confusion came upon her again. His
gaze was so intent, so searching. All her defences seemed to go
down before it.
Her lip suddenly quivered, and she turned her face aside.
"Be--kind to me, Burke!" she said, under her breath.
He let her go; but he stood motionless for some seconds after as if
debating some point with himself. She went to the window and
nervously straightened the curtain. After a considerable pause his
voice came to her there.
"I want you to rest this afternoon, and ride over with me to the
Merstons after tea. Will you do that?"
She turned sharply. "And leave Guy? Oh, no!"
Across the room she met his look, and she saw that he meant to have
his way. "I wish it," he said.
She came slowly back to him. "Burke,--please! I can't do that.
It wouldn't be right. We can't leave Guy to the Kaffirs."
"Guy can look after himself," he reiterated. "You have done
enough--too much--in that line already. He doesn't need you with
him all daylong."
She shook her head. "I think he needs--someone. It wouldn't be
right--I know it wouldn't be right to leave him quite alone.
Besides, the Merstons won't want me. Why should I go?"
"Because I wish it," he said again. And, after a moment, as she
stood silent, "Doesn't that count with you?"
She looked up at him quickly, caught by something in his tone, "Of
course your wishes count with me!" she said. "You know they do.
But all the same--" She paused, searching for words.
"Guy comes first," he suggested, in the casual voice of one stating
an acknowledged fact.
She felt the hot colour rise to her temples. "Oh, it isn't fair of
you to say that!" she said.
"Isn't it true?" said Burke.
She collected herself to answer him. "It is only because his need
has been so great. If we had not put him first--before everything
else--we should never have saved him."
"And now that he is saved," Burke said, a faint ring of irony in
his voice, "isn't it almost time to begin to consider--other needs?
Do you know you are looking very ill?"
He asked the question abruptly, so abruptly that she started. Her
nerves were on edge that day.
"Am I? No, I didn't know. It isn't serious anyway. Please don't
bother about that!"
He smiled faintly. "I've got to bother. If you don't improve very
quickly, I shall take you to Brennerstadt to see a decent doctor
there."
"Oh, don't be absurd!" she said, with quick annoyance. "I'm not
going to do anything so silly."
He put his hand on her arm. "Sylvia, I've got something to say to
you," he said.
She made a slight movement as if his touch were unwelcome. "Well?
What is it?" she said.
"Only this." He spoke very steadily, but while he spoke his hand
closed upon her. You've gone your own way so far, and it hasn't
been specially good for you. That's why I'm going to pull you up
now, and make you go mine."
"Make me!" Her eyes flashed sudden fire upon him. She was
overwrought and weary, and he had taken her by surprise, or she
would have dealt with the situation--and with him--far otherwise.
"Make me!" she repeated, and in second, almost before she knew it,
she was up in arms, facing him with open rebellion. "I'll defy you
to do that!" she said.
The moment she had said it, the word still scarcely uttered, she
repented. She had not meant to defy him. The whole thing had come
about so swiftly, so unexpectedly, hardly, she felt, of her own
volition. And now, more than half against her will, she stood
committed to carry through an undertaking for which even at the
outset, she had no heart. For there was no turning back. The
challenge, once uttered, could not be withdrawn. She was no
coward. The idea came to her that if she blenched then she would
for all time forfeit his respect as well as her own.
So she stood her ground, slim and upright, braced to defiance,
though at the back of all her bravery there lurked a sickening fear.
Burke did not speak at once. His look scarcely altered, his hold
upon her remained perfectly steady and temperate. Yet in the pause
the beating of her heart rose between them--a hard, insistent
throbbing like the fleeing feet of a hunted thing.
"You really mean that?" he asked at length.
"Yes." Straight and unhesitating came her answer. It was now or
never, she told herself. But she was trembling, despite her utmost
effort.
He bent a little, looking into her eyes. "You really wish me to
show you who is master?" he said.
She met his look, but her heart was beating wildly, spasmodically.
There was that about him, a ruthlessness, a deadly intention, that
appalled her. The ground seemed to be rocking under her feet, and
a dreadful consciousness of sheer, physical weakness rushed upon
her. She went back against the table, seeking for support.
But through it all, desperately she made her gallant struggle for
freedom. "You will never master me against my will," she said.
"I--I--I'll die first!"
And then, as the last shred of her strength went from her she
covered her face with her hands, shutting him out.
"Ah!" he said. "But who goes into battle without first counting
the cost?"
He spoke sombrely, without anger; yet in the very utterance of the
words there was that which made her realize that she was beaten.
Whether he chose to avail himself of the advantage or not, the
victory was his.
At the end of a long silence, she lifted her head. "I give you
best, partner," she said, and held out her hand to him with a
difficult smile. "I'd no right--to kick over the traces--like
that. I'm going to be good now--really."
It was a frank acceptance of defeat; so frank as to be utterly
disarming. He took the proffered hand and held it closely, without
speaking.
She was still trembling a little, but she had regained her
self-command. "I'm sorry I was such a little beast," she said.
"But you've got me beat. I'll try and make good somehow."
He found his voice at that. It came with an odd harshness.
"Don't!" he said. "Don't!--You're not--beat. The battle isn't
always to the strong."
She laughed faintly with more assurance, though still somewhat
shakily. "Not when the strong are too generous to take advantage,
perhaps. Thank you for that, partner. Now--do you mind if I take
Guy his nourishment?"
She put the matter behind her with that inimitable lightness of
hers which of late she had seemed to have lost. She went from him
to wait upon Guy with the tremulous laugh upon her lips, and when
she returned she had fully recovered her self-control, and talked
with him upon many matters connected with the farm which he had not
heard her mention during all the period of her nursing. She
displayed all her old zest. She spoke as one keenly interested.
But behind it all was a feverish unrest, a nameless, intangible
quality that had never characterized her in former days. She was
elusive. Her old delicate confidence in him was absent. She
walked warily where once she had trodden without the faintest
hesitation.
When the meal was over, she checked him as he was on the point of
going to Guy. "How soon ought we to start for the Merstons?" she
asked.
He paused a moment. Then, "I will let you off to-day," he said.
"We will ride out to the _kopje_ instead."
He thought she would hail this concession with relief, but she
shook her head instantly, her face deeply flushed.
"No, I think not! We will go to the Merstons--if Guy is well
enough. We really ought to go."
She baffled him completely. He turned away. "As you will," he
said. "We ought to start in two hours."
"I shall be ready," said Sylvia.
CHAPTER III
THE SEED
"Well!" said Mrs. Merston, with her thin smile. "Are you still
enjoying the Garden of Eden, Mrs. Ranger?"
Sylvia, white and tired after her ride, tried to smile in answer
and failed. "I shall be glad when the winter is over," she said.
Mrs. Merston's colourless eyes narrowed a little, taking her in.
"You don't look so blooming as you did," she remarked. "I hear you
have had Guy Ranger on your hands."
"Yes," Sylvia said, and coloured a little in spite of herself.
"What has been the matter with him?" demanded Mrs. Merston.
Sylvia hesitated, and in a moment the older woman broke into a
grating laugh.
"Oh, you needn't trouble to dress it up in polite language. I know
the malady he suffers from. But I wonder Burke would allow you to
have anything to do with it. He has a reputation for being rather
particular."
"He is particular," Sylvia said.
Somehow she could not bring herself to tell Mrs. Merston the actual
cause of Guy's illness. She did not want to talk of it. But Mrs.
Merston was difficult to silence.
"Is it true that that scoundrel Kieff has been staying at Blue Hill
Farm?" she asked next, still closely observant of her visitor's
face.
Sylvia looked at her with a touch of animation. "I wonder why
everyone calls him that," she said. "Yes, he has been with us. He
is a doctor, a very clever one. I never liked him very much, but I
often wondered what he had done to be called that."
"Oh, I only know what they say," said Mrs. Merston. "I imagine he
was in a large measure responsible for young Ranger's fall from
virtue in the first place--and that of a good many besides. He's
something of a vampire, so they say. There are plenty of them
about in this charming country."
"How horrible!" murmured Sylvia, with a slight shudder as a vision
of the motionless, onyx eyes which had so often watched her rose in
her mind.
"You're looking quite worn out," remarked Mrs. Merston. "Why did
you let your husband drag you over here? You had better stay the
night and have a rest."
But Sylvia hastened to decline this invitation with much decision.
"I couldn't possibly do that, thank you. There is so much to be
seen to at home. It is very kind of you, but please don't suggest
it to Burke!"
Mrs. Merston gave her an odd look. "Do you always do as your
husband tells you!" she said. "What a mistake!"
Sylvia blushed very deeply. "I think--one ought," she said in a
low voice.
"How old-fashioned of you!" said Mrs. Merston. "I don't indulge
mine to that extent. Are you going to Brennerstadt for the races
next month? Or has the oracle decreed that you are to stay behind?"
"I don't know. I didn't know there were any." Sylvia looked out
through the mauve-coloured twilight to where Burke stood talking
with Merston by one of the hideous corrugated iron cattle-sheds.
The Merstons' farm certainly did not compare favourably with
Burke's. She could not actively condemn Mrs. Merston's obvious
distaste for all that life held for her. So far as she could see,
there was not a tree on the place, only the horrible prickly pear
bushes thrusting out their distorted arms as if exulting in their
own nakedness.
They had had their tea in front of the bungalow, if it could be
dignified by such a name. It was certainly scarcely more than an
iron shed, and the heat within during the day was, she could well
imagine, almost unbearable. It was time to be starting back, and
she wished Burke would come. Her hostess's scoffing reference to
him made her long to get away. Politeness, however, forbade her
summarily to drop the subject just started.
"Do you go to Brennerstadt for the races?" she asked.
"I?" said Mrs. Merston, and laughed again her caustic, mirthless
laugh. "No! My acquaintance with Brennerstadt is of a less
amusing nature. When I go there, I merely go to be ill, and as
soon as I am partially recovered, I come back--to this." There was
inexpressible bitterness in her voice. "Some day," she said, '"I
shall go there to die. That is all I have to look forward to now."
"Oh, don't!" Sylvia said, with quick feeling. "Don't, please! You
shouldn't feel like that."
Mrs. Merston's face was twisted in a painful smile. She looked
into the girl's face with a kind of cynical pity. "You will come
to it," she said. "Life isn't what it was to you even now. You're
beginning to feel the thorns under the rose-leaves. Of course you
may be lucky. You may bear children, and that will be your
salvation. But if you don't--if you don't----"
"Please!" whispered Sylvia. "Please don't say that to me!"
The words were almost inarticulate. She got up as she uttered them
and moved away. Mrs. Merston looked after her, and very strangely
her face altered. Something of that mother-love in her which had
so long been cheated showed in her lustreless eyes.
"Oh, poor child!" she said. "I am sorry."
It was briefly spoken. She was ever brief in her rare moments of
emotion. But there was a throb of feeling in the words that
reached Sylvia. She turned impulsively back again.
"Thank you," she said, and there were tears in her eyes as she
spoke. "I think perhaps--" her utterance came with an effort "--my
life is--in its way--almost as difficult as yours. That ought to
make us comrades, oughtn't it? If ever there is anything I can do
to help you, please tell me!"
"Let it be a mutual understanding!" said Mrs. Merston, and to
Sylvia's surprise she took and pressed her hand for a moment.
There was more comfort in that simple pressure than Sylvia could
have believed possible. She returned it with that quick warmth of
hers which never failed to respond to kindness, and in that second
the seed of friendship was sown upon fruitful ground.
The moment passed, sped by Mrs. Merston who seemed half-afraid of
her own action.
"You must get your husband to take you to Brennerstadt for the
races," she said. "It would make a change for you. It's a shame
for a girl of your age to be buried in the wilderness."
"I really haven't begun to be dull yet," Sylvia said.
"No, perhaps not. But you'll get nervy and unhappy. You've been
used to society, and it isn't good for you to go without it
entirely. Look at me!" said Mrs. Merston, with her short laugh.
"And take warning!"
The two men were sauntering towards them, and they moved to meet
them. Far down in the east an almost unbelievably huge moon hung
like a brazen shield. The mauve of the sunset had faded to pearl.
"It is rather a beautiful world, isn't it?" Sylvia said a little
wistfully.
"To the favoured few--yes," said Mrs. Merston.
Sylvia gave her a quick glance. "I read somewhere--I don't know if
it's true--that we are all given the ingredients of happiness, but
the mixing is left to ourselves. Perhaps you and I haven't found
the right mixture yet."
"Ah!" said Mrs. Merston. "Perhaps not."
"I'm going to have another try," said Sylvia, with sudden energy.
"I wish you luck," said Mrs. Merston somewhat grimly.
CHAPTER IV
MIRAGE
From the day of her visit to the Merstons Sylvia took up her old
life again, and pursued all her old vocations with a vigour that
seemed even more enthusiastic than of yore. Her ministrations to
Guy had ceased to be of an arduous character, or indeed to occupy
much of her time. It was mainly Burke who filled Kieff's place and
looked after Guy generally with a quiet efficiency that never
encouraged any indulgence. They seemed to be good friends, yet
Sylvia often wondered with a dull ache at the heart if this were
any more than seeming. There was so slight a show of intimacy
between them, so little of that camaraderie generally so noticeable
between dwellers in the wilderness. Sometimes she fancied she
caught a mocking light in Guy's eyes when they looked at Burke. He
was always perfectly docile under his management, but was he always
genuine? She could not tell. His recovery amazed her. He seemed
to possess an almost boundless store of vitality. He cast his
weakness from him with careless jesting, laughing down all her
fears. She knew well that he was not so strong as he would have
had her believe, that he fought down his demon of suffering in
solitude, that often he paid heavily for deeds of recklessness.
But the fact remained that he had come back from the gates of
death, and each day she marvelled anew.
She and Burke seldom spoke of him when together. That intangible
reserve that had grown up between them seemed to make it
impossible. She had no longer the faintest idea as to Burke's
opinion of the returned prodigal, whether he still entertained his
previous conviction that Guy was beyond help, or whether he had
begun at length to have any confidence for the future. In a vague
fashion his reticence hurt her, but she could not bring herself to
attempt to break through it. He was a man perpetually watching for
something, and it made her uneasy and doubtful, though for what he
watched she had no notion. For it was upon herself rather than
upon Guy that his attention seemed to be concentrated. His
attitude puzzled her. She felt curiously like a prisoner, though
to neither word, nor look, nor deed could she ascribe the feeling.
She was even at times disposed to put it down to the effect of the
weather upon her physically. It did undoubtedly try her very
severely. Though the exercise that she compelled herself to take
had restored to her the power to sleep, she always felt as weary
when she arose as when she lay down. The heat and the drought
combined to wear her out. Valiantly though she struggled to rally
her flagging energies, the effort became increasingly difficult.
She lived in the depths of a great depression, against which,
strive as she might, she ever strove in vain. She was furious with
herself for her failure, but it pursued her relentlessly. She
found the Kaffir servants more than usually idle and difficult to
deal with, and this added yet further to the burden that weighed
her down.
One day, returning from a ride to find Fair Rosamond swabbing the
floor of the _stoep_ with her bath-sponge, she lost her temper
completely and wholly unexpectedly, and cut the girl across her
naked shoulders with her riding-switch. It was done in a moment--a
single, desperate moment of unbearable exasperation. Rosamond
screamed and fled, upsetting her pail inadvertently over her
mistress's feet as she went. And Sylvia, with a burning sense of
shame for her violence, retreated as precipitately to her own room.
She entered by the window, and, not even noticing that the door
into the sitting-room stood ajar, flung herself down by the table
in a convulsion of tears. She hated herself for her action, she
hated Rosamond for having been the cause of it. She hated the
blazing sky and the parched earth, the barren _veldt_, the
imprisoning _kopjes_, the hopeless sense of oppression, of being
always somehow in the wrong. A wild longing to escape was upon
her, to go anywhere--anywhere, so long as she could get right away
from that intolerable weight of misgiving, doubt, dissatisfaction,
foreboding, that hung like a galling chain upon her.
She was getting like Mrs. Merston, she told herself passionately.
Already her youth had gone, and all that made life worth living was
going with it. She had made her desperate bid for happiness, and
she had lost. And Burke--Burke was only watching for her hour of
weakness to make himself even more completely her master than he
was already. Had he not only that morning--only that
morning--gruffly ordered her back from a distant cattle-run that
she had desired to inspect? Was he not always asserting his
authority in some fashion over her, crumbling away her resistance
piece by piece till at last he could stride in all-conquering and
take possession? He was always so strong, so horribly strong, so
sure of himself. And though it had pleased him to be generous in
his dealings with her, she had seen far less of that generosity
since Guy's recovery. They were partners no longer, she told
herself bitterly. That farce was ended. Perhaps it was her own
fault. Everything seemed to be her fault nowadays. She had not
played her cards well during Guy's illness. Somehow she had not
felt a free agent. It was Kieff who had played the cards, had
involved her in such difficulties as she had never before
encountered, and then had left her perforce to extricate herself
alone; to extricate herself--or to pay the price. She seemed to
have been struggling against overwhelming odds ever since. She had
fought with all her strength to win back to the old freedom, but
she had failed. And in that dark hour she told herself that
freedom was not for her. She was destined to be a slave for the
rest of her life.
The wild paroxysm of crying could not last. Already she was
beginning to be ashamed of her weakness. And ere long she would
have to face Burke. The thought of that steady, probing look made
her shrink in every fibre. Was there anything that those shrewd
eyes did not see?
What was that? She started at a sound. Surely he had not returned
so soon!
For a second there was something very like panic at her heart.
Then, bracing herself, she lifted her head, and saw Guy.
He had entered by the sitting-room door and in his slippers she had
not heard him till he was close to her. He was already bending
over her when she realized his presence.
She put up a quick hand. "Oh, Guy!" she said with a gasp.
He caught and held it in swift response. "My own girl!" he said.
"I heard you crying. I was in my room dressing. What's it all
about?"
She could not tell him, the anguish was still too near. She bowed
her head and sat in throbbing silence.
"Look here!" said Guy. "Don't!" He stooped lower over her, his
dark face twitching. "Don't!" he said again. "Life isn't worth
it. Life's too short. Be happy, dear! Be happy!"
He spoke a few words softly against her hair. There was entreaty
in their utterance. It was as if he pleaded for his own self.
She made a little movement as if something had pierced her, and in
a moment she found her voice.
"Life is so--difficult," she said, with a sob.
"You take it too hard," he answered rapidly. "You think too much
of--little things. It isn't the way to be happy. What you ought
to do is to grab the big things while you can, and chuck the little
ones into the gutter. Life's nothing but a farce. It isn't meant
to be taken--really seriously. It isn't long enough for sacrifice.
I tell you, it isn't long enough!"
There was something passionate in the reiterated declaration. The
clasp of his hand was feverish. That strange vitality of his that
had made him defy the death he had courted seemed to vibrate within
him like a stretched wire. His attitude was tense with it. And a
curious thrill went through her, as though there were electricity
in his touch.
She could not argue the matter with him though every instinct told
her he was wrong. She was too overwrought to see things with an
impartial eye. She felt too tired greatly to care.
"I feel," she told him drearily, "as if I want to get away from
everything and everybody."
"Oh no, you don't!" he said. "All you want is to get away from
Burke. That's your trouble--and always will be under present
conditions. Do you think I haven't looked on long enough? Why
don't you go away?"
"Go away!" She looked up at him again, startled.
Guy's sunken eyes were shining with a fierce intensity. They urged
her more poignantly than words. "Don't you see what's going to
happen--if you don't?" he said.
That moved her. She sprang up with a sound that was almost a cry,
and stood facing him, her hand hard pressed against her heart.
"Of course I know he's a wonderful chap and all that," Guy went on.
"But you haven't cheated yourself yet into believing that you care
for him, have you? He isn't the sort to attract any woman at first
sight, and I'll wager he has never made love to you. He's far too
busy with his cattle and his crops. What on earth did you marry
him for? Can't you see that he makes a slave of everyone who comes
near him?"
But she lifted her head proudly at that. "He has never made a
slave of me," she said.
"He will," Guy rejoined relentlessly. "He'll have you under his
heel before many weeks. You know it in your heart. Why did you
marry him, Sylvia? Tell me why you married him!"
The insistence of the question compelled an answer. Yet she
paused, for it was a question she had never asked herself. Why had
she married Burke indeed? Had it been out of sheer expediency? Or
had there been some deeper and more subtle reason? She knew full
well that there was probably not another man in Africa to whom she
would have thus entrusted herself, however urgent the
circumstances. How was it then that she had accepted Burke?
And then, looking into Guy's tense face, the answer came to her,
and she had uttered it almost before she knew. "I married him
because he was so like you."
The moment she had uttered the words she would have recalled them,
for Guy made an abrupt movement and turned so white that she
thought he would faint. His eyes went beyond her with a strained,
glassy look, and for seconds he stood so, as one gone suddenly
blind.
Then with a jerk he pulled himself together, and gave her an odd
smile that somehow cut her to the heart.
"That was a straight hit anyway," he said. "And are you going to
stick to him for the same reason?"
She turned her face away with the feeling of one who dreads to look
upon some grievous hurt. "No," she said, in a low voice. "Only
because--I am his wife."
Guy made a short, contemptuous sound. "And for that you're going
to let him ride rough-shod over you--give him the right to control
your every movement? Oh, forgive me, but you good people hold such
ghastly ideas of right and wrong. And what on earth do you gain by
it all? You sacrifice everything to the future, and the future is
all mirage--all mirage. You'll never get there, never as long as
you live."
Again that quick note of passion was in his voice, and she tingled
at the sound, for though she knew so well that he was wrong
something that was quick and passionate within her made instinctive
response. She understood him. Had she not always understood him?
She did not answer him. She had given him her answer. And he,
realizing this turned aside to open the window. Yet, for a moment
he stood looking back at her, and all her life she was to remember
the love and the longing of his eyes. It was as if for that second
a veil had been rent aside, and he had shown her his naked soul.
She wondered afterwards if he had really meant her to see. For
immediately, as he went out, he broke into a careless whistle, and
then, an instant later, she heard him fling a greeting to someone
out in the blinding sunshine.
An answer came back from much nearer than she had anticipated. It
was in the guttural tones of Hans Schafen the overseer, and with a
jerk she remembered that the man always sat on the corner of the
_stoep_ to await Burke if he arrived before their return from the
lands. It was his custom to wear rubber soles to his boots, and no
one ever heard him come or go. For some reason this fact had
always prejudiced her against Hans Schafen.
CHAPTER V
EVERYBODY'S FRIEND
When Burke came in to lunch half an hour later, he found Sylvia
alone in the sitting-room, laying the cloth.
She glanced up somewhat nervously at his entrance. "I've
frightened Rosamond away," she said.
"Little cuss! Good thing too!" he said. She proceeded rapidly
with her occupation.
"I believe there's a sand-storm coming," she said, after a moment.
"Yes, confound it!"' said Burke.
He went to the window and stood gazing out with drawn brows.
With an effort she broke the silence. "What has Schafen to report?
Is all well?"
He wheeled round abruptly and stood looking at her. For a few
seconds he said nothing whatever, then as with a startled sense of
uncertainty she turned towards him he spoke. "Schafen? Yes, he
reported--several things. The dam over by Ritter Spruit is dried
up for one thing. The animals will all have to driven down here.
Then there have been several bad _veldt_-fires over to the north.
It isn't only sand that's coming along. It's cinders too. We've
got to take steps to protect the fodder, or we're done. It's just
the way of this country. A single night may bring ruin."
He spoke with such unwonted bitterness that Sylvia was aroused out
of her own depression. She had never known him take so pessimistic
a view before. With an impulsiveness that was warm and very
womanly, she left her task and went to him.
"Oh, Burke!" she said. "But the worst doesn't happen, does it?
Anyway not often!"
He made an odd sound that was like a laugh choked at birth. "Not
often," he agreed. And then abruptly, straightening himself,
"Suppose it did,--what then?"
"What then?" She looked at him for a moment, still feeling
curiously unsure of her ground. "Well, we'd weather it somehow,
partner," she said, and held out her hand to him with a little
quivering smile.
He made no movement to take her hand. Perhaps he had already heard
what a few seconds later reached her own ears,--the sound of Guy's
feet upon the _stoep_ outside the window. But during those seconds
his eyes dwelt upon her, holding her own with a fixed intentness
that somehow made her feel cold. It was an unspeakable relief to
her when he turned them from her, as it were setting her free.
Guy came in with something of his old free swing, and closed the
window behind him. "Better to stew than to eat sand," he remarked.
"I've just heard from one of the Kaffirs that Piet Vreiboom's land
is on fire."
"What?" said Burke sharply.
"It's all right at present," said Guy. "We can bear it with
equanimity. The wind is the other way."
"The wind may change," said Burke.
"That wouldn't be like your luck," remarked Guy, as he seated
himself.
They partook of the meal almost in silence. To Sylvia the very air
was laden with foreboding. Everything they ate was finely powered
with sand, but she alone was apparently aware of the fact. The
heat inside the bungalow was intense. Outside a fierce wind had
begun to blow, and the sky was dark.
At the end of a very few minutes Burke arose. Guy sprang instantly
to his feet.
"Are you off? I'm coming!"
"No--no," Burke said shortly. "Stay where you are!"
"I tell you I'm coming," said Guy, pushing aside his chair.
Burke, already ac the door, paused and looked at him. "Better
not," he said. "You're not up to it--and this infernal sand----"
"Damn the sand!" said Guy, with vehemence. "I'm coming!"
He reached Burke with the words. His hand sought the door. Burke
swallowed the rest of his remonstrance.
"Please yourself!" he said, with a shadowy smile; and then for a
moment his eyes went to Sylvia. "You will stay in this afternoon,"
he said.
It was a definite command, and she had no thought of defying it.
But the tone in which it was uttered hurt her.
"I suppose I shall do as I am told," she said, in a low voice.
He let Guy go and returned to her. He bent swiftly down over her
and dropped a small key into her lap. "I leave you in charge of
all that I possess," he said. "Good-bye!"
She looked up at him quickly. "Burke!" she stammered. Burke!
There is no--danger?"
"Probably not of the sort you mean," he answered. And then
suddenly his arms were round her. He held her close and hard. For
a second she felt the strong beat of his heart, and then forgot it
in an overwhelming rush of emotion that so possessed her as almost
to deprive her of her senses. For he kissed her--he kissed
her--and his kiss was as the branding of a hot iron. It seemed to
burn her to the soul.
The next moment she was free; the door closed behind him, and she
was alone. She sank down over the table, quivering all over. Her
pulses were racing, her nerves in a wild tumult. She believed that
the memory of that scorching kiss would tingle upon her lips for
ever. It was as if an electric current had suddenly entered her
inner-most being and now ran riot in every vein. And so wild was
the tumult within her that she knew not whether dread or dismay or
a frantic, surging, leaping thing that seemed to cry aloud for
liberty were first in that mad race. She clasped her hands very
tightly over her face, struggling to master those inner forces that
fought within her. Never in her life had so fierce a conflict torn
her. Soul and body, she seemed to be striving with an adversary
who pierced her at every turn. He had kissed her thus; and in that
unutterable moment he had opened her eyes, confronting her with an
amazing truth from which she could not turn aside. Passion and a
fierce and terrible jealousy had mingled in his kiss, anger also,
and a menacing resentment that seemed to encompass her like a fiery
ring, hedging her round.
But not love! There had been no love in his kiss. It had been an
outrage of love, and it had wounded her to the heart. It had made
her want to hide--to hide--till the first poignancy of the pain
should be past. And yet--and yet--in all her anguish she knew that
the way which Guy had so recklessly suggested was no way of escape
for her. To flee from him was to court disaster--such disaster as
would for ever wreck her chance of happiness. It could but confirm
the evil doubt he harboured and might lead to such a catastrophe as
she would not even contemplate.
But yet some way of escape there must be, and desperately she
sought it, striving in defence of that nameless thing that had
sprung to such wild life within her under the burning pressure of
his lips, that strange and untamed force that she could neither
bind nor subdue, but which to suffer him to behold meant sacrilege
to her shrinking soul--such sacrilege as she believed she could
never face and live.
Gradually the turmoil subsided, but it left her weak, inert,
impotent. The impulse to pray came to her, but the prayer that
went up from her trembling heart was voiceless and wordless. She
had no means of expression in which to cloak her utter need. Only
the stark helplessness of her whole being cried dumbly for
deliverance.
A long time passed. The bungalow was silent and empty. She was
quite alone. She could hear the rising rush of the wind across the
_veldt_, and it sounded to her like a thing hunted and fleeing.
The sand of the desert whipped against the windows, and the gloom
increased. She was not naturally nervous, but a sense of fear
oppressed her. She had that fateful feeling, which sometimes comes
even in the sunshine, of something about to happen, of turning a
sharp corner in the road of life that must change the whole outlook
and trend of existence. She was afraid to look forward. For the
first time life had become terrible to her.
She roused herself to action at last and got up from the table.
Something fell on the ground as she did so. It was the key that
Burke had given into her care. She knew it for the key of his
strong-box in which he kept his money and papers. His journeys to
Brennerstadt were never frequent, and she knew that he usually kept
a considerable sum by him. The box was kept on the floor of the
cupboard in the wall of the room which Guy now occupied. It was
very heavy, so heavy that Burke himself never lifted it, seldom
moved it from its place, but opened and closed it as it stood. She
wondered as she groped for the key why he had given it to her.
That action of his pointed to but one conclusion. He expected to
be going into danger. He would not have parted with it otherwise.
Of that she was certain. He and Guy were both going into danger
then, and she was left in utter solitude to endure her suspense as
best she could.
She searched in vain for the key. It was small and made to fit a
patent lock. The darkness of the room baffled her search, and at
last she abandoned it and went to the pantry for a lamp. The
Kaffirs had gone to their huts. She found the lamp empty and
untrimmed in a corner, with two others in the same condition. The
oil was kept in an outbuilding some distance from the bungalow, and
there was none in hand. She diverted her search to candles, but
these also were hard to find. She spent several minutes there in
the darkness with the wind howling weirdly around like a lost thing
seeking shelter, and the sand beating against the little window
with a persistent rattle that worried her nerves with a strange
bewilderment.
Eventually she found an empty candlestick, and after prolonged
search an end of candle. Sand was everywhere. It ground under her
feet, and made gritty everything she touched. Was it fancy that
brought to her the smell of burning, recalling Burke's words? She
found herself shivering violently as she went to her own room for
matches.
It was while she was here that there came to her above the roar of
the wind a sudden sound that made her start and listen. Someone
was knocking violently, almost battering, at the door that led into
the passage.
Her heart gave a wild leap within her. Somehow--she knew not
wherefore--her thoughts went to Kieff. She had a curiously strong
feeling that he was, if not actually at the door, not far away.
Then, even while she stood with caught breath listening, the door
burst open and a blast of wind and sand came hurling into the
house. It banged shut again instantly, and there followed a
tramping of feet as if a herd of cattle had entered. Then there
came a voice.
"Damnation!" it said, with vigour. "Damnation! It's a hell of a
country, and myself was the benighted fool ever to come near it at
all. Whist to it now! Anyone would think the devil himself was
trying for admittance."
Very strangely that voice reassured Sylvia though she had never
heard it before in her life. It did more; it sent such a rush of
relief through her that she nearly laughed aloud.
She groped her way out into the passage, feeling as if a great
weight had been lifted from her. "Come in, whoever you are!" she
said. "It is rather infernal certainly. I'll light a candle in a
moment--as soon as I can find some matches."
She saw a dim, broad figure standing in front of her and heard a
long, soft whistle of dismay.
"I beg your pardon, madam," said the voice that had spoken such
hearty invective a few seconds before. "Sure, I had no idea I was
overheard. And I hope that I'll not have prejudiced you at all
with the violence of me language. But it's in the air of the
country, so to speak. And we all come to it in time. If it's a
match that you're wanting, I've got one in my pocket this minute
which I'll hand over with all the good will in the world if you'll
do me the favour to wait."
Sylvia waited. She knew the sort of face that went with that
voice, and it did not surprise her when the red Irish visage and
sandy brows beamed upon her above the flickering candle. The laugh
she had repressed a moment before rose to her lips. There was
something so comic in this man's appearance just when she had been
strung up for tragedy.
He looked at her with the eyes of a child, smiling good-humouredly
at her mirth. "Sure, you're putting the joke on me," he said.
"They all do it. Where can I have strayed to? Is this a fairy
palace suddenly sprung up in the desert, and you the Queen of No
Man's Land come down from your mountain-top to give me shelter?"
She shook her head, still laughing, "No, I've never been to the
mountain-top. I'm only a farmer's wife."
"A farmer's wife!" He regarded her with quizzical curiosity for a
space. "Is it Burke's bride that you are?" he questioned. "And is
it Burke Ranger's farm that I've blundered into after all?"
"I am Burke Ranger's wife," she told him. "But I left off being a
bride a long time ago. We are all too busy out here to keep up
sentimental nonsense of that sort."
"And isn't it the cynic that ye are entirely?" rejoined the
visitor, broadly grinning. "Sure, it's time I introduced myself to
the lady of the house. I'm Donovan Kelly, late of His Majesty's
Imperial Yeomanry, and at present engaged in the peaceful avocation
of mining for diamonds under the rubbish-heaps of Brennerstadt."
Sylvia held out her hand. There could be no standing upon ceremony
with this man. She hailed him instinctively as a friend. There
are some men in the world whom no woman can regard in any other
light.
"I am very pleased to meet you," she said, with simplicity. "And I
know Burke will be glad too that you have managed to make your way
over here. You haven't chosen a very nice day for your visit.
What a ghastly ride you must have had! What about your horse?"
"Sure, I'd given myself up for lost entirely," laughed Kelly. "And
I said to St. Peter--that's my horse and the best animal bred out
of Ireland--'Pete,' I said to him, 'it's a hell of a country and no
place for ye at all. But if ye put your back into it, Pete, and
get us out of this infernal sandpit, I'll give ye such a draught of
ale as'll make ye dance on your head with delight.' He's got a
taste for the liquor, has Pete. I've put him in a cowshed I found
round the corner, and, faith, he fair laughed to be out of the
blast. He's a very human creature, Mrs. Ranger, with the soul of a
Christian, only a bit saintlier."
"I shall have to make his acquaintance," said Sylvia. "Now come in
and have some refreshment! I am sure you must need it."
"And that's a true word," said Kelly, following her into the
sitting-room. "My throat feels as if it were lined with
sand-paper."
She rapidly cleared a place for him at the table, and ministered to
his wants. His presence was so large and comforting that her own
doubts and fears had sunk into the background. For a time,
listening to his artless talk, she was scarcely aware of them, and
she was thankful for the diversion. It had been a terrible
afternoon.
He began to make enquiries regarding Burke's absence at length, and
then she told him about the _veldt_-fires, and the menace to the
land. His distress returned somewhat as she did so, and he was
quick to perceive the anxiety she sought to hide.
"Now don't you worry--don't you worry!" he said. "Burke wasn't
made to go under. He's one in a million. He's the sort that'll
win to the very top of the world. And why? Because he's sound."
"Ah!" Sylvia said. Somehow that phrase at such a moment sent an
odd little pang through her. Would Burke indeed win to the top of
the world, she wondered? It seemed so remote to her now--that
palace of dreams which they had planned to share together. Did he
ever think of it now? She wondered--she wondered!
"Don't you worry!" Kelly said again. "There's nothing in life more
futile. Is young Guy still here, by the way? Has he gone out
scotching _veldt_-fires too?"
She started and coloured. How much did he know about Guy? How
much would it be wise to impart?
Perhaps he saw her embarrassment, for he hastened to enlighten her.
"I know all about young Guy. Nobody's enemy but his own. I helped
Burke dig him out of Hoffstein's several weeks back, and a tough
job it was. How has he behaved himself lately? Been on the bust
at all?"
Sylvia hesitated. She knew this man for a friend, and she trusted
him without knowing why; but she could not speak with freedom to
anyone of Guy and his sins.
But again the Irishman saw and closed the breach. His shrewd eyes
smiled kindly comprehension. "Ah, but he's a difficult youngster,"
he said. "Maybe he'll mend his ways as he gets older. We do
sometimes, Mrs. Ranger. Anyhow, with all his faults he's got the
heart of a gentleman. I've known him do things--decent
things--that only a gentleman would have thought of doing. I've
punched his head for him before now, but I've always liked young
Guy. It's the same with Burke. You can't help liking the fellow."
"I don't think Burke likes him," Sylvia said almost involuntarily.
"Then, begging your pardon, you're wrong," said Kelly. "Burke
loves him like a brother. I know that all right. No, he'll never
say so. He's not the sort. But it's the truth, all the same.
He's about the biggest disappointment in Burke's life. He'd never
have left him to sink if he hadn't been afraid the boy would shoot
himself if he did anything else."
"Ah!" Sylvia said again, with a sharp catch in her breath. "That
was what he was afraid of."
"Sure, that was it," said Kelly cheerfully. "You'll generally find
that that good man of yours has a pretty decent reason for
everything he does. It isn't often he loses his head--or his
temper. He's a fine chap to be friendly with, but a divil to
cross."
"Yes. I've heard that before," Sylvia said, with a valiant little
smile. "I should prefer to be friendly with him myself."
"Ah, sure and you're right," said Kelly. "But is it yourself that
could be anything else? Why, he worships the very ground under
your feet. I saw that clear as daylight that time at Brennerstadt."
She felt her heart quicken a little. "How--clever of you!" she
said.
He nodded with beaming appreciation of the compliment. "You'll
find my conclusions are generally pretty near the mark," he said.
"It isn't difficult to know what's in the minds of the people
you're fond of. Now is it?"
She stifled a sigh. "I don't know. I'm not very good at
thought-reading myself."
He chuckled like a merry child. "Ah, then you come to me, Mrs.
Ranger!" he said. "I'll be proud to help ye any time."
"I expect you help most people," she said. "You are everybody's
friend."
"I do my best," said Donovan Kelly modestly. "And, faith, a very
pleasant occupation it is."
CHAPTER VI
THE HERO
The wind went down somewhat at sunset and Sylvia realized with
relief that the worst was over. She sat listening for the return
of Burke and Guy while her companion chatted cheerfully of a
thousand things which might have interested her at any other time
but to which now she gave but fitful attention.
He was in the midst of telling her about the draw for the great
diamond at Brennerstadt and how the tickets had been reduced from
monkeys to ponies because the monkeys were too shy, when there came
the sound for which she waited--a hand upon the window-catch and
the swirl of sand blown in by the draught as it opened.
She was up in a moment, guarding the candle and looking out over it
with eager, half-dazzled eyes. For an instant her look met Burke's
as he stood in the aperture, then swiftly travelled to the man with
him. Guy, with a ghastly face that tried to smile, was hanging
upon him for support.
Burke shut the window with decision and stood staring at Sylvia's
companion.
Kelly at once proceeded with volubility to explain his presence.
"Ah, yes, it's meself in the flesh, Burke, and very pleased to see
ye. I've taken a holiday to come and do ye a good turn. And Mrs.
Ranger has been entertaining me like a prince in your absence. So
you've got young Guy with you! What's the matter with the boy?"
"I'm all right," said Guy, and quitted his hold upon Burke as if to
demonstrate the fact.
But Burke took him by the arm and led him to a chair. "You sit
down!" he commanded briefly. "Hullo, Donovan! Glad to see you!
Have you had a drink?"
"Sure, I've had all that mortal man could desire and more to it,"
declared Kelly.
"Good," said Burke, and turned to Sylvia. "Get out the brandy,
will you?"
She hastened to do his bidding. There was a blueness about Guy's
lips that frightened her, and she saw that his hands were clenched.
Yet, as Burke bent over him a few moments later, he laughed with
something of challenge in, his eyes. "Ripping sport, old chap!" he
said, and drank with a feverish eagerness.
Burke's hand was on his shoulder. She could not read his
expression, but she was aware of something unusual between them,
something that was wholly outside her experience. Then he spoke,
his voice very quiet and steady.
"Go slow, man! You've had a bit of a knockout."
Guy looked across at her, and there was triumph in his look. "It's
been--sport," he said again. "Ripping sport!" It was so boyishly
uttered, and his whole attitude was so reminiscent of the old days,
that she felt herself thrill in answer. She moved quickly to him.
"What has been happening? Tell me!" she said.
He laughed again. "My dear girl, we've been fighting the devil in
his own element, and we've beat him off the field." He sprang to
his feet. "Here, give me another drink, or I shall die! My throat
is a bed of live cinders."
Burke intervened. "No--no! Go slow, I tell you! Go slow! Get
some tea, Sylvia! Where are those Kaffirs?"
"They haven't been near all day," Sylvia said. "I frightened
Rosamond away this morning, and the others must have been afraid of
the storm."
"I'll rout 'em out," said Kelly.
"No. You stay here! I'll go." Burke turned to the door, but
paused as he opened it and looked back. "Sylvia!" he said.
She went to him. He put his hand through her arm and drew her into
the passage. "Don't let Guy have any more to drink!" he said.
"Mind, I leave him to you."
He spoke with urgency; she looked at him in surprise.
"Yes, I mean it," he said. "You must prevent him somehow. I
can't--nor Kelly either. You probably can--for a time anyhow."
"I'll do my best," she said.
His hand closed upon her. "If you fail, he'll go under, I know the
signs. It's up to you to stop him. Go back and see to it!"
He almost pushed her from him with the words, and it came to her
that for some reason Guy's welfare was uppermost with him just
then. He had never betrayed any anxiety on his account before, and
she wondered greatly at his attitude. But it was no time for
questioning. Mutely she obeyed him and went back.
She found Guy in the act of filling a glass for Kelly. His own
stood empty at his elbow. She went forward quickly, and laid her
hand on his shoulder. "Guy, please!" she said,
He looked at her, the bottle in his hand. In his eyes she saw
again that dreadful leaping flame which made her think of some
starved and desperate animal. "What is it?" he said.
An overwhelming sense of her own futility came upon her. She felt
almost like a child standing there, attempting that of which Burke
had declared himself to be incapable.
"What is it?" he said again.
She braced herself for conflict. "Please," she said gently. "I
want you to wait and have some tea. It won't take long to get."
Then, as the fever of his eyes seemed to burn her: "Please, Guy!
Please!"
Kelly put aside his own drink untouched. "There's no refusing such
a sweet appeal as that," he declared gallantly. "Guy, I move a
postponement. Tea first!"
But Guy was as one who heard not. He was staring at Sylvia, and
the wild fire in his eyes was leaping higher, ever higher. In that
moment he saw her, and her alone. It was as if they two had
suddenly met in a place that none other might enter. His words of
the morning rushed back upon her--his passionate declaration that
life was not long enough for sacrifice--that the future to which
she looked was but a mirage which she would never reach.
It all flashed through her brain in a few short seconds, vivid,
dazzling, overwhelming, and the memory of Kieff went with it--Kieff
and his cold, sinister assertion that she held Guy's destiny
between her hands.
Then, very softly, Guy spoke. "To please--you?" he said.
She answered him, but it was scarcely of her own volition. She was
as one driven--"Yes--yes!"
He looked at her closely as if to make sure of her meaning. Then,
with a quick, reckless movement, he turned and set down the bottle
on the table.
"That settles that," he said boyishly. "Go ahead, Kelly! Drink!
Don't mind me! I am--brandy-proof."
And Sylvia, throbbing from head to foot, knew she had conquered,
knew she had saved him for a time at least from the threatening
evil. But there was that within her which shrank from the thought
of the victory. She had acted almost under compulsion, yet she
felt that she had used a weapon which would ultimately pierce them
both.
She scarcely knew what passed during the interval that followed
before Burke's return. As in a dream she heard Kelly still talking
about the Brennerstadt diamond, and Guy was asking him questions
with a keenness of interest that seemed strange to her. She
herself was waiting and watching for Burke, dreading his coming,
yet in a fashion eager for it. For very curiously she had a
feeling that she needed him. For the first time she wanted to lean
upon his strength.
But when at length he came, her dread of him was uppermost and she
felt she could not meet his look. It was with relief that she saw
Guy was still his first thought. He had fetched Joe from the
Kaffir huts, and the lamps were filled and lighted. He was
carrying one as he entered, and the light flung upwards on his face
showed it to her as the face of a strong man.
He set the lamp on the table and went straight to Guy. "Look
here!" he said. "I'm going to put you to bed."
Guy, with his arms on the table, looked up at him and laughed.
"Oh, rats! I'm all right. Can't you see I'm all right? Well, I
must have some tea first anyway. I've been promised tea."
"I'll bring you your tea in bed," Burke said.
But Guy protested. "No, really, old chap. I must sit up a bit
longer. I'll be very good. I want to hear all Kelly's news. I
believe I shall have to go back to Brennerstadt with him to paint
the town red. I'd like to have a shot at that diamond. You never
know your luck when the devil's on your side."
"I know yours," said Burke drily. "And it's about as rotten as it
can be. You've put too great a strain on it all your life."
Guy laughed again. He was in the wildest spirits. But suddenly in
the midst of his mirth he began to cough with a dry, harsh sound
like the rending of wood. He pushed his chair back from the table,
and bent himself double, seeming to grope upon the floor. It was
the most terrible paroxysm that Sylvia had ever witnessed, and she
thought it would never end.
Several times he tried to straighten himself, but each effort
seemed to renew the anguish that tore him, and in the end he
subsided limply against Burke who supported him till at last the
convulsive choking ceased.
He was completely exhausted by that time and offered no
remonstrance when Burke and Kelly between them bore him to the
former's room and laid him on the bed he had occupied for so long.
Burke administered brandy again; there was no help for it. And
then at Guy's whispered request he left him for a space to recover.
He drew Sylvia out of the room, and Kelly followed. "I'll go back
to him later, and help him undress," he said. "But he will
probably get on better alone for the present."
"What has been happening?" Sylvia asked him. "Tell me what has
been happening!"
A fevered desire to know everything was upon her. She felt she
must know.
Burke looked at her as if something in her eagerness struck him as
unusual. But he made no comment upon it. He merely with his
customary brevity proceeded to enlighten her.
"We went to Vreiboom's, and had a pretty hot time. Kieff was there
too, by the way. The fire got a strong hold, and if the wind, had
held, we should probably have been driven out of it, and our own
land would have gone too. As it was," he paused momentarily,
"well, we have Guy to thank that it didn't."
"Guy!" said Sylvia quickly.
"Yes. He worked like a nigger--better. He's been among hot ashes
and that infernal sand for hours. I couldn't get him out. He did
the impossible." A curious tremor sounded in Burke's voice--"The
impossible!" he said again.
"Sure, I always said there was grit in the boy," said Kelly.
"You'll be making a man of him yet, Burke. You'll have to have a
good try after this."
Burke was silent. His eyes, bloodshot but keen, were upon Sylvia's
face.
It was some moments before with an effort she lifted her own to
meet them. "So Guy is a hero!" she said, with a faint uncertain
smile. "I'm glad of that."
"Let's drink to him," said Kelly, "now he isn't here to see!
Burke, fill up! Mrs. Ranger!"
"No--no!" Sylvia said. "I am going to get the tea."
Yet she paused beside Burke, as if compelled. "What else did he
do?" she said. "You haven't told us all."
"Not quite all," said Burke, and still his eyes searched hers with
a probing intentness.
"Don't you want to tell me?" she said.
"Yes, I will tell you," he answered, "if you especially want to
hear. He saved my life."
"Hooray!" yelled Kelly, in the voice of one holloaing to hounds.
Sylvia said nothing for a moment. She had turned very pale. When
she spoke it was with an effort. "How?"
He answered as if speaking to her alone. "One of Vreiboom's
tumble-down old sheds fired while we were trying to clear it. The
place collapsed and I got pinned inside. Piet Vreiboom didn't
trouble himself, or Kieff, either. He wouldn't--naturally. Guy
got me out."
"Ah!" she said. It was scarcely more than an intake of the breath.
She could not utter another word, for that imprisoned thing within
her seemed to be clawing at her heart, choking her. If Burke had
died--if Burke had died! She turned herself quickly from the
searching of his eyes, lest he should see--and understand. She
could not--dared not--show him her soul just then. The memory of
his kiss--that single, fiery kiss that had opened her own
eyes--held her back. She went from him in silence. If Burke had
died!
CHAPTER VII
THE NET
It was not often that Sylvia lay awake, but that night her brain
was in a turmoil, and for long she courted sleep in vain. For some
time after she retired, the murmur of Burke's and Kelly's voices in
the adjoining room kept her on the alert, but it was mainly the
thoughts that crowded in upon her that would not let her rest. The
thought of Guy troubled her most, this and the knowledge that Kieff
was in the neighbourhood. She had an almost uncanny dread of this
man. He seemed to stand in the path as a menace, an evil influence
that she could neither avert nor withstand. Burke had barely
mentioned him, yet his words had expressed the thought that had
sprung instantly to her mind. He was an enemy to them all, most of
all to Guy, and she feared him. She had a feeling that she would
sooner or later have to fight him for Guy's soul, and she was sick
with apprehension. For the only weapon at her disposal was that
weapon she dare not wield.
The long night dragged away. She thought it would never end. When
sleep came to her at last it was only to bring dreadful dreams in
its train. Burke in danger! Burke imprisoned in a burning hut!
Burke at the mercy of Kieff, the merciless!
She wrenched herself free from these nightmares in the very early
morning while the stars were still in the sky, and went out on to
the _stoep_ to banish the evil illusions from her brain. It was
still and cold and desolate. The guest-hut in which Kelly was
sleeping was closed. There was no sign of life anywhere. A great
longing to go out alone on to the _veldt_ came to her. She felt as
if the great solitude must soothe her spirit. And it would be good
to realize her wish and to see the day break from that favourite
_kopje_ of hers.
She turned to re-enter her room for an extra wrap, and then started
at sight of another figure standing at the corner of the bungalow.
She thought it was Burke, and her heart gave a wild leap within
her, but the next moment as it began to move noiselessly towards
her, she recognized Guy.
He came to her on stealthy feet. "Hullo!" he whispered. "Can't
you sleep?"
She held out her hand to him. "Guy! You ought to be in bed!"
He made an odd grimace, and bending, carried her hand to his lips.
"I couldn't sleep either. I've been tormented with a fiery thirst
all night long. What has been keeping you awake? Honestly now!"
He laughed into her eyes, and she was aware that he was trying to
draw her nearer to him. There was about him at, that moment a
subtle allurement that was hard to resist. Old memories thrilled
through her at his touch. For five years she had held herself as
belonging to him. Could the spell be broken in as many months?
Yet she did resist him, turning her face away. "I can't tell you,"
she said, a quiver in her voice. "I had a good deal to think
about. Guy, what is--Kieff doing at Piet Vreiboom's?"
Guy frowned. "Heaven knows. He is there for his own amusement,
not mine."
"You didn't know he was there?" she said, looking at him again.
His frown deepened. "Yes, I knew. Of course I knew. Why?"
Her heart sank. "I don't like him," she said. "I know he is
clever. I know he saved your life. But I never did like him.
I--am afraid of him."
"Perhaps you would have rather he hadn't saved my life?" suggested
Guy, with a twist of the lips. "It would have simplified matters
considerably, wouldn't it?"
"Don't!" she said, and withdrew her hand. "You know how it hurts
me--to hear you talk like that."
"Why should it hurt you?" said Guy.
She was silent, and he did not press for an answer. Instead, very
softly he whistled the air of a song that he had been wont to sing
to her half in jest in the old days.
Love that hath us in the net
Can he pass and we forget?
She made a little movement of flinching, but the next moment she
turned back to him with absolute steadfastness. "Guy, you and I
are friends, aren't we? We never could be anything else."
"Oh, couldn't we?" said Guy.
"No," she maintained resolutely. "Please let us remember that!
Please let us build on that!"
He looked at her whimsically. "It's a shaky foundation," he said.
"But we'll try. That is, we'll pretend if you like. Who knows?
We may succeed."
"Don't put it like that!" she said. "Be a man, Guy! I know you
can be. Only yesterday----"
"Yesterday? What happened yesterday?" said Guy. "I never remember
the yesterdays."
"I think you do," she said. "You did a big thing yesterday. You
saved Burke."
"Oh, that!" He uttered a low laugh. "My dear girl, don't canonize
me on that account! I only did it because those swine wanted to see
him burn."
She shuddered. "That is not true. You know it is not true. It
pleases you to pretend you are callous. But you are not at heart.
Burke knows that as well as I do,"
"Oh, damn Burke!" he said airly. "He's no great oracle. I wonder
what you'd have said if I had come back without him."
She clenched her hands hard to keep back another shudder. "I can't
talk of that--can't think of it even. You don't know--you will
never realize--all that Burke has done for me."
"Yes, I do know," Guy said. "But most men would have jumped at the
chance to do the same. You take it all too seriously. It was no
sacrifice to him. You don't owe him anything. He wouldn't have
done it if he hadn't taken a fancy to you. And he didn't do it for
nothing either. He's not such a philanthropist as that."
Somehow that hurt her intolerably. She looked at him with a quick
flash of anger in her eyes. "Do you want to make me hate you?" she
said.
He turned instantly and with a most winning gesture. "No, darling.
You couldn't if you tried," he said.
She went back a step, shaking her head. "I am not so sure," she
said. "Why do you say these horrible things to me?"
He held out his hand to her. "I'm awfully sorry, dear," he said.
"But it is for your good. I want you to see life as it is, not as
your dear little imagination is pleased to paint it. You are so
dreadfully serious always. Life isn't, you know. It really isn't.
It's nothing but a stupid and rather vulgar farce."
She gave him her hand, for she could not deny him; but she gave no
sign of yielding with it. "Oh, how I wish you would take it more
seriously!" she said.
"Do you?" he said. "But what's the good? Who Is it going to
benefit if I do? Not myself. I should hate it. And not you. You
are much too virtuous to have any use for me."
"Oh, Guy," she said, "Is it never worth while to play the game?"
His hand tightened upon hers. "Look here!" he said suddenly.
"Suppose I did as you wish--suppose I did pull up--play the game,
as you call it? Suppose I clawed and grabbed for success Like the
rest of the world--and got it. Would you care?"
"I wasn't talking of success," she said. "That's no answer." He
swung her hand to and fro with vehement impatience. "Suppose you
were free--yes, you've got to suppose it just for a moment--suppose
you were free--and suppose I came to you with both hands full, and
offered you myself and all I possessed--would you send me empty
away? Would you? Would you?"
He spoke with a fevered insistence. His eyes were alight and
eager. Just so had he spoken in the long ago when she had given
him her girlish heart in full and happy surrender.
There was no surrender in her attitude now, but yet she could not,
she could not, relentlessly send him from her. He appealed so
strongly, with so intense an earnestness.
"I can't imagine these things, Guy," she said at last. "I only ask
you--implore you--to do your best to keep straight. It is worth
while, believe me. You will find that it is worth while."
"It might be--with you to make it so," he said. "Without you----"
She shook her head. "No--no! For other, better reasons. We have
our duty to do. We must do it. It is the only way to be happy. I
am sure of that."
"Have you found it so?" he said. "Are you happy?"
She hesitated.
He pressed his advantage instantly. "You are not. You know you
are not. Do you think you can deceive me even though you may
deceive yourself? We have known each other too long for that. You
are not happy, Sylvia. You are afraid of life as it is--of life as
it might be. You haven't pluck to take your fate into your own
hands and hew out a way for yourself. You're the slave of
circumstances and you're afraid to break free." He made as if he
would release her, and then suddenly, unexpectedly, caught her hand
up to his face. "All the same, you are mine--you are mine!" he
told her hotly. "You belonged to me from the beginning, and
nothing else counts or ever can count against that. I would have
died to get out of your way. I tried to die. But you brought me
back. And now, say what you like--say what you like--you are mine!
I saw it in your eyes last night, and I defy every law that man
ever made to take you from me. I defy the thing you call duty.
You love me! You have always loved me! Deny it if you can!"
It was swift, it was almost overwhelming. At another moment it
might have swept her off her feet. But a greater force was at work
within her, and she stood her ground.
She drew her hand away. "Not like that, Guy," she said. "I love
you. Yes, I love you. But only as a friend. You--you don't
understand me. How should you? I have grown beyond all your
knowledge of me. I was a girl in the old days--when we played at
love together." A sharp sob rose in her throat, but she stifled
it. "All that is over. I am a woman now. My eyes are
open,--and--the romance is all gone."
He stiffened as if he had been struck, but only for a second. The
next recklessly he laughed. "That is just your way of putting it,"
he said. "Love doesn't change--like that. It either goes out, or
it remains--for good. It is you who don't understand yourself.
You may turn your back on the truth, but you can't alter it. Those
who have once been lovers--and lovers such as you and I--can never
again be only friends. That, if you like, is the impossible.
But--" He paused for a moment, with lifted shoulders, then
abruptly turned to go. "Good-bye!" he said.
"You are going?" she questioned.
He swung on his heel as if irresolute. "Yes, I am going. I am
going back to my cabin, back to my wallowing in the mire. Why not?
Is there anyone who cares the toss of a halfpenny what I do?"
"Yes." Breathlessly she answered him; the words seemed to leap
from her of their own accord, and surely it was hardly of her own
volition that she followed and held his arm, detaining him. "Guy!
You know we care. Burke cares. I care. Guy, please, dear,
please! It's such a pity. Oh, it's such a pity! Won't you--can't
you--fight against it? Won't you even--try? I know you could
conquer, if only--if only you would try!" Her eyes were raised to
his. She besought him with all the strength of her being. She
clung to him as if she would hold him back by sheer physical force
from the abyss at his feet. "Oh, Guy, it is worth while!" she
pleaded. "Indeed--indeed it is worth while--whatever it costs.
Guy,--I beseech--I implore you----"
She broke off, for with a lightning movement he had taken her face
between his hands. "You can make it worth while," he said. "I
will do it--for you."
He held her passionately close for an instant, but he did not kiss
her. She saw the impulse to do so in his eyes, and she saw him
beat it fiercely back. That was the only comfort that remained to
her when the next moment he sprang away and went so swiftly from
her that he was lost to sight almost before she knew that he was
gone.
CHAPTER VIII
THE SUMMONS
When Kelly awoke that morning, it was some time later, and Burke
was entering his hut with a steaming cup of cocoa. The Irishman
stretched his large bulk and laughed up at his friend.
"Faith, it's the good host that ye are! I've slept like a top, my
son, and never an evil dream. How's the lad this morning? And
how's the land?"
"The land's all right so far," Burke said. "I'm just off to help
them bring in the animals. The northern dam has failed."
Kelly leaped from his bed. "I'll come. That's just the job for me
and St. Peter. Don't bring the missis along though! It's too much
for her."
"I know that," Burke said shortly. "I've told her so. She is to
take it easy for a bit. The climate is affecting her."
Kelly looked at him with his kindly, curious eyes. "Can't you get
things fixed up here and bring her along to Brennerstadt for the
races and the diamond gamble? It would do you both good to have a
change."
Burke shook his head, "I doubt if she would care for it. And young
Guy would want to come too. If he did, he would soon get up to
mischief again. He has gone back to his hut this morning, cleared
out early. I hope he is to be trusted to behave himself."
"Oh, leave the boy alone!" said Kelly. "He's got some decent
feelings of his own, and it doesn't do to mother him too much.
Give him his head for a bit! He's far less likely to bolt."
Burke shrugged his shoulders. "I can't hold him if he means to go,
I quite admit. But I haven't much faith in his keeping on the
straight, and that's a fact. I don't like his going back to the
hut, and I'd have prevented it if I'd known. But I slept in the
sitting-room last night, and I was dead beat. He cleared out
early."
"Didn't anyone see him go?" queried Kelly keenly.
"Yes. My wife." Again Burke's tone was curt, repressive. "She
couldn't stop him."
"She made him hold hard with the brandy-bottle last night," said
Kelly. "I admired her for it. She's got a way with her, Burke.
Sure, the devil himself couldn't have resisted her then."
Burke's faint smile showed for a moment; he said nothing.
"How you must worship her!" went on Kelly, with amiable effusion.
"Some fellows have all the luck. Sure, you're never going to let
that sweet angel languish here like that poor little Mrs. Merston!
You wouldn't now! Come, you wouldn't!"
But Burke passed the matter by. He had pressing affairs on hand,
and obviously it was not his intention to discuss his conduct
towards his wife even with the worthy Kelly whose blundering
goodness so often carried him over difficult ground that few others
would have ventured to negotiate.
He left Kelly to dress, and went back to the bungalow where Sylvia
was busy with a duster trying to get rid of some of the sand that
thickly covered everything. He had scarcely spoken to her that
morning except for news Of Guy, but now he drew her aside.
"Look here!" he said. "Don't wear yourself out!"
She gave him a quick look. "Oh, I shan't do that. Work is good
for me. Isn't this sand too awful for words?"
She spoke with a determined effort to assume the old careless
attitude towards him, but the nervous flush on her cheeks betrayed
her.
He put his hand on her shoulder, and wheeled her round somewhat
suddenly towards the light. "You didn't sleep last night," he said.
She tried to laugh, but she could not check the hot flush of
embarrassment that raced into her pale cheeks under his look. "I
couldn't help it," she said. "I was rather wound up yesterday.
It--was an exciting day, wasn't it?"
He continued to look at her for several seconds, intently but not
sternly. Then very quietly he spoke. "Sylvia, if things go wrong,
if the servants upset you, come to me about it! Don't go to Guy!"
She understood the reference in a moment. The flush turned to
flaming crimson that mounted in a wave to her forehead. She drew
back from him, her head high.
"And if Schafen or any other man comes to you with offensive gossip
regarding my behaviour, please kick him as he deserves--next time!"
she said. "And then--if you think it necessary--come to me for an
explanation!"
She spoke with supreme scorn, every word a challenge. She was more
angry in that moment than she could remember that she had ever been
before. How dared he hear Schafen's evidence against her, and then
coolly take her thus to task?
The memory of his kiss swept back upon her as she spoke, that kiss
that had so cruelly wounded her, that kiss that had finally rent
the veil away from her quivering heart. She stood before him with
clenched hands. If he had attempted to kiss her then, she would
have struck him.
But he did not move. He stood, looking at her, looking at her,
till at last her wide eyes wavered and sank before his own. He
spoke then, an odd inflection in his voice.
"Why are you so angry?"
Her two fists were pressed hard against her sides. She was aware
of a weakening of her self-control, and she fought with all her
strength to retain it. She could not speak for a second or two,
but it was not fear that restrained her.
"Tell me!" he said. "Why are you angry?"
The colour was dying slowly out of her face; a curious chill had
followed the sudden flame. "It is your own fault," she said.
"How--my fault?" Burke's voice was wholly free from any sort of
emotion; but his question held insistence notwithstanding.
She answered it almost in spite of herself. "For making me hate
you."
He made a slight movement as of one who shifts his hold upon some
chafing creature to strengthen his grip. "How have I done that?"
he said.
She answered him in a quick, breathless rush of words that betrayed
her failing strength completely. "By doubting me--by being jealous
and showing it--by--by--by insulting me!"
"What?" he said.
She turned from him sharply and walked away, battling with herself.
"You know what I mean," she said tremulously. "You know quite well
what I mean. You were angry yesterday--angry because Hans
Schafen--a servant--had told you something that made you distrust
me. And because you were angry, you--you--you insulted me!" She
turned round upon him suddenly with eyes of burning accusation.
She was fighting, fighting, with all her might, to hide from him
that frightened, quivering thing that she herself had recognized
but yesterday. If it had been a plague-spot, she could not have
guarded it more jealously. Its presence scared her. Her every
instinct was to screen it somehow, somehow, from those keen eyes.
For he was so horribly strong, so shrewd, so merciless!
He came up to her as she wheeled. He took one of her quivering
wrists, and held it, his fingers closely pressed upon the leaping
pulse. "Sylvia!" he said, and this time there was an edge to his
voice that made her aware that he was putting force upon himself.
"I have never insulted you--or distrusted you. Everything was
against me yesterday. But when I left you, I gave all I possessed
into your keeping. It is in your keeping still. Does that look
like distrust?"
She gave, a quick, involuntary start, but he went on, scarcely
pausing.
"When a man is going into possible danger, and his wife is thinking
of--other things, is he so greatly to blame if he takes the
quickest means at his disposal of waking her up?"
"Ah!" she said. Had he not waked her indeed? But yet--but
yet--She looked at ham doubtfully.
"Listen!" he said. "We've been going round in a circle lately.
It's been like that infernal game we used to play as children.
'Snail,' wasn't it called? Where nobody ever got home and
everybody always lost their tempers! Let's get out of it, Sylvia!
Let's leave Guy and Schafen to look after things, and go to the top
of the world by ourselves! I'll take great care of you. You'll be
happy, you know. You'll like it."
He spoke urgently, leaning towards her. There was nothing terrible
about him at that moment. All the mastery had gone from his
attitude. He was even smiling a little.
Her heart gave a great throb. It was so long, so long, since he
had spoken to her thus. And then, like a blasting wind, the memory
of Guy's bitter words rushed across her. She seemed again to feel
the sand of the desert blowing in her face, sand that was blended
with ashes. Was it only a slave that he wanted after all? She
hated herself for the thought, but she could not drive it out.
"Don't you like that idea?" he said.
Still she hesitated. "What of Guy?" she said. "We must think of
him, Burke. We must."
"I'm thinking of him," he said. "A little responsibility would
probably do him good."
"But to leave him--entirely--" She broke off. Someone was
knocking at the outer door, and she was thankful for the
interruption. Burke turned away, and went to answer. He came back
with a note in his hand.
"It's Merston's house-boy," he said. "I've sent him round to the
kitchen to get a feed. Something's up there, I am afraid. Let's
see what he has to say!"
He opened the letter while he was speaking, and there fell a short
silence while he read. Sylvia took up her duster again. Her hands
were trembling.
In a moment Burke spoke. "Yes, it's from Merston. The poor chap
has had an accident, fallen from his horse and badly wrenched his
back. His overseer is away, and he wants to know if I will go over
and lend a hand. I must go of course." He turned round to her.
"You'll be able to manage for a day or two?"
Her breathing came quickly, nervously. She felt oddly uncertain of
herself, as if she had just come through a crisis that had bereft
her of all her strength,
"Of course," she said, not looking at him. "Of course."
He stood for a moment or two, watching her. Then he moved to her
side.
"I'm leaving you in charge," he said, "But you won't overdo it?
Promise me!"
She laughed a little. The thought of his going was a vast relief
to her at that moment. She yearned to be alone, to readjust her
life somehow before she met him again. She wanted to rebuild her
defences. She wanted to be quite sure of herself.
"Oh, I shall take great care of myself," she said. "I'm very good
at that."
"I wonder," said Burke, And then he laid his hand upon the flicking
duster and stopped her quivering activity. "Are you still--hating
me?" he said.
She stood motionless, and still her eyes avoided his. "I'll tell
you," she said, "when we meet again."
"Does that mean that I am to go--unforgiven?" he said.
Against her will she looked at him. In spite of her, her lip
trembled,
He put his arm round her. "Does it?" he said.
"No," she whispered back.
In that moment they were nearer than they had been through all the
weeks of Guy's illness, nearer possibly than they had ever been
before. It would have been so easy for Sylvia to lean upon that
strong encircling arm, so easy that she wondered afterwards how she
restrained the impulse to do so. But the moment passed so quickly,
sped by the sound of Kelly's feet upon the _stoep_, and Burke's arm
pressed her close and then fell away.
There was neither disappointment nor annoyance on his face as he
turned to meet his guest. He was even smiling.
Sylvia recalled that smile afterwards--the memory of it went with
her through all the bitter hours that followed.
CHAPTER IX
FOR THE SAKE OF THE OLD LOVE
Kelly accompanied Burke when, after hurried preparation and
consultation with Schafen, he finally took the rough road that
wound by the _kopje_ on his way to the Merstons' farm. He had not
intended to prolong his visit over two days, and he proposed to
conclude it now; for his leisure was limited, and he had undertaken
to be back in Brennerstadt for the occasion of the diamond draw
which he himself had organized, and which was to take place at the
end of the week. But at Burke's request, as they rode upon their
way, he promised to return to Blue Hill Farm for that night and the
next also if Burke could not return sooner. He did not mean to be
absent for more than two nights. His own affairs could not be
neglected for longer, though he might decide to send Schafen over
to help the Merstons if necessary.
"My wife can't look after Guy single-handed," he said. "It's not a
woman's job, and I can't risk it. I shall feel easier if you are
there."
And Kelly professed himself proud to be of service in any capacity.
If Mrs. Burke would put up with him for another night, sure, he'd
be delighted to keep her company, and he'd see that the boy behaved
himself too, though for his own part he didn't think that there was
any vice about him just then.
They did not visit the hut or the sand whither Guy had betaken
himself. The sun was getting high, and Burke, with the Kaffir boy
who had brought the message running at his stirrup, would not
linger on the road.
"He's probably having a rest," he said. "He won't be fit for much
else to-day. You'll see him to-night, Donovan?"
And Donovan promised that he would. He was in fact rather proud of
the confidence reposed in him. To treat him as a friend in need
was the highest compliment that anyone could pay the kind-hearted
Irishman. Cheerily he undertook to remain at Blue Hill Farm until
Burke's return, always providing that Mrs. Burke didn't get tired
of him and turn him out.
"She won't do that," said Burke. "You'll find she will be
delighted to see you to-day when you get back. She hasn't been
trained for solitude, and I fancy it gets on her nerves."
Perhaps it did. But on that occasion at least Sylvia was thankful
to be left alone. She had her house to set in order, and at that
very moment she was on her knees in the sitting-room, searching,
searching in all directions for the key which she had dropped on
the previous day during the dust-storm, before Kelly's arrival.
Burke's reference to the matter had recalled it to her mind, and
now with shamed self-reproach she sought in every cranny for the
only thing of any importance which he had ever entrusted to her
care.
She sought in vain. The sand was thick everywhere, but she
searched every inch of the floor with her hands, and found nothing.
The stifling heat of the day descended upon her as she searched.
She felt sick in mind and body, sick with a growing hopelessness
which she would not acknowledge. The thing could not be lost. She
knew that Burke had slept in the room, and none of the servants had
been alone in it since. So the key must be somewhere there, must
have been kicked into some corner, or caught in a crack. She had
felt so certain of finding it that she had not thought it necessary
to tell Burke of her carelessness. But now she began to wish she
had told him. Her anxiety was turning to a perfect fever of
apprehension. The conviction was beginning to force itself upon
her that someone must have found the key.
But who--who? No Kaffir, she was certain. No Kaffir had entered.
And Burke had been there all night long. He had slept in the long
chair, giving up his bed to the guest. And he had slept late,
tired out after the violent exertions of the previous day.
He had slept late! Suddenly, there on her knees in the litter of
sand, another thought flashed through her brain, the thought of her
own sleeplessness, the thought of the early morning, the thought of
Guy.
He had been up early. He generally rested till late in the
morning. He too had been sleepless. But he had a remedy for that
which she knew he would not scruple to take if he felt the need.
His wild excitement of the night before rose up before her. His
eager interest in Kelly's talk of the diamond, the strangeness of
his attitude that morning. And then, with a lightning suddenness,
came the memory of Kieff.
Guy was under Kieff's influence. She was certain of it. And
Kieff? She shrank at the bare thought of the man, his subtle
force, his callous strength of purpose, his almost uncanny
intelligence. Yes, she was afraid of Kieff--she had always been
afraid of Kieff.
The midday heat seemed to press upon her like a burning, crushing
weight. It seemed to deprive her of the power to think, certainly
of the power to reason. For what rational connection could there
be between Kieff and the loss of Burke's key? Kieff was several
miles away at the farm of Piet Vreiboom. And Guy--where was Guy?
She wished he would come back. Surely he would come back soon!
She would tell him of her loss, she yearned to tell someone; she
would get him to help her in her search. For it could not be lost.
It could not be really lost! They would find it somehow--somehow!
It was no actual reasoning but a blind instinct that moved her to
get up at length and go to the room that Guy had occupied for so
long, the room that was Burke's. It was just as Guy had left it
that morning. She noted mechanically the disordered bed. The
cupboard in the corner was closed as usual, but the key was in the
lock. Burke kept his clothes on the higher shelves. The
strong-box stood on the floor with some boots.
Her eyes went straight to it. Some magnetism seemed to be at work,
compelling her. And then--she gave a gasp of wonder, and almost
fell on to the sandy floor beside the box. The key was in the lock!
Was it all a dream then? Had it never been lost? Had she but
imagined Burke's action in confiding it to her? She closed her
eyes for a space, for her brain was swimming. The terrible,
parching heat seemed to have turned into a wheel--a fiery wheel of
torture that revolved behind her eyes, making her wince at every
turn. The pain was intense; when she tried to move, it was
excruciating. She sank down with her head almost on the iron box
and waited in dumb endurance for relief.
A long time passed so, and she fancied later that she must have
slept, for she dared not move while that awful pain lasted, and she
was scarcely conscious of her surroundings. But it became less
acute at last; she found herself sitting up with wide-open eyes,
trying to collect her thoughts.
They evaded her for a while, and she dared not employ any very
strenuous effort to capture them, lest that unspeakable suffering
should return. But gradually--very gradually--the power to reason
returned to her. She found herself gazing at the key that had cost
her so much; and after a little, impelled by what seemed to be
almost a new sense within her, she took it between her quivering
fingers and turned it.
It went with an ease that surprised her, for she remembered--her
brain was becoming every moment more strangely clear and alert--she
remembered that Burke had said only a day or two before that it
needed oiling. She opened the box, and with a fateful premonition
looked within.
A few papers in a rubber band lay in the bottom of the box, and
beside them, carelessly tossed aside, an envelope! There was no
money at all.
She took up the envelope, feverishly searching. It contained a
cigarette--one of her own--that had been half-smoked. She stared
at it for a second or two in wonder, then like a stab came the
memory of that night--so long ago--when he had taken the cigarette
from between her lips, when he had been on the verge of speech,
when she had stood waiting to hear . . . and Guy had come between.
Many seconds later she put the envelope back, and got up.
Conviction had come irresistibly upon her; she knew now whose hand
had oiled the lock, she knew beyond all doubting who had opened the
box, and left it thus.
She was trembling no longer, but steady--firm as a rock. She must
find Guy. Wherever he was, she must find him. That money--her own
sacred charge--must be returned before she faced Burke again. Guy
was mad. She must save him from his madness. This fight for Guy's
soul--she had seen it coming. She realized it as a hand to hand
fight with Kieff. But she would win. She was bound to win. So
she told herself. No power of evil could possibly triumph
ultimately, and she knew that deep in his inmost heart Guy
acknowledged this. However wild and reckless his words, he did not
really expect to see her waver. He might be the slave of evil
himself, but he knew that she would never share his slavery. He
knew it, and in spite of himself he honoured her. She believed he
would always honour her. And this was the weapon on which she
counted for his deliverance, this and the old sweet friendship
between them that was infinitely more enduring than first love.
She believed that her influence over him was greater than Kieff's.
Otherwise she had not dared to pit her strength against that of the
enemy. Otherwise she had waited to beg the help of Kelly, who
always helped everyone.
The thought of Burke she put resolutely from her. Burke should
never know, if she could prevent it, how low Guy had fallen. If
only she could save Guy from that, she believed she might save him
from all. When once his eyes were opened, when once she had beaten
down Kieff's ascendancy, the battle would be won. But she must act
immediately and with decision. There was not a moment to lose. If
Guy were not checked now, at the very outset, there would be no
saving him from the abyss. She must find him now, at once. And
she must do it alone. There was no alternative to that. Only
alone could she hope to influence him.
She stooped and locked the box once more, taking the key. Now that
she knew the worst, her weakness was all gone. With the old steady
fearlessness she went from the room. The battle was before her,
but she knew no misgiving. She would win--she was bound to
win--for the sake of the old love and in the strength of the new.
CHAPTER X
THE BEARER OF EVIL TIDINGS
It was late in the afternoon when Kelly returned to Blue Hill Farm.
He had been riding round Merston's lands with Burke during a great
part of the day, and he was comfortably tired. He looked forward
to spending a congenial evening with his hostess, and he hoped that
young Guy would not be of too lively a turn, for he was in a mood
for peace.
The first chill of evening was creeping over the _veldt_ as he
ambled along the trail past the _kopje_. As he came within sight
of the farm a wave of sentiment swept over him.
"Faith, it's a jolly little homestead!" he said, with a sigh.
"Lucky devil--Burke!"
There was no one about, and he took his horse to the stable and
gave him a rub-down and feed before catering. Then he made his way
into the house from the back,
There was a light in the sitting-room, and he betook himself
thither, picturing the homely scene of Sylvia knitting socks for
her husband or engaged upon some housewifely task.
He announced himself with his customary, cheery garrulity as he
entered.
"Ah, here I am again, Mrs. Burke! And it's good news I've got for
ye. Merston's not so badly damaged after all, and your husband is
hoping to be back by midday in the morning."
He stopped short. The room was not empty, but the figure that rose
up with an easy, sinuous movement to meet him was not the figure he
had expected to see.
"Good evening, Kelly!" said Saul Kieff.
"What the devil!" said Kelly.
Kieff smiled in a cold, detached fashion. "I came over to find Mr.
Burke Ranger. But I gather he is away from home."
"What have you come for?" said Kelly.
He did not like Kieff though his nature was too kindly to entertain
any active antipathy towards anyone. But no absence of intimacy
could ever curb his curiosity, and he never missed any information
for lack of investigation.
Kieff's motionless black eyes took him in with satirical
comprehension. He certainly would never have made a confidant of
such a man as Kelly unless it had suited his purpose. He took
several moments for consideration before he made reply. "I presume
you are aware," he said then, "that Mrs. Ranger has left for
Brennerstadt?"
"What?" said Kelly.
Kieff did not repeat his question. He merely waited for it to sink
in. A faint, subtle smile still hovered about his sallow features.
It was obvious that he regarded his news in anything but a tragic
light.
"Gone to Brennerstadt!" ejaculated Kelly at length. "But what the
devil would she go there for? I was going myself to-morrow. I'd
have taken her."
"She probably preferred to choose her own escort," said Kieff.
"What?" said Kelly again. "Man, is it the truth you're giving me?"
"Not much point in lying," said Kieff coldly, "when there is
nothing to be gained by it! Mrs. Burke Ranger has gone to
Brennerstadt by way of Ritzen, in the company of Guy Ranger. Piet
Vreiboom will tell you the same thing if you ask him. He is going
to Brennerstadt too to-morrow, and I with him. Perhaps we can
travel together. We may overtake the amorous couple if we ride all
the way."
Without any apparent movement, his smile intensified at sight of
the open consternation on Kelly's red countenance.
"You seem surprised at something," he said.
"I don't believe a damn' word of it," said Kelly bluntly. "You
didn't see them."
"I saw them both," said Kieff, still smiling, "Piet Vreiboom saw
them also. But the lady seemed to be in a great hurry, so we did
not detain them. They are probably at Ritzen by now, if not
beyond."
"Oh, damnation!" said Kelly tragically.
Kieff's smile slowly vanished. His eyes took on a stony, remote
look as though the matter had ceased to interest him. And while
Kelly tramped impotently about the room, he leaned his shoulders
against the wall and stared into space.
"I am really rather glad to have met you," he remarked presently.
"Can you give me any tip regarding this diamond of Wilbraham's?
You know its value to the tenth part of a farthing, I have no
doubt."
Kelly paused to glare at him distractedly, "Oh, curse the diamond!"
he said, "It's Mrs. Burke I'm thinking of."
Kieff's thin lips curled contemptuously. "A woman!" he said, and
snapped his fingers. "A woman who can be bought and sold
again--for far less than half its cost! My good Kelly! Are you
serious?"
Kelly stamped an indignant foot. "You infernal, cold-blooded
Kaffir!" he roared. "I'm human anyway, which is more than you are!"
Kieff's sneer deepened. It was Kelly's privilege always to speak
his mind, and no one took offence however extravagantly he
expressed himself. "Can't we have a drink?" he suggested, in the
indulgent tone of one humouring a fractious child.
"Drink--with you!" fumed Kelly.
Kieff smiled again. "Of course you will drink with me! It's too
good an excuse to miss. What is troubling you? Surely there is
nothing very unusual in the fact that Mrs. Burke finds herself in
need of a little change!"
Kelly groaned aloud. "I've got to go and tell Burke. That's the
hell of it. Sure I'd give all the money I can lay hands on to be
quit of that job."
"You are over-sensitive," remarked Kieff, showing a gleam of teeth
between his colourless lips. "He will think far less of this than
of disease in his cattle or crops. They were nothing to each
other, nor ever could be. She and Guy Ranger have been lovers all
through."
"Ah, faith then, I know better!" broke in Kelly. "He worships her
from the crown of her head to the sole of her foot. He'll be fit
to kill young Guy for this. By the saints above us, I could almost
kill him myself."
"You needn't!" said Kieff with ironical humour. "And Burke needn't
either. As for the woman--" he snapped his fingers again--"she'll
come back like a homing dove, if he waits a little."
Kelly swore again furiously. "Ah, why did I ever lend myself to
digging young Guy out of Hoffstein's? Only a blasted fool could
have expected to bring anything but corruption out of that sink of
evil. It was Burke's own doing, but I was a fool--I was a three
times fool--to give in to him."
"Where is the worthy Burke?" questioned Kieff, "Over at Merston's,
doing the good Samaritan; been working like a nigger all day. And
now!" There was actually a sound of tears in Kelly's voice. "I'd
give me right hand," he vowed tremulously, "I'd give me soul--such
as it is--to be out of this job."
"You want a drink," said Kieff.
Kelly sniffed and began a clumsy search for refreshment.
Kieff came forward kindly and helped him. It was he who measured
the drinks finally when they were produced, and even Kelly, who
could stand a good deal, opened his eyes somewhat at the draught he
prepared for himself.
"Dry weather!" remarked Kieff, as he tossed it down. "You're not
going back to Merston's to-night, are you?"
"Must," said Kelly laconically.
"Why not wait till the morning?" suggested Kieff. "I shall be
passing that way myself then. We could go together."
There was a gleam in his black eyes that made Kelly look at him
hard. "And what would you want to be there for?" he demanded
aggressively. "Isn't one bearer of evil tidings enough?"
Kieff smiled. "I wonder if the lady left any message behind," he
suggested. "Possibly she has written a note to explain her own
absence. How long did the good Burke propose to be away?"
"Two or three nights in the first place. But he is coming back
to-morrow." A sudden idea flashed upon Kelly. "Ah, p'raps she's
hoping to be back before he is! Maybe there's more to this than we
understand! I'll not go over. I'll wait and see. She may be back
in the morning, she and young Guy too. They're old friends.
P'raps there's nothing in it but just a jaunt."
Kieff's laugh had a sound like the slipping of a stone in a slimy
cave. "You always had ideas," he remarked. "But they will
scarcely be back from Brennerstadt by the morning. Can't you
devise some means of persuading Burke to extend his visit to the
period originally intended? Then perhaps they might return in
time."
Kelly looked at him sternly. That laugh was abominable in his
ears. "Faith, I'll go now," he said. "And I'll go alone. You've
done your part, and I'll not trouble you at all to help me do mine."
Kieff turned to go. "I always admired your sense of duty,
Donovan," he said. "Let us hope it will bring you out on the right
side,--and your friends the Rangers with you!"
He was gone with the words, silent as a shadow on the wall, and
Kelly was left wondering why he had not seized the bearer of evil
tidings and kicked the horrible laughter out of him.
"Faith, I'll do it when I get to Brennerstadt," he said to himself
vindictively. "But it's friends first, eh, Burke, my lad?--Ah,
Burke, my boy, friends first!"
CHAPTER XI
THE SHARP CORNER
Was it only a few months since last she had looked out over the
barren _veldt_ from the railway at Ritzen? It seemed to Sylvia
like half a lifetime.
In the dark of the early morning she sat in the southward-bound
train on her way to Brennerstadt, and tried to recall her first
impressions. There he had stood under the lamp waiting for
her--the man whom she had taken for Guy. She saw herself springing
to meet him with eager welcome on her lips and swift-growing
misgiving at her heart. How good he had been to her! That thought
came up above the rest, crowding out the memory of her first
terrible dismay. He had surrounded her with a care as chivalrous
as any of the friends of her former life could have displayed. He
had sheltered her from the dreadful loneliness, and from the world
upon the mercy of which she had been so completely thrown. He had
not seemed to bestow, but she realized now how at every turn his
goodness had provided, his strength had shielded. He had not
suffered her to feel the obligation under which she was placed. He
had treated her merely as a comrade in distress. He had given her
freely the very best that a man could offer, and he had done it in
a fashion that had made acceptance easy, almost inevitable.
Her thoughts travelled onwards till they came to her marriage.
Again the memory of the man's unfailing chivalry came before all
else. Again, how good he had been to her! And she had taken full
advantage of his goodness. For the first time she wondered if she
had been justified in so doing. She asked herself if she had
behaved contemptibly. She had not been ready to make a full
surrender, and he had not asked for it. But it seemed to her now
that she had returned his gifts with a niggardliness which must
have made her appear very small-minded. He had been great. He had
subordinated his wishes to her. He had been patient; ah yes,
perhaps too patient! Probably her utter dependence upon him had
made him so.
Slowly her thoughts passed on to the coming of Guy. She realized
that the rapid events that had succeeded his coming had rendered
her impressions of Burke a little blurred. Through all those first
stages of Guy's illness, she could scarcely recall him at all. Her
mind was full of the image of Kieff, subtle, cruel, almost
ghoulish, a man of deep cunning and incomprehensible motives. It
had suited his whim to save Guy. She had often wondered why. She
was certain that no impulse of affection had moved him or was
capable of moving him. No pity, no sympathy, had ever complicated
this man's aims or crippled his achievements. He had a clear,
substantial reason for everything that he did. It had pleased him
to bring Guy back to life, and so he had not scrupled as to the
means he had employed to do so. He had practically forced her into
a position which circumstances had combined to make her retain. He
had probably, she reflected now, urged Guy upon every opportunity
to play the traitor to his best friend. He had established over
him an influence which she felt that it would take her utmost
effort to overthrow. He had even forced him into the quagmire of
crime. For that Guy had done this thing, or would ever have
dreamed of doing it, on his own initiative she did not believe.
And it was that certainty which had sent her from his empty hut on
the sand in pursuit of him, daring all to win him back ere he had
sunk too deep for deliverance. She had ridden to Ritzen by way of
the Vreiboom's farm, half-expecting to find Guy there. But she had
seen only Kieff and Piet Vreiboom. Her face burned still at the
memory of the former's satirical assurance that Guy was but a few
miles ahead of her and she would easily overtake him. He had
translated this speech to Piet Vreiboom who had laughed, laughed
with a sickening significance, at the joke. In her disgust she had
ridden swiftly on without stopping to ascertain if Guy had gone to
Ritzen or had decided to ride the whole forty miles to Brennerstadt.
The lateness of the hour, however, had decided her to make for the
former place since she knew she could get a train there on the
following morning and she could not face the long journey at night
alone on the _veldt_. It had been late when she reached Ritzen,
but she had thankfully found accommodation for the night at the by
no means luxurious hotel in which she had slept on the night of her
arrival so long ago.
Now in the early morning she was ready to start again, having
regretfully left her horse, Diamond, in the hotel-stable to await
her return.
If all went well, she counted upon being back, perhaps with Guy
accompanying her, in the early afternoon. And then she would
probably be at Blue Hill Farm again before Burke's return. She
hoped with all her heart to accomplish this. For though it would
be impossible to hide the fact of her journey from him, she did not
want him to suspect the actual reason that had made it so urgent.
Let him think that anxiety for Guy--their mutual charge--had sent
her after him! But never, for Guy's sake, let him imagine the
actual shameful facts of the case! She counted upon Burke's
ignorance as the strongest weapon for Guy's persuasion. Let him
but realize that a way of escape yet remained to him, and she
believed that he would take it. For surely--ah, surely, if she
knew him--he had begun already to repent in burning shame and
self-loathing.
He must have ridden all the way to Brennerstadt, for he was not at
Ritzen. Ritzen was not a place to hide in. Would she find him at
Brennerstadt? There were only two hotels there, and Kieff had said
he would stop at one of them. She did not trust Kieff for a
moment, but some inner conviction told her that it was his
intention that she should find Guy. He did not expect her
influence to overcome his. That she fully realized. He was not
afraid of being superseded. Perhaps he wanted to demonstrate to
her her utter weakness. Perhaps he had deeper schemes. She did
not stop to imagine what they were. She shrank from the thought of
them as purity shrinks instinctively from the contemplation of
evil. She believed that, if once she could meet Guy face to face,
she could defeat him. She counted upon that understanding which
had been between them from the beginning and which had drawn them
to each other in spite of all opposition. She counted upon that
part of Guy which Kieff had never known, those hidden qualities
which vice had overgrown like a fungus but which she knew were
still existent under the surface evil. Guy had been generous and
frank in the old days, a lover of fair play, an impetuous follower
of anything that appealed to him as great. She was sure that these
characteristics had been an essential part of his nature. He had
failed through instability, through self-indulgence and weakness of
purpose. But he was not fundamentally wicked. She was sure that
she could appeal to those good impulses within him, and that she
would not appeal in vain. She was sure that the power of good
would still be paramount over him if she held out to him the
helping hand which he so sorely needed. She had the strength
within her--strength that was more than human--and she was certain
of the victory, if only she could find him quickly, quickly!
As she sat there waiting feverishly to start, her whole being was
in a passion of supplication that she might be in time. Even in
her sleep she had prayed that one prayer with a fierce urging that
had rendered actual repose an impossibility. She had never in her
life prayed with so intense a force. It was as if she were staking
the whole of her faith upon that one importunate plea, and though
no answer came to her striving spirit, she told herself that it
could not be in vain. In all her maddening anxiety and impatience
she never for a moment dwelt upon the chance of failure. God could
not suffer her to fail when she had fought so hard. Her very brain
seemed on fire with the urgency of her mission, and again for a
space the thought of Burke was crowded out. He occupied the back
of her mind, but she would not voluntarily turn towards him. That
would come later when her mission was fulfilled, when she could
look him in the face again with no sense of a charge neglected, or
trust betrayed. She must stand straight with Burke, but she must
save Guy first, whatever the effort, whatever the cost. She felt
she had forfeited the right to think of her own happiness till her
negligence--and the terrible consequences thereof--had been
remedied. Perhaps it was in a measure self-blame that inspired her
frantic prayer, the feeling that the responsibility was hers, and
therefore that she was a sharer of the guilt. That was another
plea, less worthy perhaps; but one to which Guy could not refuse to
listen. It could not be his intention to wreck her happiness. He
could not know all that hung upon it. Her happiness! She shivered
suddenly in the chill of the morning air. Could it be that
happiness--the greatest of all--had been actually within her grasp,
and she had let it slip unheeded? Sharply she turned her thoughts
back. No, she must not--must not think of Burke just then.
The chance would come again. The chance must come again. But she
must not suffer herself to contemplate it now. She had forfeited
the right.
Time passed. She thought the train would never start. The long
waiting had become almost a nightmare. She felt she would not be
able to endure it much longer. The night had seemed endless too, a
perpetual dozing and waking that had seemed to multiply the hours.
Now and then she realized that she was very tired; but for the most
part the fever of impatience that possessed her kept the
consciousness of fatigue at bay. If only she could keep moving she
felt that she could face anything.
The day broke over the _veldt_ and the scattered open town, with a
burning splendour like the kindling of a great fire. She watched
the dawn-light spread till the northern hills shone with a
celestial radiance. She leaned from the train to watch it; and as
she watched, the whole world turned golden.
Burke's words flashed back upon her with a force irresistible.
"Let us go to the top of the world by ourselves!" Her eyes filled
with sudden tears, and as she sank down again in her seat the train
began to move. It bore her relentlessly southwards, and the land
of the early morning was left behind.
She reflected later that that journey must have been doomed to
disaster from the very outset. It was begun an hour late, and all
things seemed to conspire to hinder them. After many halts, the
breaking of an engine-piston rendered them helpless, and the heat
of the day found them in a desolate place among _kopjes_ that
seemed to crowd them in, cutting off every current of air, while
the sun blazed mercilessly overhead and the sand-flies ceaselessly
buzzed and tormented. It was the longest day that Sylvia had ever
known, and she thought that the smell of Kaffirs would haunt her
all her life. Of the few white men on the train she knew not one,
and the desolation of despair entered into her.
By the afternoon, when she had hoped to be on her way back, tardy
help arrived, and they crawled into Brennerstadt station, parched
and dusty and half-starved, some three hours later.
Hope revived in her as at length she left the train. Anything was
better than the awful inactivity of that well-nigh interminable
journey. There was yet a chance--a slender one--that by an early
start or possibly travelling by a night train she and Guy might yet
be back at Blue Hill Farm by the following evening in time to meet
Burke on his return.
Yes, the chance was there, and still she could not think that all
this desperate effort of hers could be doomed to failure. If she
could only find Guy quickly--oh, quickly! She almost ran out of
the station in her haste.
She turned her steps instinctively towards the hotel in which she
had stayed for her marriage, It was not far from the station, and
it was the first place that occurred to her. The town was full of
people, men for the most part, men it seemed to her, of all
nationalities and colours. She heard Dutch and broken English all
around her.
She went through the crowds, shrinking a little now and then from
any especially coarse type, nervously intent upon avoiding contact
with any. She found the hotel without difficulty, but when she
found it she checked her progress for the first time. For she was
afraid to enter.
The evening was drawing on. She felt the welcome chill of it on
her burning face, and it kept her from yielding to the faintness
that oppressed her. But still she could not enter, till a great,
square-built Boer lounging near the doorway came up to her and
looked into her eyes with an evil leer.
Then she summoned her strength, drew herself up, and passed him
with open disgust.
She had to push her way through a crowd of men idling in the
entrance, and one or two accosted her, but she went by them in
stony unresponsiveness.
At the little office at the end she found a girl, sandy-haired and
sandy-eyed, who looked up for a moment from a great book in front
of her, and before she could speak, said briskly, "There's no more
accommodation here. The place is full to overflowing. Better try
at the Good Hope over the way."
She had returned to her occupation before the words were well
uttered, but Sylvia stood motionless, a little giddy, leaning
against the woodwork for support.
"I only want to know," she said, after a moment, speaking with an
effort in a voice that sounded oddly muffled even to herself, "if
Mr. Ranger is here."
"Who?" The girl looked up sharply. "Hullo!" she said. "What's the
matter?"
"If Mr. Ranger--Mr. Ranger--is here," Sylvia repeated through a
curious mist that had gathered unaccountably around her.
The girl got up and came to her. "Yes, he's here, I believe, or
will be presently. He's engaged a room anyhow. I didn't see him
myself. Look here, you'd better come and sit down a minute. I
seem to remember you. You're Mrs. Ranger, aren't you?"
"Yes," said Sylvia.
She was past explanation just then, and that simple affirmative
seemed her only course. She leaned thankfully upon the supporting
arm, fighting blindly to retain her senses.
"Come and sit down!" the girl repeated. "I expect he'll be in
before long. They're all mad about this diamond draw. The whole
town is buzzing with it. The races aren't in it. Sit down and
I'll get you something."
She drew Sylvia into a small inner sanctum and there left her,
sitting exhausted in a wooden armchair. She returned presently
with a tray which she set in front of her, observing practically,
"That's what you're wanting. Have a good feed, and when you've
done you'd better go up and lie down till he comes."
She went back to her office then, closing the door between, and
Sylvia was left to recover as best she might. She forced herself
after a time to eat and drink, reflecting that physical weakness
would utterly unfit her for the task before her. She hoped with
all her heart that Guy would come soon--soon. There was a night
train back to Ritzen. She had ascertained that at the station.
They might catch that. The diamond draw was still two days away.
She prayed that he had not yet staked anything upon it, that when
he came the money might be still in his possession.
She finished her meal and felt considerably revived. For a while
she sat listening to the hubbub of strange voices without, then the
fear that her presence might be forgotten by the busy occupant of
the office moved her to rise and open the intervening door.
The girl was still there. She glanced round with the same alert
expression. "That you, Mrs. Ranger? He hasn't come in yet. But
you go up and wait for him! It's quieter upstairs. I'll tell him
you're here as soon as he comes in."
She did not want to comply, but certainly the little room adjoining
the office was no place for private talk, and she dreaded the idea
of meeting Guy before the curious eyes of strangers. He would be
startled; he would be ashamed! None but herself must see him in
that moment.
So, without protest, she allowed herself to be conducted upstairs
to the room he had engaged, her friend in the office promising
faithfully not to forget to send him up to her at once.
The room was at the top of the house, a bare apartment but not
uncomfortable. It possessed a large window that looked across the
wide street.
She sat down beside it and listened to the tramping crowds below.
Her faintness had passed, but she was very tired, overwhelmingly
so. Very soon her senses became dulled to the turmoil. She
suffered herself to relax, certain that the first sound of a step
outside would recall her. And so, as night spread over the town,
she sank into sleep, lying back in the cane-chair like a worn-out
child, her burnished hair vivid against the darkness beyond.
She did not wake at the sound of a step outside, or even at the
opening of the door. It was no sound that aroused her hours later,
but a sudden intense consciousness of expediency, as if she had
come to a sharp comer that it needed all her wits to turn in
safety. She started up with a gasp. "Guy!" she said. And then,
as her dazzled eyes saw more clearly, a low, involuntary
exclamation of dismay. "Ah!"
It was Burke who stood with his back against the closed door,
looking at her, and his face had upon it in those first waking
moments of bewilderment a look that appalled her. For it was to
her as the face of a murderer.
CHAPTER XII
THE COST
He did not speak in answer to her exclamation, merely stood there
looking at her, almost as if he had never seen her before. His
eyes were keen with a sort of icy fierceness. She thought she had
never before realized the cruelty of his mouth.
It was she who spoke first. The silence seemed so impossible.
"Burke!" she said. "What--is the matter?"
He came forward to her with an abruptness that was like the
breaking of bonds. He stopped in front of her, looking closely
into her face. "What are you doing here?" he said.
In spite of herself she shrank, so terrible was his look. But she
was swift to master her weakness. She stood up to her full height,
facing him. "I have come to find Guy," she said.
He threw a glance around; it was like the sweep of a rapier. "You
are waiting for him--here?"
Again for a moment she was disconcerted. She felt the quick blood
rise to her forehead. "They told me he would come here," she said.
He passed on, almost as if she had not spoken, but his eyes were
mercilessly upon her, marking her confusion. "What do you want
with him?"
His words were like the snap of a steel rope. They made her flinch
by their very ruthlessness. She had sprung from sleep with
bewildered senses. She was not-prepared to do battle in her own
defence.
She hesitated, and immediately his hand closed upon her shoulder.
It seemed to her that she had never known what anger could be like
before this moment. All the force of the man seemed to be gathered
together in one tremendous wave, menacing her.
"Tell me what you want with him!" he said.
She shuddered from head to foot as if she had been struck with a
scourge. "Burke! What do you mean?" she cried out desperately.
"You--you must be mad!"
"Answer me!" he said.
His hold was a grip. The ice in his eyes had turned to flame. Her
heart leapt and quivered within her like a wild thing fighting to
escape.
"I--don't know what you mean," she panted. "I have done nothing
wrong. I came after him to--to try and bring him back."
"Then why did you come secretly?" he said,
She shrank from the intolerable inquisition of his eyes. "I wanted
to see him--alone," she said.
"Why?" Again it was like the merciless cut of a scourge. She
caught her breath with a sharp sound that was almost a cry.
"Why?" he reiterated. "Answer me! Answer me!"
She did not answer him. She could not. And in the silence that
followed, it seemed to her that something within her--something
that had been Vitally wounded--struggled and died.
"Look at me!" he said.
She lifted an ashen face. His eyes held hers, and the torture of
his hell encompassed her also.
"Tell me the truth!" he said. "I shall know if you lie. When did
you see him last?"
She shook her head. "A long while ago. Ages ago. Before you left
the farm."
The memory of his going, his touch, his smile went through her with
the words. She had a sickening sensation as of having been struck
over the heart.
"Where did you spend last night?" he said.
"At Ritzen." Her white lips seemed to speak mechanically. She
herself stood apart as it were, stunned beyond feeling.
"You came here by rail---alone?"
The voice of the inquisitor pierced her numbed sensibilities,
compelling--almost dictating--her answer.
"Yes--alone."
"You had arranged to meet here then?"
Still the scourging continued, and she marvelled at herself, that
she felt so little. But feeling was coming back. She was waiting
for it, dreading it.
She answered without conscious effort. "No--I came after him. He
doesn't know I am here."
"And yet you are posing as his wife?"
She felt that. It cut through her apathy irresistibly. A sharp
tremor went through her. "That," she said rather breathlessly,
"was a mistake."
"It was." said Burke. "The greatest mistake of your life. It is a
pity you took the trouble to lie to me. The truth would have
served you better." He turned from her contemptuously with the
words, setting her free.
For a moment the relief of his going was such that the intention
that lay behind it did not so much as occur to her. Then suddenly
it flashed upon her. He was going in search of Guy.
In an instant her passivity was gone. The necessity for action
drove her forward. With a cry she sprang to the door before him,
and set herself against it. She could not let him go with that
look of the murderer in his eyes.
"Burke!" she gasped. "Burke! What--are you going to do?"
His lips parted a little, and she saw his teeth. "You shall hear
what I have done--afterwards," he said. "Let me pass!"
But she barred his way. Her numbed senses were all awake now and
quivering. The very fact of physical effort seemed to have
restored to her the power to suffer. She stood before him, her
bosom heaving with great sobs that brought no tears or relief of
any sort to the anguish that tore her.
"You--you can't pass," she said. "Not--not--like this! Burke,
listen! I swear to you--I swear----"
"You needn't," he broke in. "A woman's oath, when it is her last
resource, is quite valueless. I will deal with you afterwards.
Let me pass!"
The command was curt as a blow. But still she withstood him,
striving to still her agitation, striving with all her desperate
courage to face him and endure.
"I will not!" she said, and with the words she stood up to her
full, slim height, thwarting him, making her last stand.
His expression changed as he realized her defiance. She was
panting still, but there was no sign of yielding in her attitude.
She was girt for resistance to the utmost.
There fell an awful pause--a silence which only her rapid breathing
disturbed. Her eyes were fixed on his. She must have seen the
change, but she dared it unflinching. There was no turning back
for her now.
The man spoke at last, and his voice was absolutely quiet, dead
level. "You had better let me go," he said.
She made a sharp movement, for there was that in the steel-cold
voice that sent terror to her heart. Was this Burke--the man upon
whose goodness she had leaned ever since she had come to this land
of strangers? Surely she had never met him before that moment!
"Open that door!" he said.
A great tremor went through her. She turned, the instinct to obey
urging her. But in the same instant the thought of Guy--Guy in
mortal danger--flashed across her. She paused for a second, making
a supreme effort, while every impulse fought in mad tumult within
her, crying to her to yield. Then, with a lightning twist of the
hand she turned the key and pulled it from the lock. For an
instant she held it in her hand, then with a half-strangled sound
she thrust it deep into her bosom.
Her eyes shone like flames in her white face as she turned back to
him. "Perhaps you will believe me--now!" she said.
He took a single step forward and caught, her by the wrists.
"Woman!" he said. "Do you know what you are doing?"
The passion that blazed in his look appalled her. Yet some strange
force within her awoke as it were in answer to her need. She flung
fear aside. She had done the only thing possible, and she would
not look back.
"You must believe me--now!" she panted. "You do believe me!"
His hold became a grip, merciless, fierce, tightening upon her like
a dosing trap. "Why should I believe you?" he said, and there was
that in his voice that was harder to bear than his look. "Have I
any special reason for believing you? Have you ever given me one?"
"You know me," she said, with a sinking heart.
He uttered a scoffing sound too bitter to be called a laugh. "Do I
know you? Have I ever been as near to you as this devil who has
made himself notorious with Kaffir women for as long as he has been
out here?"
She flinched momentarily from the stark cruelty of his words. But
she faced him still, faced him though every instinct of her
womanhood shrank with a dread unspeakable.
"You know me," she said again. "You may not know me very well, but
you know me well enough for that."
It was bravely spoken, but as she ceased to speak she felt her
strength begin to fail her. Her throat worked spasmodically,
convulsively, and a terrible tremor went through her. She saw him
as through a haze that blotted out all beside.
There fell a silence between them--a dreadful, interminable silence
that seemed to stretch into eternities. And through it very
strangely she heard the wild beating of her own heart, like the
hoofs of a galloping horse, that seemed to die away. . . .
She did not know whether she fell, or whether he lifted her, but
when the blinding mist cleared away again, she was lying in the
wicker-chair by the window, and he was walking up and down the room
with the ceaseless motion of a prowling animal. She sat up slowly
and looked at him. She was shivering all over, as if stricken with
cold.
At her movement he came and stood before her, but he did not speak.
He seemed to be watching her. Or was he waiting for something?
She could not tell; neither, as he stood there, could she look up
at him to see. Only, after a moment, she leaned forward. She
found and held his hand.
"Burke!" she said.
His fingers closed as if they would crush her own. He did not
utter a word.
She waited for a space, gathering her strength. Then, speaking
almost under her breath, she went on. "I have--something to say to
you. Please will you listen--till I have finished?"
"Go on!" he said.
Her head was bent. She went on tremulously. "You are quite
right--when you say--that you don't know me--that I have given you
no reason--no good reason--to believe in me. I have taken--a great
deal from you. And I have given--nothing in return. I see that
now. That is why you distrust me. I--have only myself to thank."
She paused a moment, but he waited in absolute silence, neither
helping nor hindering.
With a painful effort she continued. "People make
mistaken--sometimes--without knowing it. It comes to them
afterwards--perhaps too late. But--it isn't too late with me,
Burke. I am your partner--your wife. And--I never meant
to--defraud you. All I have--is yours. I--am yours."
She stopped. Her head was bowed against his hand. That dreadful
sobbing threatened to overwhelm her again, but she fought it down.
She waited quivering for his answer.
But for many seconds Burke neither moved nor spoke. The grasp of
his hand was vicelike in its rigidity. She had no key whatever to
what was passing in his mind.
Not till she had mastered herself and was sitting in absolute
stillness, did he stir. Then, very quietly, with a decision that
brooked no resistance, he took her by the chin with his free hand
and turned her face up to his own. He looked deep into her eyes.
His own were no longer ablaze, but a fitful light came and went in
them like the flare of a torch in the desert wind.
"So," he said, and his voice was curiously unsteady also; it
vibrated as if he were not wholly sure of himself, "you have made
your choice--and counted the cost?"
"Yes," she said.
He looked with greater intentness into her eyes, searching without
mercy, as if he would force his way to her very soul. "And for
whose sake this--sacrifice?" he said.
She shrank a little; for there was something intolerable in his
words. Had she really counted the cost? Her eyelids fluttered
under that unsparing look, fluttered and sank. "You will
know--some day," she whispered.
"Ah! Some day!" he said.
Again his voice vibrated. It was as if some door that led to his
innermost being had opened suddenly, releasing a savage, primitive
force which till then he had held restrained.
And in that moment it came to her that the thing she valued most in
life had been rudely torn from her. She saw that new, most
precious gift of hers that had sprung to life in the wilderness and
which she had striven so desperately to shield from harm--that holy
thing which had become dearer to her than life itself--desecrated,
broken, and lying in the dust. And it was Burke who had flung it
there, Burke who now ruthlessly trampled it underfoot.
Her throat worked again painfully for a moment or two; and then
with a great effort of the will she stilled it. This thing was
beyond tears--a cataclysm wrecking the whole structure of
existence. Neither tears nor laughter could ever be hers again.
In silence she took the cup of bitterness, and drank it to the
dregs.
PART IV
CHAPTER I
SAND OF THE DESERT
Donovan Kelly was out of temper. There was no denying it, though
with him such a frame of mind was phenomenal. He leaned moodily
against the door-post at the hotel-entrance, smoking a short pipe
of very strong tobacco, and speaking to no one. He had been there
for some time, and the girl in the office was watching him with
eyes round with curiosity. For he had not even said "Good morning"
to her. She wanted to accost him, but somehow the hunch of his
shoulders was too discouraging even for her. So she contented
herself with waiting developments.
There were plenty of men coming and going, but though several of
them gave him greeting as they passed, Kelly responded to none. He
seemed to be wrapped in a gloomy fog of meditation that cut him off
completely from the outside world. He was alone with himself, and
in that state he obviously intended to remain.
But the girl in the office had her own shrewd suspicions as to the
reason of his waiting there, suspicions which after the lapse of
nearly half an hour she triumphantly saw verified. For presently
through the shifting, ever-changing crowd a square-shouldered man
made his appearance, and without a glance to right or left went
straight to the big Irishman lounging in the doorway, and took him
by the shoulder.
Kelly started round with an instant smile of welcome. "Ah, and is
it yourself at last? I've been waiting a devil of a time for ye,
my son. Is all well?"
The girl in the office did not hear Burke's reply though she craned
far forward to do so. She only saw his shoulders go up slightly,
and the next moment the two men turned and entered the public
dining-room together.
Kelly's ill-temper had gone like an early morning fog. He led the
way to a table reserved in a corner, and they sat down.
"I was half afraid ye wouldn't have anything but a kick for Donovan
this morning," he said, with a somewhat rueful smile.
Burke's own brief smile showed for a moment. "I shouldn't start on
you anyway," he said. "You found young Guy?"
Kelly made an expressive gesture. "Oh yes, I found him, him and
his master too. At Hoffstein's of course. Kieff was holding one
of his opium shows, the damn' dirty skunk. I couldn't get the boy
away, but I satisfied myself that he was innocent of this. He
never engaged a room here or had any intention of coming here.
What Kieff's intentions were I didn't enquire. But he had got the
devil's own grip on Guy last night, He could have made him
do--anything." Kelly ended with a few strong expressions which
left no doubt as to the opinion he entertained of Kieff and all his
works.
Burke ate his breakfast in an absorbed silence. Finally he looked
up to enquire, "Have you any idea what has become of Guy this
morning?"
Kelly shook his head. "Not the shadow of a notion. I shall look
for him presently on the racecourse. He seems to have found some
money to play with, for he told me he had taken two tickets for the
diamond draw, one for himself and one for another. But he was just
mad last night. The very devil had got into him. What will I do
with him if I get him?"
Burke's eyes met his for a moment. "You can do--anything you like
with him," he said.
"Ah, but he saved your life, Burke," said the Irishman pleadingly.
"It's only three days ago."
"I know what he did," said Burke briefly, both before and after
that episode. "He may think himself lucky that I have no further
use for him."
"But aren't you satisfied, Burke?" Kelly leaned forward
impulsively. "I've told you the truth. Aren't you satisfied?"
Burke's face was grim as if hewn out of rock. "Not yet," he said.
"You've told me the truth--what you know of it. But there's more
to it. I've got to know--everything before I'm satisfied."
"Ah, but sure!" protested Kelly. "Women are very queer, you know.
Ye can't tell what moves a woman. Often as not, it's something
quite different from what you'd think."
Burke was silent, continuing his breakfast.
Kelly looked at him with eyes of pathetic persuasion. "I've been
lambastin' meself all night," he burst forth suddenly, "for ever
bringing ye out on such a chase. It was foul work. I see it now.
She'd have come back to ye, Burke lad. She didn't mean any harm.
Sure, she's as pure as the stars."
Burke's grey eyes, keen as the morning light, looked suddenly
straight at him. Almost under his breath, Burke spoke. "Don't
tell me--that!" he said. "Just keep Guy out of my way! That's
all."
Kelly sighed aloud. "And Guy'll go to perdition faster than if the
devil had kicked him. He's on his way already."
"Let him go!" said Burke.
It was his last word on the subject. Having spoken it, he gave his
attention to the meal before him, and concluded it with a
deliberate disregard for Kelly's depressed countenance that an
onlooker might have found somewhat brutal.
"What are you going to do?" asked Kelly meekly, as at length he
pushed back his chair.
Burke's eyes came to him again. He smiled faintly at the woebegone
visage before him. "Cheer up, Donovan!" he said. "You're all
right. You've had a beastly job, but you've done it decently. I'm
going back to my wife now. She breakfasted upstairs. We shall
probably make tracks this evening."
"Ah!" groaned Kelly. "Your wife'll never speak to me again after
this. And I thinking her the most charming woman in the world!"
Burke turned to go, "Don't fret yourself on that account!" he said.
"My wife will treat my friends exactly as she would treat her own."
He spoke with a confidence that aroused Kelly's admiration. "Sure,
you know how to manage a woman, don't ye, Burke, me lad?" he said.
He watched the broad figure till it was out of sight, then got up
and went out into the hot sunshine, intent upon another quest.
Burke went on steadily up the stairs till he reached the top story
where he met a servant carrying a breakfast-tray with the meal
practically untouched upon it. With a brief word Burke took the
tray himself, and went on with the same air of absolute purpose to
the door at the end of the passage.
Here, just for a moment he paused, standing in semi-darkness,
listening. Then he knocked. Sylvia's voice answered him, and he
entered.
She was dressed and standing by the window. "Oh, please, Burke!"
she said quickly, at sight of what he carried. "I can't eat
anything more."
He set down the tray and looked at her. "Why did you get up?" he
said.
Her face was flushed. There was unrest in every line of her. "I
had to get up," she said feverishly. "I can't rest here. It is so
noisy. I want to get out of this horrible place. I can't breathe
here. Besides--besides----"
"Sit down!" said Burke.
"Oh, don't make me eat anything!" she pleaded. "I really can't. I
am sorry, but really----"
"Sit down!" he said again, and laid a steady hand upon her.
She yielded with obvious reluctance, avoiding his eyes. "I am
quite all right," she said. "Don't bully me, partner!"
Her voice quivered suddenly, and she put her hand to her throat.
Burke was pouring milk into a cap. She watched him, fighting with
herself.
"Now," he said, "you can drink this anyway. It's what you're
needing." He gave her the cup, and she took it from him without a
word. He turned away, and stood at the window, waiting.
At the end of a full minute, he spoke. "Has it gone?"
"Yes," she said.
He turned back and looked at her. She met his eyes with an effort.
"I am quite all right," she said again.
"Ready to start back?" he said.
She leaned forward in her chair, her hands clasped very tightly in
front of her. "To-day?" she said in a low voice.
"I thought you wanted to get away," said Burke.
"Yes--yes, I do." Her eyes suddenly fell before his. "I do," she
said again. "But--but--I've got--something--to ask of you--first."
"Well?" said Burke.
Her breath came quickly; her fingers were straining against each
other. "I--don't quite know--how to say it," she said.
Burke stood quite motionless, looking down at her. "Must it be
said?" he asked.
"Yes." She sat for a moment or two, mustering her strength. Then,
with an abrupt effort, she got up and faced him. "Burke, I think I
have a right to your trust," she said.
He looked straight back at her with piercing, relentless eyes. "If
we are going to talk of rights," he said, "I might claim a right to
your confidence."
She drew back a little, involuntarily, but the next moment,
quickly, she went to him and clasped his arm between her hands.
"Please be generous, partner!" she said. "We won't talk of rights,
either of us. You--are not--angry with me now, are you?"
He stiffened somewhat at her touch, but he did not repulse her.
"I'm afraid you won't find me in a very yielding mood," he said.
She held his arm a little more tightly, albeit her hands were
trembling. "Won't you listen to me?" she said, in a voice that
quivered. "Is there--no possibility of--of--coming to an
understanding?"
He drew a slow hard breath. "We have a very long way to go first,"
he said.
"I know," she answered, and her voice was quick with pain. "I
know. But--we can't go on--like this. It--just isn't bearable.
If--even if you can't understand me--Burke, won't you--won't you
try at least to give me--the benefit of the doubt?"
It was very winningly spoken, but as she spoke she leaned her head
suddenly against the arm she held and stifled a sob. "For both our
sakes!" she whispered.
But Burke stood, rigid as rock, staring straight before him into
the glaring sunlight. She did not know what was passing in his
mind; that was the trouble of it. But she felt his grim resistance
like a wall of granite, blocking her way. And the brave heart of
her sank in spite of all her courage.
He moved at last, but it was a movement of constraint. He laid his
free hand on her shoulder. "Crying won't help," he said. "I think
we had better be getting back."
And then, for the sake of the old love, she made her supreme
effort. She lifted her face; it was white to the lips, but it bore
no sign of tears. "I can't go," she said, "till--I have seen Guy."
He made a sharp gesture. "Ah!" he said. "I thought that was
coming."
"Yes, you knew it! You knew it!" Passionately she uttered the
words. "It's the one thing that's got to be settled between
us--the only thing left that counts. Yes, you mean to refuse. I
know that. But--before you refuse--wait, please wait! I am asking
it quite as much for your sake as for mine."
"And for his," said Burke, with a twist of the lips more bitter
than the words.
But she caught them up unflinching. "Yes, and for his. We've set
out to save him, you and I. And--we are not going to turn back.
Burke, I ask you to help me--I implore you to help me--in this
thing. You didn't refuse before."
"I wish to Heaven I had!" he said, "I might have known how it would
end!"
"No--no! And you owe him your life too. Don't forget that! He
saved you. Are you going to let him sink--after that?" She reached
up and held him by the shoulders, imploring him with all her soul.
"You can't do it! Oh, you can't do it!" she said. "It isn't--you."
He looked at her with a certain doggedness. "Not your conception
of me perhaps," he said, and suddenly his arms closed about her
quivering form. "But--am I--the sort of man you have always taken
me to be? Tell me! Am I?"
She turned her face aside, hiding it against his shoulder. "I
know--what you can be," she said faintly.
"Yes." Grimly he answered her. "You've seen the ugly side of me
at last, and it's that that you are up against now." He paused a
moment, then very sombrely he ended. "I might force you to tell me
the whole truth of this business, but I shall not--simply because I
don't want to hear it now. I know very well he's been making love
to you, tempting you. But I am going to put the infernal matter
away, and forget it--as far as possible. We may never reach the
top of the world now, but we'll get out of this vile slough at any
cost. You won't find me hard to live with if you only play the
game,--and put that damned scoundrel out of your mind for good."
"And do you think I shall ever be able to forgive you?" She lifted
her head with an unexpectedness that was almost startling. Her
eyes were alight, burning with a ruddy fire out of the whiteness of
her face. She spoke as she had never spoken before. It was as if
some strange force had entered into and possessed her. "Do you
think I shall ever forget--even if you do? Perhaps I am not enough
to you now to count in that way. You think--perhaps--that a slave
is all you want, and that partnership, comradeship, friendship,
doesn't count. You are willing to sacrifice all that now, and to
sacrifice him with it. But how will it be--afterwards? Will a
slave be any comfort to you when things go wrong--as they surely
will? Will it satisfy you to feel that my body is yours when my
soul is so utterly out of sympathy, out of touch, that I shall be
in spirit a complete stranger to you? Ah yes," her voice rang on a
deep note of conviction that could not be restrained--"you think
you won't care. But you will--you will. A time will come when you
will feel you would gladly give everything you possess to undo what
you are doing to-day. You will be sick at heart, lonely,
disillusioned, suspicious of me and of everybody. You will see the
horrible emptiness of it all, and you will yearn for better things.
But it will be too late then. What once we fling away never comes
again to us. We shall be too far apart by that time, too
hopelessly estranged, ever to be more to each other than what we
are at this moment--master and slave. Through all our lives we
shall never be more than that."
She ceased to speak, and the fire went out of her eyes. She
drooped in his hold as if all her strength had gone from her.
He turned and put her steadily down into the chair again. He had
heard her out without a sign of emotion, and he betrayed none then.
He did not speak a word. But his silence said more to her than
speech. It was as the beginning of a silence which was to last
between them for as long as they lived.
She sank back exhausted with closed eyes. The struggle--that long,
fierce battle for Guy's soul--was over. And she had failed. Her
prayers had been in vain. All her desperate effort had been
fruitless, and nothing seemed to matter any more. She told herself
that she would never be able to pray again. Her faith had died in
the mortal combat. And there was nothing left to pray for. She
was tired to the very soul of her, tired unto death; but she knew
she would not die. For death was rest, and there could be no rest
for her until the days of her slavery were accomplished. The sand
of the desert would henceforth be her portion. The taste of it was
in her mouth. The desolation of it encompassed her spirit.
Two scalding tears forced their way through her closed lids and ran
down her white cheeks. She did not stir to wipe them away. She
hoped he did not see them. They were the only tears she shed.