A REPORT.
Just glancing round at her companion to make sure that he
followed, taking off her hat as she went, Hazel passed swiftly
into the cottage and into Mr. Falkirk's study, to the foot of
his couch--and there stood still. Very unlike the figure of
last evening,--in the simplest pale Summer dress, with no
adornment but her brown hair, and yet as Mr. Falkirk looked,
he thought he has never seen her look so lovely. She was
surely changing fast; the old girlish graces were taking to
themselves the richer and stronger graces of womanhood; and
like those evening flowers that open and unfold and gather
sweetness if you but turn aside for a moment, so she seemed to
have altered, even since her guardian's last look. The broad
gipsy hanging from her hand, her long eyelashes drooped,--so
she stood. Mr. Falkirk looked and took the effect of all this
in a glance two seconds long, during which, something held his
tongue. Then as his eye caught the figure that entered
following her, it darted towards him a look of sudden surprise
and suspicion. Than changed, however, almost as soon, and his
eyes came back to his ward. But there is no doubt Mr. Falkirk
scowled.
'So, Miss Hazel,' he began, in his usual manner, 'you found
you could not manage other people's carriages last night?'
'Not the right ones, sir. Will you ask Mr. Rollo to sit down,
Mr. Falkirk? It is due to me that he should hear all I have to
say.'
'It is not due to anybody that you should say it standing,'
said Rollo, wheeling up into convenient position the easiest
chair that the room contained. She made him a slight sign of
acknowledgement, but yielded only so far as to lay her hand on
the chair back. Probably it was pleasant to touch something.
Rollo stepped back to the mantlepiece and stood there, but not
touching it or anything.
'It appears to me, Miss Hazel,' said the recumbent master of
the house, 'that the invitation must come from you.'
'I have not been invited myself, sir, yet.'
'I do not recollect inviting you to be seated yesterday, my
dear; is to-day different from yesterday?'
'Unless I have forgotten the frown which welcomed me then,
sir. I suppose you have but a faint idea of the looming up of
your brows just now.'
'What?' said Mr. Falkirk. 'Don't you know, Miss Hazel, a man's
brows are not within his range of vision? and I deny that he
is responsible for them. Am I frowning now?'
'Not quite so portentously, sir.'
'Then you need not stand so particularly, need you? I wonder,
if I looked so fierce, how Rollo dared to offer you the
civility of a chair in my presence; but people are different.'
'But I cannot sit there,' she said, with a glance towards the
bringer of the chair, as she passed by its reposeful depths.
'Not now. If Mr. Rollo will make himself comfortable in his
own way, I will in mine.' And Hazel brought a foot cushion to
the couch and sat down there; a little turned away from the
third member of the party; who however did not change his
position.
'Is there business?' said Mr. Falkirk glancing from one to the
other.
The girl gave him a swift glance of wonder.
'You used to think it was business, sir, to know what had
become of me. Did you sleep well last night, Mr. Falkirk?'
'Why should I, any more than you?' said Mr. Falkirk in his old
fashion of growling. 'Day is the proper time for sleeping, in
the fashionable world.'
It made her restless--this keeping off the subject of which her
thoughts were full. Didn't he mean to ask any questions?
'Why should not I have slept, sir?--if you come to that. The
fashionable world was not to hold me beyond eleven.'
'So I understood, and endeavoured to stipulate,' said Mr.
Falkirk, 'but I am told you were so late in returning that you
would not come home, and preferred, somewhat inexplicably,
disturbing Miss Maryland to disturbing me.'
'Is that what you think?' she answered, simply. 'That I broke
my word? Mr. Falkirk, I began returning as you say, at a
quarter past eleven.'
'I never expected you to get off before that, my dear. Then
what was the matter?'
The girl hesitated a moment, and then one of her witch looks
flashed through in spite of everything.
'I fell into Charybdis, sir, that was all.'
'I do not remember any such place between here and
Merricksdale,' said Mr. Falkirk. 'Was it enchantment, my
dear?' But his face was less careless than his words. Hers
grew grave again at once; and, wasting no more time, Miss
Kennedy addressed herself to business.
'I had arranged it all with Miss Bird,' she said, 'on the way
there. She had a headache and was glad of an excuse to get
away early. It was "a small party," I found, when you were in
the house and the rest were out of doors, but otherwise
everybody was there--and nearly everybody else. The trees were
all lights and flowers; and supper tables stood ready from the
first; and you know what the moon was. So altogether,' said
Miss Hazel, 'it was hard to remember anything about time, and
especially to find out. I fancied that Mrs. Merrick had told
about my going early,--watches seemed so very uncertain, and so
many of them had stopped at nine o'clock. It was only by a
chance overhearing that I knew when it was half-past ten. I
lost just a few minutes then, manoeuvring,--for I did not want
"everybody" to see me to the carriage; but when I had vanished
into the house, and found Mrs. Merrick, Miss Bird was not
there. She had gone home an hour before, her head being worse,
they said.'
Mr. Falkirk said nothing, but his thick brows grew together
again.
'Mrs. Merrick said it was not the least matter; her coachman
unfortunately was sick, but fifty people would be only too
happy. I said everybody but me wished to stay late,--O, no, not
at all!--here was Mr. May, going in five minutes, with his
sister. They would be "delighted". I could not well tell her,
sir,' said Wych Hazel, with a look at her guardian, 'all that
occurred to me in the connection, but I suppose I negatived
Mr. May in my face, for Mrs. Merrick went on. "Mr. Morton,
then,--the most luxurious coach in the county." He too was
going at once--if I did. Or, if I did not mind the walk, her
brother-in-law would take charge of me at any moment with
pleasure.'
Certainly Mr. Falkirk outdid himself in scowling, at this
point.
'Well--I must get home somehow,' she said with another glance,--
'and the coach would never do, and the phaeton was tabooed.
But I knew Mrs. Merrick's sister was Mrs. Blake; and so,
thinking of the old doctor, I said at once that I would walk,
and ran upstairs for my cloak. And then I found out,' said
Wych Hazel slowly, 'that the are two sorts of brothers-in-
law.'
Nobody interrupted her, nor spoke when she paused. The little
room was very still, except from the movements the girl made
herself.
'This was the wrong one. No old doctor Blake at all, but a
younger brother of Gen. Merrick. What could I do?' she said,
with a half appealing look that went for a second further than
her guardian. 'Already my promise was in peril; and there was
Mr. Morton beseeching me into his coach--and I could not get up
a fuss.' It was very pretty and characteristic, the
unconscious way in which she brought in--and left out--the third
one in the room. Sometimes forgetting everybody but her
guardian, and giving him details that were plainly meant for
his ears alone; then, with a sudden blush and stop,
remembering that there was another listener standing by. On
such occasions she would generally turn her face a little more
away and out of sight, and then begin again, in a tone that
meant to keep clear of all further special confidences in that
direction. The third member of the party stood perfectly still
and made no remark whatever.
'Well?' said Mr. Falkirk, with rather a short breath, as the
girl paused.
'There was nothing left for me but the walk--unless a fuss, and
a half dozen more standing round. Then Mr. Morton said he
should walk, too, at least as far as the cross-road, and let
the carriage follow at a foot pace in case I should turn
weary. If he had been half as anxious about my weariness as he
professed,' said the girl, with a curl of her lips, 'he would
have tried how fast his horses could go for once, with him
behind them. But I could not tell him that any plainer than I
did.'
'You tried to make him drive and leave you?' said Mr. Falkirk.
'I tried to make him let me alone, sir,' said the girl
flushing. 'As to the way, I made no suggestions. So we walked
on, and Mr. Morton made himself exceedingly--disagreeable.'
'Too officious? Or too presumptuous? He's an ass!' said Mr.
Falkirk, who was plainly getting restive. 'Which, Hazel?'
'Unbearable I called it, sir. I was in no mood for nice
definitions. And I couldn't have been tired _then_ if we had
walked through the moonlight straight on to the moon! But--I
had been lectured so much about self-control' (an invisible
glance went here) 'that, somehow, he seemed to keep his
patience the better, the more I lost mine. I never remember
your telling me, sir, that my wilful moods were particularly
becoming, but I began to think it must be so; and actually
thought of trying a little complaisance.' Whereat, Miss Hazel
brought herself to a sudden stop.
'My dear!' said Mr. Falkirk. 'What was the other man about?'
'He was walking on the other side,' said Hazel, her voice
changing. 'But he left me to Mr. Morton, in effect, and
scarcely said three words all this time. I trusted his
thoughts were too busy with Miss Powder, to notice what went
on near by.'
'This is what comes of what you erroneously term dancing on
the branches of trees!' said Mr. Falkirk, in a great state of
disgust. 'But I have no idea I should have gone to that
woman's if I had been free. More comes of it than I reckoned
upon, or than six weeks will see me through. Well, you got rid
of him at last, I suppose; and walked all the way to Dr.
Maryland's in your slippers!'
'My dear Mr. Falkirk!--slippers at an out-door party! Yes, I
"got rid of him," as you say, when we reached the turning to
Morton Hollow,' Hazel went on, rather slowly, the shadow
coming into her tone again. 'And then, after that, I found out
why my other companion had been so silent.'
'Found out! He had not been taking too much?'
'I told you the supper tables stood ready all the evening,'
said the girl, sinking her voice; 'and--it was plain--now--what
he had found there.'
The silence now, rather than any words, bade her go on. She
caught her breath a little, mastering her excitement.
'I knew, presently, what I must do. And when. You have told
me, sir, sometimes, that I was too hasty to resolve and to
do,--I had to be both now.'
'What did you do?' said her guardian.
'I must get away. And on the instant. For, just beyond, the
woods ceased, and there was a long stretch of open road. I
thought, in that second, that my cloak might be caught. So,
with my free hand I unfastened it--I don't know how I ever did
it!' said the girl, excitedly, 'unless, as Byo says, mamma's
prayers were round me!--but I slipped the cloak from my
shoulders and tore away my other hand, and sprang into the
woods.'
They could almost hear her heart beat, as she sat there.
'Into the woods alone!' cried Mr. Falkirk. 'Then--Go on, my
dear,' he said, his voice falling into great gentleness.
'Things came so fast upon me then!' she said with a shiver. 'I
had said, in that moment, "I can but try,"--and now I felt that
if you try--some things--you must succeed. To fail, then, would
be just a game of hide-and-seek. That was the first thought. I
must keep ahead, if it killed me. And then--instantly--I knew
that to do that I must not run!'--
'What _did_ you do?' said Mr. Falkirk.
'I might not be the fastest; and, if I ran, I should maybe not
know just where--he--was,--nor when the pursuit was given up. I
must pass from shadow to shadow; moving only when he moved;
keeping close watch; until he got tired and went back.'
Hazel leaned her head on her hands, as if the mere
recollection were all she could bear.
'My dear!--exclaimed Mr. Falkirk. 'Did you keep up the game
long?'
'I do not know, sir,' she said, wearily; 'it seemed--' she
stopped short,--then went on:
'I knew my dress was dark enough to pass notice; and as softly
as I could I rolled up my white cloak and took off my gloves,
lest any chance light might fall on them. My steps were
steady--the others not: so far I had the advantage. Several
times I heard my name--I think the surprise must have sobered
him a little, for he called to me that that was not the road.
But how long it went on, I cannot tell.'
'Till he gave it up?'
'Yes. At last, I saw him go back to the road, and heard his
tread there, turning back the way we had come. Past me. And
again I had to wait. Only I crept to the edge of the trees,
where I could see far down the moonlight, and watch the one
moving shadow there, that it did not turn off again among the
shadows where I stood. And then I began to think I could not
go on towards home along that open stretch before me,--for at
least a mile there were only fields and fences on either hand.
I had noticed it when we drove along in the evening. I could
not go back towards Mrs. Merrick's. Then I remembered, in my
ride upon Vixen, finding a short cut from this road to one
from Dr. Maryland's. And I thought if I could once get to
that, I should find unbroken woodland, where I could pass
along unseen. For that, however, I must cross the road--in the
full, clear light. And what that was!--'
'But I went safe,' she began again, 'and reached the shadows
on the other side before there came sounds upon the road once
more, and the full stream of late people began to come
rattling down from Merricksdale.'
'Yes!'--Mr. Falkirk's word was rather breathless.
'At first, when I saw the first carriage, I thought I would
speak and claim protection. But that held only men. And then
came others on foot--and some that I knew. And it seemed to me,
that instead of speaking I almost shrank into a shadow myself.
And when there came a little interval, so that I dared move, I
sprang away again, and went through the woods as fast as I
could go, and go softly. The belt is not broad there, I
suppose,' she said after another pause; 'and I reached the
other road and went on while in the darkness, along the edge.
But I think by this time I must have been tired, I grew so
suddenly trembling and unsteady. And the night was so still,
and yet I seemed to hear steps everywhere. I could not bear it
any longer; and I thought I would just be quiet and wait for
the day. Only--so far my wits served me yet--I must once more
cross the road; for the moon was sinking westward now, and the
level rays came in about my feet.'
'I thought I could not do it at first,' she said, with a voice
that told more than the words,--'go out into that stream of
light; but then I did; and hid myself in the branches of a
great hemlock, and waited there.'
'And then I found Mr. Rollo,--and I knew that I might trust
him.'
With which most unconscious full-sized compliment, the girl
crossed her arms upon her lap, and laid her face down upon
them, and was still.
'How did she found you?' demanded Mr. Falkirk with
unceremonious energy. The answer was in an undertone:
'I found her.'
Mr. Falkirk was silent again.
'No,' said Wych Hazel, without raising her head, and again not
stopping to measure her words. 'You would have stood there
till this time, if I had not spoken!'
'Would I?' said Rollo.
'And how came you to be there at all at that time of night?'
said Mr. Falkirk.
'On my way from the cars.'
'Cars, where?'
'Henderson.'
'Walk from Henderson!' said Mr. Falkirk.
'Save time. I wanted to be here to-day.' The answers were all
short and grave, as a man speaks who has no words that he
wants to say.
'And Mr. Rollo thought', said Hazel, looking up, 'that it was
better for me to come home from Dr. Maryland's than from the
woods. And--when he spoke of it--I supposed you would say that
too, Mr. Falkirk.'
But Mr. Falkirk vouchsafed no corroboration of this opinion.
'Did I do well, sir?' she said a little eagerly, but meaning
now the whole night's work. 'Did I do ill? Was I a bit like
your old ideal--"a woman" and "brave"? Or was I only a girl,
and very foolish?' They were so silent, these men!--it tried
her. Did they, in their worldly wisdom, see any better way out
of her hard places, than her seventeen years' inexperience had
found, at such a cost? The brown eyes looked searchingly at
Mr. Falkirk, and again for an instant went beyond him to Mr.
Rollo.
'Answer, Mr. Falkirk!' said the younger man.
'My dear,' said Wych Hazel's guardian, 'if I had been a
quarter as much a man as you have proved yourself a woman,
your bravery never would have been so tried.'
'And the bravery was as much as the womanliness!' said the
other, in the short, terse way of all his words this
afternoon; no air of compliment whatever hanging about the
words.
She answered with only a deep flush of pleasure, and eyes that
went down now, and a smile just playing round the corners of
her mouth--the first that had been there that afternoon. It may
be remarked that there was no pleasure in either of the other
faces.
'Who knows about this?' said Mr. Falkirk, suddenly.
'Nobody,' said Rollo.
'Not Miss Maryland?'
'I could answer for her; but she knows nothing.'
Wych Hazel looked up, listening. It was interesting to hear
somebody else talk now. Talk was stayed, however. Both men
were thinking; their thoughts did not run easily into spoken
words. Or not while she was present; for after a sudden
excursion up stairs to see what notes and messages might need
attention, on returning she found the two deep in talk; Rollo
seated near the head of Mr. Falkirk's couch, and bending
towards him. He sprang up as Wych hazel came in and took
leave; shaking Mr. Falkirk's hand cordially and then clasping
Wych Hazel's. For the first time then a gleam of his usual gay
humour broke on his lips and in his eye, as he said softly:
'I should have made you speak before that!'