CONCERNING AN INVITATION AND A LOCKED DOOR.
When consciousness returned to me, and I became sensible of where I
lay, I perceived that Elmscott was in the room. He stood in the
centre, slapping his boot continually with his riding-crop, and
betraying every expression of impatience upon his face. But I gave
little heed to him, for beside me knelt Ilga, a bottle of hartshorn
salts in her hand. I was resting upon a couch, which stood before the
spinet; the lamps were lighted, and the curtains drawn across the
window, so that my swoon must have lasted some while.
As I let my eyes rest upon the Countess, she slipped an arm under my
head and raised it, taking at the same time a cup of cordial, which
Clemence Durette held ready. 'Twas of a very potent description, and
filled me with a great sense of comfort. Ilga moved her arm as though
to withdraw it. "No," I murmured to her, and she smiled and let it
remain.
"Come, Morrice," said Elmscott. "You have but to walk downstairs. A
carriage is waiting."
He moved towards the couch. I tried to raise my arm to warn him off,
but found that it had been bandaged afresh, and was fastened in a
sling. For a moment I could not remember how I had come by the hurt;
then the history of it came back to me, and with that the promise I
had made to my dying antagonist. For while I believed that Lady Tracy
could have no grounds for her apprehensions, seeing that the Countess
must needs be ignorant of her relations with the Count, whatever they
might have been, I felt that the circumstances under which the request
was uttered gave to it a special authority, and laid upon me a strict
compulsion to obey it to the letter. The request, moreover, fitted
exactly with my own intention. Ilga believed now that I had never seen
Lady Tracy until that morning when she fainted, and so by merely
confessing that the death of Count Lukstein lay at my door, and at my
door alone, I should divert all possibilities of suspicion from
approaching Lady Tracy; so I whispered to Ilga:
"Send every one away!"
"Nay," she replied; "your cousin has told me."
"It is not that," said I. "There is something else--something my
cousin could not know."
"Does it follow," she answered, lowering her eyes, "that I could not
know it? Or do you think me blind?"
The gentle, hesitating words nearly drove my purpose from my mind. It
would have been so easy to say just, "I love you, and you know it." It
became so difficult to say, "I killed your husband, and have deceived
you." However, the confession pressed urgently for utterance, and I
said again: "Send them away!"
"No," she replied, "you have no time for that now. You must leave
London to-night. Everything is ready; your cousin's carriage waits to
take you to the coast. To-morrow you must cross to France. But if you
still--still wish to unburden your mind----"
"Heart," I could not refrain from whispering; and, indeed, my heart
leaped as she faltered and blushed crimson.
"Then," she continued, "come to Lukstein! You will be welcome," and
with a quiet gravity she repeated the phrase: "You will be very
welcome!"
Every word she spoke made my task the harder. I trust that the
weakness of my body, the pain of the wound, and my great fatigue, had
something to do with the sapping of my resolution. But whatever the
cause, an overwhelming desire to cease from effort, to let the whole
world go, rushed in upon me. The one real thing for me was this woman
who knelt beside the couch; the one real need was to tell her of my
love. I felt as though, that once told, I could rest without
compunction, without a scruple of regret, just rest like a tired
child.
"Come to Lukstein!" she repeated.
"Hear me now!" I replied with a last struggle, and got to my feet. I
was still so weak, however, that the violence of the movement made me
sick and dizzy, and I tottered into Elmscott's arms.
"Come, Morrice!" he urged. "A little courage; 'tis only a few steps to
descend."
I steadied myself against his shoulder. In a corner of the room, rigid
and impassive, was the tall figure of Otto Krax. How could I speak
before him?
"I shall expect you, then," said the Countess, "and soon. I leave
England to-morrow myself, and return straight home."
"You leave England to-morrow?" I asked eagerly.
"To-morrow!" she replied.
I drew a deep breath of relief. All danger to Lady Tracy, all her
fears of danger, would vanish with the departure of the Countess; and
as for my confession--it could wait.
"At Castle Lukstein, then," said I, and it seemed to me that she also
drew a breath of relief.
From Pall Mall we drove to my lodging, where I found my trunks packed,
and Udal fully dressed to accompany me in my flight; for Elmscott, who
had started from the "Half-way House" some two hours later than
myself, had ridden straight thither. On learning that my people had no
news of me, he had immediately guessed where I should be discovered,
and, instructing them to prepare instantly for a journey, had himself
hastened to the apartment of the Countess.
My baggage was speedily placed in the boot, Udal mounted on the box, I
directed my other servants to pay the bill and return to Cumberland,
and we drove off quickly to the coast, just twenty-four hours after we
had set out upon the great West Road on our desperate adventure.
As we rolled peacefully through the moonlit gardens of Kent, I had
time to think over and apportion the hurried events of the day, and I
recalled the half-spoken sentence which was on Marston's lips at the
moment of his death. I conjectured that he intended some expression of
remorse for the use to which he had put the likeness of his sister,
and I began again to wonder at the strange inconsistency of the man. I
had been bewildered by it before in respect of this very miniature,
when I first observed his genuine devotion to his sister. To-day he
had afforded me a second and corroborating instance, for no sooner had
he knowledge of his sister's fears, than he had used the knowledge
straightway as a weapon against me, leaving it to his antagonist to
secure her the safeguarding which she implored. And yet that his
anxiety on her account was very real it was impossible for me to
doubt, for I had looked upon his face when he bound me by a promise to
protect her.
At Dover we found a packet on the point of sailing for Calais.
Elmscott bade me good-bye upon the quay, and declared that if I would
keep him informed of my movements, he would send me word when the
affair had blown over and I might safely return. Then he asked:
"Morrice, did you tell Countess Lukstein of your duel?"
"I had not the time," I replied. "But she said you told her."
"Ay, I told the story, though I gave not the reason for the encounter.
But did you say nothing to her, give her no hint by which she might
guess it?"
"Nay," said I; "I swooned or ever I got a word of it out. I spoke but
two words to her: 'Lady Tracy.' She could have guessed little enough
from that."
"Strange!" said he, in a tone of some perplexity. "And yet, some way
or another, she must needs have known. For when I came to seek you,
Otto denied you were there. I was positive, however, and ran past him
up the stairs. The parlour door was locked, and they only gave me
entrance when I bawled my name through the keyhole and declared that I
knew you were within, and for your own sake must have immediate speech
with you. I fancied that the Countess was aware of the duel and meant
to conceal you."
I thought no more of his words at the time, and went presently aboard.
A fair wind filled the sheets and hummed through the cordage of the
rigging. The cliffs lessened and lessened until they shone in the
sunlight like a silver rim about the bowl of the sea; the gulls
swooped and circled in our wake; and thus I sailed out upon my strange
pilgrimage, which was to last so many weary months and set me amid
such perilous surroundings.