"It's the most absurd thing--my being caught here in this way," said
Lucian Spenser. "But who would ever have imagined that Madam Giron could
turn into a tourist! As well imagine Torres a commercial traveller."
"I think he felt rather like one," answered Margaret, smiling; "he
seemed to consider it an extraordinary state of affairs to be closing
houses and taking journeys at a lawyer's bidding."
It was the 19th day of December. The thermometer outside stood at
sixty-eight Fahrenheit. In the drawing-room of East Angels were Mrs.
Carew, Margaret, Garda, Lucian Spenser, and Dr. Kirby. Lucian and his
wife had left Gracias within a week after that sail through silver fog
which had tempted Garda. Their departure had been sudden, it was due to
a telegraphic despatch which had come to Rosalie from her uncle in New
York; he was seriously ill, and wished to see her. This was the uncle
under whose roof she had spent her childhood and youth. She had not been
especially attached to him, she had never supposed that he was attached
to her. But all who bore the Bogardus name (save perhaps Rosalie
herself) reserved to themselves the inalienable right of being as
disagreeable to each other personally, year in, year out, as they chose
to be, while remaining, nevertheless, as a family, indissolubly united;
that is to say, that though as Cornelia and John, Dick and Alida, they
might detest each other, and show not the slightest scruples about
evincing that feeling, designated by their mutually shared surname their
ranks closed up at once, like a line of battle under attack, presenting
to the world an unbroken front. Dying, old John Bogardus had wished to
see Rosalie--Rosalie, his brother Dick's child, who had made that
imprudent marriage; he felt it to be his duty to advise her about
certain investments. In answer to his despatch, Lucian had taken his
wife north.
When they reached New York, Rosalie found her uncle better; the
physicians gave no hope of recovery, but they said that he might linger
in this way for two months or more. In this state of affairs Lucian
suggested to his wife that he should leave her there, and take a flying
trip to New Orleans; he had always wished to make that journey in the
winter, and this seemed as good an occasion as any, since, naturally,
"Uncle Giovanni" could have no very burning desire to see him, Lucian,
day after day. Rosalie, anxious always to put herself in accord with her
husband's ideas, gave her consent; the separation, even for a few weeks,
would be hard for her, but that she would bear to give Lucian
entertainment.
He left her, therefore, a little before the middle of December. And if
he arrived at Gracias-a-Dios instead of at New Orleans, this was because
he was taking in Gracias on the way; was it not as easy to come first to
Florida, and then cross the southern country westward to the beautiful
city on the Louisiana shore, as to follow the long course of the
Mississippi down? If it was not as easy, in any case he preferred it,
and the course Lucian Spenser preferred he generally followed.
It was fortunate, therefore, that he preferred nothing very evil. In the
present instance his preference held intentions quite without that
element; he should spend four or five days in Gracias; he should collect
various small possessions, which, owing to his hasty departure, he had
left scattered about there, at East Angels, at Madam Giron's, at the
rectory; he should finish two or three sketches in which he felt an
interest; and he should say good-by in a more leisurely way to his
relatives, the Moores, as well as to the other people there whom he
liked so well, for he had the feeling that a long time might elapse
before he should see the little coast hamlet again. He had hoped to stay
with Madam Giron, as before. But when he arrived at her door, late in
the afternoon of the 19th, he found it barred and that lady absent:
evidently his letter had not reached her.
Madam Giron had seemed to him like one of those barges which lie moored
far up some quiet bay, with their masts removed and a permanent plank
walk made from the deck to the shore. The idea that this stationary
craft could have gone to sea, that this sweet-tempered lady, with her
beautiful eyes, redundant figure, many children, and complete
non-admiration for energy, could have started suddenly on her travels,
had never once occurred to him.
Until five days before, it had never occurred to Madam Giron herself.
At that date she had received a letter from Cuba telling her that a
share in some property was awaiting her there; a long-contested lawsuit
having at length been decided in favor of her mother's family. Madam
Giron consulted her friends: was it an occasion when duty demanded that
she should make the great effort of going in person to Cuba for the sake
of "these dear angels," her children (the lawyer having written that her
presence would be necessary), or was it not? Gracias discussed this
point. It _was_ an effort for a lady to make; a lady was not in the
habit of leaving the cherished seclusion of her own circle, to rush
about the world at a lawyer's request, exposing herself in public
conveyances to association with all sorts of people; some of her
friends, notably the Senor Ruiz and her own nephew, Adolfo Torres, were
decidedly of the opinion that she should not go.
"It's so characteristic--their discussing it as they are doing,"
Winthrop remarked to his aunt--"discussing whether or not to take a
short journey in order to secure an inheritance."
"It's a very small inheritance, isn't it!" asked Aunt Katrina,
languidly.
"About fifteen hundred dollars, I believe. But you must remember that
without it those children, probably, will have nothing but that
mortgaged land."
"I don't think the people here know or care whether they've got money or
not," said Aunt Katrina, in a disgusted tone.
"No, they don't. Probably that is one of the reasons why I like them so
well."
"Yet _you_ have a clear idea of the value of property, Evert."
"I should think I had! I've worked for it--my idea."
"Tell me one thing," pursued Aunt Katrina, whose mind was now on her
nephew's affairs. "When you went north last month, wasn't it on account
of something connected with that cousin of yours, or rather of your
father's, David Winthrop?"
"Well, David has great capacity: he is really wonderful," answered
Winthrop, coming out of his reverie to smile at the remembrance of the
ineffectual man. "In spite of the new partnership, he _had_ managed to
tangle up everything almost worse than before."
"Yet people call you hard!" commented Aunt Katrina, plaintively.
"I am hard, I spend half my time trying not to be," responded her
nephew, in what she called one of his puzzling tones. Aunt Katrina
sometimes found Evert very puzzling.
Madam Giron had finally decided to follow the advice of Dr. Kirby, which
was, and had been unwaveringly from the beginning, to go. For she could
not but be aware that the Doctor had a very extensive acquaintance with
life, that he was more truly a man of the world than any one they had in
Gracias; she mentioned this during a confidential interview she had with
his mother. The Doctor, of course, was not surprised by her statement;
he could not help knowing that he was.
Madam Giron, therefore, had left her children with Madam Ruiz, closed
her house, and started, accompanied by the disapproving Torres, three
days before Lucian's arrival at her locked door.
The wagon which had brought him was well on its way back towards
Gracias; he had walked up the long, winding path which led to the house,
leaving his luggage piled at the distant gate. He turned and stood a
moment on the piazza, meditating upon what he should do. Then he left
the piazza and went towards the branch, where was the cabin of old Cajo,
Madam Giron's factotum. Cajo's wife, Juana, was cook at the "big house,"
and the two old servants were delighted to extend the hospitality which
their mistress, they knew, would have immediately ordered had she been
at home. In half an hour, therefore, the guest was seated at the "big
house" table, before an impromptu but excellent meal, his old room was
ready for him up-stairs, and there were even lights in the drawing-room,
which, however, he extinguished as he passed by on his way to the hall
door. He locked this door behind him, and put the key in his pocket; the
two servants were not to wait for him, they were to go back to their
cabin as soon as their work was done, taking with them the key of
another entrance.
Lucian was going to East Angels. He went through the fields, still
lighted by the after-glow, then passed into the dimness of the wood;
reaching East Angels' border, he crossed the Levels, and approached the
house through the orange walk. As he had written only to Madam Giron,
and the letter had followed her to Cuba, no one knew that he was coming.
He entered the drawing-room. And there was a cry of surprise.
The evening that followed was enlivened by animated conversation, Dr.
Kirby thought it almost a brilliant occasion. The brilliancy without
doubt had been excited by Lucian's unexpected arrival, and he had
brought his own gay spirits with him; still, they had all contributed
something, the Doctor felt; his own sentences, for instance, had
displayed not a small degree of "perspicuity." The Doctor had his own
descriptive terms, he had no idea that they had grown old-fashioned.
Garda's remarks he designated as "sprightly," Margaret's way of talking
he characterized as "most engaging;" the Doctor still praised a young
man for possessing "sensibility;" he could even restore the lost
distinction to that fallen-from-grace word "genteel." When, after one of
his visits at East Angels, he said to his little mother--he described
everything to her, partly because he liked to describe, but principally
because he was a devoted son, and did all he could to entertain
her--"The conversation, ma, during the evening was easy, animated, and
genteel," it must have been a coarse-grained person indeed who could not
appreciate the delicate aroma of that last word as used by him.
On the present occasion the conversation had been even more than this;
and when at last it was brought to a close, and the Doctor, having
indulged in a general mental review of it (especially his own share),
which made him, as glory is apt to do, extraordinarily thirsty, was
compounding a glass of orangeade to drink before going to bed, he could
not resist remarking to Winthrop, as the latter passed through the empty
room on his way to the balcony for a final cigarette, "Quite a brilliant
little occasion, wasn't it?"
"Thanks to you," Winthrop answered.
"Softly, softly," said the Doctor, much pleased, but still considerate.
"I am old, and can no longer be a leader. But that young Spenser, now--"
"Yes, that young Spenser now--thanks to him too," said Winthrop,
disappearing.
The Doctor could not but think that his host was sometimes a little dry.
The next day Lucian finished one of his sketches, went up to Gracias to
pay some visits, and returned at sunset; he again spent the evening at
East Angels. He announced, when he came in, that he had decided to
remain a week longer in his solitary quarters; after that he should
spend a day with the Moores, and then start westward towards New
Orleans.
"Eight days more," said Garda, counting.
"Yes. See how agreeable you will have to be! Everything fascinating you
know, I beg you to say, so that my last hours may be made harrowingly
delightful; for it's very uncertain whether I ever see Gracias again."
"I don't care about 'evers,'" said Garda; "'evers' are always far off.
What I care about is to get every instant of those eight days." She left
her chair and went across to Winthrop. "Are you going to be nice?" she
asked, in a coaxing tone. "_Do_ be nice; arrange so that we can go
somewhere every day." She spoke so that he alone could hear her.
"Do you call that being nice? I thought you did not like to go out."
"When there's nobody but ourselves I don't; that is, not often, for it's
always the same people, the same thing. But when there's somebody else,
somebody I _really_ want to talk to, that's different; there are a great
many more chances to talk and say what you like when everybody is
walking about in the woods or on beaches, than you ever get in a parlor,
you know."
Winthrop had never lost his enjoyment of Garda's frankness. He did not
admire Lucian Spenser, but he did admire the girl's coming to ask him to
secure for her as many opportunities as possible for being with that
fascinating guest.
"All very well for the present," he answered. "But we cannot forever
keep you supplied with a new Punch and Judy."
"What's Punch and Judy?"
He altered his sentence. "With new Lucian Spensers."
"Let me have the old one, then, as long as I can," responded Garda.
They made two or three excursions from East Angels. And she probably had
the "chances" which she had so appreciatively outlined. Nevertheless,
early in the afternoon of the fourth day, Lucian came over to say
good-by to them, he had made up his mind to start westward sooner than
he had at first intended; he should not go again to Gracias, he had been
up that morning to take leave of the Moores; he should drive from Madam
Giron's directly across to the river. There was a moon, he should
probably start about nine that night.
"On Christmas-eve?" said Betty, in astonishment. "And be travelling on
Christmas-day? Why, Mr. Spenser, that seems to _me_ downright
heathenish."
Lucian did not contradict Betty's view of the case; and he gave no
reason for his sudden departure. There was no change in him in any way,
no appearance of determination or obstinacy; yet they could not make him
alter his decision, though they all tried, Betty with remonstrance, Dr.
Kirby with general Christmas hospitality, Winthrop and Mrs. Harold with
courtesy. Garda did not say much.
Dr. Kirby was again at East Angels, Mrs. Rutherford having sent for him
on account of a peculiar sensation she felt in a spot "about as large as
a dime" under her collar-bone. She had improved since his arrival--she
always improved after the Doctor's arrivals; but it had been arranged
that he should spend his Christmas there, his mother coming down the
next morning to join the party.
Lucian remained an hour; then he bade them all good-by, left his
farewells for Mrs. Rutherford, and departed; he had still his packing to
do, he said. It was not yet four o'clock; it seemed as if he had
reserved for that process a good deal of time.
Garda had received the tidings of his going with dilated eyes. But the
startled expression soon left her, she laughed and talked, and, under
the laughter, her mood was a contented one; Margaret, watching her,
perceived beyond a doubt that the contentment was real. After Lucian had
gone, the little party in the drawing-room broke up, and Margaret went
to give Lucian's good-by to Aunt Katrina. Aunt Katrina was only "so-so,"
she was inclined to find fault with her niece for not having brought
Lucian in person to take leave of her instead of his message; she was
lying on a lounge, and there was an impression of white lace and
wood-violets. No, she did not care for any reading that afternoon; Dr.
Kirby was coming to play backgammon with her. Betty now entered, and
Margaret went to her own room. Presently Garda, who had heard her step,
called; Margaret opened the door of communication between their two
chambers and looked in. The girl was swinging in her hammock.
"Going out?" she said, as she saw Margaret's garden-hat.
"Yes."
"To the garden?"
"Farther; out on the barren."
"I know where,--to take the medicine to that sick child. Why don't you
send somebody?"
"I like to go."
"No, you don't," said Garda, laughing. "You're as good as gold,
Margaret, but you don't really like to go, you don't really like the
negroes, personally, one bit. You would do anything in the world for
them, give them all your money and all your time, teach school for them,
make clothes for them, and I don't know what all; but you would never
understand them though you should live among them all the rest of your
life, and never see a white face again. Now _I_ wouldn't take one grain
of the trouble for them that you would, because I don't think it's in
the least necessary. But, personally, I _like_ them, I like to have them
about, talk to them and hear them talk; I am really attached to all the
old servants about here. And I venture to say, too, that they would all
prefer me forever, though I didn't lift a finger for them, prefer me to
you, no matter what sacrifices you might make to help them, because they
would see and feel that _I_ really liked them, whereas _you_ didn't. But
I really think you like to be busy just for the sake of it; when there's
nothing else you can do, you go tramping all over the country until I
should think your feet would spread out like a duck's. I should like to
know when you have given yourself an hour or two of absolute rest--such
as I am taking now?"
"I can't sleep in the daytime," was Margaret's answer to this general
southern remonstrance; "and a duck's feet are very useful to the duck."
"Oh, of course I know your feet are lovely. But I shouldn't think they
could stay so, long."
"There seems to be no end at least to _your_ powers of 'staying so,'
especially when you get into a hammock," remarked Margaret. But she
spoke with a smile on her lips, she was well satisfied to see the girl
swinging there contentedly, her eyes already misty with sleep.
"Good-by," she said, closing the door. Then she put on her hat and
gloves, and started on her mission. The sick child, for whom Dr. Kirby
had prepared the medicine, lived in a cabin two miles and a half from
East Angels, on the barren. In addition to the taste for unnecessary
philanthropy which Garda had attributed to her, as well as that for
unnecessary exercise, Margaret appeared to have a taste for solitude:
she generally took her long walks alone. That is, she took them whenever
she had the opportunity. This was not so often as it might have been,
because of Aunt Katrina's little wishes, which had a habit of ramifying
through all the hours of the day. It was not that Aunt Katrina expected
you to occupy yourself in her behalf the whole afternoon, she would have
exclaimed at the idea that she made such exactions as that; she only
wished you to do some one little thing for her at two; and then
something else "a little before three;" and then again possibly she
might "feel like" this or that later, say, "any time" (liberally)
"between half-past four and five." In this way she was sure that you had
almost the whole time to yourself.
In addition Margaret was house-keeper, and with the heterogeneous
assemblage of servants at East Angels, the position required an almost
hourly exercise of diplomacy. Celestine, so excellent in her own sphere,
could not be relied upon in this, because, pressed by her desire to
"educate the black man," she was constantly introducing primers "in
words of one syllable" into the sweeping, dusting, and bed-making; she
had even been known to suspend one open on the crane in the kitchen
fireplace for the benefit of Aunt Dinah-Jim during the process (for
which she was celebrated) of roasting wild-turkey. But "the black man,"
including Aunt Dinah, would have been much more impressed by primers in
words of six.
For the rest of this afternoon, however, Margaret was free; she had
several hours of daylight still before her. She walked on across the
barren, and had gone about half the distance, when she was overtaken by
Joe, the elder brother, the sixth elder brother, of the little Jewlyann
for whom the medicine was intended. Joe, a black lad in a military cap,
and a pair of his father's trousers which were so well strapped up over
his shoulders by fragmentary braces that they covered his breast and
back, and served as jacket as well, took the vial from the lady who was
so kind to them; and then Margaret, promising to pay her visit another
day, turned back. As she approached East Angels again, she made a long
detour, and entered on the southern side at the edge of the Levels.
Here, pausing, she looked at her watch; it was not yet half-past five,
she turned and entered the south-eastern woods, which came up at this
point to the East Angels border. Once within the shaded aisles, she
walked on, following no path, but wandering at random. Any one seeing
her then would have said that the expression of her face was singularly
altered; instead of the composure that usually held sway there, it was
the expression of a person much agitated mentally, and agitated by
unhappiness. She walked on with irregular steps, her hands interlocked
and hanging before her, palms downward, her eyes on the ground. After
some time she paused, and seemed to make an effort to press back her
troubles, not only a mental effort, but a physical one, after the manner
of people whose sensibilities are keen; she placed her hands over her
forehead and eyes, and held them there with a firm pressure for several
minutes; then she let them drop, and looked about her.
She had wandered far, she was near the eastern boundary of the wood;
Madam Giron's house was in sight--only a field lay between. She was
sufficiently acquainted with the forest to know that one of the paths
must be near; three paths crossed it, leading from East Angels to the
Giron plantation and beyond, this should be the most easterly of the
three; she turned to look for it.
It was not distant, and before long she came upon it. But at the moment
she did so she caught a glimpse of Evert Winthrop's figure; he was on
the other side of the path, at some distance from her; in the wood, but
nearer its edge than she was. Seated on a camp-stool, he was apparently
using the last of the daylight to finish a sketch. For he had taken to
sketching during his long stay at East Angels, producing pictures which
were rather geometrical, it is true; but he maintained that there was a
great deal of geometry in all landscape.
Margaret had now entered the path, and was walking towards home.
It happened that Winthrop at this moment looked up; but he did not do so
until her course had carried her so far past him that it was not
necessary for her to give sign of having seen him. He was too far off to
speak; there was, in fact, a wide space between them, though they could
see each other perfectly. But though, by the breadth of a second, he had
failed to look up in time to bow to her, he was in time to see that she
had observed him--her eyes were in the very act of turning away. In that
same instant, too, Margaret perceived that he saw she had observed him.
She passed on; a minute later a sharp bend in the path took her figure
out of his sight. He looked after her for a moment, as though hesitating
whether he would not follow her. Then he seemed to give up the idea; he
returned to his sketch.
Margaret, meanwhile, walking rapidly along the path on the other side of
the bend, came upon some one--Garda.
"Garda! you here?" she said, stopping abruptly.
"I might rather say _you_ here," answered Garda. "I thought you were out
on the barren." She spoke in her usual tone.
"I didn't go far on the barren," Margaret answered; "I met one of the
boys and gave him the vial, then I came round this way for a walk. But
it's late now, we must both go home."
Garda gave a long sigh, which, however, ended in a smile. "Oh _dear_!
it's too bad I've met you at this moment of all others, for of course
now I shall have to tell you, and you'll be sure to be vexed. I'm not
going home, I'm going over to Madam Giron's to see Lucian."
Margaret looked at her, her eyes for one brief instant showed
uncertainty. But the uncertainty was immediately replaced by a decision:
no, it was, it must be, that this girl did not in the least realize what
she was doing. "It is foolish to go, Garda," she said at last, putting
some ridicule into her tone; "Lucian has said good-by to you, he doesn't
want to see you again."
Garda did not assert the contrary. And she remained perfectly unmoved by
the ridicule. "But _I_ want to see him," she explained.
"We can send for him, then--though he will laugh at you; there is plenty
of time to send."
"No," replied Garda. "For I want to see him by myself, and that I
couldn't do at the house; there'd be sure to be somebody about; you
yourself wouldn't be very far off, I reckon. No, I've thought it all
over, and I would rather see him at Madam Giron's."
"Absurd! You cannot have anything of the least importance to say to
him," said Margaret, still temporizing. She took the girl's hand and
drew it through her arm.
"Oh, the important thing, of course, is to _see_ him," answered Garda.
Winthrop was so far from the path that the low sound of their voices,
speaking their usual tones, could not reach him. But the bend was near;
let Garda once pass it, and he would see her plainly; he would not only
see her pass through the wood, but, from where he sat, he commanded the
field which she would have to cross to reach Madam Giron's. All this
pictured itself quickly in Margaret's mind, she tightened her hold on
the girl's hand, and the ridicule left her voice. "Don't go, Garda," she
said, beseechingly.
"I must; it's my last chance."
"I shouldn't care much for a last chance which I had had to arrange
entirely myself."
"Well, that is the difference between us--_I_ should," Garda answered.
"I shall have to speak more plainly, then, and tell you that you must
not go. It would be thought extremely wrong."
"Who would think so?"
"Everybody."
"You know you mean Evert," said Garda, amused.
"I mean everybody. But if it should be Evert too!"
"I shouldn't care."
"If he were somewhere about here now, and should see you, shouldn't you
care for that?" asked Margaret, a change of expression, in spite of her
effort to prevent it, passing over her face.
But Garda did not see the change; her eyes had happened to fall upon a
loosened end of her sash, she drew her hand away in order to retie the
ribbons in a new knot, while she answered: "Do you mean see me going
into Madam Giron's? No, provided he didn't follow me. I give you my
word, Margaret, that I should really like to have Evert see me, I
believe I'd go half a mile out of my way on purpose; he is so
exasperatingly sure of--"
"Of what?"
"Of everything," answered Garda, making a grimace; "but especially of
me." Having now adjusted the knot to her satisfaction, she raised her
eyes again. "But _you_ are the one that cares," she said, looking at her
friend. "I can't tell you how sorry I am that you have met me here," she
went on, in a tone of regret. "But how was I to imagine that you would
change your mind, and come way round through this wood? It's too late
now." And she walked on towards the bend.
Margaret stood still for a moment. Then she hurried after her. "Garda,"
she said, "I beg you not to go; I beg you here on my knees, if that will
move you. Your mother left you to me, I stand in her place; think what
she would have wished. Oh, my dear child, it would be very wrong to go,
listen to me and believe me."
Garda, struck by her agitation, had stopped; with a sort of soft outcry
she had prevented her from kneeling. "Margaret! _you_ kneel to
_me_?--you dear, good, beautiful Margaret! You care so much about it,
then?--so _very_ much?"
"More than anything in the world," Margaret answered, in a voice unlike
her own.
With one of her sudden impulses, Garda exclaimed, "Then I won't go! But
somebody must tell Lucian," she added.
"Do you mean that he expects you?"
"Not at the house. When he came over to say good-by, of course I made up
my mind at once that I should see him again in some way before he
started; so when you had gone out on the barren (as I supposed), I wrote
a note and sent Pablo over with it."
"Oh, Garda! trust a servant--"
"Why, Pablo would let himself be torn to pieces before he would betray a
Duero; I verily believe he thinks he's a Duero himself--a Duero a little
sunburnt! To show you how much confidence I have in him--in the note I
asked Lucian to take this path, and come as far as the pool, where I
would meet him at a certain hour. Then, after it was scaled, I
remembered that I had not said clearly enough which path I meant (there
are three, you know), and so I told Pablo to say to Mr. Spenser that I
meant the eastern one. If I hadn't been afraid he would forget some of
it, I should have trusted the old man with the whole message, and not
taken the trouble to write at all. Well, after the note had gone I went
to sleep. And then, when I woke, it came over me suddenly how much nicer
it would be to see Lucian in the house instead of in the woods--for one
thing, we could have chairs, you know--and so I came over earlier than I
had at first intended, in order to get to Madam Giron's before he would
be starting for the pool. But you have kept me so long that he must be
starting now."
"Let us go home at once," said Margaret.
"No, I can't let him go to the pool, and wait and wait there all for
nothing.--Who's that?" she added, in a startled voice.
They both looked westward. In this direction, the direction of East
Angels, the path's course was straight for a long distance; the wood had
grown dimmer in the slowly fading light, and the figure they now saw at
the far end of this vista, coming towards them, was not yet clearly
outlined; yet they both recognized it.
"Dr. Kirby!" whispered Garda. "He _knows_--he is coming after _me_. He
would never be here at this hour unless it were for that." She seized
Margaret's hands. "Oh, what shall I do? It isn't for myself I care, but
he mustn't meet Lucian."
"Come into the woods. This way." And Margaret hurried her from the path,
in among the trees on the south side of it.
But Garda stopped. "No--that leaves him to meet Lucian. And he _mustn't_
meet Lucian. He _mustn't_ meet Lucian."
From the point in the forest to which Margaret had brought her, the
southern end of Madam Giron's house was in sight. At this instant Lucian
himself appeared; he opened the door, walked across the piazza, and
stood there looking about him.
The sight of him doubled Garda's terror. "I must go and warn him," she
said; "there's time."
"What is it you are so afraid of?" Margaret asked.
"The Doctor will shoot him."
"Nonsense! The Doctor won't do anything of the sort." The idea struck
the northern woman as childish.
"That only shows how little you know him," responded Garda, still in a
whisper. "He thinks, of course, that Lucian has been to blame."
Her white lips convinced Margaret even against her own beliefs; she knew
that the girl had not a grain of the coward in her nature.
"I can't wait." And Garda broke from her friend's hold, and ran towards
the path and the bend.
Margaret was almost as quick as she was, she stopped her before the bend
was reached. But though she stopped her, she felt that she could not
detain her for more than an instant; the girl was past restraint now,
her eyes had flashed at Margaret's touch.
"Listen, Garda: go back up the path, and meet Dr. Kirby yourself. Tell
him anything you like to keep him away from here, while _I_ warn
Lucian." The bend was now not more than three yards distant, and, as she
spoke, she looked at it, her eyes had a strange expression.
"Will you go to the very house and take him in?" Garda demanded.
"Because if you won't do that, I shall go myself."
"Yes, I will take him in."
"And will you stay there?"
"As long as it's necessary."
The implicit confidence which Garda had in her friend's word prevented
her from having any misgivings; she turned and ran up the path towards
Dr. Kirby, who was still at some distance (for these words and actions
of the two women had been breathlessly swift), and who, owing to his
near-sightedness, could not yet see her. When she thought he might be
able to distinguish her figure she stopped running, and walked forward
to meet him with her usual leisurely grace. The running had brought the
color to her cheeks, and taken away the unwonted look of fear; all that
was left of it was the eager attention with which she listened to what
he said.
This was harmless enough. "Ah! you have been out taking the air?" he
remarked, pleasantly.
In the mean while Margaret had passed the bend with rapid step, and
followed the path down to the wood's border; reaching it, she did not
pause, and soon her figure was clearly outlined crossing the open field
towards Madam Giron's. She opened the gate in the low hedge, and went up
to the door; as it happened, Lucian had gone within for a moment,
leaving the door open; now he re-appeared, coming out. But at the same
instant Margaret, crossing the piazza, laid her hand on his arm and drew
him in. As he came forth in his strong youth and sunny beauty, she had
felt herself unexpectedly and singularly seized by Garda's terror; she
had never liked him, but now it rose before her, horrible and
incredible--the vision of so much splendid physical life being suddenly
brought low. She forgot that she had not believed in the reality of this
danger, she was possessed by a womanish panic; swayed by it, she quickly
drew him within and closed the door. Yet though with a sudden shiver she
had done this, in reality her whole soul was at the moment absorbed by
another feeling compared with which the dread was as momentary as a
ripple passing over a deep lake; it lasted no longer.
She had drawn Lucian within, and she had closed the door. But from where
Evert Winthrop sat in the shade, with his eyes fixed upon their two
figures, it looked as though Lucian had played the active part in this
little scene; as though Lucian had taken her hand and led her within;
and had then closed the door behind them.