Harold went to and fro on the deserted deck. All at once the course he
had to pursue opened out before him. He was aware that what the noble-
minded old man offered him was fortune, great fortune in any part of the
world. He would have to be refused, but the refusal should be gently
done. He, believing that the other had done something very wrong, had
still offered to share with him his name, his honour. Such confidence
demanded full confidence in return; the unwritten laws which governed the
men amongst whom he had been brought up required it.
And the shape that confidence should take? He must first disabuse his
new friend's mind of criminal or unworthy cause for his going away. For
the sake of his own name and that of his dead father that should be done.
Then he would have to suggest the real cause . . . He would in this have
to trust Mr. Stonehouse's honour for secrecy. But he was worthy of
trust. He would, of course, give no name, no clue; but he would put
things generally in a way that he could understand.
When his mind was so far made up he wanted to finish the matter, so he
turned to the wheelhouse and climbed the ladder again. It was not till
he sat in the shelter by his companion that he became aware that he had
become wet with the spray. The old man wishing to help him in his
embarrassment said:
'Well?' Harold began at once; the straightforward habit of his life stood
to him now:
'Let me say first, sir, what will I know give you pleasure.' The old man
extended his hand; he had been hoping for acceptance, and this seemed
like it. Harold laid his hand on it for an instant only, and then raised
it as if to say 'Wait':
'You have been so good to me, so nobly generous in your wishes that I
feel I owe you a certain confidence. But as it concerns not myself alone
I will ask that it be kept a secret between us two. Not to be told to
any other; not even your wife!'
'I will hold your secret sacred. Even from my wife; the first secret I
shall have ever kept from her.'
'First, then, let me say, and this is what I know will rejoice you, that
I am not leaving home and country because of any crime I have committed;
not from any offence against God or man, or law. Thank God! I am free
from such. I have always tried to live uprightly . . . ' Here a burst
of pain overcame him, and with a dry sob he added: 'And that is what
makes the terrible unfairness of it all!'
The old man laid a kindly hand on his shoulder and kept it there for a
few moments.
'My poor boy! My poor boy!' was all he said. Harold shook himself as if
to dislodge the bitter thoughts. Mastering himself he went on:
'There was a lady with whom I was very much thrown in contact since we
were children. Her father was my father's friend. My friend too, God
knows; for almost with his dying breath he gave sanction to my marrying
his daughter, if it should ever be that she should care for me in that
way. But he wished me to wait, and, till she was old enough to choose,
to leave her free. For she is several years younger than I am; and I am
not very old yet--except in heart! All this, you understand, was said in
private to me; none other knew it. None knew of it even till this moment
when I tell you that such a thing has been.' He paused; the other said:
'Believe me that I value your confidence, beyond all words!' Harold felt
already the good effects of being able to speak of his pent-up trouble.
Already this freedom from the nightmare loneliness of his own thoughts
seemed to be freeing his very soul.
'I honestly kept to his wishes. Before God, I did! No man who loved a
woman, honoured her, worshipped her, could have been more scrupulously
careful as to leaving her free. What it was to me to so hold myself no
one knows; no one ever will know. For I loved her, do love her, with
every nerve and fibre of my heart. All our lives we had been friends;
and I believed we loved and trusted each other. But . . . but then there
came a day when I found by chance that a great trouble threatened her.
Not from anything wrong that she had done; but from something perhaps
foolish, harmlessly foolish except that she did not know . . . ' He
stopped suddenly, fearing he might have said overmuch of Stephen's side
of the affair. 'When I came to her aid, however, meaning the best, and
as single-minded as a man can be, she misunderstood my words, my meaning,
my very coming; and she said things which cannot be unsaid. Things . . .
matters were so fixed that I could not explain; and I had to listen. She
said things that I did not believe she could have said to me, to anyone.
Things that I did not think she could have thought . . . I dare say she
was right in some ways. I suppose I bungled in my desire to be
unselfish. What she said came to me in new lights upon what I had done
. . . But anyhow her statements were such that I felt I could not, should
not, remain. My very presence must have been a trouble to her hereafter.
There was nothing for it but to come away. There was no place for me! No
hope for me! There is none on this side of the grave! . . . For I love
her still, more than ever. I honour and worship her still, and ever
will, and ever must! . . . I am content to forego my own happiness; but I
feel there is a danger to her from what has been. That there is and must
be to her unhappiness even from the fact that it was I who was the object
of her wrath; and this adds to my woe. Worst of all is . . . the thought
and the memory that she should have done so; she who . . . she . . . '
He turned away overcome and hid his face in his hands. The old man sat
still; he knew that at such a moment silence is the best form of
sympathy. But his heart glowed; the wisdom of his years told him that he
had heard as yet of no absolute bar to his friend's ultimate happiness.
'I am rejoiced, my dear boy, at what you tell me of your own conduct. It
would have made no difference to me had it been otherwise. But it would
have meant a harder and longer climb back to the place you should hold.
But it really seems that nothing is so hopeless as you think. Believe
me, my dear young friend who are now as a son to my heart, that there
will be bright days for you yet . . . ' He paused a moment, but
mastering himself went on in a quiet voice:
'I think you are wise to go away. In the solitudes and in danger things
that are little in reality will find their true perspective; and things
that are worthy will appear in their constant majesty.'
He stood, and laying once again his hand on the young man's shoulder
said:
'I recognise that I--that we, for my wife and little girl would be at one
with me in my wish, did they know of it, must not keep you from your
purpose of fighting out your trouble alone. Every man, as the Scotch
proverb says, must "dree his own weird." I shall not, I must not, ask
you for any promise; but I trust that if ever you do come back you will
make us all glad by seeing you. And remember that what I said of myself
and of all I have--all--holds good so long as I shall live!'
Before Harold could reply he had slipped down the ladder and was gone.
During the rest of the voyage, with the exception of one occasion, he did
not allude to the subject again by word or implication, and Harold was
grateful to him for it.
On the night before Fire Island should be sighted Harold was in the bow
of the great ship looking out with eyes in which gleamed no hope. To him
came through the darkness Mr. Stonehouse. He heard the footsteps and
knew them; so with the instinct of courtesy, knowing that his friend
would not intrude on his solitude without purpose, he turned and met him.
When the American stood beside him he said, studiously avoiding looking
at his companion:
'This is the last night we shall be together, and, if I may, there is one
thing I would like to say to you.'
'Say all you like, sir,' said Harold as heartily as he could, 'I am sure
it is well meant; and for that at any rate I shall be grateful to you.'
'You will yet be grateful, I think!' he answered gravely. 'When it comes
back to you in loneliness and solitude you will, I believe, think it
worth being grateful for. I don't mean that you will be grateful to me,
but for the thing itself. I speak out of the wisdom of many years. At
your time of life the knowledge cannot come from observation. It may my
poor boy, come through pain; and if what I think is correct you will even
in due time be grateful to the pain which left such golden residuum.' He
paused, and Harold grew interested. There was something in the old man's
manner which presaged a truth; he, at least, believed it. So the young
man listened at first with his ears; and as the other spoke, his heart
listened too:
'Young men are apt to think somewhat wrongly of women they love and
respect. We are apt to think that such women are of a different clay
from ourselves. Nay! that they are not compact of clay at all, but of
some faultless, flawless material which the Almighty keeps for such fine
work. It is only in middle age that men--except scamps, who learn this
bad side of knowledge young--realise that women are human beings like
themselves. It may be, you know, that you may have misjudged this young
lady! That you have not made sufficient allowance for her youth, her
nature, even the circumstances under which she spoke. You have told me
that she was in some deep grief or trouble. May it not have been that
this in itself unnerved her, distorted her views, aroused her passion
till all within and around was tinged with the jaundice of her concern,
her humiliation--whatever it was that destroyed for the time that normal
self which you had known so long. May it not have been that her
bitterest memory even since may be of the speaking of these very words
which sent you out into the wide world to hide yourself from men. I have
thought, waking and sleeping, of your position ever since you honoured me
with your confidence; and with every hour the conviction has strengthened
in me that there is a way out of this situation which sends a man like
you into solitude with a heart hopeless and full of pain; and which
leaves her perhaps in greater pain, for she has not like you the complete
sense of innocence. But at present there is no way out but through time
and thought. Whatever may be her ideas or wishes she is powerless. She
does not know your thoughts, no matter how she may guess at them. She
does not know where you are or how to reach you, no matter how complete
her penitence may be. And oh! my dear young friend, remember that you
are a strong man, and she is a woman. Only a woman in her passion and
her weakness after all. Think this all over, my poor boy! You will have
time and opportunity where you are going. God help you to judge wisely!'
After a pause of a few seconds he said abruptly: 'Good night!' and moved
quickly away.
* * * * *
When the time for parting came Pearl was inconsolable. Not knowing any
reason why The Man should not do as she wished she was persistent in her
petitions to Harold that he should come with her, and to her father and
mother that they should induce him to do so. Mrs. Stonehouse would have
wished him to join them if only for a time. Her husband, unable to give
any hint without betraying confidence, had to content himself with trying
to appease his little daughter by vague hopes rather than promises that
her friend would join them at some other time.
When the _Scoriac_ was warped at the pier there was a tendency on the
part of the passengers to give Harold a sort of public send-off; but
becoming aware of it he hurried down the gangway without waiting. Having
only hand luggage, for he was to get his equipment in New York, he had
cleared and passed the ring of customs officers before the most
expeditious of the other passengers had collected their baggage. He had
said good-bye to the Stonehouses in their own cabin. Pearl had been so
much affected at saying good-bye, and his heart had so warmed to her,
that at last he had said impulsively:
'Don't cry, darling. If I am spared I shall come back to you within
three years. Perhaps I will write before then; but there are not many
post-offices where I am going to!'
Children are easily satisfied. Their trust makes a promise a real thing;
and its acceptance is the beginning of satisfaction. But for weeks after
the parting she had often fits of deep depression, and at such times her
tears always flowed. She took note of the date, and there was never a
day that she did not think of and sigh for The Man.
And The Man, away in the wilds of Alaska, was feeling, day by day and
hour by hour, the chastening and purifying influences of the wilderness.
Hot passions cooled before the breath of the snowfield and the glacier.
The moaning of a tortured spirit was lost in the roar of the avalanche
and the scream of the cyclone. Pale sorrow and cold despair were warmed
and quickened by the fierce sunlight which came suddenly and stayed only
long enough to vitalise all nature.
And as the first step to understanding, The Man forgot himself.