CONDEMNED UNHEARD
A full moon hung over the white city, and the drowsy murmur of the surf
broke fitfully through the music of the artillery band when Austin sat
listlessly on a bench in the plaza of Santa Cruz. It was about eight
o'clock in the evening, and the plaza was crowded, as usual at that
hour. Peon and officer, merchant and clerk, paced slowly up and down,
enjoying the cool of the evening with their wives and daughters, or sat
in clusters outside the lighted cafA(C)s. The band was an excellent one,
the crowd gravely good-humoured, and picturesquely attired, for white
linen, pale-tinted draperies, sombre cloth, and green uniform formed
patches of kaleidoscopic colouring as the stream of humanity flowed by
under the glaring lamplight and the soft radiance of the moon.
Austin had sat there often before he went to Africa, listening to the
music and watching the spectacle; but neither had any charm for him that
night. The laughter sounded hollow, the waltz the band was playing had
lost its swing, and the streams of light from the cafA(C)s hurt his eyes
and irritated him. The deep murmur of the sea alone was faintly
soothing, and remembering how often he had thought of that cool plaza,
with its lights and music, in the steamy blackness of the swamps, he
wondered vaguely what had happened to him. The zest and sparkle seemed
to have gone out of life, and he did not attribute it to the fact that
the melancholia of the swamp belt was still upon him.
He crossed the plaza, and sitting outside one of the cafA(C)s he had
frequented, asked for wine. It was brought him, chilled with snow from
the great peak's summit, but the greeting of the man who kept the cafA(C)
seemed for once devoid of cordiality, and the wine sour and thin. Still,
the Spaniard stood a minute or two by his chair, and, as it happened,
Jacinta passed just then with a dark-faced Spanish officer. He wore an
exceedingly tight-fitting uniform, but he had a figure that carried it
well, and an unmistakable air of distinction. Jacinta was also smiling
at him, though she turned, and seemed to indicate somebody in the
vicinity with a little gesture. As she did so her eyes rested for a
moment upon Austin, who became for the first time unpleasantly conscious
of his haggard face and hard, scarred hands. There was, he realised,
nothing in the least distinguished about him. Then it was with a faint
sense of dismay he saw that Jacinta did not mean to recognise him, for
she laughed as she turned to her companion, and he heard the soft rustle
of her light draperies as they went on again.
"That is the Colonel Sarramento?" he said, as carelessly as he could,
though there was a faint flush in his hollow face.
"It is," said his companion. "Colonel in the military service, though he
has held other offices in Cuba. A man of ability, seA+-or, and now it is
said that he will marry the English merchant's daughter. Why not? The
SeA+-orita Brown is more Spanish than English, and she is certainly rich."
"I don't know of any reason," said Austin listlessly, and the man turned
away. He had no wish to waste his time upon an Englishman who
apparently did not appreciate his conversation.
Austin sat still a little while, indignation struggling with his
languor, for he was almost certain that Jacinta had seen him. He had
never flattered himself that she would regard him as anything more than
a friend who was occasionally useful, but he thought she might, at
least, have expressed her appreciation of his latest efforts, and he was
also a trifle puzzled. Jacinta, as a rule, would stop and speak to any
of the barefooted peons she was acquainted with, and he had never known
her to slight an acquaintance without a reason. It seemed only due to
her to make quite sure she had intentionally passed him without
recognition.
He rose and strolled round the plaza until he met her again face to face
where a stream of garish light fell upon them both. She allowed her eyes
to rest upon him steadily, but it was the look she would have bestowed
on a stranger, and in another moment she had turned to the officer at
her side. Then a bevy of laughing tourists passed between and separated
them.
After that Austin strolled round the plaza several times in a far from
amiable temper. He was stirred at last, and easy-going as he usually
was, there was in him a certain vein of combativeness which had been
shaken into activity in Africa. It was, he admitted, certainly Jacinta's
privilege to ignore him; but there were occasions on which
conventionalities might be disregarded, and he determined that she
should, at least, make him acquainted with her purpose in doing so. He
did not mean to question it, but to hear it was, he felt, no more than
his due.
It was some time before he came upon her again, talking to a Spanish
lady, who, seeing him approaching with a suggestion of resolution in his
attitude, had sufficient sense to withdraw a pace or two and sign to
another companion. Jacinta apparently recognised that he was not to be
put off this time, for she indicated the vacant chairs not far away with
a little wave of her fan, and when he drew one out for her sat down and
looked at him.
"You are persistent," she said. "I am not sure that it was altogether
commendable taste."
Austin laughed a trifle bitterly, for the pessimistic dejection the
fever leaves does not, as a rule, tend to amiability, and its victim,
while willing to admit that there is nothing worth worrying over, is apt
to make a very human display of temper on very small provocation.
"One should not expect too much from a steamboat sobrecargo," he said.
"It is scarcely fair to compare him--for example--with a distinguished
Spanish officer."
"I do not think you are improving matters," said Jacinta.
"Well," said Austin drily, "I have, you see, just come from a land where
life is rather a grim affair, and one has no time to study its little
amenities. I am, in fact, quite willing to admit that I have left my
usual suavity behind me. Still, I don't think that should count. You
contrived to impress me with the fact that you preferred something more
vigorously brusque before I went out."
Jacinta met his gaze directly with a little ominous sparkle in her eyes
and straightening brows. She had laid down her fan, and there was a cold
disdain in her face the man could not understand. It was unfortunate he
did not know how Pancho Brown had worded his message, for it contained
no intimation that he was going back to Africa.
"It's a pity you didn't stay there," she said.
Austin started a little. He did not see what she could mean, and the
speech appeared a trifle inhuman.
"It would please me to think you haven't any clear notion what those
swamps are like," he said. "One is, unfortunately, apt to stay there
altogether."
"Which is a contingency you naturally wished to avoid? I congratulated
you upon your prudence once before. Still, you, at least, seemed quite
acquainted with the characteristics of the fever belt of Western Africa
when you went out. Your friends the mailboats' officers must have told
you. That being so, why did you go?"
"A persistent dropping will, it is said, in time wear away considerably
harder material than I am composed of. Words are also, one could fancy,
even more efficacious than water in that respect."
A trace of colour crept into Jacinta's face, and her brows grew
straighter. The lines of her slight form became more rigid, and she was
distinctly imperious in her anger.
"Oh, I understand!" she said. "Well, I admit that I was the cause of
your going, and now you have come to reproach me for sending you. Well,
I will try to bear it, and if I do show any anger it will not be at what
you say, but at the fact that one who I to some extent believed in
should consider himself warranted in saying anything at all. No doubt,
you will not recognise the distinction, but in the meanwhile you haven't
quite answered my question. You were a free agent, after all, and I
could use no compulsion. Why did you go?"
Austin's temper had grown no better during the interview, which was
unfortunate for him, because an angry man is usually at a disadvantage
in the presence of a woman whose indignation with him is largely
tempered by a chilling disdain.
"That," he said, reflectively, "is a point upon which I cannot be quite
certain, though the whole thing was, naturally, in most respects a piece
of egregious folly. Still, your good opinion had its value to me,
especially as it was very evident that I could never expect anything
more. A little brutal candour is, I think, admissible now and then."
The colour had faded out of Jacinta's face, but the sparkle was a trifle
plainer in her eyes. "So you recognised that! Under the circumstances,
it was wise of you, though how far you were warranted in telling me is a
question we needn't go into now. It is a pity you ever went at all."
"In one sense I almost think it is," said Austin, gazing at her
bewilderedly. "Still, there is a good deal I can't understand. I am in
the dark, you see."
"Then I suppose I must try to make it clear to you. I am an essentially
practical person, and any ardour you possess has hitherto been qualified
by a very commendable discretion; but we are not very old, after all,
and there is, fortunately, something in most of us which is occasionally
stronger than the petty prudence we guide ourselves by. Now and then, as
you gracefully suggest, it leads us into folly, which we have, perhaps,
really no great reason to be sorry for. Well, for a little while you
shook off the practical and apparently aspired after the ideal. You went
out to Africa because you fancied it would please me, and it did. One
may admit that a thing of that kind appeals to a woman's vanity. Still,
of course, one could scarcely expect you to adhere to such a purpose. We
have grown too wise to indulge in unprofitable sentimentality, and our
knights errant do not come back upon their shields. They are practical
gentlemen, who appreciate the comfort of a whole skin."
"I'm afraid you're confusing historical periods, and the times have
certainly changed. They now use an empty gun case in Western Africa, I
believe, and if they can't get that, any old blanket or piece of canvas
that happens to be available."
"It should be a comfort to know that you need never anticipate anything
so unpleasant."
This time the colour suffused Austin's pallid face. It was clear that
she was taunting him with cowardice in leaving Jefferson, and her
contempt appeared so wholly unreasonable that he would make no attempt
to vindicate himself. It did not appear likely to be successful in any
case, and the pessimistic bitterness the fever leaves was still upon
him.
"Well," he said quietly, "I had looked for a slightly different
reception; but it presumably isn't dignified to complain, especially
when it's evident it wouldn't do any good, while I scarcely think there
is anything to be gained by extending our conversation. You see, I am,
naturally, aware that my character is a somewhat indifferent one
already. You will, no doubt, excuse me?"
Jacinta made him a little inclination over her lifted fan.
"If you will tell the SeA+-ora Anasona yonder that I am waiting, I should
be much obliged," she said.
It was five minutes later when Austin was admitted to the cable office
as a favour, and handed a despatch from a Las Palmas banking agency.
"Your draft will be honoured to the extent of AL200," it ran.
He smiled grimly as he thrust it into his pocket, and, wandering round
the plaza again, came upon Muriel Gascoyne and Mrs. Hatherly sitting in
two of the chairs laid out in front of a hotel. He felt tempted to slip
by, but remembered that he had a duty to Jefferson. Mrs. Hatherly shook
hands with him, and though he fancied there was a restraint in her
cordiality, Muriel turned to him impulsively.
"Tell me everything," she said. "The letter has not arrived."
"There is a good deal of it," said Austin, with a smile.
"Then don't waste time."
Austin roused himself with an effort. Her tense interest and her
simplicity, which, it seemed to him, had in it so much that was
admirable, appealed to him, and he determined that she, at least, should
know what Jefferson had done for her. The artistic temperament had also
its influence on him, and he made her and her companion see the steaming
swamps and feel the stress and strain of effort in the stifling hold,
while it was his pleasure that Jefferson should stalk, a lean, dominant
figure, through all the varied scenes. He felt, when he concluded, that
he had drawn those sombre pictures well, and it would be Jefferson's
fault if he did not henceforward pose before the girl's fancy as a
knightly hero of romance. There were, naturally, difficulties to be
overcome, for he recognised that she must be forced to comprehend that
chivalric purposes must, nowadays, be wrought out by most prosaic means,
and that the clash of the encounter occasionally leaves its mark upon a
man. Still, he saw that he had succeeded when the simple pride shone
through the moisture that gathered in the girl's big blue eyes, and he
was moved to sympathy when she rose with a little gasp.
"I must tell Jacinta. I don't feel quite able to thank you, Mr. Austin;
but you will understand," she said.
She left them, and Mrs. Hatherly turned and looked at Austin very
graciously.
"So you are going back?" she said.
"Of course," said Austin. "There is a Spanish boat to Las Palmas
to-morrow, and nothing to keep me now I have got the money. I don't mind
admitting that the asking for it was harder than anything I did in
Africa."
The little lady nodded, with a very kindly light in her eyes. "Yes," she
said, "I can understand that, but in one sense I am not exactly pleased.
Why didn't you come to me?"
"It sounds very ungracious, madam, but I am already in your debt, and
one is naturally shy about asking favours of that kind from women. I
almost think there are special reasons why it should be so in my case."
"That, presumably, means somebody has used you badly? Still, it really
isn't wise to generalise too freely, and you were once good enough to
promise that you would consider me as a friend of yours."
"I could scarcely have fancied you were particularly friendly a little
while ago."
The little lady smiled again. "I offer you my sincere apologies, Mr.
Austin. And now a question. Did you tell Jacinta what you have told us?"
"I certainly did not. To be candid, I hadn't the slightest
encouragement. Miss Brown made it quite clear to me that she hadn't a
trace of interest in any of my doings. In fact, she was kind enough to
suggest it was rather a pity I escaped the fever, and hadn't come back
upon my shield."
"For which she will probably be distinctly annoyed with herself by and
by. I presume you must catch the Spanish steamer, Mr. Austin?"
"Of course. After all, I shall be glad to get back. People are not so
very exacting in Africa, you see."
Mrs. Hatherly nodded, though there was a twinkle in her eyes. "Well,"
she said, "we will talk of something else in the meanwhile. I am alone
just now, and you cannot decently leave me."
They discussed a good many things, and it seemed to Austin that his
companion meant to keep him there, and was anxious to gain time. Still,
he could see no reason for it, and failed to understand her remark about
Jacinta, and he sat still with an effort until Muriel came back again.
She appeared a trifle vexed about something.
"I don't know what has happened to Jacinta, but she wasn't in the least
sympathetic," she said. "She wouldn't even listen when I wanted to talk
about Harry and the _Cumbria_."
"Where is she now?" asked Mrs. Hatherly.
"With the SeA+-ora Anasona. They are going back to Laguna directly, though
she had, as you know, practically promised to stay with us to-night. The
seA+-ora, it seems, wants to drive her across to her finca at Orotava
to-morrow. It is very provoking."
Mrs. Hatherly changed the subject, and it was a minute or two later when
she turned to Austin again.
"I suppose it is really necessary that you should cross to Las Palmas
to-morrow," she said casually. "Couldn't you get there in the
_Estremedura_ before the West-coast boat sailed?"
"There are several things I have to do which can't well be arranged
here."
"You would insist on getting them all done, even if you knew it would
cost you something?"
"I really think I should. You see, Jefferson and the others are
practically depending on me, and I daren't omit anything I want,
whatever trouble it might cause me, although, as a matter of fact, I
don't anticipate any, and it will be rather a relief to get away."
"Ah!" said Mrs. Hatherly. "Well, I suppose that is only what one would
expect from you. Muriel, will you tell Jacinta that she has not shown me
the lace she mentioned, and as I think I'll get the woman at Laguna to
make me some, I want to see it before she goes away. I shall have to
keep you another few minutes, Mr. Austin."
Muriel disappeared into the crowd, and it was a little time before she
came back again.
"Jacinta has just driven off with the seA+-ora," she said. "I can't quite
understand why she didn't come to say good-bye."
Austin smiled drily. "I think I could guess her reason."
Mrs. Hatherly rose and held out her hand. "If you can come and see us
to-morrow, please do so," she said. "If not, you will remember now that
whatever happens I am one of your friends."
"I shall be glad to do so, madam," and Austin made her a little
inclination. "Good friends are scarce, and there are apparently not many
people who believe in me."