When Stafford and Maude Falconer went down to the lake after luncheon,
they found a party from the Villa just embarking on board one of the
launches; the air was filled with laughter and chatter, and the little
quay was bright with the white flannels of the men and the gay frocks
of the women. The party greeted the two with an exuberant welcome, and
Bertie called out to ask them if they were coming on board.
"Perhaps you would rather go on the launch, Miss Falconer?" said
Stafford; but she shook her head.
"No, thanks," she said, languidly. "I hate crowds of that kind. I'd
rather stick to our original proposition; it will bore me less. But
perhaps you'd rather join them?"
"Is it likely?" said Stafford, with a smile, as he signed to the man to
bring up a skiff. "Now, let me make you as comfortable as I can. We
ought to have had a gondola," he added, as he handed her to the seat in
the stern.
She leant back with her sunshade over her shoulder, and Stafford, as he
slipped off his blazer and rowed out towards the centre of the lake,
looked at her with unconscious admiration. She was simply, perfectly
dressed in a yachting costume of white and pale-blue, which set off to
the fullest advantage her exquisite complexion and her red-gold hair.
But it was admiration of the coldest kind, for even at that moment he
was thinking of the girl in the well-worn habit, the girl he loved with
a passion that made his slightest thought of her a psalm of worship.
And Maude, though she appeared half asleep, like a beautiful wild
animal basking in the warmth of the sun, glanced at him now and again
and noted the strength and grace of his figure, the almost Grecian
contour of the handsome face. She had made her wager with Howard on the
spur of the moment, prompted by the vanity of a woman piqued by the
story of Stafford's indifference to her sex; but as she looked at him
she wondered how a woman would feel if she fell in love with him. But
she had no fears for herself; there was a coldness in her nature which
had hitherto guarded her from the fever which men call love, and she
thought herself quite secure. There would be amusement, triumph, in
making him love her, in winning her wager with that cynical Mr. Howard,
who boasted of his friend's invulnerability; and when she had
conquered, and gratified her vanity--Ah, well, it would be easy to step
aside and bring the curtain down upon her triumph and Stafford's
discomfiture. She would wear that Mr. Howard's ring, and every time she
looked at it, it should remind her of her conquest.
Stafford rowed on in silence for some minutes. His beautiful companion
did not seem to want him to talk and certainly showed no desire to talk
herself; so he gave himself up to thinking of Ida--and wishing that it
was she who was sitting opposite him there, instead of this girl with
the face of a Grecian goddess, with the lustrous hair of an houri. At
last, feeling that he ought to say something, he remarked, as he gazed
at the marvellous view:
"Very beautiful, isn't it?"
She raised her eyes and let them wander from the glittering water to
the glorious hills.
"Yes, I suppose it is. I'm afraid I don't appreciate scenery as much as
other people do. Perhaps it is because one is always expected to fall
into raptures over it. Does that shock you? I'm afraid I shock most
people. The fact is, I have been brought up in a circle which has
taught me to loathe sentiment. They were always gushing about their
feelings, but the only thing they cared for was money!"
"That ought to have made you loathe money," said Stafford, with a
smile, and a certain kind of interest; indeed, it was difficult not to
feel interested in this beautiful girl, with the face and the form of a
goddess, and, apparently, as small a capacity of emotion.
"Oh, no," she said, languidly; "on the contrary, it showed me the value
of money. I saw that if I had not been rich, the daughter of a rich
man, I should have been of no account in their eyes. They were always
professing to love me, but I was quite aware that it was because I was
rich enough to be able to buy pleasure for them."
"Unpleasant kind of people," remarked Stafford.
"No; just the average," she said, coolly. "Nearly all men and women are
alike--worldly, selfish, self-seeking. Look at my father," she went on,
as coolly as before. "He thinks of nothing but money; he has spent his
life fighting, scrambling, struggling for it; and look at yours--"
"Oh, hold on!" said Stafford, laughing, but reddening a little. "You're
very much mistaken if you think my father is that kind of man."
She smiled.
"Why, everybody has some story of his--what shall I call
it?--acuteness, sharpness; and of the wonderful way in which he has
always got what he wanted. I don't want to be offensive, Mr. Orme, but
I'm afraid both our fathers are in the same category. And that both
would sacrifice anything or anyone to gain their ends."
Stafford laughed again.
"You're altogether wrong, Miss Falconer," he said. "I happen to know
that my governor is one of the most generous and tender-hearted of men
and that whatever he has gained it is by fair means, and by no
sacrifice of others."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"I envy your faith in him. But then you are a very enviable man, I'm
told."
"As how?" asked Stafford. "Pretty here, isn't it? Here's one of those
beastly steamers coming: they spoil the lake, but they're very
convenient, I suppose."
She glanced at the big steamer puffing towards them obtrusively and
sending a trail of smoke across the green and violet of the hills.
"Oh, I'm told you are the most popular man in London; that you have the
world at your feet, that you are only waiting to see which duchess you
prefer to throw your handkerchief to--"
Stafford coloured.
"What rot!--I beg your pardon, Miss Falconer. Of course, I know you are
only chaffing me."
"Isn't it true--about the duchess, I mean?" she asked, so coolly, so
indifferently, that Stafford was compelled to take her seriously.
"Nary a word," he said, brightly; then, with a sudden gravity: "If you
happen to hear such nonsense again, Miss Falconer, you can, if you care
to, contradict it flatly. I am not in the least likely to marry a
duchess; indeed, I wouldn't marry the highest and greatest of them, if
she'd have me, which is highly improbable."
"Do you mean to say that you have no ambition, that you would marry
for--love?" she asked.
Stafford stopped rowing for a moment and looked at her grimly.
"What on earth else should I marry for?" he asked. "Wouldn't you?"
Before she could answer, the steamer came abreast of them, and so close
that the swell from its screw set the slight, narrow skiff dancing and
plunging on the waves.
Maude uttered a faint cry and leant forward, and Stafford, fearing she
was going to rise, stretched out his hand, and touching her knee,
forced her into her seat again, and kept her there until the swell had
subsided.
The colour flooded her face at the pressure of his strong hand, which
was like a steel weight, and she caught her breath. Then, as he took
his hand away and resumed rowing, he said: "I beg your pardon! I was
afraid you were going to get up--a girl I once had in a boat did so and
we upset."
"The boat is very small," she said, in a low voice, almost one of
apology.
"Oh, it's all right, so long as you sit still, and keep your head," he
said. "It could ride over twice as big a swell as this."
She looked at him from under her lowered lids with a new expression in
her face, a faint tremor on her lips; and, as if she could not meet his
eyes, she glanced back with an affectation of interest at the steamer.
As she did so, something dropped from it into the lake.
"What was that?" she said. "Something fell overboard."
"Eh? A man, do you mean?" he asked, stopping.
"Oh, no; something small."
"A parcel, somebody's lunch, perhaps," he said; and he rowed on.
She leant back, her eyes downcast; she still seemed to feel that
strong, irresistible pressure of his hand under which she had been
unable to move.
"There ought to be an echo somewhere here," he said, as they came
opposite one of the hills, and he gave the Australian "coo-ee!" in a
clear, ringing voice, which the echo sent back in a musical imitation.
"How true it was!" she said, and she opened her lips and sang a bar or
two of the "Elsie" song.
Stafford listened to the echo, which was almost as soft and sweet as
the girl's notes.
"What a wonderful voice you have!" he said, almost unconsciously. "I
never heard a sweeter. What was that you sang?"
"That thing of Wagner's," she replied; and quite naturally she began
the air and sang it through.
Stafford let the boat drift and leant upon the oars, his eyes fixed on
her face, a rapt and very eloquent admiration in his own.
"Ah--beautiful!" he said in a low voice. "What a delight it must be to
you to be able to sing like that! I can understand a whole theatre
crying over that song sung as you sing it!"
She glanced at him with an affectation of languid amusement; but she
was watching him intently.
"That's not the best in the opera," she said. "I like this better;" and
she sang the "Swan" song; sang it so low that he leant forward to catch
the notes which flowed like silver from her soft, red lips; and when
she finished it he drew a long breath and still leant forward looking
at her.
"Thank you, thank you!" he said, with so much of admiration and
gratitude in his voice, that, as if to apologise for it, he said: "I'm
fond of music. But I'm forgetting your tea! Shall we pull back to the
Ferry Hotel and get some?"
"I'm in your hands," she replied, languidly.
He turned-the boat and pulled back along the centre of the lake in
silence. Suddenly she bent forward.
"There is something in the water," she said; "something alive."
"It's a--yes, it's a dog," he said. "That is what you saw drop over the
steamer. By George! the poor little chap looks in distress: seems as if
he were nearly done. Can you steer?" he asked, sharply.
"Oh, yes," she replied, languidly. "Why?"
"Because I'm going for him, and it will help me if you can steer
straight for him. He looks nearly played out."
"Why should you trouble--it's a long way off; it will be drowned before
you can get to it," she said.
"I'll have to go for it anyway," he said, cheerfully; and he began to
row hard.
Distance is deceptive on a lake, and the dog was farther off than they
thought; but Stafford put his back into it as hard as he had done in
his racing days, and Maude Falconer leant back and watched him with
interest, and something even stronger than interest, in her masked
eyes. He had turned up the sleeves of his flannel shirt, and the
muscles on his arms were standing out under the strain, his lips were
set tightly, and there was the man's frown of determination on his
brow.
"It has gone down: it's no use," she said. "You may as well stop and
rest."
He looked over his shoulder.
"No! He has come up again!" he exclaimed: it was noticeable that he
called the dog "he," while she spoke of it as "it." "We shall get him
in time. Keep the boat straight!"
The words were uttered in a tone of command, and they moved her as the
touch of his hand had done; and she set her mind upon the task as she
had never before set it upon anything.
Reaching well forward, pulling with the long, steady stroke of the
practised oarsman, Stafford sent the boat along like an arrow, and
presently he drove it up to the spot where the dog strove in its death
straggle.
It was a tiny black-and-tan terrier, and Stafford, as he looked over
his shoulder, saw the great eyes turned to him with a piteous entreaty
that made his heart ache.
"Turn the boat--quick!" he cried; and as the skiff slid alongside the
dog, he swooped it up.
The mite gave a little gasping cry like a child, and closing its eyes
sank into Stafford's arms with a shudder.
"Is it dead?" asked Maude Falconer, looking not at the dog but at
Stafford, for his face, which had been red with exertion a moment ago,
had become suddenly pale.
"I don't know--no!" he said, absently, all his thoughts centered on the
dog.
He wiped it as dry as he could with his blazer, then turning aside, he
opened his shirt and put the cold morsel in his bosom.
"Poor little beggar, he's like ice!" he said, in a low voice. "He would
never have got to the shore; he's so small. If I'd some brandy! We'll
get some at the ferry. Can you row?"
"No," she said. "Yes; I mean, I'll try."
He held out his hand.
"Mind how you cross. Take off your gloves first, or you'll blister your
hands."
She obeyed, her eyes downcast. They exchanged places and he showed her
how to hold the sculls.
"You'll do very well. You can row as slowly as you like. He's alive; I
can feel him move! Poor little chap! Sorry to trouble you, Miss
Falconer, but the only chance of saving him is to keep him warm."
She was silent far a moment, then she glanced at him.
"You're fond of dogs?"
"Why, of course," he answered. "Aren't you?"
"Y-es; but I don't think I'd risk pneumonia for one. You were
feverishly hot just now, and that little beast must be stone cold;
you'll get bronchitis or something, Mr. Orme."
"Not I!" he laughed, almost scornfully. "He's pulling round, poor
little beast! Here we are."
He reached for his coat and wrapped the terrier in it, and quite
unconscious of the girl's watchful eyes, held the little black-and-tan
head to his face for a moment.
"All right now?" he murmured. "You've had a narrow squeak for it, old
chappie!" With the dog under his arm, he helped Maude Falconer ashore
and led the way to the hotel.
"Tea," he said to the waiter; "but bring me some brandy and milk
first--and look sharp."
Maude sank on to one of the benches in the beautiful garden in the
centre of the lake and looked straight before her; and Stafford cuddled
the dog up to him and looked impatiently for the waiter, greeting him
when he came with:
"What an infernal time you're been!"
Then he poured a little of the brandy down the dog's throat, and
bending over him repeated the dose three or four times; and presently
the mite stirred and moved its head, and opening its eyes looked up
into Stafford's, and weakly putting out its tongue, licked his hand.
Stafford laughed--for the well-known reason.
"Plucky little chap, isn't he?" he said, with a moved man's affectation
of levity. "He's made a splendid fight for it and won through. He's a
pretty little morsel--a well-bred 'un: wonder whom he belongs to?"
"To you--at least his life does," said Maude Falconer. "You couldn't
have fought harder for it if it had been a human being."
"Oh, a dog's the next thing, you know," he said, apologetically. "I'm
afraid it's been an awful nuisance and trouble for you. You haven't
blistered your hands, I hope? Let me see!"
She stretched out her hands, palm upwards, and he took them and
examined them.
"No. That's all right! 'All's well that ends well.' You want a few
lessons with the sculls, Miss Falconer, and you'd make a splendid
boat-woman. Perhaps you'd let me give you one or two?"
"Thank you; yes," she said; and to his surprise with less of her usual
half-scornful languor.
"Here's the tea. Any particular kind of cake you fancy?"
She said that the cakes would do, and poured out the tea; but he put
some milk into his saucer and gave some to the terrier, slowly,
methodically, and with a tenderness and gentleness which was not lost
upon the girl who watched him covertly before paying any attention to
his own tea.
"I wonder whether you could stand, my little man," he said, and he put
the terrier on the ground.
It stood upright and shivering for a moment, then it put its tiny paws
on Stafford's knee and looked up into his face appealingly. "Not up to
your usual form just yet, eh?" said Stafford, and he picked it up
gently and put it on his knee.
Maude Falconer looked at him.
"Give it to me," she said. "Men have no lap. He'll be more comfortable
with me."
"But he's wet still," he said. "He'll spoil that pretty dress of
yours."
"My pretty dress was made to be spoiled," she said, "Give it to me,
please, and get your tea."
"Do you mean it?" he asked, with a surprise which made her flush with
resentment, and something like shame.
For reply, she bent forward, took the dog from him, and tried to settle
it on her lap; but the mite looked piteously at Stafford and whined,
its big eyes imploring him to let it come back.
But Stafford stroked it and bade it sit still, and presently it curled
itself up.
"It has gone to sleep," said Maude. "It has soon forgotten its
trouble."
"It's a way dogs have," said Stafford. "May I smoke? George! what a
lovely afternoon!"
She glanced at him as he leant back in his chair, his long legs
stretched out and crossed before him.
"You look happy," she said, with a faint smile.
"Oh, I am," he said, with a sudden flush and a start; for now the dog
was off his mind, it had instantly swung back to Ida.
"It's the reward of a generous action," she said, and again, the
mocking note was absent from her voice.
Stafford laughed.
"That's putting it rather high," he said.
They sat on in silence: Stafford thinking of Ida, Maude looking down at
the sleeping dog, and thinking that only a few minutes ago it had been
lying in the bosom of the man who sat beside her: the man whom she had
backed herself to fool; but for whom a strange sensation of
admiration--and was it a subtle fear?--was stirring within her.
"By George! we must be going!" he said, suddenly.
When they got to the boat he proposed to roll the terrier in his coat,
but Maude shook her head.
"I'll nurse it going home," she said.
"You will? That's very good of you!" he said, quite gratefully.
"He's a lucky little beggar!" he remarked, after awhile, as he looked
at the black little morsel curled up on the pretty dress. "Supposing he
isn't claimed, would you care to have him, Miss Falconer?"
She looked down at the dog.
"Thank you," she said. "But what shall I give you in return. It's
unlucky to give an animal without some consideration."
"Oh, give me another song," he replied. "There is nobody about."
She opened her lips, then checked herself.
"No, I can't sing again," she said, in a low voice.
"Oh, all right. It isn't good for you to sing too much in the open air.
I'll wait till this evening, if you'll be good enough to sing for us
then."
They landed and walked up to the house. As they reached the bend
leading to the entrance path, she stopped and held out the dog, which
had been staring at Stafford and whining at intervals.
"Take it, please. It is fretting for you, and I'd rather not keep it."
"Really?" he said, and she saw his face brighten suddenly. "All right,
if you'd rather. Come here, little man! What's your name, I wonder?
What shall we call him while we've got him?"
"Call him 'Tiny;' he's small enough," she said, with a shrug of her
shoulders.
"Tiny it is!" he assented, brightly. "He'll answer to it in a day or
two, you'll see. I hope you haven't quite spoilt your dress, Miss
Falconer, and won't regret your row!"
She looked at her dress, but there was a sudden significance in her
slow, lingering response.
"I--don't--know!"
As she went up the stairs she looked over the rail and saw Stafford's
tall figure striding down the hall. He was softly pulling the terrier's
ears and talking to it in the language dogs understand and love; and
when she sank into a chair in her room, his face with its manly
tenderness was still before her, his deep musical voice, with its note
of protection and succour, still rang in her ears.
She sat quite motionless for a minute or two, then she rose and went to
the glass and looked at herself; a long, intent look.
"Yes, I am beautiful," she murmured, not with the self-satisfaction of
vanity, but with a calculating note in her voice. "Am I--am I beautiful
enough?"
Then she swung away from the glass with the motion which reminded
Howard of a tigress, and, setting her teeth hard, laughed with
self-scorn; but with something, also, of fear in the laugh.
"I am a fool!" she muttered. "It can't be true. So soon! So suddenly!
Oh, I can't be such a fool!"