Diana had found ample time to think over the situation during the
journey, and she was prepared for difficulties. Her brother could hardly
be in his right mind, she thought, and would certainly be on the verge
of doing something desperate, which she must prevent.
As was usual with her in sudden emergencies, she had been wonderfully
quiet. She was shocked and horrified at the news, but neither the shock
nor the horror were uppermost in her mind. What she most felt was an
unutterable and loving pity for her brother; and as she sat in the
express train and looked out of the window at the interminable miles of
vineyard and cornland, the kind, womanly tears gathered and fell softly.
She could not help it, and she would not. Poor fellow! he deserved all
her heart, and her soul's sympathy, and the tears thereof.
Marcantonio was in no state to reason or to be reasoned with. He had a
strange illusion for a moment, when he thought his wife had returned to
him, but he at once realised his folly and understood that Diana had
come to meet him--had come, doubtless, to prevent him from accomplishing
his vengeance. He had been so sure that she could not arrive until the
next morning that he had anticipated no interruption in his plans, and
he was angry with her for being in his way. She would watch him day and
night, and hinder all his movements. So long as she was with him it
would be impossible to do anything. He answered her very coldly.
"You have come already? I did not expect you so soon."
They moved towards the door, groping in the deep gloom, and presently
reached a room where there were lights. Then Diana saw her brother's
face and understood that he was mad or desperately ill, or both. The
ghastly colour, the bloodshot eyes, the trembling hand, she saw it all.
She had not known what change his trouble would make in him, but she
knew it would be great. But she was startled now that she was face to
face with him. It seemed too terribly real. She could not help it, she
bent her beautiful fair head on his shoulder and threw her arms about
him and sobbed aloud.
But Marcantonio only understood that she was there to keep him from his
ends, from the one thing in the world which he wished to do, and meant
to do, and surely would accomplish. As she leaned on him and shed those
bitter tears for him, he stood passive and dry-eyed, staring vacantly
above her at the wall, and his hands hung by his side, not offering to
support her or to comfort her. He only wished she were gone again and
had never come to trouble him.
It was only for a moment. Such outbursts of feeling were rare with
Diana; people said she was a piece of ice, heartless, and without
sympathy for any human being. They judged her by her face and by the
dignity of her manner, not knowing of the things she had done in her
life that were neither heartless nor cold. But now she recovered herself
quickly and dried her eyes, and made Marcantonio sit down. She looked at
him intently as though trying to understand him. He had never met her so
coldly before in his life; there must be a reason for it,--he was
evidently beside himself with suffering, but his temporary madness could
hardly take the form of a sudden dislike for herself unless there were
some cause.
"You did not expect me so soon," she said, speaking very gently. "It was
by a mere chance that I managed it."
"I am very sorry," said Marcantonio in a monotonous voice that had no
life in it, and seemed not his own. "If you had waited a little while I
could have saved you the journey."
"The journey is nothing," said she. "I am not tired at all, and I would
come across the world to be with you."
"Yes," said Marcantonio, "I know you would. It would have been better if
we had met further on."
"Further on?" she repeated, hoping he would give her some clue to his
intentions.
The old habit of confidence was too strong for him; he wished her away,
but he could not help speaking and telling her something. He had never
concealed anything from her.
"In Turin," he answered briefly.
"Ah,--is he there?" asked Diana in a low voice.
"He sent his box there,--he will go and get it."
"And then?"
"And then," said Marcantonio, the sullen fire burning in his reddened
eyes, "we shall meet."
Diana was silent for a moment, determining what to do. All this she had
expected, but she had not thought to find her brother so changed.
"Tell me, Marcantonio," she said earnestly, "did you think I would
prevent your meeting with him?" He hesitated. She took his hand and
looked into his face as though urging him to answer.
"Yes," he said hoarsely.
Diana understood. This was the reason of his evident annoyance at her
coming. He thought she meant to prevent him from fighting Batiscombe.
"You know better than that," she said gravely. Marcantonio turned upon
her quickly with an angry look.
"You prevented me before," he said. "If I had shot him then, this
trouble would not have come. You know it,--why do you look at me like
that?"
"If you had shot him before," said she, "this could not have happened.
But if he had shot you,--that was possible, was it not?--you gained
nothing. If neither of you had killed the other, there would have been a
useless scandal. The case is different."
If she had found her brother overcome with his sorrow and abandoned to
the suffering it brought, sensitive and shrinking from all allusion to
his shame, she would have acted very differently. But she found him
possessed of but one idea, how to kill Julius Batiscombe; he was hard
and unyielding; he seemed to have forgotten the wife he had loved so
well, in the longing to destroy the man who had stolen her away. She
felt no hesitation in speaking plainly of the matter in hand, since his
feelings needed no sparing. But her sympathy was so large and honest
that she did not feel hurt herself because he was cold to her; she
understood that he was scarcely in his right mind, and she could make
all allowance for him.
Marcantonio did not answer at once. But her influence on him, as she sat
there, was soothing, and he was gradually yielding under it--not in the
least abandoning his one idea, but feeling that she might not hinder its
execution after all.
"Do you mean to say," he asked suddenly, "that you will not try to
prevent my meeting with him?" He turned and looked into her eyes, that
met his honestly and fearlessly.
"Assuredly I will not prevent you," said she.
"Really and truly?"
"So truly that if I thought you had meant to leave him alone, I would
have tried to make you fight him."
Marcantonio laughed scornfully, in a way that was bad to hear. It had
never struck him that he could possibly have not wanted to fight. But in
a moment he was grave again.
"What a woman you are, Diana!" he exclaimed. It sounded more like
himself than anything he had said yet, and Diana was encouraged. But she
said nothing.
In her simple code, fighting was a necessary thing in the world. She had
been brought up among people who fought duels under provocation, and it
never entered her head that under certain circumstances there was
anything else to be done. Women often scream with terror at the mention
of such a thing, but very few of them will have anything to do with men
who will not fight when they are insulted. In preventing a challenge
after the affair at Sorrento she had done violence to her feelings for
the sake of Leonora's reputation. In the present instance that was no
longer at stake. It was perfectly clear that her brother must have
satisfaction from his enemy, as soon as might be.
She had never hesitated, therefore, in her view of Marcantonio's
situation, and when he put the question to her she answered it boldly
and naturally. But, somehow, he had not understood his sister before,
though he had yielded to her, and he was astonished at her readiness to
agree with him. He looked at her with a sort of admiration, and his
feeling towards her changed.
"Then you will help me to find him?" he asked.
"I will stay with you until you do," she answered.
"It is the same thing," said he. "Will you come to Turin with me at
once?"
"I will not leave you," she said. "We can go to Turin to-morrow, if you
like."
"No--to-night," he said, quickly. The idea of wasting twelve hours
seemed intolerable.
But Diana had made up her mind that he must rest a while before doing
anything more. She shuddered when she looked at his face and saw the
change wrought there in six and thirty hours.
"If we start now," she said, "we shall arrive in the evening. You could
do nothing at night. Rest until the morning, and then we will go. You
will need all the strength you have."
"I cannot rest," he said gloomily.
"You must try," answered Diana. "I will read to you till you are
asleep."
He rose and began to pace the room. The doubt that she intended to keep
him back sprang up again in his unsettled mind. He stopped before her.
"No," he said, "I will go to-night, and you need not come if you are too
tired. You want to prevent me from going at all--I see it in your
face."
Diana looked up at him as she sat. No one but a madman could have
doubted the faith of those grey eyes of hers, and as Marcantonio gazed
on them the old influence of the stronger character began to act. He
turned away impatiently.
"You always make me do what you like," he said, and began to walk again.
Diana forced herself to laugh a little.
"Do not be so foolish, dear boy," she said. "I want you to sleep
to-night, and to-morrow we will go to the world's end together. You will
lose twelve hours somewhere, because there are certain things that
cannot be done at night. Better make use of them now, and sleep, before
you are altogether exhausted. I promise to go with you to-morrow. Do you
mean to have an illness, or to go out of your mind? You will accomplish
one or the other in this way, and there will be an end of the whole
matter."
"Very well," said Marcantonio, unable to resist her will, "since you
promise it to me I will do as you please. But to-morrow morning I will
start, whatever happens."
"Very well," said Diana. "And now, dear brother, will you kindly give me
some dinner? I have scarcely had anything to-day."
"Dio mio!" cried Marcantonio, "what a brute I am!"
It was like him, she thought, to be angry at himself for having
forgotten to be hospitable. The words reassured her, for they sounded
natural. There had been moments during the conversation when she had
thought he was insane. Perhaps it was more his looks than his words,
however. At all events, as he rang the bell and ordered what was
necessary, she felt as though he were already better.
One of her reasons for wishing him to stay a night in Rome was that he
might immediately have a chance of growing calmer. Nothing distances
grief like sleep. Until the first impression had become less vivid in
his mind, she could not ask him questions about the circumstances of the
flight. She guessed that, although he was willing, and even anxious, to
talk of his future meeting with Batiscombe, it would be quite another
thing to make him speak of the past fact. And yet she knew nothing of
the details--not even exactly the time when it had all happened. She
half fancied that they must have got away by the sea, because it would
have been so simple; but she had no idea of how much Marcantonio knew,
nor whether the matter had yet in any way become public property. It was
necessary, she judged, that she should know something, at least, of the
circumstances. No one but Marcantonio could tell her, and before he
could be brought to speak he must be saved from the danger of a physical
illness which seemed to threaten him.
Before long dinner was ready. It was ten o'clock, and the meal had been
prepared for Marcantonio at eight; but he had behaved so strangely that
no one liked to go near him, and the servants supposed that if he wanted
anything he would ring the bell.
The two sat down opposite to each other. Diana was tired and hungry; she
had taken off her bonnet on arriving, and had gone straight to
Marcantonio, and now she would not leave him until she had seen him safe
in his room for the night. But in spite of the long journey, the
fatigue, and the great anxiety, she was the same, as queenly and
unruffled as ever, as smoothly and perfectly dressed, as quiet and
stately in her ways. No wonder she was the envy of half the women in
Europe. The half who did not envy her were those who had never seen her.
She watched Marcantonio as she sat opposite to him. It surprised her to
see that he ate well,--more than usual, in fact, and she attributed it
to a sudden improvement which had perhaps been brought about by her
arrival. She had expected that he would refuse to eat anything, and
would support his strength on strong coffee and tobacco. She thought
that at all events he would not be ill,--but, again, as she looked at
his face, its death-like yellowness frightened her, and the injected
veins of his eyeballs made his eyes look absolutely red.
They hardly spoke during the meal, for the servants came and went often,
and they could not speak any language together that would not be
understood.
After a time they were left alone, and they prepared to part for the
night. Diana laid her hand affectionately on her brother's forehead, as
though to feel whether it were hot. He looked so ill that it hurt her to
see him.
"You are worn out, dear boy," said she. "Go to bed and sleep."
"I will try," he said, rather submissively than otherwise. "But we will
go to-morrow, of course," he added quickly, turning to her with a
half-startled look.
"Of course," said she, reassuring him.
"Because," he said, "I told the detectives to telegraph to me there, and
I gave them my address at the hotel."
"Detectives?" repeated Diana, starting a little and looking surprised.
"What do you want them for?"
"Diavolo!" ejaculated Marcantonio savagely, "to find him, to be sure."
"Batiscombe is not the man to run away, or to need much finding," said
Diana, gravely, with an air of conviction. She did not like the idea.
"When men mean to be found they leave an address," said her brother,
between his teeth.
There was truth in what he said. Batiscombe ought to have let
Marcantonio know his whereabouts, it was the least a brave man could do,
and Batiscombe was undeniably brave. Diana felt a sharp sense of pain;
the idea that her brother was hunting down with detectives, like a
common malefactor, the man who had once loved her so well--the idea
that she was helping to find him in order that Marcantonio might kill
him if he could--it was frightful to her. She was bitterly atoning for
one innocent girlish fancy of long ago.
"Marcantonio," she said, almost entreatingly, "do not do it. Give up the
police. I am sure he will meet you without that"--
"Ah yes!" he interrupted, "you know him. Of course you will not help me!
I forgot that you were come to shield him,--you--I know you will not
help me!"
He spoke fiercely and brutally, as he had never spoken to her before.
But mad or not mad, Diana would not submit to such words from any one.
She turned white, and faced him in the light of the two great lamps that
burned on the table. The whole power and splendid force of her nature
gleamed in her eyes, and thrilled in the low, distinct tones of her
voice.
"What you say is utterly base, and ignoble, and untrue," she said
slowly.
He hung his head, for he knew he was wrong. He did not know what he
said; indeed he had hardly known what he was doing all that day.
"I am sorry, Diana," he said, at last, quite humbly. "I am not myself
to-day."
Her anger melted away instantly. Himself! No indeed, poor fellow, he was
not himself, and perhaps never would be his old self again. He was so
utterly wretched as he stood there before her with his head bent and his
hands clasped together, so forlorn and forsaken and pitiful, the moment
the sustaining force of his anger left him, that no human creature could
have seen him without giving him all sympathy and comfort. Diana went
close to him and put her arms about him, and kissed him, and her tears
wet his cheek. He suffered her to lead him quietly away to his rooms,
and she left him in the care of his faithful old servant.
"The signore is ill," she said. "Some one must watch in the outer room
all night, in case he wants anything."
Diana herself was exhausted, in spite of her strength and extraordinary
nerve. There were times when she broke down, as she had done at Sorrento
when she heard Julius and Leonora outside her window, but it was always
after the struggle was over, when she was alone. Moreover she had the
advantage of a perfectly serene past life, during which no serious
trouble had come near her, and her strength had increased with her
maturity. It all stood her in good stead now, and helped her to bear
what she had to suffer. She went to bed and slept a dreamless sleep
which completely restored her. It is the privilege of very calm and
evenly balanced natures to take rest when it can be had, and to bear
wakefulness and fatigue better in the long run than extremely active and
physically energetic people.
As for Marcantonio, he tossed upon his bed and dreamed broken dreams
that woke him again and again with a sudden start; he dreamed he had
found his man, and the excitement of the moment waked him. Then he
dreamed he was quarrelling with his sister, and was suddenly wide awake
at the sound of her reproachful voice. He was talking to Leonora,
pleading with her, and using all his eloquence to win her back, and she
laughed scornfully at him--and that waked him too.
But at last he slept soundly for an hour or two, just before daybreak,
and awoke feeling tired, but more restful. The dawn came stealing
through the windows, and he got up and moved about a little, with a
sensation of enjoyment in the cool, fresh air.
He looked into the glass, and started at his own face that he saw
reflected there. It seemed like a hideous mask of himself, all drawn and
distorted and pale. But had he looked at himself on the previous day he
might have seen an improvement now. He was deadly pale, but no longer
yellow, and his eyes had lost the redness which had frightened his
sister. He looked ill, but not crazy, and he felt that he could trust
himself to-day not to say the things he had said yesterday.
He would go to Turin of course--that was settled--unless Diana were too
tired; but he would not have admitted such a condition when he went to
bed the night before.
He rang the bell and ordered his things to be got ready. The old
servant, who had slept on a sofa outside, looked haggard and unshaved,
and stared suspiciously as he heard the order. But he did not dare to
make any remarks, as he would have done if his master had been well.
Marcantonio had been ill once before, when he was a boy of fifteen, and
had on that occasion, when he was delirious, shown a remarkable tendency
to throw everything within reach at the people about him when he did not
instantly get what he wanted. The old man remembered the fact, and was
silently obedient, for the Signor Marchese looked as though he were ill
again. The mildest people are often the most furious in the delirium of
a fever.