AN OLD MAN IN A LIBRARY
A white-haired man was watching her. He was sitting in a big oak chair,
his hands resting on the arms.
"Oh!" ejaculated Trix. And further expression failed her.
"Please don't let me disturb you," came a suave, courteous old voice.
"You were looking for something perhaps?"
"I only wanted to see the library," stuttered Trix, flabbergasted,
dismayed.
"Well, this is the library. May I ask how you found your way in?"
"Through a door," responded Trix, voicing the obvious.
"Ah! I did not know visitors were being admitted to the house?" This on a
note of interrogation, flavoured with the faintest hint of irony, though
the courtesy was still not lacking.
Trix coloured.
"I wasn't admitted," she owned. "I just came."
"Ah, I see," said the white-haired man still courteously. "You perhaps
were not aware that your presence might be an--er, an intrusion."
Again Trix coloured.
"A man did tell me I couldn't come through this way," she confessed.
"Yet he allowed you to do so?" There was a queer note beneath the
courtesy.
Trix's ear, catching the note, found it almost repellant.
"It wasn't his fault," she declared. "I came. I said, 'Isn't there
someone at the gate?' And while he turned to look, I ran. At least,--" a
gleam of laughter sprang to her eyes--"I sneezed first, so it sounded
like 'There's somebody at the gate.' So he thought there was really.
It--it was rather mean of me."
"What you might call an acted lie," suggested the man.
Trix looked conscience-stricken, contrite.
"I suppose it was," she admitted in a very small voice. "But it was the
cows. Only I think they were bulls. I _am_ so frightened of cows. I
couldn't go back. And he wasn't going to let me through. It wasn't his
fault a bit, it wasn't really. I know I told a--a kind of lie." She
sighed heavily.
"You did," said the man.
Again Trix sighed.
"I'd never make a martyr, would I? Only"--a degree more hopefully--"A
sneeze isn't quite like denying real things, things that matter, is it?"
This last was spoken distinctly appealingly.
"I'm not a theologian," said the man dryly.
Trix looked at him. A sudden light of illumination passed over her face,
giving place to absolute amazement.
"Aren't you Mr. Danver?" she ejaculated.
"I never heard of his being a theologian," was the retort.
"But Mr. Danver is dead!" gasped Trix.
"Is he?"
"Well," said Trix dazed, bewildered, "he evidently isn't. But why on
earth did you--" she broke off.
"Did I what?" he demanded with a queer smile.
"Say you were dead?" asked Trix.
"Dead men, my dear young lady, tell no tales, nor have I ever heard of a
living one proclaiming his own demise."
Trix laughed involuntarily.
"Anyhow you've let other people say you are," she retorted.
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"Why did you let them?" asked Trix.
Again the man shrugged his shoulders.
"I have no responsibility in the matter."
"Doctor Hilary has, then," she flashed out.
"Has he?" was the quiet response.
"He has told people you were dead."
"Are you sure of that?"
"Well, he's let them think so anyway. Why has he?" demanded Trix.
"You ask a good many questions for an--er--an intruder," remarked the
man.
Trix's chin went up. "I'm sorry. I apologize. I'll go."
"No, don't," said the man. "Sit down."
Trix sat down near a table. She looked straight at him.
"Well," she asked, "what do you want to say to me?"
"I am Nicholas Danver," he said.
"I was quite sure of that," nodded Trix. She was recovering her
self-possession.
"I had an excellent reason for allowing people to imagine I was dead," he
remarked, "as excellent a one, perhaps, as yours for your--your
unexpected appearance."
"I'm glad you didn't say 'intrusion' again," said Trix thoughtfully.
Nicholas gave a short laugh.
There was a little silence.
"Doctor Hilary must have told a dreadful lot of lies," said Trix slowly
and not a little regretfully.
"On the contrary," said Nicholas, "he told none."
Trix looked up quickly.
"Listen," said Nicholas, "it's quite an interesting little history in its
way. You can stop me if I bore you.... Doctor Hilary says, in the hearing
of a housemaid, that it might be a good plan to consult a specialist. It
is announced in the village that the Squire is going to consult a
specialist. Doctor Hilary travels up to town with an empty litter. The
village announces that he has taken the Squire to the specialist. He
returns alone. The station-master asks him when the Squire will return
from London. He is briefly told, never. The village announces the
Squire's demise. I don't say that certain little further incidents did
not lend colour to the idea, such as the Squire confining himself
entirely to two rooms, and allowing the butler alone of the servants to
see him; Doctor Hilary's dismissal of the other indoor servants on his
return to town; the deserted appearance of the house. But from first to
last there was less actual direct lying in the matter, than in--shall I
say, than in a simple sneeze."
A third time the colour mounted in Trix's cheeks.
"You'll not let me forget _that_," she said pathetically. "But why ever
did you want everyone to think you were dead?"
Nicholas looked towards the window thoughtfully, ruminatively.
"That, my dear young lady, is my own affair."
"I beg your pardon," said Trix quickly. She lapsed into silence. Suddenly
she looked up, an elfin smile of pure mischief dancing in her eyes. "And
now I know you're not dead," she remarked. "Exactly," said Nicholas. "You
know I'm not dead."
"Well?" demanded Trix.
"Well, of course you can go and publish the news to the world," he
remarked smoothly.
"And equally of course," retorted Trix, "I shall do nothing of the kind.
Quite possibly you mayn't trust me, because--because I _did_ sneeze. But
honestly I didn't have time to think properly then, at least, only time
to think how to get out of the difficulty, and not time to think about
fairness or anything. I truly don't tell lies generally. And to tell
about you would be like telling what was in a private letter if you'd
read it by accident, so _of course_ I shan't say a word."
Nicholas held out his hand without speaking. Trix got up from her chair,
and put her own warm hand into his cold one.
"All right," he said in an oddly gentle voice. "And you can speak to
Doctor Hilary about it if you like. You'll no doubt need a safety valve."
He looked again at her, still holding her hand. "Haven't I seen you
before?" he asked.
Trix nodded. "When I was a tiny child. My name is Trix Devereux. I used
to come here with my father."
"What!" exclaimed Nicholas, "Jack Devereux's daughter! How is the old
fellow?"
"He died five years ago," said Trix softly.
Nicholas dropped her hand.
"And I live on," he said grimly. "It's a queer world." He looked down at
the black dressing gown which hid his useless legs. "Bah, where's the use
of sentiment at this time of day. Anyhow it's a pleasure to meet you,
even though your entrance was a bit of----"
"An intrusion," smiled Trix.
"I was going to say a surprise," said Nicholas courteously. "And now you
must allow me to give you some tea."
Trix hesitated.
"Oh, but," she demurred, "the butler will see me."
"And a very pleasant sight for him," responded Nicholas, "if you will
permit an old man to pay you a compliment. Besides Jessop is used to
holding his tongue."
Trix laughed.
"That," she said, "I can quite well imagine."
Nicholas pressed the electric button attached to the arm of his chair. He
watched the door, a curious amusement in his eyes.
Trix attempted an appearance of utter unconcern, nevertheless she could
not avoid a reflection or two regarding the butler's possible views on
her presence.
During the few seconds of waiting, she surveyed the room. It was
extraordinarily familiar. Nothing was altered from her childish days. The
very position of the furniture was the same. There were the same heavy
brocaded curtains to the windows, the same morocco-covered chairs, the
same thick Aubusson carpet, the same book-cases lined with rather fusty
books, the same great dogs in the fireplace.
Nicholas looked at her, observing her survey.
"Well?" he queried.
"It's all so exactly the same," responded Trix.
"I never cared for change," said Nicholas shortly.
And then the door opened.
"Jessop," said Nicholas smooth-voiced, "Will you kindly bring tea for me
and this young lady."
A flicker, a very faint flicker of amazement passed over the man's face.
"Yes, sir," he responded, and turned from the room.
"An excellent servant," remarked Nicholas.
"I wonder," said Trix reflectively, "how they manage to see everything,
and look as if they saw nothing. When I see things it's perfectly obvious
to everyone else I am seeing them. I--I _look_."
"So do most people," returned Nicholas.
* * * * *
When, some half-hour later, Trix rose to take leave, Nicholas again held
out his hand. "I believe I'd ask you to come and pay me another visit,"
he said, "but it would be wiser not. It is not easy for--er, dead men to
receive visitors."
"I wish you hadn't--died," said Trix impulsively.
"Do you mean that?" asked Nicholas curiously.
Trix nodded. There was an odd lump in her throat, a lump that for the
moment prevented her from speaking.
"You're a queer child," smiled Nicholas.
The tears welled up suddenly in Trix's eyes.
"It's so lonely," she said, with a half-sob.
"My own doing," responded Nicholas.
"That doesn't make it nicer, but worse," gulped Trix.
Nicholas held her hand tighter.
"On the contrary, it's better. It's my own choice." He emphasized the
last word a little.
Trix was silent. Nicholas let go her hand.
"Let yourself out the front way," he said. "I am sorry I am unable to
accompany you."
Trix went slowly to the library door. At the door she turned.
"It mayn't be right of me," she announced, "but I'm glad, really glad I
did sneeze."
Nicholas laughed.
"To be perfectly candid," he remarked, "so am I."