Presently, to the relief of Una, at least, the other boats came back;
the third boat was got ready, the hampers put on board, and the ladies
seated.
Jack stood near the stern, and took Una's hand in his to help her to
embark.
"Take care," he said, aloud, then in an undertone, he added: "I shall
see you at Richmond."
"Are you going to row the outrigger down, Savage?" said Dalrymple, eying
the first boat enviously.
Jack turned to him eagerly.
"No, I'll take your place in this boat; I can see you are longing for
mine. Here, get in"; and before Dalrymple could refuse, Jack had almost
lifted him into the outrigger, and leaped into his place in Lady Bell's
boat.
All the darkness vanished from his brow. He was sitting opposite Una; so
near, that when he leaned forward to make the stroke, his hand almost
touched her dress.
"Are you coming with us?" said Lady Bell; "I am so glad."
"So am I," said Jack; but his eyes went to Una's face.
"Now, then," said Jack, as he bent forward.
"Steady, old man," said Sir Arkroyd; "we haven't all got blacksmith's
muscles!"
But Jack was wild, delirious with joy, and he pulled, heart and soul,
his great, strong arms bare to the elbows.
"What a lovely night!" said Lady Bell. "Won't anybody sing?"
Of course no one replied.
"Sing something, my dear child," she said to Una. "You have a singing
face. You have no idea how beautiful it sounds on the water."
"Oh, no, no," said Una, shrinking modestly.
Jack looked up.
"Sing," he murmured, pleadingly. As if he had uttered a command, she
looked at him with meek obedience, and began the song he had heard her
singing in the forest.
Is there anything more exquisite on earth than the voice of a young
girl? Una knew nothing of the science of song; she had had no master, no
instruction of any sort; but her voice was clear and musical as a young
thrush's and she sang straight from her heart.
No need to tell Jack to pull slower! He ceased rowing, and rested on his
oar, his eyes fixed on her face, his lips half apart.
The other boats stopped also as the music of the sweet, young voice
floated down the stream, and one and all felt the spell.
Lady Bell sat with lowered lids and pale face, and when the last note
died away and she looked up, her eyes were moist.
"My dear," she said, in a low voice, "where did you learn to sing like
that?"
Una, half frightened at the effect she had produced, flushed and sank
back into her seat.
"I have never learned," she said, quietly.
There was a murmur, and Lady Clarence turned and looked at her
curiously.
"You have a beautiful voice," she said, "and exquisite taste, or you
could not sing as you do. It is a pity you have not been thoroughly
trained. You should have a master."
"She shall!" said Lady Bell, impulsively. "She shall have the best. It
would be criminal to let such a gift be wasted!"
Jack looked up with a flush of pleased gratitude, and Lady Bell happened
to catch that glance.
With a slight start she turned pale, and looked from his face all aglow
with the fervor of loving admiration to Una's downcast one, and then,
with something like a shudder, she, too, sank back into the seat.
"Isn't--isn't it cold?" she said, in a strangely changed voice.
"Is it?" said Jack, musing. "We'll row on," and he bent to the oar
again.
A peculiar silence fell upon them all; it seemed as if they were still
listening to the sweet voice. Lady Bell closed her eyes and remained
motionless, and Jack pulled as if he had undertaken to reach Richmond
within a given time.
At Richmond tea was brought to them on the terrace while the horses were
put to, and very soon they were dashing toward London.
Dalrymple declared that his arms were too stiff to allow him to handle
the four grays properly, and Jack was unanimously voted to the box.
He looked rather inclined to refuse, but seeing that Una had been seated
close behind him, he climbed up and took the reins without a word.
For the first mile or two he had quite enough to do to keep the nags in
hand; but he could feel that Una was close behind him, could feel her
breath on his cheek, and hear every word of the clear, low-pitched
voice, and he was deliriously happy.
Presently, when he had got the horses into steady working, he turned his
head and pointing with his whip, as if he were directing her attention
to some object in the landscape, said in a low voice:
"Una, can you hear me?"
"Yes," she said, leaning forward.
"I have been thinking it all over," he said, "but I can't make head or
tail of it. It's all a mystery. However, I know where you are now, and
that's something; and I can come and see you, and that's everything--to
me. Are you angry with me for speaking so--so boldly?"
"No," she faltered.
"And I may come and see you? I know Mrs. Davenant; she is a good
creature, though she thinks me everything that's bad--and she's not far
wrong, I'm afraid----"
Una sighed faintly.
"And perhaps she'll tell me what it means, and why Stephen has sent you
to be with her. Why, Una, did your father allow you to come? He loathed
me for being a distant relative of the Davenants."
"I do not know," said Una, troubled.
"Never mind," said Jack, hastening to soothe her; "it's sure to be all
right, if he did it. I liked your father, notwithstanding he was so
rough with me. I liked him because he took such care of you. Steady,
silly!" This was to the near leader, and not to Una. "What a lovely
night! Are you enjoying it?--are you happy?"
A sigh, faint and tremulous, was full answer.
"Please Heaven, we'll have many a night like this. Happy! I could go
half mad with delight at having you so near me. Una--I may call you
Una?"
"Yes," she murmured.
"Can you guess--you sweet, innocent flower--what makes me so happy?"
"Tell me!" she answered, in a low voice, and leaning forward until her
soft, silken hair almost touched his.
Jack's heart beat fast, and his blood bounded in his veins.
"It is because I love you. I love you! Do you understand? Ah, my
darling! you don't know what love is. But I ought not to call you
so--not yet. I can't see your face; perhaps I shouldn't dare to be so
bold if I could. Speak to me, Una; speak to me. Tell me that you are not
angry. Tell me that, while I have never had your sweet face out of my
mind since that day we parted in Warden, you have thought once or twice
of me. I don't deserve it. I'm a bad lot; but I love you, Una. Do you
love me?"
There was no reply; but there was a soft nestle beside him, and then he
felt her hand timidly touch his arm.
He slipped the whip and reins into one hand, and seized the little
trembling hand and enclosed it as if he meant thus to swallow it up
forever.
But, alas! the horses were going down hill, and were fidgeting and
pulling; and with impatient exclamation at their stupidity, he was
obliged to let the little hand go; but it did not go far; he could feel
it touching, softly and timidly, the edge of his coat-sleeve, and that
was enough for him. It was a mercy and a miracle that the drag was not
upset, for he scarcely knew where or how he was driving, and it was more
by instinct and habit that he brought the team safe and sound, but
sweating tremendously, before the house in Park Lane.
"You must all come in," said Lady Bell.
The gentlemen looked at their white flannels apologetically, but Lady
Bell laughed.
"Let us pretend that we are our own masters and mistresses for one
night," she said, "and not the slaves of Fashion."
Jack stood out. He felt that, for the present, it behooved him to be
discreet, and he knew that if he were not, it would be impossible for
him to conceal the romantic love which burned through and through him.
Besides, he knew that there would be no opportunity of speaking to Una
there; and he felt that it would be agony for him to assume the
conventional air of polite indifference to her for that evening, at
least.
So he went. But he stood on the pavement to help her down; and as he
held her in his arms, he kept her for one moment poised between heaven
and earth; and as he put her down, his lips touched her arm, and she
knew it.
"I'll see to the horses, Dal," he said; and he leaped up, and drove off
as if he were possessed.
"That's what the Savage calls seeing to them!" grumbled Dalrymple.
"He'll throw 'em down, or run over somebody, and I shall be fined five
pounds for furious driving."
Jack was conscientious--where horses were concerned--and he sat on the
rack and saw them rubbed down and fed with the patience of a martyr;
then he jumped into a hansom, was driven to Spider Court, and, bursting
into the room, fell into a chair and flung his cap at Leonard's head.
"Mad at last!" said Leonard.
"Yes, stark, staring, ramping mad, old fellow. I've found her!"
"No!" said Leonard, turning round.
"Yes! Yes! And I've spent the day with her. She's here in London, and
who do you think she is staying with? With Mrs. Davenant, Stephen's
mother!"
"Stephen's mother!" said Leonard, with surprise. "Nonsense."
"Fact! What do you make of it?"
Leonard Dagle mused in silence.
"I can make nothing of it," he said at last.
"Did she know Mrs. Davenant?"
"No; that's the mystery. Stephen, it seems, is the cause of her being
here. He found out her father--how I can't guess--he must, of course,
have known her before; there's nothing wonderful in that. But what is
wonderful is that Stephen should do anyone a good turn,
unless--unless--" and his face darkened suddenly and grew
fierce--"unless he had some end in view."
"What end could he have in view here?" said Leonard.
"That's what I can't make out; can you?"
Leonard shook his head.
"It's a strange story throughout."
"It is," said Jack, grimly. "But, Stephen Davenant, if you mean any
mischief, look out! I'm on your track, my friend! But, Len, old man, you
look rather done up. What's the matter?"
Leonard passed his hand over his brow.
"Something strange and mysterious also," he said. "I went to Cheltenham
Terrace an hour ago, just on the chance of getting a glimpse
of--of----"
"Of Laura Treherne. Well, old man?"
"And I met with a similar shock to yours in Warden Forest. I found the
house shut up, and she--gone, vanished, disappeared!"
"What!" exclaimed Jack.
Leonard paced up and down.
"I went to inquire next door, and I learned that old Mr. Treherne was
dead--you remember my telling you that the blinds were down--that the
funeral took place yesterday, and Miss Treherne had gone. They only
lodged there, it seems, and of course she could go at any moment. Where
she has gone no one seems to know. So there is an end to my little
romance! But no! it shall not end there."
"No; take courage by my luck, old man," said Jack, laying his hand on
his shoulder--"take courage by me! Let us talk about it."
"No, no!" said Leonard, shrinking; "I cannot--yet. You don't know how I
feel. Tell me what happened today. Was she glad to see you? Did you let
her see that you cared for her? Of course you did."
"Yes," said Jack, with a proud, happy smile. "Yes, I told her that I
loved her, and--oh, Len! Len! I know that she cares for me!"
Leonard stared at him gravely, and put down a paper which he had taken
up. But Jack saw it and took it off the table.
"What are you reading there, Len?"
Leonard took it out of his hand.
"My poor, light-hearted, unreasoning Jack," he said. "It's Levy Moss'
reminder about that bill!"
Jack's face fell and he dropped into a chair.
"Quite right, Len," he said, hoarsely. "I am an unreasoning fool! What
have I done? I've behaved like a blackguard! I've got this angel to
admit that she loved me--me, a beggar--more than a beggar! But I swear I
forgot--I forgot everything when I was near her. Oh, Heaven, Len, it's
hard lines! What shall I do! If the poor old squire had but left me a
few hundreds a year, how happy we could be!"
"But he hasn't," said Leonard, gravely and gently. "And what are you
going to do? There's the money you lost last night----"
Jack groaned.
"What an idiot I was. Len, I swear to you that I was nearly driven out
of my mind last night. First there was Lady Bell--she was more than
civil, and bearing in mind all you said and wanted me to do, I made
myself agreeable, and--and--she's very beautiful, Len, and when she
looks right into your eyes and smiles, she seems to do what she likes
with you. Len, I was nearly gone when that vision--as I thought it--came
into the glass amongst the ferns. I thought it was a vision--I know now
that she was there--and it drove me silly. I bolted out and made for the
club, and played to forget it all."
"And made bad matters worse," said Leonard. "You're in a hole, Jack, I'm
afraid. Moss won't wait; there are other bills, and there's the I. O. U.
of last night, and you've lost the money you had, and you've asked this
young girl to love you. You mean to marry her--I say, you mean to marry
her. On what? How can you go to her father--who already doesn't seem
altogether prepossessed in your favor--and ask him to give his daughter
to a penniless gentleman? Mind--a gentleman! If you were a woodman like
himself, your being hard up wouldn't matter. You could take an ax, or
whatever they use, and earn your living. But you can't go and ask him to
let her share your over-due bills and I. O. U.'s."
Jack groaned.
"What shall I do, Len? My darling, my darling!"
Leonard sighed. His heart--the heart of as true a friend as ever the
world held--ached for the wild, thoughtless youth.
"Was Lady Bell there?" he asked, quietly.
Jack leaped to his feet.
"Lady Bell! I see what you mean!" he groaned. "Len, you are in love
yourself, and yet you ask me to sell myself----"
Leonard flushed.
"Jack, much as I care for you, I swear that I am thinking as much of her
good and happiness as of your own. If you marry her--which, after all,
you _cannot_--if you could you would make her life miserable; if you
marry Lady Bell, you will at least make _her_--happy."
Jack paced up and down for a moment. Then he turned, white and haggard,
and held out his hand:
"You are right. Would to Heaven you were not! I see it, I cannot help
it. I will not make her life miserable. But--but--I must go and tell
her. Heaven help us both!"