VANE IS REINSTATED.
Breakfast was over and the two men, wrapped in blankets, lay on opposite
sides of the fire. Now that they had a supply of provisions, haste was
not a matter of importance, and the rescue party needed a rest. Carroll
was aching all over his body and somewhat disturbed in mind, because he
had not said anything about their financial affairs to his comrade yet,
and the subject must be mentioned.
"What about the Clermont?" Vane asked at length. "You needn't trouble
about breaking the news; come right to the point."
"Then to all intents and purposes the company has gone under; it's been
taken over by Horsfield's friends. Nairn has sold our stock--at
considerably less than its face value"; and Carroll added a brief
account of the absorption of the concern.
"Ah!" said Vane, whose face set hard. "I anticipated something of the
kind last night; I saw how you kept clear of the matter."
"But you said nothing."
"No," said Vane. "I'd had time to consider the thing while I lay here,
and it didn't look as if I could have got an intelligible account out of
you. But you may as well mention how much Nairn got for the shares."
He lay smoking silently for a few minutes after Carroll told him, and
the latter was strongly moved to sympathy since he thought it was not
his financial reverse but one indirect result of it which would hit his
comrade hardest.
"Well," said Vane grimly, "I suppose I've done what my friends would
consider a mad thing in coming up here, and I must face the reckoning."
Carroll wondered if their conversation could be confined to the surface
of the subject, because there were depths it would be better to leave
undisturbed.
"After all, you're far from broke," he said as cheerfully as he could.
"You have what the Clermont stock brought in, and you may make something
out of this shingle-splitting scheme."
There was bitterness in Vane's laugh. "When I left Vancouver for
England, I was generally supposed to be well on the way to affluence,
and there was some foundation for the idea. I had floated the Clermont
in the face of opposition; people believed in me; I could have raised
what dollars I required for any new undertaking. Now a good deal of my
money and my prestige is gone: folks have very little confidence in a
man who has shown himself a failure. Besides, I may be a cripple."
Carroll could guess his companion's thoughts. There was a vein of
stubborn pride in him, and he had, no doubt, decided it was unfitting
that Evelyn's future should be linked to that of a ruined man. This was
an exaggerated view, because Vane was in reality far from ruined, and
even if he had been so, he had in him the ability to recover from his
misfortunes. Still, the man was obstinate and generally ready to make a
sacrifice for an idea. Carroll, however, consoled himself with the
reflection that Evelyn would probably have something to say upon the
subject if she were given an opportunity, and he thought Mrs. Nairn
would contrive that she had one.
"I can't see any benefit in making things out as considerably worse than
they are," he said.
"Nor can I," Vane agreed. "After all, I was getting pretty tired of the
city, and I suppose I can raise enough to put up a small-power mill. It
will be a pleasant change to take charge for a year or two in the bush.
I'll make a start at the thing as soon as I'm able to walk."
This was significant, because it implied that he did not intend to
remain in Vancouver, where he would have been able to enjoy Evelyn's
company; but Carroll made no comment, and by and by Vane spoke again.
"Didn't you mention last night that it was through Miss Horsfield you
got the tug?" he asked. "I was thinking about something else at the
time."
"Yes," said Carroll. "She made Horsfield put some pressure on the people
who had previously hired the boat."
"Ah!" said Vane, "that's rather strange."
For a moment he looked puzzled, but almost immediately his face grew
impassive, and Carroll knew that he had some idea of Jessie's treachery.
He was, however, sure that any suspicions his comrade entertained would
remain locked up in his breast.
"I'm grateful to her, anyway," the latter resumed. "I believe I could
have held out another day or two, but it wouldn't have been pleasant."
Carroll began to talk about the preparations for their return, which he
soon afterwards set about making, and early next morning they started
for the sloop, carrying Vane upon a stretcher they had brought. Though
they had to cut a passage for it every here and there, they reached the
vessel safely, and after some trouble in getting him below and on to a
locker, Carroll decided to sail straight for Vancouver. They were
favoured with moderate fair winds, and though the boat was uncomfortably
crowded, she made a quick passage and stole in through the Narrows as
dusk was closing down one tranquil evening.
As it happened, Evelyn had spent part of the afternoon on the
forest-crested rise above the city, up which new dwellings were then
creeping, though they have, no doubt, spread beyond it and back into the
bush by now. From there she could look down upon the inlet and she had
visited the spot frequently during the last few days, watching eagerly
for a sail that did not appear. There had been no news of Carroll since
the skipper of the tug reported having landed him, and the girl was
tormented by doubts and anxieties. She had just come back and was
standing in Mrs. Nairn's sitting-room, when she heard the tinkle of the
telephone bell. A moment or two later her hostess entered hastily.
"It's a message from Alec," she cried. "He's heard from the wharf:
Vane's sloop's crossing the harbour. I'll away down to see Carroll
brings him here."
Evelyn turned to follow her, but Mrs. Nairn waved her back. "No," she
said firmly, "ye'll bide where ye are. See they get plenty lights on--at
the stair-head and in the passage--and the room on the left of it
ready."
She was gone in another moment and Evelyn, who carried out her
instructions, afterwards waited with what patience she could assume. At
last there was a rattle of wheels outside, followed by a voice giving
orders, and then a tramp of feet. The sounds brought her a strange
inward shrinking, but she ran to the door, and saw two tattered men
awkwardly carrying a stretcher up the steps, while Carroll and another
assisted them. Then the light fell upon its burden, and half prepared as
she was, she started in dismay. Vane, whom she had last seen in vigorous
health, lay partly covered with an old blanket which had slipped off him
to the waist, and his jacket looked a mass of rags. His hat had fallen
aside, and his face showed hollow and worn and pinched. Then he saw her
and a light sprang into his eyes, but next moment Carroll's shoulder hid
him, and the men plodded on towards the stairs. They ascended them with
difficulty, and the girl waited until Carroll came down.
"I noticed you at the door, and I expect you were a little shocked at
the change in Vane," he said. "What he has undergone has pulled him
down, but if you had seen him when I first found him, you'd have been
worse startled. He's getting on quite satisfactorily."
Evelyn was relieved to hear it; but Carroll, who had paused, continued:
"As soon as the doctor comes, we'll make him more presentable; but as
I'm not sure about the last bandages I put on, he can't be moved till
then. Afterwards, he'll no doubt hold an audience."
There was nothing to do but wait, and Evelyn again summoned her
patience. Before long a doctor arrived, and Carroll followed him to
Vane's room alone. The latter's face was very impassive, though Carroll
waited in tense suspense while the doctor stripped off the bandages and
bark supports from the injured leg. He examined it attentively, and then
looked round at Carroll.
"You fixed that limb when it was broken in the bush?" he said.
"Yes," said Carroll, with a desperate attempt to treat the matter
humourously. "But I really think we both had a hand in the thing. My
partner favoured me with his views; I disclaim some of the
responsibility."
"Then I guess you've been remarkably fortunate, which is perhaps the
best way of expressing it."
Vane raised his head and fixed his eyes upon the speaker. "It won't have
to be rebroken? I'll be able to walk without a limp?"
"I should say the latter's very probable."
Vane's eyes glistened and he let his head fall back.
"It's good news; better than I expected. Now if you could fix me up
again, I'd like to get dressed. I've felt like a hobo long enough."
The doctor nodded indulgently. "We can venture to change that state of
affairs, but I'll superintend the operation."
It was some time before Vane's toilet was completed, and then Carroll
surveyed him with humorous admiration.
"You do us credit, and now I suppose I can announce that you'll
receive?" he said.
Nairn and his wife and Evelyn came in, and the former, who shook hands
with Vane very heartily, afterwards looked down at him with twinkling
eyes.
"I'd have been glad to see ye, however ye had come," he said, and Vane
fully believed him. "For a' that, this is no the way I could have wished
to welcome ye."
"When a man won't take his friends' advice, what can he expect?" said
Vane.
"Let it be a warning. If the making of your mark and dollars is your
object, ye must stick to it and think of nothing else. Ye cannot
accumulate riches by spreading yourself, and philanthropy's no
lucrative, except maybe to a few."
"It's good counsel, but I'm thinking that's a pity," his wife remarked.
"What would ye say, Evelyn?"
The girl was aware that the tone of light banter had been adopted to
cover deeper feelings, which those present shrank from expressing; but
she ventured to give her thoughts free rein.
"I agree with you in one respect," she said. "But I can't believe that
the object mentioned is Mr. Vane's only one. He would never be willing
to pay the necessary price."
It was a delicate compliment, uttered in all sincerity, and Vane's worn
face grew warm. He was, however, conscious that it would be safer to
avoid being serious, and he smiled.
"Well," he said, "looking for timber rights is apt to prove expensive,
too. I had a haunting fear I might be lame, until the doctor banished
it. I'd better own that I'd no great confidence in Carroll's surgery."
Carroll, keeping strictly to the line the others had chosen, made him an
ironical bow, but Evelyn was not to be deterred.
"It was foolish of you to be troubled," she declared. "It isn't a fault
to be wounded in an honourable fight, and even if the mark remains there
is no reason why one should be ashamed of it."
Mrs. Nairn glanced at the girl rather sharply, but Carroll came to his
comrade's assistance.
"Strictly speaking, there wasn't a wound," he pointed out. "Fortunately
it was what is known as a simple fracture. If it had been anything else,
I'm inclined to think I couldn't have treated it."
Nairn chuckled, as if this met with his approval, but his wife turned
round and they heard a patter of footsteps on the stairs.
"Yon bell has kept on ringing since we came up," she said. "I left word
I was no to be disturbed. Weel"--as the door opened--"what is it,
Minnie?"
"The reception-room's plumb full," announced the maid, who was lately
from the bush. "If any more folks come along, I won't know where to put
them."
Now the door was open, Evelyn could hear a murmur of voices on the floor
below, and next moment the bell rang violently again, which struck her
as a testimonial to the injured man. Vane had not spent a long time in
Vancouver, but he had the gift of making friends. Having heard of the
sloop's arrival, they had come to inquire for him, and there was
obviously a number of them.
Mrs. Nairn glanced interrogatively at Carroll. "It does not look as if
they could be got rid of by a message."
"I guess he's fit to see them," Carroll answered. "We'll hold the levee.
If he'd only let me, I'd like to pose him a bit."
Mrs. Nairn, with Evelyn's assistance, did so instead, rearranging the
cushions about the man, in spite of his confused and half-indignant
protests; and during the next half hour the room was generally full.
People walked in, made sympathetic inquiries, or exchanged cheerful
banter, until Mrs. Nairn forcibly dismissed the last of them. After this
she declared that Vane must go to sleep, and paying no heed to his
assertion that he had not the least wish to do so, she led her remaining
companions away.
A couple of hours had passed when she handed Evelyn a large tumbler
containing a preparation of whipped-up eggs and milk.
"Ye might take him this and ask if he would like anything else," she
said. "I'm weary of the stairs and I would not trust Minnie. She's
handiest at spilling things."
"It's the third and I'd better say firmly, the limit," Carroll remarked.
Then he assumed an aggrieved expression as Evelyn moved off with a tray.
"I can't see why I couldn't have gone. I believe I've discharged my
duties as nurse satisfactorily."
Evelyn shared his suspicions. Her hostess's artifice was a transparent
one, but she nevertheless fell in with it. She had only seen Vane in the
company of others; this might be the same again to-morrow, and there was
something to be said. By intuition as much as reason, she knew that
there was something working in his mind, something that troubled him and
might trouble her. It excited her apprehension and animated her with a
desire to combat it. That she might be compelled to follow an
unconventional course did not matter. This man was hers--and she could
not let him go.
She entered his room collectedly. He was lying, neatly dressed, upon a
couch, with his shoulders raised against the end of it, for he had
thrown the cushions which had supported him upon the floor. As she came
in, he leaned down in an attempt to recover them, and finding himself
too late, looked up guiltily. The fact that he could move with so much
freedom was a comfort to the girl. She set down the tray on a table near
him.
"Mrs. Nairn has sent you this," she said, and the laugh they both
indulged in drew them together.
Then her mood changed, and her heart yearned over him. He had gone away
a strong, self-confident, prosperous man, and he had come back defeated;
broken in health and fortune and terribly worn. Her pity shone in her
softening eyes.
"Do you wish to sleep?" she asked.
"No," Vane assured her; "I'd a good deal sooner talk to you."
"Well," said Evelyn, "I have something to say. I'm afraid I was rather
unpleasant to you the evening before you sailed. I was sorry for it
afterwards; it was flagrant injustice."
"Then I wonder why you didn't answer the letter I wrote at Nanaimo."
"For a very good reason; I never got it."
Vane considered this for a few moments. "After all," he said, "it
doesn't matter now. I'm acquitted?"
"Absolutely."
"Do you know," he said, "I've still no idea of my offence?"
Evelyn was exceedingly glad to hear it, but a warmth crept into her
face, and as the blood showed through the delicate skin he fixed his
eyes intently upon her.
"It was all a mistake; I'm sorry still," she declared penitently.
"Oh," he said in a different tone; "I wouldn't trouble about it. The
satisfaction of being acquitted outweighs everything else. Besides, I've
made a number of rather serious mistakes myself. The search for that
spruce, for instance, is supposed to be one."
"No," said Evelyn decidedly; "whoever thinks that is wrong. It is a very
fine thing you have done. It doesn't matter in the least that you were
unsuccessful."
"You believe that?"
"Of course. How could I believe anything else?"
The man's face changed again, and once more she read the signs. Whatever
doubts and half-formed resolutions--and she had some idea of them--had
been working in his mind were dissipating.
"Well," he said, "I've sacrificed the best of my possessions and
destroyed the confidence of folks who, to serve their ends, would have
helped me on. Isn't that a serious thing?"
"No; it's really a most unimportant one; I"--and the slight pause gave
the assertion force--"I really mean it."
Vane partly raised himself with one arm and there was no doubting the
significance of his intent gaze.
"I believe I made another blunder--in England. I should have had more
courage and have faced the risk. But you might have turned against me
then."
"I don't think that's likely," said Evelyn, lowering her eyes.
The man leaned forward towards her, but the hand he stretched out fell
short, and the trivial fact once more roused her compassion for his
helplessness.
"You can only mean one thing," he said. "You wouldn't be afraid to face
the future with me now?"
"I wouldn't be afraid at all," said Evelyn quietly.
By and by Mrs. Nairn tapped at the door and smiled rather broadly when
she came in; then she shook her head in reproach.
"Ye should have been asleep a while since," she said to Vane, and turned
to Evelyn. "Is this the way ye intend to look after him?"
She waved the girl towards the door and when she joined her in the
passage kissed her effusively.
"Ye've got the man I would have chosen for ye," she said.
THE END.
London: Ward, Lock & Co., Ltd.
WARD, LOCK & CO.'S
TWO-SHILLING FICTION
Crown 8vo. Cloth Gilt. With Illustrations. 2/. net.
1 Lawrence Clavering A. E. W. Mason
3 Limitations E. F. Benson
7 Roger Trewinion Joseph Hocking
8 Half a Hero Anthony Hope
10 A Study in Scarlet A. Conan Doyle
12 To Leeward F. Marion Crawford
13 Comedies of Courtship A. Hope
16 Lady Barbarity J. C. Snaith
17 As We Forgive Them Wm. Le Queux
18 Hawtrey's Deputy Harold Bindloss
19 The Peer and the Woman E. P. Oppenheim
21 Mr. Witt's Widow Anthony Hope
22 The Unknown Lady Justus M. Forman
24 Lord Stranleigh, Philanthropist Robert Barr
25 The Master Mummer E. P. Oppenheim
28 The Postmaster of Market Deignton E. P. Oppenheim
29 The Sign of the Stranger Wm. Le Queux
32 False Evidence E. P. Oppenheim
33 The Tickencote Treasure Wm. Le Queux
34 Mirabel's Island Louis Tracy
35 White Walls Max Pemberton
36 The Lovers Eden Phillpotts
38 The Vow Paul Trent
39 The Purple Robe Joseph Hocking
40 The Trustee Harold Bindloss
41 Expiation E. P. Oppenheim
42 Mysteries Wm. Le Queux
43 The Foundling Paul Trent
44 The Betrayal E. P. Oppenheim
45 The Wastrel Harold Bindloss
46 The Room of Secrets Wm. Le Queux
47 The Opening Door Justus M. Forman
48 Lest We Forget Joseph Hocking
49 The Long Arm E. P. Oppenheim
52 The Allinson Honour Harold Bindloss
53 The Open Road Halliwell Sutcliffe
54 The Master of Merripit Eden Phillpotts
55 Max Logan Paul Trent
56 An Enemy Hath Done This Joseph Hocking
57 Mysterious Mr. Sabin E. P. Oppenheim
59 The Heir to the Throne A. W. Marchmont
60 Blake's Burden Harold Bindloss
61 A Daughter of the Marionis E. P. Oppenheim
63 The White Lie Wm. Le Queux
64 Uncle Peter's Will Silas K. Hocking
65 Lord Stranleigh Abroad Robert Barr
66 The Six Rubies Justus M. Forman
67 Leila and Her Lover Max Pemberton
68 The Secret of the Reef Harold Bindloss
69 The Blind Spot Justus M. Forman
70 Nesbit's Compact Paul Trent
73 The White Horses Halliwell Sutcliffe
74 A Lovers' Tale Maurice Hewlett
75 Delia Blanchflower Mrs. Humphry Ward
76 The Coming of the King Joseph Hocking
77 The Admirable Carfew Edgar Wallace
82 A Chateau in Picardy Halliwell Sutcliffe
85 Bentley's Conscience Paul Trent
88 Frey and His Wife Maurice Hewlett
90 The Crimson Field Halliwell Sutcliffe
91 The Flying Girl Richard Marsh
94 The Annexation Society J. S. Fletcher
97 A Prince of this World Joseph Hocking
98 Sir Vincent's Patient Headon Hill
100 The Comlyn Alibi Headon Hill
101 Weapons of Mystery Joseph Hocking
102 The Gay Hazard Halliwell Sutcliffe
103 His One Talent Harold Bindloss
WARD, LOCK & Co., London, Melbourne & Toronto.
WINDSOR MAGAZINE
THE IDEAL ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY has achieved the Most Brilliant Success of
the day. The list of Contributors to THE WINDSOR is unrivalled, for it
includes all the most popular Novelist Writers and Artists. Here are the
names of a few of them:--
RUDYARD KIPLING CUTCLIFFE HYNE
SIR H. RIDER HAGGARD HAROLD BINDLOSS
ANTHONY HOPE A. E. W. MASON
MAURICE HEWLETT SIR A. CONAN DOYLE
SIR GILBERT PARKER JEROME K. JEROME
W. J. LOCKE MARY CHOLMONDELEY
H. G. WELLS JUSTUS MILES FORMAN
HALL CAINE E. F. BENSON
I. ZANGWILL MRS. F. A. STEEL
MAARTEN MAARTENS GERTRUDE PAGE
H. B. MARRIOTT WATSON EDEN PHILLPOTTS
H. A. VACHELL BARONESS ORCZY
W. W. JACOBS HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFE
BARRY PAIN KEBLE HOWARD
BEATRICE HARRADEN CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS
ARNOLD BENNETT
The WINDSOR holds the Record For the Best Fiction, Articles and Pictures
WARD, LOCK & Co., London, Melbourne & Toronto.