While Mollie was busy at the vicarage, Ruth took her book to her
favourite seat, and prepared to spend a quiet morning; but to her
delight, Victor joined her, and took his place by her side, before she
had been seated more than a few minutes.
"He will see Lady Margot this afternoon. He need not ride ahead in the
hope of meeting her," came the involuntary bitter thought; but it was
impossible to harbour jealousy for more than a minute when alone in
Victor's company. Every word, every look, every tone, was filled with a
subtle flattery which was not only soothing but inspiring into the
bargain, for we are always at our best in the society of those who
appreciate us.
Ruth gazed, with the old delightful sense of well-being, across the
beautiful grounds, in which the long slopes of green and wide-spreading
trees had already grown dear and familiar as old friends. Surely every
day it became more certain that this would be her home of the future,
since Jack was still determined to return to town the moment he was
sufficiently recovered from his accident, and Mollie's extravagance was
plainly distasteful to Uncle Bernard. As for Victor, if he really--
really meant... Ruth did not finish the sentence even to herself, but
at the bottom of her mind lurked the inevitable reflection that she
stood a double chance.
Evidently Victor's thoughts had, to a certain extent, followed her own,
for he broke the silence by saying suddenly--
"That was an extraordinary statement of Mr Farrell's the other day,--
that he had already made a will. I suppose it is a wise precaution
under the circumstances, but it gave one rather a shock to know that
things were already settled."
"Yes, poor old man! one hates to realise how ill he must be. He does
not seem to have grown any worse since we came, so far as an outsider
can judge, but he must feel his weakness increasing."
Ruth puckered her brows in a distressed fashion, too much occupied with
her own thoughts to notice Victor's quick glance of inquiry.
His concern had not been for Mr Farrell or his sufferings, but he was
quick to change his tone in response to hers.
"I expect he does," said Victor, "though he is too well-plucked to
complain. The doctor told me the other day that these fluctuations are
part of the disease, and mean no real improvement. He does not give him
long, though he thinks it will probably be six months or more. It must
be more or less of an effort to him having us here, and if his mind is
already made up, I wonder he does not prefer to go back to his
solitude."
"He said he might still change, you remember. The will is only made in
case of accidents. It does seem strange to think of it lying there all
the time, and that one peep at it would end all our wonderings. I
_should_ like to see it!" cried Ruth with an outspoken honesty which
apparently shocked her companion.
"Be careful what you say, Miss Ruth! Farrell is just the sort of cross-
grained old fellow to take all sorts of ideas into his head if he heard
you. And, besides, you can surely guess for yourself what name you
would find!"
Ruth lifted her face to his in quick inquiry. The brown eyes were for
once fully open and looking down at her with an expression half smiling,
half melancholy. "You know it would be your own!" he said softly, and
she flushed in quick denial.
"No, no; it's impossible to be certain. I hope, of course, but-- At
first I thought Uncle Bernard liked me best, but lately Mollie seems to
have cut me out."
"But we are told that liking has nothing to do with the great decision."
"I know, and that does away at once with so many qualities with one fell
swoop, that one can hardly tell what is left. It puts amiability out of
the question, and unselfishness and cheerfulness, and--and tact, and
everything which makes us care for a person or not. When they are gone,
what is left?"
"A great many things, just as Mr Farrell's knowledge of our characters
and actions is far more extensive than you suspect. We meet at meals,
and in the evening, and for the rest of the day one would imagine that
we are beyond his ken, but I have discovered that to be a mistake. In
some mysterious fashion he knows all that we do, and guesses fairly
accurately what we think! ... Would you imagine, for instance, that he
knew that this seat was our favourite resort, and that we have enjoyed
some very pleasant _tete-a-tetes_ here during the last few weeks? Would
you imagine that he knew who gave me that white rosebud which I wore as
a button-hole last night?"
Ruth's face was a rose itself at that moment, a red, red rose, as the
colour flew from her cheeks up to the roots of her hair. Her eyes
wavered, and fell.
"How can he know? How do you know he knows?" she queried confusedly;
and Victor shrugged his shoulders.
"How, I can't tell you, but I suspect his man James is a useful source
of information. I know that he knows, because of several caustic
remarks which he has let fall from time to time, to which my legal
experience easily gives me the clue. I have come to the conclusion that
he knows pretty well what we are about every hour of the day!"
"Even when you go out riding by yourself, and meet Lady Margot in the
lanes?" questioned Ruth, stung by a sudden rising of jealousy, which she
was unable to control. The words were no sooner spoken than regretted,
and regret deepened into shame as Victor turned his calmly surprised
eyes upon her.
"Certainly! as I told him myself in the first instance. Since then I
have been fortunate enough to meet her again once or twice. The good
vicar saw us together on one occasion; I presume he hurried home
forthwith to spread the news over the parish. In these dead-alive
places the most casual acquaintance is magnified into a scandal, but
fortunately Lady Margot is a woman of the world who is unaffected by
silly chatter. She has a dull time at the Moat, and is glad to meet a
fellow-creature with whom she can have a few minutes' conversation.
Personally, I don't care what the whole parish pleases to say. There is
only one person whose opinion matters. ... Ruth! what are you trying to
imply?" He moved nearer to her as he spoke, until the arm which rested
on the back of the seat almost touched her shoulder. "Lady Margot is
pleased to be friendly and gracious, but she does not belong to my
world. She is a star far above the head of a poor struggling barrister,
even if he were fool enough to aspire to her, which he certainly would
not do so long as there are inhabitants of his own sphere a hundred
times more beautiful and more attractive."
Ruth shook her head, her eyes fixed shyly on the ground.
"If the barrister were the heir to the Court, it would make all the
difference in the world. Uncle Bernard spoke very warmly of the Blount
family. It might increase your chance," she urged, compelled by some
impulse which she could not understand to argue against her own wishes.
"Perhaps the condition has something to do with ambition, and pride of
race."
"In that case, again you score the advantage, for you are his direct
descendant. I think myself, however, that it refers entirely to money.
He has warned us that he has peculiar ideas on the subject. Probably he
is on the look-out for a similar peculiarity. He has consulted me, and
Melland also, I believe, on several matters in connection with the
estate; but my ideas are purely businesslike, and Melland is hopelessly
happy-go-lucky, so there was nothing original in either his advice or
mine. No! from whichever point of view I consider the question, I
always come to the same conclusion. You are the nearest heir; you are a
Farrell in name as well as appearance. You are not extravagant nor
thoughtless like your sister. To Melland, as well as to myself, the
result is a foregone conclusion. I would congratulate you on the spot
if I could do so honestly.--I wonder if you will in the least understand
what I mean, when I say that I wish it had been any one of the four
rather than yourself?"
The face that was raised to his was for a moment simply shocked and
surprised, but under his steady gaze comprehension dawned, and Ruth
turned hastily aside, saying, in a tremulous voice which vainly
struggled to be defiant--
"I shall remind you of that unkind speech when you are living in state,
and I am toiling for my daily bread. I could not have believed you
would be so unkind."
"I am not afraid, for that day will never dawn. Remember it, rather,
when you are reigning here, and a poor fellow stifling up in town
refuses the invitations because he longs to accept, and dare not,
remembering the difference between us!"
It was pretty plain speaking, and Ruth did not pretend to misunderstand
its meaning. At that moment all doubts died away. She believed herself
to be loved, and as her lover considered himself in an inferior position
to her own, she was generous enough to show him her own feelings in
return. The dark lashes rested upon her cheeks, her lips quivered like
a child's, as she said softly--
"If I did own the Court, if Uncle Bernard left me everything he
possessed, it would be worthless to me if--if I were separated from the
friends I cared for most."