UNCLE FALCON WINS
Diana dined alone at the little round table in the big dining-room. She
wore the white satin gown she had worn on the evening of Christmas-day,
when David dined with her. The table decoration was lilies of the valley
and Parma violets.
After dinner she went to the library, restless and lonely, yet glad to
be alone; thankful she had postponed to the morrow, the return of Mrs.
Marmaduke Vane.
On her writing-table, in a silver frame, stood the photograph of a
special chum of hers, a man with whom she frequently played tennis in
summer, and rode in winter; a good-looking fellow, with the appearance
of an all round sportsman. His gay friendly eyes looked out at her with
an air of easy comradeship, as she paused for a moment beside the table.
Diana was fond of this portrait of Ronald Ingram. It always stood on
her writing-table. But, this evening, she suddenly took it up, and put
it, face downwards, into a drawer. It had served to remind her that she
possessed no photograph of David.
She moved over to the fireplace, tall and lovely, perfectly gowned,
surrounded by all the luxury she loved--yet indescribably desolate.
She stood, wrapped in thought, warming her hands at the fire; then sank
into Uncle Falcon's armchair, in which she had sat while she and David
discussed their intended marriage.
Did she need a portrait of David?
Hardly. He was so vividly pictured in her mental vision.
She could see him in the pulpit of the little church at
Brambledene--keen, eager, inspired; full of his subject; the dark eyes
shining in his thin worn face.
She could see him in the vestry, seated on the high stool; boyish, shy;
very much taken aback by her unexpected entry.
She could see him at the piano in the drawing-room, completely
unconscious of his surroundings; enveloped in the music he himself was
making.
She could see him seated opposite to her in the chair now empty, a look
of strange detachment upon his tired face, as with infinite tact and
gentleness he explained to her why he felt able, after all, to accede to
her request; never departing from his own standpoint in the matter; yet
making the thing as easy for her as possible.
She could see him in the church of St. Botolph, as he had stood that
morning--was it really only that morning?--awaiting her. How strange had
been the summons in his eyes, which drew her to his side. Ah, if there
had but been _love_ between them, how wonderful a memory would have been
that look in David's eyes!
She could see him in the railway train--in boyishly high spirits,
because nothing now stood between him and his departure for his belovèd
sphere of work--seated opposite to her at the little table in the
dining-car, rubbing the mist off the windows with his table napkin, and
exclaiming over the beauties of the Hampshire hills and villages.
"Lord _now_ lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace." Poor David! She
had certainly interfered with his peace of mind during the fortnight
which had preceded their strange wedding. Well, he had departed in
peace, and was undoubtedly gone "to be a light to lighten the
Gentiles." And what a difference her money would make to the success of
his work.
And then--she could see him as he bent down to her from the top of the
gangway, his dark eyes gazing into hers, and said: "Good-bye, my wife."
Surely, for the moment, it had meant something to David to call her his
wife? She had never before seen quite such a look in any man's eyes. Was
it fancy, or was there a hunger in them, which seemed to match the ache
at her own breast? Sentimental fancy on her own part, no doubt; for had
not David said of their wedding service: "It meant no more than we
intended it should mean"?
How odious and impossible a state of things, if she--Diana Rivers--who
had proposed this marriage, as a mere business transaction--should now
be imagining into it sentiment which she had expressly stipulated should
never enter therein. If David knew of it, would she not be forced to bow
her head in shame, before his clear honest eyes?
No; certainly she needed no photograph of David!
* * * * *
She glanced at the portrait of Uncle Falcon hanging over the
mantel-piece; then looked away at once. She was rather afraid of Uncle
Falcon to-night. David had said she was to flaunt her victory in Uncle
Falcon's face. She had replied that she might have done so, if _he_ had
been going to be with her. David had made no reply; but she had felt him
shrink into himself. He had been too honest to express regret to his
bride, that his engagements took him elsewhere on his wedding evening;
and too kind, to show relief. When she had said: "David, I shall be
quite alone at Riverscourt to-night," David had remarked: "Oh, look at
the undulating line of those distant hills!"
A little gleam of amusement illumined the sad face, resting against the
dark leather of Uncle Falcon's big chair; and, as the firelight played
upon it, dimples peeped out. Had she looked up, she would have seen a
corresponding twinkle in Uncle Falcon's amber eyes.
It really was rather funny. David and his table napkin! She knew she had
not behaved quite well towards David, who was such a very faithful and
very proper person. She felt she should always hate the distant line of
undulating hills! If only he had tried to kiss her, and she could have
boxed his ears, she would have enjoyed that journey better.
But, the next moment, a rush of tears drowned the gleam of fun in those
sweet eyes. She had remembered David's face, as he said: "Good-bye, my
wife." It seemed sacrilege even to _think_ of boxing his ears! How ill
he had looked, during those final minutes on the boat. It made it so
terribly easy to picture David's face as it would look when he lay
dying--dead.
Diana's tears fell silently. She, who scarcely ever wept, now found
herself weeping without restraint, in a vague, helpless sort of way; and
about nothing--that was the foolish part of it--she was crying about
absolutely nothing!
"This will never do!" said Diana. "I am being as silly as an _ordinary_
married woman. I must find something sensible to think about."
She rose from her chair, stretched her beautiful arms over her head;
then walked across to a table to look for a book. Her eye fell upon a
concordance, lying where she had left it on that evening of indecision
and perplexity.
Suddenly she remembered words of David's in his sermon on Christmas-eve.
They came back to her as clearly as if they had that moment been spoken.
"Myrrh, in the Bible," David had said, "stands for other things besides
death. We must not pause to do so now; but, sometime, at your leisure,
look out each mention of myrrh. You will find it stands for love--love,
of the sweetest, tenderest kind; love so complete, that it must bring
with it self-abnegation, and a mingling of pain with its bliss."
Yes, David had said this. How suitable that to-night--of all nights--she
should do as he had wished.
But, first, she went to the window, drew aside the curtains, and looked
out.
Snow had ceased to fall. The sky was clear and cloudless. There was no
moon; but, low on the horizon, shone one brilliant star.
It seemed to Diana, that at that very moment, from somewhere out on the
ocean, David's eyes were also on that star. It brought him very near. It
made his last prayer very real.
She leaned her head against the window frame, and watched it silently.
"Whether in life or in death," said David's quiet voice, "may we glorify
our King, and be faithful followers of the star."
Then she drew the curtain close once more, found a Bible, took up the
concordance, and went back to Uncle Falcon's chair to do as David had
suggested.
The first reference to which she turned, chanced to be the thirteenth
verse of the first chapter of the Book of Canticles--divinest love-poem
ever written.
Bending over it, in the firelight, Diana read the opening words.
"_A bundle of myrrh is my well-belovèd unto me_----"
Then, suddenly, her eyes dilated. She pressed her hands against her
breast.
Then she bent over, and finished the verse; reading each word slowly, to
the very last.
* * * * *
"David! David! David!"
_A bundle of myrrh is my well-belovèd unto me!_ Oh, David, speeding each
moment farther and farther away, on life's relentless ocean; hastening
to that distant land "that is very far off," from which there is no
return!
She lay back in the chair; opened her arms wide; then closed them--on
nothingness.
* * * * *
"David! David!"
She understood, now.
This pain at her breast, this ache of her heart, would never be stilled,
until David's dear head rested here where his hand had been pressed.
And David had gone from her--forever.
"Good-bye, my wife.... It meant no more than we intended it should
mean.... Good-bye, my wife."
She held her hands clasped to her bosom. She looked, wide-eyed, at the
empty chair, opposite.
"David," she whispered, "David, come back to me!"
It seemed, to her, that David must hear, and must return. This agony of
awful loneliness could not endure.... David!... David!... David!...
* * * * *
At last she rose, leaned her arms upon the marble mantel-piece, and
looked up into the searching eyes of the portrait.
"Uncle Falcon," she whispered bravely; "Uncle Falcon--_you have won_."
The eyes of the old man who had loved her, seemed to look down sadly,
sorrowfully, into hers. She had won; and he had won; but there was no
triumph in either victory.
The only undisputed victor, in that hour, was Love who is lord of all;
and even Love fled, with drooping wings, from a desolation which had
been brought about by sacrilege at the altar.
Diana laid her golden head upon her arms. Its coronet of pride fell from
it. She was shaken from head to foot by desperate weeping.
David had said: "A love so complete that it must bring with it
self-abnegation, and a mingling of pain with its bliss." She had had one
glimpse of what the bliss might have been. She was tasting the pain to
the full.
* * * * *
Self stepped forever off the throne of her woman's heart; and Love,
undisputed, held full sway.
She turned from the fireplace, sank upon the floor beside the chair in
which David had sat; then laid her head upon it, clasping her arms
around its unresponsive emptiness.
"David!... David!... David!"
But the distant liner was ploughing steadily through the dark waters.
Each moment took him farther from her; nearer to the land from which
there is no return.
"_Good-bye, my wife._"
* * * * *
After a while, Diana ceased to call him.
She lay very still. No sound broke the silence of the room, save the low
shuddering sobs of a breaking heart.
But the star in the sky still shone, though heavy curtains veiled it.
And David, pacing the hurricane deck, where were no curtains, lifted his
eyes to its clear shining; and, in the midst of his own desperate pain,
saw in it an emblem of hope, a promise of guidance, a beacon light in
this vast desert of utter desolation.
* * * * *
And midnight brought merciful sleep to both.
_Here endeth_ GOLD.
FRANKINCENSE