It sometimes rains even in Arcady.
When Ethan arose the next morning he found that Apollo was taking a
rest and that Jupiter was having things all his own way. At the foot
of the orchard the little river was foaming and boiling with puny
ferocity. The grass was beaten and drenched and the foliage was adrip.
But in the shelter of the elm outside the window a robin chirped
cheerfully, thinking doubtless of gustatory joys to come.
“Well, you’re taking it philosophically, my friend,” muttered Ethan,
“and I might as well follow your example, even though I have a soul
above fat worms. It’s got to stop sometime, and I might as well make
the best of it meanwhile. Still,” he added ruefully, “a whole day in
this ramshackle old ark doesn’t appeal to me much.”
He dressed leisurely, ate breakfast slowly, and afterward sought to
kill time with a book by a window in the tap-room. The volume, a
paper-clad novel left by some former guest, answered well enough. It
is doubtful if he could have given undivided attention to the most
engrossing story ever written. The rain, streaking down the tiny panes,
caught strange hues from the old glass and the light from the crackling
logs in the fire-place. Sometimes they were green like tender new apple
leaves in May, sometimes blue like rain-drenched violets, like――no, not
like but, rather, reminiscent of, certain eyes! Ah, there was food for
thought! The novel was turned face-downward on his knee, the cigarette
drooped thoughtfully from the corner of his mouth and his hands went
deep into his pockets. Those eyes! Rain-drenched violets? By jove,
yes! No simile, no comparison could be better! Rain-drenched violets
touched by the yellow light of the sun stealing back through gray
clouds! Rather an elaborate description, he thought with a smile at his
sentimentalism. The smile deepened as he recalled the infinitesimal
blue circle under the left eye, a little blue vein showing with
charming distinctness against the warm pallor of the skin like a vein
in soft-toned marble. It was a little thing to recall, little in all
ways, but it seemed to him a veritable triumph of the memory! By half
closing his eyes he could almost see it.
[Illustration]
_Slam!_
The paper-covered novel fell to the floor and lay fluttering its leaves
in helpless appeal. He rescued it and sought his place again, smiling
with real amusement over his foolishness.
“I’m certainly behaving like an idiot,” he thought. “I never knew
being in love was so――so deuced unsettling. First thing I know, if
I don’t keep a pretty steady hand on the reins, I’ll be writing
poetry or roaming around the place cutting hearts and initials in the
tree-trunks! H’m; let me see now; where was I? Ah, here we have it!
[Illustration]
“‘Garrison laid the diamond trinket gently back on the desk and puffed
slowly at his cigar. Presently he turned with disconcerting abruptness
to Mrs. Staniford. “There is no possibility of mistake?” he asked.
“None,” was the firm reply. “You could swear to the identity of this
jewel in court?” “Yes.” Garrison whipped a small round, black object
from his pocket and settled it against his eye. Then he took up the
trinket again and bent over it closely. “My dear madam,” he said
softly, “if you did that you would be making a grave mistake.” “What
do you mean?” she cried fiercely. “I mean,” was the smiling response,
“that this is not one of your jewels,――unless――――” “Well?” she
prompted impatiently. “Unless, my dear madam, you wear paste!” A sharp
involuntary exclamation of surprise startled them. They turned quickly.
Lord Burslem was crossing the library with white, set face.’
“Pshaw! I knew all along the things were paste,” sighed Ethan.
“Singleton is Mrs. Staniford’s son by a former marriage and she has
pinched the stones and given them to him to get him out of a scrape,
something to do with that lachrymose Miss Deene, maybe; at least,
something she knows about. Laurence is as innocent as the untrodden
snow, or whatever the correct simile is, and if I keep on to the last
chapter I’ll find out that fact. But I prefer to believe him guilty. He
wore a gardenia in his buttonhole, and that settles it. I can’t stand
for a man who wears gardenias. I insist that he is guilty.”
He tossed the book half-way across the room, arose, stretched his long
arms above his head and stared out of the window. The rain was falling
straight down from the dark sky in a manner that would doubtless have
pleased Isaac Newton greatly, showing as it did so perfectly the
attraction of gravitation. The drops were of immense size, and when one
struck the window pane it spread itself out into a very pool before
it trickled down to the sash. Ethan watched for awhile, then yawned,
glanced at his watch and lounged in to dinner.
About three o’clock the sky lightened somewhat and the torrential
downpour gave way to a quiet drizzle. He donned a raincoat and sought
the road. It was not bad walking, for the surface was well drained, and
he had put three-quarters of a mile behind him before he had considered
either distance or destination. Then, looking around and finding the
highway lined on the right by an ornamental iron fence through which
shrubs thrust their wet leaves, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“I didn’t mean to come here,” he said to himself, “but now that I’m
here I might as well go on and tantalize myself with a look at the
house.”
Another minute brought him to a broad gate, flanked by high stone
pillars. A well-kept drive-way swept curving back to a large white
house, a house a little too pretentious to entirely please Ethan.
On one side,――the side, as he knew, nearest the lotus pool,――an
uncovered porch jutted out, and from this steps led to a white pergola.
The latter was a recent addition and as yet the grapevines had not
succeeded wholly in covering its nakedness. From one of the windows on
the lower floor of the house a dull orange glow emanated.
[Illustration]
“They’ve got a fire there,” said Ethan, “and she’s sitting in front of
it. Wish I was!”
He settled the collar of his raincoat closer about his neck to keep out
the drops, and sighed.
“You know,” he went on then, somewhat defiantly, addressing himself
apparently to the residence, “there’s no reason why I shouldn’t walk
right up the drive, ring the bell and ask for――for Mr. Devereux. I’ve
got the best excuse in the world. And once inside it would be odd if I
didn’t see Her. I’ve half a mind to do it! Only――perhaps she’d rather I
wouldn’t. And――I won’t.”
He took a final survey of the premises and turned away with another
sigh. Before he had reached the Inn the clouds had broken in the south
and a little wind was shaking the raindrops from the leaves along the
road.
[Illustration]
“A good sailing breeze,” he thought. “And, by the bye, this is
Saturday. I ought to be at Stillhaven helping Vin win that race. I
suppose I’ve disappointed him. However, a fellow can’t be in two places
at once; he ought to know that.”