ON HER KNEES TO HIM
Wivernsea was asleep. Like its blacksmith, it believed in the theory of
early rising. Not a light was to be seen in one of the windows she
passed. Not until she came to the end of the Marine Terrace. There she
saw an illuminated window: her beacon.
It was but a short distance from her own place; not ten minutes' walk.
She seems to have spent as many hours in covering it. Despite the
proverb, time does not always fly.
The house which Masters lodged in was known to her. He had described the
quaintness of its old-fashioned bay window; the only one in the row. She
would have known it as his place without even the beacon light for
identification. He was a slave of the lamp: consumed the midnight oil.
As she made towards the light she prayed, almost aloud. Prayed for a
conquering power--over her pride. That she might be humble. For the
framing of words to move this man when she besought him to come.
Soulfully prayed that God would incline his heart to hear her prayer.
Three steps--she faltered up them; proximity to her goal rendered her
invertebrate--brought her to the level of the door. If she put her hand
over the rails she could tap at the window. It would be better so than
disturbing the household by knocking. She tapped.
Her actions elicited no response! She waited, with a hard-beating heart.
Still no reply: dead silence! Had he expected this--this visit of
hers--and resolved to remain obdurate?
The window blind was not pulled down to its full length. Through the
lace edging she could see the man calmly writing; writing as if
thoroughly engrossed in his work. Evidently the thought of his cruelty
did not trouble him in the least.
In desperation, there seemed nothing else to do, she used her fingers
again: loudly. Masters looked up; started in astonishment. Heard a
distinct tapping on the glass of his window!
He walked to the casement; pulled the cord attached to a spring roller,
and in a moment the blind had shot up. Outside all was moonlight
brightness. At first he looked straight away; saw only the sea with the
intervening roadway. Then, suddenly, at the side, on the steps, saw a
woman with a ghastly white, haggard face looking at him! The Woman He
Loved!
Start? He almost jumped in his amazement! Was he dreaming? Was it his
phantasy? Then he came plump to earth; lost no further time in surmises;
went to the door.
The room opened on to the hall; the street door was but a couple of
yards away. He had gripped its handle and opened it in a moment. The
woman was there--no phantasy--flesh and blood, clinging to the railings.
"My God! What has happened to bring you at this hour?"
"Just--a--moment!"
The answer given weakly; breathlessly. A swerve, and she would have
fallen, but for an almost nerveless clutch at the railings--but that he
was by her side in a moment, with a strong upholding arm round her
waist.
There was unconsciousness of his clasp; things were all going round with
her.... She had a feeling of being lifted; then set down again.
Then--then a blankness: consciousness left her.
For a brief moment Masters held her in his arms; her whole weight. For a
brief moment the blood coursed wildly through his veins; surged
brainwards. A wild, mad impulse seized him: to press his lips to hers,
helpless, passive as she lay there.
With difficulty he restrained himself. Laid down his burden reverently;
her angel's face seemed eloquent of innocence. Once, surely once on a
time, it had spoken truth. Ah! What Might Have Been.
She opened her eyes. Found herself lying on a sofa. Masters standing by
her side, holding brandy. She tried, feebly, to push it away; but his
now full-of-authority voice commanded:
"Drink!"
She was constrained to do so by reason of a hand which went under and
lifted her head; another which placed the glass to her lips....
Struggling to a sitting position, passing her hand across her eyes, with
a pitiful little drooping at the corners of her mouth, she said:
"I beg your pardon for--for--Was I silly? Did I--I felt a little faint."
He remained watching her. His own face had grown almost the colour of
hers. He had touched her, had had her hand in his, had felt the softness
of her hair! It seemed to him as if the noise of the beating of his
heart drowned the ticking of the clock.
"Tell me," he inquired, still supporting her, "what brings you here so
late?"
She shook her head. Womanlike, answered his question by another:
"Didn't the girl tell you?"
"What girl?" He asked in surprise. "Didn't the girl tell me what?"
"About Gracie. I--I sent to you half-an-hour ago. She--they tell me--I
think--Oh, my God!--I am so--so afraid!--is dying. She asked for you
again and again. You sent a message that you would come tomorrow."
"I!"
His astonished look, the blaze of suddenly aroused anger in his eyes,
frightened her. Could he be even now deceiving her? His kindness--was it
falsity? She hurried on with her explanation; in her embarrassment the
words tumbled from her lips.
"Yes. You did--did you not? Ah! Don't tell me there was any mistake--the
girl saw you herself! I ought to be with Gracie now, but you wouldn't
come when I sent for you. She--I--thought if I came for you, you
wouldn't be so hard. You could not--oh, you could not--if you knew that
perhaps her very life depended on you."
In speaking she had fallen on her knees; knelt to him in her entreaty.
It hurt; he could not bear to see her--a woman--in this attitude of
supplication to him. Almost roughly he raised her to her feet.
When erect, not seeing through her tear-streaming eyes, choked with her
emotion, she plucked at his coat sleeve. The action horrified him;
recalled the night he had stood beside his mother's death-bed; the dying
woman had plucked at the counterpane in just such a way. Roughly--to
hide his aroused emotion--he shook himself free.
Then she seized on and took his hand in her own burning hot shaking
ones. Continued to plead, sobs breaking her utterance:
"It is a child; a little child dying! She wanted to see you so much! The
doctor said we were to gratify her, soothe her, and perhaps get her to a
sleep which will save her life. You will come back with me--oh, you
will, will you not? She knows I have come to fetch you. She was so
confident you would come! I--I have annoyed you, or done something to
displease you, I know that, but I am all humility now, Mr. Masters;
humble, oh, so humble!"
She had slid to her knees again before he could stop her; continued;
"Humbly begging your pardon for whatever I have done. Praying you, for
my little child's sake, to come back with me, please.... Please....
Please!"
For a second time he stooped and raised the sobbing woman; bodily picked
her up. He was naturally a strong man, and the feeling filling him just
then lent additional strength.
He was so much moved by the present that he lost sight of all he had
heard, all he had seen in the past. Only knew that this woman, whom he
loved with all his heart and soul, whose shoes he would have kissed,
knelt to him.
"How dare you?"
His question was put fiercely, as in that moment of lifting, he held her
tightly to him. He repeated it:
"How dare you kneel to me? How dare you beg of me to do what the most
inhuman wretch in the world would do?"
For a moment he left her side; inside that time had slipped into his
overcoat and drawn a cap from his pocket.
"Finish that brandy."
There was that in his voice which commanded obedience; she never thought
of disobeying.
"You will come?"
She put the question tremblingly; holding the glass to her lips as she
did so with a shaking hand.
"At once."
A feeling of anger took possession of him: that she could put such a
question; he continued:
"How can you ask?"
Her only answer was a soulful, grateful cry; a cry from her heart:
"Thank God!"
He was feeling himself considerably less of a hero than on the last
occasion of their meeting. But this was not a time for thought; as he
opened the door he said, speaking almost gruffly:
"You can see your way?"
There was quite light enough shed by the moon for that; and there was
light ahead too! She knew she could rely on him; the very sound of his
voice told her that; was an inspiration in itself. Making her way to the
hall door she staggered out; down the little stone flight to the
pavement.
Ere she reached the bottom step, he had turned down the lamp, closed the
house door and joined her.
"Take my arm.... Cling to me tightly. You are not fit to walk alone."
And she clung. Forgot all he had said to her. Just had something strong
and powerful to cling to in her time of trouble, and she clung. Her
heart beat so as to pain her. She heard him speak and spoke to him in
reply. But all the while her heart was full of prayers of gratitude. God
had been very good to her.
Every step they took brought them nearer the bungalow. Nearer the
realization of hopes upon which she had almost erected a monument. She
knew--felt rather--for certain that he would save Gracie. Faith was
strong in her.
He kept her talking all the way they walked. Thought to divert her mind
from thoughts of the sick chamber they were coming to. But she wanted to
think of it; there was happiness in the thought. Her companion's voice
rang so cheerily--it gave her hope. There seemed magic in it; power to
dispel doubts and fears.
"What did you mean by a girl and a message you sent half-an-hour ago? My
landlady went to bed about nine o'clock. There has not been a soul near
the house since."
"A mistake evidently."
She answered feebly. Was too fatigued to seek explanation. He was there,
going home with her--that was enough.
"In some way, yes. But there was no mistake in your thinking me capable
of such brutality as----"
He stopped. Recollected the words he had himself used to her in his
anger at their last meeting. She was entitled to judge him so; was fully
justified. The reflection was bitter as gall.
She had no suspicion why he paused. Had she known, her answer might have
been different. As it was she said meekly:
"Please don't be angry with me."
It would have been impossible for her to choose words more likely to
touch him in his present mood of self-reproach. She spoke too with such
an appeal in her tremulous voice, that retention of his anger would have
meant changing his whole nature.
He strode on. It was all she could do to keep up with him. His anxiety
was to get where he might be of help. He forgot; he had had so little to
do with women.
They reached the bungalow. Divested themselves of their outdoor garments
in the hall. The house was so quiet, Death himself might have been in
possession. It struck an unpleasant chill to the new comer.
Then he followed her to the sick room.