"Mrs Martyn gave me to understand that you were leaving at once!"
Anne flashed round upon him.
"Mrs Martyn talks, but you might know better! Pray how are we going?"
"In Lord Milborough's yacht, she said."
"Thank you." Her tone was contemptuous. "Wait till we are gone!"
His heart grew soft once more under renewed faith in her.
"I hardly thought you would desert him," he said, in a low voice. "Mrs
Martyn, however, spoke as if all were settled."
"If she goes, I stay," was Anne's answer, and he could have wished for
nothing more resolute. It was the last word he got, for she vanished.
Before her, he believed in her implicitly; once out of sight, doubted.
He was ready to admit that she would go unwillingly, but with pressure
put upon her by all the others, it seemed to him that she would scarcely
hold out. The following morning, however, when he went down to
breakfast, he found Mrs Martyn engaged in cracking an egg. She
presented him with a few perfunctory questions as to Hugh's welfare,
only to turn eagerly to her own grievances.
"I must say that this suspense is intolerable, for Anne has got it into
her head that we ought not to leave until we know one way or the other,
and I really can't see why. If one could do the smallest good to the
poor fellow, it would be quite a different matter. I would sacrifice
anything, anything! But you are here, and he has everything that can be
thought of, and, of course, his coming out was really a most wilful act
on his part. Anne should never have allowed him to join us. I foresaw
nothing but difficulty. And I must say it is a little hard on poor Tom,
who has his moor waiting, and is naturally longing to get there. For
myself, of course I should not care, but I think of him, and am
seriously annoyed. Besides--the yacht! Such an opportunity!"
Wareham did not feel himself called upon to answer. It appeared that
she only required a listener, until she turned to him and said--
"Pray assist me."
Upon that he inquired how he was to do so?
"Persuade Anne. When I talk to her, all that I extract is that I can
go, and that she will remain behind. Of course, that is not to be
thought of."
"Hardly."
"No, but she is capable of carrying it out. And it really is absurd!
After throwing him over as she did, she cannot pretend to have very
strong feelings."
He perceived that Mrs Martyn was seriously annoyed, thus to give rein
to her speech. It drew him the closer to Anne.
"If Miss Dalrymple is resolved, she has probably thought the matter out
thoroughly," he replied, ignoring Mrs Martyn's last remarks. "And
nothing that I could say, even were I disposed to say it, would
influence her."
"What good can we do! I suppose Anne does not propose to nurse him?"
she said sharply.
"I imagine not."
She stood up.
"I might have known there was no use in asking you. Take care, Mr
Wareham. Anne is inscrutable." This was a parting shot as she whisked
out of the room.
Whether inscrutable or not, he cared not a rap, for the caution set his
blood tingling until he forced himself to turn aside from weighing it.
Up-stairs he was not wanted; he sat in solitude for some time, and the
young Norwegian doctor was his first visitor. He brought information of
a consultation later in the day, said he thought Hugh was holding his
own, and spoke hopefully; there was a telegram to be sent, a letter to
be written, then a visit to the sick-room, where Hugh knew him, and
smiled satisfaction.
That day and the next passed without his having a word with Anne. Once
or twice he fell in with Colonel Martyn, who gained in his regard, and
whatever his feelings might have been as to the waiting moor, kept them
heroically out of sight. Wareham perceived that it would have gone
against his instincts to have left Bergen, while poor Hugh's fate was in
the balance; further than this, that he took pains to find advantages in
Norway, where before he had only grumbled. Of Lord Milborough he spoke
with respect, as the owner of first-rate shootings and one of the best
yachts afloat. And more he did not touch upon.