Piqued by the uneventfulness of the preceding day, May Tomalin stole forth this morning in a decidedly adventurous frame of mind. She scorned danger; she desired excitement. Duplicity on her part was no more than Lord Dymchurch merited after that deliberate neglect of opportunity under the great tree. Of course nothing irrevocable must come to pass; it was the duty of man to commit himself, the privilege of woman to guard an ambiguous freedom. But, within certain limits, she counted on dramatic incidents. A brisk answer to her tap on the door in the park wall made her nerves thrill delightfully. No sooner had she turned the key than the door was impatiently pushed open from without.
"Quick!" sounded Lashmar's voice. "I hear wheels on the road.—Ha! Just in time! It might be someone who would recognise me."
He had grasped May's hand. He was gazing eagerly, amorously into her face. His emotions had matured since the meeting two days ago.
"Tell me all the news," he went on. "Is Dymchurch here?"
"Yes. And the others. You come to lunch to-day, of course? You will see them."
She recovered her hand, though not without a little struggle, which pleased her. For all her academic modernism, May belonged to the class which has primitive traditions, unsophisticated instincts.
"And what has happened?" asked Dyce, advancing as she stepped back. He spoke like one who has a right to the fullest information.
"Happened? Nothing particular. What could have happened?"
"I have been tormenting myself. Of course I know why Dymchurch has come, and so do you. I can't go away in a horrible uncertainty. If I do, I shall betray myself when I come to luncheon, so I give you warning."
"What do you mean!" exclaimed the girl, with an air of dignity surprised.
"Tell me the truth. Has Dymchurch spoken?"
"Many times," answered May; smiling with excessive ingenuousness. "He is not very talkative, but he doesn't keep absolute silence—I hear that you have been to see Mrs. Gallantry."
"What do I care about Mrs. Gallantry! I've seen no end of people, but all the time I was thinking of you. Yesterday morning, I all but wrote to you."
"What about?"
"All sorts of things. Of course I should have disguised my handwriting in the address."
May avoided his look, and shaped her lips to severity. "If you had done such a thing—I should have been greatly displeased. I'm very glad you didn't so far forget yourself."
"So am I, now. Won't you tell me if anything has happened. Won't you put my mind at ease?"
"I can stay only for a few minutes. There's really nothing to tell—nothing. Butyoumust have plenty of news. How are things going on?"
Lashmar hurriedly told of two or three circumstances which seemed to favour him in the opening campaign. There was now no doubt that Butterworth would be the Conservative candidate, and, on the whole, his name appeared to excite but moderate enthusiasm. He broke off with an impatient gesture.
"I can't talk about that stuff! It's waste of time, whilst I am with you."
"But it interests me very much," said May, who seemed to grow calmer as Dyce yielded to agitation. "Lord Dymchurch says he would gladly help you, if it were in his power. Don't you think hemightbe of some use?"
"No, I don't. Dymchurch is a dreaming nobody."
"What a strange way to speak of him!" said May, as if slightly offended. "You used to have quite a different opinion."
"Perhaps so. I didn't know him so well. There's nothing whatever in the man, and he'll never do anything as long as he lives. You know that as well as I do."
"I think you are mistaken," May answered, in an absent voice, her look betraying some travail of the mind, as if she were really debating with herself the question of Dymchurch's prospects.
"Do you mean that?" cried Lashmar, with annoyance.
"I certainly shouldn't call him a 'dreaming nobody,'" replied May, in the tone of dignified reproof. "Lord Dymchurch is very thoughtful, and very well-informed, and has very high principles."
"One may admit all that. All I meant was that there is no career before him. Would anyone dream of comparing him, for instance, with me? You needn't smile. You remember the talk we had at Mrs. Toplady's, that evening. I know my own qualities, and see no use in pretending that I don't.—But what are we talking about! Of course you care nothing for Dymchurch. I know that very well. If you did, you wouldn't be here."
He ended on a little laugh of triumph, and therewith, catching hold of both her hands, he drew her gently forward, looked close into her face, murmured "May! My beautiful May!" In that moment there came the strangest look upon May's countenance, a look of alarm, almost of terror. Her eyes were turned to a spot among the trees, some ten yards away. Dyce, seeing the sudden change of her expression, turned in the direction of her gaze. He was just in time to perceive the back of a retreating figure, which disappeared behind bushes.
"Who was that?" he asked in a startled voice.
May could only whisper.
"It was Lord Dymchurch."
"I thought so. Confound that fellow! What is he doing here at this time of the morning?"
"He saw us," said May, her cheeks burning. "Oh, who could have expected—! He saw us distinctly. I shouldn't wonder if he heard what you were saying. Why," she added, angrily, "did you speak so loud?"
"Nonsense! He couldn't hear at that distance."
"But he had been nearer."
"Then the fellow is a sneak! What right has he to steal upon us?"
"He didn't!" cried the girl. "I saw him as he stopped. I saw his face, and how astonished he looked. He turned away instantly."
"Well, what does it matter?" exclaimed Dyce, who was quivering with excitement. "What do I care? What need you care? Haven't we perfect liberty to meet? After all, whatdoesit matter?"
"But you forget," said May, "that he knows of your engagement."
"My engagement! Let him know, and let him think what he likes! My engagement, indeed! Why, I haven't once thought of it since I left London—not once! There'll have to be an end to this intolerable state of things. Dymchurch isn't likely to tell anyone what he sees; he's a gentleman."
"I must go in at once," cried May, losing her head. "Somebody else may come. Go away, please! Don't stay another minute."
"But it's impossible. We have to come to an understanding. Listen to me, May!"
He grasped her hand, passed his other arm around her. There was resistance, but Dyce used his strength in earnest. The girl's beauty fired him; he became the fervid lover, leaving her no choice between high resentment and frank surrender. Indignation was dying out of May's look. She ceased to struggle, she bent her head to his shoulder.
"Isn't that much better?" he whispered, laughingly. "Isn't that the way out of our difficulties?"
May allowed him to breathe a few more such soothing sentences, then spoke with troubled accent.
"But you don't understand. What must Lord Dymchurch think of me—believing that you are engaged?"
"I'll tell him the truth. I'll go and tell him at once."
"But still you don't understand. My aunt wants me to marry him."
"I know she does, and know she'll be disappointed," cried Dyce, exultantly.
"But do you suppose that Lord Dymchurch will stay here any longer? He will leave this very morning, I'm sure he will. My aunt will want to know what it means. There'll be dreadful explanations."
"Keep calm, May. If we lose our courage, it's all over with us. We have to deal boldly with Lady Ogram. Remember that she is very old and weak; I'm perfectly sure she can't resist you and me if we speak to her in the proper way—quietly and reasonably and firmly. We have made up our minds, haven't we? You are mine, dearest May! There's no more doubt aboutthat!"
"Miss Bride will be our deadly enemy," said May, again yielding to his caresses.
"Enemy!" Dyce exclaimed. "Why?"
"Surely you don't need to be told. She dislikes me already (as I do her), and now she will hate me. She'll do her best to injure us with Lady Ogram."
"You're mistaken. I have only to see her and talk to her—as I will, this morning. Before luncheon, she shall be firmly on our side, I promise you! Don't have the least anxiety abouther. The only serious difficulty is with Lady Ogram."
"You mean to tell Miss Bride the truth?" exclaimed May. "You mean to tell her what has happened this morning? I forbid you to do so! Iforbidyou!"
"I didn't mean anything of the kind," replied Lashmar. "To Dymchurch of course I shall speak quite freely: there's no choice. To Miss Bride I shall only say that I want our sham engagement to come to an end, because I am in love withyou. The presence of Dymchurch here will be quite enough to explain my sudden action don't you see? I assure you, she must be made our friend, and I can do it."
"If you do, it'll be a miracle," said May, with a face of utter misgiving.
"It would be, perhaps, for any other man. Now, we have no time to lose. I must see Dymchurch immediately. I shall hurry round inside the park wall, and come up to the front of the house, like an ordinary visitor. Election business will account for the early hour, if Lady Ogram hears about it; but she isn't likely to be down before eleven, is she? Don't let us lose any more time, darling. Go back quietly, and let no one see that anything has happened. Don't worry; in a quarter of an hour, Dymchurch shall know that there's not a shadow of blame upon you."
"He won't believe that story. If he does, he'll think it very dishonourable."
Dyce checked the words in amorous fashion, but they conveyed an unpleasant truth, which he turned about in his mind as he hastened towards the interview with Dymchurch. For once in his life, however, he saw a clear course of action before him, indicated alike by interest and by honour. He was roused by supreme impulse and necessity; seeing him as he strode along, you might have supposed him bent on some very high purpose, so gallantly did he hold his head, and so radiant was his visage. There are men capable of viewing themselves as heroes in very unheroic situations, and Lashmar was one of them. Because his business with Dymchurch and with Constance would be distinctly disagreeable, and yet he was facing it without hesitation, his conscience praised him aloud. Nothing less than brilliant issue could be the reward of such noble energy.
Meanwhile, May had begun to retrace her steps through the little wood. She wished to go quickly, but was afraid, if she did so, of overtaking Lord Dymchurch. In her, too, the self-approving mind was active; she applauded herself for having given the preference to love over ambition. With the choice of becoming a peeress, she had bestowed her beauty, intellect, wealth upon a man who had nothing to offer but his hopes. Was not this nobler than any nobility of rank? The sentimentality of a hundred novels surged within her; verses of Browning chanted in her brain. "Love is best!" She walked a heroine of passion. All obstacles would fall before her burning resolve. This was living in high romance!
She passed from among the trees into the open park and there before her stood the man she least wished to see. He had evidently been waiting; he began to move towards her. A score of more or less ingenious lies rose to her tongue, instinctively; but she remembered that deceit was not called for. Lord Dymchurch had raised his hat. He looked very grave, but not at all ill-tempered. May did not offer her hand. After the "good-morning," he walked beside her, and at once began to speak.
"I find I must leave Rivenoak, Miss Tomalin." His voice was low, gentle, not unkind.
"Must you indeed, Lord Dymchurch?"
"I'm afraid I must," he answered quietly.
"I amsosorry. But you will be able to see Lady Ogram?"
"I fear not. I wish to leave almost at once."
They were drawing near to the garden. Dymchurch paused, glanced at his companion with sad eyes, and, his look cast down, again spoke.
"Miss Tomalin, I came here wishing to ask you to be my wife. Only a foolish shyness prevented me from doing so yesterday. This morning, I know that it would be too late. Pray forgive me for speaking of the matter at all. I feel obliged to explain myself. Perhaps I had better make the explanation complete by saying that I saw you go through the garden, and followed in the same direction, hoping for an opportunity of speaking with you alone."
May felt that a man in this position could not well have conducted himself more kindly and delicately. No hint in look or voice that he thought her behaviour extraordinary; he had been defeated by a rival, that was all; his tone begged excuse for unwilling intrusion upon her privacy. But for the hopelessly compromising moment at which he had arrived, probably he would have given her all benefit of the doubt, and in one way or another, would still have prosecuted his wooing. Very nervous and confused, she made what seemed to her an appropriate answer.
"Thank you very much, Lord Dymchurch. I had so hoped we could be friends—simply friends. Do let me think of you still in that way."
"Will you give me a proof of friendship," said the other, smiling kindly, "by permitting me to tell Lady Ogram, in a note I shall leave for her, that you have declined my offer of marriage?"
This, thought May, was indeed a smoothing of her difficulties. She glanced at the speaker with gratitude.
"You will really do that? How generous of you, Lord Dymchurch!"
"Allow me to leave you now, Miss Tomalin. I must prepare for my journey."
May offered her hand. Dymchurch just perceptibly pressed it, saluted with the gravest politeness, and walked away.
On the terrace before the house, he encountered Lashmar, who came up to him with a glowing countenance.
"I hoped I should find you here. Nothing could be better. Just a moment's talk."
Dyce had thrust out a hand, but as the other appeared not to see it, he drew it back again as naturally as he could. Dymchurch stood waiting in an attitude of cold civility.
"It's rather a delicate matter. Accident has obliged me to speak; otherwise, I shouldn't, of course, have troubled you with my private affairs. I wish to tell you that the engagement which once existed between Miss Bride and myself is at an end."
"I presumed so," was the reply, spoken with unmoved features.
"Also, that Miss Tomalin has for some days been aware of this state of things."
"I took it for granted."
"So that," Dyce continued, in a stumbling way, "you won't retain any disagreeable impression from this morning's incident? I am very glad indeed to have been able to see you at once. It puts an end to a natural uneasiness on both sides."
"I am obliged to you," said Dymchurch.
With a bow and a look past his interlocutor, he turned to enter the house.
As soon as he had disappeared, Lashmar followed, and rang the door bell. Of the servant who came, he asked whether Miss Bride was down yet. The domestic went to inquire. Waiting in the hall, Dyce heard a footstep behind him; he turned and saw May, who, with features discomposed, just met his eyes and hurried away up the staircase. When the servant returned, it was with a request that Mr. Lashmar would step into the library. There, in a few minutes, Constance joined him.
"You are early!" she exclaimed. "No bad news, I hope?"
"No. But I want a little quiet talk with you. Of course it's absurd to come at this hour. You know I lunch here to-day, and I couldn't have gone through with it without seeing you in private. I'm in a queer state of mind; very much upset; in fact, I never felt such need of a true friend to consult."
Constance kept her eyes fixed upon him. She had been up for a couple of hours, reading in the French book which had reached her yesterday. The same volume had occupied her till long after midnight. Her face showed the effects of over-study.
"Tell me all about it," she said, with voice subdued to the note of intimacy, and look in which there shone an indulgent kindliness.
"You have often said that you wished me well, that you desired to help me in my career."
"Have I not done more than say it?" returned the other, softly.
"Indeed you have! Few women would have been capable of such self-sacrifice on a friend's behalf. You know the law of human nature; we always make old kindness a reason for demanding new. Again I am come to ask your help, and again it involves heroism on your part."
The listener's face grew troubled; her lips lost their suavity. Lashmar's eyes fell before her look.
"I feel ashamed," he went on, with an uneasy movement of his hands. "It's too bad to expect so much of you. You have more pride than most people, yet I behave to you as if you didn't know the meaning of the word. Do, I beg, believe me when I say that I am downright ashamed, and that I hardly know how to tell you what has happened."
Constance did not open her lips; they were sternly compressed.
"I want you," Dyce continued, "first of all to consent to the termination of our formal engagement. Of course," he hastened to add, "that step in itself is nothing to you. Indeed, you will be rather glad of it than otherwise; it relieves you from an annoying and embarrassing situation, which only your great good-nature induced you to accept. But I ask more than that. I want it to be understood that our engagement had ended when I last left Rivenoak. Can you consent to this? Will you bear me out when I break the news to Lady Ogram?"
"You propose to do that yourself?" asked Constance, with frigid sarcasm.
"Yes, I shall do it myself. I am alone responsible for what has happened, and I must face the consequences."
"Up to a certain point, you mean," remarked the same pungent voice.
"It's true, I ask your help in that one particular."
"You say that something has happened. Is it within my privilege to ask what, or must I be content to know nothing more?"
"Constance, don't speak like that!" pleaded Dyce. "Be generous to the end! Haven't I behaved very frankly all along? Haven't we talked with perfect openness of all I did? Don't spoil it all, now at the critical moment of my career. Be yourself, generous and large-minded!"
"Give me the opportunity," she answered, with an acid smile. "Tell what you have to tell."
"But this is not like yourself," he remonstrated. "It's a new spirit. I have never known you like this."
Constance moved her foot, and spoke sharply.
"Say what you have to say, and never mind anything else."
Lashmar bent his brows.
"After all, Constance, I am a perfectly free man. If you are annoyed because I wish to put an end to what you yourself recognise as a mere pretence, it's very unreasonable, and quite unworthy of you."
"You are right," answered the other, with sudden change to ostentatious indifference. "It's time the farce stopped. I, for one, have had enough of it. If you like, I will tell Lady Ogram myself, this morning."
"No!" exclaimed Dyce, with decision. "That I certainly donotwish. Are you resolved, all at once, to do me as much harm as you can?"
"Not at all, I thought I should relieve you of a disagreeable business."
"If you really mean that, I am very grateful. I wanted to tell you everything, and talk it over, and see what you thought best to be done. But of course I shouldn't dream of forcing my confidence upon you. It's a delicate matter and only because we were such intimate friends."—
"If you will have done with all this preamble," Constance interrupted, with forced calm, "and tell me what there is to be told, I am quite willing to listen."
"Well, I will do so. It's this. I am in love with May Tomalin, and I want to marry her."
Their eyes met, Dyce was smiling, an uneasy, abashed smile. Constance wore an expression of cold curiosity, and spoke in a corresponding voice.
"Have you asked her to do so?"
"Not yet," Lashmar replied.
For a moment, Constance gazed at him; then she said, quietly:
"I don't believe you."
"That's rather emphatic," cried Dyce, affecting a laugh.
"It conveys my meaning. I don't believe you, for several reasons. One of them is—" She broke off, and rose from her chair. "Please wait; I will be back in a moment."
Lashmar sat looking about the room. He began to be aware that he had not breakfasted,—a physical uneasiness added to the various forms of disquiet from which his mind was suffering. When Constance re-entered, he saw she had a book in her hand, a book which by its outward appearance he at once recognised.
"Do you know this?" she asked, holding the volume to him. "I received it yesterday, and have already gone through most of it. I find it very interesting."
"Ah, I know it quite well," Dyce answered, fingering the pages. "A most suggestive book. But—what has it to do with our present conversation?"
Constance viewed him wonderingly. If he felt at all disconcerted, nothing of the kind appeared in his face, which wore, indeed, a look of genuine puzzlement.
"Have you so poor an opinion of my intelligence?" she asked, with subdued anger. "Do you suppose me incapable of perceiving that all the political and social views you have been living upon were taken directly from this book? I admire your audacity. Few educated men, nowadays, would have ventured on so bold a—we call it plagiarism."
Dyce stared at her.
"You are very severe," he exclaimed, on the note of deprecation. "Views I have been 'living upon?' It's quite possible that now and then something I had read there chanced to come into my talk; but who gives chapter and verse for every conversational allusion? You astound me. I see that, so far from wishing me well, you have somehow come to regard me with positive ill-feeling. How has it come about, Constance?"
"You dare to talk to me in this way!" cried Constance, passionately. "You dare to treat me as an imbecile! This is going too far! If you had shown ever so little shame I would have thrown the book aside, and never again have spoken of it. But to insult me by supposing that force of impudence can overcome the testimony of my own reason! Very well. The question shall be decided by others. All who have heard you expatiate on your—your'bio-sociological' theory shall be made acquainted with this French writer, and form their own opinion as to your originality."
Lashmar drew himself up.
"By all means." His voice was perfectly controlled. "I have my doubts whether you will persuade anyone to read it—people don't take very eagerly to philosophical works in a foreign language—and I think it very unlikely that anyone but yourself has troubled to keep in mind the theories and arguments which you are so kind as to say I stole. What's more, will it be very dignified behaviour to go about proclaiming that you have quarrelled with me, and that you are bent on giving me a bad character? Isn't it likely to cause a smile?"
As she listened, Constance shook with passion.
"Are you so utterly base," she cried, "as to stand there and deny the truth of what I say?"
"I never argue with anyone in a rage. Why such a thing as this—a purely intellectual matter—a question for quiet reasoning—should infuriate you, I am at a loss to understand. We had better talk no more for the present. I must hope for another opportunity."
He moved as though to withdraw, but by no means with the intention of doing so, for he durst not have left Constance in this mood of violent hostility. Her outbreak had astonished him; he knew not of what she might be capable. There flashed through his mind the easy assurance he had given to May—that Constance Bride should be persuaded to friendly offices on their behalf, and he had much ado to disguise his consternation. For a moment he thought of flattering her pride by unconditional surrender, by submissive appeal, but to that he could not bring himself. Her discovery, her contempt and menaces, had deeply offended him; the indeterminate and shifting sentiments with which he had regarded her crystallised into dislike—that hard dislike which commonly results, whether in man or woman, from trifling with sacred relations. That Constance had been—perhaps still was tenderly disposed to him, served merely to heighten his repugnance. To stand in fear of this woman was a more humiliating and exasperating sensation than he had ever known.
"Do as you think fit," he added in a stern voice, pausing at a little distance. "It is indifferent to me. In any case, Lady Ogram will soon know how things stand, and the result must be what it will. I have chosen my course."
Constance was regarding him steadily. Her wrath had ceased to flare, but it glowed through her countenance.
"You mean," she said, "that just at the critical moment of your career you are bent on doing the rashest thing you possibly could? And you ask me to believe that you are acting in this way before you even know whether you have a chance of gaining anything by it?"
"It had occurred to me," Lashmar replied, "that, when you understood the state of things, you might be willing to exert yourself to help me. But that was before I learnt that you regarded me with contempt, if not with hatred. How the change has come about in you, I am unable to understand. I have behaved to you with perfect frankness—"
"When, for instance, you wished me to admire you as a sociologist?"
"It's incredible," cried Dyce, "that you should harp on that paltry matter! Who, in our time, is an original thinker? Ideas are in the air. Every man uses his mind—if he has any—on any suggestion which recommends itself to him. If it were worth while, I could point out most important differences between the bio-sociological theory as matured by me and its crude presentment in that book you have got hold of.—By the bye, how did it come into your hands?"
After an instant's reflection, Constance told him of Mrs. Toplady's letter and the American magazine.
"And," he asked, "does Mrs. Toplady regard me as a contemptible plagiarist?"
"It is probable that she has formed conclusions."
Lashmar's eyes fell. He saw that Constance was watching him. In the turmoil of his feelings all he could do was to jerk out an impatient laugh.
"It's no use," he exclaimed. "You and I have come to a deadlock. We no longer understand each other. I thought you were the kind of woman whom a man can treat as his equal, without fear of ridiculous misconceptions and hysterical scenes. One more disillusion!"
"Don't you think?" asked Constance, with a bitter smile, "that you are preparing a good many others for yourself?"
"Of course I know what you mean. There are certain things it wouldn't be easy to discuss with you at any time; you can't expect me to speak of them at present. Suppose it an illusion. I came to you, in all honesty, to tell you what had happened. I thought of you as my friend, as one who cared about my happiness."
"Why this morning?"
"For the reason I began by explaining. I have to come here to lunch."
"Would it surprise you, when you do come, to be met with the news that Lord Dymchurch has proposed to Miss Tomalin and been accepted?"
"Indeed," Dyce answered, smiling, "it would surprise me very much."
"Which is as much as to say that I was right, just now, in refusing to believe you. Do you know," Constance added, with fresh acerbity, "that you cut a very poor figure? As a diplomatist, you will not go very far. As an ordinary politician, I doubt whether you can make your way with such inadequate substitutes for common honesty. Perhaps youdorepresent the coming man. In that case, we must look anxiously for the coming woman, to keep the world from collapse.—Be so good, now, as to answer a plain question. You will do so, simply because you know that I have but to speak half-a-dozen words to Lady Ogram, and you would be spared the trouble of coming here to lunch. What is your scheme? If I had been so pliant as you expected, what would you have asked of me?"
"Merely to use your influence with Lady Ogram when she is vexed by learning that May Tomalin is not to marry Dymchurch. What could be simpler and more straightforward? Scheme there is none. I have done with that kind of thing. I wish to marry this girl, for her own sake, but if I can keep Lady Ogram's good-will at the same time, I suppose there's nothing very base in wishing to do so?"
"You speak of 'vexation.' Do you really imagine that that word will describe Lady Ogram's state of mind if she learns that Lord Dymchurch is rejected?"
"Of course there will be a scene. We can't help that. We must face it, and hope in Lady Ogram's commonsense."
"Answer another question. How do youknowthat May Tomalin will refuse Lord Dymchurch?"
"I had better refuse to answer. You talk much of honour. If you know what it means, you will accept my refusal as the only thing possible under the circumstances."
Constance stood in hesitation. It seemed as if she might concede this point, but at the critical moment jealous wrath again seized her, extinguishing the better motive.
"You will answer my question. You will tell me what has passed."
She glared at him, and it was Lashmar's turn to betray indecision.
"You are at my mercy," Constance exclaimed, "and you will do as I bid you."
Lashmar yielded to exasperation.
"I have enough of this," he cried angrily. "Go and do as you please! Take your silly feminine revenge, and much good may it do you! I have no more time to waste."
He caught up his hat, and left the room.
Passing the foot of the staircase, he saw someone descending. It was May. Involuntarily he stopped; the girl's gesture of alarm, bidding him be off, was disregarded. He waved to her, and she joined him.
"I've seen them both. It's all right. Keep up your courage!"
"Go! Go!" whispered May in fright. "Someone will see us."
"At lunch!"
He pressed her hand, smiled like a general in the thick of battle, and hurried away. Scarcely had he vanished through the portal, when Constance, issuing from the library, encountered Miss Tomalin. May uttered an unnaturally suave "good-morning!" The other looked her in the eye, and said in a voice of satisfaction:
"Mr. Lashmar has just been here. Didn't you see him?"
"Mr. Lashmar?—No."
Gazing full at the confused face, Constance smiled, and passed on.
At the door of the breakfast-room, Miss Bride was approached by Lady Ogram's maid, who in an undertone informed her that Dr. Baldwin had been sent for. Lady Ogram had passed a very bad night, but did not wish it to be made known to her guests, whom she hoped to meet at luncheon. Of the possibility of this, the maid declared herself very doubtful; she did not think the doctor would allow her mistress to get up.
"Let me know when the doctor is leaving," said Constance. "I should like to see him."
Sir William and his wife breakfasted with the two young ladies. Lord Dymchurch did not appear. When the others had left the room, Constance asked a servant if his lordship was down yet, and learnt that he had this morning gone away, leaving a note for Lady Ogram. At the same moment, word was brought to Miss Bride that Dr. Baldwin waited in the library. Constance replied that she would see him. Then, turning to the other attendant, she asked whether Lord Dymchurch's note had been delivered to Lady Ogram. It lay, she learnt, with the rest of the morning's letters, which the maid had not yet taken up. Thereupon Constance sought and found it, and carried it with her as she entered the library.
"How do you find your patient, doctor?" she inquired, in her usual tone.
"Quite unfit to get up to-day, though I fear she is determined to do so," replied Dr. Baldwin. "Wonderful, the influence of her mind upon her physical state. I found her alarmingly weak, but, as usual, she insisted on hearing the news of the town, and something I was able to tell her acted with more restorative force than any drug in the pharmacopaeia."
"What was that?"
"Mr. Robb's will. I hear on good authority that he leaves not a penny to our hospital. Lady Ogram was delighted. It makes the field clear for her. She declares that she will buy the site on Burgess Hill immediately. The will is dated fifteen years ago, they say; no doubt he meant to make another."
"That, I am sure, was a cordial," exclaimed Constance. "Impossible for Mr. Robb to have done Lady Ogram a greater kindness."
After a few more inquiries concerning the patient, she let the doctor take his leave. Then she stood looking at the outside of Lord Dymchurch's letter, and wondering what might be its contents. Beyond a doubt, they were of an explosive nature. Whatever his excuse, Lord Dymchurch's abrupt departure would enrage Lady Ogram. Had he been refused by May? Or had something come to pass which made it impossible for him to offer marriage something connected with Lashmar's early visit this morning? That he had intended a proposal, Constance could not doubt. Meanwhile, she felt glad of the outbreak in prospect; her mood desired tumultuous circumstances. What part she herself would play in to-day's drama, she had not yet decided; that must largely depend upon events. Her future was involved in the conflict of passions and designs which would soon be at its height. How much it would have helped her could she have read through the envelope now in her hand!
There came a knock to the door. Lady Ogram wished to speak with Miss Bride.
It was the rarest thing for the secretary to be summoned to her ladyship's bedroom. In the ante-chamber, the maid encountered her.
"My lady means to get up," whispered this discreet attendant. "She thinks herself very much better, but I am sure she is very ill indeed. I know the signs. The doctor forbade her to move, but I durstn't oppose her."
"Does she know that Lord Dymchurch has gone?" asked Constance.
"No, miss. I thought it better to say nothing just yet. Everything excites her so."
"You were very wise. Keep silence about it until Lady Ogram leaves her room."
"My lady has just asked for her letters, miss."
"Bring up those that have come by post. I will deliver the other myself."
Constance entered the bedroom. With cheeks already touched into ghastly semblance of warm life, with her surprising hair provisionally rolled into a diadem, the old autocrat lay against upright pillows. At sight of Constance, she raised her skeleton hand, and uttered a croak of triumph.
"Do you know the news?" followed in scarce articulate utterance. "Robb's will! Nothing to the hospital—not a penny for town charities."
Constance affected equal rejoicing, for she knew how the singular old philanthropist had loathed the thought that Hollingford's new hospital might bear Robb's name instead of her own.
"But I beg you not to excite yourself," she added. "Try to think quietly—"
"Mind your own business!" broke in the thick voice, whilst the dark eyes flashed with exultation. "I want to know about Lord Dymchurch. What are the plans for this morning?"
"I don't think they are settled yet. It's still early."
"How is May?"
"Quite well, I think."
"I shall be down at mid-day, if not before. Tell Lord Dymchurch that."
The morning's correspondence was brought in. Lady Ogram glanced over her letters, and bade Constance reply to two or three of them. She gave, also, many instructions as to matters which had been occupying her lately; her mind was abnormally active and lucid; at times her speech became so rapid that it was unintelligible.
"Now go and get to work," she said at length, coming to an abrupt close. "You've enough to occupy you all the morning."
Constance had paid little attention to these commands, and, on returning to the library, she made no haste to begin upon her secretarial duties. For more than an hour she sat brooding. Only as a relief to her thoughts did she at length begin to write letters. It was shortly before mid-day when again there came a summons from Lady Ogram; obeying it, Constance took Lord Dymchurch's letter in her hand.
Lady Ogram had risen. She was in the little drawing-room upstairs, reclining upon a sofa; the effort of walking thus far had exhausted her.
"I hear that Mr. Lashmar has called this morning," she began, half raising herself, but at once sinking back again. "What did he come about? Can't he come to lunch?"
"Yes, he will be here at one o'clock," Constance replied.
"Then why did he come? It was before nine. What had he to say?"
"He wanted to speak to me in private."
"Oh, I suppose that's privileged," returned the autocrat, smiling. "What have you got there? Something just come?"
"It's a note for you from Lord Dymchurch."
"From Lord Dymchurch? Give it me at once, then. Where is he? Why couldn't he wait till I came down?"
She tore the envelope with weak trembling hands. Constance watched her as she read. Of a sudden, the shrunk, feeble figure sprang upright, and stood as though supported by the vigorous muscles of youth.
"Do you know what this contains?" sounded a clear, hard voice, strangely unlike that which had just been speaking.
"I have no idea."
"But you knew that he had left?"
"Yes, I knew. I kept it from you till now, because I feared you were not well enough to bear the agitation."
"And who," cried the other fiercely, "gave you authority to detain letters addressed to me? What have you to do with my health? When did Lord Dymchurch leave?"
"Whilst we were at breakfast," Constance answered, with a great effort at self-command. "He saw nobody."
"Then you lied to me when you came up before?"
"I think, Lady Ogram," said Constance, standing rigid and with white face, "you might give me credit for good intentions. It was nothing to me whether you heard this news then or later; but I knew that you had passed a sleepless night, and that the doctor had been sent for."
"You knew—you knew!" cried the listener, with savage scorn. "Did you know why Lord Dymchurch had gone?"
"I took it for granted that—it had something to do with Miss Tomalin."
"Answer me in plain words, without a lie, and without shiftiness. Do you know that Lord Dymchurch has proposed to May, and been refused?"
"I did not know it."
"You suspected as much."
"I thought it possible. But the business was none of mine, and I gave very little heed to it."
Lady Ogram had begun to totter. She let herself sink upon the sofa, and re-read the letter that shook in her hand.
"He says he has a sister ill. Did you hear anything of that?"
"Nothing at all."
The autocrat stared for a moment, as though trying to read Constance's thoughts; then she waved her hand.
"Go back to your work. Stay in the library till you hear from me again."
Constance quivered with the impulse to make indignant reply, but prudence prevailed. She bent her head to conceal wrathful features, and in silence went from the room.
Five minutes later, May Tomalin entered by the awful door. She knew what was before her, and had braced her nerves, but at the first sight of Lady Ogram a sinking heart drew all the blood from her checks. Encountering the bloodshot glare from those fleshless eye-caverns, she began to babble a "Good-morning, aunt!" But the words failed, and her frightened simper, meant for a smile, passed into mere blankness of visage.
"Come here, May. Is it true that you have refused Lord Dymchurch?"
The voice was less terrifying than her aunt's countenance had led her to expect. She was able to recover her wits sufficiently to make the reply she had spent all the morning in preparing.
"Refused him? I didn't mean that. He must have misunderstood me."
"Whatdidyou mean, then?"
"I hardly knew what Lord Dymchurch meant," answered May, trying to look playfully modest.
"Let us have no nonsense," sounded in stern accents. "Lord Dymchurch writes me a letter, saying distinctly that he has proposed to you, and that you have refused him, and then he goes off without a word to anyone. Did you know he was leaving this morning?"
"Certainly not," answered the girl, with a bold plunge into mendacity. "I expected to see him at breakfast. Then I was told he was gone. I don't understand it at all."
From the moment of entering the room, she had put away all thought of truthfulness. This, plainly, was no time for it. As soon as possible, she would let Dyce Lashmar know that they must feign and temporise: the policy of courage looked all very well from a distance, but was quite another thing in the presence of the mistress of Rivenoak enraged. Lashmar must caution Constance, who seemingly (much to May's surprise) had submitted to his dictation at this juncture. For a time, nothing could be done beyond cloaking what had really happened, and soothing Lady Ogram's wrath with apparent submission.
"When did you see him last?" pursued the questioner.
"This morning, before breakfast, for a few minutes in the garden."
Better to be veracious so far, thought May. She might otherwise fall into self-contradiction.
"Was it an appointment?"
"No. By chance. I never thought of meeting him."
"And what did he say to you? Tell me his words."
"I couldn't possibly recall them," said May, who had seated herself, and was becoming all but calm. "Lord Dymchurch has a very vague way of talking. He rambles from one subject to another."
"But didn't he say anything at all about marriage?" cried Lady Ogram, in exasperation.
"He spoke of his position and his prospects. Perhaps he hoped I should understand—but it was all so vague."
"Why, then, the man is a scoundrel! He never proposed to you at all, and he runs away leaving a lying letter behind him. Yet I should never have thought that of Lord Dymchurch."
She fixed her eyes on May, and added fiercely:
"Are you telling me the truth?"
The girl bridled, staring straight before her with indignant evasiveness of look.
"My dear aunt! How can you ask me such a question? Of course I may have misunderstood Lord Dymchurch, but, if it hadn't been for what you have once or twice said to me, I really shouldn't ever have supposed that he meant anything. He talks in such a rambling way—"
She grew voluble. Lady Ogram listened awhile, then cut her short.
"Very well. There has been some queer sort of mistake, that's plain. I should like to know what Lord Dymchurch means. Why couldn't he see me, like an honest man? It's very extraordinary, this running away before breakfast, saying good-bye to nobody."
She mused stormily, her eye ever and again turning upon the girl.
"Look here, May; do you think Constance knows anything about it?"
"I really can't say—I don't see how—"
"It was she that brought me his letter. Do you think he spoke to her?"
"About me?" exclaimed May, uneasily. "Oh! I don't think so—I never noticed that they were friendly."
"Ring the bell."
Constance Bride was sent for. Some moments passed; Lady Ogram stamped impatiently. She ordered May to ring again, and demanded why Miss Bride kept her waiting. Considerably more than five minutes had elapsed before the figure of the secretary appeared: her face wore an expression of proud indifference, and at the sight of May's subdued, timid air, she smiled coldly.
"Why have you been so long?" cried Lady Ogram.
"I came as soon as I could," was the clear reply.
"Now listen to me, Constance," broke vehemently from the bloodless lips. "I'll have no nonsense! You understand that? I'll not be played with. Deceive me, or treat me in any way unbecomingly, and you shall remember it the longest day you live. I want to know whether Lord Dymchurch said anything to you to explain his sudden departure?"
"To me? Certainly not."
"Now mind! I'll get at the truth of this. You know me! May says that Lord Dymchurch never proposed to her at all. What do you make of that?"
Constance glanced at Miss Tomalin, whose eyes fell. Again she smiled.
"It's very strange," she answered, with a certain air of sympathy. "That's really all I can say. It's impossible to have any opinion about such a personal matter, which doesn't in the least concern me."
"Please remember, aunt," put in May, "that I only said I didn'tunderstandLord Dymchurch in that sense."
"Are you a fool, girl!" screeched the autocrat, violently. "I never thought you so, and if he had said anything that was meant for an offer of marriage, you would have understood it quickly enough. Either you're telling me the truth, or you're lying. Either he proposed to you, or he didn't."
May caught the look of Constance turned upon her; it suggested amusement, and this touched her feelings far more deeply than the old lady's strong language.
"I am obliged to remind you, aunt," she said, her cheek flushing, "that I have no experience of—of this kind of thing. If I made a mistake, I think it's excusable. I see that Miss Bride thinks it funny, but she has the advantage of me in age, and in—in several other ways."
Even whilst speaking, May knew that she committed an imprudence; she remembered all that depended upon Constance's disposition towards her. And indeed, she could not have spoken more unwisely. In the inflamed state of Constance's pride, a feminine slap such as this sent such a tingling along her nerves that she quivered visibly. It flashed into her mind that Dyce Lashmar had all but certainly talked of her to May—with significant look and tone, whatever his words. How much had he told her? Lady Ogram's voice was again heard.
"Well, that's true. You're only a child, and perhaps you said something which sounded as you didn't mean it."
Constance was gazing at the speaker. Her lips moved, as if in a nervously ineffectual effort to say something.
"Miss Bride can go back to her work again," said Lady Ogram, as if dismissing a servant.
May smiled, openly and disdainfully. She could not resist the pleasure of showing her superiority. The smile had not died away, when Constance spoke.
"I will ask your permission to stay for a few minutes longer, Lady Ogram. As Miss Tomalin has so satisfactorily explained her part in this unfortunate affair, I think I had better use this opportunity for making known to you something which concerns her, and which, I am sure, will interest you very much. It won't take me long—if you feel able to listen."
"What is it?" asked the autocrat, sharply.
"You are aware that Mr. Lashmar called very early this morning. He came, as I said, on private business. He had something of importance to tell me, and he asked my help in a great difficulty."
"Something about the election?"
"It had nothing whatever to do with that. I'll put it in the fewest possible words, not to waste your time and my own. Mr. Lashmar began by saying that if I didn't mind, he would be glad to be released from his engagement to me."
"What!"
"Pray don't let there be any misunderstanding—this time," said Constance, whose grave irony was perhaps somewhat too fine for the intelligence of either of her hearers. "Mr. Lashmar behaved like a man of honour, and I quite approve of the way in which he expressed himself. His words would have been perfectly intelligible—even to Miss Tomalin. Admitting his right to withdraw from the engagement if he had conscientious objections to it, I ventured to ask Mr. Lashmar whether there was any particular reason for his wish to be released. He paid me the compliment of perfect frankness. His reason was, that he wished to marry someone else."
"And who is that?" came hoarsely from Lady Ogram.
"Miss Tomalin."
May had lost her natural colour. She could not take her eyes from the speaker; her lips were parted, her forehead was wrinkled into a strange expression of frightened animosity. Until the utterance of her name, she had hoped against hope that Constance did not intend the worst. For the first time in her life, she felt herself struck without pity, and the mere fact of such stern enmity affected her with no less surprise than dread. She would have continued staring at Constance, had not an alarming sound, a sort of moaning snarl, such as might proceed from some suddenly wounded beast, caused her to turn towards her aunt. The inarticulate sound was followed by words painfully forced out.
"Go on—what else?—go on, I tell you!"
The speaker's breath came with difficulty. She was bent forward, her eyes starting, her scraggy throat working as if in anguish. Constance had stepped nearer to her.
"Are you ill, Lady Ogram? Shall I call for help?"
"Go on! Goon, I tell you!" was the hoarse reply. "I hadn't thought of that. I see, now. What next did he say?"
"Mr. Lashmar," pursued Constance, in a voice somewhat less under control, "did me the honour to say that he felt sure I had only his interests and his happiness at heart. He knew that there might be considerable difficulties in his way, even after it had been made known that he was free to turn his attention to Miss Tomalin, and he was so good as to request my assistance. It had occurred to him that I might be able to present his case in a favourable light to you, Lady Ogram. Naturally, I was anxious to do my best. Perhaps this is hardly the moment to pursue the subject. Enough for the present to have made known Mr. Lashmar's state of mind."
Lady Ogram seemed to have overcome her physical anguish. She sat upright once more, and, looking at May, asked in a voice only just above a whisper:
"What have you to say to this?"
"What can I say," exclaimed the girl, with high-voiced vehemence. "I know nothing about it. Of course it's easy enough to believe that Mr. Lashmar wants to get out of his engagement to Miss Bride." She laughed scornfully. "He—"
She stopped, checking in her throat words which she suddenly remembered would be fatal to the attitude she had assumed.
"Go on!" cried Lady Ogram. "He—what?"
"I was only going to say that Mr. Lashmar might easily have thought that he had made a mistake. Well, that's my opinion; if it isn't pleasant to Miss Bride, I can't help it. I tell the truth, that's all."
"And that I will have!" said her aunt, with new self-command. "The very last word of it, mind you! Constance, why are you standing all this time? Sit down here, on this chair. Now I want you to repeat what you have told me. First of all, at what o'clock did this happen?"
"At about half-past eight this morning."
Had it been possible, Constance would have rolled oblivion over all she had spoken. Already she found her vengeance a poor, savourless thing; she felt that it belittled her. The fire of her wrath burnt low, and seemed like to smoulder out under self-contempt. She spoke in a dull, mechanical voice, and gazed at vacancy.
"May," Lady Ogram resumed, "when did you get up this morning?
"At about—oh, about half-past seven, I think."
"Did you go out before breakfast?"
"I have told you that I did, aunt. I saw Lord Dymchurch in the garden."
"I remember," said her aunt, with a lowering, suspicious look. "And you saw Mr. Lashmar as he was coming to the house?"
"No. I didn't see him at all."
"How was that? If you were in the garden?"
May glibly explained that her encounter with Lord Dymchurch took place not before, but behind, the house. She had a spot of red on each cheek; her ears were scarlet; she sat with clenched hands, and stared at the lower part of her aunt's face.
"Constance," pursued the questioner, whose eyes had become small and keen as her utterance grew more sober, "tell it me all over again. It's worth hearing twice. He began—?"
The other obeyed, reciting her story in a curt, lifeless way, so that it sounded less significant than before.
"And you promised to help him?" asked Lady Ogram, who repeatedly glanced at May.
"No, I didn't. I lost my temper, and said I don't know what foolish things."
This was self-punishment, but it, too, sounded idle in her ears as soon as she had spoken.
"But you consented to release him?"
"Of course."
"Now, look at me. Have you told me all he said?"
"All."
"Look at me! If I find that you are keeping any secret—! I shall know everything, you understand that. I won't sleep till I know everything that has been going on. Deceive me, if you dare!"
"I am not deceiving you," answered Constance, wearily. "You have heard all I know."
"Now, then, for what you suspect," said Lady Ogram, leaning towards her. "Turn your mind inside out. Tell me what youthink!"
"That is soon done. I suspect—indeed, I believe that Mr. Lashmar's behaviour is that of a man with an over-excited mind. He thinks everything is within his reach, and everything permitted to him. I believe he spoke to me quite honestly, thinking I might somehow plead his cause with you."
"That isn't what I want. Do you suspect that he had any hopes to go upon?"
"I care so little about it," answered Constance, "that I can't form any conjecture. All I can say is, that such a man would be quite capable of great illusions—of believing anything that flattered his vanity."
Lady Ogram was dissatisfied. She kept a brief silence, with her eyes on May's countenance.
"Ring the bell," were her next words.
Constance rose and obeyed. A servant entered.
"When Mr. Lashmar arrives," said Lady Ogram, "you will bring him at once to me here."
"Mr. Lashmar has just arrived, my lady."