Of High Descent Part 93

"Put that note in an envelope and direct it," he said in a slow, measured way, and mechanically, and as if for the time being his will was again stronger than hers, she obeyed him, dropped the letter on the table, and then stood gazing from it to her brother and back again.

"It's hard upon you," he said, with his hand to his head, as if he could think more clearly then, "hard upon the poor old dad. But it seems my only chance, Lou, my girl."

Father--brother--what should she do?

"I can feel it now," he said drearily. "There, I'm cool now. It's lying in that cold, wet cave, and the horrors I've gone through. I've got something coming on--had touches of it before--in the nights," he went on slowly and heavily; "p'r'aps it 'll kill me--better if it does."

"No, no, Harry. Stay and let me nurse you here. We could keep it a secret from every one, and--"

"Hold your tongue!" he said fiercely. "I might live--if I went away-- where I could feel--I was safe. I can't face the old man again. It would kill me. There, it's too much to ask you--what's that?"

Louise started to the door. Harry dashed to the window, and his manner was so wild and excited that she darted after him to draw him away.

"Nothing, dear, it is your fancy. There, listen, there is no one coming."

He looked at her doubtingly, and listened as she drew him from the window.

"I thought I heard them coming," he said. "Some one must have seen me crawl up here. Coming to take me--to gaol."

"No, no, dear. You are ill, and fancy all this. Now come and listen to me. It would be so wild, so cruel if I were to leave my home like this.

Harry! be reasonable, dear. Your alarm is magnified because you are ill. Let me--no, no, don't be angry with me--let me speak to my father--take him into our confidence, and he will help you."

"No," he said sternly.

"Let me make him happy by the knowledge that you are alive."

"And come upon him like a curse," said Harry, as there was a tap at the door, which neither heard in the excitement of the moment, for, eager to help him, and trembling lest he should, in the excited state he was, go alone, Louise threw herself upon her knees at her brother's feet.

"Be guided by me, dearest," she sobbed, in a low pained voice. "You know how I love you, how I would die if it were necessary to save you from suffering; but don't--pray don't ask me to go away from poor father in such a way as this."

As she spoke a burst of hysteric sobbing accompanied her words; and then, as she raised her tear-blinded eyes, she saw that which filled her with horror. Uttering a faint cry, she threw herself before her brother, as if to s.h.i.+eld him from arrest.

Duncan Leslie was standing in the open doorway, and at her action he took a stride fiercely into the room.

Harry's back was half turned toward him, but he caught a glimpse of the figure in the broad mirror of an old dressoir, and with one sweep of his arm dashed the light over upon the floor.

The heavy lamp fell with a crash of broken gla.s.s, and as Louise stood clinging to her brother, there was a dead silence as well as darkness in the room.

Volume 3, Chapter VI.

THE PLANT AUNT MARGUERITE GREW.

As Duncan Leslie walked up the steep path leading to the old granite house he could not help thinking of the absurdity of his act, and wondering whether Louise Vine and her father would see how much easier it would have been for him to call at Van Heldre's.

"Can't help it," he said. "The old man must think what he likes. Laugh at me in his sleeve? Well, let him. I shan't be the first man in love who has been laughed at."

"In love, man, in love! How stupid it sounds; and I suppose I am weak."

"Human nature!" he said after a pause; and he walked very fast.

Then he began to walk very slowly, as a feeling of hesitation came over him, and he asked himself whether the Vines would not feel his coming as an intrusion, and be annoyed.

"She can't be annoyed," he said half aloud. "She may think it unfortunate, but she knows I love her, and she is too true and sweet a woman to be hard upon me."

With the full intention of going boldly to the house, and trying to act in a frank, manly way, letting Louise see that he was going to be patient and earnest, he again strode on rapidly, but only to hesitate again and stop by one of the great ma.s.ses of rock which occurred here and there along the shelf-like slope cut from the side of the towering hill.

Here he rested his arms upon the s.h.a.ggy stone and stood gazing out to sea, the darkness looking wonderfully transparent and pure. From where he stood the harbour was at his feet, and he could see a spark-like light here and there in cottage or boat, and a dull glow from some open doorway on the opposite side of the estuary.

The red light at the end of the east pier sent a ruddy stain out to sea, and there was another light farther out just rocking gently to and fro, and as it caught his eye he shuddered, for it shone out softly, as did the light of the lugger on the night when Harry Vine took that terrible leap.

"Poor weak boy," said Leslie to himself. And then, "The more need for her to have one in whom she can confide; only I must be patient-- patient."

He turned with a sigh, and began to walk back, for in his indecision the feeling was in him strong now that a call would be an intrusion, and that he must be content to wait. By the time he was fifty yards down the path the desire to see Louise again was stronger than ever, and he walked back to the stone, leaned over it, and stood thinking. After a few minutes he turned sharply round and looked, for he heard a heavy step as of a man approaching, but directly after, as he remained quiescent, he just made out that it was not a man's step, but that of a st.u.r.dy fisherwoman, who seemed in the gloom to resemble Poll Perrow, but he could not be sure, and forgot the incident as soon as she pa.s.sed. By the time the steps had died out, Duncan Leslie's mind was fully made up; and, following the woman, he walked firmly up to the gateway, entered, and, reaching the hall door, which stood open, he rang. He waited for some time, listening to a low murmur of voices in the dining-room, and then rang again. There was no reply, consequent upon the fact that Liza was at the back gate, to which she had been summoned by her mother, who had come up in trouble, and was asking her questions whose bearing she could not understand.

Leslie's courage and patience began to fail, but he still waited, and then at last changed colour, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks, for there was a peculiarity in the conversation going on in the dining-room, and it seemed to him that some one was agitated and in pain.

He turned away so as to force himself not to hear, feeling that he was an interloper, and then, in spite of himself, he returned to find that the sounds had grown louder, and as if involuntarily agitated and troubled more than he would have cared to own, he rang again and then entered the hall.

He hesitated for a few moments, and then certain from the voices that there was something strange, and divining wrongly or rightly from the tones of one of the voices--a voice which thrilled him as he stood there trembling with excitement--that the woman he loved needed help, he threw aside all hesitation, and turned the handle of the door.

The words which fell upon his ear, the scene he saw of Louise kneeling at some strange, rough-looking man's feet, sent the blood surging up to his brain, rendering him incapable of calm thought, and turned the ordinarily patient, deliberative man into a being wrought almost to a pitch of madness.

It did not occur to him that he was an intruder, and that he had no right to make such a demand, but taking a stride forward, he exclaimed--

"Louise! who is this man?" as the lamp was swept from the table, and they were in darkness.

For a few moments no one spoke, and Louise stood clinging to her brother, trembling violently, and at her wits' end to know what to do.

The simple way out of the difficulty would have been to take Duncan Leslie into their confidence at once; but in her agitation, Louise shrank from that. She knew his stern integrity; she had often heard of his firmness with his mine people; and she feared that in his surprise and disgust at what seemed to her now little better than a trick played by her brother to deceive them, Leslie would turn against him and refuse to keep the secret.

On the other hand, Harry, suffering from a fresh access of dread, but now strung up and excited, placed his lips to her ear and bade her be silent on her life.

The silence was for a few moments terrible, and then Harry's breath could be heard coming and going as if he had been hunted, while Louise, in her agony of excitement, sought vainly for words that should put an end to the painful encounter.

No one moved; and in the midst of the nervous strain a sharp puff of wind came sweeping up from the sea, like the _avant garde_ of a storm, and the cas.e.m.e.nt window was blown to with a loud clang.

Harry started as if he had felt that his retreat was cut off, but he kept his face averted, and dragged his rough hat down over his eyes, though the action was unnecessary, for the darkness was too great for him to be recognised.

As he started Louise clung to him, and for the moment he struggled to escape from her, but he clung to her the next instant, and quivered with fear as the silence was broken by Leslie's voice, so cold, deep, and harsh that it seemed as if a stranger was speaking.

"I suppose I have no right to interfere," he said; "but there are times when a man forgets or puts aside etiquette, and there are reasons here why I should speak. Miss Vine, where is your father?"

Louise made an effort to reply, but there was only a spasmodic catching of her breath.

"Send him away. Tell him to go," whispered Harry.

"I said, where is your father, Miss Vine?" said Leslie again more coldly.

"At--at Mr Van Heldre's," she murmured at last. "Mr Leslie--pray--"