The White Virgin Part 31

"But--but, my dear Reed, you must be a millionaire!"

"I suppose so," said Clive quietly.

"Then it will be impossible. My poor child could not marry so wealthy a man."

"Then I must make myself poor," said Clive. "Bah! what has money to do with it? Major Gurdon, I came down here to find rest and peace; let me find happiness as well, and that the world is not all base."

"I hardly dare give consent," faltered the Major. "You are the first, sir, who has ever approached her in this way, and I could not help seeing how day by day she has brightened and seemed to grow more restful and content. It has been as if she felt that with you near she could be at rest, that you were at hand to protect her, and that the poor old father was growing to be n.o.body now. Ah! Reed, she has ceased to care for me as she used."

"Father!"

"You there, Dinah? You heard what we said?"

"I heard you tell Mr Reed something that you cannot mean."

"You heard no more?"

"No, dear; but why?"

She stopped short, with the colour flus.h.i.+ng to her cheeks, and her heart beating heavily, for Clive gently took her hand. His voice was very low, and there, in the soft darkness of the autumnal evening, he said earnestly--

"Miss Gurdon--Dinah--I have dared to tell your father that I love you with all my heart, and begged him to let me speak to you. Not as a dramatic lover, but as an earnest man, who would have but one thought, dear, if you gave him the right, to make your life peaceful and happy to the end. Dinah--my own love--can you give me that right?"

Her hand struggled in its prison for a moment, and then lay trembling there, as if too firmly held by the strong fingers which formed its cage.

"I--I fear--I ought not--I--"

She faltered these words painfully; and then, with an hysterical cry, she nestled to him.

"Yes, yes," she cried; "take me, and protect me, Clive. I do love you, and will love you to the end."

"My darling!" he whispered, as he clasped her pa.s.sionately to his heart, just as the dog burst out into a furious volley of growls and barks, mingled with sounds as if he were struggling hard to tear away his chain.

Dinah nestled to him more closely, and the start she had given at the dog's barking gave place to a feeling of safety in those two strong arms.

"Are you content, sir?" said Clive, turning at last, as he drew Dinah's arm through his with a sense of possession which made his heart beat against it heavily.

But there was no reply, for the Major had gone off to see what had alarmed the dog.

"Nothing that I can see," he said, upon his return. "Why, of course!

Clever dog! He scented a thief."

"A thief?"

"Yes, my dear, a scoundrel come to try and steal away my darling girl."

"Ah!"

A low sigh and a s.h.i.+ver of horror, as Dinah shrank away to flee into the house; but as she felt Clive's arm tighten about her, she clung to him once more.

"Why, you silly child, don't you understand a joke?" cried the Major.

"I mean this fellow who is holding you fast; and you not shrinking in the least. But there! it is a time to be serious now. G.o.d bless you, Clive Reed! You have solved one difficulty in a declining life. I have often said to myself, `What is to become of my darling when I go?' Now I know, and can go in peace."

Two hours later, with the kisses of love moist upon his lips, Clive Reed started for his lonely walk back over the mountain-side.

End of Volume One.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

ALARM NOTES.

Dinah Gurdon sat near the shaded lamp with her eyes directed toward the open window, and her face transformed by the thoughts within her breast.

For the love-light burned brilliantly in those softened eyes, and the happy, satisfied look of one restful and content was there.

The Major sat back watching her, with his brow wrinkled and perplexed by his troubled thoughts as the clouds floated by, now shadowing the suns.h.i.+ne of his life, now making it look the brighter as they pa.s.sed away and left it clear.

For there were thoughts within that were quite new. Naturally he had felt that the time would some day come when a man would step between them and take away his child's love; but this had seemed to be something belonging to the future, and when the new manager of the mine crossed his path, and the friendly feeling had increased, he, the father, had gone on blindly, never thinking of the possible result, or, at most, giving the idea but a pa.s.sing thought as something too absurd to retain.

And now the true facts of the case had come upon him like a thunder-clap, and he sat thinking over the events of the evening and watching his child. Now he was happy, rejoicing and satisfied that her choice should have fallen upon so frank and manly a fellow; now his selfish feelings were aroused and mingled with a kind of petty jealousy that made him sigh with discontent, and then task himself mentally in his annoyance that he could be so unfair.

He spoke at last, after waiting to see whether Dinah would awaken from her pleasant dream to the present, and it was in a teasing, half-malicious strain that he said--

"I hope that fellow will not go making short cuts to-night, and break his neck down one of the old shafts.--Dinah, my own darling! Don't, pray, look like that," he cried, as he sprang from his seat and caught her in his arms. For she had started up with her hands to her heart, pale as death, her eyes wild and strange, and her lips apart and blanched.

"There, there!" he whispered, as he held her to his breast. "I was only teasing you. It was all nonsense. No, no; don't sob like that. Why, my pet, you are weak still, and as nervous as can be. It was only a joke. He is too keen and clever to make a mistake."

She clung to him, fighting hard to suppress her hysterical sobs, till she grew calmer, but she clung to him still.

"Ah! that's better," he said tenderly, as he stroked her face and kissed her forehead. "That's right. It was very brutal of me, but I never thought you would take my idle words amiss."

He held her tightly to him, and felt the throbbing heart and heaving breast gradually calm down.

"Then you love him very dearly, Dinah?"

She raised her pale face, and looked full in his eyes, gazing at him in silence for a few minutes before she replied simply--

"Yes, father, I love him very dearly."

The Major drew a long breath as he nodded his head slowly.

"Yes," he said, "and it is a different love to that of a child for her father. It will not make any difference, dear? I know; you need not tell me. I shall not grow to be a lonely, desolate old man." Dinah's arms stole round his neck, and she laid her cheek to his.

"You know that, dear," she whispered. "How could it make any difference to us?"

"No; it can make no difference, my darling, save make me the happier.

But only to think of it. Which of us could have said a few months ago that our quiet life here would be changed as it has been, I turning into a greedy speculator and holder of mining shares, the most ephemeral of property, and you giving your treasure to this base intruder--no, no, I mean this prince in disguise, who came to the castle to ask for my hospitality. Ah! we can't see into the future."

"Why did you buy those shares, dear?" asked Dinah, as she rested her head upon his shoulder.

"Hang the shares! they are an excitement and worry. No, no, they are not. It's quite right. I'll tell you: I bought them because I wanted my darling to be independent and far above want when I go away on the long journey!"