Prescott of Saskatchewan Part 51

"Yes," she said quietly, "come when you wish."

Then her sister, knowing that she was beaten, drew her firmly away.

They went out and Prescott sat down, feeling that he had done right and yet half ashamed of his reserve, for he had seen that Muriel had expected him to claim her and was ready to acknowledge him before her friends.

This, however, was when she was overstrung and under the influence of strong excitement; the sacrifice she did not shrink from making was a heavy one, and she must have an opportunity for considering it calmly. He was not long left undisturbed, for men flocked in, anxious for an account of the affair, but he put them off with evasive answers and, making his escape, hurried to the livery-stable where he hired a team.

The next afternoon he drove to Leslie's in a quietly exultant mood. His long fight was over; nature had beaten him, and he was glad to yield, though he had not done so under sudden stress of pa.s.sion. During his search for Jernyngham and afterward sitting by his stove on bitter nights, he had come to see that if the girl he desired loved him, no merely prudential reasons ought to separate them. He had feared to drag her down, to rob her of things she valued, but he now saw that she might, after all, hold them of little account. He was, for his station, a prosperous man; his wife need suffer no real deprivation; he had a firm belief in the future of his adopted country, and knew that in a little while all the amenities of civilized life could be enjoyed in it.

Wandle's trial would free him of suspicion; when he had stood facing Jernyngham, Muriel had revealed her love for him, and since it could not be doubted, he need not hesitate. It was her right to choose whether she would marry him. Only she must clearly realize all that this would imply.

He had expected some opposition from Mrs. Colston, but, when it was inevitable, she could gracefully bear defeat. Moreover, she had never agreed with Jernyngham's suspicions of Prescott, and in some respects he impressed her favorably. There was no reserve in her greeting when he reached the homestead.

"The less that is said about last night, the better, but I can't pa.s.s over it without expressing our grat.i.tude for the position you took," she said. "Harry has driven Jernyngham out in the sleigh--he has been in a curious limp state all morning--and Gertrude has not yet got over the shock."

"It must have been very trying for Miss Jernyngham."

"No doubt." There was not much pity in Mrs. Colston's voice, for she could guess how matters stood. "However, I am disengaged and I believe Muriel will be here directly."

Prescott followed her into a room and made an effort to talk to her until she rose and went out as Muriel entered. The girl, to his surprise, was dressed in furs, and he felt his heart beat when she looked at him with a shy smile.

"I have been expecting you," she said, giving him her hand.

"I wonder," he asked gravely, "whether you can guess why I have come?"

"Yes," she answered in a steady voice; "I think I can. But we'll go out, Jack."

He followed her, puzzled, but not questioning her wish, and they walked silently down the beaten trail that stretched away, a streak of grayish blue, across the glittering snow. Brilliant suns.h.i.+ne streamed down on them and the nipping air was wonderfully clear. When they pa.s.sed a birch bluff that hid them from the house; Prescott stopped.

"Muriel," he said, "I think you know that I love you."

There was a warm color in her face, but for a moment she met his eyes squarely.

"Yes; I knew it some time ago, though perhaps I should have shrunk from confessing that so frankly, if it hadn't been for last night. But why were you afraid of telling me, Jack?"

He read surrender in her face and yielding pose, and with a strange humility that tempered the wild thrill of delight he placed his arm about her. Then, as she crept closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder, every feeling was lost in a delirious sense of triumph. It was brief, for he remembered how he was handicapped, and he held her from him, looking gravely down at her.

"Dear, there is something to be said."

"Yes," she rejoined with tender mockery; "you either took a great deal for granted or there was one important thing you were willing to leave in doubt. Now take my hands and hold them fast. You know I have suffered something--fears and anxieties because of you--I want to feel safe."

He did as she bade him and she looked up.

"Now listen, Jack dear. All that I have to give, my love, my closest trust, is yours, and because you said I saved your life, that belongs to me. I think it's all that matters."

He was silent for a few moments, overwhelmed by a sense of his responsibility.

"Still," he urged, "you must understand what you are risking. I should have told you first."

Muriel released her hands, and her glance was grave.

"Yes; you had better continue, Jack. I suppose we must speak of these things now, and then forget them forever."

"You know what Jernyngham believed of me. I could not marry you with such a stain on my name; but it will be wiped off in a few more days, and this I owe to you. It was you who insisted that I should clear myself."

She started.

"Remember that I know nothing, except that you went away."

Prescott told her briefly what he had learned at Navarino and of Wandle's capture; and her deep satisfaction was obvious.

"I'm so glad!" she exclaimed. "This will make it easier for the others, though it doesn't affect me. If I had had any doubts, I couldn't have loved you. But I'm pleased you told me before you were really cleared. To have waited until everybody knew you were innocent would have looked as if you were afraid to test my faith in you."

"No," he said; "that couldn't be. I was afraid of your having to make too heavy a sacrifice; and, unfortunately, there's some risk of that still."

"Go on, Jack."

"I'm far from a rich man, though I never regretted it much until of late.

You know how we live here; I can guess what you have enjoyed at home.

Life's strenuous on the prairie, and though I think it's good, it makes demands on one you can't have felt in England. There's so much that you must give up, many things that you will miss. I am anxious when I think of it."

Muriel looked far across the plain which ran back; glistening in the sunlight, until it faded into cold blues and purples toward the skyline.

The gray bluffs, standing one behind the other, and the long straggling line of timber by a ravine marked its vast extent. It filled the girl with a sense of freedom; its wideness uplifted her.

"Jack," she said, "I wonder whether you can understand why I made you take me out? The prairie has drawn me from the beginning, and I felt it would be easier to make a great change in this wonderful open s.p.a.ce; I wanted to adopt the country, to feel it belonged to me. Now that I've made my choice, my home is where you are; I want nothing but to be loved and cared for, as you must care for me."

Prescott drew her toward him, but there was more of respect than pa.s.sion in his caress.

"My dear," he said gravely, "I feel very humble as well as thankful. It's a great thing I've undertaken, to make you happy; and I think you'll try to forgive me if I sometimes fail."

Muriel laughed and shook herself free.

"I'm not really hard to please, and even if you make mistakes now and then, good intentions count for a good deal. But you are dreadfully solemn, and there's so much that is pleasant to talk about."

They walked on briskly, for it had been possible to stand still only in the shelter of the bluff with bright suns.h.i.+ne streaming down on them; the cold they had forgotten now made itself felt.

"I can't understand Jernyngham," Prescott said after a while. "One can't blame him for persecuting me, but there's something in his conduct that makes one think him off his balance."

Muriel's eyes sparkled with indignation.

"I suppose he ought to be pitied, but I can't forgive him, and I'll tell you what I think. He has led a well-regulated life, but his virtues are narrow and petty. Indeed, I think they're partly habits. He is not a clever or a really strong man; but because of his money and position, which he never ventured out of, he found people to obey him and grew into a domineering autocrat. I believe he was fond of Cyril and felt what he thought of as his loss; but that was not all. The shock brought him a kind of horrified anger that anything of a startling nature should happen to him--he felt it wasn't what he deserved. Then his desire for justice degenerated into cruelty and when he came out here, where n.o.body gave way to him, he somehow went to pieces. His nature wasn't big enough to stand the strain."

It was a harsh a.n.a.lysis, but Muriel was not inclined to be charitable.

Jernyngham had made things very hard for her lover.

"I dare say you're right," responded Prescott. "But the morning after he reached my place in the blizzard I had a talk with him and found him reasonable. I think he half believed in my innocence, but soon afterward he was more savage than before."

"Isn't it possible that you took too much for granted? He couldn't be rude to you when you had saved him from freezing."

"I don't think I did. He was pretty candid at first and I wasn't cordial, but he listened to me, and I feel convinced that before he left he was beginning to see that he might have been mistaken. What I don't understand is why he changed again, when nothing fresh turned up to account for it."