The Protector Part 24

"After all, you must have had a good deal against you," she resumed consolingly. "Won't you sit down and tell me about it? Nairn, I understand, is writing some letters, and he sent for Mrs. Nairn just before you came in."

She indicated a chair beside the open hearth and Vane sat down opposite her, where a low screen cut them off from the rest of the room. Vane, who was still stiff and aching from exposure to the cold and rain, revelled in the unusual sense of comfort. In addition to this, his companion's pose was singularly graceful, and the ease of it and the friendly smile with which she regarded him somehow implied that they were on excellent terms.

"It's very nice to be here again," he said.

Jessie looked up at him languidly. He had spoken as he felt, on impulse, which was more gratifying than an obvious desire to pay her a compliment would have been.

"I suppose you wouldn't get many comforts in the bush," she suggested.

"No," said Vane. "Comforts of any kind are remarkably scarce up yonder.

As a matter of fact, I can't imagine a country where the contrasts between the luxuries of civilisation and the other thing are sharper.

But that wasn't exactly what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I don't know that it's worth explaining," Vane answered with an air of consideration. "We have rather luxurious quarters at the hotel, but this room is somehow different. It's restful--I think it's homely--in-fact, as I said, it's nice to be here."

Jessie understood that he had been attempting to a.n.a.lyse his feelings, and had failed clearly to recognise that her presence contributed to the satisfaction he was conscious of. She had no doubt that if he were a man of average susceptibility, the company of an attractive woman would have some effect on him after his sojourn in the wilds; but whether she had produced any deeper effect she could not determine. Nor did it appear judicious to prompt him unduly.

"But won't you tell me your adventures?" she said.

It required a few leading questions to start him, but at length he told the story.

"You see," he said in conclusion, "it was lack of definite knowledge as much as the natural obstacles that brought us back--and I've been troubled about the thing since we landed."

Jessie's manner invited his confidence. "I wonder," she said softly, "if you would care to tell me why?"

"Hartley's dead, and I understand his daughter has broken down after nursing him. It's doubtful if her situation can be kept open, and it may be some time before she's strong enough to look for another." He hesitated. "In a way, I feel responsible for her."

"You really aren't responsible in the least," Jessie declared. "Still, I can understand the idea troubling you. Would you like me to help you?"

"I can hardly ask it, but it would be a relief to me," Vane answered with obvious eagerness.

"Then, if you'll tell me her address, I'll go to see her, and we'll consider what can be done."

Vane leaned forward impulsively. "You have taken a weight off my mind.

It's difficult to thank you properly."

"I don't suppose it will give me any trouble. Of course, it must be embarra.s.sing to feel you had a helpless young woman on your hands."

Then a thought flashed into her mind, as she remembered what she had seen at the station some months ago. "I wonder if the situation is an altogether unusual one to you," she continued. "Have you never let your pity run away with your judgment before?"

"You wouldn't expect me to proclaim my charities," Vane objected humorously which was the only means of parrying the question that occurred to him.

"I think you are trying to put me off. You haven't given me an answer."

"I believe I was able to make things easier for somebody else not very long ago," Vane confessed, reluctantly, but without embarra.s.sment. "I now see that I might have done harm without meaning to do so. It's sometimes extraordinarily difficult to help folks--which is why I'm so grateful for your offer."

For the next few moments Jessie sat silent. It was clear that she had misjudged him, for although she was not one who demanded too much from human nature, the fact that Kitty Blake had arrived in Vancouver in his company had undoubtedly rankled in her mind. Now she acquitted him of any blame, and it was a relief to do so. She changed the subject abruptly.

"I suppose you will make another attempt to find timber?" she suggested.

"Yes," said Vane. "In a week or two."

He had hardly spoken when Mrs. Nairn came in and welcomed him with her usual friendliness.

"I'm glad to see ye, though ye're looking thin," she said. "Why did ye not come straight to us, instead of going to the hotel? Ye would have got as good a supper as they would give ye there."

"I haven't a doubt of it," Vane declared. "On the other hand, I hardly think even one of your suppers would quite have put right the defect in my appearance you mentioned. You see, the cause of it has been at work for some time."

Mrs. Nairn regarded him with half-amused compa.s.sion. "If ye'll come ower every evening, we'll soon cure that. I would have been down sooner if Alec, who's writing letters, had not kept me. There was a matter or two he wanted to ask my opinion on."

"I think that was very wise of him."

His hostess smiled. "For one thing, we had a letter from Evelyn Chisholm this afternoon. She'll be out to spend some time with us in about a month."

"Evelyn's coming here?" Vane exclaimed, with a sudden stirring of his heart.

"And why should she not come?" Mrs. Nairn inquired. "I told ye some time ago that we partly expected her. Ye were-na astonished then."

She appeared to expect an explanation of the change in his att.i.tude, and as he volunteered none she drew him a few paces aside.

"If I'm no betraying a confidence; Evelyn writes that she'll be glad to get away a while. Now, I've been wondering why she should be anxious to leave home."

She looked at him fixedly, and to his annoyance he felt his face grow hot. Mrs. Nairn had quick perceptions, and was now and then painfully direct.

"It struck me that Evelyn was not very comfortable there," he replied.

"She seemed out of harmony with her people."

Mrs. Nairn glanced at him again with amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes. "It's no unlikely. The reason may serve--for the want of a better." Then she changed her tone. "Ye'll away up to Alec; he told me to send ye."

Vane went out of the room, but he left Jessie in a thoughtful mood. She had seen him start at the mention of Evelyn, and it struck her as significant, since she had heard that he had spent some time with the Chisholms; On the other hand there was the obvious fact that he had been astonished to hear that Evelyn was coming out, which implied that their acquaintance had not progressed far enough to warrant the girl's informing him. Besides, Evelyn would arrive for a month, and Jessie reflected that she would probably see a good deal of Vane in the meanwhile. She now felt glad that she had promised to look after Celia Hartley, which would, no doubt, necessitate her consulting with him every now and then.

CHAPTER XIX

VANE FORESEES TROUBLE.

Nairn was sitting at a writing-table when Vane entered his room, and after a few questions about his journey, he handed the younger man one of the papers that lay in front of him.

"It's a report from the mine," he said.

Vane carefully studied the doc.u.ment.

"It only brings us back to our last conversation on the subject," he remarked when his host glanced at him inquiringly. "We have the choice of going on as we are doing, or extending our operations by an increase of capital. In the latter case, our total earnings might be larger, but I hardly think there would be as good a return on the money actually sunk. Taking it all round, I don't know what to think; but if it appeared that there was a moral certainty of making a satisfactory profit on the new stock, I should consent."