The Hundredth Chance
Page 6
CHAPTER V
IN THE DARK
Black night and a moaning sea! Now and then a drizzle of rain came on agust of wind, sprinkling the girl's tense face, damping the dark hairthat clustered about her temples. But she did not so much as feel it.Her passionate young spirit was all on fire with a fierce revolt againstthe destinies that ruled her life. She paced the parade as onedistraught.
Only for a brief space could she let herself go thus,--only while Bunnyand their mother played their nightly game of cribbage. They did not somuch as know that she was out of the house. She would have to returnere she was missed, and then would follow the inevitable ordeal ofputting Bunny to bed. It was an ordeal that seemed to become each nightmore difficult. In the morning he was easier to manage; but at nightwhen he was tired out and all his nerves were on edge she sometimesfound the task almost beyond her powers. When he was in pain--and thiswas not infrequently--it took her hours to get him finally settled.
She was sure that it would be no easy task to-night. He had had boutsof severe neuralgia during the day, and his flushed face and irritablemanner warned her that there was a struggle in store. She had sometimessat waiting till the small hours of the morning before he would permither to move or undress him. She felt that some such trial was beforeher now, and her heart was as lead.
The house had seemed to stifle her. She had run out for a breath ofair; and then something about that moaning shore had seemed to draw her.She had run down to the parade, and now she paced along it, staring downinto the fathomless dark below her where the deep water rose and fellwith a ceaseless moaning, thumping the well beneath in sullen impotence.
There was no splash of waves, only that dumb striving against a power itcould not overthrow. It was like her own mute rebellion, she thought toherself miserably, as persistent and as futile.
She reached the end of the parade. The hour was late; the placedeserted. There was a shelter here. She was sure it would be empty,but it did not attract her. She wanted to get as close as possible tothat moaning, mysterious waste of water. It held a stark fascinationfor her. It drew her like a magnet. She stood on the very edge of theparade, facing the drift of rain that blew in from the sea. How dark itwas! The nearest lamp was fifty yards away! The thought came to hersuddenly, taking form from the formless deep: how easy to take onesingle false step in that darkness! How swift the consequence, and howcomplete the deliverance!
A short, inevitable struggle in the dark--in the dark; and then acertain release from this hateful chain called life. It would beterrible, but so quickly over! And this misery that so galled her wouldbe for ever past.
She beat her foot on the edge with a passionate impatience. What a foolshe was to suffer so--when there was nothing (never had been any thing)in life worth living for!
Nothing? Well, yes, there was Bunny. She was an absolute necessity tohim. That she knew. She was firmly convinced that he would die withouther. And though he would be far, far happier dead, poor darling, shecouldn't leave him to die alone.
She lifted her clenched hands above her head in straining impotence.For one black moment she almost wished that Bunny were dead.
And then very suddenly, with staggering unexpectedness she received thebiggest shock of her life. Two hands closed simultaneously upon herwrists, and she was drawn into two encircling arms.
She uttered a startled outcry, and in the same moment began a wild andflurried struggle for freedom. But the arms that held her closed likesteel springs. A man's strength forced her steadily away from theyawning blackness that stretched beyond the parade.
"It's no good kicking," a soft voice said. "You won't get away."
Something in the voice reassured her. She ceased to struggle. "Oh, letme go!" she said breathlessly. "You--you don't understand.I--I--only----"
"Came out for a breath of air?" he suggested. "Of course--I gatheredthat."
He took his arms away from her, but he still kept one of her wrists in astrong grasp. She could not see his face in the darkness, only hisfigure, which was short and stoutly built.
"Do you know," he said, "when people take the air like that, I alwayshave to hold on to 'em tight till they've had all they want. It's damn'cheek on my part, as you were just going to remark. But, my girl, it'seasier than mucking about in a dark sea looking for 'em after they'velost their balance."
He had led her to the shelter. She sat down rather helplessly,wondering if it would be possible to conceal her identity from him sinceit was evident that so far he had not recognized her.
He stood in front of her, squarely planted, his hand still locked uponher wrist. She had known him from the first word he had spoken, and,remembering those startling lynx eyes of his, she felt decidedly uneasy.She was sure they could see in the dark.
She spoke after a moment with slight hesitation. "I shouldn't have lostmy balance. And if I had meant to jump over, as you imagined, Ishouldn't have stood so long thinking about it."
"Sure you're not thinking about it now?" he said.
"Quite sure," she answered.
He bent down, and she was sure--quite sure--that his eyes scrutinizedher and took in every detail.
The next moment he released her wrist also. "All right, my girl," hesaid. "I believe you. But--don't do it again! Accidents happen, youknow. You might have had one then; and I should still have had toflounder around looking for you."
Something in his tone made her want to smile, and yet she felt sosure--so sure--that he knew her all the time. And she wanted to resenthis familiarity at the same moment. For if he knew her, it was rankpresumption to address her so.
She rose at length and faced him with such dignity as she could muster."I am obliged to you," she said, "but I fail to see why yourresponsibility should extend so far. If I had fallen over, the chancesare that you could never have found me--or saved me if you had."
"Ninety-nine to one!" he said coolly. "But, do you know, I rather counton the hundredth chance. I've taken it--and won on it--before now."
He was not to be disconcerted, it was evident. He was plainly adifficult man to rout, one accustomed to keep his head in any emergency.And she--she was but a slip of a girl in his estimation, and he had herat a disadvantage already.
She felt her face begin to burn in the darkness. She shifted herground. "I don't see why anyone should be made to live against hiswill," she said, "why it should be anyone's business to interfere."
"That's because you're young," he said. "You haven't yet got the properhang of things. It only comes with practice--that."
Her face burned more hotly. He was actually patronizing her!
She turned abruptly. "Good evening," she said, and began to walk away.
But he fell in beside her at once. "I'm going your way," he observed."May as well see you past the bar of 'The Anchor.' They get a bitlively there sometimes at this end of the day."
He walked with the slight roll of a man accustomed to much riding. Sheimagined that he never appeared in anything but breeches and gaiters.But his tread was firm and purposeful. Quite obviously it never enteredhis head that she might not desire his company.
For that reason she had to submit to the arrangement though she feltherself grow more and more rigid as they neared the circle of light castby the street-lamp. Of course he was bound to recognize her now.
But they reached and passed the lamp, and he tramped straight aheadwithout looking at her, after the square fashion that she had somehowbegun to associate with him.
They reached and passed "The Anchor" also, with its lighted bar andcoarse voices and lounging figures. They began the steep ascent upwhich he had pushed Bunny that afternoon. It was dark enough here atleast, and her self-confidence began to revive. She would put him tothe test. She would pass the gate that he had seen her enter earlier inthe day. If he displayed surprise or hesitation she would know that hehad recognized her.
She began to get a little breathless. There was another lamp at the topof the road. She did not want to reach that.
In desperation she paused. "Good evening!" she said again.
He stopped at once, and she thought she caught the glitter of his eye,seeking her own in the darkness.
"You're going in now?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
He came a step nearer, and laid one finger on her arm. "Look here, mygirl! You take a straight tip from me! If you're in any sort oftrouble, go and tell someone! Don't bottle it in till it gets too bigfor you! And above all, don't go step-dancing on the edge of the paradein the dark! It's a fool thing to do."
He emphasized his points with impressive taps upon her arm. She feltabsurdly small and meek.
"Suppose I haven't anyone to tell?" she said, after a moment.
He rose to the occasion instantly. "I'm sound," he said. "Tell me!"
She had not expected that. He seemed to disconcert her at every turn.
"Thank you," she said, taking refuge in extreme frigidity. "I thinknot."
"As you like," he said. "I daresay I shouldn't in your place. I onlysuggested it because I can't see a girl in trouble and pass by on theother side."
He spoke quite quietly, but there was a quality in the soft voice thatstirred her very strangely, something that made her for the momentforget the man's dominant personality, and feel as if a woman haduttered the words.
She put out a groping hand to him, obeying a curious impulse that wouldnot be denied.
"Thank you," she said again.
He kept her hand for a second or two, holding it squarely, almost as ifhe were waiting for something.
Then, without a word, he let it go. She turned back; and he went on.