Greatheart

by Ethel M. Dell

  CHAPTER XXII

  SPOKEN IN JEST

  The afternoon was well advanced when Scott returned to Perrythorpe Court.No sounds of revelry greeted him as he entered. A blazing fire wasburning in the hall, but no one was there to enjoy the warmth. The gaycrowd that had clustered before the great hearth only yesterday had alldispersed. The place was empty.

  "Can I get you anything, sir?" enquired the man who admitted him.

  His voice was sepulchral. Scott smiled a little. "Yes, please. A whiskyand soda. Where is everybody?"

  "The Colonel and Miss Rose went out riding, sir, after the guests had allgone, and they have not yet returned. Her ladyship is resting in herroom."

  "Everyone gone but me?" questioned Scott, with a whimsical lift of theeyebrows.

  The man bent his head decorously. "I believe so, sir. There was a generalfeeling that it would be more fitting as the marriage was not to takeplace as arranged. I understand, sir, that the family will shortlymigrate to town."

  "Really?" said Scott.

  He bent over the fire, for the evening was chilly, and he was tired tothe soul. The man coughed and withdrew. Again the silence fell.

  A face he knew began to look up at Scott out of the leapingflames--a face that was laughing and provocative one moment, wistfuland tear-stained the next.

  He heaved a sigh as he followed the fleeting vision. "Will she ever behappy again?" he asked himself.

  The last sight he had had of her had cut him to the heart. She hadconquered her tears at last, but her smile was the saddest thing he hadever seen. It was as though her vanished childhood had suddenly lookedforth at him and bidden him farewell. He felt that he would never seethe child Dinah again.

  The return of the servant with his drink brought him back to hisimmediate surroundings. He sat down in an easy-chair before the fire tomix it.

  The man turned to go, but he had not reached the end of the hall when thefront-door bell rang again. He went soft-footed to answer it.

  Scott glanced over his shoulder as the door opened, and heard his ownname.

  "Is Mr. Studley here?" a man's voice asked.

  "Yes, sir. Just here, sir," came the answer, and Scott rose with a wearygesture.

  "Oh, here you are!" Airily Guy Bathurst advanced to meet him. "Don't letme interrupt your drink! I only want a few words with you."

  "I'll fetch another glass, sir" murmured the discreet man-servant, andvanished.

  Scott stood, stiff and uncompromising, by his chair. There was a hint ofhostility in his bearing. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

  Bathurst ignored his attitude with that ease of manner of which he was apast-master. "Well I thought perhaps you could give me news of Dinah" hesaid. "Billy tells me he left you with her this morning."

  "I see" said Scott. He looked at the other man with level, unblinkingeyes. "You are beginning to feel a little anxious about her?" hequestioned.

  "Well, I think it's about time she came home," said Bathurst. He took outa cigarette and lighted it. "Her mother is wondering what has become ofher," he added, between the puffs.

  "I posted a letter to Mrs. Bathurst about an hour ago," said Scott. "Shewill get it in the morning."

  "Indeed!" Bathurst glanced at him. "And is her whereabouts to remain amystery until then?"

  "That letter will reassure you as to her safety," Scott returned quietly."But it will not enlighten you as to her whereabouts. She is in goodhands, and it is not her intention to return home--at least for thepresent. Under the circumstances you could scarcely compel her to do so."

  "I never compel her to do anything," said Bathurst comfortably. "Hermother keeps her in order, I have nothing to do with it."

  "Evidently not." A sudden sharp quiver of scorn ran through Scott'swords. "Her mother may make her life a positive hell, but it's nobusiness of yours!"

  A flicker of temper shone for a second in Bathurst's eyes. The scorn hadpenetrated even his thick skin. "None whatever," he said deliberately."Nor of yours either, so far as I can see."

  "There you are wrong." Hotly Scott took him up. "It is the duty of everyman to prevent cruelty. Dinah has been treated like a bond-slave all herlife. What were you about to allow it?"

  He flung the question fiercely. The man's careless repudiation of allresponsibility aroused in him a perfect storm of indignation. He wasprobably more angry at that moment than he had ever been before.

  Guy Bathurst stared at him for a second or two, his own resentmentquenched in amazement. Finally he laughed.

  "If you were married to my wife, you'd know," he said. "Personally I likea quiet life. Besides, discipline is good for youngsters. I think Lydiais disposed to carry it rather far, I admit. But after all, a woman can'tdo much damage to her own daughter. And anyhow it isn't a man's businessto interfere."

  He broke off as the servant reappeared, and seated himself in a chair onthe other side of the fire. He drank some whisky and water in large,appreciative gulps, and resumed his cigarette.

  "If Dinah had seriously wanted to get away from it, she should havemarried your brother," he said then. "It was her own doing entirely, thislast affair. A girl shouldn't jilt her lover at the last moment if sheisn't prepared to face the consequences. She knows her mother's temper bythis time, I should imagine. She might have guessed what was in store forher." He looked across at Scott as one seeking sympathy. "You'll admit itwas a tomfool thing to do," he said. "I don't wonder at her motherwanting to make her smart for it. I really don't. Dinah ought to haveknown her own mind."

  "She knows it now," said Scott grimly.

  "Yes. So it appears. By the way, have you any idea what induced her tothrow your brother over in that way just at the last minute? It would beinteresting to know."

  "Did she give you no reason?" said Scott. He hated parleying with theman, but something impelled him thereto.

  Guy Bathurst leaning back at his ease with his cigarette between hislips, uttered a careless laugh. "She seemed to think she wasn't in lovewith him. We couldn't get any more out of her than that. As a matter offact her mother was too furious to attempt it. But there must have beensome other reason. I wondered if you knew what it was."

  "I shouldn't have thought it essential that there should have been anyother reason," Scott said deliberately. "If there is--I am not in herconfidence."

  He was still on his feet as if he wished it to be clearly understood thathe did not intend their conversation to develop into anything of thenature of friendly intercourse.

  Bathurst continued to smoke, but a faint air of insolence was apparent inhis attitude. He was not accustomed to being treated with contempt, andthe desire awoke within him to find some means of disconcerting thisundersized whippersnapper who had almost succeeded in making him feelcheap.

  "You haven't been making love to her on your own account by any chance, Isuppose?" he enquired lazily.

  Scott's eyes flashed upon him a swift and hawk-like regard, and thehauteur that so often characterized his brother suddenly descended uponhim and clothed him as a mantle.

  "I have not," he said.

  "Quite sure?" persisted Bathurst, still amiably smiling. "It's my beliefshe's smitten with you, you know. I've thought so all along. Funny idea,isn't it? Never occurred to you of course?"

  Scott made no reply, but his silence was more scathing than speech. Itserved to arouse all the rancour of which Bathurst's indolent nature wascapable.

  "No accounting for women's preference, is there?" he said. "You ought tofeel vastly flattered, my good sir. It isn't many women would put youbefore that handsome brother of yours. How did you work it, eh? Come,you're caught! So you may as well own up."

  Scott shrugged his shoulders abruptly, disdainfully, and turned from him."If you choose to amuse yourself at your daughter's expense, I cannotprevent you," he said. "But there is not a grain of truth in yourinsinuation. I repudiate it absolutely."

  "My dear fellow, that's a bit thick," laughed Bathurst; he had foundthe vulnerable spot, and he mea
nt to make the most of it. "Do youactually expect me to believe that you won her away from your brotherwithout knowing it? That's rather a tough proposition, too tough for mymiddle-aged digestion. You've been trifling with her young affections,but you are not man enough to own it."

  "You are wrong, utterly wrong," Scott said. He restrained himself withdifficulty; for still something was at work within him urging him to betemperate. "Dinah has never dreamed of falling in love with me. As yousay, the bare idea is manifestly absurd."

  "Then who is she in love with?" demanded Bathurst, with lazy insistence."You're the only other man she knows, and there's certainly someone. Nogirl would throw up such a catch as your brother for the mere sentimentof the thing. It stands to reason there must be someone else. And thereis no one but you. She doesn't know anyone else, I tell you. She has noopportunities. Her mother sees to that."

  Scott was bending over the fire, his face to the flame. His indignationhad died down. He was very still, as one deep in thought. Could it be thetrue word spoken in ill-timed jest which he had just heard? He wondered;he wondered.

  A golden radiance was spreading forth to him from the heart of thoseleaping flames, like the coming of the dawnlight over the dark earth. Hewatched it spell-bound, utterly unmindful of the man behind him. If thisthing were true! Ah, if this thing were true!

  A sudden sound made him turn to see Colonel de Vigne and his daughterenter.

  They came forward to greet him and Bathurst. Rose was smiling; her eyeswere softly bright.

  "How happy she looks!" was the thought that occurred to him, but it wasonly a passing thought. It vanished in a moment as he heard her accostBathurst.

  "How is our poor little Dinah by this time?"

  "You had better ask this gentleman," airily responded Bathurst. "He haselected to make himself responsible for her welfare."

  Rose's delicate brows went up, but very strangely Scott no longer felt inthe least disconcerted. He replied to her unspoken query withoutdifficulty.

  "Dinah felt that she could not face the gossips," he said, "and as Isabelwas badly wanting her, they have gone away together. Except for oldBiddy, they will be quite alone, and it will do them both all the good inthe world."

  Rose's brow cleared. "What an excellent arrangement!" she murmuredsympathetically. "And--your brother?"

  Scott smiled. "Needless to say, he is not of the party. His plans aresomewhat uncertain. He may go abroad for a time, but I doubt if hebanishes himself for long when the London season is in full swing."

  Rose's smile answered his. "I think he is very wise," she said. "WhenEaster is over, we shall probably follow his example. I hope we shallhave the pleasure of meeting you when we are all in town."

  "Ha! So do I," said the Colonel. "You must look me up at the Club--anytime. I shall be delighted."

  "You are very kind," Scott said. "But I go to town very rarely, and Inever stay there. My brother is far more of a society man than I am."

  "You will have to come out of your shell," smiled Rose.

  "Quite so--quite so," agreed the Colonel. "It isn't fair to cheatsociety, you know. If we can't dance at your brother's wedding, you mightgive us the pleasure of dancing at yours."

  Bathurst uttered a careless laugh. "I've just been accusing him ofcutting his brother out," he said lightly. "But he denies all knowledgeof the transaction."

  "Oh, but what a shame!" interposed Rose quickly. "Mr. Studley, we won'tlisten to this gossip. Will you come up to my sitting-room, and show methat new game of Patience you were talking about yesterday? Bring yourdrink with you!"

  He went with her almost in silence.

  In her own room she turned upon him with a wonderful, illumined smile,and held out her hand.

  "I won't have you badgered," she said. "But--it is true, is it not?"

  He took her hand, looking straight into her beautiful eyes. There wasmore life in her face at that moment than he had ever seen before. Shewas as one suddenly awakened. "What is true, Miss de Vigne?" hequestioned.

  "That you care for her," she answered, "that she cares for you."

  His look remained full upon her. "In a friendly sense, yes," he said.

  "In no other sense?" she insisted. Her eyes were shining, as if her wholesoul were suddenly alight with animation. "Tell me," she said, as he didnot speak immediately, "have you ever cared for her merely as a friend?"

  There was no evading the question, neither for some reason could heresent it. He hesitated for a second or two; then, "You have guessedright," he said quietly. "But she has never suspected it, and--she neverwill."

  To his surprise Rose frowned. "But why not tell her?" she said. "Surelyshe has a right to know!"

  He smiled and shook his head. "Pardon me! No one has the smallest rightto know. Would you say that of yourself if you cared for someone who didnot care for you?"

  She blushed under his eyes suddenly and very vividly, and in a momentturned from him. "Ah, but that is different!" she said. "A woman isdifferent! If she gives her heart where it is not wanted, that is heraffair alone."

  He did not pursue his advantage; he liked her for the blush.

  "Isn't it rather an unprofitable discussion?" he said gently. "Suppose weget to our game of Patience!"

  And Rose acquiesced in silence.