show at least equal to what was required. She only begged thata definite time might be fixed for their return.
So they, too, went off, with Paris for their first resting-place, and itwas quite astonishing how many consultations became necessary betweenBell and Jack, before it could be at all decided whether there was achance of the three drifting together in some odd corner. Consideringhow often, with all the pains in the world taken to bring it about, somemeeting towards which hearts are straining fails, it had to be ownedthat this chance was slight. Bell and Jack, however, were young enoughto think very well of a slight chance. Bell argued that in smallcountry places, where only one tolerable inn existed, there was a fargreater likelihood of meeting than in a great city where there werefifty, and Jack was certain, from no grounds at all, that somethingwould throw Everitt into Kitty's path. But they were doomed to receivea blow. Bell one day found a distracted letter from Mrs Marchmont.
"It has all come to _nothing_! I have just heard from Charlie that heis already sick of Normandy cider and cart horses, that he has met witha horrid man--_he_ likes him--who has persuaded him to try Auvergne, andthat they will go off there at once. Auvergne! Did you ever knowanything so stupid? My one consolation is that it is the very plainestcountry I ever beheld, and I hope he will be bored to death by it. Ofcourse, there is not the smallest chance of the Lascelles going toAuvergne; I should not have the face even to suggest it to them. Sothere's an end of it all, and I think men are the most tiresomecreatures in the world--except women."
It was too true.
Led away by this tempter in the person of another artist, Everitt hadbroken off from the path of duty so carefully marked out for him by hiscousin, and made his way towards Paris. He reached it on the day theLascelles left.
With Kitty the experiment had apparently been very successful. It wasthe first time that she had crossed the Channel, and the lightness ofthe air, the freshness of the colouring, and the general picturesquenessof things, delighted her from the moment of landing. She and her motherwere excellent companions, and, indeed, to Mrs Lascelles the sense ofholiday-making was even stronger than with her daughter. She was like agirl again, enjoying everything with a keen sense of reprieve from theduties of ordering dinner and thinking of dishes which should please, atany rate, the majority. She liked Paris better than Kitty liked it, andwould have been well enough content to have stayed there, and madeexcursions to the old towns; but Brittany had an attraction for thegirl, so they kept to their first plan, and left Paris for Dinan _on_the day, as has been said, that Everitt arrived there.
At Dinan, Kitty was seized with a severe attack of industry. Shepainted the clock-tower, and the market, and the old steep smellystreets, the walls, and the Rance, and every picturesque thing that camebefore her. Her mother laughed at her, but in her heart fancied thegirl was trying to shut out intrusive thoughts, and felt the more gladthat she had taken her away from London. It was early in the season forthe rush of travellers, but Dinan carries on small social distractionsthroughout the year, and they knew one family, half English and halfFrench, who lived in a charming old black and white chateau, withavenues and a stone dovecot, and a walled garden with a gateway to whichyou ascended by steps, and where it was not difficult to believe thatyou were in another world.
Kitty would have been well content to have stayed here for the rest oftheir time, but Mrs Lascelles was not going to be defrauded of herholiday. She had planned a very comprehensive ten-days' round, havingbeen carefully drawn on to this by Mrs Marchmont. They were to go toVannes and Auray, see Carnac, take Quimper and Morlaix, and any othertempting places that lay _en route_, and return to Dinan and Saint Malo,going home by the Channel Islands. She wrote to Mary Marchmont thatafter all the trouble she had taken in finding out the most interestingplaces and the best inns, she could not venture to diverge a mile fromthe lines laid down. Mrs Marchmont showed the letter to Bell, almostcrying.
"Isn't it too provoking!" she exclaimed. "If only that stupid Charliehad been half so conscientious!"
Quite unconscious, meanwhile, that they were provoking their friends athome by the implicit obedience with which they had kept within the linesruled for them by these kindly despots, Kitty and her mother went ontheir cheerful way by slow and dawdling trains, leaving behind thempretty Dinan, with its river and its rich and fertile country, exploringVannes, sitting down to sketch in the centre of uneven streets, wheresome little bit--some rich colouring on the stone, some dark cavern of adoorway, framing a white-capped group, some delicate wreath of greeneryflinging itself out joyously to meet the sun--attracted Kitty. Thepeople came round to watch and to suggest themselves as pictures; theywere all on the most friendly yet independent terms with the girl, whosmiled and nodded at them and sketched bravely on, undismayed by herincreasing crowd of admirers. Auray did not offer so much of thepicturesque; but Mrs Lascelles would not let Kitty escape her duties,so she carried her off to Carnac.
But it was Kitty herself who proposed the next excursion. She wasalready tired of menhirs and dolmens; but she had a longing for a littleboating on this wild and windy coast. They would drive to Locmariaker,and go across to the little Gavr Innis, where there are some carvings ina cave which give people an excuse for visiting the island. The morningwas very rainy, and gusts of wind rushed up from the south-west. Hermother would have begged off, but Kitty was resolute, "They will nottake us if there is any danger," said Mrs Lascelles, at lastsurrendering.
Kitty mocked at the idea of danger; and, indeed, when they readiedLocmariaker and walked down to the little landing-place, the boatmenshowed no unwillingness to convey them across. For though the rainstill fell, there were rifts in the grey fast-driven clouds which lookedas if brighter weather might be near, and the freshness of it all--thegrey-green of the water, the saltness of the wind, the swoop of thewhite gulls--made Kitty the more eager to be out on the dancing waves.She pulled the hood of her waterproof over her hat, her cheeks glowedunder the strong wet wind; and her mother, already seated in the boat,looked at her as she stood lightly-poised on the slippery stones, with asmile of satisfaction. Certainly the experiment had been quitesuccessful; and, as they were well out of the reach of hearing anythingwhich might keep up the remembrance of an unifying incident, she mighthope to take the girl home with the shadow all gone.
Meanwhile, all seemed ready, and yet they did not start. The oldboatman--Stevan--his brown face deeply seamed with lines, made someexcuse about his sail, which was not in order, and the boy was sent upto one of the small cottages which straggle down towards the water.
"Kitty, do make him understand that we wish to start," said MrsLascelles. "If I am to be drowned, I don't want to be all day aboutit."
But now the boy reappeared followed by a dark figure in a shabbysoutane.
"It is _M. le cure_," said old Stevan, addressing himself politely toKitty. "He has to cross to the island to see a sick person. Theseladies will not object."
The _cure_ came deliberately down with firm, quick steps; he lifted hishat, stepped into the boat, and sat down. Kitty stepped after him; theboy took the oar to push off, but the old sailor still looked towardsthe land and lingered.
"I believe this is a ferry boat," cried Mrs Lascelles, impatiently."Look, Kitty, there is some one else!"
Some one else was in a big ulster; a woman--probably Stevan's wife--awoman in a white _coiffe_ and blue dress was hastening before him, andpointing eagerly to the boat. It was evident that she had an eye forbusiness, and would not lose a passenger who might add a franc or two toher husband's gains. Mrs Lascelles was vexed.
"We shall wait here all day at this rate," she said.
Kitty was gathering up her dress, for the boat was wet. The boatmanturned to her.
"We start this moment, immediately," he assured her, apologetically."There is not a better boat at Locmariaker. We shall soon be across."
The _cure_ looked round at the green waves and slightly shrugged hisshoulders. Kitty herself
turned to see the coming passenger. The womanhad stopped; she stood with her arms folded under her apron, watchinghim. He had not run, but had come quickly down, and was close to theboat before Kitty had time to do more than turn a startled face to hermother; he lifted his hat and sprang in, the boy hurriedly shoved offfrom the weed-covered stones, and the next moment they were out in thetossing bay, with Charles Everitt for their companion.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
AFTER ALL.
Mrs Lascelles would not perhaps have recognised Everitt, whom she hadonly seen in the chapel, if the disturbance in Kitty's looks had not atonce caused her to leap to a conclusion which absolutely took away herbreath. She was quick-sighted enough to see that he was himself as yetunconscious, for Kitty's face was turned from him, and he was engaged intucking his ulster round his legs; and even this momentary reprieve waswelcome, as it gave
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