CHAPTER XVII
Andrew looked up from his gardening, startled by the sudden peal ofthunder. Absorbed in his task, he had not noticed the gathering storm.The sky was black with clouds, riven even while he looked with a vividflash of forked lightning. The ground beneath his feet seemed almost toshake beneath that second peal of thunder. In the stillness thatfollowed he heard the cry of a woman in distress. He threw down hisspade and raced to the other side of the garden. About twenty yardsfrom the shore, Jeanne, in a small boat, was rowing toward the island.She was pulling at the great oars with feeble strokes, and making noheadway against the current which was sweeping down the tidal way.There was no time for hesitation. Andrew threw off his coat, and wadinginto the water, reached her just in time. He clambered into the boatand took the oars from her trembling fingers. He was not a moment toosoon, for the long tidal waves were rushing in now before the storm. Hebent to his task, and drove the boat safely on to the beach. Then hestood up, dripping, and handed her out.
"My dear young lady," he said, a little brusquely, and forgetting forthe moment his Norfolk dialect, "what on earth are you about in thatlittle boat all by yourself?"
She was still frightened, and she looked at him a little piteously.
"Please don't be angry with me," she said. "I wanted to come here andsee you, to--to ask your advice. The boat was lying there, and itlooked such a very short distance across, and directly I had startedthe big waves began to come in and I was frightened."
The storm broke upon them. Another peal of thunder was followed by adownpour of rain. He caught hold of her hand.
"Run as hard as you can," he said.
They reached the cottage, breathless. He ushered her into his littlesitting-room.
"Has your friend gone?" she asked.
"Yes!" he answered. "He went last night."
"I am glad," she declared. "I wanted to see you alone. You said that hewas lodging here, did you not?"
Andrew nodded.
"Yes," he said, "but he only stayed for a few days."
"You have an extra room here, then?" she asked.
"Certainly," he answered, wondering a little at the drift of herquestions.
"Will you let it to me, please?" she asked. "I am looking for lodgings,and I should like to stay for a little time here."
He looked at her in amazement.
"My dear young lady!" he exclaimed. "You are joking!"
"I am perfectly serious," she answered. "I will tell you all about itif you like."
"But your stepmother!" he protested. "She would never come to such aplace. Besides, you are Mr. De la Borne's guests."
"I do not wish to stay there any longer," she said. "I do not wish tostay with my stepmother any longer. Something has happened which Icannot altogether explain to you, but which makes me feel that I wantto get away from them all. I have enough money, and I am sure I shouldnot be much trouble. Please take me, Mr. Andrew."
He suddenly realized what a child she was. Her dark eyes were raisedwistfully to his. Her oval face was a little flushed by her recentexertions. She wore a very short skirt, and her hair hung about hershoulders in a tangled mass. Her little foreign mannerisms, halfinciting, half provocative, were forgotten. His heart was full of pityfor her.
"My dear child," he said, "you are not serious. You cannot possibly beserious. Your stepmother is your guardian, and she certainly would notallow you to run away from her like this. Besides, I have not even amaid-servant. It would be absolutely impossible for you to stay here."
Her eyes filled with tears. She dropped her arms with a weary littlegesture.
"But I should love it so much," she said. "Here I could rest, andforget all the things which worry me in this new life. Here I couldwatch the sea come in. I could sit down on the beach there and listento the larks singing on the marshes. Oh! it would be such a rest--sopeaceful! Mr. Andrew, is it quite impossible?"
He played his part well enough, laughing at her good-humouredly.
"It is more than impossible," he said. "If you stayed here for any timeat all, your stepmother would come and fetch you back, and I should getinto terrible disgrace. Mr. De la Borne would probably turn me out ofmy house," he added as an afterthought.
She sat down and looked out of the window in despair. The storm wasstill raging. The skies were black, and the window-pane streaming withrain-drops. She shivered a little.
"If I could help you in any other way," he continued, after a moment'spause, "I should be very glad to try."
She turned upon him quickly.
"How can you help me, or any one," she demanded, "unless you can takeme away from these people? Listen! Until a few months ago I hadscarcely seen my stepmother. She fetched me away from the convent, tookme to Paris for some clothes, and since then I have done nothing but goto parties and houses where the people seem all to have fine names, butbehave horribly. I know that I am rich. They told me that before I leftthe convent, so that I might be a little prepared, but is that anyreason why every man, old and young, should say foolish things to me,and pretend that they have fallen in love, when I know all the timethat it is my fortune they are thinking of. And my stepmother speaks ofmarrying me as though I were a piece of merchandise, to be disposed ofto the highest bidder. I do not like her friends. I do not like the waythey live. I have never liked Major Forrest. Last night your lodger andanother man came to the Hall. They asked questions about Lord Ronald.They asked questions and they were told lies. I am sure of it. It goton my nerves. I thought I should shriek. Major Forrest said that it washe who drove Lord Ronald into Lynn, thirty-five miles away, at sixo'clock in the morning. I am sure that he could not have driven the cara hundred yards."
"Good God!" Andrew muttered.
"I am sure of it," Jeanne continued. "Two days before Lord Ronalddisappeared, he wanted the car to take us over to Sandringham, and hecould not find the chauffeur. It seems that he was down at thepublic-house at the village, and he came back intoxicated. Lord Ronaldwas angry, and he sent the man away. The car was there in thecoach-house, and there was no one who could drive it."
"But," Andrew protested, "Major Forrest was seen returning in the car."
"He was pulled up the avenue in it," Jeanne answered. "How he got thecar there I don't know, but I do not believe that it had ever been anyfurther."
"Why do you not believe that?" Andrew asked.
She leaned towards him.
"Because," she said, "I was up early. The car was there at eighto'clock, alone, just outside the gates. There were the marks where ithad come down from the house, but there were no marks on the otherside. I am sure that it had been no further. I felt the engine and itwas cold. I do not believe that it had been started at all."
Andrew was looking very serious.
"Then," he said, "if Lord Ronald was not taken to Lynn that morning,what do you suppose has become of him?"
"I do not know," she cried. "I am afraid. I dare not stay there. Theyall look at one another and leave off talking when I come into the roomunexpectedly. They all seem as though some trouble were hanging overthem. I am afraid to be there, Mr. Andrew."
Andrew was very serious indeed now.
"I will go up to the Hall at once," he said, "and I will see Mr. De laBorne. I have some influence with him, and I will get to the bottom ofthe whole matter. I will take you back, and I will make inquiries atonce."
She settled down in his easy chair. Her dark eyes were full of pleading.
"But, Mr. Andrew," she said, "I do not want to go back to the Hall. Iam afraid of them all, and I am afraid of my stepmother more than anyof them. Why may I not stay here? I will be very good, and I will giveyou no trouble at all."
"My child," he said firmly, "you are talking nonsense. I am only avillage fisherman, but you could not possibly stay in my house here. Ihave not even a housekeeper."
"That," she declared calmly, "is an excellent reason why I should stop.I will be your housekeeper. Come and sit here by me and let us talkabout it."
He walked instead to the window. He did not choose at that moment thatshe should see his face.
"You do not wish to have me!" she cried.
He turned round. She slid out of her chair and came over to his side.
"I can only tell you," he said gravely, "that it is impossible for youto stay here, and that I must take you home at once."
She took his arm and looked up into his face.
"At once, Mr. Andrew?" she asked timidly.
"As soon as the storm goes down," he answered, glancing uneasilytowards the clock. "Listen, please, Miss--"
"Jeanne," she whispered.
"Miss Jeanne, then," he said. "There are some things which you do notyet understand very well, because you have been brought up differentlyto most English girls. I have some influence with Mr. De la Borne, andI shall do what I can for you up at the house. But it is very certainthat you must not think of leaving your stepmother unless you have someother relative who is willing to take you. A child of your age cannotlive alone. It is unheard of."
She sighed, and turned away.
"Very well, Mr. Andrew," she said. "If you do not wish to be troubledwith me I will go back. I am ready when you are."
Andrew looked once more out of the window.
"We cannot cross just yet," he said. "The tide is coming in very fast,and even here there is a big sea."
"It is magnificent," she answered, stealing back to his side. "I onlywish that we were outside."
"You could not stand up," he answered. "Listen!"
The thunder of the incoming waves seemed to fill the room. Even whilethey stood there a little shower of pebbles and spray were dashedagainst the windows. Andrew looked anxiously across the estuary andtapped the barometer by his side.
"I am afraid," he said, "that you are going to be late for dinnerto-night. You are a bona fide prisoner here for an hour or more atleast."
"I am so glad," she answered.
There was a knock at the door. A man entered with a tea-tray. He was inplain clothes and was obviously a servant. Jeanne looked at him insurprise.
"Has Mr. Berners left his servant here?" she asked.
"For a day or two," Andrew answered hastily. "He may come back, yousee, and he went away in a great hurry. Martin, bring another teacup,and make the tea, please."
The man set down the tray and bowed.
"Very good, sir," he answered.
Jeannie watched him disappear, perplexed. Was it because he was soperfectly trained a servant that he addressed the man at her side withthe same respect that he would have shown to his own master?
"I may stay for tea, may I?" she asked. "That is something, at anyrate. I am going to look round at your things. You don't mind, do you?"
"Certainly not," he answered. "That big fish on the wall was caughtwithin fifty yards of this island. Those sea-birds, too, were all shotfrom here."
"What strange little creatures!" she murmured. "You seem to find quitea lot of time to read and do other things beside fish, Mr. Andrew," sheremarked, as she looked over his bookcases. "You puzzle me very muchsometimes. I had no idea," she added, looking at him hesitatingly,"that people who have to work, as you have to, for a living, understoodand read books like this."
"Ah, well," he answered, "I had perhaps a little more education thansome of them."
The servant returned with some more things upon a tray. Jeanne sat downwith a little laugh in front of the teapot. She was very much afraid ofsaying more than was polite, and she felt that she was amongst utterlystrange surroundings. Yet it seemed to her a most extraordinary thingthat a fisherman in a country village should possess a silver teapotand old Worcester china, and should be waited upon by a man servanteven though he were the man servant of a lodger.