XIX -- POSITIVE PROOF
HESTER EARLE'S entertainment promised to prove as successful as theother had been, for a clear moon hung low above the hillside when Tonydrove Violet Wayne and her mother to Low Wood down the Northrop valley.The night was pleasantly warm, and the murmur of the river which slid inand out of the mist wisps in the hollow beneath the white road rosefaintly musical out of the silence. Beyond the long hedgerows thestubble lay steeped in silvery light save where the long shadows layblack as ebony in the wake of the gleaming sheaves. A smell ofhoneysuckle drifted out from the blackness of a coppice they flittedthrough, and Tony turned with a little laugh to the girl beside him,while the clip-clop of the hoofs rang amidst the trees.
"I wonder if you and I are thinking of the same thing," he said. "Ithappened just about this hour a year ago, and it was such anothernight."
His voice had a faint thrill in it, and Violet laughed softly as sheglanced at her left hand.
"You were horribly nervous that evening, Tony," she said. "I don't thinkI ever mentioned it, but when you put the ring on it scarred my finger.That might have had a significance with superstitious people."
Tony glanced over his shoulder, and saw that Mrs. Wayne, who sat behindthem, was apparently interested in something her companion was saying.
"I think that was quite natural," he said lightly. "You see, thesituation was disconcertingly novel to me."
"So you told me!" said the girl with a little laugh. "If I remember, youlaid some stress upon the fact. It was also a proof of my credulity thatI believed you."
It was one of Tony's disadvantages that he was now and then undulysensitive, for the deception he had been guilty of on the night inquestion was by comparison trifling. Still, he remembered withunpleasant distinctness another incident of a somewhat similardescription, in which it was a little brooch that figured and not anengagement ring, and the red lips he had stooped to were not those ofViolet Wayne. Tony could recall their tempting curve, and the gleam inthe dark eyes that met his own, as well as the little lodge garden thatwas very still and shady that drowsy afternoon. It was perhaps thememory of it which made him flick the horse viciously with the whip.Then he felt that his companion's eyes were fixed upon him.
"The brute is afraid of shadows," he said.
Violet turned her eyes on him, and there was a curious little smile inthem. "I wonder if the complaint is infectious. He goes steadily withme," she said. "Tony, you haven't the hands you had."
Tony flushed visibly, for the moonlight was on his face now they hadleft the copse behind, and he remembered what had passed between him andthe girl in a room at Northrop the night Godfrey Palliser died.
"Well," he said a trifle dryly, "if you are right it's due to worry,which, as everybody knows, never did agree with me. While agriculturalproperty brings in what it does just now, keeping everything straight atNorthrop isn't quite so easy as some folks seem to fancy."
"Still, the sale of that land to the electrical company and the groundrent you are getting from the other concern should simplify it," saidthe girl.
"You can't quite understand these affairs"; and Tony, who raised thewhip, let it drop again.
Violet once more looked at him steadily, and her voice was low as shesaid, "If they were explained to me I think I could, but we will letthat pass. What you said a little while ago reminds me of the weeks thatfollowed the night you put that ring on. You had more cause for anxiety--and yet we had no cares then."
"No," said Tony. "I will remember those weeks while I live. Nothingcould take them away from me."
"And now there is a difference! A little shadow that dims thebrightness. Tony, you feel it, too?"
The man, who did not answer, laid both hands on the reins, for, and herecognized the significance of it, they swung round a bend of the roadinto sight of Appleby's inheritance just then. A pile of harsh brickworkrose in front of them, jarring upon the harmonies of the night; therewas a ringing of hammers, and their eyes were dazzled by the glare of agreat light under which a swarm of bent black figures were toiling. Thehorse broke into a gallop, the dog-cart jolted furiously, and for fiveanxious minutes Tony, who set his lips, dragged at the reins. Then, asthe startled beast was forced into a trot again, he laughed petulantly.
"You are a little fanciful, Violet," he said. "I have not been quite upto my usual form lately, and singing at these confounded concertsworries me. Hester will keep me busy, too, and I shall scarcely get amoment near you."
Now Violet Wayne was seldom troubled by trifling jealousies, but she wasa little anxious about Tony, and watched him as she said, "Your dutiesseemed to consist in entertaining Miss Clavier on the last occasion!"
The color showed in Tony's forehead, but it was the vague apprehensionin his face that astonished his companion, who noticed the suddentightening of his fingers on the reins. Still, the only answer shecaught was an indistinct "Confound the woman!"
Violet made no comment, for she had noticed already that the anxietiesTony had evidently decided on concealing from her were affecting histemper, and when five minutes later they rattled up the Low Wood avenuethere was no longer any opportunity for questions. Tony had contrived toarrive just as the entertainment was commencing, and Hester Earlepromptly despatched him to the performers' room.
The long windows were wide open, and the soft night air flowed in withthe faint scent of flowers, and a murmur of voices from the speciallyinvited audience Miss Earle had bestowed in the tennis green, which wassunk a few feet on one side below the level of the sweep of lawn. Tenniswas not a game she was fond of, and she had pacified the gardener byplacing the chair legs on boards. Tony could see the shadowy mass ofhumanity showing black against a dazzling glare, for the big oxyhydrogenlights he had provided were then blazing in front of the proscenium,which had been extemporized on the verge of the higher level. The paththat led to it wound along the edge of a tall shrubbery where coloredlights blinked here and there amidst the dusky leaves.
He was never certain afterwards as to whom he talked with or what hesaid, though he surmised that his observations had not been especiallyapposite, for some of those about him appeared a trifle astonished, andtwo of them laughed. Tony was somewhat apt to lose his head when broughtface to face with a difficulty, and the fact that Lucy Davidson wassitting a few yards away disconcerted him. A glance at his programmeshowed him that she was to figure in two pieces of mimicry instead ofdancing, and she was dressed simply and tastefully, but while the roomwas crowded there were only two very young men in her vicinity, and thatfact with something in their laughter seemed to differentiate theircompanion from the rest of the company. Tony, however, fancied that theywere favored with scanty encouragement from the girl. She looked at himonce, but Tony turned his head away, and it was not until he was aboutto go out that he felt himself compelled to speak to her.
"The others will take a lead from you, and those young asses are onlymaking the thing more unpleasant for the girl," said a man he wastalking to.
Tony said nothing. He could think of no excuse, but remembering whatViolet had mentioned he shrank from the encounter. The good-naturedcommittee-man's meaning had been perfectly plain to him, and he knewthat he could save the girl the unpleasantness of being met with chillyaloofness or undue familiarity. His disposition was also a kindly one,and the decision that she must be left to fight her own battles causedhim a little flush of confusion. As it happened, she saw it, and aportentous sparkle showed in her dark eyes. Tony noticed this, andremembered that weak complaisance had once placed him under the thumb ofkeeper Davidson. He did not mean to repeat the blunder, and his fearsmade him slightly venomous.
"I think you have met Mr. Anthony Palliser already, Miss Clavier," saidhis companion.
Tony knew that every eye in the room was upon him, and that his wordswould not be lost, but he felt he could not afford to be gracious, andwhile he hesitated the girl rose up and made him a little curtsey withquiet ironical insolence.
"I have had the pleas
ure of meeting Mr. Palliser--once or twice," shesaid in a voice that was intended to reach the rest.
Tony stood still a moment fingering his watch chain, and looking down ather with something his masculine companion had never seen there beforein his face. It almost suggested vindictive cruelty, but he murmured aconventional word or two that was scarcely audible, and passed on withthe slightest of inclinations. There was also a little silence when hewent out, and the color faded a trifle in Miss Clavier's face, leavingher cheeks alone red, while a gleam that implied a good deal crept intoher eyes.
Tony, however, sang brilliantly when his turn came a few minutes later.He had at last made a decided stand, and felt a trifle exhilarated bythe novelty of it. Still, he was without stability, and it was muchagainst his wishes that, wandering about between the songs afterspending some time with Nettie Harding, he met Miss Clavier again. Hehad just seated himself upon the sloping bank of turf not far from thestage when he became aware that a seat above him was occupied, andglancing round at a sound saw the girl looking down on him. Then hewould have turned away, but she stopped him with a little derisivelaugh.
"Get up, Tony, and come and sit beside me," she said.
Tony rose, but noticing that one or two colored lights which hung fromthe branches of a copper beech above them rendered the seat visiblestood still.
"To be frank, I would sooner be excused," he said. "After the littleexhibition in the green-room it's a trifle difficult to understand whyyou want me."
"You deserved it! A word or two wouldn't have cost you anything, and Iwanted you to keep those boys away."
"One would have fancied that you were quite capable of fighting your ownbattles."
The girl made a curious little gesture. "I think you are taking thewrong way," she said. "Now I don't want very much from you to-night, butI don't like being left out in the cold. You see, I am not accustomed toit, and you could have made this evening a good deal pleasanter to me."
She, however, blundered when she said to-night. Tony's fears had madehim brutal, and it is the terror of the unknown that grows mostoppressive. He did not know what she wanted, and it had unfortunatelynever dawned on him that she might, after all, want very little, andhave had no hand in Davidson's scheme of extortion.
"Your meaning is tolerably plain, but I have been under the screw once,"he said. "Now, I don't wish to rake up anything that would be painful,but you know just as well as I do that if I posed as an old friend ofyours it would strengthen your hand. You will excuse me putting itplainly, but that is just what I don't intend to do."
A curious faint smile flickered into his companion's eyes. "It'sunfortunate you haven't a little more sense," she said. "When you shouldbe obstinate you are soft, and when a pleasant word or two would pay youwell you bully. Has it ever struck you that I mayn't be--what youevidently think I am--or have any designs on you?"
Tony still went the wrong way, for it seemed to him that a resoluteattitude would at least tend to moderate any claim the girl mightcontemplate making. "I don't think I ever worried about the question,"he said. "You see, it's necessary to be quite frank, and it reallywasn't of any importance to me."
"Well, I don't want to argue," and Miss Clavier laughed. "You told meyou were going to be married, but you didn't tell me who to. Of course,I could find out, but you should feel a little easier when you hear thatI haven't tried to."
Tony did not believe her, and she recognized it. "I was once driven toohard, but this time I'll fight," he said. "Anything you might feeltempted to do to annoy me would most certainly recoil upon yourself."
"That really isn't necessary, Tony. Well, one could make a guess. It isthe very pretty girl with the blue eyes I saw you talking to. AnAmerican, too. They're generally rich, and, of course, you must havemoney!"
Tony seized the opportunity of at least starting her on the wrong track."Money," he said chillingly, "would be a very small recommendation inMiss Harding's case."
"Yes," said his companion, "I daresay it would. She saw I was lonely,and I think meant to be kind, because she came up and spoke to me. Don'tyou think it's my duty to give her a hint after that?"
"I am not going to stay to be baited," and Tony slowly straightenedhimself. "I shall have pleasure in leaving you to your youthfuladmirers. I see them coming."
He swung round upon his heel, and Miss Clavier braced herself for aneffort, as the result of which the two condescending youths retreatedsomewhat precipitately with flushed faces. Then she did a thing thatwould have astonished Tony, for she leaned back in the garden seat andwith an abrupt movement passed her handkerchief across her eyes. It wasa moment or two later when, looking up at the sound of a footstep, shesaw Nettie Harding gravely regarding her, and to her vexation as well asastonishment felt the blood tingle in her cheeks.
"Yes," said Nettie quietly. "I heard what you told them. They deservedit, and you did it very well. Now, I've been talking about nothing formost of two hours, and this place seems nice and quiet. You don't mindmy sitting here with you a little?"
Nettie Harding's directness was usually assumed, because she found itconvenient in England when she had anything delicate to do, and MissClavier, who read sympathy in her face, was grateful to her. She alsohoped her companion would not notice the moisture on her long darklashes.
"I am paid for coming here, you understand?" she said. "I dance andmimic people on the stage."
"Of course!" said Nettie. "Well, my father once peddled oranges on thetrains; and they make quite a fuss over people who are on the stage inLondon, while I don't think many of them could have done that last pieceof yours half as cunningly. Anyway, I haven't laughed as much since I'vebeen in England. If you did it in New York you'd coin money."
She sat down smiling, and Miss Clavier regarded her out of half-closedeyes. There was nobody very near them, and only two dim colored lightsabove their heads. Somebody was singing, and a sweet tenor voice floatedaway into the stillness of the moonlit night. Miss Clavier glancedswiftly round into the shadows of the copper beech that fell blacklyathwart the seat.
"You like frankness in your country," she said. "Now I am, perhaps,going to offend you, but I don't mind if I do. I saw you talking a gooddeal to Mr. Tony Palliser at Darsley and here to-night."
Nettie contrived to hide her astonishment, but she felt that anotherthread was being placed in her hand.
"Well," she said, "American young women are permitted to talk to gilt-edge Englishmen, and even to marry them now and then. It really isn'tastonishing."
"No," said her companion. "Still, it would be a blunder for an Americangirl who hadn't seen many Englishmen to marry Tony Palliser."
Nettie felt a thrill of pleasurable excitement, and her little show ofanger was very well assumed.
"Are you quite sure you ought to talk to me like that?" she said.
"Yes. You will understand what I mean when I tell you that I was LucyDavidson. I fancied some of the people here would have recognized me,but it seems they haven't."
"Oh!" said Nettie sharply, and sat still, wondering what meaning she wasto attach to this since she had never heard of Lucy Davidson, until hercompanion leaned forward a trifle.
"I have told nobody else, but it was not Bernard Appleby who came tomeet me at Northrop lodge," she said.
Nettie's gasp of astonishment was perfectly genuine this time, forthough the story Appleby had told her had been very vague in respect tothe part played by Lucy Davidson she had been able to supply thedeficiencies in it, and she was sure of her companion now.
"And you let them think--how could you?" she said with flashing eyes.
Miss Clavier was evidently almost as astonished as her listener, but shehad committed herself.
"It was too late to do any good by speaking when I heard they suspectedhim--and I was just a little fond of Tony once," she said. "Of course, hewasn't worth it--he never was--and that's why I tried to warn you. Youmade me feel you wanted to be kind to me."
Nettie laughed a little, almost
scornfully. "Now, I don't know if thatwas nice of you. If you only meant to punish Mr. Palliser it wasn't."
Miss Clavier's face was faintly flushed all over now, but she regardedher companion steadily. "I don't quite know why I did it--but it wasn'taltogether to make Tony smart," she said. "It was, at least, a littlebecause I seemed to feel you were too good for him. Oh, I know I havedone a good deal of harm--and it's a change to do the other thing now andthen. I don't want Tony. Any one can have him and welcome--they'll get avery poor bargain, and I wouldn't like you to think I meant to pluckhim--though that would have been easy."
"No," said Nettie, "I did not think that of you. What did you mean to dowith him?"
"I don't know. To amuse myself by watching him wriggle, I think. It wasnice to feel I could frighten him horribly. If you had been like therest, and he had only shown me a little kindness, I fancy I would havelet him go. But he couldn't do the right thing if it would cost him atrifle--he hasn't it in him; and he made me believe you meant to marryhim."
"No," said Nettie, with a faint ring in her voice. "The man I'm going tomarry is worth--several hundred Tony Pallisers. Still, I'm glad you toldme, and you'll tell me the rest of the story."
Miss Clavier sat still for at least a minute, and then obeying animpulse told her tale. Her voice was also a little strained as she said,"Clavier was bad--bad all through--and he left me before he died inMelbourne; but though my father never knew it I was married to him allthe time. I found the--'Madame'--a disadvantage."
Then there was silence until a burst of applause greeted the conclusionof the song; and while the two sat in the shadows Nettie Harding laidher hand sympathetically on her companion's arm.