CHAPTER XXXII
THE TWO WORLDS
Two days and nights crept slowly into the past, and now the white peopleof the chateau had come to the eve of their last day's stay on theisland of Japat: the probationary period would expire with the sun onthe following day, the anniversary of the death of Taswell Skaggs. Thesix months set aside by the testator as sufficient for all therequirements of Cupid were to come to an inglorious end at seven o'clockon March 29th. According to the will, if Agnes Ruthven and Robert Brownewere not married to each other before the close of that day all of theirrights in the estate were lost to them.
To-morrow would be the last day of residence required, but, alack! Wasit to be the last that they were to spend in the world-forsaken land? Asthey sat and stared gloomily at the spotless sea there was not a singleoptimist among them who felt that the end was near. Not a few wereconvincing themselves that their last days literally would be spent onthe island.
No later than that morning a steamer--a small Dutch freighter--had cometo a stop off the harbour. But it turned tail and fled within an hour.No one came ashore; the malevolent tug went out and turned back thelanding party which was ready to leave the ship's side. The watchers inthe chateau knew what it was that the tug's captain shouted through histrumpet at a safe distance from the steamer. Through their glasses theysaw the boat's crew scramble back to the deck of the freighter; theaction told the story plainer than words.
The black and yellow flags at the end of the company's pier lent colourto a grewsome story!
The hopeless look deepened in the eyes of the watchers. They saw thesteamer move out to sea and then scuttle away as if pursued by demons.
Hollingsworth Chase alone maintained a stubborn air of confidence andunconcern. He may not have felt as he looked, but something in hismanner, assumed or real, kept the fires of hope alight in the breasts ofall the others.
"Don't be downhearted, Bowles," he said to the moping British agent."You'll soon be managing the bank again and patronising the American barwith the same old regularity."
"My word, Mr. Chase," groaned Bowles, "how can you say a thing likethat? I daresay they've blown the bank to Jericho by this time. Besides,there won't be an American bar. And, moreover, I don't intend to stay aminute longer than I have to on the beastly island. This taste of theold high life has spoiled me for everything else. I'm going back toLondon and sit on the banks of the Serpentine until it goes dry. Stayhere? I should rather say not."
There had been several vicious assaults upon the gates by the infuriatedislanders during the day following the rescue of the heirs. Their rageand disappointment knew no bounds. For hours they acted like madmen;only the most determined resistance drove them back from the gates. Somepowerful influence suddenly exerted itself to restore them to a state ofcalmness. They abruptly gave up the fruitless, insensate attacks uponthe walls and withdrew to the town, apparently defeated. The cause wasobvious: Rasula had convinced them that Death already was lifting hishand to blot out the lives of those who opposed them.
Bobby Browne was accomplishing wonders in the laboratory. He seldom wasseen outside the distilling room; his assiduity was marked, if notcommented upon. Hour after hour he stood watch over the water that wentup in vapour and returned to the crystal liquid that was more preciousthan rubies and sapphires. He was redeeming himself, just as he wasredeeming the water from the poison that had made it useless. Heexperimented with lizards: the water as it came from the springs broughtquick death to the little reptiles. The fishes in the aquarium diedbefore it occurred to any one to remove them from the noxious water.
Drusilla kept close to his side during all of these operations. Sheseemed afraid or ashamed to join the others; she avoided Lady Deppinghamas completely as possible. Her effort to be friendly when they werethrown together was almost pitiable.
As for Lady Agnes, she seemed stricken by an unconquerable lassitude;the spirits that had controlled her voice, her look, her movements, weresadly missing. It was with a most transparent effort that she managed toinfuse life into her conversation. There were times when she stoodstaring out over the sea with unseeing eyes, and one knew that she wasnot thinking of the ocean. More than once Genevra had caught herwatching Deppingham with eyes that spoke volumes, though they were muteand wistful.
From time to time the sentinels brought to Lord Deppingham and Chasemissives that had been tossed over the walls by the emissaries ofRasula. They were written by the leader himself and in every instanceexpressed the deepest sympathy for the plague-ridden chateau. It wasevident that Rasula believed that the occupants were slowly but surelydying, and that it was but a question of a few days until the placewould become a charnel-house. With atavic cunning he sat upon theoutside and waited for the triumph of death.
"There's a paucity of real news in these gentle messages that annoysme," Chase said, after reading aloud the last of the epistles to thePrincess and the Deppinghams. "I rejoice in my heart that he isn't awareof the true state of affairs. He doesn't appreciate the real calamitythat confronts us. The Plague? Poison? Mere piffle. If he only knew thatI am now smoking my last--_the_ last cigarette on the place!" There wassomething so inconceivably droll in the lamentation that his hearerslaughed despite their uneasiness.
"I believe you would die more certainly from lack of cigarettes thanfrom an over-abundance of poison," said Genevra. She was thinking of thestock she had hoarded up for him in her dressing-table drawer, underlock and key. It occurred to her that she could have no end ofhousewifely thrills if she doled them out to him in niggardlyquantities, at stated times, instead of turning them over to him inprofligate abundance.
"I'm sure I don't know," he said, taking a short inhalation. "I've neverhad the poison habit."
"I say, Chase, can't you just see Rasula's face when he learns thatwe've been drinking the water all along and haven't passed away?" criedDeppingham, brightening considerably in contemplation of the enemy'sdisgust.
"And to think, Mr. Chase, we once called you 'the Enemy,'" said LadyAgnes in a low, dreamy voice. There was a far-away look in her eyes.
"I appear to have outlived my usefulness in that respect," he said. Hetossed the stub of his cigarette over the balcony rail. "Good-bye!" hesaid, with melancholy emphasis. Then he bent an inquiring look upon theface of the Princess.
"Yes," she said, as if he had asked the question aloud. "You shall havethree a day, that's all."
"You'll leave the entire fortune to me when you sail away, I trust," hesaid. The Deppinghams were puzzled.
"But you also will be sailing away," she argued.
"I? You forget that I have had no orders to return. Sir John expects meto stay. At least, so I've heard in a roundabout way."
"You don't mean to say, Chase, that you'll stay on this demmed Island ifthe chance comes to get away," demanded Lord Deppingham earnestly. Thetwo women were looking at him in amazement.
"Why not? I'm an ally, not a deserter."
"You are a madman!" cried Lady Agnes. "Stay here? They would kill you ina jiffy. Absurd!"
"Not after they've had another good long look at my warships. LadyDeppingham," he replied, with a most reassuring smile.
"Good Lord, Chase, you're not clinging to that corpse-candle straw, areyou?" cried his lordship, beginning to pace the floor. "Don't be a fool!We can't leave you here to the mercy of these brutes. What's more, wewon't!"
"My dear fellow," said Chase ruefully, "we are talking as though theship had already dropped anchor out there. The chances are that we willhave ample time to discuss the ethics of my rather anomalous positionbefore we say good-bye to each other. I think I'll take a stroll alongthe wall before turning in."
He arose and leisurely started to go indoors. The Princess called tohim, and he paused.
"Wait," she said, coming up to him. They walked down the hallwaytogether. "I will run upstairs and unlock the treasure chest. I do nottrust even my maid. You shall have two to-night--no more."
"You've really saved them for
me?" he queried, a note of eagerness inhis voice. "All these days?"
"I have been your miser," she said lightly, and then ran lightly up thestairs.
He looked after her until she disappeared at the top with a quick, shyglance over her shoulder. Then he permitted his spirits to drop suddenlyfrom the altitude to which he had driven them. An expression of utterdejection came into his face; a haggard look replaced the buoyant smile.
"God, how I love her--how I love her!" he groaned, half aloud.
She was coming down the stairs now, eager, flushed, more abashed thanshe would have had him know. Without a word she placed the twocigarettes in his outstretched palm. Her eyes were shining.
In silence he clasped her hand and led her unresisting through thewindow and out upon the broad gallery. She was returning the fervidpressure of his fingers, warm and electric. They crossed slowly to therail. Two chairs stood close together. They sat down, side by side. Thepower of speech seemed to have left them altogether.
He laid the two cigarettes on the broad stone rail. She followed themovement with perturbed eyes, and then leaned forward and placed herelbows on the rail. With her chin in her hands, she looked out over thesombre park, her heart beating violently. After a long time she heardhim saying hoarsely:
"If the ship should come to-morrow, you would go out of my life? Youwould go away and leave me here--"
"No, no!" she cried, turning upon him suddenly. "You _could_ not stayhere. You shall not!"
"But, dearest love, I am bound to stay--I cannot go And, God help me, Iwant to stay. If I could go into your world and take you unto myselfforever--if you will tell me now that some day you may forget your worldand come to live in mine--then, ah, then, it would be different! Butwithout you I have no choice of abiding place. Here, as well asanywhere."
She put her hands over her eyes.
"I cannot bear the thought of--of leaving you behind--of leaving youhere to die at the hands of those beasts down there. Hollingsworth, Iimplore you--come! If the opportunity comes--and it will, I know--youwill leave the island with the rest of us?"
"Not unless I am commanded to do so by the man who sent me here to servethese beasts, as you call them."
"They do not want you! They are your enemies!"
"Time will tell," he said sententiously. He leaned over and took herhand in his. "You do love me?"
"You know I do--yes, yes!" she cried from her heart, keeping her faceresolutely turned away from him. "I am sick with love for you. Whyshould I deny the thing that speaks so loudly for itself--my heart!Listen! Can you not hear it beating? It is hurting me--yes, it ishurting me!"
He trembled at this exhibition of released, unchecked passion, and yethe did not clasp her in his arms.
"Will you come into my world, Genevra?" he whispered. "All my life wouldbe spent in guarding the love you would give to me--all my life given tomaking you love me more and more until there will be no other world foryou to think of."
"I wish that I had not been born," she sobbed. "I cannot, dearest--Icannot change the laws of fate. I am fated--I am doomed to live foreverin the dreary world of my fathers. But how can I give you up? How can Igive up your love? How can I cast you out of my life?"
"You do not love Prince Karl?"
"How can you ask?" she cried fiercely. "Am I not loving you with all myheart and soul?"
"And you would leave me behind if the ship should come?" he persisted,with cruel insistence. "You will go back and marry that--him? Loving me,you will marry him?" Her head dropped upon her arm. He turned cold asdeath. "God help and God pity you, my love. I never knew before whatyour little world means to you. I give you up to it. I crawl back intothe one you look down upon with scorn. I shall not again ask you todescend to the world where love is."
Her hand lay limp in his. They stared bleakly out into the night and noword was spoken.
The minutes became an hour, and yet they sat there with set faces,bursting hearts, unseeing eyes.
Below them in the shadows, Bobby Browne was pacing the embankment, hiswife drawn close to his side. Three men, Britt, Saunders and Bowles,were smoking their pipes on the edge of the terrace. Their words came upto the two in the gallery.
"If I have to die to-morrow," Saunders, the bridegroom, was saying, withreal feeling in his voice, "I should say, with all my heart, that mylife has been less than a week long. The rest of it was nothing. I neverwas happy before--and happiness is everything."