CHAPTER IX
APRIL DAYS
The terror never lifted now from the old house. There were days andweeks when nothing happened, but the garrison did not permit itself tobelieve that the unseen enemy had abandoned the unequal contest.
The old people were prepared for the end which they believed to beinevitable. A settled melancholy was upon them, and it was only whenthey were together that anything like a sense of security prevailed. Forthe moment they were safe--there was always safety in numbers.
But when they parted for the night they parted as comrades on the eve ofa bloody battle. They might meet again, but the chances were strongagainst it. For themselves they cared nothing; for the younger people,everything.
It was fortunate that the fine constitutions and strong nerves ofGeoffrey and Vera and Marion kept them going. A really imaginative manor woman would have been driven mad by the awful suspense. But Geoffreywas bright and sunny; he always felt that the truth would come to lightsome day. And his buoyant, sanguine nature reacted on the others.
Nearly a month had elapsed since the weird attempt on the life of RupertRavenspur; four weeks since Geoffrey's strange experience on the cliffs;and nothing had happened. The family had lapsed once more into theirordinary mode of living; blind Ralph was back again, feeling his wayabout the castle as usual, silent, moody, in the habit of gliding inupon people as a snake comes through the grass.
Ralph came into breakfast, creeping to his chair without touchinganything, dropping into it as if he had fallen from the clouds. Marion,next to him, shuddered. They were quite good friends, these two, butMarion was slightly afraid of her uncle. His secret ways repelled her;he had a way of talking with his sightless eyes upturned; he seemed tounderstand the unspoken thoughts of others.
"What is the matter?" he asked.
Marion laughed. None of the others had come down yet.
"What should be the matter?" she replied.
"Well, you shuddered. You should be sorry for me, my dear. Some of thesedays I mean to tell you the story of my life. Oh, yes, it will be astory--what a story! And you will never forget it as long as you live."
There was something uncanny in the words--a veiled threat, thesuggestion of one who had waited for a full revenge, with the knowledgethat the time would come. Yet the scarred face was without expression;the eyes were vacant.
"Won't you tell me now?" Marion asked softly. "I am so sorry for you?"
The sweet, thrilling sympathy would have moved a stone, but it had noeffect upon Ralph. He merely caressed Marion's slim fingers and smiled.It was significant of his extraordinary power that he found Marion'shand without feeling for it. He was given to touch those slim fingers.And yet he never allowed Marion to kiss him.
"All in good time," he said; "but not yet, not yet."
Before Marion could reply, Mrs. Gordon Ravenspur came into the room.Marion seemed to divine more than see that something had happened. Shejumped to her feet and crossed the room.
"Dear aunt," she said quickly. "What is it?"
"Vera," Mrs. Gordon replied. "She called me into her room just nowsaying she was feeling far from well. I had hardly got into her roombefore she fainted. I have never known Vera do such a thing before."
Ralph was sitting and drumming his fingers on the table as if thesubject had not the slightest interest for him. But, with the swiftnessof lightning, a strange, hard, cunning expression flashed across hisface and was gone. When Marion turned to him he had vanished also. Italmost seemed as if he had the gift of fernseed.
"A mere passing weakness," Marion said soothingly.
"I should like to think so," Mrs. Gordon replied. "In normalcircumstances I should think so. But not now; not now, Marion."
Marion sighed deeply. There were times when even she was oppressed.
"I'll go and see Vera," she said. "I am sure there is no cause foralarm."
Marion slipped rapidly away up the stone stairs and along the echoingcorridor toward Vera's room. She was smiling now, and she kissed herhand to the dead and gone Ravenspurs frowning upon her from the walls.Then she burst gaily into Vera's room.
"My dear child," she cried, "you really must not alarm us by----"
She paused suddenly. Vera, fully dressed, was seated in a chair, whilstRalph was by her side. He seemed more alive than usual; he had beensaying something to Vera that had brought the color to her face. AsMarion entered he grew grave and self-contained; like a snail retreatinginto its shell, Marion thought. He sat down and tattooed with hisfingers on the dressing-table.
"I had no idea you had company," Marion smiled.
"I intruded," Ralph said gravely. There was a sardonic inflection in hisvoice. "Yet I flatter myself that Vera is the better for my attention."
Marion looked swiftly from one to the other. She was puzzled. Almostflawless as she was, she had her minor weaknesses, or she had been lesscharming than he was, and she hated to be puzzled. Vera was no longerpale and all signs of languor had departed, yet she looked confused andthere was the trace of a blush on her cheeks.
"Sometimes I fancy that Uncle Ralph is laughing at us all," she said,with a laugh that was not altogether natural. "But I am all right now,dear Marion. Save for a racking headache, I am myself again."
Marion, solicitous for others always, flew for her smelling salts. Inthree strides Ralph was across the floor, and had closed the door behindher. His manner had instantly changed; he was full of energy and action.
"Take this," he whispered. "Take it and the cure will be complete. Crushit up between your teeth and drink a glass of water afterwards."
He forced a small white pellet between Vera's teeth; he heard her teethcrushing it. With his peculiar gift for finding things, he crossed overto the washstand and returned with a glass of water.
"You are better?" he asked, as Vera gulped the water down.
"Oh, yes, uncle; are you a wizard or what? My headache seems to havelifted from me as one takes off a hat. The stuff you gave me----"
"Say no more about it; think no more about it. But whenever the samefeeling comes over you again let me know at once. And you are not tomention this to anybody."
"But my mother and Geoffrey and----"
"Ah, you love Geoffrey? But there is no need to ask you the question.You want to rid the house of its nameless terror; you want to be free,to marry Geoffrey and be happy. Dear child, all these things will comeif you listen to me. I swear it. And now will you promise me that youwill say nothing of this to a soul?"
"Dear uncle, I promise."
Ralph had grown cold and moody again. When Marion returned with hersalts he slipped out of the room as callously as if he were not in theleast interested And while many anxious eyes followed Vera at breakfasttime, Ralph alone was indifferent, brutally indifferent, Marion thought.
"Are you thinking of the same thing that we are?" she asked.
"No," Ralph said shortly. "I was thinking what poor bacon this is."