CHAPTER XXIV
When Derrick left the wood--and how loath he was to leave it, forCelia's presence seemed still to haunt it!--and returned to the inn, hefound Reggie still with his writing-pad on his knee. He glanced up, asDerrick sank into the seat beside him, and said drily,
"You look almost offensively happy, Green. I need not ask you if I am tocongratulate you."
"Congratulate away," said Derrick, with so obvious an expression ofsatisfaction that Reggie nodded and smiled. "Have you been working allthe time?"
"No," replied Reggie. "There has been an interlude. I have been for awalk. Green, did you ever meet an angel?"
"I have just left one," said Derrick, almost involuntarily.
"I beg your pardon. I forgot that there were two in this wicked oldworld of ours. Well, I've just parted from the other one. She waswalking, with her wings folded, and a basket in her hand. It was heavy;and, after a time, I plucked up sufficient courage to ask her to let metake it. She would have refused, but the child she was carrying on herother arm was not very comfortable."
"There is a child?" said Derrick, with a smile. "I thought you hadembarked on a love-story."
"There is a child," assented Reggie, gravely. "And it _is_ alove-story," he added, still more gravely. "But the love is all on myside--at present."
"Oh, I see; a widow," said Derrick, not by any means lightly; for, toyour lover, love is a sacred subject, and he is full of subtle sympathyfor his kind.
"Very much a widow," said Reggie, with a touch of bitterness, andlooking straight before him. "She not only permitted me, after muchpressure, to carry the basket, but she allowed me to speak to her. Shesaid very little to me--angels are not obliged to talk, you know; it isquite sufficient for them to exist. I carried the basket to thecottage," he went on in a low voice and dreamily, "and she said, 'Thankyou.' When an angel says 'thank you'--But no doubt you have heard onerepeat the simple, magic word and know its effect on you. To-morrow Ishall be on the road at the same time, and, if Heaven is very kind tome, I shall meet her, and again she will be carrying a basket. You thinkI am very confiding, Green. Well, I feel that I've got to tell someone;just as you feel that you want to tell me about your angel."
Derrick smiled, and coloured.
"There's something weird about you, Rex," he said. "You'll be a greatsuccess as a novelist; you know human nature. Yes--it's strange!--I'mlonging to tell someone of the great happiness that has fallen to me."
"Tell away," said Rex. "Of course, I saw, the moment you came in sight,that it was all right. You walked as if you were treading on asphodel,and you carried your head as if you'd bought the whole world. I'm veryglad." He sighed and shook his head. "Yes, I'm glad, though I love hermyself--in a way. But I'm going to be a brother to her, andtherefore--if you'll permit me--to you, too. I hope you have made hervery happy."
"I hope so," responded Derrick; "and I hope to make her happy all herlife."
"You'll be married soon, I suppose?"
"Yes, if Celia will consent," replied Derrick, looking before him as ifhe saw a vista of ecstatic years stretching into infinity. "I will marryher as soon as she will have me, and I will take her to South America,where I have work--and friends," he added, as he remembered DonnaElvira.
"Of course, she'll go with you anywhere," said Reggie. "You're a luckyman, Green! But I'm sorry you're going so far away. I shall lose youboth. You see, I include your honoured self, because, as I have said, Ihave already a sneaking fondness for you. May one, without being toointrusive, ask if it is necessary for you to leave your native land?"
"It is," said Derrick, quietly. "I've no place, no foothold here--andthere are other reasons with which I needn't bother you."
"Oh, you wouldn't bother me; but I'm not curious. Or, rather, I am, butfriendship sets a limit to my curiosity. Well, I must be going. I am tomake an after-dinner call, by invitation, on a lady. Literally alady--Lady Gridborough." Derrick turned his head sharply, and Reggie,noticing the movement, asked blandly, "Know her?"
"I've heard of her," answered Derrick, shortly.
"Delightful old lady," observed Reggie. "As she is a great friend ofMiss Grant's, you'll come to know her, of course. She is very kind to meand asks me up to the Grange, that's her place, to smoke a cigarettewhen I've done my work; indeed, whenever I care to go. Sometimes wetalk, sometimes I wander about the garden. She regards me as somethingbetween an orphan child and a freak of nature; to her, an author is akind of imbecile which is to be humoured and cossetted. Well, so long!Shall I tell you what you'll do for the rest of the evening? Yes, I willtell you, whether you want me to do so or not. You will sit here andmoon----"
Derrick reached for Reggie's empty tumbler and made a feint of throwingit at him, and Reggie went off, laughing.
If he did not sit in the same place all the evening, certainly Derrick"mooned," as Reggie had prophesied. The mention of Lady Gridborough hadrecalled the past, when he had been a favoured friend of the old lady's.He knew that she thought him guilty of wronging Susie Morton; it wasjust possible that she had heard of the forged cheque. He bit his lipwith mortification and a dull anger, as the desire rose in him to go upto the Grange and clear himself. But he could only do so by breaking thepromise he had given to Heyton, by ruining Miriam's happiness.
He had suffered so much already for the sacrifice he had made, that itseemed to him an absolute waste of it to divulge the truth. Once again,there was Miriam, whose life would be wrecked if her husband wereexposed. He must still remain silent, still bear the burden which he hadtaken upon his shoulders. Fortunately, there was a chance that he mightpersuade Celia to marry him very soon; they would leave England and thepast behind them. She trusted him, would still continue to trust him;and some day, not to-morrow, as he had decided to do, he would tell hereverything.
Long before ten o'clock the next morning, he was in the wood; and, asthe clock struck, Celia came towards him. As he held her in his arms,indeed, at the very first sight of her, all his doubts and difficultiesfled. At first they spoke but little; for there is no need for speechwhere perfect love exists. But presently, perhaps unconsciously, Celialed him to talk of his adventures; she had heard many of them yesterday,but she wanted to hear all again; she was insatiable. Every person hehad met interested her.
"I seem to know them all," she said; "you describe them so beautifullyto me. I should like to meet that funny old Mr. Bloxford and the circuspeople; but, much more than any of the others, the lady, Donna Elvira,who was so kind to you. I love her already!"
Derrick was silent for a moment; then he said:
"You shall meet her soon, if you will, dearest. Don't be startled,Celia. I'm going to ask you to do something, a great thing. I am goingto ask you to marry me soon, at once. I want you to come back with me."
They had been walking slowly through the wood amongst the trees, his armround her; she stopped, the blood suffused her face, then she turnedpale. She was silent for a moment or two as he looked down at heryearningly, anxiously; then she said in a low voice,
"I will, if you wish it."
He drew her to him, and kissed her passionately, gratefully.
"You will, Celia?" he said, astonished at her goodness to him.
"Yes," she said, simply. "Does it seem so great a thing? No, don'tanswer. I feel mean; for, dearest, I'm only too ready. Oh, it's no usemy trying to conceal my love. Think of the time we have been parted, allthe months I've been thinking of and longing for you! Why should Irefuse to marry you, now, this minute, if I could?"
He was silent, as she lay on his breast, her face upturned to his, hereyes, glowing with woman's tender passion and woman's glad surrender,meeting his fearlessly and yet with a little pleading in them, as if shewere begging him not to think her immodest.
"I'm not worth such love as yours," said Derrick, his lips drawnstraight. "I'm overwhelmed by it. You're too good for me to touch,dearest--and you're going to marry me, to be my wife!"
She laughed at him softly. "Don't put
me on too high a pedestal," shesaid. "I shall tumble off some day and the fall will be so great. I'mjust an ordinary girl, whose only merit is that she loves the best, thedearest man in the world. Such a lucky girl, dear!"
"All right," he said, with a laugh that was rather broken. "We'll leaveit at that; it's too wild an assertion to contradict. Though the luck'sall on my side, God knows. Now, let me think--it's hard to think whenI'm holding you like this, when my heart's jumping and something'sshouting in my ear, 'She's going to be your wife. Your wife!' I don'tknow much about the business of being married--I've never been marriedbefore, you see--but I fancy it's possible to get a special licence. Idon't know how you manage it; but I'll find out. Oh, by George! I'll askour friend, Reggie Rex; he appears to know everything, the human heartincluded. Dearest, I hope you won't mind: I told him about--ourselves,our happiness, last night. Not that it was necessary to tell him, for,with that weird penetration, acuteness, of his, he guessed it the momenthe saw me, when I came back from you."
"I don't mind his knowing," said Celia. "I don't mind anyone knowing;I'm so proud, so happy!"
Derrick bit his lip and was silent for a moment; then he saidreluctantly, hesitatingly,
"Celia, will you mind if I ask you, if I tell you that--that there arereasons why I want our engagement, our coming marriage, to be keptsecret. Secret between us three."
She looked up at him with slight surprise in her eyes; then she said,after a momentary pause,
"I do not mind. I am sure there are good reasons----"
"Which I'd tell you, I want to tell you," he broke in, frowning; "but Ican't. It's a question of honour----"
She put her hand on his lips. "There's no need to say any more. I don'twant you to tell me. If it would help you, I will tell you that I guessit is something to do with that--that trouble which brought us togetherand separated us."
Derrick nodded.
"I understand," she said. "Dearest, shall we come to an agreement aboutall this? Shall we agree to forget it, to treat it as if it had neverhappened?" She pressed his arm and, of her own accord, drew closer tohim. "Let us pretend that you and I met in the wood yesterday, for thefirst time."
"Would to God we had!" he broke out; then he went on, quickly,remorsefully, "No, no, I wouldn't lose that night, our first meeting, in'the Jail.' That's far too precious a memory, Celia. It was then I fellin love with you, that you wiped out the past, that you gave me backlife itself. No, I can't lose that. But we'll forget everythingelse--for the present, at any rate. Now, let's talk about our--wedding.I'll get Reggie Rex to help us, and we'll be married as soon as we can.I shall have done my business in London in a very short time, and we'llstart for the ranch as soon as possible. The country is very beautiful,the house, the whole place, is charming; you will like the life----"
She smiled up at him. "Yes, I know. But, Sydney, don't you know that Ishould like any place, if I lived in it, with you?"
Unconsciously, they had left the wood and were now standing by the gateon the roadway. It was all so still and solitary that they stood, handin hand, looking at each other and lost to everything else in the world;they were so lost that they did not hear the sound of a carriage cominground the bend of the road; and Lady Gridborough's jingle was upon thembefore they had time to escape. In the little carriage were her ladyshipand Reggie Rex. Celia was the first to see them, and with a faintexclamation and a burning blush, she gripped Derrick's hand, and lookedround as if to fly into hiding. But they were standing in a littleclearing, and there was no time to get back to the woods. As the jinglecame up to them, Lady Gridborough put up her lorgnette and surveyedthem,
"Why, bless me!" she said. "That looks like Celia Grant. It is! Who isthat with her? Celia!" she called. "Celia!"
Then suddenly her voice faltered, the hand that held the lorgnetteshook, her face seemed to stiffen and, in a low voice, she said toReggie, who had pulled up Turk,
"Drive on! Drive on quickly!"
"Certainly," said Reggie, who had raised his hat to the pair, and wasregarding them with a benedictory smile. "But what's the matter?"
"I--I know that young man," said Lady Gridborough. "What is Celia doingwith him? She doesn't know----"
"Doesn't know what?" asked Reggie, as he persuaded Turk to resume hisamble.
"That he's a very wicked young man; that he has no right to be in hercompany, to be standing there with her, all alone. Yes; he's a verywicked, unprincipled young fellow."
"Hold on, Lady Gridborough!" said Reggie, blandly. "I must tell you thatyou're abusing a friend of mine."
"A friend of yours!" said Lady Gridborough. "Well, he was a friend ofmine once." She sighed. "He is one no longer; and, if you take myadvice, you will have nothing more to do with him."
"There is no person on earth whose advice I value more highly thanyours, Lady Gridborough," said Reggie, as blandly as before; "and inmost matters, I should accept it and follow it without hesitation; but,in this matter of my friend, Mr. Sydney Green----"
"Mr. Sydney--what?" broke in the old lady, evidently much agitated. "Oh,an alias, of course; yes, I'm not surprised that he should be ashamed ofhis own name. But, Celia, Celia Grant--oh, it is too sad! I must tellher, warn her."
"My dear Lady Gridborough," said Reggie, smoothly, "I'm going to ask youa great favour."
"What is it?" said Lady Gridborough, glancing over her shoulder atDerrick and Celia in a half-fearsome way. "I can't think of anythingelse but that young man and--and Celia Grant. Such a dear, sweet girl!"
"My favours concerns both the wicked young man and the dear, sweetgirl," said Reggie. "I am going to ask you to refrain from uttering yourwarning; for two reasons. First, because Miss Grant is in love with him,and wouldn't listen to you--and wouldn't believe you, if she did listento you; and secondly because, if I may use a vulgarism quite unfit foryour aristocratic ears, you will upset the apple-cart."
"Apple-cart!" echoed Lady Gridborough, looking round confusedly. "Whatapple-cart? I thought for the moment we were going to run intosomething! You mean that you want me not to speak to Celia, to tell herwhat I know about your precious--Mr. Sydney Black?"
"Green," corrected Reggie, suavely. "Yes, that's what I want, LadyGridborough; and I shall be eternally grateful, if you will consent toperform that operation which has hitherto been considered an impossibleone to your sex."
"Operation!" repeated Lady Gridborough, staring at him. "What are youtalking about now? What operation?"
"Holding your tongue, dear Lady Gridborough," said Reggie. "Though notfatal, it is always painful; but you really must perform it on thisoccasion--for Miss Grant's sake, to say nothing of mine."
As the jingle drove on, Derrick and Celia stood watching it in silence.She had seen the sudden change in Lady Gridborough's manner at sight ofDerrick; the old lady's agitation had been too obvious, the cut had beentoo direct, to be mistaken. Celia's heart ached for her lover, and shecould not bring herself to look up at him; but her hand stole into hisand grasped it with loving pity and sympathy.
"You see!" said Derrick, with a touch of bitterness. "The man you aregoing to marry is an outcast and pariah, Celia. That old lady was once afriend. I was fond of her, am fond of her still, and she, I think, wasfond of me; but you see how she regards me now. How can I ask you tomarry me! I'll give you back your promise, Celia."
"Generous offer refused without thanks," said Celia, trying to speaklightly; then her voice grew grave and sweet, as she said, in a lowvoice, "Do you think it would make any difference to me if a hundredLady Gridboroughs, if all the world, turned their backs on you? She doesnot know what I know; that you are innocent, that you sacrificedyourself, are still sacrificing yourself, for another person?"
"You're speaking about the forged cheque," said Derrick, moodily. "Butthere's something else. See here, dearest--God bless you for those sweetwords, for your trust in me!--but there's something else. It was notbecause of the cheque that Lady Gridborough cut me just now--I'm notsure that she knows anything about it
--but for something else she thinksme guilty of; something worse than forgery, something unutterably meanand base--Oh, I've got to tell you!"
"Not now," said Celia, resolutely. "If you were to tell me now, I shouldfeel that you think Lady Gridborough's conduct had forced you to do it;and I want you to tell me, if ever you do so, of your own free will."She paused, then she put her hands on his shoulder and looked up at him,with all her soul in her eyes. "Dearest, don't you know that it is a joyto me to feel that I am trusting you, that I am proving my love for you?Oh, let it go at that"--how soon she had caught his phrases! "And nowcome back a little way through the woods with me. And try to forget LadyGridborough. Why, sir," she went on, with a tender, bewitchingplayfulness, though her eyes were moist, "you ought not to be thinkingof any lady, old or young, but me."
When Derrick got back to the inn, he found Reggie at work on hismasterpiece.
"Put that away for a minute or two, Rex," he said. "I want to talk toyou. Do you know how to get married?"
"You catch your bride and bridegroom, dress them carefully, place themin a church, add a parson and mix slowly and carefully. There is alsoanother way, much more expeditious and less trouble. You obtain a fresh,fair-sized special licence----"
"That's it," said Derrick, nodding. "Be serious, Rex, if you can. I wantto know all about it."
"Quite so. And you've come to the right shop," said Reggie. "A novelistknows everything, or what's the use of him! I'll tell you all about it.And so you're going to marry your true love out of hand?" he said, whenhe had imparted the required information. "I don't blame you. If myangel would consent to marry me, I'd marry her the first available day,hour, instant. But why this haste on your part? I should have thoughtMiss Grant would have stipulated for the usual fuss and flare-up,bridesmaids, wedding cake, speeches, reception, et cetera."
"She ought to have them all," said Derrick, with a sigh. "But there arereasons why we should be married at once."
"One angel the less in England," said Reggie, with a sigh. "Well, youleave it all to me. I'll fix it for you, as the Americans say. By theway, do you know my friend, Lady Gridborough?"
"I did, but I don't," said Derrick, shortly. "At least, she doesn't knowme now--as you saw. No, I can't tell you. Confound it all, I'm like aman in a beastly novel, a man 'with a secret,' a mystery."
"'Beastly novel!' I forgive you the blasphemy," said Reggie, "because Itreasure you. A real live man with a secret is more precious than rubiesin the eyes of a novelist. There, go in and get something to eat, if youcan eat; I couldn't, if I were going to marry Celia Grant."
"And I can't--eat, I mean," said Derrick, and with something between alaugh and a sigh he rose and went into the inn.