freemasonry, a certain sort of easy relations.And once in the course of the evening he was sure that he heard theyoung man, in the course of a whispered conversation, address her by herChristian name. They had been sitting together on the Chesterfield, andtheir remarks to each other had been addressed in a very low tone. ButHugh's hearing was wonderfully acute, and he had surprised a suddenexpression of rebuke in Miss Burton's eyes when Pomfret made the slip.
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And here, for a moment, this story must leave Hugh Murchison with hishonest doubts and suspicions, while it follows the fortunes of his youngfriend and the attractive Norah Burton.
For, truth to tell, at this particular juncture, young Pomfret, for allhis apparent guilelessness, was pursuing a double game. Madly,overwhelmingly, in love with Norah, he was meeting her clandestinely,sometimes at her own house, sometimes in sequestered spots in thesurrounding neighbourhood. And of these visits and meetings Hugh knewnothing.
Pomfret was not free from a few pangs of self-reproach, from the factthat he was not running quite straight with good old Hugh, to whom hehad always, hitherto, confessed all his difficulties and troubles.
But then Hugh, although one of the best, was such a practical old stick.And if he told him the whole truth, there was no knowing what courseHugh might not think it was his duty to take. He might write to hisfamily and bring them down in an avalanche on him, or even to theoctogenarian aunt.
Love taught him deep cunning, and what he lacked in this subtle qualitywas ably supplemented by Miss Burton, this young girl with the rathersad expression, and the candid eyes that always met your gazeunfalteringly.
From the first clandestine meeting, arranged in whispers on the night ofthe dinner at Rosemount, Pomfret had made the running very fast. He hadgiven Norah to understand that he thought her the most desirable girl hehad ever met, that no other woman had appealed, would or could appeal,to him as she did. There was a good drop of Irish blood in his ownveins, and he certainly made a most fervent lover.
Norah listened with a modest bashfulness that enchanted him. He wassure from her demeanour that she had never been made love to before.She seemed so overwhelmed that she could hardly say a word. If one werenot so much in love, one might almost have thought she was stupid.
She was not so stupid, however, as not to preserve her wits sufficientlyto make another appointment, this time at Rosemount. Pomfret consentedgladly, but he made a certain stipulation, which his companion was morethan pleased to agree to.
"We mustn't let old Hugh know about this, though, or he'll think he'sleft out in the cold. You see, it was really through him I knew you.You must tell your brother not to let it out."
Miss Burton promised that, so far as she and her brother were concerned,Captain Murchison would be none the wiser. It only remained for MrPomfret--although entreated to do so, she could not at this early stageaddress him as "Jack"--to surround his movements with a proper degree ofmystery.
When the two parted, and the meeting had been rather a brief one, for itwas always a little dangerous lingering long about the environs ofBlankfield, in case of unexpected intruders, Miss Burton made asignificant remark.
"I am quite sure your friend Captain Murchison does not like me. Infact, I think his real feeling is one of dislike."
Mr Pomfret was young enough to blush; he did so upon this occasion. Heguessed the real truth, that Murchison did not dislike her at all, onthe contrary, he rather admired her--but he had a certain distrust ofher.
"Fancy on your part, fancy, I'm quite sure," he answered glibly. "Iexpect he is a little bit sore, you know, about the whole thing, thinksI have cut him out with you."
"Perhaps," assented Norah, easily. But in her own heart she knew it wasnothing of the kind. She recognised at once the difference between thetwo men. Murchison was a thorough gentleman, kind and chivalrous, buthe was a man of the world, with a certain hard strain in him, a man whowould submit everything to the test of cold, practical reasoning, not tobe hoodwinked or led astray.
This poor babbling boy, with his unrestrained impulses, that Celticleaven in his blood, would fall an easy prey to any woman who was cleverenough to cast her spells over him. He would never reason, he wouldonly feel.
After that first meeting, the precursor of many others, the affairprogressed briskly. Pomfret made love with great ardour, Norah receivedhis advances with a shy sort of acquiescence that inflamed him the more.He was sure, oh very sure, he was the first who had touched thatinnocent heart.
From these delightful confidences Murchison was shut out. It would notbe wise to ignore him altogether, for such a course of action would haveintensified his suspicions. But the invitations to Rosemount fromeither host or hostess were few and far between.
He was not, however, so easily gulled as the three conspirators thought.Pomfret's preoccupied mood, the air of a man who had much on his mind,his frequent and unexplained absences, gave to his friend much food forthought. He felt certain that the easy-going, irresponsible young manwas entangling himself. But in such a state of affairs he feltpowerless. Short of invoking the influence of the Colonel, or writingto the elderly aunt, he could do nothing.
It cannot be said that the course of true love was running verysmoothly, even from the point of view of the ardent and enamoured suitorhimself. In spite of his impulsive temperament, his disinclination tolook hard facts squarely in the face, there was in him a slight leavenof common-sense.
Save for the bounty and goodwill of this generous, if somewhatnarrow-minded, aunt he was an absolute pauper. There was no hope ofmarrying without her consent. And he was quite sure that in a case likethis her consent would never be given. A _fiancee_, to be received byher with approval, must present some sort of credentials.
And there was the difficulty. Poor Jack had exhausted all his simplecunning to extract from them some convincing details of theirantecedents. But even he, infatuated as he was, had to admit that theyhad parried inquiries with great adroitness. They maintained apersistent reticence as to names and places. Even he was forced toconclude that, for some reason or another, they did not choose to befrank about their past.
These obvious facts, however, did not lessen his infatuation. To marryher was the one dominating object of his life, in spite of all that hisfew remaining remnants of common-sense could urge against such a step.
More than once the rash idea occurred to him that he would marry her insecret, and when the marriage was an accomplished fact, throw himselfupon his aunt's forgiveness.
He mooted the idea to Norah, to whom, of course, he had already made afrank statement of his position, as befitted the honourable gentleman hewas. But she did not receive the suggestion with enthusiasm, althoughshe professed to fully reciprocate his ardent affection.
"If I were a selfish girl, and only thought of my immediate happiness, Ishould say `Yes,'" she said with a little tremulous smile, that made herlook more desirable than ever in her lover's eyes. "But I could notallow _you_ to run such a terrible risk. Old people are very strangeand very touchy when they think they have been slighted. Suppose shecast you off."
"I suppose I could work, as thousands have to do," replied Jack, with atouch of his old doggedness.
She shook her head. "My poor Jack! It is easy to talk of working, butyou have got to find an employer. And you have been brought up to anidle life. What could you turn your hand to?" She paused a moment, andthen added as an after-thought: "And besides, my brother would neversanction it."
Even to Pomfret's slow revolving mind, the worldly taint in her justpeeped forth in those sensible remarks.
"If I am prepared to risk my aunt's displeasure, you can surely affordto risk your brother's?" he queried angrily.
But Norah disarmed him with one of her sweetest smiles.
"Be reasonable, dearest; we must not behave like a pair of sillychildren. And besides, there is a certain moral obligation on boths
ides. You owe everything to your aunt. I owe everything to mybrother. It would be very base to ignore them."
Jack was touched by the nobility of these last sentiments. "You aremuch better than I am, Norah, much less selfish."
She caressed his curly head with her hand. "We must have patience,Jack. You have told me as plainly as your dear, kind heart would allowyou to tell me that, for reasons which I don't want you to explain, youraunt would never give her consent to your marriage with me. Well, wemust wait."
In plain English her meaning was that they must possess their souls inpatience till such time as this excellent old lady had departed thislife. The suggestion was certainly a coldblooded one, but in hispresent infatuated mood Jack did not take any notice of that. Norahmade a feeble attempt to gloss over the callousness of her remarks byadding that, although it was a very horrible thing to have to wait forthe