"But you must remember what he has since endured," replied Archie, mildly.
"And there"s been no explanation, of any sort?"
"Not the slightest. I"d give half I"m worth if I could get a clue. It worries me all the time. A life like that girl"s ruined--simply ruined--in twenty-four hours, and n.o.body able to tell why! It"s enough to drive a man frantic!"
Mr. Weil did not drive immediately to Oakhurst, which he learned was the name of the estate that Mr. Fern rented, but he enclosed his card in a hotel envelope and sent it there by mail, without a word of comment. If they thought it best to see him he would be glad to go, otherwise he would not intrude on their privacy.
Several days after--mails were slow in the South--an answer came. It briefly requested that Mr. Weil and Mr. Boggs, if the latter were still in town, would come to lunch on the following Wednesday. Boggs fumed slightly at the apparent difference made between him and Weil, but ended by going with his friend to Oakhurst.
Mr. Fern did not look any worse than when Archie had last seen him--indeed, if anything, he had improved in appearance. Time helps most griefs to put on a better face, and though the marks of what he had pa.s.sed through would not be likely to leave his countenance, the utter hopelessness had in a measure disappeared. When Daisy came into the parlor, she also wore a mien not quite so crushed as when she left the room at Midlands with her words of farewell. Whatever her trouble was, it had not left her without something to live for. Her youth was doing its work, and it seemed to the anxious eyes of the onlooker that time would restore her nearly, if not quite, to her former radiance.
In the presence of Mr. Boggs, neither father nor daughter cared to discuss the past. They talked of the plantation on which they resided, of the pleasant drives in the vicinity, and of matters connected with the world in general, of which they had learned through the newspapers.
But after the lunch was finished Archie found himself alone with Daisy, wandering through the extensive oak forest that gave the place its name.
"How long shall you stay here?" he asked her, as a prelude to the other questions he wanted to follow it.
"I don"t know," she replied. "We shall probably go north during the warm weather, perhaps to the White Mountains."
He suggested that it must be rather lonesome at Oakhurst.
"Not for us," she said, quickly. "We are all in all to each other, and require no thickly settled community to satisfy us."
"Daisy," he said, after a pause, "there are things I must say to you, and I hope--with all my heart--you will find a way to answer them. In the first place, do you believe me, really, truly, your friend?"
She placed her hand in his for answer. The action meant more than any form of words.
"Then, tell me--tell me as freely as if I were your brother, your priest--why you stayed from home that night."
She withdrew the hand he held, to place it with the other over her eyes.
"It is impossible," she responded, with a gasp. "I told you that I never could explain, and I never can."
He looked sorely disappointed.
"I know no person on earth--not even my father," she proceeded, giving him back the clasp she had loosened, "that I would tell it to sooner than you. I have not given him the least hint. I know it leaves you to think a thousand things, and I can only throw myself on your mercy; I can only ask you to remember all you knew of me before that day, and decide whether a girl can change her whole mental and moral att.i.tude in a moment."
He drew her arm caressingly through his, and breathed a sigh on her forehead.
"Not for one second have I doubted your truth!" he replied. "Believe that, Daisy, through everything. But I hoped for an explanation, for something that might a.s.sist me to punish the guilty ones, for such there must have been."
The face that she turned toward him was full of terror.
"Why do you say that?" she exclaimed.
"Because--"
"No, no!" she cried, interrupting him. "I do not want to hear you! We must not talk on the subject! There is nothing to be told, nothing to be guessed. This must be alluded to no more between us. It must end here and now!"
Thoroughly disappointed, he could do no more than acquiesce in the decision, and he indicated as much by a profound bow. Then she changed the conversation by an abrupt allusion to Roseleaf. When he told her, as he thought it wisest to do, how well the young man had borne his loss, she said she was very thankful. She had feared that he would suffer when he came to his senses, and it was a mercy that this reflection had been spared her.
He spoke of her sister, and of the call he had made upon her, suppressing, however, the disagreeable features of her remarks. Daisy said she had written twice and received no reply. It was evident that the separation in the family was final.
Toward evening the visitors drove back to their hotel, discussing the strange events that had occurred. Archie Weil did not close his eyes that night. The love he had tried to suppress broke forth in all its original fervor. He could not sleep with the object of his adoration five miles away, so lonely and so desolate.
The next day Mr. Boggs went away, and the next after this, a new visitor carried from the north. On coming out upon the veranda to smoke, Mr.
Weil found Shirley Roseleaf there.
The surprise was mutual. Dying of ennui, Archie was glad even to meet the novelist. They talked for hours and afterward went to ride together.
It appeared that Roseleaf had come south to get material for an article in the interest of the magazine on which he was employed.
One night, a week later, Roseleaf came into Weil"s room and asked if he would like to take a moonlight canter with him. Glad of any means to vary the awful monotony Archie accepted, and the horses were soon mounted. Weil noticed that the route was in the direction of Oakhurst, but as he supposed Roseleaf knew nothing of the presence of the Ferns there, and as the family were doubtless abed at this time, he made no attempt to induce him to take an opposite course. It was a sad pleasure to pa.s.s within so short a distance of the roof that sheltered the one he loved best. On they rode, until they were within a mile of Oakhurst, and then Roseleaf drew his animal down to a walk. A little further he turned sharply into a by-path and alighted.
"What"s all this?" asked Archie, stupefied with astonishment.
CHAPTER XXVI.
"I PLAYED AND I LOST."
Roseleaf did not immediately reply. He busied himself by tying his horse to a tree, taking particular pains to make the knot good and strong. He apparently wanted a little time to think what form of words to use.
"I want you to see something that will interest you," he said, finally, in the lowest tone that could well be heard. "If you will follow my example and accompany me some distance further I think you will be paid for your trouble."
Mr. Weil was pale. He felt certain that this strange visit had been premeditated, and that some revelation regarding the Fern family was about to be made. The dread of an unknown possibility for which he had no preparation--affecting the girl for whom he had so deep a love--unmanned him.
"I have a right to ask you to explain," he responded. "If your statement is satisfactory I will accompany you gladly. I do not see the need of any mystery in the matter."
The younger man drew a long breath and looked abstractedly at the ground for some moments. Then he spoke again:
"There are subjects," he said, "that one does not like to discuss. There are names that one hesitates to p.r.o.nounce. If you will tie your horse and go with me, your eyes and ears will make questions unnecessary."
A momentary suspicion flashed through the mind of the other--a suspicion that he was being beguiled to this lonely spot from a sinister motive that boded his safety no good. But it was immediately dismissed, and after another second of delay, Archie slipped from his saddle and followed the example of his companion.
"Lead on," he said, laconically.
Without waiting for a second invitation, Roseleaf began to penetrate the wood. He found a footpath, after going a short distance, and crept along it slowly, taking evident pains not to make unnecessary noise. They were going in the direction of Oakhurst, and in less than ten minutes the chimneys of that residence could be seen in front of them. A little further and Roseleaf stopped, placing himself in the att.i.tude of an attentive listener.
The silence was profound. A slight chill permeated the atmosphere, but neither of the prowlers felt cold. On the contrary, perspiration covered the bodies of both of them. Roseleaf went, very slowly, along the path, till he came near a fence, and then, diverging from it, drew himself quietly into a thick copse, motioning Weil to follow. Here the leader sank to the ground, with a motion which indicated that the journey was temporarily, at least, at an end, and the second member of the party followed his example.
Half an hour pa.s.sed with nothing to indicate the reason for these most peculiar actions. Half an hour that was interminable to Mr. Weil, torn with a thousand fears as to what it might all portend. At last, however, a faint sound broke the stillness. Some one was approaching. Roseleaf touched the shoulder of his companion to indicate the necessity of absolute silence.
Hardly ten feet away there pa.s.sed a tall, athletic form, walking with a quick stride, as of one who has no suspicion that he is watched by unfriendly eyes. As the man"s face became visible in the moonlight it was well that Roseleaf had a pressure of warning on his companion"s shoulder. It was almost impossible for the latter to restrain an exclamation that would have ruined everything.
It was the face of Hannibal, the negro!