"Here, at least," she continued, as she leaned back, "we will not be tempted to talk seriously. Tell me about yourself? Do you never look forward into the future? Have you no personal ambitions or hopes?"
He looked steadily ahead of him.
"I am only a very ordinary man," he replied. "Like every one else, sometimes I look up to the clouds."
"Tell me what you see there?" she begged.
He was silent. The sound of voices now came to them like a distant murmur, a background to the slow falling of the water into the fountain basin.
"Lady Elisabeth," he said, "it is not always possible to tell even one"s own self what the thoughts mean which come into one"s brain."
"You will not even try to tell me, then?"
"I must not," he answered.
She sat with her hands folded in front of her, her head drooped a little. Maraton felt himself suddenly at war with a whole mult.i.tude of emotions. Was it possible that this thing had come to him, that a woman could take the great place in his life, a woman not of his kind, one who could not even share the pa.s.sion which was to have absorbed every impulse of his existence to the end? She was of a different world.
Perhaps it had all been a mistake. Perhaps it would have been better for him to have stayed outside, to have never crossed the little borderland which led into the land of compromises. And all the time, while his brain was at work, something stronger, more wonderful, was throbbing in his heart. He moved restlessly in his place. Her ungloved hand lay within a few inches of him. He suddenly caught it.
"Lady Elisabeth," he whispered, "I feel like a traitor. I feel myself moved to say things to you under false pretences. I ought not to have come here."
"What do you mean?" she demanded. "You can"t mean--"
Their eyes met. He read the truth unerringly. "No, not that," he answered. "There is no one. What I feel is, at any rate, consecrate.
But I have no right. I am not sure, even at this moment, whether it is not in my heart to take a step which you would look upon as the blackest ingrat.i.tude. My life, Lady Elisabeth, holds issues in it far apart, and it is vowed, dedicate."
"You are going to break away?" she asked quietly.
"I may," he admitted. "That is the truth. That is why I hesitated about coming here to-night. And yet, I wanted to come. I wasn"t sure why. I know now--it was to see you."
"Oh, don"t be rash!" she begged. "Don"t! I may talk to you now really from my heart, mayn"t I?" she went on, looking steadfastly into his face. "Don"t imagine that that great gulf exists. It doesn"t. If you break away, it will be a mistake. You want to feel your feet upon the clouds. You don"t know how much safer you will be if you keep them upon the earth. You may bring incalculable suffering and misery upon the very people whom you wish to benefit. You think that I am a woman, perhaps, and I know little. Yes, but sometimes we who are outside see much, and it is dangerous, you know, to act upon theories. I haven"t spoken a single selfish word, have I? I haven"t tried to tell you how much I should hate to lose you."
He rose to his feet.
"I am going away," he said hoa.r.s.ely. "I must fight this thing out alone. But--"
He looked around. The words seemed to fail him. Their little corner of the winter garden was still uninvaded.
"But, Lady Elisabeth," he continued, "you know the thing which makes it harder for me than ever. You know very well that if I decide to do what must make me a stranger in this household, I shall do it at a personal sacrifice which I never dreamed could exist."
She swayed a little towards him. Her face was suddenly changed, alluring; her eyes pleaded with him.
"You mustn"t go away," she whispered. "If you go now, you must come back--do you bear?--you must come back!"
CHAPTER x.x.xII
It was the eve of the reopening of Parliament. Maraton, who had been absent from London--no one knew where--during the last six weeks, had suddenly reappeared. Once more he had invited the committee of the Labour Party to meet at his house. His invitation was accepted, but it was obvious that this time their att.i.tude towards the man who welcomed them was one of declared and p.r.o.nounced hostility. Graveling was there, with sullen, evil face. He made no attempt to shake hands with Maraton, and he sat at the table provided for them with folded arms and dour, uncompromising aspect. Dale came late and he, too, greeted Maraton with bluff unfriendliness. Borden"s att.i.tude was non-committal. Weavel shook hands, but his frown and manner were portentous. Culvain, the diplomat of the party, was quiet and reserved. David Ross alone had never lost his att.i.tude of unwavering fidelity. He sat at Maraton"s left hand, his head a little drooped, his eyes almost hidden beneath his s.h.a.ggy grey eyebrows, his lower lip protuberant. He had, somehow, the air of a guarding dog, ready to spring into bitter words if his master were touched.
"Gentlemen," Maraton began, when at last they were all a.s.sembled, "I have asked you, the committee who were appointed to meet me on my arrival England, to meet me once more here on the eve of the reopening of Parliament."
There was a grim silence. No one spoke. Their general att.i.tude was one of suspicious waiting.
"You all know," Maraton went on, "with what ideas I first came to England. I found, however, that circ.u.mstances here were in many respects different from anything I had imagined. You all know that I modified my plans. I decided to adopt a middle course."
"A seat in Parliament," Graveling muttered, "and a place at the Prime Minister"s dinner table."
"For some reason or other," Maraton continued, unruffled, "my coming into Parliament seemed obnoxious to Mr. Dale and most of you. I decided in favour of that course, however, because the offer made me by Mr. Foley was one which, in the interests of the people, I could not refuse. Mr. Foley has done his best to keep to the terms of his compact with me. Perhaps I ought to say that he has kept to it. The successful termination of the Lancashire strike is due entirely to his efforts. The prolongation of the Sheffield strike is in no way his fault. The blind stupidity of the masters was too much even for him.
The position has developed very much as I feared it might. You cannot make employers see reason by Act of Parliament. Mr. Foley kept his word. He has been on the side of the men throughout this struggle. He has used every atom of influence he possesses to compel the employers to give in. Temporarily he has failed--only temporarily, mind, for a Bill will be introduced into Parliament during this session which will very much alter the position of the employers. But this partial failure has convinced me of one thing. This is too law-abiding a country for compromises. For the last six weeks I have been travelling on the Continent. I have realised how splendidly Labour has emanc.i.p.ated itself there compared to its slow progress in this country. From town to town in northern Europe I pa.s.sed, and found the great industries of the various districts in the hands of a composite body of men, embracing the boy learning the simplest machine and the financier in the office, every man there working like a single part of one huge machine, each for the profit of the whole. A genuine scheme of profit-sharing is there being successfully carried out. It is owing to this visit, and the convictions which have come to me from the same, that I have called you together to-day."
"You invited us," Peter Dale remarked deliberately, "and here we are.
As to what good"s likely to come of our meeting, that"s another matter.
There"s no denying the fact that we"ve not been able to work together up till now, and whether we shall in the future is by no means clear."
"I am sorry to hear you say so, Mr. Dale," Maraton declared. "I only hope that before you go you will have changed your mind."
"Not in the least likely, that I can see," Peter Dale retorted. "For my part, I can"t reckon up what you want with us. You"ve gone into the House on your own and you"ve chosen to sit in a place by yourself.
You"ve tried your best to manage things according to your own way of thinking, without us. Now, all of a sudden, you invite us here. I wonder whether this has anything to do with it."
With some deliberation, Peter Dale produced from his pocket a letter, which he smoothed out upon the table before him. He had the air of a man who prepares a bombsh.e.l.l. Maraton stretched out his hand toward it.
"Is that for me?" he asked.
Peter Dale kept his fingers upon it.
"Its contents concern you," he announced. "I"ll read it, if you"ll be so good as to listen. Came as a bit of a shock to us, I must confess."
"Anonymous?" Maraton murmured.
"If its contents are untrue," Peter Dale said, "you will be able to contradict them. With your kind permission, then. Listen, everybody:
""Dear Sir:
""The following facts concerning a recent addition to the ranks of your Party should, I think, be of some interest to you.
""The proper name of Mr. Maraton is Mr. Maraton Lawes.
""Mr. Maraton Lawes and a younger brother were once the possessors of the world-famous Lawes Oil Springs, and are now the princ.i.p.al shareholders in the Lawes Oil Company.
""The person in question is a millionaire.
""A Socialist millionaire who conceals the fact of his wealth and keeps his purse closed, is a person, I think, open to criticism.
""A sketch of Mr. Maraton Lawes" career will shortly appear in an evening paper.""
Maraton listened without change of countenance. All eyes were turned upon him.