"You mean Cranbrooke?" he said, as she thought, absent-mindedly, but in reality with something like a cold hand upon his heart, that for a moment gave him a sense of physical apprehension. Had _it_ come, he wondered?
But no, this was not physical; this was a shock of purely emotional displeasure. Could he believe his ears, that Ethel, his wife, had indeed blended another than himself with her dream of returning solitude?
"Yes, it will be all over soon," he said, mechanically. "Had you a pleasant drive? And did you enjoy the box-seat with Egmont?"
"Oh! Egmont, fortunately, can drive--if he _can"t_ talk," she answered, lightly. "I suppose I am fastidious, or else spoiled for the conversation of ordinary men, after what I have had recently from Cranbrooke. By the way, Max dear, are you relentless against going with us to-night, to the _fete_ at the canoe club? You needn"t go inside the club-house, you know. It will be lovely to look at, from the water."
"With _us_? Then Cranbrooke has already promised?"
"Yes, of course; he could not leave me in the lurch, could he, when my husband is such an obstinate recluse?"
"And how do you intend to get there?"
"By water, stupid, of course; how else? I will be satisfied with the rowboat, if you won"t trust me in the canoe; but Mr. Cranbrooke is such an expert with the paddle, I shouldn"t think you would object to letting me go with him. It will be perfectly smooth water, and the air is so mild. Do say I may go in the canoe, dear; it"s twice the fun."
"I think you know that, unless I take you, it is my wish you go nowhere at night in a canoe," he answered, coldly.
Ethel was more hurt at his tone than disappointed by his refusal. She could not think what had come over her husband, of late, so often had this constrained manner presented itself to her advance. She set it down to her unwonted indulgence in society, and promised herself, with a sigh of relinquishment, that, after this summer, she would go back to her life lived for Max alone.
Then, Cranbrooke coming in with two or three visitors, who lingered till almost dinner-time and were persuaded easily to stop for dinner, there was no chance to indulge in meditations, penitential or otherwise. When her guests took their departure, it was in the little steam-launch, she and Cranbrooke accompanying the party, and all bound for the _fete_, to be given on a wooded island in the bay. As they were leaving the house, something impelled her to run back and, in the semi-darkness of the veranda, seek her husband"s side.
"Max darling, kiss me good-by. Or, if you want me, let me stay with you."
"No, no; I want you to enjoy every moment while you can," he said, withdrawing from her gaze to the shadow of a vine-wreathed column.
"Max, your voice is strange. And once, at dinner, I saw you looking at me, and there was something in your eyes that frightened me. If you hadn"t smiled, and lifted your gla.s.s to pledge me, I should not have known what to think."
"Ethel! Wife! Do you love me?" he said, catching her to his heart.
"Max! Why, Max! You foolish boy, we shall be seen."
"Tell me, and kiss me once more, my own, my own!"
"They are all aboard except you, Mrs. Pollock," a voice said; and, from the dew of the lawn, Cranbrooke stepped upon the veranda.
Max started violently, and let his wife go from his embrace.
"You see how rude you are making me toward our guests," said Ethel.
"You have my wrap, Mr. Cranbrooke? Good-night, Max; and to-morrow I"ll tell you all about it. Better change your mind and come after us, though."
"Max need not trouble to do so," put in Cranbrooke, in a m.u.f.fled voice. "As usual, I will fill his place."
Max thought he almost hurried her away. They went down the slope of the lawn together; and, at the steep descent leading to the bridge, he saw Ethel stumble, and Cranbrooke throw his arm around her to steady her.
And now, a pa.s.sion took possession of Maxwell Pollock"s being that impelled him to the impetuous action of following them to the wharf, and gesticulating madly after the swift little steamer that bore them away from him.
"He dared take her, did he, when she would have stayed at a word from me? I see all, now. Specious, false, d.a.m.nably false, he has snared her fancy in his net. But she loves me, I"ll swear she loves me, and I"ll s.n.a.t.c.h her from him, if it is with the last effort of my strength. Is there time? Well, what is to come, let it come! While there"s life in me, she is mine."
A moment, and he was afloat in the canoe, no sign of weakness in his powerful stroke with the paddle, no thought in his brain but the one intense determination of the male creature to wrest his beloved from the hands of his rival.
Every one conceded this to be quite the prettiest and most taking event of the season. The rustic club-house, its peaked gable and veranda defined with strings of colored lanterns, sent forth the music of a band, while to its portal trooped maidens and cavaliers, landing at the wharf from every variety of craft. The woods behind were linked with chains of light, the sh.o.r.e below lit with bonfires, and more evanescent eruptions of many-hued fireworks. Rockets hissed through the air, and broke in a rain of violet, green, and crimson meteors, till the zenith was a tangled mesh made by the trails of them; fire-balloons arose and were lost among the stars; little fire-boats, launched from vessels stocked for the purpose, bore their blazing cargoes out upon the tide; other unnamed monsters were let loose to carry apparent destruction zigzag through the waves. Every attendant yacht, sloop, launch, rowboat, or canoe, with which the water about the island was covered, carried quaint decoration in the guise of Chinese lanterns. Some of the smaller boats were arched with these; others tossed bouquets of fiery bubbles into the air. Creeping about at a snail"s pace among the crowded boats, invisible canoes carried silent pa.s.sengers; an occasional "oh!" of exclamation at the beauty of the scene, the only contribution people felt inclined to make to conversation. It was a pageant of bedazzlement, as if witches, gnomes, spirits of earth, air, and the underworld, had mingled their resources to enchant the eyes of mortals. And over all, sailed the lady-moon serenely, forgotten, but sure that her time would come again.
Max found his launch without difficulty, on the outer circle of the amphitheatre of light. As he had divined, it was empty, save for the two boatmen.
"The ladies went ash.o.r.e, sir," one of his men said, in answer to his inquiry. "All but Mrs. Pollock, sir."
"Mrs. Pollock? Where is she, then?" he asked, briefly.
"She took our rowboat, sir, and went off on the water with one of the gentlemen. Mr. Cranbrooke, I think it was; and they ordered us to wait just here. No good going ash.o.r.e, sir, if you want to see. It"s better from this point, even, than nearer in."
"Very well," said the master, and at once his canoe moved off to be lost in the crowd.
He had sought for them in vain, peering into all the small boats whenever the flash-light of the rockets, or the catharine-wheels on the coast, lit the scene. Many a tender interlude was thus revealed; but of the two people he now longed with the fever of madness to discover, he saw nothing.
At last, in a burst from a candle rocket, there was a glimpse of Ethel"s red boat-cloak, her bare, golden head rising above it. She was sitting in the stern of the rowboat, Cranbrooke beside her, their bow above water, their oars negligently trailing. Ethel"s eyes were fixed upon the glittering panorama; but Cranbrooke"s eyes were riveted on her.
With an oath, Max drove his paddle fiercely into the sea. The canoe sped forward like an arrow. Blind with anger, he did not observe that he was directly in the track of a little steamer laden with new arrivals, turning in toward the wharf.
A new day dawned before the doctors, who had been all night battling for Maxwell Pollock"s life, left him restored to consciousness, and reasonably secure of carrying no lasting ill effect from the blow on his head received by collision with the steamer.
Carried under with his canoe, he had arisen to full view in the glare from a "set piece" of fireworks on the sh.o.r.e, beside the boat containing Cranbrooke and his wife. It was Cranbrooke, not Ethel, who identified the white face coming to the surface within reach of his hand, then sinking again out of sight. It was Cranbrooke, also, who sprang to Pollock"s rescue, and, floating with his inert body, was dragged with him aboard the launch.
As the rosy light of the east came to play upon Pollock"s features, he opened his eyes for the first time with a look of intelligence. At his bedside, Ethel was kneeling, her whole loving soul in her gaze.
"Is this--I thought it was heaven," he said, feeling for her hand.
"It is heaven for me, now that I have you back, my own darling," she answered, through happy tears.
"Have I been here long?"
"A few hours since the accident. The doctors say you will be none the worse for it. And, Max dear, only think! This is your birthday! Your thirtieth birthday! Many, many, _many_ happy returns!" and she punctuated her wish with warm kisses.
At that juncture, Cranbrooke came into the room and stood at the side of the bed opposite Ethel, who had no eyes for him, but kept on gazing at her recovered treasure as if she could never have enough.
Max, though aware of Stephen"s presence, made no movement of recognition, till Ethel spoke in playful chiding.
"Darling! Where are your manners? Aren"t you going to speak to our friend, and thank him for saving you--saving you for _me_, thank G.o.d!"
She buried her face in the bed-clothes, overcome with the recollection; but even with the exquisite tenderness of her accents thrilling in his ear, Max remained obstinately dumb to Stephen Cranbrooke.
"Forgive him; he is not himself!" pleaded Ethel, as she saw Cranbrooke about to go dejectedly out of the room.
"Some day he will understand me," answered Stephen, with a gallant effort at self-control. Then, withdrawing, he murmured to himself: "But he will never know that, in playing with his edged tools, it is I who have got the death-blow."