"And she was the little ghost that once haunted me," he thought, "and seemed all eyes and affection. How those eyes used to welcome and turn to me, as if in some subtle way she drew from me the power to exist at all. I wish I could follow the processes of her change from the hour of our parting, and see how I pa.s.sed from what I was to her to what I am now. She does not seem to forget or ignore the past. She is not conventional, and never was; hence, friendship may not mean what it does to so many of her s.e.x and age--a little moony sentiment blended with calculation as to a fellow"s usefulness. If we could enjoy something of the good-comradeship that obtains between man and man, she is the one woman of the world with whom I should covet the relation. Stella, in herself, is all that I could ask for a wife, but I don"t like her family much better than Henry does. Confound the father! Why should he so mix his daughter up in his speculation that she dare not dismiss Arnault at once and follow her heart? If I were not a good-natured man I wouldn"t submit to it. As it is, since I am sure of the girl, I suppose I should give _paterfamilias_ a chance to turn himself. She has appealed to me as delicately, yet as openly, as she can, and has given me to understand by everything except plain words that she is mine. Probably that is all she can do without bringing black ruin upon them all. Well, I suppose I should imitate her self-sacrificing spirit; but I hate this jumbling of Wall Street with affairs of the heart. It angers me that she must play with that fellow for financial reasons, and that he, conscious of power, may use language which she would not dare to resent. I can"t imagine Madge in such a position. Yet, who knows? As the French say, "It is the unexpected that happens," and this has proved true enough in my experience. I"ll go and see how Madge is now, and be as penitent as she requires. I don"t mind being tyrannized over a little by such a girl;" and he returned.
As he approached Mrs. Muir"s door he heard the sound of voices and laughter, and plainly those of his brother and Madge. In response to his knock Mrs. Muir opened the door a little way, and he caught a glimpse of Henry.
"Well?" said Mrs. Muir.
"It"s not well at all," he began, in an aggrieved tone. "Here"s a family party, and I"m shut out in outer darkness. What have I done to be banished from Rome?"
""What"s banished but set free?"" trilled out Madge. "Oh, Graydon, I"m not fit to be seen!"
"How can I know that unless I see you?"
"Nonsense, Madge!" expostulated her sister, "you look charming. Why put on airs? As he says, it"s a family party. Let him join in our fun;" and, without waiting for further objections, she brought him in and gave him a chair.
"Now this warms an exile"s heart," he began. "If you had shut the door on me I should have asked Henry to send me back to Europe. Mary"s right, Madge; you do look charming."
And so she did, blushing and laughing in her dainty wrapper, with her long hair falling over her shoulders and fastened by a ribbon.
"How comes it that you are in such a deserted and disconsolate condition?" cried Mary.
"I am not in such a condition. Since crossing your threshold I have become contentment itself. Indeed, I regard myself as the most favored man in the house, for I, first of all, am able to lay my homage at Madge"s feet."
"Let me warn you from the start that it will prove a stumbling-block in both our paths," said the girl. "Did you not receive my message?
But, then, it"s stupid to think you will ever consider me."
"I have been considering you a great deal more than you think, especially since you metaphorically boxed my ears this morning, and took away my breath generally this afternoon."
"You seem to have plenty left."
"Oh, I"m recovering. Reason is trying to scramble back on her throne.
I"ve been out to the lake alone in the moonlight, and have had the whole scene over again, to a.s.sure myself that it was real."
"What! You have not been in the water?"
"No; I was content to moon it out on the sh.o.r.e; but it seemed to me that I saw you as clearly there as here."
"Little wonder! I must have been the most extraordinary looking creature that ever prowled in these wilds."
"You were; only lookers-on did all the devouring. I wouldn"t dare tell you the compliments I have heard."
"You had better not, if your reason is even within sight of her throne. When the danger was all over I caught a mental glimpse of myself, and fell over as if shot;" and a slow, deep crimson stole into her face.
"Madge," said Graydon, gravely and almost rebukingly, "do you think there was a man present who did not reverence you? I was proud even of your acquaintance."
Her face softened under his words, but she did not look at him. "We were partners in misery," she said, laughing softly; "I have a vague remembrance that you were as great a guy as I was."
"I shall be glad to be a guy with you in any circ.u.mstances you can imagine, if you will let me make my peace, and will forgive my general stupidity. Be reasonable also, as well as merciful. If it took you over two years to make such changes, you should give me a few days to rub my eyes and get them focused on the result."
Madge was now laughing heartily. "I don"t believe a man could ever eat the whole of a humble pie," she said. "He ever insists that the donor, especially if she be a woman, should have a piece also."
"There, now," cried Graydon, ruefully; "give me all of it, and make your terms."
"Solomon himself couldn"t have advised you better," said Madge, while Henry leaned back in his chair and laughed as if immensely amused, while Mary improved the occasion by remarking, "When will men ever learn that that is the way to get the best terms possible from a woman?"
"Indeed!" said Graydon. "How you enlighten me! Well, Madge, I"m the more eager now to learn your terms."
She felt that it was a critical moment--that there was, under their badinage, a substratum of truth and feeling--and that she had now a chance to establish relations that would favor her hope, if it had a right to exist at all, and render future companionship free from surmise on the part of her family.
"Come, Graydon," she said, "we have jested long enough, and there is no occasion for misunderstanding. I have not forgotten the past any more than you have, nor all your unstinted kindness for years. As Mary says, this is a family party. I"m not your sister, and embarra.s.sment always accompanies an unnatural relation. The common-sense thing to do is to recognize the relation that does exist. As I intimated at first, I see no reason why we should not be the best of friends, and then, imitating the stiff-necked Hebrews, do what seemeth good in our eyes."
"And these are your terms, Madge?"
"As far as I have any, yes. I don"t insist on anything, but warn you that I shall follow my eyes, and consult a very wilful little will of my own."
"Will your wilful will permit you to accept of a horse that I am going after in the morning? Dr. Sommers told me about him, and I had proposed to make him a peace-offering."
Madge clapped her hands with the delight of a child.
"Oh, Graydon, that"s splendid of you! I"ve been sighing, "My kingdom for a horse," ever since I came here. But he"s no peace-offering. I forgave you when I saw your headlong plunge into the lake. You went into it like a man, while I flopped in so awkwardly that all said I had fallen overboard."
"Shake hands, then."
She sprang up and joined hands with him in frank and cordial grasp, saying, "It"s all right now, and Mary and Henry will understand us as well as we do ourselves."
"One condition: you will let me ride with you?"
"When you are disengaged, yes," was her arch reply, "and I"ll prove that on horseback I can be as good a comrade as a man."
"Well, if something I"ve dreamt of is true I never saw such acting,"
thought Henry Muir. Then he said, quietly, "Madge, how did you find the child so surely and quickly?"
"That accounts for my awkwardness somewhat," she replied, laughing.
("How happy she looks!" he thought.) "I never took my eyes from the spot where I had last seen the child sink, and I had to do everything as if my head was in a vise. Don"t let us talk about it any more."
"No, nor about anything else," said Mary, rising. "I"m proving a fine nurse, and am likely to be lectured by the doctor to-morrow. You men must walk. Here is Madge flushed, feverish, and excited about a horse.
Brain-fever will be the next symptom."
An hour later Madge was sleeping quietly, but the happy flush and smile had not left her face. She felt that she had at last scored one point. Oh, that she could have more time!
"Jupiter!" muttered Graydon, as he descended the stairs, "her talk makes a fellow"s blood tingle."
Miss Wildmere had just entered with Arnault, and Graydon asked, "Are you not going to give me one dance this evening?"
"Yes, two, if you wish," she replied, sweetly.
He took her at her word, and was as devoted as ever. He had no thought of being anything else. Arnault secured the last word, however, and Graydon made no effort to prevent this. He had accepted the disagreeable situation, and proposed, although with increasing reluctance and discontent, to let the girl have a clear field and manage the affair as she thought wise under the circ.u.mstances. He was too proud to have maintained a jostling and open pursuit with Arnault in any event, and now, believing that he understood the lady better, felt that there was no occasion for it He had indicated to her just where he stood, and just where she could ever find him. When her diplomacy with Arnault should cease to be essential to her father"s safety, the final words could be spoken.
He acted on this policy so quietly that she was somewhat troubled, and feared that Madge might be taking too large a place in his thoughts.
Therefore, when Arnault ventured to make a somewhat humorous reference to the young girl"s appearance, her spite found utterance. "I never saw such a looking creature in my life. She had the appearance of a crazy woman, with her hair dishevelled, and her wet, muddy clothes sticking to her as if glued. She ought at least to have slipped away when the doctor came. But instead of that she fainted--all put on, I believe, to attract attention."