"T-they aren"t far from it," cried Kate. "There are f-few gentlemen anywhere in the world, according to m-my definition of one."
"You say Guildford is sold?" said Mr. Howard.
"Yes, Sherman was obliged to mortgage it, but he did so without knowing how dearly I loved it. Then some one bought the mortgage and foreclosed it."
"Why, who could have done such a thing? There must have been a motive.
Has coal been discovered on any of the surrounding property?"
"Not that I know of," said Carolina, in a guarded tone.
"Then there must have been some motive in the mind of the purchaser,"
said Mr. Howard, decisively.
Carolina was silent.
"Can you throw any light on the subject, Carol?" he persisted, but his manner was so kindly that Carolina could not take offence.
Her reticence arose from two causes. One, her natural wish not to bruit her private affairs abroad, and the other that Mrs. G.o.ddard had enjoined strict silence on her. "Nothing can be lost in Truth," Mrs. G.o.ddard had said, "nor are the channels of G.o.d"s affluence ever clogged, but mortal mind makes laws which we are obliged to overcome. Therefore, the fewer people who know about it, the easier our work will be."
However, something in Mr. Howard"s manner led Carolina to suspect that he was not seeking to be informed out of idle curiosity, and her heart gave a bound at the thought that perhaps Divine Love might be using him as a channel.
Noticing her momentary hesitation, he said:
"You need not fear to confide in me, Carol. Perhaps I can be of some help to you."
Again she hesitated. She knew that the Howard family knew of Colonel Yancey"s attentions to her. Still she felt that she must venture.
"The present owner of Guildford is Colonel Yancey," she said, in a low voice.
"Colonel Yancey!"
"Colonel Yancey!"
"Colonel Yancey!"
And so occupied was each listener with his own thoughts and mental processes that each regarded that exclamation as an original remark.
Carolina looked from one to the other of them anxiously, in the short silence which followed.
"I understand," said Mr. Howard, slowly. "I think--I--understand!"
"And this afternoon," Carolina went on, "I received a most extraordinary letter from him, dated at London, making me a present of Guildford."
"Making you a p-present of it!" cried Kate. "What g-gigantic impudence!"
"He did it to irritate her into taking some notice of him!" declared Mrs. Howard.
"H-he did it to show her how h-helpless she is!" cried Kate. "He knows she has n-no money. But I think I see him hanging around until he wears Carolina out. That is his g-game! A n-nice step-m-mother you w-would make to those two children of his,--and the l-little one a cripple!"
"Children!" cried Carolina, turning white. "I never knew that there were any! He never mentioned them."
"Oh, h-he didn"t want to d-discourage you t-too much," cried Kate.
"And one of them--the little one--a cripple, did you say?"
The eager pity in Carolina"s voice frightened Kate. She looked at Carolina in wonder. The girl was leaning forward in her chair, her lips parted, her eyes shining, her cheeks blazing. Kate felt physically sick as the thought flashed through her mind that perhaps this altruistic pity might rush her friend into the marriage with Colonel Yancey, which even Guildford had been unable to do.
"Where is the child?" asked Carolina.
"She is at the Exmoor Hospital. Her aunt, Sue Yancey, brought here there last week for an examination. They are trying to gain Colonel Yancey"s consent to an operation."
"How do you know all this?" asked Kate"s mother.
"I went there to take some flowers to-day, and I saw this child,--she is a little beauty,--and I asked Doctor Shourds who she was and he told me.
The trouble is with her ankles. Her feet are perfectly formed, but they turn in and she can"t bear her weight upon them, nor walk a step."
"She _can_ walk!" said Carolina, in a low, earnest voice. "G.o.d, in His Divine Love, never made a crippled baby!"
Something smarted in Mr. Howard"s eyes. He, was no believer in Christian Science, but he loved little children, and Carolina"s tone of deep and quiet conviction wrenched his heart.
"Carol, Carol!" wailed Kate, wringing her nose and mopping her eyes, with utter disregard of their redness, "you do make me howl so!"
"Carolina," said Mr. Howard, suddenly, "you know that I do not personally subscribe to the teachings of your new religion, but I am an observer of human nature, and I know the hall-marks of real Christianity. I have seen you to-night keep your temper under trying circ.u.mstances, defend your faith with spirit, and exemplify the command to love your enemies, and I want to tell you that if there is anything I can do toward financing a plan to buy Guildford from Colonel Yancey, and installing you there to pursue your life-work, you can count on me."
Carolina made an attempt to speak, but her eyes swam in tears, and she buried her face in her arm.
"Oh, daddy! daddy! D-dear old daddy!" cried Kate, dancing up and down in her excitement. "I knew y-you were up to something! Y-you may not care for C-Christian Science, b-but, when you s-see a good thing, you know enough to p-push it along!"
CHAPTER X.
CROSS PURPOSES
"Noel must take me for a f-fool if he thinks I don"t see through him!"
said Kate, angrily, to her own image in the gla.s.s.
It was about three months after Mr. Howard had offered to help Carolina to regain Guildford.
"H-he wants to p-pump me," she went on, adjusting her motor veil. "I d-don"t mind trying his automobile, b-but I hate to t-think he takes me for a s-sucker!"
She rummaged viciously in her top drawer for her goggles.
"I wonder if he th-thinks I don"t know he asked Carol first. Men are s-such fools! But j-just wait! He wants m-me to tell him things.
M-maybe I won"t g-give him a run for his money!"
But, as she ran down the steps and jumped into the powerful new racing machine, all outward trace of vexation was gone, and St. Quentin was quite as excusable as most men who believe they can outwit a clever woman.