Addie got up with an indignant jerk. "You think I"m a child to be played with!"
She turned her back upon him. His face changed instantly; he stood still a moment, admiring the magnificent pose. Then he recaptured her reluctant hand.
"Don"t be jealous already, Addie," he said. "It"s a healthy sign of affection, is a storm-cloud, but don"t you think it"s just a wee, tiny, weeny bit too previous?"
A pressure of the hand accompanied each of the little adjectives. Addie sat down again, feeling deliriously happy. She seemed to be lapped in a great drowsy ecstasy of bliss.
The sunset was fading into sombre grays before Sidney broke the silence; then his train of thought revealed itself.
"If you"re so down on Esther, I wonder how you can put up with me! How is it?"
Addie did not hear the question.
"You think I"m a very wicked, blasphemous boy," he insisted. "Isn"t that the thought deep down in your heart of hearts?"
"I"m sure tea must be over long ago," said Addie anxiously.
"Answer me," said Sidney inexorably.
"Don"t bother. Aren"t they cooeying for us?"
"Answer me."
"I do believe that was a water-rat. Look! the water is still eddying."
"I"m a very wicked, blasphemous boy. Isn"t that the thought deep down in your heart of hearts?"
"You are there, too," she breathed at last, and then Sidney forgot her beauty for an instant, and lost himself in unaccustomed humility. It seemed pa.s.sing wonderful to him--that he should be the deity of such a spotless shrine. Could any man deserve the trust of this celestial soul?
Suddenly the thought that he had not told her about Miss Hannibal after all, gave him a chilling shock. But he rallied quickly. Was it really worth while to trouble the clear depths of her spirit with his turbid past? No; wiser to inhale the odor of the rose at her bosom, sweeter to surrender himself to the intoxicating perfume of her personality, to the magic of a moment that must fade like the sunset, already grown gray.
So Addie never knew.
CHAPTER XV.
FROM SOUL TO SOUL.
On the Friday that Percy Saville returned to town, Raphael, in a state of mental prostration modified by tobacco, was sitting in the editorial chair. He was engaged in his pleasing weekly occupation of discovering, from a comparison with the great rival organ, the deficiencies of _The Flag of Judah_ in the matter of news, his organization for the collection of which partook of the happy-go-lucky character of little Sampson. Fortunately, to-day there were no flagrant omissions, no palpable shortcomings such as had once and again thrown the office of the _Flag_ into mourning when communal pillars were found dead in the opposition paper.
The arrival of a visitor put an end to the invidious comparison.
"Ah, Strelitski!" cried Raphael, jumping up in glad surprise. "What an age it is since I"ve seen you!" He shook the black-gloved hand of the fashionable minister heartily; then his face grew rueful with a sudden recollection. "I suppose you have come to scold me for not answering the invitation to speak at the distribution of prizes to your religion cla.s.s?" he said; "but I _have_ been so busy. My conscience has kept up a dull p.r.i.c.king on the subject, though, for ever so many weeks. You"re such an epitome of all the virtues that you can"t understand the sensation, and even I can"t understand why one submits to this undercurrent of reproach rather than take the simple step it exhorts one to. But I suppose it"s human nature." He puffed at his pipe in humorous sadness.
"I suppose it is," said Strelitski wearily.
"But of course I"ll come. You know that, my dear fellow. When my conscience was noisy, the _advocatus diaboli_ used to silence it by saying, "Oh, Strelitski"ll take it for granted." You can never catch the _advocatus diaboli_ asleep," concluded Raphael, laughing.
"No," a.s.sented Strelitski. But he did not laugh.
"Oh!" said Raphael, his laugh ceasing suddenly and his face growing long. "Perhaps the prize-distribution is over?"
Strelitski"s expression seemed so stern that for a second it really occurred to Raphael that he might have missed the great event. But before the words were well out of his mouth he remembered that it was an event that made "copy," and little Sampson would have arranged with him as to the reporting thereof.
"No; it"s Sunday week. But I didn"t come to talk about my religion cla.s.s at all," he said pettishly, while a shudder traversed his form. "I came to ask if you know anything about Miss Ansell."
Raphael"s heart stood still, then began to beat furiously. The sound of her name always affected him incomprehensibly. He began to stammer, then took his pipe out of his mouth and said more calmly;
"How should I know anything about Miss Ansell?"
"I thought you would," said Strelitski, without much disappointment in his tone.
"Why?"
"Wasn"t she your art-critic?"
"Who told you that?"
"Mrs. Henry Goldsmith."
"Oh!" said Raphael.
"I thought she might possibly be writing for you still, and so, as I was pa.s.sing, I thought I"d drop in and inquire. Hasn"t anything been heard of her? Where is she? Perhaps one could help her."
"I"m sorry, I really know nothing, nothing at all," said Raphael gravely. "I wish I did. Is there any particular reason why you want to know?"
As he spoke, a strange suspicion that was half an apprehension came into his head. He had been looking the whole time at Strelitski"s face with his usual un.o.bservant gaze, just seeing it was gloomy. Now, as in a sudden flash, he saw it sallow and careworn to the last degree. The eyes were almost feverish, the black curl on the brow was unkempt, and there was a streak or two of gray easily visible against the intense sable.
What change had come over him? Why this new-born interest in Esther?
Raphael felt a vague unreasoning resentment rising in him, mingled with distress at Strelitski"s discomposure.
"No; I don"t know that there is any _particular_ reason why I want to know," answered his friend slowly. "She was a member of my congregation.
I always had a certain interest in her, which has naturally not been diminished by her sudden departure from our midst, and by the knowledge that she was the author of that sensational novel. I think it was cruel of Mrs. Henry Goldsmith to turn her adrift; one must allow for the effervescence of genius."
"Who told you Mrs. Henry Goldsmith turned her adrift?" asked Raphael hotly.
"Mrs. Henry Goldsmith," said Strelitski with a slight accent of wonder.
"Then it"s a lie!" Raphael exclaimed, thrusting out his arms in intense agitation. "A mean, cowardly lie! I shall never go to see that woman again, unless it is to let her know what I think of her."
"Ah, then you do know something about Miss Ansell?" said Strelitski, with growing surprise. Raphael in a rage was a new experience. There were those who a.s.serted that anger was not among his gifts.
"Nothing about her life since she left Mrs. Goldsmith; but I saw her before, and she told me it was her intention to cut herself adrift.
n.o.body knew about her authorship of the book; n.o.body would have known to this day if she had not chosen to reveal it."
The minister was trembling.