"And I on the mud," she mused.
"And I on all three, for the earth contains marble and mud and sandstone, to say nothing of gold and jewels," I broke in, being tired of silence.
But neither of them paid much attention to me. Ans...o...b.. did say, out of politeness, I suppose, that pitch and subterranean fires should be added, or some such nonsense.
Then she began to tell him of her infantile memories of Hungary, which were extremely faint; of how they came this place and lived first of all in two large Kaffir huts, until suddenly they began to grow rich; of her school days at Maritzburg; of the friends with whom she had been staying, and I know not what, until at last I got up and went out for a walk.
When I returned an hour or so later they were still talking, and so continued to do until Dr. Rodd arrived upon the scene. At first they did not see him, for he stood at an angle to them, but I saw him and watched his face with a great deal of interest. It, or rather its expression, was not pleasant; before now I have seen something like it on that of a wild beast which thinks that it is about to be robbed of its prey by a stronger wild beast, in short, a mixture of hate, fear and jealousy-especially jealousy. At the last I did not wonder, for these two seemed to be getting on uncommonly well.
They were, so to speak, well matched. She, of course, was the better looking of the two, a really pretty and attractive young woman indeed, but the vivacity of Ans...o...b.."s face, the twinkle of his merry blue eyes and its general refinement made up for what he lacked-regularity of feature. I think he had just told her one of his good stories which he always managed to make so humorous by a trick of pleasing and harmless exaggeration, and they were both laughing merrily. Then she caught sight of the doctor and her merriment evaporated like a drop of water on a hot shovel. Distinctly I saw her pull herself together and prepare for something.
"How do you do?" she said rapidly, rising and holding out her slim sun-browned hand. "But I need not ask, you look so well."
"How do you do, my dear," with a heavy emphasis on the "dear" he answered slowly. "But I needn"t ask, for I see that you are in perfect health and spirits," and he bent forward as though to kiss her.
Somehow or other she avoided that endearment or seal of possession. I don"t quite know how, as I turned my head away, not wishing to witness what I felt to be unpleasant. When I looked up again, however, I saw that she had avoided it, the scowl on his face the demureness of hers and Ans...o...b.."s evident amus.e.m.e.nt a.s.sured me of this. She was asking about her father; he answered that he also seemed quite well.
"Then why did you write to tell me that I ought to come as he was not at all well?" she inquired, with a lifting of her delicate eyebrows.
The question was never answered, for at that moment Marnham himself appeared.
"Oh! father," she said, and rushed into his arms, while he kissed her tenderly on both cheeks.
So I was not mistaken, thought I to myself, she does really love this moral wreck, and what is more, he loves her, which shows that there must be good in him. Is anyone truly bad, I wondered, or for the matter of that, truly good either? Is it not all a question of circ.u.mstance and blood?
Neither then or at any other time have I found an answer to the problem. At any rate to me there seemed something beautiful about the meeting of these two.
The influence of Miss Heda in the house was felt at once. The boys became smarter and put on clean clothes. Vases of flowers appeared in the various rooms; ours was turned out and cleaned, a disagreeable process so far as we were concerned. Moreover, at dinner both Marnham and Rodd wore dress clothes with short jackets, a circ.u.mstance that put Ans...o...b.. and myself to shame since we had none. It was curious to see how with those dress clothes, which doubtless awoke old a.s.sociations within him, Marnham changed his colour like a chameleon. Really he might have been the colonel of a cavalry regiment rising to toast the Queen after he had sent round the wine, so polite and polished was his talk. Who could have identified the man with the dry old ruffian of twenty-four hours before, he who was drinking claret (and very good claret too) mixed with water and listening with a polite interest to all the details of his daughter"s journey? Even the doctor looked a gentleman, which doubtless he was once upon a time, in evening dress. Moreover, some kind of truce had been arranged. He no longer called Miss Heda "My dear" or attempted any familiarities, while she on more than one occasion very distinctly called him Dr. Rodd.
So much for that night and for several others that followed. As for the days they went by pleasantly and idly. Heda walked about on her father"s arm, conversed in friendly fashion with the doctor, always watching him, I noticed, as a cat watches a dog that she knows is waiting an opportunity to spring, and for the rest a.s.sociated with us as much as she could. Particularly did she seem to take refuge behind my own insignificance, having, I suppose, come to the conclusion that I was a harmless person who might possibly prove useful. But all the while I felt that the storm was banking up. Indeed Marnham himself, at any rate to a great extent, played the part of the cloud-compelling Jove, for soon it became evident to me, and without doubt to Dr. Rodd also, that he was encouraging the intimacy between his daughter and Ans...o...b.. by every means in his power.
In one way and another he had fully informed himself as to Ans...o...b.."s prospects in life, which were brilliant enough. Moreover he liked the man who, as the remnant of the better perceptions of his youth told him, was one of the best cla.s.s of Englishmen, and what is more, he saw that Heda liked him also, as much indeed as she disliked Rodd. He even spoke to me of the matter in a round-about kind of fashion, saying that the young woman who married Ans...o...b.. would be lucky and that the father who had him for a son-in-law might go to his grave confident of his child"s happiness. I answered that I agreed with him, unless the lady"s affections had already caused her to form other ties.
"Affections!" he exclaimed, dropping all pretence, "there are none involved in this accursed business, as you are quite sharp enough to have seen for yourself."
"I understood that an engagement was involved," I remarked.
"On my part, perhaps, not on hers," he answered. "Oh! can"t you understand, Quatermain, that sometimes men find themselves forced into strange situations against their will?"
Remembering the very ugly name that I had heard Rodd call Marnham on the night of the card party, I reflected that I could understand well enough, but I only said-
"After all marriage is a matter that concerns a woman even more than it does her father, one, in short, of which she must be the judge."
"Quite so, Quatermain, but there are some daughters who are prepared to make great sacrifices for their fathers. Well, she will be of age ere long, if only I can stave it off till then. But how, how?" and with a groan he turned and left me.
That old gentleman"s neck is in some kind of a noose, thought I to myself, and his difficulty is to prevent the rope from being drawn tight. Meanwhile this poor girl"s happiness and future are at stake.
"Allan," said Ans...o...b.. to me a little later, for by now he called me by my Christian name, "I suppose you haven"t heard anything about those oxen, have you?"
"No, I could scarcely expect to yet, but why do you ask?"
He smiled in his droll fashion and replied, "Because, interesting as this household is in sundry ways, I think it is about time that we, or at any rate that I, got out of it."
"Your leg isn"t fit to travel yet, Ans...o...b.., although Rodd says that all the symptoms are very satisfactory."
"Yes, but to tell you the truth I am experiencing other symptoms quite unknown to that beloved physician and so unfamiliar to myself that I attribute them to the influences of the locality. Alt.i.tude affects the heart, does it not, and this house stands high."
"Don"t play off your jokes on me," I said sternly. "What do you mean?"
"I wonder if you find Miss Heda attractive, Allan, or if you are too old. I believe there comes an age when the only beauties that can move a man are those of architecture, or scenery, or properly cooked food."
"Hang it all! I am not Methusaleh," I replied; "but if you mean that you are falling in love with Heda, why the deuce don"t you say so, instead of wasting my time and your own?"
"Because time was given to us to waste. Properly considered it is the best use to which it can be put, or at any rate the one that does least mischief. Also because I wished to make you say it for me that I might judge from the effect of your words whether it is or is not true. I may add that I fear the former to be the case."
"Well, if you are in love with the girl you can"t expect one so ancient as myself, who is quite out of touch with such follies, to teach you how to act."
"No, Allan. Unfortunately there are occasions when one must rely upon one"s own wisdom, and mine, what there is of it, tells me I had better get out of this. But I can"t ride even if I took the horse and you ran behind, and the oxen haven"t come."
"Perhaps you could borrow Miss Marnham"s cart in which to run away from her," I suggested sarcastically.
"Perhaps, though I believe it would be fatal to my foot to sit up in a cart for the next few days, and the horses seem to have been sent off somewhere. Look here, old fellow," he went on, dropping his bantering tone, "it"s rather awkward to make a fool of oneself over a lady who is engaged to some one else, especially if one suspects that with a little encouragement she might begin to walk the same road. The truth is I have taken the fever pretty bad, worse than ever I did before, and if it isn"t stopped soon it will become chronic."
"Oh no, Ans...o...b.., only intermittent at the worst, and African malaria nearly always yields to a change of climate."
"How can I expect a cynic and a misogynist to understand the simple fervour of an inexperienced soul-Oh! drat it all, Quatermain, stop your acid chaff and tell me what is to be done.
Really I am in a tight place."
"Very; so tight that I rejoice to think, as you were kind enough to point out, that my years protect me from anything of the sort. I have no advice to give; I think you had better ask it of the lady."
"Well, we did have a little conversation, hypothetical of course, about some friends of ours who found themselves similarly situated, and I regret to say without result."
"Indeed. I did not know you had any mutual acquaintances. What did she say and do?"
"She said nothing, only sighed and looked as though she were going to burst into tears, and all she did was to walk away. I"d have followed her if I could, but as my crutch wasn"t there it was impossible. It seemed to me that suddenly I had come up against a brick wall, that there was something on her mind which she could not or would not let out."
"Yes, and if you want to know, I will tell you what it is. Rodd has got a hold over Marnham of a sort that would bring him somewhere near the gallows. As the price of his silence Marnham has promised him his daughter. The daughter knows that her father is in this man"s power, though I think she does not know in what way, and being a good girl-"
"An angel you mean-do call her by her right name, especially in a place where angels are so much wanted."
"Well, an angel if you like-she has promised on her part to marry a man she loathes in order to save her parent"s bacon."
"Just what I concluded, from what we heard in the row. I wonder which of that pair is the bigger blackguard. Well, Allan, that settles it. You and I are on the side of the angel. You will have to get her out of this sc.r.a.pe and-if she"ll have me, I"ll marry her; and if she won"t, why it can"t be helped. Now that"s a fair division of labour. How are you going to do it? I haven"t an idea, and if I had, I should not presume to interfere with one so much older and wiser than myself."
"I suppose that by the time you appeared in it, the game of heads I win and tails you lose had died out of the world," I replied with an indignant snort. "I think the best thing I can do will be to take the horse and look for those oxen. Meanwhile you can settle your business by the light of your native genius, and I only hope you"ll finish it without murder and sudden death."
"I say, old fellow," said Ans...o...b.. earnestly, "you don"t really mean to go off and leave me in this hideousness? I haven"t bothered much up to the present because I was sure that you would find a way out, which would be nothing to a man of your intellect and experience. I mean it honestly, I do indeed."
"Do you? Well, I can only say that my mind is a perfect blank, but if you will stop talking I will try to think the matter over. There"s Miss Heda in the garden cutting flowers. I will go to help her, which will be a very pleasant change."