The play was played out, and the adventure was over, but life could not be as it had been for Loveland. He could not take up the old life or the old self where he had dropped both, one night in Central Park. He was a different man in these days, caring for different things; and unfortunately the thing he cared for most was the one thing he could not have: Lesley Dearmer"s love.
He had wanted it from the first, though not enough just at the first to try for it at the risk of great self-sacrifice. Now, he would have counted no sacrifice too great if it could give him that which once he had not known how to value worthily. Being once more Lord Loveland, and having a repentant New York at his feet, would not give him Lesley Dearmer.
By this time, his mother must have written, he thought, and Betty, too.
Though the Bonnerstown secret was hidden from him, he believed letters had been sent. All ought soon to be right with him, in the best of possible worlds; but because there was also a Sidney Cremer in that world, nothing could be wholly right even for Lord Loveland. While he was thinking how good it would have been--were Fate a better stage manager--to justify himself to Lesley, Lesley sent for him by Uncle Wally.
To her he was still the chauffeur; and the darkey who politely delivered the message, announced that "Young Miss would be obliged to Ma.s.sah Gordon if he would take her out in the car as quick as possible."
Loveland flung aside "Light," and Uncle Wally let it lie neglected where it fell. Probably he thought that "young Miss" was too impatient for an early motor-spin to care about wasting a moment on a newspaper.
As Loveland looked over the Gloria, making her purr pleasantly in preparation for the run, he tried to decide definitely what to do next.
If he flaunted his public justification in Lesley"s face, there would no longer be an excuse to remain a chauffeur, and no doubt the girl would think as much, if he did not propose to leave. Because of her engagement to Sidney Cremer, he could not beg Lesley to let bygones be bygones, and go to England with him as his wife; yet the thought of going back without her, of never seeing her again in this world, impaled Loveland on the sharp p.r.o.ngs of pain.
Since he had known the girl in her own home, it seemed that his first love for her had hardly deserved the name of love, so much more did he love her now. Face to face with the certainty of separation, and her marriage with another man, every hour spent with the loved one became a priceless treasure. He resolved not only to be silent about the article in "New York Light" but to go back to his room, and carefully hide the newspaper.
This he did, delighted to find the big budget lying on the floor where he had left it.
Of course, Lesley or Mrs. Loveland might enquire for "Light" and learn that it had last been seen on his breakfast table. But it would not seem a miracle that a newspaper should be mislaid; and there was a chance that Louisville journals might not have s.p.a.ce to "feature" Lord Loveland"s affairs. As Lesley had elected to make an early expedition, it was almost certain that she would not have looked at a paper; and if she had skimmed one over, she might easily have missed a paragraph here and there. At worst, Loveland felt sure of this morning with her on the old terms. If she said nothing afterwards, he, too, would simply be mute, until Sidney Cremer"s arrival. When Cremer was in the house, he would be glad to go, and glad to prove to Lesley before going that he was all he had once claimed to be.
When the car was ready he drove to the front door, and found Lesley tying on her motor veil, a charming picture set in a rustic frame.
Loveland"s spirits rose when he saw that she was alone. "Auntie" in the Limousine was the least obtrusive of chaperons; still, there was joy in having the girl to himself.
"For a wonder I couldn"t sleep last night," said Lesley, "and I thought an early spin in the car would clear my brain of cobwebs. I hope you don"t mind being routed out at an unearthly hour."
Loveland would have liked to answer that it was unearthly only because it gave him the companionship of a being divine. But chauffeurs, even gentlemen chauffeurs, do not make such remarks to their employers, still less to the fiancees of their employers. He merely said, therefore, that he was sorry to hear Miss Dearmer had not slept, and was pleased to take her out at any hour. "Uncle Wally told me," he added, "that you"d been writing late last night."
"Not exactly writing," explained Lesley, finishing the chiffon bow under her chin with dainty elaboration. "I was looking over an act of a new play which Sidney has begun. Perhaps that excited me. Anyway, I tossed for hours thinking of a thousand things, when I might better have been dreaming. And then I was waked at seven by a telegram, and couldn"t sleep again."
Something in her eyes, gleaming like fairy jewels under an enchanted lake, as they shone through the filmy veil, made Val miserably sure that Cremer had sent the telegram.
But he was becoming (outwardly) quite a well-trained servant, and only under the greatest provocation could he be goaded into asking impertinent questions.
"Shall I drive this morning, Miss Dearmer, or will you?" he enquired, trying to erase all expression from his face.
"Perhaps you"d better, at first. I"m almost too nervous," she said. "Bye and bye, we shall see."
She let him help her into the car, and even the touch of a thick, knitted mitten was electric for Loveland. Then he took the chauffeur"s seat by her side, and sent the Gloria spinning down the avenue towards the gate.
"You"ve heard nothing from your people yet?" asked Lesley, after a few minutes" silence, while they flew along a road smooth as if it had been made for generations.
"Not yet," replied Val. "But I daresay something will be forwarded from Bonnerstown theatre in a day or two. I told you I"d written to the manager there, giving this address, for Bill would have sent on to Bonnerstown anything that came for me to his care in New York."
"Yes, you told me," said Lesley. "But I was wondering if you"d had good news, because----"
"Because of something in your telegram?" Loveland could not resist breaking into the slight pause she made.
"Yes, indirectly. Dear me, Mr. Gordon, don"t you think you went round that corner too fast?"
"Did I?" asked Loveland. "I"m sorry. I didn"t notice."
"What an alarming confession from one"s chauffeur! Oh! and that _chicken_! you nearly ran over it. I believe your nerves must be a little "jumpy," too. I think I could drive almost as well as that myself."
"I deserve to be scolded," said Loveland. "I"m afraid I was absent-minded for an instant, though the chicken didn"t seem worried about itself."
"Kentucky chickens never do. They"re so high-spirited. Take _care_ of that baby pig, Mr. Gordon! I think I will drive for awhile after all, if you don"t mind."
"Delighted," said Loveland, in a mood to rejoice if the girl upset the car and killed them both, because it would be so much more agreeable to go out of the world with her than to remain in it while she became lost to him as Mrs. Cremer.
He put on the brakes and stopped the car, which panted impatiently by the roadside, while Lesley and he changed places. The way was straight and fairly level, with no sudden risings and fallings, or intricate twistings and turnings; therefore no reason existed why Lesley should not show her newly acquired skill. She began cautiously, but in a few moments put the forty horse-power Gloria on fourth speed, throttling her down to a pace within reason.
"There! Aren"t you proud of your pupil?" the girl asked, gaily.
"Very proud," answered Loveland.
"And do you think I should be able to get on without much more teaching from a real expert?"
"Oh, yes. With a decent sort of chauffeur to do your repairs, you can drive the car through country like this, without danger----"
"Unless I get absent-minded."
"Yes, unless you get absent-minded. But why should you be absent-minded, when so soon you"ll have the person you care for most sitting beside you, where I sit now? Oh, I ought to beg your pardon for saying such things, Miss Dearmer. But you see, you and I were once friends, not employer and servant, so I forget myself sometimes. And besides, I can"t help thinking this morning that you"re leading up to saying something which perhaps you find it a little difficult to say. Yet, why should it be difficult for you to tell me if you"ve heard that Mr. Cremer"s coming at once and bringing another chauffeur."
"My telegram didn"t say that, but it made me feel that I shan"t be able to keep you very long at the Hill Farm," said Lesley.
Gone was the elaborate scheme for staying on at any cost! She wanted him to go. She was hinting for him to go.
"I can leave whenever you like to get rid of me," returned Val, his tone roughened, made almost brutal by his effort to hide the sharp pain he suffered.
"Oh, don"t think I feel like that!" exclaimed Lesley, eagerly--so eagerly that in her excitement she did the very thing she had reproached Loveland for doing. She forgot that a person controlling a powerful motor-car is ill advised to be in earnest about anything except the business in hand.
They were approaching a somewhat abrupt turn in the road at the moment Lesley chose to a.s.sure Loveland that she didn"t mean to hurt his feelings. Being genuinely sorry for the effect her words produced, she did not realise until too late that the corner would expect her to slow down before turning it. Had she been an experienced driver, the right action would have been mechanical; but as it was, she discovered with a quick rush of blood to her heart that she could not check the speed in time. She tried to make up for her mistake by a feat of accurate steering, but the task was beyond her powers. The big Gloria swung round the curve on two wheels, refused to take the new direction, and bounded gaily off the road, across a ditch and into a meadow.
CHAPTER FORTY
The Other Side of the Moon
The next thing that Loveland knew, he was sitting in a bog, which felt quite soft and comfortable, so comfortable that he at first believed himself to be in bed, waking out of a bad dream. Then with a flash he remembered all that had happened, and scrambled up in a cold sweat of fear for Lesley.
He was dripping with water and mossy mud, but though his limbs felt heavy and he staggered a little, his temples throbbing as if his brain were propelled by a steam engine, he was hardly conscious that his own body still existed. His one thought was of the girl.
A cataract of sparks which showered before his eyes dimmed his sight at first, but in a moment he saw a slight, grey-clad figure lying limply on the ground not far away. As for the motor-car which rested on its side at a little distance, its pleasant purring stilled, Loveland had forgotten all about it.