"Joan was so stupid about it," she went on at random; her face still wore its uncertain smile. "She said it was overtrimmed, and top-heavy, and didn"t become me. As if she ever wore anything that suited her! But Joan is an old maid. She hasn"t a sc.r.a.p of taste. And as for you, Maurice, why I just don"t believe you know one hat from another. Men are so stupid."
Again they went forward in silence.
"You are tiresome to-day," she said at length, and looked at him with a touch of defiance, as a schoolgirl looks at the master with whom she ventures to remonstrate.
"Yes, I"m a dull companion."
"Knowing it doesn"t make it any better."
But she was not really cross; all other feelings were swallowed up by the uneasiness she felt at his manner of treating her.
"Where are we going?" she suddenly demanded of him, with a little quick upward note in her voice. "This is not the way to the SCHEIBENHOLZ."
"No." He had been waiting for the question. "Ephie,"--he cleared his throat anew. "I am taking you to see a friend--of mine."
"Is that what you brought me out for? Then you didn"t want to speak to me, as you said? Then we"re not going for a walk?"
"Afterwards, perhaps. It"s like this. Some one I know has been very ill. Now that she is getting better, she needs rousing and cheering up, and that kind of thing; and I said I would bring you to call on her.
She knows you by sight--and would like to know you personally," he added, with a lame effort at explanation.
"Is that so?" said Ephie with sudden indifference; and her heart, which had begun to thump at the mention of a friend, quieted down at once. In fancy, she saw an elderly lady with shawls and a footstool, who had been attracted by her fresh young face; the same thing had happened to her before.
Now, however, that she knew the object of their walk, she was greatly relieved, as if a near danger had been averted; but she had not taken many steps forward before she was telling herself that another hope was gone. The only thing to do was to take the matter into her own hands; it was now or never; and simply a question of courage.
"Maurice, say, do many people go away from here in the fall?--leave the Con., I would say?" she asked abruptly. "I mean is this a time more people leave than in spring?"
Maurice started; he had been lost in his own thoughts, which all centred round this meeting he had weakly agreed to arrange. Again and again he had tried to imagine how it would fall out. But he did not know Louise well enough to foresee how she would act; and the nearer the time came, the stronger grew his presentiment of trouble. His chief remaining hope was that there would be no open speaking, that Schilsky"s name would not be mentioned; and plump into the midst of this hope fell Ephie"s question. He turned on her; she coloured furiously, and walked into a pool of water; and, at this moment, everything was as clear to Maurice as though she had said: "Where is be? Why has he gone?"
"Why do you ask?" he queried with unconscious sharpness. "No, Easter is the general time for leaving. But people who play in the PRUFUNGEN then, sometimes stay for the summer term. Why do you ask?"
"Gracious, Maurice, how tiresome you are! Must one always say why? I only wanted to know. I missed people I used to see about, that"s all."
"Yes, a number have not come back."
He was so occupied with what they were saying that he, in his turn, stepped into a puddle, splashing the water up over her shoe. Ephie was extremely annoyed.
"Look!--look what you"ve done!" she cried, showing him her spikey little shoe. "Why don"t you look where you"re going? How clumsy you are!" and, in a sudden burst of illhumour: "I don"t know why you"re bringing me here. It"s a horrid part of the city anyway. I didn"t have any desire to come. I guess I"ll turn back and go home."
"We"re almost there now."
"I don"t care. I don"t want to go."
"But you shall, all the same. What"s the matter with you to-day that you don"t know your own mind for two minutes together?"
"You didn"t inquire if I wanted to come. You"re just horrid, Maurice."
"And you"re a capricious child."
He quickened his pace, afraid she might still escape him; and Ephie had hard work to keep up with him. As she trotted along, a few steps behind, there arose in her a strong feeling of resentment against Maurice, which was all the stronger because she suspected that she was on the brink of hearing her worst suspicions confirmed. But she could not afford to yield to the feeling, when the last chance she had of getting definite information was pa.s.sing from her. Knitting both hands firmly inside her m.u.f.f, she asked, with an earnestness which, to one who knew, was fatally tale-telling: "Did anyone you were acquainted with leave, Maurice?"
"Yes," said the young man at her side, with brusque determination. He remained untouched by the tone of appeal in which Ephie put the question; for he himself suffered under her continued hedging. "Yes,"
he said, "some one did, and that was a man called Schilsky--a tall, red-haired fellow, a violinist. But he has only just gone. He came back after the vacation to settle his affairs, and say good-bye to his friends. Is there anything else you want to know?"
He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. After all, Ephie was such a child. He could not see her face, which was hidden by the brim of the big hat, but there was something pathetic in the line of her chin, and the droop of her arms and shoulders. She seemed to shrink under his words--to grow smaller. As he stood aside to let her pa.s.s before him, through the house-door in the BRUDERSTRa.s.sE, he had a quick revulsion of feeling. Instead of being rough and cruel to her, he should have tried to win her confidence with brotherly kindness. But he had had room in his mind for nothing but the meeting with Louise, and now there was no more time; they were going up the stairs. All he could do was to say gently: "I ought to tell you, Ephie, that the person we are going to see has been very, very ill--and needs treating with the utmost consideration. I rely on your tact and good-feeling."
But Ephie did not reply; the colour had left her face, and for once, the short upper-lip closed firmly on the lower one. For some minutes amazed anger with Maurice was all she felt. Then, however, came the knowledge of what his words meant: he knew--Maurice knew; he had seen through her fictions; he would tell on her; there would be dreadful scenes with Joan; there would be reproaches and recriminations; she would be locked up, or taken away. As for what lay beyond, his a.s.sertion that Schilsky had been there--had been and gone, without a word to her--that was a sickening possibility, which, at present, her mind could not grasp. She grew dizzy under these blows that rained down on her, one after the other. And meanwhile, she had to keep up appearances, to go on as though nothing had happened, when it seemed impossible even to drag herself to the top of the winding flight of stairs. She held her head down; there was a peculiar clicking in her throat, which she could not master; she felt at every step as if she would have to burst out crying.
At the gla.s.s of the door, and at the wizened old face that appeared behind it, she looked with unseeing eyes; and she followed Maurice mechanically along the pa.s.sage to a door at the end.
In his agitation the young man forgot to knock; and as they entered, a figure sprang up from the sofa-corner, and made a few impulsive steps towards them.
Maurice went over to Louise and took her hand.
"I"ve brought her," he said in a low tone, and with a kind of appeal in voice and eyes, which he was not himself aware of. Louise answered the look, and went on looking at him, as if she were fearful of letting her eyes stray. Both turned at an exclamation from Ephie. She was still standing where Maurice had left her, close beside the door; but her face was flaming, and her right hand fumbled with the doorhandle.
"Ephie!" said Maurice warningly. He was afraid she would turn the handle, and, going over to her, took her by the arm.
"Say, Maurice, I"m going home," she said under her breath. "I can"t stop here. Oh, why did you bring me?"
"Ssh!--be a good girl, Ephie," he replied as though speaking to a child. "Come with me."
An inborn politeness struggled with Ephie"s dread. "I can"t. I don"t know her name," she whispered. But she let him draw her forward to where Louise was standing; and she held out her hand.
"Miss--?" she said in a small voice, and waited for the name to be filled in.
Louise had watched them whispering, with a stony fare, but, at Ephie"s gesture, life came into it. Her eyes opened wide; and drawing back from the girl"s outstretched hand, yet without seeming to see it, she turned with a hasty movement, and went over to the window, where she stood with her back to them.
This was the last straw; Ephie dropped on a chair, and hiding her face in her hands, burst into the tears she had hitherto restrained. Her previous trouble was increased a hundredfold. For she had recognised Louise at once; she felt that she was in a trap; and the person who had entrapped her was Maurice. Holding a tiny lace handkerchief to her eyes, she sobbed as though her heart would break.
"Don"t cry, dear, don"t cry," said the young man. "It"s all right." But his thoughts were with Louise. He was apprehensive of what she might do next.
As if in answer to his fear, she crossed the room.
"Ask her to take her hands down. I want to see her face."
Maurice bent over Ephie, and touched her shoulder.
"Ephie, dear, do you hear? Look up, like a good girl, and speak to Miss Dufrayer."
But Ephie shook off his hand.
Over her bowed head, their eyes met; and the look Louise gave the young man was cold and questioning. He shrugged his shoulders: he could do nothing; and retreating behind the writing-table, he left the two girls to themselves.
"Stand up, please," said Louise in an unfriendly voice; and as Ephie did not obey, she made a movement to take her by the wrists.
"No, no!--don"t touch me," cried Ephie, and rose in spite of herself.
"What right have you to speak to me like this?"
She could say no more, for, with a quick, unforeseen movement, Louise took the young girl"s face in both hands, and turned it up. And after her first instinctive effort to draw back, Ephie kept still, like a fascinated rabbit, her eyes fixed on the dark face that looked down at her.