"In my small way, I"m well to do. I can afford to buy myself a motor. I can even afford to pay for its repairs; and, in the case of a car like mine, that means something."
"I can believe that, easily."
"Of course you can. But, relatively, compared to you, I"m a pauper, and I don"t like it."
"And yet you think that I"ll accept gifts from you--valuable gifts?"
"What I would like is, that a flaw should be found in your uncle"s will; or the rightful heir turn up; or something happen which would entail your losing every penny you have in the world."
"What delightful things you say."
"Then, if you were actually and literally a pauper I might feel that you were more on an equality with me.
"Why should you wish to be on an equality with me?"
"Why? Don"t you know?" On a sudden she began to tremble so that she could scarcely stand. "I see that you do know. I see it by the way the blood comes and goes in your cheeks; by the light which shines out of your eyes; by the fashion in which, as you see what is in mine, you stand shivering there. You know that I would like to be on an equality with you because I love you; and because it isn"t flattering to my pride to know that, in every respect, you are so transcendently above me, and that, compared to you, I am altogether such a thing of clay. I don"t want to receive everything and to give nothing. I am one of those sordid animals who like to think that their wives-who-are-to-be will be indebted to them for something besides their bare affection."
"How dare you talk to me like this?"
She felt as if she would have given anything to have been able to turn and flee, instead of seeming to stultify herself by so halting a rejoinder; but her feet were as if they were rooted to the ground.
"Do you mean, how dare I tell you that I love you? Why, I"d dare to tell you if you were a queen upon your throne and I your most insignificant subject. I"d dare to tell you if I knew that the telling would bring the heavens down. I"d dare to tell you if all the gamekeepers on your estate were behind you there, pointing their guns at me, and I was a.s.sured they"d pull their triggers the instant I had told. Why should I not dare to tell you that I love you? I"m a man; and, after all, you"re but a woman, though so rare an one. I dare to tell you more. I dare to tell you that the first time I saw you lying there, on that gra.s.sy cushion, I began to love you then. And it has grown since, until now, it consumes me as with fire. It has grown to be so great, that, mysterious and strange--and indeed, incredible though it seems--I"ve a sort of inkling somewhere in my bosom, that one day yet I"ll win you for my wife. What do you say to that?"
"I say that you don"t know what you"re talking about. That you"re insane."
"If that be so, I"ve a fancy that it"s a sort of insanity which, in howsoever so slight a degree, is shared by you. Come closer."
He leaned over the fence. Almost before she knew it, he had his arms about her; had drawn her close to him, and had kissed her on the mouth.
She struck at him with her clenched fists; and, fighting like some wild thing, tearing herself loose, rushed headlong down the woodland path, as if Satan were at her heels.
CHAPTER VIII
THE LADY WANDERS
That was the beginning of a very bad time for Mrs Plummer.
She was sitting peacefully reading--she was not one of those ladies who indulge in "fancy work," and was always ready to confess that never, under any circ.u.mstances, if she could help it, would she have a needle in her hand--when Miss Arnott came rushing into the room in a condition which would have been mildly described as dishevelled. She was a young lady who was a little given to vigorous entrances and exits, and was not generally, as regards her appearance, a disciple of what has been spoken of as "the bandbox brigade." But on that occasion she moved Mrs Plummer, who was not easily moved in that direction, to an exhibition of surprise.
"My dear child! what have you been doing to yourself, and where have you been?"
"I"ve been to the woods. Mrs Plummer, I"ve come to tell you that we"re going abroad."
"Going abroad? Isn"t that rather a sudden resolution? I thought you had arranged--"
"Never mind what I"ve arranged. We"re going abroad to-morrow, if we can"t get away to-night."
"To-morrow? To-night? My child, are you in earnest?"
"Very much so. That is, I don"t wish to put any constraint on you. You, of course, are at liberty to go or stay, exactly as you please. I merely wish to say that I am going abroad, whether you come with me or whether you don"t; and that I intend to start either to-night or to-morrow morning."
They left the next morning. The packing was done that night. At an early hour they went up to town; at eleven o"clock they started for the Continent. That evening they dined in Paris. Mrs Plummer would have liked to remonstrate--and did remonstrate so far as she dared; but it needed less sagacity than she possessed to enable her to see that, in Miss Arnott"s present mood, the limits of daring might easily be pa.s.sed. When she ventured to suggest that before their departure Mr Stacey should be consulted, the young lady favoured her with a little plain speaking.
"Why should I consult Mr Stacey? He is only my servant."
"Your servant? My dear!"
"He renders me certain services, for which I pay him. Doesn"t that mean that, in a certain sense, he"s my servant? I have authority over him, but he has none over me--not one iota. He was my trustee; but, as I understand it, his trusteeship ceased when I entered into actual possession of my uncle"s property. He does as I tell him, that"s all. I shouldn"t dream of consulting him as to my personal movements--nor anyone. As, in the future, my movements may appear to you to be erratic, please, Mrs Plummer, let us understand each other now. You are my companion--good! I have no objection. When we first met, you told me that my liberty would be more complete with you than without you. I a.s.sure you, on my part, that I do not intend to allow you to interfere with my perfect freedom of action in the least degree. I mean to go where I please, when I please, how I please, and I want no criticism.
You can do exactly as you choose; I shall do as I choose. I don"t intend to allow you, in any way whatever, to be a clog upon my movements. The sooner we understand each other perfectly on that point the better it will be for both sides. Don"t you think so?"
Mrs Plummer had to think so.
"I"m sure that if you told me you meant to start in ten minutes for the North Pole, you"d find me willing; that is, if you"d be willing to take me with you."
"Oh, I"d be willing to take you, so long as you don"t even hint at a disinclination to be taken."
They stayed in Paris for two days. Then they wandered hither and thither in Switzerland. Everywhere, it seemed, there were too many people.
"I want to be alone," declared Miss Arnott. "Where there isn"t a soul to speak to except you and Evans,"--Evans was her maid--"you two don"t count. But I can"t get away from the crowds; they"re even on the tops of the mountains. I hate them."
Mrs Plummer sighed; being careful, however, to conceal the sigh from Miss Arnott. It seemed to her that the young lady had an incomprehensible objection to everything that appealed to anyone else.
She avoided hotels where the cooking was decent, because other people patronised them. She eschewed places where there was something to be obtained in the way of amus.e.m.e.nt, because other reasonable creatures showed a desire to be amused. She shunned beauty spots, merely because she was not the only person in the world who liked to look upon the beauties of nature. Having hit upon an apparently inaccessible retreat, from the ordinary tourist point of view, in the upper Engadine, where, according to Mrs Plummer, the hotel was horrible, and there was nothing to do, and nowhere to go, there not being a level hundred yards within miles, the roads being mere tracks on the mountain sides, she did show some disposition to rest awhile. Indeed, she showed an inclination to stay much longer than either Mrs Plummer or Evans desired. Those two were far from happy.
"What a young lady in her position can see in a place like this beats me altogether. The food isn"t fit for a Christian, and look at the room we have to eat it in; it isn"t even decently furnished. There"s not a soul to speak to, and nothing to do except climb up and down the side of a wall. She"ll be brought in one day--if they ever find her--nothing but a bag of bones; you see if she isn"t!"
In that strain Evans frequently eased her mind, or tried to.
To this remote hamlet, however, in course of time, other people began to come. They not only filled the hotel, which was easy, since Miss Arnott already had most of it, and would have had all, if the landlord, who was a character, had not insisted on keeping certain rooms for other guests; but they also overflowed into the neighbouring houses.
These newcomers filled Miss Arnott with dark suspicions. When indulging in her solitary expeditions one young man in particular, named Blenkinsop, developed an extraordinary knack of turning up when she least expected him.
"I believe I"m indebted to you for these people coming here."
This charge she levelled at Mrs Plummer, who was amazed.
"To me! Why, they"re all complete strangers to me; I never saw one of them before, and haven"t the faintest notion where they come from or who they are.
"All the same, I believe I am; to you or to Evans; probably to both."
"My dear, what do you mean? The things you say!"
"It"s the things you say, that"s what I mean. You and Evans have been talking to the people here; you have been telling them who I am, and a great many things you have no right to tell them. They"ve been telling people down in the valley, and the thing has spread; how the rich Arnott girl, who has so much money she herself doesn"t know how much, is stopping up here all alone. I know. These creatures have come up in consequence. That man Blenkinsop as good as told me this afternoon that he only came because he heard that I was here."
"My dear, what can you expect? You can"t hide your light under a bushel. You would have much more real solitude in a crowd than in a place like this."
"Should I? We shall see. If this sort of thing occurs again I shall send you and Evans home. I shall drop my own name, and take a pseudonym; and I shall go into lodgings, and live on fifty francs a week--then we"ll see if I sha"n"t be left alone."