"Take a hint and stay at home," she went on. "It might pay you better."
"And let Sylvia"s property be sacrificed?"
"Yes, if necessary." She looked at him directly. "You have means enough."
He struggled with his indignation. Sylvia hated poverty, and it had been suggested that he should turn the fact to his advantage. The idea that she might be more willing to marry him if she were poor was most unpleasant.
"Sylvia"s favor is not to be bought," he said.
Mrs. Lansing"s smile was half impatient.
"Oh, well, if you"re bent on going, there"s nothing to be said.
Sylvia, of course, will stay with us."
The arrangement was a natural one, as Sylvia was a relative of hers; but George failed to notice that her expression grew thoughtful as she glanced toward where Sylvia was sitting with a man upon whom the soldier stamp was plainly set. George followed her gaze and frowned, but he said nothing, and his companion presently moved away. Soon afterward he crossed the lawn and joined a girl who waited for him.
Ethel West was tall and strongly made. She was characterized by a keen intelligence and bluntness of speech. Being an old friend of George"s, she occasionally a.s.sumed the privilege of one.
"I hear you are going to Canada. What is taking you there again?" she asked.
"I am going to look after some farming property, for one thing."
Ethel regarded him with amus.e.m.e.nt.
"Sylvia Marston"s, I suppose?"
"Yes," George answered rather shortly.
"Then what"s the other purpose you have in view?"
George hesitated.
"I"m not sure I have another motive."
"So I imagined. You"re rather an exceptional man--in some respects."
"If that"s true, I wasn"t aware of it," George retorted.
Ethel laughed.
"It"s hardly worth while to prove my statement; we"ll talk of something else. Has Herbert told you anything about his business since you came back? I suppose you have noticed signs of increased prosperity?"
"I"m afraid I"m not observant, and Herbert isn"t communicative."
"Perhaps he"s wise. Still, the fact that he"s putting up a big new orchard-house has some significance. I understand from Stephen that he"s been speculating largely in rubber shares. It"s a risky game."
"I suppose it is," George agreed. "But it"s most unlikely that Herbert will come to grief. He has a very long head; I believe he could, for example, buy and sell me."
"That wouldn"t be very difficult. I suspect Herbert isn"t the only one of your acquaintances who is capable of doing as much."
Her eyes followed Sylvia, who was then walking across the gra.s.s.
Sylvia"s movements were always graceful, and she had now a subdued, pensive air that rendered her appearance slightly pathetic. Ethel"s face, however, grew quietly scornful. She knew what Sylvia"s forlorn and helpless look was worth.
"I"m not afraid that anybody will try," George replied.
"Your confidence is admirable." laughed Ethel; "but I mustn"t appear too cynical, and I"ve a favor to ask. Will you take Edgar out with you?"
George felt a little surprised. Edgar was her brother, a lad of somewhat erratic habits and ideas, who had been at Oxford when George last heard of him.
"Yes, if he wants to go, and Stephen approves," he said; for Stephen, the lawyer, was an elder brother, and the Wests had lost their parents.
"He will be relieved to get him off his hands for a while; but Edgar will be over to see you during the afternoon. He"s spending a week or two with the Charltons."
"I remember that young Charlton and he were close acquaintances."
"That was the excuse for the visit; but you had better understand that there was a certain amount of friction when Edgar came home after some trouble with the authorities. In his opinion, Stephen is too fond of making mountains out of molehills; but I must own that Edgar"s molehills have a way of increasing in size, and the last one caused us a good deal of uneasiness. Anyway, we have decided that a year"s hard work in Canada might help to steady him, even if he doesn"t follow up farming. The main point is that he would be safe with you."
"I"ll have a talk with him," George promised; and after a word of thanks Ethel turned away.
A little later she joined Mrs. Lansing, who was sitting alone in the shadow of a beech.
"I"m afraid I"ve added to George"s responsibilities--he has agreed to take Edgar out," she said. "He has some reason for wishing to be delivered from his friends, though I don"t suppose he does so."
"I"ve felt the same thing. Of course, I"m not referring to Edgar--his last sc.r.a.pe was only a trifling matter."
"So he contends," laughed Ethel. "Stephen doesn"t agree with him."
"Well," said Mrs. Lansing, "I"ve often thought it"s a pity George didn"t marry somebody nice and sensible."
"Would you apply that description to Sylvia?"
"Sylvia stands apart," Mrs. Lansing declared. "She can do what n.o.body else would venture on, and yet you feel you must excuse her."
"Have you any particular exploit of hers in your mind?"
"I was thinking of when she accepted d.i.c.k Marston. I believe even d.i.c.k was astonished."
"Sylvia knows how to make herself irresistible," said Ethel, strolling away a few moments later, somewhat troubled in mind.
She had cherished a half-tender regard for George, which, had it been reciprocated, might have changed to a deeper feeling. The man was steadfast, chivalrous, honest, and she saw in him latent capabilities which few others suspected. Still, his devotion to Sylvia had never been concealed, and Ethel had acquiesced in the situation, though she retained a strong interest in him. She believed that in going to Canada he was doing an injudicious thing; but as his confidence was hard to shake, he could not be warned--her conversation with him had made that plainer. She would not regret it if Sylvia forgot him while he was absent; but there were other ways in which he might suffer, and she wished he had not chosen to place the management of his affairs in Herbert"s hands.
In the meanwhile, her brother had arrived, and he and George were sitting together on the opposite side of the lawn. Edgar was a handsome, dark-haired lad, with a mischievous expression, and he sometimes owned that his capacity for seeing the humorous side of things was a gift that threatened to be his ruin. Nevertheless, there was a vein of sound common sense in him, and he had a strong admiration for George Lansing.
"Why do you want to go with me?" the latter asked, pretending to be a bit stern, but liking the youngster all the while.
"That," Edgar laughed, "is a rather euphemistic way of putting it. My washes have not been consulted. I must give my relatives the credit for the idea. Still, one must admit they had some provocation."
"It strikes me they have had a good deal of patience," George said dryly. "I suppose it"s exhausted."