Noel closed the piano, and sat down on the divan. Her face had the same expression as when he had told her that she could not marry Cyril Morland.
"Come, Nollie," he said; "don"t be unreasonable. We must see this through together."
"No."
"My dear, that"s childish. Do you think the mere accident of your being or not being at home can affect my decision as to what my duty is?"
"Yes; it"s my being there that matters. Those people don"t care, so long as it isn"t an open scandal."
"Nollie!"
"But it is so, Daddy. Of course it"s so, and you know it. If I"m away they"ll just pity you for having a bad daughter. And quite right too. I am a bad daughter."
Pierson smiled. "Just like when you were a tiny."
"I wish I were a tiny again, or ten years older. It"s this half age--But I"m not coming back with you, Daddy; so it"s no good."
Pierson sat down beside her.
"I"ve been thinking this over all day," he said quietly. "Perhaps in my pride I made a mistake when I first knew of your trouble. Perhaps I ought to have accepted the consequences of my failure, then, and have given up, and taken you away at once. After all, if a man is not fit to have the care of souls, he should have the grace to know it."
"But you are fit," cried Noel pa.s.sionately; "Daddy, you are fit!"
"I"m afraid not. There is something wanting in me, I don"t know exactly what; but something very wanting."
"There isn"t. It"s only that you"re too good--that"s why!"
Pierson shook his head. "Don"t, Nollie!"
"I will," cried Noel. "You"re too gentle, and you"re too good. You"re charitable, and you"re simple, and you believe in another world; that"s what"s the matter with you, Daddy. Do you think they do, those people who want to chase us out? They don"t even begin to believe, whatever they say or think. I hate them, and sometimes I hate the Church; either it"s hard and narrow, or else it"s worldly." She stopped at the expression on her father"s face, the most strange look of pain, and horror, as if an unspoken treachery of his own had been dragged forth for his inspection.
"You"re talking wildly," he said, but his lips were trembling. "You mustn"t say things like that; they"re blasphemous and wicked."
Noel bit her lips, sitting very stiff and still, against a high blue cushion. Then she burst out again:
"You"ve slaved for those people years and years, and you"ve had no pleasure and you"ve had no love; and they wouldn"t care that if you broke your heart. They don"t care for anything, so long as it all seems proper. Daddy, if you let them hurt you, I won"t forgive you!"
"And what if you hurt me now, Nollie?"
Noel pressed his hand against her warm cheek.
"Oh, no! Oh, no! I don"t--I won"t. Not again. I"ve done that already."
"Very well, my dear! then come home with me, and we"ll see what"s best to be done. It can"t be settled by running away."
Noel dropped his hand. "No. Twice I"ve done what you wanted, and it"s been a mistake. If I hadn"t gone to Church on Sunday to please you, perhaps it would never have come to this. You don"t see things, Daddy. I could tell, though I was sitting right in front. I knew what their faces were like, and what they were thinking."
"One must do right, Nollie, and not mind."
"Yes; but what is right? It"s not right for me to hurt you, and I"m not going to."
Pierson understood all at once that it was useless to try and move her.
"What are you going to do, then?"
"I suppose I shall go to Kestrel to-morrow. Auntie will have me, I know; I shall talk to Leila."
"Whatever you do, promise to let me know."
Noel nodded.
"Daddy, you--look awfully, awfully tired. I"m going to give you some medicine." She went to a little three-cornered cupboard, and bent down.
Medicine! The medicine he wanted was not for the body; knowledge of what his duty was--that alone could heal him!
The loud popping of a cork roused him. "What are you doing, Nollie?"
Noel rose with a flushed face, holding in one hand a gla.s.s of champagne, in the other a biscuit.
"You"re to take this; and I"m going to have some myself."
"My dear," said Pierson bewildered; "it"s not yours."
"Drink it; Daddy! Don"t you know that Leila would never forgive me if I let you go home looking like that. Besides, she told me I was to eat.
Drink it. You can send her a nice present. Drink it!" And she stamped her foot.
Pierson took the gla.s.s, and sat there nibbling and sipping. It was nice, very! He had not quite realised how much he needed food and drink. Noel returned from the cupboard a second time; she too had a gla.s.s and a biscuit.
"There, you look better already. Now you"re to go home at once, in a cab if you can get one; and tell Gratian to make you feed up, or you won"t have a body at all; you can"t do your duty if you haven"t one, you know."
Pierson smiled, and finished the champagne.
Noel took the gla.s.s from him. "You"re my child to-night, and I"m going to send you to bed. Don"t worry, Daddy; it"ll all come right." And, taking his arm, she went downstairs with him, and blew him a kiss from the doorway.
He walked away in a sort of dream. Daylight was not quite gone, but the moon was up, just past its full, and the search-lights had begun their nightly wanderings. It was a sky of ghosts and shadows, fitting to the thought which came to him. The finger of Providence was in all this, perhaps! Why should he not go out to France! At last; why not? Some better man, who understood men"s hearts, who knew the world, would take his place; and he could go where death made all things simple, and he could not fail. He walked faster and faster, full of an intoxicating relief. Thirza and Gratian would take care of Nollie far better than he. Yes, surely it was ordained! Moonlight had the town now; and all was steel blue, the very air steel-blue; a dream-city of marvellous beauty, through which he pa.s.sed, exalted. Soon he would be where that poor boy, and a million others, had given their lives; with the mud and the sh.e.l.ls and the scarred grey ground, and the jagged trees, where Christ was daily crucified--there where he had so often longed to be these three years past. It was ordained!
And two women whom he met looked at each other when he had gone by, and those words "the blighted crow" which they had been about to speak, died on their lips.
VIII
Noel felt light-hearted too, as if she had won a victory. She found some potted meat, spread it on another biscuit, ate it greedily, and finished the pint bottle of champagne. Then she hunted for the cigarettes, and sat down at the piano. She played old tunes--"There is a Tavern in the Town," "Once I Loved a Maiden Fair," "Mowing the Barley," "Clementine,"
"Lowlands," and sang to them such words as she remembered. There was a delicious running in her veins, and once she got up and danced. She was kneeling at the window, looking out, when she heard the door open, and without getting up, cried out:
"Isn"t it a gorgeous night! I"ve had Daddy here. I gave him some of your champagne, and drank the rest--" then was conscious of a figure far too tall for Leila, and a man"s voice saying:
"I"m awfully sorry. It"s only I, Jimmy Fort."