I remarked upon his apparent apathy, and in reply he said--
"I regret that I left London. All my interests were centred there. It was only my health which compelled me to give it up. But I suppose I shall go back some day," and he sighed and resumed the briar pipe he had been smoking when I entered.
On the table was a blotting-pad and some ma.n.u.script. He had tried that day to write his sermon, but was unable. He had been smoking and meditating instead.
"And as soon as you have got strong again you mean to leave us and go back to a London parish!" I exclaimed. "That"s too bad. I hear you are getting on famously here."
"Getting on!" he repeated wearily. "Yes, and that"s about all. My work lies in London. I"m not fitted for a country parson, because I can"t be idle. I feel as if I must be always energetic; and too much energy on the part of a country curate generally causes his vicar annoyance. Many vicars think energy undignified."
"But, my dear fellow," I exclaimed, "if you"re not well--and I see you"re not well by your face and manner--why don"t you take things easily? You need not kill yourself, surely! London seems to have a remarkable attraction for you. Surely life is much healthier here."
"Yes, you"re right," he answered in a clear voice. "There is an attraction for me in London," and he looked into my face with a curious expression.
"An attraction outside your work?" I suggested. He hesitated. Then, suddenly, he answered--
"Yes. Why need I conceal it from you, Clifton? It is a woman."
"And you are in love?" I exclaimed.
"Yes," he responded, in a low tone. "But, hush! Not so loud. No one must know it here."
"Of course not. If you wish, it shall remain a secret with me," I said.
"Are you engaged?"
"Oh no!" he exclaimed. "I love her, but have not yet spoken. I will tell you the truth; then you can advise me," and he paused. At last, continuing, he said: "When I joined the Church I made a solemn vow to G.o.d of celibacy; not because I hated women, but because I considered that my work, if done conscientiously, as I intended to do it, should be my sole thought. Mine is perhaps a rather extreme view, but I cannot think that a man can work for his Master with that thoroughness if he has a woman to love and cherish as when he is a bachelor and alone.
Some may say that woman"s influence upon man is softening and humanising; but I hold that the man who is single can apply himself more devoutly to his fellow-creatures than he who has home ties and family affairs. Well, I took Holy Orders and set myself to work. I know I am not a brilliant preacher, nor have I that gift of self-advertis.e.m.e.nt which some men cultivate by lecturing with limelight views; but I do know that I strove to act as servant to the Master I had elected to serve, and the thanks of the grateful poor and the knowledge that more than one person had been brought to repentance by my words, were more than sufficient repayment for my efforts. Time went on, and I became deeply absorbed in my work in those foetid slums, until one day I chanced to meet a woman who in an instant entranced me by her beauty.
She gave me but a pa.s.sing glance, but her eyes kindled in my soul the fire of love. We men are, indeed, frail creatures, for in a moment all my good resolutions fell to the ground, and I felt myself devoted to her. We met again, and again. I admired her. I saw how beautiful she was, and then found myself thinking more of her than of the Master whom I was serving. True it is, as it is written, `No man can serve two masters,"" and he sighed heavily, and sat dejected, his chin upon his breast.
"And then?" I inquired.
"Some months went by," he said. "She was aware how deeply I had the welfare of the poor in my parish at heart, and in order, I suppose, to please me, she enrolled herself as a helper. Instead of pleasing me, however, this action of hers caused me loathing. I saw that she had only done this in order to be nearer me; that her pretence of religious fervour was feigned, in order that her actions might not appear irregular to the outside world. Ours was a mutual love, yet no word of affection had ever pa.s.sed our lips. But I could not bear to be a party to this masquerade. A woman who took up arduous duties like she did, merely because `slumming," as it was called, happened to be the fashionable craze of the moment, was in no way fitted to become the wife of one whose duty lay ever in the homes of the suffering and needy. I tried to shake off her acquaintance, to discourage her, to frighten her by exaggerated stories of infectious disease, but she would not listen.
She was determined, she declared, `to work for the Church," and encouraged by the vicar, continued to do so. I strove to live down my increasing admiration for her, but could not. Time after time I treated her with unpardonable rudeness, but she merely smiled, and was more tenacious than ever, until at last, in sheer desperation, I resigned, and came here. Now you know all the truth, Clifton," he added, in a lower tone. "I came down here to escape her!"
"And yet you are ready to again return to London--you want to get back again," I observed.
"Ah! yes!" he sighed, the dark look still upon his face. "It is my test. I have to choose between love and duty."
"And you choose the latter?"
"I am trying to do so. With G.o.d"s help I hope to succeed," he answered, in a hoa.r.s.e voice. "If love proves too strong, then I fall back to the level from which I have striven to rise--the level of the ordinary man."
"But are you certain you were not mistaken in the object of the lady in joining the work in which you were engaged? May not she have been determined to become self-sacrificing in the holy cause, just as you were?"
"No," he answered very decisively, "I cannot believe it. There were facts which were suspicious."
"What kind of facts?"
"In various ways she betrayed her insincerity of purpose," he answered.
"Her friends were wealthy, and the vicar was acute enough to see that if she were encouraged she would bring additional funds to the church. But the poor themselves, always quick to recognise true sincerity, very soon discerned that she visited them without having their welfare at heart, and consequently imposed upon her."
There was nothing sanctimonious or puritanical about Jack Yelverton.
The words he uttered came direct from his faithful, honest heart.
"And yet you love her!" I remarked, amazed. "That"s just it. My admiration of her grace and beauty ripened into love before I was aware of it. I struggled against it, but became overwhelmed. Had she not feigned sincerity and taken up the work that I was doing, I should, I believe, have proposed marriage to her. But her action in trying to appear solicitous after the welfare of the sick, when I knew that her thoughts were all of the world, caused me a revulsion of feeling which ended in my resignation and escape."
"Escape!" I echoed. "One would think that you had fled from some feared catastrophe."
"I did fear a catastrophe," he declared. "I feared that I should marry and become devoted to my wife, instead of to my Master. Ah! Clifton, mine is a strange, a very strange position. You may think my words extremely foolish, but you cannot understand the circ.u.mstances aright.
If you did, you would see why I acted as I have done."
"You acted quite wisely, I think," said I. "None could blame you for seeking a country curacy in such circ.u.mstances. To be thus run after by a woman is positively sickening."
"Ah, there you are mistaken!" he exclaimed quickly. "She didn"t run after me. It was I who, attracted by her beauty, showed her by my actions that I loved her. From the first it was my own fault entirely.
I have only myself to reproach."
"But you cannot actually reproach yourself, if you are still fond of her."
"Fond of her? I adore her!" he cried. "I only wish I did not. Have I not told you how I"ve fought against this feeling? Yet what"s the use of striving against the deepest and most overwhelming pa.s.sion in the world?"
"Could you not be happy with her, and yet live as upright, honest, and holy a life as you now do?" I suggested. "Does not the holy proverb say that a man who takes a wife obtains favour with the Lord?"
"Yes," he answered. "But as I have explained, it is easier for the man to devote himself to religious work when he is single than when he has a wife to occupy his thoughts. He must neglect the one or the other. Of that I am convinced. Besides, I have vowed to G.o.d to serve Him alone, and with His a.s.sistance I will do so. I will!" and his hands clenched themselves in the fierceness of his words.
Next day I drove my sister into Stamford, and having put up at that well-known old hostelry, the George, she went to do some shopping while I sauntered forth determined to make what inquiries I could of Muriel"s whereabouts. All her relatives were in ignorance. One of them, an aunt, had received a brief note saying that she had left Madame Gabrielle"s, and would send her new address. But she had not done so.
From place to place I went, ever with the same question upon my lips, but ever receiving a similar reply. Muriel was utterly lost to all, as to me.
About six o"clock we set out to drive home, but the dull day had culminated in wet, and our journey was in the teeth of a tempestuous wind which drove the rain full into our faces, and made us both very uncomfortable. We had pa.s.sed Worthorpe, and were halfway towards Colly Weston, on the high road to Duddington, when we approached a female figure in a black mackintosh cape, with difficulty holding her umbrella in the boisterous wind. She was walking towards Stamford, and my sister catching sight of her as we rapidly approached, said--
"I hope that woman is enjoying it."
It was already half dark, and the road was ankle-deep in mud, yet she strode on determinedly, heedless of the rough weather, and bent upon reaching the town before night fell entirely. At that part of the road it is flat and open--straight across a highway cut years ago through the Rockingham forest, which covered that part of the country, but the land is now divested of trees and cultivated.
Her face was set straight in the direction of Stamford, and with her umbrella held down firmly she did not notice our approach until just as we pa.s.sed and our high wheels spattered her with mud. She drew her umbrella aside in surprise and looked up.
In an instant we had left her behind, but in that brief s.p.a.ce of time I recognised her.
There could be no mistaking that face. It was a countenance which, once seen, rivetted itself upon the memory for ever because of its wondrous loveliness.
It was Aline Cloud.
Quickly I glanced back, but it was evident that with my hat drawn down over my eyes, and my collar turned up I was sufficiently disguised to escape recognition. She did not turn, but trudged on through the mud towards the town far across the valley, where the distant lights were already beginning to glimmer.
I was utterly mystified; and the more so when, a quarter of an hour later, just as we turned the sharp corner to descend the hill into Duddington, we overtook and wished good evening to Jack Yelverton, who was striding along in our direction.
He started suddenly, laughed nervously when I hailed him, and then kept on his way.
Had he walked from Stamford, I wondered.
But next second the suspicion grew upon me that he had kept a secret appointment somewhere on that bleak open road, and that the person he had met was Aline, the Woman of Evil.