"Wish Benson wouldn"t sweep the soda water off the table." "Ring for it." "The little thing really cares for me, don"t you know. And it isn"t my fault, is it? I had to hedge. Frank, dear boy, you"re always taunting me with the treadmill we have to turn for the sake of society, and so forth, but with debts about a man"s neck like a millstone, what could one do----"
"I don"t mean that you"re worse than others, old fellow, or that sacrificing this one poor child is going to mend matters much----"
"No, it isn"t likely to improve my style of going, is it?"
"But that man John Storm was not so far wrong, after all, and for this polygamy of our "lavender-glove tribe" the nation itself will be overtaken by the judgment of G.o.d one of these days."
Lord Robert broke into a peal of derisive laughter. "Go on," he cried.
"Go on, dear boy! It"s funny to hear you, though--after to-day"s proceedings too"; and he glanced significantly around the table.
Drake brought down his fist with a thump on to the mantelpiece. "Hold your tongue, Robert! How often am I to tell you this is a different thing entirely? Because I discover a creature of genius and try to help her to the position she deserves----"
"You hypocrite, if it had been a man instead of a charming little woman with big eyes, don"t you know----"
But there had been a ring at the outer door, and Benson came in to say that a clergyman was waiting downstairs.
"Little Golightly again!" said Lord Robert wearily. "Are these everlasting arrangements never----"
The man stopped him. It was not Mr. Golightly; it was a stranger; would not give his name; looked like a Catholic priest; had been there before, he thought.
"Can it be---Talk of the devil----"
"Ask him up," said Drake. And while Drake bit his lip and clinched his hands, and Lord Robert took up a scent bottle and sprayed himself with eau de cologne, they saw a man clad in the long coat of a priest come into the room--calm, grave, self-possessed, very pale, with hollow and shaven cheeks and dark and sunken eyes, which burned with a sombre fire, and head so closely cropped as to seem to be almost bald.
John Storm"s anger had cooled. As he crossed the park the heat of his soul had turned to fear, and while he stood in the hall below, with an atmosphere of perfume about him, and even a delicate sense of a feminine presence, his fear had turned to terror. On that account he had refused to send up his name, and on going up the staircase, lined with prints, he had been tempted to turn about and fly lest he should come upon Glory face to face. But finding only the two men in the room above, his courage came back and he hated himself for his treacherous thought of her.
"You will forgive me for this unceremonious visit, sir," he said, addressing himself to Drake.
Drake motioned to him to be seated. He bowed, but continued to stand.
"Your friend will remember that I have been here before."
Lord Robert bent his head, and went on trifling with the spray.
"It was a painful errand relating to a girl who had been nurse at the hospital. The girl was nothing to me, but she had a companion who was very much."
Drake nodded and his lips stiffened, but he did not speak.
"You are aware that since then I have been away from the hospital. I wrote to you on the subject; you will remember that."
"Well?" said Drake.
"I have only just returned, and have come direct from the hospital now."
"Well?"
"I see you know what I mean, sir. My young friend has gone. Can you tell me where to find her?"
"Sorry I can not," said Drake coldly, and it stung him to see a look of boundless relief cross the grave face in front of him.
"Then you don"t know----"
"I didn"t say that," said Drake, and then the lines of pain came back.
"At the request of her people I brought her up to London. Naturally they will look to me for news of her, and I feel responsible for her welfare."
"If that is so, you must pardon me for saying you"ve taken your duty lightly," said Drake.
John Storm gripped the rail of the chair in front of him, and there was silence for a moment.
"Whatever I may have to blame myself with in the past, it would relieve me to find her well and happy and safe from all harm."
"She _is_ well and happy, and safe too--I can tell you that much."
There was another moment of silence, and then John Storm said in broken sentences and in a voice that was struggling to control itself: "I have known her since she was a child, sir---You can not think how many tender memories---It is nearly a year since I saw her, and one likes to see old friends after an absence."
Drake did not speak, but he dropped his head, for John"s eyes had begun to fill.
"We were good friends too. Boy and girl comrades almost. Brother and sister, I should say, for that was how I liked to think of myself--her elder brother bound to take care of her."
There was a little trill of derisive laughter from the other side of the room, where Lord Robert had put the spray down noisily and turned to look out into the street. Then John Storm drew himself up and said in a firm voice:
"Gentlemen, why should I mince matters? I will not do so. The girl we speak of is more to me than anybody else in the world besides. Perhaps she was one of the reasons why I went into that monastery. Certainly she is the reason I have come out of it. I have come to find her. I _shall_ find her. If she is in difficulty or danger I intend to save her. Will you tell me where she is?"
"Mr. Storm," said Drake, "I am sorry, very sorry, but what you say compels me to speak plainly. The lady is well and safe and happy. If her friends are anxious about her she can rea.s.sure them for herself, and no doubt she has already done so. But in the position she occupies at present you are a dangerous man. It might not be her wish, and it would not be to her advantage, to meet with you, and I can, not allow her to run the risk."
"Has it come to that? Have you a right to speak for her, sir?"
"Perhaps I have----" Drake hesitated, and then said with a rush, "the right to protect her against a fanatic."
John Storm curbed himself; he had been through a long schooling. "Man, be honest," he said. "Either your interest is good or bad, selfish or unselfish. Which is it?"
Drake made no answer.
"But it would be useless to bandy words. I didn"t come here to do that.
Will you tell me where she is?"
"No."
"Then it is to be a duel between us--is that so? You for the girl"s body and I for her soul? Very well, I take your challenge."
There was silence once more, and John Storm"s eyes wandered about the room. They fixed themselves at length on the sketch by the pier-gla.s.s.
"On my former visit I met with the same reception. The girl could take care of herself. It was no business of mine. How that relation has ended I do not ask. But this one----"
"This one is an entirely different matter," said Drake, "and I will thank you not to----"
But John Storm was making the sign of the cross on his breast, and saying, as one who was uttering a prayer, "G.o.d grant it is and always may be!"