"Never!" cried the professor, stepping back from him. "You could not do that!"
"I not only could, but I will, unless you get him out of the country--and quickly!"
"George!" I exclaimed, coming forward between them. "This won"t do at all. You can"t--"
"That"s enough," he said, waving me back, and I saw that his hand was shaking, too, like Keredec"s. His face had grown very white; but he controlled himself to speak with a coolness that made what he said painfully convincing. "I know what you think," he went on, addressing me, "but you"re wrong. It isn"t for myself. When I sailed for New York in the spring I thought there was a chance that she would carry out the action she begun four years ago and go through the form of ridding herself of him definitely; that is, I thought there was some hope for me; I believed there was until this morning. But I know better now. If she"s seen him again, and he"s been anything except literally unbearable, it"s all over with ME. From the first, I never had a chance against him; he was a hard rival, even when he"d become only a cruel memory." His voice rose. "I"ve lived a sober, decent life, and I"ve treated HER with gentleness and reverence since she was born, and HE"S done nothing but make a stew-pan of his life and neglect and betray her when he had her. Heaven knows why it is; it isn"t because of anything he"s done or has, it"s just because it"s HIM, I suppose, but I know my chance is gone for good! THAT leaves me free to act for her; no one can accuse me of doing it for myself. And I swear she sha"n"t go through that slough of despond again while I have breath in my body!"
"Steady, George!" I said.
"Oh, I"m steady enough," he cried. "Professor Keredec shall be convinced of it! My cousin is not going into the mire again; she shall be freed of it for ever: I speak as her relative now, the representative of her family and of those who care for her happiness and good. Now she SHALL make the separation definite--and LEGAL! And let Professor Keredec get his "poor boy" out of the country. Let him do it quickly! I make it as a condition of my not informing the woman yonder and her lawyer. And by my hope of salvation I warn you--"
"George, for pity"s sake!" I shouted, throwing my arm about his shoulders, for his voice had risen to a pitch of excitement and fury that I feared must bring the whole place upon us. He caught himself up suddenly, stared at me blankly for a moment, then sank into a chair with a groan. As he did so I became aware of a sound that had been worrying my subconsciousness for an indefinite length of time, and realised what it was. Some one was knocking for admission.
I crossed the room and opened the door. Miss Elizabeth stood there, red-faced and fl.u.s.tered, and behind her stood Mr. Cresson Ingle, who looked dubiously amused.
"Ah--come in," I said awkwardly. "George is here. Let me present Professor Keredec--"
""George is here!"" echoed Miss Elizabeth, interrupting, and paying no attention whatever to an agitated bow on the part of the professor. "I should say he WAS! They probably know THAT all the way to Trouville!"
"We were discussing--" I began.
"Ah, I know what you were discussing," she said impatiently. "Come in, Cresson." She turned to Mr. Ingle, who was obviously reluctant. "It is a family matter, and you"ll have to go through with it now."
"That reminds me," I said. "May I offer--"
"Not now!" Miss Elizabeth cut short a rather embarra.s.sed handshake which her betrothed and I were exchanging. "I"m in a very nervous and distressed state of mind, as I suppose we all are, for that matter.
This morning I learned the true situation over here; and I"m afraid Louise has heard; at least she"s not at Quesnay. I got into a panic for fear she had come here, but thank heaven she does not seem to--Good gracious! What"s THAT?"
It was the discordant voice of Mariana la Mursiana, crackling in strident protest. My door was still open; I turned to look and saw her, hot-faced, tousle-haired, insufficiently wrapped, striving to ascend the gallery steps, but valiantly opposed by Madame Brossard, who stood in the way.
"But NO, madame," insisted Madame Brossard, excited but darkly determined. "You cannot ascend. There is nothing on the upper floor of this wing except the apartment of Professor Keredec."
"Name of a dog!" shrilled the other. "It is my husband"s apartment, I tell you. Il y a une femme avec lui!"
"It is Madame Harman who is there," said Keredec hoa.r.s.ely in my ear. "I came away and left them together."
"Come," I said, and, letting the others think what they would, sprang across the veranda, the professor beside me, and ran toward the two women who were beginning to struggle with more than their tongues. I leaped by them and up the steps, but Keredec thrust himself between our hostess and her opponent, planting his great bulk on the lowest step.
Glancing hurriedly over my shoulder, I saw the Spanish woman strike him furiously upon the breast with both hands, but I knew she would never pa.s.s him.
I entered the salon of the "Grande Suite," and closed the door quickly behind me.
Louise Harman was standing at the other end of the room; she wore the pretty dress of white and lilac and the white hat. She looked cool and beautiful and good, and there were tears in her eyes. To come into this quiet chamber and see her so, after the hot sunshine and tawdry scene below, was like leaving the shouting market-place for a shadowy chapel.
Her husband was kneeling beside her; he held one of her hands in both his, her other rested upon his head; and something in their att.i.tudes made me know I had come in upon their leave-taking. But from the face he lifted toward her all trace of his tragedy had pa.s.sed: the wonder and worship written there left no room for anything else.
"Mrs. Harman--" I began.
"Yes?" she said. "I am coming."
"But I don"t want you to. I"ve come for fear you would, and you--you must not," I stammered. "You must wait."
"Why?"
"It"s necessary," I floundered. "There is a scene--"
"I know," she said quietly. "THAT must be, of course."
Harman rose, and she took both his hands, holding them against her breast.
"My dear," she said gently,--"my dearest, you must stay. Will you promise not to pa.s.s that door, even, until you have word from me again?"
"Yes," he answered huskily, "if you"ll promise it SHALL come--some day?"
"It shall, indeed. Be sure of it."
I had turned away, but I heard the ghost of his voice whispering "good-bye." Then she was beside me and opening the door.
I tried to stay her.
"Mrs. Harman," I urged, "I earnestly beg you--"
"No," she answered, "this is better."
She stepped out upon the gallery; I followed, and she closed the door.
Upon the veranda of my pavilion were my visitors from Quesnay, staring up at us apprehensively; Madame Brossard and Keredec still held the foot of the steps, but la Mursiana had abandoned the siege, and, accompanied by Mr. Percy and Rameau, the black-bearded notary, who had joined her, was crossing the garden toward her own apartment.
At the sound of the closing door, she glanced over her shoulder, sent forth a scream, and, whirling about, ran viciously for the steps, where she was again blocked by the indomitable Keredec.
"Ah, you foolish woman, I know who you are," she cried, stepping back from him to shake a menacing hand at the quiet lady by my side. "You want to get yourself into trouble! That man in the room up there has been my husband these two years and more."
"No, madame," said Louise Harman, "you are mistaken; he is my husband."
"But you divorced him," vociferated the other wildly. "You divorced him in America!"
"No. You are mistaken," the quiet voice replied. "The suit was withdrawn. He is still my husband."
I heard the professor"s groan of despair, but it was drowned in the wild shriek of Mariana. "WHAT? You tell ME that? Ah, the miserable! If what you say is true, he shall pay bitterly! He shall wish that he had died by fire! What! You think he can marry ME, break my leg so that I cannot dance again, ruin my career, and then go away with a pretty woman like you and be happy? Aha, there are prisons in France for people who marry two like that; I do not know what they do in YOUR barbaric country, but they are decent people over here and they punish.
He shall pay for it in suffering--" her voice rose to an incredible and unbearable shriek--"and you, YOU shall pay, too! You can"t come stealing honest women"s husbands like that. You shall PAY!"
I saw George Ward come running forward with his hand upraised in a gesture of pa.s.sionate warning, for Mrs. Harman, unnoticed by me--I was watching the Spanish woman--had descended the steps and had pa.s.sed Keredec, walking straight to Mariana. I leaped down after her, my heart in my throat, fearing a thousand things.
"You must not talk like that," she said, not lifting her voice--yet every one in the courtyard heard her distinctly. "You can do neither of us any harm in the world."
CHAPTER XX