"That is very kind of you!" he replied, his voice softening. "But please do not visit your very natural indignation upon Mrs. Durward. I alone am to blame, I ought never to have renounced my role of hermit.
Unfortunately"--with a brief smile of such sadness that Audrey felt her heart go out to him in a sudden rush of sympathy--"my mere presence is an abuse of my friends" hospitality."
"No, no!" she exclaimed quickly. "We are all glad to have you with us--we were so pleased when--when at last you came out of your sh.e.l.l, Garth"--with a faint smile.
"Still the fact remains that I am outside the social pale. I had no business to thrust myself in amongst you. However--after this--you may rest a.s.sured that I shan"t offend again."
"I decline to rest a.s.sured of anything of the kind," a.s.serted Audrey with determination. "Don"t be such a fool, Garth--or so unfair to your friends. Just because you chance to have met a women who, for some reason, chooses to cut you, doesn"t alter our friendship for you in the very least. What Mrs. Durward may have against you I don"t know--and I don"t care either. _I_ have nothing against you, and I don"t propose to give any pal of mine the go-by because some one else happens to have quarreled with him."
Trent"s eyes were curiously soft as he answered her.
"Thank you for that," he said earnestly. "All the same, I think you will have to make up your mind to allow your--friend, as you are good enough to call me, to go to the wall. You, and others like you, dragged him out, but, believe me, his place is not in the centre of the room. There are others besides Mrs. Durward who would give you the reason why, if you care to know it."
"I don"t care to know it," responded Audrey firmly. "In fact, I should decline to recognize any reason against my calling you friend. I don"t intend to let you go, nor will Miles, you"ll find."
"Ah! Herrick! He"s a good chap, isn"t he?" said Trent a little wistfully.
"We all are--once you get to know us," returned Audrey, persistently cheerful. "And Sara--Sara won"t let you go either, Garth."
His sensitive, bitter mouth twisted suddenly.
"If you don"t mind," he said quickly, "we won"t talk about Sara. And I won"t keep you any longer from your guests. It was--just like you--to take it as you have done, Audrey. And if, later on, you find yourself obliged to revise your opinion of me--I shall understand. And I shall not resent it."
"I"m not very likely to do what you suggest."
He looked at her with a curious expression on his face.
"I"m afraid it is only too probable," he rejoined simply.
He wrung her hand, and, turning, walked swiftly away through the wood, while Audrey retraced her footsteps in the direction of the dell.
She was feeling extremely annoyed at what she considered to be Mrs.
Durward"s hasty and inconsiderate action. It was unpardonable of any one thus to spoil the harmony of the day, she reflected indignantly, and then she looked up and met Elisabeth"s misty, hyacinth eyes, full of a gentle, appealing regret.
"Mrs. Maynard, I must beg you to try and pardon me," she said, approaching with a charming gesture of apology. "I have no excuse to offer except that Mr. Trent is a man I--I cannot possibly meet." She paused and seemed to swallow with some difficulty, and of a sudden Audrey was conscious of a thrill of totally unexpected compa.s.sion. There was so evidently genuine pain and emotion behind the hesitating apology.
"I am sorry you should have been distressed," she replied kindly. "It has been a most unfortunate affair all round."
Elisabeth bestowed a grateful little smile upon her.
"If you will forgive me," she said, "I will say good-bye now. I am sure you will understand my withdrawing."
"Oh no, you mustn"t think of such a thing," cried Audrey hospitably, though within herself she could not but acknowledge that the suggestion was a timely one. "Please don"t run away from us like that."
"It is very kind of you, but really--if you will excuse me--I think I would prefer not to remain. I feel somewhat _bouleversee_. And I am so distressed to have been the unwitting cause of spoiling your charming party."
Audrey hesitated.
"Of course, if you would really rather go----" she began.
"I would rather," persisted Elisabeth with a gentle inflexibility of purpose. "Will you give a message to Sara for me?" Audrey nodded.
"Ask her to come and see me to-morrow, and tell her that--that I will explain." Suddenly she stretched out an impulsive hand. "Oh, Mrs.
Maynard! If you knew how much I dread explaining this matter to Sara!
Perhaps, however"--her eyes took on a thoughtful expression--"Perhaps, however, it may not be necessary--perhaps it can be avoided."
A sense of foreboding seemed to close round Audrey"s heart, as she met the gaze of the beautiful, enigmatic eyes. What was it that Elisabeth intended to "explain" to Sara? Something connected with Garth Trent, of course, and it was impossible, in view of the att.i.tude Elisabeth had a.s.sumed, to hope that it could be aught else than something to his detriment.
"If an explanation can be avoided, Mrs. Durward," she said rather coldly, "I think it would be much better. The least said, the soonest mended, you know," she added, looking straight into the baffling eyes.
The two women, all at once antagonistic and suspicious of each other, shook hands formally, and Elisabeth took her way through the woods, while Audrey rejoined her neglected guests and used her best endeavours to convert an entertainment that threatened to become a failure into, at least, a qualified success. By dint of infinite tact, and the loyal cooperation of Miles Herrick, she somehow achieved it, and the majority of the picnickers enjoyed themselves immensely.
Only Sara felt as though a shadow had crept out from some hidden place and cast its grey length across the path whereon she walked, while Miles and Audrey, discerning the shadow with the clear-sighted vision of friendship, were filled with apprehension for the woman whom they had both learned to love.
CHAPTER XXVI
A MIDNIGHT VISITOR
Judson crossed the hall at Far End and, opening the front door, peered anxiously out into the moonlit night for the third time that evening.
Neither he nor his wife could surmise what had become of their master.
He had gone away, as they knew, with the intention of joining a picnic party in Haven Woods, but he had given no instructions that he wished the dinner-hour postponed, and now the beautiful little dinner which Mrs. Judson had prepared and cooked for her somewhat exigent employer had been entirely robbed of its pristine delicacy of flavour, since it had been "keeping hot" in the oven for at least two hours.
"Coming yet?" queried Mrs. Judson, as her husband returned to the kitchen.
The latter shook his head.
"Not a sign of "im," he replied briefly.
Ten minutes later, the house door opened and closed with a bang, and Judson hastened upstairs to ascertain his master"s wishes. When he again rejoined the wife of his bosom, his face wore a look of genuine concern.
"Something"s happened," he announced solemnly. "Ten years have I been in Mr. Trent"s service, and never, Maria, never have I seen him look as he do now."
"What"s he looking like, then?" demanded Mrs. Judson, pausing with a saucepan in her hand.
"Like a man what"s been in h.e.l.l," replied her husband dramatically.
"He"s as white as that piece of paper"--pointing to the sheet of cooking paper with which Mrs. Judson had been conscientiously removing the grease from the chipped potatoes. "And his eyes look wild. He"s been walking, too--must have walked twenty miles or thereabouts, I should think, for he seems dead beat and his boots are just a mask of mud. His coat"s torn and splashed, as well--as if he"d pushed his way through bushes and all, without ever stopping to see where he was going."
"Then he"ll be wanting his dinner," observed Mrs. Judson practically.
"I"ll dish it up--"tisn"t what you might call actually spoiled as yet."
"He won"t have any. "Judson," he says to me, "bring me a whisky-and-soda and some sandwiches. I don"t want nothing else. And then you can lock up and go to bed.""
"Well, then, bless the man, look alive and get the whisky-and-soda and a tray ready whiles I cut the sandwiches," exclaimed the excellent Mrs.
Judson promptly, giving her bemused spouse a push in the direction of the pantry and herself bustling away to fetch a loaf of bread.
"Right you are. But I was so took aback at the master"s appearance, Maria, you could have knocked me down with a feather. I wonder if his young lady"s given him his congy?" he added reflectively.
Mrs. Judson did not stay to discuss the question, but set about preparing the sandwiches, and a few minutes later Judson carried into Trent"s own particular snuggery an attractive-looking little tray and placed it on a table at his master"s elbow.