"He"s very handsome, isn"t he?" said Daisy, smiling back not without a touch of malice. "Who could help favouring such an Adonis?"
"Not you, I"m sure," said Hunt-Goring, "or the charming Peggy either.
But I"m a little sorry for the red-haired doctor, you know. I feel in a measure responsible for that tragedy."
"The responsibility was mine," said Daisy gravely.
He turned his lazy eyes upon her. "Ah, to be sure! You wanted an excuse to procure that young man his _conge_, I believe. I hope you realize that you are in my debt for just so much as the excuse was worth."
Daisy made a quick movement of exasperation. "Do you never give women credit for being sincere?" she said.
"Only when they are angry," said Hunt-Goring, taking out his cigarette-case. "Now join me, won"t you? Sincerity is such a heating quality. I shouldn"t cultivate it if I were you."
But Daisy declined somewhat curtly. It was quite evident that her patience was wearing very thin.
Hunt-Goring did not press her. He smiled and subsided with obvious indifference. Perhaps he deemed it wiser not to try her too far, or perhaps he lacked the energy to pursue the matter.
He had taken to spending most of his time on the verandah, smoking his endless cigarettes and dreamily watching the world go by. He seemed almost to have forgotten that he was a guest, and, her exasperation notwithstanding, Daisy could not bring herself to remind him of the fact. For the man was changed. Day after day she realized it more and more clearly. Day after day it seemed to her that he dropped a little deeper into his sea of lethargy. His interest flagged so quickly where once it had been keen. He grew daily older while she watched. And a curious pity for him kept her from actively disliking him, although his power to attract her was wholly gone. She found herself bearing with him simply because he cared so little.
It was quite otherwise with Noel, who was frankly disgusted to find himself confronted with him on the following morning when, true to his promise, he made his appearance with Peggy"s mount. Hunt-Goring was just preparing to establish himself on the verandah when Noel came striding along it in search of his small playmate. They so nearly collided in fact that it was impossible for either to overlook the other"s presence.
Noel drew back sharply with his quick scowl. They had not met since the evening on which he had so furiously challenged him to battle on Olga"s behalf. For Olga"s sake, and perhaps a little in deference to Max"s warning, he had refrained from following up the challenge, but he was more than ready to do so even yet; and his att.i.tude said as much as he stood aside in glowering silence for the other man to pa.s.s.
Hunt-Goring however was plainly in a genial mood. He paused to bestow his smiling scrutiny upon the young officer. "Let me see! Surely we have met before?"
"We have," said Noel bluntly.
"I fear the occasion has slipped my memory," said Hunt-Goring.
A wiser man would have pa.s.sed on. But Noel had not yet attained to years of discretion. He stood his ground and explained.
"We met at dinner here. Captain and Miss Ratcliffe were here too--and my brother."
"Oh, ah! I remember now. Quite an amusing evening, was it not?"
Hunt-Goring laughed gently. "You were rather vexed with me for chaffing her about her engagement. I have always thought a little chaff was legitimate on such occasions."
"When it isn"t objectionable," said Noel gruffly.
Hunt-Goring laughed again. "Do you know why the engagement was broken off?"
Noel drew himself up sharply. "That, sir, is neither your affair nor mine."
Hunt-Goring took out his cigarette-case. "Well, it was mine in a way,"
he observed complacently. "I pulled the strings, you know."
"Ah!" It was an exclamation of anger rather than of surprise. The blood mounted in a great wave to Noel"s forehead. He looked suddenly dangerous. "I guessed it was your doing," he said, in a furious undertone.
Hunt-Goring continued to smile. "He wasn"t a very suitable _parti_ for her, my dear fellow. There was a certain episode in his past that wouldn"t bear too close an investigation. Very possibly you have not been let into that secret. Your brother was not over-anxious to have it noised abroad."
Noel"s hands were clenched. He seemed to be restraining himself from a violent outburst with immense difficulty.
"My brother," he said with emphasis, "is the gentleman of our family. He has never yet done anything that couldn"t have been proclaimed from the house-tops."
Hunt-Goring uttered his sneering laugh. "What touching loyalty! My dear fellow, your brother is the biggest blackguard of you all, if you only knew it."
"You lie!" Violently came the words; they were as the sudden bursting of the storm. Something electric seemed suddenly to have entered into Noel.
He became as it were galvanized by fury.
But still Hunt-Goring laughed. "Oh, not on this occasion, I a.s.sure you.
I have too little at stake. I wonder why you imagined the engagement was broken off. I suppose your brother gave you a reason of sorts."
Noel"s eyes shone red. "He gave me to understand that you had had a hand in it. I guessed it in fact. I knew what an infernal blackguard you were."
"Order! Order!" smiled Hunt-Goring. "After all, my share in the matter was a very small one. Most men have a past, you know. When you have lived a little longer, you will recognize that. So he didn"t tell you why he had been thrown over? Left you to make your own inferences, I suppose? Or perhaps she made the flattering suggestion that she had bestowed her affections upon--someone more captivating? I fancy she is wisely determined to secure as good a bargain as possible--for which one can scarcely blame her. And a man with so lively a past as your brother"s would scarcely be a safe partner for one who values peace and prosperity."
"How dare you make these vile insinuations in my hearing?" burst forth Noel. "Do you think I"m made of sawdust? Tell me what you mean, or else retract every single word you"ve said!"
Hunt-Goring held up a cigarette between his fingers and looked at it.
The fury of Noel"s att.i.tude scarcely seemed to reach his notice. He leaned against the bal.u.s.trade of the verandah, still faintly smiling.
"I would tell you the whole story with pleasure," he said, "only I am not quite sure that it would be good for you to know."
"Oh, d.a.m.n all that!" broke in Noel, goaded to exasperation by his obvious indifference. "If you want to save your skin, you"d better speak out at once!"
"To save my skin!" Hunt-Goring"s eyes left their contemplation of the cigarette and travelled to his face. They held a sneer that was well-nigh intolerable, and yet which somehow restrained Noel for the moment. "What a very headlong young man you are!" pursued Hunt-Goring, in his soft voice. "I"ve done nothing to you. I haven"t the smallest desire to quarrel with you. Nor have I given you any occasion for offence. It was Mrs. Musgrave--not I--who imparted the regrettable tale of your brother"s shortcomings to his _fiancee_. In some fashion she conceived it to be her duty to do so."
"You meant her to do it!" flashed back Noel.
"Ah! that is another story," smiled Hunt-Goring. "We are not discussing motives or intentions. I think. But she will tell you--if you care to ask her--that I advised her strongly against the course she elected to pursue."
"You would!" said Noel bitterly. "Well, get on! Let"s hear this precious story. I"ve no doubt it"s a d.a.m.ned lie from beginning to end, but if it"s going the round I"d better know it."
"It may be a lie," said Hunt-Goring diplomatically. "But it was not concocted by me. I should conclude, however, from subsequent events that some portion of it bears at least some sort of resemblance to the truth." He stopped to light his cigarette while Noel looked on fuming.
"The story is a very ordinary one, but might well prove somewhat d.a.m.ning to a doctor"s career. It concerned a young lady with whom your brother was--somewhat intimate."
"Did you know her?" thrust in Noel.
Hunt-Goring looked at the end of his cigarette with a thoughtful smile.
"Yes, I knew her rather well. I was not, however, prepared to lend my name to cloak a scandal--even to oblige your brother who had transferred his attentions to Miss Olga, so he had to take his own measures." He looked up with a glitter of malice in his eyes. "The girl died," he said, "rather suddenly. That"s all the story."
It was received in a dead silence that lasted for the breathless pa.s.sage of a dozen seconds. Then: "You--skunk!" said Noel.
He did not raise his voice to say it, but there was that in his tone that was more emphatic than violence. It warned Hunt-Goring of danger as surely as the growl of a tiger. His lazy complacence suddenly gave place to alertness. He straightened himself up. But even then he had not the sense to refrain from his abominable laugh.
"I"ve noticed," he said, "that present-day puppies are greater at snarling than fighting. I told you this story because you asked for it.
Now I"ll tell you one you didn"t ask for. Max Wyndham transferred his attentions to Olga Ratcliffe, not because he cared for her, but because he wanted to put a spoke in my wheel. Little Olga and I were very thick at one time. You didn"t know that, I daresay?"
"I don"t believe it!" said Noel, breathing heavily.