"Ever so many times," said Peggy. "Every mornin", every evenin", and after grace besides."
"By Jove!" said Noel. "What did you say?"
"I said," Peggy swelled with triumph, ""Lighten Noel"s darkness, we beseech Thee, O Lord!""
"Why, that"s what I said!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Noel.
"Did you?" cried Peggy excitedly. "Did you really? Oh, Noel, then that"s how it was, isn"t it?"
"Quite so," said Noel.
He sat on the sofa in Daisy"s little drawing-room with his small playfellow on his knee. They had not seen each other for six weeks. And in those weeks Noel had been transformed from a blind man to a man who saw, albeit through thick blue spectacles that emphasized the pallor of illness to such an alarming degree that Daisy had almost wept over him at sight.
Peggy, more practical in her sympathy, had gathered him straightway to her small but ardent bosom, and refused to let him go.
So they sat in the drawing-room tightly locked and related to each other all the doings of their separation.
"I wonder you"re not afraid of me in these hideous goggles," Noel said once.
To which Peggy replied with indignation. "I"m not a baby!"
"And Olga has gone to Brethaven, has she?" he asked presently.
"Yes," said Peggy wisely. "Dr. Jim said she must have some sea air to make her fat again. So Captain Nick came yesterday and took her away.
And d"you know," said Peggy, "I"m goin" there too very soon?"
"What ho!" said Noel. "Are they going to let you stay there all by yourself?"
Peggy nodded. "Daddy and Mummy are goin" away all by theirselves, so I"m goin" away all by myself."
"And who"s going to slap you and put you to bed when you"re naughty?"
Noel enquired rudely. "Nick?"
"No!" said Peggy, affronted, "Captain Nick"s a gentleman!"
"Is he though? Nasty snub for Noel Wyndham Esquire!" observed Noel.
"Sorry, Peggy! Then unless Mrs. Nick rises n.o.bly to the occasion, I"m afraid you"ll go unslapped. Dear, dear! What a misfortune! I shall have to come down now and then and see what I can do."
Peggy embraced him again ecstatically at this suggestion. "Yes, dear Noel, yes! Come often, won"t you?"
"Rather!" said Noel cheerily. "I believe I"m going to be married some time soon by the way," he added as an afterthought.
Peggy"s face fell. "Oh, Noel, not really!"
"Why not really?" said Noel.
Peggy explained with a little quiver in her voice. "You did always say that when I was growed up you"d marry me."
"Oh, is that all?" said Noel. "That"s easily done. I"ll get permission to have two. Whom does one ask? The Pope, isn"t it? I"ll go and cultivate his acquaintance on my honeymoon."
"What"s a honeymoon?" said Peggy.
Noel burst into his merriest laugh and sprang to his feet. "It"s the nicest thing in the world. I"ll tell you all about it when we"re married, Peg-top! Meantime, will you take me to see the great Dr. Jim? I want to inveigle him into lending me his motor."
"Oh, are you goin" to Brethaven?" asked Peggy eagerly. "Take me! Do, dear Noel!"
"What for?" said Noel.
"Reggie lives there," said Peggy. "And Reggie"s got some rabbits--big, white ones."
"But suppose they don"t want you?" objected Noel.
"S"pose they don"t want _you_?" countered Peggy, clinging ingratiatingly to his hand. "Then--you can come and play with me and the rabbits--and Reggie."
Noel stooped very suddenly and kissed her. "What an excellent idea, Peg-top!" he said. "There"s nothing more useful when the road is blocked than to secure a good line of retreat."
Peggy looked up at him with puzzled eyes, but she did not ask him what he meant.
It was on that same afternoon that Olga found herself wandering along the tiny glen in the Redlands grounds that had been her favourite resort in childhood. It was only two days since she had left town, urged thereto by Dr. Jim who insisted that she had been there too long already. Nick, moreover, who had patiently chaperoned her for the past five weeks, was wanting to rejoin his wife who had returned to Redlands soon after Noel"s operation. And Noel himself, though still undergoing treatment at his brother"s hands, had so far recovered as to be able to leave the home and take up his abode temporarily with Sir Kersley Whitton and Max. He had cheerily promised to follow her in a day or two; and Olga, persuaded on all sides, had yielded without much resistance though not very willingly. She had a curious reluctance to return to her home. Something--that hovering phantom that she had almost forgotten--had arisen once more to menace her peace. And she was afraid; she knew not wherefore.
She was happier in Noel"s society than in any other. To see him daily growing stronger was her one unalloyed pleasure, and, curiously, when with him she was never so acutely conscious of that chill shadow. Of Max she saw practically nothing. He was always busy, almost too busy to notice her presence, it seemed--a fact that hurt her vaguely even while it gave her relief.
There was another fact that imparted the same kind of miserable comfort, and that was that Noel, though impetuous and loving as ever, never made any but the most casual allusions to their marriage. She could only conclude that he was waiting to make a complete recovery, and she would not herself broach the subject a second time. She did not actually want him to speak, but it grieved her a little that he did not do so. She did not for a moment doubt his love, but she felt that she did not possess the whole of his confidence, and the feeling made her vaguely uneasy.
She had been so ready to give all that he had desired. How was it he was slow to take?
These thoughts were running persistently in her mind as she moved along the edge of the stream. It was a day in the end of May, fragrant with many perfumes, crystallized with spring sunshine--such a day as she would have revelled in only last year. Only last year! How many things had happened since then! She was almost afraid to think.
There came the sound of feet on the drive above, and a cracked voice hailed her. "Hullo, Olga _mia_! How are you amusing yourself?"
She looked up with a smile. Last year she would have sprung to meet him; but she seemed to have outgrown all her impulsiveness lately. She moved to meet him indeed, but he was at her side before she had moved a couple of yards.
He caught her hand in his, and drew her to the water"s edge. His eyes flickered over her and went beyond.
"Hullo! There goes the green dragon-fly!" he said.
She looked round startled. "Oh, Nick, where?"
"Gone away!" said Nick unconcernedly. "He"ll come back again, I"ll wager. What"s the programme for this morning, kiddie? Anything special?"
"Nothing," said Olga.
Again rapidly his eyes comprehended her. "I"m going up to the Priory myself," he announced unexpectedly. "Care to come?"
She started again, coloured, then went very white. "I--don"t know, Nick," she faltered.
"Might as well, dear," said Nick persuasively. "There"s no one there.
Did I tell you about the landslip? There was a bad one last February, and the old place is beginning to crack in all directions. It"s been condemned as unsafe, and Campion is going to clear out bag and baggage.