So the days pa.s.sed, swallowed up by feverish work and preparation.
It was work that might well be all thrown away should his recall be insisted upon at Amberley, or, at best, might only pave the way to his successor"s more fortunate endeavors. It was all very trying, very unsatisfactory, yet he dared not relax his efforts, with the knowledge which he now possessed, and the thought of Kate always before him.
Several times, during those anxious days, he sought to salve his troubled feelings by stealing precious moments of delight in the presence of this woman he loved. But somehow Fate seemed to have a.s.sumed a further perverseness, and appeared bent on robbing him of even this slight satisfaction.
At such times Kate was never to be found. Small as was that little world in the valley, it seemed to Fyles that she had a knack of vanishing from his sight as though she had been literally spirited away. Nor for some time could he bring himself to realize that she was deliberately avoiding him.
She was never at home when he rode up to the house on the back of his faithful Peter. And, furthermore, at such times as he found Helen there, she never by any chance knew where her sister was. Even when he chanced to discover Kate in the distance, on his rare visits to the village, she was never to be found by the time he reached the spot at which he had seen her. She was as elusive as a will-o"-th"-wisp.
But this could not go on forever, and, after one memorable visit to the postoffice, where he found a letter awaiting him from headquarters, Fyles determined to be denied no longer.
His task was less easy than he supposed, and it was not until evening that he finally achieved his purpose.
It was nearly eight o"clock in the evening. Up to that time his search had been utterly unavailing, and he found himself riding down the village trail at a loss, and in a fiercely impatient mood.
He had just reached the point where the trail split in two. The one way traveling due west, and the other up to the new church, and on, beyond, to the Meeting House.
The inspiration came to him as Peter, of his own accord, turned off up the hill in the direction of the church. Then he remembered that the day was Sat.u.r.day, and on Sat.u.r.day evening it was Kate"s custom to put the Meeting House in order for the next day"s service.
In a moment he bustled his faithful horse, and, taking the gra.s.sy side of the trail for it, to m.u.f.fle his approach, hurried on toward the quaint old building.
To his utmost delight he realized that, for once, Fate had decided to be kind to him. There was a light in one of the windows, and he knew that n.o.body but Kate had access to the place at times other than the hours of service.
In that moment of pleasant antic.i.p.ation he was suddenly seized by an almost childish desire to take her unawares. The thought appealed to him strongly after his long and futile search, and, with this object, he steadied his horse"s gait lest the sound of its plodding hoofs should betray his approach. Twenty yards from the building he drew up and dismounted.
Once on foot he made his way across the intervening s.p.a.ce and reached the window. A thin curtain, however, was drawn across it, and, though the light shone through, the interior remained hidden. So he pressed on toward the door.
Here he paused. And as he did so the sound of something heavy falling reached him from within. Kate was evidently moving the heavy benches.
He hesitated only for an instant, then he placed his hand cautiously on the latch and raised it. In spite of his precautions the heavy old iron rattled noisily, and again he hesitated. Then, with a thrust, he pushed the aged door open and pa.s.sed within.
He stood still, his eyes smiling. Kate was at the far end of the room on her knees. She was looking round at him with a curious, startled look in her eyes, which had somehow caught the reflection of the light from the oil bracket lamp on the floor beside her, and set them glowing a dull, golden copper. The long strip of coco-matting was rolled back from the floor, and she seemed to be in the act of resetting it in its place.
Just for a moment they remained staring at each other. Then Kate turned back to her work, and finished rolling out the matting.
"I"ll be glad, mighty glad, when--when we discontinue service in this place," she said. "The dirt"s just--fierce."
Fyles moved up toward her. The matting was in its place.
"Is it?" he said. Then, as he came to a halt, "Say, I"ve been chasing the village through half the day to find you, Kate. Then Peter led me here, and I remembered it was Sat.u.r.day. I guessed I"d have a surprise on you, and I thought I"d succeeded. But you don"t "surprise" worth a cent. Say, I"m to remain here till--after Monday."
Kate slowly rose to her feet. She was clad in a white shirtwaist and old tailored skirt. She made a perfect figure of robust health and vigorous purpose. Her eyes, too, were shining, and full of those subtle depths of fire which held the man enthralled.
"Monday?" she said. Then in a curiously reflective way she repeated the word, "Monday."
Fyles waited, and, in a moment, Kate"s thought seemed to pa.s.s. She looked fearlessly up into the man"s eyes, but there was no smile in response to his.
"I"m--going away until after--Monday," she said.
"Going away?"
The man"s disappointment was too evident to be mistaken. "Why?" he asked, after a moment"s pause.
Quite suddenly the woman flung her arms out in a gesture of helplessness, which somehow did not seem to fit her.
"I can"t--bear the strain of waiting here," she said, with an impatient shrug. "It"s--it"s on my nerves."
The man began to smile again. "A wager like ours takes nerve to make, but a bigger nerve to carry through. Still, say, I can"t see how running from it"s going to help any. You"ll still be thinking.
Thoughts take a heap of getting clear of. Best stop around. It"ll be exciting--some. I"m going to win out," he went on, with confidence, "and I guess it"ll be a game worth watching, even if you--lose."
Kate stooped and picked up the lamp. As she straightened up she sighed and shook her head. It seemed to the man that a grave trouble was in her handsome eyes.
"It"s not that," she cried, suddenly. "Lose my wager? I"m not going to lose, but even if I were--I would pay up like a sportsman. No, it"s not that. It"s these foolish folk here. It"s these stupid creatures who"re just ready to fly at the throat of Providence and defy all--all superst.i.tion. Oh, yes, I know," she hurried on, as the man raised his strongly marked brows in astonishment. "You"ll maybe think me a fool, a silly, credulous fool. But I know--I feel it here." She placed her hands upon her bosom with a world of dramatic sincerity.
"What--what"s troubling you, Kate? I don"t seem to get your meaning."
It was the woman"s turn to express surprise.
"Why, you know what they"re going to do here, practically on Monday night. You"ve heard? Why, the whole village is talking of it. It"s the tree. The old pine. They"re going to cut it down." Then she laughed mirthlessly. "They"ll use it as a ridge pole for the new church. That wicked old, cursed pine."
"Wicked--cursed? I don"t understand," Fyles said perplexed. "I heard about the felling of it all right--but, the other I don"t understand."
Kate set the lamp down on one of the benches.
"Listen. I"ll tell you," she cried. "Then maybe you"ll understand my feelings--since making my wager with you. Oh, the old story wouldn"t matter so much to me, only--only for that wager. Listen."
Then she hurriedly told him the outline of the curse upon the tree, and further added an a.n.a.lysis of the situation in conjunction with the matter which stood between themselves. At the finish she pointed her argument.
"Need I say any more? Need I tell you that no logic or reason of any kind can put the conviction out of my mind that here, and now, we are to be faced with some dreadful tragedy as the price we must pay for the--the felling of that tree? I can"t help it--I know calamity will befall us."
Fyles shook his head. The woman"s obvious convictions left him quite untouched. Had it been any other who spoke of it he would have derided the whole idea. But since it was Kate"s distress, Kate"s belief in the old legend, he refrained.
"The only calamity that can affect you, Kate, is a calamity for young Bryant," he said seriously. "And yet you refuse to believe him concerned with the affairs of--Monday night. Surely you can have no misgivings on that score?"
Kate shook her head.
"Then what do you fear?" Fyles went on patiently.
Quite slowly the woman raised her big eyes to her companion"s face.
For some moments they steadily looked into his. Then slowly into her gaze there crept an inscrutable expression that was not wholly without a shadow of a smile.
"It is your reason against my--superst.i.tion," she said slowly. "On Monday night you will capture, or fail to capture, the gang you are after. Maybe it will be within an hour of the cutting down of that tree. Disaster will occur. Blood will flow. Death! Any, or all of these things. For whom? I cannot--will not--wait to see. I shall leave to-morrow morning after service--for Myrtle."
Kate locked the door of the Meeting House behind them. Then she held out her hand. Fyles took it and pressed it tenderly.
"Why," he asked gently, almost humbly, "have you so deliberately avoided me lately?"
The woman stroked Peter"s brown head as it was pushed forward beside the man"s shoulder.