Her voice was low, and she did not look at him.
John"s face darkened, but he did not answer on the moment.
"I felt that I should speak to you," went on Julia; "it was because of me you did it. You were very brave."
Her face was aflame now.
"Yes," he replied. "The cur had mistreated you in some way, and I could not stand it!"
Here was his chance to go ahead and tell her all, for there was no possibility of interruption. But he did not speak. Why, he could not say. They walked on in silence. Soon they were going down a rain-washed hill-side where it was necessary he should a.s.sist her. He offered her his hand without speaking, and she took it dumbly. So they reached the level again, and went towards the fair ground, now only a short distance off. They halted in front of the grandstand. Several horses were on the track, but their eyes were quickly drawn to the lithe, graceful figure of The Prince. He had just come from the track stables, and was walking down the home stretch with a withered, monkey-like figure perched upon his back. Uncle Peter saw the twain, and guided the colt up to the low fence enclosing the track.
"Well, Uncle Peter, are we too late?" asked Glenning.
The old fellow removed his tattered hat, and bowed.
"No, suh. I had jes" rid "im out de stall. I gwi" limber "im up treckly."
"How is he running?" queried Julia, anxiously.
"Lak a skeered dawg, young missus!"
"What horses are those over yonder?"
"Couple o" plugs dat Deb"l Marston sont out hyar!" he replied, contemptuously. "I"ll go by dem lak dey"s. .h.i.tched to a pos"!"
"Are you sleeping with this horse every night, as I suggested you should?" asked John.
"Yes, suh! Him "n" me, we bunks tuhgedder, "n" he has de bes" bed, too!"
"He will bear close watching, and as the time draws nearer for the race you must be doubly careful."
"Dat I will, suh--doctuh. Yo" may "pen" on me. Now "bout dis heah hoss I"m a-settin" straddle uv." He fairly choked with pride and emotion as he moved his bony hand up the richly maned neck caressingly. "Dis hoss am de none-sich hoss, whut means dar ain"t anudder"n lak "im nowhahs. He runs lak a pig"n fly, goin" home. "N" he"s had de bes" o" kyar!
Fo"t-night, come tuhmorrer, I"s been out hyar, rain ur shine, "n" I rub dis hoss twel he shine lak a new stove. I feed "im de right numbah yeahs o" cawn; de right size bunch o" hay. Den I gits on "im "n" rides "im roun" dis track twel he drips lather lak soap-suds. A man frum town stood right dar whah you is dis minute de udder day, "n" he tol" me dat he couldn"t see "im w"en he pa.s.sed--he wuz dat fas". Den I rub "im dry "n" put on de blanket, "n" mek he bed, "n" lock de do" "n" we bofe go "sleep. "N" dat w"at I gwi" do twel de day come w"en he win de race! "N"
he gwi" _win_, simply "kase he can"t lose!"
He stopped for breath, and the knotty hand which rested on the colt"s neck trembled. His recital had moved him, for it was truly a matter of life and death to him.
John took out his watch.
"If you will pardon the suggestion, Miss Julia, I will say that we had better let Uncle Peter have The Prince go. It will be dark soon."
"Certainly. Ride him around the track, Uncle Peter. Let us see what there is in him!"
"So please yo", young missus, hit bein" de bes" way, I"ll staht "im out roun" de track, "n" let "im lope easy-lak de fus" time roun". Den, w"en he git soop"le up de fus" time roun", I gwi" _run "im_! Yo" watch, young missus--I say I gwi" _run "im_!"
His wrinkled face irradiated with a great joy, Uncle Peter gathered up the reins and clenched the slender body with his knees. Gracefully and slowly The Prince swung around the oval enclosure, revealing such marvelous freedom from exertion, such spontaneity of action, that the faces of the two spectators standing in the shadow of the grandstand expressed almost amazement. John shifted his position a little nearer to Julia--he wanted so much to take her hand--and they watched in silence.
The small figure on The Prince"s back was humped over after the approved att.i.tude of a jockey, and was rising and falling with each long undulation as though part of the animal he rode. The twain by the fence kept silent. Back on the grandstand was a small group of men, also watching The Prince. Julia"s heart swelled with pride as her own brave colt came down the stretch towards them, gradually increasing his speed. He flashed past them with the lithe movements of one of the feline tribe, and as his nose was set to the next half mile he began to let himself out. His rider did not carry a whip. A slow slackening of the tightly-held reins was all that was necessary for quicker action.
The Prince was born to run; to be held back was galling and unnatural.
Rapidly and more rapidly his feet rose and fell, his movements as regular as the mechanism of a clock. Faster and faster he went, each prodigious leap increasing his momentum. When he swung into the home stretch the second time he was coming beautifully, and with a degree of swiftness which dumfounded both the girl and the man. Like an autumn leaf torn from a tree and whirled away on a cyclone, The Prince went by his group of friends.
"Splendid!" muttered John Glenning, intense pleasure showing on his face.
The girl turned to him with eyes which almost hurt.
"Can Marston"s entries _possibly_ beat him?" she implored, impetuously raising her hand to his arm, but refraining from laying it there.
"Nothing that runs on four feet can beat him!" declared John, enthusiastically. "And I, like you, have seen horses run ever since I was big enough to know what a horse was. Ah! he is a n.o.ble animal--and how gracefully he runs! No wonder you love him, and I congratulate you on possessing him!"
Her lips parted for a quick reply, but she stopped and gazed down the track instead, where The Prince and his rider had at last come to a halt. She had started to say what was in her heart, to tell him that he had saved the colt for her twice, and that she would never forget it.
Then that awful barrier had thrust itself before her eyes; that strange barrier of his terrible silence. She could not be free with him; she could not be as she was in the first days when they had met. Then she could say all she wished to say, but that was before she had awakened; before new thoughts and feelings and vague, unguessed desires had blossomed in her soul, at times almost drugging her with their subtle perfume. It was so different now. The world had changed. She had burst the chrysalis of girlhood, and her woman"s nature was surging up in her, dominant, primordial, searching, calling, demanding its own! It gave her pain. She knew that with that hidden past cleared away, and the love words on his lips, she would have come to his arms with a sigh of content, and found rest, and peace, and joy. How he had proven himself!
He was a man; gentle, strong, modest, brave. He was the incarnated hero of her girl dreams, standing this moment by her side--and yet how far away he was! Why would he not come closer! Surely he knew she would forgive and offer him the sweet haven of her arms, the solace of her lips and the caresses of her hands! Surely he loved her, for he was not deceitful, and that night, that awful, blissful night he had taken her to him and shielded her and led her home, and had plead with her for some tenderness. She could not give it then, though her heart was aching with love. She could not give it now, unless he would unseal his lips, and lay bare the hidden years. It was the test, and she knew it. She acknowledged it with inward fear, and her soul quaked. She could do nothing but wait. Hers was the bitter part; the hard portion. To wait--wait--and daily place a restraining hand upon her love; to crush it down into submission hour after hour as it rose up and demanded its own. How long? How long? Already it seemed ages, and his presence had come to bring suffering.
Twilight was stealing over the earth. A gentle breeze came up from the south, laden with the scents of late summer. Peter was bringing The Prince back for an opinion of the colt"s performance.
"You have done well with him, Peter," said Julia. "I shall tell father how nicely you ride him, and of his remarkable speed. He will be pleased. Good-bye. Take good care of him."
Glenning felt that he should add a word, but somehow it wouldn"t come.
Julia"s voice had sounded unfamiliar to his ears. He had been keenly conscious of the swift change in her after the horse had pa.s.sed. He had seen her start to speak, then close her lips, and he had wondered what the unuttered words could have been. Then he grew troubled as he stood silently by her side, watching her averted face. A shadow had fallen upon it, blotting out the bright expression of joy. He saw it change as a sun-kissed landscape might when a cloud veils the sun. Her sweet mouth had relaxed into a pathetic little droop; the rich undercolour had receded from her cheeks; her eyes had shaped themselves to a look of weary sadness. Even her rounded, pliant figure seemed to lose part of its grace, and to sag of its own weight. He saw the breeze lifting the little curls upon her neck and ruffling the waving hair behind her ears.
Then suddenly that which had been slumbering in him woke. It woke with a thrust like a keen knife-blade, sending a sharp quiver of pain throughout his body. Up, up it fought its way, ruthlessly tearing a path for its progress, and a voice spoke in his soul. It was his conscience which he had numbed, and smothered, and choked, free at last, and with a merciless goad in its hand. He saw how wrong he had been. He saw that, physically brave as he knew himself to be, morally he had been a coward!
He had let her suffer--her, whom he told himself he loved! He had weakly remained negative, drifting with the days, when a positive course was the only one consistent with honour. He had shielded his own feelings, and sacrificed hers. He had dwelt in guilty security, and had stretched her, sinless, upon the altar! How sordid, and cruel, and selfish he had been! How he would have condemned this policy in anyone else!
Slowly they walked homeward through the magic afterglow. The light faded, and grew dimmer and dimmer, and the stars came out. Neither said a word. From the wooded upland the country about looked phantom-like, unreal. Far off a dog barked. Nearer at hand, in the branches of one of the oak trees about them, a screech-owl stirred, and babbled its harsh call. Away in the hollow where the race track lay a light gleamed at the stables. The twigs cracked under their feet, and the dry leaves rustled as they pa.s.sed among them. It grew darker. Julia caught the toe of her boot on something, and lurched forward. John grasped her by the arm, and quickly righted her. How good it was to feel his strong fingers drawing her away from harm! Then he took her hand without speaking, and thus they went on.
Later they stood at the portico steps.
"I have been a coward!" he said, abruptly, "and there is nothing I have shunned more all my life. I have been unfair to you, and if it is not too late I want to set myself right. Perhaps it is weakness to tell you that I have tried--but I have. The strength is mine now, and it will not desert me. Will you see me tomorrow night, and hear my story?"
The "yes" which came from her lips was faint indeed, but he heard, and pressed her hand in farewell.
CHAPTER XVI
Early the next morning a telegram came for Julia. From its condensed message she learned that her room-mate at college, who was likewise a dear and intimate friend, had been taken seriously ill, and wanted her to come on the first train. Major Dudley was present when she received the summons, and she immediately asked his advice. It was that she should depart on the noon train for the East, and remain as long as circ.u.mstances required. He was feeling prime, and Aunt Frances and Peter should look after his comfort.
Transfixed upon the horns of this new dilemma, Julia rushed upstairs and began mechanically to get her things together for a hurried departure.
She knew that she would go, although she told herself repeatedly that she could not. She must be at home that evening, for her future happiness depended upon the issue of that night. Yet Bess was sick--desperately ill--and had wired her to hasten. Yes, she would go to her friend in distress, and send a note by Peter to Doctor Glenning, advising him of this unforeseen emergency. Perhaps it was just as well, she told herself at length, to prolong indefinitely the hour when he should tell her all. This, indeed, would be a supreme and unerring test.
So it came to pa.s.s that the train for the East bore Miss Julia Dudley away from Macon that day at noon, and that Uncle Peter, for the second time, bore to Doctor Glenning a delicately tinted, square envelope. John groaned when he read the note, and let his hands drop despairingly. Of course it could not be helped. He realized that she was right in going, and he loved her the more for it, but the missive gave no date upon which the writer might return. There was nothing for him to do but live the days through as best he could until he should see her again, and keep himself strong. The waiting would be hard, but he could do it. All hesitation, all temporizing, had vanished. He would be ready for his part on the first evening after she came home.
Filled with a peculiar elation, a joyful exultation, he went about his daily work with a song in his heart. He was looking far better than he did when he first came to Macon. His step was firmer, his eyes less sombre, his face not so haggard. So ten days pa.s.sed, and fair week came, and the place began to fill up with visitors from neighbouring towns.
Fair week in Kentucky naturally represents a good time. In this State, if in none other, the horse is king, and all homage and honour are given him on the days of the races. And fair week, like Christmas, comes only once a year, and is looked forward to with equally as much zest and impatience. On this important occasion the business houses, banks, and offices in general close their doors at noon, and do not open them again until the last heat of the last race is over. The three or four days during which the festivities occur are one big holiday for young and old, and business cares and business thoughts are thrown to the wind.
The fair in Macon this year began the second week in July, and continued four days, commencing with Wednesday. It promised to be the largest and best attended meeting of the kind ever held. There were entries for the various races from all over the State, and some rare sport was promised when the blooded champions met to decide the victor. The purses were generous, the half mile track was conceded to be the best in the circuit, and spirits rose high in antic.i.p.ation. There was to be a bra.s.s band from Louisville, an experienced starter from Lexington, and the judges, for the most part, were hors.e.m.e.n selected from towns close at hand.
John grew more and more restless as the days pa.s.sed and Julia did not come. He had one letter from her, but she gave no hint as to when he might expect her home. He wrote at once and urged her to come as soon as she could, and, receiving no reply to this, fell to calling on the Major, hoping thus to hear something definite. She sent her father a message every day, but it was always about the sick friend, who had taken a slight turn for the better, but would not consent for Julia to leave her.