Seeing the threshold unguarded, we concluded that the audiences for the day were over." His prominent brown eyes were filled with conflicting expressions as he turned them on the Prophet.
But the Prophet remained unmoved. The hard look had returned to his face, the stern rigidity to his figure. Very slowly he released the hand that still trembled under his own.
"The time of the Prophet belongs to his People," he said, with dignity.
"He holds audience whenever, wherever, and _however_ it is expedient.
Speak, my son! In what can I serve you?"
Bale-Corphew looked at him in silence. Whatever he had come to say appeared to have escaped his mind. For a while inaction reigned in the room; then, with a pale face and nervous manner, Enid rose, bowed to the Prophet, and moved noiselessly to the door.
All three watched her until she had disappeared; then Bale-Corphew found voice again.
"Master," he murmured, hurriedly, "with your permission, I also would leave the Presence;" and with a perturbed gesture, he too bowed and pa.s.sed out of the room.
CHAPTER VII
On a crisp, cold afternoon, one week after her interview with the Prophet, Enid Witcherley sat in the drawing-room of her London flat. The early portion of the day had been pleasantly warmed and brightened by the pale March sunshine; but at three o"clock a searching wind had begun to blow across the city from the east; and now, as the small gold clock on her bureau chimed the hour of five, she rose from the couch where she had been sitting, and, crossing the room with a little shiver, drew a chair to the fire and pressed the electric bell.
As the maid appeared, in answer to her summons, she gave her order without looking round.
"Tea, Norris!" she said, in an unusually curt and laconic voice.
For a considerable time after the maid"s departure she sat motionless, her hands stretched out towards the blazing logs, her large eyes absently watching the firelight on her many and beautiful rings. When the woman reappeared, and, noiselessly arranging the tea-table, moved it to her side, she scarcely glanced up; and to the most superficial observer it would have been patent that her own thoughts and speculations fully absorbed her mind.
She retained her contemplative att.i.tude after the servant had withdrawn for the second time, and it is doubtful how long she would have remained sunk in apparent lethargy had not the unexpected sound of the hall-door bell caused her to start into an upright position with a little exclamation of surprise and impatience.
As she sat listening with nervous intentness, the door opened, and once more Norris appeared. After a second"s hesitation she crossed to her mistress.
"There"s a gentleman at the door, ma"am," she said, deprecatingly.
Enid looked up, a frown still darkening her forehead.
"I told you I was not at home."
"I know, ma"am, but--" Norris hesitated.
"But what? I told you I was not to be disturbed. I _won"t_ be disturbed." With a gesture plainly indicative of high-strung nerves, she turned to the table and poured herself out a cup of tea.
The maid glanced behind her towards the door. "But the gentleman won"t go, ma"am--"
"Won"t go!" In her surprise Enid laid down the cup she had been about to raise to her lips. "Who is he?" she demanded.
Norris looked down. "I don"t know, ma"am. I told him you were not at home, but he won"t go. He"s the sort of gentleman who won"t take no for an answer."
"I don"t understand you. Who is he? What is he like?" Unconsciously and involuntarily Enid"s tone quickened. Something in the woman"s words--something undefined and yet suggestive--stirred and agitated her.
Norris seemed to choose her words. "Well, ma"am," she answered, slowly, "he"s very tall--and not like any other gentleman that comes here. I can"t rightly explain it, miss, he seems used to having his own way--"
As she halted, uncertain how to choose her words, Enid rose nervously.
She could not have defined her emotions, but some feeling at once vague and portentous was working in her mind.
"Did he give no name?"
"No, ma"am. I was to say that he was some one that must be seen. He"d give no name."
For a further instant Enid was silent, conscious of nothing but her own unsteady pulses; then suddenly she turned almost angrily upon the servant.
"Show him in!" she cried. "Show him in at once! Don"t keep him standing at the door."
In some confusion Norris turned and walked across the room. At the doorway she paused and looked back.
"Will you have the lights on, ma"am?"
"No. No; the fire makes light enough. I like twilight and a fire. Don"t stand waiting!"
The woman departed; and for a s.p.a.ce that seemed to her interminable, Enid stood beside the fireplace, motionless with hope, dread, and an almost uncontrollable nervousness. At last, as in a dream, she saw the door open and the tall, characteristic figure of the Prophet move into the room.
She was vaguely aware that he halted for a moment, as if undecided as to his action, while Norris retired, softly closing the door. Then, with a sudden leap of the heart, she was conscious that he was coming towards her across the shadowed room.
He moved straight forward until he was close beside her; and, with one of his decisive, imperious gestures, he put out both hands and caught hers.
"It was a case of Mohammed and the mountain!" he said, in his grave voice. "You wouldn"t come to me; I _had_ to come to you."
No sound escaped her. She stood before him mutely, her face paling and flushing, her hands fluttering in his.
There was a slight pause; and again he bent towards her.
"Why have you stayed away?"
She hesitated for a moment, spellbound by her emotion; then, making a sudden effort, she looked up. "I--I was afraid." Her voice was so low and shaken that the words were a mere whisper.
"Afraid? Afraid of what?"
She made no answer.
"Of what? Of Bale-Corphew?" He gave a slight, sarcastic laugh.
"No!" She looked up sharply. "Oh no!"
"Then of what? Of me?" His voice suddenly sank, and the pressure of his fingers tightened.
"No! Oh, I don"t know! I don"t know!" With a tremulous gesture she tried to withdraw her hands.
At the movement, he suddenly drew her towards him. "Tell me!" he said.
"I want to know. I must know!"