"That letter you are reading now is from Lady Margaret. What does she say?"
"She sends all sorts of love, and--that kind of thing," cried the blushing Enid, who had just learnt from Jack"s mother that Stanhope had appropriated her as his intended wife without ever a proposal.
"Is that all--in four closely written pages?"
"Well--she hopes soon to see me--to see both of us--"
Constance was too kindly to quiz her sister; maybe she saw something in Enid"s eye which threatened speedy retaliation.
"Here"s a note from the vicar. They have held a special service of intercession at St. Mary"s."
"And Hettie Morris writes--Good gracious, Mr. Pyne! Have you had any bad news?"
Enid"s wondering cry was evoked by the extraordinary way in which the young American was looking at her. Some intensely exciting knowledge had mastered stoicism. His eyes were distended, his lips quivering. He leaned with one hand on the kitchen table; in the other he had clenched his uncle"s letter.
Constance stood near to him. That he, of all the men she had ever met, should yield to an overpowering emotion, startled her greatly.
She caught his arm.
"Mr. Pyne," she said softly, "if--it is any ill tidings--you have received--we are, indeed, sorry for you."
He pulled himself straight, and gave Constance such a glance that she hastily withdrew her hand. It seemed to her that he would clasp her in his arms forthwith without spoken word. Her action served to steady him, and he laughed, so softly and pleasantly that their fear was banished.
"Girls," he said slowly, "I have been parachuting through s.p.a.ce for a minute or so. I"m all right. Everybody is all right. But my head swims a bit. If I come back forgetting my name and the place where I last resided, remember that once I loved you."
He left them. He could not trust himself to say more.
"That letter was from his uncle, I suppose," said Enid, awe-stricken.
"It must be something very dramatic which would make him act so strangely. Why has he run away? Was he afraid to trust us with his news?"
There was a sharp vehemence in Constance"s voice which did not escape her sister"s sharp ears.
"Connie," said Enid, quietly, "as sure as Jack loves me, that man is in love with you."
"Enid--"
But the other girl laughed, with a touch of her saucy humor.
"Why did he look at you in that way just now? Didn"t you think he was going to embrace you on the spot? Confess!"
"It was at you he was looking."
"Not in the way I mean. He gazed at me as if I were a spirit. But when you touched him he awoke. He might have been asleep and suddenly seen you near him. I wonder he didn"t say, "Kiss me, dearest, and then I will be sure it is not a dream.""
Constance discovered that she must defend herself.
"Mr. Pyne hardly conveyed such unutterable things to me," she said, conscious that a clean face betrays a flush which smudges may hide.
"Have you had a letter from Jack that you can interpret other people"s thoughts so sweetly?"
"No, dear. Jack has not written. I have found out the cause. His mother expresses the hope that he will be the first to convey her good wishes.
So I think he meant to try and bring the rope himself. Dad knew it and Mr. Pyne. That is why they did not tell us."
Constance gathered her letters into a heap. The tiny pang of jealousy which thrilled her had gone.
"Eighty-one hungry mouths expect to be filled to repletion tonight,"
she said. "No more gossip. What curious creatures women are! Our own affairs are sufficiently engrossing without endeavoring to pry into Mr.
Pyne"s."
"Connie, don"t press your lips so tightly. You are just dying to know what upset him. But, mark my words, it had nothing to do with any other woman."
Wherein Enid was completely mistaken: she would never commit a greater error of judgment during the rest of her days.
When Pyne quitted the kitchen his intent was to reach Brand without delay. As he pa.s.sed Mrs. Vansittart"s bedroom he paused. Something had delighted him immeasurably once the first shock of the intelligence had pa.s.sed.
He seemed to be irresolute in his mind, for he waited some time on the landing before he knocked at the door and asked if Mrs. Vansittart would come and speak to him.
"Are you alone?" she demanded, remaining invisible.
"Yes," he said.
Then she appeared, with that borrowed shawl still closely wrapped over head and face.
"What is it?" she said wearily.
"You have had a letter from my uncle?"
"Yes, a charming letter, but I cannot understand it. He says that some very important and amazing event will detain him in Penzance after we reach the place. He goes on--but I will read it to you. I am quite bewildered."
She took a letter from her pocket and searched through its contents until she found a paragraph. She was about to read it aloud when someone came down the stairs. It was one of the officers, yet Mrs. Vansittart was so flurried that she dropped the sheet of paper and bent to pick it up before Pyne could intervene.
"Oh, bother!" she cried. "I am dreadfully nervous, even now that we are in no further peril. This is what I wish you to hear."
And she read:
"Nothing but the most amazing and unlooked-for circ.u.mstances would cause me to ask you to postpone the date of our marriage for at least a month after you reach sh.o.r.e. This is not the time, nor are your present surroundings the place for telling you why I make this request. Suffice it to say that I think, indeed, I am sure, a great happiness has come into my life, a happiness which you, as my wife soon to be, will share."
The American, whilst Mrs. Vansittart was intent on her excerpts from his uncle"s letter, studied all that was visible of her face. That which he saw there puzzled him. She had suffered no more than others, so he wondered why she wore such an air of settled melancholy. Throughout the lighthouse gloom was dispelled. The sick became well, the lethargic became lively. Even the tipplers of methylated spirits, deadly ill before, had worked like Trojans at the rope, as eager to rehabilitate their shattered character as to land the much-needed stores.
What trouble had befallen this woman, so gracious, so facile, so worshipful in her charm of manner and utterance during the years he had known her, that she remained listless when all about her was life and joyance, she, the cynosure of many eyes by her costumes and graceful carriage, cowering from recognition? Here was a mystery, though she had repudiated the word, and a mystery which, thus far, defeated his sub-conscious efforts at solution.
She lifted her eyes to his. Her expression was forlorn, compelling pity by its utter desolation.
"What does he mean?" she asked plaintively. "Why has he not spoken clearly? Can you tell me what it is, this great happiness, which has entered, so strangely, into his life and mine?"
"I have never met any man who knew exactly what he meant to say, and exactly how to say it, better than Cyrus J.," said Pyne.
"But he has written to you, surely. Does he give no hint?"