He helped her in, and the butler tucked the fur rug over them, while Tristram settled the cushions. Then she leaned back for a second and closed her eyes--everything was going round.
He was very troubled about her. She must have been very ill, even in the short time--and then her grief,--for, even though she had been so much separated from it, a mother always loves her child. Then this thought hurt him again. He hated to remember about the child.
She lay there back against the pillows until they had got quite out of London, without speaking a word. The wine in her weak state made her sleepy, and she gradually fell into a doze, and her head slipped sideways and rested against Tristram"s shoulder, and it gave him a tremendous thrill--her beautiful, proud head with its thick waves of hair showing under her cap.
He was going to leave her so soon, and she would not know it--she was asleep--he must just hold her to him a little; she would be more comfortable like that. So, with cautious care not to wake her, he slipped his arm under the cushion, and very gently and gradually drew her into his embrace, so that her unconscious head rested upon his breast.
And thus more than two hours of the journey were accomplished.
And what thoughts coursed through his brain as they went!
He loved her so madly. What did it matter how she had sinned? She was ill and lonely, and must stay in his arms--just for to-day. But he could never really take her to his heart--the past was too terrible for that.
And, besides, she did not love him; this gentleness was only because she was weak and crushed, for the time. But how terribly, bitterly sweet it was, all the same! He had the most overpowering temptation to kiss her, but he resisted it; and presently, when they came to a level crossing and a train gave a wild whistle, she woke with a start. It was quite dark now, and she said, in a frightened voice, "Where am I? Where have I been?"
Tristram slipped his arm from round her instantly, and turned on the light.
"You are in the motor, going to Wrayth," he said. "And I am glad to say you have been asleep. It will do you good."
She rubbed her eyes.
"Ah! I was dreaming. And Mirko was there, too, with _Maman_, and we were so happy!" she said, as if to herself.
Tristram winced.
"Are we near home--I mean, Wrayth?" she asked.
"Not quite yet," he answered. "There will be another hour and a half."
"Need we have the light on?" she questioned. "It hurts my eyes."
He put it out, and there they sat in the growing darkness, and did not speak any more for some time; and, bending over her, he saw that she had dozed off again. How very weak she must have been!
He longed to take her into his arms once more, but did not like to disturb her--she seemed to have fallen into a comfortable position among the pillows--so he watched over her tenderly, and presently they came to the lodge gates of Wrayth, and the stoppage caused her to wake and sit up.
"It seems I had not slept for so long," she said, "and now I feel better. It is good of you to let me come with you. We are in the park, are we not?"
"Yes, we shall be at the door in a minute."
And then she cried suddenly,
"Oh! look at the deer!" For a bold and valiant buck, startled and indignant at the motor lights, was seen, for an instant, glaring at them as they flashed past.
"You must go to bed as soon as you have had some tea," Tristram said, "after this long drive. It is half-past six. I telegraphed to have a room prepared for you. Not that big state apartment you had before, but one in the other part of the house, where we live when we are alone; and I thought you would like your maid next you, as you have been ill."
"Thank you," she whispered quite low.
How kind and thoughtful he was being to her! She was glad she had been ill!
Then they arrived at the door, and this time they turned to the left before they got to the Adam"s hall, and went down a corridor to the old paneled rooms, and into his own sitting-room where it was all warm and cozy, and the tea-things were laid out. She already looked better for her sleep; some of the bluish transparency seemed to have left her face.
She had not been into this room on her inspection of the house. She liked it best of all, with its scent of burning logs and good cigars.
And Jake snorted by the fire with pleasure to see his master, and she bent and patted his head.
But everything she did was filling Tristram with fresh bitterness and pain. To be so sweet and gentle now when it was all too late!
He began opening his letters until the tea came. There were the telegrams from Francis Markrute, sent a week before to say Zara was ill, and many epistles from friends. And at the end of the pile he found a short note from Francis Markrute, as well. It was written the day before, and said that he supposed he, Tristram, would get it eventually; that Zara had had a very sad bereavement which he felt sure she would rather tell him about herself, and that he trusted, seeing how very sad and ill she had been, that Tristram would be particularly kind to her.
So her uncle knew, then! This was incredible: but perhaps Zara had told him, in her first grief.
He glanced up at her; she was lying back in a great leather chair now, looking so fragile and weary, he could not say what he intended. Then Jake rose leisurely and put his two fat forepaws up on her knees and snorted as was his habit when he approved of any one. And she bent down and kissed his broad wrinkles.
It all looked so homelike and peaceful! Suddenly scorching tears came into Tristram"s eyes and he rose abruptly, and walked to the window. And at that moment the servants brought the teapot and the hot scones.
She poured the tea out silently, and then she spoke a little to Jake, just a few silly, gentle words about his preference for cakes or toast.
She was being perfectly adorable, Tristram thought, with her air of pensive, subdued sorrow, and her clinging black dress.
He wished she would suggest going to her room. He could not bear it much longer.
She wondered why he was so restless. And he certainly was changed; he looked haggard and unhappy, more so even than before. And then she remembered how radiantly strong and splendid he had appeared, at dinner on their wedding night, and a lump rose in her throat.
"Henriette will have arrived by now," she said in a few minutes. "If you will tell me where it is I will go to my room."
He got up, and she followed him.
"I expect you will find it is the blue, Chinese damask one just at the top of these little stairs." Then he strode on in front of her quickly, and called out from the top, "Yes, it is, and your maid is here."
And as she came up the low, short steps, they met on the turn, and stopped.
"Good night," he said. "I will have some soup and suitable things for an invalid sent up to you; and then you must sleep well, and not get up in the morning. I shall be very busy to-morrow. I have a great many things to do before I go on Monday. I am going away for a long time."
She held on to the banisters for a minute, but the shadows were so deceiving, with all the black oak, that he was not sure what her expression said. Her words were a very low "Thank you--I will try to sleep. Good night."
And she went up to her room, and Tristram went on, downstairs--a deeper ache than ever in his heart.
CHAPTER XLII
It was not until luncheon time that Zara came down, next day. She felt he did not wish to see her, and she lay there in her pretty, old, quaint room, and thought of many things, and the wreck of their lives, above all. And she thought of Mirko and her mother, and the tears came to her eyes. But that grief was past, in its bitterness; she knew it was much better so.
The thought of Tristram"s going tore her very soul, and swallowed up all other grief.
"I cannot, cannot bear it!" she moaned to herself.
He was sitting gazing into the fire, when she timidly came into his sitting-room. She had been too unhappy to sleep much and was again looking very pale.
He seemed to speak to her like one in a dream. He was numb with his growing misery and the struggle in his mind: he must leave her--the situation was unendurable--he could not stay, because in her present softened mood it was possible that if he lost control of himself and caressed her she might yield to him; and, then, he knew no resolutions on earth could hold him from taking her to his heart. And she must never really be his wife. The bliss of it might be all that was divine at first, but there would be always the hideous skeleton beneath, ready to peep out and mock at them: and then if they should have children? They were both so young that would be sure to happen; and this thought, which had once, in that very room, in his happy musings, given him so much joy, now caused him to quiver with extra pain. For a woman with such a background should not be the mother of a Tancred of Wrayth.