It was a big divine thing to demand of her and his heart sank at the thought of her possible inheritance from Cleo. Yet he knew by an instinct deeper and truer than reason, that the ruling power in this sensitive, lonely creature was in the spirit, not the flesh. He recalled in vivid flashes the moments he had felt this so keenly in their first pitiful meeting. If he could win her consent to an immediate flight and the sacrifice of her own desires to save the boy! It was only a hope--it was a desperate one--but he clung to it with painful eagerness.
Why didn"t she come? The minutes seemed hours and there were minutes in which he lived a life.
He rose nervously and walked toward the mantel, lifted his eyes and they rested on the portrait of his wife.
""My brooding spirit will watch and guard!""
He repeated the promise of her last scrawled message. He leaned heavily against the mantel, his eyes burning with an unusual brightness.
"Oh, Jean, darling," he groaned, "if you see and hear and know, let me feel your presence! Your dear eyes are softer and kinder than the world"s to-night. Help me, I"m alone, heartsick and broken!"
He choked down a sob, walked back to the chair and sank in silence. His eyes were staring into s.p.a.ce, his imagination on fire, pa.s.sing in stern review the events of his life. How futile, childish and absurd it all seemed! What a vain and foolish thing its hope and struggles, its dreams and ambitions! What a failure for all its surface brilliance! He was standing again at the window behind the dais of the President of the Senate, watching the little drooping figure of the Governor staggering away into oblivion, and his heart went out to him in a great tenderness and pity. He longed to roll back the years that he might follow the impulse he had felt to hurry down the steps of the Capitol, draw the broken man into a sheltered spot, slip his arms about him and say:
"Who am I to judge? You"re my brother--I"m sorry! Come, we"ll try it again and help one another!"
The dream ended in a sudden start. He had heard the rustle of a dress at the door and knew without lifting his head that she was in the room.
Only the slightest sound had come from her dry throat, a little m.u.f.fled attempt to clear it of the tightening bands. It was scarcely audible, yet his keen ear had caught it instantly, not only caught the excitement under which she was struggling, but in it the painful consciousness of his hostility and her pathetic desire to be friends.
He rose trembling and turned his dark eyes on her white uplifted face.
A feeling of terror suddenly weakened her knees. He was evidently not angry as she had feared. There was something bigger and more terrible than anger behind the mask he was struggling to draw over his mobile features.
"What has happened, major?" she asked in a subdued voice.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Only the slightest sound came from her dry throat."]
"That is what I must know of you, child," he replied, watching her intently.
She pressed closer with sudden desperate courage, her voice full of wistful friendliness:
"Oh, major, what have I done to offend you? I"ve tried so hard to win your love and respect. All my life I"ve been alone in a world of strangers, friendless and homesick----"
He lifted his hand with a firm gesture:
"Come, child, to the point! I must know the truth now. Tom has made love to you?"
She blushed:
"I--I--wish to see Tom before I answer----"
Norton dropped his uplifted arm with a groan:
"Thank you," he murmured in tones scarcely audible. "I have your answer!"--he paused and looked at her curiously--"And you love him?"
The girl hesitated for just an instant, her blue eyes flashed and she drew her strong, young figure erect:
"Yes! And I"m proud of it. His love has lifted me into the sunlight and made the world glorious--made me love everything in it--every tree and every flower and every living thing that moves and feels-----"
She stopped abruptly and lifted her flushed face to his:
"I"ve learned to love you, in spite of your harshness to me--I love you because you are his father!"
He turned from her and then wheeled suddenly, his face drawn with pain:
"Now, I must be frank, I must be brutal. I must know the truth without reservation--how far has this thing gone?"
"I--I--don"t understand you!"
"Marriage is impossible! I told you that and you must have realized it."
Her head drooped:
"You said so----"
"Impossible--utterly impossible! And you know it"--he drew a deep breath.
"What--what are your real relations?"
"My--real--relations?" she gasped.
"Answer me now, before G.o.d! I"ll hold your secret sacred--your life and his may depend on it"--his voice dropped to a tense whisper. "Your love is pure and unsullied?"
The girl"s eyes flashed with rage:
"As pure and unsullied as his dead mother"s for you!"
"Thank G.o.d!" he breathed. "I believe you--but I had to know, child! I had to know--there are big, terrible reasons why I had to know."
A tear slowly stole down Helen"s flushed cheeks as she quietly asked:
"Why--why should you insult and shame me by asking that question?"
"My knowledge of your birth."
The girl smiled sadly:
"Yet you might have guessed that I had learned to cherish honor and purity before I knew I might not claim them as my birthright!"
"Forgive me, child," he said contritely, "if in my eagerness, my fear, my anguish, I hurt you. But I had to ask that question! I had to know. Your answer gives me courage"--he paused and his voice quivered with deep intensity--"you really love Tom?"
"With a love beyond words!"
"The big, wonderful love that comes to the human soul but once?"
"Yes!"
His eyes were piercing to the depths now: