he told her, and drew her face back, and kissed her again. I am told that there"s nothing in kissing, once: it"s the second time that counts. In the very act--for eyes met as well as lips--he noticed that hers wavered on the way to his, beyond him, over the road they had travelled; and the ceremony over, he again asked her why. She pa.s.sed it off as before, saying that she had looked at nothing, and begged him to go forward.
Ahead of them now, through the crystalline flicker of the heat, he saw the dark rim of the wood, the cork forest of La Huerca for which he was looking, and which hid the river from his aching eyes. No foot-burnt wanderer in Sahara ever hailed his oasis with heartier thanksgiving; but it was still a league and a half away. He addressed himself to the task of reaching it, and we may suppose Manuela respected his efforts.
At any rate, there was silence between the pair for the better part of an hour--what time the unwinking sun, vertically overhead, deprived them of so much as the sight of their own shadows, and drove the very crows with wings adust to skulk in the furrows. The shrilling of crickets, the stumbling hoofs of an overtaxed horse, and the creaking of saddle and girth made a din in the deadly stillness of this fervent noon, and, since there was no other sound to be heard, it is hard to tell how Manvers was aware of a traveller behind him, unless he was served by the sixth sense we all have, to warn as that we are not alone.
Sure enough, when he looked over his shoulder, he was aware of a donkey and his rider drawing smoothly and silently near. The pair of them were so nearly of the colour of the ground, he had to look long to be sure; and as he looked, Manuela suddenly leaned sideways and saw what he saw. It was just as if she had received a stroke of the sun. She stiffened; he felt the thrill go through her; and when she resumed her first position she was another person.
CHAPTER V
THE AMBIGUOUS THIRD
"G.o.d save your grace," said Esteban; for it was he who, sitting well back upon his donkey"s rump, with exceedingly bright eyes and a cheerful grin, now forged level with Manvers and his burdened steed.
Manvers gave him a curt "Good-day," and thought him an impudent fellow--which was not justified by anything Esteban had done. He had been discretion itself; and, indeed, to his eyes there had been nothing of necessity remarkable in the pair on the horse. If a lady--d.u.c.h.ess or baggage--happened to be sharing the gentleman"s saddle, an arrangement must be presumed, which could not possibly concern himself.
That is the reasonable standpoint of a people who mind their own business and credit their neighbours with the same preoccupation.
But Manvers was an Englishman, and could not for the life of him consider Esteban as anything but a puppy for seeing him in a compromising situation. So much was he annoyed that he did not remark any longer that Manuela was another person, sitting stiffly, strained against his arm, every muscle on the stretch, as taut as a ship"s cable in the tideway, her face in rigid profile to the newcomer.
Esteban was in no way put out. "Many good days light upon your grace!"
he cheerfully repeated--so cheerfully that Manvers was appeased.
"Good-day, good-day to you," he said. "You ride light and I ride heavy, otherwise you had not overtaken us."
Esteban showed his fine teeth, and waved his hand towards the hazy distance; from the tail of his eye he watched Manuela in profile. "Who knows that, sir? _Lo que ha de ser_--as we say. Ah, who knows that?"
Manuela strained her face forward.
"Well," said Manvers, "I do, for example. I have proved my horse.
He"s a Galician, and a good goer. It would want a brave _borico_ to outpace him."
Esteban slipped into the axiomatic, as all Spaniards will. "There"s a providence of the road, sir, and a saint in charge of travellers. And we know, sir, _a cada puerco viene su San Martin_." Manuela stooped her body forward, and peered ahead, as one strains to see in the dark.
"Your proverb is oddly chosen, it seems to me," said Manvers.
Esteban gave a little chuckle from his throat.
"A proverb is a stone flung into a pack of starlings. It may scare the most, but may hit one. By mine I referred to the ways of providence, under a figure. Destiny is always at work."
"No doubt," said Manvers, slightly bored.
"It might have been your destiny to have outpaced me: the odds were with you. On the other hand, as you have not, it must have been mine to have overtaken you."
"You are a philosopher?" asked Manvers, fatigue deliberately in his voice. Esteban"s eyes shone intensely; he had marked the changed inflection.
"I studied the Humanities at Salamanca," he said carelessly. "That was when I was an innocent. Since then I have learned in a harder school.
I am learning still--every day I learn something new. I am a gentleman born, as your grace has perceived: why not a philosopher?"
Manvers was rather ashamed of himself. "Of course, of course! Why not indeed? I am very glad to see you, while our ways coincide."
Esteban raised his battered straw. "I kiss the feet of your grace, and hope your grace"s lady"--Manuela quivered--"is not disturbed by my company; for to tell you the truth, sir, I propose to enjoy your own as long as you and she are agreeable. I am used to companionship." He shot a keen glance at Manuela, who never moved.
"She will speak for herself, no doubt," said Manvers; but she did not.
The gleam in Esteban"s light eyes gave point to his next speech.
"I have a notion that the senora is not of your mind, sir," he said, "and am sorry. I can hardly remain as an unwelcome third in a journey.
It would be a satisfaction to me if the senora would a.s.sure me that I am wrong." Manuela now turned her head with an effort and looked down upon the grinning youth.
"Why should I care whether you stay or go?" she said. Her eyelids flickered over her eyes as though he were dust in their light.
He showed his teeth.
"Why indeed, senora? G.o.d knows I have no reputation to bring you, though the company of a gentleman, the son of a gentleman, never comes amiss, they say. But two is company, and three is a fair. I have found it so, and so doubtless has your ladyship."
She made him no answer, and had turned away her face long before he had finished. After that the conversation was mainly of his making; for Manuela would say nothing, and Manvers had nothing to say. The cork wood was plain in front of him now; he thanked G.o.d for the prospect of food and rest. In fifteen minutes, thought he, he should be swimming in the Pisuerga.
The forest began tentatively, with heath, spa.r.s.e trees and mounds of cistus and bramble. Manvers followed the road, which ran through a portion of it, until he saw the welcome thickets on either hand, deep tunnels of dark and shadowy places where the sun could not stab; then he turned aside over the broken ground, and Esteban"s donkey picked a dainty way behind him. When he had reached what seemed to him perfection, he pulled up.
"Now, young lady," he said; "I will give you food and drink, and then you shall go to sleep, and so will I. Afterwards we will consider what had best be done with you."
"Yes, sir," she replied in a whisper. Manvers dismounted and held out his hand to her. There was no more coquetting with the saddle. She scarcely touched his hand, and did not once lift her eyes to him--but he was busy with his haversack and had no thoughts for her.
Esteban meantime sat the donkey, looking gravely at his company, blinking his eyes, smiling quietly, recurring now and then to the winding minor air which had been in his head all day. He was perfectly unhampered by any doubts of his welcome, and watched with serious attention the preparations for a meal in the open which Manvers was making with the ease and despatch of one versed in camps.
Ham and sausage, rolls of bread, a lettuce, oranges, cheese, dates, a bottle of wine, another of water, salt, olives, a knife and fork, a plate, a corkscrew; every article was in its own paper, some were marked in pencil what they were. All were spread out upon a horse-blanket; in good enough order for a field-inspection. Nothing was wanting, and Esteban was as keen as a wolf. Even Manvers rubbed his hands. He looked shrewdly at his neighbour.
"Good _alforjas_, eh?"
"Excellent indeed, sir," said Esteban hoa.r.s.ely. It was hard to see this food, and know that he could not eat of it. Manuela was sitting under a tree, her face in her hands.
"How far away," said Manvers, "is the water, do you suppose?"
The water? Esteban collected himself with a start. The water? He jerked his head towards the display on the blanket. "It is under your hand, caballero. That bottle, I take it, holds water."
Manvers laughed. "Yes, yes. I mean the river. I am going to swim in the river. Don"t wait for me." He turned to the girl. "Take some food, my friend. I"ll be back before long."
Her swift transitions bewildered him. She showed him now a face of extreme terror. She was on her feet in a moment, rigid, and her eyes were so pale that her face looked empty of eyes, like a mask. What on earth was the matter with her? He understood her to be saying, "I must go where you go. I must never leave you----" words like that; but they came from her mouthed rather than voiced, as the babbling of a mad woman. All that was clear was that she was beside herself with fright.
Looking to Esteban for an explanation, he surprised a triumphant gleam in that youth"s light eyes, and saw him grinning--as a dog grins, with the lip curled back.
But Esteban spoke. "I think the lady is right, sir. Affection is a beautiful thing." He added politely, "The loss will be mine."
Manvers looked from one to the other of these curious persons, so clearly conscious of each other, yet so strict to avoid recognition.
His eyes rested on Manuela. "What"s the matter, my child?" She met his glance furtively, as if afraid that he was angry; plainly she was ashamed of her panic. Her eyes were now collected, her brow cleared, and the tension of her arms relaxed.
"Nothing is the matter," she said in a low voice. "I will stay here."
She was shaking still; she held herself with both her hands, and shook the more.
"I think that you are knocked over by the heat and all the rest of your troubles," said Manvers, "and I don"t wonder. Repose yourself here--eat--drink. Don"t spare the victuals, I beg. And as for you, my brother, I invite you too to eat what you please. And I place this young lady in your charge. Don"t forget that. She"s had a fright, and good reason for it; she"s been hurt. I leave her in your care with every confidence that you will protect her."
Every word spoken was absorbed by Esteban with immense relish. The words pleased him, to begin with, by their Spanish ring. Manvers had been pleased himself. It was the longest speech he had yet made in Castilian; but he had no notion, of course, how exquisitely apposite to the situation they were.