Daisy walked into the room and seated herself in a bar of sunlight, pleasantly blinking her yellow eyes. Mrs. Sprowl glanced at her absently, and they eyed each other in silence.
Then the larger of the pair drew a thick, uneasy breath, looked up at Quarren, all the cunning and hardness gone from her heavy features.
"I"ve only been trying to do for a dead man"s son what might have pleased that man were he alive," she said. "Sir Charles was a little lad when he died. But he left a letter for him to read when he was grown up.
I never saw the letter, but Sir Charles has told me that, in it, his father spoke--amiably--of me and said that in me his son would always find a friend.... That is all, Rix. Do you believe me?"
"Yes."
"Then--should I go to Witch-Hollow?"
"I can"t answer you."
"Why?"
"Because--because I care for her too much. And I can do absolutely nothing for her. I could not swerve her or direct her. She alone knows what is in her heart and mind to do. I cannot alter it. She will act according to her strength; none can do otherwise.... And she is tired to the very soul.... You tell me that life and youth in you died within a year"s s.p.a.ce. I believe it.... But with her it took two years to die.
And then it died.... Let her alone, in G.o.d"s name! The child is weary of pursuit, deathly weary of importunity--tired, sad, frightened at the disaster to her fortune. Let her alone. If she marries it will be because of physical strength lacking--strength of character, of mind--perhaps moral, perhaps spiritual strength--I don"t know. All I know is that no man or woman can help her, because the world has bruised her too long and she"s afraid of it."
For a long while Mrs. Sprowl sat there in silence; then:
"It is strange," she mused, "that Strelsa should be afraid of Sir Charles."
"I don"t think she is."
"Then why on earth won"t she marry him? He is richer than Langly!"
Quarren looked at her oddly:
"But Sir Charles is her friend, you see. And so am I.... Friends do not make a convenience of one another."
"She could learn to love him. He is a lovable fellow."
"I think," said Quarren, "that she has given to him and to me all that there is in her to give to any man. And so, perhaps, she could not make the convenience of a husband out of either of us."
"What a twisted, ridiculous, morbid----"
"Let her alone," he said gently.
"Very well.... But I"ll be hanged if I let Langly alone! He"s still got me to deal with, thank G.o.d!--whatever he dares do to Mary Ledwith--whatever he has done to that wretched creature Chester Ledwith--he"s still got a perfectly vigorous aunt to reckon with. And we"ll see," she added--"we"ll see what can be done----"
The front door opened noisily.
"That"s Dankmere," he said. "If you are not going to be civil to him hadn"t you better go?"
"I"ll be civil to him," she snorted, "but I"m going anyway. Good-bye, Ricky. I"ll buy a picture of you when the weather"s cooler....
How-de-do!"--as his lordship entered looking rather hot and mussy--"Hope your venture into the realms of art will prove successful, Lord Dankmere. Really, Rix, I must be going--if you"ll call my man----"
"I"ll take you down," he said, smilingly offering his support.
So Mrs. Sprowl rolled away in her motor, and Quarren came back, wearied with the perplexities and strain of life, to face once more the lesser problems of the immediate present: one of them was an ancient panel in the bas.e.m.e.nt, and he went downstairs to solve it, leaving Dankmere sorting out old prints and Jessie Vining, who had just returned, writing business letters on her machine.
There were not many business letters to write--one to the Metropolitan Museum people declining to present them with a charming little picture by Netscher which they wanted but did not wish to pay for; one to the Worcester Museum advising that progressive inst.i.tution that, at the request of their director, four canvases had been shipped to them for inspection; several letters enclosing photographs of pictures desired by foreign experts; and a notification to one or two local millionaires that the Dankmere Galleries never shaded prices or exchanged canvases.
Having accomplished the last of the day"s work remaining up to that particular minute, Jessie Vining leaned back in her chair, rubbed her pretty eyes, glanced partly around toward Lord Dankmere but checked herself, and, with her lips the slightest shade pursed up into a hint of primness, picked up the library novel which she had been reading during intervals of leisure.
It was mainly about a British Peer. The Peer did not resemble Dankmere in any particular; she had already noticed that. And now, as she read on, and, naturally enough, compared the ideal peer with the real one, the difference became painfully plain to her.
Could that short young man in rather mussy summer clothes, sorting prints over there, be a peer of the British realm? Was this young man, whom she had seen turning handsprings on the gra.s.s in the backyard, a belted Earl?
In spite of herself her short upper lip curled slightly as she turned from her book to glance at him. He looked up at the same moment, and smiled on meeting her eye--such a kindly yet diffident smile that she blushed a trifle.
"I say, Miss Vining, I"ve gone over all these prints and I can"t find one that resembles the Hogarth portrait--if it is a Hogarth."
"Mr. Quarren thinks it is."
"I daresay he"s quite right, but there"s nothing here to prove it"; and he slapped the huge portfolio shut, laid his hands on the table, vaulted to the top of it, and sat down. Miss Vining resumed her reading.
"Miss Vining?"
"Yes?" very leisurely.
"How _old_ do you think I am?"
"I beg your pardon----"
"How old do you think I am?"
"Really I hadn"t thought about it, Lord Dankmere."
"Oh."
Miss Vining resumed her reading.
When the Earl had sat on top of the table long enough he got down and dropped into the depths of an armchair.
"Miss Vining," he said.
"Yes?" incuriously.
"Have you thought it out yet?"
"Thought out what, Lord Dankmere?"
"How old I am."
"Really," she retorted, half laughing, half vexed, "do you suppose that my mind is occupied in wondering what your age might be?"
"Isn"t it?"