"It"s heavenly, isn"t it?" she said at last, a little sigh of ecstasy escaping her.
Tony looked, not at the hills, but at the young, eager face just level with his shoulder.
"It"s probably as near heaven as I shall ever get," he answered. "Anyway, just for the moment, I don"t feel I"ve anything particular to complain of."
"I suppose I"m to take that as a compliment," replied Ann.
"Anyway"--mimicking him--"I don"t really think you have very much to complain of at any time. You"re one of the idle rich, you know. How would you like it if you were obliged to keep your nose to the grindstone--like Robin and me?"
"I shouldn"t mind"--curtly--"if I could choose my grindstone."
"But that"s just it! Robin can"t--choose his grindstone, I mean. He"s just got to keep slogging away at anything that turns up."
Her face shadowed a little. They were very devoted to each other, she and Robin. From their earliest childhood their father had counted for so little in either of their lives that they had inevitably drawn closer to each other than most brothers and sisters, and the enforced separation of the last few years had been a sore trial to both of them.
"You"re very fond of Robin," observed Tony. There was a note of envy in his voice.
"Of course I am. If we could only afford to live together, I think I should be absolutely happy."
He glanced at her quickly.
"Aren"t you happy with Lady Susan?"
"Oh, yes, yes! No one could be kinder to me than she is. But--I miss Robin"--rather wistfully. "You see, we"ve always been everything to each other."
"I see. And what will happen if one day you--or Robin--should get married?"
Ann skirted the topic dexterously.
"Oh, don"t let"s think about possible calamities on a day like this. Look!"
She touched his arm, drawing his attention to a girl who had also climbed the Roche d"Or hill to see the view and had halted near them, a sheaf of freshly-gathered wild-flowers in her hand. "Aren"t those blue gentians lovely?"
Tony glanced at the few vividly blue flowers the girl was jealously clasping. She had walked far in search of them and valued them accordingly.
"Do you want some?" he asked eagerly.
Ann nodded.
"Isn"t it getting rather late in the year to find them, though?" she said doubtfully.
The girl with the flowers, overhearing, turned to her with a friendly smile.
"There are very few left," she vouchsafed. "I"ve been hunting everywhere for them. But you may find one or two over there." She pointed to a distant slope.
Tony"s eyes followed her gesture. Then he glanced down at Ann inquiringly.
"Are you game for so long a walk?" he asked.
"I"m game for anything up in this air," she a.s.sured him with conviction.
But, as was not infrequently the case, Ann"s spirit outstripped her physical strength. The slope indicated was much farther away than it appeared and "the going was bad," as Tony phrased it. Blue gentians proved tantalisingly elusive, and at length, rather disheartened by their unprofitable search, Ann came to a standstill.
"I think I"m beginning to feel a keener interest in tea than gentians, Tony," she confessed at last, ruefully. "It"s very contemptible of me, I own. But when I contemplate the distance we"ve already got to cover before we reach the hotel again, I feel distinctly disinclined to add to it."
"I"ve let you walk too far!" Tony was overwhelmed with compunction. "Look here, sit down in this little hollow and rest for a few minutes before we turn back, while I just go a bit further and see if I can find you a gentian."
He stripped off his overcoat as he spoke and rolled it together to make a cushion for her.
"No, no, I don"t want your coat," she protested. "I don"t need it--really!"
But Tony was suddenly masterful.
"You"ll do as you"re told," he a.s.serted. And somewhat to her own surprise she found herself meekly obeying him.
He strode away, disappearing quickly from sight over the brow of a hill, and with a small sigh of contentment she tucked her feet under her on the improvised cushion and lit a cigarette. She had had a busy morning, and was really more tired than she knew. First of all there had been the car to clean, then there were flowers to be arranged for the house, and after that various small shopping errands had cropped up, so that Ann had found herself very fully occupied until at length, accompanied by Sir Philip, Lady Susan had departed for Evian. She wondered fugitively how the pair were enjoying themselves.
It was very pleasant sitting there. The huge boulder against which she leant sheltered her from the wind and the spot was bathed in brilliant sunshine. She finished her cigarette and lapsed into a brown study provoked by Tony"s sudden question: "What will happen if one day you--or Robin--should get married?" She had never asked herself that question. It was so much an understood thing between brother and sister that, as soon as Robin found a sufficiently remunerative post, they should live together, that any alternative had not entered her head.
But now she came to think of it, of course it was quite possible that Robin might some day meet the woman whom he would want to marry. Her mouth twisted in a little wry grimace of distaste. She was sure she should detest any woman who robbed her of her brother. And if such a thing happened, she would certainly take herself off and live somewhere else. Nothing would ever induce her to remain in a married brother"s house--an unwanted third.
There would always be one avenue of escape open to her, she reflected ironically--by way of her own marriage with Tony. She wished it were possible to fall in love to order! It would simplify things so much. As Tony"s wife she felt sure she could keep him straight and so fulfil the trust Virginia had imposed on her. He had always shown himself sensitively responsive to her influence--like a penitent boy if she scolded him, radiant if he had won her approval. And he had a very special niche of his own in her heart. Next to Robin, there was no one she loved more.
... A sudden cloud across the sun roused her to the fact that she had been sitting still for some time, and that, at that alt.i.tude, the air held all the mountain keenness. She felt chilled, and scrambled up hastily to her feet. She would go to the crest of the hill and signal to Tony that she was ready to return.
But, to her utter astonishment, when she had climbed to the top, he was not in sight. The hill brow apparently commanded a view of the surrounding country for a distance of at least two miles, and as far as she could see there was no sign of any living creature in the whole expanse. Hardly believing her own senses, she brushed her hand across her eyes and looked again. But she had made no mistake. Tony was nowhere to be seen. The ground stretched bleakly away on every hand, untenanted by any human soul except herself.
She stood still, staring dazedly around. Tony would never have gone back without her. He must be hidden from view by some dip or inequality of the ground. Or--her heart stood still at the thought--had he slipped and fallen headlong into some hideous creva.s.se?
Curving her hands on either side her mouth, she called him, sending her voice ringing through the clear, crisp air. But there came no answer.
Instead, the utter loneliness and silence seemed to surge up round her almost like a concrete thing. For a moment, sheer terror of what might have happened to him overwhelmed her.
"Tony!... Tony!" Her voice rose to a scream, then cracked on a hoa.r.s.e note of sudden, desperate relief.
To her left the ground fell away abruptly in a precipitous ravine, and, rising slowly above the lip of the chasm, she could discern Tony"s head and shoulders. Instantly her mind leapt to what had happened. Failing to find a gentian in his search over safe ground, he must have caught sight of a late blossom growing in some cranny of the rock face below, and, recklessly regardless of the danger, he had climbed down to secure it.
The mere thought of the risk he had incurred--was still incurring--sent a shiver through her. Her first impulse was to rush towards him. Then, realising that any movement of hers might distract his attention and so add illimitably to his danger, she forced herself by an almost superhuman effort to remain where she was. Motionless, with straining eyes, she watched while he slowly edged himself up. That his foothold was precarious was evident from the careful precision of his movements, so unlike Tony"s usual nimbleness.
Now his arm was above the edge ... both arms ... he seemed to be resting a moment, leaning on his chest an instant before making another effort.
Should she go to him? Her arms hung stiffly at her sides, her hands opening and shutting in an agony of indecision.
Tony was moving once more, and this time he hoisted himself up so that he succeeded in getting one knee over the top. Another moment and he would be safe.... Then, without a cry, he suddenly toppled backwards and disappeared from view, and Ann could see only the jagged edge of the ravine, stark against the sky-line.
For a fraction of a second she stood paralysed, overwhelmed with the horror of what had happened. Then, choking back the scream which rose to her lips, she set off running in the direction of the spot where Tony had vanished from sight.
CHAPTER IV