"Then you must let me go to the yacht," insisted Cara with finality.
"No" The reply came with a definiteness there was no mistaking. "I"ve given my word to Brett that I"d come,"
"You know what Eliot will think if he hears of it? He"ll probably--almost certainly--distrust you utterly, and it will ruin both your lives."
"I must risk that," said Ann quietly. "Tony"s got to be saved somehow, and it"s up to me to do it. He was "left" to me, you know. Virginia trusted me.
And I can"t let her down."
There was something curiously strong and steadfast in her face as she spoke--something against which Cara realised that it was futile to strive any further. Reluctantly she desisted, but it was with a heavy heart that she at last quitted the Cottage, leaving Ann firm in her resolve to save Tony, no matter at what cost.
Ann woke early next morning, feeling rather as though it were to be her last day on earth. She thought she could appreciate to some extent the sensations of a man condemned to be executed the following dawn. To-day she was tremendously alive, with happiness cupped betwixt her hands, while the future of rose and gold beckoned her onward. To-morrow, that whole future might be wrenched from her, leaving her like one dead, with nothing to live for, nothing to hope.
When Eliot paid his usual daily visit she went tremulously to meet him.
This might be the last time he would ever look at her with the eyes of love--the last time they would ever talk together as lovers. For her, his kisses held all the poignant ecstasy and pain of kisses that may be the last on earth.
He had noticed the _Sphinx_, lying at anchor in the bay, on his way to the Cottage.
"I suppose that chap Forrester is going to favour Silverquay with another visit," he remarked, as he and Ann strolled in the garden together. "I don"t care for him," he added. "When we are married, Ann, I"d rather you didn"t see any more of him than you can help. From all I can hear he hasn"t too savoury a reputation."
Ann"s heart sank. If Eliot thought that--felt like that about Brett, then there could be no hope of forgiveness if he ever found out that she had been to supper with him on the yacht. And now, appearances would be even stronger against her. It would look as though she had gone there deliberately in defiance of Eliot"s expressed wishes.
She became unwontedly quiet--so much so that Eliot"s solicitude was awakened.
"What"s the matter with you to-day?" he asked, looking down keenly into her face as he held her in his arms. "Are you depressed or worried about anything, sweetheart?"
She roused herself to a smile.
"Worried? Why, what have I to be worried about--now we"re together again?"
His face cleared.
"I suppose you"re just feeling a bit lonely without that "best brother" of yours. Is that it?"
"Yes. That"s it," she said, nodding emphatically. "I miss Robin. You--you won"t have to send him away again, Eliot."
"I don"t think I shall," he returned, smiling, "if it reduces you to such a wan-looking little person. You"re quite pale, Ann mine."
At parting, she clung to him as though she could never let him go.
"Why, what"s this, child?" he asked, genuinely perturbed. "Are you really nervous at being left in the Cottage alone--even with the doughty Maria for company? If you are, I"ll ride over to White Windows and ask Lady Susan to put you up there until Robin comes back."
"Oh, no, no!" she exclaimed hastily. "I"m perfectly all right. I am, really, Eliot. I didn"t sleep very well last night, that"s all."
"Well, then, take a rest after lunch. I shan"t be able to come over this afternoon--I have to go to Ferribridge. So"--pinching her cheek--"your slumbers will be undisturbed. And go to bed early to-night," he added authoritatively.
He went away, and later Ann made a pretence at eating lunch. The idea of "taking a rest" almost brought a smile to her pale lips. There was nothing further from her than sleep. Her brain felt on fire, and the time seemed to race along, each minute bringing nearer the dreaded ordeal of the evening.
At seven Maria brought in dinner, and once again Ann had to make a pretence at eating. Every mouthful felt as though it would choke her. Then, just as she was wondering how on earth she was to dispose of what still remained on her plate without incurring Maria"s displeasure, there came a ring at the bell, and a minute later Maria herself reappeared, carrying a telegram on a salver.
"From Master Robin, maybe, sayin" when he"ll be home again," she suggested conversationally, while Ann tore open the envelope and withdrew the flimsy sheet.
"_Don"t come to-night_,--FORRESTER."
Ann looked up from the single line of writing and spoke mechanically.
"No, it"s not from Robin," she said. And tearing the telegram across she tossed the pieces into the fire, where a swift tongue of flame shot up and consumed them.
She was conscious of an immense surge of relief. She could not imagine what had happened. Possibly Cara had seen Brett and interceded with him. Or perhaps it was merely that some unexpected happening had made the projected supper an impossibility for that particular night.
But whatever it was, it meant a reprieve. A reprieve! She could hold her happiness unharmed a little longer....
CHAPTER x.x.xII
ON BOARD THE "SPHINX"
Brett glanced over the supper-table, laid for two, with an experienced eye. The lights, shining down upon dainty silver and crystal, added a more l.u.s.trous sheen to the crimson petals, like fringed velvet, of a bowl of exquisite deep-red carnations, and flickered gaily on the bright neck of a gold-foiled bottle which twinkled in the midst of the cool greyness of a pail of ice.
Satisfied with his inspection, Brett gave a little nod of approval. His manservant, Achille Dupont, who accompanied him wherever he went, had all a Frenchman"s quick grasp of a situation, he reflected. Moreover, the man possessed the invaluable faculty of getting on well with the members of the yacht"s company, so that his coming on board with his master and waiting on him exclusively failed to create any resentment. In addition to this, he was dowered with the golden gift of discretion. Achille never suffered from a misplaced curiosity concerning his master"s doings. He accepted them blandly, and although Brett supposed there would be a certain amount of gossip on board the yacht concerning this night"s doings, he felt serenely sure that Achille himself would preserve a strict reticence concerning anything that he might chance to observe or overhear in the performance of his duty of serving the supper.
The clock had struck nine some few minutes ago, and Brett pictured the dinghy slipping over the smooth water with Ann, hooded and cloaked, sitting in the stern. He could almost visualise her young, tense-lipped face with its courageous eyes gazing ahead into the darkness. She would have need of all her courage before the evening was over. That he admitted. But he comforted himself with the reflection, that, whatever happened, she had brought it on herself. She had refused to marry him, while he was fully determined that she should be his wife. In a way, he felt distinctly resentful that her obstinacy had driven him into employing such methods as he proposed to use to-night.
The door opened, and to the accompaniment of a respectful murmur of "_Mademoiselle est arrivee_" from Achille, a woman"s figure, shrouded in furs and with a scarf twisted round her head, slipped past the Frenchman, and stood poised just inside the threshold as though uncertain whether to stay or go. Achille retired and closed the door noiselessly behind him, thus deciding the matter.
"Ann!" cried Brett triumphantly. "I wondered--I half doubted whether you would come, after all! Let me help you," he added quickly, as the woman threw back the fur wrap she was wearing, and with a deft movement, untwisted the scarf from her hair.
"It"s not Ann," said a cool feminine voice, and with a swift turn of her wrist the visitor drew the swathing scarf aside and revealed the small dark head and pansy-purple eyes of the lady from the Priory.
Brett fell back a pace, his face wearing an expression of such blank amazement that for a moment Cara could hardly refrain from laughing out loud. But he recovered himself with surprising quickness, and looked her up and down with characteristic coolness.
"I don"t think I remember inviting you for to-night," he said slowly.
"No," she replied. "I"ve come instead of Ann. Brett, you had no right to ask her here."
His eyes flashed wickedly, but he preserved his coolness.
"That, I think, is my business," he responded.
"It"s not." A note of deep feeling came into her voice. "It"s the business of every one who cares for Ann to protect her from her own rash unselfishness. Just to please yourself, you asked her to come here, without a thought as to how it would affect her reputation--how people might talk.
And you used those bills of Tony"s as a lever."
"Really, your perspicacity does you credit," he returned ironically. "I saw no other way of getting her here, so, as you truthfully remark, I used those bits of paper as a lever."
"Well"--quickly. "I"ve come for those bits of paper, as you call them."
Brett shook his head regretfully.