CHAPTER IV
OUR MYSTERIOUS NEIGHBORS
This was a faithful and exact account of my meeting with the first of those two of our neighbors who seemed, according to Lady Naselton"s report, to remain entirely outside the ordinary society of the place. Curiously enough, my meeting with the second one occurred on the very next afternoon.
We came face to face at a turning in the wood within a few yards of her odd little house, and the surprise of it almost took my breath away. Could this be the woman condemned to isolation by a whole neighborhood--the woman on whose shoulders lay the burden of Bruce Deville"s profligacy? I looked into the clear, dark eyes which met mine without any shadow of embarra.s.sment--returning in some measure the keen interest of my own scrutiny--and the thing seemed impossible.
She spoke to me graciously, and as though to do so were quite a matter of course. Her voice completed my subjugation. One may so often be deceived by faces, but the voice seems an infallible test.
"There is going to be a terrible storm," she said. "Won"t you come in for a few minutes? You will scarcely be able to get home, and these trees are not safe."
Even while she was speaking the big rain drops began to fall. I gathered up my skirts, and hurried along by her side.
"It is very good of you," I said, breathlessly. "I am dreadfully afraid of a thunderstorm."
We crossed the trim little lawn, and in a moment I had pa.s.sed the portals of the Yellow House. The front door opened into a low, square hall, hung with old-fashioned engravings against a background of dark oak. There were rugs upon the polished floor, and several easy chairs and lounges. By the side of one was a box from Mudie"s, evidently just arrived, and a small wood fire was burning in the open grate. She laid her hand on the back of a low rocking chair.
"Shall we sit here?" she suggested. "We can keep the door open and watch the storm. Or perhaps you would rather see as little of it as possible?"
I took the easy chair opposite to her.
"I don"t mind watching it from inside," I answered. "I am not really nervous, but those trees look horribly unsafe. One wants to be on the moor to enjoy a thunderstorm."
She looked at me with a faint smile, kindly but critically.
"No, you don"t look particularly nervous," she said. "I wonder----"
A crash of thunder drowned the rest of her sentence.
In the silence which followed I found her studying my features intently. For some reason or other she seemed suddenly to have developed a new and strong interest in me. Her eyes were fastened upon my face. I began to feel almost uncomfortable.
She suddenly realized it, and broke into a little laugh.
"Forgive my staring at you so outrageously," she exclaimed. "You must think me a very rude person. It is odd to meet any one in the woods about here, you know; and I don"t think that I have ever seen you before, have I?"
I shook my head.
"Probably not; unless you were at church yesterday," I said.
"Then I certainly have not, for I do not attend church," she answered. "But you don"t live in church, do you?"
I laughed.
"Oh, no; but we have only been here a week or so," I told her. "My name is Kate Ffolliot. I am the daughter of the new vicar, or, rather, curate-in-charge."
Once more the hall was filled with white light.
There was a moment"s breathless silence, and then the thunder came crashing over our heads. When it was over she was leaning forward with her face buried in her hands. She did not look up immediately.
"The thunder is awful!" I remarked. "I never heard it more directly overhead. I am afraid it is making you uncomfortable, is it not?"
She did not move her hands or answer me. I rose to my feet, frightened.
"What is the matter?" I cried. "Are you ill? Shall I call any one?"
She raised her head and looked at me, motioning me to sit down with a little wave of her hand. Evidently the storm had affected her nerves. Her face was paler than ever save where her clenched fingers seemed to have cut into her cheeks and left red livid marks on either side. Her dark eyes were unnaturally bright and dry. She had lost that dignified serenity of manner which had first impressed me.
"No; please sit down," she said, softly. "I am all right--only very foolish. That last crash was too awful. It was silly of me to mind, though. I have seen worse storms. It is a sign of advancing age, I suppose."
I laughed. She was still regarding me fixedly.
"So we are neighbors, Miss Ffolliot?" she remarked.
"Close ones," I answered. "There is only a little belt of trees between us."
"I might have guessed who you were," she said. "For the moment, though, it did not occur to me. You are not," she said, with a faint smile, "at all what one looks for in a country clergyman"s daughter."
"I have lived abroad nearly all my life," I said. "I was at school in Berlin and Heidelberg. My sister has always been my father"s helper. I am afraid that parish work does not appeal to me at all."
"I am not surprised at that," she answered. "One needs a special disposition to interest one"s self in those things, and, without being a physiognomist, I can tell you that you have not got it."
"People in the country are so stupid, and they take so much for granted," I remarked. "If I were a philanthropist, I should certainly choose to work in a city."
"You are quite right," she answered, absently. "Work amongst people who have learned to think a little for themselves is more inspiring."
We were silent for a moment or two. She was evidently not interested in the discussion, so I did not attempt to carry it on. I turned a little in my chair to watch the storm outside, conscious all the time that her eyes scarcely left my face.
"I had grown so used," she said, presently, "to the rectory being empty, that I had quite forgotten the possibility of its being occupied again. The vicar used to live several miles away. I wonder that Mr. Deville did not know anything about you--that he did not know your name, at any rate."
Now I was sorry that she had mentioned Mr. Deville. I was doing my best to forget all that I had heard from Lady Naselton, and to form an independent judgment; but at her words the whole substance of it returned to me with a rush. I leaned back in my chair, and looked at her thoughtfully. She was a woman whose age might be anything between thirty-five and forty. She was plainly dressed, but with a quiet elegance which forbade any idea of a country dressmaker. She was too thin for her figure to be considered in any way good; but she was tall and graceful in all her movements. Her thick, brown hair, touched here and there with grey, was parted in the middle and vigorously brushed away from a low, thoughtful forehead, over which it showed a decided propensity to wave. Her features were good and strongly marked, and her skin was perfect. Her eyes were bright and dark, her mouth piquant and humorous. She had no pretence to beauty, but she was certainly a very attractive and a very well-bred woman. I had never in all my life seen any one who suggested less those things at which Lady Naselton had hinted.
Perhaps she saw the slight change in my face at Mr. Deville"s name. At any rate, she turned the conversation.
"Have you been living in the country before you came here, or near a large city?" she asked. "You will find it very quiet here!"
"We came from Belchester," I answered. "My father had a church in the suburbs there. It was very horrid; I was not there long, but I hated it. I think the most desolate country region in the world is better than suburbanism."
"I don"t think that I agree with you," she smiled. "In a large community at any rate you are closer to the problems of life. I was at Belchester not long ago, and I found it very interesting."
"You were at Belchester!" I repeated in surprise.
"Yes; I was electioneering. I came to help Mr. Densham."
"What! The Socialist!" I cried.