"Christobel," he said, "this is no place for you. Come away at once.
Do you hear? I _bid_ you come with me at once."
The only thing she really minded was that his hat was on, in the presence of her Dead.
She could not free her arm from the grip of the Professor.
She turned and pointed to the stretcher, with her left hand.
"My place is here," she said, clearly and deliberately. "I have the right to be here. This is all a fearful nightmare, from which we are bound before long to wake. But meanwhile, I tell you plainly--as I ought to have told you before--_this is the body of the man I love_."
At that moment, one of the crowd, springing on to the breakwater behind the Professor, struck off his hat with a cane. It fell into the sea.
The Professor let go her arm, and turned to see who had perpetrated the outrage, and whether the hat could be recovered.
Then she bent over the stretcher.
"Boy dear," she whispered, in tones of ineffable tenderness; "this is where they have laid you; but _I_ will take you away."
She put her arms beneath the body; then, with an almost superhuman effort, lifted it, and gathered it to her. It felt limp and broken.
The head fell heavily against her breast. The blood and salt-water soaked through her thin muslin blouse. But she held him, and would not let him go. "I will take him away," she whispered; "I will take him away."
She knew she was losing her reason, but she had known that, ever since she first looked down from the top of the cliff, and saw the broken wings floating on the sea. Now, with her Boy in her arms, her one idea was to get away from the Professor; away from the coast-guardsmen; away from the crowd.
Turning her back upon the beach, she staggered along the breakwater, toward the open sea.
"I will take him away," she repeated; "I will take him away."
Then her foot slipped. She still held the Boy, but she felt herself falling.
She closed her eyes.
She never knew which she struck first, the stone breakwater, or the sea----
THE SEVENTH DAY
THE STONE IS ROLLED AWAY
When Christobel recovered consciousness and opened her eyes, she found herself in bed, in her own room, at home.
Martha bent over her.
The morning light entered dimly, through closed curtains.
In dumb anguish of mind, she looked up into Martha"s grim old face.
"Tell me where you have laid him," she said, "and I will take him away."
Martha snorted.
"I"ve laid your tea-tray on the table beside your bed, Miss," she said; "and when you "ave finished with it, _I_ will take it away."
Whereupon, Martha lumbered to the large bow-window, drew back all the curtains with a vigorous clatter of bra.s.s rings, and let in a blaze of morning sunshine.
Christobel lay quite still, trying to collect her thoughts.
One of her pillows was clasped tightly in her arms.
She lifted her left hand, and looked at it.
No ring encircled the third finger.
"Martha," she called, softly.
Martha loomed large at the side of the bed.
"What is to-day?"
"Wednesday, Miss," replied Martha, too much surprised to be contemptuous.
"Martha--where is Mr. Chelsea?"
"Lord only knows," said Martha, tragically.
"Martha--is he--living?"
"Living?" repeated Martha, deliberately. Then she smiled, her crooked smile. "Living don"t express it, Miss Christobel. Lively"s more like it, when Mr. Guy is concerned. And I reckon, wherever "e is, e"s makin" things lively somewhere for somebody. You don"t look quite the thing this morning, Miss. Sit up and take your tea."
She sat up, loosing the pillow out of her arms--the pillow which had been, first her Little Boy Blue, as she drew him to her in the darkness; then the dead body of Guy Chelsea, as she lifted it on the breakwater.
She took her tea from Martha"s hand, and drank it quickly. She wanted Martha to go.
It was Wednesday! Then the Boy had left her only the day before yesterday. His telegram had come last night. The Professor"s proposal had not yet reached her.
Martha lifted the tray and departed.
Then Christobel Charteris rose, and stood at her open window, in the morning sunlight. She looked out upon the mulberry-tree and the long vista of soft turf; in the dim distance, the postern gate in the old red wall--his paradise, and hers.
She lifted her beautiful arms above her head. The loose sleeves of her nightdress fell away, baring them to the elbows. She might have stood, in her n.o.ble development of face and form, for a splendid statue of hope and praise.
"Ah, dear G.o.d!" she breathed, "is it indeed true? Is it possible? Is my Boy alive? And am I free--free to be his alone? Am I free to give him all he wants, free to be all he needs?"
She stood long at the window motionless, realizing the mental adjustment which had come to her during the strenuous hours of the night.
Her dream had taught her one great lesson: That under no circ.u.mstances whatever, can it be right for a woman to marry one man, while with her whole being she loves another. Love is Lord of all. Love reigns paramount. No expectations, past or present, based on friendship or grat.i.tude; no sense of duty or obligations of any kind could make a marriage right, if, in view of that marriage, Love had to stand by with broken wings.