"Done it before? Rather! Thousands of times. You see, I spent a year on a bee-farm once, learning the business."
For a moment mortification was the only emotion of which Elizabeth was conscious. She felt supremely ridiculous. For this she had schemed and plotted-to give a practised expert the opportunity of doing what he had done a thousand times before!
And then her mood changed in a flash. Nature has decreed that there are certain things in life which shall act as hoops of steel, grappling the souls of the elect together. Golf is one of these; a mutual love of horseflesh another; but the greatest of all is bees. Between two beekeepers there can be no strife. Not even a tepid hostility can mar their perfect communion.
The petty enmities which life raises to be barriers between man and man and between man and woman vanish once it is revealed to them that they are linked by this great bond. Envy, malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness disappear, and they look into each other"s eyes and say "My brother!"
The effect of Bill"s words on Elizabeth was revolutionary. They crashed through her dislike, scattering it like an explosive sh.e.l.l. She had resented this golden young man"s presence at the farm. She had thought him in the way. She had objected to his becoming aware that she did such prosaic tasks as cooking and washing-up. But now her whole att.i.tude toward him was changed. She reflected that he was there. He could stay there as long as he liked, the longer the better.
"You have really kept bees?"
"Not actually kept them, worse luck! I couldn"t raise the capital.
You see, money was a bit tight-"
"I know," said Elizabeth, sympathetically. "Money is like that, isn"t it?"
"The general impression seemed to be that I should be foolish to try anything so speculative as beekeeping, so it fell through. Some very decent old boys got me another job."
"What job?"
"Secretary to a club."
"In London, of course?"
"Yes."
"And all the time you wanted to be in the country keeping bees!"
Elizabeth could hardly control her voice, her pity was so great.
"I should have liked it," said Bill, wistfully. "London"s all right, but I love the country. My ambition would be to have a whacking big farm, a sort of ranch, miles away from anywhere-"
He broke off. This was not the first time he had caught himself forgetting how his circ.u.mstances had changed in the past few weeks. It was ridiculous to be telling hard-luck stories about not being able to buy a farm, when he had the wherewithal to buy dozens of farms. It took a lot of getting used to, this business of being a millionaire.
"That"s my ambition too," said Elizabeth, eagerly. This was the very first time she had met a congenial spirit. Nutty"s views on farming and the Arcadian life generally were saddening to an enthusiast. "If I had the money I should get an enormous farm, and in the summer I should borrow all the children I could find, and take them out to it and let them wallow in it."
"Wouldn"t they do a lot of damage?"
"I shouldn"t mind. I should be too rich to worry about the damage. If they ruined the place beyond repair I"d go and buy another." She laughed. "It isn"t so impossible as it sounds. I came very near being able to do it." She paused for a moment, but went on almost at once. After all, if you cannot confide your intimate troubles to a fellow bee-lover, to whom can you confide them? "An uncle of mine-"
Bill felt himself flushing. He looked away from her. He had a sense of almost unbearable guilt, as if he had just done some particularly low crime and was contemplating another.
"-An uncle of mine would have left me enough money to buy all the farms I wanted, only an awful person, an English lord. I wonder if you have heard of him?-Lord Dawlish-got hold of uncle somehow and induced him to make a will leaving all the money to him."
She looked at Bill for sympathy, and was touched to see that he was crimson with emotion. He must be a perfect dear to take other people"s misfortunes to heart like that.
"I don"t know how he managed it," she went on. "He must have worked and plotted and schemed, for Uncle Ira wasn"t a weak sort of man whom you could do what you liked with. He was very obstinate. But, anyway, this Lord Dawlish succeeded in doing it somehow, and then"-her eyes blazed at the recollection-"he had the insolence to write to me through his lawyers offering me half. I suppose he was hoping to satisfy his conscience. Naturally I refused it."
"But-but-but why?"
"Why! Why did I refuse it? Surely you don"t think I was going to accept charity from the man who had cheated me?"
"But-but perhaps he didn"t mean it like that. What I mean to say is-as charity, you know."
"He did! But don"t let"s talk of it any more. It makes me angry to think of him, and there"s no use spoiling a lovely day like this by getting angry."
Bill sighed. He had never dreamed before that it could be so difficult to give money away. He was profoundly glad that he had not revealed his ident.i.ty, as he had been on the very point of doing just when she began her remarks. He understood now why that curt refusal had come in answer to his lawyer"s letter. Well, there was nothing to do but wait and hope that time might accomplish something.
"What do you want me to do next?" he said. "Why did you open the hive? Did you want to take a look at the queen?"
Elizabeth hesitated. She blushed with pure shame. She had had but one motive in opening the hive, and that had been to annoy him. She scorned to take advantage of the loophole he had provided. Beekeeping is a freemasonry. A beekeeper cannot deceive a brother-mason.
She faced him bravely.
"I didn"t want to take a look at anything, Mr Chalmers. I opened that hive because I wanted you to drop the frame, as my brother did, and get stung, as he was; because I thought that would drive you away, because I thought then that I didn"t want you down here. I"m ashamed of myself, and I don"t know where I"m getting the nerve to tell you this. I hope you will stay on-on and on and on."
Bill was aghast.
"Good Lord! If I"m in the way-"
"You aren"t in the way."
"But you said-"
"But don"t you see that it"s so different now? I didn"t know then that you were fond of bees. You must stay, if my telling you hasn"t made you feel that you want to catch the next train. You will save our lives-mine and Nutty"s too. Oh, dear, you"re hesitating! You"re trying to think up some polite way of getting out of the place! You mustn"t go, Mr Chalmers; you simply must stay. There aren"t any mosquitoes, no jellyfish-nothing! At least, there are; but what do they matter? You don"t mind them. Do you play golf?"
"Yes."
"There are links here. You can"t go until you"ve tried them. What is your handicap?"
"Plus two."
"So is mine."
"By Jove! Really?"
Elizabeth looked at him, her eyes dancing.
"Why, we"re practically twin souls, Mr Chalmers! Tell me, I know your game is nearly perfect, but if you have a fault, is it a tendency to putt too hard?"
"Why, by Jove-yes, it is!"
"I knew it. Something told me. It"s the curse of my life too!
Well, after that you can"t go away."
"But if I"m in the way-"
"In the way! Mr Chalmers, will you come in now and help me wash the breakfast things?"
"Rather!" said Lord Dawlish.