The woman on the porch did not speak until they paused at the bottom of the steps.
"Have you been over at his house, Viola?" she asked levelly.
"Yes, mother."
After a moment"s hesitation: "Come in, Kenneth." She stood aside to let Viola pa.s.s. Kenneth, who had hastily donned his coat, followed the two women into the house. There was a light in the parlor.
"Will you sit down, or do you prefer to remain standing in my house, Kenneth Gwynne?"
He bowed stiffly, indicating a chair with a gesture. "Will you be seated first, madam?"
His soph.o.m.oric dignity drew a faint, ironic smile to her lips. "Thank you," she said calmly, and seated herself on the little horsehair sofa. If there was any uneasiness in the look she sent from one to the other of the young people it was not noticeable. "Hattie came in a little while ago," she said, "scared out of her wits. I suspected that you were up to one of your pranks, Viola. I do wish you would stop frightening the girl."
"Kenneth will tell you what happened," said the girl, hurriedly.
"He wants to see you alone. I am going upstairs."
She left the room, closing the door behind her. Neither spoke until they heard her footsteps on the floor overhead.
"Well, what have you been telling her?" asked Rachel, leaning forward, her eyes narrowing.
He drew a chair up close to the sofa and sat down. "Nothing that she should not know," he answered. "I will first tell you what happened a little while ago, and then--the rest of it. There is evil afoot. I have been wrong, I realize, in not warning you and Viola."
She listened intently to the end; not once did she interrupt him, but as he proceeded to unfold the meagre details of the plot as presented to him by Isaac Stain, her brow darkened and her fingers began to work nervously, restlessly in her lap. His account of the frightening of Zachariah and its immediate results took up but little time. He was careful to avoid any mention of that stirring scene at the fence, its effect upon the startled girl, or how near he was to betraying the great secret.
Rachel Gwyn"s eyes never left his face during the whole of the unbroken recital. Toward the end he had the disconcerting impression that she was reading his turbulent thoughts, that she was successfully searching his soul.
"That"s the story as it came to me," he concluded. "I deserve your condemnation for not preparing Viola against a trick that might have resulted disastrously while we were marking time."
"Why did Isaac Stain go to you instead of coming to me?" was her first question.
"Because he believes I am her brother, and this happens to be a man"s job," he said, lowering his voice. "It is only fair, however, to state that he wanted to come to you and I, in my folly, advised him not to do so."
She was silent for a moment. Then: "And why did you think it not advisable to tell me?"
"I will be frank with you," he replied, colouring under her steady gaze. "I wanted her to find out for herself just what kind of man Lapelle really is. I was prepared to let the plot go almost to the point of consummation. I--I wanted to be the one to save her." He lowered his eyes, afraid that she would discover the truth in them.
Again she hesitated, apparently weighing her words.
"You are in love with her, Kenneth."
He looked up, startled, almost aghast. Involuntarily he started to rise to his feet, his eyes still fixed on hers, vehement denial on his parted lips, only to sink back into the chair again, convicted.
There was no use attempting to deceive this cold, clear-headed woman.
She knew. No lie, no evasion could meet that direct statement. For a long time they looked straight into each other"s eyes, and at length his fell in mute confession.
"G.o.d help me,--I am," he groaned.
"Oh, the pity of it!" she cried out. He looked up and saw that she was trembling, her ashen face working as in pain.
"No! The curse of it, Rachel Carter!"
She appeared not to have heard his words. ""G.o.d works in a mysterious way,"" she muttered, almost inaudibly. "The call of the blood is unfailing. The brain may be deceived, the heart never." With an effort, she regained control of herself. "She has broken off with Barry Lapelle. Do you know the reason why? Because, all unbeknownst to her, she has fallen in love with you. Yes! It is true. I know.
I have seen it coming."
She arose and crossed to the door, which she cautiously opened.
For a moment she remained there listening, then closing it gently, she came over and stood before him.
"Love is a wonderful thing, Kenneth," she said slowly. "It is the most powerful force in all the world. It overcomes reason, it crushes the conscience, it makes strong men weak and weak men strong. For love a woman will give her honour, for love a man will barter his chance for eternal salvation. It overlooks faults, it condones crime, it rises above every obstacle that the human mind can put before it. It knows no fear, it has no religion, it serves no G.o.d.
You love my girl, Kenneth. She is the daughter of the woman you despise, the daughter of one you call evil. Is your love for her great enough,--or will it ever be great enough,--to overcome these obstacles? In plain words, would you take her unto yourself as your wife, to love and cherish and honour,--mind you, HONOUR,--to the end of your days on earth?"
He stood up, facing her, his face white.
"She has done nothing dishonourable," he said levelly.
""The sins of the mother,"" she paraphrased, without taking her eyes from his.
"Was her mother any worse than my father? Has the sin been visited upon one of us and not upon the other?"
"Then, you WOULD be willing to take Viola as your wife?"
He seemed to wrench his gaze away. "Oh, what is the use of talking about the impossible?" he exclaimed. "I have confessed that I love her,--yes, in spite of everything,--and you--"
"You have not answered my question."
"No, I have not," he said deliberately,--"and I do not intend to answer it. You know as well as I that I cannot ask her to marry me, so why speak of it? Good G.o.d, could I ask my own sister to be my wife?"
"She is not your sister. She has not one drop of Gwynne blood in her veins."
He gave a short, bitter laugh. "But who is going to tell her that, may I ask, Rachel Carter?"
She turned away, took two or three turns up and down the room, her head bent, a heavy frown between her eyes, and then sank wearily into a chair.
"I will put it this way, Kenneth," she said. "Would you ask her to be your wife if the time should ever come when she knows the truth?"
He hesitated a long time. "Will you be kind enough to tell me what your object is in asking me these questions?"
"I want to know whether you are truly in love with her," she replied steadily.
"And if I say that I could not ask her to marry me, would that prove anything to you?"
"Yes. It would prove two things. It would prove that you do not love her with all your heart and soul, and it would prove that you are the same kind of man that your father was before you."
He started. It was the second reason that caused him to look at her curiously. "What do you mean?"
"When you have answered my question, I will answer yours, Kenneth."
"Well," he began, setting his jaw, "I DO love her enough to ask her to be my wife. But I would ask her as Owen Carter"s daughter.
And," he added, half closing his eyes as with pain, "she would refuse to have me. She could not look at the matter as I do. Her love,--if she should ever come to have such a feeling for me,--her love would revolt against--Oh, you know what I mean! Do you suppose it would survive the shock of realization? No! She has a clean heart. She would never marry the son of the man who--who--" He found himself unable to finish the sentence. A strange, sudden reluctance to hurt his enemy checked the words even as they were being framed on his lips,--reluctance due not to compa.s.sion nor to consideration but to a certain innate respect for an adversary whose back is to the wall and yet faces unequal odds without a sign of shrinking.
"Shall I say it for you?" she asked in a cold, level voice. But she had winced, despite her iron control.