said the girl, sinking her voice; "and--it was plain--now--what he had found there."
The silence now, rather than any words, bade her go on. She caught her breath a little, mastering her excitement.
"I knew, presently, what I must do. And when. You have told me, sir, sometimes, that I was too hasty to resolve and to do,--I had to be both now."
"What did you do?" said her guardian.
"I must get away. And on the instant. For, just beyond, the woods ceased, and there was a long stretch of open road. I thought, in that second, that my cloak might be caught. So, with my free hand I unfastened it--I don"t know how I ever did it!" said the girl, excitedly, "unless, as Byo says, mamma"s prayers were round me!--but I slipped the cloak from my shoulders and tore away my other hand, and sprang into the woods."
They could almost hear her heart beat, as she sat there.
"Into the woods alone!" cried Mr. Falkirk. "Then--Go on, my dear," he said, his voice falling into great gentleness.
"Things came so fast upon me then!" she said with a shiver. "I had said, in that moment, "I can but try,"--and now I felt that if you try--some things--you must succeed. To fail, then, would be just a game of hide-and-seek. That was the first thought. I must keep ahead, if it killed me. And then--instantly--I knew that to do that I must not run!"--
"What _did_ you do?" said Mr. Falkirk.
"I might not be the fastest; and, if I ran, I should maybe not know just where--he--was,--nor when the pursuit was given up. I must pa.s.s from shadow to shadow; moving only when he moved; keeping close watch; until he got tired and went back."
Hazel leaned her head on her hands, as if the mere recollection were all she could bear.
"My dear!--exclaimed Mr. Falkirk. "Did you keep up the game long?"
"I do not know, sir," she said, wearily; "it seemed--" she stopped short,--then went on:
"I knew my dress was dark enough to pa.s.s notice; and as softly as I could I rolled up my white cloak and took off my gloves, lest any chance light might fall on them. My steps were steady--the others not: so far I had the advantage. Several times I heard my name--I think the surprise must have sobered him a little, for he called to me that that was not the road.
But how long it went on, I cannot tell."
"Till he gave it up?"
"Yes. At last, I saw him go back to the road, and heard his tread there, turning back the way we had come. Past me. And again I had to wait. Only I crept to the edge of the trees, where I could see far down the moonlight, and watch the one moving shadow there, that it did not turn off again among the shadows where I stood. And then I began to think I could not go on towards home along that open stretch before me,--for at least a mile there were only fields and fences on either hand.
I had noticed it when we drove along in the evening. I could not go back towards Mrs. Merrick"s. Then I remembered, in my ride upon Vixen, finding a short cut from this road to one from Dr. Maryland"s. And I thought if I could once get to that, I should find unbroken woodland, where I could pa.s.s along unseen. For that, however, I must cross the road--in the full, clear light. And what that was!--"
"But I went safe," she began again, "and reached the shadows on the other side before there came sounds upon the road once more, and the full stream of late people began to come rattling down from Merricksdale."
"Yes!"--Mr. Falkirk"s word was rather breathless.
"At first, when I saw the first carriage, I thought I would speak and claim protection. But that held only men. And then came others on foot--and some that I knew. And it seemed to me, that instead of speaking I almost shrank into a shadow myself.
And when there came a little interval, so that I dared move, I sprang away again, and went through the woods as fast as I could go, and go softly. The belt is not broad there, I suppose," she said after another pause; "and I reached the other road and went on while in the darkness, along the edge.
But I think by this time I must have been tired, I grew so suddenly trembling and unsteady. And the night was so still, and yet I seemed to hear steps everywhere. I could not bear it any longer; and I thought I would just be quiet and wait for the day. Only--so far my wits served me yet--I must once more cross the road; for the moon was sinking westward now, and the level rays came in about my feet."
"I thought I could not do it at first," she said, with a voice that told more than the words,--"go out into that stream of light; but then I did; and hid myself in the branches of a great hemlock, and waited there."
"And then I found Mr. Rollo,--and I knew that I might trust him."
With which most unconscious full-sized compliment, the girl crossed her arms upon her lap, and laid her face down upon them, and was still.
"How did she found you?" demanded Mr. Falkirk with unceremonious energy. The answer was in an undertone:
"I found her."
Mr. Falkirk was silent again.
"No," said Wych Hazel, without raising her head, and again not stopping to measure her words. "You would have stood there till this time, if I had not spoken!"
"Would I?" said Rollo.
"And how came you to be there at all at that time of night?"
said Mr. Falkirk.
"On my way from the cars."
"Cars, where?"
"Henderson."
"Walk from Henderson!" said Mr. Falkirk.
"Save time. I wanted to be here to-day." The answers were all short and grave, as a man speaks who has no words that he wants to say.
"And Mr. Rollo thought", said Hazel, looking up, "that it was better for me to come home from Dr. Maryland"s than from the woods. And--when he spoke of it--I supposed you would say that too, Mr. Falkirk."
But Mr. Falkirk vouchsafed no corroboration of this opinion.
"Did I do well, sir?" she said a little eagerly, but meaning now the whole night"s work. "Did I do ill? Was I a bit like your old ideal--"a woman" and "brave"? Or was I only a girl, and very foolish?" They were so silent, these men!--it tried her. Did they, in their worldly wisdom, see any better way out of her hard places, than her seventeen years" inexperience had found, at such a cost? The brown eyes looked searchingly at Mr. Falkirk, and again for an instant went beyond him to Mr.
Rollo.
"Answer, Mr. Falkirk!" said the younger man.
"My dear," said Wych Hazel"s guardian, "if I had been a quarter as much a man as you have proved yourself a woman, your bravery never would have been so tried."
"And the bravery was as much as the womanliness!" said the other, in the short, terse way of all his words this afternoon; no air of compliment whatever hanging about the words.
She answered with only a deep flush of pleasure, and eyes that went down now, and a smile just playing round the corners of her mouth--the first that had been there that afternoon. It may be remarked that there was no pleasure in either of the other faces.
"Who knows about this?" said Mr. Falkirk, suddenly.
"n.o.body," said Rollo.
"Not Miss Maryland?"
"I could answer for her; but she knows nothing."
Wych Hazel looked up, listening. It was interesting to hear somebody else talk now. Talk was stayed, however. Both men were thinking; their thoughts did not run easily into spoken words. Or not while she was present; for after a sudden excursion up stairs to see what notes and messages might need attention, on returning she found the two deep in talk; Rollo seated near the head of Mr. Falkirk"s couch, and bending towards him. He sprang up as Wych hazel came in and took leave; shaking Mr. Falkirk"s hand cordially and then clasping Wych Hazel"s. For the first time then a gleam of his usual gay humour broke on his lips and in his eye, as he said softly:
"I should have made you speak before that!"