Miss Kennedy disengaged herself, not roughly but decidedly, holding Primrose off, and looking at her.
"What is the matter?" she said. "Is Mr. Falkirk ill?"
"No, dear."
"Who then?" said Wych Hazel. "Prim, never kill people by degrees."
"n.o.body"s ill--n.o.body! There is nothing the matter with anybody, Hazel--except you. I"ve come to take care of you, dear."
"Did you?" said the girl. "I think you want some one to take care of you, by your looks. But I am rather too busy just now to read essays on sentiment,--that can wait." She moved towards the door; but Primrose made a spring and caught her.
"Wait!--Hazel, you haven"t heard what I wanted to say to you.
Don"t be angry with me! O dear Hazel, do you know what sort of times these four-in-hand people make down here?"
"I intend to find out."
"But they are not fit for you, Hazel, indeed: it is not a fit place for you to be. Hazel, they are often tipsy when they drive home. Papa wouldn"t let me be in such a place and ride with them, for anything. How come you to be here?"
Hazel freed herself again with impatient haste.
"Let go of me!" she said. "The man who drives _me_ home will be sober. I will not hear any more."
"Listen, Hazel, listen!" cried Prim, clinging to her. "O do not be angry with me! But you ought not be here; and Duke will not let you stay, dear. We have brought the carriage to take you home."
Prim never could tell afterwards what sort of a look or what sort of a sound answered that; what she did know was that Wych Hazel was at the door and had it open in her hand. Prim"s gentleness, however, on this occasion was no bar to energetic action; with another spring _she_ was at the door and had taken it from Wych Hazel"s hand, had shut it, and set her back against it; all too suddenly and determinately to leave chance for prevention.
"Hazel, dear, listen to me. You ought not be here, and Duke will not let you. He has come to take you home, and he brought me with him because he thought it would be nicer for you. And he thought you would rather see me than him; but if you won"t listen to me, I must call him. He will not let you stay, Hazel, and Duke always is right. But he thought you would like better to go quietly off with me than to have any fuss made, and all these people knowing about it and everybody talking.
Wouldn"t it be nicer to go quietly without any one knowing why you go?"
It was indescribable the way in which Miss Kennedy repeated the word "nice!" Then she spoke collectedly.
"Prim, I do not want to call in any of my friends--but I declare I will, if you do not move away!"
"Must I call Duke?" said Prim, despairingly keeping her place.
"If you want him"--said Miss Kennedy, turning now towards the bell. As the young lady faced about again, after pulling the bell rope, she was confronted by her unwelcome guardian, just before her.
It is almost proverbially known that the meeting of contrasts is apt to have a powerful influence on one side or the other; unless indeed the opposing forces are, what rarely happens, of equal weight. What met Wych Hazel as she looked at him was power--not of physical strength; the power of high breeding, which is imposing as well as graceful; and also the power of a perfectly unmoved self-possession. While there was at the same time a winsome, gentle look, that she could hardly see in her agitation, the spirit of which she could partly feel in the voice that spoke to her. Neither cloud nor frown nor discomposure of any sort was in it. He bowed, and then held out his hand.
"Are you angry with me?" he said. "With me, if anybody. Not Prim."
In the vagaries of human nature all things are possible. And it is undoubted that in the first flash of eyes which greeted Mr. Rollo there was mingled a certain gleam of fun. Whether the prospect of a tilt had its excitements--whether she was curious to see how he would carry his new office,--there it was. But then the eye shadows grew deep and dark. She drew back a little, not giving her hand; making instead a somewhat formal courtesy.
"I was called here, it seems, to await your commands, Mr.
Rollo. May I have them, if they are ready?"
"They are not ready," he answered, in a very low tone. "Let Miss Wych Hazel give commands to herself,--and be loyal and true in her obedience to them."
"I have given myself a good many since I have been in this room," said the girl, proudly. "If I had not I should not be here now."
"Will you sit down?"
"Thank you--no. Unless we are to spend the rest of the night in quiet conversation."
"Then we will make the conversation short. Miss Hazel, the company and the occasion you came to grace to-night are unworthy of the honour."
He paused for a reply, but, as none came, he went on:
"You do not know it now, but in the mean time I know it; and I must act upon my knowledge. I have come to take you home.
Cannot you trust me, that I would not--for much--do anything so displeasing to you, without good reason?"
"You men are so fond of being "trusted!" " she said--quietly, though there was some bitterness in the tone--"it is almost a wonder it never occurs to you that a woman might like it too!
I know every one of the carriage party with whom I came. And that I did not ask Mr. Falkirk"s leave before I left home was only because I did not know that I should need it." But with that came a quick painful blush, as suddenly remembering other leave that must now be asked.
"I believe you may be trusted thoroughly, so far as your knowledge goes," he answered, gravely. Then waited a moment and went on.
"You have had no supper. Will you take some refreshment before we set out upon our return journey?"
She stood, leaning against the wall, not looking at anything but the floor--and not seeing that;--as still as if she had not heard him. Thinking--what was she thinking?--Then suddenly stood up and answered.
"I can but obey. May I ask you to wait five minutes?--Stand away, Prim, and let me pa.s.s."
But he stayed her.
"It is better not to set people"s tongues at work. I have sent a message to the Miss Powders, to the effect that Miss Kennedy had been suddenly summoned home, and making your excuses. As from yourself. No name but yours appeared."
If there was any one thing he had done which tried her almost unbearably, it was that! There was a sort of quiet despair in the way she turned from him and the door together, and took the chair she had refused, and sat waiting. Rollo brought her silently a cup of coffee and a plate with something to eat, but both were refused.
"Are you ready, Prim?"
Primrose nervously put on her bonnet, which she had with nervous unrest taken off; and Rollo offered his arm to Wych Hazel.
"Let me go by myself," she said--again not roughly, but as if she could not help it. "I am not going to run away."
"In that case it is certainly not the arm of a jailor," said he, stooping down by her and smiling.
But the words, or the look, or something about them, very nearly got the better of Wych Hazel"s defences, and her eyes flushed with tears.
"No--no," she said under her breath. "I will follow. Go on."
"Certainly not _me_," he answered. "Go you with Prim, and I will follow."
One before and one behind!--thought the girl to herself, comparing the manner of her entrance. She went on, not with Prim, but swiftly ahead of her, and put herself in the carriage, as she had brought herself out of the house. Prim followed. Rollo mounted the box and took the reins, and, having fresh horses from the inn, they drove off at a smart pace. And Hazel, laying one hand on the sill of the open window, leaned her head against the frame, and so, wrapped in her black lace, sat looking out, with eyes that never seemed to waver. Into the white moonshine,--which soon would give way before the twilight "which should be dawn and a to-morrow."
For a long time Primrose bore this, thinking hard too on her part. For she had much to think of, in connection with both her companions. She was hurt for Rollo; she was grieved for Wych Hazel; was there anything personal and private to herself in her vexation at the needlessness of the trouble which was affecting them? If there were, Primrose did not look at it much. But it seemed very strange in her eyes that any one should rebel against what was, to her, the honey sweetness of Dane"s authority. Strange that anything he disliked, should be liked by anybody that had the happiness of his care. And strange beyond strangeness, that this girl should slight such words and looks as he bestowed upon her. Primrose knew how deep the meaning of them was; she knew how great the grace of them was; could it be possible Wych Hazel did not know? One such word and look would have made her happy for days; upon a few of them she could have lived a year. So it seemed to her.
She did not wish that they were hers; she did not repine that they were another"s; she only thought these things. But there were other thoughts that came up, as a sigh dismissed the foregoing.
"Hazel!--" she ventured gently, when half of the way was done.