Part 22 (1/2)
”Where's the dad?” said Brian, looking up fro ”He's not seedy, too, is he?”
”Not a bit He's down in the further land Ah, here he comes By Jove, Brian, you've had rather a load,” I went on, as I helped in the extraction of nue lashed on behind Itoo, otherwise the contrast between this return as I had pictured it hardly twenty-four hours ago and as it noould have been too forcibly brought hoed to convey to Beryl what a delight her return had brought to, at any rate, myself; noe hadwith the stranger, while I chaffed Iris and tried to cheer up that poor little devil, George
The stranger aforesaid, whose na fellow of about e, a man to whom under other circumstances I should have taken But noas easy to see that Beryl occupied nearly, if not quite, as large a preponderance in his thoughts as she did in mine He was a doctor by profession, and an old acquaintance of the Mattersons, though they had nothim by chance in Fort Lamport, Beryl had invited him out to the farm
Here was a new eleained
The said situation I had thought out again and again during the twenty-four hours which had intervened sincean al about it yet; would take time to think it over ht that things would be to all outward appearance as they had been Beryl and I would be together as before; and did I, by any chance, cherish a wild vague hope that anything ht happen to cut the knot of the whole difficulty?
I believe I did
But now the advent of this stranger upset all this In him I saw a rival, and a potent one, for he was probably in a position to declare himself at any moment, while I must perforce lie low Not only this, but there was that in the personality of the fellohich rendered hierous, for he was one of those men to who resistless attraction; whereas I, Kenrick Holt--plain, co--knew myself to be endoith no such attributes, and had anybody hinted to the contrary, should have laughed in their face
Upon the resolve to keep my own counsel for the present followed another one, and this was to throw off the dead weight which the change in my fortunes had at first bound upon ain into the ordinary routine of life, I avoided any appearance of aloofness and strove to bear e at all But it involved a tre at tiuish For instance, if ere taking a collective walk or ride, and I had to witness the incidental pairing off together of Beryl and Pentridge, the bitter reflection that up till noould have been her anddown, it may safely be assumed; or in half a hundred incidents of everyday life he had a way of showing her little attentions, and that in a hich to h there was this about Pentridge, he never trod upon his own heels, so to say, with over-eagerness
Still, e, for e look which I could not quite fathom Sometimes, too, she would take on almost a coldness towards me, as different from her former free, unaffected cordiality as it could possibly be Ah! a light suddenly dawned upona nuisance to her And acting upon this idea, I threw y That would keep me out pretty well all day, and every day--but then, there was always the evening
Toeven this situation, and it spelt Trask Trask's disgust on finding Pentridge already in the field was quite coer monopolise the conversation, and when he started in to be funny, Pentridge, without see to do so, would invariably cap his would-be wit, and effectually turn it against himself In short, to use a homely metaphor, Trask's nose was put clean out of joint
”Who the deuce is that bounder Pentridge, Holt?” he said to ether
”First, I don't know Second, he's rather a good chap”
”Eh? Rather a good chap? Man alive! I should have thought if any one would wish him to the devil it'd be you”
”Well, I don't I like the chap,” I rejoined, shortly
Trask fired off a long whistle
”That's good,” he said ”That's good, co you out all along the line”
Then I fired off a speech
”I won't pretend to misunderstand you, Trask,” I said ”But that sort of reht caddish And look here For a good while past you have laid yourself out to try and h of that--h So chuck it See? Chuck it”
”Oh, all right, Holt Keep your hair on, old ot in these days You usen't to be”
There was an insinuation here conveyed that did not tend to soothe me, but possibly it was unintentional Trask had a way of cli down if tackled direct, that disarmed resentment To do him justice, I don't think it was due to cowardice, but to a feeling that he had gone too far, and a natural shrinking on the part of a man not actually drunk or an idiot, froon
One wet and drizzling day George, as riding round the place withone of my tours of inspection, burst forth with--
”Man, but that chap Pentridge is dead spoons on Beryl”
”What are you talking about?” I said, rather roughly, not relishi+ng the topic, yet not unwilling, curiously enough, that he should pursue it