Part 30 (1/2)

Then Agatha remembered the task that she had in hand. It was a very inauspicious moment to set about it, but that could not be helped, and even for Gregory's own sake she felt that she must win him over.

”There is one way, Gregory, in which I don't think it ought to be done,”

she said. ”You a.s.sumed Mr. Wyllard's obligations when you took the farm, and I think you should keep the two Morans.”

Hawtrey started. ”Ah!” he replied. ”Mrs. Hastings has been setting you on; I partly expected it.”

”She told me,” Agatha admitted. ”Unless you will look at the thing as I do, I could almost wish she hadn't. The thought of that man's wife shut up in the woods all winter only to find that what she has had to bear has all been thrown away troubles me. Now Wyllard promised to keep those men on, didn't he?”

”There was no regular engagement so far as I can make out.”

”Still, Moran seems to have understood that he was to be kept on.”

”Yes,” replied Hawtrey, ”he evidently does. If the market had gone with us I'd have fallen in with his views. As it hasn't, every man's wages count.”

Agatha was conscious of a little thrill of repugnance. Of late Gregory's ideas had frequently jarred on her.

”Does that release you?”

Hawtrey did not answer this.

”I'll keep those men on if you want me to,” he promised.

Agatha winced at this. She had discovered that she must not look for too much from Gregory, but to realize that he had practically no sense of moral obligation, and could be influenced to do justice only by the expectation of obtaining her favor positively hurt her.

”I want them kept on, but I don't want you to do it for that reason,”

she said. ”Can't you grasp the distinction, Gregory?”

A trace of darker color dyed Hawtrey's face, but while she was a little surprised at the evidence that he felt her rebuke, he looked at her steadily. He had not thought much about her during the last month, but now the faint scorn in her voice aroused his resentment.

”Now,” he said, ”there are just three reasons, Aggy, why you should have troubled yourself about this thing. You are, perhaps, a little sorry for Moran's wife, but as you haven't even seen her that can hardly count for much. The next is, that you don't care to see me doing what you regard as a shabby thing; perhaps it is a shabby thing in some respects, but I feel it's justifiable. Of course, if that's your reason there's a sense in which, while not exactly complimentary--it's consoling.”

He broke off, and looked at her with a question in his eyes, and it cost Agatha an effort to meet his. She was not prudish or overconscious of her own righteousness, but once or twice, after the shock of her disillusionment in regard to him had lessened, she had dreamed of the possibility of endowing him little by little with some of the qualities she had once fancied he possessed, and, as she vaguely thought of it, rehabilitating him. Now, however, the thing seemed impossible, and, what was more, the desire to bring it about had gone. Hateful as the situation was becoming, she was honest, and she could not let him credit her with a motive that had not influenced her.

In the meanwhile, her very coldness and aloofness stirred desire in the man, and she shrank as she saw a spark of pa.s.sion kindling in his eyes.

She recognized that there was a strain of grossness in him.

”No,” she responded, ”that reason was not one which had any weight with me.”

Hawtrey's face darkened. ”Then,” he said grimly, ”we'll get on to the third. Wyllard's credit is a precious thing to you; sooner than anything should cast a stain on it you would beg a favor from--me. You have set him up on a pedestal, and it would hurt you if he came down. Considering everything, it's a remarkably curious situation.”

Agatha grew pale. Gregory was horribly right, for she had no doubt now that he had merely thrust upon her a somewhat distressing truth. It was to save Wyllard's credit, and for that alone, that she had undertaken this most unpleasant task. She did not answer, and Hawtrey stood up.

”Wyllard has his faults, but there's this in his favor--he keeps a promise,” he said. ”One has a certain respect for a person who never goes back upon his word. Well, because I really think he would like it, I'll keep those men.”

He paused for a moment, as if to let her grasp the drift of his words, and then turned to her with something that startled her in his voice and manner. ”The question is--are you willing to emulate his example?”

Agatha shrank from the glow in his eyes. ”Oh!” she broke out, ”you cannot urge me now--after what you said.”

Hawtrey laughed harshly. ”Well,” he said, ”I'll come for my answer very shortly. It seems that you and Wyllard attach a great deal of importance to a moral obligation--and I must remind you that the time agreed upon is almost up.”