Part 30 (1/2)

'Oh yes! Write to her,--I don't know her full name, remember,--and ask her to accept him out of pity. I believe you once told d.i.c.k you were sorry for him, Nilghai. You remember what happened, eh? Go into the bedroom and suggest full confession and an appeal to this Maisie girl, whoever she is. I honestly believe he'd try to kill you; and the blindness has made him rather muscular.'

'Torpenhow's course is perfectly clear,' said the Keneu. 'He will go to Vitry-sur-Marne, which is on the Bezieres-Landes Railway,--single track from Tourgas. The Prussians sh.e.l.led it out in '70 because there was a poplar on the top of a hill eighteen hundred yards from the church spire There's a squadron of cavalry quartered there,--or ought to be. Where this studio Torp spoke about may be I cannot tell. That is Torp's business. I have given him his route. He will dispa.s.sionately explain the situation to the girl, and she will come back to d.i.c.k,--the more especially because, to use d.i.c.k's words, ”there is nothing but her d.a.m.ned obstinacy to keep them apart.”'

'And they have four hundred and twenty pounds a year between 'em.

d.i.c.k never lost his head for figures, even in his delirium. You haven't the shadow of an excuse for not going,' said the Nilghai.

Torpenhow looked very uncomfortable. 'But it's absurd and impossible. I can't drag her back by the hair.'

'Our business--the business for which we draw our money--is to do absurd and impossible things,--generally with no reason whatever except to amuse the public. Here we have a reason. The rest doesn't matter. I shall share these rooms with the Nilghai till Torpenhow returns. There will be a batch of unbridled ”specials” coming to town in a little while, and these will serve as their headquarters. Another reason for sending Torpenhow away. Thus Providence helps those who help others, and'--here the Keneu dropped his measured speech--'we can't have you tied by the leg to d.i.c.k when the trouble begins. It's your only chance of getting away; and d.i.c.k will be grateful.'

'He will,--worse luck! I can but go and try. I can't conceive a woman in her senses refusing d.i.c.k.'

'Talk that out with the girl. I have seen you wheedle an angry Mahdieh woman into giving you dates. This won't be a t.i.the as difficult. You had better not be here to-morrow afternoon, because the Nilghai and I will be in possession. It is an order. Obey.'

'd.i.c.k,' said Torpenhow, next morning, 'can I do anything for you?'

'No! Leave me alone. How often must I remind you that I'm blind?'

'Nothing I could go for to fetch for to carry for to bring?'

'No. Take those infernal creaking boots of yours away.'

'Poor chap!' said Torpenhow to himself. 'I must have been sitting on his nerves lately. He wants a lighter step.' Then, aloud, 'Very well. Since you're so independent, I'm going off for four or five days. Say good-bye at least. The housekeeper will look after you, and Keneu has my rooms.'

d.i.c.k's face fell. 'You won't be longer than a week at the outside? I know I'm touched in the temper, but I can't get on without you.'

'Can't you? You'll have to do without me in a little time, and you'll be glad I'm gone.'

d.i.c.k felt his way back to the big chair, and wondered what these things might mean. He did not wish to be tended by the housekeeper, and yet Torpenhow's constant tenderness jarred on him. He did not exactly know what he wanted. The darkness would not lift, and Maisie's unopened letters felt worn and old from much handling. He could never read them for himself as long as life endured; but Maisie might have sent him some fresh ones to play with. The Nilghai entered with a gift,--a piece of red modelling-wax. He fancied that d.i.c.k might find interest in using his hands. d.i.c.k poked and patted the stuff for a few minutes, and, 'Is it like anything in the world?' he said drearily. 'Take it away. I may get the touch of the blind in fifty years. Do you know where Torpenhow has gone?'

The Nilghai knew nothing. 'We're staying in his rooms till he comes back. Can we do anything for you?'

'I'd like to be left alone, please. Don't think I'm ungrateful; but I'm best alone.'

The Nilghai chuckled, and d.i.c.k resumed his drowsy brooding and sullen rebellion against fate. He had long since ceased to think about the work he had done in the old days, and the desire to do more work had departed from him. He was exceedingly sorry for himself, and the completeness of his tender grief soothed him. But his soul and his body cried for Maisie--Maisie who would understand. His mind pointed out that Maisie, having her own work to do, would not care. His experience had taught him that when money was exhausted women went away, and that when a man was knocked out of the race the others trampled on him. 'Then at the least,'

said d.i.c.k, in reply, 'she could use me as I used Binat,--for some sort of a study. I wouldn't ask more than to be near her again, even though I knew that another man was making love to her. Ugh! what a dog I am!'

A voice on the staircase began to sing joyfully--

'When we go--go--go away from here, Our creditors will weep and they will wail, Our absence much regretting when they find that they've been getting Out of England by next Tuesday's Indian mail.'

Following the trampling of feet, slamming of Torpenhow's door, and the sound of voices in strenuous debate, some one squeaked, 'And see, you good fellows, I have found a new water-bottle--firs'-cla.s.s patent--eh, how you say? Open himself inside out.'

d.i.c.k sprang to his feet. He knew the voice well. 'That's Ca.s.savetti, come back from the Continent. Now I know why Torp went away. There's a row somewhere, and--I'm out of it!'

The Nilghai commanded silence in vain. 'That's for my sake,' d.i.c.k said bitterly. 'The birds are getting ready to fly, and they wouldn't tell me. I can hear Morten-Sutherland and Mackaye. Half the War Correspondents in London are there;--and I'm out of it.'

He stumbled across the landing and plunged into Torpenhow's room. He could feel that it was full of men. 'Where's the trouble?' said he. 'In the Balkans at last? Why didn't some one tell me?'

'We thought you wouldn't be interested,' said the Nilghai, shamefacedly.