Part 17 (1/2)

And she kissed and soothed him to sleep in her arms, when he was ready for his bed. It was getting quite late, and she sang a soft, Slavonic cradle song, in a low cooing voice, and, every now and then, before the poor little fellow sank entirely to rest, he would open his beautiful, pathetic eyes, and they would swim with love and happiness, while he murmured, ”Adored Cherisette!”

The next day--Sat.u.r.day--she never left him. They played games together, and puzzles. The nurse was kind, but of a thickness of understanding, like all the rest, he said, and, with his sister there, he could dispense with her services for the moment. He wished, when it grew dusk and they were to have their tea, to play his violin to only her, in the firelight; and there he drew forth divine sounds for more than an hour, tearing at Zara's heart-strings with the exquisite notes until her eyes grew wet. And at last he began something that she did not know, and the weird, little figure moved as in a dance in the firelight, while he played this new air as one inspired, and then stopped suddenly with a crash of joyous chords.

”It is _Maman_ who has taught me that!” he whispered. ”When I was ill she came often and sang it to me, and when they would give me back my violin I found it at once, and now I am so happy. It talks of the b.u.t.terflies in the woods, which are where she lives, and there is a little white one which flies up beside her with her radiant blue wings.

And she has promised me that the music will take me to her, quite soon.

Oh, Cherisette!”

”No, no,” said Zara faintly. ”I cannot spare you, darling. I shall have a beautiful garden of my own next summer, and you must come and stay with me, Mirko mio, and chase real b.u.t.terflies with a golden net.”

And this thought enchanted the child. He must hear all about his sister's garden. By chance there was an old number of _Country Life_ lying on the table, and, the nurse bringing in the tea at the moment, they turned on the electric light and looked at the pictures; and by the strangest coincidence, when they came to the weekly series of those beautiful houses she read at the beginning of the article, ”Wrayth--the property of Lord Tancred of Wrayth.”

”See, Mirko,” she said in a half voice; ”our garden will look exactly like this.”

And the child examined every picture with intense interest. One of a statue of Pan and his pipe, making the center of a star in the Italian parterre, pleased him most.

”For see, Cherisette, he, too, is not shaped as other people are,” he whispered with delight. ”Look! And he plays music, also! When you walk there, and I am with _Maman_, you must remember that this is me!”

It was with deep grief and foreboding that Zara left him, on Monday morning, in spite of the doctor's a.s.surance that he was indeed on the turn to get quite well--well of this sharp attack--whether he would ever grow to be a man was always a doubt but there was no present anxiety--she could be happy on that score. And with this she was obliged to rest content.

But all the way back in the train she saw the picture of the Italian parterre at Wrayth with the statue of Pan, in the center of the star, playing his pipes.

CHAPTER XVI

The second wedding day of Zara Shulski dawned with a glorious sun. One of those autumn mornings that seem like a return to the spring--so fresh and pure the air. She had not seen her bridegroom since she got back from Bournemouth, nor any of the family; she had said to her uncle that she could not bear it.

”I am at the end of my forces, Uncle Francis. You are so clever--you can invent some good excuse. If I must see Lord Tancred I cannot answer for what I may do.”

And the financier had realized that this was the truth. The strings of her soul were strained to breaking point, and he let her pa.s.s the whole day of Tuesday in peace.

She signed numbers of legal doc.u.ments concerning her marriage settlements, without the slightest interest; and then her uncle handed her one which he said she was to read with care. It set forth in the wearisome language of the law the provision for Mirko's life, ”in consideration of a certain agreement” come to between her uncle and herself. But should the boy Mirko return at any time to the man Sykypri, his father, or should she, Zara, from the moneys settled upon herself give sums to this man Sykypri the transaction between herself and her uncle regarding the boy's fortune would be null and void. This was the doc.u.ment's sense.

Zara read it over but the legal terms were difficult for her. ”If it means exactly what we agreed upon, Uncle Francis, I will sign it,” she said, ”that is--that Mirko shall be cared for and have plenty of money for life.”

And Francis Markrute replied,

”That is what is meant.”

And then she had gone to her room, and spent the night before her wedding alone. She had steadily read one of her favorite books: she could not permit herself for a moment to think.

There was a man going to be hanged on the morrow, she had seen in the papers; and she wondered if, this last night in his cell, the condemned wretch was numb, or was he feeling at bay, like herself?

Then, at last she opened the window and glanced out on the moon. It was there above her, over the Park, so she turned out the lights, and, putting her furs around her, she sat for a while and gazed above the treetops, while she repeated her prayers.

And Mimo saw her, as he stood in the shadow on the pavement at the other side of Park Lane. He had come there in his sentimental way, to give her his blessing, and had been standing looking up for some time. It seemed to him a good omen for dear Cherisette's happiness, that she should have opened the window and looked out on the night.

It was quite early--only about half-past ten--and Tristram, after a banquet with his bachelor friends on the Monday night, had devoted this, his last evening, to his mother, and had dined quietly with her alone.