Part 91 (1/2)

Again Scott glanced upwards, his pale eyes very resolute. ”Yes, Dinah is still here. Her people seem quite indifferent as to what becomes of her, and Isabel wishes to keep her with her. I hope--” he hesitated momentarily--”I hope you will bear in mind the extreme difficulty of her situation.”

Sir Eustace pa.s.sed over the low words. ”And what is going to happen to her--afterwards?” he said.

”Heaven knows!” Scott spoke as one compelled.

Sir Eustace continued to gaze straight before him. ”Haven't you thought of any solution to the difficulty?” he asked.

”What do you mean?” Scott's voice rang suddenly stern.

A faint smile touched his brother's face; it was like the shadow of his old, supercilious sneer. ”It occurred to me that you, being a chivalrous knight, might be moved to offer her your protection,” he explained coolly. ”You are quite at liberty to do so, so far as I am concerned. I give you my free consent.”

Scott started, as if he had been stung. ”Man, don't sneer at me!” he said in a voice that quivered. ”I've a good many things against you, and I'm d.a.m.ned if I can stand any more!”

There was desperation in his words. Sir Eustace's brows went up, and his smile departed. But there came no answering anger in his eyes.

He was silent for several moments, pacing forward, his hand no longer linked in Scott's arm. Then at last very quietly he spoke. ”You're right.

You have a good many things against me. But this is not one of them. I was not sneering at you.”

There was a note of most unwonted sincerity in his voice that gave conviction to his words. Scott turned and regarded him in open amazement.

The steel-blue eyes met his with an odd, half-shamed expression. ”You mustn't bully me, you know, Stumpy!” he said. ”Remember, I can't hit back.”

Scott stood still. He had never in his life been more astounded. Even then, with the direct evidence before him, he could hardly believe that the old haughty dominance had given place to something different.

”Why--can't you--hit back?” he said, almost stammering in his uncertainty.

Sir Eustace smiled again with rueful irony. ”Because I've nothing to hit with, my son. Because you can break through my defence every time. If I were to kick you from here to the sea, you'd still have the best of me.

Haven't you realized that yet?”

”I hadn't--no!” Scott's eyes still regarded him with a puzzled, half-suspicious expression.

Sir Eustace turned from their scrutiny, and began to walk on. ”You will presently,” he said. ”The man who masters himself is always the man to master the rest of the world in the end. I never thought I should live to envy you, my boy. But I do.”

”Envy me! Why? Why on earth?” Embarra.s.sment mingled with the curiosity in Scott's voice. His hostility had gone down utterly before the unaccustomed humility of his brother's att.i.tude.

Sir Eustace glanced at him sideways. ”I'll tell you another time,” he said. ”Now look here, Stumpy! You're in command, and I shan't interfere with you so long as you take reasonable care of yourself. But you must do that. It is the one thing I am going to insist upon. That's understood, is it?”

Scott smiled, his tired, gentle smile. ”Oh, certainly, my dear chap.

Don't you worry yourself about that! It isn't of the first importance in any case.”

”It's got to be done,” Sir Eustace insisted. ”So keep it in mind!”

”I haven't been doing anything, you know,” Scott protested mildly. ”I only came down yesterday.”

”That may be. But you haven't been sleeping for some time. You needn't trouble to deny it. I know the signs. What have you been doing at Willowmount?”

It was a welcome change of subject, and Scott was not slow to avail himself of it. They began to talk upon matters connected with the estate, and the personal element pa.s.sed completely out of the conversation.

When they reached the white house on the cliff they almost seemed to have slipped into the old casual relations; but the younger brother was well aware that this was not so. The change that had so amazed him was apparent to him at every turn. The overbearing mastery to which he had been accustomed all his life had turned in some miraculous fas.h.i.+on into something that was oddly like deference. It was fully evident that Eustace meant to keep his word and leave him in command.