Part 40 (2/2)

”Oh, I don't know. Anyway, I hope I'm one of 'em. I try to be,” said Bunny.

She gave him a quick look. ”I think you are. And so is Jake.”

”Oh, Jake! Jake's magnificent. He's taught me all I know in that line.

I used to be a horrid little bounder before I met Jake. He simply made me--body and soul.” Bunny spoke with a simple candour.

”P'raps he had good stuff to work on,” suggested Toby.

Bunny's arm drew her almost imperceptibly. ”I don't think he had. My father was a wild Irishman, and my mother--well, she's dead too--but she wasn't anything to be specially proud of.”

”Oh, was your mother a rotter?” said Toby, with sudden interest.

He nodded. ”We don't talk about her much, Maud and I. She married a second time--a brute of a man who used to run the Anchor Hotel. They went to Canada, and she died.”

”The Anchor Hotel!” said Toby. ”That place at Fairharbour down by the sh.o.r.e?”

”Yes, Maud and I were there too at first. I was a cripple in those days, couldn't even walk. We had a fiendish time there--till Jake came.”

”Ah!” Toby's blue eyes suddenly gleamed. ”Did Maud marry Jake to get away?” she asked.

Bunny nodded again and began to smile. ”Yes. We were in a beastly hole, she and I. Something had to be done.”

”She didn't love him then?” questioned Toby, almost with eagerness.

”Oh no, not then. Not till long after. Jake and I were the pals. He was always keen enough on her, poor chap. But Charlie complicated matters rather in those days. You see, Charlie came first--before she ever met Jake.”

”Charlie?” said Toby quickly.

”Lord Saltash. You knew he was an old friend, didn't you?”

”I didn't know--that he--and Maud--ever loved each other.” Toby halted over the words as if they were somehow difficult to utter.

Bunny enlightened her with a boy's careless a.s.surance. ”Oh, that's a very old story. They were very fond of each other in their youth. In fact they were practically engaged. Then Charlie, who has always been a bit giddy, went a bit too far with Lady Cressady who was also a somewhat gay young person, and Sir Philip Cressady, who was a brute, tried to divorce her.

He didn't succeed. The case fell through. But it set everyone by the ears, and Maud threw Charlie over. He pretends he didn't care, but he did--pretty badly, and he's never married in consequence.”

”Oh, is that why?” said Toby.

”That's why. He's gone the pace fairly rapidly ever since. But he's a good chap at heart. Even Jake acknowledges that now, and he knows him as well as anyone.”

”And--Maud?” said Toby, in a low voice. She was not looking at Bunny, but staring out over the still waters of the lake with a rather piteous intentness.

”Maud has always kept a soft place in her heart for him. She couldn't help it. Women can't.”

”I see,” said Toby. ”And doesn't--Jake--mind?”

”Jake? No, not a bit. He's sure of her now. She thinks there's no one like him in the world. And she's quite right. There's not.” Bunny spoke with warm enthusiasm.

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