Part 10 (1/2)
”By the way,” said Sir Eustace carelessly, ”I saw your old fla ho ”
”_What!_” ejaculated his brother, slowly raising himself out of his chair in astonisho, and a good riddance too He appointed me one of his executors; I am sure I don't knohy, for we never liked each other I think he was the ave his wife a roughish tiht, too”
”Why did it serve her right?”
Sir Eustace shrugged his shoulders
”When a heartless girl jilts the fellow she is engaged to in order to sell herself to an elderly beast, I think she deserves all she gets
This one did not get half enough; indeed, she hasof it--better than she expected”
His brother sat down again before he answered in a constrained voice, ”Don't you think you are rather hard on her, Eustace?”
”Hard on her? No, not a bit of it Of all the worthless women that I know, I think Madeline Croston is the most worthless Look how she treated you”
”Eustace,” broke in his brother almost sharply, ”if you don't mind, I wish you would not talk of her like that to me I can't--in short, I don't like it”
Sir Eustace's eyeglass dropped out of Sir Eustace's eye--he had opened it so wide to stare at his brother ”Why, my dear fellow,” he ejaculated, ”you don't mean to tell me you still care for that woreat form about uncomfortably in the low chair as he answered, ”I don't know, I' for her, but I don't like to hear you say such things about her”
Sir Eustace whistled softly ”I am sorry if I offended you, old fellow,”
he said ”I had no idea that it was still a sore point with you You must be a faithful people in South Africa Here the 'holy feelings of the heart' are shorter lived We wear out several generations of theo to bed till late that night Long after Sir Eustace --who, always careful of his health, never stopped up late if he could avoid it--had vanished, yawning, his brother sat s He had sat on-box in the African veld, or up where thecataract of silver, or alone in his tent when all the ca round him It was a habit of this queer, silent reat extent from an incapacity to sleep, that was the weak point in his constitution
As for his meditations, they were various, but mostly the outcome of a curious speculative side to his nature, which he never revealed to the outside world Dreaiven hireat unknown around us; and grand scheeneration of mankind--all forht, the fixed star of histheir light and colour froht of Madeline Croston, the woed Years and years had passed since he had seen her face, and yet it was always present to him Beyond the occasional mention of her name in some society paper--several of which, by the way, he took in for years and conscientiously searched on the chance of finding it--till this evening he had never even seen it or heard it spoken; and yet with all the tenacity of his strong, deep nature he clung to her dear hed as nothing in the balance of his love Once she had loved him, and thereby he was repaid for the devotion of his life He had no areat ambition; and when that had fallen, all the others had fallen with it, even to the dust He siht be, as well as in hito a woman, content to earn his livelihood, and for the rest rendered colourless by his secret and pathetic passion
And now it appeared that Madeline was a hich ht--that she was a free woman Madeline was a free woman, and he ithin a few minutes' walk of her No thousands of miles of ocean rolled between them now He rose, went to the table, and consulted a Red book that lay on it There was the address--a house in Grosvenor Street Overcome by an uncontrollable i to his own he found his mackintosh and a round hat, and softly left the house It was then past two in thehard
He had been a little in London as a lad and rereat difficulty in finding his way up Piccadilly till he came to Park Lane, into which the Red book told him Grosvenor Square opened But to find Grosvenor Street itself was a ht there was naturally nobody to ask--least of all a policeman At last he found it, and hurried on down the street with a quickening pulse What he was hurrying to he could not tell, but that over- impulse forced him on quicker and quicker yet
Suddenly he halted, and exaling light fro between them but a few feet of space and fourteen inches of brickwork He crossed over to the other side of the street, and looked up at the house, but could scarcely ht in the house, and no sign of life about the street But there were both light and life in the heart of this watcher All the pulses of his blood were astir, keeping time with the co at therain, and felt his life and spirit pass out of his control into an unknown do to the convulsion of his inner self in that hour of madness, which was yet happiness Yet as it had arisen thus suddenly, so with equal swiftness it died away, and left hi there with a chill sense of folly in his ht a mackintosh and a dress coat were not adapted to keep the ,heartily ashalad that no one knew of it except hi day Bottles--for convenience' sake we still call hied to see a laith reference to the money which he had inherited, and to search for a box which had gone astray aboard the steamer; also to buy a tall hat, such as he had not worn for fourteen years; so that between one thing and another it was half-past four before he got back to the Albany Here he donned the new hat, which did not fit very well, and a new black coat which fitted so well that it seee fraling with a pair of gloves, also new, for Grosvenor Street
A quarter of an hour's walk, for he knew the road this ti for a while at the spot where he had stood on the previous night, he walked up the steps and pulled the bell Though he looked bold enough outwardly--indeed, rather ireat scar on his bronzed face, his breast was full of terrors In these, however, he had not e, for a footrief, opened the door with thepromptitude, and he was ushered upstairs into a small but richly furnished rooe fro on the floor by a low chair, and the open novel on a little wicker table alongside, she had not left it long The footnificent undertone, that ”her ladyshi+p” should be infor one of those people whoety, he eoing so far as to walk to a pair of very heavy blue velvet curtains that apparently coh theer aparts
Retreating froht, finally he took up a position on the hearthrug and waited Would she be angry with his she had rather forget? But perhaps she had already forgotten theed? Perhaps he should not know her Perhaps--but here he happened to lift his eyes, and there, standing between the two blue velvet curtains, was Madeline, noo as yet, at any rate in that dull Noveht, no traces of her years There she stood, her large dark eyes fixed upon him with a look of wistful curiosity, her shapely lips just parted to speak, and her bosoh with trouble
Poor Bottles! One look was enough There was no chance of his attaining the blessed haven of disillusionment In five seconds he was farther out to sea than ever When she knew that he had seen her she dropped her eyes a little--he saw the long curved lashes appear against her cheek, and moved forward
”How do you do?” she said softly, extending her slim, cool hand
He took the hand and shook it, but for the life of hi to say Not one of the little speeches he had prepared would co so forced itself upon him