Part 25 (1/2)
”Whom do you blame?” she asked sharply.
”Oh,” he explained, ”I wasn't the only person, present, and I hadn't arrived at the beginning. Somebody should have stopped the fellow; the shares he tried to work off on Crestwick were no good.”
”Then Batley wanted to sell that silly lad some worthless shares--and there were other people looking on?”
He would not tell her that Gladwyne had watched the proceedings, to some extent acquiescing.
”I thought from what you said that you knew all about it,” he answered.
”No,” she replied, suspecting the truth, but seeing that it would be difficult to extract anything definite from him. ”I only heard that you had an encounter of some kind with Batley. But why did you hint that he was not the worst?”
”He was merely acting in accordance with his instincts; one wouldn't expect anything else.”
”The implication is that he was tacitly abetted by people of a different kind who ought to have known better.”
He was not to be drawn on this point, and she respected him for it.
”Was it only an animus against Batley that prompted you?” she asked.
”No,” he admitted candidly; ”I wanted to get young Crestwick out of his clutches. I'm not sure he's worth troubling about, but I'm sorry for his sister. As I've said before, there's something fine in the way she sticks to him.”
The chivalrous feeling did him credit, Millicent admitted, but she was dissatisfied with it and was curious to learn if it were the only one he cherished toward the girl.
”That's undoubtedly in her favor,” she commented indifferently.
He did not respond and they talked about other matters; but Lisle was now sensible of a slight constraint in Millicent's manner and on the whole she was glad when he took his leave. Quick-witted, as she was, she guessed that he disapproved of the part Clarence had played in the affair at Marple's, and this, chiming with her own suspicions, troubled her. She had a tenderness for Clarence, and she wondered how far her influence might restrain and protect him if, as his mother had suggested, she eventually married him. Another point caused her some uneasiness--Bella Crestwick had boldly entered the field against her and was making use of the Canadian to rouse Clarence by showing him that he had a rival. The thought of it stirred her to indignation; she would not have Lisle treated in that fas.h.i.+on. After sitting still for half an hour, she rose with a gesture of impatience and went into the house.
On the same evening Bella Crestwick felt impelled to lecture her brother after dinner. That was not a favorable time, for the young man's good opinion of himself was generally strengthened by a gla.s.s or two of wine.
”I thought that matter of the shares would have taught you sense, but you must listen to Batley again this afternoon,” she scolded. ”You were with him for half an hour. I've no patience with you, Jim.”
”He's not so easy to shake off, particularly as I'm in his debt,”
returned the lad. ”Besides, he's an interesting fellow, the kind you learn a good deal from. It's an education to mix with such men.”
”The trouble is that it's expensive. Come away with me before he ruins you. There's Mrs. Barnard's invitation to their place in Scotland; it would be a good excuse.”
Her brother's rather lofty manner changed.
”You're a dear, Bella. You know you don't want to go.”
Having a strong reason for wis.h.i.+ng to stay, she colored at this. Among his other unprepossessing characteristics, Jim had a trick of saying things he should suppress.
”Never mind me,” she answered. ”Will you come?”
He had an incomplete recognition of the magnitude of the sacrifice she was ready to make, though it was not this that decided him not to fall in with it.
”No,” he said with raw self-confidence. ”I'm not one to run away; but I'll promise to keep my eye on the fellow after this and be cautious. All his schemes aren't in the same cla.s.s as those mining shares, you know.”
Bella lost her temper and told him some plain truths about himself, and this did not improve matters, for in the end she retired, defeated, leaving Jim rather sore but on the whole satisfied with the firmness he had displayed. The girl felt dejected and almost desperate. She could not continually apply to Lisle for a.s.sistance, and she shrank from the only other course that seemed open to her; but her affection for the misguided lad impelled her to make another attempt to rescue him, and a few days later she found her opportunity. It was a bold measure she had decided on, one that might cost her a good deal, but she was a young woman of courage and determination.
Mrs. Marple and her daughter drove over with her to call on Mrs.