Part 71 (1/2)
”How long,” asked Geraldine dangerously, ”does that bet hold good?”
”All winter, if you like. It's the prettiest single jewel you can pick out against a new saddle-horse. I need a gay one; I'm getting out of condition. And all our horses are as interesting as chevaux de bois when the mechanism is freshly oiled and the organ plays the 'Ride of the Valkyries.'”
”I've half a mind to take that wager,” said Geraldine, very pink and bright-eyed. ”I think I will take it if----”
”Please don't, dear,” said Kathleen anxiously. ”The keepers say that a wounded boar is perfectly horrid sometimes.”
”Dangerous?” Her eyes glimmered brighter still.
”Certainly, a wounded boar is dangerous. I heard Miller say----”
”Bos.h.!.+” said Scott. ”They run away from you every time. Besides, Geraldine isn't going to have enough sporting blood in her to take that bet and make good.”
Something in the quick flush and tilt of her head reminded Scott of the old days when their differences were settled with eight-ounce gloves.
The same feeling possessed his sister, thrilled her like a sudden, unexpected glimpse of a happiness which apparently had long been ended for ever.
”Oh, Scott,” she exclaimed, still thrilling, ”it _is_ like old times to hear you try to bully me. It's so long since I've had enough spirit to defy you. But I do now!--oh, yes, I do! Why, I believe that if we had the gloves here, I'd make you fight me or take back what you said about my not having any sporting spirit!”
He laughed: ”I was thinking of that, too. You're a good sport, Sis.
Don't bother to take that wager----”
”I _do_ take it!” she cried; ”it's like old times and I love it. Now, Scott, I'll show you a boar before we go to town or I'll buy you a horse. No backing out; what's said can't be unsaid, remember:
”King, king, double king, Can't take back a given thing!
Queen, queen, queen of queens, What she promises she means!”
That was a very solemn incantation in nursery days; she laughed a little in tender tribute to the past.
Scott was a trifle perturbed. He glanced uneasily at Kathleen, who told him very plainly that he had contrived to make her anxious and unhappy.
Then she fell back into step with Geraldine, letting Scott wander disconsolately forward:
”Dear,” she said, pa.s.sing one arm around the younger girl, ”I didn't quite dare to object too strongly. You looked so--so interested, so deliciously defiant--so like your real self----”
”I feel like it to-day, Kathleen; let me turn back in my own footsteps--if I can. I've been trying so very hard to--to get back to where there was no--no terror in the world.”
”I know. But, darling, you won't run into any danger, will you?”
”Do you call a hard-hit beast a danger? I've wounded a more terrible one than any boar that ever bristled. I'm trying to kill something more terrifying. And I shall if I live.”
”You poor, brave little martyr!” whispered Kathleen, her violet eyes filled with sudden tears; ”don't you suppose I know what you are doing?
Don't you suppose I watch and pray----”
”Did _you_ know I was really trying?” asked the girl, astonished--”I mean before I told you?”
”Know it! Angels above! Of course I know it. Don't you suppose I've been watching you slowly winning back to your old dear self--tired, weary-footed, desolate, almost hopeless, yet always surely finding your way back through the dreadful twilight to the dear, sweet, generous self that I know so well--the straightforward, innocent, brave little self that grew at my knee!--Geraldine--Geraldine, my own dear child!”
”Hush--I did not know you knew. I am trying. Once I failed. That was not very long ago, either. Oh, Kathleen, I am trying so hard, so hard! And to-day has been a dreadful day for me. That is why I went off by myself; I paddled until I was ready to drop into the lake; and the fright that the boar gave me almost ended me; but it could not end desire!... So I took a rifle--anything to interest me--keep me on my feet and moving somewhere--doing something--anything--anything, Kathleen--until I can crush it out of me--until there's a chance that I can sleep----”
”I know--I know! That is why I dared not remonstrate when I saw you drifting again toward your old affectionate relations with Scott. I'm afraid of animals--except what few Scott has persuaded me to tolerate--b.u.t.terflies and frogs and things. But if anything on earth is going to interest you--take your mind off yourself--and bring you and Scott any nearer together, I shall not utter one word against it--even when it puts you in physical danger and frightens me. Do you understand?”