Part 21 (1/2)
”Soon--in a few days perhaps.”
”A few days,” she repeated thoughtfully. ”Is she returning to London?”
”No; I have decided to travel back with you to-morrow, and then go on to Belgium.”
”You haven't forgotten her, then?” she said in a strained, reproachful tone.
”Forgotten her!” he exclaimed. ”Why should I?”
”It would be best,” was the brief reply.
The thought occurred to him that she loved him, and that jealousy had prompted her to utter that remark.
”Why?” he inquired, rather sharply.
”Mr. Trethowen--Hugh, hear me,” she said imploringly, laying her hand upon his arm. ”My friends.h.i.+p is as sincere towards you as towards Mr.
Egerton, but I cannot help telling you frankly what I think.”
”Well, and what are those fearful apprehensions of yours, Dolly?” he asked, regarding her with an amused expression.
”Forgive me for speaking so plainly, but I somehow feel confident that this foreign woman will bring you only sorrow and misery.”
”That's cheering,” he remarked in his usual light and airy manner.
”Think seriously, and you will find I have some cause for apprehension,”
she continued in earnest tones. ”Remember Jack, your friend, has warned you. He has told you that she is not a fitting wife for you. Besides, are you not convinced that there is some strange secret tie between them?”
”You are right, Dolly. It is an enigma I cannot solve. Sometimes I have even thought that he is afraid of her,” Hugh said gravely.
”I feel sure he is. When she visited him on the first occasion they had high words, and though I could not understand, because they spoke in French, yet I'm absolutely certain she was threatening him.”
”It's very curious,” he remarked, after a pause.
He was a trifle annoyed that she should have approached such a delicate matter so bluntly, although he was convinced more than ever that the woman who was speaking thus loved him.
”Why go to her? Why not remain here amid these lovely surroundings and try to forget her?” the girl suggested.
”Impossible! I love her, and will not hear her disparaged,” he replied, with more impatience than politeness, as he took a cigarette from his case and lit it. ”Don't speak again upon the subject, please; we shall never agree. Come, let's turn back.”
Murmuring an apology, she drew herself up from her leaning position upon the low rail, and together they pursued their way in silence along the lonely path. As they walked, a cheerful freshness was in the air. The wind was hardly perceptible, because it blew off the sh.o.r.e and was lost in pa.s.sing through the wood whose solemn shadows crowned the cliffside.
But while this exchange of confidence was in progress, Jack Egerton's actions, viewed by even a casual observer, would have appeared strange.
As soon as Dolly and his host had departed, he rose from the writing-table, and, flinging himself into a chair before the fire, abandoned himself to reflections that appeared particularly gloomy. He sat almost motionless for fully half an hour, when Jacob entered with a letter.
”Whom is it for?” asked the artist.
”For the master, sir,” replied the old man, placing it upon the table, and retiring.
From where he sat, Egerton noticed a foreign stamp upon the envelope.