CHAPTER I
When Silas reached the cloakroom he took a glance at himself in themirror, then putting on his overcoat and taking his hat from the attendanthe came back into the hall. Pinckney and Calhoun had just strolled awayinto the ballroom; there was no one in the hall, and without a thought ofsaying good-bye to his hostess, he left the house.
He felt no anger against Pinckney, nor did he think as he walked downLegare Street that but for the mercy of God and the intervention of Phylhe might at that moment have been walking between two constables, amurderer with the blood of innocence on his hands.
Not that he was insensible to reason or the fitness of things, he hadalways known and acknowledged that when in a passion he was notaccountable for his acts; he admitted the fact with regret and also with acertain pride. To-night he might have felt the regret without any pride toleaven it but for the fact that his mind was lost to every considerationbut one--Phyl.
All through his life Silas had followed with an iron will the line thatpleased him, never for a moment had he counted the cost of his actions;just as he had swum the harbour with his clothes on so had he plunged intoany adventure that came to hand; he knew Fear just as little as he knewConsequence. Well, now he found himself for the first time in his lifeface to face with Fate. All his adventures up to this had been littlethings involving at worst loss of life by accident. This was different; itinvolved his whole future and the future of the girl who had mastered hismind.
Leaving Legare Street he reached Meeting Street and passed up it till hereached Vernons. The moon, high in the sky now, showed the garden throughthe trellis-work of the iron gate, and Silas paused for a moment andlooked in.
The garden, seen like this with the moonlight upon the roses and theglossy leaves of the southern trees, presented a picture charming,dream-like, almost unreal in its beauty. He tried the gate. It was locked.On ordinary nights it would be open till the house closed, or in the eventof Pinckney being out, until he returned, but to-night, owing to theabsence of the family, it was locked.
Then, turning from the gate he crossed the road and took up his positionin a corner of shadow. Five minutes passed, then twenty, but still he keptwatch. There were few passers-by at that hour and little traffic; he had along view of the moonlit street and presently he saw the carriage he waswaiting for approaching.
It drew up at the front door of Vernons and he watched whilst theoccupants got out; he caught a glimpse of Phyl as she entered the housefollowing Miss Pinckney and followed by Richard, then the door shut andthe carriage drove away.
Silas left his concealment and crossed the road. He paced for a while upand down outside the door of Vernons, then he came to the garden gateagain and looked in.
From here one could get a glimpse of the first and second floor piazzasand the windows opening upon them. He could not tell which was the windowof Phyl's room, it was enough for him that the place held her.
In the way in which he had crossed the road, in his uneasy prowling up anddown before the house, and now in his attitude as he stood motionless withhead raised there was something ominous, animal-like, almost wolfish.
As he stood a call suddenly came from the garden. It was the call of anowl, a white owl that rose on the sound and flitted softly as a mothacross the trees to the garden beyond.
Silas turned away from the gate and came back down the street towards hishotel, arrived there he went straight to his room and to bed.
But he did not go to sleep. His head was full of plans, the craziest andmaddest plans. Pinckney he had quite dismissed from his mind, theconsciousness of having committed a vile action in drawing a knife upon anunarmed man was with him, and the knowledge that the consequences mightinclude his expulsion from Charleston society, but all that instead ofsobering him made him more reckless. He would have Phyl despite the Devilhimself. He would seize her and carry her off, trap her like a bird.
He determined on the morrow to return early to Grangersons and thinkthings out.