CHAPTER XVIII
"SOFTLY GLIMMERING THROUGH THE LAURELS AT THE QUIET EVENFALL"
"Do you know who has taken Major Harcourt's cottage, Mr. de Vaux?"Lady May asked.
Paul was silent for a moment. He sat quite still in his saddle, andgazed across the moor, with his hand shading his eyes.
"I beg your pardon, Lady May," he said. "I thought that I heard thedogs. You asked me----"
"About Major Harcourt's cottage. Do you know who has taken it?"
"I am not sure about the name. It is a foreign lady, and herstep-daughter, I believe. There is a clergy-man--or a Roman Catholicpriest, rather--too; but he may be only a visitor."
"Indeed!"
The monosyllable was expressive. Paul glanced at his companion withslightly arched eyebrows. What had she heard? Something, evidently,for there had been a coolness in her manner all the morning, and herclear grey eyes were resting now upon the many gables of the cottagejust below them, with distinct disapproval. Now that he thought of it,Paul remembered that a dogcart from the Castle had whirled past him ashe had turned out of the drive last night. Doubtless he had been seenand recognised. Well! after all, what did it matter? The time when hehad meant to ask Lady May to be his wife seemed very far back in thepast now. Between that part of his life and now, there was a greatgulf fixed. Last night had altered everything!
He had certainly not meant to hunt that morning, but it had beenforced upon him. Quite early, Reynolds had come to his room to inquirewhether he should provide breakfast for thirty or fifty, and hadreminded him that the meet was in front of the Abbey. So, against hiswill, Paul had been compelled to entertain the hunt and join in ithimself. Lady May had been specially invited to breakfast, but she hadnot come, and Paul had only just seen her for the first time at thecover side. She had greeted him coldly; and though they had somehowtaken up a position a little apart from the others, very few wordshad passed between them. Her frank, delicate face was clouded, and hermanner was reserved.
"I believe my brother knows who they are," she continued, after ashort silence. "He saw them at the station."
Paul bit his lip, and turned away. The mystery of Lady May's mannerwas explained now.
"Did he tell you, then?"
Lady May toyed with her whip, and then looked Paul straight in theface. "Yes! he told me the name of the younger one. It is Adrea Kiros,the dancing girl. Mr. de Vaux, may I ask you a question?"
"Certainly!"
Lady May looked straight between her horse's ears, and a slight flushstole into her cheeks. "You must not think that I was listening; itwas not so at all. But last night, as I was passing the billiard-room,I heard my brother and Captain Mortimer talking. They were couplingyour name with this--Miss Adrea Kiros. They spoke of her coming downhere as though you must have known something of it. They were blamingyou, as though you were responsible for her coming. We have beenfriends, Mr. de Vaux; and so far as I am concerned, our friendship hasbeen very pleasant. But if there is any truth in what they said--well,you can guess the rest. I want you to tell me yourself; I am nevercontent to accept hearsay evidence against my friends. I prefer to beunconventional, as you see. Please tell me!"
"Will you put your question a little more definitely, Lady May?" Paulasked slowly.
"Certainly! Has that young person come here at your instigation? Didyou arrange for her to come here?"
"I did not! No one could have been more surprised to see her than Iwas."
Lady May was growing very stiff. She sat up in her saddle, and drewthe reins through her fingers. "You know her?"
"I do!"
"You visited her in London?"
"I did!"
"You were at the cottage last evening?"
"I was! I lost my way, and----"
Lady May touched her horse with her spur. "Thank you, Mr. de Vaux!"she said haughtily. "I will not trouble you any more. Please don'tfollow me!"
Paul watched her ride down the hillside and join one of the littlegroups dotted about outside the cover-side, with a curious sense ofunreality. After a while he broke into a little laugh, and, shakinghis reins, lit a cigar. This was a new character for him altogether.He knew himself that no man had kept his life more blameless than he!If anything, he felt sometimes that he had erred upon the otherside in thinking and speaking too hastily of those who had beenless circumspect. And now, it had come to this. The woman whose goodopinion he had always valued next to his mother's had deliberatelyaccused him of what must have seemed to her a flagrant outrage ondecency. Her words were still ringing in his ears: "Please don'tfollow me." Lady May had said that to him; it was a little hard torealize.
A commotion around the cover below was a welcome diversion to himjust then. A fox had got clear away, and hounds were in full cry. Paulpressed his hat down, and settled into his saddle with a grim smile.The physical excitement was just what he wanted, and in a few minuteshe was leading the field, with only the master by his side, andCaptain Westover a few yards behind.
At the first check, Captain Westover rode up to him. "I want just aword or two with you, De Vaux!" he said, drawing him on one side.
Paul drew himself up in his saddle, and sat there glum and unbending."I am at your service," he answered. "I have had the pleasure alreadyof a short conversation with your sister this morning."
Captain Westover nodded. "I suppose so. I want to beg your pardonfirst for what I am going to say, De Vaux. If I make an ass of myself,don't scruple to say so! But I want to ask you this! Why, in thunder,did you let Adrea what's-her-name, the dancing girl, come down here?"
"It was no business of mine! I did not know that she was coming!"
Captain Westover stroked his moustache and looked puzzled. "Look here,old man," he said slowly, "you go to see her in London, don't you?"
"I have been!"
"Just so! And you were down at the cottage last night, weren't you?"
"I was!"
"Well! hang it all, then you must have known something about hercoming, you know! It can't be just a coincidence. Bevan & Bevan aremy solicitors, and by the purest accident, one day I learned that MissAdrea enjoys a settlement of a thousand a year from you. They didn'ttell me, of course. I happened to catch sight of your check on thetable one day, and overheard old Sam Bevan give some instructions toa clerk. Sorry, but I couldn't help it! You're the first person I'vebreathed it to."
"I am her guardian!" Paul exclaimed angrily.
Captain Westover whistled. "You may call it what you like, old fellow!I don't mind, I can assure you! You don't seem inclined to listen toany advice, so I won't offer any more. But if you'll forgive my sayingso, you're doing a d----d silly thing. Good-morning."
On the whole, Paul did not enjoy his day's hunting; and before it wasall over, he found himself once more in an embarrassing situation. Foras he rode past the gates of the cottage, on his way home, Adrea wasthere, breathless and laughing, with her dusky hair waving looselyaround her shapely head.
"I saw you coming," she said, a little shyly, "and I was afraid thatyou would not stop, so I ran out as fast as I could. It was silly ofme! You were coming in, weren't you?"
"I think not!" Paul answered gravely. "Look how thick in mud I am, andhow tired my horse looks!"
She looked up at him with pleading eyes and parted lips. "Do come!"she said. "I have been expecting you all day!"
She held the gate open, and stood looking up at him, a curiouslypicturesque-looking figure in the grey twilight. Her gown was like noother woman's; it was something between a Greek robe and a tea-gown,of a dull orange hue, and her dusky hair was tied up with a bow ofribbon of the same colour. Everything about her was strange; eventhe faint perfume which hung about her clothes, and which brought himsudden, swift memories of that moment when she had lain in his arms,and his lips had met hers. Paul felt the colour steal into his palecheeks as he leaped to the ground, and passed his arm through hishorse's bridle.
"I will come, _cara mia_!" he said softly.
She claspe
d her hands through his other arm, and whispered somethingin his ear, as they turned up the avenue together. Just then thesound of horses' hoofs in the road made them both turn round. CaptainWestover and Lady May were riding by together, with their eyes fixedupon Paul and his companion.