CHAPTER XXXII--THINKING THINGS OVER
Benifett Bindane was seated on the front verandah of the Residency oneafternoon, when Lord Barthampton drove up to the door in his highdogcart. He rose from his chair, and going to the steps, shook handswith the younger man somewhat less limply than was his wont.
"Is Lady Muriel in?" asked the visitor.
Mr. Bindane shook his head. "I'm afraid not; but I think she'll be hometo tea. Come in and have a drink."
He led him into the library, and rang the bell. "What will you have?" heasked. "A whiskey and soda?"
"Thanks," Lord Barthampton replied. "I've given up the temperance stunt.I think one needs something with a punch in it now that the weather'sgetting hot."
A servant entered the room, and Mr. Bindane, playing the host withrelish, ordered the refreshments.
Charles Barthampton had seen Muriel more than once since her return fromthe desert, and now he had come with the determination to make her aproposal of marriage. He was nervous, therefore, and soon he was helpinghimself liberally from the decanter and with marked moderation from thesyphon. While doing so he thought he observed the older man's eye uponhim, and felt that candour would not here come amiss.
"I'm fortifying myself," he laughed, holding up his glass. "Fact is, I'mgoing to pop the question this afternoon."
Mr. Bindane nodded slowly, with seeming abstraction, and his lordshipdecided that a little drama ought to be added to his words.
"Yes," he said, bracing his shoulders bravely, "this suspense is toomuch for me; so I'm going to rattle the dice with Fate, and win all orlose all at a single throw. What d'you think of my chances?"
"Not much," replied Mr. Bindane, gloomily. "Lady Muriel is a difficultsort of girl. Still, she may be suffering from a reaction: you may catchher on the rebound."
The words slipped from him without intention; but as soon as they werespoken he realized that he would either have to explain them or coverthem up as best he could.
"How d'you mean?" came the inevitable question, and Mr. Bindane's brainswere immediately set rapidly to work. He knew that Lord Barthampton wasrunning after the girl's fortune: such a chase seemed a very naturalthing to his business mind; and he did not suppose that the suitor wouldbe deterred by hearing that the lady's hand had already been giventemporarily to another.
"Well," he replied, "you know, of course, that she was by way of beingin love with your cousin a short time ago."
His visitor scowled. "No, I didn't know that," he muttered. "Confoundthe fellow!--he's always getting in my way. I wish he'd stay in thedesert, and not come back."
"Yes, so do I," Mr. Bindane remarked. "I want him to live out there, andmanage this Company I'm trying to launch. Frankly, that is why I wishyou success. At present it is Lady Muriel who attracts him to Cairo; andif by any chance she should marry him, my plans would be spoilt."
"Oh, I see," said the other, a look of cunning coming into his red face."So we both want the same thing."
"Yes," replied Mr. Bindane. The conspiracy interested him, the more sobecause he felt that he was acting in the best interests of Daniel, forwhom he had conceived an unbounded admiration. He thought that he waswasted at the Residency: there was no money in his present work,whereas, if he entered the proposed Company's employment, he might riseto great wealth. Nor would he ever be happy in Cairo, certainly not ifhe were tied to Lady Muriel: she was not the right wife for him. She wastoo flighty, and this escapade of hers in the desert stamped her as awoman of loose morals, who would bring only sorrow to a man of DanielLane's temperament.
Lord Barthampton leaned forward. "Did she see much of him in the Oases?"he asked.
Mr. Bindane hesitated. He did not like to give the secret away; yet hefelt that if this burly and rather unscrupulous young man were inpossession of the facts, he might terrorize Lady Muriel into marryinghim. Then Cairo would cease to have any attraction for Daniel Lane. "Shesaw a great deal of him," he replied at length.
"Why, was he with your party?"
Mr. Bindane's lips moved flabbily, but he did not speak.
"I thought you told me the other day that he wasn't with you," LordBarthampton added.
"Yes, that's so," the other answered. "He wasn't."
His visitor got up suddenly from his chair. "Do you mean that _she_ waswith _him_?" he asked, incredulously.
"That is a secret," Mr. Bindane replied, a little scared, but at thesame time calming himself with the assurance that he was acting for thebest.
Lord Barthampton paced the floor, chewing his lips, his heavy browsknitted. "I see," he said, at length. "And you think that it will helpme if I hold this piece of information over her head."
Mr. Bindane's blank expression indicated that nothing of the kind hadentered his head--in fact, that nothing of any kind had ever entered it."You could have heard it from the natives," he said. "They all know shewas at El Hamran while we went north. If I hadn't let it slip out likethis, no doubt you would have heard it from somebody else in time."
"No doubt," the other answered, and he drained his glass once more.
Benifett Bindane also rose from his chair. He was alarmed, and thequalms of conscience were upon him. "Of course it was just an escapade,"he murmured. "I don't suppose there was anything wrong in it."
"Well, I won't use the information, unless I've got to," said LordBarthampton.
As they issued from the library, they heard the sound of an automobiledriving up to the door. "That's probably her," Mr. Bindane remarked."You'd better go and wait in the drawing-room, and I'll make myselfscarce."
He patted the young man on the shoulders and hurried up the stairs tohis room, while Charles Barthampton, nervously tidying himself, wentinto the drawing-room, where a footman was arranging the tea-table.
He had not long to wait. In a few minutes Muriel entered, and, seeinghim, held out her hand.
"Hullo!" she said. "You here again?"
"I don't seem to be able to keep away from you for long," he sighed."Can I see you alone?"
Muriel glanced at him quickly. There was an expression of ludicrousagony upon his face, and she knew full well what he had come to say toher. "Let's have tea, first," she answered. "It will fortify us."
He stared anxiously at her, but all further preliminary remarks werechecked by the entrance of Kate Bindane; and soon two or three callerswere ushered in.
It was a long time before he managed successfully to outstay the othervisitors; but at length he found himself alone with Muriel. The removalof the tea-tray caused another interruption; and he refrained withdifficulty from cursing aloud when the footman again entered to switchon the lights.
At last, however, the moment for his declaration arrived, and Murielsettled herself down upon the cushions of the sofa to hear him, asthough she were preparing to listen to a recital upon the grand piano."Now tell me," she said, "what it is that you want to say to me."
He was standing in front of her, the fingers of his hand scratching hisear. He cleared his throat. "Well, it's like this," he began. "Eversince I've known you I've felt that there was something lacking in mylife...."
"I was wondering how you'd begin," she said, interrupting him.
He flushed, and hastened on with his prepared speech. "Even soldiers,you know, long for the comforts of home. I suppose every Englishmanlikes to think of his own fireside...."
"Not in this weather, surely," she put in, again interrupting him.
He hurried on. "... With the woman he loves, seated before him, afterthe day's toil is over."
"Are you proposing to me?" she asked, wishing mercifully to cut himshort.
"Well, yes, I am," he answered, with a deep sigh. "Ah, don't be cruel tome. You know that I love you. I'm quite well off: I can give you afairly comfortable time of it."
"Yes, but they say you have led a very wild life," she told him. "Yousaid yourself that you drank."
"I've sown my wild oats, little woman," he sighed.
"But drink is such a d
readful thing," she murmured. "I wonder yourconscience hasn't pricked you. Or are you one of those people who haveno conscience, only a religion?"
Without waiting to reply he returned to the speech which he hadmemorized, and drew a picture of his English home: the snow on theground at Noel, the bells of the little church ringing, the Yule log,and his tenants singing carols to them as they dined in the great hall.It reminded Muriel of a Christmas-card--something with sparkling stuffpowdered over it, and "Hark, the herald angels sing" printed in thecorner.
Lord Barthampton, however, was very much touched by his own eloquence;and, coming close to her, he held out his hands. "Will you?" he said,brokenly.
"I must have time to think," she answered. "This is so sudden." Then,with deep seriousness, she added: "Yes, I want to think it over."
"Well, I'm going off to the Fayoum tomorrow to shoot," he told her. "MayI come for my answer in three days from now?"
"Very well," she replied.
He seized her hand in his, and pressed it fervently to his lips. Then,as though overcome with emotion, he whispered, "God bless you, littlewoman," and, turning, walked slowly out of the room.