The Dust of Conflict Part 28

"No. The question is, do you mean to?"

"That depends. I really don't want to cause you trouble. You see, I was fond of you once, Tony-and would you like me to tell you that I am still?"

Tony stood rigidly still with the blood in his forehead until the girl laughed.

"You needn't meet trouble before it comes," she said. "I only wanted to see you."

Again there was silence, until Tony, who felt he must say something, broke it.

"Where have you been since you left Northrop?" he asked.

"In London. Music-hall stage. I took there, and was in Melbourne, too.

Just now I'm resting a little, and only came down here out of curiosity."

"Still," and Tony's voice trembled a little, "you will have heard-"

"Sit down," said the girl almost sharply. "I want to talk to you. Yes, I heard in Melbourne. I read it all in a Darsley paper, and thought what fools the folks were to blame Mr. Appleby."

Tony gasped. "It is a painful thing to talk about, and I don't want to distress you, but-"

Lucy Davidson looked at him steadily. "What I felt about it doesn't concern anybody but myself. I told you they were fools, Tony. You and I know who it was that circ.u.mstances really pointed to."

Tony's cheeks turned a trifle gray, but this time he met her gaze.

"Listen to me, Lucy. On my word of honor I had no hand in what happened," he said. "The solemn truth is that your father had an altercation with Appleby, and afterwards fell over the bridge."

The girl's eyes flashed, and she slowly straightened herself. "It is fortunate for you that I can take your word, because I had formed my own conclusions," she said. "Don't suppose I should sit here talking to you if I had thought you were guilty. This, however, is quite between ourselves."

There was a significance in the last words which was not lost upon the man. "Well," he said slowly, "we come back to the point again. What do you want from me?"

"Just a little kindness. I was, I don't mind telling you again, fond of you, perhaps because-but we don't always give reasons, Tony. There is nothing I want to ask you for in the meanwhile."

"I am to be married soon," the man said in desperation.

Lucy Davidson rose with a curious mocking smile. "Well," she said, "I wish her joy of you. You are, you know, very poor stuff, Tony, and haven't nerve enough to make either a good man or a rascal. The last, at least now and then, gets something for his pains. Now, you may take me back again."

XVIII - NETTIE ASKS A QUESTION

NETTIE HARDING had spent at least six weeks at Low Wood when she sat one afternoon on the lawn, gazing before her reflectively, with a book turned upside-down upon her knee. She had at one time wondered why she lingered there, though she found the company of Hester Earle congenial, and Hester's father had pressed her to extend her visit, while other reasons that appeared more or less convincing had not been wanting. The Northrop valley was very pretty, and the quiet, well-ordered life her English friends led pleasant, as a change from the turmoil of commercial enterprise and the fierce activity of the search for pleasure she had been accustomed to in America. The tranquillity of the green, peaceful country appealed to her, and she found interesting the quietly spoken men and women who so decorously directed what was done in it, partly because the type was new to her.

That, however, was at the beginning, for by and by she was willing to admit that Northrop might grow wearisome if she saw too much of it, and she could no longer hide from herself the fact that she had a more cogent reason for dallying there. She felt, though as yet it appeared quite likely that she might be mistaken, she was picking up the threads of a drama, the plot of which had been imperfectly revealed to her. This in itself was interesting, for she had at least as much inquisitiveness as most of her s.e.x, and she was sensible of a little thrill of pleasurable excitement when the scent grew hotter. Still, she never asked an indiscreet question, and waited with a patience that is not usually a characteristic of the women of her nation until she was certain.

Miss Wayne, she decided, was at least very like the woman Appleby had pictured to her; but she was difficult to understand, for Violet seldom displayed her feelings, and her cold serenity baffled the observer. Tony Palliser, of whom she had contrived to see a good deal, was an easier and less interesting study. Nettie was naively witty, and could a.s.sume American mannerisms with excellent effect when she chose while Tony was fond of being amused, and Violet Wayne apparently devoid of any small jealousy. Thus he spent a good deal of time hanging about Miss Harding, and would have been painfully astonished had he discovered what she thought of him. Languid good nature and the faculty of idling time away very gracefully did not appeal to her, for even pleasure is pursued with grim strenuousness in her country. He was, she fancied, just such a man as the one Appleby had sacrificed himself for; but she surmised that there were a good many men of that kind in England, and Appleby had told his story in a fashion that made the identification of the scene and the persons concerned in it difficult. Nettie felt also that should conviction be forced upon her she would still have to decide what her course would be.

She felt for Appleby a quiet esteem and a kindliness which just stopped short of tenderness. She was an American, and could hold her own with most men in the art of flirtation, but she was also capable of a camaraderie that was characterized by frank sincerity and untainted by any affectation of love-making for one of the opposite s.e.x. That being so, she felt it was inc.u.mbent upon her to discharge the obligation she owed him if opportunity afforded, though she knew that the indiscreet meddler not infrequently involves in disaster those she would benefit.

By and by there was a step behind her, and she saw Hester Earle regarding her with a twinkle in her eyes.

"If there had been anybody else to see you-Tony Palliser, for example- one could almost have fancied you had a.s.sumed that becomingly pensive pose," she said. "You would make a picture of ingenuous contemplation."

Nettie laughed. "Well," she said, "I feel very like a torpedo. Anyway, I didn't put it on, though I'm open to admit that there's quite a trace of the peac.o.c.k about me."

"That is evidently American hyperbole," said Hester. "Talk English, Nettie. I don't understand."

She seated herself on the mossy wall close by, and noticed that her companion was meditatively watching two figures approaching by a path through a wheatfield. They were just recognizable as Tony and Violet Wayne, and were evidently unaware of being observed, for the man stooped, and, plucking what appeared to be a poppy from among the corn, offered it to his companion. The pair stopped a moment, and the man seemed to be desirous of fastening it in the girl's dress.

"The peac.o.c.k," said Nettie in the drawl she a.s.sumed only when it suited her, "is easy. They're vain, you know, and I wouldn't figure it was worth while to spread out my best tail before men like Tony Palliser.

I'm quite fond of being looked at, too."

"One would fancy you could scarcely find fault with him on that account," said Hester dryly. "But the torpedo?"

"That's a little harder. I suppose you never felt as if you were full of explosives, and could go off when you wanted and scatter destruction around. A torpedo doesn't appear a very terrible thing, you know. It's nice and round and shiny. I've seen one. Julian showed it me."

"n.o.body goes off in England-at least not among the people we care to mix with," said Hester. "We send those who seem inclined to behave in that fashion out to the colonies or America. People appear to rather like explosions there."

"Still, you must get a little shake up now and then. Did nothing startling and unexpected ever happen at Northrop?"

Hester Earle was English, and proud of the decorous tranquillity of the life she led. "No," she said. "That is, nothing really worth mentioning.

Where did you get charged with explosives, Nettie?"

Nettie felt that one of the stoutest threads she had laid her fingers upon had snapped in a most unexpected manner, but she had observed the British character, and was not quite convinced. It was, she reflected, after all a question of what Hester Earle considered worthy of mention.

"In Cuba," she said. "Now, I was worrying about something, and because you are one of those quiet persons who think a good deal I'd like your opinion. Suppose you or somebody else had a friend who was in trouble through other people's fault, and would not say a word to clear himself, and you found how you could make things straight for him? The answer to that seems easy, but it gets complicated by the fact that to do it you would have to stir up no end of mud and startle quite a few nice easy- going people."

"Speaking generally, I should leave the mud alone, and feel that the friend knew best. After all, he may have been to blame."

"No," said Nettie. "The man I was thinking of never did a mean thing in his life."

"Then you can ask Violet Wayne. She is even quieter than I am, and I believe she thinks a good deal."

Tony and his companion joined them then, and Violet took her place beside Nettie, while the man sat down on the smooth strip of turf that sloped to the sunken tennis lawn.

"You seem to have been discussing something serious," he said.

"Yes," said Hester. "Nettie has been comparing herself with a torpedo, and wished to know whether it would be desirable for her to go off or not. I recommended her to submit the case to Violet. Hadn't you better begin, Nettie? You rather like an audience."

Nettie was seldom abashed, and the position appealed to her. She had only vague surmises to go upon, and one of the clues had snapped, but the rest might hold, while such an opportunity of discovering the sentiments of the woman who might prove to be most involved could scarcely occur again. It was accordingly with a little thrill of excitement she put the question a trifle more concisely than she had done to Hester, and though she smiled at the others, watched Tony closely. He was certainly astonished, though the case was so outlined that it could scarcely be identified with his own; but his indolent carelessness stood him in good stead, and he sat still, listening with no great show of interest until Nettie concluded.

"Of course, what I have told you concerns somebody in Cuba and not England," she said. "Now, the point is, would it be better to leave the people alone who seem quite content with everything as it is? One of them would be hurt considerably if the truth came out!"

There was a little silence, and once more Violet Wayne was sensible of the vague apprehension which had troubled her more frequently of late, but she met Nettie's inquiring glance with steady eyes.

"Still, I think it would be better for that person to know the truth,"

she said.

"I am not quite sure," said Hester reflectively. "We will surmise that he or she is happy in the deception, and it would last all her life. In that case would it be a kindness to undeceive her?"