Unless, indeed, if it came to this—that one must think no more of love—but only of power—why, then—
A ring at the door, resounding through the quiet side street. After a minute the Scotchwoman opened the drawing-room door.
“Please, miss, is this meant for you?”
Julie took the letter in astonishment. Then through the door she saw a man standing in the hall and recognized Captain Warkworth’s Indian servant.
“I don’t understand him,” said the Scotchwoman, shaking her head.
Julie went out to speak with him. The man had been sent to Crowborough House with instructions to inquire for Miss Le Breton and deliver his note. The groom of the chambers, misinterpreting the man’s queer English, and thinking the matter urgent—the note was marked “immediate”—had sent him after the ladies to Heribert Street.
The man was soon feed and dismissed, and Miss Le Breton took the letter back to the drawing-room.
So, after all, he had not failed; there on her lap was her daily letter. Outside the scanty March sun, now just setting, was touching the garden with gold. Had it also found its way into Julie’s eyes?
Now for his explanation:
“First, how and where are you? I called in Bruton Street at noon. Hutton told me you had just gone to Crowborough House. Kind—no, wise little Duchess! She honors herself in sheltering you.
“I could not write last night—I was too uncertain, too anxious. All I said might have jarred. This morning came your note, about eleven. It was angelic to think so kindly and thoughtfully of a friend—angelic to write such a letter at such a time. You announced your flight to Crowborough House, but did not say when, so I crept to Bruton Street, seeing Lady Henry in every lamppost, got a few clandestine words with Hutton, and knew, at least, what had happened to you—outwardly and visibly.
“Last night did you think me a poltroon to vanish as I did? It was the impulse of a moment. Mr. Montresor had pulled me into a corner of the room, away from the rest of the party, nominally to look at a picture, really that I might answer a confidential question he had just put to me with regard to a disputed incident in the Afridi campaign. We were in the dark and partly behind a screen. Then the door opened. I confess the sight of Lady Henry paralyzed me. A great, murderous, six-foot Afridi—that would have been simple enough. But a woman—old and ill and furious—with that Medusa’s face—no! My nerves suddenly failed me. What right had I in her house, after all? As she advanced into the room, I slipped out behind her. General Fergus and M. du Bartas joined me in the hall. We walked to Bond Street together. They were divided between laughter and vexation. I should have laughed—if I could have forgotten you.
“But what could I have done for you, dear lady, if I had stayed out the storm? I left you with three or four devoted adherents, who had, moreover, the advantage over me of either relationship or old acquaintance with Lady Henry. Compared to them, I could have done nothing to shield you. Was it not best to withdraw? Yet all the way home I accused myself bitterly. Nor did I feel, when I reached home, that one who had not grasped your hand under fire had any right to rest or sleep. But anxiety for you, regrets for myself, took care of that; I got my deserts.
“After all, when the pricks and pains of this great wrench are over, shall we not all acknowledge that it is best the crash should have come? You have suffered and borne too much. Now we shall see you expand in a freer and happier life. The Duchess has asked me to dinner tomorrow—the note has just arrived—so that I shall soon have the chance of hearing from you some of those details I so much want to know. But before then you will write?
“As for me, I am full of alternate hopes and fears. General Fergus, as we walked home, was rather silent and bearish—I could not flatter myself that he had any friendly intentions towards me in his mind. But Montresor was more than kind, and gave me some fresh opportunities of which I was very glad to avail myself. Well, we shall know soon.
“You told me once that if, or when, this happened, you would turn to your pen, and that Dr. Meredith would find you openings. That is not to be regretted, I think. You have great gifts, which will bring you pleasure in the using. I have got a good deal of pleasure out of my small ones. Did you know that once, long ago, when I was stationed at Gibraltar, I wrote a military novel?
“No, I don’t pity you because you will need to turn your intellect to account. You will be free, and mistress of your fate. That, for those who, like you and me, are the ‘children of their works,’ as the Spaniards say, is much.
“Dear friend—kind, persecuted friend!—I thought of you in the watches of the night—I think of you this morning. Let me soon have news of you.”
Julie put the letter down upon her knee. Her face stiffened. Nothing that she had ever received from him yet had rung so false.
Grief? Complaint? No! Just a calm grasp of the game—a quick playing of the pieces—so long as the game was there to play. If he was appointed to this mission, in two or three weeks he would be gone—to the heart of Africa. If not—
Anyway, two or three weeks were hers. Her mind seemed to settle and steady itself.
She got up and went once more carefully through the house, giving her attention to it. Yes, the whole had character and a kind of charm. The little place would make, no doubt, an interesting and distinguished background for the life she meant to put
