Burford Delannoy

“ She smiled. Encouraged by it, he continued, in the same strain:
"You are always alone, yet you create the impression that you are happy. You don't seem to sigh for bands of music, to hanker after a crowded promenade. You find existence possible without a shoal of people to help you pass your time."
Her smile broadened into a laugh. This time at herself—at his description of her; she asked:
"And those—shall I call them unusual?—characteristics in a woman interest you?"
"Amazingly!"
"Why?"
She put the question with a little nervousness, bred of that eagerness of his. ”

“ Mabel was playing a part: playing it well; wore her mask with success. Her laugh rang out merrily at each of Chantrelle's jokes. But just as full as her face and voice were of mirth, so was her heart full of ache and pain.
Mrs. Seton-Carr would have given worlds just then to be able to rise from her table; she needed so greatly to go to her room for a good cry. But a Lucifer-like pride upheld her. Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone. ”

“ In astonishment she asked:
"Why do you stop? Is that all you can read?"
"No—no. But my belief—my faith—is shaken!"
Just a faint tremor in the voice—it was not unnoticed by him—as she asked:
"Faith? In what?"
He fenced. Did not like to shape words around what he thought he read. The truth is not always pleasant. So it was that he answered:
"Palmistry as a science."
The woman's voice was steadied again. There was a ring of merriment in it, ridiculing his seriousness, as she said—
"Why this shaken faith? Because of what you read in my hand?" ”

“ Their hostess's words were as the lashes of a whip.
Chantrelle muttered something about breaking the laws of hospitality; a weak effort to stand up for his sister. It failed half-way. Then he abandoned her to her fate.
"Take me away, Percy," his sister gasped. "I will not stay to be further insulted."
"Miss Chantrelle has forestalled me." Mrs. Seton-Carr still spoke quietly, still retained her seat. "That is precisely what I was about to ask you to do, Mr. Chantrelle. One can lock up from a thief, but a liar—a deliberate, scheming, unscrupulous liar—there is no guarding against. ”

“ The brother shook his head as he responded gloomily:
"Easier said than done, I fancy, Sis. I'm not overbrimming with hope."
"There is no need for despondency. We will arrange to go to Wivernsea right off. That young fool Dick is finger-twistable: I can make him do anything."
The brother needed more than mere words to convince him; observed sneeringly:
"Except propose marriage to you!"
An ugly light came into her eyes. His shaft had gone in up to the feather; she spoke bitterly:
"Yes. He is not of the impressionable kind. I don't suppose any woman will ever get him." ”

“ With the courage to fight this drink devil for life or death, for all I am worth."
[pg 180] "And, please God, conquer him, Dick!"
"And what about yourself, little woman? Have you been ill? You look worn out, worn and thinner. You haven't been worrying about me?"
"No, Dick; about Grace. She has been ill; dying once, I thought, but thank God she is as well to-day as ever she was."
"Our little Gracie has been as ill as all that? Poor little soul! And I've been drinking from morning till night, selfish brute that I am, without any thought for you or her. Good God! Why was I born—answer me that?" ”

“ Miss Chantrelle had the watchful, veiled eyes of the domestic cat. On the principle of striking the iron whilst hot, she urged her brother to propose marriage to their hostess forthwith. Thought that delays were dangerous.
She took him out for a walk to discuss the pros and cons of the proposal. Was a wise little woman, and a firm believer in the theory that walls have ears. Knowing what she knew, she mapped out the route her brother was to travel in his journey to Mrs. Seton-Carr's heart.
But there is such a thing as being too clever: so sharp that one cuts oneself. ”

“ Strange that, by the bedside of the panting child, with Life and Death fighting for possession of the fragile little form, her ears ever straining to catch the sound of that softer breathing which she knew would signal Life's victory—strange, that with fear and hope surging in her bosom, even while her gentle hand restrained her dear one's restless tossing to and fro and cooled the burning forehead and feverish, clinging little fingers; strange that there should seem no wrong, nothing incongruous in the thought of an almost stranger—of William Masters. ”

“ The axe of common sense may be laid to the root of the tree; may cut it down root and branch. Still one small remaining tendril, hidden from the sight, will work its way into the heart; spread and grow until in its magnitude it overshadows every other thought. Such is love.
Masters reached the steps which led up from the sands to the seat. Standing at their base, he looked away in the direction of the sea. It was easy to mark the spot where Gracie had worked so hard with spade and pail. ”

“ CHAPTER XIX PLAYING THE SPY When the child had passed all the signposts on the road of convalescence, had reached perfect health, Masters ceased his visits to the bungalow. His interest in Gracie induced him not to avoid meeting her on the front.
The child was all warmth and affection and love for the man she was going to marry. The mother hid her aching heart behind a smile: a woman's usual veil. It was not what a novelist describes as a sad sweet smile; it had degenerated into an hysterical, jerky, clattering, little laugh. ”

“ In her nervousness felt that whilst her tongue was in action it would help to keep the helm the right way; said:
"Why should you? A stranger's opinion would necessarily be valueless. You know nothing of me."
The deafness of those who will not hear is proverbial. The underlying earnestness in the tone of his reply should have warned her.
"Aren't you going just a trifle too far?" he asked. "We are not quite strangers. True, I know nothing of you—except that you are Miss Mivvins."
An irresistible smile accompanied his words. His smile—and his laugh too—were capable of creating many friends. ”

“ She, yet more proud than he, altered nothing; took her walks with Gracie as usual. Sat on the seat at the far end of the walk; read novels there with stoic fortitude—except for an occasional long look across the waters.
[pg 112] Looking across the wide sea seems to afford scope for, to encourage, limitless, aimless reflections. At any rate hers were aimless; she knew that. But a woman dearly loves the memories of the past, to bring them before her: to pet and fondle and keep them alive with the warmth of her heart. ”

“ Masters' eyes looked honestly into Dick's; he was very honest of purpose. Wanted, with all his soul, to keep those doors closed. For the sake of the woman whose trust had been betrayed; for the sake of the little one. He knew how facile is the descent into Hell. Knew, too, that a man ambitious to make a fool of himself never lacks help.
[pg 199] How shines a good deed in this bad world! The goodness of his own was illuminating Masters' eyes at that moment. And he had no fear of the proverb: that if he conferred a favour he might expect ingratitude. Plainly, Rigby was not built on those lines. ”

“ Pity—heart-felt, whole-souled pity—was mingled with his feeling for her now.
Pondering over his position, he came to think of her as more sinned against than sinning. Almost joined in the prayer that the man she loved—whose existence was a bar to his own success—might return well enough to marry.
For Gracie's sake too—sweet, winsome little Gracie! If the man returned well enough to marry it would silence tongues. ”

“ If I die now shall I go right straight to heaven, Prince Charlie?"
The woman kneeling by the bedside turned away her head. The trembling hand found her throat and helped to stifle the sob bursting there. Life and death were fighting for conquest. Contemplation of the battle is ever sad; sadder because the watchers can do nought to turn the tide of victory. Time was arbiter; yet the little one was speaking as if the Grim One's victory were assured.
There was a little quaver, just a little huskiness, in Masters' voice, as he said:
"Don't talk of dying, Gracie." ”

“ Seton-Carr could only fit as a confirmation of her friend Amy's letter.
Pride and a readily aroused temper usually battle together with conspicuous success. Mabel worked herself up to such a pitch of excitement that she positively cried. To think that this man—she knew in her heart of hearts that she loved him—should have the effrontery to talk of her so! ”

“ He was doing so to the accompaniment of "Rule, Britannia," pursed-up lips fashioning it. The difficulty with his coat was one of his own creation; he was thoroughly enjoying the situation and prolonging it as long as possible. The whistling served as a sort of slow music to his little drama.
There was not even a whisper of Masters' leaving England. Indeed, it was pretty certain that had he been going abroad, Dick would have been on hand as his travelling companion. He was, as he termed it, rubbing it in. Brothers are awful brutes at times.
"Dick! Dear Dick!" ”

“ In the ears of one man—William Masters by name, binder-together-of-sensational-incidents in-book-form by profession—such grumbles tingled pleasantly. Because the usual October Wivernsea weather is mild and bright and rainless. Being a non-gregarious man, the place shaped before his eyes as a land flowing with milk and honey. ”

“ Kept away from where there was a treading on dangerous ground; felt the ice getting thin; said:
"I gather that this palmist character of yours professes to read the past, but does not venture on prophecy?"
"I venture on prophecy now!"
He spoke suddenly, rising as he did so. Picking up his books, and—for the first time—quietly possessing himself of her bag, continued:
"That rapidly travelling cloud, at present looking very little larger than a man's hand, coming from the south, is full of rain. It will burst before we are back in the town, unless we hurry. Gracie! Gracie!" ”

“ Then self-raillery: the old, old, ever sought useless salve. What a fool! What a fool he was to care! A woman! Just as he had always pictured them—always till the book he was now engaged on. When he [pg 87] thought how chaste and good and pure his last heroine was, on paper, he laughed again. The same laugh; with the same choking painful little catch-in-the-throat in it too.
He thought he had lost his ideals long ago; we are apt to flatter ourselves so. But their death is hard; they live on—unknown even to ourselves—to appear before us like some new star of whose existence we know nothing. ”

“ He had left the stepping-stones of milk and beef-tea a long way behind; was walking through square meals as vigorously as any man aboard.
The friendship opened up in the little two-berth cabin had developed into the closest kind. On one side it had started garbed in the mantle of pretence. That was soon shed; sincerity taking its place.
Dick's fidelity was dog-like; he followed his companion about as if loath to lose sight [pg 205] of him. Masters had discovered in him artistic tendencies; the ability to draw well. It was long before Dick's hand ceased to remind one of a jelly ”

“ The features were the most beautiful and womanly ones he had ever seen. Just as sweet a face as a woman with golden hair—that peculiar tint of gold which the sun ever seems anxious to search amongst—and forget-me-not eyes, can possess at the age of three-and twenty. ”

“ Miss Mivvins resumed her seat. With all his ignorance of the treatment women expected—out of books—he had acted in strict consonance with the sex's idea of the fitness of things.
To own up to the rightness of the woman you are talking with, and your own wrong, is as oil to machinery. It is an almost infallible way of worming yourself into the woman's good graces; rarely fails. Its lack of truth is compensated for by its success: the Jesuitical theory that the end justifies the means.
"Why I said the exact opposite, was because in your hand there are lines"—he was holding her hand in his now ”

“ Admiration is the kind of thing which develops rapidly, once it germinates. In this instance the seed had thrown deep roots. Masters' heart seemed likely to prove fruitful soil.
With Gracie he stood well. That, he felt, was a making of headway; for the governess unquestionably loved her charge. On the principle of love me, love my dog, he was acting wisely—apart from the pleasure it gave him—in this cultivation of the little one's affection. ”

“ But you don't fool me. I should be false to every sense of brotherly duty if I failed to warn her against your embraces. I shall bear the marks of one of them—on my shoulder—to the grave."
[pg 226] "Dear old Dick!" Masters started forward impulsively: "I am ever so sorry that——"
"Keep off! Keep off! If you don't I'll scream for help!"
Masters' thoughts went off at a tangent. Love is a leveller. Even authors, under the influence of that other circumstance to which all flesh is heir, are not superior to a passion for the conjunction of octavo sheets and pens. ”

“ A faint little laugh though, and so exhausting that after it she fell back on the pillows, scant of breath.
The laugh aroused the mother, trained by love to awaken at the least sound. She sprang to her feet and hastened to the bedside. [pg 160] When she saw the change for the better in her child, the smile on the little face, thankfulness overwhelmed her.
Never had waking moments been more sweet. It was less like waking than like a dream itself. She hugged Gracie to her bosom; just escaped crying over her.
Masters smilingly humoured the child—a little tyranny is a welcome sign in a patient ”

“ Hour by hour the watching woman seemed to see the Shadow deepening, growing. Hour by hour she strove with all the power that in her lay to lead that white soul back into life's sunshine.
The watching and anxiety told on her. The doctor, noting her sunken eyes, had to speak firmly:
"You must take rest. You need it as much as your patient."
"Rest!"
"Don't be foolish! You have a good woman; this woman who is helping you."
"She has been a nurse."
"I see she understands. You must take [pg 121] rest or you will be ill. Ill, too, at a time when you are most needed."
"Tell me, doctor. Oh! ”