Ethel M. Dell

“ Nick went straight to Olga. "Olga," he said, "for Heaven's sake, be reasonable! Give him a chance to set things straight!"
It was urgently spoken. His hand, vital and very insistent, closed upon one of hers, drawing it down from her face.
She looked at him with hunted eyes. "Nick," she said, "tell him—to go!"
"I can't, dear," he made answer. "You've made an accusation that no man could take lying down. You'll have to face it out now."
"But it's the truth!" she said.
"It's a damnable lie!" said Nick.
"Nick," it was Max's voice measured and deliberate, "will you leave me to deal with this?" ”

“ Violet laughed again, her eyes upon the glittering sea. "Immortal youth! How divine it sounds! Allegro, I should hate to be old." She stretched out her arms to the sky-line. "I want to keep young for ever," she said. "Do you really think I shall? I sometimes think—" she paused.
"What?" said Olga.
She turned round to her with a little gesture of confidence. "I sometimes have a feeling, Allegro, that I must be getting old or dull or plain already. Men don't make love to me so much as they did."
"My dear, what nonsense!" exclaimed Olga, with burning cheeks. ”

“ Olga's arms held her faster still. "There is no such place," she said—"at least not in the sense you mean. You are torturing yourself, dear one, and you mustn't. Don't dwell on these dreadful things! You are quite, quite safe, here in my arms, with the love of God round us. Think of that, and don't be afraid!"
"But I am afraid," moaned Violet. "It's the outer darkness, Allegro. And you won't be there. And the door will be shut—always shut. Oh, can't you do anything to save me? You're not like Max. You're not paid to keep people back. ”

“ Olga glanced at her in momentary surprise, then swiftly responded to the caress. She leaned her cheek against Daisy's shoulder.
"You see," she said, "I met Max first."
"I see, dear," said Daisy. She hesitated a moment. "And Max is your ideal of all that a man should be?" she asked then.
"Oh, no!" said Olga. She gave a little laugh. "No; Nick is that, and always has been. I don't think anyone could idealize Max, do you?"
"But you love him?" said Daisy.
Olga looked at her with clear, direct eyes. "Oh, yes, I love him. But I don't try to think he is nicer than he really is. ”

“ Olga listened to the appeal with a heart that seemed turned to stone.
She knew not what to say or do.
"It's my only chance!" urged Violet, in a voice that was beginning to break. "Oh, how can you hesitate? Are you all in league against me? Allegro! Allegro!"
"There, dear, there! It's all right. Don't worry!" Swiftly Olga collected herself and spoke. "There's nothing to be afraid of. No one shall keep you against your will."
"You promise, Allegro?" Violet looked at her doubtfully, yet as if she wished to be reassured. ”

“ But from the moment his lips met hers the battle was over. With or without her will her lips clung to his; the flame of his passion kindled an answering flame in her; and the love which she had striven so desperately to restrain leaped forth to him in wild, exultant freedom, so that she forgot all the world beside.
* * * * *
"So that's settled!" said Max a little later into the flushed face that lay against his shoulder. "It's taken a mighty long time to make you see reason."
"It isn't reason," said Olga faintly. "And oh, Max, what—what am I to say to Noel?"
Max's one-sided smile appeared. ”

“ He glanced up after a moment.
"Olga, if you don't swallow that stuff soon, I shall be—annoyed with you."
She raised it at once to her lips, feeling as if she had no choice, and drank with shuddering distaste.
"I always have hated sal volatile," she said, as she finished the draught.
"You can't have everything you like in this world," returned Max sententiously. "Come over here by the window! Now you are to do exactly what I tell you. Understand? Put your own judgment in abeyance. Yes, I know it's bleeding; but you needn't shudder like that. Give me your hand!" ”

“ His love was great enough to efface itself, a form of love—the rarest and the highest—of which he himself was as yet incapable. He could stand between the girl and death without a second's hesitation; but he could not live and sacrifice his happiness to hers.
Again the hot blood mounted to his forehead and slowly sank again. And in those few moments Noel Wyndham stepped into manhood and faced his soul anew. If she loved him, he would marry her and give her all he had; withholding nothing. She should not be a loser because she had loved him better than Max. ”

“ Hunt-Goring laughed in her face. "Oh, won't you?" he said. "I fancy you said that once before—and lived to regret it. It really is not wise of you to defy me. I warn you! I warn you!" His hold tightened upon her with sudden brutality, quelling her effort at freedom. "There are worse things than marriage," he said. "Are you utterly ignorant, I wonder, or deliberately foolhardy? Why do you always force upon me the rôle of villain? I tell you again, you are not wise!"
"I don't know what you mean," Olga said. ”

“ Briggs! Darling, wouldn't you like to go upstairs and lie down again till it's over? Do, dearie! I'll look after Nick and Max."
But Violet's straining arms clung faster. "He'll follow me!" she whispered.
"No, indeed he won't, dear. I won't allow it," said Olga, and she spoke with absolute confidence born of this new, strange feeling of power. "You needn't be afraid of that," she said, with motherly, shielding arms about her. "Won't you go with Mrs. Briggs? I will come up presently. Really there's nothing to be afraid of. The storm won't hurt you." ”

“ Daisy acknowledged it without argument.
"But Olga!" she said. "Olga can't know."
"Perhaps not," admitted Hunt-Goring. "And—in that case—it would be advisable to leave her in ignorance; would it not?"
He took out another cigarette with the words, flinging her a sidelong glance as he did it.
But Daisy was silent, looking straight before her.
"Surely," said Hunt-Goring, through a cloud of aromatic smoke, "whether there is anything in the tale or not, the fewer that know of it—the better."
"Oh, I don't know." Daisy spoke as if compelled. "No woman ought to be married blindfold. ”

“ Olga had grown up, and was shedding her illusions one by one. Nick was a man and she was a woman. Therefore it followed as a natural sequence that though she was fully capable of understanding him, she herself was—and must ever remain—a being beyond his comprehension. Not superior to him; Olga never aspired to be that. But with her woman's knowledge she realized that even Nick had his limitations. There were certain corners of her soul which he could never penetrate. He would have understood the wild crying of her heart, but her steady stifling of that crying would have been beyond him. ”

“ Elephants too! He had left out the elephants, but they crowded in royal array into Olga's quick imagination. She and Nick would often go elephant-riding in the jungle. Mysterious word! It held her like a spell. Tall trees and winding undergrowth, a gloom well-nigh impenetrable, creatures that hid and spied upon them as they passed! Perhaps they would go tiger-hunting together. She thrilled at the thought, picturing herself creeping down one of those dim glades, rifle in hand, in search of the enemy. Nick would certainly have to teach her to shoot. ”

“ She had the same quick, pale eyes, with the shrewdness of observation that never needed to look twice, the same colourless brows and lashes and insignificant features; but she possessed one redeeming point which Nick lacked. What with him was an impish grin of sheer exuberance, with her was a smile of rare enchantment, very fleeting, with a fascination quite indescribable but none the less capable of imparting to her pale young face a charm that only the greatest artists have ever been able to depict. People were apt to say of Olga Ratcliffe that she had a face that lighted up well. ”

“ Violet laughed over her shoulder, an unlighted cigarette between her teeth. "You're hardly ever there."
"No. Well, it's a fact. I can't stand it. I'm a sociable sort of chap, you know. I like society."
"Why don't you marry?" laughed Violet.
"That's a question to which I can find no answer," he declared.
"Why—why, indeed!"
"Hateful man!" murmured Olga, looking after them. "How I wish he would go!"
"Leave them alone for a spell," advised Max. "Go and mend your stockings in peace! Miss Campion is quite equal to entertaining him unassisted." ”

“ And Death was the Lord of the high-born Ladye!
The beautiful voice throbbed away into silence, and the mandolin jarred and thrummed upon the floor. Violet Campion sat staring straight before her with eyes that were wide and fixed.
Olga jumped up impulsively. "Violet, why did you sing that gruesome thing? Do you want to give us all the horrors?"
She picked up the mandolin with a swish of its red ribbons, and laid it upon the piano, where it quivered and thrummed again like a living thing, awaking weird echoes from the instrument on which it rested. ”

“ Now I am cleared of that, do you think you owe me nothing more than an apology?"
"Oh, but, Max," she pleaded, "think of Noel! Think of Noel!"
"Well?" said Max, "then think of him! Don't you think he can make a better bargain for himself than marriage with a woman who doesn't love him best? Why, nearly every woman he meets falls in love with him, and could offer him more than you do. You women who are so keen on sacrificing yourselves never look at the man's point of view, and so the only thing he really wants, you make it impossible for him to get."
"Max! Max!" ”

“ Olga tilted herself over the side of the hammock and stood up. "You couldn't help not caring," she said. "But—you might have been a little kinder. You needn't have made her hate and fear you."
Max surveyed her grimly from under drawn brows. "My dear," he said, "you simply don't know what you are talking about."
That fired her. A quiver of passion went suddenly through her. She faced him as she had faced him in the old days with a courage that sustained itself.
"Indeed, I know!" she said. "Better than it is in your power to understand. ”

“ He clasped her hands tightly as he lay. "Don't cry, sweetheart!" he whispered. "You're not crying—for me?"
"I can't help it," she whispered back. "I can't bear to think of you suffering,—you, Noel, you!"
"Don't cry!" he said again, and this time there was a hint of grimness in his voice. "I shall win through—somehow—for your sweet sake. Maloney told me I wasn't blind just now. That, I know, was a lie. Or at least he didn't believe it himself. Personally I feel as if my eyes have been blown clean out of my head. But—blind or otherwise—I'll stick to it, I'll stick to it, Olga. ”

“ A man—wild, unkempt, ragged—tore like a maniac over the polished floor, making for the group at the table, waving one skinny arm.
"Noel! You damn' fool! Leave the thing alone!"
Noel whizzed round with the key in his hand. "Hullo,—Nick!" he said.
"Leave it alone! Leave it alone!" The voice dropped to a hoarse croak. The man was close to the table now, and in amazement Olga recognized the face of the old moonstone-seller. But it was convulsed with a terror such as she had never seen on the face of any man.
The bony hand darted out towards the casket, and her heart stood still. ”

“ Olga laid a restraining hand upon the hammock. "But do you like him, Nick? Honestly now!"
"My dear child, I never like anyone till I've seen him at his worst.
Drawing-room manners never attract me."
"But this man hasn't got any manners at all," objected Olga. "And he's so horribly satirical. It's like having a stinging-nettle in the house. I believe—just because he's clever in his own line—that he's been spoilt. As if everybody couldn't do something!"
"Ah! That's the point," said Nick sententiously. "Everybody can, but it isn't everybody who does. ”

“ She gave a little shudder. Even in that brilliant warmth of sunshine she was conscious of a sense of chill. "I mean—the killing," she said. "It seems to me one could never forget that. It—it's such a frightful responsibility."
"It's all part of the game," said Noel. "I couldn't kill a man on the sly. But when the chances of being killed oneself are equal—well, I don't see anything in it."
"I see." Olga was silent a moment; then, with a curious eagerness: "And was that what you were thinking of that night when you told Peggy that sometimes it was the only thing to do?" ”

“ They passed at length around a buttressed corner and so on to the yew-lined drive that led to the front of the house. The Gothic archway gaped wide to the spring sunshine. Olga came swiftly to it, and there stood suddenly still.
"Nick!" she said. "Nick!"
Her voice was vibrant, her eyes widely staring into the gloom within.
He slipped his arm about her, that wiry arm of great strength that had served her so often. "I am here, darling," he said soothingly.
Olga turned to him in piteous appeal. "Nick," she whispered, "where is she? Where? Where?" ”

“ For Hunt-Goring was not an easy man to thrash. Ten years before, he had been the strongest man in his regiment, and he was powerful still. Before Noel could strike again, he was locked in an embrace that threatened to crush him to a pulp.
In awful silence they strained and fought together, and in a second or two it came to Noel through the silence that he had met his match. The Irish blood in him leaped exultant to the fray. He laughed a breathless laugh, and braced his muscles to a fierce resistance. He had been spoiling for a fight with this man for a long time. ”

“ Wait!" She suddenly started, with caught breath. "Are we alone?"
"Mrs. Briggs is outside, dear," Olga told her gently.
"Oh! Dear old Nanny! She would never hold me back. She would understand.
Do you remember how she told us—that afternoon—about her mother?"
Yes, well Olga remembered. She had never forgotten. Back upon her mind flashed that vivid memory, and with it the memory of Max's eyes, green and intent, searching her face on the night that he had asked, "What do you know about the pain-killer?"
Violet's voice brought her back. "Where is he, Allegro? Is he still here?" ”