G. Sidney Paternoster

“ Guy had moved quietly away. She saw that the Witch had swung on the tide. She watched him weigh the anchor and get the boat under way with a curious fear in her heart; a fear for herself. In looks, in bearing, in his manner, he was every inch a man, a man that she loved. But he was a thief, the thief who had treacherously robbed the man who had been a father to her, a thief for whom the police were searching, a thief who might any day stand in the dock as a felon.
"Guy is a thief! a thief! a thief!" ”

“ When in response to the official summons Captain Marven returned to town he was more perturbed than he would have cared to confess, at the disastrous ending to Meriel's love affair. The intimacy of everyday life had only confirmed the favourable impression Guy had produced upon him, and he had looked forward with pleasure to welcoming him as a member of his family. But altogether apart from the question of his own gratification, he was deeply pained that a cloud should have cast its shadow on the girl's happiness, and he be able to do nothing to dissipate it. ”

“ Myra's countenance cleared and a happy smile shone on her face. She looked up at him expectantly.
"You can tell me how much you care for him," he continued. "I shall not reveal your confidence to Guy."
She dropped her eyes.
"I cannot tell anyone," she whispered with a strange shyness. [Pg 14]
Hora smiled whimsically. "What liars love makes of us all," he said. "Yet perhaps you are speaking truthfully. You cannot tell me what you do not know."
"I could die—die happily—for him," she murmured softly.
"Fools sometimes die for utter strangers," remarked Hora sardonically. "That's not love. ”

“ Myra rose from her chair, pale now with anger, "And now you insult me," she cried.
He would have interrupted her, but she overpowered his words with a torrent of her own. "Oh, you have the right to insult me as you please; I don't question it. Did you not buy me, as you have told me often enough, body and soul for a piece of gold and a bottle of gin. The master cannot insult the slave, you will say. I suppose I ought to smile at your reproaches, but when you accuse me of having driven Guy away—it is too much, Commandatore. ”

“ The hour has passed. Oh! Guy, Guy!"
Lynton Hora turned upon her fiercely. "Is this a specimen of your self-control?" he said. "Haven't you learned that in the profession Guy has adopted a thousand trivial events may supply reason for delay? Mind, if I have any snivelling I withdraw my promise."
Myra was constrained into silence. She went to the window. Already the black night had given place to the grey mists of coming dawn. She looked out over the park. Uprising from the sea of shadows objects began to emerge. From the near distance the music of violins and harps throbbed to a waltz measure. ”

“ Hora shrugged his shoulders. "You have the whole world to choose from," he sneered. "Go where you like; your native gutter is about the only place which is really suitable, but I don't care where you go so long as you do not cross my path again."
For the first time Myra looked up. She met his glance, and so fierce an anger blazed in his eyes that a thrill of physical fear passed through her. Had she been in her normal condition the anger would have awakened an answering flame in herself. ”

“ His anger had carried him out of himself, and too late Hora perceived that his virulent tongue had said too much.
Guy had drawn himself up, pale with anger.
"Sir," he said, "I must ask you to leave me to myself. I cannot listen to abuse of one who is more to me than anyone else in the world."
Hora strove to undo the effect of his words. "Chivalrous as ever, Guy," he remarked quietly, though despite his intention a sneer curled his lips at what appeared to him a ridiculous exhibition of sentimentalism. ”

“ The man she had learned to love was a thief—a thief. She told herself fiercely that she no longer loved him, that she had never loved him, but the ache at her heart gave the lie to the declaration.
The perpetual ache at her heart! If she could only have shared the burden with Mrs. Marven, taken advantage of her Aunt's sympathetic counsel, sobbed out her trouble and her despair on that motherly breast, the pain would have been easier to bear. But she could not do that. Thief though he was, Meriel could not betray Guy's confidence. ”

“ A hundred times a day Myra told herself that she would forget Guy, that she would tear every tender memory of him from her heart, and a hundred times a day her heart cried out passionately that forgetfulness were impossible, since every time she saw him her hunger for his love grew fiercer. ”

“ It had destroyed, though at the time he did not recognise the fact, the delight he had felt in being something apart from other men, the exhilaration of being in conflict with the world. The obvious scorn which the girl felt for the thief, her absolute belief that the idea of theft was as repugnant to him as it was to herself, were deadly blows to the philosophy which Lynton Hora fondly imagined he had planted so deeply as to be ineradicable. Guy felt that his belief was crumbling. ”

“ Myra was forced to protest. "To thrust myself on Guy. To be repulsed—the shame of it, Commandatore," she answered weakly.
"Bah!" replied Hora. "A man will fight for a woman, and take no shame in his repulse. Why not a woman for a man? Are you of such ordinary stuff, such common fustian, that you will tamely stand by while some milk-and-water chit takes your natural mate from you? You had better go back to the gutter, if so."
There was scorn in his words, scorn in the tone of his voice, and if Hora intended to rouse the woman's spirit the words did not fail of their purpose. ”

“ Whitsea lies on the estuary of one of those Essex rivers which flow into the North Sea through a wilderness of shallows. The visitor who goes to it expecting to find any one of the ordinary attractions of the average seaside watering-place may make up his mind to be wofully disappointed. But the visitor with a delight in the unconventional and the unhackneyed need not fear boredom. The salt marshes which border the river for miles have a wild beauty entirely their own. Flowers grow there as if the sea were no enemy to them. ”

“ Guy began to feel as if some unknown agency were at work to deprive him of his senses. Myra's words dwelt in his mind. "The fire is alight in us both, Guy. Ought we not to make the most of the fire before it burns itself out?"
There was a murmur of voices in the hall. Guy listened. Perhaps the Commandatore had returned. A door closed sharply. There was no other sound. He realised then that the servants had gone. He was alone with Myra in the flat. ”

“ A thousand vague possibilities floated, shadow-like, before Hora's eyes. He determined that the acquaintance should be continued, but still fearful, he determined also that Guy should be plunged more deeply into the vortex of crime than hitherto, so that, struggle and strive as he might, he should find it impossible to escape. Fortunately for his purpose, Guy had expressed himself as hungering for further adventure. Well, Hora was fertile of plans, and he saw very good reasons why Guy's desires should be humoured. His household saw nothing more of the Commandatore that day. ”

“ Naturally the latter could not have failed to observe the admiration which Guy Hora exhibited toward Meriel. It was patent in his every glance, and he made no effort to conceal it. He approached Meriel with the proud assurance of the man who feels that he has the right to lay the tribute of his admiration at the feet of the woman whom he admires, and is not ashamed of letting the whole world perceive upon whom his choice had fallen. ”

“ The old woman struggled to her feet. "Blimy! If it ain't the Master hisself," she wheezed. "What's brought you down here again so soon?"
"What else should but the desire to see you a reformed character, the desire to read the Bible to you, pray with you with the object of ending your days in the workhouse like a decent Christian woman. Ha—ha—ha!" He laughed at his own ribaldry.
"He! He! He!" the old woman cackled in response. Her pallid, pendulous, flabby cheeks flapped as she shook with merriment. ”

“ He was surprised to see the tears trickle down her cheeks and the corners of her mouth turn downwards. There had been no snivelling about Myra in the past.
"I could not help Guy going. He does not love me," she said meekly.
Hora's scorn could no longer be restrained. "Love," he sneered. "The world is mad on the subject, the besotted idiocy of immature brains. Because a girl would and a boy won't a man's plans and schemes are to be wrecked. I'll be alone in future. You can take yourself off as soon as you like." ”

“ As Guy grew older, Hora sedulously built upon the foundation of disbelief which he laid down as the basis of the boy's education. Guy was taught that religion was merely the means by which a priestarchy levied toll upon the body corporate by playing upon inherited superstitions—while history supplied him with plenty of illustrations. History supplied him, too, with plenty of examples to point the arguments with which he supported what was in effect a complete criminal philosophy. Guy was not taught only that atheism was the hope of humanity. ”

“ Hora shrugged his shoulders. "Men are men," he said. "You may be having visitors who might hardly like to come here. Eh?"
Guy smiled.
"I see it is possible," continued Hora, smiling in his turn. "Then there are others whom I might not wish to meet. The men of your own years with whom you mix, with whom you must mix if you are to keep your position, will probably be often dropping in on you. I am getting of an age, Guy, when I might find their presence, I will not say distasteful, but just a little wearisome. At chambers of your own you will be much freer in that respect." ”

“ Meriel loved the sea. Guy was equally fervent in his adoration, and there, ever before them, was the means of gratifying their desires in the shape of the graceful ten-ton cutter Witch lying at her moorings opposite the house, or the rightly christened little eighteen-footer Dainty, which ever seemed to chafe at the chain which saved her from going adrift. ”

“ At a little distance he will be more clear-sighted. A woman is like any other work of art. Her beauties are invisible unless seen in proper perspective. While you live in the same house he will never realise that you may be more than a sister."
"Then you think——" she asked.
"I am sure of it," replied Hora decisively. "It is to give you the chance you desire that I have persuaded Guy to live apart from us awhile, for that and in order to discover something about a rival whom I suspect you may have." ”

“ He allowed for Guy's youth. Youth was ever impressionable and romantic, changing in its fancy, and ever amenable to the mutable feminine. Once let him be removed from the presence of Meriel Challys and Hora thought that Guy might be weaned from his obvious infatuation. Indeed, there was a probability that his romantic imaginings might be turned to account. The young man, floundering out of his depths in the quicksands of romantic imaginings, might be easily captured by the wiles of a really clever woman. ”

“ Presently tears came to Myra's relief, the crystal drops broke through her fingers. She lay back in the chair exhausted by the cyclone of passion.
"I have something yet to say, Myra," remarked Hora quietly. "I believe you when you say that you have done nothing to drive Guy away, but that belief makes it necessary [Pg 142] to look for another explanation. Guy is of the age when there is only one possible explanation. He is blind to your beauty, Myra; have you any idea as to any other woman who is likely to have attracted him?" ”

“ Despite the smile, however, he was conscious of a vague sense of uneasiness at the persistent scrutiny which Flurscheim was bestowing upon the box. There are times when the fear of being found out bears a marvellous similarity to the prickings of conscience, and certain inward twitches which he felt made him supremely uncomfortable. Hitherto he had always been able to justify his actions by means of Lynton Hora's philosophy, but now he realised in a flash that he would not longer be satisfied by justification in his own eyes. ”

“ Her only chance! In one or two brief hours she must bind Guy to her indissolubly. Hora had taught her, without ever once uttering a word which might offend, how she could win him if she so chose. He had insisted upon Guy's chivalrous nature. He had insisted, too, that the most Puritanical of men could be fascinated by an appeal to the senses. Thoughts came to her which set her cheeks burning. But she could not banish those thoughts. She remained motionless until a maid appeared to ask if she could see Madame Gabrielle. ”

“ The door opened and a servant entered with coffee, and while he was present the conversation passed lightly over topics of the day.
"I don't like that man," said Guy, as the servant withdrew. "I caught him prying about amongst my belongings the other day when I returned to the flat unexpectedly."
"All servants do that," murmured Hora indifferently. "Curiosity is the mental badge of servitude. The servant is never happy until he has surprised one of his master's secrets. It would be just as well, Guy, if you were to supply him with a few facts to exercise his imagination upon. ”

“ But more bitter even than the knowledge of what his son had become was the realisation of the burden of duty which the revelation thrust upon him. As he realised his duty in the matter, Captain Marven's face was grey with anguish. He had found his son only to lose him again—to lose him amongst the yellow-garbed denizens of the convict prison. More, it was he who must, with his own hand, send him to that outer darkness. God grant that his son would be a man! God grant it! That was Captain Marven's earnest prayer.
Then his wife and Meriel? What if they were to learn of Guy's relationship. ”

“ It was the evening of the second day after Hora's exhibition of emotion upon hearing the name of Marven. He had not referred again to the object of his hatred, and neither Myra nor Guy, who sat with him at the table, had prompted his memory.
Guy looked round the room before he answered. He had been well trained in the observance of caution. But the servants had retired, the door was closed. The three were alone.
"All London offers replenishment of our empty coffers," he answered light-heartedly. "Who is to have the honour?" He turned to Myra. "Shall I peel a peach for you?" he asked. ”

“ Hora noted the glance.
"You will take me home again."
"There's only one perfect revenge upon a rival," Hora remarked, "and that is to steal away the rival's lover."
"You don't mean to tell me that Guy——" said Myra, heedless of the suggestion. She could not utter the words which would have voiced her fear that Guy had already given his love to another.
"I tell you that there is a chit of a girl in the country who, if she knew as much as you do, would have taken Guy from us long ago. Fortunately she is a fool, or Guy would be lost; as it is, Myra, your chance has not yet passed." ”

“ His voice dropped to a whisper again. "Guy's eyes have been closed to your beauty. Open them. He has yet to learn that a man's will dies when a woman's arms are around him, and her lips are pressed against his. Teach him the lesson, Myra, for I tell you that if such a passion as yours does not awaken a response in his heart, he is much less than man. You want to know how to make victory certain? Take lesson of Delilah, but do not let too many opportunities pass. Remember that once you win him he is won forever. I am on your side."
Myra listened, fascinated by Hora's subtle suggestions. ”

“ The awakening came when the storm, passing away, gave place to a golden sunset. Guy found himself far away from sight of human habitation, with the sea on one hand and on the other the saltings stretching away to the horizon. The passing of the storm brought no renewal of hope to him. He was wearied mentally and physically. He knew the direction in which Whitsea lay, and he turned his face towards it. ”