Margaret Pedler

“ The realization was bitter. Even though the woman who was his wife must always stand between himself and Nan, yet, loving her as he did, it had meant a good deal to Mallory to know that no other man had any claim upon her.
And earlier in the afternoon, just before the maid had intruded on them to deliver Rooke's telegram, it had seemed almost as if Nan, too, had cared.
A vague vision of the future had flashed through his mind—he and Nan never any more to one another than good comrades, but each knowing that underneath their friendship lay something stronger and deeper ”

“ For what had she to give in return for all the love he was offering her? Merely a little liking of a lonely heart that wanted to warm itself at some one's hearth, and beyond that a terrified longing to put something more between herself and Peter Mallory, to double the strength of the barrier which kept them apart. It wasn't giving Trenby a fair deal!
“Roger,” she said, at last, “I don't think I'd better belong to you. I must tell you. There is some one else—only we can't ever be more than friends.” ”

“ As he spoke, he held open the gate for Nan, who glanced round with lively interest.
“How beautifully clean it all is!” exclaimed Nan.
The whip smiled with obvious delight.
“If you keep hounds, miss, you must keep 'em clean, or they won't be healthy and fit to do their day's work. And a day's hunting is a day's work for hounds, and no mistake.”
“How like a woman to remark about cleanliness first of all!” laughed Roger. “A man would have gone straight to look at the hounds before noticing anything else!” ”

“ Kitty stirred idly in her hammock.
“You've let yourself in for it now, Roger,” she remarked. “Nan is the most impatient person alive.”
“Don't be alarmed by what Kitty tells you, Mr. Trenby.” Nan smiled gently as she spoke, and Roger delightedly watched the adorable way her lips curled up at the corners and the faint dimple which came and went. “She considers it a duty to pick holes in poor me, good for my morals, you know.” ”

“ Unmistakably, Maryon Rooke still meant a good deal to Nan, although Peter felt a certain consciousness that if he were to pit himself against Rooke he could probably make the latter's position very insecure. But was it fair?
She was not a woman to find happiness easily, and he himself had nothing to offer her except a love which must always be forbidden, unconsummated. In God's name, then, if Maryon Rooke could give her happiness, what right had he to stand in the way?
By the time the taxi had brought him to the door of Kitty's house, his decision was made. ”

“ Rooke was in love, if ever a man was.”
“Yes,” agreed Penelope slowly. “But I think Maryon Rooke is what I should describe as—a born bachelor. And I believe that Nan has such a tremendous fascination for him that he simply can't resist her. In fact, I think if the question of finance didn't enter into the matter, he'd be ready to shoulder the matrimonial yoke. But I don't see Maryon Rooke settling down to matrimony on a limited income! And, of course, Nan's own income ceases if she marries.”
“But Rooke will be making big money before very long,” protested Kitty. ”

“ She struck out, struggling gamely to her feet, but Vengeance, the untamed, heedless of the lash with which Denman scored his back a dozen times, caught at her ankle and she pitched headforemost into the steam of hot-breathed mouths and struggling bodies. She felt a huge weight fling itself upon her—and even as she waited for the agony of piercing fangs plunged into her flesh, Trenby caught the big, powerful brute by its throat and by sheer physical strength dragged the hound away from her. ”

“ Mallory made a quick gesture of dissent.
“Oh, yes, you have,” she insisted. “You're always giving and we just take! I never thought how hard a thing I was asking when I begged you to come down to Mallow while Nan was with us. Please forgive me, Peter!” Her voice trembled a little.
“My dear, there's nothing to forgive. You know I love Nan, that she'll always be the one woman for me. ”

“ He'll be one of the most fashionable portrait painters of the day. But until that day comes, Maryon isn't going to tie himself up with a woman whose income ceases when she marries. Besides, an unattached bachelor is considerably more in demand as a painter of society women's portraits than a benedict,” she concluded.
“So Nan is to be sacrificed?” threw out Kitty.
“It seems like it. And as long as Maryon Rooke occupies the foreground in her mind, no other man will be to her anything but a friend.” ”

“ You've said you'll marry me. I don't want to hear anything about the other men who were. I'm the man who is. And I'm going to drive you straight back to Mallow and tell everybody about it. Then I'll feel sure of you.”
Faced by the irrevocableness of her action, Nan was overtaken by dismay. How recklessly, on the impulse of the moment, she had bartered away her freedom! A voice inside her head kept urging: “Time! Time! Give me time!”
“Please, Roger,” she began with unwonted humility, “I'd rather you didn't tell people just yet.”
But Trenby objected. ”

“ Maryon Rooke, a rising young artist, had won Nan's love, but while he cared for her, he frankly admitted that art came first with him—and love a poor second, So he left London to go abroad and Nan felt that her moon was, indeed, out of reach, Several weeks after his departure Nan started to Exeter alone to play at a charity concert. On the way to the station her taxicab broke down and, in her anxiety not to miss the train, Nan hailed another cab whose solitary passenger was a man. During the drive to the station she learned that her good Samaritan was Peter Mallory. ”

“ Am I the first arrival?” she continued. “Where's Nan?”
“She and Peter are decorating the tea table, smilax and things, you know.” Penelope waved an explanatory hand.
“I think my plan was a good one, don't you? Peter's been an excellent antidote to Maryon Rooke,” Kitty observed complacently.
“I'm not so sure,” returned Penelope, with characteristic caution. “I think a married man, especially an unmarried married man like Peter, is rather a dangerous antidote.”
“Nonsense! They both know he's married! And they've both got normal common sense.” ”

“ Nan spoke from a nest of half a dozen cushions heaped together beneath the shade of a tree. Here she was lounging luxuriously while Kitty swung tranquilly in a hammock close by, Penelope had been invisible since lunch time. They had all been down at Mallow the better part of a month and she and Ralph Fenton quite frequently absented themselves. “Hovering,” as Barry explained, “on the verge of an engagement.”
“My dear, the longer I stay in town, the more thoroughly I enjoy the country when we come here. ”

“ Peter's face was rather white and set, but he managed to reply in a voice that sounded fairly normal.
“Kitty's very fagged and she's going to rest for a few minutes before dressing for dinner. She asked me to say good-by to you for her, Penelope.”
“Then it falls to my lot to speed the parting guest,” said Barry cheerily. “Peter, old son, can the car take you on anywhere after dropping Penny at the Mansions?”
Peter was conscious of a sudden panic. He felt that, at the moment, he could not endure the companionship of any living soul.
“No, thanks,” he answered jerkily. “I'll walk.” ”

“ CHAPTER VIII. Having secured Kitty's forgotten fan, Mallory absent-mindedly descended the long stone flight of steps instead of taking the lift, and regaining the street, hailed a passing taxi and drove toward Green Street, whither the Seymours' car had already proceeded.
As the driver threaded his way through the traffic, Peter's thoughts revolved round the scene which his unexpected return to the flat had interrupted. There was only one deduction to be drawn from it, which was that Nan, after all, still cared for Maryon Rooke. The old love still held her. ”

“ Better not,” answered Roger, “They don't always like strangers.”
“I'm not afraid,” she replied mutinously. “Do just open the gate, anyway, please!”
Trenby hesitated.
“Well——” He yielded unwillingly, but Nan's eyes were rather difficult to resist when they appealed. “Open the gate, then, Denman.”
He stood close behind her when the gate was opened, watching the hounds narrowly, and now and again uttering an imperative, “Down, Victor! Get down, Marquis!” when one or the other of the great beasts playfully leaped up against Nan's side, pawing at her in friendly fashion. ”

“ I get the quintessence of enjoyment by treating Mallow as a liqueur.”
Nan laughed, but there was a faint flavor of bitterness in her laughter.
“Practically most of our good times in this world are only to be obtained in the liqueur form. The gods don't make a habit of offering you a big jug of enjoyment.” ”

“ She, too, like Mallory, reassured herself with the fact of his marriage, though the wife she had never seen and of whom Peter never spoke had inevitably receded in her mind into a somewhat vague and nebulous personality.
July in London, hot, dusty, and oppressive. Even the breezy altitude of the top-floor apartment could not save its occupants from the intense heat which seemed to be wafted up from the baking streets below. The flat was “at home” to-day, the festive occasion indicated by the quantities of flowers which adorned it. ”

“ That's why I won't come down to Mallow.”
“Doesn't need you?”
“No. The man she needs has come back. I can't tell you how I know, you'll have to trust me about that, but—I do know that Maryon Rooke has come back to her and that he is the man who means everything to her.”
“I don't think you're right,” Kitty said, in tones of conviction. “I don't believe she 'needs' him at all. I dare say he still fascinates her. He has”—she hesitated—“a sort of damnable fascination for some women. And the sooner Nan is cured of it the better.” ”

“ As she spoke, the maid, an improvement on their original “Adagio,” entered with a telegram on a salver which she offered to Penelope. The latter slit open the envelope without glancing at the address and uttered a sharp exclamation of dismay as she read the brief communication it contained.
“What is it, Penny?” Kitty asked quickly. “Not bad news?”
“It's for Nan,” returned Penelope shortly. “You can read it.” ”

“ Has my foot been bleeding like that?” she asked.
“Bless you, no, my dear!” Mrs. Denman, a cheery-faced country woman, had bustled in again with some long strips of linen for a bandage. “Bless you, no! That's just a drop of Condy's Fluid, that is, so's your foot shouldn't get any poison in it.”
“That's right, Mrs. Denman,” said Roger. “Give me that linen stuff now, and then get me some more hot water.”
Nan watched Trenby lift and skillfully bandage the injured foot. ”

“ He was looking rather drawn about the mouth, as though he, too, had passed through a big strain of some kind.
“I'm as right as rain, really,” called out Nan reassuringly. “If some one will only unpack the collection of rugs and coats I'm bundled up with, I can hop out of the car as well as anybody.”
Barry was already at the side of the car, and as he lifted off the last covering, revealing beneath a distended silk stocking the bandaged ankle, he exclaimed quickly:
“Hullo! This looks like some sort of damage. Is your ankle badly hurt, old thing?” ”

“ CHAPTER VIII. Mallow Court, the Seymours' country home, lay not a mile from the village of St. Wennys. A low, two-storied house of creeper-clad stone, it stood perched upon the cliffs, overlooking the wild sea which beats up against the Cornish coast. ”

“ Oh, old Sir Robert was Maryon's guardian till he came of age, and then, when Maryon decided to go in for painting, he presented him with the small patrimony to which he was entitled and declined to have anything further to do with him—either financially or otherwise. ”

“ You know a dozen men more suitable!” Kitty declared firmly.
“Do I? It seems to me I'm particularly destitute of men friends just now, either 'suitable' or otherwise. They've been giving me the cold shoulder lately with commendable frequency. So why not the M. F. H. and his acres?”
Kitty detected the bitter, hurt note in her voice, and privately congratulated herself on a letter she had posted the previous evening telling Peter that everything was obviously over between Nan and Maryon Rooke, as the latter had failed to put in an appearance at St. ”