Fay

“ All the same, Nelson looked very grave. "But we must hurry back to your cottage before there is anyone stirring."
They walked along silently, hand in hand.
"What are you thinking of?" asked Fay presently.
"The future. One day you'll grow homely and I'll grow fat, and people will wonder what that absurd old married couple can see in the other. But you will be seeing me as I am to-day, while to me you'll always be a slim, golden-haired fairy. And that's midsummer magic!" ”

“ Fay pranced off wildly, joyous over freedom that had not been granted her for weeks.
“Jane, why are children more sincere than grown-up persons?” asked Lassiter.
“Are they?”
“I reckon so. Little Fay there—she sees things as they appear on the face. An Indian does that. So does a dog. An’ an Indian an’ a dog are most of the time right in what they see. Mebbe a child is always right.” ”

“ Fay heard MacKeenon rounding the corner of the table and fingering the locked boxes.
“We’ll grant it!” snapped Sir Richard testily. “We’ll grant your talents. It is because of them that we have brought you here tonight! As man to man, Fay, we’re in a knot. I’m sure you are the one rogue in all the known world who can help us out. ”

“ It must be confessed that Miss Mordaunt was hardly the woman to be intrusted with a girl’s education. She was a gentle, shallow creature, with narrow views of life, very prim and puritanical—orthodox, she would have called it—and she brought up Fay in the old-fashioned way in which she herself had been brought up. Fay never mixed with young people; she had no companions of her own age; but people were beginning to talk of her in the neighborhood. Fay’s youth, her prospective riches, her secluded nun-like life surrounded her with a certain mystery of attraction. ”

“ But Fay turned a deaf ear to all this.
“And the fair-haired girl with the pretty smile; if you marry her, Erle?”
“In that case, my uncle would refuse to have anything more to do with me. No doubt he would disinherit me as he did his own daughter; and Percy would be his heir. Ah, it is all very well talking, Fay,” and here Erle looked at her rather gloomily. “I have never learned to work, and I should make a pretty mess of my life; it would be poor Mrs. Trafford’s experience over again.” And he shook his head when Fay suggested that Hugh should let him have one of his farms. ”

“ If there be one thing I hate, it is to outstay my welcome. I should be afraid of boring you both if I stayed much longer. Well, what now?” breaking off in some surprise.
“Ah, Erle!” exclaimed Fay, sorrowfully, the smiles and the dimples disappearing in a moment, “you are surely not going away yet. What shall I do without you?” continued the poor child. “Who will ride and drive and skate with me when you are gone?”
“Why, your husband, to be sure,” returned Erle, lightly; but he was watching her as he spoke. “You have not forgotten your husband, you naughty woman.” ”

“ Roden? It would give me the most unaffected pleasure. Like your father, Miss Fay, I, too, am unaccustomed to much going out, as you call it. I am as peculiar as he is. Let us acknowledge that we are all peculiar people, and that therefore there is the more reason why we should come together. Mrs. Roden, do not try to prevent an arrangement which will give me the greatest pleasure, and to which there cannot be any real objection. Why should not Mr. Fay make acquaintance with your son's friend? Which day would suit you best, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday? ”

“ I will come again, and again, and again, and I will tell Marion Fay that her counsels are unnatural and impossible. I will teach her to know that the man who loves her can seek no other wife;—that no other mode of living is possible to him than one in which he and Marion Fay shall be joined together. ”

“ Why had he ever believed in Fay and Michael? Had he not tacitly distrusted men and women always from his youth up? Had he not gauged life and love and friendship at their true value years ago? Why had he made an exception of this particular man and woman? They were no worse than the rest.
What was any man or woman worth? They were all false to the core. What was Fay? A pretty piece of pink and white, a sensual lure like other women, not better and not worse. And what was Michael but a man like other men, ready to forget honour, morality, everything, if once his passions were aroused. ”

“ Claudia knew she was taking in the idea, for whenever Fay wanted to reason with herself, she always thought in silence. She always took a special interval from life to do her thinking.
“But what am I to fight for?” she said at length.
“To keep your own respect and the respect and admiration of all who know you. Poor Jack loves you very much in his way, and he is distracted. Help to steady him, Fay. He is beginning to look at life more seriously. He admires you immensely as an artist, make him admire you as a woman. ”

“ Fay's brown eyes were opening wider and wider as she listened. "Papa gave me a lot of pennies to send a vantaline to Cousin Daisy, but I'd rather send a rubber vantaline to Dinah."
"You little darling!" cried Lilla, kissing her, "you're a lesson to us." Then, turning to Margie: "I guess if baby can give her money, we can. Let's go right down for the rubbers, and send them in valentine style, as Fay proposes. Yes, of course Fay shall go too," she added, noticing the large eyes turned questioningly to hers. ”

“ What a child you are, Fay; one can never make you understand things. No, I am going up to London to get what I want, and meet Egerton and Powis, the other fellows who are to join us. I shall sleep at the club to-night, and you may expect me to be down to dinner to-morrow. The next day—” here he hesitated; “well, there is time enough to talk of saying good-bye then.”
“Yes, yes, I understand now. Go and get ready; and, Hugh, don’t forget to kiss baby.”
“All right,” he laughed good-humoredly; and then Fay stood quite still, holding the table, till he came back. ”

“ The small service he had rendered Fay linked itself to a wish to do something more for her—he did not know exactly what—but something larger than to-day. Any fool, any bucolic squireen, could have given her a lift home on a cob. He would like to do something which another person could not do, something which would cheer her, console her, and at the same time place him in a magnanimous light.
We all long for an opportunity to act with generosity and tenderness to the one we love. ”

“ I have known something of that, my lord, and have felt—at any rate I have seen—its bitterness. Marion Fay would fade and sink to nothing if she were subjected to such contumely. To be Marion Fay is enough for her. To be your wife, and not to be thought fit to be your wife, would not be half enough."
"She shall be thought fit."
"You can make her Lady Hampstead, and demand that she shall be received at Court. You can deck her with diamonds, and cause her to be seated high in honour according to your own rank. ”

“ But the housekeeper, as she ended her little speech with an elaborate courtesy, was marveling in her kindly heart what on earth had possessed her master to bring this lovely child to be the mistress of Redmond Hall.
“Thank you, very much,” returned Fay, timidly, and her sweet face flushed as she spoke. “I trust we shall soon become good friends. I know how you all love my dear husband, and I hope in time that you will be able to love me too for his sake.” ”

“ Bonnie Bess hailed her mistress with delight, and Fay resumed her old rides and drives; only her husband was always with her. Hugh found out, too, that her clear intelligence enabled her to enter into all his work, and after that he never carried out a plan without consulting her; so that Fay called herself the busiest and happiest little woman in the world. ”

“ Fay accepted all these things with the abstract air of one born lucky. He did not understand the meaning of it all. Discharged prisoners, or those released by order of the Home Secretary, were fitted with H.M.P. garments made of shoddy by piece-work convicts whose hearts were elsewhere when they worked.
“Hall ready, sir?” asked the red-faced guard with strange civility.
Fay lifted his slender shoulders slightly, adjusted his cuffs, touched his cravat and faced the light which streamed in through the Bertillon room. He did not answer the turnkey. ”

“ And by and by, when the days grew a little cooler, Fay began to creep about the garden a little, and call herself well. Hugh drove her out once or twice in her pony-carriage; but she saw he did not like it, and begged him to let her go alone—such reluctant courtesies gave her no pleasure. But presently Erle came for a brief visit, and was her ready escort, and after that she really began to mend.
CHAPTER XXXI.
FAY’S MISTAKE.
She loves with love that can not tire,
And when, ah, woe! she loves alone
Through passionate duty love flames higher
As grass grows taller round a stone. ”

“ She was so plainly enjoying herself you see; and in her smile there was a confident expectation of friendliness that touched the hardest heart. In the ruthless and artificial world that centers on Broadway, a thing so sweet and natural was simply irresistible. In a single season the whole town took Fay Brunton to its breast.
My employer, Madame Storey, who knows everybody in the great world, had become acquainted with Fay, and through her I had met the girl. By degrees, I can hardly say how, Fay and I had become intimate friends. She brought color and incident into my life. ”

“ Fay lay on a couch in her bedroom looking very lovely, in her white tea-gown trimmed with lace, with her brown hair hanging in long plaits, and a little rose-leaf color tinting her cheeks. She was listening with a beating heart for the well-known footsteps; as they sounded at last in the corridor and she heard his voice speaking to Ellerton, she sat up, flushed and trembling, and under the soft shawl something that lay hidden stirred uneasily as she moved.
“You must not excite yourself, my lady,” observed the nurse, anxiously ”

“ Storey, “and give it to her maid to keep until Fay returns from the theater. You may let the maid have a peep at it as a great favor. This ought to put you on an intimate footing at once. You will no doubt find her packing her mistress's things for the journey to-morrow.
“It will seem quite natural for you to show curiosity in Fay's pretty things. Take plenty of time. Fay cannot get home until nearly six, if she comes at all. Ordinarily, on matinée days she has dinner in her dressing room. I want you to find out what Fay was doing on the night of September 11.” ”

“ Yes, she who had parted dry-eyed from her lover wept bitterly for the deceived and unhappy wife.
“Why do you cry, Miss Ferrers?” asked Fay, in the same subdued voice. “It seems to me that if God would take us both it would be so much better for us all. Nobody wants us”—and here her lips quivered—“and I should not like my baby to live without me. What could Hugh do with it, you know?”
“My child,” replied Margaret, checking her sobs, “is this your faith? is this your woman’s courage? Would you who love him so be content to die without winning your husband’s heart?” ”

“ What poor Carlo had helplessly called her 'seriousness' I had remarked about Fay just lately; and the forced comedy of my entrance to combat it was part of the woe-begone air with which he usually tried to appease and lighten it.... It was, as I had noticed, as though a fleeting shadow of thought, in brushing across her face, had been seduced to stay beyond its first impulse; and there's nothing in the world so satisfying to watch as a young serious loveliness, so it be without guile. ”

“ In appreciating our own condition we are so apt to forget what is the condition of others! To Marion Fay it was a strange event to have to dine at your house,—and strange also to receive little courtesies such as yours. It is hard for you to conceive how strongly the nature of such a girl may be effected by novelties. I have almost regretted, Lord Hampstead, that I should have consented to take her there. ”

“ An under-steward came from aft and stared about the room. Fay leaned over a little table, whispered “hot Scotch” and rubbed his hands from which the oakum stains had almost been effaced.
He turned then, and stared point-blankly at the players. The man with the glasses faced him. There was a scar on the chin. There was a firm set to the mouth. There was that which told of a young man who had the oldest face in the world. It was Broadway-trained and set to the wise leer of an international swindler.
“Um,” thought Fay, crossing his leg and intensifying his stare. “Ump!” he added under his breath. ”

“ The inspector hesitated, walked to the door, turned the key and passed out into the hallway.
The door closed as Sir Richard rubbed his hands, eyed Fay with interest, and leaned back in the chair.
“Now,” he said, “we are alone. I’ve no doubt that you can get away. In fact I’d hate to match myself against you, Fay. We have your record, you know.”
“A lot of it isn’t true!” said Fay bitterly. “You people are always making up things. I didn’t turn that trick in Hatton Gardens. Why, do you think I’d work without gloves?” ”

“ Lord Hampstead when he was alone immediately decided that he would like to have Marion Fay for a friend, and not the less so because she went to church. He felt that she had been right in saying that audacity in speculation on religious subjects was not becoming a young woman. As it was unfitting that his sister Lady Frances should marry a Post Office clerk, so would it have been unbecoming that Marion Fay should have been what she herself called a heathen. ”