Mrs. Kent

“ At times Kent quite held his breath, so intangible and unreal seemed the loveliness that he was trying to imprison within the four edges of his canvas. At other times the dream-maiden fled, and in her place sat a girl, none the less beautiful, none the less charming, but real and bewitchingly human. It was at such times that Kent and his model talked. ”

“ Kent! Kent!"
They saw him, the man who loathed publicity, quail like a bashful youth, and saw the princess catch his hand and almost drag him toward the balcony. Then he seemed to recall something that must be done and braced himself, and strode forward. He stopped abruptly just inside the door and motioned to the king. The king smiled and stepped out, followed by the princess. Like the abrupt discharge of heavy guns the noise renewed as Kent followed them, and Von Glutz and Paulo, rigid, unmoved, came behind and took their posts in the background like watch dogs of state. ”

“ And bring us all something hot to drink. Quickly! We're half frozen and wet to our hearts!"
With considerable resentment she faced Kent, as if accepting orders from none other, and he, smiling sardonically, made a swift gesture commanding her to obey. She sniffed her nose high in the air, tossed her head and disappeared. The younger man, in the meantime, with an air of great weariness and dejection, dropped into a chair by the side of the fireplace, where he suddenly leaned forward until his elbows rested on his knees and held his white, well-kept hands toward the blaze. ”

“ Kent. "He has preserved such a freshness and sweetness through all the experiences of his student life."
"He is a nice boy," Anne responded cordially. "Only he's spoiled. You see, he is the only son of a wealthy father. He always wanted too many things and he always got them. He lives in spasms. An idea possesses him and he thinks it is the only idea in the world, until a new one comes. And he insists on immediate responses to all his demands. What he needs is discipline."
Mrs. Kent looked down and smiled. ”

“ Kent took it, twisted it into a knot, and with thumb and finger flipped it into the air. For a moment they looked at each other, Provarsk alert and with increasing insolence, the American humorously, and secretly pleased.
"Why, do you know," he said suddenly, almost as if speaking to himself and expecting no reply, "you are a lot more interesting and much smarter than I gave you credit for being? Somehow or another, though, I don't believe you are going to put it through. You don't dare to ruin a kingdom. You've called my bluff and now I call yours!"
The baron sneered. ”

“ The knowledge of her own heart does not come to a woman with the easy grace that your sentimentalists make out. It is somewhat of a fierce process, Kent. There is no royal road to it. Well, I know my own heart now, and I have bought the knowledge with agonies of suffering. Oh, Kent, my true, loyal Kent! I am tired, tired of hiding facts from myself, of acting in a wilful dream, in defiance of the promptings of my reason. I am a woman, and I ought not to confess things to myself, let alone to you. So people say—and people are so wise, aren't they? I love you, Kent. ”

“ Kent doesn’t like Ilse or me. She never says so but we feel it. She never asks us to stay to tea—and we’ve always been so polite to her. I believe she is jellus of us because Teddy likes us. Teddy gave me the sweetest picture of the Blair Water he had painted on a big white cowhawk shell but he said I mustn’t let his mother know about it because she would cry. Mrs. Kent is a very misterious person, very like some people you read of in books. I like misterious people but not too close. Her eyes always look hungry though she has plenty to eat. ”

“ Indeed there was but one person visible after Kent's hasty departure for the Market Place who did not seem anxious, that person being the chancellor himself. He strolled languidly into Kent's office within three minutes after the American had passed out, and looked for the King's Remembrancer. Not seeing him, he smiled slyly, took a seat, waited a few minutes, and then rang the bell that summoned Kent's secretary. That astute and well trained young gentleman entered the room and stood like a statue of respectful attention. ”

“ The falling of one of the beams of the ceiling could scarcely have proven more startling to the three refugees by the fireplace. The king pivoted in his chair and faced Kent with a look of consternation. The princess, aghast, opened her eyes widely, and the chancellor, bristling with annoyance, jumped to his feet and roared loudly, "What business have you listening? Do you know whom you are addressing?"
To a man who, throughout his life, had been accustomed to see his hearers quail when he vented that tremendous roar, the effect was more than disappointing. ”

“ Admiring and believing in Kent's new sincerity and new manliness, "Doc" felt the need of giving to the young man the support of his own firm position, and in the bulletin of the last happy change he linked the circumstance of Kent's splendid achievement. That Virgie had passed the last crisis of her long, uncertain tenure to life, and was now in the pathetic beginning of surety, was, it would seem, happiness enough to cause her friends the greatest ecstasy ”

“ Kent leaned back and laughed quietly.
"Listen!" he said. "There are just two ways of reasoning with a man who tries to throw you out of your own house. If he is big enough to do it, grin and move. If he isn't, call for the police or take a club and chase him into the middle of the next block. It appears they were strong enough to put you out, so—here you are!"
"No, you are wrong," disputed the king. "It was not the people who caused me to leave. It was my cousin, Baron Provarsk, who wants to rule in my place, and who laughs and snaps his fingers at any idea of reform." ”

“ Kent was guilty of pulling her through the gate, and then pushing her toward the house. “You go and do something for that poor girl. Pack her up and take her to town as quick as God'll let you. There's been misery enough for her out here to kill a dozen women.”
He watched until she had reached the porch, and then swung back to Hank, sitting calmly in the buckboard, with the lines gripped between his knees while he filled his pipe.
“I can take care of the man's side of this business, fast enough,” Kent confessed whimsically, “but there's some things it takes a woman to handle.” ”

“ At the same moment the door from the kitchen opened hurriedly, and the gnarled widow entered.
"Some one wants in—some one who raps on the outside door," she grumbled.
"Well, let them in," said Kent, and Ivan, reading his lips, straightened up and stepped backward to his corner intent on withdrawing himself now that others desired audience with his employer. ”

“ As Ashville became more puzzled Kent came to understand. Intuitively he gathered from the things he heard that she was suffering, not as the world is used to sorrow, but quite alone. Hers was a living coal burning within, away from all the balm of sympathy or of love. No words or caress could reach her grief and assuage because she could not reach it herself. It lay too deep, and, if it were not yet evident in her face, it was none the less there. Kent felt that the time must come when her strength would yield. ”

“ It was on the 29th October that I went into Kent for the second and last time. That was the occasion when my other sixpenny porter failed me by putting me in the wrong carriage of my train, whereby I found myself at Rochester when C. was waiting for me at Maidstone. When I reached her house (to hear that she was still abroad searching for me) or, rather, when we met at last at the compensating tea-table, and I had leisure of mind to appreciate my surroundings, I thought Kent even lovelier than in the month of hop and apple harvest. ”

“ Her face flushed, as if, in this turmoil, she had interpreted some hidden significance in his words; but she ran across the room, called the sentry from the corridor, and Kent heard her words.
"Send two men from the guard room at once to assist Mr. Kent. Then go—quickly—as fast as you can, and summon the court surgeon. Hurry! Mr. Kent asks you to. Go quickly!"
Ivan closed the door, dumbly, and the sound of her voice was cut off.
"Here, Ivan," Kent's lips moved as he turned his head toward his follower from the side of his own bed on which he had deposited the chancellor. ”

“ Kent's eyes glowed with interest.
"That guard of yours," he declared, "is due for a good commission after this is over. I seem to have overlooked him." He meditated for a moment, and then to the king's surprise, as if vastly relieved, leaned back in his chair and laughed.
"Amateur work, after all!" he declared. "I'm disappointed! Provarsk had me guessing, last night. I thought he was a much cleverer fighter than I had believed him to be. He always boggles in the end."
"I don't see the joke!" exclaimed the king, but more hopefully.
"Why, it is this way," explained Kent. "Plain as day now. ”

“ Ivan, without relaxing his hold, looked at his employer's lips.
"Don't kill him! For heaven's sake, don't kill him!" Kent muttered.
"I've got to choke his teeth loose. He has set them in the palm of my hand," the giant replied; but was saved from executing the baron, who at that moment dropped back inert, his face purple, and his eyes dazed with threatened unconsciousness. Unnoted by either Kent or the baron, an automobile horn had been tooting lustily outside, its mellow notes playing a trumpet tune that swept vigorously through the open windows. ”

“ Virgie took them hesitatingly, finally opening that of his father, and read. Afterwards she read his mother's words, and tears sprang to her eyes. Kent was looking far away, toward Landy, down in the remotest corner of the field.
"How perfectly beautiful!" she said sadly, as she read aloud the signature on the last letter, "Your Mother." "Mother!" she repeated. "How you must love her!" They stood in silence for some moments; then she asked: "Is she little?"
"Yes," Kent laughed despite himself. "But, why?" ”

“ It was then that she had given him that splendid view of her amazingly long lashes and had countered softly,
"What if you shouldn't die?"
Kent felt himself suddenly aglow with an irresistible appreciation of the genius of her subtlety, and with that appreciation came a thrill of deeper understanding. He believed that he knew why she had left him so suddenly. It was because she had seen herself close to the danger-line. There were things which she did not want him to know or question her about, and his daring intimation that she was hiding in Kedsty's bungalow had warned her. ”

“ Abruptly Kent scowled at him and stood erect. Almost resentfully, he said, "The princess requires no champion. She appears abundantly able to fight her own battles. Better, I might suggest, than some of those stalwarts around her."
Heedless of the chancellor's discomfiture, he walked around the desk and seated himself, with all the air of energy and business capability that dominated him when on guard. He folded the scattered papers, placed them in an envelope, put them back into the despatch box, and then brusquely turned toward the king. ”

“ But such incidents as this were exceptional, and, as a rule, Kent could not have cited a single instance of coquetry when he took his leave and returned to the attic. Nor did the passion she had aroused in him militate against the success of his enterprise, taking "success" to mean its completion by the given date. Perhaps he was more industrious, even, in the perception that she was always warmest when he had done the most. "I finished the thirtieth chapter last night!" Then she would be delightful, and if she had appeared harassed at all, her languor would speedily give place to gaiety. ”

“ Brian Kent bowed his head, reverently.
Rising, the old gentlewoman went close to him, and put her hands on his shoulders. “Brian, dear, I have told you my secret because I thought it might help you to know. Oh, my boy—my boy,—don't—don't let anything—don't let anyone—kill your faith in womanhood! No matter how bitter your experience, you can believe, now, that there are women who can be faithful and true. Surely, you can believe it now, Brian,—you must!”
And as he caught her hands in his, and raised his face to whisper, “I do believe, Auntie Sue,” she stooped and kissed him. ”

“ Kent observed.
"Your right they air, but they suits me the shorter they gits," "Si" said positively, and Kent smiled languidly, while another pause followed.
"Ain't y' goin' up? She's all alone," "Si" said after a time, and Kent arose and climbed the stairs quietly. Standing in the open doorway he leaned against the casement and watched Virgie. ”

“ He had loved Kent yesterday, when Kent had stood clean in the eyes of both God and men, and he still loved him today, when his soul was stained with a thing that must be washed away with his own life. ”

“ The boy hurried on and Kent looked after him.
A well shaped, well-poised head, a pair of square-cut shoulders, and an air of alert independence made the little fellow wonderfully attractive. The boy stopped at the third settee and threw his arms around the blind girl's neck.
“Well, by Jove!” ejaculated Kent, turning, and crossing the street. ”

“ Gradually a chill of fear crept over her. She fought with even greater persistency against it than she had done against the recognizing of Kent a few moments before; and yet it clung—clung with all the tenacity of evil, and she was brought to confess to herself that another secret had come to make her its guardian, and this last was the knowledge that the secrecy of Kent's exploit lay within her power, either to divulge or retain, to save him from disgrace. She had kept from her father Harvey's promise to write in the thought that he might never do so. ”