The Obstacle Race - Ethel May Dell (mobi reader android TXT) 📗

and only woman I worship--or have ever worshipped--and I can't see you in any other light."
"How dear of you, Dicky!" she murmured. "And how rash!"
"Am I such an unutterable prig?" he said. "I feel myself that I have got extra fastidious since knowing you."
She laughed at that, and after a moment turned with impulsive sweetness and put her cigarette between his lips. "You're not a prig, darling. You are just an honourable and upright gentleman whom I am very proud to belong to and with whom I always feel I have got to be on my best behaviour. What have you been doing all this time? I should have come to look for you if Saltash hadn't turned up."
Dick's brows were slightly drawn. "I've been talking to Jack," he said.
"Jack!" She opened her eyes. "Dick! I hope you haven't been quarrelling!"
He smiled at her anxious face, though somewhat grimly. "My dear, I don't quarrel with people like Jack. I came upon him at the school. I don't know why he was hanging round there. He certainly didn't mean me to catch him. But as I did so, I took the opportunity for a straight talk--with the result that he leaves this place to-morrow--for good."
"My dear Dick! What will the squire say?"
"I can manage the squire," said Dick briefly.
She smiled and passed on. "And Jack? What will he do?"
"I don't know and I don't care. He's the sort of animal to land on his feet whichever way he falls. Anyhow, he's going, and I never want to speak or hear of him again." Dick's thin lips came together in a hard, compelling line.
"Are you never going to forgive him?" said Juliet.
His eyes had a stony glitter. "It's hardly a matter for forgiveness," he said. "When anyone has done you an irreparable injury the only thing left is to try and forget it and the person responsible for it as quickly as possible. I don't thirst for his blood or anything of that kind. I simply want to be rid of him--and to wipe all memory of him out of my life."
"Do you always want to do that with the people who injure you?" said Juliet.
He looked at her, caught by something in her tone. "Yes, I think so. Why?"
"Oh, never mind why!" she said, with a faint laugh that sounded oddly passionate. "I just want to find out what sort of man you are, that's all."
She would have turned away from him with the words, but he held her with a certain dominance. "No, Juliet! Wait! Tell me--isn't it reasonable to want to get free of anyone who wrongs you--to shake him off, kick him off if necessary,--anyway, to have done with him?"
"I haven't said it was unreasonable," she said, but she was trembling as she spoke and her face was averted.
"Look at me!" he said. "What? Am I such a monster as all that? Juliet,--my dear, don't be silly! What are you afraid of? Surely not of me!"
She turned her face to him with a quivering smile. "No! I won't be silly, Dick," she said. "I'll try to take you as I find you and--make the best of you. But, to be quite honest, I am rather afraid of the hard side of you. It is so very uncompromising. If I ever come up against it--I believe I shall run away!"
"Not you!" he said, trying to look into the soft, down-cast eyes. "Or if you do you'll come back again by the next train to see how I am bearing up. I've got you, Juliet!" He lifted her hand, displaying it exultantly, closely clasped in his. "And what I have--I hold!"
"How clever of you!" said Juliet, and with a swift lithe movement freed herself.
His arms went round her in a flash. "I'll make you pay for that!" he vowed. "How dare you, Juliet? How dare you?"
She resisted him for a second, or two, holding him from her, half-mocking, half in earnest. Then, as his hold tightened, encompassing her, she submitted with a low laugh, yielding herself afresh to him under the old apple-tree, in full and throbbing surrender to his love.
But when at last his hold relaxed, when he had made her pay, she took his hand and pressed a deep, deep kiss into his palm. "That is--a free gift, Dicky," she said. "And it is worth more than all the having and holding in the world."


CHAPTER II
FRIENDSHIP

It was on a misty evening of autumn that Vera Fielding entered her husband's house once more like a bride returning from her wedding-trip. There was something of the petted air of a bride about her as she came in on the squire's arm throwing her greetings right and left to the assembled servants, and certainly there was in her eyes more of the shining happiness of a bride than they had ever held before. Her face was flushed with a pretty eagerness, and the petulant lines about her mouth were far less apparent than of old. Her laugh had a gay spontaneous ring, and though her voice still had a slightly arrogant inflection it was not without softer notes when she addressed the squire.
"I feel as if we had been away for years and years," she said to him, as they stood together before the blazing fire in the drawing-room. "Isn't it strange, Edward? Only three months in reality, and such a difference!"
He was lifting the heavy coat from her shoulders, but she turned with it impulsively and caught him round the neck.
"My dear!" he said, and clasped her coat and all.
"It is going to last, isn't it?" she said, her breath coming quickly. "You promised--you promised--to love me just as much if I got well!"
He kissed her with reassuring tenderness. "Yes, my girl, yes! It's going to last all right. We're going to make a happy home of it, you and I."
She clung to him for a few seconds, then broke away with a little laugh. "You'll have to hunt this winter, Edward. You're getting stout."
"And shoot too," said the squire. "There promises to be plenty of birds. We'd better have a party if you feel up to it."
She looked at him with kindling eyes. "I'm up to anything. I should love it. Do you think Lord Saltash would come?"
"We must certainly ask him," said, the squire. "But you're not to work too hard, mind! That's an order. Let people look after themselves!"
"I'll get Juliet to come and help me," she said. "She must have lots of spare time. By the way, they'll be here to dine in another hour. I must go and dress."
"Have some tea first!" he said. "They won't mind waiting."
She slipped her hand through his arm. "Come and have it upstairs! It really is late. We'll have a cosy time together afterwards--when they're gone."
He smiled upon her indulgently. They had grown very near to one another during their cruise in the _Night Moth_. To him also their home-coming held something of bridal gladness. He had never seen her so glowing with happiness before. The love that shone in her eyes whenever they met his own stirred him to the depths. He had never deemed her capable of such affection in the old days. It had changed his whole world.
They went upstairs together closely linked. They entered Vera's room from which she imperiously dismissed her maid. They sat down on the couch beside the fire.
"Do you remember that awful day when we quarrelled about Dick Green?" said Vera suddenly.
He kept her hand in his. "Don't!" he said. "Don't remind me of it!"
Her laugh had in it a thrill that was like a caress. "Wasn't I a pig, Edward? And weren't you a tyrant? I haven't seen you in one of your royal rages since. I always rather admired them, you know."
"I know you hated me," he said, "and I'm not surprised."
She made a face at him. "Silly! I didn't. I thought you the finest monster I had ever seen. So you were--quite magnificent." She put up a hand and stroked his iron-grey hair. "Well, we shan't quarrel about young Green any more," she said.
"I wonder," said the squire, not looking at her.
"I don't." She spoke with confidence. "I'm going to be tremendously nice to him--not for Juliet's sake--for yours."
"Thank you, my dear," he said, with an odd humility of utterance that came strangely from him. "I shall appreciate your kindness. As you know--I am very fond of Dick."
"You were going to tell me why once," she said.
He took her hand and held it for a moment. "I will tell you to-night," he said.
The maid came in again with a tea-tray, and they had no further intimate talk. The squire became restless and walked about the room while he drank his cup. When he had finished, he went away to his own, and Vera was left to dress.
Her maid was still putting the final touches when there came a low knock at the door. She turned sharply from her mirror.
"Is that you, Juliet? Come in! Come in!"
Quietly the door opened, and Juliet entered.
"My dear!" said Vera, and met her impulsively in the middle of the room.
"I had to come up," Juliet said. "I hope you don't mind, but neither Dick nor I can manage to feel like ordinary guests in this house."
She was smiling as she spoke. The white scarf was thrown back from her hair. The gracious womanliness of her struck Vera afresh with its charm.
She held her and looked at her. "My dear Juliet, it does me good to see you. How is Dick? And how is Columbus?"
"They are both downstairs," Juliet said, "and one is working too hard and the other not hard enough. I had to bring dear Christopher. You don't mind?"
"Of course not, my dear. I would have sent him a special invitation if I had thought. Come and take off your coat! We got in rather late or I should have been downstairs to receive you."
"Tell me how you are!" Juliet said. "I don't believe I have ever seen you looking so well."
"I haven't felt so well for years," Vera declared. "But I have promised Edward all the same to go up to town and see his pet doctor and make sure that the cure is complete. Personally I am quite sure. But Edward is such a dear old fusser. He won't be satisfied with appearances."
She laughed on an indulgent note, and Juliet smiled in sympathy.
"Well, you've given him good cause for that, haven't you? And you enjoyed the cruise? I am so glad you had good weather."
"It was gorgeous," said Vera. "I must write and tell Lord Saltash. He has given me the time of my life. Have you seen anything of him by the way?"
"Only once," said Juliet. "He came over to congratulate us. But that is some time ago. He may be at the other end of the world by this time."
"No, I think not," Vera said. "I believe he is in England. Was he--at all upset by your marriage, Juliet?"
Juliet laughed a little. "Oh, not in the least. He keeps his heart in a very air-tight compartment I assure you. I have never had the faintest glimpse of it."
"But you are fond of him," said Vera shrewdly.
"Oh yes, quite fond of him," Juliet's eyes had a kindly softness. "I have never yet met the woman who wasn't fond of Charles Rex," she said.
"Does--your husband like him?" asked Vera.
Juliet shook her head quizzically. "No. Husbands don't as a rule."
"Something of a poacher?" questioned