第56章 BOOK III:THE HEART OF MAN(9)

Quietly he repeated the last phrase."'But he is getting well fast and will soon be ready to take up the management of the Works which was given him just before he was taken ill.'That will show her that I am working up,"he brightly remarked as Doris carefully penned the last word."Of myself you need say nothing more,unless -"he paused and his face took on a wistful look which Doris dared not meet;"unless -but no,no,she must think it has been only a passing indisposition.If she knew I had been really ill,she would suffer,and perhaps act imprudently or suffer and not dare to act at all,which might be sadder for her still.Leave it where it is and begin about yourself.Write a good deal about yourself,so that she will see that you are not worried and that all is well with us here.Cannot you do that without assistance?Surely you can tell her about that last piece of embroidery you showed me.She will be glad to hear -why,Doris!""Oh,Mr.Brotherson,"the poor child burst out,"you must let me cry!I'm so glad to see you better and interested in all sorts of things.These are not tears of grief.I -I -but I'm forgetting what the doctor told me.You are growing excited,and I was to see that you were calm,always calm.I will take my desk away.I will write the rest in the other room,while you look at the magazines.""But bring your letter back for me to seal.I want to see it in its envelope.Oh,Doris,you are a good little girl!"She shook her head,and hastened to hide herself from him in the other room;and it was a long time before she came back with the letter folded and in its envelope.When she did,her face was composed and her manner natural.She had quite made up her mind what her duty was and how she was going to perform it.

"Here is the letter,"said she,laying it in his outstretched hand.

Then she turned her back.She knew,with a woman's unerring instinct why he wished to handle it before it went.She felt that kiss he folded away in it,in every fibre of her aroused and sympathetic heart,but the hardest part of the ordeal was over and her eyes beamed softly when she turned again to take it from his hand and affix the stamp.

"You will mail it yourself?"he asked."I should like to have you put it into the box with your own hand.""I will put it in to-night,after supper,"she promised him.

His smile of contentment assured her that this trial of her courage and self-control was not without one blessed result.He would rest for several days in the pleasure of what he had done or thought he had done.She need not cringe before that image of Dread for two,three days at least.Meanwhile,he would grow strong in body,and she,perhaps,in spirit.Only one precaution she must take.No hint of Mr.Challoner's presence in town must reach him.He must be guarded from a knowledge of that fact as certainly as from the more serious one which lay behind it.

XXVIII

I HOPE NEVER TO SEE THAT MAN

That this would be a difficult thing to do,Doris was soon to realise.Mr.Challoner continued to pass the house twice a day and the time finally came when he ventured up the walk.

Doris was in the window and saw him coming.She slipped softly out and intercepted him before he had stepped upon the porch.She had caught up her hat as she passed through the hall,and was fitting it to her head as he looked up and saw her.

"Miss Scott?"he asked.

"Yes,Mr.Challoner."

"You know me?"he went on,one foot on the step and one still on the walk.

Before replying she closed the door behind her.Then as she noted his surprise she carefully explained:

"Mr.Brotherson,our boarder,is just recovering from typhoid.He is still weak and acutely susceptible to the least noise.I was afraid that our voices might disturb him.Do you mind walking a little way up the road?That is,if your visit was intended for me."Her flush,the beauty which must have struck ever him,but more than all else her youth,seemed to reconcile him to this unconventional request.Bowing,he took his foot from the step,saying,as she joined him:

"Yes,you are the one I wanted to see;that is,to-day.Later,Ihope to have the privilege of a conversation with Mr.Brotherson."She gave him one quick look,trembling so that he offered her his arm with a fatherly air.

"I see that you understand my errand here,"he proceeded,with a grave smile,meant as she knew for her encouragement."I am glad,because we can go at once to the point.Miss Scott,"he continued in a voice from which he no longer strove to keep back the evidences of deep feeling,"I have the strongest interest in your patient that one man can have in another,where there is no personal acquaintanceship.You who have every reason to understand my reasons for this,will accept the statement,I hope,as frankly as it is made."She nodded.Her eyes were full of tears,but she did not hesitate to raise them.She had the greatest desire to see the face of the man who could speak like this to-day,and yet of whose pride and sense of superiority his daughter had stood in such awe,that she had laid a seal upon the impulses of her heart,and imposed such tasks and weary waiting upon her lover.Doris forgot,in meeting his softened glance and tender,almost wistful,expression,the changes which can be made by a great grief,and only wondered why her sweet benefactress had not taken him into her confidence and thus,possibly,averted the doom which Doris felt had in some way grown out of this secrecy.

"Why should she have feared the disapproval of this man?"she inwardly queried,as she cast him a confiding look which pleased him greatly,as his tone now showed.

"When I lost my daughter,I lost everything,"he declared,as they walked slowly up the road."Nothing excites my interest,save that which once excited hers.I am told that the deepest interest of her life lay here.I am also told that it was an interest quite worthy of her.I expect to find it so.I hope with all my heart to find it so,and that is why I have come to this town and expect to linger till Mr.Brotherson has recovered sufficiently to see me.