"Well―"
"And so―"
They both hesitated. Rampole felt a little unreal, and his heart was pounding with enormous rhythm. All about them the yellow sky had changed to a darkling light edged with purple. The fragrance of the hedgerows had become almost overpowering. Her eyes were very strong, very living, and yet veiled as though with pain; they went over his face with desperate seeking. Though he was looking only there, he somehow felt that her hands were extending….
He caught her hands. "Let me walk home with you," he said, heavily; "let me―"
"Ahoy there!" boomed a voice from up the lane. "Hold on! Wait a minute."
Rampole felt something at his heart that was like a physical jerk. He was trembling, and he felt through her warm hands that she was trembling, too. The voice broke such an emotional tensity that they both felt bewildered; and then the girl began to laugh.
Dr. Fell loomed up, puffing, out of the lane. Behind him Rampole saw a figure that looked familiar; yes, it was Payne, with the curved pipe in his mouth. He seemed to be chewing it.
Dread, coming back again after a few brief hours….
The doctor looked very grave. He stopped to get his breath, leaning one cane up against his leg.
"I don't want to alarm you, Dorothy," he began, "and I know the subject is taboo; all the same, this is a time for speaking straight out―"
"Er!" said Payne, warningly, making a rasp in his throat. "The--er-guest?"
"He knows all about it. Now, girl, it's none of my business, I know―"
"Please tell me!" She clenched her hands.
"Your brother was here. We were a bit worried about the state he's in. I don't mean the drinking. That'll pass off; anyway, he was sick, and he was almost cold sober when he left. But it's the fright he's in; you could see it in the wild and defiant way he acted. We don't want him to get wrought up and do himself an injury over this silly business. Do you see?"
"Well? Go on!"
"The rector and your cousin took him home. Saunders is very much upset about this thing. Look here, I'll be absolutely frank. You know, of course, that before your father died he told Saunders something under a sort of seal of confession; and Saunders just thought he was out of his head at the time? But he's beginning to wonder. Now there may not be anything in this, but — just in case — we're going to keep guard. The window of the Governor's Room is plainly visible from here, and this house isn't much over three hundred yards from the prison itself. Do you see?"
"Yes!";
"Saunders and I, and Mr. Rampole, if he will, are going to be on the watch all the time. There'll be a moon, We can see Martin when he goes in. All you have to do is walk to the front of the lawn, and you have a good view of the front gates. Any noise, any disturbance, anything at all suspicious — Saunders and the young un here will be across that meadow before a ghost could vanish." He smiled, putting his hand on her shoulder. "This is all moonshine, I know, and I'm just a crazy old man. But I've known your people a long time — you see? Now, then, what time does the vigil commence?"
"At eleven o'clock."
"Ah, I thought so. Now, then, just after he's left the Hall, telephone us. We'll be watching. Naturally, you're not to mention this to him; it isn't supposed to be done, and if he knew it he might be in just such a state of nervous bravado to go the other way and block our plans. But you might suggest to him that he sit somewhere near the window with his light."
Dorothy drew a deep breath. "I knew there was something in it," she said, dully. "I knew you were all keeping something from me… O my God! why does he have to go, anyway? Why can't we break a silly custom, and―"
"Not unless you want to lose the estate," Payne said, gruffly. "Sorry. But that's the way it's arranged. And I have to administer it. I have to deliver several keys — there's more than one door to be got through — to the heir. When he returns them to me, he must show me a certain thing from inside that vault, never mind what, to show me he's really opened it.
Again the lawyer's teeth gripped his pipe hard. The whites of his eyes looked luminous in the dusk.
"Miss Starberth knew all that, gentlemen, whether the rest of you did or not," he snapped. "We grow frank. Very well. Permit me to shout my affairs from the church spire. My father held this trust from the Starberths before me. So did my grandfather, and his grandfather. I state these details, gentlemen, so as not to seem a fool for technicalities. Even if 1 wanted to break the law, I tell you frankly I wouldn't break the trust."
"Well, let him forfeit the estate, then! Do you think any of us would care a snap of our fingers―"
Payne cut her short, testily: "Well, he isn't such a fool, however you and Bert feel about it. Good Lord! girl, do you want to be a pauper as well as a laughingstock? This procedure may be foolish. Very well. But it's the law and it's a trust." He brought the palms of his hands together with a sort of hollow thock. "I'll tell you what is more foolish. Your fears. No Starberth has suffered harm like that since 1837. Just because your father happened to be near the Hag's Nook when his horse threw him―"
"Don't!" the girl said, wretchedly.
Her hand quivered, and Rampole took a step forward. He did not speak; his throat felt hot and sanded with fury. But he thought, If I hear that man's voice a minute longer, by God! I'll break his jaw.
"You've said enough, Payne, don't you think?" grunted Dr. Fell.
"Ah," said Payne. "Just so."
Anger was in the air. They heard a small noise of Payne sucking his leathery jaws in against his teeth. He repeated, "Just so!" in his low, dry voice, but you knew that he felt the licking flames.
"If you will excuse me, gentlemen," he continued, very impassive, "I shall accompany Miss Starberth… No, sir," as Rampole made a movement, "on this occasion, no. There are confidential matters I must express. Without interference, I hope. I have already discharged a part of my duty in handing over the keys to Mr. Martin Starberth. The rest remains. As — ah — possibly an older friend than the rest of you," his thin voice went high and rasping, and he almost snarled, "I may possibly be permitted to keep some matters confidential."
Rampole was so mad that he came close to an absurd gulp. "Did you say `manners'?" he asked.
"Steady," said Dr. Fell.
"Come along, Miss Starberth," said the lawyer.
They saw him shoot in his cuffs and hobble forward, and the white flash of his eyes as he glanced
his shoulder. Rampole pressed the girl's hand; then both of them were gone…
"Tut, tut!" complained the doctor, after a pause. "Don't swear. He's only jealous of his position as family adviser. I'm much too worried to swear. I had a theory, but… I don't know. It's going all wrong. All wrong… Come along to dinner."
Mumbling to himself, he led the way up the lane. Something cried aloud in Rampole's heart, and the dusk was full of phantoms. For a moment the released, laughing creature with the wind in her hair as she raced; the wistfulness of the square sombre face, wry-smiling on a bridge; the practicality, the mockery, the little Puckish humours; then suddenly the pallor by the hedge, and the small gasp when these terrors crept back. Don't let anything happen to her. Keep good watch, that no harm may touch her. Keep good watch, for this is her brother….
Their footfalls rustled in the grass, and the insect-hum pulsed in shrill droning. Distantly, in the thick air to the west, there was a mutter of thunder.
Chapter 5
Heat. Heat thick and sickly, with breezes that came as puffs out of an oven, made a gust in the trees, and then died. If this cottage had really been a Swiss barometer, the little figures would have been wildly swinging in their chalet now.
They dined by candlelight, in the little oak room with the pewter dishes round the walls. The room was as warm as the dinner, and the wine warmer than both; Dr. Fell's face grew redder as he kept filling and refilling his glass. But his blowings and easy oratory were gone now. Even Mrs. Fell was quiet, though jumpy. She kept passing the wrong things, and nobody noticed it.