meanwhile, an entirely different scene was being enacted in the drawing-room. all her life mrs. rent had lived most placidly. she had never been confronted with a crisis like this. indeed, the mere suggestion that such a cataclysm could have happened in the family would have moved her to gentle scorn. and now, on the spur of the moment, and almost solely upon her own initiative, she had to decide between her duty and her beloved son. it had cost her an effort to speak as she had done to kate charlock, and when she saw the half-wounded expression on the woman's face her heart smote her, and she became, for the time being, almost infirm of purpose.
still, the situation had to be faced. she had a stern and rigid duty both to her conscience and to the family whose name she bore. there was a curious vein of puritanism in her blood which came to her aid now. and it was very difficult, indeed, to stand looking at these two, to see her son advance with outstretched hands, and yet to hold back. he would have taken her in his arms and kissed her, but something warned him that the occasion was not opportune.
under her long lashes, kate charlock watched him demurely. why was he hesitating? it was necessary the fortress should be taken by storm. and arnold rent stood there shyly, his face downcast like that of a child detected in some fault.
"mother," he murmured, "have you nothing to say to me? have you no kind of welcome to offer to-night?"
the words were pleading and almost passionate, but seemingly they did not move mrs. rent at all.
"i am at a loss to understand why you are here," she said.
"why i am here?" arnold echoed. "where else could i go? when you have heard all the circumstances of the case——"
"i have heard them already. mr. westlake came down on purpose to tell me. come and stand here where i can see you—where the light shines full upon your face."
arnold rent came obediently a step or two forward.
"strange," the mother murmured. "you have not altered. to all outward appearances you are still the man of honour and integrity you used to be. and yet you can commit this crime and come here to boast of it without the shadow of remorse, even without a word of apology. it seems incredible."
"but what apology should i make?" arnold demanded. "what have i done that you should speak to me like this?"
"you ask me what you have done! are you so blind as not to see the results of your indiscretion?"
kate charlock raised her head suddenly.
"may i not be allowed to speak?" she pleaded. "is it not possible that when you come to hear my story——"
mrs. rent raised her hand imperiously.
"tell her to be silent," she commanded her son. "oh, i do not know what to do or what to say in such a crisis. is it not bad enough without bringing your partner in folly under this roof? to think that i should have lived to see a scene like this at alton lee! to think that i should be the instrument chosen by providence for the punishment of my own son! for that is what it comes to, arnold. i was stunned at first. i was unable to believe the evidence of my senses. but i begin to see my way clearly. the path of duty lies plainly before me."
there was something cold and chilling in the words. they filled kate charlock with dismay. all the world seemed to be slipping from under her feet. if the opportunity were lost, the chance would never come again. she darted forward and threw herself in an abandon of grief on her knees before the mistress of the house. the ready tears were streaming from her eyes. her beautiful features were almost irresistible in their entreaty.
"oh, won't you listen to me?" she said. "you are a kind, good woman; your face tells me that. and yet, though you would be good and generous towards the world, you decline to listen to one poor woman's story. can't you understand how one may suffer year by year until the strain becomes too great, and, in a moment of passing madness, sacrifice everything that a woman holds dear? that is my case exactly. oh, it is all very well for you, whose married life has been the path of happiness, to judge humanity from your own standpoint. but there are others——"
the woman's voice snapped suddenly like the breaking of a harp-string. she covered her face with her hands, her whole frame shaking with convulsive sobs.
nor was it all acting. for the time, kate charlock was convinced that she was the unhappy, abandoned wife of a man who had driven her almost to madness in one moment of divine despair. she thrilled with self-pity. she saw her airy castles crumbling to the ground. unless this old woman could be moved, there would be no rest for the sole of her foot at alton lee. the face that she raised once more to mrs. rent's dark eyes was stained with tears and broken with emotion. fighting for self-control as she was, helen rent was moved now as she had seldom been moved before.
"get up," she said, almost gently. "it is unseemly that you should be kneeling here. if you have a story to tell, i may be disposed to listen to it presently."
slowly kate charlock rose to her feet and felt her way across the room to a chair. she had made an impression. on that point she felt certain. if she could only remain here a week, or even a day, she had no fear of the result. alton lee was growing nearer. she began to see herself installed. she could hear the swish of the cards on the green-topped tables. she could imagine the rooms gay with the laughter of friends. but not yet, she told herself, not quite yet.
"i will say no more," she murmured. "indeed, when i came here i had no intention of speaking at all. i see now how wrong it was to come. but in the moment of my madness and despair——"
once more the pleading voice ceased. once more the ready tears rained down the beautiful white face. surely this was no abandoned creature, helen rent thought. surely john charlock had much to answer for. no woman could be bad with a face like that. if mrs. rent could imagine a saint stepping aside from the path of grace, then was kate charlock in similar case. and, in common fairness, most of the blame must fall upon the shoulders of her own son. a wave of madness must have come over him, in which he had forgotten everything excepting the features of a woman and his wild desire to sacrifice the world for her sake. other men, in most respects both great and good, had fallen in like manner. a score of them rose before helen rent's mental vision.
yet she must be firm. she must keep her head throughout this ordeal. her white lips moved rapidly in prayer for strength and endurance. kate charlock noted the flutter of those white lips, and her subtle instinct told her what was passing through the other woman's mind. as a child she had seen her mother at a crisis of her life praying in like fashion. the scene rose curiously before her mind. she could see it all as clear as if it had happened only yesterday.
"it seems to me that we are wasting time," mrs. rent said, presently. "i cannot ask you both to leave the house to-night, because that would be impossible, and there is nowhere else to go. but to-morrow will be different. i have made up my mind what i am going to do in your case."
"what is that, mother?" arnold asked.
"that i will tell you when we are alone. it only concerns our two selves. if you will come with me——"
"no," kate charlock cried. "let it be here and now. as for myself, i wish to be alone for a time in the open air."
without waiting for remonstrance on the part of either, she crossed the drawing-room and threw back the windows. she stood there with her face turned up to the purple glory of the summer sky. she saw the golden pageant of the stars; the flower-laden breath of the evening was infinitely cool and refreshing. here were the wide, trim lawns with their well-ordered flower-beds. here was the noble sweep of the stone terrace, and beyond it the dim vista of the park, with the trees floating in a mist like ships on a peaceful sea.
and all this was likely to be hers if she had but the skill and patience to play for it. there was no regret in her heart for john charlock. he had gone his own way. he had left her free to choose her own path. and there was always the chance of renewing the battle again on the morrow.
there were many cards to play, too, and if the worst came to the worst, kate charlock would play the great card of self-renunciation. she would offer arnold back to his mother. she would go out into the world alone, hopeless and penniless, to work out her own salvation. not in vain had she been studying helen rent's features, under the long fringe of her eyelashes.
"i wonder how he will manage it?" she murmured to herself. "i can stand here and listen, and if my presence becomes necessary, well, then, i shall be at hand."
