that highest hope, long abandoned, should thus suddenly return within his reach, staggered john aggett, and went far to upset the man’s mental equilibrium. indeed, it had been but a little exaggeration to describe his mind as, for the time, unhinged. the splendour of his changed position dazed him. joy and bewilderment strove for mastery, and from a medley of poignant sensations was bred the passionate desire of possession, and a wild hunger to secure for his own what had been withheld so long.
sarah belworthy, for her part, experienced great turbulence of conflicting fears. her mind was fixed, yet had something in it of absolute terror, as she reflected upon the recent interview. she had offered herself to him as a sudden inspiration; and now, retracing that fevered scene, john aggett’s frenzy of demeanour alarmed her much, for it was a revelation of the man she had not encountered until then. presently an answer came to her puzzled mind—a solution of a sort that made the blood surge hotly to sarah’s face. could it be that she had offered herself where she was wanted no more? p. 95had john’s chivalry alone been responsible for his ready undertaking to receive her back? she nearly screamed in the silence of her little chamber at this thought; she desisted from her labour of preparation and flung herself upon her bed in secret shame. but reason quickly banished the fear. she remembered the man’s intoxication of joy, his delirious thanksgiving. she felt her bosom sore where he had hugged her to himself and praised the god of justice. next she retraced his subsequent display of passion, his extravagant utterances and threats. she realized very fully that he held the pending crisis as one of vital magnitude and knew that he was strung to a pitch far beyond any that previous experience of him had exhibited or revealed to her. she determined to give him no cause for further excitement and so returned to her work, wondering the while what this ingredient of fear might be that had entered into her emotions concerning him.
anon her thoughts passed to the other man, and the last struggle began. for his own salvation she was leaving him, but with natural human weakness she much desired that he should know of her great sacrifice in the time to come. that timothy should pursue his life in ignorance of the truth after she had departed was a terrible thought to sarah; but, since to see him again appeared out of the question, there remained a possibility that he would deem her p. 96faithless and worthless to the end. she knelt and prayed that the nature of the thing she had done might be revealed to him in fulness of time; and then her mind grew active in another direction and she marvelled why she had thrown herself back into her first lover’s arms and not taken his advice to remain free of both. her feelings toward aggett eluded all possibility of analysis or understanding. she fled from them to the task of setting her small possessions in order and packing her basket for the forthcoming departure.
sarah could not write, and she was unable therefore to leave any message for her parents. their anxiety must endure for the space of a day and night, but might then be allayed. she pictured herself dictating a letter to the scrivener at ashburton, and wondered what she should put in it.
as the time approached and the day died, the vision of timothy grew clearer and more clear. she saw his grief and indignation, his sorrow and dismay; she knew every line in his face which would contract, every furrow that would be deepened, at this event; and she speculated drearily upon his course of action and shivered at the possibility of a meeting between the men. her distraction did not obscure the drift of john’s last words, or blind her to the importance of keeping tryst at the beech, for he had made it clear that some disaster must p. 97overtake them if she delayed her coming beyond the rising of the moon. it wanted twenty minutes to eight when sarah started to meet the partner of her future life; and as her destination was only a short half-mile distant, she allowed ample time to reach it.
meantime aggett had passed down the hill five minutes sooner. it was a night of broken clouds. rapid motion in the direction of the zenith seemed imparted to the stars, as scattered vapour, driven before a light northwesterly breeze, passed across them. with ascending movement, the moon would presently mount a silvery stairway of clouds and pass swimming upward across one scattered tract of darkness to the next. the nocturnal world beneath was full of soft light and sweet spring scent. nature’s busy fingers moved about those duties men see not in the act. from umbels of infant chestnut leaves she drew the sheaths, loosed the folds of primroses and wood anemones, opened the little olive-coloured buds of the woodbine’s foliage, liberated the chrysoprase spears of the wild arums from the dry earth. a fern owl whirred and wheeled about a blackthorn tree that stood alone near aggett’s cottage door. green leaves now clothed it, where a few weeks earlier blossoms had made the tree snow white. the spring green of field and forest and hedgerow looked wan under the increasing light of the eastern horizon; valleyward a p. 98mist, born of recent rain, wound sinuously and shimmered opalescent, while above all loomed a background of night-hidden moor. viewed at this distance the waste returned no spark or twinkle from the sky, but extended, darkly and gigantically, along the horizon and made the upper chambers of the air shine out the brighter for its own dimensionless obscurity.
john aggett passed from the embrace of the night wind into the denser atmosphere of the woods beneath. a stream brawled beside him and ran before the cottage of the belworthys. here he dawdled a moment, half in hope to meet sarah; but he felt confident that she was in reality before him and would be waiting ere now at the beech. proceeding downward, he passed a young man leaning against a gate. the youth stood quite motionless, and over his shoulder aggett observed widespreading grass-lands. upon the expanse of dim green, parallel bars of faint light between equal tracts of gloom indicated that a roller had been passed regularly over the field to better its promise of future hay.
the man turned, and john, knowing the other for timothy chave, guessed that he awaited a companion. instant rage set his blood racing; the veins in his neck and forehead bulged; the muscles of hand and arm hardened, but he kept p. 99in shadow and passed upon the farther side of the road where the stream ran. timothy said “good night” in the voice of one who does not recognise him to whom he speaks; but aggett returned no answer and, satisfied that he had not been recognised, soon passed out of earshot. his mind was now darker than the shadows of the pine trees, fuller of brooding whispers than their inky tops; but he fought against foreboding with the full strength of his will, set presentiment of evil behind him, and lifted his voice and spoke aloud to cheer himself.
“her’ll be down-along; her’ll surely be down-along, dear heart, waitin’ for me. she knows nought about the chap standin’ theer. it can’t be. she’m strong set to follow, for ’tis the road of her own choosin’.”
he proceeded to the spot where sarah had first promised herself to him. the beech bole shone ghost grey; as yet no copper-coloured bud-spike had opened and aloft the thickening traceries, still spotted by a few seed-cases of last year’s mast, shewed in wonderful black lace-work against the silver sky. sarah belworthy was not visible, and aggett felt a mighty dread tightening at his stomach, like hands. he threw down his bundle and stick. then he listened awhile, only to hear the jolt and grind of a wood-sledge proceeding down the hill. p. 100he looked about him, calculated that it yet wanted ten minutes to moon-rise, then struck a light with a flint, puffed it into flame and sought idly for the initials and lover’s knot that he had set upon the beech. his work had suffered little since its first completion; but now it vanished, for, upon some sudden whim, the man fetched out his knife, obliterated the inscription with a few heavy gashes, pared all away, and left nothing but a raw white blaze upon the bark. his own downcast condition puzzled him. now, albeit within five minutes of his triumph, now, while each moment was surely bringing sarah to him on tripping feet, he grew more morose and ill at ease. it was the thought of the other standing at the gate. once more john talked to himself aloud to cheer his spirit. “curse the fule—standin’ so stark as a mommet[100] to fright pixies. her won’t stop for him—never. her’ll come; her’s promised.”
he repeated the words over and over again like a parrot; but a voice, loud as his own, answered him and mocked him out of the darkness. his life and its futility reeled before him, like phantasmagoria upon the night. he stamped and swore to disturb the visions; but as he waited and listened for sarah’s coming, the past took visible shape again and summoned pictures of days gone by, when he went p. 101wool-gathering with little sally on the moor. no sound broke the silence, no footfall gladdened his heart. and then there floated out the moon over the black billows of the horizon. very slowly its silver ascended into the sky and rained splendour upon the nocturnal earth. the hour of moon-rise was numbered with time past and the world rolled on.
great floods of passion drowned the man. he flung himself upon the earth and beat the young green things with his clenched hands. the smell of bruised primroses touched his nostrils and in the spirit he saw sarah belworthy again bearing a great nosegay of them. she moved beside him through a bygone april; her laugh made music through the spring woods; her lips were very red; and round her girl’s throat hung a little necklace of hedge-sparrow’s eggs, blue as the vernal sky.
aggett arose, rubbed the earth from his knuckles and began to tighten the thong he wore about his waist. but the leather under his hands suddenly challenged his mind, and he took off the belt and examined it.
“her never loved me—never—never,” he said to the night. “to leave me arter what i said—to leave me now knowin’—’tis enough. i be tired—i be weary of the whole earth. her lied to me through it all; but i won’t lie to she.”
he flung down the belt, then picked it up again p. 102and removed a little bag that was fastened to it and contained a few shillings in silver. this he placed beside his bundle. then he flung the long snaky coil of the girdle upon the ground and stood staring at it.
elsewhere, sarah, hastening down the hill five minutes after john had noted timothy at the gate of the hayfield, similarly saw and recognised him. his presence reminded her of a fact entirely forgotten during the recent storm and stress. he was there by appointment and eager to hear the first rustle of his sweetheart’s approach. now her heart flogged at her breast and she felt her knees weaken. but she kept steadily on with averted face and instinct quick to find concealment in every shadow. she drew her hood about her and walked upon the grass by the wayside.
the man heard and turned, waking from a reverie. he saw his sweetheart even as she passed him by.
“sally! it is sally!” he cried.
she did not answer, though his voice shook her to the well-springs of her life; and he, supposing that she was about some lover’s pretty folly, laughed joyously and came after her. then she hastened the more, and he did likewise.
“a starlight chase! so be it, sweetheart; but you’ll have to pay a heavy penalty when i catch you!”
p. 103still she could not speak; then, perceiving that he must speedily overtake her, she found her tongue.
“for christ’s sake, doan’t ’e follow me! ’tis life—life an’ death. ban’t no time for play. turn back, tim, turn back if you ever loved me.”
her tone alarmed him and he hesitated a moment, then came steadily on again, calling to sarah to stop.
“tell me what’s amiss—quick—quick, dear one! who should help you in the whole world but your tim?”
now her quick brains had devised a means of possible escape. the stream that ran by the road here passed immediately under a high hazel hedge, and the bank had been torn down by cattle at one point. upon the other side of this gap extended a narrow meadow at the fringe of young coppice woods. once within this shelter sarah felt she might be safe. but there was not a moment to lose, for tim had now approached within fifteen yards of her. a thousand thoughts hastened through the girl’s mind in those fleeting moments, and not the least was one of indignation against her pursuer. she had bid him stay in the name of christ, yet he paid no heed, but blundered on, dead to consequences, ignorant of the awful evil for which he might be responsible if he restrained her. to leap the stream was sarah’s first task—a feat p. 104trifling by day, but not so easy now that night had sucked detail from the scene and banished every particular of the brook’s rough course. here its waters chattered invisible; here they dipped under young grasses and forget-me-nots; here twinkled out only to vanish again, engulfed by great shadows. the girl sped upon her uneven way, marked the gap ahead and in her haste, mistaking for light a grey stone immediately before her at a little bend in the stream, leapt forward, struck her feet against granite, and, falling, spread her hands to save herself. but, despite this action, her forehead came violently against the stone and her left foot suffered still more severely. she struggled to recover and rise, while her basket tumbled into the stream, scattering small, precious possessions on the water. with a desperate effort sarah actually regained her feet, but only to lose consciousness and be caught up in tim chave’s arms as she fell again.
then it was her pursuer’s turn to suffer; though rapid action relieved him of some anxiety and occupied his mind. the place was very lonely, the girl apparently dead. for half an hour he sought to revive her; then she opened her eyes and lifted them to the moon; and by slow stages of broken thoughts took up the thread of her life again.
“thank god—thank god, my darling! if you only knew what i have endured! i thought you p. 105had killed yourself and the terror of it has made me grow old. what, in heaven’s name, were you doing to run from me like that?”
she put up one hand to her head and uttered a shivering sigh, but as yet lacked the power to speak. beneath her hair was a terrible bruise, and she felt that something stabbed her eyes and made them flash red fiery rings into the cold silver of the moonlight.
“speak,” he said, “just one little word, my treasure—just one word, so that i may know my life has come back to me.”
then she spoke, slowly at first, with increased speed as her memory regained clearness.
“no—no—no. not to tim—not back to tim. i remember. i fell running away from ’e. you sinned a gert sin to come arter me when i bade ’e in christ’s name to let me abide. help me now—now ’fore ’tis to late. ’tis the least you can do an’ theer’s a man’s life hanging to it for all i know. say nothin’; ax nothin’; help me—help me quick to go to un.”
“to whom, sarah? you’re dreaming, lovey. who should i take you to—your father? but i’m here—timothy—an’ thank god i was. what frightened you so? like a moonbeam you went and nearly broke your neck and my heart together—‘pon my honour you did.”
p. 106“help me,” she said. “give over talkin’, for it ban’t the time. you’ll know how ’twas some day. i’ve prayed solemn as you should know. let me go down-along quick—quicker’n lightning—or it may be too late. wheer’s my basket gone? i had a li’l basket. an’ allus b’lieve i loved ’e—b’lieve it to the end of the world.”
“as if i ever doubted it! now let me carry you right home, my little wounded bird. the sooner the better.”
“no, i tell ’e. help me to my feet—now this instant minute, if you doan’t want me to go mad! theer’s things hid—terrible things! i must go. he won’t wait for me; he swore it. down to the gert beech he bides—jan—jan aggett! oh, help me, my own love; help me, tim, for my body’s weak an’ i can’t rise up without ’e.”
“to him—help you to him!”
“i mean it. i can’t tell you nothin’. for the love of the lard, doan’t talk no more. oh, if i thwart un!”
she struggled desperately, like a trapped animal that sees dog or man approaching; and he helped her to stand, though now he scarcely knew what he did. then the pang of a dislocated bone in her foot pierced the girl and she cried aloud and sank back breathless and faint with pain.
“i can’t go to un, so you must. hasten, hasten, p. 107if ever you loved me, an’ mend the gert wrong you’ve done by bringing me to this. speed down to the beech at the corner o’ the woods an’ tell jan aggett what have fallen out. never mind me; my foot ban’t no account; but jan—him—tell un i’m here against my will. shout aloud through the peace o’ the night as you’m coming to un from me.”
still he hesitated until her voice rose in a high-pitched shriek of impatience and she tore her hair and beat her breast. then he departed and even ran as she screamed to him to go faster.
once fairly started, timothy made the best of his way to postbridge for a doctor and man’s aid to carry sarah to her home. at the dripping well beside the stile he stopped a moment and shouted his rival’s name till the woods echoed; but no answer came and he ran on, gasping, to the village.
fifteen minutes later timothy returned to the hill with a medical man and two labourers. investigation proved that sarah belworthy had not been very gravely injured, though her mind was evidently suffering from some serious shock. she asked for aggett on tim’s return and, being assured that he had left the beech tree before her messenger reached it, she relapsed into silence. soon the slight dislocation in her foot was reduced and she lay in comfort on the pallet that she had thought to press no more.
