rosamond gerardine and aspasia cuningham lay back, silent, each in her corner of the railway carriage, while the english landscape flew by them, wet and green and autumn brown, gleaming in a fugitive yellow sunlight.
aspasia still felt the pressure of bethune's unconsciously hard hand-grip. his image, as he had stood bareheaded looking after the moving train, was still vivid before her eyes. his last words: "it is not good-bye," were ringing in her ears. his face had looked wistful, she thought; his cold glance had taken that warm good look she claimed as her own. she was glad it was not good-bye. and yet, as they steamed away, she, watching him as long as she could, saw, and could not hide it from herself, that it was upon lady gerardine his eyes were fixed at the last—fixed with an expression which had already become familiar to her. "one would think he hated her—sometimes," said shrewd baby to herself, "and yet, when she's there, he forgets me. i might as well be dead, or a fright."
this puzzled her and troubled her, too, a little. she glanced across now at her aunt's abstracted countenance. "i am sure," she thought, in loyal admiration, "if he were madly in love with her, it would be only natural. but it's not love—it's more like hate and a sort of pain." with all her sageness, baby was only eighteen.
how completely had raymond bethune passed from lady gerardine's mind—even before he had passed from her sight!
she had nearly reached the end of her journey. the burning land she had left behind her—once the land of her desire—seemed now but a place visited in long evil dreams, where she had undergone unimaginable sufferings during the bondage of sleep. the humid air of england beat upon her face through the open window with a comforting assurance as of waking reality.
she had told herself she was travelling with her dead. never for one hour of her long journey had she forgotten the meaning of that box under jani's care. but, with every sunrise that marked a wider distance between her and india, she drew a freer breath. with every stage she felt herself less lady gerardine, wife; and more mrs. english, widow. there was beginning to be an extraordinary restfulness in the sensation.
they sped through the new forest glades, sodden after the rain, now flashing gold-brown with that shaft of sun; now black-green, cavernous, mysterious, where the pines grow close. and then came the moorland stretches, reaching up to a pale-blue cleft in the storm-weighted clouds. how cool it all was! how soft the colours! how benign the wet sky, how different from the metal glare of the land that had betrayed her!
and, by-and-by, white gleams of sunshine began to deepen into primroses and ambers; towards the west the sky grew ever clearer, and the leaden wrack, parting, showed an horizon like to a honey sea against the rising mists of evening. how beautiful was england!
when they got out at the little country station, in the rural heart of dorset, the day was closing in. the vault of the heavens brooded over the earth with a cup-like closeness. november though it was, the air struck upon their cheeks as gently as a caress, all impregnated with the fragrance of wet green indefinably touched with the tart accent of decay.
rosamond drew a long deep breath; it had a poignant pleasure in it; tears sprang to her eyes, but, for the first time in god knew how many years, there was a sweetness in them. jani at her elbow shivered with an aguish chatter of teeth. with one hand she clutched her shawls across her little lean figure; with the other she held on fiercely to a battered tin box.
"oh, aunt rosamond," cried aspasia, ecstatically, as they got into the vehicle awaiting them, "it's a fly, it's a fly! aren't you glad? do you smell the musty straw? oh! doesn't it bring back good old times? don't you wish you may never sit in a state carriage again?"
it was a long drive, through winding lanes. sometimes they strained uphill, sometimes they skirted the flat down; sometimes the branches of the overhanging trees beat against the roof of the carriage or in at the open window. at first the whole land was wonderfully still. they could hear the moisture drip from the leaves when the horses were at the walk. and, by-and-by, there grew out of the distance the faint yet mighty rumour of the sea. within such short measure, then, this small, great england was meeting her salt limits! across the upland down, presently, even on this silent evening, there rose a wind to sing of the surf. the trees by the roadside, in the copses amid fields, on the crest, etched against the glimmer of the sky, had all that regular inland bent that tells of salt winds.
at last the rickety fly began to jingle and jolt along a road that was hardly more than a track. the way dipped down an abrupt slope and then branched off unexpectedly into a side lane. rosamond leaned out of the window; she felt they were drawing near her unknown home.
"are we there?" cried aspasia, entering into a violent state of excitement as they came to a halt before a swing gate.
rosamond did not answer. she was looking with all her eyes, with all her heart. sudden memories awoke within her—words, never even noted to be forgotten, began to whisper in her ears: "you never saw such a place, love. it isn't a place, it's a queer old house dumped down in a hollow of the downs. and the avenue—there isn't an avenue, it's a road through the orchard, and the orchard comes right up to the house—and you never saw such a bunch of chimney-stacks in your life. but such as it is, i love it. and some day we'll go and live there, you and i...." here, then, were the orchard trees, twisted shapes, stretching out unpruned branches to them as they passed!
"i almost plucked an apple," cried aspasia, from her side, with a childish scream.
the sky was rift just about the horizon—the afterglow primrose against the sullen gloom of the cloud banks. cut into sharp silhouette against this pallid translucence, rose the black outline of the house and right across it the fantastic old-time chimney-stack, at sight of which rosamond laughed low to herself as one who recognises the face of a friend. "you never saw such a bunch of chimney-stacks in your life!..."
a faint column of smoke ascended pale against the gloom where the chimneys lost themselves in the skies. as rosamond noted it, her heart stirred; all was not dead then—the old house, his house, was alive and waiting for her!
they drew up close to the stone porch, open to the night, flush with the level of the out-jutting gables, and the driver, plunging into the black recess, sent the jangle of a bell ringing through inner spaces. in the waiting pause all was very silent, save the stealthy patter from the overgrown ivy clumps that hung across the entrance. there was a rustle, the hop of an awakened bird, quite close to rosamond's ear, as she leaned out with the eagerness that had been growing upon her ever since her landing.
then came steps within: the door was opened first but a little space, with the habitual precaution of the lowly caretaker, then suddenly drawn wide. a square of light that seemed golden was cut out of the darkness, and:
"you're welcome, ma'am," cried old mary, tremulously smoothing her apron.
lady gerardine passed with fixed eyes and straight steps into the hall, but she turned quickly as the words struck her ear. aspasia, following, saw her face illumined by a smile that was almost joy. and the girl became secretly a little alarmed; her aunt's ways had been all inexplicable to her of late.
rosamond's heart was crying out within her, and it was with actual joy. "welcome, ma'am," had said his servant—to old mary the mistress of saltwoods was captain english's widow—even to herself might she not now cease to be lady gerardine for a brief respite? oh, then would the manor-house be home indeed!
a great sense of peace, accompanied by a sudden lassitude, fell upon her; she sank into an armchair, flinging her arms wide with a gesture of relief. opposite to her was a sturdy oaken table, upon which the housekeeper had just placed a hand-lamp. the light fell full upon a rack displaying a hunting-crop, a couple of rough walking-sticks; above, there was the sketch of a boy's face. her gaze wandered, without at first taking in the meaning of what it saw.
noise resounded from the porch; it was jani, struggling with the coachman for the possession of the old regimental case.
rosamond looked quickly up again at the bright living presentment on the wall; then she rose to her feet and staggered blindly through the nearest door. there, in sheltering darkness, aspasia promptly overtook her, and was terrified, as she clasped her warm young arms round her aunt's figure, to find it torn by sobs.
"let me be, let me be!" exclaimed lady gerardine, pushing the girl from her, "it is good to give way at last."
and aspasia, pressing her face in wordless attempt at consolation against her aunt's cheek, found it streaming with a very torrent of tears.
* * * * *
"ah," said old mary, shaking her head, as miss cuningham presently besought her for the feminine panacea of tea, "poor lady, it's no wonder: he was a grand young gentleman!"
it was, indeed, evident that here lady gerardine could never be anything but captain english's widow.
