Of High Descent Part 123

"'There, I'm sick of it. You can leave go. I shan't try to get away.

It's all over now.'"

"He thought you had made him a prisoner?"

"Yes; and I thought him a messenger of peace, who had come to point out my folly, weakness, and want of faith."

Louise covered her face with her hands, and he saw that she was sobbing gently.

"It was some time before I could speak," continued Leslie. "I was still holding his wrist tightly, and it was not until he spoke again that I felt as if I could explain.

"'Where are you taking me?' he said. 'Is it necessary for Mr Leslie, my father's friend, to play policeman in the case?'

"'When will you learn to believe and trust in me, Harry, Vine?' I said.

"'Never,' he replied bitterly, and in the gladness of my heart I laughed, and could have taken him in my arms and embraced him as one would a lost brother just returned to us from the dead.

"'You will repent that,' I said, and I felt then that my course was marked out, and I could see my way."

Louise let fall her hands, and sank into a chair, her eyes dilating as she gazed earnestly at the quiet, enduring man, who now narrated to her much that was new; and ever as he spoke something in her brain seemed to keep on repeating in a low and constant repet.i.tion,

"He loves me--he loves me--but it can never be."

"'Where am I taking you?' I said," continued Leslie. "'To where you can make a fresh start in life.'" And as Louise gazed at him she saw that he was looking fixedly at the spot upon the carpet where her brother had last stood when he was in that room.

"'Not to--'

"He stopped short there; and I--Yes, and I must stop short too. It is very absurd, Miss Vine, for me to be asked all this."

"Go on--go on!" said Louise hoa.r.s.ely.

Leslie glanced at her, and withdrew his eyes.

"'Will you go abroad, Harry, and make a new beginning?' I said.

"Poor lad! he was utterly broken down, and he would have thrown himself upon his knees to me if I had not forced him to keep his seat."

"My brother!" sighed Louise.

"I asked him then if he would be willing to leave you all, and go right away; and I told him what I proposed--that I had a brother superintending some large tin-mines north of Malacca. That I would give him such letters as would insure a welcome, and telegraph his coming under an a.s.sumed name."

"And he accepted?"

"Yes. There, I have nothing to add to all this. I went across with him to Paris, and, after securing a berth for him, we went south to Ma.r.s.eilles, where I saw him on board one of the Messageries Maritimes vessels bound for the East, and we parted. That is all."

"But money; necessaries, Mr Leslie? He was penniless."

"Oh, no," said Leslie, smiling; and Louise pressed her teeth upon her quivering lip.

"There," said Leslie, "I would not have said all this, but you forced it from me; and now you know all, try to be at rest. As I told Mr Vine last night, I suppose it would mean trouble with the authorities if it were known, but I think I was justified in what I did. We understand Harry's nature better than any judge, and our plan for bringing him back to his life as your brother is better than theirs. So," he went on with a pleasant smile, "we will keep our secret about him. My brother d.i.c.k is one of the truest fellows that ever stepped, and Harry is sure to like him. The climate is not bad. It will be a complete change of existence, and some day when all this trouble is forgotten he can return."

"My brother exiled: gone for ever."

"My dear Miss Vine," said Leslie quietly, "the world has so changed now that we can smile at all those old-fas.h.i.+oned ideas. Your brother is in Malacca. Well, I cannot speak exactly, but I believe I am justified in saying that you could send a message to him from this place in Cornwall, and get an answer by to-morrow morning at the farthest, perhaps to-night. Your father at one time could not have obtained one from Exeter in the same s.p.a.ce.

"There," he continued quietly, "you are agitated now, and I will say good-bye. Is not that Madelaine Van Heldre coming up the path? Yes, unmistakably. Now let us bury the past and look forward to the future-- a happier one for you, I hope and pray. Good-bye."

He held out his hand, and she looked at him wonderingly.

"Good-bye?"

"Well, for a time. You are weak and ill. Perhaps you will go away for a change--perhaps I shall. Next time we meet, time will have softened all this trouble, and you will have forgiven one whose wish was to serve you, all his weakness, all his doubts. Good bless you, Louise Vine!

Good-bye!"

He held out his hand again, but she did not take it. She only stood gazing wildly at him in a way that he dared not interpret, speechless, pale, and with her lips quivering.

He gave her one long, yearning look, and, turning quickly, he was at the door.

"Mr Leslie--stop!"

"You wished to say something," he cried as he turned towards her and caught her outstretched hand to raise it pa.s.sionately to his lips. "You do not, you cannot say it? I will say it for you, then. Good-bye!"

"Stop!" she cried as she clung to his hand. "My brother's message?"

"Some day--in the future. I dare not give it now. When you have forgiven my jealous doubts."

"Forgiven you?" she whispered as she sank upon her knees and held the hand she clasped to her cheek--"forgive me."

"Louise! my darling!" he cried hoa.r.s.ely as he caught her up to his breast, upon which she lay as one lies who feels at peace.

Seconds? minutes? Neither knew; but after a time, as she stood with her hands upon his shoulders gazing calmly in his eyes, she said softly--

"Tell me now: what did Harry say?" Leslie was silent for a while.

Then, clasping her more tightly to his breast, he said in a low, deep voice--

"Tell Louie I have found in you the truest brother that ever lived; ask her some day to make it so indeed."

There was a long silence, during which the door was pressed slowly open; but they did not heed, and he who entered heard his child's words come almost in a whisper.

"Some day," she said; "some day when time has softened all these griefs.

Your own words, Duncan."

"Yes," he said, "my own."

"Hah!"

They did not start from their embrace as that long-drawn sigh fell upon their ears, but both asked the same question with their eyes.

"Yes," said George Vine gravely as he took Leslie's hand and bent down to kiss his child, "it has been a long dark night, but joy cometh in the morning."