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"Now what?" she said, looking up at him with an impudent smile. "Now," said Merefleet gravely, "I will take you for a row." "Will you? Big Bear, you're a brick. I'll put you into my will. No, I won't, because I haven't got anything to leave. And you wouldn't want it if I had. Say, Big Bear! Haven't you got any friends?" Merefleet looked surprised at the abrupt question.
Don't be angry, Big Bear! It's just the price I've got to pay. And it's no use squirming. I've worried it round and round. But it always comes back to that. I'm not free. And no one but Bert must ever know why." Merefleet sprang to his feet with an impatience by no means characteristic of him. "This is intolerable!" he exclaimed. "You are wrecking your life for an insane scruple. Child, listen!
"Mr. Merefleet," he said rather awkwardly, "I want to say a word to you." Merefleet waited in silence. "Concerning my cousin," Seton proceeded. "You will probably misread my motive for saying this. But nevertheless it must be said. It is not advisable that you should become very intimate with her." He brought out the words with a jerk.
And as he watched, a deep shadow rose and lingered on the beautiful face. Moved by an instinct he did not stop to question, he rose abruptly and stood beside her. There was a pause. Then suddenly she looked up at him and the shadow was gone. "Isn't he cross?" she said. "Who?" asked Merefleet. "Why, that funny old sea," she laughed. "He's just wild to dash over and swamp us all.
You are doing more mischief than you have the smallest notion of." There was that in his manner which roused the instinct of opposition in Merefleet. "You will either tell me what you mean," he said, "or you need not expect to gain your point. Veiled hints, like anonymous letters, do not deserve any man's serious consideration." Seton muttered something inaudible and became silent.
Then, to his great surprise, a warm little hand slipped on to his knee in the darkness and a voice, so small that he hardly recognised it, said humbly: "Mr. Merefleet, I'm real sorry." Merefleet started a little. "Good heavens! Why?" he said. "Sorry you disapprove of me," she said, with a little break in her voice. "Bert used to be the same. But he's different now.
"I'm no judge then," she said, with a note of recklessness in her voice. "You have your cousin," Merefleet pointed out, feeling that he was on uncertain ground, yet unaccountably anxious to prove it. "You are not utterly alone while he is with you." She uttered a shrill little laugh. "Why," she said, "I believe you think I'm in love with Bert." Merefleet was silent.
A measure of approval which Merefleet would doubtless have appreciated. The Sacrifice It had been a hot day at the Law Courts, but a faint breeze had sprung up with the later hours, blowing softly over the river.
"Yes," said Merefleet, with a simplicity that provoked her mirth. "Oh, aren't you just perfect!" she said. "You've done me no end of good. I'd pay you back if I could." Merefleet was silent. He could not see her beautiful face, but her words touched him inexplicably. There was a long pause.
Fact is" she spoke with sudden startling emphasis "I ought to be dead. And I'm not. That's my trouble in a nutshell." "Great heavens, child!" Merefleet exclaimed, with an involuntary start. "Don't talk like that!" "Why not?" she asked innocently. "Is it wrong?" "It isn't literal truth, you know," he answered gravely. "You will not persuade me that it is."
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