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"Or to find yourself," Lucas substituted. "Say, Boney, if you don't give in pretty soon I'll make you take me along." "You!" Nap's eyes came down at last to the drawn face. He gave a slight start, and the next moment stooped to lift the tortured frame to another position. "If Capper were here he'd say I was killing you," he said. "For Heaven's sake, man, rest!" "No," gasped Lucas. "No!
"Surely you do too!" she said, and there was even a note of pleading in her voice. Nap's brows met suddenly. He turned his eyes away. "I am nothing but an animal," he told her rather brutally. "There is nothing spiritual about me. I live for what I can get. When I get the chance I gorge. If I have a soul at all, it is so rudimentary as to be unworthy of mention."
"That's all," said Nap. "But afterwards?" she hazarded. "My dear Lady Carfax, if it is to be a surprise picnic, where's the use of settling all the details beforehand?" Nap's tone was one of indulgent protest; he was eating and drinking rapidly, as if he had an appointment to keep. "My suggestion is that we then follow our inclinations your inclinations." He smiled at her again.
He and his mother never talked confidences, but they understood each other so thoroughly that words were superfluous. So they departed both in excellent spirits, while Lucas leaning upon Nap's shoulder, went down to the lake to watch the skaters and to superintend Bertie's preparations for the evening's entertainment.
Nap hesitated for a second; then stooped in silence to give the required assistance. Lucas Errol, with a set face, accepted it, but once on his feet he quitted Nap's support and leaned upon the mantelpiece to wipe his forehead. "I knew I should hurt you," Nap said uneasily. The millionaire forced a smile that was twisted in spite of him. "Never mind me!" he said.
Then, "I know you," he said. "I know that you'll get the whip hand of me if you can, and you'll clap blinkers on me and drive me according to your own judgment. I never had much faith in your judgment, Boney. And it is not my intention to be driven by you." There was no resentment in the tired voice, only unflagging determination. Nap's hold slowly relaxed. "You don't trust me then?"
She could not hear what he said, but spell-bound she watched, while a curious sensation of awe tingled through her. The man was so superbly self-confident. Suddenly she saw him stoop and take something from his prostrate enemy. A sharp doubt assailed her. She saw the wretched Tawny cringe lower and cover his face. She saw the moonlight glint upon the thing in Nap's hand.
He held out his hand, still leaning against the mantelpiece. His eyes, blue and very steady, looked straight into Nap's. So for a second or two he held him while Nap, tight-lipped, uncompromising, looked straight back. Then, "Good-night," Lucas said again gravely, and let him go. Yet for an instant longer Nap lingered as one on the verge of speech. But nothing came of it.
When at length he retired he left the door ajar, and a very curious smile flickered across Nap's face. But still he did not turn his head. The second time that Tawny Hudson was driven from his master's side was on a day of splendid spring English April at its best. Till the very last moment he lingered, and it was Lucas himself with his final "Go, Tawny!" who sent him from the room.
Some sound or smell of it seemed to have penetrated Nap's dreams, for he wakened suddenly and sat up, licking his lips and pounding the floor with his tail. Suddenly the telephone rang, the three short and one long, which indicated that it was the Watson family who were wanted. Pearl's heart thrilled with expectation. Of course he would phone before he came to make sure she was at home.
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