kate charlock regarded the speaker with startled eyes. the crimson wave stained her face and she stood as if the mere suggestion petrified her. it was as if she had suddenly stepped into a world of sin and trouble from some arcadia where such things were only heard of or discussed in whispers.
it was magnificently done, so spontaneous. arnold rent was moved to a real, deep admiration. it seemed strange to him that any man could be cruel to so beautiful a saint. he waited in a kind of rapture for kate to speak.
"oh, no, no," she murmured. "you cannot mean it! do not think that i am angry with you. do not think that i am blind to the enormous sacrifice that you are making. you are speaking on the impulse of the moment. think of your future!"
"i am not," rent cried. "if anybody had told me this yesterday i should have repudiated the idea with scorn and amusement. but yesterday and to-day are far apart, and i do not recognise myself as the same man. and i mean every word that i say. otherwise, what would become of you? you could not go back to that man now. it is out of the question."
kate charlock pressed her hands to her eyes and shivered. the gesture was more eloquent than any words could be.
"precisely," rent went on rapidly. "though i understand what is uppermost in your mind, you stand at the parting of the ways, both of which end in what the world calls folly. but is it folly for you to strike a blow for your just rights? and, really, you couldn't go back to the man whom you hate and despise."
"but there is a middle course," kate charlock murmured. "i can go out into the world alone. i can get my own living, as other unhappy women have done before me. and you will help me."
"that i will," rent said. "ah, i am afraid you do not realise what a terrible task it is. and, mind you, nobody cares for your future but me. you have no friends among the people with whom your life has been cast lately. not one of them would stretch out a hand to save you."
kate charlock shook her head sadly. there was no occasion for rent to tell her that, for she knew it far better than he did. in worldly matters this man was a mere child by the side of her. she glanced at her hands—those long, slim hands which had not done a day's work for the last six years. and kate charlock knew her limits. she knew perfectly well that she was not clever, that her mental equipment was slender. she read no literature, beyond the last thing in neurotic fiction. her education had been quite perfunctory. save in the direction of the stage, there was no opening for her. and, with all her great talents, a stage career was precarious, if not problematical.
she had nothing except her beauty and the sweet, alluring sadness of her smile. on one point she was resolved: she was never going to share an humble cottage with john charlock. as she stood there, meek and resigned, with the slow dawning of a smile upon her face, she was reckoning up her chances as avidly as any cheap jack at a country fair. she saw the risks. she had a luminous grasp of the situation. her mental vision was clear and cold as crystal.
she had done with john charlock—of that there was no question whatever. she would be no slave of his any more, even if she had to live on the dry bread of adversity. there was an end of that. possibly she might live upon the sale of her fine jewels till she could get a footing on the stage, but that was a slow process even to the cleverest. and here was this chivalrous fool holding the gate open for her to pass, ready to sacrifice his future for the mere shadow of one of her sweet, sad smiles.
was the game worth the candle? she asked herself. she was regarding the crisis from her point of view alone. she was not giving arnold rent as much as a single thought.
it would be slow enough, she knew that perfectly well. audacious as she was, in her heart of hearts she knew that she would have to bend before the storm and the stress of the chatter which was sure to follow. even the most liberal members of her own smart set would turn a cold face on her for the time being, though they might wink at her as they passed by.
for the time being! ah, that was the crucial point of the problem. it would be impossible to stay in england. she would have to go abroad for a time—her means were too limited for england. rent would be rich—and her husband's heart was weak! then she would take care that her story was told. she would see that among her friends the sympathy was all for her. still, that meant there was a long time to wait. in the meanwhile, could she live in fond hope? once more, was the game worth the candle?
on the other hand, as far as kate charlock could see, there was no other game to play. fate had thrown this chance into her hands and she was not disposed to release it. besides, arnold rent was rich. at any rate, if he were not rich himself, he had a very wealthy mother who idolised him. that mother was going to be a bit of a stumbling-block later, but that was arnold rent's affair and did not concern the woman. on the whole, kate charlock had made up her mind. but it would never do to throw herself into the arms of this man merely at his bidding.
"i ought to have time to think," she said. "it is cruel to press me in this way, and there is your own future to consider. do you know that i shall be a millstone round your neck, and that, as soon as the world knows that we have thrown in our lot together, your ambitions will die a natural death?"
"that is how i expected you to speak," arnold rent replied. "always so unselfish and considerate for the feelings of others, always putting yourself in the background! my dear, sweet saint, what are those paltry ambitions of mine compared with my love for you? who am i that i should set out to reform the world single-handed? why should not the world know your story, for that matter? i may be obscured for the moment, but when people come to understand i shall rank as high as ever. with you by my side i could do anything. we could set up a creed and programme of our own, based on the broader doctrines of true charity. i little thought when your husband asked me to meet him here to-night——"
"to meet you here to-night?" kate charlock cried. "do you mean to say that you came here by appointment? oh, now i begin to see. now i begin to understand."
she checked herself suddenly. she pressed her handkerchief to her eyes as if overcome with the excess of her emotions. the action filled rent with deepest and sincerest pity. it was not for him to guess how near the woman had come to betraying herself.
so this had been part of john charlock's revenge. he had thrown these two deliberately together at the very moment when defenceless beauty must most need champion and defender. a less wise and more honest woman than kate charlock would have told this to rent, heedless of the fact that his own suspicions might have been aroused. but not kate charlock.
"i don't quite understand," she murmured. "why should you have been asked to come here to-night at all?"
"well, you see, i ventured to expostulate with your husband. i pointed out to him how cruelly his new project would bear upon you. it was not a pleasant interview, i assure you. finally, he asked me to come here this evening at eight o'clock, when he would give me a practical idea of his decision. i little dreamt then what he meant, but i see it plainly now. the man is a monster in human form, kate, a cunning scoundrel, who is not worthy to associate with honest men. do you think he really intended that you and i—— oh, you know what i mean. i cannot put it into words."
"he gave me the choice of going with him," mrs. charlock said bitterly. "that much is in his favour. and i suppose he could not help the fact that his creditor was determined to avail himself of his powers to take everything away. i am trying to think as fairly of my husband as i can. it is probable that he has forgotten about you."
kate charlock spoke eagerly. indeed, she appeared to be sincere in her defence of her husband. if any suspicion rankled in rent's mind, it had to be laid to sleep at once. but there was no suspicion in the man's mind, nothing but admiration for this woman's spurious single-mindedness and love and truth.
"we will say no more about it," he cried. "meanwhile, we are wasting time. there is nothing in this desolate place to attract you, no memories to keep you lingering here. and, in any case, it is too late to draw back. get what things you want and i will go down to the village and procure a conveyance. you are not afraid to be left here alone?"
kate charlock smiled reassuringly. there was nothing she desired better than to be left alone for a moment or two. she went almost gaily up to the room where her belongings had been stored. her heart was light within her as that of a child. the sweet, innocent smile was still upon her face. but the smile was faint and wan when she came down again.
"my jewels are gone," she moaned. "the safe has been forced. no, my husband would not have done that. it was hortense. the wicked woman! oh, the wicked woman! but perhaps i had better keep this from arnold rent."
