it seemed to margot, watching, that it was an endless time her uncle stood there gazing with that startled look upon their guest. in reality it was but a moment. then he passed his hand over his eyes, as one who would brush away a mist, and came forward. he was still unduly pale, but he spoke in a courteous, almost natural manner, and quietly accepted the chair margot hastened to bring him.
“you are getting rested, mr.——”
“oh! please don’t ‘mister’ me, sir. you’ve been so good to me and i’m not used to the title. though, in my scratches and wood-dirt, this young lady did take me for an old fellow. yes, thanks to her thoughtfulness, i’ve found myself again, and i’m just ‘adrian,’ if you’ll be so kind.”
[pg 54]
there was something very winning in this address, and it suited the elder man well. the stranger was scarcely out of boyhood and reminded the old collegian of other lads whom he had known and loved. “wadislaw” was not a particularly pleasing name that one should dwell upon it, unless necessary. “adrian” was better and far more common. neither did it follow that this person was of a family he remembered far too well; and so mr. dutton reassured himself. in any case the youth was now “the stranger within the gates” and therefore entitled to the best.
“adrian, then. we are a simple household, following the old habit of early to bed and to rise. you must be tired enough to sleep anywhere, and there is another big lounge in my study. you would best occupy it to-night, and to-morrow angelique will fix you better quarters. few guests favor us in our far-away home,” he finished with a smile that was full of hospitality.
[pg 55]
adrian rose at once and bidding margot and angelique good-night, followed his host into a big room which, save for the log walls, might have been the library of some city home. it was a room which somehow gave him the impression of vastness, liberality, and freedom—an enclosed bit of the outside forest. like each of the other apartments he had seen it had its great fireplace and its blazing logs, not at all uncomfortable now in the chill that had come after the storm.
but he was too worn out to notice much more than these details, and without undressing, dropped upon the lounge and drew the indian blanket over him. his head rested upon great pillows stuffed with fragrant spruce needles, and this perfume of the woods soothed him into instant sleep.
but hugh dutton stood for many minutes, gravely studying the face of the unconscious stranger. it was a comely, intelligent face, though marred by self-will and indulgence, and with each passing second its features [pg 56]grew more and more painfully familiar. why, why, had it come into his distant retreat to disturb his peace? a peace that it had taken fifteen years of life to gain, that had been achieved only by bitter struggle with self and with all that was lowest in a noble nature.
“alas! and i believed i had at last learned to forgive!”
but none the less because of the bitterness would this man be unjust. his very flesh recoiled from contact with that other flesh, fair as it might be in the sight of most eyes, yet he forced himself to draw with utmost gentleness the covering over the sleeper’s shoulders, and to interpose a screening chair between him and the firelight.
“well, one may at least control his actions, if not his thoughts,” he murmured and quietly left the place.
a few moments later he stood regarding margot, also, as she lay in sleep, and all the love of his strong nature rose to protect her [pg 57]from the sorrow which she would have to bear some time but—not yet! oh! not yet! then he turned quickly and went out of doors.
there had been nights in this woodlander’s life when no roof could cover him. when even the forest seemed to suffocate, and when he had found relief only upon the bald bare top of that rocky height which crowned the island. on such nights he had gone out early and come home with the daybreak, and none had known of his absence, save, now and then, the faithful angelique, who knew the master’s story but kept it to herself.
margot had never guessed of these midnight expeditions, nor understood the peculiar love and veneration her guardian had for that mountain top. she better loved the depths of the wonderful forest, with its flowers and ferns, and its furred or feathered creatures. she was dreaming of these, the next morning, when her uncle’s cheery whistle called her to get up.
a cold plunge, a swift dressing, and she [pg 58]was with him, seeing no signs of either illness or sorrow in his genial face, and eager with plans for the coming day. all her days were delightful, but this would be best of all.
“to think, uncle dear, that somebody else has come at last to see our island! why, there’s so much to show him i can hardly wait, nor know where best to begin.”
“suppose, miss impatience, we begin with breakfast? here comes adrian. ask his opinion.”
“never was so hungry in my life!” agreed that youth, as he came hastily forward to bid them both good-morning. “i mean—not since last night. i wonder if a fellow that’s been half-starved, or three-quarters even, will ever get his appetite down to normal again? it seems to me i could eat a whole wild animal at a sitting!”
“so you shall, boy. so you shall!” cried angelique, who now came in carrying a great dish of browned and smoking fish. this she placed at her master’s end of the table and [pg 59]flanked it with another platter of daintily crisped potatoes. there were heaps of delicate biscuits, with coffee and cakes galore; enough, the visitor thought, to satisfy even his own extravagant hunger, and again he wondered at such fare in such a wilderness.
“why, this might be a hotel table!” he exclaimed, in unfeigned pleasure. “not much like lumberman’s fare: salt pork, bad bread, molasses-sweetened tea, and the everlasting beans. i hope i shall never have to look another bean in the face! but that coffee! i never smelled anything so delicious.”
“had some last night,” commented angelique, shortly. she perceived that this stranger was in some way obnoxious to her beloved master, and she resented the surprise with which he had seen her take her own place behind the tray. her temper seemed fairly cross-edged that morning and margot remarked:
“don’t mind mother. she’s dreadfully disappointed that nobody died and no bad [pg 60]luck followed her breaking a mirror, yesterday.”
“no bad luck?” demanded angelique, looking at adrian with so marked a manner that it spoke volumes. “and as for dyin’—you’ve but to go into the woods and you’ll see.”
here tom created a diversion by entering and limping straight to the stranger’s side, who moved away, then blushed at his own timidity, seeing the amusement with which the others regarded him.
“oh! we’re all one family here, servants and ever’body,” cried the woman, tossing the eagle a crumb of biscuit.
but the big bird was not to be drawn from his scrutiny of this new face; and the gravity of his unwinking gaze was certainly disconcerting.
“get out, you uncanny creature! beg pardon, miss margot, but i’m—he seems to have a special grudge against me.”
“oh! no. he doesn’t understand who you are, yet. we had a man here last year, [pg 61]helping uncle, and tom acted just as he does now. though he never would make friends with the canadian, as i hope he will with you.”
angelique flashed a glance toward the girl. why should she, or anybody speak as if this lad’s visit were to be a prolonged one? and they had, both she and the master. he had bidden the servant fill a fresh “tick” with the dried and shredded fern leaves and pine needles, such as supplied their own mattresses; and to put all needful furnishings into the one disused room of the cabin.
“but, master! when you’ve always acted as if that were bein’ kept for somebody who was comin’ some day. somebody you love!” she protested.
“i have settled the matter, angelique. don’t fear that i’ve not thought it all out. ‘do unto others,’ you know. for each day its duty, its battle with self, and, please god, its victory.”
“he’s a saint, ever’body knows; and [pg 62]there’s somethin’ behind all this i don’t understand!” she had muttered, but had also done his bidding, still complaining.
commonly, meals were leisurely affairs in that forest home, but on this morning mr. dutton set an example of haste that the others followed; and as soon as their appetites were satisfied he rose and said:
“i’ll show you your own room now, adrian. occupy it as long as you wish. and find something to amuse yourself with while i am gone; for i have much to do out of doors. it was the worst storm, for its duration, that ever struck us. fortunately, most of the outbuildings need only repairs, but snowfoot’s home is such a wreck she must have a new one. margot, will you run up the signal for pierre?”
“yes, indeed! though i believe he will come without it. he’ll be curious about the tornado, too, and it’s near his regular visiting time.”
the room assigned to adrian excited his [pg 63]fresh surprise; though he assured himself that he would be amazed at nothing further, when he saw lying upon a table in the middle of the floor, two complete suits of clothing, apparently placed there by the thoughtful host for his guest to use. they were not of the latest style, but perfectly new and bore the stamp of a well-known tailor of his own city.
“where did he get them, and so soon? what a mammoth of a house it is, though built of logs. and isn’t it the most fitting and beautiful of houses, after all? whence came those comfortable chairs? and the books? most of all, where and how did he get that wonderful picture over that magnificent log mantel? it looks like a room made ready for the unexpected coming of some prodigal son! i’m that, sure enough; but not of this household. if i were—well, maybe—— oh! hum!”
the lad crossed the floor and gazed reverently at the solitary painting which the room contained. a marvelously lifelike head of [pg 64]the man of sorrows, bending forward and gazing upon the onlooker with eyes of infinite tenderness and appealing. beneath it ran the inscription: “come unto me”; and in one corner was the artist’s signature—a broken pine branch.
“whew! i wonder if that fellow ran away from home because he loved a brush and paint tube! what sort of a spot have i strayed into, anyway? a paradise? hmm. i wish the mater could see me now. she’d not be so unhappy over her unworthy son, maybe. bless her, anyhow. if everybody had been like her——”
he finished his soliloquy before an open window, through which he could see the summit of the bare mountain that crowned the centre of the island, and was itself crowned by a single pine-tree. though many of its branches had been lopped away, enough were left to form a sort of spiral stairway up its straight trunk and to its lofty top.
“what a magnificent flagstaff that would [pg 65]make! i’d like to see old glory floating there. believe i’ll suggest it to the magician—that’s what this woodlander is—and doubtless he’ll attend to that little matter! shades of aladdin!”
adrian was so startled that he dropped into a chair, the better to sustain himself against further arabian-nights-like discoveries.
it was a flagstaff! somebody was climbing it—margot! up, up, like a squirrel, her blond head appearing first on one side then the other, a glowing budget strapped to her back.
adrian gasped. no sailor could have been more fleet or sure-footed. it seemed but a moment before that slender figure had scaled the topmost branch and was unrolling the brilliant burden it had borne. the stars and stripes, of course. adrian would have been bitterly disappointed if it had been anything else this agile maiden hoisted from that dizzy height.
in wild excitement and admiration the [pg 66]watcher leaned out of his window and shouted hoarsely:
“hurrah! h-u-r-rah! h-u-r——!”
the cheer died in his throat. something had happened. something too awful to contemplate. adrian’s eyes closed that he might not see. had her foot slipped? had his own cry reached and startled her?
for she was falling—falling! and the end could be but one.
