第83章

The latter part of the journey by rail had been a silent one.Lucy felt none of the pleasure that she had expected at finding herself safely through her dangers and upon the point of joining relations who would be delighted to see her, and she sat looking blankly out of the window at the surrounding country.At last Vincent, who had been half an hour without speaking, said.

Are you sorry our journey is just over, Lucy ?"The girl's lip quivered, but she did not speak for a moment."Of course it is unpleasant saying good-by when people have been together for some time," she said with an effort.

"I hope it will not be good-by for long," he said."I shall he back here as soon as this horrible war is over.""What for?" the girl asked, looking round in surprise."You live a long way from here, and you told me you knew nobody in these parts."I know you," Vincent said, "and that is quite enough.Do you not know that I love you?"The girl gave a start of surprise, her cheek flushed, but her eyes did not drop as she looked frankly at him.

"No, Vin," she said after a pause, "I never once thought you loved me, never once.You have not been a bit like what I thought people were when they felt like that.""I hope not, Lucy.I was your protector then, that is to say when you were not mine.Your position has been trying enough, and Ishould have been a blackguard if I had made it more uncomfortable than it was by showing you that I cared for you.Ihave tried my best to be what people thought me-your brother; but now that you are just home and among your own people, I think Imay speak and tell you how I feel toward you and how I have loved you since the moment I first saw you.And you, Lucy, do you think you could care for me?""Not more than I do now, Vin.I love you with all my heart.I have been trying so hard to believe that I didn't, because I thought you did not care for me that way."For some minutes no further word was spoken.Vin cent was the first to speak:

"It is horrid to have to sit here in this stiff, unnatural way, Lucy, when one is inclined to do something outrageous from sheer happiness.These long, open cars, where people can see from end to end what every one is doing, are hateful inventions.It is perfectly absurd, when one finds one's self the happiest fellow living, that one is obliged to look as demure and solemn as if one was in church.""Then you should have waited, sir," the girl said.

"I meant to have waited, Lucy, until I got to your home, but directly I felt that there was no longer any harm in my speaking, out it came; but it's very hard to have to wait for hours perhaps.""To wait for what?" Lucy asked demurely.

"You must wait for explanations until we are alone, Lucy.And now I think the train begins to slacken, and it is the next station at which we get out.""I think, Lucy," Vincent said, when they approached the house of her relatives, "you and Chloe had better get out end go in by yourselves and tell your story.Dan and I will go to the inn, and Iwill come round in an hour.If we were to walk in together like this it would be next to impossible for you to explain how it all came about.""I think that would be the best plan.My two aunts are the kindest creatures possible, but no doubt they will be bewildered at seeing me so suddenly.I do think it would be best to let me have a talk with them and tell them all about it before you appear upon the scene.""Very well, then, in an hour I will come in.

When they arrived at the gate, therefore, Vincent helped Lucy and Chloe to alight, and then jumping into the buggy again told the driver to take him to the inn.

Having engaged a room and indulged in a thorough wash Vincent sallied out into the little town, and was fortunate enough to succeed in purchasing a suit of tweed clothes, which, although they scarcely fitted him as if they had been made for him, were still an immense improvement upon the rough clothes in which he had traveled.Returning to the hotel he put on his new purchases, and then walked to the house of Lucy's aunts, which was a quarter of a mile outside the town.

Lucy had walked up the little path through the garden in front of the house, and turning the handle of the door had entered unannounced and walked straight into the parlor.Two elderly ladies rose with some surprise at the entry of a strange visitor.It was three years since she had paid her last visit there, and for a moment they did not recognize her.

"Don't you know me, aunts?"

"Why, goodness me!" the eldest exclaimed, "if it isn't our little Lucy grown into a woman! My dear child, where have you sprung from?" And the two ladies warmly embraced their niece, who, as soon as they released her from their arms, burst into a fit of crying, and it was some time before she could answer the questions showered upon her.

"It is nothing, aunts," she said at last, wiping her eyes; "but I am so glad to be with you again, and I have gone through so much, and Iam so happy, and it is so nice being with you again.Here is Chloe waiting to speak to you, aunts.She has come with me all the way."The old negress, who had been waiting in the passage, was now called in.