“Nice work, John!” he say gaily. “Why not come into the church? We’ve lots more in there you can pull down, you know.”
Hamilton stared at him. Was this stupid old fool laughing at him? No, he decided, he was not. For a moment he toyed with the idea of accepting the invitation, but a voice within him peremptorily forbade it. Muttering an apology, he pushed past them both, walked quickly to the front door, and out of the house.
“After him, Valerie,” the rector ordered. “Don’t let him get away. Bring him into church somehow. His soul is at stake.”
Gathering up the skirts of his cassock, the old man fairly ran out of the back door towards the church.
The girl stood still, trembling all over. Then she plucked up her courage and followed Hamilton.
He had only got as far as the lane when she overtook him. Slipping her arm through his, she snuggled against him. He stopped.
What did she want? He stared down at her vaguely. He had thought he loved her once. Silly little fool!
Then she turned her head, and her glorious eyes looked full into his. He felt himself slipping, drowning in their grey depths. Her red mouth curved invitingly. A great wave of desire swept over him, and he caught her in his arms, kissing her hungrily. He could feel her sweet, small breasts crushed against him.
Meekly she submitted, and when he let her go, breathing heavily and trembling with passion, she caught him by the hand.
“Come with me, John,” she breathed.
Dumbly he let her lead him back, through the churchyard.
At the door of the church he hesitated, but she looked back at him, and seeing nothing but her lovely face, he stumbled in after her. Like a flash she swung the heavy door shut, turned the key, and flung it far up the church.
As it tinkled on the floor a blind rage swept through him. Thought they’d trapped him, did they? He’d show them! Turning, he began to batter at the unyielding door, even as Valerie had beaten at the altar-stone on Kestrel not so long before.
All at once the darkness of his fury was pierced by the liquid tinkle of a bell. He swung round, caught his breath in a great sob, and fell back against the wall.
The High Altar was ablaze with light, and in the midst of the golden glow stood the rector, clad in his sacerdotal vestments, the shimmering humeral veil about his shoulders swathing those consecrated hands which held aloft the glittering monstrance, rayed like the sun in splendour, with the white round of the Host gleaming at its heart.
The moment his eyes fell upon the holy thing Hamilton felt a sharp pang of agony, like the thrust of a flaming sword, run through his whole being, and when the priest made the sign of the cross with It he uttered one shrill cry of anguish and fell headlong to the floor.
When he opened his eyes again the rector and Valerie were kneeling beside him, and the girl’s face was wet with tears.
“Don’t cry, Val darling,” he said weakly, “we’re safe now. Did the dinghy sink?”
Chapter XVI
I
Nicholas Gaunt stood at one of the narrow windows of the tower room watching the retreating launch. When it was hidden by the mist of rain he turned to his companion, who sat near by, smoking his eternal cheroot.
“Well?” he queried.
“He suspects, I think,” said Vaughan.
“Worse — he knows. I did not anticipate failure when I let her remember. She will have told him everything. It is significant that he has taken her away without letting her see us again. He will be difficult.”
“If he returns.” Vaughan’s tone was gloomy.
“He will return. He knows the penalty for desertion. You had better leave this to me, Simon.”
“With the greatest pleasure in the world, Doctor.”
So it was that when Tony came back from Pentock he found only the doctor awaiting him, standing with his back to the fire in the great hall, his hands behind him, spread out to the blaze, and a cigarette drooping carelessly from the corner of his mouth.
Tony waited until Lorrimer had taken away his dripping oilskin and then, white with rage, he approached the doctor and faced him.
“Damn you, Gaunt!” he burst out.
The other raised a deprecating hand.
“One moment, Tony,” he said quietly. “You are angry, and justly so. I should not have taken such a step without first consulting you. Please forgive me; I acted for your best interests.”
The young man stared at him in frank astonishment.
“You admit it, then? You admit your responsibility for what happened last night?”
“The responsibility was yours, not mine, Tony. If you had not permitted yourself to become infatuated with this girl I should not have been compelled to act as I did.”
“To hell with that for a tale! I’ve been fooled by you and your precious friend Vaughan long enough. This time you have gone too far. You can’t bluff your way out of this. Valerie has opened my eyes.”
“Blinded them, I think, Tony, to the eternal values which once you thought so important.”
“Blast you and your eternal values! I know of nothing more valuable to me than the life of the girl I love. You tried to take her from me last night and failed, fortunately for you. If you had succeeded I should have killed you with my bare hands.”
Gaunt smiled gently.
“How melodramatic! I would not advise you ever to try anything so foolish. Lay but a hand upon me and it would be you who would die, not me.”
“I’m not at all sure that I believe that now. Anyhow, it doesn’t matter. I’m through. You and Vaughan can pack your bags and clear out just as soon as you please.”
Controlling himself with a great effort, Tony turned away and went towards the staircase. Consequently he did not see the demoniacal rage which blazed for a moment from the doctor’s eyes. Gaunt’s voice was still calm and perfectly modulated when he spoke.
“One moment, Tony. Would you cast out your proved friends for this girl of whom you know nothing? Does she love you, even?”
Tony said not a word, but began to mount the staircase.
Again the doctor spoke.
“You poor deluded fool! Destroy yourself then in your own folly. At this very moment she is in Hamilton’s arms, laughing at you.”
Tony stopped and slowly turned his head.
“That’s not true,” said he.
Gaunt laughed sarcastically.
“You think it possible, then?” he sneered. “Oh, what a trusting lover have we here! How little you know of women and their ways! They are all whores, and Valerie Bennett is no better than the rest.”
Tony stood very still, going white to the lips. Then he came slowly down the stairs again and approached the doctor, who was coolly lighting another cigarette. He looked up as the young man approached and his lips twisted sardonically. The other stopped a few feet away and said very quietly:
“Take that back, please, Dr. Gaunt.”
The doctor laughed softly to himself and blew out a cloud of smoke, watching it as it curled upwards to the roof.
“I’ll give you one more chance, Gaunt. Take back what you said about Valerie and I’ll forget it.” Tony’s voice was hardly above a whisper, but he was shaking like a leaf with the fury of his passion. The doctor never moved, but only smiled the more.
“Very well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” As the young man raised his hand to strike the pale, sneering face, so the doctor’s narrowed eyes opened wide, blazing with a cold grey light. Tony felt as if he himself had been struck a violent blow, and reeled back, his hand falling helplessly to his side. For a moment he stood, his face puckering strangely, then he flung himself down upon the near-by settee and burst into a torrent of sobs.