A Gentleman of Leisure, P. G. Wodehouse [speld decodable readers .TXT] 📗

“What right?” She stopped and looked away again.

“None,” said Jimmy. “But I wish you would tell me.”

She hung her head. Jimmy bent forward and touched her hand.

“Don’t,” he said. “For Heaven’s sake, don’t! You mustn’t.”

“I must,” she said miserably.

“You shan’t! It’s wicked.”

“I must. It’s no good talking about it⁠—it’s too late.”

“It’s not. You must break it off today.”

She shook her head. Her fingers still dabbled mechanically in the water. The sun was hidden now behind a grey veil, which deepened into a sullen black over the hill behind the castle. The heat had grown more oppressive.

“What made you do it?” he asked again.

“Don’t let’s talk about it, please!”

He had a momentary glimpse of her face. There were tears in her eyes. At the sight his self-control snapped.

“You shan’t!” he cried. “It’s ghastly. I won’t let you. You must understand now⁠—you must know what you are to me. Do you think I shall let you⁠—”

A low growl of thunder rumbled through the stillness, like the muttering of a sleepy giant. The black cloud which had hung over the hill had crept closer. The heat was stifling. In the middle of the lake, some fifty yards distant, lay the island, cool and mysterious in the gathering darkness.

He broke off and seized the paddle.

On this side of the island was a boathouse⁠—a little creek, covered over with boards, and capable of sheltering an ordinary rowboat. He ran the canoe in just as the storm began, and turned her broadside on so that they could watch the rain, which was sweeping over the lake in sheets.

He began to speak again, more slowly now.

“I think I loved you from the first day I saw you on the ship⁠—and then I lost you. I found you again by a miracle, and lost you again; I found you here by another miracle, but this time I am not going to lose you. Do you think I am going to stand by and see you taken from me by⁠—by⁠—”

He took her hand.

“Molly, you can’t love him. It isn’t possible. If I thought you did, I wouldn’t try to spoil your happiness⁠—I’d go away. But you don’t⁠—you can’t. He’s nothing. Molly!”

“Molly!”

She said nothing, but for the first time her eyes met his, clear and unwavering. He could read fear in them, fear⁠—not of himself, of something vague, something he could not guess at. But they shone with a light which conquered the fear as the sun conquers fire; and he drew her to him, and kissed her again and again, murmuring incoherently.

Suddenly she wrenched herself away, struggling like some wild thing. The boat plunged.

“I can’t!” she cried, in a choking voice. “I mustn’t! Oh, I can’t!”

He stretched out a hand and clutched at the rail that ran along the wall. The plunging ceased. He turned. She had hidden her face, and was sobbing, quietly, with the forlorn hopelessness of a lost child.

He made a movement towards her, but drew back. He felt dazed.

The rain thudded and splashed on the wooden roof. A few drops trickled through a crack in the boards. He took off his coat and placed it gently over her shoulders.

“Molly!”

She looked up with wet eyes.

“Molly dear, what is it?”

“I mustn’t. It isn’t right.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I mustn’t, Jimmy.”

He moved cautiously forward, holding the rail till he was at her side, and took her in his arms.

“What is it, dear? Tell me.”

She clung to him without speaking.

“You aren’t worrying about him, are you⁠—about Dreever? There’s nothing to worry about. It’ll be quite easy and simple. I’ll tell him if you like. He knows you don’t care for him, and besides, there’s another girl in London that he⁠—”

“No, no; it’s not that.”

“What is it, dear? What’s troubling you?”

“Jimmy⁠—” She stopped.

“Yes?”

“Jimmy, father wouldn’t. Father⁠—father doesn’t⁠—”

“Doesn’t like me?”

She nodded miserably.

A great wave of relief swept over Jimmy. He had imagined⁠—he hardly knew what he had imagined⁠—some vast, insuperable obstacle, some tremendous catastrophe whirling them asunder. He could have laughed aloud in his happiness. So this was it, this was the cloud that brooded over them⁠—that Mr. McEachern did not like him! The angel, guarding Eden with a fiery sword, had changed into a policeman with a truncheon.

“He must learn to love me,” he said lightly.

She looked at him hopelessly. He could not see, he could not understand. And how could she tell him? Her father’s words rang in her brain. He was “crooked”; he was “here on some game”; he was being watched. But she loved him⁠—she loved him. Oh, how could she make him understand?

She clung tighter to him, trembling. He became serious again.

“Dear, you mustn’t worry,” he said. “It can’t be helped. He’ll come round. Once we’re married⁠—”

“No, no! Oh, can’t you understand? I couldn’t⁠—I couldn’t.”

“But, dear,” he said, “you can’t⁠—Do you mean to say⁠—Will that⁠—”(he searched for a word)⁠—“stop you?” he concluded.

“It must,” she whispered.

A cold hand clutched at his heart. His world was falling to pieces, crumbling under his eyes.

“But⁠—but you love me,” he said slowly. It was as if he were trying to find the key to a puzzle.

“I⁠—don’t see⁠—”

“You couldn’t⁠—you can’t. You’re a man⁠—you don’t know⁠—it’s so different for a man. He’s brought up all his life with the idea of leaving home, he goes away naturally.”

“But, dear, you couldn’t live at home all your life. Whoever you married⁠—”

“But this would be different. Father would never speak to me again⁠—I should never see him again. He would go right out of my life. Jimmy, I couldn’t. A girl can’t cut away twenty years of her life and start afresh like that. I should be haunted. I should make you miserable. Every day a hundred little things would remind me of him, and I shouldn’t be strong enough to resist them. You don’t know how fond he is of me, how good he has always been. Ever since I can remember, we’ve been such friends. You’ve only seen the outside of him, and I know how different that is from what he really is.