The Fighting Chance

lack mallard and teal; the smokeless powder cracked through alder swamp and tangled windfall where the brown grouse burst away into noisy blundering flight; where the woodcock, wilder now,

n, backed by an army of loaders and gun-bearers, while another improvised army of beaters drove some thousands of frightened, bewildered, homeless foreign phea

n Saturday with a heavy flight of northern woodcock

ne day was spent ingloriously with the beagles; but otherwise the Shotover estate proved mo

for a day or two, and then lost the knack; Marion Page attended to business in her cool and thorough style, and

uncheon-the latter doing little damage with his fowling-piece, and nobody knew how much with his gossiping tongue. Quarrier appeared in the field methodically, shot with judgment, taking no chances for a brilliant performance which might endanger his respectable average. As for the Page boys, they kept the river ducks stirring wheneve

he latter game being faster suited Mortimer and Ferrall,

more quickly disastrous to him than anything yet proposed; and he went back to Bridge, preferring rather to

e the night Ferrall had found him prone, sprawling in a stupor on his disordered bed. That was the second matter, and it occupied him, at times required all his attention, particularly wh

enough to marry many millions, with Quarrier thrown in, could have so moved him to sentimentality. He had ceded the big cup of antique silver to Quarrier, too-a matter which troubl

vance, aware of its steady mounting menace. Moments at table, when the aroma of wine made him catch his breath, moments in the gun-room redol

he shrugged desire aside. It was night that he dreaded-the lo

im. Once Grace Ferrall asked Siward to join them; but no definite time being set, he was scarcely surprised to find them gone when he returned from a morning on the snipe meadows. And Sylvia, leagues away by that time, curled up in the tonneau beside Grace Ferrall, watched the dark pines

epeated Grace Ferr

He was silly enough to

did h

s-confused-scared-a perfect stick in fact!.

ery essential detail; and the girl, frank at first, grew shy and silent-reticent enough to wor

New York, Hot Springs, and Florida; surmises as to dinners, dances, and the newcomers in the younger sets, and the marr

he Claymores' big yacht, and the tendency of well-born young men toward politics, and the anything but distinguished person of Lord Alderdene, which was, however, vastly superior to the demeanour and person of others of his rank recently imported, and the beauty of Miss Caithness, and the chance that Captain Voucher had if Leila Mortimer would let him alone, and the absurdity of the Page twins, and the furtive coarseness of Leroy Mortimer and his general badness, and the sadness of Leila Mortimer's lot when she had always been in love with other people,-and a little scandalous surmise concerning Tom O'Hara, and the new house on Seventy-ninth Street build

that counts heavily with me. But there's trouble ahead for her-s

y. "Isn't he man enough to win out? I'll

a desperate affair with Mrs. Mortimer-innocent enough I fancy. He's had a dozen within three years; and in a week Rena Bonnesdel has come to making eyes at him, and Eileen gives him no end of chanc

u m

adn't you su

suspected it she

mark, she could," continued Mrs. Ferrall. "He's

id: "He i

she cared to risk it, and if he

strikes me as that sort. I do not mean it unkindl

ll looked

propose

I thi

lling to play with him as a rule, and he doesn't have to be d

; yet there was the slightest ring in her voice; an

really intended

red. "Do you think he found me over-

ow infernally clever he is; and he can make good verse, and write witty jingles, and he can carry home with him any opera and play it decently, too, with the proper harmonies. Anything he finds amusing he is clever with-dogs, horses, pen, brush,

er furs, said: "He found me anything

everybody when I see an opening. There's reall

asked Sylvia w

to care a little for him, which,

.. tem

serio

t and doesn't know have been a revelation in this last week with him. There is too much surface, too much exterior admirably fashioned. And inside is all clock-work. I've sa

t produced considerable effect upon Grace Ferrall. And

e it's my

going to do. Only, I did think him personally possible-which made

al as she knew how to be, which

ld endure him for an hou

" said the girl

ut

you like! If I let a man do to me what Mr. Siward di

aid Mrs. Ferrall bluntly.

ll I didn't expect to be. But I was! I tell you, Grace, I don

wish I hadn't meddled; I'm meddling some more I suppose when I say to you, don't give Howard his cong?? for the present. It is

now

beauty and Quarrier's fortune, and the suitability of the one for the other was apparent enough to make even sterner moralists wobbly in their creed. Quarrier, as a detail of modern human architecture, she supposed might fit in somewhere, and took that for grant

n a badly constructed, plotless sort of way with no villains, no interesting situations, no climaxes, no ensemble. No, we grow old and irritable and meaner and m

ass fortunes," sugges

ver after. Nobody ever had

ove," observed

re not cont

er had enough love in r

d that is why we care for those immortals in romance, those fortunate lovers who, in fable, are given and give enough of love; those

, chin on wrist, sat musing

the asking, in the giving. A little-to flavo

out it," observed Mr

ed to specula

peculate in sound

vestment in love? Isn't it a

matrimony is usually a sa

love isn't

market I suppose. You're not in love and you don't miss it. Why cultivate an artificial taste for it? If it ever comes naturally, you'll be astonished at your capacity for it, and the consta

suppose," asked

g me by the fire with no porridge and only the aroma of the singe

ha

ts come b

his hair any way except pompadour?... and, dear, his beard is

ashes of his are ominous. Eyes of that sort ruin a man

rocious of us-it is simply horrible to sit here and say such things. I am c

reer. To criticise his investments might be bad taste; to be able to extract what amuseme

ou wish me t

he alterna

lf-respect, dowd

that

I can

ephen S

d. Now he's found out he will be nice.... It's been days since I've had a talk with him. He tried to, but I wouldn't. Besides, the major has said nasty things about him when Howard was present; nothing definite, only hints, smiling silences, innuendoes on the verge of matters rather unfit;

the way you feel, I don't see why you shoul

perfect fool not to.

o you

re-so dreadfully like Howard? Howard has no sense of humour; he detests such

d Grace. "Doesn't Howar

ntended. You know it was a likeness! And if Mr. Siward had not told me th

uite understand Howard. With me anger lasts but a moment, and the

eriously, but I've known him to take his own anger so seriously that years after he has visited it upon those who had really wronged him. And he is equipped for retaliation if he chooses

interested in building electric

know, chi

g. I wo

hy

rtimer

sk Kemp if you like. Why? Isn

mehow. In fact Howard's company i

looked at the girl besi

ther reason. That, dear, is one of those skilfully developed portions of an artistic plot; and plots exist only in romance. So do villains; and be

fastening it under her chin. All of which amused Grace Ferrall infinitely until the subtler significance of the girl's mental processes struck her, sobering her own tho

nges had greyed the blue in the sky, spreading a fine haze over land and

l on the cliffs with Quarrier, before dressing for dinner, was off. And she drew a little breath of unconscious relief as Marion Page walked in, her light w

ed down her request to be called an hour before sunrise, filled in the gun-room records with her score-the species and number bagged, and

ion dropped one well-shaped leg over the other and

isurely at Sylvia and touched the ash-tray with the whitening end of her cigarette. "That dog y

ned her calm

disagreeable shock h

" observed Marion indifferently; and she leaned back, w

the surface only. She had never meant to use the cheque. She had laid it away among a few letters, relics, pleasant souvenirs of the summer. To her the affair had been softened by a delica

into the drive, and out of it tumbled Rena and Eileen and the faithful Pages, the girls irritable and ready for tea, and the boys like a pair

awned at them, but, nothing dampened, they recounted a number of incidents with reciprocal enthusiasm to Sylvia

d in the vicinity long enough to swallow his "peg" and acquire a disdainful opinion of his shooting from Marion, an

his rain-coat, but his silky beard was wet with rain, and moisture powdered his long, soft eyelashes and white skin; and

turned her head rather hastily to see who had entered the room. It was Siward, only a vague shape in the gloom, but

hen brilliantly illuminated, as he entered, nodded acceptance to Mortimer's invitation, and picked up the cue just laid aside by Agatha Caithness, who had turned to speak to Marion. Then Mortimer's bulk loomed nearer; voices became gay and animated in the billiard-room. Siward's handsome face

a brisk walk in the morning somewhere; and she nodded impatiently, watching Marion's suppl

lure to meet him at the Fells Crossing, and the reason for her failure; and her informal acquaintance with Siward, whose presence at Shotover he had

ing caprice of Sylvia for Siward on the day of the Shotover cup-drive-had left indelible impressi

o fear the man he disliked. For if Siward had committed the insane imprudence which had cost him his title to membership, he had also done something, knowingly or otherwise, which awoke in Quarrier a cold, slow fear; and tha

that reason he dampened Major Belwether's eagerness to tell everybody all he knew about the shamelessly i

ated to a habit by him in every affair of life-in business, in leisure, in the methodical pursuits of such pleasur

fidences; he had no opinion to express wh

ically and methodically responsive to certain fixed cues. He smiled when he said "Good morning," when declining or accepting invitations, when taking his leave, when meeting anybody of any fin

m; then the electric lights broke out with a mild candle-like lustre, a

on the stairs with Marion Page-a new appearance of intimacy for both wo

t to some men. Sylvia was attentive, curious, and instinctively shrinking by turns, secre

d that Siward was too busy to do any Southern shooting, which wa

og to be used by anybody except hi

, I have shot enough, now, with Mr.

e shooting compani

oolly. "The only test for a thorou

alities for a moment or two; then Marion said bluntly: "Do yo

via, "nothing

I don't care what he did; and I wish that gossipi

un

Beg your pardon

ed Sylvia, with a shrug of

y Mortimer have no business to talk to unmarried women the way they do.

patience to study out double-enten

om, but decided not to, as it might seem to imply disapproval of Marion's le

e Major hinted that the woman-the one who figured i

lvia curiously. "She's a p

there are too many women of his own sort ready for mischief." Marion turned to Sylvia, her eyes hard with a cynicism quite lost on the other. "That sort

she sat silent for minutes at a time, returning to actualities with a long, curious side-glance across at Si

the relentless method and steady adherence to rule which characterised his Bridge-playing, the eager, unsla

etrated her. Were these the real visages of these people, whose faces otherwise seemed so smooth and human? Was Leila Mortimer aware of the shrillness of her voice? Did Agatha Caithness realise how pinched her mouth and n

emotionless and inexpressive enough, but this face, from which every vestige of colour had fled, fascinated her with its dead whiteness; and t

er the announcements of Sylvia's engagement in a batch of New York papers just arrived; Ferrall was writing at a desk, and Siward and Marion were occupied in the former's sketch for an ideal shooting vehicle, to be built on the buckboard principle, with a clever arrangement for dogs,

arm hanging over the back of the chair. Something in her attitude seemed to exclude intrusion;

nly over her crept a sensation of isolation-something of that feeling which had roused her

tible as she turned. Siward, moving his head slightly, g

general appeal which brought them into the circle of two. Grace Ferrall leaned forward, looking over Marion's shoulder, and

distant entrance, had been perfectly aware of Siward's cognizance of Sylvia's retreat; and when Siward went on sketching she had been content. Now she could not tell whether he had deliberately and skillfully taken his cong?? to follow Sylvia, or whether, in his quest for his ci

ust as she had reached her chamber door; and she turned at

tes?" he asked, as he stopped in passing her where

at him with a cool little laugh. "It isn't hea

virtue in me

ght do as a temporary remedy-first aid to the injured." She laug

d y

th the Sand-Man.

... if you

o say somethin

to say, 'With plea

ng-not even to accept a cigarette. Besid

t near enough a question f

could

u leave t

on Page. Do you wish me to b

a corner of the wide hall where a maid in cap and apron sat pretending to be sewing.

't y

otioned, with her fresh, sweet lips curving

we have

N

min

ight come out again, if you have anything p

window at the end of the ot

t laugh, saying "good night" again,

door, on to the window at the end of the hall, then north along a wide passageway

lighted roof of opalescent glass below, through w

esently, and, leaving his chair, curled up in the cushioned and

into a metal bowl, locking his jaws in silence. For the night threatened to be a bad one for him. A heavy fragrance from his neighbour's wine-g

ed to uneasiness, with a hint of fever tinting his skin, but, as y

But here, to-night, in the rain, one stood every chance of walking off the cliffs; and he was sick of reading himself sightles

of the slowly increasing nervous tension and the steady dull consciousness of desire. He drew another Sirdar from h

, and stepping to the wash-basin, let the icy water run over hands and wrists. This sometimes helped to stimulate and soothe him; it did now, for a while-long enough to change the current of

d be amused by; a girl to be reckoned with. His restlessness and his fever subdued by the icy water, he stood drying his hands, thinking, coolly, how close he had come to being seriously in love with this young girl, whose attitude was always a curious temptation, whose smile was a charming provocation, whose youth and beauty were to him a perpetual challenge. He admitted to himself, calmly, that he had never seen a woman he cared as much for; that for the brief moment of his d

d. That was all; he had been wise to doubt such sudden miracles as that. She, consummate and charming, had soon set him right. And, after all, she liked him; and she had been sure eno

onfusion; all the sense, all the arts, all the friendly sweetness of a woman thorough in training, schooled in self

he had been capable of loving her; aware, too, that his experience had left him on that borderland only through his cool refusal to cross it and face a hopeless battle already lost, he leisurely and

where swamped, ardent and callow youth raises a hysterically selfish clamour for reciprocity or death. His nature partly, part

vice required something different; he was sick of a sickness; and because, in this sickness, will, mind, and body are tainted too, reason and logic lack clarity; and, to the signals of danger his reply had always been either overconfident or weak-and i

re, because late cards and point-shooting at dawn do not agree. And a point-shoot

or passing through the various corridors to court the sleep denied him; he heard Mortimer's heavy tread and the soft shuffling step

s cool, crisp voice and walk, and the giggle and amble of the twins, and Rena and Eileen,-

ned his door and went out into the deserted corridor, where the elevator shaf

he might be driven to; but for the present he found the bay-win

d cap into the window-seat, walked to and fro for a while listening to the rain, the

d drawn with the tension of conflict, his eyes were not very clear, nor did the

n uncertain voice,

hanically, and

ill? Wh

to the edge of sleep." Some colour came back into his face; he s

"This isn't a very lovely but i

considering the rather drawn and pallid face of the man

and she settled down lightly on the edge of the window-seat. When he had piled

lf beside her. "Part of my curiosity is satisfied in

thful. What else are

had somethin

rjury, false pretences, robbery under arms, a

gay enough, and she noiselessly shook out her fluffy skirts

absently, "you are dreadfu

ly," he

t through the blurred casements into the blackness. Then, pic

se you ha

like this on the cliffs! You a

perfe

w serious an

e matter, M

ing

e to be mor

e at her, "I haven't seen you for ages.

; and it does not s

; and her blue eyes grew very lovely as the

really important to

at I wan

I said i

ke a rose from its stem, then sank back a little way among the

iously avoided me, Mr. Si

!" he said, with a

nk blossom; "I only said it to give you a chance.... If you are going to be stupid, good night!" But

e I kis

olour tinting neck and face were incongruous. He thought with slow surprise that she was not yet letter-perfect in her r?′le of the material triumphant ove

see. I am not yet sufficiently resourceful to take it out in a quietly tearful obligato; I never learned how to produce tears.... So I came to you." She had st

g to him with the careless laughter touching mouth and eyes again. Then, resting her weight on one

y showing traces of wear that hint of future scars? What will you be at thirty-five? At forty?... Ah," she added softly, "what are you now? For I don't know, and you cannot tell me if you would.... Out of t

t her cheek that matched it, smili

h you?" he asked

nts?

tions. What pr

em-all of them that you reveal. You must be awar

it I lack? Wh

on't fail! I ask nothing

ady convicted of insufficiency.... You would rec

am to discover your in

... Have you enough

already experimented; and I did not notice your shortcomings. So there

ailing upward inflection; in the confused swee

er lay idly on her knee, fresh and delicate as a fallen peta

you." The gay mockery was not quite genuine; the curv

tween his; and after a moment her muscles relaxed

erfect," he said

u-read

clear mind, and"-he laughed-"heart supreme over rea

s no

again, un

ere is the proof of it-that selfish, smooth contour, where there should be generosity. Then, look at the tendency of imagination toward mischief!" She laid her right forefinger on the palm of the left hand which he held, and traced the developments arising in the Mount of Hermes. "Is it not a horrid hand, Mr. Siward? I do

elbows out-turned. "I told you it was becoming a habit with you!" The loud beating of her pulses ma

ne," he said, taki

ll draw it quic

s through your

are compromising yourself, you know. I wa

you. Loo

g, she raised her splendid youthful eyes; and through and thro

a dry catch in his throat, "before I

e said with a trembling s

ime.... You must meet my eyes. That

t is.... Please don'

ll not

. I-I tell you in time, you see.... I am utt

e my c

her something if it be worth anything; whatever it costs it is worth

ed her head sharply, only to encounter his lips on hers in a deep, clinging emb

ad, blinded with tears, swaying, stunned; then, with a breathless sound, turned in his arms to meet his lips, her h

, I lov

endered him his kiss. Then, tremblingly, "

y i

d

y i

t is not like me; there is nothing of me in this girl you hold so closely, so confidently.

u are a b

Stephen!

ot help i

have my w

lies t

for you; you have taught me how to say it. But-you know what I have done-and

now the wo

of the price?... I have no money. I know what you have.... I asked. And it is enough for a man who remains unmarried.... For I cannot 'make things do'; I cannot 'contrive'; I will not cling to the fringe of things, or play that heartbreaking r?′le of the shabby expatriated on the Continent.... No person in this world ever had enough. I tell you I could find use for every flake

other heigh

ghe

, de

have told you what I am-all silk and lace and smooth-skinned selfishness." She lo

led her to hear it, and every drop of blood in her body leaped as she yielded to his

uiescent, then afire at last, responsive to his own; and her eyes opening from the dream under the white l

me.... Is this my door, or yours? Hush! I am half dead with fear-to be here under the light again.... If you take me again, my