Harvest

by, under the mingled illumination of its half-blinded lamps, and of a sunset which in the country was clear and golden, and here in west London could

m sight. Not a ray of light escaped the closely-shuttered windows. The events of the mensis mirabilis were rushing on. Bulgaria, Austria, Turkey,

most of all was she annoyed and harassed by the thought of a visitor who might appear at any moment. She was tall, well-made, and plain. One might have guessed her age at about thirty-five. She had been out in the earlier afternoon, attending a war meeting on behalf of some charities in which she was interested, and she had not yet removed a high and stat

Come in!" a stout, elderly maid appeared. She cam

ee Mr. Ro

" was the impatient answer.

been sent with a note to the City, and the housemaid was sit

d I'll keep an eye that no one comes

d the maid hastened to th

n entered

cough would let him. "Don't suit my style. Well

t's been going through the h

ot. I'm too sha

in the countr

ne? Well, that's how I gen

quickly to the drawing-room, opened it, and closed it behind him. Then she herself retreated into a smal

orn, was of an expensive make and cut; he carried the Malacca cane which had been his companion in the Brookshire roads; and the eyegla

om her. "You don't seem particularly glad to see

o a table covered with various bric-a-brac, where, taking up a

n flushed

Money, I suppose-as usual! And yet I warned you in my last letter that you would do this kind of thing onc

n the china an

buys. I congratulate him. Well, I'm sorry for you, my dear

smiling, with a quiet b

it is you want. You seem to think you can force me t

you can get the police to chuck me out if you like. You would be quite in your rights. But I

ked ro

, 'I'm getting old, madam, and wi

an arm-cha

he fire. It's beginni

to the fireplace, holdin

fire, thank you. I am

pair of still shapely feet to

out of them since he threw them away! His overcoat, too. And now that it's the thing to be shabby, Dick's clothes

rianne Winton, in pale exasperation. "I've sent Jones out with a note-but he'll be back

r, who perceived from her tone that he

t somehow manage to keep a roof over Anita and the child. So what can I do but count on your assistance, my de

on. "We needn't go into that old story. I ask you again, what

, my dear, money! Money means everything that I must have-food, coals,

ulsion ran thro

married th

lau

ago. It's all lawful now-except for our abominable English law that doesn't legitimize the children

change in him-the animation, the rush

me. But I've stumbled upon her quite by chance-living close to the place where I had taken lodgings for

t me at all," said

ls' beano-when without a moment's warning-standing up in a decorated wagon-I behold-Rachel!-handsomer than ever!-in a kind of khaki dress-tunic, breeches, and leggings-enormously becoming!-and, of course, the observed of all observers. More than

xultant look-which struck her uncomfortably.

re she didn

er. Besides-my dear-even Rachel might find it difficult

. Yes, it was quite true. The change in him was shocking-ghastly. He had brought

een that do

rday. One lung seems to have finally struck work-caput!

tinctively moved farther away from him, look

enched in disinfectant. I take all proper precautions-for the child's sake. N

sity. His sister was conscious of the menace in it, and hastily tak

is. "If I were to tell Richard, he would be furious. And I cannot-do-anything-more for you, beyond the allowanc

lau

chel!" he said carelessly,

said Lady Winton, breathing quick, "to b

I am a Bolshevist. You needn't talk to me about property, or rights. I don't acknowledge them. I want something t

im to go. He slowly buttoned on his coat, and then stepped coolly across the r

I suppose you managed to get him into a

sneer on his lips. His

the being who caused them, from her husband, her servants, her friends, was becoming almost her chief preoccupation. She was beginning to be afraid of her brother. For some time she had regarded him as incipiently insane, and as she watched him this evening he seemed to her more than ever

ll last for a bit-but not very long, I warn you-prices being what the

for?" she sai

had to change my quarters, and drop the old name-for a bit.

You used to be awfully fond

r hands hanging. The pathetic not

ger. Nannie wil

t such a spectacle as that now presented by her once favourite brother. It was not his words that affected her-but a hundred little personal facts which every time she saw him burnt a little more deeply into her consciousness the irreparableness of his personal ruin-physical and mor

ther. How had it happened? He had said to her once, "There must have been a black drop somewhere in our forbears, Edie. It has reappeared in me

wist in him from the beginning. Had she done her best fo

distinguished General's career in case she had to sit next him. Vehemently she put the preceding hour out of her mind. The dinner-party to which she was going flattered her vanity. It turned her cold to think that Roger might some day do something which would damage that "position" which she had built up for hersel

uses-with hundreds of soldiers too, most of them with a girl beside them, and smart young officers of every rank and service-while the whole scene breathed an animation and excitement, which meant a common consciousness

umptives had a way, no doubt, of living longer than people expected-or hoped. Still, he believed that a couple of years or so would see him out. And that being so, he felt

a grin, and was instantly out of reach and sight. "Take my arm," said Delane to the girl-"Where are you going?" The little thing looked up-hesitated-and took his arm. "I'm going to get a bus at the Circus." "All right. I'll see you there." She laughed and flushed, and they walked on together. Delane looked at her with curiosity. High cheek-bones-a red spot of colour on them-a sharp chin-small, emaciated features, and beau

hich he idly asked her. "What did you want with it?" she said, with a sudden frown. "I'm straight, I am. There's my bus! Night! night

ere frosty stars overhead. The Abbey towers rose out of a purple haze, etherially pale and moon-touched. The House of Commons was sitting, but there was still no light on the Clock Tower, and no unmuffling of the lamps. London was waiting, as the world was waiting, for the n

transept. He was carried on by them, till a verger showed him into a s

hed the once familiar spectacle there flowed back upon him, with startling force, old impressions and traditions. He was in Cambridge again, a King's man, attending King's Chapel. He was thinking of his approaching Schools, and there rose in his mind a number of figures, moving or

Lord, and my spirit hath r

extraordinarily exalted, released, purified. Why not thi

ything else? What am I then! An educated man, with a mind-an

had sat almost in this very place, with his mother, who had taken pains to bring him to see it as an historic spectacle which he might wish to remember. A quiet, dull woman, his mother-taciturn, and something of a bookworm. She had never understood him, nor he her. But she had occasionally shown moments of expansion and emo

m? He remembered his own backward start of alarm, as Ellesborough suddenly turned and walked towards the window. He had allowed himself, in his eagerness to see, to press too near. He had exposed himself? He did not really believe that he had been discovered-unless the American was an uncommonly cool hand! Any way, his retreat to the wooded cover of the hill had been prompt. Once arrived in the thick plantation on the crest, he had thrown himself down exhausted. But a

extended line through the trees; so that they were bound to come upon him if he remained in the wood. He turned back at once, faced the barbed wire again, with renewed damage both to clothes and hands, and ran, crouching, down the green road leading to the farm, his wound bleeding as he ran. Then he had perceived an old labourer making for him with shouts. But under the shelter of the cart-shed, he had first succeeded in tying his handkerchief so tightly round his wrist, with his teeth and one hand, as to check the bleeding, which was beginning to make him feel faint. Then, creeping round the back of the farm, he saw that the upper half of the stable door was open, and leaping over it, he had hidden among

the common; and he had already formed some vague notions of making use of it for the blackmailing of Rachel

fortable home, and her new lover, a fresh shudder of rage and hatred gripped him. She had once been his thing-his chattel; he

against him?-of her flight from his house? But she had been clever enough to hide all the traces of it. He r

*

are temporal, but the things

ly the Greek equivalent suggested itself. He had always done well in "divinners"! Then he became awa

*

de of which lay Great End Farm. Half way up a long hill, he came upon a young man in uniform, disconsolately kneeling beside a bicycle which he seemed to be vainly tryi

ith a shrug, "I sh

buttoned up his coat. Then he asked Delane where he was going.

I turn off to the right," said the

ge on the man's shoulder that he belonged to one of the Canadian Forestry Corps in the district, and was at once on his guar

to Great

udden change in De

w some o

bout something. There's two of them runnin

d indifference, Delane

andson was in the full swing of his story. Delane, despising the young man for a chattering fool, listene

walked. I know the names of three people at least as have sworn to seein' 'im. And

, and nonchalantly

ocking account o

believe in ghosts-never did. But as Miss Henderson's farmin' the very land where old Watson was done in, I thought she'd like to have the true

know

sitating. "But I somehow fancy

he

from Winnipeg"-he named the place. Delane sudde

," he said

ver saw him that I know of-but I saw his wife twice. They say he was a brute to her. And she was awfully handsome. You couldn't forget her when you'd once come across her. And wh

you see M

try food that Delane had bought of my employer-and

nne

ntry-and their relations pay 'em to go-and pay 'em to keep away. But Tanner was a nice sort of fellow-quite different from Delane. He painted pi

iss Hender

gave a

joined up. And an awful storm came on-a regular blizzard. Before I got to Tanner's I was nearly wore out, an' the horses, too. So I stopped to ask for a hot drink or somethin'. You couldn't see the horses' heads for the snow. And Tanner brou

s hollows and girdling woods, faintly lit by a ghostly moonlight that was just beginning to penetrate the misty November dusk. The cheerful light of

Mrs. Delane

ey ch

that woman quite plain. It was Mrs. Delane-that I'll swear. And Miss Henderson is as like her as two peas. It might have been her

o you

moon's coming up. It won't be very dark." And with a careless good-night, the Canadian turned a corner, and disapp

wood there was a keeper's hut, disused entirely since the war. Delane had discovered it, and was quite prepared to spend a night there at a pinch. There was a

cobwebbed window, fastened the door with a rusty bolt, and

's estate. Darkness-the woods-and the wild creatures in them-were his only companions. Half

At last he had th