_ PART IV CHAPTER VIII. THE TURNING-POINT
"You've brought her back!" said Bunny in amazement. "You've actually brought her back! Here, Jake? Not here?"
"It was the only thing to do." said Jake between puffs at his pipe. "I'm sorry on your account, but--well, you can keep out of her way."
Bunny's face was flushed. He stood on the hearth and stared down at Jake with a troubled countenance. "But you won't be able to keep her," he protested after a moment. "Charlie will come and get her away again--as soon as he knows. He's such a wily devil."
"He does know," said Jake.
"He knows? Who told him?"
"I told him," said Jake.
"You told him! What the devil for? I don't understand you, Jake." Bunny's tone had a touch of fierceness in it, almost of challenge.
Jake's eyes came up to him with absolute steadiness. "I told him," he said deliberately, "because he is the one person who has a right to know. He is her husband."
"I don't believe it!" said Bunny violently. "He'd never marry her! It was a damn trick if he pretended to."
"No," Jake said, "it was not a trick. He has married her, and it's up to him to make the next move."
"But what on earth for?" demanded Bunny. "What made him do such a thing?"
"God knows," said Jake, with a certain sombreness. "He did it. That's all I know."
Bunny stamped round in a sudden fury and began to pace the room. "I suppose he did it to defeat me! Did he actually think I should want her after--after--"
"Bunny!" Swift and sharp as a whip-lash Jake's voice cut across the words. "Stop that! Pull up and sit down!"
Bunny wheeled and came back in silence. His face was deadly pale, but he sat down on the edge of the table by Jake's side.
Jake reached out a leisurely hand and gripped him by the knee. "Between you and me, my son," he said, "I don't think you came into the reckoning at all. I can't tell you exactly what happened, because I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that Saltash married her from a somewhat stronger motive than just to put you out of the running. As you say, he could have done that without taking all that trouble. He's treated you damn badly, I admit, but it's just possible he couldn't help himself, and anyway I don't think he's hurt you seriously--except in the place where you keep your pride."
"You think I didn't love her!" broke in Bunny, moving restlessly under his hand.
Jake's eyes had the glimmer of a smile as he met the boy's hot look. "I think you don't love her now anyway, Bunny," he said.
"You're quite right," said Bunny shortly. "I don't. I never want to see her again--now I know what she is."
"You don't know," said Jake. "She has always been an unknown quantity to you. That's why I've always felt doubtful about you. Guess you never loved her quite enough, boy. That was your trouble."
"Didn't love her!" ejaculated Bunny.
Jake nodded. "Or you'd have understood her better--stood by her better."
"I'd have loved her fast enough if she'd loved me," protested Bunny. "But that scoundrel always came first with her. I never had a chance."
"Oh yes, you had." Again the faint smile showed for an instant in the elder man's eyes. "Not much of one, perhaps, but you had a chance. If she'd been quite sure of you, she wouldn't have run away."
"Wouldn't she? Then she can't be very sure of Saltash either." Bunny spoke with a certain gloomy triumph.
Jake blew forth a cloud of smoke and watched it rise thoughtfully. "I'm waiting for Saltash," he said. "I've got him on test."
"You believe in him?" questioned Bunny contemptuously.
Jake's eyes remained fixed. "I believe," he said slowly, "that there comes a turning-point in every man's life--whatever he's been--when he either makes good or throws in his hand altogether. I've been through it myself, and I know what it means. It's Saltash's turn now."
"Oh, rot, Jake!" Bunny turned on him with the old boyish admiration shining in his eyes. "You--why, you've made good every time--just about as often as Charlie has done the other thing."
"No." Jake spoke without elation. "I did make good, but I went through hell first, and I very nearly failed. It may be the same with him. If so--well, poor devil, he has my sympathy."
"You can't be sorry for a hound like Saltash!" remonstrated Bunny.
Jake turned squarely and faced him. "Well, there you're wrong, Bunny," he said. "I reckon I'm sorrier for him than I am for you. You've got a clean record, and you'll win out and marry Sheila Melrose. But Saltash--well, he's got a damn heavy handicap, and if he pulls off this, it'll be one of the biggest events I've ever seen. Say, what's the matter?"
Bunny had sprung to his feet. He stood looking at Jake with an expression half-startled and half-indignant. "Jake--you beast! What made you say that?" he demanded.
"What?" said Jake, and began to smile openly. "Well, guess it's pretty near the mark, isn't it? I saw which way the wind was trying to blow some time ago. Mean to say you didn't?"
Bunny swung upon his heel. "Confound you!" he said, and was silent for several seconds.
Jake smoked imperturbably on. He knew all the workings of Bunny's mind with the sure intuition of long intimacy. When finally the boy spoke again without turning he almost knew what he would say.
"Think I'm--very despicable, Jake?"
The question had a shamed and sullen ring. Bunny's head was bent. He was examining a little china figure on the mantelpiece with nervous concentration.
Jake arose without fuss or preliminary, and pushed a brotherly arm round the bent shoulders. "Guess you've never been that, sonny," he said very kindly. "But--you take an old man's advice and go a bit slow! She'll think all the better of you for it."
"She'll never look at me," muttered Bunny, gripping the hand that pressed his shoulder without raising his eyes.
"Ho, won't she?" said Jake. "I've seen her look at you more than once--and the old General too. Reckon they both thought you were throwing yourself away on Toby, and maybe they had some reason to think so. Anyway, she never was your sort. I seem to remember telling you so once."
"I was a fool," said Bunny, and then in a moment straightened himself and looked Jake in the eyes. "It wasn't Toby's fault," he said with abrupt generosity. "She didn't want to get engaged to me. I made her. I knew--all along--she wasn't very keen. But I thought I loved her enough to make it all right. I was wrong. I didn't."
"Beginning to know better?" suggested Jake, with a smile.
"Beginning to realize what a fool I've been," said Bunny ruefully. "You don't think I've done for myself then? Think I've still got a chance?"
"Sure thing!" said Jake. "But go carefully. You've got a fence or two to clear before you get home." He paused a moment, then gave him a kindly hand-grip. "Say, Bunny," he said, "there's nothing despicable about making a mistake. It's only when things go wrong and we don't play the game that there's anything to be ashamed of. I've always been ready to stake my last dollar that you'd never do that."
"Oh, man," Bunny said, in swift embarrassment, "that shows how much you know about me!"
Jake stooped to knock out the ashes of his pipe in the fender. "What I don't know about you, my son," he said, "ain't worth a donkey's bray, I reckon, so you can shut your mouth on that! I'm going back to Maud now. Any messages?"
"Yes." Bunny was standing up very straight; his eyes were shining. "Love to Maud of course. I shan't come round at present. But tell Toby that when I do, she needn't be worried over anything. We're all square. Tell her that!"
"I will," said Jake. He turned to the door, then paused, looking back. "And say!" he said. "Don't you butt in with Saltash! Just leave him to manage his own fate! He's riding a bucking horse, but I've a notion he'll yet make good--if he can."
"He's a rum devil," said Bunny. "All right. I shan't interfere."
After Jake had gone, he sat down and pulled a letter from his pocket. All the lines of perplexity smoothed out of his boyish face as he read it. It was the letter of a woman who had written because she wanted to write, not because she had anything to say, and Bunny's eyes were very tender as he came to the end. He sat for a space gazing down at the signature, and at length with a gesture half-shamefaced he put it to his lips.
"Yes, I've been a fool, Sheila," he said softly. "But, thank heaven, I was pulled up in time. And I shan't--ever--make that mistake again."
Which was perhaps exactly what the writer had meant him to say. _