_ PART I CHAPTER IX. THE PROJECT
The sound of Nick's cheery, untuneful humming seemed to invest all things with a more normal and wholesome aspect. Olga went to meet him with unfeigned delight.
He put his arm around her, flashing a swift look over her as he did it. "Well, Olga _mia_. I trust there has been no more bickering in my absence."
"No, I've made friends with Max," she said. "Come and have tea!"
He went through the house with her to the garden where tea awaited him. Max was seated alone beside the little table under the trees.
"You're not a very large party," commented Nick.
"Best we can do under the circumstances," said Max. "The kids are still paper-chasing, and Miss Campion, overcome by the heat, has retired to bed. I propose to follow her example if the company will excuse me. I only put in two hours last night, and may have to attend another case to-night. Here, Ratcliffe, you can have my chair."
"Are you coming down to dinner?" asked Olga.
"I am," he said.
"Because you needn't. I can send it up."
"Thanks! I'll come down," said Max.
He turned away towards the house, but stopped abruptly as Violet suddenly sauntered forth. She was yawning as she came.
"Good people, pray excuse me! I'm always sleepy after a motor-run. What has become of the dear major, Allegro? You haven't banished him already!"
"Did you think he was going to live here?" said Olga, with a very unwonted touch of asperity.
"I expect he will, dear, now he knows I'm here." Violet subsided into the vacant chair with a languid smile at Nick who offered it to her. Her eyes were wonderfully bright, but the lids were heavy. "I'm horribly sleepy still," she said. "Give me some tea, quick, to wake me up! Max, I haven't the energy to amuse you, so you may consider yourself excused."
"Many thanks!" said Max. "I am going to give myself the pleasure of waiting upon you."
"Nick can do that," said Olga. "Do go and get a rest!"
"My dear, if you show yourself so anxious to be rid of him, he'll stay," protested Violet. "Haven't you discovered that yet? You should display an elegant indifference, a pray-stay-if-you've-a-mind-to-but-don't- imagine-that-I-want-you kind of attitude. There are not many men who can face that for long." She broke off to yawn. "No, thanks. Nothing to eat. I'm too sleepy. Well, Nick, have you settled the affairs of the nation satisfactorily?"
"On the contrary. The nation is trying to settle mine," said Nick.
"Oh, really! What more could anyone want you to do?"
"I'm specially qualified for many things, it seems," said Nick modestly. "What has Hunt-Goring been here for?"
"Managed to break his thumb," said Max.
"Yes, and stayed philandering all the afternoon," chimed in Violet. "How did you manage to get rid of him, Allegro? He wouldn't go for me."
"Dr. Wyndham came back early and sent him home in the car," said Olga, with a slight effort.
"I was bored to death with him," declared Violet. "I simply deserted him at last because I couldn't keep my eyes open. Give me my _tea strong, please_, or I shall fall _asleep again_ under your eyes."
"Do you mind if I smoke?" said Max.
"Not in the least; quite delighted."
He offered her his cigarette-case. "P'raps you'll join me."
"No, thanks. I've been smoking all the afternoon." She stretched up her arms behind her head; they were bare to the elbow, soft and white and rounded. Her eyelids began to droop a little more. She snuggled down into the chair, plainly on the verge of slumber.
And in that moment Olga looked at Max. He was intently watching the girl, so intently that he was oblivious of everything else; and into her mind, all-unbidden, there flashed again the memory of the green dragon-fly--the monster of the stream--darting upon the little scarlet moth. It sent a curious revulsion of feeling through her. For the moment she felt physically sick.
Then impetuously, desperately, she intervened, "Violet, dear, wake up and have your tea! It's this horrid thundery weather that is affecting you. I've felt it myself. Max, you won't get much of a rest if you don't go soon."
Instantly his eyes were turned upon her, and she was conscious of the sudden quickening of her heart; for she saw at a glance that he resented her interference.
"Go on, Max!" grinned Nick. "Why can't you take a graceful hint, man? There may be another luckless little brat wanting you to-night."
"One thing at a time," said Max curtly.
He took out a cigarette and lighted it, a frown between his shaggy brows. He looked neither at Violet nor Olga but his attitude was one of stubborn determination.
"Are you waiting to see me drink my tea?" asked Violet, rousing herself in response to Olga's hand on her arm.
"I am," he said.
"Oh, well, that's soon done," she said, and raised the cup to her lips.
Max smoked on, taciturn and frowning. Violet finished her tea, and asked for more. He finished his cigarette and turned to her.
"I wonder if you would let me try one of yours."
"Not now, I'm afraid," she made answer. "I left my case upstairs."
He lighted another of his own and rose.
"Good-night!" said Nick.
"I shall be down to dinner," Max responded gruffly, and sauntered away.
"Ill-tempered cuss!" said Nick. "What's the matter with him?"
"He's jealous," said Violet.
"Of whom?" Nick was frankly curious.
"Of Major Hunt-Goring. He's been dangling after me half the afternoon. How would you like me to marry him, Allegro?"
"Who?" said Olga, turning crimson.
"Oh, not Max, you may be sure!" Her friend laughed mischievously. "Max is only an interlude."
"And Hunt-Goring the main theme?" suggested Nick.
She laughed again indifferently. "Perhaps, I can't say I'm enamoured of him, though. He's rather a brute at heart, underneath the oil-silk. Well, I'm going to lie in the hammock and sleep."
She got up, stretched luxuriously, and strolled away over the grass.
Nick watched her go with flickering, observant eyes; but he made no comment upon her. Only as she passed from sight, he made an odd little grimace as if dismissing a slightly distasteful subject from his mind. Then he turned to his niece.
"Well, my chicken, you've had a busy afternoon."
"A beastly afternoon, Nick!" she responded warmly. "And I'm very glad it's over, and I don't want to talk about it. Tell me about your doings instead! What were you wanted for?"
"Prepare for a shock!" said Nick. "I haven't got over it myself yet. They want to pack me off to India again. I told 'em I couldn't go, but they seem to take it for granted that I shall. Don't know what Muriel will say to it, I'm sure. They say it would be only a six months' job, but I have my doubts of that."
"Nick! India!"
"India, my child--naked and unadulterated India! The Imperial Commissioners have quite decided that I'm the man for the job. I kept on saying 'Can't!' and 'Won't!' But that didn't make the least difference. Old Reggie Bassett's doing, I'll lay a wager. He will have it that my genius is thrown away in England. And they inform me rather brutally that my seat in Parliament would be far more easily filled than this Sharapura post. Also the young Rajah has done me the honour to ask for me. We went pig-sticking together once--years ago, and I chanced to head off Piggie at a critical moment for young Akbar. On the strength of that, he wants me to go and be his political adviser for a few months. It seems the State is in rather a muddle. His father was a shocking old shuffler, and there are plenty of _budmashes_ about, if report says true. But this young Rajah is anxious to get things straightened out, and the Commissioner wants a report made and so on. Altogether," Nick paused with a smile on his yellow face, "they were very persuasive," he said.
"Nick! You're going!" Olga exclaimed.
He laughed. "If you want my impartial opinion as to that," he said, "I believe I am."
She drew a deep breath. Her eyes were shining. "Oh, how I wish I were a man! I'd come with you."
"Ladies are admitted," said Nick.
"Ah! I wonder what Muriel will say," she said. "Does she like India?"
"India is a large place," he pointed out. "She doesn't like Ghawalkhand, and she isn't keen on Simla--which is sheer prejudice on her part. Sharapura she has never seen. It's a small State in the very middle of the Empire. There are rivers and jungles and tigers and snakes--quite a lot of snakes; a decent little capital and a hill-station, healthy enough though not very high. The natives are exactly like monkeys. I learnt to speak their lingo one winter from a villainous bearer I had when some of us were stationed there. There is a small native garrison in cantonments at the capital. There is also a fort and a race-course. I won the Great Mogul's Cup there--a memorable occasion. My mount was a wall-eyed lanky brute of a Waler, with the action of a camel. But he had the spirit of an Olympian, and we won at a canter."
Nick stopped. His eyes also had begun to shine. Olga was listening enraptured.
"How I wish I was Muriel!" she said. "Of course she'll want to go, Nick. It sounds perfectly enchanting."
"Especially the tigers and snakes," laughed Nick. "Poor Muriel! It's rather a shame to ask her. She had an overdose of the East at the outset, and she has never got over it."
"Oh, but that's aeons ago!" protested Olga.
"I know; but it went deep." Nick leaned back abruptly, with closed eyes. "I wonder if I can bring myself to refuse finally and conclusively--without telling her," he said ruminatively.
"Never, Nick!" Olga sprang from her chair. "You shan't think of such a thing! Nick! A heaven-sent chance like that! Oh, it wouldn't be fair. I'm sure she would say so. You must--you must tell her!"
Nick's hand clenched upon the arm of his chair. He kept his eyes shut. "You see, dear," he said, "there's the kiddie too. I'm an unnatural beast. I'd actually forgotten him for the moment. One-eyed of me, wasn't it?"
"Nick--darling!" Suddenly Olga was kneeling beside his chair; she put her arms about his neck. "You shan't call yourself anything so horrid!" she said. "Dad and I will take care of little Reggie. You know you can trust him to me, Nick. I'll watch over him day and night."
"Bless your heart!" said Nick. He lodged his head against her shoulder after the fashion she most loved. "You're a sweet little pal," he said. "But I doubt if Muriel would consent to go so far away from him, and I'm a selfish hound myself to contemplate such a thing. No; don't contradict me! It's rude. I'm that, and several other things besides. I'd no idea I was so much in the grip of the East. It's a curious thing. One feels it in the blood. It's six years--more--since I climbed on to the shelf, and I've been quite smug and self-satisfied most of the time. There's been a twinge of regret every now and then, but nothing I couldn't whistle away. But now--" his words quickened; he spoke them whimsically, yet passionately, in her ear--"between you and me, I'd give an eye, an ear, or a leg--anything I possess in duplicate--to come off the shelf, and have one more fling. I'm stiff! I'm stiff! And, ye gods, I'm only four-and-thirty! I always thought I'd go till sixty at least. I entered Parliament just to keep going; but that's only a steady progress downhill--a sort of frog's march in which you kick and are kicked, but don't do much besides. I'm a fighter, kiddie. I wasn't made to ornament the shelf. I'm not a hero; only an ordinary, restless, discontented mortal. They told me this afternoon that it was time I did something, that I was dropping out, that I should ossify if I sat still much longer. (A good term that; worthy of our friend Max!) And, by Heaven, they're right! But how can I help it? I know in my heart of hearts that it would be sheer brutality to spring this on Muriel now."
He ceased to speak, and there fell a silence. Olga's arms clasped him very tightly. Her cheek pressed his forehead. It was not often that Nick opened his heart to her thus. Only twice before had it ever happened, and on each occasion he had been in trouble--once when the woman he loved had sent back his engagement ring through her, and once again nearly two years later when that same woman--Muriel, his wife--had lain at death's door all through one dreadful night while they two, close pals, had waited huddled together in the passage outside her room. Those two occasions were sacred to Olga, never spoken of to any, shrined deep in the most inner, most secret recesses of her heart. Nick's confidence had ever been her most cherished possession. It thrilled her now with something more than pride; and through her silence her sympathy came out to him in a flood of understanding which needed no verbal expression.
She spoke at last very softly, almost in a whisper. "Nick, you know, don't you, that you are dearer to me than anyone else in the world?"
He put up his hand and patted her cheek. "What! Still?" he said.
"Still, Nick? What do you mean?"
"Nothing at all," said Nick promptly. "Go on!"
She took his hand and held it. "Nick darling, do you remember how I came and kept house for you--years ago, at Redlands, when I was a child?"
"Rather!" said Nick. "Bully, wasn't it?"
She hesitated a little. "Nick, I'm going to make a perfectly awful suggestion."
"Don't mind me!" said Nick.
She laughed faintly. "I don't, dear,--formidable as you can be. It only flashed into my mind that if Muriel feels she really can't leave Reggie, and if she can possibly bear to part with you and you with her, could you possibly put up with me as a substitute for those few months and take me instead, if Dad could spare me?"
"By Jove!" said Nick, sitting up.
"I know it's great cheek of me to suggest it," Olga hastened to say. "For of course I know I'd be a very poor substitute; but at least I could keep a motherly eye on you, and see that you were properly clothed and fed. And Muriel herself couldn't possibly love you more."
"By Jove!" Nick said again. Olga's face flushed and eager was close to his. He bent suddenly forward and kissed it. "And what about you, my chicken?" he said.
"I, Nick? I should love it!" she said, with candid eyes raised to his. "You can't imagine how much I should love it."
"You'd be homesick," said Nick.
"Nick! With you!"
He was looking at her with shrewd, flickering eyes. "Do you mean to say," he said, "that there is no one here that you would mind leaving for so long?"
"There's Dad of course," she said. "But--don't you think perhaps Muriel wouldn't mind taking care of him for me if I took care of you for her?"
Nick broke into a laugh. "Excellent, my child! Most ingenious! Jim and Muriel are fast allies. But--Jim is not the only person you would leave behind. You ought to consider that before you get too obsessed by this enchanting idea. It's pretty beastly, you know, to feel that half the world stretches between you and--someone you might at any moment develop a pressing desire to see."
Olga frowned at him. "What are you driving at, Nick?"
"I'm only indicating the obvious," said Nick.
"No, you're not, dear. You're hinting things."
"In that case," said Nick, "you are at liberty to treat me with the contempt I deserve. Look here! We won't talk about this any more to-day. The subject is too indigestible. We'll sleep on it, and see what we think of it to-morrow."
"You're not going to write to Muriel to-night?" asked Olga.
"Not to-night. They've given me a week to make up my mind."
"And when would you have to go?"
"Some time towards the end of next month, or possibly the beginning of October. But as we're not going," said Nick, "I move that the discussion be postponed."
He smiled into her eyes, a baffling, humorous smile, and rose.
"But it was a ripping idea of yours," he said. "I'm quite grateful to you for mentioning it. There are some chocolates in the hall for you. Don't give them all to Violet, charm she never so wisely."
"Oh, Nick, you darling! Fancy your remembering me! Do let's have some at once!"
They went indoors together with something of the air of conspirators, and in the close companionship of her hero Olga managed to forget that she had so recently been driven to another man for protection. In fact, the interview in the surgery, with the episode that had preceded it, was completely crowded out of her mind by this new and dazzling idea that had flashed so suddenly into her brain, and which seemed already to have altered the course of her life.
Many and startling were the visions that filled her sleeping hours that night but each one of them served but to impress upon her the same thing. When she arose in the morning she told herself with a little shiver of sheer excitement that the gates of the world were opening to her, and that soon she would actually behold those wonders of which till then she had only dreamed. _