第82章

"Holly and I are engaged.",Jolly stepped back and leaned against the lintel of the window.

"This is our house,"he said;"I'm not going to insult you in it.

But my father's away.I'm in charge of my sister.You've taken advantage of me.

"I didn't mean to,"said Val hotly.

"I think you did,"said Jolly."If you hadn't meant to,you'd have spoken to me,or waited for my father to come back.""There were reasons,"said Val.

"What reasons?"

"About my family--I've just told her.I wanted her to know before things happen."Jolly suddenly became less distinguished.

"You're kids,"he said,"and you know you are.

"I am not a kid,"said Val.

"You are--you're not twenty."

"Well,what are you?"

"I am twenty,"said Jolly.

"Only just;anyway,I'm as good a man as you.

Jolly's face crimsoned,then clouded.Some struggle was evidently taking place in him;and Val and Holly stared at him,so clearly was that struggle marked;they could even hear him breathing.Then his face cleared up and became oddly resolute.

"We'll see that,"he said."I dare you to do what I'm going to do.""Dare me?"

Jolly smiled."Yes,"he said,"dare you;and I know very well you won't."A stab of misgiving shot through Val;this was riding very blind.

"I haven't forgotten that you're a fire-eater,"said Jolly slowly,"and I think that's about all you are;or that you called me a pro-Boer."Val heard a gasp above the sound of his own hard breathing,and saw Holly's face poked a little forward,very pale,with big eyes.

"Yes,"went on Jolly with a sort of smile,"we shall soon see.I'm going to join the Imperial Yeomanry,and I dare you to do the same,Mr.Val Dartie."Val's head jerked on its stem.It was like a blow between the eyes,so utterly unthought of,so extreme and ugly in the midst of his dreaming;and he looked at Holly with eyes grown suddenly,touchingly haggard.

"Sit down!"said Jolly."Take your time!Think it over well."And he himself sat down on the arm of his grandfather's chair.

Val did not sit down;he stood with hands thrust deep into his breeches'pockets-hands clenched and quivering.The full awfulness of this decision one way or the other knocked at his mind with double knocks as of an angry postman.If he did not take that 'dare'he was disgraced in Holly's eyes,and in the eyes of that young enemy,her brute of a brother.Yet if he took it,ah!then all would vanish--her face,her eyes,her hair,her kisses just begun!

"Take your time,"said Jolly again;"I don't want to be unfair."And they both looked at Holly.She had recoiled against the bookshelves reaching to the ceiling;her dark head leaned against Gibbon's Roman Empire,her eyes in a sort of soft grey agony were fixed on Val.And he,who had not much gift of insight,had suddenly a gleam of vision.She would be proud of her brother--that enemy!She would be ashamed of him!His hands came out of his pockets as if lifted by a spring.

"All right!"he said."Done!"

Holly's face-oh!it was queer!He saw her flush,start forward.

He had done the right thing--her face was shining with wistful admiration.Jolly stood up and made a little bow as who should say:'You've passed.'

"To-morrow,then,"he said,"we'll go together."Recovering from the impetus which had carried him to that decision,Val looked at him maliciously from under his lashes.'All right,'he thought,'one to you.I shall have to join--but I'll get back on you somehow.'And he said with dignity:"I shall be ready.""We'll meet at the main Recruiting Office,then,"said Jolly,"at twelve o'clock."And,opening the window,he went out on to the terrace,conforming to the creed which had made him retire when he surprised them in the hall.

The confusion in the mind of Val thus left alone with her for whom he had paid this sudden price was extreme.The mood of 'showing-off'was still,however,uppermost.One must do the wretched thing with an air.

"We shall get plenty of riding and shooting,anyway,"he said;"that's one comfort."And it gave him a sort of grim pleasure to hear the sigh which seemed to come from the bottom of her heart.

"Oh!the war'll soon be over,"he said;"perhaps we shan't even have to go out.I don't care,except for you."He would be out of the way of that beastly divorce.It was an ill-wind!He felt her warm hand slip into his.Jolly thought he had stopped their loving each other,did he?He held her tightly round the waist,looking at her softly through his lashes,smiling to cheer her up,promising to come down and see her soon,feeling somehow six inches taller and much more in command of her than he had ever dared feel before.Many times he kissed her before he mounted and rode back to town.So,swiftly,on the least provocation,does the possessive instinct flourish and grow.