Читать книгу Young Renny - Mazo de la Roche - Страница 5

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The two boys passed through the wicket gate and descended the path into the ravine, just as the sun was sending its last rays there. The young grass and unfolding bracken fronds had taken on an unearthly green, while the trees, still caught in the sunlight, glistened and quivered in the light breeze. The trunks of the pines showed a distinct purple tone, while those of the silver birches diffused through their whiteness a pale inner glow.

The contrast between the movements of Maurice and Renny was indicative, not only of the moods that possessed them, but of their very natures. Maurice plunged down the path, sending small stones rolling before him, scarcely seeming to see where he was going. Renny moved freely as a wild creature and nothing escaped his brilliant gaze. He stopped once or twice and appeared to be on the point of turning aside into the wood, when Maurice called back to him: “Are you coming!” and he returned to the path.

The river which flowed through the ravine and which, in later years, became only a small stream through the building of a dam in an enterprise by which the family endeavoured to counteract the extravagances and bad investments of Nicholas and Ernest, was now in the fullness of its strength. It made a distinct murmuring sound as it moved through its thickly wooded curves, breaking into clear gurglings when it encountered the dark opposition of a boulder or the urge of smooth ledges of rock.

Renny made toward a bridge which spanned the river at its narrowest point, but Maurice drew him to the shelter of some wild cherry trees.

“Come in here,” he said, “where we can’t be seen. You never know when someone may cross the bridge. Why, look now! There comes my father! When I think what I may be bringing on to his head, I could drown myself in that river.”

Renny fixed his eyes on the figure of the man crossing the bridge. He wished he could escape from Maurice. He said:

“Your father won’t be hard on you for anything you’ve done.”

The thin, upright figure crossed the bridge and began to make the ascent with an alert step. Maurice followed his movements with misery in his eyes. Mr. Vaughan passed so near them that they could hear his heavy breathing.

Maurice groaned—“I’m in the devil of a mess! I don’t know how to tell you.”

“Perhaps you had better not tell me,” said Renny, with a gleam of hope in his eyes. “I always find it better to keep my troubles to myself.”

“But I must tell you! You’ve got to help me! You’re the only one who can.”

“Out with it, then!”

Maurice threw himself on the grass.

“Sit down! Sit down beside me!”

Renny dropped to his side and offered him a cigarette, but Maurice shook his head.

“No, no, I can’t smoke! Renny, I’m in the most terrible mess. I don’t know what I’m to do.” He rolled on to his side and clutched a handful of grass. Then, as though the words too were pulled up by the roots, he said:

“It’s a girl I’ve got into trouble. She’s going to have a baby! If your family find out—if my mother and father find out—I’m done for! And it isn’t as though I care about the girl. I hate her now that I know what she’s going to do. I’ve never loved anyone but Meggie.”

“Who is she?” Renny spoke in a cold voice.

The answer came so muffled he could scarcely hear the name: “Elvira Gray.”

“Elvira!” Renny repeated it on a note of wonder, and he looked at his friend, seeing him in a new, strange, sensual light.

A flicker of bravado passed over Maurice’s face. He gave a short laugh.

“You’ve never thought of Elvira in that way, eh?”

“I’ve never thought of her in any way.” He spoke gruffly and avoided Maurice’s eyes.

“But I don’t see how you could help noticing her. She’s not like any of the other village girls.”

“Well, she’s pretty, I know. But I’ve never given her a thought.” His mind turned to his sister and he broke out: “It’s a damned shame! It’s horrible! Meg can never marry you after this!”

Maurice sat up and said desperately: “Meggie must never know. She never will know. You must help me!”

“How the devil can I help you?”

“Elvira will go away. She has relations who will take her in, if she has money to provide for her and the child till she can get work..... Renny, you must see Elvira for me.... I can’t see her again .... She makes terrible scenes..... It isn’t safe.... We’ll be caught.... Everything will come out.”

“Do you think”—Renny spoke passionately—“that I can bear the thought of your marrying my sister—after this?”

“What difference will it make if she never knows? I’ll be faithful to her. I swear I will! I’ll never look at another woman! Surely you have heard enough talk in your family to know that this sort of thing sometimes happens. Men forget themselves.” He spoke as an experienced man to a boy.

Renny muttered—“You should not have forgotten yourself.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that! I’ve been driven almost mad by remorse. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since she told me about the baby.”

“Did she threaten to tell your people?”

“No, but everyone in the village will talk. You know what they are for gossip. Our families will be bound to hear of it. Elvira’s aunt will be after me for help. In fact, she has been. I’ve given her money—all I could lay my hands on—to shut her up.”

“How did this affair begin?”

“Elvira used to come into our woods to pick blackberries. I used to be about with my gun. I spoke to her and once I helped her to fill her pail. There was something mysterious about her. But I never loved her for a minute, mind you. I’ve never stopped loving Meg. Meg would have a year’s engagement. She would scarcely let me kiss her. But every time I looked at Elvira I could see that she wanted me to kiss her. Then one day last August I forgot myself. I took her in my arms.... I was lost then. It was just like a wild dream.”

Renny said—“Yes? What was she like?”

“She was passionate and strange. She almost frightened me. I made up my mind I’d never see her again.... But—the very next time I went into the wood—she was there.”

Renny’s face hardened. “Why didn’t you keep out of the wood?”

“I was a fool. But I wanted to be alone to think things over.”

“Are you sure you didn’t want to meet her again?”

Maurice flushed under Renny’s eyes.

“I don’t know. Perhaps I did. I was a fool. But I can tell you, I’ve paid for it!”

“I think you’re just beginning to pay for it.”

“By God! You’re hard! I thought you were my friend. I thought you’d help me.”

“I’m wondering if I want my sister to marry you now.”

“I swear I’ll be faithful to her for the rest of my life! Any man is likely to make one slip. It will disappoint your people terribly. It will break my parents’ hearts—if this comes between Meg and me. Lord, what I’ve been through! Meg buying her trousseau, and Elvira clasping me about the knees and begging me to marry her! It’s too much! I can’t bear it!”

He threw himself on the grass and groaned.

Renny was moved to compassion.

“Look here,” he said, putting his hand on Maurice’s shoulder, “buck up! We’ll do something about it. I’ll see Elvira and we’ll get her out of here at once. Have you the money for her?”

“Yes. My father has given me a cheque for my wedding expenses. I’ll have to take some of that.”

“Does that mean that you will cut down Meggie’s pleasures on your wedding trip?” Renny regarded him suspiciously.

“Lord, no. I can always get money.”

“Hm—you’re a lucky devil.”

“Will you see Elvira to-morrow?”

“Yes.”

“She must leave soon—before it’s too late.”

“When is the arrival expected?”

“I don’t quite know. In about a month, I think.”

“Well, aren’t people talking?”

“She doesn’t show her condition.”

“She may be bluffing you.”

“No. I’m sure of it.”

“Are you sure the child will be yours?”

“I think it is.”

“Well, as Gran says, this is a pretty to-do. I wonder how the old lady would take it.”

Maurice replied eagerly. “She would be on my side. You can depend on that, Renny! She is a woman of the world. My parents have lived narrow lives. They’re puritanical. Your people are different. They see things comparatively.”

Renny made a guarded, nervous movement. “They wouldn’t see this comparatively,” he said. “They’d see it as an insult to Meg. I don’t believe they’d want her to marry you.”

“I think you’re quite wrong. But no one need ever know, if you’ll help me.”

“Oh, I’ll help you, as far as that goes! When can I see Elvira?”

“I will arrange that. God, what a load you’ve taken off my mind!”

He stretched out his hand and clasped Renny’s.

A chill rose from the river and a tenuous wreath of mist indicated its meanderings. The crinkled surface of the water took on an olive tinge, while the tops of the willows were still gilded by the sun. A kingfisher swooped and rose with a small fish in his beak.

Then, from beyond a willowed curve of the river, two swans appeared, sailing in midstream, with closely folded wings and arched necks. They were a pair that Renny’s father had brought from England. The experiment had been tried several times, but these were the first that had thriven and made the river their own. Now, in an attitude of innocent scorn, they sailed past the two youths, their snowy whiteness reflected in the darkening water, a long silver ripple springing from either side of their calm breasts.