"I liked being in the Middle Third, sir," said Colin, regaining confidence. "It was much better fun than old--I mean Mr. Blatherwick"s is. I wish I was back again--for _some_ things," he qualified conscientiously.

When the time came to take his leave, Mrs. Langton asked for his address, with a view to an invitation at no distant time. A young man, already a sort of celebrity, and quite presentable on other accounts, would be useful at dances, while he might serve to leaven some of her husband"s slightly heavy professional dinners.

Mabel gave him her hand at parting with an air of entire friendliness and good understanding which she did not usually display on so short a probation. But she liked this Mr. Ashburn already, who on the last time she had met him had figured as a kind of hero, who was the "swell" master for whom, without having seen him, she had caught something of Colin"s boyish admiration, and who, lastly, had stirred and roused her imagination through the work of his own.

Perhaps, after all, he was a little conceited, but then it was not an offensive conceit, but one born of a confidence in himself which was fairly justified. She had not liked his manner of disparaging his first work, and she rather distrusted his idealising theories; still, she knew that clever people often find it difficult to do justice to their ideas in words. He _might_ produce a work which would take rank with the very greatest, and till then she could admire what he had already accomplished.

And besides he was good-looking--very good-looking; his dark eyes had expressed a very evident satisfaction at being there and talking to her--which of course was in his favour; his manner was bright and pleasant: and so Mabel found it agreeable to listen to her mother"s praise of their departed visitor.

"A very charming young man, my dear. You"ve only to look at him to see he"s a true genius; and so unaffected and pleasant with it all. Quite an acquisition, really."

"_I_ found him, mother," interrupted Dolly; "he wouldn"t have come but for me. But I"m rather disappointed in him myself; he didn"t seem to care to talk to _me_ much; and I don"t believe he knows much about fairies."

"Don"t be ungrateful, Dolly," said Mabel. "Who saved Frisk for you?"

"Oh, _he_ did; I know all that; but not because he liked Frisk, or me either. It was because--I don"t know _why_ it was because."

"Because he is a good young man, I suppose," said Mrs. Langton instructively.

"No, it wasn"t that; he doesn"t look so _very_ good; not so good as poor Vincent did; more good than Harold, though. But he doesn"t care about dogs, and he doesn"t care about me, and I don"t care about him!" concluded Dolly, rather defiantly.

As for Mark, he left the house thoroughly and helplessly in love. As he walked back to his rooms he found a dreamy pleasure in recalling the different stages of the interview. Mabel"s slender figure as she stood opposite him by the mantelpiece, her reserve at first, and the manner in which it had thawed to a frank and gracious interest; the suspicion of a critical but not unkindly mockery in her eyes and tone at times--it all came back to him with a vividness that rendered him deaf and blind to his actual surroundings. He saw again the group in the dim, violet-scented drawing-room, the handsome languid woman murmuring her pleasant commonplaces, and the pretty child lecturing the prodigal dog, and still felt the warm light touch of Mabel"s hand as it had lain in his for an instant at parting.

This time, too, the parting was not without hope; he might look forward to seeing her again after this. A summer of golden dreams and fancies had indeed begun for him from that day, and as he thought again that he owed these high privileges to "Illusion," events seemed more than ever to be justifying an act which was fast becoming as remote and unreproachful as acts will, when the dread of discovery--that great awakener of conscience--is sleeping too.

CHAPTER XV.

HAROLD CAFFYN MAKES A DISCOVERY.

Harold Caffyn had not found much improvement in his professional prospects since we first made his acquaintance; his disenchantment was in fact becoming complete. He had taken to the stage at first in reliance on the extravagant eulogies of friends, forgetting that the standard for amateurs in any form of art is not a high one, and he was very soon brought to his proper level. A good appearance and complete self-possession were about his sole qualifications, unless we add the voice and manner of a man in good society, which are not by any means the distinctive advantages that they were a few years ago.

The general verdict of his fellow-professionals was, "Clever enough, but no actor," and he was without the sympathy or imagination to identify himself completely with any character and feelings opposed to his own; he had obtained one distinct success, and one only--at a _matinee_, when a new comedy was presented in which a part of some consequence had been entrusted to him. He was cast for a cool and cynical adventurer, with a considerable dash of the villain in him, and played it admirably, winning very favourable notices from the press, although the comedy itself resulted as is not infrequent with _matinees_, in a dismal fiasco. However, the _matinee_ proved for a time of immense service to him in the profession, and even led to his being chosen by his manager to represent the hero of the next production at his own theatre--a poetical drama which had excited great interest before its appearance--and if Caffyn could only have made his mark in it, his position would have been a.s.sured from that moment. But the part was one of rather strained sentiment, and he could not, rather than would not, make it effective. In spite of himself, his manner suggested rather than concealed any extravagances in the dialogue, and, worse still, gave the impression that he was himself contemptuously conscious of them; the consequence being that he repelled the sympathies of his audience to a degree that very nearly proved fatal to the play. After that unlucky first night the part was taken from him, and his engagement, which terminated shortly afterwards, was not renewed.

Caffyn was not the man to overcome his deficiencies by hard and patient toil; he had counted upon an easy life with immediate triumphs, and the reality baffled and disheartened him. He might soon have slid into the lounging life of a man about town, with a moderate income, expensive tastes, and no occupation, and from that perhaps even to shady and questionable walks of life. But he had an object still in keeping his head above the social waters, and the object was Mabel Langton.

He had long felt that there was a secret antagonism on her side towards himself, which at first he had found amus.e.m.e.nt in provoking to an occasional outburst, but was soon piqued into trying to overcome and disarm, and the unexpected difficulty of this had produced in him a state of mind as nearly approaching love as he was capable of.

He longed for the time when his wounded pride would be salved by the consciousness that he had at last obtained the mastery of this wayward nature, when he would be able to pay off the long score of slights and disdains which he had come to exaggerate morbidly; he was resolved to conquer her sooner or later in defiance of all obstacles, and he had found few natures capable of resisting him long after he had set himself seriously to subdue them.

But Mabel had been long in showing any sign of yielding. For some time after the loss of the "Mangalore" she had been depressed and silent to a degree which persuaded Caffyn that his old jealousy of Holroyd was well-grounded, and when she recovered her spirits somewhat, while she was willing to listen and laugh or talk to him, there was always the suggestion of an armistice in her manner, and any attempt on his part to lead the conversation to something beyond mere badinage was sure to be adroitly parried or severely put down, as her mood varied.

Quite recently, however, there had been a slight change for the better; she had seemed more pleased to see him, and had shown more sympathy and interest in his doings. This was since his one success at the _matinee_, and he told himself triumphantly that she had at last recognised his power; that the long siege was nearly over.

He would have been much less complacent had he known the truth, which was this. At the _matinee_ Mabel had certainly been at first surprised almost to admiration by an unexpected display of force on Caffyn"s part. But as the piece went on, she could not resist an impression that this was not acting, but rather an unconscious revelation of his secret self; the footlights seemed to be bringing out the hidden character of the man as though it had been written on him in sympathetic ink.

As she leaned back in the corner of the box he had sent them, she began to remember little traits of boyish malice and cruelty. Had they worked out of his nature, as such strains sometimes will, or was this stage adventurer, cold-blooded, unscrupulous, with a vein of diabolical humour in his malevolence, the real Harold Caffyn?

And then she had seen the injustice of this and felt almost ashamed of her thoughts, and with the wish to make some sort of reparation, and perhaps the consciousness that she had not given him many opportunities of showing her his better side, her manner towards him had softened appreciably.

Caffyn only saw the effects, and argued favourably from them. "Now that fellow Holroyd is happily out of the way," he thought, "she doesn"t care for anybody in particular. I"ve only to wait."

There were considerations other than love or pride which made the marriage a desirable one to him. Mabel"s father was a rich man, and Mabel herself was ent.i.tled independently to a considerable sum on coming of age. He could hardly do better for himself than by making such a match, even from the pecuniary point of view.

And so he looked about him anxiously for some opening more suitable to his talent than the stage-door, for he was quite aware that at present Mabel"s father, whatever Mabel herself might think, would scarcely consider him a desirable _parti_.

Caffyn had been lucky enough to impress a business friend of his with a firm conviction of his talents for business and management, and this had led to a proposal that he should leave the stage and join him, with a prospect of a partnership should the alliance prove a success.

The business was a flourishing one, and the friend a young man who had but recently succeeded to the complete control of it, while Caffyn had succeeded somehow in acquiring a tolerably complete control of _him_.

So the prospect was really an attractive one, and he felt that now at last he might consider the worst obstacles to his success with Mabel were disposed of.

He had plenty of leisure time on his hands at present, and thought he would call at Kensington Park Gardens one afternoon, and try the effect of telling Mabel of his prospects. She had been so cordial and sympathetic of late that it would be strange if she did not express some sort of pleasure, and it would be for him to decide then whether or not his time had come to speak of his hopes.

Mrs. and Miss Langton were out, he was told at the door. "Miss Dolly was in," added Champion, to whom Caffyn was well known.

"Then I"ll see Miss Dolly," said Caffyn, thinking that he might be able to pa.s.s the time until Mabel"s return. "In the morning-room is she? All right."

He walked in alone, to find Dolly engaged in tearing off the postage stamp from a letter. "Hallo, Miss Juggins, what mischief are you up to now?" he began, as he stood in the doorway.

"It"s not mischief at all," said Dolly, hardly deigning to look up from her occupation. "What have you come in for, Harold?"

"For the pleasure of your conversation," said Caffyn. "You know you always enjoy a talk with me, Dolly." (Dolly made a little mouth at this.) "But what are you doing with those scissors and that envelope, if I"m not indiscreet in asking?"

Dolly was in a subdued and repentant mood just then, for she had been so unlucky as to offend Colin the day before, and he had not yet forgiven her. It had happened in this way. It had been a half-holiday, and Colin had brought home an especial friend of his to spend the afternoon, to be shown his treasures and, in particular, to give his opinion as an expert on the merits of Colin"s collection of foreign postage-stamps.

Unhappily for Colin"s purpose, however, Dolly had completely enslaved the friend from the outset. Charmed by his sudden interest in the most unboyish topics, she had carried him off to see her doll"s house, and, in spite of Colin"s grumbling dissuasion, the base friend had gone meekly. Worse still, he had remained up there listening to Dolly"s personal anecdotes and reminiscences and seeing Frisk put through his performances, until it was too late to do anything like justice to the stamp alb.u.m, over which Colin had been sulkily fuming below, divided between hospitality and impatience.

Dolly had been perfectly guiltless of the least touch of coquetry in thus monopolising the visitor, for she was not precocious in this respect, and was merely delighted to find a boy who, unlike Colin, would condescend to sympathise with her pursuits; but perhaps the boy himself, a susceptible youth, found Dolly"s animated face and eager confidences more attractive than the rarest postal issues.

When he had gone, Colin"s pent-up indignation burst out on the unsuspecting Dolly. She had done it on purpose. She knew d.i.c.kinson major came to see his stamps. What did _he_ care about her rubbishy dolls? And there she had kept him up in the nursery for hours wasting his time! It was too bad of her, and so on, until she wept with grief and penitence.

And now she was seizing the opportunity of purchasing his forgiveness by an act of atonement in kind, in securing what seemed to her to be probably a stamp of some unknown value--to a boy. But she did not tell all this to Caffyn.

"Do you know about stamps--is this a rare one?" she said, and brought the stamp she had removed to Caffyn. The postmark had obliterated the name upon it.

"Let"s look at the letter," said Caffyn; and Dolly put it in his hand.

He took it to the window, and gave a slight start. "When did this come?" he said sharply.

"Just now," said Dolly; "a minute or two before you came. I heard the postman, and I ran out into the hall to see the letters drop in the box, and then I saw this one with the stamp, and the box wasn"t locked, so I took it out and tore the stamp off. Why do you look like that, Harold? It"s only for Mabel, and she won"t mind."

Caffyn was still at the window; he had just received a highly unpleasant shock, and was trying to get over it and adjust himself to the facts revealed by what he held in his hand.

The letter was from India, bore a Colombo postmark, and was in Vincent Holroyd"s hand, which Caffyn happened to know; if further proof were required he had it by pressing the thin paper of the envelope against the inclosure beneath, when several words became distinctly legible, besides those visible already through the gap left by the stamp. Thus he read, "Shall not write again till you----" and lower down Holroyd"s full signature.