CHAPTER XXXV
_HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF_
Hugh lost no time on the way back to the hotel. The lazy driver awokehis lazy horse and, to the intense amazement of both, the vehicle heldtogether during the return trip. At least a dozen rattling bumps overrough places in the street caused the driver to glance apprehensivelyover his shoulder in the unusual fear that his fare and the cab hadparted company. For the first time in ten years he was sufficientlyinterested to be surprised. It astonished him to find that the vehiclestuck together as a whole.
On the way back, Hugh suddenly bethought himself of his financialcondition. He was attired in a suit of clothes belonging to Mr.Carruthers and the garments fitted him well. In one of the pocketsrested his small leather purse. When he plunged into the sea on thatmemorable night a year ago it contained a half dozen small Americancoins and some English money, amounting in all to eleven dollars andthirty cents. Carefully he had treasured this wealth on the island andhe had come away with the principal untouched. Now, as he jogged alongin the cab, he emptied the contents of the purse upon the seat.
"Eleven thirty," he mused. "A splendid dowry. Not enough to buy thering. No flowers, no wine--nothing but pins. My letter of credit is atthe bottom of the sea. Borrowed clothes on my back and home-made clotheson hers. I have a watch, a knife, and a scarf pin. She has diamond ringsand rubies, but she has no hat. By Jove, it looks as though I'll have toborrow money of Veath, after all."
Lady Tennys was in her room, strangely calm and resigned. She waswondering whether he would ever come back to her, whether she was everto see him again. Her tired, hopeless brain was beginning to lookforward to the dismal future, the return to England, the desolate lifein the society she now despised, the endless regret of losing that whichshe had never hoped to possess--a man's love in exchange for her own.She kept to her room, avoiding the curious stare of people, denyingherself to the reporters and correspondents, craving only the lonelinessthat made the hour dark for her. It seemed to her that she had lived alifetime since he went forth to find the girl who had waited so longfor him.
Then came the rush of footsteps in the hall. They were not those of theslow-moving servants, they were not--a vigorous thumping on the door wasfollowed by the cry of a strong, manly, vigorous voice. Her head swam,her heart stood still, her lips grew white and she could utter no soundin response.
He was coming at last to commit her to everlasting misery.
The door flew open and Ridgeway bounded into the room. Before she couldmove, he rushed over and drew her limp form from the chair, up into hisstrong embrace. She heard a voice, tender and gladsome, as from afaroff, singing into her ear.
"Look up, darling! This is to be our wedding day--yours and mine! Youare mine--mine!"
The glad light slowly struggled back into her eyes, but it was as if shehad come from a death-like swoon. He poured into her dull ears the storyof the visit to Grace Vernon, but he was compelled to repeat it. Herears were unbelieving.
"Grace is coming here with Henry Veath," he said in the end. "By Jove, Iam happy!"
She held his face close to hers and looked deep into his eyes for along, long time.
"Are you sure?" she whispered at last. "Is it all true?"
"They'll be here in half an hour; but I haven't told them it was youthey are going to see. She loves Veath--loves him more than she evercared for me. I don't blame her, do you? Veath's a man--worthy of anywoman's love and confidence. Tennys, do you know what I've been thinkingever since I left them fifteen minutes ago? I've been calling myself acad--a downright cad."
"And why, may I ask?"
"Because Veath isn't one--that's all."
"But you are a man--a true, noble, enduring one. The year just gone haschanged you from the easy, thoughtless boy into the strong man that youare, just as it has made of me a woman."
"I am no longer the harlequin?" he interposed eagerly.
"The harlequin's errand is accomplished, dear. The spangles and glitterare gone. Pure gold has come in their stead. It won't wear out. God hasworked out this end for all of us. In His own good time He rectifies ourerrors and points the new way."
"I am but a year older than when I began."
"It isn't time that makes the man."
"It's opportunity, after all. I wasn't a man when I dragged Grace Vernonaway from home; I was a fool--a callow boy in--"
"That was a year ago, Hugh, dear. What was I two years ago?"
"A rich man's wife. I was a rich man's son."
"You were the rich man's son by chance. I was a rich man's wife fromchoice."
"History repeats itself with variations, dearest. Although I have buteleven dollars and thirty cents in my purse, I have a million at home.You don't mind, do you?"
"I suppose it was foreordained that I should always marry from choice,"she said with her most entrancing smile.