Authors: Unknown
“Does that excuse it?” she asked broodingly. “Does it? Not even trying to play fair—no, nothing excuses that,” as Charles did not reply. “And I am as bad as any of them—ever since you came here you’ve been trying to make me see that, haven’t you?”
“It was like my confounded impertinence!” Charles said angrily. “Who am I ”
Judith shook her head.
“At the back of my mind I knew all the time that you were right,” she admitted. “I knew that you were playing fair—and trying to make me. That’s why I’ve been so beastly. It—it is so difficult to admit that you are in the wrong!”
“The most difficult thing in the world,” he agreed emphatically. “And, in any case, it was not anything like all your fault. You’ve been taught not to see the other man’s point of view.”
Judith did not reply. She only sighed again and leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her face buried in her hands.
“I can’t go on!” she said in a muffled voice. “I can’t! Everybody hates me—I shall never be able to trust anyone again!”
“Yes, you will,” he contradicted firmly. “I imagine that there has been quite a lot of sympathy for Shawbury in the past, but that is all finished. He has put himself completely in the wrong now. The man must have been mad to do a thing like that—he knows perfectly well what the penalties are. But quite apart from the legal aspect of it, he’s made every man his enemy! Don’t you realise all the sympathy will be for you now—admittedly because the other farmers will see themselves as potential victims along with you! It’s a chance, Judith, to make a new start! Don’t bear malice—don’t lose courage! Take the lead now with all the precautions that are necessary. Stand by your fellow farmers and lend them a hand. They will never forget it, and the past will stay where it belongs—in the past!”
“What must I do?” she asked wearily.
“See to it that instructions are properly carried out so that we stamp this out as quickly as possible. Make them all understand that we are in this together even though, as it happens, we are just outside the radius. And if it comes to the worst and herds have to be destroyed, tell them—your tenants, at least—that you will help them financially to get started again. Don’t you see, Judith, it
is
your chance.”
She was very still, and he waited with bated breath. Had she courage to seize this chance? Could she find the strength to turn the evil of the past into the good of the future? He had done his best, but the final decision must be with her.
Suddenly she leaned back in her seat, her eyes closed.
“I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t! They wouldn’t trust me. Why should they expect to get anything good from a Ravensdale? They’ve never trusted me, partly because of that and partly because I am a girl—if I had been the boy my father wanted ”
“No!” he said positively. “You cannot tell what would have happened if you had been a boy! It might well be that you would have clashed so badly with your father that you would have felt compelled to leave home. You must accept things as they are, Judith!”
She hesitated, evidently thinking this over.
“Yes, that is all one can do,” she agreed. “I must see this through—or you must for me, for I shall be away. But, when I come back—” she drew a deep sigh, “I shall sell Windygates!”
“No”’ he said sternly. “You cannot do that! It is running away!”
“No,” she said dully. “Just—facing up to things as they are! The way you said.”
Charles could find nothing to say. Only the hand that still lay on the steering wheel clenched so that the knuckles showed white and shining. Judith was too immersed in her own thoughts to notice how strained his face was, that twice his lips parted as if he were going to speak, only to be closed again in an even firmer line.
At last he said deliberately:
“Judith, at least take no definite steps yet about selling.”
She laughed drearily.
“I can’t” she pointed out. “I’m still under age!”
There was no bitterness in the remark, but not for the first time he realised how hard his advent had been on her. His teeth gritted.
“I think when you get away you will see your problems more clearly from a distance than you can now close at hand. And when you come back, I promise you that things will be a lot easier than they are now— they will have sorted themselves out. And I will do everything that lies in my power to see that they do. But if, when you come back, you still say you cannot go on, then ”
She turned and looked at him gravely.
“Then?” she asked.
Charles bit his lip.
“Then—will you give me the first refusal of Windygates?” he asked quietly.
“You?” She was alert in an instant. “But—you could not afford to buy Windygates, could you?”
“Yes, I could—provided you are willing to take a fair price for it,” he explained. __
“But I thought—you didn’t tell me—I thought you had to work ” she stammered.
“People are disinclined to take a man seriously if he does not have to work. I think they are wrong. At least in my own case. Because I have been able to choose the job I really want to do I can put my whole heart into it.”
She nodded as if she agreed.
“Oh, I wish I had known!” she said earnestly. “I wish you had told me!”
His eyes were curious.
“Would it have made so much difference?” he asked.
“Of course it would!” Her emphasis left no doubt of her sincerity. “Don’t you see, if I had realised that you really loved farming, that you had no—no ”
“No axe to grind?” he suggested. “Yes, I see what you mean, but it is a point of view that never occurred to me. Besides, can you think of any occasion in our rather stormy joint history when I could have said, casually: ‘By the way, I’m quite well off, I don’t have to work for you or anyone else!’ Can you imagine what would have happened?”
The faintest of smiles curved Judith’s lips. Then they grew grave again.
“No, I suppose you couldn’t,” she agreed. “All the same—” she stopped abruptly. “Does anyone else know, Charles?”
He knew that she was completely unconscious of the fact that, for the first time, she had called him by his Christian name, and he made no comment on it, although he realised that it implied a trust in him which had been so flagrantly missing before.
“You mean round here?” he asked. “I should think it is most unlikely. I certainly have not spoken of it. And surely, if anyone did know, it would have got back to you?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” she agreed, but as he drove the car on to the road again and turned for home, she was very silent.
He wondered what she was thinking about—Shawbury, her father, her own aching desire to cut loose and start fresh. Poor child, she had plenty with which to occupy her mind!
But it was none of these things which was troubling Judith. She had remembered that evening on which Linda had revealed the fact that she already knew Charles by sight when he came to Windygates. Her friends in Sussex had pointed him out to her. They had told her who his brother was, so surely they had passed on some facts about Charles himself. That he was rich? Surely that was more than likely!
“Maybe one shouldn’t marry for money, but heaven protect me from loving where it isn’t!”
She could hear the echo of Linda’s voice. Was it just Linda’s luck that she had fallen in love with a wealthy man? Or—could you make yourself love to suit?
“I couldn’t!” Judith told herself positively. “But ”
And hated herself for her suspicion of her friend.
Even before nightfall it was evident that Charles was right. Urgent telephoning on the part of Mr. Trent had spread the news, and all movement of cattle in the prescribed area was forbidden. He must have explained the circumstances pretty clearly, for before long, calls began to come through to Windygates. Either Charles or Judith seemed to be answering the telephone all the evening, and it became quite clear that personal indignation against Shawbury was blended with genuine feeling against the way in which he had tried to injure her.
More than once, when Charles was speaking, he called Judith over and insisted on a repetition of what had been said. And each time, in addition to the sympathy that she gave, Judith added:
“We are in this together, you know, and I will do every possible thing 1 can to help. While 1 am away, Mr. Saxilby will have complete authority to act on my behalf.”
At last, well past eleven, it seemed probable that there would be no more calls. Charles stretched and yawned.
“Well, that’s that!” he said with a certain amount of satisfaction. “I don’t think there is anything else that can be done. If you can cope for a day or two I’d like to go round with Trent. I’ll take all the necessary precautions, of course, in case there is going to be a really bad outbreak, but I’ve hopes that it is going to be limited. After all, Shawbury’s farm is fairly well isolated, and there have been no movements of animals from it for a good many weeks. Heavens, the man must be mad—of course, he will stick to it that he didn’t think it was foot-and-mouth, but—he’s for it!”
“Yes,” Judith said soberly. “Poor Mrs. Shawbury.”
“H’m,” Charles said thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I have an idea she was in it as much as he was—still, there it is. I had to tell Trent—although I was by no means sure. It was a risk. If I had been wrong, Shawbury would have been very awkward.”
“That was why you wanted me to wait,” Judith said slowly. “Why didn’t you tell me—no, I know. I wouldn’t have believed it. I couldn’t have, you know. I hardly can now, although I know it is true!” Suddenly she thought of something. “Charles, was there anything wrong with the cattle truck?”
“The engine? No, I’m afraid there wasn’t,” he admitted. “But I had been on the telephone to Trent, and it was impossible for him to get there quickly enough if you started straight away. So 1 had to delay you. I’m sorry!”
“You did it very cleverly,” she told him gravely, and as she met his eyes, they both laughed. Charles came nearer arid touched her lips with the tips of his fingers.
“Do you know, that is the first time I have seen you laugh!” he said wonderingly. “You should do it again, it suits you!”
“Does it?” Judith whispered.
“It certainly—” Charles broke off and clapped his hand to his forehead. “Good heavens, I’ve just remembered, I was dining with the Enstones! And I haven’t even let them know that I wasn’t coming! Phew! You’ll have to think up some excuses for me, Judith!” Judith turned away.
“I think your own apologies will be sufficient,” she said very quietly, and vanished into the shadows.
Charles made a step as if to go after her. Then he drew back. Nor could anyone have told from his face at that moment whether his thoughts were pleasant or the reverse. There was a strange lack of expression about it which might have given the impression that he himself found it impossible to look even the shortest way into the future. That was all.
“Of all the disgusting tricks!” Desmond said hotly. “I hope Shawbury catches it hot and strong!”
“I expect he will,” Linda said slowly. “But that won’t do anyone much good if it really spreads. You’re lucky, Judith, to be so far away from the outbreak.”
“Not really so very far,” Judith said soberly. “You know how easily it can spread. Still, of course, we shall do our very best. Charles is wonderful.”
The eyes of brother and sister met in complete understanding. They were sitting together in the Enstones’ small private sitting-room, having tea. Desmond had seen Judith pass and had insisted on her coming in, although she had protested that she really hadn’t time.
“Nonsense!” he had put his arm through hers and pulled her gently towards the house. “We see so little of you these days that the next thing will be you don’t even remember who we are!”
“Silly!” she said lightly, and because she knew that she had been deliberately avoiding both him and Linda, she allowed him to persuade her.
And, of course, Shawbury and his misdeeds were the first topic of conversation.
“It was certainly fortunate that he found out about it in the nick of time,” Linda agreed. “Otherwise, you would have been in it up to the neck—it wouldn’t have made you any more popular either, Judith.”
Judith’s face clouded. It was the first time that her lack of popularity in the district had ever been spoken of so openly—it hurt rather to know that other people had realised it although she had been too blind.
“That’s what I don’t like about this set-up,” Desmond said slowly.
Linda turned slowly towards him, her lips smiling ever so slightly.
“What do you mean, Des?” she asked softly.
He shrugged his shoulders.
“Just that Saxilby has properly got himself into everybody’s good books somewhat at Judith’s expense,” he said promptly.
“Oh, no!” Judith said quickly. “Really, there is nothing like that about it.”
Desmond shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, of course, if you are satisfied—” he said doubtfully, and then, catching his sister’s warning glance, knew that he had said enough.
“Can I give you a lift?” he asked Judith as he stood up. “I’m going into Wyford.”
“No, thank you,” Judith said rather quickly. “I was just walking down to the village, that’s all. It won’t take me a minute.” She stood up as well. “But I really must be going.”
“No!” Linda spoke so slowly that it was almost a drawl. “Sit down a minute, Judith! I want to talk to you for a moment!”
Judith looked uncertainly from one to the other, sensitive to something almost electric in the still air of the little room.
“Well, I must be going,” Desmond said hurriedly. “Be seeing you, Judith.”
'Yes, of course,’.’ she agreed rather breathlessly. Then he had gone and she was alone with Linda.
“Sit down,” Linda said slowly, lighting another cigarette from the end of the previous one. “Have one?”
“No, thank you. I don’t smoke,” Judith said briefly.
“No, of course you don’t, I forgot.” Linda smiled. “Fancy forgetting a thing like that when I know you so well!”
Judith moved restlessly.
“Linda, really, 1 am in a hurry,” she said.