Chapter XXI: How the Scales Fell

After breakfast next morning, as Darville sat writing, Edris came in dressed ready for ski-ing. She wore black, with pale-blue scarf, and turn-overs of the same shade over her boots, and looked extremely smart.

“I’m just off!” she cried with a flush of pleasure. “Karl is taking me for a little run. We’ll be back about eleven, and then we’ll skate. He is going to-night, but wants us to go down to Interlaken on Wednesday. His mother has invited me to go and see her.”

Seton turned in his chair and, taking her hand tenderly, looked up into her sweet face, and said in a calm voice:

“Edris, I do not wish to go to Interlaken again.”

“Why not? You have so many friends down there, and Karl and his mother will give us both a good time.”

“This invitation of Frau Weiss is rather sudden, is it not?” he asked. He rose from his chair, and embracing her, added: “Edris, I want to be quite frank with you. I am not blind to your flirtation with this man. I have told him of our engagement, and if he now flirts with you after that, then he will be my enemy. And for my enemies I have, as you know, no compunction and no remorse.”

“My dearest Seti,” she said with a forced laugh, “I’m sure you are jealous. Now, admit it. I assure you that there is nothing in it, and that you see dangers where none lie. I love you, darling, and, doing so can you ever think that I could love another man? You surely cannot think me so base as that!”

“You told me once, Carina, that if I were ever jealous I would know what it meant--a living hell. It is the tortures of hell I am now suffering.”

“Why?”

“Because--well, because I fear to lose you, darling,” he said, rising and taking her in his strong arms.

“But you told me in England that only silly fools were jealous, and that happily you would never know what jealousy is!” she retorted. “Besides, Karl is going to Canada very shortly, and I shall never see him again. Do you forbid me having--well, just a little snow romance, dearest?” she asked, placing her arms around his neck and drawing him to her, in that delightful coaxing manner which she so often assumed.

“I don’t wish to interfere with your pleasures in the least, Edris,” he said in a rather strained voice. “But from what I know, I feel that your love for me is fast melting away.” Then, in a voice choked with emotion, he added: “I know I’ve been wrong to believe that you could ever really love a man of my age. It is humanly impossible.”

“My darling Seti!” cried the girl, holding him tightly and kissing him upon the lips. “I do love you! Believe me, I do. I repeat that neither Karl nor any other man shall ever come between us. Our souls are affinities; our views of life are entirely in common, as well as our tastes and our general outlook upon things. Besides, Karl is a foreigner, and he has to go abroad to work because he has no money. Poor fellow, I feel so sorry for him!”

“Is he so much to you that you feel sorry for him?” he asked in a tone of annoyance.

“No; only I think his people haven’t treated him fairly. He can get nothing to do here in his native Switzerland. You have influence in England. Don’t you think that you could get him a job?”

Darville reflected. He recollected that secret report concerning Karl Weiss he had read and signed.

“I don’t think so,” he replied. “You see, he is a foreigner, and he looks so very much like a German officer. He will, no doubt, get on well in Canada.”

“Will you help him?” she asked.

“If you wish. But I cannot see the motive of this unusual interest of yours in a man you haven’t known much more than a few days.”

His remark confused her. What would he think if he knew the truth? she reflected. But he would never know. How could he?

“Only because he is extremely nice to me, and I’m sorry for him.”

“Too nice, it seems,” he blurted forth, releasing her, and turning to his writing-table.

“Oh, Seti!” she cried reproachfully. “You are horrid to me this morning. Surely you know too well that I love and adore you? You asked Karl up here to entertain me, and now you don’t approve of my association with him. I really don’t think it nice of you, dear.”

“Forgive me, darling,” the man said, kissing her again. “I’m sorry if I am harsh with you. But you know how deeply I love you, and how I fear lest this man should steal your heart from me.”

“I know. I realize it all, Seti,” she said. “But trust me, I beg of you. Trust me, and I will prove to you that I am true.”

Then she went forth to meet Karl. As she went down the stairs to the hall, where he awaited her, she held her breath. What if Seton ever discovered the depth of her deceit? Half an hour later she was standing with Karl in a clump of snow-covered firs, at a secluded spot to which nobody ever came, and he was holding her in his arms, while her dark head nestled upon his shoulder. The resentment she had shown at the refuge hut on the Männlichen had given place to fascination and admiration. He had declared openly that he meant to win her, and already he had succeeded in stealing her heart from the man who was his host and friend.

Their conversation was that of lovers, and their kisses passionate and oft repeated.

She told him of what Darville had said, whereupon he replied:

“You must be careful. He’s very suspicious. He must have no proof that we are lovers. I know, darling, how difficult it is for you not to show your affection for me,” he went on, holding her hand, and looking into her eyes with that fatal power of fascination which women could not resist. “But you must be careful. Pretend to love him more than ever, and you will disarm his suspicions. I leave to-night. But you must come down to Interlaken on pretense of seeing my mother, and we will spend a whole glorious day together.”

“But he will want to come, too!”

“You must not let him. Tell him, if you like, that you want to meet me again as test of his love and trust in you. If you are clever--as I know you are, Edris--you will work it all right. Telephone to me to-morrow morning from the post office. I shall be waiting to hear your dear voice at ten o’clock.”

It was plain that the man was exerting over her a most extraordinary and uncanny fascination. She felt herself impelled to comply with his wishes, and, somehow, she found herself unable to resist his blandishments. Every now and then, as they stood locked in each other’s arms, Edris referred to Darville as the man to whom she was engaged, but each time she mentioned him he made some disparaging comment, which now no longer caused her indignation, as it had done on that mountain-climb.

Meanwhile Seton Darville had become a changed man. He had left London bright and buoyant, in confidence that Edris loved him to distraction. But that introduction at Interlaken station, when they arrived in Switzerland, had proved fatal to his happiness. Strong man that he was, he tried to blind himself to a fact that was patent, yet in vain. As he sat there at his table he realized that Edris’s professions of love for him were false, and that, alas! it was but natural that she should love a younger man. But when he reflected that his rival was his friend, a spirit of fierce resentment arose within him. The man was a cad, for, knowing the truth, he was deliberately stealing the woman he so fondly loved.

The truth became forced upon him. Edris was playing him false!

“I love her, God knows! I love her! It is the first time I have ever loved. She is all to me--my very life!” he cried aloud in agony as the pen dropped from his nerveless fingers, his grief-stricken eyes fixed upon the wall.

Then, unable to bear his suffering longer, he buried his face in his hands and sobbed loudly, while the tears fell in large drops upon the manuscript he had been writing.

“Edris! Edris!” he called aloud, his voice low and harsh. “You are mine--mine! Come back to me, darling! Come back to me!”

And suddenly, the pale, broken-hearted man fell upon his knees beside his chair and remained there a long time, praying earnestly in silence.

When at last he rose he was calmer. Again he tried to deceive himself as to the true situation. His passion for Edris had wholly possessed his soul. Without her he knew he could never live. For her he would give all his fame, his reputation, his popularity--everything. But she, who only a little time before had vowed that she loved him and that he should be her husband, had cast down his great love and trodden it underfoot!

Again he was seized by a paroxysm of grief, and tears stood in his dark eyes as, standing before the window, he gazed blankly out upon the falling snow.

“I will return to London,” he said aloud at last. “I can’t remain here to suffer any longer. Now I know the bitter truth that she loves that fellow I will go out of her life in silence”; and he gazed about the room, stupefied at the blow he had received.

Then slowly he started packing his papers into his leather dispatch-case, his high, open brow clouded by pain and anguish, and tears still standing in his eyes.

“I’ll go to-night,” he murmured to himself. “It is better so.”

Then, having cleared his writing-table, he opened one of his battered, much be-labeled leather trunks, and began to arrange his reference books inside. He was kneeling on the floor, packing away his books, when the door opened, and Edris entered.

She saw the cleared writing-table, and exclaimed in surprise.

“What on earth are you doing, Seti?”

“I’m leaving for London to-night,” was his reply, as he rose to his feet.

“Leaving! Why? What’s happened?”

“I’m leaving because I cannot remain here any longer. You know the reason, Edris,” he said very seriously.

“You are leaving me here alone--abroad? Surely not!” said the girl, in a voice of reproach.

“No. You will come with me, Edris, back to England,” he said firmly, placing his hand upon her shoulder.

“I shall certainly do no such thing!” she replied indignantly. “You brought me out here, and you cannot leave me here among strangers!”

“You will be among friends--Karl, and his mother, who is so anxious to meet you,” he said bitterly.

She saw the change in him, and feared how much of her deceit he knew. Her lover’s words recurred to her--the instructions he had given to her as to how to further mislead him.

“Oh, it’s always Karl--Karl! I’m utterly sick of it!” she cried, in pretense of protest. “Have I not told you, darling, that I love you--and only you? Can’t you believe me?”

The sad-faced man looked straight into her eyes--a long, serious, intense look--and then said slowly:

“No, Edris, I can’t!”

“Seti!” she cried, tearing off her ski-cap and tossing it upon a chair as she gripped his hand and turned her face upwards to his. “What is the matter with you? You can’t leave me here. If you love me, you will remain. I am yours. You can’t desert me.”

“But I can’t remain here longer, in any case.”

“You are jealous of Karl. He is going at four o’clock. Let him go, and we will discuss it afterwards,” she suggested. “Let’s go down to luncheon. But don’t make a scene at table, I beg of you.”

“I shall make no scene,” he said in a hard voice, which betrayed hatred of the man whom he suspected, and who was, moreover, his guest.

“Well, I must go to my room for a moment. I’ll meet you at the table,” she said merrily, and kissing him as though nothing had occurred, she went out.

Instead of going to her room she flew downstairs, and, finding Karl, said:

“He’s furious. He’s packing up to go to England!”

“Let him go,” was the man’s whispered reply. “We shall be alone then, my darling.”

Ten minutes later all three met at the table set in the window commanding a gorgeous view of the Bernese Alps, half-hidden, however, by the snow-blizzard which had suddenly sprung up.

Darville, though almost beside himself with rage, yet, by sheer strength of will, preserved a calm, even cordial exterior towards his guest. In those minutes since she had left him a sudden thought had crossed his ever-active brain--the brain of the super-man. Edris had begged him to obtain employment for Karl. That would not be at all difficult. By reason of his position he was enabled to pull many unsuspected strings, and, indeed, to make or mar the careers of many men, and women also.

As they sat gossiping--Edris, with lies upon her pretty lips, relating what a delightful ski-run they had had together, though, as a matter of fact, they had been in that clump of firs all the morning--it occurred to him how, by the use of those all-powerful hidden hands which he controlled, he might so easily rid himself of his rival, and wreak fearful and terrible revenge.

Karl Weiss had come between the girl he held dearer than life and himself. The tall Swiss had arisen as a barrier between them--a barrier that he intended to break down. He set his teeth and clenched his hands. Seton Darville was fearless and bold, not a man to be trifled with.

At four o’clock Edris contrived to see her Swiss lover off at the station. Not without some sense of amusement Darville watched the eagerness which she displayed to be allowed to go to the train alone with him. His mind being made up, he raised no objection, for he himself pleaded being too busy to go.

The couple were, of course, delighted, and on their way planned further secret meetings in Interlaken in the days following. The snow had now ceased, and, as they plodded through the main streets of Wengen, Karl was buoyant and boastful, as he always was. In his own estimation no man could do such deeds of bravery--which, by the way, was a pose of his always in order to attract women, a pose that was, in itself, full proof of his base origin and his unscrupulous deceit.

Then, when the electric train came down from the high-up Schiedegg, the junction for the Jungfrau railway, he kissed her a fond farewell, and the train moved down into the deep valley to Lauterbrunnen, where he would take train for Interlaken.

Meanwhile Seton Darville, whose hatred when once aroused was dangerous and deadly, was walking alone along the terrace of the hotel, smoking a cigarette and thinking out the most terrible revenge that any human mind had perhaps ever conceived.

By means so subtle that nobody would dream of them he could rid himself of his rival, and nobody would ever be the wiser--not even Edris!