Chapter VI: The Problem

"He's going to be a winner, is he?" asked Saltash, flicking the ash from his cigarette as he stood in the training-field with Jake.

"That depends how he's ridden, my lord," said Jake dryly. "He is a hot favourite."

"Pity you can't ride him yourself," observed Saltash, watching the Albatross with a critical eye as he cantered down the field. "Who is in the saddle? Not Vickers?"

"No. Vickers is incapacitated. I have put Stevens up. He seems keen for the chance, though I'm not so keen to give it him," Jake spoke with grimness.

"He ought to pull it off," said Saltash.

"He ought, my lord." Jake's tone lacked conviction notwithstanding.

Saltash turned. "What's the matter with the lad? You don't seem over enthusiastic about him."

Jake flicked at a clump of nettles with his riding-whip. "I've done my best to shape him, but he's a bit of a cur. The animals don't trust him."

Saltash uttered a careless laugh. "Oh, you always were an adept at reading the equine mind. Come along and show me the latest offspring! What was it you called him? The Hundredth Chance? A curious name to choose!"

Jake's grim face relaxed to a smile. "Oh, he's in the paddock along with his mother. He promises to be the most valuable animal in the Stables. He'll carry everything before him when the time comes."

"Is that why you've given him such a hopeful name?" asked Saltash.

Jake uttered a brief laugh. "Even so, my lord. He carries my luck with him wherever he goes."

"You're a queer fish, Bolton," observed Saltash, turning to leave the field.

The paddock lay on the further side of the orchard, and here they found the pride of Jake's heart, a frisky black foal who kicked up his heels and scampered at the sight of him.

"He'll take some taming presently," commented Saltash.

"And he'll knock spots off any animal I have ever had to tame," said Jake.

Saltash laughed again with nonchalant interest. "If ever there were the right man in the right place, it is you," he said. "Can we go back through the garden? I believe that's the shortest way." He spoke with a wary glance in the direction whither he wished to go. A white figure was visible on the steps that led into the parlour. "I hear Mrs. Bolton is away," he added, immediately averting his eyes.

Jake turned in his sturdy fashion, and began to walk towards the house. "No, she is at home for the present," he said. "We are expecting Capper. In fact the lad has gone to the station to meet him."

"What! Bunny? Is he really all right? Capper must be a magician!" ejaculated Saltash.

"He is the biggest man I know," said Jake simply.

They approached the house. The white figure had disappeared.

Saltash chatted inconsequently, strolling along with a cigarette between his lips, and a confident smile on his dark face. He had come down as usual unexpectedly, but she was probably aware of his advent. His car was awaiting him in the stable-yard. He did not think she would suffer him to pass the window unnoticed.

Yet as he drew near she made no sign. Chops came smiling down the steps to greet him, and he paused at once to fondle the dog.

Jake paused also, but he did not invite him to enter. He stood pulling at the lash of his riding-whip, stolidly patient, awaiting his patron's pleasure.

Suddenly Saltash looked up. "I believe your guest has arrived, Bolton. You'd better go. Never mind me!"

There came undoubtedly the sound of wheels from the other side of the house. Jake glanced towards the gate that led thither. Saltash bent again over the dog.

"You'd better go," he reiterated. "I won't show. Don't let me keep you!"

Jake raised a hand to his cap and turned away.

Instantly Saltash straightened himself. He uttered a low, clear whistle, and almost immediately Maud, clad in white, came to the window. He sprang up the steps in a single bound and caught her hands into his own.

"I had your letter," he said. "Quick! When can you meet me?"

Maud was gasping a little. Her face was deeply flushed. "Charlie! You are so sudden! I only want--a few minutes alone with you."

He held her hands. "When?" he said.

His eyes were gazing into hers freely, ardently; but he was laughing as he always laughed, ready to turn his ardour into a joke at a moment's notice.

She hesitated.

"Quick!" he said. "They are coming, and I must go. Come down to the orchard-gate after dinner to-night! Jake and Capper will be smoking. No one will know, Queen Rose. That is settled then. I shall be at the gate alone." He laughed under his breath, lifted her hands to his lips, made a wide gesture as if he would clasp her in his arms, laughed again as she drew back, and wheeling, sprang down the steps and was gone in a moment round the side of the house.

Maud's cheeks were burning. She turned to meet the visitor with the feeling of one who has had a sudden rapid fall through space. She was not sure of the ground beneath her feet.

She did not know how she greeted Capper, but somehow the difficult moment passed. She was convinced afterwards that her manner had been perfectly normal, for the atmosphere was quite natural and free from strain. In a very few minutes they were all seated round the tea-table, and to her relief Bunny, and not she, was the centre of observation and general topic of their talk.

She feared that when tea was over Capper would seek her out; but he did not. He went round the Stables with Jake.

She went to her own room to rest and recover her composure. It was true that she had wanted to see Charlie alone; in fact it had become essential to her mother's interests that she should do so. But she had not altogether expected so prompt a reply to her request. She wished she could have made some more ordinary arrangement. She wished with all her heart that she had had the presence of mind to veto his suggestion. It had never been her intention to meet him secretly and at night. Not that she cared personally how or when she met him. Their friendship was too old for that. But she did not like secrecy. Small as was the confidence she extended to her husband, she yet had no desire to exclude him deliberately from the knowledge of her doings. She did not wish to commit any act, however innocent, which might appear suspicious in his eyes.

The thing was unavoidable, however, the appointment was made. She could not leave Charlie to wait in vain. For this once she must run the risk and trust to luck to bring her through. It would not be a long interview; she was fully determined upon that point. And she would never agree to another on the same clandestine lines. She must assert her independence, and meet him openly. Jake must learn to trust her. She must not suffer him to interfere with her liberty of action. If he were ridiculous enough to be jealous, that was his affair. She would not allow herself to be influenced by such an absurd attitude. She never questioned his doings; she must not suffer him to question hers. So she sought to reassure herself the while her uneasiness grew.

She put on a dress of black lace when the supper-hour drew near. It made her look even paler than her wont, but she gave scarcely a thought to her appearance. Her mind was weighed down by far more serious matters.

Even the prospect of a _tete-a-tete_ with Dr. Capper hardly disquieted her, and when she discovered him on the garden-steps of the parlour she went forward to join him without hesitation.

His greeting of her was full of kindness; there was nothing disconcerting about his attitude.

"I was just thinking about my friend Rafford," he said. "You remember him? And how mad he went over that piece of statuary at Burchester Castle? But, strange to say, it's not the anatomy that interests him any longer. It's the face."

She felt herself colour a little. "If it bears any resemblance to me, it is purely accidental," she said.

"Or rather, a coincidence," amended Capper. "It's a fine piece of work anyway. But he is nothing of a judge. Guess it's just the humanity of the thing that gets him."

"It's rather a painful study," Maud said.

"Ah, but it leaves endless possibilities. That is where the genius of the sculptor displays itself. Rafford saw that. 'The hotter the furnace, the purer the gold,' he said to me; 'if I had the naming of that work I'd call it _The Crucible or Seven Times Purified_.'"

"What a peculiar point of view!" Maud exclaimed, almost in spite of herself.

Capper assented. "Raff is highly imaginative. He has a very long perspective. A bit of a dreamer too. If it weren't for that, I should prophesy a great future for him. But there's no time for dreaming in this world. You must either hustle through or be content to stand aside. You can't do both."

"I don't like hustling," Maud said, with a smile.

He made her a bow. "No, you are English. But Raff has not that excuse. That's why I doubt if he ever gets there. He needs to be up against a thing before he considers it worth while. That's not the way to win out handsomely. It's the way to get whipped off the field."

"Always make for the crest of the wave!" said Jake's voice behind them. "You may get there--some day--if you're lucky; though it's more likely you'll be dragged under and swamped."

Capper turned to him. "Not you, Jake!" he said. "You're a born winner. I'm sure Mrs. Bolton will bear me out there."

Jake's hand descended upon his wife's shoulder. "Mrs. Bolton doesn't know my capabilities in that respect at present," he remarked dryly. "She has only witnessed the start."

Maud did not turn her head. "You are all invincible, of course," she said.

Bunny's advent diverted the conversation. He could think and talk of nothing but the forthcoming races at Graydown which had been fixed for the end of the week, and which he had prevailed upon Jake to allow him to attend.

Capper, though not particularly enthusiastic, was to remain for them, "just to see Jake come out on top," as he expressed it. It was taken for granted by all that Maud would go too, and she supposed she would do so; but she took no part in the conversation which Bunny found so all-absorbing. She was too occupied with the thought of Charlie.

There was no need for her to talk. She sat silent and abstracted while the protracted discussion went on around her. Bunny had learned more about the animals in ten days than she had discovered in as many weeks, and Capper listened with amused indulgence. It all went over her head, and no one seemed to notice her aloofness.

Bunny would gladly have sat up till late, but Jake would not permit this. He ordered him off to bed on the stroke of nine, and Bunny went without demur. He was learning to obey his brother-in-law without any thought of rebellion. Maud noted the fact bitterly. It was another proof to her of the despotic mastery of Jake's personality. He ruled them all.

She herself rose from the table upon Bunny's departure, and as she did so she was for the first time conscious of Capper's critical scrutiny. It passed almost immediately as he sprang to his feet to open the door.

"I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again?" he asked.

She bent her head. "I am only going to fetch a wrap for the garden."

He smiled and bowed her out.

Jake was in the act of lighting a cigarette when he returned to the table. He proffered the end of it to Capper, and as the latter stooped to kindle his own their eyes met. Capper's held a question that could scarcely be ignored.

Half-reluctantly Jake removed his cigarette and spoke. "It's the biggest problem I've ever been up against."

Capper puffed forth a cloud of smoke. "What's troubling you?"

Jake sat down heavily. "She ain't pleased--not any. Life is damnably difficult. I thought I was going to make her happy, but I've made an almighty failure of it. She used to just tolerate me in the old days; but now--she hates the very sight of me. The mere thought of bearing me a child seems to drive her clean crazy."

He ceased to speak and sat bowed in his chair, his chin on his breast, his eyes gazing sombrely forth under bent brows.

Capper was still on his feet. He stood cracking his fingers one after the other with meditative regularity. His eyes, very green and shrewd, rested upon Jake's head that shone like copper in the lamplight.

There fell a silence of several seconds; then at length with another great puff of smoke he spoke. "Guess it's just a case for patience, Jake, my lad. These things right 'emselves, you know, when the time comes. It's wonderful how childbearing softens a woman. And you love her. That'll make a difference too--when the time comes."

Jake did not look up. "God knows I do," he said slowly. "But you know, Doc--" he seemed to be speaking with something of an effort--"I don't fancy she knows it."

"Oh, shucks!" Capper exclaimed. "She wouldn't be a woman if she didn't."

Jake shook his head despondently. "I suppose I'm just a brute beast. She thinks so, and I can't show her anything different now. Maybe I am more flesh than spirit; but for all that she is the one woman I want, and none other could ever satisfy me now. But I haven't got her. Even when I hold her in my arms, she ain't there. And she has never kissed me, never once."

Again he ceased to speak, and Capper pulled at his beard and said nothing.

There fell a long silence between them through which the grandfather clock in the corner ticked with a melancholy beat. It was like the heart of a tired man.

Jake's cigarette hung neglected between his fingers which almost trailed on the floor. His eyes still stared before him as though they saw one thing, and only one.

Capper smoked with scarcely a pause. His yellow face was very thoughtful His cigarette came to an end, and he dropped it smouldering on to a plate. Then he turned and laid a kindly hand upon Jake's shoulder.

"Keep a stiff upper lip, my son! I guess she's yours for the winning, or she will be. It's no good trying to understand a woman's moods. You never will do that as long as you live. But she'll come to you in the end, sure. Give her all the rope you can! If she hasn't any use for you at present, it'll come."

"Will it?" said Jake rather bitterly. "I reckon I'm further away from winning her now than I've ever been. Once--it's ages ago--she came to me and cried out her troubles on my shoulder. She'd no more dream of doing that now than she'd dream of flying. She'd be more likely to--" He broke off short.

"What?" said Capper.

Jake sat slowly up. His eyes still seemed to be fixed upon some definite object. "I was going to say," he said, in a voice that had become peculiarly soft and deliberate, "that she'd be more likely to carry her troubles to Saltash. But I don't think exactly that. He's too crooked to hold a woman's confidence. No woman with any sense would trust him."

He grasped Capper's hand and looked up with a curious smile.

"It would be a pity to have to shoot a freak like Saltash; wouldn't it?" he said. "Reckon a good many women would miss him."

His eyes shone red for a moment, then he uttered a laugh that seemed to dismiss the subject.

"Come into the garden and see the moon rise!" he said.