Ross was going away, at last. He was going as he had come, with no luggage, with no ceremony. Only, he was going to take with him a small child, and he left behind him his name, his money, and a good many illusions—and a friend. Eddy was not likely to forget him.
“You’re—you’re a white man!” he said, in a very unsteady voice. “You’re—a prince.”
“No,” Ross objected. “I’m a fool. The biggest damned fool that ever lived.”
“Have it your own way!” said Eddy.
“I can think different if I like. I—” He paused a moment. “It makes me sick, you goin’ away like this. It—it—”
Ross laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“Drop it!” he said. “Now, then! It’s about time for us to be off.” He turned toward the bedroom. “I’ll wake her up, while you start the car. I’ll take one of the blankets to wrap her in.”
It was a little early for the train he wanted to catch, but he was in a hurry to be gone. He might have known, though, that it was his fate never to leave this place when or how he wished.
He might have known that there was one inevitable thing still to be faced. He heard the throb of the sturdy little engine downstairs; he thought, he hoped, that the last moment had come, and, instead, he was called upon to endure a moment almost beyond endurance.
For Amy came. The sound of the engine prevented his hearing her entrance; he had just gone into the bedroom when he heard her footsteps on the stairs. In a wild storm of tears, desperate, white as a ghost, she ran in to him.
“Jimmy!” she gasped. “Oh, Jimmy! Jimmy!”
He did not speak. What had he to say to her now?
She was panting for breath, and her sobs were horrible, as if they choked her. He wanted to close the bedroom door, but she had seized him by the shoulder.
“I didn’t know!” she cried. “Not—till tonight. Oh, Jimmy, I didn’t know he was dead! He came to see me—and he died. Oh, Jimmy! Just when Nanna told him—that I didn’t want to see him ever again. It killed him, Jimmy. I killed him!”
“Oh, do keep quiet!” said Ross, in a sort of despair.
“I can’t! I can’t! I can’t! If I’d only seen him—just once more! Nanna begged me to—but I wouldn’t. And when Nanna told him, he—died! How can I bear that? Oh, Jimmy! I didn’t think he’d care so much! Just as I care for Gayle. Jimmy, listen to me! I’ll tell Gayle. I’ll go to him now. I can’t let you do this for me, Jimmy!”
For a moment his heart beat with a great hope.
“Do you mean that?” he asked.
“I never meant it to be like this. Never! Never! I thought Martin would let me go—let me get a divorce. And if he hadn’t, I’d have given up Gayle. I’ll give him up now, if you tell me to. Even if I die, too!”
The hope was faint now.
“You think he’d give you up, if he knew?” he asked.
“Think? I know! He’d loathe me!”
“And you’d be willing to marry him with—”
“You don’t understand!” she interrupted, violently. “You never could. You’re too good. And I’m not good—in your way. I was just a child when I met Martin. I’m not a child now. Gayle’s my whole life to me. I love him so that—”
“For God’s sake, stop!” cried Ross. “It’s—infamous! Have you forgotten?”
All the light and passion fled from her face at his tone. She looked up at him in terrified inquiry. Ross stood aside from the doorway, so that she could see the child lying asleep on the bed. She went in very softly, and stood looking down at the little creature.
“You see,” she whispered, “I’ve given up—my soul—for Gayle.”
He took her by the arm and led her out of the room, closing the door behind them.
“Very well!” he said. “On her account, it’s better like this. I’ll take her. And you’ll have to forget her. Do you understand? There’s to be no repentance, and so on. Make up your mind now.”
“No,” she said, faintly. “I can’t. I won’t! I’ll just do what you tell me. You’ve got to decide.”
“What!” he cried, appalled. “You’d try to make me?”
The child gave a little chuckle in her sleep. He thought what the child’s life would be, with Amy, if Amy were denied her Gayle. He thought of Ives. He had taken Ives’s name, and with it the burden that Ives could no longer carry.
“All right!” he said. “It’s finished. I only hope to Heaven that Mr. Solway can end his days without knowing. As for Dexter—he’ll have to take his chance—like the rest of us. Good-by, Amy!”
She caught one of his hands in both of hers, and pressed it against her wet cheek.
“Can you ever, ever forgive me, Jimmy?” she asked, with a sob.
“I dare say!” said Ross, grimly.