CHAPTER VI

A PERIPATETIC PROVIDENCE
“Do you still pin your faith to the man in the street ?”
It was Mr. Steel who stood at Rachel’s elbow, repeating his question word for word ; but he did not Tepeat it in the same tone. There was an earnest a note in the lowered voice, an unspoken appeal to her q to admit the truth and be done with proud pretence, And indeed the pride had gone out of Rachel at
sight of him ; a delicious sense of safety filled her heart instead. She
felt that he was strong to save, Yet, as the nearly F drowned do struggle with their saviours, so Rachel a must fence instinctively with hers, 4
“TI never did pin my faith to him,” said she.
“Yet see the risk that you are running! If he turns round—if any one of them turns round and i recognises you—listen to thai!” ’
It was only the second window, but a third and a
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68 THE SHADOW OF THE ROPE
fourth followed like shots from the same revolver. Rachel winced.
“For Ged’s sake, come away!” he whispered, sternly.
And Rachel did come a few yards before a flicker: of her spirit called a hal:.
“ Why should I run away?” she demanded, in sudden tears of mortification and of weakness combined. “I am innocent—so why should I?”
“ Because they don’t like innocent people; and there appear to be‘no police in these parts; and if you fall into their hands—well, it would be better for you if you had been found guilty and were safe and sound in Newgate now!”
That was exactly what Rachel had felt herself; she took a few steps more, but still with reluctance and - jrresolution; and once round the nearest corner, and out of that hateful street for ever, she turned to her companion im unconcealed despair.
“But what am I to do?” she cried. “But where am I to turn?”
“Mrs. Minchin,” said Steel, “can you not really trust me yet?”
He stood before her under a street lamp, handsome still, upright for all his years, strong as fate itself, and surely kinder than any fate which Rachel Minchin had yet met with in the course of her short but chequered life. And yet—and yet—she trusted and dist: -:..d him too!
A PERIPATETIC PROVIDENCE 69
“T can and I cannot,” she sighed ; and even with the words one reason occurred to her. “Yar have followed me, you see, after all!”
“T admit it,” he replied, of shame. My dear lady, sight of you to-night !”
“And why not ?”
“Because I foresaw and may
.
ul, if you continue
.
you from my heart!” asked the cabman through the
And Rachel listened with languid curiosity; but that was all. She had put herself in this man’s hands ; resistance was at an end, and a reckless indifference to her fate the new attitude of a soul as utterly
Beis SAE TORE Hct age Te
70 THE SHADOW OF THE ROPE
overtaxed and exhausted as its tired tenement of clay.
“Brook Street,” said Steel, after a moment's pause —“and double-quick for a double fare. We shall be there in a quarter of an hour,” he added reassuringly: as the trap-door slammed, “and you will find every- thing ready for you, beginning with something to eat. i, at all events, anticipated the verdict; if you don’t believe me, you will when we get there, for they have been ready fer you all day. Do you know Claridge’s Hotel, by the way ?”
“Only by name,” said Rachel, wearily.
“I'm glad to hear it,” pursued Mr. Steel, “for I think you will be pleased. It is not like the ordinary ran of hotels. Your rooms are your castle—a regular self-contained flat—and you needn't see another soul if you don’t like, I am staying in the hotel myself, for example, but you shall not set eyes on me for a week, unless you wish to.”
“But I don’t understand,” began Rachel, roused a little from her apathy. She was not suffered to proceed.
“Nor are you te attempt to do so,” said her com- panion, “ until to-morrow morning. If you feel equal to it then, I shall erave an audience, and you shall hear what I have got to say. But first, let me beg of you, aw adequate supper and a good night's rest {”
“One thing is certain,” said Raciel, half to herself:
A PERIPATETIC PROVIDENCE 71
“they can't know who I am, or they never would have taken me in, And no luggage !”
“That they are Prepared for,” returned Steel: “and mm Jour Toms you will find a maid who is also pre pared and equipped for your emergency, As to their not knowing who you are at the hotel, there you are right; they do not know; it would have been in- expedient to tell them.”
“Then at least,” said Rachel, “] ought to know who I am supposed to be.”
And she smiled, for interest and curiosity were awakened within her, with the momentary effect of stimulants; but Mr. Stee] sat silent at her side. The cab was tinkling up Park Lane. The great park on the left, the great houses on the right, the darkness
fascination of sharp contrasts—that very fascination which was Mr. Stcel’s, Rachel already discovered it
admitting to herself that there was any fascination at
all. Yet otherwise she would have dropped rather than have done what she
had cast a spell upon her ; feel safe in his hands,
Premonition of ultimate
felt alive from the first. And this was the keenest stimulus of all.
What was his intention, and what his ebject? To
ee
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draw back was to find out neither; and to say the truth, even if she had not been friendless and forlorn, Rachel would have been very sorry to draw back now.
The raw air in her face had greatly revived her; the sights and lights of the town were still new and dear to her; she had come back to the world with a . vengeance, to a world of incident and interest, with an adventure ready waiting to take her out of her past self!
But it was only her companion’s silence which en- | abled Rachel to realice her strange fortune at this stage, and she had to put her question point-blank before she obtained any answer at all,
“If you insist upon hearing all the little details to-night,” said Steel, with a good-humoured shrug, “well, I suppose you must hear them; bat I hope you will not insist. I have had to make provisions which you may very possibly resent, but I thought it would be time enough for us to quarrel about them i the morning. To-night you need’rest and suste- aance, but no excitement ; of that God knows you have had enough! No one will come near you but the maid of whom I spoke; no questions will be put to you; everything is arranged. But to-morrow, if you feel equal to it, you shall hear all about me, and form your own cool judgment of my behaviour towards you. Meanwhile won't you trust me — implicitly — until then?”
“i do,” said Rachel, “and I will—unti] to-morrew.”
A PERIPATETIC PROVIDENCE
“Then there are one or two things that I can with the heartiness of a man
keep your why and cluded cheerily, “and I satisfaction. But here
hair gleaming in the lift.
Rachel’s recollection of that night was ever after. wards disjointed and involved as that of any dream; but there were certain features that she never forgot. There was the beautiful suite of rooms, filled with flowers that must have cost @ small fortune at that i » and in one of them a table
TAA GAM satan nainnn scenic staeabcectsinens See ee
SSS Sot ee togen ai eainoerad ld
THE SHADOW OF THE ROPE
this mannerly young woman by eating very raven- ously ; she remembered a necvous desire to be done with that solitary repast, and to get to bed. Yet when she wag there, in the sweetest and whitest of fine linen, with a hot bottle at her feet, and a fire burning so brightly in the room that the brass bed- stead seemed here and there red-hot, then the sound sleep that she sorely needed seemed further off than ever, for always she dreamt she was in prison and con- demned to die, till at length she feared to close her eyes. But nothing had been forgotten ; and Rachel’s last memory of that eventful day, and not less eventful night, was of a mild, foreign face bending over her with @ medicine-glass and a gentle word,
And the same good face end the same soft voice were waiting for her when she awoke after many hours ; the fire still burned brightly, also the electric. light, though the blind was up and the window filled with a dull November sky. It was a delicious awaken- ing, recollection was so slow to come. Rachel might have been ill for days. She experienced the peace that is left by illness of sufficient gravity. But all
A PERIPATETIC PROVIDENCE 15
she ailed was a slight headache, quickly removed by an inimitable cup of tea, that fortified her against the perplexing memories which now came swarming to her mind. This mornj was due, and meanwhile Rachel received a hint, though & puzzling one, from the Swiss maid, as to the new
“it was very sad for madame to lose all her
things,” cooed the girl, as she busied herself about the
room.
“It was irritating,” Rachel owned, beginning to |
wonder how much the other knew, H “ But it was better than losing your life, madame |” ii
the girl added with a smile.
and attention, even though bought and paid for, from one of her own sex who knew all there was to know, and yet did not shrink from her. But the young womaa’s next words dis- missed this idea,
“When so many poor people were drowned!” said she. And the mystification increased,
Presently there was a knock at the outer door, which the maid answered, returning with Mr. Steel’s card.
“Is he there?” asked Rachel, hastily,
76 THE SHADOW OF THE ROPE.
“No, madame, but one of the servants is waiting for an answer. I think there is something written on the back, madame.”
Rachel read the harmless request on the back of the card; nothing could have been better calculated to turn away suspicion of one sort or another, and there was obvious design in the absence of an envelope. But Rachel was not yet in the secret, and she was. determined not to wait an hour longer than she need,
“What is the time, please ?”
“T will see, madame.”
The girl glided out and in.
“Well?”
“4 quarter to ten, madame.”
“Then order my breakfast for a quarter past, and let Mr. Steel be told that I shall be delighted to see him at eleven o'clock.”