Canada -- Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Canada -- Fiction
“Go away,” he said harshly. “Go away. You know not what you say. Some
day I shall make him suffer as I suffer to-day. God hears me. Some day.”
He lifted his hands high above his head. Then with a despairing cry,
“Oh, I have lost her, I have lost her,” he turned from Jane and rushed
into the woods.
Shaken, trembling and penetrated with pity for him, Jane made her
way toward the office, near which she found Larry with the manager
discussing an engineering problem which appeared to interest them both.
“Where's Ernest?” inquired Larry.
“He has just gone,” said Jane, struggling to speak quietly. “I think we
must hurry, Larry. Come, please. Good-bye, Mr. Steinberg.” She hurried
away toward the horses, leaving Larry to follow.
“What is it, Jane?” said Larry when they were on their way.
“Why didn't you tell me, Larry, that he was fond of Kathleen?” she cried
indignantly. “I hurt him terribly, and, oh, it was awful to see a man
like that.”
“What do you say? Did he cut up rough?” said Larry.
Jane made no reply, but her face told its own story of shock and
suffering.
“He need not have let out upon you, Jane, anyway,” said Larry.
“Don't, Larry. You don't understand. He loves Kathleen. You don't know
anything about it. How can you?”
“Oh, he will get over it in time,” said Larry with a slight laugh.
Jane flashed on him a look of indignation. “Oh, how can you, Larry? It
was just terrible to see him. But you do not know,” she added with a
touch of bitterness unusual with her.
“One thing I do know,” said Larry. “I would not pour out my grief on
some one else. I would try to keep it to myself.”
But Jane refused to look at him or to speak again on the matter. Never
in her sheltered life had there been anything suggesting tragedy. Never
had she seen a strong man stricken to the heart as she knew this man to
be stricken. The shadow of that tragedy stayed with her during all the
remaining days of her visit. The sight of Kathleen's happy face never
failed to recall the face of the man who loved her distorted with agony
and that cry of despair, “I have lost her, I have lost her.”
Not that her last days at the ranch were not happy days. She was far
too healthy and wholesome, far too sane to allow herself to miss the
gladness of those last few days with her friends where every moment
offered its full measure of joy. Nora would have planned a grand picnic
for the last day on which the two households, including Jack
Romayne, who by this time was quite able to go about, were to pay a
long-talked-of visit to a famous canyon in the mountains. The party
would proceed to the canyon in the two cars, for Mr. Wakeham's car and
Mr. Wakeham's person as driver had been constantly at the service of the
Gwynnes and their guests during their stay at the farm.
“But that is our very last day, Nora,” said Jane.
“Well, that's just why,” replied Nora. “We shall wind up our festivities
in one grand, glorious finale.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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