The TruantsMason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)
General
The Truants
Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley)
Fiction
She could now see Tony clearly; and of one thing she at once was sure.
She had been misled by the twilight of the room. Tony, at all events,
was not indifferent. He stood before her travel-stained and worn. His
face was haggard and thin; his eyes very tired, like the eyes of an
old man; there were flecks of grey in his hair, and lines about his
eyes. These changes she noticed, and took them at their true value.
They were signs of the hard life he had lived during these years, and
of the quick, arduous journey which he had made. But there was more.
If Tony had spoken with a measured voice, it was in order that he
might control himself the better. If he had stood without gesture or
motion, it was because he felt the need to keep himself in hand. So
much Pamela clearly saw. Tony was labouring under a strong emotion.
"Yes you are in time," she cried; and now her heart was glad. "I was
so set on saving both your lives, in keeping you and Millie for each
other. Of late, since you did not come, my faith faltered a little.
But it should not have faltered. You are here! You are here!"
"My wife is here, too?" asked Tony, coldly; and Pamela's enthusiasm
again was checked. "Where is she?"
"She arrives in the south of France to-day. She stops at Eze. She
should be there now."
She had hoped to see the blood pulse into his face, and some look of
gladness dawn suddenly in his eyes, some smile of forgiveness alter
the stern set of his lips. But again she was disappointed.
Tony seemed to put his wife out of his thoughts.
"And since your message was so urgent," he continued deliberately, "it
follows that Callon comes to-day as well," and he repeated the name in
a singularly soft, slow, and almost caressing voice. "Lionel Callon,"
he said.
And at once Pamela was desperately afraid. It needed just that name
uttered in just that way to explain to her completely the emotion
which Tony so resolutely controlled. She looked at him aghast. She had
planned to bring back Tony to Millie and his home. The Tony Stretton
whom she had known of old, the good-natured, kindly man who loved his
wife, whom all men liked and none feared. And lo! she had brought back
a stranger. And the stranger was dangerous. He was thrilling with
anger, he was anticipating his meeting with Lionel Callon with a
relish which, to Pamela, was dreadful.
"No," she exclaimed eagerly. "Mr. Callon has been here all this while,
and Millie only comes to-day."
"Callon has been waiting for her, then?" he asked implacably.
"Oh, I don't know," Pamela exclaimed in despair. "I have not spoken to
him. How should I know?"
"Yet you have no doubts."
"Well, then, no," she said, "I have no doubt that he is waiting here
for Millie. But she only arrives to-day. They have not met until
to-day. That is why I sent the telegram."
Tony nodded his head.
"So that I might be present at the meeting?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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