“You are not frightened, are you? If you knew what it is to me to touch a kind hand again, and—and yours——”
He stopped short, putting such a strong constraint upon himself that Freda felt he was trembling from head to foot.
“Don’t, don’t,” she whispered.
Dick made haste to laugh, as if at a joke. But it was a poor attempt at merriment and woke hoarse echoes in the old rafters. They had reached the door of the banqueting-hall.
“You must be prepared for an awfully great change here,” he said, with assumed cheerfulness. “My aunt wanted the furniture of this room; of course she didn’t think I should use such a big place all by myself. But I’ve got used to it, so I stick to it in its bareness. You won’t mind my showing you in here; the fact is the—the—drawing-room’s locked up.”
“No-o,” quavered Freda, who knew that all the furniture of the farm had been seized and sold either before or immediately after Mrs. Heritage’s departure, “not at all. In fact I would rather.”
“I don’t know about that,” rejoined Dick dubiously as he opened the door.
All this had not prepared the girl for the desolate sight which met her eyes. The great hall, which had looked so handsome with its rugs, its old oak furniture and tapestry hangings, was barer than a prison ward. A vast expanse of floor, once brightly polished, now scratched and dirty; rough, bare walls with nothing to hide their nakedness, formed a picture so dreary that she uttered a low cry. In the huge fireplace a small wood fire burned low; an old retriever, crippled with age and rheumatism, wagged his tail feebly without rising at his master’s approach, and gave a feeble growl for the stranger. A kitchen chair, with some of the rails missing; a small deal table; an arrangement of boxes against the wall covered by a man’s ulster; these formed all the furniture of the huge room. Freda stopped short when she had advanced a few steps; and burst into tears. Dick affected to laugh boisterously.
“I didn’t reckon on the effect these rough diggings would have on a lady,” he said, in a tone of forced liveliness which did not deceive his guest. “Why, this is a palace to some of the places I’ve stayed in when in the Highlands. A man doesn’t want many luxuries when he’s alone. But I suppose it shocks you.”
“Ye-es, it does,” sobbed Freda.