“And you’ll go home to England now,” he said, “under an assumed name, I suppose; and arrange with your brother Cyril for him to claim the Kelmscott estates, and allow you something out of them in retirement somewhere.”
“Oh no,” Guy answered manfully. “I’m going home to England now, if I go at all, under my own proper name that I’ve always borne, to repay Cyril in full every penny I owe him, to make what reparation I can for the wrong I’ve done, and to give myself up to the police for trial.”
Granville gazed at him, more surprised and more admiring than ever.
“You’re a brave man, Waring,” he said slowly. “I don’t understand it at all. But I know you’re right. And I almost believe you. I almost believe it was not your fault. I should like to get through to England after all, if it was only to see you safe out of your troubles.”
Guy looked at him fixedly.
“My dear fellow,” he said, in a compassionate tone, “you mustn’t talk any more. You’ve talked a great deal too much already. I see a hut, I fancy, over yonder, beside that dark patch of brush. Now, you must do exactly as I bid you. Don’t struggle or kick. Lie as still as you can. I’ll carry you there on my back, and then we’ll see if we can get you anyhow a drop of pure water.”
CHAPTER XXXVI. — DESERTED.
That was almost the last thing Granville Kelmscott knew. Some strange shadowy dreams, to be sure, disturbed the lethargy into which he fell soon after; but they were intermittent and indefinite. He was vaguely aware of being lifted with gentle care into somebody’s arms, and of the somebody staggering along with him, not without considerable difficulty, over the rough stony ground of that South African plateau. He remembered also, as in a trance, some sound of angry voices—a loud expostulation—a hasty palaver—a long slow pause—a gradual sense of reconciliation and friendliness—during all which, as far as he could recover the circumstances afterwards, he must have been extended on the earth, with his back propped against a great ledge of jutting rock, and his head hanging listless on his sinking breast. Thenceforward all was blank, or just dimly perceived at long intervals between delirium and unconsciousness. He was ill for many days, where or how he knew not.