[XV — TONY’S LAST OPPORTUNITY]
THE sun shone pleasantly warm, and a soft wind sighed among the branches, when Violet Wayne pulled up her ponies where the shadows of the firs fell athwart the winding road that dipped to Northrop valley. There had been a shower, and a sweet resinous fragrance came out of the dusky wood. Godfrey Palliser, who sat by the girl’s side, however, shivered a little, and buttoned the big fur-trimmed coat that lay loose about him, which did not escape his companion’s attention.
“Shall we drive out into the sun?” she asked.
“No,” said the man, “I think I should be just as chilly, and the view from here pleases me. It is scarcely likely that I shall see it very often again.”
Violet Wayne shook her head reproachfully as she glanced at him, though she felt that the prediction might be verified, for Godfrey Palliser had never been a strong man in any respect, and though he sat stiffly upright he looked very worn and frail just then. The pallor of his face also struck a little chill through her, for her pulses throbbed with the vigor of youth, and all the green world about her seemed to speak of life and hope. Yet there was a gravity in her eyes, which suggested that the shadow of care also rested upon her.
“That is not the spirit to hasten one’s recovery, and you have been ever so much better lately,” she said.
There was a curious wistfulness in Godfrey Palliser’s smile, and he laid a thin hand upon her arm. “I should like a little longer respite, if it was only to see you Tony’s wife,” he said. “Then I should know that what I had striven for so long would be worthily accomplished. Still, since my last illness I have other warnings than those the eminent specialist gave me, and I do not know at what hour the summons may come.”
At the mention of Tony the shadow deepened for a moment in the girl’s face, for it seemed to her there was a meaning behind what the old man had said which chimed with the misgivings that had troubled her of late. Still, she was loyal, and would not admit it even to herself.
“Tony would have made you a worthy successor in any case,” she said.
Godfrey Palliser smiled curiously. “Tony has many likable qualities, but he is weak,” he said. “That, my dear is one reason I am glad that he is going to marry you, for it is a burden I shall, I think very shortly, bequeath him. You will help him to lighten it, as well as bear it honorably.”