“Got her at last!” he gasped. “Got her at last! Bundle in! Bundle in! We’ll catch our train yet. I’ll give you a hand with the hampers.” He had no thought for his own drenched condition, but Arthur shook him affectionately by the shoulders and cried:
“You’ll do nothing of the kind! We have still ten minutes to spare before we need start, and you’ll just come apart with me and have a good rub down! You have done your share of the work. Let the others look after the hampers.”
“And you shall have a cup of tea—a good hot cup the moment you are ready for it!” cried Mrs Bryce, nodding her cheery head in his direction. “You are a hero, Mr Darcy, and you shall write your name in my autograph volume as a reward for valour. This is the first adventure I’ve ever had, and I shall brag about it all the rest of my life.”
“And so shall I!” affirmed Mellicent truthfully. “Only I wish I had swum out myself. It’s stupid having an adventure when you are not the hero.” But Peggy said only three short words: “Thank you, Rob!” and pressed his fingers in an eager grip.
Ten minutes later they had left the island, and Rob was pulling at the oars as vigorously as if he felt no fatigue from his previous exertions. Truth to tell, he did not, for the mind has a more powerful influence over the body than many of us suspect, and the last hour had revealed a secret which made it seem impossible ever again to feel tired or discouraged. Peggy loved him! The doubts of the past weeks had been but ugly dreams, and he was awake once more, and in the sunshine. Throughout the drive to the station and the railway journey home, he kept intentionally apart, not trusting himself to speak to her in the presence of strangers; but if he seemed neglectful, Arthur abundantly made up for his absence by hanging lovingly round his little sister, and waiting upon her with a persistency which seemed to betray some inner remorse. At last, as they were left together for a few minutes at the end of the corridor carriage, his discomfort forced itself into words, and he said uneasily:
“I feel as if I had neglected you, Peg, and thought too little of you in the midst of my excitement. If any one had told me that we should be in danger, and that my first thought would not be of you, I should have knocked him down for his pains, but—but you saw how it was, and you can’t be more astonished than I am myself! I never thought I was that kind of fellow. Can you understand how a man could be so weak and fickle as to believe himself in love with one woman, and then suddenly discover—”
“I can understand that a man might believe that he had found his ideal in one place, and discover that he had made a mistake, and that in reality it was waiting for him somewhere else; and I call that open-minded and enlightened—not in the least weak or fickle!” cried Peggy in reply; whereat Arthur smiled at her with kindly eyes.
“You nice little dear!” he said. “How refreshing it is to hear one’s conduct described in the right terms! You are a prejudiced judge, I fear, Peg, but I like your verdict. Don’t leap to conclusions now in your usual impetuous fashion, and believe that everything is settled, because it isn’t, and won’t be for a long time to come. I will not pay her the poor compliment of seeming to regard her as a solace for the old disappointment. I will wait and work, and try to make myself more worthy of her, and then if she will allow me, I’ll try to pay her back a little for all she has done for me. There’s a good time coming, Peg! Yes, yes, I feel it! Some day I shall look back, and see that all the disappointments I have had to bear have worked together to bring you to the place where I should meet the greatest blessing of my life. So now, Peggikins, I have made my confession, and I don’t know that I should have done it even to you, but that my conscience upbraided me for having treated you shabbily to-day.”
“But bless your innocent heart, I knew it long ago. So did Mrs Asplin, so did mother. So did every one with a head on his shoulders. You can’t go about staring at a person, and keeping your eyes glued on a person, and looking as if you could never take your eyes off a person without attracting some attention among intelligent onlookers, my love! Now, now at this very moment while you are talking to me you are twisting your head over your shoulder and trying to see what—”
But at this Arthur fled precipitately to the other end of the carriage, and Peggy laughed softly to herself, not without a sigh of relief at having escaped any reproaches on her own account. Her eye followed the dear, handsome fellow, and her heart swelled with thankfulness at the thought that his troubles seemed indeed to be drawing to an end and a brighter day dawning before him. There was little doubt what Eunice’s answer would be when the right time came, while Mr Rollo’s enthusiastic appreciation of Arthur seemed to promise that he also would be pleased to welcome him into his family.