There was a scuffling of feet in the hall and in another instant Martin Howe entered.
“The fair wasn’t worth my stayin’ to,” he explained from the doorsill, “so I came along home to-night instead of waitin’ till to-morrow. Looks to me as if I was just in time for a snack of supper.”
Standing in the lamplight, his stern face softened by a smile and a glow of good humor, he was attractive to look upon. The firm countenance was lined, it is true, but the lines gave it strength and brought into harmony the 125 clear eyes, resolute mouth, and well-molded chin. He had a fine smooth forehead from which his black hair, lightly sprinkled with gray, was tossed aside in picturesque abandon. Health and power spoke in every curve of the lithe frame and in the boyish grace with which he moved.
With his coming a hush fell upon the room. Had a group of conspirators been unexpectedly confronted with their own crimes, they could not have been more abashed than were the four women seated at the table.
Jane was the first to recover herself. In a voice that trembled but did not falter she said courageously:
“Miss Lucy Webster’s havin’ tea with us, Martin.”
There was an awkward pause.
Lucy, whose glance had dropped to the floor, raised her eyes appealingly to the man’s face; but she found in it no answering sympathy. In the short interval it had changed from geniality to a sternness almost incredible of belief. It was hard now—merciless.
Perhaps, to do Martin justice, he could not have spoken at that moment had he tried. This creature, with her wealth of golden hair, her 126 radiant eyes, flashed upon his vision with the glory of a new star. She was a phenomenon hitherto unknown. No matter what her name, the simple fact of her presence would have put to flight every other thought and left him dumb. The proudly poised head, the rounded white throat, the flushed cheek with its elusive dimples, the tiny hands were all marvels unfamiliar to Martin Howe.
Could this nymph, this dryad be a product of the same planet that had given birth to Mary, Eliza, and Jane?