But the ordeal was over at last, and the doctor, Halley, came from the house, his face beaming.
“It is all over, Mr. Desmond,” he said, “and you need have no anxiety. She was brave, splendid—and the child is a fine boy—a credit to his mother; you will be proud of them both.”
Damp perspiration stood on Hugh’s forehead, and he felt a fool. He was not made for domesticity, and a feeling of repulsion mixed with the relief.
“Come in and have a drink, Doctor,” he said “these things are very worrying.”
Dr. Halley understood men, and he followed Hugh into the lounge where they toasted the new arrival.
No peace was now in Hugh’s tortured soul, the Curse had him in its grip. He was fiercely jealous of the child for monopolising all Carlotta’s time and attention, exacting in his demands and resentful if not dissatisfied. And he must now share her with this intruder, no longer was she wholly his, responsive to his very word. Another claimed her, and the old restless mood returned; he was drunk three parts of the day, and sulked during the rest.
Carlotta sorrowed in secret, but the little one kept her busy; later he would take an interest; it was unreasonable to expect a man to care for a senseless piece of humanity, which demanded only food and sleep. At times he would rouse himself, and the great picture was begun, in the fair garden, the Holy Mother with her Child, but he wanted to paint the child as a fiend, the bodily representative of the Curse, which had stolen his little Daphne.
And so the months passed, and the spring had come. A strange friendship had sprung up between the Doctor, Halley, and Hugh. Like everyone with whom he came in contact, Hugh exercised a fascination over the Doctor. His charming manners, and beautiful face, even the sadness which pervaded him, attracted while they repelled.
He was a frequent visitor at the villa, first for professional reasons, then to see Hugh, and at last for another reason which he dared not confess even to himself.
He was dining with the Desmonds with a few friends, when the blow fell. As Hugh came down for dinner, he picked up a letter in the hall, and put it into his pocket.