honour take that consent back. In addition, hecould not but feel a whole-hearted admiration for a woman who couldsacrifice her own feelings, not to mention her own interests, in such anunselfish fashion.
The immediate result of the brief visit to Ticehurst Park was thedespatch of a paragraph to the various papers announcing the engagementof Mr Guy Rossett, second son of the Earl of Saxham, to Miss Clandon,daughter of General Clandon.
When father and daughter arrived at their modest home in Eastbourne, thenews was public property. Letters of congratulation came by every postfrom the numerous friends and acquaintances whom they had made duringtheir long sojourn in the town.
Isobel could now openly wear that beautiful ring which hitherto she hadonly dared to look upon in secret--that expensive ring which, as amatter of fact, had been purchased from money supplied by the obligingMr Jackson. For, at the actual moment when the General had given hisconsent to the engagement, Guy had been extremely hard up.
So now all was plain sailing. Isobel was very proud of her lover,naturally very delighted at her adoption into the Saxham family. But,as there is no happiness without alloy, the knowledge of that lover'sdanger weighed terribly upon her spirits, and caused her to shed manybitter tears.
Her little world which congratulated and fussed around her, of course,knew nothing of this. To the girls of her own age, girls moving inrespectable but middle-class circles, who knew nothing of thearistocracy except through the fashionable papers, she was greatly to beenvied.
There was one amongst the numerous letters of congratulations which hadtouched her very deeply. It was written by her cousin, MauriceFarquhar. It was couched in rather stiff, sometimes stiltedphraseology, but sincerity was in every line. And, if Maurice was a bitpriggish and old-fashioned, he was always a gentleman.
He had made no allusion to his own disappointed hopes. He hadcongratulated her heartily on her engagement, expressed his convictionthat she would adorn any station to which she was called. And theletter had concluded with these words.
"I know the danger that is threatening your fiance. Moreno has promisedto let me know if I can help him. I do not fancy it will ever be in mypower to render any valuable assistance; our paths in life do not seemto meet anywhere. Still, if the time does come, I shall do my best,from my own cousinly affection for you."
It was put frankly but gracefully. He did not care twopence for GuyRossett. It was not to be expected that he would. But he would be afriend to Rossett, because he still loved Isobel. She laid down theletter with a little sigh. So short a time as two years ago, Mauricemight have satisfied her maiden dreams, she was not quite sure. She wasso wrapped in the present that she could hardly see the past in itsproper proportions. Anyway, she could reckon on her cousin in thefuture as a true and loyal friend.
Her heart was very much with Guy in that dangerous post at Madrid, herthoughts ever. One night when the two were sitting alone in theGeneral's cosy little den, a little cry escaped her.
"Somehow, I seem to hate Eastbourne! It is very ungrateful, consideringhow happy I have been here. But I do so long to be near Guy."
The General was very moved by that pathetic cry. He stirred uneasily inhis chair.
"Of course you wish it, my darling. I daresay Lady Mary wishes thesame. But, if you were both there, neither of you could do him theleast good, nor avert any danger that is threatening him."
"Oh, I recognise that," said Isobel, wiping the tears from her eyes."It is the suspense that is so horrible. If one were near, one mightknow something of what is going on."
The General thought for a moment or two before he spoke. He hadindulged every whim, forestalled every wish of his dear wife. He haddone the same with his daughter since the day when he had found himselfa widower, and they had been all in all to each other.
He smiled a little sadly. "I am afraid we old men become a sad burdenon our dutiful children, exact too much from them," he said presently."Lady Mary would love to be near Guy, and she cannot leave her father.And you, my poor little girl, are in the same plight."
Isobel laid her soft cheek against his. "Oh, Daddy, dearest Daddy, itis not very kind to say that. However great my love for Guy, it cannever supersede my love for you."
The General patted her head fondly. "Ah, my dear, the curse of a smallfamily; we have always been all too much to each other." Then he spokebriskly; he waited to make her happier than she was.
"I see no reason, though, why we could not go to Madrid together. Wecould do it by easy stages, and, by gad, Madrid would be a change. I amvery fond of Eastbourne, but we have had a good bit of it. I think Iwill go and see our old Doctor Jones to-morrow."
But Isobel would not hear of it. Her father had suffered from heartaffection in his youth. During the last five years it had become veryacute. He must live a quiet, well-ordered life, avoid any undueexertion. His daughter had gathered from Dr Jones that the General'slife held by a very frail thread. The summons might come at any moment.
Nevertheless, General Clandon was round at the doctor's door by teno'clock the next morning. He was bent upon falling in with Isobel'sdesire.
The doctor stared at him. He had always been summoned to the General'shouse; not half a dozen times had his patient come to him.
"What's up?" he inquired tersely. "The heart not troubling you morethan usual, I hope?"
To look at General Clandon, as he stood in the surgery, a fineupstanding figure of a man, you would have said he was free from allhuman ailments. Nobody could have guessed that he carried in thatstalwart frame the seeds of a mortal disease that, at any moment, mightlay him low.
"No, no more than usual. But yes, I think the palpitations are a littlemore frequent the last week or two."
"Let me run the rule over you." Doctor Jones produced his stethoscope."Why didn't you send for me before?"
"Just a moment, my good old friend, before you begin. Isobelparticularly wants to go to Spain for reasons you can guess--herfiance's there. I can't let her go without me, unless I could lay myhands upon a suitable chaperon. I want you to tell me if you will giveme permission to go with her myself. I should take the journey in easystages, of course."
There was a very wistful look in the old man's eyes as he uttered thelast words; it seemed as if he were pleading for permission to gratifyhis daughter's wish.
"Isobel, of course, won't hear of it, after what you have told me; shedid not know I was coming here. But if you could give your sanction, itwould make us both very happy," he added hastily, as he began tounbutton his coat.
Jones had been an army doctor, and he was very sympathetic. It was verypathetic, this poor old father with almost two feet in the grave,begging a little further respite from death.
"I will see what we can do, as soon as I have examined you," he saidkindly. "If it is humanly possible for you to go, I will let you go,for Isobel's sake."
The examination was a searching and lengthy one. When it was finished,Doctor Jones laid down his stethoscope with a little sigh.
"My dear General, it is impossible. You are a brave man, you have faceddeath more than once on the battlefield, and you have always asked me totell you the truth. If you undertake that voyage, you are committingsuicide."
"You don't give me very long then?" asked the General quietly. Thedoctor shrugged his shoulders and turned his head away. He could notquite put it in words.
"You have had some extra excitement lately? Great inroads have beenmade since I last examined you."
"Yes," answered General Clandon quietly, "there has been a good deal ofexcitement lately."
It was true. The uncertain position of Isobel as regards herengagement, the hurried visit to Ticehurst Park, the danger overhangingGuy Rossett had agitated him very much.
He returned home very crestfallen. He had hoped against hope for thedoctor's favourable verdict. He had longed to be able to say to her:"It is all right, I will take you to Spain myself."
But in the
face of those grave words it was impossible to say it. Itwould be no benefit to her to take her out, and die before they got tothe end of the journey.
Isobel met him in the hall of their pretty little home, half villa, halfcottage.
"Why, where in the world have you been?" she cried, "running away atthis early hour of the morning?"
They lived such an intimate and domestic life, that it was almost apoint of honour to give notice of each other's movements.
The General was a bad dissembler. He blurted it all out at once.
"To tell you the truth, I wanted to take you out to Spain. I went roundto see Jones, to learn what he said about it. He forbids it."
She looked at him anxiously. Yes, he seemed to have aged even the lastweek. A spasm of reproach shot through her that she
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