Part 9 (1/2)

He dreay after a time, and soon after went to bed For days thereafter the phrase rankled in his rew upon him that Sir Oliver e that by speaking if he choose he could clear himself That Sir Oliver would so speak he could not think

Indeed, he was entirely assured that Sir Oliver was very far froht corow too heavy, his longings for Rosa in her eyes her brother's

Lionel's soul shuddered to contemplate the consequences to himself His fears were self-revelatory He realized how far from sincere had been his proposal that they should tell the truth; he perceived that it had been no more than the emotional outburst of the moment, a proposal which if accepted he must most bitterly have repented And then cauilty of eeously play the traitor to his real desires, were not all ht not his brother, too, come to fall a prey to one of those moments of mental storether too overwhelht to assure himself that his brother was a man of stern fibres, a ainst this he would argue that what had happened in the past was no guarantee of what ht happen in the future; that a limit was set to the endurance of every , and that it was far froht be reached in this affair If that happened in what case should he find himself? The answer to this was a picture beyond his fortitude to conte sent to trial and reater now than if he had spoken at once The tale he could then have told must have compelled some attention, for he was accounted a ht But now none would believe hi suffered his brother to be unjustly accused that he was craven-hearted and dishonourable, and that if he had acted thus it was because he had no good defence to offer for his deed

Not only would he be irrevocably doonohtof contempt over whose end not a tear would be shed

Thus he came to the dread conclusion that in his endeavours to screen himself he had but enmeshed himself the more inextricably If Oliver but spoke he was lost And back he came to the question: What assurance had he that Oliver would not speak?

The fear of this froht, and for all that the fever had left him and his wound was entirely healed, he remained pale and thin and hollow-eyed Indeed the secret terror that was in his soul glared out of his eyes at every rew nervous and would start up at the least sound, and he went now in a perpetual mistrust of Oliver, which became manifest in a curious petulance of which there were outbursts at odd ti-room, which was ever Sir Oliver's favourite haunt in the mansion of Penarrow, Lionel found his half-brother in that brooding attitude, elbow on knee and chin on pal into the fire This was so habitual now in Sir Oliver that it had begun to irritate Lionel's tense nerves; it had come to seem to him that in this listlessness was a studied tacit reproach aimed at himself

”Why do you sit ever thus over the fire like so at last the irritability that so long had been growing in hilance Then fro s

”It rains,” he said

”It was not your wont to be driven to the fireside by rain But rain or shi+ne 'tis ever the sao abroad”

”To what end?” quoth Sir Oliver, with the saradually between his dark brows ”Do you suppose I love to lances, to see heads approach one another so that confidential curses of me may be muttered?”

”Ha!” cried Lionel, short and sharp, his sunken eyes blazing suddenly

”It has co to shi+eld me you now reproach hast

”Your very words are a reproach D'ye think I do not read thethat lies under the at his brother He shook his head and smiled

”Lal, Lal!” he said ”Your wound has left you disordered, boy With what have I reproached you? What was this hidden ht you will see it to be that to go abroad is to involve myself in fresh quarrels, for my mood is becos That is all”

He advanced and set his hands upon his brother's shoulders Holding hith he considered him, what time Lionel drooped his head and a slow flush overspread his cheeks ”Dear fool!” he said, and shook hiaunt, and not yourself at all I have a notion I'll furnish rounds There is life out yonder--life that will restore your vigour and your zest, and perhaps mine as well How say you, now?”

Lionel looked up, his eye brightening Then a thought occurred to hiain the colour flooded into his cheeks, for he was sha If he sailed with Oliver, uilt attributed to his brother He knew--from more than one remark addressed him here or there, and left by him uncontradicted--that the belief was abroad on the countryside that a certain hostility was springing up between hi in Godolphin Park His pale looks and hollow eyes had contributed to the opinion that his brother's sin eighing heavily upon hientle, kindly lad, in all things the very opposite of the turbulent Sir Oliver, and it was assu harshness used his brother ill because the lad would not condone his cri for Lionel and was being testified to him on every hand Were he to accede to such a proposal as Oliver now made him, assuredly he must jeopardize all that

He realized to the full the conteht and hated hi it But he could not shake off its doer than his will

His brother observing this hesitation, andit drew him to the fireside and made him sit

”Listen,” he said, as he dropped into the chair opposite ”There is a fine shi+p standing in the road below, off Smithick You'll have seen her Her h, who is to be found any afternoon in the alehouse at Penycumwick I know him of old, and he and his shi+p are to be acquired He is ripe for any venture, fro in slaves, and so that the price be high enough we may buy hi, so there be money in the venture So here is shi+p and master ready found; the rest I will provide--the crew, the munitions, the arma astern What do you say, Lal? 'Tis surely better than to sit, loom”

”I'llI'll think of it,” said Lionel, but so listlessly that all Sir Oliver's quickening enthusiasain at once and no ether reject the notion If on the one hand he was repelled by it, on the other he was attracted almost despite hi daily over to Penycumwick, and there he made the acquaintance of that hardy and scarred adventurer of whom Sir Oliver had spoken, and listened to the marvels the fellow had to tell--many of them too marvellous to be true--of hazards upon distant seas

But one day in early March Master Jasper Leigh had a tale of another kind for him, news that dispelled from Lionel's mind all interest in the captain's ventures on the Spanish Main The sea Lionel to the door of the little inn and stood by his stirrup after he had got to horse