There could be no doubt whatever that, after all, he had not proposed to her.
That was what Herbert Courtland's fellow-guests said when they learned that he had left for London by an early train on Monday morning.
And the way she had thrown herself at his head, too!
Of course she pretended not to feel his departure any more than the rest of the party; and equally as a matter of course, Mrs. Linton protested that Mr. Courtland had disappointed her.
And perhaps he had, too, some of the guests whispered to one another.
Mr. Linton shrugged his shoulders and remarked that business was business.
Everyone agreed with the general accuracy of this assertion, but it was not one that required much boldness to make, and what it had to do with Mr. Courtland's hurried departure no one seemed quite able to perceive.
The general idea that had prevailed at The Mooring on the subject of Mr. Courtland was that he would remain at the house after all the other guests--Miss Ayrton only excepted--had left.
During Monday several were to return to town, and the remainder on Tuesday, including Miss Ayrton. She required to do so to be in time for a grand function at which Royalty was to be present on that night.
Mrs. Linton herself meant to return on Wednesday afternoon.
It was late on Sunday night when Herbert had gone to Ella's side and told her that he found it necessary to leave for town early in the morning instead of waiting until Tuesday evening.
"Good Heavens!" she cried; "what is the meaning of this? What will people say? You do not mean to tell me that she--she---- Oh, no; that would be impossible!"
"Nothing is impossible," said he. "Nothing--not even my running away."
"You have told her----"
"I have told her nothing. I am not sure that I have anything to tell her. I am going away to make sure."
"Oh! very well. But I must say that I think you are wrong--quite wrong. There is that Mr. Holland; he is coming into greater prominence than ever since that article of his appeared in the /Zeit Geist/.
Stephen says he will certainly have to leave the Church."
"What has Mr. Holland got to say to----"
"More than meets the eye. You must remember that three months ago she was engaged to marry him. Now, though I don't mean to say that she ever truly loved him, yet there is no smoke without fire; it is very often that two persons who have become engaged to be married love each other. Now, if Phyllis ever had a tender feeling for Mr. Holland, and only threw him over because his theories are not those of Philistia, in the midst of which she had always lived, that feeling is certain to become tenderer if he is about to be made a martyr of. Would you like to see her thrown away upon George Holland?"
Herbert looked at the woman who could thus plead the cause--if that was not too strong a phrase--of the girl whom he had come to love. He felt that he was only beginning to know something about woman and her nature.
"I must go," he said. "I must go. I am not sure of myself."
"You had best make sure of her, and then you will become sure of yourself," said Ella.
"That would be to do her an injustice. No. I feel that I must go," he cried.
And go he did.
Those of the guests who remained during Monday did their best to find out how Phyllis was disposed to regard his departure; and there was a consensus of opinion among them that she seemed greatly mortified, though she made a splendid fight, trying to appear utterly indifferent.
There was, however, no ignoring the circumstance that Ella was elated at his departure; some of her guests even went so far as to suggest that she had accelerated his departure, giving him to understand that, however a young woman might throw herself at his head,--and didn't Phyllis just throw herself at his head?--he had no right to give her all his attention; a hostess has a right to claim some of his spare moments.
It was not until Tuesday, when Mr. Linton had left for London, and Phyllis was alone with Ella for an hour before lunch, that the latter endeavored to find out what she thought of Herbert Courtland.
"Has Stephen been speaking to you about George Holland?" she inquired.
She thought that the best way to lead Phyllis to talk about Herbert would be by beginning to talk about George Holland.
"Oh, yes!" said Phyllis. "He appears to be greatly interested in Mr. Holland. He thinks that he must leave the Church."
"That would be very sad," remarked Ella. "It would seem very like persecution, would it not?"
"I cannot see that there would be any injustice in the matter," said Phyllis. "If a man chooses to write such things as he has written, he must take the consequences. I, for my part, intend keeping away from the church as long as Mr. Holland remains in the pulpit."
She did not think it necessary to refer to the remarks made by Mr. Holland upon the occasion of his last visit to her, though these words might not be without interest to Ella.
"But it seems hard, doesn't it, to deprive a man of his profession simply because he holds certain views on what is, after all, an abstract subject--the patriarchs, or the prophets and things of that sort?" said Ella.
"Lady Earlscourt said that he should be forgiven, because he really didn't hold the views which he had preached," laughed Phyllis. "She also said that he should not be regarded as an atheist, because he believed not only in one God, but in two."
"I wonder how many Herbert Courtland believes in," said Ella. "You told me he talked to you on that topic the first night you met. Was it about God you and he have been talking lately?"
"I'm afraid it was not."
"Oh! you found a more interesting topic, and one of more importance to two people in the bloom of youth?"
"Ella!"
"Oh, my dear, I don't mean anything dreadful. Only, you know as well as I do that a healthy man and a healthy woman will never talk, when they are alone together, about God, when they can talk about each other. I think Herbert Courtland is about the healthiest man I know, and I'm sure that you are the healthiest girl. You and he are most sympathetic companions. You are not at all stupidly coy, my sweet maiden."
