The Way of an Eagle by Ethel M. Dell

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He waited for a little in silence; then suddenly with a sharp sigh
he straightened himself. "You don't know your own mind yet," he said.
"And I can't help you to know it. I had better go."

He would have withdrawn his hand with the words, but she held it fast.

"No, Nick, no! It isn't that," she told him tremulously. "I know what
I want--perfectly well. But--but--I can't put it into words. I can't!
I can't!"

"Is that it?" said Nick. His manner changed completely. He bent down
again. She heard the old note of banter in his voice, but mingled with
it was a tenderness so utter that she scarcely recognised it. "Then,
my dear girl, in Heaven's name, don't try! Words were not made for
such an occasion as this. They are clumsy tools at the best of times.
You can make me understand without words. I'm horribly intelligent, as
you remarked just now."

Her heart leapt to the rapid assurance. Was it so difficult to tell
him after all? Surely she could find a way!

The tumult of her emotions swelled to sudden uproar, thunderous,
all-possessing, overwhelming, so that she gasped and gasped again for
breath. And then all in a moment she knew that the conflict was over.
She was as a diver, hurling with headlong velocity from dizzy height
into deep waters, and she rejoiced--she exulted--in that mad rush into
depth.

With a quivering laugh she moved. She loosened her convulsive clasp
upon his hand, turned it upwards, and stooping low, she pressed her
lips closely, passionately, lingeringly, upon his open palm. She had
found a way.

He started sharply at her action; he almost winced. Then, "Muriel!" he
exclaimed in a voice that broke, and threw himself on his knees beside
her, holding her fast in a silence so sudden and so tense that she
also was awed into a great stillness.

Yet, after a little, though his face was pressed against her so
that she could not see it or even vaguely guess his mood, she found
strength to speak.

"I can tell you what I want now, Nick," she whispered. "Shall I tell
you?"

He did not answer, did not so much as breathe. But yet she knew no
fear or hesitancy. Her eyes were opened, and her tongue loosed. Words
came easily to her now, more easily than they had ever come before.

"I want to be married--soon, very soon," she told him softly. "And
then I want you to take me away with you into Nepal, as you planned
ever so long ago. And let us be alone together in the mountains--quite
alone as we were before. Will you, Nick? Will you?"

But again he had no answer for her. He did not seem able to reply.
His head still lay against her shoulder. His arm was still tense about
her. She fell silent, waiting for him.

At last he drew a deep breath that seemed to burst upwards from the
very heart of him, and lifted his face with a jerk.

"My God!" he said. "Is it true?"

His voice was oddly uneven; he seemed to produce it with difficulty.
But having broken the spell that bound him, he managed after a moment
to continue.

"Are you quite sure you want to marry me,--quite sure that to-morrow
you won't be scared out of your wits at the bare idea? Have you left
off being afraid of me? Do you mean me really to take you at your
word?"

"If you will, Nick," she answered humbly.

"If I will!" he echoed, with sudden passion. "I warn you, Muriel, you
are putting yourself irrevocably in my power, and you will never break
away again. You may come to loathe me with your whole soul, but I
shall never let you go. Have you realised that? If I take you now, I
take you for all time."

He spoke almost with violence, and, having spoken, drew back from her
abruptly, as though he could not wholly trust himself.

But nothing could dismay her now. She had fought her last battle, had
made the final surrender. Her fear was dead. She stretched out her
hands to him with unfaltering confidence.

"Take me then, Nick," she said.

He took the extended hands with quick decision, first one and then the
other, and laid them on his shoulders.

"Now look at me," he said.

She hesitated, though not as one afraid.

"Look at me, Muriel!" he insisted.

Then, as she kept her eyes downcast, he put his hand under her chin
and compelled her.

She yielded with a little quivering murmur of protest, and so for the
first time in her life she deliberately met his look, encountering
eyes so wide and so piercingly blue that she had a moment's bewildered
feeling of uncertainty, as though she had looked into the eyes of a
stranger. Then the colourless lashes descended again and veiled them
as of old. He blinked with his usual disconcerting rapidity and set
her free.

"Yes," he said. "You've left off cheating. And if you really care to
marry me--what's left of me--it's a precious poor bargain, but--I am
yours."

His voice cracked a little. She fancied he was going to laugh. And
then, while she was still wondering, his arm went round her again and
drew her closely to him. She was conscious of a sudden, leaping flame
behind the pale lashes, felt his hold tighten while the wrinkled face
drew near,--and with a sob she clasped her arms about his neck and
turned her lips to his.

CHAPTER LV

OMNIA VINCIT AMOR

"Funny, wasn't it?" said Nick, jingling a small handful of coins in
front of his fiancee. "Quite a harvest in its way! I had no idea you
were so charitable."

She caught his wrist. "You have no right to a single one of them. You
obtained them under false pretences. What in the world induced you to
do such a thing?"

Nick's hand closed firmly upon the spoil. "It was a sheer, heaven-sent
inspiration," he declared. "Care to know how it came to me? It
happened one night in the Indian Ocean when I was on the way out with
Daisy. I was lying on deck under the stars, thinking of you, and the
whole idea came to me ready-made. I didn't attempt to shape it; it
shaped itself. I was hungering for the sight of you, and I knew you
would never find me out. You never would have, either, if I hadn't
had Daisy's message. I was just going to quit my lonely vigil when
it reached me. But that altered my plans, and I decided with Fraser's
assistance to face it out. You knew he was in the secret, of course?
He is in every secret, that chap. As soon as I heard of Lady Bassett's
ingenious little fiction about the Buddhist monastery, I was ready
to take the wan path. But you were invisible, you know. I had to wait
till you emerged. Then came last night's episode, and I had to take to
my heels. I couldn't face a public exposure, and it wouldn't have
been particularly pleasant for you, either. So now you have the whole
touching story, and I think you needn't grudge me a rupee and a few
annas as a reward for my devotion."

Muriel laughed rather tremulously. "I would have given you something
better worth having--if I had known."

"Never too late," said Nick philosophically. "You can begin at once
if you like. Let me have your hand. Hold it steady, my dear girl.
Remember my limitations. You won't refuse any longer to wear my ring?"

"I will wear it gladly," she told him, as he fitted it back upon her
finger. "I shall never part with it again."

Her eyes were full of tears, but she would not let them fall, and Nick
was too intent upon what he was doing to notice.

"That imp Olga nearly broke her poor little heart when she gave it
back to me," he said. "I think I shall have to send her a cable. What
shall I say? OMNIA VINCIT AMOR? She is old enough to know what that
means. And if I add, 'From Muriel and Nick,' she will understand. A
pity she can't come to our wedding! I'd sooner have seen her jolly
little phiz than all Lady Bassett's wreathed smiles. She is sure to
smile, you know. She always does when she sees me." He broke off with
a hideous grimace.

"Don't, Nick!" Muriel's voice trembled a little. "Why does she hate
you so?"

"Can't imagine," grinned Nick. "It's a way some people have. Perhaps
she will end by falling in love with me. Who knows?"

"Don't be horrid, Nick! Why won't you tell me?" Muriel laid a pleading
hand upon his.

He caught it to his lips. "I can't tell you, darling, seeing she is
a woman. An unpleasant adventure befell her once for which I was
partially responsible. And she has hated me with most unseemly
vehemence ever since."

A light began to break upon Muriel. "Was it something that happened on
board ship?" she hazarded.

He gave her a sharp look. "Who told you that?"

She flushed a little. "Bobby Fraser. He didn't mention her name, of
course. We--we were talking about you once."

Nick laughed aloud. "Only once?"

Her colour deepened. "You are positively ridiculous. Still, I wish
it hadn't been Lady Bassett, Nick. I don't like to feel she hates you
like that."

"It doesn't hurt me in the least," Nick declared. "Her poison-fang is
extracted so far as I am concerned. She could only poison me through
you. I always knew I had her to thank for what happened at Simla."

"Oh, but not her alone," Muriel said quickly. "You mustn't blame her
only for that. I was prejudiced against you by--other things."

"I know all about it," said Nick. He was holding her hand in his,
moving it hither and thither to catch the gleam of the rubies upon it.
"You were a poor little scared rabbit fleeing from a hideous monster
of destruction. You began to run that last night at Wara when I made
you drink that filthy draught, and you have hardly stopped yet. I
don't suppose it ever occurred to you that I would rather have died
in torment than have done it." He broke into a sudden laugh. "But you
needn't be afraid that I shall ever do it again. I can't do much
to any one with only one arm, can I? You witnessed my futility last
night. There's a grain of comfort in that, eh, darling?"

"Nick, don't, don't!" She turned to him impulsively and laid her cheek
against his shoulder. "You--you don't know how you hurt me!"

"My dear girl, what's the matter?" said Nick. "I was only trying to
draw your attention to my good points--such as they are."

"Don't!" she said again, in a choked voice. "It's more than I can
bear. You would never have lost your arm but for me."

"Oh, rats!" said Nick, holding her closely. "Whoever told you that--"

"It was Dr. Jim."

"Well, Jim's an ass, and I shall tell him so. There, don't fret,
darling. It isn't worth it. I could wish it hadn't happened for your
sake, but I don't care a rap for my own."

"You are not to care for mine," she whispered. "I shall only love you
the better for it."

"Then it will be a blessing to me after all," said Nick cheerily.
"Do you know what we are going to do as soon as we are married,
sweetheart? We are going to climb the highest mountain in the world,
to see the sun rise, and to thank God."

She turned her face upwards with a quivering smile. "Let us be married
soon then, Nick."

"At once," said Nick promptly. "Come along and tell Sir Reginald.
He must be out of bed by this time. If he isn't I think the occasion
almost justifies us in knocking him up."

They found Sir Reginald already upon the verandah, drinking his early
coffee, and to Muriel's dismay he was not alone. It was later than she
had imagined, and Colonel Cathcart and Bobby Fraser had both dropped
in for a gossip, and were seated with him at the table smoking.

As she and Nick approached, Lady Bassett herself emerged through an
open window behind the three men.

Nick began to chuckle. This was the sort of situation that appealed
to his sense of humour. He began to chant an old-world ditty under his
breath with appropriate words.

"Oh, dear, what will the Bassett say?"

Muriel uttered a short, hysterical laugh, and instantly they were
discovered.

"Now what are you going to do?" said Nick.

"I don't know," she responded hurriedly. "Run away, I think."

"Not you," said Nick, grasping her hand very firmly. "You are going to
face the music with me."

She gave in, half laughing, half protesting, and he led her up the
steps with considerable pomp.

She need not have been so painfully embarrassed, for every one, with
the exception of Bobby Fraser, looked at Nick, and Nick only, in
speechless amazement, as though he had just returned from the dead.

Nick was sublimely equal to the occasion. He came to a standstill by
the table, executed an elaborate bow in Lady Bassett's direction, then
turned briskly to Sir Reginald.

"After two years' deliberation," he announced, "we have decided to
settle our differences by getting married, and we are hoping, sir,
that you will bestow your blessing upon our union."

"My good fellow!" gasped Sir Reginald. "This is a very great
surprise!"

"Yes, I know," said Nick. "It was to me, too. But--though fully
sensible of my unworthiness--I shall do my best to deserve the very
high honour that has been done me. And I hope we may count upon your
approval and support."

Again his bow included Lady Bassett. There was a mocking glint in the
glance he threw her.

She came forward as though in answer to a challenge, her face
unwontedly flushed. "This is indeed unexpected!" she declared,
extending her hand. "How do you do, Captain Ratcliffe? You will
understand our surprise when I tell you that some one was saying only
the other day that you had entered a Tibetan monastery."

"Some one must have been telling a lie, dear Lady Bassett," said Nick.
"I am sorry if it caused you any uneasiness on my account. I should
certainly never have taken such a serious step without letting you
know. I trust that my projected marriage will have a less disturbing
effect."

Lady Bassett smiled her crooked smile, and raised one eyebrow. "Oh, I
shall not be anxious on your account," she assured him playfully.

"Quite right, Lady Bassett," broke in Colonel Cathcart. "He'll hold
his own, wherever he is. I always said so when he was in the Service."

"And a little over probably," put in Bobby Fraser. "Miss Roscoe, if
you ever find him hard to manage, you send for me."

Muriel, from the shelter of Sir Reginald's arm, looked across at the
speaker with a smile of unwonted confidence.

"Thank you all the same," she responded, "but I don't expect any
difficulties in that respect."

"She is far more likely to fight my battles for me," remarked Nick
complacently, "seeing my own fighting days are over."

"And what have you been doing with yourself all this time?" demanded
Sir Reginald suddenly. "You have been singularly unobtrusive. What
have you been doing?"

Nick's answering grin was one of sheer exuberance of spirit. "I've
just been marking time, sir, that's all," he replied enigmatically.
"A monotonous business for every one concerned, but it seems to have
served its purpose."

Sir Reginald grunted a little, and looked uncomfortably at his wife's
twisted smile. "And now you want to get married, do you?" he said.

"At once," said Nick.

"Well, well," said Sir Reginald, beginning to smile himself. "All's
well that ends well, and Muriel is old enough to please herself. Mind
you are good to her, that's all. And I wish you both every happiness."

"So do I," said Bobby Fraser heartily. "And look here, you
jack-in-the-box, if you're wanting a best man to push you through,
I'll undertake the job. It's a capacity in which I have often made
myself useful."

"Right O!" laughed Nick. "But you won't find I want much pushing, old
chap. I'm on my way to the top crag of Everest already."

"Ah, Captain Ratcliffe, be careful!" murmured Lady Bassett. "Do not
soar too high!"

He bowed to her a third time, still with his baffling smile. "Thanks,
dear Lady Bassett!" he said lightly. "But you need have no misgivings.
Forewarned is forearmed, they say. And on this occasion, at least, I
am wise--in time."

"And dear Muriel too, I wonder?" smiled Lady Bassett.

"And dear Muriel too," smiled Nick.

CHAPTER LVI

THE EAGLE SOARS

Night and a running stream--a soft gurgle of sound that was like a
lullaby. Within the tent the quiet breathing of a man asleep; standing
in the entrance--a woman.

There was a faint quiver in the air as of something coming from afar,
a hushed expectancy of something great. A chill breath came off the
snows, hovering secretly above the ice-cold water. The stars glittered
like loose-hung jewels upon a sable robe.

Ah, that flash as of a sword across the sky! A meteor had fallen among
the mountains. It was almost like a signal in the heavens--herald of
the coming wonder of the dawn.

Softly the watcher turned inwards, and at once a gay, cracked voice
spoke out of the darkness.

"Hullo, darling! Up and watching already! Ye gods! What a sky! Why
didn't you wake me sooner? Have I time for a plunge?"

"Perhaps--if you will let me help you dress after it. Certainly not
otherwise." The deep voice had in it a tremulous note that was like a
caress. The speaker was looking into the shadows. The glory without no
longer held her.

"All right then, you shall--just for a treat. Perhaps you would like
to shave me as well?"

"Shave you!" There was scorn this time in the answering voice. "You
couldn't grow a single hair if you tried!"

"True, O Queen! I couldn't. And the few I was born with are invisible.
Hence my failure to distinguish myself in the Army. It is to be hoped
the deficiency will not blight my Parliamentary career also--always
supposing I get there."

"Ah, but you did distinguish yourself. I heard--once"--the words came
with slight hesitation--"that you ought to have had the V.C. after the
Wara expedition,--only you refused it."

"I wonder what gas-bag let that out," commented Nick. "You shouldn't
believe all you hear, you know. Now, darling, I'm ready for the
plunge, and I must look sharp about it too. Do you mind rummaging out
a towel?"

"But, Nick, was it true?"

"What? The V.C. episode? Oh, I suppose so, more or less. I didn't
want to be decorated for running away, you see. It didn't seem exactly
suitable. Besides, I didn't do it for that."

"Nick, do you know you make me feel more contemptible every day?"
There was an unmistakable quiver of distress in the words.

"My own girl, don't be a goose!" came the light response. "You don't
honestly suppose I could ever regret anything now, do you? Why, it's a
lost faculty."

He stepped from the tent, clad loosely in a bath sheet, and bestowed a
kiss upon his wife's downcast face in passing. "Look here, sweetheart,
if you cry while I'm in the water, I'll beat you directly I come out.
That's a promise, not a threat. And by the way, I've got something
good to tell you presently; so keep your heart up."

He laughed at her and went his way, humming tunelessly after his
own peculiarly volatile fashion. She listened to his singing, as he
splashed in the stream below, as though it were the sweetest music on
earth; and she knew that he had spoken the truth. Whatever sacrifices
he had made in the past, regret was a thing impossible to him now.

By the time he joined her again, she had driven away her own. The sky
was changing mysteriously. The purple depth was lightening, the stars
receding.

"We must hurry," said Nick. "The gods won't wait for us."

But they were ready first after all, and the morning found them high
up the mountainside with their faces to the east.

Sudden and splendid, the sun flashed up over the edge of the world,
and the snow of the mountain crests shone in roselit glory for a few
magic seconds, then shimmered to gold--glittering as the peaks of
Paradise.

They did not speak at all, for the ground beneath their feet was holy,
and all things that called for speech were left behind. Only as
dawn became day--as the sun-god mounted triumphant above the waiting
earth--the man's arm tightened about the woman, and his flickering
eyes grew steadfast and reverent as the eyes of one who sees a
vision....

"'Prophet and priestess we came--back from the dawning,'" quoted Nick,
under his breath.

Muriel uttered a long, long sigh, and turned her face against her
husband's shoulder.

His lips were on her forehead for a moment; the next he was peering
into her face with his usual cheery grin.

"Care to hear my piece of news?" he questioned.

She looked at him eagerly. "Oh, Nick, not the mail!"

He nodded. "Runner came in late last night. You were asleep and
dreaming of me. I hadn't the heart to wake you."

She laughed and blushed. "As if I should! Do you really imagine that I
never think of anyone else? But go on. What news?"

He pulled out two letters. "One from Olga, full of adoration, bless
her funny heart, and containing also a rude message from Jim to the
effect that Redlands is going to rack and ruin for want of a tenant
while we are philandering on the outside edge of civilisation doing
no good to anybody. No good indeed! I'll punch his head for that some
day. But I suppose we really ought to be thinking of Home before long,
eh, sweetheart?"

She assented with a smile and a sigh. "I am sure we ought. Dr. Jim is
quite right. We must come back to earth again, my eagle and I."

Nick kissed her hair. "It's been a gorgeous flight hasn't it? We'll do
it again--heaps of times--before we die."

"If nothing happens to prevent," said Muriel.

He frowned. "What do you say that for? Are you trying to be like Lady
Bassett? Because it's a vain aspiration, so you may as well give it up
at the outset."

"Nick, how absurd you are!" There was a slight break in the words.
"I--I had almost forgotten there was such a person. No, I said it
because--because--well, anything might happen, you know."

"Such as?" said Nick.

"Anything," she repeated almost inaudibly.

Nick pondered this for a moment. "Is it a riddle?" he asked.

She did not answer him. Her face was hidden.

He waited a little. Then, "I shall begin to guess directly," he said.

She uttered a muffled laugh, and clung to him with a sudden,
passionate closeness. "Nick, you--you humbug! You know!"

Nick tossed his letters on the ground and held her fast. "My precious
girl, you gave the show away not ten seconds ago by that blush of
yours. There! Don't be so absurdly shy! You can't be shy with me. Look
at me, sweet. Look up and tell me it's true!"

She turned her face upwards, quivering all over, yet laughing
tremulously. "Yes, Nick, really, really!" she told him. "Oh, my
darling, are you glad?"

"Am I glad?" said Nick, and laughed at her softly. "I'm the happiest
man on earth. I shall go Home now without a pang, and so will you.
We have got to feather the nest, you know. That'll be fun, eh,
sweetheart?"

Her eyes answered him more convincingly than any words. They seemed
to have caught some of the sunshine that made the world around them so
glorious.

Some time elapsed before she remembered the neglected correspondence.
Time was of no account up there among the mountains.

"The other letter, Nick, you didn't tell me about it. I fancied you
might have heard from Will Musgrave."

"So I have," said Nick. "You had better read it. There's a line for
you inside. It's all right. Daisy has got a little girl, both doing
splendidly; Daisy very happy, Will nearly off his head with joy."

Muriel was already deep in Will's ecstatic letter. She read it with
smiling lips and tearful eyes. At the end in pencil she found the line
that was for her.

"Tell Muriel that all's well with me, and I want you both for
Christmas.--Daisy."

Muriel looked up. "I promised to spend Christmas with them, Nick."

Nick smiled upon her quizzically. "By a strange coincidence, darling,
so did I. I should think under the circumstances we might go together,
shouldn't you?"

She drew his hand to her cheek. "We will go to them for Christmas
then. And after that straight Home. Tell Dr. Jim when you write.
But--Nick--I think we should like to feather the nest all ourselves,
don't you?"

"Why, rather!" said Nick. "We'll do it together--just you and I."

"Just you and I," she repeated softly.

Later, hand in hand, they looked across the valley to the shining
crags that glistened spear-like in the sun.

A great silence lay around them--a peace unspeakable--that those
silver crests lifted into the splendour of Infinity.

They stood alone together--above the world--with their faces to the
mountains.

And thus standing with the woman he loved, Nick spoke, briefly--it
seemed lightly--yet with a certain tremor in his voice.

"Horses," he said--"and chariots--of fire!" And Muriel looked at him
with memory and understanding in her eyes.

THE END

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