"No, I want to live with myself. If I rushed from one distraction to another I should not feel sure of myself at the end. I have thought and thought; and, besides, I want to see and live Europe with Dudley Thorpe alone. I feel positive that my plan is the right one. Only keep my mother away."

"I will tell her plainly that if she follows you, I'll shut her up in the Home of the Inebriates; and this time I'll keep my word. What excuse shall you give people?"

"You can tell them of my engagement, and say that as we have agreed it shall last a year, I have my own reasons for spending the interval by myself. Their comments mean nothing to me."

"Shall you see no one?"

"Molly will come occasionally, and you,--no one else. I shall fish and hunt and sail and ride and read and study music. Perhaps you will send me a little piano?"

"Of course I will."

"I shall live out of doors mostly. I love that sort of life better than any; I like trees better than most people."

"Very well. If you change your mind, you have only to return. I will send to New York for all the new books and music. Cochrane will go ahead and put things in order. I will also send Atkins to look after the horses; and he and his wife will sleep in the house and look after you generally. I hope to G.o.d the experiment will prove a success. I think you are wise not to marry until the fight is over."

II

The cottage was on the side of a hill over-looking one of the larger lakes. Beyond were other lakes, behind and in front the pine-covered mountains. The place was very wild; it was doubtful if civilisation would ever make it much less so. The cottage was dainty and comfortable.

Nina sailed a little cat-boat during the cooler hours of the day; and she was a good shot. She wrote a few lines or pages every night to Thorpe; but it was several days before she opened a book. She roamed through the dark forests while it was hot, and in the evenings. She had for California that curious compound of hatred and adoration which it inspires in all highly strung people who know it well. It filled her with vague angry longings, inspired her at times with a fierce desire to flee from it, and finally; but it satisfied her soul. At times, a vast brooding peace seemed lying low over all the land. At others, she fancied she could hear mocking laughter. More than once she hung out of the window half the night, expecting that California would lift up her voice and speak, so tremendous is the personality of that strange land.

She longed pa.s.sionately for Thorpe.

The weeks pa.s.sed, and, to her astonishment, the poison in her blood made no sign. Three months, and there had not been so much as a skirmish with the enemy. She felt singularly well; so happy at times that she wondered at herself, for the year seemed very long. Thorpe wrote by every steamer, such letters as she had hoped and expected to get. Some of his vital personality seemed to emanate from them; and she chose to believe that it stood guard and warned off the enemy.

She was swinging in her hammock on the verandah one hot afternoon, when a wagon lumbered to the foot of the hill, and her father and Molly Shropshire emerged from the cloud of dust that surrounded it. She tumbled out of the hammock, and ran down to meet them, her loose hair flying.

"She looks about ten," thought Mr. Randolph, as she rushed into his arms; "and beautiful for the first time in her life."

"We thought that you had had as much solitude as was good for you at one time," said Miss Shropshire, in her hard metallic voice, which, however, rang very true. "I am going to stay a month, whether I am wanted or not."

"We have an addition to our family," said Mr. Randolph, as he sat fanning himself on the piazza. "Your cousin has arrived."

"My what? What cousin?"

"Your mother, it seems, has a brother. If I ever knew of his existence, I had forgotten it. But it seems that I have had the honour of educating his son and of transforming him into a sort of pseudo-gentleman."

"He is not half bad, indeed," said Miss Shropshire.

"He is the sort of man who inspires me with a desire to lift my boot every time he opens his mouth. But I must confess that his appearance is fairly creditable. The obsolete term 'genteel' describes him better than any other. He has got Yorkshire off his back, has studied hard,--he is a doctor with highly creditable certificates and diplomas,--and dresses very well. His manners are suave, entirely too suave: I felt disposed to warn the bank; and his hands are so soft that they give me a 'turn' as the old women say. He has reddish hair, a pale grey shifty eye, a snub nose, and a hollow laugh. There you have your cousin--Dr. Richard Clough, aged twenty-eight or thereabouts. In my days, he probably wore clogs. At present his natty little feet are irreproachably shod, and he makes no more noise than a cat. I feel an irrepressible desire for a caricature of him."

Nina laughed heartily. "Poor papa! And you thought you had had the last of the Cloughs. I hope he is not quartered on you."

"He is, but is looking about for an opening. To do him justice, I don't think he is a sponge. He seems to have saved something. He wanted to come up here and pay his _devoirs_ to you, but I evaded the honour. I have a personal suspicion which may, of course, be wide of the mark, that the object of his visit to California is more matrimonial than professional; if that is the case, he might cause you a great deal of annoyance: there is a very ugly look about his mouth."

Mr. Randolph remained several days; they were very happy days for him.

It was impossible to see Nina as she was at that period, to catch the overflow of her spirits, without sharing her belief in the sure happiness of the future.

Miss Shropshire fell in easily with all of Nina's pursuits. There was much of Nina Randolph that she could never understand; but she was as faithful as a dog in her few friendships and, with her vigorous sensible mind, she was a companion who never bored. She was several years older than Nina. Their fathers had been acquaintances in the island which had the honour of incubating the United States.

"I approve of your engagement," said Miss Shropshire, in her downright way. "I know if I don't you will hate me, so I have brought myself to the proper frame of mind. He is selfish; but he certainly grows on one, and no one could help respecting a man with that jaw."

But Nina would not discuss Thorpe even with Molly Shropshire. When she felt obliged to unburden her mind, she went up and talked to the pines.

The girls returned home one morning from a stiff sail on the lake to be greeted by the sight of a boot projecting beyond the edge of one of the hammocks, and the perfume of excellent tobacco.

"What on earth!" exclaimed Miss Shropshire. "Have we a visitor? a man?"

Nina frowned. "I suspect that it is my cousin. Papa wrote the other day that Richard had heard of a practice for sale in Napa, and had come up to look into it. I suppose it was to be expected that he would come here, whether he was invited or not."

As the girls ascended the hill, the occupant of the hammock rose and flung away his cigar. He was a dapper little man, and walked down the steep path with a jaunty ease which so strikingly escaped vulgarity as to suggest the danger.

"Dear Cousin Nina!" he exclaimed. "Miss Shropshire, you will tell her that I am Richard? Will you pardon me for taking two great liberties,--first, coming here, and then, taking possession of your hammock and smoking? The first I _couldn't_ help. The last--well, I have been waiting two hours."

"I am glad you have made yourself at home," said Nina, perfunctorily; she had conceived a violent dislike for him. "Your trip must have been very tiresome."

"It was, indeed. This California is all very well to look at, but for travelling comforts--my word! However, I am not regretting. I cannot tell you how much I have wanted--"

"You must be very hungry. There is the first dinner-bell. Are you dusty?

Would you like to clean up? Go to papa's room--that one.

"Detestable man!" she said, as he disappeared. "I don't believe particularly in presentiments, but I felt as if my evil genius were bearing down upon me. And such a smirk! He looks like a little shop-keeper."

"I think he cultivates that grin to conceal the natural expression of his mouth--which is by no means unlike a wolf's. But he is a harmless little man enough, I have no doubt. I've been hasty and mistaken too often; only it's a bore, having to entertain him."

But Dr. Clough a.s.sumed the burdens of entertaining. He talked so agreeably during dinner, told Nina so much of London that she wished to know, betrayed such an exemplary knowledge of current literature, that her aversion was routed for the hour, and she impulsively invited him to remain a day or two. He accepted promptly, played a nimble game of croquet after supper, then took them for a sail on the lake. He had a thin well-trained tenor voice which blended fairly well with Miss Shropshire's metallic soprano; and the two excited the envy of the frogs and the night-birds. He was evidently a man quick to take a hint, for he treated Nina exactly as he treated Molly: he was merely a traveller in a strange land, delighted to find himself in the company of two charming women.

"Upon my word," said Molly, that night, "I rather like the little man.

He's not half bad."

"I don't know," said Nina. "I'm sorry I asked him to stay. I'll be glad to see him go."

The next day he organised a picnic, and made them sit at their ease while he cooked and did all the work. They spent the day in a grove of laurels, and sailed home in the dusk. It was on the following day that Nina twice caught him looking at her in a peculiarly searching manner.

Each time she experienced a slight chill and faintness, for which she was at a loss to account. She reddened with anger and terror, and he shifted his eyes quickly. When he left, the next morning, she drew a long sigh of relief, then, without warning, began to sob hysterically.

"There is something about that man!" she announced to the alarmed Miss Shropshire. "What is it? Do you suppose he is a mesmerist? He gave me the most dreadful feeling at times. Oh, I wish Dudley were here!"

"Why don't you send for him?"

"I don't know! I don't know! I wish the year were over!"

"It is your own will that makes it a year. I don't see any sense in it, myself. I believe this climate, and being away from everything, has set you up. Why not send for him, and live here for some months longer? He is your natural protector, anyhow. What's a man good for?"

"Oh, I feel as if I must! Wait till to-morrow. That man has made me nervous; I may feel quite placid to-morrow, and I ought to wait. It is only right to wait."

And the next day she was herself again, and dismissed the evil spell of Dr. Clough with a contemptuous shrug. Nor would she send for Thorpe.