Helen, always quicker to understand than to act, saw that something was wrong. She had turned towards the house with Joan’s hand in hers, and would have invited Claire to follow. She had wanted a talk with Claire herself—a talk which she foresaw would be difficult.
But when she saw how Claire had turned upon Tom, even as the child left her arms, and of how she barred his way through the gate, and the anger in her eyes, Helen stayed, with the child beside her.
“Tom,” said Claire, “who told you I was for sale?”
Tom, though surprised by the anger he had provoked, and having already been given sufficient of which to think, stood up to the attack stoutly enough.
“No one,” he said. “I never thought you were.”
“Then why say it?”
“I never did.”
“I understand that you have made me the object of an auction this evening.
“I’ve done nothing of the kind....It isn’t I at all. You don’t understand....” Tom began in some confusion of mind before the complicated inaccuracies of the case that Claire was making against him.
“Well, you can call it off.”
“I can’t do that,” said Tom, “I didn’t call it on. It was the law before you came, and it’s the law still. The Captain just said so. He says you can choose whom you will.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then it’s between you and them. It’s every man for himself. We shan’t interfere. It’s the best way to make your own choice. They’re a rough lot, some of them.”
“Did Martin say that?”
Tom hesitated. “No, he said you’d choose.”
“I see....Who should you recommend?”
“It’s not my matter. They’re not all bad.”
“There’s a man named Butcher. I told him that when I want to marry an eel I shall know where to look.”
“Did you tell Butcher that?” said Tom, with satisfaction. He had his own quarrel with Butcher, which does not concern us.
Rallying his mind from the first fury of her attack, Tom saw that she had reason for anger. It must appear to her that he was assuming that Martin would cast her off, or even actively working to produce a position which would oblige him to do so.
Knowing that he had an opposite intention, he felt unjustly accused, though the truth would hardly have increased his popularity with his present audience.
He looked at Helen, who watched the duel in silence. He wondered what she would say could he lead Claire to disclose that it was her bond to Martin that held her.
But no leading was needed. Claire took the fence with her usual directness.
“You can’t say you didn’t know. What name did I sign in the book?”
She turned to Helen. “We’d better have this out now, or there’ll be more trouble in the end. No, don’t go,” she said to Tom, still blocking his way. “You’d better hear, and you’ll know what to tell your friends.” She turned to Helen again.
Her voice changed and softened. She said: “I suppose men will always try to make laws for women. But it seems to me it’s the facts that matter. Martin thought you were dead. He couldn’t help thinking that. I’m very glad he was wrong—and you know how glad he is. But he thought you were dead, and I chose him—and he chose me. I have his promise. He said For always and always. I may have his child. Is his promise nothing because you are living? I think you must answer that.
“I don’t know what you will answer, but I know that what these men ask I will never do. I cannot do that. I will have the man I have chosen, or none.
“If I am not wanted here, I will ride away—and his child with me. It is for you to say.”
Helen felt as though her heart had stopped its beating. She tried to speak, and the words would not form to her purpose. But her eyes did not falter. She felt that they were waiting for her to speak, and that the hours were passing.
But it was only a moment. Then she said. “No, you couldn’t do that.” She looked at Tom, and said: “Claire will stay here because she is Martin’s wife. I am very proud that she is. She is the best of us all. There is no first between us. It is one honour for both.”
She held out her hand. They went into the house together.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sydney Fowler Wright (1874-1965) penned over seventy volumes of science fiction, fantasy, classic mysteries, historical novels, poetry, and non-fiction, many of them being published by the Borgo Press imprint of Wildside Press. Please visit his website at:
www.sfw.org
BORGO PRESS BOOKS BY S. FOWLER WRIGHT
Arresting Delia: An Inspector Cleveland Classic Crime Novel
The Attic Murder: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
The Bell Street Murders: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
Beyond the Rim: A Lost Race Fantasy
Black Widow: A Classic Crime Novel
The Blue Room: A Novel of an Alternate Future
The British Colonies: No Surrender to Nazi Germany!
The Capone Caper: Mr. Jellipot vs. the King of Crime: A Classic Crime Novel
Cortéz: For God and Spain: An Historical Novel
Crime & Co.: An Inspector Cleveland Classic Crime Novel
David the King: An Historical Novel
Dawn: A Novel of Global Warming
Deluge: A Novel of Global Warming
Dream; or, The Simian Maid: A Fantasy of Prehistory (Marguerite Cranleigh #1)
Elfwin: An Historical Novel of Anglo-Saxon Times
The End of the Mildew Gang: An Inspector Cauldron Classic Crime Novel (Mildew #3)
Four Callers in Razor Street: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
Four Days’ War: The Alternate World War II, Book Two
The Hanging of Constance Hillier: An Inspector Cleveland Classic Crime Novel
The Hidden Tribe: A Lost Race Fantasy
Inquisitive Angel: A Novel of Fantasy
The Island of Captain Sparrow: A Lost Race Fantasy
The Jordans Murder: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
The King Against Anne Bickerton: A Classic Crime Novel
The Last Days of Pompeii: An Historical Novel
The Lord’s Right in Languedoc: An Historical Novel
Marguerite de Valois: An Historical Novel
Megiddo’s Ridge: The Alternate World War II, Book Three
The Mildew Gang: An Inspector Cauldron Classic Crime Novel (Mildew #1)
Murder in Bethnal Square: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
The Ordeal of Baratá: A Political Fantasy
The Police and the Public: Some Thoughts on the British System of Justice
Post-Mortem Evidence: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
Power: A Political Fantasy
Prelude in Prague: The Alternate World War II, Book One
The Return of the Mildew Gang: An Inspector Cauldron Classic Crime Novel (Mildew #2)
The Rissole Mystery: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
The Screaming Lake: A Lost Race Fantasy
The Secret of the Screen: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
Seven Thousand in Israel: A Novel
The Siege of Malta: An Historical Novel
The Song of Songs and Other Poems
Spiders’ War: A Novel of the Far Future (Marguerite Cranleigh #3)
Three Witnesses: A Classic Crime Novel
Too Much for Mr. Jellipot: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
The Vengeance of Gwa: A Fantasy of Prehistory (Marguerite Cranleigh #2)
Was Murder Done? A Classic Crime Novel
Who Murdered Reynard? A Classic Crime Novel
The Wills of Jane Kanwhistle: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
With Cause Enough?: An Inspector Combridge & Mr. Jellipot Classic Crime Novel
The World Below: A Novel of the Far Future
Wyndham Smith: His Adventures in the 45th Century: Science Fiction Novel