"Not—surely—to see me?" said Olga, wonderingly.
He laughed grimly. "No. It was to see Noel. Odd how we both put him first, isn't it? The young cub sent me a message that brought me down post-haste, expecting to find him in a state of collapse. Instead of which I found him gaily awaiting me at the station to tell me he had run himself out—or some bosh of the kind—and it was now my innings, and I was to go in and win. On my soul, Olga, he was enjoying himself up to the hilt."
"But why didn't you tell me this before?" said Olga quickly.
Max's mouth went up a little higher. "Various reasons, fair lady."
"Don't be horrid!" she protested, giving him a shake. "And how did it happen? How did he come to know anything? I haven't seen him to-day. It must have been Nick!"
"Yes. I'm going to throttle Nick presently. I've often wanted to. After which I shall turn him into a mummy and send him to India to be worshipped as the little god of intrigue. I daresay he'll get on all right in that capacity. It ought to suit him down to the ground. He's a born meddler."
"How absurd you are!" Olga laughed in spite of herself. "Where is Nick?
Don't you think we had better go and find him?"
It was at this point that the handle of the door was turned ostentatiously the wrong way, struggled with, sworn at, and finally put right.
"May I come in?" said Nick, briskly opening the door. "Muriel and I have finished dinner. We knew you wouldn't be wanting any."
"Nick!" Olga exclaimed. "I'm sure you haven't!"
"All right, we haven't," said Nick. "That is to say, we have saved you a little in case you were prosaic enough to want it. Max, my son, your presence here is an honour for which I have scarcely made fit preparation, but I am none the less proud to entertain you, and as your uncle-in-law elect I bid you welcome."
He held out his hand which Max took with a dry, "Thanks! One can't scrag a man under his own roof, I suppose, though it's a sore temptation."
"You will have ample opportunity in the future," Nick assured him genially, "though, as I think I told you long ago, I'm the most well-meaning little cuss that ever walked the earth. I threatened once to put a spoke in your wheel, didn't I? Well, I never did it. I've been pushing and straining to get it out of the bog ever since. And now I've done it, you want to scrag me. Olga, the man's a blood-thirsty scoundrel. If you have the smallest regard for my feelings, you will kick him out of the house at once."
But Olga was holding the two clasped hands in hers, and she would not let them part. "Nick, you're a darling—a darling! And Max knows it, don't you, Max? It was dear of you to make the wheels go round. They would never have done it without you, and we shall never, never forget it as long as we two shall live."
"Amen!" said Max.
"Bless your hearts!" said Nick benevolently. "Well, come and have something to eat!"
He turned towards the door, but Olga hung back. "Is—is Noel here?" she asked.
"Heavens, no!" said Nick. "He eloped with Peggy long ago."
"Oh!" A note of relief sounded in her voice. "I shall see him to-morrow," she said.
"Yes, he'll be over to-morrow." Nick shot her a swift look in the twilight. "Meantime, I have a message to give you from him," he said.
"So have I," cut in Max.
"I know what it is!" said Olga quickly.
"His love," said Max.
"His best love," said Nick.
There was an instant's silence in the room; then Olga bent her head and murmured softly, "God bless him!"
CHAPTER XXX
THE LINE OF RETREAT
"No," said Daisy, with decision. "I shall never like Dr. Wyndham, though I am quite willing to admit that he may be admirable in many ways. He is not my ideal of a nice husband, but then of course—" she dimpled prettily—"I'm only just back from my honeymoon, and I've been thoroughly spoilt."
Will smiled upon her indulgently. "It's just as well we don't all like the same people. He looked happy enough anyhow."
"In his lordly, cynical fashion," objected Daisy. "He was quite the most self-possessed bridegroom I ever saw."
"Just as well perhaps," commented Will. "Olga was positively shaking with nervousness. Dr. Jim went grimly armed with a brandy-flask and smelling-salts."
"Will, did he really? How like him!"
"Yes. Sir Kersley told me. But he added that it is a well-known fact that brides never faint, so Jim's precautions were quite unnecessary. He also said—But perhaps it's hardly fair to tell you that!"
"What?" said Daisy eagerly. "Of course tell me! Tell me at once, Will!"
Will smiled again. "Well, if I must! He told me that Max himself was anything but as serene as he looked and had been dosing with bromide to steady his nerves."
Daisy broke into a laugh. "No, you certainly shouldn't have told me that! How mean of Sir Kersley! Still, it's nice to know that Max is a little human now and then. I shall like him better now. And so I don't mind telling you something in return. I've been making the most discreet enquiries, and I haven't unearthed the vaguest rumour of that tale Major Hunt-Goring told me. I believe it was all his own invention after all."
"Very likely," said Will. "Opium-smokers often get delusions."
Daisy caught and kissed her husband's hand. "How very charitable of you, Will! You're a perpetual antidote to my poison. Did you observe Nick during the ceremony? He was grinning like a Hindu idol—just as if he'd done it all."
"He has his finger in most pies," observed Will. "I daresay it wasn't altogether absent from this one. Muriel looked supremely proud of her C.S.I."
"And she has reason to be," declared Daisy warmly. "He is quite a king in his own line. I'm so glad he got the Star."
"It's time he got something of the sort certainly," said Will. "I suppose he'll be good now for another six years. Then he'll send the boy to school and inveigle her back to the East."
But Daisy shook her head. "No. I think she'll keep him now. This country is wanting men very badly—and there's plenty to be done."
"Oh, he's a bulwark of the Empire," smiled Will. "He'll do the work of ten. Where's the kiddie gone?"
"She's somewhere with Noel. Did you see those two come out of church together? It was the sweetest sight," said Daisy with enthusiasm.
"She ought to have been walking with Reggie," observed Will.
"Yes, I'm afraid she deserted him. But he ran after Dr. Jim. They are great pals. But Peggy and Noel—" Daisy suddenly laughed—"oh, Will, I do love that boy!" she said. "It is good to see him his gay, handsome self again. See, there they are together now, sitting on the grass! I wonder what they are talking about."
"Probably discussing to-day's event," said Will.
"And wishing it had been their turn," laughed Daisy. A guess which, as it chanced, was not altogether wide of the mark! Peggy, the while she leaned against her cavalier, was remarking at that very moment that she thought Midsummer Day the nicest day in all the year for a "weddin'."
"Why?" said Noel.
"All the fairies gets married then," said Peggy.
"Silly little duffers!" said Noel unsympathetically.
She looked at him round-eyed, then slipped a soft hand into his. "Dear
Noel, don't you like weddin's?"
Noel cut short an involuntary sigh. "Not always, Peggy," he said.
"Not when you're best man and I'm chief bridesmaid?" persisted Peggy, with her cheek against his shoulder.
He laughed, without much gaiety. "Oh, well, of course that makes a difference," he said.
There was a pause during which Peggy rubbed her cheek up and down his coat in tender silence. At last coaxingly, "Why didn't you like this weddin', dear Noel?" she asked.
But at that he broke into a half-shamed laugh and springing up snatched her high into his arms. "I'll tell you when we're married, Peg-top," he promised her. "Till then—let's have some fun!"
"Yes, yes!" cried Peggy, laughing down at him alluringly. "Let's have some fun!"
And that ended the conversation.