Page:Possession (Roche, February 1923).pdf/118



The footsteps of the brothers rang crisply on the smooth, hard road as they returned to Grimstone. On their left, the frosty stubble of the shore meadows swept in silvery undulations beneath the bright half-moon that, like a noble ship, ploughed her way across a billowy sky. Clouds and moon were alike reflected on the still, burnished shield of the lake.

As they neared the house they heard the scrape of fiddles, and the stamp of jigging feet. Lights streamed from the dining room, kitchen, and back-kitchen. Derek quickened his steps. He strained towards the crude jollity of the dance. Here, at least, there would be no Miss Pearsall.

They entered quietly by the front door, hanging their caps and coats in the hallway before they went to the dining room. The dancing was in full swing, but there was a moment of hesitation and embarrassment when the Vales entered. Derek at once introduced Edmund to Miss Carss, the handsome daughter of the head gardener at Durras, who was too proud to dance with any of the Mistwell lads, or any of Vale's men, except Windmill. She had been brought by Hobbs, who looked rather horsey in a check suit, red tie, and hunting-crop tie pin. Derek took as his partner the plump daughter of a fisherman, Nan Hinton. She was a good dancer in a hearty, stamping way, and a certain roughness in his nature responded to the appeal of her throbbing, healthy body, her coarse, curly hair which tickled his cheek, and the clasp of her strong, freckled hand. The rooms were hot and heavy with the perfume of the balsam and hemlock boughs which the Scotchmen had hung above the doorways. He saw Mrs. Machin staring at him with disapproval in her eyes. He held Nan the closer for that, and threw himself with more energy into the dance. Gunn was whirling round and round with a black-eyed, plump girl, as rosy as himself. They looked into each other's eyes, grinning happily. New-