CHAPTER II

Determination

It all happened on a very fine day in June, and as Arnold Gilmour walked through the village on his way to the Mount House, he knew that life was good.

The sun caressed him; the clean sweet air exhilarated him. He smiled happily at the village children, and deplored his too self-conscious nature that prevented him from giving them pennies to buy the coloured sweets they so much coveted, with wistful eyes and small noses stuck against the little shop window.

His excellent spirits moved him to whistle with the birds when he had left the village behind him, and in all that flowering countryside he neither felt nor saw the slightest warning that the days of his young life were nearly over, almost before they bad begun.

For Gilmour the day was of special importance, and it seemed only right that the weather should be in sympathy with him,

He had worked and waited a long time for this hour. At last he was able to approach old Professor Neville with something that looked like solid achievement. Never before had he been in such a position, and so the old man had been able to keep him from the girl he loved. Keeping Gilmour's poverty as his trump card, Neville selfishly played upon his daughter's sweet nature and harped constantly upon his love and loneliness until Jeanette was becoming distracted between her love for Gilmour and that of her father.

There was no doubt, Gilmour reflected, brilliant man though Neville was, when it came to his daughter he was mad-stone mad!

On every question but one, his manner to the young man was kind and fatherly. But often when Gilmour would timidly broach the question of love and marriage with Jeanette, the Professor's attitude became bitter and mildly fanatical. He would ridicule the idea, and if pressed further, would mutter darkly of the tragedy of his life when he found that his child had been born a girl instead of a boy, and finally he would wind up with taunting Gilmour on his poor position and his inability to take and support her-until he had driven- the young man into a very frenzy of achievement.

But now things were different, and Arnold smiled to himself when be thought of the last time he had been to the Mount House. Before he left, he had told ' Jeanette, not too hopefully, of his expectations in the near future, and to encourage him she had agreed to leave her father and it tarry him as soon as he succeeded.

This was a fortnight ago; he had not heard from her since, nor had he written. In his determination to succeed, he had been strong and he had been silent. He had worked with a steady patience until he had amazed himself at his own strength of mind. But as he neared the Mount House, he knew that he was weakening. His love and the things he had done were burning him up with sheer suppression. He could restrain himself no longer. He must hurry to Jeanette and tell her of his cleverness; like a small boy running home from school with his first prize and knowing he will be rewarded with the fond and joyful adoration of his mother.

Then suddenly he controlled his impatience and decided on another course. He had held out so far, and he could hold out a little longer. He would follow tip his luck with more. He decided to see Professor Neville first and boldly acquaint the old man with his intentions while his triumph was still fresh and giving him confidence. There was nothing he lacked now: he had both the love of, and the power to take the scientist's daughter. He had spiked Neville's guns; there was nothing he could object to, and if be did he would only open Jeanette's eyes to the fatherly love that was merely stubborn selfishness.

Gilmour found Neville in his study deeply engrossed in peering down into his microscope, but he was immediately greeted with such benevolence and warmth of spirit that the young man felt most disconcerted. For a moment it took all the resolution out of him, for it is hard to be delivering fiery ultimatums to a man who is all friendliness and solicitude.

"Well, my boy," said Neville, turning to 'his microscope after the preliminary greetings were over, "I am certainly pleased to see you about the place again; we've missed you these last few days, you know."

Gilmour mumbled his thanks and tried to screw up courage enough to get down to business. He was feeling a slight backwash from his previous confident humor. There was something about this lean man with the cold gray eyes that scored him and made him feel very young and rather childish.

Suddenly Neville looked up from his work. "You should congratulate me, Gilmour," he said, with a slightly sarcastic smile. "Since you were here last I have completed the work of a lifetime and made one of the greatest discoveries ever granted to science."

He was in a confidential and talkative humor. He rose from his seat and walked around his desk.

"I intend to publish it shortly," he continued, "but as you are one of our most intimate friends, I think it is only fair that you should be amongst the first to know about the discovery, which will alter the destiny of mankind. Sit down for a minute."

Arnold sat down and tried to look interested. Inwardly he cursed himself for his lack of courage-he should have stated his business right away, but now his resolution had ebbed and he had let himself in for a lecture on biology.

Anyway, he reflected philosophically, Neville would be easier to deal with after he had had the pleasure of unloading a pile of his pet theories. Nothing could put him in better humor, so Gilmour curbed his impatience, and as he resigned himself to the inevitable, he pondered upon all the things men will do for love. CLICK HERE TO GO TO CHAPTER III