The State vs. Elinor Norton by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Author:Mary Roberts Rinehart [Roberts Rinehart, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784088286
Publisher: Head of Zeus Ltd
Published: 2013-07-16T20:12:00+00:00

16

SHE WAS SILENT ON the way down, and I myself was in two minds, irritable and uncertain what to do. It seemed impossible to go and leave her there, on the edge of that volcano. Yet to stay was to make things no better, possibly even make them worse.

Finally, near the house, I asked her bluntly, “Shall I go, Elinor? Or stay a day or two?”

“I had hoped you would stay. But why should you? It can’t be very pleasant for you.”

“That’s not the question. I’m doing nobody any good here.”

“Nor any harm, Carroll. It’s between the two of them. They will have to work it out.”

“Isn’t it among the three of you? Elinor, you’re in love with that fellow. What’s the use of denying it? You would lie down and let him walk over you.”

I had stopped my horse, and her mare stopped also. We had reached the turn in the trail, and she sat in her saddle, gazing out over the plain toward the mountains beyond.

“Not always,” she said quietly. “Sometimes I hate him.”

“How long do you think it can go on like that? Don’t you suppose Lloyd knows? And Leighton himself? Do you want to precipitate a tragedy? Use your head, Elinor.”

“I’m worn out with thinking about it.”

“How far has it gone? I have the right to ask that. You have the right to lie about it too; but I don’t think you will.”

“No,” she said. “I needn’t lie to you. It hasn’t gone anywhere, Carroll. That’s the truth. I don’t think it ever will.” And she added with her first bitterness, “You see, he has a girl in town. He doesn’t really care for me. I’m just another woman.”

“But if it were not for all that?” I insisted.

“Just what do you think I am?” she asked, flushing. “I am neither wanton nor a fool. And I’ve told you, Blair knows that. He doesn’t really want me, either as a mistress or as a wife. Even if he did, I won’t be the one and I can’t be the other.”

I was not so sure of that, and the uncertainly lasted through the remainder of my stay at the ranch. He was in love with her. If that love was subordinated to his desire to maintain the status quo and his unwillingness to disturb a life which he was hugely enjoying, it was still there ready to leap into his eyes during the idle hours when the day’s work was over.

On the surface things were better. While the outfit remained in the hills with the gradually augmenting herd, the two men rode in at evening, bathed, dressed, and ate dinner with us. Sometimes we played a rubber or two of bridge, but soon Leighton would be yawning and the game would break up. They were not openly at odds, and to an outsider looking in we must have presented an unexpected picture of civilization, set down there in the wilderness: the pleasant room, the fire—for the nights were

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