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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/25867-8.txt b/25867-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3e6b30 --- /dev/null +++ b/25867-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5638 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tragic Bride, by Francis Brett Young + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Tragic Bride + + +Author: Francis Brett Young + + + +Release Date: June 21, 2008 [eBook #25867] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAGIC BRIDE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +THE TRAGIC BRIDE + +by + +FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG + + + + + + + +London: Martin Secker +1920 + + * * * * * + +WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +NOVELS + + THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN + THE CRESCENT MOON + THE IRON AGE + THE DARK TOWER + DEEP SEA + UNDERGROWTH (with E. BRETT YOUNG) + +POETRY + + FIVE DEGREES SOUTH + POEMS, 1916-1918 + +BELLES LETTRES + ROBERT BRIDGES: A CRITICAL STUDY + MARCHING ON TANGA + + * * * * * + + + +TO + +THE COUNTESS OF + +PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY + + + + +PROLOGUE + +I never met Gabrielle Hewish. I suppose I should really call her by that +name, for her marriage took the colour out of it as surely as if she had +entered a nunnery, and adopted the frigid and sisterly label of some +female saint. Nobody had ever heard of her husband before she married +him, and nobody ever heard of Gabrielle afterwards, except those who were +acquainted with the story of Arthur Payne, as I was, and, perhaps, a +coroner's jury in Devonshire, a county where juries are more than usually +slow of apprehension. In these days you will not even find the name of +Hewish in Debrett, for Gabrielle was the baronet's only child, and when +Sir Jocelyn died, in the early days of his daughter's married life, the +family, which for the last half century had been putting out no more than +a few feeble and not astonishingly brilliant leaves on its one living +branch, withered altogether, as well it might in the thin Irish soil +where it had stubbornly held its own since the days of Queen Elizabeth. +After all, baronetcies are cheap enough in Ireland, and one more or less +could make very little difference to the amenities of County Galway, +where Roscarna, for all I know, may have been absorbed and parcelled out +by the Congested Districts Board ten years ago. Even in clubs and places +where they gossip, I doubt if the Hewishes of Roscarna are remembered, +for modern memories are short, and in Gabrielle's day the illustrated +Sunday newspapers had not contrived to specialise in the smiles of +well-connected young Irishwomen. + +Of course the Payne episode--I'm not sure it should not rather be called +the Payne miracle--had always lain stored somewhere in my literary attic; +its theme was too exciting for a man who deals in such lumber to have +forgotten; but that admirable woman, Mrs. Payne, had whetted my curiosity +to such an extent that I weakly promised her secrecy before she told it +to me. "I can't resist telling you," she said, "because it wouldn't be +fair of me to deprive you: it's far too much in your line." She even +flattered me: "You'd do it awfully well too, you know; but I have a sort +of sentimental regard for her--not admiration, or anything of that kind, +but an indefinite feeling that _noblesse oblige_. In her own +extraordinary way she did us a good turn, and however carefully you +wrapped it up she might recognise her portrait and feel embarrassed. +It's she that I'm thinking of, not Arthur. Arthur was too young at the +time to realize what was happening, and if he saw your picture of two +women desperately fighting over the soul or body of a boy of seventeen +who resembled himself I doubt if he'd tumble to the portrait. He's a +dear transparently honest person like his father. Still, I don't want to +hurt her, and so, if you want the story, you must gloat over it in +private, and cherish it as an unwritten masterpiece. Probably if you +_did_ write it, it wouldn't be a masterpiece at all. Console yourself +with that." + +She told me her story--for of course I gave her the promise that she +demanded--in a midge-infested corner of the garden at Overton, while +Arthur, the unconscious subject of it, was playing tennis with the +clergyman's daughter whom he married a year later. I think Mrs. Payne +knew that this affair was coming off, and offered me the tale as a +combination of oral confession and Nunc Dimittis, watching the boy while +she told it to me with a sort of hungry maternal satisfaction, as +somebody whom she had not only brought into the world but for whose +salvation she was responsible. No doubt she had put up a hard fight for +him and had every reason to be satisfied, though Gabrielle shared the +honours of the mother's triumph in her own defeat. We sat there talking +until all the birds were silent, but a single blackbird that made a noise +in the shrubbery like that of two pebbles knocked sharply together; until +the young people on the tennis court could no longer see to play, and the +tall Californian poppies at the back of the herbaceous border that was +her special pride shone like moon-flowers in the dusk. + +"When I think of all that ... that summer," she said with a sigh, "I'm so +thankful ... so thankful." And then Arthur came back with his sweater +over his arm, swinging his racket, and she went straight up to him and +kissed him with the sort of modesty that you would have expected in a +young girl rather than a middle-aged widow. + +"You dear thing, Mater," he said, kissing her forehead in return. + +This is the land of digression into which memories of Overton lead one. +My only excuse is that part of the story, and indeed its emotional climax +belongs to Overton, to that smoothly ordered country house with its huge +sentinel elms and its peculiar atmosphere of leisure and peace. No doubt +Mrs. Payne was aware of this when she kissed her son. From the lawn +where we were sitting she could see the yew-parlour and the cypress hedge +in the shadow of which she had stood on the tremendous evening about +which she had been telling me. We walked back to the terrace, and on the +way she gave me a shy smile, half triumph, half apology. She never +mentioned the episode again and though the story fermented in my brain, +maturing, as I hoped, like a choice vintage, and has emerged from time to +time when my mind has been free from other work, I have kept my promise +and have neither repeated it nor written it till this day. + +Now, at last, I find myself absolved. Arthur Payne, I believe, is +happily married to the fresh young person with whom he was playing +tennis. Soon after their marriage they emigrated to the backs of Canada, +or was it New Zealand: somewhere at any rate beyond the reach of colonial +editions. Overton is now in the possession of a Midland soap-boiler. +Mrs. Payne, having fulfilled her main function in life and fearing +English winters, has retired to a small villa at Mustapha Superieur, near +Algiers, where, though she live for ever she is not likely to read this +book. And Gabrielle, the beautiful Gabrielle, is dead. + +The news came as a shock to me. For the moment I, who had never even set +eyes on her, suffered the pain of an almost personal bereavement; I was +moved, as poets are moved by the vanishing of something beautiful from +the earth. Was she then so beautiful? I don't know. But I like to +persuade myself that she was a fiery, elemental creature of a rare and +pathetic brilliance ... for the sake of her story, no doubt. But, for +the moment, when old Colonel Hoylake, who always began his _Times_ by +quotations from the obituary column--he had survived the age when births +or marriages are interesting--suddenly brought out the word Hewish: +Gabrielle Hewish, I was startled out of the state of pleasant lethargy +into which a day's fishing on the Dulas and the Matthews' beer had +plunged me, and became suddenly wide awake. I had the feeling that some +bright thing had fallen: a kingfisher, a dragonfly. "Hewish," he +murmured again. "Gabrielle Hewish ... Well, well." + +"You know the family?" + +"Yes, I knew her father, poor feller," he said. + +Now I was full of eagerness. It had come over me all at once that this +obituary notice was, for me, a happy release. It meant that, for a month +or two, all through the mesmeric hours that I should spend up to my knees +in the swift Dulas, alone with the dippers and the ring-ousels and the +plaintive sand-pipers, I should be able to explore, to my own content, +this forbidden treasure, searching in the dark soul of Marmaduke +Considine and the tender heart of Gabrielle; threading the lanes that +spread in a net about the schoolhouse at Lapton Huish; brooding over the +deceptive peace of Overton Manor; recalling the scene in the yew-parlour, +the atmosphere, terrifically charged with emotion, of the day when Mrs. +Payne took her courage in her hands and fought like a maternal tigress +for Arthur's soul. My heart beat faster as I led the old fisherman on +with "Yes?" + +He laid aside _The Times_ and lit one of the long Trichinopoly cheroots +that he smoked perpetually, settling himself back in the comfortable +hotel chair. + +"Hewish," he said. "Sir Jocelyn Hewish. That was the father's name. +Lived at a place called Roscarna in the west of Ireland. He was an +extraordinarily good fisherman: tied his own flies. I have some +sea-trout flies in my book that he tied thirty years ago ... a kind of +blue teal that he'd invented. Of course they had a fine string of +white-trout lakes--many a good fish I've had there--but the remarkable +thing about Roscarna was this. Right in front of the house at the bottom +of the sunk fence, there ran a stretch of river,--about three hundred +yards of it, clear deep slides with a level muddy bottom. One winter old +Sir Jocelyn took it into his head to clean up this bit of water, and when +they came to scrape the bottom they found under the mud that the whole +bed of the stream was paved with marble slabs like a swimming bath ... +Connemara marble. They went on with the job because it looked so well, +all this green, veined stuff shining through the clear water. So they +scoured the bottom and fixed up a banderbast for keeping the mud from +coming downstream from above, and having made a sort of stewpond, put in +four or five hundred yearling brownies. You'd never believe how those +fish grew. In a couple of years the water was full of three and four +pounders, lovely fish with a small head and pink flesh like a salmon. +Quite a curious thing! And you'll never guess the reason. No sooner had +they cleared away the mud than the place swarmed with freshwater shrimps. +The yearlings throve on them like a smolt when it goes down to the sea. +That was the remarkable thing about Roscarna...." + +I knew, of course, that it wasn't. The remarkable thing about Roscarna, +to anyone with a ha'porth of imagination, was Gabrielle Hewish. Luckily +that admirable gossip Hoylake had another interest in life besides +fishing stories, and one that served my purpose,--genealogy. It is an +interest not uncommon with old soldiers--that is why they often write +such incredibly dull memoirs--and after allowing him a number of sporting +digressions in the direction of a Lochanillaun pike and the altogether +admirable blackgame shooting at Roscarna, which, he assured me, was +better than anything in the west except Lord Dudley's shoot on the +Corrib, I played him tactfully into the deeper water that interested me +and, by the end of the week, had succeeded in drawing from him a good +deal of irrelevant family history and, what is more to the point, a +fairly consecutive account of the last of the Hewishes, Sir Jocelyn and +his amazing daughter. + +As he told it to me in the parlour of the fishing inn beside the Dulas, I +began to realise that accidentally, and at the moment when I needed it +most, I had stumbled on a fountain of curious knowledge. If I had missed +meeting him, my story, fascinating as it was, would have been incomplete. +It armed me with a whole new theory of Gabrielle, suggesting causes, or, +if you like, preparations for the extraordinary episode that followed. +It showed me that I had been flattering myself that I knew all about it +when, as a matter of fact, I had only got hold of one--and the wrong--end +of the stick. I fished the Dulas for a fortnight, hypnotised, pondering +on the whole curious business, not only when the bright water rippled by +me, but when old Hoylake told me stories of mahseer and tiger fish and +barracuda that he had missed, when I was walking through the pinewoods +under the mountain, when I was eating, and, I verily believe, when I was +asleep. I had thought before that my friend Mrs. Payne was the heroine +of the story. Now I am not sure that Gabrielle does not share the +honours. + + + + +I + +And, first of all, I dreamed of Roscarna. Partly for the sheer pleasure +of reconstructing a shadowy countryside that I remembered, partly because +Roscarna, the house in which the Hewish family had run to seed in its +latter generations, was very much to the point. Twenty miles from +Galway--and Irish miles, at that--it stands at the foot of the mountains +on the edge of the tract that is called Joyce's Country, a district +famous for inbreeding and idiocy where everyone was called Joyce, +excepting, of course, the Hewishes of Roscarna, who were aliens, +Elizabethan adventurers from the county of Devon, cousins of the Earls of +Halberton, who had planted themselves upon the richest of the Joyces' +lands in the early seventeenth century and built their house in the +English fashion of the time. + +I imagine that it was the founder of the house who paved his river bed +with marble slabs, smoothing the stickles into a long clear slide. +Labour, no doubt, was cheap or forced, and the Elizabethan fancy lavish. +In the mouth of the valley, where it opens on the lake, they planted a +girdle of dark woods growing so near to the new house that the Hewishes, +walking in their gardens, could almost fancy themselves in England and +lose sight of the mountain slopes that swept up into the crags behind +them. The house stood with its back to the hills and all western +barrenness, looking over a level, terraced sward, past a river that had +been tamed to the smoothness of a chalk stream, to homely woodlands of +beech and elm that might well have been haunted by nightingales if only +there had been nightingales in Ireland. There were no nightingales in +Devon, so that the first Hewish was under no necessity of importing them +to complete his picture. But he had his gravelled walks, his poets' +avenue of yews, that grew kindly, his sundials with their graceful and +melancholy admonitions, his box-hedges and white peacocks, and the fancy +of some Hewish unknown had blossomed at last in a Palladian bridge of +freestone, spanning the quiet river. + +Roscarna, in fact, was a bold experiment, destined from the first to +fail. Never, in all its history, could it have become the living thing +that its founders dreamed, any more than the Protestant Church that they +built in the village of Clonderriff could be the home of a living faith; +for though they turned their backs upon the mountains of Joyce's Country, +the mountains were always there, and the house itself, which should have +glowed with the warmth of red brick, or one of those soft building-stones +that mellow as they weather, seemed always cold and desolate, being made +of a hard, cold, Connaught rock, that made the Palladian bridge look like +the fanciful toy that it was, and grew bleaker, bluer, colder, as the +years went by. + +I think of it as one thinks of the villas that Roman colonists built +above the marches of Wales, built obstinately on the Roman plan that the +climate of Italy had dictated to their fathers, with open atrium and +terraces protected from the sun. "What's good enough for Rome," they +said, "is surely good enough for Siluria," and, shivering, showed the +latest official visitor a landscape that might have been transported +bodily from the Sabine Hills ... if only there were more sun! "But we +_do_ miss the lizards and the cicalas," they would say with a sigh. No +doubt the most enthusiastic built themselves Palladian ... I mean +Etruscan bridges and marble stew-ponds for mullet, until, in the end, the +immense inertia of the surrounding country asserted itself and the +natural desires of mankind led to a mingling of British blood with +theirs, till the Roman of the first century became the Briton of the +third. + +The parallel is as near as it may be, for though the first Hewish was an +Englishman, his great-great-grandson was Irish, and the only thing that +was left to remind him of his ancestry was the house of Roscarna, the +sullen Connaught stone fixed in an alien design, and the huge belt of +timber through which the gorse and heather were slowly creeping down from +the mountain and settling in the valley bottom that they had once +inhabited. But the foreign woods that trailed along the shore of the +lake were admirable for black-cock. + +The transformation was very gradual. The first Hewishes, no doubt, kept +in touch with their English cousins. London was their metropolis, and to +London, in the fashions of their remote province, they would return with +amusing tales of Irish savagery that made them good company in an +eighteenth century coffee-house. Little by little they found their +English interests waning, and the social centre shifting westwards. +Dublin became their city, and to a stately house in Merrion Square the +family coach migrated in the season, until, at last, it seemed hardly +worth while to cross the dreariness of the central plain, and a +town-house in Galway seemed the zenith of urbanity. Galway, indeed, had +risen on a wave of prosperity. In the streets above the Claddagh, +merchants who had grown rich in the Spanish trade were building solid +houses with carved lintels and windows of stained glass. The Hewishes +invested money in these new ventures. In Galway a Hewish of Roscarna was +somebody: there the family was taken for granted and, following the way +of least resistance, the Hewishes settled down into the state of +provincial notabilities. + +Notabilities as long as the Spanish money lasted--then notorieties. For, +as Roscarna, the symbol of a tradition, decayed, the men of the Hewish +family developed a curious recklessness in living. + +It was as though the original vigour of the tree planted in a foreign +soil had been enough to keep it fighting and flourishing for a couple of +hundred years and then had suddenly failed, dying, as a tree will, from +above downwards. + +For the first half of the nineteenth century a series of dissolute +Hewishes--they never bred in great numbers--lived wildly upon the edge of +Connemara, drinking and fighting and gaming and wenching while the roof +of Roscarna grew leaky and the long stables were turned into pigsties, +and soft mud silted over the marble bottom below the Palladian bridge. +If they had lived in England the estate would have vanished field by +field until nothing but the house was left; but the outer land at +Roscarna was of no marketable value, and when Sir Jocelyn succeeded to +the property in the year 1870, he found himself master of many worthless +acres and a ruined house that he was powerless to repair. It was no +wonder that he went to the dogs like his father before him, for the +passage of every generation had made recovery more difficult. Of course +he should really have become a soldier; but soldiering in those days was +an expensive calling. As a baronet--even as an Irish baronet--a good +deal would have been expected of him, far more than the dwindling means +of Roscarna could possibly supply, and since every career seemed closed +to him but one of provincial dissipation he is scarcely to be blamed for +having followed it. + +When Colonel Hoylake knew him he was a middle-aged man and a reformed +character, and the fact that he ever came to be either is enough to show +that the original Hewish strain was still strong enough to put up some +sort of fight. He cannot have been without his share of original virtue, +but by his own account, his youth, hopeless and therefore abandoned, must +have been pretty lurid. Of course he drank. His father must have taught +him to do that as a matter of habit. He was equally at home with the +ancient sherries, a few bins of which remained in the Roscarna cellars to +remind him of the Spanish trading days, or with the liquid fire that the +Joyces distilled in the mountains under the name of potheen. + +Of course he gambled. He was sufficiently Irish for that: and his gaming +passion soon made Roscarna a sort of savage Monte Carlo, to which the +more dissolute younger sons of the surrounding gentry foregathered: +Blakes and O'fflahertys, and Kilkellys, and all the rest of them. + +In the middle of the stables, at the back of the house, stood a huge +deserted pigsty surrounded by a stone wall, and this place became under +Jocelyn's regime, a cockpit, in which desperate birds were pitted against +one another, fighting fiercely until they dropped. Even in his later +days according to Hoylake, he was not ashamed of these exploits. The +gamblers invented for themselves new refinements of sport or cruelty. +Spider-racing. I do not suppose that anyone living to-day knows what +spider-racing is. This was the manner of it. At night, when the big +black-bellied spiders that haunted the lofts came out to spread their +nets, stable-boys were sent with candles to collect them in tins, and +next morning, when the gamblers assembled in the pigsty at Roscarna a +piece of sheet iron, fired to a dull red heat would be placed in the +centre. On this hot surface the long-legged insects were thrown. +Naturally they must run or be shrivelled with heat. And the one that ran +the furthest was counted the winner. Betting on these unfortunate +creatures Jocelyn and his friends spent many happy forenoons, and Jocelyn +was counted as good a judge of a spider as any man in Galway. In his +dealings with women he was relatively decent, relapsing, at an early age +into a relation irregular, but so domestic as to be respectable, with a +woman named Brigit Joyce who kept house for him and cooked potatoes and +distilled potheen as well as any female in the district. I do not know +if they had many children. If they did, it is probable that these found +their vocation in collecting spiders in the stables, or even drifted back +into the hill community from which their mother had come. + +Through all his dissipations Sir Jocelyn preserved one characteristic, an +unerring instinct for field-sports that no amount of drinking could +impair. He could hit a flying bird with a stone, was a deadly shot for +snipe or mallard, rode like a centaur, and fished with the instinct of a +heron. It is probable that his consciousness of this faculty was at the +bottom of his startling recovery. Possibly he was frightened to find a +little of his skill failing. I only know that at the age of forty-eight, +he pulled himself up short. His eyes, seeing clearly for the first time +in his life, became aware of the appalling ruin into which Roscarna had +fallen. He became sober for six days out of the seven, setting aside the +Sabbath for the worship of Bacchus, and during the remainder he devoted +himself seriously, steadily to the reclamation of his estate. He +repaired the roof of the house with new blue slates, cleared the attics +of owls and the chimneys of jackdaws; he dredged the river and discovered +the marble bottom, netted the pike and put down yearling trout. +Gradually he restored Roscarna to its old position as a first-class +sporting property; and so, having fought his way back, step by step, into +the company of decent men, he married a wife. + +Hardly the wife one would have expected from a Hewish, it is true. Her +name was Parker, her father was a shop-keeper in Baggot Street, Dublin, +and how Hewish met her God only knows. She was a sober, plain-sailing +Englishwoman, a Protestant, with a religious bias that may have made the +reformation of a dissolute baronet attractive to her. She had a little +money, to which she stuck like glue, and an abundance of common-sense. +It speaks well for the latter that she appreciated, from the first, the +value of Biddy Joyce in the kitchen, and kept her there, boiling +potatoes, although she knew that she had been her husband's mistress. +Firmly, but certainly, she ordered Jocelyn's life, realising, with him, +that Roscarna was worth saving, subsidising, with a careful hand, his +attempts to restore the woods and waters, interesting herself in the +housing of his tenants, and renewing the connection of Roscarna with the +parish church of Clonderriff, of which the Hewishes were patrons. It was +she who appointed Marmaduke Considine to the vacant living. + +For ten years she lived soberly with Sir Jocelyn at Roscarna, hoping +ardently that a son might be born to them who should carry on the family +name and succeed to the fruits of her economies. In the eleventh year of +their married life it seemed that her hopes were to be realised. Even +Jocelyn, the new Jocelyn, appreciated the importance of the event. He +and Biddy Joyce, now an old and shrivelled woman, but one unrivalled in +maternal experience, nursed Lady Hewish as though the whole of their +future happiness depended on it. Every Sunday young Mr. Considine dined +at Roscarna with the family, and spent the evening in religious +discussions with her ladyship. Every month the doctor rode over from +Galway to feel her pulse. On a dark winter evening in the year eighteen +eighty-three the child was born--a girl. They christened her Gabrielle, +and a week later Lady Hewish died. + + + + +II + +Her death knocked poor Sir Jocelyn to pieces. Not altogether because +he had loved her, but because he had made the habit of depending on her +and happened to be a creature of habits ... good or bad. So, having +been bereft of that of matrimony, he returned, for a time to that of +drinking, leaving the child in the spiritual charge of Mr. Considine, a +gentleman of small domestic experience, and the physical care of Biddy +Joyce, a mother of many. For the time being Jocelyn was far too busy +to bother his head about her, and Biddy dragged her up in the kitchen +of Roscarna where she had suckled her half-brothers before her, Mr. +Considine exercising a general supervision, pending the day when her +soul should be fit for salvation and ghostly admonition. + +In the early stages of Jocelyn's relapse the Parkers of Baggot Street +descended on Roscarna in force: a proceeding that Lady Hewish had +discountenanced in her lifetime. Neither Jocelyn nor Biddy invited +them to stay, and they returned to Dublin scandalised, with the report +of Gabrielle, a very small baby of eighteen months with coal black eyes +and hair, playing like a kitten with the foot of a dead rabbit on the +kitchen floor. "Only to think what poor Laura would have felt!" they +sighed, not realising that such a train of thought was in the nature of +things unprofitable. + +So Gabrielle grew, and so, in a few years, Jocelyn, with a tremendous +effort pulled himself together, returning, as though refreshed, to his +sporting pursuits, the woods, the lake and the river. He even found a +new hobby: the breeding of Cocker spaniels, and worked up an interest +in the development of his daughter that ran easily with that of +training his puppies. He took a great delight in teasing small +animals, and treated Gabrielle and the cockers on much the same lines, +with the result that the puppies were usually a little cowed and +puzzled when he teased them, but Gabrielle bit his hand. This pleased +him; for he set great store by animal spirits in any form, and he +carried his fingers bandaged in the hunting-field for several weeks in +order that he might tell the story of his daughter's prowess. Jocelyn +was growing rather childish in his old age. + +There were really three periods in Gabrielle's early life. The first, +before her father began to take notice of her, was spent altogether in +the company of Biddy, who embraced her in her general devotion to +children. Biddy called herself a Catholic, and for this reason +secretly feared and hated the supervision of young Mr. Considine, a +priest of the Church of Ireland; but at heart she was as pagan as the +top of Slievegullion, and along with her favourite Christian oaths (in +one of which St. Anthony of Padua was disguised as Saint Antonio +Perrier), and her whispered "Aves," she taught Gabrielle enough pagan +mythology and folklore to set her head spinning whenever she found +herself alone in the woods or the fields. + +If ever she strayed into the forbidden lanes beyond the lodge-gates at +Roscarna she lived in fear of seeing the dead-coach come round the +corner: a tall coach, painted black and drawn by coal-black horses and +on the box two men, black-coated with black faces, who might jump from +the coach and catch her up and throw her inside it. You could never +know when the dead-coach was coming, for its wheels were bound with old +black rags, so that they made no noise on the stones. Then, in the +fields where corn was growing one might come across the "limrechaun," +with consequences untold but terrible. And, above all things, she was +never to pick up an old comb in the road, for as like as not the comb +would be the property of the banshee, a little old woman with long +nails and hairy arms. When Gabrielle asked what would happen if she +picked up the banshee's comb, Biddy told her that the banshee would +come crying to her window at night, and that if this ever happened, she +must get a pair of red hot tongs and hold the comb in the window for +the banshee to take. This seemed to Gabrielle an unnecessary +complication; but Biddy told her that if she didn't follow it in every +particular the banshee would scratch the hand off her. Faced with the +possibility of this disaster, and not knowing how she could possibly +get hold of a pair of red hot tongs in the middle of the night, +Gabrielle decided that if ever she saw a comb in the road, she would +not bring it home with her. And this was a wise decision, for the +heads of the children in Joyce's Country were not above suspicion. +Indeed most of the terrors with which Biddy inspired her were based on +principles that were ethically sound and combined romantic colour with +practical utility. + +When she was six her father began to take her out with him at the time +when he exercised the puppies. She and the puppies would run about +together and by the same word be called to heel. She found that she +could do most of the things that they did. Once, on a summer day when +two of them had conscientiously frightened a water-rat out of its hole +on the margin of the lake, Gabrielle, who was far ahead of her father +and hot with running, plunged in after them. She got her mouth full of +water, and thought she was drowning, and Jocelyn, frightened for her +life, ran in after her and rescued her with the water up to his neck. +"Now that you're here," he said, "you'd better learn to swim." And he +made her, then and there, bringing her back to Biddy Joyce like a small +drowned cat, with her black hair clinging close to her head. It was a +great achievement, and since Biddy could not, for the moment, produce +any mythological terror in the nature of a Loreley better than a pike +that preyed on swimmers, Gabrielle would often go down to the lake +secretly in the middle of a summer morning, and strip off her clothes +and float on her back in the sunshine. She must have looked a strange +little thing with her long white legs, her smooth black hair, her deep +violet eyes, and her red lips; for she had this amazing combination of +features that you will sometimes find in the far West. She did not get +them from her mother or from Jocelyn, both of whom were blond Saxons. +I suppose they came to her through the blood of some Irishwoman whom a +dead Hewish had married perhaps a hundred years before. + +While Biddy Joyce instructed her in oaths and legend, and her father +taught her to ride, to swim, to shoot and to fish, her moral and +literal education were entrusted to Mr. Considine. Physically Mr. +Considine was of a type that does not change much with the passage of +time. When first he came to Roscarna, a couple of years before +Gabrielle was born, he was a young man of twenty. How he came to be +chosen for the cure of Clonderriff I do not know, unless he were in +some way connected with the Parker family. He was a Wiltshireman, +tall, sandy-haired, with a long face and a square jaw to which he gave +an air of determination by constantly gritting his teeth. Gabrielle, +as imitative as a starling, began to mimic this habit of his until one +day he found himself staring at her, as at a mirror, and told her to +stop. She had meant no harm; she didn't even know that she was doing +it, but he treated the offence quite seriously. + +It was his nature to treat everything seriously, including his mission +among the heathen or, what was worse, the Catholic Joyces. He taught +her the alphabet and the Lord's Prayer, and the collect for the week, +and simple fractions and the capes and headlands of England (the capes +and headlands of Ireland didn't matter) and the verb "to have" in +French, together with long lists of the kings of Israel and Judah. +Gabrielle was very quick to learn. From the first her memory was a +pleasant surprise to her--sometimes a surprise to Mr. Considine, as +when she offered to give him the Kings of Judah backwards, a proceeding +that struck him as not only revolutionary but irreverent, and tinged +with a flavour of the Black Mass. + +Gabrielle always knew when she had annoyed or embarrassed him, not +because he reproved her in any way--to have shown heat in words would +have been against his principles--but because he did show heat in his +neck, where a faint flush would spread upwards to his ears above the +band of his clerical collar. When she was thoroughly bored Gabrielle +would sometimes try this experiment, just in the same way as she made +the snapdragons put out their tongues. + +Jocelyn liked Considine and trusted him, partly, no doubt, because he +happened to be an Englishman--the only one in this wilderness of +Joyces--and partly because he was something of a sportsman: a little +too serious and determined for his sport to appear natural, but for all +that a good shot over dogs, and a very accurate, if not instinctive +fisherman. In his boyhood, in Wiltshire, he had learned the technique +of the dry fly, and his successes with trout in gin-clear water made +Jocelyn respect him. + +Considine's friendship with Jocelyn must be put to his credit. If he +had been a prig he would either have turned up his nose at his patron's +morals or condoned them with a sense of self-sacrifice and forbearance. +He didn't do either. He just took Jocelyn for what he was worth, +realising the shabby trick that heredity had played him; and his +attitude toward Gabrielle was much the same. He knew that he couldn't +and didn't want to keep pace with her enthusiasms any more than he +could keep pace with the baronet's potations. He had been born on a +bleak downland, and some of its characteristics had got into the thin, +cold humour that was his blood. He was incapable of the generous +passions of the people of Roscarna; but I think he was a good man, for +all that. Even Mrs. Payne, who had reason to be irritated by his +coldness, acknowledged this. And he was as conscientious in his +education of Gabrielle as in the care of his parish. + +The child matured very quickly. Physically I mean. That is the way in +the west. Of course she was a great tom-boy, tall for her years, very +frank in her speech and totally unconscious of her sex, as free and +virginal as the young Artemis. The world of books to which Mr. +Considine introduced her in her school-hours was wholly forgotten +outside them. In the woods and on the mountains she throve as a +magnificent young animal, moving with an ease and grace and freedom +that civilised woman has lost. Her clothes were of Connemara homespun, +but to a body such as hers, clothes did not matter. She went barefoot +like the girls of Joyce's Country, and her ankles were as clean cut as +the cannon of a thoroughbred. She wore her black hair in a thick plait +that fell below her waist. She had no friends but Biddy, her father +and Considine, except a few men, contemporaries of Jocelyn, who joked +with her in the hunting field. She knew no women; for ladies did not +call at Roscarna, and the county could never forgive her mother's +origins in Baggott Street. All her life was uncomplicated and +miraculously happy. + +This Arcadian state of affairs might well have gone on for ever, if +Jocelyn, feeling that he would like to give her a great treat and, +perhaps, becoming proudly conscious of her beauty, had not determined, +in the August of her sixteenth year, to take her to Dublin for the +Horse Show week. She thrilled to the idea, not because she was anxious +to meet her own species but because she loved horses. They travelled +up by train from Galway through the vast monotonies of the Bog of +Allen, and put up at Maple's Hotel in Kildare Street, within five +minutes' walk of her maternal grandmother's shop. In those days no +Irish gentleman would have dreamed of dining in a public room, and they +took their meals sedately in a private apartment. + +Gabrielle had never set foot in a city before. The smooth pavements, +the high buildings and the shop windows of Grafton Street excited her. +Everything in Dublin wore an air magnificent and spacious. Even the +ducks on the pond in the middle of Stephen's Green were exotic, and +like no other ducks that she had known. But she could not enjoy her +excitement to the full, for the feminine instinct in her realised from +the first that her clothes were different from those of the people +about her; and this disappointed her, for they were her best, made by +the urbane fingers of Monoghan, the tailor at Oughterard. + +When she walked down Grafton Street she fancied that people stared at +her. It never struck her as possible that they were staring at her +vivid and unusual beauty. It struck her as funny that her father did +not seem to be aware of the discrepancy in her dress. He wasn't in the +least. He had taken his daughter for granted. In his unconscious +arrogance he imagined that the distinction of being a Hewish of +Roscarna was sufficient in itself to make her independant of externals, +and, as he proposed no alterations she trusted his judgment and they +went to the Horse Show together in their ill-cut tweeds. + +Gabrielle was entranced by the jumping. Whenever a horse topped the +fences she straightened her back automatically as though she had been +riding herself. With such splendid animals as those she felt that she +could have made a better job of it. For the moment she forgot all +about her questionable clothes; but when, later in the day, she was +taken by her father to be presented to the Halbertons, the family of +the Devonshire peer with whom the Hewishes were connected, she became +immediately and horribly conscious of Lady Halberton's magnificence and +the elegance of her daughters. It shocked and thrilled her to see that +the elder Halberton girl powdered her nose. She wondered what it must +feel like to have one's hands encased in skin-tight gloves, and how +these English people managed to speak with such an elegant tiredness. +It seemed to her inevitable that Lady Halberton must be ashamed of her +cousins, and she was relieved, but a little frightened, to hear this +great lady invite her father and her to dinner at the Shelbourne on the +following night. After all, she reflected, there must be something in +the name of Hewish. She wondered how on earth she could make her +father understand that she couldn't very well go to dinner in the dress +that she was wearing, the only one that she possessed. + + + + +III + +It is extraordinary to think how forty-eight hours had turned this +amazing, sexless creature into a woman. The problem of a dinner-dress +was solved for her almost at once by Jocelyn himself. As soon as they +were safely back at Maple's he asked her if she really wanted to dine +with the Halbertons at the Shelbourne, and when she said, "Of course!" +he produced a five pound note from the pigskin case that he carried in +his coat-tail, and turned her loose in Grafton Street. An hour later +she returned, breathless with excitement, carrying the dress that she +had bought, a frock of white muslin, high at the neck and +hand-embroidered with a pattern of shamrock. Life was becoming a +matter of great excitement. + +The maid at Maple's dressed her in the evening, a blowsy young woman +from Carlow who called her 'my darlin,' and told her that she had a +beautiful head of hair. Biddy had never told her that her hair was +beautiful, and Gabrielle herself had always considered it something of +a nuisance. In the hotel bedroom a cunning combination of mirrors +showed her the thick plait hanging down her back. She had never seen +her own back before. Looking at it she shrugged her shoulders to see +what they looked like. + +Of course she was ready dressed long before she need have been. She +went down into the hall of the hotel and waited for her father. She +hoped, and was almost sure, that she looked lovely. While she stood +there, looking into a huge oval mirror, an old gentleman of much the +same cut as her father came in and stared at her as though she were +some new and curious animal. She turned and smiled at him. She would +have smiled at anyone on that evening. He did not give her a smile in +return. He only went red in his bald scalp and cleared his throat, +hobbling up to his room and wondering what the devil Maple's was coming +to. + +A moment later Jocelyn arrived, very stately in the evening dress of +the seventies. His face looked brown and hard and weathered, like a +filbert, against his white spread of shirt-front. His eyes twinkled, +his temples were flushed, and the twisted cord of an artery could be +seen pulsating across each of them: all three being symptoms of the +bottle of Pommery on which he had dressed. When he saw Gabrielle he +said "Ha--very good, very good," and she, in an access of enthusiasm, +kissed him and smelt his vinous breath. + +It was no more than a stone's throw from their hotel to the Shelbourne, +Jocelyn remembering his long-forgotten manners stepped aside +courteously when they crossed the road as if he were escorting a real +lady. Gabrielle couldn't understand this at all; she would have liked +to jog along with him arm in arm. The magnificence of the Shelbourne +with its uniformed porters overpowered Gabrielle, and when she reached +the Halbertons' private room, she, who had often been reproved for +talking the heads off Biddy and Mr. Considine, was dumb. Jocelyn, +however, pouring gin and bitters on his Pommery, did talking enough for +both of them. He was in excellent form. His talk flowed steadily and +Gabrielle, drifting as it were, into an eddy, was left at liberty to +examine her cousins and their company. + +Lord Halberton and Jocelyn Hewish had very little in common. The peer +she noticed wore an air of great fragility, as though he had been +sprinkled with powder to preserve him. His movements were all minute +and precise. He walked with short steps; and when he smiled, as +Jocelyn, already in the story-telling stage, compelled him to do, his +lips twitched apart for a moment and then closed again as if he were +afraid that any expression more violent might make his teeth fall out. +Gabrielle decided that he must be very old, so old that he was only +kept alive by these precautions. She had noticed, too, when she shook +hands with him that the flesh of his fingers was limp, and that the +joints were stiff like those of a dead man. + +Lady Halberton, who, at the Horse Show had struck her as an ancient and +withered woman, now appeared middle-aged, scintillating in a scheme of +black and silver. Her dress and her toupet were black, relieved by +silver sequins and a silver mounted tiara. High lights in keeping with +the scheme were supplied by other jewels on her fingers, her glittering +filbert nails and a diamond pendant that sparkled on the white and bony +ridge of her breastbone. The Halberton daughters, whose accents +Gabrielle had been imitating in her bedroom when she lay awake with +excitement the night before, were inclined to be friendly with her; but +as all their conversation had to do with a world of which Gabrielle +knew nothing, they did not get very far. Both of them were over thirty +and unmarried. From time to time, taking new courage, each in turn +would make a pounce on Gabrielle with some question that led nowhere, +and then flutter off again. The fact that she obviously puzzled them +amused Gabrielle, and she soon regained the confidence that the sight +of the hall porters had shaken. From time to time Lady Halberton would +turn on her a smile full of glittering teeth, and twice, apropos of +nothing, Gabrielle heard her say: "Sweet child! You must really let +her come and stay with us at Halberton, Sir Jocelyn," though the +baronet did not seem to hear what she said. + +They dined _en famille_. Lord Halberton ate as gingerly as he smiled, +probably for the same reason. The party had been squared by the +addition of two young men, one of them a soldier from the Curragh, +named Fortescue, and the other a naval sub-lieutenant, named Radway. +He and Gabrielle, as the least important persons, found themselves in +each other's company, while Captain Fortescue dished up the kind of +small talk to which they were accustomed to the two Halberton girls, +Lady Halberton continuously sparkling at Sir Jocelyn and her husband +presiding over the whole function with set lips like a cataleptic. + +It was Radway who saved Gabrielle from throttling herself with the +flower of a French artichoke, a vegetable with which she was +unacquainted, and in a burst of gratitude she confided to him the fact +that this was her first dinner party. From this they slipped into an +easy intimacy; easy for her because she was so thankful to find someone +to whom she could babble, and for him because she was so utterly +unguarded. It had been unusual for him to meet a girl of birth or +breeding who was not preoccupied with matrimonial possibilities; and +this creature was as frank as she was beautiful. + +Radway had never been in Ireland before. The cruiser on which he +served was visiting Kingstown, and at the Horse Show he had run across +the Halbertons whom he had met when he was stationed in their own +county at Devonport. Beyond them he didn't know a soul in the country, +and the soft western brogue of Gabrielle fascinated him. He encouraged +her to talk, and she was quite willing to do so, telling of Roscarna +and the hills and the river, of her lessons with Mr. Considine, of her +secret bathes in the lake and other things as intimate which would have +persuaded him that she was an exceedingly fast young woman if he had +not been already convinced that she was nothing but a child. + +It gave her a great happiness to talk about Roscarna in this alien +land. And Radway was glad to listen if only for the pleasure of +hearing her voice. + +Radway was a straight-forward young man, twenty-four or five years of +age. That he was eminently presentable one deduces from the fact that +the Halbertons condescended to entertain him, though Lady Halberton, as +the years went by, was known to make social sacrifices for the sake of +the dear girls. I do not think it is profitable to seek for much +subtlety in Radway. It is better to accept him as the clean sturdy +type of youth that Dartmouth turns afloat every year. Physically he +was fair (Arthur Payne also was fair), with a straight mouth, excellent +teeth, and blue, humorous eyes. + +There is nothing younger for its age than a naval sub-lieutenant. In +the traditional simplicity of seamen there is more than a tradition; +for the inhabitants of a ship are a small island community in which +grown men live and accept a glorified version of life at a public +school until they reach the flag-list, or are shot out into the world +on a pension that is inadequate for its enjoyment. The one subject on +which the wardroom claims to be authoritative is that of women; and +Radway was already as well acquainted with the Irish aspects of the +sport as with the Japanese. In daring, as in physical perfection, the +wardroom of the _Pennant_ considered that the daughters of the Irish +squirearchy took some beating; and Radway had heard, no doubt, stories +of many wayward and passionate episodes with which the hospitality of +Irish country houses had been enlivened. Gabrielle was the first of +the kind that he had met, her frankness, her beauty, and her sudden, +enchanting intimacy seemed to tell him that he was in luck's way and on +the edge of an adventure. It was not the part of a sailor to miss +opportunities of experience. He couldn't guess, poor devil, what the +end would be, but naval tradition favoured the taking of all possible +risks, and he determined to let the affair develop as rapidly as +possible. + +The dulness of the rest of the party isolated them. To all intents and +purposes they were alone. The difference between this girl and all the +others that he had met was that she withheld nothing, she didn't hedge, +or try to protect herself with any assumption of feminine mystery. It +puzzled Radway. He wondered, in his innocence, if he had succeeded in +making a swift, bewildering conquest. Of course he hadn't done +anything of the sort, but the speculation disarmed him, and by the end +of the evening he was thoroughly bowled over. + +So was Sir Jocelyn--but in another way. All the time that she had been +talking to Radway Gabrielle had kept her eye on him. She knew that +things were reaching a point of danger when she saw his eyes fill with +tears as he told the sympathetic Lady Halberton of the loss of his +wife. The achievement of sentiment in Jocelyn marked a fairly high +degree of intoxication. In the middle of her description of the +Roscarna black-game shooting Gabrielle stopped dead. Radway wondered +what on earth had happened to her. + +It was a difficult moment, for she hadn't the least idea of its +conventional solution. She only knew that somehow she must rescue her +father before he became impossible. She supposed that, in the ordinary +way, it was his duty and not hers to bring the visit to an end, but she +knew that as long as there was whiskey in the decanter he wouldn't +dream of going. So she left Radway in the middle of her sentence, +walked straight up to Lady Halberton and said, "Good-night," with a +staggering abruptness, and before he knew what had happened Lord +Halberton was handing Jocelyn his hat. + +It took Radway more than a minute to recover from this cold douche; but +he was too far gone to let the possibility of romantic developments +slip, and before the Hewishes left, he contrived to let Gabrielle know +that he wanted to meet her again. "Outside the gates of Trinity +College to-morrow at four o'clock," he whispered. She said nothing. +He wondered, for one moment, whether she was deeper than he had +imagined. Then she looked him full in the eyes and nodded. It gave +him a thrill of delight. He found himself listening in a dream to Lady +Halberton's reminiscences of the Admiral's garden party, at which they +had met, and a maternal appreciation of the accomplishments of her +elder daughter, Lady Barbara. + + + + +IV + +Gabrielle piloted Jocelyn, who was still in a good humour, to his +bedroom door. Then she went to bed herself and slept as well as ever. +Jocelyn, alone in his room, called for another bottle of whiskey and +made a night of it. To be exact he made three days of it--four less +than might reasonably have been expected. For Gabrielle to have taken +him back to Roscarna was out of the question: and so she went on +quietly living at Maple's, and absorbing the strangeness of Dublin +while he finished it out. The servants of the hotel were very kind to +her; and the waiter who attended to Jocelyn's desires brought her night +and morning bulletins of her father's condition that were tinged with a +kind of melancholy admiration. "A wonderful gentleman for his age," he +said. "There's many a young man would envy the likes of him. Sure, +he'd drink the cross off an ass's back, so he would!" + +Of course she met Radway. They met, as he had arranged, at Trinity +College gates, and went for a long walk along the blazing quays of the +Liffey. It was an unusual promenade for the month of August, but +neither of them knew Dublin. + +He found her difficult. The affair did not develop along the lines +that he had intended, and as his time was limited, this made him +anxious. With Gabrielle the anticipation was always so much more +wonderful than the event. It thrilled him strangely to see her +approaching when they met: this tall slim girl with her splendid +freedom of gait, her black hair, her pallor, her red lips. When he saw +her coming he would think of all the passionate things that he wanted +to say to her; but as soon as they started on their walk together she +made the saying of them impossible--she was so obviously and vividly +interested in other and unsentimental things. + +Her interest in the commonplace and (to his mind) unromantic irritated +him; but an instinct of good manners, that was not the least of his +charm, compelled him to humour her. Once she sat for a whole hour in a +dark cellar that smelt of tallow where a couple of men were engaged in +making those enormous candles that people in Ireland light on Christmas +Day; and once Radway was forced to follow her into the forecastle of a +Breton schooner reeking of garlic, where she practised the French that +Considine had taught her. + +Later in the afternoon he took her to tea at Mitchell's, where she +consumed the first ice of her life, and was so pleased with the +sensation that she demanded a second; all of which was disappointing +for Radway, who wanted to arouse her appetite for romance rather than +ices. It seemed as if his nuances of love-making, the indirect methods +of approach that modern girls expected, were wasted on her. In the +evening he took her out to Howth, relying on the influence of time and +place to help him in methods more primitive. It was incredible to him +that she shouldn't--or perhaps wouldn't--realise what he was driving +at. Apparently she didn't understand the first conventions of the +game, and when her obtuseness forced him to a sudden and passionate +declaration she laughed at him. + +This damping experience, so unusual in the traditions of the wardroom, +took the wind out of his sails. He decided that she had been making a +fool of him and that he had been wasting his time. With a desperate +attempt at preserving his dignity he took her back to Maple's, +conscious all the time, of her tantalising beauty. He had planned a +formal goodbye; but when he told her that his ship was sailing on the +next day, she said, quite simply and with an unusual tenderness in her +eyes that she was sorry. "If only you meant what you say..." he said, +clutching at a straw. "Of course I mean it," she said. "I shall be +very lonely without you. You're the first friend I've ever had. I +wish some day," she added, "you could come to Roscarna." + +He told her that it was not at all unlikely that the _Pennant_ would +some day put into Galway, and she warmed at once to the idea. "How +splendid!" she said. "I shall expect you. Don't forget to bring a gun +with you." + +They walked up and down Kildare Street making plans of what they might +do. "But in a week you'll have forgotten all about it," she said. +"Nobody ever comes to Roscarna." + +"Do you think that I could possibly forget you?" he protested. + +This time she did not laugh at him. "No... I don't think you will," +she said, and then, after an awkward silence, "Please don't take any +notice of what I said this evening. I don't really understand that +sort of thing." Then they said good-bye. It was a queer +unsatisfactory ending for him, but her last words had reassured him. +Thinking it over in the train on the way to Kingstown he decided that +she had been honestly and quite naturally amused at the conventional +phrases of a modern lover, and the realisation of this only made her +more unusual and more desirable. It would be a strange experience to +meet her in her proper setting, and if the _Pennant_ should give him +the opportunity he determined not to miss it. Next morning the ship +left Kingstown for Bermuda. + +It was not in Radway's nature to take these things lightly. At a +distance the memory of Gabrielle gained a good deal by imagination. It +seemed to him that she was far too precious to lose, and the fact that +she was a cousin of the exclusive Halbertons settled any social +scruples that might have worried him. He forgot his repulse at Howth +in the memory of the sweeter moment when they had parted. After all +there was no hurry. She was only a child, as her behaviour had shown +him so often. At the same time he was anxious that she should not +forget him, and for this reason he wrote her a number of letters from +Bermuda, from Jamaica and Barbadoes and other ports on the Atlantic +station. They were not love letters in any sense of the word; but they +served to keep him in her mind, and, few as they were, made an immense +breach in the zone of isolation that surrounded Roscarna. + +They were the first letters of any kind that Gabrielle had received. +The postman from Oughterard did not visit Roscarna twenty times in the +year, and since his arrival was something of an event, entailing a meal +and endless gossip with Biddy Joyce, Sir Jocelyn soon became aware of +his daughter's correspondence. He questioned her about it, and she, +without the least demur, handed him Radway's letters. He sniffed at +them. If that was all the fellow had to say it struck him as a waste +of time and paper. Who was he, anyhow? Gabrielle explained that he +had dined with them at the Halbertons, and Jocelyn, who naturally had +no recollection of the event, was satisfied with these credentials. "I +asked him to come and shoot here," said Gabrielle. Jocelyn stared at +her with wrinkled eyes. "The devil you did!" said he. + +Radway's letters had exactly the effect on her that he had intended. +They were an excitement, and she read them over and over again till she +almost knew them by heart. They were the first outside interest that +had ever entered her life. With Considine's help she looked up the +ports at which they were posted on a big map in the library and +thinking of their romantic names and the wonders that they suggested, +she also thought a good deal of the writer. + +So it was, almost unconsciously, that Radway began to fill a +considerable place in her thoughts. His impression had fallen on an +extraordinarily virginal mind that the thought of love-making had never +disturbed. Physically, she hadn't responded to him in the least; but +the long silences of Roscarna and particularly those of the following +winter, when Slieveannilaun loomed above the woods like an immense and +snowy ghost, and the lake was frozen until the cold spell broke and +snow-broth swirled desolately under the Palladian bridge, gave her time +for reflection in which her fancy began to dwell on the problems of +ideal love. In this dead season the letters of Radway were more than +ever an excitement. They stirred her imagination with pictures of +burning seas and lurid tropical sunsets, and with this pageantry the +memory of him would invade the dank gloom of the library where she and +Considine pursued the acquisition of knowledge. + +It was inevitable that she should have found some outlet of the kind, +for in the curious circumstances of her upbringing she had missed that +sentimental stage which is the measles of puberty. She had never +trembled with adoration of a schoolmistress and Considine was an +unthinkable substitute. In Dublin she had learned for the first time +that she was beautiful, and that her country clothes did not show her +at her best. This, together with Radway's attentions, had revealed to +her the fact that she was a woman, and therefore made to love and be +loved. + +She loved Roscarna passionately, but in this neither Roscarna nor its +inhabitants could help her. Under the most romantic circumstances in +the world she could find no romance. Her new-born instinct revealed +itself in a curious, almost maternal devotion to her father and the +current litter of puppies. Jocelyn found its expression unusual but +not unpleasant: the attentions of this charming daughter flattered him; +and the puppies liked it, too, licking her face when she smothered them +with motherly caresses. But these things were not enough for her, and +it came as a great relief when she discovered another outlet in the +contents of the library bookshelves. + +She became a greedy student of romance. The Hewishes had never been +great readers, but in the early nineteenth century one of them had felt +it becoming to his position as a country gentleman to buy books. The +romantic education of Gabrielle was accomplished, as became an +Irishwoman, in the school of Maria Edgeworth. _Castle Rackrent_ +ravished her. She thrilled to the elegancies of _Belinda_ and to the +Irish atmosphere of _Ormond_. From these she plunged backwards into +the romantic mysteries of Mrs. Radcliffe, living, for a time, in +surroundings that might well have been imitated from the wintry +Roscarna. She read indiscriminately, and, in her eagerness of +imagination, became the heroine of fiction incarnate and the beloved of +every dashing young gentleman in print that she encountered. + +Jocelyn was inclined to laugh at her, but Biddy, who considered that +all books except the breviary, which she possessed but could not read, +were inventions of the devil, disapproved. "Sure and you'll be after +rotting your poor brain with all that rubbidge," she said, rising to a +more vehement protest when, in the middle of the night, she discovered +Gabrielle fallen asleep with an open copy of _Don Juan_ beside her +pillow and a spent candle flaring within an inch of the lace +bed-curtains. Gabrielle smiled when Biddy woke her with a stream of +fluent abuse, for she had been dreaming that she herself was Haidee and +her Aegean island lay somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. + +She lost a little of her gaiety, and irritated the serious Considine by +her dreaminess at the time when she was supposed to be acquiring useful +knowledge. He complained to Jocelyn, and Jocelyn, who hated being +worried about his daughter, was at last induced, after consultation +with Biddy Joyce, to send into Galway for the doctor. It pleased him +to have the laugh of Considine when the doctor pronounced her sound in +wind and limb--as well he might, for both were of the best. + +Gabrielle couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. She was +happy in her new world--just as happy as she had been in the old +one--with the difference that she was possibly now more sensitive to +the beauty that surrounded her. In the time of her childhood she had +lived purely for the moment; sufficient unto each day had been its +particular physical joys; now she knew that the future held more for +her, that the life which she had taken for granted would not go on for +ever. Strange things must happen, possibly things more strange than +the adventures that she had found among books. She was now seventeen. +In her heart she felt an intuition that something must happen soon. +She waited for it to come with a kind of hushed excitement. + +At the beginning of May she received a letter from Radway in which he +told her that the _Pennant_ was leaving the West Indies. Taking it for +granted that he would keep his promise of coming to Roscarna she was +distressed to think that the shooting season was over. She had always +remembered the long grey shape of the _Pennant_ that he had shewn her, +lying off Kingstown on the evening of their visit to Howth. From +Roscarna itself the sea was not visible, but from the knees of +Slieveannilaun, a mile or so behind the house, she knew that she could +overlook, not only the shining Corrib, which is an inland sea, but all +the scattered lakelets of Iar Connaught, the creeks, the islands, and +beyond, the open sea. Lying in the heather, hearing nothing but the +liquid whinny of the curlews that had lately forsaken the tidal waters +for the mountains, she would watch the foam that fringed the islands, +unconscious of the sea's sound and tumult, half expecting that a +miracle would happen and that someday she would see the three-funnelled +_Pennant_ steaming over the white sea into Galway Bay. + + + + +V + +But the spring passed, and the summer wore on, and Gabrielle heard no +more of him. It was a summer of terrific heat; the flanks of the +mountains were parched and slippery even in that moist countryside, and +it would have taken more than a dream to make her climb Slievannilaun. +She lived the life that an animal leads in summer, cooling her limbs in +the lake, and only stirring abroad in the early morning or the dusk. +The weather told on Biddy, who lived in the kitchen where a fire burned +all the year round, on Considine, who walked up to Roscarna for +Gabrielle's lessons in the morning sun, and on Jocelyn, who seemed to +feel it more than either of them. Indeed, if they had noticed Jocelyn, +they would have had some cause for anxiety; but Jocelyn never talked +about his health, even to Biddy, though he himself perceived, with some +irritation, that he was growing old. Secretly he fought against it, +driving himself to youthful exertions with an artificial and desperate +energy that deceived them, but he slept badly at night, and could not +keep himself awake in the daytime. Even Gabrielle remarked that he was +losing his memory for names, and got snubbed for her trouble. She +found it was better to leave him alone, and put his irritability down +to the excessive heat. + +In the blue evening, when flocks of starlings were already beginning to +sweep the sky above the reedbeds of the lake, and white owls fluttered +out like enormous moths, Gabrielle would walk out for a breath of cool +air over the baked crevasses of the bog, or more often down their only +road; a track that flattered the dignity of Roscarna at the lodge gates +but degenerated as it approached Clonderriff. + +In the full glare of daylight Clonderriff, for all Mr. Considine's +labours, was a sordid collection of cabins, whitened without, but full +of peat-smoke and the odours of cattle within. The cabins stood on the +brow of a hill. In winter they seemed to crouch beneath a sweeping +wind--and the grass thatchings would have been whirled away if they had +not been kept in position by ropes that were weighted with stones. The +small irregular plots in which the villagers grew their potatoes were +bounded by dry walls through crevices of which the wind whistled +shrilly, and scattered with boulders too deeply imbedded to be worth +the labour of moving, and the walls and boulders were alike covered +with an ashen lichen that made them look as if they were crusted over +with bitter salt that the wind had carried in from sea. Between the +garden plots lay a wilderness of common land, on which lean cattle +grazed or routed among heaps of decaying garbage: in winter a +desolation, in summer a purgatory of flies. But with the coming of +evening and a softer air Clonderriff became transformed. One saw no +longer the sordid details, only the long and level lines of the bog, +the white-washed cabins shining milky as elder-blossom in moonlight, +their windows bloomed with candlelight. In every cranny of the garden +walls the crickets began their tingling chorus, but every other living +thing in the village seemed at rest. + +Often, when she felt lonely, Gabrielle would walk down the road to +Clonderriff, not because she found it beautiful, as it surely was, but +for the sake of its homeliness and the contrast of its gentle life to +the moribund atmosphere of Roscarna. She loved the pale cabins, each a +cradle of mysterious life; she loved the sound of placid cattle feeding +in the darkness, and above all she loved the sound of human voices when +the men sprawled by the roadside telling old stories, and the tall, +barefooted women stood above them very slim in their folded shawls. +Sometimes as she passed quietly along the road, she would become +conscious, without hearing, of human presences, and see a pair of +lovers sitting on the end of a stone wall with their lips together, and +then she would return to Roscarna full of wonder and excitement. + +One night in August the impulse seized her to put on the white dress +that she had worn in Dublin. When dinner was over she left Jocelyn +snoring over his port and walked as though she were dreaming down the +Clonderriff road. The air was full of pale grass-moths. Her heart +fluttered within her: she couldn't think why. She herself was like a +white, fluttering moth. She came quickly to the outskirts of the +village. The cabins were asleep. In none of them could as much as a +candlelight be seen. It was strange that the village should be deader +than Roscarna, and she felt as though a sudden and deeper darkness had +descended on her. A little frightened she decided that she would go +through to the end of the village and pay a visit to Considine: not +because she wanted to see him in the least, but because she loved +shocking him, and nothing surely could shock him more at this time of +night than the moth-like apparition that she presented. She even felt +a wayward curiosity to know what he did with himself at night. For +several years there had been whispers of a theological thesis that he +was writing for his doctor's degree. She imagined him, with a reading +lamp and red eyes, up to his ears in the minor prophets. It would be +fun to see what he thought of her. + +She hurried on through the silent village, but when she came to an +isolated cabin at the end of it she heard a sound that explained the +desolation of the rest; a noise of terrible and unearthly wailing. In +the darkness of this curious night it seemed to her a very awful thing. +She guessed that somebody had died in the last cabin, and that a wake +was being held. For a moment she hesitated, and then, as curiosity got +the better of her horror, she came gradually nearer. + +The women were keening somewhere at the back of the house, but the +front windows blazed with the light of many candles, and the door of +the cabin was wide open. Inside its narrow compass a crowd of +villagers, twenty or thirty of both sexes, was gathered. Gabrielle, +clutching at the wall, drew nearer and looked inside. + +The room was full of bottles, a thicket of empty bottles stood on the +table, the press, and in the corner by the fireplace. The floor was +strewn with the figures of men and women who had drunk until they +dropped. Those who were still awake, and reasonably sober, were +playing a kind of round game, passing from hand to hand a stick, the +end of which had been lighted in the fire. As it passed from one to +another the holder said the words: "If Jack dies and dies in my hand a +forfeit I'll give." The game was quite exciting, and Gabrielle found +herself wondering in whose hand the glowing stick would go out; but +while she watched it her eyes became accustomed to the light of the +room and fell at last upon a spectacle of cold horror. The coffin in +which the dead man was to be buried had been reared up on one end +against the further wall, and within it the body stood erect, held in +this position by a cross-work of ropes. It was that of an old man with +grey untidy hair. He stood there bound, with his eyes closed, his head +lolling forward, and his mouth open. She couldn't stand it. She +wanted to cry out, but her voice would not come, and so she simply +turned and ran blindly along the dark road towards Oughterard. + +She ran till she was out of breath and stood against a wall panting and +trembling. She hated the darkness, for it seemed vaguely threatening. +The thin music of the crickets made it feel as if it were charged with +some electric fluid in which the silence grew more awfully intense. It +came to her, with a sudden shock, that if she were to return to +Roscarna she must pass that dreadful spectacle again, and alone. The +only thing that she could possibly do to save herself from this +calamity, was to go on to Considine's house and beg him to take her +home again. She didn't want to do this, for she felt in her bones that +he would laugh at her. + +She stood in the shadow of a white-thorn, and though she had now ceased +from her storm of trembling, her body gave a shudder from time to time, +like a tree that frees its storm-entangled branches when the wind has +fallen. She heard a slow step mounting the road. She prayed that the +new-comer might be Considine, for then her frightened condition would +spare her explanations. The steps came nearer. Out of the darkness a +shadowy form approached her. It seemed to her that it was that of a +man of superhuman size--one of the giants who, Biddy had told her, lay +buried in the long barrows on the edge of the bog. But this was +nonsense. She planned what words she would say to him. Abreast of her +he stopped, and stared at her white dress. Then suddenly he cried, +"Gabrielle!" in a voice that she remembered well. It was Radway's. In +a moment she found herself crying, beyond control, in his arms. She +clove to him, sobbing desperately, and he kissed her, her eyes, that +she tried to shield from him, her neck, her lips. It was an amazing +moment in the darkness. + +Then she stopped crying and began to laugh unnaturally. In this way +she blurted out the story of her fright, and he, still clasping her, +listened until she was calm. + +"But what are you doing here? How did it all happen?" she said. She +did not know what she was saying for happiness. + +Little by little he told her. The _Pennant_ had put in to Devonport +for repairs a week before. He had been granted a month's leave, and +his first thought had been Roscarna. After a couple of days at his own +home he had crossed to Ireland, arriving late in the afternoon at +Oughterard, where he found a room at an hotel. In Dublin he had armed +himself with an Ordnance map, and looking at this, it had seemed to him +that it would be easy enough to walk to Roscarna in the evening and let +her know that he had arrived. Time was so short that he could not bear +to miss a moment of her. So he had set out from Oughterard along the +road to Clonderriff, hoping to reach Roscarna in daylight and to return +with the rising moon. He had reckoned without Irish miles and Irish +roads, and forgotten that a sailor who has been long afloat is out of +walking trim. He had made poor progress, and nothing but the distant +light of the cabin on the top of the hill in which the wake was being +held had prevented him from giving up his attempt to see her. And then +this astounding miracle had happened, and he had found her crying in +his arms ... surely a lover's luck! + +"And now you'll be coming with me to Roscarna," she said. + +She was so happy. She passed the cabin of the wake without a shudder. +They walked as lovers, arm in arm, and soon a yellow moon, in its third +quarter, rose, making Clonderriff beautiful, and flinging their moving +shadows upon the pale stones at the roadside. As they breasted the +hill, an arm of Corrib burned above the black like a band of sunset +cloud, rather than moonlit water. Its beauty overwhelmed them. They +clung to each other and kissed again. He told her that she was just as +he had seen her first in her white dress, just as he had always +imagined her in his days at sea, only more beautiful. She was so pale +in the moonlight, and her lips so happy. She was glad that an inspired +caprice had made her put on her white dress. + +He asked her whether it was very far to Roscarna. "If you could miss +the way," he said, "we might go on wandering for ever in the moonlight. +There never could be another night like this." + +But they had come already to the dark belt of woodland that the first +Hewishes had planted, a darkness unvisited by moonlight, where their +feet rustled a carpet of dead leaves, and shy, nocturnal creatures made +another rustling beside them. At the edge of the wood a bird flew out +of a thorn tree. "It's a brown owl," cried Radway; but when its wings +caught the moonlight they saw the band of white. "It's a magpie," she +said. "One for sorrow ..." and smiled. + +Roscarna stood before them, the ghost of a great house with many solemn +windows for eyes. It looked blank, uninhabited, lifeless. Between the +house and the river moonlight smoothed the lawns. The moon made that +cold stone phantom imponderable, a grey mirage. Radway could not +believe, for a moment, that it was real; but the sense of Gabrielle's +cold cheek against his lips, her fingers twined in his, and her soft, +unhurried breathing recalled him, telling him that he was a lover, +awake and alive. + +They crossed the bridge and entered the house by the front doors. The +latch clanged to, echoing, and Biddy Joyce appeared in a red petticoat. +Gabrielle introduced Radway, and Biddy was not scandalized, being used +to the freedoms of Irish hospitality. Jocelyn had been in bed for half +an hour or more, she said, and as the state in which he had retired was +problematical they thought it better not to disturb him. They gave +Radway supper in the dining-room, Gabrielle sitting opposite to him +with her chin in the cup of her hands and her face white with +candle-light. + +In the meantime Biddy had prepared a guest-room for him, a sombre +chamber with long windows, so sealed by neglect that they could not be +opened, in which a broken pane served for ventilator. In the middle of +it stood a bed, painted and gilt, in the manner of the seventeenth +century, with panels of crimson brocade, threadbare but still +beautiful, although the pattern of their ornament had faded long since. +Gabrielle lighted him to his room, stepping softly along the uncarpeted +passage. At the door they surrendered themselves to a passionate +good-night. + + + + +VI + +Radway stayed at Roscarna for three days. Irish ways are easy, and +Jocelyn did not appear surprised to see his daughter's correspondent at +the breakfast-table. He measured Radway shrewdly with his screwed-up +eyes and decided that he was a sportsman, which, together with the +Halbertons' introduction, was good enough for him. He only regretted +that he could not do the sporting honours of the place for their +visitor. There was a certain giddiness, he said, that troubled him at +unexpected moments and made him disinclined to go too far afield; but +he placed his rods and the contents of the gun-room at Radway's +disposal and pressed him to stay as long as the place amused him. + +Jocelyn, as host, was very much the country gentleman, picking up the +thread of courtly hospitality at the point where it had been broken so +many years ago, almost without any effort. It is probable that he had +begun to realise that things were not well with him, and that since +Gabrielle might soon be left alone in the world, it would be wiser to +welcome a possible husband for her. Certainly he did his best for +Radway, and Radway, no doubt, found him delightful, for Jocelyn had +grown milder as he aged and had never been without a good deal of +personal charm. On the other hand, it is not unlikely that Radway told +him of his intentions with regard to Gabrielle, even though nothing so +definite as an engagement was announced. At any rate, the guest +settled down happily at Roscarna, and the morning after his arrival the +luggage cart was sent in to his hotel at Oughterard to bring back his +traps and gun-case. + +Of course Gabrielle took possession of him. The terms of their new +relation had been fixed miraculously and finally by the character of +their moonlit meeting at Clonderriff. No formal words were spoken, but +they knew that they were lovers, having arrived at this heavenly state +after a whole year of waste. On Gabrielle's side there were never any +doubts or questionings. She was his altogether. She wanted him to +know all that could be known of her, and since she felt that so much of +her was the product of Roscarna, it was necessary that he should know +Roscarna first. + +With the spells of moonshine withdrawn he knew it for the wan, +neglected ruin that it was, but her romantic passion for its stones +helped to maintain the first atmosphere of illusion. She showed him, +with a beautiful emotion, the room in which she had been born, the +lofts in which she had played with the stableboys in her childhood, her +alder-screened bathing place by the lake, the library where her +romantic education had been begun. + +Here, by the most likely chance, they encountered Considine. He had +walked up, as usual, in the morning to read Dante with her. He came +through the house unannounced and entered the library where the lovers +were bending with their heads close together over the map on which +Gabrielle had followed the course of Radway's West Indian voyages, and, +being engrossed in these tender reminiscences, they did not see him. +He stood in the doorway, gazing, uncertain as to what he should say or +do. In his seventeen years at Clonderriff he had got out of the way of +dealing with social problems. + +At last Gabrielle looked up, saw him, and blushed. She hastened to +introduce Radway: "The friend I met in Dublin" ... as if there had been +only one. + +By this time Considine had recovered himself. He shook hands with +Radway heartily and talked to him about the shooting. In those few +moments it was the man and not the parson who appeared, and Radway, +frankly, took him at his own valuation and liked him. + +"Quite a good sort, your padre," he said to Gabrielle afterwards, and +she was glad that he was pleased. For herself it had never occurred to +her to consider whether he was good or bad. To her he had never been +anything more than a figure: Mr. Considine: but it pleased her that +anything associated with her should give her lover pleasure. Considine +was sufficiently tactful not to mention Dante, and Gabrielle solved his +difficulty by asking him for a short holiday during Radway's stay. He +coughed and said he would be delighted, and since he did not offer to +go they left him in the library. + +From the first he must have seen how things were. At the best he was a +lonely man, and this must have seemed the last aggravation of his +loneliness. I do not suppose he considered that he was in love with +Gabrielle, but he was undoubtedly attached to her, for he was not an +old man nor vowed to celibacy, and it had been his leisurely delight to +watch her beauty unfolding. Leisurely ... because he was slow in +everything, slow in his speech, slow to anger, and slow to love--which +does not imply that he was without intelligence or feeling or sex. It +would not be fair to dismiss the feelings of Considine as unimportant; +but it would be even less fair to sentimentalize them, for the least +thing that can be said of him is that he was not sentimental himself. +When they left him he tried to persuade himself that he was not jealous +by settling down to the composition of his weekly sermon; but he did +not risk any further disturbance of mind by seeing them together again. + +The sunny season held. The river water was so low as to be unfishable, +but in the string of lakelets below Loughannilaun Radway landed half a +dozen sea-trout with Gabrielle, who knew the stones in every pool, as +ghillie. In the divine relaxation of their love-making they were not +inclined for strenuous exercise; but when evening fell, and the sky +cooled, they would wander abroad together by the lake and through the +woodlands or lie dreaming, side by side, in the deep heather. + +During the days of Radway's visit, Jocelyn felt an obligation to appear +presentable, and every evening, when dinner was over, Radway would +smoke a cigar in his company, listening to his stories of old Galway +days and sportsmen long since dead. As Jocelyn's memory for immediate +things had faded he seemed to remember his early days more clearly, +and, like many Irishmen, he was an amusing talker. Gabrielle would sit +on a low stool between them in the white dress that Radway loved. It +made the solitude for which they were both waiting seem more precious +to see her thus at a distance, pale and fragile and miraculous against +the sombre background of the Roscarna oak. Then Jocelyn would begin to +yawn, and fidget for the nightcap of hot whiskey that Biddy prepared +for him, and at last discreetly vanish. And so the most precious of +their moments began. + +Of these one can say nothing. Naturally enough, in later years, when +she made Mrs. Payne her confidante, Gabrielle did not speak of them. +And even if she had done so Mrs. Payne was too surely a woman of +feeling ever to have betrayed her confidence. Under that wasting moon +they loved, and I know nothing, but that it must have been strange for +the empty shell of Roscarna, that tragic theatre, to reawaken to such a +vivid and youthful passion. The world was theirs, and nobody heeded +them, unless it were Biddy Joyce, a creature whose whole life was +coloured by shadowy premonitions. + +Gabrielle could not bear that he should leave her, but Radway's plans +for the immediate future had been made without reckoning for anything +as momentous as this love-affair. He was pledged, in four days, to +visit an aunt in North Wales, and though he could not undertake to +disappoint the old lady, he consoled Gabrielle by showing her how short +and how convenient the passage to Holyhead was. To her, England seemed +a country as remote as Canada, but he promised her that he would return +within a week, and suggested that this would be a good opportunity of +speaking of their engagement to Jocelyn. "But I wish you were not +going," she said. "I feel as if I shall lose you." + +They had determined to devote the last day of his stay to visiting the +top of Slieveannilaun, where there were plenty of grouse. The plan +gave them an excuse for a day of the most absolute solitude and the +shooting that she had promised him long ago in Dublin. Biddy would cut +sandwiches for them and Gabrielle would carry them in a game-bag slung +over her shoulders. + +At dawn a mist of sea-fog overspread the country-side, and Radway, +gazing through the open window, saw the fine stuff driven down the +valley in sheets against the darkness of the woods; but by the time +that they had finished breakfast the sun had broken through, soaring +magnificently in the moist air and promising a greater heat than ever. +Jocelyn, on the stone terrace, watched them depart. "I wish I were +going with you," he said with a twinkle, "but it's a job for young +people. Collar-work all the way, and you'll find the grass on the +mountain as slippery as ice." They left him, laughing. He liked +Radway. Gabrielle might easily do worse. At the edge of the wood she +turned and waved her handkerchief; but Jocelyn was tossing biscuits to +his favourite spaniel Moira and did not see. + +They climbed Slieveannilaun happily, for they were young and full of +vigour. Gabrielle was quieter and more serious than usual, under the +shadow of his going. He killed two and a half brace of grouse. It +pleased her to see the ease and precision with which his gun came up. + +Near the place where they lunched they saw three fox cubs running with +their mother, a sight that filled Gabrielle with delight. On a stone +near by them a small mouse-coloured bird, a meadow pipit, made a noise, +_tick-tick_, like the ferrule of a walking-stick on stone. From this +exalted station they could no longer see Roscarna, for the house and +the woods were lost in the immense trough beneath them. They only saw +the Corrib and the lakes of Iar Connaught and, beyond, an immense bow +of sea. + +"I hate the sea," she said. "It will take you away from me." + +"You can't hate it more than I do," he said laughing. "All sailors +hate the sea. But somehow, I don't think I was ever born to be +drowned." + +The sunshine made them sleepy and they lay down in the heather. He lay +there with his head on her breast and slept. But Gabrielle did not +sleep. She watched him lazily and with a strange content. + +When he woke the sun was beginning to sink. They walked back along the +ridge in a state that was curiously light-hearted. She seemed to be +able to forget for the first time the fact that he was to leave her +next day. The evening was cool and fresh and the air of the mountain +as clear as spring water. When they came to the descent he insisted on +carrying the bag that held the game. There was a little quarrel and a +reconciliation of kisses. They set off together once more hand in +hand. Halfway down the mountain, on a patch of shining grass, he +slipped, and the weight of the game-bag overbalanced him. Gabrielle +laughed as he fell, but her laugh was lost in the report of the gun. +How the accident happened no one can say, but Radway had blown his +brains out. + + + + +VII + +The inquest at Roscarna was Biddy Joyce's affair. It was the next best +thing to a wake, and she took the opportunity of having a dhrop +stirrun'--as she put it. The sergeant of the constabulary, an erect +Ulsterman with mutton-chop whiskers, had spread a wide net for his +jury. They came from Joyce's Country, from Iar Connaught, from islands +of the Corrib, like dusty pilgrims. Biddy housed them in the stables, +where they slept it off for a couple of nights. Jocelyn himself +entertained the coroner. He seemed particularly anxious that nothing +in the way of scandal should appear, though he really had no cause for +anxiety, since a man who takes the risk of scrambling down a +mountain-side with his gun loaded, supplies an obvious explanation for +disaster. + +Naturally it was Gabrielle who suffered most. From the first she had +behaved extraordinarily well. Nobody had seen the poor child's first +agony of passionate grief; but she had pulled herself together quickly, +leaving Radway's body where it lay, and had hurried down to Roscarna +where she found Jocelyn dosing [Transcriber's note: dozing?] on the +terrace. She had been tight-lipped and pale and awfully quiet, showing +no emotion but an unprofitable desire for speed when she led the +stable-hands up the mountain to the place where she had left her lover. + +She did not cry at all until the work was done. Then, in the rough +arms of Biddy, she collapsed pretty thoroughly. Biddy put her to bed, +but she would not stay there. Later in the day she was found wandering +along the passages to the room where Radway had slept. She told Biddy +that she only wanted to be left alone; and in that room she stayed +until the time came when she had to give her evidence. In the court +she did not turn a hair, though Biddy stood ready with a battery of +traditional restoratives in case she faltered. + +Jocelyn had a very thin time of it. The strain made him more shaky +than usual, and when telegrams began to flutter in from Radway's +relatives a few days later--Radway had left no address and so they had +been forced to wire to the Halbertons--he threw up the sponge +altogether. His weakness was Considine's opportunity. Considine +undertook the whole management of the Radways' visit, received them, +conducted them to the room in which their son's remains were lying and +did his best to explain to them what he had been doing in this +outlandish place. I suppose that this kind of solemn condolence is +part of a parson's ordinary duties, but it must be admitted that +Considine performed it well. He impressed the Radways as being solid +and dependable and a gentleman. His capability and discretion made +them feel that Roscarna was not so disreputable and outlandish after +all. He scarcely mentioned Gabrielle, except as the only witness of +the accident, and the Radway family returned to England with their +son's body, satisfied that he had gone to Roscarna for the grouse +shooting on the invitation of people who, in spite of their +questionable appearance, were actually connected with the Halbertons, +and thankful that no element of intrigue or passion had any part in the +tragedy. + +On their return they wrote Considine a long letter in which they +thanked him for his courtesy and regretted that their son's last +moments had not been rejoiced by his ghostly ministrations. As a +little thank-offering (not for their son's death, but for Considine's +kindness) they proposed the erection of a stained glass window in his +church, a proposal that Considine gladly accepted. + +It was not until the Radways had disappeared and Roscarna began to +recoil into its old routine of life, that Gabrielle collapsed. The +blow to her imagination had been heavier than anyone dreamed, so +staggering, in its first impact, that for a time she had been numbed. +In a week or two, with returning consciousness, her sufferings began to +be felt. She could not sleep at night, and when she did sleep she +dreamed perpetually of one thing, the endless, precarious descent of a +slippery mountain-side in the company of Radway. The dream always +ended in the same way, with a fall, a laugh, a shattering report, and a +flash of light which meant that she was awake. + +In her disordered eyes the woods of Roscarna, the river, and the lake +took on a melancholy tinge. Though this aspect of them was new to her, +it is hardly strange that she should have seen them thus, for the +beauty of Roscarna is really of an elegiac kind, an autumnal beauty of +desertion and of decay. As for Slieveannilaun, she dared not look at +it. + +Jocelyn tried hard to cheer her up. With an effort he whipped up +enough energy to take her out with his dogs and his gun, until her look +of horror made him suspect that the sound of a gunshot was a nightmare +to her, as indeed it was, reminding her of many dreams and one +unforgettable reality. She did her best to hide this from him, for she +saw that he was really trying to be kind. + +Considine also tried to interest her in new things and to distract her +mind. His methods were tactful. He knew perfectly well that the +official manner of condolence that had gone down so well with the +Radways wouldn't do for her. He just treated her as the child that he +knew her to be, trying to induce her to join in a game of pretending +that nothing had happened. Gabrielle realised his humane attempt from +the first and even, for a time, tried to play up to him, but the affair +ended disastrously in a flood of bitter, uncontrollable tears for which +neither the parson nor the man could offer any remedy. It seemed to +him that this was a woman's job, and so he and Jocelyn met in solemn +consultation with Biddy Joyce. + +At this point an easy solution seemed to offer itself in an invitation +from the Halbertons. They had heard all the details of the affair from +Radway's people and wrote inviting Gabrielle to stay with them in Devon +for a month. The two men prepared the bait most carefully, but when +their plan was disclosed to her, Gabrielle rejected it with an unusual +degree of passion, imploring them to leave her alone ... only to leave +her alone. + +They resigned her to the care of Biddy, who had always considered it +her proper function and privilege to deal with the affair. She set +about it clumsily but with confidence, tempting Gabrielle to eat with +carefully prepared surprises, obviously humouring her in everything she +did. From the very first she had viewed the Radway affair with +suspicion, and now she found it difficult not to say, 'I told you so,' +though, as a matter of fact, she had done nothing of the sort. + +Altogether her methods were too transparent to be successful; and since +her own robust habit of body made it difficult for her to divine any +subtler cause for Gabrielle's condition, she leapt at once to the +physical explanation suggested to her by her own experience of the +consequences of love-making in Joyce's country. She watched Gabrielle +with a keen and matronly eye, collecting her evidence from day to day +after the anxious manner of mothers. When she had dwelt upon the +problem for a couple of months she prepared the results of her +scrutinies and offered them in a complete and alarming dossier to +Jocelyn. In her opinion--and on this subject at least her opinion was +of value--there could be no doubt as to Gabrielle's condition. + +To Biddy Joyce this seemed the most natural thing in the world, but to +Jocelyn the announcement came as a tremendous surprise. He knew well +enough that this sort of accident was an everyday affair, in effect the +usual prelude to matrimony, among the peasantry of Connaught; but that +such an ugly circumstance should intrude itself into the Hewish +family--in the case of one of its female members--seemed a monstrous +calamity. He was in no condition to stand another shock, and Biddy's +pronouncement completely knocked him over. In a case of this kind it +was idle to doubt her authority. He only wondered how he could make +the best of a desperate job. + +Distasteful as the business was to him, he decided to tackle Gabrielle +herself. It was a very strange interview. On Jocelyn's part there +were no recriminations. He was growing gentle in his old age, and in +any case he regarded Gabrielle as the victim of a tragedy. All that he +wanted to do was to get at the truth, and than this nothing could have +been harder, for in Gabrielle he found not only an amazing +ignorance--or if you prefer the word, innocence--but a flaming, +passionate determination to keep silence on the subject of her +intimacies with Radway. To her the story was sacred, and far too +precious to be bruised by the examination of any living soul. + +It is probable that Jocelyn tackled the matter with the utmost +delicacy. Fundamentally, he had the instincts of a gentleman, and, as +Gabrielle knew, he loved her; but on this one subject no amount of +entreaties or tenderness could make her speak. In the end, when he +could get nothing out of her, he compelled himself to tell her of +Biddy's suspicions. It seemed to him that this might force her into a +full confession of her relations with her lover. It did nothing of the +sort. She simply stood clutching a tall oak chair and looking straight +out of the window over the dark woods. Then she said: "Does Biddy +really think I am going to have a baby?" And Jocelyn nodded his head. +Then she said nothing more. She simply went out of the room like a +sleep-walker, leaving poor Jocelyn overwhelmed with misery by a silence +that he interpreted as an admission of guilt. For him, at any rate, +the matter was settled and the acuteness of Biddy Joyce finally +established. + +And there one must leave it. Gabrielle herself accepted the verdict +without question, but whether from her own secret knowledge or out of +an innocence that is almost incredible but not, in her case, +impossible, I cannot say. Naturally enough, in that other strange +interview with Mrs. Payne, she did not go into details, and as far as +we are concerned the truth will never be known. Not that it really +matters. The only thing that concerns us is the effect upon her +fortunes of this real or imaginary catastrophe. All that we can say is +that when she walked out of the Roscarna dining-room after her hour +with Jocelyn she was subtly and curiously changed. + +From that moment she became, in fact, a person hypnotised, possessed by +the contemplation of her approaching motherhood. She was no longer +restless or tearful. She began to sleep again, and her sleep was no +longer troubled by that recurrent dream. A strange calm descended on +her, the calm of a Madonna thrilled by an angelic annunciation--a +hallucinated calm that made her remote and independent, utterly unmoved +by the commotion into which the household of Roscarna had been thrown. + +Her acceptance of the situation crumpled up Jocelyn entirely. He could +not for a moment see any way out of the difficulty. As usual he fell +back on Biddy, who brought her practical knowledge to his rescue. +Biddy was emphatic. In the circumstances there was only one thing to +be done. Gabrielle must be married--somehow--anyhow--and the sooner +the better. It was the sort of thing that happened every day of the +week and the resources of civilisation had never been able to find +another solution. Jocelyn shook his head. It was all very well to +talk about marriage, but where, in the neighbourhood, could a +bridegroom be found at such short notice? Biddy's suggestion of half a +dozen available Joyces failed to satisfy him. However suitable the +Joyces might be for casual relations the idea of marriage with one of +them was unthinkable. After all, whatever she had done, Gabrielle was +a Hewish and the heiress, whatever that might mean, of the Roscarna +mortgages. Biddy, impatient of his obstinacy, gave him up. + +With feelings of sore humiliation he consulted Considine. It was a +hard confession for Jocelyn and the awkwardness of Considine did not +make it easier. It seemed as if the two of them were up against a +stone wall. Considine blushing and monosyllabic, begged for time to +consider what might be done; and the fact that he did not seem to be +utterly hopeless cheered Jocelyn considerably. Gabrielle, in the +meantime, continued rapt and passive. + +In a week the result of Considine's deliberations emerged, and, in a +fortnight, Gabrielle, only daughter of Sir Jocelyn Hewish, Baronet, of +Roscarna, County Galway, was married to the Rev. Marmaduke Considine at +the church of Clonderriff. The _Irish Times_ described the wedding as +quiet. + + + + +VIII + +It is a curious task to enquire into the motives of Considine. Without +doubt he felt under some obligation to the family of Hewish, and +particularly to that dead lady Gabrielle's mother, and it is +conceivable that he had known enough of Jocelyn during their eighteen +years' acquaintance to have separated his good points from his +weakness, and even to respect him. But the conditions of his +dependence on the Roscarna family can hardly be said to have included +the fathering of its errors, and no degree of respect for Jocelyn could +have made him think it his duty to marry the daughter. Was it, +perhaps, a sense of religious duty that compelled him? It is difficult +to think of marriage with a creature of Gabrielle's physical +attractions as a mortification of the flesh; and though the ceremony of +marriage is supposed to save the reputation of a person in Gabrielle's +position, there was no religious dogma which decreed that marriage with +a clergyman could save her soul. + +Then was it a matter of sheer Quixotism! That vice, indeed, might +conceivably have smouldered in the mind of this queer stick of a man, a +lonely fellow cherishing in solitude exaggerated ideals of womankind +and quick to rise to a point of honour. Even this will not do. There +is nothing in the rest of Considine's history that suggests the +sentimentalist. For a parson he was decidedly a man of the world, with +a good business head, a sense of proportion, and a keen, if deliberate +humour. In matters of sentiment I should imagine him reliable. + +Only one other cause for his conduct suggests itself, and that I +believe to be the true explanation. He married Gabrielle Hewish +because he wanted to do so; because he loved her. And that is not +difficult to imagine since he had known her intimately ever since she +was born, had helped and witnessed the whole awakening of her +intelligence; had found in her company his principal diversion; had +watched her growing beauty, and seen its final perfection. He knew her +so well, body and mind, that, whatever might have happened, he could +not help believing in her complete innocence--so well that he could +afford to disregard conventional prejudices in looking at her +misfortune. + +It is even possible that he may have dreamed of marrying her before the +misfortune came, waiting, in his leisurely way, for the suitable +moment. At Roscarna he had no great cause to fear any rival in love; +and since an ugly providence had obligingly removed the intruder +Radway, there was no reason why he should not benefit by Radway's +death. Considine was a man of forty, full of vigour and not too old +for passion. The prospect of a fruitful marriage was doubtless part of +the programme which he had mapped out for himself. Nor must it be +forgotten that he was a poor man and Gabrielle her father's only +daughter. + +With Gabrielle herself the problem is more difficult still. It is not +easy to imagine her submitting to the embraces of her tutor, however +deep and ardent his affection may have been, within a few months of the +catastrophe that had overwhelmed her first love. We may take it for +certain that she did not then, nor at any time, love Considine. It is +impossible that she should have thought of him in the character of a +lover, though I have little doubt but that she would have preferred him +to any of the swarm of Joyces whom Biddy was ready to produce. + +Perhaps she was offered the alternative,--I cannot tell. It is certain +that Jocelyn and Biddy told her, in different ways, that marriage was a +necessity to her virtue, and since she was compelled by threats and +blandishments and entreaties to make a virtue of necessity, she chose, +no doubt the course that was least distasteful to her. One cannot even +be certain, in the light of after events, that she understood the +meaning of marriage, or anything about it save that it was the only +thing that could make an honest woman of her. She was so young, so +lonely, so numbed and overwhelmed by her misfortune. I do not suppose +that she minded very much what they did with her as long as they left +her at last in peace. That she was impressed by the serious persuasion +of Biddy Joyce goes without saying, for there was no other woman by +whom she could set her standard of conduct. No doubt the distress of +Jocelyn, who was now something of a pathetic figure, moved her too. It +must have given her pleasure of a sort to see the way in which he was +relieved by her acceptance of the Considine plan--if anything so +passive can be called an acceptance. The shame of the moment had so +broken him that his sudden recovery of spirits must have been +affecting. It must have seemed to her that she had saved her father's +life. + +When once the matter was settled Jocelyn became almost light-hearted, +trying by little tokens of affection and an attitude that was almost +jocular, to pretend that nothing had happened and that the marriage was +no more than the happy conclusion of a normal courtship. On the eve of +the wedding he gave her the contents of her mother's jewel-box, which +included some beautiful ornaments of early Celtic work. He kissed her +and fondled her and hoped she would be happy, but she could not smile. +He dressed elaborately for the ceremony, and when he had left her +behind with Considine, feasted solemnly at Roscarna until Biddy and the +coachman carried him upstairs. Never in the history of Roscarna was +such a tragic bride. + +The married couple settled down at Clonderriff in the small grey house +that Considine inhabited. In his bachelor days it had been a +comfortless place, but Jocelyn had seen to it that it was furnished +with some of the lumber of Roscarna: the presses were filled with fine +Hewish linen and the plate engraved with the Hewish crest. + +Jocelyn had hoped, in the beginning, that Considine would forsake his +village and come to live at Roscarna. He himself, he said, needed no +more in his old age than a couple of rooms; his daughter and his +son-in-law might take a wing to themselves and do what they liked with +it. He had counted a good deal on the attraction to Considine of the +Roscarna library. His offer was refused. Considine already had his +plans cut and dried. Quite apart from the fact that his parochial +duties tied him to Clonderriff, he had decided that it would be better +for Gabrielle to be separated from all her old associations. Like +everything else he undertook, whether it were catching a trout or +reclaiming a drunkard, the plan was carefully reasoned. Gabrielle was +embarking on a new life that would, presumably, always be that of a +country parson's wife. He had caught her young--it was unfortunate, of +course, that he hadn't caught her three months younger--but in any case +she was still young enough to be plastic and amenable to marital +influence. It seemed to him that he had a good chance of moulding her +into the shape that would suit his purpose, and it was obvious that the +process would be easier if she were isolated from the free and easy +manners of Roscarna which had--so very nearly--proved her ruin, and +particularly those of Biddy Joyce, who was not only a Catholic, but the +possessor of an unvarnishable past in which his father-in-law had a +share. + +Considine's decision was final, and Jocelyn perforce submitted to it. +Indeed, Jocelyn was far too feeble in these days to pit himself against +Considine's more vigorous personality, even if he had not recognised +the fact that he was in Considine's debt; so he went on living at +Roscarna, wholly dependent on Biddy for his creature comforts, and on +the dogs for his amusement. It was a mild and placid sunset. + +Meanwhile Gabrielle, innocent of all domestic accomplishments, +struggled with the complications of her husband's housekeeping, and +Considine returned, like a giant refreshed, to the composition of his +doctor's thesis. + +The estate of matrimony suited Considine. In the soft clean climate of +Galway a man ages slowly, and this marriage renewed his youth. It made +him full of new energies and enthusiasms, and revealed a boyish aspect +in his character that seemed to Gabrielle a little grotesque, or even +frightening. He wanted to express himself boisterously, flagrantly, +and the proceeding was extraordinary in the case of a man who had +always been so self-contained. Lacking any other outlet for these +ebullitions he threw himself energetically into his theological +writings and worked off his surplus physical steam in the management of +the Roscarna estate, for which Jocelyn was gradually becoming more and +more unfitted. In this, as in most things that he undertook, Considine +showed himself efficient, and Jocelyn began to congratulate himself on +the fact that he had secured a son-in-law with a genuine passion for +the land that meant so much to him. + +During all this time Gabrielle remained the same indefinitely tragic +figure. There was nothing physically repulsive in Considine, but even +if there had been, I do not suppose that she would have felt it +acutely. She had become passive. The abruptness of the first tragedy +had numbed her so completely that nothing less than another emotional +catastrophe could awaken her to consciousness. + +In this expectant hallucinated state she passed through the early +months of her married life, faithfully performing her domestic duties, +sad, yet almost complacent in her sadness. Autumn swept over the +countryside. Mists rising from the Corrib at dawn lapped the feet of +the hills on which Clonderriff stood, mingling, at last, with the +melancholy vapour of white fog rolling in from sea. Leaves began to +fall in the parsonage garden, and the lawn was frosted at daybreak with +cold dew. The hint of chilliness in the air only stimulated Considine +to fresh energies, sending him out on long tramps with his gun. He +seemed to think it strange that Gabrielle, in her new state, should +hate the sight, and above all, the sound of firearms. He tried to joke +her out of it--he would never treat her as anything but a child--but to +her it was not a subject on which jokes could be made. + +Biddy was a frequent and puzzled visitor at Clonderriff, puzzled, and a +little disappointed because her physiological prophecies did not seem +to be approaching fulfilment. By the time that Gabrielle had been +married a couple of months it became questionable whether there had +been any social necessity for the hurried ceremony; but though she had +her own doubts on the subject, Biddy was far too cunning to give this +away to her own discredit, and when Jocelyn or Considine consulted her +as to how these matters were proceeding, she armed herself with +inscrutable feminine mystery trusting to luck and assuring them it was +only a question of time. After all, probabilities were on her side, +and no doubt it came as a great relief to her when, in due course, the +doctor from Galway confirmed her diagnosis. With this vindication of +her judgment she became more and more attentive to Gabrielle, walking +over two or three times a week to Clonderriff and instructing her in +the traditional duties of motherhood as they are taught in the west. + +All through the days of autumn Gabrielle sat at her window looking over +the misty lawn and making the clothes for her baby. It is not +surprising, under the circumstances, that Considine did not show any +symptoms of paternal pride. This, it must be confessed, was the most +unpleasant condition of his bargain. Still, he had undertaken it +deliberately, and meant to go through with it like a man. He looked +forward to the time when it should be over and done with. Then they +would be able to make a new start; Gabrielle would be wholly his, and +Radway, he confidently expected, forgotten. + +In the meantime, having, in the flush of marriage completed his +theological thesis and sent it off to the university from which he +expected a doctor's degree, he determined to enjoy the sporting +possibilities of Roscarna to the full. His shooting took him far +afield, and he saw very little of Gabrielle in the daytime. He kept +away deliberately, for her condition made her strange and irritable at +times, and he did not consider that devotion to her in a difficulty for +which he had not been responsible was part of his contract. Later, no +doubt, his turn would come. For the present, moreover, he felt that he +could not quite trust himself, and the fear that his suppressed +grudging might make him lose control of his temper made him anxious to +avoid the risk. Gabrielle was thankful for this. She never felt +unkindly towards him, and yet she was glad when she could feel sure of +not seeing him for a time. In the dusk he would return, too drugged +with air and exercise to take much notice of her, and for this also she +was thankful. + +One evening in February, when Gabrielle was sitting in a dream over her +turf fire, Considine came home from a day's blackcock shooting in the +woods on the edge of the lake. She did not hear him coming, for the +garden path was now deep in fallen leaves. As he turned to open the +house door Considine saw a small shadow moving under the garden hedge. +He thought it was a rabbit, and quickly, without considering, he +slipped a cartridge into his gun, aimed at it, and fired. The sound of +a shattering report at close quarters broke Gabrielle's dream, +recalling an old horror. She jumped to her feet and cried out. +Considine, hearing her cry, dropped his gun and ran into the house. He +found her standing with her hands pressed to her eyes and trembling +violently. She did not see him when he called her name, and then, +still shaken like a poplar in a storm, she turned on him with eyes full +of hate and let loose on him a flood of language such as she must have +learned from the Roscarna stable-boys, words that she couldn't possibly +have spoken if she were sane. He apologised for his carelessness and +tried to soothe her, and when she had stopped abusing him and broken +down into desolate tears he picked her up in his arms, carried her to +their bedroom, and sent a messenger riding to Roscarna for Biddy Joyce. + +She lay on the bed quivering, and Considine, white and harassed, stayed +beside her. He did not dare to leave her alone, even though she would +not look at him. By the time that Biddy arrived in a fluster, +Gabrielle's child had been prematurely born. There was never any +question of independent life. The case remained in Biddy's hands, and +whether the child were Radway's or Considine's, nobody in the world but +Biddy Joyce and Gabrielle ever knew. There is no doubt that Biddy +would have committed herself to any lie rather than lose her reputation +as an authority, for Biddy was a Joyce. Personally I cherish the +passionate belief that no man but Considine was the father. + + + + +IX + +It is certain that Considine secretly regarded the death of Gabrielle's +child with thankfulness. It had brought their equivocal relation to an +end, and now that the matter was cleared up there was no reason why their +married life should not be as plain-sailing as he desired. This was the +beginning. + +As for Gabrielle, she recovered slowly. The emotional storm that had +been the cause of her accident had affected her more deeply than the +illness itself, which Biddy, as might be expected, mismanaged. The +wintry season was at its loneliest when she came downstairs again, very +pale and transparent, and began to settle down into the ways of the +house. Even so the storm had cleared the air, and when she began to +recover her strength she also recovered some of her spirit. Looking +backward she realised the depths in which she had been struggling and +determined, rather grimly, that whatever happened she would never descend +to them again. She was naturally a healthy and a happy creature, and now +that her troubles were over she meant to enjoy life. + +Considine rejoiced at her recovery. It must not be forgotten that +Considine was genuinely in love with her, that he found her physically +exquisite, and had always delighted in her swift mind. And even if +Gabrielle could not give him in return an ideal passion, she did not, in +the very least, dislike him. She had always looked upon him as a good +friend. Before their marriage, ever since her earliest childhood they +had spent many happy hours together. As a tutor he had been able to +interest her, and apart from the fact that he was now her husband and +could offer her tenderness and admiration as well, there was no reason +why her life should be very different from what it had been. The only +thing that she loved of which he had deprived her was Roscarna. At +first, she had felt that more than anything; but when she recovered from +her illness and was able for the first time to accompany Considine on his +visits to the estate, it seemed to her that her passion for Roscarna had +faded. Perhaps also she was now a little frightened by its associations, +and felt that it would be safer for her to cut herself entirely free from +everything that reminded her of the old era. When she visited the house +to see her father she would look wistfully, almost fearfully, at her old +haunts; the path to the lake, the woods that she never entered now, and, +above them, the cloudy vastness of Slieveannilaun. She used to go there +once a week, and Considine, as a matter of course, went with her. + +By the beginning of the spring her reason for these visits ceased. +Jocelyn, who had been ailing for a year or more, suddenly died. + +I suppose it was the kind of death that he might have expected. It was +now two years since he had been able to take the keen physical delight in +country life that had been his chief apology for his early excesses. +Even before the blow of Radway's accident and Gabrielle's marriage had +fallen upon him his arteries had been ageing, and though he was barely +sixty years of age a man is as old as his arteries. The end came swiftly +with a left-sided cerebral haemorrhage that robbed him of his speech and +paralysed the right side of his body, not in the middle of any unusual +exertion, but when he was sitting quietly over the fire after dinner. +Biddy found him there when she brought him in his nightcap, huddled up on +the floor where he had fallen. She had expected something of the kind +for long enough. No one in the world knew Jocelyn as well as she did. + +She guessed that nothing could be done, and waited for the morning before +she sent for Considine or the doctor. In the afternoon when Gabrielle +and Considine visited him Jocelyn was almost good-humoured, laughing +sardonically and screwing up one of his bird-like eyes while, from the +other, tears escaped. He passed from laughter to tears quite easily. It +was very horrible to see one side of his childish grey-whiskered face +puckered up with crying and the other limp and blank. He finished by +making cheerful signs to them that he was sure he would be better in a +week. Of course he wasn't. Within five days his poor brain was smitten +with two more tremendous blows. The third stroke killed him, coming in +the night. It was Biddy who kissed his face and put Peter's pence upon +his eyes and folded his arms on his breast. If any woman in the world +had a right to perform this melancholy function for Jocelyn it was she. +He was hers, and when he died she was alone with him, which was as it +should have been. + +Even when he was dead, Biddy had not finished with him. For many years +he had trusted her with the key of the cellar, and this privilege allowed +her to arrange a wake exceeding in magnificence anything in the memory of +Joyce's Country. They kept it up for three days, the scattered Joyces +foregathering from outlandish corners of Mayo and Connemara. Naturally +she didn't tell Considine. He himself discovered the darkened +dining-room at Roscarna strewn with human débris and lit with fifty +candles. The candles were popish and the drinkers were pagan, so he +turned on Biddy and told her more or less what he thought of her. He +pointed with disgust to a couple of drinkers who lay snoring on a sofa +under the window. "All the riff-raff of the country!" he said. Biddy +flared up. "Riff-raff, is it? Sure it's his own sons and mine who do be +after paying respect to their own father, and him lying dead!" + +But Considine was not to be beaten. He had known for many years that +Biddy was a kindly humbug. He knew that if he didn't now get rid of her +Roscarna would become nothing more than a warren in which her innumerable +relatives might swarm. He purged Roscarna of Joyces, Biddy included. He +buried Jocelyn decently according to the ritual of the Church of Ireland, +and proceeded to put his wife's estate in order as soon as her father's +remains were disposed of. + +There was more work in it than he had bargained for. Even the small +immediate courtesies and formalities took time; the announcements in the +papers and short obituary notices; letters, discreetly composed, +announcing the melancholy event to Lord and Lady Halberton; an official +search for Jocelyn's last will; a formal application for probate. + +When these things were finished, Considine's real work had only begun. +He had to readjust the whole financial fabric of Roscarna, to find out +what money was owed or owing, to decide how much of Gabrielle's paper +inheritance was tangible. He unearthed the firm of Dublin solicitors in +whose hands the business of the estate had been allowed to drift for the +last twenty years. They seemed to him a pack of shifty rogues. He was +not used to dealing with lawyers, and what he took for cunning was +nothing more than the traditional gesture of the profession. It was +unthinkable that a firm of such ancient establishment should show any +traces of haste in a matter of business. When Considine began to hurry +them up they simply offered to surrender the business. No doubt they +knew far better than Considine that there wasn't much in it. He imagined +that they were bluffing and took them at their word, with the result that +there fell upon Clonderriff a snowstorm of documents--leases and +mortgages and conveyances and post-obits--all the documentary débris of a +crumbled estate, from the Elizabethan charter on which the first Hewish +had founded Roscarna to the illiterate IOU's of Jocelyn's spider-racing +days. Considine, up to his neck in it, called on Gabrielle to help in +the ordering of her affairs. At Clonderriff they had not room enough for +this accumulation of papers, so they set aside the library at Roscarna +for the purpose, sorting and indexing the Hewish dossier as long as the +daylight lasted. Considine worked steadily through them as though he +were dealing with a mathematical calculation. To Gabrielle, on the other +hand, there was something mysterious in her occupation; fingering these +papers that other fingers had touched she communed with the dead--not +with her father, who could scarcely write his own name, but with the +ancient stately Hewishes who had built Roscarna and grown rich on the +Spanish trade. Sitting at the long table with Considine, a pile of +papers before her, her attention would wander, and while her eyes watched +the west wind blowing along the woods she would feel that she was not +herself but another Hewish woman staring out of the library windows on a +rough day in March a hundred years ago. And in this dream she would be +lost until the light died on the woods in a stormy sunset, and Considine +began to collect the papers in sheaves and lock them in the press. + +By the time that spring appeared, Considine doing his best to put the +affairs of Roscarna in order, had realised the hopeless disorder in which +they were involved. In the whole of Jocelyn's tenure of the estate the +only stable period had been that of his bourgeois marriage. In youth he +had been wildly profligate, in old age negligent, in neither caring for +anything beyond his immediate needs. His tenants owed him thousands of +pounds that he had never attempted to recover, for he had found it easier +to borrow money on mortgage than exact it in rent. As a result of +Jocelyn's finance Considine found that Gabrielle's only hope of saving +anything from the ruined fortune lay in the sacrifice of Roscarna itself. +The property, hopelessly degenerated as an agricultural estate, had still +some value as a fishing or shooting box, and there was a chance that some +wealthy Englishman might buy it for that purpose. For a moment the idea +of selling Roscarna hurt her, but after a little thought she consented to +the sale. Considine advertised the opportunity in the English sporting +papers, but the only reply that came to him was a long and anxious letter +from Lord Halberton, who had been shocked to see the Irish branch of his +family reduced to selling their house and lands. His lordship offered to +come over in person and give Considine the benefit of his opinion. +Considine wrote very fully in reply, enclosing a balance-sheet that made +Lord Halberton sit up and rub his eyes. The business-like tone of +Considine's letter struck him very favourably; that sort of thing was so +rare in a parson. As a matter of fact he had already heard from the +Radways how tactfully Considine had managed the difficult situation of +their son's death. + +It struck him that Considine was too good a man to be wasted in the wilds +of Ireland where the cause of tradition and aristocracy needed no +bolstering. A fellow who could wind up an estate as entangled as +Roscarna would be useful in the sphere of the Halberton territorial +influence. He talked the matter over with his wife, and in the end wrote +to Considine at some length, concurring in his wise determination to get +rid of Roscarna. + +"_If you sell Roscarna_," he wrote, "_it will scarcely be fitting for +your wife to remain in the district occupying a small house in +Clonderriff. My lady and I both consider that this proceeding would be +incompatible with Gabrielle's dignity. As luck will have it the living +of Lapton Huish (that is the way in which your wife's name is spelt in +England) will shortly be vacant. I have persuaded Dr. Harrow, the +present incumbent, who is over ninety and not very active, that it would +be well for him to make way for a younger man. The living is not +generously endowed, but it has the advantage of being on the edge of my +estates, and I have great pleasure in offering it to you. There is no +reason why it should not lead to further advancement_." + +The receipt of this letter made Considine tremulous with pleasure. His +original settlement in Ireland had been the result of a romantic +inclination to play the missionary in a godless Catholic country. When +first he came to Clonderriff he hadn't for a moment realised that the +huge inertia of the west would get hold of him and enchain him; but with +the passage of time this was what had happened. He knew now that he +could not, of his own will, escape; and at the very moment when Jocelyn's +death had created a general upheaval and made the situation in +Clonderriff restless, Lord Halberton's offer gave him the chance not only +of returning to his own country, but of making up for lost time. He +jumped at it, and Gabrielle, who could not bear the idea of seeing her +own Roscarna in the occupation of strangers, gladly consented. I do not +suppose it would have made much difference to Considine if she had +objected. + + + + +X + +At Lapton Huish, in the following autumn, Mrs. Payne found them. The +details of what had happened in the interval are not very clear, but +the effect of the change upon Gabrielle must have been considerable, +for the Mrs. Considine who appeared to Mrs. Payne does not seem to have +had much in common with the dazed, hysterical child we left at +Roscarna. I doubt if it was the experience of her marital relations +with Considine that made her grow up; from the first she had tacitly +disregarded them. I suppose the change was simply the result of living +in a more civilised and populous country, for South Devon was both, in +comparison with her lost Roscarna. + +The Halbertons had been very kind to them. How much of their kindness +sprang from original virtue, and how much from anxiety that the least +connection of the family should be worthy of their reflected lustre, it +is difficult to say. No doubt it pleased them to be generous on a +feudal scale, particularly since Gabrielle, with her striking beauty +and sharp wits, showed possibilities of doing them credit. As soon as +the aged Dr. Harrow had been bundled out, the establishment of the +Considines became a game as entertaining to Lady Halberton in the +sphere of religious culture, as chemical experiments were to her +husband in that of root-crops--with the delightful difference that +human souls ran away with much less money than mangolds. + +While the Rectory at Lapton was having its roof repaired, its walls +painted, and the fungus that grew in the cupboards of old Canon +Harrow's bedroom removed, the Considines were housed at Halberton and +instructed in the family tradition. In the case of Dr. Considine--his +honeymoon activities had pulled off the degree in divinity--this was +easy, for he had spent his childhood on a feudal estate in Wiltshire +and his politics were therefore identical with Lord Halberton's. With +Gabrielle, whom Lady Halberton took in hand, the process was more +difficult. She couldn't, at first, quite catch the Halberton air, but, +being an admirable mimic, she soon tumbled into it. The clothes with +which Lady Halberton supplied her helped her to realise the character +that she was expected to assume. Sometimes she felt so pleased with +her performance that she was tempted to overdo it and suddenly found +herself presenting a caricature of Halberton manners that was so acute +as to be cruel. And sometimes, when she felt that she couldn't keep it +up, she would suddenly drop the whole pretence and relapse into the +insinuating brogue of Biddy Joyce; an amazing trick that she employed +with scandalous effect in later years. But although she occasionally +laughed at it, Gabrielle found the ease and luxury of Halberton House +very much to her taste. She lost her thin and anxious expression and +became a great favourite, not only with Lady Halberton, but also with +the old gentleman and Lady Barbara, the elder daughter, who was still +unmarried and likely to remain so. + +After six weeks at Halberton the Considines moved into the Rectory at +Lapton, a square, solid building, endowed with luxuriant creepers and +protected on the side that faced the prevailing wind and the roadway, +with a covering of hung slates. On the three other sides lay a garden +which had been too much for Canon Harrow and his gardener Hannaford. +Both of them had been old and withered, and the tremendous vitality of +the green things that grew in that rich red soil had overcome all their +efforts at repression so that the house had been besieged and choked +with vegetation and mildewed with the dampness of rain and sap. It was +all very lush and generous and cool, no doubt, in summer; but when the +rain that drove in from the Channel glistened on the hung slates and +dripped incessantly from myriads of shining leaves, the Rector of +Lapton Huish might as well have been living in a tropical swamp. To +the north of them, the huge masses of Dartmoor stole the air, so that +their life seemed to be lost in a windless eddy, and in the deep +valleys with which the country was scored the air lay dead for many +months at a time. Gabrielle, accustomed to the free spaces of +Connemara, felt the change depressing, though she would not admit it; +indeed, she had far too many things to think about to have time for +speculating on her own health. + +First of all the callers. At Roscarna the reputation of Jocelyn and, +above all, his relations with Biddy Joyce, had saved the Hewishes from +these formalities; and the great distances that separated the houses of +gentlefolk in the west of Ireland would have made hospitality a more +spontaneous and less formal affair in any case. In Devon, as Gabrielle +soon discovered, calling was a ritual complicated by innumerable shades +of social finesse. Lady Halberton had already coached her in the list +of people whom she must know, people she could safely know at a +distance, and people whom it was her duty to discourage. As soon as +she was settled in at Lapton the county descended on her and she was +overwhelmed with visitors from all three classes. + +If she had been a stranger the Devonshire people would probably have +watched her with a preconceived suspicion and dislike for a couple of +years, but even her questionable qualities of youth and spontaneity +could not dispose of the fact that she had been born a Hewish and had +lately visited at Halberton House. In that mild climate people remain +alive, or, if you prefer it, asleep, longer than in any other part of +England, and the visitors who came flocking to Lapton were, for the +most part, in a stage of decrepit or suspended life. They drove +through the steep and narrow lanes in all sorts of ancient vehicles, in +jingles, victorias, barouches and enormous family drags. Their +coachmen, older and more withered than themselves, wore mid-Victorian +whiskers, and shiny cockades on their hats. In Gabrielle's +drawing-room the visitors sat on the extreme edges of their chairs. +They spoke with a faded propriety, dropped their final "g's," and +specialised in the abbreviation "ain't." They stayed for a quarter of +an hour exactly by the French clock on the mantelpiece, contriving, in +this calculated period, to make it quite clear that they were on terms +of intimacy with the Halbertons, and they invariably finished by +inviting the Considines to lunch. + +In this way Gabrielle became familiar with a number of dining-rooms +furnished in mahogany and horsehair and hung with opulent studies of +still life in oils and engravings after Mr. Frith. The meal was +usually served by the whiskered coachman, who wore, for the occasion, a +waistcoat decorated with dark blue and yellow stripes, and there was +always cake for lunch. After the port, which generally made her feel +sleepy, Considine would be taken off to see the stables, and Gabrielle +conducted to a walled garden, heavy with the scent of ripening fruit, +where there was no shade but that of huge apple trees, frosted with +American blight, that reminded her, in their passive mellowness, of the +people who owned them. Nothing more violent than archery, in its old +and placid variety, ever invaded the lives of these county families. +If it had not been for the headaches with which their society always +afflicted her, Gabrielle would have been tempted time after time to +scandalise them, but the example of Considine, who was always frigidly +at ease, restrained her, and so she allowed herself to be lulled to +sleep, recovering slowly as they drove back through the green lanes to +Lapton. + +Her symptoms of boredom were taken, in this society, for evidence of +her good breeding, and since she was too tired to be scandalous, +Gabrielle became a social success. Her success is important, not +because it changed her in any way, but because it paved the way for the +development by which she became acquainted with Mrs. Payne, and the +most intriguing episode of her life began. + +It was notorious that Considine's parochial labours occupied very +little of his time. The parish was small and scattered, Lapton Huish +itself being a mere hamlet, and the neighbouring farmers so soaked in +respectable tradition and isolated from opportunities of vice that +their souls lay in no great danger of damnation. The activities of +Considine were practically limited to his Sunday services, but though +the softness of the climate might eventually have transformed him into +a likeness of the ancient automaton who had preceded him, it was not in +his nature to take things easily. He came of a vigorous stock. The +clear, thin air of the Wiltshire downland that his ancestors had +breathed makes for energy of temperament. At Roscarna he had given +vent to this in the education of Gabrielle, the acquisition of his +doctor's degree, and the management of his father-in-law's estate. His +capacity for management, of which he had shown evidence in his +winding-up of the Roscarna affairs, appealed to Lord Halberton, and it +was not long before he proposed a series of improvements to the Lapton +property that took his patron's fancy. In Considine's ideas there was +not only imagination, but money, and Halberton was getting rather tired +of his own expensive agricultural experiments. + +The big house of the parish, Lapton Manor, had lain for several years +unoccupied, for no other reason apparently but that it was isolated and +out of date. To Lord Halberton it represented at least a thousand +pounds a year in waste. When Considine had been at Lapton Huish for a +little more than six months this deserted mansion suggested itself to +him as an outlet for his energies. He told Gabrielle nothing of +this--he was not in the habit of discussing business matters with +Gabrielle--but he rode over to Halberton House one day with an +elaborate and practical paper scheme. He proposed, in effect, to +vacate the Rectory, and take over Lapton Manor as it stood. + +The idea had been suggested to him at first by one of the consequences +of Gabrielle's social success. The wife of a neighbouring baronet had +fallen in love with her--the fact that her husband had followed suit +made things easier. This woman was the mother of two sons, of whom the +elder, the heir to the title, was delicate. She did not wish to +separate the boys, and realising that it was impossible to send them +together to an ordinary preparatory school, the notion had come to her +of asking the Considines if they would take them into their house at +Lapton. Doctor Considine, no doubt, would find time to equip them with +a good classical education, while Gabrielle could supply the feminine +influence which was so essential to real refinement. She was not only +tired of tutors--their equivocal social status was so tiresome!--but +sufficiently Spartan to feel that her sons would be better away from +home for a little while. Away, but not too far away. Gabrielle had +thought it would be rather fun to have a couple of boys, even dull boys +like the Traceys, in the house. She had told Considine that she would +like the arrangement if only the Rectory were bigger. As it was they +couldn't possibly entertain the proposal. + +This set Considine thinking, and from his deliberations emerged the +much more ambitious scheme of taking over Lapton Manor, and equipping +it as a special school for the education of really expensive boys. He +decided that he would not take a greater number than he could educate +by himself. His pupils must all be well-connected or wealthy. He +would teach them not only the things with which a public school might +reasonably be expected to equip them, but the whole duty of a landed +proprietor. The neglected Manor lands, already a drag on the Halberton +property, should be his example. His pupils should see it recover +gradually with their own eyes. The fees they paid should go to its +development, and provide at the end of three or four years' work the +satisfaction of a model and profitable estate. + +All Considine's heart was in the plan. He loved teaching, and he loved +the land. He had a natural aptitude for both, and the opportunity of +developing them seemed too good to be missed. Lord Halberton agreed. +A lease was signed in which Considine, paying a nominal rent for Lapton +Manor, undertook to restore the lands and house to the condition from +which they had fallen. Both landlord and tenant were delighted with +their bargain. In six weeks the Rectory had been vacated and relet to +an old lady from the north of England who wanted to die in Devonshire, +and the Considines had moved to the Manor, under the benignant eyes of +Lady Halberton. In another fortnight the first pupils, the Tracey +boys, arrived, and Considine was advertising in _The Morning Post_ and +_The Times_ for three at fees that even Lord Halberton considered +outrageous. "There's plenty of money in the country," said Considine. +With the insight of genius he added to his advertisement, "Special care +is given to backward or difficult pupils." + + + + +XI + +When Mrs. Payne had the good luck to stumble on Considine's +advertisement--for, in spite of the strange complications that ensued +for the Considines the occasion was certainly fortunate for her--that +remarkable person was at her wits' ends. If she had not been a woman +of resource and character as well as a devoted mother I think she would +have given up the problem of Arthur as a bad job long before this; but +it was literally the only thing that really mattered to her in life, +and if she had abandoned the struggle I do not know what would have +become of her. + +By ordinary canons Mrs. Payne could not be considered an attractive +woman. The only striking features in her plain, and rather +expressionless face were her eyes, which were of a soft and +extraordinarily beautiful grey. She had large hands and feet, no +figure to speak of, and she dressed abominably. She possessed in fact, +all the virtues and none of the graces, and was, in this respect at any +rate, the diametrical opposite of her son. Her appearance suggested +that life had given her a tremendous battering, a condition that would +have been pitiful if it were not that she also gave the impression of +having doggedly survived it; and for this reason one could not help +admiring her. + +Her husband had been a business man of exceptional brilliance, of a +brilliance, indeed, that was almost pathological, and may have +accounted in part for the curious mentality of Arthur. In a short, but +incredibly active life, he had amassed a fortune that was considerable, +even in the midlands where fortunes are made. I do not know what he +manufactured, but his business was conducted in Gloucester, and the +Overton estate, which he acquired shortly before his death, lay under +the shadow of Cotswold, between its escarpment and the isolated hill of +Bredon, within twenty miles of that city. Mr. Payne had died of acute +pneumonia in a sharp struggle that was in keeping with his strenuous +mode of life. Seven months after his death his only child, Arthur, was +born. + +In the care of her son, and the control of the fortune to which he +would later succeed, Mrs. Payne, who was blessed with an equal vocation +for motherhood and finance, became happily absorbed. Everything +promised well. The business in Gloucester realised more than she could +have expected, and she settled down in the placid surroundings of +Overton with no care in the world but Arthur's future. + +He was a singularly beautiful child, fair-haired, with a skin that even +in manhood was dazzlingly white, and eyes that were as arresting as his +mother's: a creature of immense vitality, who shook off the usual +diseases of childhood without difficulty, and developed an early and +almost abnormal physical perfection. He was not, it is true, +particularly intelligent. He did not begin to talk until he was over +three years old; but this slowness of development was only in keeping +with his mother's physical type, and his early childhood was a period +of sheer delight to her in which no shadow of the imminent trouble +appeared. + +By the time that he had reached his seventh year, Mrs. Payne was +beginning to be worried about him. His bodily health was still +magnificent, but there was a strain in his character that worried her. +It appeared that it was impossible for him to tell the truth. +Haphazard lying is no uncommon thing in children, proceeding, as it +sometimes does, from an excess of imagination and an anxiety to appear +startling; but imagination was scarcely Arthur's strong point, and his +lies were not haphazard, but deliberately planned. + +To a woman of Mrs. Payne's uncompromising truthfulness this habit +appeared as a most serious failing. She could not leave it to chance, +in a vague hope that Arthur would "grow out of it." She tackled it, +heroically and directly, by earnest persuasion, and later, by +punishments. By one method and another she determined to appeal to his +moral sense, but after a couple of years of hopeless struggling she was +driven to the conclusion that this, exactly, was what he lacked. It +seemed that he had been born without one. + +The thing was impossible to her, for his father had been a man of +exceptional probity and, without self-flattery, she knew that she +herself was the most transparently honest person on earth. As the boy +grew older his opportunities for showing this fatal deficiency +increased. Whatever she said or did, and however sweetly he accepted +her persuasions and punishments, it became evident that she, at any +rate, was incapable of keeping his hands from picking and stealing and +his tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering. The condition +was the more amazing in the face of his great natural charms. All her +friends and visitors at Overton found the boy delightful; his physical +beauty remained as wonderful as ever; on the surface he was a normal +and exceptionally attractive child; but in her heart she realised +bitterly that he was a completely a-moral being. + +In nothing was this more apparent than in his behaviour towards +animals. Overton, lying as it did in the midst of a green countryside, +was a natural sanctuary for all wild creatures, in which Arthur, from +his earliest years, had always shown a peculiar interest. As a child, +he would spend many hours with the keeper, developing an instinct for +wood-craft that seemed to be the strongest in his composition. He knew +all the birds of the estate, their habits, their calls, their refuges. +Once in the shadow of the woods, he himself was a wild animal, a +creature of faunish activity and grace. Mrs. Payne always encouraged +this passion of his as a natural and admirable thing, until, one day, +the keeper, who was no more humane than the majority of keepers, came +to her with a shocking story of Arthur's cruelty: an enormity that it +would have taken the mind of a devil, rather than a man, to imagine. +When she taxed the boy with it he only laughed. She thrashed the +matter out; she pointed out to him that he had done a devilish thing; +but in the end she had to give it up, for it became clear to her that +he was trying as hard as he could to see her point of view but +couldn't, simply because it wasn't in him. She began to realise slowly +and reluctantly that it was no good for her to appeal to something that +didn't exist. The boy had been born with a body a little above the +normal, and a mind a little below the average, but nature had cruelly +denied him the possession of a soul, and neither her prayers nor her +devotion could give him what he congenitally lacked. + +She wondered whether the isolation of his life at Overton had anything +to do with it, whether contact with other children of his own age would +reduce him to the normal. She took the risk, and sent him at the age +of twelve, to a preparatory school in Cheltenham. Before the first +term was half over they sent for her and asked her to remove him. The +head master confessed that the case was beyond him. On the surface the +boy was one of the most charming in the whole school, but his heart was +an abyss of the most appalling blackness. Mrs. Payne entreated him to +tell her the worst. He hedged, said that it wasn't just one thing that +was wrong, but everything--everything. She asked him if he had ever +known a case that resembled Arthur's. No, he thanked Heaven that he +hadn't. Could he advise her what to do? Lamely he suggested a tutor, +and then, as an afterthought, a mental specialist. + +The word sent a chill into Mrs. Payne's heart. The idea that this +bright, delightful child, the idol of her hopes, was the victim of some +obscure form of moral insanity frightened her. But she was a woman of +courage and determined to know the worst. She took him to a specialist +in London. + +Arthur thoroughly enjoyed this desolating trip. The specialist talked +vaguely, leaving her nothing but the faintest gleam of hope. There +were more things in heaven and earth, he said, than were dreamed of in +the philosophy of the most distinguished alienists. He talked +indefinitely of internal secretions. It was possible, he said--and +underlined the word--possible, just barely possible, that in a year or +two--to put it bluntly, at the time of puberty--the boy's disposition +might suddenly and unaccountably change. He implored her not to count +on it, and assured her that, for the present, medical science could do +no more. If, by any chance, his prophecy should be fulfilled, he +begged Mrs. Payne to let him know. The case, if she would pardon the +use of this objectionable word, was one of the greatest professional +interest. + +She took Arthur back to Overton and waited desperately. Tutor +succeeded tutor. Each of them found Arthur charming and impossible. +For herself she saw no change in him that was not physical. By this +time she had abandoned any idea of finding him a profession. At the +same time, she was anxious to make him capable of managing the Overton +estate, and though she dared not send him to one of the ordinary +agricultural colleges for fear of a repetition, on a larger scale, of +the Cheltenham disaster, she thought that it might be possible to find +a capable land-agent who would give him some kind of training and put +up with his idiosyncrasy for the sake of a substantial fee. + +While searching for a suitable instructor she happened to see +Considine's advertisement. The fact that he gave the name of a great +landowner, Lord Halberton, as a reference, convinced her that the +opportunity was genuine, and the prospectus promised instruction in all +the subjects that would be most useful to Arthur. The fact that only a +small number of pupils was to be taken, and that the place should be +regarded as a friendly country-house rather than as a school, attracted +her; but the part of the advertisement that finally persuaded her to a +faint glimmer of hope was Considine's artfully worded final paragraph: +"Special care is given to backward or difficult pupils." + +Like all sufferers from incurable diseases she was only too ready to +place confidence in any person who laid claim to special knowledge. +She began to wonder if Considine was such a specialist. She wrote to +him, looking for a miracle to save her from her afflictions. + +Considine replied formally. He did not jump at the idea of taking +Arthur, a fact which convinced her that education at Lapton Manor was +something of a privilege, and this made her disregard the fact that the +privilege was expensive. Still, his note was direct and business-like. +He made it clear that if he were willing to take backward or difficult +boys he expected to be paid a little more for his trouble, but the +confident tone in which he wrote suggested that he was a man who knew +his business. + +He did know his business. Considine was a clear-headed and capable +person with a degree of confidence in himself that went a long way +towards assuring his success. He proposed, finally, that it would be +more satisfactory for both of them if Mrs. Payne were to visit him at +Lapton and see the place and its owners for herself. Then they could +talk the matter over, and define the peculiar difficulties of Arthur's +case. More and more impressed, she accepted the proposal. Considine +met her train at Totnes with a dogcart and drove her to Lapton Manor. + + + + +XII + +In that part of the world the early autumn is the most lovely season of +the year. The country in its variety and sudden violences of shape and +colour seemed to her sensationally lovely after the mild beauty of her +own midland landscape, dominated and restrained by the level skylines +of Cotswold. Considine, who spoke very little as he drove, but was a +stylish whip, told her the names of the villages through which they +passed, names that were as soft and sleepy as Lapton Huish itself. He +showed her his church, with a flicker of pride, and the hung slates of +the Rectory wall through a gap in the green. Then they passed into the +open drive of Lapton Manor. + +He explained to her that the estate had been neglected and was now the +subject of an experiment; but it seemed to her that the level fields +through which the drive extended had already come under the influence +of his orderly mind. To everything that Considine undertook there +clung an atmosphere of formal precision that suggested nothing so much +as the eighteenth century. The Manor, suddenly sweeping into view from +behind a plantation of ilex, confirmed this impression. It was such a +house as Considine must inevitably have chosen, a solid Georgian +structure, square and sombre, with a pillared portico in front shading +the entrance and its flanking windows. The window panes of the upper +storey blazed in the setting sun. + +In the hall Gabrielle Considine awaited them. She was dressed in +black--probably she was still in mourning for Jocelyn--with a white +muslin collar such as a widow might have worn. To Mrs. Payne, by an +unconscious personal contrast, she seemed very tall and graceful and +exceedingly well-bred. No doubt Considine had prepared the way for +this impression. On the drive up he had spoken several times of Lord +Halberton, "my wife's cousin." Mrs. Considine's voice was very soft, +with the least hint of Irish in it, an inflection rather than a brogue. +Her hands, her neck and her face were very white. Possibly her skin +seemed whiter because of the blackness of her hair and of her dress and +the beautiful shape of her pale hands. Curiously enough, the chief +impression she made on Mrs. Payne was not the obvious one of youth; and +this shows that Gabrielle, outwardly, at any rate, had changed +enormously in the last year. Mrs. Payne did not know then, and +certainly would never have guessed, that the lady of the house was +under twenty years of age. She only saw a creature full of grace, of +dignity, and of quietness, and she knew that Considine was proud of +these qualities that his wife displayed. There was nothing to suggest +that the pair were not completely happy in their marriage. + +After dinner they proceeded to business. They sat together in the +drawing-room, Mrs. Considine busy with her embroidery at a small table +apart, while her husband, capably judicial, begged Mrs. Payne to tell +him the peculiar features of Arthur's case. She found Considine +sympathetic, and the telling so easy that she was able to express +herself naturally in the most embarrassing part of her story. +Considine helped her with small encouragements. Gabrielle said +nothing, bending over her work while she listened. Indeed, she had +scarcely spoken a dozen words since Mrs. Payne's arrival. When she +came to the episode of Arthur's expulsion from the school at +Cheltenham, Considine made an uneasy gesture suggesting that his wife +should retire, and Gabrielle quietly rose. + +Mrs. Payne begged her to stay. "It is much better that you should both +know everything," she said. "I want you to realise things at their +worst. It is much better that you should know exactly where we stand." + +She wondered afterwards why Considine had suggested that Gabrielle +should go. At first she had taken it for granted that he was merely +considering her own maternal feelings in an unpleasant confession. It +was not until she thought the matter out quietly at Overton that she +decided that his action was really in keeping with the rest of his +attitude towards his wife; that he did, in fact, regard her as a small +child who should be repressed and denied an active interest in his +affairs. Gabrielle's quietness had puzzled her. Perhaps this was its +explanation. + +For the time the story absorbed her and she thought no more of +Gabrielle. Considine was such an excellent listener, sitting there +with his long fingers knotted and his eyes fixed on her, that she found +herself subject to the same sort of mesmeric influence as had overcome +Lord Halberton. He inspired her with a curious confidence, and she +began to hope, almost passionately, that he would undertake the care of +Arthur. Before she had finished her narrative she was assailed with a +fear that he wouldn't--he seemed to be weighing the matter so carefully +in his mind--and burst out with an abrupt: "But you _will_ take him, +won't you?" + +Considine smiled. "I shall be delighted," he said. + +Her thankfulness, at the end of so much strain, almost bowled her over. + +"You make me feel more settled about him already," she said. "I'm +almost certain that he will be happy here. I feel that I'm so lucky to +have heard of you. You and your wife," she added, for all the time +that she had been speaking, she had been conscious of the silent +interest of Gabrielle. When it came to a question of terms there was +nothing indefinite about Considine. The fees that he suggested were +enormous, but Mrs. Payne's faith in him was by this time so secure that +she would gladly have paid anything. All through the rest of her visit +this slow and steady confidence increased. From the bedroom in which +she slept she could see the wide expanse of the home fields. It seemed +to her that the quiet of Lapton was deeper and mellower and more +intense than any she had ever known. It was saturated with the sense +of ancient, stable, sane tradition. It breathed an atmosphere in which +nothing violent or strange or abnormal could ever flourish. She felt +that, in contrast with their restless modern Cotswold home, its intense +normality must surely have some subtle reassuring effect upon her son. +Gazing over those yellow fields in the early morning she felt a more +settled happiness than she had ever known since her husband's death. + +So, full of hope, she returned to Overton and announced the +arrangements she had made to Arthur. He took to them gladly. He was +tired of the unnatural indolence of Overton, and in any case he would +have welcomed a change. In everything but his fatal abnormality he was +an ordinary healthy boy, and the prospect of going into a new county, +and learning something of estate management, a subject in which he was +really interested, appealed to him. She described the drive from the +station, the house, and the general conditions in detail. Her +enthusiasm for Considine rather put him off. + +"I hope he isn't quite such a paragon as you make out," he said, "or +he'll have no use for me." + +Gabrielle appeared as a rather shadowy figure in his mother's +background. "Oh, there's a wife, is there?" he said. "That's rather a +pity." She smiled, for this was typical of his attitude towards women. + +Even though she smiled at it her heart was full of thankfulness, for, +as he had grown older, she had lived in an indefinite terror of what +might happen when Arthur did begin to notice women. It was quite bad +enough that he should be without a conscience in matters of truth and +property; if he were to be found without conscience in matters of sex +there was no end to the complications with which she might have to +deal. She always remembered the specialist's prophecy that the period +of puberty might be marked by a complete change for the better in his +dangerous temperament, but she was secretly haunted by a fear that this +critical age might, by an equal chance, reveal some new abnormality or +even aggravate the old. Arthur was now nearly seventeen, and +physically, at any rate, mature. For the present she lived in a state +of exaggerated hopes and fears. + +The amazing part of the whole business was that Arthur didn't realise +it. He looked upon the anxiety which Mrs. Payne found it so difficult +to conceal as feminine weakness. He wished to goodness that she +wouldn't fuss over him, being convinced that he himself was an +ordinary, plain-sailing person who had submitted for long enough to an +unreasonable degree of pampering. He didn't see any reason why he +shouldn't be treated like any other boy of his age, and felt that he +had already been cheated of many of the rights of youth. One of the +principal reasons why he welcomed the Lapton plan was that it would +free him from the constant tug of apron-strings, and allow him to mix +freely with creatures of his own age and sex. + +He went off to Lapton in the highest spirits, determined to have a good +time, rejoicing in the prospect of freedom in a way that made his +mother feel that she had been something of an oppressor. She could not +resist the temptation of seeing the last of him, and so they travelled +down together. This time she stayed a couple of days at Lapton. It +was part of Considine's plan to let parents see as much of the place as +they wanted, if only to convince them that they were getting their +money's worth. + +Everything that Mrs. Payne saw reassured her. The routine of the house +seemed to be reasonable and healthy. The mornings were devoted to +lessons in the library. After lunch the pupils went out over the +fields or into the woods where Considine instructed them in details of +farming and forestry. Their work was not merely theoretical. They had +to learn to use their hands as well as their brains, to plough a +furrow, or bank a hedge, or dig a pit for mangolds. Considine kept +them busy, and at the same time made them useful to himself. They used +to come in at tea-time flushed with exercise and pleasantly fatigued. +The late afternoon and evening were their own. They played tennis or +racquets, or read books in the library, a long room with many tall +windows that had been set aside for their instruction and leisure. + +Mrs. Payne rejoiced to find that their life at Lapton was so full. In +the absence of any idleness that was not well-earned she saw the +highest wisdom of Considine's system; for it seemed to her that her +anxiety for Arthur had probably done him an injustice in depriving him +of a natural outlet for his energies. At Lapton he could scarcely find +time for wickedness. + +In this way her admiration for Considine increased. She only regretted +that she had not been able in the past to secure a tutor of his capable +and energetic type. Reviewing the series of languid and futile young +men whom the very best agencies had sent her, she came to the +conclusion that no man of Considine's type could ever have been forced +to accept a tutor's employment. Even in the choice of his pupils she +saw signs of his discrimination. In addition to the two Traceys, whose +delightful manners were undeniable, he had secured two other boys: one +the younger son of an East Anglian peer, and the other a boy whose +father was a colonel in the Indian army. The paragraph in Considine's +advertisement that had first attracted her had made her wonder if his +school might not develop into a collection of oddities, but all the +pupils that she saw were not only the sons of gentlemen but obviously +normal. She felt that their influence, seconding the control of +Considine, must surely have a stabilising effect upon Arthur, and was +content. + +During the two days of her visit she still found Gabrielle a little +puzzling. She couldn't quite believe that her extreme quietness and +reserve were nothing more than simplicity. Knowing nothing of her +origins she did not realise that Gabrielle was actually shy of her, and +that this, and nothing else, explained her air of mystery. On the last +night, however, feeling that after all Gabrielle was the only woman in +the house in whom she could confide, she overcame her own diffidence, +and told her the whole story over again from a personal and feminine +point of view. Gabrielle listened very quietly. + +"I'm so anxious that I felt bound to tell you, just in the hope that +you'd be interested," said Mrs. Payne. "One woman feels that it takes +another woman to understand her. If you had children of your own, +you'd understand quite easily what I mean." + +"I think I do understand," said Gabrielle. + +"There are little things about which I should be ashamed to worry your +husband. I wonder if it would be asking too much of you to hope that +you would sometimes write to me, and tell me how he is? Naturally I +can't expect you to take a special interest in Arthur, more than in +others----" She found it difficult to say more. + +"Of course I will write to you if you want me to," said Gabrielle. + +Mrs. Payne, impulsively, kissed her. + + + + +XIII + +Gabrielle fulfilled her promise. All through the first term, while +autumn hardened into winter, at Lapton a season of sad sunlight, she +kept Mrs. Payne posted in the chronicle of Arthur's progress, and these +dutiful letters comforted his mother in her unusual loneliness at +Overton. They were not particularly interesting letters, and they +never brought to her any announcement of the long-awaited miracle, but +they gave her the assurance that some other woman had her eye on him, +and this, for some strange reason that may have been explained by +Arthur's dependence on her through her long widowhood, comforted her. + +In the beginning Gabrielle interested herself in Arthur simply for the +sake of Mrs. Payne; she had been touched by the mother's anxiety and +found her, perhaps, a little pathetic; but in a little time she began +to be interested in Arthur for himself. + +In the ordinary way she did not see a great deal of her husband's +pupils. Nominally, of course, she was the female head of the +household, but Considine, aware of her limited domestic experience, and +her ignorance of English customs, had secured a housekeeper from his +own home in Wiltshire, a Mrs. Bemerton, who also filled the office of +matron. As might be expected in a woman of Considine's choice, Mrs. +Bemerton was capable and, as luck would have it, she was also kindly. +All the domestic arrangements at Lapton ran smoothly under her +direction. She was reasonably popular with the boys and mothered them. +She even found time to mother Gabrielle--respectfully, for she had come +from a county that is staunchly feudal, and was aware of her mistress's +august connections. + +It was fortunate for Gabrielle in her relations with the boys that she +had so little to do with their domestic management. The fact that she +only saw them in their moments of recreation saved her from being +regarded as an ogress, her only suspicious circumstance being the fact +that she was married to Considine. Before the winter came she had +played games with them, and since she had so much of the tomboy in her, +had made herself acceptable as a sportswoman and a good sort. By the +time that Arthur Payne arrived the days were drawing in, and she saw +very little of them, except in the evenings, after dinner, when she and +Considine would join them in a game of snooker in the billiard-room, or +take a hand of whist, old-fashioned whist, in the library. + +It was here that she first became personally aware of Arthur's +disability. For several weeks she had been getting used to him as a +normal being, attractive because he was so undeniably handsome and +well-developed, more than usually attractive to her, perhaps, because +she was dark and he was fair. She had noticed his eyes, so like the +beautiful eyes of Mrs. Payne, his splendid teeth, and the charming +ingenuousness of his manner. Subtly influenced by these physical +features, and taking him for granted, she had almost forgotten the +curious history that Mrs. Payne had confided to her, and it came as a +shock to her playing cards against him one evening, to realise suddenly +that he was cheating. + +Her first impulse was one of indignation; but as she was not quite sure +of herself she said nothing, waiting to see if she could possibly have +been mistaken. In a few moments he cheated again, this time beyond any +possible doubt. She flushed with vexation. It seemed to her an +enormous thing. She was just on the point of throwing down her cards +when Mrs. Payne's story came back to her. Instead of dislike she felt +a sudden wave of pity and wonder. She had wanted, on the spur of the +moment, to give him away; but she realised that this would only +discredit him with the other boys and probably lay him open to a sort +of persecution. If he wasn't really responsible, that would be a pity; +and so she held her tongue. + +All the same she couldn't go on playing cards with him. She knew that +if she did she would be bound to continue on the look-out, and be +shocked by a series of these ugly incidents. She asked Considine if he +would read to them, and he consented readily. He liked reading aloud, +partly because he was, not unreasonably, vain of his speaking voice and +partly because the practice was part of his theory of education. At +that time he was reading Stevenson, an author who was supposed to +combine a flawless literary style with the soundest moral precepts and +an attitude towards life that encouraged the manly virtues peculiar to +Englishmen. Gabrielle enjoyed his reading thoroughly, for she had so +much of the boy in herself, and was quite unacquainted with any +Victorian literature. He read _Catriona_ slowly, and with gusto. +Gabrielle from her corner watched Arthur Payne, sprawling on a sofa at +the edge of the lamp-light. He was really a remarkably handsome young +animal with his fair hair tangled and his hands clasped on his knees. +She could see his eyes in the gloom. They seemed to burn with +eagerness while he listened, as though his imagination were on fire +within. She forgot that Considine was reading and went on watching the +boy. It seemed to her incredible that it was he whom she had detected +in such a deliberate dishonour half an hour before. It was melancholy. +She felt most awfully sorry for him. She wished, above all things, +that she could help him. People said that he was beyond help. In the +end he became conscious of her scrutiny and smiled across at her. And +this broke the spell of reflection. She heard Considine's voice: + +_'I will take up the defence of your reputation,' she said. 'You may +leave it in my hands.' And with that she withdrew out of the library._ +"That's the end of chapter nineteen." + +He closed the book, putting a marker in it methodically, as was his +wont. Gabrielle thanked him. She smiled to herself, for it seemed to +her that the words of Miss Grant with which he had recalled her from +her abstraction had a curious and prophetic meaning for herself. She +was thankful, for a moment, that she hadn't thoughtlessly given +Arthur's reputation away to his comrades. She felt herself thrilled by +a new and curious interest. She determined, as a part of her duty to +his mother, to speak to Arthur himself about what she had observed. + +She caught him in the passage just as the boys were going to bed, and +drew him aside into the drawing-room. The room was quite dark. + +"Arthur, I want to speak to you," she said. + +He laughed. "What's the matter?" + +"When we were playing cards to-night you cheated." + +For a moment there was silence. Then he laughed again--not an uneasy, +shameful laugh, but one of sheer amusement. It shocked her. At last +he said: + +"Did you see it? Then why didn't you make a fuss about it?" + +She was thankful, at any rate, that he had not lied to her. That was +what she had fearfully expected. + +"I didn't want to give you away to the others." + +"Why not? It wouldn't have been any news to them. They know that I +cheat already. That's why they're up against me. But that doesn't +worry me." + +"I don't understand you. It seemed to me a horrible thing to do. +Can't you see that?" + +"No, I can't. Perhaps I'm different. When I play I play to win." + +"But that's the whole point. If you don't stick to the rules of the +game there's no credit in winning, is there?" + +He was silent for a moment. Then, with an effort of the most +courageous honesty, he said: "Well, it feels the same to me. I like +winning--anyhow." + +She hesitated for a moment. + +"It makes it so that--so that we can't respect you," she said. + +"Now I suppose you'll go and tell Dr. Considine. Just my luck." + +"Indeed, and I shan't do anything of the sort. It's between us two," +she replied. + +He was silent. + +"Well, it does no good talking about it," he said mournfully. "I'm +made differently, that's all. Do you want anything else?" + +She didn't, and he left her in the dark. + +This small incident and the conversation that followed opened her eyes +to the reality of the problem. She didn't indeed tell Considine what +had happened, but she did talk to him once or twice about the history +of Arthur Payne. He did not tell her much, for it was part of his plan +that his wife should not be mixed up in the business of the school. +These things, in his opinion, lay entirely outside a woman's province. +Her place was in the drawing-room and her position that of a hostess +or, providentially, that of a mother. For the present there were no +signs of her fulfilling the latter. + +In spite of Considine's discouragement her interest in Arthur was now +fully aroused, and more eagerly for the very reason of the limits which +her husband had set to her activities. Life at Lapton Manor to a +person of Gabrielle's essential vitality was dull. The nature of the +surrounding country with its near horizons and lack of physical breadth +or freedom imprisoned her spirit. Even Roscarna in its decay had been +more vital than this sad, smug Georgian manor-house set in its circle +of low hills. Over there, in winter, there had been rough Atlantic +weather, and a breath of ice from the snowy summits of Slieveannilaun +or the mountains of Maamturk. Here, even in their more frequent +sunshine, the air lay dead, ebbing like a sluggish river, from Dartmoor +to the sea. In winter the county families went to sleep like dormice, +so that no strange-calling conveyances passed the lodge-gates at +Lapton, and the life of Gabrielle was like that of those sad roses that +lingered on the south wall beneath her bedroom window in a state that +was neither life nor death. If she had shared Considine's interest in +his profession things might have been different. No doubt she would +have thrown herself into it with enthusiasm; but her enthusiasm was of +a very different nature from the steady flame that burned in Considine. +No doubt he knew this, and felt that her sharing would be disturbing by +its violence. In the ordinary course of events I suppose he expected +that she would have another child, but as this interest was denied her, +she was thrown more and more upon her own resources. + +Her promise to Mrs. Payne gave her a reasonable excuse for her growing +interest in Arthur. She had never returned to the card-playing +incident; but as time went on a number of others equally distressing +presented themselves. Having constituted herself his special +protectress and the saviour of his reputation she tackled each of them +with courage. In every case she found herself baffled by the fact that +arguments which seemed to her unanswerable made no appeal to him, not +because he wasn't anxious to see things with her eyes, but because they +came within the area of a kind of blind-spot in his brain. She soon +found that she couldn't appeal on moral grounds to an a-moral +intelligence. She would have appealed on grounds material, but it +seemed to be ironically decreed that material and moral grounds should +be rarely at one. Sweet persuasion was equally useless. And indeed, +how could she expect to succeed by her influence where maternal love +had failed so signally? Even so, she would not own herself beaten. It +was tantalising; for the more she saw of Arthur the better she liked +him, and in these days she was seeing a good deal of him. + +The opportunity arose from Arthur's trouble. He had told her the truth +when he said his fellow-pupils at Lapton were already aware of his lack +of honour in games. Nothing is less easily forgiven by boys, and when +the others discovered that he cheated and lied, not so much by accident +as on principle, they began to treat him as an outcast from their +decent society. The Traceys went so far as to report his failing to +Considine. An unpleasant _contretemps_, but one that Considine had +expected. He explained to them that Payne was not entirely to blame, +and that his constitution was not normal. He advised them to take the +weakness for granted. Even when he did this he knew that such +distinctions were unlikely to be acceptable to a boyish code of honour. +On the other hand the special fees that Mrs. Payne was paying him were +essential to the development of his plans. As a compromise he decided +to keep Arthur apart from the others in their amusements in the most +natural way he could devise. Practically for want of a better solution +he handed him over to the care of Gabrielle. + +Arthur resented this. He was fond of games and of sport. He liked +winning and he liked killing; he thought it humiliating to his manly +dignity to be relegated to Gabrielle's society. He wrote bitterly to +his mother about it, using the contemptuous nickname that the boys had +invented for Mrs. Considine. + +"_I think old Considine,_" he wrote, "_must be thinking of turning me +into a nursemaid. I'm always being told off to help Gaby in the garden +or take her for drives in the pony-cart. Not much fun taking a woman +shopping!_" + +But Gabrielle was glad of it. The new plan supplied her with the first +prolonged companionship of a person of her own age--there were less +than three years between them--that she had known. Little by little +Arthur accepted it, and they became great friends. + +It was a curious relation, for though it must have been simple on his +side, on hers it was full of complication. To begin with his society +was a great relief from her loneliness. Again, she had already, for +want of another enthusiasm, conceived an acute interest in his curious +temperament, and her eagerness to get to the bottom of it, and, if +possible, to find a cure, was now fanned by something that resembled a +maternal passion. They spent the greater part of his spare time +together, and often, at hours when he would normally have been working +with Considine, she would ask for him to take her driving into Totnes +or Dartmouth, their two market towns. In the evenings they would walk +out together in search of air along the lip of the basin in which +Lapton Manor lay. + +On one of these evening walks a strange thing happened. They had +climbed the hills and had sat for a few minutes on the summit watching +the sun go down behind the level ridges that lead inward from the +Start. While they were sitting there in silence, Arthur suddenly +slipped away over the brim of a little hollow full of bracken on the +edge of the wood. A moment later Gabrielle heard him laughing, and +walked over quietly to see what he was doing. She saw him crouched, +quite unconscious of her presence, among the ferns at the bottom of the +hollow. He had caught a baby rabbit, and now he was torturing the +small terrified creature, its beady eyes set with fear, just as a cat +plays with a mouse. He was watching it intently: letting it escape to +the verge of freedom and then catching it and throwing it violently +back. For a second it would lie motionless with terror and then make +another feeble attempt at escape. She watched this display of animal +cruelty with horror, and yet she could not speak, for she wanted to see +what he would do next. At last the rabbit refused to keep up the +heartless game any longer. It simply lay and trembled. Arthur prodded +it with his foot, but it would not move. This appeared to incense him. +He took a flying kick at the poor beast and killed it. It lay for a +moment twitching, its muzzle covered in blood. A little thing no +bigger than a kitten two months old---- + +Gabrielle ran to him flaming with anger. She picked up the mutilated +rabbit and hugged it to her breast. + +"Why did you do that? You beast, you devil!" she cried. + +She could have flown at him in her anger. Arthur only laughed. He +stood there laughing, staring straight at her with his wide honest eyes. + +"It's dead. It's all right," he said. + +Her fingers were all dabbled with the blood of the rabbit that twitched +no longer. She could do nothing. She dropped the carcase with a +pitiful gesture of despair and burst into bitter tears. + +She sat sobbing on the edge of the hollow. She could not see him, but +presently she heard his voice, curiously shaken with emotion, at her +side. + +"I say, Mrs. Considine," he said. "Don't--please don't--I simply can't +stand it." + +"Oh, get away--leave me alone," she sobbed. "I can't bear you to be +near me. It was so little. So happy----" + +He wouldn't go. He spoke again, and his voice was quite changed--she +had never heard a note of feeling in it before. "I can't bear it. +You--I can't bear that you should suffer. I swear I won't do a thing +like that again--not if it hurts you. On my honour I won't." + +"Yes, you will. I suppose you can't help it. It's awful. You haven't +a soul. You aren't human." + +His voice choked as he replied. "I swear it--I do really. I could do +anything for you, Mrs. Considine. I feel that I could. For God's sake +try me!" + +She compelled herself, still sobbing, to look at him. She saw that his +face was tortured, and his eyes full of tears. But she could say no +more, and they walked home in silence. + + + + +XIV + +This distressing picture troubled Gabrielle for several days, and yet, +beneath her remembrance of anger and disgust, she could not help +feeling a curious excitement when she reflected that, for the first +time since she had known him, Arthur had shown her signs of pity and +tenderness. For a little while they lived under its shadow though +neither of them spoke of it again. Arthur, in particular, was awkward; +but whether he were ashamed of his cruelty, or merely of the effect +that it had produced on her, she could not say. Although she found it +difficult to believe in the first explanation she was deeply touched, +and perhaps a little flattered, by the possibility of the second. +Certainly his attitude toward her had changed. In everything that he +said or did, he now seemed pathetically anxious to please her, and even +this was encouraging. She didn't tell Considine what had happened. +She knew very well that he would consider the incident trivial and, in +a few words, shatter her illusion of its significance. And this fear +proved that she was not so very sure that it was significant herself. + +The curious atmosphere that now developed between them revealed itself +more particularly in the letters which they were both of them writing +to Mrs. Payne at Overton. Arthur's had never been very fluent, but +Gabrielle had found an outlet for herself in this correspondence. In +his early letters from Lapton Arthur had rarely mentioned Gabrielle; +whenever he had done so it had been half contemptuously, as though the +feeling of repression which emanates from the best of schoolmasters had +attached itself to the schoolmaster's wife. At the same time Gabrielle +had been brief, but extremely natural. With the card-playing incident +a new situation had developed. Arthur, as we have seen, had been +inclined to turn up his nose at Gabrielle's society when it was thrust +upon him by Considine, while Gabrielle had given signs of a more +maternal care. In the later stages of this period Gabrielle, being +taken as a matter of course, had practically dropped out of Arthur's +letters. The episode of the rabbit changed all this, for while Arthur +now began to expand in a naïve enthusiasm, Gabrielle's attempts at +writing about him fell altogether flat. Judging by her letters Mrs. +Payne might reasonably have supposed that she had grown thoroughly sick +of the boy. + +The real cause of her reticence was not so easily fathomable. I +suppose it was her instinctive method of withdrawing a subject that was +secretly precious to her from the knowledge of the one person in the +world who might reasonably assert a right to share it. If she had +analysed it, no doubt she would have proved that her interest in Arthur +was more intimate than she had ever confessed. But she didn't analyse +it. Neither, for that matter, did Mrs. Payne. Looking backward, a +year later, that good woman realised what a psychological howler she +had made. At the time she was merely thankful that Arthur was happy in +the society of a woman whom she liked and trusted--to whom, indeed, she +had more or less confided him--and sorry that at the very moment when +her influence might have counted, Gabrielle appeared to be losing +interest in the boy. It cheered her to think that Arthur was +expressing any admiration so human and, to be frank, so unlike himself. +She was even more cheered when she received Considine's report on him +at the beginning of the Christmas holidays. "_There have been one or +two unpleasant incidents,_" wrote the tactful Considine, "_but during +the latter part of the term I must say that your boy's conduct has been +practically unexceptionable. I think it is only right to tell you that +I have great hopes of him._" At the same time Gabrielle was silent. + +Of course Considine didn't really know as much about it as she did. He +had seen the broad effects of Arthur's adoration--for that is what it +was now becoming--but he knew nothing of the struggles that had gone to +their making. During the latter part of the term his conduct had not +been by any means "unexceptionable"; but it was part of Gabrielle's +queer policy of secrecy to hide any lapse on Arthur's part from her +husband. She tackled them alone, forcing herself, against her own +compassionate instincts, to play upon Arthur's feelings. She had now +discovered that where appeals to general morality, or even to reason, +were bound to fail, the least sign of suffering on her part could +reduce Arthur to a miserable and perfectly genuine repentance. Such +was the end of all their struggles; and there were many; for she would +not let the least sign of his old weakness pass. At times she felt +that she was cruel, but she allowed herself to be harrowed, finding, +perhaps, in the pain that she inflicted on both of them, something that +was flattering both to her conscience and to her self-esteem. + +During all this time there was nothing approaching intimacy between +them. To him, however he might adore her, she was always Mrs. +Considine. In all their relations they preserved the convention that +she was a creature of another world and of another age. No doubt his +childishness made the illusion easy to him. With her there must surely +have been moments of emotion when she realised that the barrier was +artificial. It is impossible to say how soon the first of these +moments came. + +Certainly when he returned to Overton for the holidays with Considine's +encouraging report, she felt terribly lonely. For the last two months +she had concerned herself so passionately with the discovery--one might +almost say the creation--of his soul, that his departure left her not +only with a physical blank, but with a spiritual anxiety. She wondered +all the time what was happening to him; whether in her absence he was +keeping it up or drifting into a state of tragic relapse. On the +evening before he left she had made him promise to write to her, but +his boyish letters were wholly unsatisfactory. She believed that he +was telling her the truth in them, and yet he told her so little. She +even wished that she had kept up the habit of writing to Mrs. Payne; +for the least sidelight on the condition of affairs at Overton would +have been grateful to her. She did write to Mrs. Payne, but destroyed +the letter, feeling that a sudden revival of her custom when Arthur was +no longer at Lapton would seem merely ridiculous. + +The Christmas holidays were a dreary time for her. Deserted by all +youth the Manor House slipped back into its ancient and melancholy +peace. Winter descended on them. She had been told that the climate +of South Devon resembled that of Connemara, but this was not the kind +of winter that she had known before. Snow never fell, as it used to +fall on her own mountains, turning Slieveannilaun into a great ghost, +and bringing the distant peaks of the Twelve Pins incredibly nearer. +Perhaps snow fell on Dartmoor; but from Lapton Dartmoor could not be +seen. In those deep valleys it could only be felt as a reservoir of +chilly moisture, or a barrier confining cold, dank air. Instead of +snowing it rained incessantly. The soft lanes became impassable with +mud, turning Lapton into a peninsula, if not an island. + +At the New Year they went on a visit to Halberton House. During their +stay there Lady Barbara conceived a sudden and violent passion for +Gabrielle, that culminated in Gabrielle being taken solemnly to her +cousin's virginal bedroom and hearing the story of an old unhappy +love-affair. All the time that she listened to Lady Barbara's +plaintive voice Gabrielle was wondering what had happened at Overton, +and whether Arthur was keeping to the solemn undertaking that he had +given her. She wondered if it were possible that regard for his +mother's feelings might now be filling the place of her own influence; +if Mrs. Payne were arrogantly taking to herself the credit for the +miracle which Lapton had seen so laboriously begun. She hoped, knowing +that it was wicked of her to do so, that this had not happened. She +felt that the change in Arthur was hers and hers only. She found +herself forced to confess that she was jealous of Mrs. Payne.... + +"And then," said Lady Barbara, "just when I was certain, positively +certain that he cared for me--after that morning in church, you +know--his mother broke her leg huntin' in Leicestershire. The wire +came in with the mornin' letters, and the first thing I knew of his +goin' was seein' the luggage cart with his hat-box in the drive. Then, +poor dear, he met this widow at a dance at Belvoir. I begged mother to +let me go and stay with the Pagets at Somerby, but she said it would be +undignified. He was killed in the Chitral a year later. I felt I must +tell you, dear, because I can't help feelin' a little envious of your +happy marriage. Dr. Considine is such a man ... and I always feel it's +so safe marryin' a clergyman." + +The idea of envying her marriage with Considine was so ridiculous that +Gabrielle couldn't repress an inexcusable smile, but Lady Barbara cut +short her blushing apology. "I don't begrudge you your happiness, my +dear," she said. + +Seeing Lady Barbara sitting opposite to her with her thin arms sticking +straight out of a camisole, and two plaits of hair pathetically +trailing one on either side of her narrow forehead, Gabrielle was +suddenly overwhelmed with the consciousness of her own youth--not only +that, but her amazing difference in temperament from these people of +her own blood. Retiring from her cousin's chaste kisses to her own +room, she stood for a long while in front of her mirror, tinglingly +aware of her freshness and beauty and vitality. Considine, emerging +from his dressing-room, found her there. + +"Vanity, vanity!" he said, taking her in his arms and kissing her. +Gabrielle suddenly thought how glad she would be to hand him over to +the admiring Lady Barbara. She remembered the chill kiss of her +cousin, and then the kiss of Considine. Neither of them, she decided, +was a real kiss. + +The new term began on the twenty-fifth of January. Gabrielle had +awaited it with a subdued excitement. When the day came, she compelled +herself to appear more placid than usual. It was a sunny morning of +the kind that often gives a feeling of spring to the Devon winter, a +morning full of promise. Considine had suggested that she should drive +into Totnes and do some shopping before meeting the train from the +Midlands, but she would not do so. All morning she made herself busy +in the house, and later in the day, hearing the wheels of the wagonette +on the drive, she slipped out into the garden to visit a border where +the crocus spears were pushing through the soil. She could not explain +her own sudden shyness. She was tremulous, tremulous with life. There +was a smell of spring in the air. Arthur came out to find her in the +garden. His eyes glowed with the pleasure of seeing her again, but she +would not look at him. + +"Well," she said, "what happened?" + +"Oh, it was all right," he said. "I think it was all right. I'm +almost sure of it. I always thought of you, you see. Imagined what +you'd think of me." He didn't say that he had considered what his +mother would think. She was suddenly, jealously, thankful. + +With his return she regained her content, feeling no longer the weight +of winter. He spoke no more regretfully of his exclusion from the +sports of the other pupils and they settled down once again into their +happy routine of walks and drives. In a little while the crocuses +burst into flame in the borders, and in the hedges the wild arums began +to unfold. + +One Friday afternoon in the middle of March she asked Considine to let +Arthur drive her into Dartmouth. The day was so mild that they chose +the high-road that skirts the edge of Start Bay. There was a feeling +of holiday in the air, for the sea beneath them was of a pale and +shimmering blue like a stone blazing with imprisoned light or a +butterfly's wing. On the road they met a long procession of carriers' +vans heaped high with shopping baskets, and the happy faces of country +people stared at them from under the hoods. The road shone white, +having been scoured with rain, and all the hedgerows smelt of green +things growing, with now and then a waft of the white violet. The sky +was so clear that they could see the smoke of many liners, hull down, +making the Start. When they reached the crest of the hill above +Dartmouth a man-of-war appeared, a three-funnelled cruiser, steaming +fast towards the land. She was so fleet and strong that she seemed to +share in the exhilaration of the day. They dropped down slowly into +Dartmouth and lost sight of her. + +Gabrielle had a great deal of shopping to do, and Arthur drove her from +one shop to another, waiting outside in the pony-trap while she made +her purchases. Then they had tea together in a restaurant on the quay. +They had never been more happy together. When they came out of the +tea-shop on to the pavement they found themselves entangled in a group +of sailors, liberty-men who had been disembarked from the cruiser that +now lay anchored in the mouth of the Dart. They came along the +footpath laughing, pleased to be ashore. Arthur and Gabrielle stood +aside to let them pass, and as they did so Gabrielle saw the name +_H.M.S. Pennant_ upon their cap-ribbons. She became suddenly pale and +silent. The light had faded from the day. She begged Arthur to drive +her home as quickly as he could. + +Arthur was puzzled by her strangeness. He could not understand why she +did not speak to him. They drove on in silence through the dusk. So +they came to the point at which the coast road turns inward towards +Lapton Huish, a lonely spot where the cliffs break away into low hills, +and the highroad runs between a ridge of shingle on one side and on the +other two reedy meres. The night was windless, and they heard no sound +but a faint shivering of reed-beds, and the plash and withdrawal of +languid waves lapping the miles of fine shingle with a faint hiss like +that of grain falling on to a mound. + +On the bridge that spanned the channel connecting the two meres +Gabrielle asked him to stop. He did so, wondering, and she climbed out +of the trap, and leaned upon the coping, looking out over the water. +He couldn't think what to make of her. He did not know how dear is +mystery to the heart of a woman. He stood by, awkwardly looking at +her. At last she said slowly, "I hate the sea.... I hate it. But I +love lake-water," which didn't lead much further. But he knew that she +was for some reason unhappy, and found this difficult to bear. He came +near to her, leaning over the bridge at her side. + +"I wish you'd tell me what's the matter," he said. "It's all very well +your helping me, but it's a bit one-sided if I can't do anything for +you." + +She gazed at his shadowy face in the darkness, and then gently put her +hand on his. She felt a kind of shudder go through him as he clasped +it. + + + + +XV + +After that night it is difficult to believe that Gabrielle any longer +deceived herself, though I do not suppose that Arthur realised the true +meaning of their relation. The significant feature in it is that he +was gradually and almost imperceptibly becoming a normal human being. +Gabrielle had begun by developing in him a substitute for a conscience; +for since he had begun to consider everything that he said or did in +the light of its probable effect upon his idol, it had become a habit +with him to follow a definite code of conduct, and the saying that +habit is second nature finds an example in his extraordinary case. + +It is fascinating, but I believe profitless, to speculate on the subtle +hereditary influences that underlay their attraction for each other. +One can imagine that their state presented an example of the way in +which people of abnormal instincts tend to drift together: Arthur, the +a-moral prodigy, and Gabrielle, the last offshoot of the decayed house +of Hewish, daughter of the definitely degenerate Sir Jocelyn. But I do +not think that there was anything abnormal or decadent in Gabrielle's +composition. Her nature was gay and uncomplicated, in singular +contrast to her involved and sombre fate. One is forced to the +conclusion that the Payne miracle was the result of nothing more +uncommon than the natural birth of a tender passion between two young +people of opposite sexes, whom chance had isolated and thrown into each +other's company. The specialist who had vaguely suggested to Mrs. +Payne the hope that manhood might work a change in Arthur had been +nearer the mark than he himself supposed, for though the physical state +effected nothing in itself, its first consequence, the growth of an +ideal love, became his soul's salvation. + +Of all that happened during the Easter term we can know nothing, save +that it was spring, that they were supremely happy, and that Considine +was blind ... blind, that is, to everything in the case but the results +of Arthur's infatuation. These, indeed, were so obvious that he could +not very well miss them. The boy's essential childishness, the thing +that had added an aspect of horror to his habits of stealth and +cruelty, gradually disappeared. He began to grow up. I mean that his +mind grew up, for he had already shown a premature physical +development. Practically the space of a single term had changed him +from a child into a man. Considine, seeing this, innocently flattered +himself upon the admirable results of his educational system. A +country life, with plenty of exercise in the open air, and an +unconventional but logical type of literary education that was his own +invention. Result: "_Mens sana in corpore sano_." Arthur was a show +case, and seemed to make possible the acquisition of a long series of +"difficult" pupils at enormous and suitable fees. + +When once the boy got going, the rate of his mental development made it +difficult for Considine to keep pace with him. His mind, that had once +been slow, worked with a sort of feverish activity, as though he were +subconsciously aware that he had whole years of leeway to make up. The +other pupils, who had always taken Arthur's comparative dulness for +granted, and looked down upon him for it, noticed the change, and found +that if they were not careful he would outstrip them. At the same time +they began to discover that he was a thoroughly good fellow and to +wonder how on earth they had been so mistaken in him before. From +being something of an outcast he now became a favourite, asserting, for +the first time, the full advantage of his physical maturity. + +Considine was quick to take advantage of the change. He had always +been tempted by the idea of examination successes, and although he +realised the disadvantage with which Arthur, in his renaissance, was +starting, he saw no reason why the boy should not eventually do him +credit in some public competition. There should be no difficulty for +example, in getting him into Sandhurst ... or, perhaps, Woolwich, as +his new aptitude for mathematics suggested. He wrote at length to Mrs. +Payne, discussing these possibilities. This was his quiet and +considered way of revealing to her his success. + +Mrs. Payne, whose glimpses of the new Arthur in the Christmas holidays +had buoyed her with hopes in which she dared not place too much faith, +replied to his letter in a fever of excitement. Was it really possible +to think of such a career? Was there now no fear that if Arthur went +to Woolwich or Sandhurst something terrible might happen? Of course, +seeing what he had done already, she was prepared to trust Dr. +Considine's judgment in everything; but in any case, if the future that +he suggested were remotely possible, she would very much rather that +Arthur should not go into the army. One of their neighbours had lately +been killed in the Boer War. + +Her letter paved the way for Considine's triumph. He wrote and told +her that he thought he could now safely say that there was nothing at +all abnormal about her son. He did not wish to take undue credit for +the revolutionary change in Arthur's disposition, but could not help +feeling that the boy was a credit to the Lapton regime. Seeing that +Arthur was her only son he could quite understand her objection to his +adopting the hazardous calling of a soldier. As an alternative he now +suggested the Civil Service. Arthur's money--if he might descend to +such a practical consideration--would be extremely useful to him if he +served under the Foreign Office. Of course he could not promise +success, but under the new conditions he thought it worth while trying +to prepare Arthur for one of the examinations. Mrs. Payne consented. +She only hoped that Considine had not been deceived. + +Arthur did not object to the process of cramming that he now underwent +at Considine's hands. His newly-awakened thirst for knowledge was not +easily quenched. Considine, taking his education as a serious +proposition for the first time, naturally considered that the many +hours that Arthur spent with Gabrielle were waste. He also felt that +since he was now acceptable to them as a sportsman, Arthur should take +his place again with the other boys. He had not calculated the effect +of his decision on Gabrielle or on Arthur himself. That it could have +any effect at all upon her had never entered his mind. + +Gabrielle painfully decided that she would say nothing, but Arthur +found himself torn between two interests. Even during the growth of +his devotion to Gabrielle he had always felt a sneaking suspicion that +his constant enjoyment of her society was a little derogatory to his +manly dignity. He knew that his big limbs were made for more active +pursuits than walking over a hillside at a woman's pace, or driving a +pony-cart into Dartmouth. At the same time he saw that he could not +now desert her without a feeling of shame in addition to that of love. + +"What shall I do about it?" he said to her. + +"You must do what you think right." The sentence would have had no +meaning less than six months before. + +"It isn't that exactly, I suppose I must do what Dr. Considine orders." + +"Very well.... You must do what he orders." + +"I shall never see you, Mrs. Considine!" She was still Mrs. Considine +to him. For answer she only took his hand and smiled. + +From that time he followed obediently his master's plans. Considine +kept him busy, and the walks and drives that he had taken with +Gabrielle almost ceased. At first, making a deliberate sacrifice, she +had wondered if she would lose him; but she need never have feared +this. The moments in which they met were stolen and therefore sweet. +She still remained the confidante of all his emotions and thoughts, and +since the time in which these confidences could be given to her was now +so short, each moment of it burned with a new intensity. They met by +calculated chances and in strange places; and their meetings were +lovers' meetings, even if they never spoke of love. + +If the holidays at Christmas had been a desolation to Gabrielle, her +parting from Arthur next Easter was clouded by a sense of more positive +want. It was the season of lovers, days of bright sunshine, evenings +of a surpassing tenderness. She went to the station with him in the +pony-cart alone. She sat like a statue in the trap while the train +puffed its way slowly up the gradient and its noise died away in a +rhythmical rumble. When she awoke to the fact that he had gone she +felt a sudden impulse to do something desperate, if only she could +think of anything desperate to do. She felt that she would like to +shock Considine and the Halbertons and the whole county, to be, for one +moment, outrageous and unrestrained. But she couldn't do anything of +the kind; her wild spark of energy seemed so pathetically small and +feeble against the vast inertia of that dreamy countryside. Even if +she were to cry out at the top of her voice she couldn't assert her +identity; those huge passive folds of green country wouldn't believe +her. They wouldn't accept the fact that she was Gabrielle Hewish, now +called Considine. To them she was just the wife of a country parson +dawdling through the leafy lanes in a pony-trap. She lashed the pony +into a canter, but felt no better for it. The animal settled down +again into his shamble. No power on earth could make him keep on +cantering over the hills of the South Hams, and he knew it. + +Arrived at Lapton she handed over the pony to a groom and set off +walking violently across country, hoping in this way to cool the heat +of her blood. She felt that she would like to go on walking till she +dropped, but as soon as her limbs began to tire she knew that this +would not bring her content. She hurried back to the Manor a few +minutes late for dinner. Considine, to whom unpunctuality was the +eighth deadly sin, was pacing up and down the hall, his hands behind +his back, with the impatience of an animal prowling in a cage. + +"Ah, here you are at last!" he said. + +They went in to dinner, but she could not eat. Considine's appetite +was as regular as everything else in his time-table. He ate heartily +and methodically. She found it difficult to sit still and watch him +eating. + +"What's the matter with you?" he said at last. + +"I don't know. I'm restless to-day." + +"Well, there's no reason why you shouldn't rest now that the house is +empty again. The holidays come as a great relief in a place like this. +And the Spring Term is always the most trying." + +He watched her narrowly, then and for several days afterwards. When he +became solicitous about her health she always knew that he was +wondering if at last she was going to fulfil his desire for a child of +his own. On these occasions he overwhelmed her with attentions. + +Meanwhile Arthur, in the best of spirits, had arrived at Overton. Mrs. +Payne awaited him in a state of tremulous emotion. Now, for the first +time, she was to see her son made whole. Her elation was not without +misgiving, for the news of the miracle was almost too good to be true; +she couldn't help feeling that the Considines had judged him with a +scrutiny more superficial than her own, and though it was not for her +to dispute the intellectual blossoming that had raised such hopes in +his master, she couldn't be sure about the deeper, moral change until +she had seen for herself. Certainly his appearance on the station +platform gave her a sudden thrill of pleasure. Her boy had become a +man; his body had gained in solidity and balance, and his upper lip was +fledged with a fair down. He took her in his arms and kissed her with +a serious manliness that was new to her, and made her heart leap with +pride. His voice, too, had deepened. It was soft and low and +uncannily like his father's. Time after time she was struck by little +tricks of gesture and expression that were familiar to her, but had +never appeared in him before. He was indeed a stranger, yet a hundred +times more lovable than the son she had known. + +A couple of days convinced her that the change was not merely something +added, but vital and elemental. He showed it in a multitude of small +things--in his consideration for the servants, in his attentions to +herself, in the serious interest that he showed in matters that had not +touched him before, in affairs, in books, in newspaper politics. Even +so she had been flattered too often by transient improvements to be +convinced. Deliberately and fearfully she tested him, but never found +him wanting. Then her joy and thankfulness were too deep for words. + +And yet the position was not without its awkwardness. She knew that +Arthur was kinder, more human, and--if that were possible to her--more +lovable, but, in spite of these things, she could not help feeling that +there was something in this new and delightful nature that was foreign +to herself ... foreign, and even, subtly, hostile. It seemed to her +that in some peculiar way he was on the defensive. Up to a certain +point she could enter freely into his confidence, but after that point +she knew in her heart that there was something that he denied her. +Now, more than ever in her life, she wanted to feel that he was wholly +hers; and now, if she were to confess the truth, he seemed less hers +than he had ever been before. At times, indeed, when their intimacy +should have been at its best, she felt that she had lost him +altogether, and that his mind was hundreds of miles away from her, as +indeed it was. She consoled herself by supposing that his life was now +so crowded with new interests and dreams of future adventure that he +could be forgiven if their wonder enthralled and overwhelmed him. It +was indeed a wonderful thing if this son of hers, at the age of +seventeen, should see life with the eyes of a child new-born into the +world. She envied him this ecstasy, even though its real explanation +was far simpler than that which she imagined. When he walked in +silence with her through the fields, or sat dreaming under the cedar on +the lawn when evening came, it is possible that Arthur had sight of the +new heaven and new earth that she imagined, for his eyes were lover's +eyes. But this she never guessed. + + + + +XVI + +In the last week of the holidays, if only Mrs. Payne had been more +acute, she might have surprised his secret. Walking the lowest of +their meadows on the side of Bredon Hill, they came suddenly upon a +southern slope already powdered with the flowers of cowslips. This +cloth of gold was the chief glory of their spring, blooming mile on +mile of meadowland, and drenching the air with a faint perfume. Mrs. +Payne stooped to pick some, for the scent provoked so many memories, +and to her it was one of the sensations that returned year by year with +amazing freshness--that and the spice of pinks in early summer or the +green odour of phlox. "Smell them, they smell like wine," she said, +giving her bunch to Arthur. + +"Mrs. Considine told me that there are no cowslips in their part of +Devon," he said. And then, after a moment of hesitation, he went down +on his knees and began to pick the flowers. The hue of their smooth +stalks was pale as the first apple-leaves, springing straight and +slender each above its leafy mat. + +"Why are you picking so many? They're more beautiful as they are." + +"If they haven't any I'd like to send her some?" + +He went on picking cowslips till the light faded from the fields. Next +morning he packed them carefully, and posted them, with a letter, to +Lapton. She thought it very charming and thoughtful of him to send +Mrs. Considine the flowers. It merely struck her as typical of his new +nature, and she thought it rather shabby of Gabrielle, when, after +three days of waiting, she had not acknowledged the gift. Altogether +she felt that Mrs. Considine had been rather a broken reed as far as +Arthur was concerned. In the beginning she had taken to her, and +expected quite a lot of her. Arthur, too, seemed disturbed that she +did not reply. Day after day he waited for a letter from Lapton with +eagerness. There was no reason why he shouldn't have been anxious to +know that his present had not gone astray. She had not seen the note +that Arthur posted with his flowers. + +With no more than the vaguest mistrust--for she still felt that in some +way she had fallen short of full possession, Mrs. Payne saw him return +to Lapton for the summer term. During the early weeks Arthur scarcely +ever wrote to her, and when she protested mildly, his reply seemed to +her evasive. It was a dutiful reply, and though she couldn't help +admitting that in Arthur the recognition of any duty was a new thing, +the suspicion that for some obscure reason she was losing him, +persisted. She was not in the ordinary way a woman of acute +intuitions, but her whole mind had been so wrapped up in that son of +hers that she was sensitive to the smallest changes of tone, and she +knew that while he was writing her letters his head had been full of +other things. At the same time she had sense enough to see that with +his recovery Arthur's life had become crowded with so many new +interests that she couldn't reasonably expect the old degree of +absorption in herself. This was the price of his recovery, and she +determined to pay it without grudging. + +She settled down into this state of patience and resignation. She even +prepared to deny herself her usual privilege of a visit to Lapton in +term-time, feeling that it would be unfair of her to interrupt the +progress of Considine's remarkable system. In the meantime she kept in +touch with Arthur through her jealous care of the things that he had +left behind, in the arrangement of his books, in the mending of his +clothes, and in the preparation of an upstairs room that he had begun +to turn into a study for his holiday reading. On these inanimate +traces of him she lavished a peculiar tenderness, for their presence +had the effect of making her feel less lonely. + +One day she took up to his new study a number of note-books that he had +used during the Easter holidays. When he had sat out under the cedar +in the evenings she had often noticed him writing with a pencil though +she had never thought to enquire what he was doing. Now, with a chance +curiosity, she happened to open one of these books and examine what he +had written. She saw at once that they were verses, and laughed at the +idea. But when she had read one or two of his poems she laughed no +longer. She realised at once that they were love-poems, feeble and +amateurish in their expression, but daringly sensual and passionate in +their content. They made the good woman blush--her husband had never +been so direct in his days of courtship--but to her blushes succeeded a +moment of fierce maternal alarm. It was impossible, she thought, that +anyone innocent of a violent sexual passion could have conceived the +ideas that the verses contained. They were fully as physical, and +nearly as direct, as the love-songs of Herrick. She was not only +shocked, but frightened, for her long years of widowhood had isolated +her from all feelings of the kind that Arthur expressed so glibly. She +read the poems over again and again. She could not sleep at night for +thinking of them. In the end she became convinced that the thing which +she had feared most had come to pass; that even if the coming of +manhood had brought to Arthur the birth of a moral sense in matters of +ordinary social intercourse, the gain had been neutralised by the +release of a new instinct that was powerful enough to wreck the rest. +The boy was obviously and violently in love--not with any shadowy +dreamed ideal, but actually with a woman of definite physical +attributes. It was almost possible to reconstruct a picture from the +poems. A skin of ivory, grey eyes, hair that was like night, red lips, +pale hands, all rather commonplace, but, none the less, damningly +definite. + +It is curious that the image of Gabrielle never suggested itself to +her. Perhaps it was the fact that Arthur, for some unaccountable +reason, probably because he usually saw them in a half-light, had made +her violet eyes--an unmistakable feature--grey. As the matter stood +Mrs. Payne was convinced that he had become entangled, and intimately +entangled, with some dangerous and designing woman. It was her plain +duty to save him. The only thing that restrained her from immediate +action was the fear that any big emotional disturbance might undo the +work that Considine had already accomplished. She didn't in the least +connect the passion with the reformation, and yet she wondered if +interference with the one might somehow prejudice the other. It was a +harrowing dilemma. + +In the end, with her accustomed courage, she decided to face the risk. +At any rate no harm need be done by her taking Considine into her +confidence. She encouraged herself with a pathetic trust in his +stability and wisdom in all matters that affected Arthur. Without even +the warning of a telegram she made her decision, ordered the carriage +for the station and set off for Lapton. + +She arrived there late on a Saturday night to the astonishment of the +Considines, who had disposed of the boys for the evening, and were +sitting together in the library. Considine, who prided himself on +never being surprised by an emergency, welcomed her as if there were +nothing unusual in her visit, and Gabrielle, a little nervous, went off +to see the housekeeper, and arrange about a room for the visitor. At +the door Mrs. Payne stopped her. "If you don't mind," she said, "I +should be glad if you wouldn't let Arthur know that I'm here." + +Considine was quick to agree: "Certainly not, if you wish it." + +Gabrielle left them and he prepared to hear her story. She was very +agitated, and found it difficult to express herself. For a little +time, in spite of Considine's encouragements, she beat about the bush. +She felt that her revelation would amount to a criticism of Considine's +management. + +At last, realising that she was getting no further, she produced her +documents and handed them to him. + +Considine examined them slowly and judicially without a flicker of +emotion. It seemed to Mrs. Payne a very solemn moment, full of awful +possibilities. She waited breathlessly for his verdict. + +"Well?" he said at last, putting the papers aside. + +"Arthur wrote them." + +"Yes.... I recognised his writing." + +"He is in love with some woman." + +"Presumably ... yes. But I'm not so sure of that." + +"What do you mean?" She gasped at the prospect of relief. + +He explained to her at length. It was a very common thing for boys of +Arthur's age, he said, to write verse. + +"Verses of that kind?" + +Yes... even verses of that kind. To be perfectly candid he himself, +when a boy in his teens, had done very much the same sort of thing. It +was true perhaps that the verses which he had written had not been +quite so ... perhaps frank was the best word. On the other hand his +own development had followed more normal lines. He hadn't, in the +manner of Arthur, burst suddenly into blossom. All boys wrote verses. +Often they wrote verses of an amatory character, not particularly +because they happened to be in love, but because the bulk of English +lyrical poetry, to which they went for their models, was, regrettably, +of an amatory character. At this stage in a boy's development, even in +the development of the greatest poets (and Arthur, he noticed in +passing, did not show any signs of amazing genius) the verses were +usually imitative. It rather looked as if he had been reading Herrick, +or possibly the Shakespeare sonnets ... the dark lady, you know. +Seriously, he didn't think there was anything to worry about. He +folded the papers and handed them back to her. + +For once in a way Considine didn't satisfy her. There were other +things, she said. Things that she hadn't attached any value to at the +time when they happened, but which now seemed significant. When she +came to think of it Arthur's whole behaviour during the holidays had +been that of a youth who was in love. With all deference to Dr. +Considine she felt that she couldn't pass the matter over. It was her +plain duty to enquire into it, and find, if possible, a more obvious +reason for this strange and sudden outburst. + +Considine agreed that no harm could be done by a little quiet +investigation. At the same time he couldn't possibly see what +opportunities Arthur could have had for falling in love at Lapton. + +"We're very isolated here," he said. "The Manor is a kingdom in +itself. It seems to me that circumstances would force him to invent an +ideal for the want of any living model." + +She shook her head. There was no isolation, she said, into which love +could not enter; and this, in the face of classical precedent, +Considine was forced to admit. Could she, then, make any suggestions? + +Mrs. Payne said, "Servants," and blushed. + +Considine also blushed, but with irritation. The suggestion brought +the matter uncomfortably near home. + +"I think you can put that out of your mind," he said. "I'll admit that +I did not consider this point when I engaged them, but I do not think +you'll find any one peculiarly attractive among them." + +"They're women," said Mrs. Payne obstinately. + +It seemed to her that Considine's incredulity was forcing them both +into a blind alley. + +"If you don't mind," she said, "I think it would be better for me to +talk the matter over with your wife. A woman, if you'll allow me to +say so, is much more acutely sensitive to ... this kind of thing." + +Again Considine blushed. The prospect of engaging Gabrielle in the +matter was altogether against his principles. He had always made it a +rule that her essential femininity should not be compromised by any +contact with the business of the school. He did not even like her to +take an intimate share in the management of the house. After all she +was a Hewish and a cousin of the august Halbertons. That was why he +had employed Mrs. Bemerton as housekeeper. + +"I shall be obliged," he said, "if you don't mention a matter that may +possibly become unsavoury, to Mrs. Considine. She knows nothing of the +servants, and I prefer her to take no part in the affairs of my pupils." + +Altogether the good woman felt that she had been snubbed for her pains. +She had expected a great deal from Considine, and even more from +Gabrielle. Still, if Considine objected to his wife being consulted, +she was prepared to accept his decision. The only course that remained +open to her was to make enquiries for herself, and determine, by +observation, what women were possibly available for the disposal of +Arthur's affections. + +"Very well," she said with a sigh. "If you don't wish me to speak to +your wife, of course I won't." + +"If you'll pardon my saying so, I think you're unduly anxious. After +all, the most obvious thing is to ask Arthur himself. Why not do that?" + +She hesitated and then spoke the truth. + +"I'm afraid he'd tell me a lie. I don't want him to do that ... now. +I'd much rather find out for myself. I wish I could believe you. I do +indeed." + +She paused for a moment and then said, almost as if she were speaking +to herself, "There's no place where there aren't opportunities. +Farmer's daughters ... village girls. There are more women in the +world than there are men." + +He couldn't help smiling at the mathematical accuracy of her remark, +but once more he shook his head. + +"At any rate," she said, returning to the practical aspect of the case, +"I suppose you've no objection to my staying here for a day or two, and +keeping my eyes open. Failing anything else I will speak to Arthur +about it." + +"Please consider the house your own," said Considine, who had now +recovered his usual politeness. + +"Thank you," she said. "You're very kind. But you know how grateful I +am to you already." + +Mrs. Considine returned, and a little later showed her to her room. In +the candle-light of the passage Mrs. Payne was assailed by an +overwhelming desire to break her promise and disclose her troubles to +Gabrielle. She felt that her quest was so lonely. Gabrielle seemed to +her sympathetic and she knew that it would be a great relief to her to +discuss the affair with another woman. As they paused at her bedroom +door, her old attraction towards Mrs. Considine that had once +culminated in an impulsive kiss took hold of her again. She wanted, +for some obscure reason, to kiss Gabrielle once more. Perhaps there +was something in the attraction of her opposite physical type that +accounted for this impulse as well as for Arthur's infatuation. For +the present she suppressed her inclination. After all Considine had +acted fairly enough with her, and she felt that she could not fail him +in a point of honour. + +Alone in her room she read over Arthur's poems again. Now that she was +so near to him they impressed her less with a sense of fear and anxiety +than with one of pity and of love. He was her child, and therefore to +be protected and caressed. She found it difficult not to leave her +room in the night, and grope her way along the creaking corridors to +the room in which she knew he was sleeping. She wanted to kiss him and +hold him in her arms. She placed the poems on the table at her bedside +and blew out the candle. It was unfortunate for her bewilderment that +Arthur had not left in his notebook the rough copy of the verses that +he had sent to Gabrielle with the box of cowslips, the verses to which +she had not dared to reply. + +Next morning at breakfast Arthur and his mother met. All through the +holidays she had been indefinitely conscious of an awkwardness between +them; now, with so much guilty knowledge in her mind, the relation +became definitely embarrassing. She wondered if he felt it as deeply +as she did. Certainly he showed no sign of any emotion but surprise at +her visit. + +"But if you came last night, why on earth didn't you come along to my +room?" he said. "And why are you so mysterious? What's it all about?" + +She put him off as well as she could. "I wanted to see you, that was +all," she said. "I thought you would be pleased by the surprise," and +then: "You don't seem very pleased." + +"Of course I'm pleased," he said, blushing. "But I don't understand +it." + +Whatever he said she knew in her heart that she wasn't wanted. It was +a bitter thing to realise, but it made her more than ever certain that +there was a secret to be disclosed. + +After breakfast the Sunday morning routine of a country house began. +She and Arthur walked together over the fields to church. The whole +country breathed a lazy atmosphere of early summer. Its beauty and its +placidity mocked her. Before them went the Considines. He wore a long +cassock that swept the grass, as they went, while Gabrielle walked in +silence at his side. Never once in their journey did she look back. +It struck Mrs. Payne for the first time how young she was, how very +much younger and more supple than her husband. And yet they seemed to +be happy. + +The service was the usual slow ceremony of a village church, Considine +moving with the dignity of his vestments from the lectern and the altar +to the organ seat which he also occupied. Arthur, standing or kneeling +at his mother's side, appeared to be properly engrossed in the service. +Singing the psalms beside him she became aware how much of a man he was +now, for his voice, that had been cracking for several years, had now +sunk to a deep and sonorous bass. + +It was not until Considine ascended the pulpit and began to preach, +that Mrs. Payne became conscious of anything extraordinary. At first +she was held by the sermon, which was unusually well constructed, but +in the middle of it she became aware that Arthur was not listening. He +sat straight in the pew beside her as though he were intent on the +preacher, but all the time his eyes were wandering to the other side of +the aisle. Mrs. Payne tried to follow their direction. Here, +presumably, was a fairly representative collection of the female +inhabitants of the village. Here she might expect to find the farmer's +daughter, or, in the last emergency, the housemaid, on whom his +affections were centred. She heard no more of Considine, only watching +Arthur's eyes, and watching, she soon discovered that these were for +Mrs. Considine and her alone. She could not deny the fact that +Gabrielle, with her fine pale profile set against a pillar of grey +sandstone, was a creature of amazing beauty. She herself was +fascinated by this vision of refinement and grace to such a degree that +she almost shared in Arthur's rapture. + +For a little while she could not be sure of it, for this was the last +possibility that had entered her mind: but at last it seemed that +Gabrielle became conscious of the gaze that she could not see. +Suddenly, without the least warning, she turned her head in Arthur's +direction. Their eyes met. She blushed faintly, and, at the same +moment, became aware of Mrs. Payne. The blush deepened, spreading into +the ivory whiteness of her neck; and Mrs. Payne had no need to look at +her any longer, for she knew. + +Her mind leapt quickly to the whole situation. In the light of this +evidence she recalled a hundred things that had not even puzzled her +before. She saw the reason for the strange fate that had overtaken +their correspondence, she divined the secret of Gabrielle's sudden +reticence, and the break in Arthur's frank enthusiasms. She knew that +she had made a triumphant discovery, but in her elation realised that +it would be wiser to go gently. This was a secret that could not be +blurted out without disaster. The situation needed careful handling. + +Once in possession of certain knowledge it was no longer difficult for +her to interpret Arthur's moods. In the afternoon when they sat out +under the trees on the lawn, she stumbled on a strange corroboration. +She had fallen into a doze in a lounge chair at his side, and when she +awoke she saw that he was reading poetry. He seemed to be reading one +poem over and over again, and a sudden curiosity made her ask what he +was reading. "Tennyson," he said, and closed the book. But he had +left a long grass for marker between the pages, and when they moved +towards the house at tea-time she picked up the book and opened it. +Her eyes fell upon a significant stanza from "Maud." + + She came to the village church, + And sat by a pillar alone; + An angel watching an urn + Wept over her, carved in stone: + And once, but once, she lifted her eyes, + And suddenly, sweetly, strangely blushed, + To find they were met by my own ... + + +Mrs. Payne's heart beat faster as she read the verse. Later in the +day, to test him, she asked him what he had been reading. She half +expected him to tell her a lie, but, strangely enough, it was the truth +that he gave her. + +"What do you like about 'Maud'?" she said. + +"I like it all," he replied. "It's the kind of thing that anyone might +feel." He hesitated. "And there's one part of it in particular----" + +She waited, with her heart in her mouth. + +"What is that?" she said. + +"Oh, right at the beginning. I don't suppose it would mean much to +you. I can't remember it exactly, but it starts like this: + + I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood, + Its lips in the field above are dabbled with blood-red heath, + The red-ribbed ledges drip with a silent horror of blood ... + +I can't remember any more..." + +"But why should that appeal to you?" she asked, disappointed. + +"I don't know. It reminds me of something that happened to me once." + +She did not feel that it would be profitable to press him further on +this uninteresting point. + + + + +XVII + +All that afternoon and evening Mrs. Payne watched them. The rôle of +detective was unnatural to her, and once or twice she couldn't help +feeling that it was unworthy, and that she herself was an ogress, they +were so young and so unsuspicious. She had an impression not that they +were deliberately hiding anything from her, but that the understanding +between them somehow tacitly excluded her from their intimacy. She +felt out of it at Lapton, hovering impotently on the edge of the magic +circle that their passion had created. The strangest thing of all +about this amazing relation of theirs was its air of innocence. She +was so keenly aware of this, and felt herself so likely to fall a +victim to the idea's persuasions, that she had to make an unusual +effort, to remain awake and alive to her plain duty, and to the fact +that this simple and natural love affair was a crime against society, a +disaster that might wreck not only Considine's home, but all Arthur's +future. + +She could not make up her mind what to do, and this unsettled her, for +in the ordinary way she was a woman of determination who acted first +and afterwards considered the propriety of her actions. Her first +impulse was to go straight to Considine and say, "I told you so." This +course presented her with the opportunity of an easy triumph, and was +in keeping with her downright traditions; but in this case she was not +in the least anxious to make a personal score. She saw that if she +told Considine she would be firing the train to an explosion that might +end in nothing but useless wreckage. Considine, for instance, +admittedly touchy on the subject of Gabrielle, might refuse to believe +her and show her the door. Arthur would be forced to leave Lapton; and +she thought too highly of Considine's influence on him to run the risk +of a relapse. On the other hand Considine might believe her, and put +the very worst construction on what she told him. She saw the +possibility of Arthur's being landed in the Divorce Court, which was +unthinkable. She abandoned the idea of approaching Considine at all. + +The next course that suggested itself was that of tackling Arthur; but +the atmosphere of mistrust, if not of actual hostility, that at present +involved their relations made her think twice about this. She could +not dare to treat Arthur as a normal person, for she knew that his hold +on normality was recent and precarious, and feared that a violent or +passionate scene might undo in a moment all the developments that had +been accomplished in the last six months. Even if they escaped this +catastrophe it was possible that she might offend him so deeply as to +lose him. + +There remained Gabrielle, and though she knew that she was old enough +to speak to Gabrielle with the authority of a mother, she felt that +this would be impossible at Lapton. It was a curious attitude that she +found difficult to explain, but it seemed to her that to tackle Mrs. +Considine in her husband's house was dangerous, that it would give to +Gabrielle an unreasonable but inevitable advantage. At Lapton Mrs. +Payne felt she was a stranger, insecure of her ground, and therefore in +an inferior position; and this struck her more forcibly when she +reflected that, though she was confident of the rightness of her +conclusions, the actual evidence that she possessed was extremely +small. She admitted to herself that it would be difficult to carry her +point on the strength of looks and blushes, and was thankful that she +had not been betrayed by her instincts into hasty action. + +Lying sleepless on her bed that night with her eyes open in the dark +she evolved a new plan that would not only give her the advantage of +choosing the site of the coming struggle, but would eliminate the +uncertain element of Considine and probably provide her with evidence +to strengthen her charge. This change of plan involved a duplicity +against which her straightforward nature rebelled, but with Arthur's +future at stake she would have stopped at nothing. After breakfast on +the Monday morning she went to Considine in his study, thanked him for +his kind consideration, and confessed that she had been needlessly +alarmed. Considine gracefully accepted this confession and the implied +apology, assuring her once more that there was really nothing to worry +about. Then, very carefully she made another suggestion. It was usual +at Lapton for the pupils to go home for a long week-end at half term. +She wondered if Mrs. Considine would like to come back to Overton with +Arthur? The rest and change would do her good, and it would be +interesting for Gabrielle, who had seen so little of England, to visit +Cotswold. Mrs. Payne promised to take great care of her. She gave her +invitation in a way that suggested that it was an attempt to make +amends for her suspicions. It conveyed at the same time an implicit +confidence and an anxiety to please. + +Considine tumbled headlong into her trap. He thanked her for her +invitation, saying that he had no objection, but that Gabrielle, of +course, must decide for herself. His tone made it clear that such a +visit must be regarded as a condescension. The Halbertons, he said, +had been begging Gabrielle for a long time to spend a week with them, +but she was devoted to Lapton. + +"At any rate I may ask her?" said Mrs. Payne. + +"Certainly, certainly--you'll find her in the garden." + +Mrs. Payne was in some doubt as to what Gabrielle's answer would be. + +She moved to the proposal obliquely, feeling like a conspirator, and +one so unused to conspiracy that her manner was bound to betray her. +They began by talking about the gardens at Overton, the beauty of +Cotswold stone, the essential difference of her country from that in +which Lapton lay. + +"You can't know England," she said, "until you've seen the Vale of +Evesham." + +She didn't care twopence ha'penny for the Vale of Evesham--she was just +talking for time. Gabrielle listened to her very quietly, and Mrs. +Payne took her silence for evidence that she was playing her hand +badly. This flustered her. She became conscious of the fact that +nature had built her too roughly for diplomacy. Not daring to hedge +any longer she blurted out her invitation, and Gabrielle, instantly +delighted, accepted, transforming herself, in Mrs. Payne's mind from a +subtle designing creature into something very like a victim. So, for +one moment she appeared; but in the next Mrs. Payne felt nothing but +exultation at the successful beginning of her plan. + +"Arthur has told me that there are nightingales at Overton," said +Gabrielle dreamily. "I wonder if I shall hear one? There are no +nightingales in Ireland or in this part of England." And although Mrs. +Payne could hardly accept an interest in ornithology for explanation of +her readiness to come to Overton, she was quick to promise that +nightingales should be in full song at the next weekend. + +Thus having laid her plans, she resisted, though with difficulty, all +her impulses to continue her search for evidence. It was hard to do +so, for all through the evening Gabrielle and Arthur were together in +her presence, and she found it impossible not to watch them out of the +corner of her eye or strain her ears to catch what they were saying; +but she realised that the least slip at this stage might ruin her +chances of success, and devoted her attention or as much of it as she +could muster, to Considine. Next morning, with a sense of successful +strategy, she returned to Overton by an early train. + +The rest of the week was for her a period of acute suspense. For +Gabrielle and Arthur it was one of delightful anticipation. On Friday +at midday Considine drove them to Totnes station, the scene of their +last parting, and set them on their journey. They watched him standing +serious on the platform as the train went out, and when they lost sight +of his tall figure at a curve in the line, it seemed to them as though +the last possible shadow had been lifted from them. In the first part +of their journey a soft rain hid the shapes of the country through +which they passed, so soft that they could keep the windows open, and +yet so dense as to give them a feeling of delicious loneliness, for +they could see nothing but the grassed embankments starred with +primroses. All through the Devon valleys and over the turf moors of +Somerset this weather held. It was not until they had changed at +Bristol and crept under the escarpment of the lower Cotswolds that the +air cleared. + +At a junction below the southern end of Bredon they emerged in an air +that this vast sheeting of fine moisture had washed into a state of +brilliant clarity. The evening through which they drove to Overton was +full of birdsong and sweet with the smell of young and tender green. +There was not a breath of wind, but the sky was cool, and into it the +old trees lifted their branches with an air of youth and vernal +strength. When the road climbed, scattered woodlands stretched beneath +them in clear and comely contours. A hovering kestrel hung poised like +a spider swinging from a thread. She swooped, and her chestnut back +was lit into flame. The great elms that gird the village of Overton +received them. Arthur touched up the horse as they swung past the +church and a row of cottages with long trim gardens. + +Mrs. Payne, who was working on the herbaceous border in front of the +house, heard the grating of the carriage wheels on the gravel of the +drive. She took off her gardening gloves and came to meet them. +Arthur jumped down from the carriage and kissed his mother. Gabrielle, +also approaching her, put up her face to be kissed, and Mrs. Payne, who +could not very well refuse her, felt that the kiss was a kind of +betrayal. She wished, in her instinctive honesty, that it could have +been avoided. + +It was a bad beginning, and gave her a hint of the kind of emotional +conflict that she had let herself in for when she assumed the rôle of +detective. What made it a hundred times worse was the fact that she +really liked kissing Gabrielle, for her kindly heart warmed to the girl +again as it had warmed when first they met. "I'm sentimental," she +thought, "for heaven's sake let us get it over!" + +Gabrielle, however, was quite unconscious of the struggle that divided +Mrs. Payne's breast. She was a child launched on a holiday with the +friend of her choice in the most delightful season of the year. She +didn't scent any hostility in the atmosphere of Overton; and this was +strange in a person who moved through life by the aid of intuitions +rather than reasons. She felt contented at Overton, just as she had +felt contented at Roscarna. She was more at home there than she could +ever have been at Lapton or Clonderriff; her mind was as sensitive to +sky changes as the surface of a lonely lake. Mrs. Payne had given her +an airy bedroom facing west, and while the maid unpacked her things +Gabrielle stood at the window looking out over meadows, golden in the +low sun. Beneath her lay the lawns, smooth and kempt and of a rich, an +almost Irish green, on which the black shadows of cedar branches were +spread. A tall hedge of privet divided the lawns from the vegetable +garden in which a man was working methodically. She saw the pattern of +paths and hedges from above as though they were lines in a picture. In +the middle of the lawn stood a square of clipped yew trees, making a +hollow chamber of the kind that formal gardeners call a yew-parlour, +with a stone sundial in the middle of it. "What a jolly place for +children to play in," she thought. A blackbird broke into a whistle in +the privet hedge and brought her heart to her mouth. Could any +nightingale sing sweeter? + +"I think that is all, madam," said the maid demurely. Gabrielle smiled +at her and thanked her, and the girl smiled back. Like everything else +in Mrs. Payne's admirably managed house she was fresh and clean, +homelier than the frigid servants at Halberton House, happier--that was +the only word--than Gabrielle's own servants at Lapton. Yes, +happier---- + +When she came downstairs Arthur was waiting for her. + +"I thought you were never coming," he said. Their time was short and +he was anxious to show her all the altars of his childhood. They met +Mrs. Payne in the hall. She smiled at them with encouragement, for it +was part of her settled plan to let them have their own way and so +tempt them into a naturalness that might betray them. She, too, had +the feeling that she was fighting against time. + +Arthur was full of enthusiasms. They went together to the stables, +where he introduced her to Hollis, the coachman standing in his +shirtsleeves in a saddle-room that smelt of harness-polish. He stood +in front of a cracked mirror brushing his hair, hissing softly, as +though he were grooming a horse, and round his waist was a red-striped +belt of the webbing out of which a horse's belly-band is made. + +"Well, Mr. Arthur, you're looking up finely, sir," he said, touching +his forelock. Even the stables exhaled the same atmosphere of pleasant +leisure as the house. + +"I want you to get a side-saddle ready for Brunette to-morrow, Hollis," +said Arthur. "Mrs. Considine and I are going for a ride over the hill." + +At the end of the stables they encountered a pair of golden retrievers. +For a moment they stared at Arthur, and then, suddenly recognising him, +made for him together, jumping up with their paws on his shoulders and +licking him with their pale tongues. + +"What beauties," Gabrielle cried. + +"Yes, they come from Banbury," he said. "I'll get you a pup next term +if you'd like one." + +Their evening was crowded with such small wonders. "I can't show you +half the things I want to," he said. "It's ridiculous that you should +only be here for three days." He would have gone on for ever, and she +had to warn him when the clock in the stables struck seven that they +had only just time to dress for dinner. On the way upstairs he showed +her his new study, with the bookshelves that he had bought in the last +holidays. + +"I do all my writing here," he said, and then suddenly but shyly +emboldened: "it was here that I wrote to you when I sent you the +cowslips." + +He had never dared to mention the incident before. + +"You didn't answer me," he went on. "Why didn't you answer me? I wish +you'd tell me." + +"Arthur--I couldn't--you know that I couldn't." + +A panic seized her and she went blushing to her room. + +She was still flushed with excitement or pleasure when she came down to +dinner. Mrs. Payne, in a matronly dress of black, sat at the head of +the table with Arthur and Gabrielle on either side of her facing each +other. The arrangement struck her as a triumph of strategy. From this +central position she could see them both and intercept any such glances +as had passed between them in the church at Lapton. In this she was +disappointed, for there was nothing to be seen in the behaviour of +either but a transparent happiness. "They only want encouragement," +she thought, and settled down deliberately to put them at their ease, a +proceeding that was quite unnecessary for the last feeling that could +have entered either of their minds was that of guilt. + +So the evening passed, in the utmost propriety. No look, no sign, no +symptom of unusual tenderness appeared. It even seemed that Gabrielle +was particularly anxious to make the conversation general. "Oh, you're +artful!" thought Mrs. Payne, "but I'll have you yet." They talked of +Lapton, of Considine and of the Traceys. Only once did Mrs. Payne +surprise a single suspicious circumstance. + +"I showed Mrs. Considine the dogs, mother," he said. "She's fallen in +love with Boris." + +"Yes, his eyes are like amber," said Gabrielle. + +"So I thought I'd like to write to Banbury to-morrow and get her a +puppy." + +"Certainly, dear," said Mrs. Payne suavely. Bedtime came. Gabrielle +and Arthur shook hands in the most ordinary fashion. Mrs. Payne, +seeing Gabrielle to her door and submitting, once again, to an +uncomfortable kiss, felt that her triumphant plan had already shown +itself to be a failure. She went along the passage to her own room +with a sense of bewilderment and defeat. She could not sleep for +thinking. She wondered, desperately, if when all other methods had +failed, as she now expected they would, she could possibly approach +their secret from another angle, laying aside her watchful inactivity +and becoming in defiance of all her principles an "agent provocateuse." +If it came to the worst she might be forced to do this, for very little +time was left to her. If she remained static she would be powerless. +Next day, she reflected, they had planned a ride over the flat top of +Bredon Hill. She could not go with them; she could not even watch +them; yet who knew what shames might be perpetrated in that secrecy as +they rode through the green lanes of the larch plantations? Never was +a better solitude made for lovers. Her imaginings left her tantalised +and thwarted, for she was sure now, more than ever, that there was a +secret to be surprised. + +She lay there sleepless in the dark till the stable clock slowly struck +twelve. Then she sighed to herself and decided that she must try to +sleep. + + + + +XVIII + +Lying thus, upon the verge of slumber, Mrs. Payne became aware of a +sound of light steps in the corridor outside her room. She opened her +eyes and lay with tense muscles listening. The sound was unmistakable, +and the steps came from the direction of Arthur's room, the only one on +that side of hers that was occupied. The steps came nearer. Passing +her bedroom door they became tiptoe and cautious, as though the walker, +whoever he might be, was anxious not to arouse her attention. The +sound passed and grew fainter down the length of the corridor, and she +knew then that the very worst had happened, for Gabrielle's room lay at +the end of the passage. Many things she had dreaded, but not this last +enormity. + +She crept out of bed, neglecting in her anxiety to put on a +dressing-gown, and went softly to the door. She wondered how she could +open it without making a noise, and if, when she had opened it, she +could hear at such a distance. + +Very carefully with her hot hand she turned the door handle and opened +a small chink that fortunately allowed her to look along the passage +towards Gabrielle's room. Through a window halfway down the corridor +moonlight cut across it, throwing on the floor the distorted shadow of +an Etruscan vase. She remembered that Arthur's father had bought it in +Italy on their honeymoon, yet, while this thought went through her +mind, her ears were strained to listen. She could do no more, for the +further end of the passage was plunged by this insulating flood of +moonlight into inscrutable darkness. + +It was so quiet that she felt that she had missed him; he had already +entered her room; but while she considered the awful indignity of +surprising him there, the sound of a light tapping on the door's panel +relieved her. She thanked God that she was still in time. + +The knock was repeated and evidently answered, for now she heard him +speak in a whisper. He called her Mrs. Considine--it was ridiculous! +"Are you awake?" she heard. "The nightingale--yes, the nightingale. +We could go down into the garden under the trees. If you're game. How +splendid of you! ... Yes, I'll wait below .... Outside, under your +window." + +Before Mrs. Payne could pull herself together she heard his steps +returning. She closed the door fearfully. He came along the passage +and stopped for a moment just outside her room. There was nothing +between them but an oak door, so thin, she felt, that he must surely +hear her anxious breath. She dared not breathe, but in a moment he +passed by. + +Why had he stopped outside her door? What curious filial instinct had +made him think of her at that moment? Had he thought kindly, or only +perhaps suspiciously, wondering if she were safely asleep? She +couldn't tell. Her mind was too full of disturbing emotions to allow +her to think. One thing emerged foremost from her confusion, a feeling +of devout thankfulness that her first fears had not been justified, and +as the dread of definite and paralysing defeat lifted from her mind, +she realised with a sudden exultation that chance had given her the +very opportunity for which she had been waiting and scheming. If she +went carefully she might see them together, alone and unsuspecting, and +know for certain by their behaviour how far matters had gone. + +She dared not switch on the light or strike a match for fear that her +windows might become conspicuous. Very gently she released one of the +blinds, admitting the light of the luminous sky. She dressed +hurriedly, catching sight of her figure in the long pier glass as she +pulled on her stockings. For the moment it struck her as faintly +ludicrous to see this middle-aged woman in a long white nightdress +behaving like a creature in a detective story. It was extravagant. +People of her age and figure and general sobriety didn't do this sort +of thing in real life. But the seriousness of her mission recalled +her, and while she had been considering the picturesque aspects of the +case she found that she had actually, unconsciously dressed ... and +only just in time, for now she heard the lighter step of Gabrielle in +the passage. + +The sound gave her a sudden flush of anger. She wanted, there and +then, to open her door and ask Gabrielle where she was going. It was +tantalising to let the thing go on and hold her hand. She clutched on +to the foot of the bed to save herself from doing anything so rash. +Gabrielle's steps passed, and the house was quiet again. The most +difficult moment had come. "I hope to goodness none of the servants +are awake," she thought... + +Reaching the top of the staircase she heard them whispering in the +hall. It seemed that they were going out brazenly by the front door, +and since it seemed to her that to follow them closely would be +dangerous she herself hastened round to the back staircase and let +herself out of the house by a side door set in an angle of the building +that sheltered her. + +An eastward drift of cloud came over, hiding the moon, and she was glad +of this, for the crude moonlight had put her to shame by its +brilliance. She wondered to see the clouds moving so fast, for in the +garden not a tree stirred but one aspen that made a sound as of gentle +rain. She heard the grating of their feet on the drive, and then, by +the sudden cessation of this sound, guessed that they had stepped on to +the lawn. Arthur's low voice came to her clearly. "He's stopped +singing, but I think he'll sing again," and from Gabrielle a whispered +"Yes." + +Mrs. Payne could scarcely be certain of the words she heard: she knew +that she ought in some way to get nearer to them, but the expanse of +dewy turf by which they were surrounded made it impossible for her to +approach without being seen. Very cautiously she cut across to the +left and into the shelter of the privet hedge, along which she stole +until she reached their level. + +They stood together in the middle of the lawn without speaking. At +last Gabrielle shivered. Arthur noticed it quickly. "I hope you're +not cold," he said. + +"No, I'm not cold--only--only we're so exposed out here. If we could +get a little more into the shadow I should feel more comfortable----" + +"That's easily managed," he said laughing. "We can go over by the +sundial. It's called a yew-parlour, I think. It might have been made +for us." + +So they passed into its shade. Mrs. Payne noticed eagerly that his +hand was not on her arm. The yew hedge that now sheltered them +concealed her also from their sight, and, greatly relieved, she crept +along her cover of privet into the shadow of a mulberry tree where, by +stooping a little, she could watch them unperceived. + +"What a wonderful night," Gabrielle whispered. + +"I never knew such a night," he said. "It feels a bit like that +evening when we stood leaning over the bridge by the lake." + +"Don't," she said. "I want to forget it. Can you smell the dew?" + +"Yes, and the scent of may coming over from the meadows." + +"We call it whitethorn in Ireland." + +There was a long pause, then he spoke again. + +"I think you look sad to-night," he said. "Are you sorry that you +came?" + +"No, no--of course not. It's the moonlight that makes me paler than +usual. But I'm always pale. You shouldn't look at me so closely, +Arthur." + +"I love to look at you. It isn't always that I get the chance. I just +wanted to be certain that you weren't anxious. You don't think that we +oughtn't to have come here?" + +"No, why shouldn't we?" she said, turning her face away. + +Then suddenly, in the edge of the copse beyond the nearest field, the +nightingale began. The song was so beautiful in the stillness of the +night that even Mrs. Payne, who had other things to think of, felt its +influence. It was a strange, unearthly moment. + +"You hear it?" Arthur whispered; but Gabrielle did not answer; she laid +her hand on his sleeve and Arthur trembled at her touch. So they stood +listening, close together, while Arthur took the hand that held him. +She smiled and turned her eyes towards him but they could not look at +each other for long. She surrendered herself to his arms and they +kissed. + +Mrs. Payne saw their faces close together in the dusk and their shadowy +bodies entwined. She could bear it no longer, but turned and groped +her way back along the privet hedge to the door from which she had +first come. She did not know where she was going or how she went until +she found that she had reached her own bedroom again. There, in her +dressing-gown, she threw herself on the bed and fell into a fit of +violent sobbing. She lay there shaken by sobs like a disconsolate +child. Over in the coppice the nightingale sang exultantly as if he +knew of the wonder that his song had revealed to the lovers who +listened to him with their lips together. + + + + +XIX + +It seemed to Mrs. Payne an endless time before she heard the steps of +Gabrielle returning. She thanked heaven when she knew that she was +coming back alone. The bedroom door closed and the sound pulled her +together. It suggested to her that the time had now come when something +must be done, and though it would have been much pleasanter to let the +matter stand over until the morning, she knew that nothing could be +gained by waiting, since all of the three people concerned were at that +moment awake, and the crisis of the affair had been reached. + +The reasons that had dissuaded her from tackling Arthur himself when +first her suspicions were aroused still held. She regarded a scene with +him as dangerous, for she could not be certain that a big emotional +disturbance would not throw him back into his old nature, quite apart +from the fact that it would wound her motherly heart. Against Gabrielle, +on the other hand, she knew that she could steel herself. Gabrielle was +a woman, a woman younger than herself, and, what was more, a visitor in +her house. She was satisfied that she could tell Gabrielle what she +thought of her, and, in a single interview bring this most uncomfortable +and dangerous state of affairs to an end. + +She got out of bed again and dressed methodically. This time she wasn't +going to put up with any condition that detracted from her dignity. So, +having done her hair afresh and satisfied herself that all traces of her +breakdown had disappeared, she set out with a high degree of confidence +to Gabrielle's room. There was no light in it, but while she stood at +the door she heard Gabrielle softly singing to herself inside. Singing! +... Mrs. Payne hardened her heart and knocked at the door. The singing +stopped. There was no other sound. Then she knocked again. She heard a +soft rustle as Gabrielle stepped to the door. The door opened, and +Gabrielle, in her nightdress and bare feet, stood before her. She stared +at Mrs. Payne. Who could guess that she knew the reason of her visit? +She only said: "Oh ... it's you! I wondered...." + +"May I come in?" said Mrs. Payne in a hard voice. As a matter of fact +nothing could have stopped her going in. + +"Of course," said Gabrielle. "Do...." She shivered slightly. + +"You'd better put on a dressing-gown," said Mrs. Payne firmly. "I want +to talk to you." + +Gabrielle obeyed her, like a small child, slipped an embroidered kimono +over her shoulders and stood facing Mrs. Payne. She looked her straight +in the eyes, and said in a low voice: "Well, what is it?" + +"We won't pretend," said Mrs. Payne. "You know quite well what it is." + +"Yes ... I suppose you mean Arthur." + +"And you." + +"You saw us go out to-night ... heard us?" + +"Yes." + +Gabrielle made a gesture of impatience. "Well, why shouldn't we? It was +the nightingale. Why shouldn't we listen to a nightingale? I'd never +heard one." + +"I followed you into the garden." + +"That was a mean thing to do!" + +"Perhaps it was. No ... I'd a right to do it. I saw everything that +happened." + +"When we kissed each other?" + +Mrs. Payne nodded. Gabrielle looked at her challengingly. "It was the +first time," she said. There was a pause and then she burst out +passionately. "I love him ... we love each other. You can't stop us!" + +"It's got to be stopped," said Mrs. Payne. + +Gabrielle turned away and perched herself on the end of the bed. She +appeared to be thinking, and when next she spoke it was almost dreamily. + +"It was the first time. We didn't know before to-night." + +There was nothing dreamy about Mrs. Payne's reply. She believed that +Gabrielle was acting a part, and had no patience with her. + +"That's rubbish," she said. "I don't believe it." + +Gabrielle jumped to her feet and faced her again, blazing with pride and +anger and amazingly beautiful. + +"You don't believe me? How dare you? I've told you that we didn't know. +I don't tell lies. You're insulting me...." + +She was so passionate that Mrs. Payne was almost convinced. She softened +for a moment. "After all, you _ought_ to have known," she said. "You're +a married woman." + +"Married ..." Gabrielle repeated. "Yes ... but I didn't know. I've +told you I didn't. That's enough." + +"Well, if you didn't know, I _did_," said Mrs. Payne with a laugh. + +"How? Tell me how?" + +"It wasn't difficult to see." + +"I can't imagine it. But I know nothing of love. Only once..." and +Gabrielle relapsed into her dream, standing with her hand on the bedpost +gazing towards the window. After a second she turned again quickly. +"Then, if you knew, was that why you invited me here?" + +Mrs. Payne said: "Yes----" + +"Why didn't you tell me instead of doing that?" + +"I wanted to make certain." + +"Why didn't you tell my husband?" + +"For your sake. I wanted to save you." + +"No, you didn't... You weren't thinking of me. You were thinking of +Arthur." + +This was perfectly true, but Mrs. Payne had not gone through hell to +discuss fine points of that kind. She had left her room in very much the +same frame of mind as she would have adopted in approaching the dismissal +of a servant. She had expected to be met with passionate denials, had +prepared herself, indeed, for a stormy "scene"; instead of which +Gabrielle appeared to be curious rather than disturbed about her +discovery, and a great deal more interested in the psychological than in +the practical aspects of the case. If she had offered any violent +opposition to Mrs. Payne, Mrs. Payne could have given her violence in +return. But she didn't. The mood of exaltation into which their +love-making had lifted her made her regard this woman with something +nearer to pity than dislike. Her attitude implied that to consider the +practical aspect of the affair would be in the nature of a condescension. +Mrs. Payne naturally resented this, but in any case Gabrielle had taken +the wind out of her sails. They were drifting--rather unpleasantly--away +from the object of her visit. She pulled herself--and then Gabrielle--up +short. + +"You can't pretend not to realise the seriousness of your position," she +said. "You're a married woman. If you persist in this madness you'll +ruin your whole life. I'll be candid with you. What happens to you +doesn't matter to me; but what happens to Arthur does. Can't you see the +end of it?" + +"No ... it's only begun...." + +"Then I'll tell you the end. Your husband will divorce you." + +"Then I shall be free? And why not? We don't love each other. Why +should we go on living together? The thought of him makes me shudder ... +now." + +"That is your affair. I'm afraid I can't help you in it. But Arthur is +mine. I'm not going to see him dragged into this ... impossibility. No +... we can't discuss it like this. You may be as innocent as you pretend +to be--though it's difficult to believe it. You imagine you're in love. +You're drifting out of an ordinary sort of friendship into ... what I saw +to-night. Well, that can only lead to the most awful unhappiness for all +of us. You must consider it finished. We won't have any disturbance; +but, all the same, you can't see Arthur again. We'll invent some reason +to explain your going away to-morrow ... something plausible ... to +satisfy him. With your husband it will be more difficult. But I'm +prepared to help you. It can be managed without any scandal if we work +together... I'm sure you'll agree with me and be sensible about it. If +you won't, I can't answer for the consequences." + +Mrs. Payne was presuming too much. All the time that she spoke Gabrielle +sat with lowered eyes, motionless but for little protesting movements of +her hands; now she turned upon her, speaking very low and rapidly. + +"You think I can give him up? You think it's possible? Love ... the +only thing I want! The thing I've never had! Happiness... Why should +you ruin our happiness? You've had yours. Oh, you're selfish. I shan't +give him up if he wants me. Ask him yourself if he loves me... Ah, +you're afraid. You daren't. You daren't!" + +She almost laughed, and Mrs. Payne knew that she had spoken the truth. +It looked, for a moment, as if she were going to be beaten on this point, +for Gabrielle snatched at her weakness, repeating the unanswerable "You +daren't!" Then, suddenly, without any warning, the girl's triumphant +spirit collapsed. From the verge of laughter she toppled over into +tears. She put her hands to her eyes and then, turning her back on Mrs. +Payne, collapsed on her bed, weeping bitterly. + +At the sight of this thankfulness flooded Mrs. Payne's heart; but beneath +this dominant emotion, which came almost as the result of her conscious +wish, flowed another that she would gladly have suppressed: pity, nothing +less, for the child who lay sobbing on the bed. A minute before she had +seen in Gabrielle her most dangerous enemy in the world; now, even though +she rejoiced in the girl's sudden collapse, she felt that she wanted to +take her in her arms and kiss her and comfort her. For a moment or two +she fought against it, but in the end, scarcely knowing what she had +done, she found that she was fondling Gabrielle's hand and being shaken +by the communicated passion of her sobs. One thought kept running +through her brain: "I've won ... I've won, and can afford to be +generous," and this, together with the curious physical liking that she +had always felt for Gabrielle, disarmed her. She set herself to +comforting the child. It was the last thing in the world she had +intended to do, but it came natural to her motherly soul. She was glad, +indeed, that Gabrielle did not resent these attentions, as she very well +might have done. Gradually her sobbing ceased and she began to speak, +clinging all the time to Mrs. Payne, herself not guiltless of a +sympathetic tear, while she told her the story of her early years: of the +wild life she had led at Roscarna, of Jocelyn's debauches and Biddy's +rough mothering. + +It was the first time that all this flood of reminiscence had been +loosed. Gabrielle had never made a confidante before, and it was an +ecstasy of tears and laughter to dwell upon these memories, and to +rehearse them. "I was so happy as a child," she said, "so awfully happy. +But now there's nothing left." + +Mrs. Payne, still sympathetic, found herself suddenly plunged into the +ardours of the Radway affair; the miraculous meeting on the Clonderriff +road; the halcyon days of August, and then the overwhelming tragedy. + +"They made me marry him," said Gabrielle, clutching at her hand. "They +made me. I didn't understand. It was cruel. It would have been better +if I had died like my baby." + +She relapsed into tears, and Mrs. Payne, quite bowled over by the +piteousness of her case, tried to soothe her with caresses. It was a +curious end, she reflected, to the punitive expedition on which she had +set forth. Holding Gabrielle triumphantly in her arms she did not +realize the mistake that she had made. It wasn't the end at all, it was +merely the beginning. + +"You see what a terrible time I've had," Gabrielle pleaded, drying her +tears. "I always felt that you were the only person I could talk to +about these things. I knew you would sympathize ... you're so human. +Now you can understand why I can't live without Arthur. Do you see?" +She looked up, pleading, into Mrs. Payne's eyes. + +Her quiet words staggered that good woman. She had to pull herself +together and begin all over again. It wasn't easy, for the sympathetic +mood into which the girl's story had betrayed her had subtly weakened her +purpose. She felt that her position was false. She must reassert +herself, and so she hurriedly freed herself from Gabrielle's arms and +stood with her back to the door. Gabrielle too rose and faced her. Her +tears had put an end to the dreamy mood in which Mrs. Payne had found her +at first. Now she was determined, dangerous, ready to fight with all the +quickness of her wits and the suppleness of her youth against the elder +woman's dogged devotion. They faced one another, ready to fight to the +end, for the possession of the thing they each loved best, and both of +them realized the bitter nature of the struggle. + +"We can't speak of that again," said Mrs. Payne. "I thought that was +understood. Surely you didn't imagine that by playing on my feelings you +could make me change my mind? I'm sorry you misunderstood me. I will +write to your husband to-morrow. For Arthur's sake I hope you won't tell +him the real explanation of your going back, and of Arthur's staying +here. I think you owe that to us ... even if you don't realise that it's +also the best for yourself." She turned towards the door. "I think we +had better say good-night. There is a train at seven-fifty in the +morning. I'm sorry it's so early, but there's no other. As I may not +see you again I'll say good-bye now. There's no reason why we shouldn't +part friends." + +She held out her hand, she couldn't think why, but as she did so +Gabrielle clasped it. "No ... don't go!" she pleaded. + +"There's nothing more to be said." But Gabrielle still held her hand and +would not let it go. + +"Only be merciful to me," she cried. "Let us think about it. There must +be some other way. Supposing ... supposing that we go back to Lapton +just in the ordinary way: supposing that I promise you faithfully that +nothing more shall happen. Listen, we never, never kissed before +to-night. I'll give you my word of honour that it shan't happen again +... if only you'll let him go back to us. Isn't that fair? Surely it's +fair...." + +Mrs. Payne shook her head. + +"You mean that you don't believe me ... you won't trust me?" + +"I can't trust both of you. Do you think I don't know what love is?" + +"But think ... think of all these months in which we've been so happy +together without a word of love! I love him ... you know I love him ... +I believe I love him more than you do. No, don't be angry with me for +saying that! Don't you think my love is strong enough to prevent me from +doing anything that could possibly harm him? Can't you believe that?" + +"No ... it's too dangerous. You can answer for yourself, but you can't +answer for Arthur." + +"Oh, if you loved him as you say you do ... as I believe you do ... +wouldn't you trust him? I'll talk to him. I can tell him anything. +I'll tell him exactly how things stand. I'll tell him what I've promised +you. Only don't take him away from me altogether. I couldn't bear it +... I couldn't." She turned back on herself. "Why won't you believe in +him?" + +"You should know why that's impossible. Haven't I told you his history? +You've only known him for a year. I've had him for seventeen and loved +him all the time." She became almost passionate. "He's my son. And all +those years my love has been full of the awful bitterness of his trouble. +The tears! The disappointments! You know nothing of them. You can't +realize how I've struggled and schemed and had my hopes raised and dashed +to the ground ... time after time. To see the person that you love best +in the world, a part of your own body, living without a soul: a thief, a +liar--that's the plain truth--inhuman and cruel ... But you know as well +as I do what he was." + +"I do know what he was." + +"And now, thanks to your husband--God knows I'm grateful!--he's better. +He's what I knew he ought to have been all these awful years. And then +you come on the scene--you, who've borne nothing of all the years +before--and begin to drag him down again. You must be mad to think I +could risk it!" + +"But don't I know all this? Do you think I'm less anxious than you are +that he should stay as he is? Only trust me ... trust me! His future +... think of that...." + +Mrs. Payne laughed bitterly, but Gabrielle persisted. + +"His future ... My husband says that he can make a success of him. He +can take a high place in a Government examination; he can get into the +diplomatic service. Just believe that I love him too much to stand in +his way. Why, I can even help him. If he does this I know that he'll +want influence. _You_ haven't influence to help him. I don't want to +belittle you, but I know you've nothing but your money, while I _can_ +help him. My cousin is Lord Halberton. He's been a Cabinet minister. +There's no knowing what he mightn't do with his help. If you love anyone +as I do him, why shouldn't you give your life to his interests? That's +what I'd do. I'd think of nothing else. I'd give all my thoughts to +him. And I promise ... oh, I promise faithfully, that I won't let him +love me ... if only you'll let me love him." + +Mrs. Payne stiffened. "You're trying to bribe me," she said, "and I'm +not the kind of person who can be bribed. I don't care that much about +his future! Until the last month I never so much as dreamed that any +future of that kind was possible. It's quite enough for me that he +should settle down here into the sort of life that his father would have +lived if he'd been spared. I don't want to share his successes with +you...." + +"Ah, you're jealous!" + +"Of course I'm jealous. I've reason to be. He's mine. But even if I +could trust you ... and I believe I could ... Arthur's future wouldn't +tempt me to risk his present. No ... it's too dangerous." + +"Dangerous..." Gabrielle clutched at the word. "Dangerous!" She became +suddenly quiet and intense. "I don't believe you know where the danger +lies," she said. + +"I can see the most obvious danger, and that's a love affair with a +married woman." + +"You can't see any other? You said just now that Arthur had changed +thanks to my husband. Perhaps my husband took the credit for it and you +believed it. But it isn't true. I've seen the change coming hour by +hour, day by day. Every moment of it I've watched and treasured. He did +not change because he worked with my husband. He changed because I loved +him and he loved me. I know it ... I've known it all the time. What did +your love do for him in all those years? Nothing ... nothing at all. +For heaven's sake don't think I'm boasting! Your love never changed him +a hair's breadth, and you know it!" + +Mrs. Payne gasped. "You don't realize what you're saying." + +"But I do ... I do. You say his body's part of you--belongs to you. +I'll give you that. But this soul ... his new soul ... is mine. That's +part of our love. Ours and nobody else's...." + +Mrs. Payne choked back her emotion. "I don't grudge it you," she said, +"I only thank God for it gratefully ... gratefully." + +"But you don't see what I mean," said Gabrielle slowly. "Arthur has +changed because he loves me. He's ceased to be cruel because he knows +that for him to be cruel pains me. He's learned to see things just as I +see them. And now you want to separate us ... even after what I have +promised you. Can't you see what I'm afraid of?" + +She paused, and Mrs. Payne was silent. Gabrielle quickly pressed her +advantage. + +"If you separate us, if you try to destroy our love, you'll be taking +away from him the thing that's saved him. How do you know that he won't +slip back again? You can take his body from me ... I know that ... but +you may lose more than you get." + +Mrs. Payne stood staring straight in front of her. + +"Then you will know what you are worth to him." Gabrielle's tone was +almost scornful. "You see how it stands," she continued. "We both of us +want him for ourselves, we want him as he is to-day ... and we can't +either of us have him without the other's consent. You hold his body, +and I hold his soul. Let's be reasonable. Let's compromise. I'm ready +to do my part. Oh, I beg you to be reasonable!" + +"You're a devil, not a woman," said Mrs. Payne. + +"But you see that I'm right?" Gabrielle persisted. + +Mrs. Payne summoned all her strength. "No, I don't. I don't believe it." + +"Ah, you pretend that you don't! But you're bluffing me. I know it. +Why did you come to me about this instead of to Arthur himself? Because +you were afraid. That was the reason." + +The shot was made at a venture, but Gabrielle quickly saw that it had +taken effect. She followed it up: + +"You thought that if you upset him he might lose what he's gained. You +don't know--we none of us know yet--how deep the change is. You didn't +dare to face that little risk; but it's nothing compared with the one you +want to take now. That's what you've got to face!" + +She could say no more. When she stopped speaking Mrs. Payne knew that +the girl's eyes were fixed on her eagerly, desperately, trying to search +into her mind. The older woman stood there still and bewildered by the +choice that had been presented to her. It was the most awful moment in +her emotional life. Her mind was a battlefield on which her love, her +sense of right, her acquired conventions, her religion, and her hungry +maternal passion were pitted against one formidable dread. She wanted to +shield Arthur against harm: from a social disaster no less than from what +she considered a mortal sin; and, above all, after these years of patient +suffering, she wanted him for herself. It was neither religion nor +morality that drove her to her final decision, but a thing far stronger: +her passionate instinct to possess the son of her body. Even if she were +to lose him, to rescue no more than the changeling that she had always +known, she could not bring herself to share him with any other woman on +earth. He was hers and hers alone. She did not know if she were right. +She did not care if she were wrong. The decision formed itself +inexorably in her mind. She could only obey it. Gabrielle, watching her +narrowly, saw a sudden peace descend upon her agonised face. Mrs. Payne +gave a long shuddering sigh. Then she spoke, dully, mechanically: + +"The train goes at seven-fifty. I will order the carriage. I will write +to Dr. Considine in the morning." + +Gabrielle clutched at her breast. "You can't realise what you're doing! +It's too great a risk. Think of it again ... I beg you!" + +"No," said Mrs. Payne slowly. "I've made up my mind. We must invent +some plausible excuse. Illness will do ... anything. And you must help +me, if only for your own sake." + +Desperate tears came into Gabrielle's eyes. + +"For your own sake," Mrs. Payne repeated. "You've realised, I know, that +if you go on with this unfortunate love-affair you must ruin not only +your own happiness and your husband's, but Arthur's as well. If you love +him at all you can't drag him into social ruin. Well, I've made my +decision. If anything disastrous happens my blood's on my own head. We +must make the best of a bad job. Don't think I'm not sorry for you, my +dear." + +This final tenderness was too much for Gabrielle. She broke down, +sobbing so tragically in Mrs. Payne's arms that the older woman was +almost ashamed of her victory. She knew that she could afford to be +kind. She felt that she would like to tell her that under any other +circumstances she knew none whom she would rather trust as Arthur's wife; +but to say so would have been a bitter mockery. She waited in silence +while Gabrielle mastered her own feelings and raised, at last, her +haggard eyes. + +"What can you say to my husband?" she said. + +"We must say that I am ill. That will give you a good reason for +returning." + +"And Arthur?" + +"The same reason will explain why he doesn't go back to Lapton on +Tuesday. After that I don't know what I shall do." + +"But I can see him before I go?" + +"That would be quite useless. It might even do harm. You are going to +help me, you know, for his sake." + +"He'll wonder. How can we satisfy him? What can I do?" + +"You had better write to him. Tell him that after to-night it's +impossible for you to stay. Only ... only please don't mention me." + +"It will kill him...." + +"Or save him. It's the only thing that you can do." + +"I'll write it now." + +She went over to the writing table in the window, and there, with +streaming eyes, she wrote her letter. It took her a long time to do, and +when she had finished she brought it with the envelope to Mrs. Payne. + +"Do you want to read it?" she asked. + +"No ... Of course I trust you." + +"Thank you." She fastened the envelope and addressed it. "I feel as if +I were dead," she said. + +"You're young," said Mrs. Payne. + +"But you'll let me know what happens, you'll write to me?" + +"Yes, I'll write to you." + +"I have a dread, an awful dread of what may happen. I can't be sure that +we've done right." + +"Neither can I. I had to make a decision. I pray God that it will turn +out well. We can do no more." + +"I know now that you love him. I'm glad to know that." + +"Did you ever doubt it?" + +"But for me there's nothing left ... nothing." Gabrielle stood for a +moment in silence. Then she said, "I'd better pack," and Mrs. Payne +clutching at any refuge from the intensity of the moment offered to help +her. + +"No," said Gabrielle, "if you don't mind, I'd rather be alone. We'd +better say good-bye." + +"I don't like to leave you," said Mrs. Payne, "but perhaps you're right." + +With a sudden impulse Gabrielle came over to her. Mrs. Payne took her in +her arms and they kissed. + +"I could love you," said Gabrielle. "You have Arthur's eyes...." + +Mrs. Payne left her. + + + + +XX + +Much to the disgust of Hollis, who was in the habit of making the most +of his Sundays, Gabrielle left Overton by the early morning train while +Arthur slept undisturbed after his night of wonder, and Mrs. Payne rose +anxiously to face the certain embarrassments and the possible +bitterness of her victory. She had not slept at all, for though she +never for one moment dreamed of going back on the decision which her +conscience, amongst other things, had dictated, she was still in doubt +as to whether she had won her son or lost him for ever. She almost +regretted the burst of generosity in which she had refused to read +Gabrielle's letter of renunciation. For all she knew the wording might +be provocative and calculated to wreck her plans at the last moment. +The letter lay sealed upon her dressing-table. It speaks well for her +sense of honour in a bargain that this pathetic document remained +unopened. Meanwhile she only prayed that the hours might pass and her +fate be revealed. She could only rack her brains imagining some means +by which the severity of the blow might be tempered for Arthur. + +Next morning he came down ten minutes late for breakfast. He missed +Gabrielle at once. + +"Where's Mrs. Considine?" he said. "I called at her door as I came +down, but I don't think she's there." + +"No," said Mrs. Payne. "She had to go back to Lapton by the first +train. An urgent call of some kind." + +"A telegram? The old man isn't ill, is he?" + +"She left a letter for you," said Mrs. Payne, handing him Gabrielle's +envelope. + +"What a rotten shame," he said as he took it. "It's a splendid morning +for a ride. I hope it's not serious." + +He opened the letter and read it. What Gabrielle had written Mrs. +Payne never knew, for even in later years he did not tell her. She had +expected a terrible and passionate outburst and prepared herself to +meet it with argument and consolation, but no outburst came. She saw +him go very red and then white. Then he steadied himself and said in a +curious voice: "Mother ... if you'll excuse me, I must go out." + +She put out her hand to him but he pushed back his chair and went +quickly through the French window of the dining-room, into the garden. +She wanted to follow him, for she feared that on the impulse of the +moment he might do something terrible, but controlled herself in time. + +She stood on the terrace, impotent, watching him as he crossed the lawn +and made for the fields. It was a terrible day for her. She felt that +she couldn't go to church in her usual way, but stayed at home tortured +by the most hopeless and tragic anticipations of evil. At lunch time +he had not returned. It was with difficulty that she restrained +herself from sending Hollis out over the hill with a search party, but +the curious fatalism that had settled on her when once her decision was +made, compelled her to patience. It was his own battle, she reflected, +and if he had wanted her help he would have come to her. Evidently, he +had decided to fight it out alone. She went to her own room and prayed +desperately for his salvation. + +In the evening he returned, tired out with ceaseless wandering. He had +eaten nothing all day and looked very old and haggard. She had +expected a tender scene of confidence and was ready to overwhelm him +with the consolations of her love; but even now he said nothing to her, +and she dared not take the first step herself. From his silent misery +she gathered that Gabrielle had not told him that she knew of the +secret. Evidently, and very wisely, she had given him general and +conventional reasons for her renunciation, treating it as a matter that +concerned themselves and no one else, denying Mrs. Payne the privilege +and pain of sharing in Arthur's disillusionment. Therefore, his mother +judged it wiser to behave as though she knew nothing of what he was +suffering, though she saw by the steadiness of his demeanour that he +had taken the blow squarely, and come through. + +The fact that he didn't break down miserably, as she had expected he +would, convinced her more than ever that he had become a man. She felt +certain now that she had been right in following her instinct and +facing the risk that her action involved. She believed that she had +triumphed. Certainly, the boy who faced her at the dinner-table in +suffering and awkward silence was very different from the Arthur of six +months before. There was a look of determination in his eyes that made +her confident. He kissed her good-night without the least tremor, and +she went to bed herself full of serene thankfulness. Nor did she +forget how much she owed to the girl who was breaking her heart in the +loneliness of Lapton. She wrote to Gabrielle that night. "I think it +is all right," she said. "Heaven only knows what I owe you for your +generosity ... what Arthur owes you." + +He never mentioned Gabrielle's name to her again. Next morning, in a +calm and serious mood, he approached her on the subject of his return +to Lapton. + +"Would you mind very much," he said, "if I don't go back to Devonshire? +I feel that I'm rather out of place there. You see, I'm older than the +others. Do you think it could be arranged?" + +At first she feigned surprise--she could do nothing else--but in doing +so she cleverly contrived to make it easy for him. + +"If you wish it I will write to Dr. Considine," she said. She didn't +suggest the elaborate falsehoods on which she would build her letter. +"I think you are old enough to decide," she told him. "What would you +like to do?" + +"Is there any reason why I shouldn't travel?" he said. "I feel that I +want a change. I should like to see something of the world." + +So, without further difficulty, it was arranged. She sent him round +the world with a new tutor, waiting placidly and happily at Overton for +his return. It was in these days that I became acquainted with her and +conceived the admiration for her that I still hold. She often spoke to +me in terms of the most utter devotion of her son. I imagined her an +ideal mother, as indeed she was. + +After a year or more abroad Arthur returned, very much the man of the +world. At his own desire he went up to Oxford, where he passed a +perfectly normal three years and took a decent degree. In his last +term he fell in love with the daughter of a neighbouring parson, whom, +in due course, he married. The following year the young people went +out to New Zealand, a country to which Arthur had been attracted on his +travels, and that is all that I know of him. + +During all this time Mrs. Payne corresponded regularly with Gabrielle. +Now that Arthur's safety was beyond question and even in the earlier +debatable period, she had not the least objection to sharing him with +her rival ... at a distance. She even sent her his letters from +abroad. In this way they arrived at a curious and altogether happy +intimacy. Gabrielle's letters became part of her life, and when, in +the autumn after Arthur's engagement was announced, they suddenly +stopped, Mrs. Payne felt that she had suffered a loss. She wrote two +or three times to Lapton, but received no reply, and it was only by the +chance meeting of a friend who had been staying in Devonshire that she +learned what had happened. It came to her as a piece of idle gossip, +but the shock of an extraordinary coincidence upset her for many days. +It appeared that Dr. Considine, by this time a well known figure in the +county, had gone out one evening rabbit-shooting with his wife. As +they were returning from their expedition down one of the steep slopes +above Lapton Manor, he had slipped in getting over a gate and fallen. +It was the usual type of shooting accident that no one could explain. +The gun had gone off and shot him dead. "He was terribly mutilated +about the head," said Mrs. Payne's informant. She did not know what +had happened to his widow. Probably she had gone to her cousins the +Halbertons. In any case the jury had completely exonerated her. + +Mrs. Payne flared up in Gabrielle's defence. "Exonerated?" + +"It was well known that they were not on the best of terms," said her +visitor discreetly. + + + + +XXI + +I do not know what has possessed me since I began to write this story. +I have grown tired of this river, where the trout are always shy, and +more tired than ever of Colonel Hoylake's fishing stories and his +obituary reflections. The place is haunted for me by the tragic image +of Gabrielle Hewish. It is strange that I should be affected by the +loss of a woman whom I have never seen or known. But I feel that I +cannot stay here any longer. Wherever I go in this valley I am +troubled by a feeling of desolation: a curious feeling, as though some +bright thing had fallen--a kingfisher, a dragon-fly. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAGIC BRIDE*** + + +******* This file should be named 25867-8.txt or 25867-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/6/25867 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/25867-8.zip b/25867-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..36aa9bb --- /dev/null +++ b/25867-8.zip diff --git a/25867.txt b/25867.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24d211f --- /dev/null +++ b/25867.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5638 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tragic Bride, by Francis Brett Young + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Tragic Bride + + +Author: Francis Brett Young + + + +Release Date: June 21, 2008 [eBook #25867] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAGIC BRIDE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +THE TRAGIC BRIDE + +by + +FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG + + + + + + + +London: Martin Secker +1920 + + * * * * * + +WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +NOVELS + + THE YOUNG PHYSICIAN + THE CRESCENT MOON + THE IRON AGE + THE DARK TOWER + DEEP SEA + UNDERGROWTH (with E. BRETT YOUNG) + +POETRY + + FIVE DEGREES SOUTH + POEMS, 1916-1918 + +BELLES LETTRES + ROBERT BRIDGES: A CRITICAL STUDY + MARCHING ON TANGA + + * * * * * + + + +TO + +THE COUNTESS OF + +PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY + + + + +PROLOGUE + +I never met Gabrielle Hewish. I suppose I should really call her by that +name, for her marriage took the colour out of it as surely as if she had +entered a nunnery, and adopted the frigid and sisterly label of some +female saint. Nobody had ever heard of her husband before she married +him, and nobody ever heard of Gabrielle afterwards, except those who were +acquainted with the story of Arthur Payne, as I was, and, perhaps, a +coroner's jury in Devonshire, a county where juries are more than usually +slow of apprehension. In these days you will not even find the name of +Hewish in Debrett, for Gabrielle was the baronet's only child, and when +Sir Jocelyn died, in the early days of his daughter's married life, the +family, which for the last half century had been putting out no more than +a few feeble and not astonishingly brilliant leaves on its one living +branch, withered altogether, as well it might in the thin Irish soil +where it had stubbornly held its own since the days of Queen Elizabeth. +After all, baronetcies are cheap enough in Ireland, and one more or less +could make very little difference to the amenities of County Galway, +where Roscarna, for all I know, may have been absorbed and parcelled out +by the Congested Districts Board ten years ago. Even in clubs and places +where they gossip, I doubt if the Hewishes of Roscarna are remembered, +for modern memories are short, and in Gabrielle's day the illustrated +Sunday newspapers had not contrived to specialise in the smiles of +well-connected young Irishwomen. + +Of course the Payne episode--I'm not sure it should not rather be called +the Payne miracle--had always lain stored somewhere in my literary attic; +its theme was too exciting for a man who deals in such lumber to have +forgotten; but that admirable woman, Mrs. Payne, had whetted my curiosity +to such an extent that I weakly promised her secrecy before she told it +to me. "I can't resist telling you," she said, "because it wouldn't be +fair of me to deprive you: it's far too much in your line." She even +flattered me: "You'd do it awfully well too, you know; but I have a sort +of sentimental regard for her--not admiration, or anything of that kind, +but an indefinite feeling that _noblesse oblige_. In her own +extraordinary way she did us a good turn, and however carefully you +wrapped it up she might recognise her portrait and feel embarrassed. +It's she that I'm thinking of, not Arthur. Arthur was too young at the +time to realize what was happening, and if he saw your picture of two +women desperately fighting over the soul or body of a boy of seventeen +who resembled himself I doubt if he'd tumble to the portrait. He's a +dear transparently honest person like his father. Still, I don't want to +hurt her, and so, if you want the story, you must gloat over it in +private, and cherish it as an unwritten masterpiece. Probably if you +_did_ write it, it wouldn't be a masterpiece at all. Console yourself +with that." + +She told me her story--for of course I gave her the promise that she +demanded--in a midge-infested corner of the garden at Overton, while +Arthur, the unconscious subject of it, was playing tennis with the +clergyman's daughter whom he married a year later. I think Mrs. Payne +knew that this affair was coming off, and offered me the tale as a +combination of oral confession and Nunc Dimittis, watching the boy while +she told it to me with a sort of hungry maternal satisfaction, as +somebody whom she had not only brought into the world but for whose +salvation she was responsible. No doubt she had put up a hard fight for +him and had every reason to be satisfied, though Gabrielle shared the +honours of the mother's triumph in her own defeat. We sat there talking +until all the birds were silent, but a single blackbird that made a noise +in the shrubbery like that of two pebbles knocked sharply together; until +the young people on the tennis court could no longer see to play, and the +tall Californian poppies at the back of the herbaceous border that was +her special pride shone like moon-flowers in the dusk. + +"When I think of all that ... that summer," she said with a sigh, "I'm so +thankful ... so thankful." And then Arthur came back with his sweater +over his arm, swinging his racket, and she went straight up to him and +kissed him with the sort of modesty that you would have expected in a +young girl rather than a middle-aged widow. + +"You dear thing, Mater," he said, kissing her forehead in return. + +This is the land of digression into which memories of Overton lead one. +My only excuse is that part of the story, and indeed its emotional climax +belongs to Overton, to that smoothly ordered country house with its huge +sentinel elms and its peculiar atmosphere of leisure and peace. No doubt +Mrs. Payne was aware of this when she kissed her son. From the lawn +where we were sitting she could see the yew-parlour and the cypress hedge +in the shadow of which she had stood on the tremendous evening about +which she had been telling me. We walked back to the terrace, and on the +way she gave me a shy smile, half triumph, half apology. She never +mentioned the episode again and though the story fermented in my brain, +maturing, as I hoped, like a choice vintage, and has emerged from time to +time when my mind has been free from other work, I have kept my promise +and have neither repeated it nor written it till this day. + +Now, at last, I find myself absolved. Arthur Payne, I believe, is +happily married to the fresh young person with whom he was playing +tennis. Soon after their marriage they emigrated to the backs of Canada, +or was it New Zealand: somewhere at any rate beyond the reach of colonial +editions. Overton is now in the possession of a Midland soap-boiler. +Mrs. Payne, having fulfilled her main function in life and fearing +English winters, has retired to a small villa at Mustapha Superieur, near +Algiers, where, though she live for ever she is not likely to read this +book. And Gabrielle, the beautiful Gabrielle, is dead. + +The news came as a shock to me. For the moment I, who had never even set +eyes on her, suffered the pain of an almost personal bereavement; I was +moved, as poets are moved by the vanishing of something beautiful from +the earth. Was she then so beautiful? I don't know. But I like to +persuade myself that she was a fiery, elemental creature of a rare and +pathetic brilliance ... for the sake of her story, no doubt. But, for +the moment, when old Colonel Hoylake, who always began his _Times_ by +quotations from the obituary column--he had survived the age when births +or marriages are interesting--suddenly brought out the word Hewish: +Gabrielle Hewish, I was startled out of the state of pleasant lethargy +into which a day's fishing on the Dulas and the Matthews' beer had +plunged me, and became suddenly wide awake. I had the feeling that some +bright thing had fallen: a kingfisher, a dragonfly. "Hewish," he +murmured again. "Gabrielle Hewish ... Well, well." + +"You know the family?" + +"Yes, I knew her father, poor feller," he said. + +Now I was full of eagerness. It had come over me all at once that this +obituary notice was, for me, a happy release. It meant that, for a month +or two, all through the mesmeric hours that I should spend up to my knees +in the swift Dulas, alone with the dippers and the ring-ousels and the +plaintive sand-pipers, I should be able to explore, to my own content, +this forbidden treasure, searching in the dark soul of Marmaduke +Considine and the tender heart of Gabrielle; threading the lanes that +spread in a net about the schoolhouse at Lapton Huish; brooding over the +deceptive peace of Overton Manor; recalling the scene in the yew-parlour, +the atmosphere, terrifically charged with emotion, of the day when Mrs. +Payne took her courage in her hands and fought like a maternal tigress +for Arthur's soul. My heart beat faster as I led the old fisherman on +with "Yes?" + +He laid aside _The Times_ and lit one of the long Trichinopoly cheroots +that he smoked perpetually, settling himself back in the comfortable +hotel chair. + +"Hewish," he said. "Sir Jocelyn Hewish. That was the father's name. +Lived at a place called Roscarna in the west of Ireland. He was an +extraordinarily good fisherman: tied his own flies. I have some +sea-trout flies in my book that he tied thirty years ago ... a kind of +blue teal that he'd invented. Of course they had a fine string of +white-trout lakes--many a good fish I've had there--but the remarkable +thing about Roscarna was this. Right in front of the house at the bottom +of the sunk fence, there ran a stretch of river,--about three hundred +yards of it, clear deep slides with a level muddy bottom. One winter old +Sir Jocelyn took it into his head to clean up this bit of water, and when +they came to scrape the bottom they found under the mud that the whole +bed of the stream was paved with marble slabs like a swimming bath ... +Connemara marble. They went on with the job because it looked so well, +all this green, veined stuff shining through the clear water. So they +scoured the bottom and fixed up a banderbast for keeping the mud from +coming downstream from above, and having made a sort of stewpond, put in +four or five hundred yearling brownies. You'd never believe how those +fish grew. In a couple of years the water was full of three and four +pounders, lovely fish with a small head and pink flesh like a salmon. +Quite a curious thing! And you'll never guess the reason. No sooner had +they cleared away the mud than the place swarmed with freshwater shrimps. +The yearlings throve on them like a smolt when it goes down to the sea. +That was the remarkable thing about Roscarna...." + +I knew, of course, that it wasn't. The remarkable thing about Roscarna, +to anyone with a ha'porth of imagination, was Gabrielle Hewish. Luckily +that admirable gossip Hoylake had another interest in life besides +fishing stories, and one that served my purpose,--genealogy. It is an +interest not uncommon with old soldiers--that is why they often write +such incredibly dull memoirs--and after allowing him a number of sporting +digressions in the direction of a Lochanillaun pike and the altogether +admirable blackgame shooting at Roscarna, which, he assured me, was +better than anything in the west except Lord Dudley's shoot on the +Corrib, I played him tactfully into the deeper water that interested me +and, by the end of the week, had succeeded in drawing from him a good +deal of irrelevant family history and, what is more to the point, a +fairly consecutive account of the last of the Hewishes, Sir Jocelyn and +his amazing daughter. + +As he told it to me in the parlour of the fishing inn beside the Dulas, I +began to realise that accidentally, and at the moment when I needed it +most, I had stumbled on a fountain of curious knowledge. If I had missed +meeting him, my story, fascinating as it was, would have been incomplete. +It armed me with a whole new theory of Gabrielle, suggesting causes, or, +if you like, preparations for the extraordinary episode that followed. +It showed me that I had been flattering myself that I knew all about it +when, as a matter of fact, I had only got hold of one--and the wrong--end +of the stick. I fished the Dulas for a fortnight, hypnotised, pondering +on the whole curious business, not only when the bright water rippled by +me, but when old Hoylake told me stories of mahseer and tiger fish and +barracuda that he had missed, when I was walking through the pinewoods +under the mountain, when I was eating, and, I verily believe, when I was +asleep. I had thought before that my friend Mrs. Payne was the heroine +of the story. Now I am not sure that Gabrielle does not share the +honours. + + + + +I + +And, first of all, I dreamed of Roscarna. Partly for the sheer pleasure +of reconstructing a shadowy countryside that I remembered, partly because +Roscarna, the house in which the Hewish family had run to seed in its +latter generations, was very much to the point. Twenty miles from +Galway--and Irish miles, at that--it stands at the foot of the mountains +on the edge of the tract that is called Joyce's Country, a district +famous for inbreeding and idiocy where everyone was called Joyce, +excepting, of course, the Hewishes of Roscarna, who were aliens, +Elizabethan adventurers from the county of Devon, cousins of the Earls of +Halberton, who had planted themselves upon the richest of the Joyces' +lands in the early seventeenth century and built their house in the +English fashion of the time. + +I imagine that it was the founder of the house who paved his river bed +with marble slabs, smoothing the stickles into a long clear slide. +Labour, no doubt, was cheap or forced, and the Elizabethan fancy lavish. +In the mouth of the valley, where it opens on the lake, they planted a +girdle of dark woods growing so near to the new house that the Hewishes, +walking in their gardens, could almost fancy themselves in England and +lose sight of the mountain slopes that swept up into the crags behind +them. The house stood with its back to the hills and all western +barrenness, looking over a level, terraced sward, past a river that had +been tamed to the smoothness of a chalk stream, to homely woodlands of +beech and elm that might well have been haunted by nightingales if only +there had been nightingales in Ireland. There were no nightingales in +Devon, so that the first Hewish was under no necessity of importing them +to complete his picture. But he had his gravelled walks, his poets' +avenue of yews, that grew kindly, his sundials with their graceful and +melancholy admonitions, his box-hedges and white peacocks, and the fancy +of some Hewish unknown had blossomed at last in a Palladian bridge of +freestone, spanning the quiet river. + +Roscarna, in fact, was a bold experiment, destined from the first to +fail. Never, in all its history, could it have become the living thing +that its founders dreamed, any more than the Protestant Church that they +built in the village of Clonderriff could be the home of a living faith; +for though they turned their backs upon the mountains of Joyce's Country, +the mountains were always there, and the house itself, which should have +glowed with the warmth of red brick, or one of those soft building-stones +that mellow as they weather, seemed always cold and desolate, being made +of a hard, cold, Connaught rock, that made the Palladian bridge look like +the fanciful toy that it was, and grew bleaker, bluer, colder, as the +years went by. + +I think of it as one thinks of the villas that Roman colonists built +above the marches of Wales, built obstinately on the Roman plan that the +climate of Italy had dictated to their fathers, with open atrium and +terraces protected from the sun. "What's good enough for Rome," they +said, "is surely good enough for Siluria," and, shivering, showed the +latest official visitor a landscape that might have been transported +bodily from the Sabine Hills ... if only there were more sun! "But we +_do_ miss the lizards and the cicalas," they would say with a sigh. No +doubt the most enthusiastic built themselves Palladian ... I mean +Etruscan bridges and marble stew-ponds for mullet, until, in the end, the +immense inertia of the surrounding country asserted itself and the +natural desires of mankind led to a mingling of British blood with +theirs, till the Roman of the first century became the Briton of the +third. + +The parallel is as near as it may be, for though the first Hewish was an +Englishman, his great-great-grandson was Irish, and the only thing that +was left to remind him of his ancestry was the house of Roscarna, the +sullen Connaught stone fixed in an alien design, and the huge belt of +timber through which the gorse and heather were slowly creeping down from +the mountain and settling in the valley bottom that they had once +inhabited. But the foreign woods that trailed along the shore of the +lake were admirable for black-cock. + +The transformation was very gradual. The first Hewishes, no doubt, kept +in touch with their English cousins. London was their metropolis, and to +London, in the fashions of their remote province, they would return with +amusing tales of Irish savagery that made them good company in an +eighteenth century coffee-house. Little by little they found their +English interests waning, and the social centre shifting westwards. +Dublin became their city, and to a stately house in Merrion Square the +family coach migrated in the season, until, at last, it seemed hardly +worth while to cross the dreariness of the central plain, and a +town-house in Galway seemed the zenith of urbanity. Galway, indeed, had +risen on a wave of prosperity. In the streets above the Claddagh, +merchants who had grown rich in the Spanish trade were building solid +houses with carved lintels and windows of stained glass. The Hewishes +invested money in these new ventures. In Galway a Hewish of Roscarna was +somebody: there the family was taken for granted and, following the way +of least resistance, the Hewishes settled down into the state of +provincial notabilities. + +Notabilities as long as the Spanish money lasted--then notorieties. For, +as Roscarna, the symbol of a tradition, decayed, the men of the Hewish +family developed a curious recklessness in living. + +It was as though the original vigour of the tree planted in a foreign +soil had been enough to keep it fighting and flourishing for a couple of +hundred years and then had suddenly failed, dying, as a tree will, from +above downwards. + +For the first half of the nineteenth century a series of dissolute +Hewishes--they never bred in great numbers--lived wildly upon the edge of +Connemara, drinking and fighting and gaming and wenching while the roof +of Roscarna grew leaky and the long stables were turned into pigsties, +and soft mud silted over the marble bottom below the Palladian bridge. +If they had lived in England the estate would have vanished field by +field until nothing but the house was left; but the outer land at +Roscarna was of no marketable value, and when Sir Jocelyn succeeded to +the property in the year 1870, he found himself master of many worthless +acres and a ruined house that he was powerless to repair. It was no +wonder that he went to the dogs like his father before him, for the +passage of every generation had made recovery more difficult. Of course +he should really have become a soldier; but soldiering in those days was +an expensive calling. As a baronet--even as an Irish baronet--a good +deal would have been expected of him, far more than the dwindling means +of Roscarna could possibly supply, and since every career seemed closed +to him but one of provincial dissipation he is scarcely to be blamed for +having followed it. + +When Colonel Hoylake knew him he was a middle-aged man and a reformed +character, and the fact that he ever came to be either is enough to show +that the original Hewish strain was still strong enough to put up some +sort of fight. He cannot have been without his share of original virtue, +but by his own account, his youth, hopeless and therefore abandoned, must +have been pretty lurid. Of course he drank. His father must have taught +him to do that as a matter of habit. He was equally at home with the +ancient sherries, a few bins of which remained in the Roscarna cellars to +remind him of the Spanish trading days, or with the liquid fire that the +Joyces distilled in the mountains under the name of potheen. + +Of course he gambled. He was sufficiently Irish for that: and his gaming +passion soon made Roscarna a sort of savage Monte Carlo, to which the +more dissolute younger sons of the surrounding gentry foregathered: +Blakes and O'fflahertys, and Kilkellys, and all the rest of them. + +In the middle of the stables, at the back of the house, stood a huge +deserted pigsty surrounded by a stone wall, and this place became under +Jocelyn's regime, a cockpit, in which desperate birds were pitted against +one another, fighting fiercely until they dropped. Even in his later +days according to Hoylake, he was not ashamed of these exploits. The +gamblers invented for themselves new refinements of sport or cruelty. +Spider-racing. I do not suppose that anyone living to-day knows what +spider-racing is. This was the manner of it. At night, when the big +black-bellied spiders that haunted the lofts came out to spread their +nets, stable-boys were sent with candles to collect them in tins, and +next morning, when the gamblers assembled in the pigsty at Roscarna a +piece of sheet iron, fired to a dull red heat would be placed in the +centre. On this hot surface the long-legged insects were thrown. +Naturally they must run or be shrivelled with heat. And the one that ran +the furthest was counted the winner. Betting on these unfortunate +creatures Jocelyn and his friends spent many happy forenoons, and Jocelyn +was counted as good a judge of a spider as any man in Galway. In his +dealings with women he was relatively decent, relapsing, at an early age +into a relation irregular, but so domestic as to be respectable, with a +woman named Brigit Joyce who kept house for him and cooked potatoes and +distilled potheen as well as any female in the district. I do not know +if they had many children. If they did, it is probable that these found +their vocation in collecting spiders in the stables, or even drifted back +into the hill community from which their mother had come. + +Through all his dissipations Sir Jocelyn preserved one characteristic, an +unerring instinct for field-sports that no amount of drinking could +impair. He could hit a flying bird with a stone, was a deadly shot for +snipe or mallard, rode like a centaur, and fished with the instinct of a +heron. It is probable that his consciousness of this faculty was at the +bottom of his startling recovery. Possibly he was frightened to find a +little of his skill failing. I only know that at the age of forty-eight, +he pulled himself up short. His eyes, seeing clearly for the first time +in his life, became aware of the appalling ruin into which Roscarna had +fallen. He became sober for six days out of the seven, setting aside the +Sabbath for the worship of Bacchus, and during the remainder he devoted +himself seriously, steadily to the reclamation of his estate. He +repaired the roof of the house with new blue slates, cleared the attics +of owls and the chimneys of jackdaws; he dredged the river and discovered +the marble bottom, netted the pike and put down yearling trout. +Gradually he restored Roscarna to its old position as a first-class +sporting property; and so, having fought his way back, step by step, into +the company of decent men, he married a wife. + +Hardly the wife one would have expected from a Hewish, it is true. Her +name was Parker, her father was a shop-keeper in Baggot Street, Dublin, +and how Hewish met her God only knows. She was a sober, plain-sailing +Englishwoman, a Protestant, with a religious bias that may have made the +reformation of a dissolute baronet attractive to her. She had a little +money, to which she stuck like glue, and an abundance of common-sense. +It speaks well for the latter that she appreciated, from the first, the +value of Biddy Joyce in the kitchen, and kept her there, boiling +potatoes, although she knew that she had been her husband's mistress. +Firmly, but certainly, she ordered Jocelyn's life, realising, with him, +that Roscarna was worth saving, subsidising, with a careful hand, his +attempts to restore the woods and waters, interesting herself in the +housing of his tenants, and renewing the connection of Roscarna with the +parish church of Clonderriff, of which the Hewishes were patrons. It was +she who appointed Marmaduke Considine to the vacant living. + +For ten years she lived soberly with Sir Jocelyn at Roscarna, hoping +ardently that a son might be born to them who should carry on the family +name and succeed to the fruits of her economies. In the eleventh year of +their married life it seemed that her hopes were to be realised. Even +Jocelyn, the new Jocelyn, appreciated the importance of the event. He +and Biddy Joyce, now an old and shrivelled woman, but one unrivalled in +maternal experience, nursed Lady Hewish as though the whole of their +future happiness depended on it. Every Sunday young Mr. Considine dined +at Roscarna with the family, and spent the evening in religious +discussions with her ladyship. Every month the doctor rode over from +Galway to feel her pulse. On a dark winter evening in the year eighteen +eighty-three the child was born--a girl. They christened her Gabrielle, +and a week later Lady Hewish died. + + + + +II + +Her death knocked poor Sir Jocelyn to pieces. Not altogether because +he had loved her, but because he had made the habit of depending on her +and happened to be a creature of habits ... good or bad. So, having +been bereft of that of matrimony, he returned, for a time to that of +drinking, leaving the child in the spiritual charge of Mr. Considine, a +gentleman of small domestic experience, and the physical care of Biddy +Joyce, a mother of many. For the time being Jocelyn was far too busy +to bother his head about her, and Biddy dragged her up in the kitchen +of Roscarna where she had suckled her half-brothers before her, Mr. +Considine exercising a general supervision, pending the day when her +soul should be fit for salvation and ghostly admonition. + +In the early stages of Jocelyn's relapse the Parkers of Baggot Street +descended on Roscarna in force: a proceeding that Lady Hewish had +discountenanced in her lifetime. Neither Jocelyn nor Biddy invited +them to stay, and they returned to Dublin scandalised, with the report +of Gabrielle, a very small baby of eighteen months with coal black eyes +and hair, playing like a kitten with the foot of a dead rabbit on the +kitchen floor. "Only to think what poor Laura would have felt!" they +sighed, not realising that such a train of thought was in the nature of +things unprofitable. + +So Gabrielle grew, and so, in a few years, Jocelyn, with a tremendous +effort pulled himself together, returning, as though refreshed, to his +sporting pursuits, the woods, the lake and the river. He even found a +new hobby: the breeding of Cocker spaniels, and worked up an interest +in the development of his daughter that ran easily with that of +training his puppies. He took a great delight in teasing small +animals, and treated Gabrielle and the cockers on much the same lines, +with the result that the puppies were usually a little cowed and +puzzled when he teased them, but Gabrielle bit his hand. This pleased +him; for he set great store by animal spirits in any form, and he +carried his fingers bandaged in the hunting-field for several weeks in +order that he might tell the story of his daughter's prowess. Jocelyn +was growing rather childish in his old age. + +There were really three periods in Gabrielle's early life. The first, +before her father began to take notice of her, was spent altogether in +the company of Biddy, who embraced her in her general devotion to +children. Biddy called herself a Catholic, and for this reason +secretly feared and hated the supervision of young Mr. Considine, a +priest of the Church of Ireland; but at heart she was as pagan as the +top of Slievegullion, and along with her favourite Christian oaths (in +one of which St. Anthony of Padua was disguised as Saint Antonio +Perrier), and her whispered "Aves," she taught Gabrielle enough pagan +mythology and folklore to set her head spinning whenever she found +herself alone in the woods or the fields. + +If ever she strayed into the forbidden lanes beyond the lodge-gates at +Roscarna she lived in fear of seeing the dead-coach come round the +corner: a tall coach, painted black and drawn by coal-black horses and +on the box two men, black-coated with black faces, who might jump from +the coach and catch her up and throw her inside it. You could never +know when the dead-coach was coming, for its wheels were bound with old +black rags, so that they made no noise on the stones. Then, in the +fields where corn was growing one might come across the "limrechaun," +with consequences untold but terrible. And, above all things, she was +never to pick up an old comb in the road, for as like as not the comb +would be the property of the banshee, a little old woman with long +nails and hairy arms. When Gabrielle asked what would happen if she +picked up the banshee's comb, Biddy told her that the banshee would +come crying to her window at night, and that if this ever happened, she +must get a pair of red hot tongs and hold the comb in the window for +the banshee to take. This seemed to Gabrielle an unnecessary +complication; but Biddy told her that if she didn't follow it in every +particular the banshee would scratch the hand off her. Faced with the +possibility of this disaster, and not knowing how she could possibly +get hold of a pair of red hot tongs in the middle of the night, +Gabrielle decided that if ever she saw a comb in the road, she would +not bring it home with her. And this was a wise decision, for the +heads of the children in Joyce's Country were not above suspicion. +Indeed most of the terrors with which Biddy inspired her were based on +principles that were ethically sound and combined romantic colour with +practical utility. + +When she was six her father began to take her out with him at the time +when he exercised the puppies. She and the puppies would run about +together and by the same word be called to heel. She found that she +could do most of the things that they did. Once, on a summer day when +two of them had conscientiously frightened a water-rat out of its hole +on the margin of the lake, Gabrielle, who was far ahead of her father +and hot with running, plunged in after them. She got her mouth full of +water, and thought she was drowning, and Jocelyn, frightened for her +life, ran in after her and rescued her with the water up to his neck. +"Now that you're here," he said, "you'd better learn to swim." And he +made her, then and there, bringing her back to Biddy Joyce like a small +drowned cat, with her black hair clinging close to her head. It was a +great achievement, and since Biddy could not, for the moment, produce +any mythological terror in the nature of a Loreley better than a pike +that preyed on swimmers, Gabrielle would often go down to the lake +secretly in the middle of a summer morning, and strip off her clothes +and float on her back in the sunshine. She must have looked a strange +little thing with her long white legs, her smooth black hair, her deep +violet eyes, and her red lips; for she had this amazing combination of +features that you will sometimes find in the far West. She did not get +them from her mother or from Jocelyn, both of whom were blond Saxons. +I suppose they came to her through the blood of some Irishwoman whom a +dead Hewish had married perhaps a hundred years before. + +While Biddy Joyce instructed her in oaths and legend, and her father +taught her to ride, to swim, to shoot and to fish, her moral and +literal education were entrusted to Mr. Considine. Physically Mr. +Considine was of a type that does not change much with the passage of +time. When first he came to Roscarna, a couple of years before +Gabrielle was born, he was a young man of twenty. How he came to be +chosen for the cure of Clonderriff I do not know, unless he were in +some way connected with the Parker family. He was a Wiltshireman, +tall, sandy-haired, with a long face and a square jaw to which he gave +an air of determination by constantly gritting his teeth. Gabrielle, +as imitative as a starling, began to mimic this habit of his until one +day he found himself staring at her, as at a mirror, and told her to +stop. She had meant no harm; she didn't even know that she was doing +it, but he treated the offence quite seriously. + +It was his nature to treat everything seriously, including his mission +among the heathen or, what was worse, the Catholic Joyces. He taught +her the alphabet and the Lord's Prayer, and the collect for the week, +and simple fractions and the capes and headlands of England (the capes +and headlands of Ireland didn't matter) and the verb "to have" in +French, together with long lists of the kings of Israel and Judah. +Gabrielle was very quick to learn. From the first her memory was a +pleasant surprise to her--sometimes a surprise to Mr. Considine, as +when she offered to give him the Kings of Judah backwards, a proceeding +that struck him as not only revolutionary but irreverent, and tinged +with a flavour of the Black Mass. + +Gabrielle always knew when she had annoyed or embarrassed him, not +because he reproved her in any way--to have shown heat in words would +have been against his principles--but because he did show heat in his +neck, where a faint flush would spread upwards to his ears above the +band of his clerical collar. When she was thoroughly bored Gabrielle +would sometimes try this experiment, just in the same way as she made +the snapdragons put out their tongues. + +Jocelyn liked Considine and trusted him, partly, no doubt, because he +happened to be an Englishman--the only one in this wilderness of +Joyces--and partly because he was something of a sportsman: a little +too serious and determined for his sport to appear natural, but for all +that a good shot over dogs, and a very accurate, if not instinctive +fisherman. In his boyhood, in Wiltshire, he had learned the technique +of the dry fly, and his successes with trout in gin-clear water made +Jocelyn respect him. + +Considine's friendship with Jocelyn must be put to his credit. If he +had been a prig he would either have turned up his nose at his patron's +morals or condoned them with a sense of self-sacrifice and forbearance. +He didn't do either. He just took Jocelyn for what he was worth, +realising the shabby trick that heredity had played him; and his +attitude toward Gabrielle was much the same. He knew that he couldn't +and didn't want to keep pace with her enthusiasms any more than he +could keep pace with the baronet's potations. He had been born on a +bleak downland, and some of its characteristics had got into the thin, +cold humour that was his blood. He was incapable of the generous +passions of the people of Roscarna; but I think he was a good man, for +all that. Even Mrs. Payne, who had reason to be irritated by his +coldness, acknowledged this. And he was as conscientious in his +education of Gabrielle as in the care of his parish. + +The child matured very quickly. Physically I mean. That is the way in +the west. Of course she was a great tom-boy, tall for her years, very +frank in her speech and totally unconscious of her sex, as free and +virginal as the young Artemis. The world of books to which Mr. +Considine introduced her in her school-hours was wholly forgotten +outside them. In the woods and on the mountains she throve as a +magnificent young animal, moving with an ease and grace and freedom +that civilised woman has lost. Her clothes were of Connemara homespun, +but to a body such as hers, clothes did not matter. She went barefoot +like the girls of Joyce's Country, and her ankles were as clean cut as +the cannon of a thoroughbred. She wore her black hair in a thick plait +that fell below her waist. She had no friends but Biddy, her father +and Considine, except a few men, contemporaries of Jocelyn, who joked +with her in the hunting field. She knew no women; for ladies did not +call at Roscarna, and the county could never forgive her mother's +origins in Baggott Street. All her life was uncomplicated and +miraculously happy. + +This Arcadian state of affairs might well have gone on for ever, if +Jocelyn, feeling that he would like to give her a great treat and, +perhaps, becoming proudly conscious of her beauty, had not determined, +in the August of her sixteenth year, to take her to Dublin for the +Horse Show week. She thrilled to the idea, not because she was anxious +to meet her own species but because she loved horses. They travelled +up by train from Galway through the vast monotonies of the Bog of +Allen, and put up at Maple's Hotel in Kildare Street, within five +minutes' walk of her maternal grandmother's shop. In those days no +Irish gentleman would have dreamed of dining in a public room, and they +took their meals sedately in a private apartment. + +Gabrielle had never set foot in a city before. The smooth pavements, +the high buildings and the shop windows of Grafton Street excited her. +Everything in Dublin wore an air magnificent and spacious. Even the +ducks on the pond in the middle of Stephen's Green were exotic, and +like no other ducks that she had known. But she could not enjoy her +excitement to the full, for the feminine instinct in her realised from +the first that her clothes were different from those of the people +about her; and this disappointed her, for they were her best, made by +the urbane fingers of Monoghan, the tailor at Oughterard. + +When she walked down Grafton Street she fancied that people stared at +her. It never struck her as possible that they were staring at her +vivid and unusual beauty. It struck her as funny that her father did +not seem to be aware of the discrepancy in her dress. He wasn't in the +least. He had taken his daughter for granted. In his unconscious +arrogance he imagined that the distinction of being a Hewish of +Roscarna was sufficient in itself to make her independant of externals, +and, as he proposed no alterations she trusted his judgment and they +went to the Horse Show together in their ill-cut tweeds. + +Gabrielle was entranced by the jumping. Whenever a horse topped the +fences she straightened her back automatically as though she had been +riding herself. With such splendid animals as those she felt that she +could have made a better job of it. For the moment she forgot all +about her questionable clothes; but when, later in the day, she was +taken by her father to be presented to the Halbertons, the family of +the Devonshire peer with whom the Hewishes were connected, she became +immediately and horribly conscious of Lady Halberton's magnificence and +the elegance of her daughters. It shocked and thrilled her to see that +the elder Halberton girl powdered her nose. She wondered what it must +feel like to have one's hands encased in skin-tight gloves, and how +these English people managed to speak with such an elegant tiredness. +It seemed to her inevitable that Lady Halberton must be ashamed of her +cousins, and she was relieved, but a little frightened, to hear this +great lady invite her father and her to dinner at the Shelbourne on the +following night. After all, she reflected, there must be something in +the name of Hewish. She wondered how on earth she could make her +father understand that she couldn't very well go to dinner in the dress +that she was wearing, the only one that she possessed. + + + + +III + +It is extraordinary to think how forty-eight hours had turned this +amazing, sexless creature into a woman. The problem of a dinner-dress +was solved for her almost at once by Jocelyn himself. As soon as they +were safely back at Maple's he asked her if she really wanted to dine +with the Halbertons at the Shelbourne, and when she said, "Of course!" +he produced a five pound note from the pigskin case that he carried in +his coat-tail, and turned her loose in Grafton Street. An hour later +she returned, breathless with excitement, carrying the dress that she +had bought, a frock of white muslin, high at the neck and +hand-embroidered with a pattern of shamrock. Life was becoming a +matter of great excitement. + +The maid at Maple's dressed her in the evening, a blowsy young woman +from Carlow who called her 'my darlin,' and told her that she had a +beautiful head of hair. Biddy had never told her that her hair was +beautiful, and Gabrielle herself had always considered it something of +a nuisance. In the hotel bedroom a cunning combination of mirrors +showed her the thick plait hanging down her back. She had never seen +her own back before. Looking at it she shrugged her shoulders to see +what they looked like. + +Of course she was ready dressed long before she need have been. She +went down into the hall of the hotel and waited for her father. She +hoped, and was almost sure, that she looked lovely. While she stood +there, looking into a huge oval mirror, an old gentleman of much the +same cut as her father came in and stared at her as though she were +some new and curious animal. She turned and smiled at him. She would +have smiled at anyone on that evening. He did not give her a smile in +return. He only went red in his bald scalp and cleared his throat, +hobbling up to his room and wondering what the devil Maple's was coming +to. + +A moment later Jocelyn arrived, very stately in the evening dress of +the seventies. His face looked brown and hard and weathered, like a +filbert, against his white spread of shirt-front. His eyes twinkled, +his temples were flushed, and the twisted cord of an artery could be +seen pulsating across each of them: all three being symptoms of the +bottle of Pommery on which he had dressed. When he saw Gabrielle he +said "Ha--very good, very good," and she, in an access of enthusiasm, +kissed him and smelt his vinous breath. + +It was no more than a stone's throw from their hotel to the Shelbourne, +Jocelyn remembering his long-forgotten manners stepped aside +courteously when they crossed the road as if he were escorting a real +lady. Gabrielle couldn't understand this at all; she would have liked +to jog along with him arm in arm. The magnificence of the Shelbourne +with its uniformed porters overpowered Gabrielle, and when she reached +the Halbertons' private room, she, who had often been reproved for +talking the heads off Biddy and Mr. Considine, was dumb. Jocelyn, +however, pouring gin and bitters on his Pommery, did talking enough for +both of them. He was in excellent form. His talk flowed steadily and +Gabrielle, drifting as it were, into an eddy, was left at liberty to +examine her cousins and their company. + +Lord Halberton and Jocelyn Hewish had very little in common. The peer +she noticed wore an air of great fragility, as though he had been +sprinkled with powder to preserve him. His movements were all minute +and precise. He walked with short steps; and when he smiled, as +Jocelyn, already in the story-telling stage, compelled him to do, his +lips twitched apart for a moment and then closed again as if he were +afraid that any expression more violent might make his teeth fall out. +Gabrielle decided that he must be very old, so old that he was only +kept alive by these precautions. She had noticed, too, when she shook +hands with him that the flesh of his fingers was limp, and that the +joints were stiff like those of a dead man. + +Lady Halberton, who, at the Horse Show had struck her as an ancient and +withered woman, now appeared middle-aged, scintillating in a scheme of +black and silver. Her dress and her toupet were black, relieved by +silver sequins and a silver mounted tiara. High lights in keeping with +the scheme were supplied by other jewels on her fingers, her glittering +filbert nails and a diamond pendant that sparkled on the white and bony +ridge of her breastbone. The Halberton daughters, whose accents +Gabrielle had been imitating in her bedroom when she lay awake with +excitement the night before, were inclined to be friendly with her; but +as all their conversation had to do with a world of which Gabrielle +knew nothing, they did not get very far. Both of them were over thirty +and unmarried. From time to time, taking new courage, each in turn +would make a pounce on Gabrielle with some question that led nowhere, +and then flutter off again. The fact that she obviously puzzled them +amused Gabrielle, and she soon regained the confidence that the sight +of the hall porters had shaken. From time to time Lady Halberton would +turn on her a smile full of glittering teeth, and twice, apropos of +nothing, Gabrielle heard her say: "Sweet child! You must really let +her come and stay with us at Halberton, Sir Jocelyn," though the +baronet did not seem to hear what she said. + +They dined _en famille_. Lord Halberton ate as gingerly as he smiled, +probably for the same reason. The party had been squared by the +addition of two young men, one of them a soldier from the Curragh, +named Fortescue, and the other a naval sub-lieutenant, named Radway. +He and Gabrielle, as the least important persons, found themselves in +each other's company, while Captain Fortescue dished up the kind of +small talk to which they were accustomed to the two Halberton girls, +Lady Halberton continuously sparkling at Sir Jocelyn and her husband +presiding over the whole function with set lips like a cataleptic. + +It was Radway who saved Gabrielle from throttling herself with the +flower of a French artichoke, a vegetable with which she was +unacquainted, and in a burst of gratitude she confided to him the fact +that this was her first dinner party. From this they slipped into an +easy intimacy; easy for her because she was so thankful to find someone +to whom she could babble, and for him because she was so utterly +unguarded. It had been unusual for him to meet a girl of birth or +breeding who was not preoccupied with matrimonial possibilities; and +this creature was as frank as she was beautiful. + +Radway had never been in Ireland before. The cruiser on which he +served was visiting Kingstown, and at the Horse Show he had run across +the Halbertons whom he had met when he was stationed in their own +county at Devonport. Beyond them he didn't know a soul in the country, +and the soft western brogue of Gabrielle fascinated him. He encouraged +her to talk, and she was quite willing to do so, telling of Roscarna +and the hills and the river, of her lessons with Mr. Considine, of her +secret bathes in the lake and other things as intimate which would have +persuaded him that she was an exceedingly fast young woman if he had +not been already convinced that she was nothing but a child. + +It gave her a great happiness to talk about Roscarna in this alien +land. And Radway was glad to listen if only for the pleasure of +hearing her voice. + +Radway was a straight-forward young man, twenty-four or five years of +age. That he was eminently presentable one deduces from the fact that +the Halbertons condescended to entertain him, though Lady Halberton, as +the years went by, was known to make social sacrifices for the sake of +the dear girls. I do not think it is profitable to seek for much +subtlety in Radway. It is better to accept him as the clean sturdy +type of youth that Dartmouth turns afloat every year. Physically he +was fair (Arthur Payne also was fair), with a straight mouth, excellent +teeth, and blue, humorous eyes. + +There is nothing younger for its age than a naval sub-lieutenant. In +the traditional simplicity of seamen there is more than a tradition; +for the inhabitants of a ship are a small island community in which +grown men live and accept a glorified version of life at a public +school until they reach the flag-list, or are shot out into the world +on a pension that is inadequate for its enjoyment. The one subject on +which the wardroom claims to be authoritative is that of women; and +Radway was already as well acquainted with the Irish aspects of the +sport as with the Japanese. In daring, as in physical perfection, the +wardroom of the _Pennant_ considered that the daughters of the Irish +squirearchy took some beating; and Radway had heard, no doubt, stories +of many wayward and passionate episodes with which the hospitality of +Irish country houses had been enlivened. Gabrielle was the first of +the kind that he had met, her frankness, her beauty, and her sudden, +enchanting intimacy seemed to tell him that he was in luck's way and on +the edge of an adventure. It was not the part of a sailor to miss +opportunities of experience. He couldn't guess, poor devil, what the +end would be, but naval tradition favoured the taking of all possible +risks, and he determined to let the affair develop as rapidly as +possible. + +The dulness of the rest of the party isolated them. To all intents and +purposes they were alone. The difference between this girl and all the +others that he had met was that she withheld nothing, she didn't hedge, +or try to protect herself with any assumption of feminine mystery. It +puzzled Radway. He wondered, in his innocence, if he had succeeded in +making a swift, bewildering conquest. Of course he hadn't done +anything of the sort, but the speculation disarmed him, and by the end +of the evening he was thoroughly bowled over. + +So was Sir Jocelyn--but in another way. All the time that she had been +talking to Radway Gabrielle had kept her eye on him. She knew that +things were reaching a point of danger when she saw his eyes fill with +tears as he told the sympathetic Lady Halberton of the loss of his +wife. The achievement of sentiment in Jocelyn marked a fairly high +degree of intoxication. In the middle of her description of the +Roscarna black-game shooting Gabrielle stopped dead. Radway wondered +what on earth had happened to her. + +It was a difficult moment, for she hadn't the least idea of its +conventional solution. She only knew that somehow she must rescue her +father before he became impossible. She supposed that, in the ordinary +way, it was his duty and not hers to bring the visit to an end, but she +knew that as long as there was whiskey in the decanter he wouldn't +dream of going. So she left Radway in the middle of her sentence, +walked straight up to Lady Halberton and said, "Good-night," with a +staggering abruptness, and before he knew what had happened Lord +Halberton was handing Jocelyn his hat. + +It took Radway more than a minute to recover from this cold douche; but +he was too far gone to let the possibility of romantic developments +slip, and before the Hewishes left, he contrived to let Gabrielle know +that he wanted to meet her again. "Outside the gates of Trinity +College to-morrow at four o'clock," he whispered. She said nothing. +He wondered, for one moment, whether she was deeper than he had +imagined. Then she looked him full in the eyes and nodded. It gave +him a thrill of delight. He found himself listening in a dream to Lady +Halberton's reminiscences of the Admiral's garden party, at which they +had met, and a maternal appreciation of the accomplishments of her +elder daughter, Lady Barbara. + + + + +IV + +Gabrielle piloted Jocelyn, who was still in a good humour, to his +bedroom door. Then she went to bed herself and slept as well as ever. +Jocelyn, alone in his room, called for another bottle of whiskey and +made a night of it. To be exact he made three days of it--four less +than might reasonably have been expected. For Gabrielle to have taken +him back to Roscarna was out of the question: and so she went on +quietly living at Maple's, and absorbing the strangeness of Dublin +while he finished it out. The servants of the hotel were very kind to +her; and the waiter who attended to Jocelyn's desires brought her night +and morning bulletins of her father's condition that were tinged with a +kind of melancholy admiration. "A wonderful gentleman for his age," he +said. "There's many a young man would envy the likes of him. Sure, +he'd drink the cross off an ass's back, so he would!" + +Of course she met Radway. They met, as he had arranged, at Trinity +College gates, and went for a long walk along the blazing quays of the +Liffey. It was an unusual promenade for the month of August, but +neither of them knew Dublin. + +He found her difficult. The affair did not develop along the lines +that he had intended, and as his time was limited, this made him +anxious. With Gabrielle the anticipation was always so much more +wonderful than the event. It thrilled him strangely to see her +approaching when they met: this tall slim girl with her splendid +freedom of gait, her black hair, her pallor, her red lips. When he saw +her coming he would think of all the passionate things that he wanted +to say to her; but as soon as they started on their walk together she +made the saying of them impossible--she was so obviously and vividly +interested in other and unsentimental things. + +Her interest in the commonplace and (to his mind) unromantic irritated +him; but an instinct of good manners, that was not the least of his +charm, compelled him to humour her. Once she sat for a whole hour in a +dark cellar that smelt of tallow where a couple of men were engaged in +making those enormous candles that people in Ireland light on Christmas +Day; and once Radway was forced to follow her into the forecastle of a +Breton schooner reeking of garlic, where she practised the French that +Considine had taught her. + +Later in the afternoon he took her to tea at Mitchell's, where she +consumed the first ice of her life, and was so pleased with the +sensation that she demanded a second; all of which was disappointing +for Radway, who wanted to arouse her appetite for romance rather than +ices. It seemed as if his nuances of love-making, the indirect methods +of approach that modern girls expected, were wasted on her. In the +evening he took her out to Howth, relying on the influence of time and +place to help him in methods more primitive. It was incredible to him +that she shouldn't--or perhaps wouldn't--realise what he was driving +at. Apparently she didn't understand the first conventions of the +game, and when her obtuseness forced him to a sudden and passionate +declaration she laughed at him. + +This damping experience, so unusual in the traditions of the wardroom, +took the wind out of his sails. He decided that she had been making a +fool of him and that he had been wasting his time. With a desperate +attempt at preserving his dignity he took her back to Maple's, +conscious all the time, of her tantalising beauty. He had planned a +formal goodbye; but when he told her that his ship was sailing on the +next day, she said, quite simply and with an unusual tenderness in her +eyes that she was sorry. "If only you meant what you say..." he said, +clutching at a straw. "Of course I mean it," she said. "I shall be +very lonely without you. You're the first friend I've ever had. I +wish some day," she added, "you could come to Roscarna." + +He told her that it was not at all unlikely that the _Pennant_ would +some day put into Galway, and she warmed at once to the idea. "How +splendid!" she said. "I shall expect you. Don't forget to bring a gun +with you." + +They walked up and down Kildare Street making plans of what they might +do. "But in a week you'll have forgotten all about it," she said. +"Nobody ever comes to Roscarna." + +"Do you think that I could possibly forget you?" he protested. + +This time she did not laugh at him. "No... I don't think you will," +she said, and then, after an awkward silence, "Please don't take any +notice of what I said this evening. I don't really understand that +sort of thing." Then they said good-bye. It was a queer +unsatisfactory ending for him, but her last words had reassured him. +Thinking it over in the train on the way to Kingstown he decided that +she had been honestly and quite naturally amused at the conventional +phrases of a modern lover, and the realisation of this only made her +more unusual and more desirable. It would be a strange experience to +meet her in her proper setting, and if the _Pennant_ should give him +the opportunity he determined not to miss it. Next morning the ship +left Kingstown for Bermuda. + +It was not in Radway's nature to take these things lightly. At a +distance the memory of Gabrielle gained a good deal by imagination. It +seemed to him that she was far too precious to lose, and the fact that +she was a cousin of the exclusive Halbertons settled any social +scruples that might have worried him. He forgot his repulse at Howth +in the memory of the sweeter moment when they had parted. After all +there was no hurry. She was only a child, as her behaviour had shown +him so often. At the same time he was anxious that she should not +forget him, and for this reason he wrote her a number of letters from +Bermuda, from Jamaica and Barbadoes and other ports on the Atlantic +station. They were not love letters in any sense of the word; but they +served to keep him in her mind, and, few as they were, made an immense +breach in the zone of isolation that surrounded Roscarna. + +They were the first letters of any kind that Gabrielle had received. +The postman from Oughterard did not visit Roscarna twenty times in the +year, and since his arrival was something of an event, entailing a meal +and endless gossip with Biddy Joyce, Sir Jocelyn soon became aware of +his daughter's correspondence. He questioned her about it, and she, +without the least demur, handed him Radway's letters. He sniffed at +them. If that was all the fellow had to say it struck him as a waste +of time and paper. Who was he, anyhow? Gabrielle explained that he +had dined with them at the Halbertons, and Jocelyn, who naturally had +no recollection of the event, was satisfied with these credentials. "I +asked him to come and shoot here," said Gabrielle. Jocelyn stared at +her with wrinkled eyes. "The devil you did!" said he. + +Radway's letters had exactly the effect on her that he had intended. +They were an excitement, and she read them over and over again till she +almost knew them by heart. They were the first outside interest that +had ever entered her life. With Considine's help she looked up the +ports at which they were posted on a big map in the library and +thinking of their romantic names and the wonders that they suggested, +she also thought a good deal of the writer. + +So it was, almost unconsciously, that Radway began to fill a +considerable place in her thoughts. His impression had fallen on an +extraordinarily virginal mind that the thought of love-making had never +disturbed. Physically, she hadn't responded to him in the least; but +the long silences of Roscarna and particularly those of the following +winter, when Slieveannilaun loomed above the woods like an immense and +snowy ghost, and the lake was frozen until the cold spell broke and +snow-broth swirled desolately under the Palladian bridge, gave her time +for reflection in which her fancy began to dwell on the problems of +ideal love. In this dead season the letters of Radway were more than +ever an excitement. They stirred her imagination with pictures of +burning seas and lurid tropical sunsets, and with this pageantry the +memory of him would invade the dank gloom of the library where she and +Considine pursued the acquisition of knowledge. + +It was inevitable that she should have found some outlet of the kind, +for in the curious circumstances of her upbringing she had missed that +sentimental stage which is the measles of puberty. She had never +trembled with adoration of a schoolmistress and Considine was an +unthinkable substitute. In Dublin she had learned for the first time +that she was beautiful, and that her country clothes did not show her +at her best. This, together with Radway's attentions, had revealed to +her the fact that she was a woman, and therefore made to love and be +loved. + +She loved Roscarna passionately, but in this neither Roscarna nor its +inhabitants could help her. Under the most romantic circumstances in +the world she could find no romance. Her new-born instinct revealed +itself in a curious, almost maternal devotion to her father and the +current litter of puppies. Jocelyn found its expression unusual but +not unpleasant: the attentions of this charming daughter flattered him; +and the puppies liked it, too, licking her face when she smothered them +with motherly caresses. But these things were not enough for her, and +it came as a great relief when she discovered another outlet in the +contents of the library bookshelves. + +She became a greedy student of romance. The Hewishes had never been +great readers, but in the early nineteenth century one of them had felt +it becoming to his position as a country gentleman to buy books. The +romantic education of Gabrielle was accomplished, as became an +Irishwoman, in the school of Maria Edgeworth. _Castle Rackrent_ +ravished her. She thrilled to the elegancies of _Belinda_ and to the +Irish atmosphere of _Ormond_. From these she plunged backwards into +the romantic mysteries of Mrs. Radcliffe, living, for a time, in +surroundings that might well have been imitated from the wintry +Roscarna. She read indiscriminately, and, in her eagerness of +imagination, became the heroine of fiction incarnate and the beloved of +every dashing young gentleman in print that she encountered. + +Jocelyn was inclined to laugh at her, but Biddy, who considered that +all books except the breviary, which she possessed but could not read, +were inventions of the devil, disapproved. "Sure and you'll be after +rotting your poor brain with all that rubbidge," she said, rising to a +more vehement protest when, in the middle of the night, she discovered +Gabrielle fallen asleep with an open copy of _Don Juan_ beside her +pillow and a spent candle flaring within an inch of the lace +bed-curtains. Gabrielle smiled when Biddy woke her with a stream of +fluent abuse, for she had been dreaming that she herself was Haidee and +her Aegean island lay somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. + +She lost a little of her gaiety, and irritated the serious Considine by +her dreaminess at the time when she was supposed to be acquiring useful +knowledge. He complained to Jocelyn, and Jocelyn, who hated being +worried about his daughter, was at last induced, after consultation +with Biddy Joyce, to send into Galway for the doctor. It pleased him +to have the laugh of Considine when the doctor pronounced her sound in +wind and limb--as well he might, for both were of the best. + +Gabrielle couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. She was +happy in her new world--just as happy as she had been in the old +one--with the difference that she was possibly now more sensitive to +the beauty that surrounded her. In the time of her childhood she had +lived purely for the moment; sufficient unto each day had been its +particular physical joys; now she knew that the future held more for +her, that the life which she had taken for granted would not go on for +ever. Strange things must happen, possibly things more strange than +the adventures that she had found among books. She was now seventeen. +In her heart she felt an intuition that something must happen soon. +She waited for it to come with a kind of hushed excitement. + +At the beginning of May she received a letter from Radway in which he +told her that the _Pennant_ was leaving the West Indies. Taking it for +granted that he would keep his promise of coming to Roscarna she was +distressed to think that the shooting season was over. She had always +remembered the long grey shape of the _Pennant_ that he had shewn her, +lying off Kingstown on the evening of their visit to Howth. From +Roscarna itself the sea was not visible, but from the knees of +Slieveannilaun, a mile or so behind the house, she knew that she could +overlook, not only the shining Corrib, which is an inland sea, but all +the scattered lakelets of Iar Connaught, the creeks, the islands, and +beyond, the open sea. Lying in the heather, hearing nothing but the +liquid whinny of the curlews that had lately forsaken the tidal waters +for the mountains, she would watch the foam that fringed the islands, +unconscious of the sea's sound and tumult, half expecting that a +miracle would happen and that someday she would see the three-funnelled +_Pennant_ steaming over the white sea into Galway Bay. + + + + +V + +But the spring passed, and the summer wore on, and Gabrielle heard no +more of him. It was a summer of terrific heat; the flanks of the +mountains were parched and slippery even in that moist countryside, and +it would have taken more than a dream to make her climb Slievannilaun. +She lived the life that an animal leads in summer, cooling her limbs in +the lake, and only stirring abroad in the early morning or the dusk. +The weather told on Biddy, who lived in the kitchen where a fire burned +all the year round, on Considine, who walked up to Roscarna for +Gabrielle's lessons in the morning sun, and on Jocelyn, who seemed to +feel it more than either of them. Indeed, if they had noticed Jocelyn, +they would have had some cause for anxiety; but Jocelyn never talked +about his health, even to Biddy, though he himself perceived, with some +irritation, that he was growing old. Secretly he fought against it, +driving himself to youthful exertions with an artificial and desperate +energy that deceived them, but he slept badly at night, and could not +keep himself awake in the daytime. Even Gabrielle remarked that he was +losing his memory for names, and got snubbed for her trouble. She +found it was better to leave him alone, and put his irritability down +to the excessive heat. + +In the blue evening, when flocks of starlings were already beginning to +sweep the sky above the reedbeds of the lake, and white owls fluttered +out like enormous moths, Gabrielle would walk out for a breath of cool +air over the baked crevasses of the bog, or more often down their only +road; a track that flattered the dignity of Roscarna at the lodge gates +but degenerated as it approached Clonderriff. + +In the full glare of daylight Clonderriff, for all Mr. Considine's +labours, was a sordid collection of cabins, whitened without, but full +of peat-smoke and the odours of cattle within. The cabins stood on the +brow of a hill. In winter they seemed to crouch beneath a sweeping +wind--and the grass thatchings would have been whirled away if they had +not been kept in position by ropes that were weighted with stones. The +small irregular plots in which the villagers grew their potatoes were +bounded by dry walls through crevices of which the wind whistled +shrilly, and scattered with boulders too deeply imbedded to be worth +the labour of moving, and the walls and boulders were alike covered +with an ashen lichen that made them look as if they were crusted over +with bitter salt that the wind had carried in from sea. Between the +garden plots lay a wilderness of common land, on which lean cattle +grazed or routed among heaps of decaying garbage: in winter a +desolation, in summer a purgatory of flies. But with the coming of +evening and a softer air Clonderriff became transformed. One saw no +longer the sordid details, only the long and level lines of the bog, +the white-washed cabins shining milky as elder-blossom in moonlight, +their windows bloomed with candlelight. In every cranny of the garden +walls the crickets began their tingling chorus, but every other living +thing in the village seemed at rest. + +Often, when she felt lonely, Gabrielle would walk down the road to +Clonderriff, not because she found it beautiful, as it surely was, but +for the sake of its homeliness and the contrast of its gentle life to +the moribund atmosphere of Roscarna. She loved the pale cabins, each a +cradle of mysterious life; she loved the sound of placid cattle feeding +in the darkness, and above all she loved the sound of human voices when +the men sprawled by the roadside telling old stories, and the tall, +barefooted women stood above them very slim in their folded shawls. +Sometimes as she passed quietly along the road, she would become +conscious, without hearing, of human presences, and see a pair of +lovers sitting on the end of a stone wall with their lips together, and +then she would return to Roscarna full of wonder and excitement. + +One night in August the impulse seized her to put on the white dress +that she had worn in Dublin. When dinner was over she left Jocelyn +snoring over his port and walked as though she were dreaming down the +Clonderriff road. The air was full of pale grass-moths. Her heart +fluttered within her: she couldn't think why. She herself was like a +white, fluttering moth. She came quickly to the outskirts of the +village. The cabins were asleep. In none of them could as much as a +candlelight be seen. It was strange that the village should be deader +than Roscarna, and she felt as though a sudden and deeper darkness had +descended on her. A little frightened she decided that she would go +through to the end of the village and pay a visit to Considine: not +because she wanted to see him in the least, but because she loved +shocking him, and nothing surely could shock him more at this time of +night than the moth-like apparition that she presented. She even felt +a wayward curiosity to know what he did with himself at night. For +several years there had been whispers of a theological thesis that he +was writing for his doctor's degree. She imagined him, with a reading +lamp and red eyes, up to his ears in the minor prophets. It would be +fun to see what he thought of her. + +She hurried on through the silent village, but when she came to an +isolated cabin at the end of it she heard a sound that explained the +desolation of the rest; a noise of terrible and unearthly wailing. In +the darkness of this curious night it seemed to her a very awful thing. +She guessed that somebody had died in the last cabin, and that a wake +was being held. For a moment she hesitated, and then, as curiosity got +the better of her horror, she came gradually nearer. + +The women were keening somewhere at the back of the house, but the +front windows blazed with the light of many candles, and the door of +the cabin was wide open. Inside its narrow compass a crowd of +villagers, twenty or thirty of both sexes, was gathered. Gabrielle, +clutching at the wall, drew nearer and looked inside. + +The room was full of bottles, a thicket of empty bottles stood on the +table, the press, and in the corner by the fireplace. The floor was +strewn with the figures of men and women who had drunk until they +dropped. Those who were still awake, and reasonably sober, were +playing a kind of round game, passing from hand to hand a stick, the +end of which had been lighted in the fire. As it passed from one to +another the holder said the words: "If Jack dies and dies in my hand a +forfeit I'll give." The game was quite exciting, and Gabrielle found +herself wondering in whose hand the glowing stick would go out; but +while she watched it her eyes became accustomed to the light of the +room and fell at last upon a spectacle of cold horror. The coffin in +which the dead man was to be buried had been reared up on one end +against the further wall, and within it the body stood erect, held in +this position by a cross-work of ropes. It was that of an old man with +grey untidy hair. He stood there bound, with his eyes closed, his head +lolling forward, and his mouth open. She couldn't stand it. She +wanted to cry out, but her voice would not come, and so she simply +turned and ran blindly along the dark road towards Oughterard. + +She ran till she was out of breath and stood against a wall panting and +trembling. She hated the darkness, for it seemed vaguely threatening. +The thin music of the crickets made it feel as if it were charged with +some electric fluid in which the silence grew more awfully intense. It +came to her, with a sudden shock, that if she were to return to +Roscarna she must pass that dreadful spectacle again, and alone. The +only thing that she could possibly do to save herself from this +calamity, was to go on to Considine's house and beg him to take her +home again. She didn't want to do this, for she felt in her bones that +he would laugh at her. + +She stood in the shadow of a white-thorn, and though she had now ceased +from her storm of trembling, her body gave a shudder from time to time, +like a tree that frees its storm-entangled branches when the wind has +fallen. She heard a slow step mounting the road. She prayed that the +new-comer might be Considine, for then her frightened condition would +spare her explanations. The steps came nearer. Out of the darkness a +shadowy form approached her. It seemed to her that it was that of a +man of superhuman size--one of the giants who, Biddy had told her, lay +buried in the long barrows on the edge of the bog. But this was +nonsense. She planned what words she would say to him. Abreast of her +he stopped, and stared at her white dress. Then suddenly he cried, +"Gabrielle!" in a voice that she remembered well. It was Radway's. In +a moment she found herself crying, beyond control, in his arms. She +clove to him, sobbing desperately, and he kissed her, her eyes, that +she tried to shield from him, her neck, her lips. It was an amazing +moment in the darkness. + +Then she stopped crying and began to laugh unnaturally. In this way +she blurted out the story of her fright, and he, still clasping her, +listened until she was calm. + +"But what are you doing here? How did it all happen?" she said. She +did not know what she was saying for happiness. + +Little by little he told her. The _Pennant_ had put in to Devonport +for repairs a week before. He had been granted a month's leave, and +his first thought had been Roscarna. After a couple of days at his own +home he had crossed to Ireland, arriving late in the afternoon at +Oughterard, where he found a room at an hotel. In Dublin he had armed +himself with an Ordnance map, and looking at this, it had seemed to him +that it would be easy enough to walk to Roscarna in the evening and let +her know that he had arrived. Time was so short that he could not bear +to miss a moment of her. So he had set out from Oughterard along the +road to Clonderriff, hoping to reach Roscarna in daylight and to return +with the rising moon. He had reckoned without Irish miles and Irish +roads, and forgotten that a sailor who has been long afloat is out of +walking trim. He had made poor progress, and nothing but the distant +light of the cabin on the top of the hill in which the wake was being +held had prevented him from giving up his attempt to see her. And then +this astounding miracle had happened, and he had found her crying in +his arms ... surely a lover's luck! + +"And now you'll be coming with me to Roscarna," she said. + +She was so happy. She passed the cabin of the wake without a shudder. +They walked as lovers, arm in arm, and soon a yellow moon, in its third +quarter, rose, making Clonderriff beautiful, and flinging their moving +shadows upon the pale stones at the roadside. As they breasted the +hill, an arm of Corrib burned above the black like a band of sunset +cloud, rather than moonlit water. Its beauty overwhelmed them. They +clung to each other and kissed again. He told her that she was just as +he had seen her first in her white dress, just as he had always +imagined her in his days at sea, only more beautiful. She was so pale +in the moonlight, and her lips so happy. She was glad that an inspired +caprice had made her put on her white dress. + +He asked her whether it was very far to Roscarna. "If you could miss +the way," he said, "we might go on wandering for ever in the moonlight. +There never could be another night like this." + +But they had come already to the dark belt of woodland that the first +Hewishes had planted, a darkness unvisited by moonlight, where their +feet rustled a carpet of dead leaves, and shy, nocturnal creatures made +another rustling beside them. At the edge of the wood a bird flew out +of a thorn tree. "It's a brown owl," cried Radway; but when its wings +caught the moonlight they saw the band of white. "It's a magpie," she +said. "One for sorrow ..." and smiled. + +Roscarna stood before them, the ghost of a great house with many solemn +windows for eyes. It looked blank, uninhabited, lifeless. Between the +house and the river moonlight smoothed the lawns. The moon made that +cold stone phantom imponderable, a grey mirage. Radway could not +believe, for a moment, that it was real; but the sense of Gabrielle's +cold cheek against his lips, her fingers twined in his, and her soft, +unhurried breathing recalled him, telling him that he was a lover, +awake and alive. + +They crossed the bridge and entered the house by the front doors. The +latch clanged to, echoing, and Biddy Joyce appeared in a red petticoat. +Gabrielle introduced Radway, and Biddy was not scandalized, being used +to the freedoms of Irish hospitality. Jocelyn had been in bed for half +an hour or more, she said, and as the state in which he had retired was +problematical they thought it better not to disturb him. They gave +Radway supper in the dining-room, Gabrielle sitting opposite to him +with her chin in the cup of her hands and her face white with +candle-light. + +In the meantime Biddy had prepared a guest-room for him, a sombre +chamber with long windows, so sealed by neglect that they could not be +opened, in which a broken pane served for ventilator. In the middle of +it stood a bed, painted and gilt, in the manner of the seventeenth +century, with panels of crimson brocade, threadbare but still +beautiful, although the pattern of their ornament had faded long since. +Gabrielle lighted him to his room, stepping softly along the uncarpeted +passage. At the door they surrendered themselves to a passionate +good-night. + + + + +VI + +Radway stayed at Roscarna for three days. Irish ways are easy, and +Jocelyn did not appear surprised to see his daughter's correspondent at +the breakfast-table. He measured Radway shrewdly with his screwed-up +eyes and decided that he was a sportsman, which, together with the +Halbertons' introduction, was good enough for him. He only regretted +that he could not do the sporting honours of the place for their +visitor. There was a certain giddiness, he said, that troubled him at +unexpected moments and made him disinclined to go too far afield; but +he placed his rods and the contents of the gun-room at Radway's +disposal and pressed him to stay as long as the place amused him. + +Jocelyn, as host, was very much the country gentleman, picking up the +thread of courtly hospitality at the point where it had been broken so +many years ago, almost without any effort. It is probable that he had +begun to realise that things were not well with him, and that since +Gabrielle might soon be left alone in the world, it would be wiser to +welcome a possible husband for her. Certainly he did his best for +Radway, and Radway, no doubt, found him delightful, for Jocelyn had +grown milder as he aged and had never been without a good deal of +personal charm. On the other hand, it is not unlikely that Radway told +him of his intentions with regard to Gabrielle, even though nothing so +definite as an engagement was announced. At any rate, the guest +settled down happily at Roscarna, and the morning after his arrival the +luggage cart was sent in to his hotel at Oughterard to bring back his +traps and gun-case. + +Of course Gabrielle took possession of him. The terms of their new +relation had been fixed miraculously and finally by the character of +their moonlit meeting at Clonderriff. No formal words were spoken, but +they knew that they were lovers, having arrived at this heavenly state +after a whole year of waste. On Gabrielle's side there were never any +doubts or questionings. She was his altogether. She wanted him to +know all that could be known of her, and since she felt that so much of +her was the product of Roscarna, it was necessary that he should know +Roscarna first. + +With the spells of moonshine withdrawn he knew it for the wan, +neglected ruin that it was, but her romantic passion for its stones +helped to maintain the first atmosphere of illusion. She showed him, +with a beautiful emotion, the room in which she had been born, the +lofts in which she had played with the stableboys in her childhood, her +alder-screened bathing place by the lake, the library where her +romantic education had been begun. + +Here, by the most likely chance, they encountered Considine. He had +walked up, as usual, in the morning to read Dante with her. He came +through the house unannounced and entered the library where the lovers +were bending with their heads close together over the map on which +Gabrielle had followed the course of Radway's West Indian voyages, and, +being engrossed in these tender reminiscences, they did not see him. +He stood in the doorway, gazing, uncertain as to what he should say or +do. In his seventeen years at Clonderriff he had got out of the way of +dealing with social problems. + +At last Gabrielle looked up, saw him, and blushed. She hastened to +introduce Radway: "The friend I met in Dublin" ... as if there had been +only one. + +By this time Considine had recovered himself. He shook hands with +Radway heartily and talked to him about the shooting. In those few +moments it was the man and not the parson who appeared, and Radway, +frankly, took him at his own valuation and liked him. + +"Quite a good sort, your padre," he said to Gabrielle afterwards, and +she was glad that he was pleased. For herself it had never occurred to +her to consider whether he was good or bad. To her he had never been +anything more than a figure: Mr. Considine: but it pleased her that +anything associated with her should give her lover pleasure. Considine +was sufficiently tactful not to mention Dante, and Gabrielle solved his +difficulty by asking him for a short holiday during Radway's stay. He +coughed and said he would be delighted, and since he did not offer to +go they left him in the library. + +From the first he must have seen how things were. At the best he was a +lonely man, and this must have seemed the last aggravation of his +loneliness. I do not suppose he considered that he was in love with +Gabrielle, but he was undoubtedly attached to her, for he was not an +old man nor vowed to celibacy, and it had been his leisurely delight to +watch her beauty unfolding. Leisurely ... because he was slow in +everything, slow in his speech, slow to anger, and slow to love--which +does not imply that he was without intelligence or feeling or sex. It +would not be fair to dismiss the feelings of Considine as unimportant; +but it would be even less fair to sentimentalize them, for the least +thing that can be said of him is that he was not sentimental himself. +When they left him he tried to persuade himself that he was not jealous +by settling down to the composition of his weekly sermon; but he did +not risk any further disturbance of mind by seeing them together again. + +The sunny season held. The river water was so low as to be unfishable, +but in the string of lakelets below Loughannilaun Radway landed half a +dozen sea-trout with Gabrielle, who knew the stones in every pool, as +ghillie. In the divine relaxation of their love-making they were not +inclined for strenuous exercise; but when evening fell, and the sky +cooled, they would wander abroad together by the lake and through the +woodlands or lie dreaming, side by side, in the deep heather. + +During the days of Radway's visit, Jocelyn felt an obligation to appear +presentable, and every evening, when dinner was over, Radway would +smoke a cigar in his company, listening to his stories of old Galway +days and sportsmen long since dead. As Jocelyn's memory for immediate +things had faded he seemed to remember his early days more clearly, +and, like many Irishmen, he was an amusing talker. Gabrielle would sit +on a low stool between them in the white dress that Radway loved. It +made the solitude for which they were both waiting seem more precious +to see her thus at a distance, pale and fragile and miraculous against +the sombre background of the Roscarna oak. Then Jocelyn would begin to +yawn, and fidget for the nightcap of hot whiskey that Biddy prepared +for him, and at last discreetly vanish. And so the most precious of +their moments began. + +Of these one can say nothing. Naturally enough, in later years, when +she made Mrs. Payne her confidante, Gabrielle did not speak of them. +And even if she had done so Mrs. Payne was too surely a woman of +feeling ever to have betrayed her confidence. Under that wasting moon +they loved, and I know nothing, but that it must have been strange for +the empty shell of Roscarna, that tragic theatre, to reawaken to such a +vivid and youthful passion. The world was theirs, and nobody heeded +them, unless it were Biddy Joyce, a creature whose whole life was +coloured by shadowy premonitions. + +Gabrielle could not bear that he should leave her, but Radway's plans +for the immediate future had been made without reckoning for anything +as momentous as this love-affair. He was pledged, in four days, to +visit an aunt in North Wales, and though he could not undertake to +disappoint the old lady, he consoled Gabrielle by showing her how short +and how convenient the passage to Holyhead was. To her, England seemed +a country as remote as Canada, but he promised her that he would return +within a week, and suggested that this would be a good opportunity of +speaking of their engagement to Jocelyn. "But I wish you were not +going," she said. "I feel as if I shall lose you." + +They had determined to devote the last day of his stay to visiting the +top of Slieveannilaun, where there were plenty of grouse. The plan +gave them an excuse for a day of the most absolute solitude and the +shooting that she had promised him long ago in Dublin. Biddy would cut +sandwiches for them and Gabrielle would carry them in a game-bag slung +over her shoulders. + +At dawn a mist of sea-fog overspread the country-side, and Radway, +gazing through the open window, saw the fine stuff driven down the +valley in sheets against the darkness of the woods; but by the time +that they had finished breakfast the sun had broken through, soaring +magnificently in the moist air and promising a greater heat than ever. +Jocelyn, on the stone terrace, watched them depart. "I wish I were +going with you," he said with a twinkle, "but it's a job for young +people. Collar-work all the way, and you'll find the grass on the +mountain as slippery as ice." They left him, laughing. He liked +Radway. Gabrielle might easily do worse. At the edge of the wood she +turned and waved her handkerchief; but Jocelyn was tossing biscuits to +his favourite spaniel Moira and did not see. + +They climbed Slieveannilaun happily, for they were young and full of +vigour. Gabrielle was quieter and more serious than usual, under the +shadow of his going. He killed two and a half brace of grouse. It +pleased her to see the ease and precision with which his gun came up. + +Near the place where they lunched they saw three fox cubs running with +their mother, a sight that filled Gabrielle with delight. On a stone +near by them a small mouse-coloured bird, a meadow pipit, made a noise, +_tick-tick_, like the ferrule of a walking-stick on stone. From this +exalted station they could no longer see Roscarna, for the house and +the woods were lost in the immense trough beneath them. They only saw +the Corrib and the lakes of Iar Connaught and, beyond, an immense bow +of sea. + +"I hate the sea," she said. "It will take you away from me." + +"You can't hate it more than I do," he said laughing. "All sailors +hate the sea. But somehow, I don't think I was ever born to be +drowned." + +The sunshine made them sleepy and they lay down in the heather. He lay +there with his head on her breast and slept. But Gabrielle did not +sleep. She watched him lazily and with a strange content. + +When he woke the sun was beginning to sink. They walked back along the +ridge in a state that was curiously light-hearted. She seemed to be +able to forget for the first time the fact that he was to leave her +next day. The evening was cool and fresh and the air of the mountain +as clear as spring water. When they came to the descent he insisted on +carrying the bag that held the game. There was a little quarrel and a +reconciliation of kisses. They set off together once more hand in +hand. Halfway down the mountain, on a patch of shining grass, he +slipped, and the weight of the game-bag overbalanced him. Gabrielle +laughed as he fell, but her laugh was lost in the report of the gun. +How the accident happened no one can say, but Radway had blown his +brains out. + + + + +VII + +The inquest at Roscarna was Biddy Joyce's affair. It was the next best +thing to a wake, and she took the opportunity of having a dhrop +stirrun'--as she put it. The sergeant of the constabulary, an erect +Ulsterman with mutton-chop whiskers, had spread a wide net for his +jury. They came from Joyce's Country, from Iar Connaught, from islands +of the Corrib, like dusty pilgrims. Biddy housed them in the stables, +where they slept it off for a couple of nights. Jocelyn himself +entertained the coroner. He seemed particularly anxious that nothing +in the way of scandal should appear, though he really had no cause for +anxiety, since a man who takes the risk of scrambling down a +mountain-side with his gun loaded, supplies an obvious explanation for +disaster. + +Naturally it was Gabrielle who suffered most. From the first she had +behaved extraordinarily well. Nobody had seen the poor child's first +agony of passionate grief; but she had pulled herself together quickly, +leaving Radway's body where it lay, and had hurried down to Roscarna +where she found Jocelyn dosing [Transcriber's note: dozing?] on the +terrace. She had been tight-lipped and pale and awfully quiet, showing +no emotion but an unprofitable desire for speed when she led the +stable-hands up the mountain to the place where she had left her lover. + +She did not cry at all until the work was done. Then, in the rough +arms of Biddy, she collapsed pretty thoroughly. Biddy put her to bed, +but she would not stay there. Later in the day she was found wandering +along the passages to the room where Radway had slept. She told Biddy +that she only wanted to be left alone; and in that room she stayed +until the time came when she had to give her evidence. In the court +she did not turn a hair, though Biddy stood ready with a battery of +traditional restoratives in case she faltered. + +Jocelyn had a very thin time of it. The strain made him more shaky +than usual, and when telegrams began to flutter in from Radway's +relatives a few days later--Radway had left no address and so they had +been forced to wire to the Halbertons--he threw up the sponge +altogether. His weakness was Considine's opportunity. Considine +undertook the whole management of the Radways' visit, received them, +conducted them to the room in which their son's remains were lying and +did his best to explain to them what he had been doing in this +outlandish place. I suppose that this kind of solemn condolence is +part of a parson's ordinary duties, but it must be admitted that +Considine performed it well. He impressed the Radways as being solid +and dependable and a gentleman. His capability and discretion made +them feel that Roscarna was not so disreputable and outlandish after +all. He scarcely mentioned Gabrielle, except as the only witness of +the accident, and the Radway family returned to England with their +son's body, satisfied that he had gone to Roscarna for the grouse +shooting on the invitation of people who, in spite of their +questionable appearance, were actually connected with the Halbertons, +and thankful that no element of intrigue or passion had any part in the +tragedy. + +On their return they wrote Considine a long letter in which they +thanked him for his courtesy and regretted that their son's last +moments had not been rejoiced by his ghostly ministrations. As a +little thank-offering (not for their son's death, but for Considine's +kindness) they proposed the erection of a stained glass window in his +church, a proposal that Considine gladly accepted. + +It was not until the Radways had disappeared and Roscarna began to +recoil into its old routine of life, that Gabrielle collapsed. The +blow to her imagination had been heavier than anyone dreamed, so +staggering, in its first impact, that for a time she had been numbed. +In a week or two, with returning consciousness, her sufferings began to +be felt. She could not sleep at night, and when she did sleep she +dreamed perpetually of one thing, the endless, precarious descent of a +slippery mountain-side in the company of Radway. The dream always +ended in the same way, with a fall, a laugh, a shattering report, and a +flash of light which meant that she was awake. + +In her disordered eyes the woods of Roscarna, the river, and the lake +took on a melancholy tinge. Though this aspect of them was new to her, +it is hardly strange that she should have seen them thus, for the +beauty of Roscarna is really of an elegiac kind, an autumnal beauty of +desertion and of decay. As for Slieveannilaun, she dared not look at +it. + +Jocelyn tried hard to cheer her up. With an effort he whipped up +enough energy to take her out with his dogs and his gun, until her look +of horror made him suspect that the sound of a gunshot was a nightmare +to her, as indeed it was, reminding her of many dreams and one +unforgettable reality. She did her best to hide this from him, for she +saw that he was really trying to be kind. + +Considine also tried to interest her in new things and to distract her +mind. His methods were tactful. He knew perfectly well that the +official manner of condolence that had gone down so well with the +Radways wouldn't do for her. He just treated her as the child that he +knew her to be, trying to induce her to join in a game of pretending +that nothing had happened. Gabrielle realised his humane attempt from +the first and even, for a time, tried to play up to him, but the affair +ended disastrously in a flood of bitter, uncontrollable tears for which +neither the parson nor the man could offer any remedy. It seemed to +him that this was a woman's job, and so he and Jocelyn met in solemn +consultation with Biddy Joyce. + +At this point an easy solution seemed to offer itself in an invitation +from the Halbertons. They had heard all the details of the affair from +Radway's people and wrote inviting Gabrielle to stay with them in Devon +for a month. The two men prepared the bait most carefully, but when +their plan was disclosed to her, Gabrielle rejected it with an unusual +degree of passion, imploring them to leave her alone ... only to leave +her alone. + +They resigned her to the care of Biddy, who had always considered it +her proper function and privilege to deal with the affair. She set +about it clumsily but with confidence, tempting Gabrielle to eat with +carefully prepared surprises, obviously humouring her in everything she +did. From the very first she had viewed the Radway affair with +suspicion, and now she found it difficult not to say, 'I told you so,' +though, as a matter of fact, she had done nothing of the sort. + +Altogether her methods were too transparent to be successful; and since +her own robust habit of body made it difficult for her to divine any +subtler cause for Gabrielle's condition, she leapt at once to the +physical explanation suggested to her by her own experience of the +consequences of love-making in Joyce's country. She watched Gabrielle +with a keen and matronly eye, collecting her evidence from day to day +after the anxious manner of mothers. When she had dwelt upon the +problem for a couple of months she prepared the results of her +scrutinies and offered them in a complete and alarming dossier to +Jocelyn. In her opinion--and on this subject at least her opinion was +of value--there could be no doubt as to Gabrielle's condition. + +To Biddy Joyce this seemed the most natural thing in the world, but to +Jocelyn the announcement came as a tremendous surprise. He knew well +enough that this sort of accident was an everyday affair, in effect the +usual prelude to matrimony, among the peasantry of Connaught; but that +such an ugly circumstance should intrude itself into the Hewish +family--in the case of one of its female members--seemed a monstrous +calamity. He was in no condition to stand another shock, and Biddy's +pronouncement completely knocked him over. In a case of this kind it +was idle to doubt her authority. He only wondered how he could make +the best of a desperate job. + +Distasteful as the business was to him, he decided to tackle Gabrielle +herself. It was a very strange interview. On Jocelyn's part there +were no recriminations. He was growing gentle in his old age, and in +any case he regarded Gabrielle as the victim of a tragedy. All that he +wanted to do was to get at the truth, and than this nothing could have +been harder, for in Gabrielle he found not only an amazing +ignorance--or if you prefer the word, innocence--but a flaming, +passionate determination to keep silence on the subject of her +intimacies with Radway. To her the story was sacred, and far too +precious to be bruised by the examination of any living soul. + +It is probable that Jocelyn tackled the matter with the utmost +delicacy. Fundamentally, he had the instincts of a gentleman, and, as +Gabrielle knew, he loved her; but on this one subject no amount of +entreaties or tenderness could make her speak. In the end, when he +could get nothing out of her, he compelled himself to tell her of +Biddy's suspicions. It seemed to him that this might force her into a +full confession of her relations with her lover. It did nothing of the +sort. She simply stood clutching a tall oak chair and looking straight +out of the window over the dark woods. Then she said: "Does Biddy +really think I am going to have a baby?" And Jocelyn nodded his head. +Then she said nothing more. She simply went out of the room like a +sleep-walker, leaving poor Jocelyn overwhelmed with misery by a silence +that he interpreted as an admission of guilt. For him, at any rate, +the matter was settled and the acuteness of Biddy Joyce finally +established. + +And there one must leave it. Gabrielle herself accepted the verdict +without question, but whether from her own secret knowledge or out of +an innocence that is almost incredible but not, in her case, +impossible, I cannot say. Naturally enough, in that other strange +interview with Mrs. Payne, she did not go into details, and as far as +we are concerned the truth will never be known. Not that it really +matters. The only thing that concerns us is the effect upon her +fortunes of this real or imaginary catastrophe. All that we can say is +that when she walked out of the Roscarna dining-room after her hour +with Jocelyn she was subtly and curiously changed. + +From that moment she became, in fact, a person hypnotised, possessed by +the contemplation of her approaching motherhood. She was no longer +restless or tearful. She began to sleep again, and her sleep was no +longer troubled by that recurrent dream. A strange calm descended on +her, the calm of a Madonna thrilled by an angelic annunciation--a +hallucinated calm that made her remote and independent, utterly unmoved +by the commotion into which the household of Roscarna had been thrown. + +Her acceptance of the situation crumpled up Jocelyn entirely. He could +not for a moment see any way out of the difficulty. As usual he fell +back on Biddy, who brought her practical knowledge to his rescue. +Biddy was emphatic. In the circumstances there was only one thing to +be done. Gabrielle must be married--somehow--anyhow--and the sooner +the better. It was the sort of thing that happened every day of the +week and the resources of civilisation had never been able to find +another solution. Jocelyn shook his head. It was all very well to +talk about marriage, but where, in the neighbourhood, could a +bridegroom be found at such short notice? Biddy's suggestion of half a +dozen available Joyces failed to satisfy him. However suitable the +Joyces might be for casual relations the idea of marriage with one of +them was unthinkable. After all, whatever she had done, Gabrielle was +a Hewish and the heiress, whatever that might mean, of the Roscarna +mortgages. Biddy, impatient of his obstinacy, gave him up. + +With feelings of sore humiliation he consulted Considine. It was a +hard confession for Jocelyn and the awkwardness of Considine did not +make it easier. It seemed as if the two of them were up against a +stone wall. Considine blushing and monosyllabic, begged for time to +consider what might be done; and the fact that he did not seem to be +utterly hopeless cheered Jocelyn considerably. Gabrielle, in the +meantime, continued rapt and passive. + +In a week the result of Considine's deliberations emerged, and, in a +fortnight, Gabrielle, only daughter of Sir Jocelyn Hewish, Baronet, of +Roscarna, County Galway, was married to the Rev. Marmaduke Considine at +the church of Clonderriff. The _Irish Times_ described the wedding as +quiet. + + + + +VIII + +It is a curious task to enquire into the motives of Considine. Without +doubt he felt under some obligation to the family of Hewish, and +particularly to that dead lady Gabrielle's mother, and it is +conceivable that he had known enough of Jocelyn during their eighteen +years' acquaintance to have separated his good points from his +weakness, and even to respect him. But the conditions of his +dependence on the Roscarna family can hardly be said to have included +the fathering of its errors, and no degree of respect for Jocelyn could +have made him think it his duty to marry the daughter. Was it, +perhaps, a sense of religious duty that compelled him? It is difficult +to think of marriage with a creature of Gabrielle's physical +attractions as a mortification of the flesh; and though the ceremony of +marriage is supposed to save the reputation of a person in Gabrielle's +position, there was no religious dogma which decreed that marriage with +a clergyman could save her soul. + +Then was it a matter of sheer Quixotism! That vice, indeed, might +conceivably have smouldered in the mind of this queer stick of a man, a +lonely fellow cherishing in solitude exaggerated ideals of womankind +and quick to rise to a point of honour. Even this will not do. There +is nothing in the rest of Considine's history that suggests the +sentimentalist. For a parson he was decidedly a man of the world, with +a good business head, a sense of proportion, and a keen, if deliberate +humour. In matters of sentiment I should imagine him reliable. + +Only one other cause for his conduct suggests itself, and that I +believe to be the true explanation. He married Gabrielle Hewish +because he wanted to do so; because he loved her. And that is not +difficult to imagine since he had known her intimately ever since she +was born, had helped and witnessed the whole awakening of her +intelligence; had found in her company his principal diversion; had +watched her growing beauty, and seen its final perfection. He knew her +so well, body and mind, that, whatever might have happened, he could +not help believing in her complete innocence--so well that he could +afford to disregard conventional prejudices in looking at her +misfortune. + +It is even possible that he may have dreamed of marrying her before the +misfortune came, waiting, in his leisurely way, for the suitable +moment. At Roscarna he had no great cause to fear any rival in love; +and since an ugly providence had obligingly removed the intruder +Radway, there was no reason why he should not benefit by Radway's +death. Considine was a man of forty, full of vigour and not too old +for passion. The prospect of a fruitful marriage was doubtless part of +the programme which he had mapped out for himself. Nor must it be +forgotten that he was a poor man and Gabrielle her father's only +daughter. + +With Gabrielle herself the problem is more difficult still. It is not +easy to imagine her submitting to the embraces of her tutor, however +deep and ardent his affection may have been, within a few months of the +catastrophe that had overwhelmed her first love. We may take it for +certain that she did not then, nor at any time, love Considine. It is +impossible that she should have thought of him in the character of a +lover, though I have little doubt but that she would have preferred him +to any of the swarm of Joyces whom Biddy was ready to produce. + +Perhaps she was offered the alternative,--I cannot tell. It is certain +that Jocelyn and Biddy told her, in different ways, that marriage was a +necessity to her virtue, and since she was compelled by threats and +blandishments and entreaties to make a virtue of necessity, she chose, +no doubt the course that was least distasteful to her. One cannot even +be certain, in the light of after events, that she understood the +meaning of marriage, or anything about it save that it was the only +thing that could make an honest woman of her. She was so young, so +lonely, so numbed and overwhelmed by her misfortune. I do not suppose +that she minded very much what they did with her as long as they left +her at last in peace. That she was impressed by the serious persuasion +of Biddy Joyce goes without saying, for there was no other woman by +whom she could set her standard of conduct. No doubt the distress of +Jocelyn, who was now something of a pathetic figure, moved her too. It +must have given her pleasure of a sort to see the way in which he was +relieved by her acceptance of the Considine plan--if anything so +passive can be called an acceptance. The shame of the moment had so +broken him that his sudden recovery of spirits must have been +affecting. It must have seemed to her that she had saved her father's +life. + +When once the matter was settled Jocelyn became almost light-hearted, +trying by little tokens of affection and an attitude that was almost +jocular, to pretend that nothing had happened and that the marriage was +no more than the happy conclusion of a normal courtship. On the eve of +the wedding he gave her the contents of her mother's jewel-box, which +included some beautiful ornaments of early Celtic work. He kissed her +and fondled her and hoped she would be happy, but she could not smile. +He dressed elaborately for the ceremony, and when he had left her +behind with Considine, feasted solemnly at Roscarna until Biddy and the +coachman carried him upstairs. Never in the history of Roscarna was +such a tragic bride. + +The married couple settled down at Clonderriff in the small grey house +that Considine inhabited. In his bachelor days it had been a +comfortless place, but Jocelyn had seen to it that it was furnished +with some of the lumber of Roscarna: the presses were filled with fine +Hewish linen and the plate engraved with the Hewish crest. + +Jocelyn had hoped, in the beginning, that Considine would forsake his +village and come to live at Roscarna. He himself, he said, needed no +more in his old age than a couple of rooms; his daughter and his +son-in-law might take a wing to themselves and do what they liked with +it. He had counted a good deal on the attraction to Considine of the +Roscarna library. His offer was refused. Considine already had his +plans cut and dried. Quite apart from the fact that his parochial +duties tied him to Clonderriff, he had decided that it would be better +for Gabrielle to be separated from all her old associations. Like +everything else he undertook, whether it were catching a trout or +reclaiming a drunkard, the plan was carefully reasoned. Gabrielle was +embarking on a new life that would, presumably, always be that of a +country parson's wife. He had caught her young--it was unfortunate, of +course, that he hadn't caught her three months younger--but in any case +she was still young enough to be plastic and amenable to marital +influence. It seemed to him that he had a good chance of moulding her +into the shape that would suit his purpose, and it was obvious that the +process would be easier if she were isolated from the free and easy +manners of Roscarna which had--so very nearly--proved her ruin, and +particularly those of Biddy Joyce, who was not only a Catholic, but the +possessor of an unvarnishable past in which his father-in-law had a +share. + +Considine's decision was final, and Jocelyn perforce submitted to it. +Indeed, Jocelyn was far too feeble in these days to pit himself against +Considine's more vigorous personality, even if he had not recognised +the fact that he was in Considine's debt; so he went on living at +Roscarna, wholly dependent on Biddy for his creature comforts, and on +the dogs for his amusement. It was a mild and placid sunset. + +Meanwhile Gabrielle, innocent of all domestic accomplishments, +struggled with the complications of her husband's housekeeping, and +Considine returned, like a giant refreshed, to the composition of his +doctor's thesis. + +The estate of matrimony suited Considine. In the soft clean climate of +Galway a man ages slowly, and this marriage renewed his youth. It made +him full of new energies and enthusiasms, and revealed a boyish aspect +in his character that seemed to Gabrielle a little grotesque, or even +frightening. He wanted to express himself boisterously, flagrantly, +and the proceeding was extraordinary in the case of a man who had +always been so self-contained. Lacking any other outlet for these +ebullitions he threw himself energetically into his theological +writings and worked off his surplus physical steam in the management of +the Roscarna estate, for which Jocelyn was gradually becoming more and +more unfitted. In this, as in most things that he undertook, Considine +showed himself efficient, and Jocelyn began to congratulate himself on +the fact that he had secured a son-in-law with a genuine passion for +the land that meant so much to him. + +During all this time Gabrielle remained the same indefinitely tragic +figure. There was nothing physically repulsive in Considine, but even +if there had been, I do not suppose that she would have felt it +acutely. She had become passive. The abruptness of the first tragedy +had numbed her so completely that nothing less than another emotional +catastrophe could awaken her to consciousness. + +In this expectant hallucinated state she passed through the early +months of her married life, faithfully performing her domestic duties, +sad, yet almost complacent in her sadness. Autumn swept over the +countryside. Mists rising from the Corrib at dawn lapped the feet of +the hills on which Clonderriff stood, mingling, at last, with the +melancholy vapour of white fog rolling in from sea. Leaves began to +fall in the parsonage garden, and the lawn was frosted at daybreak with +cold dew. The hint of chilliness in the air only stimulated Considine +to fresh energies, sending him out on long tramps with his gun. He +seemed to think it strange that Gabrielle, in her new state, should +hate the sight, and above all, the sound of firearms. He tried to joke +her out of it--he would never treat her as anything but a child--but to +her it was not a subject on which jokes could be made. + +Biddy was a frequent and puzzled visitor at Clonderriff, puzzled, and a +little disappointed because her physiological prophecies did not seem +to be approaching fulfilment. By the time that Gabrielle had been +married a couple of months it became questionable whether there had +been any social necessity for the hurried ceremony; but though she had +her own doubts on the subject, Biddy was far too cunning to give this +away to her own discredit, and when Jocelyn or Considine consulted her +as to how these matters were proceeding, she armed herself with +inscrutable feminine mystery trusting to luck and assuring them it was +only a question of time. After all, probabilities were on her side, +and no doubt it came as a great relief to her when, in due course, the +doctor from Galway confirmed her diagnosis. With this vindication of +her judgment she became more and more attentive to Gabrielle, walking +over two or three times a week to Clonderriff and instructing her in +the traditional duties of motherhood as they are taught in the west. + +All through the days of autumn Gabrielle sat at her window looking over +the misty lawn and making the clothes for her baby. It is not +surprising, under the circumstances, that Considine did not show any +symptoms of paternal pride. This, it must be confessed, was the most +unpleasant condition of his bargain. Still, he had undertaken it +deliberately, and meant to go through with it like a man. He looked +forward to the time when it should be over and done with. Then they +would be able to make a new start; Gabrielle would be wholly his, and +Radway, he confidently expected, forgotten. + +In the meantime, having, in the flush of marriage completed his +theological thesis and sent it off to the university from which he +expected a doctor's degree, he determined to enjoy the sporting +possibilities of Roscarna to the full. His shooting took him far +afield, and he saw very little of Gabrielle in the daytime. He kept +away deliberately, for her condition made her strange and irritable at +times, and he did not consider that devotion to her in a difficulty for +which he had not been responsible was part of his contract. Later, no +doubt, his turn would come. For the present, moreover, he felt that he +could not quite trust himself, and the fear that his suppressed +grudging might make him lose control of his temper made him anxious to +avoid the risk. Gabrielle was thankful for this. She never felt +unkindly towards him, and yet she was glad when she could feel sure of +not seeing him for a time. In the dusk he would return, too drugged +with air and exercise to take much notice of her, and for this also she +was thankful. + +One evening in February, when Gabrielle was sitting in a dream over her +turf fire, Considine came home from a day's blackcock shooting in the +woods on the edge of the lake. She did not hear him coming, for the +garden path was now deep in fallen leaves. As he turned to open the +house door Considine saw a small shadow moving under the garden hedge. +He thought it was a rabbit, and quickly, without considering, he +slipped a cartridge into his gun, aimed at it, and fired. The sound of +a shattering report at close quarters broke Gabrielle's dream, +recalling an old horror. She jumped to her feet and cried out. +Considine, hearing her cry, dropped his gun and ran into the house. He +found her standing with her hands pressed to her eyes and trembling +violently. She did not see him when he called her name, and then, +still shaken like a poplar in a storm, she turned on him with eyes full +of hate and let loose on him a flood of language such as she must have +learned from the Roscarna stable-boys, words that she couldn't possibly +have spoken if she were sane. He apologised for his carelessness and +tried to soothe her, and when she had stopped abusing him and broken +down into desolate tears he picked her up in his arms, carried her to +their bedroom, and sent a messenger riding to Roscarna for Biddy Joyce. + +She lay on the bed quivering, and Considine, white and harassed, stayed +beside her. He did not dare to leave her alone, even though she would +not look at him. By the time that Biddy arrived in a fluster, +Gabrielle's child had been prematurely born. There was never any +question of independent life. The case remained in Biddy's hands, and +whether the child were Radway's or Considine's, nobody in the world but +Biddy Joyce and Gabrielle ever knew. There is no doubt that Biddy +would have committed herself to any lie rather than lose her reputation +as an authority, for Biddy was a Joyce. Personally I cherish the +passionate belief that no man but Considine was the father. + + + + +IX + +It is certain that Considine secretly regarded the death of Gabrielle's +child with thankfulness. It had brought their equivocal relation to an +end, and now that the matter was cleared up there was no reason why their +married life should not be as plain-sailing as he desired. This was the +beginning. + +As for Gabrielle, she recovered slowly. The emotional storm that had +been the cause of her accident had affected her more deeply than the +illness itself, which Biddy, as might be expected, mismanaged. The +wintry season was at its loneliest when she came downstairs again, very +pale and transparent, and began to settle down into the ways of the +house. Even so the storm had cleared the air, and when she began to +recover her strength she also recovered some of her spirit. Looking +backward she realised the depths in which she had been struggling and +determined, rather grimly, that whatever happened she would never descend +to them again. She was naturally a healthy and a happy creature, and now +that her troubles were over she meant to enjoy life. + +Considine rejoiced at her recovery. It must not be forgotten that +Considine was genuinely in love with her, that he found her physically +exquisite, and had always delighted in her swift mind. And even if +Gabrielle could not give him in return an ideal passion, she did not, in +the very least, dislike him. She had always looked upon him as a good +friend. Before their marriage, ever since her earliest childhood they +had spent many happy hours together. As a tutor he had been able to +interest her, and apart from the fact that he was now her husband and +could offer her tenderness and admiration as well, there was no reason +why her life should be very different from what it had been. The only +thing that she loved of which he had deprived her was Roscarna. At +first, she had felt that more than anything; but when she recovered from +her illness and was able for the first time to accompany Considine on his +visits to the estate, it seemed to her that her passion for Roscarna had +faded. Perhaps also she was now a little frightened by its associations, +and felt that it would be safer for her to cut herself entirely free from +everything that reminded her of the old era. When she visited the house +to see her father she would look wistfully, almost fearfully, at her old +haunts; the path to the lake, the woods that she never entered now, and, +above them, the cloudy vastness of Slieveannilaun. She used to go there +once a week, and Considine, as a matter of course, went with her. + +By the beginning of the spring her reason for these visits ceased. +Jocelyn, who had been ailing for a year or more, suddenly died. + +I suppose it was the kind of death that he might have expected. It was +now two years since he had been able to take the keen physical delight in +country life that had been his chief apology for his early excesses. +Even before the blow of Radway's accident and Gabrielle's marriage had +fallen upon him his arteries had been ageing, and though he was barely +sixty years of age a man is as old as his arteries. The end came swiftly +with a left-sided cerebral haemorrhage that robbed him of his speech and +paralysed the right side of his body, not in the middle of any unusual +exertion, but when he was sitting quietly over the fire after dinner. +Biddy found him there when she brought him in his nightcap, huddled up on +the floor where he had fallen. She had expected something of the kind +for long enough. No one in the world knew Jocelyn as well as she did. + +She guessed that nothing could be done, and waited for the morning before +she sent for Considine or the doctor. In the afternoon when Gabrielle +and Considine visited him Jocelyn was almost good-humoured, laughing +sardonically and screwing up one of his bird-like eyes while, from the +other, tears escaped. He passed from laughter to tears quite easily. It +was very horrible to see one side of his childish grey-whiskered face +puckered up with crying and the other limp and blank. He finished by +making cheerful signs to them that he was sure he would be better in a +week. Of course he wasn't. Within five days his poor brain was smitten +with two more tremendous blows. The third stroke killed him, coming in +the night. It was Biddy who kissed his face and put Peter's pence upon +his eyes and folded his arms on his breast. If any woman in the world +had a right to perform this melancholy function for Jocelyn it was she. +He was hers, and when he died she was alone with him, which was as it +should have been. + +Even when he was dead, Biddy had not finished with him. For many years +he had trusted her with the key of the cellar, and this privilege allowed +her to arrange a wake exceeding in magnificence anything in the memory of +Joyce's Country. They kept it up for three days, the scattered Joyces +foregathering from outlandish corners of Mayo and Connemara. Naturally +she didn't tell Considine. He himself discovered the darkened +dining-room at Roscarna strewn with human debris and lit with fifty +candles. The candles were popish and the drinkers were pagan, so he +turned on Biddy and told her more or less what he thought of her. He +pointed with disgust to a couple of drinkers who lay snoring on a sofa +under the window. "All the riff-raff of the country!" he said. Biddy +flared up. "Riff-raff, is it? Sure it's his own sons and mine who do be +after paying respect to their own father, and him lying dead!" + +But Considine was not to be beaten. He had known for many years that +Biddy was a kindly humbug. He knew that if he didn't now get rid of her +Roscarna would become nothing more than a warren in which her innumerable +relatives might swarm. He purged Roscarna of Joyces, Biddy included. He +buried Jocelyn decently according to the ritual of the Church of Ireland, +and proceeded to put his wife's estate in order as soon as her father's +remains were disposed of. + +There was more work in it than he had bargained for. Even the small +immediate courtesies and formalities took time; the announcements in the +papers and short obituary notices; letters, discreetly composed, +announcing the melancholy event to Lord and Lady Halberton; an official +search for Jocelyn's last will; a formal application for probate. + +When these things were finished, Considine's real work had only begun. +He had to readjust the whole financial fabric of Roscarna, to find out +what money was owed or owing, to decide how much of Gabrielle's paper +inheritance was tangible. He unearthed the firm of Dublin solicitors in +whose hands the business of the estate had been allowed to drift for the +last twenty years. They seemed to him a pack of shifty rogues. He was +not used to dealing with lawyers, and what he took for cunning was +nothing more than the traditional gesture of the profession. It was +unthinkable that a firm of such ancient establishment should show any +traces of haste in a matter of business. When Considine began to hurry +them up they simply offered to surrender the business. No doubt they +knew far better than Considine that there wasn't much in it. He imagined +that they were bluffing and took them at their word, with the result that +there fell upon Clonderriff a snowstorm of documents--leases and +mortgages and conveyances and post-obits--all the documentary debris of a +crumbled estate, from the Elizabethan charter on which the first Hewish +had founded Roscarna to the illiterate IOU's of Jocelyn's spider-racing +days. Considine, up to his neck in it, called on Gabrielle to help in +the ordering of her affairs. At Clonderriff they had not room enough for +this accumulation of papers, so they set aside the library at Roscarna +for the purpose, sorting and indexing the Hewish dossier as long as the +daylight lasted. Considine worked steadily through them as though he +were dealing with a mathematical calculation. To Gabrielle, on the other +hand, there was something mysterious in her occupation; fingering these +papers that other fingers had touched she communed with the dead--not +with her father, who could scarcely write his own name, but with the +ancient stately Hewishes who had built Roscarna and grown rich on the +Spanish trade. Sitting at the long table with Considine, a pile of +papers before her, her attention would wander, and while her eyes watched +the west wind blowing along the woods she would feel that she was not +herself but another Hewish woman staring out of the library windows on a +rough day in March a hundred years ago. And in this dream she would be +lost until the light died on the woods in a stormy sunset, and Considine +began to collect the papers in sheaves and lock them in the press. + +By the time that spring appeared, Considine doing his best to put the +affairs of Roscarna in order, had realised the hopeless disorder in which +they were involved. In the whole of Jocelyn's tenure of the estate the +only stable period had been that of his bourgeois marriage. In youth he +had been wildly profligate, in old age negligent, in neither caring for +anything beyond his immediate needs. His tenants owed him thousands of +pounds that he had never attempted to recover, for he had found it easier +to borrow money on mortgage than exact it in rent. As a result of +Jocelyn's finance Considine found that Gabrielle's only hope of saving +anything from the ruined fortune lay in the sacrifice of Roscarna itself. +The property, hopelessly degenerated as an agricultural estate, had still +some value as a fishing or shooting box, and there was a chance that some +wealthy Englishman might buy it for that purpose. For a moment the idea +of selling Roscarna hurt her, but after a little thought she consented to +the sale. Considine advertised the opportunity in the English sporting +papers, but the only reply that came to him was a long and anxious letter +from Lord Halberton, who had been shocked to see the Irish branch of his +family reduced to selling their house and lands. His lordship offered to +come over in person and give Considine the benefit of his opinion. +Considine wrote very fully in reply, enclosing a balance-sheet that made +Lord Halberton sit up and rub his eyes. The business-like tone of +Considine's letter struck him very favourably; that sort of thing was so +rare in a parson. As a matter of fact he had already heard from the +Radways how tactfully Considine had managed the difficult situation of +their son's death. + +It struck him that Considine was too good a man to be wasted in the wilds +of Ireland where the cause of tradition and aristocracy needed no +bolstering. A fellow who could wind up an estate as entangled as +Roscarna would be useful in the sphere of the Halberton territorial +influence. He talked the matter over with his wife, and in the end wrote +to Considine at some length, concurring in his wise determination to get +rid of Roscarna. + +"_If you sell Roscarna_," he wrote, "_it will scarcely be fitting for +your wife to remain in the district occupying a small house in +Clonderriff. My lady and I both consider that this proceeding would be +incompatible with Gabrielle's dignity. As luck will have it the living +of Lapton Huish (that is the way in which your wife's name is spelt in +England) will shortly be vacant. I have persuaded Dr. Harrow, the +present incumbent, who is over ninety and not very active, that it would +be well for him to make way for a younger man. The living is not +generously endowed, but it has the advantage of being on the edge of my +estates, and I have great pleasure in offering it to you. There is no +reason why it should not lead to further advancement_." + +The receipt of this letter made Considine tremulous with pleasure. His +original settlement in Ireland had been the result of a romantic +inclination to play the missionary in a godless Catholic country. When +first he came to Clonderriff he hadn't for a moment realised that the +huge inertia of the west would get hold of him and enchain him; but with +the passage of time this was what had happened. He knew now that he +could not, of his own will, escape; and at the very moment when Jocelyn's +death had created a general upheaval and made the situation in +Clonderriff restless, Lord Halberton's offer gave him the chance not only +of returning to his own country, but of making up for lost time. He +jumped at it, and Gabrielle, who could not bear the idea of seeing her +own Roscarna in the occupation of strangers, gladly consented. I do not +suppose it would have made much difference to Considine if she had +objected. + + + + +X + +At Lapton Huish, in the following autumn, Mrs. Payne found them. The +details of what had happened in the interval are not very clear, but +the effect of the change upon Gabrielle must have been considerable, +for the Mrs. Considine who appeared to Mrs. Payne does not seem to have +had much in common with the dazed, hysterical child we left at +Roscarna. I doubt if it was the experience of her marital relations +with Considine that made her grow up; from the first she had tacitly +disregarded them. I suppose the change was simply the result of living +in a more civilised and populous country, for South Devon was both, in +comparison with her lost Roscarna. + +The Halbertons had been very kind to them. How much of their kindness +sprang from original virtue, and how much from anxiety that the least +connection of the family should be worthy of their reflected lustre, it +is difficult to say. No doubt it pleased them to be generous on a +feudal scale, particularly since Gabrielle, with her striking beauty +and sharp wits, showed possibilities of doing them credit. As soon as +the aged Dr. Harrow had been bundled out, the establishment of the +Considines became a game as entertaining to Lady Halberton in the +sphere of religious culture, as chemical experiments were to her +husband in that of root-crops--with the delightful difference that +human souls ran away with much less money than mangolds. + +While the Rectory at Lapton was having its roof repaired, its walls +painted, and the fungus that grew in the cupboards of old Canon +Harrow's bedroom removed, the Considines were housed at Halberton and +instructed in the family tradition. In the case of Dr. Considine--his +honeymoon activities had pulled off the degree in divinity--this was +easy, for he had spent his childhood on a feudal estate in Wiltshire +and his politics were therefore identical with Lord Halberton's. With +Gabrielle, whom Lady Halberton took in hand, the process was more +difficult. She couldn't, at first, quite catch the Halberton air, but, +being an admirable mimic, she soon tumbled into it. The clothes with +which Lady Halberton supplied her helped her to realise the character +that she was expected to assume. Sometimes she felt so pleased with +her performance that she was tempted to overdo it and suddenly found +herself presenting a caricature of Halberton manners that was so acute +as to be cruel. And sometimes, when she felt that she couldn't keep it +up, she would suddenly drop the whole pretence and relapse into the +insinuating brogue of Biddy Joyce; an amazing trick that she employed +with scandalous effect in later years. But although she occasionally +laughed at it, Gabrielle found the ease and luxury of Halberton House +very much to her taste. She lost her thin and anxious expression and +became a great favourite, not only with Lady Halberton, but also with +the old gentleman and Lady Barbara, the elder daughter, who was still +unmarried and likely to remain so. + +After six weeks at Halberton the Considines moved into the Rectory at +Lapton, a square, solid building, endowed with luxuriant creepers and +protected on the side that faced the prevailing wind and the roadway, +with a covering of hung slates. On the three other sides lay a garden +which had been too much for Canon Harrow and his gardener Hannaford. +Both of them had been old and withered, and the tremendous vitality of +the green things that grew in that rich red soil had overcome all their +efforts at repression so that the house had been besieged and choked +with vegetation and mildewed with the dampness of rain and sap. It was +all very lush and generous and cool, no doubt, in summer; but when the +rain that drove in from the Channel glistened on the hung slates and +dripped incessantly from myriads of shining leaves, the Rector of +Lapton Huish might as well have been living in a tropical swamp. To +the north of them, the huge masses of Dartmoor stole the air, so that +their life seemed to be lost in a windless eddy, and in the deep +valleys with which the country was scored the air lay dead for many +months at a time. Gabrielle, accustomed to the free spaces of +Connemara, felt the change depressing, though she would not admit it; +indeed, she had far too many things to think about to have time for +speculating on her own health. + +First of all the callers. At Roscarna the reputation of Jocelyn and, +above all, his relations with Biddy Joyce, had saved the Hewishes from +these formalities; and the great distances that separated the houses of +gentlefolk in the west of Ireland would have made hospitality a more +spontaneous and less formal affair in any case. In Devon, as Gabrielle +soon discovered, calling was a ritual complicated by innumerable shades +of social finesse. Lady Halberton had already coached her in the list +of people whom she must know, people she could safely know at a +distance, and people whom it was her duty to discourage. As soon as +she was settled in at Lapton the county descended on her and she was +overwhelmed with visitors from all three classes. + +If she had been a stranger the Devonshire people would probably have +watched her with a preconceived suspicion and dislike for a couple of +years, but even her questionable qualities of youth and spontaneity +could not dispose of the fact that she had been born a Hewish and had +lately visited at Halberton House. In that mild climate people remain +alive, or, if you prefer it, asleep, longer than in any other part of +England, and the visitors who came flocking to Lapton were, for the +most part, in a stage of decrepit or suspended life. They drove +through the steep and narrow lanes in all sorts of ancient vehicles, in +jingles, victorias, barouches and enormous family drags. Their +coachmen, older and more withered than themselves, wore mid-Victorian +whiskers, and shiny cockades on their hats. In Gabrielle's +drawing-room the visitors sat on the extreme edges of their chairs. +They spoke with a faded propriety, dropped their final "g's," and +specialised in the abbreviation "ain't." They stayed for a quarter of +an hour exactly by the French clock on the mantelpiece, contriving, in +this calculated period, to make it quite clear that they were on terms +of intimacy with the Halbertons, and they invariably finished by +inviting the Considines to lunch. + +In this way Gabrielle became familiar with a number of dining-rooms +furnished in mahogany and horsehair and hung with opulent studies of +still life in oils and engravings after Mr. Frith. The meal was +usually served by the whiskered coachman, who wore, for the occasion, a +waistcoat decorated with dark blue and yellow stripes, and there was +always cake for lunch. After the port, which generally made her feel +sleepy, Considine would be taken off to see the stables, and Gabrielle +conducted to a walled garden, heavy with the scent of ripening fruit, +where there was no shade but that of huge apple trees, frosted with +American blight, that reminded her, in their passive mellowness, of the +people who owned them. Nothing more violent than archery, in its old +and placid variety, ever invaded the lives of these county families. +If it had not been for the headaches with which their society always +afflicted her, Gabrielle would have been tempted time after time to +scandalise them, but the example of Considine, who was always frigidly +at ease, restrained her, and so she allowed herself to be lulled to +sleep, recovering slowly as they drove back through the green lanes to +Lapton. + +Her symptoms of boredom were taken, in this society, for evidence of +her good breeding, and since she was too tired to be scandalous, +Gabrielle became a social success. Her success is important, not +because it changed her in any way, but because it paved the way for the +development by which she became acquainted with Mrs. Payne, and the +most intriguing episode of her life began. + +It was notorious that Considine's parochial labours occupied very +little of his time. The parish was small and scattered, Lapton Huish +itself being a mere hamlet, and the neighbouring farmers so soaked in +respectable tradition and isolated from opportunities of vice that +their souls lay in no great danger of damnation. The activities of +Considine were practically limited to his Sunday services, but though +the softness of the climate might eventually have transformed him into +a likeness of the ancient automaton who had preceded him, it was not in +his nature to take things easily. He came of a vigorous stock. The +clear, thin air of the Wiltshire downland that his ancestors had +breathed makes for energy of temperament. At Roscarna he had given +vent to this in the education of Gabrielle, the acquisition of his +doctor's degree, and the management of his father-in-law's estate. His +capacity for management, of which he had shown evidence in his +winding-up of the Roscarna affairs, appealed to Lord Halberton, and it +was not long before he proposed a series of improvements to the Lapton +property that took his patron's fancy. In Considine's ideas there was +not only imagination, but money, and Halberton was getting rather tired +of his own expensive agricultural experiments. + +The big house of the parish, Lapton Manor, had lain for several years +unoccupied, for no other reason apparently but that it was isolated and +out of date. To Lord Halberton it represented at least a thousand +pounds a year in waste. When Considine had been at Lapton Huish for a +little more than six months this deserted mansion suggested itself to +him as an outlet for his energies. He told Gabrielle nothing of +this--he was not in the habit of discussing business matters with +Gabrielle--but he rode over to Halberton House one day with an +elaborate and practical paper scheme. He proposed, in effect, to +vacate the Rectory, and take over Lapton Manor as it stood. + +The idea had been suggested to him at first by one of the consequences +of Gabrielle's social success. The wife of a neighbouring baronet had +fallen in love with her--the fact that her husband had followed suit +made things easier. This woman was the mother of two sons, of whom the +elder, the heir to the title, was delicate. She did not wish to +separate the boys, and realising that it was impossible to send them +together to an ordinary preparatory school, the notion had come to her +of asking the Considines if they would take them into their house at +Lapton. Doctor Considine, no doubt, would find time to equip them with +a good classical education, while Gabrielle could supply the feminine +influence which was so essential to real refinement. She was not only +tired of tutors--their equivocal social status was so tiresome!--but +sufficiently Spartan to feel that her sons would be better away from +home for a little while. Away, but not too far away. Gabrielle had +thought it would be rather fun to have a couple of boys, even dull boys +like the Traceys, in the house. She had told Considine that she would +like the arrangement if only the Rectory were bigger. As it was they +couldn't possibly entertain the proposal. + +This set Considine thinking, and from his deliberations emerged the +much more ambitious scheme of taking over Lapton Manor, and equipping +it as a special school for the education of really expensive boys. He +decided that he would not take a greater number than he could educate +by himself. His pupils must all be well-connected or wealthy. He +would teach them not only the things with which a public school might +reasonably be expected to equip them, but the whole duty of a landed +proprietor. The neglected Manor lands, already a drag on the Halberton +property, should be his example. His pupils should see it recover +gradually with their own eyes. The fees they paid should go to its +development, and provide at the end of three or four years' work the +satisfaction of a model and profitable estate. + +All Considine's heart was in the plan. He loved teaching, and he loved +the land. He had a natural aptitude for both, and the opportunity of +developing them seemed too good to be missed. Lord Halberton agreed. +A lease was signed in which Considine, paying a nominal rent for Lapton +Manor, undertook to restore the lands and house to the condition from +which they had fallen. Both landlord and tenant were delighted with +their bargain. In six weeks the Rectory had been vacated and relet to +an old lady from the north of England who wanted to die in Devonshire, +and the Considines had moved to the Manor, under the benignant eyes of +Lady Halberton. In another fortnight the first pupils, the Tracey +boys, arrived, and Considine was advertising in _The Morning Post_ and +_The Times_ for three at fees that even Lord Halberton considered +outrageous. "There's plenty of money in the country," said Considine. +With the insight of genius he added to his advertisement, "Special care +is given to backward or difficult pupils." + + + + +XI + +When Mrs. Payne had the good luck to stumble on Considine's +advertisement--for, in spite of the strange complications that ensued +for the Considines the occasion was certainly fortunate for her--that +remarkable person was at her wits' ends. If she had not been a woman +of resource and character as well as a devoted mother I think she would +have given up the problem of Arthur as a bad job long before this; but +it was literally the only thing that really mattered to her in life, +and if she had abandoned the struggle I do not know what would have +become of her. + +By ordinary canons Mrs. Payne could not be considered an attractive +woman. The only striking features in her plain, and rather +expressionless face were her eyes, which were of a soft and +extraordinarily beautiful grey. She had large hands and feet, no +figure to speak of, and she dressed abominably. She possessed in fact, +all the virtues and none of the graces, and was, in this respect at any +rate, the diametrical opposite of her son. Her appearance suggested +that life had given her a tremendous battering, a condition that would +have been pitiful if it were not that she also gave the impression of +having doggedly survived it; and for this reason one could not help +admiring her. + +Her husband had been a business man of exceptional brilliance, of a +brilliance, indeed, that was almost pathological, and may have +accounted in part for the curious mentality of Arthur. In a short, but +incredibly active life, he had amassed a fortune that was considerable, +even in the midlands where fortunes are made. I do not know what he +manufactured, but his business was conducted in Gloucester, and the +Overton estate, which he acquired shortly before his death, lay under +the shadow of Cotswold, between its escarpment and the isolated hill of +Bredon, within twenty miles of that city. Mr. Payne had died of acute +pneumonia in a sharp struggle that was in keeping with his strenuous +mode of life. Seven months after his death his only child, Arthur, was +born. + +In the care of her son, and the control of the fortune to which he +would later succeed, Mrs. Payne, who was blessed with an equal vocation +for motherhood and finance, became happily absorbed. Everything +promised well. The business in Gloucester realised more than she could +have expected, and she settled down in the placid surroundings of +Overton with no care in the world but Arthur's future. + +He was a singularly beautiful child, fair-haired, with a skin that even +in manhood was dazzlingly white, and eyes that were as arresting as his +mother's: a creature of immense vitality, who shook off the usual +diseases of childhood without difficulty, and developed an early and +almost abnormal physical perfection. He was not, it is true, +particularly intelligent. He did not begin to talk until he was over +three years old; but this slowness of development was only in keeping +with his mother's physical type, and his early childhood was a period +of sheer delight to her in which no shadow of the imminent trouble +appeared. + +By the time that he had reached his seventh year, Mrs. Payne was +beginning to be worried about him. His bodily health was still +magnificent, but there was a strain in his character that worried her. +It appeared that it was impossible for him to tell the truth. +Haphazard lying is no uncommon thing in children, proceeding, as it +sometimes does, from an excess of imagination and an anxiety to appear +startling; but imagination was scarcely Arthur's strong point, and his +lies were not haphazard, but deliberately planned. + +To a woman of Mrs. Payne's uncompromising truthfulness this habit +appeared as a most serious failing. She could not leave it to chance, +in a vague hope that Arthur would "grow out of it." She tackled it, +heroically and directly, by earnest persuasion, and later, by +punishments. By one method and another she determined to appeal to his +moral sense, but after a couple of years of hopeless struggling she was +driven to the conclusion that this, exactly, was what he lacked. It +seemed that he had been born without one. + +The thing was impossible to her, for his father had been a man of +exceptional probity and, without self-flattery, she knew that she +herself was the most transparently honest person on earth. As the boy +grew older his opportunities for showing this fatal deficiency +increased. Whatever she said or did, and however sweetly he accepted +her persuasions and punishments, it became evident that she, at any +rate, was incapable of keeping his hands from picking and stealing and +his tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering. The condition +was the more amazing in the face of his great natural charms. All her +friends and visitors at Overton found the boy delightful; his physical +beauty remained as wonderful as ever; on the surface he was a normal +and exceptionally attractive child; but in her heart she realised +bitterly that he was a completely a-moral being. + +In nothing was this more apparent than in his behaviour towards +animals. Overton, lying as it did in the midst of a green countryside, +was a natural sanctuary for all wild creatures, in which Arthur, from +his earliest years, had always shown a peculiar interest. As a child, +he would spend many hours with the keeper, developing an instinct for +wood-craft that seemed to be the strongest in his composition. He knew +all the birds of the estate, their habits, their calls, their refuges. +Once in the shadow of the woods, he himself was a wild animal, a +creature of faunish activity and grace. Mrs. Payne always encouraged +this passion of his as a natural and admirable thing, until, one day, +the keeper, who was no more humane than the majority of keepers, came +to her with a shocking story of Arthur's cruelty: an enormity that it +would have taken the mind of a devil, rather than a man, to imagine. +When she taxed the boy with it he only laughed. She thrashed the +matter out; she pointed out to him that he had done a devilish thing; +but in the end she had to give it up, for it became clear to her that +he was trying as hard as he could to see her point of view but +couldn't, simply because it wasn't in him. She began to realise slowly +and reluctantly that it was no good for her to appeal to something that +didn't exist. The boy had been born with a body a little above the +normal, and a mind a little below the average, but nature had cruelly +denied him the possession of a soul, and neither her prayers nor her +devotion could give him what he congenitally lacked. + +She wondered whether the isolation of his life at Overton had anything +to do with it, whether contact with other children of his own age would +reduce him to the normal. She took the risk, and sent him at the age +of twelve, to a preparatory school in Cheltenham. Before the first +term was half over they sent for her and asked her to remove him. The +head master confessed that the case was beyond him. On the surface the +boy was one of the most charming in the whole school, but his heart was +an abyss of the most appalling blackness. Mrs. Payne entreated him to +tell her the worst. He hedged, said that it wasn't just one thing that +was wrong, but everything--everything. She asked him if he had ever +known a case that resembled Arthur's. No, he thanked Heaven that he +hadn't. Could he advise her what to do? Lamely he suggested a tutor, +and then, as an afterthought, a mental specialist. + +The word sent a chill into Mrs. Payne's heart. The idea that this +bright, delightful child, the idol of her hopes, was the victim of some +obscure form of moral insanity frightened her. But she was a woman of +courage and determined to know the worst. She took him to a specialist +in London. + +Arthur thoroughly enjoyed this desolating trip. The specialist talked +vaguely, leaving her nothing but the faintest gleam of hope. There +were more things in heaven and earth, he said, than were dreamed of in +the philosophy of the most distinguished alienists. He talked +indefinitely of internal secretions. It was possible, he said--and +underlined the word--possible, just barely possible, that in a year or +two--to put it bluntly, at the time of puberty--the boy's disposition +might suddenly and unaccountably change. He implored her not to count +on it, and assured her that, for the present, medical science could do +no more. If, by any chance, his prophecy should be fulfilled, he +begged Mrs. Payne to let him know. The case, if she would pardon the +use of this objectionable word, was one of the greatest professional +interest. + +She took Arthur back to Overton and waited desperately. Tutor +succeeded tutor. Each of them found Arthur charming and impossible. +For herself she saw no change in him that was not physical. By this +time she had abandoned any idea of finding him a profession. At the +same time, she was anxious to make him capable of managing the Overton +estate, and though she dared not send him to one of the ordinary +agricultural colleges for fear of a repetition, on a larger scale, of +the Cheltenham disaster, she thought that it might be possible to find +a capable land-agent who would give him some kind of training and put +up with his idiosyncrasy for the sake of a substantial fee. + +While searching for a suitable instructor she happened to see +Considine's advertisement. The fact that he gave the name of a great +landowner, Lord Halberton, as a reference, convinced her that the +opportunity was genuine, and the prospectus promised instruction in all +the subjects that would be most useful to Arthur. The fact that only a +small number of pupils was to be taken, and that the place should be +regarded as a friendly country-house rather than as a school, attracted +her; but the part of the advertisement that finally persuaded her to a +faint glimmer of hope was Considine's artfully worded final paragraph: +"Special care is given to backward or difficult pupils." + +Like all sufferers from incurable diseases she was only too ready to +place confidence in any person who laid claim to special knowledge. +She began to wonder if Considine was such a specialist. She wrote to +him, looking for a miracle to save her from her afflictions. + +Considine replied formally. He did not jump at the idea of taking +Arthur, a fact which convinced her that education at Lapton Manor was +something of a privilege, and this made her disregard the fact that the +privilege was expensive. Still, his note was direct and business-like. +He made it clear that if he were willing to take backward or difficult +boys he expected to be paid a little more for his trouble, but the +confident tone in which he wrote suggested that he was a man who knew +his business. + +He did know his business. Considine was a clear-headed and capable +person with a degree of confidence in himself that went a long way +towards assuring his success. He proposed, finally, that it would be +more satisfactory for both of them if Mrs. Payne were to visit him at +Lapton and see the place and its owners for herself. Then they could +talk the matter over, and define the peculiar difficulties of Arthur's +case. More and more impressed, she accepted the proposal. Considine +met her train at Totnes with a dogcart and drove her to Lapton Manor. + + + + +XII + +In that part of the world the early autumn is the most lovely season of +the year. The country in its variety and sudden violences of shape and +colour seemed to her sensationally lovely after the mild beauty of her +own midland landscape, dominated and restrained by the level skylines +of Cotswold. Considine, who spoke very little as he drove, but was a +stylish whip, told her the names of the villages through which they +passed, names that were as soft and sleepy as Lapton Huish itself. He +showed her his church, with a flicker of pride, and the hung slates of +the Rectory wall through a gap in the green. Then they passed into the +open drive of Lapton Manor. + +He explained to her that the estate had been neglected and was now the +subject of an experiment; but it seemed to her that the level fields +through which the drive extended had already come under the influence +of his orderly mind. To everything that Considine undertook there +clung an atmosphere of formal precision that suggested nothing so much +as the eighteenth century. The Manor, suddenly sweeping into view from +behind a plantation of ilex, confirmed this impression. It was such a +house as Considine must inevitably have chosen, a solid Georgian +structure, square and sombre, with a pillared portico in front shading +the entrance and its flanking windows. The window panes of the upper +storey blazed in the setting sun. + +In the hall Gabrielle Considine awaited them. She was dressed in +black--probably she was still in mourning for Jocelyn--with a white +muslin collar such as a widow might have worn. To Mrs. Payne, by an +unconscious personal contrast, she seemed very tall and graceful and +exceedingly well-bred. No doubt Considine had prepared the way for +this impression. On the drive up he had spoken several times of Lord +Halberton, "my wife's cousin." Mrs. Considine's voice was very soft, +with the least hint of Irish in it, an inflection rather than a brogue. +Her hands, her neck and her face were very white. Possibly her skin +seemed whiter because of the blackness of her hair and of her dress and +the beautiful shape of her pale hands. Curiously enough, the chief +impression she made on Mrs. Payne was not the obvious one of youth; and +this shows that Gabrielle, outwardly, at any rate, had changed +enormously in the last year. Mrs. Payne did not know then, and +certainly would never have guessed, that the lady of the house was +under twenty years of age. She only saw a creature full of grace, of +dignity, and of quietness, and she knew that Considine was proud of +these qualities that his wife displayed. There was nothing to suggest +that the pair were not completely happy in their marriage. + +After dinner they proceeded to business. They sat together in the +drawing-room, Mrs. Considine busy with her embroidery at a small table +apart, while her husband, capably judicial, begged Mrs. Payne to tell +him the peculiar features of Arthur's case. She found Considine +sympathetic, and the telling so easy that she was able to express +herself naturally in the most embarrassing part of her story. +Considine helped her with small encouragements. Gabrielle said +nothing, bending over her work while she listened. Indeed, she had +scarcely spoken a dozen words since Mrs. Payne's arrival. When she +came to the episode of Arthur's expulsion from the school at +Cheltenham, Considine made an uneasy gesture suggesting that his wife +should retire, and Gabrielle quietly rose. + +Mrs. Payne begged her to stay. "It is much better that you should both +know everything," she said. "I want you to realise things at their +worst. It is much better that you should know exactly where we stand." + +She wondered afterwards why Considine had suggested that Gabrielle +should go. At first she had taken it for granted that he was merely +considering her own maternal feelings in an unpleasant confession. It +was not until she thought the matter out quietly at Overton that she +decided that his action was really in keeping with the rest of his +attitude towards his wife; that he did, in fact, regard her as a small +child who should be repressed and denied an active interest in his +affairs. Gabrielle's quietness had puzzled her. Perhaps this was its +explanation. + +For the time the story absorbed her and she thought no more of +Gabrielle. Considine was such an excellent listener, sitting there +with his long fingers knotted and his eyes fixed on her, that she found +herself subject to the same sort of mesmeric influence as had overcome +Lord Halberton. He inspired her with a curious confidence, and she +began to hope, almost passionately, that he would undertake the care of +Arthur. Before she had finished her narrative she was assailed with a +fear that he wouldn't--he seemed to be weighing the matter so carefully +in his mind--and burst out with an abrupt: "But you _will_ take him, +won't you?" + +Considine smiled. "I shall be delighted," he said. + +Her thankfulness, at the end of so much strain, almost bowled her over. + +"You make me feel more settled about him already," she said. "I'm +almost certain that he will be happy here. I feel that I'm so lucky to +have heard of you. You and your wife," she added, for all the time +that she had been speaking, she had been conscious of the silent +interest of Gabrielle. When it came to a question of terms there was +nothing indefinite about Considine. The fees that he suggested were +enormous, but Mrs. Payne's faith in him was by this time so secure that +she would gladly have paid anything. All through the rest of her visit +this slow and steady confidence increased. From the bedroom in which +she slept she could see the wide expanse of the home fields. It seemed +to her that the quiet of Lapton was deeper and mellower and more +intense than any she had ever known. It was saturated with the sense +of ancient, stable, sane tradition. It breathed an atmosphere in which +nothing violent or strange or abnormal could ever flourish. She felt +that, in contrast with their restless modern Cotswold home, its intense +normality must surely have some subtle reassuring effect upon her son. +Gazing over those yellow fields in the early morning she felt a more +settled happiness than she had ever known since her husband's death. + +So, full of hope, she returned to Overton and announced the +arrangements she had made to Arthur. He took to them gladly. He was +tired of the unnatural indolence of Overton, and in any case he would +have welcomed a change. In everything but his fatal abnormality he was +an ordinary healthy boy, and the prospect of going into a new county, +and learning something of estate management, a subject in which he was +really interested, appealed to him. She described the drive from the +station, the house, and the general conditions in detail. Her +enthusiasm for Considine rather put him off. + +"I hope he isn't quite such a paragon as you make out," he said, "or +he'll have no use for me." + +Gabrielle appeared as a rather shadowy figure in his mother's +background. "Oh, there's a wife, is there?" he said. "That's rather a +pity." She smiled, for this was typical of his attitude towards women. + +Even though she smiled at it her heart was full of thankfulness, for, +as he had grown older, she had lived in an indefinite terror of what +might happen when Arthur did begin to notice women. It was quite bad +enough that he should be without a conscience in matters of truth and +property; if he were to be found without conscience in matters of sex +there was no end to the complications with which she might have to +deal. She always remembered the specialist's prophecy that the period +of puberty might be marked by a complete change for the better in his +dangerous temperament, but she was secretly haunted by a fear that this +critical age might, by an equal chance, reveal some new abnormality or +even aggravate the old. Arthur was now nearly seventeen, and +physically, at any rate, mature. For the present she lived in a state +of exaggerated hopes and fears. + +The amazing part of the whole business was that Arthur didn't realise +it. He looked upon the anxiety which Mrs. Payne found it so difficult +to conceal as feminine weakness. He wished to goodness that she +wouldn't fuss over him, being convinced that he himself was an +ordinary, plain-sailing person who had submitted for long enough to an +unreasonable degree of pampering. He didn't see any reason why he +shouldn't be treated like any other boy of his age, and felt that he +had already been cheated of many of the rights of youth. One of the +principal reasons why he welcomed the Lapton plan was that it would +free him from the constant tug of apron-strings, and allow him to mix +freely with creatures of his own age and sex. + +He went off to Lapton in the highest spirits, determined to have a good +time, rejoicing in the prospect of freedom in a way that made his +mother feel that she had been something of an oppressor. She could not +resist the temptation of seeing the last of him, and so they travelled +down together. This time she stayed a couple of days at Lapton. It +was part of Considine's plan to let parents see as much of the place as +they wanted, if only to convince them that they were getting their +money's worth. + +Everything that Mrs. Payne saw reassured her. The routine of the house +seemed to be reasonable and healthy. The mornings were devoted to +lessons in the library. After lunch the pupils went out over the +fields or into the woods where Considine instructed them in details of +farming and forestry. Their work was not merely theoretical. They had +to learn to use their hands as well as their brains, to plough a +furrow, or bank a hedge, or dig a pit for mangolds. Considine kept +them busy, and at the same time made them useful to himself. They used +to come in at tea-time flushed with exercise and pleasantly fatigued. +The late afternoon and evening were their own. They played tennis or +racquets, or read books in the library, a long room with many tall +windows that had been set aside for their instruction and leisure. + +Mrs. Payne rejoiced to find that their life at Lapton was so full. In +the absence of any idleness that was not well-earned she saw the +highest wisdom of Considine's system; for it seemed to her that her +anxiety for Arthur had probably done him an injustice in depriving him +of a natural outlet for his energies. At Lapton he could scarcely find +time for wickedness. + +In this way her admiration for Considine increased. She only regretted +that she had not been able in the past to secure a tutor of his capable +and energetic type. Reviewing the series of languid and futile young +men whom the very best agencies had sent her, she came to the +conclusion that no man of Considine's type could ever have been forced +to accept a tutor's employment. Even in the choice of his pupils she +saw signs of his discrimination. In addition to the two Traceys, whose +delightful manners were undeniable, he had secured two other boys: one +the younger son of an East Anglian peer, and the other a boy whose +father was a colonel in the Indian army. The paragraph in Considine's +advertisement that had first attracted her had made her wonder if his +school might not develop into a collection of oddities, but all the +pupils that she saw were not only the sons of gentlemen but obviously +normal. She felt that their influence, seconding the control of +Considine, must surely have a stabilising effect upon Arthur, and was +content. + +During the two days of her visit she still found Gabrielle a little +puzzling. She couldn't quite believe that her extreme quietness and +reserve were nothing more than simplicity. Knowing nothing of her +origins she did not realise that Gabrielle was actually shy of her, and +that this, and nothing else, explained her air of mystery. On the last +night, however, feeling that after all Gabrielle was the only woman in +the house in whom she could confide, she overcame her own diffidence, +and told her the whole story over again from a personal and feminine +point of view. Gabrielle listened very quietly. + +"I'm so anxious that I felt bound to tell you, just in the hope that +you'd be interested," said Mrs. Payne. "One woman feels that it takes +another woman to understand her. If you had children of your own, +you'd understand quite easily what I mean." + +"I think I do understand," said Gabrielle. + +"There are little things about which I should be ashamed to worry your +husband. I wonder if it would be asking too much of you to hope that +you would sometimes write to me, and tell me how he is? Naturally I +can't expect you to take a special interest in Arthur, more than in +others----" She found it difficult to say more. + +"Of course I will write to you if you want me to," said Gabrielle. + +Mrs. Payne, impulsively, kissed her. + + + + +XIII + +Gabrielle fulfilled her promise. All through the first term, while +autumn hardened into winter, at Lapton a season of sad sunlight, she +kept Mrs. Payne posted in the chronicle of Arthur's progress, and these +dutiful letters comforted his mother in her unusual loneliness at +Overton. They were not particularly interesting letters, and they +never brought to her any announcement of the long-awaited miracle, but +they gave her the assurance that some other woman had her eye on him, +and this, for some strange reason that may have been explained by +Arthur's dependence on her through her long widowhood, comforted her. + +In the beginning Gabrielle interested herself in Arthur simply for the +sake of Mrs. Payne; she had been touched by the mother's anxiety and +found her, perhaps, a little pathetic; but in a little time she began +to be interested in Arthur for himself. + +In the ordinary way she did not see a great deal of her husband's +pupils. Nominally, of course, she was the female head of the +household, but Considine, aware of her limited domestic experience, and +her ignorance of English customs, had secured a housekeeper from his +own home in Wiltshire, a Mrs. Bemerton, who also filled the office of +matron. As might be expected in a woman of Considine's choice, Mrs. +Bemerton was capable and, as luck would have it, she was also kindly. +All the domestic arrangements at Lapton ran smoothly under her +direction. She was reasonably popular with the boys and mothered them. +She even found time to mother Gabrielle--respectfully, for she had come +from a county that is staunchly feudal, and was aware of her mistress's +august connections. + +It was fortunate for Gabrielle in her relations with the boys that she +had so little to do with their domestic management. The fact that she +only saw them in their moments of recreation saved her from being +regarded as an ogress, her only suspicious circumstance being the fact +that she was married to Considine. Before the winter came she had +played games with them, and since she had so much of the tomboy in her, +had made herself acceptable as a sportswoman and a good sort. By the +time that Arthur Payne arrived the days were drawing in, and she saw +very little of them, except in the evenings, after dinner, when she and +Considine would join them in a game of snooker in the billiard-room, or +take a hand of whist, old-fashioned whist, in the library. + +It was here that she first became personally aware of Arthur's +disability. For several weeks she had been getting used to him as a +normal being, attractive because he was so undeniably handsome and +well-developed, more than usually attractive to her, perhaps, because +she was dark and he was fair. She had noticed his eyes, so like the +beautiful eyes of Mrs. Payne, his splendid teeth, and the charming +ingenuousness of his manner. Subtly influenced by these physical +features, and taking him for granted, she had almost forgotten the +curious history that Mrs. Payne had confided to her, and it came as a +shock to her playing cards against him one evening, to realise suddenly +that he was cheating. + +Her first impulse was one of indignation; but as she was not quite sure +of herself she said nothing, waiting to see if she could possibly have +been mistaken. In a few moments he cheated again, this time beyond any +possible doubt. She flushed with vexation. It seemed to her an +enormous thing. She was just on the point of throwing down her cards +when Mrs. Payne's story came back to her. Instead of dislike she felt +a sudden wave of pity and wonder. She had wanted, on the spur of the +moment, to give him away; but she realised that this would only +discredit him with the other boys and probably lay him open to a sort +of persecution. If he wasn't really responsible, that would be a pity; +and so she held her tongue. + +All the same she couldn't go on playing cards with him. She knew that +if she did she would be bound to continue on the look-out, and be +shocked by a series of these ugly incidents. She asked Considine if he +would read to them, and he consented readily. He liked reading aloud, +partly because he was, not unreasonably, vain of his speaking voice and +partly because the practice was part of his theory of education. At +that time he was reading Stevenson, an author who was supposed to +combine a flawless literary style with the soundest moral precepts and +an attitude towards life that encouraged the manly virtues peculiar to +Englishmen. Gabrielle enjoyed his reading thoroughly, for she had so +much of the boy in herself, and was quite unacquainted with any +Victorian literature. He read _Catriona_ slowly, and with gusto. +Gabrielle from her corner watched Arthur Payne, sprawling on a sofa at +the edge of the lamp-light. He was really a remarkably handsome young +animal with his fair hair tangled and his hands clasped on his knees. +She could see his eyes in the gloom. They seemed to burn with +eagerness while he listened, as though his imagination were on fire +within. She forgot that Considine was reading and went on watching the +boy. It seemed to her incredible that it was he whom she had detected +in such a deliberate dishonour half an hour before. It was melancholy. +She felt most awfully sorry for him. She wished, above all things, +that she could help him. People said that he was beyond help. In the +end he became conscious of her scrutiny and smiled across at her. And +this broke the spell of reflection. She heard Considine's voice: + +_'I will take up the defence of your reputation,' she said. 'You may +leave it in my hands.' And with that she withdrew out of the library._ +"That's the end of chapter nineteen." + +He closed the book, putting a marker in it methodically, as was his +wont. Gabrielle thanked him. She smiled to herself, for it seemed to +her that the words of Miss Grant with which he had recalled her from +her abstraction had a curious and prophetic meaning for herself. She +was thankful, for a moment, that she hadn't thoughtlessly given +Arthur's reputation away to his comrades. She felt herself thrilled by +a new and curious interest. She determined, as a part of her duty to +his mother, to speak to Arthur himself about what she had observed. + +She caught him in the passage just as the boys were going to bed, and +drew him aside into the drawing-room. The room was quite dark. + +"Arthur, I want to speak to you," she said. + +He laughed. "What's the matter?" + +"When we were playing cards to-night you cheated." + +For a moment there was silence. Then he laughed again--not an uneasy, +shameful laugh, but one of sheer amusement. It shocked her. At last +he said: + +"Did you see it? Then why didn't you make a fuss about it?" + +She was thankful, at any rate, that he had not lied to her. That was +what she had fearfully expected. + +"I didn't want to give you away to the others." + +"Why not? It wouldn't have been any news to them. They know that I +cheat already. That's why they're up against me. But that doesn't +worry me." + +"I don't understand you. It seemed to me a horrible thing to do. +Can't you see that?" + +"No, I can't. Perhaps I'm different. When I play I play to win." + +"But that's the whole point. If you don't stick to the rules of the +game there's no credit in winning, is there?" + +He was silent for a moment. Then, with an effort of the most +courageous honesty, he said: "Well, it feels the same to me. I like +winning--anyhow." + +She hesitated for a moment. + +"It makes it so that--so that we can't respect you," she said. + +"Now I suppose you'll go and tell Dr. Considine. Just my luck." + +"Indeed, and I shan't do anything of the sort. It's between us two," +she replied. + +He was silent. + +"Well, it does no good talking about it," he said mournfully. "I'm +made differently, that's all. Do you want anything else?" + +She didn't, and he left her in the dark. + +This small incident and the conversation that followed opened her eyes +to the reality of the problem. She didn't indeed tell Considine what +had happened, but she did talk to him once or twice about the history +of Arthur Payne. He did not tell her much, for it was part of his plan +that his wife should not be mixed up in the business of the school. +These things, in his opinion, lay entirely outside a woman's province. +Her place was in the drawing-room and her position that of a hostess +or, providentially, that of a mother. For the present there were no +signs of her fulfilling the latter. + +In spite of Considine's discouragement her interest in Arthur was now +fully aroused, and more eagerly for the very reason of the limits which +her husband had set to her activities. Life at Lapton Manor to a +person of Gabrielle's essential vitality was dull. The nature of the +surrounding country with its near horizons and lack of physical breadth +or freedom imprisoned her spirit. Even Roscarna in its decay had been +more vital than this sad, smug Georgian manor-house set in its circle +of low hills. Over there, in winter, there had been rough Atlantic +weather, and a breath of ice from the snowy summits of Slieveannilaun +or the mountains of Maamturk. Here, even in their more frequent +sunshine, the air lay dead, ebbing like a sluggish river, from Dartmoor +to the sea. In winter the county families went to sleep like dormice, +so that no strange-calling conveyances passed the lodge-gates at +Lapton, and the life of Gabrielle was like that of those sad roses that +lingered on the south wall beneath her bedroom window in a state that +was neither life nor death. If she had shared Considine's interest in +his profession things might have been different. No doubt she would +have thrown herself into it with enthusiasm; but her enthusiasm was of +a very different nature from the steady flame that burned in Considine. +No doubt he knew this, and felt that her sharing would be disturbing by +its violence. In the ordinary course of events I suppose he expected +that she would have another child, but as this interest was denied her, +she was thrown more and more upon her own resources. + +Her promise to Mrs. Payne gave her a reasonable excuse for her growing +interest in Arthur. She had never returned to the card-playing +incident; but as time went on a number of others equally distressing +presented themselves. Having constituted herself his special +protectress and the saviour of his reputation she tackled each of them +with courage. In every case she found herself baffled by the fact that +arguments which seemed to her unanswerable made no appeal to him, not +because he wasn't anxious to see things with her eyes, but because they +came within the area of a kind of blind-spot in his brain. She soon +found that she couldn't appeal on moral grounds to an a-moral +intelligence. She would have appealed on grounds material, but it +seemed to be ironically decreed that material and moral grounds should +be rarely at one. Sweet persuasion was equally useless. And indeed, +how could she expect to succeed by her influence where maternal love +had failed so signally? Even so, she would not own herself beaten. It +was tantalising; for the more she saw of Arthur the better she liked +him, and in these days she was seeing a good deal of him. + +The opportunity arose from Arthur's trouble. He had told her the truth +when he said his fellow-pupils at Lapton were already aware of his lack +of honour in games. Nothing is less easily forgiven by boys, and when +the others discovered that he cheated and lied, not so much by accident +as on principle, they began to treat him as an outcast from their +decent society. The Traceys went so far as to report his failing to +Considine. An unpleasant _contretemps_, but one that Considine had +expected. He explained to them that Payne was not entirely to blame, +and that his constitution was not normal. He advised them to take the +weakness for granted. Even when he did this he knew that such +distinctions were unlikely to be acceptable to a boyish code of honour. +On the other hand the special fees that Mrs. Payne was paying him were +essential to the development of his plans. As a compromise he decided +to keep Arthur apart from the others in their amusements in the most +natural way he could devise. Practically for want of a better solution +he handed him over to the care of Gabrielle. + +Arthur resented this. He was fond of games and of sport. He liked +winning and he liked killing; he thought it humiliating to his manly +dignity to be relegated to Gabrielle's society. He wrote bitterly to +his mother about it, using the contemptuous nickname that the boys had +invented for Mrs. Considine. + +"_I think old Considine,_" he wrote, "_must be thinking of turning me +into a nursemaid. I'm always being told off to help Gaby in the garden +or take her for drives in the pony-cart. Not much fun taking a woman +shopping!_" + +But Gabrielle was glad of it. The new plan supplied her with the first +prolonged companionship of a person of her own age--there were less +than three years between them--that she had known. Little by little +Arthur accepted it, and they became great friends. + +It was a curious relation, for though it must have been simple on his +side, on hers it was full of complication. To begin with his society +was a great relief from her loneliness. Again, she had already, for +want of another enthusiasm, conceived an acute interest in his curious +temperament, and her eagerness to get to the bottom of it, and, if +possible, to find a cure, was now fanned by something that resembled a +maternal passion. They spent the greater part of his spare time +together, and often, at hours when he would normally have been working +with Considine, she would ask for him to take her driving into Totnes +or Dartmouth, their two market towns. In the evenings they would walk +out together in search of air along the lip of the basin in which +Lapton Manor lay. + +On one of these evening walks a strange thing happened. They had +climbed the hills and had sat for a few minutes on the summit watching +the sun go down behind the level ridges that lead inward from the +Start. While they were sitting there in silence, Arthur suddenly +slipped away over the brim of a little hollow full of bracken on the +edge of the wood. A moment later Gabrielle heard him laughing, and +walked over quietly to see what he was doing. She saw him crouched, +quite unconscious of her presence, among the ferns at the bottom of the +hollow. He had caught a baby rabbit, and now he was torturing the +small terrified creature, its beady eyes set with fear, just as a cat +plays with a mouse. He was watching it intently: letting it escape to +the verge of freedom and then catching it and throwing it violently +back. For a second it would lie motionless with terror and then make +another feeble attempt at escape. She watched this display of animal +cruelty with horror, and yet she could not speak, for she wanted to see +what he would do next. At last the rabbit refused to keep up the +heartless game any longer. It simply lay and trembled. Arthur prodded +it with his foot, but it would not move. This appeared to incense him. +He took a flying kick at the poor beast and killed it. It lay for a +moment twitching, its muzzle covered in blood. A little thing no +bigger than a kitten two months old---- + +Gabrielle ran to him flaming with anger. She picked up the mutilated +rabbit and hugged it to her breast. + +"Why did you do that? You beast, you devil!" she cried. + +She could have flown at him in her anger. Arthur only laughed. He +stood there laughing, staring straight at her with his wide honest eyes. + +"It's dead. It's all right," he said. + +Her fingers were all dabbled with the blood of the rabbit that twitched +no longer. She could do nothing. She dropped the carcase with a +pitiful gesture of despair and burst into bitter tears. + +She sat sobbing on the edge of the hollow. She could not see him, but +presently she heard his voice, curiously shaken with emotion, at her +side. + +"I say, Mrs. Considine," he said. "Don't--please don't--I simply can't +stand it." + +"Oh, get away--leave me alone," she sobbed. "I can't bear you to be +near me. It was so little. So happy----" + +He wouldn't go. He spoke again, and his voice was quite changed--she +had never heard a note of feeling in it before. "I can't bear it. +You--I can't bear that you should suffer. I swear I won't do a thing +like that again--not if it hurts you. On my honour I won't." + +"Yes, you will. I suppose you can't help it. It's awful. You haven't +a soul. You aren't human." + +His voice choked as he replied. "I swear it--I do really. I could do +anything for you, Mrs. Considine. I feel that I could. For God's sake +try me!" + +She compelled herself, still sobbing, to look at him. She saw that his +face was tortured, and his eyes full of tears. But she could say no +more, and they walked home in silence. + + + + +XIV + +This distressing picture troubled Gabrielle for several days, and yet, +beneath her remembrance of anger and disgust, she could not help +feeling a curious excitement when she reflected that, for the first +time since she had known him, Arthur had shown her signs of pity and +tenderness. For a little while they lived under its shadow though +neither of them spoke of it again. Arthur, in particular, was awkward; +but whether he were ashamed of his cruelty, or merely of the effect +that it had produced on her, she could not say. Although she found it +difficult to believe in the first explanation she was deeply touched, +and perhaps a little flattered, by the possibility of the second. +Certainly his attitude toward her had changed. In everything that he +said or did, he now seemed pathetically anxious to please her, and even +this was encouraging. She didn't tell Considine what had happened. +She knew very well that he would consider the incident trivial and, in +a few words, shatter her illusion of its significance. And this fear +proved that she was not so very sure that it was significant herself. + +The curious atmosphere that now developed between them revealed itself +more particularly in the letters which they were both of them writing +to Mrs. Payne at Overton. Arthur's had never been very fluent, but +Gabrielle had found an outlet for herself in this correspondence. In +his early letters from Lapton Arthur had rarely mentioned Gabrielle; +whenever he had done so it had been half contemptuously, as though the +feeling of repression which emanates from the best of schoolmasters had +attached itself to the schoolmaster's wife. At the same time Gabrielle +had been brief, but extremely natural. With the card-playing incident +a new situation had developed. Arthur, as we have seen, had been +inclined to turn up his nose at Gabrielle's society when it was thrust +upon him by Considine, while Gabrielle had given signs of a more +maternal care. In the later stages of this period Gabrielle, being +taken as a matter of course, had practically dropped out of Arthur's +letters. The episode of the rabbit changed all this, for while Arthur +now began to expand in a naive enthusiasm, Gabrielle's attempts at +writing about him fell altogether flat. Judging by her letters Mrs. +Payne might reasonably have supposed that she had grown thoroughly sick +of the boy. + +The real cause of her reticence was not so easily fathomable. I +suppose it was her instinctive method of withdrawing a subject that was +secretly precious to her from the knowledge of the one person in the +world who might reasonably assert a right to share it. If she had +analysed it, no doubt she would have proved that her interest in Arthur +was more intimate than she had ever confessed. But she didn't analyse +it. Neither, for that matter, did Mrs. Payne. Looking backward, a +year later, that good woman realised what a psychological howler she +had made. At the time she was merely thankful that Arthur was happy in +the society of a woman whom she liked and trusted--to whom, indeed, she +had more or less confided him--and sorry that at the very moment when +her influence might have counted, Gabrielle appeared to be losing +interest in the boy. It cheered her to think that Arthur was +expressing any admiration so human and, to be frank, so unlike himself. +She was even more cheered when she received Considine's report on him +at the beginning of the Christmas holidays. "_There have been one or +two unpleasant incidents,_" wrote the tactful Considine, "_but during +the latter part of the term I must say that your boy's conduct has been +practically unexceptionable. I think it is only right to tell you that +I have great hopes of him._" At the same time Gabrielle was silent. + +Of course Considine didn't really know as much about it as she did. He +had seen the broad effects of Arthur's adoration--for that is what it +was now becoming--but he knew nothing of the struggles that had gone to +their making. During the latter part of the term his conduct had not +been by any means "unexceptionable"; but it was part of Gabrielle's +queer policy of secrecy to hide any lapse on Arthur's part from her +husband. She tackled them alone, forcing herself, against her own +compassionate instincts, to play upon Arthur's feelings. She had now +discovered that where appeals to general morality, or even to reason, +were bound to fail, the least sign of suffering on her part could +reduce Arthur to a miserable and perfectly genuine repentance. Such +was the end of all their struggles; and there were many; for she would +not let the least sign of his old weakness pass. At times she felt +that she was cruel, but she allowed herself to be harrowed, finding, +perhaps, in the pain that she inflicted on both of them, something that +was flattering both to her conscience and to her self-esteem. + +During all this time there was nothing approaching intimacy between +them. To him, however he might adore her, she was always Mrs. +Considine. In all their relations they preserved the convention that +she was a creature of another world and of another age. No doubt his +childishness made the illusion easy to him. With her there must surely +have been moments of emotion when she realised that the barrier was +artificial. It is impossible to say how soon the first of these +moments came. + +Certainly when he returned to Overton for the holidays with Considine's +encouraging report, she felt terribly lonely. For the last two months +she had concerned herself so passionately with the discovery--one might +almost say the creation--of his soul, that his departure left her not +only with a physical blank, but with a spiritual anxiety. She wondered +all the time what was happening to him; whether in her absence he was +keeping it up or drifting into a state of tragic relapse. On the +evening before he left she had made him promise to write to her, but +his boyish letters were wholly unsatisfactory. She believed that he +was telling her the truth in them, and yet he told her so little. She +even wished that she had kept up the habit of writing to Mrs. Payne; +for the least sidelight on the condition of affairs at Overton would +have been grateful to her. She did write to Mrs. Payne, but destroyed +the letter, feeling that a sudden revival of her custom when Arthur was +no longer at Lapton would seem merely ridiculous. + +The Christmas holidays were a dreary time for her. Deserted by all +youth the Manor House slipped back into its ancient and melancholy +peace. Winter descended on them. She had been told that the climate +of South Devon resembled that of Connemara, but this was not the kind +of winter that she had known before. Snow never fell, as it used to +fall on her own mountains, turning Slieveannilaun into a great ghost, +and bringing the distant peaks of the Twelve Pins incredibly nearer. +Perhaps snow fell on Dartmoor; but from Lapton Dartmoor could not be +seen. In those deep valleys it could only be felt as a reservoir of +chilly moisture, or a barrier confining cold, dank air. Instead of +snowing it rained incessantly. The soft lanes became impassable with +mud, turning Lapton into a peninsula, if not an island. + +At the New Year they went on a visit to Halberton House. During their +stay there Lady Barbara conceived a sudden and violent passion for +Gabrielle, that culminated in Gabrielle being taken solemnly to her +cousin's virginal bedroom and hearing the story of an old unhappy +love-affair. All the time that she listened to Lady Barbara's +plaintive voice Gabrielle was wondering what had happened at Overton, +and whether Arthur was keeping to the solemn undertaking that he had +given her. She wondered if it were possible that regard for his +mother's feelings might now be filling the place of her own influence; +if Mrs. Payne were arrogantly taking to herself the credit for the +miracle which Lapton had seen so laboriously begun. She hoped, knowing +that it was wicked of her to do so, that this had not happened. She +felt that the change in Arthur was hers and hers only. She found +herself forced to confess that she was jealous of Mrs. Payne.... + +"And then," said Lady Barbara, "just when I was certain, positively +certain that he cared for me--after that morning in church, you +know--his mother broke her leg huntin' in Leicestershire. The wire +came in with the mornin' letters, and the first thing I knew of his +goin' was seein' the luggage cart with his hat-box in the drive. Then, +poor dear, he met this widow at a dance at Belvoir. I begged mother to +let me go and stay with the Pagets at Somerby, but she said it would be +undignified. He was killed in the Chitral a year later. I felt I must +tell you, dear, because I can't help feelin' a little envious of your +happy marriage. Dr. Considine is such a man ... and I always feel it's +so safe marryin' a clergyman." + +The idea of envying her marriage with Considine was so ridiculous that +Gabrielle couldn't repress an inexcusable smile, but Lady Barbara cut +short her blushing apology. "I don't begrudge you your happiness, my +dear," she said. + +Seeing Lady Barbara sitting opposite to her with her thin arms sticking +straight out of a camisole, and two plaits of hair pathetically +trailing one on either side of her narrow forehead, Gabrielle was +suddenly overwhelmed with the consciousness of her own youth--not only +that, but her amazing difference in temperament from these people of +her own blood. Retiring from her cousin's chaste kisses to her own +room, she stood for a long while in front of her mirror, tinglingly +aware of her freshness and beauty and vitality. Considine, emerging +from his dressing-room, found her there. + +"Vanity, vanity!" he said, taking her in his arms and kissing her. +Gabrielle suddenly thought how glad she would be to hand him over to +the admiring Lady Barbara. She remembered the chill kiss of her +cousin, and then the kiss of Considine. Neither of them, she decided, +was a real kiss. + +The new term began on the twenty-fifth of January. Gabrielle had +awaited it with a subdued excitement. When the day came, she compelled +herself to appear more placid than usual. It was a sunny morning of +the kind that often gives a feeling of spring to the Devon winter, a +morning full of promise. Considine had suggested that she should drive +into Totnes and do some shopping before meeting the train from the +Midlands, but she would not do so. All morning she made herself busy +in the house, and later in the day, hearing the wheels of the wagonette +on the drive, she slipped out into the garden to visit a border where +the crocus spears were pushing through the soil. She could not explain +her own sudden shyness. She was tremulous, tremulous with life. There +was a smell of spring in the air. Arthur came out to find her in the +garden. His eyes glowed with the pleasure of seeing her again, but she +would not look at him. + +"Well," she said, "what happened?" + +"Oh, it was all right," he said. "I think it was all right. I'm +almost sure of it. I always thought of you, you see. Imagined what +you'd think of me." He didn't say that he had considered what his +mother would think. She was suddenly, jealously, thankful. + +With his return she regained her content, feeling no longer the weight +of winter. He spoke no more regretfully of his exclusion from the +sports of the other pupils and they settled down once again into their +happy routine of walks and drives. In a little while the crocuses +burst into flame in the borders, and in the hedges the wild arums began +to unfold. + +One Friday afternoon in the middle of March she asked Considine to let +Arthur drive her into Dartmouth. The day was so mild that they chose +the high-road that skirts the edge of Start Bay. There was a feeling +of holiday in the air, for the sea beneath them was of a pale and +shimmering blue like a stone blazing with imprisoned light or a +butterfly's wing. On the road they met a long procession of carriers' +vans heaped high with shopping baskets, and the happy faces of country +people stared at them from under the hoods. The road shone white, +having been scoured with rain, and all the hedgerows smelt of green +things growing, with now and then a waft of the white violet. The sky +was so clear that they could see the smoke of many liners, hull down, +making the Start. When they reached the crest of the hill above +Dartmouth a man-of-war appeared, a three-funnelled cruiser, steaming +fast towards the land. She was so fleet and strong that she seemed to +share in the exhilaration of the day. They dropped down slowly into +Dartmouth and lost sight of her. + +Gabrielle had a great deal of shopping to do, and Arthur drove her from +one shop to another, waiting outside in the pony-trap while she made +her purchases. Then they had tea together in a restaurant on the quay. +They had never been more happy together. When they came out of the +tea-shop on to the pavement they found themselves entangled in a group +of sailors, liberty-men who had been disembarked from the cruiser that +now lay anchored in the mouth of the Dart. They came along the +footpath laughing, pleased to be ashore. Arthur and Gabrielle stood +aside to let them pass, and as they did so Gabrielle saw the name +_H.M.S. Pennant_ upon their cap-ribbons. She became suddenly pale and +silent. The light had faded from the day. She begged Arthur to drive +her home as quickly as he could. + +Arthur was puzzled by her strangeness. He could not understand why she +did not speak to him. They drove on in silence through the dusk. So +they came to the point at which the coast road turns inward towards +Lapton Huish, a lonely spot where the cliffs break away into low hills, +and the highroad runs between a ridge of shingle on one side and on the +other two reedy meres. The night was windless, and they heard no sound +but a faint shivering of reed-beds, and the plash and withdrawal of +languid waves lapping the miles of fine shingle with a faint hiss like +that of grain falling on to a mound. + +On the bridge that spanned the channel connecting the two meres +Gabrielle asked him to stop. He did so, wondering, and she climbed out +of the trap, and leaned upon the coping, looking out over the water. +He couldn't think what to make of her. He did not know how dear is +mystery to the heart of a woman. He stood by, awkwardly looking at +her. At last she said slowly, "I hate the sea.... I hate it. But I +love lake-water," which didn't lead much further. But he knew that she +was for some reason unhappy, and found this difficult to bear. He came +near to her, leaning over the bridge at her side. + +"I wish you'd tell me what's the matter," he said. "It's all very well +your helping me, but it's a bit one-sided if I can't do anything for +you." + +She gazed at his shadowy face in the darkness, and then gently put her +hand on his. She felt a kind of shudder go through him as he clasped +it. + + + + +XV + +After that night it is difficult to believe that Gabrielle any longer +deceived herself, though I do not suppose that Arthur realised the true +meaning of their relation. The significant feature in it is that he +was gradually and almost imperceptibly becoming a normal human being. +Gabrielle had begun by developing in him a substitute for a conscience; +for since he had begun to consider everything that he said or did in +the light of its probable effect upon his idol, it had become a habit +with him to follow a definite code of conduct, and the saying that +habit is second nature finds an example in his extraordinary case. + +It is fascinating, but I believe profitless, to speculate on the subtle +hereditary influences that underlay their attraction for each other. +One can imagine that their state presented an example of the way in +which people of abnormal instincts tend to drift together: Arthur, the +a-moral prodigy, and Gabrielle, the last offshoot of the decayed house +of Hewish, daughter of the definitely degenerate Sir Jocelyn. But I do +not think that there was anything abnormal or decadent in Gabrielle's +composition. Her nature was gay and uncomplicated, in singular +contrast to her involved and sombre fate. One is forced to the +conclusion that the Payne miracle was the result of nothing more +uncommon than the natural birth of a tender passion between two young +people of opposite sexes, whom chance had isolated and thrown into each +other's company. The specialist who had vaguely suggested to Mrs. +Payne the hope that manhood might work a change in Arthur had been +nearer the mark than he himself supposed, for though the physical state +effected nothing in itself, its first consequence, the growth of an +ideal love, became his soul's salvation. + +Of all that happened during the Easter term we can know nothing, save +that it was spring, that they were supremely happy, and that Considine +was blind ... blind, that is, to everything in the case but the results +of Arthur's infatuation. These, indeed, were so obvious that he could +not very well miss them. The boy's essential childishness, the thing +that had added an aspect of horror to his habits of stealth and +cruelty, gradually disappeared. He began to grow up. I mean that his +mind grew up, for he had already shown a premature physical +development. Practically the space of a single term had changed him +from a child into a man. Considine, seeing this, innocently flattered +himself upon the admirable results of his educational system. A +country life, with plenty of exercise in the open air, and an +unconventional but logical type of literary education that was his own +invention. Result: "_Mens sana in corpore sano_." Arthur was a show +case, and seemed to make possible the acquisition of a long series of +"difficult" pupils at enormous and suitable fees. + +When once the boy got going, the rate of his mental development made it +difficult for Considine to keep pace with him. His mind, that had once +been slow, worked with a sort of feverish activity, as though he were +subconsciously aware that he had whole years of leeway to make up. The +other pupils, who had always taken Arthur's comparative dulness for +granted, and looked down upon him for it, noticed the change, and found +that if they were not careful he would outstrip them. At the same time +they began to discover that he was a thoroughly good fellow and to +wonder how on earth they had been so mistaken in him before. From +being something of an outcast he now became a favourite, asserting, for +the first time, the full advantage of his physical maturity. + +Considine was quick to take advantage of the change. He had always +been tempted by the idea of examination successes, and although he +realised the disadvantage with which Arthur, in his renaissance, was +starting, he saw no reason why the boy should not eventually do him +credit in some public competition. There should be no difficulty for +example, in getting him into Sandhurst ... or, perhaps, Woolwich, as +his new aptitude for mathematics suggested. He wrote at length to Mrs. +Payne, discussing these possibilities. This was his quiet and +considered way of revealing to her his success. + +Mrs. Payne, whose glimpses of the new Arthur in the Christmas holidays +had buoyed her with hopes in which she dared not place too much faith, +replied to his letter in a fever of excitement. Was it really possible +to think of such a career? Was there now no fear that if Arthur went +to Woolwich or Sandhurst something terrible might happen? Of course, +seeing what he had done already, she was prepared to trust Dr. +Considine's judgment in everything; but in any case, if the future that +he suggested were remotely possible, she would very much rather that +Arthur should not go into the army. One of their neighbours had lately +been killed in the Boer War. + +Her letter paved the way for Considine's triumph. He wrote and told +her that he thought he could now safely say that there was nothing at +all abnormal about her son. He did not wish to take undue credit for +the revolutionary change in Arthur's disposition, but could not help +feeling that the boy was a credit to the Lapton regime. Seeing that +Arthur was her only son he could quite understand her objection to his +adopting the hazardous calling of a soldier. As an alternative he now +suggested the Civil Service. Arthur's money--if he might descend to +such a practical consideration--would be extremely useful to him if he +served under the Foreign Office. Of course he could not promise +success, but under the new conditions he thought it worth while trying +to prepare Arthur for one of the examinations. Mrs. Payne consented. +She only hoped that Considine had not been deceived. + +Arthur did not object to the process of cramming that he now underwent +at Considine's hands. His newly-awakened thirst for knowledge was not +easily quenched. Considine, taking his education as a serious +proposition for the first time, naturally considered that the many +hours that Arthur spent with Gabrielle were waste. He also felt that +since he was now acceptable to them as a sportsman, Arthur should take +his place again with the other boys. He had not calculated the effect +of his decision on Gabrielle or on Arthur himself. That it could have +any effect at all upon her had never entered his mind. + +Gabrielle painfully decided that she would say nothing, but Arthur +found himself torn between two interests. Even during the growth of +his devotion to Gabrielle he had always felt a sneaking suspicion that +his constant enjoyment of her society was a little derogatory to his +manly dignity. He knew that his big limbs were made for more active +pursuits than walking over a hillside at a woman's pace, or driving a +pony-cart into Dartmouth. At the same time he saw that he could not +now desert her without a feeling of shame in addition to that of love. + +"What shall I do about it?" he said to her. + +"You must do what you think right." The sentence would have had no +meaning less than six months before. + +"It isn't that exactly, I suppose I must do what Dr. Considine orders." + +"Very well.... You must do what he orders." + +"I shall never see you, Mrs. Considine!" She was still Mrs. Considine +to him. For answer she only took his hand and smiled. + +From that time he followed obediently his master's plans. Considine +kept him busy, and the walks and drives that he had taken with +Gabrielle almost ceased. At first, making a deliberate sacrifice, she +had wondered if she would lose him; but she need never have feared +this. The moments in which they met were stolen and therefore sweet. +She still remained the confidante of all his emotions and thoughts, and +since the time in which these confidences could be given to her was now +so short, each moment of it burned with a new intensity. They met by +calculated chances and in strange places; and their meetings were +lovers' meetings, even if they never spoke of love. + +If the holidays at Christmas had been a desolation to Gabrielle, her +parting from Arthur next Easter was clouded by a sense of more positive +want. It was the season of lovers, days of bright sunshine, evenings +of a surpassing tenderness. She went to the station with him in the +pony-cart alone. She sat like a statue in the trap while the train +puffed its way slowly up the gradient and its noise died away in a +rhythmical rumble. When she awoke to the fact that he had gone she +felt a sudden impulse to do something desperate, if only she could +think of anything desperate to do. She felt that she would like to +shock Considine and the Halbertons and the whole county, to be, for one +moment, outrageous and unrestrained. But she couldn't do anything of +the kind; her wild spark of energy seemed so pathetically small and +feeble against the vast inertia of that dreamy countryside. Even if +she were to cry out at the top of her voice she couldn't assert her +identity; those huge passive folds of green country wouldn't believe +her. They wouldn't accept the fact that she was Gabrielle Hewish, now +called Considine. To them she was just the wife of a country parson +dawdling through the leafy lanes in a pony-trap. She lashed the pony +into a canter, but felt no better for it. The animal settled down +again into his shamble. No power on earth could make him keep on +cantering over the hills of the South Hams, and he knew it. + +Arrived at Lapton she handed over the pony to a groom and set off +walking violently across country, hoping in this way to cool the heat +of her blood. She felt that she would like to go on walking till she +dropped, but as soon as her limbs began to tire she knew that this +would not bring her content. She hurried back to the Manor a few +minutes late for dinner. Considine, to whom unpunctuality was the +eighth deadly sin, was pacing up and down the hall, his hands behind +his back, with the impatience of an animal prowling in a cage. + +"Ah, here you are at last!" he said. + +They went in to dinner, but she could not eat. Considine's appetite +was as regular as everything else in his time-table. He ate heartily +and methodically. She found it difficult to sit still and watch him +eating. + +"What's the matter with you?" he said at last. + +"I don't know. I'm restless to-day." + +"Well, there's no reason why you shouldn't rest now that the house is +empty again. The holidays come as a great relief in a place like this. +And the Spring Term is always the most trying." + +He watched her narrowly, then and for several days afterwards. When he +became solicitous about her health she always knew that he was +wondering if at last she was going to fulfil his desire for a child of +his own. On these occasions he overwhelmed her with attentions. + +Meanwhile Arthur, in the best of spirits, had arrived at Overton. Mrs. +Payne awaited him in a state of tremulous emotion. Now, for the first +time, she was to see her son made whole. Her elation was not without +misgiving, for the news of the miracle was almost too good to be true; +she couldn't help feeling that the Considines had judged him with a +scrutiny more superficial than her own, and though it was not for her +to dispute the intellectual blossoming that had raised such hopes in +his master, she couldn't be sure about the deeper, moral change until +she had seen for herself. Certainly his appearance on the station +platform gave her a sudden thrill of pleasure. Her boy had become a +man; his body had gained in solidity and balance, and his upper lip was +fledged with a fair down. He took her in his arms and kissed her with +a serious manliness that was new to her, and made her heart leap with +pride. His voice, too, had deepened. It was soft and low and +uncannily like his father's. Time after time she was struck by little +tricks of gesture and expression that were familiar to her, but had +never appeared in him before. He was indeed a stranger, yet a hundred +times more lovable than the son she had known. + +A couple of days convinced her that the change was not merely something +added, but vital and elemental. He showed it in a multitude of small +things--in his consideration for the servants, in his attentions to +herself, in the serious interest that he showed in matters that had not +touched him before, in affairs, in books, in newspaper politics. Even +so she had been flattered too often by transient improvements to be +convinced. Deliberately and fearfully she tested him, but never found +him wanting. Then her joy and thankfulness were too deep for words. + +And yet the position was not without its awkwardness. She knew that +Arthur was kinder, more human, and--if that were possible to her--more +lovable, but, in spite of these things, she could not help feeling that +there was something in this new and delightful nature that was foreign +to herself ... foreign, and even, subtly, hostile. It seemed to her +that in some peculiar way he was on the defensive. Up to a certain +point she could enter freely into his confidence, but after that point +she knew in her heart that there was something that he denied her. +Now, more than ever in her life, she wanted to feel that he was wholly +hers; and now, if she were to confess the truth, he seemed less hers +than he had ever been before. At times, indeed, when their intimacy +should have been at its best, she felt that she had lost him +altogether, and that his mind was hundreds of miles away from her, as +indeed it was. She consoled herself by supposing that his life was now +so crowded with new interests and dreams of future adventure that he +could be forgiven if their wonder enthralled and overwhelmed him. It +was indeed a wonderful thing if this son of hers, at the age of +seventeen, should see life with the eyes of a child new-born into the +world. She envied him this ecstasy, even though its real explanation +was far simpler than that which she imagined. When he walked in +silence with her through the fields, or sat dreaming under the cedar on +the lawn when evening came, it is possible that Arthur had sight of the +new heaven and new earth that she imagined, for his eyes were lover's +eyes. But this she never guessed. + + + + +XVI + +In the last week of the holidays, if only Mrs. Payne had been more +acute, she might have surprised his secret. Walking the lowest of +their meadows on the side of Bredon Hill, they came suddenly upon a +southern slope already powdered with the flowers of cowslips. This +cloth of gold was the chief glory of their spring, blooming mile on +mile of meadowland, and drenching the air with a faint perfume. Mrs. +Payne stooped to pick some, for the scent provoked so many memories, +and to her it was one of the sensations that returned year by year with +amazing freshness--that and the spice of pinks in early summer or the +green odour of phlox. "Smell them, they smell like wine," she said, +giving her bunch to Arthur. + +"Mrs. Considine told me that there are no cowslips in their part of +Devon," he said. And then, after a moment of hesitation, he went down +on his knees and began to pick the flowers. The hue of their smooth +stalks was pale as the first apple-leaves, springing straight and +slender each above its leafy mat. + +"Why are you picking so many? They're more beautiful as they are." + +"If they haven't any I'd like to send her some?" + +He went on picking cowslips till the light faded from the fields. Next +morning he packed them carefully, and posted them, with a letter, to +Lapton. She thought it very charming and thoughtful of him to send +Mrs. Considine the flowers. It merely struck her as typical of his new +nature, and she thought it rather shabby of Gabrielle, when, after +three days of waiting, she had not acknowledged the gift. Altogether +she felt that Mrs. Considine had been rather a broken reed as far as +Arthur was concerned. In the beginning she had taken to her, and +expected quite a lot of her. Arthur, too, seemed disturbed that she +did not reply. Day after day he waited for a letter from Lapton with +eagerness. There was no reason why he shouldn't have been anxious to +know that his present had not gone astray. She had not seen the note +that Arthur posted with his flowers. + +With no more than the vaguest mistrust--for she still felt that in some +way she had fallen short of full possession, Mrs. Payne saw him return +to Lapton for the summer term. During the early weeks Arthur scarcely +ever wrote to her, and when she protested mildly, his reply seemed to +her evasive. It was a dutiful reply, and though she couldn't help +admitting that in Arthur the recognition of any duty was a new thing, +the suspicion that for some obscure reason she was losing him, +persisted. She was not in the ordinary way a woman of acute +intuitions, but her whole mind had been so wrapped up in that son of +hers that she was sensitive to the smallest changes of tone, and she +knew that while he was writing her letters his head had been full of +other things. At the same time she had sense enough to see that with +his recovery Arthur's life had become crowded with so many new +interests that she couldn't reasonably expect the old degree of +absorption in herself. This was the price of his recovery, and she +determined to pay it without grudging. + +She settled down into this state of patience and resignation. She even +prepared to deny herself her usual privilege of a visit to Lapton in +term-time, feeling that it would be unfair of her to interrupt the +progress of Considine's remarkable system. In the meantime she kept in +touch with Arthur through her jealous care of the things that he had +left behind, in the arrangement of his books, in the mending of his +clothes, and in the preparation of an upstairs room that he had begun +to turn into a study for his holiday reading. On these inanimate +traces of him she lavished a peculiar tenderness, for their presence +had the effect of making her feel less lonely. + +One day she took up to his new study a number of note-books that he had +used during the Easter holidays. When he had sat out under the cedar +in the evenings she had often noticed him writing with a pencil though +she had never thought to enquire what he was doing. Now, with a chance +curiosity, she happened to open one of these books and examine what he +had written. She saw at once that they were verses, and laughed at the +idea. But when she had read one or two of his poems she laughed no +longer. She realised at once that they were love-poems, feeble and +amateurish in their expression, but daringly sensual and passionate in +their content. They made the good woman blush--her husband had never +been so direct in his days of courtship--but to her blushes succeeded a +moment of fierce maternal alarm. It was impossible, she thought, that +anyone innocent of a violent sexual passion could have conceived the +ideas that the verses contained. They were fully as physical, and +nearly as direct, as the love-songs of Herrick. She was not only +shocked, but frightened, for her long years of widowhood had isolated +her from all feelings of the kind that Arthur expressed so glibly. She +read the poems over again and again. She could not sleep at night for +thinking of them. In the end she became convinced that the thing which +she had feared most had come to pass; that even if the coming of +manhood had brought to Arthur the birth of a moral sense in matters of +ordinary social intercourse, the gain had been neutralised by the +release of a new instinct that was powerful enough to wreck the rest. +The boy was obviously and violently in love--not with any shadowy +dreamed ideal, but actually with a woman of definite physical +attributes. It was almost possible to reconstruct a picture from the +poems. A skin of ivory, grey eyes, hair that was like night, red lips, +pale hands, all rather commonplace, but, none the less, damningly +definite. + +It is curious that the image of Gabrielle never suggested itself to +her. Perhaps it was the fact that Arthur, for some unaccountable +reason, probably because he usually saw them in a half-light, had made +her violet eyes--an unmistakable feature--grey. As the matter stood +Mrs. Payne was convinced that he had become entangled, and intimately +entangled, with some dangerous and designing woman. It was her plain +duty to save him. The only thing that restrained her from immediate +action was the fear that any big emotional disturbance might undo the +work that Considine had already accomplished. She didn't in the least +connect the passion with the reformation, and yet she wondered if +interference with the one might somehow prejudice the other. It was a +harrowing dilemma. + +In the end, with her accustomed courage, she decided to face the risk. +At any rate no harm need be done by her taking Considine into her +confidence. She encouraged herself with a pathetic trust in his +stability and wisdom in all matters that affected Arthur. Without even +the warning of a telegram she made her decision, ordered the carriage +for the station and set off for Lapton. + +She arrived there late on a Saturday night to the astonishment of the +Considines, who had disposed of the boys for the evening, and were +sitting together in the library. Considine, who prided himself on +never being surprised by an emergency, welcomed her as if there were +nothing unusual in her visit, and Gabrielle, a little nervous, went off +to see the housekeeper, and arrange about a room for the visitor. At +the door Mrs. Payne stopped her. "If you don't mind," she said, "I +should be glad if you wouldn't let Arthur know that I'm here." + +Considine was quick to agree: "Certainly not, if you wish it." + +Gabrielle left them and he prepared to hear her story. She was very +agitated, and found it difficult to express herself. For a little +time, in spite of Considine's encouragements, she beat about the bush. +She felt that her revelation would amount to a criticism of Considine's +management. + +At last, realising that she was getting no further, she produced her +documents and handed them to him. + +Considine examined them slowly and judicially without a flicker of +emotion. It seemed to Mrs. Payne a very solemn moment, full of awful +possibilities. She waited breathlessly for his verdict. + +"Well?" he said at last, putting the papers aside. + +"Arthur wrote them." + +"Yes.... I recognised his writing." + +"He is in love with some woman." + +"Presumably ... yes. But I'm not so sure of that." + +"What do you mean?" She gasped at the prospect of relief. + +He explained to her at length. It was a very common thing for boys of +Arthur's age, he said, to write verse. + +"Verses of that kind?" + +Yes... even verses of that kind. To be perfectly candid he himself, +when a boy in his teens, had done very much the same sort of thing. It +was true perhaps that the verses which he had written had not been +quite so ... perhaps frank was the best word. On the other hand his +own development had followed more normal lines. He hadn't, in the +manner of Arthur, burst suddenly into blossom. All boys wrote verses. +Often they wrote verses of an amatory character, not particularly +because they happened to be in love, but because the bulk of English +lyrical poetry, to which they went for their models, was, regrettably, +of an amatory character. At this stage in a boy's development, even in +the development of the greatest poets (and Arthur, he noticed in +passing, did not show any signs of amazing genius) the verses were +usually imitative. It rather looked as if he had been reading Herrick, +or possibly the Shakespeare sonnets ... the dark lady, you know. +Seriously, he didn't think there was anything to worry about. He +folded the papers and handed them back to her. + +For once in a way Considine didn't satisfy her. There were other +things, she said. Things that she hadn't attached any value to at the +time when they happened, but which now seemed significant. When she +came to think of it Arthur's whole behaviour during the holidays had +been that of a youth who was in love. With all deference to Dr. +Considine she felt that she couldn't pass the matter over. It was her +plain duty to enquire into it, and find, if possible, a more obvious +reason for this strange and sudden outburst. + +Considine agreed that no harm could be done by a little quiet +investigation. At the same time he couldn't possibly see what +opportunities Arthur could have had for falling in love at Lapton. + +"We're very isolated here," he said. "The Manor is a kingdom in +itself. It seems to me that circumstances would force him to invent an +ideal for the want of any living model." + +She shook her head. There was no isolation, she said, into which love +could not enter; and this, in the face of classical precedent, +Considine was forced to admit. Could she, then, make any suggestions? + +Mrs. Payne said, "Servants," and blushed. + +Considine also blushed, but with irritation. The suggestion brought +the matter uncomfortably near home. + +"I think you can put that out of your mind," he said. "I'll admit that +I did not consider this point when I engaged them, but I do not think +you'll find any one peculiarly attractive among them." + +"They're women," said Mrs. Payne obstinately. + +It seemed to her that Considine's incredulity was forcing them both +into a blind alley. + +"If you don't mind," she said, "I think it would be better for me to +talk the matter over with your wife. A woman, if you'll allow me to +say so, is much more acutely sensitive to ... this kind of thing." + +Again Considine blushed. The prospect of engaging Gabrielle in the +matter was altogether against his principles. He had always made it a +rule that her essential femininity should not be compromised by any +contact with the business of the school. He did not even like her to +take an intimate share in the management of the house. After all she +was a Hewish and a cousin of the august Halbertons. That was why he +had employed Mrs. Bemerton as housekeeper. + +"I shall be obliged," he said, "if you don't mention a matter that may +possibly become unsavoury, to Mrs. Considine. She knows nothing of the +servants, and I prefer her to take no part in the affairs of my pupils." + +Altogether the good woman felt that she had been snubbed for her pains. +She had expected a great deal from Considine, and even more from +Gabrielle. Still, if Considine objected to his wife being consulted, +she was prepared to accept his decision. The only course that remained +open to her was to make enquiries for herself, and determine, by +observation, what women were possibly available for the disposal of +Arthur's affections. + +"Very well," she said with a sigh. "If you don't wish me to speak to +your wife, of course I won't." + +"If you'll pardon my saying so, I think you're unduly anxious. After +all, the most obvious thing is to ask Arthur himself. Why not do that?" + +She hesitated and then spoke the truth. + +"I'm afraid he'd tell me a lie. I don't want him to do that ... now. +I'd much rather find out for myself. I wish I could believe you. I do +indeed." + +She paused for a moment and then said, almost as if she were speaking +to herself, "There's no place where there aren't opportunities. +Farmer's daughters ... village girls. There are more women in the +world than there are men." + +He couldn't help smiling at the mathematical accuracy of her remark, +but once more he shook his head. + +"At any rate," she said, returning to the practical aspect of the case, +"I suppose you've no objection to my staying here for a day or two, and +keeping my eyes open. Failing anything else I will speak to Arthur +about it." + +"Please consider the house your own," said Considine, who had now +recovered his usual politeness. + +"Thank you," she said. "You're very kind. But you know how grateful I +am to you already." + +Mrs. Considine returned, and a little later showed her to her room. In +the candle-light of the passage Mrs. Payne was assailed by an +overwhelming desire to break her promise and disclose her troubles to +Gabrielle. She felt that her quest was so lonely. Gabrielle seemed to +her sympathetic and she knew that it would be a great relief to her to +discuss the affair with another woman. As they paused at her bedroom +door, her old attraction towards Mrs. Considine that had once +culminated in an impulsive kiss took hold of her again. She wanted, +for some obscure reason, to kiss Gabrielle once more. Perhaps there +was something in the attraction of her opposite physical type that +accounted for this impulse as well as for Arthur's infatuation. For +the present she suppressed her inclination. After all Considine had +acted fairly enough with her, and she felt that she could not fail him +in a point of honour. + +Alone in her room she read over Arthur's poems again. Now that she was +so near to him they impressed her less with a sense of fear and anxiety +than with one of pity and of love. He was her child, and therefore to +be protected and caressed. She found it difficult not to leave her +room in the night, and grope her way along the creaking corridors to +the room in which she knew he was sleeping. She wanted to kiss him and +hold him in her arms. She placed the poems on the table at her bedside +and blew out the candle. It was unfortunate for her bewilderment that +Arthur had not left in his notebook the rough copy of the verses that +he had sent to Gabrielle with the box of cowslips, the verses to which +she had not dared to reply. + +Next morning at breakfast Arthur and his mother met. All through the +holidays she had been indefinitely conscious of an awkwardness between +them; now, with so much guilty knowledge in her mind, the relation +became definitely embarrassing. She wondered if he felt it as deeply +as she did. Certainly he showed no sign of any emotion but surprise at +her visit. + +"But if you came last night, why on earth didn't you come along to my +room?" he said. "And why are you so mysterious? What's it all about?" + +She put him off as well as she could. "I wanted to see you, that was +all," she said. "I thought you would be pleased by the surprise," and +then: "You don't seem very pleased." + +"Of course I'm pleased," he said, blushing. "But I don't understand +it." + +Whatever he said she knew in her heart that she wasn't wanted. It was +a bitter thing to realise, but it made her more than ever certain that +there was a secret to be disclosed. + +After breakfast the Sunday morning routine of a country house began. +She and Arthur walked together over the fields to church. The whole +country breathed a lazy atmosphere of early summer. Its beauty and its +placidity mocked her. Before them went the Considines. He wore a long +cassock that swept the grass, as they went, while Gabrielle walked in +silence at his side. Never once in their journey did she look back. +It struck Mrs. Payne for the first time how young she was, how very +much younger and more supple than her husband. And yet they seemed to +be happy. + +The service was the usual slow ceremony of a village church, Considine +moving with the dignity of his vestments from the lectern and the altar +to the organ seat which he also occupied. Arthur, standing or kneeling +at his mother's side, appeared to be properly engrossed in the service. +Singing the psalms beside him she became aware how much of a man he was +now, for his voice, that had been cracking for several years, had now +sunk to a deep and sonorous bass. + +It was not until Considine ascended the pulpit and began to preach, +that Mrs. Payne became conscious of anything extraordinary. At first +she was held by the sermon, which was unusually well constructed, but +in the middle of it she became aware that Arthur was not listening. He +sat straight in the pew beside her as though he were intent on the +preacher, but all the time his eyes were wandering to the other side of +the aisle. Mrs. Payne tried to follow their direction. Here, +presumably, was a fairly representative collection of the female +inhabitants of the village. Here she might expect to find the farmer's +daughter, or, in the last emergency, the housemaid, on whom his +affections were centred. She heard no more of Considine, only watching +Arthur's eyes, and watching, she soon discovered that these were for +Mrs. Considine and her alone. She could not deny the fact that +Gabrielle, with her fine pale profile set against a pillar of grey +sandstone, was a creature of amazing beauty. She herself was +fascinated by this vision of refinement and grace to such a degree that +she almost shared in Arthur's rapture. + +For a little while she could not be sure of it, for this was the last +possibility that had entered her mind: but at last it seemed that +Gabrielle became conscious of the gaze that she could not see. +Suddenly, without the least warning, she turned her head in Arthur's +direction. Their eyes met. She blushed faintly, and, at the same +moment, became aware of Mrs. Payne. The blush deepened, spreading into +the ivory whiteness of her neck; and Mrs. Payne had no need to look at +her any longer, for she knew. + +Her mind leapt quickly to the whole situation. In the light of this +evidence she recalled a hundred things that had not even puzzled her +before. She saw the reason for the strange fate that had overtaken +their correspondence, she divined the secret of Gabrielle's sudden +reticence, and the break in Arthur's frank enthusiasms. She knew that +she had made a triumphant discovery, but in her elation realised that +it would be wiser to go gently. This was a secret that could not be +blurted out without disaster. The situation needed careful handling. + +Once in possession of certain knowledge it was no longer difficult for +her to interpret Arthur's moods. In the afternoon when they sat out +under the trees on the lawn, she stumbled on a strange corroboration. +She had fallen into a doze in a lounge chair at his side, and when she +awoke she saw that he was reading poetry. He seemed to be reading one +poem over and over again, and a sudden curiosity made her ask what he +was reading. "Tennyson," he said, and closed the book. But he had +left a long grass for marker between the pages, and when they moved +towards the house at tea-time she picked up the book and opened it. +Her eyes fell upon a significant stanza from "Maud." + + She came to the village church, + And sat by a pillar alone; + An angel watching an urn + Wept over her, carved in stone: + And once, but once, she lifted her eyes, + And suddenly, sweetly, strangely blushed, + To find they were met by my own ... + + +Mrs. Payne's heart beat faster as she read the verse. Later in the +day, to test him, she asked him what he had been reading. She half +expected him to tell her a lie, but, strangely enough, it was the truth +that he gave her. + +"What do you like about 'Maud'?" she said. + +"I like it all," he replied. "It's the kind of thing that anyone might +feel." He hesitated. "And there's one part of it in particular----" + +She waited, with her heart in her mouth. + +"What is that?" she said. + +"Oh, right at the beginning. I don't suppose it would mean much to +you. I can't remember it exactly, but it starts like this: + + I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood, + Its lips in the field above are dabbled with blood-red heath, + The red-ribbed ledges drip with a silent horror of blood ... + +I can't remember any more..." + +"But why should that appeal to you?" she asked, disappointed. + +"I don't know. It reminds me of something that happened to me once." + +She did not feel that it would be profitable to press him further on +this uninteresting point. + + + + +XVII + +All that afternoon and evening Mrs. Payne watched them. The role of +detective was unnatural to her, and once or twice she couldn't help +feeling that it was unworthy, and that she herself was an ogress, they +were so young and so unsuspicious. She had an impression not that they +were deliberately hiding anything from her, but that the understanding +between them somehow tacitly excluded her from their intimacy. She +felt out of it at Lapton, hovering impotently on the edge of the magic +circle that their passion had created. The strangest thing of all +about this amazing relation of theirs was its air of innocence. She +was so keenly aware of this, and felt herself so likely to fall a +victim to the idea's persuasions, that she had to make an unusual +effort, to remain awake and alive to her plain duty, and to the fact +that this simple and natural love affair was a crime against society, a +disaster that might wreck not only Considine's home, but all Arthur's +future. + +She could not make up her mind what to do, and this unsettled her, for +in the ordinary way she was a woman of determination who acted first +and afterwards considered the propriety of her actions. Her first +impulse was to go straight to Considine and say, "I told you so." This +course presented her with the opportunity of an easy triumph, and was +in keeping with her downright traditions; but in this case she was not +in the least anxious to make a personal score. She saw that if she +told Considine she would be firing the train to an explosion that might +end in nothing but useless wreckage. Considine, for instance, +admittedly touchy on the subject of Gabrielle, might refuse to believe +her and show her the door. Arthur would be forced to leave Lapton; and +she thought too highly of Considine's influence on him to run the risk +of a relapse. On the other hand Considine might believe her, and put +the very worst construction on what she told him. She saw the +possibility of Arthur's being landed in the Divorce Court, which was +unthinkable. She abandoned the idea of approaching Considine at all. + +The next course that suggested itself was that of tackling Arthur; but +the atmosphere of mistrust, if not of actual hostility, that at present +involved their relations made her think twice about this. She could +not dare to treat Arthur as a normal person, for she knew that his hold +on normality was recent and precarious, and feared that a violent or +passionate scene might undo in a moment all the developments that had +been accomplished in the last six months. Even if they escaped this +catastrophe it was possible that she might offend him so deeply as to +lose him. + +There remained Gabrielle, and though she knew that she was old enough +to speak to Gabrielle with the authority of a mother, she felt that +this would be impossible at Lapton. It was a curious attitude that she +found difficult to explain, but it seemed to her that to tackle Mrs. +Considine in her husband's house was dangerous, that it would give to +Gabrielle an unreasonable but inevitable advantage. At Lapton Mrs. +Payne felt she was a stranger, insecure of her ground, and therefore in +an inferior position; and this struck her more forcibly when she +reflected that, though she was confident of the rightness of her +conclusions, the actual evidence that she possessed was extremely +small. She admitted to herself that it would be difficult to carry her +point on the strength of looks and blushes, and was thankful that she +had not been betrayed by her instincts into hasty action. + +Lying sleepless on her bed that night with her eyes open in the dark +she evolved a new plan that would not only give her the advantage of +choosing the site of the coming struggle, but would eliminate the +uncertain element of Considine and probably provide her with evidence +to strengthen her charge. This change of plan involved a duplicity +against which her straightforward nature rebelled, but with Arthur's +future at stake she would have stopped at nothing. After breakfast on +the Monday morning she went to Considine in his study, thanked him for +his kind consideration, and confessed that she had been needlessly +alarmed. Considine gracefully accepted this confession and the implied +apology, assuring her once more that there was really nothing to worry +about. Then, very carefully she made another suggestion. It was usual +at Lapton for the pupils to go home for a long week-end at half term. +She wondered if Mrs. Considine would like to come back to Overton with +Arthur? The rest and change would do her good, and it would be +interesting for Gabrielle, who had seen so little of England, to visit +Cotswold. Mrs. Payne promised to take great care of her. She gave her +invitation in a way that suggested that it was an attempt to make +amends for her suspicions. It conveyed at the same time an implicit +confidence and an anxiety to please. + +Considine tumbled headlong into her trap. He thanked her for her +invitation, saying that he had no objection, but that Gabrielle, of +course, must decide for herself. His tone made it clear that such a +visit must be regarded as a condescension. The Halbertons, he said, +had been begging Gabrielle for a long time to spend a week with them, +but she was devoted to Lapton. + +"At any rate I may ask her?" said Mrs. Payne. + +"Certainly, certainly--you'll find her in the garden." + +Mrs. Payne was in some doubt as to what Gabrielle's answer would be. + +She moved to the proposal obliquely, feeling like a conspirator, and +one so unused to conspiracy that her manner was bound to betray her. +They began by talking about the gardens at Overton, the beauty of +Cotswold stone, the essential difference of her country from that in +which Lapton lay. + +"You can't know England," she said, "until you've seen the Vale of +Evesham." + +She didn't care twopence ha'penny for the Vale of Evesham--she was just +talking for time. Gabrielle listened to her very quietly, and Mrs. +Payne took her silence for evidence that she was playing her hand +badly. This flustered her. She became conscious of the fact that +nature had built her too roughly for diplomacy. Not daring to hedge +any longer she blurted out her invitation, and Gabrielle, instantly +delighted, accepted, transforming herself, in Mrs. Payne's mind from a +subtle designing creature into something very like a victim. So, for +one moment she appeared; but in the next Mrs. Payne felt nothing but +exultation at the successful beginning of her plan. + +"Arthur has told me that there are nightingales at Overton," said +Gabrielle dreamily. "I wonder if I shall hear one? There are no +nightingales in Ireland or in this part of England." And although Mrs. +Payne could hardly accept an interest in ornithology for explanation of +her readiness to come to Overton, she was quick to promise that +nightingales should be in full song at the next weekend. + +Thus having laid her plans, she resisted, though with difficulty, all +her impulses to continue her search for evidence. It was hard to do +so, for all through the evening Gabrielle and Arthur were together in +her presence, and she found it impossible not to watch them out of the +corner of her eye or strain her ears to catch what they were saying; +but she realised that the least slip at this stage might ruin her +chances of success, and devoted her attention or as much of it as she +could muster, to Considine. Next morning, with a sense of successful +strategy, she returned to Overton by an early train. + +The rest of the week was for her a period of acute suspense. For +Gabrielle and Arthur it was one of delightful anticipation. On Friday +at midday Considine drove them to Totnes station, the scene of their +last parting, and set them on their journey. They watched him standing +serious on the platform as the train went out, and when they lost sight +of his tall figure at a curve in the line, it seemed to them as though +the last possible shadow had been lifted from them. In the first part +of their journey a soft rain hid the shapes of the country through +which they passed, so soft that they could keep the windows open, and +yet so dense as to give them a feeling of delicious loneliness, for +they could see nothing but the grassed embankments starred with +primroses. All through the Devon valleys and over the turf moors of +Somerset this weather held. It was not until they had changed at +Bristol and crept under the escarpment of the lower Cotswolds that the +air cleared. + +At a junction below the southern end of Bredon they emerged in an air +that this vast sheeting of fine moisture had washed into a state of +brilliant clarity. The evening through which they drove to Overton was +full of birdsong and sweet with the smell of young and tender green. +There was not a breath of wind, but the sky was cool, and into it the +old trees lifted their branches with an air of youth and vernal +strength. When the road climbed, scattered woodlands stretched beneath +them in clear and comely contours. A hovering kestrel hung poised like +a spider swinging from a thread. She swooped, and her chestnut back +was lit into flame. The great elms that gird the village of Overton +received them. Arthur touched up the horse as they swung past the +church and a row of cottages with long trim gardens. + +Mrs. Payne, who was working on the herbaceous border in front of the +house, heard the grating of the carriage wheels on the gravel of the +drive. She took off her gardening gloves and came to meet them. +Arthur jumped down from the carriage and kissed his mother. Gabrielle, +also approaching her, put up her face to be kissed, and Mrs. Payne, who +could not very well refuse her, felt that the kiss was a kind of +betrayal. She wished, in her instinctive honesty, that it could have +been avoided. + +It was a bad beginning, and gave her a hint of the kind of emotional +conflict that she had let herself in for when she assumed the role of +detective. What made it a hundred times worse was the fact that she +really liked kissing Gabrielle, for her kindly heart warmed to the girl +again as it had warmed when first they met. "I'm sentimental," she +thought, "for heaven's sake let us get it over!" + +Gabrielle, however, was quite unconscious of the struggle that divided +Mrs. Payne's breast. She was a child launched on a holiday with the +friend of her choice in the most delightful season of the year. She +didn't scent any hostility in the atmosphere of Overton; and this was +strange in a person who moved through life by the aid of intuitions +rather than reasons. She felt contented at Overton, just as she had +felt contented at Roscarna. She was more at home there than she could +ever have been at Lapton or Clonderriff; her mind was as sensitive to +sky changes as the surface of a lonely lake. Mrs. Payne had given her +an airy bedroom facing west, and while the maid unpacked her things +Gabrielle stood at the window looking out over meadows, golden in the +low sun. Beneath her lay the lawns, smooth and kempt and of a rich, an +almost Irish green, on which the black shadows of cedar branches were +spread. A tall hedge of privet divided the lawns from the vegetable +garden in which a man was working methodically. She saw the pattern of +paths and hedges from above as though they were lines in a picture. In +the middle of the lawn stood a square of clipped yew trees, making a +hollow chamber of the kind that formal gardeners call a yew-parlour, +with a stone sundial in the middle of it. "What a jolly place for +children to play in," she thought. A blackbird broke into a whistle in +the privet hedge and brought her heart to her mouth. Could any +nightingale sing sweeter? + +"I think that is all, madam," said the maid demurely. Gabrielle smiled +at her and thanked her, and the girl smiled back. Like everything else +in Mrs. Payne's admirably managed house she was fresh and clean, +homelier than the frigid servants at Halberton House, happier--that was +the only word--than Gabrielle's own servants at Lapton. Yes, +happier---- + +When she came downstairs Arthur was waiting for her. + +"I thought you were never coming," he said. Their time was short and +he was anxious to show her all the altars of his childhood. They met +Mrs. Payne in the hall. She smiled at them with encouragement, for it +was part of her settled plan to let them have their own way and so +tempt them into a naturalness that might betray them. She, too, had +the feeling that she was fighting against time. + +Arthur was full of enthusiasms. They went together to the stables, +where he introduced her to Hollis, the coachman standing in his +shirtsleeves in a saddle-room that smelt of harness-polish. He stood +in front of a cracked mirror brushing his hair, hissing softly, as +though he were grooming a horse, and round his waist was a red-striped +belt of the webbing out of which a horse's belly-band is made. + +"Well, Mr. Arthur, you're looking up finely, sir," he said, touching +his forelock. Even the stables exhaled the same atmosphere of pleasant +leisure as the house. + +"I want you to get a side-saddle ready for Brunette to-morrow, Hollis," +said Arthur. "Mrs. Considine and I are going for a ride over the hill." + +At the end of the stables they encountered a pair of golden retrievers. +For a moment they stared at Arthur, and then, suddenly recognising him, +made for him together, jumping up with their paws on his shoulders and +licking him with their pale tongues. + +"What beauties," Gabrielle cried. + +"Yes, they come from Banbury," he said. "I'll get you a pup next term +if you'd like one." + +Their evening was crowded with such small wonders. "I can't show you +half the things I want to," he said. "It's ridiculous that you should +only be here for three days." He would have gone on for ever, and she +had to warn him when the clock in the stables struck seven that they +had only just time to dress for dinner. On the way upstairs he showed +her his new study, with the bookshelves that he had bought in the last +holidays. + +"I do all my writing here," he said, and then suddenly but shyly +emboldened: "it was here that I wrote to you when I sent you the +cowslips." + +He had never dared to mention the incident before. + +"You didn't answer me," he went on. "Why didn't you answer me? I wish +you'd tell me." + +"Arthur--I couldn't--you know that I couldn't." + +A panic seized her and she went blushing to her room. + +She was still flushed with excitement or pleasure when she came down to +dinner. Mrs. Payne, in a matronly dress of black, sat at the head of +the table with Arthur and Gabrielle on either side of her facing each +other. The arrangement struck her as a triumph of strategy. From this +central position she could see them both and intercept any such glances +as had passed between them in the church at Lapton. In this she was +disappointed, for there was nothing to be seen in the behaviour of +either but a transparent happiness. "They only want encouragement," +she thought, and settled down deliberately to put them at their ease, a +proceeding that was quite unnecessary for the last feeling that could +have entered either of their minds was that of guilt. + +So the evening passed, in the utmost propriety. No look, no sign, no +symptom of unusual tenderness appeared. It even seemed that Gabrielle +was particularly anxious to make the conversation general. "Oh, you're +artful!" thought Mrs. Payne, "but I'll have you yet." They talked of +Lapton, of Considine and of the Traceys. Only once did Mrs. Payne +surprise a single suspicious circumstance. + +"I showed Mrs. Considine the dogs, mother," he said. "She's fallen in +love with Boris." + +"Yes, his eyes are like amber," said Gabrielle. + +"So I thought I'd like to write to Banbury to-morrow and get her a +puppy." + +"Certainly, dear," said Mrs. Payne suavely. Bedtime came. Gabrielle +and Arthur shook hands in the most ordinary fashion. Mrs. Payne, +seeing Gabrielle to her door and submitting, once again, to an +uncomfortable kiss, felt that her triumphant plan had already shown +itself to be a failure. She went along the passage to her own room +with a sense of bewilderment and defeat. She could not sleep for +thinking. She wondered, desperately, if when all other methods had +failed, as she now expected they would, she could possibly approach +their secret from another angle, laying aside her watchful inactivity +and becoming in defiance of all her principles an "agent provocateuse." +If it came to the worst she might be forced to do this, for very little +time was left to her. If she remained static she would be powerless. +Next day, she reflected, they had planned a ride over the flat top of +Bredon Hill. She could not go with them; she could not even watch +them; yet who knew what shames might be perpetrated in that secrecy as +they rode through the green lanes of the larch plantations? Never was +a better solitude made for lovers. Her imaginings left her tantalised +and thwarted, for she was sure now, more than ever, that there was a +secret to be surprised. + +She lay there sleepless in the dark till the stable clock slowly struck +twelve. Then she sighed to herself and decided that she must try to +sleep. + + + + +XVIII + +Lying thus, upon the verge of slumber, Mrs. Payne became aware of a +sound of light steps in the corridor outside her room. She opened her +eyes and lay with tense muscles listening. The sound was unmistakable, +and the steps came from the direction of Arthur's room, the only one on +that side of hers that was occupied. The steps came nearer. Passing +her bedroom door they became tiptoe and cautious, as though the walker, +whoever he might be, was anxious not to arouse her attention. The +sound passed and grew fainter down the length of the corridor, and she +knew then that the very worst had happened, for Gabrielle's room lay at +the end of the passage. Many things she had dreaded, but not this last +enormity. + +She crept out of bed, neglecting in her anxiety to put on a +dressing-gown, and went softly to the door. She wondered how she could +open it without making a noise, and if, when she had opened it, she +could hear at such a distance. + +Very carefully with her hot hand she turned the door handle and opened +a small chink that fortunately allowed her to look along the passage +towards Gabrielle's room. Through a window halfway down the corridor +moonlight cut across it, throwing on the floor the distorted shadow of +an Etruscan vase. She remembered that Arthur's father had bought it in +Italy on their honeymoon, yet, while this thought went through her +mind, her ears were strained to listen. She could do no more, for the +further end of the passage was plunged by this insulating flood of +moonlight into inscrutable darkness. + +It was so quiet that she felt that she had missed him; he had already +entered her room; but while she considered the awful indignity of +surprising him there, the sound of a light tapping on the door's panel +relieved her. She thanked God that she was still in time. + +The knock was repeated and evidently answered, for now she heard him +speak in a whisper. He called her Mrs. Considine--it was ridiculous! +"Are you awake?" she heard. "The nightingale--yes, the nightingale. +We could go down into the garden under the trees. If you're game. How +splendid of you! ... Yes, I'll wait below .... Outside, under your +window." + +Before Mrs. Payne could pull herself together she heard his steps +returning. She closed the door fearfully. He came along the passage +and stopped for a moment just outside her room. There was nothing +between them but an oak door, so thin, she felt, that he must surely +hear her anxious breath. She dared not breathe, but in a moment he +passed by. + +Why had he stopped outside her door? What curious filial instinct had +made him think of her at that moment? Had he thought kindly, or only +perhaps suspiciously, wondering if she were safely asleep? She +couldn't tell. Her mind was too full of disturbing emotions to allow +her to think. One thing emerged foremost from her confusion, a feeling +of devout thankfulness that her first fears had not been justified, and +as the dread of definite and paralysing defeat lifted from her mind, +she realised with a sudden exultation that chance had given her the +very opportunity for which she had been waiting and scheming. If she +went carefully she might see them together, alone and unsuspecting, and +know for certain by their behaviour how far matters had gone. + +She dared not switch on the light or strike a match for fear that her +windows might become conspicuous. Very gently she released one of the +blinds, admitting the light of the luminous sky. She dressed +hurriedly, catching sight of her figure in the long pier glass as she +pulled on her stockings. For the moment it struck her as faintly +ludicrous to see this middle-aged woman in a long white nightdress +behaving like a creature in a detective story. It was extravagant. +People of her age and figure and general sobriety didn't do this sort +of thing in real life. But the seriousness of her mission recalled +her, and while she had been considering the picturesque aspects of the +case she found that she had actually, unconsciously dressed ... and +only just in time, for now she heard the lighter step of Gabrielle in +the passage. + +The sound gave her a sudden flush of anger. She wanted, there and +then, to open her door and ask Gabrielle where she was going. It was +tantalising to let the thing go on and hold her hand. She clutched on +to the foot of the bed to save herself from doing anything so rash. +Gabrielle's steps passed, and the house was quiet again. The most +difficult moment had come. "I hope to goodness none of the servants +are awake," she thought... + +Reaching the top of the staircase she heard them whispering in the +hall. It seemed that they were going out brazenly by the front door, +and since it seemed to her that to follow them closely would be +dangerous she herself hastened round to the back staircase and let +herself out of the house by a side door set in an angle of the building +that sheltered her. + +An eastward drift of cloud came over, hiding the moon, and she was glad +of this, for the crude moonlight had put her to shame by its +brilliance. She wondered to see the clouds moving so fast, for in the +garden not a tree stirred but one aspen that made a sound as of gentle +rain. She heard the grating of their feet on the drive, and then, by +the sudden cessation of this sound, guessed that they had stepped on to +the lawn. Arthur's low voice came to her clearly. "He's stopped +singing, but I think he'll sing again," and from Gabrielle a whispered +"Yes." + +Mrs. Payne could scarcely be certain of the words she heard: she knew +that she ought in some way to get nearer to them, but the expanse of +dewy turf by which they were surrounded made it impossible for her to +approach without being seen. Very cautiously she cut across to the +left and into the shelter of the privet hedge, along which she stole +until she reached their level. + +They stood together in the middle of the lawn without speaking. At +last Gabrielle shivered. Arthur noticed it quickly. "I hope you're +not cold," he said. + +"No, I'm not cold--only--only we're so exposed out here. If we could +get a little more into the shadow I should feel more comfortable----" + +"That's easily managed," he said laughing. "We can go over by the +sundial. It's called a yew-parlour, I think. It might have been made +for us." + +So they passed into its shade. Mrs. Payne noticed eagerly that his +hand was not on her arm. The yew hedge that now sheltered them +concealed her also from their sight, and, greatly relieved, she crept +along her cover of privet into the shadow of a mulberry tree where, by +stooping a little, she could watch them unperceived. + +"What a wonderful night," Gabrielle whispered. + +"I never knew such a night," he said. "It feels a bit like that +evening when we stood leaning over the bridge by the lake." + +"Don't," she said. "I want to forget it. Can you smell the dew?" + +"Yes, and the scent of may coming over from the meadows." + +"We call it whitethorn in Ireland." + +There was a long pause, then he spoke again. + +"I think you look sad to-night," he said. "Are you sorry that you +came?" + +"No, no--of course not. It's the moonlight that makes me paler than +usual. But I'm always pale. You shouldn't look at me so closely, +Arthur." + +"I love to look at you. It isn't always that I get the chance. I just +wanted to be certain that you weren't anxious. You don't think that we +oughtn't to have come here?" + +"No, why shouldn't we?" she said, turning her face away. + +Then suddenly, in the edge of the copse beyond the nearest field, the +nightingale began. The song was so beautiful in the stillness of the +night that even Mrs. Payne, who had other things to think of, felt its +influence. It was a strange, unearthly moment. + +"You hear it?" Arthur whispered; but Gabrielle did not answer; she laid +her hand on his sleeve and Arthur trembled at her touch. So they stood +listening, close together, while Arthur took the hand that held him. +She smiled and turned her eyes towards him but they could not look at +each other for long. She surrendered herself to his arms and they +kissed. + +Mrs. Payne saw their faces close together in the dusk and their shadowy +bodies entwined. She could bear it no longer, but turned and groped +her way back along the privet hedge to the door from which she had +first come. She did not know where she was going or how she went until +she found that she had reached her own bedroom again. There, in her +dressing-gown, she threw herself on the bed and fell into a fit of +violent sobbing. She lay there shaken by sobs like a disconsolate +child. Over in the coppice the nightingale sang exultantly as if he +knew of the wonder that his song had revealed to the lovers who +listened to him with their lips together. + + + + +XIX + +It seemed to Mrs. Payne an endless time before she heard the steps of +Gabrielle returning. She thanked heaven when she knew that she was +coming back alone. The bedroom door closed and the sound pulled her +together. It suggested to her that the time had now come when something +must be done, and though it would have been much pleasanter to let the +matter stand over until the morning, she knew that nothing could be +gained by waiting, since all of the three people concerned were at that +moment awake, and the crisis of the affair had been reached. + +The reasons that had dissuaded her from tackling Arthur himself when +first her suspicions were aroused still held. She regarded a scene with +him as dangerous, for she could not be certain that a big emotional +disturbance would not throw him back into his old nature, quite apart +from the fact that it would wound her motherly heart. Against Gabrielle, +on the other hand, she knew that she could steel herself. Gabrielle was +a woman, a woman younger than herself, and, what was more, a visitor in +her house. She was satisfied that she could tell Gabrielle what she +thought of her, and, in a single interview bring this most uncomfortable +and dangerous state of affairs to an end. + +She got out of bed again and dressed methodically. This time she wasn't +going to put up with any condition that detracted from her dignity. So, +having done her hair afresh and satisfied herself that all traces of her +breakdown had disappeared, she set out with a high degree of confidence +to Gabrielle's room. There was no light in it, but while she stood at +the door she heard Gabrielle softly singing to herself inside. Singing! +... Mrs. Payne hardened her heart and knocked at the door. The singing +stopped. There was no other sound. Then she knocked again. She heard a +soft rustle as Gabrielle stepped to the door. The door opened, and +Gabrielle, in her nightdress and bare feet, stood before her. She stared +at Mrs. Payne. Who could guess that she knew the reason of her visit? +She only said: "Oh ... it's you! I wondered...." + +"May I come in?" said Mrs. Payne in a hard voice. As a matter of fact +nothing could have stopped her going in. + +"Of course," said Gabrielle. "Do...." She shivered slightly. + +"You'd better put on a dressing-gown," said Mrs. Payne firmly. "I want +to talk to you." + +Gabrielle obeyed her, like a small child, slipped an embroidered kimono +over her shoulders and stood facing Mrs. Payne. She looked her straight +in the eyes, and said in a low voice: "Well, what is it?" + +"We won't pretend," said Mrs. Payne. "You know quite well what it is." + +"Yes ... I suppose you mean Arthur." + +"And you." + +"You saw us go out to-night ... heard us?" + +"Yes." + +Gabrielle made a gesture of impatience. "Well, why shouldn't we? It was +the nightingale. Why shouldn't we listen to a nightingale? I'd never +heard one." + +"I followed you into the garden." + +"That was a mean thing to do!" + +"Perhaps it was. No ... I'd a right to do it. I saw everything that +happened." + +"When we kissed each other?" + +Mrs. Payne nodded. Gabrielle looked at her challengingly. "It was the +first time," she said. There was a pause and then she burst out +passionately. "I love him ... we love each other. You can't stop us!" + +"It's got to be stopped," said Mrs. Payne. + +Gabrielle turned away and perched herself on the end of the bed. She +appeared to be thinking, and when next she spoke it was almost dreamily. + +"It was the first time. We didn't know before to-night." + +There was nothing dreamy about Mrs. Payne's reply. She believed that +Gabrielle was acting a part, and had no patience with her. + +"That's rubbish," she said. "I don't believe it." + +Gabrielle jumped to her feet and faced her again, blazing with pride and +anger and amazingly beautiful. + +"You don't believe me? How dare you? I've told you that we didn't know. +I don't tell lies. You're insulting me...." + +She was so passionate that Mrs. Payne was almost convinced. She softened +for a moment. "After all, you _ought_ to have known," she said. "You're +a married woman." + +"Married ..." Gabrielle repeated. "Yes ... but I didn't know. I've +told you I didn't. That's enough." + +"Well, if you didn't know, I _did_," said Mrs. Payne with a laugh. + +"How? Tell me how?" + +"It wasn't difficult to see." + +"I can't imagine it. But I know nothing of love. Only once..." and +Gabrielle relapsed into her dream, standing with her hand on the bedpost +gazing towards the window. After a second she turned again quickly. +"Then, if you knew, was that why you invited me here?" + +Mrs. Payne said: "Yes----" + +"Why didn't you tell me instead of doing that?" + +"I wanted to make certain." + +"Why didn't you tell my husband?" + +"For your sake. I wanted to save you." + +"No, you didn't... You weren't thinking of me. You were thinking of +Arthur." + +This was perfectly true, but Mrs. Payne had not gone through hell to +discuss fine points of that kind. She had left her room in very much the +same frame of mind as she would have adopted in approaching the dismissal +of a servant. She had expected to be met with passionate denials, had +prepared herself, indeed, for a stormy "scene"; instead of which +Gabrielle appeared to be curious rather than disturbed about her +discovery, and a great deal more interested in the psychological than in +the practical aspects of the case. If she had offered any violent +opposition to Mrs. Payne, Mrs. Payne could have given her violence in +return. But she didn't. The mood of exaltation into which their +love-making had lifted her made her regard this woman with something +nearer to pity than dislike. Her attitude implied that to consider the +practical aspect of the affair would be in the nature of a condescension. +Mrs. Payne naturally resented this, but in any case Gabrielle had taken +the wind out of her sails. They were drifting--rather unpleasantly--away +from the object of her visit. She pulled herself--and then Gabrielle--up +short. + +"You can't pretend not to realise the seriousness of your position," she +said. "You're a married woman. If you persist in this madness you'll +ruin your whole life. I'll be candid with you. What happens to you +doesn't matter to me; but what happens to Arthur does. Can't you see the +end of it?" + +"No ... it's only begun...." + +"Then I'll tell you the end. Your husband will divorce you." + +"Then I shall be free? And why not? We don't love each other. Why +should we go on living together? The thought of him makes me shudder ... +now." + +"That is your affair. I'm afraid I can't help you in it. But Arthur is +mine. I'm not going to see him dragged into this ... impossibility. No +... we can't discuss it like this. You may be as innocent as you pretend +to be--though it's difficult to believe it. You imagine you're in love. +You're drifting out of an ordinary sort of friendship into ... what I saw +to-night. Well, that can only lead to the most awful unhappiness for all +of us. You must consider it finished. We won't have any disturbance; +but, all the same, you can't see Arthur again. We'll invent some reason +to explain your going away to-morrow ... something plausible ... to +satisfy him. With your husband it will be more difficult. But I'm +prepared to help you. It can be managed without any scandal if we work +together... I'm sure you'll agree with me and be sensible about it. If +you won't, I can't answer for the consequences." + +Mrs. Payne was presuming too much. All the time that she spoke Gabrielle +sat with lowered eyes, motionless but for little protesting movements of +her hands; now she turned upon her, speaking very low and rapidly. + +"You think I can give him up? You think it's possible? Love ... the +only thing I want! The thing I've never had! Happiness... Why should +you ruin our happiness? You've had yours. Oh, you're selfish. I shan't +give him up if he wants me. Ask him yourself if he loves me... Ah, +you're afraid. You daren't. You daren't!" + +She almost laughed, and Mrs. Payne knew that she had spoken the truth. +It looked, for a moment, as if she were going to be beaten on this point, +for Gabrielle snatched at her weakness, repeating the unanswerable "You +daren't!" Then, suddenly, without any warning, the girl's triumphant +spirit collapsed. From the verge of laughter she toppled over into +tears. She put her hands to her eyes and then, turning her back on Mrs. +Payne, collapsed on her bed, weeping bitterly. + +At the sight of this thankfulness flooded Mrs. Payne's heart; but beneath +this dominant emotion, which came almost as the result of her conscious +wish, flowed another that she would gladly have suppressed: pity, nothing +less, for the child who lay sobbing on the bed. A minute before she had +seen in Gabrielle her most dangerous enemy in the world; now, even though +she rejoiced in the girl's sudden collapse, she felt that she wanted to +take her in her arms and kiss her and comfort her. For a moment or two +she fought against it, but in the end, scarcely knowing what she had +done, she found that she was fondling Gabrielle's hand and being shaken +by the communicated passion of her sobs. One thought kept running +through her brain: "I've won ... I've won, and can afford to be +generous," and this, together with the curious physical liking that she +had always felt for Gabrielle, disarmed her. She set herself to +comforting the child. It was the last thing in the world she had +intended to do, but it came natural to her motherly soul. She was glad, +indeed, that Gabrielle did not resent these attentions, as she very well +might have done. Gradually her sobbing ceased and she began to speak, +clinging all the time to Mrs. Payne, herself not guiltless of a +sympathetic tear, while she told her the story of her early years: of the +wild life she had led at Roscarna, of Jocelyn's debauches and Biddy's +rough mothering. + +It was the first time that all this flood of reminiscence had been +loosed. Gabrielle had never made a confidante before, and it was an +ecstasy of tears and laughter to dwell upon these memories, and to +rehearse them. "I was so happy as a child," she said, "so awfully happy. +But now there's nothing left." + +Mrs. Payne, still sympathetic, found herself suddenly plunged into the +ardours of the Radway affair; the miraculous meeting on the Clonderriff +road; the halcyon days of August, and then the overwhelming tragedy. + +"They made me marry him," said Gabrielle, clutching at her hand. "They +made me. I didn't understand. It was cruel. It would have been better +if I had died like my baby." + +She relapsed into tears, and Mrs. Payne, quite bowled over by the +piteousness of her case, tried to soothe her with caresses. It was a +curious end, she reflected, to the punitive expedition on which she had +set forth. Holding Gabrielle triumphantly in her arms she did not +realize the mistake that she had made. It wasn't the end at all, it was +merely the beginning. + +"You see what a terrible time I've had," Gabrielle pleaded, drying her +tears. "I always felt that you were the only person I could talk to +about these things. I knew you would sympathize ... you're so human. +Now you can understand why I can't live without Arthur. Do you see?" +She looked up, pleading, into Mrs. Payne's eyes. + +Her quiet words staggered that good woman. She had to pull herself +together and begin all over again. It wasn't easy, for the sympathetic +mood into which the girl's story had betrayed her had subtly weakened her +purpose. She felt that her position was false. She must reassert +herself, and so she hurriedly freed herself from Gabrielle's arms and +stood with her back to the door. Gabrielle too rose and faced her. Her +tears had put an end to the dreamy mood in which Mrs. Payne had found her +at first. Now she was determined, dangerous, ready to fight with all the +quickness of her wits and the suppleness of her youth against the elder +woman's dogged devotion. They faced one another, ready to fight to the +end, for the possession of the thing they each loved best, and both of +them realized the bitter nature of the struggle. + +"We can't speak of that again," said Mrs. Payne. "I thought that was +understood. Surely you didn't imagine that by playing on my feelings you +could make me change my mind? I'm sorry you misunderstood me. I will +write to your husband to-morrow. For Arthur's sake I hope you won't tell +him the real explanation of your going back, and of Arthur's staying +here. I think you owe that to us ... even if you don't realise that it's +also the best for yourself." She turned towards the door. "I think we +had better say good-night. There is a train at seven-fifty in the +morning. I'm sorry it's so early, but there's no other. As I may not +see you again I'll say good-bye now. There's no reason why we shouldn't +part friends." + +She held out her hand, she couldn't think why, but as she did so +Gabrielle clasped it. "No ... don't go!" she pleaded. + +"There's nothing more to be said." But Gabrielle still held her hand and +would not let it go. + +"Only be merciful to me," she cried. "Let us think about it. There must +be some other way. Supposing ... supposing that we go back to Lapton +just in the ordinary way: supposing that I promise you faithfully that +nothing more shall happen. Listen, we never, never kissed before +to-night. I'll give you my word of honour that it shan't happen again +... if only you'll let him go back to us. Isn't that fair? Surely it's +fair...." + +Mrs. Payne shook her head. + +"You mean that you don't believe me ... you won't trust me?" + +"I can't trust both of you. Do you think I don't know what love is?" + +"But think ... think of all these months in which we've been so happy +together without a word of love! I love him ... you know I love him ... +I believe I love him more than you do. No, don't be angry with me for +saying that! Don't you think my love is strong enough to prevent me from +doing anything that could possibly harm him? Can't you believe that?" + +"No ... it's too dangerous. You can answer for yourself, but you can't +answer for Arthur." + +"Oh, if you loved him as you say you do ... as I believe you do ... +wouldn't you trust him? I'll talk to him. I can tell him anything. +I'll tell him exactly how things stand. I'll tell him what I've promised +you. Only don't take him away from me altogether. I couldn't bear it +... I couldn't." She turned back on herself. "Why won't you believe in +him?" + +"You should know why that's impossible. Haven't I told you his history? +You've only known him for a year. I've had him for seventeen and loved +him all the time." She became almost passionate. "He's my son. And all +those years my love has been full of the awful bitterness of his trouble. +The tears! The disappointments! You know nothing of them. You can't +realize how I've struggled and schemed and had my hopes raised and dashed +to the ground ... time after time. To see the person that you love best +in the world, a part of your own body, living without a soul: a thief, a +liar--that's the plain truth--inhuman and cruel ... But you know as well +as I do what he was." + +"I do know what he was." + +"And now, thanks to your husband--God knows I'm grateful!--he's better. +He's what I knew he ought to have been all these awful years. And then +you come on the scene--you, who've borne nothing of all the years +before--and begin to drag him down again. You must be mad to think I +could risk it!" + +"But don't I know all this? Do you think I'm less anxious than you are +that he should stay as he is? Only trust me ... trust me! His future +... think of that...." + +Mrs. Payne laughed bitterly, but Gabrielle persisted. + +"His future ... My husband says that he can make a success of him. He +can take a high place in a Government examination; he can get into the +diplomatic service. Just believe that I love him too much to stand in +his way. Why, I can even help him. If he does this I know that he'll +want influence. _You_ haven't influence to help him. I don't want to +belittle you, but I know you've nothing but your money, while I _can_ +help him. My cousin is Lord Halberton. He's been a Cabinet minister. +There's no knowing what he mightn't do with his help. If you love anyone +as I do him, why shouldn't you give your life to his interests? That's +what I'd do. I'd think of nothing else. I'd give all my thoughts to +him. And I promise ... oh, I promise faithfully, that I won't let him +love me ... if only you'll let me love him." + +Mrs. Payne stiffened. "You're trying to bribe me," she said, "and I'm +not the kind of person who can be bribed. I don't care that much about +his future! Until the last month I never so much as dreamed that any +future of that kind was possible. It's quite enough for me that he +should settle down here into the sort of life that his father would have +lived if he'd been spared. I don't want to share his successes with +you...." + +"Ah, you're jealous!" + +"Of course I'm jealous. I've reason to be. He's mine. But even if I +could trust you ... and I believe I could ... Arthur's future wouldn't +tempt me to risk his present. No ... it's too dangerous." + +"Dangerous..." Gabrielle clutched at the word. "Dangerous!" She became +suddenly quiet and intense. "I don't believe you know where the danger +lies," she said. + +"I can see the most obvious danger, and that's a love affair with a +married woman." + +"You can't see any other? You said just now that Arthur had changed +thanks to my husband. Perhaps my husband took the credit for it and you +believed it. But it isn't true. I've seen the change coming hour by +hour, day by day. Every moment of it I've watched and treasured. He did +not change because he worked with my husband. He changed because I loved +him and he loved me. I know it ... I've known it all the time. What did +your love do for him in all those years? Nothing ... nothing at all. +For heaven's sake don't think I'm boasting! Your love never changed him +a hair's breadth, and you know it!" + +Mrs. Payne gasped. "You don't realize what you're saying." + +"But I do ... I do. You say his body's part of you--belongs to you. +I'll give you that. But this soul ... his new soul ... is mine. That's +part of our love. Ours and nobody else's...." + +Mrs. Payne choked back her emotion. "I don't grudge it you," she said, +"I only thank God for it gratefully ... gratefully." + +"But you don't see what I mean," said Gabrielle slowly. "Arthur has +changed because he loves me. He's ceased to be cruel because he knows +that for him to be cruel pains me. He's learned to see things just as I +see them. And now you want to separate us ... even after what I have +promised you. Can't you see what I'm afraid of?" + +She paused, and Mrs. Payne was silent. Gabrielle quickly pressed her +advantage. + +"If you separate us, if you try to destroy our love, you'll be taking +away from him the thing that's saved him. How do you know that he won't +slip back again? You can take his body from me ... I know that ... but +you may lose more than you get." + +Mrs. Payne stood staring straight in front of her. + +"Then you will know what you are worth to him." Gabrielle's tone was +almost scornful. "You see how it stands," she continued. "We both of us +want him for ourselves, we want him as he is to-day ... and we can't +either of us have him without the other's consent. You hold his body, +and I hold his soul. Let's be reasonable. Let's compromise. I'm ready +to do my part. Oh, I beg you to be reasonable!" + +"You're a devil, not a woman," said Mrs. Payne. + +"But you see that I'm right?" Gabrielle persisted. + +Mrs. Payne summoned all her strength. "No, I don't. I don't believe it." + +"Ah, you pretend that you don't! But you're bluffing me. I know it. +Why did you come to me about this instead of to Arthur himself? Because +you were afraid. That was the reason." + +The shot was made at a venture, but Gabrielle quickly saw that it had +taken effect. She followed it up: + +"You thought that if you upset him he might lose what he's gained. You +don't know--we none of us know yet--how deep the change is. You didn't +dare to face that little risk; but it's nothing compared with the one you +want to take now. That's what you've got to face!" + +She could say no more. When she stopped speaking Mrs. Payne knew that +the girl's eyes were fixed on her eagerly, desperately, trying to search +into her mind. The older woman stood there still and bewildered by the +choice that had been presented to her. It was the most awful moment in +her emotional life. Her mind was a battlefield on which her love, her +sense of right, her acquired conventions, her religion, and her hungry +maternal passion were pitted against one formidable dread. She wanted to +shield Arthur against harm: from a social disaster no less than from what +she considered a mortal sin; and, above all, after these years of patient +suffering, she wanted him for herself. It was neither religion nor +morality that drove her to her final decision, but a thing far stronger: +her passionate instinct to possess the son of her body. Even if she were +to lose him, to rescue no more than the changeling that she had always +known, she could not bring herself to share him with any other woman on +earth. He was hers and hers alone. She did not know if she were right. +She did not care if she were wrong. The decision formed itself +inexorably in her mind. She could only obey it. Gabrielle, watching her +narrowly, saw a sudden peace descend upon her agonised face. Mrs. Payne +gave a long shuddering sigh. Then she spoke, dully, mechanically: + +"The train goes at seven-fifty. I will order the carriage. I will write +to Dr. Considine in the morning." + +Gabrielle clutched at her breast. "You can't realise what you're doing! +It's too great a risk. Think of it again ... I beg you!" + +"No," said Mrs. Payne slowly. "I've made up my mind. We must invent +some plausible excuse. Illness will do ... anything. And you must help +me, if only for your own sake." + +Desperate tears came into Gabrielle's eyes. + +"For your own sake," Mrs. Payne repeated. "You've realised, I know, that +if you go on with this unfortunate love-affair you must ruin not only +your own happiness and your husband's, but Arthur's as well. If you love +him at all you can't drag him into social ruin. Well, I've made my +decision. If anything disastrous happens my blood's on my own head. We +must make the best of a bad job. Don't think I'm not sorry for you, my +dear." + +This final tenderness was too much for Gabrielle. She broke down, +sobbing so tragically in Mrs. Payne's arms that the older woman was +almost ashamed of her victory. She knew that she could afford to be +kind. She felt that she would like to tell her that under any other +circumstances she knew none whom she would rather trust as Arthur's wife; +but to say so would have been a bitter mockery. She waited in silence +while Gabrielle mastered her own feelings and raised, at last, her +haggard eyes. + +"What can you say to my husband?" she said. + +"We must say that I am ill. That will give you a good reason for +returning." + +"And Arthur?" + +"The same reason will explain why he doesn't go back to Lapton on +Tuesday. After that I don't know what I shall do." + +"But I can see him before I go?" + +"That would be quite useless. It might even do harm. You are going to +help me, you know, for his sake." + +"He'll wonder. How can we satisfy him? What can I do?" + +"You had better write to him. Tell him that after to-night it's +impossible for you to stay. Only ... only please don't mention me." + +"It will kill him...." + +"Or save him. It's the only thing that you can do." + +"I'll write it now." + +She went over to the writing table in the window, and there, with +streaming eyes, she wrote her letter. It took her a long time to do, and +when she had finished she brought it with the envelope to Mrs. Payne. + +"Do you want to read it?" she asked. + +"No ... Of course I trust you." + +"Thank you." She fastened the envelope and addressed it. "I feel as if +I were dead," she said. + +"You're young," said Mrs. Payne. + +"But you'll let me know what happens, you'll write to me?" + +"Yes, I'll write to you." + +"I have a dread, an awful dread of what may happen. I can't be sure that +we've done right." + +"Neither can I. I had to make a decision. I pray God that it will turn +out well. We can do no more." + +"I know now that you love him. I'm glad to know that." + +"Did you ever doubt it?" + +"But for me there's nothing left ... nothing." Gabrielle stood for a +moment in silence. Then she said, "I'd better pack," and Mrs. Payne +clutching at any refuge from the intensity of the moment offered to help +her. + +"No," said Gabrielle, "if you don't mind, I'd rather be alone. We'd +better say good-bye." + +"I don't like to leave you," said Mrs. Payne, "but perhaps you're right." + +With a sudden impulse Gabrielle came over to her. Mrs. Payne took her in +her arms and they kissed. + +"I could love you," said Gabrielle. "You have Arthur's eyes...." + +Mrs. Payne left her. + + + + +XX + +Much to the disgust of Hollis, who was in the habit of making the most +of his Sundays, Gabrielle left Overton by the early morning train while +Arthur slept undisturbed after his night of wonder, and Mrs. Payne rose +anxiously to face the certain embarrassments and the possible +bitterness of her victory. She had not slept at all, for though she +never for one moment dreamed of going back on the decision which her +conscience, amongst other things, had dictated, she was still in doubt +as to whether she had won her son or lost him for ever. She almost +regretted the burst of generosity in which she had refused to read +Gabrielle's letter of renunciation. For all she knew the wording might +be provocative and calculated to wreck her plans at the last moment. +The letter lay sealed upon her dressing-table. It speaks well for her +sense of honour in a bargain that this pathetic document remained +unopened. Meanwhile she only prayed that the hours might pass and her +fate be revealed. She could only rack her brains imagining some means +by which the severity of the blow might be tempered for Arthur. + +Next morning he came down ten minutes late for breakfast. He missed +Gabrielle at once. + +"Where's Mrs. Considine?" he said. "I called at her door as I came +down, but I don't think she's there." + +"No," said Mrs. Payne. "She had to go back to Lapton by the first +train. An urgent call of some kind." + +"A telegram? The old man isn't ill, is he?" + +"She left a letter for you," said Mrs. Payne, handing him Gabrielle's +envelope. + +"What a rotten shame," he said as he took it. "It's a splendid morning +for a ride. I hope it's not serious." + +He opened the letter and read it. What Gabrielle had written Mrs. +Payne never knew, for even in later years he did not tell her. She had +expected a terrible and passionate outburst and prepared herself to +meet it with argument and consolation, but no outburst came. She saw +him go very red and then white. Then he steadied himself and said in a +curious voice: "Mother ... if you'll excuse me, I must go out." + +She put out her hand to him but he pushed back his chair and went +quickly through the French window of the dining-room, into the garden. +She wanted to follow him, for she feared that on the impulse of the +moment he might do something terrible, but controlled herself in time. + +She stood on the terrace, impotent, watching him as he crossed the lawn +and made for the fields. It was a terrible day for her. She felt that +she couldn't go to church in her usual way, but stayed at home tortured +by the most hopeless and tragic anticipations of evil. At lunch time +he had not returned. It was with difficulty that she restrained +herself from sending Hollis out over the hill with a search party, but +the curious fatalism that had settled on her when once her decision was +made, compelled her to patience. It was his own battle, she reflected, +and if he had wanted her help he would have come to her. Evidently, he +had decided to fight it out alone. She went to her own room and prayed +desperately for his salvation. + +In the evening he returned, tired out with ceaseless wandering. He had +eaten nothing all day and looked very old and haggard. She had +expected a tender scene of confidence and was ready to overwhelm him +with the consolations of her love; but even now he said nothing to her, +and she dared not take the first step herself. From his silent misery +she gathered that Gabrielle had not told him that she knew of the +secret. Evidently, and very wisely, she had given him general and +conventional reasons for her renunciation, treating it as a matter that +concerned themselves and no one else, denying Mrs. Payne the privilege +and pain of sharing in Arthur's disillusionment. Therefore, his mother +judged it wiser to behave as though she knew nothing of what he was +suffering, though she saw by the steadiness of his demeanour that he +had taken the blow squarely, and come through. + +The fact that he didn't break down miserably, as she had expected he +would, convinced her more than ever that he had become a man. She felt +certain now that she had been right in following her instinct and +facing the risk that her action involved. She believed that she had +triumphed. Certainly, the boy who faced her at the dinner-table in +suffering and awkward silence was very different from the Arthur of six +months before. There was a look of determination in his eyes that made +her confident. He kissed her good-night without the least tremor, and +she went to bed herself full of serene thankfulness. Nor did she +forget how much she owed to the girl who was breaking her heart in the +loneliness of Lapton. She wrote to Gabrielle that night. "I think it +is all right," she said. "Heaven only knows what I owe you for your +generosity ... what Arthur owes you." + +He never mentioned Gabrielle's name to her again. Next morning, in a +calm and serious mood, he approached her on the subject of his return +to Lapton. + +"Would you mind very much," he said, "if I don't go back to Devonshire? +I feel that I'm rather out of place there. You see, I'm older than the +others. Do you think it could be arranged?" + +At first she feigned surprise--she could do nothing else--but in doing +so she cleverly contrived to make it easy for him. + +"If you wish it I will write to Dr. Considine," she said. She didn't +suggest the elaborate falsehoods on which she would build her letter. +"I think you are old enough to decide," she told him. "What would you +like to do?" + +"Is there any reason why I shouldn't travel?" he said. "I feel that I +want a change. I should like to see something of the world." + +So, without further difficulty, it was arranged. She sent him round +the world with a new tutor, waiting placidly and happily at Overton for +his return. It was in these days that I became acquainted with her and +conceived the admiration for her that I still hold. She often spoke to +me in terms of the most utter devotion of her son. I imagined her an +ideal mother, as indeed she was. + +After a year or more abroad Arthur returned, very much the man of the +world. At his own desire he went up to Oxford, where he passed a +perfectly normal three years and took a decent degree. In his last +term he fell in love with the daughter of a neighbouring parson, whom, +in due course, he married. The following year the young people went +out to New Zealand, a country to which Arthur had been attracted on his +travels, and that is all that I know of him. + +During all this time Mrs. Payne corresponded regularly with Gabrielle. +Now that Arthur's safety was beyond question and even in the earlier +debatable period, she had not the least objection to sharing him with +her rival ... at a distance. She even sent her his letters from +abroad. In this way they arrived at a curious and altogether happy +intimacy. Gabrielle's letters became part of her life, and when, in +the autumn after Arthur's engagement was announced, they suddenly +stopped, Mrs. Payne felt that she had suffered a loss. She wrote two +or three times to Lapton, but received no reply, and it was only by the +chance meeting of a friend who had been staying in Devonshire that she +learned what had happened. It came to her as a piece of idle gossip, +but the shock of an extraordinary coincidence upset her for many days. +It appeared that Dr. Considine, by this time a well known figure in the +county, had gone out one evening rabbit-shooting with his wife. As +they were returning from their expedition down one of the steep slopes +above Lapton Manor, he had slipped in getting over a gate and fallen. +It was the usual type of shooting accident that no one could explain. +The gun had gone off and shot him dead. "He was terribly mutilated +about the head," said Mrs. Payne's informant. She did not know what +had happened to his widow. Probably she had gone to her cousins the +Halbertons. In any case the jury had completely exonerated her. + +Mrs. Payne flared up in Gabrielle's defence. "Exonerated?" + +"It was well known that they were not on the best of terms," said her +visitor discreetly. + + + + +XXI + +I do not know what has possessed me since I began to write this story. +I have grown tired of this river, where the trout are always shy, and +more tired than ever of Colonel Hoylake's fishing stories and his +obituary reflections. The place is haunted for me by the tragic image +of Gabrielle Hewish. It is strange that I should be affected by the +loss of a woman whom I have never seen or known. But I feel that I +cannot stay here any longer. Wherever I go in this valley I am +troubled by a feeling of desolation: a curious feeling, as though some +bright thing had fallen--a kingfisher, a dragon-fly. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAGIC BRIDE*** + + +******* This file should be named 25867.txt or 25867.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/8/6/25867 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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