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diff --git a/26045-h/26045-h.htm b/26045-h/26045-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..584b5af --- /dev/null +++ b/26045-h/26045-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18638 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Light of Scarthey, by Egerton Castle</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + hr.section {width: 65%;} + hr.mid {width: 45%;} + hr.quarter {width: 25%;} + + body{margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 80%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: top; font-size: .7em; text-decoration: none;} + + .linenum {position: absolute; right: 30%; text-align: right;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .small {font-size: 110%;} + .medium {font-size: 80%;} + .small {font-size: 50%;} + + ol.toc { list-style-type: upper-roman; margin-left: 20%; } + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i14 {display: block; margin-left: 14em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i15 {display: block; margin-left: 15em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i16 {display: block; margin-left: 16em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i20 {display: block; margin-left: 20em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i25 {display: block; margin-left: 25em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + border: solid black; + height: 5px; } + pre {font-size: 85%; } + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Light of Scarthey, by Egerton Castle</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Light of Scarthey</p> +<p>Author: Egerton Castle</p> +<p>Release Date: July 12, 2008 [eBook #26045]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIGHT OF SCARTHEY***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, Karen Dalrymple,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1> +<span class="medium"><i>The</i></span><br /> + +LIGHT<br /> + +<span class="medium"><i>of</i></span><br /> + +SCARTHEY</h1> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<h2>A Romance</h2> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<h2><i>By</i> <span class="smcap">Egerton Castle</span></h2> + +<h3>Author of<br /> +"The Pride of Jennico," "Young +April," etc.</h3> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"Take whichsoever way thou wilt—the ways are all alike;<br /></span> +<span class="i6">But do thou only come—I bade my threshold wait thy coming.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">From out my window one can see the graves, and on my life<br /></span> +<span class="i6">The graves keep watch."</span><span class="i12"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i></span> +</div></div> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<div class="center"> +<i>New York</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Stokes Company</span><br /> +<i>MCM</i> +</div> + +<hr class="section" /> +<div class="center"> +Copyright, 1899,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Frederick A. Stokes Company.</span><br /> +<i>All rights reserved.</i><br /> +</div> + +<div class="center"> +<br /><br /> +FOURTH EDITION. +</div> +<hr class="section" /> + +<div class="center"> +I Dedicate<br /> +<span class="medium">THIS BOOK TO THE<br /> +MEMORY OF</span><br /> +<span class="large">FREDERICK ANDREWS LARKING</span><br /> +<span class="medium">OF THE ROCKS, EAST MALLING, KENT<br /> +THAT, SO LONG AS ANYTHING OF MINE SHALL ENDURE,<br /> +THERE MAY ENDURE ALSO<br /> +A RECORD OF OUR FRIENDSHIP AND OF<br /> +MY SORROW</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="section" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE_TO_THE_AMERICAN_EDITION" id="PREFACE_TO_THE_AMERICAN_EDITION"></a>PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.</h2> + +<hr class="quarter" /> + +<p><i>Among the works of every writer of Fiction there are generally one or +two that owe their being to some</i> haunting <i>thought, long communed +with—a thought which has at last found a living shape in some story +of deed and passion.</i></p> + +<p><i>I say one or two advisedly: for the span of man's active life is +short and such haunting fancies are, of their essence, solitary. As a +matter of fact, indeed, the majority of a novelist's creations belong +to another class, must of necessity (if he be a prolific creator) find +their conception in more sudden impulses. The great family of the +"children of his brain" must be born of inspirations ever new, and in +alluring freshness go forth into the world surrounded by the +atmosphere of their author's present mood, decked in the colours of +his latest imaginings, strengthened by his latest passional +impressions and philosophical conclusions.</i></p> + +<p><i>In the latter category the lack of long intimate acquaintance between +the author and the friends or foes he depicts, is amply compensated +for by the enthusiasm appertaining to new discoveries, as each +character reveals itself, often in quite unforeseen manner, and the +consequences of each event shape themselves inevitably and sometimes +indeed almost against his will.</i></p> + +<p><i>Although dissimilar in their genesis, both kinds of stories can, in +the telling, be equally life-like and equally alluring to the reader. +But what of the writer? Among his literary family is there not one +</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span><i> +nearer his heart than all the rest—his</i> dream-child? <i>It may be the +stoutest of the breed or it may be the weakling; it may be the +first-born, it often is the Benjamin. Fathers in the flesh know this +secret tenderness. Many a child and many a book is brooded over with a +special love even before its birth.—Loved thus, for no grace or merit +of its own, this book is my dream-child.</i></p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p><i>Here, by the way, I should like to say my word in honour of +</i>Fiction<i>—"fiction" contradistinguished from what is popularly termed +"serious" writing.</i></p> + +<p><i>If, in a story, the characters and the events are truly convincing; +if the former are appealingly human and the latter are so carefully +devised and described as never to evoke the idea of improbability, +then it can make no difference in the</i> intellectual pleasure <i>of the +reader whether what he is made to realise so vividly is a record of +fact or of mere fancy. Facts we read of are of necessity past: what is +past, what is beyond the immediate ken of our senses, can only be +realised in imagination; and the picture we are able to make of it for +ourselves depends altogether on the sympathetic skill of the recorder. +Is not Diana Vernon, born and bred in Scott's imagination, to the full +as living now before us as Rob Roy Macgregor whose existence was so +undeniably tangible to the men of his days? Do we not see, in our +mind's eye, and know as clearly the lovable "girt John Ridd" of</i> Lorna +Doone <i>the romance as his contemporaries, Mr. Samuel Pepys of the hard +and uncompromising</i> Diary <i>or King James of</i> English Annals?</p> + +<p><i>Pictures, alike of the plainest facts or of the veriest imaginings, +are but pictures: it matters very little therefore whether the man or +the woman we read of but never can see in the flesh has really lived +or not, if what we do read raises an emotion in our hearts. To the +novelist, every character, each +</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span><i> +in his own degree, is almost as +living as a personal acquaintance; every event is as clear as a +personal experience. And if this be true of the story written</i> à la +grâce de la plume, <i>where both events and characters unfold themselves +like the buds of some unknown plant, how much more strongly is it the +case of the story that has so long been mused over that one day it had +to be told! Then the marking events of the actors' lives, their +adventures, whether of sorrow or of joy, their sayings and doings, +noble or bright or mistaken, recorded in the book, are but a tithe of +the adventures, sayings and doings with which the writer seems to be +familiar. He might write or talk about them, in praise or +vindictiveness as he loves or dreads them, for many a longer day—but +he has one main theme to make clear to his hearers and must respect +the modern canons of the Story-telling Art. Among the many things +therefore he could tell, an he would, he selects that only which will +unravel a particular thread of fate in the tangle of endless +consequences; which will render plausible the growth of passions on +which, in a continuous life-drama, is based one particular episode.</i></p> + +<p><i>Of such a kind is the story of Adrian Landale.</i></p> + +<p><i>The haunting thought round which the tale of the sorely +tempest-tossed dreamer is gathered is one which, I think, must at one +time or other have occurred to many a man as he neared the maturity of +middle-life:—What form of turmoil would come into his heart if, when +still in the strength of his age but after long years of hopeless +separation, he were again brought face to face with the woman who had +been the one passion of his life, the first and only love of his +youth? And what if she were still then exactly as he had last seen +her—she, untouched by years even as she had so long lived in his +thoughts: he, with his soul scarred and seamed by many encounters +bravely sustained in the Battle of Life?</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p> +<p><i>The problem thus propounded is not solvable, even in fiction, unless +it be by "fantastic" treatment. But perhaps the more so on this +account did it haunt me. And out of the travail of my mind around it, +out of the changing shadows of restless speculation, gradually +emerged, clear and alive, the being of Adrian Landale and his two +loves.</i></p> + +<p><i>Here then was a man, whose mind, moulded by nature for grace and +contemplation, was cast by fate amid all the turmoils of</i> Romance <i>and +action. Here was one of those whose warm heart and idealising +enthusiasm must wreathe the beauty of love into all the beauties of +the world; whose ideals are spent on one adored object; who, having +lost it, seems to have lost the very sense of love; to whom love never +could return, save by some miracle. But fortune, that had been so +cruelly hard on him, one day in her blind way brings back to his door +the miraculous restitution—and there leaves him to struggle along the +new path of his fate! It is there also that I take up the thread of +the speculation, and watch through its vicissitudes the working of the +problem raised by such a strange circumstance.</i></p> + +<p><i>The surroundings in a story of this kind are, of the nature of +things, all those of</i> Romance. <i>And by</i> Romance, <i>I would point out, +is not necessarily meant in tale-telling, a chain of events fraught +with greater improbability than those of so-called real life. (Indeed +where is now the writer who will for a moment admit, even tacitly, +that his records are not of reality?) It simply betokens, a +specialisation of the wider genus</i> Novel; <i>a narrative of strong +action and moving incident, in addition to the necessary analysis of +character; a story in which the uncertain violence of the outside +world turns the course of the actors' lives from the more obvious +channels. It connotes also, as a rule, more poignant +emotions—emotions born of strife or peril, even of horror; it tells +</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span><i> +of the shock of arms in life, rather than of the mere diplomacy of +life.</i></p> + +<p><i>Above all</i> Romance <i>depends upon picturesque and varied setting; upon +the scenery of the drama, so to speak. On the other hand it is not +essentially (though this has sometimes been advanced) a narrative of +mere adventures as contrasted to the observation and dissection of +character and manners we find in the true "novel." Rather be it said +that it is one in which the hidden soul is made patent under the +touchstone of blood-stirring incidents, of hairbreadth risks, of +recklessness or fierceness. There are soaring passions, secrets of the +innermost heart, that can only be set free in desperate +situations—and those situations are not found in the tenor in +every-day, well-ordered life: they belong to Romance.</i></p> + +<p><i>Spirit-fathers have this advantage that they can bring forth their +dream-children in what age and place they list: it is no times of +now-a-days, no ordinary scenery, that would have suited such +adventures as befell Adrian Landale, or Captain Jack, or "Murthering +Moll the Second."</i></p> + +<p><i>Romantic enough is the scene, which, in a manner, framed the display +of a most human drama; and fraught it is, even to this day, in the +eyes of any but the least imaginative, with potentialities for strange +happenings.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> +It is that great bight of Morecambe; that vast of brown +and white shallows, deserted, silent, mysterious, and treacherous with +its dreaded shifting sands; fringed in the inland distance by the +Cumbrian hills, blue and misty; bordered outwards +</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span><i> +by the Irish sea, +cold and grey. And in a corner of that waste, the islet, small and +green and secure, with its ancient Peel, ruinous even as the noble +abbey of which it was once the dependant stronghold; with its still +sturdy keep, and the beacon, whose light-keeper was once a Dreamer of +Beautiful Things.</i></p> + +<p><i>And romantic the times, if by that word is implied a freer scope than +can be found in modern years for elemental passions, for fighting and +loving in despite of every-day conventions; for enterprise, risks, +temptations unknown in the atmosphere of humdrum peace and order. They +are the early days of the century, days when easy and rapid means of +communication had not yet destroyed all the glamour of distance, when +a county like Lancashire was as a far-off country, with a spirit, a +language, customs and ideas unknown to the Metropolis; days when, if +there were no lifeboat crews, there could still be found rather +experienced "wreckers," and when the keeping of a beacon, to light a +dangerous piece of sea, was still within the province of a +public-spirited landlord. They are the days when the spread of +education had not even yet begun (for weal or for woe) its levelling +work; days of cruel monopolies and inane prohibitions, and ferocious +penal laws, inept in the working, baleful in the result; days of +keel-hauling and flogging; when the "free-trader" still swung, tarred +and in chains, on conspicuous points of the coast—even as the +highwayman rattled at the cross-road—for the encouragement of the +brotherhood; when it was naturally considered more logical (since hang +you must for almost any misdeed) to hang for a sheep than a lamb, and +human life on the whole was held rather cheap in consequence. They are +the days when in Liverpool the privateers were daily fitting out or +bringing in the "prizes," and when, in Lord Street Offices, distant +cargoes of "living ebony" were put to auction by steady, +</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span><i> +intensely +respectable, Church-going merchants. But especially they are the days +of war and the fortunes of war; days of pressgangs, to kidnap +unwilling rulers of the waves; of hulks and prisons filled to +overflowing, even in a mere commercial port like Liverpool, with +French prisoners of war.</i></p> + +<p><i>A long course of relentless hostilities, lasting the span of a +full-grown generation, had cultivated the predatory instinct of all +men with the temperament of action, and seemed to justify it. +Venturesome, hot-spirited youths, with their way to make in the world +(who in a former age might have been reduced to "the road") took up +privateering on a systematic scale. In such an atmosphere there could +not fail to return a belief in the good old</i> border rule, <i>"the simple +plan: that they should take who have the power, and they should keep +who can." And it must be remembered that an island country's border is +the enemy's coast! On that ethical understanding many privateer owners +built up large fortunes, still enjoyed by descendants who in these +days would look upon high-sea looting of non-combatants with definite +horror.</i></p> + +<p><i>The years of the great French war, however, fostered a species of +nautical enterprise more venturesome even than privateering, raiding, +blockade-running and all the ordinary forms of smuggling that are +usual when two coast lines are at enmity. I mean that smuggling of +gold specie and bullion which incidentally was destined to affect the +course of Sir Adrian's life so powerfully.</i></p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p><i>As Captain Jack's last venture may, at this distance of time, appear +a little improbable, it is well to state here some little-known facts +concerning the now rather incomprehensible pursuit of gold +smuggling—a romantic subject if ever there was one.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> +<i>The existence at one time of this form of "free-trade" is all but +forgotten. Indeed very little was ever heard of it in the world, +except among parties directly interested, even at the time when it +played an important part in the machinery of governments. Its rise +during the years of Napoleonic tyranny on the continent of Europe, and +its continuance during the factitious calm of the First Restoration in +France, were due to circumstances that never existed before and are +little likely to occur again.</i></p> + +<p><i>The accumulation of a fund of</i> gold <i>coin, reserved against sudden +contingency, was one of Bonaparte's imperial ideas. In a modified and +more modern form, this notion of a "war-chest," untouched and +unproductive in peace-time, is still adhered to by the Germans: they +have kept to heart many of their former conqueror's lessons, lessons +forgotten by the French themselves—and the enormous treasure of gold +bags guarded at Spandau is a matter of common knowledge. Napoleon, +however, in his triumphant days never, and for obvious reasons, lacked +money. It was less an actual treasure that he required and valued so +highly for political and military purposes, than an ever ready reserve +of wealth easily portable, of paramount value at all times; +"concentrated," so to speak. And nothing could come nearer to that +description than rolls of English guineas. Indeed the vast numbers of +these coins which fitfully appeared in circulation throughout Europe +justified the many weird legends concerning the power of "British +Gold"</i>—l'or Anglais!</p> + +<p><i>There is every reason to believe that, in days when the national +currency consisted chiefly of lumbering silver</i> écus, <i>the Bourbon +government also appreciated to the full the value of a</i> private <i>gold +reserve. At any rate it was at the time of the first Restoration that +the golden guinea of England found in France its highest premium.</i></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p> +<p><i>Without going into the vexed and dreary question of single or double +standard, it will suffice to say that during the early years of the +century now about to close, gold coin was leaving England at a rate +which not only appeared phenomenal but was held to be injurious to the +community.</i></p> + +<p><i>As a matter of fact most of it was finding its way to France, whilst +Great Britain was flooded with silver. It was then made illegal to +export gold coin or bullion. The prohibition was stringently, indeed +at one time, ruthlessly, enforced. In this manner the new and highly +profitable traffic in English guineas entered the province of the +"free-trader"; the difference introduced in his practice being merely +one of degree. Whereas, in the case of prohibited imports, the chief +task lay in running the illicit goods and distributing them, in the +case of guinea-smuggling its arduousness was further increased by the +danger of collecting the gold inland and clearing from home harbours.</i></p> + +<p><i>Very little, as I said, has ever been heard of this singular trade, +and for obvious reasons. In the first place it obtained only for a +comparatively small number of years, the latter part of the Great War: +the last of it belonging to the period of the</i> Hundred Days. <i>And in +the second it was, at all times, of necessity confined to a very small +number of free-trading skippers. Of adventurous men, in stirring days, +there were of course a multitude. But few, naturally, were the men to +whose honour the custody of so much ready wealth could safely be +intrusted. "That is where," as Captain Jack says sometimes in this +book, "the 'likes of me' come in."</i></p> + +<p><i>The exchange was enormously profitable. As much as thirty-two +shillings in silver value could, at one time, be obtained on the other +side of the water for an English guinea. But the shipper and broker, +in an illegal venture where contract could not be enforced, had to be +a man whose simple word was warranty—and indeed, in the case of large +</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span><i> +consignments, this blind trust had to be extended to almost every man +of his crew. What a romance could be written upon this theme alone!</i></p> + +<p><i>In the story of Adrian Landale, however, it plays but a subsidiary +part. Brave, joyous-hearted Captain Jack and his bold venture for a +fortune appear only in the drama to turn its previous course to +unforeseen channels; just as in most of our lives, the sudden +intrusion of a new strong personality—transient though it may be, a +tempest or a meteor—changes their seemingly inevitable trend to +altogether new issues.</i></p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p><i>It was urged by my English publishers that, in</i> "The Light of +Scarthey," <i>I relate two distinct love-stories and two distinct phases +of one man's life; and that it were wiser (by which word I presume was +meant more profitable) to distribute the tale between two books, one +to be a sequel to the other. Happily I would not be persuaded to cut a +fully composed canvas in two for the sake of the frames. "It is the +fate of sequels," as Stevenson said in his dedication of </i>Catriona<i>, +"to disappoint those who have waited for them." Besides, life is +essentially continuous.—It may not be inept to state a truism of this +kind in a world of novels where the climax of life, if not indeed its +very conclusion, is held to be reached on the day of marriage! There +is often, of course, more than one true passion of love in a man's +life; and even if the second does not really kill the memory of the +first, their course (should they be worth the telling) may well be +told separately. But if, in the story of a man's love for two women, +the past and the present are so closely interwoven as were the reality +and the "might-have-been" in the mind of Adrian Landale, any +separation of the two phases, youth and maturity, would surely have +stultified the whole scheme of the story.</i></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span><i> +I have also been taken to task by some critics for having, the tale +once opened at a given time and place, harked back to other days and +other scenes: an inartistic and confusing method, I was told. I am +still of contrary opinion. There are certain stories which</i> belong, +<i>by their very essence, to certain places. All ancient buildings have, +if we only knew them, their human dramas: this is the very soul of the +hidden but irresistible attraction they retain for us even when +deserted and dismantled as now the Peel of Scarthey. For the sake of +harmonious proportions, and in order to give it its proper atmosphere, +it was imperative that in this drama—wherever the intermediate scenes +might be placed, whether on the banks of the Vilaine, on the open sea, +or in Lancaster Castle—the Prologue should be witnessed on the green +islet in the wilderness of sands, even as the Crisis and the Closing +Scene of rest and tenderness.</i></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;"><i>E. C.,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 21em;"><i>49, Sloane Gardens,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 24em;"><i>London, S. W.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>October 1899.</i><br /> +</p> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> +<i>Those who like to associate fiction with definite places +may be interested to know that the prototype of Scarthey is the</i> Piel +of Foudrey, <i>on the North Lancashire coast, near the edge of Morecambe +Bay, and that Pulwick was suggested by Furness Abbey. +Barrow-in-Furness was then but a straggling village. A floating light, +facing the mouth of the Wyre, now fulfils the duties devolving on the +beacon of Scarthey at the time of this story.</i></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="section" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS"></a>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<a href="#PART_I">PART I</a> + +<span class="medium"><br />SIR ADRIAN LANDALE, LIGHT-KEEPER OF SCARTHEY</span> +</div> + +<div class="small"> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20%;">CHAP.</span> <span class="linenum">PAGE</span> +</div> + +<ol class="toc"> +<li>The Peel of Scarthey <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></span></li> +<li>The Light-Keeper <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_6'>6</a></span></li> +<li>Day Dreams: A Philosopher's Fate <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_16'>16</a></span></li> +<li>Day Dreams: A Fair Emissary <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_32'>32</a></span></li> +<li>The Awakening <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></span></li> +<li>The Wheel of Time <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></span></li> +<li>Forebodings of Gladness <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_63'>63</a></span></li> +<li>The Path of Wasted Years <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></span></li> +<li>A Genealogical Epistle <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_85'>85</a></span></li> +</ol> + +<div class="center"> +<a href="#PART_II">PART II</a><br /> + +<span class="medium">"MURTHERING MOLL THE SECOND"</span> +</div> + +<ol class="toc"> +<li value="10">The Threshold of Womanhood <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></span></li> +<li>A Masterful Old Maid <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_113'>113</a></span></li> +<li>A Record and a Presentment <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_122'>122</a></span></li> +<li>The Distant Light <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_136'>136</a></span></li> +<li>The Tower of Liverpool: Master and Man <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_144'>144</a></span></li> +<li>Under the Light <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_156'>156</a></span></li> +<li>The Recluse and the Squire <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_174'>174</a></span></li> +</ol> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span></p> +<div class="center"> +<a href="#PART_III">PART III</a><br /> + +<span class="medium">"CAPTAIN JACK," THE GOLD SMUGGLER</span> +</div> + +<ol class="toc"> +<li value="17">Gold Smuggler and the Philosopher <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_191'>191</a></span></li> +<li>"Love Gilds the Scene and Woman Guides the Plot" <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_211'>211</a></span></li> +<li>A Junior's Opinion <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_224'>224</a></span></li> +<li>The Quick and the Dead <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_244'>244</a></span></li> +<li>The Dawn of an Eventful Day <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_252'>252</a></span></li> +<li>The Day: Morning <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_262'>262</a></span></li> +<li>The Day: Noon <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_276'>276</a></span></li> +<li>The Night <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_294'>294</a></span></li> +<li>The Fight for the Open <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_309'>309</a></span></li> +<li>The Three Colours <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_323'>323</a></span></li> +<li>Under the Light Again: The Lady and the Cargo <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_335'>335</a></span></li> +<li>The End of the Thread <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_349'>349</a></span></li> +<li>The Light Goes Out <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_364'>364</a></span></li> +<li>Husband and Wife <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_375'>375</a></span></li> +<li>In Lancaster Castle <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_382'>382</a></span></li> +<li>The One He Loved and the One Who Loved Him <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_393'>393</a></span></li> +<li>Launched on the Great Wave <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_406'>406</a></span></li> +<li>The Gibbet on the Sands <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_413'>413</a></span></li> +<li>The Light Rekindled <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_430'>430</a></span></li> +</ol> + + +<hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I</h2> + +<h3>SIR ADRIAN LANDALE, LIGHT-KEEPER OF SCARTHEY</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4"><i>We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast again;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i4"><i>And by that destiny to perform an act,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i4"><i>Whereof what's past is Prologue.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i16 smcap">The Tempest<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr class="section" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE LIGHT OF SCARTHEY</h2> + + + +<hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE PEEL OF SCARTHEY</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">He makes a solitude and calls it peace.<br /></span> +<span class="i25 smcap">Byron.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Alone in the south and seaward corner of the great bight on the +Lancastrian coast—mournfully alone some say, gloriously alone to my +thinking—rises in singular unexpected fashion the islet of Scarthey; +a green oasis secure on its white rocky seat amidst the breezy +wilderness of sands and waters.</p> + +<p>There is, in truth, more sand than water at most times round Scarthey. +For miles northward the wet strand stretches its silent expanse, tawny +at first, then merging into silver grey as in the dim distance it +meets the shallow advance of briny ripple. Wet sand, brown and dull, +with here and there a brighter trail as of some undecided river +seeking an aimless way, spreads westward, deep inland, until stopped +in a jagged line by bluffs that spring up abruptly in successions of +white rocky steps and green terraces.</p> + +<p>Turn you seaward, at low tide there lies sand again and shingle +(albeit but a narrow beach, for here a depth of water sinks rapidly) +laved with relentless obstinacy by long, furling, growling rollers +that are grey at their sluggish base and emerald-lighted at their +curvetting crest. Sand yet again to the south, towards the nearer +coast line, for a mile or perhaps less, dotted, along an irregular +path, with grey rocks that look as though the advance guard of a giant +army had attempted to ford its insecure footing, had sunk into its +treacherous shifting pits, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> left their blanching skull-tops half +emerging to record the disaster.</p> + +<p>On the land side of the bight, far away beyond the grandly desolate, +silent, yellow tract, a misty blue fringe on the horizon heralds the +presence of the North Country; whilst beyond the nearer beach a +sprinkling of greenly ensconced homesteads cluster round some peaceful +and paternal looking church tower. Near the salty shore a fishing +village scatters its greystone cabins along the first terrace of the +bluffs.</p> + +<p>Outwards, ever changing in colour and temper roll and fret the grey +waters of the Irish Sea, turbulent at times, but generally lenient +enough to the brown-sailed ketches that break the regular sweep of the +western horizon as they toil at the perpetual harvest of the deep.</p> + +<p>Thus stands Scarthey. Although appearing as an island on the charts, +at low tides it becomes accessible dry-foot from the land by a narrow +causeway along the line of the white shallow reefs, which connect the +main pile to the rocky steps and terraces of the coast. But woe betide +man or beast that diverges many feet from the one secure path! The +sands of the great bay have already but too well earned their sinister +reputation.</p> + +<p>During the greater part of the day, however, Scarthey justifies its +name—Skard- or Scarth-ey, the Knoll Island in the language of the old +Scandinavian masters of the land.</p> + +<p>In fair weather, or in foul, whether rising out of sunny sands when +the ebbing waters have retired, or assailed on all sides by ramping +breakers, Scarthey in its isolation, with its well-preserved ruins and +its turret, from which for the last hundred years a light has been +burning to warn the seafarer, has a comfortable look of security and +privacy.</p> + +<p>The low thick wall which in warlike times encompassed the bailey (now +surrounding and sheltering a wide paddock and neat kitchen gardens) +almost disappears under a growth of stunted, but sturdy trees; dwarf +alders and squat firs that shake their white-backed leaves, and swing +their needle clusters, merrily if the breeze is mild, obstinately if +the gale is rousing and seem to proclaim: "Here are we, well and +secure. Ruffle and toss, and lash, O winds, the faithless waters, <i>we</i> +shall ever cling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> to this hospitable footing, the only kindly soil +amid this dreariness; here you once wafted our seed; here shall we +live and perpetuate our life."</p> + +<p>On the sea front of the bailey walls rise, sheer from the steep rock, +the main body and the keep of the Peel. They are ruinous and shorn of +their whilom great height, humbled more by the wilful destruction of +man than by the decay of time.</p> + +<p>But although from a distance the castle on the green island seems +utterly dismantled, it is not, even now, all ruin. And, at the time +when Sir Adrian Landale, of Pulwick, eighth baronet, adopted it as his +residence, it was far from being such.</p> + +<p>True, the greater portion of that mediæval building, half monastic, +half military, exposed even then to the searching winds many bare and +roofless chambers; broken vaults filled with driven sands; more than +one spiral stair with hanging steps leading into space. But the +massive square keep had been substantially restored. Although roofless +its upper platform was as firm as when it was first built; and in a +corner, solidly ensconced, rose the more modern turret that sheltered +the honest warning light.</p> + +<p>The wide chambers of the two remaining floors, which in old warlike +days were maintained bare and free, and lighted only by narrow +watching loopholes on all sides, had been, for purposes of peaceful +tenanncy, divided into sundry small apartments. New windows had been +pierced into the enormous thickness of stone and cement; the bare +coldness of walls was also hidden under more home-like panellings. +Close-fitting casements and solid doors insured peace within; the wind +in stormy hours might moan or rage outside this rocky pile, might hiss +and shriek and tear its wings among the jagged ruins, bellow and +thunder in and out of opened vaults, but it might not rattle a window +of the modern castellan's quarters or shake a latch of his chamber +door.</p> + +<p>There, for reasons understood then only by himself, had Sir Adrian +elected, about the "year seven" of this century and in the prime of +his age, to transplant his lares and penates.</p> + +<p>The while, this Adrian Landale's ancestral home stood, in its placid +and double pride of ancient and settled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> wealth, only some few miles +away as the bee flies, in the midst of its noble park, slightly +retired from the coast-line; and from its upper casements could be +descried by day the little green patch of Scarthey and the jagged +outline of its ruins on the yellow or glimmering face of the great +bay, and by night the light of its turret. And there he was still +living, in some kind of happiness, in the "year fourteen," when, out +of the eternal store of events, began to shape themselves the latter +episodes of a life in which storm and peace followed each other as +abruptly as in the very atmosphere that he then breathed.</p> + +<p>For some eight years he had nested on that rock with no other +companions but a dog, a very ancient housekeeper who cooked and washed +for "t' young mester" as she obstinately persisted in calling the man +whom she had once nursed upon her knee, and a singular sturdy foreign +man (René L'Apôtre in the language of his own land, but known as Renny +Potter to the land of his adoption); which latter was more than +suspected of having escaped from the Liverpool Tower, at that time the +lawful place of custody of French war prisoners.</p> + +<p>His own voluntary captivity, however, had nothing really dismal for +Adrian Landale. And the inhabited portions of Scarthey ruins had +certainly nothing prison-like about them, nothing even that recalled +the wilful contrition of a hermitage.</p> + +<p>On the second floor of the tower (the first being allotted to the use, +official and private, of the small household), clear of the +surrounding walls and dismantled battlements, the rooms were laid out +much as they might have been up at Pulwick Priory itself, yonder +within the verdant grounds on the distant rise. His sleeping quarters +plainly, though by no means ascetically furnished, opened into a large +chamber, where the philosophic light-keeper spent the best part of his +days. Here were broad and deep windows, one to the south with a wide +view of the bay and the nearer coast, the other to the west where the +open sea displayed her changeable moods. On three sides of this room, +the high walls, from the white stone floor to the time-blackened beams +that bore the ceiling, almost disappeared under the irregular rows of +many thousand of volumes. Two wooden arm-chairs, bespeaking little +aversion to an occasional guest, flanked the hearth.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> +<p>The hearth is the chief refuge of the lone thinker; this was a cosy +recess, deep cut in the mediæval stone and mortar; within which, on +chilly days, a generous heap of sea-cast timber and dried turf shot +forth dancing blue flames over a mound of white ash and glowing +cinders; but which, in warmer times, when the casements were unlatched +to let in with spring or summer breeze the cries of circling sea-fowls +and the distant plash of billows, offered shelter to such green plants +as the briny air would favour.</p> + +<p>At the far end of the room rose in systematical clusters the pipes of +a small organ, built against the walls where it bevelled off a corner. +And in the middle of the otherwise bare apartment stood a broad and +heavy table, giving support to a miscellaneous array of books, open or +closed, sundry philosophical instruments, and papers in orderly +disorder; some still in their virginal freshness, most, however, +bearing marks of notemaking in various stages.</p> + +<p>Here, in short, was the study and general keeping-room of the master +of Scarthey, and here, for the greater part, daily sat Sir Adrian +Landale, placidly reading, writing, or thinking at his table; or at +his organ, lost in soaring melody; or yet, by the fireside, in his +wooden arm-chair musing over the events of that strange world of +thought he had made his own; whilst the aging black retriever with +muzzle stretched between his paws slept his light, lazy sleep, ever +and anon opening an eye of inquiry upon his master when the latter +spoke aloud his thoughts (as solitary men are wont to do), and then +with a deep, comfortable sigh, resuming dog-life dreams.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE LIGHT-KEEPER</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">He who sits by the fire doth dream,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Doth dream that his heart is warm.<br /></span> +<span class="i8">But when he awakes his heart is afraid for the bitter cold.<br /></span> +<span class="i25"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The year 1814 was eventful in the annals of the political world. +Little, however, of the world's din reached the little northern +island; and what there came of it was not willingly hearkened to. +There was too much of wars past and present, too many rumours of wars +future about it, for the ear of the recluse.</p> + +<p>Late in the autumn of that red-letter year which brought a short +respite of peace to war-ridden Europe—a fine, but rather tumultuous +day round Scarthey—the light-keeper, having completed the morning's +menial task in the light-turret (during a temporary absence of his +factotum) sat, according to custom, at his long table, reading.</p> + +<p>With head resting on his right hand whilst the left held a page ready +to turn, he solaced himself, pending the appearance of the mid-day +meal, with a few hundred lines of a favourite work—the didactic +poems, I believe, of a certain Doctor Erasmus Darwin, on the analogies +of the outer world.</p> + +<p>There was quite as little of the ascetic in Adrian Landale's physical +man as of the hermitage in his chosen abode.</p> + +<p>With the exception of the hair, which he wore long and free, and of +which the fair brown had begun to fade to silver-grey, the master of +Scarthey was still the living presentment of the portrait which, even +at that moment, presided among the assembly of canvas Landales in the +gallery of Pulwick Priory. Eight years had passed over the model since +the likeness had been fixed. But in their present repose, the features +clear cut and pronounced, the kindly thoughtful eyes looked, if +anything, younger than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> their counterfeit; indeed, almost +incongruously young under the flow of fading hair.</p> + +<p>Clean shaven, with hands of refinement, still fastidious, his long +years of solitude notwithstanding, as to general neatness of attire, +he might at any moment of the day have walked up the great stair of +honour at Pulwick without by his appearance eliciting other remarks +than that his clothes, in cut and colour, belonged to fashions now +some years lapsed.</p> + +<p>The high clock on the mantelshelf hummed and gurgled, and with much +deliberation struck one. Only an instant later, lagging footsteps +ascended the wooden, echoing stairs without, and the door was pushed +open by the attendant, an old dame. She was very dingy as to garb, +very wrinkled and feeble as to face, yet with a conscious achievement +of respectability, both in appearance and manner, befitting her post +as housekeeper to the "young master." The young master, be it stated +at once, was at that time fast approaching the end of his second score +years.</p> + +<p>"Margery," said Adrian, rising to take the heavy tray from the +knotted, trembling hands; "you know that I will not allow you to carry +those heavy things upstairs yourself." He raised his voice to +sing-song pitch near the withered old ear. "I have already told you +that when Renny is not at home, I can take my food in your kitchen."</p> + +<p>Margery paused, after her wont, to wait till the sounds had filtered +as far as her intellect, then proceeded to give a few angry +headshakes.</p> + +<p>"Eh! Eh! It would become Sir Adrian Landale o' Pulwick—Barrownite—to +have 's meat i' the kitchen—it would that. Nay, nay, Mester Adrian, +I'm none so old but I can do my day's work yet. Ah! an' it 'ud be well +if that gomerl, Renny Potter, 'ud do his'n. See here, now, Mester +Adrian, nowt but a pint of wine left; and it the last," pointing her +withered finger, erratically as the palsy shook it, at a cut-glass +decanter where a modicum of port wine sparkled richly under the +facets. "And he not back yet, whatever mischief's agate wi' him, +though he kens yo like your meat at one." And then circumstances +obliged her to add: "He is landing now, but it's ower late i' the +day."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> +<p>"So—there, Margery," sang the "Squire," giving his old nurse +affectionate little taps on the back. "Never fash yourself; tides +cannot always fit in with dinner-hours, you know. And as for poor +Renny, I believe after all you are as fond of him, at the bottom of +your heart, as I am. Now what good fare have you got for me to-day?" +bending from his great height to inspect the refection, "Ah—hum, +excellent."</p> + +<p>The old woman, after another pause for comprehension, retired battling +with dignity against the obvious pleasure caused by her master's +affectionate familiarity, and the latter sat down at a small table in +front of the south window.</p> + +<p>Through this deep, port-hole-like aperture he could, whilst disposing +of his simple meal, watch the arrival of the yawl which did ferrying +duty between Scarthey and the mainland. The sturdy little craft, +heavily laden with packages, was being hauled up to its usual place of +safety high on the shingle bank, under cover of a remnant of walling +which in the days of the castle's strength had been a secure +landing-place for the garrison's boats, but which now was almost +filled by the cast-up sands and stone of the beach.</p> + +<p>This was done under the superintendence of René, man of all work, and +with the mechanical intermediary of rollers and capstan, by a small +white horse shackled to a lever, and patiently grinding his steady +rounds on the sand.</p> + +<p>His preliminary task achieved, the man, after a few friendly smacks, +set the beast free to trot back to his loose pasture: proceeding +himself to unship his cargo.</p> + +<p>Through the narrow frame of his window, the master, with eyes of +approval, could see the servant dexterously load himself with a +well-balanced pile of parcels, disappearing to return after intervals +empty-handed, within the field of view, and select another burden, now +heavier now more bulky.</p> + +<p>In due course René came up and reported himself in person, and as he +stopped on the threshold the dark doorway framed a not unstriking +presentment; a young-looking man for his years (he was a trifle junior +to his master), short and sturdy in build, on whose very broad +shoulders sat a phenomenally fair head—the hair short, crisp, and +curly, in colour like faded tow—and who, in smilingly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> respectful +silence, gazed into the room out of small, light-blue eyes, brimful of +alertness and intelligence, waiting to be addressed.</p> + +<p>"Renny," said Adrian Landale, returning the glance with one of +comfortable friendliness, "you will have to make your peace with +Margery; she considers that you neglect me shamefully. Why, you are +actually twenty minutes late after three days' journeying, and perils +by land and sea!"</p> + +<p>The Frenchman answered the pleasantry by a broader smile and a scrape.</p> + +<p>"And, your honour," he said, "if what is now arriving on us had come +half an hour sooner, I should have rested planted there" (with a jerk +of the flaxen head towards the mainland), "turning my thumbs, till +to-morrow, at the least. We shall have a grain, number one, soon."</p> + +<p>He spoke English fluently, though with the guttural accent of +Brittany, and an unconquerable tendency to translate his own jargon +almost word for word.</p> + +<p>In their daily intercourse master and man had come for many years past +to eschew French almost entirely; René had let it be understood that +he considered his proficiency in the vernacular quite undeniable, and +with characteristic readiness Sir Adrian had fallen in with the little +vanity. In former days the dependant's form of address had been +<i>Monseigneur</i> (considering, and shrewdly so, an English landowner to +stand in that relation to a simple individual like himself); in later +days "Monseigneur" having demurred at the appellation, "My lord," in +his own tongue, the devoted servant had discovered "Your honour" as a +happy substitute, and adhered to this discovery with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we are going to have a squall, say you," interpreted the master, +rising to inspect the weather-glass, which in truth had fallen deep +with much suddenness. "More than a squall, I think; this looks like a +hurricane coming. But since you are safe home, all's well; we are +secure and sound here, and the fishing fleet are drawing in, I see," +peering through the seaward window. "And now," continued Adrian, +laying down his napkin, and brushing away a few crumbs from the folds +of a faultless silk stock, "what have you for me there—and what +news?"</p> + +<p>"News, your honour! Oh, for that I have news this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> time," said Mr. +Renny Potter, with an emphatic nod, "but if your honour will permit, I +shall say them last. I have brought the clothes and the linen, the +wine, the brandy, and the books. Brandy and wine, your honour, I +heard, out of the last prize brought into Liverpool, and a Nantes ship +it was, too"—this in a pathetically philosophical tone. Then after a +pause: "Also provisions and bulbs for the devil's pot, as Margery will +call it. But there is no saying, your honour eats more when I have +brought him back onions, eschalot, and <i>ail</i>; now do I lie, your +honour? May I?" added the speaker, and forthwith took his answer from +his master's smile; "may I respectfully see what the old one has +kitchened for you when I was not there?"</p> + +<p>And Adrian Landale with some amusement watched the Frenchman rise from +the package he was then uncording to examine the platters on the table +and loudly sniff his disdain.</p> + +<p>"Ah, ah, boiled escallops again. Perfectly—boiled cabbage seasoned +with salt. Not a taste in the whole affair. Prison food—oh, yes, old +woman! Why, we nourished ourselves better in the Tower, when we could +have meat at all. Ah, your honour," sighed the man returning to his +talk; "you others, English, are big and strong, but you waste great +things in small enjoyment!"</p> + +<p>"Oho, Renny," said the light-keeper squire, as he leant against the +fireplace leisurely filling a long clay pipe, "this is one of your +epigrams; I must make a note of it anon; but let me see now what you +really have in those parcels of books—for books they are, are they +not? so carefully and neatly packed."</p> + +<p>"Books," assented the man, undoing the final fold of paper. "Mr. Young +in the High Street of Liverpool had the packets ready. He says you +must have them all; and all printed this year. What so many people can +want to say, I for my count cannot comprehend. Three more parcels on +the stairs, your honour. Mr. Young says you must have them. But it +took two porters to carry them to the Preston diligence."</p> + +<p>Not without eagerness did the recluse of Scarthey bend over and finger +the unequal rows of volumes arrayed on the table, and with a smile of +expectation examine the labels.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> +<p>"The Corsair" and "Lara" he read aloud, lifting a small tome more +daintily printed than the rest. "Lord Byron. What's this? Jane Austen, +a novel. 'Roderick, last of the Goths.' Dear, dear," his smile fading +into blankness; "tiresome man, I never gave him orders for any such +things."</p> + +<p>René, battling with his second parcel, shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"The librarian," he explained, "said that all the world read these +books, and your honour must have them."</p> + +<p>"Well, well," continued the hermit, "what else? 'Jeremy Bentham,' a +new work; Ricardo, another book on economy; Southey the Laureate, +'Life of Nelson.' Really, Mr. Young might have known that naval deeds +have no joy for me, hardly more than for you, Renny," smiling grimly +on his servant. "'Edinburgh Review,' a London magazine for the last +six months; 'Rees's Cyclopædia,' vols. 24-27; Wordsworth, 'The +Recluse.' Ah, old Willie Wordsworth! Now I am anxious to see what he +has to say on such a topic."</p> + +<p>"Dear Willie Wordsworth," mused Sir Adrian, sitting down to turn over +the pages of the 'Excursion,' "how widely have our lives drifted apart +since those college days of ours, when we both believed in the coming +millennium and the noble future of mankind—noble mankind!"</p> + +<p>He read a few lines and became absorbed, whilst René noiselessly +busied himself in and out of the chamber. Presently he got up, book in +hand, slowly walked to the north window, and passively gazed at the +misty distance where rose the blue outline of the lake hills.</p> + +<p>"So my old friend, almost forgotten," he murmured, "that is where you +indite such worthy lines. It were enough to tempt me out into men's +world again to think that there would be many readers and lovers +abroad of these words of yours. So, that is what five and twenty years +have done for you—what would you say to what they have done for +me...?"</p> + +<p>It was a long retrospect.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian was deeply immersed in thought when he became aware that +his servant had come to a standstill, as if waiting for a return of +attention. And in answer to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> the mute appeal he turned his head once +more in René's direction.</p> + +<p>"Your honour, everything is in its place," began the latter, with a +fitting sense of his own method. "I have now to report that I saw your +man of business in Lancaster, and he has attended to the matter of the +brothers Shearman's boat that was lost. I saw the young men themselves +this morning. They are as grateful to Sir Adrian as people in this +country can express." This last with a certain superiority.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian received the announcement of the working of one of his +usual bounties with a quiet smile of gratification.</p> + +<p>"They also told me to say that they would bring the firewood and the +turf to-morrow. But they won't be able to do that because we shall +have dirty weather. Then they told me that when your honour wants fish +they begged your honour to run up a white flag over the lantern—they +thought that a beautiful idea—and they would bring some as soon as +possible. I took on myself to assure them that I could catch what fish +your honour requires; and the prawns, too ... but that is what they +asked me to say."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, and so you can," said the master, amused by the show of +sub-acute jealousy. "What else?"</p> + +<p>"The books of the man of business and the banker are on the table. I +have also brought gazettes from Liverpool." Here the fellow's +countenance brimmed with the sense of his news' importance. "I know +your honour cares little for them. But this time I think you will read +them. Peace, your honour, it is the peace! It is all explained in +these journals—the 'Liverpool Mercury.'"</p> + +<p>Renny lifted the folded sheets from the table and handed them with +contained glee. "There has been peace these six months, and we never +knew it. I read about it the whole way back from the town. The Emperor +is shut up on an island—but not so willingly as your Honour, ah, +no!—and there is an end of citizen Bonaparte. Peace, France and +England no longer fighting, it is hard to believe—and our old kings +are coming back, and everything to be again as in the old days."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian took the papers, not without eagerness, and glanced over +the narrative of events, already months old,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> with all the surprise of +one who, having wilfully shut himself out from the affairs of the +world, ignored the series of disasters that had brought about the +tyrant's downfall.</p> + +<p>"As you say, my friend, it is almost incredible," he said, at length. +Then thoughtfully: "And now you will be wanting to return home?" said +he.</p> + +<p>René, who had been scanning his master's face with high expectation, +felt his heart leap as he thought he perceived a hidden tone of regret +in the question.</p> + +<p>He drew himself up to his short height, and with a very decided voice +made answer straightway:</p> + +<p>"I shall go away from your honour the day when your honour dismisses +me. If your honour decides to live on this rock till my hour, or his, +strikes—on this rock with him I remain. I am not conceited, I hope, +but what, pray, will become of your honour here without me?"</p> + +<p>There was force in this last remark, simply as it was pronounced. +Through the mist of interlacing thoughts suggested by the word Peace! +(the end of the Revolution, that distant event which, nevertheless, +had had such sweeping influence over the course of his whole life), it +brought a faint smile to Sir Adrian's lips.</p> + +<p>He took two steps forward and laid his hand familiarly on the man's +broad shoulder, and, in a musing way, he said at intervals:</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, indeed, good Renny, what would become of me?—what would +have become of me?—how long ago it seems!—without you? And yet it +might have been as well if two skeletons, closely locked in embrace, +blanched by the grinding of the waters and the greed of the crabs, now +reposed somewhere deep in the sands of that Vilaine estuary.... This +score of years, she has had rest from the nightmare that men have made +of life on God's beautiful earth. I have been through more of it, my +good Renny."</p> + +<p>René's brain was never equal to coping with his master's periodic fits +of pessimism, though he well knew their first and ever-present cause. +In a troubled way he looked about the room, so peaceful, so retired +and studious; and Sir Adrian understood.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, you are right; I have cut off the old life," he made answer +to the unspoken expostulation, "and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> that I can live in my own small +world without foregoing all my duties, I owe to you, my good friend; +but startling news like this brings back the past very livingly, dead +though it be—dead."</p> + +<p>René hesitated; he was pondering over the advisability of disburdening +himself of yet another strange item of information he had in reserve; +but, as his master, rousing himself with an effort as if to dismiss +some haunting thought, turned round again to the table, he decided +that the moment was not propitious.</p> + +<p>"So you have seen to all these things," said Sir Adrian wearily. +"Good; I will look over them."</p> + +<p>He touched the neat pile of books and papers, listlessly, as he spoke, +yet, instead of sitting down, remained as he was, with eyes that had +grown wondering, staring out across the sea.</p> + +<p>"Look," he said presently, in a low voice, and René noticed a rare +flush of colour rise to the thin cheeks. "Look—is not this day just +like—one we both remember well...? Listen, the wind is coming up as +it did then. And look at yonder sky!"</p> + +<p>And taking the man by the arm, he advanced slowly with him towards the +window.</p> + +<p>In the west the heavens on the horizon had grown threateningly dark; +but under the awe-inspiring slate-coloured canopy of clouds there +opened a broad archway filled with primrose light—the luminous arch, +well known to seafarers, through which charge the furious southwestern +squalls. The rushing of the storm was already visible in the distance +over the grey waters, which having been swayed for days by a steady +Aquilon were now lashed in flank by the sudden change of wind.</p> + +<p>The two men looked out for a while in silence at the spectacle of the +coming storm. In the servant's mind ran various trivial thoughts +bearing on the present—what a lucky matter it was that he should have +returned in time; only just in time it was; from the angry look of the +outer world the island would now, for many a day be besieged by seas +impassable to such small craft as alone could reach the reef. Had he +tarried but to the next tide (and how sorely he had been tempted to +remain an hour more in the gatekeeper's lodge within sight and hearing +of buxom Moggie, Margery's grand-daughter),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> had he missed the tide, +for days, maybe for weeks, would the master have had to watch and +tend, alone, the beacon fire. But here he was, and all was well; and +he had still the marvellous news to tell. Should he tell them now? No, +the master was in one of his trances—lost far away in the past no +doubt, that past that terminated on such a day as this. And Sir +Adrian, with eyes fixed on the widening arch of yellow light, was +looking inwards on the far-away distance of time.</p> + +<p>Men, who have been snatched back to life from death in the deep, +recall how, before seeming to yield the ghost, the picture of their +whole existence passed in vivid light before the eye of their mind. +Swift beyond the power of understanding are such revelations; in one +flash the events of a good or an evil life leap before the seeing +soul—moment of anguish intolerable or of sublime peace!</p> + +<p>On such a boisterous day as this, some nineteen years before, by the +sandy mouth of the river Vilaine, on the confines of Brittany and +Vendée had Adrian Landale been drowned; under such a sky, and under +the buffets of such an angry wind had he been recalled to life, and in +the interval, he had seen the same pictures which now, coursing back +many years in a few seconds, passed before his inward vision.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> +<hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>DAY DREAMS: A PHILOSOPHER'S FATE</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">Le beau temps de ma jeunesse ... quand j'étais si malheureux.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The borderland between adolescence and manhood, in the life of men of +refined aspirations and enthusiastic mettle, is oftener than not an +unconsciously miserable period—one which more mature years recall as +hollow, deceiving, bitterly unprofitable.</p> + +<p>Yet there is always that about the memories of those far-off young +days, their lofty dreams long since scattered, their virgin delights +long since lost in the drudgery of earthly experience, which ever and +anon seizes the heart unawares and fills it with that infinite +weakness: that mourning for the dead and gone past, which yet is not +regret.</p> + +<p>In the high days of the Revolutionary movement across the water, +Adrian Landale was a dreamy student living in one of those venerable +Colleges on the Cam, the very atmosphere of which would seem +sufficient to glorify the merits of past ages and past institutions.</p> + +<p>Amidst such peaceful surroundings this eldest scion of an ancient, +north-country race—which had produced many a hardy fighter, though +never yet a thinker nor even a scholar—amid a society as prejudiced +and narrow-minded as all privileged communities are bound to become, +had nevertheless drifted resistlessly towards that unfathomable sea +whither a love for the abstract beautiful, a yearning for +super-earthly harmony and justice, must inevitably waft a young +intelligence.</p> + +<p>As the academical years glided over him, he accumulated much classical +lore, withal read much latter-day philosophy and developed a fine +youthful, theoretical love for the new humanitarianism. He dipped +æsthetically into science, wherein he found a dim kind of help +towards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> a more recondite appreciation of the beauties of nature. His +was not a mind to delight in profound knowledge, but rather in +"intellectual cream."</p> + +<p>He solaced himself with essays that would have been voted brilliant +had they dealt with things less extravagant than Universal Harmony and +Fraternal Happiness; with verses that all admitted to be highly +polished and melodious, but something too mystical in meaning for the +understanding of an every-day world; with music, whereof he was +conceded an interpreter of no mean order.</p> + +<p>In fact the worship of his soul might have been said to be the +Beautiful in the abstract—the Beautiful in all its manifestations +which include Justice, Harmony, Truth, and Kindliness—the one +indispensable element of his physical happiness, the Beautiful in the +concrete.</p> + +<p>This is saying that Adrian Landale, for all his array of definite +accomplishments, which might have been a never-failing source of +interest in an easy existence, was fitted in a singularly unfortunate +manner for the life into which one sudden turn of fortune's wheel +unexpectedly launched him.</p> + +<p>During the short halcyon days of his opening independence, however, he +was able to make himself the centre of such a world as he would have +loved to live in. He was not, of course, generally popular, either at +college or at home; nor yet in town, except among that small set in +whose midst he inevitably found his way wherever he went; his +inferiors in social status perhaps, these chosen friends of his; but +their lofty enthusiasms were both appreciative of and congenial to his +own. Most of them, indeed, came in after-life to add their names to +England's roll of intellectual fame, partly because they had that in +them which Adrian loathed as unlovely—the instinct and will of +strife, partly; it must be added, because they remained free in their +circumstances to follow the lead of their nature. Which freedom was +not allotted to him.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>On one magnificent frosty afternoon, early in the year 1794, the +London coach deposited Adrian Landale in front of the best hostelry in +Lancaster, after more than a year's separation from his family.</p> + +<p>This separation was not due to estrangement, but rather to the +instigation of his own sire, Sir Thomas—a gentleman of the "fine old +school"—who, exasperated by the,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> to him, incomprehensible and +insupportable turn of mind developed by his heir (whom he loved well +enough, notwithstanding, in his own way), had hoped, in good +utilitarian fashion, that a prolonged period of contact with the +world, lubricated by a plentiful supply of money, might shake his "big +sawney of a son" out of his sickly-sentimental views; that it would +show him that <i>gentlemen's</i> society—and, "by gad, ladies' too"—was +not a thing to be shunned for the sake of "wild-haired poets, dirty +firebrands, and such cattle."</p> + +<p>The downright old baronet was even prepared, in an unformed sort of +way, to see his successor that was to be return to the paternal hearth +the richer for a few gentlemanly vices, provided he left his nonsense +behind him.</p> + +<p>As the great lumbering vehicle, upon the box seat of which sat the +young traveller, lost in dreamy speculation according to his wont, +drew clattering to a halt, he failed at first to notice the central +figure in the midst of the usual expectant crowd of inn guests and inn +retainers, called forward by the triumphant trumpeting which heralds +the approach of the mail. There, however, stood the Squire of Pulwick, +"Sir Tummus" himself, in portly and jovial importance.</p> + +<p>The father's eyes, bright and piercing under his bushy white brows, +had already detected his boy from a distance; and they twinkled as he +took note, with all the pride of an author in his work, of the +symmetry of limb and shoulders set forth by the youth's faultless +attire—and the dress of men in the old years of the century was +indeed calculated to display a figure to advantage—of the lightness +and grace of his frame as he dismounted from his perch; in short of +the increased manliness of his looks and bearing.</p> + +<p>But a transient frown soon came to overshade Sir Thomas's ruddy +content as he descried the deep flush (an old weakness) which mantled +the young cheeks under the spur of unexpected recognition.</p> + +<p>And when, later, the pair emerged from the inn after an hour's +conversation over a bottle of burnt sherry—conversation which, upon +the father's side, had borne, in truth, much the character of +cross-examination—to mount the phaeton with which a pair of +high-mettled bays were impatiently waiting the return homewards, there +was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> very definite look of mutual dissatisfaction to be read upon +their countenances.</p> + +<p>Whiling away the time in fitful constrained talk, parcelled out by +long silences, they drove again through the gorgeous, frost-speckled +scenery of rocky lands until the sheen of the great bay suddenly +peered between two distant scars, proclaiming the approach to the +Pulwick estate. The father then broke a long spell of muteness, and +thus to his son, in his ringing country tones, as if pursuing aloud +the tenor of his thoughts:</p> + +<p>"Hark'ee, Master Adrian," said he, "that you are now a man of parts, +as they say, I can quite see. You seem to have read a powerful lot of +things that do not come our way up here. But let us understand each +other. I cannot make head or tail of these far-fetched new-fangle +notions you, somehow or other, have fallen in love with—your James +Fox, your Wilberforce, your Adam Smith, they may be very fine fellows, +but to my humble thinking they're but a pack of traitors to king and +country, when all is said and done. All this does not suit an English +gentleman. You think differently; or perhaps you do not care whether +it does or not. I admit I can't hold forth as you do; nor string a lot +of fine words together. I am only an old nincompoop compared to a +clever young spark like you. But I request you to keep off these +topics in the company I like to see round my table. They don't like +Jacobins, you know, no more do I!"</p> + +<p>"Nor do I," said Adrian fervently.</p> + +<p>"Nor do you? Don't you, sir, don't you? Why, then what the devil have +you been driving at?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid, sir, you do not understand my views."</p> + +<p>"Well, never mind; I don't like 'em, that's short, and if you bring +them out before your cousin, little Madame Savenaye, you will come off +second best, my lad, great man as you are, and so I warn you!"</p> + +<p>In tones as unconcerned as he could render them the young man sought +to turn the intercourse to less personal topics, by inquiring further +anent this unknown cousin whose very name was strange to him.</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas, easily placable if easily roused, started willingly enough +on a congenial topic. And thus Adrian conceived his first impression +of that romantic being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> whose deeds have remained legendary in the +French west country, and who was destined to exercise so strong an +influence upon his own life.</p> + +<p>"Who is she?" quoth the old gentleman, with evident zest. "Ay. All +this is news to you, of course. Well: she <i>was</i> Cécile de Kermelégan. +You know your mother's sister Mary Donoghue (murthering Moll, they +called her on account of her killing eyes) married a M. de Kermelégan, +a gentleman of Brittany. Madame de Savenaye is her daughter (first +cousin of yours), that means that she has good old English blood in +her veins and Irish to boot. She speaks English as well as you or I, +her mother's teaching of course, but she is French all the same; and, +by gad, of the sort which would reconcile even an Englishman with the +breed!"</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm; his son examined him with +grave wonder.</p> + +<p>"The very sight of her, my boy, is enough to make a man's heart warm. +Wait till you see her and she begins to talk of what the red-caps are +doing over there—those friends of yours, who are putting in practice +all your fine theories! And, bookworm as you are, I'll warrant she'll +warm your sluggish blood for you. Ha! she's a rare little lady. She +married last year the Count of Savenaye."</p> + +<p>Adrian assumed a look of polite interest.</p> + +<p>"Emigré, I presume?" he said, quietly.</p> + +<p>"Emigré? No, sir. He is even now fighting the republican rapscallions, +d—n them, and thrashing them, too, yonder in his country. She stuck +by his side; ay, like a good plucked one she did, until it became +palpable that, if there was to be a son and heir to the name, she had +better go and attend to its coming somewhere else, in peace. Ho, ho, +ho! Well, England was the safest place, of course, and, for her, the +natural one. She came and offered herself to us on the plea of +relationship. I was rather taken aback at first, I own; but, gad, boy, +when I saw the woman, after hearing what she had had to go through to +reach us at all, I sang another song. Well, she is a fine +creature—finer than ever now that the progeny has been satisfactorily +hatched; a brace of girls instead of the son and heir, after all! Two +of them; no less. Ho, ho, ho! And she was furious, the pretty dear! +However, you'll soon see for yourself. You will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> see a woman, sir, who +has loaded and fired cannon with her own hands, when the last man to +serve it had been shot. Ay, and more than that, my lad—she's brained +a hulking sans-culotte that was about to pin her servant to the floor. +The lad has told me so himself, and I daresay he can tell you more if +you care to practise your French with master René L'Apôtre, that's the +fellow! A woman who sticks to her lord and master in mud and +powder-smoke until there is precious little time to spare, when she +makes straight for a strange land, in a fishing-smack, with no other +protector than a peasant; and now, with an imp of a black-eyed infant +to her breast (Sally Mearson's got the other; you remember Sally, your +own nurse's daughter?), looks like a chit of seventeen. That's what +you'll see, sir. And when she sails downstairs for dinner, dressed up, +powdered and high-heeled, she might be a princess, a queen who has +never felt a crumpled roseleaf in her life. Gad! I'm getting poetical, +I declare."</p> + +<p>In this strain did the Squire, guiding his horses with strong, +dexterous hand, expatiate to his son; the crisp air rushing past them, +making their faces glow with the tingling blood until, burning the +ground, they dashed up the avenue that leads to the white mansion of +Pulwick, and halted amidst a cloud of steam before its Palladian +portico.</p> + +<p>What happened to Adrian the moment after happens, as a rule, only once +in a man's lifetime.</p> + +<p>Through the opening portals the guest, whose condensed biography the +Squire had been imparting to his son (all unconsciously eliciting +thereby more repulsion than admiration in the breast of that +fastidious young misogynist), appeared herself to welcome the return +of her host.</p> + +<p>Adrian, as he retired a pace to let his father ascend the steps, first +caught a glimpse of a miraculously small and arched foot, clad in pink +silk, and, looking suddenly up, met fully the flash of great dark +eyes, set in a small white face, more brilliant in their immense +blackness than even the glinting icicles pendant over the lintel that +now shot back the sun's sinking glory.</p> + +<p>The spell was of the kind that the reason of man can never sanction, +and yet that have been ever and will be while man is. This youth, +virgin of heart, dreamy of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> head who had drifted to his twentieth +year, all unscathed by passion or desire, because he had never met +aught in flesh and blood answering to his unconscious ideal, was +struck to the depth of his soul by the presence of one, as unlike this +same ideal as any living creature could be; struck with fantastic +suddenness, and in that all-encompassing manner which seizes the +innermost fibres of the being.</p> + +<p>It was a pang of pain, but a revelation of glory.</p> + +<p>He stood for some moments, with paling cheeks and hotly-beating heart, +gazing back into the wondrous eyes. She, yielding her cheek carelessly +to the Squire's hearty kiss, examined the new-comer curiously the +while:</p> + +<p>"Why—how now, tut, tut, what's this?" thundered the father, who, +following the direction of her eyes, wheeled round suddenly to +discover his son's strange bearing, "Have you lost all the manners as +well as the notions of a gentleman, these last two years? Speak to +Madame de Savenaye, sir!—Cécile, this is my son; pray forgive him, my +dear; the fellow's shyness before ladies is inconceivable. It makes a +perfect fool of him, as you see."</p> + +<p>But Madame de Savenaye's finer wits had already perceived something +different from the ordinary display of English shyness in the young +man, whose eyes remained fixed on her face with an intentness that +savoured in no way, of awkwardness. She now broke the spell with a +broader smile and a word of greeting.</p> + +<p>"You are surprised," said she in tripping words, tinged with a +distinct foreign intonation, "to see a strange face here, Mr. +Adrian—or, shall I say cousin? for that is the style I should adopt +in my Brittany. Yes, you see in me a poor foreign cousin, fleeing for +protection to your noble country. How do you do, my cousin?"</p> + +<p>She extended a slender, white hand, one rosy nail of which, bending +low, Adrian gravely kissed.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mais, comment donc!</i>" exclaimed the lady, "my dear uncle did you +chide your son just now? Why, but these are Versailles manners—so +gallant, so courtly!"</p> + +<p>And she gave the boy's fingers, as they lingered under hers, first a +discreet little pressure, and then a swift flip aside.</p> + +<p>"Ah! how cold you are!" she exclaimed; and then,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> laughing, added +sweetly: "Cold hands, warm heart, of course."</p> + +<p>And with rapping heels she turned into the great hall and into the +drawing-room whither the two men—the father all chuckles, and the son +still struck with wonder—followed her.</p> + +<p>She was standing by the hearth holding each foot alternately to the +great logs flaming on the tiles, ever and anon looking over her +shoulder at Adrian, who had advanced closer, without +self-consciousness, but still in silence.</p> + +<p>"Now, cousin," she remarked gaily, "there is room for you here, big as +you are, to warm yourself. You must be cold. I know already all about +your family, and I must know all about you, too! I am very curious, I +find them all such good, kind, handsome people here, and I am told to +expect in you something quite different from any of them. Now, where +does the difference come in? You are as tall as your father, but in +face—no, I believe it is your pretty sisters you are like in face."</p> + +<p>Here the Squire interrupted with his loud laugh, and, clapping his +hand on his stalwart son's head:</p> + +<p>"You have just hit it, Cécile, it's here the difference lies. Adrian, +I really believe, is a little mistake of Dame Nature; his brain was +meant for a girl and was tacked on to that big body by accident, ho, +ho, ho! He is quite lady-like in his accomplishments—loves music, and +plays, by gad, better than our organist. Writes poetry, too. I found +some devilish queer things on his writing-table once, which were not +<i>all</i> Latin verses, though he would fain I thought so. And as for +deportment, Madame Cécile, why there is more propriety, in that +hobbedehoy, at least, more blushing in him, than in all the +bread-and-butter misses in the county!"</p> + +<p>Adrian said nothing; but, when not turned towards the ground, his gaze +still sought the Countess, who now returned the look with a ripening +smile open to any interpretation.</p> + +<p>"Surely," she remarked, glancing then at the elder for an instant with +some archness, "surely you English gentlemen, who have so much +propriety, would not rather ... there was young Mr. Bradbury, we heard +talked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> of yesterday, whom every farmer with a red-cheeked lass of his +own—"</p> + +<p>"No, no!" hastily interrupted the baronet, with a blush himself, while +Adrian's cheek in spite of the recent indictment preserved its smooth +pallor—in truth, the boy, lost in his first love-dream, had not +understood the allusion. "No, I don't want a Landale to be a +blackguard, you know, but—" And the father, unable to split this +ethical hair, to logical satisfaction, stopped and entered another +channel of grumbling vituperation, whilst the Countess, very much +amused by her private thoughts, gave a little rippling laugh, and +resumed her indulgent contemplation of the accused.</p> + +<p>"What a pity, now, school-boy Rupert is not the eldest; there would be +a country gentleman for you! Whereas, this successor that is to be of +mine is a man of books and a philosopher. Forsooth, a first-class +bookworm; by gad, I believe the first of our race! And he might make a +name for himself, I've been told, among that lot, though the pack o' +nonsense he treats us to at times cannot, I'm thinking, really go down +even among those college fuzzle-heads. But I am confounded if that +chap will ever be of any use as a landlord whenever he steps into my +shoes. He hates a gun, and takes more pleasure—what was it he said +last time he was here?—oh, yes, more pleasure in watching a bird dart +in the blue than bringing it down, be it never so neat a shot. Ho, ho! +did ye ever hear such a thing? And though he can sit a horse—I will +say that for him (I should like to see a Landale that could not!)—I +have seen this big boy of mine positively sicken, ay! and scandalise +the hunt by riding away from the death. Moreover, I believe that, when +I am gone, he will always let off any poaching scoundrel on the plea +that the vermin only take for their necessity what we preserve for +sport."</p> + +<p>The little foreign lady, smiling no longer, eyed her big cousin with +wondering looks.</p> + +<p>"Strange, indeed," she remarked, "that a man should fail to appreciate +the boon of man's existence, the strength and freedom to dominate, to +be up and doing, to <i>live</i> in fact. How I should long to be a man +myself, if I ever allowed myself to long for anything; but I am a +woman, as you see," she added, rising to the full height of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +exquisite figure, "and must submit to woman's lot—and that is just +now to the point, for I must leave you to go and see to the wants of +that <i>mioche</i> of mine which I hear whining upstairs. But I do not +believe my uncle's account of you is a complete picture after all, +cousin Adrian. I shall get it out of you anon, catechise you in my own +way, and, if needs be, convert you to a proper sense of the glorious +privileges of your sex."</p> + +<p>And she ran out of the room.</p> + +<p>"Well, my lad," said Sir Thomas, that evening, when the ladies had +left the two men to their decanter, "I thought my Frenchwoman would +wake you up, but, by George, I hardly expected she would knock you all +of a heap so quick. Hey! you're winged, Adrian, winged, or this is not +port."</p> + +<p>"I cannot say, sir," answered Adrian, musing.</p> + +<p>The old man caught up the unsatisfactory reply in an exasperated +burlesque of mimicry: "I cannot say, sir—you cannot say? Pooh, pooh, +there is no shame in being in love with her. We all are more or less; +pass the bottle. As for you, since you clapped eyes on her you have +been like a man in the moon, not a word to throw to a dog, no eyes, no +ears but for your own thoughts, so long as madam is not there. Enter +madam, you're alive again, by George, and pretty lively, too! Gad, I +never thought I'd ever see <i>you</i> do the lady's man, all in your own +queer way, of course; but, hang it all, she seems to like it, the +little minx! Ay, and if she has plenty of smiles for the old man she's +ready to give her earnest to you—I saw her, I saw her. But don't you +forget she's married, sir, very much married, too. She don't forget it +either, I can tell you, though you may think she does. Now, what sort +of game is she making of you? What were you talking about in the +picture gallery for an hour before dinner, eh?"</p> + +<p>"To say the truth," answered the son, simply, "it was about myself +almost the whole time."</p> + +<p>"And she flattered you finely, I'll be bound, of course," said his +elder, with a knowing look. "Oh, these women, these women!"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, sir, she thinks even less of me than you do. That +woman has the soul of a savage; we have not one thought in common."</p> + +<p>The father burst into a loud laugh. "A pretty savage to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> look at, +anyhow; a well-polished one in the bargain, ho, ho, ho! Well, well, I +must make up my mind, I suppose, that my eldest son is a lunatic in +love with a savage."</p> + +<p>Adrian remained silent for a while, toying with his glass, his young +brow contracted under a painful frown. At length, checking a sigh, he +answered with deliberation:</p> + +<p>"Since it is so palpable to others, I suppose it must be love, as you +say. I had thought hitherto that love of which people talk so much was +a feeling of sweetness. What I feel in this lady's presence is much +more kin to anguish; for all that, as you have noticed, I appear to +live only when she is nigh."</p> + +<p>The father looked at his son and gaped. The latter went on, after +another pause:</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is so, and may as well own it to myself and to you, +though nothing can come of it, good or bad. She is married, and she is +your guest; and even if any thought concerning me could enter her +heart, the merest show of love on my part would be an insult to her +and treason to you. But trust me, I shall now be on my guard, since my +behaviour has already appeared strange."</p> + +<p>"Tut, tut," said the Baronet, turning to his wine in some dudgeon, his +rubicund face clouding as he looked with disfavour at this strange +heir of his, who could not even fall in love like the rest of his +race. "What are you talking about? Come, get out of that and see what +the little lady's about, and let me hear no more of this. She'll not +compromise herself with a zany like you, anyhow, that I'll warrant."</p> + +<p>But Adrian with all the earnestness of his nature and his very young +fears was strenuously resolved to watch himself narrowly in his +intercourse with his too fascinating relative; little recking how +infinitesimal is the power of a man's free-will upon the conduct of +his life.</p> + +<p>The next morning found the little Countess in the highest spirits. +Particularly good news had arrived from her land with the early +courier. True, the news were more than ten days old, but she had that +insuperable buoyancy of hopefulness which attends active and healthy +natures.</p> + +<p>The Breton peasants (she explained to the company round the breakfast +table), headed by their lords (among whom was her own <i>Seigneur et +Maître</i>) had again crushed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> the swarms of ragged brigands that called +themselves soldiers. From all accounts there was no hope for the +latter, their atrocities had been such that the whole land, from +Normandy to Guyenne, was now in arms against them.</p> + +<p>And in Paris, the hot pit whence had issued the storm of foulness that +blasted the fair kingdom of France after laying low the hallowed heads +of a good king and a beautiful queen, in Paris, leaders and led were +now chopping each other's heads off, <i>à qui mieux mieux</i>. "Those +thinkers, those lofty patriots, <i>hein, beau cousin</i>, for whom, it +seems, you have an admiration," commented the lady, interrupting her +account to sip her cup of cream and chocolate, with a little finger +daintily cocked, and shoot a mocking shaft at the young philosopher +from the depth of her black eyes.</p> + +<p>"Like demented wolves they are destroying each other—Pray the God of +Justice," quoted she from her husband's letter, "that it may only +last; in a few months, then, there will be none of them left, and the +people, relieved from this rule of blood, will all clamour for the +true order of things, and the poor country may again know peace and +happiness. Meanwhile, all has yet to be won, by much devotion and +self-sacrifice in the cause of God and King; and afterwards will come +the reward!...</p> + +<p>"And the revenge," added Madame de Savenaye, with a little, fierce +laugh, folding the sanguine budget of news. "Oh! they must leave us a +few for revenge! How we shall make the hounds smart when the King +returns to his own! And then for pleasures and for life again. And we +may yet meet at the mansion of Savenaye, in Paris," she went on gaily, +"my good uncle and fair cousins, for the King cannot fail to recall +his faithful supporter. And there will be feasts and balls. And there, +maybe, we shall be able to repay in part some of your kindness and +hospitality. And you, cousin Adrian, you will have to take me through +pavanne and gavotte and minuet; and I shall be proud of my northern +cavalier. What! not know how one dances the gavotte? <i>Fi donc!</i> what +ignorance! I shall have to teach you. Your hand, monsieur," slipping +the missive from the seat of war into her fair bosom. "La! not that +way; with a <i>grace</i>, if you please," making a profound curtsey. "Ah, +still that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> cold hand; your great English heart must be a very +furnace. Come, point your right foot—so. And look round at your +partner with—what shall I say—<i>admiration sérieuse</i>!"</p> + +<p>That she saw admiration, serious enough in all conscience in Adrian's +eyes, there was little doubt. With sombre heart he failed not to mark +every point of this all-human grace, but to him goddess-like beauty, +the triumph and glory of youth. The coy, dainty poise of the adorable +foot—pointed <i>so</i>—and treading the ground with the softness of a +kitten at play; the maddening curve of her waist, which a sacque, +depending from an exquisite nape, partly concealed, only to enhance +its lithe suppleness; the divinely young throat and bust; and above +all the dazzling black rays from eyes alternately mocking, fierce or +caressing.</p> + +<p>Well might his hand be cold with all his young untried blood, biting +at his heart, singing in his head. Why did God place such creatures on +His earth to take all savour from aught else under the sun?</p> + +<p>"Fair cousin, fair cousin, though I said serious admiration, I did not +mean you to look as if you were taking me to a funeral. You are +supposed to be enjoying yourself, you know!"</p> + +<p>The youth struggled with a ghastly smile; and the father laughed +outright. But Madame de Savenaye checked herself into gravity once +more.</p> + +<p>"Alas! <i>Nous n'en sommes pas encore là</i>," she said, and relinquished +her adorer's hand. "We have still to fight for it.... Oh! that I were +free to be up and doing!"</p> + +<p>The impatient exclamation was wrung out of her, apparently, by the +appearance of two nurses, each bearing an infant in long, white robes +for the mother's inspection; a preliminary to the daily outing.</p> + +<p>The elder of these matrons was Adrian's own old nurse who, much +occupied with her new duties of attendant to Madame de Savenaye and +one of her babies, now beheld her foster-son again for the first time +since his return.</p> + +<p>"Eh—but you've grown a gradely mon, Mester Adrian!" she cried, in her +long-drawn Lancastrian, dandling her bundle energetically from side to +side in the excess of her admiration, and added with a laugh of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +tender delight: "Eh, but you're my own lad still, as how 'tis!" when, +blushing, the young man crossed the room and stooped to kiss her, +glancing shyly the while at the white bundle in her arms.</p> + +<p>"Well, and how are the little ones?" quoth Madame de Savenaye, +swinging her dainty person up to the group and halting by beaming +Sally—the second nurse, who proudly held forth her charge—merely to +lay a finger lightly on the infant's little cheek.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my good Sally, your child does you credit!—Now Margery, when you +have done embracing that fine young man, perhaps you will give me my +child, <i>hein</i>?"</p> + +<p>Both the nurses blushed; Margery at the soft impeachment as she +delivered over the minute burden; her daughter in honest indignation +at the insulting want of interest shown for her foster-babe.</p> + +<p>"No, I was not made to play with puppets like you, mademoiselle," said +the comtesse, addressing herself to the unconscious little being as +she took it in her arms, but belying her words by the grace and +instinctive maternal expertness with which she handled and soothed the +infant. "Yes, you can go, Sarah—<i>au revoir</i>, Mademoiselle Madeleine. +Fie the little wretch, what faces she pulls! And you, Margery, you +need not wait either; I shall keep this creature for a while. Poor +little one!" sang the mother, walking up and down, and patting the +small back with her jewelled hand as she held the wee thing against +her shoulder, "indeed I shall have soon to leave you——"</p> + +<p>"What's this—what's this?" exclaimed the master of the house with +sudden sharpness. He had been surveying the scene from the hearthrug, +chuckling in benevolent amusement at little Madam's ways.</p> + +<p>Yes, it was her intention to return to her place by the side of her +lord, she explained, halting in her walk to face him gravely; she had +come to that resolution. No doubt her uncle would take the children +under his care until better times—those good times that were so fast +approaching. Buxom Sally could manage them both—and to spare, too!</p> + +<p>Adrian felt his heart contract at the unexpected announcement; a look +of dismay overspread Sir Thomas's face.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why—what? what nonsense, child!" cried he again in rueful tones. +"<i>You</i>, return to that place now ... what good do you think you could +do—eh?" But here recollecting himself, he hesitated and started upon +a more plausible line of expostulation. "Pooh, pooh! You can't leave +the little ones, your husband does not ask you to come back and leave +them, does he? In any case," with assumed authority, "I shall not let +you go."</p> + +<p>She looked up with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Would <i>you</i> allow your friends to continue fighting alone for all you +love, because you happened to be in safe and pleasant circumstances +yourself?" she asked. Then she added ingenuously: "I have heard you +say of one that was strong of will and staunch to his purpose, that he +was a regular Briton. I thought that flattering: I am a Briton, of +Brittany, you know, myself, uncle: would you have <i>me</i> be a worthless +Briton? As to what a woman can do there—ah, you have no idea what it +means for all these poor peasants of ours to see their lords remain +among them, sharing their hardship in defence of their cause. +Concerning the children," kissing the one she held and gazing into its +face with wistful look, "they can better afford to do without me than +my husband and our men. A strong woman to tend them till we come back, +is all that is wanted, since a good relative is willing to give them +shelter. René cannot be long in returning now, with the last news. +Indeed, M. de Savenaye says that he will only keep him a few days +longer, and, according to the tidings he brings must I fix the date +for my departure."</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas, with an inarticulate growl, relapsed into silence; and she +resumed her walk with bent head, lost in thought, up and down the +great room, out of the pale winter sunshine into the shadow, and back +again, to the tune of "Malbrook s'en va t'en guerre," which she hummed +beneath her breath, while the baby's foolish little head, in its white +cap from which protruded one tiny straight wisp of brown hair, with +its beady, unseeing black eyes and its round mouth dribbling +peacefully, bobbed over her shoulder as she went.</p> + +<p>Adrian stood in silence too, following her with his eyes, while the +picture, so sweet to see, so strange to one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> who knew all that was +brewing in the young mother's head and heart, stamped itself upon his +brain.</p> + +<p>At the door, at length, she halted a moment, and looked at them both.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my friends," she said, and her eyes shot flame; "I must go +soon." The baby bobbed its head against her cheek as if in +affirmative; then the great door closed upon the pair.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>DAY DREAMS: A FAIR EMISSARY</h3> + + +<p>Many guests had been convened to the hospitable board of Pulwick upon +the evening which followed Adrian's return home; and as, besides the +fact that the fame of the French lady had spread enthusiasm in most of +the male breasts of the district and anxious curiosity in gentler +bosoms, there was a natural neighbourly desire to criticise the young +heir of the house after his year's absence, the county had responded +in a body to the invitation.</p> + +<p>It was a goodly company therefore that was assembled in the great +withdrawing rooms, when the Countess herself came tripping down the +shallow oaken stairs, and found Adrian waiting for her in the hall.</p> + +<p>He glanced up as she descended towards him to cover her with an ardent +look and feast his eyes despairingly on her beauty; and she halted a +moment to return his gaze with a light but meaning air of chiding.</p> + +<p>"Cousin!" she said, "you have very singular manners for one supposed +to be so shy with ladies. Do you know that if my husband were here to +notice them you might be taken to task?"</p> + +<p>Adrian ran up the steps to meet her. The man in him was growing apace +with the growth of a man's passion, and by the boldness of his answer +belying all his recent wise resolutions, he now astonished himself +even more than her.</p> + +<p>"You are going back to him," he said, with halting voice. "All is +well—for him; perhaps for you. For us, who remain behind there is +nothing left but the bitterness of regret—and envy."</p> + +<p>Then in silence they descended together.</p> + +<p>As they were crossing the hall there entered suddenly to them, +stumbling as he went, René, the young Breton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> retainer, whom the lord +of Savenaye had appointed as squire to his lady upon her travels, and +who, since her establishment at Pulwick, had been sent to carry news +and money back to Brittany.</p> + +<p>No sooner had the boy—for such he was, though in intelligence and +blind devotion beyond his years—passed into the light, than on his +haggard countenance was read news of disastrous import. Recent tears +had blurred his sunburnt cheek, and the hand that tore the hat from +his head at the unexpected sight of his mistress, partly in +instinctive humility, partly, it seemed, to conceal some papers he +held against his breast, twitched with nervous anguish.</p> + +<p>"René!" cried the Countess, eagerly, in French. "What hast thou +brought? Sweet Jesu! Bad news—bad news? Give!"</p> + +<p>For an instant the courier looked around like a hunted animal seeking +a retreat, and then up at her in dumb pleading; but she stamped her +foot and held him to the spot by the imperiousness of her eye.</p> + +<p>"Give, I tell thee," she repeated; and, striking the hat away, +snatched the papers from his hand. "Dost thou think I cannot bear ill +news—My husband?"</p> + +<p>She drew nearer to a candelabra, and the little white hands +impatiently broke the seals and shook the sheets asunder.</p> + +<p>Sir Thomas, attracted by his favourite's raised tones and uneasy at +her non-appearance, opened the drawing-room door and came forward +anxiously, whilst his assembled guests, among whom a sense that +something of importance was passing had rapidly spread, now gathered +curiously about the open doorway.</p> + +<p>The Countess read on, unnoticing, with compressed lips and knitted +brows—those brows that looked so black on the fair skin, under the +powdered hair.</p> + +<p>"My husband! ah, I knew it, my André ... the common fate of the +loyal!" A sigh lifted the fair young bosom, but she showed no other +sign of weakness.</p> + +<p>Indeed those who watched this unexpected scene were struck by the +contrast between the bearing of this young, almost girlish creature, +who, holding the written sheets with firm hands to the light, read +their terrible contents with dry eyes, and that of the man who had +sunk, kneeling,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> at her feet, all undone, to have had the bringing of +the news.</p> + +<p>The silence was profound, save for the crackling of the pages as she +turned them over, and an occasional long-drawn sob from the messenger.</p> + +<p>When she came to the end the young widow—for such she was +now—remained some moments absorbed in thought, absently refolding the +letter into its original neatness. Then her eyes fell on René's +prostrate figure and she stooped to lay a kind hand for an instant on +his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Bear up, my good René," she said. At her voice and touch he dragged +his limbs together and stood humbly before her.</p> + +<p>"We must be brave," she went on; "your master's task is done—ours, +yours and mine, is not."</p> + +<p>He lifted his bloodshot eyes to her with the gaze of a faithful dog in +distress, scraped an uncouth bow and abruptly turned away, brushing +the tears from his cheek with his sleeve, and hurrying, to relieve his +choking grief in solitude. She stood a while, again absorbed in her +own reflection, and of those who would have rushed to speak gentle +words to her, and uphold her with tender hands, had she wept or +swooned, there was none who dared approach this grief that gave no +sign.</p> + +<p>In a short time, however, she seemed to recollect herself and awaken +to the consciousness of the many watching eyes.</p> + +<p>"Good uncle," she said, going up to the old man and kissing his cheek, +after sweeping the assembled company with dark, thoughtful gaze. "Here +are news that I should have expected sooner—but that I would not +entertain the thought. It has come upon us at last, the fate of the +others ... André has paid his debt to the king, like many hundreds of +true people before—though none better. He has now his reward. I glory +in his noble death," she said with a gleam of exaltation in her eyes, +then added after a pause, between clenched teeth, almost in a whisper:</p> + +<p>"And my sister too—she too is with him—but I will tell you of it +later; they are at rest now."</p> + +<p>Jovial Sir Thomas, greatly discomposed and fairly at a loss how to +deal with the stricken woman, who was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> so unlike any womankind he had +ever yet come across, patted her hand in silence, placed it within his +arm and quietly led her into the drawing-room, rolling, as he did so, +uneasy eyes upon his guests. But she followed the current of her +thoughts as her little feet kept pace beside him.</p> + +<p>"That is bad—but worse—the worst of all, the cause of God and king +is again crushed; everything to begin afresh. But, for the present, +we"—here she looked round the room, and her eyes rested an instant +upon a group of young men, who were surveying her from a corner with +mingled admiration and awe—"we, that is René and I, have work to do +in this country before we return. For you will keep us a little +longer?" she added with an attempt at a smile.</p> + +<p>"Will I keep you a little longer?" exclaimed the squire hotly, "will I +ever let you go, now!"</p> + +<p>She shook her head at him, with something of her natural archness. +Then, turning to make a grave curtsey to the circle of ladies around +her:</p> + +<p>"I and my misfortune," she said, "have kept your company and your +dinner waiting, I hardly know how long. No doubt, in their kindness +they will forgive me."</p> + +<p>And accepting again her uncle's arm which, delighted at the solution +of the present difficulty, and nodding to Adrian to start the other +guests, he hastened to offer her, she preceded the rest into the +dining-hall with her usual alert bearing.</p> + +<p>The behaviour of the Countess of Savenaye, had affected the various +spectators in various ways. The male sex, to a man, extolled her +fortitude; the ladies, however, condemned such unfeminine strength of +mind, while the more charitable prophesied that she would pay dearly +for this unnatural repression. And the whispered remark of one of the +prettier and younger damsels, that the loss of a husband did not seem +to crush her, at any rate, met, on the whole, with covert approval.</p> + +<p>As for Adrian, who shall describe the tumult of his soul—the regret, +the hungering over her in her sorrow, the wild unbidden hopes and his +shame of them? Careful of what his burning eyes might reveal, he +hardly dared raise them from the ground; and yet to keep them long +from her face was an utter impossibility. The whispered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> comments of +the young men behind him, their admiration, and astonishment drove him +to desperation. And the high-nosed dowager, whom it was his privilege +to escort to his father's table, arose from it convinced that Sir +Thomas's heir had lost in his travels the few poor wits he ever +possessed.</p> + +<p>The dinner that evening was without doubt the most dismal meal the +neighbourhood had ever sat down to at the hospitable board of Pulwick, +past funeral refections not excepted. The host, quite taken up with +his little foreign relative, had words only for her; and these, +indeed, consisted merely in fruitless attempts to induce her to +partake largely of every course—removes, relieves, side-dishes, +joints, as their separate turn came round. Long spells of silence fell +upon him meantime, which he emphasised by lugubriously clearing his +throat. Except for the pretty courtesy with which she would answer +him, she remained lost in her own thoughts—ever and anon consulting +the letter which lay beside her to fall again, it seemed, into a +deeper muse; but never a tear glinted between her black lashes.</p> + +<p>More than once Adrian from his distant end of the table, met her eyes, +fixed on him for a moment, and the look, so full of mysterious +meanings made his heart beat in anguish, expecting he knew not what.</p> + +<p>Among the rest of the assembly, part deference to a calamity so +stoutly borne, part amazement at such strange ways, part discomfort at +their positions as feasters in the midst of mourning, had reduced +conversation to the merest pretence. The ladies were glad enough when +the time came for them to withdraw; nor did most of the men view with +reluctance a moment which would send the decanters gliding freely over +the mahogany, and relieve them from this unwonted restraint.</p> + +<p>Madame de Savenaye had, however, other interests in store for these +latter.</p> + +<p>She rose with the rest of the ladies, but halted at the door, and +laying her hand upon her uncle's arm, said an earnest word in his ear, +in obedience to which he bundled out his daughters, as they hung back +politely, closed the door upon the last skirt, and reconducted the +Countess to the head of the table, scratching his chin in some +perplexity, but ready to humour her slightest whim.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<p>She stood at her former place and looked for a moment in silence from +one to another of the faces turned with different expressions of +astonishment and anticipation towards her—ruddy faces most of them, +young, or old, handsome or homely, the honest English stamp upon each; +and distinct from them all, Adrian's pallid, thoughtful features and +his ardent eyes.</p> + +<p>Upon him her gaze rested the longest. Then with a little wave of her +hand she prayed them to be seated, and waited to begin her say until +the wine had passed round.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," then quoth she, "with my good uncle's permission I shall +read you the letter which I have this night received, so that English +gentlemen may learn how those who are faithful to their God and their +King are being dealt with in my country. This letter is from Monsieur +de Puisaye, one of the most active partisans of the Royal cause, a +connection of the ancient house of Savenaye. And he begins by telling +me of the unexpected reverses sustained by our men so close upon their +successes at Chateau-Gonthier, successes that had raised our loyal +hopes so high. 'The most crushing defeat,' he writes, 'has taken place +near the town of Savenaye itself, on your own estate, and your +historic house is now, alas! in ruins.... During the last obstinate +fight your husband had been wounded, but after performing prodigies of +valour—such as, it was hoped or trusted, the king should in time hear +of—he escaped from the hands of his enemies. For many weeks with a +few hundred followers he held the fields in the Marais, but he was at +last hemmed in and captured by one of the monster Thureau's <i>Colonnes +Infernales</i>, those hellish legions with an account of whose deeds,' so +says this gallant gentleman our friend, 'I will not defile my pen, but +whose boasts are like those of Attila the Hun, and who in their malice +have invented obscene tortures worthy of Iroquois savages for all who +fall into their clutches, be they men, women, or children.... But, by +Heaven's mercy, dear Madame,' says M. de Puisaye to me, 'your noble +husband was too weak to afford sport to those demons, and so he has +escaped torment. He was hanged with all speed indeed, for fear he +might die first of his toils and his wounds, and so defeat them at the +last.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<p>A rustling murmur of horror and indignation went round the table; but +the little woman faced the audience proudly.</p> + +<p>"He died," she said, "as beseems a brave man. But this is not all. I +had a sister, she was very fair—like me some people said, in +looks—she used to be the merry one at home in the days of peace," she +gave a little smile, far more piteous than tears would be—"She chose +to remain among her people when they were fighting, to help the +wounded, the sick." Here Madame de Savenaye paused a moment and put +down the letter from which she had been reading; for the first time +since she had begun to speak she grew pale; knitting her black brows +and with downcast eyes she went on: "Monsieur de Puisaye says he asks +my pardon humbly on his knees for writing such tidings to me, bereaved +as I am of all I hold dear, but 'it is meet,' he says, 'that the +civilised world should know the deeds these followers of <i>liberty</i> and +<i>enlightenment</i> have wrought upon gallant men and highborn ladies,' +and I hold that he says well."</p> + +<p>She flashed once more her black gaze round upon the men, who with +heads all turned towards her and forgetting their wine, hung upon her +words. "It is right that I should know, and you too! It is meet that +such deeds should be made known to the world: my sister was taken by +these men, but less fortunate than my husband she had life enough left +for torture—she too is dead now; M. de Puisaye adds: Thank God! And +that is all that I can say too—Thank God!"</p> + +<p>There was a dead silence in the room as she ceased speaking, broken at +last, here and there, along the table by exclamations and groans and a +deep execration from Sir Thomas, which was echoed deep-mouthed by his +guests.</p> + +<p>Adrian himself, the pacific, the philosopher, with both arms, +stretched out on the table, clenched his hands, and set his teeth and +gazed into space with murderous looks.</p> + +<p>Then the clear young voice went on again:</p> + +<p>"You, who have honoured mothers and wives of your own, and have young +sweethearts, or sisters or daughters—you English gentlemen who love +to see justice, how long will you allow such things to be done while +you have arms to strike? We are not beaten yet; there are French +hearts still left that will be up and doing so long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> as they have a +drop of blood to shed. Our gallant Bretons and Vendéens are uniting +once more, our émigrés are collecting, but we want aid, brave English +friends, we want arms, money, soldiers. My task lies to my hand; the +sacred legacy of my dead I have accepted; is there any of you here who +will help the widow to maintain the fight?"</p> + +<p>She had risen to her feet; the blood glowed on her cheek as she +concluded her appeal; a thousand stars danced in her eyes.</p> + +<p>Old men and young they leapt up, with a roar; pressing round her, +pouring forth acclamations, asseverations and oaths—Would they help +her? By God—they would die for her—Never had the old rafters of +Pulwick rung to such enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>And when with proud smiles and crimsoned face she withdraws at last +from so much ardour, the door has scarcely fallen behind her before +Sir Thomas proposes her health in a bellow, that trembles upon tears:</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen, this lady's courage is such as might put most men's +strength to shame. Here is, gentlemen, to Madame de Savenaye!"</p> + +<p>And she, halting on the stairs for a moment, to still her high-beating +heart, before she lay her babe against it, hears the toast honoured +with three times three.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>When the Lancastrian ladies had succeeded at length in collecting and +carrying off such among the hiccupping husbands, and maudlin sons, who +were able to move, Sir Thomas re-entering the hall, after speeding the +last departing chariot, and prudently leaning upon his tall son—for +though he had a seasoned head the night's potations had been deep and +fiery—was startled well-nigh into soberness, at the sight of his +niece waiting for him at the foot of the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Why, Cis, my love, we thought you had been in bed this long while! +why—where have you been then since you ran away from the dining-room? +By George!" chuckling, "the fellows were mad to get another glimpse of +you!"</p> + +<p>His bloodshot eye hung over her fondly. There was not a trace of +fatigue upon that delicate, pretty face.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to think—I have much to think on now. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> have had to read +and ponder upon my instructions here,"—tapping her teeth with the +letter, she still carried, "Good uncle, I would speak with you—yes, +even now," quick to notice Adrian's slight frown of disapproval (poor +fellow, he was sober enough at any rate!), "there is no time like the +present. I have my work to do, and I shall not rest to-night, till I +have planned it in my head."</p> + +<p>Surely the brilliancy of those eyes was feverish; the little hands she +laid upon them to draw them into the dim-lit library were hot as fire.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, my pretty," quoth the good uncle, stifling a portentous +yawn, and striving to look wondrous wise, "Adrian, she wants to +consult me, sir, hic!"</p> + +<p>He fell into an arm-chair as he spoke, and she sank on her knees +beside him, the firelight playing upon her eager face, while Adrian, +in the shadow, watched.</p> + +<p>"Do you think," she asked of the old man, eagerly, "that these +gentlemen, who spoke so kindly to me a few hours ago, will be as much +in earnest in the morning?"</p> + +<p>"Why d—n them! if they go back on their word, I'll call them out!" +thundered Sir Thomas, in a great rage all of a sudden. She surveyed +him inquiringly, and shot a swift keen glance from the placid, bulky +figure in the chair, to Adrian pale and erect, behind it, then rose to +her feet and stood a few paces off, as it were pondering.</p> + +<p>"What is now required of me—I have been thinking it well over," she +said at last, "can hardly be achieved by a woman alone. And yet, with +proper help and support, I think I could do more than any man by +himself. There is that in a woman's entreaties which will win, when a +man may fail. But I must have a knight at my side; a protector, at the +same time as a faithful servant. These are not the times to stand on +conventional scruples. Do you think, among these gentlemen, any could +be found with sufficient enthusiasm, for the Royal cause, here +represented by me, to attend, and support me through all the fatigues, +the endless errands, the interviews—ay, also the rebuffs, the +ridicule at times, perhaps the danger of the conjuration, which must +be set on foot in this country—to do all that, without hope of other +reward than the consciousness of helping a good cause, and—and the +gratitude of one, who may have nothing else to give?"</p> + +<p>She stopped with a little nervous laugh: "No, it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> absurd! no man, +on reflection would enter into such a service unless it were for his +own country."</p> + +<p>As the last words fell from her lips, she suddenly turned to Adrian +and met his earnest gaze.</p> + +<p>"Or for his kindred," said the young man, coming up to her with grave +simplicity, "if his kindred required it."</p> + +<p>A gleam of satisfaction passed across her face. The father, who had +caught her meaning—sharp enough, as some men can be in their +cups—nodded his head with great vigour.</p> + +<p>"Yes, why should you think first of strangers," he grumbled, "when you +have your own blood, to stand by you—blood is thicker than water, +ain't it? Am I too old, or is he too young, to wait on you—hey, +madam?"</p> + +<p>She extended her hand, allowing it to linger in Adrian's grasp, whilst +she laid the other tenderly on the old man's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"My good uncle! my kind cousin! Have I the choice already between two +such cavaliers? I am fortunate indeed in my misfortune. In other +circumstances to decide would be difficult between two men, each so +good; but," she added, after a moment's hesitation, and looking at +Adrian in a manner that made the young man's heart beat thickly, "in +this case it is obvious I must have some one whom I need not fear to +direct."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay," muttered the baronet, "I'd go with you, my darling, to the +world's end; but there's that young philosopher of mine breaking his +heart for you. And when all's said and done, it's the young fellow +that'll be the most use to you, I reckon. Ay, you've chosen already, +I'll be bound. The gouty old man had best stop at home. Ho, ho, ho! +You've the luck, Adrian; more luck than you deserve."</p> + +<p>"It is I who have more luck than I deserve," answered Madame de +Savenaye, smiling upon her young knight as, taking heart of grace, he +stooped to seal the treaty upon her hand. "To say the truth, I had +hoped for this, yet hardly dared to allow myself to count upon it. And +really, uncle, you give your own son to my cause?—and you, cousin, +you are willing to work for me? I am indeed strengthened at the outset +of my undertaking. I shall pray that you may never have cause to +regret your chivalrous goodness."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> + +<p>She dropped Adrian's hand with a faint pressure, and moved sighing +towards the door.</p> + +<p>"Do you wonder that I have no tears, cousin?" she said, a little +wistfully; "they must gather in my heart till I have time to sit down +and shed them."</p> + +<p>Thus it was that a letter penned by this unknown M. de Puisaye from +some hidden fastness in the Bocage of Brittany came to divert the +course of Adrian Landale's existence into a channel where neither he, +nor any of those who knew him, would ever have dreamed to see it +drift.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE AWAKENING</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">Oh, what hadst thou to do with cruel Death,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Who wast so full of life, or Death with thee?<br /></span> +<span class="i20 smcap">Longfellow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<p>Sir Adrian Landale, in his sea-girt fastness, still absorbed in dreams +of bygone days, loosed his grasp of faithful René's shoulder and fell +to pacing the chamber with sombre mien; while René, to whom these fits +of abstraction in his master were not unfamiliar, but yet to his +superstitious peasant soul, eerie and awe-inspiring visitations, +slipped unnoticed from his presence.</p> + +<p>The light-keeper sate down by his lonely hearth and buried his gaze in +the glowing wood-embers, over which, with each fitful thundering rush +of wind round the chimney, fluttered little eddies of silvery ash.</p> + +<p>So, that long strife was over, which had wrought such havoc to the +world, had shaped so dismally the course of his own life! The monster +of selfish ambition, the tyrannic, insatiable conqueror whose very +existence had so long made peaceable pursuits unprofitable to mankind, +the final outcome of that Revolution that, at the starting point, had +boded so nobly for human welfare—he was at last laid low, and all the +misery of the protracted struggle now belonged to the annals of the +past.</p> + +<p>It was all over—but the waste! The waste of life and happiness, far +and wide away among innocent and uninterested beings, the waste +remained.</p> + +<p>And, looking back on it, the most bitter portion of his own wrecked +life was the short time he had yet thought happy; three months, spent +as knight-errant.</p> + +<p>How far they seemed, far as irrevocable youth, those days when, in the +wake of that love-compelling emissary, he moved from intrigue to +intrigue among the émigrés in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> London, and their English sympathisers, +to bustling yet secret activity in seafaring parts!</p> + +<p>The mechanical instrument directed by the ingenious mind of Cécile de +Savenaye; the discreet minister who, for all his young years, secured +the help of some important political sympathiser one day, scoured the +country for arms and clothing, powder and <i>assignats</i> another; who +treated with smuggling captains and chartered vessels that were to run +the gauntlet on the Norman and Breton coast, and supply the means of +war to struggling and undaunted loyalists. All this relentless work, +little suited, on the whole, to an Englishman, and in a cause the +rights of which he himself had, up to then, refused to admit, was then +repaid a hundredfold by a look of gratitude, of pleasure even, a few +sweet moments of his lady's company, before being sent hence again +upon some fresh enterprise.</p> + +<p>Ah, how he loved her! He, the youth on the threshold of manhood, who +had never known passion before, how he loved this young widowed mother +who used him as a man to deal for her with men, yet so loftily treated +him as a boy when she dealt with him herself. And if he loved her in +the earlier period of his thraldom, when scarce would he see her one +hour in the twenty-four, to what all-encompassing fervour did the +bootless passion rise when, the day of departure having dawned and +sunk, he found himself on board the privateer, sailing away with her +towards unknown warlike ventures, her knight to protect her, her +servant to obey!</p> + +<p>On all these things mused the recluse of Scarthey, sinking deeper and +deeper into the past: the spell of haunting recollection closing on +him as he sat by his hearthside, whilst the increasing fury of the +gale toiled and troubled outside fighting the impassable walls of his +tower.</p> + +<p>Could it have been possible that she—the only woman that had ever +existed for him, the love for whom had so distorted his mind from its +natural sympathies, had killed in him the spring of youth and the +savour of life—never really learnt to love him in return till the +last?</p> + +<p>And yet there was a woman's soul in that delicious woman's body—it +showed itself at least once, though until that supreme moment of union +and parting, it seemed as if a man's mind alone governed it, becoming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +sterner, more unbendable, as hardships and difficulties multiplied.</p> + +<p>In the melancholy phantasm passing before his mind's eye, of a period +of unprecedented bloodshed and savagery, when on the one side Chouans, +Vendéens, and such guerillas of which Madame de Savenaye was the +moving spirit, and on the other the <i>colonnes infernales</i> of the +revolutionary leaders, vied with each other in ferocity and cunning, +she stood ever foremost, ever the central point of thought, with a +vividness that almost a score of years had failed to dim.</p> + +<p>When the mood was upon him, he could unfold the roll of that story +buried now in the lonely graves of the many, or in the fickle memories +of the few, but upon his soul printed in letters of fire and blood—to +endure for ever.</p> + +<p>Round this goddess of his young and only love clustered the sole +impressions of the outer world that had ever stirred his heart: the +grandeur of the ocean, of the storm, the glory of sunrise over a +dishevelled sea, the ineffable melancholy of twilight rising from an +unknown strand; then the solemn coldness of moonlight watches, the +scent of the burnt land under the fierce sun, when all nature was +hushed save the dreamy buzz of insect-life: the green coolness of +underwood or forest, the unutterable harmony of the sighing breeze, +and the song of wild birds during the long patient ambushes of +partisan war; the taste of bread in hunger, of the stream in the fever +of thirst, of approaching sleep in exhaustion—and, mixed with these, +the acrid emotions of fight and carnage, anguish of suspense, savage +exultation of victory—all the doings of a life which he, bred to +intellectual pleasures and high moral ideas, would have deemed a +nightmare, but which, lived as it was in the atmosphere of his longing +and devotion, yet held for him a strange and pungent joy: a cup of +cruel memories, yet one to be lingered over luxuriously till the +savour of each cherished drop of bitterness be gathered to the +uttermost.</p> + +<p>Now, in the brightness of the embers, between the fitful flames of +crumbling wood, spreads before his eyes the dreary strand near +Quiberon, immense in the gathering darkness of a boisterous evening. +Well hidden under the stone table of a Druidical men-hir glows a small +camp-fire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> sedulously kept alive by René for the service of The Lady. +She, wrapped up in a coarse peasant-cloak, pensively gazes into the +cheerless smoke and holds her worn and muddy boots to the smouldering +wood in the vain hope of warmth.</p> + +<p>And Adrian stands silently behind her, brooding on many things—on the +vicissitudes of that desultory war which has left them not a roof +whereunder they can lay their heads, during which the little English +contingent has melted from them one by one; on the critical action of +the morrow when the republican columns, now hastening to oppose the +landing of the great royalist expedition to Quiberon (that supreme +effort upon which all their hopes centre) must be surprised and cut +off at whatever cost; on the mighty doings to follow, which are to +complete the result of the recent sea fight off Ushant and crown their +devoted toil with victory at last....</p> + +<p>And through his thoughts he watches the pretty foot, in its hideous +disguise of patched, worn, ill-fitting leather, and he sees it as on +the first day of their meeting, in its gleaming slipper and dainty +silken stocking.</p> + +<p>Now and then an owl-cry, repeated from point to point, tells of +unremitting guard, but for which, in the vast silence, none could +suspect that a thousand men and more are lying stretched upon the +plain all around them, fireless, well-nigh without food, yet patiently +waiting for the morrow when their chiefs shall lead them to death; nor +that, in a closer circle, within call, are some fifty <i>gars</i>, remnant +of the indomitable "Savenaye band," and tacitly sworn bodyguard to The +Lady who came back from ease and safety over seas to share their +peril.</p> + +<p>No sound besides, but the wind as it whistles and moans over the +heath—and the two are together in the mist which comes closing in +upon them as if to shroud them from all the rest, for even René has +crept away, to sleep perhaps.</p> + +<p>She turns at last towards him, her small face in the dying light of +this sullen evening, how wan and weather-beaten!</p> + +<p>"Pensive, as usual, cousin?" she says in English, and extends her +hand, browned and scratched, that was once so exquisite, and she +smiles, the smile of a dauntless soul from a weary body.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>Poor little hands, poor little feet, so cold, so battered, so +ill-used! He, who would have warmed them in his bosom, given his heart +for them to tread upon, breaks down now, for the first time; and +falling on his knees covers the cold fingers with kisses, and then +lays his lips against those pitiful torn boots.</p> + +<p>But she spurns him from her—even from her feet:</p> + +<p>"Shame on you!" she says angrily; and adds, more gently, yet with some +contempt: "<i>Enfant, va!</i>—is this the time for such follies?"</p> + +<p>And, suddenly recalled to honour and grim actuality, he realises with +dismay his breach of trust—he, who in their earlier days in London +had called out that sprightly little émigré merely for the vulgar +flippancy (aimed in compliment, too, at the grave aide-de-camp), "that +the fate of the late Count weighed somewhat lightly upon Madame de +Savenaye;" he, who had struck that too literary countryman of his own +across the face—ay, and shot him in the shoulder, all in the secret +early dawn of the day they left England—for daring to remark within +his hearing: "By George, the handsome Frenchwoman and her cousin may +be a little less than kin, but they are a little more than kind."</p> + +<p>But yet, as the rage of love contending in his heart with +self-reproach, he rises to his feet in shame, she gives him her hand +once more, and in a different voice:</p> + +<p>"Courage, cousin," says she, "perhaps some day we may both have our +reward. But will not my knight continue to fight for my bidding, even +without hope of such?"</p> + +<p>Pondering on this enigmatic sentence he leaves her to her rest.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>When next he finds himself by her side the anticipated action has +begun; and it is to be the last day that those beautiful burning eyes +shall see the glory of the rising sun.</p> + +<p>The Chouans are fighting like demons, extended in long skirmishing +lines, picking out the cluster of gunners, making right deadly use of +their English powder; imperceptibly but unflinchingly closing their +scattered groups until the signal comes and with ringing cries: +"<i>Notre Dame d'Auray!</i>" and "<i>Vive le roi!</i>" they charge, undismayed +by odds, the serried ranks of the Republicans.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>She, from the top of the druidical stone, watches the progress of the +day. Her red, parted mouth twitches as she follows the efforts of the +men. Behind her, the <i>gars</i> of Savenaye, grasping with angry clutch, +some a new musket, others an ancient straightened scythe, gaze +fiercely on the scene from under their broad felts. Now and then a +flight of republican bullets hum about their ears, and they look +anxiously to Their Lady, but that fearless head never bends.</p> + +<p>Then the moment arrives, and with a fervent, "God be with you, brave +people," she hurls, by a stirring gesture, the last reserve on to the +fight.</p> + +<p>And now he finds himself in the midst of the furious medley, striking +mechanically, his soul away behind on that stone, with her. Presently, +as the frenzy waxes wilder, he is conscious that victory is not with +them, but that they are pressed back and encompassed, and that for +each blue coat cast down amidst the yells and oaths, two more seem to +come out of the rain and smoke; whilst the bare feet and wooden shoes +and the long hair of his peasants are seen in ever-lessening ranks. +And, in time, they find themselves thrown back to the men-hir; she is +there, still calm but ghastly white, a pistol in each hand. Around +her, through the wet smoke, rise and fall with sickening thuds the +clubbed muskets of three or four men, and then one by one these sink +to the ground too. With a wailing groan like a man in a nightmare, he +sees the inevitable end and rushes to place his body before hers. A +bullet shatters his sword-blade; now none are left around them but the +begrimed and sinister faces of their enemies.</p> + +<p>As they stand prisoners, and unheeding the hideous clamour, he, with +despair thinking of her inevitable fate at the hands of such victors, +and scarcely daring to look at her, suddenly sees <i>that</i> in her eyes +which fills his soul to overflowing.</p> + +<p>"All is lost," she whispers, "and I shall never repay you for all you +have done, cousin!"</p> + +<p>The words are uttered falteringly, almost plaintively.</p> + +<p>"We are not long now for this world, friend," she adds more firmly. +"Give me your forgiveness."</p> + +<p>How often has Adrian heard this dead voice during the strange +vicissitudes of these long, long years! And, hearing it whisper in the +vivid world of his brain, how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> often has he not passionately longed +that he also had been able to yield his poor spark of life on the last +day of her existence.</p> + +<p>For the usual fate of Chouan prisoners swiftly overtakes the surviving +leaders of the Savenaye "band of brigands," as that doughty knot of +loyalists was termed by their arch-enemy, Thureau.</p> + +<p>A long journey towards the nearest town, in an open cart, under the +pitiless rain, amidst a crowd of evil-smelling, blaspheming, wounded +republicans, who, when a more cruel jolt than usual awakens their +wounds, curse the woman in words that should have drawn avenging bolts +from heaven. She sits silent, lofty, tearless; but her eyes, when they +are not lost in the grey distance, ever wistfully seek his face.</p> + +<p>The day is drawing to a close; they reach their goal, a miserable, +grey, draggled town at the mouth of the Vilaine, and are roughly +brought before the arbiter of their lives—Thureau himself, the +monstrous excrescence of the times, who, like Marat and Carrier, sees +nothing in the new freedom but a free opening for the lowest instincts +of ferocity.</p> + +<p>And before this monstrous beast, bedizened in his general's frippery, +in a reeking tavern-room, stand the noble lady of Savenaye and the +young heir of Pulwick.</p> + +<p>The ruffian's voice rings with laughter as he gazes on the silent +youthful pair.</p> + +<p>"Aha, what have we here; a couple of drowned rats? or have we trapped +you at last, the ci-devant Savenaye and her <i>godam</i> from England? I +ought really to send you as a present to the Convention, but I am too +soft-hearted, you see, my pigeons; and so, to save time and make sure, +we will marry you to-day."</p> + +<p>One of the officers whispers some words in his ear, which Thureau, +suddenly growing purple with rage, denies with a foul oath and an +emphatic thump of his huge fist on the table.</p> + +<p>"Hoche has forbidden it, has he? Hoche does not command here. Hoche +has not had to hunt down the brigands these last two years. Dead the +beast, dead the venom, I say. And here is the order," scribbling +hurriedly on a page torn from a pocket-book. "It shall not be said +that I have had the bitch of Savenaye in my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> hands and trusted her on +the road again. Hoche has forbidden it! Call the cantineer and hop: +the marriage and quick—the soup waits."</p> + +<p>Unable to understand the hidden meaning of the order, Adrian looks at +his lady askance, to find that, with eyes closed upon the sight of the +grinning faces, she is whispering prayers and fervently crossing +herself. When she turns to him again her face is almost serene.</p> + +<p>"They are going to drown us together; that is their republican +marriage of aristocrats," she says in soft English. "I had feared +worse. Thank heaven there is no time now for worse. We shall be firm +to the last, shall we not, cousin?"</p> + +<p>There is a pathetic smile on her worn weather-stained face, as the +cantineer and a corporal enter with ropes and proceed to pinion the +prisoners.</p> + +<p>But, as they are marched away once more under the slanting rain, are +forced into a worn-out boat and lashed face to face, her fortitude +melts apace.</p> + +<p>"There, my turtle-doves," sneers the truculent corporal, "another +kindness of the general. The Nantes way is back to back, but he +thought it would amuse you to see each other's grimaces."</p> + +<p>On the strand resounds the muffled roll of wet drums, announcing the +execution of national justice; with one blow of an axe the craft is +scuttled; a push from a gaff sends it spinning on the swift swollen +waters into the estuary. Adrian's lips are on her forehead, but she +lifts her face; her eyes now are haggard.</p> + +<p>"Adrian," she sobs, "you have forgiven me? I have your death on my +soul! Oh, Adrian, ... I could have loved you!"</p> + +<p>Helpless and palsied by the merciless ropes, she tries passionately to +reach her little mouth to his. A stream of fire rushes through his +brain—maddening frenzy of regret, furious clinging to escaping +life!—Their lips have met, but the sinking craft is full, and, with a +sudden lurch, falls beneath the eddies.... A last roll of the drums, +and the pinioned bodies of these lovers of a few seconds are silently +swirling under the waters of the Vilaine.</p> + +<p>And now the end of this poor life has come—with heart-breaking sorrow +of mind and struggle of body, overpowering horror at the writhings of +torture in the limbs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> lashed against his—and vainly he strives to +force his last breath into her hard-clenched mouth.</p> + +<p>Such was the end of Adrian Landale, aged twenty—the end that should +have been—The pity that it was not permitted!</p> + +<p>After the pangs of unwelcome death, the misery of unwelcome return to +life. Oh, René, René, too faithful follower; thou and the other true +men who, heedless of danger, hanging on the flanks of the victorious +enemy, never ceased to watch your lady from afar. You would have saved +her, could courage and faithfulness and cunning have availed! But, +since she was dead, René, would thou hadst left us to drift on to the +endless sea! How often have I cursed thee, good friend, who staked thy +life in the angry bore to snatch two spent bodies from its merciless +tossing. It was not to be endured, said you, that the remains of the +Lady of Savenaye should drift away unheeded, to be devoured by the +beasts of the sea! They now repose in sacred ground, and I live on! +Oh, hadst thou but reached us a minute later!—ah, God, or a minute +earlier!</p> + +<p>Rarely had Sir Adrian's haunting visions of the past assumed such +lurid reality. Rising in torment from the hearth to pace unceasingly +the length and breadth of the restful, studious room, so closely +secure from the outer turmoil of heaven and earth, he is once more +back in the unknown sea-cave, in front of the angry breakers. Slowly, +agonisingly, he is recalled to life through wheeling spaces of pain +and confusion, only that his bruised and smarting eyes may see the +actual proof of his own desolateness—a small, stark figure wrapped in +coarse sailcloth, which now two or three ragged, long-haired men are +silently lifting between them.</p> + +<p>He wonders, at first, vaguely, why the tears course down those wild, +dark faces; and then, as vainly he struggles to speak, and is gently +held down by some unknown hand, the little white bundle is gone, and +he knows that <i>there</i> was the pitiful relict of his love—that he will +never see her again!</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Sir Adrian halted in front of his seaward window, staring at the +driven rain, which bounded and plashed and spread<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> in minute torrents +down the glass, obscuring the already darkening vision of furious sea +and sky.</p> + +<p>The dog, that for some moments had shown an anxious restlessness in +singular concert with his master's, now rose at last to sniff beneath +the door. No sound penetrated the roar of the blast; but the old +retriever's uneasiness, his sharp, warning bark at length recalled Sir +Adrian's wandering thoughts to the present. And, walking up to the +door, he opened it.</p> + +<p>Oh, God! Had the sea given up its dead?</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian staggered back, fell on his knees and clapped his hands +together with an agonised cry:</p> + +<p>"Cécile...!"</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE WHEEL OF TIME</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i15">And to his eye<br /></span> +<span class="i8">There was but one beloved face on earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">And that was shining on him.<br /></span> +<span class="i25 smcap">Byron.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Upon the threshold she stood, looking in upon him with dark, luminous +eyes; round the small wet face tangles of raven hair fell limp and +streaming; dark raiments clung to her form, diapered with sand and +sea-foam, sodden with the moisture that dripped from them to the +floor; under the hem of her skirt one foot peered forth, shoeless in +its mud-stained stocking.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian stared up at her, his brain whirling with a frenzy of joy, +gripped in its soaring ecstasy by terror of the incomprehensible.</p> + +<p>On the wings of the storm and the wind had she come to him, his +love—across the awful barriers that divide life and death? Had his +longings and the clamour of his desolate soul reached her, after all +these years, in the far-beyond, and was her sweet ghost here to bid +him cease from them and let her lie at rest? Or, yet, had she come to +call him from the weary world that their souls might meet and be one +at last?... Then let her but lay her lips against his, as once in the +bitterness of death, that his sorely-tried heart may break with the +exquisite pang and he, too, may die upon their kiss.</p> + +<p>Swift such thoughts were tossing in the turmoil of his mind when the +vision smiled ... a young, rosy, living smile; and then reason, +memory, the wonder of her coming, the haunting of her grave went from +him; possessed by one single rapturous certainty he started up and +gathered the wet form into his strong arms—yet gently as if he feared +to crush the vision into void—and showered kisses on the wet face.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not death—but life! A beating heart beneath his; a lithe young form +under his hand, warm lips to his kisses, ... Merciful Heaven! Were, +then, these twenty years all an evil, fevered dream, and was he awake +at length?</p> + +<p>She turned her face from him after a moment and put her hand against +his breast to push him from her; and as she did so the wonder in the +lovely, familiar eyes turned to merriment, and the lips parted into +laughter.</p> + +<p>The sound of the girlish laughter broke the spell. Sir Adrian stepped +back, and passed his hand across his forehead with a dazed look.</p> + +<p>And still she laughed on.</p> + +<p>"Why, cousin Landale," she said, at length between the peals; "I came +to throw myself upon your kindness for shelter from the storm, but—I +had not anticipated such a reception."</p> + +<p>The voice, clear and sweet, with just a tinge of outlandish +intonation, struck Adrian to the heart.</p> + +<p>"I have not heard," he faltered, "that voice for twenty years...!"</p> + +<p>Then, coming up to her, he took her hands; and, drawing her towards +the firelight, scanned her features with eager, hungering eyes.</p> + +<p>"Do not think me mad, child," he said at last; "tell me who you +are—what has brought you here? Ah, God, at such a moment! Who is it," +he pursued, as if to himself, whilst still she smiled mockingly and +answered not; "who is it, then, since Cécile de Savenaye is dead—and +I am not dreaming—nor in fever? No vision either—this is flesh and +blood."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed," mocked the girl with another burst of merriment; "flesh +and blood, please, and very living! Why, cousin Landale, you that knew +Cécile de Savenaye so well have you forgotten two babes that were born +at your own house of Pulwick? I believe, 'tis true, I have somewhat +altered since you saw me last."</p> + +<p>And again the old room echoed to the unwonted sound of a girl's +laughter.</p> + +<p>Now was the hallucination clearing; but the reality evoked a new and +almost as poignant tenderness. Cécile—phantom of a life-time's love, +reborn in the flesh, young as on the last day of her earthly +existence, coming back into his life again, even the same as she had +left it! A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> second wonder, almost as sweet as the first! He clung to +it as one clings to the presence of a dream, and, joy unspeakable, the +dream did not melt away, but remained, smiling, beautiful, unchanged.</p> + +<p>"Cécile's daughter ..." he murmured: "Cécile's self again; but she was +not so tall, I think," and drew trembling, reverent hands from her +head to her straight young shoulders. And then he started, crying in a +changed voice:</p> + +<p>"How wet and cold you are! Come closer to the fire—sit you into this +chair, here, in the warmth."</p> + +<p>He piled up the hearth with faggots till the flames roared again. She +dropped into the proffered chair with a little shiver; now that he +recalled her to it, she was wet and cold too.</p> + +<p>He surveyed her with gathering concern.</p> + +<p>"My child," he began, and hesitated, continuing, after a short pause +of musing—for the thought struck him as strange—"I may call you so, +I suppose; I that am nearly old enough to be your father; my mind was +so unhinged by your sudden appearance, by the wonderful resemblance, +that I have neglected all my duties as host. You will suffer from +this—what shall we do to comfort you? Here, Jem, good dog! Call +René!"</p> + +<p>The old retriever who, concluding that the visitor was welcome, had +returned to his doze, here gathered his stiff limbs together, hobbled +out through the doorway to give two or three yelping barks at some +point on the stairs, and then crawl back to his cosy corner by the +hearth.</p> + +<p>The girl laughed again. It was all odd, new, exciting. Adrian looked +down at her. Cécile, too, had had a merry heart, even through peril +and misfortune.</p> + +<p>And now there were hasty steps upon the stairs, creaking above the +outer tumult of sea and wind; and, in accordance with the +long-established custom of summoning him, René appeared upon the +threshold, holding a pair of candles.</p> + +<p>At the sight of the figure sitting by the fire he halted, as if rooted +to the ground, and threw up his hands, each still clutching its +candle.</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle...!" he ejaculated. "Mademoiselle here!" Then, rapidly +recovering his quick wits, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> deposited his burden of light upon the +table, advanced towards the lady, made an uncouth but profound bow, +and turned to his master.</p> + +<p>"And this, your honour," he remarked, oracularly, and in his usual +manner of literal adaptation, "was also part of the news I had for +your honour from my last journey; but, my faith, I did not know how to +take myself to it, as your honour was so much occupied with old times +this evening. But I had seen Mademoiselle at the castle, as +Mademoiselle can tell you herself. And if your honour," he added, with +a look of astonishment, "will have the goodness to say how it is +possible that Mademoiselle managed to arrive here on our isle, in this +weather of all the devils—reverence speaking, and I humbly beg the +pardon of Mademoiselle for using such words—when it was with pain I +could land myself, and that before the storm—I should be grateful to +your honour. For I avow I cannot comprehend it at all. Ah, your +honour!" continued René, with an altered tone, "'tis a strange thing, +this!"</p> + +<p>The looks of master and man crossed suddenly, and in the frank blue +eyes of the Breton peasant, Sir Adrian read a reflex of his own +thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, more in answer to the look than to the exclamation, +"yes, it is a strange thing, friend."</p> + +<p>"And his Honour cannot read the riddle any more than you yourself, +René," quoth Mademoiselle de Savenaye, composedly from her corner; +"and, as for me, I can give no explanations until I am a little +warmer."</p> + +<p>"Why, truly," exclaimed Sir Adrian, striking his forehead, "we are a +very pair of dolts! Hurry, Renny, hurry, call up Margery, and bid her +bring some hot drink—tea, broth, or what she has—and blankets. Stay! +first fetch my furred cloak; quick, René, every moment is precious!"</p> + +<p>With all the agitation of a rarely excited man Sir Adrian threw more +wood on the fire, hunted for a cushion to place beneath her feet, and +then, seizing the cloak from René's hands, he helped her to rise, and +wrapped its ample folds round her as carefully as if she were too +precious almost to be touched.</p> + +<p>Thus enveloped she sank back in the great arm-chair with a cosy, +deliberate, kitten-like movement, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> stretched out her feet to the +blaze, laying the little shoeless one upon Jem's grey muzzle.</p> + +<p>Adrian knelt beside her, and began gently to chafe it with both hands. +And, as he knelt, silence fell between them, and the storm howled out +yonder; he heard her give a little sigh—that sigh which would escape +from Cécile's weariness in moments of rest, which had once been so +familiar and so pathetic a sound in his ear. And once more the power +of the past came over him; again he was upon the heath near Quiberon, +and Cécile was sitting by him and seeking warmth by the secret fire.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my darling," he murmured, "your poor little feet were so cold; +and yet you would not let me gather them to my breast." And, stooping +slowly, he kissed the pretty foot in its torn, stained stocking with a +passion he had not yet shown.</p> + +<p>The girl looked on with an odd little smile. It was a novel +experience, to inspire—even vicariously—such feelings as these; and +there was something not unpleasant in the sense of the power which had +brought this strange handsome man prostrate before her—a maidenly +tremor, too, in the sensation of those burning lips upon her feet.</p> + +<p>He raised his eyes suddenly, with the old expectation of a rebuff; and +then, at the sight of the youthful, curious face above him, betook +himself to sighing too; and, laying the little foot back tenderly upon +the cushion, he rose.</p> + +<p>From between the huge fur collar which all but covered her head, the +black eyes followed him as alertly as a bird's; intercepting the soft +melancholy of his gaze, she smiled at him, mischievous, confident, and +uncommunicative, and snuggled deeper into the fur.</p> + +<p>Leaning against the high mantel-board, he remained silent, brooding +over her; the clock ticked off solemnly the fleeting moments of the +wonderful hour; and ever and anon the dog drew a long breath of +comfort and stretched out his gaunt limbs more luxuriously to the +heat. After a while Sir Adrian spoke.</p> + +<p>"He who has hospitality to dispense," said he, smiling down at her +mutinous grace, "should never ask whence or how the guest came to his +hearth ... and yet—"</p> + +<p>She made a slight movement of laziness, but volunteered nothing; and +he continued, his look becoming more wistful as he spoke:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your having reached this rock, during such weather, is startling +enough; it is God's providence that there should live those in these +ruins who are able to give you succour. But that you should come in to +me at the moment you did—" He halted before the bold inquisitive +brightness of her eyes. "Some day perhaps you will let me explain," he +went on, embarrassed. "Indeed I must have seemed the most absolute +madman, to you. But he who thinks he sees one returned from death in +angry waters, may be pardoned some display of emotion."</p> + +<p>The girl sat up briskly and shook herself as if in protest against the +sadness of his smile and look.</p> + +<p>"I rise indeed from a watery grave," she said lightly, "or at least +from what should have been my grave, had I had my deserts for my +foolishness; as it has turned out I do not regret it now; though I +did, about midway."</p> + +<p>The red lips parted and the little teeth gleamed. "I have found such +kindness and welcome." She caressed the dog who, lazily, tried to lick +her hand. "It is all such an adventure; so much more amusing than +Pulwick; so much more interesting than ever I fancied it might be!"</p> + +<p>"Pulwick; you come from Pulwick?" said Sir Adrian musing; "true, René +has said it but just now. Yet, it is of a piece with the strangeness +of it all."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mademoiselle de Savenaye, once more collecting her cloak, +which her hurried movement had thrown off her shoulder. "Madelon and I +are now at Pulwick—I am Molly, cousin, please to remember—or rather +I am here, very warm now, and comfortable, and she is somewhere along +the shore—perhaps—she and John, as wet as drowned rats. Well, well, +I had best tell you the tale from the beginning, or else we never +shall be out of the labyrinth.—We started from Pulwick, for a ride by +the shore, Madelon and I. When we were on the strand it came on to +rain. There was smoke out of your chimney. I proposed a canter as far +as the ruins, for shelter. I knew very well Madelon would not follow; +but I threw poor Lucifer—you know Lucifer, Mr. Landale has reserved +him for me; of course you know Lucifer, I believe he belongs to you! +Well, I threw him along the causeway. John, he's the groom you know, +and Madelon, shrieked after me. But it was beautiful—this magnificent +tearing gallop in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> rain—I was not going to stop.—But when we +were half way, Lucifer and I, I saw suddenly that the foam seemed to +cover the sand in front of me. Then I pulled up quick and turned round +to look behind me. There was already a frightful wind, and the sand +and the rain blinded me almost, but there was no mistake—the sea was +running between the shore and me. Oh! my God! but I was frightened +then; I beat poor Lucifer until my whip broke, and he started away +with a will. But when his feet began to splash the water he too became +frightened and stopped. I did not know what to do; I pulled out my +broach to spur him with the pin, but, at the first prick I gave him, +he reared, and swerved and I fell right on my face in the froth. I got +up and began to run through the water; then I came to some stones and +I knew I was saved, though the water was up to my knees and rushing by +like a torrent. When I had clambered up the beach I thought again of +poor Lucifer. I looked about and saw him a little way off. He was +shaking and tossing his dear black head, and neighing, though I really +did not hear him, for the wind was in my ears; his body was stock +still, I could not see his legs.... And gradually he sank lower, and +lower, and lower, and at last the water passed over his head. Oh! it +was horrible, horrible!"</p> + +<p>The girl shuddered and her bright face clouded. After a moment she +resumed:</p> + +<p>"It was only then I thought of the moving sands they spoke of the +other day at Pulwick—and that was why Madelon and that poltroon groom +would not follow me! Yet perhaps they were wise, after all, for the +thought of being buried alive made me turn weak all of a sudden. My +knees shook and I had to sit down, although I knew I had passed +through the danger. But I was so sorry for poor Lucifer! I thought if +I had come down and led him, poor fellow, he might have come with me. +Death is so awful, so hideous; he was so full of life and carried me +so bravely, only a few minutes before! Is it not a shame that there +should be such a thing as death?" she cried, rebelliously, and looked +up at the man above her, whose face had grown white at the thought of +the danger she had barely escaped.</p> + +<p>"I waited," she resumed at length, "till I thought he must be quite +dead, there below, and came up to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> ruins, and looked for an +entrance. I knocked at some doors and called, but the wind was so +loud, no one heard. And then, at last, there was one door I could +open, so I entered and came up the stairs and startled you, as you +know. And that is how I came here and how Lucifer is drowned."</p> + +<p>As she finished her tale at last, she looked up at her companion. But +Sir Adrian, who had followed her with ever-deepening earnestness of +mien, remained silent; noticing which she added quickly and with a +certain tinge of defiance:</p> + +<p>"And now, no doubt, you are not quite so pleased as you seemed at +first with the apparition which has caused you the loss of one of your +best horses!"</p> + +<p>"Why child," cried Sir Adrian, "so that you be safe you might have +left all Pulwick at the bottom of the sands for me!" And René who +entered the room at that moment, heading the advance of Dame Margery +with the posset, here caught the extraordinary sound of a laugh on his +master's lips, and stepped back to chuckle to himself and rub his +hands.</p> + +<p>"Who would have believed that!" he muttered, "and I who was afraid to +tell his honour! Oh, yes, there are better times coming. Now in with +you, Mother Margery, see for yourself who is there."</p> + +<p>Holding in both hands a fragrant, steaming bowl, the old crone made +her slow entrance upon the scene, peering with dim eyes, and dropping +tremulous curtseys every two or three steps.</p> + +<p>"Renny towd me as you wanted summat hot for a lady," she began +cautiously; and then having approached near for recognition at last, +burst forth into a long-drawn cry!</p> + +<p>"Eh, you never says! Eh, dear o' me," and was fain to relinquish the +bowl to her fellow-servant who narrowly watching, dived forward just +in time to catch it from her, that she might clasp her aged hands +together once and again with ever-renewed gestures of astonishment. +"An' it were truth then, an' I that towd Renny to give over his +nonsense—I didn't believe it, I welly couldn't. Eh, Mester Adrian, +but she's like the poor lady that's dead and gone, the spit an' image +she is—e-eh, she is!"</p> + +<p>Molly de Savenaye laughed aloud, stretched out her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> hand for the bowl, +and began with dainty caution to sip its scalding contents.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear Margery," said the master, "we little thought what a +guest the sea would cast up at our doors to-night! and now we must do +our best for her; when she's finished your comforting mixture I shall +give her into your charge. You ought to put her to bed—it will not be +the first time."</p> + +<p>"Ah! it will not, and a troublesome child she was," replied Margery, +after the usual pause for the assimilation of his remark, turning to +the speaker from her palsied yet critical survey of her whilom +nursling.</p> + +<p>"And I'll see to her, never fear, I'll fettle up a room for her at +once—blankets is airing already, an' sheets, an' Renny he's seen to +the fire, so that as soon as Miss, here, is ready, I am."</p> + +<p>Upon which, dropping a last curtsey with an assumed dignity which +would have befitted a mistress of the robes, she took her departure, +leaving Adrian smiling with amusement at her specious manner of +announcing that his own bedroom—the only one available for the +purpose in the ruins—was being duly converted into a lady's bower.</p> + +<p>"It grieves me to think," mused he after a pause, while René still +bursting with ungratified curiosity, hung about the further end of the +room, "of the terrible anxiety they must be in about you at Pulwick, +and of our absolute inability to convey to them the good news of your +safety."</p> + +<p>The girl gave a little laugh, with her lips over the cup, and shrugged +her shoulders but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"My God, yes," quoth René cheerfully from his corner. "Notre Dame +d'Auray has watched over Mademoiselle to-day. She would not permit the +daughter to die like the mother. And now we have got her ladyship we +shall keep her too. This, if your honour remembers his sailor's +knowledge, looks like a three-days' gale."</p> + +<p>"You are right, I fancy," said Sir Adrian, going over to him and +looking out of the window. "Mademoiselle de Savenaye will have to take +up her abode in our lighthouse for a longer time than she bargained. I +do not remember hearing the breakers thunder in our cave so loud for +many years. I trust," continued the light-keeper, coming down to his +fair guest again, "that you may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> able to endure such rough +hospitality as ours must needs be!"</p> + +<p>"It has been much more pleasant and I feel far more welcome already +than at Pulwick," remarked Mademoiselle, between two deliberate sips, +and in no way discomposed, it seemed, at the prospect held out to her.</p> + +<p>"How?" cried Sir Adrian with a start, while the unwonted flush mounted +to his forehead, "you, not welcome at Pulwick! Have they not welcomed +a child of Cécile de Savenaye at Pulwick?... Thank God, then, for the +accident that has sent you to me!"</p> + +<p>The girl looked at him with an inquisitive smile in her eyes; there +was something on her lips which she restrained. Surrendering her cup, +she remarked demurely:</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was a lucky accident, was it not, that there was some one to +offer shelter to the outcast from the sea? It is like a tale of old. +It is delightful. Delightful, too, not to be drowned, safe and sound +... and welcome in this curious old place."</p> + +<p>She had risen and, as the cloak fell from her steaming garments, again +she shivered.</p> + +<p>"But you are right," she said, "I must go to bed, and get these damp +garments off. And so, my Lord of Scarthey, I will retire to my +apartments; my Lady in Waiting I see yonder is ready for me."</p> + +<p>With a quaint mixture of playfulness and gravity, she extended her +hand, and Adrian stooped and kissed it—as he had kissed fair Cécile +de Savenaye's rosy finger-tip upon the porch of Pulwick, twenty years +before.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>FOREBODINGS OF GLADNESS</h3> + + +<p>Molly de Savenaye in her improvised bedroom, wet as she was, could +hardly betake herself to disrobing, so amused was she in surveying the +fresh and romantic oddity of her surroundings, with their mixture of +barbarous rudeness and almost womanish refinement.</p> + +<p>Old Margery's fumbling hands were not nimble either, and it was long +since she had acted as attendant upon one of her own sex. And so the +matter progressed but slowly; but the speed of Margery's tongue was +apparently not affected by its length of service. It wagged +ceaselessly; the girl between her own moods of curious speculation +vouchsafing an amused, half-contemptuous ear.</p> + +<p>Presently, however, as the nurse's reminiscences wandered from the +less interesting topic of her own vicissitudes, the children she had +reared or buried, and the marvellous ailments she had endured, to an +account of those days when she had served the French Madam and her +babes, Molly, slowly peeling a clinging sleeve from her arm, turned a +more eager and attentive face to her.</p> + +<p>"Ah," quoth Margery, appraising her with blear eyes, "it's a queer +thing how ye favour your mother, miss. She had just they beautiful +shoulders and arms, as firm an' as white; but you're taller, I think, +and may be so, to speak, a stouter make altogether. Eh, dear, you were +always a fine child and the poor lady set a deal of store on you, she +did. She took you with her and left your sister with my Sally, when +she was trapesing up to London and back with Mester Adrian, ay, and me +with ye. And many the day that I wished myself safe at Pulwick! And I +mind the day she took leave of you, I do that, well."</p> + +<p>Here Dame Margery paused and shook her head solemnly, then pursued in +another key:</p> + +<p>"See now, miss, dear, just step out of they wet things, will ye now, +and let me put this hot sheet round ye?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I want to hear about myself," said Molly, gratefully wrapping the +hot linen round her young beauty, and beginning to rub her black locks +energetically. "Where was it my mother parted from me?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I'll tell you, miss. When Madam—we allus used to call her +Madam, ye know—was goin' her ways to the ship as was to take her to +France, I took you after her mysel' down to the shore that she might +have the very last of ye. Eh, I mind it as if it were yesterday. +Mester Adrian was to go with her—Sir Adrian, I should say, but he was +but Mester Adrian then—an' a two three more o' th' gentry as was all +fur havin' a share o' th' fightin'. Sir Thomas himsel' was theer—I +like as if I could see him now, poor owd gentleman, talkin' an' +laughin' very hard an' jov'al, an' wipin' 's e'en when he thought +nobody noticed. Eh, dear, yes! I could ha' cried mysel' to see th' +bonny young lady goin' off fro' her bairns. An' to think she niver +came back to them no more. Well, well! An' Mester Adrian too—such a +fine well-set-up young gentleman as he were—and <i>he</i> niver comed back +for ten year an' when he did, he was that warsened—" she stopped, +shook her head and groaned.</p> + +<p>"Well, but how about me, nurse," observed Molly, "what about <i>me</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Miss, please it was this way. Madam was wantin' a last look at her +bairn—eh, she did, poor thing! You was allus her favoryite, ye know, +miss—our Sally was wet-nurse to Miss Maddyline, but Madam had you +hersel'. Well, miss, I'd brought you well lapped up i' my shawl an' +William Shearman—that was Thomas Shearman's son, feyther to William +an' Tom as lives over yonder at Pulwick village—well, William was +standin' in 's great sea-boots ready to carry her through th' surf +into the boat; an' Mester Adrian—Sir Adrian, I mean—stood it might +be here, miss, an' there was Renny, an' yon were th' t'other gentry. +Well, Madam stopped an' took you out o' my arms, an' hugged you to her +breast—an' then she geet agate o' kissin' you—your head an' your +little 'ands. An' you was jumpin' an' crowin' in her arms—the wind +had blown your cap off, an' your little downy black hair was standing +back. (Just let me get at your hair now, miss, please—Eh! it's cruel +full of sand, my word, it is.)"</p> + +<p>"It's 'ard, when all's said an' done, to part wi' th' babe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> ye've +suckled, an' Madam, though there was niver nought nesh about 'er same +as there is about most women, an' specially ladies—she 'ad th' +mother's 'eart, she 'ad, miss, an when th' time coom for her to leave +th' little un, I could see, as it were, welly burstin'. There we stood +wi' th' wind blowin' our clothes an' our 'air, an' the waves roarin', +an' one bigger nor th' t'others ran up till th' foam reached Madam's +little feet, but she niver took no notice. Then all of a sudden she +gets th' notion that she'd like to take you with 'er, an' she turns +an' tells Mester Adrian so. 'She shall come with me,' she says, quite +sharp an' determined, an' makes a sign to William Shearman to carry +'em both over. 'No, no,' says Mester Adrian, 'quite impossible,' says +he, as wise as if he'd been an owd man i' stead o' nobbut a lad, ye +might say. 'It would be madness both for you an' th' child. Now,' he +says, very quiet an' gentle, 'if I might advise, I should say stay +here with the child.' Eh, I couldn't tell ye all he said, an' then Sir +Tummas coom bustlin' up, 'Do, now, my dear; think of it,' he says, +pattin' her o' th' hand. 'Stay with us,' he says, 'ye'll be welcome as +th' flowers in May!' An' there was Renny wi' 's 'at off, an' th' tears +pourin' down his face, beggin' an' prayin' Madam to stop—at least, I +reckoned that was what he were sayin' for it was all in 's own +outlandish gibberish. The poor lady! she'd look from one to th' +t'other an' a body a' must think she'd give in—an' then she'd +unbethink hersel' again. An' Sir Thomas, he'd say, 'Do now, my dear,' +an' then when she'd look at him that pitiful, he'd out wi' 's red +'andkercher an' frown over at Mester Adrian, an', says he, 'I wonder +ye can ax her!' Well, all of a sudden off went th' big gun in th' +ship—that was to let 'em know, miss, do ye see—an' up went Madam's +head, an' then th' wind fetched th' salt spray to her face, an' a kind +o' change came over her. She looked at the child, then across at the +ship—an' then she fair tossed ye back to me. Big William catched her +up in his arms just same as another bairn, an' carried her to the +boat."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Molly, gazing into the burning logs with brilliant eyes, +but speaking low, as if to herself, so that her attendant's deaf ears +failed to catch the meaning of the words. "Ah, that was life indeed! +Happy mother to have seen such life—though she did die young."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + +<p>"As ye say, miss," answered Margery, making a guess at the most likely +comment from a daughter's lips, "it was cruel hard—it was that. +'Come, make haste!' cries the other young gentlemen: my word, they +were in a hurry lest Madam happen to change her mind. I could welly +have laughed to see their faces when Mester Adrian were trying to +persuade her to stop at Pulwick, and let the men go alone. 'T wern't +for that they reckoned to go all that road to France, ye may think, +miss. Well, miss, in a few minutes they was all out i' the boat wi' +th' waves tossin' 'em—an' I stood watchin' with you i' my arms, +cryin' and kickin' out wi' your little legs, an' hittin' of me wi' +your little 'ands, same as if ye knowed summat o' what was agate, poor +lamb, an' was angry wi' me for keepin' ye. Then in a little while the +big, white sails o' th' ship went swellin' out an' soon it was gone. +An' that was th' last we saw o' Madam. A two-three year arter you an' +Miss Maddyline was fetched away, to France, as I've been towd. I doubt +you didn't so much as think there was such a place as Pulwick, though +many a one there minds how they dandled and played wi' you when you +was a wee bairn, miss."</p> + +<p>"Well, I am very glad to be back in England, anyhow," said Molly, +nimbly slipping into bed. "Oh, Margery, what delicious warm sheets, +and how good it is to be in bed alive, dry, and warm, after all!"</p> + +<p>A new atmosphere pervaded Scarthey that night. The peaceful monotony +of years, since the master of Pulwick had migrated to his "ruins," was +broken at last, and happily. A warm colour seemed to have crept upon +the hitherto dun and dull surroundings and brightened all the +prospects.</p> + +<p>At any rate René, over his busy work in the lantern, whistled and +hummed snatches of song with unwonted blithesomeness, and, after +lighting the steady watch-light and securing all his paraphernalia +with extra care, dallied some time longer than usual on the outer +platform, striving to snatch through the driven wraith a glance of the +distant lights of Pulwick. For there, in the long distance, ensconced +among the woods, stood a certain gate-lodge of greystone, much covered +with ivy, which sheltered, among other inmates, the gatekeeper's +blue-eyed, ripe and ruddy daughter—Dame Margery's pet grandchild.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + +<p>The idea of ever leaving the master—even for the sake of the +happiness to be found over yonder—was not one to be entertained by +René. But what if dreams of a return to the life of the world should +arise after to-day in the recluse's mind? Ah, the master's eyes had +been filled with light!... and had he not actually laughed?</p> + +<p>René peered again through the wind, but nothing could be seen of the +world abroad, save grey, tumbling waters foaming at the foot of the +islet; fretful waters coalescing all around with the driven, misty +air. A desolate view enough, had there been room for melancholy +thoughts in his heart.</p> + +<p>Blithely did he descend the steep wooden stairs from the roaring, +weather-beaten platform, to the more secure inhabited keep; and, +humming a satisfied tune, he entered upon Margery in her flaming +kitchen, to find the old lady intent on sorting out a heap of feminine +garments and spreading them before the fire.</p> + +<p>René took up a little shoe, sand-soiled and limp, and reverentially +rubbed it on his sleeve.</p> + +<p>"Well, mother," he said, cheerfully, "it is a long while since you had +to do with such pretty things. My faith, these are droll doings, +ah—and good, too! You will see, Mother Margery, there will be good +out of all this."</p> + +<p>But Margery invariably saw fit, on principle, to doubt all the +opinions of her rival.</p> + +<p>Eh, she didn't hold so much wi' wenches hersel', an' Mester Adrian, +she reckoned, hadn't come to live here all by himsel' to have visitors +breaking in on him that gate!</p> + +<p>"There be visitors <i>and</i> visitors, mother—I tell you, I who speak to +you, that his honour is happy."</p> + +<p>Margery, with a mysterious air, smoothed out a long silk stocking and +gave an additional impetus to the tremor Nature had already bestowed +upon her aged head.</p> + +<p>Well, it wasn't for her to say. She hoped and prayed there was nowt +bad a coomin' on the family again; but sich likenesses as that of Miss +to her mother was not lucky, to her minding; it was not. Nowt good had +come to Mester Adrian from the French Madam. Ah, Mester Adrian had +been happy like with her too, and she had taken him away from his +home, an' his people, an' sent him back wi'out 's soul in the end.</p> + +<p>"And now her daughter has come to give it him back,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> retorted René, +as he fell to, with a zest, on the savoury mess he had concocted for +his own supper.</p> + +<p>"Eh, well, I hope nowt bad's i' the road," said Margery with senile +iteration. "They do say no good ever comes o' saving bodies from +drowning; not that one 'ud wish the poor Miss to have gone into the +sands—an' she the babby I weaned too!"</p> + +<p>René interrupted her with a hearty laugh. "Yes, every one knows it +carries misfortune to save people from the drowning, but there, you +see, her ladyship, she saved herself—so that ought to bring good +fortune. Good-night, Mother Margery, take good care of the lady.... +Ah, how I wish I had the care of her!" he added simply, and, seizing +his lantern, proceeded to ascend once more to his post aloft.</p> + +<p>He paused once on his way, in the loud sighing stairs, struck with a +fresh aspect of the day's singular events—a quaint thought, born of +his native religious faith: The Lady, the dear Mistress had just +reached Heaven, no doubt, and had straightway sent them the young one +to console and comfort them. Eh bien! they had had their time of +Purgatory too, and now they might be happy.</p> + +<p>Pleasant therefore were René's musings, up in the light watcher's +bunk, underneath the lantern, as, smoking a pipe of rest, he listened +complacently to the hissing storm around him.</p> + +<p>And in the master's sleeping chamber beneath him, now so curiously +turned into a feminine sanctum, pleasant thoughts too, if less formed, +and less concerned with the future, lulled its dainty occupant to +rest.</p> + +<p>Luxuriously stretched between the warm lavender-scented sheets, +watching from her pillow the leaping fire on the hearth, Miss Molly +wondered lazily at her own luck; at the many possible results of the +day's escapade; wondered amusedly whether any poignant sorrow—except, +indeed poor Madeleine's tears—for her supposed demise, really +darkened the supper party at Pulwick this evening; wondered agreeably +how the Lord of the Ruined Castle would meet her on the morrow, after +his singular reception of her this day; how long she would remain in +these romantic surroundings and whether she would like them as well at +the end of the visitation.</p> + +<p>And as the blast howled with increasing rage, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> cold night drew +closer on, and the great guns in the sea-cave boomed more angrily with +the risen tide, she dimly began to dwell upon the thought of poor +Lucifer being sucked deeper into his cold rapacious grave, whilst she +was held in the warm embrace of a man whose eyes were masterful and +yet gentle, whose arm was strong, whose kisses were tender.</p> + +<p>And in the delight of the contrast, Mademoiselle de Savenaye fell into +the profound slumber of the young and vigorous.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE PATH OF WASTED YEARS</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">And I only think of the woman that weeps;<br /></span> +<span class="i8">But I forget, always forget, the smiling child.<br /></span> +<span class="i20"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>That night, even when sheer fatigue had subdued the currents of blood +and thought that surged in his head, Sir Adrian was too restless to +avail himself of the emergency couch providently prepared by René in a +corner. But, ceasing his fretful pacing to and fro, he sat down in the +arm-chair by the hearth where she had sat—the waif of the +sea—wrapped round him the cloak that had enfolded the young body, +hugging himself in the salt moisture the fur still retained, to spend +the long hours in half-waking, firelight dreams.</p> + +<p>And every burst of tempest rage, every lash of rain at the window, +every thud of hurricane breaking itself on impassable ramparts, and +shriek of baffled winds searching the roofless halls around, found a +strangely glad echo in his brain—made a sort of burden to his +thoughts:</p> + +<p>Heap up the waters round this happy island, most welcome winds—heap +them up high and boiling, and retain her long captive in these lonely +ruins!</p> + +<p>And ever the image in his mind's eye was, as before, Cécile—Cécile +who had come back to him, for all sober reason knew it was but the +child.</p> + +<p>The child——! Why had he never thought of the children these weary +years? They, all that remained of Cécile, were living and might have +been sought. Strange that he had not remembered him of the children!</p> + +<p>Twenty years since he had last set eyes upon the little living +creature in her mother's arms. And the picture that the memory evoked +was, after all, Cécile again, only Cécile—not the queer little +black-eyed puppet, even then associated with sea-foam and salty +breeze. Twenty years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> during which she was growing and waxing in +beauty, and unawares, maturing towards this wonderful meeting—and he +had never given a thought to her existence.</p> + +<p>In what sheltered ways had this fair duplicate of his love been +growing from a child to womanhood during that space of life, so long +to look back upon—or so short and transient, according to the mood of +the thinker?</p> + +<p>And, lazily, in his happier and tender present mood he tried to +measure once again the cycles of past discontent, this time in terms +of the girl's own lifetime.</p> + +<p>It is bitter in misery to recall past misery—almost as bitter, for +all Dante's cry, as to dwell on past happiness. But, be the past +really dead, and a new and better life begun, the scanning back of a +sombre existence done with for ever, may bring with it a kind of +secret complacency.</p> + +<p>Truly, mused Sir Adrian, for one who ever cherished ideal aspirations, +for the student, the "man of books" (as his father had been +banteringly wont to term him), worshipper of the muses, intellectual +Epicurean, and would-be optimist philosopher, it must be admitted he +had strangely dealt, and been dealt with, since he first beheld that +face, now returned to light his solitude! Ah, God bless the child! +Pulwick at least nursed it warmly, whilst unhappy Adrian, ragged and +degraded into a mere fighting beast, roamed through the Marais with +Chouan bands, hunted down by the merciless revolutionists, like +vermin; falling, as months of that existence passed over him, from his +high estate to the level of vermin indeed; outlawed, predatory, +cunning, slinking, filthy—trapped at last, the fit end of vermin!</p> + +<p>Scarcely better the long months of confinement in the hulks of +Rochelle. How often he had regretted it, then, not to have been one of +the chosen few who, the day after capture, stood in front of six +levelled muskets, and were sped to rest in some unknown charnel! +Then!—not now. No, it was worth having lived to this hour, to know of +that fair face, in living sleep upon his pillow, under the safeguard +of his roof.</p> + +<p>Good it was, that he had escaped at last, though with the blood of one +of his jailors red upon his hands; the blood of a perhaps innocent +man, upon his soul. It was the only time he had taken a life other +than in fair fight, and the thought of it had been wont to fill him +with a sort<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> of nausea; but to-night, he found he could face it, not +only without remorse, but without regret. He was glad he had listened +to René's insidious whispers—René, who could not endure the captivity +to which his master might, in time, have fallen a passive, hopeless +slave, and yet who would have faced a thousand years of it rather than +escape alone—the faithful heart!</p> + +<p>Yes, it was good, and he was glad of it, or time would not have come +when she (stay, how old was the child then?—almost three years, and +still sheltered and cherished by the house of Landale)—when she would +return, and gladden his eyes with a living sight of Cécile, while René +watched in his tower above; ay, and old Margery herself lay once more +near the child she had nursed.</p> + +<p>Marvellous turn of the wheel of fate!</p> + +<p>But, who had come for the children, and where had they been taken? To +their motherland, perhaps; even it might have been before he himself +had left it; or yet to Ireland, where still dwelt kinsfolk of their +blood? Probably it was at the breaking up of the family, caused by the +death of Sir Thomas, that these poor little birds had been removed +from the nest, that had held them so safe and close.</p> + +<p>That was in '97, in the yellow autumn of which year Adrian Landale, +then French fisherman, parted from his brother René L'Apôtre upon the +sea off Belle Isle; parted one grizzly dawn after embracing, as +brothers should. Oh, the stealthy cold of that blank, cheerless +daybreak, how it crept into the marrow of his bones, and chilled the +little energy and spirits he had left! For a whole year they had +fruitlessly sought some English vessel, to convey this English +gentleman back to his native land. He could remember how, at the +moment of separation, from the one friend who had loved both him and +her, his heart sank within him—remember how he clambered from aboard +the poor little smack, up the forbidding sides of the English brig; +how René's broken words had bidden God bless him, and restore him +safely home (home!); remember how swiftly the crafts had moved apart, +the mist, the greyness and desolateness; the lapping of the waters, +the hoarse cries of the seamen, all so full of heart-piercing +associations to him, and the last vision of René's simple face, with +tears pouring down it, and his open mouth spasmodically trying to give +out a hearty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> cheer, despite the sobs that came heaving up to it. How +little the simple fellow dreamed of what bitterness the future was yet +holding for his brother and master, to end in these reunions at last!</p> + +<p>The vessel which had taken Adrian Landale on board, in answer to the +frantic signals of the fishing-smack, that had sailed from Belle Isle +obviously to meet her, proved to be a privateer, bound for the West +Indies, but cruising somewhat out of her way, in the hope of outgoing +prizes from Nantes.</p> + +<p>The captain, who had been led to expect something of importance from +the smack's behaviour, in high dudgeon at finding that so much bustle +and waste of time was only to burden him with a mere castaway seeking +a passage home—one who, albeit a countryman, was too ragged and +disreputable in looks to be trusted in his assurances of +reward—granted him indeed the hospitality of his ship, but on the +condition of his becoming a hand in the company during the forthcoming +expedition.</p> + +<p>There was a rough measure of equity in the arrangement, and Adrian +accepted it. The only alternative, moreover, would have been a jump +overboard. And so began a hard spell of life, but a few shades removed +from his existence among the Chouan guerillas; a predatory cruise +lasting over a year, during which the only changes rung in the gamut +of its purpose were the swooping down, as a vulture might, upon +unprotected ships; flying with superior speed from obviously stronger +crafts; engaging, with hawk-like bravery, everything afloat that +displayed inimical colours, if it offered an equal chance of fight.</p> + +<p>And this for more than a year, until the privateer, much battered, but +safe, despite her vicissitudes made Halifax for refitting. Here, at +the first suitable port she had touched, Adrian claimed and obtained +his release from obligations which made his life almost unendurable.</p> + +<p>Then ensued a period of the most absolute penury; unpopular with most +of his messmates for his melancholy taciturnity, despised by the more +brutal as one who had as little stomach for a carouse as for a bloody +fight, he left the ship without receiving, or even thinking of his +share of prize-money. And he had to support existence with such mean +mechanical employment as came in his way, till an opportunity was +offered of engaging<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> himself as seaman, again from sheer necessity, on +a homeward-bound merchantman—an opportunity which he seized, if not +eagerly, for there was no eagerness left in him, yet under the +pressure of purpose.</p> + +<p>Next the long, slowly plodding, toilsome, seemingly eternal course +across the ocean.</p> + +<p>But even a convoy, restricted to the speed of its slowest member, if +it escape capture or natural destruction, must meet the opposite shore +at length, and the last year of the century had lapsed in the even +race of time when, after many dreary weeks, on the first of January +1801, the long low lines of sandhills on the Lancastrian coast loomed +in sight. The escort drew away, swiftly southwards, as if in joyful +relief from the tedious task, leaving the convoy to enter the Mersey, +safe and sound.</p> + +<p>That evening Adrian, the rough-looking and taciturn sailor, set foot, +for a short while, on his native land, after six years of an exile +which had made of him at five and twenty a prematurely aged and +hopelessly disillusioned man.</p> + +<p>And Sir Adrian, as he mused, wrapped in the honoured fur cloak, with +eyes half closed, by his sympathetic fire, recalled how little of joy +this return had had for him. It was the goal he had striven to reach, +and he had reached it, that was all; nay, he recalled how, when at +hand, he had almost dreaded the actual arrival home, dreaded, with the +infinite heart-sickness of sorrow, the emotions of the family welcome +to one restored from such perils by flood and field—if not indeed +already mourned for and forgotten—little wotting how far that return +to Pulwick, that seemed near and certain, was still away in the dim +future of life.</p> + +<p>Yet, but for the fit of hypochondriacal humour which had fallen black +upon him that day of deliverance and made him yearn, with an intensity +increasing every moment, to separate himself from his repugnant +associates and haste the moment of solitude and silence, he might have +been rescued, then and for ever, from the quagmire in which perverse +circumstances had enslaved him.</p> + +<p>"Look'ee here, matey," said one of his fellow-workers to him, in a +transient fit of good-fellowship which the prospect of approaching +sprees had engendered in him even towards one whom all on board had +felt vaguely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> to be of a different order, and disliked accordingly, +"you don't seem to like a jolly merchantman—but, maybe, you wouldn't +take more kindly to a man-o'-war. Do you see that there ship?—a +frigate she is; and, whenever there's a King's ship in the Mersey that +means that it's more wholesome for the likes of us to lie low. You +take a hint, matey, and don't be about Liverpool to-night, or until +she's gone. Now, I know a crib that's pretty safe, Birkenhead way; +Mother Redcap's, we call it—no one's ever been nabbed at Mother +Redcap's, and if you'll come along o' me—why then if you won't, go +your way and be damned to you for a——"</p> + +<p>This was the parting of Adrian Landale from his fellow-workers. The +idea of spending even one night more in that atmosphere of rum and +filth, in the intimate hearing of blasphemous and obscene language, +was too repulsive to be entertained, and he had turned away from the +offer with a gesture of horror.</p> + +<p>With half a dozen others, in whose souls the attractions of the town +at night proved stronger than the fear of the press party, he +disembarked on the Lancashire side, and separating from his +companions, for ever, as he thought, ascended the miserable lanes +leading from the river to the upper town.</p> + +<p>His purpose was to sleep in one of the more decent hotels, to call the +next day for help at the banking-house with which the Landales had +dealt for ages past, and thence to take coach for Pulwick. But he had +planned without taking reck of his circumstances. No hotel of repute +would entertain this weather-beaten common sailor in the meanest of +work-stained clothes. After failing at various places even to obtain a +hearing, being threatened with forcible ejectment, derisively referred +to suitable cribs in Love Lane or Tower Street, he gave up the +attempt; and, in his usual dejection of spirit, intensified by +unavowed and unreasonable anger, wandered through the dark streets, +brooding. Thus aimlessly wandering, the remembrance of his young +Utopian imaginings came back to him to mock him. Dreams of universal +brotherhood, of equality, of harmony. He had already seen the apostles +of equality and brotherhood at work—on the banks of the Vilaine. And +realising how he himself, now reduced to the lowest level in the +social<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> scale, hunted with insult from every haunt above that level, +yet loathed and abhorred the very thought of associating again with +his recent brothers in degradation, he laughed a laugh of bitter +self-contempt.</p> + +<p>But the night was piercing cold; and, in time, the question arose +whether the stench and closeness of a riverside eating-house would not +be more endurable than the cutting wind, the sleet, and the sharper +pangs of hunger.</p> + +<p>His roaming had brought him once more to that quarter of the town +"best suited to the likes of him," according to the innkeeper's +opinion, and he found himself actually seeking a house of +entertainment in the slimy, ill-lighted narrow street, when, from out +the dimness, running towards him, with bare feet paddling in the +sludge, came a slatternly girl, with unkempt wisps of red hair hanging +over her face under the tartan shawl.</p> + +<p>"Run, run, Jack," she cried, hoarsely, as she passed by breathless, +"t' gang's comin' up...."</p> + +<p>A sudden loathly fear seized Adrian by the heart. He too, took to his +heels by the side of the slut with all the swiftness his tired frame +could muster.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to warn my Jo," she gasped, as, jostling each other, they +darted through a maze of nameless alleys.</p> + +<p>And then as, spent with running, they emerged at last into a broader +street, it was to find themselves in the very midst of another party +of man-of-war's men, whose brass belt-buckles glinted under the +flickering light of the oil-lamp swinging across the way.</p> + +<p>Adrian stopped dead short and looked at the girl in mute reproach.</p> + +<p>"May God strike me dead," she screamed, clapping her hands together, +"if I knew the bloody thieves were there! Oh, my bonny lad, I meant to +save ye!" And as her words rang in the air two sailors had Adrian by +the collar and a facetious bluejacket seized her round the waist with +hideous bantering.</p> + +<p>A very young officer, wrapped up in a cloak, stood a few paces apart +calmly looking on. To him Adrian called out in fierce, yet anguished, +expostulation:</p> + +<p>"I am a free and independent subject, sir, an English gentleman. I +demand that you order your men to release me. For heaven's sake," he +added, pleadingly, "give me but a moment's private hearing!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>A loud guffaw rang through the group. In truth, if appearances make +the gentleman, Adrian was then but a sorry specimen.</p> + +<p>The officer smiled—the insufferable smile of a conceited boy raised +to authority.</p> + +<p>"I can have no possible doubt of your gentility, sir," he said, with +mocking politeness, and measuring, under the glimmering light, first +the prisoner, from head to foot, and then the girl who, scratching and +blaspheming, vainly tried to make her escape; "but, sir, as a +free-born English gentleman, it will be your duty to help his Majesty +to fight his French enemies. Take the English gentleman along, my +lads!"</p> + +<p>A roar of approbation at the officer's facetiousness ran through the +party.</p> + +<p>"An' his mother's milk not dry upon his lips," cried the girl, with a +crow of derisive fury, planting as she spoke a sounding smack on a +broad tanned face bent towards her. The little officer grew pink. +"Come, my men, do your duty," he thundered, in his deepest bass.</p> + +<p>A rage such as he never had felt in his life suddenly filled Adrian's +whole being. He was a bigger man than any of the party, and the rough +life that fate had imposed on him, had fostered a strength of limb +beyond the common. A thrust of his knee prostrated one of his captors, +a blow in the eye from his elbow staggered the other; the next instant +he had snatched away the cutlass which a third was drawing, and with +it he cleared, for a moment, a space around him.</p> + +<p>But as he would have bounded into freedom, a felling blow descended on +his head from behind, a sheet of flame spread before his eyes, and +behind this blaze disappeared the last that Adrian Landale was to see +of England for another spell of years.</p> + +<p>When he came back to his senses he was once more on board ship—a +slave, legally kidnapped; degraded by full and proper warrant from his +legitimate status for no crime that could even be invented against +him; a slave to be retained for work or war at his master's pleasure, +liable like a slave to be flogged to death for daring to assert his +light of independence.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>The memory of that night's doing and of the odious bond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>age to which +it was a prelude, rarely failed to stir the gall of resentment in Sir +Adrian; men of peaceable instincts are perhaps the most prone to the +feeling of indignation.</p> + +<p>But, to-night, a change had come over the spirit of his dreams; he +could think of that past simply as the past—the period of time which +would have had to be spent until the advent of the wonder-working +present: these decrees of Fate had had a purpose. Had the past, by one +jot, been different, the events of this admirable day might never have +been.</p> + +<p>The glowing edifice on the hearth collapsed with a darting of sudden +flame and a rolling of red cinders. Sir Adrian rose to rebuild his +fire for the night; and, being once roused, was tempted by the +ruddiness of the wine, glinting under the quiet rays of the lamp, to +advance to the table and partake of his forgotten supper.</p> + +<p>The calm atmosphere, the warmth and quiet of the room, in which he +broke his bread and sipped his wine, whilst old Jem stretched by the +hearth gazed at him with yellow up-turned eyes full of lazy inquiry +concerning this departure from the usual nightly regularity; the +serene placidity of the scene indoors as contrasting with the angry +voices of elements without, answered to the peace—the strange +peace—that filled the man's soul, even in the midst of such +uncongenial memories as now rose up before him in vivid concatenation.</p> + +<p>She was then five years old. Where was she, when he began that +seemingly endless cruise with the frigate <i>Porcupine</i>? He tried to +fancy a Cécile five years old—a chubby, curly-headed mite, nursing +dolls and teasing kittens, whilst he was bullied and browbeaten by +coarse petty officers, shunned and hated by his messmates, and flogged +at length by a tyrannizing captain for obduracy—but he could only see +a Cécile in the spring of womanhood, nestling in the arm-chair yonder +by the fire and looking up at him from the folds of a fur cloak.</p> + +<p>She was seven years old when he was flogged. Ah, God! those had been +days! And yet, in the lofty soul of him he had counted it no disgrace; +and he had been flogged again, ay, and a third time for that obstinate +head that would not bend, that obstinate tongue that would persist in +demanding restitution of liberty. The life on board the privateer had +been a matter of bargain;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> he had bartered also labour and obedience +with the merchantman for the passage home, but the king had no right +to compel the service of a free man!</p> + +<p>She was but twelve years old when he was finally released from +thraldom—it had only lasted four years after all; yet what a cycle +for one of his temper! Four years with scarce a moment of +solitude—for no shore-leave was ever allowed to one who openly +repudiated any service contract: four years of a life, where the sole +prospect of change was in these engagements, orgies of carnage, so +eagerly anticipated by officers and men alike, including himself, +though for a reason little suspected by his companions. But even the +historic sea-fights of the <i>Porcupine</i>, so far as they affected Adrian +Landale, formed in themselves a chain of monotony. It was ever the +same hurling of shot from ship to ship, the same fierce exchange of +cutlass-throws and pike-pushes between men who had never seen each +other before; the same yelling and execrations, sights, sounds, and +smells ever the same in horror; the same cheers when the enemy's +colours were lowered, followed by the same transient depression; the +cleansing of decks from stains of powder and mire of human blood, the +casting overboard of human bodies that had done their life's work, +broken waste and other rubbish. For weeks Adrian after would taste +blood, smell blood, dream blood, till it seemed in his nausea that all +the waters of the wide clean seas could never wash the taint from him +again. And before the first horrid impressions had time to fade, the +next occasion would have come round again: it was not the fate of +Adrian Landale that either steel or shot, or splintered timber or +falling tackles should put an end to his dreary life, welcome as such +an end would have been to him then.</p> + +<p>Then ... but not now. Remembering now his unaccountable escape from +the destruction which had swept from his side many another whose +eagerness for the fray had certes not sprung, like his own, from a +desire to court destruction, he shuddered. And there arose in his mind +the trite old adage:</p> + +<p> +"Man proposeth..."<br /> +</p> + +<p>God had disposed otherwise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was not destined that Adrian Landale should be shot on the high +seas any more than he should be drowned in the rolling mud of the +Vilaine—he was reserved for this day as a set-off to all the +bitterness that had been meted out to him; he was to see the image of +his dead love rise from the sea once more. And, meanwhile, his very +despair and sullenness had been turned to his good. It would not be +said, if history should take count of the fact, that while the Lord of +Pulwick had served four years before the mast, he had ever disgraced +his name by cowardice....</p> + +<p>Whether such reasonings were in accordance even with the most +optimistic philosophy, Sir Adrian himself at other times might have +doubted. But he was tender in thought this stormy night, with the +grateful relaxation that a happy break brings in the midst of +long-drawn melancholy.</p> + +<p>Everything had been working towards this end—that he should be the +light-keeper of Scarthey on the day when out of the raging waters +Cécile would rise and knock and ask for succour at his chamber.</p> + +<p>Cécile! pshaw!—raving again.</p> + +<p>Well, the child! Where was she on the day of the last engagement of +that pugnacious <i>Porcupine</i>, in the year 1805, when England was freed +from her long incubus of invasion? She was then twelve.</p> + +<p>It had seemed if nothing short of a wholesale disaster could terminate +that incongruous existence of his.</p> + +<p>The last action of the frigate was a fruitless struggle against +fearful odds. After a prolonged fight with an enemy as dauntless as +herself, with two-thirds of her ship's company laid low, and commanded +at length by the youngest lieutenant, she was tackled as the sun went +low over the scene of a drawn battle, by a fresh sail errant; and, had +it not been for a timely dismasting on board the new-comer, would have +been captured or finally sunk then and there. But that fate was only +held in reserve for her. Bleeding and disabled, she had drawn away +under cover of night from her two hard-hit adversaries, to encounter a +squall that further dismantled her, and, in such forlorn conditions, +was met and finally conquered by the French privateer <i>Espoir de +Brest</i>, that pounced upon her in her agony as the vulture upon his +prey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> + +<p>Among the remainder of the once formidable crew, now seized and +battened down under French hatches, was of course Adrian Landale—he +bore a charmed life. And for a short while the only change probable in +his prospects was a return to French prisons, until such time as it +pleased Heaven to restore peace between the two nations.</p> + +<p>But the fortune of war, especially at sea, is fickle and fitful.</p> + +<p>The daring brig, lettre de marque, <i>L'Espoir de Brest</i>, soon after her +unwonted haul of English prisoners, was overtaken herself by one of +her own species, the <i>St. Nicholas</i> of Liverpool, from whose swiftness +nothing over the sea, that had not wings, could hope to escape if she +chose to give the chase.</p> + +<p>Again did Adrian, from the darkness among his fellow-captives, hear +the familiar roar and crash of cannon fight, the hustling and the thud +of leaping feet, the screams and oaths of battle, and, finally, the +triumphant shouts of English throats, and he knew that the Frenchman +was boarded. A last ringing British cheer told of the Frenchman's +surrender, and when he and his comrades were once more free to breathe +a draught of living air, after the deathly atmosphere under hatches, +Adrian learned that the victor was not a man-of-war, but a free-lance, +and conceived again a faint hope that deliverance might be at hand.</p> + +<p>It was soon after this action, last of the fights that Adrian the +peace-lover had to pass through, and as the two swift vessels, now +sailing in consort, and under the same colours cleaved the waters, +bound for the Mersey, that a singular little drama took place on board +the <i>Espoir de Brest</i>.</p> + +<p>Among the younger officers of the English privateer, who were left in +charge of the prize, was a lad upon whom Adrian's jaded eyes rested +with a feeling of mournful sympathy, so handsome was he, and so young; +so full of hope and spirits and joy of life, of all, in fact, of which +he himself had been left coldly bare. Moreover, the ring of the merry +voice, the glint of the clear eye awakened in his memory some fitful +chord, the key of which he vainly sought to trace.</p> + +<p>One day, as the trim young lieutenant stood looking across the waters, +with his brave eager gaze that seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> to have absorbed some of the +blue-green shimmer of the element he loved, all unnoting the haggard +sailor at his elbow, a sudden flourish of the spy-glass which he, with +an eager movement, swung up to bear on some distant speck, sent his +watch and seals flying out of his fob upon the deck at Adrian's feet.</p> + +<p>Adrian picked them up, and as he waited to restore them to their +owner, who tarried some time intent on his distant peering, he had +time to notice the coat and crest engraved upon one of the massive +trinkets hanging from their black ribbons.</p> + +<p>When at last the officer lowered his telescope, Adrian came forward +and saluted him with a slight bow, all unconsciously as unlike the +average Jack Tar's scrape to his superior as can be well imagined:</p> + +<p>"Am I not," he asked, "addressing in you, sir, one of the Cochranes of +the Shaws?"</p> + +<p>The question and the tone from a common sailor were, of course, enough +to astonish the young man. But there must be more than this, as Adrian +surmised, to cause him to blush, wax angry, and stammer like a very +school-boy found at fault. Speaking with much sharpness:</p> + +<p>"My name is Smith, my man," cried he, seizing his belongings, "and +you—just carry on with that coiling!"</p> + +<p>"And my name, sir, is Adrian Landale, of Pulwick Priory. I would like +a moment's talk with you, if you will spare me the time. The Cochranes +of the Shaws have been friends of our family for generations."</p> + +<p>A guffaw burst from a group of Adrian's mates working hard by, at this +recurrence of what had become with them a standing joke; but the +officer, who had turned on his heels, veered round immediately, and +stood eyeing the speaker in profound astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Great God, is it possible! Did you say you were a Landale of Pulwick? +How the devil came you here then, and thus?"</p> + +<p>"Press-gang," was Adrian's laconic answer.</p> + +<p>The lad gave a prolonged whistle, and was lost for a moment in +cogitation.</p> + +<p>"If you are really Mr. Landale," he began, adding hastily, as if to +cover an implied admission—"of course I have heard the name: it is +well known in Lancashire—you had better see the skipper. It must have +been some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> damnable mistake that has caused a man of your standing to +be pressed."</p> + +<p>The speaker ended with almost a deferential air and the smile that had +already warmed Adrian's heart. At the door of the Captain's quarters +he said, with the suspicion of a twinkle in his eye:</p> + +<p>"A curious error it was you made, I assure you my name is Smith—Jack +Smith, of Liverpool."</p> + +<p>"An excusable error," quoth Adrian, smiling back, "for one of your +seals bear unmistakably the arms of Cochrane of the Shaws, doubtless +some heirloom, some inter-marriage."</p> + +<p>"No, sir, hang it!" retorted Mr. Jack Smith of Liverpool, his boyish +face flushing again, and as he spoke he disengaged the trinket from +its neighbours, and jerked it pettishly overboard, "I know nothing of +your Shaws or your Cochranes."</p> + +<p>And then he rapped loudly at the cabin-door, as if anxious to avoid +further discussion or comment on the subject.</p> + +<p>The result of the interview which followed—interview during which +Adrian in a few words overcame the skipper's scepticism, and was +bidden with all the curiosity men feel at sea for any novelty, to +relate, over a bottle of wine, the chain of his adventures—was his +passing from the forecastle to the officers' quarters, as an honoured +guest on board the <i>St. Nicholas</i>, during the rest of her cruise.</p> + +<p>Thinking back now upon the last few weeks of his sea-going life, Sir +Adrian realised with something of wonder that he had always dwelt on +them without dislike. They were gilded in his memory by the rays of +his new friendship.</p> + +<p>And yet that this young Jack Smith (to keep for him the nondescript +name he had for unknown reasons chosen to assume) should be the first +man to awaken in the misanthropic Adrian the charm of human +intercourse, was singular indeed; one who followed from choice the +odious trade of legally chartered corsair, who was ever ready to +barter the chance of life and limb against what fortune might bring in +his path, to sacrifice human life to secure his own end of enrichment.</p> + +<p>Well, the springs of friendship are to be no more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>discerned than +those of love; there was none of high or low degree, with the +exception of René, whose appearance at any time was so welcome to the +recluse upon his rock, as that of the privateersman.</p> + +<p>And so, turning to his friend in to-night's softened mood, Sir Adrian +thought gratefully that to him it was that he owed deliverance from +the slavery of the King's service, that it was Jack Smith who had made +it possible for Adrian Landale to live to this great day and await its +coming in peace.</p> + +<p>The old clock struck two; and Jem shivered on the rug as the +light-keeper rose at length from the table and sank in his arm-chair +once more.</p> + +<p>Visions of the past had been ever his companions; now for the first +time came visions of the future to commingle with them. As if caught +up in the tide of his visitor's bright young life, it seemed as though +he were passing at length out of the valley of the shadow of death.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>René, coming with noiseless bare feet, in the angry yellow dawn of the +second day of the storm, to keep an eye on his master's comfort, found +him sleeping in his chair with a new look of rest upon his face and a +smile upon his lips.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> +<hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>A GENEALOGICAL EPISTLE</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12">... and braided thereupon<br /></span> +<span class="i8">All the devices blazoned on the shield,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">In their own tinct, and added, of her wit,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">A border fantasy of branch and flower.<br /></span> +<span class="i20"><i>Idylls of the King.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Pulwick Priory, the ancestral home of the Cumbrian Landales, a +dignified if not overpoweringly lordly mansion, rises almost on the +ridge of the green slope which connects the high land with the sandy +strand of Morecambe; overlooking to the west the great brown breezy +bight, whilst on all other sides it is sheltered by its wooded park.</p> + +<p>When the air is clear, from the east window of Scarthey keep, the tall +garden front of greystone is visible, in the extreme distance, against +the darker screen of foliage; whitely glinting if the sun is high; +golden or rosy at the end of day.</p> + +<p>As its name implies, Pulwick Priory stands on the site of an extinct +religious house; its oldest walls, in fact, were built from the spoils +of once sacred masonry. It is a house of solid if not regular +proportions, full of unexpected quaintness; showing a medley of +distinct styles, in and out; it has a wide portico in the best +approved neo-classic taste, leading to romantic oaken stairs; here +wide cheerful rooms and airy corridors, there sombre vaulted basements +and mysterious unforeseen nooks.</p> + +<p>On the whole, however, it is a harmonious pile of buildings, though +gathering its character from many different centuries, for it has been +mellowed by time, under a hard climate. And it was, in the days of the +pride of the Landales, a most meet dwelling-place for that ancient +race, insomuch as the history of so many of their ancestors was +written successively upon stone and mortar,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> brick and tile, as well +as upon carved oak, canvas-decked walls, and emblazoned windows.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Exactly one week before the disaster, which was supposed to have +befallen Mademoiselle Molly de Savenaye on Scarthey sands, the acting +Lord of Pulwick, if one may so term Mr. Rupert Landale, had received a +letter, the first reading of which caused him a vivid annoyance, +followed by profound reflection.</p> + +<p>A slightly-built, dark-visaged man, this younger brother of Sir +Adrian, and vicarious master of his house and lands; like to the +recluse in his exquisite neatness of attire, somewhat like also in the +mould of his features, which were, however, more notably handsome than +Sir Adrian's; but most unlike him, in an emphasised artificiality of +manner, in a restless and wary eye, and in the curious twist of a thin +lip which seemed to give hidden sarcastic meaning even to the most +ordinary remark.</p> + +<p>As now he sat by his desk, his straight brows drawn over his +amber-coloured eyes, perusing the closely written sheets of this +troublesome missive, there entered to him the long plaintive figure of +his maiden sister, who had held house for him, under his own minute +directions, ever since the death in premature child-birth of his young +year-wed wife.</p> + +<p>Miss Landale, the eldest of the family, had had a disappointment in +her youth, as a result of which she now played the ungrateful <i>rôle</i> +of old maid of the family. She suffered from chronic toothache, as +well as from repressed romantic aspirations, and was the <i>âme damnée</i> +of Rupert. One of the most melancholy of human beings, she was tersely +characterised by the village folk as a "<i>wummicky</i> poor thing."</p> + +<p>At the sight of Mr. Landale's weighted brow she propped up her own +long sallow face, upon its aching side, with a trembling hand, and, +full of agonised prescience, ventured to ask if anything had happened.</p> + +<p>"Sit down," said her brother, with a sort of snarl—He possessed an +extremely irritable temper under his cool sarcastic exterior, a temper +which his peculiar anomalous circumstances, whilst they combined to +excite it, forced him to conceal rigidly from most, and it was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +relief to him to let it out occasionally upon Sophia's meek, ringleted +head.</p> + +<p>Sophia collapsed with hasty obedience into a chair, and then Mr. +Landale handed to her the thin fluttering sheets, voluminously crossed +and re-crossed with fine Italian handwriting:</p> + +<p>"From Tanty," ejaculated Miss Sophia, "Oh my dear Rupert!"</p> + +<p>"Read it," said Rupert peremptorily. "Read it aloud."</p> + +<p>And throwing himself back upon his chair, he shaded his mouth with one +flexible thin hand, and prepared himself to listen.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Camden Place, Bath</span>, October 29th," read the maiden lady in those +plaintive tones, which seemed to send out all speech upon the breath +of a sigh. "<span class="smcap">My Dear Rupert</span>,—You will doubtless be astonished, but +your invariably affectionate Behaviour towards myself inclines me to +believe that you will also be <i>pleased</i> to hear, from these few lines, +that very shortly after their receipt—if indeed not before—you may +expect to see me arrive at Pulwick Priory."</p> + +<p>Miss Landale put down the letter, and gazed at her brother through +vacant mists of astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Why, I thought Tanty said she would not put foot in Pulwick again +till Adrian returned home."</p> + +<p>Rupert measured the innocent elderly countenance with a dark look. He +had sundry excellent reasons, other than mere family affection, for +remaining on good terms with his rich Irish aunt, but he had likewise +reasons, these less obvious, for wishing to pay his devoirs to her +anywhere but under the roof of which he was nominal master.</p> + +<p>"She has found it convenient to change her mind," he said, with his +twisting lip. "Constancy in your sex, my dear, is merely a matter of +convenience—or opportunity."</p> + +<p>"Oh Rupert!" moaned Sophia, clasping the locket which contained her +dead lover's hair with a gesture with which all who knew her were very +familiar. Mr. Landale never could resist a thrust at the faithful +foolish bosom always ready to bleed under his stabs, yet never +resenting them. Inexplicable vagary of the feminine heart!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> Miss +Sophia worshipped before the shrine of her younger brother, to the +absolute exclusion of any sentiment for the elder, whose generosity +and kindness to her were yet as great as was Rupert's tyranny.</p> + +<p>"Go on," said the latter, alternately smiling at his nails and biting +them, "Tanty O'Donoghue observes that I shall be surprised to hear +that she will arrive very shortly after this letter, if not before it. +Poor old Tanty, there can be no mistake about her nationality. Have +the kindness to read straight on, Sophia. I don't want to hear any +more of your interesting comments. And don't stop till you have +finished, no matter how amazed you are."</p> + +<p>Again he composed himself to listen, while his sister plunged at the +letter, and, after several false starts, found her place and +proceeded:</p> + +<p>"Since, owing to his most <i>unfortunate</i> peculiarity of Temperament and +consequent strange choice of abode, I cannot apply to my nephew +Adrian, <i>à qui de droit</i> (as Head of the House) I must needs address +myself to you, my dear Rupert, to request hospitality for myself and +the two young Ladies now under my Charge."</p> + +<p>The letter wavered in Miss Sophia's hand and an exclamation hung upon +her lip, but a sudden movement of Rupert's exquisite crossed legs +recalled her to her task.</p> + +<p>"These young ladies are <i>Mesdemoiselles de Savenaye</i>, and the +daughters of Madame la Comtesse de Savenaye, who was my sister Mary's +child. She and I, and Alice your mother, were sister co-heiresses as +you know, and therefore these young ladies are <i>my</i> grand-nieces and +your <i>own</i> cousins once removed. Of Cécile de Savenaye, her <i>strange</i> +adventures and ultimate <i>sad</i> Fate in which your own brother was +implicated, you cannot but have heard, but you may probably have +forgotten even to the <i>very existence</i> of these charming young women, +who were nevertheless born at Pulwick, and whom you must at some time +or other have beheld as infants during your <i>excellent</i> and <i>lamented</i> +father's lifetime. They are, as you are doubtless also unaware—for I +have remarked a <i>growing</i> Tendency in the younger generations to +neglect the study of Genealogy, even as it affects their own +Families—as well born on the father's side as upon the maternal. M. +de Savenaye bore <i>argent à la fasce-canton d'hermine</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> with an +<i>augmentation of the fleurs de lis d'or</i>, <i>cleft in twain</i> for his +ancestor's <i>memorable</i> deed at the siege of Dinan."</p> + +<p>"There is Tante O'Donoghue fully displayed, <i>haut volante</i> as she +might say herself," here interrupted Mr. Landale with a laugh. "Always +the same, evidently. The first thing I remember about her is her +lecturing me on genealogy and heraldry, when I wanted to go fishing, +till, school-boy rampant as I was, I heartily wished her impaled and +debruised on her own Donoghue herse proper. For God's sake, Sophia, do +not expect me to explain! Go on."</p> + +<p>"He was entitled to eighteen quarters, and related to such as Coucy +and Armagnac and Tavannes," proceeded Miss Sophia, controlling her +bewilderment as best she might, "also to Gwynne of Llanadoc in this +kingdom—Honours to which Mesdemoiselles de Savenaye, being sole +heiresses both of Kermelégan and Savenaye, not to speak of their own +mother's share of O'Donoghue, which now-a-days is of greater +substance—are personally entitled.</p> + +<p>"If I am the <i>sole</i> Relative they have left in these Realms, Adrian +and you are the next. I have had the charge of my two young Kinswomen +during the last six months, that is since they left the Couvent des +Dames Anglaises in Jersey.</p> + +<p>"Now, I think it is time that your Branch of the Family should incur +the share of the <i>responsibility</i> your relationship to them entails.</p> + +<p>"If Adrian were <i>as</i> and <i>where</i> he should be, I feel sure he would +embrace this opportunity of doing his duty as the Head of the House +without the smallest hesitation, and I have no doubt that he would +offer the <i>hospitality</i> of Pulwick Priory and his <i>Protection</i> to +these amiable young persons for as long as they <i>remain unmarried</i>.</p> + +<p>"From you, my dear Nephew, who have undertaken under these melancholy +family circumstances to fill your Brother's place, I do not, however, +<i>expect</i> so much; all I ask is that you and my niece Sophia be kind +enough to <i>shelter</i> and <i>entertain</i> your cousins for the space of two +months, while I remain at Bath for the benefit of my Health.</p> + +<p>"At my age (for it is of no use, nephew, for us to deny our years when +any Peerage guide must reveal them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> pretty closely to the curious), +and I am this month passing sixty-nine, at my <i>age</i> the charge of two +high-spirited young Females, in whom conventional education has failed +to subdue Aspirations for worldly happiness whilst it has left them +somewhat inexperienced in the Conventions of Society, I find a <i>little +trying</i>. It does not harmonise with the retired, peaceful existence to +which I am accustomed (and at my time of life, I think, entitled), in +which it is my humble endeavour to wean myself from this earth which +is so full of Emptiness and to prepare myself for that other and +<i>better</i> Home into which we must all resign ourselves to enter. And +happy, indeed, my dear Rupert, such of us as will be found worthy; for +come to it we all must, and the longer we live, the sooner we may +expect to do so.</p> + +<p>"The necessity of producing them in Society, is, however, rendered a +matter of greater responsibility by the fact of the <i>handsome</i> +Fortunes which these young creatures possess already, not to speak of +their expectations."</p> + +<p>Rupert, who had been listening to his aunt's letter, through the +intermediary of Miss Sophia's depressing sing-song, with an abstracted +air, here lifted up his head, and commanded the reader to repeat this +last passage. She did so, and paused, awaiting his further pleasure, +while he threw his handsome head back upon his chair, and closed his +eyes as if lost in calculations.</p> + +<p>At length he waved his hand, and Miss Sophia proceeded after the usual +floundering:</p> + +<p>"A neighbour of mine at Bunratty, Mrs. Hambledon of Brianstown, a +<i>lively</i> widow (herself one of the Macnamaras of the Reeks, and thus a +distant connection of the Ballinasloe branch of O'Donoghues), and whom +I had reason to believe I could trust—but I will not anticipate—took +a prodigious fancy to Miss Molly and proposed, towards the beginning +of the Autumn, carrying her away to Dublin. At the same time the wet +summer, producing in me an acute recurrence of that Affection from +which, as you know, I suffer, and about which you <i>never fail</i> to make +such kind Enquiries at Christmas and Easter, compelled me to call in +Mr. O'Mally, the apothecary, who has been my very <i>obliging</i> medical +adviser for so many years, and who strenuously advocated an immediate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +course of waters at Bath. In short, my dear Nephew, thus the matter +was settled, your cousin Molly departed <i>radiant</i> with <i>good</i> spirits, +and <i>good</i> looks for a spell of gayety in Dublin, while your cousin +Madeleine, prepared (with <i>equal</i> content) to accompany her old aunt +to Bath. It being arranged with Mrs. Hambledon that she should herself +conduct Molly to us later on.</p> + +<p>"We have been here about three weeks. Though persuaded by good Mr. +O'Mally that the waters would benefit my old bones, I was actuated, I +must confess, by another motive in seeking this Fashionable Resort. In +such a place as this, thronged as it is by all the Rank and Family of +England, one can at least know <i>who is who</i>, and I was not without +hopes that my nieces, with their faces, their name, and their +fortunes, would have the opportunity of contracting suitable +Alliances, and thus relieve me of a charge for which I am, I fear, +little fitted.</p> + +<p>"But, alas! my dear Rupert, I was most woefully mistaken. Bath is +<i>distinctly not</i> the place for two beautiful and unsophisticated +Heiresses, and I am certainly neither possessed of the Spirits, nor of +the Health to guard them from fortune-hunters and <i>needy nameless</i> +Adventurers. While it is my desire to impress upon you, and my niece +Sophia, that the conduct of these young ladies has been <i>quite</i> beyond +reproach, I will not conceal from you that the attentions of a certain +person, of the name of <i>Smith</i>, known here, and a favorite in the +circles of frivolity and fashion as <i>Captain Jack</i>, have already made +Madeleine <i>conspicuous</i>, and although the dear girl conducts herself +with the utmost propriety, there is an air of <i>Romance</i> and <i>mystery</i> +about the Young Man, not to speak of his unmistakable good looks, +which have determined me to remove her from his vicinity before her +Affections be <i>irreparably</i> engaged. As for Molly, who is a thorough +O'Donoghue and the image of her grandmother, that celebrated +Murthering Moll (herself the toast of Bath in our young days), whose +elopement with the Marquis de Kermelégan, after he had killed an +English rival in a duel, was once a nine-days' wonder in this very +town, and of whom you must have heard, Mrs. Hambledon restored her to +my care only three days ago, and she has already twenty Beaux to her +String, though favouring <i>nobody</i>, I am bound to say, but her own +amusement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> Yesterday she departed under Mrs. Hambledon's chaperonage, +in the Company of a dozen of the highest in rank here, on an +expedition to Clifton; the while my demure Madeleine spends the day at +the house of her dear friend Lady Maria Harewood, whither, I only +learnt upon her return at ten o'clock under his escort, <i>Captain +Jack</i>—in my days that sort of <i>captain</i> would have been strongly +suspected, of having a shade too much of the <i>Heath</i> or the <i>London +Road</i> about him—had likewise been convened. It was long after +midnight when, with a great <i>tow-row</i>, a coach full of very merry +company (amongst whom the widow Hambledon struck me as over-merry, +perhaps) landed my other Miss <i>sur le perron</i>.</p> + +<p>"This has decided me. We shall decamp <i>sans tambou ni trompette</i>. +To-morrow, without allowing discussion from the girls (in which I +should probably be worsted), we pack ourselves into my travelling +coach, and find our Way to you. But, until we are fairly on the Road, +I shall not even let these ladies know <i>whither</i> we are bound.</p> + +<p>"With your kind permission, then, I shall remain a few days at +Pulwick, to recruit from the <i>fatigues</i> of such a long Journey, before +leaving your fair cousins in your charge, and in that of the gentle +Sophia (whom I trust to entertain them with something besides her +usual melancholy), till the time comes for me to bring them back with +me to Bunratty.</p> + +<p>"Unless, therefore, you should hear to the contrary, you will know +that on Tuesday your three <i>unprotected</i> female relatives will be +hoping to see your travelling carriage arrive to fetch them at the +Crown in Lancaster.</p> + +<p> +"Your Affectionate Aunt,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"<span class="smcap">Rose O'Donoghue</span>."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>As Miss Landale sighed forth the concluding words, she dropped the +little folio on her lap, and looked at her brother with a world of +apprehension in her faded eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rupert, what shall we do?"</p> + +<p>"Do," said Mr. Landale, quickly turning on her, out of his absorption, +"you will kindly see that suitable rooms are prepared for your aunt +and cousins, and you will endeavour, if you please, to show these +ladies a cheerful countenance, as your aunt requests."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The oak and the chintz rooms, I suppose," Sophia timidly suggested. +"Tanty used to say she liked the aspect, and I daresay the young +ladies will find it pleasant to look out on the garden."</p> + +<p>"Ay," returned Rupert, absently. He had risen from his seat, and +fallen to pacing the room. Presently a short laugh broke from him. +"Tolerably cool, I must say," he remarked, "tolerably cool. It seems +to be a tradition with that Savenaye family, when in difficulties, to +go to Pulwick."</p> + +<p>Miss Landale looked up with relief. Perhaps Rupert would think better +of it, and make up his mind to elude receiving the unwelcome visitors +after all. But his next speech dashed her budding hopes.</p> + +<p>"Ay, as in the days of their mother before them, when she came here to +lay her eggs, like a cuckoo in another bird's nest—I wish they had +been addled, I do indeed—we may expect to have the whole place turned +topsy-turvy, I suppose. It is a pretty assortment, <i>faith</i> (as Tanty +says herself); an old papist, and two young ones, fresh from a convent +school—and of these, one a hoyden, and the other lovesick! Faugh! +Sophia you will have to keep your eyes open when the old lady is gone. +I'll have no unseemly pranks in this house."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rupert," with a moan of maidenly horror, and conscious +incompetence.</p> + +<p>"Stop that," cried the brother, with a contained intensity of +exasperation, at which the poor lady jumped and trembled as if she had +been struck. "All your whining won't improve matters. Now listen to +me," sitting down beside her, and speaking slowly and impressively, +"you are to make our relatives feel welcome, do you understand? +Everything is to be of the best. Get out the embroidered sheets, and +see that there are flowers in the rooms. Tell the cook to keep back +that haunch of venison, the girls won't like it, but the old lady +knows a good thing when she gets it—let there be lots of sweet things +for the young ones too. I shall be giving some silver out this +afternoon. I leave it to you to see that it is properly cleaned. What +are you mumbling about to yourself? Write it down if you can't +remember, and now go, go—I am busy."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II</h2> + +<h3>"MURTHERING MOLL THE SECOND"</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8"><i>Then did the blood awaken in the veins</i><br /></span> +<span class="i8"><i>Of the young maiden wandering in the fields.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i20"><span class="smcap">Luteplayer's Song.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> +<hr class="section" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE THRESHOLD OF WOMANHOOD</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Onward floweth the water, onward through meadows broad,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">"How happy," the meadows say, "art thou to be rippling onward."<br /></span> +<span class="i4">"And my heart is beating, beating beneath my girdle here;"<br /></span> +<span class="i4">"O Heart," the girdle saith, "how happy art thou that thou beatest."<br /></span> +<span class="i25"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dublin</span>, <i>October 15th, 1814</i>.—This day do I, Molly de Savenaye, begin +my diary.</p> + +<p>Madeleine writes to me from Bath that she has purchased a very fine +book, in which she intends to set forth each evening all that has +happened her since the morning; she advises me to do so too. She says +that since <i>real life</i> has begun for us; life, of which every +succeeding day is not, as in the convent, the repetition of the +previous day, but brings some new discovery, pleasure, or pain, we +ought to write down and preserve their remembrance.</p> + +<p>It will be so interesting for us to read when a new life once more +begins for us, and we are <i>married</i>. Besides it is the <i>fashion</i>, and +all the young ladies she knows do it. And she has, she says, already +plenty to write down. Now I <i>should</i> like to know what about.</p> + +<p>When ought one to start such a record? Surely not on a day like this.</p> + +<p>"Why <i>demme</i>" (as Mrs. Hambledon's nephew says), "<i>what the deyvil</i> +have I got to say?"</p> + +<p><i>Item:</i> I went out shopping this morning with Mrs. Hambledon, and, +bearing Madeleine's advice in mind, purchased at Kelly's, in Sackville +Street, an album book, bound in green morocco, with clasp and lock, +which Mr. Kelly protests is quite secure.</p> + +<p><i>Item:</i> We met Captain Segrave of the Royal Dragoons (who was so +attentive to me at Lady Rigtoun's rout, two days ago). He looked very +well on his charger, but how conceited! When he saw me, he rolled his +eyes and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> grew quite red; and then he stuck his spurs into his horse, +that we might admire how he could sit it; which he did, indeed, to +perfection.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hambledon looked vastly knowing, and I laughed. If ever I try to +fancy myself married to such a man I cannot help laughing.</p> + +<p>This, however, is not diary.—<i>Item:</i> We returned home because it +began to rain, and to pass the time, here am I at my book.</p> + +<p>But is <i>this</i> the sort of thing that will be of interest to read +hereafter? I have begun too late; I should have written in those days +when I saw the dull walls of our convent prison for the last time. It +seems so far back now (though, by the calendar it is hardly six +months), that I cannot quite recall how it felt to live in prison. And +yet it was not unhappy, and there was no horror in the thought we both +had sometimes then, that we should pass and end our lives in the cage. +It did not strike us as hard. It seemed, indeed, in the nature of +things. But the bare thought of returning to that existence now, to +resume the placid daily task, to fold up again like a plant that has +once expanded to sun and breeze, to have never a change of scene, of +impression, to look forward to nothing but <i>submission</i>, sleep, and +<i>death</i>; oh, it makes me turn cold all over!</p> + +<p>And yet there are women who, of their own will, give up the <i>freedom +of the world</i> to enter a convent <i>after</i> they have tasted life! Oh, I +would rather be the poorest, the ugliest peasant hag, toiling for +daily bread, than one of these cold cloistered souls, so that the free +air of heaven, be it with the winds or the rain, might beat upon me, +so that I might live and love <i>as I like</i>, do right <i>as I like</i>; ay, +and do wrong <i>if</i> I liked, with the free will which is my <i>own</i>.</p> + +<p>We were told that the outer world, with all its sorrows and trials, +and dangers—how I remember the Reverend Mother's words and face, and +how they impressed me then, and how I should laugh at them, +<i>now!</i>—that the world was but a valley of tears. We were warned that +all that awaited us, if we left the fold, was <i>misery</i>; that the joys +of this world were <i>bitter</i> to the taste, its pleasures <i>hollow</i>, and +its griefs <i>lasting</i>.</p> + +<p>We believed it. And yet, when the choice was actually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> ours to make, +we chose all we had been taught to dread and despise. Why? I wonder. +For the same reason as Eve ate the apple, I suppose. I would, if I had +been Eve. I almost wish I could go back now, for a day, to the cool +white rooms, to see the nuns flitting about like black and white +ghosts, with only a jingle of beads to warn one of their coming, see +the blue sky through the great bare windows, and the shadows of the +trees lengthening on the cold flagged floors, hear the bells going +ding-dong, ding-dong, and the murmur of the sea in the distance, and +the drone of the school, and the drone of the chapel, to go back, and +feel once more the dull sort of content, the calmness, the rest!</p> + +<p>But no, no! I should be trembling all the while lest the blessed doors +leading back to that <i>horrible</i> world should never open to me again.</p> + +<p>The sorrows and trials of the world! I suppose the Reverend Mother +really meant it; and if I had gone on living there till my face was +wrinkled like hers, poor woman, I might have thought so too, in the +end, and talked the same nonsense.</p> + +<p>Was it really I that endured such a life for seventeen years? O God! I +wonder that the sight of the swallows coming and going, the sound of +the free waves, did not drive me mad. Twist as I will my memory, I +cannot recall <i>that</i> Molly of six months ago, whose hours and days +passed and dropped all alike, all lifeless, just like the slow tac, +tac, tac of our great horloge in the Refectory, and were to go on as +slow and as alike, for ever and ever, till she was old, dried, +wrinkled, and then died. The real Molly de Savenaye's life began on +the April morning when that dear old turbaned fairy godmother of ours +carried us, poor little Cinderellas, away in her coach. Well do I +remember my birthday.</p> + +<p>I have read since in one of those musty books of Bunratty, that +<i>moths</i> and <i>butterflies</i> come to life by shaking themselves out, one +fine day, from a dull-looking, shapeless, ugly thing they call a +<i>grub</i>, in which they have been buried for a long time. They unfold +their wings and fly out in the sunshine, and flit from flower to +flower, and they look beautiful and happy—the world, the wicked +world, is open to them.</p> + +<p>There were pictures in the book; the ugly grub below,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> dreary and +brown, and the lovely <i>butterfly</i> in all its colours above. I showed +them to Madeleine, and said: "Look, Madeleine, as we were, and as we +are."</p> + +<p>And she said: "Yes, those brown gowns they made us wear were ugly; but +I should not like to put on anything so bright as red and yellow. +Would you?"</p> + +<p>That is the worst of Madeleine; she never realises in the least what I +mean. And she <i>does</i> love her clothes; that is the difference between +her and me, she loves fine things because they are fine and dainty and +all that—I like them because they make <i>me</i> fine.</p> + +<p>And yet, how she did weep when she left the convent. Madeleine would +have made a good nun after all; she does so hate anything ugly or +coarse. She grows quite white if she hears people fighting; if there +is a "row" or a "shindy," as they say here. Whereas Tanty and I think +it all the fun in the world, and would enjoy joining in the fray +ourselves, I believe, if we dared. I know <i>I</i> should; it sets my blood +tingling. But Madeleine is a real princess, a sort of Ermine; and yet +she enjoys her new life, too, the beauty of it, the refinement, being +waited upon and delicately fed and clothed. But although she has +ceased to weep for the convent, if it had not been for me she would be +there still. The only thing, I believe, that could make me weep now +would be to find one fine morning that this had only been a dream, and +that I was once more <i>the grub</i>! To find that I could not open my +window and look into the wide, wide world over to the long, green +hills in the distance, and know that I could wander or gallop up to +them, as I did at Bunratty, and see for myself <i>what lies +beyond</i>—surely that was a taste of heaven that day when Tanty Rose +first allowed me to mount her old pony, and I flew over the turf with +the wind whistling in my ears—to find that I could not go out when I +pleased and hear new voices and see new faces, and men and women who +<i>live each their own life</i>, and not the <i>same</i> life as mine.</p> + +<p>When I think of what I am now, and what I might have remained, I +breathe deep and feel like singing; I stretch my arms out and feel +like flying.</p> + +<p>Our aunt told us she thought Bunratty would be dull for us, and so it +was in comparison with this place. Perhaps <i>this</i> is dull in +comparison with what <i>may</i> come.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> For good Tanty, as she likes us to +call her, is intent on doing great things for us.</p> + +<p>"Je vous marierai," she tells us in her funny old French, "Je vous +marierai bien, mes filles, si vous êtes sages," and she winks both +eyes.</p> + +<p><i>Marriage!</i> <i>That</i>, it is quite evident, is the goal of every properly +constituted young female; and every respectable person who has the +care of said young female is consequently bent upon her reaching that +goal.</p> + +<p>So marriage is <i>another</i> good thing to look forward to. And <i>love</i>, +that love all the verses, all the books one reads are so full of; +<i>that</i> will come to us.</p> + +<p>They say that <i>love is life</i>. Well, all I want is to live. But with a +grey past such as we have had, the present is good enough to ponder +upon. We now can lie abed if we have sweet dreams and pursue them +waking, and be lazy, yet not be troubled with the self-indulgence as +with an enormity; or we can rise and breathe the sunshine at our own +time. We can be frivolous, and yet meet with smiles in response, dress +our hair and persons, and be pleased with ourselves, and with being +admired or envied, yet not be told horrid things about death and +corruption and skeletons. And, above all—oh, above <i>all</i>, we can +think of the future as different from the past, as <i>changing</i>, be it +even for the worse; as unknown and fascinating, not as a repetition, +until death, of the same dreary round.</p> + +<p>In Mrs. Hambledon's parlour here are huge glasses at either end; +whenever you look into them you see a never-ending chain of rooms with +yourself standing in the middle, vanishing in the distance, every one +the same, with the same person in the middle, only a little smaller, a +little more insignificant, a little darker, till it all becomes +<i>nothing</i>. It always reminds me of life's prospects in the convent.</p> + +<p>I dislike that room. When I told Mrs. Hambledon the reason why, she +laughed, and promised me that, with my looks and disposition, my life +would be eventful enough. I have every mind that it shall.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p><i>October 18th.</i>—Yesterday, I woke up in an amazing state of +happiness, though for no particular reason that I can think of. It +could not be simply because we were to go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> out for a visit to the +country and see new people and places, for I have already learned to +find that most new people are cut out on the same pattern as those one +already knows. It must have been rather because I awoke under the +impression of one of my lovely dreams—such dreams as I have only had +since I left my <i>grub</i> state; dreams of space, air, long, long views +of beautiful scenery, always changing, always wider, such as swallows +flying between sky and earth might see, under an exquisite and +brilliant light, till for very joy I wake up, my cheeks covered with +tears.</p> + +<p>This time, I was sitting on the prow of some vessel with lofty white +sails, and it was cutting through the water, blue as the sky, with +wreaths of snow-like foam, towards some unknown shores, ever faster +and faster, and I was singing to some one next to me on the prow—some +one I did not know, but who felt with me—singing a song so perfect, +so sweet (though it had no human words) that I thought <i>it explained +all</i>: the blue of the heaven, the freshness of the breeze, the +fragrance of the earth, and why we were so eagerly pressing onwards. I +thought the melody was such that when once heard it could never be +forgotten. When I woke it still rang in my ears, but now I can no more +recall it. How is it we never know such delight in waking hours? Is +that some of the joy we are to feel in Heaven, the music we are to +hear? And yet it can be heard in this life if one only knew where to +go and listen. And this life is beautiful which lies in front of us, +though they would speak of it as a sorrowful span not to be reckoned. +It is good to be young and think of the life still to come. Every +moment is precious for its enjoyment, and yet sometimes I find that +one only knows of a pleasure when it is just gone. One ought to try +and be more awake at each hour to the happiness it may bring. I shall +try, and you, my diary, shall help me.</p> + +<p>This is really <i>no</i> diary-keeping. It is not a bit like those one +reads in books. It ought to tell of other people and the events of +each day. But other people are really very uninteresting; as for +events, well, so far, they are uninteresting too; it is only what they +cause to spring up in our hearts that is worth thinking upon; and that +is so difficult to put in words that mostly I spend my time merely +pondering and not writing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> + +<p>Last night Mrs. Hambledon took me to the <i>play</i>. It was for the first +time in my life, and I was full of curiosity. It was a long drama, +pretty enough and sometimes very exciting. But I could see that though +the actress was very handsome and mostly so unhappy as to draw tears +from the spectators, there were people, especially some gentlemen, who +were more interested in looking at the box where I sat with Mrs. +Hambledon. Indeed, I could not pretend, when I found myself before my +glass that night, that I was not amazingly prettier than that Mrs. +Colebrook, about whose beauty the whole town goes mad.</p> + +<p>When I recalled the hero's ravings about his Matilda's eyes and +cheeks, and her foot and her sylph-like waist, and her raven hair, I +wondered what <i>that</i> young man would say of me if he were my lover and +I his persecuted mistress. The Matilda was a pleasing person enough; +but if I take her point by point, it would be absurd to speak of her +charms in the same breath with mine. Oh, my dear Molly, how beautiful +I thought you last night! How happy I should be, were I a dashing +young lover and eyes like <i>yours</i> smiled on me. I never before thought +myself prettier than Madeleine, but now I do.</p> + +<p>Lovers, love, mistress, bride; they talked of nothing else in the +play. And it was all ecstasy in their words, and nothing but <i>misery</i> +in fact (just as the Reverend Mother would have had it).</p> + +<p>The young man who played the hero was a very fine fellow; and yet when +I conceive <i>him</i> making love to me as he did last night to Mrs. +Colebrook, the notion seems really <i>too</i> ludicrous!</p> + +<p>What sort of man then is it I would allow to love me? I do not mind +the thought of lovers sighing and burning for me (as some do now +indeed, or pretend to) I like to feel that I can crush them with a +frown and revive them with a smile; I like to see them fighting for my +favour. But to give a man the right to love me, the right to my +smiles, the <i>right to me</i>! Indeed, I have yet seen <i>none</i> who could +make me bear the thought.</p> + +<p>And yet I think that I could love, and I know that the man that I am +to love must be living somewhere till fate brings him to me. He does +not think of me. He does not know of me. And neither of us, I suppose, +will taste life as life is till the day when we meet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Camden Place, Bath</span>, <i>November 1st</i>.—Bath at last, which, must please +poor Mrs. Hambledon exceedingly, for she certainly did <i>not</i> enjoy the +transit. I cannot conceive how people can allow themselves to be so +utterly distraught by illness. I feel I can never have any respect for +her again; she moaned and lamented in such cowardly fashion, was so +peevish all the time on board the vessel, and looked so very begrimed +and untidy and <i>plain</i> when she was carried out on Bristol quay. The +captain called it <i>dirty</i> weather, but I thought it <i>lovely</i>, and I +don't think I ever enjoyed myself more—except when Captain Segrave's +Black Douglas ran away with me in Phœnix Park.</p> + +<p>It was beautiful to see our brave boat plough the sea and quiver with +anger, as if it were a living thing, when it was checked by some great +green wave, then gather itself again under the wind and dash on to the +fight, until it conquered. And when we came into the river and the sun +shone once more it glided on swiftly, though looking just a little +tired for a while until its decks and sails were dry and clean again, +and I thought it was just like a bird that has shaken and plumed +itself. I was sorry to leave it. The captain and the mate and the +sailors, who had wrapped me up in their great, stiff tarpaulin coats +and placed me in a safe corner where I could sit out and look, were +also sorry that I should go.</p> + +<p>But it was good to be with Madeleine again and Tanty Donoghue, who +always has such a kind smile on her old wrinkled face when she looks +at me.</p> + +<p>Madeleine was astonished when I told her I had loved the storm at sea +and when I mimicked poor Mrs. Hambledon. She says she also thought she +was dying, so ill was she on her crossing, and that she was quite a +week before she got over the impression.</p> + +<p>It seems odd to think that we are sisters, and twin sisters too; in so +many things she is different from me. She has changed in manner since +I left her. She seems so absorbed in some great thought that all her +words and smiles have little meaning in them. I told her I had tried +to keep my diary, but had not done much work, and when I asked to see +hers (for a model) Madeleine blushed, and said I should see it this +day year.</p> + +<p><i>Madeleine is in love</i>; that is the only way I can account<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> for that +blush. I fear she is a sly puss, but there is such a bustle around us, +and so much to do and see, I have no time to make her confess. So I +said I would keep mine from her for that period also.</p> + +<p>It seems a long span to look ahead. What a number of things will +happen before this day year!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bath</span>, <i>November 3rd</i>.—Bath is delightful! I have only been here two +days, and already I am what Tanty, in her old-fashioned way, calls +<i>the belle</i>. Already there are a dozen sparks who declare that my eyes +have <i>shot death</i> to them. This afternoon comes my Lord of Manningham, +nicknamed <i>King of Bath</i>, to "drink a dish of tea," as he has it, with +his "dear old friend Miss O'Donoghue."</p> + +<p>Tanty has been here three weeks, and he has only just discovered her +existence, and remembered their tender friendship. Of course, I know +very well what has really brought him. He is Lord Dereham's +grandfather on the mother's side, and Lord Dereham, who is the son of +the Duke of Wells, is "the catch," as Mrs. Hambledon vows, of the +fashionable world this year. And Lord Dereham has seen me twice, and +<i>is in love with me</i>.</p> + +<p>But as Lord Dereham is more like a little white rat than a man, and +swears more than he converses—which would be very shocking if it were +not for his lisp, which makes it very funny—needless to say, my diary +dear, your Molly is not in love with him—He has no chance.</p> + +<p>And so Lord Manningham comes to tea, and Tanty orders me to remain and +see her "old friend" instead of going to ride with the widow +Hambledon. The widow Hambledon and I are everywhere together, and she +knows all the most entertaining people in Bath, whereas Madeleine, +whom I have hardly seen at all except at night, when I am so dead +tired that I go to sleep as soon as my head touches the pillow (I vow +Tanty's manner of speech is catching), Miss Madeleine keeps to her own +select circle, and turns up her haughty little nose at <i>my</i> friends.</p> + +<p>So now Madeleine is punished, for Tanty and I have had the honour of +receiving the <i>King of Bath</i>, and I have been vouchsafed the stamp of +his august approval.</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss O'Donoghue," he cried, as I curtsied, "do my senses +deceive me, or do I not once more behold <i>Murthering Moll</i>?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought you could not fail to notice the likeness; my niece is, +indeed, a complete O'Donoghue," says Tanty, amazingly pleased.</p> + +<p>"Likeness, ma'am," cried the old wretch, bowing again, and scattering +his snuff all over the place, while I sweep him another splendid +curtsey, "likeness, ma'am, why this is no feeble copy, no humble +imitation, 'tis <i>Murdering Moll herself</i>, and glad I am to see her +again." And then he catches me under the chin, and peers into my face +with his dim, wicked old eyes. "And so you are Murdering Moll's +daughter," says he, chuckling to himself. "Ay, she and I were very +good friends, my pretty child, very good friends, and that not so long +ago, either. Ay, <i>Mater pulchra, filia pulchrior</i>."</p> + +<p>"But I happen to be her grand-daughter, please my lord," said I, and +then I ran to fetch him a chair (for I was dreadfully afraid he was +going to kiss me). But though no one has ever accused me of speaking +too modestly to be heard, my lord had a sudden fit of deafness, and I +saw Tanty give me a little frown, while the old thing—he must be much +older than Tanty even—tottered into a chair, and went on mumbling.</p> + +<p>"I was only a boy in those days, my dear, only a boy, as your good +aunt will tell you. I can remember how the bells rang the three +beautiful Irish sisters into Bath, and I and the other dandies stood +to watch them drive by. The bells rang in the <i>belles</i> in those days, +my dear, he, he, he! only we used to call them 'toasts' then, and your +mother was the most beautiful of 'the three Graces'—we christened +them 'the three Graces'—and by gad she led us all a pretty dance!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, my lord," says Tanty, and I could see her old eyes gleam though +her tone was so pious, "I fear we were three wild Irish girls indeed!"</p> + +<p>Lord Manningham was too busy ogling me to attend to her.</p> + +<p>"Your mother was just such another as you, and she had just such a +pair of dimples," said he.</p> + +<p>"You mean my grandmother," shouted I in his ear, just for fun, though +Tanty looked as if she were on pins and needles. But he only pinched +my cheek again and went on:</p> + +<p>"Before she had been here a fortnight all the bucks in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> town were +at her feet. And so was I, so was I. Only, by gad, I was too young, +you know, as Miss O'Donoghue here will tell you. But she liked me; she +used to call me her 'little manny.' I declare I might have married +her, only there were family reasons, and I was such a lad, you know. +And then Jack Waterpark, some of us thought she would have had <i>him</i> +in the end—being an Irishman, and a rich man, and a marquis to +boot—he gave her the name of <i>Murthering Moll</i>, because of her +killing eyes, young lady—he! he! he!—and there was Ned Cuffe ready +to hang himself for her, and Jim Denham, and old Beau Vernon, ay, and +a score of others. And then one night at the Assembly Rooms, after the +dancing was over and we gay fellows were all together, up gets +Waterpark, he was a little tipsy, my dear, and by gad I can hear him +speak now, with that brogue of his. 'Boys,' he says, 'it's no use your +trying for her any more, for by God <i>I've won her</i>.' And out of his +breast-pocket he pulls a little knot of blue ribbon. Your mother, my +dear, had worn a very fine gown that evening, with little knots of +blue ribbon all over the bodice of it. The words were not out of his +mouth when Ned Cuffe starts to his feet as white as a sheet: 'It's a +damned lie,' he cries, and out of his pocket <i>he</i> pulls another little +knot. 'She gave it to me with her own hands,' he cried and glares +round at us all. And then Vernon bursts out laughing and flourishes a +third little bow in our eyes, and I had one too, I need not tell you, +and so had all the rest, all save a French fellow—I forget his +name—and it was he she had danced with the most of all. Ah, Miss +O'Donoghue, how the little jade's eyes sparkle! I warrant you have +never told her the story for fear she would want to copy her mother in +other ways besides looks—Hey? Well, my pretty, give me your little +hand, and then I shall go on—pretty little hand, um—um—um!" and +then he kissed my hand, the horrid, snuffy thing! but I allowed it, +for I did so want to hear how it all ended.</p> + +<p>"And then, and then," I said.</p> + +<p>"And then, my dear, this French fellow, your papa he must have +been—so I suppose I must not abuse him, and he was a very fine young +man after all, and a man of honour as well—he stood and cursed us +all."</p> + +<p>"'You English fools,' he said, 'you braggards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>—cowards.' And he +seized a glass of wine from the table and with a sweep he dashed it at +us and ended by flinging the empty glass in Lord Waterpark's face. It +was the neatest thing you ever saw, for we all got a drop except +Waterpark, and he got the glass. 'I challenge you all,' said the +Frenchman, 'I'll fight you one by one, and I shall have her into the +bargain.' And so he did, my dear, he fought us all, one after the +other; there were five of us; he was a devil with the sword, but Ned +Cuffe ran him through for all that—and he was a month getting over +it, but as soon as he could crawl again he vowed himself ready for +Waterpark, and weak as he was he ran poor Waterpark through the lungs. +Some said Jack spitted himself on his sword—but dead he was anyhow, +and monsieur your father—what was his name? Kerme-something—was off +with your mother before the rest of us were well out of bed."</p> + +<p>"Fie, fie, my lord," said Tanty, "you should not recall old stories in +this manner!"</p> + +<p>"Gad, ma'am, I warrant this young lady is quite ready to provide you +with a few new ones," chuckled my lord; and as there was no more to be +extracted from him but foolish old jokes and dreadful smiles, I +contrived to free my "pretty little hand," and sit down demurely by +Tanty's side like the modest retiring young female I should be.</p> + +<p>But my blood was dancing in my veins—the blood of Murthering +Moll—doddering old idiot as he is, Lord Manningham is right for once, +I mean to take quite as much out of life as she did. That indeed is +worth being young and beautiful for! We know nothing of our family, +save that both father and mother were killed in Vendée. Tanty never +will tell us anything about them (except their coats of arms), and I +am afraid even to start the subject, for she always branches off upon +heraldry and then we are in for hours of it. But after Lord Manningham +was gone I asked her when and how my grandmother died.</p> + +<p>"She died when your mother was born, my dear," said Tanty, "she was +not as old as you are now, and your grandfather never smiled again, or +so they said."</p> + +<p>That sobered me a little. Yet she lived her life so well, while she +did live, that I who have wasted twenty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>precious years can find in my +heart rather to envy than to pity my beautiful grandmother.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p><i>November 5th.</i>—It is <i>three o'clock in the morning</i>, but I do not +feel at all inclined to go to bed. Madeleine is sleeping, poor pretty +pale Madeleine! with the tears hardly dry upon her cheeks and I can +hear her sighing in her sleep.</p> + +<p>I was right, she is in love, and the gentleman she loves is not +approved of by Tanty and the upshot of it all is we are to leave dear +Bath, delightful Bath, to-morrow—to-day rather—for some unknown +penitential region which our stern relative as yet declines to name. I +am longing to hear more about it; but Tanty, who, though she talks so +much, can keep her own counsel better than any woman I know, will not +give me any further information beyond the facts that the delinquent +who has dared to aspire to my sister is a person of <i>the name of +Smith</i>, and that it would not do at all.</p> + +<p>I have not the heart to wake Madeleine to make her tell me more, +though I really ought to pinch her well for being so +secretive—besides, my head is so full of my own day that I want to +get it all written down, and I shall never have done so unless I begin +at the beginning.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, then, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon Lord Dereham's coach +and four came clattering up to our door to call for me. Mrs. Hambledon +was already installed and Lady Soames and a dozen other of the +<i>fashionables</i> of Bath. My little Lord Marquis had kept the box seat +for me, at which the other ladies, even my dear friend and chaperon, +looked rather green. The weather was glorious, and off we went with a +flourish of trumpets and whips, and I knew I should enjoy myself +monstrously.</p> + +<p>And so I did. But it was the drive back that was the <i>best</i> of all. We +never started till near nine o'clock, and Lord Dereham insisted on my +sitting beside him again—at which all the ladies looked daggers <i>at +me</i> and all the gentlemen daggers <i>at him</i>. And then we sang songs and +tore along uphill and down dale, under the beautiful moonlight, +through the still air, till all at once we found we had lost our way. +We had to drive on till we came to an inn and we could make inquiries. +There the gentlemen opened another hamper of wine, and when we set +off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> again I promise you they were all pretty <i>lively</i> (and most of +the ladies too, for the matter of that). As for me, who never drank +anything but milk or water till six months ago, I have not learnt to +like wine yet, so, though I sipped out of the glass to keep the fun +going, I contrived to dispose of the contents, quietly over the side +of the coach, when no one was looking.</p> + +<p>It was a drive to remember. We came to a big hill, and as we were +going down it at a smart pace the coach began to sway, then the ladies +began to screech, and even the men looked so scared that I laughed +outright. Lord Dereham was perfectly tipsy and he did not know the +road a bit, but he drove in beautiful style and was extraordinarily +amusing; as soon as the coach took to swaying, instead of slackening +speed as they all begged him, he <i>lashed</i> the horses into a tearing +gallop, looking over his shoulder at the rest and cursing them with +the greatest energy, grinning with rage, and looking more like a +little white rat than <i>ever</i>.</p> + +<p>"Give me the whip," said I, "and I shall whip the team while you +drive."</p> + +<p>"<i>Cuth me</i>," cried he, "if you are not worth the whole coach-load a +dozen times over."</p> + +<p>On we went; the coach rocked, the horses galloped, and I knew at any +moment the whole thing might upset, and I flourished my whip and +lashed at the steaming flanks and I never felt what it was to really +enjoy myself before.</p> + +<p>Presently, although we were tearing along so fast, the coach steadied +itself and went as straight as an arrow; and this, it seems, it would +never have done had not Lord Dereham kept up the pace.</p> + +<p>And all the rest of the drive his lordship wanted to kiss me. I was +not a bit frightened, though he was drunk, but every time he grew too +forward I just flicked at the horses with the whip, and I think he saw +that I would have cracked him across the face quite as readily if he +dared to presume.</p> + +<p>No doubt a dozen times during the day I could have secured a coronet +for myself, not to speak of future 'strawberry leaves,' as my aunt +says, if I had cared to; but who could think of loving a man like +<i>that</i>? He can manage four horses, and he has shot two men in a duel,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +and he can drink three bottles of wine at a sitting, and when one +tries to find something more to say for him, lo! that is all!</p> + +<p>When we at length arrived at Camden Place, for I vowed they must leave +me home the first, there was the rarest sport. My lord's grooms must +set to blow the horns, for they were as drunk as their master, while +one of the gentlemen played upon the knocker till the whole crescent +was aroused.</p> + +<p>Then the doors opened suddenly, <i>and Tanty appears</i> on the threshold, +holding a candle. Her turban was quite crooked, with the birds of +Paradise over one eye, and I never saw her old nose look so hooked. +All the gentlemen set up a shout, and Sir Thomas Wrexham began to crow +like a cock for no reason on earth that I can think of. The servants +were holding up lanterns, but the moon was nigh as bright as day.</p> + +<p>Tanty just looked round upon them one after another, and in spite of +her crooked turban I think they all grew frightened. Then she caught +hold of me, and just whisked me behind her. Next she spied out Mrs. +Hambledon, who had been asleep inside the coach, and now tumbled +forth, yawning and gaping.</p> + +<p>"And so, madam," cries Tanty to her, not very loud, but in a voice +that made even me tremble; "so, madam, this is how you fulfil the +confidence I placed in you. A pretty chaperon you are to have the +charge of a young lady; though, indeed, considering your years, madam, +I might have been justified in trusting you."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hambledon, cut short in the middle of a loud yawn by this attack, +was a sight to see.</p> + +<p>"Hoighty-toighty, ma'am!" she cried, indignantly, as soon as she could +get her voice; "here's a fine to-do. It is my fault, of course, that +Lord Dereham should mistake the road. And my fault too, no doubt, that +your miss should make an exhibition of herself riding on the box with +the gentlemen at this hour of night, when I implored her to come +inside with me, were it only for the sake of common female propriety."</p> + +<p>"Common female indeed!" echoed Tanty, with a snort; "the poor child +knew better."</p> + +<p>"Cuth the old cats! they'll have each other'th eyeth out," here cried +my lord marquis, interposing his little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> tipsy person between them. He +had scrambled down the box after me, and was listening with an air of +profound wisdom that made me feel fit to die laughing. "Don't you mind +her, old lady," he went on, addressing Tanty; "Mith Molly ith quite +able to take care of herself—damme if she'th not."</p> + +<p>Aunt Donoghue turned upon him majestically.</p> + +<p>"And then that is more than can be said for you, my poor young man," +she exclaimed; and I vow he looked as sobered as if she had flung a +bucket of cold water over him. Upon this she retired and shut the +door, and marched me upstairs before her without a word.</p> + +<p>Before my room door she stopped.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Dempsey has already packed your sister's trunks," she said, in a +very dry way; "and she will begin to pack yours early—I was going to +say to-morrow—but you keep such hours, my dear—it will be <i>to-day</i>."</p> + +<p>I stared at her as if she had gone mad.</p> + +<p>"You and your sister," she went on, "have got beyond me. I have taken +my resolution and given my orders, and there is not the least use +making a scene."</p> + +<p>And then it came out about Madeleine. At first I thought I would go +into a great passion and refuse to obey, but after a minute or two I +saw it was, as she said, no use. Tanty was as cool as a cucumber. Then +I thought perhaps I might mollify her if I could cry, but I couldn't +pump up a tear; I never can; and at last when I went into my room and +saw poor Madeleine, who has cried herself to sleep, evidently, I +understood that there was nothing for us but to do as we were told.</p> + +<p>And now I can hear Tanty fussing about her room still—she has been +writing, too—cra, cra, cra—this last hour. I wonder who to? After +all there is some fun in being taken off mysteriously we don't know +where. I should like to go and kiss her, but she thinks I am abed.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A MASTERFUL OLD MAID</h3> + + +<p>No contrary advice having reached Pulwick since Miss O'Donoghue's +<i>letter of invoice</i>, as Mr. Landale facetiously described it, he drove +over to Lancaster on the day appointed to meet the party.</p> + +<p>And thus it came to pass that through the irresistible management of +Miss O'Donoghue, who put into the promotion of her scheme all the +energy belonging to her branch of the family, together with the long +habit of authority of the <i>Tante à héritage</i>, the daughters of Cécile +de Savenaye returned to that first home of theirs, of which they had +forgotten even the name.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale had not set eyes on his valuable relative for many years, +but her greeting, at the first renewal of intercourse which took place +in the principal parlour of the Lancaster Inn, was as easily detached +in manner as though they had just met again after a trifling absence +and she was bringing her charges to his house in accordance with a +mutual agreement.</p> + +<p>"My dear Rupert," cried she, "I am glad to see you again. I need not +ask you how you are, you look so extremely sleek and prosperous. +Adrian's wide acres are succulent, hey? I should have known you +anywhere; though to be sure, you are hardly large enough for the +breed, you have the true Landale stamp on you, the unmistakable +Landale style of feature. <i>Semper eadem.</i> In that sense, at least, one +can apply your ancient and once worthy motto to you; and you know, +nephew, since you have conveniently changed your faith, both to God +and king, this sentiment strikes one as a sarcasm amidst the +achievements of Landale, you backsliders! Ah, we O'Donoghues have +better maintained our device, <i>sans changier</i>."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> +<p>Rupert, to whom the well-known volubility of his aunt was most +particularly disagreeable, but who had nevertheless saluted the +stalwart old lady's cheek with much affection, here bent his supple +back with a sort of mocking gallantry.</p> + +<p>"You maintain your <i>device</i>, permit me to say, my dear aunt, as +ostentatiously in your person as we renegade Landales ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Pooh, pooh! I am too old a bird to be caught by such chaff, nephew; +it is pearls before.... I mean it is too late in the day, my dear. +Keep it for the young things. And indeed I see the sheep's eyes you +have been casting in their direction. Come nearer, young ladies, and +make your cousin's acquaintance," beckoning to her nieces, who, +arrayed in warm travelling pelisses and beaver bonnets of fashionable +appearance, stood in the background near the fireplace.</p> + +<p>"They are very like, are they not?" she continued. "Twins always are; +as like as two peas. And yet these are as different as day and night +when you come to know them. Madeleine is the eldest; that is she in +the beaver fur; Molly prefers bear. Without their bonnets you will +distinguish them by their complexion. Molly has raven hair (she is the +truest O'Donoghue), whilst Madeleine is fair, <i>blonde</i>, like her +Breton father."</p> + +<p>The sisters greeted their new-found guardian, each in her own way. +And, in spite of the disguising bonnets and their surprising +similarity of voice, height, and build, the difference was more marked +than that of beaver and bear.</p> + +<p>Madeleine acknowledged her kinsman's greeting with a dainty curtsey +and little half-shy smile, marked by that air of distinction and +breeding which was her peculiar characteristic. Molly, however, who +thought she had reasonable cause for feeling generally exasperated, +and who did not see in Mr. Rupert Landale, despite his good looks and +his good manner, a very promising substitute for her Bath admirers +(nor in the prospect of Pulwick a profitable exchange for Bath), came +forward with her bolder grace to flounce him a saucy "reverence," +measuring him the while with a certain air of mockery which his +thin-skinned susceptibility was quick to seize.</p> + +<p>He looked back at her down the long tunnel of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> bonnet, appraising +the bloom and beauty within with cold and curious gaze, and then he +turned to Madeleine and made to her his courteous speech of welcome.</p> + +<p>This was sufficient for Miss Molly, who, for six months already +accustomed to compel admiration at first sight from all specimens of +the male sex that came across her path, instantly vowed a deadly +hatred to her cousin, and followed the party into the Landale family +coach—Rupert preceding, with a lady on each arm—in a temper as black +as her own locks.</p> + +<p>It fell to her lot to sit beside the objectionable relative on the +back seat, while, by the right of her minute's seniority, Madeleine +sat beside Tanty in the front. The projecting wings of her headgear +effectively prevented her from watching his demeanour, unless, indeed, +she had turned to him, which was, of course, out of the question; but +certain fugitive conscious blushes upon the young face in front of +her, certain castings down of long lashes and timid upward glances, +made Molly shrewdly conjecture that Mr. Landale, through all the +apparent devotion with which he listened to Tanty's continuous flow of +observations, was able to bestow a certain amount of attention upon +her pretty neighbour.</p> + +<p>Tanty herself conducted the conversation with her usual high hand, +feigning utter oblivion of the thundercloud on Molly's countenance; +and, if somewhat rambling in her discourse, nevertheless contriving to +plant her points where she chose.</p> + +<p>Thus the long drive wore to its end. The sun was golden upon Pulwick +when the carriage at length drew up before the portico. Miss Sophia +received them in the hall, in a state of painful flutter and timidity. +She had a constitutional terror of her aunt's sharp eyes, and, though +she examined her young cousins wistfully, Madeleine's unconscious air +of dignity repelled her as much as Molly's deliberate pertness.</p> + +<p>Rupert conducted his aunt upstairs, and down the long echoing corridor +towards her apartment.</p> + +<p>"Ha, my old quarters," quoth Tanty, disengaging herself briskly from +her escort to enter the room and look round approvingly, "and very +comfortable they are. And my two nieces are next door, I see, as gay +as chintz can make them. Thank you, nephew, I shall keep you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> no +longer. We shall dine shortly, I feel sure. Well, well, I do not +pretend I am not quite ready to do justice to your excellent +fare—beyond doubt, it will be excellent! Go to your room, girls, your +baggage is coming up, you see; I shall send Dempsey to assist you +presently. No, not you, Sophia, I was speaking to the young ones. I +should like to have a little chat with you, my dear, if you have no +objection."</p> + +<p>One door closed upon Rupert as he smiled and bowed himself out, the +other upon Molly hustling her sister before her.</p> + +<p>Tanty in the highest good humour, having accomplished her desire, and +successfully "established a lodgment" (to use a military term not +inappropriate to such a martial spirit) for her troublesome nieces in +the stronghold of Pulwick, once more surveyed her surroundings: the +dim old walls, the great four-post bed, consecrated, of course, by +tradition to the memory of some royal slumberer, the damask hangings, +and the uncomfortable chairs, with the utmost favour, ending up with a +humorous examination of the elongated figure hesitating on the +hearthrug.</p> + +<p>"Be seated, Sophia. I am glad to stretch my old limbs after that +terrible drive. So here we are together again. What are you sighing +for? Upon my soul, you are the same as ever, I see, the same tombstone +on your chest, and blowing yourself out with sighs, just as you used. +That will never give you a figure, my poor girl; it is no wonder you +are but skin and bones. Ah, can't you let the poor fellow rest in his +grave Sophia? it is flying in the face of Providence, I call it, to go +on perpetually stirring up his ashes like that. I hope you mean to try +and be a little more cheerful with those poor girls. But, there, I +believe you are never so happy as when you are miserable. And it's a +poor creature you would be at any time," added the old lady to +herself, after a second thoughtful investigation of Miss Landale's +countenance, which had assumed an expression of mulishness in addition +to an increase of dolefulness during this homily.</p> + +<p>Here, to Miss Landale's great relief, the dying sunset, wavering into +crimson and purple, from its first glory of liquid gold, attracted her +aunt's attention, and Miss O'Donoghue went over to the window.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> + +<p>Beneath her spread the quaint garden, with its clipped box edges, and +beyond the now leafless belt of trees, upon the glimmer of the bay, +the outline of Scarthey, a dark silhouette rose fantastically against +the vivid sky. Even as she gazed, there leapt upon its fairy turret a +minute point of white.</p> + +<p>The jovial old countenance changed and darkened.</p> + +<p>"And Adrian is still at his fool's game over there, I suppose," she +said irately turning upon Sophia. "When have you seen him last? How +often does he come here? I gather Master Rupert is nothing if not the +master. Why don't you answer me, Sophia?"</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>The dinner was as well cooked and served a meal as any under Rupert's +rule, which is saying a good deal, and if the young ladies failed to +appreciate the "floating island," the "golden nests," and "silver +web," so thoughtfully provided for them, Tanty did ample justice to +the venison.</p> + +<p>Indeed the cloud which had been visible upon her countenance at the +beginning of dinner, and which according to that downright habit of +mind, which rendered her so terrible or so delightful a companion, she +made no attempt to conceal, began to lift towards the first remove, +and altogether vanished over her final glass of port.</p> + +<p>After dinner she peremptorily ordered her grand-nieces into the +retirement of their bedchambers, unblushingly alleging their exhausted +condition in front of the perfect bloom of their beautiful young +vigour.</p> + +<p>She then, over a cup of tea, luxuriously stretching her thin frame in +the best arm-chair the drawing-room could afford, gave Rupert a brief +code of directions as to the special attentions and care she desired +to be bestowed upon her wards, during their residence at Pulwick, +descanting generously upon their various perfections, gliding +dexterously over her reasons for wishing to be rid of them herself, +and concluding with the hint—either pregnant or barren of meaning as +he chose to take it—that if he made their stay pleasant to them, she +would not forget the service.</p> + +<p>Then, as Mr. Landale began, with apparent guilelessness, to put a few +little telling questions to her anent the episodes which had made Bath +undesirable as a residence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> for these young paragons, the old lady +suddenly became overwhelmed with fatigue and sleepiness, and professed +herself ready to be conducted to her bower immediately.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Meanwhile, despite the <i>moue de circonstance</i> which Molly thought it +incumbent on her to assume, neither she nor Madeleine regretted their +compulsory withdrawal from the social circle downstairs.</p> + +<p>Madeleine had her own thoughts to follow up, and that these were both +engrossing and pleasant was easily evident; and Molly, bursting with a +sense of injury arising from many causes, desired a special +explanation with her sister, which the presence in and out upon them +of Tanty's woman had prevented her from indulging in before dinner.</p> + +<p>"So here we are at last," cried she, indignantly, after she had walked +round and severely inspected her quarters, pausing to "pull a lip" of +extreme disfavour at the handsome portrait of Mr. Landale that hung +between the windows, "we are, Madeleine, at last, kidnapped, +imprisoned, successfully disposed of, in fact."</p> + +<p>"Yes, here we are at last," echoed Madeleine, abstractedly, warming +her slender ankles by the fire.</p> + +<p>"Have you made out yet what particular kind of new frenzy it was that +seized chère Tante?" asked Miss Molly, with great emphasis, as she sat +down at her toilet-table. "You are the cause of it all, my dear, and +so you ought to know. It is all very well for Tanty to pretend that I +have brought it on myself by not coming home till three o'clock (as if +that was <i>my</i> fault). She cannot blink the fact that her Dempsey +creature had orders to pack my boxes before bedtime. Your Smith must +be a desperately dangerous individual. Well," she continued, looking +round over her shoulder, "why don't you say something, you +lackadaisical thing?"</p> + +<p>But Madeleine answered nought and continued gazing, while only the +little smile, tilting the corners of her lips, betrayed that she had +heard the petulant speech.</p> + +<p>The smile put the finishing touch to Molly's righteous anger. +Brandishing a hairbrush threateningly, she marched over to her sister +and looked down upon the slender figure, in its clinging white dress, +with blazing eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Look here," she cried, "there must be an end of this. I can put up +with your slyness no longer. How <i>dare</i> you have secrets from me, +miss?—your own twin sister! You and I, who used never to have a +thought we did not share. How dare you have a lover, and not tell me +all about him? What was the meaning of your weeping like a fountain +all the way from Bath to Shrewsbury, and then, without rhyme or reason +apparently, smiling to yourself all the way from there to Lancaster. +You have had a letter, don't attempt to deny it, it is of no use.... +Oh, it is base of you, it is indeed! And to think that it is all +through you that I am forced into this exile, through your <i>airs +penchés</i>, and your sighing and dreaming, and your mysterous +<i>Smith</i>.... To think that to-night, this very night, is the ball of +the season, and we are going to bed! Oh, and to-morrow and to-morrow, +and to-morrow, with nothing but a knave and a fool to keep us +company—for I don't think much of your female cousin, Madeleine, and, +as for your male cousin, I perfectly detest him—and all the tabbies +of the country-side for diversion, with perhaps a country buck on high +days and holidays for a relish! Pah!"</p> + +<p>Molly had almost talked her ill-humour away. Her energetic nature +could throw off most unpleasant emotions easily enough so long as it +might have an outlet for them; she now laid down the threatening +brush, and, kneeling beside her, flung both her arms round Madeleine's +shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Ma petite Madeleine," she coaxed, in the mother tongue, "tell thy +little sister thy secrets."</p> + +<p>A faint flush crept to Madeleine's usually creamy cheeks, a light into +her eyes. She turned impulsively to the face near hers, then, as if +bethinking herself, pursed her lips together and shook her head +slightly.</p> + +<p>"Do you remember, ma chèrie," she said, at last, "that French tale +Mrs. Hambledon lent us in which it is said <i>'Qui fuit l'amour, l'amour +suit.'</i>"</p> + +<p>"Well?" asked Molly, eagerly, her lips parted as if to drink in the +expected confidence.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied the other, "well, perhaps things may not be so bad +after all. Perhaps," rising from her seat, and looking at her sister +with a little gentle malice, while she, too, began to disrobe her +fairer beauty for the night,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> "some of your many lovers may come after +you from Bath! Oh, Molly!" with a little scream, for Molly, with eyes +flashing once more, had sprung up from her knees to inflict a vicious +pinch upon the equivocator's arm.</p> + +<p>"Yes, miss, you shall be pinched till you confess." Then flouting her +with a sudden change of mood, "I am sure I don't want to know your +wonderful secret,"—seizing her comb and passing it crackling through +her hair with quite unnecessary energy—"Mademoiselle la Cachotière. +Anyhow, it cannot be very interesting.... <i>Mrs. Smith!</i> Fancy caring +for a man called Smith! If you smile again like that, Madeleine, I +shall beat you."</p> + +<p>The two sisters looked at each other for a second as if hesitating on +the brink of anger, and then both laughed.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, I shall pay you out yet," quoth Molly, tugging at her +black mane. "So our lovers are to come after us, is <i>that</i> it? Do you +know, Madeleine," she went on, calming down, "I almost regret now that +I would not listen to young Lord Dereham, simpleton though he be. He +looked such a dreadful little fright that I only laughed at him.... I +should have laughed at him all my life. But it would perhaps have been +better than this dependence on Tanty, with her sudden whims and +scampers and whisking of us away into the wilderness. Then I should +have had my own way always. Now it's too late. Tanty told me yesterday +that she sees he is a dissolute young man, and that his dukedom is +only a Charles II. creation, and 'We know what that means,' she added, +and shook her head. I am sure I had not a notion, but I shook my head +too, and said, 'Of course, that made it impossible.' I was really +afraid she would want me to marry him. She was dreadfully pleased and +said I was a true O'Donoghue. Oh, dear! I don't know <i>anything</i> about +love. I can't imagine being in love; but one thing is certain, I could +never, never, never allow a horrid little rat like Lord Dereham to +make love to me, to kiss me, nor, indeed, any man—oh, horror! How you +are blushing, my dear! Come here into the light. It would be good for +your soul, indeed it would, to confess!"</p> + +<p>But Madeleine, burying her hot cheeks in her sister's neck and +clasping her with gentle caresses, was not to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> drawn from her +reticence. Molly pushed her off at last, and gave a hard little +good-night kiss like a bird-peck.</p> + +<p>"Very well; but you might as well have confessed, for I shall find out +in the long run. And who knows, perhaps you may be sorry one day that +you did not tell me of your own accord."</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>A RECORD AND A PRESENTMENT.</h3> + + +<p>The gallery of family portraits at Pulwick is one of the most +remarkable features of that ancient house.</p> + +<p>It was a custom firmly established at the Priory—ever since the first +heralds' visitation in Lancashire, when some mooted point of claims to +certain quarterings had been cleared in an unexpected way by the +testimony of a well-authenticated ancestral portrait—for each +successive representative to add to the collection. One of the first +cares of every Landale, therefore, on succeeding to the title was to +be painted, with his proper armorial and otherwise distinguishing +honours jealously delineated, and thus hung in the place of honour +over the high mantelshelf of the gallery—displacing on the occasion +his own immediate and revered predecessor.</p> + +<p>The chain was consequently unbroken from the Elizabethan descendants +of the first acquirers of ecclesiastical property at Pulwick, down to +the present Light-keeper of Scarthey.</p> + +<p>But whilst the late Sir Thomas appeared in all the majesty of +deputy-lieutenant, colonel of Militia, magistrate, and sundry other +honourable offices, in his due place on the right of the present +baronet, the latter figured in a character so strange and so +incongruous that it seemed as if one day the dignified array of +Landales—old, young, middle-aged, but fine gentlemen, all of +them—must turn their backs upon their degenerate kinsman.</p> + +<p>Over the chimney-piece, in the huge carved-oak frame (now already two +centuries old), a common sailor, in the striped loose trousers, the +blue jacket with red piping of a man-of-war's man, with pigtail and +coarse open shirt—stood boldly forth as the representative of the +present owner of Pulwick.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + +<p>Proud of their long line of progenitors, it was a not unusual thing +for the Landales to entertain their guests at breakfast in a certain +sunny bow-window in the portrait gallery rather than in the breakfast +parlour proper, which in winter, unmistakably harboured more damp than +was pleasant.</p> + +<p>It was, therefore, with no surprise that Miss Landale received an +early order from her brother to have a fire lighted in the apartment +sacred to the family honours, and the matutinal repast served there in +due course.</p> + +<p>Whether Mr. Landale was actuated by a regard for the rheumatism of his +worthy relative, or merely a natural family pride, or by some other +and less simple motive, he saw no necessity for informing his docile +housewife on the matter.</p> + +<p>As Sophia was accustomed to no such condescension on his part even in +circumstances more extraordinary, she merely bundled out of bed +unquestioningly in the darkness and cold of the morning to see his +orders executed in the proper manner; which, indeed, to her credit was +so successfully accomplished that Tanty and her charges, when they +made their entry upon the scene, could not fail to be impressed with +the comfortable aspect of the majestic old room.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale examined his two young uninvited guests with new keenness +in the morning light. Molly was demure enough, though there was a +lurking gleam in her dark eye which suggested rather armed truce than +accepted peace. As for Madeleine, though to be serene was an actual +necessity of her delicate nature, there was more than resignation in +the blushing radiance of her look and smile.</p> + +<p>"Portraits of their mother," said Rupert, bringing his critical survey +to a close, and stepping forward with a nice action of the legs to +present his arm to his aunt. "Portraits of their mother both of +them—I trust to that miniature which used to grace our collection in +the drawing-room rather than to the treacherous memory of a school-boy +for the impression—but portraits by different masters and in +different moods."</p> + +<p>There was something patronising in the tone from so young a man, which +Molly resented on the spot.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we should be as like as two peas, only that we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> are as different +as day and night, as Tanty says," she retorted, tossing her white chin +at her host, while Miss O'Donoghue laughed aloud at her favourite's +sauciness.</p> + +<p>"And after all," said Rupert, as he bestowed his venerable relative on +her chair, with an ineffable air of politeness, contradicted, though +only for an instant, by the look which he shot at Molly from the light +hazel eyes, "Tanty is not so far wrong—the only difference between +night and day is the difference between the <i>brunette</i> and the +<i>blonde</i>," with a little bow to each of the sisters, "an Irish bull, +if one comes to analyse it, is but the expression of the too rapid +working of quick wits."</p> + +<p>"Faith, nephew," said Tanty, sitting down in high good humour to the +innumerable good things in which her Epicurean old soul delighted, +"that is about as true a thing as ever you said. Our Irish tongues are +apt to get behind a thing before it is there, and they call that +making a bull."</p> + +<p>Rupert's sense of humour was as keen as most of his other faculties, +and at the unconscious humour of this sally his laugh rang out +frankly, while Molly and Madeleine giggled in their plates, and Miss +O'Donoghue chuckled quietly to herself in the intervals of eating and +drinking, content to have been witty, without troubling to discover +how.</p> + +<p>Sophia alone remained unmoved by mirth; indeed, as she raised her +drooping head, amazed at the clamour, an unwary tear trickled down her +long nose into her tea. She was given to revelling in anniversaries of +dead and gone joys or sorrows; the one as melancholy to her to look +back upon as the other; and upon this November day, now very many +years ago, had the ardent, consumptive rector first hinted at his +love.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Miss O'Donoghue, who, having disposed of the most +serious part of the breakfast, pushed away her plate with one hand +while she stirred her second cup of well-creamed tea lazily with the +other, "Now, Rupert, will you tell me the arrangements you propose to +make to enable me to see your good brother?"</p> + +<p>Rupert had anticipated being attacked upon this subject, and had fully +prepared himself to defend the peculiar position it was his interest +to maintain. To encourage a meeting between his brother and the old +lady (to whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> the present position of affairs was a grievous offence) +did not, certainly, enter into his plan of action; but Tanty had put +the question in an unexpected and slightly awkward shape, and for a +second or two he hesitated before replying.</p> + +<p>"I fear," said he then, gliding into the subject with his usual easy +fluency, "that you will be disappointed if you have been reckoning +upon an interview with Adrian, my dear aunt. The hermit will not be +drawn from his shell on any pretext."</p> + +<p>"What," cried Tanty, while her withered cheek flushed, "do you mean to +tell me that my nephew, Sir Adrian Landale, will decline to come a few +hundred yards to see his old aunt—his mother's own sister—who has +come three hundred miles, at seventy years of age, to see him in his +own house—<i>in his own house</i>?" repeated the irate old lady, rattling +the spoon with much emphasis against her cup. "If you <i>mean</i> this, +Rupert, it is an insult to me which I shall never forget—<i>never</i>."</p> + +<p>She rose from her seat as she concluded, shaking with the tremulous +anger of age.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, Tanty," cried Rupert, throwing into his voice all the +generous warmth he was capable of simulating, "do not hold me +responsible for Adrian in this matter. His strange vagaries are not of +my suggesting, heaven knows."</p> + +<p>"Well, nephew," said Miss O'Donoghue, loftily, "if you will kindly +send the letter I am about to write to your brother, by a safe +messenger, immediately, I shall believe that it is <i>your</i> wish to +treat me with proper respect, whatever may be Adrian's subsequent +behaviour."</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale's countenance assumed an expression of very genuine +distress; this was just the one proof of dutiful attachment that he +was loth to bestow upon his cherished aunt.</p> + +<p>"I see how it is," he exclaimed earnestly, coming up to the old lady, +and laying his hand gently upon her arm, "you entirely misunderstand +the situation. I am not a free agent in this matter. I cannot do what +you ask; I am bound by pledge. Adrian is, undoubtedly, more +than—peculiar on certain points, and, really, I dare not, if I would, +thwart him."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Tanty, shooting off the ejaculation as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> from a pop-gun. +Then, shaking herself free of Rupert's touch, she sat down abruptly in +her chair again, and began fanning herself with her handkerchief. Not +even in her interchange of amenities with Mrs. Hambledon, had Molly +seen her display so much indignation.</p> + +<p>"You want me to believe he is mad, I suppose?" she snapped, at last.</p> + +<p>"Dear me! No, no, no!" responded the other, in his airy way. "I did +not mean to go so far as that; but—well, there are very painful +matters, and hitherto I have avoided all discussion upon them, even +with Sophia. My affection for Adrian——"</p> + +<p>"Fiddlesticks!" interrupted Tanty. "You meant something, I suppose; +either the man's mad, or he is not. And I, for one, don't believe a +word of it. The worst sign about him, that I can see, is the blind +confidence the poor fellow seems to put in you."</p> + +<p>Here Molly, who had been listening to the discussion "with all her +ears"—anything connected with the mysterious personality of the +absent head of the house was beginning to have a special fascination +for her—gave an irrepressible little note of laughter.</p> + +<p>Rupert looked up at her quickly, and their eyes met.</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue, Miss," cried Miss O'Donoghue, sharply; aware that +she had gone too far in her last remark, and glad to relieve her +oppression in another direction, "how dare you laugh? Sophia, this is +a terrible thing your brother wants me to believe—may I ask what +<i>your</i> opinion is? Though I'll not deny I don't think that will be +worth much."</p> + +<p>Sophia glanced helplessly at Rupert, but he was far too carefully +possessed of himself to affect to perceive her embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," cried Miss O'Donoghue, whose eyes nothing escaped, "you +need not look at Rupert, you can answer for yourself, I suppose—you +are not absolutely a drivelling idiot—<i>all</i> the Landales are not +ripening for lunatic asylums—collect your wits, Sophia, I know you +have not got any, but you have <i>enough</i> to be able to give a plain +answer to a plain question, I suppose. Do you think your brother mad, +child?"</p> + +<p>"God forbid," murmured Sophia, at the very extremity of those wits of +which Miss O'Donoghue had so poor an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> opinion. "Oh, no, dear aunt, not +<i>mad</i>, of course, not in the least <i>mad</i>."</p> + +<p>Then, gathering from a restless movement of Rupert's that she was not +upon the right tack she faltered, floundered wildly, and finally drew +forth the inevitable pocket-handkerchief, to add feelingly if +irrelevantly from its folds, "And indeed if I thought such a calamity +had really fallen upon us—and of course there <i>are</i> symptoms, no +doubt there are symptoms...."</p> + +<p>"What are his symptoms—has he tried to murder any of you, hey?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear aunt! No, indeed, dear Adrian is gentleness itself."</p> + +<p>"Does he bite? Does he gibber? Oh, away with you, Sophia! I am sure I +cannot wonder at the poor fellow wanting to live on a rock, between +you and Rupert. I am sure the periwinkles and the gulls must be +pleasant company compared to you. That alone would show, I should +think, that he knows right well what he is about. Mad indeed! There +never was any madness among the O'Donoghues except your poor uncle +Michael, who got a box on the ear from a windmill—and <i>he</i> wasn't an +O'Donoghue at all! You will be kind enough, nephew, to have delivered +to Sir Adrian, no later than to-day, the letter which I shall this +moment indite to him."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said Rupert, "if you will only favour me with your +attention for a few minutes first, aunt, and allow me to narrate to +you the circumstances of my brother's return here, and of his +subsequent self-exile, you will see fit to change your opinion, both +as regards him and myself."</p> + +<p>A self-controlled nature will in the long run, rightly or wrongly, +always assume the ascendency over an excitable one. The moderateness +of Rupert's words, the coolness of his manner, here brought Tanty +rapidly down from her pinnacle of passion.</p> + +<p>Certainly, she said, she was not only ready, but anxious to hear all +that Rupert could have to say for himself; and, smoothing down her +black satin apron with a shaking hand, the old lady prepared to listen +with as much judicial dignity as her flustered state allowed her to +assume. Rupert drew his chair opposite to hers and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> leant his elbow on +the table, and fixed his bright, hard eyes upon her.</p> + +<p>"You remember, of course," he began after a moment's pause, "how at +the time of my poor father's death, Adrian was reported to have lost +his life in the Vendée war—though without authoritative +confirmation—at the same time as the fair and unhappy Countesse de +Savenaye, to whose fortune he had so chivalrously devoted himself."</p> + +<p>Tanty bowed her head in solemn assent; but Molly, watching with the +most acute attention, felt her face blaze at the indefinable shade of +mockery she thought to catch upon the speaker's curling lip.</p> + +<p>"It was," continued he, "the constant strain, the long months of +watching in vain for tidings, that told upon my father, rather than +the actual grief of loss. When he died, the responsibilities of the +headship of the house devolved naturally upon me, the only male +representative left, seemingly, to undertake them. The months went by; +to the most sanguine the belief in Adrian's death became inevitable. +Our hopes died slowly, but they died at last; we mourned for him," +here Rupert cast down his eyes till the thick black lashes which were +one of his beauties swept his cheek; his tone was perfect in its +simple gravity. "At length, urged thereto by all the family, if I +remember rightly by yourself as well, dear aunt, I assumed the title +as well as the position which seemed mine by right. I was very young +at the time, but I do not think that either then, or during the ten +years that followed, I unworthily filled my brother's place."</p> + +<p>There was a proud ring of sincerity in the last words, and the old +lady knew that they were true; that during the years of his absolute +power as well as of his present more restricted mastership, Rupert's +management of the estate was unimpeachable.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not, my dear Rupert," she said in softer tones than she had +hitherto used to him, "no one would dream of suggesting such a +thing—pray go on."</p> + +<p>"And so," pursued the nephew, with a short laugh, relapsing into that +light tone of banter which was his most natural mode of expression; +"when, one fine day, a hired coach clattered up Sir Rupert Landale's +avenue and deposited upon his porch a tattered mariner who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>announced +himself, in melancholy tones that would have befitted the ghost no +doubt many took him for, as the rightful Sir Adrian, erroneously +supposed defunct, I confess that it required a little persuasion to +make me recognise my long-lost brother—and yet there could be no +doubt of it. The missing heir had come to his own again; the dead had +come back to life. Well, we killed the fatted calf, and all the rest +of it—but I need not inflict upon you the narrative of our +rejoicing."</p> + +<p>"Faith, no," said Tanty, drily, "I can see it with half an eye."</p> + +<p>"You know, too, I believe, the series of extraordinary adventures, or +misadventures, which had kept him roaming on the high seas while we at +home set up tablets to his memory and 'wore our blacks' as people here +call it, and cultivated a chastened resignation. There was a good deal +of correspondence going on at the time between Pulwick and Bunratty, +if I remember aright, and you heard all about Adrian's divers attempts +to land in England, about his fight with the King's men, his crack on +the head and final impressment. At least you heard as much as we could +gather ourselves. Adrian is not what one would call a garrulous person +at the best of times. It was really with the greatest difficulty that +we managed to extract enough out of him to piece together a coherent +tale."</p> + +<p>"Well, well," quoth Tanty, with impatience, "you are glib enough for +two anyhow, my dear! All this does not tell me how Adrian came to live +on a lighthouse, and why you put him down as a lunatic."</p> + +<p>"Not as a lunatic," corrected Rupert, gently, "merely as slightly +eccentric on certain points. Though, indeed, if you had seen him +during those first months after his return, I think even you with your +optimistic spirit would have feared, as we did, that he was falling +into melancholia. Thank heaven he is better now. But, dear me, what we +went through! I declare I expected every morning to be informed that +Sir Adrian's corpse had been found hanging from his bedpost or +discovered in a jelly at the bottom of the bluffs. And, indeed, when +at length he disappeared for three days, after he had been last +observed mooning along the coast, there was a terrible panic lest he +should have sought a congenial and soothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> end in the embraces of +the quicksands.... It turned out, however, that he had merely strolled +over to Scarthey—where, as you know, my father established a beacon +and installed a keeper to warn boats off our shoals—and, finding the +place to his liking, had remained there, regardless of our feelings."</p> + +<p>"Tut, tut!" said Tanty; but whether in reproof of Rupert's flippant +language or of her elder nephew's erratic behaviour, it would have +been difficult to determine.</p> + +<p>"Of course," went on Rupert, smoothly, "I had resolved, after a decent +period, to remove my lares and penates from a house where I was no +longer master and to establish myself, with my small patrimony (I +believe I ought to call it <i>matrimony</i>, as we younger children benefit +by our O'Donoghue mother) in an independent establishment. But when I +first broached the subject, Adrian was so vastly distressed, expressed +himself so well satisfied with my management of the estate and begged +me so earnestly to consider Pulwick as my home, vowing that he himself +would never marry, and that all he looked forward to in life was to +see me wedded and with future heirs to the name springing around me, +that it would have been actual unkindness to resist. Moreover, as you +can imagine, Adrian is not exactly a man of business, and his +spasmodic interferences in the control of the property being already +then of a very injudicious nature, I confess that, having nursed it +myself for eleven years with some success, I dreaded to think what it +would become under his auspices. And so I agreed to remain. But the +position increased in difficulty. Adrian's moroseness seemed to grow +upon him; he showed an exaggerated horror of company; either flying +from visitors as from the pest, and shutting himself up in his own +apartments, or (on the few disastrous occasions when my persuasions +induced him to show himself to some old family friends) entertaining +them with such unusual sentiments concerning social laws, the +magistracy, the government, his Majesty the King himself, that the +most extraordinary reports about him soon spread over the whole +county. This was about the time—as you may remember—of my own +marriage."</p> + +<p>Here an alteration crept into Mr. Landale's voice, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> Molly looked +at him curiously, while Miss Sophia gave vent to an audible sniff.</p> + +<p>"To be sure," said Tanty, hastily. Comfortably egotistic old ladies +have an instinctive dislike to painful topics. And that Rupert's +sorrow for his young wife had been, if self-centred and reserved, of +an intense and prolonged nature was known to all the family.</p> + +<p>The widower himself had no intention of dilating upon it. His wife's +name he never mentioned, and no one could guess, heavily as the blow +was known to have fallen upon him, the seething bitterness that her +loss had left in his soul, nor imagine how different a man he might +have been if that one strong affection of his life had been spared to +soften it.</p> + +<p>"Adrian fled from the wedding festivities, as you may remember, for +you were our honoured guest at the time, and greatly displeased at his +absence," he resumed, after a few seconds of darkling reflection. +"None of us knew where he had flown to, for he did not evidently +consider his owl's nest sufficiently remote; but we had his fraternal +blessing to sustain us. And after that he continued to make periodical +disappearances to his retreat, stopping away each time longer and +longer. One fine day he sent workmen to the island with directions to +repair certain rooms in the keep, and he began to transfer thereto +furniture, his books and his organ. A dilapidated little French +prisoner next appeared on the scene (whom my brother had extracted +from the Tower of Liverpool, which was then crammed with such gentry), +and finally we were informed that, with this worthy companion, Sir +Adrian Landale was determined to take up his abode altogether at +Scarthey, undertaking the duties of the recently defunct light-keeper. +So off he went, and there he is still. He has extracted from us a +solemn promise that his privacy is to be absolutely respected, and +that no communications, or, above all, visits are to be made to him. +Occasionally, when we least expect it, he descends upon us from his +tower, upsets all my accounts, makes the most absurd concessions to +the tenants, rides round the estate with his eyes on the ground and +disappears again. <i>Et voilà</i>, my dear aunt, how we stand."</p> + +<p>"Well, nephew," said Miss O'Donoghue, "I am much obliged to you, I am +sure, for putting me <i>au courant</i> of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> the family affairs. It is all +very sad—very sad and very deplorable; but——"</p> + +<p>But Mr. Landale was quite aware that Tanty was not yet convinced to +the desired extent. He therefore here interrupted her to play his last +card—that ace he had up his sleeve, in careful preparation for this +trial of skill with his keen-witted relative, and to the suitable +production of which he had been all along leading.</p> + +<p>Rising from his chair with slow, deliberate movement, he proceeded, as +if following his own train of thought, without noticing that Miss +O'Donoghue was intent on speech herself:</p> + +<p>"You have not seen him, I believe, since he was quite a lad. You would +have some difficulty in recognising him, though he bears, like the +rest of us, what you call the unmistakable Landale stamp. His portrait +is here, by the way—duly installed in its correct position. That," +with a laugh, "was one of his freaks. It was his duty to keep up the +family traditions, he said—and there you will approve of him, no +doubt; but hardly, perhaps, of the manner in which he has had that +laudable intention carried out. My own portrait was, of course, +deposed (like the original)," added Mr. Landale, with something of a +sneer; "and now hangs meekly in some bedroom or other—in that, if I +mistake not, at present hallowed by my fair cousins' presence. Well, +it is good for the soul of man to be humbled, as we are taught to +believe from our earliest years!"</p> + +<p>Tanty was fumbling for her eye-glasses. She was glad to hear that +Adrian had remembered some of his obligations (she observed, +sententiously, as she hauled herself stiffly out of her chair to +approach the chimney-piece); it was certainly a sign that he was more +mindful of his duties as head of the house than one would expect from +a person hardly responsible, such as Rupert had represented him to be, +and ...</p> + +<p>Here, the glasses being adjusted and focussed upon the portrait, Miss +O'Donoghue halted abruptly with a dropping jaw.</p> + +<p>"There is a curious inscription underneath the escutcheon," said Mr. +Landale composedly, "which latter, by the way, you may notice is the +only one in the line which has no room for an impaled coat (Adrian's +way of indicating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> not only that he is single, but means to remain +such); Adrian composed it himself and indeed attached a marked +importance to it. Let me read it for you, dear Tanty, the picture +hangs a little high and those curveting letters are hard to decipher. +It runs thus:</p> + +<p><i>Sir Adrian William Hugh Landale, Lord of Pulwick and Scarthey in the +County Palatine of Lancaster, eighth Baronet, born March 12th, 1775. +Succeeded to the title and estate on the 10th February 1799, whilst +abroad. Iniquitously pressed into the King's service on the day of his +return home, January 2nd, 1801. Twice flogged for alleged +insubordination, and only released at last by the help of a friend +after five years of slavery. Died</i> [Here a space for the date.] It is +a record with a vengeance, is it not? Notice my brother's +determination to die unmarried and to retire, once for all, from all +or any of the possible honours connected with his position!"</p> + +<p>They had all clustered in front of the picture; even Madeleine roused +from her sweet day-dreams to some show of curiosity; Miss Landale's +bosom, heaving with such sighs as to make the tombstone rise and fall +like a ship upon a stormy sea; Molly with an eagerness she did not +attempt to hide; and Miss O'Donoghue still speechless with horror and +indignation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale had gauged his aunt's temperament correctly enough. To one +whose ruling passion was pride of family, this mockery of a +consecrated family custom, this heirloom destined to carry down a +record of degradation into future generations, was an insult to the +name only to be explained to her first indignation by deliberate +malice—or insanity.</p> + +<p>And from the breezy background of blue sky and sea, contrasting as +strangely with the dark solemnity of the other portraits as did the +figure itself in its incongruous sailor dress, the face of the eighth +baronet looked down in melancholy gravity upon the group gathered in +judgment upon him.</p> + +<p>"Disgraceful! Positively disgraceful!" at length cried the last +representative of the O'Donoghues of Bunratty, in scandalised tones. +"My dear Rupert, you should have a curtain put up, that this +exhibition of folly—of madness, I hardly know what to call it—be not +exposed to every casual visitor. Dear me, dear me, that I should live +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> see any of my kin deliberately throw discredit on his family, if +indeed the poor fellow is responsible! Rupert, my good soul, can you +ascribe any reason for this terrible state of affairs ... that blow on +the head?"</p> + +<p>"In part perhaps," said Mr. Landale. "And yet there have been other +causes at work. If I could have a private word in your ear," glancing +meaningly over his shoulder at the two young girls who were both +listening, though with very different expressions of interest and +favour, "I could give you my opinion more fully."</p> + +<p>"Go away now, my dear creatures," hereupon said Miss O'Donoghue, +promptly addressing her nieces. "It is a fine morning, and you will +lose your roses if you don't get the air. I don't care if it has begun +to rain, miss! Go and have a game of battledore and shuttlecock then. +Young people <i>must</i> have exercise. Well, my dear Rupert, well!"—when +Molly, with a pettish "battledore and shuttlecock indeed!" had taken +her sister by the arm and left the room.</p> + +<p>"Well, my dear aunt, the fact is, I believe my unhappy brother has +never recovered from—from his passion for Cécile de Savenaye, that +early love affair, so suddenly and tragically terminated—well, it +seems to have turned his brain!"</p> + +<p>"Pooh, pooh! why that was twenty years ago. Don't tell me it is in a +man to be so constant."</p> + +<p>"In no <i>sane</i> man perhaps; but then, you know, Tanty, that is just the +point.... Remember the circumstances. He loved her madly; he followed +her, lived near her for months and she was drowned before his eyes, I +believe. I never heard, of course, any details of that strange period +of his life, but we can imagine." This was a difficult, vague, subject +to deal with, and Mr. Landale wisely passed on. "Moreover, his +behaviour when in this house on his return at first has left me no +doubt. I watched him closely. He was for ever haunting those rooms +which she had inhabited. When he found her miniature in the +drawing-room he went first as white as death, then he took it in his +hand and stood gazing at it (I am not exaggerating) for a whole hour +without moving; and, finally, he carried it off, and I know he used to +talk to it in his room. And now, even if I had not given my poor +brother my word of honour never to disturb his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> chosen solitude, I +should have felt it a heavy responsibility to promote a meeting which +would inevitably bring back past memories in a troublous manner upon +him. In fact, were he to come across the children of his dead +love—above all Molly, who must be startlingly like her mother—what +might the result be? I hardly like to contemplate it. The human brain +is a very delicately balanced organ, my dear aunt, and once it gets +ever so slightly out of order one cannot be too careful to avoid +risk."</p> + +<p>He finished his say with an expressive gesture of the hand. Miss +O'Donoghue remained for a moment plunged in reflection, during which +the cloud upon her countenance gradually lifted.</p> + +<p>"It is a strange thing," she said at last, "but constancy seems to run +in the family. There is no denying that. Here is Sophia, a ridiculous +spectacle—and you yourself, my dear Rupert.... And now poor Adrian, +too, and his case of mere calf-love, as one would have thought."</p> + +<p>"A calf may grow into a fine bull, you know," returned Mr. Landale, +who had winced at his aunt's allusion to himself and now spoke in the +most unemotional tone he could assume, "especially if it is well +fostered in its youth."</p> + +<p>"And I suppose," said Miss O'Donoghue, with a faint smile, "you think +I ought to know all about bulls." She again put up her glasses to +survey the portrait with critical deliberation; after which, +recommending him once more strenuously to have a curtain erected, she +observed, that it would break her heart to look at it one moment +longer and requested to be conducted from the room.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale could not draw any positive conclusion from his aunt's +manner of receiving his confidence, nor determine whether she had +altogether grasped the whole meaning of what he had intended +delicately to convey to her concerning his brother's past as well as +present position; but he had said as much as prudence counselled.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE DISTANT LIGHT</h3> + + +<p>In spite of their first petulant or dolorous anticipation, and of the +contrast between the even tenor of country life and the constant +stream of amusement which young people of fashion can find in a place +like Bath, the two girls discovered that time glided pleasantly enough +over them at Pulwick.</p> + +<p>Instead of the gloomy northern stronghold their novel-fed imagination +had pictured (the more dismally as their sudden removal from town +gaieties savoured distantly of punishment at the hand of their irate +aunt), they found themselves delivered over into a bright, +admirably-ordered house, replete with things of beauty, comfortable to +the extremity of luxury; and allowed in this place of safety to enjoy +almost unrestricted liberty.</p> + +<p>The latter privilege was especially precious, as the sisters at that +time had engrossing thoughts of their own they wished to pursue, and +found more interest in solitary roamings through the wide estate than +in the company of the hosts.</p> + +<p>On the fifth day Miss O'Donoghue took her departure. Her own +travelling coach had rumbled down the avenue, bearing her and her +woman away, in its polished yellow embrace, her flat trunk strapped +behind, and the good-natured old face nodding out of the window, till +Molly and Madeleine, standing (a little disconsolate) upon the porch +to watch her departure, could distinguish even the hooked nose no +longer. Mr. Landale, upon his mettled grey, a gallant figure, as Molly +herself was forced to admit, in his boots and buckskins, had cantered +in the dust alongside, intent upon escorting his aged relative to the +second stage of her journey.</p> + +<p>That night, almost for the first time since their arrival, there was +no company at dinner, and the young guests<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> understood that the +household would now fall back into its ordinary routine.</p> + +<p>But without the small flutter of seeing strangers, or Tanty's lively +conversation, the social intercourse soon waned into exceeding +dulness, and at an early hour Miss Molly rose and withdrew to her +room, pretexting a headache, for which Mr. Landale, with his usual +high courtesy, affected deep concern.</p> + +<p>As she was slowly ascending the great oaken staircase, she crossed +Moggie, the gatekeeper's daughter, who in her character of +foster-sister to one of the guests had been specially allotted to them +as attendant, during the remainder of their visit to Pulwick.</p> + +<p>Molly thought that the girl eyed her hesitatingly, as if she wished to +speak:</p> + +<p>"Well, Moggie?" she asked, stopping on her way.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, miss," said the buxom lass, blushing and dropping a +curtsey, "Renny Potter, please, miss, is up at our lodge to-night, he +don't care to come to the 'ouse so much, miss. But when he heard about +you, miss, you could have knocked him down with a feather he was so +surprised and that excited, miss, we have never seen him so. And he's +so set on being allowed to see ye both!"</p> + +<p>Molly as yet failed to connect any memories of interest with the +possessor of the patronymic mentioned, but the next phrase mentioned +aroused her attention.</p> + +<p>"He is Sir Adrian's servant, now, miss, and goes back yonder to the +island, that is where the master lives, to-morrow morning. But he +would be so happy to see the young ladies before he goes, if the +liberty were forgiven, he says. He was servant to the Madam your +mother, miss.</p> + +<p>"Well, Moggie," answered Miss Molly, smiling, "if that is all that is +required to make Renny Potter happy, it is very easily done. Tell +Renny Potter: to-morrow morning." And she proceeded on her way +pondering, while the successful emissary pattered down to the lodge in +high glee to gather her reward in her sweetheart's company.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>When later on Madeleine joined her sister, she found her standing by +the deep recessed window, the curtains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> of which were drawn back, +resting her head on her hand against the wainscot, and gazing abroad +into the night.</p> + +<p>She approached, and passing her hand round Molly's waist looked out +also.</p> + +<p>"Again at your window?"</p> + +<p>"It is a beautiful night, and the view very lovely," said Molly. And +indeed the moon was riding high in a deep blue starry heaven, and +shimmered on the strip of distant sea visible from the windows.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but yesterday the night was not fine, and nothing was to be seen +but blackness; and it was the same the day before, and yet you stared +out of this window, as you have every night since our coming. It is +strange to see <i>you</i> so. What is it, why don't you tell me?"</p> + +<p>"Madeleine," said Molly, suddenly, after a lengthy pause, "I am simply +<i>haunted</i> by that light over yonder, the Light of Scarthey. There is a +mystery about those ruins, on which I keep meditating all day long. I +want to know more. It draws me. I would give anything to be able, now, +to set sail and land there all unknown to any one, and see what manner +of life is led where that light is burning."</p> + +<p>But Madeleine merely gave a pout of little interest. "What do you +think you would find? A half-witted middle-aged man, mooning among a +litter of books, with an old woman, and a little Frenchman to look +after him. Why, Mr. Landale himself takes no trouble to conceal that +his poor brother is an almost hopeless lunatic."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Landale—" Molly began, with much contempt; but she interrupted +herself, and went on simply, "Mr. Landale is a very fine gentleman, +with very superior manners. He speaks like a printed book—but for all +that I <i>would</i> like to know."</p> + +<p>Madeleine laughed. "The demon of curiosity has a hold of you, Molly; +remember the fable they made us repeat: <i>De loin c'est quelque chose, +et de près ce n'est rien.</i> Now you shall go straight into your bed, +and not take cold."</p> + +<p>And Miss Madeleine, after authoritatively closing the curtains, kissed +her sister, and was about to commence immediate disrobing, when she +caught sight of the shagreen-covered book, lying open on the table.</p> + +<p>"So your headache was your diary—how I should like to have a peep."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I daresay!" said Molly, sarcastically, and then sat down and, pen in +hand, began to re-read her night's entry, now and then casting a +tantalising glance over her shoulder at her sister. The lines, in the +flowing convent hand, ran thus:</p> + +<p>"Aunt O'Donoghue left us this morning, and so here we are, planted in +Pulwick; and she has achieved her plan, fully. But what is odd is that +neither Madeleine nor I seem to mind it, now. What has come over +Madeleine is her secret, and she keeps it close; but that <i>I</i> should +like being here is strange indeed.</p> + +<p>"And yet, every day something happens to make me feel connected with +Pulwick—something more, I mean, than the mere fact that we were born +here. So many of the older people greet me, at first, as if they knew +me—they all say I am so like 'the Madam;' they don't see the same +likeness in Madeleine for all her <i>grand air</i>. There was Mrs. Mearson, +the gatekeeper, was struck in amazement. And the old housekeeper, +whenever she has an opportunity tries to entertain me about the +beautiful foreign lady and the grand times they had at Pulwick when +she was here, and 'Sir Tummas' was still alive.</p> + +<p>"But, though we are made to feel that we are more than ordinary +guests, it is not on account of Mr. Landale, but <i>on account of Sir +Adrian</i>—the Master, as they call him, whom we never see, and whom his +brother would make out to be mad. Why is he so anxious that Sir Adrian +should not know that Aunt Rose has brought us here? He seemed willing +enough to please her, and yet nothing that she could say of her wish +could induce him even to send a messenger over to the rock. And now we +may be here all these two months and never even have caught a sight of +the <i>Master</i>. I wonder if he is still like that portrait—whether he +bears that face still as he now sits, all alone, brooding as his +brother says, up in those ruined chambers, while the light burns calm +and bright in the tower! What can this man of his have to say to me?"</p> + +<p>Molly dotted her last forgotten "i," blotted it, closed and carefully +locked the book. Then, rising, she danced over to her sister, and +forced her into a pirouette.</p> + +<p>"And now," she cried gaily, "our dear old Tanty is pulling on her +nightcap and weeping over her posset in the stuffy room at Lancaster +regretting <i>me</i>; and I should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> be detesting her with all my energies +for leaving me behind her, were it not that, just at present, I +actually find Pulwick more interesting than Bath."</p> + +<p>Madeleine lifted her heavy-lidded eyes a little wonderingly to her +sister's face, as she paused in her gyration.</p> + +<p>"What fly stings thee now?" she inquired in French.</p> + +<p>"You do not tell me about <i>your</i> wounds, my dear, those wounds which +little Dan Cupid has made upon your tender heart, with his naughty +little arrow, and which give you such sweet pain, apparently, that you +revel in the throes all day long. And yet, I am a good child; you +shall guess. If you guess aright, I shall tell you. So now begin."</p> + +<p>They stood before the fire, and the leaping tongues of light played +upon their white garments, Madeleine's nightgear scarcely more +treacherously tell-tale of her slender woman's loveliness than the +evening robe that clung so closely to the vigorous grace of Molly's +lithe young figure.</p> + +<p>The elder, whose face bore a blush distinct from the reflected glow of +the embers, fell to guessing, as commanded, a little wildly:</p> + +<p>"You begin to find the <i>beau cousin</i> Rupert a little more interesting +than you anticipated."</p> + +<p>"Bah," cried Molly, with a stamp of her sandalled foot, "it is not +possible to guess worse! He is more insufferable to me, hour by hour."</p> + +<p>"I think him kind and pleasant," returned Madeleine simply.</p> + +<p>"Ah, because he makes sweet eyes at you, I suppose—yet no—I express +myself badly—he could not make anything sweet out of those hard, hard +eyes of his, but he is very—what they call here in England—attentive +to you. And he looks at you and ponders you over when you little think +it—you poor innocent—lost in your dream of ... <i>Smith</i>! There, I +will not tease you. Guess again."</p> + +<p>"You are pleased to remain here because you are a true +weather-cock—because you like one thing one day another the +next—because the country peace and quiet is soothing to you after the +folly and noise of the great world of Bath and Dublin, and reminds you +refreshingly, as it does me, of our happy convent days." The glimmer +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> a dainty malice lurked in the apparent candour of Madeleine's +grave blue eyes, and from thence spread into her pretty smile at the +sight of Molly's disdainful lip, "Well then, I give it up. You have +some mischief on foot, of that at least I am sure."</p> + +<p>"No mischief—a work of righteousness rather. Sister Madeleine, you +heard all that that gallant gentleman you think so highly of—your +cousin Rupert, my dear" (it was a little way of Molly's to throw the +responsibility of anything she did not like, even to an obnoxious +relationship, upon another person's shoulders), "narrated of his +brother Sir Adrian, and how he persuaded Tanty that he was, as you +said just now, a hopeless madman—"</p> + +<p>"But yes—he does mad things," said the elder twin, a little +wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Well, Madeleine, it is a vile lie. I am convinced of it."</p> + +<p>"But, my darling——"</p> + +<p>"Look here, Madeleine, there is something behind it all. I attacked +that creature, that rag, you cannot call her a woman, that female +cousin of yours, Sophia, and I pressed her hard too, but she could not +give me a single instance about Sir Adrian that is really the least +like insanity; and last night, when the young fool who escorted me to +dinner, Coventry his name was, told me that every one says Sir Adrian +is shut up on the island and that his French servant is really his +keeper, and that it was a shame Rupert was not the eldest brother, I +quite saw the sort of story Master Rupert likes to spread—don't +interrupt, please! When you were wool-gathering over the fire last +night (in the lively and companionable way, permit me to remark in +parenthesis, that you have adopted of late), and you thought I was +with Tanty, I had marched off with my flat candlestick to the picture +gallery to have a good look at the so-called lunatic. I dragged over a +chair and lit the candles in the candelabra each side of the +chimney-piece, and then standing on my perch still, I held up my own +torch and I saw the sailor really well. I think he has a beautiful +face and that he is no more mad than I am. But he looks so sad, so +sad! I longed to make those closed lips part and tell me their secret. +And, as I was looking and dreaming, my dear, just as you might, I +heard a little noise, and there was Rupert, only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> a few yards off, +surveying me with such an angry gaze—Ugh!" (with a shiver) "I hate +such ways. He came in upon me with soft steps like some animal. Look +at his portrait there, Madeleine!—Stay! I shall hold up the light as +I did last night to Sir Adrian—see, it flickers and glimmers and +makes him seem as if he were alive—oh, I wish he were not hanging in +front of our beds, staring out at us with those eyes! You think them +very fine, I daresay, that is because his lashes are as thick and dark +as a woman's—but the look in them, my dear—do you know what it +reminds me of? Of the beautiful, cruel greyhound we saw at the +coursing at that place near Bunratty (you remember, just before they +started the hare), when he stood for a moment motionless, looking out +across the plain. I can never forget the expression of those +yellow-circled eyes. And, when I see Rupert look at you as if he were +fixing something in the far distance, it gives me just the feeling of +horror and sickness I had then. (You remember how dreadful it was?) +Rupert makes me think of a greyhound, altogether he is so lithe and so +clean-cut, and so full of eagerness, a sort of trembling eagerness +underneath his seeming quiet, and I think he could be cruel."</p> + +<p>Molly paused with an unusually grave and reflective look; Madeleine +yawned a little, not at all impressed.</p> + +<p>"How you exaggerate!" she said. "Well what happened when he came in +and caught you? The poor man! I suppose, he thought you were setting +the house on fire."</p> + +<p>"My dear, I turned as red as a poppy and began blowing out all my +illumination, feeling dreadfully guilty, and then he helped me off my +chair with such an air of politeness that I could have struck him with +pleasure, but I soon gathered my wits again. And, vexed with myself +for being a ninny, I just dropped him a little curtsey and said, 'I've +been examining my mad cousin.' 'Well, and what do you think of him?' +he asked me, smiling (his abominable smile!). But I can keep my +thoughts to myself as well as other people. 'I think he is very +handsome,' I answered, and then I wagged my head and added, 'Poor +fellow,' just as if I thought he was really mad. 'Poor fellow!' said +cousin Rupert, still with his smile. Whereupon we interchanged +good-nights, and he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> ceremoniously reconducted me to my door. What was +he spying after me for, like that? My dear, your cousin has a bad +conscience.—But I can spy too—I have been questioning the servants +to-day, and some of the people on the estate."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Molly!"</p> + +<p>"Come, don't be so shocked. It was diplomatically, of course, but I am +determined to find out the truth. Well, so far from looking upon Sir +Adrian as a lunatic, they all adore him, it seems to me. He comes here +periodically—once every three months or so—and it is like the King's +Justices, you know—St. Louis of France—he redresses all wrongs, and +listens to grievances and gives alms and counsel, and every one can +come with his story, down to the poorest wretch on the estate, and +they certainly gave me to understand that they would fare pretty +hardly under Mr. Landale if it were not for that mild beneficent +restraining influence in his tower yonder. It is very romantic, do you +know (you like romance, Madeleine). I wonder if Sir Adrian will come +over while we are here. Oh, I hope, I hope he will. I shall never rest +till I have seen him."</p> + +<p>"Silly child," said Madeleine, "and so that is the reason you are glad +to remain here?"</p> + +<p>"Even so, my dear," answered the other, skipped into the big four-post +bed, carefully ascertained and selected the softest pillow, and then, +smiling sweetly at her sister from under a frame of dark curls, let +her white lids drop over the lustre of her eyes and so intimated she +desired to sleep.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE TOWER OF LIVERPOOL: MASTER AND MAN</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">A prison is a house of care,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">A place where none can thrive,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">A Touchstone True to try a friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">A Grave for man alive.<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Sometimes a place of right,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Sometimes a place of wrong,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Sometimes a place of rogues and thieves,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">And honest men among.<br /></span> +<span class="i20"><i>Old Inscription.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was soon after sunrise—at that time of year an hour not +exorbitantly early—when Molly awoke from a tangle of fantastic dreams +in which the haunting figure of her waking thoughts, the hermit of +Scarthey, appeared to her in varied shapes; as an awe-inspiring, +saintly ascetic with long, white hair; as a young, beautiful, +imprisoned prince; even as a ragged imbecile staring vacantly at a +lantern, somewhere in a dismal sea-cave.</p> + +<p>The last vision was uppermost in her mind when she opened her eyes; +and the girl, under the impression of so disgusting a disillusion, +remained for a while pondering and yawning, before making up her mind +to exchange warmth and featherbed for her appointment without.</p> + +<p>But the shafts of light growing through the chinks in the shutters +ever brighter and more full of dancing motes, decided her.</p> + +<p>"A beautiful morning, Madeleine," she said, leaning over and pulling +one of the long fair strands upon her neighbour's pillow with sisterly +authority. "Get up, lazy-bones, and come and have a walk with me +before breakfast."</p> + +<p>The sleeping sister awoke, smiled with her usual exquisite serenity of +temper, and politely refused. Molly insisted, threatened, coaxed, but +to no avail. Madeleine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> was luxuriously comfortable, and was not to be +disturbed either mentally or bodily; and Molly, aware of the resisting +power of will hidden under that soft exterior, at length petulantly +desisted; and wrapped up in furs, with hands plunged deep into the +recesses of a gigantic muff, soon sallied forth herself alone into the +park.</p> + +<p>Half-way down the avenue she met blue-eyed Moggie with round face +shining out of the sharp, exhilarating atmosphere like a small sun. +The damsel was overcome with blushes and rapture at her young +mistress's unexpected promptitude in carrying out her promise, and ran +back to warn her sweetheart of that lady's approach.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>As Molly drew near the keeper's lodge—a sort of Doric temple, +quaintly standing in the middle of a hedge-enclosed garden, and +half-buried under thickly-clustering, interlacing creepers—from the +side of the enormous nest of evergreen foliage there emerged, in a +state of high excitement strenuously subdued, a short, square-built +man (none other than René L'Apôtre), whilst between the boughs of the +garden-hedge peeped forth the bashful, ruddy face of the lady of his +fancy, eager to watch the interview.</p> + +<p>René ran forward, then stopped a few paces away, hat in hand, scraping +and bowing in the throes of an overwhelming emotion that strove hard +with humility.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Mademoiselle, Mademoiselle!" he ejaculated between spells of +amazed staring, and seemed unable to bring forth another word.</p> + +<p>"And so you have known my mother, René," said Miss Molly (in her +native tongue) with a smile.</p> + +<p>At the sound of the voice and of the French words, René's face grew +pale under its bronze, and the tears he had so strongly combated, +glistened in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"If I had not heard last night," he said at length, "that these ladies +had come back—it was Moggie Mearson who told me, who was foster +sister to you, or was it Mademoiselle your sister? and proud she is of +it—if I had not known that the young ladies were here again, when I +saw Mademoiselle I would have thought that my lady herself had +returned to us (may the good God have her soul!). Ah, to think that I +should ever see her again in the light of the sun!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + +<p>He stopped, suffocated with the sob that his respect would not allow +him to utter.</p> + +<p>But Molly, who had had other objects in view when she rose from her +couch this cold, windy morning, than to present an objective to a +serving-man's emotion, now thought the situation had lasted long +enough for her enjoyment and determined to put an end to it.</p> + +<p>"Eh bien, René," she said gaily, "or should I call you Monsieur +Potter? which, by the way, is a droll name for a Frenchman, I am very +glad to see that you are pleased to see me. If you would care to have +some talk with me you may attend me if you like. But I freeze standing +here," stamping her feet one after the other on the hard ground. "I +must absolutely walk; and you may put on your hat again, please; for +it is very cold for you too," she added, snuggling into her muff and +under her fur tippet.</p> + +<p>The man obeyed after another of his quaint salutes, and as Molly +started forward, followed her respectfully, a pace in rear.</p> + +<p>"I daresay you will not be sorry to have a little talk with a +compatriot in your own tongue, all English as you may have grown," +said the young lady presently; "and as Moggie has told me that you +were in my mother's service, there is a whole volume of things which, +I believe, you alone can relate to me. You shall tell me all that, one +day. But what seems to me the most curious, first of all, is your +presence here. We ourselves are only at Pulwick by chance."</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle," said René in an earnest voice, "if you knew the whole +story, you would soon understand that, since it was not to be, that I +should remain the humble servitor of Monseigneur le Comte de Savenaye, +Mademoiselle's father, or of Madame, who followed him to heaven, +notwithstanding all our efforts to preserve her, it is but natural +that I should attach myself (since he would allow it) to my present +master."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Landale?" asked Molly, affecting ignorance.</p> + +<p>"No, Mademoiselle," cried the Frenchman, hotly. "My master is Sir +Adrian. Had Mr. Landale remained the lord of this place, I should have +been left to die in my prison—or at least have remained there until +this spring, for it seems there is peace again, and the Tower of +Liverpool is empty now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>Voyons, voyons, conte moi cela</i>, René," said Molly, turning her +face, beautifully glowing from the caress of the keen air, eagerly to +her companion. And he, nothing loth to let loose a naturally garrulous +tongue in such company, and on such a theme, started off upon a long +story illustrated by rapid gesticulation.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you," cried he, and plunged into explanation with more +energy than coherence, "it was like this:</p> + +<p>"I had been already two years in that prison; we were some hundreds of +prisoners, and it was a cruel place. A cruel place, Mademoiselle, +almost as bad as that where we were shut up, my master and I together, +years before, at La Rochelle—and that I will tell you, if you wish, +afterwards.</p> + +<p>"I had been taken by the marine conscription, when their Republic +became the French Empire. And a sailor I was then (just, as I heard +later, as Sir Adrian also was at the time; but that I did not know, +you understand), for they took all those that lived on the coast. Now +I had only served with the ship six months, when she was taken by the +English, and, as I say, we were sent to the prison in Liverpool, where +we found so many others, who had been already there for years. When I +heard it was Liverpool, I knew it was a place near Pulwick, and I at +once thought of Mr. Landale, not him, of course, they <i>now</i> call Mr. +Landale, but him who had followed my mistress, Madame your mother, to +help to fight the Republicans in the old time. And I thought I was +saved: I knew he would get me out if it was possible to get any one +out. For, you see, I thought his honour was home again, after we had +been beaten, and there was no more to be done for my lady. We had +contrived to find an English ship to take him home, and he had gone +back, as I thought, Mademoiselle. Well, a prisoner becomes cunning, +and besides, I had been in prison before; I managed to make up a +letter, and as I knew already some English, I ended by persuading a +man to carry it to Pulwick for me. It was a long way, and I had no +money, but I made bold to assure him that Mr. Landale—oh, no! not +<i>this</i> one," René interrupted himself again with a gesture eloquent of +resentful scorn, "but my master; I assured the man that he would +receive recompence from him. You see, Mademoiselle, I knew his heart +was so good, that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> would not allow your mother's servant to rot in +the tower.... But days afterwards the man came back. Oh, he was angry! +terribly angry with me, and said he should pay me out—And so he did, +but it is useless to tell you how. He had been to Pulwick, he said, +and had seen Mr. Landale. Mr. Landale never knew anything of any +French prisoner, and refused to give any money to the messenger. Ah, +Mademoiselle, it was very sad! I had not signed my letter for fear of +its getting into wrong hands, but I spoke of many things which I knew +he could not have forgotten, and now I thought that he would not +trouble his mind about such a wretch as René—triple brute that I was +to conceive such thoughts, I should have deserved to remain there for +ever!... I did remain, Mademoiselle, more than three years; many and +many died. As for me, I am hard, but I thought I should never never +walk free again; nor would I, Mademoiselle, these seven years, but for +him."</p> + +<p>"He came, then?" said the girl with sympathetic enthusiasm. She was +listening with attention, carried away by the speaker's earnestness, +and knew instinctively to whom the "him," and the "he" referred.</p> + +<p>"He came," said René with much emphasis. "Of course he came—the +moment he knew." And after a moment of half-smiling meditation he +pursued:</p> + +<p>"It was one May-day, and there was some sun; and there was a smell of +spring in the air which we felt even in that dirty place. Ah, how I +remember me of it all! I was sitting against the wall in the courtyard +with two others who were Bretons, like you and me, Mademoiselle, +shifting with the sun now and then, for you must know a prisoner loves +the sun above all; and there, we only had it a few hours in the day, +even when it did shine. I was carving some stick-heads, and +bread-plates in wood—the only thing I could do to put a little more +than bread, into our own platters," with a grin, "and whistling, +whistling, for if you can't be gay, it is best to play at it.... Well, +that day into our courtyard there was shown a tall man—and I knew him +at once, though he was different enough in his fine coat, and hat and +boots, from the time when I had last seen him, when he was like me, in +rags and with a woollen cap on his head, and no stockings under his +shoes—I knew him at once! And when I saw him I stood still, with my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +mouth round, but not whistling more. My blood went phizz, phizz, all +over my body, and suddenly something said in my head: 'René, he has +come to look for you.' He was searching for some one, for he went +round with the guardian looking into each man's face, and giving money +to all who begged—and seeing that, they all got up, and surrounded +him, and he gave them each a piece. But I could not get up; it was as +if some one had cut out my knees and my elbows. And that was how he +saw me the sooner. He noticed I remained there, looking at him like a +dog, saying nothing. When he saw me, he stood a moment quite quiet; +and without pretending anything he came to me and looked down +smiling.—'But if I am not mistaken I know this man,' he said to the +guardian, pretending to be astonished. 'Why, this is René L'Apôtre? +Who would have thought of seeing you here, René L'Apôtre?' says he. +And then he smiled again, as much as to say, 'You see I have come at +last, René.' And once more, as if to explain: 'I have only lately come +back to England,' in a gentle way, all full of meaning.... I don't +know what took me, but I cried like an infant, in my cap. And the +guardian and some of the others laughed, but when I looked up again, +his eyes shone also. He looked so good, so kind, Mademoiselle, that it +was as if I understood in words all he meant, but thought better not +to say at the time. Then he spoke to the guardian, who shook his head +doubtfully. And after saying, 'Have good courage, René L'Apôtre,' and +giving me the rest of his money, he went away—but I knew I was not +forgotten, and I was so happy that the black, black walls were no more +black. And I sang, not for pretence this time, ah no! and I spent all +my money in buying a dinner for those at our end of the prison, and we +even had wine! You may be sure we drank to his happiness."</p> + +<p>Here the man, carried away by his feelings, seized his hat and waved +it in the air. Then, ashamed of his ebullition, halted and glanced +diffidently at the young lady. But Molly only smiled in encouragement.</p> + +<p>"Well, and then?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mademoiselle," he resumed, "it was long before I saw him again; +but I kept good courage, as I was told. One day, at last, the guardian +came to fetch me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> and took me to the governor's cabinet; and my master +was there—I was told that my release had been obtained, though not +without trouble, and that Sir Adrian Landale, of Pulwick Priory, had +gone warranty for me that I should not use my liberty to the prejudice +of His Majesty, the King of England, and that I was to be grateful to +Sir Adrian. I almost laughed at him, Mademoiselle. Oh! he took care to +advise me to be grateful!" And here René paused ironically, but there +was a quiver on his lips. "Ah, he little knew, Monsieur the Governor, +that when my master had taken me to an inn, and the door was closed +over the private room, he who had looked so grand and careless before +the governor, took me by both hands and then, in his fine clothes, +embraced me—me the dirty prisoner—just as he did when he left me in +the old days, and was as poor and ragged as I was! And let me weep +there on his breast, for I had to weep or my heart would have broken. +But I wander, Mademoiselle, you only wanted to know how I came to be +in his service still. That is how it was; as I tell you."</p> + +<p>Molly was moved by this artless account of fidelity and gratitude, and +as she walked on in attentive silence, René went on:</p> + +<p>"It was then his honour made me know how, only by accident, and months +after his own return, he chanced to hear of the letter that some one +had sent to Mr. Landale from the Tower of Liverpool, and that Mr. +Landale had said he knew nothing of any French prisoner and had +thought it great impudence indeed. And how he—my master—had suddenly +thought (though my letter had been destroyed) that it might be from +me, the servant of my lady your mother, and his old companion in arms +(for his honour will always call me so). He could not sleep, he told +me, till he had found out. He started for Liverpool that very night. +And, having discovered that it was me, Mademoiselle, he never rested +till he had obtained my liberty."</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Walking slowly in the winter sunshine, the one talking volubly, the +other intently listening, the odd pair had reached a rising knoll in +the park where, under the shelter of a cluster of firs, stood a row of +carved stone seats that had once been sedillas in the dismantled +Priory Church.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<p>From this secluded spot could be obtained the most superb view of the +whole country-side. At the end of the green, gently-sloping stretch of +pasture-land, which extended, broken only by irregular clusters of +trees, down to the low cliffs forming the boundary of the strand, lay +the wide expanse of brown sand, with its streamlets and salt pools +scintillating under the morning sun.</p> + +<p>Further in the western horizon, a crescent of deep blue sea, sharply +defined under a lighter blue sky and fringed landwards with a +straggling border of foam, advanced slowly to the daily conquest of +the golden bay. In the midst of that frame the eye was irresistibly +drawn, as to the chief object in the picture, to the distant rock of +Scarthey—a green patch, with the jagged red outline of the ruins +clear cut against the sky.</p> + +<p>Since this point of view in the park had been made known to her, on +the first day when she was piloted through the grounds, Molly had more +than once found her way to the sedillas, yielding to the fascination +of the mysterious island, and in order to indulge in the fancies +suggested by its ever-changing aspect.</p> + +<p>At the fall of day the red glow of the sinking sun would glint through +the dismantled windows; and against the flaming sky the ruins would +stand out black and grim, suggesting nought but abandonment and +desolation until suddenly, as the gloom gathered upon the bay, the +light of the lamp springing to the beacon tower, would reverse the +impression and bring to mind a picture of faithful and patient +watching.</p> + +<p>When the sun was still in the ascendant, the island would be green and +fresh to the gaze, evoking no dismal impression; and as the rays +glanced back from the two or three glazed windows, and from the roofed +beacon-tower, the little estate wore a look of solid security and +privacy in spite of its crumbling walls, which was almost as +tantalising to her romantic curiosity.</p> + +<p>It was with ulterior motives, therefore, that she had again wended her +way to the knoll this sunny, breezy morning. She now sat down and let +her eyes wander over the wide panorama, whilst René stood at a humble +distance, looking with eyes of delight from her to the distant abode +of his master.</p> + +<p>"And now you live with Sir Adrian, in that little isle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> yonder," said +she, at length. "How came it that you never sought to go back to your +country?"</p> + +<p>"There was the war then, Mademoiselle, and it was difficult to +return."</p> + +<p>"But there has been peace these six months," insisted Molly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mademoiselle, though I only learned it yesterday. But then, bah! +What is that? His honour needs me. I have stopped with him seven +years, and my faith, I shall stop with him for ever."</p> + +<p>There was a long silence.</p> + +<p>"Does any one know," asked Molly, at length, with a vague air of +addressing the trees, mindful, as she spoke, of the manner in which +Mr. Landale had practically dismissed her and her sister at a certain +point of his version of his brother's history, "<i>why</i> Sir Adrian has +shut himself up in that place instead of living at the Hall all this +time?"</p> + +<p>A certain dignity seemed to come over the servant's squat figure. He +hesitated for a moment, and then said very simply, his honest eyes +fixed upon the girl's face: "I am only his humble servant, +Mademoiselle, and it is enough for me that it is his pleasure to live +alone."</p> + +<p>"You are indeed faithful," said Molly, with a little generous flush of +shame at this peasant's delicacy compared to her own curiosity. And, +after another pause, she added, pensively: "But tell me, does Sir +Adrian never leave his solitude? I confess I should like to meet one +who had known my mother, who could talk of her to me."</p> + +<p>René looked at the young girl with a wistful countenance, as though +the question had embarked him on a new train of thought. But he +answered evasively: "His honour comes rarely to Pulwick—rarely."</p> + +<p>Molly, with a little movement of pique, rose abruptly from her seat. +But quickly changing her mood again she turned round as she was about +to depart, and smiling: "Thank you, René," she said, and held out her +dainty hand, which he, blushing, engulfed in his great paw, "I am +going in, I am dreadfully hungry. We shall be here two months or more, +and I shall want to see you again ... if you come back to Pulwick."</p> + +<p>She walked quickly away towards the house. René<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> followed the +retreating figure with a meditative look, so long as he could keep her +in sight, then turned his gaze to the island and there stood lost in a +deep muse, regardless of the fact that his sweetheart, Moggie, was +awaiting a parting interview at the lodge, and that the tide that +would wait for no man was swelling under his boat upon the beach.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>A sudden resolution was formed in Molly's mind as the immediate result +of this conversation, and she framed her behaviour that morning solely +with a view to its furtherance.</p> + +<p>Breakfast was over when, glowing from her morning walk, she entered +the dining-room; but, regardless of Mr. Landale's pointedly elaborate +courtesy in insisting upon a fresh repast being brought to her, his +sarcastically overacted solicitude, intended to point out what a deal +of avoidable trouble she gave to the household, Molly remained +perfectly gracious, and ate the good things, plaintively set before +her by Miss Landale, with the most perfect appetite and good humour.</p> + +<p>She expatiated in terms of enthusiasm on the beauty of the estate and +the delight of her morning exploration, and concluded this +condescending account of her doings (in which the meeting with René +did not figure) with a request that Mr. Landale should put horses at +the disposal of herself and her sister for a riding excursion that +very afternoon. And with determined energy she carried the point, +declaring, despite his prognostications of coming bad weather, that +the sunshine would last the day.</p> + +<p>In this wise was brought about the eventful ride which cost the life +of Lucifer, and introduced such heart-stirring phantasmagories into +the even tenor of Sir Adrian Landale's seclusion.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>That evening the news rapidly spread throughout Pulwick that the cruel +sands of the bay had secured yet another victim.</p> + +<p>In an almost fainting condition, speechless with horror, and hardly +able yet to realise to the full her own anguish,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> Madeleine was +conducted by the terrified groom, through the howling wind and +drenching rain, back to the Priory.</p> + +<p>And there, between the fearful outcries of Miss Landale, and the deep +frowning gravity of her brother, the man stammered out his tale.—How +the young lady when the rain first began, had insisted, +notwithstanding his remonstrances, upon taking the causeway to the +island, and how it was actually by force that he prevented the other +lady from following so soon as she understood the danger into which +her sister was running.</p> + +<p>There was no use, he had thought (explained the man, half +apologetically), for two more to throw away their lives, just for no +good, that way. And so they had sat on their horses and watched in +terror, as well as they could through the torrents of rain. They had +seen in the distance Lucifer break from the young lady's control, and +swerve from the advancing sea. And then had come the great gust that +blew the rain and the sand in their faces and set their horses +dancing; and, when they could see again, all traces of horse and rider +had disappeared, and there lay nothing before them but the advancing +tide, though the island and its tower were still just visible through +the storm.</p> + +<p>No amount of cross-examination could elicit any further information. +The girl's impulse seemed to have been quite sudden, and she had only +laughed back at the groom over her shoulder upon his earnest shout of +warning, though she had probably expected them to follow her. And as +there could be no doubt about the calamity which had ensued, and no +possible rescue even of the body, he had returned home at once to +bring the disastrous news.</p> + +<p>Madeleine had been carried completely unconscious to her bed, but +presently Miss Sophia was summoned to her side as the girl showed +signs of returning animation, and Rupert was left alone.</p> + +<p>He fell to pacing the room, lost in a labyrinth of complicated and +far-reaching reflections.</p> + +<p>Beyond doubt he was shocked and distressed by the sudden and horrible +disaster; and yet as an undercurrent to these first natural thoughts, +there ran presently a distinct notion that he would have felt the +grievousness of it more keenly had Madeleine perished in that cruel +manner and her sister survived to bring the tale home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> + +<p>The antagonism which his cousin, in all the insolence of her young +beauty and vigorous self-esteem, had shown for him had been mutual. He +had instinctively felt that she was an enemy, and more than that—a +danger to him. This danger was now removed from his path, and by no +intervention or even desire of his own.</p> + +<p>The calamity which had struck the remaining sister into such +prostration would make her rich indeed; by anticipation one of the +great heiresses in England.</p> + +<p>"Sorrow," thought Mr. Landale, and his lip curled disdainfully, "a +girl's sorrow, at least, is a passing thing. Wealth is an everlasting +benefit."</p> + +<p>Madeleine was a desirable woman upon all counts, even pecuniary +considerations apart, or would be to one who had a heart to give—and +even if the heart was dead...?</p> + +<p>Altogether the sum of his meditations was assuming a not unpleasing +aspect; and the undercurrent in time assumed almost the nature of +self-congratulation. Even the ordeal which was yet to come when he +would have to face Miss O'Donoghue and render an account of his short +trust, could not weigh the balance down on the wrong side.</p> + +<p>And yet a terrible ordeal it would be; women are so unreasonable, and +Aunt Rose so much more so even than the average woman. Still it had to +be done; the sooner the better; if possible while the storm lasted and +while roaring waters kept all ill news upon land and the interloping +heir on his island.</p> + +<p>And thus that very evening, whilst Madeleine sobbed on her pillow and +Molly was snugly enjoying the warm hospitality of Scarthey, a mounted +messenger departed from the Priory to overtake Miss O'Donoghue on the +road to Bath and acquaint her with the terrible fatality that had +befallen her darling and favourite.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>UNDER THE LIGHT</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">December 16th</span>.—Again I separate your green boards, my diary. No one +has opened you; for your key, now a little rusty, still hangs upon my +watch—my poor watch whose heart has ceased to beat, who, unlike its +mistress, has <i>not</i> survived the ordeal by sand and water! What is +better, no one has attempted to force your secrets from you; which, +since it appears that it had been agreed that Molly de Savenaye was +dead and buried in Scarthey sands, speaks well for all concerned. But +she is not dead. She is very much alive; and very happy to be so.</p> + +<p>This will indeed be an adventure worth reading, in the days to come; +and it must be recounted—though were I to live to a hundred years I +do not think I could ever forget it. Tanty Rose (she has not yet +stopped scolding everybody for the fright she has had) is in the next +room with Madeleine, who, poor dear, has been made quite ill by this +prank of mine; but since after the distress caused by her Molly's +death she has had the joy of finding her Molly alive again, things are +balanced, I take it; and all being well that ends well, the whole +affair is pleasant to remember. It has been actually as interesting as +I expected—now that I think it over—even more.</p> + +<p>Of all the many pictures that I fancied, not one was at all like the +reality—and this reality I could not have rested till I had found. It +was René's account decided me. I laid my plans very neatly to pay the +recluse a little visit, and plead necessity for the intrusion. My +machinations would have been perfect if they had not caused Madeleine +and poor old Tanty unnecessary grief.</p> + +<p>But now that I know the truth, I cannot distinctly remember what it +was that I <i>did</i> expect to find on that island.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> + +<p>If it had not been that I had already gone through more excitement +than I bargained for to reach that mysterious rock, how exciting I +should have found it to wander up to unknown ruins, to knock at the +closed doors of an enchanted castle, ascend unknown stairs and engage +in devious unknown passages—all the while on the tiptoe of +expectation!</p> + +<p>But when I dragged myself giddy and faint from the boiling breakers +and scrambled upon the desolate island under the rain that beat me +like the lashes of a whip, pushing against a wind that bellowed and +rushed as though determined to thrust me back to the waters I had +cheated of their prey, my only thoughts were for succour and shelter.</p> + +<p>Such warm shelter, such loving welcome, it was of course impossible +that I could for a moment have anticipated!</p> + +<p>Conceive, my dear diary, the feelings of a poor, semi-drowned +wanderer, shivering with cold, with feet torn by cruel stones, who +suddenly emerges from howl and turmoil into a warm, quiet room to be +received as a long and eagerly expected guest, whose advent brings +happiness, whose presence is a highly prized favour; in fact not as +one who has to explain her intrusion, but as one who in the situation +holds the upper hand herself.</p> + +<p>And <i>this</i> was my welcome from him whose absence from Pulwick was more +haunting than any presence I can think of!</p> + +<p>Of course I knew him at once. Even had I not expected to see him—had +I not come to seek him in fact—I should have known him at once from +the portrait whose melancholy, wide-open eyes had followed me about +the gallery. But I had not dreamed to see him so little altered. Now, +apart from the dress, if he is in any way changed from the picture, it +is in a look of greater youth and less sombreness. The portrait is +handsome, but the original is better.</p> + +<p>Had it not been so, I imagine I might have felt vastly different when +I was seized and enfolded and—kissed! As it was I cannot remember +that, even at the moment of this extraordinary proceeding, I was +otherwise than pleased, nor that the dark hints of Mr. Landale +concerning Sir Adrian's madness returned to disturb my mind in the +least.</p> + +<p>And yet I found myself enveloped in great strong arms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> out of which I +could not have extricated myself by the most frantic efforts—although +the folding was soft and tender—and I loved that impression. Why? I +cannot say.</p> + +<p>His words of love were not addressed to me; from his exclamation I +knew that the real and present Molly was not the true object of his +sudden ecstasy.</p> + +<p>And yet I am glad that this is the first man who has been able to kiss +Molly de Savenaye. It is quite incomprehensible; I ought to be +indignant.</p> + +<p>Now the whole secret of my reception is plain to see, and it is +pathetic; Sir Adrian Landale was in love with my mother; when she was +an unprotected widow he followed her to our own country; if she had +not died soon after, he would have married her.</p> + +<p>What a true knight must this Sir Adrian be, to keep so fresh for +twenty years the remembrance of his boyish love that when I came in +upon him to look at him with <i>her</i> eyes, it was to find him pondering +upon her, and to fill his soul with the rapturous thought that his +love had come back to him. Though I was aware that all this fervour +was not addressed to me, there was something very gratifying in being +so like one who could inspire such long-lived passion.—Yes, it was +unexpectedly pleasant and comforting to be so received. And the tender +care, the thoughtful solicitude next bestowed on the limp and +dishevelled waif of the sea by my <i>beau ténébreux</i> were unmistakably +meant for Molly and no one else, whatever his first imaginings may +have been, and they were quite as interesting to receive.</p> + +<p>The half-hour I spent, cosily ensconced by his hands, and waited upon +by his queer household, was perhaps the best I have ever known. He +stood by the fireplace, looking down from his great height, with a +wondering smile upon me. I declare that the loving kindness of his +eyes, which he has wide, grey, and beautiful, warmed me as much as the +pyramid of logs he had set burning on the hearth!</p> + +<p>I took a good reckoning of the man, from under the gigantic collar, in +which, I felt, my head rested like a little egg at the bottom of a +warm nest. "And so," I thought, "here is the Light-keeper of Scarthey +Island!" And I was obliged to confess that he was a more +romantic-looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> person than even in my wildest dreams I had pictured +to myself—that in fact I had found out for the first time <i>the man</i> +really approved of.</p> + +<p>And I congratulated myself on my own cleverness—for it was evident +that, just as I had suspected from René's reticent manner, even by him +our existence at Pulwick had not been mentioned to "the master."</p> + +<p>And as Mr. Landale was quite determined to avail himself of his +brother's <i>sauvagerie</i> not to let him know anything about us, on his +side, but for me we might have remained at and departed from Pulwick +unknown to the head of the house! And what a pity that would have +been!</p> + +<p>Now, <i>why</i> did not Mr. Landale wish his brother to know? Did he think +(as indeed has happened) that the Light-keeper would take too kindly +to the Savenaye children? Or to one of them? If so, he will be <i>bien +attrappé</i>, for there is no doubt that my sudden and dramatic arrival +upon his especial domain has made an impression on him that no meeting +prepared and discussed beforehand could have produced.</p> + +<p>Adrian Landale may have been in love with our beautiful mamma in his +boyish days, but now, Sir Adrian, the <i>man</i> is in love with the +beautiful Molly!</p> + +<p>That is positive.</p> + +<p>I was a long time before I could go to sleep in the tower; it was too +perfect to be in bed in such a place, safe and happy in the midst of +the rage I could hear outside; to have seen the unknown, to have found +him such as he is—to be under <i>the Light</i>!</p> + +<p>What would have happened if my cousin had really been mad (and René +his keeper, as that stupid country-side wit suggested in my ear the +other night at dinner)? It would have been still more of an adventure +of course, but not one which even "Murthering Moll the Second" can +regret. Or if he had been a dirty, untidy hermit, as Madeleine +thought? That would have spoilt all.</p> + +<p>Thus in the owl's nest, as Mr. Landale (spiteful creature!) called it +to Tanty, there lives not owl any more than lunatic. A polished +gentleman, with white, exquisite hands, who, when he is discovered by +the most unexpected of visitors, is shaven as smooth as Rupert +himself; has the most unexceptionable of snowy linen and +old-fashioned, it is true, but most well-fitting clothes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>As for the entertainment for the said casual visitor, not even Pulwick +with all its resources (where housekeeping, between the fussy brother +and the docile sister is a complicated science) could have produced +more real comfort.</p> + +<p>In the morning, when I woke late (it was broad daylight), feeling as +if I had been beaten and passed through a mangle, for there was not an +inch of my poor body that was not sore, I had not turned round and so +given sign of life, before I heard a whisper outside my door; then +comes a sturdy knock and in walks old Margery, still dignified as a +queen's housekeeper, bearing a bowl of warm frothy milk.</p> + +<p>And this being gratefully drunk by me, she gravely inquires, in her +queer provincial accent, how I am this morn; and then goes to report +to some anxious inquirer (whom?—I can easily guess) that with the +exception of my cut foot I am very well.</p> + +<p>Presently she returns and lights a blazing fire. Then in come my dress +and linen and my one shoe, all cleaned, dried and mended, only my poor +habit is so torn and so stiff that I have to put up with Margery's +best striped skirt in lieu of it, till she has time to mend and wash +it. As it is she must have been at work all night upon these repairs +for me.</p> + +<p>Again she goes out—for another consultation, I suppose—and comes +back to find me half clad, hopping about the room; this time she has +got nice white linen bandages and with them ties up my little foot, +partly for the cuts, partly for want of a sandal, till it is twice the +size of its companion. But I can walk on it.</p> + +<p>Then my strange handmaid—who by the way is a droll, grumbling old +soul, and orders me about as if she were still my nurse—dresses me +and combs my hair, which will not yet awhile be rid of all its sand. +And so, in due course, Molly emerges from her bower, as well tended +almost as she might have been at Bath, except that Margery's striped +skirt is a deal too short for her and she displays a little more of +one very nice ankle and one gouty foot than fashion warrants.</p> + +<p>And in this manner the guest goes to meet her host in the great room.</p> + +<p>He was walking up and down as if impatiently expecting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> me, and when I +hobbled in, he came forward with a smile on his face which, once more, +I thought beautiful.</p> + +<p>"God be praised!" he said, taking both my hands and kissing one of +them, with his fine air of gallantry which was all the more delightful +on account of his evident earnestness, "you seem none the worse for +this terrible adventure. I dreaded this morning to hear that you were +in a fever. You know," he added so seriously that I had to smile, "you +might easily have had a fever from this yesterday's work; and what +should we have done without doctor and medicines!"</p> + +<p>"You have a good surgeon, at least," said I laughing and pointing at +my swaddled extremity. He laughed too at the <i>enmitouflage</i>. "I tried +to explain how it was to be done," he said, "but I think I could have +managed it more neatly myself."</p> + +<p>Then he helped me to the arm-chair, and René came in, and, after a +profound bow (which did not preclude much staring and smiling at me +afterwards), laid, on a dazzling tablecloth, a most tempting +breakfast, explaining the while, in his odd English, "The bread is +stale, for we bake only twice a month. But there are some cakes hot +from the fire, some eggs, new laid last evening, some fresh milk, some +tea. It was a happy thing I arrived yesterday for there was no more +tea. The butter wants, but Mistress Margery will have some made +to-morrow, so that the demoiselle will not leave without having tasted +our Scarthey butter."</p> + +<p>All the while Sir Adrian looked on with a sort of dreamy smile—a +happy smile!</p> + +<p>"Poor René!" he said, when the man had left the room, "one would think +that you have brought to him almost as much joy as to me."</p> + +<p>I wondered what Mr. Landale would have said had he through some magic +glass been able to see this little feast. I never enjoyed a meal more. +As for my host, he hardly touched anything, but, I could see, was all +absorbed in the delight of looking at me; and this he showed quite +openly in the most child-like manner.</p> + +<p>Not one of the many fine gentlemen it has been my fate to meet in my +six months' apprenticeship to the "great world," not cousin Rupert +himself with all his elaborate politeness (and Rupert has de <i>grandes +manières</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> as Tanty says), could have played the host with a more +exquisite courtesy, and more true hospitality. So I thought, at least. +Now and again, it is true, while his eyes were fixed on me, I would +see how the soul behind them was away, far in the past, and then at a +word, even at a movement, back it would come to me, with the tenderest +softening I have ever seen upon a human face.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>It was only at the end of breakfast that he suddenly adverted to the +previous day.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he said, hesitatingly, but keeping a frank gaze on mine, +"you must have thought me demented when—when you first entered, +yesterday."</p> + +<p>Now, I had anticipated this apology as inevitable, and I was prepared +to put him at his ease.</p> + +<p>"I——? Not at all," I said quite gravely; and, seeing the puzzled +expression that came upon his face, I hastened to add in lower tones: +"I know I am very like my mother, and it was her name you called out +upon seeing me." And then I stopped, as if that had explained +everything.</p> + +<p>He looked at me with a wondering air, and fell again into a muse. +After a while he said, with his great simplicity which seems somehow +in him the last touch of the most perfect breeding: "Yes, such an +apparition was enough to unhinge any one's mind for the moment. You +never knew her, child, and therefore never mourned her death. But +we—that is, René and I, who tried so hard to save her—though it is +so long ago, we have not forgotten."</p> + +<p>It was then I asked him to tell me about the mother I had never known. +At first it was as if he could not; he fell into a great silence, +through which I could feel the working of his old sorrow. So then I +said to him quickly, for I feared he thought me an indiscreet +trespasser upon sacred ground, that he must remember my right to know +more than the vague accounts I had been given of my mother's history.</p> + +<p>"No one will tell me of her," I said. "It is hard, for I am her own +daughter."</p> + +<p>"It is wrong," he said very gently; "you ought to know, for you are +indeed, most verily, her own daughter."</p> + +<p>And then by fragments he tried to tell me a little of her beauty, her +loving heart, her faithfulness and bravery.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> At first it was with +great tripping sighs as if the words hurt him, but by and by it came +easier, and with his eyes fixed wistfully on me he took me, as it +were, by his side through all their marvellous adventures.</p> + +<p>And thus I heard the stirring story of the "Savenaye band," and I felt +prouder of my race than I had ever been before. Hitherto, being a +Savenaye only meant the pride our aunt tried to instil into us of +being undeniably <i>biennées</i> and connected with numbers of great +families. But the tale of the deeds mine had done for the King's +cause, and especially the achievements of my own mother in starting +such an expedition after my father's death, and following its fortunes +to the bitter end, made my blood tingle with a new emotion.</p> + +<p>Little wonder that Sir Adrian should have devoted his life to her +service. How madly enthralled I should have been, being a man, and +free and strong, by the presence of a woman such as my mother. I, too, +would have prostrated myself to worship her image returning to +life—and I am that living, living portrait!</p> + +<p>When he came to the story of her death, he hesitated and finally +stopped. It must have been horrible. I could see it in his eyes, and I +dared not press him.</p> + +<p>Now, I suppose I am the only one in the world, besides René, who knows +this man as he is. And I am proud of it.</p> + +<p>And it is for this constancy, which no vulgar soul of them can +understand, that Rupert and his class have dubbed the gallant +gentleman a madman. It fills me with scorn of them. I do not yet know +what love is, therefore of course I cannot fathom its grief; but this +much I know—that if I loved and yet could not reach as high as ever +love may reach both in joy and sorrow, I should despise myself. I, +too, would draw the utmost from life that life can give.</p> + +<p>He never even hinted at his love for my mother; speaking of himself +throughout as René might, as of her humble devoted servant merely. And +then the question began to gnaw at me. "Did she love him?" and +somehow, I felt as if I could not rest till I knew; and I had it on my +lips twenty times to cry out to him: "I know you loved her: oh! tell +me, did she love you?" And yet I dared no more have done so, and +overstepped the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> barrier of his gentle, reticent dignity, than I could +have thrust the lighthouse tower down; and I could not think, either, +whether I should be glad to hear that she had loved him, or that she +had not. Not even here, alone with myself, can I answer that question.</p> + +<p>But though I respect him because he is as I have found him, and +understand how rare a personality it takes to achieve such refinement +of faithfulness, it seems to me, that to teach this constant lover to +forget the past in the present, would be something worth living +for—something worthy of <i>me</i>!</p> + +<p>Molly!—What is the meaning of this? You have never before put that +thought in words, even to yourself! But let me be frank, or else what +is the use of this diary?</p> + +<p>Looking back to those delightful three days, did not the <i>thought</i> +come to me, if not the words? Well, well, it is better, sometimes, I +believe, to let oneself drift, than to try and guide the boat; and I +must hurry back to Scarthey or I shall never have told my story....</p> + +<p>How swiftly time had flown by us! I sitting in the arm-chair, with the +old dog's muzzle on my lap, and Sir Adrian standing by his great +chimney; the clock struck twelve, in the midst of the long silence, +and I had thought that barely an hour had passed.</p> + +<p>I got up, and, seeing me limp in my attempt to walk, Sir Adrian gave +me his arm; and so we went round the great room <i>bras dessus</i>, <i>bras +dessous</i>, and it already seemed quite natural to feel like an intimate +friend in that queer dwelling.</p> + +<p>We paused a long time in silence by the window, the tempest wind was +still raging, but the sky was clear, and all round us was a wonderful +sight; the sea, as far as eyes could reach, white with foam, lashed +and tossing in frenzy round the rock on which we stood so safely, and +rising in long jets of spray, which now and then dashed as far as our +window; and when I looked down nearer, I could see the little stunted +trees, bending backwards and forwards under the blast, and an odd idea +came to my mind:—they looked to me when they caught my sight, as +though they were bowing deep, hurriedly and frantically greeting me +among them.</p> + +<p>I glanced up at my silent companion, the true knight, and found his +wide grey eyes fixed upon me with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> same expression that was +already familiar to me, which I had especially noted as he told me his +long tale of olden times.</p> + +<p>This time I felt the look go to my heart. <i>And then the thought first +came to my mind, all unformed, but still sweet.</i></p> + +<p>I don't know exactly why, but in answer to his sad look, I smiled at +him, without a word, upon which he suddenly grew pale. After a while +he gave a sigh, and, as he drew my arm again through his, I fancy his +hand trembled a little.</p> + +<p>When he had taken me back to my chair, he walked to and fro in +silence, looking at me ever and anon.</p> + +<p>A long time we passed thus, without speaking; but it seemed as if our +thoughts were intermixing in harmony in the midst of our silence. And +then the spell was broken by René, who never came in without making me +his great scrape, trying hard not to beam too obtrusively in the +delight that evidently overtakes him whenever he sets eyes on me.</p> + +<p>It was after a prolonged talk between him and the master, I fancy, +concerning the means of attending fitly upon my noble and delicate +person, that Sir Adrian, brought back, evidently, to the consideration +of present affairs, began to be exercised about the best means of +whiling away my time. When he hinted at the difficulty, I very soon +disposed of it.</p> + +<p>I told him I had never been so happy in my life before—that the hours +went all too quickly—I told him there was so much he and René had yet +to tell me of their wonderful adventures, that I thought I should have +to carry them back to Pulwick with me. At the mention of Pulwick his +brow darkened, and René turned away to cough into his hand, and I saw +that I had gone too fast. (N.B.—Pulwick is evidently a sore subject; +I am sure I am not surprised. I can conceive how Rupert and Sophia +would drive a man of Sir Adrian's sensitiveness nearly to desperation. +Yet I <i>have</i> brought Sir Adrian back to Pulwick, in spite of all. Is +not that a feather in my cap?)</p> + +<p>But to return; I next made René laugh aloud and Sir Adrian give his +indulgent smile—such as a father might give to his child—by adding +that when I was bored I would soon let them know. "I always do," I +said, "for I consider that a duty to myself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> + +<p>"God knows," said this strange man then, half smiling, "I would we +could keep you here for ever."</p> + +<p>It was almost a declaration, but his eyes were far off—it was not +addressed to me.</p> + +<p>I soon found that the recollection of all the extraordinary incidents +Sir Adrian had lived through, is one neither of pride nor pleasure to +him, but, all the same, never has anything in books seemed to me so +stirring, as the tale of relentless fate, of ever-recurring battles +and struggles and misfortunes told by the man who, still in the +strength of life, has now chosen to forego everything that might for +the remainder of his days have compensated him.</p> + +<p>Willing as he was to humour me, however, and disproportionately +anxious to amuse me, it was little more than the dry bones of his +history, I was able to obtain from him.</p> + +<p>With René's help, however, and my own lively imagination I have been +able to piece together a very wonderful skeleton, from these same dry +bones, and, moreover, endow it with flesh and blood and life.</p> + +<p>René was very willing to descant upon his master's exploits, as far as +he knew them: "Whew, Mademoiselle should have seen him fight!" he +would say, "a lion, Mademoiselle, a real lion!"</p> + +<p>And then I would contrast the reposeful, somewhat immobile +countenance, the dreaming eye, the almost womanly softness of his +smile, with the picture, and find the contrast piquant in the extreme.</p> + +<p>Concerning his present home Sir Adrian was more willing to speak—I +had told him how the light on the little island had fascinated me from +the distance, and all the surmises I had made about it.</p> + +<p>"And so, it was in order to see what sort of dungeon they kept the +madman in," he said, laughing quietly, "that you pushed the +reconnaissance, which nearly sent you into the jaws of death!"</p> + +<p>I was so struck, at first, by his speaking of himself as the reputed +"madman" that I could not answer. To think of him as serenely +contemptuous of the world's imputation—and an imputation so galling +as this one of being irresponsible for his actions—and deliberately +continuing his even way without taking the trouble to refute<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> it, has +given me an insight into his nature, that fills me with admiration, +and yet, at the same time, with a sort of longing to see him +reinstated in his proper place, and casting out those slandering +interlopers.</p> + +<p>But, as he was waiting to be answered, I had to collect my thoughts +and admit, not without a little bashfulness, that my first account of +my exploit had contained a slight prevarication.</p> + +<p>In all he has to say about his little Scarthey domain, about the +existence he has made for himself there, I cannot help noticing with +what affection he speaks of René. René, according to Sir Adrian, is +everything and everywhere; a perfect familiar genius; he is counsellor +as well as valet, plays his master's game of chess as well as shaves +him, can tune his organ, and manage his boat, and cast his nets, for +he is fisherman as well as gardener; he is the steward of this +wonderful little estate, and its stock of one pony, one cow, and +twelve hens; he tends the light, and can cook a dinner a great deal +better than his great rival, old Margery.</p> + +<p>Of this last accomplishment we had good proof in the shape of various +dainties that appeared at our dinner. For when I exclaimed in +astonishment, the master said, well pleased, and pointing to the +attentive major-domo: "This is René's way of spoiling me. But now he +has surpassed himself to celebrate so unique an occasion."</p> + +<p>And René's face was all one grin of rapture. I observe that on +occasions his eyes wander quite tenderly from me to his master.</p> + +<p>Shall I ever enjoy dinners again like those in that old ruined tower! +Or hours like those during which I listened to tales of peril and +adventure, or to the music that pealed forth from the distant corner, +when Sir Adrian sat down to his organ and made it speak the wordless +language of the soul: that language that made me at times shiver with +a mad yearning for life, more life; at times soothed my heart with a +caress of infinite softness.</p> + +<p>How is it that our organ-songs at the convent <i>never</i> moved me in this +fashion?</p> + +<p>Ah! those will be days to remember; all the more for being certain +that they will not be forgotten by him. Yes, those days have brought +some light into his melancholy life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p>Even René knows that. "Oh, my lady," said he to me as he was leaving +the island yesterday. "You have come like the good fairy, you have +brought back the joy of life to his honour: I have not heard him +really laugh—before this year passed I did not believe he knew any +more how to laugh—what you can call laugh!"</p> + +<p>It is quite true. I had made some droll remark about Tanty and Cousin +Sophia, and when he laughed he looked like a young man.</p> + +<p>He was quick enough in grasping at a pretext for keeping me yet +another day. Yesterday the wind having suddenly abated in the night, +there was quite a bevy of little fishing-boats sailing merrily away. +And the causeway at low water was quite visible. As we looked out I +know the same idea came to both our minds, though there was no word +between us. At last it was I who spoke. "The crossing is quite safe," +said I. And I added, as he answered nothing, "I almost wish now it was +not. How quick the time has gone by, here!"</p> + +<p>His countenance when I looked up was darker. He kept his eyes fixed in +the distance. At last he said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose it is high time you should go back."</p> + +<p>"I am sure I don't wish it," I said quite frankly—he is not the sort +of man with whom one would ever think of <i>minauderie</i>, "but Madeleine +will be miserable about me."</p> + +<p>"And so you would really care to stop here," said he, with a smile of +wonder on his face, "if it were not for that reason?"</p> + +<p>"Naturally I would," said I. "I feel already as cosy as a tame cat +here. And if it were not for Madeleine, poor little Madeleine, who +must be breaking her heart!—But then how can I go back?—I have no +wraps and only one shoe?"</p> + +<p>His face had cleared again. He was walking up and down in his usual +way, whilst I hopped back, with more limping than was at all +necessary, to my favourite arm-chair.</p> + +<p>"True, true," he said, as if speaking to himself, "you cannot walk, +with one shoe and a bandaged foot. And your clothes are too thin for +the roundabout sea journey in this cold wind. This is what we shall +do, child," he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> went on, coming up to me with a sage expression that +struggled with his evident eager desire. "René shall go off, as soon +as the tide permits, carrying the good news of your safety to your +sister, and bring back some warm things for you to wear to-morrow +morning, and I shall write to Rupert to send a carriage, to wait for +you on the strand."</p> + +<p>And so, pleased like two children who have found a means of securing a +further holiday, we wrote both our letters. I wonder whether it +occurred to Sir Adrian, as it did to me, that, if we had been so very +anxious that I should be restored to the care of Pulwick with the +briefest delay, I might have gone with René that same day, wrapped up +in a certain cloak which had done good warming service already; and +that, as René had constructed with his cunning hands a sufficient if +not very pretty sandal for my damaged foot out of some old piece of +felt, I might have walked from the beach to the fishing village; and +that there, no doubt, a cart or a donkey might have conveyed me home +in triumph.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it did <i>not</i> occur to him; and certainly I had no desire to +suggest it on my side.</p> + +<p>Thus, soon after mid-day, Master René departed alone. And Sir Adrian +and I, both very glad of our reprieve, watched, leaning side by side +upon the window-sill, the brave little craft glide away on the still +ruffled waters, until, when it had grown very small in the distance, +we saw the sail lowered and knew René had reached mainland.</p> + +<p>And that was perhaps the best day of the three. René having been +unexpectedly despatched, we had to help to do everything ourselves +with old Margery, who is rather feeble. The sky was clear and +beautiful; and, followed gravely by Jem the dog, we went round the +little outer domain. I fed the hens, and Sir Adrian carried the pail +when Margery had milked the cow; we paid a visit in his wide paddock +to the pony, who trotted up to his master whinnying with pleasure. We +looked at the waters rushing past like a mill race on the further side +of the island, as the tide was rising, and he explained to me that it +was this rush which makes the neighbourhood of Scarthey so dangerous +to unwary crafts; we went down into the sea-caves which penetrate deep +under the ruins.—They say<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> that in olden days there was a passage +under the rocky causeway that led as far as the old Priory, but all +traces of it have been effaced.</p> + +<p>Then, later on, Sir Adrian showed me in detail his library.</p> + +<p>"I was made to be a man of books," he said, when I wondered at the +number he had accumulated around him—there must be thousands, "a man +of study, not of action. And you know how fate has treated me. These +have been my one consolation of late years."</p> + +<p>And it marvelled me to think that one who had achieved so many manly +deeds, should love musty old tiresome things so much. He really turned +them over quite reverentially. I myself do not think much of books as +companions.</p> + +<p>When I made that little confession he smiled rather sadly, and said +that one like me never would lack the suitable companions of youth and +happiness; but that a creature of his unfortunate disposition could +find, in these long rows of folded leaves, the society of the best and +the loftiest minds, not of our age, but of all ages, and, what was +more, could find them ready for intercourse and at their best humour, +just in those hours when he himself was fit and disposed for such +intercourse—and this without dread of inflicting his own misery and +dulness upon them.</p> + +<p>But I could not agree with his appreciation. I felt my nose curl with +disdain at the breath of dust and must and age these old tomes gave +forth, and I said again it was, to my mind, but a poor and tame sort +of fellowship.</p> + +<p>He was perched on his ladder and had some odd volume in his hand, from +which he was about to give an example in point; on hearing, however, +this uncongenial sentiment he pushed back the book and came down +quickly enough to talk to me. And this was the last of our excursions +among the bookshelves.</p> + +<p>Of this I was glad, for I confess it was there I liked Sir Adrian the +least.</p> + +<p>When the end of the short day drew near it was time to go and attend +to the beacon. We ascended the ladder-like wooden stairs leading to +the platform. Then I had the <i>reverse</i> of that view that for so many +days had engrossed my interest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Pulwick from Scarthey!...</i> What a long time it seemed then since I +had left those rooms the windows of which now sent us back the rays of +the setting sun! and I had no desire to return, though return I must +on the morrow.</p> + +<p>René, of course, had left everything in his usual trim order, so all +we had to do was to see to the lamp. It pleased my fantasy to light +the beacon of Scarthey myself, and I struck the steel and kindled the +brimstone and set fire to the huge, ill-smelling wicks until they gave +a flame as big as my hand; and "there is the light of Scarthey at +close quarters," I thought. And the Light-keeper was bending over me +with his kindly look, humouring me like a child.</p> + +<p>As we sat there silently for a while in the twilight, there came from +the little room adjoining the turret an odd sound of flapping and +uncanny, melancholy cries. Sir Adrian rose, and we remembered the +seagull by which he had played the part of good Samaritan.</p> + +<p>It had happened on the second day, as the storm was at its height. +There had come a great crash at the window, and we saw something white +that struggled on the sill outside; Sir Adrian opened the casement +(when we had a little tornado of our own inside, and all his papers +began dancing a sarabande in the room), and we gathered in the poor +creature that was hurt and battered and more than half stunned, +opening alternately its yellow bill and its red eyes in the most +absurd manner.</p> + +<p>With a solicitude that it amused me to watch, Sir Adrian had tended +the helpless, goose-like thing and then handed it to René's further +care.</p> + +<p>René, it seemed, had thought of trying to tame the wild bird, and had +constructed a huge sort of cage with laths and barrel-hoops, and +installed it there with various nasty, sea-fishy, weedy things, such +as seagulls consider dainty. But the prisoner, now its vigour had +returned, yearned for nothing but the free air, and ever and anon +almost broke its wings in sudden frenzy to escape.</p> + +<p>"I wonder at René," said Sir Adrian, contemplating the animal with his +grave look of commiseration; "René, who, like myself, has been a +prisoner! He will be disappointed, but we shall make one of God's +creatures happy this day. There is not overmuch happiness in this +world."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + +<p>And, regardless of the vicious pecks aimed at his hands, he with +firmness folded the great strong wings and legs and carried the gull +outside on the parapet.</p> + +<p>There the bird sat a moment, astonished, turning its head round at its +benefactor before taking wing; and then it rose flying away in great +swoops—flap, flap—across the waves till we could see it no longer. +Ugly and awkward as the creature looked in its cage, it was beautiful +in its joyful, steady flight, and I was glad to see it go. I must have +been a bird myself in another existence, for I have often that longing +to fly upon me, and it makes my heart swell with a great impatience +that I cannot.</p> + +<p>But I could not help remarking to Sir Adrian that the bird's last look +round had been full of anger rather than gratitude, and his answer, as +he watched it sweep heavily away, was too gloomy to please me:</p> + +<p>"Gratitude," said he, "is as rare as unselfishness. If it were not so +this world would be different indeed. As it is, we have no more right +to expect the one than the other. And, when all is said and done, if +doing a so-called kind action gives us pleasure, it is only a special +form of self-indulgence."</p> + +<p>There is something wrong about a reasoning of this kind, but I could +not exactly point out where.</p> + +<p>We both stood gazing out from our platform upon the darkening waters. +Then across our vision there crept, round the promontory, a beautiful +ship with all sails set, looking like some gigantic white bird; +sailing, sailing, so swiftly yet so surely by, through the dim light; +and I cried out in admiration: for there is something in the sight of +a ship silently gliding that always sets my heart beating. But Sir +Adrian's face grew stern, and he said: "A ship is a whitened +sepulchre."</p> + +<p>But for all that he looked at it long and pensively.</p> + +<p>Now it had struck me before this that Sir Adrian, with all his +kindness of heart, takes but a dismal view of human nature and human +destiny; that to him what spoils the face of this world is that strife +of life—which to me is as the breath of my nostrils, the absence of +which made my convent days so grey and hateful to look back upon.</p> + +<p>I did not like to feel out of harmony with him, and so almost angrily +I reproached him.</p> + +<p>"Would you have every one live like a limpet on a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> rock?" cried I. +"Great heavens! I would rather be dead than not be up and doing."</p> + +<p>He looked at me gravely, pityingly.</p> + +<p>"May <i>you</i> never see what I have seen," said he. "May you never learn +what men have made of the world. God keep your fair life from such +ways as mine has been made to follow."</p> + +<p>The words filled me, I don't know why, with sudden misgiving. Is this +life, I am so eager for, but horror and misery after all? Would it be +better to leave the book unopened? They said so at the convent. But +what can they know of life at a convent?</p> + +<p>He bent his kind face towards mine in the thickening gloom, as though +to read my thoughts, and his lips moved, but he did not speak aloud. +Then, above the song of the waves as they gathered, rolled in, and +fell upon the shingle all around, there came the beat of oars.</p> + +<p>"Hark," said Sir Adrian, "our good René!"</p> + +<p>His tone was cheerful again, and, as he hurried me away down the +stairs, I knew he was glad to divert me from the melancholy into which +he had allowed himself to drift.</p> + +<p>And then "good René" came, bringing breezy life and cheerfulness with +him, and a bundle and a letter for me.</p> + +<p>Poor Madeleine! It seems she has been quite ill with weeping for +Molly; and, indeed, her dear scrawl was so illegible that I could +hardly read it. René says she was nearly as much upset by the joy as +by the grief. Mr. Landale was not at home; he had ridden to meet Tanty +at Liverpool, for the dear old lady has been summoned back in hot +haste with the news of my decease!</p> + +<p>He for one, I thought to myself, will survive the shock of relief at +learning that Molly has risen from the dead!</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Ting, ting, ting.... There goes my little clock, fussily counting the +hour to tell me that I have written so long a time that I ought to be +tired. And so I am, though I have not told you half of all I meant to +tell!</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> +<hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE RECLUSE AND THE SQUIRE</h3> + + +<p>I thought I should never get away from supper and be alone! Rupert's +air of cool triumph—it was triumph, however he may have wished to +hide it—and Tanty's flow of indignation, recrimination, speculation, +and amazement were enough to drive me mad. But I held out. I pretended +I did not mind. My cheeks were blazing, and I talked <i>à tort et à +travers</i>. I should have <i>died</i> rather than that Rupert should have +guessed at the tempest in my heart. Now I am alone at last, thank God! +and it will be a relief to confide to my faithful diary the feelings +that have been choking me these last two hours.</p> + +<p>"Pride must have a fall." Thus Rupert at supper, with reference, it is +true, to some trivial incident, but looking at me hard and full, and +pointing the words with his meaning smile. The fairies who attended at +my birth endowed me with one power, which, however doubtful a blessing +it may prove in the long run, has nevertheless been an unspeakable +comfort to me hitherto. This is the reverse of what I heard a French +gentleman term <i>l'esprit de l'escalier</i>. Thanks to this fairy +godmother of mine, the instant some one annoys or angers me there +rises on the tip of my tongue the most galling rejoinder that can +possibly be made in the circumstances. And I need not add: <i>I make +it</i>.</p> + +<p>To-night, when Rupert flung his scoff at me, I was ready for him.</p> + +<p>"I trust the old adage has not been brought home to you, <i>Sir</i> +Rupert," said I, and then pretending confusion. "I beg your pardon," I +added, "I have been so accustomed to address the head of the house +these last days that the word escaped me unawares." The shot told +<i>well</i>, and I was glad—glad of the murderous rage in Rupert's eyes, +for I knew I had hit him on the raw. Even Tanty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> looked perturbed, but +Rupert let me alone for the rest of supper.</p> + +<p>He is right nevertheless, that is what stung me. I am humbled, <i>and I +cannot bear it</i>!</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian has left.</p> + +<p>I was so triumphant to bring him back to Pulwick this morning, to have +circumvented Rupert's plans, and (let me speak the truth,) so happy to +have him with me that I did not attempt to conceal my exultation. And +now he has gone, gone without a word to me; only this miserable letter +of determined farewell. I will copy it—for in my first anger I have +so crumpled the paper that it is scarcely readable.</p> + +<p>"My child, I must go back to my island. The world is not for me, nor +am I for the world, nor would I cast the shadow of my gloomy life +further upon your bright one. Let me tell you, however, that you have +left me the better for your coming; that it will be a good thought to +me in my loneliness to know of your mother's daughters so close to me. +When you look across at the beacon of Scarthey, child, through the +darkness, think that though I may not see you again I shall ever +follow and keep guard upon your life and upon your sister's, and that, +even when you are far from Pulwick, the light will burn and the heart +of Adrian Landale watch so long as it may beat."</p> + +<p>I have shed more tears—hot tears of anger—since I received this than +I have wept in all my life before. Madeleine came in to me just now, +too full of the happiness of having me back, poor darling, to be able +to bear me out of sight again; but I have driven her from me with such +cross words that she too is in tears. I must be alone and I must +collect myself and my thoughts, for I want to state exactly all that +has happened and then perhaps I shall be able to see my way more +clearly.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>This morning then, early after breakfast, I started across the waters +between René and Sir Adrian, regretting to leave the dear hospitable +island, yet with my heart dancing within me, as gaily as did our +little boat upon the chopping waves, to be carrying the hermit back +with me. I had been deadly afraid lest he should at the last moment +have sent me alone with the servant; but when he put on his big cloak, +when I saw René place a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> bag at the bottom of the boat, I knew he +meant to come—perhaps remain some days at Pulwick, and my spirits +went up, up!</p> + +<p>It was a lovely day, too; the air had a crisp, cold sparkle, and the +waters looked so blue under the clear, frosty sky. I could have sung +as we rowed along, and every time I met Sir Adrian's eye I smiled at +him out of the happiness of my heart. His look hung on me—we French +have a word for that which is not translatable, <i>Il me couvait des +yeux</i>—and, as every day of the three we had spent together I had +thought him younger and handsomer, so this morning out in the bright +sunlight I said to myself, I could never wish to see a more noble man.</p> + +<p>When we landed—and it was but a little way, for the tide was +low—there was the carriage waiting, and René, all grins, handed over +our parcels to the footman. Then we got in, the wheels began slowly +dragging across the sand to the road, the poor horses pulling and +straining, for it was heavy work. And René stood watching us by his +boat, his hand over his eyes, a black figure against the dazzling +sunshine on the bay; but I could see his white teeth gleam in that +broad smile of his from out of his shadowy face. As, at length, we +reached the high road and bowled swiftly along, I would not let Sir +Adrian have peace to think, for something at my heart told me he hated +the going back to Pulwick, and I so chattered and fixed his attention +that as the carriage drew up he was actually laughing.</p> + +<p>When we stopped another carriage in front moved off, and there on the +porch stood—Rupert and Tanty!</p> + +<p>Poor Tanty, her old face all disfigured with tears and a great black +bonnet and veil towering on her head. I popped <i>my</i> head out of the +window and called to them.</p> + +<p>When they caught sight of me, both seemed to grow rigid with +amazement. And then across Rupert's face came such a look of fury, and +such a deathly pallor! I had thought, certainly, he would not weep the +eyes out of his head for me; but that he should be stricken with +<i>anger</i> to see me alive I had hardly expected, and for the instant it +frightened me.</p> + +<p>But then I had no time to observe anything else, for Tanty collapsed +upon the steps and went off into as fine a fit of hysterics as I have +ever seen. But fortunately it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> did not last long. Suddenly in the +middle of her screams and rockings to and fro she perceived Sir Adrian +as he leant anxiously over her. With the utmost energy she clutched +his arm and scrambled to her feet.</p> + +<p>"Is it you, me poor child?" she cried, "Is it you?"</p> + +<p>And then she turned from him, as he stood with his gentle, earnest +face looking down upon her, and gave Rupert a glare that might have +slain him. I knew at once what she was thinking: I had experienced +myself that it was impossible to see Sir Adrian and connect his +dignified presence for one second with the scandalous impression +Rupert would have conveyed.</p> + +<p>As for Rupert, he looked for the first time since I knew him +thoroughly unnerved.</p> + +<p>Then Tanty caught me by the arm and shook me:</p> + +<p>"How <i>dare</i> you, miss, how dare you?" she cried, her face was flaming.</p> + +<p>"How dare I what?" asked I, as I hugged her.</p> + +<p>"How dare you be walking about when it is dead you are, and give us +all such a fright—there—there, you know what I mean.—Adrian," she +whimpered, "give me your arm, my nephew, and conduct me into your +house. All this has upset me very much. But, oh, am I not glad to see +you both, my children!"</p> + +<p>In they went together. And my courage having risen again to its usual +height, I waited purposely on the porch to tease Rupert a little. I +had a real pleasure in noticing how he trembled with agitation beneath +his mask.</p> + +<p>"Well, are you glad to see me, Cousin Rupert?" said I.</p> + +<p>He took my hand; his fingers were damp and cold.</p> + +<p>"Can you ask, my fair cousin?" he sneered. "Do you not see me overcome +with joy? Am I not indeed especially favoured by Providence, for is +not this the second time that a beloved being has been restored into +my arms like Lazarus from the grave?"</p> + +<p>I was indignant at the heartlessness of his cynicism, and so the +answer that leaped to my lips was out before I had time to reflect +upon its unladylikeness.</p> + +<p>"Ay," said I, "and each time you have cried in your soul, like Martha, +'Behold, he stinketh.'"</p> + +<p>My cousin laughed aloud.</p> + +<p>"You have a sharp tongue," he said, "take care you are not cut with it +yourself some day."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just then the footmen who had been unpacking Tanty's trunks from the +first carriage laid a great wooden box upon the porch, and one of them +asked Rupert which room they should bring it to.</p> + +<p>Rupert looked at it strangely, and then at me.</p> + +<p>"Take it where you will," he exclaimed at last. "There lies good +money-value wasted—though, after all, one never knows."</p> + +<p>"What is it?" said I, struck by a sinister meaning in his accents.</p> + +<p>"Mourning, beautiful Molly—mourning for +you—crape—gowns—weepers—wherewith to have dried your sister's +tears—but not needed yet, you see."</p> + +<p>He bared his teeth at me over his shoulder—I could not call it a +smile—and then paused, as he was about to brush past into the hall, +to give me the <i>pas</i>, with a mocking bow.</p> + +<p>He does not even attempt now to hide his dislike of me, nor to draw +for me that cloak of suave composure over the fierce temper that is +always gnawing at his vitals as surely as fox ever gnawed little +Spartan. He sees that it is useless, I suppose. As I went upstairs to +greet Madeleine, I laughed to myself to think how Fate had +circumvented the plotter.</p> + +<p>Alas, how foolish I was to laugh! Rupert is a dangerous enemy, and I +have made him mine; and in a few hours he has shuffled the cards, and +now he holds the trumps again. For that there is <i>du Rupert</i> in this +sudden departure of my knight, I am convinced. Of course, <i>his</i> +reasons are plain to see. It is the vulgarest ambition that prompts +him to oust his brother for as long as possible—for ever, if he can.</p> + +<p>And now, <i>I</i> am outwitted. <i>Je rage.</i></p> + +<p>I have never been so unhappy. My heart feels all crushed. I see no +help anywhere. I cannot in common decency go and seek Sir Adrian upon +his island again, and so I sit and cry.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Immediately upon his arrival Tanty was closeted with Sir Adrian in the +chamber allotted to her for so long a space of time that Rupert, +watching below in an inward fever, now flung back in his chair biting +his nails, now restlessly pacing the room from end to end, his mind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +working on the new problem, his ears strained to catch the least sound +the while, was fain at last to ring and give orders for the immediate +sounding of the dinner bell (a good hour before that meal might be +expected) as the only chance of interrupting a conference which boded +so ill to his plans. Meanwhile Madeleine sobbed out the story of her +grief and joy on Molly's heart; and Miss Sophia, who thus +inconsiderately arrested in the full congenial flow of a new grief, +was thrown back upon her old sorrows for consolation, had felt +impelled to pay a visit to the rector's grave with the watering-can, +and an extra pocket-handkerchief.</p> + +<p>Never perhaps since that worthy clergyman had gasped out his last +struggling breath upon her bosom had she known more unmixed +satisfaction than during those days when she hovered round poor +prostrate Madeleine's bed and poured into her deaf ear the tale of her +own woes and the assurances of her thoroughly understanding sympathy. +She had been looking forward, with a chastened eagerness, to the +arrival of the mourning, and had already derived a good deal of +pleasure from the donning of certain aged weeds treasured in her +wardrobe; it was therefore a distinct though quite unconscious +disappointment when the news came which put an untimely end to all +these funereal revels.</p> + +<p>At the shrill clamour of the bell, as Rupert anticipated, Adrian +emerged instantly from his aunt's room, and a simultaneous jingle of +minor bells announced that the ladies' attention was in all haste +being turned to toilet matters.</p> + +<p>Whatever had passed between his good old relative and his sensitive +brother, Rupert's quick appraising glance at the latter's face, as he +went slowly down the corridor to his own specially reserved apartment, +was sufficient to confirm the watcher in his misgiving that matters +were not progressing as he might wish.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian seemed absorbed, it is true, in grave thought, but his +countenance was neither distressed nor gloomy. With a spasm of fierce +annoyance, and a bitter curse on the meddling of old females and +young, Rupert had to admit that never had he seen his brother look +more handsome, more master of the house and of himself, more <i>sane</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<p>A few minutes later the guests of Pulwick assembled in the library one +by one, with the exception of Sophia, still watering the last +resting-place of the Rev. Herbert Lee.</p> + +<p>Adrian came first, closely followed by Tanty, who turned a marked +shoulder upon her younger nephew and devoted all her attention to the +elder—in which strained condition of affairs the conversation between +the three was not likely to be lively. Next the sisters, attired alike +in white, entered together, bringing a bright vision of youth and +loveliness into the old room.</p> + +<p>At sight of them Adrian sprang to his feet with a sudden sharp +ejaculation, upon which the two girls halted on the threshold, half +shy, half smiling. For the moment, in the shadow of the doorway, they +were surprisingly like each other, the difference of colouring being +lost in their curious similarity of contour.</p> + +<p>My God, were there then two Céciles?</p> + +<p>Beautiful, miraculous, consoling had been to the mourner in his +loneliness the apparition of his dead love restored to life, every +time his eyes had fallen upon Molly during these last few blessed +days; but this new development was only like a troublous mocking +dream.</p> + +<p>Tanty turned in startled amazement. She could feel the shudder that +shook his frame, through the hand with which he still unconsciously +grasped at the back of her chair. An irrepressible smile crept to +Rupert's lips.</p> + +<p>The little interlude could not have lasted more than a few seconds +when Molly, recovering her usual self-possession, came boldly forward, +leading her sister by the tips of her fingers.</p> + +<p>"Cousin Adrian," she said, "my sister Madeleine has many things to say +to you in thanks for your care of my valuable person, but just now she +is too bashful to be able to utter one quarter of them."</p> + +<p>As the girls emerged into the room, and the light from the great +windows struck upon Madeleine's fair curls and the delicate pallor of +her cheek; as she extended her hand, and raised to Adrian's face, +while she dropped her pretty curtsey, the gaze of two unconsciously +plaintive blue eyes, the man dashed the sweat from his brow with a +gesture of relief.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more unlike the dark beauty of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> ghost of his +dreams or its dashing presentment now smiling confidently upon him +from Tanty's side.</p> + +<p>He took the little hand with tender pressure: Cécile's daughter must +be precious to him in any case. Madeleine, moreover, had a certain +appealing grace that was apt to steal the favour that Molly won by +storm.</p> + +<p>"But, indeed, I could never tell Sir Adrian how grateful I am," said +she, with a timidity that became her as thoroughly as Molly's +fearlessness suited her own stronger personality.</p> + +<p>At the sound of her voice, again the distressful nightmare-like +feeling seized Sir Adrian's soul.</p> + +<p>Of all characteristics that, as the phrase is, "go in families," +voices are generally the most peculiarly generic.</p> + +<p>When Molly first addressed Sir Adrian, it had been to him as a voice +from the grave; now Madeleine's gentle speech tripped forth upon that +self-same note—Cécile's own voice!</p> + +<p>And next Molly caught up the sound, and then Madeleine answered again. +What they said, he could not tell; these ghosts—these speaking +ghosts—brought back the old memories too painfully. It was thus +Cécile had spoken in the first arrogance of her dainty youth and +loveliness; and in those softer tones when sorrow and work and failure +had subdued her proud spirit. And now she laughs; and hark, the laugh +is echoed! Sir Adrian turns as if to seek some escape from this +strange form of torture, meets Rupert's eye and instinctively braces +himself into self-control.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," cried Miss O'Donoghue, in her comfortable, commonplace, +cheerful tone: "This dinner bell of yours, Adrian, has raised false +hopes, which seem to tarry in their fulfilment. What are we waiting +for, may I ask?"</p> + +<p>Adrian looked at his brother.</p> + +<p>"Rupert, you know, my dear aunt," he said, "has the ordering of these +matters."</p> + +<p>"Sophia is yet absent," quoth Rupert drily, "but we can proceed +without her, if my aunt wishes."</p> + +<p>"Pooh, yes. Sophia!" snorted Miss O'Donoghue, grasping Sir Adrian's +arm to show herself quite ready for the march, "Sophia! We all know +what she is. Why, my dear Adrian, she'll never hear the bell till it +has stopped this half hour."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dinner," cried Rupert sharply to the butler, whom his pull of the +bell-rope had summoned. And dinner being served, the guests trooped +into that dining-room which was full of such associations to Sir +Adrian. It was a little thing, but, nevertheless, intensely galling to +Rupert to have to play second gentleman, and give up his privileges as +host to his brother. Usually indeed Adrian cared too little to stand +upon his rights, and insisted upon Rupert's continuing to act in his +presence as he did in his absence; but this afternoon Tanty had left +him no choice.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, as Mr. Landale sat down between the sisters, and turned +smiling to address first one and then the other, it would have taken a +very practised eye to discern under the extra urbanity of his +demeanour the intensity of his inward mortification. He talked a great +deal and exerted himself to make the sisters talk likewise, bantering +Molly into scornful and eager retorts, and preventing Madeleine from +relapsing into that state of dreaminess out of which the rapid +succession of her recent sorrow and joy had somewhat shaken her.</p> + +<p>The girls were both excited, both ready to laugh and jest. Tanty, +satisfied to see Adrian preside at the head of the table with a grave, +courteous, and self-contained manner that completely fulfilled her +notions of what family dignity required of him, cracked her jokes, ate +her dinner, and quaffed her cup with full enjoyment, laughing +indulgently at her grand-nieces' sallies, and showing as marked a +disfavour to Rupert as she deemed consistent with good manners.</p> + +<p>The poor old lady little guessed how the workings in each brother's +mind were all the while, silently but inevitably, tending towards the +destruction of her newly awakened hopes.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>There was silence between Sir Adrian and Rupert when at last they were +left alone together. The elder's gaze wandering in space, his absent +hand softly beating the table, his relaxed frame—all showed that his +mind was far away from thought of the younger's presence. The relief +to be delivered from the twin echoes of a haunting voice—once the +dearest on earth to him—was immense. But his whole being was still +quivering under the first acuteness of so disturbing an impression.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>His years of solitude, moreover, had ill prepared him for social +intercourse; the laughter, the clash of conversation, the noise on +every side, the length of the meal, the strain to maintain a fit and +proper attitude as host, had tried to the utmost nerves by nature +hypersensitive.</p> + +<p>Rupert, who had leisure to study the suddenly lined and tired +lineaments of the abstracted countenance before him, noted with +self-congratulation the change that a few hours seemed to have wrought +upon it, and decided that the moment had come to strike.</p> + +<p>"So, Adrian," he said, looking down demurely as he spoke into the +glass of wine he had been toying with—Rupert was an abstemious man. +"So, Adrian, you have been playing the chivalrous rôle of rescuer of +distressed damsels—squire of dames and what not. The last one would +have ascribed to you at least at this end of your life. Ha," throwing +up his head with a mirthless laugh; "how little any of us would have +thought what a blessing in disguise your freak of self-exile was +destined to become to us!"</p> + +<p>At the sound of the incisive voice Adrian had returned with a slight +shiver from distant musing to the consciousness of the other's +presence.</p> + +<p>"And did you not always look upon my exile as a blessing undisguised, +Rupert?" answered he, fixing his brother with his large grave gaze.</p> + +<p>Rupert's eyelids wavered a little beneath it, but his tone was coolly +insolent as he made reply:</p> + +<p>"If it pleases you to make no count of our fraternal affection for +you, my dear fellow; if by insisting upon <i>our</i> unnatural depravity +you contrive a more decent excuse for your own vagaries, you have my +full permission to dub me Cain at once and have done with it."</p> + +<p>A light sigh escaped the elder man, and then he resolutely closed his +lips. It was by behaviour such as this, by his almost diabolical +ingenuity in the art of being uncongenial, that Rupert had so largely +contributed to make his own house impossible to him. But where was the +use of either argument or expostulation with one so incapable of even +understanding the mainsprings of his actions? Moreover (<i>he</i>, above +all, must not forget it) Rupert had suffered through him in pride and +self-esteem.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> And yet, despite Sir Adrian's philosophic mind, despite +his vast, pessimistic though benevolent tolerance for erring human +nature, his was a very human heart; and it added not a little to the +sadness of his lot at every return to Pulwick (dating from that first +most bitter home-coming) to feel in every fibre of his being how +little welcome he was where the ties of flesh and blood alone, not to +speak of his most ceaseless yet delicate generosity, should have +ensured him a very different reception.</p> + +<p>Again he sighed, this time more deeply, and the corners of Rupert's +lips, the arch of his eyebrows, moved upwards in smiling +interrogation.</p> + +<p>"It must have given you a shock," said Mr. Landale, carelessly, "to +see the resemblance between Molly and poor Cécile; not, of course, +that <i>I</i> can remember her; but Tanty says it is something startling."</p> + +<p>Adrian assented briefly.</p> + +<p>"I daresay it seems quite painful to you at first," proceeded Rupert, +much in the same deliberate manner as a surgeon may lay bare a wound, +despite the knowledge of the suffering he is inflicting, "I noticed +that you seemed upset during dinner. But probably the feeling will +wear off."</p> + +<p>"Probably."</p> + +<p>"Madeleine resembles her father, I am told; but then you never saw the +<i>feu Comte</i>, did you? Well, they are both fine handsome girls, full of +life and spirits. It is our revered relative's intention to leave them +here—as perhaps she has told you—for two months or so."</p> + +<p>"I have begged her," said Sir Adrian gravely, "to make them understand +that I wish them to look upon Pulwick as their home."</p> + +<p>"Very right, very proper," cried the other; "in fact I knew that was +what you would wish—and your wishes, of course, are my law in the +matter. By the way, I hope you quite understand, Adrian, how it +happened that I did <i>not</i> notify to you the arrival of these guests +extraordinary—knowing that you have never got over their mother's +death, and all that—it was entirely from a wish to spare you. +Besides, there was your general prohibition about my visitors; I did +not dare to take the responsibility in fact. And so I told Tanty."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do not wish to doubt the purity of your motives, though it would +have grieved me had <i>these</i> visitors (no ordinary ones as you yourself +admit) come and gone without my knowledge. As it fell out, however, +even without that child's dangerous expedition, I should have been +informed in any case—René knew."</p> + +<p>"René knew?" cried Rupert, surprised; and "damn René" to himself with +heart-felt energy.</p> + +<p>That the infernal little spy, as he deemed his brother's servant, +should have made a visit to Pulwick without his knowledge was +unpleasant news, and it touched him on his tenderest point.</p> + +<p>But now, replenishing his half-emptied glass to give Adrian no excuse +for putting an end to the conference before he himself desired it, he +plunged into the heart of the task he had set himself without further +delay:</p> + +<p>"And what would you wish me to do, Adrian," he asked, with a pretty +air of deference, "in the matter of entertaining these ladies? I have +thought of several things likely to afford them amusement, but, since +you are here, you will readily understand that I should like your +authorisation first. I am anxious to consult you when I can," he +added, apologetically. "So forgive my attacking you upon business +to-night when you seem really so little fitted for it—but you know +one cannot count upon you from one minute to another! What would you +say if I were to issue invitations for a ball? Pulwick was noted for +its hospitality in the days of our fathers, and the gloom that has +hung over the old home these last eight years has been (I suppose) +unavoidable in the circumstances—but none the less a pity. No fear +but that our fair cousins would enjoy such a festivity, and I think I +can promise you that the sound of our revels should not reach as far +as your hermitage."</p> + +<p>A slow colour had mounted to Adrian's cheeks; he drew his brows +together with an air of displeasure; Rupert, quick to read these +symptoms, hastened to pursue the attack before response should be +made:</p> + +<p>"The idea does not seem to please you," he cried, as if in hurt +surprise. "'Tis true I have now no legal right to think of reviving +the old hospitable traditions of the family; but you must remember, +Adrian, you yourself have insisted on giving me a moral right to act +host here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> in your absence—you have over and over again laid stress +upon the freedom you wished me to feel in the matter. Hitherto I have +not made use of these privileges; have not cared to do so, beyond an +occasional duty dinner to our nearest neighbours. A lonely widower +like myself, why should I? But now, with these gay young things in the +house—so near to us in blood—I had thought it so much our duty to +provide fitting entertainment for them that your attitude is +incomprehensible to me. Come! does it not strike you as savouring a +little of the unamiable dog in the fable? I know you hate company +yourself, and all the rest of it; but how can these things here affect +you upon your island? As for the budget, it will stand it, I assure +you. I speak hotly; pray excuse me. I own I have looked forward to the +thought of seeing once more young and happy faces around me."</p> + +<p>"You mistake me," said Sir Adrian with an effort; "while you are +acting as my representative you have, as you know, all liberty to +entertain what guests you choose, and as you see fit. It is natural, +perhaps, that you should now believe me anxious to hurry back to the +lighthouse, and I should have told you before that it is my intention +this time to remain longer than my wont, in which circumstance the +arrangements for the entertaining of our relatives will devolve upon +myself."</p> + +<p>Rupert broke into a loud laugh.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, but the idea is too ludicrous! What sort of funeral +festivities do you propose to provide to the neighbourhood, with you +and Sophia presiding, the living images of mourning and desolation? +There, my dear fellow, I <i>must</i> laugh. It will be the skeleton at the +feast with a vengeance. Why, even to-night, in the bosom of your +family, as it were, your presence lay so like a wet blanket upon us +all that, 'pon my soul, I nearly cracked my voice trying to keep those +girls from noticing it! Seriously, I am delighted, of course, that you +should feel so sportive, and it is high time indeed that the +neighbourhood should see something of you, but I fear you are +reckoning beyond your strength. Anyhow, command me. I shall be anxious +to help you all I can in this novel departure. What are your plans?"</p> + +<p>"I have laid no plans," answered Sir Adrian coldly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> after a slight +pause, "but you do not need me to tell you, Rupert, that to surround +myself with such gaiety as you suggest is impossible."</p> + +<p>"You mean to make our poor little cousins lead as melancholy an +existence as you do yourself then," cried Rupert with an angry laugh. +Matters were not progressing as he could have wished. "I fear this +will cause a good deal of disappointment, not only to them but to our +revered aunt—for she is very naturally anxious to see her charges +married and settled, and she told me that she more or less counted +upon my aid in the matter. Now as you are here of course I have, thank +Heaven, nothing more to say one way or another. But you will surely +think of asking a few likely young fellows over to the house, +occasionally? We are not badly off for eldest sons in the +neighbourhood; Molly, who is as arrant a little flirt, they tell me, +as she is pretty, will be grateful to you for the attention, on the +score of amusement at least."</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale, speaking somewhat at random out of his annoyance to have +failed in immediately disgusting the hermit of the responsibilities +his return home might entail, here succeeded by chance in producing +the desired impression.</p> + +<p>The idea of Molly—Cécile's double—marrying—worse still, making +love, coquetting before his eyes, was intolerable to Adrian. To have +to look on, and see <i>Cécile's</i> eyes lavish glances of love; <i>her</i> +lips, soft words and lingering smiles, upon some country fool; to have +himself to give this duplicate of his love's sweet body to one +unworthy perhaps—it stung him with a pain as keen as it was +unreasonable. It was terrible to be so made, that the past was ever as +living as the present! But he must face the situation, he must grapple +with his own weakness. Tender memories had lured him from his retreat +and made him for a short time almost believe that he could live with +them, happy a little while, in his own home again; but now it was +these very memories that were rising like avengers to drive him hence.</p> + +<p>Of course the child must marry if there her happiness lay. Ay, and +both Cécile's children must be amused, made joyful, while they still +could enjoy life—Rupert was right—right in all he said—but he, +Adrian, could not be there to see. That was beyond his endurance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was impossible of course, for one so single-minded himself, to +follow altogether the doublings of such a mind as Rupert's; but +through the melancholy relief of this sudden resolution, Adrian was +distinctly conscious of the underlying duplicity, the unworthy motives +which had prompted his brother's arguments.</p> + +<p>He rose from the table, and looked down with sad gaze at the younger's +beautiful mask of a face.</p> + +<p>"God knows," he said, "God knows, Rupert, I do not so often inflict my +presence upon you that you should be so anxious to show me how much +better I should do to keep away. I admit nevertheless the justice of +all you say. It is but right that Mesdemoiselles de Savenaye should be +surrounded with young and cheerful society; and even were I in a state +to act as master of the revels (here he smiled a little dreamily), my +very presence, as you say, would cast a gloom upon their +merrymaking—I will go. I will go back to the island to-night—I can +rely upon you to assist me to do so quietly without unnecessary scenes +or explanations—yes—yes—I know you will be ready to facilitate +matters! Strange! It is only a few hours ago since Tanty almost +persuaded me that it was my duty to remain here; now you have made me +see that I have no choice but to leave. Have no fear, Rupert—I go. I +shall write to Tanty. But remember only, that as you treat Cécile's +children, so shall I shape my actions towards you in future."</p> + +<p>Slowly he moved away, leaving Rupert motionless in his seat; and long +did the younger brother remain moodily fixing the purple bloom of the +grapes with unseeing eyes.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> +<hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="PART_III" id="PART_III"></a>PART III</h2> + +<h3>"CAPTAIN JACK," THE GOLD SMUGGLER</h3> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="section" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>THE GOLD SMUGGLER AND THE PHILOSOPHER</h3> + + +<p>On the evening of the day which had seen Miss Molly's departure for +the main land, René, after the usual brisk post-prandial altercation +with old Margery by her kitchen fire, was cheerfully finding his way, +lantern in hand, to his turret, when in the silence of the night he +heard the door of the keep open and close, and presently recognised +Sir Adrian's tread echoing on the flagged steps beneath him.</p> + +<p>Astonished at this premature return and full of vague dismay, he +hurried down to receive his master.</p> + +<p>There was a cloud on Sir Adrian's face, plainly discernible in spite +of the unaltered composure of his manner.</p> + +<p>"I did not expect your honour back so soon," said René, tentatively.</p> + +<p>"I myself did not anticipate to return. I had thought I might perhaps +stay some days at Pulwick. But I find there is no home like this one +for me, René."</p> + +<p>There was a long silence. But when René had rekindled a blaze upon the +hearth and set the lamp upon the table, he stood a moment before +withdrawing, almost begging by his look some further crumb of +information.</p> + +<p>"My room is ready, I suppose?" inquired Sir Adrian.</p> + +<p>"Yes, your honour," quoth the man ruefully, "Margery and I put it back +exactly as—as before."</p> + +<p>"Good-night then, good-night!" said the master after a pause, warming +his hands as the flames began to leap through the network of twigs. "I +shall go to bed, I am tired; I had to row myself across. You will take +the boat back to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>René opened his mouth to speak; caught the sound of a sigh coming from +the hearthside, and, shaking his head, in silence obeyed the implied +dismissal. And bitterly did he meditate in his bunk, that night, upon +the swift <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>crumbling of those air-castles he had built himself so +gaily erstwhile, in the rose and blue atmosphere that <i>La Demoiselle</i> +had seemed to bring with her to Scarthey.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>From the morrow the old regular mode of life began again in the keep.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian read a good deal, or at least appeared so to do; but René, +who kept him more than ever under his glances of wistful sympathy, +noted that far from being absorbed, as of old, in the pages of his +book, the recluse's eyes wandered much off its edges into space; that +when writing, or at least intent on writing, his pen would linger long +in the bottle and hover listlessly over the paper; that he was more +abstracted, even than his wont, when looking out of the eastern +window; and that on the platform of the beacon it was the landward +view which most drew his gaze.</p> + +<p>There was also more music in the keep than was the custom in evener +days. Seated at his organ the light-keeper seemed to find a voice for +such thoughts as were not to be spoken or written, and relief for the +nameless pity of them. But never a word passed between the two men on +the subject that filled both their hearts.</p> + +<p>It was Sir Adrian's pleasure that things at Scarthey should seem to be +exactly the same as before, and that was enough for René.</p> + +<p>"And yet," mused the faithful fellow, within his disturbed mind, "the +ruins now look like a house the day after an interment. If we were +lonely before, my faith, now we are desolate?" and, trying to find +something or somebody to charge with the curse of it, he invariably +fell to upon Mr. Landale's sleek head, why, he could hardly have +explained.</p> + +<p>Three new days had thus passed in the regularity, if not the serenity +of the old—they seemed old already, buried far back in the past, +those days that had lapsed so evenly before the brightness of youthful +and beautiful life had entered the keep for one brief moment, and +departing, again left it a ruin indeed—when the retirement of +Scarthey was once more invaded by an unexpected visitor. It was about +sundown of the shortest day. Sir Adrian was at his organ, almost +unconsciously interpreting his own sadness into music. In time the +yearning of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> his soul had had expression, the echo of the last sighing +chord died away in the tranquil air, yet the musician, with head bent +upon his breast, remained lost in far-away thoughts.</p> + +<p>A slight shuffling noise disturbed him; turning round to greet René as +he supposed, he was astonished to see a man's figure lolling in his +own arm-chair.</p> + +<p>As he peered inquiringly into the twilight, the intruder rose to his +feet, and cried with a voice loud and clear, pleasant withal to the +ear:</p> + +<p>"Sir Adrian, I am sorry you have stopped so soon; I never heard +anything more beautiful! The door was ajar, and I crept in like a cat, +not to disturb you."</p> + +<p>Still in doubt, but with his fine air of courtesy, the light-keeper +advanced towards the uninvited guest.</p> + +<p>"Am I mistaken," he said, with some hesitation, "surely this is Hubert +Cochrane's voice?"</p> + +<p>"Jack Smith's voice, my dear fellow; Jack Smith, at your service, +please to remember," answered the visitor, with a genial ring of +laughter in his words. "Not that it matters much here, I suppose! Had +I not heard the peal of your organ I should have thought Scarthey +deserted indeed. I could find no groom of the chambers to announce me +in due form."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the two had drawn near each other and clasped hands +heartily.</p> + +<p>"Now, to think of your knowing my voice in this manner! You have a +devilish knack of spotting your man, Sir Adrian. It is almost four +years since I was here last, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Four years?—so it is; and four years that have done well by you, it +would appear. What a picture of strength and lustiness! It really +seems to regenerate one, and put heart of grace in one, only to take +you by the hand.—Welcome, Captain Smith!"</p> + +<p>Nothing could have more succinctly described the outer man of him who +chose to be known by that most nondescript of patronymics. Sir Adrian +stood for a moment, contemplating, with glances of approval such as he +seldom bestowed on his fellow-man, the symmetrical, slender, yet +vigorous figure of his friend, and responding with an unwonted +cheerfulness to the smile that lit up the steel-blue eyes, and parted +the shapely,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> strong, and good-humoured mouth of the privateersman.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, and what a buck we have become!" continued the baronet, +"what splendid plumage! It is good to see you so prosperous. And so +this is the latest fashion? No doubt it sets forth the frame of a +goodly man, though no one could guess at the 'sea dog' beneath such a +set of garments. I used to consider my brother Rupert the most +especial dandy I had ever seen; but that, evidently, was my limited +experience: even Rupert cannot display so perfect a fit in +bottle-green coats, so faultless a silken stock, buckskins of such +matchless drab!"</p> + +<p>Captain Jack laughed, blushed slightly under the friendly banter, and +allowed himself to be thrust back into the seat he had just vacated.</p> + +<p>"Welcome again, on my lonely estate. I hope this is not to be a mere +flying visit? You know my misanthropy vanishes when I have your +company. How did you come? Not by the causeway, I should say," smiling +again, and glancing at the unblemished top-boots.</p> + +<p>"I have two men waiting for me in the gig below; my schooner, the +<i>Peregrine</i>, lies in the offing."</p> + +<p>The elder man turned to the window, and through the grey curtain of +crepuscule recognised the rakish topsail schooner that had excited +Molly's admiration some days before. He gazed forth upon it a few +meditative moments.</p> + +<p>"Not knowing whether I would find you ready to receive me," pursued +the captain, "I arranged that the <i>Peregrine</i> was to wait for me if I +had to return to-night."</p> + +<p>"Which, of course, is not to be heard of," said Sir Adrian. "Here is +Renny; he will carry word that with me you remain to-night.... Come, +Renny, do you recognise an old acquaintance?"</p> + +<p>Already well disposed towards any one who could call this note of +pleasure into the loved voice, the Breton, who had just entered, +turned to give a broad stare at the handsome stranger, then burst into +a guffaw of pure delight. "By my faith, it is Mr. the Lieutenant!" he +ejaculated; adding, as ingeniously as Tanty herself might have done, +that he would never have known him again.</p> + +<p>"It is Mr. the Captain now, Renny," said that person, and held out a +strong hand to grip that of the little Frenchman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> which the latter, +after the preliminary rubbing upon his trousers that his code of +manners enjoined, readily extended.</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is a good wind that sent you here this day," said he, with a +sigh of satisfaction when this ceremony had been duly gone through.</p> + +<p>"You say well," acquiesced his master, "it has ever been a good wind +that has brought Captain Jack across my path."</p> + +<p>And then receiving directions to refresh the gig's crew and dismiss +them back to their ship with instructions to return for orders on the +morrow, the servant hurried forth, leaving the two friends once more +alone.</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Captain Jack, when the door had closed upon the +messenger. "That will exactly suit my purpose. I have a good many +things to talk over with you, since you so kindly give me the +opportunity. In the first place, let me unburden myself of a debt +which is now of old standing—and let me say at the same time," added +the young man, rising to deposit upon the table a letter-case which he +had taken from his breast-pocket, "that though my actual debt is now +met, my obligation to you remains the same and will always be so. You +said just now that I looked prosperous, and so I am—owing somewhat to +good luck, it is true, but owing above all to you. No luck would have +availed me much without <i>that</i> to start upon." And he pointed to the +contents of the case, a thick bundle of notes which his host was now +smilingly turning over with the tip of his fingers.</p> + +<p>"I might have sent you a draft, but there is no letter-post that I +know of to Scarthey, and, besides, it struck me that just as these +four thousand pounds had privately passed between you and me, you +might prefer them to be returned in the same manner."</p> + +<p>"I prefer it, since it has brought you in person," said Sir Adrian, +thrusting the parcel into a drawer and pulling his chair closer +towards his guest. "Dealings with a man like you give one a taste of +an ideal world. Would that more human transactions could be carried +out in so simple and frank a manner as this little business of ours!"</p> + +<p>Captain Jack laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, you are a greater marvel to me every time I see +you—which is not by any means often enough!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> + +<p>The other raised his eyebrows in interrogation, and the sailor went +on:</p> + +<p>"Is it really possible that it is to <i>my</i> mode of dealing that you +attribute the delightful simplicity of a transaction involving a +little fortune from hand to hand? And where pray, in this terraqueous +sublunary sphere—I heard that good phrase from a literary exquisite +at Bath, and it seems to me comprehensive—where, then, on this +terraqueous sublunary globe of ours, Sir Adrian Landale, could one +expect to find another person ready to lend a privateersman, trading +under an irresponsible name, the sum of four thousand pounds, without +any other security than his volunteered promise to return it—if +possible?"</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian, ignoring the tribute to his own merits, arose and placed +his friendly hand on the speaker's shoulder: "And now, my dear Jack," +he said gravely, "that the war is over, you will have to turn your +energies in another direction. I am glad you are out of that unworthy +trade."</p> + +<p>Captain Jack bounded up: "No, no, Sir Adrian, I value your opinion too +much to allow such a statement to pass unchallenged. Unworthy trade! +We have not given back those French devils one half of the harm they +have done to our own merchant service; it was war, you know, and you +know also, or perhaps you don't—in which case let me tell you—that +my <i>Cormorant</i> has made her goodly name, ay, and brought her commander +a fair share of his credit, by her energy in bringing to an incredible +number of those d——d French sharks—beg pardon, but you know the +pestilent breed. Well, we shall never agree upon the subject I fear. +As for me, the smart of the salt air, the sting of the salt breeze, +the fighting, the danger, they have got into my blood; and even now it +sometimes comes over me that life will not be perfect life to me +without the dancing boards under my feet and the free waves around me, +and my jolly boys to lead to death or glory. Yet, could you but know +it, this is the veriest treason, and I revoke the words a thousand +times. You look amazed, and well you may: ah, I have much to tell you! +But I take it you will not care to hear all I have been able to +achieve on the basis of your munificent help at my—ahem, unworthy +trade."</p> + +<p>"Well, no," said Sir Adrian smiling, "I can quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> imagine it, and +imagine it without enthusiasm, though, perhaps, as you say, such +things have to be. But I should like to know of these present +circumstances, these prospects which make you look so happy. No doubt +the fruits of peace?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose in one way they may be called so. Yet without the war +and your helping hand they would even now hang as far from me as the +grapes from the fox.—When I arrived in England three months after the +peace had been signed, I had accumulated in the books of certain banks +a tolerably respectable account, to the credit of a certain person, +whose name, oddly enough, you on one or two occasions have applied, +absently, to Captain Jack Smith. I was, I will own, already feeling +inclined to discuss with myself the propriety of assuming the name in +question, when, there came something in my way of which I shall tell +you presently; which something has made me resolve to remain Captain +Smith for some time longer. The old <i>Cormorant</i> lay at Bristol, and +being too big for this new purpose, I sold her. It was like cutting +off a limb. I loved every plank of her; knew every frisk of her! She +served me well to the end, for she fetched her value—almost. Next, +having time on my hands, I bethought myself of seeing again a little +of the world; and when I tell you that I drove over to Bath, you may +perhaps begin to see what I am coming to."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian suddenly turned in his chair to face his friend again, with +a look of singular attention.</p> + +<p>"Well, no, not exactly, and yet—unless—? Pshaw! impossible——!" +upon which lucid commentary he stopped, gazing with anxious inquiry +into Captain Jack's smiling eyes. "Ah, I believe you have just a +glimmer of the truth with that confounded perspicacity of yours," +saying which the sailor laughed and blushed not unbecomingly. "This is +how it came about: I had transactions with old John Harewood, the +banker, in Bristol, transactions advantageous to both sides, but +perhaps most to him—sly old dog. At any rate, the old fellow took a +monstrous fancy to me, over his claret, and when I mentioned Bath, +recommended me to call upon his wife (a very fine dame, who prefers +the fashion of the Spa to the business of Bristol, and consequently +lives as much in the former place as good John Harewood will allow).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +Well, you wonder at my looking prosperous and happy. Listen, for here +is the <i>hic</i>: At Lady Maria Harewood's I met one who, if I mistake +not, is of your kin. Already, then, somewhere at the back of my memory +dwelt the name of Savenaye——Halloa, bless me! I have surely said +nothing to——!"</p> + +<p>The young man broke off, disconcerted. Sir Adrian's face had become +unwontedly clouded, but he waved the speaker on impatiently: "No, no, +I am surprised, of course, only surprised; never mind me, my thoughts +wandered—please go on. So you have met her?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, that I have! Now it is no use beating about the bush. You who +know her—you do know her of course—will jump at once to the only +possible conclusion. Ah, Adrian!" Captain Jack pursued, pacing +enthusiastically about, "I have been no saint, and no doubt I have +fancied myself as a lover once or twice ere this; but to see that +girl, sir, means a change in a man's life: to have met the light of +those sweet eyes is to love, to love in reality. It is to feel ashamed +of the idiotic make-believes of former loves. To love her, even in +vague hope, is to be glorious already; and, by George, to have her +troth, is to be—I cannot say what ... to be what I am now!"</p> + +<p>The lover's face was illumined; he walked the room like one treading +on air as the joy within him found its voice in words.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian listened with an extraordinary tightness at his heart. He +had loved one woman even so; that love was still with him, as the +scent clings to the phial; but the sight of this young, joyful love +made him feel old in that hour—old as he had never realised before. +There was no room in his being for such love again. And yet...? There +was a tremulous anxiety in the question he put, after a short pause. +"There are <i>two</i> Demoiselles de Savenaye, Jack; which is it?"</p> + +<p>Captain Jack halted, turned on his heels, and exclaimed +enthusiastically: "To me there is but one—one woman in the +world—Madeleine!" His look met that of Sir Adrian in full, and even +in the midst of his own self-centred mood he could not fail to notice +the transient gleam that shot in the elder's eyes, and the sudden +relaxation of his features. He pondered for a moment or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> two, scanning +the while the countenance of the recluse; then a smile lighted up his +own bronzed face in a very sweet and winning way. "As her kinsman, +have I your approval?" he asked and proceeded earnestly: "To tell the +truth at once, I was looking to even more than your approval—to your +support."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian's mood had undergone a change: as a breeze sweeping from a +new quarter clears in a moment a darkening mist from the face of the +earth, Captain Jack's answer had blown away for the nonce the +atmosphere of misgiving that enveloped him. He answered promptly, and +with warmth: "Being your friend, I am glad to know of this; being her +kinsman, I may add, my dear <i>Hubert</i>"—there was just a tinge of +hesitation, followed by a certain emphasis, on the change of name—"I +promise to support you in your hopes, in so far as I have any +influence; for power or right over my cousin I have none."</p> + +<p>The sailor threw himself down once more in his arm-chair; and, tapping +his shining hessians with the stem of his long clay in smiling +abstraction, began, with all a lover's egotism, to expatiate on the +theme that filled his heart.</p> + +<p>"It is a singular, an admirable, a never sufficiently-to-be-praised +conjunction of affairs which has ultimately brought me near you when I +was pursuing the Light o' my Heart, ruthlessly snatched away by a +cunning and implacable dragon, known to you as Miss O'Donoghue. I say +<i>dragon</i> in courtesy; I called her by better names before I realised +what a service she was unconsciously rendering us by this sudden +removal."</p> + +<p>"Known to me!" laughed Sir Adrian. "My own mother's sister!"</p> + +<p>"Then I still further retract. Moreover, seeing how things have turned +out, I must now regard her as an angel in disguise. Don't look so +surprised! Has she not brought my love under your protection? I +thought I was tolerably proof against the little god, but then he had +never shot his arrows at me from between the long lashes of Madeleine +de Savenaye. Oh, those eyes, Adrian! So unlike those southern eyes I +have known so well, too well in other days, brilliant, hard, +challenging battle from the first glance, and yet from the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +promising that surrender which is ever so speedy. Pah! no more of such +memories. Before <i>her</i> blue eyes, on my first introduction, I +felt—well, I felt as the novice does under the first broadside."</p> + +<p>The speaker looked dreamily into space, as if the delicious moment +rose again panoramically before him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he pursued, "that did me no harm, after all. Lady Maria +Harewood, who, I have learned since, deals strongly in sentiment, and, +being unfortunately debarred by circumstances from indulgence in the +soothing luxury on her own behalf, loves to promote matches more +poetical—she calls it more 'harmonious'—than her own very prosaic +one, she, dear lady, was delighted with such a rarity as a bashful +privateersman—her 'tame corsair,' as I heard her call your humble +servant.—I was a hero, sir, a perfect hero of romance in the course +of a few days! On the strength of this renown thrust upon me I found +grace before the most adorable blue eyes; had words of sympathy from +the sweetest lips, and smiles from the most bewitching little mouth in +all the world. So you see I owe poor Lady Maria a good thought.... You +laugh?"</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian was smiling, but all in benevolence, at the artlessness of +this eager youth, who in all the unconscious glory of his looks and +strength, ascribed the credit of his entrance into a maiden's heart to +the virtue of a few irresponsible words of recommendation.</p> + +<p>"Ah! those were days! Everything went on smoothly, and I was debating +with myself whether I would not, at once, boldly ask her to be the +wife of Hubert Cochrane; though the casting of Jack Smith's skin would +have necessitated the giving up of several of his free-trading +engagements."</p> + +<p>"Free trading! You do not mean to say, man alive, that you have turned +smuggler now!" interrupted Sir Adrian aghast.</p> + +<p>"Smuggler," cried Jack with his frank laugh, "peace, I beg, friend! +Miscall not a gentleman thus. Smuggler—pirate? I cut a pretty figure +evidently in your worship's eyes. Lucky for me you never would be +sworn as a magistrate, or where should I be ... and you too, between +duty and friendship?—But to proceed: I was about, as I have said, to +give that up for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> reasons I mentioned, when, upon a certain fine +evening, I crossed the path of one of the most masterful old maids I +have ever seen, or even heard of; and, would you believe it?"—this +with a quizzical look at his host's grave face—"this misguided old +lady took such a violent dislike to me at first sight, and expressed +it so thoroughly well, that, hang me if I was not completely brought +to. And all for escorting my dear one from Lady Maria's house to her +own! Well, the walk was worth it—though the old crocodile was on the +watch for us, ready to snap; had got wind of the secret, somehow, a +secret unspoken even between us two. This first and last interview +took place on the flags, in front of No. 17 Camden Place, Bath. Oh! It +was a very one-sided affair from the beginning, and ended abruptly in +a door being banged in my face. Then I heard about Miss O'Donoghue's +peculiarities in the direction of exclusiveness. And then, also, oddly +enough, for the first time, of the great fortune going with my +Madeleine's hand. Of course I saw it all, and, I may say, forgave the +old lady. In short, I realised that, in Miss O'Donoghue's mind, I am +nothing but an unprincipled fortune-seeker and adventurer. Now you, +Adrian, can vouch that, whatever my faults, I am none such."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian threw a quiet glance at his friend, whose eyes sparkled as +they met it.</p> + +<p>"God knows," continued the latter, "that all I care for, concerning +the money, is that <i>she</i> may have it. This last venture, the biggest +and most difficult of all, I then decided to undertake, that I might +be the fitter mate for the heiress—bless her! Oh, Adrian, man, could +you have seen her sweet tearful face that night, you would understand +that I could not rest upon such a parting. In the dawn of the next +morning I was in the street—not so much upon the chance of meeting, +though I knew that such sweetness would have now to be all stolen—but +to watch her door, her window; a lover's trick, rewarded by lover's +luck! Leaning on the railings, through the cold mist (cold it was, +though I never felt it, but I mind me now how the icicles broke under +my hand), what should I see, before even the church-bells had set to +chiming, or the yawning sluts to pull the kitchen curtains, but a +bloated monster of a coach, dragging and sliding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> up the street to +halt at her very door. Then out came the beldam herself, and two +muffled-up slender things—my Madeleine one of course; but I had a +regular turn at sight of them, for I swear I could not tell which was +which! Off rattled the chariot at a smart pace; and there I stood, +friend, feeling as if my heart was tied behind with the trunks."</p> + +<p>The sailor laughed, ran his fingers through his curls and stamped in +lively recollection.</p> + +<p>"Nothing to be drawn from their landlady. But I am not the man to +allow a prize to be snatched from under my very nose. So, +anathematising Miss O'Donoghue's family-tree, root, stem, and +branch—except that most lovely off-shoot I mean to transplant (you +will forgive this heat of blood; it was clearing for action so to +speak)—I ran out and overtook the ostler whom I had seen putting the +finishing touch to the lashing of boxes behind! <i>'Gloucester!'</i> says +he. The word was worth the guinea it cost me, a hundred times +over.—In less than an hour I was in the saddle, ready for pursuit, +cantering boot to boot with my man—a trusty fellow who knows how to +hold his tongue, and can sit a horse in the bargain. Neither at +Gloucester, nor the next day, up to Worcester, could we succeed in +doing more than keep our fugitives in view. When they had alighted at +one inn, as ascertained by my squire, we patronised the opposition +hostelry, and the ensuing morning cantered steadily in pursuit, on +<i>our</i> new post-horses half an hour after they had rumbled away with +<i>their</i> relays. But the evening of our arrival at Worcester, my fellow +found out, at last, what the next stage was to be, and—clever chap, +he lost nothing for his sharpness—that the Three Kings' Heads had +been recommended to the old lady as the best house in Shrewsbury. This +time we took the lead, and on to Shrewsbury, and were at the glorious +old Kings' Heads (I in a private room, tight as wax) a good couple of +hours before the chariot made its appearance. And there, man, there! +my pretty one and I met again!"</p> + +<p>"That was, no doubt," put in Sir Adrian, in his gentle, indulgent way, +"what made the Kings' Heads so glorious?"</p> + +<p>"Ay. Right! And yet it was but a few seconds, on the stair, under a +smoky lamp, but her beauty filled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> the landing with radiance as her +kindness did my soul.—It was but for a moment, all blessed moment, +too brief, alas! Ah, Adrian, friend—old hermit in your cell—<i>you</i> +have never known life, you who have never tasted a moment such as +that! Then we started apart: there was a noise below, and she had only +time to whisper that she was on her way to Pulwick to some +relatives—had only heard it that very day—when steps came up the +stairs, creaking. With a last promise, a last word of love, I leaped +back into my own chamber, there to see (through the chink between door +and post) the untimely old mischief-maker herself pass slowly, sour +and solemn, towards her apartments, leaning upon her other niece's +arm. How could I have thought <i>that</i> baggage like my princess? +Handsome, if you will; but, with her saucy eye, her raven head, her +brown cheek, no more to be compared to my stately lily than brass to +gold!"</p> + +<p>The host listening wonderingly, his eyes fixed with kindly gravity +upon the speaker as he rattled on, here gave a slight start, all +unnoticed of his friend.</p> + +<p>"The next morning, when I had seen the coach and its precious freight +move on once more northward, I began the retreat south, hugging myself +upon luck and success. I had business in Salcombe—perhaps you may +have heard of the Salcombe schooners—in connection with the fitting +out of that sailing wonder, the <i>Peregrine</i>. And so," concluded +Captain Jack, laughing again in exuberance of joy, "you may possibly +guess one of the reasons that has brought her and me round by your +island."</p> + +<p>There ensued a long silence, filled with thoughts, equally pressing +though of widely different complexion, on either side of the hearth.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>During the meal, which was presently set forth and proclaimed ready by +René, the talk, as was natural in that watchful attendant's presence, +ran only on general topics, and was in consequence fitful and +unspontaneous. But when the two men, for all their difference of age, +temper, and pursuits so strongly, yet so oddly united in sympathy, +were once more alone, they naturally fell back under the influence of +the more engrossing strain of reflection. Again there was silence, +while each mused,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> gazing into space and vaguely listening to the +plash of high water under the window.</p> + +<p>"It must have been a strong motive," said Sir Adrian, after his dreamy +fashion, like one thinking aloud, "to induce a man like you to abandon +his honourable name."</p> + +<p>Captain Jack flushed at these words, drew his elbows from the table, +and shot a keen, inquiring glance at his friend, which, however, fell +promptly before the latter's unconscious gaze and was succeeded by one +of reflective melancholy. Then, with a slight sigh, he raised his +glass to the lamp, and while peering abstractedly through the ruby, +"The story of turning my back upon my house," he said musingly, +"shaking its very dust off my feet, so to speak, and starting life +afresh unbeholden to my father (even for what he could not take away +from me—my own name),—is a simple affair, although pitiful enough +perhaps. But memories of family wrongs and family quarrels are of +their nature painful; and, as I am a mirth-loving fellow, I hate to +bring them upon me. But perhaps it has occurred to you that I may have +brought some disgrace upon the name I have forsaken."</p> + +<p>"I never allowed myself to think so," said Sir Adrian, surprised. +"Your very presence by my fireside is proof of it."</p> + +<p>Again the captain scrutinised his host; then with a little laugh: +"Pardon me," he cried, "with another man one might accept that likely +proof and be flattered. But with you? why, I believe I know you too +well not to feel sure that you would have received me as kindly and +unreservedly, no matter what my past if only you thought that I had +repented; that you would forgive even a <i>crime</i> regretted; and having +forgiven, forget.... But, to resume, you will believe me when I say +that there was nothing of the sort. No," he went on, with a musing +air, "but I could tell you of a boy, disliked at home for his stubborn +spirit, and one day thrashed, thrashed mercilessly—at a time when he +had thought he had reached to the pride of man's estate, thrashed by +his own father, and for no just cause.... Oh, Adrian, it is a terrible +thing to have put such resentment into a lad's heart." He rose as he +spoke, and placed himself before the hearth.</p> + +<p>"If ever I have sons," he added after a pause, and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> the words his +whole handsome face relaxed, and became suffused with a tender glow, +"I would rather cut my right hand off than raise such a spirit in +them. Well, I daresay you can guess the rest; I will even tell you in +a few words, and then dismiss the subject.—I have always had a +certain shrewdness at the bottom of my recklessness. Now there was a +cousin of the family, who had taken to commerce in Liverpool, and who +was therefore despised, ignored and insulted by us gentry of the +Shaws. So when I packed my bundle, and walked out of the park gate, I +thought of him; and two days later I presented myself at his mansion +in Rodney Street, Liverpool. I told him my name, whereat he scowled; +but he was promptly brought round upon hearing of my firm +determination to renounce it and all relations with my father's house +for ever, and of my reasons for this resolve, which he found +excellent. I could not have lighted upon a better man. He hated my +family as heartily as even I could wish, and readily, out of spite to +them, undertook to aid me. He was a most enterprising scoundrel, had a +share in half a dozen floating ventures. I expressed a desire for life +on the ocean wave, and he started me merrily as his nephew, Jack +Smith, to learn the business on a slaver of his. The 'ebony trade,' +you know, was all the go then, Adrian. Many great gentlemen in +Lancashire had shares in it. Now it is considered low. To say true, a +year of it was more than enough for me—too much! It sickened me. My +uncle laughed when I demurred at a second journey, but to humour me, +as I had learned something of the sailing trade, he found me another +berth, on board a privateer, the <i>St. Nicholas</i>. My fortune was made +from the moment I set foot on that lucky ship, as you know."</p> + +<p>"And you have never seen your father since?"</p> + +<p>"Neither father, nor brothers, nor any of my kin, save the cousin in +question. All I know is that my father is dead—that he disinherited +me expressly in the event of my being still in the flesh; my eldest +brother reigns; many of us are scattered, God knows where. And my +mother"—the sailor's voice changed slightly—"my mother lives in her +own house, with some of the younger ones. So much I have ascertained +quite recently. She believes me dead, of course. Oh, it will be a good +day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> Adrian, when I can come back to her, independent, prosperous, +bringing my beautiful bride with me!... But until I can resume my name +in all freedom, this cannot be."</p> + +<p>"But why, my dear fellow, these further risks and adventures? Surely, +even at your showing you have enough of this world's goods; why not +come forward, now, at once, openly? I will introduce you, as soon as +may be, in your real character, for the sake of your mother—of +Madeleine herself."</p> + +<p>The sailor shook his head, tempted yet determined.</p> + +<p>"I am not free to do so. I have given my word; my honour is engaged," +he said. Then abruptly asked: "Have you ever heard of guinea +smuggling?"</p> + +<p>"Guinea smuggling! No," said Sir Adrian, his amazement giving way to +anxiety.</p> + +<p>"No? You surprise me. You who are, or were, I understand, a student of +philosophical matters, freedom of exchange, and international +intercourse and the rest of it—things we never shall have so long as +governments want money, I am thinking.—However, this guinea smuggling +is a comparatively new business. Now, <i>I</i> don't know anything about +the theory; but I know this much of the practice that, while our +preventive service won't let guineas pass the Channel (as goods) this +year, somebody on the other side is devilish anxious to have them at +almost any cost. And the cost, you know, is heavy, for the risk of +confiscation is great. Well, your banker or your rich man will not +trust his bullion to your common free trader—he is not quite such a +fool."</p> + +<p>"No," put in Sir Adrian, as the other paused on this mocking +proposition. "In the old days, when I was busy in promoting the +Savenaye expedition, I came across many of that gentry, and I cannot +mind a case where they could have been trusted with such a freight. +But perhaps," he added with a small smile, "the standard may be higher +now."</p> + +<p>Captain Jack grinned appreciatively. "That is where the 'likes of me' +comes in. I will confess this not to be my first attempt. It is known +that I am one of the few whose word is warranty. What is more, as I +have said, it is known that I have the luck. Thus, even if I could +bring my own name into such a trade, I would not; it would be the +height of folly to change now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>For all his disapproval Sir Adrian could not repress a look of +amusement. "I verily believe, Jack," he said, shaking his head, "that +you are as superstitious yourself as the best of them!"</p> + +<p>"I ought to make a good thing out of it," said Jack, evasively. "And +even with all that is lovely to keep me on shore, I would hardly give +it up, if I could. As things stand I could not if I would. Do not +condemn me, Adrian,—that would be fatal to my hopes—nay, I actually +want your help."</p> + +<p>"I would you were out of it," reiterated Sir Adrian; "it takes so +little to turn the current of a man's life when he seems to be making +straight for happiness. As to the morals of it, I fail, I must admit, +to perceive any wrong in smuggling, at least in the abstract, except +that a certain kind of moral teaches that all is wrong that is against +the law. And yet so many of our laws are so ferocious and inept, and +as such the very cause of so much going wrong that might otherwise go +well; so many of those who administer them are themselves so ferocious +and inept, that the mere fact of a pursuit being unlawful is no real +condemnation in my eyes. But, as you know, Jack, those who place +themselves above some laws almost invariably renounce all. If you are +hanged for stealing a horse, or breaking some fiscal law and hanged +for killing a man, the tendency, under stress of circumstances is +obvious. Aye, have we not a proverb about it: as well be hanged for a +sheep as for a lamb?... There are gruesome stories about your free +traders—and gruesome endings to them. I well remember, in my young +days, the clanking gibbet on the sands near Preston and the three +tarred and iron-riveted carcases hanging, each in its chains, with the +perpetual guard of carrion crows.... Hanging in chains is still on the +statute book, I believe. But I'll stop my croaking now. You are not +one to be drawn into brutal ways; nor one, I fear, to be frightened +into prudence. Nevertheless," laughing quietly, "I am curious to know +in what way you expect help from me, in practice. Do you, seriously, +want me to embark actually on a smuggling expedition?—I demur, my +dear fellow."</p> + +<p>Obviously relieved of some anxiety, the other burst out laughing. +"Never fear! I know your dislike to bilge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> water too well. I +appreciate too well also your comfortable surroundings," he returned, +seating himself once more complacently in his arm-chair, "much as I +should love your company on board my pleasure ship—for, if you +please, the <i>Peregrine</i> is no smuggling lugger, but professes to be a +yacht. Still, you can be of help for all that, and without lifting +even a finger to promote this illicit trade. You may ignore it +completely, and yet you will render me incalculable service, provided +you do not debar me from paying you a few more visits in your +solitude, and give me the range of your caves and cellars."</p> + +<p>"You are welcome enough," said the recluse. "I trust it may end as +well as it promises." And, after a pause, "Madeleine does not know the +nature of your present pursuit?"</p> + +<p>"Oddly enough, and happily (for our moments of interview are short, as +you may imagine) she is not curious on the subject. I don't know what +notions the old Lady Maria may have put into her head about me. I +think she believes that I am engaged on some secret political intrigue +and approves of such. At least I gathered as much from her sympathetic +reticence; and, between ourselves, I am beginning to believe it +myself."</p> + +<p>"How is that?" asked the listener, moved to fresh astonishment by this +new departure.</p> + +<p>"Well, I may tell you, who not only can be as silent as the tomb, but +really have a right to know, since you are tacitly of the conspiracy. +This time the transaction is to be with some official of the French +Court. They want the metal, and yet wish to have it secretly. What +their motive may be is food for reflection if you like, but it is no +business of mine. And, besides the fact that one journey will suffice +for a sum which at the previous rate would have required half a score, +all the trouble and uncertainty of landing are disposed of; at any +rate, I am, when all is ready, to be met by a government vessel, get +my <i>quid pro quo</i> as will be settled, and there the matter is to end."</p> + +<p>"A curious expedition," mused Sir Adrian.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the sailor, "my last will be the best. By the way, will +you embark a few bags with me? I will take no commission."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian could not help laughing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, thank you; I have no wish to launch any more of my patrimony on +ventures—since it would be of no service to you. I had almost as lief +you had made use of my old crow's nest without letting me into the ins +and outs of your projects. But, be it as it may, it is yours, night +and day. Your visits I shall take as being for me."</p> + +<p>"What a man you are, upon my soul, Sir Adrian!" cried Captain Jack, +enthusiastically.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Later on, when the "shaking down" hour, in Captain Jack's phraseology, +had sounded, and the two friends separated to rest, the young man +refused the offer, dictated by hospitality, of his host's own bedroom. +Sir Adrian did not press the point, and, leaving his guest at liberty +to enjoy the couch arranged by René in a corner under the bookshelves, +even as when Mademoiselle de Savenaye had been the guest of the peel, +himself retired to that now hallowed apartment.</p> + +<p>"Odd fellow, that," soliloquised Captain Jack, as, slowly divesting +himself, he paced about the long room and, in the midst of roseate +reflections, examined his curious abode. "Withal, as good as ever +stepped. It was a fine day's work our old <i>St. Nicholas</i> did, about +this time eight years ago. Rather unlike a crowded battery deck, +this," looking from the solemn books to the glinting organ pipes, and +conscious of the great silence. "As for me, I should go crazy by +myself here. But it suits him. Queer fish!" again ruminated the young +sailor. "He hates no one and yet dislikes almost everybody, except +that funny little Frenchy and me. Whereas <i>I</i> like every man I +meet—unless I detest him!... My beautiful plumage!" this whilst +carefully folding the superfine coat and thereon the endless silken +stock. "Now there's a fellow who does not care a hang for any woman +under the sun, and yet enters into another chap's love affairs as if +he understood it all. I believe it will make him happy to win my cause +with Madeleine. I wish one could do something for <i>his</i> happiness. It +is absurd, you know," as though apostrophising an objector, "a man +can't be happy without a woman. And yet again, my good Jack, you never +thought that before you met Madeleine. He has not met his Madeleine, +that's what it means. Where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> ignorance is bliss.... Friend Adrian! Let +us console ourselves and call you ignorantly happy, in your old crow's +nest. You have not stocked it so badly either.—For all your ignorance +in love, you have a pretty taste in liquor."</p> + +<p>So thinking, he poured himself a last glass of his host's wine, which +he held for a moment in smiling cogitation, looking, with the mind's +eye, through the thick walls of the keep, across the cold mist-covered +sands of Scarthey and again through the warm and scented air of a +certain room (imagination pictured) where Madeleine must at that hour +lie in her slumber. After a moment of silent adoration he sent a +rapturous kiss landwards and tossed his glass with a last toast:</p> + +<p>"Madeleine, my sweet! To your softly closed lids."</p> + +<p>And again Captain Jack fell to telling over the precious tale of that +morning's interview, furtively secured, by that lover's luck he so +dutifully blessed, under the cluster of Scotch firs near the grey and +crumbling boundary walls of Pulwick Park.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>"LOVE GILDS THE SCENE AND WOMAN GUIDES THE PLOT"</h3> + + +<p>Tanty's wrath upon discovering Sir Adrian's departure was all the +greater because she could extort no real explanation from Rupert, and +because her attacks rebounded, as it were, from the polished surface +he exposed to them on every side. Madeleine's indifference, and +Molly's apparently reckless spirits, further discomposed her during +supper; and upon the latter young lady's disappearance after the meal, +it was as much as she could do to finish her nightly game of patience +before mounting to seek her with the purpose of relieving her +overcharged feelings, and procuring what enlightenment she might.</p> + +<p>The unwonted spectacle of the saucy damsel in tears made Miss +O'Donoghue halt upon the threshold, the hot wind of anger upon which +she seemed to be propelled into the room falling into sudden +nothingness.</p> + +<p>There could be no mistake about it. Molly was weeping; so +energetically indeed, with such a passion of tears and sobs, that the +noise of Tanty's tumultuous entrance fell unheeded upon her ears.</p> + +<p>All her sympathies stirred within her, the old lady advanced to the +girl with the intention of gathering her to her bosom. But as she drew +near, the black and white of the open diary attracted her eye under +the circle of lamplight, and being possessed of excellent long sight, +she thought it no shame to utilise the same across her grand-niece's +prostrate, heaving form, before making known her presence.</p> + +<p><i>"And so I sit and cry."</i></p> + +<p>Miss Molly was carrying out her programme with much precision, if +indeed her attitude, prone along the table, could be described as +sitting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss O'Donoghue's eyes and mouth grew round, as with the expression of +an outraged cockatoo she read and re-read the tell-tale phrases. Here +was a complication she had not calculated upon.</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear," she cried, clacking her tongue in disconsolate fashion, +so soon as she could get her breath. "What is the meaning of this, my +poor girl?"</p> + +<p>Molly leaped to her feet, and turning a blazing, disfigured +countenance upon her relative, exclaimed with more energy than +politeness: "Good gracious, aunt, what <i>do</i> you want?"</p> + +<p>Then catching sight of the open diary, she looked suspiciously from it +to her visitor, and closed it with a hasty hand. But Miss O'Donoghue's +next words settled the doubt.</p> + +<p>"Well, to be sure, what a state you have put yourself into," she +pursued in genuine distress. "What has happened then between you and +that fellow, whom I declare I begin to believe as crazy as Rupert +says, that you should be crying your eyes out over his going back to +his island?—you that I thought could not shed a tear if you tried. +Nothing left but to sit and cry, indeed."</p> + +<p>"So you have been reading my diary, you mean thing," cried Miss Molly, +stamping her foot. "How dare you come creeping in here, spying at my +private concerns! Oh! oh! oh!" with unpremeditated artfulness, +relapsing into a paroxysm of sobs just in time to avert the volley of +rebuke with which the hot-tempered old lady was about to greet this +disrespectful outburst. "I am the most miserable girl in all the +world. I wish I were dead, I do."</p> + +<p>Again Tanty opened her arms, and this time she did draw the stormy +creature to a bosom, as warm and motherly as if all the joys of +womanhood had not been withheld from it.</p> + +<p>"Tell me all about it, my poor child." There was a distinct feeling of +comfort in the grasp of the old arms, comfort in the very ring of the +deep voice. Molly was not a secretive person by nature, and moreover +she retained quite enough shrewdness, even in her unwonted break-down, +to conjecture that with Tanty lay her sole hope of help. So rolling +her dark head distractedly on the old maid's shoulder, the young maid +narrated her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> tale of woe. Pressed by a pointed question here and +there, Tanty soon collected a series of impressions of Molly's visit +to Scarthey, that set her busy mind working upon a startlingly new +line. It was her nature to jump at conclusions, and it was not strange +that the girl's passionate display of grief should seem to be the +unmistakable outcome of tenderer feelings than the wounded pride and +disappointment which were in reality its sole motors.</p> + +<p>"I am convinced it is Rupert that is at the bottom of it," cried Molly +at last, springing into uprightness again, and clenching her hands. +"His one idea is to drive his brother permanently from his own +home—and he <i>hates me</i>."</p> + +<p>Tanty sat rigid with thought.</p> + +<p>So Molly was in love with Sir Adrian Landale, and he—who knows—was +in love with her too; or if not with her, with her likeness to her +mother, and that was much the same thing when all was said and done. +Could anything be more suitable, more fortunate? Could ever two birds +be killed with one stone with more complete felicity than in this +settling of the two people she most loved upon earth? Poor pretty +Molly! The old lady's heart grew very tender over the girl who now +stood half sullenly, half bashfully averting her swollen face; five +days ago she had not known her handsome cousin, and now she was +breaking her heart for him.</p> + +<p>It might be, indeed, as she said, that they had to thank Rupert for +this—and off flew Tanty's mind upon another tangent. Rupert was very +deep, there could be no doubt of that; he was anxious enough to keep +Adrian away from them all; what would it be then when it came to a +question of his marriage?</p> + +<p>Tanty, with the delightful optimism that seventy years' experience had +failed to damp, here became confident of the approach of her younger +nephew's complete discomfiture, and in the cheering contemplation of +that event chuckled so unctuously that Molly looked at her amazed.</p> + +<p>"It is well for you, my dear," said the old lady, rising and wagging +her head with an air of enigmatic resolution, "that you have got an +aunt."</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Some two days later, René, sitting upon a ledge of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> old Scarthey +wall, in the spare sunshine which this still, winter's noon shone +pearl-like through a universal mist, busy mending a net, to the tune +of a melancholy, inward whistle, heard up above the licking of the +waves all around him and the whimper of the seagulls overhead, the +beat of steady oars approaching from land side.</p> + +<p>Starting to his feet, the little man, in vague expectation, ran to a +point of vantage from which to scan the tideway; after a few seconds' +investigation he turned tail, dashed into the ruins, up the steps, and +burst open the door of the sitting-room, calling upon his master with +a scared expression of astonishment.</p> + +<p>Captain Jack, poring over a map, his pipe sticking rakishly out of one +side of his mouth, looked up amused at the Frenchman's evident +excitement, while Adrian, who had been busy with the uppermost row of +books upon his west wall, looked down from his ladder perch, with the +pessimist's constitutional expectation of evil growing upon his face.</p> + +<p>"One comes in a boat," ejaculated René, "and I thought I ought to warn +his honour, if his honour will give himself the trouble to look out."</p> + +<p>"It must be the devil to frighten Renny in this fashion," muttered +Captain Jack as distinctly as the clench of his teeth upon the pipe +would allow him. Sir Adrian paled a little, he began to descend his +ladder, mechanically flicking the dust from his cuffs.</p> + +<p>"Your honour," said René, drawing to the window and looking out +cautiously, "I have not yet seen her, but I believe it is old +miss—the aunt of your honour and these ladies."</p> + +<p>Captain Jack's pipe fell from his dropping jaw and was broken into +many fragments as he leaped to his feet with an elasticity of limb and +a richness of expletive which of themselves would have betrayed his +calling.</p> + +<p>Flinging his arm across one of Adrian's shoulders he peeped across the +other out of the window, with an alarm half mocking, half genuine.</p> + +<p>"The devil it is, friend Renny," he cried, drawing back and running +his hands with an exaggerated gesture of despair through his brown +curls; "Adrian, all is lost unless you hide me."</p> + +<p>"My aunt here, and alone," exclaimed Adrian, retreat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>ing from the +window perturbed enough himself, "I must go down to meet her. Pray God +it is no ill news! Hurry, Renny, clear these glasses away."</p> + +<p>"In the name of all that's sacred, clear me away first!" interposed +Captain Jack, this time with a real urgency; through the open lattice +came the sound of the grating of the boat's keel upon the sand and a +vigorous hail from a masculine throat—"Ahoy, Renny Potter, ahoy!" +"Adrian, this is a matter of life and death to my hopes, hide me in +your lowest dungeon for goodness' sake; I do not know my way about +your ruins, and I am convinced the old lady will nose me out like a +badger."</p> + +<p>There was no time for explanation; Sir Adrian made a sign to René, who +highly enjoying the situation and grinning from ear to ear, was +already volunteering to "well hide Mr. the Captain," and the pair +disappeared with much celerity into the inner room, while Adrian, +unable to afford himself further preparation, hurried down the great +stairs to meet this unexpected guest.</p> + +<p>He emerged bareheaded into the curious mist which hung pall-like upon +the outer world, and seemed to combine the opposite elements of glare +and dulness, just as Tanty, aided by the stalwart arm of the boatman, +who had rowed her across, succeeded in dragging her rheumatic limbs up +the last bit of ascent to the door of the keep.</p> + +<p>She halted, disengaged herself, and puffing and blowing surveyed her +nephew with a stony gaze.</p> + +<p>"My dear aunt," cried Adrian, "nothing has happened, I trust?"</p> + +<p>"Sufficient has already happened, nephew, I should <i>hope</i>," retorted +the old lady with extreme dignity, "sufficient to make me desire to +confer with you most seriously. I thank you, young man," turning to +William Shearman who stood on one side, his eager gaze upon "the +master," ready to pull his forelock so soon as he could catch his eye, +"be here again in an hour, if you please."</p> + +<p>"But you will allow me to escort you myself," exclaimed Adrian, rising +to the situation, "and I hope there need be no hurry so long as +daylight lasts—Good-morning, Will, I am glad the new craft is a +success—you need not wait. Tanty, take my arm, I beg, the steps are +steep and rough."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gripping her nephew's arm with her bony old woman's hand, Miss +O'Donoghue began a laborious ascent, pausing every five steps to +breathe stertorously and reproachfully, and look round upon the +sandstone walls with supreme disdain; but this was nothing to the air +with which, when at last installed upon a high hard chair, in the +sitting-room (having sternly refused the easy one Sir Adrian humbly +proffered), she deliberately proceeded to survey the scene. In truth, +the neatness that usually characterised Adrian's surroundings was +conspicuously absent from them, just then.</p> + +<p>Two or three maps lay overlapping each other upon the table beside the +tray with its flagon of amber ale, which had formed the captain's +morning draught; and the soiled glass, the fragments of his pipe, and +its half-burnt contents lay strewn about the prostrate chair which +that lively individual had upset in his agitation. Adrian's ladder, +the books he had been handling and had not replaced, the white ash of +the dying fire, all contributed to the unwonted aspect of somewhat +melancholy disorder; worse than all, the fumes of the strong tobacco +which the sailor liked to smoke in his secluded moments hung rank, +despite the open window, upon the absolute motionlessness of the +atmosphere.</p> + +<p>Tanty snorted and sniffed, while Adrian, after picking up the chair, +began to almost unconsciously refold the maps, his eyes fixed +wonderingly upon his visitor's face.</p> + +<p>This latter delivered herself at length of some of the indignation +that was choking her, in abrupt disjointed sentences, as if she were +uncorking so many bottles.</p> + +<p>"Well I'm sure, nephew, I am not surprised at your <i>extraordinary</i> +behaviour, and if this is the style you prefer to live in—style, did +I say?—sty would be more appropriate. Of course it is only what I +have been led to expect, but I must say I was ill prepared to be +treated by you with actual disrespect. My sister's child and I your +guest, not to speak of your aunt, and you your mother's son, and her +host besides! It is a slap in the face, Adrian, a slap in the face +which has been a very bitter pill to have to swallow, I assure you—I +may say without exaggeration, in fact, that it has cut me to the +quick."</p> + +<p>"But surely," cried the nephew, laughing with gentle indulgence at +this complicated indictment, "surely you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> cannot suppose I would have +been willingly guilty of the smallest disrespect to you. I am a most +unfortunate man, most unfortunately situated, and if I have offended, +it is, you must believe, unwittingly and unavoidably. But you got my +letter—I made my motives clear to you."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I got your letter yesterday," responded Tanty, not at all +softened, "and a more idiotic production from a man of your +attainments, allow me to remark, I never read. Adrian, you are making +a perfect fool of yourself, and <i>you cannot afford it</i>!"</p> + +<p>"I fear you will never really understand my position," murmured Adrian +hopelessly.</p> + +<p>Tanty rattled her large green umbrella upon the floor with a violence +that made her nephew start, then turned upon him a countenance +inflamed with righteous anger.</p> + +<p>"It is only three days ago since I gave you fully my view of the +situation," she remarked, "you were good enough at the time to admit +that it was a remarkably well-balanced one. I should be glad if you +will explain in what manner your position could have changed in the +space of just three hours after, to lead you to rush back to your +island, really as if you were a mole or a wild Indian, or some other +strange animal that could not bear civilised society, without even so +much as a good-bye to me, or to your cousins either? What is +that?—you say you wrote—oh, ay—you wrote—to Molly as well as to +me; rigmaroles, my dear nephew, mere absurd statements that have not a +grain of truth in them, that do not hold water for an instant. You are +not made for the world forsooth, nor the world for you! and if that is +not flying in the face of your Creator, and wanting to know better +than Providence!—And then you say, 'you cast a gloom by your mere +presence.' Fiddle-de-dee! It was not much in the way of gloom that +Molly brought back with her from her three days' visit to you—or if +that is gloom—well, the more your presence casts of it the +better—that is all I can say. Ah, but you should have seen her, poor +child, after you went away in that heartless manner and you had +removed yourself and your shadow, and your precious gloom—if you +could have seen how unhappy she has been!"</p> + +<p>"Good God!" exclaimed the man with a paling face, "what are you +saying?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Only the truth, sir—Molly is breaking her heart because of your base +desertion of her."</p> + +<p>"Good God," muttered Adrian again, rose up stiffly in a sort of +horrified astonishment and then sat down again and passed his hand +over his forehead like a man striving to awaken from a painful dream.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adrian, don't be more of a fool than you can possibly help!" +cried his relative, exasperated beyond all expression by his +inarticulate distress. "You are so busy contemplating all sorts of +absurdities miles away that I verily believe you cannot see an inch +beyond your nose. My gracious! what is there to be so astonished at? +How did you behave to the poor innocent from the very instant she +crossed your threshold? Fact is, you have been a regular gay Lothario. +Did you not"—cried Tanty, starting again upon her fine vein of +metaphor—"did you not deliberately hold the cup of love to those +young lips only to nip it in the bud? The girl is not a stock or a +stone. You are a handsome man, Adrian, and the long and the short of +it is, those who play with fire must reap as they have sown."</p> + +<p>Tanty, who had been holding forth with the rapidity of a loose +windmill in a hurricane, here found herself forced to pause and take +breath; which she did, fanning herself with much energy, a triumphant +consciousness of the unimpeachability of her logic written upon her +heated countenance. But Adrian still stared at her with the same +incredulous dismay; looking indeed as little like a gay Lothario as it +was possible, even for him.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean," he said at last, in slow broken sentences, as his mind +wrestled with the strange tidings; "am I to understand that Molly, +that bright beautiful creature, has been made unhappy through me? Oh, +my dear Tanty," striving with a laugh, "the idea is too absurd, I am +old enough to be her father, you know—what evidence can you have for +a statement so distressing, so extraordinary."</p> + +<p>"I am not quite in my dotage yet," quoth Tanty, drily; "neither am I +in the habit of making unfounded assertions, nephew. I have heard what +the girl has said with her own lips, I have read what she has written +in her diary; she has sobbed and cried over your cruelty in these very +arms—I don't know what further evidence——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Sir Adrian had started up again—"Molly crying, Molly crying for +me—God help us all—Cécile's child, whom I would give my life to keep +from trouble! Tanty, if this is true—it must be true since you say +so, I hardly know myself what I am saying—then I am to blame, deeply +to blame—and yet—I have not said one word to the child—did +nothing...." here he paused and a deep flush overspread his face to +the roots of his hair; "except indeed in the first moment of her +arrival—when she came in upon me as I was lost in memories of the +past—like the spirit of Cécile."</p> + +<p>"Humph," said Tanty, pointedly, "but then you see what you took for +Cécile's spirit happened to be Molly in the flesh." She fixed her +sharp eyes upon her nephew, who, struck into confusion by her words, +seemed for the moment unable to answer. Then, as if satisfied with the +impression produced, she folded her hands over the umbrella handle and +observed in more placid tones than she had yet used:</p> + +<p>"And now we must see what is to be done."</p> + +<p>Adrian began to pace the room in greater perturbation.</p> + +<p>"What is to be done?" he repeated, "alas! what can be done? Tanty, you +will believe me when I tell you that I should have cut off my right +hand rather than brought this thing upon the child—but she is very +young—the impression, thank heaven, cannot in the nature of things +endure. She will meet some one worthy of her—with you, Tanty, kindest +of hearts, I can safely trust her future. But that she should suffer +now, and through me, that bright creature who flitted in upon my dark +life, like some heaven-sent messenger—these are evil tidings. Tanty, +you must take her away, you must distract her mind, you must tell her +what a poor broken-down being I am, how little worthy of her sweet +thoughts, and she will learn, soon learn, to forget me, to laugh at +herself."</p> + +<p>Although addressing the old lady, he spoke like a man reasoning with +himself, and the words dropped from his lips as if drawn from a very +well of bitterness. Tanty listened to him in silence, but the tension +of her whole frame betrayed that she was only gathering her forces for +another explosion.</p> + +<p>When Adrian's voice ceased there was a moment's silence and then the +storm burst; whisking herself out of her chair,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> the umbrella came +into play once more. But though it was only to thump the table, it was +evident Miss O'Donoghue would more willingly have laid it about the +delinquent's shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Adrian, are you a man at all?" she ejaculated fiercely. Then with +sudden deadly composure: "So <i>this</i> is the reparation you propose to +make for the mischief you have wrought?"</p> + +<p>"In God's name!" cried he, goaded at length into some sort of +despairing anger himself, "what would you have me do?"</p> + +<p>The answer came with the promptitude of a return shot:</p> + +<p>"Do? why marry her, of course!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Marry her!</i>"</p> + +<p>There was a breathless pause. Tanty, leaning forward across the table, +crimson, agitated, yet triumphant; Adrian's white face blasted with +astonishment. "Marry her," he echoed at length once more, in a whisper +this time. Then with a groan: "This is madness!"</p> + +<p>Miss O'Donoghue caught him up briskly. "Madness? My good fellow, not a +bit of it; on the contrary, sanity, happiness, prosperity.—Adrian, +don't stand staring at me like a stuck pig! Why, in the name of +conscience, should not you marry? You are a young man still—pooh, +pooh, what is forty!—you are a very fine-looking man, clever, +romantic—hear me out, sir, please—<i>and you have made the child love +you</i>. There you are again, as if you had a pain in your stomach; you +would try the patience of Job! Why, I don't believe there is another +man on earth that would not be wild with joy at the mere thought of +having gained such a prize. A beautiful creature, with a heart of gold +and a purse of gold to boot."</p> + +<p>"Oh, heavens, aunt!" interrupted the man, passionately, "leave that +question out of the reckoning. The one thing, the only thing, to +consider is <i>her</i> happiness. You cannot make me believe it can be for +her happiness that she should marry such as me."</p> + +<p>"And why shouldn't it be for her happiness?" answered the dauntless +old lady. "Was not she happy enough with you here in this God-forsaken +hole, with nothing but the tempest besides for company? Why should not +she be happy, then, when you come back to your own good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> place? Would +not you be <i>kind</i> to her?—would not you cherish her if she were your +wife?"</p> + +<p>"Would I not be kind to her?—would I not cherish her?—would I +not——? My God!"</p> + +<p>"Why, Adrian," cried Tanty, charmed at this unexpected disclosure of +feeling and the accent with which it was delivered, "I declare you are +as much in love with the girl as she is with you. Why, now you shall +just come back with me to Pulwick this moment, and she shall tell you +herself if she can find happiness with you or not. Oh—I will hear no +more—your own heart, your feelings as a gentleman, as a man of +honour, all point, my dear nephew, in the same direction. And if you +neglect this warning voice you will be blind indeed to the call of +duty. Come now, come back to your home, where the sweetest wife ever a +man had awaits you. And when I shall see the children spring up around +you, Adrian, then God will have granted my last wish, and I shall die +in peace.... There, there, I am an old fool, but when the heart is +over full, then the tears fall. Come, Adrian, come, I'll say no more; +but the sight of the poor child who loves you shall plead for her +happiness and yours. And hark, a word in your ear: let Rupert bark and +snarl as he will! And what sort of a devil is it your generosity has +made of <i>him</i>? You have done a bad day's work there all these years, +but, please God, there are better times dawning for us all.—What are +you doing, Adrian? Oh! writing a few orders to your servant to explain +your departure with me—quite right, quite right, I won't speak a word +then to interrupt you. Dear me! I really feel quite in spirits. Once +dear Molly and you settled, there will be a happy home for Madeleine: +with you, we can look out a suitable husband for her. Well, well, I +must not go too fast yet, I suppose: but I have not told you in what +deep anxiety I have been on <i>her</i> account by reason of a most +deplorable affair—a foolish girl's fancy only, of course, with a most +undesirable and objectionable creature called <i>Smith</i>.... Oh! you are +ready, are you?—My dear Adrian, give me your arm then, and let us +proceed."</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Silence had reigned for but a few seconds in the great room of the +keep when Captain Jack re-entered, bearing on his face an expression +at once boyishly jubilant and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> mockingly astonished. He planted +himself in front of the landward window, and gazed forth a while.</p> + +<p>"There goes my old Adrian, as dutifully escorting that walking sack of +bones, that tar-barrel ornament—never mind, old lady, from this +moment I shall love you for your brave deeds of this +morning—escorting his worthy aunt as dutifully as though he were a +penniless nephew.... Gently over the gunnel, madam! That's done! So +you are going to take my gig? Right, Adrian. Dear me, how she holds +forth! I fancy I hear her from here.—Give way, my lads! That's all +right. Gad! Old Adrian's carried off on a regular journey to Cythera, +under a proper escort!"</p> + +<p>With this odd reminiscence of early mythological reading, the sailor +burst into a loud laugh and walked about slapping his leg.</p> + +<p>"Would ever any one have guessed anything approaching this? +Star-gazing, book-grubbing Sir Adrian ... in love! Adrian the +solitary, the pessimist, the I-don't-know-what superior man, in love! +Neither more nor less! In love, like an every-day inhabitant of these +realms, and with that black-eyed sister of mine that is to be! My +word, it's too perfect! Adrian my brother-in-law—for if I gauge that +fine creature properly—splendid old lady—she won't let him slide +back this time. No, my dear Adrian, you are hooked for matrimony and a +return to the living world. That black-eyed jade too, that Molly +sister of my Madeleine, will wake up and lead you a life, by +George!... Row on, my lads," once more looking at the diminishing +black spot upon the grey waters. "Row on—you have never done a better +day's work!"</p> + +<p>René, entering a few moments later, with an open note in his hand, +found his master's friend still chuckling, and looked at him +inquisitively.</p> + +<p>"His honour has returned to Pulwick," said he, in puzzled tones, +handing the missive.</p> + +<p>"Ay, lad," answered the sailor, cheerily. "The fact is, my good Renny, +that in that room of Sir Adrian's where you ensconced me for safety +from that most wonderful specimen of her sex (I refer to your master's +worthy aunt), it was impossible to avoid overhearing many of her +remarks—magnificent voice for a storm at sea, eh? Never mind what it +was all about, my good man; what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> I heard was good news. Ah!" +directing his attention to the note; "his honour does not say when he +will return, but will send back the gig immediately; and you, M. +Potter, are to look after me for as long as I choose to stop here."</p> + +<p>René required no reflection to realise that anything in the shape of +good news which took his master back to his estate must be good news +indeed; and his broad face promptly mirrored, in the broadest of +grins, the captain's own satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"For sure, we will try to take care of M. the captain, as well as if +his honour himself was present. He told me you were to be master +here."</p> + +<p>"Make it so. I should like some dinner as soon as possible, and one of +my bro——of Sir Adrian's best bottles. It's a poor heart that never +rejoices. Meanwhile, I want to inspect your ruins and your caves in +detail, if you will pilot me, Renny. This is a handy sort of an old +Robinson Crusoe place for hiding and storing, is it not?"</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>A JUNIOR'S OPINION</h3> + + +<p>A rarely failing characteristic of very warm-hearted and strongly +impulsive people is their inability of graduating their likes and +dislikes; a state of mind which cannot fail to lead to frequent +alterations of temper.</p> + +<p>On more than one occasion, since the domineering old lady had started +upon her peregrinations, had her favour for the two brothers undergone +reversal; but the ground Rupert gained by Adrian's offences was never +of safe tenure. At the present hour, under the elation of her +victorious sally upon the hermit's pessimistic entrenchments—the only +thing in him of which she disapproved—he at once resumed the warm +place she liked to keep for him in her heart. And as a consequence +"Master Rupert," as she contemptuously called the "locum tenens +Squire," who, in the genealogical order of things, should have been a +person of small importance, fell promptly into his original state of +disgrace.</p> + +<p>During the drive from the village (where she had ordered the carriage +to await her return) to the gates of Pulwick, Miss O'Donoghue +entertained her companion with an indignant account of his brother's +ingratitude, of his hypocritical insinuating method of disparagement +of Sir Adrian himself, winding up each indictment with a shrewd, "but +he could not impose upon <i>me</i>," which, indeed, she firmly believed.</p> + +<p>Her object was, of course, to strengthen the baronet in his resolve to +return to the headship of his family—little guessing what a strong +incentive to seclusion these very tales of a state of things he +suspected but too well would have proved, had it not been for the new +unforeseen motive that the morning's revelation had brought.</p> + +<p>"Does Molly know of your visit to me?" he asked, as the carriage +halted before the gate, and the enormous,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> red-headed Cumbrian +gatekeeper with his rosy Moggie, proudly swung it open to stand on +either side, the one bowing with jubilant greeting and the other +curtseying with bashful smiles at the real master. "Does she expect my +visit?" relapsing into gravity after returning the salutation in +kindliness.</p> + +<p>"I have told no one of my purpose this day. Rupert walked off to the +stables immediately after breakfast—going a-hunting he said he was, +and offered to bear the girls to the meet. And then, feeling lonely +without his company," added Tanty, with a wink, "I ordered the +carriage and thought I would go and have a peep at the place where +poor Molly was drowned, just for a little diversion. Whether the +little rogue expects you or not, after your note of the other day, I +am sure I could not take upon myself to say. She sits watching that +crazy old tower of yours by day and your light by night. Well, well, I +must not tell tales out of school, you may find out for yourself. But +mind you, Adrian," she impressed on him, sagely, "it is not I who +bring you back: you return of your own accord. The child would murder +me, if she knew—with that proud heart of hers."</p> + +<p>"My dear Tanty, trust me. This incomprehensible discovery of yours, +which I cannot yet believe in, really is, so far as my discretion is +concerned, as if I had never heard of it. Heavens! I have been a +blundering fool, but I could not insult her with a hint of it for the +world. I have come to see Rupert to-day, as usual, of course—and, as +you say ... I shall see for myself. You have opened my eyes."</p> + +<p>Miss O'Donoghue looked at her nephew with admiration. "<i>Voyez un +peu</i>," she said, "<i>comme l'amour vous dégourdit</i> even a doleful Sir +Adrian! Faith, here we are. This has been a pleasant ride, but my old +bones are so tired, and you and yours have set them jogging so much of +late, that I think I'll never want to stir a foot again once I get +back to Bunratty ... except indeed to come and be godmother to the +heir."</p> + +<p>Having lent a dutiful arm up the stairs to his now beaming relative, +Sir Adrian came down pensively and entered the library.</p> + +<p>There, booted and spurred, but quietly installed at a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> writing table, +sat Mr. Landale, who rose in his nonchalant manner and with cold looks +met his brother.</p> + +<p>There was no greeting between them, but simply thus:</p> + +<p>"I understood from Aunt Rose you were out hunting."</p> + +<p>"Such was my intention, but when I found out that she had gone to see +you—don't look so astonished, Adrian—a man must know what is going +on in his household—I suspected you would escort her back; so I +desisted and waited for you. It is an unexpected pleasure to see you, +for I thought we had sufficiently discussed all business, recently. +But doubtless you will profit of the opportunity to go into a few +matters which want your attention. Do you mean to remain?"</p> + +<p>Speaking these words in a detached manner, Mr. Landale kept a keenly +observant look upon his brother's countenance. In a most unwonted way +the tone and the look irritated Sir Adrian.</p> + +<p>"I came back, Rupert, because there were some things I wished to see +for myself here," he answered frigidly. And going to the bell, rang it +vigorously.</p> + +<p>On the servant's appearance, without reference to his brother, he +himself, and very shortly, gave orders:</p> + +<p>"I shall dine here to-day. Have the tapestry-room made ready for me."</p> + +<p>Then turning to Rupert, whose face betrayed some of the astonishment +aroused by this most unusual assumption of authority, and resuming as +it were the thread of his speech, he went on:</p> + +<p>"No, Rupert, I have no desire to talk business with you. It is a pity +you should have given up your day. Is it yet too late?"</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, Adrian," said Mr. Landale, clenching his hand nervously +round his fine cambric handkerchief, "there must be something of +importance in the wind to have altered your bearing towards me to this +extent. I have no wish to interfere. I came back and gave up good +company for the reason I have stated. I will now only point out that, +with your sudden whims, you render my position excessively false in a +house where, at your own wish, I am ostensibly established as master."</p> + +<p>And without waiting for another word, the younger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> brother, having +shot the arrow which hitherto never failed to reach the bull's-eye of +the situation, left the room with much dignity.</p> + +<p>Once more alone, Sir Adrian, standing motionless in the great room, +darkened yet more in the winter light by the heavy festoons of +curtains that hung over the numerous empty bookshelves, the souls of +which had migrated to the peel to keep the master company, cogitated +upon this first unpleasant step in his new departure, and wondered +within himself why he had felt so extraordinarily moved by anger +to-day at the cold inquisitiveness of his brother. No doubt the sense +of being watched thus, held away at arm's-length as it were, was cause +sufficient. And yet that was not it; ingratitude alone, even to +enmity, in return for benefits forgot could not rouse this bitterness. +But had it not been for Tanty's interference he would be now exiled +from his home until the departure of Cécile's child, just as, but for +chance, he would have been kept in actual ignorance of her arrival. It +was his brother's doing that he had blindly withdrawn himself when his +presence would have caused happiness to her. Yes, that was it. Rupert +had a scheme. That was what dwelt in his eyes,—a scheme which would +bring, indeed did bring, unhappiness to that dear guest.... No wonder, +now, that the unconscious realisation of it awoke all the man's blood +in him.</p> + +<p>"No, Rupert," Sir Adrian found himself saying aloud, "I let you reign +at Pulwick so long as you crossed not one jot of such pleasure and +happiness that might belong to Cécile's child. But here our wills +clash; and now, since there cannot be two masters in a house as you +say, <i>I</i> am the master here."</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>As Sir Adrian's mind was seething in this unusual mood, Miss +O'Donoghue, entering her nieces' room, found Molly perched, in riding +dress, on the window-sill, looking forth upon the outer world with +dissatisfied countenance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale had sent word at the last moment that, to his intense +regret, he could not escort the ladies to the meet, some important +business having retained him at Pulwick.</p> + +<p>So much did Miss Molly pettishly explain in answer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> to the +affectionate inquiry concerning the cloud on her brow, slashing her +whip the while and pouting, and generally out of harmony with the +special radiance of the old lady's eye and the more than usual +expansiveness of the embrace which was bestowed upon her.</p> + +<p>"Tut, tut, tut, now," observed the artful person in tones of deep +commiseration. "Ah well, Rupert's a poor creature which ever side he +turns up. Will you go now, my child, and fetch me the letters I left +on the drawing-room table? Isn't it like me to spend half the morning +writing them and leave them down there after all!"</p> + +<p>Molly rose unwillingly, threw her whip on the bed, her hat on the +floor; and mistily concerned over Tanty's air of irrepressible and +pleasurable excitement, walked out of the room, bestowing as she +passed her long pier glass a moody glance at her own glowering beauty.</p> + +<p>"What's the use of <i>you</i>?" she muttered to herself, "Anybody can fetch +and carry for old aunts and look out of windows on leafless trees!"</p> + +<p>The way to the drawing-room was through the library. As Molly, +immersed in her reflections, passed along this room, she stopped with +a violent start on perceiving the figure of Sir Adrian, a tall +silhouette against the cold light of the window. As she came upon him, +her face was fully illumined, and there was a glorious tale-telling in +the widening of her eyes and the warm flush that mounted to her cheek +that on the instant scattered in the man's mind all wondering doubts. +A rush of tenderness filled him at one sweep, head and heart, to the +core.</p> + +<p>"Molly!" he cried, panting; and then with halting voice as she +advanced a pace and stood with mouth parted and brilliant expectant +eyes: "You took away all light and warmth with you when you left my +lonely dwelling. I tried to take up my life there, but——"</p> + +<p>"But you have come back—for me?" And drawn by his extended hands she +advanced, her burning gaze fixed upon his.</p> + +<p>"I dared not think of seeing you again," he murmured, clasping her +hands; "yet my return ... pleases you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>Thus was crowned this strange wooing, was clenched a life's union, +based upon either side on fascinating unrealities.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<p>She was drawn into his arms; and against his heart she lay, shaking +with little shivers of delight, looking into the noble face bent so +lovingly over hers, her mind floating between unconscious exultation +and languorous joy.</p> + +<p>For a long while without a word he held her thus on his strong arm, +gazing with a rending conflict of rapture and anguish on the beautiful +image of his life's love, until his eyes were dimmed with rising +tears. Then he slowly stooped over the up-turned face, and as she +dropped her lids with a faint smile, kissed her lips.</p> + +<p>There came a warning rattle at the door handle, and Molly, disengaging +herself softly from her betrothed's embrace, but still retaining his +arm, turned to witness the entrance of Miss O'Donoghue and Mr. +Landale.</p> + +<p>On the former's face, under a feigned expression of surprise, now +expanded itself in effulgence the plenitude of that satisfaction which +had been dawning there ever since her return from the island.</p> + +<p>Rupert held himself well in hand. He halted, it is true, for an +instant at the first sight of Sir Adrian and Molly, and put his +handkerchief furtively to his forehead to wipe the sudden cold sweat +which broke out upon it. But the hesitation was so momentary as to +pass unperceived; and if his countenance, as he advanced again, bore +an expression of disapproval, it was at once dignified and restrained.</p> + +<p>"So you are there, Molly," exclaimed the old lady with inimitable +airiness. "Just imagine, my dear, I had those letters in my pocket all +the while, after all. You did not find them, did you?"</p> + +<p>But Adrian, still retaining the little hand on his arm, came forward +slowly and broke through the incipient flow.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Rose," said he in a voice still veiled by emotion, "I know your +kind heart will rejoice with me, although you may not be so surprised, +as no doubt Rupert will be, at the news we have for you, Molly and I."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Adrian," interrupted Rupert gravely, "to any who know +your life and <i>your past</i> as I do, the news you seem to have for us +must seem strange indeed. So strange that you will excuse me if I +withhold congratulations. For, if I mistake not," he added, with a +delicately shaded change of tone to sympathetic courtesy, and slightly +turning his handsome face towards Molly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> "I assume that my fair +cousin de Savenaye has even but now promised to be my sister, Lady +Landale."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian who, softened by the emotion of this wonderful hour, had +made a movement to grasp his brother's hand, but had checked himself +with a passionate movement of anger, instantly restrained, as the +overt impertinence of the first words fell on his ears, here looked +with a shadowing anxiety at the girl's face.</p> + +<p>But Molly, who could never withhold the lash of her tongue when Rupert +gave the slightest opening, immediately acknowledged her enemy's +courtly bow with sauciness.</p> + +<p>"What! No congratulations from the model brother? Not even a word of +thanks to Molly de Savenaye for bringing the truant to his home at +last? But you malign yourself, my dear Rupert. I believe 'tis but +excess of joy that ties your tongue."</p> + +<p>With gleaming smile Mr. Landale would have opposed this direct thrust +by some parry of polished insult; but he met his elder's commanding +glance, remembered his parting words on two previous occasions, and +wisely abstained, contenting himself with another slight bow and a +contemptuous shrug of the shoulders.</p> + +<p>At the same time Miss O'Donoghue, with an odd mixture of farcically +pretended astonishment and genuine triumph, fell on the girl's neck.</p> + +<p>"It is possible, soul of my heart, my sweet child—I can't believe +it—though I vow I knew it all along! So I am to see my two favourites +made one by holy matrimony!" punctuating her exclamation with kisses +on the fair young face, and wildly seeking in space with her dried-up +old fingers to meet Adrian's hand. "I, the one barren stock of the +O'Donoghues, shall see my sister's children re-united. Ah, Adrian, +what a beautiful coat this will make for you to hand to your children! +O'Donoghue, Landale, Kermelégan, Savenaye—eighteen quarters with this +heiress alone, Adrian child, for the descendants of Landale of +Pulwick!" And Miss O'Donoghue, overcome by this culminating vision of +happiness and perfection, fairly burst into tears.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this scene, Mr. Landale, after listening mockingly for +a few instants, retired with ostentatious discretion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<p>Later in the day, as Madeleine bent her pretty ears, dutifully yet +with wandering attention, to Molly's gay prognostications concerning +Pulwick under her sway; whilst the servants in the hall, pantry and +kitchen discussed the great news which, by some incomprehensible +agency, spread with torrent-like swiftness through the whole estate; +while Miss O'Donoghue was feverishly busy with the correspondence +which was to disseminate far and wide the world's knowledge of the +happy betrothal, Sir Adrian met his brother walking meditatively along +the winding path of the garden, flicking with the loop of his crop the +border of evergreens as he went. From their room, Molly and Madeleine, +ensconced in the deep window-seat, could see the meeting.</p> + +<p>"How I should like to hear," said Molly. "I know this supple wretch +will be full of Adrian's folly in marrying me—first, because, from +the Rupertian point of view, it is a disastrous thing that his elder +should marry at all; and secondly, because Molly, mistress at Pulwick +Priory, means a very queer position indeed for Mr. Rupert Landale. How +I wish my spirit could fly into Adrian's head just for a moment! +Adrian is too indulgent. It requires a Molly to deal with such +impertinence."</p> + +<p>"Indeed you are unjust with our cousin," said Madeleine, gently. "Why +this hatred? I cannot understand."</p> + +<p>"No, of course not, Madeleine. Rupert is charming—with you. I am not +blind. But take care he does not find out <i>your</i> secret, miss. Oh, I +don't ask you any more about it. But if he ever does—<i>gare, ma +chère</i>."</p> + +<p>But at the present juncture, Molly's estimate of Sir Adrian's mood was +mistaken. His love of peace, which amounted to a well-known weakness +where he alone was concerned, weighed not a feather in the balance +when such an interest as that now engaged was at stake.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Rupert Landale was to be taken by surprise again, +that day, and again not pleasantly. On noticing his brother's +approach, he stopped his angry flickings, and slowly moved to meet +him. At first they walked side by side in silence. Presently Sir +Adrian began:</p> + +<p>"Rupert," he said gravely, "after our first interview to-day, it was +my intention to have begged your pardon for a certain roughness in my +manner which I should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> have controlled and which you resented. I would +have done so, had you allowed me, at that moment when I announced my +forthcoming marriage and my heart was full of good-will to all, +especially to you. Now, on the contrary, to re-establish at least that +outward harmony without which life in common would be impossible, I +expect from you some expression of regret for your behaviour."</p> + +<p>The first part of his brother's say was so well in accordance with his +more habitual mood, that Mr. Landale had already sketched his equally +habitual deprecating smile; but the conclusion changed the entire +standpoint of their relations.</p> + +<p>"An expression of regret—from <i>me</i>?" cried he, exaggerating his +astonishment almost to mockery.</p> + +<p>"From any one but my brother," said Adrian, with a slight but +perceptible hardening in his tone, "I should say an apology for an +impertinence."</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale, now genuinely taken aback, turned a little pale and +halted abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Adrian, Adrian!" he retorted, quickly. "This is one of your mad +moments. I do not understand."</p> + +<p>"No, brother, I am not mad, and never have been, dearly as you would +wish me to be so in reality—since Death would have none of me. But +though you know this yourself but too well, you have never understood +me really. Now listen—once for all. Try and see our positions as they +are: perhaps then matters will go more pleasantly in the future for +you as well as for me."</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale looked keenly at the speaker's face for a second, and then +without a word resumed his walk, while Sir Adrian by his side pursued +with quiet emphasis:</p> + +<p>"When I returned, from the other world so to speak, at least from your +point of view (one which I fully understood), I found that this very +return was nothing short of a calamity for all that remained of my +kin. I had it in my power to reduce that misfortune to a great extent. +You loved the position—that worldly estimation, that fortune, all +those circumstances which, with perfect moral right, you had hitherto +enjoyed. They presented little attraction to me. Moreover, there were +many reasons, which I am quite aware you know, that made this very +house of mine a dismal dwelling for me. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> see I have no wish to +give too generous a colour to my motives, too self-denying a character +to the benefits I conferred upon you. But, as far as you are +concerned, they were benefits. For them I received no gratitude; but +as I did not expect gratitude it matters little. I might, however, +have expected at least that you should be neutral, not directly +hostile to me——Pray let me finish" (in anticipation of a rising +interruption from his companion), "I shall soon have done, and you +will see that I am not merely recriminating. Hostile you have been, +and are now. So long as the position you assumed towards me only bore +on our own relations, I acquiesced: you had so much more to lose than +I could gain by resenting your hidden antagonism. I held you, so to +speak, in the hollow of my hand; I could afford to pass over it all. +Moreover, I had chosen my own path, which was nothing if not peaceful. +I say, you always were hostile to me; you have been so, more than ever +since the arrival of Cécile de Savenaye's children. You were, however, +grievously mistaken if you thought—I verily believe you did—that I +did not realise the true motives that prompted you to keep me away +from them.—I loved them as their mother's children; I love Molly with +a sort of love I myself do not understand, but deep enough for all its +strangeness. Yet I submitted to your reasoning, to your plausible +representations of the disastrous effects of my presence. I went back +to my solitude because it never entered my mind that it could be in my +power to help their happiness; you indeed had actually persuaded me of +the contrary, as you know, and I myself thought it better to break the +unfortunate spell that was cast on me. Unfortunate I thought it, but +it has proved far otherwise."</p> + +<p>They had reached the end of the alley, and as they turned back, facing +each other for a moment, Sir Adrian noticed the evil smile playing +upon his brothers lips.</p> + +<p>"It has proved otherwise," he repeated. "How I came to change my +views, I daresay you have guessed, for you have, of late, kept a good +watch on your mad brother, Rupert. At any rate you know what has come +to pass. Now I desire you to understand this clearly—interference +with me as matters stand means interference with Molly: and as such I +must, and shall, resent it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, Adrian, and what have I done <i>now</i>?" was Mr. Landale's quiet +reply. He turned a gravely attentive, innocently injured countenance +to the paling light.</p> + +<p>"When I said you did not understand me," returned Sir Adrian with +undiminished firmness; "when I said you owed me some expression of +regret, it was to warn you never again to assume the tone of +insinuation and sarcasm to me, which you permitted yourself to-day in +the presence of Molly. You could not restrain this long habit of +censuring, of unwarrantable and impertinent criticism, of your elder, +and when you referred to my past, Molly could not but be offended by +the mockery of your tones. Moreover, you took upon yourself, if I have +heard aright, to disapprove openly of our marriage. Upon what ground +that would bear announcing I know not, but let this be enough: try and +realise that our respective positions are totally changed by this +unforeseen event, and that, as Molly is now to be mistress at Pulwick, +I must of course revoke my tacit abdication. Nevertheless, if you +think you can put up with the new state of things, there need be +little alteration in your present mode of life, my dear Rupert; if you +will only make a generous effort to alter your line of conduct."</p> + +<p>And here, Sir Adrian, succumbing for a moment to the fault, so common +to kindly minds, of discounting the virtue of occasional firmness by a +sudden return to geniality, offered his hand in token of peace.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale took it; his grasp, however, was limp and cold.</p> + +<p>"I am quite ready to express regret," he said in a toneless voice, +"since that would seem to be gratification to you, and moreover seems +to be the tacit condition on which you will refrain from turning me +out. I ought indeed to have abstained from referring, however vaguely, +to past events, for the plain reason that anything I could say would +already have come too late to prevent the grievous deed you have now +pledged yourself to commit."</p> + +<p>"Rupert—!" exclaimed Sir Adrian stepping back a pace, too amazed, at +the instant, for indignation.</p> + +<p>"Now, in your turn, hear me, Adrian," continued Mr. Landale with his +blackest look. "I have listened to your summing up of our respective +cases with perfect patience, notwithstanding a certain assumption of +superiority which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>—allow me to insist on this—is somewhat ridiculous +from you to me. You complain of my misunderstanding you. Briefly, this +is absurd. As a matter of fact I understand you better than you do +yourself. On the other hand it is you that do not understand me. I +have no wish to paraphrase your little homily of two minutes ago, but +the heads of my refutation are inevitably suggested by the points of +your indictment. To use your own manner of speech, my dear Adrian, I +have no wish to assume injured disinterestedness, when speaking of my +doings with regard to you and your belongings and especially to this +old place of yours, of our family. You have only to look and see for +yourself...."</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale made a wide comprehensive gesture which seemed to embrace +the whole of the noble estate, the admirably kept mansion with walls +now flushed in the light of the sinking sun, the orderly maintenance +of the vast grounds, the prosperousness of its dependencies—all in +fact that the brothers could see with the eyes of the body from where +they stood, and all that they could see with the eyes of the mind +alone: "Go and verify whether I fulfilled my duty with respect to the +trust which was yours, but which you have allowed to devolve upon my +shoulders, and ask yourself whether you would have fulfilled it +better—if as well. I claim no more than this recognition; for, as you +pointed out, the position carried its advantages, if it entailed +arduous responsibility too. It was my hope that heirs of my body would +live to perpetuate this pride—this work of mine. It was not to be. +Now that you step in again and that possibly your flesh will reap the +benefits I have laboured to produce, ask yourself, Adrian, whether +you, who shirked your own natural duties, would have buckled to the +task, under <i>my</i> circumstances—distrusted by your brother, disliked +and secretly despised by all your dependants, who reserved all their +love and admiration for the 'real master' (oh, I know the cant +phrase), although he chose to abandon his position and yield himself +to the stream of his own inertness, the real master who in the end can +find no better description for these years of faithful service than +'hostility' and 'ingratitude.'"</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian halted a pace, a little moved by the speciousness of the +pleading. The incidental reference to that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> one grief of his brother's +life was of a kind which could never fail to arouse generous sympathy +in his heart. But Mr. Landale had not come to the critical point of +his say, and he did not choose to allow the chapter of emotion to +begin just yet.</p> + +<p>"But," he continued, pursuing his restless walk, "again to use your +own phraseology, I am not merely recriminating. I, too, wish you to +understand me. It would be useless to discuss now, what you elect to +call my hostility in past days. I had to keep up the position demanded +by our ancient name; to keep it up amid a society, against whose every +tenet almost—every prejudice, you may call them—you chose to run +counter. My antagonism to your mode of acting and thinking was +precisely measured by your own against the world in which the +Landales, as a family, hold a stake. Let that, therefore, be +dismissed; and let us come at once to the special hostility you +complain of in me, since the troublesome arrival of Aunt Rose and her +wards. As the very thing which I was most anxious to prevent, if +possible, has, after all, come to pass, the present argument may seem +useless; but you have courted it yourself."</p> + +<p>"Most anxious to prevent—if possible...!" repeated Sir Adrian, +slowly. "This, from a younger brother, is almost cynical, Rupert!"</p> + +<p>"Cynical!" retorted Mr. Landale, with a furious laugh. "Why, you have +given sound to the very word I would, in anybody else's case, have +applied to a behaviour such as yours. Is it possible, Adrian," said +Rupert, turning to look his brother in the eyes with a look of +profound malice, "that it has not occurred to you yet, that <i>cynical</i> +will be the verdict the world will pass on the question of your +marriage with that young girl?"</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian flushed darkly, and remained silent for a pace or two; +then, with a puzzled look:</p> + +<p>"I fail to understand you," he said simply. "I am no longer young, of +course; yet, in years, I am not preposterously old. As for the other +points—name and fortune——"</p> + +<p>But Rupert interrupted him with a sharp exclamation, which betrayed +the utmost nervous exasperation.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! If I did not know you so well, I would say you were playing at +candour. This—this unconventionality<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> of yours would have led you +into curious pitfalls, Adrian, had you been obliged to live in the +world. My 'hostility' has saved you from some already, I know—more is +the pity it could not save you from this—for it passes all bounds +that you should meditate such an unnatural act, upon my soul, in the +most natural manner in the world. One must be an Adrian Landale, and +live on a tower for the best part of one's life, to reach such a pitch +of—unconventionality, let us call it."</p> + +<p>"For God's sake," exclaimed Sir Adrian, suddenly losing patience, +"what are you driving at, man? In what way can my marriage with a +young lady, who, inconceivable as it may be, has found something to +love in me; in what way, I say, can it be accounted cynical? I am not +subtle enough to perceive it."</p> + +<p>"To any one but you," sneered the other, coming to his climax with a +sort of cruel deliberation, "it would hardly require special +subtleness to perceive that for the man of mature age to marry the +<i>daughter</i>, after having, in the days of his youth, been the lover of +the <i>mother</i>, is a proceeding, the very idea of which is somewhat +revolting in the average individual.... There are many roués in St. +James' who would shrink before it; yet you, the enlightened +philosopher, the moralist——"</p> + +<p>But Sir Adrian, breathing quickly, laid his hand heavily on his +brother's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"When you say the mother's lover, Rupert," he said, in a contained +voice, which was as ominous of storm as the first mutters of thunder, +"you mean that I loved her—you do not mean to insinuate that that +noble woman, widowed but a few weeks, whose whole soul was filled with +but one lofty idea, that of duty, was the mistress—the mistress of a +boy, barely out of his teens?"</p> + +<p>Rupert shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I insinuate nothing, my dear Adrian; I think nothing. All this is +ancient history which after all has long concerned only you. You know +best what occurred in the old days, and of course a man of honour is +bound to deny all tales affecting a lady's virtue! Even you, I fancy, +would condescend so far. But nevertheless, reflect how this marriage +will rake up the old story. It will be remembered how you, for the +sake of remaining by Cécile de Savenaye's side, abandoned your home to +fight in a cause<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> that did not concern you; nay, more, turned your +back for the time upon those advanced social theories which even at +your present season of life you have not all shaken off. You travelled +with her from one end of England to the other, in the closest +intimacy, and finally departed over seas, her acknowledged escort. She +on her side, under pretext of securing the best help on her political +mission that England can afford her, selected a young man notoriously +in love with her, at the very age when the passions are hottest, and +wisdom the least consideration—as her influential agent, of course. +Men are men, Adrian—especially young men—small blame to you, young +that you were, if then ... but you cannot expect, in sober earnest, +the world to believe that you went on such a wild pilgrimage for +nothing! Women are women—especially young women, of the French +court—who have never had the reputation of admiring bashfulness in +stalwart young lovers...."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian's hand, pressing upon his brother's shoulder, as if +weighted by all his anger, here forced the speaker into silence.</p> + +<p>"Shame! Shame, Rupert!" he cried first, his eyes aflame with a +generous passion; then fiercely: "Silence, fellow, or I will take you +by that brazen throat of yours and strangle the venomous lie once for +all." And then, with keen reproach, "That you, of my blood, of hers +too, should be the one to cast such a stigma on her memory—that you +should be unable even to understand the nature of our intercourse.... +Oh, shame, on you for your baseness, for your vulgar, low +suspiciousness!... But, no, I waste my breath upon you, you do not +believe this thing. You have outwitted yourself this time. Hear me +now: If anything could have suggested to me this alliance with the +child of one I loved so madly and so hopelessly, the thought that such +dastardly slander could ever have been current would have done so. The +world, having nothing to gain by the belief, will never credit that +Sir Adrian Landale would marry the daughter of his paramour—however +his own brother may deem to his advantage to seem to think so! The +fact of Molly de Savenaye becoming Lady Landale would alone, had such +ill rumours indeed been current in the past, dispel the ungenerous +legend for ever."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<p>There were a few moments of silence while Sir Adrian battled, in the +tumult of his indignation, for self-control again; while Rupert, +realising that he had outwitted himself indeed, bestowed inward curses +upon most of his relations and his own fate.</p> + +<p>The elder brother resumed at length, with a faint smile:</p> + +<p>"And so, you see, even if you had spoken out in time, it would have +been of little avail." Then he added, bitterly. "I have received a +wound from an unforeseen quarter. You have dealt it, to no purpose, +Rupert, as you see ... though it may be some compensation to such a +nature as yours to know that you have left in it a subtle venom."</p> + +<p>The sun had already sunk away, and its glow behind the waters had +faded to the merest tinge. In the cold shadow of rising night the two +men advanced silently homewards. Sir Adrian's soul, guided by the +invidious words, had flown back to that dead year, the central point +of his existence—It was true: men will be men—in that very house, +yonder, he had betrayed his love to her; on board the ship that took +them away and by the camp fire on the eve of fight, he had pleaded the +cause of his passion, not ignobly indeed, with no thought of the +baseness which Rupert assigned to him, yet with a selfish disregard of +her position, of his own grave trust. And it was with a glow of pride, +in the ever living object of his life's devotion—of gratitude +almost—that he recalled the noble simplicity with which the woman, +whom he had just heard classed among the every-day sinners of society, +had, without one grandiloquent word, without even losing her womanly +softness, kept her lover as well as herself in the path of her lofty +ideal—till the end. And yet she did love him: at the last awful +moment, sinking into the very jaws of death, the secret of her heart +had escaped her. And now—now her beauty, and something of her own +life and soul was left to him in her child, as the one fit object on +which to devote that tenderness which time could not change.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>After a while, from the darkness by his side came the voice of his +brother again, in altered, hardly recognisable accents.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Adrian, those last words of yours were severe—unjust. I do not +deserve such interpretation of my motives. Is it my fault that you are +not as other men? Am I to be blamed for judging you by the ordinary +standard? But you have convinced me: you were as chivalrous as Cécile +was pure, and if needs be, believe me, Adrian, I will maintain it so +in the face of the world. Yes, I misunderstood you—and wounded you, +as you say, but such was not my intention. Forgive me."</p> + +<p>They had come to the door. Sir Adrian paused. There was a rapid +revulsion in his kindly mind at the extraordinary sound of humble +words from his brother; and with a new emotion, he replied, taking the +hand that with well-acted diffidence seemed to seek his grasp:</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we have both something to forgive each other. I fear you did +not misjudge me so much as you misjudged her who left me that precious +legacy. But believe that, believe it as you have just now said, +Rupert, the mother of those children never stooped to human +frailty—her course in her short and noble life was as bright and pure +as the light of day."</p> + +<p>Without another word the two brothers shook hands and re-entered their +home.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian sought Miss O'Donoghue whom he now found in converse with +Molly, and with a grave eagerness, that put the culminating touch to +the old lady's triumph, urged the early celebration of his nuptials.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale repaired to his own study where in solitude he could give +loose rein to his fury of disappointment, and consider as carefully as +he might in the circumstances how best to work the new situation to +his own advantage.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Even on that day that had been filled with so many varied and poignant +emotions for him; through the dream in which his whole being seemed to +float, Sir Adrian found a moment to think of the humble followers whom +he had left so abruptly on the island, and of the pleasure the +auspicious news would bring to them.</p> + +<p>It was late at night, and just before parting with the guest who was +so soon to be mistress under his roof, he paused on the stairs before +a window that commanded a view of the bay. Molly drew closer and leant +against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> his shoulder; and thus both gazed forth silently for some +time at the clear distant light, the luminous eye calmly watching over +the treacherous sands.</p> + +<p>That light of Scarthey—it was the image of the solitary placid life +to which he had bidden adieu for ever; which even now, at this brief +interval of half a day, seemed as far distant as the years of despair +and vicissitude and disgust to which it had succeeded. A man can feel +the suddenly revealed charm of things that have ceased to be, without +regretting them.</p> + +<p>With the dear young head that he loved, with a love already as old as +her very years, pressing his cheek; with that slender hand in his +grasp, the same, for his love was all miracle, that he had held in the +hot-pulsed days of old—he yet felt his mind wander back to his nest +of dreams. He thought with gratitude of René, the single-minded, +faithful familiar; of old Margery, the nurse who had tended Cécile's +children, as well as her young master; thought of their joy when they +should hear of the marvellous knitting together into the web of his +fate, of all those far-off ties.</p> + +<p>In full harmony with such fleeting thoughts, came Molly's words at +length breaking the silence.</p> + +<p>"Will you take me back to that strange old place of yours, Adrian, +when we are married?"</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian kissed her forehead.</p> + +<p>"And would you not fear the rough wild place, child," he murmured.</p> + +<p>"Not for ever, I mean," laughed the girl, "for then my mission would +not be fulfilled—which was to make of Adrian, Sir Adrian, indeed. But +now and again, to recall those lovely days, when—when you were so +distracted for the love of Murthering Moll and the fear lest she +should see it. You will not dismantle those queer rooms that received +so hospitably the limping, draggled-tailed guest—they must again +shelter her when she comes as proud Lady Landale! How delicious it +would be if the tempest would only rage again, and the sea-mew shriek, +and the caverns roar and thunder, and I knew you were as happy as I am +sure to be!"</p> + +<p>"All shall be kept up even as you left it," answered Sir Adrian moved +by tender emotion; "to be made glorious again by the light of your +youth and fairness. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> Renny shall be cook again, and maid of all +work. My poor Renny, what joy when he hears of his master's happiness, +and all through the child of his beloved mistress! But he will have to +spend a sobering time of solitude out there, till I can find a +substitute for his duties."</p> + +<p>"You are very much attached to that funny little retainer, Adrian!" +said Molly after a pause.</p> + +<p>"To no man alive do I owe so much. With no one have I had, through +life, so much in common," came the grave reply.</p> + +<p>"Then," returned the girl, "you would thank me for telling you of the +means of making the good man's exile less heavy, until you take him +back with you."</p> + +<p>"No doubt." There was a tone of surprise and inquiry in his voice.</p> + +<p>"Why, it is simple enough. Have you never heard of his admiration for +Moggie Mearson, our maid? Let them marry. They will make a good pair, +though funny. What, you never knew it? Of course not, or you would not +have had the heart to keep the patient lovers apart so long. Let them +marry, my Lord of Pulwick: it will complete the romance of the +persecuted Savenayes of Brittany and their helpful friends of the +distant North."</p> + +<p>Musing, Sir Adrian fell into silence. The faithful, foolish heart that +never even told its secret desire, for very fear of being helped to +win it; by whom happiness and love were held to be too dearly bought +at the price of separation from the lonely exile!</p> + +<p>"<i>Eh bien</i>, dreamer?" cried the girl gaily.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Molly," said Sir Adrian, turning to her with shining eyes. +"This is a pretty thought, a good thought. Renny will indeed doubly +bless the day when Providence sent you to Pulwick."</p> + +<p>And so, the following morn, Mr. Renny Potter was summoned to hear the +tidings, and informed of the benevolent prospects more privately +concerning his own life; was bidden to thank the future Lady Landale +for her service; was gently rebuked for his long reticence, and +finally dismissed in company of the glowing Moggie with a promise that +his nuptials should be celebrated at the same time as those of the +lord of the land. The good fellow, however, required first of all an +assurance that these very fine plans would not entail any +interference<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> with his duties to his master before he would allow +himself to be pleased at his fortunes. Great and complex, then, was +his joy; but it would have been hard to say, as Moggie confessed to +her inquiring mistress that night, when he had returned to his post, +whether the pride and delight in his master's own betrothal was not +uppermost in his bubbling spirits.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>TWO MONTHS LATER: THE QUICK AND THE DEAD</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Neighbour, what doth thy husband when he cometh home from work?<br /></span> +<span class="i4">He thinks of her he loved before he knew me<br /></span> +<span class="i25"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><i>February 18th.</i> Upon the 18th of January, 1815, did I commit that +most irreparable of all follies; then by my own hand I killed fair +Molly de Savenaye, who was so happy, so free, so much in love with +life, and whom I loved so dearly, and in her stead called into +existence Molly Landale, a poor-spirited miserable creature who has +not given me one moment's amusement. How could I have been so stupid?</p> + +<p>Let me examine.</p> + +<p>It is only a month ago, only a month, 4 weeks, 31 days, millions of +horrible dreary minutes, Oh, Molly, Molly, Molly! since you stood, +that snowy day, in the great drawing-room (<i>my</i> drawing-room now, I +hate it), and vowed twice over, once before the Jesuit father from +Stonyhurst, once before jolly, hunting heretical parson Cochrane to +cleave to Adrian Landale till death bid you part! Brr—what ghastly +words and with what a light heart I said them, tripped them out, <i>ma +foi</i>, as gaily as "good-morning" or "good-night!" They were to be the +<i>open sesame</i> to joys untold, to lands flowing with milk and honey, to +romance, adventure, splendour—and what have they brought me?</p> + +<p>It is a cold day, sleeting, snowing, blowing, all that is abominable. +My lord and master has ridden off, despite it, to some distant farm +where there has been a fire. The "Good Sir Adrian," as they call him +now—he is <i>that</i>; but, oh dear me—there! I must yawn, and I'll say +no more on this head, at present, for I want to think and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> work my +wretched problem out in earnest, and not go to sleep.</p> + +<p>It is the first time I have taken heart to write since yonder day of +doom, and God knows when I shall have heart again! Upon such an +afternoon there is nothing better to do, since Sir Adrian would have +none of my company—he is so precious of me that he fears I should +melt like sugar in the wet—he never guessed that it was just because +of the storm I wished the ride! Were we to live a hundred years +together—which, God forfend—he would never understand me.</p> + +<p>Ah, lack-a-day, oh, misery me! (My lady, you are wandering; come back +to business.)</p> + +<p>What, then, has marriage brought me? First of all a husband. That is +to say, another person, a man who has the right to me—to whom I +myself have given that right—to have me, to hold me, as it runs in +the terrible service, the thunders of which were twice rolled out upon +my head, and which have been ringing there ever since. And I, Molly, +gave of my own free will, that best and most blessed of all gifts, my +own free will, away. I am surrounded, as it were, by barriers; hemmed +in, bound up, kept in leading strings. I mind me of the seagull on the +island. 'Tis all in the most loving care in the world, of course, but +oh! the oppression of it! I must hide my feelings as well as I can, +for in my heart I would not grieve that good man, that <i>excellent</i> +man, that pattern of kind gentleman—oh, oh, oh—it will out—that +<i>dreary</i> man, that dull man, that most melancholy of all men! Who +sighs more than he smiles, and, I warrant, of the two, his sighs are +the more cheerful; who looks at his beautiful wife as if he saw a +ghost, and kisses her as if he kissed a corpse!</p> + +<p>There is a mate for Molly! the mate she chose for herself!</p> + +<p>So much for the husband. What else has marriage brought her?</p> + +<p>Briefly I will capitulate.</p> + +<p>A title—I am <i>my lady</i>. For three days it sounded prettily in my +ears. But to the girl who refused a duchess' coronet, who was born +comtesse—to be the baronet's lady—Tanty may say what she likes of +the age of creation, and all the rest of it—that advantage cannot +weigh heavy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> in the balance. Again then, I have a splendid +house—which is my prison, and in which, like all prisoners, I have +not the right to choose my company—else would Sophia and Rupert still +be here? They are going, I am told occasionally; but my intimate +conviction is, however often they may be going, <i>they will never go</i>. +<i>Item four:</i> I have money, and nothing to spend it on—but the poor.</p> + +<p>What next? What next?—alas, I look and I find nothing! This is all +that marriage has brought me; and what has it not taken from me?</p> + +<p>My delight in existence, my independence, my hopes, my belief in the +future, my belief in <i>love</i>. Faith, hope, and charity, in fact, +destroyed at one fell sweep. And all, to gratify my curiosity as to a +romantic mystery, my vanity as to my own powers of fascination! Well, +I have solved the mystery, and behold it was nothing. I have eaten of +the fruit of knowledge, and it is tasteless in my mouth.</p> + +<p>I have made my capture with my little bow and spear, and I am as +embarrassed of my captive as he of me. We pull at the chain that binds +us together; nay, such being the law of this world between men and +women, the positions are reversed, my captive is now my master, and +Molly is the slave.</p> + +<p>Tanty, I could curse thee for thy officiousness, from the tip of thy +coal black wig to the sole of thy platter shoe—but that I am too good +to curse thee at all!</p> + +<p>Poor book of my life that I was so eager to fill in, that was to have +held a narrative all thrilling, and all varied, now will I set forth +in thee, my failure, my hopelessness, and after that close thee for +ever.</p> + +<p>Of what use indeed to chronicle, when there is nought to tell but +flatness, chill monotony, on every side; when even the workings of my +soul cannot interest me to follow, since they can now foreshadow +nothing, lead to nothing but fruitless struggle or tame resignation!</p> + +<p>I discovered my mistake—not the whole of it, but enough to give me a +dreadful foreboding of its hideousness, not two hours after the +nuptial ceremony.</p> + +<p>Adrian had borne himself up to that with the romantic, mysterious +dignity of presence that first caught my silly fancy; behind which I +had pictured such fascinating depths of passion—of fire—Alas! When +he looked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> at me it was with that air of wondering, almost timid, +affection battling with I know not what flame of rapture, with which +look I have become so fatally familiar since—without the flame of +rapture, be it understood, which seems to have rapidly burnt away to a +very ash of grey despondency and self-reproach. I could have sworn +even as he gave me his arm to meet and receive the congratulations of +our guests, that the glow upon his cheek, the poise of his head +denoted the pride any man, were he not an idiot nor a brute, must feel +in presenting his bride—such a bride!—to the world. Then we went in +to the great dining hall where the wedding feast, a very splendid one, +was spread. All the gentlemen looked with admiration at me; many with +envy at Adrian. I knew that I was beautiful in my fine white satin +with my veil thrown back, without the flattering whispers that reached +me now and again; but these were sweet to hear nevertheless. I knew +myself the centre of all eyes, and it elated me. So too did the +tingling flavour of the one glass of sparkling wine I drank to my +fortunes. Immediately upon this silent toast of Lady Landale to +herself, Rupert rose and in choice words and silver-ringing voice +proposed the health of the bride and bridegroom. There was a merry +bustling pause while the glasses were filled; then rising to their +feet as with one man, all the gentlemen stood with brimming goblets +one instant extended, the next emptied to the last drop; and then the +cheers rang out, swelling up the rafters, three times three, seeming +to carry my soul along with them. I felt my heart expand and throb +with an emotion I never knew in it before, which seemed to promise +vast future capacities of pain and delight. I turned to my husband +instinctively; looking for, expecting, I could not explain why, an +answering fire in his eyes. This was the last moment of my illusions. +From thence they began to shrivel away with a terrifying rapidity.</p> + +<p>Adrian sat with a face that looked old and lined and grey; with +haggard unseeing eyes gazing forth into space as though fixing some +invisible and spectre show. He seemed as if wrapt in a world of his +own, to which none of us had entrance; least of all, I, his wife.</p> + +<p>The shouts around us died away, there were cries upon him for +"Speech—speech," then playful queries—"How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> is this, Sir Adrian? So +bashful, egad!" next nudges were exchanged, looks of wonder, and an +old voice speaking broadly:</p> + +<p><i>"Yes, by George,"</i> it was saying, <i>"I remember it well, by George, in +this very room, now twenty years ago, 'Here, gentlemen,' says old Sir +Tummas, 'Here's to Madam de Savenaye,' and gad, ma'am, we all +yelled,—she was a lovely creature—Eh—Eh?"</i></p> + +<p>"Hush," said some one, and there was a running circle of frowns and +the old voice ceased as abruptly as if its owner had been seized by +the weasand. In the heavy embarrassed silence, I caught Tanty's red +perturbed look and Rupert's smile.</p> + +<p>But Adrian sat on—like a ghost among the living, or a live man among +the dead. And this was my gallant bridegroom! I seized him by the +hand—"Are you ill, Adrian?"</p> + +<p>He started and looked round at me—Oh that look! It seemed to burn +into my soul, I shall never forget the hopelessness, the dull sadness +of it, and then—I don't know what he read in my answering glance—the +mute agonised question, followed by a terror.</p> + +<p>"They want you to speak," I whispered, and shook the cold hand I held +in a fury of impatience.</p> + +<p>His lips trembled: he stared at me blankly. "My God, my God, what have +I done?" he muttered to himself, "Cécile's child—Cécile's child!"</p> + +<p>I could have burst out sobbing. But seeing Rupert's face bent down +towards his plate, demure and solemn, yet stamped, for all his +cleverness, with an almost devilish triumph, my pride rose and my +courage. Every one else seemed to be looking towards us: I stood up.</p> + +<p>"Good friends," I said, "I see that my husband is so much touched by +the welcome that you are giving his bride, the welcome that you are +giving him after his long exile from his house, that he is quite +unable to answer you as he would wish. But lest you should +misunderstand this silence of his, I am bold enough to answer you in +his name, and—since it is but a few moments ago that you have seen us +made one, I think I have the right to do so.... We thank you."</p> + +<p>My heart was beating to suffocation—but I carried bravely on till I +was drowned in a storm of acclamations to which the first cheers were +as nothing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>They drank my health again, and again I heard the old gentleman of the +indiscreet voice—I have learned since he is stone deaf, and I daresay +he flattered himself he spoke in a whisper—proclaim that I was <i>my +mother all over again: begad—so had she spoken to them twenty years +ago in this very room!</i></p> + +<p>Here Tanty came to the rescue and carried me off.</p> + +<p>I dared not trust myself to look at Adrian as I left, but I knew that +he followed me to the door, from which I presumed that he had +recovered his presence of mind in some degree.</p> + +<p>Since that day we have been like two who walk along on opposite banks +of a widening stream—ever more and more divided.</p> + +<p>I have told no one of my despair. It is curious, but, little wifely as +I feel towards him, there is something in me that keeps me back from +the disloyalty of discussing my husband with other people.</p> + +<p>And it is not even as it might have been—this is what maddens me. <i>We +are always at cross purposes.</i> Some wilful spirit wakes in me, at the +very sound of his voice (always gentle and restrained, and echoing of +past sadness); under his mild, tender look; at the every fresh sign of +his perpetual watchful anxiety—I give him wayward answers, frowning +greetings, sighs, pouts; I feel at times a savage desire to wound, to +anger him, and as far as I dare venture I have ventured, yet could not +rouse in him one spark, even of proper indignation.</p> + +<p>The word of the riddle lay in that broken exclamation of his at our +wedding feast.</p> + +<p>"Cécile's child!"</p> + +<p>His wife, then, is only Cécile's child to him. I have failed when I +thought to have conquered—and with the consciousness of failure have +lost my power, even to the desire of regaining it. My dead mother is +my rival; her shade rises between me and my husband's love. Could he +have loved me, I might perhaps have loved him—and now—now I, +<i>Molly</i>, I, shall perhaps go down to my grave without having known +<i>love</i>.</p> + +<p>I thought I had found it on that day when he took me in his arms in +that odious library—my heart melted when he so tenderly kissed my +lips. And now the very remembrance of that moment angers me. +Tenderness! Am I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> only a weak, helpless child that I can arouse no +more from the man to whom I have given myself! I thought the gates of +life had been opened to me—behold, they led me to a warm comfortable +prison! And this is Molly's end!</p> + +<p>There is a light in Madeleine's eyes, a ring in her voice, a smile +upon her lip. She has bloomed into a beauty that I could hardly have +imagined, and this is because of this unknown whom she <i>loves</i>. She +breathes the fulness of the flower; and by-and-by, no doubt, she will +taste the fulness of the fruit; she will be complete; she will be fed +and I am to starve. What is coming to me? I do not know myself. I feel +that I could grudge her these favours, that I <i>do</i> grudge them to her. +I am sick at heart.</p> + +<p>And she—even she has proved false to me. I know that she meets this +man. Adrian too knows it, and more of him than he will tell me; and he +approves. I am treated like a child. The situation is strange upon +every side; Madeleine loving a plebeian—a sailor, not a king's +officer—stooping to stolen interviews! Adrian the punctilious, in +whose charge Tanty solemnly left her, pretending ignorance, virtually +condoning my sister's behaviour! For though he has distinctly refused +to enlighten me or help me to enlighten myself, he could not, upon my +taxing him with it, deny that he was in possession of facts ignored by +me.</p> + +<p>Then there is Rupert paying now open court to this sly damsel—for the +sake of her beautiful eyes, or for the beautiful eyes of her casket? +And last and strangest, the incongruous friendship struck up this week +between her and that most irritating of melancholy fools, Sophia. The +latter bursts with suppressed importance, she launches glances of +understanding at my sister; sighs, smiles (when Rupert's eye is not on +her), starts mysteriously. One would say that Madeleine had made a +confidant of her—only that it would be too silly. What? Make a +confidant of that funereal mute and deny <i>me</i> the truth! If I had the +spirit for it I would set myself to discovering this grand mystery; +and then let them beware! They would have none of Molly as a friend: +perhaps she will yet prove one too many upon the other side.</p> + +<p>If I have grown bitter to Madeleine, it is her own fault; I would have +been as true as steel to her if she had but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> trusted me. Now and +again, when a hard word and look escape me, she gives me a great +surprised, reproachful glance, as of a petted child that has been +hurt; but mostly she scarcely seems to notice the change in +me—Moonlike in dreamy serenity she sails along, wrapt in her own +thoughts, and troubles no more over Molly's breaking her heart than +over Rupert's determined suit. To me when she remembers me, she gives +the old caresses, the old loving words; to him smiles and pretty +courtesy. Oh, she keeps her secret well! But I came upon her in the +woods alone, last Friday, fresh, no doubt, from her lover's arms; +tremulous, smiling, yet tearful, with face dyed rose. And when to my +last effort to attain the right of sisterhood she would only stammer +the tell-tale words: <i>she had promised!</i> and press her hot cheeks +against mine, I thrust her from me, indignant, and from my affections +for ever. Yet I hold her in my power, I could write to Tanty, put +Rupert on the track.... Nay, I have not fallen so low as to become +Rupert's accomplice yet!</p> + +<p>And so the days go on. Between my husband's increasing melancholy, my +own mad regrets, Rupert's watchfulness, Madeleine's absorption and +Sophia's twaddle, my brain reels. I feel sometimes as if I could +scream aloud, as we all sit round the table, and I know that <i>this</i> is +the life that I am doomed to, and that the days may go on, go on thus, +till I am old. Poor Murthering Moll the second! Why even the convent, +where at least I knew nothing, would have been better! No, it is not +possible! Something is still to come to me. Like a bird, my heart +rises within me. I have the right to my life, the right to my +happiness, say what they may.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>THE DAWN OF AN EVENTFUL DAY</h3> + + +<p>Rupert's behaviour at home, since his brother's wedding, had been, as +even Molly was bound to admit to herself, beyond reproach in +tactfulness, quiet dignity, and seeming cheerfulness.</p> + +<p>He abdicated from his position of trust at once and without the +smallest reservation; wooed Madeleine with so great a discretion that +her dreamy eyes saw in him only a kind relative; and he treated his +sister-in-law, for all her freaks of bearing to him, with a perfect +gentleness and gentility.</p> + +<p>At times Sir Adrian would watch him with great eyes. What meant this +change? the guileless philosopher would ask himself, and wonder if he +had judged his brother too harshly all through life; or if it was his +plain speaking in their last quarrel which had put things in their +true light to him, and awakened some innate generosity of feeling; or +yet if—this with misgiving—it was love for pretty Madeleine that was +working the marvel. If so, how would this proud rebellious nature bear +another failure?</p> + +<p>Rupert spoke with unaffected regret about leaving Pulwick, at the same +time, in spite of Molly's curling lip, giving it to be understood that +his removal was only a matter of time.</p> + +<p>For the ostensible purpose, indeed, of finding himself another home he +made, in the beginning of March, the second month after his brother's +marriage, several absences which lasted a couple of days or more, and +from which he would return with an eager sparkle in his eye, almost a +brightness on his olive cheek, to sit beside Madeleine's embroidery +frame, pulling her silks and snipping with her scissors, and talking +gaily, persistently, with such humour and colour as at last to draw +that young lady's attention from far off musings to his words with +smiles and laughter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Molly would sit unoccupied, brooding, watching them, now +fiercely, from under her black brows, now scornfully, now +abstractedly; the while she nibbled at her delicate finger-nails, or +ruthlessly dragged them along the velvet arms of her chair with the +gesture of a charming, yet distracted, cat.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian would first tramp the rooms with unwitting restlessness, +halting, it might be, beside his wife to strive to engage her into +speech with him; and, failing, would betake himself at length with a +heavy sigh to solitude; or, yet, he would sit down to his organ—the +new one in the great hall which had been put up since his marriage, at +Molly's own gay suggestion, during their brief betrothal—and music +would peal out upon them till Lady Landale's stormy heart could bear +it no longer, and she would rise in her turn, fly to the shelter of +her room and roll her head in the pillows to stifle the sound of sobs, +crying from the depths of her soul against heaven's injustice; anon +railing in a frenzy of impotent anger against the musician, who had +such passion in him and gave it to his music alone.</p> + +<p>During Rupert's absences that curious intimacy which Molly had +contemptuously noted between her sister and sister-in-law displayed +itself in more conspicuous manner.</p> + +<p>Miss Landale's long sallow visage sported its airs of mystery and +importance, its languishing leers undisguisedly, so long as her +brother Rupert's place was empty; and though her visits to the +rector's grave were now almost quotidian, she departed upon them with +looks of wrapt importance, and, returning, sought Madeleine's chamber +(when that maiden did not herself stroll out to meet her in the +woods), her countenance invariably wreathed with suppressed, yet +triumphant smiles, instead of the old self-assertive dejection.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>The 15th of March of that year was to be a memorable day in the lives +of so many of those who then either dwelt in Pulwick, or had dealings +on that wide estate.</p> + +<p>Miss Landale, who had passed the midnight hour in poring over the +delightful wickedness of Lara, and, upon at length retiring to her +pillow, had had a sentimental objection to shutting out the romantic +light of the moon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> by curtain or shutter, was roused into wakefulness +soon after dawn by a glorious white burst of early sunshine. As a +rule, the excellent soul liked to lie abed till the last available +moment; but that morning she was up with the sun. When dressed she +drew a letter from a secret casket with manifold precautions as though +she were surrounded with prying eyes, and, placing it in her reticule, +hastened forth to seek the little lonely disused churchyard by the +shore. She afterwards remarked that she could never forget in what +agitation of spirits and with what strange presentiment of evil she +was led to this activity at so unwonted an hour. The truth was, +however, that Miss Landale tripped along through the damp wooded path +as gaily as if she were going to visit her living lover instead of his +granite tomb; and that in lieu of evil omens a hundred fantastically +sentimental thoughts floated through her brain, as merrily and +irresponsibly as the motes in the long shafts of brilliancy that +cleaved, sword-like through the mists, upon her from out the east. +Visions of Madeleine's face when she would learn before breakfast that +Sophia had actually been to the churchyard already; visions of whom +she might meet there; rehearsals of a romantic scene upon that +hallowed spot, of her own blushes, her knowing looks, her playful +remonstrances, with touching allusions to one who had loved and lost, +herself, and who thus, &c. &c.</p> + +<p>Miss Landale tossed her long faded ringlets quite coquettishly, turned +one slim bony hand with coy gesture before her approving eyes. Then +she patted her reticule and hurried on with fresh zest, enjoying the +tart whisper of the wind against her well bonneted face, the exquisite +virginal beauty of the earth in the early spring of the day and of the +year.</p> + +<p>As she stepped out of the shadow of the trees, her heart leaped and +then almost stood still as she perceived in the churchyard lying below +her, beside the great slab of granite which lay over the remains of +her long-departed beloved one, the figure of a man, whose back was +turned towards her, and whose erect outline was darkly silhouetted +against the low, dazzling light.</p> + +<p>Then a simper of exceeding archness crept upon Miss Landale's lips; +and with as genteel an amble as the somewhat precipitate nature of the +small piece of ground that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> yet divided her from the graveyard would +allow, she proceeded on her way.</p> + +<p>At the click of the lych-gate under her hand the man turned sharply +round and looked at her without moving further. An open letter +fluttered in his hand.</p> + +<p>His face was still against the light, and Miss Landale's eyes had wept +so many tears by day and night that her sight was none of the best. +She dropped a very elegant curtsey, simpered, drew nearer, and threw a +fetching glance upwards. Then her shrill scream rang through the still +morning air and frightened the birds in the ruined church.</p> + +<p>"You are early this morning, Sophia," said Mr. Landale.</p> + +<p>Sophia sank upon the tombstone. To say that she was green or yellow +would ill describe the ghastliness of the tint that suffused her +naturally bilious countenance; still speechless, she made a frantic +plunge towards the great urn that adorned the head of the grave. Mr. +Landale looked up from his reading again with a quiet smile.</p> + +<p>"I shall have done in one minute," he remarked, "It is a fine +production, egad! full of noble protestations and really high-sounding +words. And then, my dear Sophia, you can take charge of it, and I +shall be quite ready for the other, which I presume you have as usual +with you—ah, in your bag! Thanks."</p> + +<p>"Rupert?" ejaculated the unfortunate lady, first in agonised query, +and next in agonised reproach, clasping her hands over the precious +reticule—"Rupert!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale neatly folded the sheet he had been reading, moistened +with his tongue a fresh wafer which he drew from his waistcoat pocket, +and, deftly placing it upon the exact spot from which the original one +had been removed, handed the letter to his sister with a little bow. +But, as with a gesture of horror the latter refused to take it, he +shrugged his shoulders and tossed it carelessly into the urn.</p> + +<p>"Now give me Madeleine's," he said, peremptorily.</p> + +<p>Rolling upwards eyes of appeal the unhappy Iris called upon heaven to +witness that she would die a thousand deaths rather than betray her +solemn trust. But even as she spoke the fictitious flame of courage +withered away in her shrinking frame; and at the mere touch of her +brother's finger and thumb upon her wrist, the mere sight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> of his face +bending masterfully over her with white teeth just gleaming between +his twisting smile and half-veiled eyes of insolent determination, she +allowed him, unresisting, to take the bag from her side; protesting +against the breach of faith only by her moans and the inept wringing +of her hands.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale opened the bag, tossed with cynical contempt upon the flat +tombstone, sundry precious relics of the mouldering bones within, and +discovered at length in an inner pocket a dainty flower-scented note. +Then he flung down the bag and proceeded with the same deliberation to +open the letter and peruse its delicate flowing handwriting.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word," he vowed, "I think this is the prettiest she has +written yet! What a sweet soul it is! Listen, Sophia: 'You praise me +for my trust in you—but, Jack, dear love, my trust is so much a part +of my love that the one would not exist without the other. Therefore, +do not give me any credit, for you know I could not help loving you.' +Poor heart! poor confiding child! Oh!" ejaculated Mr. Landale as if to +himself, carefully proceeding the while with his former manœuvres +to end by placing the violated missive, to all appearance intact, +beside its fellow, "we have here a rank fellow, a foul traitor to deal +with!"</p> + +<p>Then, wheeling round to his sister, and fixing her with piercing eyes: +"Sophia," he exclaimed, in tones of sternest rebuke, "I am surprised +at you. I am, indeed!"</p> + +<p>Miss Landale raised mesmerised, horror-stricken eyes upon him; his +dark utterances had already filled her foolish soul with blind dread. +He sat down beside her, and once more enclosed the thin arm in his +light but warning grasp.</p> + +<p>"Sophia," he said solemnly, "you little guess the magnitude of the +harm you have been doing; the frightful fate you have been preparing +for an innocent and trusting girl; the depth of the villainy you are +aiding and abetting. You have been acting, as I say, in ignorance, +without realising the awful consequences of your folly and duplicity. +But that you should have chosen <i>this</i> sacred place for such illicit +and reprehensible behaviour; that by the grave of this worthy man who +loved you, by the stones chosen and paid for by my fraternal +affection, you should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> plot and scheme to deceive your family, and +help to lead a confiding and beautiful creature to ruin, I should +never have expected from <i>you</i>, Sophia—Sophia!"</p> + +<p>Miss Landale collapsed into copious weeping.</p> + +<p>"I am sure, brother," she sobbed, "I never meant any harm. I am sure +nobody loves the dear girl better than I do. I am sure I never wished +to hide anything from you!—Only—they told me—they trusted me—they +made me promise—Oh brother, what terrible things you have been +saying! I cannot believe that so handsome a young gentleman can mean +anything wrong—I only wish you could have seen him with her, he is so +devoted—it is quite beautiful."</p> + +<p>"Alas—the tempter always makes himself beautiful in the eyes of the +tempted! Sophia, we can yet save this unhappy child, but who knows how +soon it may be too late!—You can still repair some of the wrong you +have done, but you can only do so by the most absolute obedience to +me.... Believe me, I know the truth about this vile adventurer, this +Captain Jack Smith."</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens!" cried Sophia, "Rupert, do not tell me, lest I swoon +away, that he is married already?"</p> + +<p>"The man, my dear, whose plots to compromise and entangle a lovely +girl you have favoured, is a villain of the deepest dye—a pirate."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" shivered Sophia with fascinated misery—thrilling recollections +of last night's reading shooting through her frame.</p> + +<p>"A smuggler, a criminal, an outlaw in point of fact," pursued Mr. +Landale. "He merely seeks Madeleine for her money—has a wife in every +port, no doubt—"</p> + +<p>Miss Landale did not swoon; but her brother's watchful eye was +satisfied with the effect produced, and he went on in a well modulated +tone of suppressed emotion:</p> + +<p>"And after breaking her heart, ruining her body and soul, dragging her +to the foulest depths he would have cast her away like a dead +weed—perhaps murdered her! Sophia, what would your feelings be then?"</p> + +<p>A hard red spot had risen to each of Miss Landale's cheek bones; her +tears had dried up under the fevered glow.</p> + +<p>"We believed," she said trembling in every limb, "that he was working +on a mission to the French court—"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Faugh—" cried Mr. Landale, contemptuously, "smuggling French brandy +for our English drunkards and traitorous intelligence for our French +enemies!"</p> + +<p>"Such a handsome young man, so gentlemanly, such an air!" maundered +the miserable woman between her chattering teeth. "It was quite +accidental that we met, Rupert, quite accidental, I assure you. +Madeleine—poor dear girl—came down with me here, I wanted to show +her the g-grave——" here Sophia gurgled convulsively, remembering her +brother's cruel reproaches.</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"She came here with me, and as I was kneeling down, planting crocuses +just here, Rupert, and she was standing <i>there</i>, a young man suddenly +leaped over the wall, and fell at her feet. He had not seen +<i>me</i>—Alas, it reminded me of my own happiness! And he was so +well-dressed, so courteous—and seemed such a perfect gentleman—and +he took off his hat so gracefully I am sure I never could have +believed it of him. And they confided in me and I promised +by—by—those sacred ashes to keep their secret. I remembered of +course what Tanty had said in her letter, and quite understood he was +the young gentleman in question—but they explained to me how she was +under a wrong impression altogether. He said that the instant he laid +eyes upon me, he saw I had a feeling heart, and he knew they could +trust me. He spoke so nobly, Rupert, and said: What better place could +they have for their meetings than one consecrated to such faithful +love as this? It was so beautiful—and oh dear! I can't but think +there is some mistake." And Miss Landale again wrung her hands.</p> + +<p>"But I have proof!" thundered her brother, "convincing proof, of what +I have told you. At this very moment the man who would marry +Madeleine, forsooth, runs the risk of imprisonment—nay, of the +gallows! You may have thought it strange that I should have opened and +read letters not addressed to me, but with misfortune hanging over a +beloved object I did not pause to consider myself. My only thought was +to save her."</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Landale looked very magnanimous, and thrust his fingers as he +spoke through the upper buttons of his waistcoat with the gesture +which traditionally accompanies such sentiments: these cheap effects +proved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> generally irresistible with Sophia. But his personality had +paled before the tremendous drama into which the poor romance-loving +soul was so suddenly plunged, and in which in spite of all her woe she +found an awful kind of fascination. Failing to read any depth of +admiration in her roving eye, Rupert promptly abandoned +grandiloquence, and resuming his usual voice and manner, he dropped +his orders upon her heat of agitation like a cool relentless stream +under which her last protest fizzed, sputtered, and went out.</p> + +<p>"I mean to unmask the gay lover at my own time and in my own way; +never fear, I shall deal gently with <i>her</i>. You will now take this +letter of his and put it in your bag, leaving hers in that curious +post-office of yours."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Rupert."</p> + +<p>"And you will give his letter to her at once when you go in without +one word of having met me."</p> + +<p>"Y ... yes, Rupert."</p> + +<p>"As you are too great a fool to be trusted if you once begin to talk, +you will have a headache for the rest of the day and go to bed in a +dark room."</p> + +<p>"Y ... yes, Rupert."</p> + +<p>"You will moreover swear to me, now, that you will not speak of our +interview here till I give you leave; say I swear I will not."</p> + +<p>"I swear I will not."</p> + +<p>"So help me God!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rupert."</p> + +<p>"<i>So help me God</i>, you fool!"</p> + +<p>Sophia's lips murmured an inaudible something; but there was such +complete submission in every line and curve of her figure, in the very +droop of her ringlets and the helpless appeal of her gaze that Rupert +was satisfied. He assisted her to arise from her tombstone, bundled +the clerical love-tokens back into the bag, duly placed Captain Jack's +letter in the inner pocket, and was about to present her with his arm +to conduct her homewards, when he caught sight of a little ragged +urchin peeping through the bars of the gate, and seemingly in the very +act of making a mysterious signal in the direction of Miss Landale's +unconscious figure.</p> + +<p>Rupert stared hard at the ruddy, impudent face, which instantly +assumed an appearance of the most defiant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>unconcern, while its owner +began to devote his energies to shying stones at an invisible rook +upon the old church tower with great nicety of aim.</p> + +<p>"Sophia," said her brother in a low tone, "go to the gate: that boy +wants to speak to you. Go and see what he wants and return to me."</p> + +<p>Miss Landale gasped, gazed at her brother as if she thought him mad, +looked round at the little boy, coloured violently, then meeting +Rupert's eye again staggered off without a word of protest.</p> + +<p>Rupert, shaken with silent laughter, humming a little song to himself, +stooped to pick a couple of tender spring flowers from the border +beside the grave, and after slipping them into a button-hole of his +many caped overcoat, stood looking out over the stretch of land and +sea, where Scarthey rose like a dream against the sparkle of the water +and the exquisite blue of the sky.</p> + +<p>Presently rapid panting breaths and a shuffling rustle of petticoats +behind him informed him of his sister's return.</p> + +<p>"So you are there, my dear," he said loudly. "One of your little +fishing friends from the village, I suppose—a Shearman, unless I am +mistaken. Yes, a Shearman; I thought so. Well, shall we return home +now? They will be wondering what has become of us. Pray take my arm." +Then beneath his breath, seeing that words were struggling to Sophia's +lips, "Hold your tongue."</p> + +<p>The small ragged boy watched their departure with a derisive grin, and +set off at a brisk canter down to the shore, jingling some silver coin +in his pocket with relish as he went.</p> + +<p>When Rupert and Sophia had reached the wood the former paused.</p> + +<p>"Letter or message?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rupert, it was a letter; had I not better destroy it?"</p> + +<p>"Give it to me."</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>A hasty scrawl, it seemed, folded anyhow. Only two or three lines, yet +Rupert conned them for a curiously long time.</p> + +<p>"My darling," it ran, "meet me to-day in the ruins at noon. A +misfortune has happened to me, but if you trust me, all will still be +well.—Your Jack."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> Mr. Landale at length handed it back to Sophia.</p> + +<p>"You will give it to Madeleine with the other," he said briefly. +"Mention the fact of the messenger having brought it." And then in a +terrible bass he added, "And remember your oath!"</p> + +<p>She trembled; but as he walked onwards through the wood, his lips were +smiling, and his eyes were alight with triumph.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>THE DAY: MORNING</h3> + + +<p>The appointment of a regular light-keeper at Scarthey, intended to +release René and old Margery from their exile, had been delayed so as +to suit the arrangement which was to leave for a time the island +domain of Sir Adrian at the disposal of Captain Jack. Meanwhile +Moggie's presence greatly mitigated the severity of her husband's +separation from his master.</p> + +<p>On his side the sailor was in radiant spirits. All worked as he could +wish, and Sir Adrian's marriage, besides being a source of unselfish +satisfaction, was, with regard to his own prospects, an unexpected +help; for, his expedition concluded, he would now be able in the most +natural manner to make his appearance at Pulwick, an honoured guest of +the master, under the pride of his own name. And for the rest, hope +unfolded warm-coloured visions indeed.</p> + +<p>During the weeks which had elapsed since Sir Adrian's departure, +Captain Jack's visits to the island had been fitful and more or less +secret—He always came and left at night. But as it was understood +that the place was his to be used and enjoyed as he thought best, +neither his sudden appearances with the usual heavy travelling-bag, +nor his long absences excited any disturbance in the arcadian life led +by René between his buxom young wife and the old mother—as the +good-humoured husband now termed the scolding dame.</p> + +<p>A little sleeping closet had been prepared and allotted to the use of +the peripatetic guest in one of the disused rooms when René's own +accommodation under the light tower had been enlarged for the new +requirements of his matrimonial status. And so Monsieur the Captain +(in René's inveterate outlandish phraseology) found his liberty of +action complete. Both the women's curiosity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> was allayed, and all +tendency to prying into the young stranger's mysterious purposes amid +their seclusion condemned beforehand, by René's statement: that +Monsieur the Captain was a trusted friend of the master—one indeed +(and here the informant thought fit to stretch a point, if but +slightly) to whom the Lord of Pulwick was indebted, in bygone days, +for life and freedom.</p> + +<p>Except when weather-bound, a state of things which at that time of +year occurred not unfrequently, René journeyed daily as far as the +Hall, ostensibly to report progress and take possible orders, but +really to gratify himself with the knowledge that all was well with +the master.</p> + +<p>About the breakfast hour, upon this 15th of March, as Sir Adrian was +discussing with the bailiff sundry matters of importance to the +estate, a tap came to the door, which he recognised at once as the +Frenchman's own long accustomed mode of self-announcement.</p> + +<p>Since he had assumed the reins of government, the whilom recluse had +discovered that the management of such a wide property was indeed no +sinecure; and moreover—as his brother, who certainly understood such +matters in a thoroughly practical manner, had warned him—that a +person of his own philosophical, over-benevolent and abstracted turn +of mind, was singularly ill-fitted for the task. But a strong sense of +duty and a determination to act by it will carry a man a long way. He +had little time for dreaming and this was perhaps a providential +dispensation, for Sir Adrian's musings had now lost much of the grave +placidity born of his long, peaceful residence in his Thelema of +Scarthey. The task was long and arduous; on sundry occasions he was +forced to consult his predecessor on the arcana of landed estate +government, which he did with much simplicity, thereby giving Mr. +Landale, not only inwardly mocking satisfaction, but several +opportunities for the display of his self-effacing loyalty and +superior capacities.</p> + +<p>The business of this day was of sufficiently grave moment to make +interruption unwelcome—being nothing less than requests from a number +of tenants to the "Good Sir Adrian," "the real master come to his own +again"—for a substantial reduction of rent; a step towards which the +master's heart inclined, but which his sober reason<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> condemned as +preposterous. But René's countenance, as he entered, betrayed news of +such import that Sir Adrian instantly adjourned the matter on hand, +and, when the bailiff had retired, anxiously turned to the new-comer, +who stood in the doorway mopping his steaming brow.</p> + +<p>"Well, Renny," said he, "what is wrong? Nothing about your wife—?"</p> + +<p>"No, your honour," answered the man, "your honour is very good. +Nothing wrong with our Moggie. But the captain.... I ran all the way +from the Shearmans."</p> + +<p>"No accident there, I hope."</p> + +<p>"I fear there is, your honour. The captain—he has been attacked this +morning."</p> + +<p>"Not wounded—!" exclaimed Sir Adrian. "Not dead, Renny?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no, your honour, well. But he has, I fear, killed one of the men +... the revenue men—"</p> + +<p>Then, seeing his master start aghast, he went on rapidly;</p> + +<p>"At least he is very bad—but what for did he come to make the spy +upon our island? We have left him at the Shearmans—the mother +Shearman will nurse him. But the captain, your honour"—the speaker +lowered his voice to a whisper and advanced a step, looking +round—"that is the worst of all, the captain has turned mad, I +believe—Instead of going off with his ship and his crew, (they are +safe out to sea, as they should be) he remains at Scarthey. Yes—in +your honour's rooms. He is walking up and down and clutching his hair +and talking to himself, like a possessed. And when I respectfully +begged him to consider that it was of the last folly his having rested +instead of saving himself, I might as well have tried to reason a +mule. And so, knowing that your honour would never forgive me if +misfortune arrived, I never drew breath till I reached here to tell +you. If his honour would come himself he might be able to make Mr. his +friend hear reason—Your honour will run no risk, for it is only +natural that you should go to the peel after what has occurred—but if +you cannot get Mr. the captain to depart this night, there will arrive +to us misfortune—it is I who tell you so."</p> + +<p>"I will go back with you, at once," said Sir Adrian, rising much +perturbed. "Wait here while I speak to Lady Landale."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p> + +<p>Molly was standing by the great log fire in the hall, yawning fit to +dislocate her pretty jaws, and teasing the inert form of old Jim, as +he basked before the flame, with the tip of her pretty foot. She +allowed her eyes to rest vaguely upon her husband as he approached, +but neither interrupted her idle occupation nor endeavoured to +suppress the yawn that again distended her rosy lips.</p> + +<p>He looked at her for a moment in silence; then laying a hand upon her +shoulder, said gently: "My child, I am called back to Scarthey and +must leave instantly. You—you will be careful of yourself—amuse +yourself during my absence—it may be for two or three days."</p> + +<p>Lady Landale raised her black brows with a fine air of interrogation, +and then gazed down at the old dog till the lashes swept her cheek, +while a mocking dimple just peeped from the corner of her mouth and +was gone again. "Oh yes," she answered drily, "I shall take endless +care of myself and amuse myself wildly. You need have no fear of +that."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian sighed, and his hand fell listless from her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, then," he said, and stooped it seemed hesitatingly to lay +his lips between the little dark tendrils of hair that danced upon her +forehead. But with a sudden movement she twitched her face away. +"Despite all the varied delights which bind me to Pulwick," she +remarked carelessly, "the charms of Sophia and Rupert's company, and +all the other <i>amusements</i>—I have a fancy to visit your old owl's +nest again—so we need not waste sentiment upon a tender parting, need +we?"</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian's cheek flushed, and with a sudden light in his eyes he +glanced at her quickly; but his countenance faded into instant +melancholy again, at sight of her curling lip and cold amused gaze.</p> + +<p>"Will you not have me?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"If you will come—you will be welcome—as welcome," his voice shook a +little, "as my wife must always be wherever I am."</p> + +<p>"Ah—oh," yawned Lady Landale, "(excuse me pray—it's becoming quite +an infirmity) so that is settled. I hope it will storm to-night, that +the wind will blow and howl—and then I snuggle in the feather bed in +that queer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> old room and try and fancy I am happy Molly de Savenaye +again."</p> + +<p>Adrian's lip quivered; yet in a second or two he spoke lightly. "I do +not want to hurry you, but I have to leave at once." Then struck by a +sudden thought, by that longing to bring pleasure to others which was +always working in him, "Why not let Madeleine come with you too?" he +asked, "she could share your room, and—it would be a pleasure to her +I think." He sighed as he thought of the trouble in store for the +lovers.</p> + +<p>Lady Landale grew red to the roots of her hair and shot a look of +withering scorn at her husband's unconscious face. "It would be +charming," she said, sarcastically, "but after all I don't know that I +care to go so much—oh, don't stare at me like that, for goodness' +sake! A woman may change her mind, I suppose—at least, in a trifle +here and there if she can't as regards the whole comfort of her +life.—Well, well, perhaps I shall go—this afternoon—later—you can +start now. I shall follow—I can always get a boat at the Shearmans. +And I shall bring Madeleine, of course—it is most kind and thoughtful +of you to suggest it. <i>Mon Dieu</i>, I have a husband in a thousand!"</p> + +<p>She swept him a splendid curtsey, kissed her hand at him, and then +burst out laughing at the pale bewilderment of his face.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>When Sir Adrian returned to the morning-room, he found René, half +hidden behind the curtain folds, peering curiously out of the window +which overlooked the avenue. On his master's entrance, the man turned +his head, placed his finger on his lip, and beckoned him to approach. +"If I may take the liberty," said he with subdued voice, "will his +honour come and look out, without showing himself?"</p> + +<p>And he pointed to a group, consisting of Mr. Landale and two men in +blue jackets and cockaded hats of semi-naval appearance, now slowly +approaching the house. Mr. Landale was listening with bent head, +slightly averted, to the smaller of his two companions—a stout +square-looking fellow, who spoke with evident volubility, whilst the +other followed defferentially one pace in rear. Presently the trio +halted, a few yards from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> entrance, and Mr. Landale, cutting +designs upon the sand with the end of his stick in a meditative way, +appeared to be giving directions at some length, on the conclusion of +which the two men, touching their hats with much respect, departed +together, while the magistrate pensively proceeded on his way to the +house.</p> + +<p>"Those, your honour," said René, "were with him that was struck in the +fight this morning. It was I rowed them over, together with the +wounded. I left them at the Shearmans, and slipped away myself to +carry the news. If I might take upon myself to advise, it would be +better if your honour would come with me now, at once, for fear Mr. +Landale should delay us by questioning me—Mr. Landale being a +magistrate, as I heard these men say; and Moggie has assured me that +he always arranges himself for knowing when I arrive from the +island—ever since the day when the demoiselles had just come, and I +found it out. Ever since then he has not liked me, Mr. Landale. Come +away, your honour, before he finds out I have been here to-day."</p> + +<p>Following upon this advice, which he found to the point, Sir Adrian +left his house by a back passage; and, through a side garden, found +his way to the coast and to the fishing village.</p> + +<p>The wounded man who had not recovered consciousness, lay in the +brother Shearman's hut, as René had said, surrounded by such uncouth +attendance as the rude fisherfolk could dispense. After giving +directions for the summoning of medical aid and the removal, if it +should prove advisable, of the patient to the Hall, but without a +single comment upon the unfortunate occurrence, Sir Adrian then took +the road of the peel.</p> + +<p>During the transit, walking rapidly by his master's side, across the +now bare causeway, René gave his account of events.</p> + +<p>The captain (he related) after three days' absence had re-appeared the +night before the last, and requested him to warn the womankind not to +be alarmed if they heard, as no doubt they would, strange noises on +the beach at night. He was, said he, storing provisions and water for +the forthcoming journey, and the water in the well was so excellent +that he had determined to take in his store. Of course his honour +understood well that René<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> did not concern himself in these matters; +but that was the explanation he conveyed to his wife, lest she should +be alarmed and wonder. As for the old mother, she was too deaf to be +awakened out of sleep by anything short of the trumpet of the last +judgment.</p> + +<p>As announced, there had been during the night the noise of a party of +men landing, of the hoisting and rolling of barrels—a great +<i>remue-ménage</i> altogether—and the next morning, that was yesterday, +the captain had slept sound in his bunk till late.</p> + +<p>During several hours of the following day, he had some secret work to +do in the caves of which René had shown the ins and outs, and whilst +so engaged had requested that watch should be kept from the +light-tower, and message sent by some arranged signal should any one +approach the island. But no one had come near. Whilst at his post, the +watcher had heard at different times the sound of hammering; and when +the captain had come to relieve him, the good gentleman was much +begrimed with dust and hot with work, but appeared in excellent +humour. In the castle, he sang and whistled for joyfulness, and made +jokes with Moggie, all in his kind way, saying that if he were not to +be married himself soon, he would feel quite indignant and jealous at +the happiness of such a rascal as her husband.</p> + +<p>Oh! he was happy—Monsieur the Captain—he had brought Moggie a +beautiful shawl; and to René, he had given a splendid watch, telling +him to keep count of the hours of his unmerited bliss. Alas, this +morning all had been different indeed! The captain looked another man; +his face was as white as linen. The very look of him would have told +any one that a misfortune had occurred. René did not quite understand +it himself, but this is what had taken place:</p> + +<p>The captain had left Scarthey on foot late in the evening, and when he +returned (he was not long away) he bade René again not to mind what he +heard during the night; and, in faith, once more there had been a real +noise of the devil; men coming to and fro, a deal of rowing on the +water, away and back again, in the early night and then once more +before dawn.</p> + +<p>"But I was not unquiet," said René, "I knew they had come for the +remainder of what Mr. Smith was pleased<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> to call his provisions. From +our room I could see by the light on the stairs that the lamp was +burning well, and Moggie slept like a child, so sound, she never +moved. Just before the rising sun, I had got up and put out the lamp, +and was going to bed again, when there came thumps of the devil at the +lower door. Well knowing that the captain had his own way of +entering—for he had spent many days in finding out all sorts of droll +passages in the ruins—I was quite seized; and as I hurried down, the +thumps came again and great cries for the lighthouse-keeper. And, your +honour, when I unbarred the door, there was a man in uniform whom I +did not know, and he asked me, grumbling, if I knew of the pretty +doings on the beach, whilst I slept like pig, he said—Of course I +made the astonished as his honour may imagine: I knew nothing, had +heard nothing, though my heart was beating like to burst not knowing +what was coming. Then he ordered me to lend a hand and bring a ladder +to carry away one of his men who had been murdered by the smugglers, +he said. And there, on the sands, in front of the small cave was +another man, in a blue coat too, watching over the body of one who was +stretched out, quite tranquil, his face covered with blood and his +eyes closed. They are gone, says the gross man. And I was glad, as +your honour may well think, to see the chaloupe full of the captain's +men rowing hard towards the vessel. She had just come out of the river +mouth and was doubling round the banks. We carried the man on his +ladder to the kitchen and we and the women did all we could, but he +remained like a log. So after a time the two men (who said they had +come along the dyke soon after midnight, on foot, as they thought it +would be more secret, and had watched all night in the bent) wanted to +eat and drink and rest. They had missed their game, the big man said; +they had been sent to find out what sort of devil's tricks were being +played on in the island unbeknown to Sir Adrian;—but it was the +devil's luck altogether, for the smugglers had slipped away and would +not be seen in this part of the world again. That is the way the fat +man spoke. The other had nothing to say, but swallowed our bacon and +our beer as if he did not care. And then, your honour, they told me I +should have to lend them the yawl to go on land, and go myself to +help, and take the body with us. And as he was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> speaking, I saw Moggie +the wife, who had been backwards and forwards serving them, looking at +me very straight but without blowing a word, as if she had fear. And +all at once I felt there was something on foot. So I drew the men more +beer and said I would see after the yawl. Outside the door the wife +whispered: 'Upstairs, quick! Renny,' and she herself whisked back into +the kitchen so that she should not cause suspicion to those +others—Ah, your honour, that is a woman!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well," interrupted his master, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Well, I went upstairs, four by four; and there, in your honour's +room, without an attempt to conceal himself (when any moment it might +have entered into those brigands' heads downstairs to search the +place), there was Monsieur the Captain, raging up and down, like a +wolf in cage, as I had the honour to describe before. No wonder Moggie +was afraid for him. A woman is quick to feel danger ahead. He looked +at me as if he did not know me, his face all unmade. 'You know what +has happened;' he says. 'Am I not the most unfortunate...? All is +lost.' 'With respect,' says I; 'nothing is lost so long as life is +safe, but it is not a good thing Monsieur the Captain that you are +here, like this, when you should be on your good ship as many miles +away as she can make. Are you mad?' to him I say, and he to me, 'I +think I am.' 'At least let me hide you,' I beg of him, 'I know of many +beautiful places,' and so for the matter of that does he. But it was +all lost trouble. At length he sits down at the table and begins to +write, and his look brightens: 'You <i>can</i> help me, my good friend,' he +says; 'I have a hope left—who knows—who knows,'—and he writes a few +lines like an enraged and folds them and kisses the billet. 'Find +means,' says he, 'René, to get Johnny, the Shearman boy, to take this +to the old churchyard and place it in the place he knows of; or, +better still, should he chance upon Miss Landale to give it to her. He +is a sharp rogue,' says he, 'and I can trust his wits; but should you +not find him, dear René, you must do the commission for me yourself. +Now go—go,' he cries, and pushes me to the stairs. And, as I dared +remain no more, I had to leave him. Of course Monsieur the Captain has +not been here all this time without telling me of his hopes, and it is +clear that it is to bid farewell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> to Mademoiselle Madeleine that he is +playing with his life. It is as ill reasoning with a lover as a +lunatic: they are the same thing, <i>Ma foi</i>, but I trust to your honour +to bring him to his senses if any one can. And so, to continue, I went +down and I told the men in blue the boat was ready, we carried the +body; I left them at the Shearmans, as your honour knows. I found +Johnny and gave him the letter; he knew all about what to do, it +seemed. And then I came straight to the Hall."</p> + +<p>"It is indeed a miserable business!" said Sir Adrian.</p> + +<p>René heaved a great sigh of sympathy, as he noticed the increasing +concern on his master's face.</p> + +<p>"You heard them mention my brother's name?" inquired the latter, after +following the train of his misgivings for a few moments. "You have +reason to think that Mr. Landale knew of these men's errand; other +reason, I mean, than having seen them with him just now?"</p> + +<p>René's quick mind leaped at the meaning of the question:</p> + +<p>"Yes, your honour. 'Mr. Landale will want to know of this,' says the +fat one; 'though it is too late,' he says." And René added ruefully: +"I have great fear. The captain is not at the end of his pains, if Mr. +Landale is ranged against him!"</p> + +<p>Such was also Sir Adrian's thought. But he walked on for a time in +silence; and, having reached Scarthey, rapidly made his way into the +peel.</p> + +<p>Captain Jack was still pacing the room much as René had described when +Sir Adrian entered upon him. The young man turned with a transient +look of surprise to the new-comer, then waved away the proffered hand +with a bitter smile.</p> + +<p>"You do not know," he said, "who it is you would shake hands with—an +outlaw—a criminal. Ah, you have heard? Then Renny, I suppose, has +told you."</p> + +<p>"Yes," groaned the other, holding his friend by both shoulders and +gazing sorrowfully into the haggard face, "the man may die—oh, Jack, +Jack, how could you be so rash?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say how it all happened," answered Captain Jack, falling to +his walk to and fro again in the extremity of his distress, and ever +and anon mopping his brow. "I felt such security in this place. All +was loaded but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> last barrel, when, all of a sudden, from God knows +where, the man sprang on me and thrust his dark lantern in my face. +'It is Smith,' I heard him say. I do believe now that he only wanted +to identify me. No man in his senses could have dared to try and +arrest me surrounded by my six men. But I had no time to think then, +Adrian. I imagined the fellow was leading a general attack.... If that +last barrel was seized the whole secret was out; and that meant ruin. +Wholesale failure seemed to menace me suddenly in the midst of my +success. I had a handspike in my hand with which I had been helping to +roll the kegs. I struck with it, on the spur of the moment; the man +went down on the spot, with a groan. As he fell I leaped back, ready +for the next. I called out, 'Stretchers, lads; they want to take your +captain?' My lads gathered round me at once. But there was silence; +not another creature to be seen or heard. They set to work to get that +last blessed bit of cargo, the cause of all the misery, on board with +the rest; while I stood in the growing dawn, looking down at the +motionless figure and at the blood trickling into the sand, trying to +think, to settle what to do, and only conscious of one thing: the +intense wish that I could change places with my victim. Can you +wonder, Adrian, that my brain was reeling? You who know all, all this +means to me, can you wonder that I could not leave this shore—even +though my life depended on it—without seeing her again! Curwen, my +mate, came up to me at last, and I woke up to some sort of reason at +the idea that they, the crew and the ship, must be removed from the +immediate danger. But the orders I gave must have seemed those of a +madman: I told him to sail right away but to double back in time to +have the schooner round again at twelve noon to-day, and then to send +the gig's crew to pick me up on Pulwick sand. 'Life and death,' said I +to him, and he, brave fellow, 'Ay, ay, sir,' as if it was the most +simple thing in the world, and off with him without another word."</p> + +<p>"What imprudence, what imprudence!" murmured Sir Adrian.</p> + +<p>"Who knows? None will believe that I have not seized the opportunity +of making my escape with the others. The height of imprudence may +become the height of security. I have as yet no plan—but it will +come.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> My luck shall not fail me now! who knows: nothing perhaps is +damaged but an excise man's crown. Thank heaven, the wind cannot fail +us to-day."</p> + +<p>"But, meanwhile," urged Sir Adrian, quite unconvinced, highly +disturbed, "that treasure on board.... I know what has been your +motive, Jack, but indeed it is all nothing short of insanity, positive +insanity. Can you trust your men?"</p> + +<p>"I would trust them with my own secrets, willingly enough; but not +with those of other people. So they do not know what I have in those +barrels. Four thousand golden guineas in each...! No, the temptation +would be too terrible for the poor lads. Not a soul knows that, beyond +you and me. Curwen has charge of the cargo, such as it is. But I can +answer for it none of them will dream of tampering with the casks. +They are picked men, sober, trusty; who have fought side by side with +me. I am their best friend. They are mine, body and soul, I believe. +They do know there is some risk in the business, but they trust me. +They are sure of treble pay, and besides, are not troubled with +squeamishness. As for Curwen, he would go to hell for me, and never +ask a question. No, Adrian, the scheme was perfect, but for this +cursed blow of mine this morning. And now it is a terrible +responsibility," continued the young man, again wiping his forehead; +"every ounce of it weighs on my shoulders. But it is not that that +distracts me. Oh, Adrian ... Madeleine!"</p> + +<p>The elder man felt his heart contract at the utter despairing of that +cry.</p> + +<p>"When my handspike crashed on that damned interferer's skull," the +sailor went on, "I felt as if the blow had opened an unfathomable +chasm between her and me. Now I am felon—yes, in law, a felon! And +yet I am the same man as yesterday. I shall have to fly to-night, and +may never be able to return openly to England again. All my golden +dreams of happiness, of honour, vanished at the sound of that cursed +blow. But I must see her, Adrian, I <i>must</i> see her before I go. I am +going to meet her at noon, in the ruins of Pulwick."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" ejaculated the other aghast. "Listen, Jack, unfortunate +man! When I heard of the—the misfortune, and of your folly in +remaining, I instantly planned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> a last meeting for you. As it fell +out, my wife has a fancy to spend the night here: I have asked her to +bring her sister with her. But this inconceivably desperate plan of +leaving in your ship, in broad light of day, frustrates all I would +have done for you. For God's sake let us contrive some way of warning +the <i>Peregrine</i> off till midnight; keep hidden, yourself; do not +wilfully run your head into the noose!"</p> + +<p>But the young man had stopped short in his tramping, and stood looking +at his friend, with a light of hope flaming in his eye.</p> + +<p>"You have done that, Adrian! You have thought of that!" he repeated, +as if mechanically. A new whirlwind of schemes rushed through his +mind. For a while he remained motionless, with his gaze fixed on Sir +Adrian, putting order in his own thoughts with that genius of +precision and swiftness which, in strong natures, rises to meet a +crisis. Then advancing, and seizing him by both hands:</p> + +<p>"Adrian," he cried, in something more like his own voice, again, "I +shall yet owe my happiness to you, to this thought, this sublime +thought of your heart!"</p> + +<p>And, as Sir Adrian, astounded, unable to understand this extremity of +hopefulness, following upon the previous depth of misery, stared back +at him, speechless, the latter proceeded in still more surprising +fashion.</p> + +<p>"Now, you listen to me, this time. I have been selfish in running the +risk of having you mixed up in my dangerous affairs. But, God is my +witness, I acted under the belief that all was absolutely secure. Now, +however, you must do nothing more that might implicate you. Remember, +do nothing to let people suspect that you have seen me to-day. Renny, +too, must keep close counsel. You know nothing of my future movements. +Remain here for a while, do not even look out of the window.... I fear +we shall not meet for a long time. Meanwhile, God bless you—God bless +you!"</p> + +<p>After another wrench of the hands he held in his, the sailor released +them and fairly ran out of the room, without heeding his friend's +bewildered expostulations. At the door of the keep he met René again. +And after a brief but earnest colloquy, the man whose life was now +forfeit to the community and upon whose head there would soon be a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +price, was quietly walking along the causeway, making for the shore, +with the greatest apparent unconcern and deliberation.</p> + +<p>And whilst Sir Adrian, alone in his chamber, with his head resting +upon his hand, anxiously pondered upon the possible issues of this +nefarious day's doings, the sailor advanced, in broad daylight towards +the land to keep his appointment.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>A solitary speck of life upon the great waste, with the consciousness +of the precarious thread of chance upon which it hung! What wonder +that, for all his daring, the traveller felt, as he deliberately +regulated his pace to the most nonchalant gait, a frantic desire to +run forward, or to lie down! How many approach glasses might now be +laid, like so many guns, upon him from secret points of the coast +until he came within range of recognition; what ambushes those clumps +of gorse and juniper, those plantations of alders and young firs on +the bluffs yonder, might conceal? The eye could reach far and wide +upon the immense stretch of sand, along the desert coast; and his +solitary figure, moving upon the yellow strand was a mark for miles +around. Steadily, nevertheless did he advance; the very daring, the +unpardonable foolhardiness of the deed his safety. And yet the strain +was high. Were they watching the island? Among the eager crew, to each +of whom the capture might mean a splendid prize and chance of +promotion, was there one would have the genius of suddenly suspecting +that this foolhardy wayfarer might be the man they wanted and not +merely Sir Adrian returning on foot towards his home?... And then came +the answer of hopeful youth and hardy courage——.</p> + +<p>No. The preventive are a lubberly lot—It will require something +better than a water-guard to track and take Lucky Jack Smith!</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>But for all his assurance Lucky Jack Smith drew a long breath of +relief when he felt the shadow of Pulwick woods closing around him at +last.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></p> +<hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>THE DAY: NOON</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">There stood two men and they did point their fingers at that house.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">And on his finger one had blood; the other's finger shook.<br /></span> +<span class="i25"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Broken lengths of wall, a crumbling indication of the spring of once +exquisite arches, windows gaping darkly like the eye sockets of a +skull—this was all that was left of the old priory of Pulwick, whilom +proud seat of clerical power and learning. But the image of decay was +robbed of all melancholy by the luxuriance of climbing vegetation, by +the living screen of noble firs and larches arranged in serried ranks +upon the slopes immediately behind it, with here and there a rugged +sentinel within the ruinous yards and rooms themselves; by wild bushes +of juniper and gorse and brambles. And, with the bright noon sun +pouring down upon the worn red sandstone, and gilding the delicate +tassels of the larches' green needles; with the light of young love, +spreading glamour upon every leaf and stone, in the eyes of the +lovers, the scene, witness of so many sweet meetings, bore that day a +beautiful and home-like aspect.</p> + +<p>Captain Jack was standing upon the grass-grown floor of what had been +the departed monks' refectory, with ears eagerly bent to listen.</p> + +<p>Three ragged walls, a clump of fir trees, and a bank of brambles +screened him from any chance passer-by, and he now and again peered +through a crevice on to a path through the woods, cautiously, as if +fearful to venture forth. His face was pale beneath its tan, and had +none of its usual brightness; his attire for him was disordered; his +whole appearance that of a man under the pressure of doubt and +anxiety. Yet, when the sound of a light footfall struck among the +thousand whispering noises of wind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> and leaf that went to make up the +silence of the ruins, the glory of joy that lit up eye and lip left no +room for any other impression.</p> + +<p>Madeleine stood in the old doorway: a vision of beautiful life amid +emblems of decay and death.</p> + +<p>"I come alone to-day," she said, with her half-shy smile. And then, +before she could utter a further word of explanation, she was gathered +into her lover's strong arms with a passion he had never as yet shown +in his chivalrous relations with her. But it was not because they met +without the sympathetic rapture of Miss Landale's eye upon them; not +because there was no other witnesses but the dangling ivy wreath, the +stern old walls, the fine dome of spring sky faintly blue; not because +of lover's audacious joy. This Madeleine, feeling the stormy throbbing +of his heart against hers, knew with sure instinct. She pushed him +gently from her as soon as she could, the blushes chased from her +cheeks by pale misgivings, and looked at him with eyes full of +troubled questioning.</p> + +<p>Then he spoke, from his full heart:</p> + +<p>"Madeleine, something has happened—a misfortune, as I wrote to you. I +must now start upon my venture sooner than I thought—at once. I shall +have to <i>fly</i> in fact, to-day. There have been spies upon me, and my +secret trust is in danger. How they have tracked me, how suspicion has +been aroused, I cannot guess. But I have been tracked. A fellow came +at dawn. I had to defend my secret—the secret not my own, the charge +entrusted to me. The man was hurt. I cannot explain, dear love, there +is no time; even now I run the risk of my life by being here, and life +is so dear to me now, my Madeleine! Hush! No, do not be afraid! I am +afraid of nothing, so long as you trust me. Will you trust me? I +cannot leave you here behind; and now, with this cursed stroke of +ill-luck, this suspicion upon me, it may be long before I can return +to England. I cannot leave you behind, I cannot! Will you trust me, +Madeleine, will you come with me? We shall be married in France, my +darling. You should be as a queen in the guard of her most humble +slave. I am half mad to think I must go. Ah, kiss me, love, and say +yes! Listen! I must sail away and make believe that I have gone. My +<i>Peregrine</i> is a bird that none can overtake, but I shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> come back +to-night. Listen: If you will be on the island to-night—Sir Adrian is +there already, and I hear your sister is coming—a freak of fancy—and +he, God bless him, has told her to bring you too (it shows my luck has +not deserted me yet). I shall be there, unknown to all except Renny. I +cannot meet you nearer home, but you will be my own brave bride and +keep your own counsel. You will not be frightened, will you, my +beautiful love? All you have to do is to follow Renny's instructions. +My ship will be back, waiting, an hour after dark, ready, when you set +foot on it, to spread its wings with its treasures—treasures, indeed! +And then we shall have the world before us—riches, love, such love! +And once safe, I shall be free to prove to you that it is no common +blood I would mate with that dear and pure stream that courses in your +veins. You shall soon know all; will you trust me?"</p> + +<p>She hung upon his hot words, looking at him with loving, frightened +eyes. Now he gathered her to his arms again, again his bursting heart +throbbed its stormy passion to her ear. She was as one carried away by +a torrent against which resistance is useless. He bent his head over +her face; the scent of the bunch of violets in her breast rose +deliciously to his nostrils. Alas! Hubert Cochrane was not to reach +that kiss of acquiescence, that kiss from which it seemed that but so +small a fraction of space and time divided him! Some one, who had +stepped along in the shadow as silently as a cat coming upon a bird, +clapped here a hand upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Who are you, sir, and what do you want?" exclaimed Captain Jack, +wrenching himself free, falling back a pace and measuring the +new-comer from head to foot with furious glances, while, with burning +blushes Madeleine faltered:</p> + +<p>"Rupert!"</p> + +<p>Nothing awakens anger in hot blood sooner than an unsanctioned touch. +In certain moods the merest contact is as infuriating as a blow. Such +an insult, added to the irreparable injury of interrupting their +meeting at the most exquisite and crucial moment, drove Captain Jack +beside himself with rage.</p> + +<p>But Madeleine's hand was still on his arm. She felt it suddenly harden +and twitch with murderous anger.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> But, by an effort that made the +veins of his temple swell like whipcord, he refrained from striking +the double offender.</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale surveyed the pair for a moment in silence with his grave +look; then coldly he answered the sailor's irate speech.</p> + +<p>"My name, fellow, is Rupert Landale. I am here to protect my cousin +from an unprincipled and criminal adventurer."</p> + +<p>"You take a sharp tone sir," cried Captain Jack, the flush on his face +deepening yet a shade, his nostrils ominously dilated, yet speaking +without further loss of self-control. "You probably count upon the +presence of this lady to prevent my resenting it; but as my time with +her is short and I have still much to say, I shall be forced promptly +to eject you from the ruins here, unless you will be good enough to +immediately remove yourself. I shall hope for another meeting with you +to discuss the question as to your right of interference; but +to-day—I cannot spare the time."</p> + +<p>Rupert smiled without moving; then the sailor gently disengaging +himself from Madeleine would have put her behind him but that she +pressed forward and laid a hand upon an arm of each of the men.</p> + +<p>"Stay, Jack," she pleaded, "let me speak. There is some mistake here. +Cousin Rupert, you cannot know that I am engaged to this gentleman and +that he is a friend of your brother's as well as of other good friends +of mine."</p> + +<p>"My poor child," answered Rupert, closing a cold hand gently over hers +and speaking with a most delicate tenderness of accent, "you have been +grossly imposed upon, and so have others. As for my poor brother +Adrian, he is, if anything, easier to deceive than you, innocent +convent-bred girl! I would have you to go home, my dear, and leave me +to deal with this—gentleman. You have bitter truths to learn; would +it not be better to wait and learn them quietly without further +scandal?"</p> + +<p>This was too much for Captain Jack, who fairly ground his teeth. +Rupert's honeyed tones, his grasp of Madeleine's hand were more +unbearable even than the words. He advanced upon the elder man and +seizing him by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> the collar whirled him away from the girl as easily as +a straw puppet.</p> + +<p>The fine gentleman of sensitive nerves and unworked sinews had no +chance against the iron strength of the man who had passed all the +years of virility fighting against sea and storm. The two faced each +other; Jack Smith, red and panting with honest rage, only the sense of +his lady's proximity keeping him from carrying his high-handed +measures a little further. Mr. Landale, livid, with eyes suddenly +black in their orbits, moistening his white lips while he quivered +from head to foot with a passion so tense that not even his worst +enemy could have attributed it to fear.</p> + +<p>An unequal match it would seem, yet unequal in a way that the young +man, in the conscious glory of his strength could not have conceived. +Madeleine neither screamed nor fainted; she had grown white, in +natural apprehension, but her eyes fixed upon her lover's face shone +with admiration. Mr. Landale turned slowly towards her.</p> + +<p>"Madeleine," he said, readjusting his stock and smoothing the folds of +his collar with a steadfast striving after coolness, "you have been +grossly deceived. The man you would trust with your life and honour is +a mere smuggler. He has no doubt told you fine stories, but if he has +given himself out for aught else he lied, take my word for it—he +lied. He is a common smuggler, and the vessel he would carry you away +in is packed with smuggled goods. To-day he has attacked and wounded +an officer, who, in the discharge of his duty, endeavoured to find out +the nature of his suspicious purpose. Your would-be lover's neck is in +danger. A felon, he runs the risk of his life every moment he remains +on land—but he would make a last effort to secure the heiress! Look +at him," his voice raising in spite of himself to a shriller +pitch—"he cannot deny it!"</p> + +<p>Madeleine gazed from one to the other. Her mind, never a very quick +one at decision, was too bewildered to act with clearness; moreover +with her education and ignorance of the world the indictment conveyed +no special meaning to her.</p> + +<p>But there was an agony of suspense and beseeching in the glance that +her lover cast upon her; and to that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> appeal she smiled proudly. Hers +were no true love, she felt, were its confidence shaken by the +slandering of anger. Then the thought of his danger, danger admitted +by his own lips, flashed upon her with terror. She rushed to him,</p> + +<p>"Oh go, Jack, go!—As you love me, go!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale, who had already once or twice cast impatient looks of +expectation through a window of the east wall, taken by surprise at +this unforeseen result of his speech, suddenly climbed up upon a +broken piece of stone-work, from which there was an abrupt descent +towards the shore, and began to signal in eager gesticulation. There +was a sound of heavy running footfalls without. Captain Jack raised +his head, every nerve on the alert.</p> + +<p>"Go, go," again cried Madeleine, dreading she knew not what.—A fat +panting red face looked over the wall; Mr. Landale turned for a second +to throw at the lovers a glance of elation.</p> + +<p>But it seemed as if the sailor's spirits rose at the breath of danger. +He rapidly looked round upon the ruins from which there were no other +outlets than the window guarded by Mr. Landale, and the doorway in +which the red-faced new-comer now stood, framed in red stone; then, +like a cat he darted on to the ledge of the wall at the opposite end, +where some invading boughs of larch dropped over the jagged crest, +before the burly figure in the blue coat of the preventive service had +recovered from the surprise of finding a lady in his way, or gathered +his wits and his breath sufficiently to interfere.</p> + +<p>There the nimble climber stood a moment balancing himself lightly, +though the ivied stones rocked beneath him.</p> + +<p>"I go, love," he cried in ringing voice, "but one word from you and I +go——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I trust you! I will trust you!" screamed the girl in despair, +while her fascinated gaze clung to the erect figure silhouetted +against the sky and the stout man looked up, open-mouthed. Mr. Landale +snarled at him:</p> + +<p>"Shoot, fool—shoot!" And straining forward, himself drew a pistol +from the man's belt, cocked it and thrust it into his grasp.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p> + +<p>Captain Jack kissed his hand to Madeleine with a joyful gesture, then +waved his hat defiantly in Rupert's direction, and with a spring +disappeared, just as the pistol cracked, drawing a shriek of terror +from the girl, and its bullet flattened itself against the upper stone +of the wall—considerably wide of the mark.</p> + +<p>"Come, this way——!" screamed Mr. Landale from his window sill, "you +have another!"</p> + +<p>But the preventive shook his head, and thrust his smoking barrel back +through his belt, with an air of philosophical resignation; and slowly +approaching the window, through which the fugitive could now be seen +steadily bowling down the seaward slope, observed in slow, fat tones:</p> + +<p>"Give you a hand, sir?"</p> + +<p>Rupert, thrusting his extended arm aside jumped down beside him as if +he would have sprung at his throat.</p> + +<p>"Why are you so late?—why have you brought no one with you? I gave +you notice enough. You fool! You have let him slip through your +fingers, now, after all! Couldn't you even shoot straight? Such a mark +as he made against the sky—Pah! well may the sailors say, lubberly as +a land preventive——!"</p> + +<p>"Why, there you are, Mr. Landale!" answered the man with +imperturbable, greasy good-humour. "The way you shoved that there +pistol into my hand was enough to put off anybody. But you country +magistrate gentlemen, as I have always said, you are the real sort to +make one do illegal actions with your flurry and your hurry over +everything. 'Shoot!' says you, and damme, sir, if I didn't shoot +straight off before I knew if I were on my head or on my heels. It's a +mercy I didn't hit the sweet young lady—it is indeed. And as for the +young gentleman, though to be sure he did show a clean pair of heels +at the sight of me, I had no proper time for i-dentification—no time +for i-den-ti-fi-cation, Mr. Landale, sir. So I say, sir, it's a mercy +I did not hit him either, now I can think of it. Ah, slow and sure, +that's my motter! I takes my man on his boat, in the very middle of +his laces and his brandy and his silk—I takes him, sir, in the very +act of illegality, red-handed, so to speak, and then, if he shows +fight, or if he runs away, then I shoots, sir, and then if I hits, why +it's a good job too—but none<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> of this promiscuous work for Augustus +Hobson. Slow and sure, that's my motter."</p> + +<p>The speaker who had been rolling a quid of tobacco in his mouth during +this exposition of policy, here spat emphatically upon the grass, and +catching Madeleine's abstracted eye, begged pardon for the liberty +with a gallant air.</p> + +<p>"Aye, so slow, man, that you are pretty sure to fail," muttered Mr. +Landale.</p> + +<p>"I knows my business, sir, meaning no offence," retorted Mr. Hobson +serenely. "When I has no orders I acts on regulation. I brought no one +with me because I had no one to bring, having sent, as per regulation, +my one remaining man to give notice to the water service, seeing that +that there schooner has had the impudence to come back, and is at this +very moment cruising quite happy-like just the other side of the bank; +though if ever their cutter overhauls her—well, I'm a Dutchman! You +might have done wiser, perhaps (if I may make so bold as to remark), +to leave the management of this business to them as understands such +things. As to being late, sir, you told me to be in the ruins at +twelve noon, and I beg to insinuate that it's only just past the hour +now."</p> + +<p>At this point the preventive man drew from his capacious breeches a +brass time-piece, of congenial stoutness, the face of which he turned +towards the magistrate.</p> + +<p>The latter, however, waved the proffered witness impatiently aside. +Furtively watching his cousin, who, leaning against the door-post, her +pale head thrown out in strong relief by the dark stones, stood as if +absolutely detached from her surroundings, communing over troubled +thoughts with her own soul, he said with deliberate distinctness:</p> + +<p>"But have I been misled, then, in understanding that you were with the +unfortunate officer who was so ferociously assaulted this morning? +that you and he did come upon this Captain Smith, red-handed as you +call it, loading or unloading his vessel on Scarthey Island?"</p> + +<p>"Aye, sir," rolled out the other, unctuously, "there you are again, +you see. Poor Nat Beavor, he was one of your hot-headed ones, and see +what it has brought <i>him</i> to—a crack in his skull, sir, so that it +will be days before he'll know himself again, the doctor says, if ever +he does<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> in this world, which I don't think. Ah, I says to him, when +we started in the dawn this morning agreeable to our arrangement with +you: 'For peeping and prying on the quiet without any running risks +and provoking others to break the law more than they're doing, I'm +your man,' says I; 'but as for attacking desperate individles without +proper warrant and authority, not to speak of being one to ten, I tell +you fair, Nat Beavor, I'll have nothing to do with it.' But Nat, he +went off his head, clean, at the sight of Captain Jack and his men a +trundling the little kegs down the sands, as neat and tidy as could +be; and so he cut out from behind the rocks, and I knew there was +mischief ahead! Ah, poor fellow, if he would only have listened to me! +I did my best for him, sir; started off to call up the other man, who +was on the other side of the ruins, as soon as I saw his danger, but +when I came back——"</p> + +<p>"The birds were flown, of course," interrupted Rupert with a sneer, +"and you found the body of your comrade who had been dastardly +wounded, and who, I hear, is dead now. So the villain has twice +escaped you. Cousin Madeleine," hastily breaking off to advance to the +girl, who now awakening from her reflective mood seemed about to leave +the ruins, "Cousin Madeleine, are you going? Let me escort you back."</p> + +<p>She slowly turned her blue eyes, burning upon him from her white face. +"Cousin Rupert, I do not want your company." Then she added in a +whisper, yet with a passion for which Rupert would never have given +her credit and which took him vastly by surprise, "I shall never +forgive you."</p> + +<p>"My God, Madeleine," cried he, with genuine emotion, "have I deserved +this? I have had no thought but to befriend you, I have opened your +eyes to your own danger——"</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue, sir," she broke in, with the same repressed anger. +"Cease vilifying the man I love. All your aspersions, your wordy +accusations will not shake my faith in him. <i>Mon Dieu</i>," she cried, +with an unsteady attempt at laughter, looking under her lashes and +tilting her little white round chin at Mr. Hobson, who, now seated +upon a large stone, and with an obtrusive quid of tobacco bulging in +an imperfectly shorn cheek, was mopping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> his forehead with a doubtful +handkerchief. "<i>That</i> is the person, I suppose, whose testimony I am +to believe against my Jack!"</p> + +<p>"Your Jack was prompt enough in running away from him, such as he is," +retorted her cousin bitterly. He could not have struck, for his +purpose, upon a weaker joint in her poor woman's armour of pride and +trust.</p> + +<p>She caught her breath sharply, as if indeed she had received a blow. +"Well, say your say," she exclaimed, coming to a standstill and facing +him; "I will hear all that you and your—your friend have to say, +lest," with a magnificent toss of her head, "you fancy I am afraid, or +that I believe one word of it all. I know that Jack—that Captain +Smith, as he is called—is engaged upon a secret and important +mission; but it is one, Rupert, which all English gentlemen should +wish to help, not impede."</p> + +<p>"Do you know what the mission is—do you know to whom? And if, my fair +cousin, it is such that all English gentlemen would help, why then +this secrecy?"</p> + +<p>She bit her lip; but it trembled. "What is it you accuse him of?" she +asked, with a stamp of her foot.</p> + +<p>"Listen to me," said Rupert gently, "it is the kinder thing that you +should know the truth, and believe me, every word I say I can +substantiate. This Captain Jack Smith, whatever his real name may be, +was picked up when a mere boy by an old Liverpool merchant, starving +in the streets of that town. This merchant, by name Cochrane, an +absurd person who gave himself out to be a relative of Cochrane of +Shaws, adopted the boy and started him upon a slaver, that is a ship +which does trade in negro slaves, my dear—a pretty trade. He next +entered a privateer's ship as lieutenant. You know what these +are—ocean freebooters, tolerated by government for the sake of the +harm they wreck upon the ships of whatever nation we may happen to be +at war with—a sort of pirate ship—hardly a much more reputable +business than the slaver's; but Captain Smith made himself a name in +it. Now that the war is over, he has taken to a lower traffic +still—that of smuggling."</p> + +<p>"But <i>what</i> is smuggling?" cried the girl, tears brimming up at last +into her pretty eyes, and all her heat of valiance suddenly gone. +"What does it mean?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is smuggling? Bless your innocence! I beg your pardon, my +dear—miss I should say—but if you'll allow <i>me</i> I think I'm the man +to explain that 'ere to you." The husky mellifluous tones of the +preventive-service man, who had crept up unnoticed to listen to the +conversation, here murmured insinuatingly in her ear.</p> + +<p>Rupert hesitated; then reading shrinking aversion upon Madeleine's +face, shrewdly conjectured that the exposition of her lover's doings +might come with more force from Mr. Hobson's lips than from his own, +and allowed the latter to proceed unmolested.</p> + +<p>"Smuggling, my pretty," wheezed the genial representative of the +custom laws, "again asking pardon, but it slipped out, smuggling is, +so to say, a kind of stealing, a kind of cheating and that of a most +rank and heinous kind. For, mind you, it ain't stealing from a common +man, nor from the likes of you and me, nor from a nobleman either: +it's cheating and stealing from his most gracious Majesty himself. For +see you, how 'tis, his Majesty he says, 'Every keg of brandy,' says +he, 'and every yard of lace and every pipe o' tobacco as is brought +into this here country shall be paid for, so much on, to me, and +that's called a tax, miss, and for that there are the custom houses +and custom officers—which is me—to see his Majesty paid right and +proper his lawful dues. But what does your smuggler do, miss—your +rollicking, dare-devil chap of a smuggler? Why he lands his lace and +his brandy and his 'baccy unbeknownst and sells 'em on the sly—and +pockets the profit! D'ye see?—and so he cheats his Majesty, which is +a very grievous breaking of the law; so much so that he might as well +murder at once—Kind o' treason, you may say—and that's what makes +'em such desperate chaps. They knows if they're caught at it, with +arms about them, and two or three together—it's—clank."</p> + +<p>Mr. Hobson grasped his own bull neck with an unpleasantly significant +gesture and winked knowingly at the girl, who turned white as death +and remained gazing at him with a sort of horrified fascination which +he presently noted with an indulgent smile.</p> + +<p>"Don't take on now, my lass—no offence, miss—but I can't bear to see +a fine young 'oman like you upset-like—I'm a damned, hem, hem, a real +soft hearted fellow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> Your sweetheart's heels have saved his gullet +this time—and though he did crack poor Nat upon the skull (as I can +testify for I as good as saw him do it—which makes it a hanging +matter twice over I won't deny), yet there's a good few such as him +escapes the law and settles down arter, quite respectable-like. A bit +o' smuggling now is a thing many a pretty fellow has taken to in his +day, and has made a pretty penny out of too, and is none the worse +looked to arter, as I said. Aye, and there's many a gentleman and a +magistrate to boot as drinks his glass of smuggled brandy and smokes +his smuggled baccy and finds them none the worse, oh dear no! Human +nature it is and human nature is a queer thing. Even the ladies, miss, +are well-known to be soft upon the smuggled lace: it's twice as cheap +you see as t'other, and they can get double as handsome for the money. +Begging your pardon—if I may make so bold—" stretching out a great, +coarse, tobacco-stained finger and thumb to close them appreciatively +upon the hanging lace of Madeleine's neck handkerchief, "may be your +spark brought you that there, miss, now? He, he, he—as pretty a bit +of French point it is as has ever been my fate to lay hands on—Never +fear," as the girl drew back with a gesture of loathing from the +contact. "I ain't agoing to seize it off you or take you up, +he—he—he—eh, Mr. Landale? I'm a man o' my duty, I hope, but our +orders don't run as far as that."</p> + +<p>"Rupert!" cried Madeleine, piteously turning a dark gaze of anguish at +him—it seemed as if she were going to faint.</p> + +<p>He hastened up to her, shouldering the clumsy form of Mr. Augustus +Hobson unceremoniously out of the way: the fellow had done his work +for the time being, and this last piece of it so efficaciously indeed +that his present employer felt, if not remorse, at least a certain +pity stir within him at the stricken hopelessness of the girl's +aspect. He passed his arm round her waist as she shivered and swayed. +"Lean on me," he said, his fine eyes troubled with an unwonted +softness and anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Rupert," she whispered, clutching at his sleeve, eagerly fixing him +with a look eloquent of unconscious pleading, "all these things +this—this man talks of are things which are brought into England—are +they not? I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> know that—<i>he</i> was bringing nothing into the country, +but he was going to another country upon some important trust, the +nature of which he had promised not to reveal. Therefore he cannot be +cheating the King, if that is smuggling—Oh Rupert, is there not some +grievous mistake?"</p> + +<p>"My poor child," said Rupert, holding her close and tenderly, and +speaking with a gentle gravity in which there was this time less +hypocrisy, "there is one thing which is smuggled out of England, and +it is as dishonest and illegal work as the other, the most daring and +dangerous smuggling of all in fact; one in which none but a desperate +man would engage—that of gold."</p> + +<p>"Yes, gold," exclaimed the girl sharply, withdrawing herself from her +cousin's arms, while a ray of intelligence and hope lit up her face. +"Gold for the French King's service."</p> + +<p>Rupert betrayed no emotion; he drew from the inner pocket of his coat +a crushed news-sheet.</p> + +<p>"Deceived there, as well as everywhere else, poor little cousin," he +said. "And did the scoundrel say so? Nay, he is a damnable scoundrel +who could betray your trustfulness to your own sweet face. Gold +indeed—but not for the King—gold for the usurper, for the tyrant who +was supplied already, no doubt, by the same or similar traitor hands +with enough to enable him to escape from the island where he was so +justly imprisoned. See here, Madeleine, Bonaparte is actually landed +in France: it has all been managed with the most devilish ingenuity +and takes the whole world by surprise. And your lover, doubtless, is +engaged upon bringing him fresh supplies to enable him to begin again +and rack humanity with hideous wars. Oh, he never told you of the +Corsican's escape, yet this news is three days old. See you, my dear, +this explains the whole mystery, the necessity for absolute secrecy; +all England is friendly to the French monarch; no need to smuggle gold +for his aid—but the other...! It is treason, the blackest treason on +every side of it, treason to his King, to his country, to <i>your</i> King, +to you. And he would have cozened you with tales of his loyalty to the +rightful cause!"</p> + +<p>"Give me the paper," said Madeleine. A tide of blood had swept into +her face; she was no longer white and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> shaken, but erect and beautiful +in strong indignation. Rupert examined her, as if a little doubtful +how to take the sudden change; but he handed her the printed sheet in +silence. She read with lips and nostrils expanded by her quick +breathing; then crumpled up the sheet and cast it at his feet. And +after a pause, with her princess air of dignity, "I thank you, cousin +Rupert," she said; then, passing him with stately steps, moved towards +the house.</p> + +<p>He pressed forward to keep up with her; and upon the other side, +smiling, irrepressible, jocose, Mr. Hobson did the same.</p> + +<p>"You are not fit to go alone," urged the former, while the latter +engagingly protruding an elbow, announced that he'd be proud to give +her an arm as far as the Hall.</p> + +<p>She drew away from this well-meaning squire of dames with such +shuddering distaste, and looked once more so white and worn and +sickened after her sudden blaze of passion, that Mr. Landale, seeing +that the only kindness was to let her have her will, arrested his +companion roughly enough, and allowed her to proceed as she wished.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>And so, with bent head, Madeleine hurried forth. And the same glorious +sun smiled down upon her in her anguish that had greeted her when she +hastened an hour before glowing and light-hearted—if, indeed, a heart +so full of love could be termed light—to meet her lover; the same +brambles caught her dress, the same bird trilled his song. But +Madeleine thought neither of ray nor leaf, nor yet of mating +songsters: all the spring world, as she went, was to her strewn with +the wreck of her broken hopes, and encompassed by the darkness of her +lonely future.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Mr. Landale and the preventive service man stood some time watching +her retreating figure through the wood, and then walked slowly on for +a while, in silent company.</p> + +<p>Presently the latter, who during the last part of the interview, had +begun to feel a little ruffled by the magistrate's persistently +overbearing manner, inquired with something of dudgeon in his voice: +"Begging your pardon, sir, what was that I heard the young lady call +out just now? 'Gold!' she cries. Is it guineas that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> nipping young man +is a taking over seas, if I may make so bold? Now you see, sir, we +haven't had no orders about no gold on this station—that sort of +thing is mostly done down south. But what I wants to know is: Why, if +you knew all about the fellow's little games, you sent us to spy on +him? Ah, poor Nat would want a word or two with you on that score, I +fancy! Now it's as plain as Salisbury...."</p> + +<p>"But I know nothing certain," impatiently interrupted Mr. Landale. "I +know no more than you do yourself. Only not being a perfect idiot, I +can put two and two together. What in the name of goodness can a man +smuggle <i>out</i> of England but gold? But I wanted the proofs. And your +business, it was agreed with the Chief Officer, was to follow my +instructions."</p> + +<p>"And so we did," grumbled Mr. Hobson; "and a pretty business it's +turned out! Nat's to pocket his bludgeoning, I suppose, and I am to +bear the blame and lose my share. A cargo of guineas, by God! I might +have nosed it, down south, but here.... Blast it! But since you was so +clever over it, sir, why in blazes—if I may speak so to a gentleman +and a magistrate," pursued the man with a rueful explosion of disgust, +"didn't you give <i>me</i> the hint? Why, guineas is contraband of +war—it's treason, sir—and guineas is a cargo that's <i>fought</i> for, +sir! I shouldn't have moved with two men in a boat patrol, d'ye think? +I should have had the riding officers, and the water-guard, and a +revenue cruiser in the offing, and all tight and regular. But you +<i>would</i> have all the credit, and where are you? and <i>where's</i> my +share? and where is Nat?—Bah!"</p> + +<p>"You are forgetting yourself, officer," said Mr. Landale, looking +severely into the eyes of the disappointed preventive man, whose +rising ebullition became on the instant reduced.</p> + +<p>"So I am, sir, so I am—and beg your pardon. But you must admit, it's +almost enough to make ... but never mind, sir, the trick is done. +Whatever it may be that that there schooner carries in her bottom, she +is free now to take it, barring accident, wherever she pleases. I'll +trouble you to look this way, sir."</p> + +<p>They had emerged from the wooded part of the park, and the rising +ground on which they stood commanded a wide sea-view, west of the +great bay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There she is again, sir," said Mr. Hobson, waving his broad paw, like +a showman displaying his goods, with a sort of enraged +self-satisfaction. "There is the schooner, ready to hoist sail as soon +as he comes alongside. And that there black point which you may see, +if your eyes are good enough, is a six-oared galley with as +ship-shaped a crew—if it's the same as I saw making off this +morning—as ever pulled. Your Captain Smith, you may take your oath, +is at the tiller, and making fun of us two to the lads. In five +minutes he will be on board, and then the revenue cutter from the +station may give chase if she likes!... And there she is, due to the +time—about a mile astern. But bless you, that's all my eye, you may +take your oath! They know well enough that in an open sea they can't +run down a Salcombe schooner. But to earn their pay they will hang on +till they lose her, and then sail home, all cosy.—I'm thinking," he +added slily, with a side glance at the magistrate: "we won't hang him +<i>this</i> time."</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale made no answer; during the last few minutes his +reflections had enabled him to take a new view of the situation. After +all the future fate of Captain Jack was of little moment. He had been +successfully exposed before Madeleine, whose love for the young man +was, as had just been sufficiently proved, chiefly composed of those +youthful illusions which dispelled once, never can return.</p> + +<p>Rupert fell gradually into a reverie in which he found curious +satisfaction. His work had not been unsuccessful, whatever Mr. +Hobson's opinion might be. But, as matters stood between Madeleine and +her lover, the girl's eyes had been opened in time, and that without +scandal.... And even the escape of Captain Jack was, upon reflection, +the best thing that could have happened.</p> + +<p>And so it was with a return to his usual polite bearing, that he +listened to the officer's relapse into expostulation.</p> + +<p>"Now if you had only given me the hint first of all," the man was +grumblingly saying, "and then let me act—for who would have suspected +a boat, yacht-rigged like that?—A friend of Sir Adrian's, too! If +you'd only left it to me! Why that six-oared galley alone is agin the +law unless you can prove good reason for it ... as for the vessel +herself...."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear Mr. Hobson," interrupted Mr. Landale,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> smiling +propitiously. "I have no doubt you would have secured him. I have made +a mess of it. But now you understand, least said, soonest mended, both +for me and (between ourselves, Mr. Hobson) for the young lady."</p> + +<p>The man, in surprise at this sudden alteration of manner, stopped +short and gaped; and presently a broad smile, combined with a knowing +wink, appeared on his face. He received the guineas that Mr. Landale +dropped in his palm with an air of great candour, and, without further +parley, acted on the kind advice to repair to the Priory and talk with +one Mrs. Puckett the housekeeper, on the subject of corporeal +refreshment.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>"Well," said Molly, bursting in upon her sister, who sat by her +writing-table, pen in hand, and did not even raise her head at the +unceremonious entrance. "This is evidently the day for mysterious +disappearances. First Rupert and Sophia; then my lord and master who +is fetched hurriedly to his island (that isle of misfortune!) God +knows for what—though <i>I</i> mean to know presently; then you, +Mademoiselle, and Rupert again. It is, faith, quite a comedy. But the +result has been that I have had my meals alone, which is not so gay. +Sophia is in bed, it turns out; Rupert out a-riding, on important +business, of course! all he does is desperately important. And there +you are—alone in your room, moping. God, child, how pale you are! +What ails you then?"</p> + +<p>"Molly," cried Madeleine, ignoring Lady Landale's question and +feverishly folding the written sheet which lay under her hand, "if you +love me, if ever you loved me, will you have this letter conveyed by a +safe messenger to Scarthey, and given to René—to none but René, at +once? Oh, Molly, it will be a service to me, you little guess of what +moment!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Voyez un peu!</i>" said Lady Landale coolly. "What trust in Molly, all +at once! Aha, I thought it would come. If I love you? Hum, I'm not so +sure about that. If ever I loved you?—a droll sort of plea, in truth, +considering how you have requited my love!"</p> + +<p>Madeleine turned a dazed look upon her sister, who stood surveying +her, glowing like a jewel of dazzling radiance, from her setting of +black mantle and black plumed hat. "So you will not!" she answered +hopelessly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> and let her forehead fall upon her hand without further +protest.</p> + +<p>"But I did not say I would not—as it happens I am going to the island +myself. How you stare—oh you remember now do you? Who told you I +wonder?—of course, such a couple as we are, Adrian and I, could not +be divided from each other for over half a day, could we? By the way, +I was to convey a gracious invitation to you too. Will you come with +me?—No?—strange girl. So even give me the letter, I will take it +to—no, not to René, 'tis addressed to Captain Smith, I see. Dear +me—you don't mean to say, Madeleine, that you are corresponding with +that person; that he is near us? What would Tanty say?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Molly, cease your scoffs," implored poor Madeleine, wearily. "You +are angry with me, well, now rejoice, for I am punished—well +punished. Oh, I would tell you all but I cannot! my heart is too sick. +See, you may read the letter, and then you will understand—but for +pity's sake go—Do not fail to go; he will be there on the island at +dark—he expects <i>me</i>—Oh, Molly! I cannot explain—indeed I cannot, +and there is no time, it will soon be dusk; but there is terrible +danger in his being there at all."</p> + +<p>Molly took the letter, turned it over with scornful fingers and then +popped it in her pocket. "If he expects you," she asked, fixing cold, +curious eyes on her sister's distress, "and he is in danger, why +<i>don't</i> you go?"</p> + +<p>A flush rose painfully to Madeleine's face, a sob to her throat. +"Don't ask me," she murmured, turning away to hide her humiliation. "I +have been deceived, he is not what I thought."</p> + +<p>Lady Landale gazed at the shrinking figure for a little while in +silence. Then remarking contemptuously: "Well you are a poor +creature," turned upon her heel to leave her. As she passed the little +altar, she paused to whisk a bunch of violets out of a vase and dry +the stems upon her sister's quilt.</p> + +<p>"Molly," cried Madeleine, in a frenzy, "give me back my letter, or +go."</p> + +<p>"I go, I go," said Lady Landale with a mocking laugh. "How sweet your +violets smell!—There, do not agitate yourself: I'm going to meet your +lover, my dear. I vow I am curious to see the famous man, at last."</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE NIGHT</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">So the blood burned within her,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">And thus it cried to her:<br /></span> +<span class="i8">And there, beside the maize field<br /></span> +<span class="i8">The other one was waiting—<br /></span> +<span class="i10">He, the mysterious one.<br /></span> +<span class="i20"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>The mantle of night had already fallen upon the land when Lady +Landale, closely wrapped in her warmest furs, with face well ensconced +under her close bonnet, and arms buried to the elbow in her muff, +sallied from her room on the announcement that the carriage was +waiting. As, with her leisurely daintiness, she tripped it down the +stairs, she crossed Mr. Landale, and paused a moment, ready for the +skirmish, as she noticed the cynical curiosity with which he examined +her.</p> + +<p>"Whither, my fair sister," said he, ranging himself with his best +courtesy against the bannisters, "so late in the day?"</p> + +<p>"To my lord and master's side, of course," said Molly.</p> + +<p>"Why—is not Adrian coming back to-night?"</p> + +<p>"Apparently not, since he has graciously permitted me to join him upon +his rock. I trust you will not find it too unhappy in our absence: +that would be the crowning misfortune of a day when everything seems +to have gone wrong. Sophia invisible with her vapours; Madeleine with +the megrim; and you in and out of the house as excited and secret as +the cat when she has licked all the cream. I suppose I shall end by +knowing what it is all about. Meanwhile I think I shall enjoy the +tranquillity of the island—although I have actually to tear myself +away from the prospect of a tête-à-tête evening with you."</p> + +<p>But as Rupert's serenity was not to be moved, her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> ladyship hereupon +allowed herself to be escorted to the carriage without further parley.</p> + +<p>As she drove away through the dark night, first down the level, +well-metalled avenue, then along the uneven country road, and finally +through the sand of the beach in which hoofs and tyres sank +noiselessly, inches deep, Molly gave herself up, with almost childish +zest to the leaven of imagination.... Here, in this dark carriage, was +reclining, not Lady Landale (whose fate deed had already been signed, +sealed and delivered to bring her nothing but disappointment), but her +happier sister, still confronted with the fascinating unknown, +hurrying under cover of night, within sound of the sea, to that +enthralling lure, a lover—a real lover, ardent, daring, <i>young</i>, +ready to risk all, waiting to spread the wings of his boat, and carry +her to the undiscovered country.</p> + +<p>Glowing were these fleeting images of the "might have been," angry the +sudden relapses into the prose of reality.</p> + +<p>No, Madeleine, the coward, who thought she had loved her lover, was +now in her room, weak and weeping, whilst he, no doubt, paced the deck +in mad impatience (as a lover should), now tortured by the throes of +anxiety, now hugging himself with the thought of his coming bliss ... +that bliss that never was to be his. And in the carriage there was +only Molly, the strong-hearted but the fettered by tie and vow, the +slave for ever of a first girlish fancy but too successfully +compassed; only Lady Landale rejoining her husband in his melancholy +solitude; Lady Landale who never—never! awful word! would know the +joys which yonder poor fool had had within her grasp and yet had not +clutched at.</p> + +<p>Molly had read, as permitted, her sister's letter, and to some +purpose; and scorn of the girl who from some paltry quibble could +abandon in danger the man she professed to love, filled her soul to +the exclusion of any sisterly or ever womanly pity.</p> + +<p>At the end of half an hour the carriage was stopped by the black +shadow of a man, who seemed to spring up from the earth, and who, +after a few rapid words interchanged with the coachman, extinguished +both the lights, and then opened the door.</p> + +<p>Leaning on the offered elbow Molly jumped down upon the yielding +sand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span></p> + +<p>"René?" she asked; for the darkness even on the open beach was too +thick to allow of recognition.</p> + +<p>"René, your ladyship—or Mademoiselle is it?" answered the man in his +unmistakable accent. "I must ask; for, by the voice no one can tell, +as your ladyship, or Mademoiselle knows—and the sky is black like a +chimney."</p> + +<p>"Lady Landale, René," and as he paused, she added, "My sister would +not come."</p> + +<p>"Ah, <i>mon Dieu</i>! She would not come," repeated the man in tones of +dismay; and the black shadow was struck into a moment of stillness. +Then with an audible sigh Mr. Potter roused himself, and saying with +melancholy resignation, "The boat is there, I shall be of return in a +minute, My Lady," took the traveller's bag on his shoulder and +disappeared.</p> + +<p>The carriage began to crunch its way back in the darkness and Molly +was left alone.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>In front of her was a faint white line, where the rollers spread their +foam with mournful restless fugue of long drawn roar and hissing sigh.</p> + +<p>In the distance, now and then glancing on the crest of the dancing +billows, shone the steady light of Scarthey. The rising wind whistled +in the prickly star-grass and sea-holly. Beyond these, not a sight, +not a sound—the earth was all mystery.</p> + +<p>Molly looked at the light—marking the calm spot where her husband +waited for her; its very calm, its familiar placidity, monotony, +enraged her; she hearkened to the splashing, living waves, to the +swift flying gusts of the storm wind, and her soul yearned to their +life, and their mysteriousness.</p> + +<p>What she longed for, she herself could not tell. No words can +encompass the desire of pent-up young vitality for the unknown, for +the ideal, for the impossible. But one thing was overpoweringly real: +that was the dread of leaving just then the wide, the open world whose +darkness was filled to her with living scenes of freedom and space, +and blood-stirring emotions; of re-entering the silent room under the +light; of consorting with the shadowy personality, her husband; of +feeling the web of his melancholy, his dreaminess, imprison as it were +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> wings of her imagination and the thoughtful kindness of his gaze, +paralyse the course of her hot blood through her veins.</p> + +<p>And yet, thither she was going, must be going! Ah Madeleine, fool—you +may well weep, yonder on your pillow, for the happiness that was yours +and that you have dropped from your feeble hands!</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>In a few minutes the black shadow re-appeared close to her.</p> + +<p>"If My Lady will lean on my shoulder, I shall lead her to the boat." +And after a few steps, the voice out of the darkness proceeded in +explanation: "I have not taken a lantern, I have put out those of the +carriage, for I must tell My Lady, that since what arrived this +morning, there may be <i>gabelous</i>—they call them the preventive +here—in every corner, and the light might bring them, as it does the +night papilions, and ... as I thought Mademoiselle was to accompany +you—they might have frightened her. These people want to know so +much!"</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of what has happened this morning, that you speak of +as if the whole world must know," retorted Lady Landale coolly. "You +are all hatching plots and sitting on secrets, but nobody confides in +me. It seems then, that you expected Mademoiselle, my sister, here for +some purpose and that you regret she did not come; may I ask for an +explanation?"</p> + +<p>A few moments elapsed before the man replied, and then it was with +embarrassment and diffidence: "For sure, I am sorry, My Lady ... there +have been misfortunes on the island this morning—nothing though to +concern her ladyship—and, as for Mademoiselle, mother Margery would +have liked to see her, no doubt ... and Maggie the wife also—and—and +no doubt also Mademoiselle would have liked to come.... What do I +know?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course!" said Molly with her little note of mocking laughter.</p> + +<p>Then again they walked a while in silence. As René lifted his mistress +in his arms to carry her over the licking hissing foam, she resumed: +"It is well, René, you are discreet, but I am not such a fool as +people seem to think. As for her, you were right in thinking that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +might easily be frightened. She was afraid even to come out!"</p> + +<p>René shoved his boat off, and falling to his sculls, suddenly relapsed +into the old vernacular: "<i>Ah Madame</i>," he sighed, "<i>c'est bien +triste—un gentilhomme si beau—si brave!</i>"</p> + +<p>During the crossing no further words passed between them.</p> + +<p>"So brave—so handsome?" The echo of the words came back to the woman +in every lap of the water on the sides of the boat, in every strain of +the oars.</p> + +<p>The keel ground against the beach, and René leaped out to drag the +boat free of the surf. As he did so, two blacker outlines segregated +themselves from the darkness and a rough voice called out, subdued but +distinct: "Savenaye, St. Malo!"</p> + +<p>"Savenaye, St. Malo!" repeated René, and helped Lady Landale to +alight. Then one of the figures darted forward and whispered a rapid +sentence in the Frenchman's ear. René uttered an exclamation, but his +mistress intervened with scant patience:</p> + +<p>"My good René," said she, "take the bag into the peel, and come back +for me. I have a message for these gentlemen."</p> + +<p>René hesitated. As he did so a rustle of anger shook the lady in her +silks and furs. "Do you hear me?" she repeated, and he could guess how +her little foot stamped the yielding sand.</p> + +<p>"<i>Oui, Madame</i>," said he, hesitating no longer. Immediately the other +two drew near. Molly could just see that they stood in all deference, +cap in hand.</p> + +<p>"Madam," began one of these in hurried words, "there is not a moment +to be lost: the captain had to remain on board."</p> + +<p>"What!" interrupted Lady Landale with much asperity, "not come in +person!" She had been straining her eyes to make out something of her +interlocutor's form, unable to reconcile her mind's picture with the +coarse voice that addressed her—And now all her high expectations +fell from her in an angry rush. "Have I come all this way to be met by +a messenger! Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"Madam," entreated the husky voice, "I am the mate of the <i>Peregrine</i>. +The captain has directed me to beg and pray you not to be afraid, but +to have good courage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> and confidence in us—the schooner is there; in +five minutes you can be safe on board. You see, madam," continued the +man with an earnestness that spoke well of his devotion, "the captain +found he couldn't, he dared not leave the ship—he is the only one who +knows the bearings of these waters here—any one of us might run her +on the bank, and where would we be then, madam, and you, if we were +found in daylight still in these parts?—'For God's sake, Curwen,' +says he, 'implore the lady not to be afraid and tell her to trust, as +she has promised,' so he says. And for God's sake, say I, madam, trust +us. In five minutes you will be with him? Say the word, madam, am I to +make the signal? There he is, eating his heart out. There are all the +lads ready waiting for your foot on the ladder, to hoist sail. No time +to lose, we are already behind. Shall I signal?"</p> + +<p>Molly's heart beat violently; under the sudden impulse, the +fascination of the black chasm, of the peril, the adventure, the +unfathomed, took possession of her, and whirled her on.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said.</p> + +<p>On the very utterance of the word the man, who had not yet spoken, +uncovered a lantern, held it aloft, as rapidly replaced it under his +coat, and moved away.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately, against the black pall, behind the dim line of +grey that marked the shore, suddenly sprang up three bright points in +the form of a triangle.</p> + +<p>It was as if all the darkness around had been filled with life; as if +the first fulfilment of those promises with which it had been drawing +this woman's soul was now held out to her to lure her further still.</p> + +<p>"See, madam, how they watch!—By your leave."</p> + +<p>And with no further warning, Molly felt herself seized with +uncompromising, but deferential, energy, by a pair of powerful arms; +lifted like a child, and carried away at a bear-like trot. By the +splashing she judged it was through the first line of breakers. Then +she was handed into another irresistible grasp. The boat lurched as +the mate jumped in. Then:</p> + +<p>"Now give way, lads," he said, "and let her have it. Those lights must +not be burning longer than we can help. Tain't wholesome for any of +us."</p> + +<p>And under the pulse of four willing pairs of arms the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> skiff, like a +thing of life, clove the black waters and rose to the billows.</p> + +<p>"You see, madam," explained the mate, "we could not do without the +lights, to show us where she lay, and give us a straight course. We +are all right so long as we keep that top 'un in the middle—but he +won't be sorry, I reckon, when he can drop them overboard. They can't +be seen from the offing yet, but it's astounding how far a light will +reach on a night like this. Cheerily, lads, let her have it!"</p> + +<p>But Molly heeded him not. She had abandoned herself to the thrilling +delight of the excitement. The die was cast—not by her own hand, no +one should be able to hold her responsible—she had been kidnapped. +Come what might she must now see the adventure out.</p> + +<p>The lights grew larger; presently a black mass, surmounted by a kind +of greyish cloud, loomed through the pitch of the night; and next it +was evident that the beacon was hanging over the side of a ship, +illuminating its jagged leaping water line.</p> + +<p>A voice, not too loud, yet, even through the distance, ringing clear +in its earnestness sounded from above. "Boat ahoy! what boat is that?"</p> + +<p>And promptly the helmsman by Molly's side returned: "Savenaye, St. +Malo."</p> + +<p>On the instant the lights went out. There was a creaking of block and +cordage, and new ghostly clouds rose over the ship—sails loosened to +the wind. As the skiff rowers came alongside, boat-hooks leaped into +action and gripped the vessel; an arm, strong as steel, was held out +for the passenger as she fearlessly put her foot on the ladder; +another, a moment later, with masterful tenderness bent round her +waist, and she was fairly lifted on board the <i>Peregrine</i>. But before +her foot touched the deck, she felt upon her lips, laid like a burning +seal, a passionate kiss; and her soul leaped up to it, as if called +into sudden life from slumber, like the princess of fairy lore. She +heard Madeleine's mysterious lover whisper in her ear: "At last! Oh, +what I have suffered, thinking you would not come!"</p> + +<p>From the warm shelter of her loosened cloak the violets in her bosom +sent forth a wave of sweetness.</p> + +<p>For a moment these two were in all creation alone to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> each other, +while in a circle the <i>Peregrine's</i> crew stood apart in respectful +silence: a broad grin of sympathy upon the mouth of every mother's +son.</p> + +<p>Released at last, Lady Landale took a trembling step on the deck. Into +what strange world had she come this night?</p> + +<p>The schooner, like a mettled steed whose head is suddenly set free, +was already in motion, and with gentle forward swaying leaps rising to +the wave and gathering speed under her swelling sails.</p> + +<p>Captain Jack had seized Molly's hand, and the strong clasp trembled +round the little fingers; he said no more to her; but, in tones +vibrating with emotion which all the men, now silently seeking their +posts in the darkness, could hear:</p> + +<p>"My lads," he cried, "the lady is safe with us after all. Who shall +say that your skipper is not still Lucky Smith? Thank you, my good +fellows! Now we have yet to bring her safe the other side. +Meanwhile—no cheering, lads, you know why—there is a hundred guineas +more among you the hour we make St. Malo. Stand to, every man. Up with +those topsails!"</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the last words been spoken when, from the offing, on the +wings of the wind, came a long-drawn hail, faint through the distance, +but yet fatally distinct: "Ahoy, what schooner is that?"</p> + +<p>Molly, who had not withdrawn her hand, felt a shock pass over Captain +Jack's frame. He turned abruptly, and she could see him lean and +strain in the direction of the voice.</p> + +<p>The call, after an interval, was repeated. But the outlook was +impenetrable, and it was weird indeed to feel that they were seen yet +could not see.</p> + +<p>Molly, standing close by his side, knew in every fibre of her own body +that this man, to whom she seemed in some inexplicable fashion already +linked, was strongly moved. Nevertheless she could hardly guess the +extremity of the passion that shook him. It was the frenzy of the +rider who feels his horse about to fail him within a span of the +winning post; of the leader whose men waver at the actual point of +victory. But the weakness of dismay was only momentary. Calm and +clearness of mind returned with the sense of emergency. He raised his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +night-glass, with a steady hand this time, and scanned the depth of +blackness in front of him: out of it after a moment, there seemed to +shape itself the dim outline of a sail, and he knew that he had waited +too long and had fallen in again with the preventive cutter. Then +glancing aloft, he understood how it was that the <i>Peregrine</i> had been +recognised.</p> + +<p>The overcast sky had partly cleared to windward during the last +minutes; a few stars glinted where hitherto nothing but the most +impenetrable pall had hung. In the east, the rays of a yet invisible +moon, edging with faint silver the banks of clouds just above the +horizon, had made for the schooner a tell-tale background indeed.</p> + +<p>On board no sound was heard now save the struggle of rope and canvas, +the creaking of timber and the swift plashing rush of water against +her rounded sides as she sped her course.</p> + +<p>"Madeleine," he said, forcibly controlling his voice, and bringing, as +he spoke, his face close to Molly's to peer anxiously at its +indistinct white oval, "we are not free yet; but in a short time, with +God's help, we shall have left those intermeddling fools yonder who +would bar our way, miles out of the running. But I cannot remain with +you a moment longer; I must take the helm myself. Oh, forgive me for +having brought you to this! And, should you hear firing, for Heaven's +sake do not lose courage. See now, I will bring you to your cabin; +there you will find warmth and shelter. And in a little while, a very +little while, I will return to you to tell you all is well. Come, my +dearest love."</p> + +<p>Gently he would have drawn her towards the little deck-cabin, guiding +her steps, as yet untutored to the motion of the ship, when out of the +black chasm, upon the weather bow of the <i>Peregrine</i>, leaped forth a +yellow tongue of light fringed with red and encircled by a ruddy +cloud; and three seconds later the boom of a gun broke with a dull, +ominous clangour above the wrangling of sea and wind. Molly +straightened herself. "What is that?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"The warning gun," he answered, hurriedly, "to say that they mean to +see who we are and that if we do not stop the next will be shotted. +Time presses, Madeleine, go in—fear nothing! We shall soon be on +their other side, out of sight in darkness again."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I shall stop with you. Let no thought of me hinder you. I am not +afraid. I want to see."</p> + +<p>At these words the lover was struck with a surprise that melted into a +proud and new joy. He had loved Madeleine for her woman's grace and +her woman's heart; now, he told himself, he must worship her also for +her brave soul. But this was no time for useless words. It was not +more unsafe for her on deck than in the cabin, and at the thought of +her beside him during the coming struggle the strength of a god rose +within him. "Come," he answered, briefly, and moved with her to the +helm which a sailor silently surrendered to him whilst she steadied +herself by holding to the binnacle—the only place on board at that +time where (from sheer necessity) any light had been allowed to +remain. It was faint enough, but the reflection from the +compass-board, as he bent to examine it, was sufficient to make just +visible, with a dim fantastic glow, the strong beauty of his face, and +put a flash into each wide dilated eye.</p> + +<p>And thus did Molly, for the first time, see Captain Jack.</p> + +<p>She sank down at the foot of the binnacle, her hands clasped round her +knees, as if hugging the new rapture as closely to her as she could. +And looking up at the alert figure before her which she now began to +discern more clearly under the lightening sky; at the face which she +divined, although she could only see the watchful gleam of the eyes as +now and again they sought her down in the shadow at his feet, she felt +herself kindle in answer to the glow of his glorious life-energy. They +were going, side by side, this young hero of romance and she, to fight +their way through some unknown peril!</p> + +<p>"Madeleine, my sweet bride, my brave love, they are about to fire +again, and this time you will hear the shot burring; but be not +afraid, it will strike ahead of us."</p> + +<p>Another flash sprang out of the night, much nearer this time, and +louder, for it belched forth a shot which ploughed its way in the +water across the schooner's bow.</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid," said Molly again; and she laughed a little fierce, +nervous laugh.</p> + +<p>"They are between us and the open sea. Thus far the luck is on their +side. Had you come but half an hour sooner, Madeleine, we should be +running as free as any king's ship. Now they think, no doubt, they +will drive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> me on to the sand; but," he tossed back his head with a +superb gesture; "there is no power from heaven or hell that can keep +me out of my course to-night."</p> + +<p>By this time the preventive cutter was faintly discernible two cables +length on the larboard bow. There came another hail—a loud, husky +bellow from over the water, "Schooner ahoy! Heave to, or we'll sink +you!"</p> + +<p>"Madeleine," said Captain Jack; "come closer to me, lie down, behind +me, quick—The next shot will be in my rigging. Heave to?—with my +treasures, my bride on board and a ten knot breeze...!" And he looked +down at Molly, laughing in his contempt. Then he shouted some order +which brought the <i>Peregrine</i> some points more off the wind, and she +bounded forward with renewed zest. "Sink us! Why don't you fire now, +you lubbers?" He glanced back over his shoulder to see the beacon of +Scarthey straight over the stern. "You have got us in line with the +light, and that's your last chance. In another minute I shall be past +you. Ah, I can see you now, my fine fellows!—Courage, Madeleine."</p> + +<p>To Molly, of course, his words conveyed no meaning, except that the +critical moment had come, that the ship which carried her flying upon +the water like a living thing, eager, yet obedient in all its motions +to the guiding will of the man beside her, was rushing to the fray. +The thought fired her soul, and she sprang up to look over the side.</p> + +<p>"What," she exclaimed, for the little cutter on close quarters looked +insignificant indeed by the side of the noble vessel that so +scornfully bore down on her. "Is that all!"</p> + +<p>"They have a gun, and we have none," answered Captain Jack. "Down, +Madeleine! down behind, in the name of God!"</p> + +<p>"Why should I crouch if you stand up?"</p> + +<p>The man's heart swelled within him; but as he looked with proud +admiration at the cloaked and hooded figure by his side, the cutter's +gun fired for the third time. With roar and hiss the shot came over +the bow of the schooner, as she dipped into the trough, and raking the +deck, crashed through her side on the quarter. Molly gave a shriek and +staggered.</p> + +<p>A fearful malediction burst from Captain Jack's lips: he left the +tiller and sprang to her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span></p> + +<p>One of the hands, believing his skipper to have been struck, ran to +the helm, and again put the vessel on her proper course which a few +moments later was to make her shoot past the revenue cutter.</p> + +<p>"Wounded, Madeleine! Wounded through my fault! By the living God, they +shall pay for this!"</p> + +<p>"Oh," groaned Molly, "something has cut me in the arm and shoulder." +Then rapidly gathering composure, "But it's not much, I can move it."</p> + +<p>At one glance the sailor saw from the position of the shot hole in the +vessel's side that the wound could only have been made by a splinter. +But the possibility of exposing his beloved to such another risk was +not to be borne—a murderous rush of blood flew to his brain.</p> + +<p>The cutter, perceiving the tactics of the swifter schooner, was now +tacking about with the intention of bringing the gun to bear upon her +once more as she attempted to slip by. But Captain Jack in his +new-fanned fury had made up his mind to a desperate cast of the die.</p> + +<p>"Starboard, hard a starboard," he called out in a voice that his men +had known well in old fighting days and which was heard as far as the +cutter itself. "They shall not fire that gun again!"</p> + +<p>With a brief, "Starboard it is, sir," the man who had taken the helm +brought the ship round, and the silent, active crew in a trice were +ready to go about. Majestically the schooner changed her course, and +as the meaning of the manœuvre became fearfully apparent, shouts +and oaths arose in confusion from the cutter.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" eagerly asked Molly, enthralled by the +superb motion of the vessel under her foot as it swept round and +increased speed upon the new tack.</p> + +<p>He held her in his arms. His hand had sought her wounded shoulder and +pressed the lacerated spot in his effort to staunch the precious blood +that rose warm through the cloth, torturing his cold fingers.</p> + +<p>"I am going to clear those men from our way to freedom and to love! I +am going to sink that boat: they shall pay with their lives for this! +Come to the other side, Madeleine, and watch how my stout <i>Peregrine</i> +sweeps our course—and then I may see how these scoundrels have +mangled you, my love. But, nay, this is no sight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> for you. Hold on +close to me, sweet, and hide your eyes while they go."</p> + +<p>He steadied himself firmly with one hand on the rigging.</p> + +<p>Now musket shots flashed on board the cutter in quick succession, and +sundry balls whizzed over the poop, intended for the helmsman by their +side. Captain Jack gnashed his teeth, as the menacing drone of one of +them came perilously close to the beloved head by his cheek.</p> + +<p>"Look out, every man. We'll run her down!" he called. His voice was +like the blast of bugles. Cheers broke out from every part of the +ship, drowning the yells of execration and the shouts of fear from +below. And now, with irresistible sway, the rushing <i>Peregrine</i> heavy +and powerful was closing and bearing down upon her frailer enemy.</p> + +<p>There was a spell of suspense when all was silence, save the rush and +turmoil of the waters, and the flapping of the cutter's sails, +helpless for the moment in the teeth of the breeze. Like a charging +steed the schooner seemed to leap at her foe. Then came the shock. +There was a brief check in her career, she rose by the head; the +rigging strained and sighed, the masts swayed groaning, but stood. +Over the bows, in the darkness was heard a long-drawn crash, was seen +a white wall of foaming water rising silently to break the next moment +with a great roar.</p> + +<p>The cutter, struck obliquely amidships, was thrown straightway on her +beam ends: the <i>Peregrine</i>, with every sail spread and swollen, held +her as the preying bird with outstretched wings holds its quarry, and +pressed her down until she began to fill and settle. It was with +wide-open eyes, with eager, throbbing heart that Molly watched it all.</p> + +<p>"Lights, my lads," cried Captain Jack, with a shout of exultation, +when the anxious instant had passed. "Take in every man you can save +but handspike is the word for the first who shows fight! Curwen, do +you get her clear again."</p> + +<p>All around upon the deck, sprang rumour and turmoil, came shouts and +sounds of scuffling and the rushing of feet; from the blank waters +came piteous calls for help. But paying little heed to aught but +Molly, Captain Jack<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> seized a lighted lantern from the hands of a +passing sailor and drew her aside.</p> + +<p>Fevered with pain and fascinated by the horror of fight and death's +doings, yet instinctively remembering to pull her hood over her face, +she allowed herself to be taken into the little deck cabin.</p> + +<p>He placed the lantern upon the table:</p> + +<p>"Rest here," he said quickly, once more striving to see her beneath +the jealous shade. "I must find out if anything is amiss on board the +ship and attend to these drowning men—even before you, my darling! +But I shall be back instantly. You are not faint?"</p> + +<p>The light shone full on his features which Molly eagerly scanned from +her safe recess. When she met his eyes, full of the triumph of love +and hope, her soul broke into fierce revolt—again she felt upon her +lips that kiss of young passionate love that had been the first her +life had ever known ... and might be the last, for the disclosure was +approaching apace.</p> + +<p>She was glad of the respite.</p> + +<p>"Go," she said with as much firmness as she could muster. "Let me not +stand between you and your duty. I am strong."</p> + +<p>Strong indeed—Captain Jack might have wondered whence had come to +this gentle Madeleine this lioness-strength of soul and body, had he +had time to wonder, time for aught but his love thoughts and his fury, +as he dashed back again panting for the moment when he could have her +to himself.</p> + +<p>"Any damage, Curwen?"</p> + +<p>"Bowsprit broken, and larboard bulwark stove in, otherwise everything +has stood."</p> + +<p>"Casualties?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir. We have three of the cutter's men on board already. They +swarmed over the bows. One had his cutlass out and had the devil's +impudence to claim the schooner, but a boat-hook soon brought him to +reason. There they be, sir," pointing to a darker group huddled round +the mast. "I have lowered the gig to see if we can pick up the others, +damn them!"</p> + +<p>"As soon as they are all on board bring them aft, I will speak to +them."</p> + +<p>When, with a master's eye, he had rapidly inspected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> his vessel from +the hold to the rigging, without finding aught to cause anxiety for +its safety, Captain Jack returned to the poop, and there found the +party of prisoners arranged under the strong guard of his own crew. +Molly stood, wrapped up in her cloak, at the door of the cabin, +watching.</p> + +<p>One of the revenue men came forward and attempted to speak—but the +captain impatiently cut him short.</p> + +<p>"I have no time to waste in talk, my man," he said commandingly. "How +many were you on board the cutter?"</p> + +<p>"Nine," answered the man sullenly.</p> + +<p>"How many have we got here?"</p> + +<p>"Six, sir," interposed Curwen. "Those three," pointing to three +disconsolate and dripping figures, "were all we could pick up."</p> + +<p>"Hark ye, fellows," said the captain. "You barred my road, I had to +clear you away. You tried to sink me, I had to sink you. You have lost +three of your ship-mates, you have yourselves to blame for it; your +shot has drawn blood from one for whom I would have cut down forty +times your number. I will send you back to shore. Away with you! No, I +will hear nothing. Let them have the gig, Curwen, and four oars."</p> + +<p>"And now God speed the <i>Peregrine</i>," cried Jack Smith, as the revenue +men pushed off in the direction of the light and the wind was again +swelling every sail of his gallant ship. "We are well out of our +scrape. Shape her course for St. Malo, Curwen. If this wind holds we +should be there by the nineteenth in the morning, at latest."</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE FIGHT FOR THE OPEN</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">As o'er the grass, beneath the larches there<br /></span> +<span class="i8">We gaily stepped, the high noon overhead,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Then Love was born—was born so strong and fair.<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Knowest thou! Love is dead.<br /></span> +<span class="i20"><i>Gipsy Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>At last he was free. He had wrested his bride and the treasure trusted +to his honour from the snares so unexpectedly laid on his path; +whatever troubles might remain stored against him in the dim distance +of time, he would not reck them now. The present and the immediate +future were full of splendour and triumph.</p> + +<p>All those golden schemes worked out under yonder light of +Scarthey—God bless it—now receding in the gloom behind his swift +running ship, whether in the long watches of the night, or in the +recent fevered resolves of imminent danger, they had come to pass +after all! And she, the light of his life, was with him. She had +trusted her happiness, her honour, herself, to his love. The thought +illumined his brain with glory as he rushed back to the silent muffled +figure that still stood awaiting his coming.</p> + +<p>"At last!" he said, panting in the excess of his joy; "At last, +Madeleine ... I can hardly believe it! But selfish brute that I am, +you must be crushed with fatigue. My brave darling, you would make me +forget your tender woman's frame, and you are wounded!"</p> + +<p>Supporting her—for the ship, reaching the open sea, had begun to roll +more wildly—he led her back into the little room now lighted by the +fitful rays of a swinging lamp. With head averted, she suffered +herself to be seated on a kind of sofa couch.</p> + +<p>When he had closed the door, he seized her hand, on which ran streaks +of half-dried blood, and covered it with kisses.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah, Madeleine! here in the sanctuary I had prepared for you, where I +thought you would be so safe, so guarded, tell me that you forgive me +for having brought this injury to you. Wounded, torn, bleeding.... I +who would give all my blood, my life, if life were not so precious to +me now that you have come into it, to save you from the slightest +pain! At least here you are secure, here you can rest, but—but there +is no one to wait on you, Madeleine." He fell on his knees beside her. +"Madeleine, my wife, you must let me tend you." Then, as she shivered +slightly, but did not turn to him, he went on in tones of the most +restrained tenderness mingled with humblest pleading:</p> + +<p>"Had it not been for your accident, I had not ventured even to cross +the threshold of this room. But your wound must be dressed; darling, +darling, allow me, forgive me; the risk is too great."</p> + +<p>Rising to his feet again he gently pulled at her cloak. Molly spoke +not a word, but untied it at the neck and let it fall away from her +fair young body; and keeping her hooded face still rigidly averted, +she surrendered her wounded arm.</p> + +<p>He muttered words of distress at the sight of the broad blood stains; +stepped hurriedly to a little cupboard where such surgical stores as +might be required on board were hoarded, and having selected scissors, +lint, and bandages, came back and again knelt down by her side to cut +off, with eager, compassionate hands, the torn and maculated sleeve.</p> + +<p>The wound was but a surface laceration, and a man would not have given +a thought to it in the circumstances. But to see this soft, white +woman's skin, bruised black in parts, torn with a horrid red gap in +others; to see the beauty of this round arm thus brutally marred, thus +twitching with pain—it was monstrous, hideously unnatural in the +lover's eyes!</p> + +<p>With tenderness, but unflinchingly, he laved the mangled skin with +cool, fresh water; pulled out, with far greater torture to himself +than to her, some remaining splinters embedded in the flesh; covered +the wound with lint, and finished the operation by a bandage as neat +as his neat sailor's touch, coupled with some knowledge of surgery, +gained in the experiences of his privateering days, could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> accomplish +it. He spoke little: only a word of encouragement, of admiration for +her fortitude now and then; and she spoke not at all during the +ministration. She had raised her other hand to her eyes, with a +gesture natural to one bracing herself to endurance, and had kept it +there until, his task completed, her silence, the manner in which she +hid her face from him awoke in him all that was best and loftiest in +his generous heart.</p> + +<p>As he rose to his feet and stood before her, he too dared not speak +for fear of bruising what he deemed an exquisite maidenliness, before +which his manhood was abashed at itself. For some moments there was no +sound in the cabin save that of the swift rushing waters behind the +wooden walls and of the labour and life of the ship under full sail; +then he saw the tumultuous rising of her bosom, and thought she was +weeping.</p> + +<p>"Madeleine," he cried with passionate anxiety, "speak! Let me see your +face—are you faint? Lie upon this couch. Let me get you wine—oh that +these days were passed and I could call you wife and never leave you! +Madeleine, my love, speak!"</p> + +<p>Molly rose to her feet, and with a gesture of anger threw off her hood +and turned round upon him. And there in the light of the lamp, he +glared like one distraught at the raven locks, the burning eyes of a +strange woman.</p> + +<p>She was very pale.</p> + +<p>"No," said Molly, defiantly, when twice or thrice his laboured breath +had marked the passing of the horrible moment, "I am not Madeleine." +Then she tried to smile; but unconsciously she was frightened, and the +smile died unformed as she pursued at random:</p> + +<p>"You know me—perhaps by hearsay—as I know you, Captain Smith."</p> + +<p>But he, shivering under the coldness of his disappointment, answered +in a kind of weary whisper:</p> + +<p>"Who are you—you who speak with her voice, who stand at her height +and move and walk as she does? I have seen you surely—Ah, I know.... +Madam, what a cruel mockery! And she, where is she?"</p> + +<p>Still staring at her with widely dilated eyes, he seized his forehead +between his hands. The gesture was one of utter despair. Before this +weakness Molly promptly resumed the superiority of self-possession.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, and this time the smile came back to her face, "I am +Lady Landale, and my sister Madeleine—I grieve to have to say so—has +not had that courage for which you gave her credit to-night."</p> + +<p>Little was required at a moment like this to transmute such thoughts +as seethed in the man's head to a burst of fury. Fury is action, and +action a relief to the strained heart. There was a half-concealed, +unintended mockery in her tones which brought a sudden fire of anger +to his eyes. He raised both hands and shook them fiercely above his +head:</p> + +<p>"But why—why in the name of heaven—has such a trick been played on +me ... at such a time?"</p> + +<p>He paused, and trembling with the effort, restrained himself to a more +decent bearing before the woman, the lady, the friend's wife. His arms +fell by his side, and he repeated in lower tones, though the flame of +his gaze could not be subdued:</p> + +<p>"Why this deception, this playing with the blindness of my love? Why +this comedy, which has already had one act so tragic?—Yes, think of +it, madam, think of the tragedy this is now in my life, since she is +left behind and I never now, with these men's lives to account for, +may go back and claim her who has given me her troth! Already I staked +the fortune of my trust, on the bare chance that she would come. What +though her heart failed her at the eleventh hour?—God forgive her for +it!—surely she never sanctioned this masquerade?... Oh no! she would +not stoop to such an act, and human life is not a thing to jest upon. +She never played this trick, the thought is too odious. What have you +done! Had I known, had I had word sooner—but half an hour +sooner—those corpses now rolling under the wave with their sunken +ship would still be live men and warm.... And I—I should not be the +hopeless outlaw, the actual murderer that this night's work has made +of me!"</p> + +<p>His voice by degrees rose once more to the utmost ring of bitterness +and anger. Molly, who had restored her cloak to her shoulders and sat +down, ensconced in it as closely as her swaddled arm would allow her, +contemplated him with a curious mixture of delight and terror; delight +in his vigour, his beauty, above everything in his mastery and +strength; and delight again at the new thrill<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> of the fear it imposed +upon her daring soul. Then she flared into rage at the thought of the +coward of her blood who had broken faith with such a man as this, and +she melted all into sympathy with his anger—A right proper man most +cruelly used and most justifiably wrathful!</p> + +<p>And she, being a woman whose face was at most times as a book on which +to read the working of her soul, there was something in her look, as +in silence she listened and gazed upon him, which struck him suddenly +dumb. Such a look on a face so like, yet so unlike, that of his love +was startling in the extreme—horrible.</p> + +<p>He stepped back, and made as if he would have rushed from the room. +Then bethinking himself that he was a madman, he drew a chair near her +in a contrary mood, sat down, and fixed his eyes upon her very +steadily.</p> + +<p>She dropped her long lids, and demurely composed her features by some +instinct that women have, rather than from any sense of the impression +she had produced.</p> + +<p>A little while they sat thus again in silence. In the silence, the +rolling of the ship and the manner in which, as she raced on her way, +she seemed to breathe and strain, worked in with the mood of each; in +his, with the storm and stress of his soul; in hers, as the very +expression of her new freedom and reckless pleasure.</p> + +<p>Then he spoke; the strong emotion that had warmed her had now left his +voice. It was cold and scornful.</p> + +<p>"Madam, I await your explanation. So far, I find myself only the +victim of a trick as unworthy and cruel as it is purposeless."</p> + +<p>She had delayed carrying out her mission with the most definite +perverseness. She could not but acknowledge the justice of his +reproof, realise the sorry part she must play in his eyes, the +inexcusable folly of the whole proceeding, and yet she was strung to a +very lively indignation by the tone he had assumed, and suddenly saw +herself in the light of a most disinterested and injured virtue.</p> + +<p>"Captain Smith," she exclaimed, flashing a hot glance at him, "you +assume strangely the right to be angry with me! Be angry if you will +with things as they are; rail against fate if you will, but be +grateful to me.—I have risked much to serve you."</p> + +<p>The whole expression of his face changed abruptly to one of eager, +almost entreating, inquiry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do me the favour," she continued, "to look into the pocket of my +cloak—my arm hurts me if I move—you will find there a letter +addressed to you. I was adjured to see that it should reach you in +safety. I promised to place it in your own hands. This could hardly +have been done sooner, as you know."</p> + +<p>The words all at once seemed to alter the whole situation. He sprang +up and came to her quickly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, forgive me, make allowances for me, Lady Landale, I am quite +distracted!" There had returned a tinge of hope into his voice. "Where +is it?" he eagerly asked, seeking, as directed, for the pocket. "Ah!" +and mechanically repeating, "Forgive me!" he drew out the letter at +last and retreated, feverishly opening it under the light of the lamp.</p> + +<p>Molly had turned round to watch. Up to this she had felt no regret for +his disillusion, only an irritable heat of temper that he should waste +so much love upon so poor an object. But now all her heart went to him +as she saw the sudden greyness that fell on his face from the reading +of the very first line; there was no indignation, no blood-stirring +emotion; it was as if a cold pall had fallen upon his generous spirit. +The very room looked darker when the fire within the brave soul was +thus all of a sudden extinguished.</p> + +<p>He read on slowly, with a kind of dull obstinacy, and when he came to +the miserable end continued looking at the paper for the moment. Then +his hand fell; slowly the letter fluttered to the floor, and he let +his eyes rest unseeingly, wonderingly upon the messenger.</p> + +<p>After a little while words broke from him, toneless, the mere echo of +dazed thoughts: "It is over, all over. She has lost her trust. She +does not love me any more."</p> + +<p>He picked up the letter again, and sitting down placed it in front of +him on the table. "'Tis a cruel letter, madam, that you have brought +me," he said then, looking up at Molly with the most extraordinary +pain in his eyes. "A cruel letter! Yet I am the same man now that I +was this morning when she swore she would trust me to the end—and she +could not trust me a few hours longer! Why did you not speak? One word +from you as you stepped upon the ship would have saved my soul from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +the guilt of these men's death!" Then with a sharper uplifting of his +voice, as a new aspect of his misfortune struck him: "And you—you, +too! What have I to do with you, Adrian's wife? He does not know?"</p> + +<p>She did not reply, and he cried out, clapping his hands together:</p> + +<p>"It only wanted this. My God, it is I—I, his friend, who owes him so +much, who am to cause him such fear, such misery! Do you know, madam, +that it is impossible that I should restore you to him for days yet. +And then when, and where, and how? God knows! Nothing must now come +between me and my trust. I have already dishonourably endangered it. +To attempt to return with you to-night, as perhaps you fancy I +will—as, of course, I would instantly do had I alone myself and you +to consider, would be little short of madness. It would mean utter +ruin to many whom I have pledged myself to serve. And yet Adrian—my +honour pulls me two ways—poor Adrian! What dumb devil possessed you +that you did not speak before. Had you no thought for your woman's +good name? Ill-fated venture, ill-fated venture, indeed! Would God +that shot had met me in its way—had only my task been accomplished!"</p> + +<p>He buried his head in his hands.</p> + +<p>Lady Landale flushed and paled alternately, parted her lips to speak, +and closed them once more. What could she say, and how excuse herself? +She did not repent what she had done, though it had been sin all +round; she had little reck of her woman's good name, as he called it; +the death of the excise men weighed but lightly, if at all, upon her +conscience; the thought of Adrian was only then a distasteful memory +to be thrust away; nay—even this man's grief could not temper the +wild joy that was in her soul to-night. Fevered with fatigue, with +excitement, by her wound, her blood ran burning in her veins, and beat +faster in every pulse.</p> + +<p>And as she felt the ship rise and fall, and knew that each motion was +an onward leap that separated her further and ever further from dull +home and dull husband, and isolated her ever more completely with her +sister's lover, she exulted in her heart.</p> + +<p>Presently he lifted his head.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," he said, "I believe that you meant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> most kindly, and as +you say, I should be grateful. Your service is ill-requited by my +reproaches, and you have run risk indeed—merciful Heaven, had my old +friend's wife been killed upon my ship through my doings! But you see +I cannot command myself; you see how I am situated. You must forgive +me. All that can be done to restore you to your home as soon as +possible shall be done, and all, meanwhile, to mitigate the discomfort +you must suffer here—And for your good intention to her and me, I +thank you."</p> + +<p>He had risen, and now bowed with a dignity that sat on his sailor +freedom in no wise awkwardly. She, too, with an effort, stood up as if +to arrest his imminent departure. A tall woman, and he but of average +height, their eyes were nearly on a level. For a second or two her +dark gaze sought his with a strange hesitation, and then, as if the +truth in him awoke all the truth in her, the natural daring of her +spirit rose proudly to meet this kindred soul. She would let no +falsehood, no craven feminine subterfuge intervene between them.</p> + +<p>"Do not thank me," she exclaimed, glowing with a brilliant scorn in +which the greatness of her beauty, all worn as she was, struck him +into surprise, yet evoked no spark of admiration. "What I did I did, +to gratify myself. Oh, aye, if I were as other women I should smile +and take your compliments, and pose as the martyr and as the +self-sacrificing devoted sister. But I will not. It was nothing to me +how Madeleine got in or out of her love scrapes. I would not have gone +one step to help her break her promise to you, or even to save your +life, but that it pleased me so to do. Madeleine has never chosen to +make me her confidant. I would have let her manage her own affairs +gaily, had I had better things to occupy my mind—but I had not, +Captain Smith. Life at Pulwick is monotonous. I have roaming blood in +my veins: the adventure tempted, amused me, fascinated me—and there +you have the truth! Of course I could have given the letter to the men +and sent them back to you with it—it was not because of my promise +that I did not do it. Of course I could have spoken the instant I got +on board, perhaps——" here a flood of colour dyed her face with a +gorgeous conscious crimson, and a dimple faintly came and went at the +corner of her mouth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> "perhaps I would have spoken. But then, you must +remember, you closed my lips!"</p> + +<p>"My God!" said Captain Jack, and looked at her with a sort of horror.</p> + +<p>But this she could not see for her eyes were downcast. "And now that I +have come," she went on, and would have added, "I am glad I did," but +that all of a sudden a new bashfulness came upon her, and she +stammered instead, incoherently: "As for Adrian—René knew I had a +message for you, and René will tell him—he is not stupid—you +know—René, I mean."</p> + +<p>"I am glad," answered the man gravely, after a pause, "if you have +reasonable grounds for believing that your husband knows you to be on +my ship. He will then be the less anxious at your disappearance: for +he knows too, madam, that his wife will be as honoured and as guarded +in my charge as she would be in her mother's house."</p> + +<p>He bowed again in a stately way and then immediately left her.</p> + +<p>Molly sank back upon her couch, and she could not have said why, burst +into tears. She felt cold now, and broken, and her stiffening wound +pained her. But nevertheless, as she lay upon the little velvet +pillow, and wept her rare tears were strangling sobs, the very ache of +her wound had a strange savour that she would not have exchanged for +any past content.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>René, having obeyed his mistress's orders, and left her alone with the +sailors on the beach, withdrew within the shelter of the door, but +remained waiting, near enough to be at hand in case he should be +called.</p> + +<p>It was still pitch dark and the rollers growled under a rough wind; he +could catch the sound of a man's voice, now and again, between the +clamour of the sea and the wuthering of the air, but could not +distinguish a word. Presently, however, this ceased, and there came to +him the unmistakable regular beat of oars retreating. The interview +was over, and breathing a sigh of relief at the thought that, at last, +his master's friend would soon be setting on his way to safety, the +servant emerged to seek her ladyship.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later he dashed into Sir Adrian's room with a livid +face, and poured forth a confused tale:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span></p> + +<p>Milady had landed without Mademoiselle; had stopped to speak to two of +the <i>Peregrine</i>, whilst he waited apart. The men had departed in their +boat.</p> + +<p>"The <i>Peregrine</i> men! But the ship has been out of sight these eight +hours!" ejaculated Sir Adrian, bewildered. Then, catching fear from +his servant's distraught countenance:</p> + +<p>"My wife," he exclaimed, bounding up; and added, "you left her, +Renny?"</p> + +<p>The man struck his breast: he had searched and called.... My Lady was +nowhere to be found. "As God is my witness," he repeated, "I was +within call. My Lady ordered me to leave her. Your honour knows My +Lady has to be obeyed."</p> + +<p>"Get lanterns!" said Sir Adrian, the anguish of a greater dread +driving the blood to his heart. Even to one who knew the ground well, +the isle of Scarthey, on a black, stormy night, with the tide high, +was no safe wandering ground. For a moment, the two—comrades of so +many miserable hours—faced each other with white and haggard faces. +Then with the same deadly fear in their hearts, they hurried out into +the soughing wind, down to the beach, baited on all sides by the +swift-darting hissing surf. Running their lanterns close to the +ground, they soon found, by the trampled marks upon the sand, where +the conclave had been held. From thence a double row of heavy +footprints led to the shelving bit of beach where it was the custom +for boats to land from seawards.</p> + +<p>"See, your honour, see," cried René, in deepest agitation, "the print +of this little shoe, here—and there, and here again, right down to +the water's edge. Thank God—thank God! My Lady has had no accident. +She has gone with the sailors to the boat. Ah! here the tide has +come—we can see no farther."</p> + +<p>"But why should she have gone with them?" came, after a moment, Sir +Adrian's voice out of the darkness. "Surely that is strange—and yet +... Yes, that is indeed her foot-print in the sand."</p> + +<p>"And if your honour will look to sea, he will perceive the ship's +lights yonder, upon the water. That is the captain's ship.... Your +honour, I must avow to you that I have concealed something from +you—it was wrong, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>indeed, and now I am punished—but that poor +Monsieur the Captain, I was so sorry for him, and he so enamoured. He +had made a plan to lift off Mademoiselle Madeleine with him to-night, +marry her in France; and that was why he came back again, at the risk +of his life. He supplicated me not to tell you, for fear you would +wish to prevent it, or think it your duty to. Mademoiselle had +promised, it seemed, and he was mad with her joy, the poor gentleman! +and as sure of her faith as if she had been a saint in Heaven. But My +Lady came alone, your honour, as I said. The courage had failed to +Mademoiselle, I suppose, at the last moment, and Madame bore a message +to the captain. But the captain was not able to leave his ship, it +seems; and, my faith," cried Mr. Potter; his spirits rising, as the +first ghastly dread left him, "the mystery explains itself! It is +quite simple, your honour will see. As the captain did not come to the +island, according to his promise to Mademoiselle—he had good reasons, +no doubt—Madame went herself to his ship with her message. She had +the spirit for it—Ah! if Mademoiselle had had but a little of it +to-night, we should not be where we are!"</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian caught at the suggestion out of the depths of his despair. +"You are right, Renny, you must be right. Yet, on this rough sea, in +this black night—what madness! The boat, instantly; and let us row +for those lights as we never rowed before!"</p> + +<p>Even as the words were uttered the treble glimmer vanished. In vain +they strained their eyes: save for the luminous streak cast by their +own beacon lamp, the gloom was unbroken.</p> + +<p>"His honour will see, a boat will be landing instantly with My Lady +safe and sound," said René at last. But his voice lacked confidence, +and Sir Adrian groaned aloud.</p> + +<p>And so they stood alone in silence, forced into inaction, that most +cruel addition to suspense, by the darkness and the waters which +hemmed them in upon every side. The vision of twenty dangerous places +where one impetuous footfall might have hurled his darling into the +cruel beating waves painted themselves—a hideous phantasmagory—upon +Sir Adrian's brain. Had the merciless waters of the earth that had +murdered the mother, grasped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> at the child's life also? He raised his +voice in a wild cry, it seemed as if the wind caught it from him and +tore it into shreds.</p> + +<p>"Hark!" whispered René, and clasped his master's icy hand. Like an +echo of Sir Adrian's cry, the far-off ring of a human voice had risen +from the sea.</p> + +<p>Again it came.</p> + +<p>"<i>C'est de la mer, Monseigneur!</i>" panted the man; even as he spoke the +darkness began to lift. Above their heads, unnoticed, the clouds had +been rifted apart beneath the breath of the north wind; the horizon +widened, a misty wing-like shape was suddenly visible against the +receding gloom.</p> + +<p>The captain's ship! The <i>Peregrine</i>!</p> + +<p>As master and man peered outward as if awaiting unconsciously some +imminent solution from the gliding spectre, it seemed as if the night +suddenly opened on the left to shoot forth a burst of red fire. A few +seconds later, the hollow boom of cannon shook the air around them. +Sir Adrian's nails were driven into René's hands.</p> + +<p>The flaming messenger had carried to both minds an instant knowledge +of the new danger.</p> + +<p>"Great Heavens!" muttered Adrian. "He will surrender; he must +surrender! He could not be so base, so wicked, as to fight and +endanger <i>her</i>!"</p> + +<p>But the servant's keener sight, trained by long stormy nights of +watching, was following in its dwindling, mysterious course that misty +vision in which he thought to recognize the <i>Peregrine</i>.</p> + +<p>"<i>Elle file, elle file joliment la goëlette!</i> Mother of Heaven, there +goes the gun again! I never thought my blood would turn to water only +to hear the sound of one like this. But your honour must not be +discouraged; he can surely trust the captain. Ah, the clouds—I can +see no more."</p> + +<p>The wild blast gathering fresh droves of vapour from the huddled +masses on the horizon was now, in truth, herding them fiercely across +the spaces it had cleared a few moments before. Confused shouts, +strange clamour seemed to ring out across the waves to the listeners: +or it might have been only the triumphant howlings of the rising +storm.</p> + +<p>"Will not your honour come in? The rain is falling."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, Renny, no, give me my lantern again, friend, and let us examine +anew."</p> + +<p>Both knew it to be of no avail, but physically and mentally to move +about was, at least, better than to stand still. Step by step they +scanned afresh the sand, the shingle, the rocks, the walls, to return +once more to the trace of the slender feet, leading beside the great +double track of heavy sea boots to the water's edge.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian knelt down and gazed at the last little imprint that seemed +to mock him with the same elusive daintiness as Molly herself, as if +he could draw from it the answer to the riddle.</p> + +<p>René endeavouring to stand between his master and the driving blast +laid down his lantern too, and strove by thumping his breast +vigorously to infuse a little warmth into his numbed limbs and at the +same time to relieve his overcharged feelings.</p> + +<p>As he paused at length, out of breath, the noise of a methodical thud +and splash of oars arose, above the tumult of the elements, very near +to them, upon their left.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian sprang to his feet.</p> + +<p>"She returns, she returns," shouted René, capering, in the excess of +the sudden joy, and waving his lantern; then he sent forth a vigorous +hail which was instantly answered close by the shore.</p> + +<p>"Hold up your light, your honour—ah, your honour, did I not say +it?—while I go to help Madame. Now then, you others down there," +running to the landing spot, "make for the light!"</p> + +<p>The keel ground upon the shingle.</p> + +<p>"My Lady first," shouted René.</p> + +<p>Some one leaped up in the boat and flung him a rope with a curse.</p> + +<p>"The lady, ay, ay, my lad, you'd better go and catch her yourself. +There she goes," pointing enigmatically behind him with his thumb.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian, unable to restrain his impatience, ran forward too, and +threw the light of his lantern upon the dark figures now rising one by +one and pressing forward. Five or six men, drenched from head to foot, +swearing and grumbling; with faces pinched with cold, all lowering +with the same expression of anger and resentment and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> shining whitely +at him out of the confusion. He saw the emptying seats, the shipped +oars, the name <i>Peregrine</i> in black letters upon the white paint of +the dingey; and she?... she was not there!</p> + +<p>The revulsion of feeling was so cruel that for a while he seemed +turned to stone, even his mind becoming blank. The waves lashed in up +to his knees; he never felt them.</p> + +<p>René's strong hands came at last to drag him away, and then René's +voice, in a hot whisper close to his ear, aroused him:</p> + +<p>"It is good news, your honour, after all, good news. My Lady is on +board the <i>Peregrine</i>. I made these men speak. They are the revenue +men—that God may damn them! and they were after the captain; but he +ran down their cutter, that brave captain. And these are all that were +saved from her, for she sank like a stone. The <i>Peregrine</i> is as sound +as a bell, they say—ah, she is a good ship! And the captain, out of +his kind heart, sent these villains ashore in his own boat, instead of +braining them or throwing them overboard. But they saw a lady beside +him the whole time, tall, in a great black cloak. My Lady in her black +cloak, just as she landed here. Of course Monsieur the Captain could +not have sent her back home with these brigands then—not even a +message—that would have compromised his honour. But his honour can +see now how it is. And though My Lady has been carried out to sea, he +knows now that she is safe."</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>THE THREE COLOURS</h3> + + +<p>The sun was high above the Welsh hills; the <i>Peregrine</i> had sheered +her way through a hundred miles or more of fretted waters before her +captain, in his hammock slung for the nonce near the men's quarters, +stirred from his profound sleep—nature's kind restorer to healthy +brain and limbs—after the ceaseless fatigue and emotions of the last +thirty-six hours.</p> + +<p>As he leaped to his feet out of the swinging canvas, the usual vigour +of life coursing through every fibre of him, he fell to wondering, in +half-awake fashion, at the meaning of the unwonted weight lurking in +some back recess of consciousness.</p> + +<p>Then memory, the ruthless, arose and buffeted his soul.</p> + +<p>The one thing had failed him without which all else was as nothing; +fate, and his own hot blood, had conspired to place his heart's desire +beyond all reasonable hope. Certain phrases in Madeleine's letter +crossed and re-crossed his mind, bringing now an unwonted sting of +anger, now the old cruel pain of last night. The thought of the +hateful complication introduced into his already sufficiently involved +affairs by the involuntary kidnapping of his friend's wife filled him +with a sense of impotent irritation, very foreign to his temper; and +as certain looks and words of the unwished-for prisoner flashed back +upon him, a hot colour rose, even in his solitude, to his wholesome +brown cheek.</p> + +<p>But in spite of all, in spite of reason and feeling alike his +essential buoyancy asserted itself. He could not despair. He had not +been given this vigour of soul and body to sit down under misfortune. +Resignation was for the poor of heart; only cravens gave up while it +was yet possible to act. His fair ship was speeding with him as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> he +loved to feel her speed; around him spread the vast spaces in which +his spirit rejoiced—salt sea and vaulted heavens; the full air of the +open, the brisk dash of the wind filled him with physical exhilaration +at every breath, and tingled in his veins; the sporting blood, which +had come to him from generations of hunting squires, found all its +craving satisfied in this coursing across the green ocean fields, and +the added element of danger was as the sting of the brine to his +palate. What—despair now? with his perilous enterprise all but +accomplished, the whole world, save one country, before him, and +Madeleine unwed! Another might, but not Jack Smith; not Hubert +Cochrane!</p> + +<p>He was actually trolling out the stave of a song as he sprang up the +companion ladder after his rough breakfast in the galley, but the +sound expired at the sight of the distant flutter of a woman's scarf +in the stern of the ship. He halted and ran his fingers through his +crisp hair with an expressive gesture of almost comical perplexity; +all would be plain sailing enough, with hope at the prow again, but +for this—he stamped his foot to choke down the oath of +qualification—this encumbrance. Adrian's wife and Madeleine's sister, +as such entitled to all honour, all care, and devotion; and yet, as +such again, hideously, doubly unwelcome to him!</p> + +<p>As he stood, biting his lips, while the gorgeous sunshine of the young +spring morning beat down upon his bare head, the brawny figure of the +mate, his mahogany-tinted face wrinkled into as stiff a grin as if it +had been indeed carved out of the wood in question, intervened between +his abstracted gaze and the restless amber beyond.</p> + +<p>"It's a fine day, sir," by way of opening conversation.</p> + +<p>The irrepressible satisfaction conveyed by the wide display of +tobacco-stained teeth, by the twinkle in the hard, honest eyes called +up a queer, rueful grimace to the other man's face.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Curwen," he said, "that you brought me the wrong young +lady last night?"</p> + +<p>The sailor jumped back in amazement. "The wrong young lady, sir," +staring with starting, incredulous eyeballs, "the wrong, young lady!" +here he clapped his thigh, "Well of all—the wrong young lady! Are you +quite sure, sir?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span></p> + +<p>Captain Jack laughed aloud. But it was with a bitter twist at the +corners of his lips.</p> + +<p>"Well I'm——," said poor Curwen. All his importance and +self-satisfaction had left him as suddenly as the starch a soused +collar. He scanned his master's face with almost pathetic anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't blame you—you did your part all right. Why, I myself +fell into the same mistake, and we had not much time for finding it +out, had we? The lady you see—the lady—she is the other lady's +sister and she came with a message. And so we carried her off before +we knew where we were—or she either," added Captain Jack as a +mendacious after thought.</p> + +<p>"Well I'm——," reiterated Curwen who then rubbed his scrubby, +bristling chin, scratched his poll and finally broke into another +grin—this time of the kind classified as sheepish.</p> + +<p>"And what'll be to do now?"</p> + +<p>"By the God that made me, I haven't a notion! We must take all the +care of her we can, of course. Serve her her meals in her cabin, as +was arranged, and see that she is attended to, just as the other young +lady would have been you know, only that I think she had better be +served alone, and I shall mess downstairs as usual. And then if we can +leave her at St. Malo, we shall. But it must be in all safety, Curwen, +for it's a terrible responsibility. Happily we have now the time to +think. Meanwhile I have slept like a log and she—I see is astir +before me."</p> + +<p>"Lord bless you, sir, she has been up these two hours! Walking the +deck like a sailor, and asking about things and enjoying them like. +Ah, she is a rare lady, that she is! And it is the wrong one—well +this is a go! And I was remarking to Bill Baxter, just now, that it +was just our captain's luck to have found such a regular sailor's +young woman, so I said—begging pardon for the word. And not more than +he is worth, says he, and so said I also. And she the wrong lady after +all! Well, it's a curious thing, sir, nobody could be like to guess it +from her. She's a well-plucked one, with her wound and all. She made +me look at it this morning, when I brought her a cup of coffee and a +bite: 'You're old enough to be my father,' says she, as pretty as can +be, 'so you shall be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> doctor as well as lady's maid; and, if you've +got a girl of your own, it'll be a story to tell her by the fire at +night, when you're home again,' so she said; and never winced when I +put my great fingers on her arm. I was all of a tremble, I declare, +with her a smiling up at me, but the wound—it's doing finely; healing +as nice as ever I see, and not a sign of sickness on her. The very +lady as I was saying, for our captain—but here she comes."</p> + +<p>This was an unwontedly long speech for Curwen; and, silent again, he +effaced himself discreetly, just in time to avoid the angry +ejaculation that had sprung to his captain's lips, but not without a +backward glance of admiration at the tall, alert figure now bearing +down in their direction with steps already firmly balanced to the +movement of the ship.</p> + +<p>At a little distance from Captain Jack, Molly paused as if to +scrutinise the horizon, and enjoy the invigorating atmosphere. In +reality her heart was beating fast, her breath came short; and the +gaze she flung from the faint outline of coast upon one side to the +vast monotony of sparkling sea upon the other conveyed no impression +to her troubled mind. The next instant he was by her side. As she +smiled at him, he noticed that her face was pale, and her eyes darkly +encircled.</p> + +<p>"Ah, madam," said he, as he drew close and lifted his hand to his +head, with a gesture of formal courtesy that no doubt somewhat +astonished a couple of his men who were watching the group with covert +smiles and nudges, being as yet unaware of the misadventure, "you +relieve my mind of anxiety. How is the arm? Does it make you suffer +much? No! You must be strong indeed."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am strong," answered she, and flushed, and looked out across +the sea, inhaling the air with dilated nostrils.</p> + +<p>Within her, her soul was crying out to him. It was as if there was a +tide there, as fierce and passionate as the waves around her, all +bearing, straining to him, and this with a struggle and flow so +resistless, that she could neither remember the past, nor measure the +future, but only feel herself carried on, beaten and tossed upon these +great waters, like a helpless wreck.</p> + +<p>"I trust you are well attended to," began the man constrainedly again. +"I fear you will have to endure much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> discomfort. I had reckoned——." +Here he halted galled by the thought of what it was he had reckoned +upon, the thought of the watchful love that was to have made of the +little ship a very nest for his bride, of the exquisite joy it was to +have harboured! And he set his teeth at fate.</p> + +<p>She played for a while with her little finger tips upon the rail, then +turned her gaze, full and bold, upon him.</p> + +<p>"I do not complain," she said.</p> + +<p>He bowed gravely. "We will do our best for you, and if you will take +patience, the time will pass at last, as all time passes. I have a few +books, they shall be brought into your cabin. In three days we shall +be in St. Malo—There, if you like——" he hesitated, embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"There!" echoed Lady Landale with her eyes still fixed upon his +downcast face—"If I like—what?"</p> + +<p>"We could leave you——"</p> + +<p>Her bosom rose and fell quickly with stormy breaths. "Alone, +moneyless, in a strange town—that is well and kindly thought!" she +said.</p> + +<p>Whence had come to her this strange power of feeling pain? She had not +known that one could suffer in one's heart like this; she, whose +quarrel with life hitherto had been for its too great comfort, +security and peace. She felt a lump rise to her throat, and tears well +into her eyes, blurring all the sunlit vision and she turned her head +away and beat her sound left hand clenched upon the ledge.</p> + +<p>"Before heaven," cried Jack, distressed out of his unnatural +stiffness, "you mistake me, Lady Landale! I am only anxious to do what +is best for you, what Adrian would wish. To leave you alone, deserted, +helpless at St. Malo, you could not have thought I should mean that? +No, indeed, I would have seen you into safe hands, in some comfortable +hotel, with a maid to wait upon you—I know of such a place—Adrian +could not have been long in coming to fetch you. I should have had a +letter ready to post to him the instant we landed. As to money," +flushing boyishly, "that is the least consideration—there is no +dearth of that to fear. If you prefer it I can, however, convey you +somewhere upon the English coast after we quit St. Malo; but that will +entail a longer residence for you here on board ship; and it is no fit +place for you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span></p> + +<p>Still looking out across the sea, Molly replied, in a deep shaken +voice, unlike her own, "You did not think it unfit for my sister."</p> + +<p>"Your sister? But your sister was to have been my wife!"</p> + +<p>Burning through the mists of her unshed tears once more her glance +returned to his: "And I—" she cried and here was suddenly silent +again, gazing at the thin circlet of gold upon her left hand, beneath +the flashing diamonds. After a moment then, she broke out +fiercely—"Oh do with me what you will, but for God's sake leave me in +peace!" And stamping, turned her shoulder on him to stare straight +outwards as before.</p> + +<p>Captain Jack drew back, paused an instant, clutched his hair with a +desperate gesture and slowly walked away.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>The voyage of the <i>Peregrine</i> was as rapid as her captain had hoped, +and the dawn of the fourth day broke upon them from behind the French +coast, where Normandy joins old Armorica.</p> + +<p>For a little while, Lady Landale, awakened from her uneasy sleep by +the unusual stir on deck, lay languidly watching the light as it +filtered through the port-hole of her little cabin, the colours +growing out of greyness on the walls; listening to the tramp of feet +and the mate's husky voice without. Then her heart tightened with a +premonition of the coming separation. She sat up and looked out of her +window: as the horizon rose and fell giddily to her eye there lay the +fatal line of land. The land of her blood but to her now, the land of +exile!</p> + +<p>She had seen but little of Captain Jack these last two days; +interchanged but few and formal words with him, now and then, as they +met morning and evening or came across each other during the day. She +felt that he avoided her. But she had seen him, she had heard his +voice, they had been close to each other upon the great seas, however +divided, and this had been something to feed upon. Now what prospect +before her hungry heart but—starvation?</p> + +<p>At least the last precious moments should not be lost to her. She rose +and dressed in haste; a difficult operation in her maimed state. +Before leaving her narrow quarters, she peered into the looking-glass +with an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> eagerness she had never displayed in the days of her vain +girlhood.</p> + +<p>"What a fright!" she said to the anxious face that looked back at her +with yearning eyes and dark burning lips. And she thought of +Madeleine's placid fairness as Cain might of Abel's modest altar.</p> + +<p>When she emerged upon deck, a strange and beautiful scene was spread +to her gaze. A golden haze enveloped the water and the coast, but out +of it, in brown jagged outline, against the blazing background of +glowing sunlight rose the towers, the pointed roofs and spires of that +old corsair's hive, St. Malo. The waters were bright green, frothed +with oily foam around the ship. The masts cast strange long black +shadows, and Molly saw one spring from her own feet as she moved into +the morning glow. The <i>Peregrine</i>, she noticed, was cruising parallel +with the coast, instead of making for the harbour, and just now all +was very still on board. Two men, conspicuous against the yellow sky, +stood apart, a little forward, with their backs turned to her.</p> + +<p>One of these was Captain Jack, gazing steadily at the town through a +telescope; the other the mate. Both were silent. Silently herself and +unnoticed Molly went up and stood beside them; observing her sister's +lover as intently as he that unknown distant point, she presently saw +the lean hand nearest her tremble ever so slightly as it held the +glass; then he turned and handed it to his companion, saying briefly, +"See what you make of it."</p> + +<p>The man lifted the glass, set it, looked, dropped his hand and faced +his captain. Their eyes met, but neither spoke for a second or two.</p> + +<p>"It is so, then?" said the captain at last.</p> + +<p>"Aye, sir, no mistake about that. There's the tricolour up again—and +be damned to it—as large as life, to be sure!"</p> + +<p>The healthy tan of the captain's face had not altered by one shade; +his mouth was set in its usual firm line, but, by the intuition of her +fiery soul, the woman beside him knew that he had received a blow.</p> + +<p>"A strange thing," went on Curwen in a grumbling guttural bass, "and +it's only a year ago since they set up the old white napkin again. You +did not look for this, sir?" He too had his intuitions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, Curwen, it is the last thing I looked for. And it spells failure +to me—failure once more!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke he turned his head slightly and perceiving Molly standing +close behind him glanced up sharply and frowned, then strove to smooth +his brow into conventional serenity and greeted her civilly.</p> + +<p>Curwen, clenching his hard hands together round the telescope, retired +a step and stood apart, still hanging on his captain's every gesture +like a faithful dog.</p> + +<p>"What does it mean?" asked Molly, disregarding the morning salutation.</p> + +<p>"It means strange things to France," responded Captain Jack slowly, +with a bitter smile; "and to me, Madam, it means that I have come on a +wild goose chase——"</p> + +<p>He stretched out his hand for the glass once more as he +spoke—although even by the naked eye the flag, minute as it was, +could be seen to flash red in the breeze—and sought the far-off +flutter again; and then closing the instrument with an angry snap, +tossed it back.</p> + +<p>"But what does it mean?" reiterated Molly, a wild impatience, a wild +hope trembling in her breast.</p> + +<p>"It means, Madam, that I have brought my pigs to the wrong market," +cried Captain Jack, still with the smile that sat so strangely upon +his frank lips; "that the goods I have to deliver, I cannot deliver. +For if there is any meaning in symbols, by the wave of that tricolour +yonder the country has changed rulers again. My dealings were to be +with the king's men, and as they are not here, at least, no longer in +power—how could they be under that rag?—I must even trot the cargo +home again. Not a word to the men, Curwen, but give the order to sheer +off! We have lowered the blue, white and red too often, have not we? +to risk a good English ship, unarmed, under the nozzles of those +Republican or Imperial guns."</p> + +<p>The man grinned. The two could trust each other. Molly turned away and +moved seawards, for she knew that the joy upon her face was not to be +hidden. Captain Jack fell to pacing the deck with bent head, and long, +slow steps.</p> + +<p>Absorbed in dovetailing the last secret arrangements of his venture, +and more intent still, during his very few hours of idleness, on the +engrossing thought of love, he had had no knowledge of the +extraordinary challenge to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> fate cast by Bonaparte, of that challenge +which was to end in the last and decisive clash of French and English +hosts. He had not even heard of the Corsican's return to France with +his handful of grenadiers, for newspapers were scarce at Scarthey. But +even had he heard, like the rest of the world, he would no doubt have +thought no more of it than as a mad freak born of the vanquished +usurper's foolhardy restlessness.</p> + +<p>But the conclave of plenipotentiaries assembled at Vienna were not +more thunderstruck when, on that very 19th of March, the semaphore +brought them news of the legitimate King of France once more fled, and +of his country once more abandoned to the hated usurper, than was +Captain Jack as he watched the distant flagstaff in the sunrise, and +saw, when the morning port gun had vomited forth its white cloud on +the ramparts of St. Malo, the fatal stripes run up the slender line in +lieu of the white standard.</p> + +<p>But Jack Smith's mind, like his body, was quick in action. The sun had +travelled but a degree or two over the wide undulating land, the mists +were yet rising, when suddenly he halted, and called the mate in those +commanding tones that had, from the first time she had heard them, +echoed in Molly's heart:</p> + +<p>"Bring her alongside one of those smacks yonder, the furthest out to +sea."</p> + +<p>Thereupon followed Curwen's hoarse bellow, an ordered stampede upon +the deck, and gracefully, with no more seeming effort than a swan upon +a garden pond, the <i>Peregrine</i> veered and glided towards the rough +skiff with its single ochre sail and its couple of brown-faced +fishermen, who had left their nets to watch her advance. Captain Jack +leant over the side, his hands over his mouth, and hailed them in his +British-French—correct enough, but stiff to his tongue, as Molly +heard and smiled at, and loved him for, in woman's way, when she loves +at all.</p> + +<p>"Ahoy, the friend! A golden piece for him who will come on board and +tell the news of the town."</p> + +<p>A brief consultation between the fisher pair.</p> + +<p>"<i>Un écu d'or</i>," repeated Captain Jack. Then there was a flash of +white teeth on the two weather-beaten faces.</p> + +<p>"<i>On y va, patron</i>," cried one of the fellows, cheerfully,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> and jumped +into his dinghey, while his comrade still stared and grinned, and the +stalwart lads of the <i>Peregrine</i> grinned back at the queer foreign +figure with the brown cap and the big gold earrings.</p> + +<p>Soon the fisherman's bare feet were thudding on the deck, and he stood +before the English captain, cap in hand, his little, quick black eyes +roaming in all directions, over the wonders of the beautiful white +ship, with innocent curiosity. But before Captain Jack could get his +tongue round another French phrase, Molly, detaching herself from her +post of observation, came forward, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Let me speak to him," she said, "he will understand me better, and it +will go quicker. What is it you want to know?"</p> + +<p>Captain Jack hesitated a moment, saw the advantage of the suggestion, +and then accepted the offer with the queer embarrassment that always +came over him in his relations with her.</p> + +<p>"You are very good," he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I like to talk the father and mother tongue," she said, gaily and +sweetly. Her eyes danced; he had never seen her in this mood, and, as +before, grudgingly had to admit her beauty.</p> + +<p>"And if you will allow it," she went on, "I am glad to be of use too."</p> + +<p>The fisherman, twirling his cap in his knotted fingers, stared at her +open mouthed. <i>Une si belle dame!</i> like a queen and speaking his +tongue that it was a music to listen to. This was in truth a ship of +marvels. <i>Ah, bon Dieu, oui, Madame</i>, there were news at St. Malo, but +it depended upon one's feelings whether they were to be regarded as +good or bad—<i>Dame</i>, every one has one's opinions—but for +him—<i>pourvu qu'on lui fiche la paix</i>—what did it matter who sat on +the throne—His Majesty the King—His Majesty the Emperor, or Citizen +Bonaparte. Oh, a poor fisherman, what was it to him? He occupied +himself with his little fishes, not with great folk. (Another +white-teethed grin.) What had happened? <i>Parbleu</i>, it began by the +military, those accursed military (this with a cautious look around, +and gathering courage by seeing no signs of disapproval, proceeding +with greater volubility). The poor town was full of them, infantry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +and artillery; regiments of young devils—and a band of old ones too. +The veterans of <i>celui là</i> (spitting on the deck contemptuously) they +were the worst; that went without saying. A week ago there came a +rumour that he had escaped—was in France—and then the ferment +began—duels every day—rows in the cafés, fights in the ports. At +night one would hear shouts in the streets—<i>Vive l'Empereur!</i> and it +spread, it spread. <i>Ma foi</i>—one regiment mutinied, then another—and +then it was known that the Emperor had reached Paris. Oh, then it was +warm! All those gentlemen, the officers who were for the King, were +arrested. Then there was a grand parade on the <i>place d'armes</i>—Yes, +he went there too, though he did not care much about soldiers. All the +garrison was there. The colonel of the veterans came out with a flag +in its case. <i>Portez armes!</i> Good. They pull out the flag from the +case: it's the old tricolour with the eagle on the top! <i>Presentez +armes!</i> And this time it was all over. Ah, one should have seen that, +heard the houras, seen the bonfires! <i>Monsieur le Maire</i> and the rest, +appointed by the King, they were in a great fright, they had to give +way—what does Madame say? Traitors? Oh, <i>bédame</i> (scratching his +head), it was no joke with the military just now—the whole place was +under military law and, <i>saperlotte</i>, when the strong commands it is +best for the weak to obey. As for him, he was only a poor fisherman. +What did he know? he was not a politician: every one to his trade. So +long as they let one have the peace—He thanked the gentleman, thanked +him much; thanked the lady, desired to wish her the good-morning and +<i>Monsieur</i> too. Did they like no little fresh soles this morning? He +had some leaping then below in his boat. No? well the good-morning +then.</p> + +<p>They had heard enough. The fisherman paddled back to his skiff, and +Molly stood watching from a little distance the motionless figure of +the captain of the <i>Peregrine</i> as with one hand clenching the +hand-rail he gazed towards St. Malo with troubled eyes.</p> + +<p>After a few minutes Curwen advanced and touched him lightly on the +arm.</p> + +<p>Captain Jack turned slowly to look at him: his face was a little pale +and his jaw set. But the mate, who had served under him since the day +he first stepped upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> old <i>St. Nicholas</i>, a gallant, fair-faced +lad (and who knew "every turn of him," as he would have expressed it +himself), saw that he had taken his decision; and he stepped back +satisfied, ready to shape his course for the near harbour, or for the +Pacific Ocean, or back to Scarthey itself at his master's bidding.</p> + +<p>"Call the men up," said the captain, "they have earned their bounty +and they shall have it. Though their skipper is a poorer man than he +thought to be, by this fool's work yonder, his good lads shall not +suffer. Tush, man, that's the order—not a word. And after that, +Curwen, let her make for the sea again, northwards."</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>THE LIGHT AGAIN—THE LADY AND THE CARGO</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">Does not all the blood within me<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Leap to meet thee, leap to meet thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i10">As the spring to meet the sunshine!<br /></span> +<span class="i25"><i>Hiawatha.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>"Curwen," said Captain Jack, suddenly—the two stood together at the +helm on the afternoon of the same day, and the <i>Peregrine</i> was once +more alone, a speck upon the waste of waters, "I have made up my mind +to return to Scarthey."</p> + +<p>The mate wagged his bushy eyebrows and shifted his hand on the helm. +"Ay, ay, sir," he said, after just an instant's pause.</p> + +<p>"I would not run you and the men into unnecessary danger, that you may +be sure of; but the fact is, Curwen, I'm in a devil of a fix all +round. There's no use hiding it from you. And, all things considered, +to land the lady and the cargo at the lighthouse itself, gives me as +fair a chance of getting out of it as any plan I can think of. The +cargo's not all my own and it's a valuable one, I daresay you have +guessed as much; and it's not the kind we want revenue men to pry +into. I could not unload elsewhere that I know of, without creating +suspicion. As to storing it elsewhere, it's out of the question. +Scarthey's the place, though it's a damned risky one just now! But +we've run many a risk together in our day, have we not?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, sir; who's afraid?"</p> + +<p>"Then there's the lady," lowering his voice; "she's Lady Landale, my +friend's wife, the wife of the best friend ever man had. Ay, you +remember him, I doubt not—the gentleman seaman of the <i>Porcupine</i>—I +owe him more than I can ever repay, and he owes me something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> too. +That sort of thing binds men together; and see what I have done to +him—carried off his wife!"</p> + +<p>Curwen grunted, enigmatically, and disengaged a hand to scratch his +chin.</p> + +<p>"I must have speech with him. I must, it is enough to drive me mad to +think what he may be thinking of me. What I purpose is this: we'll +disguise the ship as far as we can (we have the time), paint her a new +streak and alter those topsails, change the set of the bowsprit and +strike out her name."</p> + +<p>"That's unlucky," said the mate.</p> + +<p>"Unlucky, is it? Well, she's not been so lucky this run that we need +fear to change the luck. Then, Curwen, we'll slip in at night at a +high tide, watching for our opportunity and a dark sky; we'll unship +the cargo, and then you shall take command of her and carry her off to +the East Coast and wait there, till I am able to send you word or join +you. It will only be a few hours danger for the men, after all."</p> + +<p>Still keeping his seaman eye upon the compass, Curwen cleared his +throat with a gruesome noise. Then in tones which seemed to issue with +difficulty from some immense depth:</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon, sir," he said, "that ain't a bargain."</p> + +<p>"How now?" cried his captain, sharply.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," rolling his head portentously; "that don't run to a +bargain, that don't. The lads of the <i>Peregrine</i> 'll stick to their +skipper through thick and thin. I'll warrant them, every man Jack of +them; and if there was one who grumbled, I'd have my knife in him +before another caught the temper from him—I would, or my name's not +Curwen. If ye bid us steer to hell we'll do it for you, sir, and +welcome. But for to go and leave you there—no, sir, it can't be +done."</p> + +<p>Captain Jack gave a little laugh that was as tender as a woman's tear. +Curwen rolled his head again and mumbled to himself:</p> + +<p>"It can't be done."</p> + +<p>Then Jack Smith clapped his hand on the sailor's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"But it's got to be done!" he cried. "It is the only thing you can do +to help me, Curwen. To have our <i>Peregrine</i> out in the daylight on +that coast would be stark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> madness—no disguise could avail her, and +you can't change your ugly old phiz, can you? As for me, I must have a +few days on shore, danger or no danger. Ah, Curwen," with a sudden, +passionate outbreak, "there are times when a man's life is the least +of his thoughts!"</p> + +<p>"Couldn't I stop with you, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I would not trust the ship to another, and you would double the risk +for me."</p> + +<p>"I could double a blow for you too," cried the fellow, hoarsely. "But +if it's got to be—it must be. I'll do it, sir."</p> + +<p>"I count on it," said the captain, briefly.</p> + +<p>As the ring of his retreating steps died away upon his ear the mate +shook his head in melancholy fashion:</p> + +<p>"Women," he said, "is very well, I've nought to say against them in +their way. And the sea's very well—as I ought to know. But women and +the sea, it don't agree. They's jealous one of the other and a man +gets torn between."</p> + +<p>As Molly sat in her cabin, watching the darkening sky outside with +dreaming eyes, she started on seeing Captain Jack approach, and +instead of passing her with cold salute, halt and look in.</p> + +<p>"I would speak a word with you," he said.</p> + +<p>"On deck, then," said Molly. She felt somehow as if under the broad +heaven they were nearer each other than in that narrow room. The sea +was rough, the wind had risen and still blew from the north, it was +cold; but her blood ran too fast these days to heed it.</p> + +<p>She drew one of the capes of her cloak over her head and staggering a +little, for the schooner, sailing close to the wind, pitched and +rolled to some purpose, she made for her usual station at the +bulwarks.</p> + +<p>"Well?" she asked.</p> + +<p>He briefly told her his purpose of returning to Scarthey direct.</p> + +<p>Her eye dilated; she grew pale.</p> + +<p>"Is that not dangerous?"</p> + +<p>He made a contemptuous gesture.</p> + +<p>"But they must be watching for you on that coast. You have sunk the +boat—killed those men. To return there—My God, what folly!"</p> + +<p>"I must land my goods, Madam. You forget that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> have more contraband +on board than, smuggler as I am, even I bargained for."</p> + +<p>"If it is for me?—I would rather fling myself into the waves this +instant than that you should expose yourself to danger."</p> + +<p>"Then I should fling myself after you, and that would be more +dangerous still."</p> + +<p>He smiled a little mockingly upon her as he spoke; but the words +called a transient fire into her face.</p> + +<p>"You would risk your life to save me?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"To save Adrian's wife, Madam."</p> + +<p>"<i>Bah!</i>"</p> + +<p>He would have gone then, but she held him with her free hand. She was +again white to the lips. But her eyes—how they burned!</p> + +<p>He would have given all his worth to avoid what he felt was coming. A +woman, at such a juncture may forbid speech, or deny her ear: a man, +unless he would seem the first of Josephs or the last of coxcombs, +dare not even hint at his unwelcome suspicions.</p> + +<p>"I will not have you go into this danger, I will not!" stammered Molly +incoherently. The dusk was spreading, and her eyes seemed to grow +larger and larger in the uncertain light.</p> + +<p>"Lady Landale, you misunderstand. It is true that to see you safely +restored to your husband's roof is an added reason for my return to +Scarthey—but were you not on board, I should go all the same. I will +tell you why, it is a secret, but you shall know it. I have treasures +on board, vast treasures confided to me, and I must store them in +safety till I can give them back to their rightful owners. This I can +only do at Scarthey—for to cruise about with such a cargo +indefinitely is as impossible as to land it elsewhere. And more than +this, had I not that second reason, I have yet a third that urges me +to Scarthey still."</p> + +<p>"For Madeleine?" she whispered, and her teeth gleamed between her +lips.</p> + +<p>He remained silent and tried gently to disengage himself from her +slender fingers, but the feeling of their frailness, the knowledge of +her wound, made her feeble grasp as an iron vice to his manliness.</p> + +<p>She came closer to him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do you not remember then—what she has said to you? what she wrote to +you in cold blood—the coward—in the very moment when you were +staking your life for love of her? I remember, if you do not—'You +have deceived me,' she wrote, and her hand never trembled, for the +words ran as neatly and primly as ever they did in her convent copy +books. 'You are not what you represented yourself to be—You have +taken advantage of the inexperience of an ignorant girl, I have been +deluded and deceived. I never wish to see you, to hear of you again.'"</p> + +<p>"For Heaven's sake, Lady Landale——" cried the man fiercely.</p> + +<p>Molly laughed—one of those laughs that have the ring of madness in +them.</p> + +<p>"Do I not remember? Ah, that is not all! She knows you now for what +you are, knows what your 'mission' is—but you must not believe she +writes in anger. No, she——"</p> + +<p>Captain Jack's patience could bear no further strain.</p> + +<p>"Be silent," he commanded fiercely, and wrenched his arm away to face +her with menacing eyes.</p> + +<p>"Ah, does it rouse so much anger in you even to hear repeated what she +did not hesitate to write, did not hesitate to allow me to read? And +yet you love her? If you had seen her, if you knew her as I do! I tell +you she means it; when she wrote that she was not angry; it was the +truth—she did it in cold blood. She loved you, you think, and yet she +believed you a liar; she loved you, and she thinks you a traitor to +all she holds dear. She believes that of <i>you</i>, and you ... you love +her still!"</p> + +<p>"Lady Landale!"</p> + +<p>"Listen—she could never love you, as you should be loved. She was not +born your kin. Between you and her there is nothing—nothing but your +own fancy. Do not risk your life again for her—your life!"</p> + +<p>She stopped, drew her breath with a long gasp, the spray from a +turbulent wave came dashing across the bows into her face, and as once +the blood of Cécile de Savenaye had been roused by the call of the +wild waters to leave safety and children and seek her doom, so now the +blood she had transmitted to her child, leaped to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> same impulse +and bore her onwards with irresistible force.</p> + +<p>"When," she pursued, "in the darkness you took me in your arms and +kissed me; what did the touch of my lips bring to you? My lips, not +Madeleine's.... Were you not happy then? Oh, you were, do not deny it, +I felt, I knew our souls met! My soul and yours, not yours and +Madeleine's. And I knew then that we were made for each other. The sea +and the wide free life upon it: it draws me as it draws you; it was +that drew me to you before I had ever seen you. Listen, listen. Do not +go to Scarthey—you have your beautiful ship, your faithful +crew—there are rich and wonderful worlds, warm seas that beckon. You +can have life, money, adventure—and love, love if you will. Take it, +take me with you! What should I care if you were an adventurer, a +smuggler, a traitor? What does anything matter if we are only +together? Let us go, we have but one life, let us go!"</p> + +<p>Bereft of the power of movement he stood before her, and the sweat +that had gathered upon his brow ran down his face. But, as the meaning +of her proposition was borne in upon him, a shudder of fury shook him +from head to foot. No man should have offered dishonour to Jack Smith +and not have been struck the next instant at his feet. But a woman—a +woman, and Adrian's wife!</p> + +<p>"Lady Landale," he said, after a silence during which the beating of +her heart turned her sick and cold, and all her fever heat fell from +her, leaving nothing but the knowledge of her shame, her misery, her +hopeless love. "Lady Landale, let me bring you back to your cabin—it +is late."</p> + +<p>She went with him as one half-conscious. At the door she paused. The +light from within fell upon his face, deeply troubled and white, but +upon the lips and brows, what scorn! He was a god among men.... How +she loved him, and he scorned her! Poor Murthering Moll!</p> + +<p>She looked up.</p> + +<p>"Have you no word for me?" she cried passionately.</p> + +<p>"Only this, Lady Landale: I will forget."</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Back towards the distant northern light the schooner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> clove her +valiant way in spite of adverse winds and high seas.</p> + +<p>The return journey was slower than the outward, and since the second +day of it the lady kept much to her cabin, while the captain would +pace the deck till far into the night, with unwonted uneasiness. To +him the white wings of his <i>Peregrine</i> were bearing him all too slowly +for endurance, while to the stormy woman's heart that beat through the +night watches in passionate echo to his restless tread, every instant +that passed but brought nearer the prospect of a future so intolerable +that she could not bring herself to face it.</p> + +<p>A gloom seemed to have come over the tight little craft, and to have +spread even to the crew, who missed the ring of their captain's jolly +laugh and the sound of his song.</p> + +<p>When, within a day's sail of the goal, the planned disguise was +finally carried out upon the schooner's fair sides and rigging, her +beautiful stretch of sail curtailed, and her name (final disgrace), +superseded by the unmeaning title of <i>The Pretty Jane</i>, open murmurs +broke out which it required all Curwen's severity—and if the old +martinet did not execute the summary justice he had threatened he was +quite equal to the occasion nevertheless—and all Jack's personal +influence to quell.</p> + +<p>The dawn of the next day crept gloomily upon a world of rain; with +long faces the men paddled about the deck, doing their duty in +silence; Curwen's old countenance, set into grimmer lines than ever, +looked as if it had just been detached from the prow of some vessel +after hard experience of stress and storm. The spirits of the captain +alone seemed to rise in proportion as they drew nearer land.</p> + +<p>"The moon sets at half-past eleven," he said to Curwen, "but we need +not fear her to-night. By half-past twelve I reckon on your having +those twenty-five damned casks safe in the cave you took them from; it +is a matter of three journeys. And then the nose of the <i>Pretty Jane</i> +must be pointed for the Orkneys. All's going well."</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Night had fallen. "The gaudy bubbling and remorseful day" had "crept +into the bosom of the sea." From the cross-trees the look-out man had +already been able to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> distinguish through the glass the faint distant +glimmer of Scarthey beacon, when Captain Jack knocked for admittance +at Lady Landale's cabin for the last time, as he thought, with a sigh +of relief.</p> + +<p>"In the course of an hour, Madam," he said in a grave tone, "I hope to +restore you to land. As for me, I shall have again to hide in the +peel, though I hope it will not be for long. My fate—and by my fate I +mean not only my safety, but my honour, which, as you know, is now +bound up in the safety of the treasures—will be in your hands. For I +must wait at Scarthey till I can see Adrian again, and upon your +return to Pulwick I must beg you to be the bearer of a message to ask +him to come and see me."</p> + +<p>She replied in a voice that trembled a little:</p> + +<p>"I will not fail you."</p> + +<p>But her great eyes, dark circled, fixed upon him with a meek, +sorrowful look, spoke dumbly the troublous tale of her mind. In her +subdued mood the likeness to Madeleine was more obtrusive than it had +ever yet been. He contemplated her with melancholy, and drew a heavy +sigh.</p> + +<p>Molly groaned in the depths of her soul, though her lips tight set +betrayed no sound. Oh, miserable chaos of the human world, that such +pent up love should be wasted—wasted; that they, too, young and +strong and beautiful, alone together, so near, with such glorious +happiness within their reach, should yet be so perversely far asunder!</p> + +<p>There was a long silence. They looked into each other's eyes; but he +was unseeing; his mind was far away, dwelling upon the memory of that +last meeting with his love under the fir trees of Pulwick only ten +days ago, but now as irrevocably far as things seem that may never +again be. At length, she made a movement which brought him back to +present reality—a movement of her wounded arm as if of pain. And he +came back to Lady Landale, worn with the fatigue of these long days in +the cramped discomfort of a schooner cabin, thinned by pain and +fevered thinkings, shorn of all that daintiness of appearance which +can only be maintained in the midst of luxury, and yet, by the light +of the flickering lamp, more triumphantly beautiful than ever.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span></p> + +<p>His thoughts leaped to his friend with a pang of remorse.</p> + +<p>"You are suffering—you are ill," he said. "Thus do I bring you back +to him who last saw you so full of strength.... But you will recover +at Pulwick."</p> + +<p>"Suffering, ill! Ah, my God!" As if suffocating, she pressed her hand +upon her heart, and bowed her head till it rested on the table. And +then he heard her murmur in a weary voice:</p> + +<p>"Recover at Pulwick! My God, my God! The air at Pulwick will stifle +me, I think."</p> + +<p>He waited a moment in silence and saw that she was weeping. Then he +went out and closed the door behind him with gentle hand.</p> + +<p>Nearly all the lights of the ship were now extinguished, and in a +gloom as great as that in which they had started upon their +unsuccessful venture, the <i>Peregrine</i> and her crew returned to the +little island which had already been so fateful to them.</p> + +<p>Captain Jack had taken the helm himself, and Curwen stood upon his +right hand waiting patiently for his commands. For an hour or so they +hung off the shore. The rain fell close and fine around them; it was +as if sea and sky were merging by slow imperceptible degrees into one. +The beacon light looming, halo encircled, through the mist, seemed, +like a monster eye, to watch with unmoved contempt the restlessness of +these pigmies in the grand solitude of the night.</p> + +<p>Who shall say with what conflict of soul Molly, in her narrow +seclusion, saw the light of Scarthey grow out of the dimness till its +rays fell across the darkened cabin and glimmered on her wedding ring?</p> + +<p>At last the captain drew his watch, and by the faint rays upon the +binnacle saw the hour had come.</p> + +<p>"Boat loaded, Curwen?" he asked in a low voice.</p> + +<p>"This hour, sir."</p> + +<p>"Ready to cast?"</p> + +<p>"Right, sir."</p> + +<p>"Now, Curwen."</p> + +<p>Low, from man to man, the order ran through the ship, and the anchor +was dropped, almost within a musket shot of the peel. It was high +tide, but no hand but Captain Jack's would have dared risk the vessel +so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> close. She swung round, ready to slip at a moment's notice.</p> + +<p>He left the helm; and in the wet darkness cannoned against the burly +figure of his mate.</p> + +<p>"You, Curwen? Remember we have not a moment to lose. Remain here—as +soon as the men are back from the last run, sheer off."</p> + +<p>He grasped the horny hand.</p> + +<p>Curwen made an inarticulate noise in his big throat, but the grip of +his fingers upon his master's was of eloquence sufficient.</p> + +<p>"Let some one call the lady."</p> + +<p>A couple of men ran forward with dark lanterns. The rest gathered +round.</p> + +<p>"Now, my lads, brisk and silent is the word."</p> + +<p>The cabin door opened, and Molly came forth, the darkness hid the +pallor of her face, but it could not hide the faltering of her steps. +Captain Jack sprang forward and gave her his arm, and she leant upon +it without speaking, heavily. For one moment she stopped as if she +could not tear her feet from the beloved planks, but Curwen caught her +by the other arm; and then she was on the swinging ladder. And so she +left the <i>Peregrine</i>.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>The gig was almost filled with barrels; there was only room for the +four oarsmen selected, besides the captain and herself. The boat +shoved off. She looked back and saw, as once before, the great wall of +the ship's side rise sheer above the sea, saw the triangle of light +again slide down to lie a span above the water-line. With what a +leaping heart she had set forth, that black night, away from the +hateful lighthouse beam to that glimmer of promise and mystery! And +now! She felt herself grow sick at the thought of that home-coming; at +the vision of the close warm rooms, of her husband's melancholy eyes. +Yet, as she sat, the sleeve of the captain's rough sailor coat touched +her shoulder, and she remembered she was still with him. It was not +all death yet.</p> + +<p>In less than three minutes they touched ground. He jumped into the +water, and stretched out his arms for Molly. She rose giddily, and his +embrace folded her round. The waves rolled in with surge and thud and +dashed their spray upon them; and still the rain fell and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> beat upon +her head, from which she had impatiently pushed her hood. But her +spirit had no heed for things of the body this night.</p> + +<p>Oh, if the sea would open sudden deeps before them! if even the +quicksand would seize them in its murderous jaws, what ecstasy the +hideous lingering death might hold for her, so that only she lay, +thus, in his arms to the end!</p> + +<p>It was over now; his arms had clasped her for the last time. She stood +alone upon the dry sand, and her heart was in hell.</p> + +<p>He was speaking; asking her pardon for not going at once with her to +see her into the keep, but he dared not leave the beach till his cargo +was landed, and he must show the men the way to the caves. Would she +forgive him, would she go with him?</p> + +<p>Forgive him! Go with him! She almost laughed aloud. A few poor moments +more beside him; they would be as the drops of water to the burning +tongue of Dives.</p> + +<p>Yes, she would go with him.</p> + +<p>One by one the precious caskets were carried between a couple of men, +who stumbled in the darkness, close on their captain's heels. And the +lady walked beside him and stood beside him without a word, in the +falling rain. The boat went backwards and forwards twice; before the +hour had run out, the luckless cargo was all once more landed, and the +captain heard with infinite relief the last oar-strokes dwindling away +in the distance, and saw the lights suddenly disappear.</p> + +<p>"You have been very patient," he said to Molly then, with a gentle +note in his voice.</p> + +<p>But she did not answer. Are the souls of the damned patient?</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>"My Lady and Mr. the Captain! My God—my God! so wet—so tired! +Enter—enter in the name of heaven. It is good, in verity, to have My +Lady back, but, Mr. the Captain, is it well for <i>him</i> to be here? And +Madam is ill? She goes pale and red by turns. Madam has the fever for +sure! And her arm is hurt, and she is as wet as the first time she +came here. Ah, Lord God, what are we coming to? Fire we must have. I +shall send the wife."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ay, do so, man," cried Captain Jack, looking with concern at Lady +Landale, who in truth seemed scarcely able to stand, and whose +fluctuating colour and cracked fevered lips gave painful corroboration +to René's surmise, "your mistress must be instantly attended to."</p> + +<p>But Molly arrested the servant as he would have hurried past upon his +errand.</p> + +<p>"Your master?" she said in a dry whisper, "is he at Pulwick?"</p> + +<p>"His honour! My faith, I must be but half-awake yet. Imbecile that I +am, his honour—where is he? Is he not with you? No, indeed, he is not +at Pulwick, My Lady; he has gone to St. Malo to seek you. Nothing +would serve him but that he must go. And so he did not reach in time +to meet you? Ah, the poor master—what anxiety for him!"</p> + +<p>Captain Jack glanced in dismay at his friend's wife, met her suddenly +illumined gaze and turned abruptly on his heel, with a grinding noise.</p> + +<p>"See to your mistress," he said harshly, "I hear your women folk are +roused overhead; hurry them, and when Lady Landale no longer requires +you, I must speak with you on an urgent business of my own. You will +find me in my old room."</p> + +<p>"Go with the captain at once, René, since he wants you," interposed +Molly quickly, "here comes Moggie. She will take care of me. Leave me, +leave me. I feel strong again. Good-night, Captain Smith, I shall see +you to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>There was a wistful query in her voice and look.</p> + +<p>Captain Smith bowed distantly and coldly, and hastened from the room, +accompanied by René, while open-mouthed and blinking, rosy, blowsy, +and amazed, Mrs. Potter made her entry on the scene and stared at her +mistress with the roundest of blue eyes.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>"My good Renny," said the captain, "I have no time to lose. I have a +hard hour's work to do, before I can even think of talking. I want +your help. Your light will burn all safe for the time, will it not? +Hark ye, man, you have been so faithful a fellow to my one friend that +I am going to trust to you matters which concern my own honour and my +own life. Ask no question, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> do what I tell you, if you would help +one who has helped your master long ago; one whom your master would +wish you to help."</p> + +<p>Thus adjured, René repressed his growing astonishment at the +incomprehensible development of events. And having, under direction, +provided the sailor with a lantern, and himself with a wide tarpaulin +and sundry carpenter's tools, he followed his leader readily enough +through the ruinous passages, half choked up with sand, which led from +the interior of the ruins to one of the sea caves.</p> + +<p>Before reaching the open-mouthed rocky chamber, the captain obscured +the light, and René promptly barked his shins against a barrel.</p> + +<p>"<i>Sacrebleu</i>," he cried, feeling with quick hands the nature of the +obstruction, "more kegs?"</p> + +<p>"The same, my friend! Now hang that tarpaulin against the mouth of the +cave and be sure it is close; then we may again have some light upon +the matter. What we must do will not bear interference, and moving +glimmers on a dark night have told tales before this."</p> + +<p>As soon as the beach entrance was made secure, the captain uncovered +his lantern; and as the double row of kegs stood revealed, his eyes +rapidly scanned their number. Yes, they were all there: five and +twenty.</p> + +<p>"Now, to work, man! We have to crack every one of these nuts, and take +the kernels out."</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke, he turned the nearest cask on end, with a blow of +chisel and mallet stove in the head and began dragging out quantities +of loose tow. In the centre of the barrel, secured in position on to a +stout middle batten, was a bag of sailcloth closely bound with cord. +This he lifted with an effort, for it was over a hundred-weight, and +flung upon the sand in a corner.</p> + +<p>"That's the kernel you see," he said to René, who had watched the +operation with keen interest. "And when we have shelled them all I +will show you where to put them in safety. Now carry on—the quicker +the better. The sooner we have it all upstairs, the freer I shall +breathe."</p> + +<p>Without another word, entering into the spirit of haste which seemed +to fill his companion, and nobly control<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>ling his seething curiosity, +René set to work on his side, with his usual dexterousness.</p> + +<p>Half an hour of speechless destructive labour completed the first part +of the task. Then the two men carried the weighty bags into the room +which had been Captain Jack's in the keep. And when they had travelled +to and fro a dozen times with each heavy load, and the whole treasure +was at length accumulated upstairs, René, with fresh surprise and +admiration, saw the captain lift the hearthstone and disclose a recess +in the heavy masonry—presumably a flue, in the living days of +Scarthey peel—which, although much blocked with stony rubbish, had +been evidently improved by the last lodger during his period of +solitary residence into a convenient and very secure hiding-place.</p> + +<p>Here was the precious pyramid now heaped up; the stone was returned to +its place, and the two stood in front of each other mopping their +faces.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness, it is done," said Jack Smith. "And thank you too, +Renny. To-morrow, break up these casks and add the staves to your +firewood stack; then nobody but you, in this part of the world, need +be any the wiser about our night's work.—A smart piece of running, +eh?—Phew, I am tired! Bring me some food, and some brandy, like a +good fellow. Then you can back to your pillow and flatter yourself +that you have helped Jack Smith out of a famous quandary."</p> + +<p>René grinned and rushed to execute the order. He had less desire for +his pillow than for the gratification of his hyper-excited curiosity.</p> + +<p>But although pressed to quaff one cup of good fellowship and yet +another, he was not destined to get his information, that night, from +the captain, who had much ado to strangle his yawns sufficiently to +swallow a mouthful or two of food.</p> + +<p>"No one must know, Renny," was all he said, at last, between two +gapes, kicking the hearthstone significantly, and stretching his arms, +"not even the wife." Then he flung himself all dressed upon his bed.</p> + +<p>"And my faith," said René, when he sought his wife a moment later, "he +was fast asleep before I had closed the door."</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE END OF THE THREAD</h3> + + +<p>Madeleine had appeared greatly distressed at the thought that, through +her, her sister was now in so doubtful and precarious a situation. It +was part of her punishment, she told herself for her sins of deceit +and unmaidenliness in encouraging and meeting a clandestine lover.</p> + +<p>She had gone through some very bitter hours since her tryst at the +ruins. The process of cutting off a malignant growth that has become +part of oneself is none the less painful because the conviction is +clear that it is for one's health to do so, and the will is firm not +to falter. Not the less is the flesh mangled, do nerves throb, and +veins bleed. But Madeleine was determined that nobody should even +guess her sufferings.</p> + +<p>Rupert had counted upon Sophia's old habit of obedience to him, and +upon her superstitious terrors not to betray to the young girl the +part he had played in the unmasking of her lover; but he had an +unexpected, and even more powerful ally in Madeleine's own pride. When +Miss Sophia had tremblingly endeavoured to falter out a few words of +sympathy and sorrow, upon the distressing subject, Madeleine quickly +interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"Never speak even his name again, Sophia; all that is finished for +me."</p> + +<p>There was such a cold finality in her voice, that the poor confidant's +expansiveness withered up within her beyond even the hope of +blossoming again.</p> + +<p>When Rupert heard of Captain Jack's latest doings, and especially of +his sister-in-law's disappearance, he thought that the fates were +propitious indeed. In his wildest schemes he could not have planned +anything that would have suited his game more perfectly.</p> + +<p>Though he thought it incumbent upon him to pull a face of desperate +length whenever the subject was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> touched, in his innermost soul he had +hardly ever enjoyed so delightful a joke as this dénouement to his +brother's marriage and to his cousin's engagement. And, strange to +say, though he would most gravely protest against any interpretation +of his kinswoman's disappearance save the one which must most redound +to her credit, the story, started by the gossips in the village upon +the return of the revenue men, that Lady Landale had bolted with the +handsome smuggler, grew and spread apace all over the county, more +especially from such houses as Rupert was wont to visit.</p> + +<p>That all his hints and innuendoes should fail, apparently, to make +Madeleine put upon the case the interpretation he would have liked, +was at once a matter of secret sneering and of admiration to his +curiously complicated mind.</p> + +<p>The days went by, to all appearance placidly enough, for the trio at +Pulwick. Madeleine shunned none of the usages of life in common, +worked and talked with Sophia of a morning, rode or walked out with +Rupert of an afternoon; and passed the evening at her embroidery frame +meeting his efforts to entertain her as amiably as before.</p> + +<p>Rupert thought he knew enough of the human heart, and more especially +the feminine, to draw satisfactory conclusions from this behaviour. +For a girl to bear no malice to the man who had taken it upon himself +to demonstrate to her the unworthiness of her lover, argued, to his +mind, that her affections could not have been very deeply engaged in +that quarter. It was clear that she felt gratitude for a timely +rescue. Nay, might he not go further, and lay the flattering unction +to his soul that she would not be unwilling to transfer these same +blighted feelings to a more suitable recipient?</p> + +<p>A slight incident which took place a few nights later, tended still +more to increase the kindness of Madeleine's manner to him upon the +next day; but this was for a reason that he little suspected.</p> + +<p>It had been an anniversary with Sophia—none less indeed than that of +the lamented Rector's demise. When her young cousin had retired to her +room, the desire to pursue her thither with a packet of old letters, +and other treasures exhumed from the depths of her cupboards, had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> +proved too strong for a soul burning for congenial sympathy; and +Sophia had spent a couple of very delightful hours pouring forth +reminiscences and lamentations into the bosom of one who, as she said, +she knew could understand her.</p> + +<p>Madeleine a little wearied, stifling a sigh or a yawn as the minutes +ticked by, was too gentle, too kind-hearted to repel the faithful, if +loquacious mourner; so she had sat and listened, which was all that +Sophia required.</p> + +<p>Upon the stroke of twelve, Miss Landale rose at length, collected her +relics, and mopping her swollen eyes, embraced her cousin, and bade +her good-night with much effusion, while with cordial alacrity the +latter conducted her to the door.</p> + +<p>But here Sophia paused. Holding the flat silver candlestick with one +hand, with the other clasping to her bosom her bundle of superannuated +love letters, she glanced out into the long black chasm of corridor +with a shudder, and vowed she had not the courage to traverse it alone +at such an hour. She cast as she spoke such a meaning glance at +Madeleine's great bed, that, trembling lest her next words should be a +proposal to share it for the night, the young girl hurriedly +volunteered to re-conduct her to her own apartment.</p> + +<p>Half way down the passage they had to pass the door of the picture +gallery, which was ajar, disclosing light within. At the sight of +Rupert standing with his back to them, looking fixedly at the picture +upon the opposite wall, Sophia promptly thought better of the scream +she was preparing, and seized her cousin by the arm.</p> + +<p>"Come away, come away," she whispered, "he will be much displeased if +he sees us."</p> + +<p>Madeleine allowed herself to be pulled onward, but remembering Molly's +previous encounter upon the same spot, was curious enough to demand an +explanation of Rupert's nocturnal rambles when they had reached the +haven of Sophia's bedroom. It was very simple, but it struck her as +exceedingly pathetic and confirmed her in her opinion of the +unreasonableness of her sister's dislike to Rupert.</p> + +<p>He was gazing at his dead wife's picture. He could not bear, Sophia +said, for any one to find him there; could not bear the smallest +allusion to his grief, but at night, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> she had herself discovered +quite by accident, he would often spend long spells as they had just +seen him.</p> + +<p>There was something in Madeleine's own nature, a susceptible proud +reserve which made this trait in her cousin's character thoroughly +congenial; moreover, what woman is not drawn with pity towards the man +who can so mourn a woman.</p> + +<p>She met him therefore, the next day, with a softness, almost a +tenderness, of look and smile which roused his highest hopes. And when +he proposed, after breakfast, that they should profit by the mild +weather to stroll in the garden while Sophia was busy in the house, +she willingly consented.</p> + +<p>Up the gravel paths, between the gooseberry bushes, to the violet beds +they went. It was one of those balmy days that come sometimes in early +spring and encourage all sorts of false hopes in the hearts of men and +vegetables. "A growing day," the farmers call them; indeed, at such +times you may almost hear the swelling and the bursting of the buds, +the rising of the sap, the throbbing and pushing of the young green +life all around.</p> + +<p>Madeleine grew hot with the weight of her fur tippet, the pale face +under the plumy hat took an unusual pink bloom; her eyes shone with a +moist radiance. Rupert, glancing up at her, as, bent upon one knee, he +sought for stray violets amid the thick green leaves, thought it was +thus a maiden looked who waited to be won; and though all of true love +that he could ever give to woman lay buried with his little bride, he +felt his pulses quicken with a certain æsthetic pleasure in the +situation. Presently he rose, and, after arranging his bunch of purple +sweetness into dainty form, offered it silently to his companion.</p> + +<p>She took it, smiling, and carried it mechanically to her face.</p> + +<p>Oh, the scent of the violets! Upon the most delicate yet mighty +pinions she was carried back, despite all her proud resolves to that +golden hour, only five days ago, when she lay upon her lover's broad +breast, and heard the beating of his heart beneath her ear.</p> + +<p>Again she felt his arm around her, so strong, yet so gentle; saw his +handsome face bent towards her, closer—ever closer—felt again the +tide of joy that coursed through her veins in the expectation of his +kiss.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span></p> + +<p>No, no, she must not—she would not yield to this degrading folly. If +it were not yet dead, then she must kill it.</p> + +<p>She had first grown pale, but the next moment a deep crimson flooded +her face. She turned her head away, and Rupert saw her tremble as she +dropped the hand that held the flowers close clenched by her side. He +formed his own opinion of what was passing within her, and it made +even his cold blood course hotly in his veins.</p> + +<p>"Madeleine," he said, with low rapid utterance; "I am not mistaken, I +trust, in thinking you look on me as a good friend?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, yes;" answered the girl, with an effort, turning her +tremulous face towards him; "a good friend indeed."</p> + +<p>Had he not been so five days ago? Aye, most truly, and she would have +it so, in spite of the hungry voice within her which had awaked and +cried out against the knowledge that had brought such misery.</p> + +<p>He saw her set her little teeth and toss her head, and knew she was +thinking of the adventurer who had dared aspire to her. And he gained +warmer courage still.</p> + +<p>"Nothing more than a friend, sweet?"</p> + +<p>"A kind cousin; almost a brother."</p> + +<p>"No, no; not a brother, Madeleine. Nay, hear me," taking her hands and +looking into her uncomprehending eyes, "I would not be a brother, but +something closer, dearer. We are both alone in the world, more or +less. Whom have you but a mad-cap sister, a poor dreamer of a +brother-in-law, an octogenarian aunt, to look to? I have no one, no +one to whom my coming or my going, my living or my dying makes one +pulse beat of difference—except poor Sophia. Let us join our +loneliness and make of it a beautiful and happy home. Madeleine, I +have learned to love you deeply!"</p> + +<p>His eyes glowed between their narrowing eyelids, his voice rang +changes upon chords of most exquisite tenderness; his whole manner was +charged with a courtly reverence mingled with the subtlest hint of +passion. Rupert as a lover had not a flaw in him.</p> + +<p>Yet fear, suspicion, disgust chased each other in Madeleine's mind in +quick succession. What did he mean? How could it be that he loved her? +Oh! if <i>this</i> had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> his purpose, what motive was prompting him +when he divided her from her deceiving lover? Was no one true then? +Was this the inconsolable widower whose grief she had been so +sympathetically considering all the morning; for whose disinterested +anxiety and solicitude on her behalf her sore heart had forced itself +to render gratitude? Oh! how terrible it all was ... what a hateful +world!</p> + +<p>"Well, Madeleine?" he pressed forward and slid his arm around her.</p> + +<p>All her powers of thought and action restored by the deed, she +disengaged herself with a movement of unconscious repulsion.</p> + +<p>"Cousin Rupert, I am sure you mean kindly by me, but it is quite +impossible—I shall never marry."</p> + +<p>He drew back, as nonplussed as if she had struck him in the face.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, my dear Madeleine."</p> + +<p>"Please, Cousin Rupert, no more."</p> + +<p>"My dear girl, I have been precipitate."</p> + +<p>"Nothing can make any difference. That I could never marry you, so +much you must believe; that I shall never marry at all you are free to +believe or not, as you please. I am sorry you should have spoken."</p> + +<p>"Still hankering after that beggarly scoundrel?" muttered Rupert, a +sneer uncovering his teeth betrayed hideously the ungenerous soul +within. He was too deeply mortified, too shaken by this utter +shattering of his last ambitions to be able to grasp his usual +self-control.</p> + +<p>Madeleine gave him one proud glance, turned abruptly away, and walked +into the house.</p> + +<p>She went steadily up to her room, and, once there, without hesitation +proceeded to unlock a drawer in her writing-table and draw from it a +little ribbon-tied parcel of letters—Jack's letters.</p> + +<p>Her heart had failed her, womanlike, before the little sacrifice when +she had unshrinkingly accomplished the larger one. Now, however, with +determined hand, she threw the letters into the reddest cavern of her +wood-fire and with hard dry eyes watched them burn. When the last +scrap had writhed and fluttered and flamed into grey ash, she turned +to her altar, and, extending her arm, called out aloud:</p> + +<p>"I have done with it all for ever——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span></p> + +<p>And the next instant flinging herself upon her bed, she drew her brown +ringlets before her face, and under this veil wept for her broken +youth and her broken heart, and the hard cold life before her.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>There is a kind of love a man can give to woman but once in his +lifetime: the love of the man in the first flush of manhood for the +woman he has chosen to be his mate, untransferable and never to be +forgotten: love of passion so exquisite, of devotion so pure, born of +the youth of the heart and belonging to an existence and personality +lost for ever. A man may wed again, and (some say) love again, but +between the boards of the coffin of his first wife—if he has loved +her—lie secrets of tenderness, and sweetness, and delight, which, +like the spring flowers, may not visit the later year.</p> + +<p>But, notwithstanding this, a second wooing may have a charm and an +interest of its own, even the wooing which is to precede a marriage of +convenience.</p> + +<p>So Rupert found. The thought of an alliance with Madeleine de Savenaye +was not only engrossing from the sense of its own intrinsic +advantages, but had become the actual foundation-stone of all his new +schemes of ambition.</p> + +<p>Nay, more: such admiration and desire as he could still feel for +woman, he had gradually come to centre upon his fair and graceful +cousin, who added to her personal attractions the other indispensable +attributes, blood, breeding and fortune. Mr. Landale was as +essentially refined and fastidious in his judgment as he was +unmeasured in his ambition.</p> + +<p>His error of precipitancy had been pardonable enough; and mere +self-reproach for an ill-considered manœuvre would not have +sufficed to plunge him into such a depth of bitter and angry +despondency as that in which he now found himself. But the rebuff had +been too uncompromising to leave him a single hope. He was too shrewd +not to see that here was no pretty feminine nay, precursor of the +yielding yea, not to realise that Madeleine had meant what she said +and would abide by it. And, under the sting of the moment betrayed +into a degradingly ill-mannered outburst, he had shown that he +measured the full bearings of the position.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span></p> + +<p>So, the wind still sat in that quarter!</p> + +<p>Failing the mysterious smuggler, it was to be nobody with the Savenaye +heiress—and least of all Rupert Landale.</p> + +<p>And this, though the scoundrel had been thoroughly shown up; though he +had started upon his illegal venture and was gone, never to return if +he valued his neck, after murdering four officers of the crown and +sinking a king's vessel; though he had carried away with him (ah! +there was consolation in that excellent jest which had so far +developed into Sir Adrian's wild goose chase to France and might still +hold some delicate dénouement), had carried with him no less a person +than Lady Landale herself (the fellow had good taste, and either of +the sisters was a dainty morsel), he still left the baneful trail of +his influence behind him upon the girl he had deluded and beguiled!</p> + +<p>Rupert Landale, who, for motives of his own had pleased himself by +hunting down Madeleine's lover, had felt, in the keenness of his +blood-hound work, something of the blood-hound instinct of destruction +and ferocity spring up within him before he had even set eyes on his +quarry. And the day they had stood face to face this instinctive +hatred had been intensified by some singular natural antagonism. Added +to this there was now personal injury and the prey was out of reach. +Impotence for revenge burned into the soul of him like a corrosive +poison. Oh, let him but come within his grip again and he should not +escape so easily.</p> + +<p>Sits the wind still in that quarter?</p> + +<p>The burthen droned in his head, angry conclusion to each long spell of +inconclusive thought, as he still paced the garden, till the noon hour +began to wane. And it was in this mood, that, at length, returning to +his study, he crossed in one of the back passages a young woman +enveloped in a brilliant scarlet and black shawl, who started in +evident dismay on being confronted with him.</p> + +<p>Rupert knew by sight and name every wench of kitchen and laundry, as +well as every one of the buxom lasses or dames whom business brought +periodically to the great hall. That this person was neither of the +household nor one of the usual back-door visitors, he would have seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> +at a glance, even had not her own embarrassment drawn his closer +attention. He looked keenly and recognised the gatekeeper's daughter +Moggie.</p> + +<p>Having married Sir Adrian's servant and withdrawn to take up her abode +in the camp of the enemy, so to speak, she was not one whom Mr. +Landale would have regarded with favour in any case; but now, +concentrating his thoughts from their aimless whirl of dissatisfaction +upon the present encounter, he was struck by the woman's manner.</p> + +<p>Yes, she was most undoubtedly frightened. He examined her with a +malevolent eye which still discountenanced her. And, though he made no +inquiry, she forthwith stammered out: "I—I came, sir, to see if there +be news of her Ladyship ... or of Sir Adrian, sir—Renny can't leave +the island, you know, and he be downright anxious."</p> + +<p>"Well, my good woman, calm yourself. Nothing wrong; nothing to hide in +this very laudable anxiety of you and your good man! No, we have no +news yet—that is quickly told, Mrs. Potter."</p> + +<p>He kept her for a moment quailing and scared under his cruel gaze, +then went on his way, working upon the new problems she had brought +him to solve. No matter was too small for Rupert's mind, he knew how +inextricably the most minute and apparently insignificant may be +connected with the most important events of life.</p> + +<p>The woman was singularly anxious to explain, reflected he, pausing at +his chamber door, singularly ready with her explanation—too ready. +She must have lied. No doubt she lied. Liar was written upon every +line of the terrified face of her. What was that infernal little +French husband of hers hatching now? He had been in the Smith plot, of +course. Ah, curse that smuggling fellow: he cropped up still on every +side! Pray the fates he would crop up once too often for his own +safety yet; who knew!</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Mrs. Potter, the innocent news-gatherer, must not be allowed +to roam unwatched at her own sweet will about the place. Hark! what +clumping, creaking, steps! These could only be produced by René's +fairy-footed spouse: the house servants had been too well drilled by +his irritable ear to venture in such shoe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> leather within its range. +He closed his door, and gently walked back along the corridor.</p> + +<p>As he passed Molly's apartment, he could hear the creaking of a +wardrobe door; and, a startling surmise springing into his brain, he +quietly slipped into an opposite room and waited, leaving the door +slightly ajar.</p> + +<p>As he expected, a few minutes later, Moggie re-appeared loaded with a +bulky parcel, glancing anxiously right and left. She tiptoed by him; +but, after a few steps, suddenly turning her head once more, met his +eyes grimly fixed upon her through the narrow aperture. With a faint +squeal she paddled off as though a fiend were at her heels.</p> + +<p>"Something more than anxiety for news there, Mrs. Potter," said Mr. +Landale, apostrophising the retreating figure with a malignant, inward +laugh! Then, when the last echo of her stout boots had faded away, he +entered his sister-in-law's room, looked around and meditatively began +to open various presses and drawers. "You visited this one at any +rate, my girl," thought he, as he recognised the special sound of the +hinges. "And, for a lady's maid, you have left it in singular +disorder. As for this," pulling open a linen drawer half-emptied, and +showing dainty feminine apparel, beribboned and belaced, in the most +utter disorder—"why, fie on you, Mrs. Potter! Is this the way to +treat these pretty things?"</p> + +<p>He had seen enough. He paused a moment in the middle of the room with +his nails to his lips, smiling to himself.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Mrs. Potter, I fancy you might have given us a little news, +yourself! Most unkind of my Lady Landale to prefer to keep us in this +unnatural anxiety—most unkind indeed! She must have singularly good +reasons for so doing.... Captain Smith, my friend, Mr. Cochrane, or +whatever may be your name, we have an account to settle. And there is +that fool of an Adrian scurrying over the seas in search of his +runaway wife! By George! my hand is not played out yet!"</p> + +<p>Slowly he repaired to his study. There he sat down and wrote, without +any further reflection, an urgent letter to the chief officer of the +newly established Preventive Service Station. Then he rang the bell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span></p> + +<p>"One of the grooms will ride at once to Lancaster with this," he said +to the servant, looking at the missive in his hand. But instead of +delivering it he paused: a new idea had occurred. How many of these +servants might not be leagued in favour of that interloper, bribed, or +knowing him, perhaps, to have been a friend of Sir Adrian, or yet +again out of sheer spite to himself? No; he would leave no loop-hole +for treachery now.</p> + +<p>"Send the groom to me as soon as he is ready," he continued, and when +the footman had withdrawn, enclosed the letter, with its tale-telling +superscription, in another directed to a local firm of attorneys, with +a covering note instructing them to see that the communication, on His +Majesty's Service, should reach the proper hands without delay.</p> + +<p>When the messenger had set forth, Mr. Landale, on his side, had his +horse saddled and sallied out in the direction of Scarthey sands.</p> + +<p>As from the top of the bluff he took a survey of the great bay, a +couple of figures crossing the strand in the distance arrested his +attention; he reined in his horse behind a clump of bushes and +watched.</p> + +<p>"So ho! Mrs. Potter, your careful husband could not leave the island?" +muttered he, as he marked the unmistakable squat figure of the one, a +man carrying a burden upon his shoulder, whilst, enveloping the woman +who walked briskly by his side, flared the brilliant-hued shawl of +Moggie. "That lie alone would have been sufficient to arouse +suspicion. Hallo, what is the damned <i>crapaud</i> up to?"</p> + +<p>The question was suggested by the man's movements, as, after returning +the parcel to his consort at the beginning of the now bare causeway, +he turned tail, while she trudged forward alone.</p> + +<p>"The Shearman's house! I thought as much. Out he comes again, and not +by himself. I have made acquaintance with those small bare legs +before. I should have been astonished indeed if none of the Shearman +fellows had been mixed up with the affair. I shall be even yet with +those creditable friends of yours, brother Adrian. So, it's you again, +Johnny, my lad; the pretty Mercury.... Can it be possible that Captain +Smith is at his old games once more?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Landale's eyes shone with a curious eager light; he laughed a +little mirthless laugh, which was neither pleasant to hear nor to +give. "Dear me," he said aloud, as he watched the pair tramp together +towards Scarthey, "for plotters in the dark, you are particularly easy +to detect, my good friends!"</p> + +<p>Then he checked himself, realising what a mere chance it had been, +after all—a fortuitous meeting in the passage—that had first aroused +his suspicions, and placed between his fingers the end of the thread +he now thought it so simple to follow up. But he did hold the thread, +and depended no longer upon chance or guess-work, but on his own +relentless purpose to lay the plotters by the heels, whatever their +plot might be.</p> + +<p>In the course of an hour and a half, Johnny Shearman, whistling, +light-hearted, and alone, was nearing his native house once more, when +the sight of a horseman, rapidly advancing across the sands, brought +him to a standstill, to stare with a boy's curiosity. Presently, +however, recognising Mr. Landale—a person for whom he had more dread +than admiration—he was starting off homeward again at a brisk canter, +when a stern hail from the rider arrested him.</p> + +<p>"Johnny!" The boy debated a moment, measured the distance between the +cottage and himself, and shrewdly recognised the advisability of +obeying. "Johnny, my boy, I want you at the Hall; take hold of my +stirrup, and come along with me."</p> + +<p>The boy, with every symptom of reluctance, demurred, pleading a +promise to return to his mother. Then he suddenly perceived a look in +the gentleman's eye, which gave him a frantic, unreasoned desire to +bolt at once, and at any cost. But the horseman anticipated the +thought; bending in the saddle, he reached out his arm and seized the +urchin by the collar.</p> + +<p>"Why, you little devil, what is the matter with you?" he asked, +grinning ominously into the chubby, terrified face. "It strikes me it +is time you and I should come to a little understanding. Any more +letters from the smuggler to-day, eh? Ah, would you, you young idiot!" +and Mr. Landale's fingers gave a sudden twist to the collar, which +strangled the rising yell. "Listen, Johnny," tightening his grasp +gradually until the brown face grew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> scarlet, then purple, and the +goggling eyes seemed to start out of their sockets; "that is what it +feels like to be hanged. They squeeze your neck so; and they leave you +dangling at the end of a rope till you are dead, dead, dead, and the +crows come and eat you. Do you want to be hanged?"</p> + +<p>For some moments more he kept the writhing lad under the torture; then +loosening his grip, without however relinquishing his hold, allowed +him to taste once more the living air.</p> + +<p>"Do you want to be hanged, Johnny Shearman?" he asked again gravely. +The lad burst into gasping sobs, and looked up at his captor with an +agony of fear in his bloodshot eyes. "No," continued Mr. Landale, "I +am sure you don't, eh?" with a renewed ominous contraction of the +hand. "It's a fearful thing, is hanging. And yet many a lad, hardly +older than you, has been hanged for less than you are doing. +Magistrates can get people hanged, and I am a magistrate, you know. +<i>Stop that noise!</i>"</p> + +<p>"Now," continued the gentleman, "there are one or two little things I +want to know myself, Johnny, and it's just possible I might let you +off for this time if by chance you were able to tell them to me. So, +for your sake, I hope you may be."</p> + +<p>He could see that the boy's mind was now completely turned with +fright.</p> + +<p>"If you were to try to run away again I should know you had secrets to +keep from me, and then, Johnny Shearman, it would go hard with you +indeed! Now come along beside me, up to the Hall."</p> + +<p>Quite certain of his prey, he released him, and, setting his horse to +a trot, smiled to note the desperate clutch of the lad upon his +stirrup leather, as, with the perspiration dripping from his face, and +panting breath, he struggled to keep up the pace alongside.</p> + +<p>Marched with tremendous ceremony into the magistrate's study and +directed to stand right opposite the light, while Mr. Landale +installed himself in an arm-chair with a blood-curdling air of +judicial sternness, Johnny Shearman, at most times as dare-devil a +pickle of a boy as ever ran, but now reduced to a state of mental and +physical jelly, underwent a terrible cross-examination. It was +comparatively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> little that he had to say, and no doubt he wished most +fervently he had greater revelations to make, and could thus +propitiate the arbiter of the appalling fate he firmly believed might +lie in store for him. Meagre as his narrative was, however, it quite +sufficed for Mr. Landale.</p> + +<p>"I think, Johnny," he said more pleasantly, well knowing the +inducement that a sudden relaxation from fear offers to a witness's +garrulity, "I think I may say you will not hang this time—that is," +with a sudden hardening of his voice, and making a great show of +checking the answers with pen and ink in his most magisterial manner, +"that is if you have really told me <i>all</i> you know and it be all +<i>true</i>. Now let us see, and take care. You saw no one at the peel +to-day but Renny Potter, Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Crackenshaw?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir."</p> + +<p>"But you heard other voices in the next room—a man's voice—whilst +you were waiting?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Then Renny Potter came back and gave you a message for your brothers. +This message they made you repeat, over and over again. How did it +go?" And as Mr. Landale frowningly looked at his paper, the boy +tremblingly repeated:</p> + +<p>"I mun tell brothers Will an' Rob, that one or t'other mun watchen the +light o' nights, to-night, to-morrow night, an' ontil woord coom +again. If light go out they mun setten forth in they ketch thot +moment, fettled op for a two-three days' sailing. If wind is contrairy +like, they mun take sweeps. This for the master's service—for Sir +Adrian's service!"—amending the phrase with a sharp reading of the +blackness of Mr. Landale's swift upward look.</p> + +<p>"Yes," murmured the latter after a pause. "And you were to tell no one +else. You were to keep it above all from getting to my ears. Very +good, Johnny. If you have spoken the truth, you are safe."</p> + +<p>There was a special cell, off the official study, with high windows, +bolts and bars, and a wooden bench, for the temporary housing of such +desperate criminals as might be brought to the judgment of Rupert +Landale, Esquire, J.P. There he now disposed of the young offender who +snivelled piteously once more; and having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> locked the door and +pocketed the key, returned to his capacious arm-chair, where, as the +twilight waned over the land, he fell to co-ordinating his scheme and +gloating upon this unexpected turn of Fortune's wheel.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>At that hour Madeleine, alone in her chamber, knelt before her little +altar, wrestling with the rebellion of her soul and besieging the +heavens with a cry for peace.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Sir Adrian having failed to hear aught of the <i>Peregrine</i> at St. Malo, +filled with harassing doubt about its fate but clutching still at +hope—as men will, even such pessimists as he—stood on the deck of +his homeward bound ship, straining his eyes in the dusk for the coast +line.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>In the peel, the beacon had just been lighted by René, in whose +company, up in his secluded turret, sat Captain Jack, smoking a pipe, +but so unusually silent as to have reduced even the loquacious +Frenchman to silence too. Below them Lady Landale, torn between the +dread of a final separation from the loadstar of her existence and the +gnawing anxiety roused in her bosom by Moggie's account of Mr. +Landale's watchfulness, was pacing the long book-lined room with the +restlessness of a caged panther.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>On the road from Lancaster to Pulwick a posse of riding officers and a +carriage full of hastily gathered preventive men were trotting on +their way to the Priory.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h3>THE LIGHT GOES OUT</h3> + + +<p>The light of Scarthey had not been shining for quite an hour over the +wilderness, when Lady Landale, suddenly breaking the chain of her +restless tramp, ran to the door and called for Moggie.</p> + +<p>There was so shrill a tone of anguish in the summons that the young +woman rushed into the room in trembling expectancy: yet it was to find +her mistress alone and the place undisturbed.</p> + +<p>"Moggie," said Lady Landale, panting and pressing her hands upon her +side as if in the endeavour to control the beating of her heart, +"something is going to happen; I know it, I feel it! Tell Captain +Smith that I must speak to him, here, at once."</p> + +<p>Infected by the terror upon her mistress's face, Madame Lapôtre flew +upon her errand; a moment later, Captain Jack entered the room and +stood before Lady Landale with a look of impatient inquiry.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is wicked, it is mad!" cried she passionately; "it is tempting +God to remain here!"</p> + +<p>"Of whom are you speaking?" he asked, with an involuntary glance of +contempt at the distracted figure. "If it is of yourself, I entirely +concur. How often these last days, and how earnestly have I not begged +of you to return to Pulwick? Was not the situation you placed me in +with regard to Adrian already odious enough that it needed this added +folly? Oh, I know—I know what you would say: spare it me. My safety? +You fear for me? Ah, Lady Landale, that you could have but left me in +peace!"</p> + +<p>He had waxed hot with anger from his first would-be calmness, as he +spoke. This dismal life of close but inharmonious proximity, started +upon the seas and continued under his absent friend's own roof had +tried his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> impetuous temper to the utmost. Upon the morrow of their +return he had, indeed, exercised all his powers of persuasion to +induce Lady Landale to proceed to the Priory; but, impelled by her +frantic dread of the separation, and entrenching herself behind the +argument that her mysterious re-appearance would awaken suspicion +where people would otherwise believe the <i>Peregrine</i> still in foreign +parts, she had declared her irrevocable determination not to quit the +island until she knew him to be safe. And he had remained, actuated by +the dual desire, first to exonerate himself personally in her +husband's eyes from any possible suspicion of complicity in Molly's +flight—the bare thought of which had become a horrible torment to +him—then to encompass through that good friend's means an interview +and full explanation with Madeleine, which not only the most ordinary +precaution for his life, but likewise every instinct of pride forbade +him now to seek himself.</p> + +<p>Thus began a state of affairs which, as the days succeeded each other +without news of Sir Adrian, became every moment more intolerable to +his loyalty. The inaction, the solitary hours of reflection; the +maddening feeling of unavailing proximity to his heart's dearest, of +impotency against the involving meshes of the present false and +hateful position; all this had brought into the young man's soul a +fever of anger, which, as fevers will, consumed him the more fiercely +because of his vigour and strength.</p> + +<p>It was with undisguised hatred and with scorn immeasurable that he now +surveyed the woman who had degraded him in his own eyes. At another +time Molly might have yielded before his resentment, but at this hour +her whole being was encompassed by a single thought.</p> + +<p>"It is for you—for you!" she repeated with ashen lips; "you must go +before it is too late."</p> + +<p>"And is it not too late?" stormed he. "Too late, indeed, do I see my +treachery to Adrian, my more than brother! Upon my ship I could not +avoid your company, but here—Oh, I should have thought of him and not +of myself, and done as my honour bade me! You are right; since you +would not go, I should have done so. It was weak; it was mad; worse, +worse—dishonourable!"</p> + +<p>But she had no ears for his reproaches, no power to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> feel the wounds +he dealt her woman's heart with such relentless hand.</p> + +<p>"Then you will go," she cried. "Tell René, the signal."</p> + +<p>He started and looked at her with a different expression.</p> + +<p>"Have you heard anything; has anything happened?" he asked, recovering +self-restraint at the thought of danger.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," she replied, "not yet, but it is coming."</p> + +<p>Her look and voice were so charged with tragic force that for the +moment he was impressed, and, brave man though he was, felt a little +cold thrill run down his spine. She continued, in accents of the most +piercing misery:</p> + +<p>"And it will have been through me—it will have been through me! Oh, +in mercy let me make the signal! Say you will go to-night."</p> + +<p>"I will go."</p> + +<p>There followed a little pause of breathless silence between them. Then +as, without speaking, he would have turned away, a loud, peremptory +knock resounded upon the door of the keep and echoed and re-echoed +with lugubrious reverberation through the old stone passages around +them.</p> + +<p>At first, terror-stricken, her tongue clave to her palate, her feet +were rooted to the ground; then with a scream she flung herself upon +him and would have dragged him towards the door.</p> + +<p>"They have come—hide—hide!"</p> + +<p>He threw up his head to listen, while he strove to disengage himself. +The blood had leaped to his cheek, and fire to his eye. "And if it be +Adrian?" he cried.</p> + +<p>Another knock thundered through the still air.</p> + +<p>"It is but one man," cried René from his tower down the stairs. "You +may open, Moggie."</p> + +<p>"No—no," screamed Molly beside herself, and tighter clasped her arms +round Captain Jack's neck.</p> + +<p>"Adrian, it is Adrian!" said he. "Hush, Madam, let me go! Would you +make the breach between me and my friend irreparable?"</p> + +<p>Both his hands were on her wrists in the vain endeavour to disengage +himself from her frenzied grip; the door was flung open and Rupert +Landale stood in the opening, and looked in upon them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Damnation!" muttered Jack between his teeth and flung her from him, +stamping his foot.</p> + +<p>Rupert gazed from one to the other; from the woman, who, haggard and +dishevelled, now turned like a fury upon him, to the sailor's fierce +erect figure. Then he closed the door with an air of grave +deliberation.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" demanded Molly—"you have come here for no good +purpose. What do you want?"</p> + +<p>As she spoke she strove to place herself between the two men.</p> + +<p>"I came, my dear sister-in-law," said Rupert in his coldest, most +incisive voice, "to learn why, since you have come back from your +little trip, you choose to remain in the ruins rather than return to +your own house and family. The reason is clear to see now. My poor +brother!"</p> + +<p>The revulsion of disappointment had added to the wrath which the very +sight of Rupert Landale aroused in Jack Smith's blood; this +insinuation was the culminating injury. He took a step forward.</p> + +<p>"Have a care, sir," he exclaimed, "how you outrage in my presence the +wife of my best friend! Have a care—I am not in such a hurry to leave +you as when last we met!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Landale raised his eyebrows, and again sent a look from Molly back +to the sailor, the insolence of which lashed beyond all control the +devils in the sailor's soul.</p> + +<p>"We have an account to settle, it seems to me, Mr. Landale," said he, +taking another step forward and slightly stooping his head to look the +other in the eye. Crimson fury was in his own. "I doubt much whether +it was quite wise of you, assuming that you expected to find me here, +to have come without that pistolling retinue with which you provided +yourself last time."</p> + +<p>Rupert smiled and crossed his arms. Cowardice was no part of his +character. He had come in advance of his blood-hounds, in part to +assure himself of the correctness of his surmises, but also to feast +upon the discomfiture of this man and this woman whom he hated. To +have found them together, and thus, had been an unforeseen and +delicious addition to his dish of vengeance, and he would linger over +it while he could.</p> + +<p>"Well, Captain Smith, and about this account? Lady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> Landale, I beg of +you, be silent. You have brought sufficient disgrace upon our name as +it is. Nay, sir," raising his voice, "it is useless to shake your head +at me in this furious style; nothing can alter facts. <i>I saw.</i> Who has +an account to demand then—you, whose life is already forfeit for an +accumulation of crimes; you, screened by a conspiracy of bribed +servants and ... your best friend's wife, as you dare call your +paramour; or I, in my brother's absence the natural guardian of his +family, of his honour? But I am too late. One sister I saved from the +ignominy you would have brought upon her. The other I could not save."</p> + +<p>With a roar Jack Smith would have sprung at the speaker; but, once +more, his friend's wife rushed between.</p> + +<p>"Let him speak," she cried, "what matter what he says? But +you—remember your promise. I will make the signal."</p> + +<p>The signal! The mask of Rupert's face, sternly and sadly rebuking, was +not proof against the exquisite aptness of this proposal. His men +outside were waiting for the signal, surrounding the island from land +and seaward, (for the prey was not to be allowed to escape them +again); but how to make it without creating suspicion had not yet +suggested itself to his fertile brain. Now, while he held her lover in +play, Molly would herself deliver him to justice. Excellent, +excellent! Truly life held some delightful jokes for the man of +humour!</p> + +<p>The light of triumph came and went upon his countenance like a flash, +but when the life hangs upon the decision of a moment the wits become +abnormally sharp. Jack Smith saw it, halted upon his second headlong +onslaught, and turned round.—Too late: Molly was gone. He brought his +gaze back upon his enemy and saw he had been trapped.</p> + +<p>Their gleams met like duelling blades, divining each other's purpose +with the rapidity of thrust answering thrust. Both made a leap for the +door. But Rupert was nearest; he first had his hand on the key and +turned it, and, with newly-born genius of fight, suddenly begotten of +his hatred, quickly stooped, eluded the advancing grasp, was free for +one second, and sent the key crashing through the window into the +darkness of the night.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span></p> + +<p>Baffled by the astounding swiftness of the act, the sailor, wheeling +round, had already raised his fist to crush his feebler foe, when, in +the midst of his fury, a glimmer of the all-importance of every second +of time stayed his hand. He threw himself upon the heavy ladder that +rested against Sir Adrian's rows of books, and, clasping it by the +middle, swung it above his head. The battering blow would, no doubt, +have burst panel, lock, and hinges the next instant, but again Rupert +forestalled him, and charged him before the door could be reached.</p> + +<p>Overbalanced by the weight he held aloft, Captain Jack was hurled down +headlong beneath the ladder, and lay for a moment stunned by the +violence of the fall.</p> + +<p>When the clouds cleared away it was to let him see Rupert's face +bending over him, his pale lips wreathed into a smile of malignant +exultation.</p> + +<p>"Caught!" said Mr. Landale, slowly, pausing over each word as though +to prolong the savour of it in his mouth, "caught this time! And it is +your mistress's hand that puts the noose round your neck. That is what +I call poetical justice."</p> + +<p>The prostrate man, collecting his scattered wits and his vast +strength, made a violent effort to spring to his feet. But Rupert's +whole weight was upon him, his long thin fingers were gripping him by +each shoulder, his face grinned at him, close, detested, infuriating. +The grasp that held him seemed to belong to no flesh and blood, it was +as the grasp of skeleton hands, the grinning face became like a +death's head.</p> + +<p>"I shall come to your hanging, Captain Jack Smith, or rather, Mr. +Hubert Cochrane of the Shaws."</p> + +<p>These were the last words of Rupert Landale. A red whirl passed +through the sailor's brain, his hands fell like lashes round the +other's neck and drew it down. <i>If Hubert Cochrane dies so does Rupert +Landale: that throat shall never give sound to that name again.</i></p> + +<p>Over and over they roll like savage beasts, but yet in deathly +silence. For the pressure of the fingers on his gullet, fingers that +seem to gain fresh strength every moment and pierce into his very +flesh, will not allow even a sigh to pass Rupert's lips, and Jack can +spare no atom of his energy from the fury of fight: not one to spare +even for the hearing of the frantic knocks at the door, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> calls, +the hammering at the lock, the desperate efforts without to prise it +open.</p> + +<p><i>But if Rupert Landale must die so shall Hubert Cochrane, and by the +hangman's hand, treble doomed by this.</i> The same thought fills both +these men's heads; the devil of murder has possession of both their +souls. But, true to himself to the last, it is with Rupert a +calculating devil. The officers must soon be here: he will hold the +scoundrel yet with the grasp of death, and his enemy shall be found +red-handed—red-handed!</p> + +<p>His hatred, his determination of vengeance, the very agony of the +unequal struggle for life gave him a power that is almost a match for +the young athlete in his frenzy.</p> + +<p>The dying efforts of his victim tax Jack's strength more than the +living fight; but his hands are still locked in their fatal clutch +when at last, with one fearful and spasmodic jerk, Rupert Landale +falls motionless. Then exhaustion enwraps the conqueror also, like a +mantle. He, too, lies motionless with his cheek on the floor, face to +face with the corpse, dimly conscious of the voluptuousness of +victory. But the dead grasp still holds him by the wrists, and it +grows cold now, and rigid upon them. It is as if they were fettered +with iron.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Lady Landale's dread of her once despised kinsman, now that she knew +what a powerful weapon he held in his hands, this night, was almost +fantastic.</p> + +<p>As she darted from the room, she fell against René, who, with a white +face and bent ear, stood at the door, eavesdropping, ready to rush to +the help of Sir Adrian's friend upon the first hint of necessity. But +he had heard more than he bargained for.</p> + +<p>The scared, well-nigh agonised look of inquiry with which he turned to +his mistress was lost upon her. In her whirlwind exit, she seized upon +him and dragged him with her to the ladder that led to the tower.</p> + +<p>"Quick, René, the signal!"</p> + +<p>And with the birdlike swiftness of a dream flight she was up the steps +before him.</p> + +<p>Panting in her wake, ran the sturdy fellow, his brain seething in a +chaos of conflicting thought. Mr. the Captain must be helped, must be +saved: this one thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> was clear at any rate. His honour would wish it +so—no matter what had happened. Yes, he would obey My Lady and make +the signal. But, what if Mr. Landale were right? Not indeed in his +accusation of Mr. the Captain, René knew, René had seen enough to +trust him: he was no false friend; but as regarded My Lady? Alas! My +Lady had indeed been strange in her manner these days; and even +Moggie, as he minded him now, even Moggie had noticed, had hinted, and +he had not understood.</p> + +<p>The man's fingers fumbled over the catch of the great lantern, he +shook as if he had the palsy. Goodness divine, if his master were to +come home to this!</p> + +<p>Impatiently Lady Landale pushed him upon one side. What ailed the +fellow, when every second was crucial, life or death bringing? +Medusa-like for one second her face hung, white-illumined, set into +terrible fixity, above the great flame, the next instant all was +blackness to their dazzled eyes. The light of Scarthey was out!</p> + +<p>She groped for René; her hot fingers burnt upon his cold rough hand +for a second.</p> + +<p>"I will go down to the sands," she said, whispering as if she feared, +even here, the keenness of Rupert's ear, "and you—hurry to him, stop +with him, defend him, your master's friend!"</p> + +<p>She flitted from him like a shadow, the ladder creaked faintly beneath +her light footfall, and then louder beneath his weighty tread.</p> + +<p>His master's friend!</p> + +<p>Ay, he would stand by him, for his master's sake and for his own sake +too—the good gentleman!—And they would get him safe out of the way +before his honour's return.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Out upon the beach ran Molly.</p> + +<p>It was a mild still night; through veils of light mist the moon shone +with a tranquil bride-like grace upon the heaving palpitating waters +and the mystery of the silent land.</p> + +<p>A very night for lovers, it seemed; for sweet meetings and sweeter +partings; a night that mocked with its great passionless calm at the +wild anguish of this woman's impatience. Yet a night upon which sound +travelled far.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> She bent her ear—was there nothing to hear yet, +nothing but the lap of the restless waters? Were those men false?</p> + +<p>She rushed to and fro, from one point to another along the sands in a +delirium of impotent desire.</p> + +<p>Oh, hurry, hurry, hurry!</p> + +<p>And as she turned again, there, upon the waters out in the offing, +glimmered a light, curtseying with the swell of the waves; the sails +of a ship caught the moonbeams. She could see the vessel plainly and +that it was bearing full for the island. Alas! This might scarcely be +the little Shearman boat manned by two fishermen only; even she, +unversed in sea knowledge could tell that. It was as large as the +<i>Peregrine</i> itself—certainly as large as the cutter.</p> + +<p>The <i>cutter</i>!</p> + +<p>She caught her breath, and clapped her hands to her lips to choke down +the wild scream of fear that rose to them.</p> + +<p>At the same instant, a dull thud of oars, a subdued murmur of a deep +voice rose from the other side of the island.</p> + +<p>They were coming, coming from the landward, these rescuers of her +beloved. And yonder, with swelling canvas, came the hell ship from out +the open sea, sent by Rupert's infernal malice and cleverness, to make +their help of no avail; to seize him, in the very act of flight.</p> + +<p>She ran in the direction of the sound, and with all her strength +called upon the new-comers to speed.</p> + +<p>"Here—here, for God's sake! Hasten or it will be too late!"</p> + +<p>Her voice seemed to her, in the midst of the endless space, weak as a +child's; but it was heard.</p> + +<p>"Coming!" answered a gruff shout from afar. And the oar beat came +closer, and fell with swifter rhythm. Stumbling, catching in her +skirts, careless of pool or stone beneath her little slippered feet, +Lady Landale came flying round the ruins: a couple of boats crashed in +upon the shingle, and the whole night seemed suddenly to become alive +with dark figures—men in uniform, with gleams upon them of brass +badges and shining belts, and in their hands the gleam of arms.</p> + +<p>For the moment she could not move. It was as if her knees were giving +way, and she must fall.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span></p> + +<p>None of them saw her in the shadow; but as they passed, she heard them +talking to each other about the signal, the signal which they had been +told to look for, which had been brought to them ... the signal <i>she</i> +had made. Then with a wave of rage, the power of life returned to her. +This was Rupert's work! But all was not lost yet. The other boat was +coming, the other boat must be the rescue after all; the Shearman's +boat, or—who knows?—if there was mercy in Heaven, the <i>Peregrine</i>, +whose crew might have heard of their captain's risk.</p> + +<p>Back she raced to the seaward beach, hurling—unknowing that she spoke +at all—invectives upon her husband's brother.</p> + +<p>"Serpent, blood-hound, devil, devil, you shall not have him!"</p> + +<p>As she reached the landing-place, breathless, a boat was landing in +very truth. Even as she came up a tall figure jumped out upon the +sand, and crunched towards her with great strides.</p> + +<p>She made a leap forward, halted, and cried out shrilly:</p> + +<p>"Adrian!"</p> + +<p>"Molly—wife! Thank God!" His arms were stretched out to her, but he +saw her waver and shudder from him, and wring her hands. "My God, what +has happened? The light out, too! What is it?"</p> + +<p>She fastened on him with a sudden fierceness, the spring of a wild +cat.</p> + +<p>"Come," she said, drawing him towards the peel, "if you would save +him, lose not a second."</p> + +<p>He hesitated a moment, still; she tugged at him like one demented, +panting her abjurations at him, though her voice was failing her. +Then, without a word, he fell to running with her towards the keep, +supporting her as they went.</p> + +<p>The great door had swung back on its hinges, and the men were +pressing, in a dark body, into the dim-lit recesses, when Sir Adrian +and his wife reached the entrance.</p> + +<p>The sight of the uniforms only confirmed the homecomer in his own +forebodings anent the first act of the drama that was being enacted +upon his peaceful island. He needed no further pushing from the +frantic woman at his side. Lost in bringing her back, perhaps, his +only friend! Lost by his loyalty and his true friendship!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span></p> + +<p>They dashed up the stone stairs just as the locked door of the +living-room burst with a crash, under the efforts of many stalwart +shoulders; they saw the men crush forwards, and fall back, and herd on +again, with a hoarse murmur that leaped from mouth to mouth.</p> + +<p>And René came running out from the throng with the face of one that +has seen Death. And he caught his mistress by the arm, and held her by +main force against the wall. He showed no surprise at the sight of his +master—there are moments in life that are beyond surprise—but cried +wildly:</p> + +<p>"She must not see!"</p> + +<p>She fought like a tigress against the faithful arms, but still they +held her, and Sir Adrian went in alone.</p> + +<p>A couple of men were dragging Captain Jack to his feet, forcing his +hands from the dead man's throat; it seemed as if they had grown as +rigid and paralysed in their clasp like the corpse hands that had now, +likewise, to be wrenched from their clutch of him.</p> + +<p>He glanced around, as though dazed, then down at the disfigured purple +face of his dead enemy, smiled and held out his hands stiffly for the +gyves that were snapped upon them.</p> + +<p>And then one of the fellows, with some instinctive feeling of decency, +flung a coat over the slain man, and Captain Jack threw up his head +and met Adrian's horror-stricken, sorrowful eyes.</p> + +<p>At the unexpected sight he grew scarlet; he waved his fettered hands +at him as they hustled him forth.</p> + +<p>"I have killed your brother, Adrian," he called out in a loud voice, +"but I brought back your wife!"</p> + +<p>Some of the men were speaking to Sir Adrian, but drew back +respectfully before the spectacle of his wordless agony.</p> + +<p>But, as Molly, with a shriek, would have flung herself after the +prisoner, her husband awoke to action, and, pushing René aside, caught +her round the waist with an unyielding grip: his eyes sought her face. +And, as the light fell on it, he understood. Aye, she had been brought +back to him. But how?</p> + +<p>And René, watching his master's countenance, suddenly burst out +blubbering, like a child.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<h3>HUSBAND AND WIFE</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12">Tout comprendre—<br /></span> +<span class="i14">c'est tout pardonner.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Staring straight before her with haggard, unseeing eyes, her hands +clasped till the delicate bones protruded, her young face lined into +sudden agedness, grey with unnatural pallor, framed by the black +masses of her dishevelled hair, it was thus Sir Adrian found his wife, +when at length he was free to seek her.</p> + +<p>He and René had laid the dead man upon the bed that had been occupied +by his murderer, and composed as decently as might be the hideous +corpse of him who had been the handsomest of his race. René had given +his master the tale of all he knew himself, and Sir Adrian had ordered +the boat to be prepared, determined to convey Lady Landale at once +from the scene of so much horror. His own return to Pulwick, moreover, +to break the news to Sophia, to attend to the removal of the body and +the preparation for the funeral was of immediate necessity.</p> + +<p>As he approached his wife she raised her eyes.</p> + +<p>"What do you want with me?" she asked, with a stony look that arrested +him, as he would gently have taken her hand.</p> + +<p>"I would bring you home."</p> + +<p>"Home!" the pale lips writhed in withering derision.</p> + +<p>"Yes, home, Molly," he spoke as one might to a much-loved and +unreasonable sick child—with infinite tenderness and +compassion—"your own warm home, with your sister. You would like to +go to Madeleine, would not you?"</p> + +<p>She unclasped her hands and threw them out before her with a savage +gesture of repulsion.</p> + +<p>"To Madeleine?" she echoed, with an angry cry; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> then wheeling +round upon him fiercely: "Do you want to kill me?" she said, between +her set teeth.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian's weary brow contracted. He paused and looked at her with +profoundest sorrow.</p> + +<p>Then she asked, hoarsely:</p> + +<p>"Where have they taken him to?"</p> + +<p>"To Lancaster, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Will they hang him?"</p> + +<p>"I pray God not."</p> + +<p>"There is no use of praying to God, God is merciless. What will they +do to him?"</p> + +<p>"He will be tried, Molly, in due course, and then, according to the +sentence of the judges.... My poor child, control yourself, he shall +be defended by the best lawyers that money can get. All a man can do +for another I shall do for him."</p> + +<p>She shot the sombre fire of her glance at him.</p> + +<p>"You know that I love him," she said, with a terrible composure.</p> + +<p>A sudden whiteness spread round Sir Adrian's lips.</p> + +<p>"Poor child!" he said again beneath his breath.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I love him. I always wanted to see him. I was sick and tired of +life at Pulwick, and that was why I went on board his ship. I went +deliberately because I could not bear the dulness of it all. He +mistook me for Madeleine in the dark—he kissed me. Afterwards I told +him that I loved him. I begged him to take me away with him, for ever. +I love him still, I would go with him still—it is as well that you +should know. Nothing can alter it now. But he did not want me. He +loves Madeleine."</p> + +<p>The words fell from her lips with a steady, cruel, deliberateness. She +kept her eyes upon him as she spoke, unpityingly, uncaring what +anguish she inflicted; nay, it seemed from some strange perversity, +glad to make him suffer.</p> + +<p>But hard upon a man as it must be to hear such a confession from his +wife's lips, doubly hard to such a one as Adrian, whose heart bled for +her pain as well as for his own, he held himself without departing for +a second from his wonted quiet dignity. Only in his earnest gaze upon +her there was perhaps, if possible, an added tenderness.</p> + +<p>But she, to see him so unmoved, was moved herself to a sudden scorn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span></p> + +<p>What manner of man was this, that not love, nor jealousy, nor anger +had power to stir?</p> + +<p>"And now what will you do with me?" she asked him again, with superb +contempt on eye and lip. "For a guilty wife I am to you, as far as the +will could make me, and I have no claim upon you any more."</p> + +<p>"No claim upon me!" he repeated, with a wonder of grief in his voice. +"Ah, Molly, hush child! You are my wife. The child of the woman I +loved—the woman I love for her own sake. You can no more put yourself +out of my life now than you can out of my heart; had you been as +guilty in deed as you may have been in purpose my words would be the +same. Your husband's home is your home, my only wish to cherish and +shelter you. You cannot escape my care, poor child, and some day you +may be glad of it. My protection, my countenance you will always have. +God! who am I that I should judge you? Is there any sin of human +frailty that a human being dare condemn? Guilty? What is your guilt +compared to mine for bringing you to this, allying my melancholy age +with your bright youth?"</p> + +<p>He fell into the chair opposite to her and covered his face with his +hands. As, for a minute's space, his self-control wavered, she watched +him, wearily. Her heat of temper had fallen from her very quickly; she +broke into a moan.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what does it matter? What does anything matter now? I love him +and I have ruined him—had it not been for me he would be safe!"</p> + +<p>After a little silence Sir Adrian rose. "I must leave you now, I must +go to Pulwick," he said. His heart was yearning to her, he would have +gathered her to his arms as a father his erring child, but he +refrained from even touching her. "And you—what would you do? It +shall be as you like."</p> + +<p>"I would go to Lancaster," she said.</p> + +<p>"The carriage shall be sent for you in the morning and Renny and his +wife shall go with you. I will see to it. After Rupert's funeral—my +God, what a night this has been!—I will join you, and together we +shall work to save his life."</p> + +<p>He paused, hesitated, and was about to turn away when suddenly she +caught his hand and kissed it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span></p> + +<p>He knew she would as readily have kissed René's hand for a like +promise; that her gratitude was a pitiable thing for him, her husband, +to bear; and yet, all the way, on his sad and solitary journey to +Pulwick, the touch of her lips went with him, bringing a strange +sweetness to his heart.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>There was a vast deal of wonder in the county generally, and among the +old friends of his father's house in particular, when it became known +that Sir Adrian Landale had engaged a noted counsel to defend his +brother's murderer and was doing all he could to avert his probable +doom. In lowered tones were whispered strange tales of Lady Landale's +escapade. People wagged wise and virtuous heads and breathed +scandalous hints of her power upon her infatuated husband; and then +they would tap their foreheads significantly. Indeed it needed all the +master of Pulwick's wide-spread reputation for mental unsoundness to +enable him to carry through such proceedings without rousing more +violent feelings. As it was, it is to be doubted whether his +interference had any other effect than that of helping to inflame the +public mind against the prisoner.</p> + +<p>The jury's verdict was a foregone conclusion; and though the learned +lawyer duly prepared a very fine speech and pocketed some monstrous +fees with a great deal of complaisance, he was honest enough not to +hold out the smallest hope of being able to save his client.</p> + +<p>The conviction was too clear, the "crimes" the prisoner had committed +were of "too horrible and bloody a character, threatening the very +foundations of society," to admit of a merciful view of the case.</p> + +<p>As the trial drew near, Sir Adrian's despondency increased; each day +seemed to bring a heavier furrow to his brow, an added weight to his +lagging steps. He avoided as much as possible all meetings with his +wife, who, on the contrary, recovered stronger courage with the flight +of time, but whose feverish interest in his exertions was now +transferred to some secret plans that she was for ever discussing with +René. The prisoner himself showed great calmness.</p> + +<p>"They will sentence me of course," he said quietly to Adrian, "but +whether they will hang me is another question.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> I don't think that my +hour has come yet or that the cord is twisted which will hang Jack +Smith."</p> + +<p>In other moods, he would ridicule Sir Adrian's labours in his cause +with the most gentle note of affectionate mockery. But, from the +desire doubtless to save one so disinterested and unworldly from any +accusation of complicity, he was silent upon the schemes on which he +pinned his hopes of escape.</p> + +<p>The first meeting of the friends after the scene at Scarthey had been, +of course, painful to both.</p> + +<p>When he entered the cell, Adrian had stretched out his hand in +silence, but Captain Jack held his own pressed to his side.</p> + +<p>"It is like you to come," he said gloomily, "but you cannot shake the +hand that stifled your brother's life out of him. And I should do it +again, Adrian! Mark you, I am not repentant!"</p> + +<p>"Give me your hand, Jack," said Adrian steadfastly. "I am not of those +who shift responsibility from the dead to the living. You were +grievously treated. Oh, give me your hand, friend, can I think of +anything now but your peril and your truth to me?"</p> + +<p>For an instant still the younger man hesitated and inquiringly raised +his eyes laden with anxious trouble, to the elder man's face.</p> + +<p>"My wife has told me all," said Sir Adrian, turning his head to hide +his twitching lip.</p> + +<p>And then Jack Smith's hand leaped out to meet his friend's upon an +impulse of warm sympathy, and the two faced each other, looking the +words they could not utter.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>The year eighteen hundred and fifteen which delivered England at last +from the strain of outlandish conflict saw a revival of official +activity concerning matters of more homely interest. The powers that +were awoke to the necessity, among other things, of putting a stop by +the most stringent means to the constant and extensive leakage in the +national revenue proceeding from the organisation of free traders or +smugglers.</p> + +<p>After twenty years of almost complete supineness on the part of the +authorities, the first efforts made towards a systematic "Preventive" +coast service, composed of customs, excise and naval officials in +proportion varied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> according to the localities, remained singularly +futile. And to the notorious inability of these latter to cope with +the experience and the devilish daring of the old established free +traders, was due no doubt to the ferocity of the inquisitional laws +presently levelled against smuggling and smugglers—laws which +ruthlessly trenched upon almost every element of the British subjects' +vaunted personal freedom, and which added, for the time, several new +"hanging cases" to the sixty odd already in existence.</p> + +<p>That part of the indictment against Captain Jack Smith and the other +criminals still at large, which dealt with their offences against the +smuggling act, would in later times have broken down infallibly from +want of proper evidence: not a tittle of information was forthcoming +which could support examination. But a judge of assizes and a jury in +1815, were not to be baulked of the necessary victim by mere +circumstantiality when certain offences against society and against +His Majesty had to be avenged; and the dispensers of justice were less +concerned with strict evidence than with the desirability of making +examples. Strong presumption was all that was required to them to hang +their man; and indeed the hanging of Captain Jack upon the other and +more serious counts than that of unlawful occupation, was, as has been +said, a foregone conclusion. The triple charge of murder being but too +fully corroborated.</p> + +<p>Every specious argument that could be mooted was of course put forward +by counsel for the defence, to show that the death of the preventive +men and of Mr. Landale on Scarthey Island and the sinking of the +revenue cutter must be looked upon, on the one hand, as simple +manslaughter in self-defence, and as the result of accidental +collision, on the other. But, as every one anticipated, the charge of +the judge and the finding of the jury demanded strenuously the extreme +penalty of the law. Besides this the judge deemed it advisable to +introduce into the sentence one of those already obsolete penalties of +posthumous degradation, devised in coarser ages for the purpose of +making an awful impression upon the living.</p> + +<p>"Prisoner at the bar," said his lordship at the conclusion of the last +day's proceedings, "the sentence of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> law which I am about to pass +upon you and which the court awards is that you now be taken to the +place whence you came, and from thence, on the day appointed, to the +place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until you be dead, +dead, dead. And may God have mercy on your soul!"</p> + +<p>Captain Jack, standing bolt upright, with his eyes fixed upon the +speaker, calm as he ever had been when awaiting the enemy's broadside, +hearkened without stirring a muscle. But when the judge, after +pronouncing the last words with a lingering fulness and +impressiveness, continued through the heavy silence: "And that, at a +subsequent time, your body, bound in irons, shall be suspended upon a +gibbet erected as near as possible to the scenes of your successive +crimes, and shall there remain as a lasting warning to wrong-doers of +the inevitable ultimate end of such an evil life as yours," a wave of +crimson flew to the prisoner's forehead, upon which every vein swelled +ominously.</p> + +<p>He shot a glance of fury at the large flabby countenance of the +righteous arbiter of his doom, whilst his hands closed themselves with +an involuntary gesture of menace. Then the tide of anger ebbed; a +contemptuous smile parted his lips. And, bowing with an air of light +mockery to the court, he turned, erect and easy, to follow his turnkey +out of the hall.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<h3>IN LANCASTER CASTLE</h3> + + +<p>All that his friendship for the condemned man, all that his love and +pity for his almost distracted wife, could suggest, Sir Adrian Landale +had done in London to try and avert Captain Jack's doom. But it was in +vain. There also old stories of his peculiar tenets and of his +well-known disaffection to the established order of things, had been +raked up against him. Unfavourable comparisons had been drawn between +him and Rupert; surprise and disapproval had been expressed at the +unnatural brother, who was displaying such energy to obtain mercy for +his brother's murderer. Finally an influential personage, whom Sir +Adrian had contrived to interest in the case, in memory of an old +friendship with his father, informed the baronet that his persistence +was viewed with extreme disfavour in the most exalted quarter, and +that His Royal Highness himself had pronounced that Captain Jack was a +damned rascal and richly deserved his fate.</p> + +<p>From the beginning, indeed, the suppliant had been without hope. +Though he was resolved to leave no stone unturned, no possibility +untried in the effort to save his friend, well-nigh the saddest part +of the whole business to him was the realisation that the prisoner had +not only broken those custom laws (of which Sir Adrian himself +disapproved as arbitrary) but also, as he had been warned, those other +laws upon which depend all social order and security; broken them so +grievously that, whatever excuses the philosopher might find in heat +of blood and stress of circumstances, given laws at all, the sentence +could not be pronounced otherwise than just.</p> + +<p>And so, with an aching heart and a wider horror than ever of the cruel +world of men, and of the injustices to which legal justice leads, Sir +Adrian left London to hurry back to Lancaster with all the speed that +post-horses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> could muster. The time was now drawing short. As the +traveller rattled along the stony streets of the old Palatine town, +and saw the dawn breaking, exquisite, primrose tinted, faintly +beautiful as some dream vision over the distant hills, his soul was +gripped with an iron clutch. In three more days the gallant heart, +breaking in the confinement of the prison yonder, would have throbbed +its last! And he longed, with a desire futile but none the less +intense, that, according to that doctrine of Vicarious Atonement +preached to humanity by the greatest of all examples, he could lay +down his own weary and disappointed life for his friend.</p> + +<p>Having breakfasted at the hotel, less for the necessity of food than +for the sake of passing the time till the morning should have worn to +sufficient maturity, he sought on foot the quiet lodgings where he had +installed his wife under René's guard before starting on his futile +quest. Early as the hour still was—seven had but just rung merrily +from some chiming church clock—the faithful fellow was already astir +and prompt to answer his master's summons.</p> + +<p>One look at the latter's countenance was sufficient to confirm the +servant's own worst forebodings.</p> + +<p>"Ah, your honour, and is it indeed so. <i>Ces gredins!</i> and will they +hang so good a gentleman?"</p> + +<p>"Hush, Renny, not so loud," cried the other with an anxious look at +the folding-doors, that divided the little sitting-room from the inner +apartment.</p> + +<p>"Oh, his honour need have no fear. My Lady is gone, gone to Pulwick. +His honour need not disquiet himself; he can well imagine that I would +not allow her to go alone—when I had been given a trust so precious. +No, no, the old lady, Miss O'Donoghue, your honour's aunt and her +ladyship's, she has heard of all these terrible doings, and came to +Lancaster to be with My Lady. <i>Ma foi</i>, I know not if she be just the +person one would have chosen, for she has scolded a great deal, and is +as agitated—as agitated as a young rabbit. But, after all, she loves +the poor young lady with all her heart, and I think she has roused her +a little. His honour knows," said the man, flushing to the roots of +his hair, whilst he shifted nervously from one foot to another, "that +My Lady has been much upset about the poor captain. After his honour +went, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> would sit, staring out of the window there, just where the +street turns up to the castle, and neither ate nor slept, nor talked +to speak of. Of course, as I told the old Demoiselle, I knew it was +because My Lady had taken it to heart about the signal that she +made—thinking to save him—and which only brought the gabelous on +him, that his honour's infernal brother (God forgive me, and have +mercy on his soul) had set to watch. And My Lady liked to see me +coming and going, for she sent me every day to the prison; she did not +once go herself."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian drew a long breath. With the most delicate intuition of his +master's thoughts, René avoided even a glance at him while he +continued in as natural a tone as he could assume:</p> + +<p>"But the day after the old miss came, she, My Lady, told me to find +out if he would see her. He said no; but that the only kindness any +one could do him now would be to bring him Mademoiselle Madeleine, and +let him speak to her once more. And My Lady, when she heard this, she +started off that day with the old one to fetch Mademoiselle herself at +Pulwick. And she left me behind, your honour, for I had a little plan +there."</p> + +<p>René faltered and a crestfallen look crept upon his face.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian remembered how before his departure for London his servant +had cheerily assured him that Mr. the Captain would be safe out of the +country long before he returned, "faith of him, René, who had already +been in two prisons, and knew their ways, and how to contrive an +escape, as his honour well knew." A sad smile parted his lips.</p> + +<p>"And so you failed, Renny," he said.</p> + +<p>"Ah, your honour, those satanic English turnkeys! With a Frenchman, +the job had been done; but it is a bad thing to be in prison in +England. His honour can vouch I have some brains. I had made plans—a +hundred plans, but there was ever something that did not work. The +captain, he too, was eager, as your honour can imagine. My faith, we +thought and we thought, and we schemed and contrived, and in the end, +there was only one thing to complete our plot—to bribe the jailer. +Would your honour believe—it was only that one little difficulty. My +Lady had given me a hundred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> guineas, I had enough money, your honour +sees. But the man—I had smoked with him, drunk with him, ay, and made +him drunk too, and I thought all was going well, but when I hinted to +him what we wanted—Ah! he was a brute—I tell you I had hard work to +escape the prison myself, and only for my leaving him with some of the +money, I should now be pinched there too. I hardly dare show my face +in the place any more. And my poor Lady builds on the hope, and Mr. +the Captain—I had to tell him, he took it like an angel. Ah, the poor +gentleman! He looked at me so brave and kind! 'I am as grateful, my +poor friend, as if you had done it,' said he, 'and perhaps it is all +for the best.' All for the best—ah, your honour!"</p> + +<p>René fairly broke down here, and wept on his sleeve. But Sir Adrian's +eyes, circled and worn with watching and thought, shone dry with a far +deeper grief, as, a few moments later, he passed along the street +towards the walls of the castle.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>There was in those days little difficulty in obtaining admission to a +condemned prisoner; and, in the rear of the red-headed, good-tempered +looking jailer—the same, he surmised, whose sternness in duty had +baffled the Breton's simple wiles—he stepped out of the sweet morning +sunshine into the long stone passages. The first tainted breath of the +prison brought a chill to his blood and oppression to his lungs, and +the gloom of the place enveloped him like a pall.</p> + +<p>With a rattle of keys a door dismally creaking on its hinges was swung +back at last, and the visitor was ushered into the narrow cell, dark +for all its whitewashed walls, where Captain Jack was spending his +last hours upon earth. The hinges groaned again, the door slammed, and +the key once more grated in the lock. Sir Adrian was alone with his +friend.</p> + +<p>For a moment there was silence; the contraction of the elder man's +heart had brought a giddiness to his brain, a dimness of his eyes, +through which he was ill able to distinguish anything.</p> + +<p>But then there was a clank of fetters—ah, what a sound to connect +with lucky Jack Smith, the gayest, freest, and most buoyant of men! +And a voice cried:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Adrian!"</p> + +<p>It had a joyful ring, well-nigh the old hearty tones. It struck Adrian +to the soul.</p> + +<p>He could have borne, he thought, to find his friend a broken man, +changed out of all recognition, crushed by his misfortunes; but to +find him the same, a little pale, indeed, and thinner, with a steady +earnestness in the sea-blue eyes instead of the old dancing-light, but +still gallant and undaunted, still radiating vigorous life and breezy +energy by his very presence, this was a cruelty of fate which seemed +unendurable.</p> + +<p>"I declare," the prisoner had continued, "I declare I thought you were +only the incorruptible jailer taking his morning survey. They are +desperately careful of me, Adrian, and watch me with maternal +solicitude lest I should strangle myself with my chains, these pretty +bracelets which I have had to wear ever since poor Renny was found +out, or swallow my pillow—dash me! it's small enough—and spoil the +pretty show for Saturday! Why, why, Adrian, old friend?"</p> + +<p>There was a sudden change of tone to the warmest concern, for Sir +Adrian had staggered and would have fallen had not Jack, as nimbly as +his fetters would allow him, sprung to support him and conduct him to +the bed.</p> + +<p>A shaft of light struck through the tiny barred window on to the elder +man's face, and showed it against the surrounding darkness deathly +white and wet with anguish.</p> + +<p>"I have done all I could, Hubert," he murmured, in an extinguished +voice, "but to no avail."</p> + +<p>"Ay, man, I guessed as much. But never fret for me, Adrian: I have +looked death too often in the face to play the poltroon, now. I don't +say it's the end I should have chosen for myself; but it is +inevitable, and there is nothing, as you know, my friend, that a man +cannot face if he knows it must be faced."</p> + +<p>The grasp of his strong warm hands, all manacled as they were, upon +the other's nerveless clammy fingers, sent, more than the words, +something of the speaker's own courage to his friend's wrung heart. +And yet that very courage was an added torment.</p> + +<p>That from a community, so full of evil, feeble, harmful wretches, this +noble soul, no matter how it had sinned,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> should be banished at the +bidding of justice—what mockery of right was this? The world was out +of joint indeed. He groaned aloud.</p> + +<p>"Nay, I'll have none of it," cried Jack. "Our last talk, Adrian, must +not be spoiled by futile regrets. Yes, our last talk it is to be, +for"—the prisoner's face became transfigured with a tenderness so +exquisite that Adrian stared at its beauty, amazed—"I have begged +her, Madeleine, to come and see me once more. I think she can be here +to-day, at latest to-morrow. And after that I would not see any of +those I love again, that I may fit myself to meet my God."</p> + +<p>He spoke with the utmost simplicity. Adrian bowed his head silently. +Then averting his eyes, he said: "My wife has gone to Pulwick to fetch +her."</p> + +<p>Captain Jack crimsoned. "That is kind," he answered, in a low voice; +and, after a pause, pursued: "I hope you do not think it wrong of me +to wish to see her. But you may trust me. I shall distress her as +little as is possible in the circumstances. It is not, as you can +fancy"—his face flushed again as he spoke—"to indulge in a pathetic +parting scene, or beg from her sweet lips one last kiss—that would be +too grossly selfish, and however this poor body of mine, so soon to be +carrion, may yearn to hold her once more closely, these lips, so soon +to touch death, shall touch hers no more. I have risen so far above +this earthliness, that in so many hours I am to shake off for ever, +that I can trust myself to meet her soul to soul. She must believe me +now, and I would tell her, Adrian, that my deceit was not +premeditated, and that the man she once honoured with her love is not +the base wretch she deems. I think it may comfort her. If she does +mourn for me at all—she has so proud a spirit, my princess, as I used +to call her—it may comfort her to know that I was not all unworthy of +the love she once gave me, of the tears she may yet give to its memory +and mine."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian pressed his hand, but again could not speak, and Captain +Jack went on:</p> + +<p>"You will give her a happy home, will you not, till she has one of her +own? You and your old dragon of an aunt, whose bark is so much worse +than her bite, will watch and guard her. Ah, poor old lady! she is one +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> those that will not weep for Jack Smith, eh, Adrian? Well, well, I +have had a happy life, barring one or two hard raps of fate, and when +only I have seen Madeleine once more, I'll feel all taut for the port, +though the passage there be a rough one."</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian turned his gaze with astonishment upon him. The sailor read +his thoughts:</p> + +<p>"Don't think," he said, while a sudden shadow crossed his face, "don't +think that I don't realise my position, that I have not had to fight +my battle. In the beginning I had hopes; never in the success of your +mission, but, absurd as it was, in Renny's scheme. The good fellow's +own hopefulness was infectious, I believe. And when that fell +through—well then, man, I just had to make up my mind to what was to +be. It was a battle, as I told you. I have been in danger of death +many a time upon the brave old <i>St. Nicholas</i>, and my +<i>Cormorant</i>—death from the salt sea, from musket ball and cannon +shot, fearful deaths of mangling and hacking. But death on the +gallows, the shameful death of the criminal; to be hung; to be +executed—Pah! Ay! it was a battle—two nights and one day I fought +it. And I tell you, 'tis a hard thing to bring the living flesh and +the leaping blood to submit to such as that. At first I thought +indeed, it could not be borne, and I must reckon upon your or Renny's +friendship for a secret speed. I should have had the pluck to starve +myself if need be, only I am so damned strong and healthy, I feared it +could not have been managed in the time. At any rate, I could have +dashed my brains out against the wall—but I see it otherwise now. The +prison chaplain, a good man, Adrian, has made me realise that it would +be cowardly, that I should accept my sentence as atonement, as +deserved—I <i>have</i> deserved to die."</p> + +<p>It had been Sir Adrian's own thought; but he broke out now in +inarticulate protest. It seemed too gross, too monstrous.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Adrian, I have. You warned me, good friend, in your peaceful +room—ah, how long ago it seems now! that night, when all that could +make life beautiful lay to my hand for the taking. Oh, man, why did I +not heed you! You warned me: he who breaks one law will end by +breaking many. You were right. See the harm I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span> wreaked—those poor +fellows, who were but doing their duty bravely, whose lives I +sacrificed without remorse! Your brother, too, whose soul, with the +most deliberate vindictiveness, I sent before its Maker, without an +instant's preparation! A guilty soul it was; for he hounded me down, +one would almost think for the sport of it.... God! when I think that, +but for him, for his wanton interference—but there, the devils are +loose again! I must not think on him. Do I not deserve my fate, if the +Bible law be right? 'He who sheds blood, his blood shall be shed.' +Never was sentence more just. I have sinned, I have repented; I am now +ready to atone. I believe the sacrifice will be accepted."</p> + +<p>He laid his hand, for a minute, upon the Bible on the table, with a +significant gesture.</p> + +<p>But Sir Adrian, the philosopher, though he could find no words to +impeach the logic of his friend's reasoning, and was all astir with +admiration for a resignation as perfect as either Christian or Stoic +could desire, found his soul rising in tumultuous rebellion against +the hideous decree. The longing that had beset him in the dawn, now +seized upon him with a new passion, and the cry escaped his lips +almost unwittingly:</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I could die for you!"</p> + +<p>"No, no," said Jack, with his sweet smile, "your life is too valuable, +too precious to the world. Adrian, believe me, you can still do much +good with it. And I know you will be happy yet."</p> + +<p>It was the only allusion he had made to his friend's more personal +sorrows. Before the latter had time to reply, he hastened to proceed:</p> + +<p>"And now to business. All the gold entrusted to me lies at Scarthey +and, faith, I believe it lies as weightily on my mind as if it was all +stored there instead! Renny knows the secret hiding-place. Will you +engage to restore it to its owners, in all privacy? This is a terribly +arduous undertaking, Adrian, and it is asking much of your friendship; +but if I know you, not too much. And it will enable my poor bones to +lie at rest, or rather," with a rueful laugh, "hang at rest on their +gibbet; for you know I am to be set up as a warning to other fools, +like a rat on a barn door. I have, by the kindness of the chaplain, +been able to write out a full schedule of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> different sums, and to +whom they are due. He has taken charge of the closed packet directed +to you, and will give it to you intact, I feel sure. He is a man of +honour, and I trust him to respect the confidence I have placed in +him.... Egad! the poor old boys will be right glad to get their coin +back in safety. A couple of them have been up here already, to +interview me, in fear and trembling. They were hard set to credit me +when I assured them that they would be no losers in the end, after +all—barring the waiting. You see, I counted upon you."</p> + +<p>"I shall never rest until it is done," said Sir Adrian, simply. And +Captain Jack as simply answered: "Thank you. Among the treasure there +is also £10,000 of my own; the rest of my laboriously acquired fortune +is forfeit to the Crown, as you know—much good may it do it! But this +little hoard I give to you. You do not want it, of course, and +therefore it is only to be yours that you may administrate it in +accordance to my wishes. Another charge—but I make no apology. I wish +you to divide it in three equal shares: two to be employed as you see +best, for the widows and families of those poor fellows of the +preventive service, victims of my venture; the third, as well as my +beautiful <i>Peregrine</i>, I leave to the mate and men who served me so +faithfully. They have fled with her, and must avoid England for some +time. But Renny will contrive to hear of them; they are bound to +return in secret for tidings, and I should like to feel that the +misery I have left behind me may be mitigated.... And now, dear +Adrian, that is all. The man outside grows impatient. I hear him +shuffling his keys. Hark! there he knocks; the fellow has a certain +rude feeling for me. An honest fellow. Dear Adrian, good-bye."</p> + +<p>"My God! this is hard—is there nothing else—nothing—can indeed all +my friendship be of no further help?—Hubert!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush," cried Jack Smith hastily, "Adrian, you alone of all +living beings now know me by that name. Never let it cross your lips +again. I could not die in peace were it not for the thought that I +bring no discredit upon it. My mother believes me dead—God in His +mercy has spared me the crowning misery of bringing shame to her white +hairs—shame to the old race. Hubert Cochrane<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span> died ten years ago. +Jack Smith alone it is that dies by the hangman's hand. One other," +his voice softened and the hard look of pain left his face, "one other +shall hear the secret besides you—but I know she will never speak of +it, even to you—and such is my wish."</p> + +<p>It was the pride of race at its last and highest expression.</p> + +<p>There was the sound, without, of the key in the lock.</p> + +<p>"One last word—if you love me, nay, as you love me—do not be there +on Saturday! This parting with you—the good-bye to her—that is my +death. Afterwards what happens to this flesh," he struck at himself +with his chained hands, "matters no more than what will happen to the +soulless corpse. I know you would come to help me with the feeling of +your love, your presence—but do not—do not—and now good-bye!"</p> + +<p>Adrian seized his friend by the hands with a despairing grip, the door +rolled back with its dismal screech.</p> + +<p>The prisoner smiled at him with tender eyes. This man whom, all +unwillingly he had robbed of his wife's heart, was broken with grief +that he could not save the life that had brought him misery. Here was +a friend to be proud of, even at the gate of death!</p> + +<p>"God be with you, dear Adrian! God bless you and your household, and +your children, and your children's children! Hear my last words: <i>From +my death will be born your happiness, and if its growth be slow, yet +it will wax strong and sure as the years go by</i>."</p> + +<p>The words broke from him with prophetic solemnity; their hands fell +apart, and Adrian, led by the jailer, stumbled forth blindly. Jack +Smith stood erect, still smiling, watching them: were Adrian to turn +he should find no weakness, no faltering for the final remembrance.</p> + +<p>But Adrian did not turn. And the door closed, closed upon hope and +happiness and life, shut in shame and death. Out yonder, with Adrian, +was the fresh bright world, the sea, the sunshine, the dear ones; here +the prison smells, the gloom, the constraint, the inflicted dreadful +death. All his hard-won calm fled from him; all his youth, his immense +vitality woke up and cried out in him again. He raised his hands and +pulled fiercely at his collar as if already the rope were round his +neck strangling him. His blood hammered in his brain. God<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span>—God—it +was impossible—it could not be—it was a dream!</p> + +<p>Beyond, from far distant in the street came the cry of a little child:</p> + +<p>"Da-da—daddy."</p> + +<p>The prisoner threw up his arms and then fell upon his face upon the +bed, torn by sobs.</p> + +<p>Yes, Adrian would have children; but Hubert Cochrane, who, from the +beautiful young brood that was to have sprung from his loins would +have grafted on the old stock a fresh and noble tree, he was to pass +barren out of life and leave no trace behind him.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<h3>THE ONE HE LOVED AND THE ONE WHO LOVED HIM</h3> + + +<p>On the evening of the previous day Lady Landale and her Aunt had +arrived at Pulwick. The drive had been a dismal one to poor Miss +O'Donoghue. Neither her angry expostulations, nor her tender +remonstrances, nor her attempts at consolation could succeed in +drawing a connected sentence from Molly, who, with a fever spot of red +upon each cheek only roused herself from the depth of thought in which +she seemed plunged to urge the coachman to greater speed. Miss +O'Donoghue tried the whole gamut of her art in vain, and was obliged +at last to desist from sheer weariness and in much anxiety.</p> + +<p>Madeleine and Sophia were seated by the fireside in the library when +the unexpected travellers came in upon them. Sophia, in the blackest +of black weeds, started guiltily up from the volume of "The Corsair," +in which she had been plunged, while Madeleine, without manifesting +any surprise, rose placidly, laid aside her needlework—a coarse +flannel frock, evidently destined for charity—and bestowed upon her +sister and aunt an affectionate though unexpansive embrace.</p> + +<p>She had grown somewhat thinner and more thoughtful-looking since Molly +and she had last met, on that fatal 15th of March, but otherwise was +unchanged in her serene beauty. Molly clutched her wrist with a +burning hand, and, paying not the slightest attention to the other +two, nor condescending to any preamble, began at once, in hurried +words to explain her mission.</p> + +<p>"He has asked for you, Madeleine," she cried, her eyes flaming with +unnatural brilliance as they sought her sister's mild gaze. "He has +asked for you, I will take you back with me, to-morrow, not later than +to-morrow. Don't you understand?" shaking her impatiently as she held +her, "he is in prison, condemned to death, he has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span> asked for you, he +wants to see you. On Saturday—on Saturday——" Something clicked in +her throat, and she raised her hand to it with an uneasy gesture, one +that those who surrounded her had grown curiously familiar with of +late.</p> + +<p>Madeleine drew away from her at this address, the whole fair calm of +her countenance troubled like a placid pool by the casting of a stone. +Clasping her hands and looking down: "I saw that the unfortunate man +was condemned," she said. "I have prayed for him daily, I trust he +repents. I am truly sorry for him. From my heart I forgive him the +deception he practised upon me. But——" a slight shudder shook her, +"I could not see him again—surely you could not wish it of me."</p> + +<p>She spoke with such extreme gentleness that for a minute the woman +before her, in the seething turmoil of her soul, failed to grasp the +meaning of her words.</p> + +<p>"You could not go!" she repeated in a bewildered way, "I could not +wish it of you—!" then with a sort of shriek which drew Tanty and +Miss Sophia hurriedly towards her, "Don't you understand—on +Saturday—if it all fails, they will hang him?"</p> + +<p>"A-ah!" exclaimed Madeleine with a movement as if to ward off the +sound—the cry, the gesture expressive, not of grief, but of shrinking +repugnance. But after a second, controlling herself:</p> + +<p>"And what should that be now, sister, to you or to me?" she said +haughtily.</p> + +<p>Lady Landale clapped her hands together.</p> + +<p>"And this is the woman he loves!" she cried with a shrill laugh. And +she staggered, and sank back upon a chair in an attitude of utter +prostration.</p> + +<p>"Molly, Molly," exclaimed her sister reprovingly, while she glanced in +much distress at Miss O'Donoghue, "you are not yourself; you do not +know what you are saying."</p> + +<p>"Remember," interposed Sophia in tragic tones, "that you are speaking +of the murderer of my beloved brother." Then she dissolved in tears, +and was obliged to hide her countenance in the folds of a vast +pocket-handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"Killing vermin is not murder!" cried Molly fiercely, awakening from +her torpor.</p> + +<p>Miss O'Donoghue, who in the most unwonted silence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> had been watching +the scene with her shrewd eyes, here seized the horrified Sophia by +the elbow and trundled her, with a great deal of energy and +determination, to the door.</p> + +<p>"Get out of this, you foolish creature," she said in a stern whisper, +"and don't attempt to show your nose here again till I give it leave +to walk in!" Then returning to the sisters, and looking from Molly's +haggard, distracted face to Madeleine's pale one: "If you take my +advice, my dear," she said, a little drily, to the latter, "you will +not make so many bones about going to see that poor lad in the prison, +and you'll stop wrangling with your sister, for she is just not able +to bear it. We shall start to-morrow, Molly," turning to Lady Landale, +and speaking in the tone of one addressing a sick child, "and +Madeleine will be quite ready as early as you wish."</p> + +<p>"My dear aunt," said Madeleine, growing white to the lips, "I am very +sorry if Molly is ill, but you are quite mistaken if you think I can +yield to her wishes in this matter. I could not go; I could not; it is +impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Hear her," cried the other, starting from her seat. "Oh, what are you +made of? Is it water that runs in your veins? you that he loves"—her +voice broke into a wail—"you who ought to be so proud to know he +loves you even though your heart be broken! You refuse to go to him, +refuse his last request!... Come to the light," she went on, seizing +the girl's wrists again; "let me look at you. Bah! you never loved +him. You don't even understand what it is to love.... But what could +one expect from you, who abandoned him in the moment of danger. You +are afraid; afraid of the painful scene, the discomfort, the sight of +the prison, of his beautiful face worn and changed—afraid of the +discredit. Oh! I know you, I know you. But mind you, Madeleine de +Savenaye, he wishes to see you, and I swore you would go to him, and +you shall go, if I have to drag you with these hands of mine."</p> + +<p>Her grip was so fierce, her eyes so savage, the words so strange, that +Madeleine screamed faintly, "She is mad!" and was amazed that Miss +O'Donoghue did not rush to the rescue!</p> + +<p>But Miss O'Donoghue, peering at her from the depths of her arm-chair, +merely said snappishly: "Ah, child,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> can't you say you will go, and +have done! Oughtn't you to be ashamed to be so hard-hearted?" and +mopped her perspiring and agitated countenance with her kerchief. Then +upon the girl's bewildered mind dawned a glimmer of the truth; and, +blushing to the roots of her hair, she looked at her sister with a +growing horror.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Molly, Molly!" she said again, with a sort of groan.</p> + +<p>"Will you go?" cried Molly from between her set teeth.</p> + +<p>Again the girl shuddered.</p> + +<p>"Less than ever—now," she murmured. And as Molly threw her from her, +almost with violence, she covered her face with her hands and fell, +weeping bitter tears, upon the couch behind her.</p> + +<p>Lady Landale, with great steps, stormed up and down the room, her eyes +fixed on space, her lips moving; now and again a word escaped her +then, sometimes hurled at her sister, sometimes only in desperate +communing with herself.</p> + +<p>"Base, cowardly, mean! Oh, my God, cruel—cruel! To go back without +her."</p> + +<p>After a little, with a sudden change of mood, she halted and stood a +while, as if in deep reflection, holding her hand to her head, then +crossing the room hurriedly, she knelt down, and flung her arms round +the weeping figure.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ma petite Madeleine</i>," she said in a voice of the most piteous +pleading, "thou and I, we were always good friends; thou canst not +have the heart to be so cruel to me now. See, my darling, he must die, +they say—oh, Madeleine, Madeleine! And he asked for you. The one +thing, he told René, the only thing we could do for him on earth was +to let him see you once more. My little sister, you cannot refuse: he +loves you. What has he done to offend you? Your pride cannot forgive +him for being what he is, I suppose; yet such as he is you should be +proud of him. He is too noble, too straightforward to have +intentionally deceived you. If he did wrong, it was for love of you. +Madeleine, Madeleine!"</p> + +<p>Her tones trailed away into a moan.</p> + +<p>Miss O'Donoghue sobbed loudly from her corner. Madeleine, who had +looked at her sister at first with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span> repulsion, seemed moved; she +placed her hands upon her shoulders, and gazed sadly into the flushed +face.</p> + +<p>"My poor Molly," she said hesitatingly, "this is dreadful! But I +too—I too was led into deceit, into folly." She blushed painfully. "I +would not blame you; it was not your fault that you were carried away +in his ship. You went only for my sake: I cannot forget that. Yet that +he should have this unhappy power over you too, you with your good +husband, you a married woman, oh, my poor sister, it is terrible! He +is a wicked man; I pray that he may yet repent."</p> + +<p>"Heavens," interrupted Molly, her passion up in arms again, loosening +as she spoke her clasp upon her sister, and rising to her feet to look +down on her with withering scorn, "have I not made myself clear? Are +you deaf, stupid, as well as heartless? It is you—you—<i>you</i> he +loves, <i>you</i> he wants. What am I to him?" with a curious sob, half of +laughter, half of anguish. "Your pious fears are quite unfounded as +far as he is concerned—the wicked man, as you call him! Oh, he spurns +my love with as much horror as even you could wish!"</p> + +<p>"Molly!"</p> + +<p>"Ay—Molly, and Molly—how shocked you are! Yes, I love him, I don't +care who hears it. I love him—Adrian knows—he is not as virtuous as +you, evidently, for Adrian pities me. He is doing all he can, though +they say it is in vain, to get a reprieve for him—though I <i>do</i> love +him! While you—you are too good, too immaculate even to soil your +dainty foot upon the floor of his prison, that floor that I could kiss +because his shoe has trod it. But it is impossible! no human being +could be so hard, least of all you, whom I have seen turn sick at the +sight of a dead worm—Madeleine——!"</p> + +<p>Crouching down in the former imploring manner, while her breast heaved +with dry tearless sobs: "It cannot hurt you, you who loved him." And +then with the old pitiful cry, "it is the only thing he wants, and he +loves you."</p> + +<p>Madeleine disengaged herself from the clinging hands with a gesture +almost of disgust.</p> + +<p>"Listen to me," she said, after a pause, "try and compose yourself and +understand. All this month I have had time to think, to realise, to +pray. I have seen what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> the world is worth, that it is full of horror, +of sin, of trouble, of dreadful dissensions—that its sorrow far +outweighs its happiness. I <i>have</i> suffered," her pretty lips quivered +an instant, but she hardened herself and went on, "but it is better +so—it was God's will, it was to show me where to find real comfort, +the true peace. I have quite made up my mind. I was only waiting to +see you again and tell you—next week I am going back to the convent +for ever. Oh, why did we leave it, Molly, why did we leave it!" She +broke down, and the tears gushed from her eyes.</p> + +<p>Lady Landale had listened in silence.</p> + +<p>"Well—is that all?" she said impatiently, when her sister ceased +speaking, while in the background Tanty groaned out a protest, and +bewailed that she was alive to see the day. "What does it matter what +you do afterwards—you can go to the convent—go where you will then; +but what has that to say to your visit to <i>him</i> now?"</p> + +<p>"I have done with all human love," said Madeleine solemnly, crossing +her hands on her breast, and looking upward with inspired eyes. "I did +love this man once," she answered, hardening herself to speak firmly, +though again her lips quivered—"he himself killed that love by his +own doing. I trusted him; he betrayed that trust; he would have +betrayed me, but that I have forgiven, it is past and done with. But +to go and see him now, to stir up in my heart, not the old love, it +could not be, but agitation, sorrow—to disturb this quietness of +soul, this calm which God has given me at last after so much prayer +and struggle—no, no—it would not be right, it cannot be! Moreover, +if I would, I could not, indeed I could not. The very thought of it +all, the disgrace, that place of sin and shame, of him in chains, +condemned—a criminal—a murderer!..."</p> + +<p>A nervous shudder shook her from head to foot, she seemed in truth to +sicken and grow faint, like one forced to face some hideous nauseating +spectacle. "As for him," she went on in low, feeble tones, "it will be +the best too. God knows I forgive him, that I am sorry for him, that I +regret his terrible fate. But I feel it would be worse for him to see +me—if he must die, it would be wrong to distract him from his last +preparations. And it would only be a useless pain to him, for I could +not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>pretend—he would see that I despise him. I thought I loved a +noble gentleman, not one who was even then playing with crime and +cheating."</p> + +<p>The faint passionless voice had hardly ceased before, with a loud cry, +Molly sprang at her sister as if she would have strangled her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, unnatural wretch," she exclaimed, "you are not fit to live!"</p> + +<p>Tanty rushed forward and dragged the infuriated woman away.</p> + +<p>Madeleine rose up stiffly—swayed a moment as she stood—and then fell +unconscious to the ground.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Next day in the dawn Lady Landale came into her sister's bedroom. Her +circled eyes, her drawn face bespeaking a sleepless night.</p> + +<p>Madeleine was lying, beautiful and white, like a broken lily, in the +dim light of the lamp; Sophia, an unlovely spectacle in curl papers, +wizened and red-eyed from her night's watch, looked up warningly from +the arm-chair beside her. But Molly went unhesitatingly to the window, +pulled the curtains, unbarred the shutters, and then walked over to +the bed.</p> + +<p>As she approached, Madeleine opened her blue eyes and gazed at her +beseechingly.</p> + +<p>"There is yet time," said Molly in a hollow voice. "Get up and come +with me."</p> + +<p>The wan face upon the pillow grew whiter still, the old horror grew in +the uplifted eyes, the wan lips murmured, "I cannot."</p> + +<p>There was an immense strength of resistance in the girl's very +feebleness.</p> + +<p>Molly turned away abruptly, then back again once more.</p> + +<p>"At least you will send him a message?"</p> + +<p>Madeleine drew a deep breath, closed her eyes a moment and seemed to +whisper a prayer; then aloud she said, while, like a shadow so faint +was it, a flush rose to her cheeks:</p> + +<p>"Tell him that I forgive him, that I forgive him freely—that I shall +always pray for him." The flush grew deeper. "Tell him too that I +shall never be any man's bride, now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span></p> + +<p>She closed her eyes again and the colour slowly ebbed away. Molly +stood, her black brows drawn, gazing down upon her in silence.—Did +she love him after all? Who can fathom the mystery of another's heart?</p> + +<p>"I will tell him," she answered at last. "Good-bye, Madeleine—I shall +never see you or speak to you again as long as I live."</p> + +<p>She left the room with a slow, heavy step.</p> + +<p>Madeleine shivered, and with both hands clasped the silver crucifix +that hung around her neck; two great tears escaped from her black +lashes and rolled down her cheeks. Miss Sophia moaned. She, poor soul, +had had tragedy enough, at last.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>When the jailer brought in the mid-day meal after Adrian's departure, +he found the prisoner seated very quietly at his table, his open Bible +before him, but his eyes fixed dreamily upon the space of dim +whitewashed wall, and his mind evidently far away.</p> + +<p>Upon his guardian's entrance he roused himself, however, and begged +him, when he should return for the dish, to restore neatness to the +bed and to assist him in the ordering of his toilet which he wished to +be spick and span.</p> + +<p>"For I expect a visitor," said Captain Jack gravely.</p> + +<p>When in due course the fellow had carried out these wishes with the +surly good-nature characteristic of him, Jack set himself to wait.</p> + +<p>The square of sky through his window grew from dazzling white to +deepest blue, the shadows travelled along the blank walls, the street +noises rose and fell in capricious gusts, the church bells jangled, +all the myriad sounds which had come to measure his solitary day +struck their familiar course upon his ear; yet the expected visitor +delayed. But the captain, among other things, had learnt to possess +his soul in patience of late; and so, as he slowly paced his cell +after his wont, he betrayed neither irritation nor melancholy. If she +did not come to-day, then it would be to-morrow. He had no doubt of +this.</p> + +<p>The afternoon had waned—golden without, full of grey shadows in the +prison room—when light footfalls mingled with the well-known heavy +tread and jangle of keys, along the echoing passage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was the murmur of a woman's voice, a word of gruff reply, and +the next moment a tall form wrapped in a many-folded black cloak and +closely veiled, advanced a few steps into the room, while, as before, +the turnkey retired and locked the door behind him.</p> + +<p>His heart beating so thickly that for the moment utterance was +impossible, Captain Jack made one hurried pace forward with +outstretched hands, only to check himself, however, and let them fall +by his side. He would meet her calmly, humbly, as he had resolved.</p> + +<p>The woman threw back her veil, and it was Molly's dark gaze, Molly's +brown face, flushed and haggard, yet always beautiful, that looked out +of the black frame.</p> + +<p>An ashen pallor spread over the prisoner's countenance.</p> + +<p>"Madeleine?" he asked in a whisper; then, with a loud ring of stern +demand, "<i>Madeleine!</i>"</p> + +<p>"I went for her, I went for her myself—I did all I could—she would +not come."</p> + +<p><i>She would not come!</i></p> + +<p>It is a sort of unwritten law that the supremely afflicted have the +right, where possible, to the gratification of the least of their +wishes. That Madeleine could refuse to come to him in his last +extremity, had never once crossed her lover's brain. He stood +bewildered.</p> + +<p>"She is not ill?"</p> + +<p>"Ill!" Lady Landale's red lips curved in scorn, "No—not ill—but a +coward!" She spat the word fiercely as if at the offender's face.</p> + +<p>There fell a minute's silence, broken only by a few labouring +deep-drawn breaths from the prisoner's oppressed lungs. Then he stood +as if turned to stone, not a muscle moving, his eyes fixed, his jaw +set.</p> + +<p>Molly trembled before this composure, beneath which she divined a +suffering so intense that her own frail barriers of self-restraint +were well-nigh broken down by a torrent of passionate pity.</p> + +<p>But she braced herself with the feeling of the moment's urgency. She +had no time to lose.</p> + +<p>"Hear me," she cried in low hurried tones, laying a hand upon his +folded arm and then drawing it away again as if frightened by the +rigid tension she felt there. "Waste no more thought on one so +unworthy—all is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> lost—I bring you hope, life. Oh, for God's +sake, wake up and listen to me—I can save you still. Captain Smith, +Jack—<i>Jack!</i>"</p> + +<p>Her voice rose as high as she dare lift it, but no statue could be +more unhearing.</p> + +<p>The woman cast a desperate look around her; hearkened fearfully, all +was silent within the prison; then with tremulous haste she cast off +her immense cloak, pulled her bonnet from her head, divested herself +of her long full skirt and stood, a strange vision, lithe, +unconscious, unashamed, her slender woman's figure clad in complete +man's raiment, with the exception of the coat. Her dark head cropped +and curly, her face, with its fever-bloom, rising flower-like above +the folds of her white shirt.</p> + +<p>With anxious haste she compared herself with the prisoner.</p> + +<p>"René told me well," she said; "with your coat upon me none would tell +the difference in this dark room. I am nearly as tall as you too. +Thanks be to God that he made me so. <i>Jack</i>," calling in his ear, +"don't you see? Don't you understand? It is all quite easy. You have +only to put on these clothes of mine, this cloak, the bonnet comes +quite over the face; stoop a little as you go out and hold this +handkerchief to your face as if in tears. The carriage waits outside +and René. The rest is planned. I shall sit on the bed with your coat +on. It is a chance—a certainty. When I found René had failed, I swore +that I would save you yet. Ever since I came from Pulwick this morning +he and I have worked together upon this last plan. There is not a +flaw; it must succeed. Oh, God, he does not hear me! Jack—Jack!"</p> + +<p>She shook him with a sort of fury, then, falling at his feet, clasped +his knees.</p> + +<p>"For God's sake—for God's sake!"</p> + +<p>He sighed, and again came the murmur:</p> + +<p>"She would not come——" He lifted his hand to his forehead and looked +round, then down at her, as if from a great height.</p> + +<p>She saw that he was aroused at last, sprang to her feet, and poured +out the details of the scheme again.</p> + +<p>"I run no risk, you see. They would not dare to punish me, a +woman—Lady Landale—even if they could. Be quick, the precious +moments are going by. I gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> the man some gold to leave us as long as +he could, but any moment he may be upon us."</p> + +<p>"Poor woman," said Jack, and his voice seemed as far off as his gaze; +"see these chains."</p> + +<p>She staggered back an instant, but the next, crying:</p> + +<p>"The file—the file—that was why René gave it to me." She seized the +skirt as it lay at her feet, and, striving with agonised endeavours to +control the trembling of her hands, drew forth from its pocket a file +and would have taken his wrist. But he held his hands above his head, +out of her reach, while a strange smile, almost of triumph, parted his +lips.</p> + +<p>"The bitterness of death is past," he said.</p> + +<p>She tore at him in a frenzy, but, repulsed by his immobility, fell +again broken at his feet.</p> + +<p>In a torrent of words she besought him, for Adrian's sake, for the +sake of the beautiful world, of his youth, of the sweetness of +life—in her madness, at last, for her own sake! She had ruined him, +but she would atone, she would make him happy yet. If he died it was +death to her....</p> + +<p>When at length her voice sank away from sheer exhaustion, he helped +her to rise, and seated her on the chair; then told her quietly that +he was quite determined.</p> + +<p>"Go home," said he, "and leave me in peace. I thank you for what you +would have done, thank you for trying to bring Madeleine," he paused a +moment. How purely he had loved her—and twice, twice she had failed +him. "Yet, I do not blame her," he went on as if to himself; "I did +not deserve to see her, and it has made all the rest easy. Remember," +again addressing the woman whom hopelessness seemed for a moment to +have benumbed, "that if you would yet do me a kindness, be kind to +her. If you would atone—atone to Adrian."</p> + +<p>"To Adrian?" echoed Molly, stung to the quick, with a pale smile of +exceeding bitterness. And with a rush of pride, strength returned to +her.</p> + +<p>"I leave you resolved to die then?" she asked him, fiercely.</p> + +<p>"You leave me glad to die," he replied, unhesitatingly.</p> + +<p>She spoke no more, but got up to replace her garments. He assisted her +in silence, but as his awkward bound hands touched her she shuddered +away from him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span></p> + +<p>As she gathered the cloak round her shoulders again, there was a noise +of heavy feet at the door.</p> + +<p>The jailer thrust in his rusty head and looked furtively from the +prisoner to his visitor as they stood silently apart from each other; +then, making a sign to some one whose dark figure was shadowed behind +him without, entered with a hesitating sidelong step, and, drawing +Captain Jack on one side, whispered in his ear.</p> + +<p>"The blacksmith's yonder. He's come to measure you, captain, for them +there irons you know of—best get the lady quietly away, for he wunnut +wait no longer."</p> + +<p>The prisoner smiled sternly.</p> + +<p>"I am ready," he said, aloud.</p> + +<p>"I'll keep him outside a minute or two," added the man, wiping his +brow, evidently much relieved by his charge's calmness. "I kep' him +back as long as I could—but happen it's allus best to hurry the +parting after all."</p> + +<p>He moved away upon tiptoe, in instinctive tribute to the lady's +sorrow, and drew the door to.</p> + +<p>Molly threw back her veil which she had lowered upon his entrance, her +face was livid.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked, articulating with difficulty.</p> + +<p>"Nothing—a fellow to see to my irons."</p> + +<p>He moved his hands as he spoke, and she understood him, as he had +hoped, to refer only to his manacles.</p> + +<p>She drew a gasping breath. How they watched him! Yet all was not lost +after all.</p> + +<p>"I will leave the file," she said, in a quick whisper; "you will +reflect; there is yet to-morrow," and rushed to hide it in his bed. +But he caught her by the arm, his patience worn out at length.</p> + +<p>"Useless," he answered, harshly. "I shall not use it. Moreover, it +would be found, and I am sure it is not your wish to bring unnecessary +hardship upon my last moments. I should lose the only thing that is +left to me, the comfort of being alone. And to-morrow I shall see no +one."</p> + +<p>The door groaned apart:</p> + +<p>"Very sorry, mum," came the husky voice in the opening, "Time's up."</p> + +<p>She turned a look of agony upon Captain Jack's determined figure. Was +this to be the end? Was she to leave him so, without even one kind +word?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span></p> + +<p>Alas, poor soul! All her hopes had fallen to this—a parting word.</p> + +<p>He was unpitying; his arms were folded; he made no sign.</p> + +<p>She took a step away and swayed; the turnkey came forward +compassionately to lead her out. But the next instant she wheeled +round and stood alone and erect, braced up by the extremity of her +anguish.</p> + +<p>"I <i>have</i> a message," she cried, as if the words were forced from her. +"I could not make her come, but I made her send you a message. She +told me to say that she forgave you, freely; that she would always +pray for you. She bade me tell you too that she would never be any +man's bride now."</p> + +<p>It had been like the rending of body and soul to tell him this. As she +saw the condemned man's face quiver and flush at last out of its +impassiveness, she thought hell itself could hold no more hideous +torment.</p> + +<p>He extended his arms:</p> + +<p>"Now welcome death!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>And she turned and fled down the passage as though driven upon this +last cry.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>"E-h, he be a strange one!" said the jailer afterwards to his mate. +"If ye'd heard that poor lady sob as she went by! I've seen many a one +in the same case, but I was sore for her, I was that. And he—as +cool—joking with Robert over the hanging irons the next minute. 'New +sort of tailor I've got,' says he. 'Make them smart,' he says, 'since +I'm to wear them in so exalted a position.' So exalted a position, +that's what he says. 'And they've got to last me some long time, you +know,' says he."</p> + +<p>"He'll be something worth looking at on Saturday. I could almost wish +he could ha' got off, only that it's a fine sight to see a real +gentleman go through it. Ah, it's they desperate villains has the +proper pluck!"</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<h3>LAUNCHED ON THE GREAT WAVE</h3> + + +<p>Sir Adrian made, at first personally, then through Miss O'Donoghue, +two attempts to induce his wife to return to Pulwick, or at any rate +to leave Lancaster on the next day. But the contempt, then the fury, +which she opposed to their reasoning rendered it worse than useless.</p> + +<p>The very sight of her husband, indeed, seemed to exasperate the +unfortunate woman to such a degree that, in spite of his anxiety +concerning her, he resolved to spare her even to the consciousness of +his presence, and absented himself altogether from the house.</p> + +<p>Miss O'Donoghue, unable to cope with a state of affairs at once so +distressing and so unbecoming, finally retired to her own apartment +with a book of piety and some gruel, and abandoned all further +endeavour to guide her unruly relations. So that Molly found herself +left to her own resources, in the guardianship of René, the only +company her misery could tolerate.</p> + +<p>Three times she went to the castle, to be met each time with the +announcement that, by the express wish of the prisoner, no visitors +were to be admitted to him again. Then in restless wandering about the +streets—once entering the little chapel where the silent tabernacle +seemed, with its closed door, to offer no relenting to the stormy cry +of her soul, and sent her forth uncomforted in the very midst of +René's humble bead-telling, to pace the flags anew—so the terrible +day wore to a close for her; and so that night came, precursor of the +most terrible day of all.</p> + +<p>The exhaustion of Lady Landale's body produced at last a fortunate +torpor of mind. Flung upon her bed she fell into a heavy sleep, and +Tanty who announced her intention of watching her, when René's +guardianship had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span> of necessity to cease, had the satisfaction of +informing Adrian, as he crept into the house, like one who had no +business there, of this consoling fact before retiring herself to the +capacious arm-chair in which she heroically purposed to spend the +night.</p> + +<p>The sun was bright in the heavens, there was a clatter and bustle in +the street, when Molly woke with a great start out of this sleep of +exhaustion. Her heart beating with heavy strokes, she sat up in bed +and gazed upon her surroundings with startled eyes. What was this +strange feeling of oppression, of terror? Why was she in this sordid +little room? Why was her hair cut short? Ah, my God! memory returned +upon her all too swiftly. It was for to-day—<i>to-day</i>; and she was +perhaps too late. She might never see him again!</p> + +<p>The throbbing of her heart was suffocating, sickening, as she slipped +out of bed. For a moment she hardly dared consult the little watch +that lay ticking upon her dressing table. It was only a few minutes +past seven; there was yet time.</p> + +<p>The energy of her desire conquered the weakness of her overwrought +nerves.</p> + +<p>Noiselessly, so as to avoid awakening the slumbering watcher in the +arm-chair, but steadily, she clothed herself, wrapt the dark mantle +round her; and then, pausing for a moment to gaze with a fierce +disdain at the unconscious face of Miss O'Donoghue, which, with snores +emerging energetically and regularly from the great hooked nose, +presented a weird and witchlike vision in the frame of a nightcap, +fearfully and wonderfully befrilled, crept from the room and down the +stairs.</p> + +<p>At René's door she paused and knocked.</p> + +<p>He opened on the instant. From his worn face she guessed that he had +been up all night. He put his finger to his lips as he saw her, and +glanced meaningly towards the bed.</p> + +<p>The words she would have spoken expired in a quick-drawn breath. Her +husband, with face of deathlike pallor and silvered hair abroad upon +the pillow, lay upon the poor couch, still in his yesterday attire, +but covered carefully with a cloak. His breast rose and fell +peacefully with his regular breath.</p> + +<p>The scorn with which she had looked at Miss O'Donoghue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> now shot forth +a thousand times intensified from Molly's circled eyes upon the +prostrate figure.</p> + +<p>"Asleep!" she cried.</p> + +<p>And then with that incongruity with which things trivial and +irrelevant come upon us, even in the supremest moments of life, the +thought struck her sharply how old a man he was. Her lip curved.</p> + +<p>"Yes, My Lady—asleep," answered René steadily—it seemed as if the +faithful peasant had read her to her soul. "Thank God, asleep. It is +enough to have to lose one good gentleman from the world this day. If +his honour were not sleeping at last, I should not answer for him—I +who speak to you. I took upon myself to put some of the medicine, that +he has had to take now and again, when his sorrows come upon him and +he cannot rest, into his soup last night. It has had a good effect. +His honour will sleep three or four hours still, and that, My Lady, +must be. His honour has suffered enough these last days, God knows!"</p> + +<p>The wife turned away with an impatient gesture.</p> + +<p>"Look, Madame, at his white hairs. All white now—they that were of a +brown so beautiful, all but a few locks, only a few months past! Well +may he look old. When was ever any one made to suffer as he has been, +in only forty years of life? Ah, My Lady, we were at least tranquil +upon our island!"</p> + +<p>There was a volume of reproach in the quiet simplicity of the words, +though Lady Landale was too bent on her own purpose to heed them. But +she felt that they lodged in her mind, that she would find them there +later; but not now—not now.</p> + +<p>"It is to be for nine o'clock, you know," she said, with desperate +calmness. "I must see him again. I must see him well. Alone I shall +not be able to get a good place in the crowd. Oh, I would see all!" +she added, with a terrible laugh.</p> + +<p>René cast a glance at his master's placid face.</p> + +<p>"I am ready to come with My Lady," he said then, and took his hat.</p> + +<p>A turbulent, tender April day it was. Gusts of west wind, balmy and +sweet with all the sweet budding life of the fields beyond, came +eddying up the dusty streets and blowing merrily into the faces of the +holiday crowd that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span> already pressed in a steady stream towards the +castle courtyard to see the hanging. In those days there were hangings +so many after assizes that an execution could hardly be said to +possess the interest of novelty. But there were circumstances enough +attending the forthcoming show to give it quite a piquancy of its own +in the eyes of the worthy Lancastrian burghers, who hurried with wives +and children to the place of doom, anxious to secure sitting or +standing room with a good view of the gallows-tree.</p> + +<p>It was not every day, indeed, that a <i>gentleman</i> was hanged. So +handsome a man, too, as the rumours went, and so dare-devil a fellow; +friend of the noble family of Landale, and a murderer of its most +respected member. Could justice ever have served up a spicier dish +whereon to regale the multitude?</p> + +<p>First the courtyard, then, the walls, the roofs of the adjoining +houses, swarmed with an eager crowd. Every space of ground and slate +and tile, every ledge and window, was occupied. As thick as bees they +hung—men, women, and children; a sea of white faces pressed together, +each still, yet all as instinct with tremulous movement as a field of +corn in the wind; while the hoarse, indescribable murmur that seizes +one with so strange and fearsome an impression, the voice of the +multitude, rose and fell with a mighty pulsation, broken here and +there by the shriller cry of a child.</p> + +<p>Overhead the sky, a delicious spring blue sky, flecked with tiny white +clouds, looked down like a great smile upon the crowd that laughed and +joked beneath.</p> + +<p>No pity in heaven or on earth.</p> + +<p>But as the felon came out into the air, which, warm and fickle, puffed +against his cheek, he cast one steady glance around upon the black +human hive and then looked up into the white flecked ether, without +the quiver of a nerve.</p> + +<p>He drew the spring breath into his lungs with a grateful expansion of +his deep chest. How fresh it was! And the sky, how fair and blue!</p> + +<p>As the eagerly expected group emerged from the prison door and was +greeted by a roar that curdled the blood in at least one woman's heart +there, an old Irish hag, who sat in a coign of vantage, hugging her +knees and crooning,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> a little black pipe held in her toothless jaws, +ceased her dismal hum to concentrate all her attention upon the +condemned man.</p> + +<p>The creature was well known for miles around as a constant attendant +at such spectacles, and had become in the course of time a privileged +spectator. No one would have dreamt of disputing the first place to +old Judy. Since the day when, still a young woman, she had seen her +two sons, mere lads, hanged, the one for sheep-stealing, the other for +harbouring the booty, she had, by a strange freak of nature, taken a +taste for the spectacle of justice at work, and what had been the +cause of her greatest sorrow became the only solace of her life. Judy +and her pipe had become as familiar a figure at the periodical +entertainment as the executioner himself—more so, indeed, for she had +seen many generations of these latter, and could compare their styles +with the judgment of a connoisseur.</p> + +<p>But as Captain Jack advanced, the pallor of his clean shorn, handsome +face illumined not so much by the morning sun without it seemed as by +the shining of the bright spirit within; as gallantly clad as he had +ever been, even in the old Bath days when he had been courting fair +Madeleine de Savenaye; his head proudly uplifted, his tread firm, +strong of soul, strong of body—some chord was struck in the perverted +old heart that had so long revelled in unholy and gruesome pleasure. +She drew the pipe from her lips, and broke out into screeching +lamentations.</p> + +<p>"Oh, me boy, me boy, me beautiful boy! Is it hang him they will, and +he so beautiful and brave? The murthering villains, my curse on +them—a mother's curse—God's curse on them—the black murtherers!"</p> + +<p>She scrambled to her feet, and shook her fist wildly in the face of +one of the sheriff's men.</p> + +<p>A woman in the crowd, standing rigid and motionless, enveloped in +mourning robes, here suddenly caught up the words with a muttering +lip.</p> + +<p>"Murderers, who said murderers? Don't they know who murdered him? +Murdering Moll, Murdering Moll!"</p> + +<p>"For heaven's love, Madam," cried a man beside her, who seemed in such +anxiety concerning her as to pay little heed to the solemn procession +which was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> now attracting universal attention, "let me take you away!"</p> + +<p>But she looked at him with a distraught, unseeing eye, and pulled at +the collar of her dress as if she were choking.</p> + +<p>Old Judy's sudden expression of opinion created a small disturbance. +The procession had to halt; a couple of officials good-naturedly +elbowed her on one side.</p> + +<p>But she thrust a withered hand expanded in protest over their +shoulders, as the prisoner came forward again.</p> + +<p>"God bless ye, honey, God bless ye: it's a wicked world."</p> + +<p>He turned towards her; for the last time the old sweet smile sprang to +lip and eye.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, mother," he said, and raised his hand to his bare head +with courteous gesture.</p> + +<p>The crowd howled and swayed. He passed on.</p> + +<p>And now the end! There is the cart; the officers draw back to make way +for the man who is to help him with his final toilet. The chaplain, +too, falls away after wringing his hand again and again. Good man, he +weeps and cannot speak the sacred words he would. Why weep? We must +all die! How blue the sky is: he will look once more before drawing +down the cap upon his eyes. His hands are free, for he is to die as +like a gentleman as may be. Just the old blue that used to smile down +at him upon his merry <i>Peregrine</i>, and up at him from the dancing +waves. He had always thought he would have liked to die upon the sea, +in the cool fresh water ... a clean, brave death.</p> + +<p>It is hard to die in a crowd. Even the very beasts would creep into +cave or bush to die decently—unwatched.</p> + +<p>A last puff of sweeping wind in his face; then darkness, blind, +suffocating....</p> + +<p>Ah, God is good! Here is the old ship giving and rising under his feet +like the living creature he always thought her, and here is dazzling +brilliant sunshine all around, so bright he scarce can see the free +white-crested waves that are dashing down upon him; but he is upon the +sea indeed, upon the sea alone, and the waves are coming. Hark how +they roar, see how they gather! The brave <i>Peregrine</i> she dips and +springs, she will weather the breakers with him at the helm no matter +how they rear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> On, on they come, mountain high, overwhelming, bitter +drenching.</p> + +<p>A great wave in very truth, it gathers and breaks and onward rolls, +and carries the soul of Hubert Cochrane with it.</p> + +<p>The woman in the black cloak falls as if she had been struck, and as +those around her draw apart to let her companion and another man lift +her and carry her away, they note with horror that her face is dark +and swollen, as if the cord that had just done its evil work yonder +had been tightened also round her slender throat.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + +<h3>THE GIBBET ON THE SANDS</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">Woman! take up thy life once more<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Where thou hast left it;<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Nothing is changed for thee, thou art the same,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Thou who didst think that all things<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Would be wholly changed for thee.<br /></span> +<span class="i20"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Pulwick again. The whirlwind of disaster that upon that fatal +fifteenth of March had burst upon the house of Landale has passed and +swept away. But it has left deep trace of its passage.</p> + +<p>The restless head, the busy hand, the scheming brain of Rupert Landale +lie now mouldering under the sod of the little churchyard where first +they started the mischief that was to have such far reaching effects. +Low, too, lies the proud head of the mistress of Pulwick, so stricken, +indeed, so fever-tortured, that those who love her best scarce dare +hope more for her than rest at last under the same earth that presses +thus lightly above her enemy's eternal sleep.</p> + +<p>There is a great stillness in the house. People go to and fro with +muffled steps, the master with bent white head; Miss O'Donoghue, +indefatigable sick nurse; Madeleine, who may not venture as far as the +threshold of her sister's room, and awaits in prayer and tears the +hour of that final bereavement which will free her to take wing +towards the cloister for which her soul longs; Sophia, crushed finally +by the sorrows she has played at all her days. Seemingly there is +peace once more upon them all, but it is the peace of exhaustion +rather than that of repose. And yet—could they but know it, as the +sands run down in the hour-glass of time there are golden grains +gathering still to drop into the lives of each.</p> + +<p>But meanwhile none may read the future, and Molly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span> fights for her life +in the darkened room, the gloom of which, to the souls of the dwellers +at Pulwick, seems to spread even to the sunny skies without.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>When Lady Landale was brought back to her home from Lancaster, it was +held by every one who saw her that Death had laid his cold finger on +her forehead, and that her surrender to his call could only be a +matter of hours.</p> + +<p>The physician in attendance could point out no reasonable ground for +hope. Such a case had never come within his experience or knowledge, +and he was with difficulty induced to believe that it was not the +result of actual violence.</p> + +<p>"In every particular," said he, "the patient's symptoms are those of +coma resulting from prolonged strangulation or asphyxia. These +spectacles are very dangerous to highly sensitive organisations. Lady +Landale no doubt felt for the miserable wretch in the benevolence of +her heart. Imagination aiding her, she realised suddenly the horror of +his death throes, and this vivid realisation was followed by the +actual simulacrum of the torture. We have seen hysterical subjects +simulate in the same manner diverse diseases of which they themselves +are organically free, such as epilepsy, or the like. But Lady +Landale's condition is otherwise serious. She is alive; more I cannot +say."</p> + +<p>According to his lights, he had bled the patient, as he would have +bled, by rote, to recall to life one actually cut down from the beam. +But, although the young blood did flow, bearing testimony to the fact +that the heart still beat in that deathlike frame, the vitality left +seemed so faint as to defy the power of human ministration.</p> + +<p>The flame of life barely flickered; but the powers of youth were of +greater strength in the unconscious body than could have been +suspected, and gradually, almost imperceptibly, they asserted +themselves.</p> + +<p>With the return of animation, however, came a new danger: fever, +burning, devastating, more terrible even than the almost mortal +syncope; that fever of the brain which wastes like the rack, before +which science stands helpless, and the watcher sinks into despair at +his impotence to screen a beloved sufferer from the horrible, +ever-recurring phantoms of delirium.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span></p> + +<p>Had not Sir Adrian intuitively known well-nigh every act of the drama +which had already been so fatal to his house, Molly's frenzied +utterances would have told him all. Every secret incident of that +storm of passion which had desolated her life was laid bare to his +sorrowing heart:—her aspirations for an ideal, centred suddenly upon +one man; her love rapture cruelly baulked at every step; the consuming +of that love fire, resisting all frustration of hope, all efforts of +conscience, of honour; how her whole being became merged into that of +the man she loved and whom she had ruined, her life in his life, her +very breath in his breath. And then the lamentable, inevitable end: +the fearful confrontation with his death. Again and again, in never +ceasing repetition, was that fair, most dear body, that harrowed soul, +dragged step by step through every iota of the past torture, always to +fall at last into the same stillness of exhaustion—appalling image of +final death that wrung Adrian with untold agonies of despair.</p> + +<p>For many days this condition of things lasted unaltered. In the +physician's own words it was impossible that life could much longer +resist such fierce onslaughts. But one evening a change came over the +spirit of the sufferer's vision.</p> + +<p>There had been a somewhat longer interval between the paroxysms; Sir +Adrian seated as usual by the bed, waiting now with a sinking heart +for the wonted return of the frenzy, clamouring in his soul to heaven +for pity on one whom seemingly no human aid could succour, dared yet +draw no shadow of hope from the more prolonged stillness of the +patient. Presently indeed, she grew restless, tossed her arms, +muttered with parched lips. Then she suddenly sat up and listened as +if to some deeply annoying and disquieting sound, fell back again +under his gentle hands, rolling her little black head wearily from +side to side, only however to start again, and again listen. Thus it +went on for a while until the haunted, weary eyes grew suddenly +distraught with terror and loathing. Straining them into space as if +seeking something she ought to see but could not, she began to speak +in a quick yet distinct whisper:</p> + +<p>"How it creaks, creaks—creaks! Will no one stop that creaking! What +is it that creaks so? Will no one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span> stop that creaking!" And again she +placed her cheek on the pillow, covering her ear with her little, +wasted hand, and for a while remained motionless, moaning like a +child. But it was only to spring up again, this time with a cry which +brought the physician from the adjacent sleeping room in alarm to her +bedside.</p> + +<p>"Ah, God," she shrieked, her eyes distended and staring as if into the +far distance through walls and outlying darkness. "I see it! They have +done it, they have done it! It is hanging on the sands—how it creaks +and sways in the wind! It will creak for ever, for ever.... Now it +spins round, it looks this way—the black face! It looks at <i>me</i>!" She +gave another piercing cry, then her frame grew rigid. With mouth open +and fixed eyeballs she seemed lost in the frightful fascination of the +image before her brain.</p> + +<p>As, distracted by the sight of her torments, Adrian hung over her, +racking his mind in the endeavour to soothe her, her words struck a +chill into his very soul. He cast a terrified glance at the doctor who +was ominously feeling her pulse.</p> + +<p>"There is a change," he faltered.</p> + +<p>The doctor shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I have told you before," he retorted irritably, "that you should +attach no more importance to the substance of these delirious +wanderings than you would to the ravings of madness. It is the fact of +the delirium itself which must alarm us. She is less and less able to +bear it."</p> + +<p>The patient moaned and shuddered, resisting the gentle force that +would have pressed her down on her pillow.</p> + +<p>"Oh the creaking, the creaking! Will no one stop that creaking! Must I +hear it go on creak, creak, creak for ever, and see it sway and +sway.... Will no one ever stop it!"</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian took a sudden resolution. "I will," he said, low and clear +into her ear. She sank down on the instant and looked at him, back +from her far distance, almost as if she understood him and the pitiful +cry for the help he would have given his heart's blood to procure for +her, was silent for the moment upon her lips.</p> + +<p>"I will prepare an opiate," said the physician in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"And I," said Sir Adrian to him, with a strange expression<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span> upon his +pale face, "am going to stop that creaking."</p> + +<p>The man of medicine gazed after him with a look of intense +astonishment which rapidly changed to one of professional interest.</p> + +<p>"It is evident that I shall soon have another mentally deranged +patient to see to," he remarked to himself as he rose to seek the +drugs he meant to administer.</p> + +<p>Downstairs, Sir Adrian immediately called for René, and being informed +that he had left for the island early in the afternoon and had +announced his return before night, cast a cloak over his shoulders and +hurried forth in the hope of meeting him upon his homeward way. His +pulses were beating well-nigh as wildly as those of the fever stricken +woman upstairs in the house. He dared not pause to reflect on his +purpose, or seek to disentangle the confusion of his thoughts, for +fear of being confronted with the hopelessness of their folly. But the +exquisite serenity of the night sky, where swam the moon, "a silver +splendour;" the freshness of the sweeping breeze that dashed, keen +from the east, over the sea against his face; all the glorious +distance, the unconsciousness and detachment of nature from the fume +and misery of life, brought him unwittingly to a calmer mood.</p> + +<p>He had reached the extreme confine of the pine wood, when, across the +sands that stretched unbroken to the lips of the sea, a figure +advanced towards him.</p> + +<p>"Renny!" called Sir Adrian.</p> + +<p>"Your honour!" cried the man, breaking into a run to meet him. O God! +how ghostly white looked the master's face in the moon-flood!</p> + +<p>"My Lady——?"</p> + +<p>"Not worse; yet not better—and that means worse now. But there is a +change. Renny," sinking his voice and clasping the man's sturdy arm +with clammy hand, "is it true they have placed him on the sands +to-day?"</p> + +<p>The man stared.</p> + +<p>"How did your honour know? Yes—they have done so. It is true: the +swine! not more than an hour, in verity. How could it have come so +soon to your honour's ears? This morning, indeed, they came from the +town in a cart, and planted the great gibbet on Scarthey Point, at low +water. And to-night they brought the body, all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span> bound in irons, and +from a boat, for it was high tide, they riveted it on the chain. And +it is to remain for ever, your honour—so they say."</p> + +<p>"Strange," murmured Sir Adrian to himself, gazing seaward with +awestruck eyes. "And did you," he asked, "hear its creaking, Renny, as +it swayed in the wind?"</p> + +<p>Again René cast a quick glance of alarm at his master. The master had +a singular manner with him to-night! Then edging closer to him he +whispered in his ear:</p> + +<p>"They say it is to hang for ever. There is a warning to those who +would interfere with this justice of theirs. But, your honour, there +came one to the island to-day, I do not know if your honour knows him, +the captain's second on that vessel of misfortune. And I believe, your +honour, the dawn will never see that poor, black body hanging over +yonder like a scarecrow, to spoil our view. This man, this brave +mariner, Curwen is his name, he is mad furious with us all! He has +just but come from hearing of his captain's fate, and he is ready to +kill us, that we let him be murdered without breaking some heads for +him. Faith, if it could have done any good, it is not I that would +have balanced about it! But, as I told him, there was no use running +one's own head into a loop of rope when that would please nobody but +Mr. the Judge. But he is not to be reasoned with. He is like a wild +animal. When I left him," said René, dropping his voice still lower, +"he was knocking a coffin together out of the old sea wood on +Scarthey. He said his captain would rest better in those boards that +were seasoned with salt water. And when I went away, your honour, and +left him hammering there—faith, I thought that the coffin was like to +be seasoned by another kind of salt water too."</p> + +<p>His face twitched and the ready tears sprang to his own eyes which, +unashamed, he now wiped with his sleeve after his custom. But Sir +Adrian's mind was still drifting in distant ghastly companionship.</p> + +<p>"How the wind blows!" he said, and shuddered a little. "How the poor +body must sway in the wind, and the chains creak."</p> + +<p>"If it can make any difference to the poor captain he will lie in +peace to-night, please God," said René.</p> + +<p>"Ay," said Sir Adrian, "and you and I, friend, will go too, and help +this good fellow in his task. I hope, I believe,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span> that I should have +done this thing of my own thought, had I had time to think at all. But +now, more hangs upon those creaking chains than you can dream of. This +is a strange world—and it is full of ghosts to-night. But we must +hurry, Renny."</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Bound even to the tips of her burning little fingers by the spell of +the opiate, Lady Landale lay in the shadowed room as one dead, yet in +her sick brain fearfully awake, keenly alive.</p> + +<p>At first it was as if she too was manacled in chains till she could +not move a muscle, could not breathe or cry because of the ring round +her breast; and she was hanging with the black figure, swaying, while +the rusty iron links went creak, creak, creak, with every swing to and +fro. Then suddenly she seemed to stand, as it were, out of herself and +to be seeing with the naked soul alone. And what she saw was the great +stretch of beach and sea, white, white, white, in the moonlight and +spreading, it seemed, for leagues and leagues, spreading till all the +world was only beach and sea.</p> + +<p>But close to her in the whitest moonlight rose the great gibbet, gaunt +and black, cutting the pale sky in two and athwart; and hanging from +it was the black figure that swayed and swung. And though the winds +muttered and the waves growled, she could not hear them with the ears +of the soul, for that the whole of this great world of sea and sand +was filled with the creaking of the chains.</p> + +<p>But now, across the bleak and pallid spaces came three black figures. +And, as she looked and watched and they drew nearer, the dreadful +burthen of the gibbet swung round as if to greet them, and she too, +felt in her soul that she knew them all three, though not by names, as +creatures of earth know each other, but by the kinship of the soul. +This man with hair as white as the white beach, hair that seemed to +shine silver as he came; and him yonder who followed him as a dog his +master; and yonder again the third, in the seaman's dress, with hard +face hewn into such rugged lines of grief and fury—she knew them all. +And next they reached the gibbet: and one swarmed up the black post, +and hammered and filed and prised, and then, oh merciful God! the +creaking stopped at last!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now she could hear the wash of the waves, the rush of the wholesome +wind!</p> + +<p>A mist came across her vision; faintly she saw the stiffened +disfigured corpse which yet she felt had once been something she had +loved with passion, laid reverently upon a stretcher, its irons +loosened and cast away, and then covered with a great cloak. Then the +sea, the beach, the white moon faded and waved and receded. Molly's +soul went back to her body again, while blessed tears fell one by one +from her hot eyes. She breathed; her limbs relaxed; round the tired +brain came, with a soft hush like that of gentle wings, dark oblivion.</p> + +<p>Bending over her, for he was aware that for good or evil the crisis +was at hand, the physician saw moisture bead upon the suddenly +smoothed brow, heard a deep sigh escape the parted lips. And then with +a movement like a weary child's she drew her arms close and fell +asleep.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Having laid his friend to his secret rest, deep in the rock of +Scarthey, where the free waves that his soul had revelled in would +beat till the world's end, Sir Adrian returned to Pulwick in the early +morning, spent with the long and heavy night's toil—for it had taxed +the strength of even three men to hollow out a grave in such a soil. +On the threshold he was greeted by the physician.</p> + +<p>"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messengers of +glad tidings!" From afar, by the man's demeanour, he knew that the +tidings were glad. And most blessed they were indeed to his ears, but +to them alone not strange. Throughout every detail of his errand his +mind had dwelt rather with the living than the dead. What he had done, +he had done for her; and now, the task achieved, it seemed but natural +that the object for which it had been undertaken should have been +achieved likewise.</p> + +<p>But, left once more with her, seeing her once more wrapt in placid +sleep, whom he had thought he would never behold at rest again save in +the last sleep of all, the revulsion was overpowering. He sat down by +her side, and through his tears gazed long at the lovely head, now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span> in +its pallor and emaciation so sadly like that of his dead love in the +sorrowful days of youth; and he thanked heaven that he was still of +the earth to shield her with his devotion, to cherish her who was now +so helpless and bereft.</p> + +<p>And with such tears and such thoughts came a forgetfulness of that +anguish which in him, as well as in her, had for so long been part of +actual existence.</p> + +<p>When Tanty entered on tiptoe some hours later, she saw her niece +motionless upon her pillow, sleeping as easily and reposefully as a +child. And close to her head, Sir Adrian, reclining in the arm-chair, +asleep likewise. His arm was stretched limply over the bed and, on its +sleeve still stained with the red mud of the grave in Scarthey, rested +Lady Landale's little, thin, ivory-white fingers.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Thus ended Molly's brief but terrible madness.</p> + +<p>"Then you have hope, real hope?" asked Sir Adrian, of the physician as +they met again that day in the gallery.</p> + +<p>"Every hope," replied the man of science with the proud consciousness +of having, by his wisdom, pulled his patient out of the very jaws of +death. "Recovery is now but a question of a time; of a long time, of +course, for this crisis has left her weaker than the new-born babe. +Repose, complete repose, sleep: that is almost everything. And she +will sleep. Happily, as usual in such cases, Lady Landale seems to +have lost all memory. But I must impress upon you, Sir Adrian, that +the longer we can keep her in this state, the better. If you have +reason to believe that even the sight of <i>you</i> might recall +distressing impressions, you must let me request of you to keep away +from the sick room till your wife's strength be sufficiently restored +to be able to face emotions."</p> + +<p>This was said with a certain significance which called the colour to +Sir Adrian's cheek. He acquiesced, however, without hesitation; and, +banished from the place where his treasure lay, fell to haunting the +passages for the rest of the day and to waylaying the privileged +attendants with a humble resignation which would have been sorrowful +but for the savour of his recent relief from anguish.</p> + +<p>But the next morning, Lady Landale, though too weak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span> of body to lift a +finger, too weak of mind to connect a single coherent phrase, +nevertheless took the matter into her own hands, and proved that it is +as easy to err upon the side of prudence as upon its reverse.</p> + +<p>Miss O'Donoghue, emerging silently from the room after her night's +vigil, came upon her nephew at his post, and, struck to her kind heart +by his wistful countenance, bade him with many winks and nods enter +and have a look at his wife.</p> + +<p>"Don't make a sound," she whispered to him, "and then she won't hear +you. But, faith she's sleeping so well, it's my belief if you danced a +jig she would not stir a limb. Go in, child, go in. It's beautiful to +see her!"</p> + +<p>And Adrian, pressed by his own longing, was unable to resist the +offer. Noiselessly he stepped across the forbidden threshold and stood +for a long time contemplating the sleeper in the dim light. As he was +about to creep out at length, she suddenly opened her eyes and fixed +them wonderingly upon him. Fearful of having done the cruel deed +against which he had been warned, he felt his heart contract and would +have rushed away, in an agony of self-accusation, when there occurred +what seemed to him a miracle.</p> + +<p>A faint smile came upon the pale lips, and narrowed ever so little the +large sunken eyes. Yes; by all that was beautiful, it was a +smile—transient and piteous, but a smile. And for him!</p> + +<p>As he bent forward, almost incapable of believing, the lips relaxed +again and the lids drooped, but she shifted her hands upon the bed, +uneasily, as if seeking something. He knelt, trembling, by her side, +and as with diffident fingers he clasped the wandering hands he felt +them faintly cling to his. And his heart melted all in joy. The man of +science had reasoned astray; there need be no separation between the +husband who would so dearly console, and the wife who needed help so +sorely.</p> + +<p>For a long while he remained thus kneeling and holding her hands. It +seemed as though some of the life strength he longed to be able to +pour from himself to her, actually passed into her frame: as though +there were indeed a healing virtue in his all encompassing tenderness; +for, after a while, a faint colour came to the sunken cheeks. And +presently, still holding his hand, she fell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span> once more into that +slumber which was now her healing.</p> + +<p>After this it was found that the patient actually became fretful and +fevered again when her husband was too long absent from her side; and +thus it came to pass that he began to supersede all other watchers in +her room. Tanty in highest good humour, declared that her services +were no longer necessary, and volunteered to conduct Madeleine to the +Jersey convent, whither (her decision being irrevocable) it was +generally felt that it would be well for the latter to proceed before +her sister's memory with returning strength should have returned +likewise.</p> + +<p>This memory, without which the being he loved would remain afflicted +and incomplete, yet upon the working of which so much that was still +uncertain must hinge—Sir Adrian at once yearned for, and dreaded it.</p> + +<p>Many a time as he met the sweet and joyful greeting in those eyes +where he had grown accustomed to find nought but either mockery or +disdain, did he recall his friend's prophetic words: "Out of my death +will grow your happiness." Was there happiness indeed yet in store in +the future? Alas, happiness for them dwelt in oblivion; and, some day, +"remembrance would wake with all her busy train, and swell at <i>her</i> +breast," and then——</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, however, the present had a sweetness of its own. There was +now free scope for the passion of devotedness which almost made up the +sum of this man's character—a character which, to the Molly of +wayward days, to the hot-pulsed, eager, impatient "Murthering Moll," +had been utterly incomprehensible and uncongenial. And to the Molly +crushed in the direst battle of life, whom one more harshness of fate, +even the slightest, would have straightaway hurled back into the grave +that had barely been baulked of its prey, it gave the very food and +breath of her new existence.</p> + +<p>Week after week passed in this guise, during which her natural +healthiness slowly but surely re-established itself; weeks that were +happy to him, in later life, to look back upon, though now full of an +anxiousness which waxed stronger as recovery drew nearer.</p> + +<p>There was little talking between them, and that kept by him studiously +on subjects of purely ephemeral, childish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span> interest. Her mind, by the +happy dispensation of nature which facilitates healing by all means +when once healing has begun, was blank to any impressions save the +luxury of rest, of passive enjoyment, indifferent to ought but the +passing present. She took pleasure in flowers, in the gambols of pet +animals, in long listless spells of cloud-gazing when the heavens were +bright, in the presence of her husband in whom she only saw a being +whose eyes were always beautiful with the light of kindness, whose +touch invariably soothed her when fatigue or irritation marred the +even course of her feelings.</p> + +<p>She had ever a smile for him, which entered his soul like the radiance +of sunshine through a stormy sky.</p> + +<p>Thus the days went by. Like a child she ate and slept and +chattered—irresponsible chatter that was music to his ear. She +laughed and teased him too, as a child would; till sad, as it was, he +hugged the incomplete happiness to his heart with a dire foreboding +that it might be all he was to know in life.</p> + +<p>But one evening, in sudden freak, she bade him open the shutters, pull +the curtains, and raise the window that she might, from her pillow, +look forth upon the night, and smell the sweet night air.</p> + +<p>She had been unusually well that day, and on her face now filling out +once more into its old soft oval, bloomed again a look of warm life +and youth. Unsuspecting, unthinking Sir Adrian obeyed. It was a dim, +close night, and the blush-roses nodded palely into the room from the +outer darkness as he raised the sash. There was no moon, no stars +shone in the mist hung sky; there was no light to be seen anywhere +except one faint glimmer in the distance—the light upon Scarthey +Island.</p> + +<p>"Is that a star?" said Molly, after a moment's dreamy silence.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian started. A vision of all that might hang upon his answer +flashed through his brain. With a trembling hand he pulled the +curtain. It was too late.</p> + +<p>Molly sat up in bed, with a contracted brow and hands outstretched as +one who would seize a tantalising escaping memory.</p> + +<p>"I used to watch it then, at night, from this window," she whispered. +"What was it? The light of Scarthey?" Then suddenly, with a scream; +"The light of Scarthey!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span></p> + +<p>Adrian sprang to her side but she turned from him, shrank from him, +with a look of dread which seared him to the soul.</p> + +<p>"Do not come near me, do not touch me," she cried.</p> + +<p>And then he left her.</p> + +<hr class="mid" /> + +<p>Miss O'Donoghue was gone upon her journey with Madeleine. There was +none in whom he might confide, with whom seek counsel. But presently, +listening outside the door in an agony of suspense, he heard a storm +of sobs. In time these gradually subsided; and later he learnt from +Moggie, whom he had hurriedly ordered to her mistress's side, that his +wife was quiet and seemed inclined to rest.</p> + +<p>On the next day, she expressed no desire to see him and he dared not +go to her unsought. He gathered a great dewy bunch of roses and had +them brought to her upon her breakfast tray instead of bringing them +himself as had been his wont.</p> + +<p>She had taken the roses, Moggie told him, and laid them to her cheek. +"The master sent them, said I," continued the sturdy little matron, +who was far from possessing the instinctive tact of her spouse; "an' +she get agate o'crying quiet like and let the flowers fall out of her +hands on the bed—Eh, what ever's coom to her, sin yesterday? Wannut +you go in, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Not unless she sends for me," said Sir Adrian hastily. "And remember, +Moggie, do not speak my name to her. She must not be worried or +distressed. But if she sends for me, come at once. You will find me in +the library."</p> + +<p>And in the library he sat the long, long day, waiting for the summons +that did not come. She never sent for him.</p> + +<p>She had wept a good deal during the day, the faithful reporter told +him in the evening, but always "quiet like;" had spoken little, and +though of unwonted gentleness of manner had persistently declined to +be carried to the garden as usual, or even to leave her room. Now she +had gone back to bed, and was sleeping peacefully.</p> + +<p>An hour later Sir Adrian left his home for Scarthey once again. It is +to be doubted whether, through all the vicissitudes of his existence +he ever carried into the sheltering ruins a heart more full of cruel +pain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Tanty returned to Pulwick from her travels again, it was to find +in Miss Landale the only member of the family waiting to greet her. +The old lady's displeasure on learning the reason of this defection, +was at first too intense to find relief in words. But presently the +strings of her tongue were loosened under the influence of the usual +feminine restorative; and, failing a better listener, she began to +dilate upon the situation with her wonted garrulity.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my good Sophia, I will thank you for another cup of tea. What +should we do without tea in this weary world? I declare it's the only +pleasure left to me now—for, of all the ungrateful things in life, +working for your posterity is the most ungrateful. Posterity is born +to trample on one.... And now, sit down and tell me exactly how +matters stand. My niece is greatly better, I hear. The doctor +considers her quite convalescent? At least this is very satisfactory. +Very satisfactory indeed! Just now she is resting. Quite so. I should +not dream of disturbing her; more especially as the sight of me would +probably revive painful memories, and we must not risk her having a +bad night—of course not. Ah, my dear, memory, like one's teeth, is a +very doubtful blessing. Far more trouble than pleasure when you have +it, and yet a dreadful nuisance when you have not—But what's this I +hear about Adrian? Gone back to that detestable island of his again! I +left him and Molly smiling into each other's eyes, clasping each +other's hands like two turtle-doves. Why, she could not as much as +swallow a mouthful of soup, unless he was beside her to feed her—And +now I am told he has not been near her for four days. What is the +meaning of this? Oh, don't talk to me, Sophia! It's more than flesh +and blood can bear. Here am I, having been backward and forward over +nine hundred miles, looking after you all, at my age, till I don't +know which it is, Lancashire or Somerset I'm in, or whether I'm on my +head or my heels, though I'm sure I can count every bone of my body by +the aching of them;—and I did think I was coming back to a little +peace and comfort at length. That island of his, Sophia, will be the +death of me! I wish it was at the bottom of the sea: that is the only +thing that will bring your brother to his senses, I believe. Now he +might as well be in his grave at once,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span> like Rupert, for all the good +he is; though, for that matter it's more harm than good poor Rupert +ever did while he was alive——"</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, Aunt Rose," here exclaimed Sophia, heroically, her +corkscrew ringlets trembling with agitation, "but I must beg you to +refrain from such remarks—I cannot hear my dear brother...."</p> + +<p>But Miss O'Donoghue waved the interruption peremptorily away.</p> + +<p>"Now it's no use your going on, Sophia. <i>We</i> don't think a man flies +straight to heaven just because he's dead. And nothing will ever make +me approve of Rupert's conduct in all this dreadful business. Of +course one must not speak evil of those who can't defend themselves, +but for all that he is dead and buried, Rupert might argue with me +from now till doomsday, and he never would convince me that it is the +part of a gentleman to act like a Bow Street runner. I <i>hope</i>, my +dear, he has found more mercy than he gave. I <i>hope</i> so. But only for +him my poor dear grand-niece Molly would never have gone off on that +mad journey, and my poor grand-niece Madeleine would not be buried +alive on that other island at the back of God's speed. Ah, yes, my +dear, it has been a very sad time! I declare I felt all the while as +if I were conducting a corpse to be buried; and now I feel as if I had +come back from the dear girl's funeral. We had a dreadful passage, and +she was <i>so</i> sick that I'm afraid even if she wanted to come out of +that place again she'd never have the courage to face the crossing. +She was a wreck—a perfect wreck, when she reached the convent. Many a +time I thought she would only land to find herself dead. <i>I</i> wanted +her to come to the hotel with me, where I should have popped her into +bed with a hot bottle; but nothing would serve her but that she must +go to the convent at once. 'I shall not be able to rest till I am +there,' she said. 'And it's precious little rest you will get there,' +said I, 'if it's rest you want?—What with the hard beds, and all the +prayers you have to say, and the popping out of bed, as soon as you +are asleep, to sing in the middle of the night, and those blessed +little bells going every three minutes and a half. There is no rest in +a convent, my dear.' But I might as well have talked to the wall.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span></p> + +<p>"When I went to see her the next day, true enough, she declared that +she was more content already, and that her soul had found what it +yearned for—peace. She was quite calm, and sent you all messages to +say how she would pray for you and for the repose of the souls of +those you loved—Rupert, your rector and all—that they may reach +eternal bliss."</p> + +<p>"God forbid!" exclaimed the pious Protestant, in horrified tones.</p> + +<p>"God forbid?—You're a regular heathen, Sophia. Oh, I know what you +mean quite well. But would it not have been better for you to have +been praying for that poor fellow who never lived to marry you, all +these years, than to have been wasting your time weeping over spilt +milk? Tell me <i>that</i>, miss. Please to remember, too, that you could +not have come to be the heretic you are, if your great grandfather had +not been the time-server he was. Any how, you need not distress +yourself. I don't think Madeleine's prayers will do any one any harm, +even Rupert; though, honestly, I don't think they are likely to be of +much good in <i>that</i> quarter. However, there, there, we won't discuss +the subject any more. Poor darling; so I left her. I declare I never +liked her so much as when I said good-bye, for I felt I'd never see +her again. And the Reverend Mother—oh! she is a very good, holy +woman—a Jerningham, and thus, you know, a connection of mine. She was +an heiress but chose the cloister. And I saw the buckles sable on a +memorial window in the chapel erected to another sister—also a +nun—they are a terribly pious family. I knew them at once, for they +are charges I also am entitled to bear, as you know, or, rather, don't +know, I presume; for you have all the haziest notion of what sort of +blood it is that runs in your veins. Well, as I said, she is a holy +woman! She tried to console me in her pious way. Oh, it was very +beautiful, of course:—bride of heaven and the rest of it. But I had +rather seen her the bride of a nice young man. Many is the time I have +wished I had not been so hasty about that poor young Smith. I don't +believe he <i>was</i> purely Smith after all. He must have had some good +blood in his veins! Oh, of course, of course, he was dreadfully +wicked, I know; but he was a fine fellow, and all these complications +would have been avoided.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span> But, after all, it was Rupert's fault if +everything ended in tragedy ... there, there, we won't speak another +word about your brother; we must leave him to the Lord—and," added +Miss O'Donoghue, piously under her breath, "if it's not the devil, He +is playing with him, it's a poor kind of justice up there!—Alas, my +poor Sophia, such is life. One only sees things in their true light +when they're gone into the darkness of the past. And now we must make +the best of the present, which, I regret to find, seems disposed to be +peculiarly uncomfortable. But I have done what I could, and now I owe +it myself to wash my hands of you and look after my own soul.—I'll +take no more journeys, at any rate, except to lay my bones at +Bunratty; if I live to reach it alive."</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span></p><hr class="section" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2> + +<h3>THE LIGHT REKINDLED</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">Look not upon the sky at eventide,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">For that makes sorrowful the heart of man;<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Look rather here into my heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">And joyful shalt thou always be.<br /></span> +<span class="i20"><i>Luteplayer's Song.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>It was on the fifth day after Sir Adrian's return to his island home. +Outwardly the place was the same. A man had been engaged to attend to +the lighthouse duties, but he and his wife lived apart in their own +corner of the building and never intruded into the master's apartments +or into the turret-room which had been Captain Jack's.</p> + +<p>From the moment that Sir Adrian, attended by René, had re-entered the +old rooms, the peel had resumed its wonted aspect. But the peace, the +serenity which belonged to it for so many years, had fled—fled, it +seemed to Sir Adrian, for ever. Still there was solitude and, in so +far, repose. It was something to have such a haven of refuge for his +bruised spirit.</p> + +<p>The whole morning of this day had been spent in counting out and +securing, in separate lots, duly docketted and distinguished, a +portion of that unwieldy accumulation of wealth, the charge of which +he had accepted, against the time when it should be called for and +claimed by its depositors.</p> + +<p>The task was by no means simple, and required all his attention; but +there is a blessing even in mere mechanical labour, that soothes the +torment of the mind. In the particular occupation upon which he had +been engaged there was, moreover, a hidden touching element. It was +work for the helpless dead, work for that erring man but noble soul +who had been his loyal friend. As Sir Adrian tied up each bag of gold +and labelled it with the name of some unknown creditor who had trusted +Jack, dimly the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span> thought occurred that it would stand material proof, +call for recognition that this Captain Smith, who had died the death +of a felon, had been a true man even in his own chosen lawless path.</p> + +<p>On the table, amid the papers and books, a heap of gold pieces yet +untold, remainder of his allotted day's task, awaited still his +ministering hand. But he was tired. It was the dreamy hour of the day +when the shadows grow long, the shafts of light level; and Sir Adrian +sat at his open window, gazing at the distant view of Pulwick, while +his thoughts wandered into the future, immediate and distant. With the +self-detachment of his nature these thoughts all bore upon the future +of the woman whom he pictured to himself lying behind those sunlit +windows yonder, framed by the verdure of leafy June, gathering slowly +back her broken strength for the long life stretching before her.</p> + +<p>Unlike the musings which in the lonely days of old had ever drifted +irresistibly towards the past and gathered round the image of the +dead, all the power of his mind was now fixed upon what was to come, +upon the child, still dearer than the mother, who had all her life to +live. What would she do? What could <i>he</i> do for her, now that she +required his helping hand no more? Life was full of sorrow past and +present; and in the future there lurked no promise of better things. +The mind of man is always fain, even in its darkest hour, to take +flight into some distant realm of hope. To those whom life has utterly +betrayed there is always the hope of approaching death—but this, +even, reason denied to him. He was so strong; illness had never taken +hold of him; he came from such long-lived stock! He might almost +outlive her, might for ever stand as the one ineluctable check upon +her peace of mind. And his melancholy reflections came circling back +to their first starting-point—that barren rock of misery in a vast +sea of despondency—there was nothing to be done.</p> + +<p>The barriers raised between them, on his side partly by the poisonous +words of his brother, partly by the phantom of that old love of which +the new had at first been but an eluding reflex, and on hers, by the +chilly disillusion which had fallen so soon upon her ardent nature; +these sank into insignificance, contrasted to the whirl of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span> baulked +passion which had passed over her life, to leave it utterly blasted, +to turn her indifference to hate.</p> + +<p>Yes, that was the burden of his thoughts: she hated and dreaded him. +His love, his forbearance, his chivalrousness had been in vain. All he +had now to live upon was the memory of those few days when, under the +spell of oblivion the beloved child had smiled on him in the +unconscious love born of her helplessness and his care. But even this +most precious remembrance of the present was now, like that of the +past, to be obscured by its abrupt and terrible end.</p> + +<p>Death had given birth to the first and last avowal of love in her who +had perished between his arms under the swirling waters of the +Vilaine—but it was Life itself, returning life and health of mind, +which had changed looks of trust and affection into the chilly stare +of dread in the eyes of her whom with all the strength of his hoarded +manhood he now loved alone. The past for all its sorrows had held +sweetness: the present, the future, nothing but torment. And now, even +the past, with its love and its sorrow was gone from him, merged in +the greater love and sorrow of the present. How long could he bear +it?—Useless clamour of the soul! He must bear it. Life must be +accepted.</p> + +<p>Sir Adrian rose and, standing, paused a moment to let his sight, +wandering beyond the immense sands, seek repose for a moment in the +blue haze marking the horizon of the hills. The day was pure, +exquisite in its waning beauty; the breeze as light and soft as a +caress. In the great stillness of the bay the sisters sea and land +talked in gentle intermittent murmurs. Now and then the cries of +circling sea-fowl brought a note of uncanny joy into the harmony that +seemed like silence in its unity.</p> + +<p>A beautiful harmonious world! But to him the very sense of the outer +peace gave a fresh emphasis to the discordance of his own life. He +brought his gaze from afar and slowly turned to resume his work. But +even as he turned a black speck upon the nearer arm of sea challenged +his fleeting attention. He stood and watched—and, as he watched, a +sensation, the most poignant and yet eerie he had ever known clutched +him by the heart.</p> + +<p>A boat was approaching: a small row-boat in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span> the oars were plyed +by a woman. By the multi-coloured, glaring shawl (poor Jack's +appreciated gift) he knew her, but without attaching name or +personality to his recognition; for all his being was drawn to the +something that lay huddled, black and motionless, in the stern. He +felt to the innermost fibre of him that this something was a woman +too—this woman Molly. But the conviction seized him with a force that +was beyond surprise. And all the vital heat in him fled to his heart, +leaving him deadly cold.</p> + +<p>As her face grew out of the distance towards him, a minute white patch +amid the dark cloud of silk and lace that enwrapt it, it seemed as +though he had known for centuries that she was thus to come to him. +And the glow of his heart spread to his brain.</p> + +<p>When the boat was about to land, he began, like one walking in his +sleep, to move away; and, slowly descending the stairs of the keep, he +advanced towards the margin of the sea. He walked slowly, for the body +was heavy whilst the soul trembled within its earthly bounds.</p> + +<p>Molly had alighted and was toiling, with her new born and yet but +feeble strength upon the yielding sand, supported between René and +Moggie. She halted as she saw him approach, and, when he came close, +looked up into his face. Her frail figure wavered and bent, and she +would have fallen on her knees before him, but that he opened his arms +wide and caught her to him.</p> + +<p>An exclamation rose to Moggie's lips, to die unformed under an +imperious glance from René who, with shining eyes and set mouth, had +stood apart to watch the momentous issue.</p> + +<p>Adrian felt his wife nestle to him as he held her. And then the tide +of his long-bound love overflowed. And gathering her up in his arms as +if she were a child, he turned to carry the broken woman with him into +the shelter, the silence of the ruins.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the outer wall, just out of reach of high water, yet +within reach of its salt spray, a little mound of red stony soil rose +very slightly above the green turf; at its head, a small stone cross, +roughly hewn, was let into the masonry itself. The grave of Hubert +Cochrane was not obtrusive: in a few months it would have merged again +into the greensward, and its humble memorial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span> symbol would be covered +with moss and lichen like the matrix of stone which encompassed it.</p> + +<p>Involuntarily as he passed it, the man, with his all too light burden, +halted. A flame shot through him as Molly turned her head to gaze too: +he shook with a brief agony of jealousy—jealousy of the dead! The +next instant he felt her recoil, look up pleadingly and cling to him +again, and he knew into the soul of his soul that the words spoken by +those loyal lips—now clay beneath that clay—were coming true, that, +out of his house laid desolate to him was to rise a new and stately +mansion.</p> + +<p>Grasping her closer he hurried into the sanctuary of the old room, +where he had first seen her bright young beauty.</p> + +<p>At the door he gently suffered her to stand, still supporting her with +one arm about her waist. As they entered, she cast a rapid glance +around: her eyes, bedewed with rising tears, fell upon the heap of +gold glinting under the rays of the sinking sun, and she understood +the nature of the task her coming had interrupted. Her tears gushed +forth; catching his hand between hers, and looking up at him with a +strange, wonderful humility, she pressed it to her lips.</p> + +<p>What need for words between them, then?</p> + +<p>He stood a little while motionless in front of her, entranced yet +still almost incredulous, as one suddenly freed from long intolerable +pain, when there rose once more, for the last time, before his mind's +eye the ideal image that had been the companion of twenty years of his +existence. It was vivid almost as life. He saw Cécile de Savenaye bend +over her child with grave and tender look, then turn and smile upon +him with the old exquisite sweetness that he had adored so madly in +that far off past. And then, it was as if she had merged into Molly. +Behold, she was gone! there was no Cécile, only Molly the woman he +loved. Molly, whom now he seized to his heart, who smiled at him +through her tears as he bent to kiss her lips.</p> + +<p>Twilight was waning and the light of Scarthey beamed peacefully over +the yellow sands; and the waves receded dragging away sand and shingle +from the foot of the hidden grave.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIGHT OF SCARTHEY***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 26045-h.txt or 26045-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/0/4/26045">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/0/4/26045</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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. 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